Ask J.B. Lynn discussion

J. B. Lynn will be here in a few minutes. If you have a questions to ask or comments to share, please feel free to add them to this discussion.

Hi there!

Let's chat!

We are hearing more and more about how books are rejected by traditional publishers because of their marketability and not their quality. Since your books do not fall into a well-defined genre, what was the submission process like for you?

Great question, Donna.

I ran into the same problem with the first Confessions book. It's VERY frustrating.

I collected a lot of rejections for it from traditional publishers. Fortunately, Avon Impulse, which is a digital-first publisher decided to take a chance on it.

I've run into the same problem with another book series (which I'll be self-publishing later this year). Multiple editors liked it enough to take it to their acquisition board, but the marketing people have shot it down.

I wish I could be a niche writer, but I'm too committed to telling the stories that I want to tell them....the way I want to tell them.

Maggie's adventures often turn into misadventures. Is this a reflection of your own life?

When you get a story idea you love, about how much prep work do you do before you begin writing... or do you dive right in and see where it takes you? Also, about how long do you give a first draft?

Donna wrote: "Maggie's adventures often turn into misadventures. Is this a reflection of your own life?"

LOL, yes, my whole life is one big misadventure.

I think that I tend to be more aware of the absurdity of the things happening around me and I just ramp that up in my fiction.

For example, when I did my first half marathon, I had the usual fears: I wouldn't be able to finish, I'd be so slow I'd finish after the course officially closed, and my big one: I'd finish last.

None of that ended up happening, BUT weirder things did. The course was in Rhode Island and hugged the coastline. If you read descriptions of the race, it's rated very high in terms of the beauty of the course. The year I did it, a freak Nor'Easter struck.

So I had to do the 13.1 miles in rain, wind (sustained of 35mph, gusts of 45-50) and cold (sleet mixed with the rain). Talk about physical misery! There were all sort of weather advisories and when I trudged past a Coast Guard station they were broadcasting warnings to get indoors...and I was out there covering 13.1 miles on foot. Absurd!!!

And then, about eight miles in, when I was cold and tired and soaked to the bone, I saw alpacas grazing on a hillside.

Alpacas. In Rhode Island.

I worried that I had hypothermia and was hallucinating. I worried that the race was literally going to kill me.

Long story short....I went further than 13.1 miles because I got lost because all of the signs/cones marking the race course had blown away, but I finished.

Luckily my husband greeted me at the finish line (holding an umbrella that had blown inside out from the wind). I say luckily because I forgot to stop and get my finisher's medal (and I'd EARNED that medal dammit!) because I was so intent on getting back to my hotel room and drinking a hot cup (okay, pot) of coffee. He chased after me and told me I had to go back to get my medal.

I did and the woman offered me a thermal blanket saying, "It's wet." Like I wasn't already soaked. Absurd!

(oh and the next day the weather was absolutely gorgeous, lol)

Casey L wrote: "When you get a story idea you love, about how much prep work do you do before you begin writing... or do you dive right in and see where it takes you? Also, about how long do you give a first draft?"

Hi Casey!

I won't start writing a story until I know how it ends. I don't do a traditional outline, but I do chart out the whole story...and then each major character's journey through it...and then each major relationship's growth through it.

With the Hitwoman series I actually plotted out the first three books because there's so much I want to put Maggie through.

A rough draft takes me about 6-8 weeks.

Kris wrote: "My question: Other than finding the perfect publisher, what has been your greatest challenge with this series?"

Oooh, good question Kris.

I'd say there are two:

1) A lot happens in my books and I intentionally strive to keep up a pretty frenetic pace because I think keeping Maggie off-balance is important to the story, so pacing is definitely a challenge.

2) I work hard to make sure the dialogue works. I want to be as amused by the exchanges between the characters as I am, so I spend a lot of time tweaking lines.

Wow, 6-8 weeks for a first draft is impressive! :)

What would you say is your absolute FAVORITE part of the writing process?

Casey L wrote: "Wow, 6-8 weeks for a first draft is impressive! :)

What would you say is your absolute FAVORITE part of the writing process?"

My second draft isn't nearly as impressive, lol.

It's a tie between developing a new idea....that sense of magical possibility that accompanies it....and tying together all the threads at the end in a way that makes perfect sense....which is soooo satisfying

Oh, good answer! Yes, I do love a satisfying ending!

What are some of the lessons you've learned in your experiences writing endings?

Wow, you're really making me think. No wonder my head hurts. ;-)

I've learned that the emotional resonance of an ending is just as important (if not more so) than the wrapping up of plot elements. Plus I've learned that I have to "feel" the ending if I want readers to have the same experience.

You know that scene at the beginning of Romancing the Stone where Joan Wilder is sobbing and typing away? That was me when I wrote the scenes at the end of both books. In the first book I was a blubbering mess about what happened with Katie, and at the second book I was all misty-eyed over what Patrick did for Maggie.

Personally, as a reader, I think that the endings of a lot of books are too long. The author seems to think that the reader isn't clever enough to figure out why XYZ happened without the author drawing a diagram to explain every little thing. (But don't take that as gospel, because more than one review has complained that my epilogues are too short.)

J.B. wrote: "Wow, you're really making me think. No wonder my head hurts. ;-)

I've learned that the emotional resonance of an ending is just as important (if not more so) than the wrapping up of plot elements...."

Oh, and while I love a good "twist" at the end, it can't come from left field. It should surprise the leader and then they should smack themselves in the forehead and think, "Of course that happened. How did I miss that?"

I'm with you...I don't like the ending dumbed-down. I like them smooth and fluid...and emotionally powerful. Too slow, and too play-by-play can diminish the impact.

p.s. your endings are great! :D

Casey L wrote: "I'm with you...I don't like the ending dumbed-down. I like them smooth and fluid...and emotionally powerful. Too slow, and too play-by-play can diminish the impact.

p.s. your endings are great! :D"

awwww....thank you, Casey!

Do you have a favorite scene?

Okay, I had to jump into reading FURTHER CONFESSIONS. I just couldn't wait. I'll pay the library fines. That said, since I'm only at 6%, there's a lot to the story I have no clue about so instead of spoilers, I have two questions. Care to give us any hints on Book #3? And where did the idea for God and Doomsday come from?

Silver wrote: "Okay, I had to jump into reading FURTHER CONFESSIONS. I just couldn't wait. I'll pay the library fines. That said, since I'm only at 6%, there's a lot to the story I have no clue about so instead o..."

Hmmmm, spoilers? Well, I can say that Further definitely has a little bit of a cliffhanger ending and the third book picks up from there.

In my head, the title of the third book has always been The Neurotic Hitwoman and the Family Jewels. (I'd wanted The Neurotic Hitwoman at Two Weddings to be the title of Further, so my titles are pretty on the nose.) When you finish reading Further, the Jewels title will make more sense (I hope!).

I really wanted to tell Maggie's story in first person (something I'd never written before) because part of her appeal (at least in my mind) is that like the rest of us, she often misreads situations or people. By keeping things in her singular point of view, we only see her warped vision of her world.

I created God as a sort of physical manifestation of her psyche. He plays the part of her ego or her super ego depending on what the circumstance demands. He's sort of her checks-and-balances system. Plus, when you take on the kinds of bizarre (not to mention illegal) things she does, a gal needs someone to hash things out with.

Doomsday was a late addition to the story. One day I was in the shower (which is where I get my best ideas) and the thought "Doomsday is coming!" popped into my head. I had no idea what it meant, but the thought kept cycling thru my brain for a couple of weeks until I figured it out. I think she's another side of Maggie's personality, she's loyal and loving, and yeah, sometimes she's not all that bright.

I hope that Further is worth the library fine! ;-)

J.B. wrote: "Silver wrote: "Okay, I had to jump into reading FURTHER CONFESSIONS. I just couldn't wait. I'll pay the library fines. That said, since I'm only at 6%, there's a lot to the story I have no clue abo..."

It absolutely is, so far! I'm hoping I got the dishes int he dishwasher correctly, since I was reading while loading. ;) And I'm glad I was on the right track. I saw God as Jiminy Cricket and Doomsday as a sort of klutzy and not-quite-literate Puck. I was close!

Oh, yeah. Fine will be totally worth it, except I have the feeling I'll be up all night reading. Your books have a way of doing that to me. Not that I'm complaining...*looks shifty-eyed* Off to finish reading!