Self Publishing: Are Big Publishers Hedging Their Bets?

A press release by Harlequin announcing they're launching a self publishing enterprise is creating quite a stir. New developments are happening, including an RWA response that prompted Harlequin to change their mind about associating the new venture with their name. I think I'll wait until the dust settles before venturing a full blog on the topic.

In the meantime, here are a couple of links:

Pub Rants - Literary Agent Kristen has the latest

and the heated discussion at the site Smart Bitches, Trashy Books.

Are you a sponge?

I know I am. And by sponge, I mean I seem to soak in every outside stimulus and customize it to what I'm writing. And I mean everything. One day, on a blog the comment inspired me to add a pet for my Grim Reaper character. Yeah. As someone pointed out, my grim has a grim. I think it fits. Would I have thought of that without outside influence? I kind of doubt it.

Some people say you can't write in a box. I think that's true. I think too much time alone will accomplish not much more than sharpening some pencils or going into some kind of strange drum solo with those sharpened pencils! Call it inspiration or influence, I know I need something.

Other times, it's not a particular thing, but a mood I soak up like a sponge. There have been days I've felt my whole writing day might sink to the doldrums because I heard some bad news or even talked to someone who was having a bad day. Have you ever done that? Tried to cheer someone up and next thing you know, you're as miserable as they are? Yes, there's truth in the saying that misery loves company. I recall a Grey's Anatamy episode where the doctor's go out to cheer up Derek and next thing you know, they are all missing in action and drowning their sorrows in alcohol. One character after another told a "war" story. "You think that's bad, well there was this time..."

There is a danger and a benefit in being a sponge. If I'm lucky, I might be able to use that darker mood for a scene and I can actually be productive. I have actually managed to use anxiety and social awkwardness in what I hope made a character sympathetic. If I hadn't experienced it, would I have thought of it quite so vividly that day? I doubt it.

Other times, of course, a dark mood will stop the writing cold. Too much and I know I better get some lighter and brighter influences in my life very fast.

I can imagine many good and essential influences. Great writing, movies and music. Pictures that put the image of what you're trying to say in vivid detail in your mind. And I can imagine it's why many writers will write in public coffee shops - for that observation and energy. It's all a matter of balance.

So are you a sponge? Do you find your writing influenced by the daily stimulus around you? Ever find it hard to keep the balance of productive influence?

Music or Silence? Inspiration Now or Later?

I think I'm in the minority that I prefer silence to music when I write. Every once in a while I give listening to music while writing a try, but never quite get the hang of it. I always go back to silence.

I suppose it would help if I had a collection of CDs to choose from or select some songs to play on the computer, but I'm an ordinary radio person who never gives much thought to what I want to listen to. In my car is where I listen to music and I seem to be able to think about the lyrics and carry them with me for later thought. It's a strange, backwards thing that it's actually the writing that makes me tune out the music. So, I guess that's why I don't listen to music when I write - - why bother?

Later, I feel the need to look up the lyrics and I'm often struck by how different they seem in print. A different mood or the whole thing might disallusion me just a bit when I discover it wasn't about what I thought I heard in a few bars of chorus. Either way, it's inspiring, in part or in whole.

A few songs I've heard when in the car have really made me think lately. Michael Buble's wonderful "I Just Haven't Met You Yet" is like the ultimate romantic song! In a word: optimism. It's a good karma song. One of those songs that makes you believe "it will happen" without first making you feel bad. Any single person will get that.

And for a parnormal writer especially, the concept of "I Just Haven't Met You Yet" has infinite possibilites for inspiration. I love the idea that something or someone wonderful is around the next corner.

Another song, or more a phrase of a song is running through my head. "Don't go chasing waterfalls...please stick to the rivers and lakes that you're use to..." That's about all I can remember, but it's personal to the story I'm writing, both figuratively and literally. It's one of those songs (btw, called Waterfalls by TLC) that when I looked up the lyrics it was more than I wanted or needed. What I was drawn to was just the analogy. My current WIP has the hero being an adventurer and the heroine is the opposite. A big part of the conflict is that difference between them. No wonder the song lyrics strike home.

And then there's the ultimate song that tugs at my heart strings. "How Do I Live" by LeAnn Rimes. And I can't imagine any other song that's more than a theme song for my WIP. I am, after all, writing a ghost story. It would be playing in the movie soundtrack. (Yes, that's another fun thing to imagine!)

Chorus:

And tell me now

How do I live without you

I want to know

How do I breathe without you

If you ever go

How do I ever, ever survive

How do I, how do I, Oh how do I live

I absolutely had to print these lyrics, in whole. The link to print "How Do I Live." They are in front of me and I hear the music in my head in some very emotional scenes. I still don't want it playing over and over though. :)

So, the question is, music or silence? Inspiration from music now (in the moment during writing) or later (needs time to sink in) or both? And do you have a theme song for your story? Or any song lyrics, in part or in whole, that inspire you?

Beginnings and Prologues: Working My Way Backwards to the Beginning

The current WIP is taking a strange direction these days. I seem to be working backwards by adding about two, possibly three new chapters...to the beginning! However, even as I write this, I've possibly figured out that one of those beginning chapters could be put more in the middle of the book as a flashback. Chronological order sometimes isn't necessarily the beginning, especially with a paranormal. I'm already jumping around a bit - - time travel, a ghost, etc.!

Ugh. The beginning is, for me, the most difficult part about writing a story. Note: I'll stand by that statement only until I'm in the dreaded middle or the black moment or the ending. Then, one of those parts will be the most difficult! But for now, it's the beginning.

Multiple challenges include:

1. Figuring out when exactly the story begins;


2. Deciding whether to use a prologue; and


3. Creating the hook of the first paragraph.

Each challenge has many choices. And when all is said and done, ideally the choices will narrow to the ultimate conclusions of what makes sense for the story. It's part of the process, and I've come to accept, if not expect, that I might not have the final version of the beginning until the whole story is complete.

So, I rework the beginning many, many times throughout the course of writing the story. I might have many versions of my beginning (too many to count!), but there are a finite number of phases for when I revisit the process. A few of my steps for two projects (referred to as X and Y):

Step 1: Initial Beginning. Write that prologue! Challenges #1 and #2 are closely tied together; my path, right or wrong, to figuring out when a story begins includes a prologue.

It seems to be part of my writing process as something I need to introduce me to the story. I need that prologue and acknowleging that is better then beating myself up about should I or shouldn't I. It's my form of character building or plotting. I almost expect it will be something to cut. It might not be though.

Keeping in mind that my prologue is part of the rough draft, whether a prologue is necessary in the book's final version, is debatable enough for several blog topics. This post gets long so, I'll leave those thoughts for another time.

Project X and Y - What happened in the initial beginning:

Project X - The prologue took place 20 years prior to Chapter One. It focused on the fantasy world of The Order of Guardians and events prior to the heroine's birth. Essential "background" information. Chapter One began with the meeting of the hero and heroine when the heroine rescues the hero from highwaymen. It was not their absolutely first meeting, however it was their first meeting as adults.

Project Y - The prologue took place three years prior to Chapter One. It took place on the honeymoon of the hero and heroine in New Zealand. It is told in the heroine's POV, which is not used again until several chapters later. It hinted at the paranormal, but seemed very separate from the rest of the story. Chapter One began at a point when everything had changed for the hero. It is definitely not the first meeting between the hero and heroine.

Step 2: Revised Beginning: Mid Book Phase. Maybe, somewhere around chapter six (give or take) I'll finally see the prologue for what it is - - background information. At that loose "chapter six" point I have more information. I'm more in tune with character motivation. The prologue is either a) cut and incorporated into the story, b) reworked as Chapter One, or c) It Stays.

Project X - I'm stubbornly hanging on to the prologue. Too much information that the hero and heroine can't know without other characters explaining. If anything the prologue expands with more "world building" and the lives of multiple secondary characters. (Yikes.)

Project Y - It occurs to me how to make the prologue Chapter One and tie it to the rest of the story. I write the big finish to the end of the "prologue" (now Chapter One) that is a definite hook. However, at the same time, I begin to think the "First Meeting" between the hero and heroine needs to be told. I start to write, ahem!...a prologue. Oh, boy. I'm very close to having a prologue within a prologue. (Yikes.)

Step 3: Revised Beginning: Late Book Phase. Most things have or are falling into place. Incredibly though, the work to be done seems to be the beginning. Somehow, I have to believe the pieces will come together. The choices will narrow to the ultimate conclusions of what makes sense for the story.

Possibly a Step 4, but the challenge #3, first paragraph hook, if it isn't there already, is worked on as well.

Project X - Ultimately, the prologue was cut. The feedback seemed to be that the book should not begin with anything other than the hero and heroine. Massive final revisions throughout to incorporate the "world building" into the novel. For the beginning, the action scene of the hero's ambush by highwaymen seemed a good hook.

Project Y - In progress. At the moment, while still in mid book phase, it looks like the first meeting between the hero and heroine might be put in as a flashback. The beginning of this WIP will certainly be revisited!

So, I'm very curious. Do you have a writing process for your beginnings? Do you revise the beginning at various points throughout your story's progress?