I Won't Publish the Book Without the Editor's Input

I’ve been on the record forever as stating that a book must have a professional editor. As my friends have said all week, the author is too close to the story to catch everything that might need revision, or to think of some cool twist that resolves a plot issue or even to see a plot issue sometimes. I absolutely will not release a book that hasn't been through both my developmental editor (our primary topic here) and a professional copy editor. I hire my developmental editor to review my novellas and short stories for anthologies as well.

And the editor does need to be a professional, not just someone who likes to read books or who is good at grammar. Ask those people to be beta readers perhaps. Your editor should understand your genre and the tropes and traditions of that genre. Even if you’re writing something you think is genre-busting, it helps to have a second, knowledgeable eye. Also, you may have fallen into a few lazy writing habits that the editor can check you on. Sometimes if you read enough books by an author you come to know all their heroines will be named Mary and have red hair. Or that there’ll be certain lines that get used verbatim in every book, for example.

I learn from my developmental editor’s comments and now avoid some mistakes I used to make every time, although I suspect I’m probably developing new ones. I had a bad habit of kind of skipping over parts I wasn’t too interested in writing (to get to other parts I was very excited about writing) – in Mission to Mahjundar there’s a dramatic escape across a raging river, which takes up almost an entire chapter in the finished book. It was one sentence in the manuscript. “They crossed the river and rode on.” My editor very properly gave me a hard time over that and basically demanded I flesh that episode out, which I did. In two of my ancient Egyptian novels, the early drafts pretty much said “they sailed up (or down) the Nile for two weeks” at a certain point in the narrative. What is it with me and rivers??? At any rate, the editor refused to settle for that and gave me suggestions, which I then enlarged upon and ended up writing quite a bit of hopefully interesting plot that shed more light on the characters and their motivations. In Warrior of the Nile her ideas really upped the stakes and the tension.

Nowadays I catch myself when I realize I’m about to skip writing some portion of the story and I go back and ask my Muse what I could add to the tale at this point.

 The other thing which is also a joke between me and my editor is what we call “slime trails.” In an early draft of Escape From Zulaire I wrote this really cool, shape shifting alien and then in what I thought was a further amazing burst of late night creativity, I had it leave a slime trail when it moved. Uh duh, if the alien has shifted into the shape of a human for example, won’t the other humans in the vicinity think it a mite odd (and disgusting) that ‘Sam’ leaves a slime trail LOL? I did a similar thing in another story idea that hasn’t been written yet where it was tactfully pointed out to me that if I included cool plot point X, I’d be undoing the entire established history of my worldbuilding. This is why I don’t write time travel.

I think some authors have the mistaken thought that if they have an editor, then they must follow that person’s inputs blindly, that it isn’t entirely their own book any more…maybe that’s how it was in trad pub. I can’t say because I never was traditionally published. My two books with Carina Press were the closest I came and I loved my editor there. She gave me great feedback but – leading to my key point here – I did not accept everything she suggested. A few things I felt were ‘wrong’ for what I wanted with the book and a couple of others I said, “Oh, okay, not exactly this but maybe I can do that instead,” and we were both satisfied.

On Star Survivor my editor felt I could cut out a couple of scenes with Nick and Mara (the lead characters in the first book, Wreck of the Nebula Dream) but my instinct was that my readers had been waiting about five years for this book and would feel cheated if they didn’t get to spend some meaningful time with the couple, even though this book focuses on Khevan the assassin and Twilka the interstellar celebrity. So I left both sections the editor suggested trimming and I have had reader feedback and reviews about enjoying the chance to catch up with Nick and Mara, and see them in action. I think she was probably correct about the scenes not being absolutely necessary to the plot but I stand by my final judgment that they were necessary to fully satisfying the readers.

It’s always going to be your book, you call the shots as an independently published author, but you want to present your readers with the best story possible. A strong, professional editor can and will help you polish that diamond to its brightest sheen.

(Award winning Escape From Zulaire is free by the way, if you want to see what happened to that alien and its slime trail.)

To Edit or Not To Edit

To edit or not to edit. That is the question.

Fortunately for us all, I'm not Shakespeare, nor am I currently sufficiently caffeinated to offer you a two hour treatise in iambic pentameter that would convince you the answer to the editing question is yes. Always yes.

I can have the tendency to be the contrarian here on the blog. But not with this issue. You've had a legion of excellent reasons from excellent writers on why you should hire at least one editor for your work. I'll add another.

Let's suppose your work is polished and clean. You've even had some beta readers. Their feedback was generally good and you fixed all of the typos and misplaced commas they called out. You're golden right?

Nope.

Hire that dev editor. Reason being that the dev editor exists to call you on your story-crafting shorthand. We all have it. It's the reflex gesture or the phrases we use so habitually that they become invisible to us. Unless you are an extraordinarily unusual writer, you have information about your scenes, your characters and your conflict that are in your head, but that never made it to the page. Also, that slow scene just before the climax? The one you've spent so much time telling yourself is just fine but you only half believe it? Yeah. It's not okay. And a good dev editor will call it out and even suggest options for fixing it.

I have a critique group. Two, in fact. On that meets in person and one virtual. All of my books go through those groups. That's four multi-published authors and several very experienced writers  who well on their way to being published reading my stuff and yelling at me when I mess something up. That should be good enough, shouldn't it? I mean. That many eyes on my writing makes for some very clean stuff.  Except.

Because these people know me, they know my modes of expression, both in person and in writing. When they read my text, they hear MY voice reading it, not their own. It's gotten to the point that major plot holes have been missed because these lovely writers know me well enough now to know what I meant even if I didn't say it on the page. This is natural and normal human behavior. The key is acknowledging it. The groups bring tremendous value to my process, especially early in a book's life cycle. But it's on me to accept that these groups no longer call me on every last bit of my story shorthand.

So. Editor. Editor. Editor. Editor.

The edit letter will annoy you. It usually does me. You get 24 hours of wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then you suck it up and you objectively evaluate what you were told about your book and you fix it. Your readers will thank you. I'd like to tell you that you'll be a better writer - and maybe at some point you will, but all I can see is that I keep finding new mistakes to make. So ymmv.

Apologies for the late post. The week has defined shitty. Starting with Saturday night, when Autolycus informed us that he was done with this life. He died Saturday night. He had acute renal failure likely brought on by bladder cancer. He was 18.  

On editing and editors

So, I had a few different angles I considered taking on this.  Do I talk about my editing process?  I considered that, but that's largely only useful to you if you think my nuts-and-bolts method is something you can use.  Do I talk about the value of beta-readers & editors and getting other eyes and opinions?  I could, but you know that.  Or, rather, if you're looking for writing advice of any kind, you've already seen that, and have absorbed it, or it's bounced off you and nothing I say will change your opinion on the subject.

Instead, let's talk about specific editors.  Namely, my editor, Sheila Gilbert, who I adore. She won the Hugo for Best Editor Long Form last year, and she's nominated again this year.  Now, you may say to yourself, "Hey, she won last year, should she really win again this year?"  I say: hell yes.  And that sort of thing is hardly unprecedented.  Heck, in the history of the Best Editor Award, before it was split into Long and Short, over thirty years there were only nine different winners.  NINE.  And after it was split, Patrick Nielsen Hayden won three times, and David Hartwell won twice in a row.  So there's plenty of precedent for Sheila to win twice, and she totally should.

Now, you're going to ask me, why should she, Marshall?  What does she do that puts her above the rest of the crowd?  (The rest of the crowd is 80% excellent, of course.)

The obvious answer is, she publishes my books.  This makes me biased, certainly, but it's an important point from my point of view.  But you want something a bit less subjective.

So, let me put something else on the table, in terms of What Editors Do, since it often seems so very nebulous.  I often go to conventions, meet other authors, do the barcon thing, and so on.  There's a lot of in-the-trenches horror stories.  Stories about editors butchering manuscripts, demanding changes that would fundamentally alter the story.  Stories about copy-edits that went outside of the bounds of the copy-edit.  Stories about horrendous covers that the author got stuck with, deeply unhappy with how their books were going to look.

These horror stories are part-and-parcel with the industry.  I've heard them from big names and midlisters and newbies.  

And I don't have one.

I do not have one of those editorial horror stories, and that's because Sheila has been there to keep me from having them.  Even when I've had cover art come in with problems, she's right with me saying, "Yes, let's fix this."  That's what makes someone a Best Editor, in my book.  All five books, in fact, with the sixth, seventh and eighth on the way.

(Speaking of, I have editing to do on that eighth one.  Off to it...)

Come to ConCarolinas

Everyone else this week has made the case for a good editor, so I'm just going to say ditto, mow my lawn, and get packing cause I'm headed for Charlotte, NC and ConCarolinas. 

It's a great con, for more info here's a link. 

My 2017 ConCarolinas schedule:

FRIDAY JUNE 25 PM Who Wants to Live Forever?

SATURDAY JUNE 39 AM Handling Rejection
3 PM A Cast of Hundreds
5 PM Write What You Don't Know

SUNDAY JUNE 410 AM Where Have the Heroes Gone?

I'll also have a table with my books and cds available. Hope to see you there!

The Self-Edit & The Professional Edit

As Jeffe and James both attested, editors are necessary. Dev, line, copy, proof. Doesn't matter which path to publishing you take, having a minimum of two professional editors review your work is not an optional part of the process. In self-publishing, newbies think they can skip the professional edits and save a lot of money. No. No. Nononono.

SPEND THE MONEY, you cheapskate.

You may be an awesome editor of others' works, you may be Marian the Grammarian's sister-from-another-mister, BUT that doesn't mean you can edit your own stuff to the level necessary for publication.  As the creator, your brain simply cannot see the flaws.

However, you do need to edit your work before sending it to an editor.

Wait, but, you just said...WUT?

Look, as authors, we all know our first draft is the crap draft; it's riddled with issues. Some drafts are worse than others. It's okay. It's totally normal. It's part of the process. However, DON'T hand that shit over to a professional editor. If you're trad-publishing, you're wasting your editor's time. If you're self-publishing, you're wasting your money. You need to edit that draft.

But, but deadlines...But, but pre-orders...But, but...

But nothing. My friends, I can tell you horror stories from trad-published authors who turned in their "rough draft" only to have it be the one that got printed. Oh, the readers noticed. Oh, the author felt betrayed. Oh, the publisher didn't care. Don't set yourself up for that worst-case scenario. In the self-publishing world, if you send a rough draft to a freelance editor, they may refuse your business or charge you more money. Make your work as good as you can before sending it an editor. That includes having your CPs/Betas take a run at it, then incorporating their feedback. (Scheduling is a different topic for a different day, but don't be a dick and expect 24hr turnarounds.)

The catch is how to edit your work effectively and efficiently without over-editing it. For those of us who are perfectionists or suffering imposter-syndrome, we can all too easily fall into the viciously unending cycle of "tweaking" and micro-edits.

Let the Rule of Threes be your guide.

Kathy McIntosh has a nice post on Three Pass Self-Editing.

Then, and only then, do you send your work to the professionals. Most likely, you'll go through three more rounds of editing with their input. My experience with freelance editors in self-publishing, it's 2 rounds of Dev/Line edits then one round of copyedits. Proofreading is the final step.

No book will ever be perfect, but good editors make books a helluva lot better.

EVERYONE needs an editor.

Okay, so , here we are again.

This week's subject is simple enough: Do we need editors.

Yes, profoundly, yes.

Let me clarify: YES!

Let's go with my latest, experience, shall we?

let it be known that I love making characters! I dig the hell out of it. I once counted the named characters in my novel/trilogy SERENITY FALLS and I came up with 187 named characters. that wasn't all of the characters in the book, just the ones with names. The damned book should have a lexicon, especially since the story spans three centuries and, just as in real life, some of the characters actually have the same name in the family tree. My editor was ready to have an embolism. I didn't care. I knew what I was doing and the characters with the same names were never mentioned in the same chapters.

But I digress.

I recently finished the first draft of FALLEN GIDS< the second book in the TIDES OF WAR series. All was well and I was taking my time with the novel when my publisher politely asked me when he might see the first draft, as it was currently Three Months Late. That is not a typo. 

Here's the problem: I thought I still had a month to go.  Sometimes it's not a matter of writer's block or any of that sort of thing. I knew what I wanted to say, I knew where I wanted the story to end for Book Two. I just confused myself on the deadline.

That meant going from Zero to Ninety in exactly no time. I slammed my foot onto the gas and I WROTE. I also apologized profusely, because I LOATHE being late. And when Iw as done I promised the next book will be early to make up thew difference. (It will be.)

I'm off working on Book Three when the editor asks to speak with me. As he's in another country, we Skyped the whole thing. Took about thirty minutes to go over the notes. Phil, my editor, is one of the best. He works for the publisher. his job is to turn my Manuscript into something coherent.  That is often a monumental task.

Let me explain: I KNOW what I am doing. I KNOW that the book is going to be roughly this long, and how I'm going to end it. I know grammar well enough that I don't sweat that stuff.

I also know that my brain LIES TO ME! It's what brains do. Why? because I have planned the book out long before I write it. No, I don't outline. I hate outlining, I feel restricted if I outline in high detail first. I feel obligated to write a scene that matches what I planned and that's horrible for me.

So I have Phil and others to help. What are they helping with? Damned near everything, but especially on the first draft they're stuck correcting my typos, telling me when I'm using the same phrase too often, and, oh, yeah, when I'm using too many characters to suit my needs.

Remember when I said I like creating characters? It's true, I do. And it's a complaint I've had on many reviews, for that matter. Story is okay, but there are too many POV's is a common argument. Tat doesn't stop me, by the way. I still write like me. But when an editor comes along and gives me a legitimate argument against the number of POVs I'm using, I tend to listen.


I'm over halfway through the edits Phil suggested. Some of them are easy. The biggest challenge is rewriting several scenes to limit the number of POVs to five. It's tedious at times, but it's also the right call. Because while -I- have no trouble distinguishing who is who in the scenes, there are already a LOT of characters in the series and I add more. No one has to see from their perspective, especially when they often times show up only briefly and then not for a long while.

My mind goes crazy when I'm in the zone. I know what I want to say, and I know what I mean to say, but that doesn't guarantee that I'm saying it in the best way. Typos happen and often times, if I haven't waited long enough, say, a couple of months, I can;' see the mistakes because my mind knows what is supposed to be there and my eyes assume that's what I wrote. Even if I set up autocorrect to take care of many of my more common typing *(Yes, I did that already) there are a few that sneak though. I'm finding a lot of them as I do my rewrites.

I am human. Sometimes you simply need more than one pair of eyes.

Most of the  successful self published authors I know pay an editor I'm lucky, my publisher does that for me and they chose well.


Do you need an editor? Yes. God yes. Dear God yes.

Never you'll see the mistakes. You won't. Not all of them.  Never assume that the book needs another edit. Sometimes it's finished and a writer can't see it. If you are on the fifth edit, either the book was hideous beyond repair or self doubt is crippling you and it's time for an editor.

Autocorrect won't catch everything. Ever.

trust me. You need an editor. I can edit other people, no problem, but I am not as intimate with their manuscript as I am with my own. It's exactly that simple.

James A. Moore

Why You Need an Editor. Yes, I'm Talking to YOU

This isn't a great shot, but these little girls are so awesomely adorable. We got to attend our granddaughter's spring dance recital yesterday. The costumes were amazing. So much fun.

Our topic this week at the SFF Seven is editing: do we use editors or do it ourselves, how long does editing take, etc.

As you may have guessed from the title, I'm somewhat passionate on this topic.

Not long ago I saw several authors on a thread discussing whether they still used a developmental editor. This group of guys happened to be all self-publishing authors. One had asked about editing, who people hired, etc. The conversation grew from there, with most of them saying that they used content or developmental editors - which is an initial pass, helping to shape the story - early on in their careers. But, a number of them said, "now that they knew how to write a book/story, etc.," they didn't need to anymore.

I cry utter bullshit on this.

And I'll tell you why!

When I was younger I was a huge fan of both Anne Rice and Pat Conroy. There were a couple of years there where I gave a copy of Conroys' THE PRINCE OF TIDES to anyone I thought might not have read it, for every gift-giving opportunity. Likewise I obsessively followed Anne Rice, and I'll tell you honestly that reading her book THE WITCHING HOUR was a turning point in my life. I could say that's the book that made me want to be a writer.

Not long after that, Anne Rice rather famously went on talk shows to discuss her new book deal, and she said, "Believe me - no one edits Me." (I'd say the emphasis is my own, but she totally said it in bold with capitalization, just like that.)

Then Pat Conroy's BEACH MUSIC came out, which I eagerly devoured. Only to find it so bloated that I couldn't enjoy it. Even as a plain reader, I kept thinking that the book needed to have at least a third of the story trimmed out.

It needed a good developmental editor. So did Anne Rice.

Even though - maybe even particularly if - they didn't think so.

And I'll freely say I think they're both genius writers - but genius writers need editors, too. I'll also put out there that there is no such thing as "figuring out how to write a book/story, etc." Last week at Nebula Weekend, Grandmaster Jane Yolen, who's written over 300 books, said that each novel is different for her and she relearns how to do it every time. Writing isn't making widgets - it's not like you learn how to do it once and then replicate that ad infinitum.

Besides which: I truly believe that it's extraordinarily difficult, if not impossible, for a writer to have an objective view of their own work. We need that outside lens to examine if what we intended to communicate actually made it onto the page.

So, yes, while I do edit myself, I also always use editors, also - content/developmental, line, and copy. If I'm self-publishing, I hire the toughest people I know to put my work through the wringer. In my opinion, not doing that doesn't mean you've "arrived." It only means you're kidding yourself.

My Author Brand Spans Ancient Egypt to #SciFi Romance

After Carina Press bought what was going to be my first published book in mid-2011, I knew I’d better get myself out there on social media and build a brand and a platform to connect with my potential readers. The book was due out in January 2012.

The first step to me was getting a professional headshot, which turned out to be a lot of fun. I went to the wonderful Dick Wiend, who is an actor and who works with many actors and other creatives. Before we shot a single frame, he asked me what I wanted to convey in my photo. I said I wanted to look like I was sitting down with my reader over a cup of tea as longtime friends, in their kitchen or mine, ready to tell them a good story.

That’s still how I feel about my ‘job’ as an author, six years later and how I feel about my brand. I want to tell good stories! And I love my readers….

For my blog, Facebook and twitter posts, I made a conscious decision to stay true to myself and talk about things that interest me, which covers a lot of territory. I’m fascinated by all aspects of science, cats, roses, bagpipes, other romance authors, TV and movies, books, publishing, business topics (process improvement, social media developments, etc), food, science fiction, scifi romance  – I curate a lot of content from many sites and am always looking for things I think my followers will find interesting or amusing or pretty.

I don’t discuss politics or any other heavy duty topic. That’s for my personal life.

My first published book was Priestess of the Nile, so I obviously love ancient Egypt, archaeology, buried treasures…my second book less than three months later was Wreck of the Nebula Dream, a scifi take on the sinking of Titanic. So I had two totally different subgenres of romance I was bouncing between. The wonderful Kim Killion managed to create a banner for me as shown above which combines the two visually and I think ties the author brand all together. (I'm a few scifi romance covers behind so I'd better update that!) She's amazing!

But as I went I realized my ‘brand’ was focusing tighter and tighter on the scifi romance side of things. I write posts on SFR for three major sites now, as well as tons of guest posts, and the majority of my published books are in that subgenre. I haven’t changed my social media approach where I talk about and share all kinds of things but I have changed what I talk about on my blog to pretty much exclusively SFR. I realized I was probably confusing readers if they came to check out the blog and found a post on pretty Victorian ephemera. I used to do a weekly Wednesday Whimsy post that combined quotes and poetry and photos from my vintage advertising cards. That, however, has nothing to do with what I actually write.  So now my Wednesday blog post is given over to a New Releases post covering new SFR, fantasy and paranormal romance books.

Author Cynthia Sax created this wonderful meme for me, which I think sums up my author brand pretty well:

Embracing the Brand

Whelp. After reading Jeffe's excellent post about author brand, it belatedly dawns on me I have one. One I hadn't, to this point, known about, much less embraced.

Crazy Cat Lady.

Seriously. Follow me on Instagram. @marcellaburnard  Have a look at my gallery. Go back through my blog posts. How many cat photos versus photos of literally anything else? Also, who just landed a part time job as a veterinary assistant for a cat-only clinic based solely on a long history of rescue work and learning to give subcutaneous fluids to her own cats? Yeeeeeah.

Not to mention that if you read the reviews of the last book I put out (Damned If He Does) - the very first cat I've written into a story gets mentioned in reviews more than the main characters. I'm seeing a trend here.

But I'm not certain how to capitalize on that, you know? I mean, okay. 10% of everything I make goes to animal rescue (Best Friends and Big Cat Rescue, specifically).  But that's not exactly - I don't know - flashy? Visible? Easily identified?

I could wear sweaters knitted from the fur I've combed from my cats to all my events, but I have concerns about just how many readers would be seriously allergic to me . . .

Wonder if Hatshesput would consent to wear a 'service animal' vest and come to events with me. Without murdering me in my sleep for the affront of making her wear clothes.

Author Branding: A Simplified You

Ten years ago, "Author Branding" was going to save the publishing industry--genre writers, in particular--by improving consumer discovery. All you, the author, had to do was have a blog, a vlog, three Facebook pages, two Pinterest boards, an active Linked-In account, a pre-programmed Twitter feed, four monthly contests, a grand-prize sweepstake, a caravan on the Con circuit, and a nom-de-plume per genre.

If it sounds exhausting, it was. Plus, books weren't being written. Authors were spending all their time chasing the elusive Social Media cash cow, hemorrhaging resources they couldn't afford. Wasn't long before the "Pro-Branding" group got sideswiped by the "Anti-Branders," much like doo-wop meeting punk rock.

These days, the crux of the Author Branding movement is still relevant: Who Is the Public You? Easy, easy, there. This isn't the entrance to the Disingenuine Ball. It is, however, your introduction at the dinner party where the hosts are retailers and the guests are readers, bloggers, other authors, and assorted creatives. It is that simple and that complex.

K.I.S.S.

Your Author Brand is a message, broadcasting into the chaotic universe. Be clear, concise, and consistent. That's the only way to break through the din.

• But I Cannot Fit Into One Box! 
• So what if you write in 16 different genres? Pick one (and no more than two) to paint on the front door of your House of Identity. Your goal is to get customers across the threshold. The foyer is what they expect to find; it's what you've advertised. Once they're interested, they'll wander into the other rooms and discover your other works. 
• Decision Paralysis is a real thing. If a consumer is presented with too many options, they won't be able to make a choice. They'll walk out without a purchase. Sticking with the house analogy, if your foyer is cluttered, people will leave. If it could be featured on Hoarders, they'll run and warn others away.

Using Your Author Brand 

Let's say you're at that networking dinner party. Your Author Brand should be memorable for all the right reasons. You want to be unique enough that you're easy to pick out of a crowd, but not so unique that a crowd never gathers. A modified marketing Rule of Three applies here:

1. Draw Attention
• You can either introduce yourself to your target audience or have someone introduce you. Keep in mind, appearances matter, from your physical person (hygiene, style, poise, and the company you keep) to your digital presence (avatars, web banners, email addresses, and profiles).  How you gain someone's attention will color their first impression of you. 
2. Deliver Your Message 
• This is all about presentation in action. This is tone, tenor, and content. Everyone reads beyond the words. This is where your personality is judged. Are you congenial and kind? Humorous with a biting wit? Shy, stammering, uncertain? Too comfortable, over-prepared, a bit bored? Self-deprecating yet engaging? Irascible and put-upon? Are you know-it-all or a clueless wonder? It is human nature to derive a lot of meaning from very little info.
3. Leave A Call To Action
• Now that the audience has heard your message and judged your character, be bold and make the Ask. Some folks will go for the hard sell here, some folks with a soft. "Buy my book, this specific book, buy it now," versus "Check out my website for a list of my books." Your brand, your message, your choice. 

People have finite memories. Book covers and web-banners have finite space. Whatever you do, don't confuse the message of your Author Brand.

Hi, I'm KAK.
 I write fantasy novels about strong women, strange places, and stranger creatures. 
Check out my website for a free short story:  KAKrantz.com

Your Author Brand - Choosing and Maintaining It

That’s me at the Nebula Weekend mass autographing with science fiction author Lawrence Schoen. His top hat was most snazzy—and the little stuffed elephant is a nod to his elephantine aliens in his novel BARSK. I picked up a copy from SFWA’s (Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America) book depot at the conference and look forward to reading it.

Of course, someone suggested we pose together because of the hats. And, as always, people at Nebula Weekend—though this was my first time attending—commented on how easy it is to find and recognize me because of my big hats.

Also, as inevitably, that evening when I didn’t wear my hat, most people didn’t recognize me. I was honored to present the Nebula Award for Best Novelette and I know that, under stage lights at night, wearing a hat would only cast my face in shadow. I really need to find a sheer hat with net, perhaps, to wear on such occasions. Small hats that might be appropriate, like a cloche, don’t have the same effect—people still literally do not recognize me.

I have this theory that people see the hat and don’t really pay attention to remembering my face. They don’t need to. But it is kind of a problem—albeit solidly first world—that my hats are so recognizable that I nearly vanish without them.

That’s an interesting aspect of having a very recognizable author brand, which is our topic this week.

I’m very lucky to have stumble into this relatively inexpensive, simple and stand-out brand. It came about because I began wearing big-brimmed hats to protect my very fair skin. The very first RWA (Romance Writers of America) convention I attended, I stayed at the overflow hotel a few blocks away in San Francisco. When I walked over to the convention hotel, I wore my hat, naturally, and then kept it on, for lack of any place to stow it. I received so many positive comments and compliments—and people recognizing me again, even after one quick meeting, that I began wearing my hats indoors all the time, at all author events.

Now, as you all likely know, the hat is on my website header, my logo, my business cards, and so on. It is solidly my brand and I’m happy to have it, regardless of minor inconveniences like really needing to find (or make?) a hat I can wear at night.

An author brand is what makes YOU stand out and be remembered. It can be related to your books or genre, but since those things can change over time, it’s better if what distinguishes you as a person and makes you memorable is related to you as a person. It might be hair color, or a style of dress. Maybe certain kinds of shoes. Some authors are memorable for a certain style of wit or social media presence. Perhaps a giant beard or very long hair.

The most important aspect of author branding, however, is to choose wisely. Because, really, as witnessed by my hats, once people latch onto it, they don’t forget. This is a good thing! But it also means you don’t get to be fickle and change it up. Keep that image consistent—and plan to do it for the rest of your career. Which, hopefully, means the rest of your life.

This is one reason I don’t advocate changing your social media avatar—not to a book cover or other logo. Pick something and plan to keep it forever. Don’t think people get bored. It’s how they recognize you.

Make it easy for them to do that!

Also, any and all suggestions on evening hats are most welcome!

You Say Extrovert I Say Introvert

I just really liked this Deposit Photo picture plus there is purpleness

Over the years at the old day job, the Division I was a member of probably tried every team building and self-knowledge tool there was. Some were fun (colors – whee) and some were nearly incomprehensible without the highly paid consultants to explain the results with powerpoint decks. Along the way we did the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, which helps you understand how you perceive the world around you and react. I’m an INTJ who can switch to ENTJ when required.

Before I explain that, hey folks who create tests – I understand myself pretty well without circles and colors and letters and statistics. I’m definitely an introvert who’d rather be at home in my comfy cotton ‘patio dress’ than out at a party. But put me in the right situation – working retail (even a yard sale), doing a panel, teaching a class, signing books – and I’ll be the most extroverted Extrovert you ever saw. I’m also pretty darn good at extroverting on social media because I love it there and the people on the other end can’t see my lovely Dillard’s patio dress of the day. (Think very colorful.)

So, INTJ means “introversion, intuition, thinking and judgment” are how I approach the world on any given day. This would be after I feed the cats and drink my tea and probably before I scan twitter.

This quote I found sums up the INTJ pretty well for me: “INTJs are strong individualists who seek new angles or novel ways of looking at things. They enjoy coming to new understandings. They tend to be insightful and mentally quick; however, this mental quickness may not always be outwardly apparent to others since they keep a great deal to themselves. They are very determined people who trust their vision of the possibilities, regardless of what others think. They may even be considered the most independent of all of the sixteen personality types. INTJs are at their best in quietly and firmly developing their ideas, theories, and principles.”

— Sandra Kreb Hersch; Jean Kummerow (1998). Introduction to type in organizations: individual interpretive guide. Palo Alto, Calif. : Consulting Psychologists Press.

("Very determined" - HA! I am supremely stubborn.)

Nothing is one size fits all!

But if you see me at a book signing, a conference, a panel or a yard sale (where I will sell you ALL The Things for a good price), figure I’m in my extroverted mode and we can have a wonderful, easy going conversation. That goes for twitter and Facebook too.

If you trip over me prowling the aisles of Ralph’s grocery store late at night, eyeing the flavors of Haagen-Dazs, maybe give me a moment to switch gears to the extrovert side, ok?

Start

A friend died today.

I'm a mess. So bear with me here. Forget about introvert and extrovert and do me a favor. You're mortal. Your life is precious and fragile and not stuck in a rut unless you will it to be. While you're alive, you can still DO something.

Start.

Whatever it is you want. Start it. Smile. Breathe deep. Step forward, even if only an inch.

Because only one thing is certain. This all ends. For your sake, for mine, for the sake of the friend who died today, don't go to your deathbed wondering what could have happened.

Oh. And take a second to go hug your loved ones.

My Kingdom for a Writer Retreat

Writing is a solitary activity.  It is fundamentally about holing up somewhere and shutting out the world and getting the work done.  This is a job for introverts.  

But promotion, appearances, interacting with the fellow writing community?  That takes extroversion. And I can do that: I can turn it on and get the job done.  But then I want to crawl back into a hole and just write.  

Now, as things currently go, I don't have much option for holing up.  There's no single space in the house that's just for me just to write.  We also run our business out of the house, and due to the nature of it there isn't an area that can be just MINE all the time.  

This past weekend at Comicpalooza, I was sitting with a bunch of writers, and one that I didn't recognize (and because, you know, that's how things go, no introductions were made between us) talked about finalizing his cabin in the woods: isolated, with a great view of a lake (but still only a few minutes away from the grocery store).  The perfect place to be completely disconnected from the world and just get writing done.

I said that sounded like bliss.

Turns out that guy I didn't recognize was Jim Butcher.

If Jim Butcher is only JUST getting his cabin on the lake to write in isolation, it's going to be a bit for me. So I'll keep working out of my bag, using my headphones to isolate myself.  (And reminding my family that Headphones Means Do Not Disturb.)

All that said: if any of you out there has a cabin on the lake or beachhouse or isolated studio or adobe hut in the desert you want to lend me for a week or so?  Let's talk.  I would love to have a place to retreat to, if just for a little bit.

DON'T BE A DEADLINE DOUCHEBAG

If people are asking you to do things (whether it is writing and business related or not) you should of course always consider the request and the person making the request. Some of you may be good at knee-jerk "No" responses, and you parrot out your answer before you've thought it through. The request might benefit you, so think it over. 

A few times in your life, a request might be easy because you adore and respect the person making the request and you genuinely want to help, or you 'owe' them one because they helped you previously.

But more often the requests will come not from that adored person and not in a timely manner.

As an author with deadlines, you can say no. Don't feel guilty! You might have to say no because, serioiusly, this is your career. You might truly be wishing you could help, or you might be rejoicing that you don't have to because you have the great excuse of a deadline. Either way, the important factor is that you maintain your professionalism. 

DON'Ts:
Don't ignore a request; that is rude. 
Don't accept and promise to help, then stop responding or never following through. That's also rude.
Don't promise to get to something later just to avoid actually saying "No" right now.

DOs:

Do be honest. 
Do be helpful if you can.


HOW TO SAY NO:
You can say no without details:
"I'm flattered, but my schedule is so tight right now, I'm just not in a position where I can take this on."

You can say no with details:
"Look, I know this is going to disappoint you, but I simply cannot promise to ______ because no matter how much I might want to help you with this, the deadlines I'm responsible for right now require my utmost attention. You deserve feedback that is fully focused and there's no way I can manage that right now."

Here's more ways to say no that I found HERE on The Greater Good blog.

1. Vague but effective: “Thank you for asking, but that isn’t going to work out for me.”

2. It’s not personal: “Thank you for asking, but I’m not doing any interviews while I’m writing my book.”

3. Ask me later: “I want to do that, but I’m not available until April. Will you ask me again then?”

4. Let me hook you up: “I can’t do it, but I’ll bet Shelly can. I’ll ask her for you.”

5. Keep trying: “None of those dates work for me, but I would love to see you. Send me some more dates.”

6. Try me last minute: “I can’t put anything else on my calendar this month, but I’d love to do that with you sometime. Will you call me right before you go again?”

7. Gratitude: “Thank you so much for your enthusiasm and support! I’m sorry I’m not able to help you at this time.”

8. Give Dad a chance: “You know, I feel like moms are always getting to do the holiday parties at school. Let’s ask Dad if he wants to help this year.”

9. 5-minute favor: “I can’t speak at your event, but I will help you promote it on my blog.”

I also asked my friends Renee Trudeau and Katrina Alcorn—two people who’ve honed their ability to say no well—for their favorite go-to ways to say no. Here are Renee’s favorite ways:

10. Just No: “Thanks, I’ll have to pass on that.” (Say it, then shut up.)

11. Gracious: “I really appreciate you asking me, but my time is already committed.”

12. I’m Sorry: “I wish I could, but it’s just not going to work right now.”

13. It’s Someone Else’s Decision: “I promised my coach (therapist, husband, etc.) I wouldn’t take on any more projects right now. I’m working on creating more balance in my life.”

14. My Family is the Reason: “Thanks so much for the invite, that’s the day of my son’s soccer game, and I never miss those.”

15. I Know Someone Else: “I just don’t have time right now. Let me recommend someone who may be able to help you.”

16. I’m Already Booked: “I appreciate you thinking of me, but I’m afraid I’m already booked that day.”

17. Setting Boundaries: “Let me tell you what I can do…” Then limit the commitment to what will be comfortable for you.

18. Not No, But Not Yes: “Let me think about it, and I’ll get back to you.”

(Renee’s list is from her book The Mother’s Guide to Self-Renewal.)

And here are the additional ways that Katrina most often says no:

19. Say nothing: “Not all requests require an answer. It feels rude to ignore a request, but sometimes it’s the best way for everyone to save face.”

20. Let it all hang out: “Recently my daughter got injured in gym class. It was a week of visits to the ER, the concussion clinic, specialists, etc. I decided to just tell people what was going on, which sort of shut down the requests for a bit.”

21. I’m “maxed out”: “We need a ‘safety word’ for saying no—an easy way to tell people that we can’t/won’t do the thing they are requesting, but that it’s not personal. One convenient thing about authoring a book called Maxed Out is that now I can say ‘I’m maxed out’ and people who are familiar with the book know I’m asking them to respect that I’m taking care of myself, and that I also respect their need to take care of themselves.”

Release Day: Jovienne by Linda Robertson

Big celebration day today as our Wednesday captain Linda Roberston releases the first book in her new urban fantasy series Immanence. Because Linda is such an amazing artist, she's written a musical score to accompany the book (sold separately via Linda's website).

JOVIENNE
A horrific car accident put Jovienne in a coma. When she awakened months later, she was told that her family had died. And Jovienne? She felt different...irreversibly changed.

Years passed, and she was raised by a stranger who trained her to use the quintanumin. She excelled at every lesson, and she longed for her mentor to become much more. When the time came for her final test, a death-match against a demon, she uncovered a terrible truth: the man she had trusted to teach her had a dreadful secret, and Jovienne had become a monster's monster.

The traumatized Jovienne becomes desperate for a way out of this new life, working on a way to rescind her immortality. But this only brings the demons ever closer, one of which claims to know a secret of its own about Jovienne-a secret she doesn't even know herself...

BUY IT NOW:  From Linda  |  IpG   |   Amazon   |  IndieBound

No fences for me.

I try to be friendly to anyone who approaches me at a convention.

I also try to be professional, so not too close for comfort.

once upon a time I gave out business cards with my phone number on them.

that stopped when someone I THOUGHT was a writer started calling my place at any old time of the morning to fanboy out.

That was when I set my boundaries.

They haven't really changed. Be a professional at conventions, folks. It's all the difference in t he world.

I'll be polite, I'll even be friendly, but beyond that? Hard to say what will happen.

So, no fences. fences imply that I want to keep a certain distance. In public, at conventions, I believe in an open door policy. I look forward to meeting new friends and fans alike.

The Writer as Friendly Curmudgeon - Building Fences Without Walling People Out

One of my favorite pictures of my mother, embodying all her effervescence and zest for life - letting her fringe fly.

It's apropos for me that week's topic - which has to do with attempting to be both a writer and a socially acceptable person - falls on Mother's Day. My mother is tremendously social person. She's good at it, and she loves it. Me... well, I've always struggled a bit with feeling like I'm not as good at it, and it took me a really long time to understand that about myself.

I just never felt all that social, though I could fake it to some extent. In fact, I often thought to myself that I was antisocial. In a brief bout of therapy during a dark angsty period in college, my therapist said to me, "Antisocial people don't get elected to be Social Chair of their sororities."

Which was an eye-opener for me, because it was a really good point.

Now I know how to label it, because there's so much more good language to talk about this aspect of human interaction. I'm an introvert! Or perhaps, more accurately, an ambivert. I have a lot of extrovert skills - which I've always attributed to my mother's tireless efforts to make me a better person - but I have a deeply introverted aspect to my personality. I need alone time to rejuvenate my energy.

Because my mom is an extrovert, she needs companionship to rejuvenate herself. Thus she's always worried that when I'm alone "too much" that it's not good for me.

But loving being alone is part of what makes me a good writer. In fact, I'd argue that so many writers are introverts because it's got to be super hard on those extroverted writers to make themselves sit in quiet rooms alone to get the work done. Introverts are all over that.

The downside, however, is that we can be perceived as unfriendly and shunning society of all kinds. Part of this comes from the necessity of building fences around the sacred space where creativity occurs. We absolutely need to be left alone. No quick questions or short conversations. No "but I only need ..." Anything that interrupts that quiet space will derail the work at best temporarily, at worst for a really long freaking time. And the worst part is, allowing minor infractions leads to larger and larger ones. A quick question today leads to a two-hour errand in the not-too-distant future. It can become a convoluted exercise in logic to try to explain why the short convo yesterday was okay, but a total disaster today.

And this is hard to explain. It sounds curmudgeonly and sometimes downright mean for us to say, "I'm turning off my phone, my internet, and shutting my door. If you need me, you'll have to need me later." We know our boundaries can make no rational sense, which means we end up snarling impossible demands like "Nobody talk to me EVER AGAIN."

I always think of the cliche of the Victorian era writer locking himself in the library and roaring that anyone who enters will be reduced to a pile of ash.

Okay, I've totally wanted to be that guy on occasion.

But most of us don't really want to be THAT antisocial. We love our friends and family and would like for them to continue to love us. It's really lovely when we unlock the library doors, emerge, (bathe), and find them smiling, possibly handing us food.

So the trick is to build fences around that writing space without building walls so impenetrable they can't be breached. I suspect the answer there, as it so often is, lies in communication.

I greatly appreciate all those years my mom spent drilling social skills into her reluctant daughter. They've come in very handy. A part of me is also amused that, for all those times she told me to get my nose out of my book, that I'm totally vindicated now.

SO, HA, MOTHER! ALL THAT TIME I SPENT WITH MY NOSE IN A BOOK MADE ME AN AWARD-WINNING WRITER TODAY!! SO THERE!

Also, I love you, Mom. Happy Mother's Day, from both the good Jeffe and the bad one. ;-)

My Test for Good Ideas - Does it Set Off Fireworks?

Plot Bunny!

The topic this week is how we decide what’s a good idea to pursue when we’re ready to write a new book or story.

First I’d have to define what ‘good’ means to me in this context because as others have said, I have ideas ALL the time. Plot bunnies abound everywhere. I have a dream, or read the news or someone tells me a funny anecdote from their own daily life or I’m perusing a magazine at the dentist’s office and WOW POP ZOWIE, there’s the kernel of a great idea. Typically I scribble down enough notes on it to remind myself later what I’d thought was so cool and stuff it into a bulging purple folder of similar ideas. If the thought prompt was for a nifty detail inside some other story I’ve already been playing around with telling, then I’ll give it a cryptic label. As an example, for literally years I collected details for a story about an interstellar fashion designer, which I eventually wrote (Star Survivor). I probably didn’t use 1/100^th of the stuff I’d collected but it all built up in my head over time to give me a picture of the world she lived in and what I might write about her.

I still have notes from junior high school actually, relevant to the series I was doing then, which had a vaguely Tom Corbett Space Cadet feel to it, but with romance. I’m not planning to pursue those plot bunnies any further though!

That does point up the problem I have, which is when I’m feeling motivated and energized to tell a new story, it’s rarely something drawn from all those files stored in the spare room. More often my Muse is attracted to a shiny new idea and off I go to write that story.

With that background established, what qualifies as a ‘good’ idea to me is one that makes me excited to sit and write, to tell the story. I have energy for the situation and the characters and I can’t wait to get those words on the paper (by typing into the laptop) and share the tale with my readers.

That’s it. My sole criteria. Does this idea have kinetic force for me and spark the irresistible urge to spin a story?

If yes, then hey, Houston, we’re go to launch the writing process.

Purchased from DepositPhoto

Idea Processing and Proving

Remember junior high when you learned (vaguely) how to write a research paper? You were told to pick a subject, begin your research and keep your index cards organized so you could write your paper and cite your sources, right? For the first time, you were given more than a single evening to accomplish your task. Maybe a whole two weeks.

If you were anything like me, you spent the first week and a half playing with a million ideas about what to write. It finally took either panic or a parent hollering at you to just pick something to get you to actually do the paper. Which meant that you were forced to put aside any question of what idea was 'best'. Or even 'good'.

Books are a little like that. You can spend all your time figuring out whether an idea is any good for you or not. And I say 'for you' because I doubt there are any bad ideas - only ideas that land with the wrong person to execute. When a bright, shiny new idea sideswipes me, I do have a process for figuring out whether I can get it from 'oh hey!' to a finished novel. It looks a little like this:

1. Are there characters associated with the idea? If yes, proceed to 2. If no, this idea is DOA. I can jot it down and file it in case characters pop up later, but until there are people to drive the idea, no deal.
2. Do the characters have arcs? This is determined by a deep dive into character work. First stop: Break Into Fiction and the character templates. Why? Because I am entirely character driven. I must know the whys behind my people before I can reliably plot a story from idea to finish. If arc = yes, I can proceed to 3.
3. Proof of concept - write the proposal. Three chapters and a synopsis. This forces me to get clear on the GMC in a concise way. Usually. If that goes well and the characters are playing poorly with one another as they should, I can proceed to 4.
4. Scene by scene plotting. You know that's working when you have help like I did above. It's even better when your 'help' offers up editorial comment in the shape of fang holes in your scene notes.

A lot of work, maybe, but it has benefits. The first is that 90% of ideas get sorted within the first two steps. Those that don't have material progress already made on them. In rare cases, I've had ideas fizzle in the proof of concept stage. Those ideas aren't usually bad, per se, it's usually a case of having missed something vital in the character arc/motivation stage. Those get shelved to perk a little longer. Then I go back to revisit every once in a while to see if I can parse out what I got wrong.

At least no one wants me to cite my sources anymore.

Panning for Idea Gold

"Your first three ideas are wrong."

This was a piece of advice that came from the production designer I worked with the most in my theatre days, which he got from one of college professors.  While I don't think it's completely accurate, I do think it's coming from a fundamentally correct place.  A lot of the time, the initial idea is flawed, and it takes some work and thought before you get to the thing that's actually going to work.

Now, he was talking about design work-- how you build something that will look and function the way you want it to on stage-- but the principle is the same as with writing.

Around that same time, we both worked with another playwright, and one of the comments made of that playwright was, "He has some really fantastic ideas.  And some truly terrible ones.  And absolutely no skill at differentiating them."

And that's the challenge in writing, isn't it?  Looking at the ideas you have, and trying to crack which ones will work and pay off, and which ones are not worth developing.  I think it's still something I'm working on, myself.  Now, part of my process is a long germination period, where I go from a vague idea to building the roots of it, and then growing it out in outlines and finally writing the story. I know my output speed would seem to belie this idea, but you're seeing the end result of the process which started many years ago and is now bearing fruit.  In many ways, the two trunked novels were a necessary part of the process of the planning and plotting of all the Maradaine novels.  And my space opera project (that is currently shopping) went through so many changes that the only things surviving from the original concept are A. the name of the ship (and the ship focused on is completely different) and B. one character (who in original concept was a stand-out secondary character that evolved into the actual lead).  

Now, I could have stuck to my guns and insisted that the original space-opera concept or the now-trunked novels were how I had to go forward... then I'd probably still be languishing as a writer.  

That doesn't mean every idea is gold, or I've mastered figuring out which are or aren't worth my time.  Just slow, steady improvement on that front.  Always learning.  Any writer who thinks there's nothing left to learn is just stagnating.

--- 

A reminder that I'll be at ComicPalooza this weekend.  My schedule is here.  If you're in or near Houston, come say hello!

Spotting a Good Idea

Wanna know the secret?

A story that appeals to your emotions, promises conflict/drama/action, and --come the end-- says something that sticks with you in a good way.

That's my belief.

But take that with a grain of salt. What appeals to my emotions may not evoke yours and vice-versa. What I consider conflict/drama/action may not align completely with what you consider the same. Further, what sticks with me afterward may not be a message that resonates with you. Hence, not every book is for every reader. Those choices may steer your work into a small, niche market. Or it might hurl it right into mainstream because the overall appeal as well as the scope of the message is quite broad.

My latest novel, Jovienne, is available either now or next week. I say this because while the publisher's release date was May 9th, the on-line sellers are {as I write this on the 9th} showing as unavailable, so perhaps their stock has not yet arrived or been checked into stock and ok-ed for sale??? Gotta love the business side of the business...hee hee. Regardless, please check out the trailer, below, and tell me, Do you think it has got 1.) that emotional appeal, 2.) the promise of conflict/drama/action, and 3.) indications of a something that will stick with you come the end?

Also, the music in that trailer is a shortened arrangement of the track Immanence I wrote as part of the score for this novel. To hear snippets each track from the CD, visit my website's buy page:

http://www.authorlindarobertson.com/buy.html 

3 Steps for Deciding Which Great Idea To Write Next

I have an idea! I have many ideas. I have enough to keep me writing well into my 90s when AI will suck the wavelengths out of my brain and feed it to the matrix. The ideas, they multiply like tribbles. In all fairness, I've yet to meet an author who lacks ideas. Time is usually the mitigating factor, followed by contractual commitments, and the pursuit of a guaranteed income stream.

Obligations to third-parties aside, how do I decide which idea to work on first/next? Three steps:


1. Can I easily and clearly envision the Goal, Motivation, Internal Conflict, and External Conflict?

 If "yes" proceed to next step...

I proceed 96% of the time

2. Can I easily and clearly envision the summaries of the 3 Arcs, their respective Gotchas, and are they sufficiently unique?

If "yes" proceed to next step...

I proceed 43% of the time

3. Can I write it in 90 days?

 If "yes" prioritize and place in the queue to be written.

The answer to this one is usually manic cackling and a lot of "oh, hell no." Not because I'm a slow writer and so far my "best" time is 18 months. No, no, that piece of reality doesn't factor in. It's my belief that I could write it in 90 days. That belief stems from the notion that I am so familiar with the plot, all the characters, and each setting that I know how 27 of the 30 chapters are going go before I start Chapter 1.

That...that doesn't happen often, which makes it a great filter. 

What I don't ask myself is "will anybody buy this," for the simple reason that I can't control what people will buy or when they'll buy it. I can control my little speck of the universe...sometimes.

Picking the good ideas

It's an interesting subject.

Picking the good ideas and how you know they're good ideas.

I wish I had a pat answer for that one that actually worked.

here's the thing: You never know. I've got forty plus novels under my belt. I've got three or four unfinished works that I will, eventually, get back to, and I've got several proposals that have never gone past chapter three or four.
]Every one of them seemed like a good idea at the time and believe me, I intend to finish full novels in the pitches that never went anywhere, because O consider them very good ideas that have simply not met the right publishers as yet. Worst case scenarios, I'll publish them myself.

Once upon a time I wrote a book called POSSESSIONS and followed up with the sequel, RABID GROWTH, There are people who say they are among my best work and others who thing they suck wind. The publisher never wanted the third book in the series.

Same thing with my Young Adult set: SUBJECT SEVEN and the sequel RUN, were supposed to be an ongoing series the sales did not agree and the publisher decided to stop. Sooner or later I'm going to get the rights back and finish the series. because the story is not finished.

What makes one story work when another doesn't?

Not a freaking clue. I can't say it's the writing, because it's the same writer.  MAYBE the storyline in one is better. Maybe the publishers did a better job of marketing. Maybe they cover art is just that much better (Yes, cover art makes  a difference. a HUGE difference in some cases.) Is it timing? Did one book sound too much like another or not enough like the flavor of the week?


My answer to this is simple: You know when it's done. Every idea seems incredible to me when I'm thinking about it. the possibilities are endless. It's the passion for the ideas that inspires me to write them in the first place. I almost never outline. I hate coming up with series proposals. I'd rather sit and write than consider how it should be written. The ideas are there.

Actually I know one certain way to know the difference. If someone comes up tome and wants me to write the novel based on their idea so we can split the profits 50/50 I can basically guarantee you that the idea they're thinking is so great is not something that would ever work for me. Twenty-five years of doing this and inevitably someone will come along and think that's the best idea ever. My usual suggestion is that they sit down and write their own stories. I phrase that just as politely as I can.

Picking the Good Ideas for a Novel - How Do You Know?

I just got back from the RT Booklovers Convention in Atlanta. Here's Sonali Dev and Grace Draven, after accepting their awards for best Contemporary Romance and Best Fantasy Romance, respectively. Two of my favorite people, among so many wonderful people at that convention. I had a wonderful time!

“Where do you get your ideas?”

This is a question authors get all the time. And we have a pretty stock answer for it, which is absolutely true, that getting ideas isn’t the hard part. Most authors have tons of ideas stockpiled. While writing one book, we get ideas for something totally different. Sometimes lots of other ideas. The hard part, we say, is in the execution, in actually preserving to write the entire book and do it well.

That’s all true.

But there is another level to it.

What author has not read a book and thought, “Damn, I wish I’d thought of that!” We often look at books our friends and heroes write and wish we’d had that idea. For myself, I have five or six series that I sincerely wish I’d written. A lot of that is in the execution, but they’re also ideas that never occurred to me.

The other piece is that, when we go to those long lists of ideas – on spreadsheets for me, naturally! – it’s not always easy to choose the GOOD ideas.

Ideas are everywhere. GOOD ideas? Maybe not so much.

That’s our topic this week: how do we know which are the GOOD ideas.

Recently I gave my new agent Sarah a long list of possible projects. I think about a dozen, in various stages – most just twinkles in my eyes – of ideas for books and series I could work on. She went through and ranked them in terms of which she thought were the best for me to work on.

That’s part of her job. In this case, “GOOD idea” meant what she thought would be most likely to sell right now. She also filtered in terms of genre, bookshelf placement, future directions of publishing and reading, and her own intuition.

What she ranked #1 was not my personal favorite.

In fact, my personal favorite idea didn’t make her top five.

Does that mean it’s not a GOOD idea? Not necessarily, but it does mean something. When I finding myself wishing that I wish I’d thought of Hunger Games (and what author hasn’t??), I also know that I never would have. It’s not my thing. But, among the stuff that IS my thing, I’m aware that my favorite ideas aren’t always ready for the world. Don’t worry – I keep them! But I put them pretty far back on the shelf in the larder to ferment a little longer.

Every author, no matter where in their career, has to choose among their many ideas. When I was a newbie, aspiring author, this often came down to gut. Sometimes it still does. Nothing wrong with choosing that way. But as we progress in our careers, other factors come into play. I have a couple of series concepts that I might not yet have the chops to pull off. Also, working as a career writer, recognizing what will sell becomes much more important. Things like groceries and electricity need to be paid for.

So, through this lens, a GOOD idea has many parameters. How we recognize those is a combination of intuition, experience, and professional expertise – both our own and from the people we work with.

There’s also that magic something, that just knowing. I’ve had it a few times. Suzanne Collins says she knew about Hunger Games.

I’m looking forward to hearing my fellow authors in the SFF Seven weigh in on how they recognize the GOOD ideas.