Moving to Another Genre with Abigayle Claire

Hello! I have Abigayle Claire here to talk about moving to another genre. This is one of the beauties of self-publication - the freedom to move about from genre to genre and write what we want to write. So far, I've only published fantasy, but I have written contemporary, and am working on several sci-fis  and a dystopia. It's fun to experiment.

Abigayle Claire is a new author, and I haven't read her book yet ... but if the votes I'm seeing are anything to go on, it's pretty good. So go ahead and take a risk.

Find her on the Interwebs:

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Nearly every writer has a genre they feel most at home when writing. Reflect on some of your favorite authors: they wrote a dozen books in basically the same genre, right? Janette Oke, J. R. R. Tolkein, Laura Ingalls Wilder, E. B. White ... they all stuck to their happy little niche. For publication, at least.

What about those writers of us who haven't found our genre yet? *raises hand*

First, let me assure you that it's okay to not know what genre to leave your mark in. Consider C. S. Lewis. He wrote an allegorical children's fantasy series, a book on medieval and renaissance literature, a Greek myth retelling, and many books on the Christian life. He was all over the place! But throughout it all, there was a thread of consistency: himself. There's nothing wrong with being C. S. Lewis.

Don't be afraid to explore. If you have a Christian Contemporary story idea and a Dystopian story idea, so be it. (This may or may not be me. *cough*) The best place to do this is National Novel Writing Month. I'm sure you've heard of it by now--you spend an entire month working on a single story, preferably from scratch. Well, this brilliant author took a break from preparing her Christian Contemporary story for publication and wrote just over 50,000 words of a Christian Dystopian allegory. If you're scratching your head, don't worry. I am, too. But I only sacrificed 30 days of my life to the altar of exploring that genre. Now I know for certain that it was very hard, and I'm not sure my plot will ever make sense, but at least I've given it a shot!

You never know what your true gift might be or what would leave the biggest impression. Judy Garland is primarily known for The Wizard of Oz, but that movie is the one that really stands out from all the others she acted in. She actually didn't want Dorothy to be the way people remembered her, because that wasn't her. Oh well. She took the job, nailed it, and everyone loves her. You never know what side of you people will latch onto.

I would venture to say that exploring other genres is healthy. Just like reading other genres and authors, you absorb the different material and its varied presentation. That helps shape you. When I explored writing Dystopian, I was forced to think a whole lot more about creating a world and that ended up being really cool! You don't have to do that when you're writing about modern day America. Having the freedom to do whatever I wanted in the world was also pretty neat. But I honestly don't think I'm creative enough to sustain it all coherently. At least not without years of work. So I know Dystopian is a stretch for me, but I now have a greater writing arsenal overall because I gave it a try.

You should never ignore a story God has laid on your heart. God's proactive influence is a very special ingredient in any WIP. I believe He was the original Author of my novel, Martin Hospitality. I didn't think Christian Contemporary would be my genre, because I no longer enjoy reading it. But because I consumed vast amounts of it years ago, I was prepared to write that genre once He gave me my first coherent story idea.

Every idea deserves some attention for all the above reasons. Don't be afraid to get out there and explore a little!

If you are already in the process of switching genres, great! You could be the next C. S. Lewis with talent everywhere. One thing to consider, is writing under a different name. If you are going to write in two very different genres, you might want to keep them (and therefore your targeted audiences) separate.

There are so, so many details to consider when writing a story. Don't let genre be a restrictive stumbling block. A genre is just a category for one of the many ideas in your head. As Oscar Wilde said,

© 2017 Abigayle Ellison

Abigayle Claire's Publication Story + Q&A

Hello, everyone! As a newly published author who feels like she's just beginning her writing journey, I'm going to share how everything came about with my first novel, Martin Hospitality.

I have always loved to write. I have dozens of documents saved to my computer and notebooks stuffed on my shelf that I have jotted story bits in. I loved doing this every time an idea struck, but it never went very far, and I was okay with that. I knew that someday I was going to get the creative power to finish one of the stories and it was going to be awesome. I guess I was content for that creativity to fall out of the sky because I didn't work very hard or consistently on any of my ideas. But they made me a better writer while I waited.

In March of 2015, I had a bizarre dream. It was a combination of a Beverly Lewis novel, my aunt's impending move to Kansas, and a large Christian family. While it wasn't my first strange mashup dream to have, the idea of a pregnant teenager running from her past and learning to trust … stuck with me.

By June of 2015, I had revisited the story idea several times and was surprised when a coherent plot, complete with a twist, formed almost effortlessly. Sitting down to write some of it, I did what I always did: I wrote the climax (which later became chapter 12). I sent it off to a local author friend for feedback and she enjoyed it! I was so thrilled that Jamie thought I had talent outside of the technical issues that I sat down to plot the rest of it more thoroughly.

In September of 2015 I began writing the story in earnest from the beginning. Jamie continued to give me feedback as I finished the chapters and sent them to her, which helped me adjust my trajectory and refine my talent as I wrote.

Loving the process, I managed to gather an alpha reader team that totaled 5 friends who received the first draft chapter by chapter. Their encouragement, feedback, and excitement is what kept me going. First drafts are not to be underestimated. It took me 10 months exactly to complete the first draft, but it was so rewarding to know that I had actually finished something!

I took time off in July of 2016. I didn't want to work on my 100,000 word novel. I wrote a novella in Camp NaNo and attended a writing conference, both of which were firsts that kept me productive.

In August, I turned 18, my blog celebrated 6 months, and the Olympics played constantly. In the midst, I read through the novel and revised it based on my alpha readers' feedback and my own analysis.

The month of September, a team of 16 beta readers received my novel’s most recent draft in two halves. (Yeah, didn't quite finish in August.) The betas' feedback and fangirling (and fanboying) for the entirety of that month was the best.

Martin Hospitality underwent its greatest revision after having those 16 friends give me loads of constructive criticism. Most of it I applied; some of it I didn't think was in the best interest of my story. Having a lovely group of people I could discuss the deeper issues and underlying foundation of my book with was amazing. They caught errors and suggested improvements that made my book so much better.

I'm pretty sure I knew the entire time that I wanted to self-publish, but I was certain by this point when I began hiring all the professionals :)

In early October, my uncle took me to meet the wonderful Mandy Cave who painted my cover. Having that face-to-face meeting made all the difference and I felt very confident in her skills by the time I left.

In late October, I had finished the heavy revision and sent the novel to Kelsey Bryant for a professional edit. I was very impressed with the quality and speed of her work. The process was much more enjoyable that I expected it to be!

I distracted myself during Kelsey's edit by participating in NaNoWriMo. I made the time, hit 50,000 words, and wanted to hibernate for a year.

But I couldn't. I revised my novel again according to Kelsey's input and sent it to a friend for one final read which resulted in another revision.

Perry Elisabeth Design formatted it in late December and I was pleased by the speed and quality of their work as well. They were very helpful and prompt, especially considering I had no idea what I was doing.

By mid January, I had the final cover painting from Mandy and my uncle and I agreed on the layout for the text. I threw together a cover reveal to create some excitement. It cost me more sanity, but oh well.

Perry and her husband also got the formatted content sent to me in January. I uploaded the cover and the content files to CreateSpaceand selected all the details that no one ever thinks about.

While I was sweating the timeline for my February 4, 2017 release date, I ordered a print proof and finalized the paperback and Kindle versions in late January. I had about one week to spare! It wasn’t hard to use that time finalizing details and getting the word out.

My blog tour for the novel began on my release date so that the novel would be available for purchase as people learned of it. While the tour took a lot of organization (again, in January), the actual tour went smoothly, and I loved seeing my novel reach new people.

It's been just two short years since my writing journey began in earnest and I'm so glad to have made it this far! It's been a lot of work, but it's been so rewarding. I know that this is what I'm supposed to be doing. God and friends have been with me every step of the way and that has made all the difference!

~~~~~

Phew, did that seem long to you?  It seemed long to me. But I felt like I was really summarizing, so I'm sure I missed something (like the amount of blood, sweat, tears, and sleep deprivision it took). And the fact that I had no idea how long everything was going to take. That makes it really hard to set a release date!

What would you like to hear more about? Ask me any questions you please! I wouldn't have made it to publication without asking questions from my more experienced friends. I'd love to make your journey simpler if at all possible :)

Accepting that your Book isn't Perfect with Abigayle Claire

Hello! I have Abigayle Claire here with us today to talk about accepting that your book isn't perfect, a necessary step in the editing process.

I only just met Abigayle Claire through Indie e-Con ... but I've already decided that I'm going to steal her name for a character someday. Stay tuned for that. She just released her debut "Martin Hospitality" last month. I haven't had a chance to read it yet ... but I've heard that it's pretty good.

Follow her on the Interwebs:

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While accepting that your book isn't perfect may seem like a given, trust me when I say that it's so much harder than you can imagine.

I felt pretty good about the first draft of my novel, Martin Hospitality. I knew it had issues, but I was really pleased with myself. I had a batch of alpha readers give me feedback on it. To accept that your novel isn't perfect, have people you tell you it isn't perfect. But I felt okay with that. My novel wasn't perfect, but ... it was going to be perfect, right?

Wrong.

I was under the impression that if I read my book enough times and if I handed it to strangers and asked them questions enough times, I would be given all the solutions to any issue people could find with my book.

Unless you can read minds or see the future, your book will not make everyone happy.

While I did get more confidant and more comfortable with my novel as I continued to work on it, I also began to realize that it wasn't going to be perfect in everyone's eyes. So then I had to step back and think. Who was I really doing this for?

Consider your target audience and make sure they are overall please. For me, that was teenaged girls, and they were enjoying it.

Then think about what inspired you in the first place. A crazy dream that I truly believe came from God is where Martin Hospitality began.

That's when I realized: I'm not the only author. God had been with me the whole way. As long as I had Him working through me and I sought His counsel, the book didn't have to be perfect for everyone. Because it would be perfect for Him.

If you're like me, your book is done when God's done with it. That sounds rather ambiguous, doesn't it? The way to avoid that is to have a deadline. You have to be done when you have to be done.

I'm pretty sure I never would have finished my novel if God hadn't initiated it, my readers hadn't encouraged me throughout, and that deadline hadn't forced me to stop.

I am a perfectionist by nature and I was able to manipulate some minor changes after that deadline because it wasn't perfect yet. Guess what? My novel has been on Amazon for over 6 weeks now and it still isn't perfect. It never will be. But I decided to give it everything, and that came from God.

Since none of us will ever be able to know that our novel is perfect, can't we at least know it's finished? Don't deny yourself that one satisfaction for the hope of the other.

Once you accept that your novel isn't going to be perfect, you get it the closest you can.

~~~~~

Abigayle has been inspired to write since she could spell her own name. Her passion wasn’t completing the stories (she did that twice and decided it wasn’t for her), it was jotting down the ideas. Once she experienced the joy that comes with sharing her stories with others, she began penning her stories with the intention of publication.

Writing is her ministry, freelance editing her job, and reading her pastime—all of which prove that God really does know what He’s doing when He inspires a six-year-old with a pencil in her left hand. Abigayle lives in Central Texas with her parents and six younger siblings.

To find out more about Abigayle's publishing journey, look for her post tomorrow or visit her blog, The Left-Handed Typist. Her first novel, Martin Hospitality, is available on Amazon. Her first novel, Martin Hospitality, is available on Amazon.

~ Abi | theleft-handedtypist.blogspot.com ~

Critiquing Opportunity! - Abigayle Claire

A number of the authors have volunteered to critique YOUR writing. This post is Abigayle Claire's.

How this works -

You comment below with up to 500 words of your writing.
Sometime today, Monday, Abigayle will come by and give you feedback.

Sound awesome? Awesome!

Abigayle Claire

Christian/Contemporary

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