Sorry Folks, I Did Not Like Little House on the Prairie

Do you remember the first book that really swept you away? A book that took you to a new world that you never wanted to leave?

I remember the first book that did that for me. I was in grade 5, and I wasn't much of a reader. In fact, I stayed as far from books as I could. In my early elementary years, I struggled to learn to read, so I figured it just wasn't my thing. I'd been given the Little House on the Prairie series. I liked the show, so decided, despite not being a big reader, to give it a try. I read a couple chapters, but didn't like it. So, my young self said, "See, reading is boring." I decided stick to movies and TV. I loved Star Wars, Star Trek, Thunder Cats, Wonder Woman, Buck Rogers and Battlestar Galactica.

My grade five teacher read to us a couple of times per week which I usually found boring. I'd space out and imagine my own stories. But one day, he started a new book--The Keeper of the Isis Light by Monica Hughes. It didn't take long before the story of a human girl living on the distant planet of Isis with only a robot companion captured me. I started looking forward to story time. I hung on every word and was blown away by the twist ending. My imagination soared. No one had ever told me that the science fiction I loved on TV and in the movies came in book form!

This book opened up a new world for me. It's no wonder that science fiction is now the genre I choose to write most.

Perhaps you know someone who doesn't like to read. This isn't a permanent state of being. Most reluctant readers simply haven't found the right book. Like me, they need to find a story that sparks their imagination. Don't assume reluctant readers will like what you like. Young readers especially need an abundance of choices so they can learn what they enjoy. When reading brings joy, people become lifelong readers.

I'd love to hear which book or series made you fall head over heels for reading or which drove you to start writing in the comments below.

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Melinda Marshall Friesen lives in a little house on the prairies where she writes speculative fiction for teens and adults. Check out her sci-fi/dystopian One Bright Future series here: Enslavement and Subversion.

Oh the Things I've had to Research!

I don't find that being a writer makes me the life of the party, probably because I'm an extreme introvert. I don't particularly love tooting my own horn, so I actually try to steer clear of talking about what I do in any great detail. However, sometimes my writing becomes the seed for some interesting conversations.

Writers have to research the strangest things. I was with a group of people not long ago, and I'm not sure how we got on the subject, but I started talking about the ecological issues associated with burying dead bodies. I had a rapt audience for a few minutes, then one of the women looked at me skeptically and said, "How do you know that?"

I told her about a website I'd come across for a coroner in Arizona, how they had some really interesting articles posted.

Then the second question came, "What made you want to read a coroner's website?"

Then, I had to explain how I had needed to know what happens to a Jane Doe when no one claims the body for a novel I was writing.

I started considering all the stuff I've had to research for my novels:

• New York hotels, 1890's (must have balconies)
• Malignant tumors
• How fast someone bleeds out from a severed jugular
• Lilith myths
• Prion disease
• Snowmobile mechanics
• Solar flares
• Medical nanotechnology
• Mining in northern Montana
• Victorian era anesthetic
• Decay rates of submerged bodies

Just to name a few.

I've talked to a number of writers who are pretty sure they're on a Homeland Security watch list because of topics they've had to Google.

Over and over, my writing has pushed me to learn some pretty unusual things. What types of things have you had to research? What strange knowledge do you now possess as a result of your writing?

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Melinda Friesen writes MG, YA, and NA novels. She's anxiously awaiting the release of her YA dystopian novel Subversion, the sequel to award-nominated Enslavement.

Are Brick and Mortar Bookstores All They're Cracked Up to Be?

One major goal every author seems to have is getting their books into bookstores. It seems like the holy grail of book sales, but are brick and mortar bookstores all they’re cracked up to be? Will readers walk into bookstores in droves and pull our books from the shelves? If we finally manage to get bookstores to stock our books, will it translate into sales?

My family loves going to the bookstore. My kids could spend hours browsing and looking through their favorite series. As a writer, I longed to one day see my books on those shelves. Well, now they’re there. I can go visit my book baby at a number of local bookstores. Dream come true, right?

Maybe not.

Notice where people tend to shop in those bookstores. They peruse bestseller tables and end caps that feature popular titles, but they tend not to sift through the hundreds of books, spine out, littering the shelves. If you’re a mid-list author, with a small publisher, or self-published, you will likely never end up on the bestseller table because real estate on tables and end caps is purchased. Publishers pay bookstores for their titles to appear in these coveted spots. Unless you can ante up, your book will be relegated to the shelves of obscurity.

So, unless someone walks in the door in search of your book, they likely won’t buy it, which also means your time on those shelves is limited. No sales, means no new orders and, in fact, can mean the return of unsold merchandise.

All my bookstore sales have resulted from signings, launches, or people walking into the store asking for my title as a result of my or my publisher’s marketing efforts. I’ve seen sales spikes after radio interviews and newspaper interviews. My bookstore sales as a result of Enslavement sitting on a shelf and just happening to get noticed have been next to zero.

I have to reach people before they set foot in the bookstore.

So, while I like seeing my book inside bookstores, its presence is not a goal in and of itself. My goal is the sale of that book, so that retailers want to continue to carry it. My focus has shifted from getting my book into stores, to introducing it to readers because if they want it, they’ll find it.

What are your thoughts on brick and mortar bookstores?

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Melinda Friesen writes short stories and novels for teens.

Re-imagining a Book Title

Novel titles are not my strong suit. Writing 80,000 words—no problem. Coming up with a couple words to encapsulate those 80,000 words—huge problem. Titles present a ton of pressure. The title must hook the reader, stand out, look good on a book cover and reflect the tone and themes inside those covers.

Think of your favourite books. The title is part of what makes them awesome. Would The Hunger Games have caught on if it had been called The Volunteer? Or if The Fault in our Stars had been called Augustus and Hazel’s European Vacation? Title are important. The pressure!

A couple years ago, I wrote a blog post about my novel-naming woes called, “No Name Novel.” I wish I could say that in those years I somehow mastered the art of titles, but it’s just as much of a struggle as ever.

So when my publisher approached me and asked to change the name of the second book in my One Bright Future series, I wasn’t surprised. The first book, originally titled The Enslavement of Rielle James, was trimmed down to Enslavement. I’d given the second book the working title of Captivity, which had grown on me as I worked through the edits.

A new title was suggested, but I wasn’t keen on it for a number of reasons. I did an Amazon search to see how many other books had that title or something similar. There were a lot! So, rather than coming back to my publisher and shooting down their idea, I decided to put together a list of titles I could live with. I brainstormed on my own, then with some writer friends. When I’m serious about brainstorming ideas I like to write them on my hand and wrist. Don’t ask me why.

So, with a list of about 15 titles scrawled on my skin, I narrowed it down to three. Writers are word people, so to me, each title word not only had a unique definition, but had nuances, undertones and a shape (dull, sharp, round, jagged) that played into my decision.

I presented my reasons for not wanting their suggestion along with the short-list of my suggestions to my publisher. After some back forth via email, we settled on the new title. It’s taken some getting used to and some habit breaking, but I’m thrilled with this new moniker. What did we agree upon? Book two in the One Bright Future series will be called Subversion. And it’s the perfect title for this book.

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Melinda Friesen writes novels for teens and short stories from her basement in Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada. Presently, she's trying to pretend there's something outside besides snow and ice.

Writing Series: Querying, Four Great Query Resources

Writing a successful query letter is an art form. It's a skill that requires instruction as well as practice to hone those skills.

I could fill this post with advice on query letter writing, but I won't. Better, more experienced people than me have already written volumes on this subject, so my job today is to point you in the right direction.

I've been querying for years and have come across a few resources that have been helpful to me. When I first started, I couldn't get an agent's attention to save my life, but by honing my query writing craft, I've been successful in garnering requests for full manuscripts. So, here are some of my favourite resources.

1.  Nathan Bransford's blog. An author and former literary agent, Bransford shares a treasure trove of
query writing advice. The thing I liked most about this site is his upbeat attitude. He doesn't try to discourage writers with the dismal odds that are against them, but conveys information with a you-can-do-it attitude.

2. Query Shark. Literary agent, Janet Reid, runs this no-nonsense blog that walks writers through examples of lackluster queries and how to fix them. There are hundreds of examples available, and I encourage you to read through as many as possible.

3. Agent Query. Again, tons of information and advice about query letters and literary agents. This website has a database of agents, what they represent and if they're open for submissions. There is also a sister site called Agent Query Connect, a forum where writers can network and post queries for critique. My warning with receiving critique at AQ Connect is that it's often the blind leading the blind. Many have yet to write a successful query themselves.

4.  Writer's Digest New Agent Alerts. This site shares information about new agents or agents who have transitioned to new firms and are actively building their client lists.

Once you have a stellar query letter and a list of agents who represent your type of work and who you would like to work alongside, you're ready to start querying.

If you have any questions, please post them below.

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Melinda Friesen writes novels for teens and short stories for all ages. Her first novel, Enslavement, was released in November of 2014 by Rebelight Publishing Inc. She lives in Winnipeg,Manitoba Canada with her husband and four children.

Major Rewrites: Revising in Layers or Moving Mountains One Stone at a Time, Part 1

In the spring, I had to tackle a major revision of the second book in the One Bright Future series. To give a bit of history, I wrote the series nearly six years ago. I put the first book through countless revisions over those years. However, I did not do the same to subsequent books as I rationalized that spending that time on sequels when I couldn’t find a publisher for the first book was a waste of time.

So, after Enslavement (book one) was published, I knew I had to devote some serious attention to book two. My basic plot worked, but I needed to amp up the action and dystopian elements to match the first book. A new fear seized me—that those who read Enslavement and liked it, would be disappointed by book two. I wanted book two, not just to meet expectations, but to exceed them.

Thinking about the changes I needed to make was overwhelming and intimidating to say the least, but I’d already done this type of revision with the first book. Yes, there was some heart-pounding panic. Yes, part of me wanted to lie down and give up. Yes, I cursed myself for not doing more with the MS previously. But, I pushed this aside. It was time to get to work.

I’ve developed my own system for applying these major changes, which I’ll share with you. After writing this blog post, I realized it was far too long and detailed for a single post, so I’m going to give it to you in two installments. Next, Monday, September 21, I’ll give you the remainder.

I’ve learned that I can accomplish any task, no matter how huge, by breaking it down into smaller tasks. So, let’s get started.

1.       Brainstorming.

In this phase, I ask myself oodles of questions. What else is possible in this setting? What else could be going on with these characters? What is my antagonist’s goal, my protagonists goal? What are all the possible ways they could attempt to forward their agendas? How would all this effect my protagonist? There are no bad answers. I write them down—all of them, even the ridiculous ones, knowing some I’ll use and some I won’t.

2.       Outlining the existing MS.

This is a list of plot points, nothing elaborate. I just need to get a bird’s eye view of what I’ve already done. Because the basic plot was staying the same, I needed to be able to plug the new elements into the old.

3.       Thinning.

After taking some time to mentally explore my brainstormed options, I thin that list by removing items that are inconsistent with my world and characters, items that will take the story in an unacceptable direction, those that will not feed into the greater plot and some that I just don’t like. I'm left with the subplots and character changes that I intend to integrate into the MS.

4.       Subplotting.

I take each of the new subplots/characters and make a brief outline of what each will involve. For example, if I'm adding a new character, I jot down how they will figure into the story—where the character will meet my protagonist, how they will interact and how they will support the greater plot.

Overwhelmed yet? Don't worry. You’ll tackle one element at a time and it will all come together.

So, where do you go from here? Stop by next Monday, and I’ll tell you how I complete this process and shine up that manuscript so it’s publication ready.

Have you had to tackle rewrites and major revision? What’s your response? I’d love to hear from you.

Melinda Friesen writes short stories and novels for teens. When she's not writing, she's the marketing director at Rebelight Publishing Inc. She lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada with her husband, four children and five gerbils.

Please Welcome Melinda!

Greetings writer folks!

I’m Melinda Friesen, one of the new kids here, and I’m super excited to get to know you all.

About Writer Me:

Most of my novels are young adult sci-fi, but I’ve also ventured into young adult contemporary, middle grade fantasy and new adult paranormal romance. In addition, I write literary and genre short stories. I’ve been querying novels and sending out short stories for four years and have well over a hundred rejections on file. Do I get a trophy for that? I think I should get a trophy.

In November of 2014, I finally got to hold, caress, snuggle my first published novel, Enslavement (YA sci-fi/dystopian). It was surreal. I didn’t cry. I did, however, feel like throwing up.

About Day Job Me:

Like most writers, I have a day job. I’m Marketing Director and Acquisitions Editor at Rebelight Publishing Inc., a small Canadian publisher. I love fishing jewels out of the slush pile, getting to know authors and sharing great books with the world.

About Regular Me:

I have a husband and four kids. Three of the kids are teenagers, an age group I absolutely love. I’d take teens over toddlers any day. Writing is my favourite thing to do, but I also jog to keep my butt from looking too writerly. I belong to two writers’ groups, both of which are awesome. I can recite all 50 states in alphabetical order in under a minute. I’m originally from Oregon, but have lived in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada for 21 years now.

Question of the day: Should having oodles of rejection letters to your name be a badge of honour or a dunce cap of shame? You know how I feel about it, but I'd like to hear what you think. Please leave a comment. 

I love to interact on social media. Twitter: @melindafriesen  Facebook: MelindaFriesen1 Find me and we can swap rejection stories.

This is my official author picture. I was informed by some fourth graders I was speaking to that it doesn’t look like me. 

This is my book. Forgive her, she stares.