Julia Barrett's World » authors

The best part.

Julia Barrett — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 04:53:50 +0000

Oh crap, what is the best part? I got nuthin’. To be honest, I’ve been writing so much today I have no space left in my brain. I feel like River Tam on Firefly.

Let’s see – we had some rain. I like it! I’m sure the vintners are hating it – height of crush.

New twitter followers. Happy! Smiley face!

Disliking Facebook more and more and more.

Good family news and bad family news, now waiting for the third piece of news because you know these things come in threes.

So what is the best part of what? Writing books? Creating something out of nothing. Shaping words on a page that reflect my thoughts. Doing what I wanted to do way back when I still had dreams of writing.

Meeting amazing authors and artists. Making great friends.

Oh! Oh! New discoveries - musicians – The Joy Formidable – great band from Wales. How I love them! And Gin Wigmore. I was a big Amy Winehouse fan. Listening to Gin makes me feel better.

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Exclusivity – Who Needs It?

Julia Barrett — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 03:48:55 +0000

Jacqueline George is my guest today. I’m always interested in what an author has to say about the world of publishing. She’s also involved in a book distribution venture: Yellow Silk Dreams.

“You do not have to be in the writing business long before you realize there is one thing the book trade demands from authors. Not literature, not brilliant writing, not even commercial prospects, but exclusivity.

“Even agents are likely to demand that you park your precious manuscript with them for months without letting anyone else look at it. Of course, agents don’t have much stroke, but if a publisher condescends to look at your book, they will absolutely insist they have a free hand with it.

“A free hand to do what, exactly? Why do they need a guarantee of exclusivity before they add your book to their slush pile? They say they do not want to invest time and effort in your manuscript if it might be snatched away before they can secure their position. Fair enough but… time and effort? Oh, come on! We are talking about a lowly paid intern flicking through it, rejecting it if it does not meet the House Standard, and writing a short précis if it might. Doesn’t sound like much time and effort to me. And bear in mind that the author’s prize for getting past this stage is to have their book trapped in an approval maze, passing the secretaries of various august people, any one of whom might wake up with a hang-over and trash it.

“All the same, that sort of exclusivity is polite and genteel. It is when your book is accepted that the claws really come out. Now the default position is ‘All rights in the Universe, for the life of the copyright’. Really – the life of the copyright, which is until the author’s death plus 70 years. You will be in no condition to do anything with your book once the contract expires!

“And universal rights? They want the Bulgarian audio book rights? Forever? What for?

“The standard answer is that publishers need this sort of exclusivity to protect their investment. That is a sound commercial argument. If the publisher is going to spend in advance on promotion and marketing, they need to know only they (and marginally the author) will benefit from the resulting sales.

“This brings in the question of timing. If the publisher runs a marketing campaign, they will achieve peak sales in a year or two, and then numbers will decline to next to nothing as newer books are brought to the public’s attention. What happens then? It is dog-in-the-manger time as the publisher does not care anymore, and the author, who might achieve continuing sales in a small way, has no control over the book. At this point, exclusivity benefits no one.

“I’m not sure if exclusivity is needed for the vast majority of today’s books and publishers. Typically modern authors make all the investment and do all the promotion. Many modern epublishers limit their involvement to displaying the book on their site, and handling the money. I am not sure that is even publishing; probably we should call it distribution.

“Exclusivity is a way of tying up an author and grabbing a lion’s share of the revenue from a book. Fair enough if a publisher is doing his job and selling many times more books than the author would manage by themselves; daylight robbery if the publisher is lazy or forgetful.

“Exclusivity is an asset to me, and anyone who really, really wants a share of it had better come to the table with an equitable deal. Authors are waking up…”

***Who is Jacqueline?Jacqueline lives in the far north of Queensland, Australia, on the shores of the Coral Sea. She has a house built for the tropical climate – on tall stilts and with walls that open to let the breeze blow through.She lives with her husband who is easily managed, and her marmalade cat Rudy who definitely isn’t.

Jacqueline writes romantic stories because she is an unrepentant romantic at heart. But she also loves travelling to interesting places and meeting new people, and they find a place in her stories too.When she is not writing, she is kept busy by her garden which is still maturing. Right now her coconut trees look young and untidy

but come back in five years and they will be towering over the house.And what could be more romantic than a coconut palm?

I am so freakin’ tired. Kvetch…kvetch…kvetch…one of the best Yiddish words ever. Of course there...

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Are Talent and Proficiency the Same Thing?

Julia Barrett — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 04:21:09 +0000

In his book, Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell discusses the 10,000 hour rule. He says anyone can become an expert in any given field with 10,000 hours of practice. So, therefore, according this rule, I can, through hard work and dedication, become the quarterback of a professional football team. Through hard work and dedication, I can become another Mozart or Picasso or a Salvador Dali. I can become an Olympic gymnast, turn myself into the next Stephen Hawking, Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud or Carl Sagan…well, maybe Carl Sagan is do-able…

What Is the 10000 Hour Rule?

“The 10000 Hour Rule is just that. This is the idea that it takes approximately 10000 hours of deliberate practice to master a skill.

“For instance, it would take 10 years of practicing 3 hours a day to become a master in your subject. It would take approximately 5 years of full-time employment to become proficient in your field. Simply work out how many hours you have already achieved and calculate how far you need to go. You should be aiming for 10000 hours.”

I disagree with Mr. Gladwell. There are obvious limiting factors: time available, age, size and physical condition, intellectual and cognitive skills.

There are other limiting factors – innate ability, or lack thereof, passion and desire.

There’s currently a discussion about whether proficiency equals talent – here and here.

I say this, one may be proficient, and proficiency may equal financial success, but proficiency cannot necessarily be equated with talent. Mozart was quite possibly the most talented composer ever born, yet he did not experience either appreciation or success in his lifetime and died a pauper.

Perhaps the talent in becoming proficient lies in an ability to make money at what you do. I’m not convinced that’s the same as artistic talent. I’m not saying it’s not, I’m saying I’m not convinced it is.

Both my daughters took ten years worth of piano lessons. Both practiced endlessly. Both performed in recitals. Were they proficient? Yes, very. Were they talented? No.

Let me repeat something I posted last week regarding judging a writing contest, author Jordyn Meryl, and her talent:

“If I remember correctly, I judged six entries. Of the six, five were pretty close to perfect – perfect spelling, punctuation and grammar. Each theme was the perfect theme of the moment, and yet none of those close to perfect five held my interest. Jordyn’s simple jewel of a story about a widowed teacher, hurting and alone, dipping her lukewarm feet back into the dating pool and meeting somebody completely unexpected, captured my interest and stole my heart. I was so enamored of her little romance that I emailed her.”

Of the entries I judged, five authors were proficient, yet within a few hours after reading the stories, I couldn’t remember a single word they’d written. Oh, I had a vague notion of what they’d written, but I couldn’t remember anything specific. The voices all sounded alike. Because these authors were so proficient, it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest to hear that any one of them, or even all of them, have been published by now.

One author was not nearly as proficient, but she had real talent and I remember her story clearly. Jordyn Meryl spoke with a singular voice and she could tell a great story. So the question remains, does proficiency = success = talent?

Or is talent an intangible quality that exists regardless of financial success and recognition?

Real talent gives me chills. Jennifer Lawrence. Heath Ledger. Abigail Breslin. Emily Blunt. Steve Buscemi. Debra Winger. James Earl Jones. Meryl Streep. Viggo Mortenson.

I’m not sure I should even mention authors, but here are a precious few who possess what I consider talent – Ken Kesey, Kurt Vonnegut, Zora Neale Hurston, Margaret Atwood, James Baldwin, Guy Gavriel Kay, Tad Williams, Ursula K. Le Guin, Jon Krakauer, and Lawrence Block – who really did a number on me with his upcoming release, Getting Off, by Lawrence Block writing as Jill Emerson.

Yes, all of the above are proficient and each author has achieved, or did achieve, success and recognition. But they are more than proficient. They possess talent and that quality not only provides them with recognition and financial success, but makes their work timeless, their themes universal.

With trepidation, I’ll mention a few authors of romance who I believe possess talent – Linda Howard, who occasionally puts out a stinker, but I have no doubt about her gifts as a storyteller. Karen Marie Moning – I’m not a fan of her Fever series, but I’m a huge fan of her writing. Julie Garwood. Megan Hart, an immensely creative romance writer who is willing to take great risks with her work. Diana Gabaldon – I predict Outlander will be read and reread for generations to come.

There are other authors I’ve downgraded from talented to proficient, and thus they’ve disappeared from my buy list. Are they bored, burnt out or simply meeting contract obligations and deadlines? Who knows? Certainly they’re still proficient and thus, I assume, financially successful, but the decreasing talent quotient has caused me to lose all interest in their work.

So, are talent and proficiency the same thing? Are they mutually exclusive? Can you be proficient without having talent? Can you be talented without being proficient?

Okay…done.

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I got quoted…wowza!

Julia Barrett — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 22:32:07 +0000

Author Amarinda Jones quoted me! Me! Can’t believe it! Amarinda is multi-published. She’s well-known, outspoken – never minces words or pulls punches, and writes some major hot romance. She’s been around longer than me, but she was the very first person to promote my very first release way back when. Thanks, Amarinda!

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Anny Cook is my guest today!

Julia Barrett — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 05:18:02 +0000

Anny is an author of erotic fantasy. She just contracted for Book Six of her Mystic Valley Series, Blue Paradise. We recently had the most interesting discussion…

Let’s talk fantasy.

What attracts you to the genre?

I believe the thing that attracts me the most about the genre is the ability to create something totally new–the ability to create a mythos, a culture, a belief system, a new world (including flora and fauna). Think about how entranced people are with the new world created for Avatar. I am the “creator” every single day.

How do your characters pop into your head and evolve?

My characters evolve over a very long time. I’ve spent thirty years with my characters for the Mystic Valley series. Though I only began writing the stories four years ago, I’ve spent my life getting to know them. They are nothing like they were in the beginning. There were many compromises necessary before I could write their stories. And there will be more. Some of those compromises were necessary due to publishers guidelines. Others were simply changes the characters went through as they matured and evolved. “New” characters are usually pretty “old” for me. I’ve walked around with a huge cast populating my head for many, many years…just waiting for their turns in the spotlight.

How do you build your world…do you plan it out or does it just come to you?

I would estimate I spend about six to eight months planning a new world. I usually start by drawing a very basic map of the shape of the landmasses. Then I add mountains, lakes and rivers. And only then can I decide where the towns and villages would be placed logically. With the first version more or less complete, I start working on the overall culture. Are the people hunter/gatherers or farmers? What type of commerce do they have? What type of government, monetary system, and religion? What is their belief system? If there’s more than one, how do they differ? What type of oaths do they swear? What type of healing system/science and technology do they have? How is the flora and fauna of the world connected? Finally, I start developing the individual villages, deciding on building style, transportation, personal technology (how do they cook? what type of sanitary arrangements do they have? how do their markets work?) In that process I decide who lives in each village, what they look like, what skills they have, what their history is, and what type of clothing they wear. At each stage, I have forms I fill in so that I have them for reference. All of them go in my “bible” for that book (or series). When the initial stages are complete, I usually start thinking about story ideas. As I allow the story idea to gel in my head, I also let the world settle around me for a little while. Often I will put everything aside while I work on another project. When I get back to this new world, they may be changes or…additions. During the second round I will refine the world and it’s rules. This is a critical stage because once you’ve decided the rules for your world, your story’s characters must conform to the rules. Careful thought must go into deciding what gifts, talents, and limitations the characters will deal with. Finally, I start to write. I may not settle into the story until three or four trial chapters. I may have to begin all over at the beginning. But by the time I’ve reached this point, I pretty much know my world. Does all of this information make it into the book? Of course not. But if you write a contemporary novel, consider how much of the extraneous information you are aware of regarding our world will actually make it into your novel.

Do you like…hear your characters speak to you?

In some fashion. Some more than others. Some are very pushy. Others are shy and difficult to understand. Sad to say some I allowed to hide behind a superficial mask. For those, I did not do my best. I believe some were not ready to tell me their story. As I’ve developed as a writer, I’ve learned how to listen more carefully.

Do your stories head off in directions you never imagined?

Absolutely. The WORLD is planned meticulously. The story…well, I’m a consummate pantster. Occasionally, my characters careen off the road and we never get back on track. Chrysanthemum is a primary example of a story zooming off into the wilderness. It bounced off track at the second paragraph and never, ever made it back. By the second page I knew it never would. But there is a certain freedom in letting the characters do what they will while you as the writer stand on the sidelines alternately wringing your hands in dismay and wildly cheering their audacity.

Anny’s books can be found here: http://www.annycook.com/

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