Posted for our own Deb Julienne
The road to publication is a bumpy one, just ask any author. I signed my contract with Lyrical Press in March and have been working with my editor (the woman is a saint) to make the story the best it can be. What does that mean? For me it means I've done a great deal of rewriting, un-learning and re-learning. Confused...imagine how I feel. I'm starting to wonder what my editor saw in my story.

The biggest part of my edit learning experience is discovering what I learned incorrectly, what I accepted at face value from critiques, then relearning the lessons correctly.

If you've taken any creative writing classes, workshops, online courses, you at least get the concept of POV, Show/Tell, Dialogue, Setting, Story Arc, Protagonist/Antagonist, Characterization, Narrative, Plot, Voice, to name a few. Thanks to my editor, I believe I've discovered the key to making any of these sing. What is it you ask? This is where I'm borrowing from Shakespeare.

"To Be..." (Sorry, I condensed it)

How does this help? It's not enough that you create a terrific character and a fabulous plot, no, you must do it with keen focus. In order to write your amazing story you must "Be" your character. You don't write what "you" see, you write what "he/she" sees, feels, hears, etc. Sounds simple, right? Not. We're taught spoken English in school. Topic, sentence structure, grammar and punctuation, paragraph, etc. That's fine for English but not for fiction.

Writing a story takes on deeper meaning, more depth, and emotion, if you flesh out a story that pulls the reader in and holds them captive until the story is done. If you can't become your character, your reader can't empathize, cheer, much less feel satisfied when the story is over.

Here's an example:

Dinner started out casually at a well-known steak house they’d agreed to try. Once their orders were placed and drinks served Trent sat back and smiled across the table at Sabrina. He’d made every attempt to enjoy the end of what started as one hell of a rocky day. Thank God he hadn’t slipped up to either Kat or Sabrina.

Here’s the rewrite:

The hushed and cozy atmosphere of the steak house put Trent immediately at ease. No wonder it was so popular.

Once their orders were placed and drinks served Trent leaned back and admired Sabrina across the table.

“This was an excellent choice. Do you eat here often?” he asked.

“Only on special occasions,” she said then looked over her shoulder.

“Like what?”

Sabrina’s gaze continued to scan the room as if searching for something or someone, but he suspected it was to avoid eye contact.

“Oh, you know, birthdays and stuff like that.”

Her monotone response left him cold. She turned and waved to someone she knew. She looked as if she’d rather go visit but turned back and fiddled with her drink.

Thank God he hadn’t slipped up to either Kat or Sabrina.

In the original paragraph, I was too anxious to get to the next part of the story. When called to my attention, I saw I had missed a chance to let the reader feel what he was feeling.

Round three edits have been completed. What will the next round hold for me? Your guess is as good as mine, but I'm sure it'll be a good education.

Happy reading.

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Earthman's Bride started out as a short story, and then--like Topsy--it just grew. I wanted to write a story of a young woman given to a conqueror as part of a peace agreement, how she first feared and came to love him. Okay, so far so good, but what was to be the setting...medieval...paranormal...futuristic? And the conqueror, would he be a warrior...a beast...a supernatural entity?

There are too many science fiction stories of invaders from other planets coming to Earth a la War of the Worlds. Well, I decided, I'm not going that route. That theme has been run into the ground. What if my story told the other side of the coin? What would happen if Earthmen barged into another a galaxy attacking and conquering?

My Earthmen aren't very nice people, I'm afraid. Having depleted their own natural resources, they go searching for planets having the elements they lack, to make them a part of the United Terran Federation simply to lay claim to those assets. They "accept" these worlds into the Federation, place them under their "protection" and then haul their natural possessions back to Terra. Since most of the planets are less developed than theirs, it's easy to subdue them with superior firepower and take what they want.

The planet Tusteya is different. Though not as technologically advanced, the Tusteyans knew of space travel and traded with other planets and weren't about to allow themselves to be enslaved by aliens. A war resulted, one in which the Tusteyans put up steady resistance until, at the opening of the story, only one small tribe, the Elius, is still free, all others now slaves to the Federation's representative, the Governor of Tusteya. Philip Hamilcar, the Governor, was ordered to stay behind with his men ostensibly to keep the natives under control; in fact he was really stranded on the planet as punishment for voicing his disapproval of their treatment. As the story opens, thirty years have passed, the original Governor has died, and his son, another Philip, has taken his place. Alcin Spearman, leader of the Elius, asks for a truce, and to show the sincerity of his intentions, offers his 17-year-old daughter Rebeka to the new Governor to cement the peace. Alcin is certain the young Earthman will want Rebeka, not knowing that she has an agenda other than simply being a peace offering. Once Rebeka has gained his trust, she's to kill the Governor, and during the chaos of his death, her father and his men will storm the palace and end the Terran tyranny once and for all.

Rebeka agrees because she has no choice, and everything appears to be going just as her father wishes...the Governor is intrigued and eager to stop the bloodshed...he's fascinated by the young woman and lets it be known he wants her...eagerly, he agrees to the peace, and Rebeka is left alone in the palace her father used to rule, married to an alien whom she's expected to bed and then kill...




Earthman's Bride will be available as an e-book from Lyrical Press. Other books of mine published by Lyrical Press are Jericho Road, and When the Condor Returned, the sequel to Earthman's Bride.

Georgia in the 1970's is a place of turmoil. Firmly established elsewhere, segregation is getting a toehold in spite of a few remaining diehards, and the country's youth are in open rebellion against the Vietnam War--it's sex, war, and Rock'n'Roll. Sardis Crossing, a little town in middle Georgia, is no except as far as prejudice and racial hatreds are concerned, its inhabitants content to let life go on as it has for the last two hundred years. In the Spring of 1970, two people arrive in town who will become catalysts to the fermenting unrest. Wade Conyers IV, is a returning vet, scion of an old Georgia family, born and raised in Sardis Crossing. Logan Redhawk, is a Yankee, a man of two races, a part-Mohawk doctor assigned to the local hospital. Wade is newly-married but a haunted man with a secret; Logan is brash, sexy, and in love with Wade's naive younger sister, Lindsey. These two men are destined to change life in Sardis Crossing forever, and the town and two of its families will never be the same!







Jericho Road is scheduled for release as an e-book by Lyrical Press in April, 2009.