Reader Request: The Business of Writing

 
It's been a while since I've done a Reader Request - apologies to anyone who's still waiting on a post, I will get to all of them, I promise!

The 'business' of writing. Ack. The decidedly not-fun part. In her email, blog reader Clara asked me about this side of the process. More specifically, she asked me what new or hopeful writers should bear in mind if they want to make a career out of it.

Like taxes (also known as That Big Fat Black Hole in Your Bank Account).  If, like me, you've never been self-employed in any capacity before, taxes will come as something of a shock to you.

They're a nuisance to sort out. You need to keep accounts of all your outgoings and incomings if you're making money off of your writing. It doesn't have to be a complicated spreadsheet like the one in the photo (my personal nightmare!), but it can be tedious and hard to figure out at first. And don’t even get me started on trying to understand VAT.

Taxes are also emotionally traumatic. At least to me. With most jobs you see your money after tax. So while you know you're paying taxes, I guess psychologically you don't feel the pinch as hard. You definitely feel every pinch when you're self-employed. You have to physically, manually account for taxes; you have to put away and save some of your money because you'll have to pay it up at the end of the tax year. Which does not end in December.

Oh, and if you sell foreign rights, you will also have the unparalleled delights of international tax laws and tax exemptions to deal with.

Then there's the fact that the work never stops. I love what I do. But it's not all joy. When you're employed by someone else (most of the time, but obviously this doesn't apply to everyone), you generally leave your work at work and go home. As a writer, I can't do that. I might be able to forget about it for a while, but I am always a writer. Things to do, jobs to tick off, ideas, they're always rushing around my brain.

And let's not forget you're not alone anymore. When you write purely for fun, you can stop when you like. You can pick it up again when you like. It's you and only you. When writing is your job, you have to do it even when you don't want to.

When you're published, or working with an agent, it's not just you anymore. There are other people to consider: their opinions, their thoughts, their advice. You have deadlines. You may have to do tough things to your precious, bloody, sweaty, teary manuscript. You may have to get your hands stuck in stuff you don't enjoy, like taxes, and sending angry emails to your web host because your website's not working properly, and self-promotion even if you're shy.

You have to treat it like a job or it's going to fall apart.

I will admit I don't always treat my work as professionally as I should. I have whims. Frenzies. Dry spells. Sometimes I'll work for twelve hours in a day, sometimes for less than an hour. It's not as disciplined as I'd like to be. But I try to find a balance. I try to make sure all the boxes on my To Do list are ticked.

And I guess that's what I'd leave you with. If you want to make a career out of writing, you have to treat it like any other career. And adjust your expectations accordingly. It won't be all fun. It can't be. It will involve a lot of work. You'll have to do things you find boring, or painful, or irksome. And only you can know if it's worth it.

It is for me.

Reader Request: Red Flags

This post is several days overdue because Blogger has been an absolute nightmare this past week. I could break it.

Today I have a request from Ian, who said:

I'm not a newbie or anything but I seem to notice I'm running into suspicious and dodgy-sounding situations lately. I'd love it if you could do a reader request post about publishing red flags/warning signs and what to look out for?

Normally I pick Reader Requests at random but I chose this one deliberately this week because it seems very timely. Anyone else read this post about a cruel hoax?

There must be a thousand excellent posts on this subject out there but I'm going to make a stab at it. About five years ago I almost got myself into a tricky spot because I ignored an awful lot of red flags, so I can completely sympathize with Ian. This isn't going to be an enormous and exhaustive list - it's just a few common things I've come across or heard about.

Red Flags (or, Turn Around, Run Away and Never Look Back)

1. A literary agent or publisher asks you for an up-front fee. No legitimate person in the business will do this. Agents make money when you make money. Publishers buy the right to publish your book - even if you aren't offered an advance at the go, you are still supposed to make money off royalties when the book is out. You shouldn't be paying anyone any money up front.

(Note: obviously this doesn't apply to specific pay-to-publish and self-publishing places; that's a whole other subject.)

2. You can't find any information about the agent/publisher online. Sometimes these places will have excellent, professional-looking websites. I ran into one a few years ago, submitted my query through their online form, and received a 'yay we'd like to represent you!' email the next day. Followed by a list of their costs. When I went back to their website and re-checked their online form, I found that you could put anythingin - yes, even a few nasty swear words - and you'd still get exactly the same 'yay!' email the next day.

It just goes to show that a pretty website doesn't always mean everything is okay. On the flip side, some successful and legit agencies/publishers may not have a big fancy website. This shouldn't put you off.

What should send you running is a complete lack of information about these people online. Even a brand new agency or publisher usually has a web record: someone used to work somewhere else, a glowing blog post from a client or author, an interview at a reputable blog or website... you get the idea. If you can't find anything about someone online - and certainly if you can't find anything good - it's probably best to avoid them. Or at least bookmark them and check back in a few months, in case they really are legit and just very very new.

3. You sign a contract, agreeing to work with them, only to be forgotten. Your emails aren't answered, your phone calls are ignored, and you don't hear a peep out of them for weeks on end. People are busy. People also go out of town and don't check their work emails. That's a fact. You can't expect replies and hand-holding in five minutes flat. But if you're being ignored for weeks or months (and this doesn't apply to the querying process where it could very well be normal not to receive a reply at all), well, that's not very professional or courteous.

4. They recommend you get your manuscript professionally edited before they are willing to move forward with you... and they tell you who to go to. It's one thing to suggest that a manuscript be professionally edited because it's not quite up to par yet. It's even okay if they suggest editors/places they've worked with before. But when an agency or publisher tells you to get your manuscript edited at a specific place or they're not interested, you should be concerned. Odds are they're two threads of the same con and you're going to lose a lot of money. No legit agent or publisher will demand that you pay money to have your manuscript edited before they are willing to take you on.

5. You are approached by an agent/publisher who seems wildly enthusiastic about your material/story/blog and within hours they have stunning results for you. This is very much what happened to Aaronni Miller, as described in the post by Victoria Strauss that I linked to above. Publishing just doesn't move this fast. Always check out anyone who approaches you. And be very wary of hourly miracles.

And finally, a couple of excellent resources:

Writer Beware

Absolute Write Water Cooler

Can you think of any other red flags? Have you ever found yourself in a nasty place because of something like this?

Reader Request: I Do

A picture-filled post today! Talli Roland demanded requested more wedding photos and I'm pretty darn sure she's going to stick a hot poker in my ear if I don't comply, like, now. So here we are. A flashback to January. I'm telling The Story of Our Wedding in Four Photographs.

That's the wedding cake, sitting on our kitchen table the night before the wedding. You can also see a) my father's legs and b) the glass of Pina Colada I guzzled almost compulsively in the hopes that it would ease my terror of Walking Down an Aisle. (It didn't.)

The aforementioned terrifying Walk Down the Aisle. We had music. We had a whole minute of music picked out for this very moment, actually. Everything had been timed. Fifteen seconds in, I was at the front and they had to turn the music abruptly off. Yep. I sprinted. All I could think was OMGsomanyfacesIthinkI'mgoingtofaintmustgettherenow.

I think I was reaching for Steve's ring here, to put it on his finger. You can't tell from this photo - obviously, because that's his back you see there - but he was a little teary at this point. Probably thinking 'holy s***, what am I doing? I'm condemning myself to a lifetime of making tea while my wife becomes a hunchbacked crab over her laptop!'

You have to feel for the boy.

And finally, that's us cutting the wedding cake at the party afterwards. It's not one of my better facial expressions, I'll admit, but I blame it on the cake. I swear the thing did not want to be cut. It wasn't tradition that compelled us to cut it together - it was necessity. Neither of us could so much as make a dent in it on our own!

So there you have it. Cakes, booze, terror-inducing Walks, rings and a groom who is no doubt by now wishing he'd never met me or my laptop. It was the best day ever.

What was your best day?

Reader Request: Books! Books!

When reader Louise emailed me ages ago with a request for book recommendations, I wanted to hug her. A post about books? Yes, please!

Louise wrote the following

I've only recently started reading some YA - Twilight and Meg Cabot's stuff to name a couple - and I'm amazed by how much I love it! I was wondering if you could please write a blog post recommending some of your favourite books/authors in that genre?

And so, for Louise, here we go. I haven't named as many as I'd have liked to here, just some of my recent and older favourites. And I didn't put it synopses or summaries here because I thought that would make for a very long post, so I've linked each book to its Amazon page where you can find the blurbs.

Tabitha Suzuma, Forbidden
Eoin Colfer, Artemis Fowl and sequels (these is more MG than YA, but they're fun!)
Meg Rosoff, How I Live Now
Maggie Stiefvater, Shiver
Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games and sequels
Lucy Christopher, Stolen
Anything by Eva Ibbotson! (though I'm not sure they're typical YA, really)
Francesca Lia Block, Wasteland
Mary E. Pearson, The Adoration of Jenna Fox
Veronica Roth, Divergent
Maryrose Wood, The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place series (again, MG not YA, but so funny!)
Keris Stainton, Della Says: OMG

What would you recommend? Have you read anything lately that you absolutely loved?


Note: huge apologies to everyone who may be stopping by because of Elizabeth Mueller's blogfest! I just didn't have the time to join in like I wanted to!

Reader Request: YA

I feel like a post about my genre is way overdue - and here's the perfect opportunity to talk about it! Back when I first asked for requests from blog readers, Jim Murdoch asked me the following

I’ve read a few YA novels recently and I’ve been struck by how diverse they are. One was basically an Enid Blyton Famous Five style mystery with mobile phones and, at the other end, we have a book that includes man committing suicide by banging his head against a wall and a cow being set on fire with a flamethrower. How do you balance keeping things simple, in terms of, say, language usage and at the same time not talking down to the kids? With Mills and Boon they used to, as far as I’m aware, provide a guide as to what was acceptable in the novels they would print; does something similar exist when it comes to YA books?

And to answer that last question, Jim, yes and no.

Yes, I suppose there are 'guidelines' about young adult fiction. These do exist. But I've also found that almost every one of the 'rules' on this list can be broken. Personally, I don't try to stick to any formula, pattern or rulebook. I know what feels authentic and/or right for my characters.

And I think this holds true across the board. As Jim points out, YA is so diverse. It can be completely, squeaky clean (the first Twilight book, for example, has some tingly and bloody moments but no swearing, drinking, drugs, sex or graphic violence). Or it can be filled with profanity and sex and violence all manner of debauched things (The Hunger Games is often noted for its violence). I think the key here is your audience. If the book is obviously being marketed for the younger YA bracket - 12 years old and not much older - a horribly violent, sexy, raunchy read will not go down particularly well. But there are few limits on what you can and can't write for the upper YA crowd. 

A couple of things that I used to fret about:

Length

It's no secret that children's and teen books tend to be shorter than full-length adult fiction. But I've seen this rule broken a thousand times (Harry Potter, anyone?) so as long as you know you've edited and edited and cut out anything unnecessary and all those words are essential, it's not worth worrying about it. If your word count is under 40,000 or pushing 150,000+, agents and editors might balk at your query. But ultimately if your story and hook is engaging enough, I think people will request and/or read it anyway.

Note: some publishers might have specific word count guidelines/limits for submissions.

Sex/profanity

Graphic erotica is not going to fly. But that's just common sense. Would it feel right for a teen protagonist anyway? But you can have characters who have sex. Honestly. You can describe it (tastefully) or imply it but sidestep any long-winded descriptions (the nookie scene in Shiver is a particularly great example of making what's happening clear without going into it unnecessarily).

As for swearing, A TORRENT OF LIGHT has a lot of 'bloody's and a few 'shit's and one instance of a certain four-letter word beginning with F. I remember worrying a lot about that one when I first wrote it. It slipped out because it felt so natural. And later, when I tried to 'make it cleaner', it felt wrong. Like I was cutting out my much-loved character's tongue. So I've kept it and no harm done.

So what all this boils down to is: write what feels right for your story and your characters and worry about the 'grown up stuff' if your agent/editor suggests you do.

But then this begs another questions. If YA can be so diverse, if you can break all the rules, what is YA? What sets it apart from adult/children's fiction?

For a start, YA protagonists/main characters/narrators tend to be teens. Thirteen to eighteen, though often even thirteen is too young. But I don't think this is the most important thing at all. Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones is narrated by a fourteen-year-old but it isn't young adult fiction.

To me, what defines YA fiction is the feel of the story. The best YA novels out there are the ones people of all ages read, not just the teens. This is because of that feel, that sense we get when we read the book. Apart from very early childhood, your teen years tend to be a time of firsts. First dances, first kisses, first loves, first times. Everything you feel tends to be more acute, more dramatic, more life-changing, no matter how small or insignificant. This makes for great story potential. It also transforms the way the book feels.

No matter how bleak or dark a book is, YA is ultimately about growing up but still holding on to some innocence and good. It's about hope. Everything is still possible.

That's what sets it apart. That's what defines it.

What do you think? Do you read the genre? What defines it for you?

Reader Request: Top Seven Adult Characters

Another Reader Request post! This time the reader is Alex, who wanted a post about characters. Here's what she said:

I'd really like to read some more of your in-depth thoughts on fictional characters/relationships. I loved the top 10 post the other day.  

And here's the post: my favourite adult characters in children's/YA fiction. I think adult characters often get a hard time in children's or YA novels (absent parents, irresponsible relatives, cruel stepmothers, and so forth) - but sometimes you get a truly fantastic, superb grown up, whether they're a parental influence or a friend or an antagonist. In this post, I'll list my top seven, in no particular order.

Note: I'm widening the definition of children's/YA fiction to novels that also happen to be primarily about a child/told from a child's point of view, even if the novel itself isn't necessarily a children's story. I've broadened the definition for one reason only: so I can include one of my favourite adult characters of all time.

1. Sirius Black in the Harry Potter novels (JK Rowling)
I loved Sirius from the moment he appeared and proved just how wrong we/Harry/the world had been about him right through Prisoner of Azkaban. I've always thought him reckless but loving, irresponsible but oddly kind. And sexy.

2. Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
Atticus is the reason I broadened my definition, because some would argue that TKAM isn't exactly a children's book - though I think it is.
Who doesn't love Atticus? He's good and clever and brave - incredibly brave. He's not without flaws. And he loves his kids so much.

3. Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter novels (JK Rowling)
It will come as no surprise to anyone who knows me that, given my way, most of the characters on this list would be from Harry Potter - I think there are some fantastic adult figures in the series. But I'm limiting myself to a few, lest I bore everyone. And Professor McGonagall had to make the cut. She's brilliant and hilarious and weirdly soft once you get past her sarcasm and prickly, stern exterior. And she totally won my heart when she went out of her way to defy Umbridge in Order of the Phoenix.

4. Luke Garroway in The Mortal Instruments trilogy/series (Cassandra Clare)
Clearly I like the cool, fatherly figure - though Luke is also fierce, totally not perfect, and is *ahem spoiler ahead* a werewolf. I like werewolves (except Jacob. Sorry, Jacob fans. Jacob annoyed the heck out of me.)

5. Topaz Mortmain in I Capture the Castle (Dodie Smith)
Again, not entirely sure this officially counts as YA, but if it doesn't, I think it should. 
Topaz is obviously a lunatic, and I mean that in the best possible way. She stands on the heath stark naked in an attempt to commune with nature. This makes her awesome to me. And hilarious. She's also rather sweet.

6. Lord Asriel in His Dark Materials (Philip Pullman)
Definitely not the loving father, him. He's ruthless and charismatic and often cruel, but he ultimately redeems himself. I just love that about him. And he's another sexy one, so I fancy him anyway.

7. Mags in Catching Fire (Suzanne Collins)
Any Hunger Games fans out there will probably think this an odd choice. After all, Mags is barely in the book - she hasn't got much page-time. But this is an old, old woman who volunteers to fight to the death just to save another girl from having to do it. And when a certain something happens to her, I bawled my eyes out, which just goes to show how quickly I grew to love her.

And there you have it: my top seven. Who are your favourite adult characters? And why do you love them so much?

Reader Request: Security Blankies

First, I have to apologize for how sporadic my blog posts have been lately. Honestly, I can't even remember the days when I used to blog seven days a week! I wish I could still do that, but I haven't got as much time on my hands anymore. That said, I'm going to try and work up some kind of blog routine with regular features and posting days - more on that soon.

As for today's post, it's something many of you will be familiar with as I'm pretty darn sure I've seen other 'writing aids' posts out there. But blog reader Jamie sent in an email asking me to talk about my most-needed writing aids, so here it is. 

Some kind of drink
I would add 'and something to nibble on', only, after this post, I think we all get the idea that I can go hours without nibbling simply because I've forgotten to.But I do need something to drink: be it hot tea, water, a fruit smoothie, Coke or something extremely alcoholic. Any of the above goes. 

Music
Again, my 'how I work' post will have showed you that I can listen to the same song for hours on end without noticing it, but even so, I need music to work. Sometimes I listen to a playlist for a particular book. Sometimes I just listen to the same song over and over because it has the right mood or atmosphere or because I've just tuned out. Either way, when I'm writing, I usually have a totally outdated version of Winamp open alongside - or Youtube. 

My laptop fan
Because my laptop is an absolute piece of tripe and overheats if you use more than one measly program at once. I can't begin to tell you how many times I have had to rewrite paragraphs because my laptop's turned off before I could save something. No fan, no work.

Note to self: must get new laptop when I am rich and famous. 

Clothes
Goes without saying, doesn't it? Or so one would think. Sadly, I have fallen prey to the whole 'taking your clothes off for a shower, then sitting down to check an email before going in, then being struck by a brilliant flash of inspiration, then writing whilst scarcely clothed for the next three hours' syndrome. This would not be a problem, except writing while scarcely clothed means that when you return to reality, your fingers are stiff with cold and your butt hurts.

Familiar with this? No? Sigh, I must just be weird. 

Visual inspiration
This, I must admit, is not always necessary, but it helps me no end. I like having something moody or atmospheric to look at while I'm working. When my brain starts to drift away, looking up at the visual something pinned behind my laptop often brings me straight back to totally-inspired-and-raring-to-go. Right now this inspiration is a print I found after some random browsing online:

I think it's eerie and sensual and beautiful. The photo is by Heather Landis and she has some other great work uploaded at that link.

And that's my list of security blankies, my cannot-do-withouts when writing.

What do you need at hand when you're doing your thing?

Reader Request: Great old Britain

Ah, England. I live here now. I don't think I ever expected to. As a teenager, I always expected to move to the US instead. Funny, that. But living in England hasn't diminished my memory of first visiting, back when it was strange and new. Vix asked me to describe my first impressions. So here they are.

I was exactly fourteen days away from my twelfth birthday when I first arrived in the UK. On holiday, with my parents and my brother. We rented the most gorgeous flat in London for twelve days, went to the theatre, did some sightseeing, took a day trip to Stratford-upon-Avon.

But what did I think of England?

1. The milk was amazing. No, really. Milk in Bangalore did not taste like this. I was in awe.

2. For the life of me, I couldn't figure out what half the words meant. This was England, right? Home to English? So what the hell was a haggis and why didn't I know this word? What, for the love of Heathcliff, was a spotted dick? Let me tell you, my eight-year-old brother and I could not say those words without giggling.

3. Holy hell, it's light at ten o' clock! At night, I mean. It was May. It got light at about five in the morning and got dark after ten at night. I was bewildered. Flabbergasted. In India, whatever the season, it never stays dark later than about seven in the morning and never stays light later than about seven in the evening. With about a two hour window for sun-up and sundown. Light at 10 effing PM was a novelty.

4. Strangers called me 'love'. There you go, love or cheers for the seat, love or got any change for this, love? I thought it was sweet.

5. The weather didn't shock me. And that shocked me. Sure, it was a lot colder than it had been in Bangalore, but it wasn't colder than Bangalore winters. What was all the fuss about this bitter English cold, then? Reminder: it was May. Of course it wasn't that bloody cold. Boy, did I realize how naive I'd been when I turned up for my first year of university seven years later.

I'm sure there are other things that really struck me or stood out for me when I first arrived in England, but I can't think of them now. These are my highlights. And they continue to be highlights. I love being here. I'm always surprised.

Reader Request: Changes

Well, I got so many great suggestions and requests in response to my You Tell Me post on Monday that I've decided to kickstart the requests today. At last count I had 9 suggestions in the comments and 6 emails, so I have more than enough to cover the next ten weeks and beyond!

Having picked a topic at random, today I'm going to be talking about Alex J. Cavanaugh's. He commented with:

Are you ready for the changes being a published author will cause in your life? 

The short answer: no. Not even a little bit.

The slightly better answer:

Being published is a huge thing, as anyone who has been/will be/is trying to be will understand. It's the thing many authors spend years working towards. I know I did. And given I spent roughly seven years getting to this point, you'd have thought I'd be prepared. I've read the blogs. Done the research. Read countless novels in my genre. Written and rewritten and written some more. So why on earth wouldn't I be ready for the changes being a published author will cause in my life?

Quite simply, it's because those changes are beyond anything you (probably) expected. 

Some are tiny little adjustments, like remembering that there is an agent and/or editor on the other end of cyberspace that you can email or chat to anytime you need help or advice.

Others are bigger changes, like being the kind of writer who only writes when she wants to and feels inspired for seven years (ahem, me), only to discover that now it's work, it's a real job (though certain ladies on buses may not agree) and, like any other job, you've got to do it even on days when you don't fancy it.

Now short of selling film rights for millions (ha!), shooting straight to the top of every bestseller list within a week of the book's release (double ha), and receiving invitations to every awards ceremony for the next ten years (triple?), I don't think there are many single changes that will completely alter your life. The experience of being published, of making that dream come true - yes, that changes your life. 

But the actual consequences of being published? No, I think it's very possible that these changes won't exactly shake the foundations of life as you know it.

My book won't be out until the latter part of 2012, so I don't actually have any idea what changes actual publication will cause in my life. Maybe I'll have to reorganize my work schedule so that promoting my book takes up a huge chunk of it. Maybe I'll be able to tell someone who asks that I'm an author, and they'll ask me what I've written, and I'll tell them, and they might actually recognize it. Maybe I'll have to get used to bracing myself for bad/hurtful reviews.

I don't know. So I'm not ready for that.

On the other hand, I think I'm coping pretty well with the changes having a book deal has caused. It's not easy waking up, wanting to go back to sleep and forcing myself out of bed because I have to work on my book, but I do it and I'm getting used to it. It's tough dealing with the pressure of deadlines and knowing that every time I 'finish' a round of revisions, my work will be scrutinized by at least two other people - and that it might be deemed not good enough. 

And it's amazing - and unsettling - to feel like I made it. Not to fame, not to fortune, but I've made that dream come true: I have a book deal. I've spent so long thinking 'I haven't made it yet, but I'm trying' and 'I'll never make it' that it's a huge change to realize it's happened at last.

So am I ready for the changes being a published author has and will cause in my life? No, not really. But it hasn't stopped me having fun with it.

I don't think you need to be ready for the changes. Just enjoy bumping and bouncing along.