Lynn Raye Harris

I’m lazy today. I’m in editing hell for the newsletter I do every month, I feel the pressure to get this novel written, the thesis has been languishing for two weeks now, I had an article due today, and I’ve got amendments to write for my chapter’s by-laws (the meeting is Saturday). Oh, and I’m leading my reading group in discussing To The Lighthouse in two weeks. So much as I might wish I could write an intelligent and original blog post, it ain’t gonna happen.

So please see Miss Snark on Word Counts:

When you submit your work to an agent, and you need to indicate word count, click the little button on your word processing program that says “word count” and use that number. That’s it. Do NOT start counting up pages and multiplying by 25o. Do NOT start obsessing about whether Times New Roman font is bigger/smaller than another font and thus can’t adhere to the “250 rule”.

I’ve been using computer word count forever now, but I still get these questions from friends/fellow writers and we end up discussing it again and again. One friend strongly believes that her 420 page TNR 12 pt manuscript is 100,000 words. But since she’s got the chapters in individual files, she hasn’t added them up. Now, since I’ve got a 286 pg TNR 12 pt that has 90,000 by computer count, I’m guessing she’s over just a bit.

Another post worth reading is here.

Bookstores should be a place of debate—learning—where the books on fascism can sit side by side with Marxist socialism and invite discussion. Where Right and Left can come to find the words written by not only those they agree with but those who differ in their opinions (if only to arm themselves against what “the enemy” is saying). If I claim to be for Free Speech then I have to be for all speech, even if I don’t agree because as I bookseller I’m not selling books to myself, but to the customer.

I have to agree, even if I think that shelving that particularly strident and annoying woman in the Kook section is accurate (this is a non-political blog, so you’ll have to go over there to find out who’s a Kook–er, who’s shelved there I mean). But that’s just me. I do see Bookseller Chick’s point however. Just because the bookstore in question thinks she’s a kook doesn’t give them the right to foist that opinion on the customer.

OTOH, I own a copy of Mein K*mpf (you can’t get much kookier, in my opinion–and I decided I don’t want the hits for that particular search phrase). Not because I agree with a single word in it, but because I have a minor in history and actually read it for a paper. And I bought it while in Germany, where it’s banned. Since I had an American military address, Amazon.com could ship it to me. If I’d had strictly a German address, no dice. I’m not sure if that appalls me or not. It is a really awful book. I felt somewhat illicit possessing it, going so far as to turn the spine toward the back of the bookcase (red letters on mustard yellow background really stand out) so none of my German friends would know I had it.

Then again, if I had a copy of The Joy of Sex lying around, I suppose I’d hide it when the priest came for a visit. Nah, probably not. He’s a pretty cool priest (attention: gratuitous flattery alert! I don’t want him abandoning me during the Bananas Foster preparation tonight).

In romance writing, there’s this little thing called the Big Miz. It’s a bad thing. Lord Lovem-n-leavem marries Virginia Vicarsdaughter for some strange reason. They fall in love. And then one day Virginia sees Lord L&L groping the chambermaid. She packs her bags and leaves, never to return. Lord L&L vows to hate all women because Virginia, that cruel minx, left him all alone and unloved. She used him. She never loved him, and he knows this because his cousin, I. Wantthetitle, told him so. Then, of course, the lord and his wife are reunited, reluctantly, and spend 350 pages hating each other because of the transgressions . Eventually, the veil falls from their eyes when they have a conversation (ha, never!) or when others who are in the know reveal the truth (she always loved him and he was only helping the chambermaid because she’d darn near fainted as he was innocently walking by). Happy Ever After.

However, misunderstandings do have their place in romance writing (heck, in any writing I suppose). It’s the Mars/Venus thing and it lends potential for a real misunderstanding. Characters can talk at cross purposes which can lend to the conflict. By no means should this be your only source of conflict, nor should it be so overused that the hero/heroine are always misunderstanding one another and getting mad. That can lead to Fight/F*ck melodrama, which ain’t pretty either.

But a good misunderstanding of what the other is saying can lend to the drama and characterization. For instance, the heroine’s talking about the time six years ago when the hero stood her up for a date, and he’s thinking she’s still mad, and she’s just wanting him to say why he did it because he never told her the reason, but he’s thinking he’d better not say anything because that’ll only make her madder, especially when she finds out he overslept since he’s CIA and she probably thinks he was rescuing the free world or something. (Bad example, but it’s late and the brain isn’t working so well.) People don’t always say what they mean or ask what they want.

What I mean is that one character can be talking about something, or doing something, and the other character has a definite impression of why and what he should do in turn. But he’s wrong about it, and the character talking or doing only gets more frustrated. The cycle continues until one of the characters sees through this. Now you have an opportunity to move the relationship forward, even if only a fraction, because understanding builds closeness.

In summary, have them talking or doing at cross purposes, have one of them achieve understanding and reach out to the other. Bring them closer. Don’t overdo or it gets ridiculous. Just think of the Mars/Venus moments between you and your SO/spouse and you’ll know what I’m talking about.

Earlier, I wrote a post on the racism in publishing issue that’s being debated elsewhere (see previous post for links) and reported on one local B&N. Now, I can report from one Borders (we have three on-island, though I bet they all subscribe to the same corporate philosophy).

The AA books in Borders are indeed segregated, regardless of content (I didn’t have my camera with me that night). AA sections have legitimacy when they are about history, culture, etc. But this section, two huge shelving units (which isn’t a lot when you consider the size of the entire store), was crammed with everything under the sun by black writers. I did find ONE Walter Moseley title in the Fiction/Lit section. Know why? The dude on the cover was white. Walter’s pic on the back was tiny, so whoever shelved the book looked at the front only.

I saw three BET books in the romance section, but I think it was a mistake. I looked for black romance writer names I’d recognize, but they weren’t shelved in romance. They were in the AA section.

I stood in the section for a while and leafed through the romances. Oh wow, how dumb of me to miss these before! I was reading one by Brenda Jackson and thoroughly enjoying it. I made no purchases, however, because my critique group showed up and I ran out of time. I plan to get there early next week and buy a couple of books. For those of you who may have thought you didn’t want to read books about black characters, you might want to reconsider. Ms. Jackson made no more reference to her characters’ skin colors than I do when I write about my characters (well, I do talk about the hero’s tanned torso from time to time–wink, wink). Not that skin is the only issue, and I hope I’m not digging a hole, but what I mean is that reading about these characters was like reading about characters in any other book. They were PEOPLE. Let’s cast aside the stereotypes and be willing to branch out a bit.

I didn’t get to speak to the manager, mostly because I had to meet with my group, but I’d be interested to know how they decided to shelve like this. Is it company policy, local policy, or just ignorance on the part of the staff (AA must mean ALL books with black characters on the covers or black authors, right?). Hell, even Toni Morrison was nowhere to be found in the Fic/Lit section. She was with the AA group.

So that’s my report, and I am thoroughly incensed about it. If I were black, I’d be pretty darned upset about this too (like others elsewhere). Maybe it’s not a conspiracy, maybe it’s only ignorance, maybe it’s dollar signs. I don’t know, but damn, if I write a good book, why should the color of my skin or my gender (for another way to look at it) determine where the book is placed?

This is WRONG, whatever the reason and motive. If the publishers/booksellers think they make more money by targeting a specific demographic, then fine. But be SURE to also put the books in the section where they would be shelved if the author was white/Asian/Latin etc–i.e. with EVERYONE else. You can cross-reference them for convenience.

It’ll only change when lots of people complain. So far, that doesn’t seem to be happening.

Place Name Last Name City St Time Pace
4387 Michael Harris Honolulu HI 1:30:40 11:08
5543 Lynn R Harris Honolulu HI 1:38:28 12:05

Of course I slowed Mike down. He gained time because we lost each other to start, but I found him at the 3 mile mark. I started in front of him and he burned up the pavement to catch up. It was a miracle I spotted him.

There were 22,300 people in the Great Aloha Run (8.15 miles). I don’t feel so bad with a top 25% finish. The winner did it in 43 minutes. Wow, huh?

Now this is just scary!! This is one of the books I’m analyzing in my thesis. Either I’ve read too much Woolf or I chose the right author for me. I’m amazed, really and truly, and it’s just a silly internet quiz…..

Virginia Woolf: Orlando. You are a challenge, for
outer events, the outside world, the time
etc. play no importance to you. Your focus is
in writing, in gender issues, and inside your
own head. Self-analysis and exploration of
yourself as well as the outer world hold
great importance to you.

Which literature classic are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Lots of interesting stuff going on in the blogosphere today, including two posts which I think are related. First, Allison Brennan blogs over at Murder She Writes about the first book she ever wrote. Not the debut novel that just hit the NYT, but the first novel she ever completed. (In fact, the theme at MSW this week is first novels.)

Hot Latte. My heroine was a virgin. My hero was an alpha cop. (Please, please, shoot me now.)My hero, Mark Travis, moves into the apartment below my heroine, a computer security expert. They get off on the wrong foot (mistaken identity–she thinks he’s an intruder. Can we get anymore cliche?)

Oh my, I so identify. My first novel was an 800 page medieval romance that I originally called DANCE OF THE SWORD (oh, ick! Worse, was I so dumb I couldn’t see the potential for burlesque commentary? Fraid so.). I quickly changed that to KNIGHT OF DREAMS (flushing with shame here, though in truth it’s a highly marketable title). My final title I really liked: LORD OF THE MARCH. Since E. L. Doctorow won a PEN/Faulkner award (and was nominated for a National Book Award) with the title THE MARCH, I’ll just feel smugly prescient. ::snort::

I did do a couple of things right though. First, I finished that novel. Second, I learned how to trim the beast, shaving 800 pages down to 600 when requested to do so by an agent. What I did wrong could fill a dump truck. Leaving aside the fact I was desperate because I hated my job and thought life would be rosy if I could quit and write full time, I wrote a novel that didn’t stand a chance. It was cliche ridden, from the big bad Alpha medieval dude with amazing sexual prowess to the misunderstood-fabulously-beautiful-but-unloved-by-her-father heroine. Toss in a scheming mistress, a vow of revenge, a vow to never love again, two royal courts, a forced marriage, an impending war, and the Seventh Crusade and you’ve got yourself a doozy of a sprawling plot that relies too much on been there, done that territory.

Do I regret it? Nope, not a word. It taught me a lot. What I regret is how I let the discouragement of not selling it get to me, how I quit trying to write novels for a long time because I thought I just didn’t have what it takes. Good grief. It took me a year to write that book, a year to do the research before that. When I thought it was good and polished, I began the agent query process. The first agent I sent it to, a big name agent, requested the full. I was dumb enough to let that process go for 9 months while I waited for her to get back to me. She called and told me what was wrong. I was too heartbroken to listen. She also said she’d look again if I rewrote it.

Oh the stupidity! I didn’t know rewrite meant REWRITE. I cut the aforementioned 200 pages, but didn’t change the plot or motivations or any of the cliches. She sent me a very nice rejection letter. I wasted one year trying to get one agent. I then sent out the blanket queries, got some partial requests, but ultimately got rejected. I can’t remember how many (it was a few years–cough, sputter–ago) but it wasn’t a lot. Same with editors. A senior editor at Pocket even took time to CRITIQUE my partial. MY GOD! Was I stupid or something?

In fact, I didn’t get it because I’d wrapped my whole concept of self-worth into the words I’d written. I didn’t know I could change them significantly and that rejecting them wasn’t a rejection of me or of what was important to me. Dumb-di-dumb-dumb.

Which leads to the next topic: rejection. Here’s a sample of Allison’s rejection letter for Hot Latte: “She sent back the cover letter three weeks later with one word: SUPERFICIAL (double-underlined, in case I missed the point.)” Ouch.

Diana Peterfreund had a great post about rejection today. You really MUST go read it.

I think a lot of aspiring writers get very caught up in their rejections. Earlier in my career, I did the same thing. I think it’s mostly a waste of time to pore (another contest entry fuckup, for those of you following along fro the last post. I said “pore over paperwork” and the stupid idiot contest judge said “pour”) over your rejection letters, trying to divine some meaning from them. Do I think that the agency that said they didn’t handle my type of project REALLY thought I’d sent them a cookbook instead of a romance? Were they trying to tell me something about my romance? Come on… I truly believe that sometimes, even when they are trying to give a reason for their “no,” they’re full of shit. I see a lot of writers trying to figure out what an editor means, what is the secret code behind “just didn’t love it enough” or “not right for our list.” They spend HOURS trying to figure this out. They enlist the help of everyone in their writing group. You’re never going to get an answer, buddy. They’re just not that into you.

Sometimes those rejections aren’t as crystal clear as we’d like them to be. When someone at St. Martin’s told me that my story just wasn’t right for them at this time, but please send something else, I wanted to know WHY it wasn’t right (when I should have been focusing on the send something else part of the letter). Well, I know why now, but it’s taken years and distance to figure it out. It wasn’t right because it wasn’t fresh or new. The writing was good, I believe, but the concept was hackneyed.

Sometimes the rejection really is just a matter of someone not being enthusiastic about your work. Sometimes your work needs help. That’s what can be hard to figure out.

There are those who say you should never give up on a book. This editor doesn’t like it, try another one, and so on. I agree with that to a point. You can honest to God spend too much time with one novel. I spent about 4 years with LOTM (I even considered revising it as little as 2 years ago, but fortunately sanity prevailed). I know people who have spent over 5 years on one novel, never writing another one, just polishing and fixing the same one.

Sometimes you have to just get over it. Sometimes you have to WRITE A NEW NOVEL. Write, submit, keep writing. It’s the only way to achieve the dream.

Mike’s episode is supposed to be on tonight, but we fear there’s been a snafu. The LOST people told everyone it would be tonight, but we think it aired last week. One of the guys who was an extra with Mike said he saw their scenes in last week’s episode. Mike is in there briefly, he said, but he didn’t make it in at all.

Naturally, the show didn’t inform us of the change in schedule. Perhaps we’ll keep one eye on the telly, just in case. It’s not a total wash, though, because so many of the folks Mike works with tape the show regularly. We’ll see it eventually. It’s a disappointment to the family members who were excited though……

[Update: Here are some links to screen capture shots from the show. In the first pic, Mike is the guy over Sayid's left shoulder. He's the only one with a mustache. Click the picture for a bigger version. In this next pic, you have to click for the bigger version. Mike's the guy in the tunnel, right behind the guy on Sayid's right.]

From NPR comes this:

News & Notes with Ed Gordon, February 20, 2006:

Black authors are enjoying increasing book sales and greater attention. Farai Chideya hosts a roundtable on the past, present and future of black literature. Guests include author DeWitt Gilmore, who writes under the name Relentless; Malaika Adero, senior editor for Atria Books; and Nick Chiles, editor-in-chief of travel magazine Odyssey Couleur.

Go here to listen to the roundtable discussion. I have not yet, but since it’s relevant to the discussion below and elsewhere on books by black authors, I wanted to put the link here.

It’s come to my attention recently that there’s confusion over what constitutes passive voice. For instance, is this sentence active or passive? The dog was walked by the boy.

It’s passive because you have 1) a form of the verb to be (was) and 2) a past participle (walked). A past participle usually, but not always, ends in -ed. Also, the subject of the sentence usually takes the action of the verb in a passive sentence. The boy is the subject, above, and the dog is the object. The boy walked the dog is active; it shows the subject doing the action.

Now, what about this sentence: “It’s over there,” Beth said, gesturing toward the back of the room. Definitely active. Beth does the action here. The confusion comes when people mistakenly believe that the -ing form of a verb is passive. It’s not.

Seems obvious, I know, but I ran across something very similar recently and I was amazed that someone thought it was a passive construction. I’ve even seen it where people think any sentence with a form of to be is passive: John was counting the money. Um, no. It’d probably be better if John counted the money, but was counting isn’t passive. John is doing the action to the object (money).

Google “passive voice” and see what comes up. Thus ends the unasked for grammar lesson.

Yesterday, whilst lying around and bemoaning my aching hips/feet/ankles, the phone rang. Mike answered it. It was clearly for me by the way he said yes, but may I ask who’s calling. And I thought, oh heck, I don’t want to talk to anyone right now! It obviously wasn’t anyone I knew. Can’t it wait?

But, I took the phone, said hello, and heard this friendly voice say she was Angi Platt with the North Texas RWA. My WIP, Seducing Evangeline, finalled in the Steamy Hot category of the Great Expectations contest! Needless to say, I was very happy. The aching body parts were momentarily forgotten as Angi and I talked.

This is the second contest I’ve entered with this WIP. I revised based on comments from the first, so I’m very pleased that I’ve achieved finalist status this time around. As I told Mike, this is a nice thing, but I refuse to pin hopes and, worse, ego on it. If I win, fine. If I don’t, fine. It’s a great confidence booster, but it doesn’t mean the book is practically sold.

But, dang, I’m happy.