Editor's Perspective: Finn Finnegan

This month I get to celebrate the release of another of my editing "god-babies"!  Finn Finnegan by Darby Karchut!  This one I got to share awesome co-editor, Vikki Ciaffone, who now heads the Spence City imprint of Spencer Hill Press.

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Finn (not bleedin' Finnegan) MacCullen is eager to begin his apprenticeship. He soon discovers the ups and downs of hunting monsters in a suburban neighborhood under the demanding tutelage of the Knight, Gideon Lir. Both master and apprentice are descendents of the Tuatha De Danaan, a magical race of warriors from Ireland. Scattered long ago to the four corners of the world, the De Danaan wage a two thousand year old clandestine battle with their ancient enemy, the Amandán, a breed of goblin-like creatures.

Now with the beasts concentrating their attacks on Finn, he and his master must race to locate the lost Spear of the Tuatha De Danaan, the only weapon that can destroy the Amandán, all the while hiding his true identity from his new friends, Rafe and Savannah, twins whose South African roots may hold a key to Finn’s survival.

Armed with a bronze dagger, some ancient Celtic magic, and a hair-trigger temper, Finn is about to show his enemies the true meaning of "fighting Irish."

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Vikki and I were going through the slush pile when we both fell in love with this manuscript.  Irish mythology! Adventure! In the suburbs!

Only… it was skewed a bit young for what, at that time, we were familiar with as the type of book SHP went for.

At first, unbeknownst to each other, we each still individually jumped on Kate to expand the SHP vision to include mid-grade.

Kate, in her usual awesome-Kate-ness, said something to the effect of, "Sure, I think we can do that!" and then informed us we each had asked for it, and wouldn't it be nice for us to co-edit the manuscript. 

Lots of fun ensued.

Including Vikki snickering at me searching through tissues for this one particular scene I was editing at her kitchen table.  Because snark and teasing so don't fit with the things we adore about Darby's characters. Noo… not at all!  Finn is such an angel… no, wait, that's Darby's other books (also awesome.)

So, with the ups being the immediate emotional ties we had to the characters, our love of the humor and dialogue, our appreciation of the story… what was there left for us to edit, you ask?

Well, there was a big chunk of "No, you need to write even more about this, this… and definitely more Gideon!"  (Seriously, wait till you meet the knight!)

Since this is also written in third person, mostly through Finn and Gideon's eyes, we also played around with the point of view, which is a lot of fun to play with because it can both offer some excellent insight to the characters, but get confusing if it gets away from you… as writing often does in its journey.

Also, for my part, my roommate-at-the-time and I experimented with my collection of daggers, dirks, and knives to ensure the plausibility of using one's jeans to hold a blade (notsomuch, boy/girl-butt shape regardless). Vikki picked up on the specifics of knife sharpening (whetstone needs oil) and set me to work helping her sharpen some kitchen knives for missing something I should've caught. ;).  Of course, in my geek world, any excuse to (safely) play with blades and talk about them makes me a happy camper.

As I said, much fun ensued.

Furthermore, because having so much fun editing wasn't enough, I managed to hook Darby up with one of my favorite Celtic bands, Emerald Rose, who let us license their music for the wicked cool trailer!  Darby loved them so much, she also asked about licensing to quote their lyrics to "Fire in the Head" in the novel. Way cool!

While I have not had the chance to hug Darby in person for this release, I'm happy to direct you to her page where, if you're out west-ish, you might get to do that for me.  She's got an excellent tour planned with her boys (Finn and Gideon… and possibly Griffin and Basil might make a showing), that, if at all possible, you must check out.

At the very least, you have to get yourself your own copy of Finn Finnegan to love and hug.

And be tortured by as you wait for its sequel, Gideon's Spear, coming out next year.

Editor's Perspective: Touch of Death

Touch of Death, by Kelly Hashway, is released this week!  With an awesome A-Prom-Calypse Zombie Prom at Arisia this Sunday!

Jodi Marshall isn’t sure how she went from normal teenager to walking disaster. One minute she’s in her junior year of high school, spending time with her amazing boyfriend and her best friend. The next she’s being stalked by some guy no one seems to know.

After the stranger, Alex, reveals himself, Jodi learns he’s not a normal teenager and neither is she. With a kiss that kills and a touch that brings the dead back to life, Jodi discovers she’s part of a branch of necromancers born under the 13th sign of the zodiac, Ophiuchus. A branch of necromancers that are descendents of Medusa. A branch of necromancers with poisoned blood writhing in their veins.

Jodi’s deadly to the living and even more deadly to the deceased. She has to leave her old, normal life behind before she hurts the people she loves. As if that isn’t difficult enough, Jodi discovers she’s the chosen one who has to save the rest of her kind from perishing at the hands of Hades. If she can’t figure out how to control her power, history will repeat itself, and her race will become extinct.

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November 2011, Kate Kaynak, head of Spencer Hill Press, sent me an email with a manuscript she thought would be something I'd love.  It was my first manuscript since working with Kate on UnCONventional.  I'd done about six other novels/non-fiction books on a freelance basis with the authors; this was the first novel for SHP, the first novel a publishing house was contracting me to work on.

So, I was a little nervous, I have to admit.

But I loved the manuscript.  Kate had - and still has - a good eye for my taste in books.  I grew up reading all the Goosebumps and Fear Street books; I loved YA horror in a contemporary setting.  High school sucks, so I enjoy reading about how much worse it could be.

And I know going into a manuscript that I'm going to have to read and re-read it dozens and dozens of times. For freelance work, I've done books I just like, because, well, it was income.  With the way Kate was organizing her editing team for SHP, we had our choice from the submissions and slush pile.  We had the choice to choose something we could thoroughly enjoy reading dozens and dozens (and dozens) of times over.  Touch of Death definitely fit that bill for me.

In any case, Kelly served me a zombie deer in the first five pages, an icon I adored right from the start. I still have the plush one she sent me "guarding" my desk!  He's going to travel with me to Arisia this week, too, because he totally deserves to be at the A-Prom-Calypse Release Party.  There was also a zombie squirrel. Yay undead critters! (Yes, I'm weird like that.)  Even moreso, I connected with her main character, Jodi, and I absolutely appreciated where she was taking Greek mythology, particularly the Medusa story… because, as far as I'm concerned, the original myth of Medusa seriously screwed the poor woman… and plenty of modern myths are still just dealing with the "monster" aspect as opposed to the "person" aspect of her.

Besides how much I loved the novel, itself, here's what I loved the editing process.  First of all, there wasn't a lot of changes that needed to be made.  (Well, in my editing experience, it wasn't a lot for me, anyway. Kelly is free to disagree. ;) )  We went over a few of my usual suspects - things that surprise me if I don't play with - like some car physics (Thank you Hollywood vs. Mythbusters), battle/fistfight physics and psychology, hospital/medical protocol (Thank you TV hospital dramas vs. actual medical persons), and then the two of us had a good time keeping an eye on Jodi's fluids and their resulting body/resurrection count (Kelly actually caught one biggie that I missed in regard to this!)  All of which were easy-peasy and a lot of fun.

Now, Kelly has the superpower of speedy turnaround - definitely the fastest author turnaround that I've ever worked with for a novel length, while addressing everything I noted.  When I say "address," I mean it with a liberal definition - but an entirely positive one.  Nothing got ignored or forgotten.  She may have not have followed all of my suggestions, but she answered all of my questions… and then did her own thing which, in all cases, was way better than what I suggested anyway. 

Even now after having seen it from submission to publication, I still have opened up my editor's ARC it to look up something for marketing or such… and still gotten lost in the pages. 

And as of this week - it's available for anyone to purchase and love!  I can't wait to see this turn into something very awesome for Kelly.

(Especially since I know what happens in the sequel, Stalked by Death! Mwahahaha!)

Trisha's Adventures in Time Travel

Three weeks ago:

"So, Katie, I'm leaving Taiwan on Monday, April 2nd, so pick me up at Logan on Tuesday, at 6PM.  Ok?"

"Ok!  See you on Tuesday!"


This week:

Text to Katie in Detroit: "I'm back in the USA. Plane leaving Detroit on time - c u at 6. Still on 4 Hunger Games?" [Ok, so I can't italicize in texts, really. Not the point…]

Text to Katie in Boston at about 5:35 PM :  "Plane just landed! C U soon!"

6:10 PM:  "Got luggage. Am outside @ end of the Active Pickup lane."

6:45 PM, call to Katie - goes right to voicemail: "Um, did you forget me? I'm at Logan, waiting for you."

Haven't actually gotten any text responses, and right to voicemail?  Uh-oh!  After several more texts and more straight-to-voicemail messages, I call her mom, my old chiropractor.  After some conversation, Dr. Patty says:

"Doesn't Katie work on Mondays? She said she was picking you up on Tuesday at 6:00 PM."

I reply: "Yeah, Tuesday 6PM.  I know she works on Mondays.  I'm here."

Dr. Patty:  "Trish… today is Monday."

Me: "What do you mean?  I left Taiwan on Monday; it's Tuesday."

Dr. Patty, very patiently: "No, Trish, it's Monday…"

So, Trish learns you actually GAIN a day when you fly back to the U.S. from Asia over the International Date Line.  Who'd a thunk?  Ok… maybe everyone but me.

And clearly, my jet lag… because Katie and I managed to finish a project she'd planned on having done for my return on Tuesday… on Tuesday.  And go see the Hunger Games (Yes, it was awesome!)  Then, I crashed and managed to sleep until after 3PM on Wednesday… where I missed one of my weight meetings because it moved, and I received no notice.  And then proceeded to do some grocery shopping and finish another project that Needed To Be Done for me to function in the house… and then I managed to get online and go through my HUGE PILE OF EMAIL from midnight to about 1:30AM. 

All y'all will start getting your responses from me in the next few days.

And I need to finish editing Touch of Death and my editing read of Triangles.  Oh - and there's my tutoring work, and some short stories that are due…

Vacation?  Yeah, it was fabulous… and I'll talk about it in dribbles and spurts between all the deadlines that got pushed back three weeks. ;)

Covers! Splendid Covers!

I am late and later in regards to the Spencer Hill Press Cover Reveals, but I'm pleased to finally share the absolutely gorgeous covers on my blog of the two novels I'm editing.

And really, I can't say how happy I am with both books.  :)  I can hardly believe that _I_ get to help these authors with the amazing worlds they've invited me into.

Now… I've got deadlines to both authors that I ought to be finishing, but I just wanted to share the fabulousness.

Look for both books in 2013 from Spencer Hill Press!

Busy Editor, Grumpy Cat

Trish is very busy editing and composing edit-y letters and stuff.

Please, enjoy this picture of a disgruntled kitty in lieu of a blog post.

Happy Friday!

The Stories You May Never Know

In the thralls of Thanksgiving thankiness, there's one thing that editors and writing group members and critiquers uniquely experience.

Stories that change their lives--that no one else might ever know.

Some of these come in the forms of manuscripts we reject or manuscripts we ask for revisions on that the writer refuses to make.  They could be great stories, great seeds of stories, or great ideas.  They just don't meet our needs, still need a lot of work, or were not allowed to germinate enough before the author spread them on a page. 

Others come in short lived critique groups.  The members who bring in a piece of a novel that they've been working on for a decade and will continue to edit until the day they die; novels and short stories that never see the light of day outside of critique group.  The authors may never get the courage to submit, or may submit and get a single rejection and quit, or may never have intended to submit their work for publication. 

And, for me, another small bunch comes from freelance work that people pay me to edit… that, for some reason or other, never gets published.  The author may give up, the author may never finish, or the author may get distracted with Other Life till the day he or she dies.

These stories, or even germs of stories, still touch me, still affect me.

The written word is still sacred.  It's a piece of someone's heart that they have shared with me, bared to me, and something like that still affects a True Believer in the Power of the Word.

Part of me mourns that no one else, or few others, will get the chance to experience the touch of these particular words.  Another part mourns that the author may not get the recognition she or he deserves.

Yet another part secretly savors the fact that I had the rare honor to be part of the story's journey, to be one of the ones it touched.

Even if you never publish a story, remember it's never a lost cause.  It's touched anyone who has read it, changed their lives.  It definitely changed you for writing it.

So, after the Thanksgiving rush, let those of us with this honor, pause and give thanks for the stories that touched us… that no one else may ever read.

These are a Few of My Favorite Things (About Editing)

Today, finally, I sent back my last MAJOR set of edits to one of the UnCONventional contributors.

I may have been stressing, I may have messed up my once-dependable blogging schedule, but damnit, I am so happy and proud of this project!  Having to get back on this "dependable blogging schedule" is SO worth it.  UnCONventional is already made of awesome--and it's not even out yet.

(If you're interested, though, you can SO preorder it here and make many of us even happier!)

Anyway, as I was getting through the edits, I was reminded of why I love this part of writing so much--well, at least when working with other people.

In the long tradition of online communications, here's a

Top 5 List of Things I Love About Editing

5.  The challenge of playing in parameters.  When you edit, you want to respect the author's creation, so offering suggestions and making changes need to be in line with the author's vision.  As much as free reign over a project is fun, it's even more fun to test one's creativity and writing skill by working within boundaries.

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4.  The thrill of teaching.  No matter how many students I teach, or how many friends I critique, or how often I post tips on my blog, there are still people who have not heard some of my favorite proofreading and writing strategies, like reading backwards, using find & replace to count word usage, and comparing word usage to overall word count.  Having someone thank me for teaching them something new sets my heart all aflutter.

3.  Discovering new worlds and being able to help them.  Haven't you ever wanted to make the world a better place?  And do you love escaping into alternate worlds?  When you edit, you get to do both.  You discover fantastic realms/realities, and you can help the author make them stronger--or at least present a clearer picture of them to readers.

2.  Amazing surprises.  In many stories, I've made suggestions for changes or even had no idea what to suggest.  In so many of those cases, the author came up with a fix that was ten to a hundred times better than anything I could have thought of.

1.  The creative sum is greater than the whole.  We selected what we felt the strongest submissions were, and then we advised ways to make them even stronger.  The end result of the author's creativity and love, plus the hard love from both Kate and me, is a piece that each of our individual parts could NEVER come up with alone.  AND, as an anthology, we increase that by 22 of us, exponentially.

So, the next step is to put all these stories into galleys and see how it fits our page count and do yet another proofread.  (And maybe 1 or 3 more after that.)  Per Kate, we're still on good schedule for our release party in January and to get Advanced Reading Copies out for some reviews before then.

Thanks to all the authors and my co-editor for making this such a great project!  I look forward to the rest of this journey with you.

(And, in earnest appeal, you really should pre-order a copy right now. :)  )

Hook, Line, and Sinking

I've been doing a lot of editing & training of tutors lately…

When I see someone pounce on an introduction lacking a "hook," my first mental image is that hook that sneaks onstage during a Vaudeville show to yank off performers who have overstayed their welcome.

I know that's not the metaphor or image this piece of advice is going for, but I've seen it used so often - and often so generically! - that I want to yank this piece of advice off stage.

The idea for the "hook," as far as I know, comes from fishing.  You want to hook your slippery reader and reel them into make your point (which, hopefully, isn't to eat them for dinner).  That's all fine and well until you consider that fish don't bite down on any old hook.  Not if it’s the wrong size, and most certainly not if it isn't baited properly.

What I see in most of the "hook" lessons and comments, however, is an empty hook that gives no thought to what kind of fish the writer is looking to reel in.  I mean, just go to any sporting goods department in any cheap store and you've got at least one wall of different bait for different fish.  You're not going to use flies, for example, to hook a bottom-feeding catfish.

I see people and articles throw around advice like "use statistics," "use a rhetorical question," "use a poignant quote," as if they could apply to any piece of writing.  It's a gimmick, one size fits all, Abracadabra: You've got a hook!

Turn it into a late night infomercial!  With exclamation points and question marks!?!  (And if you read the rest of this paper RIGHT NOW…)

As for writing, a generic hook is at best, insufficient and at worst, will drive away audience instead of entice.

More important than any hook is knowing your audience.  Why on earth would your audience need to read this?  (You may remember that question from that post about self-centered writers.)  Especially for bloggers who have an audience already distracted by lots of shiny, stinky, wriggling, brightly baited hooks, ask: What do your readers want?  If you're giving readers what they want, you don't even need to gouge a hook through their poor cheek and reel them in.  They'll come willingly, hooked by the message and the point - not a dull, painful gimmick.  This goes for just about any writing, from the first line of a query to the first line of a novel to the subject line of the email.  It should be clear why your reader should care about the topic.

If you know your audience likes statistics or rhetorical questions (unlike Nathan Bransford), go for it.  On the other hand, your audience might like more of a narrative opening.  Or they might like getting thrown into the action.  Some might even like a combination of things! 

If you ask people who regularly fish for advice, you should grab a beer and sit your butt down.  You'll hear about different bait for different locations, good times for different kinds of fish, the best way to hold a fishing rod, and you may even see a lot of handmade bait or bait combinations.  Catching fish is serious business, and these folks know what they're talking about.

A good writer should be just as flexible.  I open a food trade article differently than I start a restaurant review.  Both of those have different introductions than my blog, which is also different from how I decide my first lines of fiction.

Hooking your reader - getting them to read what you wrote - is an entirely different animal than just presenting a hook.  It's a willingness to be involved and know your audience - to care about your audience - so they understand what you're writing is important to them.  You don't want them to just swallow a your message, hook, line, and sinker, you want them to be involved in the message because it matters.

Now, who's up for fly fishing?

REALLY Manic Monday

It's 3:AM* and I'm just churning out my blog post. Wheeee!!

*Posting at 4:AM - sorry for not pinging you Julie!

Anyway…

Buncha stuff.

I was planning a review of the Wii Fit Plus, especially after the warm reception to my letter to the Wii Fit Plus developers on behalf of writers.

So much is going on, here's the short version.

4 weeks = lost almost four pounds. A good rate of weight loss.

Exercised using the Wii 24 of the 30 days I've been using it - not including days I've played with horses, spent over an hour stacking wood, went hiking, or played extensively on Wii Sports Resort. Results: Much more regular exercise than previous to using Wii Fit Plus.

In general, the adorable anthropomorphic Wii Balance Board character is both supportive enough and aggravating enough to make me want to return - even if it's to cuss it out. "Yeah, I do happen to trip over my feet a lot! F*ck off about it, will ya?! No, balance is NOT my friggen cup of tea. Earl Grey is… or Rooibos… or Lotus Green. Bite me. See ya' tomorrow!"

The games do make you want to exercise, too. They are short - few last more than 3 minutes - so you can see how much better you are getting (or how sh*tty a day you are having) pretty quickly. Also, you pick how strenuous you want to be and what you want to work on. While I know I can't handle some of the strength or yoga exercises yet, there's still a good 30+ different things I CAN do and not be bored (or feel like a disgusting fat-monster).

The downside to the many short exercises is the fact that your 30 minute daily workout averages about 45 minutes of time or more - especially if you include the Body Test. Make sure you set aside about an hour to commit. Also, it guilt trips you when you go on vacation. Adorable Anthropomorphic Wii Balance Board: "Is that Trish? I haven't seen you for days! I hope you are well." Trish: "Yeah, yeah… I was at a friggen convention. Deal. My husband does - and he doesn't pout at me."

Next month: Will Trish have maintained her exercise schedule and lost more weight? Stay tuned.

xx

Still on a writer's high for finishing edits on A Silent Starsong!!! I've put off the final edits on this one for… about 2 years, really. I love this story, and so does everyone who's read it… Husband-of-Awesome and Del have been pushing me constantly to send it out. But I am a perfectionist… and it's terrifying when you feel so strongly about something. Anyway, looking over my query again and sending Kyra out into the cold, cruel world of publishing.

Do I dare send it to my top-most agents? I've been stalking them long enough to know it fits what they like: voice, story, style etc. It's even a reasonable word-count for its genre (mid-grade/YA) at just over 50k. I read at least three different authors that each of these desired agents represents… no, I FAN <3 at least three different authors that each of these agents represents. (I found out about said agents because I also "stalk" these authors.)

Aaah - the anxiety!!!!

Wish me luck!!!!

xx

The reason this post is at 3AM is because I traded guest-blog spots with my sales colleague, Rick Roberge. J You'll see some guestwork from him here on Wednesday, and I'll let you know when my post (or posts, because my 1000-word averages are… a bit long for his blog) runs on his page.

xx

I won another award!

It reads more like an Interwebz Meme, but I was rather happy with it. Thank you very much, The Pirate's Bounty!

Kreativ Blogger award: tell 7 secrets and tag 7 people.1. I try to eat healthy, but love food so much that portion control becomes an issue.2. I have a bad habit of falling into leadership positions, doing well at them, and then complaining I have no time to fulfill them.3. Part of my procrastination process comes from pride that I can get something done - and done well - no matter the odds.

4. I occasionally fail due to procrastination, but not enough and not badly enough to prevent the practice.
5. I am still a sucker for fun pop songs.6. I am becoming disenchanted with Massachusetts as a state.7. I wanted to be a lawyer when I was about 12 or 13 - till I realized I might have to defend people who were bad.Now to pass it along:

TokyoWriter
Kelly A. Harmon
GirlWriters
the voices in my head
In Common with Humans
Obligated to Exaggerate
The Teresa Jusino Experience

J I don't actually know the criteria for this award, so my criteria: not-already-really-famous people who's blogs I enjoy on a regular basis - or who I will visit when they remind me they've updated.

Or: People with blogs who deserve more positive attention.

Oh, and if you don't respond to the Meme, that's fine… I am happy for an excuse to tout your blogs. ;)

Congrat's y'all because I think you are fabulous!

Happy Week!