Dear O'Abby: Are flashbacks bad?

Dear O'Abby,

My latest book has flashbacks written right through it because my MC's present is very much a product of past events.  I think this structure works really well because each flashback to the past relates to an event or emotion being experienced in the present.

My critique group disagree.  Often loudly.  Several of them have told me they think the flashbacks detract from the story because they break the flow and others say they add unnecessary words.  Another told me flashbacks are old fashioned and that no modern publisher will take on a book with this structure.

What advice can you give me about using flashbacks?  Am I wrong to want to structure my book this way?

Best,

Flash

Dear Flash,

To be honest, it's really hard to answer this without having read your book.  Flashbacks are tricky to do well, and they need to serve a purpose or they can lessen the immediacy and power of the story.  

Read your manuscript with a critical eye and ask yourself if every flashback you've written is really necessary.  Is there anther way this information could be imparted to your reader?  Sometimes referencing a past event in conversation with another character can give enough of an idea about that event to clue in the reader.  Especially if either or both characters have a really visceral reaction to it.  Any event worth flashing back to is something that will have ongoing impacts on them in the present, will continue haunting them throughout the story.

If you do think every flashback is necessary, make sure you make it clear to the reader what is happening in the present and what is in the past and make the transitions between the two smooth.  If you're jumping between time periods in a single chapter, the reader needs cues to know that they're moving from the present to the past, and then back again.  Experiment with using different language in your flashbacks, or if you really are having one per chapter, maybe consider changing the structure so you alternate chapters between past and present.  Although that may not work if the events you're flashing back to happen at random points in the characters' lives rather than in a single period.

My book Chasing the Taillights had flashbacks in almost every chapter when I first drafted it, but as I worked through the revision process, I realized most of those flashbacks were unnecessary, except for one long one toward the end.  The others could all be conveyed through the characters' internal thoughts and their conversations with others.  By cutting out all the unnecessary flashbacks, I managed to cut the wordcount of the book by about 20K.

So, my overall advice about flashbacks would be to only keep the ones that are really needed for a reader to understand and engage with the story, to keep them as brief as possible where they are needed, and to ensure the reader is well cued when you are moving in or out of a different time period.

And one more really important thing to remember: don't put a flashback in your first chapter.  The first chapter is for introducing your characters and the world they are currently living in.  You can hint at past events, but save the flashbacks for once the reader is well bedded into the world and starting to be invested in the characters.

Hopefully that is of some help.

Good luck with the book.

X O'Abby

Dear O'Abby: What is platform and do I need it?

 Dear O'Abby,

I keep hearing about "platform" and how important it is for writers to have one, but I'm not sure what it means or why it is so important.  Can you please explain?

Yours,

Unsure

Dear Unsure,

Platform is something that is critical when you are a non-fiction author, but less important if you write fiction.  Basically "platform" means the built-in audience for your book, the people who are already engaged with you and whatever it is you are an expert in and who are already listening to what you have to say.  

Platform could be a popular blog or social media channel.  It could be a newspaper or magazine column. It could be a television show.  The larger your platform, the more likely it is that you will be able to reach a large number of people to talk about and sell your book.

As a non-fiction author, your platform will indicate to agents and publishers that you are the right person to write this book, that you are already an expert in the field and have people following your work.  Before your book is published, your platform may be relatively small, but the aim is to grow it through the additional content.  The publication of your book is one step in growing your platform.  Any tours or interviews or media coverage you get as you publicise the book will help to grow your platform which will hopefully help to make publishing a second book easier.

Platform is not so important for fiction writers because there is no expectation that a fiction writer is an expert.  For fiction writers it's more important to write the best possible book for the audience you are writing for.  Platform for fiction writers will come from the readers who become fans of your book.

Hope that's at least a little bit helpful.

Best,

O'Abby.

Dear O'Abby: My agent says the real-life truth in my book isn't believable

Dear O’Abby,

I’ve just had a weird response from my agent.  At least, I think it’s weird, which is why I’m coming to you.  My new book was inspired by a lecture I went to and a specific situation the speaker mentioned in her talk.  The entire plot sprang from this single, real-life story she told about her personal experience.

My agent loves the new book, but isn’t convinced that readers will believe a certain part of the story – the part that was inspired by this woman’s lecture.

What do I do in this situation?  My agent has asked me to do a rewrite where I take this element out, but I’m not sure I want to do that, given this is where the story started and is kind of the point of the whole book.

Do you have any advice?

Truly,

Bemused

Dear Bemused,

Unfortunately I understand where you’re coming from all too well.  The same thing happened to me when I wrote Stumped.  When I was querying, agents kept telling me how much they loved the voice and the characters and the themes, but they weren’t convinced about one thing a character did. Which was the one thing I’d taken directly from a real-life situation.  And then, after I was agented, my agent brought up the same thing.  Yet I still resisted. 

Until I didn’t.

And you know what?  The book got better.  My protagonist had more agency over his destiny and the change opened up new possibilities for where he could go.

I do still miss that part of the story because I feel like I lost one of the things I was trying to say with the book, but maybe that book wasn’t the place to try and say it.

So my suggestion is, try to make the change.  If you hate the result, you still have the original sitting there (please don’t save over your other draft – I’ve done that and while it’s possible to get the old draft back, it’s not worth the panic and self-flagellation when you realize what you’ve done).  You might be surprised by how much more potential your story and characters can have without that element.

Even if something did happen in real life, sometimes it just won’t work in the context of a book.  There’s a reason they say truth is stranger than fiction.  Or it could be, it’s just this book where it doesn’t work.  Perhaps you’ve created such compelling, realistic characters that whatever your plot point is, doesn’t ring true with them.  Try something else now you know these characters better than you did when you started writing.  You might be surprised by how they react…

And remember, even if that one element is now out of your book, it still sparked the idea that led you to write it.

Hope this helps!

X O’Abby

Dear O'Abby: Do I Need to Punish My Characters?

Dear O'Abby,

I've written a book in which several characters do things that are morally questionable and I was wondering if, for readers to feel satisfied, they need to suffer in some way as a result.  I know that in times past, it was unusual for a character to break social mores without some kind of retribution, but in this modern day and age, is this still the case?

Yours,

Ambiguous.

Dear Ambiguous,

This is a very interesting question.  You're right that anti-social behavior is usually punished in fiction, even if it's a subtle punishment.  I think even if this is not entirely intentional, it's human nature to try and set things right and make sure people who break rules, even unspoken ones, pay for their sins.

It even has a name: poetic justice.

Fairy tales are built on this principle, as are fables.  Good behavior is rewarded; bad is punished.  So I guess it's no surprise that this continues through most fiction.  It's the basis of our storytelling tradition.

But as for it needing to be this way to be satisfying, I'm not entirely sure.  I'm struggling to think of a book in which a character does something terrible or immoral in which they don't receive some kind of punishment for it - usually something that forces them to change their ways.  Or kills them.

I guess it really depends on which character is breaking society's code and for what reason. If they have good, well-drawn reasons for their behavior, they may be able to get away from the situation without punishment.  It would need to be a really good reason though...  Something like murdering a pedophile to save a child.  Doing something evil for the greater good is an acceptable trope.  Especially if there's a healthy dose of guilt and remorse around the event.

Yet, if the anti-social act is sexual, rather than violent, I think it might take more than guilt and remorse to redeem the character.  For some reason we seem to consider anti-social violent acts more acceptable than sexual ones.

But let's take this to the readers.  Can a book be satisfying if anti-social behavior isn't punished?  Can you name a book where this happens?  I'm now kind of fascinated by this question and will be looking to answer it with every book I read from now on.  And probably every one I write too!

X O'Abby

Why write short fiction if I'm a novelist?

There were no questions for O'Abby this week, so I thought instead I'd share an excerpt from a longer article I wrote a while back about why, as a novelist, writing short fiction can be valuable.

Next time we're without a question for O'Abby, I'll share the other part of this article, which is about why publishing that short fiction is equally valuable.

Hope you find it useful!

I wrote my first novel when I was still a teenager.  Barely a teenager.  I’d never written anything except stories for school before, and had no idea what I was doing.  And the finished novel was a complete mess.  So were the next two I attempted, and the fourth.

It wasn’t until I took a step away from pouring myself into novel after novel that I learned how to be a writer.  And what taught me those valuable lessons, was writing short stories.

Writing short fiction has many benefits for novelists, whether you’ve written your first novel or your fourteenth.

Writing short fiction helps you discover what you love writing.  There are thousands of publications out there asking for stories in every genre from crime thrillers to romance to fantasy and beyond.  Why not test your ability across a range of genres and styles?  Find out what you truly love to write before you invest the hundreds of hours required to write a novel.

While I figured this out for myself, I wrote sci-fi, fantasy, horror, erotica, historical fiction and more.  And throughout all this, I think I knew my heart was always going to be in YA, but I don’t feel at all like I wasted my time by writing more broadly.  In fact, I think writing all those different genres helped me find my own unique voice because I tried so hard to change it when writing stories that weren’t wholly my own.

Writing short fiction is also a valuable tool for honing your writing craft.  When a publication is asking for a story of only five, three or one thousand words, there’s no room for waffle.  The story itself needs to be focused and crafted so it has a beginning, a middle and an ending.  The writing must be powerful and evocative.  In short fiction, every word must have a purpose and pull its weight.  There is no room for flabby writing.   Nor is there room for a cast of thousands or myriad subplots.

I like to keep this in the back of my mind when I’m editing longer works.  Each chapter can be looked at like a short story, and each word in that chapter needs to push the story forward, not send it off into some dark alleyway with no exit in sight.

As a writer, I find writing short fiction is fantastic for keeping my writing tight. Novels give us the freedom to explore subplots and side characters and elaborate on worlds, but sometimes it’s valuable to go back to short fiction and try to get to the core of the story in as few words as possible.  Once you get back into the habit of making every word count, it will transfer into your novel writing and make your writing there stronger and tighter too.

Synopsis Critique #7 - Adult Fiction

And now, it's time for this week's synopsis critique! The author of FIRST CORPSE: THE APPETIZER, an 89,000-word Adult Fiction, submitted this synopsis. My in-line comments are [blue and in brackets], and I'll include a summary at the end. Feel free to comment below!

If you'd like a primer on how to write a synopsis, see my posts here and here. And if you want your synopsis critiqued on this website, fill out the form here, or email your 1-2 page synopsis to me at operationawesome6@gmail.com, and I'll post one critique per week (NOTE: I'll email my critique to the author as soon as I'm done, so the author won't have to wait to see his/her synopsis on the site). Thanks for participating!

Synopsis

As host of the Foodie Channel’s hottest show, Food Made Whole, Lane Stevens’ next episode takes her to San Francisco, where she finds a shiny silver tray of grilled rumaki on her hotel room floor, along with a very bloody, very blue, very dead man. [This is a great opening, though I've never heard of 'rumaki.' Can you add a short description, maybe in parentheses?] In a voice reminiscent of warm caramel, Federal Agent Ryan Cooke exposes the dead man as Lane’s estranged uncle [would Lane not have recognized her uncle, even if they were estranged? Or was he so decomposed by then they had to get a forensic exam to determine his identity? If not, then how was the federal agent able to identify him?], who had protected a microscopic memory card with evidence of a deadly conspiracy aimed at the American public. [Interesting... but how does the agent know all this? Was the uncle working for the government? Can you add more details about what the conspiracy entailed, or does the agent not know (or reveal the details to Lane) at this point in the book?] Ryan doesn’t divulge that all evidence gathered by his forensics lead points to Lane. She is believed to have stolen the card. [I would combine the two preceding sentences] In fact, many parties [what parties? You can be more detailed here] think she has it, and any one of them could be the entity known only as The Employer [what kind of entity is The Employer? Give the reader just a little more to go on here. Is The Employer a mafia-type organization? Group of computer hackers? Etc.?], who sends a clear message—either Lane hands over the card, or someone else she cares about will be the next corpse. Without the card and with limited options, she has no choice but to trust Ryan, so together they stir up a plan to draw The Employer out. [What's going on with her job at this point? Has she taken a leave of absence? Is she still hosting with all this going on?] After a daring deep ocean escape from the bureau, [what bureau?] they shack up in an old safe house, dine on stale mini-mart food, and work through clues leading them to her grandmother’s diamond necklace, which they soon learn had housed the tiny card all along. But their efforts to find either the necklace or The Employer are scrambled amidst an attack by a mounted patrolman, a personal massager incident, several red herrings [can you describe at least one of the red herrings? If there's no space, then I'd leave that out. The other three incidents you describe are detailed and add a lot of color to the plot, and 'red herrings' is generic], and a shoot out in Lane’s childhood home. When they finally hold the leverage [what does this mean? Explain using details from the story] to end the ordeal, all nefarious parties pursuing the card converge on the safe house. In the commotion, Ryan is shot and Lane watches, helpless, as he dies. With all eyes on her, she drops the necklace into the blazing fire of a wood stove, [when did they get the necklace? And how? That seems like an important plot point] where the diamonds melt away, and, in theory, so does the card. The nightmare may be over, but her life isn’t the same. She isn’t the same. Lane seeks the solitude of a remote Caribbean island, hoping to reclaim some small piece of herself. But Ryan’s partner, Marco, intercepts her. [I'm not sure 'intercepts' is the right verb to use here. Do you mean he finds her, or confronts her, or something else?] Lane admits to having pocketed the gem with the memory card before she destroyed the necklace, and Marco persuades her to help him examine the data. It contains proof the nation’s health crisis [what health crisis? Be specific] did not simply evolve. It was planned, designed, marketed, and well executed for corporate profit, and was conveniently overlooked by the FDA. It is the ultimate public betrayal, and in foul hands would make a powerful bargaining chip against the U.S. government. [This is an interesting reveal] As Lane and Marco walk the shoreline discussing the fate of the card, the forensics lead accosts them. [Have we met the forensics lead before? He's the one who thinks Lane stole the card, right? You don't have a ton of names in the synopsis, so since he's important to the climax, I'd name him here] He boasts of his partnership with The Employer [does Lane ever find out more about what The Employer is and what they do?] to obtain the incriminating data, then he shoots Marco in the hip and orders Lane to hand over the memory card. Scared witless but stubborn when confronted by demands, Lane hurls the card into the waves. Marco extends a weak arm, tripping the forensics lead, and the gun tumbles to the sand. The man wields a knife over Marco’s chest, but Lane scoops up the gun, closes her eyes, and fires. Back in the states, Lane receives word that Marco will make a full recovery, and that the forensics lead she shot in the ass confessed to killing her uncle with a skewer from the grilled Rumaki. [Nitpick, but above, you don't capitalize rumaki and here you do. Just be consistent] The Employer is still at large, but with the card swept away by the surf, the threat appears to be eliminated. Lane embraces her work with a new sense of purpose, determined to make a difference in turning the nation’s health crisis around. [This makes it sound like she's using her work as a cooking show host to solve the health crisis. This may be true, but if not, break these two points apart] And as recording for the episode wraps up, she dedicates the show to a hero killed in the line of duty, Special Agent Ryan Cooke. Afterwards, a man waits in the shadows. “Hello, Lane,” the man says. A quiver tiptoes up Lane’s spine. Was that…caramel? [This isn't a traditional synopsis ending, but I love it. You start and end with caramel, it ties into the cooking theme, and it lets the reader know the story has a complete arc, but there's a door left open for a sequel (Ryan not really being dead, I assume).]

Summary

Overall, this is strong. You've got the full main plot arc here, and the reader gets a good sense of the tone of the book (mystery/thriller, but with a hint of lightheartedness shown by the food references and some of the details (for example, that Lane's uncle was killed by a skewer from the grilled rumaki)). I love the last few paragraphs, even though they aren't a typical way to end a synopsis - breaking the rules, in this case, really works.

My main critique is that the descriptions skew vague/generic in many places. Since there's a neat vibe going on with the underlying humor, why not use specific descriptions where you're currently using generic ones? It would add a lot more voice to the synopsis and give the reader a full indication of what kind of book this is. For example, where you say 'When they finally hold the leverage to end the ordeal' say something like 'As Lane holds the necklace over the fireplace, ready to toss it in and end the ordeal' (which may or may not be what happens in the story, but you get the point).

Also, don't lose sight of Lane's job, which makes her an interesting main character. Does she work the whole time she's focused on this mystery, or has she taken a leave of absence? Either way, does that add pressure to the situation? If that's part of the plot, add in a few details to include that color here.

Great job, and best of luck with this manuscript!

Stranger Than Fiction: Using Personal Experience

Have you ever played the game, Three Truths and a Lie? It's one of my favorite getting-to-know-you games because it requires people to think of three true things about them that are so unique they seem unlikely, and it teaches you something about how they lie. Will the lie be obvious or so detailed, it blends right into the truths? But what's really remarkable about playing this game is the discovery that TRUTH really is STRANGER THAN FICTION.

For instance, my three truths always include these: 

I survived a plane crash when I was two years old.
I went skydiving in Canada, and I jumped twice.
I never saw snow in real life until I was eighteen and went away to college.

My lie would always be somewhat lame. I'd exaggerate the number of kids I have (say 8 instead of 5) or say I've been to Hawaii (sadly, still a lie). It turns out I'm terrible at lying. I guess there are worse things! But each person's lie is true for someone else. One of my favorite friends in my neighborhood does, in fact, have 8 kids. And two of my siblings have lived in Hawaii. Did they fly me out to see them? Of course not. Everyone who lives in Hawaii is broke. But am I bitter?

So when we are writing fiction, basically telling lies we hope are convincing enough to convey ideas and themes, we actually rely on an ample portion of the truth, whether that truth belongs to us personally or not. If I were to write about Hawaii, my family's experiences there would factor into my narrative. If I were to write about a 19-year-old girl about to jump out of a small airplane that resembled the small airplane she crashed in with her family when she was 2 years old, I would draw on my own anxieties from that experience.

For this reason, I find that the best UNIVERSAL advice for good writing is this: live.

Living gives us scope and empathy, the ability to put ourselves in someone else's shoes that's essential to good fiction. In the absence of time traveling to China in the 1960s, however, you may find it preferable to read someone else's truth. Memoir should have a respected place on every fiction writer's bookshelves. Memoir is great writing because it's true and that truth is stranger than fiction.

The last memoir I read was Red Scarf Girl by Ji-li Jiang. If I hadn't been told it is a true story, I would not believe it. The happenings are so alien to my ideas of proper government and community action that it strains credibility. Why would people act that way?

Memoir brings us to the heart of all good fiction: the WHY, the motive of our heroes and supporting characters. Why would his sister betray him after spending all their childhood mothering him? Why would her lover kill himself on the eve of their anniversary? Why would the pull of glory be so strong it could make a young child change her name and give up a rich cultural heritage to act on a foreign stage?

And in every answer there is room for still more questions.

That's what makes the truth so much stranger than fiction. How do you infuse your stories with the clarion ring of strange truth?

Family Relationships in Fiction

Good fiction tells an important story.

Great fiction draws realistic relationships and plays on tropes that don't end where you expect.

For instance, Katniss and Prim in The Hunger Games. When Katniss volunteers for the Hunger Games in Book 1, it's to protect Prim from almost certain violent death. But by the end of the series (spoiler alert) Prim is the heroine of her own story, rushing into a war-zone to protect those she deems worthy of her protection. She becomes a protector through her own nurturing way, a way that is as alien to Katniss as Peeta's incomprehensible kindness. Her character arc honors the differences between Katniss and Prim; it doesn't make her into Katniss or their mother. She is inspired by Katniss, but also shaped by her own internal voice.

In Pride and Prejudice, sibling relationships are central to the romantic plot between Darcy and Elizabeth. It is Darcy's little sister who, long before Elizabeth is even aware of her existence or importance, draws Darcy to Elizabeth as he sees her defensiveness and protectiveness of her own family. Though many characters are drawn comically--Mary with her pious studiousness and Lydia with her opposite flagrance and lack of piety--Elizabeth does not treat them as static stereotypes so neither can the reader. As she tries to teach them, sometimes gently and sometimes sharply, we see them as people capable of change and growth. Even the old father, set in his ways so long and comfortable with his escapes from five silly girls, is capable of growth and determines at the end to take a more active role in his children's upbringing while he can. His relationship with Elizabeth redeems him as a careless father because of his obvious love of her and the growth her story inspires in him.

In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie's grandmother arranges to marry her off at the tender age of sixteen. This seems to be done for Grandma's own peace of mind, to know Janie will be taken care of after the old woman's death. Janie never fully forgives her grandmother for this bit of selfishness, though her grandma tells her she is doing it for her own good. Such an act of desperation gives us sympathy for the grandmother at the same time we may feel shock at the decision, and especially shock at how little say Janie is given in an era when slavery has already been abolished. (spoiler alert) However, when we think that her grandmother came from slavery during the Emancipation Proclamation and was the victim of rape, having very little say in her own relationships, we understand better how her opinions about marriage and the freedom of young women were formed. Though the grandmother dies early in the story, her influence remains through the entire book as Janie experiences levels of freedom in her marriages and eventually rejects the ideas that made her grandma make that pivotal decision.

The Weasley Family from Harry Potter is my favorite family in fiction because the sibling relationships ring so true, from jokesters Fred and George trying to put their little brother under The Unbreakable Vow for a laugh, to the fierce loyalty they display to each other during the final battles of the epic saga. The parents, too, display all the characteristics and behaviors of real parents overwhelmed by raising responsible magical children on a shoe-string budget. Like most parents, they believe school is the surest road to financial success, and are horrified with the decisions their children make that take them off the well-beaten path. Then, when success comes unexpectedly, they are unduly proud as if this unorthodox living were what they wanted for their children all along. It's their foibles as much as their virtues that make them feel real to the reader.

I hope you feel inspired as you consider each of these examples of family relationships in fiction, and get some ideas for your own writing. Reading about family relationships in fiction can help us heal and forgive in our own real-life relationships. It can inspire us to change something in ourselves that we see in a relentless parent or unkind sibling.

What's Your Story About? Exploring Theme in Fiction

That’s the question we get any time we tell someone we’re writing a (insert your form here – story, novella, book, space opera…) And that’s the question we’re told to have a ready answer to, just in case we bump into our dream agent in line for a McMuffin on the way to work, or in the elevator at a writing conference. It’s the log line, the pitch, the meat of the matter. But what is this critical nugget really? If the piece we’re writing has a shot at capturing the hearts and minds of an audience, it’s the theme.

When someone asks what your story is about, how do you answer? Do you give a brief summary of the action?

For example, “my story is about this poor girl who is harassed by her evil stepsisters until her fairy godmother comes and turns her into a princess so she can go to the ball and meet her prince and live happily ever after.”

That is, after all, what Cinderella is about. Isn’t it? Maybe not.

Try this: “my story is about the belief that by putting goodness and love out into the world, goodness and love will be returned to us. It’s an exploration of the golden rule, set in the world of princes and fairy godmothers.”

Which one do you want to read?

The first tells us what the story is about in terms of action. The second, though, tells us what the theme of the story is.

The Importance of Theme

Let’s look at the idea of theme for a moment. Have you ever finished a book and put it down, asking yourself what the point was? Maybe there was great action, and a rollicking plot, but at the end you’re left feeling like it was hollow somehow. That, writers, is the absence of theme.

All stories should have a theme – from literary (where sometimes the themes seem to take over all action and bring the plot a standstill) to genre (where occasionally theme suffers for the sake of the plot.) It was easy to identify a theme in fables or parables – the theme was the moral or teaching. But in fiction, we don’t always seek to teach.

Think about it this way – the theme of your work is the concept that links the story to the audience. It’s what makes the story universal. It’s what elevates it from a good story to a story that will keep readers thinking long after they’ve put the book down.

As I’ve written more, I’ve learned to build theme into my work somewhat organically. I’ve even discovered that I have themes where I didn’t intentionally place them. But the best work, I think, develops when a writer has a theme in mind as they craft the story, allowing it to work in and out of the words, wrapping itself intricately through the scenes and chapters and adding an extra layer of complexity to the story.

How do you approach theme? Do you build it in intentionally, or have you discovered your themes after the fact? Can you think of any books you’ve read recently that have done a nice job with building on a theme?

Mental Illness and Fantasy Fiction

In the course of the Big Picture edits for my YA UF novel, Crow's Rest, one of the aspects my editor Owen Dean and I talked about is the handling of mental illness. I would never want anyone to feel like I was minimizing their experiences, or treating a mental illness like a funny character quirk, so I offered up some lengthy comments in the notes I returned to him.

I shared how I've struggled with depression my entire life, along with its close companion, anxiety. Like other members of my family, I also have a learning disability and sensory issues. And then to cap it all off, I was on the verge of being diagnosed as bipolar, before we figured out it was a thyroid issue.

Now I know it’s a matter of getting my thyroid meds correct (not an easy task in itself) and it’s mostly leveled out, but it was a very scary and helpless-feeling way to find that out. I'm actually kind of glad that I didn't get all the other diagnoses when I was a teen--the depression was quite enough to deal with as they tried various medications on me and we failed to find a good match.

As it was, much of my love of reading and writing fantasy fiction stemmed from a heartfelt wish that my depression could be easily explained some other way--and therefore easily cured. What if it was actually a magical curse, and all I needed to do was find an antidote? What if some unseen creature was responsible for how I felt (Dementors, anyone?), no matter how I worked to stay upbeat?

I’m aware that I can’t play the “what if” game without the expectation of sensitive issues (and my handling of them) being brought up, but I’m okay with that. I don't expect this book to be labeled a realistic view of the experience of mental illness (there are certainly books out there that accomplish that), nor is it meant to be. It's absolute wish fulfillment for my teenage self, and I like to think there's room for that too.

Any dialogue that helps get people talking about the ramifications of mental illness is for the better, in my view. And if reading my book helps a teen feel not quite so alone with a struggle, or helps them escape their worries for a time, then I've paid it forward from all the authors who accomplished that for me.

Sold: Angelica R. Jackson's Crow's Rest, to Spencer Hill Press

Yay, I finally get to announce that my book, Crow's Rest, and I are joining the Spencer Hill Press family!

And the release date is May 12, 2015!

(Illustration by Arthur Rackham for the fable, The Crow & The Pitcher)

That image for The Crow and The Pitcher is particularly fitting--this deal has been in the works for a while, but so many things cropped up in the meantime (some in my control, some not--I guess it would have been quicker to type "life happens") that it wasn't until last week that I signed the contract. Took awhile to be able to get a drink of that water! Even so, that May 2015 date seems like it's coming up awfully fast!

One thing that's helping with the timeline is that I did a lot of the "homework" ahead of time. Especially since this was a book that I got very close to starting the self-publishing process on, I had an entire list of things ready to go. Some publishers want more or less of this info, but Spencer Hill Press has a pretty exhaustive Author Information sheet to fill out. I provided links to cover art and artists that I like, elements that I want to include or don't want to see in a cover for Crow's Rest, and some choices for back copy and loglines.

That back cover copy is especially important--all the research I had done said to keep it below 200 words. I managed to do that--and then I learned that it may need to be as short as 500 characters. Yes, that's characters-- as in barely longer than 3 tweets!

So I encourage you all to put thought into this kind of thing before you get that deal (or while you're sitting on the news, waiting for permission to announce). You may not use your draft of the back copy on the final cover, but having several different ways to sum up your book helps with promotional opportunities down the road.

Here's the draft I've been using on my blog, so check back for the cover reveal and see how much it changed (or didn't):

Avery Flynn arrives for a visit at her Uncle Tam's, eager to rekindle her summertime romance with her crush-next-door, Daniel.

But Daniel’s not the sweet, neurotic guy she remembers—and she wonders if this is her Daniel at all.

Or if someone—some thing—has taken his place.

Her quest to find the real Daniel—and get him back—plunges Avery into a world of Fae and changelings.

Where creatures swap bodies like humans change their socks, and magic lives much closer to home than she ever imagined.

So excited to join our other Operatives at Operation Awesome who have also chosen to go with Spencer Hill--do we have a group signing in our future, Kell Andrews and Angela Townsend?

Guest Post with Tina Moss: Para Beyond the Normal

Halloween always makes me reach for a spooky book, and one supplier of my habit, author Tina Moss, has joined Operation Awesome for a guest post on writing paranormal fiction. Take it away, Tina!

Para Beyond the Normal
By: Tina Moss

Writing paranormal fiction is akin to the delicate and intimate art of...cave-diving. I’ve never actually been cave-diving, mind you, but whenever I sit down at the keyboard to work on a paranormal manuscript, I inevitably picture a cave. Not your “nice” cave either complete with roaring fire, no bugs, comfy sleeping bag, and an unending supply of s’mores. No, not that type. I imagine a big, gaping black hole that I’m about to jump into with--or some days without--safety gear attached.

So, why would any sane rational person decide to write a genre that essentially equates to jumping into a bottomless pit? Well, putting aside the fact that I sometimes question my sanity, and almost never feel rational when it comes to writing, paranormal does something that no other genre can do. It allows you to dive headfirst into a world where anything, absolutely anything, can and often does happen. The only limits are the depths of the author’s imagination. Now, to be fair, fantasy and sci-fi may be able to take the reader on a similar experience, but I consider both in the realm of the paranormal. Whenever we suspend our beliefs of what constitutes as “normal” than we’ve landed in the beyond normal, namely the paranormal.

As we approach Halloween, arguably the Superbowl of the Paranormal, and reflect upon this genre, I’d encourage you to pick up an author you’ve never read before. Nowadays the most challenging aspect of being a paranormal author is encouraging readers to gamble with their hard earned money on a shiny new story...from a name they’ve never heard. We’ve had amazing heavy hitters around for years, names like Jeaniene Frost and Jim Butcher, Kresley Cole and Ilona Andrews, Nalini Singh and J. R. Ward, and scores of amazingly talented paranormal and urban fantasy authors. As a small fish in a big pond, it can be hard to break into this incredibly talented market. So, blogs like Operation Awesome, and readers like you, can really make the difference in finding new stars in this field.

Finally, for the newbie paranormal readers out there, don’t be afraid to suspend your belief and take that dive into one of the odd “caves” known as paranormal stories. Whether ghosts or ghouls, vampires or werewolves, witches or psychics, and the scores of mythical and mystical creatures waiting to delight and terrify you, remember all personify our basic human fears and delights. From the immortality of the vampire to the strength of the werewolf to the ghostly desire to see our loved ones again, paranormal may be beyond the normal, but it touches us on a primal level. An author may take you on the wildest abstract ride while still pulling at your heart strings or raising the hairs on your neck, and that’s why paranormal is worth the jump...even without the safety gear.

Thanks, Tina! And if you're dying for a good Halloween read, Tina and co-author Yelena Casale have a new book coming out!

 
Cassie’s working for a tightwad boss at a pretentious NYC diner, dealing with paralyzing pain that doctors can’t diagnose, and trying to hide her hands that glow purple whenever she ...well, whenever.

So, when a mysterious stranger walks out of her dreams and into her life to spout some nonsense about her being a mythical creature, she chalks it up to one more crazy thing to add to her it’s-a-crappy-life list. Yet, when the stranger’s predictions start to come true, she discovers a world that could shake up her humdrum existence.

The book releases on Halloween, October 31st. Add it on Goodreads here! And here's some info on Tina and Yelena:

Tina Moss (on the right in photo) is an author of urban fantasy, paranormal romance, romantic suspense, and New Adult novels. She lives in NYC with a supportive husband and alpha corgi, though both males hog the bed and refuse to share the covers. When not writing, she enjoys reading, watching cheesy horror flicks, traveling, and karate. As a 5'1" Shotokan black belt, she firmly believes that fierce things come in small packages.

Find her at: 

Website
Twitter: @Tina_Moss

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Yelena Casale is an Urban Fantasy & Paranormal Romance author. When she is not writing, she loves to read, watch TV with her husband (and without), take long walks and cuddle with her cat Bones. She is a second degree black belt/Shotokan karate instructor, and archaeology, history & art enthusiast. 

Website

Twitter: @Yelena_Casale

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