Talking about WIPs

On several of the loops where authors chat with one another and hope readers are listening, and on every loop I've found where the readers actually talk*, there's a phenomenon I'd never seen before venturing into e-:

Sharing excerpts, publicly!, of unfinished work. Not only the traditional "unedited" excerpts used as pre-release promo, but bits and pieces of things that haven't been fully written yet, let alone polished, subbed, and signed.

How soon is too soon to share WIPs** with the world?

I may not be the standard model of writer, but I'm the kind I know best; to me, a work in progress is just that. It's in progress, in flux, almost guaranteed to change! It's not ready to be shared. That doesn't mean I can't polish a few paragraphs into readability if I have some reason to, it's just...that excerpted section may not make the final cut. If there is a final cut. There may not be.

I write much, much more than I ever submit. Even assuming that everything I sub finds an eventual home (hasn't happened yet, but let's assume), that's maybe one piece in three of the ones I finish? And I don't finish everything I start. Sharing WIP-bits might seem a little pointless given those stats, but it's not really all that different from the uncontracted-work situation; could take the disclaimer, even. Enjoy at your own risk. This work may not ever be available. In the event this book reaches the world, the following excerpt may or may not appear in any way, shape, or form.

Do readers notice if this happens--if a WIP-excerpt never becomes anything more? Does it bother them? Do they ever feel let down, led on, betrayed? Does it seem like a tease? Cut to the chase: Would it keep them from buying the author's published work?

How do publishers feel about it? I assume that once I've signed a contract, I'm limited to the published-excerpt terms; before that, it's my own look-out. Great, yippee. But... How would a publisher react to a submission including an excerpt s/he'd seen on one or more loops? More or less favorably? What about a submission obviously related to that excerpt but not containing it?

And what happens later? I tend to write novella-length fiction, which means a fairly low word-limit for excerpts; it's tempting to use this apparent loop-hole to post something more comparable to other authors' offerings. But how would that affect reader-reaction later on, assuming that WIP became a contracted work due for release? Would loop-folks feel as if they'd already read the thing, having seen so much of it?

What's the protocol for WIP-excerpt sharing? Is there some primer for the practice, as there is for released works? What makes an author decide that yes, it's time to share--and which shared excerpts are best received? What would readers really like to see?

Is fiction like sausage, best enjoyed if you don't see the process, or more like "display cooking," where watching it happen is part of the fun?

Your humble sea-lily needs to know these things! She's got a character tied in a pretzel who's longing to show himself off a bit...

As always,

peace and x-rated joy

pxj



*And if you know any of those that accept erotic fiction, let me know! Please?

**Okay, so properly that's WsIP, but I don't know how to "say" that in my head, and I'm one of those readers who hears text. Besides, it looks funny!

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What's In a Name?

Would Chase be as sexy if he were called Run? A Midsummer Night's Dream is sexy as hell--what about June-eve Reverie?

Names might be more important in fiction even than reality; they have to convey so much to the (potential) reader...


An interesting title, they say, is among the factors that influence purchasing/reading decisions. Doesn't that make it marketing, rather than writing? --she says, hoping to off-load the task to someone else.--But, no; as with children, it's the creator's responsibility.

I hate naming stories, usually go through half a dozen versions of a title before I pick one. My recent AMP release began life as "A Phone Romance"--yeah, groan away!--before I settled on Reach Out and Touch Someone.

Not fond of naming characters, either. (Or pets, and any kid of mine would be "you" for the first half of his or her life, I'm sure.) Names are too important to be taken lightly. And in fiction, I feel pressured to find a name that will say something to the reader, as well as to me. I often try three or four names before I find one that fits.

Except for Reach's hero; his name, I had from the instant before I started to write.

His last name, that is. When an editor once referred to him by his first name, I honestly thought she had me confused with another of her writers! Bill? Bill who? Oh, you mean Muir!

For the final version, I cut the first name entirely in favor of an initial, just to make sure no one else could do this. (Though I still don't understand how she did, when the first name appeared exactly twice in the submitted draft!) The heroine latches onto the last name in an instant, because it means something. To her, and to me. And maybe to the reader, depending.

Muir. Pronounced just like it looks--which means that if you're a Scot, it's a syllable and a half something in the neighborhood of "myewer," and if you're a Californian, it's Meer. After John Muir, who's a local (and national) hero, often called the father of the national park service, and for whom Muir Woods is named.


Why is that my fictional hero's name? Because the man's a redwood walking. No, this isn't a paranormal, I just mean that he's huge and stable and large enough to climb and...and I should shut up now before I start squirming in my very public coffeehouse seat. Besides, he's Jackie's toy, not mine.

Muir the redwood.


But that's not all. I have a fondness for obscure jokes--as folks on my not-a-newsletter list the e-Garret can tell you--and there's another reason why this yoga practitioner hero has the name he has: it's because Muir studies yoga.

There's a relatively new trend in yoga teachings called "tantra," "New Tantrics," or "yoga for lovers," where the point is to use yoga techniques for sexual connection and pleasure, interpersonal connection as opposed to purely universal. Happily for me, it so happens that one of the pioneering couples of tantra share his name.

Muir. The redwood who walks like a man, bends like a pretzel, and makes love with his whole being.

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Self-P(r)imping Season!

Yes, folks, even hermits sometimes feel the need to preen. Physically and virtually. What with new releases and a change of season, this seemed like the time for such things. So the blog's had its make-over, and I'm typing in a mud masque. The keyboard may never be the same.



Outside my attic window, the trees are changing their wardrobe, too--a host of lovely dramatic fiery shades--and my feline companion (not the one pictured above)is doing her coat-of-shifting-colors thing. And me? Well, beyond the temporary rather Vulcan face-coloring, I've pulled on the promo-ing suit.

Shame it isn't a better fit! Still, it's bright and shiny, and it goes quite well with pearls. I've entered a cover art contest this month, and I'm having an author day on the 13th. New releases are my favorite form of promo; accordingly, I queried a publisher just today. And I've done more posting these past few weeks, excerpts and announcements and general chat, than in a hundred normal life-in-the-e-garret days.

It feels like I should be decked out in full bling. How do other authors cope? I try to picture them happily self-promo-whoring (grills flashing and fingers flying and everything), but it's a painful idea to me. Easier to imagine writ(h)ing satin-sheeted first-draft work and bon-bon fueled fantasies...

Though, okay, I admit it: that's not what you'd see if you looked at me. Not this week, at least. I've emerged from my attic to take advantage of the fall weather, you see, going trolling for inspiration at the bonfires, enjoying the harvest fairs and season's-end frolicking. Just as soon as I do one more bit of promo, or two, or three--and when this masque is finished torturing me.

But I'll be back by the 13th! No doubt with the latest fall fashions in condoms to talk about.

What? Don't we deserve some safe bling?

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The Monday Malaise is Spreading!

It’s either very late Sunday night or early Monday morning as I write this, depending on how you feel about such things. Me, I don’t care what you call it—all I know is that my head hurts! I got hijacked by a story for a day and a half, so haven’t been online since, oh, call it Friday afternoon sometime. Came back to 100+ new loop messages. Now, when you realize that I’m on digest for everything but official-from-the-publisher loops, and that digests from Yahell tend to be packaged 25-to-1...

In a day and a half. That’s a fair bit of mail to sift through.

Worse than the sheer volume was the repetition. It’s Monday’s mail that I usually have to bribe myself into opening; since so many of the loops I belong to allow promos only on Monday, all the promo-ing authors blitz-mail each and every group. Apparently some of the more prolific posters on several loops decided this weekend was a great time for not-quite-outright promos, multiply posting anything that escaped the one-day-a-week-only ban. Special offers. News. Reminders of available releases. Etc., etc.

I like special offers, really and truly I do. But I like them a lot less the fourth and fifth time I’ve seen them in the same day! By the twelfth—and that’s an actual count, not hyperbole—I’ve added yet another author to my "No, never, not even for free" list. Quite probably through no fault of her own, as at least some of those messages referencing that book came from a promoter’s mail address.
I know I’m not the only reader to be annoyed by the over-saturation. I’m not the only author trying to find some middle ground between silence (my default) and cross-posting noise. I wouldn’t even be surprised if that author whose name now makes me grit my teeth struggles with this issue.

I know I now have yet another reason not to appreciate Mondays. But weekends? Oh, no. That will never do. So, next weekend, I shall attempt to post something that isn’t promotional in any way. Chatter or humor or good wishes or something! If only to wash the taste of all the week’s self-promotion away.

Too late to spare me the Monday headache, but at least I’ve gotten a head start on it. Things could be much worse.

If only I didn’t feel so obscurely guilty—not for feeling put-upon, or dismissing that author (you’ll notice I’m not using the name!) but because I’d planned to do a little not-quite-promo-ing myself. Not much, maybe just send out a few reminder-type notices of my own, with a brief announcement about Monday night’s RoL chat. (Oh! Aspen Mountain Press authors, including me! Realms of Love, starts at 9:00 Eastern, either one or two hours long depending on which schedule you check. And giveaways!)

But now I can’t bring myself to add to the noise.

Silently, then, until tonight at the chat,

as always

pxj

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