Writers in the Storm

WITS is pleased to welcome back Sharla Lovelace! And psst, she's doing a giveaway. :-)

Hi!  Thanks to Orly and the other peeps at WITS for having me!

I was asked to talk about novellas today, and I’m excited about that.  Novellas have become the new in-trend, short little bursts of story that can be wonderful all alone, or fill gaps between novels, or attach themselves to a series.  Possibilities are endless.  My first shot at writing a novella was back in October, with JUST ONE DAY.

When my agent suggested it, I honestly was already thinking about it.  I had friends who were diving in the novella pool, and I thought it would be really cool and a quick way to get some new material out there.  I thought it would be easy.  Hey, a third the length of a novel—piece of cake, yes? 

No.

Novellas are tricky little creatures.  It’s taking what you see in your head as a full story, and putting that in a compression chamber, hoping it doesn’t get the bends.  *sorry, that’s my former scuba-diving life talking*

But it is challenging, at least for me.  Plots have to be lent to a quicker resolution, relationships have to develop faster, but yet at the same time that needs to make sense.  You can’t just chop things off or rush a plot, there needs to be a reason for the short timeframe.  When I was thinking of how to approach it, I thought of my friend Roni Loren’s novella.  She writes erotica, and her novella Still Into You had the tagline:  Three days, no rings…

See?  Three days.  There’s a reason for the timeframe to be short.  Everything had to move to be resolved in three days.  That helped me think about things I could do, story ideas I could come up with that would have a reason to be short.  And I ended up with a story about a woman who’s been given 24 hours to give an answer…yes or no.  And JUST ONE DAY was born.

Now, back there I mentioned that I wanted to get some new material out there, and this was the primary push on why I went the novella direction.

Mine is a standalone, but like I said, these are great little tools for connecting to a series … maybe taking off with a minor character and having a little fun with them.  Or, like in my case, to fill in a time gap between novels.

My first book came out in April, and my second was slotted for November, so to give readers something AND generate some buzz for the upcoming book, my agent and I self published the novella a month before that release.

Traditional publishers pull these into their contracts as well, but mine didn’t happen to have that, and while my agent and I talked about trying to attach it to a traditional house, the timing was off.  Even with a short work that will only be pubbed digitally, a traditional house is likely to take six months with it.  While you get the marketability of the house, we needed it faster.

I was lucky, in that my agent is also involved in an e-pub venture with all the online e-tailer connections and all the marketing and editing capabilities of a publisher.  So she and I pubbed this one ourselves in a matter of weeks instead of months.  In addition to that, she was able to score me a slot in Nook First.

This was a good thing.  :-)

I wasn’t sure about that at first.  I thought that excluding a whole market (Kindle) for 3-4 weeks, would hurt my sales, but in reality it worked to my advantage in a major way.  The exposure and push of Nook First pushed this little e-book novella to #3 on the Barnes & Noble E-book Bestseller list.

Can you say “eeeeeeeek”???  For a time (a short time) I was sandwiched between two of the 50 Shades books, and there for a whole three hours I was one above J.K. Rowling’s adult book.  Did I take screen shots to save for proof and posterity?  You bet I did!!

It didn’t last of course.  LOL.  Once I was off the Nook First roster, it slowly dropped under all these bestselling authors who actually stay there for the long haul, but that’s okay.  I can say I was there.

And regardless of where it landed, it served as an “in-between” between my print novels, giving my readers something to chew on, that also had teasers of both my novels in the back.  I’d recommend this to anyone.  These novellas are jewels!  You can use them how and where and when you like, doing the most important type of promo you can ever possibly do: putting something new in front of your readers.  Whether it’s in between novels, filling up a dry spell between contracts, or having something generating sales while you are out on submission.

Have any questions?  Please throw them out there, I’d love to help.

And as my thank you for coming by and commenting today, I’ll pick a random commenter tonight to win a download of my novella JUST ONE DAY.  Enjoy!

About Sharla

Sharla Lovelace is the National Bestselling Author of THE REASON IS YOU, BEFORE AND EVER SINCE, and the e-novella  JUST ONE DAY.  Being a Texas girl through and through, she’s proud to say she lives in Southeast Texas with her family, an old lady dog, and an aviary full of cockatiels.

Sharla is available by Skype for book club meetings and chats, and loves connecting with her readers! See her website www.sharlalovelace.com  for book discussion questions, events, and to sign up for her monthly newsletter.

You can follow her on Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads.

If you're a North American parent with a child in 3rd grade or beyond, it's a pretty sure bet you've heard of Flat Stanley. Just in case you haven't, here's a quick summary:

The Flat Stanley Project

In 1994, Dale Hubert began the Flat Stanley Project in Ontario, Canada. Hubert had the brilliant idea of having children create their own Flat Stanley paper cutouts and mailing them to friends and family around the globe, in order to foster authentic literacy activities for kids and get them excited to write about Stanley's adventures.

Today, the Flat Stanley Project encompasses more than 6,000 schools registered in 88 countries around the globe, and is included in the curriculum for more than 15% of elementary schools in the US.

I've been emissary to at least two Flat Stanleys, helping them to move on to ever-wider circles of adventure. The one you see above is my nephew's Flat Stanley that arrived in the mail from Kansas City, MO.

[Me being me, I immediately photocopied him and laminated him, just in case I lost him.]

Flat Stanley went all through Orange County, down to San Diego and up to ride the Metrolink in Los Angeles. Then one of my friends was kind enough to take him all over Washington D.C. Flat Stanley even met a girlfriend in D.C.

I've posted some pics below so you can see some of Stanley's amazing adventures.

I had tons of fun with Stanley and so did all my friends. My flat pal inspired this list:

10 Ways I'd Love My Books To Be Like Flat Stanley

1. Everyone passes them on to a friend.

2. At the end of their journey, I'll know exactly where they went and what they did.

3. Everyone welcomes them at the table (or in the bath, or the backyard, or their boat).

4. People want to be part of their story.

5. They unite strangers around the world.

6. They can travel in any vehicle and provide people with a good time.

7. People can color them with tons of imagination.

8. They'll be recognized with a single glance.

9. They will bring a smile to your face.

10. You'll remember them long after you pass them on.

Have you ever met a Flat Stanley? What sorts of adventures did you have together? What experience would you like YOUR books to give to others?

Jenny

*** Need more Jenny? Check out her latest post:
Michael Douglas, By The Tweets! ***

About Jenny Hansen

Jenny fills her nights with humor: writing memoir, women’s fiction, chick lit, short stories (and chasing after the newly walking Baby Girl). By day, she provides training and social media marketing for an accounting firm. After 15 years as a corporate software trainer, she’s digging this sit down and write thing.

When she’s not at her blog, More Cowbell, Jenny can be found on Twitter at JennyHansenCA and here at Writers In The Storm. She's also the author of the Risky Baby Business posts at More Cowbell, a series that focuses on babies, new parents and high-risk pregnancy.

NOTE: Our very own Laura Drake is teaching an online course on "Fearless Pitching," June 10-July 7. Click here for more information.

Now, Let's welcome back Shannon Donnelly!

First lines fall into three categories—hooks, lines, and sinkers.

The sinkers are pretty obvious—they’re the dud lines, the lines that don’t help a reader into the story. They’re when you start with a cliché (everyone at a funeral), or with the weather, or with description that doesn’t sing. They’re when you’re tap dancing around the story instead of starting the action.

So let’s talk about hooks and lines.

A hook is just that—it’s something so interesting going on that the action or idea hooks the reader. You just have to have more. But you can also start with great lines. As in beautiful writing, an evocative phrase, or a line that happens to set the perfect mood.

But you have to be careful here—a great hook, or first line, can also backfire on you. If all you have is a fabulous first line (and nothing else to go with it), the reader is going to figure that out fast and put down the book. Also, if you polish and create a fabulous hook, or a wonderful first line, but the rest of your book doesn’t live up to the promise, that’s a problem. And, if the first line doesn’t match the tone of the story, you’re in trouble. As in, if you want funny, you want to start that way and stay that way—same thing goes for sexy. Start as you mean to go on.

Let’s get back to those first lines, and look at some classics.

Ralph Ellison starts with a hook—I am an invisible man. (And, yes, the book is The Invisible Man.) That is definitely starting with the right tone and a idea to hook the reader.

William Gibson in Neuromancer offers up both a hook, and a beautiful line—The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel. That’s a line that invites the reader into the book, setting the tone for what is to come. And it’s just beautiful writing—clean, crisp, with a great image.

Doddie Smith in I Capture the Castle (a charming book), starts with a hook that leaves the reader wondering—I write this sitting in the kitchen sink. And why she’s sitting in the sink—not at it—is part of the story.

Jill Shalvis uses dialogue in her first line of At Last to hook the reader—“I’m not lost,” Amy Michaels said to the squirrel watching her from his perch on a tree branch.

So how do you get to a hook or a great first line? There are many approaches.

Questions. The Cardros Ruby starts: Des Cardros was tempted to toss a coin—would his brother shoot him on sight, or simply toss him out of the ancestral home? A question is a great hook—either a direct question or one implied. The question still needs to set the tone and overall pace of the book—are we in more of a character study, or a fast paced action thriller?

The question can be implied not direct, as in Paths of Desire, which starts: I can’t do this, Thea decided, her fingers cold and fretting the ties of her brocade dressing gown. Here the reader is left with a couple of questions--what is it she can’t do, and why is she in a dressing gown?

Dialogue. This is a favorite way of mine to start a book—it gets you right into a scene, and sets a fast pace. “Beauty ain’t required, but she’s got to catch the eye,” Theodore Windslow said, striding across the small salon, one hand fisted behind his back and the other gesturing in the air. That’s the start of A Proper Mistress, and sets the tone of the book right off. It’s not a strong hook, but it’s a good line—good enough to pull the reader forward into the rest of the scene, and that scene is the book’s overall hook.

The Writing. This is where you go for a line that might capture a reader—it’s not the strong hook, it’s the softer allure of the writing. As in the start of Edge Walkers—Nothing could dampen the sweet rush of anticipation singing in her veins. This book was a new departure for me, so I wanted strong writing and a strong voice—and I wanted that to show up in the first line of the story.

Action. This is where you throw the reader into the story in the middle of things happening. Working with people who killed demons for a living had its downside, and Mackenzie Solomon was staring at six of them. That’s the start of Riding in on a Burning Tire, and the pace is set from the first line—there’s a lot of action. The tone is also set right away as well—you can tell this is not a Regency historical romance.

Philosophy. This is one I don’t often use, but Jane Austen famously creates one of the most quoted lines when she opens Pride and Prejudice—It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife. This is a brilliant line, offering wit and style—as does the rest of the story. This line is an invitation to settle back and enjoy.

And that, ultimately, is what you want your first line to do—to evoke the right feeling for the book. The feeling that this is a taut thriller, or a scary ride, or a delightful romp. You’re making a promise with that first line—and you then have a story to deliver that fulfills the promise.

So what are your favorite first lines?

About Shannon Donnelly
Shannon Donnelly’s writing has won numerous awards, including a RITA nomination for Best Regency, the Grand Prize in the "Minute Maid Sensational Romance Writer" contest, judged by Nora Roberts, RWA's Golden Heart, and others. Her writing has repeatedly earned 4½ Star Top Pick reviews from Romantic Times magazine, as well as praise from Booklist and other reviewers, who note: "simply superb"..."wonderfully uplifting"....and "beautifully written."

Riding in on a Burning Tire, the second book in the Mackenzie Solomon, Demon/Warders Urban Fantasy series is just out from Cool Gus Publishing. And her latest Regency romance, The Cardros Ruby, a RWA Golden Heart finalist, came out this May.