What I Learned Resurrecting Old Books by Alison Henderson

I'm sure you all know I spent most of August preparing my first three published books for re-release. Harvest of Dreams was originally published in 2010, and A Man Like That followed in 2011. Both were substantially written in the early-to-mid 90's and were only lightly edited by the original small press. My novella The Treasure of Como Bluff was written and published in 2012, so it was much more current. However, all had languished at the bottom of the sales charts for several years. The publisher never did much to promote them, and after I moved on to writing contemporary suspense, I didn't either. I hoped if I spruced them up a bit, enrolled them in KU, and did a little advertising, I might be able to introduce them to a new cadre of readers.

First came the covers. I always loved the original cover for Harvest of Dreams, but the other two left me cold. I decided to stick to the same concepts and color schemes--I didn't want anyone who had already read the books to feel tricked into thinking these were new titles. I'm please with all three covers now.

Next, I re-edited and formatted the books for Kindle simultaneously. This was more of a challenge than I'd expected. I had saved files of each manuscript, but not in the most useful format. For Harvest of Dreams, I had a Word document (very old version) with the final edits, but it was also formatted for print instead of ebook. The final version of A Man Like That existed only in PDF. I had to convert it to Word, then find and correct all the formatting errors. Unless you've done that before, you have no idea. The Treasure of Como Bluff was easier, which was a good thing, because I'd nearly lost my mind by that point.

The most interesting part of the process was re-reading the books after so many years. I was surprised and delighted to discover how much I still loved the stories and characters. Maybe because they were historicals, they stood the test of time remarkably well. As is true of most writers, my writing style has changed over the years. I did some updating in terms of removing semi-colons and dialogue tags and toning down the sex scenes so as not to shock any of my current readers who might pick these up, but I didn't have to make any substantive changes. 

The biggest problem with re-issuing old titles is all the previous reviews disappear. I put both Harvest of Dreams and A Man Like That up free during Labor Day weekend in hopes of stirring up a few reviews. We'll see how that works out. 

As for me, I'm glad to have accomplished my goal for the summer and ready to move on to new projects. First up: my ROP Christmas short story. I've written the first section, and I think it's going to be a cute one. My next project is going to be a new series about three artist sisters living in the Carmel area. I'm still working on the overall concept and tone for that. 

Onward and upward! 

Alison
www.alisonhenderson.com

"F" is for Funny by Alison Henderson

I love humor in fiction, all fiction. Funny situations, witty dialogue, absurd characters--I love them all. 

When I was younger, I cherished  deeply emotional stories. If a book made me cry, so much the better. I wanted to experience every high and low along with the characters. I think it began with Gone with the Wind. When the movie was re-released, I was thirteen--the perfect age to revel in angst. And nobody did it better than Margaret Mitchell. Melanie's death scene would wring tears from a statue, much less a thirteen-year-old girl. I saw that movie four times, and re-read the book until the cover fell off.

I continued to adore intensely emotional stories for many years. For example, one scene in Paradise by Judith McNaught still brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it. Only a special writer can pull readers so completely into a story. In my first two books, I gave my characters serious problems and was surprised and gratified when a reviewer wrote that she cried while reading one. I hadn't set out to evoke tears, but I appreciated the intensity of her response. 

So when and why did my tastes start to change? It was a gradual process influenced by life itself. The more serious life events I experienced first hand, the more I sought escape in my reading and writing life. I became a huge fan of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum books with their outrageous characters and situations and decided to try my hand at writing lighter. I can't approach Janet's skill at writing comedy, but I did have tremendous fun injecting a healthy dose of humor into my next two projects.

My most recent release, a Western historical novella entitled The Treasure of Como Bluff features a paleontologist heroine who discovers an amnesiac greenhorn at her dig site. One reviewer compared their dialogue to Gable and Lombard or Tracy and Hepburn, and the premise allowed numerous opportunities for silly shenanigans, including forcing the hero to parade around in a pink sunbonnet. Here's the blurb:

In her race against rival bone hunters, the last complication paleontologist Caroline Hubbard needs is an unconscious stranger cluttering up her dig site. Nicholas Bancroft might have the chiseled features and sculpted physique of a classical statue, but she's not about to let him hamper her quest to unearth a new species of dinosaur and make her mark on the scientific world.

Nick has come to Wyoming in search of silver but, after a blow to the head, finds himself at the mercy of a feisty, determined female scientist. Despite his insistence that he's just passing through, he agrees to masquerade as Caroline's husband to help save her job. Once their deception plays out, they face a crucial decision. Will they be able to see beyond their separate goals and recognize the treasure right in front of them?

I may write more serious books again in the future, but for now I'm happy to bring a little  laughter to my readers' lives. What about you? Have you reading and writing tastes changed a bit over time, or do you still love the kind of stories that have always moved you? 

Alison Henderson
www.alisonhenderson.com
http://alisonhenderson.blogspot.com 

I Miss Writing! by Alison Henderson

Our theme this month is March Madness, and some days I do feel I'm going mad--for a number of reasons. First, of course, is the BIG MOVE. After 24 years, we're leaving Minnesota for good in two weeks. I won't even start on the length of my to-do list on both ends.

But I think another reason I'm feeling on edge is that fact that I haven't written anything new--except for blog posts--in months. My latest release, The Treasure of Como Bluff, came out in December, and I poured all my writing energy into an extensive blog tour to introduce it to readers. Around the same time, my father's health took a serious turn for the worse. We were told his condition was terminal and that he could go at any time. Due to his strong constitution and even stronger will, it took thirteen weeks for Parkinson's Disease to win the final battle. During that time, romance fiction was the last thing on my mind. Also, in the past three months, I have made five trips out of town, and travel is always disruptive.

I wish I were one of those writers who can write no matter what, no matter where--but I'm not. I shake my head in wonder when a successful author advises tucking your writing into every fifteen minute opening in your schedule. If I only had fifteen minutes, I wouldn't be able to do more than stare at my blank screen, fingers frozen. I need to know I have a decent amount of uninterrupted time before the creative juices can begin to flow. 

And it's not that I don't have projects clamoring for my attention. I have a humorous contemporary bodyguard book completed and awaiting a final edit before it becomes my springboard into the wacky world of self-publishing. I've been holding off because I'm really excited about the whole venture and want to give it my best effort. That simply hasn't been possible lately. I also want to expand the short story I wrote for the Roses of Prose holiday anthology in 2012 into a novella (maybe even a full-length novel) in time for next Christmas. 

I know my life isn't going to become simpler any time soon, but sometime in April...I swear...I'm going to start writing again. I can't wait!

Alison
www.alisonhenderson.com
http://alisonhenderson.blogspot.com 

New Tricks for 2013 by Alison Henderson

You know the saying about old dogs? Well, old dog or not, I plan to learn some new tricks this year. If you read my last post, you know I took a somewhat traumatic early retirement from the day job at the end of 2012. You’ll be relieved to know I’ve already started filling the void with writing plans for the new year.

My first three published books were western historical romances, and while I enjoyed writing them, the sales have been disappointing. Westerns still have a cadre of devoted fans, but the Midwestern settings and non-traditional story lines of my full length novels failed to capture much attention. The jury is still out on the recently-released novella, The Treasure of Como Bluff. It has a more traditional setting (Wyoming in 1879), but it’s humorous and features a female paleontologist—not a sheriff or cowboy in sight. I had so much fun writing it that I’m working on another short, humorous western—working title: Delilah and the Badman—about a woman who inherits a saloon but would rather bake pies.

I admit it—I like to write stories with a twist. As a result, I seem to have trouble writing to readers’ expectations. (Perhaps that’s the explanation for the sales problem.) I get bored with the “same old, same old” of modern popular fiction, but many readers have the opposite response. They seem to take comfort in endless minor variations on popular themes. There is no other possible explanation for some of the things we see in print.

At any rate, after Delilah and the Badman I’m switching subgenres. I may go back to westerns someday if the market changes, but for the time being I’ll stick to contemporaries. I started my first contemporary, Unwritten Rules, thinking it would be romantic suspense, a much more popular subgenre and one I enjoy reading. However, once I started writing it became clear that any suspense would have to take a back seat to snappy banter and silly situations. (I guess I’m just not as serious as I used to be—must be a function of old age.)

Unwritten Rules is about the owner of an all-female bodyguard agency and the sexy ex-CIA-agent-turned-bestselling-author she signs on to guard during a national book signing tour. Writing it was a total hoot. It’s finished and has been through a couple of beta readers. I want to incorporate some of their suggestions, polish it up one last time, and try something else new. I’m going to dip my toes in the self-publishing pond.

For many of you that’s old hat, but for me it will be a brand new challenge. I figured since I have to do all my own promo now anyway with a small publisher, I might as well jump in for the whole kit and caboodle. I’m not looking forward to the formatting thing, but I’m dying to design my own cover and have several striking images in mind.

Wish me luck!

Alison

www.alisonhenderson.com

http://alisonhenderson.blogspot.com

Creative Beginnings by Alison Henderson

I’m stoked! May is Creative Beginnings month, so it’s only appropriate that I’d be embarking on a new creative venture. On May 1^st, I received a contract for a new historical novella, The Treasure of Como Bluff. This story is a first for me in two ways. Number one: It’s the first piece of “new” writing I’ve sold. My first two books were originally written many years ago, so it’s reassuring to know I haven’t completely lost the touch. Number two: It was my first venture into writing a novella length story. Because several writers have expressed an interest in trying out this format, I thought I’d share my observations and experience.

When you’re used to writing 90K word novels, telling a complete story in 24K words is a challenge. At first, the rhythm didn’t come naturally to me. I had to stop and think about the structure far more often than I usually do. One technique I used to help with pacing was to shorten my usual 20 page chapters to 10 pages. For me, that helped moved the story along.

My long novels generally take place across several months, but for the novella, I compressed the time period to a couple of weeks so I wouldn’t have to scrimp on the number or quality of scenes. The abbreviated time frame also affected the progression of the romance. This is the first story I’ve written without a consummated love scene because I wanted the relationship to develop in a believable way within the context of the novella format.

Also, I sacrificed description, exposition and internal narrative in favor of dialogue. My books are always dialogue-heavy, but after the first chapter (when the hero is unconscious), this story is at least 75% dialogue. In some ways, it was more like writing a screenplay than a novel, but it forced me to let the characters drive the story. I’m happy to say they pulled out a few surprises and did a terrific job!

Here’s the blurb for The Treasure of Como Bluff:

In a race against rival bone hunters, the last complication paleontologist Caroline Hubbard needs is a dead man with a love letter in his pocket cluttering up her dig site. Her troubles multiply when she discovers the “deceased” stranger is still very much alive. He might have the chiseled features and impressive physique of a classical statue, but she’s not about to let him hamper her quest to unearth a new species of dinosaur and make her mark on the scientific world.

Nicholas Bancroft has come to Wyoming in search of silver, but after a blow to the head, he finds himself at the mercy of a prickly, determined female scientist. Despite his insistence that he’s just passing through, Caroline persuades him to help her stage an elaborate charade to save her job—a charade which casts Nick in the role of her husband.

Once the masquerade plays out, they face a big decision. Will they be able to look beyond their separate goals and see the true treasure right in front of them?

Alison Henderson

www.alisonhenderson.com