So I decided to feed The Poacher's Son into a cool program called Wordle that creates word clouds. The way it works is that the size of the words reflects how often I use them in my novel. The bigger the word, the more often it appears in the book. I was surprised by the results. For instance, I would have expected the name "Kathy" to be larger. But it's interesting to see my story rendered in cloud form. Does it give the plot away? You tell me.
Write Better, Dammit
Laura Miller has an instructive piece on Salon that I wish she'd published back when I was in grad school. I remember lots of discussions at Emerson about the craft of writing, but I recall very few conversations about what readers want from a piece of fiction. Miller's essay, "A Reader's Advice to Writers," is full of good counsel if you aspire to write novels or short stories. You should read the whole thing, but her five bullet points are useful tips in and of themselves:
1. Make your main character want something.
2. Make your main character do something.
3. The components of a novel that readers care about most are, in order: story, characters, theme, atmosphere/setting.
4. Remember that nobody agrees on what a beautiful prose style is and most readers either can't recognize "good writing" or don't value it that much.
5. A sense of humor couldn't hurt.
Worth pinning over the writing desk.
Big in Slovenia
I heard today from my editors at Minotaur that the sub rights people are beginning to sell foreign rights to The Poacher's Son. The first three translations are unexpected to say the least. In addition to English (obviously) my novel will be available in Portuguese, Romanian, and Slovenian. It would certainly make for an interesting international tour, although I wonder what kind of audience would show up to hear me give a reading in the Carpathians....
Barnes & Noble Online Book Club
For the next three weeks I'm participating in Barnes & Noble's First Look book club. It's an online discussion of The Poacher's Son with a select group of volunteers who were sent advance galleys of the book. Each week the group reads a series of chapters (they're up to Chapters 8 through 18) and posts reactions to the characters, story, and issues raised by the novel.
The conversation has been going on since the beginning of March so I'll be showing up fashionably late. This week my excellent and perspicacious editor Charlie Spicer will also be there.
Unless you're part of the club and were selected to get an advance reader's copy of my novel, I'm afraid you can't post questions or replies to the board, but you can eavesdrop on the discussion. One word of warning, though: The Poacher's Son is a mystery and I expect that as readers near the final chapters, the ending will become a hot topic. So if you don't want to see a spoiler that ruins the novel's surprises (and I'd rather you didn't), I suggest you browse carefully.
Great Mention in Library Journal
I haven't blogged much yet about The Poacher's Son because very few people have read it at this point, and I think there will be time enough for me to talk about the book after it finally gets into bookstores. That said, in addition to the early reviews, my novel has started to get other mentions as more advance galleys make the rounds. This one, from Chris Vaccari, at Library Journal, really made my week.
I also picked up a great new mystery, Paul Doiron's The Poacher’s Son. A Maine game warden navigates strained relationships with the woman he loves and his father, who has been suspected of murder. Think Skink from Hiaasen’s books except as a mean, alcoholic, manipulative troublemaker. OK, maybe don’t think Skink—Skink is fun. This guy ain’t. Anyways, you’ll feel like there’s a black bear in the room while you chase through the woods to find a man who may or may not be getting framed.
I’ve never been to Maine, but now I feel like I have. Twigs were cracking underneath my feet as I settled in to read this one. Doiron creates great scenery to surround an impressive debut. Well done, sir.
Being compared to Carl Hiassen in any way shape or form is pretty cool, I have to admit.