THE ROAD TO PUBLICATION
BY JOAN HALL HOVEY
(Previously
published in The Writer Magazine)
Like you, I started out as a
story 'listener'. Both my parents were avid storytellers, and I needed only to
hear the words, "I remember the time when..." to feel that rare and
exquisite pleasure in the anticipation of a new story. The dark, scary ones
were best - stories my father told of the man with the cloven foot who showed
up at the card game, or the discovery of a young girl's body in the woods
behind the school ... the town drunk found dead in the cemetery, his face as
granite-white with frost as the tombstones surrounding him...
From the time I could find my way
to the Saint John Library, I was a constant visitor. For me, the library was a
magical place - a hushed, warm haven where, through the pages of a book I could
travel to far off exotic places in my imagination. I could experience
vicariously all the joy, romance, terror, tragedy and triumph of the characters
in the stories.
Among my favorite authors were Mark
Twain, Edgar Allan Poe, Charlotte Bronte, Shirley Jackson and Phyllis Whitney.
Far too many to list here. I am forever grateful to them all, for it was
through reading their works that the seed to be a writer was planted in me. I
wanted to join the ranks of those authors who had given me so much pleasure,
and in turn tell my own stories. I had learned about the power of words.
Reading is, of course, where it
all begins for all writers. Although it might surprise you to know that a
number of aspiring writers have told me they didn't have time to read. Or that
they didn't read because they didn't want anything in their own work to be
totally original. Sadly, I don't expect to read much of their work in published
form. So the first key to publication is to Read! Read! Read! Nothing you
didn't already know. But it's true; we learn by osmosis. And we learn by doing.
When I first set pen to paper with
thought of publication, I didn't know bad literature from good. I devoured it
all, and learned from it all. I came across the True Confessions in the market
section of a copy of Writer's Digest Magazine, and it seemed possible to me
that I could write one. I was right. That first story was titled: I Didn't Kill My Husband, But I Might As
Well Have. Pretty bad, I know.
But looking at the models on the page portraying the characters in my story,
not to mention my cheque for $125.00, I felt like I'd won the lottery. The only
downside was that my name wasn't on my story. You don't get a bi-line from the
confessions. The stories are supposed to be true. Or at least read like they're
true. Everyone I wrote sold. I seemed to have a knack. But I never approached the writing of
these little stories lightly, or with tongue in cheek; I always wrote from my
heart, in all seriousness.
When I could no longer do that, I stopped writing them.
My children were small then, three
under six years of age, and I was squeezing in writing time when I could find
it. Usually, in the evenings after they were in bed. (Ah, to be so young again!
) Later, I wrote while holding down a full-time job. You do what you have to
do. John Grisham rose at 4:00 a.m.
to get in his stint of writing before going off to his law office.
My second story, God's Special Gift, made the rounds for
a time and finally sold to Home Life magazine in Nashville. It was about my
grandmother, who died in a house fire when I was 15. Writing that story, albeit
many years later, was very cathartic for me. And I got a bi-line. My work soon found its way into the now
defunct, (unfortunate, because it was a fine magazine) Atlantic Advocate, both
fiction and non-fiction, and various other magazines and newspapers.
Pregnant with my fourth child, I
determined to pursue my lifelong dream of writing a novel. That summer, I sat
on our back deck and read a stack of suspense novels of the sort I wanted to
write. I reread Poe, Patricia Highsmith, Shirley Jackson and many of the new
authors who were also becoming my favorites. In the fall, I began writing my
own suspense novel, The Strawman.
(Later Zebra Books would change the title to Listen to the Shadows.) I
wrote it at our kitchen table in longhand, and the book took a long time to
write. I worked on it off and on over a period of maybe four years.
Finally the novel was finished.
I'd already gone through my Writer's Market, as well as checking out the books
on the shelves of our local bookstore, and Zebra seemed right for The Strawman.
I sent it off. It came flying back within a few weeks, but the attached slip of
paper wasn't quite a rejection. Anne Lafarge, acquisitions editor at the time,
had scribbled a note saying she liked the book, but it was too short. They
needed 100,000 words; mine was about 75,000 words.
I settled down to work. It took
another four months to add the other 25,000 words, which I did by weaving in a
couple of subplots. In November I sent the manuscript off again, addressing it
to Anne LaFarge. On the outside of the package, in bold black marker, I
printed: Requested Material, just in case she forgot me, which I'm sure she
did.
One day in February the phone rang.
I knew intuitively that it was Zebra. They wanted to publish The Strawman. (Which became Listen to
the Shadows.) When my husband came home that night I was at the stove cooking
spaghetti. He took one look at my face, and said, "You sold your
book."
It was a dream come true. I felt
weepy and humbled. And very happy.
Nowhere To
Hide sold on the heels of Listen
To The Shadows, on the basis of an outline. I managed easily to get an agent
to negotiate the contract. Zebra wanted to publish a book a year with me. Both books garnered heart-warming
reviews. Nowhere To Hide even won a
couple of writer awards.
End of story? Hardly. I completed
and sent out the third manuscript and it was returned. I was told Zebra was no
longer publishing suspense. At least the kind of psychological suspense I like
to write. More sex, they
said. That sort of book had little
appeal for me. And I'm convinced
you should only write what you really want to write. Otherwise, it's just too
damn hard. The moral of the story:
You're never there. (Unless you're Stephen King, but he's a genius.)
Back to square one? Well, not
quite. What I have now is a track record. Publishers tend to give my work a
longer look before they turn it down.
Chill
Waters took a little longer to find a home. It too, received good reviews. For the most part. Not everybody will love you.
This is a precarious business, with
no guarantees for any of us. So
you must love the actual process of writing. In the end, the only thing we have
any control over is the writing itself. It takes courage to be a writer, to put
our work (ourselves) out there, never knowing if it will be praised or
ridiculed. We must rise above the fear, and do what we know we can when all
cylinders are firing.
So give that critical editor on
your shoulder the bum's rush (He gets called in for work later.) and write your
novel. Enjoy the writing; give yourself to it like a lover. Get out of your own
way by focusing on the characters and their story. And know that you are not
alone. All around the globe, at this very moment, writers are sitting at
kitchen tables with pen and paper, or at their computers, struggling to write
their own novels.
Lastly, no matter your genre, be it
romance, mystery, horror or science fiction, go where the passion, the pain,
is. Write with joy! And believe in yourself. No one can tell your stories but
you. No one. And if you need a little inspiration, check out the books on my
site. My latest two suspense novel
are Night Corridor
and The Abduction of Mary Rose, both for
Kindle/other and in Paperback. The books are published by Books We Love.
Good
luck!
Joan
Hall Hovey
As well as penning suspense novels, Joan Hall Hovey's articles and
short stories have appeared in such diverse publications as The Toronto Star,
The Writer Magazine, Atlantic Advocate, Seek, Home Life Magazine, The New
Brunswick Reader, Fredericton Gleaner, New Freeman and Kings County Record. Her
short story, Dark Reunion was selected for the anthology Investigating Women,
published by Simon & Pierre.
Note from Ginger: Joan Hall Hovey writes the best mysteries ever. She's an EPIC award winner, and if you love being on the edge of your seat, then you need a dose of JHH. :)
