I Get By With a Little Help from My Friends {Novella Lessons + Sneak Peek}

Less than a week to go before the Love at First Laugh collection releases, and it's getting real, y'all. I've learned so much in this process, like:

• Just because a novella is smaller doesn't mean it's easier to write. 
• When you've spent seven years marketing books full-time as your job and three getting to market your favorite author friends, it's strange and exciting being on the other end of it and promoting your own books.
• Getting the first positive feedback from someone who isn't your critique partner or family member is an indescribable experience. (I'm not crying. You're crying!)
• Things rarely ever go as planned in creative projects.
• It's okay to put your work out there even if you're afraid it's not perfect. Because it will never be perfect.
• Only in the writing community -- in the inspirational writing community, to be exact -- are other authors not seen as competition, but as co-workers in the holy responsibility to point readers to Christ. 

Can I make a confession right now? As much as it agonized my reformed-people-pleaser-heart, I almost dropped out of the collection. Twice. I know -- so unlike me! But my first draft was rushed and flat and uninspired due to an unexpected death in the family and The Tomlinson Household Quarantine of 2016. I spent the time designated in my detailed, color-coded plan for professional edits on rewriting the entire thing. I didn't want to publish it because I knew that it wouldn't be absolutely perfect.

And then, suddenly, my rewrite plunged from a long, dark tunnel to daylight. My characters had dimension! Chemistry, even, which is kind of important for a romance! I was chatting with my friend Jessica Patch about a scene in which my characters break down on the side of the road and accidentally stumble upon a high school Revolutionary War dance, of all things. As we went back and forth, she illuminated a sequence of events that would be more dynamic in real-time instead of glossed over in the narrative as I'd done. 

Moral of the story: Things don't always turn out the way you plan in story world, but many times, it ends up better -- especially with a little help from your friends. Trusted members of your writing community can help you see your story in a new light and learn valuable information about your characters. (Like maybe your baseball playing hero was also an academic bowl nerd. *Swoon*) And author-friends remind you that God doesn't need a flawless manuscript to whisper messages through your words. 

Here's a tiny snippet from the scene I mentioned above:

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“Are you a history buff yourself?”

Nick grinned. “I wasn’t captain of the Westmoore High quiz bowl for nothing.”

Shirley clasped her hands. “Oh, you should join us if the truck’s going to be a while.” She bent and started digging through a trunk. “There are also some British sea service pistols and Charleville muskets floating around here.”

“Oh, that’s all right.” Nick searched for an excuse. “Really, we wouldn’t want to—”

Shirley held up a ruffled, pink-gray gown as the door opened, and he looked from the dress to Chelsea. From Chelsea to the dress. With the hint of a smile on her face, she looked so relieved. So unsuspecting.  

“You know what?” He stifled a laugh. “On second thought, I think we can stay for a while.” Chelsea in that dress would make the blown water pump worth its weight in gunpowder and chests of Boston Harbor tea.

She reached them, her smile shifting to confusion at Nick’s face and disappearing completely when she saw the dress. “What’s this?”

“How we’re going to pass the next thirty minutes.”

Shirley handed him a white, curly wig.

“Nick.”

“C’mon, Scotty.” He pulled the wig on.

“Absolutely not.” 

Two minutes later, the smell of mothballs and baby powder assaulted him from the top of his head, and he could barely move his arms in a blue militia jacket. Yet somehow he suspected Chelsea had it worse based on the thumps coming from behind the wall.

“Were you able to reach my dad?”

Nick turned to face the helpful colonial nurse, who was now bookended by friends with grins full of braces. “Yes. Thank you so much.” He gave her the phone and pulled on the hem of his jacket. “You guys are seriously awesome.”

And to top it all off, they’d let him keep his own pants.

“Would you like us to teach you the Cornwallis Country Dance until your lady comes back?”

Her friend on the left snickered. “Or perhaps the Congress Minuet? That will really impress her.”

The sound of wood cracking on wood saved him from answering.

Wow. Nick swallowed hard as Chelsea appeared in the doorway, her yoga tights and tunic replaced with the ruffled gown, which pulled in tightly at the waist, accentuating every curve. Its champagne color set off her milky skin and coppery hair. Her eyes met his, utterly unimpressed, and he smiled. Suddenly that Congress Minuet didn’t sound so bad.

“Well, look at you.” Nick nudged a petal-pink ruffle on her shoulder. “Scotty in a dress.”

“A tiny dress.” She pulled at it, lips parting at the popping noise that resulted. “I definitely don’t have the body of a fifteen-year-old girl.”

For the love of all that is good in this world, thank you, Jesus.




From That's When I Knew, part of the Love at First Laugh inspirational romance collection. Get all 8 novellas (including fabulous new work from Pepper and Krista) for 99 cents on Kindle for a limited time!

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Laurie Tomlinson is an award-winning contemporary romance author and cheerleader for creatives. She believes that God's love is unfailing, anything can be accomplished with a good to-do list, and that life should be celebrated with cupcakes and extra sprinkles. 

Previously a full-time book publicist, Laurie now serves as a virtual assistant and runs a freelance editing and PR consulting business called 1624 Communications. 

She lives with her husband and two small children in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where they are eagerly awaiting the release of her debut contemporary romance novel in May 2017 from Harlequin Heartwarming.

You can connect with Laurie on her website, Facebook page, and Twitter. 

Writing Short When You're Long-winded

I’m trying my hand at my very first novella. Anyone else had practice with that? It’s kind of tough for me to think in anything less that 75-90K words (or more). I guess that goes along with being an extrovert/chatty sort of person, but thinking ‘short’ is tough.

Plus I'm a good old Southern Appalachian girl. And we like to talk.

The one short story I’ve written took three weeks to write – just because I had to keep condensing, and condensing, and chopping away some more to meet the 2500 word requirement.

It’s tough stuff writing short when you’re long-winded.

So I’m finished with chpt 1- a whopping 2911 words out of 20K. Will I make it? We’ll see. LOL

What are some tips to writing short?

1. One basic story line - from what I understand, novellas focus more on one major story line than novels. There's not enough space for more. Since I write romance, the main story line focuses on the romance, even though I plan to still have a secondary motivation for my heroine. 

2. Less flowery and more concise (I have lots of trouble with that). 100,000 word novels give lots of margin to develop secondary story line and secondary characters. It also allows for more descriptions. But I'm learning that I can still describe things well but in a more concise way for a novella. Will see how well I do by the end :-) I have a sneaky suspicion my 20,000 words will probably turn into 40k and I'll have a lot of editing to do in the end.

3. Fewer secondary characters - having fewer secondary characters and less description does not mean you can't still make all of your characters memorable. I like a large cast of characters because they end up turning into other novel ideas. As I'm writing this current novella, I have only two secondary characters that are prevalent in the story.

So, I'm ready for your advice. Have you read the novella? What did you learn from the process?

Pepper D. Basham - Pepper is a native of the Blue Ridge Mountains, mom of five, music pastor’s wife, and speech-language pathologist. When she’s not sleeping, she’s creating fictional worlds where good defeats evil, laughter reigns, and adventure thrives. She's won several awards for her fiction and currently lives with the writing motto – “Write in the moment. You’re not promised the next ten minutes.”

Pepper writes a variety of genres, from Contemporary romance to fantasy or historical to supernatural, all with some of her Appalachian culture sprinkled in.

Let's Collaborate! *GIVEAWAY* guest Post with Amy Matayo

Last November I attended a writing retreat with a few friends—some I knew well, and some I had just met. The lake home where we stayed was sprawling and beautiful and on lots and lots of land, but the bedroom situation required roommates. I had three: one who lived near me in the great state of Arkansas (Jenny B. Jones—a good friend whom I had known long time), and two who lived in Dallas (Nicole Deese—my “writer wife” who encourages me through every book I write, and Tammy L. Gray—whom I had just had the pleasure of meeting).

            So one afternoon the four of us were all sitting on beds and working quietly when Nicole said this: “We all seem to get along well and like the same kinds of books. What if we all write one together?” We all looked up from our computers, sat there quietly for a second, collectively shrugged and grabbed notebooks, and then headed to the local Starbucks.

            Thirty minutes later we sat around a table with lattes and pens.

            Two hours after that, we had a plot.

            The next morning, we shot a bunch of author photos together by the lake.

            The next week, we talked book covers.

            And a few weeks after that, we traded finished stories, read through them, and then sent them all off to two very gifted editors.

            Six months.

The whole process took six months from the first idea to the publication date. To say it was a busy time is like saying Mt. Everest is kinda hard to climb. But it was worth it. The stressing and the writing and the crying and the wanting to jump off a building (or maybe that was just me?). It was worth all of it, because I love our stories. I love knowing it’s possible to work with other authors, navigate through different ideas and writing styles, and come out challenged and better for it in the end.

But why am I telling you this?

Because a big part of being a writer is learning how to wait. Waiting on story ideas. Waiting on writer’s block to pass. Waiting for the story to come together. Waiting on editors to tell you how good or bad your manuscript actually is. Waiting on query letters to be read and answered. Waiting on offers from agents...from publishers. And when you’re lucky enough to finally get a contract, waiting on publication dates that seem forever on the horizon.

Waiting. Waiting. Waiting. It’s what we all do because it’s what we’re all used to.

But maybe you shouldn’t always wait. Maybe you should shake things up and jump in with both feet and try something you’ve never done before. Don’t have a story idea? Write anyway and see if brilliance will strike while you’re typing. Have writer’s block? Scratch out some sentences—even if they’re awful—and push your way through it.  Not sure where to go next? Grab a friend or three and talk it out together. Who knows? If you try those things, maybe you’ll have a book ready to go in just a few short months. The only thing I know for sure is that nothing much happens if you’re just sitting there waiting for inspiration to strike. Inspiration happens at the weirdest times.

At a writer’s retreat. At a coffee shop. Who knows?

Just get to writing. It’s a pretty good way to pass the time.

-Amy Matayo

****TRIPLE GIVEAWAY****

STEP 1: Share this post on Facebook to help spread the word about Nicole, Tammy, Amy, and Jenny's fabulous new collaboration! 

STEP 2:  Leave your email address in the comments section here AND if you can think of one, name one of your favorite authors you'd LOVE to collaborate with!

STEP 3: I (Amy Leigh Simpson-your AlleyCat Hostess) will draw three names out of a hat and gift the winners an e-copy of JUST ONE SUMMER! The perfect summer read! If we can get a bunch of traffic here I'll bump it up to FIVE WINNERS. Go forth, spread the word! And please, if you read, make an author's day by leaving a quick review. <3

 

--Four Best Friends. Four Love Stories. Just One Summer. Four college girls, best friends since childhood, have found one constant in their ever-changing lives--summer. Every June the girls choose a destination to reconnect, only this summer is different. This year, each one must face life's challenges on her own, overcome fear and failure, and learn the beauty of falling in love for the first time. --

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Amy Matayo is an award winning author of The Wedding Game, Love Gone Wild, Sway, In Tune With Love, and A Painted Summer. She graduated with barely passing grades from John Brown University with a degree in Journalism. But don't feel sorry for her--she's super proud of that degree and all the ways she hasn't put it to good use.

She laughs often, cries easily, feels deeply, and loves hard. She lives in Arkansas with her husband and four kids and is working on her next novel. www.amymatayo.

                                       Twitter: @amymatayo            Facebook: www.facebook.com/amymatayo

 

Award-winning, best-selling author Jenny B. Jones writes romance with sass and Southern charm. Woefully indecisive, she writes YA, New Adult, and women’s romance. Since she has very little free time, Jenny believes in spending her spare hours in meaningful, intellectual pursuits, such as watching bad TV, Tweeting deep thoughts to the world, and writing her name in the dust on her furniture. She can be found at www.jennybjones.com.

 

 

Nicole Deese is a lover of fiction. When she isn’t writing, she can be
found fantasizing about “reading escapes,” which look a lot like kid-free,
laundry-free, and cooking-free vacations. Nicole is a Kindle best-selling author of The Letting Go series and A Cliché Christmas, book one in her new Love In Lenox series. She writes clean contemporary romance with an inspirational twist, and
lives in beautiful north Idaho with her swoony husband and rambunctious sons.

 

Tammy L. Gray is the kindle best selling author of the Winsor Series and Mercy’s Fight. She writes modern Christian romance and clean YA/NA romance. She believes hope and healing can be found through high quality fiction that inspires and provokes change.

 

Her books are about flawed characters who struggle in today’s world. She loves writing stories that offer hope to the broken, with the intention of taking the readers on a journey where they both cheer for and want to shake the hero/heroine. She aims to depict culturally relevant settings while presenting an uplifting message that will stay with readers long after the book is closed.

 

When not chasing after her three amazing kids, Tammy L. Gray can be spotted with her head in a book. Writing has given her a platform to combine her passion with her ministry. 

The VALUE in VARIETY

When I started writing "seriously" back in 2007, I had this tunnel vision of what I expected to write.

I wanted to write full-length contemporary romance for one of the top-ten Christian publishers.

Nothing less. Nothing more.

Not picky, right?

It's amazing at how much the publishing landscape has changed in the last 8 years since I took that original leap at following my dream of being a published author.

There are SO many more choices and options than there were then, and more and more authors are seeing value in embracing the changing landscape and being on the frontline vs dragging behind, resistant to change.

And I'm not talking just about indie-publishing, even though that is a definite change.

Authors TODAY are looking at a lot more than just writing what they've already written.

Publishers are encouraging novella prequels or sequels to help promote their books and build readership. Authors are seeing value in indie-publishing their backlist or publishing those books-in-the-closet that would never see the light of day otherwise as they aren't considered marketable by traditional publishers. Some authors are choosing to be hybrids (raising my hand!) and others are ditching traditional publishing and going indie with both feet and not looking back. (and quite a few of them are making bank off that decision!) From short-stories to non-fiction to children or YA fiction, there are SO many more options available today.

A few example:

Jody Hedlund's novella Out of the Storm was a prequel published before her newest Lighthouse series was released. It's currently FREE on Kindle and includes a preview to the first book in the series, Love Unexpected.

Katie Ganshert has dipped her toe into indie publishing with her first YA novel, The Gifting!

Susan May Warren recently published 3 of her previously published novellas from her early days in a novella collection called Somewhere, My Love.

And a new trend over the last year that is quickly picking up traction are group novella collections! A great example is a team of indie-authors who published Splash! a collection of contemporary Christian romance novellas by 9 different authors - releasing June 23rd and available for pre-order now! They usually sell the collections for a small price of 99 cents, but the volume of sales on top of the exposure for marketing make this an interesting new idea! I myself am going to be a part of a Christmas collection come this holiday season!

There are so many other examples, but this was just a small sampling.

The point is -- your publishing experience doesn't have to be limited to one thing anymore. In fact, it is looking more and more like it SHOULDN'T be anymore too.

What about you? Have you thought about outside-the-box publishing options? 

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Krista is a follower of Jesus, a wife, a mother, and author of Sandwich, With a Side of Romance, A Side of Faith, and A Side of Hope. She blogs about finding JOY in the journey of LIFE at http://www.kristaphillips.com. She is represented by Sarah Freese of Wordserve Literary.

Beyond the Novel

I dare say most people reading this are working on that great American novel (or the second or third or twentieth one....)

God has called us to write, and write we shall!

But writing a novel is not the only way to fulfill the calling that is "writing," although it certainly is one of them!

Let's take the Alleycats for example.

EVERY single one of us blogs... here and many of us on our own personal blogs. Have you checked them out lately?

Mary blogs at  LET'S TALK and a fabulous blog for kids at God Loves Kids.

Amy blogs at The Writer's Break Room.

Pepper has this fab blog here.

Ashley gives us a big of her Southern Grace on her blog.

Angie is Taking It All In over at her place.

Casey is being her usual self and Writing for Christ.

Sherrinda is, well, Simply Sherrinda. (but really, there is nothing simple about this awesome lady!)

Julia is a contributor at Wonderfully Woven

Karen shows us all up on her AWESOME blog, A House Full of Sunshine, that is just taking off like CRAZY!

Laurie is full of awesomeness herself on her blog here.

And then of course there's little ol' me. I blog about finding Joy in the Journey (although I think about 70% of my readers just want to hear Annabelle updates, LOL!)

There are many of us who also contribute to other blogs such as www.inspyromance.com and www.wordservewatercooler.com and I know I'm missing some others! (Alleycats, feel free to add in the comments!)

Then we have the fabulous Julia who writes articles and reviews for The Library Journal.

The amazing Ashley who had her first short story published in one of A Cup of Christmas Cheer this year!

And yours truly is trying her hand at novellas this year starting with A Side of Faith, so that is super fun!

But you know?

It can even be simpler than these various ideas.

My daughter came to me the other day and wanted to do a monologue in a talent competition where one of the categories was dramatic monologue. But she didn't want to just do a monologue, she wanted ME to write her one.

*gulp*

So I tried my hand at it. I've never done anything like that before. It's a fairly short one, but I'm decently pleased with the outcome. And it was a little reminder to God that there is more to this writing thing than just novels. He wants us to use our gifts in LOTS of ways, and to limit the reach to just that next novel probably isn't the best use of our talents.

I'm not telling you to go start a blog. Many people have NO interest in doing so, and that is perfectly fine. I'm just saying to think outside the box a little, or at least erase those lines and let God show you other places he might be wanting to use your writing.

Discussion: What ways do you write that don't include writing that big novel?