I’m getting very close to having An Illusion of Trust ready for publication. I expect to send the manuscript to my copy editor next week. I think it’s pretty clean already, so I don’t anticipate many changes. Soon it will be ready for formatting—well, there’s the matter of a cover too. I’m on the third design now, but I think this is going to be the one.
Anyway, I’ve been thinking about how to describe this book. I have an official description on the fledgling book page, and that tells you, in general, what happens, but what it’s about is more than that. What it’s about is what everything I write is about—love. And I don’t necessarily mean romantic love. Only some of my novels and stories contain those sorts of relationships, but all of them are about the universal human search for acceptance, the essence of love.
When it comes to pitching my novels, I always think how much easier it would be if I wrote mysteries, or thrillers, or horror, or fantasy—anything easier to describe than mine. I write about people. I’ve always thought that if I’d gone to college I would have majored in sociology in some form. I’m curious about the form and function of human society.
Those who know me in real life would probably find that statement curious, hilarious even, since I’m not particularly sociable. I’m just more at ease observing than participating. Possibly many writers are the same. But everyone wants to be accepted. We all search for our place where we feel loved and safe, where we belong, where we matter. And always that search begins within. In that sense every story I write will be the same.
The trick is to make those stories fascinating.
It’s like being present at a birth – p-u-s-h!
Creating a novel is like a birth, Suzanne. And I’m likely to get very cranky during transition.
Pant and breathe, pant and breathe … I’ll hold the net
My husband says all my stories are about me. I think writers are prone to living vicariously through our characters, whether we act it out or just on paper. When I looked up the psychological makeup of writers, it seemed to say we are often somewhat introverted thinkers, which fits me, maybe you too?
Anonymous? In the sense that life is completely ego-centric, all our stories are about ourselves, but in a broader sense, I think we write to understand ourselves. I’m sure you’ve heard this quote from E.M. Forster: “How can I tell what I think till I see what I say?” A similar one is attributed to Flannery O’Connor: “I write because I don’t know what I think until I read what I say.”
Yes, I live a great deal within my thoughts. My husband often accuses me of responding to his questions only in my head. But what can I say? Sometimes it gets pretty exciting inside here.
How exciting!!! Have a Great One:)
And a bit nerve wracking, Renee.
Thanks and the same to you.
I’m so flippin’ proud of you! Yes! Yes! Yes!
In the two(plus) years I’ve followed your blog, I don’t think I’ve ever heard you define yourself, as both person and author, with the understanding, confidence, and commitment that you’ve displayed in this post. You’ve pinpointed the very element in your novel that sets it apart from the mainstream dime store jacket.
There are polar perceptions of the nature of love and how it is discussed through fiction. There is the one synonymous with novels that try to deal with the subject of love through outrageous fantasies of knights in shining armor, and the fantastical endorphin fueled emotional romp in the sheets that mysteriously makes all of life’s ugliness simply melt and you’re emotionally whisked away to a far-far-away land where you forever live blissfully in utopia. Then there is reality.
There is a universal truth of love that we all connect with deeply. A truth that reveals how love is sometimes messy, restricted, imperfect, sometimes suffocating, and down right hard at times. The kind of love that teaches acceptance and patience without miraculously changing the very fundamentals of human nature. You write with an emotional maturity that understands love doesn’t need a conflict or catalyst to materialize, and doesn’t need fairy-tale fantasy environment or even a physical coupling to survive in its many forms. AND THAT IS WHY I AM A DEDICATED FAN OF LINDA CASSIDY LEWIS!
As far as I can tell, you’ve been with me a bit over three years, DS! Glad I finally made you proud.
Seriously, thank you for your comment. I’m still in the process of washing off all the artificial “Author makeup” and revealing the real me again.
It’s nice to have fans.
Can’t wait for the release, Linda! Really looking forward to it
Good luck at the final stages.
Thank you for saying sweet things, Jennifer.
I think one of the toughest questions for any author is, “What’s your book about?” The moment someone asks us that question we start to stammer.
“We all search for our place where we feel loved and safe, where we belong, where we matter.”–Now that’s a powerful statement and so very true.
Congratulations Linda! I’m really happy for your success.
Agreed, Laura. How do you distill thousands of words into a succinct pitch?
As Jalal Vaziri says, the meaning of life is love.
Thank you, Laura. I really appreciate that.
I think “real life” IS interesting. I think that’s why I enjoyed Brevity of Roses. Sure it’s a fictional story, but it’s not over the top. You created characters with depth to them, characters that felt real. Looking forward to your next book. Keep doing what you’ve been doing. I enjoy your style of writing VERY much.
Thank you for the kind comments, Juli. I’m happy to know you found the realism in Brevity; some readers didn’t.
I am so looking forward to this next book. You have worked so hard on it and now I can see that it comes from the heart. There are many things from this blog you can use to describe the book. I can’t wait to see the cover.
Thank you, Darlene. I can’t wait to see the cover too!
I could have written this post. Thanks for doing it for me, Linda. I write about love and relationships as well, and yes, it would be so much easier to pitch a thriller or mystery rather than a book about everyday life and everyday people. I always struggle with the blurb. However, when I write (or read) about “everyday,” I notice how much more luminous “everyday” becomes. Looking forward to the new version of “Illusion!”
It’s not just my own books I struggle with describing, Christa. I can make the most fascinating book sound boring when I try to describe it.
I usually end with something like, “It’s great. You should read it.” That’s why I don’t write many book reviews. The author would probably not thank me even if I gave it five stars. 
Anyway, books about “everyday” people are my fave reads. I’m looking forward to reading the new version of your “Emilia” too.
It’s a lot of fun to step back and look at what you write and why you write it, and what it’s all about too. It says a lot about who we are, I think. All my stories are the same too (believe it or not). Every single one of them deals with the complexity of family relationships.
Well, Michelle, relationships are what we all have to deal with in life—the point of life, actually—so I guess we’re both following the maxim to write what we know even if that takes us in varied directions.
Great post, Linda. I identify.
I love people, but mostly in small doses. I did major in sociology. And my writing is about how the intersection of society and individual plays out. What we’ve been taught about ourselves and our social world can make it hard to know ourselves and accept who we can / must become. (That enormous mouthful shows that I also have trouble condensing my stories’ essence into a thimble.) When my characters eventually find their way from the end of their rope to a better place, it’s because they’ve found the courage to embrace the grace of second (or 42nd) chances and some form of love they didn’t expect.
It’s hard to summarize (without sounding trite) stories that reflect universal longing in individual, deeply felt ways. I wish there was a bookshelf category for this so people could find stories like yours as easily at they can find their next romance / mystery / thriller. Until then, I’m glad you keep writing the stories most meaningful to you. They are the stories most meaningful to many of us.
I enjoyed Brevity of Roses greatly and am looking forward to Illusion!
Thank you, Shelly.
I appreciate your thoughtful response to my post. You said more eloquently what I tried to say. I’m looking forward to reading your novels.
Hmm? Ok, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you had a surprise or two hidden under that sleeve of yours… Horror, perhaps? Perhaps not. How about a whodunit or a thriller? I’ll have to write this date down and check back in another decade or so to see whether this held true or not.
In the meantime, I’m getting very excited to see this newest release of yours. Godspeed, my friend.
-Jimmy
Ha ha, Jimmy, the first novel I ever wrote was horror. It still haunts me.
I hope you mean it haunts you because it was very frightening and not because it was badly written. Now I’m curious. What happened to it? If it never saw the light of day, it sounds like the perfect piece to collaborate on. Lewis and Garcia has a certain ring to it, much like King and Straub. Don’t you think?
It haunts me, Jimmy, because I feel like I gave life to those people and then left them hanging (not literally storywise). Occasionally, I take it out and confirm to myself that I’m a better writer now. I’ve toyed with taking out the supernatural element and salvaging it as a contemporary. But I think it works as a horror.
Collaborate???? LOL
or rather mwahhahaha Spoken like an innocent, AKA someone who’s never tried to work with me.
*laughs* I’ve never read it and agree that it works better as horror, too.
I’ve never tried working with anyone on anything before either. See, it’s perfect! Hmm? Okay. Perhaps we’ll wait until we’re both big shots in the industry. Then we’ll do it!
Well, what do you think of this weather? I hate the summer heat, so I rarely complain during this time of year. We are getting some sun today, so that’s kind of nice. Have a great finish to the weekend. Talk soon.
-Jimmy
Sun again today, Jimmie. I guess, this is the time to clean up my flower beds.
You know, I guess I never thought much about WHY writers collaborate. Hmmmm.