Her Own Vietnam

A book tour with coffee and pajamas

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Virtual Book Tour Banner

You may have read stories in which authors recount the travails of their book tours: the exhausting travel, the cold motel rooms, the bookstore audiences composed of one compassionate bookseller and a person waiting out a rainstorm.

Not me. Next week I’ll be doing a virtual book tour – visiting a range of very cool blogs and discussing everything from the challenges of naming characters to the thoughts and inspirations behind specific lines in Her Own Vietnam.

From Monday through Friday, every day I’ll visit a new blog – two blogs on some days. And you’re invited to each one.

Check out the tour schedule here: http://grabthelapels.weebly.com/home/lynn-kanters-virtual-book-tour.

Best of all, you can pour yourself some coffee and join the tour in your pajamas. And if only one person shows up, I’ll never know.

 

Update from Book World

/ lynnkanter / 4 Comments

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It’s taken so long, but now that it’s almost here, I can’t quite believe it. Her Own Vietnam will be published on November 1, 2014 – a little more than 48 hours from now.

So what exactly happens on the publication day?

On November 1, the book becomes available for sale on book websites and in some brick and mortar bookstores. (It’s already available from the publisher, here.) You’ll be able to read Her Own Vietnam as a paperback, a Kindle book, or any other ebook format.

If you belong to Goodreads, they will be giving away two signed copies of Her Own Vietnam starting October 30 at midnight. I’ll post that link when it goes live.

I’ll be skipping around the Internet, being interviewed and posting guest articles at a variety of really cool book blogs and sites. And my publisher is expecting reviews of the novel to appear in some key outlets over the next few weeks.

There’s a way you can get into the act too: by reading Her Own Vietnam and writing a brief review (1-2 sentences will do) on book sites like Amazon and Goodreads.

I’ll be sharing with you all the details as we get closer and closer to the book launch. And after that, Her Own Vietnam will no longer be mine. It will belong to you, the reader.

 

Let the judging begin

/ lynnkanter / 10 Comments

HOV ARC

My ARCs have arrived – the Advanced Reader Copies of my novel. These are real live books that look almost exactly like the final book, except that the text has not yet been proofread and the back cover contains some technical information that won’t be in the final version.

I am not being immodest when I say the book is beautiful. I had nothing to do with its appearance – all praise goes to the designer.

Now what?

The book will be released on November 1. In the meantime, we try to get it reviewed.

My publisher is assiduously contacting book reviewers and review outlets with the hope that they will request an ARC. Many have done so and more, we hope, are pending. 

So many  books, so little time

Of course, requesting an ARC does not mean the person will actually review Her Own Vietnam, much less review it positively. Most book reviewers are writers themselves, many with outside jobs as editors or teachers. They live among teetering stacks of books and articles demanding to be read, beset on all sides by deadlines.

Like all writers, book reviewers live in the condition the novelist Alice McDermott described as “having homework every day for the rest of your life.” And like all devout readers, book reviewers have much more desire than time to read.

But still: a reviewer could be reading my novel right this second with the specific intent of judging it, in print and in public.

Different ways to hear it

Listen to this sentence in your head. You could hear it in at least two ways:

“A reviewer could be reading my novel right now!” [Delight]

“A reviewer could be reading my novel right now!” [Terror]

You be the judge.

My character’s new name

/ lynnkanter / 2 Comments

Last week I asked for help to rename Rosalie Brown, a major character in my novel who shared a first name with my publisher.

People chimed in with an amazing list of suggested first names – 78 in all. Although I only need one at the moment, I will certainly keep this treasure trove of names for future use.

How to name a fictional character

In the world of fiction writers, naming characters can be a challenge, so let me share how I selected a new name out of the 78 suggested ones.

It’s technical

My choice was guided in part by writing issues. The new name had to have the same number of syllables and the same stress pattern as Rosalie, so it would not disrupt the rhythm of the sentences in which the name appears. It also had to sound good with the names of other characters in the book, and be appropriate for the character’s age, gender, race, class, region of the country, etc.

It’s personal

The name had to feel right to me. It had to convey the same kind of strength I think the character has – and it couldn’t be a name I associate strongly with a real person in my life. Among the suggestions were the names of my grandmother, my best friend’s mother, several friends, and an ex-girlfriend. Can you see why this might be problematic?

Drum roll, please

Allow me to introduce Caroline Brown. (And let’s all take a moment of silence for the former Rosalie Brown.)

Caroline was suggested by two people, and I will thank them here as well as in the book’s acknowledgments: Marjorie Fine and Michael Alan Weinberg.

Margie and Michael, Caroline Brown thanks you. Rosalie Brown, not so much.

A new name blooms.

A new name blooms.

Help me re-name a major character in my novel!

/ lynnkanter / 22 Comments

I started working on Her Own Vietnam more than a decade ago. The main character – the nurse who served in Vietnam – is named Della Brown. I named her sister, another major character, Rosalie Brown.

In a plot twist I could not have invented, my publisher is also named Rosalie. And she doesn’t think a major character should be named after her.

Darn it, she’s right.

Here’s where you come in

Can you help me come up with a new first name for my character? Her last name, of course, will remain Brown.

I will give you some parameters, and you can post your suggestions here. I am on a deadline, so all suggestions need to be posted by midnight (Eastern USA time) on Wednesday, April 23.

If I choose a name you suggested, I’ll thank you on the book’s acknowledgement page.

What you need to know about the character formerly known as Rosalie Brown

  • She was born in 1953 to a middle class white family in upstate New York.
  • Her other family members are older sister Della Brown; mother Ruth Brown; father Thomas (Tommy) Brown; partner Anne Isaacs.
  • The name needs to be three syllables long. (Why? Because otherwise the rhythm will be messed up in every sentence that currently includes Rosalie.)

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Ready? Re-name!

For a novelist, naming a fictional character is personal, like naming a child. It’s possible I will come up with my own new name for her – and it’s certain that my decision will be based on subjective criteria (the name is pretty, it reminds me of my second cousin, it just feels right, etc.).

I will miss Rosalie Brown terribly. But I’m looking forward to seeing the names you suggest before midnight on Wednesday the 23rd of April.

Hope springs eternal.

Hope springs eternal.