Launch of a Novice Fiction Writer’s Path – Part II

How Does It Feel to be a Newbie?

In this series of posts, I thought it would be interesting for me to trace my feelings about commencing a fiction career. As I noted in Part I, I have written several thriller manuscripts over the years, self-published Riddle of Berlin in 2008, and then decided that I would take advice of successful thriller writers and undertake to develop the skills and habits of a successful fiction writer.

I should also note that I am age 67 and have had successful careers as an international tax lawyer, author of taxation books, and director of a family company that has become a major multinational. Success in other areas, of course, means nothing on a new path.

When people on planes, beaches, or otherwise ask what I am doing when I am writing or editing, I inevitably answer that I am learning to become a fiction writer. After asking what genre and how many stories have you published, the next question is usually “how does it feel to be a nobody.” Actually, the comments are far more polite, but this is the underlying questions. I often think that these questions come from the commenter’s own self-question of “could I do that.”

I answer these questions based on my feelings of the moment. As I now head down this path with patience and persistence, I have thought about what it does feel like to be a newbie, rookie, novice, neophyte, or whatever other terms one chooses to describe someone at the precipice of beginning. 

The answer is that it feels good. I am proud of myself for learning that I have a hobby that is relaxing and joyful (I did it for about 15 years before deciding to get serious). I am not one whose hobbies are television, watching sports, hunting, fishing, or other pastimes. My hobby became fiction writing.

I am also proud that I have taken the time and coaching to prepare myself for striving to achieve my dream of becoming a skilled fiction writer. One benefit of age (life experience) and success in other areas, I think, is that I can approach this process with perspective. I will have fun regardless of whether my stories become bestsellers. If there is such success, via reviews or royalties, that will be great, of course. 

At ThrillerFest each year, new published authors are introduced. This year, there were 60 of them. My immediate dream is to be so introduced one year in the future. It may be that I will be the oldest newbie on the dais, but there will be no one happier and prouder to say a few words.

Another question that I am often asked is whether, as a newbie, I am prepared to “have fun.” This is a polite way of asking whether I am prepared to be a critical and commercial non-event. It is another good question, to be addressed in the next blog of this series.

Warms, Cym

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Launch of a Novice Fiction Writer’s Path

I am pleased to report that I have been writing thrillers for almost 20 years. It began with a daughter studying at Oxford and having to write a novel in a tutorial. She picked out an event that actually happened to us on a train ride through Switzerland. There were a few places where she needed some additional life experience to fill in blanks in the story. I became hooked.

Over the years, I have written 4 manuscripts. I never submitted them to anybody. Just  enjoyed the process of writing. I have spent almost 40 years writing professional international taxation books from prominent publishing houses. I naively hoped that success as a non-fiction writer would make climbing the fiction ladder a simple process.

 Wrong!

My sweetheart read the manuscripts and suggested that they had potential. I chose one that I thought would have appeal to readers. Since I knew nothing about the fiction publishing business and heard horror stories about authors who lose their rights to bankrupt or unethical publishers, I decided to self-publish that first book, which became Riddle of Berlin in 2008. Reviews have been generally positive. Through the social media process, sales continue at a pace to indicate that there may be potential in my stories.

Beginning about years three ago, I became serious in wanting to improve my writing and fiction marketing skills. I took an Author Buzz course from MJ Rose on developing a marketing plan. In the course of working with MJ, she suggested that my manuscript for Dust Scenario had potential. She suggested that I engage a skilled developmental editor, which is an expert on framing manuscripts to be successful thrillers. 

I then engaged a wonderful editor. She advised that her comments would be detailed if she thought the story had potential, minimal if she had little interest. I received 26 single-spaced pages of comments. I took this as a positive sign. It has taken me almost 18 months to revise the text in line with these comments.

When the development process had run its course, the editor suggested that I needed to engage a line editor to review for syntax, punctuation, style, and what not. I am in that process now.

I have now completed the manuscript for Dust Scenario. In essence, it is the story of a woman’s war after her husband has been murdered, children kidnapped, and told to be quiet. He was a Super Bowl champion quarterback, then Wall Street success, and Secretary of Treasury when his plane crashed into an iceberg with polar bears. To recover her family, Jaspar must become a warrior doing things that would have been inconceivable in her prior life.

I will post a synopsis shortly as I commence the “line editor” process.

Warms, Cym

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I Spy My Book @HiddenLantern #Rosemarybeach

What a fun surprise! 

I walked into The Hidden Lantern in Rosemary Beach, FL and there was my book.

Pretty Cool, huh?
You can get your very own copy here or call directly
850-231-0091.

Warms-
CYM

PS. Next Wednesday starts a new year of Book Review Wednesday LINK-UPS!!!
Get ready ;)

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A New Year

(credit)

These are my thoughts for the New Year, not necessarily resolutions, but some working thoughts to help guide me in 2011.

1. E-Publishing. Amazon Create Space is the way forward for Dust Scenario. Maybe also to put Riddle of Berlin there (in addition to iUniverse, which is a dead end I have decided vs. Amazon which has the market clout).

Just watching Miss Dale download books is convincing about the potential of offering $ 2.99 or free downloads.

2. E-Marketing.  In addition to Amazon Create Space for Dust Scenario,  I need to devise a marketing plan, including how to get cover art done. I paid the designer about $ 5,000 for the covers done to date. I think the covers are too complex. We should explore the Create Space approach or the designer that Joe Konrath suggests, Carl Graves.

It will take time for me to devise a marketing promotional campaign on the internet, as well as beginning to attend meetings where on-line marketers gather.

3. Agent and Standard Publishing. I still think we should pursue AgentFest and contact other agents that come across our sights using the manuscript 30,000 Camels. I have re-written much of Harvest of Gold, but it needs serious attention to make it far more riveting. I need to cut about 60,000 words to get to 100,000.


Happy New Years-
Cym

Dust Scenario
Riddle of Berlin
30,000 Camels
Harvest of Gold

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On Writing Fiction and a Request for Your Thoughts

In our travels in these weeks, I have thought about writing fiction. I suspect that all of you do as well, or you would not be interested in book review blogs.

I have been writing thrillers for about 15 years now. Initially, with my daughter Whitney when she studied at Oxford. We finished that work into a novel entitled The Phoenix Scenario. It involved a young woman struggling to be a lawyer married to a long estranged assassin; her boss is kidnapped by the German Fourth Reich which was ready to emerge and try again as the political pendulum in Europe swings to the right; he, and she, knew too much; Europe and the free world are imperiled by a form of evil that could not be imagined to establish defenses.

I then wrote Harvest of Gold, which involves a woman who is the beneficiary of a trust holding the long lost “Jewish Gold.” She leads life in a small East Texas lake community, which, unbeknownst to her, has been prepared for military assault as the trust comes to an end in 2000. She has spent a lifetime wondering who she is. Surrounded by death and kidnapping of her family, Molly solves the mysteries of her life as her side is branded enemies subject to attack by the U.S. military. I believe it is ready for publication. Agents have expressed interest in this story, but it has not yet been sold.

I wrote a manuscript entitled Everyman, which this title was used by Thomas Wolfe a few years ago so I had to find another, The Riddle of Berlin. I self-published this one in 2008. The story is set in Paris and along the Danube River. It has received interesting reviews, averaging about 3.5 on a 5.0 scale. As always, I learn from each review.

30,000 Camels is a sequel to The Riddle of Berlin. One of the heroes, a Vice President in the prior book, Lucius Alcorn, becomes President 10 years in the future. He has made the United Nations the only serious military force in the world and there is war with Iran. The bad guys discover that Alcorn has a daughter that even he was not aware of (and interesting story in itself), who they kidnap. Alcorn must address how to care for his personal interests (his daughter) as he undertakes his public responsibilities as leader of the world. The story is set Washington and Israel.

Most recently, I wrote The Dust Scenario involving a woman who has the secrets of the economic collapse of the past few years and is hunted by governments not wanting the truth to be revealed. She is aided by an assassin. The story is set in Rome and Tuscany. At the ThrillerFest in July 2010, I hoped to find an agent interested in this book. So far, nothing concrete.

I have also begun two other stories. One could be entitled My Child, which is story about a russian adopted boy living happily in America when a Russian mobster determines that the child is biologically his and will stop at nothing to obtain the boy.  My wonderful blogger, Beachbrights, and I have been working on this one. Lastly, one of my last novels could be Dad on the Shelf, which is a story about my feelings for my father. His ashes are still on the shelf.

As I have thought about all of this, I know that I love the process of writing and improving my skills. Each discussion group, agent discussion, reviews, and other event adds to my knowledge base. I am avid, persistent student. While commercial success has not yet arrived, enjoyment has been a bountiful harvest. I love it!

On the other hand, each dead end is frustrating. When hopes are dashed, it is only human to wonder if the cake is worth the candle. Should I give up? I always end up smiling at this, knowing that persistence will pay off, as it always has.

My question to myself is simple: how shall I proceed?

All of the reviews that we have published in the blog, and other places, have been instructive. I find that I enjoy the most reading books addressing emotion and life, and the least stories full of gruesome murder, violence, or seemingly endless chases with characters that seem flat as boards. I think of myself as a thriller writer. In each of the stories I have written, I know that I have tried to blend a thrilling story with characters having emotional issues that each of us face in our lives. I have thought that this makes the stories real, not escapist (like James Bond stories, to me at least). Some writers are able to do both, write a thrilling story with characters that are real. I have found this in Lon Land’s books about Kaitlin Strong, which I have reviewed.

I sometimes wonder if I bite off too much. Perhaps, I would be best advised to either write emotional stories or thrillers and not both. Hmmmm?

As I look out over the ocean from this lovely perch on the cliffs of Amalfi, I know what my path should be:

• Keep writing, reading, and reviewing.

• Seek an agent who is excited about my work and investing time and effort.

• Find a suitable self-publishing venue to get the stories out there.

~I know that many of you face these same questions. I would be fascinated with your thoughts~

Warms, Cym

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