writing - Karen A. Chase

Bonjour 40 – Le livre est arrivé!

December 14, 2012 By Karen A. Chase

Bonjour 40: A Paris Travel Log, the print version, is now available on Amazon!! Oh la la!

So many readers asked for it and it’s finally here. After the success of the eBook and receiving an eLit award, I went out to find an agent and a traditional publisher. But then I got to wondering what kind of book they would make. What would it look like? What would the design feel like compared to my trip? I’m a professional designer, and we like things just so. After some searching and a lot of encouragement, I eventually gave in… no, stepped up, and said, “Karen, you can do this.”

So I combed through the thousands of photos from the trip, and added in some new text. Then I went at it. Now it is 132 full-color pages, 8.5×8.5, with over 100 images. It feels more like a photo journal and a pictorial journey through Paris, but it still has my stories about a strange pillow and Bandit the dog.

If you loved the eBook, I hope the print version will be on your gift list–for yourself and others. Joyeux Noël.

For those who want to know how I produced the book, my process included:

~ InDesign for the page layout of the interior and cover.
~ Photoshop to crop, resize and color correct all 109 images.
~ Worked with April Michelle Davis to edit the copy in the new layout.
~ Opened an account through Createspace (Amazon’s print self-publishing).
~ Submitted a PDF of my files and they sent me a physical proof.
~ Based on the size and page numbers, Createspace helped me set pricing.
~ Approve it all, and wait 5-7 days for it to hit Amazon.

A few of the inside pages are below. To see more, you can “Look inside” on Amazon.

Bonjour 40 on Amazon

December 7, 2012 By Karen A. Chase

I’ve done it. You probably have, too. I’ve Google searched my own name to see what comes up. This week, I searched Amazon under Bonjour 40: A Paris Travel log. Typing in various words and phrases from the title, I wanted to see what other items might come up. I found a plethora of fun things from teapots to paintings. So, I gathered of few of them to share.

In just a few days, there will also be one more item. A print version of Bonjour 40! Readers who bought the e-book containing nearly 40 images, begged for more. Fans without e-readers begged for print. Those who love to armchair travel holding something tangible, asked when they could get their hands on it. So, here’s the gift I’ve personally designed to bring to all of you.

With over 100 photos, plus a few extra tid-bits, this new expanded version, is an 8.5×8.5, full-color, paperback walk through the streets, markets and delights of Paris. It still has all the content and stories of the original travel log, but now, so much more.

I’m reviewing the proofs now, so stay tuned for the big launch just in time for the holidays! In the meantime, you can click on the image above and find other ways to hold Paris in your hands (my favorite is the My Duckie Paris, black bathtub rubber duckie.)

Bonjour40Proof — My proofing copy of Bonjour 40. It’s 132 pages of over 100 full-color photos, journal entries and more! Coming soon to Amazon!

What’s on My Nightstand: Shelf Pleasure

November 26, 2012 By Karen A. Chase

Today I’m a featured author on Shelf Pleasure, sharing the books on my nightstand. Come check out the picture, the list of books, and stay to peruse their website. It’s a charming “destination spot for women who love reading.” What’s On My Nightstand…

Guest Post: Suzanne Kamata

November 9, 2012 By Karen A. Chase

My guest today is Suzanne Kamata, a novelist and short story writer. She has come to chat about writing, and where the inspiration for her stories originates:

People often ask me how much of my writing is autobiographical. Although I would prefer that readers marvel at my fertile imagination, the honest answer would be that all of my writing is autobiographical, in that it reflects my interests and obsessions. Ideas for stories come from a variety of sources—my daily life in Japan, motherhood, folk tales from traditional cultures, newspaper headlines, travel, lives of the saints, and conversations with others. I keep a clip file of images and articles cut from magazines and newspapers for inspiration.

My story The Rain in Katoomba began with the title. My husband and I took a trip to the Blue Mountains of Eastern Australia several years ago. I was interested in this area because I knew that many artists had settled there. We’d heard that the Three Sisters, a rock formation in Katoomba, was a “must-see,” so we added it to our itinerary. Unfortunately, we had only a long weekend in Australia and the day of our outing was misty and rainy. We stood at the edge of a canyon and saw only fog. “The rain in Katoomba,” I muttered to myself. This ultimately led to a story about an elderly Japanese woman who goes for a walk in the rain and loses her way while absorbed in memories of her youth in Katoomba with her wannabe-artist father. I wove in an aboriginal tale about the formation of the Three Sisters, the rock formation that I never actually got to see in person.

I created a Pinterest inspiration board for my short story collection (which includes the story, The Rain in Katoomba), and I’ve created boards for my other books as well.

Suzanne was born and raised in Grand Haven, Michigan. She is most recently from Lexington, South Carolina, and now lives in Tokushima Prefecture, Japan with her husband and two children. Her short stories, essays, articles and book reviews have appeared in over 100 publications and her work has has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize five times. She is a two-time winner of the All Nippon Airways/Wingspan Fiction Contest.

Travel to the new ShelfPleasure.com

October 19, 2012 By Karen A. Chase

Kristen Weber, who was my editor on Bonjour 40, has just launched a new website! With co-founder Stacy Gerard, they’ve created a website for women who love to read–a destination spot to chat about all things bookish. As they say on their new site, “Shelf Pleasure is a go-to source for the latest book news and trends.”

In their first week, I’ve been fortunate enough to be among the contributors for a fun section called “love/hate,” in an article called Will Travel For Words.

So grab a book, a steaming cup of coffee, and come on over to Shelf Pleasure. Soak yourself in books until your fingers get all pruny.

The Annapolis Bookstore: Used, New, Rare & Remarkable

October 12, 2012 By Karen A. Chase

I sometimes daydream about owning a used bookstore. Several years ago, we were in Annapolis and discovered a tiny one-room bookshop with dark shelves filled with dusty used, new, rare and remarkable books. It is that store I envision (but with a little coffee shop in back).

Last weekend we toured Annapolis and I nearly cried. It was gone. Saddened, we wandered up to the State House, down a crooked street or two. We found another little bookstore. It looked so much like the original. A tad bigger. A coffee shop in the back. They had moved. Grown. Into the perfect shop.

There, a bell jangles over the door. A globe and puffy leather chairs are tucked among books randomly discarded after the notions within them have been plucked. Absorbed. Behind a counter and a mountain of books, sits Mary or Janice, so you see only the top of their head. Or a hand waving hello.

It’s quiet. Warm. Where a neighborhood regular can read his newspaper and sip from a big red coffee mug. Where we could duck out of the weather. And so did a dog. Where the love of books is written on the walls, and a big, soft stuffed bear is waiting with Alice in Wonderland to read along.

I returned twice more. To memorize where they are. To know the women behind the pages. And to take home a tad more remarkable magic from The Annapolis Bookstore upon which to dream.

TravelBooks — Books aren’t always in shelves. Sometimes in piles. Sometimes in suitcases. Here, one is full of travel books.

UniqueJuxtaposition — A sense of humor is evident in the shop.

WallThoughts — On the wall at the top of the spiral staircase.

Throwing Back the (Book) Covers

August 24, 2012 By Karen A. Chase

Confession: I have not read any of the Fifty Shades books. Part of my hesitation is because I have judged those books by the covers. To me, those sleek, modern covers quite simply lack thoughtful or artful design.

The all-grey palette and the simplified layout work for the small icons we see online. However, too much space at the top isn’t balanced with the space at the bottom, so the “#1 Bestseller” line lies too close to the edge of the book. The dull and forgetful Courier-esque type is squeezed tightly against images that hog the layout and are rendered with some of the worst drop shadows in history.

Take a look at those handcuffs (an image in contrast with the word “freed” in the title). How does light coming from the right cast a shadow to the right? It should be on the left. The shadow is also so wide the heavy metal cuffs are actually floating. Look at any object on your desk to see what I mean.

What does design say before you read? Poor layout = poor writing. Thoughtful layout = thoughtful read. Maybe I’m wrong and the covers have drawn in readers, but I suspect sales aren’t handcuffed to the design. I think sales are up because people historically like a scandalous tale, and they are seeing their married friends come into work with smiles on their faces.

Based on the below book covers, I think I’ll pass on the shades and pick up an old copy of Lady Chatterley’s Lover instead.

LadyCover — This cover design balances white space, highlights the title, and the color in the Signet logo matches the woman’s hair so the eye is drawn down across the book title and author’s name.

LadyLucyMcLauchlan — Book covers were once considered art. Lucy McClaughlan did this illustrated design. Her other work is in private collections and the Victoria and Albert Museum, she’s rendered murals on buildings, and was listed in “The 100 Leading Figures in Urban Art.” (I wonder what Doris Lessing would think of dear James?)

Word-sticklers

August 10, 2012 By Karen A. Chase

Last week I was having dinner with my friends Kelly and Sundra, two women who are well-educated, well-read and excellent writers with blogs of their own (click on their names to find them). Odd then, how we all openly admitted to incorrectly spelling some of the simplest words, or as I call them, word-sticklers.

For me, the words are necessity and surprise. Even now, I waited while typing for spell check to correct me. Is there one ‘s’? Is there a second ‘r’ in surprise, because when I type it all I can hear in my head is Gomer Pyle, and I think it looks stupid.

In a letter last week I was texting the sentence: “We will have to asses the situation.” Woa. That’s not the correct spelling for assess. So I did what I call a Porky Pig. I said to myself, “Is it asses, asess, assess? Oh just type evaluate.”

My friends were kind and admitted they too had issues. For Kelly it was the word whether. When she types it, sometimes she doesn’t know whether to use that version, or weather to use this version. For Sundra, it was the word restaurant.

“I always stick that ‘u’ in the wrong place?” she said. I’m sure you weren’t the only one dining out that night who does, Sundra.

I was so happy they admitted it, for it makes it easier now when I do find a word that flabbergasts me. I know I’ll encounter them again. Surprise, surprise, surprise!

Do you have word-sticklers in your life?

Wine — Misspellings make me want a glass of wine. Check out this lovely photograph taken by Ms. Kelly herself for her new blog Austen Hill. (Chronicling the adventures of a 19th century girl living in a modern world…)

Where Do You Research?

July 27, 2012 By Karen A. Chase

This week I was asked where I’ve been conducting research for my novel about the American Revolution. My response was, “would you like that alphabetically or chronologically?” Certainly, I’ve worked with the traditional sources like libraries and archives. However, historical fiction isn’t like non-fiction where you must always go in search of proof. Sometimes it’s in search of opportunities for fiction.

Conflicting viewpoints are one way to find it. Wikipedia. Blogs. Historians. Those resources are filled with proofs and facts, but also opinions, theories and undocumented sources. Where two ideas collide gives me the opportunity to draw out what would happen if one of those two ideas was correct.

I also search for holes. Historical documents, textbooks (especially elementary and high school versions), and websites by historic hobbyists don’t always provide the same level of facts. Where I find a repeated dearth of details with regard to a place, event or time, is a hole I can fill with… well… stuff I make up.

I also research for the senses. I rarely find those in a book, so I travel to actual locations. I want to hear a place, smell it, touch trees, or look at the view – even if they’ve changed. There’s often a nearby museum, and there’s always some historic-ranger-docent guy who loves the place or whose grandpa told stories. I love them. After all, that’s what I do. Tell stories.

How do you conduct historical research for fiction?

Below are my photos from Stratford Hall, about an hour north of Richmond. It was home to the Lee family, who contributed two signers to the Declaration of Independence, and the general of the south, Robert E. Lee.

Bookmaking Part Two: Early Editing

July 13, 2012 By Karen A. Chase

DeerForest — A visual representation of how I felt after receiving early editing comments from my editor. Oh deer, oh dear, oh deer.

In Bookmaking Part One I mentioned working with editors early on to prevent major manuscript overhauls. That post received several comments, so I’ll share a story about how early editing helps with revisions.

I’m writing an historical fiction piece. It’s filled with facts as well as fictional and non-fictional characters. I built character profiles, outlined the fairly complicated plot, and wrote the first chapter. Upon working with the editor who specializes in historical fiction, she sent back concerns and positive comments (as a nice editor will), and announced I was building a great YA novel. What?! Oh no. Adult historical fiction was my intent.

I’ve made my part of my living as an advertising copywriter where I must compress pages of information into smaller bite-sized pieces. So now I wasn’t giving nearly enough weight to details that historic fiction readers truly love. And the POV I had chosen, first-person, would limit the descriptions I could include of the 1776 time-period. Thank heavens I had only twenty pages. Can you imagine trying to go back through three hundred pages to make those kinds of changes?

While some writers like to finish the manuscript before it is edited, it’s important to find a freelance editor who works with your style. Not every editor wants to work with bits and pieces, but if they do, they’ll see the trees before you enter the forest, and can outfit you with the right gear to come out the other side.