Nicci Uncategorized, Writing

The cover is here!

My first published story is getting closer to being on the virtual shelves. The cover came in a couple days ago.

My first book cover
My first book cover

The cover artists were one of the biggest reasons I went with The Wild Rose Press. During the publishing process, you fill out a form called Cover Art Sheets. In this you explain the premise, give links to covers you like, any design suggestions, and you say what the most important element is. I detailed out two alternate covers with a lot of instructions and even did a mock up of a cover. My critique partner (CP) asked with some amusement (she’s pubb’d with WRP), how much of my suggestions were used. Answer: none. Ha ha! Except for “the most important element,” which I said was the hot FBI agent.

The heroine on the cover looks contemporary. At first I was like, “Wait! I didn’t describe that outfit.” The intelligent people I surround myself with quickly pointed out the obvious. Yeah, Angela Anderson saved me from myself. I’m so happy with the cover.

You know, for a long time, I didn’t want to be published. When I announced this to one of my writing friends, she said, “I don’t know what to do with that.”  She had already fixed me up by helping me see my slump-du-jour might be because I didn’t like the story I was working on, letting me know I could just set it aside and move on. We don’t have to finish everything we start. But then I came out with that comment.

Not wanting to be published sounds crazy, but to me, when I looked at people who were published, it didn’t look fun to me. At the time, I had a demanding job, and being a published author looked like a lot more pressure and work and no fun. But I watched my CP’s experience with The Wild Rose Press for a couple years. Her experience looked SO FUN!!!! She even went to an author retreat at a ranch in Texas! (I get to go to the next one, next year. Very excited.) Her editor was nice. Tough but nice, encouraging. They got back to her. They were organized. Then she received her first cover and wow. Now it’s happening to me.

In conclusion, getting published with The Wild Rose Press is FUN!

Nicci Writing

My first edit and what’s next

In the featured photo, blue indicates changed text.

Receive first publishing contract for a romantic short story (50 pages), do the *happy dance,* sign the contract.

Next comes edits. The (wonderful) Wild Rose Press editor sends high-level view of what can be improved. Sends an Author Guide with self-editing tips.

Apply each tip systematically, 57.5 hours, but who’s counting.

The story transforms! Improves. Deep point-of-view achieved! (Reader feels like they are in the character’s head, rather than being told a story by an author.)

VERSION 1:

She neither blinked nor breathed as the door swung open, not wanting to miss a second of his reaction. What she hadn’t prepared for was her own reaction to the sheer physicality of him as he sauntered through the door, a white, button-down shirt tucked into belted khakis over what she knew to be tight, muscled abs. His deliberate style of movement came to a smart stop as his perceptive gaze settled on her. Her throat dried and a rustling motion stirred in her abdomen.

VERSION 2:

He sauntered through the door, a white, button-down shirt tucked into belted khakis. When his dark gaze found her, he stopped. Stared. Her throat dried and a rustling motion stirred in her abdomen.

VERSION 1:

His deflated expression provided a measure of payback. But no satisfaction. Enough pretending. She raised her hand with the note and nodded.

VERSION 2:

The corners of his mouth drooped. Payback. But then she lifted the note and nodded. Like a fool.

The types of edits shown above tightened and removed distance between the reader and the characters’ experiences. But a lot of the (57.5 hours) of effort came from adding a sense other than sight throughout the manuscript.

VERSION 1

“A, it’s not a date. B, who says I like him? I never said that.”

VERSION 2

“A,” she said, opening the car door. With the sun gone, the temperature had dropped 10 degrees. She picked up her sweater. “This is not a date. B, who says I like him? I never said that.”

Excerpts from The Last Straw, copyright 2013, Nia Simone.

Accomplished: Manuscript Info Sheet (excerpt, blurb, cover quotes…) DONE. Cover Art Sheets (what do you want on the cover, describe the story, provide links to similar book covers you like, go overboard and do mock-ups in GIMP (actually, they like the writer to do as much as possible.)) DONE

What’s next? Get to skip second round of full edits. (Yay! Editor actually gave virtual gold star.) Next step is “Author copyedit.” Then it goes to copyedit (another editor). (Love editors.)

Lesson: Being Type A works really well for being an author, too. (Like for being a tech writer and project manager.) Doesn’t work that well for retirement.

Nicci Writing

The editing process, writing craft musings

I just signed my first writing contract for a romantic short story called The Last Straw. My publisher is The Wild Rose Press. Now I am on my 20th hour of the first round of edits.

In this post I talked about deep point of view:  Writing craft musings and Brenda Novak. A lot of the editing steps help increase the experience of deep POV. The publisher provides a list to help authors. The list gives a systematic way to edit. Use Find and search for specific words, then rewrite. Some things you have to look for by reading, but many things can be found by searching for certain strings. I can’t even imagine doing this effectively in the days of typewriters. No wonder so few authors were published in those days. With the help of word processing, we can all improve.

Here is an excerpt from my edit letter. I think it articulates why we do all this editing even though the original was correct and good enough for the publisher to offer a contract.

All of this is to make your book even better. Most readers won’t be thinking “wow, I wish this sentence wasn’t quite so distant,” but they will notice they’re not as engaged with the book overall as they are with others. And we really want readers to engage with your story!

Aside from all the struck-out text all over my manuscript, “bleeding red ink” as we say, I can see how much more effective the story is now. In the past, I resisted doing this kind of a deep edit, but now that I’ve done it and seen the results, I love it! It’s worth every bleeding splash of virtual ink and all the hours of work if, at the end, the manuscript looks more like Brenda Novak’s work, smooth and engaging, but in my voice. What a thrill to contribute to the reading world a fresh and enjoyable story by Nia Simone!