..the tension rises to a boiling point…rough seas threaten their young family…and her own demons rise to the surface.
Dive into a page-turning suspense novel that asks questions about generosity, greed, shame, and sorrow as a family struggles and sinks deep underwater…”
The cover for my new suspense novel has been chosen. Here’s a petit morsel of it:
The composition of this cover is simple in some ways, and complicated in others. The triangle effect, the size of the lettering and the font selection are important. So are the couleurs..
A few hints about the book (and cover):
– There’s a bit of français in this novel, but not near as much as in MAKE THAT DEUX.
– The title of the book has more than one meaning, and so do several chapter titles…
– The shades of color on the cover were difficult to decide
– One of the chapters in this book is entitled “Revelation” – I will reveal the title and full cover shortly!
Another petit morceau:
While writing my upcoming Suspense novel, this is what I kept in mind: Make the reader want to turn that page. Make them want to know what happens next. Keep them wondering, and guessing.
You’d think that, in action scenes at least, that would mean get to the point, and move it along. Cut to the chase.
Well…yes and no.
Sometimes it does mean that – but not just in action scenes. In dialogue scenes and descriptions, my primary and continual goal was to move the plot forward, and to leave out anything that didn’t. Sometimes things moved quickly. But in some places, the idea was to move things along steadily – or somewhere between steadily and quickly.
Advance readers told me that – Yay! – this novel* IS a page-turner! But in working with my editor, I realized that one of the many things I needed to accomplish in revisions was to cut out unnecessary content.
Oops!
Basically, to cut to the chase. So, I (painfully) cut some things: if it wasn’t intriguing and/or necessary, it had to go.
[On the other hand, I had to (also painfully) add some scenes, tweak others and make several changes, which I did. But it was only painful at first; once I decided to get going, I dove in and kept on swimming.**]
Having spent time last week with lots of people who seem to encourage cutting to the chase when telling stories, it seemed appropriate that that was one of the things I was doing during my final revision to the book, whenever I had the time to work on it.
A different kind of “cut to the chase”:
What to do with what I had so carefully written, that now had to be removed? When I talked to my editor, she suggested that I save them and use them in upcoming blogposts, to show what might have been, kind of like “deleted scenes” in movies.
Perhaps. If it makes you wonder, and guess.
* The (one-word) title of which will be revealed in an upcoming post ** This (necessary) paragraph provides two clues to the aforesaid title; your guesses are welcomeEn ce moment, I’m in between WIPs (works-in-progress). Make that, my WIP of the past two years has become a Completed Work – for now, I’ll call it CW – and is in the hands of my editor. My next WIP is not exactly “in progress” yet; I’ve only written two pages.
But I’ve chosen the title for it, have the plot outlined (très important, as you might imagine), and even know to whom it will be dedicated. All that remains is to write the dang thing.*
My CW will be released later this summer or early fall. It’s very different from my first novel, MAKE THAT DEUX, and my next work will be very different from my CW. N’ayez pas peur: I’ve begun writing the sequel to MAKE THAT DEUX, but some major changes to my draft are necessary, including the setting.
Because change is good.
The mathematical – and Greek – symbol for change
Which brings me to the title of today’s post: two expressions très bien connus – very well known, I dare say. Tout le monde knows what Vive la différence means; it seems as American as it does French. As for “And now for something completely different”….well (if you don’t know), that’s the title of the 1971 film spun from the television series Monty Python’s Flying Circus.
Actor John Cleese
It’s a great expression title, and it comes to mind when I compare my CW with MAKE THAT DEUX. The two novels are completely different, yet they share a few elements, such as scenes that take place in France (much fewer in my CW) and some lines in French…
Evidemment, I like doing, reading and writing different things, and I love memorable book and movie lines and titles. Perhaps ANFSCD was in my subconcious when I chose two characters’ names in my CW: Monty and John.
I also love French expressions, and I’ve learned some useful ones from my French prof. Here are a few that could describe some characters in my CW:
Elle a le coeur sur la main – She is very generous Elle a du pain sur la planche – She has a lot of work (and things) to do Elle est au bout du rouleau – She’s at the end of her rope Il a un poil dans la main – He’s lazy Il est timbré – He’s crazy!Au fait (by the way), there’s more than one “She” and more than one “He,” as I’m sure you’ve guessed…
* Because now, it’s time for something completely different.
In my novel MAKE THAT DEUX, Jenny’s goal is to become fluent in French. She prepares for her final exams – often the only grade given in a course – by working hard in May, not noticing much about what happens in France that month. When she takes a (final) oral exam, she….
Well, you’ll have to read the book to find out.
During the month of May in France, due to several holidays in quick succession, almost every week-end is a long weekend (on fait le pont). Mais ici, we only have one of those (Memorial Day Weekend), and it happens after all of the French ones.
Yesterday May 1st was la fête du muguet, porte-bonheur et la fête du Travail (Labor Day). Next Wednesday the 8th is la fête historique armistice (WW II Victory in Europe Day). Thursday May 9 is a religious holiday (fête religieuse catholique), l’Ascension, though tout le monde celebrates it, même si they aren’t religious. Ditto for Monday May 20, which is Pentecôte (Pentecost).
Le muguet (lily-of-the-valley) is la fleur du bonheur: in France, you give loved ones a little bouquet of it for good luck (porte-bonheur) and to celebrate the arrival of le printemps (spring). I suspect that today through Sunday, on fait le pont (everybody takes a long weekend), or maybe just tomorrow through Sunday.
Le muguet
Next week, with the 8th and 9th falling on Wednesday and Thursday, I’m not sure what on fait/one does. Perhaps one takes a very long weekend, working only next Monday and Tuesday, in a kind of work-reversal week (2 days on, 5 days off). Sounds very French, I dare say.
The following weekend, one celebrates Pentecôte by taking a third long weekend.
Three long weekends in a row! Quelle bonne idée! On the other hand, could that be exhausting? Peut-être, Monsieur!
First, there’s only so much relaxing one can do; staying busy (working) may be less tiresome. Second, if one travels during a long weekend, it could cost more than staying at home. Even if one visits family (for free), one’s routine is interrupted. Third – well, my husband and I have a saying taken from a WSJ article dated some time ago: “Work is Home, and Home is Work.”
Yes, that’s right: we often feel “at home” when we’re at work (and since I actually work at home, it gets complicated; happily, I have a home office). But when we are at home, we may feel like we are working. Working on our house, our chores, our projects, our parenting (though we’re almost out of that business), our marriage…and beaucoup de choses!
That doesn’t mean that being at home (and not at work) is hard – but it can be, whether that’s evident admissable to others or not. Which brings me to fluency: the ability to speak a language smoothly and with apparent ease.
Some people have a gift for languages; others claim to be truly fluent when they aren’t (quite). I speak French, though not as well (yet) as I speak English. Fluency in another language can be hard to achieve, unless you learn as a small child. But if you work at it – practice it until you feel at home, no matter how difficult or confusing it may be – at some point it doesn’t feel like work anymore; on ne travaille pas beaucoup!
At least, that’s ce qu’on me dit! (what I’m told!)
Jill Edmondson, author of the Sasha Jackson Mysteries, invited me to write a guest post on her BLOG of today, April 17, 2013! Thanks, Jill!
Le sujet?
Dialogue! (and those pesky pronoms relatifs!) Let’s TALK about it!
Pre-book club dinner set-up: books + accoutrements. What do you recognize?
My friend Rona Simmons has posted her recent interview with me about my novel MAKE THAT DEUX!
You can find mes reponses to her questions on the Review and Interviews page on her blog Write, Write, Write! Here’s part of Rona’s intro:
“As a member of the Atlanta Writers Club — purportedly the largest writer’s organization in the United States — I have had the opportunity to come to know a number of emerging and established writers and to read their works covering every genre, voice, and style and providing a wealth of innovative, insightful, and interesting reading.
A few weeks ago, I read a novel by fellow member Julia McDermott. A fun romp, the story follows the college age protagonist as she confronts a number of trials and tribulations during her Junior Year Abroad. Having learned that Julia herself spent time abroad, I was interested in exploring how much Julia drew from her own circumstances. I learned this and even more….”
Merci beaucoup, Madame! Voici les questions (cliquez sur son blog pour mes responses, s’il vous plaît):
1. Describe your book and why you chose to write it
2. What is your favorite passage and why?
3. Can you share the evolution of a few sentences of your writing … one that you labored over, revised and revised, and revised until it was just right and one that flew off the keyboard in final form, why did you make the changes you made to the first one and why did you particularly like the latter as it was?
4. How did you edit your manuscript, assuming you did at least some editing yourself? Did you read it aloud? What do you think, if you did, reading aloud does that reviewing on screen or in hard copy does not?
5. Would you share a favorite passage from one of your favorite authors? What makes this passage special to you?
Voici ma vidéo….!
From storyboard to final release, it was a pleasure to work with Frank Martin, who did the animation for my Book Trailer! Merci, Monsieur!
Alors, qu’est-ce que vous en pensez? (What do you think?)
I’m a “thinker” by nature, which works pretty well as an author. But in life, it sometimes presents a challenge.
In English, the word “thoughtful” has different meanings, and in French, there are different words for them. Simply put, la gentillesse veut dire (means) “kindness,” la prévenance veut dire “consideration,” et l’humeur pensive veut dire “pensiveness.”
I strive to practice the first two. After all, being unkind or inconsiderate isn’t very nice. But the last one applies to me as well, and sometimes my tendency to ponder, reflect and ruminate overshadows everything. That’s when I have to be careful to channel my thoughts in the direction of writing (primarily) fiction, since it involves lots of thinking.
Me, as an exchange student in France. Was I thinking about how I would one day write a novel based on my experience? Qui sait? (Who knows?)
Reflection can lead to empathy, and I’m naturally empathetic, a plus when it comes to creating a character and getting inside his or her head. Imagining what my characters are feeling helps me to know what they should say, what they should do and how they should do it. It’s kind of like being in the creativity “zone.”
However, in real life, (over)thinking can be problematic and even painful – or at least, stressful. I do my best to prevent that, but when it comes down to it, my nature is what it is. Que faire?
Write. That’s what to do.
Because life is full of fodder for novels like the one I wrote, MAKE THAT DEUX (and the one I’m working on now) – and if I don’t think about that, I won’t be able to use it. So really, being a “thinker” is not too bad a thing, and quite useful.
Back to la gentillesse and la prévenance: both are also very useful – and necessary – in life, but not so much in writing a tension-filled story. But creating conflict in fiction doesn’t have to include the opposite of these.
Except for when I’m showing the reader le méchant (the villain)*…
* A major character in my Work-in-Progress.
“Best advice I’ve ever received: Finish.”
– Peter Mayle
Last June,* I wrote about habit and routines, and my readiness to examine my own. My creative side has always resisted them: I wanted to choose what to do and when to do it, letting spontaneity rule. On the other hand, I was happy I was practicing good health habits (like eating a light, healthy breakfast and exercising regularly) and I was ready to dispose of my bad ones (like drinking too many diet Cokes).
Two truths from a book I had just read were helpful:
1. Replacing a bad habit with a good one works much better than just discarding the bad.
2. Routines save mental energy: you’re freed from making daily choices, and can focus on more important decisions.
I decided it was a mid-year’s resolution time, and I made changes. But it wasn’t until three months later that I began to hold myself accountable to them.
In September, instead of just drinking fewer sodas, I cut them out completely and replaced them with water. I started keeping track of exercise and meals, and when the right choices (soon) became habit, they were much easier to maintain. I felt as though I had discovered the secret (for me) of a healthy lifestyle.
I didn’t make my new choices routines impossible to practice, and since then I’ve stayed on track. Because I was afraid I’d jinx myself (or maybe because I didn’t want to have to defend my decisions), I didn’t tell many people about my newfound resolve or progress. And when others offered unsolicited advice, I smiled, listened, and carried on. What I was doing was working.
I had to be more flexible when it came to my work routines – not what they were, but when to perform them. In the fall, I worked my writing schedule around taking a seriously ill family member to her medical appointments, but I managed to keep it up; thankfully, she’s now healthy again.
Then there was the publication of my novel MAKE THAT DEUX. A short interruption in my writing routine, it took a little time and effort in October to travel from my computer files to e-readers and booksellers. Then, I added marketing to my routine.
But in health – and in writing – I’ve hit some plateaus….which can be very frustrating. I’ve learned something very important about them, though:
Helicopter views of plateaus in the Grand Canyon
They don’t go on forever…and to get past them, you have to keep going.
I’m an East Coast girl: I love Atlanta and the Appalachian Mountains, where my ancestors lived, and I’m not crazy about the rugged majesty of the Rockies. Sometimes, when I hit a plateau, I feel like I’m out west facing a beckoning frontier, but one that’s not getting any much closer.
Mais, il faut continuer.
Which brings me to follow-through. I like to bring my endeavors to completion – I don’t like to start unless I feel that I will, come what may. It may sound inflexible, but it’s not; flexibility is key to finishing. I try to save my choices for when I’ll need them: to adapt, to redirect, to coach myself, to revise and improve. I’m determined to get it done, so I keep going, and then…I finish.
“Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs.”
-Henry Ford
* See my post of June 6, 2012: D’habitude: routine
JULIA MCDERMOTT 