jpskewedthrone | Author Introduction: Kate Elliott (Reply)

It is time yet again for another Author Introduction. However, this time, I'm going to tell you a story about the author, and then introduce her new book. I have a rather personal connection to this author (made before I was published) and I thought it would be a good thing to share, since there is often a perception among aspiring authors that the published authors are guarding some closely held secret or key and are bastards for not sharing. There is not secret. There is no key. To get published, you need to write a good book and get that good book to the right person by submitting it (and getting rejected along the way). So today's Author Introduction is being done by me, from my perspective, and I hope the author in question--Kate Elliott (

kateelliott)--doesn't mind. I hope you enjoy.

Author Introduction: Kate Elliott (by Joshua Palmatier)

I want to tell everyone how I met Kate Elliott, and in the process thank her for everything that she's helped me with over the years in the publishing industry by pointing out that she has a new book out. Everyone should go check it, and all of her previous books, out. To see if they'd be something you'd be interested in reading. It's the least I can do for what Kate Elliott has done for me.

When I first began grad school for my Master's degree in mathematics, I made a little extra money on the side by working at a local bookstore called the "Little Professor Bookstore" in State College, PA. At one point, I found out that there were a few SF and Fantasy authors that lived in the area, namely Kate Elliott. I gasped. I had some of Kate Elliott's books! In a fit of fannish glee, I asked if I could invite Kate Elliott to come to the bookstore for a signing. The owner agreed and so I contacted her and she agreed to come.

I began to prepare.

Turns out, I was the creative one artistically at the bookstore (who knew?) and so I did a front window display. I made sure books were on hand. I made sure the science fiction section was in tip-top order. I set up the table, a chair, stacked the books, and then the day of the signing came.

And no one showed. Well, I showed of course. *grin* I felt HORRIBLE. I got Kate a drink, sat and talked to her as much as I could while the hour dragged on and on and on and still no one showed. But I had a great conversation with Kate, had her sign the copies of her books that I'd brought, had her sign the stock in the store . . . and when she left the store with no one else showing for the signing, I felt horrible.

Except for one thing: During the course of the conversation, she'd found out that I'd written a novel. And she'd offered to take a look at it. Now, no aspiring writer should expect published writers to look at their books. There are many various and serious reasons for this, including the legal threat that someone will claim the published author "stole" and idea from them. Another (somewhat selfish)reason is that published writers don't often have time to read stuff they WANT to read for fun in the first place; we're too busy writing and/or reading research for our writing. I didn't expect Kate Elliott to look at my writing. But I wasn't going to pass up the opportunity either.

So I passed on my novel (the first one I'd written, called "Sorrow"). And Kate Elliott read it. I'm not sure how much of it she read, but her main piece of advice . . . was to cut out about 40% of the words.

*sigh*

I think this is something that all aspiring writers end up going through: the massive rewrite that consists mostly of cutting nearly half of the words. It's a great exercise. I know that alot of the unpublished works that I've read suffer from wordage, and my main suggestion is to cut like crazy. It gives the story alot more focus, and seriously makes the writer think about what's important for the story, and what's in there just because it sounds cool.

In any case, I did as Kate Elliott suggested, and the book was much better for it. Even though it hurt. *grin* In the meantime, Kate helped me with a few other things. I went to my first convention with her and she introduced me to a few other people, and showed me how conventions worked. I didn't meet my agent through her, or my editor either (although in the end we both were published by the same editor at DAW). She was GOING to introduce me to her editor at a con, but we never ended up at the same con together at the same time after that first con. Not until after I'd gotten published. But she did encourage me, give me feedback, and generally helped when there was no reason for her to help me at all. And that encouragement helped, perhaps more than the actual suggestions about revisions and stuff in the end. Because the publishing business can be harsh (see my previous post about finding an agent), and it's certainly discouraging when you submit and submit and submit and get rejection after rejection after rejection. Having a published author telling me that the rejections weren't as bad as they sounded helped me develop some thicker skin, which is needed for the industry.

So thank you, Kate Elliott. I appreciate all of the help you gave me along the way, most importantly the emotional support when things were looking bleak. I also enjoyed the occasional game night with the family, when we managed to get together. *grin* I hope this little thank you post manages to gain you a few extra fans. It's the least I can do.

So, all of you readers out there, if you haven't checked out Kate Elliott, do so. I hope that I can pay it forward as well as Kate Elliott did (and is still doing . . . although please do NOT hound her or me with requests to read your manuscripts; see the above note about that little legal problem about plaigarism that none of us authors ever want to face).

Kate Elliott's Books

The Jaran series