My name is Sharon and...

[rolanni]

I'm a professional writer.

That means that I Do It for Money.

It also means that when I have committed to write a story, I bring all of my current skill to the project.

Bringing my Complete Professional Toolbox to a project does not mean that I always write the same kind of story. It means that I have certain standards of storytelling that must be met in order for me to feel that I've given the work my best shot, as a pro. I bring the same care -- the same measuring-stick and the same artistic judgment -- to all of my projects.

Like all pros, if they wish to continue succeeding, writers practice their skills, and stretch them, often beyond their comfort zone. In stretching, writers may, unlike other professionals, also stretch beyond their readers' comfort zones. I know some professional writers who hold as an article of faith that it is their business to discomfort their readers. Speaking as a professional science fiction writer, I don't think there's anything wrong with comfort stories. I do think that it's my job to show readers that there are alternative ways of doing and thinking; and remind them that their everyday Usuals are not the Universal Rule.

Sometimes, in stretching, writers undertake what seem to be Strange Projects. I remember being ...accosted... at a convention several years ago by a reader who wanted to take me to task for Local Custom. *Cue radio play*

"It's only a Secret Baby Story!" they scolded.

I admitted that I Knew That.

"Secret Baby Stories are STUPID! Even the Romance Writers have stopped doing them!"

I admitted that I Knew That, too.

"If you knew All That, why did you write this STUPID story?"

"Well," I said, "When we first moved to Maine, I was desperate for something, anything, to read, and the local bookstore was kinda thin on Science Fiction, so I wandered into the large, well-stocked Romance section and chose five books at random. Every single one of them was a Secret Baby Story, and boy, were they dumb. So dumb that I got to thinking about their obvious appeal and if one could be written in a way that Actually Made Sense. After thinking about it, on and off, for a couple years, I decided that maybe there was a way. And so I wrote Local Custom*. And then I wrote Scout's Progress* -- another Romance -- and on the whole I'm pretty pleased with both of them."

"You mean," they said blankly, "that you meant to do it?"

"Yep."

I'm still not sure if they believed me, but I did mean to do it, and I think I learned a lot, professionally, in the writing of those two books. Win-win.

(Not only that, but those two books won Romance awards (the Prism, given by the Fantasy, Futuristic and Paranormal Chapter of the Romance Writers of America -- Scout took first place; Custom second. For the same year.) And! Scout was named Best Science Fiction Book of the Year by the editors of RomanticTimes Bookclub. Win-win-win.)

Among the other odd things that professional writers do is to sometimes write about topics, or present views, that they themselves don't agree with, and may even find reprehensible. This is another stretching exercise. A professional cannot shortchange the story. Even an "ugly" or "stupid" story deserves the best sentences, structure, characters, dialog, &c&c, that the Writer's Toolbox can produce.

This understanding served us well when John Ordover asked us to write Sword of Orion for the Phobos book line. We did not hold back because it was "only" a work-for-hire. We gave it our best professional shot, in accordance with the editor's vision. We did our best. That's what a professional does.

And now, since I'm a pro, and it's Saturday, I'm going back to the revisions for Fledgling.


----
*Each of the Lee-Miller projects has a Writer Who Started It and whose Fault the project is when the going gets rough. We each have input, though the amount varies considerably by project. Custom and Scout are Sharon's Fault.

Comments

[metafrantic.livejournal.com]

I feel like a fool for asking this (not being very familiar at all with the romance genre), but what is a "Secret Baby Story"?

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

A Secret Baby Story has as its core conceit the idea that the hero is attracted to a young lady and her adorable child without the knowledge that the child is his. There were many machinations employed in order to Make This Improbable Scenario So, many of them Beyond Labored, storytelling-wise. Of those I have myself read, one of the better had the hero fall for the sister of the woman who had borne the baby, who was caretaking while her sister was -- I forget, looking for work in another city?

They were, IMHO, pretty silly as a whole.

[queenmaggie.livejournal.com]

And you still have to explain the definition of "professional" to people? Though, I shouldn't even bother to ask. I'm a professional actor and performer at Renaissance Festivals... and I can't tell you how many times people have wanted me to join their amateur groups or help out at a weekend fundraiser, without pay.
I'll donate to a cause, but I can't do that all the time, or I cease to be regarded as a professional by the IRA. Not good. Problem is, most people think that "Oh, it's just memorizing the lines. Anyone can do that" Forgetting that not anyone can do it well, nor can they do it all day, in character, and ad libitum.

[manywaters.livejournal.com]

Y'know what? Scout's Progress and Local Custom are two of my favourite Liaden books!

[keristor.livejournal.com]

Making a hard thing look easy is the mark of an expert. The problem is that it can easily backfire as you describe, because then the Great Unwashed think that they can do it just as well, and devalue the experts.

[difrancis.livejournal.com]

And we readers thank Sharon heartily for those books, and Steve for his books. Keep racking up the faults, kids.

Di

[metafrantic.livejournal.com]

...oye. I've read stories with that device too. I didn't realize it was so prevalent that it had its own name. That's... kind of sad. I mean, any device can work if it's written well, but... igk.

Yes!

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

Well said. I've linked to this from my blog.

From my "Yes, I Meant To Do That" files: I've written and sold items that were inspired by roleplaying sessions. Granted, I design my gaming experiences and materials to facilitate that, because I cannot shut down the plot and characterization engine in my head, but it's still considered a tacky thing for writers to do. *shrug* But if you can do it right, it works.

Secret Baby Story? Not!

[edgreenberg.livejournal.com]

Not being a romance reader, I had never heard of a "secret baby story", so I saw Local Custom as a story of two cultures intersecting with little understanding of each other. There may be a phrase describing this, but I don't know it.

Of course a mainstay of the Liaden Universe is bringong those two cultures together, so it fit right in, giving us necessary backstory for our heroes.

I have no problem with Local Custom, it's neither trite nor stupid.

As they say... you go, Girl.

[oneminutemonkey.livejournal.com]

And to this day, Scout's Progress remains one of my absolute favorites in the Liaden series.

If I didn't have so much else on my To Be Read plate, you can bet this would be all it took to inspire me to go find said book for a quick rereading.

"If it makes a better story..."

[(Anonymous)]

Lord Peter Wimsey to Harriet Vane in "Gaudy Night"
by Dorothy Sayers:

"What would that matter, if it made a good book?"

I think of this line often when I hear writers complaining/explaining about editing.

For the record, I totally agree with him and I bow
to the writers who push themselves...
Lauretta

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

I'm a professional writer. That means that I Do It for Money.

You fool!

As for the Secret Baby Story, I just asked my wife, who is a romance writer, if she knew what it was. She had heard about it, but was quite surprised when I told her of your description. They must have gone out of fashion when she started her career.

Anyway, as metafrantic said above, "...any device can work if it's written well..." I mean, take the plot of Hamlet and give it to someone less talented than the Bard and the results might be ghastly.

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

You fool!

"No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money." -- Samuel Johnson

As for the Secret Baby Story, I just asked my wife, who is a romance writer, if she knew what it was. She had heard about it (...)

Sue would've missed them, I think. Consider that we moved to Maine twenty years ago last month. Local Custom was written in 1992.

To this more-or-less outsider, it seems that the Romance field is particularly prone to grabbing onto one Idea -- Indians, Secret Babies, Cowboys, Amnesia -- and Doing It To Death, whereupon the market for that Idea will be declared sated, the dozen or so unpublished books employing it which are still sitting on editors' desks will be cut lose, and a new Idea will dominate the Romance shelves for the next six-months-to-year.

Talking through my hat: I think this has something to do with the Sheer Volume of Romance books that are published, as compared to Science Fiction -- not that Science Fiction is immune to the One Idea virus (Singularity, anyone?), but it seems less ...overwhelming because there are just less Science Fiction books.

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

I'll have to disagree with Johnson about money being the main incentive, and not just where writing is concerned. The likelihood of writing bringing in more dough (for the hours spent) than an office job is probably rather low.

The chance of being creative is a very strong incentive too, but people here already know that.

Mind you, when everybody is being creative by doing the same thing as everybody else... Yes, the Romance field definitely suffers from that. Sue has banged her head against that one. In the SF field too, alas.

[growlycub.livejournal.com]

Count me among those readers who are really glad you wrote 'Local Custom' and 'Scout's Progress'.

They were the first and second Liaden books I read and they are still my favorites.

Re: Yes!

[eniastoa.livejournal.com]

I've never been involved in gaming where everyone actively participates in storytelling and development of characters, with action henceforth to be in character, but friends of mine have ... it's struck me that as a jumping-off point that would be an excellent way to start a story with very distinctly different characters, and if the originators of the characters vetted the dialogue, so much the better. But here and now it strikes me that for a writer to attempt that with as little checking back with the originators as possible would be an excellent stretch of whatever capacity ze has to write characters that are their own persons.

[growlycub.livejournal.com]

The Secret Baby is alive and well and can be found at booksellers without searching very hard. :)

There's definitely that phenomenon that romance editors glom onto the idea that something is hot and it seems to be all that gets published for a while (it's more for years rather than months, though).

Right now, the powers that be have decided that paranormal and UF are hot, so that is heavily promoted, but if you look around, a lot of readers are expressing fatigue about having to read yet another vampire/kick ass chick, etc. But naturally, the online segment is a rather small, vocal part of the whole readership.

I have never understood why the publishers don't serve all their readers, instead of oversating the market as they do with one subgenre and then move onto something else. It seems a short-sighted business model to me (it doesn't help my evaluation of that situation that I read neither paranormal nor UF and my pickings are rather slimmer than I like).

My theory on that is that most book publishers are now parts of big conglomerates which are helmed by people who aren't around long, so for them to get the max Golden Parachute, it makes sense to direct all branches in their conglomerate to maximize profit without any thought towards the company's long-term viability.

It always seems the question of the chicken or the egg. Do people read X subgenre because they love it, or because they want a romance and subgenre X happens to be all that's available at that point in time.

I figure the truth is somewhere in the middle.

[keristor.livejournal.com]

I read the Johnson quote differently. Not about money being an incentive to write rather than do anything else, but that if you are going to write then you should make money from it. Several other professional writers have said the same, including several writers' guides saying things like "don't write more than an outline without a contract".

Not that I agree with Johnson particularly, he was a sour old curmudgeon. There are plenty of good writers who are amateur in the original sense, they write for the love of it in genres which will never sell (for various reasons), and I don't consider them blockheads. But if one can sell the products of one's creativity, why not...

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

Of course. If I could finish any story that I've started and an editor loved it so much that they'd offer me a large amount of money, I wouldn't turn them down. Especially if it's an obscenely large amount of money.

Meanwhile, my money-earning job is as a programmer and I just finished a big project, one week ahead of its official deadline (for once). I'd have been done even earlier, but I couldn't restrain my urge to make things not just good enough, but better, even though that might endanger the deadline. I won't get any financial reward out of it, but I will have been creative.

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

I have never understood why the publishers don't serve all their readers, instead of oversating the market

Well, if you try something new and it fails, you get kicked out. If you try something old and it fails, nobody can blame you - or not as much anyway.

[growlycub.livejournal.com]

But that's exactly the point I was making. I'm not talking about trying out new subgenres, I'm talking about the staples (contemp, historical) that are currently sidelined in favor of paranormal and UF.

[katmoonshaker.livejournal.com]

You know, I've had a number of discussions over the years with other people about books. Now this is not surprising because, after all, I've been know to read anywhere between 5-25 books a week depending on what Life has been like for me over my lifetime. I have had people say, "Well it's only FITB..." ::sigh:: My inevitable, knee-jerk, top of my head response is "So? And what does that have to do with the price of tea in China?" Whereupon the person will look at me doing the Sign of the Sacred Guppy™. At which point I lean in and say, "It's like this, if you don't like a book, you don't have to read it."

That's what I do. I'll sometimes say, "Hmmm, I didn't like x as much as y for some reason." Occasionally I'll know the reason, and say so. I've been known to comment, "I adore their a but didn't care for b. However I know that you like c so I think you'll really like b." Because, when you come right down to it, it's all a matter of perception and taste.

I told someone once, "How do we know that we are both perceiving blue the same way, even though we both call it blue? Of course we both call it blue. After all, that's what was said when someone pointed at it when we were babies and we were taught to repeat it. But that doesn't mean that we see it the same way. The same thing is true of books. Just because the same words are the page and we both read them, doesn't mean that our brains will process them and understand them the same way. We have experienced life in different ways. If for no other reason than that we have occupied life from a different point in time and space." There. I'm done. I need to get back to work and I've only managed to have about 10 hours of sleep in the last 53.

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, the publishing industry has that same attitude toward new staples. My wife recently had two paranormal novels released by a major publisher and they didn't do well, probably because they were set in the 1920s. Who then really is to blame, when the readers show no interest in what's different?

Trends in publishing romance

[(Anonymous)]

Well, after receiving into Inventory a huge stack of old (1960s-1970s) romances, I can tell there are some sociological trends happening. Just about every single one had a theme specific to a woman choosing between Career and True Love (tm). This would not have been obvious to me 20 years ago and I guess it's Progress that I find it quaint.

Of course, these days women in romances have to choose between Vampire Love and Werewolf Love. I am only partly joking. :/
Lauretta
PS Congrats to Serge - as a former Project Manager, I know deadlines are rarely attainable.

[(Anonymous)]

If you can't find historicals, you're looking in the wrong places. Historicals have always been a mainstay of the romance industry, as you said, a staple. Paranormal and UF only seem bigger because their readers are more vocal, but market-share-wise, historical is one of the big gorillas:
http://www.rwanational.org/cs/the_romance_genre/romance_literature_statistics

[(Anonymous)]

Count this as a "Me, too." Scout's Progress is still one of my favorite books. I remember scanning the back cover of Agent of Change in SF back in '89. The cover drew me in, but for some reason, I didn't buy the book. Luggage space constraints? College student's budget? Anyway, fast-forward to the next century and I have all the Liaden books. Local Custom and Scout's Progress were the first two Liaden books that I read and they hooked me. =)

Professionalism....

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

It always surprises me when someone asks why I would sacrifice Art for Money. I remember telling an artist I knew that I'd sold a short story to an Elfquest anthology. He said: "And you admit it?" I gave him what must have been an Odd Look and replied: "Why would I do anything less than my best in any story?"

This may be why I never get picked to write in other people's worlds -- except smaller series at prices that end up my giving away the work, and I just don't have that strong a desire to build up someone else's world while leaving me with peanuts (and possibly a lot of stress working under the Author/Editor). I really try to find a way to look at the world I'm working in not only from the creator's POV, but from somewhere unique from anyone's POV. Bringing a tidbit to the table is important. But not all editors or fans want that difference.

Then there was the fan who thought I was Mormon because of the polyandry and polygyny in the Nuala books... .

I like the idea of your writing sideways stories to help you understand a character before bringing that character on-stage in a Big Book. I've been amassing dozens of pages on the cultures of a big work I'm planning, including thumbnail scenes. I actually thought I'd be writing one of those side books for myself. However, I begin to realize that this Story may have a totally different direction than I expected. And the protagonist is not whom I thought it was....

Now, to get paid to do it. Aye, that's the rub!

Re: Professionalism....

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

Gosh. I'd still be thrilled to write an ElfQuest story for one of the Blood of Ten Chiefs anthologies. Pity it's been so many years since there's been one. :)

[jlawrenceperry.livejournal.com]

note to self... add secret baby plot line to fantasy novel....

Re: Professionalism....

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

Actually, there is one more -- completed, turned in to Tor, as I heard from Richard last time we crossed paths. But Tor wasn't making the numbers they wanted (at a guess) so they kept pushing the book back. I think Tor should have proposed mass market only and get it out there, but there you are.

I'd like to put them up as free downloads at a new web venture I'm doing -- but most ask the Pinis first.

[jenfullmoon.livejournal.com]

I am happy to say your Secret Baby Story is the only one that doesn't make me want to stab the author :)

Automatic writing?

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

You meant to do it.

That's good, because I'm not sure what it would mean if you didn't mean to do it. After all, a novel is a reasonably large project. So if you accidentally wrote one, or perhaps wrote it and then discovered that it wasn't what you meant to do, I would have to worry a little bit about how that happened? I mean, I can sort of see turning the steering wheel and driving off the road on the spur of the moment. I can even see indulging in a more extended practice without realizing quite what the results might be. But when you sit down and write for days and weeks, and then revise the whole thing over lengthy periods, and then go through negotiations and contracts and all that -- and then one day wake up and realize that the whole thing isn't what you thought it was? That's amazing.

Anyway. I thought I would mention that the other evening, the Japanese TV ran the 2005 movie Superman Returns. We hadn't gotten too far into it when I realized that it was a secret baby story. And sure enough, watching the rest of the movie, that was indeed where it went. I suppose they stumbled into it, too. I mean, surely they didn't intend to do a secret baby story, right?

I'm trying to get my head around this notion of novels, movies, and such as unintentional products. I suppose it goes along with them being gifts of the muses, with writers just along for the ride.

I'm fascinated by the assumptions that seem to lie behind such comments.

[folklorefanatic.livejournal.com]

Can I ask if this is tangentially related to feedback on a certain dark 'faerie tale' story that doesn't (yet) have a happily-ever-after ending?

Because if it is, I LOVED that book story.

I loved it enough that I'm having a hard time not ordering a hardback edition and the e-ARC of the sequel. *sits on hands*

After hearing about the book via blog discussions about dark fantasy, it sounded like exactly what I look for all of the time but rarely find - the fantasy 'gone wrong.' I wish more pro-writers wrote dark faerie tales.

I strongly disagree with some of your perceptions on fandom (namely the recent conclusions on academia in fandom, as I wouldn't have heard about your latest book if not for the academic critiques), but that sure as hell isn't going to stop me from reading your work and enjoying it.

Re: Automatic writing?

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

I suppose they stumbled into it, too. I mean, surely they didn't intend to do a secret baby story, right?

Well, let's look...the prince stolen away to safety by his Loyal Nursemaid on the evening of the old king's death, to be raised in obscurity, with no notion of his True Heritage, until one day during a woodland ramble he comes across a huge rock with a blade buried hilt-deep in the living stone... Hmm.

The "secret heir" plot bit goes 'waaaaaayyyyyy back beyond Wart, so in that sense, the "secret babies" have an illustrious history. And it's a good piece of theater. Heck, we're writing a duology right now that plays with it. That's not all we're doing, certainly, because the nice thing about novel-length stories is that you have room to play with lots of ideas.

The assumption that authors don't knowing what we're doing...I don't know if the assumption is that the muse gives and the author types so much as that some readers think that authors are always trying to pull one over, or, as I guess all of us hear from time to time, "Oh, well, I guess you needed the money" (similiar to alfreda89's reader's "And you admit it?")

And then there's the writer-friend who got a note from a reader full of "suggestions" for what could be done better in my friend's book, prefaced with the instruction: "Tell the person who writes your books..."

Um, yeah.

Need coffee, but in general -- yeah, there are a lot of Funny Ideas about writing out there. I guess I have similarly Funny Ideas about professions of which I know nothing...

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

Because if it is, I LOVED that book story

On behalf of Duainfey, I thank you. That poor book has gotten so much hate, it's nice to see it get some honey.

Re: Trends in publishing romance

[marniferous.livejournal.com]

Actually the Career vs True Love theme was more than a sociological trend in the 50s & 60s - it was a mandate to the fiction editors of women's magazines from advertisers! Seriously, read or re-read Betty Friedan's _The Feminine Mystique_. She found actual memos - it's quite amazing.

[marniferous.livejournal.com]

I love Custom and Scout! And everything that comes (in-universe chronologically) after is sooo much richer and more nuanced for having them in mind, too.

As for Secret Baby Stories, I would not have thought of LC as being in that category. That's part of the springboard for the Immovable Clash of Cultures vs Irresistible True Lifemate Love conflict.

Now if you really want Secret Baby Stories, go to Gilbert & Sullivan! :) No wonder nothing else really pushes that button for me.

[folklorefanatic.livejournal.com]

YW. It's one of my favorite books I've read in a long time.

I actually read some reviews and thought - 'Are they reading the same book, or did someone replace their coffee with zombie juice?'

It's one thing if someone's not into the style of a given writer or the mechanics of the piece are flawed. It's another thing entirely to attack a work because it went somewhere you didn't want it to go. The inability to distinguish between personal tastes and an author's talent is the responsibility of the reviewer to recognize and distinguish, not the author.