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Why copy edits keep me up at night by Jina Bacarr

August 11, 2020 by Jina Bacarr in category Jina’s Book Chat, Writing tagged as author, Boldwood, Boldwood Books, historical fiction, historical romance, Ireland, Queenstown, romance', ship of dreams, stories, story, Titanic, Writer, writing

copy edits done and gone

every comma, typo, everything wrong

fixed and buttoned up nice and tight

trying so hard to get it all right

now to sleep perchance to dream in bliss?

no…tossing & turning, wondering, what did I miss?

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My Paris WW 2 historical novel is off to the proofreader!

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Once upon a time in Hollywoodland far, far away, I wrote tons of scripts for kids’ TV shows. I remember one show I was hired to work on where my script was considered the ‘hallmark’ of the series — it had all the elements they wanted in each script and they used it as a ‘sample’ to show other writers they brought on what they wanted.

Wow.

Yes, it was cool. Simple, right? Give them a good script, get a paycheck, grab another assignment.

Oh, no, my innocent ones.

It wasn’t at all like that. I met with the producers (seasoned pros) every day for two weeks until we hammered out the characters, the plot, subplot, theme… met with the toy company so I could see what the ‘toys’ looked like. Wrote an outline — a detailed outline — three times.

Got more notes. Wrote the script… rewrote it.

Then another meeting that went something like this: ‘You got the story down… characters good… ‘ say the producers. ‘But change the big action scene to include…………’

‘Why?’ I ask.

‘Because the toy company wants to introduce this …………. toy in the episode.’

I grin, say nothing. Remember rent is due. ‘You got it.’

In the end, it was a great episode with an emotional connection between the hero and his father and lots of action, but it didn’t just happen. All those meetings, notes paid off. It was a team effort and I learned back then that’s what makes good scripts. And good books.

The team.

Copy edits are a big part of that team.

Yes, I cringe, freak out, yell, and cry when I see those ‘comments’ on the right side of the page, but I’m so grateful for the time, skill, dedication, and heartfelt emotion the copy editor puts into her work. She knows this is my ‘baby’, yet it’s her job to find everything that ‘doesn’t’ work.

So a big THANK YOU to my copy editor on my Paris WW 2 historical coming out in October (cover reveal soon!) for putting up with my mistakes and asking the hard questions so I get it right.

You done good, kid.

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Blog tour coming up Oct 27 – Nov 2 already filled up except for one spot Yay!!

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THE RUNAWAY GIRL

Two women hold the keys to his heart. Only one will survive that fateful night…

When Ava O’Reilly is wrongly accused of stealing from her employer, she has no option but to flee Ireland. The law is after her, and she has only one chance at escape – the Titanic.

Aboard the ship of dreams, she runs straight into the arms of Captain ‘Buck’ Blackthorn, a dashing gentleman gambler who promises to be her protector. He is intrigued by her Irish beauty and manages to disguise her as the maid of his good friend, the lovely Countess of Marbury. Little does he realise, that the Countess is also in love with him.

As the fateful night approaches, tragedy strikes further when Ava is separated from Buck, and must make a daring choice that will change her life forever…

A sweeping historical romance set aboard the Titanic, from the author of Her Lost Love (Christmas Once Again).

Praise for Jina Bacarr:

‘A delightful holiday romance that has all the charm of a classic Christmas movie. Christmas Once Again is perfect for anyone who loves a holiday romance brimming with mistletoe, hope, and what ifs.’ Andie Newton, author of The Girl I Left Behind ‘A breathtaking holiday romance that is sure to stay with you long after reading’

‘A mesmerizing holiday romance that is sure to sweep you off your feet and take you away to another place, another time.’

‘A fabulous book you won’t want to miss’ https://youtu.be/S-33oEM4DlI

THE RUNAWAY GIRL e-book, print and audio book:

BONUS this month: meet Daisy in my Boldwood Books 1st anniversary video!

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When a writer needs a hug… by Jina Bacarr

July 11, 2020 by Jina Bacarr in category Jina’s Book Chat, Writing tagged as books, editing, historical, Paris, writing, WW 2

Writing never gets easier… if anything, it’s more difficult.

Why? Because we expect more of ourselves. Even more so when you’re doing edits from your fab editor who’s really an angel in disguise. We want to make our story as perfect as possible and not disappoint her. She believes in you. Your characters believe in you. After all, their lives are in your hands.

But like a chocolate soufflé, a lot can go wrong.

Your computer screen goes blue… computer updates send your heart pounding as you pray you get all your pretty icons back…. a character keeps you up at nights because you’re so worried about how you’re going to save her butt and yours.

There’s more:

You go over your word count.

You can’t find your timeline/fact sheet for your heroine (when you’re writing about Paris during WW 2 this is crucial).

You ‘re so tired, you push the wrong button on your keyboard and everything in Track Changes disappears

You realize a secondary relationship ain’t working because the hero is based on an old boyfriend with a big ego. You dump him. Get a new guy for the part. And he’s an absolute dream.

You work from dawn-to-dawn the week before edits are due and have no idea what day it is.

And worst of all, you run out of coffee.

But I did it!

I sent my editor the edited manuscript at 7:37 a.m. on a sunny morning… and I felt numb. No whistles went off. No bells. Just the quiet hum of my computer.

I needed a hug.

Someone telling me ‘I done good’.

Yes, I’m totally proud of what I accomplished, but writing can be a lonely business. And it’s hard work, especially writing historicals. (My story follows a dual timeline from 1926 to 1950 and present day. Silent films, Nazis in Paris, the film business in Hollywood and France.)

So I did what I swore I wouldn’t after I sent the m/s: I opened it back up and read some of my favorite passages. Laughed and cried again with my characters… sat amazed at how they accomplished their goals… fell in love with them all over again… and cheered when they beat the Nazis!

And I got that hug.

From my characters. Reminding me why I write. Because I so love them, the stories, the chance to give them life.

So, merci beaucoup, mes bons amis! Thank you, my friends.

Jina

PS — I’ll keep you posted on my Paris WW 2 historical. Cover ideas coming soon…

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CHOICES

June 19, 2020 by Jenny Jensen in category On writing . . . by Jenny Jensen, Writing tagged as inspiration, writing, writing craft

In the oceans of writing instruction and advice available to anyone with a search engine I look for everything publishers have to say about current trends. Since you can’t really access publisher’s marketing info — and certainly not Amazon’s sales data — that’s as close to the horse’s mouth as I can get to learn about sales trends. That’s info that helps me help my clients. One offering stands out about contemporary fiction: keep the narrative fast paced. This digital world of FX, Twitter, flash fiction, etc. has our brains wired for lightening fast action. There’s not a lot of room for ruminating on superfluous details of landscape, the nature of family bonds or the sounds of church bells. The story has to gallop from the starting gate to capture and compel a reader. I think we all get that. What’s interesting to me are the narrative techniques an author can use to set and maintain that just-right pace.

Voice and tense are formidable tools to heighten tension, move action and hook and hold the reader. I don’t know what goes into an author’s decisions about what tense and voice to use but I’ll venture to guess it most often comes organically. When a protagonist begins to take shape in the creative sphere of the brain the author hears 3^rd Person or 1^st Person (which is tricky to write but such fun to read when done well) and the story grows in the mind in the present or past tense. Past tense is most common in fiction (and has been for eons) and is almost always 3^rd Person. Present tense is more commonly used with 1^st P voice; it creates an immediacy and intimacy that’s very engaging.

I’d never given a thought to 3^rd Person present tense. Then I discovered the who-dun-it series of British writer Bruce Beckham. He’s amazing! Set in Britain’s Lake District his detective, Skelgill, is an irresistible mixture of irascible, self-centered, scruffy, generous and intuitive. Every character is roundly drawn and intriguing, the setting is as integral a character as the murderer and the pace never lags. Beckham accomplishes all of this in 3^rd Person (omniscient) voice, present tense. It’s an unusual combination but in the hands of this author it is riveting.

It’s how he uses this tool to set and maintain a perfect pace and to draw the reader so fully into his world that amazed me. Reading a narrative described to you by an unknown, unseen, non-judgmental voice as the action unfolds just shouldn’t work. But it does. It’s like having your eyes covered at the movies while a very erudite friend describes what is happening on-screen.

Beckham is a master wordsmith and so uses dialog to show characterization and plot points but the present tense and 3^rd P voice puts the reader in a front row seat as the action scenes unfold before our eyes. I didn’t feel as though I was right there — I was right there.

A writer’s choice of voice and tense would have to be dependent, in some part, on the story they are telling. Not every tale will fit just any combination. But it is amazing what a powerful difference the choice can make.

JENNY JENSEN

jennyjenseneditor.com

With a BA in Anthropology and English I pursued a career in advertising and writing and segued into developmental editing. It was a great choice for me. I love the process of creating and am privileged to be part of that process for so many great voices — voices both seasoned and new.

I’ve worked on nearly 400 books over 25 years, books by noted authors published by New York houses as well as with Indie bestsellers and Amazon dynamos. From Air Force manuals and marketing materials to memoirs, thrillers, sci fi and romance, my services range from copyediting to developmental coaching.

Having worked in advertising and marketing, I am always cognizant of the marketplace in which the author’s work will be seen. I coach for content and style with that knowledge in mind in order to maximize sales and/or educational potential. My objective is to help the author’s material stand out from an ever more crowded and competitive field.

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A War of Words? I think not.

June 15, 2020 by Rebecca Forster in category The Write Life by Rebecca Forster tagged as Authors, Craft, inspiration, writing

Defintion of incite

to move to action : stir up : spur on : urge on.

When I first saw this image, I paused. It almost looks as if the words are at war with one another. Just typing incite these days might result in an emotional response: dismay, frustration, and even fury. My author response was quite different. As with all words, the definition of this one depends on your point of view. From where I sit to incite is not political, it defines the core of my craft.

As an avid reader, I instinctively knew what made a story great: breathless action, sympathetic characters, and a plot that could intellectually engage me for hundreds of pages. What I learned as a fledgling writer was that I couldn’t have any of these things without a well-grounded inciting incident. This is the thing, the act, that sparks a literary fire.

Today, we seem to wake up to inciting incidents every morning. They are big, bold, and world changing. For an author, an inciting incident is a means to and end. My job is to see through the chaos and write about the individuals caught up in it. I must craft and communicate insights (noun; the capacity to gain an accurate and deep understanding of a person or thing) into the human condition that has been super-charged by the inciting incident.

I just published a novella entitled The Death of Me that illustrates this part of an author’s job. In The Death of Me, the inciting incident is the brutal murder of a gentle mountain grocer. The crime inflames the hero as a lawman, hurts his heart as the dead man’s friend, and illuminates his prejudices regarding his own community. Given this foundation, I was presented with choices. I could write about the sheriff’s emotional struggle, his procedural training, or his spiritual journey. Each choice would lead me in the direction of a different genre. I chose to address all three, but with an emphasis on the procedural aspects of the sheriff’s story because I am a thriller writer.

Still, the incident of the grocery’s murder would not be as interesting without the insights into those who survived him, loved him, hated him, and those who committed the crime. As the story unfolded, I was responsible for giving the cast of characters individual points of view about death, desire, love, and most of all justice. In other words, insights into the hearts and minds of each character informed the heart and mind of the hero and the reader.

I chose the image above precisely because it is meant to explain one thing but instead led me to quite another thought. This image is about spelling and yet in the context of our world today, in the hands of author’s and artists, there is no war between these two words. One word is not pitted against the other, one word should not be mistaken for the other. Rather the the meaning of the first word should make the second meaningful.

Nothing Found

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To sleep or not to sleep… why I stayed up till dawn every night to finish my book by Jina Bacarr

June 11, 2020 by Jina Bacarr in category Jina’s Book Chat, Writing tagged as author, Boldwood, Boldwood Books, historical fiction, historical romance, Ireland, Queenstown, romance', ship of dreams, stories, story, Titanic, Writer, writing

I’ve worked nights a lot.

On late night radio.

In a U.S. Army service club

Dancer/Singer/Cocktail waitress.

Theatre productions.

Yeah, a lot. But you’d think as a writer I could choose to work the day shift. I tried, really tried, but my brain seems to be wired to work late.

So here I am at 3:36 a.m. writing my Slice of Orange Blog for this month. I don’ t know if it’s because of the lovely quiet, the comforting shades of night that envelop you like a cozy blanket, or the two pots of coffee, but I’m a night writer.

What’s your favorite time to write? Day, night?

Leave me a comment and it will be fun to see who writes when. But the bottom line is,

WE WRITE.

And that’s all that matters.

Jina

PS — I just finished my Paris WW 2 historical fiction story. Wow, what a challenge.

I adore Paris… I remember as a kid visiting the City of Light with my parents.

I never forgot seeing buildings around the city that still had bullet holes in them from the German Occupation.

I remember wondering what it was like in 1943 if you were a Resistance fighter… now I know. My book is about a brave woman who was.

Merci.