Tag Archives: novella

Works, Writing Life

Why novellas rock

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I’ll be honest: even at 99¢, my novella never sold as well as my novels. (At free, of course, it soundly beats them in numbers.) While lots of people out there are very excited about the apparent revival of shorter or mid-length fiction in the e-reader revolution, I’m still MrNiceSpy_CVR_LRGskeptical. I wrote my first novella because I wanted to be able to launch with more than one book, and because I wanted to be able to give away a freebie.

Um, that sounds pretty mercenary of me.

It’s worked, however—to an extent. I’ve given away thousands of copies of Mr. Nice Spy. Obviously I don’t know how many of those free books have actually been read, and what fraction of those readers went on to buy my novels, but . . . it hasn’t seemed like a ton have.

So why did I bother writing another novella?

I almost didn’t.

But the story really intrigued me. As soon as I knew what type of circumstances Elliott and Talia met under, I wanted to know the full story. Because it sounded like fun. I desperately needed fun.

SpyNoon_CVR_LRGSo I blocked out some time—crazy short time— and sat down. And the story just flowed.

I’m a plotter by nature, but I went really really loose for this outline. Like, “In chapter 4, we have a chase of some kind. Or not.” And yet with such a short piece, the threads came together really quickly. Within just a few days, I had a really solid first draft—and possibly my best-ever spy plot.

Another advantage? Editing is so fast. You can change major story elements just by editing a few scenes. You can hold the whole story in your head really easily and jump around as needed. Beta readers get back to you super fast. Proofreading takes one morning.

As an indie publisher, I get to set my production schedule, and I set the bar too high last year (and quite possibly again this year). And yet I still managed to squeeze in this story in a day here and a weekend there.

Will I write another novella? I have one more prequel novella bouncing around in my brain, and now I think it really needs to be shared. But only if I can have fun with it 😉 .

What do you think? Have you ever written a novella? Why or why not?

Today’s Tour Stops

Go visit Jae Randall & Rebecca Shelley!

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Works, News & Contests

Announcing Spy Noon

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Cover reveal & other fun news!

Today, my self-publishing nuts-and-bolts column premieres at Janice Hardy’s blog, The Other Side of the Story! Come find out if you’re good enough: evaluating whether you’re ready for self-publishing!

Many thanks to everyone who voted in New LDS Fiction’s 2013 Mystery/Suspense Cover Contest—I, Spy won! And the competition was awesome! Today is the last day to vote for the best cover overall, so go choose your favorite!

I, Spy was reviewed by BarnesandNobleReview.com columnist Vanessa Kelly, and her kind words have kept me dancing for two days! Plus the review was picked up on the Nook blog.

Due to technical difficulties, the linky for the Indie Author Resources Blog Fest malfunctioned. I’ll keep it open a while longer for anyone who tried to participate but couldn’t!

And on to today’s biggest news!

It’s the day a significant proportion of the population dreads—a day they are reminded of everything they don’t have—a day that lives in infamy. You may know it as “Valentine’s Day,” but if you’re unattached, a better name might be . . . Singles Awareness Day.

On the other hand, there are worse fates than being alone, even on Valentine’s Day. For example, a totally hot guy you can’t seem to get away from, pursuing you when you’re really not interested—and he can’t take a hint. CIA operative Talia Reynolds doesn’t do romance, but her new coworker doesn’t care. Spy Noon, an “anti-romance” and a prequel novella to I, Spy, is coming February 3, 2014!

Already know you’re going to read it? Add Spy Noon on Goodreads.

Today, I’m especially excited to reveal the cover and give away an ARC! But first, a little more about the book.

About the Book

Canada’s the last place you’d expect to find an American spy, but CIA operative Talia Reynolds has problems piling up higher than a Canadian snowbank. When Elliott Monteith, her ridiculously handsome new coworker, shows up (and shows her up), Talia decides it’s game on. She’ll be the first to track down a dangerous counter-spy, and she’ll give Elliott an unforgettable souvenir of his time in Ottawa: some humble pie.

Her plans don’t work as well as she expects, though. Elliott’s over-the-top flirting dredges up too many painful memories for Talia and undermines the confidence she’s worked hard to regain. To do her job and keep her integrity intact, she’ll have to keep her personal feelings at bay. Now Talia must find a way to work alongside Elliott—and maybe even trust him—to outsmart the enemy.

And now for the cover!


The Spy Another Day series
I, Spy
Book One		 Spy for a Spy
Book Two		 Mr. Nice Spy
FREE Prequel novella
To save her secrets and her country, CIA operative Talia Reynolds must sacrifice the man she loves. Talia’s new boss is her ex-boyfriend. And that’s the just beginning of her problems. Elliott Monteith must choose between his fiancée and his fellow spy. Cake.
Chronologically, Spy Noon is the first in the series.

Praise for the series

A fast-paced, crisply written story with entertaining plot twists, told in a first person, wryly self-deprecating narrative voice. . . . I, Spy is a well-crafted romantic suspense with humor, heart, and a uniquely engaging heroine.

— Vanessa Kelly, Love Rocks column, BarnesAndNobleReview.com

 

I knew by the first page that I was going to love [I, Spy]. I absolutely loved Talia’s inner voice. . . . The plot is enjoyable and I loved the action! I really could not guess what was going to happen next. There were so many surprises at the turn of each page, especially during the climax, it didn’t matter what time it was, I had to finish.

— Mindy Holt, LDS Women’s Book Review
One of her top reads of 2013

 

The series has this great combination of sarcasm and wit in the MC, great chemistry and dialogue between her and her love interest, and then a whole slue of spying, deception, intrigue, and danger. Especially of that last one. . . .

I thoroughly enjoyed [Spy for a Spy]! I would definitely read it again and I am highly anticipating the next book that Jordan McCollum writes! If you enjoy action-adventure, suspense, or books about characters who are spies and some romance, then I would definitely recommend this.

— Tressa, Tressa’s Wishful Endings

 

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About the author


An award-winning author, Jordan McCollum can’t resist a story where good defeats evil and true love conquers all. In her day job, she coerces people to do things they don’t want to, elicits information and generally manipulates the people she loves most—she’s a mom.

Jordan holds a degree in American Studies and Linguistics from Brigham Young University. When she catches a spare minute, her hobbies include reading, knitting and music. She lives with her husband and four children in Utah.

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Add Spy Noon on Goodreads today!

Many thanks to everyone helping out with the cover reveal today: Mindy Holt, Tressa’s Wishful Endings, Julie Coulter Bellon & Emily Gray Clawson!

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Writing Life

Swinging for the fences (subplots to resume next week!)

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This week, I decided to try something a little crazy. My husband was going to be out of town Monday and Tuesday, and my kids go to bed early, so I’d have my evenings to myself. What’s my favorite thing to do when that happens? Write with reckless abandon, of course.

And so I decided to go full force on the reckless abandon part. I decided to challenge myself: could I write a novella in two days? I’ve written novels in two weeks, but this would be pushing it—averaging 9,000 words a day, nearly double my usual “Fast Draft” method.

The short answer: no. When my husband got home late last night, I called it quits to spend time with him. But when I finished last night, I had 16,000 shiny new words. From two days of work.

I gotta do this every week!

fast fingers

The biggest lesson I saw from this was the importance of goal setting. On Monday, I set a goal of 8000 words (I had to take time for grocery shopping and finishing up book blast things). I stayed up way too late, but I met that goal while running a household with four little kids by myself. (I even did my own dishes!)

Tuesday, I had to swing for the fences. I set a goal of 10,000 words. Ten. Thousand. By midnight, I had written 8000 words.

I didn’t meet my goal—I fell short by about 2000 words. But, I figured, after two days of a jabillion words, I could knock that out in the morning, right?

Uh yeah. It took until 10 PM to get those last words, and not because the story was tough or I didn’t know what came next. I knew exactly what was supposed to happen. But apparently writing abhors a vacuum, and having so little pressure on myself to get the words . . . I didn’t.

So to borrow the cliché, swing for the fences. You might not write 10,000 words in a day—but you’ll geta heck of a lot farther than if you’re only aiming for first base.

(And yes, this is why there’s no post on subplots today. Next time!)

What do you think? How do your goals affect your outcome?

Photo by Katie Krueger

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Publishing, Reading

Music singles are to novellas and shorts as albums are to . . . ?

Hint: NOT novels.

But first! On Friday, I guest posted at Janice Hardy’s blog on Five steps to better character arcs! I was a little busy with the blogfest Friday—we had eight great entries in our blogfest! I’m happy to award an Amazon gift card to a participant, chosen at random, and that winner is . . .

MARSHA WARD!

On its face, the popular analogy seems apt. In the last decade, although albums are still popular, music has largely broken free of the “form” of the album, with the single coming to dominate. It appears the same revolution is coming in fiction, with novellas, short stories and other short works—even the pertinently named “Kindle Singles” program&madsh;gaining popularity all the time.

And of course that means novels will probably become as obsolete as albums have. I mean, who buys CDs these days? (Hint: people still buy print books. Not sure on CDs…)

This is where the analogy breaks down. A novel (from most authors) is not like an album of music (from most artists). For most artists, an album is a compilation of songs which may mostly or all also be released as singles. Most of the time, the singles aren’t necessarily thematically, stylistically or otherwise related. In fact, I’m sure some artists strive for a lot of variety on an album.

What’s the equivalent of an album of music in fiction, then? A compilation, an anthology or a short story cycle. It’s a collection of shorter works, which might be related through the same characters or themes or settings, but they might not.

How is a novel different?

A novel is more than just a collection of shorter works. A novel (we hope!) develops the characters and plots to a more complex level. Novels can have more depth in characterization, themes, subplots, and exploring all these elements.

If we want to shoehorn this into the music analogy, I’d probably have to say that artists who construct an album as a cohesive whole, rather than writing individual songs as separate works. (Artists like Pink Floyd spring to mind, as well as The Who’s rock operas.)

What do you think? Music singles : Kindle singles :: albums : ??

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Works, News & Contests

Announcing Mr. Nice Spy!

Yep, that’s right—I’m debuting another book! Mr. Nice Spy is a prequel novella to I, Spy, and it will be available in eBook format only. Join my mailing list for a chance to get a review copy!

About the novella

Canada is probably the last place you’d expect to find an American spy. CIA operative Elliott Monteith has made it work, just like he’s made things work with his longtime fiancée Shanna. Until Shanna lays out an ultimatum: move forward or move on. Meanwhile, Elliott and his best friend and fellow operative, Talia Reynolds, try to track an elusive leak at the American embassy.

But something changes between Elliott and Talia as they close in on the man selling out his country. Professional and personal lines blur and Elliott has to choose—his fiancée or his best friend.

Read an excerpt from Mr. Nice Spy

And now for the cover!

MrNiceSpy_CVR_LRG

More about Mr. Nice Spy
Join my mailing list for a chance to get a review copy!

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