Paula Graves - June 2006

We're thrilled to introduce you to our fellow chapter member-both of Southern Magic and Heart of Dixie! Paula Graves has been writing since she was six, but it wasn't until she was out of college that she began aiming for publication. In 2005, she sold her first book, Forbidden Territory, which will be released as a Harlequin Intrigue in June 2006. She is a multiple contest winner and works full-time as an advertising creative director and graphic designer.

Angel: Hi, Paula! Why don't you tell us a little about yourself and your writing journey before "The Call"?

Paula Graves: I've been writing about as long as I can remember.  My first finished work was an adventure tale starring my neighborhood friends and me.  I was six.  I made my own cover with crayon drawings on dark blue construction paper.  I have no idea where that seminal work finally ended up--probably in the trash.

A: How many manuscripts did you finish before you sold?

PG: Not counting the above-mentioned pre-school story, seven.  Three of which will never see the light of day again.  I've finished another one since I sold.

A: What inspired Forbidden Territory? How did it come to be the one that sold?

PG: Answering the last question first, if I knew how it came to be the one that sold, I'd write a non-fiction book on how I did it and how you can do it, too.  Then I'd really be rich!  Seriously, Forbidden Territory has some really great characters (at least I think they're great!), an emotionally wrenching plot, lots of spooky atmosphere and a happy ending.  Who wouldn't want to buy a book like that? 

As for what inspired it, the story came together from two distinct ideas.  First, I'd just read a book written by a friend that had a secondary character, a private detective, who was trying to quit smoking and not having much luck.  I loved the idea of a guy who's hero material except he can't quit smoking.  I toyed with the idea of a hero addicted to nicotine gum, but later changed it to an addiction to antacids. The second part of my idea--a psychic who is desperately trying to stop having visions, came out of my love for all things paranormal.  I'm pretty much a stone-cold skeptic about such things, but to quote Fox Mulder's office poster, "I want to believe."  The character of Lily came out of that, and I put her together with poor, antacid-popping, uber-skeptic McBride and the child abduction he was investigating.  It was a spark-inducing match.

A: What was the most helpful advice you received? What one piece of advice do you wish you'd ignored?

PG: The most helpful advice I ever received was to accept that there's no such thing as an easy path to publication, so don't waste time trying to find it.  Just put your backside in a chair, put your fingers on the keyboard and keep writing until you come up with something an editor wants to buy. 

I'm not sure I've ever gotten any bad advice that I didn't ignore, thank goodness.

A: You were pretty active on the contest circuit. Could you tell me why you chose to do this? Some of the pros and cons?

PG: There were two things that drove me to the contest circuit: my competitive nature and my complete inability to write a decent query and synopsis.  Fellow writers in my local RWA chapter were finaling in and winning contests; I couldn't let myself lag behind.  Pride was involved.  Also, when you final, sometimes editors ask to see your full manuscript without your having to write a sassy, attention-getting query and synopsis.  Win-win situation!  I entered only the contests with editors I thought might ask to see my manuscripts.  That's how I kept the cost down to something I could afford. 

The pros are obvious--a contest win led directly to my sale.  The cons are that there are a lot of pitfalls you have to know how to avoid, such as spending too much money, entering contests and never finaling, entering the wrong contests for your manuscript, or spending too much time polishing the first chapter of your only manuscript rather than writing new stuff.  But a smart writer can learn what to avoid and how to make contests work for her.

A: Tell me about the time between "The Call" and when your book actually hit the shelf in May. For the uninitiated, what all was involved in getting your manuscript into publication?

PG: First, there's the verbal agreement to the sale.  Once I gave the editor that, while I was waiting for the hard copy of the contract, my editor sent me the Art Fact Sheet to fill out.  It's a standard Harlequin/Silhouette form that asks questions about your manuscript, your characters, your setting, and specific scenes in order to give the cover artist something to go on when he or she is putting together your cover art.

The editor also asked for any dedication I wanted to put in the front of the book, plus a brief bio.  And since I sold to Harlequin Intrigue, I had to write and send a Cast of Characters for the opening pages of the book.

Next came the contract.  A lot of writers have agents to handle that for them.  I didn't.  However, Harlequin's contract is pretty much boilerplate, at least for a first time writer, so I didn't have to know much.  Still, if you think you're getting close to selling, you should check out the articles on the RWA website. There are several that deal with what to do when you get The Call and what you need to know beforehand.

Harlequin sent back my copy of the signed contract, along with the check for the first half of my advance.  My editor had given me fairly extensive revisions.  I had a deadline to meet and serious rewriting to do.  I made a point of beating my deadline.  I've tried to do that with every deadline that's come up so far;  you want the editor to trust that you'll deliver on or before the deadline.

After the revisions were accepted, I received the second half of my advance.  A few weeks after that, I received my editor's line edit and the copy editor's notes.  I made changes directly on the line-edited manuscript my editor sent, sending back only the pages I made changes to.

Finally, I received a sheet called the Author Alterations sheet.  I got one last look at the manuscript, as it would appear in print, and caught any last minute errors the copy editor or the data entry person may have made.

After that, I received a copy of my cover art and the blurb that goes on the back of the book. I really love my cover!  I expect to get my contracted free author copies next, hopefully in the next month or so.

A: What have you enjoyed the most about selling? What have you disliked?

PG: I think what I've enjoyed most is the sense that I've finally reached a goal that I wanted so badly but wasn't sure I'd ever accomplish.  Since childhood, I've known that I simply had to write.  I never stopped wanting to tell stories, never stopped trying to figure out how to do it in a way that would make my passion marketable so that I could share it with other people.  Finally selling was a huge sense of validation and relief.

I also love seeing my name up on Amazon.com, or as I call it, "Paula's Personal Shopping Mall."

It's hard to think of something I've disliked about selling.  I guess maybe the pressure, now, to sell book two.  I mean, who wants to be a one-book wonder?  There's always a new goal to reach.  No time for sitting around, basking in the glow of your sale. 

A: Do you have a particular author who mentored you or made the most impact on you?

PG: The first name that comes to mind is Gayle Wilson, who's an RWA chaptermate and one of the most sensible, encouraging people I know.  She's happy to answer even stupid questions, gives great advice, and her head is screwed on straight when it comes to this business.  And I love, love, love her writing.  She's the one who inspired me to write for Intrigue. 

My friend Kristen Robinette has been one of my biggest cheerleaders.  She was my first writing friend, and her passionate belief in Forbidden Territory is what made me pull it out of the closet and give it one more look. 

Linda Howard, Beverly Barton and Linda Winstead Jones were among my first influences when I first joined RWA. Like Gayle, they're patient, savvy and supportive writers who are happy to give great advice and encouragement to aspiring writers.

And since my sale, both Debra Webb and Rhonda Nelson have been a huge help to me in figuring out what steps to take next in my career.

A: Do you have any craft books that taught you a lot?

PG: My shelves are full of great craft books.  The ones that probably had the most influence are Dwight Swain's Techniques of the Selling Writer, Debra Dixon's Goal, Motivation and Conflict, and Leslie Wainger's Writing a Romance Novel for Dummies.

There are also non-craft books I've found indispensable for a romantic suspense writer, including John Douglas's books on criminal profiling, the Writer's Digest "Howdunit" series, and Ronald Kessler's books on the FBI and the CIA.

A: Are you doing any kind of marketing for Forbidden Territory, since it is a category book?

PG: I have a website and a blog, and I also blog regularly on my local RWA chapter's new group blog, Romance Magicians (romancemagicians.blogspot.com). I'm also part of a couple of group websites, the Intrigue Authors site and the Ghophers, a site for writers who finaled in the 2004 Golden Heart contest.  My book title and my website information are part of my e-mail sig line as well as my eHarlequin community boards signature.  I've designed and printed bookmarks and bought pens imprinted with either my book title or just basic information about me as a writer, which I've sent as freebies or goodie bag stuffers for reader and writer events.  And I talk up my book every chance I get. But for a first category-length book, that's probably all the marketing I'll do.

A: How do you balance your writing commitments with your full-time job and life?

PG: It takes some doing.  On one hand, I'm single and childless, which is probably helpful.  On the other hand, my mom, my sister and her two young children live with me, so I don't really get to miss out on the chaos.  But at least I can send the whining children to their mother if they start bothering me.

I do work full time, but I try to make the most of the bits of time available, like my lunch hour at work or evenings and weekends.  I try to put myself on a writing schedule when I'm working on a new project--at least two or three pages a day and more on the weekends.  I can pretty easily write two or three pages in an hour, and I can usually find an hour of time, between my lunch hour and my evenings, to get those pages done.

I create a spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel to help me track my writing progress.  It gives me the incentive to write when my brain tells me I'd rather be playing online pool.  I do like to see the book pages add up on my spreadsheet!

A: What's coming in the near future for you?

PG: My editor liked the proposal I sent her for the sequel to Forbidden Territory, featuring one of my heroine's sisters, who also has a special gift.  So I'll be polishing up the full for that over the next couple of weeks and getting it ready to out to my editor.  After that, I'm working on creating an ongoing series for Intrigue featuring characters who work for an international security and threat management firm.  Everyone who works there had some involvement in a fictional terrorist incident that took place a few years earlier.  What each of the characters experienced during that crisis will have ongoing repercussions for them in the present.

For Fun:

A: What is the one thing we'd be surprised to learn about you? 

PG: I used to be an online chat host for AOL's now-defunct X-Files Fan Forum.  Oh, and I learned to play the baritone horn in a week after the entire low brass section of my high school band graduated.

A: If you had an unexpected afternoon off work and free of commitments, what would you do?

PG: I'd write.  Really.  I so rarely get that long a stretch of free time to devote to my stories, I'd be like a kid in a candy store.

However, if I didn't have a project in the works, I'd probably go fishing with my mom.

Drop in and say hi to Paula via her website or blog and be sure to enter this month's contest to win an autographed copy of Paula's Forbidden Territory!

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