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Guest Post: Bancroft Press’ Harrison Demchick on Small Press

March 9, 2011 by

Bancroft Press has Harrison Demchick on the front lines, and his press is another local one, situated in Baltimore, Md.  We’re going to be taking another Literary Road Trip of sorts today, as Harrison talks about being a small press and what that entails in the day and age of publishing battles in the media and beyond.

Anything you read most anywhere about the present state of publishing will dwell on the industry’s ongoing war, or transformation, or whatever you want to call it. They’ll talk of the trend toward self-publishing and the inevitable impact on the long-standing dominance of the New York super-publishers. They’ll talk of the eBook, and the way it’s changed the price of big press hardcovers from standard to outrageous.

In this narrative, the war has two combatants: the major publishers and the self-publishers.

Everyone forgets about the rest of us.

Bancroft Press represents the element you don’t hear about—the forgotten combatant, if you will. Between the big press and the no press is the small press, comprised of groups operating more or less in the mold of traditional publishing, but with a narrowed list of titles and authors. And what does that mean?

Well, if you’re only going to publish four, maybe six books a year, they’d better be books you believe in. This should be less a novelty than it is, but with the big publishers more and more focused on commercial appeal above all other considerations, and the self-published authors pretty much a total crapshoot in terms of quality, there aren’t many places left simply publishing good books they like.

Or maybe there are. Maybe you’re just not hearing about them.

It’s certainly not easy to be a small press. The major publishers monopolize the bookstore shelves—hell, Borders’ stock is under their control outright. Barnes and Noble won’t stock your book if they don’t like the cover. Most newspapers won’t read your book if they can instead read a HarperCollins book they know has the budget behind it to be a hit. Most don’t care about the diamond in the rough.

It’s a funny thing, actually. The major publishers have a huge budget and focus on only what their marketing departments believe they can sell. We have hardly any budget and no marketing department, and publish what we believe in regardless of perceived popularity.

If eBooks and the rise of self-publishing are evening things out a little, then all the better from our point of view. But that doesn’t necessarily make the invisible publishers visible—certainly not with the dichotomy most seem to believe exists. It’s a tough road, but the small presses wouldn’t be in the game at all if they didn’t believe their books deserved to make it.

So that’s small presses in general—but what’s Bancroft Press?

Our slogan is “Books That Enlighten.” If that seems very broad, it is. We publish a huge variety of books, the only determination being belief in the material. Bancroft began in 1995, founded by its publisher, Bruce Bortz. We’ve published Alex Award winners (Jonathon Scott Fuqua’s The Reappearance of Sam Webber), Edgar finalists (Libby Sternberg’s Uncovering Sadie’s Secrets), Pulitzer nominees (Gus Russo’s Live by the Sword), and also really great, even critically acclaimed books that didn’t sell the way they could have, and should have (Fuqua’s In the Wake of the Boatman, Ron Cooper’s Hume’s Fork, Elizabeth Leinkes’s The Sinful Life of Lucy Burns).

Right now, we’re focused on three particular projects.

Purple Jesus, which we published in mid-October, is the one you may have heard of. Ron Cooper’s second novel, a terrific Southern Gothic masterpiece, was called “a literary achievement of the first magnitude” by The Washington Post.

A small press literary novel with a major newspaper review, by the way, is an incredibly rare thing, and comes as a result mainly of persistent obnoxiousness.

You’re less likely to have heard of The Naperville White House: How One Man’s Fantasy Changed Government’s Reality, an offbeat and hugely inventive novel we published at the end of 2010. Jerome Bartels’s book, written as a nonfiction account, tells of a terrorist crisis resolved not by the real government, but by a fantasy government—think live-action role-playing meets fantasy football—comprised of a librarian secretary of state, a gas station owner director of national security, a customer service representative chief of staff, an obsessive gamer secretary of defense, and an insurance adjustor president.

There’s nothing quite like it. That makes it very, very hard to sell. We knew that going in—in fact, one New York publisher, which otherwise loved it, rejected it for explicitly that reason—but we believe in this book and published it anyway. We’re still pushing it and hoping it catches on.

Finally, there’s our upcoming foray into young adult adventure, The Atomic Weight of Secrets or The Arrival of the Mysterious Men in Black, the first book in Eden Unger Bowditch’s Young Inventors Guild trilogy. It’s the story of five genius children in 1903 who seek to break free from their bizarre, black-clad kidnappers to find their missing parents, using the mysterious creation they have all, unbeknownst to one another, been inventing.

We see it as the scientific answer to Harry Potter, and we have high hopes for its release on March 15.

So this is Bancroft Press: a small publisher putting its minimal but determined weight behind some truly amazing books. The narrative of the industry’s transformation would render us nonexistent, but we’re here, and publishing books every bit as good as the larger publishers—and sometimes quite a bit better.

It’s all about what we believe in. How could it be anything else?

Thanks, Harrison, for sharing your thoughts on the publishing wars and on Bancroft Press’ mission.  You also catch Harrison at the Maryland Writers Conference on Saturday, April 2, 2011, at the University of Baltimore’s Thumel Business Center.

Filed Under: Bancroft Press, Events, guest post, Independent and Small Press Month, Publishers/Publicists, The Literary Road Trip Tagged With:

Guest Review: Confederate Streets by Erin E. Tocknell

March 2, 2011 by

Today’s guest review of Confederate Streets by Erin E. Tocknell comes from a new-to-me blogger, Sara from Wordy Evidence of the Fact.  She was one of the first to respond for my call for guest posts this month, and I’m thrilled to host her and her review.  I hope you enjoy it and visit Sara’s blog soon.

 

Title: Confederate Streets

Author: Erin E. Tocknell

Publisher: Benu Press

Publication Date: 2011

Full disclosure: This book was written by a good friend of mine.  See more below.

We had just started clearing the Thanksgiving dishes when my friend Erin called.  I thought she was just calling to wish us a Happy Thanksgiving or some other friendly formality.  Instead, I hear this: “I’m getting published.  My book won and is going to be published.” You can easily imagine the general jubilance and squealing and hopping that took place.  My family thought I had gone around the bend.  But all of you writers with maybe-someday hopes for publication out there understand just how momentous a first book is.  It is a watershed achievement, and I am proud of my friend.  Now that I’ve had the chance to read it, I can confidently say I am also proud of her book, Confederate Streets.

The competition she entered is held annually by Benu Press.  Benu Press is an independent publisher that focuses on issues of social justice and equity.  They see their work as a means of activism, and those of us who recognize the inherent power of words understand just what a mighty tool for change this work can be.  The award Erin won is called The Social Justice and Equity Award in Creative Non-Fiction. As a genre, Creative Nonfiction is most certainly undervalued.  It is different from autobiography, distinct from memoir, and not exactly journalism.  Perhaps it combines elements of all three; done well, it can produce some highly enjoyable and informative work.

Confederate Streets is a collection of interconnected pieces, each exploring Nashville, its history, Tocknell’s family, her past, and the issues of race and class that have so shaped all of these elements.  Tocknell skillfully relates various life experiences without coming across as self-absorbed; she imparts the knowledge gleaned from her research with a seemingly effortless touch, informing and inspiring at the same time; she asks hard questions of herself and of the reader and expects a thoughtful answer; and perhaps most importantly, she entertains.

One of my favorite chapters comes late in the book and is called “Leave the Driving to Us.” In this piece, Tocknell manages to overlap narratives about her tour of UVA (and other colleges) as a prospective student, her travels on a Greyhound bus, and the magnet school system / busing system in her hometown, Nashville, TN.  The highlight of the chapter comes during her brief stay in Norfolk, VA and involves a breakfast with her Uncle David at the Cozy Home Diner.  The details she provides are spot on, and what happens there can only be described as life-changing.  I don’t mean life-changing in the way a death or a birth or even a career change can be; I refer to those still, small moments when you realize that everything you once knew has shifted slightly on its axis.  It is a gift – one she was given, certainly, and one she has now given to each of her readers.  Here are her concluding thoughts on the subject:

    Though I didn’t realize it until later, the Cozy Home Diner also revealed that a great deal of my trip was a sham. I had bounced, blithely and eagerly, between a world full of choices and a world full of limitations.  My bus mates, the men and women in the cafe, the tired faces in the stations and towns along the way – most of them couldn’t decide whether or not they’d like to wear J. Crew and go to a school with a crew team or Honor Code, because that was not an option for them.  I had reveled in the simplicity of bus travel, never considering that was I saw as simple was, for others, either a dead end or an immensely complex web to navigate. (120)

Though it would be easy to dismiss Tocknell as just another privileged White kid coming to terms with her Whiteness, the complexity of her situation should not be ignored.  There was no reason for her to not consider college as the logical next step; there was no reason for her to have considered the Greyhound bus anything but a convenient and inexpensive mode of transportation; she had done nothing wrong.  Yet, an encounter, or the absence of one, in a diner changed her ability to see things so clearly.  It muddied her waters as happens to each of us when we realize that doing “nothing wrong” might also equate simply to doing nothing.  By writing this book, Tocknell has made sure she has done something to speak up about the issues of race and inequity that still exist.  She believes in the power of story to change lives, and she offers us stories that will go on changing lives through her telling of them.

Lest you think I am merely a friend blinded by loyalty, I must offer a word of critique – which Erin has already heard from me.  I believe the final chapter unbalances the collection. “Rowing Through the Ruins” is a gorgeous, award-winning essay on rowing and place and architecture and selfhood; however, it does not provide adequate closure to the lessons and history (personal and regional) she has worked to intertwine so beautifully throughout the rest of the book.

***If you want to read this fascinating book, you can get it as a kindle edition from amazon.com or from the publisher.  If you want to know more about Erin Tocknell and her work, you can read this interview with her on my blog.  And if you’d like enter to win a signed copy of this book, go to the interview, leave a comment, and cross your fingers.  I’ll choose a winner on Friday.***

Thanks, Sara, for providing a review for the Indie & Small Press Celebration! You’ll see more from Sara later in the month.

Filed Under: Events, guest post, Independent and Small Press Month Tagged With: , , , ,

Guest Post: Author Anjali Banerjee’s Writing Space

February 8, 2011 by

Today, I welcome author Anjali Banerjee to the blog.  She’s the author of Haunting Jasmine, which came out February 1.  Here’s an excerpt about the book from Penguin:

“When Bengali-American beauty Jasmine’s marriage to the perfect American man falls apart, it takes a mystical bookstore populated with literary ghosts and a relationship with an enigmatic young stranger to help her rediscover her own sense of peace and happiness and the possibilities for love she holds inside of her—if she is willing to move past the hurt and embrace the promise of tomorrow.”

Sounds fantastic, doesn’t it.  Stay tuned for a US/Canada giveaway.  OK, let’s check out Anjali’s writing space:

Recently, TIME magazine published a photograph of author Jonathan Franzen’s work space – a simple desk and computer in a stark room with no other furnishings. Apparently he uses an obsolete Dell computer with the wireless card removed. But according to TIME, “In spite of all these precautions, Franzen got stuck.”

Copyright Carol Ann Morris

Still, I admire him for eliminating distractions. I’m not so self-disciplined. I love to write on my laptop while lying in bed, with cats lounging around me, but generally I write at the desktop in my home office – only about 100 square feet of space, but it’s more than I need.

When my husband and I bought this house – a small rambler in the woods on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State – the room reflected the drab gray of Pacific Northwest skies in winter: colorless walls and frayed, pale blue carpet. Yuck. The only redeeming feature was the view of the forest through the window.

So last summer, I had the carpet ripped out and replaced with all-natural Forbo Marmoleum® floors. Marmoleum is known as the “new linoleum.” It’s produced from renewable materials including linseed oil, rosins, wood flour, and other “ecologically responsible” pigments. The floor is easy to clean – a plus when you have five cats running around – as well as durable and generally hypo-allergenic, anti-bacterial and anti-static. I chose a deep reddish-brown color (I think it’s called “Indian Summer”).

I had the walls painted in warm gold using eco-friendly, “no-VOC” (no Volatile Organic Compounds) indoor paint. I had a solar tube installed in the ceiling, an absolute miracle of natural light. I removed the closet doors to open up the room, and I bought an ergonomic chair with three adjustment levers.

I managed to fit book shelves, a six-piece modular oak desk, three cat beds, a cat condo, my Bose Wave radio/CD player, a full spectrum light desk lamp, and a full 88-key Casio electronic keyboard into my office. And it does not feel cluttered. I love this room. It is so… me. Gifts from family and friends sit on the desk next to my computer – photographs, trinkets, a stuffed Canadian moose and Canadian beaver – and I always keep a bottle of water and a flashlight (in case of a winter power outage) nearby.

All said, when I write, I’m oblivious to my surroundings. When I’m on a tight deadline, I sometimes leave the house to write in a café where the cats aren’t crying, nobody demands my attention, and the phone is never for me.

Copyright Carol Ann Morris

Soon, I’ll have to find a good standing workstation or treadmill desk, as all the sitting is beginning to hurt my back. Until then, I’m here, typing away on the desktop in my little gold-painted office in the woods.

Remember, each of us is different. We have different needs, different preferences. My advice is to make your work space conducive to writing, whatever that means for you. If you need a sparsely furnished room a la Jonathan Franzen, honor that need. If you prefer messiness and chaos, go with it. Create an ergonomic workstation to protect your body! I found tips here.

Thanks, Anjali, for sharing your writing space with us.

Copyright Carol Ann Morris

About the Author:

Anjali Banerjee was born in India, raised in Canada and California and received degrees from the University of California, Berkeley. She has written five novels for youngsters and three for grownups, and she’s at work on her next novel for adults to be published by Berkley/Penguin. Her books have received accolades in many review journals and newspapers. The Philadelphia Inquirer called her young adult novel, Maya Running (Wendy Lamb Books/Random House) “beautiful and complex” and “pleasingly accessible.” The Seattle Times praised Anjali’s novel for adults, Imaginary Men (Downtown Press/Pocket Books) as “a romantic comedy equal to Bend it Like Beckham.”

Giveaway Details:

1.  Leave a comment your thoughts about ergonomics.

2.  Blog, Tweet, Facebook, etc. for a second entry.

Deadline is Feb. 14, 2011, at 11:59PM EST (US/Canada only)

Filed Under: giveaway, guest post Tagged With: ,

Guest Post: Author Gillian Bagwell’s Writing Space

January 25, 2011 by

Today, I welcome author Gillian Bagwell to the blog.  She’s the author of The Darling Strumpet: A Novel of Nell Gwynn, which came out this month from Penguin Group.

“The Darling Strumpet is a vivid and richly detailed historical novel that puts the reader smack in the tumultuous world of seventeenth century London. Based on the life of Nell Gwynn, who rose from the streets to become one of London’s most beloved actresses and the life-long mistress of the King, the book opens on May 29, 1660, when the exiled King Charles II rides into London on his thirtieth birthday to reclaim his throne after the death of Oliver Cromwell. Among the celebratory crowds is ten-year-old runaway Nell Gwynn, determined to create a better life for herself and to become someone to be reckoned with.” (From Gillian’s Website)

Without further ado, please welcome Gillian.

How Life Can Change a Writing Space

Gillian's Writing Corner

I have lived in small places for several years, so my writing spaces have been corners of rooms, with everything I need – computer, books, maps, pictures of the people and places I’m writing about, files – tucked around me, organized as best I can.

I began researching Nell Gwynn, the subject of my recently released first novel, The Darling Strumpet, many years ago, initially intending to write a one-woman show for myself about her, but it quickly became clear I couldn’t do her amazingly eventful life justice in such a limited format. I was focused on an acting career then, and eventually also began directing and producing theatre, founding the Pasadena Shakespeare Company and producing 37 shows over nine seasons. Nell got pushed to the side, but I never gave up on the idea of telling her story.

In January 2005, I learned that my mother, living alone in London, was terminally ill and went over to take care of her. As it turned out, I was in London for almost a year and a half, and for the first time in my adult life, I had no career demanding my attention and no creative focus, and desperately needed something to occupy my mind and anchor myself. So I decided that I would finally take up Nell again, and present her life in a way that would do it justice, as a novel.

I didn’t even have a desk in my flat there, just my laptop on the little dining table. I bought a couple of new biographies of Nell that had been published in the years since I had first become interested in her, a new copy of Liza Picard’s wonderful Restoration London, and a book called The Weekend Novelist that I had bought a couple of years earlier and grabbed on a quick trip home. And that was my office!

Snug & Charlotte

My mother died on Mother’s Day 2006 and I came home to California in June. I already had a corner of my living room set aside as my office there, with three 7-foot bookcases towering around my desk, a filing cabinet, and some file boxes. My mother’s portrait – an oil painting done by John Emmett Gerrity – hung above my desk, and underneath it was a piece of calligraphy my mother had done, which says “Io Vivo!” which means “I live!” in Italian. (My mother was half Sicilian.)

Under and around those things, I began taping up pictures of Nell Gwynn, Charles II, and other people in Nell’s life as I worked on the book. They stayed there until it was sold – along with my next book, The September Queen, which also involves Charles II, but at a much earlier age, telling the story of Jane Lane, who helped him escape after the Battle of Worcester in 1651.

Then down came the pictures of Nell, and up went pictures of Jane, a younger Charles, contemporary prints and paintings depicting their wild ride, pictures of the Royal Oak at Boscobel where Charles spent a day, photos I took of the bedroom and priest hole in the manor house at Trent where Jane and Charles hid for several days, and several images I collected in my quest to learn exactly what “riding pillion” meant, and how the saddle arrangement would have looked. (It means that the lady is riding sidesaddle behind the man, who rides astride. She sits on a pad that is attached behind the saddle, with a little shelf called a planchette to support her feet. Not very comfortable, I would think!)

Charles II Christmas Ornament

Recently I’ve moved from Pasadena into a little cottage in Montrose, just a few miles up the freeway. It’s a tiny place, but I’m very happy here. It’s filled with light, and the view from my desk is of an orange tree that burst forth with a bounty of glowing fruit just as I received the first copy of The Darling Strumpet, with luscious oranges filling the foreground.

At Christmas I put up a few ornaments around the desk, including beautiful little cloth figures of Charles II and Nell Gwynn that my friend Alice in London bought at the Victoria and Albert Museum and gave me for Christmas a couple of years ago.

Nell Gwynn Christmas Ornament

I’m very happy with my writing space now. I’ve got one bookcase right next to my desk, with many books I’ll need for my next project within arm’s reach, and room for some of the many more that will inevitably come. Tonight I put up a bulletin board and started tacking up pictures of the characters and events that will fill my next book. My mother’s portrait is above the sofa, facing me and just to my left, and her “Io Vivo” print is atop the windows in front of me.

I have five cats, and there’s usually at least one of them supervising my work, giving me suggestions, or at least keeping me company while I work.

Bronson

I can hardly believe that I’m a published novelist, with a second book coming out in November, British editions of both books coming soon, and every indication that I will be sitting happily in my sunny corner writing for a long time to come.

Please check out more of Gillian’s writing space in this slide show:

Thanks, Gillian, for sharing your writing space with us.

About the Author:

Gillian Bagwell is the author of The Darling Strumpet, a novel based on the life of Nell Gwynn, who rose from the streets to become one of London’s most beloved actresses and the life-long mistress of King Charles II, which was released on January 4, 2011.

For further information about Gillian’s books, other articles, and blogs of her research adventures, please visit her Website.

Filed Under: guest post Tagged With: , ,

Guest Post: Author Laura Fitzgerald’s Writing Space of Her Own

January 20, 2011 by

Today, I’d like to welcome Dreaming in English, which hits stores on Feb. 1, author Laura Fitzgerald.

In the sequel to Veil of Roses, “Iranian-born Tami Soroush and her American husband, Ike, face the joys and challenges of cross-cultural married love.  While Tami and Ike may be eager to begin their new life together, their families and U.S. Immigration Services challenge them at every turn.  Tami discovers that freedom is not for the meek and she will have to stand up and fight for her American dream.” (from Penguin)

Laura has agreed to share her writing space with us today, so let’s take a look inside her inspirational muse.

I have a room of my own in which to do my writing.

Let me repeat: I have a room of my own in which to do my writing!

And it’s not just a room of my own. It’s a room of my own outside my home. It’s an office — an executive suite that I rent on a month-to-month basis. My office neighbors are lawyers, union representatives, non-profit directors, and the like.

And then there’s me:  The writer. Coming to my office to write.

Tucson is hugged by mountain ranges on all sides, and my sixth-floor office has a great view of the Catalina Mountains to the north. You’d think the mountains were static and that the view would be the same day after day, but in fact, shadows play on them throughout the day. They frame crisp sunrises and watercolor sunsets and everything in between, so they change, minute by minute. I love that about them.

I haven’t always had this office, only two years. Previously, I worked from home, which meant there were innumerable ways for me to procrastinate:  I should really get a load of laundry going before I start writing. How can I write facing those dishes? Shoot, if I don’t get that movie back in the mail, we won’t have a new one to watch for this weekend. Ooh, I finally have a moment to read that book! Maybe just for fifteen minutes. . .

And don’t get me started on the Internet.

Seriously, don’t.

I got my office after being a stay-at-home mom for five-ish years, once both my kids were in school and I’d sold my first novel, Veil of Roses. That is, once writing became a career for me rather than just a hobby. It was only then that I could justify it to myself. Before that, I’d write in coffee shops or the university library, or at home before anybody else woke up. Having been a newspaper reporter for a few years, I could write just about anywhere, with any sort of distraction – except my kids. And the laundry they create. And the dishes they dirty.

And the Internet.

Once all those things came along, my ability to concentrate took a serious nosedive.

I specifically looked for an office that had no Internet connection. I have no phone in my office, either, and I often leave my cell phone in my car or at the receptionist’s desk (this because I was stupid enough to get a smart phone with . . . you guessed it . . . Internet access). At my office, my powers of concentration are about a million-fold better than anywhere else. I sit, I think, I write. There’s really not much else to do, and that’s the point.

Here’s my routine: To get to my office, I drive or bike about two miles. I take an elevator to the sixth floor, say hello to Blanca at the front desk, and then head down the hallway to my office, Suite L.

I slip my key in the lock, the door opens, and my heart calms instantly as I leave the real world behind me and step into my hundred-square-feet of writer’s heaven, which I also lovingly think of as my pretty little prison cell. I keep my desk largely clear, except for a few non-killable faux cacti and a few candles. I have a nice blue reading chair in a corner, and I face my desk so there’s nothing in front of me except for the mountains.

On the wall to my right, I have artistic prints of two things I love – a book and a cup of coffee. On my left wall, there is a print of Mark Twain with a quote by him that reads, I find that it usually takes me more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech, which I like because I’m a firm believer in the power of revision.

When I walk into my office, nowhere is there evidence of technology. (My laptop is either with me in my backpack or stored inside my desk.) It’s stunning to realize the difference that makes to me. I’m alone with only my thoughts; it’s my job to draw them out and make sense of them, and then put them together in a way that I alone can — all the while feeling like I’m getting away with something pretty grand.

Please check out the slide show below for more photos of this gorgeous, serene writing space:

Thanks, Laura, for showing us such a unique writing space.  Wow, breathtaking isn’t it?

Copyright Eileen Connel

About the Author:

Laura Fitzgerald, a native of Wisconsin, lives in Arizona with her husband, who is of Iranian descent, and their two children.  Her Website, Facebook Fan page, GoodReads page, and LibraryThing page.

Filed Under: guest post Tagged With: , ,

Guest Post: Author Ann Wertz Garvin’s Writing Space

January 18, 2011 by

Ann Wertz Garvin, author of On Maggie’s Watch, recently agreed to share her writing space with my readers.  But before we get to her guest post, you should check out the synopsis of her book (courtesy of Penguin):

Having survived the wrenching loss of their first baby, Maggie Finley and her husband have moved back to her small hometown in an effort to assuage their grief and start again. Now, pregnant with their second child, Maggie worries about everything around her. She decides to resurrect the town’s long-defunct Neighborhood Watch as a way to control her anxieties. While the Watch members are busy worrying about litterbugs, graffiti and neighbors not picking up after their dogs, Maggie discovers a more serious threat lurking behind the gingham curtains of a home nearby. Determined to take matters into her own hands, Maggie decides she will do whatever it takes to expel the offender from their leafy neighborhood.

Without further ado, here’s Ann with her writing space:

Writing is Messy

Writing spaces. I picture my favorite authors writing in sleek loft spaces in New York City or overlooking the ocean from a dove colored shingled cottage. Big dreamy sigh. Such is the glamorous life of an author. In the largest arrogant leap known to man I decided I could write a novel. What was I thinking? I had no loft space, no beach house, no chalet or cottage, hell no skills to speak of. I love that my writing space reflects that.

Your browser may not support display of this image.My daughters were five and seven when I started the novel in 2006. Life is/was busy; my job, family, everyone’s overwhelming needs. They take a lot of maintenance those children. Apparently you have to feed them on a regular schedule or the court gets involved (*kidding). When my office got over run I wrote on my bed, at coffee shops, airports, and in my dining room which is much tidier but can’t be shut behind a door. I do live in a 100 year old Victorian which may or may not be haunted. If it is haunted it is a very respectful ghost who sometimes tosses things off shelves. On second thought, that may be just gravity but I like to think it’s my ghost tenant who is whispering ideas into my brain and when I’m not listening helps the natural laws along and flings things to the floor.

Another place I write and please don’t tell anyone at my University. I write in committee meetings. I have a legal pad and have already carried the plot line in my head for a few days so, long hand, I write. I look terribly diligent, in my meetings. Of course, I am insubordinate –but in a nice way.

I write whenever and where ever I can. Here’s what I’ve learned. You don’t need a loft space or a fancy, organized, tidy space. You can write amidst the clutter of life. In fact, if you wait for the clutter of life to de-clutter you will never write.

Thanks, Ann, for sharing your writing space with us.  Check out a couple videos for On Maggie’s Watch.

About the Author:

Ann Wertz Garvin has a bachelor’s degree in nursing and a doctorate from University of Wisconsin-Madison in Exercise Psychology. She is a professor at the University of Wisconsin Whitewater where she teaches courses on nutrition, stress management and other health topics. On Maggie’s Watch is her first novel. Ann has lived all over the country but currently resides in a small town in Wisconsin that provided the inspiration for this novel.

Filed Under: guest post Tagged With: , ,

Guest Post: Mary Lydon Simonsen on Research and Travel

January 5, 2011 by

Welcome to today’s guest post from author Mary Lydon Simonsen, author of The Perfect Bride for Mr. Darcy. Following the guest post, be sure to check out the giveaway for US/Canada residents.

Let’s give Mary a warm welcome!

Thank you for inviting me to post on your blog.

You have asked me to talk about my research in general and if I have toured England as part of doing my research for The Perfect Bride for Mr. Darcy.

I have been reading non-fiction books on the Regency and Georgian Eras for probably thirty years. I just had no idea that at the time I was reading them that I was researching future novels. Like most people, I was drawn to the tangibles of that time, especially the gorgeous clothes, hairstyles, literature, architecture, romanticized view of traveling in elegant carriages, etc., but I was also attracted to the intangibles, such as the manners and speech of people who appear in Jane Austen’s books.

Having read so much about the era, I know how constrained the lives of most women were. From the moment of their birth, they were under the control of their fathers or a male guardian, then their husbands, or if they never married, possibly their brothers or another male relation. But Elizabeth Bennet is different. She has spunk, and I like spunk. After all, she turned down an offer of marriage from Mr. Darcy, one of England’s elite and someone who would have made her financially secure for the rest of her life. That took courage.

On behalf of the era’s repressed females, in The Perfect Bride for Mr. Darcy, I stormed the fortress and liberated two ladies in Miss Austen’s Pride and Prejudice: Anne de Bourgh and Georgiana Darcy. In this story, Anne is no longer the voiceless daughter of Lady Catherine, but a woman who sees how her cousin, Fitzwilliam Darcy, suffers as a result of failing to capture the heart of the woman he loves, and she sets out to change that. On the way, she enlists Georgiana Darcy, who will shortly make her debut in society, and a flower ready to blossom. I wanted to open up Georgiana’s character, and so I wrote about a typical teenager: chatty, nosy, teasing, and curious, but someone who cares deeply about her brother.

As far as travel is concerned, I have been to England twice. During my first visit, I was more interested in the Tudors, and so I visited Hampton Court, the Tower of London, Warwick Castle, etc. On my second visit, I traveled with my two teenage daughters, who were not jumping up and down at the idea of visiting Chawton Cottage, Austen’s last home before moving to Winchester. I did, however, get to Bath and visited all the public rooms, an experience that was very helpful when I wrote Anne Elliot, A New Beginning.  I also drove through Devon, Dorset, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, and Derbyshire doing drive-by research. Although I did not stop at any Austen locales (except Winchester Cathedral), the countryside left an indelible impression on me and proved invaluable when I started to write Austen re-imaginings.

Thanks Mary for sharing your research and travel experiences with us.

About the Author:

Mary Lydon Simonsen’s first book, Searching for Pemberley, was acclaimed by Booklist, Publishers Weekly, and RT Book Reviews. She is well loved and widely followed on all the Jane Austen fanfic sites, with tens of thousands of hits and hundreds of reviews whenever she posts. She lives in Peoria, Arizona where she is working on her next Jane Austen novel. For more information, please visit http://marysimonsenfanfiction.blogspot.com/ and http://www.austenauthors.com/, where she regularly contributes.

Dear readers, Sourcebooks is offering 2 copies of A Perfect Bride for Mr. Darcy by Mary Lydon Simonsen for 2 U.S. or Canadian readers.

To Enter:

1.  Leave a comment on this post about one of your favorite travel spots

2.  For a second entry, Tweet, Facebook, etc. the giveaway and leave a link and comment on this post.

Deadline:  January 12, 2011, at 11:59 PM EST

For another chance to win this book, visit Austen Authors.

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Guest Post: John Aubrey Anderson, Author of The Cool Woman

December 2, 2010 by

John Aubrey Anderson‘s The Cool Woman is a novel that is on my Vietnam War reading list, and I plan to read and review it here before the end of the year.   Book Reviews by Molly already reviewed the book, so check that out.

In the meantime, I’ve got a treat for you!  I’m going to tantalize you with a portion of the author’s guest post, which you can read in full at War Through the Generations.

Check out an excerpt and then head on over.

As part of a school project, my granddaughter was required to interview a Vietnam War vet . . . she chose me. Her questions served to remind me . . . that I was relaxed about going to Vietnam because that was my job, that I wept when we buried one of my best friends in Arlington National Cemetery, and that my best memory of that part of my life is of returning home to my family.

The reality of the hell of war cannot be captured in the written word — be it fact or fiction. Nonetheless, I chose the chaos of the war in Vietnam as the backdrop for my fourth novel, The Cool Woman, because I wanted my main characters in an environment that would help “refine their thinking.” I tell much of the story from the cockpit — a vantage point familiar to me.

Please read the rest of the guest post at War Through the Generations today!

Also, the new 2011 War Through the Generations Topic is posted!

Sign up for the new 2011 Reading Challenge!

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Guest Post: Richard Vnuk Talks About the Vietnam War

November 17, 2010 by

Today at War Through the Generations, Author Richard Vnuk discusses the Vietnam War and his book, Tested in the Fire of Hell, which he wrote after 40 years of silence.

I hope that you will hop on over to check out this author and his book and what inspired him to finally write about a war that he had kept silent about for a very long time.

Also, please remember to vote in the WTTG poll on what war should be covered in 2011.  There are three options: 1 year of American Revolution; 1 year of American Civil War; and 6 months each of the American Revolution and the American Civil War.

The poll will close on Nov. 22, and we will post the results after Thanksgiving.

Also, if anyone has some recommendations for books on either the Civil War and the American Revolution, please feel free to send them to warthroughgenerations AT gmail DOT com

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Excerpt from The Nighttime Novelist by Joseph Bates in Honor of NaNoWriMo

November 4, 2010 by

As many of you know, November is National Novel Writing Month.  Although I won’t be participating this month, I did want to call attention to the one month out of the year where aspiring writers simply sit down and write for 30 days to reach the ultimate word count of 50,000 words.  Writers can lock themselves away or join others at local write-ins to share the joy of the experience.

In honor of NaNoWriMo, I’d like to share an excerpt from Joseph Bates‘ release from Writer’s Digest Books, The Nighttime Novelist, about what elements make up a good opening scene.  Check out the excerpt and let me know what you’ll be writing this month.

A good opening scene:

1.    Has a compelling hook. A hook is an opening line that entices the reader into your story by (1) beginning in a clear moment of action or interaction and (2) serving as a tease, revealing just enough information to ground the reader in the moment while maintaining enough mystery — through the careful omission of certain information — to keep her reading.

By moment of action, I don’t mean that you begin with a bomb ticking,or someone running for his life, or a massive explosion. Rather it means that you avoid synopsis, stage direction, and backstory by dropping us directly into a scene in progress so that were in the midst of the action, or in medias res. (Such a direct opening can be particularly difficult for the meticulous writer, who’s thought so much about her protagonist and his backstory that she’s not really sure where to begin.)

Likewise, the tease of a compelling hook is not about intentionally hiding things from the reader, making it difficult for her to figure out what’s going on. Inexperienced writers often confuse abstraction for mystery, and they’ll believe that an interesting opening scene is one where the reader has no clue what’s going on and has to figure it out for himself, as when the reader is dropped into the middle of a dream, or a drug trip, or a riot, or the ocean, or whatever. (“What was that? Who’s talki — wait, something was touching her now — Is that a voice she heard? Who’s talking? And what was touching her on the leg? And is that a white glowing mist in the distance — ?”) The result, as you can see, is less one of mystery than frustration, which is obviously not what you want your reader to experience — on page one or anywhere else.

So let’s consider what we do mean by a compelling hook. Let’s say your opening scene takes place in a dentist’s office, with your protagonist going in for a root canal. Probably your first inclination would be to begin with some straight-up information getting the character there: “Barbara Morris walked into the dentist’s office and up to the receptionist’s window to sign in for her root canal.” But while that’s very informative, it’s also a bit of a bore. How, then, might we convey the same basic information — we’re in a dentist’s office for a procedure — that begins in the action of the moment and also holds enough mystery to convince the reader to keep going?

Maybe something like this: “Barbara Morris breathed in the hissing gas and immediately felt her face sliding off her skull.”

At the baseline, this conveys the same basic information as the previous first line we tried. But it puts us in the moment, with the reader feeling as if he has that little hissing mask on his face, too, already an improvement over the first. Plus, in the first line we tried out, there’s very little mystery involved; we know what’s likely to come next (the character is going to speak to the receptionist). But in the second one, we get the feeling that anything might still happen: Barbara Morris might panic and try to take the mask off; she might accidentally reveal her darkest secret while loopy on gas; she might look at those two hairy dentist’s hands coming toward her and suddenly realize she’s in love. We don’t know what’ll happen next, but hopefully we’re intrigued enough to read to the next line to find out.

And all of this is accomplished by starting with something fairly general (going to the dentist), considering what exact moment there we might focus on to begin, and finding a first line that conveys the moment in an interesting way and makes us, as authors, want to write the next line.

2.    Grounds us in the protagonist’s perspective. It’s good to begin in a moment of action or interaction, something to grab the reader’s attention right away, but it’s important to remember that your reader experiences your fictional world as your protagonist does. Thus a good opening scene is one that grounds us in the main character’s perspective, shows us the world through his eyes, from the very beginning.

Immediate action that’s not grounded in character is just Stuff Happening and can be disorienting for a reader. As an editor and teacher I see this quite a bit: stories that begin with a gun battle, for instance, with characters barking out orders and bullets flying and lots of Stuff Happening — high action, the author thinks, this’ll hook a reader — but that offers no way for the reader to know whom to root for, whom to run from, what’s important and what’s just chaos. And our reaction to such a scene at the beginning of a novel is much the same as if we’d been dropped into a gun battle in real life: Get me outta here.

This is the double burden of a solid opening: introduce the character and get us into his head and heart while simultaneously engaging us in action. But when you find that opening that does both of these things well, the chances are good that your reader — not to mention your potential editor and publisher — will be drawn into the story and will feel compelled to keep going.

NOTE:  The use of the third-person omniscient narrator for a novel with a large cast (e.g. the example on pages 75–6 from Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell) might seem like a possible exception to the “protagonist first” rule, but if you go back and take a look at those introductory lines, you’ll see that we’re still grounded by a particular perspective and personality from the start: that of the omniscient- narrator-as-storyteller.

3.    Has a complete arc of its own but also urges us toward the next. Your opening scene has an arc of its own: We have our protagonist, who we understand has a clear internal motivation because we’re grounded in the protagonist’s perspective; we have a conflict, which comes up against the character’s motivation or want; and finally we have a resolution that’s satisfying by the scene’s end — though the way the arc plays out should raise a number of related questions that keep us reading, to see how those questions or problems play out.

It’s tempting to think of your opening scene as an introduction, something that’s slyly moving pieces into place that’ll become revelatory later, and in a sense this is what an opening scene does (as we’ll discuss in just a moment). But your first scene can’t merely be a scene that delays, that promises something more important coming later on if you’ll just keep reading; we need to see stakes right away. Making sure your scene has a complete arc is one way you assure the reader has a sense of something at stake immediately, even if what’s at risk in this first scene is relatively minor in relation to what’s coming up (as you get to the first act’s Inciting Incident and Plot Point 1 that leads us to the second act, both of which raise the overall stakes even more).

But while the arc we see play out in the opening scene must be, in relation to what’s coming up, minor, your opening scene can’t simply be a throwaway scene, just a quick conflict for conflict’s sake; in fact, this first minor arc and how it plays out will resonate throughout the rest of your book. And that’s because a good opening scene . . .

4.    Contains or suggests the end of your novel. What’s that? We have to start thinking about the end so soon? Actually, yes. There are really two closely related arcs launched at the beginning of your novel: one that plays out and resolves itself by the end of the opening scene (the external motivation and conflict of the particular moment), and one that plays out over the course of the book (the character’s internal motivation and conflict: what’s revealed about what he wants in the longer run). Thus, an important consideration in crafting your opening scene is to begin thinking about and crafting the end of your novel, planning for how you believe the story will resolve, and then making sure that whatever ending or resolution you have in mind is established in the beginning.

Think back, for example, to the overall arc of The Wizard of Oz. We begin and end that story in the same place, Kansas — I defy you not see it in black-and-white — though the scenes we have in the beginning and end are poles apart from each other, showing the far ends of Dorothy’s arc. In the beginning we see Dorothy feeling unwanted and unsure she belongs, wishing she were someplace else; at the end, we see her knowing that this is home, the place she belongs. That ending scene is the completion of what we see of Dorothy’s arc from the very first scene. In the beginning of that story is the end.

The above is an excerpt from the book The Nighttime Novelist: Finish Your Novel in Your Spare Time by Joseph Bates. The above excerpt is a digitally scanned reproduction of text from print. Although this excerpt has been proofread, occasional errors may appear due to the scanning process. Please refer to the finished book for accuracy.

Copyright © 2010 Joseph Bates, author of The Nighttime Novelist: Finish Your Novel in Your Spare Time.

About the Author:

Joseph Bates’ fiction and nonfiction have appeared in The South Carolina Review, Identity Theory, Lunch Hour Stories, The Cincinnati Review, Shenandoah, and Novel & Short Story Writer’s Market.  He holds a Ph.D. in comparative literature and fiction writing from the University of Cincinnati and teaches in the creative writing program at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.

For more information please visit www.nighttimenovelist.com and follow the author on Facebook and Twitter.

Stay tuned for my review of The Nighttime Novelist later this month.  Happy writing, everyone.

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Kara Louise Shares Her Writing Space

September 10, 2010 by

Kara Louise’s Darcy’s Voyage is a retelling of Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice under different circumstances — a journey to America.  Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy meet under unusual conditions, on Pemberley’s Promise, a ship sailing to America.  Darcy is on a voyage to collect his sister and bring her home, while Elizabeth is on her way to visit her Aunt and Uncle Gardiner.  Do sparks fly on the open sea?  What happens when they get back to England?

Kara Louise has offered to share her writing space with my readers, and Sourcebooks has offered 2 copies to my readers in the U.S. and Canada.  Stay tuned for details about the giveaway.

Without further ado, please welcome Kara Louise.

Thanks for inviting me to chat with you and your readers today. I hope you find it enjoyable to read about my writing space and my writing routine. This is a fun topic for me.

I have three writing places where I tend to do most of my writing. The first is my computer room, the second is a hanging chair out on our patio, and the third, since I have a laptop, is just about anywhere. I will tell you about the first two.

I do most of my writing in my computer room. It looks out over the front of our property at a lot of grass, trees, a pond, and if my husband has opened the gate to the pasture, often has our 3 horses grazing about.

I have a corner computer desk with a PC on one side and a MAC on the other. My husband recently became a MAC fan, and has tried to get me to convert. While I do enjoy using it, there are just some programs I will not give up on the PC! It’s also nice having 2 computers in case something goes wrong with one.

Our computer room is just an ordinary room, but there is something very special in it. I have sent along a picture of my bookcase that lines one wall. On the top of it there are some very special mementos. I’ll explain what some of those are.

On the left, you’ll see a pair of ship bookends. These are holding 6 hardcover books of each of the novels I self-published. The ship bookends represent, Pemberley’s Promise, which is the name of the ship in Darcy’s Voyage, released just this week by Sourecebooks. Darcy’s Voyage is a variation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, where Elizabeth and Darcy meet on a ship bound for America. The events that take place on the ship then directly influence their meeting again in Hertfordshire, beginning when Elizabeth walks to Netherfield to visit her ailing sister.

Now, back to the bookcase. In front of the bookends on the right, you’ll see the small action figure of Jane Austen with quill in hand, her writing desk, and a small book entitled, Pride and Prejudice. To the right of that is a doll I bought that I call my Elizabeth Bennet doll. I thought she looked just like what I would imagine Elizabeth Bennet to look like. Next to her are other items that are all representative of something in each of my books. If I need any inspiration to write, I just look up there. If nothing else, I get a big smile on my face. By the way, I have since added my copy of Darcy’s Voyage to the other books.

Now, shall we go outside to my very favorite place to write? Our back porch goes along almost the full length of the house. We have a table with chairs, chaise lounges, a porch swing, but my favorite place to write is my hanging hammock swing. I have included a picture of it, as well.

Unfortunately, I can only sit out there when the weather is nice. In Kansas we have pretty cold winters, and in spring we can have severe thunderstorms. In summer the days can get quite hot (as they did this summer!), and fall, well, I love the fall! It is my favorite season, and you can find me in this chair as often as I can. The other seasons do have nice days, occasionally, and when the day is pleasant, I’ll grab my laptop, a bottle of water, my IPod, maybe the phone, and settle into the chair and write, and possibly doze off to sleep. Nothing can surpass that!

As for my writing routine, what really works best for me is when I am alone and have a good block of time. It’s those times I can be found in the computer room or swaying in my hammock chair outside typing away. Sometimes I like to put on music. I have a very broad love of music from my parents’ era like Gershwin, Sinatra, and instrumentals by Mantovani. I love music of the 50s, 60s, and 70s, musical numbers, and a variety of contemporary artists.

But most of all, I find it easy to write when I have a good plot in my head and feel it will be interesting and enjoyed by others. Then my fingers will fly at the keyboard in an attempt to bring it to life. That’s when I can truly get the writing accomplished!

Thanks Kara for sharing your writing space with us.

About the Author:

Ever since Kara Louise discovered and fell in love with the writings of Jane Austen she has spent her time answering the “what happened next” and the “what ifs” in Elizabeth’s and Darcy’s story. She has written 6 novels based on Pride and Prejudice. She lives with her husband in Wichita, Kansas. For more information, please visit her website, Jane Austen’s Land of Ahhhs.

Giveaway details:

2 copies for US/Canada readers.

1.  Leave a comment about what you would have in your dream writing space.

2.  Blog, Tweet, Facebook, etc. the giveaway and leave a link for a second entry.

Deadline Sept. 26, 2010, at 11:59 PM EST

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C. Allyn Pierson’s Inspiration for Mr. Darcy’s Little Sister

September 2, 2010 by

C. Allyn Pierson, author of Mr. Darcy’s Little Sister available from Sourcebooks, recently agreed to share with my readers not only her inspiration for the novel, but also her initial thoughts about Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen upon first reading it.

Mr. Darcy’s Little Sister focuses on Georgiana as she blossoms into a young woman from a small girl growing up under her brother’s care and the many changes that can bring.  Stay tuned for my review tomorrow, Sept. 3.

Additionally, the publisher is offering my US/Canada readers an opportunity to win Pierson’s book and read it for themselves.  Check out those details after the guest post.

Without further ado, please give C. Allyn Pierson a warm welcome.

Like many people, I read Pride and Prejudice in school and I liked it, but somehow it didn’t really click with me, probably because of the outdated language.  Then, when my children were young, we hired au pairs from England to care for them because we had difficulty finding suitable care for our younger son, who has autism.  Au pairs are only allowed to stay for a year so we went through quite a number of them, but our third was a big Austen fan.  She not only induced me to reread all of Austen’s major works, she introduced me to the 1995 BBC version of Pride and Prejudice and gave me the book about the making of the series and I was hooked!

For a number of years I read and reread Austen’s works and I would pick up new insights with every reading.  Finally I decided to try Pamela Aiden’s three book series telling the P&P story from Darcy’s point of view.  Although I enjoyed her book very much, I found that I had very strong feelings about how the characters in Pride and Prejudice were developing and my opinion was different than Ms. Aiden’s.  It was not quite a stroke of lightning, but I suddenly wanted to write the story of what I felt happened after Darcy and Elizabeth married. I wrote in secret, when my husband was working or playing tennis, and did not tell anyone what I was doing because I did not know if I would actually finish it.  I was rather tied at home since my younger son went to bed early and could not be left alone, and it was a perfect situation for writing.

When I finally decided to publish I knew that my stumbling efforts were not ready to interest a traditional publisher, so I decided to self-publish with iUniverse.  At that point I needed to let my husband know I was going to be spending some significant money to publish. My husband and I have a standing date on Tuesdays and I picked one evening to tell him that I had written a book.  He was absolutely flabbergasted (and let me tell you it is not easy to bring an eye surgeon to a complete standstill!), but, after a long, disbelieving pause, said, “You might just be able to sell that” and encouraged me to move ahead on publication.

Living in a small town, I did not have a lot of contacts with other writers or teachers who were experienced in publishing so I purchased the editing services I needed from iUniverse and basically used the various editors as my teachers.  Not surprisingly, the manuscript evolved over time and became more and more Georgiana’s story, since the first year of the Darcys’ marriage would include Georgiana’s coming of age.  I was pleased with the final book and it caught the eye of an agent, and the rest is history…

Thanks so much for sharing your inspiration with us, C. Allyn Pierson.

About the Author:

C. Allyn Pierson is the nom-de-plume of a physician, who has combined her many years of interest in the works of Jane Austen and the history of Regency England into this sequel to Pride and Prejudice. She lives with her family and three dogs in Fort Dodge, Iowa.

Giveaway details:

2 copies of Mr. Darcy’s Little Sister are up for grabs.  Sorry, US/Canada residents only.

1.  Leave a comment about your first impressions of Pride & Prejudice.

2.  Blog, Tweet, Facebook, etc. for a second entry.

Deadline is Sept. 17, 2010, at 11:59 PM EST.

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