Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Nine months have elapsed since our last blog post, but we have good news for our Plotz-The Novel followers.
No, we didn't have an interested literary agent or publisher to contact us with an offer that made us instant millionaires. Instead, we went to Amazon.com's CreateSpace and, well, created our own 289-page paperback publication.
We are encouraging our Plotz-The Novel followers to go to www.amazon.com sometime on Friday, May 13, 2011, and purchase our novel. The cost is $15.99. Once on the website, click on "Books" in the menu and click "Books" again. When you arrive at the "search" page, type in Marshall Bruney (our pseudonym) and click "Go." You will go to our shopping page.We have chosen Friday the 13th as our "Shop Plotz Day" because we want the novel to be a bestseller contender for Amazon's booklist. We learned at a 2009 Carolinas Writers Conference breakout session that Amazon takes note of heavy one-day sales -- thus the bestseller idea.
Read and enjoy. We will gladly accept praise (okay, and criticism). If Plotz-The Novel is a hit among our reading followers, there is an idea for a sequel floating around in our heads.
No, we didn't have an interested literary agent or publisher to contact us with an offer that made us instant millionaires. Instead, we went to Amazon.com's CreateSpace and, well, created our own 289-page paperback publication.
We are encouraging our Plotz-The Novel followers to go to www.amazon.com sometime on Friday, May 13, 2011, and purchase our novel. The cost is $15.99. Once on the website, click on "Books" in the menu and click "Books" again. When you arrive at the "search" page, type in Marshall Bruney (our pseudonym) and click "Go." You will go to our shopping page.We have chosen Friday the 13th as our "Shop Plotz Day" because we want the novel to be a bestseller contender for Amazon's booklist. We learned at a 2009 Carolinas Writers Conference breakout session that Amazon takes note of heavy one-day sales -- thus the bestseller idea.
Read and enjoy. We will gladly accept praise (okay, and criticism). If Plotz-The Novel is a hit among our reading followers, there is an idea for a sequel floating around in our heads.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Literary agent needed for a future best-seller
WANTED: A reliable literary agent whose interests in mystery-writing will lead to a successful partnership with first-time novelist Marshall Bruney to publish "Plotz."
Yes, it has been three months since our last "Plotz-The Novel" blog update. We could say we've been busy scouring the Internet, writers' market books and websites to interest an agent in representing us in the big, big, big world of publishing. However, we have other duties and a personal life.
Too bad there are no publications that accept want ads -- such as the one above. Maybe we could strike an accord with an aspiring agent who is looking for a best-seller for another notch in his/her literary accomplishments.
So far, our efforts via letters and e-mails have proved fruitless with a slew of rejection notices/emails. No takers. Nada. Nil. Nothing. Etal.
I don't take rejection as well as my writing partner. So I feed off her enthusiasm (ask her how long it took to bring "Angels Unaware" to having said book in hand?) and keep plodding along. I have a copy of Jeff Herman's "Guide to Book Publishers, Editors & Literary Agents" beside me. I've made it to the "M" entries. The book is over five years old, so some of the addresses and e-mail contacts are no longer worth a sou.
I've learned a bit about the literary world through the book, though -- such as an agent's hobby (reading often being one); his/her areas of interest (no sense sending "Plotz" to an agent interested in gardening, eh?); a list of most common mistakes made by soliciting authors; a description of a dream client (that's Marshall Bruney, honest!); a description of the author from hell (that definitely is not Marshall Bruney!); and an agent's rejection rate, which, believe it or not, averages between 95% and 99% of all submissions.
We have jumped through every hoop we know -- including a cover letter, a brief synopsis, a self-addressed, stamped envelope and, as a bonus, a link to plotz-thenovel.com website that Sandy created. Begging, of course, is verboten (and we aren't at that stage -- yet).
Unfortunately, we haven't found an agent listing that will accept "Plotz" in full on a compact disk. Personally, I feel that once an agent reads Chapters 1-5, he/she will be hooked until the "Epilogue."
Our friends tell us to "Keep trying." So, onward and upward we go!
Yes, it has been three months since our last "Plotz-The Novel" blog update. We could say we've been busy scouring the Internet, writers' market books and websites to interest an agent in representing us in the big, big, big world of publishing. However, we have other duties and a personal life.
Too bad there are no publications that accept want ads -- such as the one above. Maybe we could strike an accord with an aspiring agent who is looking for a best-seller for another notch in his/her literary accomplishments.
So far, our efforts via letters and e-mails have proved fruitless with a slew of rejection notices/emails. No takers. Nada. Nil. Nothing. Etal.
I don't take rejection as well as my writing partner. So I feed off her enthusiasm (ask her how long it took to bring "Angels Unaware" to having said book in hand?) and keep plodding along. I have a copy of Jeff Herman's "Guide to Book Publishers, Editors & Literary Agents" beside me. I've made it to the "M" entries. The book is over five years old, so some of the addresses and e-mail contacts are no longer worth a sou.
I've learned a bit about the literary world through the book, though -- such as an agent's hobby (reading often being one); his/her areas of interest (no sense sending "Plotz" to an agent interested in gardening, eh?); a list of most common mistakes made by soliciting authors; a description of a dream client (that's Marshall Bruney, honest!); a description of the author from hell (that definitely is not Marshall Bruney!); and an agent's rejection rate, which, believe it or not, averages between 95% and 99% of all submissions.
We have jumped through every hoop we know -- including a cover letter, a brief synopsis, a self-addressed, stamped envelope and, as a bonus, a link to plotz-thenovel.com website that Sandy created. Begging, of course, is verboten (and we aren't at that stage -- yet).
Unfortunately, we haven't found an agent listing that will accept "Plotz" in full on a compact disk. Personally, I feel that once an agent reads Chapters 1-5, he/she will be hooked until the "Epilogue."
Our friends tell us to "Keep trying." So, onward and upward we go!
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Creative Tension
While it takes two to collaborate, I think it only fair to mention our unseen and unsung collaborators, Elbert's wife, Carla, and my husband, Jim. I can't speak for Carla, who is the soul of patience, but I can attest that Jim did have an influence -- not in the writing, but in allowing me time to write.
Jim has always supported me. I think that is because neither of us came into the marriage (a second one for each of us) thinking we would change the other. We accepted the person "as is." On the other hand, neither of us was too concerned when the other person changed, as people do over the course of time and influence. Jim became interested in the paranormal and past-life regression, subjects he expressed no interest in before we married.
When I decided about halfway into our 30+ years relationship that I wanted to be a writer, not a word was said as I spent our household money to join writers' groups, buy books on writing and subscribe to magazines. Dust piled up, clothes when unironed as I pursued the muse. He even attended poetry readings with me (a sacrifice I no longer demand from him as long as he doesn't insist I view the latest photo he took of floating orbs in our back yard).
And, when I finally got a book contract, he was unsurprised. "Wasn't that what you've been working for?" he asked, as if it had been just a matter of time.
Now, back to Elbert's perpective. I object to being labeled "passive" but that is his point of view. There were times I thought he was a little too "out of the box" what with dancing cigarette lighters and talking liquor bottles.
Creative tension comes from holding two opposite views at the same time. Let's hope our opposites have created a story-telling tension that will keep readers reading.
Jim has always supported me. I think that is because neither of us came into the marriage (a second one for each of us) thinking we would change the other. We accepted the person "as is." On the other hand, neither of us was too concerned when the other person changed, as people do over the course of time and influence. Jim became interested in the paranormal and past-life regression, subjects he expressed no interest in before we married.
When I decided about halfway into our 30+ years relationship that I wanted to be a writer, not a word was said as I spent our household money to join writers' groups, buy books on writing and subscribe to magazines. Dust piled up, clothes when unironed as I pursued the muse. He even attended poetry readings with me (a sacrifice I no longer demand from him as long as he doesn't insist I view the latest photo he took of floating orbs in our back yard).
And, when I finally got a book contract, he was unsurprised. "Wasn't that what you've been working for?" he asked, as if it had been just a matter of time.
Now, back to Elbert's perpective. I object to being labeled "passive" but that is his point of view. There were times I thought he was a little too "out of the box" what with dancing cigarette lighters and talking liquor bottles.
Creative tension comes from holding two opposite views at the same time. Let's hope our opposites have created a story-telling tension that will keep readers reading.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Plotz -- the collaboration effort
From Elbert's perspective:
With a partial outline (up to about Chapter 16) in front of me, I began with my vision of Emerson Butler Chadwick. After reading what I had written, my wife told me, "It sounds just like you." No way. You were kidding, weren't you? Many moons ago, I read somewhere that a new author pours fragments of himself into his work -- whether writing about events or describing a character. In looking back at Emerson, I guess some of him is me, but only the good parts.
Sandy and I communicated daily via e-mail. Once I finished my version of the opening chapters, off it went through Cyberspace to Sandy's e-mail folder. She could be brutal at times, especially when I wrote about Emerson's mirrored labyrinth and sent her a copy of a drawing I did back in 1993. I wanted it to be Emerson's cover page to "Escape from Reality." Sandy e-mailed me a detailed definition, even caricatures, of a labyrinth and a maze, neither of which fit my labyrinth's drawing. That could've been a deal breaker, but we negotiated and negotiated some more. We finally compromised. Emerson's labyrinth would be described as being one in which there was no way in and, if you were already in the center, there was no way out. The "mirrored labyrinth" has become "Plotz-the Novel" 's cover page. Our brand, so to speak.
Now, I'm a sensitive person. Okay, I have an ego that needs to be stroked every now and then. I take things too personal. But that is the way I am. Collaborating with Sandy taught me the true meaning of give-and-take. In her defense, if she especially liked a chapter, a passage or a sentence, she would tell me so. If she didn't like it, she told me so.
Anyhow, I wondered if I should seek revenge when she sent me her chapters that introduced Sally and Phae. She's an excellent writer but prone to be too passive. I'm more dynamic and willing to step outside the box. We played off each other's emotions and ideas, compromised some more and came up with plausible characterizations in Emerson, Sally and Phae. I soon realized that we were Marshall Bruney, and that there is no "i" in TEAM. I needn't exact revenge on Sandy because that would've been on me, too.
At some point in our writing, communicating via e-mail had run its course. We met several times for coffee and a ham biscuit at either Burger King or McDonald's. Once, at Bojangles for breakfast, I had my laptop with me. I sat with my back to the line of customers waqiting for their breakfast order and the laptop open to the mirrored labyrinth cover. I knew people were looking over my shoulder at the online sketch and wondering, "Who are these people? And what are they doing?"
Our face-to-face meetings were quite rewarding. If we had encountered a deadend in a chapter, we were able to work it out by bouncing ideas (some crazy ones) off each other. When Phae snapped that photograph of Sally dragging Emerson to the lakeshore, I suggested using a Polaroid (plot alert!) camera. Sandy's response, "Oh, that is so twentieth century!" We went with a digital camera (so twenty-first century!).
I know I joke about Sandy being so "tough" on me; but, overall, I feel our 20-year friendship figured prominently into the collaboration equation.The end result, in my opinion, is a readable and enjoyable tale.
From Sandy's perspective: How we collaborated on "Plotz" from two separate homes and computer desks.
Next: Sandy's rebuttal -- er, perspective
With a partial outline (up to about Chapter 16) in front of me, I began with my vision of Emerson Butler Chadwick. After reading what I had written, my wife told me, "It sounds just like you." No way. You were kidding, weren't you? Many moons ago, I read somewhere that a new author pours fragments of himself into his work -- whether writing about events or describing a character. In looking back at Emerson, I guess some of him is me, but only the good parts.
Sandy and I communicated daily via e-mail. Once I finished my version of the opening chapters, off it went through Cyberspace to Sandy's e-mail folder. She could be brutal at times, especially when I wrote about Emerson's mirrored labyrinth and sent her a copy of a drawing I did back in 1993. I wanted it to be Emerson's cover page to "Escape from Reality." Sandy e-mailed me a detailed definition, even caricatures, of a labyrinth and a maze, neither of which fit my labyrinth's drawing. That could've been a deal breaker, but we negotiated and negotiated some more. We finally compromised. Emerson's labyrinth would be described as being one in which there was no way in and, if you were already in the center, there was no way out. The "mirrored labyrinth" has become "Plotz-the Novel" 's cover page. Our brand, so to speak.
Now, I'm a sensitive person. Okay, I have an ego that needs to be stroked every now and then. I take things too personal. But that is the way I am. Collaborating with Sandy taught me the true meaning of give-and-take. In her defense, if she especially liked a chapter, a passage or a sentence, she would tell me so. If she didn't like it, she told me so.
Anyhow, I wondered if I should seek revenge when she sent me her chapters that introduced Sally and Phae. She's an excellent writer but prone to be too passive. I'm more dynamic and willing to step outside the box. We played off each other's emotions and ideas, compromised some more and came up with plausible characterizations in Emerson, Sally and Phae. I soon realized that we were Marshall Bruney, and that there is no "i" in TEAM. I needn't exact revenge on Sandy because that would've been on me, too.
At some point in our writing, communicating via e-mail had run its course. We met several times for coffee and a ham biscuit at either Burger King or McDonald's. Once, at Bojangles for breakfast, I had my laptop with me. I sat with my back to the line of customers waqiting for their breakfast order and the laptop open to the mirrored labyrinth cover. I knew people were looking over my shoulder at the online sketch and wondering, "Who are these people? And what are they doing?"
Our face-to-face meetings were quite rewarding. If we had encountered a deadend in a chapter, we were able to work it out by bouncing ideas (some crazy ones) off each other. When Phae snapped that photograph of Sally dragging Emerson to the lakeshore, I suggested using a Polaroid (plot alert!) camera. Sandy's response, "Oh, that is so twentieth century!" We went with a digital camera (so twenty-first century!).
I know I joke about Sandy being so "tough" on me; but, overall, I feel our 20-year friendship figured prominently into the collaboration equation.The end result, in my opinion, is a readable and enjoyable tale.
From Sandy's perspective: How we collaborated on "Plotz" from two separate homes and computer desks.
Next: Sandy's rebuttal -- er, perspective
Friday, May 7, 2010
THE METAMORPHOSIS OF PLOTZ, CHAPTER TWO: COLLABORATION
Elbert: To coordinate our thoughts about characters, ideas for different plotlines and general musings, we used electronic mail. It was simple. Just type in Sandy's address, give it a subject name and start typing away, then attach any WORD documents.
Sandy: After a while, we had sent each other so much stuff that a Plotz Folder had to be created with separate files for our characters.
Elbert: The first correspondences became Plotz-1. When the novel was finished, we had gotten to Plotz-65.
Sandy: And that didn't count the specifically titled e-mail notes.
Elbert: Actually, that's how the title of the book evolved.
Sandy: You're not going to give away the ending are you?
Elbert: Oh, no. It's just that when I went to title the first set of notes I typed P ... L ... O ... T ... S. Out of the blue, here comes this lightning bolt of an idea -- why not a Z instead of a S?
Sandy: And Plotz was born, so to speak. However, it was not our intention to name our book "Plotz." With an outline and a suitable ending chapter in mind, we still didn't have a title.
Elbert: We finally decided on titling our book "Plotz" and co-wrote the very last segment of Chapter 24 to reflect the name. Other than the title pages, the word Plotz doesn't appear anywhere until Chapter 24.
Sandy: Then we began collaborating on writing the first drafts of chapters.
Elbert: We divided up writing tasks.
Sandy: It was like getting a school assignment ...
Elbert: Or a reporter's assignment ...
Sandy: He worked on Emerson chapters while I worked on Sally and Phae chapters. As soon as a particular chapter was finished, it was e-mailed to the other to read, proof, add ideas.
Elbert: And, when it came to introducing our newspaper reporters, Evan and Norma Rae, we were on our home turf and, I think, created two very interesting characters.
Sandy: We were able to give our readers some insight into the environs of a small-town newspaper, too.
Elbert: I think the successful penning of "Plotz" as a team was the willingness to compromise. I won't say we didn't argue ...
Sandy: It could've been really bad if we had been sitting behind individual desks in one room staring across at each other while trying to write a particular passage.
Elbert: Yeah. I remember a few times that I would've come across my desk to get to your throat ... Just kidding!
Sandy: We did meet face to face, whether at the chamber of commerce or at Burger King, to flesh out a few potential plot deadends. I think we were civil to each other, don't you?
Elbert: That's why a cup or three of "high-test" coffee is important when discussing plotlines.
Sandy: All in all, I think our collaborative effort has proven, despite a few wrinkles that were peacefully ironed out, that friends and business partners can work together -- and still be friends and business partners when the novel is finished.
Elbert: Yeah. Sort of like an Anson detente moment.
NEXT: getting that first rejection. Egads! Panic! Depression! What to do, what to do!
Elbert: To coordinate our thoughts about characters, ideas for different plotlines and general musings, we used electronic mail. It was simple. Just type in Sandy's address, give it a subject name and start typing away, then attach any WORD documents.
Sandy: After a while, we had sent each other so much stuff that a Plotz Folder had to be created with separate files for our characters.
Elbert: The first correspondences became Plotz-1. When the novel was finished, we had gotten to Plotz-65.
Sandy: And that didn't count the specifically titled e-mail notes.
Elbert: Actually, that's how the title of the book evolved.
Sandy: You're not going to give away the ending are you?
Elbert: Oh, no. It's just that when I went to title the first set of notes I typed P ... L ... O ... T ... S. Out of the blue, here comes this lightning bolt of an idea -- why not a Z instead of a S?
Sandy: And Plotz was born, so to speak. However, it was not our intention to name our book "Plotz." With an outline and a suitable ending chapter in mind, we still didn't have a title.
Elbert: We finally decided on titling our book "Plotz" and co-wrote the very last segment of Chapter 24 to reflect the name. Other than the title pages, the word Plotz doesn't appear anywhere until Chapter 24.
Sandy: Then we began collaborating on writing the first drafts of chapters.
Elbert: We divided up writing tasks.
Sandy: It was like getting a school assignment ...
Elbert: Or a reporter's assignment ...
Sandy: He worked on Emerson chapters while I worked on Sally and Phae chapters. As soon as a particular chapter was finished, it was e-mailed to the other to read, proof, add ideas.
Elbert: And, when it came to introducing our newspaper reporters, Evan and Norma Rae, we were on our home turf and, I think, created two very interesting characters.
Sandy: We were able to give our readers some insight into the environs of a small-town newspaper, too.
Elbert: I think the successful penning of "Plotz" as a team was the willingness to compromise. I won't say we didn't argue ...
Sandy: It could've been really bad if we had been sitting behind individual desks in one room staring across at each other while trying to write a particular passage.
Elbert: Yeah. I remember a few times that I would've come across my desk to get to your throat ... Just kidding!
Sandy: We did meet face to face, whether at the chamber of commerce or at Burger King, to flesh out a few potential plot deadends. I think we were civil to each other, don't you?
Elbert: That's why a cup or three of "high-test" coffee is important when discussing plotlines.
Sandy: All in all, I think our collaborative effort has proven, despite a few wrinkles that were peacefully ironed out, that friends and business partners can work together -- and still be friends and business partners when the novel is finished.
Elbert: Yeah. Sort of like an Anson detente moment.
NEXT: getting that first rejection. Egads! Panic! Depression! What to do, what to do!
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
What happens when friends and business partners of 20 years -- one male, one female -- decide to collaborate on a novel? Marshall Bruney, author of the unpublished novel, "Plotz," is Elbert Marshall and Sandy Bruney.
Elbert: As members of the Anson County Writers' Club we always wanted to write a book together, but I didn't like her genre (contemporary women's fiction) ...
Sandy: ... and I wasn't into Sci-Fi/Fantasy.
Elbert: We were driving to a work assignment when I shared a basic mystery plot that I had been toying with for some time.
Sandy: I'd been thinking of trying a mystery, also.
Elbert: When I outlined the main character Emerson Chadwick and his encounter with two lesbians at a campsite, she almost lost control of the car from laughing so hard.
Sandy: On second thought, though, the idea took hold. What was he doing there -- what were they doing there?
Elbert: We talked and got the storyline roughly laid out, each of us elaborating on the basic premise.
Sandy: After several more trips and conversations, we had the whole storyline, complete with additional characters, in our collective minds.
Elbert: And it was time to start writing.
Next: How we collaborated on Plotz from two separate homes and computer desks.
Website: www.plotz-thenovel.com
Elbert: As members of the Anson County Writers' Club we always wanted to write a book together, but I didn't like her genre (contemporary women's fiction) ...
Sandy: ... and I wasn't into Sci-Fi/Fantasy.
Elbert: We were driving to a work assignment when I shared a basic mystery plot that I had been toying with for some time.
Sandy: I'd been thinking of trying a mystery, also.
Elbert: When I outlined the main character Emerson Chadwick and his encounter with two lesbians at a campsite, she almost lost control of the car from laughing so hard.
Sandy: On second thought, though, the idea took hold. What was he doing there -- what were they doing there?
Elbert: We talked and got the storyline roughly laid out, each of us elaborating on the basic premise.
Sandy: After several more trips and conversations, we had the whole storyline, complete with additional characters, in our collective minds.
Elbert: And it was time to start writing.
Next: How we collaborated on Plotz from two separate homes and computer desks.
Website: www.plotz-thenovel.com
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