Those launching emotions

 

This past week, my sixth novel The Inheritance was officially released (see my book trailer here)—and yet again, the emotions involved have taken me a little by surprise. It was only last October that my first non-fiction book Soul Friend was released, so one would think I would remember how it all felt. Granted, launching another novel is different. The Inheritance is, after all, fiction, while releasing my memoir Soul Friend like personally serving myself up on a platter! But again, I have felt those nervous flutters inside as I have posted off those advance copies already purchased. Will this novel of mine be well received? Will those readers who have stuck by me through all seven of my books enjoy this one as much?

The Inheritance is, in essence, a story of family secrets, forgiveness and faith. It explores one man’s struggle to come to grips with the past, be reconciled with himself, his family and ultimately God, and face the future with courage and integrity. At the same time, it also explores a woman’s struggle to stay true to her faith in God and pursue God’s purposes for her life. In writing this novel, I attempted to focus equally on each main protagonist much more than I did in my earlier novels. And this brought with it new challenges such as being careful to stay in in one character’s point of view for a whole scene or chapter and balancing how often I changed from one to the other. I was very aware of the importance of point of view prior to this, but the approach I chose with this novel has meant I had to be particularly careful in this regard. The Inheritance is my first work of fiction with my new publisher, Even Before Publishing, and I am grateful for the assistance I was given to see the mistakes I was making with point of view and to learn so much more in the process.

But will my faithful readers—and hopefully some new ones—like the somewhat different style I have employed in The Inheritance? Will they relate to my initially very angry and aggressive hero Michael Trevelyan and my equally determined heroine Alexandra Hope? Will they track with these two people I have grown to love as they experience so many ups and downs in their personal lives and in their ongoing relationship? What if they feel one character is not quite believable—or, worse still, both? What if they decide Alexandra is just too ‘good’ a heroine, an opinion some expressed about my main female protagonists in my earlier novels?

Yet, while I still have doubts and questions like these, the counterbalance to it all is that I do believe it is my best novel so far! Please understand I don’t say that in any boastful way, however, but rather with thankfulness to God for enabling me to keep on writing and learning and also with gratitude to my publisher who challenged me to grow.

What about you other authors out there? How have you felt when your own new novel has been released? Is it a huge mixture of emotions such as it has been for me? For those not yet published, how do you plan to tackle this whole book launch experience?

Jo-Anne Berthelsen lives in Sydney but grew up in Brisbane. She holds degrees in Arts and Theology and has worked as a high school teacher, editor and secretary, as well as in local church ministry. Jo-Anne is passionate about touching hearts and lives through both the written and spoken word. She is the author of six published novels and one non-fiction work, Soul Friend: the story of a shared spiritual journey. Jo-Anne is married to a retired minister and has three grown-up children and three grandchildren. For more information, please visit www.jo-anneberthelsen.com or www.soulfriend.com.au.

KILLING YOUR DARLINGS

How would you describe these expressions? My take is Shock - Horror - and Consternation.

Sigh, I empathize with these poor hounds. For right now I am in the midst of polishing a manuscript. Well, all we authors do that regularly so what's so bad about it?

Then let me explain. I am changing the multi Point of View of a romance novel into what is acceptable for a publisher's expections of said novel. The fewer POVs the better is the norm. And so here I am, albeit kickin' and screamin' working on "killing off my darlings". At first I thought what an impossibility! But it can be done.

In one scene with two secondary characters I was able to place my main character in a place where she overheard what was going on. Strangely, it was better than the original. In other scenes I wiped away a tear and deleted them. Ohhh, agony! But rereading I found that nobody would probably miss them (because they hadn't been introduced as essential characters.) If our readers could only read our original word packed manuscripts they'd probably get to know even more of the story, but we have to squeeze into the prescribed  rules that publishers expect. OK, maybe they're absolutely correct.

Wouldn't it be good if we could tack on our deleted scenes like movie makers
do at the end of some videos. Many of them are great, some are hilarious, and some let you get to know the characters a little more. It would certainly be an
added bonus, especially if the scenes really aid to the depth of the story by all
those authentic details and descriptions an author must cut.

Still, if the professionals have to edit out whole scenes, even to deleting an interesting character, then who am I (rebellious spirit that I am) to buck at the 'Laws of the Medes and the Persians'?

Rita Stella Galieh is familiar with editing out the superfluous as she writes scripts along with her evangelist husband George for a Christian radio program broadcast Australia-wide. Her weekly blog at http://inspirationalromance.blogspot.com.au shares real life stories of how couples met.  Besides contributing to several US nonfiction books, she has had two historical romances traditionally published and is now working on Book III of the trilogy, Signed Sealed Delivered, The Tie That Binds and A Parcel of Promises.

Persevering with point of view!

These past few weeks have been quite tumultuous in my writing journey, as I have tried to edit two manuscripts at once – my first non-fiction work, entitled Soul Friend: the story of a shared spiritual journey, and my sixth novel, The Inheritance. With my non-fiction book, my new publisher wanted a few things changed – and rightly so. While it took some time to do, it was nevertheless reasonably straightforward. However, it was another matter altogether with my sixth novel. You see, I had decided I would try something new. I would have two main characters and would write from both points of view, according to what fitted best. But I would also write from the points of view of several minor characters, where necessary. In other words, I was venturing into ‘multiple point of view’ territory.

Now being a rookie at such things, I was bound to make mistakes. With my first two novels, I had stuck to omniscient point of view. In fact, back then, I didn’t even know what that term meant! I simply wrote in the same style in which many of the older books I loved were written. Over my next three novels, I gradually refined my style and wrote from the point of view of my main protagonist, although I’m sure I often strayed into omniscient point of view out of habit. But now, in trying to be clever, it soon became clear, from my publisher’s comments, that I had skipped from one point of view to another far too often. Sometimes this was intentional – I felt it worked that way. But mostly, I have to admit, it was unintentional – I had happily hopped into someone else’s head for a few lines, before proceeding to hop to another one – and then to another again! It was as if all my characters were joining in the conversation, each with their own little agendas.

So ... now I had quite a rewrite on my hands. I sighed – I did not need such a large job at that point. However, once I had begun, I soon discovered how much I was learning. In fact, it became an interesting challenge to see how the various scenes could in many cases happen just as easily from the point of view of one of the main characters and not one of those minor characters who kept wanting to get in on the act!

Now I am on the other side of that rewrite – and I hope I have succeeded in vastly improving my manuscript. But all this has served to show me yet again that there is always so much more to learn in this writing business – so many new things to come to grips with and new ways to refine our writing style. Will I ever ‘arrive’ as an author? I don’t know. But I do know I’m going to keep on trying. I want to write the best fiction – and non-fiction – I can for God. As Paul writes in Philippians 3:13, I want to forget what is behind and strain towards what is ahead. I may never write that best seller, but I sure know I can improve from where I am now.

Somehow I don’t think God has finished with me yet, moulding me into the author I am meant to be. How about you? Is that how you feel too?

Jo-Anne Berthelsen grew up in Brisbane and holds an Arts degree from Queensland University. She has also studied Education and Theology and has worked as a high school teacher and editor, as well as in local church ministry. Jo-Anne loves communicating through both the written and spoken word and currently has five published novels – ‘Heléna’, ‘All the Days of My Life’, ‘Laura’, ‘Jenna’ and ‘Heléna’s Legacy’.  She is married to a retired minister and has three grown-up children and three grandchildren. For more information, please visit her website, www.jo-anneberthelsen.com.