Advice to Newcomer Authors

By Heather Graham

My first piece of advice to any newcomer is to take my advice if it works for you—and ignore it if it doesn’t. 

I haven’t given any yet, not really. 

So here it is. 

We go to all kinds of workshops and panels and we hear how many experts work. I should qualify what I’m saying. If an FBI agent tells you something that an FBI agent would do, I’d go with it. Or if an arms specialist told me about a gun, I’d go by what he says.

But we read subjectively and have different pet peeves and the way we write can be just as subjective. Story boards are great and you can go to wonderful workshops on them; for some people, it’s easier to keep notes, or even immerse themselves in their manuscripts. Some will tell you that you need an outline to get started while other authors like to sit down and go and see where their characters and words lead them.

But if you’re ever in a workshop and someone—even someone who is extremely successful—tells you that you must work in one way or another, that someone just might be wrong. There are authors who will tell you that they must have certain music playing; they must have coffee at hand, or that they must set the mood. They must be alone—they can only concentrate in perfect silence. 

You may not like the distraction of music. You might not mind the chaos of working in the middle of Grand Central Station—or your house, which just might feel and sound like Grand Central Station at times. 

We all work differently.

So, there really is no right way to go about writing. 

I’ve seen authors go to conferences and hear conflicting advice or believing that they have to take every piece of advice or adhere to everything they’ve learned. Now, most of the time, the person speaking is going to give great advice. And most of it will be valuable. The writer (and the “old” writer) must listen and learn and then create a filter. Everything that is useful to them needs to be held and what just won’t work in their methods or their lives, they have to let go. 

Trying to take every piece of advice is like trying to please every single reader out there—it’s not going to happen.

This goes back to where your friends/critique partners or even editors that read your work. One may love a protagonist and hate a plot twist. Loathe one character and become annoyed by another. Some have an instant dislike of first person or present tense. 

A writer has to use his or her own filters or be lost in a jumble of confusion. Study your own work—decide what you feel. Often a writer will realize that a character who shouldn’t be is abrasive. Or there is a hole in the plot that a truck could drive through. Listen, learn—and be honest and a little brutal with yourself—and weigh every piece of what you’ve heard with your belief in yourself, your book, your characters, and your plot. 

Remember, too, your mother/best friend/husband/sister can’t buy your book. An editor can, so if an editor suggests something you’re not sure about, you really might want to make the changes.

(Unless your mother/best friend/husband/sister/etc. happens to be an editor!

If these words are helpful to you, use them. If not, please filter out! 

BIO: New York Times and USA Today best selling author, Heather Graham, majored in theater arts at the University of South Florida. After a stint of several years in dinner theater, back-up vocals, and bartending, she stayed home after the birth of her third child and began to write. Her first book was with Dell, and since then, she has written over one hundred novels and novellas including category, suspense, historical romance, vampire fiction, time travel, occult and Christmas family fare.

She is pleased to have been published in approximately twenty languages. She has written over 100 novels and has 60 million books in print. She has been honored with awards from Walden Books, B. Dalton, Georgia Romance Writers, Affaire de Coeur, Romantic Times and more. 

Heather has also become the proud recipient of the Silver Bullet from Thriller Writers. Heather has had books selected for the Doubleday Book Club and the Literary Guild, and has been quoted, interviewed, or featured in such publications as The Nation, Redbook, Mystery Book Club, People and USA Today and appeared on many newscasts including Today, Entertainment Tonight and local television. 

Heather loves travel and anything that has to do with the water, and is a certified scuba diver. She also loves ballroom dancing. Each year she hosts the Vampire Ball and Dinner theater at the RT convention raising money for the Pediatric Aids Society and in 2006 she hosted the first Writers for New Orleans Workshop to benefit the stricken gulf region.  

She is also the founder of “The Slush Pile Players”, presenting something that’s almost like entertainment for various conferences and benefits. Married since high school graduation and the

mother of five, her greatest love in life remains her family, but she also believes her career has been an incredible gift, and she is grateful every day to be doing something that she loves so very much for a living. 

The Unseen, The Unholy, The Unspoken and the Uninvited are available now.  Let the Dead Sleep will be released in March, 2013.  The Night is Watching,  The Night is Alive and The Night is Forever will be released in June, August and October.

Visit Heather at her website and blog.

31 Years & 19 Best Sellers: Some of What I've Learned

By Michael Palmer

BE FEARLESS

Before I get started, let me explain the way I write when I am communicating with friends...

It’s like this—thoughts with no particular syntax or attention to punctuation...lots of ellipses...One of the reasons for doing this is that I can only type with 2 fingers...think of it—19 books with all the rewrites…20 if you count the one that has never been published in English (6 foreign translations, though) and all of it done with these two fingers...my first 2 books were done on a manual Olivetti, the third on an electric smith corona, and the next two on a Kay-Pro, the 30 pound “portable” 9” green screen so-called writer’s computer…After that it’s been Mac all the way…I go for easy… 

No wonder I needed to have a carpal tunnel release 2 years ago…great operation, by the way, for anyone who needs it…write me for the name of my doc at MGH… 

There is more than laziness to my blogging this way…this is how I write when I’m figuring things out or am trying to break my way out of creator’s block…writing is easy—making up what to write, not so easy…so I call it creator’s block, and writing like this is the way I handle it. 

So, here are some rambling thoughts for you as they pop into my head—thoughts accumulated over 34 years (I first tried my hand at this in November, 1978 and sold my first book as an 80-page outline in 1980 for what was at the time, the largest advance ever paid to a fiction writer who had never published a book -- $250,000… amazing) …for some of my writing story, check out the bio on www.michaelpalmerbooks.com) … 

My two guiding principles in this business are never to forget that (1) THIS IS HARD and (2) BE FEARLESS… 

It is so hard that I can never believe how many authors actually finish books—good or stinky, published or not…I don’t think I ever would have tried if I didn’t have a nice fall-back job behind me—namely: physician…talk about a safety net…my two biggest assets are my always wild imagination, and my discipline…

Wanna know if you have the discipline it takes to write a novel?—take organic chemistry…as for the second guiding principal, that’s what it’s all about—you (me) must get rid of the fear of sounding stupid and also of being rejected…write first, worry later…

And be careful about reading your stuff over when you are tired…not much of anything reads un-stupid when you’re exhausted…of course, we’re all always exhausted, so the state is relative…any questions, read your stuff out loud (I do that all the time, and when I’ve finished a book, I actually pay my son Daniel (a terrific writer, now finishing his 4th thriller, and doing well with STOLEN, his third) to read it out loud with me… 

I write almost every chance I get…usually I write six days a week with a goal of like three to five pages a day…

HOWEVER, perhaps the third guiding principle is never to be too hard on myself…if I do two hours and only one page and can’t do any more for whatever reason, then I walk away…

But remember what I wrote about discipline…discipline is doing it when you don’t want to…you must know yourself to know when it’s time to stop…I used to be driven to do another hour in organic by seeing other pre-meds sitting there in the library with their noses in that humongous to me…I just now put on some music for a while…anything to make it easier…I love the 150 or so tunes on my iTunes and know them so well, they are like white noise most of the time…at the moment it’s Richard Cory by S&G…what a great song…

Brings up my 4th guiding principle…never if you can help it, I mean NEVER go around comparing your insides (or writing) to other people’s outsides…it takes practice and reminders, but it will make a hell of a difference in your writing and your life…need reinforcement about this, get Richard Cory from the sounds of silence album and put it on your iTunes…

Everyone wants to be an overnight wonder in this business…I never even thought about that and damn if I didn’t luck out with The Sisterhood…but life and the book business was different then…it was more personal and less crowded, it moved slower and there were amazingly talented and imaginative people in the publishing world whose job it was to make me a success…there are still such people, but the industry can’t pay enough to keep them…

Now I watch what son Daniel is going through and I ache for him…he’s good—really good, actually…but there are just so many people writing, and so many publishers throwing books up against the wall searching for the next girl with the dragon tattoo, and then deserting the author when the book doesn’t immediately make it…computer-generated sales figures are the enemy in that regard…

There are e-books flooding the market, and amazon, and nook, and blogs and conferences and speaking opportunities from organizations looking for “free” entertainment and program fillers…you can’t imagine how many ARCs I get every month searching for blurbs…believe it or not, Daniel’s older brother Matthew just got a great 6-figure, 2-book deal from Putnam…he’s got a great “fall-back” job as I did…so I don’t ache for what he’s in for as much as I do for the full-time writers who have no other source of income… 

That brings me to the last thought I want to blog about here…publicity and marketing…new writers often ask me: okay, my book is coming out next march, now what can I do to get people to read it?? …they never like my answer, which is that the most effective thing they can do is to write another book…

It wasn’t like that in the old days…I was on good morning America and today and Larry King (several times) and many other shows…I had reviews in tons of newspapers (some of those papers still exist and some of those actually still review books—but a continuously shrinking number) …I did dozens and dozens of my favorite media—talk radio, and dozens of shows like good morning Cleveland and good morning Pittsburgh, many of which if not most have gone the way of the dodo bird…

So what’s left? …here’s sort of an amalgam of what I’ve learned from my experience and Daniel’s and others and what I will be passing on to Matthew (who is too busy working for the state department to go out and hock his book anyway) …

First of all, get a web site and keep it up…get lots of business cards made that are eye-catching and list your site (www.VISTAprint.com)…..give one to whoever will take it…make it informative and imaginative…people love the writers’ tips on my web site, even though I don’t have time to update them…TV and radio appearances probably help…TV lots…newspaper ads—who knows? …no one really seems to know about ads, even big ones like the full pagers I have had in the NY Times…

Social media may actually help, but only if you really work at it…contests, frequent postings, Facebook ads to increase numbers on your “fan page” …what about hiring a pro?? I REALLY DON’T KNOW…

I would go social media pro rather than media unless you have a real hook that would appeal to TV or Glenn Beck or someone…Daniel does social media himself, but he spends time on it, and of course when you’re doing anything that isn’t writing, you’re not writing…make that guiding principal #6 or whatever number I’m on… 

Speaking of which, even though this is fun and relaxing and easy for me, as well as being gratifying because I love to help new writers, while I’m doing it, I’m not working on my new book, RESISTANT … so… 

POLITICAL SUICIDE:

Dr. Lou Welcome, from Palmer's bestselling Oath of Office, is back. A desperate phone call embroils Lou in scandal and murder involving Dr. Gary McHugh, known around the Capital as the “society doc.” Lou has been supervising McHugh, formerly a black-out drinker, through his work with the Physician Wellness Office.  McHugh has been very cavalier about his recovery, barely attending AA and refusing a sponsor. But Lou sees progress, and the two men are becoming friends. Now, McHugh has been found unconscious in his wrecked car after visiting a patient of his, the powerful Congressman Elias Colston, Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. Soon after McHugh awakens in the hospital ER, Colston's wife returns home to find her husband shot dead in their garage. She then admits to the police that she had just broken off a long-standing affair with McHugh. Something about McHugh's story has Lou believing he is telling the truth, that the Congressman was dead when he arrived and before he blacked out. Lou agrees to look into matters, but when he encounters motive, method and opportunity he is hard pressed to believe in his friend—that is until a deadly high-level conspiracy begins to unravel, and Lou acquires information that makes him the next target.

BIO:  Michael Palmer is the author of seventeen novels of medical suspense, all international bestsellers, and an associate director of the Massachusetts Medical Society Physical Health Services, devoted to helping physicians sidelined by mental illness, physical illness, behavioral issues, and chemical dependency. His books have been translated into thirty-five languages. He lives in eastern Massachusetts. Visit him at www.michaelpalmerbooks.com.

May Debut Releases

It's the first Thursday in May and that means new debut releases. Please take a look and let’s celebrate their success!

Matt Coyle - Yesterday's Echo (Oceanview Publishing) May 7, 2013

www.mattcoylebooks.com

What will a man sacrifice for a chance at redemption?

Ex-cop Rick Cahill was released from jail for the murder of his wife, but never exonerated. Not by the police. Not by the media. Not by himself. Eight years later, police suspicion and his own guilt still remain over his responsibility in his wife's death. When he meets Melody Malana, a beautiful, yet secretive TV reporter, he sees a chance to love again. When she is arrested for murder and asks for Rick's help, he grasps at the chance for redemption.

But Rick's attempt at help somersaults into the police chasing him for the murder. As he tries to sort out truth from lies, Rick encounters desperate people who have secrets buried in their pasts and will kill to keep them there. Before he can save himself and bring down a murderer, Rick must confront the truth about his own past and untangle his feelings for a woman he can never fully trust.

Know What You Write

By Jon McGoran

One of the oldest, best known, and perhaps most discredited pieces of writing advice out there is “Write what you know.”

When I was younger, I took this to mean “write about your own life,” and decided early on it was advice to be disregarded.  I was sure no one wanted to read about my life, and I’ve still never read a bestseller — or any kind of seller — with a protagonist who spends every night writing while all the interesting characters are out doing things. (“Our hero sat at the computer and typed. Then he typed some more. After a slightly over-long break on Twitter, he resumed typing.”)

I decided it is more important to write who you know, or to write what you know about people. So I created characters informed by the people in my life as I wrote about things I didn’t know, things like forensics, which required massive amounts of research. That kind of research is a lot of work, but it’s immensely fun, a spark for creativity and a great source for ideas.

I might not have been writing what I knew, but I knew what I was writing. I got plenty of great feedback, including praise for the accuracy and detail of the forensics. But I was also frequently asked if I had a background in forensics, and met with unmistakable disappointment when I replied,  (betraying none of the indignation that I felt), “No, my background is in writing.”

Meanwhile, during the day, I continued to work as communications director for a food co-op in Philadelphia, editing and publishing a monthly newspaper, The Shuttle, and, in large part, writing about food and the systems that grow and produce it. My daytime activities were almost as boring as my evenings (“The next day, our hero sat at a different desk, on a different computer, and he typed. After sharing a hilarious cat picture on Facebook, he typed some more. …Then he went to a meeting.”) But the issues I was covering were fascinating and important, increasingly so in recent years. Food was being irradiated, cloned, and genetically engineered — bad news for people who eat food, but great news for a writer looking for a meaningful topic to write about. Ideas for thrillers jumped out at me every day.

As the news about GMOs, or genetically modified organisms, got crazier and crazier, I decided I had to get involved. I began working with groups like Just Label It and the Right to Know coalition, who were spearheading national efforts to label GMOs, and more recently with statewide groups in Pennsylvania.

I also started working on Drift, a thriller about GMO’s and the blurring line between food and pharmaceuticals, first because it was a great idea for a thriller, but also because fiction can be a very compelling way to explore important issues. I still had to do plenty of research (you always have to do lots of research), but I already had a nuanced understanding of the topic, and a certain level of credibility if someone was to ask about my background in this area. I’ve already gotten great feedback, support and enthusiasm from people in the GMO labeling community.

Drift doesn't come out until July, and I have no way of knowing how it will be received. But having benefited from the subtle grasp that comes with a deep understanding of a subject, the satisfaction of making a meaningful contribution to the discourse of an important topic, and, hopefully, the support of a broad community of people who share my concerns, if I had to offer one piece of advice it just might be, Write what you know.

BIO: JON McGORAN has written about food and sustainability for twenty years, as communication director at Weavers Way Co-op and editor of The Shuttle newspaper, and now as editor at Grid magazine. During that time he has also been an advocate for urban agriculture, cooperative development and labeling of genetically engineered foods. 

He is a member of the International Thriller Writers and the Mystery Writers of America, and a founding member of the Philadelphia Liars Club, a group of published authors dedicated to promotion, networking, and service work. In Drift, he combines his interest in the increasingly bizarre world of food today with his love of the thriller. Visit him at: www.jonmcgoran.com

Drift is an ecological thriller about genetically-engineered foods, agro-pharmaceuticals and bio-tech threats to farming and food. After the death of his parents, Philadelphia narcotics Detective Doyle Carrick plans to spend a thirty-day suspension drinking alone in the country. 

But then a high-powered drug gang shows up in town and when Doyle busts their scheme to sell genetically altered heroin, he realizes they are up to something far more sinister. Soon, he must race to stop them from unleashing a deadly new plague that could kill millions, and earn billions for those who control the cure.