Monday, March 24, 2008
Ahoy, Avast: Eileen Cook Boards the RWR!
Pirates and 'Lubbers, it is my very pleasure to introduce you to Eileen Cook, author of: Unpredictable. Please sail to your nearest Amazon and purchase this witty, fun story about...well...me. At least, it felt like she was writing about me. If I had an ex-boyfriend and I was stealing half of all his socks, that is, and I met this adorable, helpful Scottish professor who...Well, you'll just have to read it. In the meantime, as you're waiting for Amazon to process your order, do read this interview. You don't want to miss this book...or this author:
Hellion: I adore your writing voice. I was immediately pulled into the story by the voice of your heroine. Does writing humor come naturally to you, or has it taken a while for your writing voice to sound as natural as it does (i.e. how many manuscripts are hidden under your bed right now)? What techniques would you recommend for honing your humorous voice?
Eileen: I adore you for saying you adore me! Love fest! I come from a funny family - and I do mean that in both the "ha ha" type of way as well as the "peculiar" kind of way. Humor is something that I've always defaulted to, it's perfect for hiding insecurities- no one notices that you're freaking out if they are laughing. The first draft of Unpredictable was a mystery. A really bad mystery. I noticed a few of my early readers wrote in the margin "well- the funny parts are good." It was then I decided to give up fighting it and write a funny book, before that I kept trying to put on other voices that weren't mine. I love to read and I read all kinds of things. I wanted to write like many of the writers I admired instead of admitting that I wrote best when I wrote like myself.
I have two full length manuscripts that should never see the light of day and many more that are partials of various ideas that sounded GREAT in the planning stage- but didn't pan out nearly so well in the execution. Part of the secret is not seeing these as failures- but part of the journey to finding your own way.
Hellion: Do you write organically or are you more a plotter? How did you keep the pacing so tight?
Eileen: I have huge plotter envy. I want to be a plotter- I buy all kinds of office supplies (ooh binders! color tabs! index cards in rainbow colors!!!) with the idea of being a very organized writer. Tragically, this never works for me, on the upside if there is ever a world wide stationary shortage I am completely prepared. When I write I start out with a premise, a main character, and a general idea of how I want the book to end. Once I have those things I dive in and start writing. The benefit of writing organically is that I enjoy having the story surprise me, on the the downside I spend a lot of time looking at the computer monitor thinking "how the heck did I get myself into this situation?"
Hellion: I swear we were separated at birth. Except all my office supplies have pictures of Jack Sparrow on them. I like to multi-task my obsessions. And coincidentally, my organization skills go awry. I'm sorry, I interrupted...writing systems...you were saying....
Eileen: *grins understandingly* One thing I've enjoyed on this path to publication is meeting other writers. Every writer has their own system. The one that really struck me was John Irving who likes to write his books backwards starting with the last chapter. This would completely screw me up. I'm much more linear. The fact that everyone does it differently be frustrating for people who want to know "how to do it" so they can copy your system, but in the end the good news is that there is no right way- just the right way for you as the writer.
Hellion: Sin and Lisa will be so thrilled to hear you say that. Of course, they've been skipping around the ship for days saying, "I told you so" to our Boatswain. They swear they have their own system, but even they don't know what it is most of the time. *consults her list of questions again* Did you intentionally leave out Sagittarius from all the horoscopes? And if so, why did you? (Are you a Sagittarius?)
Eileen: This is a funny story. (or maybe it is one of those things that seems funny only to me) In the manuscript all the signs were present- including Sagittarius. Somewhere in the publishing process the Sags were dropped. I didn't notice it, the editor didn't notice it even the copy editor didn't notice it. Once it went to the printer the very first person who read an advance copy called me to point out there was no Sagittarius. She was a Sag. I've now heard from about half a dozen people about the error. They're all Sags. I believe there is a rumor that I am a Sag hater. This is not true- who wouldn't like people born under the sign of the archer?
Hellion: I'm not a Sag. I'm just a Pisces...but I did wonder if was on purpose. *LOL* Or if you were a Sag. Incidentally I'd like to be a sign attributed with archers rather than fish. But that's neither here nor there.
Terri: Yet you're still talking about it as if it were.
Hellion: *ignoring Terr, makes a check on her question list* Are you more a skeptic or a believer?
Eileen: My believer/skeptic status depends on what we're discussing! (How's that for a dodgy answer?) In terms of psychics- I love the idea of it being true, but I haven't seen anything that has convinced me personally. Sometimes I think people are seeking out something magical and other-worldly and miss the real magic in our lives- the feeling of being in love, the taste of good chocolate, and finding a killer pair of shoes- in your size- on sale.
Hellion: Oh, I so understand that! I found the cutest pair of Candies' shoes at Kohl's last month. Adorable! *holds out her foot and shows off the three-inch heeled shoes* On sale...and right next to the gym shoes (on sale) I needed. It was like fate. *refocusing with some difficulty, crossing legs and smiling* What are you working on now? When will it be available?
Eileen: I am working on a young adult novel currently called What Would Alice Do? that will be out in January 2009. We may change the title as the publisher has a few other titles with Alice in them (and here I thought I was so clever.) This story is a retelling of the Crucible set in a modern Christian high school in Indiana. I've had a ton of fun writing YA as it allows me to tap into my high school traumas. I have material to spare. I refuse however to attach any photos of my high school self as clearly I had some channeling Molly Ringwald issues going on. I remember thinking I looked GREAT- but photographic evidence seems to imply otherwise.
Hellion: (I love the What Would Alice Do? title--that's funny! Ah, puns; it's like crack to English majors. Can't resist them. Not for love or money.) What is your favorite thing about the new book you're working on? (Why will we fall in love with it?)
Eileen: I believe it's another funny book (at least I cracked myself up). The main character, Alice, has to question what she will give up to be the kind of person that she wants to be. I love characters who are struggling with morally ambiguous situations. I'm a nice person in real life, but in fiction I really enjoy turning up the heat under other people. I'm in the editing process now and my editor at Simon Schuster has been amazing to work with- it's made me fall in love with the story all over again. I can't wait to see it in print.
Hellion: Are you doing any local signings? (Clearly you just came off a trip to my "neck of the woods"—well, within 8 hours at any rate…so how about: ) Will you be at RWA conference this year?
Eileen: I did a tour through the mid-west (Michigan, Indiana and Illinois) as that is where I grew up and had enough family that I was reasonably assured enough people would turn up so that I wouldn't look like a loser. I have a few more things planned for here in my local area and down into Seattle. I'm speaking at the RWA conference in New England in April- and I wouldn't miss this year's RWA in San Fran. Let's all get together!
Hellion: Eileen's buying the first round of rum! *crew cheers* What single most important piece of writing advice would you pass on to us struggling pirates?
Eileen: I believe it is important to enjoy the process of writing, of spinning stories. I don't mean that there aren't bad days- but that overall you should like to write. When I talk to people who describe writing as if every word causes them to bleed I think they should take up something else- knitting for example. There are so many ups and downs in this business- that if you don't like the writing I have no idea why someone would continue. At least if you knit you end up with sweater. No one sends a rejection letter if you mail them a sweater. " Dear Knitter- Thanks for your sweater submission. Unfortunately it doesn't meet our needs at this time....." A writer friend told me "writing is a craft, publishing is a casino." You have control over the writing- how much you do, how you improve, the stories you write. Focus on that- because if you try and figure out publishing you'll go wacky. The business is subjective and random at times. If you keep the focus on what you can control it makes for a happier person.
Hellion: *laughing* I'm an even worse knitter than I am a writer, and I do enjoy writing more than knitting, all criticism aside. I guess I picked the right hobby. How did you get published? (Were you a literal overnight success, or were you more the 10-year overnight success? What steps did you take? Which would you recommend; what things did you do that you wish you could go back in time and erase again? Other than good grammar—since for all appearances, it doesn't seem like I have it.)
Eileen: I know it isn't mature, but people who tell overnight success stories make me stick my tongue out at them when they turn their back. I have written for years. My parents have a story I did in second grade which I titled "George the Sighkyatrist" - spelling wasn't my thing. The teacher wrote at the bottom "I'm sure some day you'll be an author." Little did I know how much rejection would come between that story and hearing the news Unpredictable had sold. When I wrote my first novel I thought it was BRILLIANT. Alas- I was the only one. I then wrote another book, but by this time I knew enough to know it wasn't as great as it needed to be. Unpredictable was my third full length manuscript. My agent (the divine Rachel Vater at Folio Literary Management) was my top choice agent and the first one I queried. When she signed me I thought I had it made- but it took more time to find a home for Unpredictable.
When I first started writing I told myself I would be happy if I could just finish a full length novel. Then I said I would be happy if I could get an agent. Then I decided if I had a book deal I would be happy. Then I was sure having film rights optioned would do it. Now I'm on to obsessing about sales numbers and the second book. What I would advise people starting out is that publication is a journey not a destination. The people I've met that are huge New York Time's best sellers still worry about the next book or sales. You can compare yourself to other writers (even those overnight people who sign huge "significant deals" and have Oprah on speed dial), but it will only drive you crazy. I try and focus on improving myself and hope the rest of it will fall into place.
Hellion: My yoga teacher would adore you. She tells me this every week--and she doesn't even know I write. (I swear yoga is in everything!) *pushes Sin off balance, who's assumed a downward facing dog position, showing off* Oh, that felt good. A couple more questions...What authors have inspired your work? (I'm going to guess Jennifer Cruisie, but that's just me. *grins, pointing at Jennifer Cruisie quote on front cover of Unpredictable*)
Eileen: Why how did you guess Jennifer Crusie? She impresses me with how well crafted her work is and how supportive she is of new writers. I am a huge reader and love everything from non fiction to mystery to chick lit to historicals. There is the very real chance that I will die crushed by a stack of books. I can think of worse ways to go. It's hard to narrow the list of who inspired me, but certainly I've enjoyed Emily Giffin, Sophie Kinsella, John Irving, Jen Lancaster and a few zillion more.
Hellion: Last question--and the most important: Does Nick McKenna exist? If so, can you give him my phone number?
Eileen: Nick is composed of a couple different people and my very active imagination. Alas both of the real people are married- one of them to me- and I have a strict no sharing rule. : )
Hellion: What a surprise! I finally find a guy worth pursuing and he's taken! Oh, well, I guess it's still sock-stealing and obsessing for me. I should stick with my strengths at any rate. Thank you, Eileen, for interviewing with us today. You have been a wonderful--and now I'm going to turn it over to the crew for their questions and comments...
How many of you read your horoscope? (How often have you noticed it's come true? I think in all my years it's come true once, but it was a horoscope I read the day after the event. I doubt that counts.) Has anybody else read Unpredictable? What's the craziest thing you've ever done to win a guy back--and did it work?
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44 comments:
Eileen, Welcome to the ship!
I too love channeling Molly Ringwald. I'm a Sixteen Candles lover, and I adore reading Meg Cabot. I always aspired to write young adult fiction. Do you find most of your plot lines from personal experience as a teen, or do you have younger siblings you attribute for your inspriation?
Do you try to convey a moral message in your YA writing or do you aim for light and fun theme?
I had not realized Eileen and I had channeled War & Peace in our interview. To say I was a little excited to be interviewing her would have been the understatement of the year. And I absolutely had to ask about the Sagittarius situation.
Hello and welcome, Eileen. Sorry, it took me a while to read all that. Hellion does love to ramble.
Anyway, first off, I can't wait to read this book. I've read the excerpt and it sucked me in. Now, just to find the dang book! Looked this weekend, didn't find it.
Love the way you answered the process question. It is a personal thing and I'm still trying to figure mine out. I take comfort in believing I'm closer to finding out than I was a year ago.
Since I love "THE call" stories, could you tell us yours? And is your YA book for the same publisher or is it something you'll have to shop around again?
Oh, and I'm the only pirate going to San Fran so we'll have to drink enough rum for all the girls. *g*
Lisa, Lisa, what part of being a teenager is light or fun? I mean, you're going to high school for goodness sakes! What's fun about that? I'd rather be tossed on a Survivor reality show than go to high school again. (GOD, that's what they should do--they should do a Survivor Reality TV--but it should be "Go back to High School" bit. I can tell you this: nobody would do it for a measly $50,000. Or even a measly million.)
Good luck drinking enough rum for me.
I was speaking metaphorically, of course. LOL! If I admit I can't even stand the smell of rum, will I lose my pirate card?
Ah, I've still got my sticker so who cares.
OH no! This thing ate my comment. And it was loonnngg...
Ok, for starters,IIRC, I don't read my horoscope. It would creep me out if it came true.lol.
I loved the interview and am definitely adding the book to my TBR pile soon.
My question is about revisions. What's your process?
Thanks so much for stopping by.
And, Ter, I don't like rum either.
Yay, I'm the first one!
Welcome to the boat Eileen!
I'm not a horoscope reader anymore, but I do believe in psychics. I went to one in Philadelphia when I was younger and she was scary, that's how good she was. :)
My question for you is if you are conscious, while you are writing, that you are writing comedy? I mean, do you sit at your computer and delete lines thinking, "that's just not funny enough?"
I am obviously not the first one, because blogger messed with me and told me there were no comments. Then it didn't post it and then I didn't remember to take that out.
Sorry for the *duh* moment.
I'm sorry Blogger is being all whacked today.
Actually I wonder that about "writing funny" myself. There's stuff I'll delete that I don't think is funny anymore; but then there is stuff that I refuse to get rid of, but people will say, "I don't get it."
Then I sulk, because it was some of my most brilliantly hilarious stuff.
Hellion, Not all of my YA memories prompted therapy...I actually had a few really good memories of road trips, and football games. Honestly my middle school years were more painful than my high school ones.
Kids in middle school can be more cruel,I was shy and wore my heart on my sleeve. I had curly nappy hair and was chubby, I was the brunt of a lot of jokes. I can still remember things kids said about me even now.
Marnee - you crack me up. LOL!
I know I could find fodder in my HS experience, but since my HS experience include NO romance, the book wouldn't be worth reading. *g*
Lisa, was your middle school and high school part of the SAME school? (How big was your graduating class?) I went to a K-12 school (and didn't have Sin's ability to dish it right back at them--and better, no less). I had the same creeps from kindergarten to senior year. "Hey, Frannie, remember the year you had lice and we called you lice bucket?" or my favorite, on the class trip, upon being ogled in my bathing suit (less ogled than JUDGED and found wanting): "I thought your breasts were bigger than that."
I'm with Frances Connor. Childhood is enough fodder to write for the rest of your life. Apparently she wasn't fond of her name either.
Eileen! Welcome to this wacky ship!
Hellion- you are a hater. You know when we do yoga together, I could never keep my balance because you get me to giggling like a little kid.
And besides, I'm a Sagittarius. Everyone knows we have great balance. *snicker snorting* Eileen would you like to push me over too? LOL
I love the advice to focus on one thing at a time and don't get overwhelmed with figuring out publishing. I prefer to not figure out any of it. That's my philosophy. But as Hellion said, I have no idea what my system is. I just do whatever comes to mind.
What's the one thing you've learned that you wished you'd known in the beginning?
PS. I'm sorry I'm late to the party. I'm not only covering my doctor's patients today but another office is being filtered through here for a week. I'll try to check back later.
I just added Unpredictable to my list for my bookstore run later today. It sounds like my kind of book. And the cover reminds me of Connie Brockway's latest covers, a sublime association from my pov.
Oh yeah my school mates followed me K-12. They remembered crap I did from way back. Like peeing my pants in Kindergarten. The teacher sat me outside to dry until my mom came and picked me up...I never lived it down. I had bladder issues as a child, but explain that to a six year old, and HS kids just make fun of the situation to get a good laugh.
The only difference, in HS I had the balls to tell them to shut up, in MS I was scared of my own shadow.
I don't hate you, Sin; I'm just trying to keep you humble. It's a part of our friendship; it's really one of my gifts. And of course you giggled all through yoga with me. I spent the hour saying, "You *must* be kidding!" and "Dream on" or the irrefutable: *SNORT*, which was a non-verbal way of saying both of those things at once.
Yeah, I guess that's the difference between middle school and high school. (Can you believe *I* got report cards that said, "Hellion doesn't speak up in class. She rarely talks at all." They probably thought I was autistic.) By high school, Brandy had gifted me with her sailor vocabulary--so I went from being possibly autistic to having Tourette's.
I had to go to college to learn to be witty. I didn't have it when I graduated high school.
I agree about HS being much better than MS. I hated the way I looked in MS. I was so thin I looked like no one ever offered me food in my life, had a horrid perm, braces and glasses and acne. I'm surprised smaller children didn't run screaming or burst into tears.
I did have a BF in HS and it was a good experience then, though it got really hard in college. That might show up in a book later. :)
Janga - it does have that leg thing going on like on Connie's books. I like it. And thanks for not yelling at us for adding to your list. LOL!
Hellion - they didn't know what autism was back then. LOL! I'm sure it will come as no shock that I received horrible conduct grades. They couldn't get me to shut up. But I grew up to make a living at talking so I got the last laugh. *g*
I also attended school with many of the same kids from K-12. Which means I get great satisfaction on the rare occassions when I go home and one of the *cool* crowd is my cashier at the grocery store.
Not that there's anything wrong with being a cashier. My mother was a damn fine one for years. But that's not exactly where they thought they would be back they were asking to cheat off me in Algebra class.
I tried out for cheerleader in middle school. *eye roll* The captain of our squad was a year older than me. When they put me on her squad she looked at me and said "You suck, and you have no right to be here."
Three years ago I was sitting in a Weight Watchers meeting, she waddles in and stuffs herself in the chair beside me. She out weighed me by at least 80 lbs.
It was an awe moment:)
I shouldn't have snickered in vicious glee at the last comment, but as Sin said, I'm a hater.
So basically everyone is with me in the "If I'm offered a part on reality TV to relive high school, I'd laugh in their face and bolt out of the room?"
Marnee, I had the Ethiopian Poster Child look up till 6th grade, then by 8th grade I was overweight. No boobs, of course, because God hates me.
God didn't hate you. LOL! He just gave me both my boobs and yours. By the time I was ELEVEN. And I'll have you know I paid good money years later to have your portion removed. If I'd known at the time, I would have made sure the excess was sent your way. *g*
Great interview, Hellion! Looks like I've got another book to add to my TBR pile and I am gonna yell at you all, Terri!!!!
I'm with Hellion. You could not pay me enough to go repeat those horrid years! I hated school and I didn't care whether it was grammar or high (I went to a K-8 and then an all girls HS).
Some of these reality shows are getting pretty ridiculous. I wouldn't put it past them to come up with a "Repeat HS" one.
I snickered at the WW comment too! That had to feel good.
And Marnee I was tiny and scrawny and had the worst case of acne known to man. I was holding my 3 year old niece at a party when I was about 16-17 and she asked when I got the chicken pox!
OMG, Terri! ROTFLMAO!!!!
You should have saved some for me!!!!
Oh, Irish - so sorry, hon. If only I'd known you then. LOL! But I did have lots of friends who kept asking me if they could have it. Seriously!
And I went to the same school K-8 then onto HS but thankfully it was not an all girl school.
Lisa - talk about VINDICATION!
Hellion - Yeah, God wasn't too overly generous in the chest department here either. LOL!!
Irish - LOL about the chickenpox!!
Wow, repeat HS reality show? I don't know. Like I said, HS was ok, it was MS that was rough. I still doubt I'd wanna do it again. I was pretty naive back then.
Maybe that would be the cool part, Marnee. Getting to do it all over again but knowing everything we know now. It would definitely be a different experience for, I can tell you that.
Yeah, but I think it'd be hard because back then I was a "good" girl who was always nice to everyone - at least mostly. Now, I am a bit more outspoken. I'd expect I would get into a bit more trouble.
*LOL* I'm with Marnee, I'd be a lot mouthier this go around.
Nieces are nice, aren't they? Mine asked me when my baby was due.
Dunno if anyone visits Manuscript Mavens' blog, but Darcy Burke, a sweetheart and blogger there, is a GH finalist for her Regency Glorious.
Yay Darcy!
Thanks for sharing Marnee! SQUEEE Darcy!!!
And being mouthier and getting into trouble would be bad how?
Kim Howe from Romance Bandits, Doglady from the fanlit contest and Coutney Milan from the EJ/JQ BB and of internation mystery fame have all finaled in the GH as well.
Congrats to all!
Rats, why didn't I just go to Terri for all the latest gossip?! :) I should have known you'd know all this before me. LOL!!
Congrats to all is right!
I do have my vast network of connections but you can check out the Judi Fennell blog if you want to keep up as they come in. *g*
http://judifennell.wordpress.com/
Lots of deserving, wonderful finalists! Awesome for all of them!
Thanks for having me on the ship- sorry for the long delay (darn day job. I swear if they didn't pay me I would stop showing up.)
Okay- first off high school was not my best time. I had the huge hooters and a serious coordination problem. Plus there was no rum. More rum may have made it better.
For the YA I haven't used anything specific that happened to me- but I tried to capture some of the horror. I kept my diaries from high school so I have many notes. I didn't set up to have any set moral- as I remember hating people telling me something had a moral. Having said that- when I re-read the darn thing it does have a sort of "to thine own self be true" kind of moral thing going on.
The WWAD YA book is with Simon Pulse (the YA division of Simon Schuster.) Unpredictable is with Berkley. Both have been great places to work with- but I took the YA to Simon Pulse because they have a great marketing approach for teens.
Ah the call. You know how you dream about The Call? I had full blown fantasies about what I would be doing, wearing, what I would say etc. The day it finally came I was working from home (day job) with sweats on and no make up. I was so completely shocked I had nothing to say. My agent kept saying "so are you excited?!" and I was all "yes indeed." I simply couldn't grasp it. Then after sitting quietly at the kitchen table for 15 minutes I went to call people and NO ONE was home. Is there anything worse than having REALLY big news and no one to share it with. I gave my dogs a treat as a celebration. They were happy- more about the liver bits than the deal- but whatever it still felt like a party. And for the record- no other work was done for the day.
Revisions: I have this theory you are either someone who loves revisions or hates them. I'm a hater. I start off loving it- but then about half way through I'm done. Of course I'm not done and that's the problem. Typically after I get the manuscript in decent shape I ship it off to 5 early readers. I look through their comments and give it another go. My agent is great with edits and she usually gives me yet one more round. Then the editor weighs in. Usually around this time I turn to drink.
Comedy: I do set out with the purpose of trying to be funny- but I think too much thinking about the funny can kill it. (the funny is wild and should be left to roam free) I do look at early reader comments- what one person likes someone else won't. Every so often there is something I think is fab- that no one else likes. If no one likes it I cut it- although not without great pain.
What Have I Learned: I've learned that publishing is WAY more subjective than I even imagined. What one person likes- someone else doesn't. I feel like I'm still so early in the game that I have a lot to learn. I would say that having an agent that is a true business partner is critical. Mine has given great advice and also been a huge cheerleader.
For everyone who is adding me to their to-be-read list- LOVE YA. Find me at RWA and we'll have a drink!
I think I'm taping that on my laptop. "The Funny is wild and should be left to roam free."
To Thine Own Self Be True: Hey, that can be said for a lot of books. I love that theme. It's hard to LEARN that theme.
I laughed at that line too! :)
Eileen, thank you so much for stopping by to be with us!
What a hilarious interview-- kudos to the interviewer and the interviewee, too. Thanks for brightening my day!
Beth Fehlbaum, author
Courage in Patience, a story of hope for those who have endured abuse
http://courageinpatience.blogspot.com
ooh I have another good funny line. It is a quote from Sal Saks (he wrote the TV show Bewitched) I'm sure I'm screwing this up- but it goes something like "Writing comedy is like stripping. Anyone can do it, but not everyone should."
Beth, welcome! Thanks for stopping by!
Great interview!!
Eileen, I'm a Sag and I didn't even notice my sign was missing!!! Wow. See, I was just too wrapped-up in the story. ;)
Dang, I missed the wrap up. Thanks for answering all our crazy questions, Eileen. Those quotes for comedy are priceless. That call story is great and I know what you mean about no one to tell. I HATE when that happens! LOL!
Not that I've sold a book but there have been other *little* triumphs and it would have been nice to share. *g*
Thank you so much for a great interview, all the great advice, and for the book I just know I'm going to enjoy.
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