New Hampshire AuthorFest 2009!

I am so excited! These last couple months I have been a part of organizing NH AuthorFest 2009, and I'm pleased to say that it's coming together very nicely! It's been a lot of work, but I'm finding it to be very energizing. We're going to have several authors, a couple publishers, and even a VP of Marketing for a publishing company. The event is being sponsored by Waldenbooks, the Lilac Mall and two local authors, Jeremy Robinson, and myself!

Our goal: To inspire future generations of readers.

The Date: August 15th from 11:30 to 3:00.
The Place: Lilac Mall, Rochester, NH

The Timeline:

11:30 - 1:00 Author Signing and Meet & Greet
1:00 - 1:30 Hunter Allain, who's hearing impaired, will be signing Last Night at the Zoo
(Leslie Allain will be reading)
1:30 - 2:30 Author Panel Q & A
2:30 - 3:00 Award Ceremony (to award the Leaders Inspiring Readers award)

The Guests:

Jeremy Robinson – Action/Adventure
Kristina Schram – YA Fantasy
J. J. Hebert – Inspirational Adult Fiction
Jon Merz – Action/Adventure
Jeffrey Derego – Sci-Fi
Renee Mallett – Local Interest (Paranormal)
Gary Turcotte – Local Interest
Scot Stone – Fantasy
Brooks Sigler – Chick Lit
Marianne O’Connor – Local Interest (Paranormal)
Rebecca Horan – Memoir
Phil McGrail – Publisher, YA Fantasy
Stan Tremblay – Publisher’s Assistant
Dan Boucher – Book Reviewer
Beryl Donovan – Librarian (Gaffney Library, Wakefield, Director)
Carol Corbett – VP of Marketing & Publicity

Possible Attendee:

Nora LeDuc – Mystery/Romance

Our goal is to promote literacy, to make people excited about reading, and to encourage others to help those who need support in learning to read, whether they be children or adults!

Hope to see you there!

You Can't Just Be A Writer Anymore

It’s a sad truth. The days of sending your book in and letting the publisher do the rest are over. Whether you are self-published, going through a small press, or have struck it big with a major publishing house, it’s still the same story. You can’t just be a writer anymore. Even if you have the backing of a major press, you are still going to have to do things on your own to market your book, like giving interviews, doing book readings, running workshops, or - gasp! - even giving a speech. And if you are self-published or going through a small press, it’s even harder.

What’s that? I think I hear someone having an anxiety attack.

I can relate. If you’re anything like me, you find simply speaking to another person to be a challenge. I have said things that I don’t even believe simply because I’m so nervous that my brain has frozen, but my mouth has not. And this is just in everyday conversation. Imagine being put on the spot, being expected to do and say all the right things or your book will die a long, lingering death because everyone thinks you’re a bonehead who couldn’t possibly put two words together.

Then there’s the whole dignity thing. I can pretty much guarantee that you’ll end up doing things to bring attention to your book that you never dreamed of doing, like juggling rutabagas (juggling squirrels, however, is okay). Or you might find yourself saying, "Did that just come out of my mouth?" Because, of course, you don’t really believe that your romance novel will bring about world peace simply because your heroine, Charlene, learned to how to love again. This should make you feel better. Dave Barry once made armpit farting noises on a radio talk show to promote his book. You’re going to do things like that. It’s a fact of life - just more likely to be recorded forever in posterity. But you’ll live.

Being a marketing monkey doesn’t have to be the end of the world. Here are some suggestions for handling this strange new world. First of all, draw your own personal line in the sand, and then don’t cross it. I say personal because there are just certain things you won’t do that someone else might. Selling your soul might rank up there for you, but others will actually gift-wrap and send it overnight express. Along this line, but on the opposite spectrum, give yourself a break. You’re human. There should be some gray areas around that line in the sand. For example, making armpit farting noises might not end up on the ‘highlight of your life’ reel, but if you do something like that, it certainly isn’t something to be ashamed of. Fart sounds are funny. End of story. My second suggestion? Be polite and courteous to others. It’s that simple. If you don’t like what salespeople do to you, don’t do it to other people. Say please and thank you. These people have lives, too. They were not put on this earth to cater to you. Third, don’t come across as desperate, even if you are. That’s a tough one. Begging is so easy to do, but it apparently turns people off. Can’t imagine why. Fourth, be yourself as best you can (unless you’re a jerk, then you’re just going to have to pretend). If you make mistakes, so be it. You can typically make up for them. If not, well, remind yourself that you can’t please all of the people all of the time and try the next one on the list. Finally, have a sense of humor about all this. If you can’t laugh at your own mistakes, why should you expect others to?

In my blog, Conquering The Shyness Within, I give some ideas on how to overcome your natural shyness. Check it out if you’re feeling anxiety about the idea of mingling with the rest of the species. These are all methods I have used myself, and still use. I’m still rather awkward in conversation with people that I don’t know, but I work at it and have gotten better (those of you who know me will say, geez, you must have been pretty bad, then).

In conclusion, there is hope, shy writers! You have to have a different mindset than they did in the days of Jane Austen, but once you adjust to the idea of marketing yourself, you’ll find that it’s not all bad. You see how easy that was? I just marketed marketing.

If all else fails, try the armpit thing. It’s actually not so bad…

Developing Your Story Idea

I wish I had a dollar for every time someone has told me that they would like to write a book someday. I’d have at least a $100 by now. My question is: Why wait? Do you have an idea? Do you have an idea, but have no clue where to start?

Personally, I’ve never had too much of a problem coming up with story ideas. My head is filled with them (perhaps overfilled, one might say). Most writers are the same way. We just can’t turn our imaginations off. Maybe that’s why people look at us funny. Our minds are so stuffed with characters and ideas from our fictional worlds, that sometimes these things just start slipping out. On occasion, my husband has to say to me, "Come back, Kristina. Come back!"

Okay. I’m back. So you’ve got lots of ideas. Now what?

1. Buy a notebook. Make it a nice one, cool or pretty - whatever turns you on - and start considering it as another appendage to your body. In here, you are going to make a list of your story ideas. While doing this, make sure you leave plenty of pages for adding to each idea. Come to think of it, you’d better make it a big notebook.

What’s next…?

2. Pick out an idea that you really, really like. Then figure out if this is a story someone else might care about. The trouble in this day and age is that most of us have to cater to the almighty dollar if we want to get published. Will your idea sell? Will people want to read a book on the topic you want to write about? Yes? Then keep reading. No? Then pick another one.

Special note: I don’t want to discourage you from being innovative and groundbreaking. So if you think you’ve got a unique idea, develop it and don’t worry about the money. Vincent Van Gogh only sold one painting in his lifetime. Yet look at how we revere his work today. Of course, he didn’t have much to eat and he cut off his ear, but he’s considered a genius now!

Seriously, you should write what you love. At the same time, you might want to avoid putting out the same old stuff that is already out there. I sort of ignored that advice when I wrote about Anaedor. I love writing fantasy, but in these days of Harry Potter, everyone else seems to love it, too. I did try to make my story somewhat unique - the angle, the characters, the setting. Yes, I tackled a genre that is filled to the gills with J.K. wannabes, but I tried my best to do a unique take on it. Whether I succeeded or not will be up to the readers. Basically I didn’t follow my own advice, so maybe you shouldn’t even be listening to me.

3. Okay, so you’ve picked out an idea. Now, do your research. See what’s big out there. Or not big and needs to be filled. Here’s a freebie… When I search for books to read to my kids I’m always on the lookout for ones that fit their interests. My one son is a natural-born inventor. But there are not many books aimed at a 5-year-old budding scientist, though maybe for good reason. Another one of my sons loves to cook (he’s 3). But I can’t find anything on that kind of thing, and certainly not for a 3-year-old (yes, he’s the same one who lost my measuring spoons).

If you want to write children’s stories, question parents with young children about what they’re looking for (library storytimes are a great place to find such parents). Or, go to Amazon and type in a genre…see how many books pop up on the subject. Too many? See if you can narrow it down to a unique slant on the genre. For a wacky example, let’s say I want to write about action/adventure. You will discover that there are thousands of action adventure books out there. But how many of them star a rock as the hero? None. Same genre, unique slant. You get to do the area you’re interested in, but are making it sellable by being different.

4. So how do you develop an idea? I spend a lot of time thinking about my stories. Some writers say they will spend years developing an idea. They are writing other books, in the meantime, so don’t use that as an excuse to delay getting started! Think about your idea while you’re showering, while lying in bed, while you’re driving or taking a walk. Imagine yourself in the story. Who do you meet? What’s the conflict? When does it take place (past, present, future, different plane of time)? Where does it take place? Do research on your topic. That’s the beauty of the internet. Get online and type in your idea. There’s so much information out there, that it should stimulate your creative juices. If it doesn’t, consider yourself a hopeless case.

Additionally, I create a special document just for notes on my book. My latest is 80 pages long, almost a book in itself (though a lot of it is cut and paste - just don’t plagiarize the stuff, please - consider the information merely a tool for writing your book and stimulating story ideas). It’s actually quite fun to do and at the very least, you’re learning something.

5. Now that you have a general outline of what you want to do, it’s time to get more specific. Take each character and describe them (what’s their favorite food? If they were to vote, who would they pick? Bad habits? Unique physical characteristics?). Make a map of your setting (whether it be a house, a town, a world, or all of the above). Be as detailed as you can. I actually draw pictures. I’m terrible at drawing, but it helps me to visualize things. Oftentimes, you can get tripped up in your book because you don’t have everything set out. You could end up with a river that flows upstream (which is only okay if you wanted it that way). Or, you might end up with all the characters having similar names - not good. Readers will confuse them. Maybe your main character has green eyes at the beginning and blue eyes by the end. Details matter!

6. To sum up, you develop your story idea by immersing yourself in it and living it. I think the best way to do that is to join that world and be that world. This may cause problems in your real life - you might start confusing fiction with reality, something I often do - but this should be temporary. Until you start working on the next book, that is!

So that’s my take on developing story ideas, for what it’s worth. I hope this blog helped and if it didn’t, then I don’t know what to do for you. I sweated blood writing this blog. I have nothing left to give. Make my efforts worthwhile…get started on developing your story idea!