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My daughter discovered Pirates of the Carribean. She can’t get enough of it! When I was a bit older than her, I read Treasure Island. Pirates, I have a bit of a weakness for them myself. So, I decided to look at them a bit here at the ole blog and I got two authors to help me–Darlene Marshall and Jennifer Ashley.
So, over the next few days I’m going be posting my questions and their answers about pirates. Don’t miss it!! Check back or walk the plank…
RWA has a little bit in their email newsletter about second sales–listing them that is. Why you ask? Because contrary to what a lot of aspiring writers think–the second sale (contract) is not a sure thing. I and many of my friends are bobbing around in this limbo ourselves right now.
With that in mind I wanted to post a 
few second sale stories here on my blog. Only, one kind soul has shared hers with me so far, but I’ll try and dig up some more. So, here is the first in what I hope will be more second sales stories.
Gail Dayton has had four books published–two with Silhouette Desire and two with Harlequin’s Luna line. A rather interesting hop from Desire to Luna, and Gail was kind enough to tell me how it happened.
I can not only give you a second sale story, but a third…sort of.
Okay, my first sale was to Desire. I sent a partial in January of 2000, sent the complete in March, and they bought it on May 31. Wow! So of course, I thought I had it made. Problem was, this was the 1st Desire I’d written–I’d been all over the place in my writing (still am)–so I had Nothing under the bed to follow up with. I tried a couple of things and got shot down. Then my editor went out on maternity leave.
It took a while to get an interim editor, and about the time my original editor was about to return to work, 9/11 happened. (My sheikh book was released that November–sales weren’t great, but they weren’t bad either.) So the editor decided Not to come back. And it took another couple of months for the interim editor to be confirmed as my new official one. 
Then H/S New York moved their offices, so nothing happened for another month or so. By this time, it was 2002, and I had sent in a
rich girl/poor boy story (about the 4th ms I’d tried). But poor boys weren’t doing well, so they turned it down, and I asked if they thought it would work if I made him rich. One major re-write later, they bought the book. 
Two years after my first sale. It came out in 2003.
About this time, Harlequin underwent their major reshuffle, moving editors to new lines, promoting them, re-arranging them, etc., etc. And I was submitting new proposals for Desire and getting them shot down. All this time, I’d been hearing about this new fantasy line Harlequin was starting up: Luna.
Fantasy was my first love. I read fantasy back when I still thought kissing was icky, long, long before I discovered romance. So I watched, listened, and read the first few books that came out. Then I worked up a proposal for Luna. While waiting to hear about those Desire proposals I kept sending in. A year after my 2nd Desire sale, in August 2003, I got
a call from my editor: They loved my Luna proposal and wanted to contract for three books.
I still haven’t sold another Desire, despite continuing to submit proposals on a semi-regular basis. The Lunas do keep me busy, which I know is part of it. And the other part may be that, while I read a lot of Desires and they definitely have a place in my heart, that’s not where my head is any more. I think I’m going to focus on the fantasy and paranormal arena for a while…
Visit Gail on the web at www.gaildayton.com.
Today I am trying to get another chapter done on a project my agent is shopping around. Actually we have been working with an editor on some changes–which I incorporated into the first three chapters and synopsis. But then I decided to go ahead and write some more of the book also with these changes in mind.
So, here’s the deal. I have the book plotted out–the synopsis is done. But I still have to write in spurts. What I mean by this is I think a scene or two ahead. So I finish one scene then I need a little break to decide what comes next. When I sit down to write that scene it comes really fast, but I need percolate time. Anyone else write like this?
Right now I am percolating. My protagonist has just started investigating a mystery of sorts, hit the typical dead ends–called the police, talked to neighbors, now what?? Hmm? And it has to be good…Guess I’ll go take a shower. Perfect place for percolating.
Lori
I just got done with my judging sprint for the year–both pubbed and unpubbed. Whenever I judge unpublished manuscripts there is always one or more that make the same mistake–starting in the wrong place. This takes a couple of forms–one is the dreaded back story dump. You know the narrator/POV character telling you everything that ever happened before in their life? But it can also be just starting before the action–so you (the reader) get dragged along as the POV character journeys (physically or emotionally) to where the real story starts.
This can take pages–even chapters. Pages and chapters that if I wasn’t judging I would never have read because I would have slapped that puppy down and trotted off to watch whatever reality TV program I had recorded on my DVR.
To protect the innocent, I’m not going to go any further into what not to write–but instead thought I would give an example of a book that 
starts in the right place. Risk Everything by my friend Sophia Johnson.
The story opens with the heroine sneaking out of the castle and putting on chain mail. In the opening pages we aren’t drowned in explanation as to why the heroine would be donning mail–we just see her do it. We also aren’t forced to live through the raids, and the threatening notes that proceeded this early morning adventure. Nope, that is just dropped in later when it becomes necessary for us to know it. So, we are left free to just experience what the heroine and hero are experiencing as they do.
Leaving out things like the history of the raids is hard for a writer. I think historicals in particular like to tell you all this stuff up front, but really, if you can keep yourself from doing it, for me it makes for a much more entertaining read. (have I mentioned I skip almost all prologues too?)
How about you? What is your tolerance for slow beginnings?
Lori
One last mention–for great handling of back story, check out Jennifer Cruisie. She is the prime example of how little back story a book really needs. Fab!!
I found this article today and thought I’d share it. There is really some great information here. It is targeted to Science Fiction writers, but I think it pretty much applies to most genres. :)
Lori
http://www.ethshar.com/thesprigganexperiment0.html
What do you think? As a reader would you send someone money for this? As a writer would you consider doing it?
Lori
Well, I have decided on WriteWay. Actually, I really like it. I really think it will help with my writing. There are only a of couple things so far I miss about Word. One is spell check. WriteWay has spell check, but not as extensive as Word and it doesn’t have the little feature where a questionable word is either automatically fixed or accented with a colored underline. The second is the right click thesaurus Word has. I am a tad addicted to it, but the other features WriteWay does offer far out weigh that one inconvenience.
Till later!
Lori
A new line appears…
Apparently Harlequin is starting a new paranormal line–75,000 words, 2 times a month to start in October 2006, and Leslie Wainger is heading it up.
That’s all I know–anyone else know more? Heard it might be like Shadows, which someone else told me was dark. I hope not–we need funny, people!!
Lori
Update: Just heard for certain–dark, yep, it’s dark. Isn’t dark over yet?
So, Harlequin just announced the end of the Signature Select line. I don’t know much about that line–isn’t this the one that came with “extras” or am I confused? And it’s only been around a year or so, right? Anyway, the constant changing of lines has to be discouraging to many writers. I know I am still mourning the loss of Flipside. :(
Lori
So, for Christmas my mother is getting me some writing software. I have downloaded the trial versions of both Power Writer and WriteWay. It’s a tough call.
At first I was leaning toward Power Writer. A friend of mine recommended it and it is pretty straightforward. It also has a nice tutorial to get you up and running, but one thing I don’t like about it is that you can’t print the character sheets. I emailed the company, and they said it was in the works, but not until next year some time. FYI: at that time it will be a major upgrade, so costs may increase, but sounds like a number of things may change.
What I didn’t like about WriteWay was that I don’t find it intuitive and there aren’t any real tutorials. There is a help section, but I think it could be easier to navigate. And there are “sample” books for you to look at which might be helpful. But it has a lot more to it than Power Writer. I’m just not sure if that is good or bad yet.
Anyway, I’m trying them both out and I’ll let you know what I decide. Anyone out there have more experience with them?
Lori
My goal is 35,000 words and $500 dollars. Click the image to donate or join!
Random books from my shelf...
