The Nine by Gwen Strauss

This month I took a break from fiction and read a little nonfiction.  This book I picked up because it was about women who escaped from the Death March in 1945.  

If you enjoy nitty gritty historical detail, you will probably like this.  It was full of interesting facts.  However, I was not a fan of the structure.  The author separated the women and told more details about each of their backstories in chapters that then went on to give some detail about the flight.  There was also a lot of personal stuff included, because one of the women was her aunt.

Honestly, I could have lived without the personal stuff.  I didn’t come to this book to find out about a personal quest for family history.  [yawn].  I also found the structure where she spotlit one woman and then mixed in the flight story difficult to follow at times and disjointed.  

The research was fantastic!  And if you are writing on a topic related to this and need some historical information, this book was great for that.  However, as an engaging nonfiction read, not so much.  Let your purpose for reading be your guide.  🙂

Order it here.

Book Review: The Bookseller of Inverness

This one has unfortunately been a little bit of a slog.  I bought it after seeing the author interviewed at the HNS conference, which proves that personal appearances actually sell books, at least anecdotally.  (!)

I wanted to love it!  It isn’t bad, it just isn’t great.  I would give it 3 stars out of 5, and I saw that mostly I agree with the other people who gave it 3 stars, and some people who gave it 4, that it is a little weighed down with too much historical research stuffed into it. There are a lot of what I like to call facty asides, where the writer takes the reader out of the story to explain something to them.  It slows the pace and makes it harder to stay invested in the characters.  It has a prologue that should have been cut, because it is not part of the main plot.  There are too many subplots and threads to maintain narrative drive and it makes even mystery lovers like me, not care who did it by the time they get to the end.  They just want it to be over.  

If you are the kind of reader who really wants the facty asides and doesn’t care about the story, then maybe this is for you.  It is written by a successful author, so who am I, other than a reader, to say meh? I will just let you know that it took me way too long to finish this and I only finished it because of sunk cost fallacy, so readers like me, beware.  

Join me to find out how to Wallop Your What If

Save My Seat

A lot of writers say, “I’m a pantser. I don’t plan, I just write.”

I get it. Really.

It’s such a minefield out there. Maybe you spent a ton of time outlining your first novel and ended up throwing most of it out. Maybe you wrote it by sticking to the outline, but then the story didn’t feel right to you.

This means you need to consider creating a flexible outline that you can use to nail down the tent pole events in your novel without scripting every scene in advance.

It’s easy to be tempted to try to use the latest craft book or outline style and try to shoehorn your idea into it.

But this isn’t the answer.

Instead, ask yourself, “what if I plotted the decision points and big events and pantsed my way in between? What if I let the outline be a guide rather than a mandate?” 🤔

If you’re still confused or unsure, then you’re in luck. In case you missed it, I’m running a free masterclass in three days called Wallop Your What If.

In our 45-minutes together, you will:

  •  See how the Inciting Incident fits into the overall plot points for a good story
  •  Understand the importance of cause and effect in choosing your Inciting Incident
  •  Look at examples of Inciting Incidents that work and a few that don’t

Remember, writing by the seat of your pants may have gotten you through a first draft, but shaping your novel requires understanding structure and how to apply it, no matter what genre or style you write in.

The session will be recorded and made available to registered attendees for two weeks after the event.

New Podcast Episode: Fantastic First Pages

We are digging deep into first pages and what makes a great one.

What does a first page have to accomplish?

  • Get the reader hooked and make them want to keep reading
Submit Your First Page for Feedback on the Podcast

What Makes the first page good?

  • Voice
  • Clear sense of time and space
  • Curiosity
  • Connection with the main character
  • Bonus points for setting up the main conflict or hinting at it early

Types of First Pages

  1. Thriller—Schock Opening
  2. Flash Forward
  3. Narrator Intrusion/Intro
  4. Curiosity Inducing
  5. Main Character Connection

Examples of some Fantastic First Pages and a discussion of why they work

NOTE:  the URLs are affiliate links.  If you purchase the book from Bookshop.org using a Readerly URL, we earn a commission on the purchase, though it makes no difference to the price you pay.  Bookshop.org supports Independent Bookstores and book lovers alike. 

Shock opening

If We Were Villains by M. L. Rio

Flash Forward

The Liars Club by Mary Karr

Narrator Intrusion

The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott

Tomb of the Golden Bird by Elizabeth Peters

Curiosity Inducing

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Main Character Connection

Longbourn by Jo Baker

Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver

Book Review: The Wedding People by Alison Espach

When I first heard about this book, I was intrigued by the premise—a woman goes to a fancy hotel to kill herself, but it turns  out to be a destination wedding week and the bride keeps her from following through, because she doesn’t want her wedding to be ruined.

In a world where it seems like everything has been done, this hasn’t, so I wanted to see how it would play out, and whether the novel would live up to this what if.

It did!  The characters in the book are interesting, they all have different motivations and different reasons for being at this wedding that don’t necessarily reflect their relationship to the bride or groom.  Espach explores the main character’s despair with enough gentleness and distance to allow the reader to empathize with her, but also makes us want her to find another way out.  None of the characters, even the bit players, are flat. 

The plot keeps the suspense going on multiple fronts, no spoilers here, but it isn’t all about Phoebe and her difficulties—we also get to know the bride, Lila, and her struggles.  If you like books that explore themes related to our choices, dark feelings, the pressures of modern life, this might be for you.  Espach does a wonderful job diving into some dark places without leaving hope behind—there is always a tiny bit of hope here.

Full disclosure:  there is a scene that I would have left out of it.  I don’t understand why it is there and it was pretty gross—it added nothing to the story that I could tell.  It is a scene in which a man does something to a car that would likely be impossible and there are way too many iterations of the word, “f***,” for my taste.  Skip that and you won’t miss anything. I was listening to audio and running, or I would have skipped it…by the time I got to a place to slow down and get out my phone, it was thankfully over.

Writers, notice a few things:

The extraordinary premise, which is clear in the opening pages coupled with a lack of backstory in the opening.  

  • Frequently, writers try to make the what if either too bland or too much.  You want to make it extraordinary, but within the realm of possibility (unless it is fantasy, and then all bets are off).  A novel about quotidian concerns is much harder to engage a reader in than one with a dash of the extraordinary.  
  • There is no backstory explaining why she puts on her best dress, boards a flight, and goes to a fancy hotel.  It will be made clear eventually, when you, as the reader, need to know it.  The opening makes us curious!  When Phoebe gets to the hotel and realizes that she is the only guest who is not part of the wedding, there is conflict.  She has a goal, the bride has a different goal.  No backstory.

The Wedding People might be interesting paired with The Perfect Couple.  Both of them are about destination weddings, but with very different casts of characters and plots.  The wedding setting, and indeed any setting, offers multiple possibilities.  

How can you use your setting and what if to best effect and create a captivating narrative?

Outlining is a valuable tool at any point in the writing process: just getting started, revising your novel, or writing your summary to query.

Get your free copy of the Beats of the Heroine’s Journey with examples here.

Building a Writing Habit

We hear a lot about building habits.  If you are a writer, figuring out how to make time for your writing amidst the demands of life, including supporting yourself and maybe your family, too, can be daunting. My suggestion?  Start small.

Habits start with goals and repetition.  A behavior becomes a habit through repeating it until you no longer have to think about it, it is just part of your day/week/whatever.

Here are three tips for building your writing habit through setting goals and repeating the behavior:

  1. Make it easy to repeat.  Choose a time of day, a place, an amount of time that will make it easy to keep writing.  Is your house quiet in the early morning?  Maybe that is good for you.  Are you a night owl?  Maybe that’s your time.  It might be during a break in your day. Whatever it is, try to choose something that you will be easily able to repeat.  If you hate getting up early, don’t try to join the 5 AM club.  HINT: It doesn’t have to be every day either.
  1. Use intrinsic motivation and reward yourself for repeating the habit.  Rewards don’t have to be material.  You can reward yourself by allowing yourself to feel pride, a sense of accomplishment, happiness in reaching the goal of completing your writing ritual for that day.  Take a moment at the end of your writing time and let yourself feel that.  Reflect on it later in the day and feel it again.
  1. Try random reinforcement. Studies have shown over and over that random reinforcement works.  See casinos—people keep playing because they are sure their big win is just around the corner.  Find a way to incorporate this into your routine.  Use a spinning wheel, like this one (you may want to change the labels so that it will be more random) and spin it at the end of your writing time.  If it lands on a reward you have preselected, give it to yourself.  NOTE: every spot can’t be a reward.  Some of them have to be no, otherwise it won’t be random!  If it lands on no, there’s always the next writing time.

Repeating your goals leads to forming habits.  It is all about doing it over and over until it is a regular part of your routine.  

Let me know if you try any of these hints and find them useful.  I am waiting to hear from you.

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What I’ve Learned Working as an Acquisitions Editor…

In the past year, I have begun working as an editor for a small press, History Through Fiction.  I love working with Colin and the crew, because they support writers and work hard to get quality historical fiction published through both a traditional and a hybrid press.

I have learned a lot through my work with History Through Fiction; writers who are submitting their work to agents or editors might benefit from some of the patterns I have seen over and over in our submission platform.

Below are five things that might help you get to yes with your manuscript:

  1. Make sure your manuscript is ready.  Most writers start querying too soon.  If I had to put a number on it, I would say 90%. These days, to get published by a traditional press, a novel has to be almost completely ready to go.  Yes, there will still be editing, but it is usually fewer rounds than in years gone by.  It is the new normal, best to make peace with it rather than lament what has been lost.  The old system was also flawed in many ways, as the barriers to entry were pretty high if you were not born into or able to breach the walls of a certain class.  The new system isn’t perfect either, but just like your novel, it is a work in progress. Deal with what is, not what you wish for.
  1. Pay attention to the submission requirements.  We are a historical fiction press and we publish novel length projects.  I have had to reject novels because they were not historical fiction and because they were not novel length.  This has nothing to do with the quality of the work, but it has to do with the mission of our press.  Read the guidelines.  Save your time (and your heart) and the time of the acquisitions person.
  1. Check to see that the pages match the pitch. Over the past year, I have gotten some stellar pitches that made me super excited to see the pages, only to be massively disappointed when what was on the pages did not match what I was promised in the pitch.  A lot of attention is given to making the pitch so good that an agent or editor will request your manuscript.  However, this does absolutely no good if the pages disappoint. See #1.
  1. Let some other people read your opening pages to make sure they are doing their job. Because we are a historical fiction press, almost all the books we publish are based on the real lives of historical figures.  History nerds, and I am a card carrying member of this group, like the details.  But PLEASE, do not try to squeeze five years of archival research into the opening pages of your novel.  A novel is a story, it is not a treatise, and it has to follow the conventions of story, one of which is to make the reader curious in the opening rather than making them stifle a yawn or skip ahead to see if the story is starting a few pages later. Contrary to what many emerging writers of historical fiction believe, it is best NOT TO START with backstory.  I do not indeed need to understand everything you have uncovered about this person or event to engage with your story. Give me a story first.  The history has to be an integral part of the story, it isn’t the story.
  1. If we pass on this manuscript, please don’t send an angry email.  You want to be seen as someone we would like to work with in the future on a different project.  Don’t make it personal.  Remember that we only make money if people buy the book, so we have to think we can sell it and we need you to help sell it, too. When you respond with outrage, we are certain that working with you is not in our best interest.

I sympathize with writers who send out queries, so many of them, and get so many rejections.  I understand that it can be difficult.  Try looking at it from the other side. A lot of publishers, the one I work for included, are barely staying afloat.  Book sales alone are not enough to keep the lights on, unless you luck into a best seller.  

At History Through Fiction, we are looking for the following:

  • a book that we think we can sell to our audience
  • that will not need a complete overhaul during the editing process

And, 

  • An author we will be able to partner with for the long term, who will help make her books and our press a success

Is this you and your project?  I invite you to submit to History Through Fiction here.