 Red Room Writer Profile
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Louise Marley's Blog
November 8, 2009
- I've been fortunate to sell most of the books I've begun, usually on proposal. Just one died in its early stages; its demise came about when my editor, talking about the plot of the novel, asked "So what?" Ouch. That was a painful moment, but an instructive one.Like the editor I quoted in my last post, I'm a lover of beautiful prose and well-rounded characters. I love creating ...
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November 3, 2009
- At the World Fantasy Convention in San Jose, California last weekend, the super-smart editor Beth Meacham, of Tor Books, observed that "There is an unnecessary tension between beautiful prose and story-telling." She pointed to some examples of books which are not so wonderfully written, but which tell stories that keep the reader turning pages: Da Vinci Code, Harry Potter, Twilight, ...
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November 2, 2009
- I'm just back from the World Fantasy Convention, a conference attended by writers, editors, agents, and readers that was held in San Jose, CA this year. As always, with this group of people devoted to the written word, I'm amazed at how creative they are--every one of them. Writers don't just write--they paint, they make jewelry, they cook, they garden. They also often make music of every ...
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October 27, 2009
- My agent sent me a packet, at the beginning of my publishing career, which was full of advice for how to promote my book. It was very clear that entrusting all promotion to the publisher was not a good idea, and that bit of wisdom hasn't changed. Unfortunately, nearly everything else has.The packet spoke of bookmarks, postcards, book signings, mailings, reviews. The year was 1995, not all ...
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October 23, 2009
- The late, lamented Miss Snark (who according to my inside sources has transmogrified into the Query Shark, bless her) had a great summary for a query that included "What happens in the first fifty pages". These days, when the markets are so tight, I recommend to my students that something had better happen in the first ten pages. At the very least, there has to be some sort of ...
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October 21, 2009
- Until I marketed my essay "A Red and Blue Marriage" last year, it had been a long time since I had to write a query letter. I wouldn't mind if I didn't have to write one again! I had forgotten how hard it is to get in what you want to say without sending the editor in a spasm of yawning. How much do you say? Does the editor already know your name, in which case a list of your ...
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October 16, 2009
- Like my father, who was a fine doctor with abysmal money sense, I'm not the most practical person in the world. I've worked in the arts all my life, and I've probably just been lucky sometimes to keep my head above water. I do try--I read my contracts, I keep track of my delivery and acceptance payments, I struggle to understand royalty statements. But when things go well, and a bit of ...
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October 13, 2009
- It was so exciting, when I made my first sale, to be given the name of my "publicist". Wow. My own publicist! I had really arrived.I received an email from my "publicist" introducing herself, expressing enthusiasm for my project, and asking me for any ideas or plans I'd made. Naturally, filled with optimism and energy, I responded with volumes of suggestions.And then she went ...
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October 12, 2009
- I wish, as a content creator (newspeak for writer) that I didn't have to worry about the business side of books. But I'd like to go on being a writer, publishing books and stories, being active in the field. So--with a sigh--I gird my loins and plunge in to the fray.I've just read a long post by Steve Ross, a former Harper Collins executive. He, along with many other editors and execs, ...
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October 11, 2009
- Soon after German Chancellor Angela Merkel gave a speech excoriating Google's attempt to create a massive international digital library, and declaring her support of copyrights for German writers, comes this from Sergey Brin, Google's co-founder:The vast majority of books ever written are not accessible to anyone except the most tenacious researchers at premier academic libraries," he points ...
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October 8, 2009
- There's an old story in publishing about the science fiction writer whose book sold out its 4,000 copy print run in the first six months, and then promptly went out of print. When the poor author complained to his publisher, he was told that 4,000 copies wasn't enough to send the book back for a second printing.Publishers try to project sales when they determine print runs. Dan Brown's new ...
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October 5, 2009
- I'm a devotee of the great science fiction writer Connie Willis. I mean, really devoted, as in I would like to be her, as a writer, if I could. No one is better at plot, at humor, at science blended with story, at high concept, low concept, romantic comedy or apocalyptic disasters, than Connie. She's also a magnificent teacher.Locus Magazine has a lengthy interview with her in the current ...
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September 30, 2009
- I was sitting next to one of Ace Fantasy's fine young editors and listening to a presentation by two of science fiction and fantasy's most prolific authors propound the philosophy they teach to lots and lots of up-and-coming writers: Write a lot. Send it out. Don't revise except if an editor asks you to. Then, straightfaced, they add, We're not kidding.The editor and I looked at each ...
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September 23, 2009
- I've always hated saying goodbye, perhaps because I had to do it too much as a child, shuttling back and forth between one parent and the other. Even casual goodbyes bother me, either dragging out too long or being so perfunctory they seem rude. Some farewells are wrenching, as when I left my son at college for the first time. Others are a relief, when a relationship has been over for some ...
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September 21, 2009
- The submission and sales process can be one of the great mysteries to the writer laboring all by herself, far from New York, connected to editors and agents only by email and phone calls. The advent of blogs has helped a lot to give us some insight, out here in Writerland, about how agents think. I especially like reading Agent Kristin's blog at http://pubrants.blogspot.com. Now a colleague ...
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