|
Welcome To Spare Time Novelist
|
|
Welcome to the Spare Time Novelist. This web page is for those writers who
dream of some day being on the New York Times Best Seller List. Maybe you've dreamed of being the
next Robert Heinlein, Nora Roberts, John Grisham, Toni Morrison, Tom Clancy or one of my favorites, Susan Krinard.
Or maybe you're striving higher, to become the next Aristotle, Euripides, Machiabelli or Freud. Whatever your choice,
there's always a starting point, a place to begin. Hopefully, Spare Time Novelist can be a part of
your destiny. These pages are dedicated to YOU, to those of us who need, who feel the urge to tell a story.
[About Us] [Dedication]
[Contact Us]
|
|
Interview with Author Charlee Boyett-Compo
|
Charlotte Boyett-Compo, Author
Visit her website: Here
Interviewer: J.M. De Long
for Spare Time Novelist |
 |
BIO:
Charlee is the author of over thirty books, the first nine of
which are the WindLegend Saga which began with THE WINDKEEPER. Married 35 years to her high school
sweetheart, Tom, she is the mother of two grown sons, Pete and Mike, and the proud grandmother of Preston
Alexander and Victoria Ashley. She is the willing houseslave to six demanding felines who are holding her
hostage in her home and only allowing her to leave in order to purchase food for them. A native of
Sarasota, Florida, she grew up in Colquitt and Albany, Georgia and now lives in the Midwest.
PROFESSIONAL ALLIANCES:
She is a proud member of the Authors' Guild, National Writers' Union, the Writer's Club Romance Group,
Romance Writers of America, Romance Foretold, The HTML Writer's Guide, EPIC (the Electronically Published
Internet Connection), Women for Literature, Ardeon, E-Authors, the Phenomenal Women of the Web, and the
first author to be published by Twilight Times Books, now Dark Star Publications.
AWARDS:
Recently, she won Inscription Magazine's 2000 Engraver Award for Favorite E-Author and The Writecharm's
Simply Charming Award for promoting e-books and their authors worldwide. Her sci-fi/futuristic novel,
BloodWind, stayed on Dark Star Publications bestseller list for over 18 months and has now been released
in paperback. It was named as one of the Best Books of 1999 at eBook Connections as was her dark
historical, In the Wind's Eye. Her psychological thriller, In the Heart of the Wind, was recently
nominated for a 2000 R.I.O Award and has been named as one of the Best Books of 2000 at Inscriptions and
was awarded a Reviewer's Choice Award at Scribe's World.
NON-WRITING PURSUITS:
Charlee has been taking classes in American Sign Language for the last two years. She is a member of Beta
Sigma Phi, Ladies of the Heart, Partners of Mary, White Rose Sisters, and is the parish secretary of her
local Catholic church as well as the creator and webmaster of its
webpage.
Charlee can be reached at charleecompo@hotmail.com or by snail mail at:
Charlee Compo
P.O. Box 745
Grinnell, IA 50112-0745
First off, I want to thank Ms. Compo for giving her time for this interview. I hope you enjoy it as
much as I did.
(STN) 1. How did you start writing? What first inspired
you?
(Charlee) I began writing when I was about thirteen. I was madly in love with
Michael Landon of Bonanza and didn't like the storylines they were doing
for Little Joe. I thought they needed more drama, more turmoil for the
hero, and more tears for the female viewers. I began re-writing certain
scenes in my mind, then later I put them to paper. Pretty soon, I was
thinking of my own story starring Michael and found myself writing
Western Flame. I filled a large spiral composition book with that story. A
few years later, I'd fallen out of love with Michael and deeply in love
with Robert Vaughn (I loved his angst-filled performances in The Young
Philadelphians and The Magnificent Seven. I'm a sucker for an
attractive man in pain!). For Mr. Vaughn, I wrote The Great Giovanni. A year
later, a friend and I wrote a play titled Did You Say Ghost? for 9th grade
assembly and it was put on for both the 8th and 9th grades. It was a
huge success. Over a period of twenty years, I kept copious notes for
other novels along with bits and pieces of dialogue. One day I finally
sat down and started writing The Keeper of the Wind (the first book in
The WindLegends Saga) and since then, I've written over 35 novels, 12 of
which are published and the rest under contract.
(STN) 2. Do you write everyday?
(Charlee) I write almost every day. Since I work an 8-5 full-time job, it's
sometimes a little rough coming home, fixing supper then coming into my
office to write. I have a very stressful job and sometimes distractions
hinder my ability to concentrate. I have a tendency to bring my work home
with me in the context of the emotions and feelings that go along with
it. I actually think that is what most writers call writer's block. It
isn't the ability to write; it is the ability to blot out the
distractions around you. Just like a demolition expert hovering over a bomb in
preparation to dismantling it, concentration is a vital part of the job.
If that man's mind wanders, he could find himself casting off this
mortal coil. A writer who can't concentrate on what he or she is writing
will find his or her mind wandering off to other topics. That isn't
writer's block; that's an inability to concentrate on what is at hand.
(STN) 3. How do you feel about Writer's Groups?
(Charlee) I belong to a writer's round robin but we haven't been active for quite
some time. We are not a critique group, per se, but help one another
when help is needed to flesh out a scene or to answer writing questions.
I am a solitary writer and don't get much out of critique groups
anyway. The few I have belonged to have always had the one or two seemingly
jealous writers who take great delight in trashing other people's work.
They never had anything good to say about anyone else's writing and
thought theirs far superior. "Well, I would have written that scene like
this..." I don't need that kind of attitude. I like positive
re-enforcement and most writers who belong to groups like that should quietly bow
out and let the sharks feed as they will. Being constantly attacked on
any level will undermine your belief in yourself. I think some people
might conceivably need Writer's Groups, but most don't.
(STN) 4. Tell us about your latest book.
(Charlee) Windhealer is the fourth book in the ten-volume sword & sorcery romance
adventure series, The WindLegends Saga. It was scheduled for release
this month but the publisher moved from the East coast to the West coast
and things have been hectic for them. Hopefully, it will be out next
month. I've been getting emails from antsy readers who are sitting on
pins and needles waiting for it. One gentleman sent me a letter just this
morning telling me he was in the process of re-reading the first three
books in the series until he could get his hands on Windhealer. It's
nice to have that kind of reaction to your work. It makes you feel as
though you have accomplished what you set out to: to entertain and make
readers look forward to your next book.
(STN) 5. Do you have a special place to write? Typically,
how much do you write a day?
(Charlee) I have an office in a converted bedroom. There is very little
distraction in here. The windows are covered in blinds, blocking out the view of
the den, and I have no radio, stereo or TV. The phone line goes to the
Internet and once my door is shut, I can barely hear the other phones
ringing in the house. I have a photo of my office on my web page if
you're interested in seeing what it looks like. It's a small room (8 by 10)
but big enough for a multitude of research books and my collection of
stars.
I write all weekend long each week and that equates to about sixteen
hours. In the evenings during the week, I try to get in at least 30
minutes to an hour's worth of writing. Most of that is edit work or going
back to re-work a scene I didn't particularly like the first time around.
Most of my intense writing is done after church on Sundays when the
house is quiet and my hubby is taking is afternoon siesta. :)
(STN) 6. How much do you re-write? How many drafts do you
typically have?
(Charlee) I will re-write any scene that doesn't grab me. I might re-write it a
dozen times until it 'speaks' to me. When I read it, I'll know when that
scene is right. I always do three drafts of any novel before I turn it
in to my publisher. After that, I work with one of two superb editors
who will go through the manuscript with a fine-tooth comb and then hand
it back to me to tweak. We'll discuss why he or she thinks I should
change something or why I think it should be left as is. After I've done
my side of the edits, it goes back to the line editor who then goes
through it a second or third time to make sure the time frames are
correct, the plot is sound, etc. then he or she sends it on with my
corrections to the final editor who goes over everything again. After that, it
goes to a fourth person who is responsible for making sure there are no
typos, grammatical errors, etc. before being sent off to the printers.
Despite all those precautions, typos and errors still get through in
every publishing house in the world. It's a matter of not being able to
see the forest for the trees.
(STN) 7. Do you use an outline? If not, how do you keep
your story and characters together?
(Charlee) I never use an outline because I never know where my characters want to
go until we're there. I might begin with a set notion of what the story
is going to be like but eventually it will twist and turn itself into
something I never would have imagined. It seems my readers are vastly
entertained by the way I write for they always mention and reviewers
always comment on the many whiplash turns in my novels. They are not
predictable and never cookie-cutter. If you figure out a plot early on, you
were meant to. Most of the time, it will not be anything you could
possibly have conceived of happening. I enjoy tricking my readers like that
and they seem to thrill to it.
I have a wonderful compendium with every character I've ever created. I
list that character's traits, which book(s) he or she shows up in and
when, what their motivation is and why. I also lists all the horses,
ships, places, towns, rivers, countries...all of it...that I have created.
I did this to keep everything straight in my own mind but my publisher
has mentioned she might like to put out a companion book to The
WindLegends Saga in the same vein as the Outlander and Vampire Chronicle
companions. I've been told many readers have suggested that idea so we'll
have to wait and see what happens.
(STN) 8. What drew you to the Wind Legends saga?
(Charlee) I liked the darker works like Edgar Allan Poe's when I was a child. I
read Mary Shelley's Frankenstein when I was ten years old and Bram
Stoker's Dracula when I was eleven. I didn't understand some of it, but I
was mesmerized by the genre. I began reading all the horror and
sf/fantasy novels I could get my hands on. I loved Shock theatre and would sit
for hours watching the old black and white movies of Karloff, Lugosi,
and Lon Chaney, Jr. By the time Hammer Films began making the Dracula
series of movies with Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing in the 1960s, I
was addicted to the genre. I couldn't get enough and when I was thirteen,
I cajoled my mother into ordering a subscription to Famous Monster
magazine for me. After that, there was no turning back.
When I began writing the first book in the WindLegends Saga, I knew it
had to contain all the elements that had so fascinated me as a child:
there had to be a monster (whether mortal or supernatural); there had to
be a quiet love story; there had to be plenty of action; there had to
be succinct dialogue; and there had to be plenty of angst for the hero.
If you look at all the old horror movies (as well as Lee's version of
Dracula and The Mummy), you'll find an underlying element of tragedy for
the hero or the main character. That element of angst struck a chord
within me and my muse began to play the music that would become my
particular style. That style became The WindLegends.
(STN) 9. What authors do you like to read?
(Charlee) I never miss the books of John Sandford, David Wiltse, Andrew Greeley,
Ken Eulo, Brian Lumley, Dean Koontz, John Saul, Robin Cook, or Dennis
Lehane. Likewise, I buy (but don't always get right to) the novels of
Jude Devereaux, Rosemary Rogers, Johanna Lindsey and Shirlee Busbee. I
read those when I want light entertainment and not something heavy to
have to ponder. Just recently I discovered Michael Connelly and have
bought all of his books. So far, I've read only one but he looks promising.
When I want to laugh, I buy Dave Berry or Paul Reiser. They crack me up
big time!
(STN) 10. Do you enjoy meeting your readers and are you able
to do this often?
(Charlee) I love meeting them and corresponding. I don't have time to do many
book signings now but when I did, I thoroughly enjoyed hearing what people
had to say about what I've written. I have about two-dozen readers who
write me every week and another dozen or so who write once a month. I
am thankful for every new reader I get and when someone writes me, I
write back within a day or two of getting their email or letter. Most of
the time, I make it a point to answer that same day if at all possible.
I know how hurtful it can be not to hear from an author when you write
to him or her and I don't want anyone to ever say I was not a
courteous, thoughtful author. When someone asks for my autograph, I am thrilled
and very grateful they think me worthy of their notice.
(STN) 11. Who is your greatest support?
(Charlee) My husband Tom is the light in my life. He has always stood behind me,
beside me, and never let me give up even when it seemed no one would
ever publish my work. He sits beside me at every book signing I do and
to hear him tell passersby, I'm the best thing since jiff penanut butter
and won't stick to the roof of your mouth! He is so proud of me and
tells every one of his clients about his wife, the author. He has always
had a strong shoulder for me to cry on when everything seemed destined
to fall apart and strong arms to lift me high when things begin to
happen. His wonderful, endearing smile has never wavered nor has his
belief in my ability. He is my dearest friend and my biggest fan. Without
his support, guidance, and gentle nudging I would never have realized my
dream of becoming a published writer. I owe everything to this quiet,
gentle man with the sweetest little butt you won't ever see! There are
several pictures of him as well as my family and pets on my web page.
(STN) 12. E-Publishing is becoming a big part of the
publishing world. You've done exceptionally well
in this field of publishing. Can you tell us a little
about how e-Publishing works?
(Charlee) Everything is done via email and that is such a wonderful way to get
your work out there. From that first email asking a publisher if they
would like to review your book to your first reader actually purchasing
that book, everything can be done on the Internet. You can send your
query letter and first three chapters or first 50 pages in and within a day
or two, you could conceivably know whether or not that book will be
accepted for publication. That isn't always true, of course. With the more
well known e-publishers like RFI West, Hard Shell Word Factory,
Crossroads, DiskUs, Novel Books Inc., etc., it will take longer because they
have such a large stable of authors already. But new e-publishers are
cropping up every day and are looking for good, quality work.
Let's say you've queried and been accepted. The next thing will be to
send your entire manuscript in via email attachment. Depending on the
workload of your assigned editor, you could have your first edits back
within a month or two. For the sake of argument, let's say four to six
months, tops. That's still 3/4 of the time it generally takes a
traditional print publisher to get your galley proofs back to you. (And that is
through snail mail entirely from query to submission to galley). You
can do your edits and send them back to your editor via email. You never
have to leave your house! When the e-book is ready in download format,
it will become available for sale almost immediately on the publisher's
website. Anyone, anywhere, at any time of the day or night or condition
of the weather can order your book without leaving THEIR house!
You can even get your royalty checks via the Internet at PayPal.
A WORD OF WARNING: I would like to caution new writers looking into
e-publishing about one thing: e-publishers who want to charge you a fee
for publishing your novel. This is something I would beg, plead, beseech,
and warn you against doing. No matter how you slice it, any publisher
who asks for an upfront fee of any kind is a subsidy/vanity publisher.
There has been some discussion on many of the lists to which I belong
about there being a difference in those two terms: subsidy and vanity. To
my way of thinking, if you have to pay to have your work
published...either in part or in full...you are dealing with the same type of
publisher. Reputable, professional publishers would NEVER ask you to pay one
red cent to have your book published. Most reputable contests will not
accept your book for judging if you are self-published or
vanity-published. Most professional organizations will not accept you for membership
if you are published under those circumstances. Most contests and
organizations state you have to be published by royalty-paying, non
fee-charging publishing houses. There is a reason for that clause: most
subsidy/vanity publishers will take ANYTHING offered to them if the author
pays to have it published. The quality, in most cases, is lacking and
proper editing is nonexistent. Even after they supposedly 'edit' your
manuscript, the result may be worse than the original.
Case in point: My first publisher sent me back the galley proofs for
The Keeper of the Wind. I was appalled when they 'editor' had changed the
word Sweeting (a viable medieval term of endearment) to Sweetie.
Apparently she did a global search and replace because my villain confronts
the hero, looms over him in a moment of vicious torture and says: "You
are at my mercy Sweetie prince!" ARRRRGGGHHH! I remember the scream
that was torn from my throat when I saw that. Not to be outdone, this
'professional editor' also took it upon herself to make a slight revision
concerning a scene in which the hero and his mighty black destrier (war
horse) are crossing a stream in Scotland. When hero and mount reach the
other side, the horse had morphed into a gray mare. The only thing I
could figure happened was there were piranhas in that Scottish stream and
the act of being emasculated turned the black stallion to a gray mare.
Yep, real good editing, folks. I could give you about two dozen more
examples from that and other publishers but I think you get the message.
Some review websites will not accept ARCs (advanced review copies) for
review if they are from a subsidy/vanity publisher for that very
reason.
If you have exhausted every possible e-publisher which DOES NOT CHARGE
and your work has been turned down consistently, perhaps it needs
fine-tuning. It might not be as good as you think. If you submit that work,
as is, to a subsidy publisher and receive a glowing letter telling you
how great it is and how they'd love to publish it FOR A FEE, you have
to understand their money is coming from getting you to pay for that
book to be published. They make money whether your book ever sells the
first copy. If you've shelled out a thousand dollars just to see your name
in print and to be able to say you're published, that's vanity
publishing no matter how you cut it.
Try every reputable, royalty-paying, non fee-charging e-publisher out
there first and let the subsidy/vanity publishers be an absolute last
resort. Having gone to court twice with subsidy publishers and having
helped put two of them behind bars when they took authors' money and
never produced the first book, I can tell you that you don't need the
heartache and the damage to your career these people can cause. Stay as far
away from that type of publisher as you can. If you don't and you get
caught up in the myriad scams being run out there, you'll have no one
but yourself to blame. You've been warned.
(STN) 13. Is e-Publishing a good place to start for an
unpublished writer?
(Charlee) It is an excellent place because it is so accessible. Traditional print
houses reject new writers without ever having taken a look at their
manuscripts. Form letters are sent out by the ton every year to crush the
hopes and dreams of fledgling writers. Sometimes it takes months and
months of waiting to ever hear back from traditional print houses. With
e-pubs, you'll know in a matter of days whether they will accept your
manuscript for review. Since there are so many e-pubs out there now, it
may be only a week or two before you hear back on whether or not your
work has been picked up by that publisher. The ease with which you can
send in a submission in email attachment is another godsend for new
writers. You don't have to worry about packaging up a bulky manuscript,
carting it down to the post office, insuring it, and sending it off with
the hope it gets there eventually. The wait to hear back from a
traditional publisher can be excruciating, but that time frame is chopped down
significantly with e-publishing. The time it takes from submission,
acceptance, to actual availability is also cut drastically. Some
traditional publisher can take up to five years to get your work before the
public. The professional, well-established e-pubs are taking about a year to
18 months from submission to virtual shelf. With the advent of more
and more e-pubs, that time is cut even further and can be as little as 6
months.
(STN) 14. In your opinion, will e-Publishing ever replace
the good 'ol book?
(Charlee) No, not in the entertainment sense of the word. Nothing can replace the
comfort of holding a book in your hand and flipping the pages. There is
great satisfaction for some people in actually seeing the print on
paper, smelling the ink, stroking the cover art. On the other hand, as we
Baby Boomers grow older and our eyesight starts to go the way of the
receding hairline and advancing bulges, being able to increase the font
size and backlight what we're reading will certainly help. Also having 40
books in the physical space of one to take to on the plane or to the
beach would be great.
I believe eventually textbooks will go the way of e-books onto a
dedicated e-reader so students don't have to lug around a dozen books in
their backpacks. To be able to have an encyclopedia, a dictionary, a
thesaurus and other mega-page research volumes as well as your textbooks
available in one unit the size of a traditional paperback book, will be a
real boon to students. I'm sure they wouldn't mind carrying around less
weight and looking cool while holding their e-reader. I believe the
e-reader will one day be as essential to teenagers as cell phones and
portable CD-players are now. Once the teenagers discover the usefulness of
this handy little device, their parents won't be far behind. That said,
prices need to come down significantly, though, for that to happen.
(STN) 15. If you could have done anything at all in your
life, what would it have been? A secret ambition?
(Charlee) I always wanted to be a character actress. I didn't care about being
the star with my name up in lights. I wanted to play the kind of roles
that went to actresses like Cloris Leachman, Jeanette Nolan, and Gina
Rowlands. I always thought the meatier roles were the supporting actor
characterizations because they held the storyline together. I pay close
attention to the actors and actresses who are there in the background,
giving the movie their best performances, and making it look so easy
while the stars are in the foreground chewing up the scenery. Next time
you go to an over-hyped movie, watch the supporting actors quietly do
their thing. They are earning their paychecks and not relying on their
star names to carry the movie. You'll get more out of the story that way.
(STN) 16. You have a wonderful website. Do you use other
methods of marketing your work?
(Charlee) I do a lot of networking. I belong to several lists that name new
websites that have debuted that week. If those websites are within the scope
of the seven genres in which I write, I visit them, look them over,
then email the webmaster, introduce myself, and invite him or her over to
my website to see what I have to offer. I offer myself for interviews
and my books for reviews. I will also ask them to keep me in mind when
they have writing articles they might be interested in having written. I
visit guest books and leave a message inviting the webmaster to come
over for a look. I have joined many genre-specific mailing lists in
which I take part in the interaction between listers and quietly mention my
books when someone asks. I learned long ago not what not to do on
these lists. You can create a lot of trouble for yourself by saying the
wrong thing at the wrong time.
(STN) 17. What are you currently keeping yourself busy
with?
(Charlee) I am writing a novel that will be serialized. I have written two in
that manner and both were huge successes. BlackWind is a cross-genre
paranormal/romance novel. I use two of the creatures I have created for
several of my other novels: a Reaper and a Nightwind. A Reaper is a
shapechanger superman-type character and a Nightwind is an incubus. In this
novel, which will be published in weekly installments from my
publisher's website at http://www.rfiwest.com beginning in September then later
published in trade paperback upon completion, I have a Reaper and a
Nightwind vying for the love of a mortal woman. We won't know who will
win her hand until the last chapter. Which is superior: the Reaper or the
Nightwind?
(STN) 18. Many of the visitors to Spare Time Novelist are
beginners. What advice would you give them?
Write what you know; if you don't know, find out!
I know that seems trite but it is so true. I'll give you an example of
why I say this. Three years ago when I was doing In the Wind's Eye in
monthly installments, one of the scenes involved a description of the
hero riding past a canopy of kudzu. Now kudzu is a plant that grows in
my native South and I've seen it all my life. It is an insidious little
vine that will choke the life out of any plant to which it attaches
itself. You seem it everywhere down there. Some people even eat the stuff
though why is beyond my line of reasoning! At any rate, I received a
letter from a man who took me to task for saying kudzu could be seen
near Savannah, Georgia immediately following the Civil War. He went on to
tell me that kudzu wasn't brought to Georgia until the 20th century.
He also said another vicious little thing called the fire ant (another
savage demon found in over abundance in the South) was not around until
much later than the Civil War. That might not mean much to other
readers and most would not even blink an eye when reading it. Facts mean very
little to the reader who picks up a book for the entertainment value.
But it meant enough to that gentleman for him to write me a nice note to
let me know there was a glaring discrepancy as far as he was concerned.
I thanked him and had the editor change the kudzu to ivy. The fire ants
I left in because they were far more intricate to the tale than the
kudzu.
So write what you know because if you invent something or give out
erroneous information there will always be someone to call you on it. It
might be...and hopefully WILL be...your editor, but it might just be that
one reviewer who will give your book a bad score because you didn't
research it well enough to pass muster. When you write about things you
know and are familiar with, you are more apt to describe them in ways
your readers will understand and 'see'. It's hard to describe having a
root canal if you've never actually sat in that chair and been tortured by
one! The same is true of love scenes. To write a convincing scene, it
helps to have felt the emotions and the sensations you are telling your
readers about.
|
Publishers
|
Publishers Guidelines
|
Literary Agents
|
Please take a moment to view our on-going list of Publishers for all
Genres. If you have dealt with a certain Publisher and it was either a good or bad
experience, please let know about it. Email Us
Do you have some work you'd like your fellow writers to read? Now's the time to get
feedback on your writing style, characterizations, plot lines, etc. Review our Showcase
page to see how.
Click Here
|
I've had losts of questions about Publisher Guidelines. I've gone to several of the publishers
sites on the internet to see what their specific Guidelines are. The guidelines listed below are mainly for the
Romance genre. I will be updating this list with other genre guidelines soon. Mystery, Science Fiction, Fantasy
and Horror will be my next update. Please, if you know specifically any Guidelines for publishers, please let me
know and I will add them to this list.
Spare Time Novelist
|
This is a short list of Literary Agents from various areas of the internet. I will be adding
to it gradually.Spare Time Novelist
(This list is from many sources on the Internet and I appreciate every last one of them! Thank you for answering
my questions!)
Publishers & Literary Agents Resource!
|
|
|
| MENU |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ABOUT
YOUR SITE |
Issue:
03 Year: 1998
Editor: J.M. De Long
© 2000 J.M. De Long |
| Writing for Children |
|
|
|
