The secret of success: set realistic goals, construct a plan to achieve those goals, measure success against your expectations.
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Tag: Writing
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Adopting a New Mindset
Are you a perfectionist? Most authors are, or strive to be. But maybe it’s time to adopt a new mindset.
An interesting article from Psychology Today
Also, you might like to remember that…
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To #1
Over the weekend of July 16-17-18, Sam’s Song reached the #1 position on the amazon.com private detective chart and #62 on the main amazon.com chart. With this series of articles I intend to offer background on how my book reached those heights; hopefully, this information will be of interest to followers of the series and fellow authors alike.
To start at the beginning, the writing of Sam’s Song. I have always been an avid reader and my favourite genre is the private detective novel. In particular, I admire the series created by Robert B Parker and Marcia Muller. I wrote my first play at school, aged nine, so writing has always been a part of my life. After a number of minor writing adventures, including articles and short stories, I wrote four private detective novels featuring two private detectives. I regarded those novels as my apprenticeship and they were not offered for publication. After those novels, life moved on and with my long-term partner I started a family. I continued to write during that time, mainly for my own amusement.
Then, in 2014, I decided to write another private detective novel. But who should I have as my narrator? My first draft featured a woman who was a bit flaky to say the least and the novel developed into a comedy. However, I soon discovered that my comedy was centred on one joke, and that, over the length of a novel, that joke would wear thin. So I placed my notes in a file and started again.
Sam at #1
I knew that I had the basis for a novel, but no central character. I knew that my narrator would be female, in her early thirties, that the story would contain some humour, and that the book would have a strong psychological thread. But still no central character presented herself. Then, one day – I can picture the scene now – I was sitting sideways at my desk, scribbling notes when I looked up and paused for thought. At that moment Samantha whispered into my ear, “Why don’t you write about me?”
I don’t believe in ghosts, the supernatural or anything mystical, yet when Samantha walked into my life it was a magical experience. I believe that writing is basically a craft you fashion through hard work and dedication, yet this character was talking to me. And she told me her life story. Everything about Samantha and the main characters in Sam’s Song was done in one take. I didn’t require a list of names, locations or personality types, Sam, Alan, Sweets, etc came to me fully formed. I couldn’t believe my luck. Could writing really be that easy? Yes, and no.
The next step was to find a subject to write about. This time I did make a list, and because I love music, I settled on that. Again, the characters of Woody, Derwena and Milton came to me quickly and I wrote the first draft in no time. While reading through that draft, I elaborated each chapter until I had the story mapped out. At that stage, the chapters with Dan, Sam’s abusive ex-husband, were the most detailed, but soon the other chapters developed as well.
With the storyboard as my guide, I sat down to write Sam’s Song. What you see in the book is basically the first draft, with editing modifications and proofreading corrections. When the first draft was complete there were no major rewrites.
If I wrote Sam’s Song today, it would be totally different, probably more serious, reverential, and less fun. But from day one, I allowed Sam to tell her story in her style. I type out her words and edit them, but they are Sam’s words, Sam’s stories. Sam’s Song would be different if we wrote it today because Sam is a slightly different person, a bit older, a bit wiser and, on a good day, more secure.
So, I had a 250 page novel, which I was proud of. More importantly people close to me, people who don’t offer praise lightly, liked the book. What to do next? Seek out a publisher? Publish it myself? More about that next time.
The editing of Family Honour is underway. I love every aspect of writing apart from the self-promotional aspects and the editing. I have experimented with various methods of editing and almost all lead to aggravation. I think this is because I write in a stream of consciousness style, basically my narrator, Sam, does the writing. Then I come along and try to impose my ideas in the editing and my narrator objects. That might sound strange, but it is true. I write very fast and edit very slow. I would guess that 95% of my manuscripts, if not more, remain as written. Yet that extra 5% of polishing the words can be so vexatious. Maybe writing offers freedom of expression while editing brings the realisation that your words have to make sense. I believe Raymond Chandler said, ‘I write better when I write fast’. And I agree with him. I have also discovered that I edit better when I edit fast and, for me, this is the best method. Fast or slow, the manuscript usually turns out the same.
I am also storyboarding Sins of the Father. Storyboarding is fun because you are getting to know your characters and because you are allowed to make mistakes. I love it when the characters take control of the story and develop it for themselves. When the characters are in control of a chapter I know that it is working well. And when the characters are in control there is no such thing as writers’ block. On the rare occasions I feel stuck, I question the character and the character always comes back with an answer.
Meanwhile, the recording of The Big Chill, the third Sam Smith audio book will start shortly. More news of that next time.
Happy Writing,
Hannah xxx
The writing of Family Honour, book seven in the Sam Smith Mystery Series, is complete. Over the next two weeks I hope to edit the manuscript and prepare it for the proofreader. Then the book should be on sale in May as an eBook and in June in print. An audio book should follow somewhere down the line.
Meanwhile, I have been storyboarding Sins of the Father, book eight. I storyboard all the stories in detail and find that helps greatly with the writing. I am halfway through the storyboard with firm ideas for the second half. I create character profiles before the storyboarding and the ideas flow from them.
As with all writers, getting readers to believe in you is the hardest part. It seems that readers are only attracted to hyped books these days. Personally, I dislike that aspect of the business and try to avoid it, in my reading and writing. I am fortunate in that I have a core following who have loyally read my books from book one. These readers mean a lot to me and if any of you are reading this then please accept my sincere thanks for your support.
Hannah Howe 