Writers in the Storm

Susan Spann joins us again for the second in her series about protecting your writing and your author rights in your estate planning. Even though many of us don't like to think about that particular future, it's an important part of your writing business that no one talks about.

by Susan Spann

Big thanks to Writers in the Storm for inviting me back to continue our new series on estate planning for authors!

As we discussed in April, every author needs an estate plan, including a properly drafted will or trust, which addresses the ownership and management of copyrights and other intellectual property the author owns at the time of the author’s death.

All authors have an estate plan. Surprise! You have one, whether you know about it or not. If you haven’t written a will or a trust, then you’re operating with plan #3: intestacy, which essentially means the estate plan the state establishes by law for anyone who dies without a valid will or trust.

A hint for the wise: option #3 is bad.

Authors who have no written estate plan will find their estates (and copyrights) subjected to the laws of the state (or country) where the author resided at the time of death. In most U.S. jurisdictions, the law provides that spouses and biological or legally adopted children inherit the property and rights of a person who dies. However, state laws vary, and in some places property ends up escheating to the state – which means the government could end up with your copyrights.

Unless you leave a written will or trust, you’re gambling with your intellectual property. Don’t do that.

Take charge. Create your own estate plan.

In most states (and countries), the estate planning choices come down to wills and trusts. We’ll look at trusts in next month’s post. Today, let’s talk about wills.

A will (or a “testament”) is a writing which disposes of property belonging to the testator (the person who wrote the will) at the time of his or her death. The legal name for the property that belongs to a person at the time of his or her death is the “estate” – which is also the reason wills and trusts are called “estate plans.” These documents provide a road map for your heirs—and the state—to ensure that after your death, your property is distributed in the manner you desire.

In many places, if your estate equals or exceeds $100,000 in value, your will must be administered through a probate proceeding. (If you have a trust, there is no probate. More about that next month.)

In probate, the will is administered, and the decedent’s property distributed, by a court or by a court-appointed executor (with or without direct court supervision). You don’t have to have an attorney to probate an estate, but in most cases the executor (the person the will appoints, by name, to handle the estate and its distribution) does hire legal counsel. This is because probate courts have special rules and procedures which can be confusing, especially when the executor is also a grieving family member. Probate lawyers’ fees are generally set by statute (often on a sliding scale, measured as a percentage of the estate).

Authors with small estates (less than $100,000 cash value at the time of death) may find a will sufficient for their needs. This is particularly true where the copyrighted works included in the estate produce relatively little active income. You’ll want to consult an experienced attorney familiar with both publishing and estate planning issues to see what level of income will require your estate to go through probate – once your royalties hit that threshold, you may want to consider a trust instead of a simple will.

A will can contain specific language stating how copyrights and creative works should be distributed, and to whom, and how the author would like them managed after death. (We’ll talk about these options in coming months.)

At a minimum, every author needs a will (many states allow handwritten wills, also called “holographic” wills – check the requirements in your state to be certain). Authors should also prepare a list of copyrights, publishers, and contact information relating to every published and copyrighted work in the author’s estate. The author’s heirs will need that information to collect and manage the author’s creative works. Remember—you won’t be there to help them answer the questions after you’re gone.

Even if your state allows handwritten wills, once your works are published you should consider paying for a professionally drafted will (or trust) to ensure that your estate plan manages and transfers your creative works in the manner and to the people you intend.

Authors whose estates exceed the statutory minimum to require probate should also consider establishing a revocable trust, which offers more flexibility than a will and, in many jurisdictions, allows your estate to avoid probate proceedings altogether.

But that’s the topic of next month’s post.

Have questions about authors’ wills? Feel free to ask them in the comments!

Susan Spann is a publishing attorney and author from Sacramento, California. Her debut mystery novel, CLAWS OF THE CAT (Thomas Dunne Books, July 2013), is the first in a series featuring ninja detective Hiro Hattori. Susan blogs about writing, publishing law and seahorses at http://www.SusanSpann.com. Find her on Twitter @SusanSpann or on Facebook.

Laura Drake and Fae Rowen were incredibly lucky to get to sit with James Scott Bell during the April OCC/RWA meeting and at lunch. He's a down-to-earth guy with no pretense. Best of all, he agreed to share a personal look at his writing process–through quotes of well-known authors–to give us a mid-week shot of inspiration.

by James Scott Bell

I collect quotes from writers on all aspects of the writing life. They open up little windows in my mind and help me see things I might miss on my own. I like to review these quotes from time to time. It makes me feel I'm in on a big conversation about my profession, with a bunch of very cool and experienced people. The only thing missing is the Starbucks.

Actually not, as I'm typing this right now at my favorite table at my favorite Starbucks. I'll just pretend it was Ray Bradbury who bought me that first cup, as he sits down with me and says,

"I do a first draft as passionately and as quickly as I can. I believe a story is only valid when it is immediate and passionate, when it dances out of your subconscious. If you interfere in any way, you destroy it.... Let your characters have their way. Let your secret life be lived. Then at your leisure, in the succeeding weeks, months or years, you let the story cool off and then, instead of rewriting, you RELIVE IT. If you try to rewrite, which is a cold exercise, you'll wind up with all kinds of Band-Aids on your story, which people can see."

Thanks, Ray. When I read your work that's exactly the impression I get, that your incredible imagination has been frolicking around in the fields and having fun. And by the way, thank you for The Illustrated Man, which was one of those life changing books for me. When I read it in junior high, I thought, Man, to be able to write that way someday…

Ah, I see that Henry David Thoreau, looking awfully good for a dead guy, has joined us. First thing out of his mouth is,

"How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live."

Right on, Hank. If there's nothing of value inside the writer, how can there be anything of value for the reader? And you can't buy value, like vowels on Wheel of Fortune. You have to earn it by living. Reminds me of something I heard once, that a writer really doesn't have much to write about until he's 40. That may be a bit high, but there's something to it, I think. Live first, write second.

Here's Barnaby Conrad, the man who started the famous Santa Barbara Writers Conference, and a terrific writer himself. As he drags a chair over, he says,

"Remember, almost no writer had it easy when starting out. If they did, everyone would be a bestselling author. The ones who make it are the stubborn, persistent people who develop a thick skin, defy the rejection, and keep the material out there, trolling."

Boy, is that ever true, Barnaby. When I wrote my first screenplay, I thought it was a work of pure, natural genius. The first industry friend who read it said, "You don't have it." I first thought she meant I didn't have any talent (as some of my former criminal clients have averred). But she explained I didn't have it ON THE PAGE. I realized I had a big learning curve ahead of me.

I wrote six full length screenplays over the next two years or so, before I landed with a Hollywood agent and began getting anywhere. Before that, I almost broke a knuckle knocking on doors and getting them slammed in my puss.

Which is why Andre Dubus, who has brought his latte to our table, interjects,

"Don't quit. It's very easy to quit during the first ten years."

That catches the ear of the ghost hanging out with Thoreau, George Bernau, who wrote Promises to Keep and other novels. He was a practicing attorney when he got into a car accident and almost died. In the hospital he took stock of his life, and, as he reminds us,

"I decided that I would continue to write as long as I lived, even if I never sold one thing, because that was what I wanted out of my life."

If you have the desire to write, then make the decision now that you'll write – strongly, passionately, with a commitment to your craft – no matter what.

How have you overcome the circumstances in your life that make it difficult to write? What keeps you going in those solitary, stolen hours at your computer?
James Scott Bell is the bestselling author, most recently of the thriller Don't Leave Me. He's also the author of numerous books on the craft of writing, including the popular Plot & Structure from Writer's Digest Books. Visit his website at  http://www.jamesscottbell.com.

First of all, we at Writers in the Storm must let you know that we continue to be blown away by your  first lines. Your responses rained tantalizing hooks across pages of comments. Today we are pleased to welcome back Shannon Donnelly with another one of her fantastic writing lessons to help you turn those great first lines into solid, sellable stories with likeable characters from the beginning.

by Shannon Donnelly

If you have a choice, are you going to spend the evening with folks you like—or with people who make you grind your teeth? I’m going to bet on the former. This holds true in a book, too—readers (all of us) want to spend time with folks we like. This is a huge issue in any book—it was one I faced in A Cardros Ruby. Initially, the heroine started off as just too cranky and too hard to like. Now, she had her reasons—and she’s still a little touchy (she’s just seen her brother brought in unconscious, so she can be forgiven for being a little upset)—but I worked hard to make certain she didn’t put folks off.

My own experiences with this had taught me the hard way—the heroine of A Dangerous Compromise is a hard-to-like girl. She eventually redeems herself—or at least shows a good side—but that came too late in the story for many readers, who just didn’t cotton to her. And I can understand that.

If I’m going to pay money and spend my hours with some folks—even fictional folk—I want to have fun. I want to be with people I like. Let’s face it, if your characters aren’t likeable, you’re not going to sell that book. That’s the voice of experience talking.

And, as a reader, I want characters I can root for, characters I can laugh with and cry with, characters with whom I sympathize. I want to spend time with folks I like.
Which brings up the question—what is likeable?

This is where subjective opinion gets into it. Even the most beloved characters have their detractors. And good characters are like people—or they should be. This means not every character will be liked by every reader. However, there are some basic things you can do give a character a better chance of being someone that a reader wants to spend hours with, as in give your characters:

• Mad Skills – We tend to like folks we admire; we like people who are good at what they do. This is why sports figures at the top of their game—we like to see folks doing amazing things. Think of Indiana Jones—we like him because right off, even if things don’t go his way, he’s shown to have extraordinary skills. This is something I use in The Cardros Ruby—the hero’s shown as being able to handle a tough situation right off.
• Good Intentions/Actions – We tend to like folks who mean us (and the world in general) well. We like characters who have good reasons for what they’re doing—as in a mother who is out to protect her child. She may do bad things, but she’s got really good reasons, as in Sarah Conner of The Terminator. We like folks even more when they do good things. The guy who rescues a stray dog. The woman who goes without movies for a month to buy her niece the prom dress the poor girl has been longing for and can’t afford. Little acts of kindness can mean a lot to a reader—and will put the reader on the character’s side. This is another one I use in The Cardros Ruby—even though the heroine’s heard bad things about the hero (and some of the gossip is deserved), she stands up for him because she recognizes she owes him.
• Underdog Status – We like characters that don’t start out with everything going their way—folks who are behind the eight ball and have had nothing but bad luck tend to stir our sympathy. If the main character has everything else stacked in his or her favor, that’s not someone who is earning our praise and sympathy. This is another one I use (and notice that you can layer these on—just don’t go heavy handed with this).
• Grit – This could be called strong moral fiber—or even just stubbornness. These are folks who don’t quit when things get tough—characters who preservere, because it’s nice to see that works (even if only if fiction at times).
• Humor – Let’s face it, we like folks who make us laugh. This is what keeps comedians in business. These are the witty types, folks we admire for having a fast mind and a way with words.  I actually try to have all my characters be funny and quick because I love people who are sharp—so that’s a personal choice.
• Quirks – Every character needs some flaws—no one likes perfection. A few quirks and a character is both more memorable as well as more likeable. An odd physical trait—a scar, or a handicap overcome–such as being very, very short. Or a metal quirk, as in Monk, the OCD detective.
• Empathy – Characters don’t exist in isolation—they need to be aware of the world around them. Characters who demonstrate empathy for others earn our empathy—we are prone to like these folks.

Now this is not to say that all characters must display all these traits—that would be too much for any reader to believe. But pick three or four things. Or even a couple. Demonstrate that your main characters—your protagonists—are likeable. And keep in mind that if a character is going to have to do bad or stupid things in the story, that character needs the reader on his or her side early and to a great degree.

Even give some of these likeable traits to your antagonists. They need to earn the reader’s sympathy, too, if the conflict is going to be strong. After all, even Hannibal Lecter had the admirable traits of being a cultured man—and very, very mad skills (emphasis on the mad there).

Let your readers get to know and like your characters before you start having your characters do terrible things—and then think long and hard about if a reader can forgive that character for breaking up a beautiful friendship by betraying the reader’s trust. If any reader finds the characters too unlikeable, that book is going to be put down.

Think about making sure your character demonstrates he or she is likeable—it’s not enough to tell the reader these things. The character has to be shown doing things that are worthy of the reader—the character must be shown doing things that show off that character’s traits. (And if you’re not sure about this, read Dick Francis, he’s a master at making you like a character in less than a page.)

Above all remember that you’re asking a reader to spend time in your world. Make sure readers want to stay, want to root for your characters, and start to like them. It all starts off with creating characters you really like—and making sure they show up right off doing some admirable things.

How have you made your characters likeable? Are you struggling trying to find a likeable attribute?

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, is out this May.