Writers in the Storm

A Quick News Flash! Laura Drake is our local Query Queen. She's shared the knowledge gained from her 15 year stint in the submission wars  in several blogs here over the years. She wanted to let you know that she's teaching a month-long, online class for Margie Lawson's Writer's Academy in March, Submissions that Sell! A submission is much more than just a query -- and you have one shot at a gatekeeper's attention. Make the most of it! You can learn more here.

Now, on to a new guest we're excited to introduce you to!

Today's guest is Kathleen Harrington, is a multi-published, eclectic Historical Avon author. She's written novels set from Regency England, the American West, and Medieval Scotland.  The research alone make me shudder!  But after reading her blog, you'll understand where all her stories came from!  Take it away, Kathy~

There are several fairytales currently playing in our movie theaters. Hansel and Gretel. Jack the Giant Slayer. The Great and Powerful Oz. Along with Beautiful Creatures, a story about Casters, aka witches. (As in the land of Oz, some casters are good and some, not so much.)

Every culture on Earth has its myths. Legends as old as time. Which seems to beg the question: What do we and the cavemen have in common?

Everyone loves a good story!

Those ancient cavemen sat around the fireside spinning yarns to entrance their listeners. As the storytellers of our generation, we sit at our computers instead. But our goal is the same. To captivate our readers.

Where do our own stories come from? They spring from the treasure house within us, that gift of creativity that lies within all human beings.

When I was five years old, my Grandpa Louis built a playhouse for me. A marvelous structure, with a door and windows for light, white siding on the outside, a charmingly arched roof trimmed in red, and a planked wood floor. A house clearly meant for children, for no adult could stand up straight, once inside. A house meant for exploring the world of imagination.

Inside my playhouse, my two cousins and I recreated countless stories of heroes and heroines. Tales of unflinching valor and derring-do, with fire-breathing dragons and that awful green witch from the Wizard of Oz. We took on the roles of pirates, knights, cowgirls, and movie stars. We cooked make-believe meals served on our pint-sized china, dressed in long gowns and high heels that had once been worn by our mothers. We played with our baby dolls, our paper dolls, and our storybook dolls. In endless summer days of pure imaginative delight. Sometimes, we even let our brothers join us, but only if they behaved to our satisfaction. After all, someone had to take on the roles of the villains.

These happy memories bring to mind a quote of Albert Einstein. "If you want your children to be smart, read them fairytales. If you want them to be even smarter, read them more fairytales." (My point is not to infer that I'm smart, because I'm faaar from a genius. Way far!) Rather, it's the vast importance of fairytales in our creative psyches. As Einstein further stated, "Imagination is more important than knowledge." And he, of course, was a genius.

Throughout history, storytellers held exalted positions in their cultures, for they were the keepers of the flame of knowledge of right and wrong, good and evil.

Today, we writers are the keepers of the flame. Through our stories, we tell of the joys and heartaches of the human experience. We show people who stumble and fall, who recognize and overcome their individual flaws, and succeed, against all odds, in returning with the elixir.

My childhood playhouse is the symbol of the treasure house within me. The place where my heroes and heroines conquer fire-breathing dragons. And prove the value of always carrying a bucket of water. Just in case we meet up with that awful green witch from Oz.

Visualize the treasure house within you. What do you see?

Kathleen Harrington is a multi-published author of historical romance. Her latest book, the second in the Highland Lairds Series, Lachlan's Bride, an Avon Impulse, will be released April 30th.    http://kathleenharringtonbooks.com

Today's guest is my writing 'twin.' I say that because we seem to do everything together; we got agents, sold, got our covers, and will release our debut novels, all within a month of each other! She's an amazing author - remember, you heard of her here first! 

Anne has agreed to give away an advance copy of her Regency novel, Tainted Angel , due out in June, to one lucky commenter! (is that a gorgeous cover, or what?)

Take it away, Anne!

I’d like to thank the great and mighty Laura Drake for allowing me this opportunity to introduce myself—thanks a million, Laura!

I have two series debuting this year, a historical fiction series and a contemporary mystery series.  I’ve attended a few panels on the knotty problem of how accurate you have to be when writing historicals, so for those of you who read or write historical novels, I thought I’d pass along what I’ve gleaned.  I would also like to give away an advance copy of my Regency novel, Tainted Angel, which will come out in June.

In Larry McMurtry’s epic Lonesome Dove, the heroes drive cattle from Texas to Montana and never encounter any of the three intercontinental railroads they should have crossed along the way.   In his Comanche Moon, a character has a Winchester rifle even though the weapon was not invented for 10 more years.

The movie Braveheart tells us that the future Edward III was the product of a liaison between William Wallace and Isabella of France.  The problem is, Wallace was executed seven years before Edward was born, and Isabella of France was nine at the time Wallace was executed.

Are the stories any less compelling? The answer probably depends on your perspective. A history professor may reject such liberties, while to someone with a more cursory knowledge of the historical period, ignorance would be bliss.  The trick to writing a story from an earlier time period is to find the right balance between dry-as-dust history and an engaging story, and how accurate you need to be, I think, depends on who your readers are.

So--how accurate does your readership want you to be? If you are writing “hot” Regencies, the answer is probably not very accurate, because nice young ladies didn’t fool around (and were definitely never given an opportunity.)   Along the same lines, nice young ladies didn’t go west in the early-and-mid nineteenth century to stake out a homestead or run a cattle ranch; the huge majority were prostitutes.  This is probably not an interesting storyline for a western, however (unless you are writing “hot” westerns.)  Therefore, the question is not whether to take liberties with historical accuracy, it is how much liberty to take. My own rule of thumb is to never write anything that would “jolt” the average reader out of the story’s time frame—not the average history professor, just the average reader.

Here are some things to ask yourself:

(1)  Have you tied yourself down to a certain year? Is there a commonly-known historic event in your story?  If so, it is probably necessary to be a little more careful in your accuracy, which is actually a lot easier than you think, thanks to Google and Wikipedia. Were there gas stoves, yet?  Was Stetson selling hats?  And be especially careful about weapons--the gun people are sticklers.

(2)  Does the history overwhelm the fiction?  There is always a temptation to include all your bright, shiny, hard-earned research and bog the story down. Does the reader really need to know what kind of candles were used.

(3) What will you do about language?  Do you use the period’s awkward phrasing and now-outdated words, or do you update the language so the story moves along more easily? Do you use cant or slang phrases? My rule of thumb is to use period phrases and words, but only where the meaning is clear from the context—there’s nothing more wooden than having a character explain what she meant.

(4) What will you  do about societal strictures and sex? Courtship usually went according to a strict format—will you ignore this, or incorporate it into the story? One of the reasons we are drawn to the Amish stories, or even Pride and Prejudice, is because the context sets up an immediate tension—there were strict rules about interaction between the sexes.  Will you incorporate it into the story to create an external conflict, or will you inject modern manners into the past?

(5) In writing Young Adult, extra caution is probably needed because the younger readers may not have an understanding of the actual history, and may take whatever you say at face value.

(6)  Finally, will you confess any liberties you take with historical accuracy in an author’s note?  Again, this probably depends on what your readership is expecting. If they are expecting a loose rendition of history, there is probably no need. If they are history buffs, however, then they will expect a detailed author’s note.

What do you expect from historical novels? Can you think of any other examples where an anachronism “jolted” you out of the story?

 Anne Cleeland holds a degree in English from UCLA as well as a degree in law from Pepperdine University, and is a member of the California State Bar.  She writes a historical fiction series set in the Regency period as well as a contemporary mystery series set in New Scotland Yard.  A member of the Historical Novel Society and Mystery Writers of America, she lives in California and has four children.

We have a treat for you today. Kerry Lonsdale is a writer and a marketing and techno-guru. She's here to keep you from website embarrassment. Here she is:

Cheesy websites. You know the ones I’m referring to. The music that launches the moment you land on the site. (I’m listening to Mumford & Sons on Pandora. I really don’t want to hear your 1980s love ballad.) The website designed around a book, not the author. (What are you, a one-hit-wonder?) The headshot photo you took of yourself. (Thank you for pointing the camera downward so I wouldn’t have to look up your nostrils.) The content loaded with fonts all shapes, sizes, and colors. (Too distracting and confusing. Sorry, you just lost me. I’ve left your site.)

Why you don’t want cheesiness.

THE IMPORTANCE OF BRANDING AND STAYING PROFESSIONAL

Writers love to be creative. Writers love color and words and all sorts of sparkly. But save the flash for a blog. That is where you express yourself—your opinions, thoughts, attitude, however sweet or crass it may be. Load your blog with menus, links, pictures, fonts, or whatever the heck you want. Play sweet ballads or heavy metal. Have fun with it.

Your website should be professional. Yes, there can be color. Yes, there can be pictures. Yes, it can show personality. But remember that writing is your business, so your site reflects the image you want to present to your target audience. Here’s a very simplified analogy:

Company/Corporation = You, the Author

Products = Your books

Buyers = Your readers

Website = Your website

Keep your site clean, colors and fonts consistent, content informative. As an author, you are the brand. Your website presents your brand to the world. Do you want a messy, cluttered, busy image, or one that is clean, organized, and inviting—one that welcomes your reader back to your site over and over?

So how do you create a professional looking website? Don’t worry. It’s a very easy process—even for an author with no website design experience.

What is your cheese factor?

LET’S MEASURE

Before you design a professional-looking site, it’s important to recognize what makes a website cheesy. Give yourself a point for any of these items your website already has. (I have also offered a quick explanation as to WHY you should avoid each line item.)

1. The domain (website address) is NOT the author name. It’s something funky like www (dot) mary loves books (dot) com.

Why avoid #1? A reader will likely search for an author using the author’s name. If the website URL is the author’s name, it will appear at the top of the search findings. It increases traffic to the website.

2. Music plays on the website.

Why avoid #2? Um…it’s annoying?

3. The author head shot is a picture she took herself, and/or it’s more than five years old.

Why avoid #3? Let’s see…it’s tacky? Unless you are really crafty with a camera and can doctor the picture so it doesn’t look like you are holding your arm up, find a friend or family member to take a picture of you. Better yet, go to JCPenney and fork over the cash to get a nice head shot.

4. More than three different fonts are used, and those fonts are displayed in all shapes, sizes, and colors.

Why avoid #4? You know that junk mail you get, the ones with the large, bold, underlined text and red italics text all mixed together while obnoxiously trying to pitch something for you to buy? Yeah, your website looks like that. It’s difficult for the eye to focus on what is important. Also, avoid colors that are too light, especially yellow. They are more difficult to see.

5. There is advertising on the website. (And I’m not talking about links from book images to amazon (dot) com.)

Why avoid #5? Unless you have a six figure book deal, every author is a starving writer. If you are going to display advertising on your website you might as well go stand on a street corner with a tin can and beg for coins. Is that the image you want to present?

How did you do? If you scored at least one, there is cheese in your website. So it’s time to cut the cheese. (You saw that one coming, didn’t you?)

Build a beautiful, professional-looking website.

AND DO IT IN LESS THAN A DAY

Like any business, if you care about your image as an author, you are going to invest the time (and a little bit of cash) to do it right. Remember, you, the author, are the company. And most companies, if not all, invest money toward their brand. As writers, it is well worth the expense, and you can do it for less than $50/year. (No, I’m not selling you anything. This is up to you.)

Step #1: Buy your name as a domain.

Or some version of it, like kerrylonsdaleauthor. Make sure your author name is spelled out.

If you don’t already own your name, go get it. There is an insurance firm in England and an artist in Australia who probably wished they’d purchased www (dot) kerrylonsdale (dot) com eons ago. I beat them to it.

Estimated cost: $15.00/year

Step #2: Plan your site’s navigation

These are the pages you will create when building the site. An author doesn’t need many, so start with these:

Home -- The website landing page. Some authors post a picture of their latest book release. Or a message about where they are signing books in the upcoming month.

Bio -- The author’s biography. Also a good page for the author’s photo.

Books -- Images of the author’s book covers, perhaps linked to where they can be purchased online. A brief synopsis of the book, and any other pertinent information.

News & Events -- Announcements about book releases or reviews. A listing of where an author is signing books if on a book tour, or conferences the author plans to attend. Remember to keep this content updated.

Contact -- Author’s contact information. If the author has an agent and/or publicist, include the contact information.

Blog (optional) -- The author’s blog. Notice it’s not on the homepage?

Estimated cost: Planning is free!

Step #3: Select your website platform/host

If you are like 99.9% of the writers out there, you have no experience with website coding, or you don’t have the money to hire a website designer. So stick with a platform that has templates and easy wizards to create pages and post content, such as Wordpress or Blogger.

Another thing that’s nice about using a theme/template? The color palette and fonts have already been selected for you so you don’t run the risk of running amok and getting crazy with multiple colors and sizing.

Once you select your platform, pay the extra cash to link your domain name. (You will have to go back to your domain host, such as Go Daddy, and change server names to the server names provided by Wordpress or Blogger uses, or whichever platform you select. Sound confusing? Type “link domain name” in the help search field and the instructions should pop up.)

Estimated cost: $20/year

Step #4: Create Your Pages and Add Your Content

Your provider should have simple, easy-to-follow wizards and instructions for these to be quickly created and published. When you add your content, make sure it’s pertinent for that page. You don’t need much, just make sure it’s concise. Give yourself an hour or so a week to change a picture or insert new content. It will keep your site fresh and visitors returning for more.

So? How did you do? Any cheese on your website to cut? Tell us about it in the comments!

From the conservative corporate insurance world of wool suits and pantyhose to the high tech realm of khaki pants and polo shirts, Kerry ventured into the small business start-up arena of jeans, tee shirts, and flip-flops, wielding her creativity in everything underneath the marketing hat—strategic planning, branding, graphic design, and blah, blah, blah. While she had no complaints about the attire (Who wouldn’t want to wear flip flops to work, especially ones with sparkles?), it was time for something new and vastly different, so she traded in her corporate hat.  Two women’s fiction manuscripts later, she proudly wears her creative writing cap—which has sparkles to match her flip flops.

Her writing has received recognition in numerous contests. She is a member of RWA and on the founding team of the WFWA, Women’s Fiction Writers Association. When she’s not writing, she’s running—after the dog, kids, or miles of pavement in her Sauconys. She drinks entirely too much coffee and will go to bat for Peet’s Coffee over Starbucks any day.

Twitter: @KerryLonsdale

Blog/Website: www.kerrylonsdale.com