Wars, small, great, undeclared, and recurrent

Yesterday I stayed in bed all day and watched movies. I saw two movies I hadn't seen before. One was called Tomorrow (by writer Faulkner by way of director Horton Foote and actor Duvall) and the other was called Constantine with my lifelong crush Keanu Reeves. (In fact I have had such a jones for Keanu for such a long time that in Wind Follower I actually named my character Kaynu after him.)

Anyways, Constantine --despite Keanu's gorgeous self-- just had me rolling my eyes. Hey, I'm okay with folks fooling around with Christian theology but what a mish-mash it all was! I mean...he had to look into the eyes of a black cat in order to enter hell. What's that about?

"Tomorrow" on the other hand touched me -- although I think the actual Faulkner story would have touched me more. I can't help it. I'm a Black Jamaican but I have always had this fascination with poor white folks in Appalachia. Supposedly --at least this is what I pick up from the media-- these salt of the earth types would be the first to lynch me. I can watch movies about city sophisticates having all kinds of angst but the stories that really touch me are those about poor, country people, whatever culture they're from: China, poor white, Africa, Latin America, African-American.

So there I was watching it and reminding myself that I haven't seen The Apostle in a while when it suddenly dawned on me that all my stories are about wars. Wars, small, great, undeclared, and recurrent. In Wind Follower, my main characters thought the human war was over and they figured that as long as they avoided the spiritual war, the spirits would ignore them. In Constant Tower, there's a war of a different kind going on. And in Inheritance, wars also abound.

Of course all stories are about conflicts...and conflicts are another word for war. War against the self, war against nature, etc. Each author has her own opinion about what wars abound in this life. Romance writers concern themselves with the emotional wars at home and the wars between the sexes. Sometimes status and race are thrown in but for the most part, the characters in a romance story are dealing with their home culture and emotional inheritances and how their cultural inheritances conflict -- war with-- that of the one they have come to love. Other writers, on the other hand, deal with more political and social wars. And Christian fiction writers often deal with spiritual wars: the conflict between the self, the soul, and the spirit....and how that inner conflict is compounded when it encounters the world, the flesh, and the devil.

I totally believe that a great romance is the best kind of story possible. Why? Because it concerns itself with love --which is eternal and which changes the soul-- and with the creation of a new family/community while retaining the best of one's self and one's community. In Romances, relationships are ultra-important.

Now all this is tough for me to balance in a fantasy story which aims for action from the get-go. I, unfortunately, am fascinated by normal life --the normal life of the world we know, and the normal life of the fantasy world an author has created-- and what makes normal life tick. This means that even when I create a fantastical world, if I'm not careful I'll find myself wandering leisurely among the poor folk of that culture, ambling along the country lanes...and not pushing the plot along. Romance writers and Christian fiction writers are used to this kind of slice-of-life stuff. They are used to slow country rambles with subtle small conflicts and stressors. Most fantasy lovers, on the other hand, are more into Constantine-type stories. They want a lot more action upfront...like 30 pages of mucho drama, death, external warring. So I'm trying my best to get into that groove. What to do?

Work at figuring out how to work with cross-genres, maybe. Thank God I'm still growing as an author. I hope that whatever path my stories take -- the gentle ramble or the page-turning adventure-- that my fans will walk lovingly and patiently with me. Thank you all.

Aiming High

I'm going to sound awfully vain right now but hey....

I expected Wind Follower to be on a lot of best of lists. Now, part of this is normal writer expectation. When writing, most honest writers truly believe they have written the best book in the world. (Hey, you have to be conceited enough to survive in this publishing world.) The other part is that, well, I was a literature major in college. That's all I did. In fact I never took any writing classes. So reading all those wonderful literary works, one gets this idea in one's head that one day one will do a great work also.

Well, Wind Follower was on a few best of lists. A few. Several reviewers placed it in their top ten favorite books of all time. Some included it in their best of the year list. Some liked certain aspects of it.

But the resounding universal praise for it just isn't there. (Okay, I'm whining...and I know it.) One reason for this is that many people still haven't heard of it. Another reason is that the book, like all books, isn't to everyone's taste. Very few books, great or not, is liked by everyone. If one considers all the lists out there -- in this case, all the speculative fiction lists-- very few books are on ALL those lists.

At first I was feeling a bit forgotten, rejected and alone. But then I got sane. Or as sane as a writer can be. I'm a debut author, after all. I have to aim high. And herein lies the big decisions: Lord knows what aiming high actually entails. Many reviewers loved the originality of my setting. Question: should I aim for another original setting? Many reviewers loved the beauty of the language. Again, the same question: should I try to repeat that in my next work?

The search for the perfect reader, I'm beginning to realize, can be a self-denying self-thwarting search...especially for people-pleasers with rejection issues. What if I don't want to write another story like Wind Follower? At least not now? What if something grittier, less lovely, less fantastical calls me? What if something within me wants to write a book about sexual healing in contemporary time? Would those who love my original setting follow me into contemporary realms? Would those who love beautiful language want to hear harsh urban sounds? Would those who like its Christian elements turn against me if I write a book that is frankly very political and racial?

I've asked my hubby and friends who they believe my perfect readers might be. They tell me that all my stories are very heart-felt, barebones emotions, aching. They say that my core readers will be people who like to be taken on a devastating, but truthful, heart ride. There will be concentric circles and tangential circles filled with other kinds of fans: those who like Carole McDonnell stories when she writes about black issues, those who like Carole McDonnell stories when she writes high fantasy, those who like Carole McDonnell stories when she writes about religion, those who like Carole McDonnell stories even when she has a miserable noble failure. Etc, Etc. And there will be circles completely far from these circles: those who do not like Carole McDonnell stories at all.

The thing for me to do, however, is to write...and to see clear...and to create only those stories that God and my soul need me to write.

So...come what may, come new story -- whatever you are-- Onward. And welcome to those of you who will be my core fans. -C

USE YOUR WRITING EXPERIENCE TO GET A TEACHING JOB

USE YOUR WRITING EXPERIENCE TO GET A TEACHING JOB


You just sold a novel. You may have some short-story sales under your belt, too. Or some articles. You’re about to have a second novel published, and you’re at work on a third. Did you ever think about teaching a “How to….” class?

I have only a Bachelor’s Degree, but because I’ve had a lot of things published, I was able to teach non-credit courses at Leeward Community College in Hawaii. I’m about to do the same in Arizona where I live now.

Most community colleges offer non-credit courses for interested adults. Pick up a catalog from your local college to find out what kinds of non-credit classes they offer. Pay special attention to any section on writing. Memoir writing is fairly popular in my community, but it’s not anything I’m particularly interested in doing or teaching. However, I can teach a class on how to write for children and teens, or how to write a novel, or how to write a short story. I can also teach a class on how to market what you write, although I never guarantee that my students will be published. Heck, I can’t even guarantee that I will get published.

The first thing I do is put together a portfolio with samples of my work. I have photocopied pages from some of my children’s stories and books, articles I’ve sold, and so on. I put each sample in a plastic sleeve and into a binder. I think a professional-looking presentation makes a difference.

I print out a list of my publishing credits to give to the college, but I also have a resume that gives other information, such as where I went to college, what degree I earned, and so on. I already know that the college will probably ask these questions.

Before I call the college to set up an interview appointment, I write up a course outline for each class I want to teach. For example, I plan to teach a class on how to market what you write. So I’m going to include everything from manuscript preparation to query and cover letters to submission packets to how one finds publishers to what records need to be kept, and so on.

As I prepare the outline, I try to come up with exercises, too. For instance, for the class on marketing, I’ll have my students write a story synopsis, a query letter, and probably a cover letter, among other things.

Writing the outline helps me figure out what handouts I may need. Handouts might include sample query letters, or a manuscript that shows and tells the students how to correctly format a manuscript! The college where I’ll be teaching this summer has a policy regarding handouts. They don’t want to photocopy too many, so I need to be judicious.

As for textbooks, the non-credit program may frown on that extra expense. They may feel the students have to pay enough in tuition. That’s something you’ll need to find out at your initial interview.

Writing the outline also helps me figure out how long the course needs to be. I try to give myself enough time to teach each part of the course thoroughly, and time to answer all the questions that arise.

So that’s it. Once I have the course outlined, have my portfolio up to date, know what handouts I’ll need, and can at least make an educated guess about how long it’s going to take to teach the class, I’m ready to approach the college.

One nice thing about non-credit classes – the students are motivated adults. You won’t have to grade them or put anyone into time-out. You will get to share your experience and expertise and help others down the road to – hopefully – publication! And that’s a very satisfying feeling.

I write in the attic

Here's my writing space. (Click the pic to see it larger). The attic's finished, with floor and ceiling and windows, and it's my hideaway where I can sit and think and listen to music and write. I did clean up a bit before shooting the old wooden desk. I'm a slob. I almost always write on the computer, longhand in my journal. I also paint here most of the time (watercolors and digital, see my blog for the portfolio). I cleaned, but left some of the junk, trinkets, the heavy concrete book toting toad who guards my library--four big bookcases off to the left of the shot. He's the greenish guy with a book under one arm in the back left, weighs about 80 pounds. I also threw in the SEABORN street sign I just picked up--that isn't normally on the desk. I just haven't hung it up yet. That's my podcasting stuff on the right, mic and mixer. Maps and other junk on the walls. That's about it.