Worth the Weight

Hear the latest buzz? Jane Austen had an editor. Shock! It seems lots of readers thought her prose flowed perfectly from her pen (or pencil). But if the researchers are right, Jane didn’t remember the old “i before e” rule. Or lots of others. Scandalous!

The NPR article in the link above is a reminder that a book is best when it’s a collaboration. True, nowadays, writers are expected to turn in a near-perfect manuscript, because editors have very little time to whip it into shape. They have a ton of other jobs. I’m amazed that my editor is able to juggle all the tasks she has going. She has amazing patience with my questions and critiques. And my line editor is a gem. She’d shape up Jane Austen’s manuscript. And probably enjoy it, too. A good editor is worth his or her weight in printer paper.

Read Full Post »

Life in the Author’s Lane

As I blog about the ups and downs, the starts and stops, the hurry up and wait, the frustrations and joys of getting a book published, I hope you’ll see the common, day-to-day grit of the publishing road, no different than that of any other business. Most people see only the end product: the book cover on a website or in a bookstore, or an author interview. In our fame-focused society, being an author can appear glamorous. In reality, it’s work.

So when I blog about daily frustrations and joys, good suprises and bad, success and disappointment, I’m saying: that’s life in the author’s lane – but it’s life in any lane.

I’ve taken enough road trips to know that the long, straight roads with unchanging scenery are the ones that make you doze off. Life (and books) are boring without challenges – the ones we often complain about. “Man needs difficulties; they are necessary for health,” said Carl Jung. Our emotional GPS matters enormously – how we position ourselves – as victims or navigators. Life often presents us with hair-pin curves, detours, and pot holes. Turn on the GPS. Navigate and live life forward.

Read Full Post »

Cover Story

Sometimes it’s inconvenient to be an emotional creature. When I’m writing, I need emotions to describe my characters through their highs and lows, but when I’m working with editors and marketing and PR and production, I wish I could be more – stoic. I’ve riding emotional waves daily. I got a copy of the cover for Breath of Angel last week. Emotions?

1. Delight (I didn’t even know they were working on a cover yet).

2. Dismay (A day earlier, I sent in my author questionnaire with my well-researched answer to what do you think the cover should be like. Obviously no one had time to read it).

3. Awe (they really did an excellent job except for . . .).

4. Frustration (the model on the cover was white, blonde, and blue-eyed; my main character has “rich dark eyes,” “hair the color of dark honey,” and olive skin).

I had to tell the publisher the cover didn’t work. They let me know it had already passed the approval of marketing and sales. In other words, it was final. Besides, they had done a photo shoot with this model and could not do another one. But they agreed to tweak what they could, make the model darker, add elements of an ancient land to the design. They haven’t sent me the final, but I discovered a copy. You can see it at the Random House site. Click on the title under the picture to enlarge it. And let me know what you think. Emotionally, I’m still all over the place.

Read Full Post »

Angel Site-ing

Want to know about the history of angels? Find out about world trees in mythology? Learn about harps in history and legend? And read about the world of Breath of Angels? Check out my new website www.karynhenleyfiction.com

Read Full Post »

What Page Are We On?

Everything’s moving much faster than I expected. The publisher plans to have ARC’s (advance reading copies) of Breath of Angel by mid-November, so they’re hoping to have cover art by then. I wasn’t expecting any of this until January. The train’s rolling and I have to run to catch up. This is the point at which author starts working big-time with marketing and PR, collecting endorsements, sending ARC’s off for review, getting web page tweaked, gearing up for the book’s release. (Which, by the way, is a definite June 21, 2011.)

I learned about the ARC’s yesterday in a conference call that came from the publisher’s marketing coordinator, publicist, and acquiring editor. They wanted to know my expectations. I wanted to know theirs. But theirs hinged on mine. Mine hinged on theirs. The phone call that was supposed to get us on the same page showed us (or me, at least) that none of us knows exactly what page we’re on. Such is life sometimes. But we have the same goal, so we push, pull, and move forward hopefully. The behind-the-scenes business of getting a book published and into readers’ hands is more complicated than most readers know!

Read Full Post »

Can Writer and Author Collide?

“Lots of people want to have written; they don’t want to write,” says Elizabeth George in Write Away. She says some people want to be authors, their name on the front of a book and their face on the back, while writers write whether or not they ever get published.

Author comes from Latin auctor, which means originator or promoter as well as writer of a literary work. Writer comes from Old English, meaning to scratch, draw or inscribe, often used as a synonym for author.

I’ve been playing author this week. My publisher sent a marketing plan and author questionnaire that asks questions that pertain to marketing and PR. I met with a friend who is a PR pro today in preliminary talks about getting her to help out with my PR. I’ll be talking by phone to the publisher’s marketing director tomorrow. There’s a ton of web-based marketing and PR to do. That’s author. (Marketing deals with advertising. PR is interviews and press kits and media.) Whew! When does an author find time to write?

With Breath of Angel making its way through production right now, I have a few weeks to spend as author. But the manuscript for the second book, Eye of the Sword, is due mid-November. Soon I’ll have to turn writer again. I wonder what happens when I’m working on revisions for Eye of the Sword at the same time I’m working PR for Breath of Angel. Do writer and author ever collide?

Read Full Post »

Fantasy Plows the Heart

“Story is the most perfect vehicle of truth available to the human being.” – Madeleine L’Engle

Humans are creatures of story. We’re drawn to true stories, made-up stories, contemporary stories, ancient stories. While information goes to the mind, stories go to the heart and change the mind.

One of the first things writers learn is that we write best what we like to read best. I happen to like history and fantasy, so it makes sense that I wrote a fantasy set in a world similar to ancient Rome/Greece/Palestine. Still, why not write a purely historical story? Why make it fantasy?

Fantasy lets me explore the mystery of the spiritual. It allows me to wrestle with deep issues that fascinate me: the interplay of opposites like light and dark, courage and fear, revenge and forgiveness, freedom and bondage, power and love. These are complex issues, and the mere mention of them conjures story.

Writing fantasy was a spiritual experience for me. I dived into my fantasy world, and when I came up for air, I found the spiritual context of the physical world to be more real, deeper, broader, richer, more amazing than I had ever known before.

What’s true of fantasy for me is what novelist John Gardner said of fiction in general: it “helps us to know what we believe, reinforces those qualities that are noblest in us . . .” Fantasy plows my heart, turns over the hardened dirt, and exposes the soft soil so that what’s noblest can grow.

 

Read Full Post »

Pegging People

“Why would you do that?” asked a woman, wrinkling her nose when I said I was working on a YA fantasy. We were at lunch during a seminar at which I was speaking about the spiritual development of children. Another lunch-mate said, “Good luck,” as if she doubted I could overcome the obstacles. I definitely got the feeling they thought I was walking the wrong road – maybe a curvy one at the edge of a steep drop.

I expect lots of my current fans and followers will ask, “Why would you do that?” They’ve pegged me as a writer of spiritual education/curricula/preschool music. In the next few blogs, I’ll kick around the idea of fantasy as a worthwhile pursuit. I won’t try to persuade you to enjoy fantasy if you don’t like it. Everyone has preferences when it comes to what they read for entertainment and enlightenment. I’ll simply try to stand up for what I enjoy.

For now, stay open-minded and open-hearted. Beware of pegging people. And beware of letting people peg you.

Read Full Post »