Lavender Ink: Writing and Selling Lesbian Fiction

by Fran Walker, L.-J. Baker

At last, a resource for writers, novice and veteran, interested in writing lesbian fiction. In chapters by Fran Walker, L-J Baker, Nann Dunne, Sacchi Green, and Andi Marquette you'll learn how to create vivid characters and realistic dialogue; what an editor looks for in a well-crafted story; tips on researching publishers of lesbian fiction; how to work with an editor; how to write query letters and synopses; how the publishing industry works; how to read a book contract clause by clause; and marketing strategies for your book. Illustrated with examples from real query letters, synopses, novels, and short stories, Lavender Ink has something for everyone interested in writing and selling great lesbian fiction.

232 pages, Paperback

First published April 23, 2009

About the author

Fran Walker is an author advocate and short-story writer. She has held the usual odd assortment of jobs: office receptionist, fast food restaurant worker, horse-drawn carriage driver, show groom, and lab technician. She and her spouse, the fiction writer L-J Baker, live in New Zealand. When Fran’s not reading, she can be found writing short stories, pottering around the garden, or baking cookies. Her short fiction is published or forthcoming in the online magazines Khimairal Ink, Three Crows Press, Arkham Tales, and Fickle Muses, and in the anthologies Read These Lips, Chilling Tales (P.D. Publishing, 2008), and Girl Crazy (Cleis Press, 2009).

Reviews

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one gets to a 3+ really. There's a lot of good information in here about publishing for this specific market (lesfic) as well as publishing with small and medium-sized presses in general. L.J. Baker and Andi Marquette have the strongest sections in terms of providing the most solid information and I'd say the book was worth picking up for that information alone. So, on the plus side: good pieces of advice and industry info, good things for new and even slightly used writers to watch out for and it's the only book of its kind out right now for writers in this area. The book is also written in clear, easily followed language and most of the authors worked hard on making it pan-genre rather than just romance specific.

Balanced against this is the presentation. I'll let the cover speak for itself (it didn't do much for me but mileage may vary) but have to note that the page presentation made it hard to read, though I'm not entirely sure why (guessing margins and font). There were also some doozy typos, mostly at the beginning, which should have been caught before this went to press, given the topic. There is also a certain amount of redundancy, which you'd expect from this many authors (5) with work in the same book.
That said, the book is essential reading if you want to write lesbian fiction. But I do hope there'll be another edition that takes care of some of the more problematic issues because quite a bit of the content deserves a better showcase. Recommended and wanting more.

[Elaine Burnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

For any lesbians who write or are thinking of writing fiction for lesbians, this is an excellent choice to guide you, whether short stories or novels. With chapters contributed by L-J Baker, Nann Dunne, Sacchi Green, and Andi Marquette, Fran Walker covers a lot of ground in a writing manual--from the very basic, where to put quotation marks, to reading a publisher's contract. It's the specific examples that I liked--some very funny! Most writer's manuals tell you to do something but don't really show you how. This one does. Geared toward so-called "lesfic," or lesbian fiction, published by small presses, Lavender Ink should be required for any writer said publishers sign.

[Sheila · Rating 3 out of 5]

Similar to a lot of writing books I've read, this covers everything from grammar and style to characters, plot, etc, then all the way up to submitting and publishing a novel/short story.

I would recommend it as a resource to someone who hasn't read a lot of writing books before, but I was looking for specifically "lesbian fiction" issues, and other than a chapter devoted to sex scenes, lists of lesbian publishers, and all the examples using women's names, I felt like the book was more generic than lesbian-focused.