Luck or Talent? Sweet or Sour? Can I Have an And?

Is there such a thing as a true binary--a real yes/no, on/off situation--in nature or society?  Probably, but the publishing industry isn't it.

Sure, creators everywhere want to believe we'll succeed on our astounding merits.  Why keep polishing your craft if it doesn't matter?

But I only discovered my first publication thirty years after the fact.  If that isn't luck, I don't know what is.  It's not great luck, but hey, I didn't lose any money on the deal.  The publication in question was only a short poem.

My situation wasn't nearly as bad as other writers of my acquaintance--undermined by their agents, orphaned when their editors change jobs, subject to market pressures beyond their control...  Back in the days when Forthcoming Books in Print was the distribution bible for every book retailer in the country, one romance writer of my acquaintance found her first romance novel listed as a horror title.  The sales never recovered.

On the flip side, you have tales of accidental pitches in elevators resulting in fat book contracts, or manuscripts submitted "over the transom" (unrequested, unagented submissions mailed to an old school New York publisher) becoming runaway bestsellers.  My personal favorite is the tale of J.K. Rowling's first break.

Her first Harry Potter novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the U.S.) was rejected by a dozen publishers, and was in line for another rejection at Bloomsbury.  But as a lark, the company chairman gave the first chapter to his eight-year-old daughter.  She read it in one sitting and demanded more.

Luck.  That little girl's response could've just as easily gone the other way.  What if she'd been coming down with a cold, or had an argument with a boy who wore glasses the day before?  What if her father hadn't asked her to read at all?

Even so, Ms. Rowling's future was hardly secure.  The contract was for less than $15,000, and the print run was modest.  The publisher even advised Ms. Rowling to get a day job.  It was the work itself, its quality and the resonance of her seven-volume epic that cemented her place in modern literature.

That pattern is repeated over and over again.  A writer gets that all important lucky break--a first reader who loves the work, or an editor with a hole in his or her schedule that a manuscript on hand just happens to fill.  But staying power depends on the quality of the story.  We're not necessarily talking literary quality here.  The language may be simple, or the plot clichéd.  But something about the concept, the situation, the characters or the moment resonates with readers.

You can do it once by accident.  You can't sustain it without hard work and talent.  That's why we work so hard to hone our craft.

But it still doesn't hurt to have Lady Luck on your side.

Jean Marie Ward

Some good news and a bit about author wish fulfillment

First of all, the GOOD NEWS! If you haven't seen my personal blog or tweets, I have something big happening this year. My Steampunk Fairy Tale retelling has been bought by Strange Chemistry books! It will be released in September 2014, so not too long to wait. We had to change the title, so what was once Smoke & Mirrors, is now A Curse of Ash and Iron. 

Yay!!

The other day, I saw an article where J.K. Rowling says she thinks that Hermione and Harry should have ended up together, not Hermione and Ron, and that she may have thought of killing off poor Ron Weasley.

Okkkkayyyy.... I guess I'm glad she said that. Not. I mean, it's her story and all, but first of all, done is done. Secondly, I think the Hermione/Harry matchup wouldn't have worked as well. It was MUCH too obvious. To compare it to Star Wars, Harry was Luke Skywalker and Hermione was Princess Leia. We all know how that worked out. The relationships are similarly based in mutual respect. Likewise, Ron was definitely Han Solo. Not as dashing, but he drove Hermione BONKERS for five books until she realized she loved him, much the same way Han got under Leia's skin.  She wrote Ron and Hermione so that they NEEDED each other. Hermione needed someone to take care of and be smarter than, and Ron needed someone to...well, he needed someone like Hermione.

Ginny was quiet, not an attention-seeker, and unexpected in a way. She was perfect, because by marrying her Harry got to really become a part of the family he was already part of in his heart.

And I don't know how to feel about the revelation. I mean, as authors there are always things we'd go back and do differently, but we don't tell readers, do we? Especially if we have readers who really LIKED what we wrote? Does it take some of the shine off of the diamond, knowing that the author sees it as imperfect?

I don't think I'd tell, even if I had regrets later on. If readers love it the way it is, let them keep their happiness.

The end is here...

For the first time ever, I actually attended a midnight movie premier. Yep. I was there in a theater packed to the rafters, although my muggle costume was rather ordinary compared to the person with a snake around his neck and numerous others in Hogwarts' style robes. True fans are an interesting lot. ;)

It's been a busy week: a short family trip out of town; Harry Potter premier; and, of course, our oldest son's 16th birthday -- the best part of it all.

I'm left feeling both tired and satisfied with the way things turned out all around. Yet, a part of me is a little sad, as well.

While our family trip was fun, it wasn't quite the same as when the kids were little. They aren't as easily entertained and amazed. ;) Also, though I'm not a true HP fanatic, I do think it's sad that we don't have another movie 'coming soon'.

The most bitter-sweet aspect has been watching my little boy grow into a thoughtful, intelligent and funny young man. I'm proud of the person he's becoming, even while a part of me misses the little guy who used to build with blocks for hours and loved to cuddle. Yes, that was many years ago, and yet, I remember it as if it were yesterday.

We may have said good-bye to Harry and company today, but we can re-visit them in both books and movie form. Daily if we should so desire. If only we could return to our childrens' childhoods as easily, even for a few hours.

~~Meg Allison

Indulge your senses...
http://www.megallisonauthor.com

My Lost Weekend with Harry Potter

I was going to post about another mystical place, but I think I'll save that post for next time. Right now, like Christine, I want to comment on my lost weekend with Harry Potter. (Sounds like a tabloid headline, doesn't it?)

First, it's amazing the response this book has gotten all over the world. Many love it, some hate it (thinking it's the work of dark forces) and others are still wondering what it's all about. I admit, investing a day or two reading a 750+ page book is not for the feint of heart. But, dedicated reader that I am, I managed to get through the book in a weekend. To the exclusion of all else. I read and read, and read some more. If I didn't know better, I'd think there was some kind of spell on the book to make me HAVE TO pick it up again every time I thought to put it down. It was a compulsion, I tell you!

So that's how I lost my weekend to Harry Potter. The Boy Who Lived, lived in my house for a day or two while I consumed his story like a chocaholic on a Godiva binge. The odd part of it all - to me at least - was knowing that all over the world, there were people just like me doing the same thing at the same moment. People of all ages, all walks of life, etc, were all reading this one book at this one time. Amazing. To be able to create that much hype is marketing genius. To be able to create a fictional world able to live up to the hype - now that takes talent.

My hat's off to J.K. Rowling. Anyone who can keep kids, much less millions of people of every age, on the edge of their seats for over 750 pages of a book definitely has something magical about her.

Bianca D'Arc
www.biancadarc.com

PS - My personal blog on Blogger has been very rudely "disapperated," to quote Harry. I'm working to restore it in one form or another, so please bear with me while I work out an alternative solution.

I'm Just Wild about, well, you know...

Well, here it is, the day we’ve spent a decade waiting for. All around the globe, millions and millions people have their away messages up on their e-mail, turned off their cell phones and, in general, unplugged. They won’t answer the door if you knock, and everyone is indoors. There is no TV, no iPod, no video games. If you call their houses, this is what you will hear…

“I’m sorry, but I can’t answer the phone right now. I’m reading Harry Potter, and don’t wish to be disturbed or spoiled until I finish. Leave a message after the beep, and I’ll get back to you on Monday…”

Yes, the world has stopped for a book. THE book. The final installment in the Harry Potter series. I know not everyone is reading the book, but the sales figures don’t lie; most of you are. (Which makes me wonder how many of you are going to read this blog entry, heck, I wrote it days ago so I could read my copy of Deathly Hallows uninterrupted after standing in line at midnight and reading into the wee hours of the morning, but nonetheless, I carry on.)


What is it about Harry that makes it appeal to such a wide audience? Certainly it’s not the fact he’s a boy wizard, because there are many other books about wizard children who go to school. Diane Duane’s been writing about them for two and a half decades already, and Jane Yolen’s Wizard Hall was long before Harry’s time. So the question remains: why has the world embraced Harry?


Well, the stakes are high – what’s higher than life and death? It starts in book one and build from there. Harry himself is a tragic hero, orphaned because of murder and left with relatives who treat him in the most heinous way without being outright abusive. But there are tons of heroes just like him – James from James and the Giant Peach comes to mind, raised by his wretched aunts who treat him like little more than a slave.


No, what I think attracts so many people to Harry Potter’s world is that it’s like a multi-faceted jewel. The worldbuilding is superb, with locations are rich and varied. We feel like we’ve been to Diagon Alley or visited Hogsmeade before and could draw a map if someone asked us to. We know what a Golden Snitch is, and can tell you that you take your chances if you choose to eat Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans. (Alas, earwax!)

The characters range from the sublime to the ridiculous, and so three-dimensional you think they could step off the page. From ordinary, somewhat shy Harry to the larger-than-life Weasely twins. The emotions run from elation to misery, like a roller coaster ride. And she’s got this ability to layer story elements so that you’ve got all the pieces of the puzzle, you’re just waiting for her to show you the picture. And when you see you, you say ‘Of course! Why didn’t I see it before?’

No, I don’t think there’s one single thing that makes everyone wild about Harry, but many different things to appeal to different people. It’s the combination, like a good recipe, that has made people turn into Potterheads, and that has surrounded a book – a book! – the same hype and excitement as the latest electronic gadget or major concert event.

It was this very series that propelled me into the world of writing fantasy for children. No, wait, that’s not quite true. It was the final catalyst, I’ll say. Because I read Jo’s story – that she was on welfare, with no formal training, and wrote a book.

“I can do that too, then!” said I. And while Harry Potter was an inspiration, I drew on decades of fairy tales and mythology that I couldn’t get enough of when I was a child, put away and forgotten when I grew up, now driving me to tell my own tales of places that have never been.

And now we’re at the end of Harry’s story, and it is bittersweet. A series of books that has united the world and gotten children to appreciate reading. I hope all the children who have grown up with Harry continue to search out new books, new stories, new imaginary places.

Here I’ll say thanks to Jo Rowling for a terrific ride, and for putting me on a path I might never have found by myself. You and those like you (and I proudly count myself among them) are the keepers of imagination, guides and guardians to pass the love of fantastic tales on to the next generation.

And to dear Harry Potter and his friends, I raise a glass and say: good night and good luck. We will miss you.





Christine Norris is the author of several works for children and adults, including Talisman of Zandria, Return to Zandria, both from LBF Books (www.lbfbooks.com ) and the first two of her Library of Athena novels, to be published by Samhain Publishing in 2008.

She spends her time divided between her writing, substitute teaching, and caring for her family of one husband-creature, a son-animal, a large dog whose greatest achievement is sleeping in one position for an entire day, and a small feline who is very adept in his position as Guardian of the Bathtub. She also works at English Adaptations of novels translated from other languages.
To learn more about Christine Norris, please visit http://www.christine-norris.com. Send an email to Christine at christinenorris02@gmail.com or through her MySpace page, at http://www.myspace.com/christinenorris