Thursday, February 23, 2012

Interview: Jillian Chantal Serves Up Enticing Shorts

This blog welcomes our first author interview thanks to friend and multi-published author Jillian Chantal - by day mild-manner lawyer, by night passion-enflamed writer of numerous novels, novellas and short stories.
Jillian’s first novel Solo Honeymoon was publish by Siren Bookstrand in November 2010.  Since then she has continued to delight readers with more.  Surfer Bride published in February 2011, Redemption for the Devil published in July 2011 by Desert Breeze Publishing and Sebastian’s Salvation just released February 7th, 2012.
But besides these amazing novels, Jillian has recently published two novellas Sophie’s Snow Day in the Snow Bound anthology, and Coroner’s Delight in Valentine’s Delights both offered by Still Moments Publishing and she has still more coming out this year. 
So today, I invited Jillian here to share with us her writing history, process, and secrets of writing shorter fiction.
Tell us a little of your writing history.  Which came first novels or shorts?
Jillian:  The first three romance "books" I wrote all the way to the words THE END were about 35,000 words each which is considered novella length.  After that, I wrote a few stories under 2,500 words for fun and to work on various aspects of the craft. These short stories were not romances. I then found a cool website that puts out calls for short stories and submitted some of mine. They were accepted and I initially had all my work published under my real name. 
Jillian Chantal is your pseudonym.  How did that come to be?
Jillian:  When I decided to try to publish the romances, I happened to be sitting in a room with a bunch of Federal court lawyers, mostly male, and I decided then and there that I better come up with a pseudonym if I didn't want the incessant buzz of these guys wondering if I was thinking of them when I wrote my love scenes- and believe me, they would. They'd get great enjoyment out of teasing me about it. You said above that I'm mild mannered but I'm really not when I'm in lawyer mode. I wasn't ready to risk my street cred by chatting about romance to the old boys club. LOL!
How do you decide on your stories’ length?
Jillian:  I always believe the story determines the length. I'm a person who starts to write with a basic idea and just goes with the flow. If the story seems to grow organically into something longer, I keep going with it. I DO believe that writing short is helpful in learning how to write tight.  I once had a friend tell me that I write like a man. I was a bit insulted until she said the man she meant was Hemingway. LOL!  I like tight sentence structure and plotting. I believe being versatile in writing both long and short makes for better prose.
Do you personally prefer novella, novel, or shorter length?  
Jillian:  I like novellas both for reading and writing. I tend to write shorter even on my novels because I don't like repetition. When I was in law school, I would be assigned a twenty page paper and get it done in fifteen. This carries over into my fiction work. Get in, tell the story and get out. That's my philosophy.  Now, that being said, I've had one reviewer say about one of my shorter stories that she wished it was a novel and I had one short story rejected by a publisher who said it needed to  be a novel. 
What about POV in a novella?  One?  Two?  More?
In a romance, I like to do POV scenes from both the hero and heroine's eyes. I think it makes for a better story. In my other shorts, I usually stay with one POV.  Again, I think it would be driven by the story. In Redemption for the Devil, I have the hero and heroine's POV but I also have a scene with the villain's POV. As well, in my book to be released in April, called The Gambler, I have a scene in the heroine's sister's POV as the information needed to be out there but the hero and heroine couldn't know it at the time. 
What about time frame in a novella?
Jillian:  It must be a tighter time frame for sure. In novels, you can skip weeks between chapters  but that doesn't work so well in a novella.
How about setting? And how does it differ from a novel?
Jillian:  In a novel of 80,000 words or more, a writer can travel the world and insert numerous settings, but in a novella of around 40,000 words, it's hard to get more than a few places in there and do a good job of it. In a 8,000 word story, it's even harder. I think you have to do enough description to ground your reader to time and place. 
What is the most difficult part of writing a novella for you?
Jillian:  One thing I have a problem with is trying to be sure I stay away from certain what I call "crutch" words. I tend to overuse one to two words in each story- usually not the same one. That habit becomes more of an issue in the novella or short story as opposed to the novel. Since there are less words overall, the over-used ones become more noticeable. 
I love how you named your character in Surfer Bride, two road signs on the Highway 10 drive to Tallahassee FL.  Quincy Holt - amazing.  Good use of time on that dreary drive.

Any differences with how you plan, or invent characters for novellas as compared to novels?
Jillian:  Not really. I'm not much on planning. I usually start with the hero's name and a little bit of an idea of where it's going. I wrote a 70,000 word mystery with the only idea being that the protagonist is Jewish, owns a book store and hosts a murder mystery gathering. That's it.  
I also do some of my best plotting, such as it is, on trips, like that drive to Tallahassee. I've had whole short stories come to me on those drives as well as scenes in the novels I'm currently working on and then I itch to get home and get it down.
Have you ever worked Flash Fiction?
Jillian:  I have. I love writing super short. I've never had any published but they are fun to do. Getting a whole plot in 750-1000 words is a challenge but I love it- I think it flexes the brain muscle. 
What are you working on now?
Jillian:  I'm polishing book three of my series coming soon from Desert Breeze Publishing- It's called The Gambler's Daughter. I'm also working on a short story that I plan to submit to Still Moments Publishing, one of my other publishers- it's set on the beach.  I like to write a few short stories between novels to keep myself busy as I usually like to let a novel sit for a month or so before I start to polish it.  I try to write every day and recommend that as a good habit to develop. I don't always succeed in doing it, but I sure try.
Any other advice for writers wanting to work on shorter fiction?
Jillian:  Keep studying the writers you like and the way they do things. Reading is the best teacher. See what you like about certain stories and what you don't. Try to avoid the things that drive you crazy in others' writings. Look on-line to see what calls are out there for short stories and start sending some in. Most have themes and word counts. Practice using those themes as prompts and staying in the word count. That will teach you to write tight and get rid of unneeded words. I like this site:
                                                              http://www.duotrope.com/index.aspx 
They send an email each week with tons of places looking for stories. I find a lot of my places to submit there. 
Great resource Jillian.  Thanks for stopping by and sharing your view of writer short lengths.  And good luck with your current and next releases.  You can check out Jillian’s website for more information about her books, blog and upcoming releases.
                                                                          www.jillianchantal.com

Feel free to add your comments for Jillian or anything on writing short.

28 comments:

  1. Thanks for letting me pop in and yammer on a bit today, Suzanne. It was a pleasure.

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    1. It was fascinating and informative and good luck with your new releases and the upcoming ones as well.

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    2. Thanks for the good wishes, Suzanne!

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  2. Thanks for the tips, Jillian. I also tend to write short and have to push myself to flesh out a full lenth novel. Though I'm not a lawyer, I've worked in three different law firms, so I totally get your desire to keep your identity a secret!

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    1. Thanks for stopping by Ally. I agree with you the full length novel is a big stretch for me, and I like being able to keep the whole piece in my mind at one time. I am able to do this with the shorter length. But Jillian is a master at it.

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    2. Thanks Ally. Some of the folks I deal with all the time know and I'm not really hiding it just not broadcasting. Lol. I guess if I did, I could have bigger sales, but I do it for the love of story, not wealth. So, it works out.

      Thanks for calling me a master, Suzanne. Made my day!

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  3. Wow, Jillian.

    I'm in awe of you and anyone who can create a compelling story with such a compressed word count. I've never bothered to even try writing short, since I figured my head would explode or I would be so discouraged I would never write another word. You go girl.

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    1. Thanks for stopping by. I agree, Jillian's success is awesome.

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    2. You cracked me up, Mac. I have this picture of an exploding head now. What a shame to get all that stuff on the keyboard. Lol. Stick to novels, I'd miss you if your head exploded.

      Thanks Suzanne. My head is going to be too big to fit in my car in a minute.

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  4. Hi Suzanne and Jillian~

    Great interview! I love reading and writing shorts the most! Thank you Jillian for an awesome resource! :)

    ~Jane~

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    1. Thanks Jane. Hope all that rambling helped a bit!

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  5. Hi Jillian, when you talked about being in a room with male colleagues and not wanting them to know what you write, I recalled a funny story. I was at a college reunion and my neighbor got a little tipsy, she told the men I wrote smut - which I don't - it's romance. ha! those guys followed me around like puppy dogs all night. I've never gone to another reunion.

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    1. Kylie, that is too funny. A little smut and you had them drooling I bet.

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    2. Love that story, Kylie. Maybe I should try that. If they're following and drooling, maybe they'd forget their legal arguments and I could win easier? Lol.

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  6. Hi, Jillian!

    When I was a young mother I only had time to read short stories. You could find them in every woman's magazine. Then they went the way of the Dodo. I am so happy they are back.

    This was a great interview and I would love to see you in lawyer mode.

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    1. Thanks Liberty, I'm a pretty kick butt lawyer- even if I say so myself. LOL!

      I'm super glad short stories are back. LOVE them. always have and at least now I can read some besides the ones I wrote. Hehehe

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  7. Great interview. I started writing novel length romances but have been more successful with shorter stuff. It's easier to edit too. And of course in our fast paced society a quick read is just what a lot of people are looking for to read. Thanks for a great interview and good information.

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    1. Congrats on your success with shorter stuff. I agree the edits are easier for me on the shorter pieces. Thanks for stopping by.

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    2. Amen on the quick reads in our fast paced time!

      Yep, shorts are easier to finish writing, too. Glad you're rocking on with them!

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    3. Glad you're rocking on with the shorts, Dandwh. They are fun and easier to finish than the novels. For sure

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  8. It seems with e-books shorter stories are getting more popular. Sort of taking the place of magazine's.

    Jillian I am so happy for your successes. You and your stories deserve it.

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    1. And I heard in Japan, cell phone shorts are very popular. I can't imagine.

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  9. Hi, I've been writing shorts for threeish years now and have sold many. I like the in and out and no sagging middle aspects. LOL. I tend to use first pov because I like the intimacy it lends.

    Good post!

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    1. I agree, no sagging middles, no time. And I also love first person, and with a short it is harder to get bored with the character as the author or the reader, I think.

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  10. What great information. Thank you so much for the information about writing short. It certainly would help those who have a problem getting to the point of their story.

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    1. That is true. And I can forget about my secondary characters and subplots in novel length, with shorts I don't have to worry about this.

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  11. I'm just now branching out into shorts, so I appreciate the advice, Jillian.

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    1. Thanks for stopping by and good luck with the shorts.

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