When you sign the contract to publish your book, suddenly you’re working with someone you never have before. An editor.
<dramatic gasps>
Your contact with her sets the tone for your publishing experience. Well, let me say, so far my experience has been AWESOME. She answers your questions and quite obviously loves her job. Without further ado: an interview with Jennifer Lawler.
<applause>
Novel ideas are strange creatures. Sometimes they crawl out from under a chair or out of the closet, sneaking up on you. Sometimes they pounce when you least expect and the most unprepared.
The slow ones can give you time to think. First, it’s a character or plot point. Sometimes it’s a trait. Whispering, “Wouldn’t it be cool if…” You mull them over. Twist them and play with them and coax their friends from the shadows. Building the story in your mind while you make note of and enjoy the discovery.
The fast ones hit like a bolt of electricity. Just WHAM. While you’re driving or in the shower. The idea, the characters, from beginning to end. SMACK in the face and no way to write them down. Unless you have a child with those tub crayons, then you can make notes on the shower wall. But if you don’t. They back away, slipping out of your mind like sand through your fingers. Until, if you’re lucky, you’re left with a half remembered idea when you finally get to a stop light. Of course, you know when you get an idea like that you only hit green lights.
It’s not just novel ideas that are like that. Solutions to all problems or questions can come that way.
When do your ideas come to you?
As Kristine Overbrook I enjoy playing with the paranormal. I find something comforting in describing what goes bump in the night, even if it’s something dangerous.
I’m sure you’ve all heard that truth is stranger than fiction. My fun comes in trying to top the truth. My only rule is that there must be a happy ending. Like a rollercoaster, just because you end up safe at the end doesn’t mean you won’t have a heck of a ride.
I’m blogging today with the Ladies in Red (the Crimson Romance authors’ blog)
Stop by.
The Call – the notification an author receives when a publisher wants to publish their book.
Since I started writing, I always dreamed about getting “the call.” I would go to meetings and listen to published writers tell their stories and dream of one day getting it myself.
Seven years ago I began a book called Creatures of the Moon. Another night of dishes, dinner, laundry and various other “emergencies” had me ready to explode. The image of a mother “wolfing out” sprang to mind. After playing around with the image, a story evolved. It follows the romance of a female detective who is bitten by a werewolf and the sexy male reporter that helps her through the transformation, they then team up and stop the bad guy.
I joined a writers group and realized that most of my preconceptions of writing and publishing were wrong. So I wrote, revised and learned. After finishing my first draft, I celebrated. Then I realized the revisions I would have complete before I dared put it before someone in the publishing world. After a while with no takers I set it aside and wrote another book.
Then another.
The whole while I didn’t let that first book go. Over the years, I’ve grown as a writer. I’ve gotten better at crafting a story and learned about the business of publishing.
One day I got a notification that Adams Media was launching a romance imprint called Crimson Romance. I pulled out Creatures of the Moon and submitted it. Why not, right?
Forty days later, I got the e-mail. In my case it wasn’t a call. Good thing too, because if it were a call I would not have been able to talk coherently for a full two minutes. At least I could read and reread the e-mail. To myself, my husband, my kids, my parents, you get the idea. Then, of course, there was the hooting, squealing and dancing.
Just like finishing the book, it’s a momentous occasion. Just like finishing the book, it starts a whole new world of growth and learning.
The call – the start of a new adventure.
