Avenue of Children’s Books

Tweeners! So my story consultant, Brad Schreiber, thought that tweeners would be the main audience for my book. Of course, that still left me in an ambiguous area between the established children's and young adult genres, much like the tweeners themselves.

It was time to explore the world of children's books.

Years ago, someone suggested to me that I connect with the SCBWI, the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, a key organization for those involved in the world of children's books. Back then, I was still working my way through the first draft and initial illustrations of my project. I didn't want to tie myself up with the many extracurricular activities that the organization offered because I wanted to focus on the project at hand.

The time had come, however, to connect to the world of writers in some fashion. I joined the SCBWI; members get a subscription to the organization's bi-monthly magazine. Then I connected to the SCBWI Twitter page, which in turn drew a couple of children's writing and illustration bloggers to my Twitter page. These connections turned me onto a wealth of information, websites and articles surrounding the world of writing for children. I had to be careful, because it was easy to get lost in the constant influx of info. I could never read it all, even if I tried, and I didn’t want to ignore my primary project. But I could feel that this organization would be more than a valuable resource for me as I moved forward.

I filtered and bookmarked the information, incorporating what I felt was relevant to my work when it seemed appropriate. My little "tales" project was, more and more, taking me to places I had never imagined.

Learn more about the SCBWI at: http://www.scbwi.org/

The Plunge into Story Consulting

After I received a couple of agent rejection letters, I decided it was time to consult with someone in the literary world about my work. I needed a professional perspective on this ever-growing project. I remembered seeing (when I read The Writer's Journey) that Christopher Vogler offered story-consulting services through a company called Storytech. I sent an email to inquire about his services and received a return phone call within a couple of hours from the resident book and script consultant, Brad Schreiber (co-author of the recently published Becoming Jimmy Hendrix). I put my big, fat manuscript in the mail to him the very next day.

I was prepared to hear the worst. Brad, however, was actually very gracious in telling me that although there wasn't enough overall plot or conflict to keep a reader engaged, I had done more than enough character development and my writing style was acceptable.  Clearly, there were many other elements that needed work. For one, I had brought too many earthly references into the project, instead of feeding the reader’s curiosity about the world of Heaven's Wait with new, otherworldly elements. And, since the manuscript’s chapters were basically individual tales, most chapters ended with resolved situations, which didn’t motivate the reader to keep reading. Also, the sheer length of the project was too much for a publishing professional to accept from a first-time author.

Brad suggested that I split the work into a trilogy, which would allow me to develop more manageable stories about R.J., the unusual Heaven's Wait creatures, and their unique adventures. When I asked Brad which genre suited my project, he thought Young Adult Fiction fit the bill, and that tweeners 10-13 years old were my primary audience.

I had a big job ahead of me--starting with turning my preface about R.J. into an entire book of its own. What was I thinking when I started this project--that I could churn out a few simple tales and pictures, and my work would be done?

(Learn more about Brad Schreiber at http://www.bradschreiber.com/ and http://www.redroom.com/author/brad-schreiber )

Initial Poke at the Publishing World

There is a lot to learn about the world of publishing. It’s a tough nut to crack, and there are volumes written about attacking that nut. Each publishing company and literary agency spells out its requirements for successful submission of a manuscript. While one company demands strict formatting and exact submission protocols, another prefers a more casual approach, and perhaps submission by email only. In all cases, it is clear that a creative, knockout query (a request to submit a manuscript) is crucial. In many cases, the query must be accompanied by an equally fabulous synopsis of the story, if one is to grab the attention of editors or agents, who are inundated with requests on a daily basis.

Having had no experience in this realm, I spent endless hours researching volumes of confusing information about query submission. If I was going to send out more than one query, it seemed I was going to have to tailor each one to the requirements of that particular company. This was going to be no easy task!

I was more concerned, however, with how I was going to cleverly describe my massive piece of work in just one page. Someone once asked me what my book was about, and I could not respond quickly because I was pondering the best way to explain it. He said, "Too late. You need to have your 'elevator speech' ready when someone asks."

"Elevator speech?"

"Yes, a succinct answer you can give someone in the time it takes to ride up a few floors in an elevator."

Interesting and true! I needed to come up with a concise description of the book, or no matter how many queries I sent out, I would never gain anyone’s interest.

I wrote a couple of initial queries, hoping to both capture the essence of my story and give the recipients a glimpse of my history with the project. While I was preparing to send out the first query by email to the literary agency at the top of my list, I hit the wrong button on the computer by mistake. The email was sent out incomplete and unsigned. What an amateur error. Well, so much for that agency!

I sent out a couple more queries, but my gut told me I still had much to learn before I was ready to knock on a publisher's door.

I should have trusted my gut feelings! The rejection letters arrived in no time.

May you all have a blessed holiday season. Many thanks for your continued support of my Heaven's Wait journey.

Dilemma of Identifying My Audience

Once my son had thoroughly dissected my manuscript, I again spent a few weeks reading, re-wording, re-reading, and correcting error upon error. I finally decided there was only so much I could do to improve the manuscript. If it ended up in the hands of an agent or publisher, it would probably be dissected all over again, so it was time to stop punishing myself.

I started my online search for information on agents and publishers. I subscribed to writers’ organizations, and bought books that published lists of such companies. The first thing I realized was that I needed to decide which genre of fiction suited my work. Agents and publishers varied greatly in the genres they handled. Some dealt with very specific genres, while others handled a variety.

As I studied lists of available genres, I became completely confused. My manuscript didn't fit neatly into any category. The story was fantasy but not in a science fiction sense, which seemed to be the case with much of the current fantasy fiction. The story was young adult in two senses: (1) the characters were animated, and (2) many of the tales focused on the experiences of the teens in Heaven's Wait. The story is somewhat inspirational, though I never consciously pursued that path. And where did the music and pictures fit in? I couldn't find anyone on the lists of agents and publishers who accepted written submissions that were accompanied by accessories, such as music, sounds and pictures.

Though I had no idea what type of audience would eventually enjoy my work, I decided to approach agents who handled the genres of both Fantasy and Young Adult, at least for starters. Perhaps they would be able to help me find a niche for my unusual project.

Right-Hand Man

Here I was, with a volume of work much more massive than I ever intended. For ease in handling, I divided the manuscript into ten folders, then read and reread it at least twelve times. I even read it out loud to myself at least twice. Each read produced correction after correction. I pulled apart, rewrote, reorganized and reassembled. I couldn't believe I was still finding errors as each round progressed. I needed someone else to read it before I even considered exposing it to the outside world.

I somehow convinced my son, Mark, to take on the job. We both thought it might take him a couple of weeks to read the manuscript and red-pencil any parts that needed work. WRONG!! R.J.'s Story and the first couple of tales absolutely oozed red marks. As comments like, "This is the longest sentence in the history of mankind," "The word is fridge, not frig," and "Huh???" bled from the margins, I realized I needed to confer with him about his comments, and he realized the errors would not easily be resolved without his input. This meant a much different commitment on his part than either of us had initially imagined. We needed to attack the project one tale at a time, and there were twenty-six of them.

Now he's a guy who likes to do things correctly and thoroughly, and he pulls no punches. It doesn't matter if I'm his mom. And that was okay with me. We both knew from the start that his criticisms would do nothing but improve the body of work. He decided to keep plugging away at it, and I am forever grateful for his commitment. The process took at least two months. There were so many instances where the stories were perfectly clear to me, but there was a lot missing on the page for the first-time reader. And since I had such a detailed database, I knew my characters really well. Mark, however, didn't have the luxury of the accompanying info or pictures, so he had more trouble keeping track of them in stories where many characters were involved.

Though the process was grueling for both of us, it was a great way for us to spend time together. He would groan when we'd start an editing session, and I would laugh off the punishment I was taking. But often his prodding would lead me to new ideas, wordings and solutions that we would both get excited about. Eventually he couldn't help becoming a believer in the world of Heaven's Wait and its quirky inhabitants. As I have continued to work on this project over the years, he has continued to support my efforts, engineer the technical elements of the project, and believe that Heaven's Wait will find its rightful place somewhere in this universe. I'm so fortunate and grateful to have him on my side.

Note: I've also managed to pull my second son, Shaun, into my world to help with the music and my husband, Mike, to help with voice-overs. In fact, the two of them are the inspiration for the crazy dialect used by one of my Heaven's Wait clans.

Have you read R.J.'s Story yet? You may find it at Smashwords.com (for Kindle and most eBook formats), the Apple's iBook Store, Barnes and Noble's Nook Books Store, Kobo.com, and Diesel.com. Search "Barbara McLaughlin."

Adventures in Trademarks

By the time I finished the first complete draft of my "book," I found myself with an overwhelming piece of work that boasted a whopping 924 pages, not including pictures and sounds. As far as I was concerned, it was still a collection of tales that wove its way toward a final story that probably qualified as a book in itself. So now what? Find someone to edit it for me? File for a copyright before I let anyone else look at it?

Along the way, I had invented numerous names and words to use in my fantasy world. The characters had odd, otherworldly names, as did their families or "clans," as they are called. The names of Heaven's Wait's various locations and plants were also made-up words, so I spent a great deal of time doing research on Google and on the U.S. Trademark Office website, to make sure I wasn’t using words that were already claimed. That was tough duty because, with the constant creation of new websites and usernames in the mad world of the Internet, most words I thought of were already taken. I even had to change words I thought I had cleverly invented.

It was time to seek the advice of a copyright lawyer. I lugged my manuscript, along with my laptop filled with illustrations and music, to the office of a lawyer I had previously worked with on a fundraising project. He was very cordial and didn't laugh at the massive volume of my portfolio. I was most concerned with the copyright issue, but he quickly advised me to change the focus. Filing for a copyright for the tales was a waste of time at that point, because the manuscript was likely to be edited several times before it was ever published.

The attorney was more concerned with the world I had created, Heaven's Wait. He felt it would be worthwhile to protect the name with a trademark, especially if I planned to expand this world in the future. Yes, the wheels were already turning with ideas for further adventures for my quirky characters. He and I decided which of the many classes of trademark registration to pursue, and sent in the initial filings. Once I was told the name was clear, I had three years to put the mark "Heaven's Wait" into active use. During those three years, if I didn't yet have something ready to place into active commerce, I would need to file for an extension every six months. There would be a filing fee for each class I had applied for, as well as lawyers' processing fees.

That wouldn't be a problem, would it? After all, I had finished the writing. Ha! I had no idea how much I had yet to learn.

Words of wisdom…don't file for a trademark until you have a tangible product that's ready to place into active commerce. 

Were Heaven's Wait's Tales Destined to Become Something More?

I must say, when I started writing Heaven's Wait's tales, I thought I was compiling a collection of individual life-lesson stories. I didn't think it was necessary to connect the stories. But as I continued on, I found that the tales were beginning to build on their predecessors and each character was starting to tell his or her own story. One character took a step forward from the rest; the families slowly exposed issues that needed exploration and resolution; and R.J.'s role in the greater picture became more clearly defined.

Heaven's Wait was becoming a world I never expected to know. It almost felt as though I was not creating this world at all; instead, I was witnessing its evolution, with the characters leading me to intriguing places and heartwarming situations.

I think the concepts were good, but the writing technique was poor. I struggled to articulate the storylines. I found myself buying grammar books and checking online resources for writing insight. A tip from a friend led me to buy the book, The Writer's Journey by Christopher Vogler, who took the complex concepts of mythologist Joseph Campbell and made them easily understandable and workable for prospective storytellers and screenwriters. He cited clear examples from classic stories such as The Wizard of Oz and Star Wars that taught volumes about developing a story's hero and other key characters, as well as the basic structures from which all good stories have evolved through the ages.

Pause #3! Study The Writer's Journey, and put the writing aside until you learn a bit of technique. I devoured that book, twice. I found myself entranced by the necessary path of the hero of a story. I realized that my project was evolving into a novel that would take place within the world of Heaven's Wait.

Who would have ever thought?

Learn more about The Writer's Journey at http://www.thewritersjourney.com/

Sitings of the Bizarre

I have no way of explaining some of the strange things that have happened since I began my Heaven's Wait journey. Has it been coincidence, or perhaps a form of telepathy?  I have a weird feeling that there is more right under the surface. Of course, I am leaking some "spoiler" tidbits about the story by revealing these incidents, but if you're game, read on.

The first oddity occurred the week after I completed the first, very emotional draft of R.J.'s Story. My family and I arrived on the Big Island of Hawaii for a vacation and coffee conference. I had visited that island before, but never the far north end. As we traveled north from the airport, we passed lush tropical vegetation, accented in the background by a vibrant rainbow. I told my family that the scene was right out of my story. A little farther on, a cluster of energy-producing windmills dotted the rolling foothills to the right of the highway. What's going on? I thought, recalling that R.J. had built some windmills in the hills when he got to Heaven's Wait. 

A few days later, we went on a water ride called Flumin' da Ditch at the top of the island. The ride meandered through a rainforest that boasted no less than wild coffee trees. This was the very jungle that played a significant role in R.J.'s Story. And to top it off, while we were at our hotel during those few days of vacation, the pilot episode of Lost aired on TV. Its bewildered characters found themselves in a tropical environment after their plane went down. My son said, "Hey, they're stealing your story." I had no explanation for any of it.

Not long after the Hawaii trip, my husband and I toured the Joseph Phelps winery in St. Helena, CA for the first time. When we looked down at the vineyard property from the hillside tasting room terrace, which appeared to sit on the east side of the property, my jaw dropped. The landscape, less the rows and rows of grapevines, was the raw layout of Vowella Valley, the primary setting for R.J.'s Story, complete with a road meandering down the middle and a small lake in the northeast corner. The only things missing were the surroundings: a single mountain to the west, a jungle to the north and a swamp to the south. I showed my husband where each of the story's "clans" lived, and pointed out the locations of other landmarks mentioned in the story. We joked that this property needed to be the story's movie set someday. Why was I seeing these actual sites after I had already invented them in my head?

Later in the process, when I was working on a revision of R.J.'s Story, I inserted a short-lived scene where R.J. inquired into the possibility that his old cat Sam might be in Heaven's Wait. My inspiration for Sam was a longhaired, one-eyed orange cat that lived a couple of doors down the street. He loved to hang out on our front porch. Once again, we went out of town for a few days. When we returned, I learned that the "real" Sam had been hit by a car and died. And I hesitate to mention this, but...there is also a reference to Michael Jackson in the story. What can I say? As a result, no one in my family wants to be included in my stories.

Lastly, R.J. learned during R.J.'s Story that his parents had moved to Berkeley from San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake, never to return to The City again. A couple of years ago, while attending a memorial service for one of my uncles on my dad's side, my cousins and I found out from looking at my uncle's old photo albums that my grandparents had actually lived in Marin when they were first married, and had moved to the East Bay after the 1906 earthquake. I had never heard this story before, and neither had my cousins, who had been an active part of my grandparents' lives.

Needless to say, I've been pretty freaked out by it all, but at the same time, I'm more inspired to move forward and perhaps discover what it all means at the end.