Monthly Archives: June 2012

Ten thoughts about pacing your novel

26 Tuesday Jun 2012

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A week or so ago, I wrote about pacing and included various definitions as well as a list of techniques to slow down or speed up the pace of a novel. From the articles I read, I’ve assembled ten thoughts to keep in mind:

  • Vary the pace – within a scene, within a chapter, from chapter to chapter.
  • Don’t move too fast. If you move too fast you risk leaving the reader behind either in confusion or fatigue. (Steven King)
  • Balance narrative and action: too much narrative and the pacing drags; too little and the action loses authority (Vicki Hinze). This comment brings to mind movies that are nothing more than an endless chase scene.
  • Characters should pitch and roll, take two steps forward and one set back. (Vicki Hinze) I like this notion of ‘pitch and roll’, if life is going along too smoothly your readers are likely to be bored.
  • Make sure flashbacks are significant – they have to add insight into your characters otherwise there’s little point in dragging your readers into the backstory.
  • Pay attention to details to build momentum – think slow motion at a dramatic moment in a film.
  • Readers read fiction to have a powerful emotional experience. Inside a scene, you can provide this by showing actions and reactions between your POV character and the other characters involved. (Randy Ingermanson)
  • Pacing and progression inevitably run throughout the course of the entire piece and are affected by every single last word. (Noah Lukeman) Keeping an entire manuscript in my head is impossible so I’ve used a chapter outline to which I’ve been adding pacing notes, coding sections S (slow), M (medium) and F (fast).
  • Pacing can feel slow when the story has too little conflict. Conflict drives the story forward. (Wiliiam Cane) Finds ways to deepen and then resolve a portion of the conflict just as you add more conflict.
  • Intersperse dialogue, description and narrative. In my current round of edits, I’ve been replacing description and narration with more dialogue.

Vicki Hinze offered an interesting summary: if you look at story pacing on a graph, it should resemble a skewed EKG. The rhythms wouldn’t be normal but there would definitely be rhythms.

My Grandfather’s Scrapbooks – WWI Demobilization

22 Friday Jun 2012

Posted by in Historical Fiction, Writing about WWI

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Unravelled was originally inspired by my grandfather’s WWI experiences. Many iterations later, the story bears little resemblance to truth. I have held to the fact that he served with the army of occupation after the war ended and have used a few items from his scrapbooks to lend authenticity to the story.

The Canadian government took months to send its soldiers home. During that time many men were housed in camps located in various parts of Britain. Eventually, soldiers received official notice of their departure along with a note from the King. Grandpa kept his note and two other slips of paper, one showed his berth and room number, another his deck and compartment. Men returned as they went, squeezed like sardines into space meant for much smaller numbers.

Did he think of these as souvenirs? Did they call to mind the horror every time he looked at them? I’ll never know; I can only imagine.

My imagination has my character, Edward Jamieson, return home in April, 1919 full of grief and anger.

Edward held the blue card in his hand, reading it again and again. It’s really over, he thought. I’m going home. What part of me have I left behind? He thought of his family who would be overjoyed to see him again, his mother would shower him with kisses, his father’s arm would be around his shoulder, eyes moist with unspoken emotion. They won’t know me. How could they? I’m not the boy they said goodbye to.

He thought about his little room on the third floor of their house. Sanctuary of the past, signs of boyhood on the walls. Could he go back? Ridiculous question, he had nowhere else to go.

Top Author Series – Helen Hollick

19 Tuesday Jun 2012

Posted by in Historical Fiction, Historical Fiction Survey, Top Historical Fiction Authors

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I am very pleased to announce Helen Hollick as the third author in the Top Historical Fiction Author Series. In a recent survey of 805 individuals, readers ranked Ms. Hollick in the top 20 favourite historical fiction authors.

I recently read Forever Queen and was fascinated with the historical setting – how do you discover all those details from such a long ago time? – and with the story’s fast paced action and vivid characters.

Please use the comments feature if you have questions for Helen.

Why do you write historical fiction?   I think because I feel linked to the past – after all, we were all there in the past weren’t we? Well, our grandmothers’ grandmothers were! I think a little bit of “memory” passes down with the DNA, and sometimes we feel the tug of that long, long, long link that binds us together.

You are clearly very skilled at writing historical fiction. What do you think attracts readers to your books?   Thank you. I think the passion I feel for my characters comes across in my writing. I fell madly in love with Arthur (Pendragon’s Banner Trilogy), cried buckets when I had to write the final scene for King Harold – and as for my pirate, Jesamiah…. gosh I love that guy!

Do you have a particular approach to research and writing?   I research the facts first, usually from primary and secondary sources, making notes as I go, then I plan out a rough synopsis based around the facts of the period – a bit like planning a basic route for a journey. I add in the secondary route – the made-up bits, and make notes of any secondary plots etc.

When I start writing, though, my characters often take me by surprise for I find myself writing scenes I had not planned.

I also keep a note book about my characters – jotting down every detail about them: hair, eye colour, any scars, or foibles. Their parents, grandparents, date of birth – enjoyments, dislikes etc. And I keep every notebook; you never know when you might want to look something up again – or maybe write a spin-off story.

Have other writers of historical fiction influenced you and, if so, how have they influenced you?   Rosemary Sutcliff. I love her stories. (I have nearly a complete set.) When I’m stuck, or despondent, or going through that “why am I doing this silly job” feeling, I read one of her books. Her use of language is awesome.

What ingredients do you think make for a top historical fiction author? Do you deliberately plan for these ingredients in your writing?   Integrity for the facts, believable characters and a good story that hooks you in from line one, and keeps you transfixed, wanting to know what happens next. The last page should leave your reader thinking, “I enjoyed that – what else did this author write?”

I try to deliberately plan it – but I’m never quite sure where some of the characters will take me – especially my Pirate. He has a distinctive mind of his own.

How do you select new stories to tell?   I don’t. They find me.

What advantages do you think come from writing a series like your pirate series?    For one thing – the protagonist gets to stay alive at the end of the book! I like the ongoing unraveling of what happens next in the adventure

Any disadvantages?   It is hard work keeping all the threads together – remembering something that happened in book one, and ensuring the continuity stays true in book four. It is also difficult trying to think up new adventures, keeping the impetus and excitement going (and the believability!) I enjoy the challenge, though.

What techniques do you employ to write productively?   Self-motivation? I’m not very good at that. It is so easy to get distracted by Facebook, or Twitter… and I hate writing of a morning, my brain just does not function before noon, so that is when I answer my e-mails, update my marketing etc, then set to work of an afternoon. I write best at night – I have a theory that most people are in bed then, so there is more imagination to go round.

Do you think of yourself as having a brand? If so, how would you describe it and how do you reinforce it?   I suppose my brand, now, is my pirate series – but basically, I am the brand. Helen Hollick. My new UK publisher suggested I ensure that all my UK book covers have a regular “feel” to them, and my name always has the same style, that way, my books are instantly recognisable as a “Helen Hollick.”

What do you do to connect with readers?   Facebook and Twitter mostly. I love chatting and “meeting” new people on line. I have so many friends scattered all around the world now – such lovely people!

What do you know about your readers?   Some love my books, some don’t. Some like descriptive battle scenes, some don’t. Some like in-depth facts, some don’t… in other words I can’t please everyone who may, or may not, enjoy my books. So I please myself. I write my books for me, because they are the sort of books I enjoy reading.

What data do you collect about your readers?   I don’t. Although I do take note of constructive criticism – I don’t always follow it, but if someone has a point, I take it. For example, if someone suggests I should not have my Jesamiah Acorne in quite so much trouble, I take the criticism on board. If someone says I should not be so descriptive when writing battle scenes, I don’t… that’s the way I write, and if a battle is included, it is there for a reason. And battles were not nice things in the first place.

What strategies guide your writing career?   I add something to my Facebook page every day, Tweet every day, blog when I can. “Being noticed” is so important to a writer – but not to the point of being a bore. I do not “talk” about my books that much. Maybe I will mention a character, I will link to one of my books, but I chat about lots of other things as well – my daughter’s horses and her side saddle riding, my cats, my dog. I learnt the hard way, when I was dropped by Random House UK, that no one is going to do your marketing for you, and the best way for your books to get noticed is to be noticed first as a person.

What would you do differently if you were starting again?   I would insist on better covers. Some of my early ones were ghastly.

Do you have any advice for writers of historical fiction?   Write what you want – not what others want you to write.

In conjunction with my UK editor, Jo Field, I have a ‘tips for writers’ little book on Kindle, called Discovering the Diamond – especially useful for writers thinking of going Indie published. There are do’s and don’ts, technical, and practical advice. I published it on Kindle because I found myself answering the same questions from new writers over and again. It is written very much from the “been there, done that” point of view.

Is there a question you would like to answer that I haven’t asked?   Well, I suppose it would be what are you going to write next?

I have a fourth Sea Witch Voyage coming out very soon –Ripples In the Sand, and I have been changing my mind like a weather-vane in a high wind as to what to write next… I have had several ideas, none of which have really galvanised me with enthusiasm. But I feel quite keen to do a spin-off series based around my King Arthur Trilogy about an ex-cavalry officer called Madoc. Madoc the Horseman….

So many interesting ideas to ponder. Readers will be delighted to know that new books are coming. Writers will be keen to sample Discovering the Diamond. I, for one, am delighted with the notion that you write at night because there is more imagination to go around!

Thank you very much, Helen.

Top Author Series – Margaret George

14 Thursday Jun 2012

Posted by in Historical Fiction, Historical Fiction Survey, Top Historical Fiction Authors

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I am very pleased to announce Margaret George as the second author in the Top Historical Fiction Author Series. Readers rank Ms. George 10th on the list of favourite historical fiction authors.

A few years ago, when I read Mary Called Magdalene, I was captivated by the imaginative story and engaging writing style. Here was a writer breathing excitement into a story I first heard in Sunday school. Margaret has other equally fascinating stories including Helen of Troy, The Memoirs of Cleopatra and Mary Queen of Scotland and The Isles. If you haven’t read any of her books, I urge you to do so.

Please use the comments feature to post your questions.

Why do you write historical fiction? I have always felt I was born in some other era and just ended up here accidently.  Writing historical fiction is the way I can parachute back into another time and live there for a while.

You are clearly very skilled at writing historical fiction. What do you think attracts readers to your books? People do say they feel like they are really there.  Perhaps that’s because I feel like I am there, too.  But it means that in order to recreate that for myself I have to shut out all reminders of where I really am, which means I am not the type to write chapters in a Starbuck’s!

Do you have a particular approach to research and writing? Being rather set in a pattern of doing things, I first accumulate books and information about my subject.  Then I read them and take notes, starting with the most general books on the subject and gradually getting more and more specific.  I find that often children’s books are good at giving an overall and easy to understand picture.  (Even the children’s book of the Civil War is detailed and somewhat confusing, though, because the subject is so vast.)  After I’ve absorbed all the knowledge I can from reading, I go to the places and try to relive the character’s life as fully as I can. I visit their homes and the places where significant (or maybe not so significant, just everyday) events of their lives took place.  Museum exhibits are helpful, too, but I have to go to them when they are on, not when they fit into my schedule.  Rome had a spectacular Nero exhibit from April until September 2011 which I made sure to go to, even though it’s early in my research for that book.  I came away with wonderful catalogues and videos—all in Italian!

Once I start writing I write from beginning to end as that’s the way the characters lived their lives.  Ideally I would do nothing else but write for about 6 weeks and then take a big break.  But I have to fit it into my everyday life, so often I can’t follow that schedule.  I always print out what I write at the end of the day and save it to read over the next morning, when I make my corrections and enter them into the text.  That gets me ‘into’ the next section mentally and I go on from there.

Have other writers of historical fiction influenced you and, if so, how have they influenced you? Gore Vidal—his Julian was a masterpiece and I got the Will Somers/Henry duo idea from it. Marguerite Yourcenar’s Memoirs of Hadrian—her style was poetic but not unrealistic and psychologically true to the Emperor Hadrian.  Zoe Oldenbourg—The World is Not Enough singlehandedly got me hooked on the middle ages when I was a teenager.  Anya Seton’s Katherine  was a model for a biographical novel.  Rosemary Hawley Jarman’s We Speak No Treason gave me a standard of evocative prose to live up to. 

What ingredients do you think make for a top historical fiction author? Do you deliberately plan for these ingredients in your writing?  I think the combination of escapism and education is what fuels a top historical fiction author.  People want to escape into another time but they want to learn about that time as well.  It should not serve as just wallpaper against which the action takes place.

I don’t consciously select or plan for these ingredients but I think they come with the territory once I am into the project.

How do you select new stories to tell?  The characters have to reach out to me in some way.  Usually they are ‘larger than life’ types, operatic characters who lived tempestuous lives.  Also, that their personal emotions and problems changed actual history.  Of course you have to go back at least 500 years to find individuals who have that power…before the days of committees and elections and constitutional (if any) monarchs.

What techniques do you employ to write productively?  There’s the ideal writing setup:  quiet, seclusion, no claims on my time or thoughts outside the room…then there are the somewhat successful attempts to create that.  I do try to write when I am most creative, from around 10 am to 3 pm.  I screen phone calls but defer talking unless it’s an emergency; ditto for emails.  I close the email function on the computer so I won’t be tempted to peek. Unfortunately my best time for writing means I can’t do any midday things so I can’t be a ‘lady who lunches.’

Do you think of yourself as having a brand? If so, how would you describe it and how do you reinforce it?  I didn’t set out to have a brand but recently a writer friend said, “You’ve got a franchise going!”  It wasn’t intentional but since I’ve written six biographical novels and they tend to be about the type of character I described above, I ended up with a brand inadvertently. If I wrote a different sort of book I would have to take a pen name as it would be false advertising at this point if it wasn’t like the others.   

What do you do to connect with readers?   I like meeting readers and do so whenever I can.  I go to book festivals, and do readings and signings.  Of course the internet allows me to interact with many more people than I can in person.  I have a website and a Facebook page, and try to answer all the correspondence I get through them.  I don’t Twitter, though, as I don’t have that much to say every day and frankly, keeping abreast of all that would take more time than I would feel comfortable with.

What do you know about your readers?   I don’t know exactly who my readers are, except for the ones who contact me.  I have a lot of older readers (one gentleman in his 80s writes me regularly) and a surprising number of teenage readers.  They tend to write me a lot and I always enjoy hearing from them.  I think the youngest reader was around 12.  Often they propose joint projects! They tend to be very creative.  One wrote a play about Clytemnestra, Helen of Troy’s sister, after reading about her in my novel.  Others have done graphic novels based on my work.

What data do you collect about your readers?   I don’t really have any formalized way of doing that. I’m curious so I wish I did.

What strategies guide your writing career?   Pace yourself and don’t follow trends.  It is so hard to guess what people are really going to want to read about, so select what it is you want to read about, hope others feel the same, and write about it yourself. As for pacing, there’s a certain minimum time I need to make a good product and it can’t be artificially hurried.  (Remember Diana Ross singing,  “Can’t Hurry Love”?) So I don’t make promises about when I can deliver something that I know I can’t fulfill.  I did that once and learned my lesson.

What would you do differently if you were starting again?   I’d start earlier so I’d have time to write more books!  But seriously, to be fair to myself, I had written other types of books before I discovered that historical fiction was my calling, so it was a necessary learning experience.

I’m tempted to self-publish as e-books some of my earlier works, under another name since they are different genres.

Do you have any advice for writers of historical fiction?   Be proud of what you do and gently educate people that real historical fiction is not the same as the potboiler genre.

Is there a question you would like to answer that I haven’t asked?   I’d just like to offer encouragement to anyone who feels called to try his/her hand at historical novels.  Don’t quench the spirit, as the Bible says.  Listen to what your inner self is telling you.  Do it for yourself, maybe even secretly, lest others discourage you.  Then, when it’s ready…send it out into the world and see what happens.  You will have had a rich experience in creating it, even if the world doesn’t greet it as a Big Happening.  It will have been a Big Happening to you.

Insight on her approach to writing, thoughts about why she writes what she does, intriguing advice for writers – what more can we ask for?

Thank you, Margaret.

Thoughts on Twitter

13 Wednesday Jun 2012

Posted by in Connecting Readers & Writers

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Like many folks, I’m trying to figure out Twitter. Tiny bursts of writing that often include Bitly links or some other unintelligible characters do not make for easy reading. Two recent items stand out for me.

The first is a proactive email from Twitter encouraging me to come and have a look at various stories that might be of interest. The second is a Follow I received from someone who apparently follows 16,755 other folks.

Twitter’s email makes me think that all is not well in tweet land. If it were, the folks at Twitter would not need to devise new ways to entice me back. The 16,755-follower person suggests that one use of Twitter is merely to brag about how many folks you follow like a little kid who says “My Dad is bigger than your Dad.”

Can you have any meaningful interaction with 16,755 people? Where would you find time to follow even 1000 of them? How about 100?

What is the Twitter business model? Why is Twitter using ‘old’ technology like email to connect with users?

According to Emma Barnett writing in The Telegraph, “Twitter famously only started rolling out adverts on the site in 2010, after four years of no attempt to make money from the site, apart from a couple of search aggregation deals.” Barnett goes on to mention that Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s founder said “Twitter’s ‘Promoted’ products — including promoted tweets, accounts and trends — are currently seeing three to five per cent engagement”. Just like Facebook, LinkedIn, Google and others, the company is seeking eyeballs to deliver to advertisers.

What portion of people use it for broadcast purposes only? Dan Farber, writing on CNET said “Twitter is basically a mass-scale marketing platform, in which every tweeter is a marketer and every follower a set of eyeballs and a potential re-marketer.”

In 2011 Bill Mitchell reported that Roger Ebert (film critic amongst other talents) was tweeting about a particular product, the link offered for that product took anyone clicking on it over to Amazon. Ebert gets remunerated for the mention. Another example of the ‘famous person product endorsement model’. I’m not sure how Twitter makes money on that one.

Do you want to be an eyeball or a click-through?

Top Historical Fiction sites – Reading the Past

11 Monday Jun 2012

Posted by in Historical Fiction, Historical Fiction Survey, Top Historical Fiction Sites

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I am so very pleased to announce that Sarah Johnson of Reading the Past is the first historical fiction blogger to be interviewed. Reading the Past was listed as the number one site in my recent historical fiction survey.

I ‘met’ Sarah online some time ago and we have had several interactions in the ensuing months. I am very grateful that Sarah posted a link to the historical fiction survey on the day it went live.

Sarah has graciously offered to respond to feedback. Please use the comments feature (on the bottom left)  to post your questions.

Why did you start blogging?  Back in early 2006, some of the most in-depth conversations about the genre were happening on blogs, and I wanted to join in with my own thoughts.  Reading the Past didn’t start out as a book review blog; I was already writing many reviews for the Historical Novels Review and hadn’t been looking for a new place to post reviews.  The reviews I did for the site back then were of older, out of print titles, but publishers and authors found me, and many of the novels they offered me were hard to resist.  This is one reason my TBR and house are so overcrowded at the moment.

Why do you review historical fiction?  The majority of my reading material is historical fiction, and I enjoy sharing my thoughts about what I’ve read and recommending worthwhile novels to others.  I don’t have any real preferences in terms of subgenre, time period, or setting, and I especially like informing readers about novels they may not have heard about anywhere else.  It can occasionally be challenging to find something unique to say about each book; in the course of editing the HNR and writing my two historical fiction guides, I’ve written a large number of historical fiction reviews and edited even more, and I don’t care for repeating myself (or anyone else, for that matter).  Coming up with original phrasing to describe an author’s strengths or writing style can sometimes be difficult for that reason, but I take it as a challenge.

In addition, one of the rewards I’ve found in reviewing historical fiction I’ve been assigned, rather than titles I’ve bought and chosen myself, is that I’ve been introduced to many wonderful novels I may not otherwise have read.  Elliot Perlman’s The Street Sweeper is one of these; this assignment made me nervous not only because it was an enormous literary novel that came with pages upon pages of glowing praise, but also because I knew it would take me places I was very hesitant to visit (the Holocaust death camps).  But although it had some scenes I found incredibly difficult to read, I loved the book and am so glad that I was asked to read it.  I also review many “orphan” titles for the HNR, ones that for some reason or other (unpopular setting or theme, typically) don’t get chosen by reviewers.  These often turn out to be excellent reads.  This has taught me to read widely and not limit myself to novels set in certain eras or by favorite authors. In addition, I’m always looking to stretch my writing skills, and I find that there’s little new to learn if I only reviewed novels I would have read anyway.

What trends have you seen in HF novels in the past?  What new trends are emerging?   The famous-women-in-history theme has prevailed for the last decade but may have had its day; I’m still seeing new novels about royalty, but not nearly as many as before.   If readers were to pick up one of these books at this point, they’re going to want to see a unique interpretation, such as can be found in the Tudor fiction of Hilary Mantel or Margaret George.  Austen retellings were popular for ages, but I don’t see as many of these any longer.  Trends come and go depending on the year; for 2012, it’s Titanic fiction, with novels like Katherine Howe’s The House of Velvet and Glass and Kate Alcott’s The Dressmaker.  World War II settings are the latest thing, too, which I find interesting because just ten years ago, there was debate over whether WWII could be considered “historical” at all.   It sat within the living memory of many readers.  Now, many up-and-coming novelists (Kristina McMorris with her Bridge of Scarlet Leaves, for instance) are looking back to their grandparents’ lives and discovering sterling material for fiction.  Multi-time novels are popular, as these books appeal to readers of both contemporary and historical fiction.  Strong female leads are perennial hits – most fiction readers are women – but the field seems to be slightly more open to lesser-known figures or fictional characters.  This will vary depending on the publisher or agent you ask, though!

Is historical fiction growing in popularity? If so, why?   I feel historical fiction is holding steady.  The big renaissance started in the mid-1990s and hasn’t slowed down yet.  There are many readers who are being introduced to historical fiction for the first time – many of them are starting up new blogs, too – and this helps keep the market healthy.

Who are your readers? What do you know about them? Do you collect specific data about them?    My blog stats program (Sitemeter) isn’t very sophisticated; it tells me that about 40% of my readership is American, while the remainder come from Canada, the UK, and various other countries around the world.  I don’t keep data otherwise, although anecdotally I believe it has a strong readership among librarians and library patrons (my blog is linked from a number of library sites).  One thing I’ve discovered is that it’s impossible to gauge readership by blog comments.  Most readers don’t comment (I wish more did!) but I did a mini-survey along with my 6th anniversary giveaway contest, and many readers stopped by to tell me their thoughts about the blog.  The majority were complimentary!

What features does your blog include? Are you planning to ann any features?  I do visual previews of forthcoming books for each season; these have been among the most highly-trafficked posts.  Another favorite feature covered examples of tacky vintage cover art from my personal collection, and I’ve also enjoyed reviewing obscure, out of print historical novels because they don’t get much press anywhere else.  Sitemeter tells me that there are many people out there seeking details on these hits from yesteryear; there are at least a few people each week who find my site by googling for Diana Norman’s Fitzempress’ Law.  I have no plans to implement new features, I have a hard enough time keeping up as it is, but this year I’m participating in the Chunkster Challenge.  It pleases me that I’ve already reached Plump Primer level with eight chunksters (450pp and up) already read during 2012.  Although this may explain why I’m so pressed for time now…

Do you think of yourself as having a brand? If so, what is it?   This isn’t something I’ve thought about, other than in terms of my blog’s tagline: News, Views, and Reviews of Historical Fiction. That about says it as far as a brand goes.  Or it could be restated as: All historical fiction, all the time.

What are your marketing strategies for the blog?   I wish I could say I actively came up with one.  I haven’t gone out of my way to publicize the site, but since it’s been around for quite a while and has many reviews linked from my review/interview index, it tends to come up highly in search results (It’s #2 in Google searches for “historical fiction blog” after Arleigh Johnson’s Historical-Fiction.com).  I have a twitter account and cross-post reviews on Facebook and Goodreads, which adds some additional traffic.

How do your reviews for publications like The Globe & Mail enhance your blog presence? Or vice versa?  Probably mostly in terms of adding variety and additional content.  The novels I’ve reviewed for the Globe have predominantly been popular bestsellers, and if I repost them on the blog after publication (which I’m permitted to do) they draw a larger-than-usual audience to the site.  For Booklist, I’m assigned a wide range of historicals, from epic bestsellers to small-press literary fiction and everything in between.  Each place has different requirements in terms of style and word count, but I aim to keep to the same approach to reviewing regardless of the venue, whether it be a newspaper essay or a blog posting.  I also tend to be offered different review copies for the blog than for professional assignments… for example, publishers and authors of literary historical novels don’t seem to have historical fiction blogs on their radar.  (Hilary Mantel’s novels are the exception.)  Some of the most impressive novels I’ve read over the last 12 months have fit that description, though, so I think some publishers are missing out on an opportunity!

How do you manage to review so many books, work full time and actively participate in HNS?   I’m not sure myself.  The pace has been pretty relentless; the other day I looked at my Goodreads account and noted that I’d written reviews for the last 15 books I’d read.  That’s a lot.  My reading schedule is planned out a while in advance, but I also have to make room for new assignments as they arrive.  After I get home from the library, I spend a good part of each evening reading or answering email. I don’t have much of a life!  One of these days/months/years I hope to read more books I’ve had on the TBR for a while.  I have some conferences coming up that will let me get out of town, but of course they’re all book-related!

Why do you think so many people blog about historical fiction or participate in blogs about historical fiction? What are the implications for writers, agents and publishers?   I imagine it’s because the genre has many enthusiasts and passionate readers, and people want to spread the word about good reads.  That’s why I do it.  If a novel is flawed, I’ll let readers know that too.  Authors are under a lot of pressure nowadays (from their agents or publishers) to get reviewed by bloggers and get their novels mentioned on blogs, and from that standpoint, it’s good that so many historical fiction blogs have popped up in the last few years.  On the other hand, bloggers have a limited amount of reading time, and I know I’m not the only one who’s been inundated with requests for reviews, interviews, guest blog spots, etc.  It can be easy for bloggers to become overwhelmed; the key is to aim for a balance and realize that it’s your blog and you have the right to accept and review only what you want to review.

What do you see writers doing differently to market their books and build their platforms? What about publishers?   Social networking of all types is the big thing, of course – tweeting, Facebook, blogging.  But since everyone’s doing it, or strongly encouraged to do it, it can be hard for an author to stand out from the pack.  I’m also not sure how effective it is at increasing book sales. I have author friends with websites but who don’t blog or tweet because it takes away from their concentration and writing time. As for publishers – it’s rare for readers to choose novels to read according to publisher, but I see them getting their ARCs online with sites like NetGalley in order to reach more potential reviewers.  Sites like this give bloggers the freedom to choose their own review copies, too, rather than waiting for pitches to arrive in their inbox from publishers.  Bloggers can always make requests directly to publicists via email, but it’s often hard to find exactly who to contact.  The trend towards sending extra loot or holding contests just for bloggers seems to be a fading trend, which is fine with me.  I never cared for these since I don’t feel right about accepting remuneration of this type from writers or publishers.  Just the review copy is sufficient.

What advice do you have for writers?   If you plan to request blog reviews, start as early as possible!  Not long ago I was asked about reviewing a historical novel set to come out in winter 2013.  This is so, so helpful.  It was a sign that the writer was prepared, and it gives me nine months to look forward to the book.  Oftentimes writers or their publishers don’t contact bloggers until after the book’s publication date, not realizing, perhaps, that many bloggers have very full schedules and might not be able to find time until 3-4 months later.  Other than that:  get to know the blogosphere and which blogs fit your novel’s topic the best.  Start establishing relationships with the blogs you enjoy early on, and by the time your novel is published, you’ll have a built-in audience who knows about your book and will be willing to consider reading it or interviewing you.  Personalize your requests; proofread your emails (and make sure you have the blogger’s name correct!). Keep it professional, and don’t take it personally if a blogger doesn’t have time to review your book or if it doesn’t fit her interests.  Other than that, just write the best book you can, and if you’re going the self-publishing route, have your manuscript professionally edited before putting it up on Amazon or wherever.  There will always be an audience for well-written historical fiction, and I look forward to reading more of it.

Thank you, Sarah. I’m sure both readers and writers will be fascinated to hear your thoughts.

Top Author Series – Deanna Raybourn

06 Wednesday Jun 2012

Posted by in Historical Fiction Survey, Top Historical Fiction Authors

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I am so very pleased to announce Deanna Raybourn as the first author in the Top Historical Fiction Author Series. Several weeks ago, I downloaded Deanna’s first Lady Julia Grey mystery, Silent in the Grave, read it with great delight then immediately downloaded the next in the series. I was hooked.

Deanna has graciously offered to respond to feedback. Please use the comments feature to post your questions.

Why do you write historical fiction? It’s the perfect marriage of my two loves, history and literature. Contemporary fiction is so immediate, so real. I like the gloss of romanticism that comes from writing about a different time and place where the setting may be quite exotic to us, but the people are very much the same. Plus, I like to write some fairly twisted things and I think it’s easier to do that at a distance. If I create a nasty murderer, it’s more fun for me not to worry if he’s lurking behind my shower curtain.

You are clearly good at writing historical fiction. What do you think attracts readers to your books? Thank you! First, I try to tell a good story with characters my readers will care about. I am rabid on the subject of historical accuracy and I work extremely hard to make certain my books are there. I do push boundaries a bit with the probability of something happening, but it always has to be completely possible. Of course, it’s complicated because there are things that get passed around and repeated as if it were gospel, and it’s hard to correct misimpressions. For instance, I keep hearing that Victorians were hugely uptight and very sexually moral and that premarital and extramarital sex were unthinkable–until you do the research and find out that country house parties for the upper classes were frequently just an excuse to facilitate affairs and that more than 50% of the lower class Londoners who married were already expecting their first child.

Do you have a particular approach to research and writing? Immersion! I read everything I can get my hands on in order to ferret out the facts I need but also to set the proper mood. I will watch movies and documentaries about my setting; I listen to music that feels appropriate for the time and place. I also make big collages with images related to each book to hang opposite my desk when I work. I like to have my resources at my fingertips when I’m writing. I’m also continually finding exceptional things to geek out over on the internet—for instance, Queen Elizabeth just made Queen Victoria’s journals available on a website she commissioned to mark her Jubilee. That’s going to be an amazing resource for those of us who love Victoriana!

Have other writers of historical fiction influenced you and, if so, how have they influenced you? The first big historical books I read were Anya Seton’s. I remember running across a condensed version of one of her epics when I was about seven and struggling to keep all the Saxons and Normans straight. It was hard going, but completely captivating. Then I got my hands on her marvelous novel KATHERINE. It’s a grand, sweeping book that covers about twenty years during the life of Katherine Swynford, Duchess of Lancaster, in the 14th century. I read it as a teenager and that book has always stayed with me. I was very surprised to discover last year that Katherine is actually my 17thgreat-grandmother! I am also terribly influenced by Victoria Holt in all of her incarnations as well as Jane Austen and the Brontës.

What ingredients do you think make for a top historical fiction author? Passion and authenticity go hand in hand. You have to care about the history but you have to be committed to telling a good story about people who seem to be real—even if you’ve conjured them out of thin air. I think you also have to be able to write a story that feels historically real but completely accessible for a modern reader. It’s a very delicate balancing act, really, because you don’t want characters that sound stilted, but you certainly have to make them believably “other” when compared to your contemporary readers.

How did you keep motivated and writing while waiting 14 years to get a book deal? How did it finally come about? I kept writing because that’s who I am—I tell stories even if no one is listening. During those years I wrote six or seven novels that are awful. They live in boxes in my attic and they will never see the light of day, but they were essential to figuring it all out. The book deal finally came about because after a particularly brutal round of rejections my agent told me to stop writing. She said I needed to take a break and do nothing but read for a year, that I needed to figure out who I was as a writer and the best way to do that was to figure out who I was as a reader. Although it was incredibly difficult, I did it. I just read for twelve months. I read only books I loved, and at the end of the year, I looked at what I had read and discovered they had many, many things in common. They were all historical, mostly British. They were witty; they were mysterious and romantic. They had really engaging characters. And then I realized that what I was looking at was a blueprint for the book I needed to write because, of course, the best book to write is the one you want to read. So I roughed out the plot for a mystery with a historical setting and two years later I finished it. By that time it had been three years since I’d talked to my agent! I sent it off to her and a week later she called and told me this was the book. That was SILENT IN THE GRAVE, the first Lady Julia Grey mystery. It took us two years to place it with a publisher, but immediately I saw a difference in the rejection letters. They weren’t form letters coming from very junior staffers at the publishing houses. They were personal critiques from executive editors who all had some very complimentary things to say even though they were passing on the book. Finally, the manuscript landed on a mystery editor’s desk at MIRA and she read it and realized it needed to go elsewhere in-house. She got up and walked it across the hall to the historical fiction editor who bought it that very month in a three-book deal. So my entire career hangs on the fact that one day a very lovely woman got up from her desk and walked half a dozen steps and changed my life.

What would you do differently if you were starting again? Nothing. I firmly believe I am exactly where I’m supposed to be on a path that’s headed where I want to go. Even those fourteen years of rejections helped build me into the writer and the person I am now. Of course, I couldn’t see it at the time! I wrote my first novel at 23, and at that age I would have been very ill-equipped to deal with all the demands that come with being published. I don’t think the writing was good enough, to begin with, but the author responsibilities would have really overwhelmed me. Plus, I had a child when I was in my twenties. Now that I’m in my forties, she’s almost off to college. I have the time and energy to devote to my career at the precise time she needs less of me. I’m also incredibly appreciative of success because I saw the other side of it for so long! I don’t think that would have been the case if it had come too easily. I was 38 when I first published and 43 when I hit the New York Times Bestseller list and that feels just right for me. Italians say a little suffering sweetens things, and it’s certainly been true over the long haul of my career.

Your series about Julia Grey: Did the idea for a series come after writing the first book or did you plan to write a series from the beginning? I was probably halfway through writing the first book when I realized these characters had much, much more potential than just one book. I also knew that a publisher would be more inclined to give me a multi-book deal if I could offer the possibility of a series. So that’s when I made the decision to wrap up the mystery in the first book but leave the romantic relationship dangling a bit.

What advantages do you think come from writing a series? Any disadvantages? The advantages are legion. It’s a flat luxury to be able to take so many books to write about a single set of characters and really explore their growth and their relationships in the course of their adventures. I’ve written over half a million words about these people, and I know them as well as I possibly can. Because of that, my readers know them too and they care what happens to them, deeply! The disadvantage is simply keeping it fresh. I take a break from the series every second or third book and that means I’m never too comfortable. That’s a strategy my editor devised and it’s genius!

What do you do to connect with readers? I blog, I am on Facebook and Twitter, and I do phone-in chats for reading groups. I also answer all of my personal email myself. Simple queries about releases will get delegated, but if someone takes the time to write an email or letter, they will get one back.

What do you know about your readers? They’re smart—scary smart! They are dynamic and enthusiastic, and they love caring about the characters I give them. I joke about being afraid of them because I killed off a character they liked and I am still hearing about it two books later! But I love that—it means they are connected to my work and, by extension, to me. I am always delighted to see readers when I’m at conferences or book signings and they astonish me by how well they know the books. Often, better than I do!

Mary Tod: On follow up, I asked Deanna to comment on the data she collects about readers (demographics, contact information and so on) as if planning a marketing campaign and whether she thinks about her writing in that way.

So interesting You should bring that up because I am deeply involved in a branding project right now! In light of the fact that my next two novels are going to be stand-alone, I am having everything redesigned–website, business cards, bookmarks, etc.– to reflect me as an author as opposed to anything specifically related to the Julia Grey series or Victoriana.

As to actual data, I don’t collect any. I have a very general picture of my typical reader–a college educated female–but it does vary. I just announced that the six novellas I’ve made a deal to write will be published in an ebook format only, and from the responses I can tell that most of my readers are tech savvy and very into ereaders. Out of all the feedback I had, less than five complained about not having a hard copy while some readers said they were happy to have an excuse to go buy an ereader!

What strategies guide your writing career? My gut. I have very good intuition and the older I get, the smarter I am about using it. I chose my agent based on my first reaction to her, and we’ve been together for fifteen years with just a handshake. As far as the work itself, my philosophy is to do whatever scares me the most. If I’m terrified, it’s because the project I’m considering is demanding that I push myself and stretch to the very limit of what I think I can do. And that’s a good place to be.

What a wonderful start to the series. Thank you so very much, Deanna.


Top Author and Top Blogger Series

04 Monday Jun 2012

Posted by in Historical Fiction, Historical Fiction Survey

≈ 3 Comments

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I’m pleased to announce a series of interviews with top historical fiction authors and top historical fiction bloggers.

After musing on the historical fiction survey, I thought that a series of interviews with top historical fiction authors and top bloggers would provide interesting insights. I have developed a set of questions and secured the agreement of all four top bloggers as well as seven authors in the top 20 group. Responses will be posted beginning this week.

Questions for top authors include:

  • Do you have a particular approach to research and writing?
  • What ingredients do you think make for a top historical fiction author? Do you deliberately plan for these ingredients in your writing?
  • What brand are you trying to create for yourself?
  • What do you do to connect with readers?
  • What strategies have guided your writing career?
  • What would you do differently if you were starting again?
  • and several more…

Questions for top bloggers include:

  • What new trends are emerging in historical fiction?
  • Is historical fiction growing in popularity. If so, why?
  • What are your marketing strategies for your blog?
  • Why do you think so many people blog about historical fiction or participate in blogs about historical fiction?
  • What advice do you have for writers?
  • and several more…

Top authors who have agreed to participate are: Elizabeth Chadwick (3), CW Gortner (8), Margaret George (10), Michelle Moran (11), Susan Higginbotham (15), Deanna Raybourn ( 17) and Helen Hollick (19). I’ve listed them along with their top 20 position taking into account authors with the same popularity ranking.

The top HF bloggers are: Reading the Past, Passages to the Past, Historical Novel Society and Historical Tapestry.

It will be exciting to hear their responses and see if some patterns emerge. Stay tuned.