The Third Wish, from Sapphire Blue Publishing, June 2009

We’re a multi-cultural society, a global community of varying histories and legends.  And yet, somehow, we all share a fascination with the supernatural … with the idea that the things unseen are not inactive.  The concept of myths and legends shared through storytelling is as old as the spoken word.  Among the cultures of the world, there is no shortage of fantastic tales and captivating creatures that haunt the psyches and dreams of a village’s or nation’s inhabitants.  A further binding feature in every culture is the pursuit of romance and love.  Combine the two, and you have a formula for a riveting story.  It is not unexpected, therefore, that tales of magical beings in paranormal romance continue to explode as a popular fiction genre.

The area of romance fiction generated $1.375 billion in U.S. sales in 2007, a five percent increase over 2006, making it the biggest fiction publishing category for that year, according to Business of Consumer Book Publishing.  The next largest market is sci-fi & fantasy, generating $495 million in revenue for the same year.  A recent article in The New York Times reported that Harlequin Enterprises had fourth-quarter earnings in 2008 that were up 32 percent over the same period a year ago.

The paranormal romance formula seems simple: magical being meets normal, or latently magical, potential mate –>withholding of secrets or self  –>conflict –>third party interference –>challenge of skills –>new awareness –>resolution.  Or something along those lines.  However, there are certain standards of storytelling that must be in place for the concept to work.  The most successful paranormal authors have figured out certain aspects of the storytelling that ring most true with readers.

Following are some general guidelines for crafting the paranormal romance:

• The magical skills and idiosyncracies of the hero or heroine are established early on and closely followed.  This is sometimes called world building, but it’s also personality building.  A reader wants to get the sense that the character could be a real person, someone they can understand. The only way for that to happen would be if the author knows their character as well as or better than she knows herself.  So if, for instance, our hero Shazam has a fiery temper that can erupt without warning, the reader needs to be given glimpses of that before the actual eruption.  It builds tension, as well as an affinity for what Shazam is thinking and feeling.

• Supernatural skills have to be super.  A reader doesn’t want a hero who can read really fast or jog backward.  Exceptional abilities make for exceptional characters.  One single ability that is carried out with unusual panache and an understanding that very few can do what he or she can do makes for riveting reading.  As an example, Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Series focused on a family of vampires, unusual in itself.  Yet, additionally, each vampire had a unique gift that gave him increased value to his family, and to the story: e.g. the ability to read minds; the ability to influence thought; the ability to heal; the gift of foresight. 

• Despite characters being in possession of such tremendous skills, the reader wants to be able to identify in some way with those characters.  These are the all-too-human traits.  Does she love dogs?  Does he notice the way she never wants to be alone?  Does an abiding anger or vengeance keep him from recognizing the feelings another has for him?  Does she want to break free from her tribe or pack or past to forge a new life, but doesn’t know how?  These very human dilemmas will make even a superstrong, shapeshifting vampire sympathetic in some way.  Without it, the reader won’t care and won’t read on. 

• Finally, the atmosphere of the story sets the tone for the story itself.  Yes, this is world building; it is also world decorating. Whether it’s regency time travel or urban fantasy, the reader wants to be submerged in the very air that surrounds the characters.  What are the smells and temperature of the wind that blows in from the past, or the breeze that shuffles over the ripe fruits of the souk?  The successful paranormal author structures an environment that, though supernatural, is believable because it is consistently on display through the use of vivid description.  This is where research on the author’s part is most apparent.   A story told among the sidhe (shee) of Ireland must convey the essence of Ireland like a well-written travel article would.  Travels among the djinn of the Middle East must evoke the exotic scents and textures of locales that most Western readers will never have visited.  Research, imagination, and lush narrative combine for the successful setting.

Once these building blocks are in place, it’s up to the author to carry the story through.  An unpredictable plot is a sure way to hold the attention of the reader, and that really does depend upon the skill of the author.  In today’s rapidly evolving storytelling industry, one thing that is predictable, however, is that romance fiction is here to stay.

K. F. Zuzulo

Author of A Genie in the House of Saud: Zubis Rises, from Mystical Publishing

and The Third Wish, from Sapphire Blue Publishing

Had a long drive to pick up my aunt, so I listened to Michael Palin’s autobiography via AudioBook.  Kept my Kindle in my purse and was able to surreptitiously finish a book I started but haven’t finished while Auntie and Dad visited and chatted with one another –> David Hewson’s Dante’s Numbers.  Other forereads that were consummated today: Vortex Blues by Tina Gerow and The Caliph’s House by Tahir Shah (bet you never thought you’d see those two books in the same sentence for recommended reads).  It’s simply amazing how much reading one can get done if you literally stick your nose in a book.

Enjoying them all.  It’s midnight and the show must go on.  What are you reading?

Get updated on the le quest des mots –>http://exlibrisbb.blogspot.com/2009/04/read-thon-t-plus-15.html

A Trace of Smoke by Rebecca Cantrell

“Set in 1931 Berlin, Cantrell’s scrupulously researched debut tolls a somber dirge for Weimar Germany in its last days…this unforgettable novel, which can be as painful to read as the history it foreshadows, builds to an appropriately bittersweet ending.” – Publisher’s Weekly starred review

 This is just one of the reviews for Rebecca Cantrell’s debut novel, Trace of Smoke, due out from Tor/Forge in May.  Rebecca had written two full-length novels before beginning Trace of Smoke, which took two years to write and, as the author notes, “uncounted cups of chai tea at Kona Borders.”

Rebecca then swooped through the express lane on Rejection Road, with an exceptional submission record of one query.

“I only did one query,” Rebecca explains, “but it was through the Maui Manuscript Marketplace, an online submission forum through the Maui Writers Conference.  I submitted my book to the marketplace, and 23 agents and editors signed up to read it.  Two agents and one editor were interested and, luckily, one of them was my dream agent, Elizabeth Evans at Reece Halsey North.”

And, as all represented authors know, once a literary agent is secured, the journey begins anew to find a publisher.  Rebecca’s agent submitted the manuscript more than 20 times over the course of about a year before Tor Forge grabbed it.

            Rebecca’s contract with Tor Forge was for a two-book deal and the second novel, A Night of Long Knives, will be released in May 2010. The contract boosted Rebecca’s confidence and, as a result, she notes that the second novel wrote much more quickly.  However, Rebecca adds, a smoother process the second time around might also be due to the historical research that she had already undertaken.

            “I think I learned a good deal while writing the first novel that helped me when it came to writing the second,” Rebecca says.  “We’ll see how it goes with the third.”  

            Visit Rebecca’s website at http://rebeccacantrell.com for more information on her upcoming novels.

CompletelyNovel.com

The face of publishing is changing.  Few people will argue that point.  But how is it changing and how can publishing respond to continue to bring quality fiction and non-fiction to readers?  More importantly, how should writers respond?

Conventional methods still work; i.e. manuscript —-> agent —-> editor —-> reader.  It just takes a long time.  Enter the contemporary model and inject some freelance editors, online workshops, and “manuscript consultants” between ms and agent to help clean up the manuscript.  And when I say “some,” I mean thousands.  Then, you have the option to skip the agent and editor altogether and become published through print-on-demand.  The market has diversified and multiplied.  The evolution of a new organism.

A new and interesting adaptation of the self-publishing model is the online community slush pile.  Authonony.com, a HarperCollinsUK website, allows writers to upload all or a portion of their manuscript for review and assessment by fellow writers in that community.  If the author receives enough positive feedback from the community, the ms goes up in the ranking and may (a small may) make it to the attention of HC editors.

A similar, but perhaps more effective, entry to this community publishing option is CompletelyNovel.com.  Touted as an “alternative path” for authors, it’s similar to authonomy.com in that the author uploads his or her book to the site for community input.  There are currently four literary agencies that troll the submissions here and 15 publishers, with a directory of 641 publishers.  And apparently, the access is growing.  Before you get that next rejection, check it out.  Here’s a place that won’t say “no” to your manuscript.

Curse of the Kissing Cousins

Getting back to earlier emphatic statements in this blog that “You gotta work to make it work,” Toni L. P. Kelner shared that her road to publishing success was paved by 130 rejection letters.  But that was then.  Now, Toni is the Agatha Award-winning author for best short story (Sleeping with the Plush) in 2007 and was nominated for an Anthony Award last year.  This May, The Curse of the Kissing Cousins will be released by Berkley Prime Crime.  Last fall, Toni co-edited Wolfsbane and Mistletoe with bestselling paranormal author Charlaine Harris.  Toni is also the author of eight Laura Fleming novels and Without Mercy, which introduces the hip and irreverent character Tilda Harper.

But Toni wasn’t always driving in the fast lane.  Her first novel, Down Home Murder, written around 1991, accumulated 68 rejections from literary agents.  Toni decided to do a rewrite.

As Toni relates, “The first version never sold (for which we may all be grateful.)  The second version was substantially rewritten and was the one I got an agent with. It sold to Zebra, and was published as Down Home Murder in June 1993.

“The agent who took me on was #16 in the second wave of submitting queries for the rewrite.  It took her a couple of weeks to get back to me, and I sent her a partial. A week or so after that, she asked for the whole manuscript. Then a week or so after that, she called to take me on as a client.  However, since I was not going to put my eggs all in one basket by sitting around to wait for her replies, I continued to send out queries while waiting. I eventually sent a total of 62 queries for that second version of my manuscript, but they weren’t all rejections. Some were the dreaded no response, and I also got more nibbles after I decided to go with my agent.  So I don’t know if you want to call that a total of 84 or 130. Either one is accurate. And either way, I was really stubborn.”

Once the agent had the manuscript, it took three months to secure a contract with Zebra for the novel and two sequels.  Toni’s second novel was Dead Ringer, which she says, “was both easier and harder to writer.  Easier, because I had established characters and a voice and setting to use.  Harder, because I was on deadline, which gave me some pressure.”   

For more information about Toni and her writing career, there’s a funny and clever interview on her website conducted by Tilda Harper, the protagonist from her first novel Without Mercy.  Toni’s ultimate piece of advice for all writers?  A quote from the television program Galaxy Quest:  Never give up!  Never surrender!

One such convoy is the “Crazy Tuesday” podcast hosted by speculative romance author Rowena Cherry.  Her program on Internet Voices Radio is “blogging aloud,” fun and free-form conversations with other authors on various writing, publishing, marketing, and book topics.  This Tuesday, February, 3rd, the topic is Valentine wish lists and fantasy heroes.  I’ve been invited by Rowena, creator of the Great Djinni character in 1993 and most recently author of Knight’s Fork,  to share my impressions of the dream hero and a literary wish list.  Also on the podcast will be talented and prolific authors Emily Bryan, Lillian Cauldwell, Sara Taney, Brenna Lyons, Mark Terence Chapman.  My own djinni hero, Zubis, sprang into being somewhere around 2005, and while he’s not very dreamy in the traditional sense, he does invade dreams and he certainly grants wishes — on his terms.  One wish remains. 

Authors, writers and readers can join the conversation if you’re near a computer on Tuesday, February 3rd and log onto Crazy Tuesday at www.internetvoicesradio/CrazyTuesday.htm.

Still Alice by Lisa Genova

Lisa Genova is the author of Still Alice and has joined the ranks of publishing success after self-publishing.  A rankling article in The New York Times, January 27, 2009, titled Self Publishers Flourish As Writers Pay the Tab, included Ms. Genova’s tale of self-publishing success, which follows.  Please note that she ultimately needed literary representation to achieve her publishing deal, but she first created the product – her book.

When Lisa Genova, a former consultant to pharmaceutical companies, wrote her first novel, “Still Alice,” a story about a woman with Alzheimer’s disease, she was turned down or ignored by 100 literary agents.

Ms. Genova paid $450 to iUniverse to publish the book and sold copies to independent bookstores. A fellow author discovered the book and introduced Ms. Genova to an agent, and she eventually sold “Still Alice” for a mid-six-figure advance to Pocket Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, which released a new edition this month. It had its debut on the New York Times trade paperback fiction best-seller list on Sunday, at No. 5.

Ms. Genova likened her experience to that of young bands or filmmakers using MySpace or YouTube to attract a following. “It’s really tough to break into the traditional model of doing things,” she said.

Still Alice is ranked in the top 50 of literary and contemporary fiction at Amazon.com.