I really need to come up with better titles for my posts! I probably have even used that one before, but I can't remember and I am too lazy to check.
ot I even belonged! Oh, wait, that was the fifth. Man, I am behind!
Next week I am going to develop my challenge idea. Hopefully people will join in, and we can figure out a system. People will have to be sure and comment and help me out. I want it to work for people so they will join in! Also, be sure and check out my new group blog. The URL is http://historicaltapestry.blogspot.com. And, I am very happy to announce that I reviewed Wizard's First Rule on Twisted Kingdom. I really loved that book, so hopefully others will too. Or, well, have read the whole series and will not provide me with spoilers. I want surprise!For my third and last guest blog on The Written World, I’m going to share a few of the experiences that happen to most novelists once they’ve been published. So future writers who are reading this blog – take note!
What to Expect When You’re Expecting (A Book Published)
I Want To Be A Novelist Too!
Once your book is accepted for publication, beware of tooting your own horn. Not because you’re modest (please), but because at least one person at every dinner function will want to tell you their idea for a novel. Initially, it will be unclear which of these aspiring novelists actually write, which want to go 50/50 (you get half for writing the story, they get half for coming up with the idea), and which are simply giving you a storyline so that they can take credit when you go on to write something set in the same century. Later, as you become more adept at recognizing real writers from lip servers, you will learn how to steer the conversation either to its quick end or to available resources for beginning authors.
Until then, however, expect to be accosted at dinner parties by your cousin Olga who has a brilliant idea for a science fiction story and will ask if you want to hear it. And because you’re not a rude jerk you’ll say yes, and she’ll launch into a tale of saucers and androids, then ask if you think it’s marketable and whether she should make it into a five book series or three stand-alone books. Except by now your eyes have that glazed-over look and you’re not sure whether she said saucers or sauce (because let’s face it, you’re really hungry), so you smile and nod politely, which she takes as a sign that she can call your agent and him them that you’ve endorsed her story.
Amazon
If you type into dictionary.com the word obsessive, a small photo will be there of you at your computer looking up your Amazon rank. Thankfully, this photo has been taken from over your shoulder, because this way the viewer can’t see the hysterical look on your face when you realize that your five hundred page novel is doing worse than the children’s book Everybody Poos. From the time your publishing house places your novel on Amazon, expect a radical change in your daily routine. Whether you’re a stay-at-home mom or a lawyer, you’ll find a way of getting online to check your ranking at least once every few hours. Of course, since Amazon only accounts for approximately 5% of your book’s sales, this is an extremely foolish thing to do. But you’ll do it anyway.
Free Copies
As soon as the words, “I’m going to be published,” come out of your mouth, everyone from your dentist to your best friend will want a copy. Not a copy that they pay for, mind you, but a free copy. “Be sure to get me a book!” they’ll say, as if they’re not sure where books might be obtained if not from you. Sometimes the request will vary, like, “Make sure I get a copy,” which puts the onus on you, or, “You know I want to be the first to read it.” This last announcement is the sneakiest of all, because even though it’s not technically a request, the meaning is clear: When the book fairy drops off those 1000 copies of your novel at your house, be sure to come over and I’ll do you the pleasure of accepting the first one.
But to be fair, friends and family and co-workers say these things to be polite. Of the three dozen people who make these requests, only half a dozen actually plan to read your book, and this shouldn’t make you upset. Family and friends don’t suddenly turn into avid readers of your particular genre because they know you, yet they’ve still asked for a copy. This is because they want to be kind and they want to be supportive. So when someone says, “You’re going to get me a copy, right?” simply reply, “I wish I could! But I don’t even get free copies.” Which is pretty much true. And this way, the people who were going to actually read your book will buy it, and the people who were never going to read it don’t have another useless item to sell at next year’s garage sale.
Publication Day
After a year of grueling work – editing , marketing, publicizing, writing your next book – the day of your novel’s publication will arrive and word that your book is on sale will spread like wildfire. It will spread from your mother, to your cousin Olga, to her mother who doesn’t like historical fiction but will buy it anyway because, after all, you’re her sister’s kid. And that’s about it for the average writer. Unless you’re prepared for the lack of fanfare surrounding your first publication, it can be a real let-down. No one will call, only a few friends will remember that this is day your book is coming out, and all of your letters to Oprah will have gone unnoticed.
But if you’ve put in the hard work of doing your own marketing as well as publicity (to compliment what your publishing house has done), you will recognize that even though your publication day seems a lot like every other day – it’s really not. Because for the first time people can hold your book in their hands. They can read it, review it, and hopefully pass along the word that what you’ve written is fabulous. So even if none of your friends have called, on the day of your publication hundreds of readers will be transported by your words to a different place and time. And that’s something incredibly special, even if Oprah doesn’t notice.
Thank you for having me as a guest with The Written World. It has been an absolute pleasure and I hope to be back again someday!
(If you have any questions, Michelle is available to answer them. Just put them in the comment section and she will answer them. She's been checking comments all week.)
Michelle Moran
Author of Nefertiti: A Novel
Hi, Kelly. Thank you for having me back to The Written World. Yesterday, I promised to share a few tips on writing historical fiction. I hope this helps any budding historical fiction authors in the audience.
The Writing Process
Blending fact with fiction is one of a writer’s most difficult jobs when attempting historical novels. You don’t want to sound like an encyclopedia, but then you don’t want to be able to have your setting so loosely drawn that your characters could be taken out and placed anywhere in the world and still speak and perform the same. In her historical fiction debut A Girl With A Pearl Earring, Tracy Chevalier strikes the perfect balance of fact and fiction. But how does she do it?
If you’ll take a moment to read the first few pages of Chevalier’s novel, (paying attention to the phrases that I’ve underlined), I’ll try to show you how she achieves that balance.
Excerpt of A Girl With a Pearl Earring
My mother did not tell me they were coming. Afterwards she said she did not want me to appear nervous. I was surprised, for I thought she knew me well. Strangers would think I was calm. I did not cry as a baby. Only my mother would note the tightness along my jaw, the widening of my already wide eyes.
I was chopping vegetables in the kitchen when I heard voices outside our front door -- a woman’s, bright as polished brass, and a man’s, low and dark like the wood of the table I was working on. They were the kind of voices we heard rarely in our house. I could hear rich carpets in their voices, books and pearls and fur.
I was glad that earlier I had scrubbed the front step so hard.
My mother’s voice -- a cooking pot, a flagon -- approached from the front room. They were coming to the kitchen. I pushed the leeks I had been chopping into place, then set the knife on the table, wiped my hands on my apron, and pressed my lips together to smooth them.
My mother appeared in the doorway, her eyes two warnings. Behind her the woman had to duck her head because she was so tall, taller than the man following her.
All of our family, even my father and brother, were small.
The woman looked as if she had been blown about by the wind, although it was a calm day. Her cap was askew so that tiny blond curls escaped and hung about her forehead like bees which she swatted at impatiently several times. Her collar needed straightening and was not as crisp as it could be. She pushed her grey mantle back from her shoulders, and I saw then that under her dark blue dress a baby was growing. It would arrive by the year’s end, or before.
The woman’s face was like an oval serving plate, flashing at times, dull at others. Her eyes were two light brown buttons, a color I had rarely seen coupled with blond hair. She made a show of watching me hard, but could not fix her attention on me, her eyes darting about the room.
“This is the girl, then,” she said abruptly.
“This is my daughter, Griet,” my mother replied. I nodded respectfully to the man and woman.
“Well. She’s not very big. Is she strong enough?” As the woman turned to look at the man, a fold of her mantle caught the handle of the knife, knocking it off the table so that it spun across the floor. The woman cried out.
“Catharina,” the man said calmly. He spoke her name as if he held cinnamon in his mouth. The woman stopped, making an effort to quiet herself.
I stepped over and picked up the knife, polishing the blade on my apron before placing it back on the table. The knife had brushed against the vegetables. I set a piece of carrot back in its place.
The man was watching me, his eyes grey like the sea. He had a long, angular face, and his expression was steady, in contrast to his wife’s, which flickered like a candle. He had no beard or moustache, and I was glad, for it gave him a clean appearance. He wore a black cloak over his shoulders, a white shirt, and a fine lace collar. His hat pressed into hair the color of brick washed by rain.
“What have you been doing here, Griet?” he asked.
I was surprised by the question but knew enough to hide it. “Chopping vegetables, sir. For the soup.”
“And why have you laid them out thus?” He tapped his finger on the table.
I always laid vegetables out in a circle, each with its own section like a slice of pie. There were five slices: red cabbage, onions, leeks, carrots and turnips. I had used a knife edge to shape each slice, and placed a carrot disk in the center.
The man tapped his finger on the table. “Are they laid out in the order in which they will go into the soup?” he suggested, studying the circle.
“No, sir.” I hesitated. I could not say why I had laid out the vegetables as I did. I simply set them as I felt they should be, but I was too frightened to say so to a gentleman.
“I see you have separated the whites,” he said, indicating the turnips and onions. “And then the orange and the purple, they do not sit together. Why is that?” He picked up a shred of cabbage and a piece of carrot and shook them like dice in his hand.
I looked at my mother, who nodded slightly.
“The colors fight when they are side by side, sir.”
He arched his eyebrows, as if he had not expected such a response. “And do you spend much time setting out the vegetables before you make the soup?”
“Oh, no, sir,” I replied, confused. I did not want him to think I was idle.
From the corner of my eye I saw a movement -- my sister, Agnes, was peering round the doorpost and had shaken her head at my response. I did not often lie. I looked down.
The man turned his head slightly and Agnes disappeared. He dropped the pieces of carrot and cabbage into their slices. The cabbage shred fell partly into the onions. I wanted to reach over and tease it into place. I did not, but he knew that I wanted to. He was testing me.
“That’s enough prattle,” the woman declared. Though she was annoyed with his attention to me, it was me she frowned at. “Tomorrow, then?” She looked at the man before sweeping out of the room, my mother behind her. The man glanced once more at what was to be the soup, then nodded at me and followed the women.
When my mother returned I was sitting by the vegetable wheel. I waited for her to speak. She was hunching her shoulders as if against a winter chill, though it was summer and the kitchen was hot.
“You are to start tomorrow as their maid. If you do well, you will be paid eight stuivers a day. You will live with them.”
I pressed my lips together.
“Don’t look at me like that, Griet,” my mother said. “We have to, now your father has lost his trade.”
“Where do they live?”
“On the Oude Langendijck, where it intersects with the Molenpoort.”
“Papists’ Corner? They’re Catholic?”
“You can come home Sundays. They have agreed to that.” My mother cupped her hands around the turnips, scooped them up along with some of the cabbage and onions and dropped them into the pot of water waiting on the fire. The pie slices I had made so carefully were ruined.
Metaphor and Simile
Literary devices are great tools. But if an author wants to stay true to their time period, so should their metaphors and similes. Before you begin using similes like Chevalier’s, ask yourself:
Brass: has it been invented yet?
Flagon: did such a thing exist?
Buttons: were they invented?
Cinnamon: have you set your novel in a country that would have grown or had access to cinnamon?
Sea: has your character actually seen the sea, or is s/he landlocked? Before comparing something to the sea, consider where you character has lived and is currently living.
Candle: are candles in use, or would your characters have used oil lamps instead?
Evoking A Sense of Place and Time
You don’t have to sound like a history book to evoke a time in history. Notice that Chevalier doesn’t need to have a character say, “Wow, it’s unseasonably warm for this time of year in Holland,” for us to know the setting of her novel. Nor does she have to point out that the story takes place several hundred years in the past. She does all of this through conversation and light (not heavy) description.
Place
“You will be paid eight stuivers.” Stuivers was a coin that was used in the Netherlands until the Napoleonic Wars. Simply by having one character tell another how much she will be paid allows the reader to recognize the time and place. Even if you can’t date a stuiver, you know it’s not anything that was ever used in England or America, and that it’s probably not in use today.
“On the Oude Langendijck, where it intersects with the Molenpoort.” Having one character give directions to another character is a clever way of telling the reader where the story is located.
Time
“I could hear rich carpets in their voices, books and pearls and fur.” Obviously, it’s long enough ago that owning a carpet, books and pearls was a sign of wealth. Today, it’s a sign that you went down to Walmart and picked up a few things.
“He wore a black cloak over his shoulders, a white shirt, and a fine lace collar.” It’s the phrase lace collar that tells you we’re not in the 21st century anymore, the land of mini-skirts and tube tops.
“Papists’ Corner? They’re Catholic?” Although religious conflict exists today, the fact that Griet is shocked that she will be working for a Catholic family dates the story. We have already been told that this is Holland, and in 21st century Holland I highly doubt anyone would be shocked to go to work for a Catholic family.
Also consider the Three Js of writing
Journey, Jeopardy and Justification
Journey
Where is the character going and how will the journey change him/her? Griet is going to become a maid for the first time in her life, and it will not only involve leaving her younger sister Agnes, it will involve moving away from her home. This journey changes her dramatically so that by the end of the novel there are times when Griet feels that her parents can’t understand her anymore.
Jeopardy
Why is the character in danger? Is it his life? Is it her reputation? In Girl With a Pearl Earring it is Griet’s reputation, her place in Vermeer’s household, and her chastity in jeopardy.
Justification
Why does the character feel this way? Griet feels threatened by Vermeer’s household because they’re Catholic.
I hope this has given a few writers out there some food for thought. Researching historical fiction is great fun, but artfully placing the facts into a novel so that the story still flows can be challenging. Thank you for having me for a second day, and I look forward to returning again tomorrow!
Michelle Moran
Author of Nefertiti: A Novel
Hi! I’m Michelle Moran, the author of Nefertiti: A Novel. My historical fiction debut is going to be released July 10, and Kelly has invited me to be a guest blogger on The Written World for three days. She has asked me to share with her readers how I was inspired to write a novel about Egypt’s most notorious queen, so here’s the short [g] version!
Discovering Nefertiti
The inspiration for Nefertiti: A Novel began with the PBS television program Reading Rainbow. I was eight years old when the program featured a children’s book about dinosaurs. On the screen, a group of school children were huddled around a dinosaur bone, dressed in khakis and safari hats. They were squatting over a gigantic femur and tenderly cleaning off the dirt with their brushes. “That’s what I want to do,” I announced, and when my mother signed me up for a children’s course in paleontology at the Natural History Museum, I knew I wanted to join a dig someday.
Twelve years later I found myself sitting in Anthropology 101, and when the professor mentioned that she was looking for volunteers who would like to join a dig in Israel, I practically trampled the other students in my haste. Visions of artifacts danced in my head. After all, it was Israel, and who knew what we might find? For the three weeks before the orientation meeting, I agonized over exactly what I should bring. Shorts, of course, and heavy boots. But what about brushes? Were there special brushes that archaeologists used, or would the ones from Home Depot be okay? I finally settled on brushes from Home Depot, and when it came time for packing, I lovingly placed them in protective wrap and imagined all the priceless artifacts they’d soon be dusting.
When I landed in Israel, I unpacked my brushes and laced up my boots. I didn’t own a fedora, but I already felt like Josh Bernstein and I was ready to Dig Up Some Truth. As we arrived at the dig site, our team leader walked to the back of his van. I watched enthusiastically as he unloaded twenty pickaxes. When he began passing them out to the volunteers, however, I became concerned. They’ve mistaken me for someone else, I panicked, someone who’s signed up to dig ditches instead of brushing delicate femurs. “What is this?” I asked when it was my turn for a pickax. “One of your tools,” our team leader replied. “There’s a shovel as well. You’ll be digging six feet by ten.” When he saw the shock on my face, he frowned. “You knew that, didn’t you?”
For weeks we dug ditches, shoveling dirt into wheelbarrows and hauling the barrels of dirt down a hill. Over that summer I think I lost ten pounds, and I know that I gained some serious muscle. Plus, I never did get to use my brushes. Only seasoned archaeologists were allowed to do the delicate work. But when our team discovered an Egyptian scarab that proved the ancient Israelites had once traded with Egyptians, I began to wonder who had owned that scarab, and what had possessed them to undertake the long journey north from their homeland to the fledgling country of Israel.
On my flight back to America I stopped in Berlin, and with a newfound appreciation for Egyptology, I visited the museum where Nefertiti’s limestone bust was being housed. The graceful curve of Nefertiti’s neck, her arched brows, and the faintest hint of a smile were captivating to me. Who was this woman with her self-possessed gaze and stunning features? I wanted to know more about Nefertiti’s story, but when I began the research into her life, it proved incredibly difficult. She’d been a woman who’d inspired powerful emotions when she lived over three thousand years ago, and those who had despised her had attempted to erase her name from history. Yet even in the face of such ancient vengeance, some clues remained.
As a young girl Nefertiti had married a Pharaoh who was determined to erase the gods of Egypt and replace them with a sun-god he called Aten. It seemed that Nefertiti’s family allowed her to marry this impetuous king in the hopes that she would tame his wild ambitions. What happened instead, however, was that Nefertiti joined him in building his own capital of Amarna where they ruled together as god and goddess. But the alluring Nefertiti had a sister who seemed to keep her grounded, and in an image of her found in Amarna, the sister is standing off to one side, her arms down while everyone else is enthusiastically praising the royal couple. From this image, and a wealth of other evidence, I tried to recreate the epic life of an Egyptian queen whose husband was to become known as the Heretic King.
Writing the novel took years of research. I wanted to be sure that when I wrote Nefertiti I was extremely accurate, down to the color of the palace tiles and shape of the women’s beads. At the same time, however, I wanted to be careful not to weigh the story down in too much detail. There needed to be the same sense of urgency, danger, and passion as filled Nefertiti’s world. In striking that balance, I hope that Nefertiti brings to life the same beauty and mystery I found looking across the centuries into the gaze of Egypt’s most fascinating queen.
Feel free to visit my website at www.MichelleMoran.com for a video trailer of Nefertiti and more great information on the ancient Egyptians. And I look forward to returning to The Written World tomorrow to share a few insights on the process of writing historical fiction.
by everyone. It is called the "Challenge Yourself Challenge." What it means is that each month you challenge yourself to do something you have never done before, have been putting off forever, or that scares you or intimites you. Then, you post about it on your blog, and link back here. Some months, there might be challenges. Like, read an author you have never read before or do a Thursday Thirteen of the places in your town that you think people should visit. Ideas like that. Other people can also email me with ideas and challenge participants to do things that they have done that they think other people have been doing. My hope is that if this idea works, I can create its own blog for it, and it can be like a little community. If I get enough interest, by people leaving comments, I would like to start in August. So, what do people think? I only thought of it yesterday, so it might need a little fine-tuning. The best thing is that it does not have to be anything major, you just have to post about it, and you are going to update your blog anyways.... Anyways, comment and offer suggestions or tell me if you are interested. I will continue to update my idea through July and if by the last week of July there is interest, we will start in August.
In other news, today was mail call day! Yay! I got 4 books in the mail, and I am very excited about all of them. I got Interworld by Neil Gaiman and Michael Reeves (which I am reading currently), M is for Magic by Neil Gaiman, the next Warriors book by Erin Hunter, Swordbird by Nancy Yi Fan. These books are for the What Would Harry Read blog that Harper Collins Canada has. That means four more guest posts from yours truly! The blog actually updated today if you want to head over there and check it out! Then, I got another book, The Judas Strain by James Rollins. I am very excited to see what happens next, and impressed with the speed in which I received it as it only came out yesterday and yesterday was a holiday (mail-wise).
trying to read more older books. I started a couple yesterday, but they will be put to the side until I finish Gaiman. I really love the cover to InterWorld. I also noticed the back of Swordbird and how young the author looks. I quickly looked at the author profile and she is only 14. I will be interested to see how well she writes!
blogging! I will also be posting my review of Nefertiti. The book comes out on July 10th, so if you want to see if it right for you, stop by and see what Michelle has to say! And, she is very open to questions, so if you have any just leave them in the comments anytime between now and next Friday and I will be sure that she gets them. I probably will be posting other things during that week as well, I do not want to get too far behind on my other reviews, but I am thrilled that Michelle agreed to do this because I really really loved her book!
