Writing a Novel: The View from the Finish Line

Hi everyone,

I hope you'll forgive the tardiness of this post. I had promised to chime in and let you know when I finished the first draft of my mystery novel Coffee to Die For, but I wasn't able to check in with you until right now. I could give you a bunch of half-assed excuses, but the simple fact of the matter is that I've been incommunicado for the best possible reason: I'm already working on another book, and haven't wanted to divert myself away from it.

I'll tell you about the new project in a minute; for now, let's stick with Coffee to Die For. The first draft was completed earlier this month, with a final word count of 55,334 and a total page count of 236. That's a hair shorter than I predicted, but I'm quite sure both totals will increase in the second draft. I am under no illusion that my work is done. Coffee will require revisions, some of which will be substantial. Nonetheless, the story is pretty much there, and it makes sense if read from start to finish. Certain facets of the book aren't quite where I want them to be, but I have no doubt in my ability to get them there. If you'll indulge the ego of a proud new papa for just a moment, I'm very pleased with it.

In order to allow me to read and evaluate the book with something approaching fresh eyes, I have set the manuscript aside and have not looked at it for almost three weeks. I'll pick it up again in early June, probably after I see Prometheus, the upcoming Ridley Scott film about which I'm rather ridiculously excited. (Alien is on my Top Ten list of All-Time Greatest Movies.) The film's release date will mark roughly one month since I completed the first draft, and I figure that's enough of a break to allow me to roll up my sleeves and get back in there.

What have I been doing in the interim? Well, I'm so glad you asked. I've started writing a sequel.

I had always intended Coffee to be the first book in a series, but I had no idea I was going to plunge directly into the second book so quickly. I'm not complaining, mind you--the plot of the second book sprang full-blown into my head as an apparent gift from the cosmos, and last week I sat down one morning and typed out an opening paragraph to test the waters. Before I knew it, I had pounded out the entire first chapter of Book Two with virtually no effort whatsoever. Although it's early in the writing process, it seems like this new book is far more eager to be born than the first, and is doing everything in its power to help me along. If this is my new writing paradigm, I could get used to it.

What's the new book about? Well, I'm not going to tell you yet. But I will tell you that the tentative title is The Phantom of Mulberry Street, a name I actually love because it captures the pulpy mystery tone that I'm shooting for, yet also implies comedy, sounding as it does like the name of a Scooby Doo villain.

(Oh, speaking of plots: I've gotten perhaps half a dozen e-mails since my last blog post, asking what Coffee to Die For is about. I've actually answered that question here, at least in a very general way. I'll have more to say about it later, but as someone who dislikes the fact that movie trailers give away all the best parts of a film months before it even comes out, isn't it fun not to know too much ahead of time? You're welcome.)

So the first draft is complete. What did I learn by writing it?

The most important thing is: I can write a novel. It's not sorcery. It's just work. It requires dedication, and chipping away at your word count a little bit every day. Stay faithful to your goals, and keep writing, even when you aren't sure how to get your protagonist out of a corner. You (or more correctly, your characters) will figure out something.

And pay attention to this: If I can write a novel, you can write a novel. You just have to want it.

One other thing: after owning the domain name joebarlow.com back in the mid-'90s, I stupidly let it lapse.  For the past decade, I have watched with incredulity as joebarlow.com became first a porn site (!), then the website for a fundamentalist Christian pastor who shares my name (!!), then a parked domain that served no useful purpose. Now, finally, the domain name has lapsed, and I have bought it back. There's nothing there yet, but in the weeks to come I'll be designing and building a web presence there.

The point? If at all possible, buy the .com version of your name. And hang onto it like a mama grizzly protecting her cub, lest your name become associated either with porn or fundamentalist religion. (I honestly can't decide which idea repulses me more.)

Any comments? I'd love to hear from you!

-j.

Writing a Novel: The View From 40,000 Words

I'm happy to report that despite many lengthy delays and unforeseen circumstances (some of which I shared in my previous post),  I have finally reached my second milestone: I have crossed the 40,000-word mark of Coffee to Die For, my mystery novel in progress. 

For those of you who like numbers, that translates into 170 double-spaced manuscript pages, which places me (roughly) at the 2/3rds point of the first draft. As promised, every time I reach a 20,000-word checkpoint, I'll reflect on the journey so far, and share with you some of the things I've learned along the way. (If you missed my first 20,000-word report, you can read it here.)

I can best sum up my current mental state by quoting the immortal Monty Python's Flying Circus: 

My brain hurts.

Like, writing books is hard, and stuff.

I've never been much of an outliner when it comes to writing fiction, believing (no doubt incorrectly) that having a story's route pre-carved in stone could potentially curtail the author's creativity. This belief isn't entirely without merit: on more than one occasion, including during the writing of Coffee to Die For, one of my characters flat-out refused to play a scene in the way I imagined. 

As if operating of his own volition, my protagonist, the quirky private investigator Clayton Gyler, simply refused to do what I told him to do. When you read the finished novel, you'll discover that this is perfectly in keeping with his personality, but I never realized that his refusal to play well with others would extend to his creator as well.

The resulting scene is my favorite in the novel: Clayton takes bold, decisive action, with little regard for the potential consequences, transforming a scene that I had intended to be nothing more than a bit of filler into a standout moment. Had I adhered to a pre-written outline, I probably wouldn't have allowed Mr. Gyler to "go rogue." (Please excuse the Palin-ism.) But because I had no outline, I felt free to explore this new direction. If it hadn't worked, I would have backed up a few pages and tried something else.

However, most of my previous fiction writing endeavors have been in the medium of short stories. As such, outlines weren't typically needed. I could hold an entire story inside my head before I ever put pen to paper. 

But not so this time--I'm writing a mystery novel now, and I started writing it without knowing any more than the initial set-up. Further complicating matters is the fact that this book is full of deception and subterfuge. I have created a large cast of characters, many of whom have secret relationships with each other, and the convoluted plot has threatened to drag me under on more than one occasion. 

Indeed, it got so bad that after I passed page 150 of Coffee to Die For, I had to re-read the entire draft up to that point. I took over a dozen pages of notes, to prevent me from getting lost in a literary labyrinth of my own design. I had to drop some breadcrumbs behind me, in other words, if I hoped to lead my characters out again.

Although not having an outline has allowed me to create a rollicking web of chaos (in a good way), I find myself slightly uneasy now. You see, I am now at the point of the novel where Clayton and his much-put-upon assistant Jennifer are just starting to put all the pieces together. As the author, I know who the villain is. What I don't yet know is how Clayton and Jennifer are going to discover this person's identity. 

I'm serious. I truly have no idea. And I'm a little concerned about it.

This is the disadvantage of not outlining, and I already see that the second draft will be devoted to smoothing out the story and ensuring that the mystery is, in fact, solvable--something I would not have to do if I'd outlined the book first. Because I didn't know how I was going to arrive at the solution when I started writing, I peppered the manuscript with red herrings and at least one pointless subplot that has (so far) gone nowhere. If I'm smart, I'll find some way to use this section to bridge my current place in the story with the conclusion I have in my head. If I'm not so smart (which, alas, is all too possible), I'll have to dramatically reshape, if not outright remove, this subplot, which will cost me a great deal of time and wasted effort.

Lesson #1: It's a good idea to outline a novel before you write it.

Consistency of tone is something that I'll need to address in the second draft as well. My original inspiration for the book was the light-hearted The Burglar Who... novels by Lawrence Block, the only living writer at whose feet I would gladly fall and worship. For the first couple of chapters, I think I did a pretty good job of appropriating the playful tone of Mr. Block's celebrated series. From Chapter 3 onwards, however, things got far darker than I ever intended, and suddenly Coffee to Die For began reading like a distilled version of Chinatown. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it makes the book's chapters feel wildly disparate. When I write the second draft, I'll definitely focus on maintaining a light tone throughout, without sacrificing the mystery for comedy.

Lesson #2: If you start out writing a light-hearted novel, make sure it's still a light-hearted novel when you're done.

Overall, though, I'm pretty happy with how the book is coming. Barring any additional unforeseen catastrophes, I expect to finish the next 20,000 words much more rapidly than I completed the previous block. At that point, I'll have a much better idea of where I stand.

Thanks for the support and the interest, everyone! Talk to you soon.

-j.

Of Mice, Men, and Mochas

Oh, my friends... where to begin?

When we last spoke, way back in October of 2011, life was pleasant, and your humble correspondent was enjoying a rare optimistic streak. I shared with you the happy news that I'd crossed the 20,000 word mark on my novel,  and that the words were flowing like water. Everyone in the Barlow household was excitedly looking forward to the upcoming holiday season, which in my household begins at Halloween (horror movie marathons! Woohoo!). Even the readership of this blog had skyrocketed. To paraphrase one of my favorite supporting characters from The Simpsons: "Everything was coming up Milhouse!"

Unfortunately, life has a funny way of kicking you in the teeth when you least expect it. (Which just goes to show you that life is one flexible son of a bitch.)

Towards the end of October, my father-in-law, who has had health problems for many years, took a turn for the worse. For most of November he was in the hospital, and was eventually placed in hospice care around Thanksgiving. I stopped all work on the book and the blog, and our family turned its attention to caring for, and spending time with, him.

I wouldn't trade the experience for the world, and I was glad my wife, my children, and I had the chance to spend an abundance of time with him in his final days. He left this world on December 2nd, 2011, and left an enormous void in our lives.

Obviously, in the immediate aftermath of his passing, I was in no condition to resume the book, or even to leave my wife alone long enough to put in some time at the keyboard. We spent the rest of December healing, and enjoying the company of each other and our children.

In early January, I pulled the novel-in-progress out again and re-read it. That's always a dangerous action, since I'd been away from it for a couple of months and barely remembered the story. Fortunately, I was pleased with what I found, and in the intervening weeks I have quietly resumed work on the book. Today I crossed the 34,000 word mark, which means I've almost completed the middle third of the story. As I said in my last post, once I hit the 40,000-word mark, I'll give you a new post on the State of the Novel. I'm looking forward to writing it, as I think I have a lot of observations and feedback to share.

I appreciate the many kind words and inquiries I've received over the past few months. No, I have not given up on the blog; my family has just been picking up the pieces, and writing/blogging were both relegated to a way back burner for a while. I'm sure you understand. And if you don't... well, tough.

I'll be blogging on a much more regular basis now. I hope I still have some readers.

How about you folks? Started any new writing projects in my absence? Leave a comment and let me know.

-Joe

P.S. Why did I call this post "Of Mice, Men, and Mochas?" Well, obviously, the first part is a reference to how our best laid plans can go wrong at a moment's notice. And the second part is because mochas are awesome. I even love typing the word. Mochas mochas mochas mochas mochas! Yippee! 

Writing a Novel: The First 20,000 Words

Earlier this week, I crossed the 20,000 word mark on my novel in progress. If you're curious, that translates to roughly 80 double-spaced manuscript pages. Considering that the average mass-market genre paperback runs around 60,000 words (240 pages), this seems like an ideal place to pause and reflect on the journey so far. I'll repeat this exercise at the 40,000 word mark, and again upon completion of the first draft, in hopes of sharing some of what I've learned with you.

But first, let me make an admission: I fibbed to you in a previous blog entry. If you remember, I told you that this book is my first novel. Well, it's not. It's actually my third novel. Don't hit.

Yes, it's true: I wrote two novels in the late '90s, but no one ever saw them. Despite my best efforts, the end result of my wordsmithery was a pair of books so utterly horrendous that I immediately disowned them, threw holy water on the hard copies, and exorcised the digital files right off my hard drive. As far as I know, both books are gone forever, and believe me, that's no great loss. I claim no parentage of those earlier literary disasters, and this new project feels like a first novel all over again. So if you'll allow me to employ some Obi-Wan Kenobi logic, you'll see that what I told you was true... from a certain point of view. In every way that matters, this is a first novel.

Oh, by the way, since I haven't mentioned it, you may as well know that the book is a light-heated, comic-tinged mystery, in the style of Lawrence Block's The Burglar Who... series. My protagonist is an unorthodox private investigator named Clayton Gyler, who uses a bumbling facade to hide a shrewd, analytical mind. He constantly places his life, and the life of his staff, in danger. As a result, he must contend with a lot of employee turnover at his agency, which poses no end of problems for him. It's hard to be thorough when you have no one to help you.

The act of writing this book has been both easier and harder than I expected. Let me break it down as follows:

Easier. Writing this book has been easier than I expected because I have a great sense of the protagonist. I'm writing the book in the first person, and my viewpoint character, Clayton Gyler, is one I've lived with for a number of years: he starred in a couple of short stories I wrote in the mid-90s, entitled The Fine Print and (in a transparent homage to Lilian Jackson Braun) The Cat Who Couldn't Solve Mysteries. Because I am comfortable with this character, it's a pleasure to write about him, and to put words into his mouth.

Harder. On the other hand, writing this book has been harder than I expected because I made the (perhaps foolish) decision not to outline the story ahead of time. When I sat down and began pecking out the first chapter, I had no idea what the main conflict would be, or how I would arrive at the climax. Now that I'm approximately one-third of the way through the tale, I'm much more aware of my protagonist's goals, and the obstacles he will face on his way to achieving them. However, I already know several places in which I will need to revise the earlier chapters to plant clues and insert backstory.

This has made it difficult for me to show the book to anyone as I'm writing it. I had intended to share each new chapter with a small group of beta readers, but I quit doing this with the second chapter; I already knew changes would be required that would render the earlier version of the text unusable. I am keeping careful notes as I think of these changes, but I've opted not to backfill the text until I start the second draft. Otherwise I'd do nothing but rewrite the first 80 pages over and over from now until the end of time, and would never finish the book.

Write a complete draft, then worry about fixing it. That's my strategy.

Although not operating from an outline means I knew very little about my story when I began creating it, it allowed me the experience of operating in the same way as my protagonist: he, like me, is trying to get to the bottom of the mystery and doesn't know the solution ahead of time. As such, it feels very natural to write about his efforts to solve the case, because that's exactly what I'm doing too.

Also, Mr. Gyler has surprised me with his ingenuity on a few occasions, which he couldn't have done if I'd decided to adhere to a strict outline. I started writing a particular scene a few days ago, intending for it to play out in a certain way, but Clayton simply wouldn't cooperate. Instead, he devised a solution to a problem that was so different from what I'd expected that I actually laughed out loud.

Don't let me confuse you: Although my fingers were the ones tapping the keys, it was the character who came up with the solution, and he wouldn't take no for an answer. I let him have his way, and his rash actions turned what would otherwise have been a fairly prosaic scene into my favorite moment of the book so far. Allowing my characters the ability to overrule me--that's been the biggest delight of the process thus far.

So at any rate, that's the view from 20,000 words. I'll continue to work on the book in the weeks to come, and I'll update you each time I break through a new 20,000 word barrier. Thanks for your interest and your support.

Happy writing!

-j.

Things I Wish I'd Known When Writing My First Novel [A Guest Post by Scott Nicholson]

NOTE FROM JOE: As I've previously discussed, I'm in the process of writing a novel. Although I've been publishing non-fiction professionally for almost fifteen years, my fiction endeavors have been limited. As such, I reached out to a few of my favorite writers and asked them for advice. Specifically, what have they learned that they'd wish they'd known when they began work on their first novel? I'll be bringing you some of their responses in the weeks to come, as a series of guest posts.


Today's entry is from the prolific Scott Nicholson, an icon of both traditional and indie publishing, and a huge advocate of the e-book revolution. In addition to penning the breakout horror novel The Red Church (which I can't recommend highly enough), Scott runs a terrific blog about writing and publishing. Here's what he had to say in response to my question. I trust you'll find it as helpful and inspiring as I did.  --Joe


Advice for Joe on the Writing of His First Novel
by Scott Nicholson

Joe, here’s the big difference from when I started writing 15 years ago:

I didn’t know writing was so dog-gone difficult.

I didn’t have the Internet and a billion writing blogs telling me how hard it was to get published, or how great the self-publishing era is. I had to subscribe to paper newsletters to keep up with market listings for the short story market, and go to the library or buy magazines to get lists of agents and publishers.

In a way, the lack of Internet made it really easy to focus. I had a certain number of hours available to me in the morning, and I could get lost in the story. There was no email to check, no hot market tip, no obligation to engage strangers in social media, no latest tech toy that was going to change the face of publishing forever, or at least for the next few weeks.

Don’t get me wrong: e-books are going to help a lot of writers meet their audience in ways that were never before possible. It’s going to be easier for most writers to make money, even if it still will be difficult. And I am very grateful to be here while it’s happening.

But I miss hammering out my stories on an old Selectric IBM typewriter with a clunky print wheel and a floppy disk drive. It was quite a feeling of accomplishment to roll those pages in one at a time and print them out, until there was a big stack beside me at a cost of about a dime a page, only to be boxed and mailed for $10 or $15 per submission. The very cost and inconvenience made shipping it off to a publisher a big enterprise, like launching a ship.

And, back then, most publishers would still look at your slush submission, so I could at least hold out hope that someone would read it, love it, and make an offer. (In fact, that’s how it happened to me). We weren’t aware that the odds of getting accepted were less than one in 100. Indeed, you could legitimately hope that every submission was the winning lottery ticket, instead of the mass email queries favored today, the policies of agents to “only respond if interested,” and with most larger publishers refusing to look at anything unless it was sent in by those same rude, aloof agents.

In the beginning, all I knew was to tell the story the best I could, read every book on the business and craft I could get my hands on, and keep up my leisure reading, which was never fully “leisure” because I was always aware of the wizard behind the curtains lining up words. I’d read something bold and be inspired to write something boldly. I’d read something tepid and hurl it across the room, positive that I could do better.

In the beginning, all I had was my imagination, my fingers, and my words. I was blissfully ignorant. I didn’t know what I was doing was impossible.

So I just did it anyway, without knowing any better.

If I had any advice for an aspiring writer today, aside from warning them away from all advice, it would be this: Ignore everything but the next sentence.

--
Scott Nicholson is the author of approximately 300-trillion books, short stories, and screenplays. His non-fiction works include The Indie Journey: Secrets to Writing Success, and the essay collection Write Good or Die, which he edited. 

The E-book Revolution: Does the Writing Still Matter?

It's impossible to discuss the state of modern publishing without mentioning the Amazon Kindle, the iPad, the Nook, and the many other handheld e-readers currently flooding the market. E-books have now surpassed hardcovers in numbers of sales, and liberal self-publishing programs through sites like Amazon, Smashwords, and others have allowed authors of all skill levels to release their words into the world, to sink or swim on their own merits, with no interference from editors, agents, or publishers.

The phrase "Kindle millionaire" has been bandied about by the media, first derisively, and then with reverence. Many previously unknown writers, including John Locke and Amanda Hocking, have garnered headlines for selling obscene amounts of digital books, earning fortunes in the process (and, in the case of Hocking, a juicy $2 million, four book traditional publishing contract). Even mid-list authors like J.A. Konrath and Scott Nicholson have enjoyed rejuvenated sales thanks to e-publishing.

It's an exciting time for authors, with bold new distribution systems being introduced almost weekly. As I write these words, Amazon has offered many of its e-books for free rental at over 11,000 public libraries (including my own -- I just checked). And next week, Amazon is expected to announce its own sub-$250 tablet computer, a potential game changer for e-books.

But with all this talk about massive e-publishing fortunes, the mass acceptance of digital literature, and potential new revenue streams for writers, you know what I haven't heard much about?

The writing.

Hocking made headlines for her Kindle sales, but are her books any good? Beats me... no one wants to talk about that. Locke is the first self-published author in history to sell over a million Kindle e-books; you can find many articles analyzing his sales figures, but precious little discussion about the literary merits of his Donovan Creed mystery/thrillers.

What gives?

Yes, some authors are making huge money with e-books. But they are outliers, astonishing but rare success stories, sparked by a combination of hard work, excellent marketing, crowd-pleasing narratives (one assumes), and a certain amount of luck. Anyone who thinks that vomiting out sub-standard content and uploading it to Amazon will fund a lavish new lifestyle is going to be sorely disappointed.

I'm a technology buff, and I get it: the novelty of e-books is strong, and it's exciting to see what some authors have achieved without the backing of a corporate publisher. But let's not lose sight of the fact that e-books aren't widgets. They're books, even if they aren't printed on paper. Can't we discuss them the way we discuss other books? By talking about their strengths and weaknesses, rather than their sales figures and financial aspects?

If I were Locke or Hocking, I'd be insulted.

For the record, let me state that I'm a complete convert to e-books, and will probably never buy another paper book as long as I live. I absolutely love having adjustable font sizes and the ability to carry my entire book collection with me everywhere I go. But as with paper books, e-books are worthless to me if they're not well-written, regardless of how many copies they've sold.

I wish all these "journalists" would remember that too.

How about you? What do you think of digital publishing and the e-book boom? Are we living in a golden age of self-publishing, as some have claimed?

-j.

Surviving a Rejection Letter

So I got a rejection letter today for one of my short stories.

It's not a big deal. I've gotten plenty of them over the years, and this one rolled off my back without crushing my spirits, or initiating a crisis of faith in my writing ability.

As I prepared to send the manuscript off to the next market on my list, it suddenly struck me just how much my attitude towards rejection has changed over the years. I remember the early days of freelancing, when rejection letters would hit me with the force of a sledgehammer. The sense of failure I'd experience upon receiving such a letter could last for hours. Even if I received an acceptance letter from another publication on the very same day, I would disregard that victory in exchange for reveling in the failure.

Hey, I'm nothing if not dramatic.

Rejection letters aren't fun. How could they NOT discourage us? Heck, it's right there in the name: REJECTION letter. The term itself conjures up painful memories of getting turned down for dates, or being picked last for the school softball team. It's a letter specifically sent to inform you, a writer, a creator, a storyteller, that your work does not meet an arbitrary benchmark of quality.

Or at least that's how I felt back then.

However, having spent some time on the other side of the editor's desk in intervening years, I now realize something very valuable -- rejections aren't personal, and you shouldn't take them that way.

Don't let a rejection letter utterly derail you. The next time you receive a rejection letter, consider the following:

1. YOU aren't being rejected. ONE SPECIFIC PIECE of your work is being declined for publication at one particular time.

I once attended a science-fiction convention in which novelist Spider Robinson boasted that he had never received a rejection letter, which frustrated him greatly, because he dreamed of wallpapering his office with rejection letters from prestigious publications in order to impress girls.

His story got big laughs from the audience, but I don't believe it for a second. Remember: a person whose work appeals to everyone must have a bland writing style indeed.
Even two of the most successful novelists in history, JK Rowling and Stephen King, both received dozens of rejection letters from publishers who considered their work to be below substandard. And let's not forget that Decca Records turned down a band called The Beatles, believing that guitar groups were on their way out.

2. The rejection isn't always a reflection on the quality of your writing. Consider any of the following scenarios:

- You may have written a perfectly fine story that happens to ever-so-slightly resemble a different story the editor has already purchased, but which hasn't appeared in print yet. (Although this doesn't seem to affect Hollywood: how many similarly themed films open within weeks of each other? Remember Deep Impact and Armageddon? Or Dante's Peak and Volcano?)

- You may have written a first-rate private-eye story, but the editor, having read thirty of them this week, is momentarily burned out on the genre.

- Your story may have too much humor (or not enough!) to suit the editor's preference.

- You may have written the world's greatest western, but Publisher's Weekly just ran a story declaring the western dead.

- Maybe the magazine has purchased its allotment of fiction for the upcoming year, and has simply decided to reject all stories for the next six months to clear out the slush pile. (Yes, this happens.)

- Maybe you called your protagonist Walter, and the editor has an old boyfriend named Walter, and can't bear the fact that your protagonist doesn't die at the end of the story.

Hey, stranger things have happened. Editors are people too, and like all people, they can be extraordinarily illogical when it suits them.

The best thing to do? Send the piece right back out into the world. Do it today. Don't let the sun set on your rejection. Send your work to the next market on your list, and start crafting a new piece of writing if you haven't already done so.

What about you? How do you handle rejection? Leave a comment and let me know!

-j.