Interview with Terry Lynn Johnson

I'm lucky (or cunning) enough to have lured yet another successful writer over to my blog for an SAT - Successful Author Talk. SAT authors have conquered the query, slain the synopsis and attained the pinnacle of published. How'd they do it? Let's ask 'em!

Today's guest is Terry Lynn Johnson, published author of DOGSLED DREAMS (2011). In her newest title, ICE DOGS, a 15-year old dogsled racer loses her way on a routine daytime outing with her dogs; with food gone and temperatures dropping, her survival and that of her dogs and the mysterious boy she meets in the woods, is up to her. ICE DOGS will be available Winter 2013 from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Are you a Planner or Pantster?

I'm somewhere in between. I plan, then everything goes for a crap when I start to write.

How long does it typically take you to write a novel, start to finish?

My first draft is normally complete after a hectic four or five weeks. Not sure if that's called a novel though, more like a big pile of goob.

Do you work on one project at a time, or are you a multi tasker?

One is enough!

Have you ever quit on an ms, and how did you know it was time?

I have one half finished that I may get back to. I've discovered that if I don't stay on the writing wave the first draft, if I take a break, I have a hard time getting back to it. Could be because I have the attention span of a pea.

Who is your agent and how did you get that "Yes!" out of them?

The most awesome Caryn Wiseman of the Andrea Brown Literary Agency picked my query for ICE DOGS out of the slush pile. I was signed with her within three weeks of sending my query. We've never even met. That means if I can do it, anyone can.

How long did you query before landing your agent?

I queried a few agents with an early draft of my manuscript, and received some great advice on how to revise. I'm so glad that happened, because then I sent the newly revised manuscript to Caryn!

Any advice to aspiring writers out there on conquering query hell?

I'm not convinced you need to stress over the query. It's the first pages that the agent reads, if they like it, they'll go back to the query. You have to catch their interest in the first pages!

How did that feel, the first time you saw your book for sale?

My book was face out in my local Chapters bookstore and I almost had a meltdown right there. I was pointing it out to complete strangers and taking pictures with my cell phone. So embarrassing!

How much input do you have on cover art?

I did have some on a technical error with regards to the sled. But other than that, not much.

What's something you learned from the process that surprised you?

That the writer is usually the last to know what is going on. I still don't know what is going on. What is going on???

How much of your own marketing do you?

I have a blog, am on Twitter, and have my own website.

When do you build your platform? After an agent? Or should you be working before?

If you're a writer, I think you should have some kind of presence out there. A website is free. It's easy to join Twitter, and fun. And you can learn so much from other writers.

Do you think social media helps build your readership?

I don't think it hurts, unless you're a complete dork

An Interview with Miriam Forster

I'm lucky (or cunning) enough to have lured yet another successful writer over to my blog for an SAT - Successful Author Talk. SAT authors have conquered the query, slain the synopsis and attained the pinnacle of published. How'd they do it? Let's ask 'em!

Miriam Forster learned to read at the age of five, wrote her first story at the age of seven and has been playing with words ever since. Her debut novel, HOUSE OF A THOUSAND DOLLS is being published by HarperCollins. In her daily life, Miriam is a wife, a terrible housekeeper and a dealer of caffeine at a coffee shop. In her internal life, she imagines fight scenes, obsesses about anthropology, nature shows and British television, and reads far too many books. Miriam is represented by Jennifer Laughran of the Andrea Brown Agency. 

Are you a Planner or Pantster?

Definitely a planner. I work mainly in lists, list of scenes I need, lists of characters, lists of settings.  That way, if I run out of words on one scene or setting, I can go work on another.  Then after the first draft is done, I go through it with a basic plot outline in hand to make sure the pacing is right.

How long does it typically take you to write a novel, start to finish?

Every book is different. DOLLS took me a year to write, the novel after it took about three or four months. But I have done a first draft in a month before.

Do you work on one project at a time, or are you a multi-tasker?

When I first draft, I’m very focused and don’t work on more than one thing at a time.  But I’ve been known to be a multi-tasker when I edit.

Did you have to overcome any fears that first time you sat down to write?

Every part of the process has a fear attached to it, and most of them revolve around the fear that this time I won’t be good enough. Oddly enough, the first time I sat down to write a novel, I was in high school and there was no fear. I just thought it would be fun to try.

How many trunked books (if any) did you have before you were agented?

MF: THE HOUSE OF A THOUSAND DOLLS was the second book I ever wrote. The first one is firmly trunked, which is kind of a long story, but I did write three more books  between the time I wrote DOLLS and the time it sold

Have you ever quit on an ms, and how did you know it was time?

I quit on ideas all the time, or write the first page and nothing else. But if I get into a first draft, I finish it. So far I’ve only trunked one novel, and that had more to do with content and the market changing than giving up on the actual book.

Who is your agent and how did you get that "Yes!" out of them?  

My agent is the awesome Jennifer Laughran, and I got her through the traditional query process. Actually, it was a fabulous piece of serendipity. I was pretty sure she’d say no, I was just long-shotting a query to make myself feel better about yet another rejection letter.  But she loved it.

How long did you query before landing your agent?

I queried this book for about two years, but that was really off-and-on. I would query a batch or two of agents, collect rejections, sit on the book for a while, query again, etc. At one point I shelved it for about six months and then did a major rewrite. All together, I think I sent around 40 queries. (Not counting the ones I sent for other projects in between querying DOLLS.)

Any advice to aspiring writers out there on conquering query hell?

Sending out another query is a great way to celebrate a rejection. ☺

Actually, the BEST advice I ever got was “Write another book.” One of the reasons I think I made it through query hell with only a few scars was that I kept writing. Having another book lined up in the queue that could be the one, is a great comfort.

How did that feel, the first time you saw your book for sale?

When I saw the Publisher’s Marketplace announcement, I squealed. I squealed even louder when the book went up on Goodreads. I can’t imagine how loud I’ll squee when I see it on the shelves. It feels unreal, amazing and a little scary.

How much input do you have on cover art?

Contractually, not much. But my editor is awesome, and she sent me an email asking if there was anything I really wanted or didn’t want on the cover. That really made me feel included. But I’m not a marketer, so whatever they put on the cover is fine with me. (As long as it’s not fugly.)

What's something you learned from the process that surprised you?

I was surprised how much work the edits are. I was expecting to edit, and I even managed to avoid most of the “OMG, my book sucks” reaction that is very common. But the edits were intense. It was like taking a master class in storytelling.

How much of your own marketing do you?  Do you have a blog / site / Twitter?

Fortunately, I started blogging and getting into social media several years ago, so I feel a lot more prepared to do promotion than I think I otherwise would. I have a blog, a Facebook page, a Tumblr, a Goodreads profile and a real author. J

When do you build your platform? After an agent? Or should you be working before?

I think social media is a great thing to get into before you get an agent. But it should be less like building a platform and more like joining a conversation. If you view us as a market and not as people, we will know. Most people on the Internet can smell insincerity from the first word you tweet, and they tend to avoid it.

Do you think social media helps build your readership?

As I said, social media is a great way to join the conversation. If you view people as people and genuinely connect with them as friends, they’ll respond. And it’s very likely they will want to support you and buy your book.

Interview with Sarah Darer Littman

I'm lucky (or cunning) enough to have lured yet another successful writer over to my blog for an SAT - Successful Author Talk. SAT authors have conquered the query, slain the synopsis and attained the pinnacle of published. How'd they do it? Let's ask 'em!

Today's guest is Sarah Darer Littman, author of WANT TO GO PRIVATE?  WTGP? has had such a profound effect on the students here in my library that I wanted to open up this SAT a little more, and get into the bones of what drove Sarah to write about such an emotional topic.

WANT TO GO PRIVATE? deals with a sensitive issue - sexual predators online. Why did you choose to write this story?

I was actually trying to write a completely different book when I heard Supervisory Special Agent Tom Lawler of the FBI’s New Haven Office speak about Internet Safety at my son’s school two years ago. But I was already extremely aware how many parents are flying blind when it comes to their kids’ online activities, and how easy it is for young people to make mistakes that have lasting and far-reaching consequences.

After SSA Lawler's presentation, he told me about a case in CT where a girl had left with a predator. Fortunately, her mom was a reasonably clued up parent and had the passwords to the girl’s accounts, so they were able to figure out what had happened pretty quickly, but even so, by the time she and the predator were apprehended they'd almost reached the Canadian border. What struck me most – and what inspired me to write WANT TO GO PRIVATE? – was her reaction when the police apprehended the predator. It wasn’t “Thank heavens you’ve rescued me”, but rather “Don’t hurt him!”

As soon as I heard that, I turned to SSA Lawler and said, “That is the book.” Kids today have been getting Internet Safety training since elementary school, and this girl’s mother was obviously clued up enough to have the passwords to her account, so I imagine there had been discussions in the home. How then, did she travel from having had all those warnings to the point of “Don’t hurt him!”?

That question wouldn’t leave me alone.  It pursued me and nagged me until I called my agent and said, “I need to write this book.” Fortunately, Jen Rees, my wonderful editor at Scholastic, was extremely supportive, so I was able to start the research that would help me find the answer that question and thus tell Abby's story.

What kind of sources did you use for your research? At any point was it too emotionally difficult for you to push forward?

I was very fortunate to be able to get permission to work with the New Haven Office of the FBI for my research. I also consulted with detectives at my local police department in Greenwich, a friend of mine who is a well-known expert on pedophiles, and read extensive research on the topic. I found it extremely difficult at times, both doing the research and writing some of the scenes. The most difficult scene for me to write was one of which only a fraction appears in the book. When I sent the book to my editor, one of the notes in the editorial letter was that it seemed like Abby and Luke only went on a car ride together. I realized that subconsciously, I really didn't want to know what had happened to Abby. As a victim of childhood sexual abuse myself, it was extremely painful to think about, like picking a scab off a wound that I thought had healed. But to do justice to Abby's story, I had to open the door to that motel room and look inside. When I tried at first, I started having really bad nightmares and had to stop. But then I got to the point in revisions when I had to do it in order to continue. It was one of the most difficult writing days I've ever had.

Some of the scenes in WTGP are very disturbing, yet necessary for the message. How did you decide where the line was drawn in terms of your audience?

I wrote the first draft without too much thought to language, because allowing an internal censor can be crippling. But before I sent it to my editor, and then with every single subsequent edit, I thought about every single word. Literally. I had friends of mine, an 8th grade media specialist and an 8th grade language arts teacher (who are now immortalized as Officer Ball and Office Domuracki) read early drafts for language and content. Karen Ball highlighted every single swear for me:

I went through and cut out as many as I possibly could - only keeping the ones that I felt were necessary in terms of the story. I do feel that I achieved this, because while most of the reviews mention the graphic nature of some of the scenes, I don't think there are any reviews that have said that I've used graphic language gratuitously.

The bottom line is that real predators get very dirty very quickly. I tried to focus more on the seduction angle of the relationship between Luke and Abby in order to minimize the content, but let's face it, you can't write a realistic book about the grooming process without some language and content. My view is that it's crazy to say "we shouldn't let our kids read this book because of the language and sexual content" while we're letting them loose on the Internet. The letters I'm getting from readers who have already had experiences with predators and tell me how much they relate to the book, some as young as 12 - bear out the danger of the denial strategy.

The website that Abby meets her attacker on is www.chezteen.com which is a real website devoted to educating teens about internet safety. Where did this stroke of genius come from?

*blushes* Well, thank you for calling it a stroke of genius : ) I actually registered the url as I was writing the first draft of the book with the thought that I would make it into an Internet Safety site. I knew that the first  thing I would do if I were reading the book as a teen would be to go check out the website to see if it was a real site. YA authors still have a very strong inner teen - that's how we write with a teen voice.  So I wanted to make sure I owned the site and could use it for a positive purpose. I'd hoped to make it into a discussion site but unfortunately that would take more time and money than I have available.

One of the most compelling things about WTGP is that Abby is a booksmart girl from a fairly normal home. What motivated you to place such a character in this situation?

An FBI agent who did a presentation sponsored by the Greenwich Penwomen talked about a common misconception that the kids who are taken in by predators are only "bad" kids with "bad" parents. I think so many kids hear the Internet Safety talks at school and think, "That wouldn't happen to me, I'd never be that stupid". But there's a big difference between academic intelligence and emotional maturity, which takes longer to develop.

So I wanted Abby to be academically smart and "a good kid" and her parents to decent people, but like many parents, busy and distracted because they both work and don't always have the downtime to just sit and allow the conversations to happen.