Michael James Emberger's Blog

I released two novels on the same day that include a mermaid theme; Codename Mermaid and Believed. What’s going on? Did my childhood love of the Disney movie finally catch up to me?

Not exactly. It all goes back to a particular friendship and a conversation I had with a critique partner. I had an idea for a tragically sad story involving an old sea captain embarking on a voyage to find the mermaid he once loved. I won’t share the details of that here, but elements of the story worked their way into my historical thriller, Codename Mermaid.

I wasn’t yet thinking about my next novel after finishing that one, but inspiration struck. What if mermaids lived among us on land because they had to leave the oceans? It was a random question, but I kept thinking about it. I realized it was a premise I HAD to write. At the same time, I wanted to lend my voice as an author to survivors of sexual assault—to those who don’t speak out, or can’t. That issue had become very important to me because of my friendship with a survivor. I wanted to help in some way.

A mermaid seemed like the perfect character to tell the story I wanted to share. She is human, but not. Relatable, but foreign. She’s a stand-in for survivors with a different form but a heart that is the same.

So here we are with two books on the mermaid theme. They were written back-to-back, edited and revised together, and released on the same date. There are unmistakable similarities that connect them, though they are very different stories.

My first traditionally published novel, Silent Altitudes, will be out in a month’s time. It’s been a long journey since March of 2019 when I first began plotting the idea, and I’m excited to share it with the world.

The book is a “Cli-fi,” or Climate Fiction, meaning that it deals with climate change and global warming, but that’s simply the backdrop on which I’ve built a thriller of suspense and intrigue. It’s set in the near future in a time when the world has (mostly) come to agreement on what to do about climate change. The United Nations has constructed an elaborate atmospheric carbon reduction system. People are hopeful that the solution has been found.

Obviously, it wouldn’t be much of a story if all went well and the problem was fixed. I won’t give away the plot, but I promise that you’ll find conspiracy, opposing views, and wildly divergent agendas within the pages of the novel. And it’s not a book preaching politics. Whether you want to see the Green New Deal enacted or think the whole climate thing is a hoax, this story really isn’t about that. I approach it from a different angle.

Like I’ve said in other posts, I’m so thankful to everyone who has helped me along the way to publication. Numerous readers provided feedback and suggestions. Other authors shared their critiques and wisdom. My editor was amazing and pushed me to be a better writer. God gave me the time, talent, and inspiration. I can’t wait to share this book with you, and I hope you enjoy it!

Every time I finish a new manuscript, I ask people to read it and give me their feedback. All authors do this, or should, and my critique partners are invaluable. They are fellow writers with an eye for detail. They point out problems and aspects of my work that need improvement. No one likes criticism, but I’m grateful that they care to offer it. It helps me craft a better story.

I also ask other people to have a look. Some are good friends, some I hardly know, but they are for the most part not authors. They are beta readers. They are people who enjoy reading, and it’s useful to see what they think of my stories. Do they like them? Do they have questions? Are they confused? I’m the author. Everything is clear to me. It all comes from my head. Whether I communicate my thoughts to the page effectively or not, I know them. I have the whole picture, but readers don’t have that advantage. They have what I write, and nothing more.

I recently heard back from someone who read one of the manuscripts I’m working on. She loved it, and she had good things to say, but there was one thing that fell short for her. It was the climactic scene! I’d worked so hard on that. I thought it was perfect, emotional, and moving, but for her, it wasn’t good enough. She told me why, and it was one of those things that I kind of knew all along. It bugged me every time I read over the work, but not enough to do anything about it. I didn’t think it was important. I had the whole concept in mind, with all the mystery and wonder involved in that moment. I didn’t need extra words to feel the impact.

But she was right. I added to the scene. By the time I was finished, I had several additional pages, and now I can’t imagine the book without them. My reader agreed. Much better.

That’s how it goes for every book I write. There’s always someone who asks a question or makes a comment that spurs me to add something or clarify, and I’m so thankful that those people share their thoughts.

I will always love my early books, but writing is a journey of learning and improvement. I’ve gained experience by collaborating with other authors and completing other projects. I’ve fixed aspects of my style after working with an editor. I’ve developed my “voice” and how I handle description and dialogue. I’m always working to improve, so that the next book will be written better than the last.

I had new covers made for my first two books, You Bring the Coffee, I’ll Save the World, and Frost Heaves and Falsehoods. Then, I read them again. It had been years. Wow, my writing had changed since! With my new book forthcoming, I couldn’t let them remain as they were! What if readers of my new work pick up the old books? The differences in style would be shocking.

So, I set about revising them. I didn’t change the stories, but I updated the writing. They’ll still be recognizable as earlier work, but not nearly to the extent they would have if left alone. I adjusted dialogue tags, comma usage, sentence structures, point of view, and clarity of description. I refined narrative sections and edited for better readability. I also changed the font and line spacing for a better visual experience. They are better versions of what they were, and I’m proud of them.

So, if you have a pre-revision copy collecting dust on your bookshelf, thank you for supporting me in the early years of my authoring adventure. You have a version of a book that will never be printed again in exactly the same way!

I used to think that writing was a solitary endeavor, undertaken by reclusive people with creative minds who could imagine whole worlds and stories and then send off their perfect, completed book to be published. While it’s certainly possible to write a novel, even a good one, with no input from others, it has become clear to me that we do our best work when we have help.

I’ve found some amazing fellow authors while working on my new book. They write in different genres than me. They’re at different places in their writing journeys. They have skills and weaknesses that are different from mine. Some of them don’t even live in the same country. But all of them have contributed substantially to making my book better than I could do on my own. They see things I don’t. They question things I thought were clear. They point out problems. They suggest improvements. They provide inspiration. They are creative people who care enough to look at my work with a critical eye and invest their time and energy into it. I gladly do the same for them, and together we help each other grow as authors.

But aren’t they my competition? Why should I help them? Why should they help me? Isn’t this a cutthroat race to success?

No.

I may never meet these people in real life, but when I invest in their work, and they invest in mine, they become a friend. I want them to succeed. I’ve done what I can to help them, and I want that to result in something. They have the same hopes and dreams for their writing that I do for mine. And if they achieve success, I’ll be thrilled. We all stand a better chance by working together, and no one understands the ups and downs of this pursuit better than a fellow author.

On this same theme, I never appreciated the benefits of an editor until I went through the editing experience on Silent Altitudes. I feared editors were people who would demand changes that I wouldn’t agree with, forcing me to alter my book into something other than the story I wanted to tell. I don’t doubt that happens sometimes, but for me it was an amazing learning experience. My editor had an entire skill set that I did not. She pushed me in all the right directions. She corrected things I’d always done wrong, and showed me ways to improve my future work. I can never thank her enough for all that I learned through working with her.

As I look to the future, it’s with the expectation that no matter how well I think I’ve written a book, it can always be better. Receiving criticism from friends, critique partners, test readers, literary agents, and editors will never be easy, but as long as they all share the goal of producing a better story, they are a team I’ll always want on my side.

To visualize it, writing in isolation is like fielding only a quarterback and wondering why the other team wins the game. We authors can’t do it all on our own.

Worry over the Coronavirus pandemic hit me for the first time in a significant way yesterday. It’s easy to view it as a troubling but fascinating distraction to life when you don’t know anyone who is sick, you have your own health, your family, your job, and your routines. It’s another of those things that only happens to other people on the news, and you can laugh at the funny memes and posts about toilet paper on social media… But, this is real.

New Hampshire finally enacted a stay-at-home order that took effect yesterday. I had the day off. I was supposed to be traveling north for an event, though that had been canceled already with social-distancing in mind. Reality began to sink in. The news has not been good. People have been losing jobs, getting sick, dying. What if those things happened to me? My company is “essential,” but is my job secure? Contacts on social media have begun posting about illness and loss. There is nothing funny about this to them, and their stories could just as well be mine. The future is unknown. There is a lot to worry about.

Then I thought about the main character in the new novel I’m writing. I won’t go into detail that reveals the plot, but she is dealing with a life situation that appears hopeless. I’ll share an excerpt. She is attending a Christmas Eve candlelight service.

****

“Silent night, holy night…” They were on the last verse. She gazed into the flame of her candle. It flickered in the currents of the room, and a stream of melted wax built a column on one side that neared the paper holder.

“Son of God, love’s pure light…” She closed her eyes, letting the melody surround her. She was crying, but not because of her problems at work.

“Radiant beams from thy holy face…” Her tears were those of joy.

“With the dawn of redeeming grace…” Joy, because she realized that no matter what was going on with the (villain), or her apartment, or her bank account…

“Jesus, Lord, at thy birth…” Or her parents’ (business), or the (related) industry…

“Jesus, Lord, at thy birth!” She would be okay. She was surrounded by people who cared about her. Her family loved her. And most of all, the Jesus they sang of was the same Jesus to whom she’d given a place in her heart long ago. He was so much bigger than her problems, and He would never leave her. She had needed a reminder of that, and she’d been given it here in this little town so far from the people and places she knew.

****

I wrote those words several weeks ago, before this pandemic was a concern. In my writing, I expect my characters to realize things like this when they face hard times. It often takes them a while to remember that God is in control, and I think as I write that it’s too easy to forget that sometimes. Well, it is too easy to forget that sometimes. It happened to me yesterday. I got caught up in the what-if’s and worries so easily. It was kind of funny that my own character reminded me to turn that worry over to God.

Writing can seem like a fun hobby with little real significance to life, but the hours we spend exploring thoughts and emotions for our characters are not wholly separate from how we view the world and engage our own struggles. My protagonist taught me a valuable lesson yesterday. I’m thankful to her for that, and I pray that God will work in this current situation to bring us all through. Do I know what life will look like tomorrow, or next week, or next year? Of course not, but I do know what God looks like always.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. -Philippians 4:6-7

The email arrived in my inbox. It was from my editor. I was both excited and scared to see what lay waiting for me in that attachment. It was my manuscript, but with someone else’s corrections and comments. I had read the horror stories of demands to cut main characters, revamp plots, or change other major elements of stories. What would my editor ask of me? What did she think of the book? Obviously, it was perfect and in no need of revision since I’d read through it a million times…

Haha, no.

I scanned through all the comments with that feeling of dread that the next one would be the BIG one, but it never came. There were some things that I didn’t want to hear, but the earth-shattering request wasn’t there. I had dodged that bullet, but there would still be painful work to be done.

I had also read the advice to wait a day or two before diving in to revise, so I did. Even so, once I started, it wasn’t long until my feelings of resistance bubbled up. It was my story. I would write it the way I wanted to. Who was this person to suggest these changes? Those thoughts crossed my mind, but I got over them. I asked for clarification and explanation, and it was provided. I still didn’t like it, but I understood, and I saw the wisdom behind the requests.

I had the benefit of taking critique over many years. I can’t say I would have had the maturity for this process when I first started writing. It was hard enough to talk to my wife about changes she suggested on my first book! But, I’ve gotten better over time. I also had the very recent experience of helping to edit another author’s work. I wrote about that in my previous post. Her response to my critiques showed a maturity and professionalism that was inspiring, and I committed to embody that same spirit when my turn came.

So, as I made changes and figured out how to incorporate the revisions my editor had asked for, I became increasingly convinced that those changes would result in a better book. By the end of the process, I’d developed a lot of respect for her. I’d learned many things about my writing. I’d learned many things that I didn’t know I didn’t know. I should be clear; I never viewed her as an adversary. From the beginning it was evident that she had my best interests at heart. It just took me a while to get on the same page and appreciate it.

I don’t know what all editors are like. I’ve only worked with one, but she is an expert in her field, and she pointed out numerous ways to improve my story. I’m thankful that I was assigned to her. The things I’ve learned have improved this book, but they’ll apply to my future writing as well. The road to becoming a better author is never-ending, but thanks to her I’m heading in the right direction.

Of course, that was round one. We’ll see what she has to say after reviewing my revisions…

Over the last month, I’ve submitted my manuscript and marketing materials to my publisher, and I’ve been assigned an editor. Waiting to see the results of that process is nerve-wracking! In the meantime, I wanted to stay in the writing mood. I have a new novel in progress, though that went on pause in December and I’ll pick it back up once things settle down. So, I took on the challenge of editing someone else’s book. I figured it would be a good way to keep my mind occupied on something other than the anxieties of publication.

How does one go about editing someone else’s book? Are they just waiting around out there looking for help?

Well, yes. The writing community on Twitter is teeming with authors in all stages of their careers, and it doesn’t take long to find people asking for critique partners or beta readers. I responded to a request for help with a query letter, and after some back and forth with an excited and talented author (they shall remain anonymous for this post) I ended up reading their manuscript.

I know it’s not everyone’s favorite past time, but noting typos and sentences that could use re-wording was fun. I’ve done it far too many times on my own books, and it’s a much different experience when you’re reading a new work for the first time and waiting to see where the story will go. I had many interesting discussions with this other author along the way. Asking them questions, sharing my thoughts, and getting their perspective on the book.

At the end, I had suggestions for changes. Critiques are hard to give and to receive. I loved the writing style and the world this author had built, but there were some aspects of the plot that I wasn’t satisfied with. Communicating that was tough, but they were receptive. We shared ideas back and forth, and they set about making revisions. I was glad to sit back and not have to do all that work.

Finally, (actually they were very quick and must have been writing like crazy) they sent me a revised manuscript. I knew some of the changes to expect, but not most of them. It was exciting to read through the same story, but to see alterations reflecting my comments and points we had discussed. You don’t get to have that experience with finished books. I was apprehensive when I reached the second half, where much of my criticisms had originated the first time.

I was blown away.

Maybe I’m overly sentimental, but my eyes watered a few times reading over the new sections and heavily re-written portions. This author had taken my comments to heart and devoted incredible effort to changing the text. They had fixed everything I thought to be an issue before. They added new scenes that made a world of difference, and they even altered the ending significantly.

It would have been so easy for them to say “thanks, but I’ll leave it like it is.”

They didn’t. They are happy with where the story stands now, and I’ve been more than excited to witness the evolution of their book into something truly remarkable. I admire, respect, and appreciate them as a writer even more than I did at the start. Seeing someone work their creative muscles shows a lot about them that you simply can’t see from the final product.

So, what’s my point?

Editing is rewarding. Any author should be able to benefit from doing it. Working closely with another writer’s text, who’s style is nothing like my own, is a helpful endeavor. It makes me think about the way I write. It’s great exercise for the mind. It’s a break from writing my own works without getting out of the writing mentality, and it kept my thoughts from being consumed with worry over what my own editor will say.

Also, I’ve made a wonderful friend. I’ve helped them in a tangible way. It is said that giving is better than receiving, and it’s true. It’s a wonderful feeling to see the impact you can have simply by sharing some time and thought.

Others have done it for me, and I’ll certainly do it again.

On the road to publication

The last months of 2019 were an exciting time. I’d finished writing my third novel, Silent Altitudes, and was seeking a literary agent to represent it. On the advice of a friend (Holly, I owe you one!) I looked into some pitch contests on Twitter and participated in #FaithPitch, a one day event to attract the interest of Christian publishers and literary agents. Authors tweet a brief teaser for their book, and if a publisher or agent “likes” your tweet, that’s an invitation to send them a submission. I got interest from three publishers, and in December I signed a publishing contract with Ambassador International.

Having self-published my prior work, breaking into the world of traditional publishing is a huge and exciting step, and I’m looking forward to seeing what the future holds. It will be a while until the novel is released, roughly a year from now, and I have a lot of work to do in the meantime such as setting up this website. I invite you to follow along for news and my thoughts on various things related to my writing journey. God has been good and I have much to be thankful for. To all who have helped me along the way, you have my deepest gratitude and appreciation.