Continuing a Series with Katy Huth Jones

Hello! I have Katy Huth Jones here with us today to talk about continuing a series. As some of you might be aware, I write series. Mutliple of them. They're terrific fun.

I've not read any of Katy's books yet, but they're on my kindle waiting on me. And I won a dragon from her once. You can't go wrong with dragons.

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Continuing a Series

by Katy Huth Jones

Have you ever read "The End" in a book and wondered what happened next? A good stand-alone novel should tie up all the loose ends and leave the reader satisfied with the ending.

Sometimes, though, we grow to love the characters so much, we imagine what their lives might be like after the story ends. Readers often write fan fiction in response. Writers who can't let go of their characters write series.

I actually hadn't planned to write a series with my first fantasy. It was supposed to be a stand-alone. But my editor asked me, "Is there more to this story? Can you write a sequel?" And I said, "Uh, I can try!"

It was more difficult than I imagined. I had to brainstorm for a couple of weeks, bugging my main character to tell me what happened in her life after she returned from Finian Jahndra (which spurred the idea for the sequel as well as the title--Return to Finian Jahndra).

Once I started asking, "What if?" questions, a plot gradually took shape, and I even found a way to give the MC, Leandra, a realistic happy ending. Several readers, though, have asked me, "Is there more?" So, I hope to write the third and FINAL book once I'm finished with my WIP. I have some notes and a title: Aspen's Tale.

Speaking of my WIP. When I originally wrote fumble-fingered drafts of this fantasy, not knowing what I was doing, I envisioned three books from the beginning, you know, the typical fantasy trilogy. Since it took me more than twenty years to get book one into a publishable form, the story grew and grew, and it will now be five books, each one averaging 130,000 words. Yes, I'm crazy! But this is epic fantasy with a cast of hundreds (thousands, actually, though they don't all have names) taking place over fifteen years in a made-up medieval world meant to feel like twelfth century Britain but populated by dragons of all sizes.

It would be easier if I was more organized. I make copious notes about the characters, minor as well as the main ones. I distract myself from actually writing the story by coming up with family heraldry, finding pictures on Pinterest, drawing maps, adding to my "Cast of Characters," but they are not all in one place, so sometimes I waste time looking for details to make sure I don't have two characters with similar names, use the same horse for two different people, or accidentally resurrect someone who has died.

I highly recommend that while writing a book, every book, in fact, you keep all your notes in ONE notebook. Even if you're not planning to write a series, your story might become one, and you'll be glad when you reach book 5 to more easily find the name of that guard captain who appeared in book 1, so you don't have to reread entire sections to find the information you need.

Oh, and make sure you resolve all your threads by the last book. ALL of them! Another good reason to keep good notes.

One last device that holds a series together is to not only have individual story arcs in the books, but to have an overall series arc. Since I've always thought of my epic fantasy as one long story, it's been easier to do than with the shorter fantasy. In fact, the climax of book 4 is so powerful, it almost feels like the climax of the entire series, so I'm paying extra attention to the plot in book 5 to build up to the resolution, not only of book 5, but of the series. I want to end with a resonant gong. No pressure, right?

I can already tell you I know several readers who are going to say, "What happens next?" Maybe they can write fan fiction. Or maybe, after I finish some other projects, I'll have to revisit this world with some short stories. After all, because I know the characters so well, I can tell you what happens in their lives and their children's lives for many years to come....

Dealing With Negative Reviews with Katy Huth Jones

Hello! I have Katy Huth Jones here today to talk about the dreaded negative reviews - or, as I like to call them Neggie Revvies (they sound a lot less intimidating that way) - and what you should do about them ... if anything. I remember my first negative review well - of Sew, It's a Quest. The reader obviously didn't like retellings, as she compared it to putting newspaper through a blender and making paper mache.

(Personally, though, I like paper mache.)

Katy Huth Jones is a lovely lady. I've not had a chance to read her books yet, but my mom has them on her account, so I plan to. I also won a dragon from her, and dragons are nice.

Find her on the Interwebs:

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Dealing With Negative Reviews

by Katy Huth Jones

Most novel writers, I believe, work hard to craft the best story they can tell. We want to publish a book we can proudly market to readers. We hope they will all love the characters and the story as much as we do. After all, we've invested hours and hours and hours of time, sweat, and tears between the first nugget of an idea through multiple drafts, editing, proofreading, beta readers, and formatting, until the finished product is ready to launch into the world.

While waiting for the book's first reviews, we bite our nails, but we secretly dream of seeing 5 stars on every one. We love this book; surely the rest of the world will, too!

The reality is, not every reader will love our story. We don't love every book we read, either, so we can't expect a reader who prefers cozy mysteries to fall in love with our action adventure book, or a rabid fantasy fan to rave about our regency romance.

On Goodreads, there are back-to-back reviews of one of my books that are total opposites. One gave it 3 stars and said, "The very long passages of exposition, detailing just what had happened, rather than showing the reader what was happening was poor story craft. It was disappointing." The reviewer below rated it 5 stars and said, "Well written and surprisingly believable for a work of fantasy . . .a highly engaging tale which is difficult to put down."

If we can keep reminding ourselves that not everyone prefers our genre or our style of writing, it helps to handle these kinds of reviews. The nasty ones written by trolls are the saddest of all, because those people are using the relative anonymity of the internet to vent their anger on innocent victims. We should pity them and pray for them, but never, ever respond to their reviews! A discerning potential reader will see through a drive-by troll review and not let it sway their purchase of your book.

The best kind of negative review is the one that helps us grow as writers. My first novel was published by Cool Well Press in 2012, marketed as a YA fantasy with a fourteen-year-old protagonist. A book blogger published a review, which hurt at first because it was my first three star. Here's an excerpt:

"I just read The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, which is another book about childhood cancer. The difference between TFiOS and this one is the intended audience, I think. This is an allegory, written in a very straightforward manner. The tale does not take any detours into romance or death or the sadness of families. It seems to be for a child who has suffered either with or near cancer, and says 'you have fought the fight, and survived. Take great comfort in that.' For someone who needs to know they’ve beaten the enemy.

"So I must say this: if this story is for a reader in the Juvenile age group, let’s say younger than 13, then it works. But if it is intended for a more Young Adult crowd, there’s not enough that happens in the story to keep their interest. The formality of the manner of speaking, the fact that I felt I was being told exactly what to feel, and going directly from Point A to Point B left me unsatisfied. It was a nice story that is perfect for the 8-12 age range.

"3 of 5 Stars (Based on Ink and Page’s Rating System)"

After I got over my pity party, I started thinking objectively about what this reviewer said. I realized that in trying to write an allegory of my cancer experience, I had built in too much emotional distance from the reader to interest the typical teen. Younger readers (such as the eight-year-old I used to be) can enjoy the adventure and the new fantasy world with the fun talking birds. Once readers hit puberty, the hormones kick emotions into overdrive, which must be why so many YA books have romance in them, even if they're still basically adventure books. This reviewer actually helped me by pointing out the difference between MG and YA, so I was able to make sure the next books I wrote were truly YA, with "romance and death and the sadness of families."

In writing, as in life, when we stop growing, we stagnate. Negative reviews are potentially much more helpful than ego-boosting five stars to help us keep growing and learning as a writer.

Katy Huth Jones' Publication Story

My Publication Story

by Katy Huth Jones

In 1986 my husband and I became foster parents while living in Waco, Texas. We not only had our three year old son, but a five year old foster daughter. Later a four month old baby boy with a heart monitor temporarily joined our family, and I was pulling out my hair. My husband suggested I find something "adult" to do one evening a week while he kept the children. Since I'd always liked writing stories, I took a creative writing course at Baylor University.
I enjoyed that class so much I started pumping out short stories, dozens and dozens of them. I had always loved science and thought it would be easy for me to write science fiction. My excitement outpaced my ability, and I started submitting my stories to magazines in 1987. My first rejection was handwritten on a sticky note. It basically said, "Not for us; try again" so I did. Over the next five years I collected over 600 rejections before I sold my first story, a clean fantasy to an anthology compiled by Marion Zimmer Bradley.

My first rejection in 1987

We gave up being foster parents after two years, but I continued to write, even while homeschooling our son and later his younger brother. I found success with magazines, writing nonfiction articles on spec and short stories for children. As Catherine Jones, I published in Highlights for Children, Cricket, Cobblestone, Jack and Jill, Hopscotch, Boy's Quest, and dozens of other less-well-known magazines. I sold two easy readers and had a nonfiction book for older children published about the Navajo Code Talkers, which brought me "fifteen minutes of fame," since I did go on television and radio. I also learned public speaking the hard way, and developed a multi-media presentation which I gave to thousands of people over several years. Even after almost 20 years I still get requests for that presentation.

Then cancer struck in 2005, and it took nuclear-bomb strength chemo to put it in remission. My brain was so scrambled I couldn't get back in the groove of writing for magazines. I did publish my first novel in 2012, a MG fantasy allegory of the cancer journey called Leandra's Enchanted Flute, and the editor wanted to know if there was a sequel, so I wrote Return to Finian Jahndra, which Cool Well Press published in February 2013, one month before they went out of business. I got my rights back for both books, but I was crushed.

Return to Finian Jahndra 1st and only printing from Cool Well Press

I didn't want those stories to die, so after discovering the online group Clean Indie Reads, I was motivated to self-publish the two books. Since our homeschool was Quinlan Creek Academy, I used the name Quinlan Creek Press. I had no idea how to market the books, but at least they were available.
After almost 25 years and 22 rejections, I finally sold a YA historical fiction near and dear to my heart to Pauline Books & Media in 2014: the story of "Good King Wenceslas" from the point of view of his servant, which was released in January 2016. I also sold another easy reader the same year. Persistence is so important in this crazy publishing business!

Meanwhile, my father had been diagnosed with lung cancer in January 2011, and to distract myself while I helped my mother care for him during his last eleven months, I gave myself a writing exercise. In 1988 I'd tried to write a fantasy novel, which didn't "work" even after three complete rewrites. So I threw away everything but the opening scene and asked the characters to tell me their story, not for publication but as an outlet for my grief. Chapter after chapter literally poured out. It was like watching a movie and trying to write it down as fast as I could.
By the time I reached chapter 80, I realized this was more than one book, and ended book one at chapter 43. I paid a content editor and a proofreader and was sending out queries to agents and publishers when suddenly and unexpectedly my cancer came back in early June 2015, with such excruciating pain my husband and I thought the doctor would tell us it was stage 4 and nothing to be done but pain control. So I found a pre-made cover, asked the designer to change a few things, and self-published Mercy's Prince (book one, which could stand alone) as my "good-bye" to family and friends.

Thankfully a different chemo put the Beast back in remission, but again chemo brain made it difficult to concentrate. Eighteen months later it's still a problem, but I've managed to publish books 2 and 3, have finished book 4, and am working on book 5 (the last in this YA Christian fantasy series).
Even though I never intended to self-publish, I can now say I am a hybrid author. I still struggle with marketing, but I give thanks to God daily for His mercy. My goal is simply to write stories my grandchildren can read after I'm gone. I used to think I wanted to be a best-selling children's author and win a Newbery Medal, but now I just write for the love of writing, and if someone reads and likes my books, that's just icing on this God-blessed cancer survivor cake.

My three greatest blessings--my grandchildren

Accepting a Tough Critique with Katy Huth Jones

Hello! I have Katy Huth Jones here with us to talk about accepting a tough critique, which, if you're serious about writing and you haven't had one already, is going to happen to you. It just is. Someone, someday, and probably someday soon, is going to crush your perception of your book's perfection.

Does this mean that you should hide your book under a basket and never let it see the light? Of course not! Read on.

I met Katy in a Facebook party for another author's book, where she was a guest speaker. I won a dragon from her and we discussed princes with missing older brothers. Unfortunately, I've not yet had a chance to read her books. I plan to, though. She's a lovely lady.

Visit her on the Interwebs:

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Accepting a Tough Critique

by Katy Huth Jones

A few years ago, I had what began as an encouraging interchange with a literary agent in New York City who specialized in speculative fiction. He excitedly asked for a manuscript after I sent a query with a synopsis and sample chapter. (This was the late 1990's, when everything was done via snail mail.) Thrilled, I sent the novel. He wrote back and politely declined, saying it didn't work for him because of plot holes A, B & C, but to try again.

At the time I didn't have another completed fantasy, so I rewrote the entire manuscript, trying to follow his suggestions. This took several months, and meanwhile I was selling magazine articles on spec, so it was eighteen months before I sent the agent another query.

In his chatty reply, he said he remembered me. Even though he didn't usually take a second look at a rejected manuscript, he invited me to send it. He rejected it a second time, detailing more suggestions for revision.

Unbelievably, he let me send the third rewrite two and a half years later. This time, I received a scathing reply, by far the worst rejection out of nearly 2,000 in thirty years of writing for publication. I thought my heart would stop, he was so frustrated with me. Here are a few quotes from his letter dated July 22, 2003:

"As I've said before and I'm apparently destined to say again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again (yes he did use NINE "agains"), you've managed to write another new and improved and shorter draft that STILL doesn't manage to come up with a plot problem....Yeah, I'm being much harsher and much angrier today than I was in July 1999 or January 2001. But how much patience am I supposed to invest in how many drafts over how many years?....You ought to be asking why/how it is that you've been trying to peddle this manuscript for something like five years without getting anywhere with it, without fixing the problems I've been trying to point out for all that time....Certainly you've made some great strides line-by-line, but that doesn't forgive the fact that you're how many drafts into this novel without yet coming up with one that defines and builds on a plot problem."

Needless to say, I was crushed. I'd been published for years by then, short stories, magazine articles, and two picture books, so I knew I could write. What I didn't understand at the time of that frustrated letter was the difference between writing a short story and writing a novel.

I shelved the manuscript and focused on other writing projects. Eight years later, my father was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. I needed to pour out my grief and anguish in a socially acceptable way, so as a writing exercise I unearthed the manuscript, threw away all but the opening scene and asked the main characters, "Will you tell me your story?"

For months, chapter after chapter literally poured out, changing the characters, changing the plot, changing pretty much everything. I finally realized the agent's harsh critique had been absolutely correct. The three versions he read were filled with cardboard cut-out characters I had moved around like pieces on a chessboard, forcing an unworkable plot upon them. The new version of the story grew organically from living, breathing people with motivations, desires, goals, heartaches. Of course, the agent couldn't have represented me; what I'd sent him was unpublishable!

That experience taught me to learn what I could from all critiques, especially the harsh ones. Underneath the anger and frustration lies the kernel of truth, assuming the critic is not a troll, destroying for destruction's sake, and this agent was definitely not a troll. Writing is a craft, and the more we perfect our techniques, the better our novels, short stories, poetry, and nonfiction will become.