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| | The Write and Publish Fiction Network is not currently active and cannot accept new posts | | My epiphany of the year... | Views: 788 | | Sep 21, 2008 4:03 am | | My epiphany of the year... | # | 
Meredith Greene | | In the first few weeks of 2007, I had an epiphany; to give credit where it is due, my husband started it, but it blossomed into a full-blown realization some weeks later.
We were surfing the web and my husband commented on the amount of romance novels present on a popular book-selling websites. I have never read such a novel (of the type we saw splattered everywhere on the screen) and we spent a good deal of time laughing at the similar covers: some lady in an amazingly revealing dress/shirt/robe/whathaveyou with the first button at her navel, apparently fainting away into the arms of a burly rouge/misunderstood hero with breeze-blown hair. The hero on the cover always appears to be crestfallen that his interest has been rendered dysfunctional.
After our amusement had worn off, my husband turned to me and said:
“I bet you could write a good romance novel… you know, without all that fantasy crap in it.”
That night I had an incredible urge to read Pride and Prejudice, one of my favorite books. About halfway through those hallowed pages, I realized what I was reading. Of course it is a romance novel, I knew that. However, Jane Austen showed the world that one can write an excellent romance novel but one with class, taste and intelligence.
I have never read a romantic story better than her works. Once, as a punishment, my teacher brought in a romance novel from the store and read the first chapter aloud. We were studying great literature of England at the time and it was truly an awful, yet humorous experience. I simply could not believe writing could be so shallow and hold nothing rooted in reality: female pirates running about with complete freedom, demanding modern-type respect and rights from almost animal-like barbarians, woman swordsmen winning sword-fights and going to battle, all the while their hair perfect and Chanel-scented. I merely point out how it appeared to me; then again, I was one of those girls whom in high school sat in the library ensconced in C. S. Forester or E. R. Burroughs while my more ‘modern’ classmates were grouped around the well-worn Sweet ’landmark’ High display.
Inspired by Jane Austen and with the never-fading encouragement of my husband and content editor, I leaped into the fray, writing furiously; however I bore in mind that one golden rule of writing: write what you know.
No pirates, nor swordsmen, nor buxom women cavorted over my pages; just a simple love story with a reality check: a man and woman meeting as if designed to, going through funny life-situations and some mild arguments and getting married. In the sentences I so slaved over were woven my own treasured memories, moments of laughter and the witty banter of long loved conversations. I would read the chapters aloud to my husband and he would comment on what sounded good, or if it seemed too far-fetched. He even introduced a beloved character into my story and wrote along with me most of the time. Not only did the book soar past my expectations of merely producing a more ’shallow’ novel to sell but I had a great time writing it. It was not a solitary nor lonely endeavor in the least.
After getting some independent reviews, we put part of the book online on a fiction ‘forum’ of sorts, just to get some unbiased opinions. I for one did not expect many people to like it. 354 positive, adoring reviews later, I was thinking along different lines. They demanded to read the whole thing and also demanded a sequel. Dazed by the response we sent the book off to the US Copyright office and began to send out queries to various literary agents and publishers, like most authors do; the responses were typically elitist and almost macabre in nature. One lady even went so far as to suggest putting more ’sex’ into it. I responded ‘as if there isn’t a glut of that around’. Really…
Undaunted, we made a website and put the book online with a few others, with the first three chapters free hooking ti up with PayPal (a wonderful invention) and waited to see what happened. Within the first week (on an unknown site), twelve people bought the book and sent back rave reviews. On the fifth days after the launch, Capital One sent the website a credit card; we laughed over it before ripping up the invite. Online books are a great business, being the overhead is so low.
My book and my husband’s book are selling still; though it is a fledgling site, hundreds of people visit it every day. That’s up from 55 the first day. I did not pay for advertising, and several people whom bought my book the first week recommended it to their friends and family, etc.
So, chin up, all you writers of tasteful, elegant books. There is yet a market for your pieces and an appreciation hidden among the surfers of the net. As one of my readers put it:
“So many of the novels I read today (and I read a lot of them) are so focused on including as many explicit sex encounters as possible, that more often than not, the romance gets lost. Usually, at the end of those, I am left yearning for a missing something and feeling like there should be more…”
Wow. The sentiments of this discerning individual were to be repeated many many time among those whom bought my book. I am completing my sequel and have many more such books in me to write. I shall write them with gladness, knowing there is a tasteful, classy and elegant audience waiting to read them.
Cheers,
Meredith GreenePrivate Reply to Meredith Greene | | Sep 21, 2008 7:18 am | | re: My epiphany of the year... | # | 
Francis Dias | | Hi Meredith: Glad and grateful to read your post. You know, I've been thinking about writing a book for a long time. I've never been a writer of stories spread over reams of paper/megabytes, but for one bit articles, sketches, etc. But, since the time I honestly felt like writing, I've been thinking of a subject to write on. The dilemma was to write a book which was simple and innocent: no dirt, no sleaze and no unnecessary compulsions to show the protagonist in a winner mode. I wasn't much encouraged about the potential for sale of this kind of book for I know well what the world needs today, moreso in India where I live and frankly, I don't have anything of that to give.
Your post has made my eyes glisten with pride that out there, are many people who want and would pay for what I call, embellishment of pure thoughts. I'm glad you wrote this post and I'm also glad I read it though it lay among the garbage in my mailbox. Now, perhaps I'll get on the job and get going.
Thanks so much
Francis Dias
Private Reply to Francis Dias | | Sep 21, 2008 8:35 am | | re: re: My epiphany of the year... | # | 
Fred Hose | | Dear Meredith
Your name is somewhat familiar (through Ryze and, I think, Gather)to me and I know you as a sincere thoughtful person.
I know that I can say this to you without causing any offence. Of course, there is none ntended. This is just a discussion.
I'm a writer and although I do engineering contract work, I would dearly love to earn money through my works.
I have certain skills and real life experiences to back up my story telling. I have this one fault though. I want my stories to be very unusual, to be very uplifting, to be lamps to the readers and to have a touch of humour even if its ironic or bizarre at times.
I want to become known a true story teller. one that leaves you with a strange inner motivation stirring within you, when you put the book down.
I'm not going to write sex orientated novels under any terms because I think that I've been given another mission. If I then have to eat bread instead of cake, so be it.
I know that what you did was an amusing experiment that seems to have paid off handsomely...and for that I congratulate you heartily.
What I'm trying to say here is that writers should feel strongly within their hearts why they write. Is it for the money and "fame" or is for the contributions they can make to those people who yearn for their souls to soar or at least read about other souls soaring.
Glad to have met you, Meredith, and I hope that we can exchange many more ideas.
Fred Private Reply to Fred Hose | | Sep 21, 2008 4:55 pm | | re: re: My epiphany of the year... | # |
Meredith Greene | | We are equally glad to know that there are other writers out there whom feel similarly about writing. I hope you'll post a pink to your stuff here as you complete it.
Some good critiquing sites to post your work:
http://www.fictionpress.com
http://www.writerscafe.org
Meredith GreenePrivate Reply to Meredith Greene | | Sep 21, 2008 4:56 pm | | re: re: re: My epiphany of the year... | # |
Meredith Greene | | Thank you for your kind words. We first sent our work to the copyright office, then posted parts of it on these sites:
http://www.fictionpress.com
http://www.writerscafe.org
The folks there will let you know if you have a winner, so to speak. Good luck,
M. GreenePrivate Reply to Meredith Greene | | Sep 21, 2008 7:03 pm | | re: My epiphany of the year... | # | 
Diane Stephenson | | Meredith: I, too, am very happy to know that I am not alone in disliking books full of explicit sex. And there are also a lot of people who seem to crave reading about extreme violence. Though these things do exist in the world, I prefer to read something more uplifting, something that will bring a smile or perhaps a tear, something that will touch my heart and my emotions. What I really want is for someone to take me out of my own personal world and set me down in the middle of somewhere I have never been before.
I cannot understand editors who want more and more of this "junk". I do believe there are many people out there who want clean, inspiring books to read, but the publishers have no wish to supply them with what they prefer. If people want sex and violence, all they have to do is turn on the news channel or the movie channel and they will have their fill. But where can we go except to the classics such as Jane Austen (whose work I love) to find decent and well-written stories?
I have written many different types of things from children's stories to inspirational short stories. I have done a little creative non-fiction, and I have written a novel. It seems to me that it is much easier to write a book than to write a query letter that will catch an editor's eye and interest him. I have spent hours and hours searching on-line to find just the right publisher who is taking submissions in the genre in which I have written and who does not require an author to have an agent. But it is very difficult to sift through the hundreds of publishers and choose just the right one and to know that they are reputable.
I had a bad experience with the one book I had "published". I use quotes around the word because "printed" would be nearer the truth. PublishAmerica calls itself a traditional publisher, but there is nothing traditional in their policies and nothing ethical in the way they do business. Once you have had an experience like that you tend to be a little hesitant in submitting to another publisher for fear that it might end up the same way.
E-books seem to be the way to go these days, but I, for one, still love the feel of a real book in my hand. And there are a lot of people out there who do not have computers or are not online if they do. There is a publisher who takes e-submissions from anyone who has written a first novel - MacMillan New Writers in England. I submitted my novel there, but was not accepted. I think perhaps it was because my story is Christian-based, and although it does not 'preach' Christianity my characters live and speak it. But they do publish one or two books a month.
It's too bad more publishers do not take the attitude that there is a lot of very good writing out there that is buried in the slush pile and never heard of again. But I guess as with almost everything, it boils down to guaranteed profit. The publisher knows that if they publish a well-known author they will make money even if it is poorly written.
I love to write, and I think I will keep on writing even if nothing gets published. Still, I hope for that big breakthrough one day. In the meantime it is wonderful to know that what I have written has blessed those of my friends who have read it. A writer is born to write. I began writing later in life, but I have made up for lost time. Maybe some day my books will be on bookstore shelves, but in the meantime, I welcome the inspiration to keep on producing new works.
Happy writing and good success to you all.
DianePrivate Reply to Diane Stephenson | | |
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