Are We Having Fun Yet?

By Spencer Dryden (Guest Blogger)

The day I received the acceptance letter from Breathless Press for my novella Bliss was one of my top ten days on the planet. Strangely, the day came sooner than I though and on a different work than I thought would be my breakthrough. There are some lessons there. On the other hand, there is no greater self deception than believing it was your magnificent plan and not dumb luck. There is some of both for sure.

For those of you who have not read my precious yammerings, I am new to writing fiction, but arguably an old guy for a first time author. I had just turned 64 when Bliss was accepted in early 2014. I have been writing for about two years. Before Bliss I had placed two short stories in anthologies, one with my host today, Lisabet Sarai, who remains one of the goddesses I worship. We've even been between the covers together. Of all the erotic places in the world we both chose to use North Platte, Nebraska (USA) as the setting for our stories that appeared in the charitable anthology, Coming Together: Through the Storm. I wonder if the people in that tiny prairie town know.

Writing for anthologies was one piece of early advice I followed. For the most part I ignored standard advice and I think it's one reason I got to a contract faster than expected.

In real life I am an avid DIY'er. (Do it Yourself) I am a field editor for a prestigious DIY magazine-the title sounds much more important than it is. The editors use a bunch of us for story ideas and product testing. I don't mean to brag, but rather to say that my skill level has been recognized by seriously handy people. I also came late to that party. I was 41 when I discovered I should have been a tradesman and not the repeat failure of a white collar guy I had been. I learned my skills, and continue to expand and refine them by 'doing'. In all defense to the DIY media blitz, you can't learn all that much by watching DIY TV or reading articles. You gotta do it. I say a handyman is someone who screwed up enough times that they finally figured out how to do it right. When a friend encouraged me to try writing fiction, I decided I would take the same approach—just do it.

The standard advice to new writers is to read, read, read; to become familiar with writing conventions like the Chicago Manual of Style, study the proper preparation for a submission and to never do this or that or whatever. I ignored all that and decided I would simply write a lot, become comfortable with my voice and style, then compare my work to the field at large, mostly by making submissions. In place of agonizing over the fine details of submission, I followed the instructions provided by the anthology editor or publishing house.

Bliss was one of three different works I was peddling. It is very different from the main body of my writing. In all honesty I hadn't done nearly as much research as I do now before submitting material to a publisher or an anthology. That's no doubt part of the luck thing I mentioned before. No question in my mind, some part of success for an unknown author is your stuff hits the right editor at the right moment. But as Wayne Gretsky (The Great One) says, the scoring percentage on pucks you don't shoot is zero. I shoot the puck. I've signed contracts for two more stories since Bliss was published in April of 2014.

Quick success isn't sustainable unless you are fifty shades of something. After the pure delight of seeing a book with my name on it, reality arrived in the form of "marketing". Marketing is about making things happen. I used to be in marketing. I never made enough things happen fast enough. My bosses decided there was more more opportunity for me elsewhere. I think they meant food service. I'm not going there in this post. However, it's one thing to break through with editors and publishers, it's another thing entirely to break through with readers.

These days author marketing is about building a "platform", which is nothing more than a coordinated presence on all manner of social media. I joined Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, Goodreads, built a website, I've balked at my own blog but it is a necessity. From this platform you have to stage events, conduct contests, giveaways, cover reveals, take over of others' Facebook pages, cross pollinating from one site to another. There is even an emerging trend to build video promos for your book. You help yourself by helping other authors, reading and reviewing their releases, hosting them on your blog, retweeting their posts.

The marketing people at Breathless Press arranged for a dozen guest blog appearances-each requiring a different post and they sent copies to countless review sites. Because of the way the social media sites funnel your subscription information, all of your contacts are other writers trying desperately to do the same thing. 

It's frankly a little off putting to see authors repeat posts ad infinitum on Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus. But we are all flapping our arms as fast as we can. It's a wonder that anyone succeeds in the marketplace. My wife bought a copy so I know I have sold one, but Charlie Rose hasn't called so I'm sure I haven't broken through yet.

It's hard to remember that real success takes time and consistent effort. When I was ten years old I fell in love with basketball and wanted to be a big star. By the time I was eighteen, a few people were beginning to say, 'you know that kid's got some talent after all'. I was always labeled as too short. (I am 5'9") By the time I was eighteen I had a 36" vertical leap, and could almost dunk a basketball. (Yes, some white boys CAN jump) I made all-conference as a senior, was captain, leading scorer and most valuable player for my high school. But it took the equivalent of half my life and rigorous training to reach that pinnacle. Why should publishing be any different? In is wonderful book, Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell says it takes 10,000 hours of time on task to achieve mastery.

I'm really just getting started. (Two words as authors we are advised to avoid, really and just). But really, I am just getting started.

Blurb - Bliss  by Spencer Dryden

Christina McArdle must cast out the demons of her past and present or lose the love of her life.

In the prosperous community of Bliss, New Hampshire, in 1995, Christina McArdle is living a feminist dream. In short order she has become the first female partner of the venerable, male dominated CPA firm of Driscol, Ryan, Jensen and Palmer. The honor followed by her selection as the first female member of the prestigious Maplewood Country Club.

But Christina fears that her career success has come at a terrible price. Her husband, Ben, has lost sexual interest in her. Unable to ignite his passion for her and desperate for understanding of her own inhibitions, Christina turns to Dr. Rachel Morrisey, a sex therapist, who helps her uncover dark secrets from her past. Christina's path to recovery is blocked by a misogynistic pastor who traps her and many other women of her church in a shame bind that serves his purulent interests.

Her path to freedom requires Christina to break bonds from past and present or lose the thing she loves most in life—the love of husband and family. 

About Spencer

Some men are born great, others strive for greatness; still others have greatness thrust upon them. Spencer Dryden is none of these men. In fact, he is so unimpressive, he leaves no footprints on newly fallen snow. He was trained in fiction writing on the job with the many sales reports he produced for his managers, winning the coveted “keep your job contest” three years running. His expense reports are still considered masterpieces of forgery by the bankruptcy trustee of his former employer. He lives an unremarkable life in a suburb of a northern city. His friends and family would drop dead in horror if they knew of his secret life as a writer of erotica. He hates the family cat but still loves to pet his wife.

Visit Spencer's Fantasy Island.
Quick trips to adult fantasy. Leave your baggage behind!
http://www.fictionbyspencer.com/ 

Finding Bliss

By Spencer Dryden (Guest Blogger)

Scratch a writer about story development and you can sit back for an hour of uninterrupted babbling. We love to talk about where stories came from, but in fact many of us don't know. I don't really know where Bliss came from. (look already, he's ending sentences in a prepositions.) I am new to writing fiction. My bio says I was trained in fiction writing on the job with the sales and marketing reports I wrote for management. 

It sounds funny, but it is literally true. I was never an avid reader and certainly not a writer. This fiction thing is something that was hovering in the background for a long time. When I turned 62 (I'm 64 now) I realized I was running out of time to act on my dreams. My friends are retiring from long distinguished careers. I've never had one. They are also dying of natural causes now. When I go to class reunions only old people show up. The babes I lusted for in high school are grandmothers now. It's my time now, or never.

Luck, and the kindness of strangers are essential ingredients for writing success-everyone is talented, everyone works hard. I got lucky. Lucky, in that a friend who is a successful playwright read some of my initial scratchings I sent him on a whim. He told me I was a natural storyteller and I had a good ear for dialogue. Blew me away. I never would have started without that wonderful anointing. What ever it is he saw didn't come from the traditional path of reading, writing and dedication to learning the proper construction of the English language.

Many of my stories come out of the blue, as if delivered by the muse riding the purple unicorn blasting me with pixie dust. Bliss is very different from the other stuff I've written. If I were to put ropes around my writing, it is male erotica, laced with humor. I'm the guy who invented The Gueschtunkina Ray Gun-one blast from this weapon renders a woman into a high state of sexual arousal. That's funny. That's not Bliss. In fact it took me a couple of rejections to realize that Bliss wasn't romance or erotica. Fortunately the good folks at Breathless Press have a line for romantic suspense, Covert, where Bliss has found a home. More luck. I barely did any research before submitting to them. I'm even a little embarrassed to say I hadn't read a single offering in their portfolio when I pushed the 'send' button.

The story line of the book came from a practice I use that is not to far from the actors training of improv. I smash ideas together and see if I can make something begin to take shape-often with two characters talking. So, I though, suppose there is a woman who is suddenly elevated to the kind of career and social status that is the modern woman's dream. But she's unhappy because her husband has lost sexual interest in her and she doesn't want to lose him. She doesn't have tools to address the problem so she goes to a sex therapist where deep dark stuff comes out. Then, instead of a 200,000 word John Updike novel of midlife, suburban angst, which requires using words like avuncular, the story turns to the manipulation by her misogynistic pastor and his desire for spiritual purity among the men of his flock. So I'm smashing unresolved psychic trauma in youth into the burden of religious guilt and shame, imposed by charismatic man of God. Fun stuff.

 

Bliss is the story of a woman's struggle with sexual shame. Strip away the decoration and it is a story of the way society fails to protect women and even places blame on them, compounded by religion that keeps heaping it on. Christina McArdle was assaulted as a girl by a predacious boy no one would do anything about. When she struck back at him, she ended up being the one in trouble. Her challenge is she must cast out the demons of past and present or lose the love of her life.

In one of those quirky writing things, Bliss is not a state of being but is the name of the the mythical town in New Hampshire where the story takes place. In my original story line the pastor was going to be at war with the town's largest employer, Bliss Industries, a maker of sex toys. But it just wasn't working out. Not all smashed together ideas do. I found a much more nefarious plot line which I cannot reveal without spoiling the story, but I never changed the name. 

 

The story is set in 1995. There's nothing terribly memorable about 1995 but I wanted a story before cell phones became ubiquitous. (Hey now, there's John Updike word.) I also wanted it set long enough ago that my MC, Christina McArdle, (35 in the story) could have attended old time Catholic school. The guilt and shame thing plays heavily in this story. As a Catholic school kid of the 50's, I'm telling you, they could lay it on-never mind what the priests were doing to young boys. (This celibacy thing just has not worked out.)

Another quirky writer thing in this story, and all my stories, I name characters after friends who have passed. 

It's just a little tribute to their memory. The character in the story usually bears little resemblance to the one remembered. Unlike Hitchcock though, I do not make cameo appearances in my stories. There is enough of my real life buried between the lines already. Although there is a disclaimer in fiction books about representations of living persons, in fiction you can get the revenge that real life only affords with long jail terms. I love it.

I have to admit I am very anxious to get a gauge on how this story is received and interpreted by the reading public-which hopefully will be millions (right). I have been surprised by how different the story I write can be from the one that is read. Steven King reminds writers that once you put something 'out there' you lose control of how it is interpreted. This story has elements I think will resonate with a lot of women. It might also piss off a bunch of people as well. I guess if its a good story, it will do a little of both. If you happen to be motivated to read it as a result of this lucid post (my what an ego) I hope you'll send some feedback.

You can get the book from Amazon or your favorite e-bookseller.

You can reach me through my website: http://www.fictionbyspencer.com/

At Twitter: @SpencerDryden

I am also on Goodreads and google+ and Facebook

About Spencer

-->

Some men are born great, others strive for greatness; still others have greatness thrust upon them. Spencer Dryden is none of these men. In fact, he is so unimpressive, he leaves no footprints on newly fallen snow. He was trained in fiction writing on the job with the many sales reports he produced for his managers, winning the coveted “keep your job contest” three years running. His expense reports are still considered masterpieces of forgery by the bankruptcy trustee of his former employer. He lives an unremarkable life in a suburb of a northern city. His friends and family would drop dead in horror if they knew of his secret life as a writer of erotica. He hates the family cat but still loves to pet his wife.