Yes, authors, you CAN respond to a negative review!

Hey everybody!! I'm over at the League of Reluctant Adults today blogging on responding to negative reviews...complete with helpful illustrations.

Come on over and say hi!

What does this writerly screed have to do with my grandmother's notebook?

I’ve been carrying around this old notebook of my grandmother’s forever—it's sat in the bottom of a bookshelf in every place I live. It was entirely blank and unused, aside from one page of something random (and the front, where she wrote her name and ‘knitting book.’) Isn’t it cool? So cool, that I felt like I needed to wait and find a really important use for it.

 So, I didn’t write in it for years, waiting for the exact perfect use for it. Something monumental. And of course I simply never used it.

 There is this bad habit writers can get into, or at least, I can get into, which I think of as ‘scarcity thinking’ which is where I’ll think of an awesome event or realization or twist, and I think, I need to hold that for the pinnacle of the book.

 Whenever I find myself thinking that I need to keep something to spring later, I try to do the opposite — I make myself blow the cool idea early in the book.

 It’s because I have this writerly superstition that holding things back for the right time implies that there aren’t millions more cool ideas, and I think it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy—that is, waiting to use the good stuff makes the good stuff scarce. Holding back the candy makes it so that I have less candy, whereas if I spill all my candy right away, more will be there waiting for me later. That's the superstition I have, but I really think that's how it works.

 There is another form of it where I’ll hold off on getting my characters in worst-case-scenario trouble until later. I think that’s really bad for a story to let worst case scenarios hang out there forever. When I find myself doing that, I’ll try and spill that candy, pull that trigger, push the nuclear option button.

I'm not successful at it yet. It's a discipline I'm working on. Striving. You know how it is.

Have you ever watched the Sopranos? It’s this whole drama about Tony Soprano, the mafia boss. Not to criticize it, I mean, it was an excellent, bold, groundbreaking show, and I couldn’t have written it better. But, my husband and I would get so frustrated because they kept almost getting Tony in trouble, and then withdrawing the trouble. He never got arrested, convicted, toppled by another Mafia boss, nothing. They kept the Sword of Damocles suspended over his head—season after season after season, just wiggling around now and then. And I think that’s why the show got stale.

The opposite is Joss Whedon, who’s perfectly willing to go there, wherever there happens to be. Joss is a total hero to many writers, including me, and I think a lot of it, for me anyway, is his abundance thinking, which is the opposite of scarcity thinking. He’ll kill characters (sometimes twice) let people radically transform, even plunge the planet into apocalyptic chaos. He doesn’t hold back on going to the ultimate place. He’ll go there - it’s as if he knows that when he comes out the other end, there will be a new ultimate place to go.

Actually, Kresley Cole does that really beautifully, too, in a different way. She lets things get big and crazy and terrible and spills candy all over the place. Sometimes, I look at the events in just one of her chapters, and in other hands, I could see it filling a whole book. I think she is amazing.

So this is a big thing for me that I’m always working on, to get away from scarcity thinking, and always looking to my favorite writers for their example of it. Like, what would Joss or Kresley do?

I was thinking about it this past winter, and thinking about other places in my life where I do that.

I have favorite clothes that are so favorite that I coddle them and, I limit how much I’ll wear them, like they’re too precious. Why do I do that? I actually have another grandmother thing—these little Christmas candles from the 40’s that I never burn. Sometimes at Christmas I take them out but they get dusty if you leave them out too long. But I think I’m going to burn them this Christmas!

And this notebook of my grandmother’s, of course. So I thought, no more scarcity thinking with that notebook! I’m going to use it. I decided to use it for brainstorming notes on short stories and novellas. And it’s been really great, because the thing is in use, laying all over my office, in the living room, wherever. I look at it 1,000,000% more this year than my whole life combined. I’ll eventually fill its pages but why not? It's there to be used. So, that's my big thing.

So do you do that scarcity thing, too? Or do you have the opposite problem?

Images: Sword of Damocles by Richard Westall; Jelly Babies by Father Jack

Confessions of a torrid eye cheater!

As a writer, I used to be a total snob about cheating on eye descriptions. Part of it comes from having worked for some years with a very exacting writing mentor. A brilliant and highly trained English fellow (and really, the best teacher ever) who would very nearly mock any liberties I took with eyes.

I used to be so pure about eye
descriptions. Now, not so much.

I can picture him now, my offending pages clutched in his hands: “His eyes were sad? What does it mean that his eyes were sad? His eyeballs, do you mean? Tell me, how do eyeballs look sad? They don’t get sad. Eyeballs are inanimate! Were there tears glistening upon them? Then you say that. Or is it the skin around the eyebrows that changed shape, creating a sad effect? Was his brow furrowed? Certain kind of frown?”

This whole thing made me really sensitive to writers cheating with eyes. Even some of my favorite writers, those I consider towering in their brilliance, cheat a bit. Even major huge NYT best-selling writers cheat quite boldly. This isn’t a real line, but stuff like this: “There was a stormy look in his eyes, chased by sorrow, and then a dawning recognition of what had come to pass in that room, after which his eyes were shuttered with hate.”

I would sometimes be darkly impressed by a line like that, a total sleight of hand that’s a blatant form of telling disguised as showing. A writer pretending to describe outward appearance, but telling a state of mind. And nobody made her rewrite it! And here I would be slaving over tears and hardened facial planes squinching eyes.

I really kept to my purity around eye description for a long time. I don’t believe you will find any eyeball liberties whatsoever in Mind Games, where I tended to rely a lot on widened and narrowed eyes, as well as gleaming eyes, and sometimes sides of eyes with little wrinkles of happiness. 

I recall doing one or two eye cheats in Double Cross and being thrilled nobody stopped me, because it really is convenient to cheat like that when you have a lot going in a scene. I didn’t cheat horribly, stuff like “a surprised light in her eyes.”

I have drunk the eye-cheat  Kool-aid. It's quite delicious! 

Light was kind of my gateway cheat. In real life, people can have a light in their eyes, but adding surprised is the cheat part—I mean, if you showed a lineup of eye photos, you wouldn’t be able to tell a surprised light from an angry light without the context of the face or situation. There simply is no such thing as a surprised light.

Anyway, I’m doing edits on book #3, and I was just laughing the other day, because I have totally started eye-cheating! Here, a selection of my cheats:

I keep a frantic eye on the air overhead.

Packard turns to me, and there’s a lonely light in his eyes.

Otto sits up, brown eyes glittering darkly.

Packard's lonely light is the boldest one--basically, I'm telling the inward state of the man by pretending to show it in the eyes. Okay, glittering darkly is pretty bad—that’s really about something going on in Ottos's face that I didn’t feel like getting into. Even that frantic eye on the air overhead is pretty slippery. My narrator is frantic, but the eye isn't. All in all, total cheater ways of sneaking state of mind into a physical description. But oh so convenient.

My name is Carolyn Crane and I am an eye cheater! 

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not condemning writers who eye cheat. (Especially since I have started!)  I mean, you can walk into any museum and see a good portion of beloved paintings that aren’t realistic whatsoever, and nobody’s going around like, that’s not a even what a hand looks like!

There are books on my loftiest keeper shelf (penned by writers whose feet I would kiss in a second if that sort of thing wouldn’t make me persona non grata at conventions) that contain the phrase “eyes were shuttered…”  Different writers are up to different things, and have different goals, and if an eye cheat works, it works. 


I just think it’s funny, because, if you knew how pure I used to be around it, you would totally laugh about the lonely light in Packard’s eyes, too. But, what the heck! I am keeping that lonely light line, and I might write more just like it.    

Public domain images from wiki commons: Anton van Dyck self portrait, The Eye by Haley Davis, Charles V at Muhlberg, eye detail, by Titian, Gjord i Paint.net Jagsjalv 

Layla prefers first drafting & I prefer editing...can two oppositely-inclined writers help each other?

A bit of background:

So, one night on twitter, my pal Layla Messner (@LaylaMessner on twitter) and I had an interesting exchange on revising/editing and drafting. It turns out that Layla enjoys first drafts far more than editing. And for me, first drafting can be like cutting open a vein, and revising and editing is an enchanting and fun cakewalk. We were curious about each other’s approach and we wanted to delve into the subject beyond what you can do on twitter. Isn’t that what blogs are for? 

******

 

Carolyn: Hey Layla! I’m so glad we’re doing this. Partly for selfish reasons: I want to be more into first drafting. Like you! So, questions: What do you enjoy about first drafting?

Layla: As I was reading your intro the phrase, “first drafting can be like cutting open a vein” jumped out at me. You might be thinking that since I love first drafting, I must be about to say that first drafting is nothing like that for me. But guess what? It totally is. Not all the time, but often. And I love that feeling.

I was not going to start with that aspect of first drafting, but since you brought it up, why not go right for the challenge. Yes, first drafting can be a warm and fuzzy flow of creativity for me, but that’s easy to love. What’s harder to love is that bleeding-onto-the-page-feeling. So, I’m going to try to describe what I love about that…

It’s a very raw feeling. Like telling uncomfortable secrets. But I think what I love about it is that there’s nobody here but me, no one to see it. I don’t have to worry about what anyone else will think. I can tell the absolute truth, to myself, no matter how dark it may be. I can put it to words, and see it in front of me. Nothing hidden.

Carolyn: Wow, so you’re thinking uncensored truth. This is already giving me insights. Here’s what I think is interesting: we even have different definitions of the phrase “cutting open a vein” when applied to drafting. When I wrote it, I meant it more like an unpleasant thing, and also a kind of drudgery, but worse, whereas you saw it as getting some truth down, messy as it might be.

On a first draft, my thinking is always, get this thing down, and then the fun can start. I think it’s natural for first drafts to be pretty bad, and I like muscling them into shape, but not building them from the ground up. The more refined things get, the more fun I have. Help! What do you say to a person like me? 

Layla: You say, “My thinking is always, get this thing down, and then the fun can start.” I’m picturing the first draft as a huge hill in front of you, and if you can just climb it, it’s a nice downhill from there?

Carolyn: That hill metaphor is perfect, though I don’t worry about not getting a thing done, it’s more about impatience, and I don’t like wasting a bunch of time, or going down wrong paths, and most of all, I can’t see over the top. I can’t SEE the thing to work on it until I have a draft down.  Clearly I’m not valuing or enjoying the journey of the first draft! 

It sounds like for you, first drafting is a high trust/high faith experience, and revising is an experience characterized by less trust and faith, or, maybe more worry. Whereas for me, drafting is a low trust/low faith experience, but once I have that draft, I feel confident I can make it work.

Layla: That sounds right on.

Carolyn: What’s interesting is that, the only times I DO enjoy first drafting is when I’m discovering things as I write, getting to some unexpected truth. But, mostly I think I get to the truth in a piece through rewriting and refining—the more I work on it, the more it comes into view and the more I see where it needs to go, and the more fun and exciting it is.

I approach a first draft a little like an engineer, arranging scenes I’ve imagined and getting their rudiments in, so that the fun and real work can begin. But, maybe you have a point. Maybe I’m not comfortable with something that’s too “in process.” I have a sense of the first draft as something to be gotten under control.

Layla: Right away reading this, I notice that it is the editing process that I approach like an engineer—arranging the scenes—and it is exactly the part of editing that doesn’t sing for me. The editing that I do enjoy is polishing the text itself, which I find to be more creative. I think that with first drafting especially, but also with text editing, I drop into right brain/alpha brainwaves much more easily than during structural editing. I wonder if it’s the methodical “left-brained” approach that we both find drains some of the joy from the process?

Carolyn:  Yes! Well, I think we have made a mini-discovery - we both dislike the part that for us, is the least creative; you feel like an engineer in the revision mode, I feel like an engineer during drafting. That little tidbit is really kind of golden, I think. I need to think about that. So, you see most of the real creative work as being in the first draft.

Layla:  Yes. The biggest impediment to my creativity is my inner censor, which tries to convince me that editors/critics/parents (I write YA) will take objection to my subject matter. I keep this voice quiet in the first draft by reminding myself that no one else has to see it. Because my first draft is produced in this atmosphere of trust, I imagine it is pretty close to the truth of the story. But once I switching to editing mode, the censor comes back full force and the process starts to feel less like fun creativity and more like an exam. To make matters worse, the closer I get to the finished version the more terrified I become that censor will win and I will ruin the book, destroy its soul in an attempt to be marketable, conventional (i.e. conform to conventions), and tight. Help!

Carolyn: Oh, so you have a bit of an editor/judge on your shoulder during revision? That can be hampering. If I think of people at all, I’m thinking mostly of my critique partners, and sometimes of supportive readers. I never envision harsh editors or frowning readers.

My mindset is like, there is a hidden perfect story in there and I am hard at work finding it, and the drudge work is done, and I’m getting closer and closer. And I have this feeling that they will be excited for what is working and they will tell me what isn’t, and that will help me get closer to my goal.

But I know that “onstage” feeling. Is there a way you can shift your mindset about your audience in the editing process? Maybe think more about your creative allies?

Layla: I love the idea of imagining a world of allies, rather than critics. I’m going to have to cultivate that. After all, at this stage the audience is all in my imagination—why not imagine a supportive one, right?

Can you take me through a “day of editing with Carolyn”? What’s your process like? And how does that compare with first drafting?

Carolyn: I do my editing on the computer, and my work time is in the morning, if I can arrange it, so generally, I just have my black tea and breakfast, and I sit down and read my email, and do some social media things while my mind is waking up, and then I open my document.

Usually I’ve highlighted an area in red where I’ve left off, so I undo that red and just start reading. And things just pop out at me. And if something doesn’t feel right, I change it and rearrange things until it’s right. I have a vision I’m pushing the story toward, but I sometimes discover opportunities. Though sometimes there are specific things, like, make sure a character is wearing a hat in this scene, or, I need a certain thing said. A lot of times, I’ll back up and take another pass over what I just revised and re-polish. I can get lost in the editing and do it for hours. Unlike first drafting.

My editing feeling is that of relaxation and puzzle-y, polish-y fun, as opposed to first drafting, which can be a bit more white knuckled.

 What is your mindset as you sit down to write? What is your process?

Layla: You want to know about first drafting, right? I try to write every weekday, and I usually set aside time. But even so, a lot of the time when I end up working on my first draft, it’s in addition to that time. In other words, I’ve just gotten an idea. I sit down to grab it while it’s there and the next thing I know I’ve written a whole scene.

A little while ago, I was reading the Deadline Dames blog (http://www.deadlinedames.com/) and one of the dames – I apologize for not remembering which one – was talking about the fact that she can’t tell the difference between the stuff she wrote in a moment of inspiration and the stuff she made herself sit down and plod through. I wish I could say that is the case for me, but the scenes I write in moments of inspiration seem to be the major building blocks, and the language is almost always more alive and often requires less editing than scenes written when I forced myself to work. But I still sit down and work even when I’m not inspired because it works to move the project along. I feel happier when I write, and inspiration can and often does come halfway through a writing session.

So, assuming it’s a “scheduled” writing time and not a blinding flash of inspiration, I sit down, pick up where I left off on my last writing day, or wherever I feel like working. And I just start writing whatever comes to mind.

If I don’t have an idea, I will start reading/tweaking a few paragraphs back and that will get the juices flowing. I read a quote by an author (again, I can’t remember who) who said always stop for the day when you know what comes next. I try to do that. At the end of my writing day, I’ll make a note in brackets [like this] of what’s coming next, so I have somewhere to start.

One writing practice I enjoy freewriting. (Setting a timer and writing from a prompt for 5-10 minutes. The goal is to never stop writing during that time, not even pause.) I often first draft in a similar style—just write and don’t stop.

I keep track of my daily and weekly words, and running word count on my blog, which is something I find very motivating.

I just love the experience of finding out what’s going to happen next.

When I don’t feel inspired, I’ll often edit instead. And, interestingly enough, when I edit /while/ first drafting, I really enjoy the honing process. Hmm.

Carolyn: Do you have any tips for first drafting?

Layla: The more writing advice I read, the less I want to be caught giving any, but keeping in mind that writing is different for everybody…

I often hear people saying that if you’re stuck, remind yourself that it’s just a first draft and no one else has to see it. And to just sit down and write. These work for me. Otherwise…

I think practicing freewriting could help, and thinking like that when you draft – just write whatever comes, quickly. So what is you don’t use it.

Allow yourself to be surprised.

Trust your spontaneous use of language.

Set some kind of doable goal you can reward yourself for.

Try to enjoy it, like a road trip with no set itinerary.

If all else fails, maybe tell yourself, “No, this is not my favorite part. But I have to do it to get to my favorite part, so, by golly, I am going to try to enjoy it. I’d like to write a bunch of words today so that I can have the pleasure of editing them later.” Or, “It’s okay if these words aren’t any good. I get to edit them later. I love editing, so extra bonus for me.” *grin*

Your turn.

Carolyn: My tips for editing success would be…hmm. I’d say, take yourself out of it. It’s between you and the sentences and scenes, and just flow along until you hit a snag, and then fix the snag and keep going. I mean, if you’re imagining anyone, it’s best for it to be supportive people, but ideally, you’re in the reader’s seat during editing, and I mean, you as a reader, making something you’d want to read. 

I would say, trust yourself, too. I don’t know how you cultivate that, but the person you trust to get that great first draft down is just as capable of discovering more truth and more cool stuff on the editing end.

Henry Miller once said, “don't be nervous. Work calmly, joyously, recklessly on whatever is in hand.” I try to keep that in mind on first drafting, but it’s great editing advice. You’re not going to ruin the draft by editing. If you’re worried about it, save a version and then edit a different version, and be bold with it, and then you’ll always have that old draft if you decide you wrecked it, but you probably didn’t.

Another weird thing: you mentioned that you enjoy the honing process when you’re revising during drafting, as opposed to when you revise during revising. I’m the same way, but reversed. Often, I have to write entirely all-new scenes to stick in to a complete draft, so, that’s a type of first drafting, but I never find it as unpleasant as when I’m doing a scene on a first draft run.

So, it’s all in the mindset! I have to think about this.

Layla: Yes, it’s sounding more and more to me like an issue of things “things that interfere with the creative mindset,” or something like that—i.e. being in a rush, imagining outside critics, being “left-brained”…

Carolyn: This is so helpful. Okay, take-aways. I like to do those for myself. A few things I’m taking away here: the idea that a first draft like telling uncomfortable secrets. I love that. It appealed to me greatly when you said it. Also, the idea that it’s not the task that’s the problem, it’s my mindset about it - methodical, uncreative drudgework. Stop looking at it like it’s engineering. Enjoy it. Allow myself to be surprised, as you say. I really like that.

Layla: This discussion has been a pleasure, and so enlightening. My take-aways would definitely be, making a conscious choice about the audience I imagine (a supportive one), and “trust yourself…the person you trust to get that great first draft down is just as capable of discovering more truth and more cool stuff on the editing end.” Thanks, Carolyn! I’m going to take these to my desk with me.

On my way out, I’d like to open the discussion…What about you? Love drafting? Editing? Have some tips to share? Please chime in.

Carolyn: Thanks so much for doing this with me, Layla! Yes, readers, let’s hear from you! 

Nb: Layla can be found on twitter (@LaylaMessner) or on her website here!

Where does all my time go?? Mystery solved!

It's been so wonderful to be back in my home with my routine and our cats and the familiar smells of hot water radiator heat in an old house in winter. And my pillow, and a million other things. The night we got back it was -6 degrees here! But weirdly, when I walked to the grocery store, I didn't even feel cold, as though I still contained some warmth from my vacation. And now the temperature in Minnesota is climbing! It might hit 40 today! Yee ha!

This graph illustrates where all my time goes.
But things will be different from now on!
*shakes fist at self*

No more wasting time!!! 
Do you ever get to the end of a day and think, what the hell have I done? Where does my time go? I am not the most organized person. That used to work okay for me, because I would zone out on fiction, then zone out on a work project, and there weren't many other things to think about. But as I've grown older and progressed in my dual careers there are a lot more moving parts to everything, and I can fall into reacting to things instead of managing time. Or sometimes, I look at my list and I freeze up, like a deer in headlights, and I start doing things willy nilly, and randomly and frantically.

So I have been thinking a lot about time management lately. I have this sense I could be doing a lot better. Also, I was just on that vacation and now I'm feeling behind in things.

Isn't this such a fascinating post? What? Totally narcissistic? Anyway, there are a few little systems I used to use, that I dropped one by one, and I'm resolving now to take them up! Yes! Right now!

1. When I go to bed, make a schedule for myself the next day.
2. Pick one or two things beyond writing and work deadlines that I have to get done and really commit to them and schedule them in.
3. Use my egg timer widget to maintain a fiction writing blackout period where I can't check email or twitter or answer the phone, unless the phone call seems important.
4. Social media like twitter has to be a decision, not a default mode. I can't just go on twitter or whatever because I'm between things.
5. Be more organized about flagging things to do and tracking day job hours. Don't expect myself to just remember them.

There! Do you guys have time management tricks that work? Do tell! (Also, OMG! I'm already behind my shiny new schedule! This blog entry is taking 18 minutes over than my scheduled time for it. Oh nooooo!)

The League makes its own damn resolution! 
Have you noticed how awesome the League of Reluctant Adults Blog is lately? We have a new resolution there, too, about posting fun stuff every day. So, check it out!

Image: illustration of wide range of mathematical disciplines Author: Petr Glivický

Miller. Rabbit holes. Writing. Recklessness.

I am working on a guest post for Lori over at Escape Between the Pages tonight. It's about taking walks on holidays, and I remembered that a writer I greatly admire had some quote on walking and thinking, how walking gets the mind rolling. I was pretty sure it was Henry Miller. I googled and promptly went down a Henry Miller rabbit hole. 

Wow, it's been a while since I thought about Henry Miller, who was major favorite of mine in my early twenties. Not for the famous Tropics so much as his personal writings. Sexus, Nexus and Plexus, Black Spring, Collossus of Maroussi. 

Then I went to my bookshelf and pulled down a copy of The Wisdom of the Heart, a book of his essays, and flipped through, wondering how I might feel about Miller now that I'm in my 40's. Gah, sorry Lori! I'll get that post done yet tonight!

Anyway, on my google odyssey, I stumbled on a great Henry Miller blog, which featured Miller's list of writing commandments, which Miller made for himself in 1933; You have to scroll down to get the full list, which is three posts from the end. But of particular interest to me these days are: 

#3. Don't be nervous. Work calmly, joyously, recklessly on whatever is in hand.

#8. Don't be a draught-horse! Work with pleasure only.

This is because I am working on two short stories for anthologies. I've been getting into this way of thinking, like, OMG, these stories have to be amazing because they might be the only thing somebody sees of my work. People will read these stories and decide whether they like Carolyn Crane based on them. Shit! Gotta make this count! 

And of course that is a terrible place for a writer to be. So, I'm looking at this list, and I especially need to emblazon #3 across my wall!! 

Anatomy of my crappy author bio & my strategy to change it!

Note: I did this post last February for a blog that is now broken and defunct...it's still out there, floating, but it's like one of those spacecrafts on Star Trek that don't respond to hails, and when the crew of the Enterprise boards it, everybody on it turns out to be dead. Nooooo! Anyway, I'm reprising the post here before it disappears altogether.

Anatomy of my crappy author bio

...and my strategy to change it!

The other day I was tweaking my long bio for my Amazon author page and I got to thinking, Wow, this is a really pathetic bio!!  Oh, WHAT was I thinking? Here, for your inspection, this is actually what I had:

Carolyn Crane began writing at age 7 with a poem about earthworms during a rainstorm, which she can still partially recite, but ONLY under dire threat.

[NOTE: who cares? And I opened with that? A childhood anecdote? In UF?]

Ever since then she's dreamed of becoming a real author, scribbling on various fiction projects while working menial jobs, and later graduating to ad agencies and the freelance writing life. 



[NOTE: Basically, I work hard at writing. Shouldn’t every author? And I have a job that relates to writing. Uh, the more I examine this, just…uh! This is not an interesting or cool bio!]

The trilogy that begins with Mind Games takes place in the fantastical Milwaukee/Chicago of her childhood imagination (she grew up in suburbs of both cities).

[NOTE: not terrible, but could be cooler]

Today she lives in Minneapolis with her husband and two daring cats, and when she's not writing novels or day job stuff, she can be found reading in bed , running, helping animals, or eating Mexican food - or at www.authorcarolyncrane.com, along with sample chapters, contests and extras.

[NOTE:I guess some of this is okay. I mean, it’s true personal stuff. I think a bit of that is good.]

I’m so going to change it. Probably after I write this post. Versions of this are on my site, Goodreads, all over. Below is the short bio from the back of my book and the part of the Amazon page I can’t change until book #2:

“Carolyn Crane lives in Minneapolis with her handsome husband and two daring cats. She enjoys reading and running and loves animals of all kinds. For more than a decade she’s made her living as a freelance writer. This is her first novel.”

What in either of these bios would make a person go, wow, I would love to read a book by her? 

What was I thinking?

So, I was casting around to look at other cool author bios to get inspiration, and I came across this fine article written by Barry Eisler on an author’s bio as part of an author’s marketing.

A bio is part of an author’s brand. It helps to sell the book. (If you’re unpublished, this is a good thing to consider for your query, too, on a small scale.)

You know what is really hilarious? Take a look - I’m actually a freelance advertising writer. Part of my job is to try to get companies to think about what their personality is, and why it makes them different and better, and I write their communications in a way where that shines through. That is my job, but I never applied it to my own author bio.

**headdesk**

There’s a reason for that, of course. In my mind, novel writing is my personal anti-advertising zone. In advertising, I’m strategic and goal oriented; in fiction, I get to play and be wild and free. In advertising, people tell me what project or concept to work on, and it pays the bills; in fiction, I decide what to write, and the money comes out to like 10 cents an hour, and then I turn around and spend it on promo. In advertising, I have a certain decorum. In fiction, I can swear and make up words and write smutty and it's all about enjoyment and entertainment. Advertising is a job; fiction is a labor of love, and never shall they meet.

Ooops.

So anyway, I am going to revise my bio. Being that this is a writer’s site, I thought I would share the way I’m planning on approaching it. Because a lot of people talk about keeping your author brand consistent across social media and all that, but what the hell IS your author brand? How do you determine it?

Below, I’ve modified some actual client branding questions I use in my day job to fit to an author bio project. Maybe somebody has already done this author bio/author brand discovery sort of thing, but I couldn’t find it. You don’t have to use every bit of material you generate here; this is more about getting pointed in the right direction.

The “don’t be pathetic like Carolyn Crane” author bio branding questionnaire.

1. Why are you the best person to write a book like this? Do you have any insights, personality traits or life experiences that make you a natural in the world of (Urban Fantasy, mystery, writing about girls’ boarding schools or whatever.)

2. What do people tell you they like about your work?  Your detailed knowledge of x?  passion for y? irreverence? your fun sense of humor? shocking crassness?  For example, (sorry to seem to toot my own horn, but I’m actually in this process now) people like the plotty inventiveness of my book, and I have always loved puzzles and psychological intrigue and the hidden workings of things. I wrote the book the way I did because I have a passion for that sort of thing. So I might try to work in an angle like that. It’s something about me that is relevant to why people might like the book.

3. What are 5 words you would want people to associate with you and your book? This overlaps #1 and #2. Not like these words have to appear in your bio, but think of them as the fertilizer for it. For example, I even see some authors write really imaginative bios, like, raised in the woods by wolves, etc. This tells me the author is fun and creative, without the author actually saying “I’m fun and creative,” which would be a boorish thing to do.

4. Realizations, inspirations, defining moments: if you look around, a lot of companies have a little story they tell. The founders of Caribou coffee were inspired by a hike in Alaska. Another client of mine woke up in the hospital and decided quit her job and start her own business in what she loves. Another made and lost fortunes two times over and now he coaches CEOs through crises. A little anecdote like that would work for a writer, too. (Of course, a lot of companies make theirs up. Sometimes they hire me to help them do that. LOL. Don’t make yours up, though.) I don’t actually have a defining moment. I’m pretty boring. 

Hopefully this article has been helpful to avoid the sort of bio I wrote above. Does anybody have any other bio writing and branding hints? Feel free to leave them!

UPDATE: So here is my refurbished long bio. Which I of course want to change yet again.

Images: Monster of wall, a public domain image by an anonymous artist, from Wiki commons. 
Man: 1970's JCPenney cataolog, Ship: personal collection.

Hi-ya! Mini round-up

Latest freak-out book news
Double Cross is heading to the printer soon. Author Carolyn Crane, the ultimate reviser, gets to revise no more. But that's okay! Color me feverishly excited.

Work on as-yet-unnamed book #3 is progressing well - I'm a good halfway through it, and have outlined all the way to the end like the plotter that I am, and there is so much drama in it. Part of me is so excited about what I have planned, but part of me is like, am I writer enough to pull it off? I think it will be really challenging, but I think that is okay. I think it is important for a writer to challenge herself to do things she thinks she maybe can't do. LOL. Is this even interesting? I'm on sleep deprivation program over here.

I am also several chapters into a secret PNR project that is like the funnest and wildest toy ever. And a little smutty. Okay, a lot.

Cool and excellent places to visit and things to do
Hey! Stop over at  Caitlin's Vision Quest Fail today. We've got an interview going on where you can get the scoop on what's up with the beret, the evolving role of Simon, writing quirks, and more! Also, you can win a signed copy of MIND GAMES!!

Also, I'm really psyched that MIND GAMES is Spinecracker's Virtual Book Club pick this month! Discussion kicks off on September 3rd. It should be a great group! Check out her post on it today.
 
So exciting! 
Carolyn Crane has been all work and no play lately. I spent the past week and weekend in my other superhero identity as master of the case-study-writing and corporate-website-writing universe. However, I did get a run in and then I worked on my pull-ups challenge, and guess who did TWO? LOL. And the evil humidity finally broke and I feel human again. I hope everyone is enjoying their summer!

Image: Hobby Horse by Photographer, Ch.R. Hamacher, from wiki commons.

Guest post at the Book Smugglers & my non-triumphant first viewing

Today I am at The Book Smugglers doing a guest post entitled Musicals vs. Obliviousness for their "Inspirations and Influences" series. And later today, they will be reviewing Mind Games! [Note: now up here!]

My first night as an author

Last night Mark and I went to an Indian restaurant to celebrate my release day, and then we stopped in at a Barnes & Noble that is by the restaurant to visit my book actually in a store, which I have never seen. You know, I was excited to see it on a shelf and everything.

So we go in, and it wasn't there! We looked in all the places it could be, and then this guy asked if he could help us, so we said we are looking for Mind Games by Carolyn Crane. And he takes us to the puzzle section. And then I said, no, it's a book. Because I felt weird about saying, "a book by ME, dude." So he looks it up on his computer and he can't understand why it would not be on the shelf. So he goes in back to see if it is still in a box, and he can't find it.

So then he gets a co-worker and they have this whole conversation like, where's the box? And then she has to drop everything she is doing to go back. So after all this extensive searching, inally she brings out a copy of the book and hands it to him, and he gives it to me. And I'm like, thanks!

At this point, I'm feeling TOTALLY WEIRD, because I'm actually not going to buy the book! (Though I had chosen other books to buy). Because you know, I have author copies! I just wanted to see it in the store!!!! And also, I am aware I should've offered to sign it, maybe. I don't know how that works. But, I felt dumb.

Anyway, Mark thought maybe we should browse a bit more, as though we maybe intended to buy it, and just changed our minds. So we browse a little more, and then I nestle my book into its correct alphabetical place in the fantasy section (right next to Terminator Salavation by G. Cox!) And we buy our books from a different clerk, luckily not one of the two on the search. And then we get out of there. So that was my triumphant night! But that's fine, because I had the greatest release day an author could have, and everybody has been so supportive and fabulous!!!

Recent Reviews/giveaways...

Book Smugglers review (+giveaway)

Penelope's review

Sci Fi Guy's review (+ giveaway)

Fantasy Dreamer's review (+ giveaway)

Read React Review - the Review

Jill Sorenson's review

Dirty Sexy Books - review

Babbling About Books - review

Closetwriter's review

Wicked Little Pixie's review

Tracy's review

Ellz review

Nicole Peeler's giveaway and cover assessment ("Her heroine is totally gonna cut a bitch.")
Yummy Men & Kick Ass Chicks

(Did I miss anybody????)

My long and heartbreaking road to publication

Like many authors, I experienced a lot of rejection before getting a book published. Today, I'm over with Donna at Fantasy Dreamer's Ramblings talking about novels and projects I worked on that were heartbreakingly and mysteriously passed over by editors and agents. Oh, why, why, why????

My sad list of 10 mysteriously rejected novels & projects includes:

1. An urban fantasy series:

Book #1: THE LAST MANICURE

Concept: Hilarious tales of a zombie manicure parlor with a permanent solution to cuticle problems.

Book #2: THE LAST PEDICURE

Concept: Sequel to “The Last Manicure” featuring a client with a terrible ingrown toenail.

2. A zombie erotica standalone

Title: DEEP CARESS OF THE CLAMMY HAND

The concept: A tender and highly erotic zombie romance

...MORE MORE MORE at FANTASY DREAMER'S....

Great Moments: The Devil Inside & my bio article

Great Moments from Last Night's Reading

Book: The Devil Inside by Jenna Black

Page: 79

Spoiler level: nil

Okay, who was it on Twitter who was going, Oh, Lugh! And on the Lugh lovefest train in reference to Jenna Black's The Devil Inside? (Mandi? One of the Vixens?) Because I'm totally seeing it now! This whole Lugh plot makes for fun reading.

The moment where I was won over by the whole thing was on page 79, where the problem of heroine Morgan's potential possession really comes to light.

To recap, Morgan, demon exorcist and demon hater, keeps waking up to find notes she wrote to herself in her sleep, saying she's possessed. She thinks it can't possibly be. She'd know! She wouldn't be in control. She decides it's her subconscious. Then, this note:

Morgan, this isn't your subconscious. you really are possessed, but you're so powerful in your own right that I can't get a foothold except when you lower your guard--like when you sleep. I don't want to hurt you. I'm as unwilling to possess you are you are to host me, but

The note ends there because she woke up. Right, there, reading that, I was thinking, I love this plot twist! And will our mysterious demon be inside her for the whole series? No! Don't tell me!

I think Black also has a lot of bravery with Morgan's character. She doesn't seem scared to make Morgan judgmental and rash, then sorry and self conscious about it later. I usually don't like the 'shoot first, think later' heroine, but Morgan is working for me because of this thoughtful self-consciousness. Her rashness seems positioned as a true liability, and not a liability that is secretly an advantage, and I really admire that.

Anatomy of my crappy author bio and my strategy to change it.

Brandon of Urban Fantasy Writers asked me to do a post a while back, and it's up here! He told me he has mostly readers who are writers, so I talked about an issue I was struggling with last week - that I put zero thought into my bio, and was regretting it.

In my old bio, I had just pulled out random true things about me, instead of true things about me that relate to what I'm doing as a writer. For the post, I altered a questionnaire I use for clients in my day job to make a helpful author bio questionnaire for myself and others. So, if you're interested in bio creation, check out the article.

Letter from my Mexican vacation

Hi everybody! I'm still in Mexico. Until Wednesday! But as a blogger, I know all the world is eager to know my every move and experience.

Crabbins airport reunion

My mom and two sisters came down on a flight from Chicago, and I came down from Minneapolis. So, I’m waiting outside the Cancun airport and they come out. I’m like, Hi! Yay! And they’re all like, grrrr. The Crane women can be a bit moody, so I was thinking, uh-oh, regarding the trip in general, but they cheered up soon enough. A case of long line and travel delay trauma.

It is so gorgeous here.

What a relief to be here. The air smells alive, and not like the inside of a freezer. And the sand on the beach is really soft and cool on the bottom of your feet, and water is blue and almost crystally when you swim in it. The cold and snow of Minneapolis feels like a bad dream I don’t want to think about. I am also totally relaxed, to the point where I’m shocked at how not relaxed I am in my real life. Basically, I am vegetating on the beach and pool, so I have nothing to say about the actual country of Mexico whatsoever.

The mesmerizing fountain

There is this fountain in the pool, like shooting water coming up from spouts in a circle. The fountain does this random thing where random droplets go oddly high, and you never know which area the high droplets will pop up from. I watched it for a really long time; it was SO strangely mesmerizing, I could barely tear my attention away from it. It reminded me of a StarTrek episode (Next Gen) where the whole crew is mesmerized by these video game headsets. It was one of the few episodes where Weseley wasn’t annoying.

Totally unproductive

I thought I’d think of some blog guest post ideas, since I do have an upcoming release and all, and plan to go bloghopping and all that. And I brought a hotel pen and hotel notepad out to the pool and all I could do was to wonder why some people use black ink, and others prefer blue. And how much I like little hotel notepads. Clearly not the frame of mind to work in. That’s probably a good thing, since all I do at home is work. Still, I find blogging recreational, so you’d think I’d be up for that. Too lazy minded to blog, yet, I am making this post. This reminds me of another Star Trek episode. Old Star Trek. Can anyone guess what episode I mean? Ooh, whoever gets it first wins a copy of Mind Games once I get my finished copies. Vacation Carolyn is making a contest!

Reading material

So I brought Silent on the Moor by Deanna Raybourn, Tempest Rising by Nicole Peeler, Spellbent by Lucy Snyder, The Devil Inside by Jenna Black, and Night Tides by Alex Prentiss.

So, I’m reading Tempest and Spellbent concurrently, and I had this dim idea on the beach this morning for a post comparing the levels of realism in Spellbent and Tempest, and what those levels mean in terms of what each of these authors can and can’t get away with. Or like, what pact it sets up with the reader. It would be a really cool post. Or would it? My whole mind is sort of on vacation, and I think my judgement might be off. At any rate, that sucker won’t be written anytime soon.

Sharon's scrunchie

This photo above shows my sister on the beach with her scrunchy, the source of some merciless teasing from my other sister.

What is happening in blogland?

I feel like I’m missing all sorts of stuff in blogland, and Jessica's stepback isn’t there. Jessica! People depend on your newsgathering acumen! I will be on the beach clueless now. What’s new, people? Ah, according to a latebreaking email from my homegirl Chris, still the Macmillan Amazon thing. Okay, okay. That's something I don't want to think about.

Some things nobody told me about being a debut author

When my agent sold my book last year, my release date (March 23, 2010), seemed soooo long to wait.

What I didn’t realize is that tons of exciting little things would happen along the way, and those things make it not so bad to wait. In fact, I find that every dumb little thing that happens is sort of exciting when you're coming up on being a debut author.

I was reminded of this the other day on Twitter, when Tez from Tez Says twittered me a link to an Amazon page (pictured here), humorously wondering what was up with it - why am I keeping people in suspense? (At least I think it was Tez - I can’t find the twitter now!).

I went and looked and check it out! My book #2 is there! This may not seem that impressive, but it’s super exciting to me. When you're having a book or series coming out, little things like this are always magically appearing.

Or sometimes my editor will email me, and that is always sort of a kick. Even when the email is blank, it's this little shot of fun excitingness. Or, the other day, she emailed me about a thing, and the same email was sent to a few other authors I admire the hell out of, like we're this group now.

The cover

The Spectra Bantam gang asked me about what sort of clothes my heroine, Justine Jones, might wear, and any suggested backgrounds. I had all kinds of opinions and ideas and sent a bunch of photos, of course, including this one (below) I found on Sartorialist, a fashion site that fashion-savvy galpal Kwana turned me onto. And this artist at Spectra worked it up into a really cool cover. Maybe I’m blathering here, but it was sort of amazing to me that some artist in New York was paid to spend time working on a cool piece of art to represent the world and character I created. When I first got the cover (see cover on sidebar), I could barely stop looking at it.

Editing

My agent would often talk about the “editorial letter” that was coming, but I didn’t think it would actually be a letter. But it was. I really loved that. The letter had all these little things to change.

In the letter, my editor said I could change whatever other little things I wanted to, even if she didn’t call for it in her letter. But, when I even changed one little word, I was like, am I sure this is a better choice? This might be the word that goes in the final book. Am I really really sure????

Other random things:

• Being a writer, I guess I assumed I would/should write the back blurb, which I figured would be a version of my query, but then the Spectra gang sent one that they made to me, and goddamn if it wasn’t nine million times better than I could’ve ever done. Even though I tweaked it a little.
• “Front sales.” Just in case you’re wondering, that’s the passage at the front of the book, often sexy, that’s pulled out from somewhere inside. I didn’t realize I would even have one, but one day it appeared in my inbox. I was so surprised by the passage they chose, and they sort of stitched a few things together to make it, but I thought it was smart.
• Writing is such a zero-collaboration zone, so suddenly having all these people with me on the project who are really good at what they do, I never expected it.
• If I ever get a tattoo, it should be the rule for using lay, lie, lain, lied etc. Because apparently I will never get that right. In fact, after the editing experience, whenever I’m about to use the word, I think what it should be, and if I decide lay, then I use lie. And vice versa. That is my new system.
• Oh, and also, guess who uses WAY too many exclamation points!!!!! If you were my twitter friend you would see how terrible I am about this. (And if you’re not my twitter friend, why not? … @carolyncrane)

Anyway, maybe someday I will be more jaded about this. I hope not, though, because I feel so lucky. Okay, now I'm really thinking about that lay/lie grammar rule tattoo. It would be sort of funny if I got it around my arm, like the way people get barbed wire there. Do you think I would regret it??

Random updates & question of the day: Regarding Roarke

Writerly update

Okay thanks for all the wonderful, thoughtful feedback on my last post! I felt a lot better after writing that, and even more so getting words of wisdom and such kindness.

I was thinking today how in my day job, I'm constantly cranking out creative ideas to actual harsh feedback, and I either use it to make my stuff better, or I ignore it, but it never bothers me. Clearly I need to put my fiction writer hat on that mode. Also, today I got a wonderful blurb from a writer I greatly admire. Oh, I was so thankful. However, Oblio is still a softness loser.

Contest Reminders

Demon Sheep + special mystery books!

What would you do if you had your own demon sheep? What kind of demon sheep would he be? What would you name him? Tell Katibabs in 100 words here and you could win! Deadline: Sunday the 13th.

The Save Amanda Feral ARC-blowout!

Kill two zombies with one stone: order a raunchy and twisted zombie adventure book, wittily signed by the maestro himself (the perfect gift for "those most likely to upset people at the holiday dinner table with a shocking joke") by the 11th for Xmas delivery and you're 80% of the way entered. There are other options, too. See directions here or here. Deadline: Monday the 14th.

Win a Santa bag of chocolate treats!

You have only until tomorrow, 6 pm Thursday, to enter to win chocolate covered rice krispie bars in honor of the hot holiday paranormal romance, Sweet Inspirations. Read all about it here.

Question of the day:

I'm only in the early stages of my In Death addiction process - one read, one on the TBR for ages. But I was wondering if Roarke is at all inspired by Howard Roark in Fountainhead (a book I actually DNFed, but it is an important and influential book for a number of people I like and respect, including my mom.)

Anyway, Fountainhead Roark is all about individualism and forging his own code. Eve's Roarke does seem to have his own code, too, and he is indeed successful and seems full of integrity. Is this something everybody knows and has discussed extensively? Oh well, color me late to the party!

• Is this a known thing that one Roark(e) is patterned on the other?
• Does Nora Roberts frequently give her characters names that have meaning? Names that relate to their character? If that's a Roberts habit, I think it would be a strong indication that Roarke was inspired by Roark.
• How about this theory: Ayn Rand time travelled forward to the 1990's, using that Stonehenge thing from Outlander, read some In Death books, then returned to her era, and based Howard Roark on Eve's Roarke.

A dark day in the Crane household! contest results and blurb trauma

It turns out Oblio was NOT the softest kitteh ever! Read the photo essay of Kitty Softness Smackdown Rumble here at Stumbling over Chaos. Also, stuff about the contest, in reverse order, can be found in posts from all last week here.

I feel a bit like a traitor, as one of the judges. However, Oblio has been very good about it.

In other news

My book was sent out for blurbs to various authors, and I just got my first response, via my agent, where an author didn't like it enough to blurb it. I totally respect this author saying that, because I would never want her to put her name on it if she didn't feel it was her cup of tea, and also, she doesn't even know me, and she took time out of her busy schedule to give it a whirl, for which I'm hugely grateful. I know I would feel resentful if I was expected to favorably blurb a book I didn't love.

But of course, it freaks me out, because it's easy to get into slippery slope thinking, like, what if everybody hates it?!?!

Then I start thinking, why? And I scan my agent's email for clues. Suddenly there is all sorts of dark significance in my agent's phraseology: "was not her cup of tea." Is it possible my agent is shielding me from some commentary she feels I cannot handle? Why not repeat this person's communication to me verbatim?

Naturally, as author, I have a long and startlingly elaborate list of possibilities why people might not enjoy my book, or why some would even come to actively dislike, or possibly hate it! Here in my office, I am able to imagine baroque worlds of doom and gloom that involve my book crashing and burning, and me a bitter failure. A husk of a woman. OMG, I was writing this sort of putting a humorous spin on it, but now I'm getting verklempt.

Website: Up so so soon! By the end of the week. I'm psyched about my progress, slow as it is.

**PS** Okay, I'm really being dramatic, I can see.

These authorly ups and downs just surprise me, and I think they're a little bit funny, (i.e., me being a freak). Because, of course some readers will like my book, others won't. Just like with every other book in the world. In the end, I am SO happy to have it being published, and it really is quite exciting! Yet intense!

Gasp! My cover!!

Gah! Help! Somebody get me away from my computer...I can't stop looking at the new cover for my novel! Honestly, I just want to look at it and look at it. I'm so so excited. I think the cover artist at Spectra did an amazing job.

There was a time when it was coming out in April, but that got pushed to March 23rd, which further thrills me.

Book 2 will be out in September. One of these days I'll get my new author site up and stick the whole synopsis there, and possibly here, but I don't want to show and tell things before I'm supposed to. [update: Site now up!! here]

But I'm sure it's fine to say that, in a nutshell, Mind Games is the first in an urban fantasy trilogy about a hypochondriac who joins a psychological hit squad. It takes place in a fantastical Milwaukee/Chicago. (Specifically, the Milwaukee/Chicago of my childhood imagination. I lived in suburbs of both cities as a young child.)

Anyway, I'm just so so excited.

Published by Spectra, a division of Random House.

UPDATE: Site and Info on Mind Games Trilogy now up here!