How do you write a novel? Part II After you type "The End"

Leonid Pasternak's painting, The Throes of Creation (wikimedia commons)

You've congratulated yourself. Your friends (the ones who know about your secret addiction to writing) have congratulated you. You're imagining the New York Times bestseller list with your book and your name featured prominently. The offer from the film company. Strolling up the red carpet at the premiere, with flashbulbs and requests for comments from the media.

Scroll back a few pages. The work on your first novel is not done when you type "The End". Here's what remains:

Take a breather. Sit on the porch sipping iced tea, or clean house (if it's like mine, it needs it because I'd rather write than clean), or catch up on the leisure activities you've skipped while writing The Secret of the Dragon's Gall Bladder or Jenny's Pirate Duke or whatever. Give it a week or two, or maybe a month.

Then re-read it, colored pen in hand, looking for typos and infelicitous phrases (a/k/a clunky writing). Some writers read their work aloud. I have no patience for this, and find it unnecessary in the case of simple sentences, like " 'I think the dragon's gall bladder is on the left side,' Mordred said." When there are more complicated paragraphs and longer sentences, I read each word aloud in my mind rather than simply skimming. Doing so usually helps me find the bits that readers will stumble over. Fix the problems you find.

If you don't already know someone who writes, or at least has excellent taste in the genre you're writing, you'll need to find someone who fits that profile and is willing to read your literary offspring. It's no use asking your best friend or a close relative to do it (unless your friend/relative happens to be J.K. Rowling or Stephen King or Anne Rice). A critique group is also a possibility.

After you've evaluated your reader's comments and decided whether they're valid, fix the problems. Sample comments: "Dude, it's physically impossible to fire 150 rounds from a Glock 17 in 75 seconds, even if you've got 10 spare, loaded magazines with you." "If you write entirely in the old Lowland Scots dialect, you need to provide a glossary."

Make sure your formatting is readable and generally acceptable. Times New Roman font is easy to read and pretty standard. Avoid weird fonts except for short, special effects—for a ransom note, perhaps, or when you show a character typing the end of her article/story/novel on her old non-electric Remington as The End.

Make sure your formatting meets the guidelines of the publisher to whom you intend to submit your book. Self-publishing sites will have their own rules. My publisher has an extensive guide to their requirements. Read the rules, understand them, and follow them.

If you're self-publishing, you may be ready to publish.

If you hope to submit to a big, mainstream publisher, you'll almost certainly need an agent, which means researching to find an agent who represents books like yours. Once you've identified a possible agent, read his/her instructions for submitting a query letter. Read the rules, understand them, and follow them. Don't expect the first agent to accept you.

If you're submitting to a small, independent publisher, their website will tell you if you can submit directly, without an agent. If that's the case, read their instructions. They will almost certainly want a query letter from you with a synopsis of your book. Make sure this letter and the synopsis are free of typos and grammatical errors.

NEXT: How do you write a novel? Part III: The Query Letter, and What Comes After 

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

How do you write a novel? Part I

 I see a lot of questions from aspiring writers.  One of them is : "I want to write a novel. How do I do it?" There are many variants of this question, and most writers who have actually produced at least one novel probably sigh or wince and wonder how to answer.

How do you write a novel?

Answer:
Ideally, you've laid the foundation by reading compulsively since you learned to read, and picked up a wide vocabulary, a good grasp of grammar, punctuation, and a feel for language.

In addition, you have a strong desire to write, not for money or fame, but simply to tell a story.

You should also have already acquired the ability to string words together into coherent English (or whatever your native language is) so you don't write a sentence like this: "In the olden times, the men of Xablonia lay with the Chocolans' long dead grandmothers." What's wrong with that, you ask?

Well, you've just accused the Xablonians of necrophilia, and not even fresh necrophilia. And maybe that's what you meant, because sometimes things get weird in fantasy or paranormal novels. But if you mean that the ancestors of the current Xablonians lay with the ancestresses of the current Chocolans, you need to change that sentence. Many, many years ago, I read a very similar statement in a book blurb and I haven't stopped laughing since.

You could write: "In the olden times, the men of Xablonia lay with the Chocolans' ancestresses." You could write it in a number of other ways to remove the suggestion of necrophilia with the mouldering corpses of grandmothers. The point here is, you have to know how to write a sentence that says what you mean, not something entirely different.

Now that you have the mental tools to write a novel, you have a choice: either start by outlining the plot in some detail, or else (assuming you have even the germ of an idea of what it's going to be about) just sit down and start writing. Some writers are "plotters", some are "seat-of-the-pantsers". I'm the latter. I'd never write a book if I had to outline it first.

You are now beginning to write. Do what you have to do to carve out a block of time to write. Sit down at...well, whatever equipment you write with, be it desktop computer, some newfangled portable thing, or a ream of paper and a pen, and write. Do it regularly. Do not be distracted by social media, phone calls, or emails. Do not worry about who will publish it, how to promote it, how much money it will make (or not!), and who you want for the starring roles in the movie and what you'll wear to the premiere. Personally, I'd like one of my novels turned into a BBC mini-series but that's not going to happen, either.

Write your novel. You'll know fairly quickly if writing long fiction is your cup of tea.

If you finish it, that's still not the end of the project. My next blog entry will address what happens after you type "The End".

My fourth historical romance, A Masked Earl, will be released on October 2, 2019. 

Most Secret, my second historical novel (ebook edition), is currently on sale for $0.99

My second novel, Most Secret, is currently on sale for $0.99 at https://www.amazon.com/Most-Secret-Kathleen-Buckley-ebook/dp/B07CKTJ5T4/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=Kathleen+Buckley&qid=1565959612&s=books&sr=1-2

Jane Stowe frequently finds her irritable father, peevish stepmother, and half-brother Rupert a trial. Her only hope of eventual escape is her maternal uncle, Roger Markham, whose heir she is. When he dies under mysterious circumstances, Jane is the obvious suspect.

Sent to unofficially investigate a suspected smuggler, Alex Gordon uncovers a plot to send a cargo of muskets to Bonnie Prince Charlie in Scotland. Now he’s been told to leave the rest to the professionals. But Jane Stowe, who provided the first clue to the plot, is suspected of murder. Her feckless half-brother is involved. It’s all connected, and the professionals have no stake in saving Jane from the gallows or Rupert from a charge of treason.

Alex, with nothing more than a talent for amateur theatricals, lock-picking, and a personal interest in Jane, has a plan. Or most of a plan, at least. It will take him to Scotland and make him a fugitive from both Jacobites and the Crown, and send Jane into hiding.

Most Secret contains no explicit sex, mild bad language, mild violence, and humor. 

Review: Lucinda Brant's Roxton Family Saga

I think I’ve read all of Lucinda Brant’s novels, re-read most of them, and they’re all on my “to keep” list. The books of the Roxton Family Saga are particular favorites, however, in part because Noble Satyr reminds me of Georgette Heyer’s These Old Shades. I’m going to skip summarizing their stories as others have done that already, and jump directly to why I enjoyed them so much.

My standards for fiction of any kind are high: I want good writing, accurate detail, good characterization, and a plot that makes some sense. Ms. Brant’s books are well written, steeped in 18th century culture, the characters are well drawn, and the stories are interesting. Even better, they’re compelling. The Roxton novels linger in my memory as many other historical romances do not.

And now that I've finished writing this, I'll go back to re-reading Midnight Marriage.

The Roxton Family Saga:

Noble Satyr

Midnight Marriage

Autumn Duchess

Dair Devil

Proud Mary

Satyr’s Son

How I learned to love Google Images

I have a fairly good visual memory and I’m pretty good at describing things, I think, which is handy for a writer. But in order to visualize and describe them, I’ve got to see them first. For someone whose genre is historical fiction, this can be tricky. Thank goodness for the wonders of the Internet and a good search engine.

Much of the time, I’m researching some specific thing, like what a Charleville 1717 musket looked like. Sometimes, an article online will include an illustration which intrigues me and leads me to other resources. Paintings from the period I’m writing about (the early to mid-1700s) are rich sources of inspiration. When I was writing my first novel, An Unsuitable Duchess, I looked for portraits from that era to see what people were wearing. By the second, Most Secret, I had discovered the DVD version of John Rocque’s 1746 map of London, which led to searching for images of Somerset House, the various squares, schooners, and a suitable place for Jane Stowe’s uncle to live.  

Wych Street, London, about 1880. Demolished soon after, one of these houses dating from about 1600 was the perfect residence for Jane's rakish, intelligence-gathering uncle.

Above, Canaletto's drawing of Old Somerset House, used at the time for a variety of small government offices, storage, and even some lodgings for government employees, provided a place for the anonymous intelligence service in Most Secret. 

With my third, Captain Easterday’s Bargain, I went looking for images of the Pool of London and the Thames generally in the early 18^th century and found a treasure trove.

Pictures which inspired scenes in Captain Easterday’s Bargain:

Samuel Scott, A Thames Wharf, from the Victoria & Albert Museum collection.
This is sometimes identified as depicting Custom House Quay, but is more likely the East India Company wharf.

Samuel Scott, The Thames and the Tower of London, Supposedly on the King's Birthday

A General Prospect of Vauxhall Gardens from the west, with the proprietor's house and the Prince's Pavilion (with three shuttered windows) in the foreground.

And I needed a place for Olivia, the embattled shipping company owner, to live. I settled on Well Close Square as being slightly down-at-heels, in the right part of London, and having a magistrate's court that would be useful. The photograph below was taken in the 1960s, before the square's demolition. 

In my fourth, A Masked Earl, which I hope will be out by  early autumn of 2019, I found floor plans for both city and country houses,  as well as furniture and tea sets.

 

Taking tea. Note that these are tea bowls rather than tea cups.

And finally, a painting of tric-trac players which oozes romance…or possibly lust. I consider this virtually emblematic of the romance genre. You know they aren't talking about a dumb board game. 

Trictrac Players, attributed to Léonard DeFrance

Check out Addison Carmichael's Site

Addison Carmichael, who writes romance "with a paranormal twist" has a lovely and informative site, and I'm her featured author today.   http://www.addisoncarmichael.com/2019/06/23/featured-author-kathleen-buckley/  I talk about the writer's journey: Parisian cafés, the Lost Generation, writing something—anything!—just to be writing, and why many of us continue to write, in spite of the lack of fame, fortune, and martini lunches in Manhattan. 

Time Travel, Thanks to the Internet

Because I write historical romances, I do a lot of time traveling, specifically to the 1740s. As I usually do it via Google, I’m spared the experience of necessary houses (what we would call outhouses), terrifying medical care, and the soot-laden and reeking air of London.

 If you write fiction set in the U.S. in modern times, you don’t need to describe a McDonald’s in detail: every sighted person in America has seen one. But when you write historical fiction, you can’t rely on your reader knowing what a coaching inn or a London wharf or a coffee house looked like. It’s my responsibility to describe it so the reader can see it.

In order to do so, I have to have a clear mental image of what I’m describing. I can’t be content with an offhand “It was a typical brick and half-timbered house of the Tudor period.” So Google is my friend. Searches will turn up pictures of the 18^th century French Charleville musket (several different models), jewelry, clothing, furniture and floor plans of the period, the rules of card games no one has played in the last two hundred years, and virtually anything else I need to research. And it’s fun.

Trictrac by L. deFrance

Let’s set the mood. Above is the image that symbolizes romance to me. You know this couple is not thinking about their stupid board game.

And this man, though a little late for my period, is the quintessential romantic hero: handsome and brooding.

Sir Thomas Beauchamp-Proctor by Benjamin West, 1777

Wych Street, London. 

On to specifics. In my second novel, Most Secret, Wych Street, near Drury Lane, inspired Markham’s house. In the photograph at the left, the spire of St. Clement Danes Church is visible in the background. The Oxford Arms coaching inn, below center, was the one at which Jane Stowe arrived after her stay in the country.  

Both landmarks were urban-renewed out of existence in the late 19^th century. Fortunately, someone photographed them before they vanished, and now they have been immortalized on the Internet.  

The Oxford Arms, with the dome of St. Paul's in the background, left.

Old Somerset House served as the site for the anonymous intelligence agency in Most Secret: by 1745 it was used for a variety of purposes, including grace and favor apartments, housing for minor government offices, and storage, making it the perfect headquarters for a small, secretive government department. 

Old Somerset House by Canaletto

Paintings by Canaletto and Samuel Scott set the scene for Captain Easterday’s Bargain, with its story centered on the Pool of London’s shipping industry.

Custom House Quay
(or East India Quay)

I particularly like this Samuel Scott painting, traditionally said to be of Custom House Quay. More recent thought is that it's actually the East India quay. However, the scene and activity must have been similar, judging by other pictures of the Custom House. 

Canaletto did a number of paintings of the Thames and riverside buildings while he was in England. "Canaletto" seems an unusually suitable name.  His painting of the Lord Mayor's Procession, 1748, while interesting for the Lord Mayor's Barge, was more useful to me for the view of the shoreline with its ramshackle warehouses and sheds. 

Canaletto's 'London: the Thames on Lord Mayor’s Day, looking towards the City and St Paul's Cathedral' ( LOBKOWICZ COLLECTIONS, CZECH REPUBLIC/PETR WEIGL )

I used mid-18^th century illustrations of Vauxhall Gardens for Olivia’s visit to that 18^th century equivalent of Disneyland. For the ridotto at the Haymarket theater Haymarket, I found Giuseppe Grissoni's painting of a masquerade at the Haymarket. From a floor plan of the theater and contemporary descriptions, the scene appears to be the Long Room.

Masquerade at the Haymarket theater by G. Grissoni, 1724,
in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. 

Architectural plans were  a rich source. The plan of Argyll House (built in 1723) inspired Captain Easterday’s Queen Square residence.  Photographs taken (probably about 1913) were also helpful.

Argyll House, 211 King's Road, Chelsea

Contemporary illustrations and descriptions of coffee houses yielded details for Job’s, John Barlicorn’s unofficial office, from my upcoming novel, A Masked Earl (no release date yet but I’m hoping for late summer or early autumn).   

Coffee house circa 1705

And that’s just the paintings,  drawings, and plans. Project Gutenberg and Google Play contributed hard-to-find books, including cookbooks and works on 18^th century commerce and agriculture, and a collection of early 18^th century graffiti from bog houses (yet another term for the “necessary”). And on YouTube, after hours of research, I found an excellent video of a reproduction flintlock pistol being fired. It enabled me to time the interval between ignition of the priming charge and the main charge, a detail I used in Most Secret.   

Time travel, anyone?