I’m preparing the last lesson for my summer writing class, and once again I read through John Steinbeck’s short story, “The Chrysanthemums”.  I read and sigh at the beauty of the writing, of the words, of the vivid portrayal of the characters. I rediscover  a major influence in my life, in my writing. To take a few lone words and string them together to create such depth and meaning. Words that bubble up off the page and cause my heart to dance. Does this short story inspire everyone with it’s melodious language? Of course not, but who can deny the impact of this story. I can hear the sighs now, not of joy as I respond, but of  “No… not another reader response!”

The Chrysanthemums   (excerpt )

 John Steinbeck – 1938

The high gray-flannel fog of winter closed off the Salinas Valley from the sky and from all the rest of the world. On every side it sat like a lid on the mountains and made of the great valley a closed pot. On the broad, level land floor the gang plows bit deep and left the black earth shining like metal where the shares had cut. On the foothill ranches across the Salinas river, the yellow stubble fields seemed to be bathed in pale cold sunshine, but there was no sunshine in the valley now in December. The thick willow scrub along the river flamed with sharp and positive yellow leaves. 

It was a time of quiet and of waiting.The air was cold and tender. A light wind blew up from the southwest so that the farmers were mildly hopeful of a good rain before long; but fog and rain did not go together.

http://nbu.bg/webs/amb/american/4/steinbeck/chrysanthemums.htm

The average person picks up a book at the book store, thumbs through it, reads the back cover, and then makes a hasty decision as to whether to purchase the book or not. I know because I’m one those “people” who tends to select novels by authors that I’m familiar with.  Also, I’m often very skeptical when I pick up a book by an author whose work I’ve never read before. As a relatively unknown author, I really shouldn’t be this way, but when I finally discover that I have a little time to relax and read, well I want to know that what I select will be exactly right for me. I like comfortable and familiar, but I know that I may be missing out on something wonderful if I never venture past my cozy, security blanket of best-loved authors.

With this in mind, I must discover how to move others away from their comfy, well-known choices to a state of mind where they are willing to stumble upon someone new. How will I accomplish this mighty, seemingly insurmountable task? It’s daunting to think about given that there are so many excellent authors around the globe that my writing has to compete with.

For me personally, I am most drawn to a new author when I’ve had someone recommend a novel to me. Of course, that doesn’t always mean that I will be as enthralled with the book as the person who suggested it, but it does mean I will peruse its pages and hope to find that magical moment when I first connect to the characters and become immersed in the story.

What can I do as an author to attract readers to my novels?

Unfortunately, writing a novel does not guarantee that anyone will read it. No matter how much you believe your story is the ultimate novel that will win over the world, it probably isn’t going to catch fire right away. This has actually happened to very few novelists throughout history. Nevertheless, it would be fantastic to experience this instant fame. Yet for most novelists, we must rely on conventional methods to capture our audience.

Fortunately, in today’s world we are blessed with many avenues in which to share our work with readers from all over the world. It is an awesome undertaking to know that what you publish in the virtual world may inspire or tire those who read it. What can an author do inspire their readers?

I hope you’ll tag along as I wander down this road of discovery and try to answer this  most intriguing question, “What can I do as an author to attract readers to my novel?”

Many thanks to everyone for their CONGRATULATIONS!! And a huge thank you to my illustrator, Jennifer Neher, whose sketches truly depict the story. And if I may say so myself, congratulations to both of us for winning 2nd or 3rd place in the NTBF Awards!! LOL! They only announced 1st place, and 2nd and 3rd place are designated as 2013 Award Finalist!!! Yet, out of hundreds of entries Ghost of Johanna is a NTBF 2013 Children’s Book Award Finalist!!! YAY!

Everyone has a story to tell, no matter where you grew up, no matter what your background, you have a story hiding deep down within you. Countless numbers of magazines are sold that describe what is happening in “celebrities” lives. They’re not so much about the films, books, or plays the celebrity is in, but more about the person’s “real life. There is a good reason for this. It is simply because real life experiences make the most interesting tales.

In every novel, the author leaves an imprint of themselves behind. My life did leave its imprint within the pages of Moon Dance. As I wrote, I incorporated what I knew best into the story line. I struggled with many ideas, trying to make my novel as historically accurate as possible. Then late in May, as the school year was coming to a close, my sister called and told me our favorite author, Mary Higgins Clark, was coming to speak at Bass Hall in Fort Worth. My daughter, my sister, my niece and I quickly sent in for tickets, and we were fortunate enough to get excellent seats for the program. I loved listening to her story. She described how she struggled to become a published author, and how she discovered that writing what you know is the key to writing a successful novel. There were many other highlights that night, but that single sentence ignited a spark within me.

I reread what I had written so far and discovered there just wasn’t enough life in the story. It needed more flavor. I grew up in East Texas and if you’ve lived there or have visited the area, you know East Texans their own particular way of speaking. This is what I knew, so this is what I incorporated into the dialect of Moon Dance. I have also always loved descriptive writing that paints a picture in your mind that is so real you feel like you can actually see it, taste it, or feel as if you’re a part of the story or song. I also incorporated this sensory writing into the pages of Moon Dance

Have I experienced dark days in my life? Have I had moments of deep passion and love? Yes. Did these experiences impact what I wrote in the pages of Moon Dance? Yes, again. Did incorporating what I had experienced into my writing make Moon Dance a more interesting read? I truly believe so.

Throughout the summer, I wrote, rewrote, and revised. Each session, I tried to inflict the true feelings and emotions that my characters were experiencing into the text. In late September, I thought I was ready to have my novel read by others. I had read it myself many, many times, and self-edited copious times, but I also wanted other eyes to read over, edit, and give me their opinions. It is very easy to overlook grammatical, spelling, or punctuation errors because the brain sometimes reads what is not there or overlooks mistakes and reads it as it was intended to be written. At this point, I hired three friends/colleagues to read, comment, and edit my manuscript. This was probably the best thing I did for myself. Each person had their take on the novel, their own opinions, and great advice for me. When we met to go over their thoughts and ideas, the one thing I did notice was everyone had very strong opinions about the characters. The characters had come alive to them. This was extremely important to me. As the night unfolded, one friend injected that she felt one part of the story needed to be filled out more, and I agreed with her, another one thought the dialect was a little too “woodsy”, so I did somewhat adjust it. Another wanted to learn more about what happened to a pair of secondary characters that Joe met on his travels in Oklahoma, so I wrote another chapter into the book, just for her, and promised that later I would write a whole book just about these characters for her. They all loved the characters of Maggie and Joe, and they all despised Papa. During this review time, I added more to the story, rewrote and corrected parts we felt were still not quite right, and then I reread, rewrote, and reread again. During the course of writing Moon Dance, I saved parts and various versions to at least fifty CD’s. All of which I will probably save forever. Some of the early versions have various titles because it took a while before the perfect title was interjected into my mind. My title, Moon Dance, actually clicked into place as I was listening to a collection of Van Morrison songs. “Can I just have one more moon dance with you, my love?” This song lingered in my mind. It truly depicted the attraction, the passion, the love between the characters of Maggie and Joe. And so, my novel was named.

What can I say about how to write a novel? Well, every novel has to have a believable storyline, a protagonist and an antagonist, a plot that flows smoothly from chapter to chapter, and characters that endear themselves into the hearts of readers. You have to understand and research the time frame, the setting, the evidence of truth you are conveying to your audience. Writing Moon Dance was a lot of work, a lot of hours, and a treasure I will always cherish. I will impart to you the words that helped me most: “Write What You Know”.