An Informal Education by Joanne Kennedy

This article was originally published in the January 2012 Rocky Mountain Writer, the official newletter of Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers.


I have a confession to make: I don’t have a college degree. My misspent youth was spent collecting the many experiences that have fed my fiction, but I was never focused enough to spend much time in the classroom.

Part of the problem was that colleges didn’t seem to teach what I needed to know. I wanted to write, but I didn’t have a talent for poetry or short stories. I didn’t have anything profound to say, no matter how well they taught me to say it.

So I veered off the beaten path and cobbled together my own course of study. I don’t have a degree to show for it, and I never got to toss a mortarboard in the air and declare myself done. But it was fun, and I didn’t end up wrangling a crippling load of college loans.

I don’t recommend skipping school. When you’re a writer, every experience counts, and I’m sorry I missed that one. But once you’ve laid the groundwork and gotten your degree, you’ll still need to take a crash course in writing popular fiction. Here are ten easy steps that worked for me.

Read. This is the fun part. Read books you love, in your genre and others. Study story structure and character development. Watch what makes you turn pages, and what makes you turn away. If you read enough, storytelling will be second nature and the rhythms of prose as natural as breathing.

Write. Focus and determination matter as much as talent in this business, so write a whole book, start to finish. Don’t obsess over the first few pages and stall your career before it even starts. You need to learn storytelling as well as style, so get the plot on paper and then make it pretty. And then write another one. And another.

Connect. Find people who share your passion. The support, knowledge, and friendship of your peers will last a lifetime. Writing conferences offer opportunities to meet other writers and learn from the best in the business. They’re one of the few building blocks in this education that will cost you real money, but the benefits are huge.

Critique. Find a writing group that fits you—one that offers constructive criticism and sends you home energized and ready to write. If you feel down and defeated at the end of the session, you’re hanging out with the wrong writers.

Synopsize. I’ve learned a lot about writing from crafting synopses and query letters. Putting your story into a marketable framework may send you back to the revision process as it reveals the weaknesses in your story, but you’ll have a better product when you’re done.

Submit. I believe in submitting to agents before you risk rejection from editors. It always helps to have another pro on your team, and since agents don’t get paid until they sell your work, it’s a win-win proposition.

Endure. Got a thick skin? Good. Rejections are a part of the process. I received over 90 before I was published. A rejection doesn’t mean your work isn’t good enough; it just means an agent isn’t willing to stake her career on it. How many books have you read that you would risk your livelihood for? Keep trying.

Listen. Editors and agents have been my best teachers, showing me how to take a good story and make it glow. You don’t have to slavishly follow every one of their whims—it’s your book, and most of them respect that. But don’t ever discount their advice.

Read some more. If you’re having trouble breaking into the market, read novels in your genre and then check out customer comments on Amazon and Barnes & Noble as well as professional reviews. By learning what readers like and dislike, you’ll find the flaws that are holding you back.

Enjoy. Whether or not your writing education pays off in the traditional sense, I guarantee that thinking like a writer will make every experience in life richer and more meaningful. It’s a writer’s job to observe and record—and that means paying attention to the world around us, being conscious of meaning and connection, and finding the magic in the everyday.

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Joanne Kennedy is the author of contemporary Western novels with ranch settings. Her most recent book release is Tall, Dark and Cowboy. Cowboy Crazy and Cowboy Tough are coming soon. She hangs out on Facebook, too, so drop by and say hi.

Win NYT Bestseller Allison Brennan’s Book by Commenting!

Creator of the hugely successful Lucy Kincaid series, Allison Brennan will be one of the keynote speakers at the RMFW Gold Conference September 9th - 11th. For more details go to http://www.rmfw.org/

Hi, Allison –

My name is Joanne Kennedy. I’m a romance writer and the lucky member of Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers who was chosen to interview you for our Chiseled in Rock blog as a lead-up to our Colorado Gold Conference in September.

Joanne: I’m particularly pleased to be interviewing you because I owe you a huge debt of gratitude. When I first started writing, I learned a lot from your in-depth answers on the RWA craft loop. I was amazed that a best-selling author would be so generous with her time, and that brings us to the first question: was your generosity toward other writers inspired by someone who helped you?

Allison: Thank you Joanne! I’m glad things I’ve said have helped other writers. I have a bit of an email addiction—I think that comes from being an extrovert in an introverted job. When I quit my day job, I had a bit of withdrawal—limited adult conversation. So I used the Internet and my writer’s loops to chat. I also had mentors – Patti Berg in my home chapter (Sacramento Valley Rose) was generous with her time and experience. Soon after I sold, fellow Ballantine author Mariah Stewart reached out and befriended me, teaching me the ropes and keeping me from doing stupid things. She also gave me my first cover quote, for which I am very grateful. Over the years many other authors have helped me, and I hope I’ve given some of that back as well.

Joanne: I know that you, like me, gave up television so you’d have time to write, but I also know it’s a late-night guilty pleasure (not that I’m stalking you or anything). Do you have a favorite among the current popular crime programs, like NCIS or Criminal Minds?

Allison: True! I gave up television for three years when I was working full-time because I could only write after the kids went to bed. I have never watched NCIS, though I always meant to. I’ve watched some Criminal Minds, but it’s not my favorite. Right now, my favorite crime shows are Law & Order SVU (has been my fave for years), The Killing, and The Glades. And, of course Justified is my all-time favorite these last two seasons. My guilty pleasure is Castle  … I also enjoy Flashpoint, but more for the teamwork, characters and choreography because it’s a little too neat and perfect for me. (And I don’t like how Jules has treated my favorite character, Sam! If I was writing that show … well, there’d be a lot more conflict and tension and passion there!)

I also really enjoyed the short BBC series Luther and am thrilled they’re going to do a couple long episodes. I am hugely disappointed that the networks canceled Detroit 1-8-7, because I thought that was one of the smartest cop shows. I also liked season one of Dark Blue, but season two was poorly done so I wasn’t surprised they canceled it. Hmm … I do watch a lot of TV! And this doesn’t include the non-crime shows!

Joanne: When you started out, you had five kids and a full-time job. Other than giving up TV, do you have any time-management tips to share?

Allison: I wish. I’m hugely disorganized and a big procrastinator. I work much better with deadlines, so even if I don’t have an official publishing deadline, I give myself deadlines. I also don’t sweat the small stuff, I don’t stress about cleaning, and writing and family always come first. That means I don’t volunteer for everything under the sun at church or the kids’ school, for example.

Joanne: Are you a morning writer or a night owl? Do you keep to a strict writing schedule?

Allison: Both. I write best in 4-5 hour blocks, in the morning (usually 11 am – 4 pm) and at night (usually 9 pm – 1 am) … I wouldn’t say my writing schedule is “strict” because sometimes I write later at night, or start earlier in the morning, or skip one, but I write daily.

Joanne: I think your heroes and heroines strike a perfect balance between courage and vulnerability. Is there a process you use for building a character or is that instinctive? Do you have their personalities and backgrounds in mind when you start, or do these things develop as you tell the story?

Allison: I don’t plot, and I don’t do character charts. I usually have a snapshot of the character … meaning, I can sort of see what kind of person they are, but the background and their actions/reactions come out as I write and rewrite. I’ve called myself an organic writer – I don’t know where I heard that, I didn’t think it up, but I’ve always felt it fit me.

Joanne: Has a character ever totally stunned you by doing something you didn’t expect and forced you to backtrack and rewrite extensively? (Not that that would ever happen to me or anything...)

Allison: Yes. Often. That’s so sad … but usually it happens because I’m trying to force a character into my idea of what he/she should do, not what THEY would do, and then they finally have enough and do their own thing and I realize they’re right.

Joanne: I won’t ask you to choose a favorite character, but what character in your books is most like you? I’m voting for Claire O’Brien (and you can take that as a compliment – she’s my favorite).

Allison: Thank you! I love Claire :) … I don’t know who’s most like me. I think there are little bits of me in all my heroines. Since I put myself in all my character’s shoes when I’m in their POV, I think it’s natural that we have some shared traits. I think out of all the jobs my characters have, if I wasn’t a writer, Claire has the job I’d probably have wanted (insurance fraud investigator.)

Joanne: I think the summary of Sudden Death – “By-the-book FBI agent vs. burn-the-book mercenary” – is brilliant. Do your books start with concepts like that, or with a first page, or a character?

Allison: Thank you! I liked it too … it just came to me. I wish all my books started with a cool concept, but that rarely happens. Each book starts differently … sometimes it’s an opening scene I picture (usually action) or sometimes it’s a character, or sometimes it’s a specific crime. But they all have What if … as part of the early thought process. What if a killer used crime fiction as a blueprint for murder? What if someone escapes from a serial killer? What if there was an earthquake under San Quentin?

Joanne: As a bookseller, I remember your books taking off from the start, which isn’t surprising because you create great characters and compelling stories. But do you feel that any particular promotional efforts helped you break out?

Allison: I wish I knew! I didn’t do a lot myself, and I think the best thing for me was catching a wave early—I was (I think) the first debut author who had a back-to-back-to-back trilogy. They had great covers, great placement and co-op—all because of publisher support. That’s something an author can’t buy. I complemented what my publisher did with a website and I also did book trailers before a lot of people were doing them. However, the hits are minimal—a few thousand hits on my last two trailers (to compare … my daughter made a fan trailer for Neal Shusterman’s UNWIND because she loved the book so much. He put it on his website for a few months and now she has over 16,000 views … all my trailers – eight total – might have half that!) So it’s hard to decide what works, what doesn’t. Having at least two books out a year is a definite plus, and because I had two b2b2b trilogies in a row, that really helped launched me.

Joanne: I know you wrote quite a few manuscripts before you published. Were they all romantic suspense, or did you toy with other subgenres?

Allison: Mostly romantic suspense, though I had my Seven Deadly Sins idea before I sold my first book, and an epic fantasy/dystopian YA novel (but that’s not what I called it then—I was really ahead of the curve and wish I’d finished it in 2003!) I also wrote a futuristic romantic suspense. But pretty much all my ideas have a mystery/suspense structure.

Joanne: I’m really intrigued by the trend toward dark, edgy teen fiction, and you write both darkness and teenagers well. Have you ever considered writing YA?

Allison: Yes. I even have a proposal written. But I want to finish the book before I submit because YA is so much about voice. I work on it when I have time.

Joanne: What are you working on right now?

Allison: I’m finishing the copyedits of Lucy Kincaid #3 IF I SHOULD DIE, which will be out on 11.22.11; then I’ll go back to writing Lucy #4, SILENCED, which will be out on 6.5.12, moving publishers to Minotaur/St. Martin’s Press.

Joanne: Is there anything else you’d like to share with Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers before the conference?

Allison: Thank you for great interview questions and I’m very much looking forward to the conference!

Joanne: Thank you so much for your time. We’re all very excited that you’re coming to the Colorado Gold Writer’s conference, and it really has been an honor to interview you.

Allison: If it’s on a blog, let me know when and I’ll definitely answer questions. I’ll also offer a copy of LOVE ME TO DEATH, the first Lucy Kincaid book, as a giveaway!

Comment for a chance to win a free copy of Love Me To Death, the first Lucy Kincaid book! US residents only please; a winner will be drawn at random. Contest ends Sunday July 24th, when the winner will be announced on Chiseled in Rock.

My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboy Romances

The wild plains of the West, a rugged cattle hand, some good dogs, and the smart and sexy heroine. Like a snug fittin’ pair of boots and denims, Joanne Kennedy’s Cowboy series will win you over.

After 25 years in the business of selling books, she decided to sit down and write one. Five years and a lot of hard work later, she got her first novel, Cowboy Trouble, published with Sourcebooks.

Cowboy Trouble combined humor and suspense in a romance written for women whose interest ranged beyond high heels and hairstyles; readers whose idea of high fashion is wearing Wranglers in “slim fit” instead of “cowboy cut.”

The third in the series, Cowboy Fever, is about to be released. Joanne will be signing at the Barnes in Noble in Thornton, Colorado this Saturday February 26, 2011.

I met Joanne at an RMFW conference a couple of years ago. She’d just gotten the deal with Sourcebooks and we’re all glad that the series has taken off.

CIR: Why do you think romance continues to be the strongest selling genre?

JK: I think the way romance has changed with the times has kept it strong. Romances these days aren’t about women who succumb to love; they’re about women who reach for it and attain it on their own terms. Even though the books center on a relationship, they’re about people discovering their inner strength and learning what matters in life. They’re empowering and they give you hope that your future will hold everything you hope for if you stay true to yourself.

CIR: Who are some of your writing influences?

JK: I’ve worked in bookselling all my life, so I read everything. But in romance, some of my favorites are Jodi Thomas, Linda Lael Miller, Kristan Higgins, and Catherine Anderson. They all put lots of heart in their books, which is what I aspire to do. In other genres, I’ve been reading Elizabeth George’s Inspector Lynley mysteries while reading her fantastic book on writing, “Write Away.” I have learned so much from her – her depth of characterization is incredible.

CIR: Your cowboy series has mysteries entwined in them. Is it a challenge to ensure that you’re giving enough attention to the romance or mystery element of the story?

JK: I wanted to write mysteries when I started out, and that’s where Cowboy Trouble came from – but when I started entering it in contests, I kept getting the comment that it was “too romancey.” I realized then that I am a romance writer. It’s what I do, and every story turns to love and relationships. So my books are very much romances, with a little mystery thrown in for fun. In fact, I’d call them suspense rather than mystery because you often know “who-done-it” fairly early on.

CIR: How did you find your agent?

JK: I met her at a conference! At that time I was sending out lots of submissions and already had one waiting on her desk. She didn’t remember it when we met, but a week later I got an offer of representation from a different agent and let everyone I’d submitted to know I had an offer. I gave them two weeks to respond. Elaine was the first to call me and we just hit it off. I was lucky to find the perfect agent the first time out. The moral of the story is, don’t shy away from multiple submissions. I wound up with four very good agents to choose from – and I’d been submitting seriously for over a year and had survived well over 100 rejections.

CIR: Do you write anything besides Western romance? Any special secret projects?

JK: I have two paranormals that I love. The first one, Hell’s Angel, won the RMFW contest a few years back, and it’s actually the book that earned me my agent, but we couldn’t sell it. It’s a little quirky, and I’m making some changes to make it work better for the market. I have two other paranormals in the works as well, and I have a YA idea I very much want to write. Is there anyone these days who doesn’t have a YA novel on the back burner?!?! That genre is just so much fun these days!

CIR: On the Chiseled in Rock blog, we strive to be unique. As part of that we always ask an oddball question. You’re from Massachusetts. How’d you become a cowgirl?

JK: I was a horse-crazy kid, and my parents wouldn’t buy me a pony, which scarred me for life and led to an unhealthy fascination with men who swagger and wear chaps.
Seriously, I moved out West in the early nineties and I just love this world. Love the open spaces, the big sky, the people and the animals. I sometimes feel like a fish out of water being a New Englander in the West, but I think that helps me see what makes the West so unique, and why readers from all over the world love our cowboys!

http://joannekennedybooks.com/


Gusto Dave