Thoughts On The Gothic Genre

Some people view gothic novels as tacky and without merit because they often include sinister settings, tempestuous romances and supernatural elements. But that’s far from the truth. Gothic novels have their roots firmly planted in the finest of literary fiction.  

I’m not saying that there aren’t novels which fall into the gothic subgenres of romantic suspense and gothic horror which have mediocre writing and are formulaic, but there are also tons of classics and skillfully written stories.

The novel which is often sighted as being the origin of the gothic genre is Horace Walpole’s THE CASTLE OF OTRANTO (1764). Moving into the nineteenth century there’s Mary Shelley’s FRANKENSTEIN (1818), John William Polidori’s THE VAMPYRE (1819) and works by Charles Dickens, the Bronte sisters and Edgar Allan Poe. In the twenty century gothic novels were written by many well-known authors: H.P. Lovecraft, Victoria Holt, Mary Stewart, Daphne du Maurier, Anne Rice …. and many more, including Southern gothic author William Faulkner.  A more recent gothic, THE THRIRTEENTH TALE (2006) by Diana Setterfield, is one of my all time favorites--and I’m very much looking forward to Sarah Ree Brennan’s UNSPOKEN which is coming out this September.

Gothic novel heroines are sometimes accused of being melodramatic, wilting damsels in distress, often governesses or young brides who fall in love with melancholy and borderline abusive men in positions of power. While on the surface this impression may appear to be correct, the heroines more often aren’t that shallow. They are admirable, moral and intelligent women who find themselves embroiled in dark and mysterious settings—and they take action to overcome their circumstances.

No matter if the story is a romance or about death or madness, it is the setting and tone which are the core characteristics of the gothic genre. Ancient castles with dudgeons and secret passages, sprawling dark manor houses with locked towers and widow walks, ancient ruins, monasteries, alleyways, flickering candles and lamp light, overgrown graveyards, cliff tops, moonlit gardens…I get excited just thinking about all the wonderful and terrifying settings which make gothic novels a favorite of mine.

Another reason I love the gothic genre is that it represents a montage of subgenres limited only by the author’s imagination—which is the reason the genre includes writers like Mary Shelley and William Faulkner.

Now, it’s your turn.  What gothic novels have you read? Which ones stick in your mind—the classics, pulp fiction, romantic suspense…?

Subgenres: Historical Fiction

In 2005, I attended the first North American conference of the Historical Novel Society, which included the chance to pitch agents and editors. I sent in my query and first five pages and got the following reply back from a well-known agent: she declined to meet with me at the conference because my alternate-history manuscript was "not historical fiction. Historical fiction is what might have happened."

(Rant ahead: that's what my story was! What might have happened if Anne Boleyn had not miscarried her son in January 1536. What might have happened if she'd never had her head cut off and her son became king in 1547. What might have happened if Anne and Henry's son repeated his parents' dangerous forays into love and choice. And now we'll see what will happen when that same story is published as a trilogy by Random House beginning in summer 2013!)

Still, despite my disagreement with that agent's interpretation, I like her actual definition. Historical fiction is what might have happened.

Sometimes it's about the well-known dead; sometimes it's fictional ghosts; often it's a mix. But always it tells a story set in the past, in which the time itself is a critical character. The author recreates buildings, clothing, smells and tastes and sounds that are wildly different from any that can be found today. The story lines reflect religious beliefs and social pressures and power structures that seem nearly as alien as any created in science fiction.

And yet, miraculously, the people are just people. Human beings are fundamentally the same, if not on the outside then always on the inside. Love, hate, fear, hope, anger, desire . . . the best historical fiction does what all best fiction does: shows us ourselves.

This is why I read and write historical fiction: to travel to a time and place I can never get to in real life, and to find myself when I get there.

Recommended reading (those titles that made me say "If this isn't how it happened, it's definitely how it should have"):

HERE BE DRAGONS/Sharon Kay Penman/medieval Wales and England and the royal marriage of Llewellyn the Great and the illegitimate daughter of King John

THE BROTHERS OF GWYNEDD QUARTET/Ellis Peters/also medieval Wales and England, two generations later when England sets its sights on destroying Welsh autonomy

THE LYMOND CHRONICLES/Dorothy Dunnet/six book series about a Scottish soldier-statesman in the Tudor era

THE KING'S GENERAL/Daphne du Maurier/one of my adolescent favorites, set during the English civil war

CLOCKWORK PRINCE & CLOCKWORK ANGEL/Cassandra Clare/a prequel series to Clare's well-known Mortal Instruments books, set in Victorian London

WOLF HALL/Hilary Mantel/last year's Man Booker prize-winner about Thomas Cromwell in the time of Henry VIII, the sequel will be out this year

And for those interested in more titles and/or learning more about historical fiction, check out the Historical Novel Society website. Which, by the way, specifically includes alternate history in its definition of historical fiction. So there.

A Closer Look at Subgenres: Steampunk

I was recently reading the Steampunk Bible, by Jeff VanderMeer, and my teen son came in. After looking over my shoulder for a minute, he asked if he could borrow it when I was done. Later I caught him reading it. "Why haven't I heard of Steampunk before?" he asked. His tone was aggrieved. Of course, what's funniest about that is I'm sure there's a great deal that my fifteen-year old hasn't heard of yet, or had the chance to enjoy. All the same, that was my feeling, too, when I first discovered that there was a name for this weird obsession I've had, and a whole genre, too!

A few notes on Steampunk, in case you, too, are wondering what this new beast is and why you haven't heard of it.

• You get to dress up, and your costume can be as historically inspired and wildly creative as you like. Many times they include funky gadgets, goggles, and glorious gizmos. Plus a corset, if you like. Not that I would know anything about that ;)



• There's lots of opportunity for hands on--in fact, do it yourself is kind of at the core of steampunk. If you're like me and you love to see your own contraption take shape and work, this is for you. If you love an independent and self-sustainable lifestyle, this is for you.



• It has its own music, and its own art. Above and beyond the literary genre lives an entire culture that is vibrant and always pushing the creative envelope.



• The underlying philosophy is one that embraces alternatives. That history didn't have to run the way it did, that you don't have to buy everything from a store, that the possibilities for self expression run deeper than whatever clothing ad is currently running.

Stories started the whole thing, and stories (imho) keep it going. Classics include H.G. Wells and Jules Verne. My personal favorites are Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan books, and Gail Carriger's Parasol Protectorate series. Which kind of shows you the scope of what steampunk is capable of. When the future has been reinvented through a lens that recreates the past, anything is possible.

A Curious Interview: Mike Mullin

We'll let Mike start us off in his own words: 

 "Mike Mullin's first job was scraping the gum off the undersides of desks at his high school. From there, things went steadily downhill. He almost got fired by the owner of a bookstore due to his poor taste in earrings. He worked at a place that showed slides of poopy diapers during lunch (it did cut down on the cafeteria budget). The hazing process at the next company included eating live termites raised by the resident entomologist, so that didn’t last long either. For a while Mike juggled bottles at a wine shop, sometimes to disastrous effect. Oh, and then there was the job where swarms of wasps occasionally tried to chase him off ladders. So he’s really hoping this writing thing works out.

Mike holds a black belt in Songahm Taekwondo. He lives in Indianapolis, Indiana with his wife and her three cats. ASHFALL is his first novel."

I had the privilege of meeting Mike  at Tanglewood Press’s Authors’ Retreat last summer (good times). Since then, Mike has published his debut novel ASHFALL which has received starred reviews, mounds of praise and is topping the charts of best teen books for 2011. It features a brave kid looking for his family and the gutsy girl who saves his life in the aftermath of a Yellowstone supervolcano explosion.

Mike is as engaging in person as he is in print given his knowledge of the industry and a wicked Lady Gaga impersonation.We've tried to enlighten you about his writing style, Victorian house, and martial arts skills below...what can we say? He's a man of many talents.

Ginger: Your debut novel ASHFALL has been called “YA for guys,” although plenty of girls are big fans, too. Did you set out with that plan or did it just sort of happen?

Mike: I write YA geared for guys from a noble aspiration to uplift the hordes of young minds suffering—

Oh, who am I kidding with this bull? I write from a guy’s perspective because I can’t write from a girl’s. I have a drawer novel written half in female point-of-view. It’s been “read” by my paper shredder more times than by any human. It’s become kind of a ritual, feeding that thing to the shredder after the latest complete rewrite. I’ve done it five times now.

And yes, ASHFALL has female characters. Many readers love Darla, which is a relief, to say the least. But even with Darla, I cheated. If you took my brother Paul, made him seventeen, considerably less nice than he is, and gave him a sex change, then presto, you’d have Darla. (I really hope Paul doesn’t read this.)

So the perspective pretty much had to be a guy’s. As far as the subject matter and pacing, I set out to write the kind of novel I would have loved as a teen. One with a big disaster, lots of suspenseful situations, and short chapters. Apparently, given ASHFALL’s success, guys and gals of all ages still enjoy that kind of novel.

Ginger: Your book has really dark moments. How do you prepare yourself for the challenge of creating emotionally difficult scenes?

Mike: I guess I’m a method writer, because I need to feel whatever emotion I’m writing. For example, my favorite chapters in ASHFALL are 37 and 38. They were never part of any outline. I added them spontaneously as I was visiting my Uncle Chuck, who was in the final stages of his battle with colon cancer. The most affecting part of that visit wasn’t my Uncle Chuck’s frailty and obvious pain—it was watching his wife and children showering love on him while trying to hide their own grief.

In chapter 37, Alex and Darla meet a woman on the road who is grieving the loss of her husband and desperately trying to protect her children. The first time my wife read those chapters, we were driving. (Well, I was driving. She was riding along and reading. It’s safer if you don’t read and drive.) I looked over at her and saw tears streaming down her cheeks. I thought, yes, nailed it! (I’m a really terrible husband.)

Laura: As an admirer of the Victorian Era I want to know all about your house! In addition to its historical credentials I hear it even has a literary background.

Mike: We purchased an 1895 Queen Anne in Indianapolis about ten years ago for little more than a song. It had been cut into eleven apartments, survived at least three fires, and been vacant for nine years after serving as a brothel and crack house for more than a decade.

I wasn’t aware of its historical significance until I went to the Indiana Historic Preservation Commission to get a permit for the remodeling work. They maintain records of the house’s earlier owners including William Conrad Bobbs, who bought it at the turn of the century. Bobbs was part owner and manager of the Bobbs-Merrill Publishing Company, which published James Whitcomb Riley and some of L. Frank Baum’s work. So I keep hoping my house is haunted—I’d love to meet those guys and ask them some questions! No luck yet, though.

Suzanne: As a fellow black belt and martial artist, I’d like to know your approach to Taw Kwon. Do you prefer the forms or sparring, and why?

Mike: I enjoy both forms and sparring, but my favorite workout is striking the punching bags. In sparring you learn control, but I worry about training myself to pull my punches and kicks—if I ever had to use it for real (heaven forbid), would the sparring practice hurt me? On the punching bags, I can go all-out all the time without worrying about hurting anyone but myself.

One of the things I love about my dojang (Korean for martial arts studio) is all the equipment—there are enough punching bags that we can do whole-class workouts on them, and get to use them nearly every day.

Patty: What part of your geology-themed talks do kids enjoy the most?

Mike: After I’d done a couple of presentations, I realized that the scale of the Yellowstone supervolcano wasn’t coming through. My solution? An analogy. Now I tell kids that the eruption of 640,000 years ago made a crater the size of Chicago and deeper than the Sears (now Willis) Tower is tall. That seems to make the point.

Suzanne: Do you really own a pair of Dungeons and Dragons dice?

Mike: I own two sets—i.e. 14 of them. (People who know D&D realize this marks me as a rank newb—most D&D’ers have bags with hundreds of dice. In my defense, I gave all my old dice to my nephew a few years ago, and I’ve only recently begun rebuilding my collection.)

Cabinet: Who are your favorite authors?

Mike: I keep a list of my all-time favorite books on Goodreads. My favorite author is probably Richard Peck. He started writing at about the age I am now, and he’s been going strong for almost 40 years. He’s still writing outstanding books in his seventies. Plus he’s one of the most gracious, friendly people I’ve ever met. And he speaks extemporaneously in sentences better crafted than my fifth drafts. He’s the author I most look up to, and would like to emulate in my own career.

Cabinet: You've had a number of jobs. Which ones have provided the best material for writing?

Mike: I’ve worked in two different liquor stores. You meet some amazing characters working in a liquor store. The only problem: I’ve had to tone some of them down a little bit, or they wouldn’t be believable in fiction.

Ginger: You are a wizard of social media. How do you feel your online presence has affected your novel's debut?

Mike: Twitter and Facebook have helped me connect with librarians, bloggers, and teachers. But I don’t think they’ve done much to build my audience among teens. Physical promotion—visiting schools, libraries, and bookstores—has been more valuable than online promotion. I can tell this by looking at the Nielsen Bookscan market-level data Amazon provides. For most of the fall, eight of the top ten markets for ASHFALL were places I’d visited and held events.

Ginger: Is Ashfall the first novel you've written and how long did this debut publishing process take for you?

Mike: No, ASHFALL was the third complete novel I’ve written. Now, with ASHEN WINTER, I’ve written four. To tell you about the first one, I have to start my story in fifth grade.

At that time, I attended a brick box of a school, antiseptically clean and emotionally sterile. The children marched in files down the halls, mumbled math facts in unison, and occasionally did a craft project about a book.

When I turned twelve, I escaped from that intellectual prison camp and went to a noisy, dirty, chaotic school where I was—gasp—expected to write. Every day. And—double gasp—read. I wrote my first novel in sixth grade—Captain Poopy’s Sewer Adventures. Sadly, Dav Pilkey beat me to publication with Captain Underpants, although I still spell better than him. (You don’t see me typing Mik Mullin, do you?)

I went back to a traditional school in 9^th grade, and my novel-writing impulse went dormant for 25 years. Then, about four years ago, I decided to try again. I wrote a YA horror novel that was so bad that two of the three literary agents who read it quit the business forever. Then I wrote ASHFALL.

Cabinet: Where did you get this brilliant idea anyway?

Mike: The idea for Ashfall started with another book—Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything. Dozens of novel ideas lurk within its pages, but the one that stuck with me was the idea of a supervolcano eruption at Yellowstone. A few weeks after I read it, I woke at 3:30 am with a scene occupying my head so completely I was afraid it would start spilling out my nostrils and ears. I typed 5,500 words, finishing just before dawn. Then I put the project away and let it gestate for eight months. When I returned to it after researching volcanoes and volcanic ash, I realized the inspired scene I wrote in the middle of the night wouldn’t work, and ultimately that whole section had to be scrapped. Only three words remain from that original scene: Ashfall, Alex, and Darla.

Cabinet: We know there will be a second in the Ashfall saga...can we hope for a third?

Mike: Yes, I’ve planned ASHFALL as a trilogy from the beginning. You can expect a third novel, but most likely, that will be the last one in the ASHFALL universe. I’ve got about 15 other ideas begging for my attention.

After reading this interview, you'll know you can pretty much ask Mike anything and expect a well-thought out response. Head over to his website at mikemullinauthor.com or connect with him anywhere and everywhere online:

Mike's Social Media Links

Website

Blog

Google+

Twitter

Facebook

Goodreads

An Old-Fashioned Girl

That's me. When I was little my favorite TV show was Little House on the Prairie. Being named Laura, with long brown hair, you can guess who I wanted to be. As a young teenager, I fell in love with Victoria Holt and her Gothic 19th-century-set novels about governesses in remote English castles with ghosts and handsome, but misunderstood, owners. In later teen years I fell in love with British history and devoured stories and biographies spanning the medieval, Renaissance, and Victorian age.

Not that I really wanted to live in those worlds--not once I was old enough to understand that 'quaint' is another word for 'no indoor plumbing, or heat, or bathing more than once a week (or month).' I just liked to inhabit them from the comfort of my soft bed, with a cold Diet Coke at hand.

However, in some ways I remain staunchly old-fashioned.

Take the world of agents and publishing.

Everywhere you look in the book world today are stories about e-publishing stars. Amanda Hocking self-published on Amazon and sold so many books that now she has a significant six-figure deal with a major New York publisher. I'm impressed. Primarily because I would never have made it if that had been my only option.

Not that finding an agent was easy. I got mine the old-fashioned way: through lots of queries and lots of rejects. I got form rejects and silence. I got boxes checked as to why my manuscript was being rejected. I got the (very) occasional note of what could almost be called encouragement. I got the (even more) occasional request to see more. Which generally led to a rejection further down the line. All but one of these queries was cold--meaning I did my research as to which agents repped the genre I was writing, then carefully followed instructions for sending my query. Not one agent that I queried had I ever met at a conference.

Then an agent read my query and ten pages and asked to see fifty pages. After the fifty pages, she asked to see the entire manuscript. After reading the full, she told me what she liked and didn't like and said if I was interested in rewriting she'd look at it again. I rewrote for her three times before she offered to take me on, eight months after I'd sent the initial query.

Slow, yes. Frustrating, absolutely. Worth it? Without question. Here's why:

1. I'm lazy. If I had to self-publish and self-market in order to feed my family, they would starve. Even more then they already do. I want someone to send out my work and deal with the initial rejections. I want someone to intervene if I'm in disagreement with an editor. I want someone to send me my tax form at the end of year. If she would come make my ten-year-old do his homework on time, I'd pay her considerably more than 15%.

2. I'm insecure. There's nothing like having someone say, "I love this book! I want to sell it for you" to boost confidence. I like having someone wholly on my side, who wants me to succeed as much as I do.

3. I'm imperfect. No matter how many flashes of ego-induced pride I might feel while writing, I well know that my books get better with revisions. And though some writers might be able to see clearly what the problems are in a story, I'm not one of them. Sure, sometimes the comments I get are ones that have crossed my mind, but even then there's something creatively motivating about having someone professional say "This isn't working." I love that my agent isn't going to let me send out a book that isn't ready. It's a safety net that I find invaluable.

4. I'm new. I don't have a big name, I don't have any previous publishing credits, and I don't have any contacts in the literary world (besides buying lots of books.) I guarantee that I would never have gotten the deal I did last summer without an agent--certainly I wouldn't have sold a trilogy.

So congratulations to Amanda Hocking and all those brave souls who do the all work of writing and publishing and marketing solo. It's quite possible you are the future.

But me? I'm happy living in my old-fashioned world.

Attending Writer's Conferences and Chatting Up Agents

Continuing with our theme of all things agent, I'll be discussing How To Talk To An Agent at a Conference and perhaps just as important, How to Not Annoy an Agent at a Conference. I've had some brilliant successes (and some failures!) with these, so I figure I can pass along my words of wisdom. Conferences are on my brain, cause I planned to attend SCBWI's national conference in NYC this weekend...but my plans changed when the conference filled up and registration closed early. BUMMER.

However, I have attended (and been a panelist at!) WorldCon, plus last year's SCBWI national conference, RWA, and multiple regional conferences. You could even say I'm a conference junkie.

But, enough about me. You came to hear about agents! My first bit of advice is just be yourself, only with good manners. This of course means no cornering agents in the bathrooms, no smothering them in the elevators, no interupting them in conversation or inviting yourself to their table at dinner. This also means that you must behave with poise, and grace, even if your desired agent turns out to be a cold prude who blows you off and stomps on your black-and-blue toes!

Why be yourself? Because that's who you want the agent to get to know, and because you're much more interesting than you think. After all, you may be a total unknown from backwoods Kentucky who grew up barefoot and snaggle-toothed, but that's a very unusual animal to a New York agent. Fascinating, even. If you can go one step further and carry an amusing conversation with your new agent acquaintance, you may intrigue her enough she asks about your work. Now, we all know the writing has to stand for itself and the story can't hide behind your sparkling personality, but I can attest from personal experience that a personal connection with an agent doesn't hurt. In fact, it can make the difference between a cold rejection and a careful reading. Intrigued? I'll tell you the story in a minute, but first, a few notes on where and how to meet agents at conferences.

The first step is, of course, to attend the conference and not run screaming if you see an agent. I approach with a big smile, always. This probably works well for anyone who doesn't sharpen their teeth--a small smile may be best for them. :) If a presentation has just ended and the agent is conveniently trapped on the stage, try to ask a relevant question and only bring up your work if the opportunity presents.

Sometimes you just bump into the agent randomly. Smaller regional conferences are great for this. Here, it is not unusual to find an agent 'in the wild' mixing with conference attendees. Sometimes an agent can be found standing in a side hall trying to make sense of their program. Then you, oh wise and enlightened conference attendee, can come to their aid! If you happen to sit near an agent, chat about anything you would normally discuss with a seat mate. The poor weather traveling in, the delicious lunch just finished, how the kids are faring back home. Remember, many agents are mums or dads, too! And while none of these are essential conversation pieces, they are all fairly benign when brought up with a smile and a good attitude.

Now that you're chatting with the agent, what next? Because of course you really want to talk about your book, right? Well, the agent knows this, and will probably indicate if they're in the mood to hear about it. They will do this by eventually bringing the conversation back around to you, and asking how your project is coming along. If the conversation drops, or the presentation begins, let it go. Never try to force a book chat that's not materializing.

Now for my intriguing story, which took place at a regional conference. During a prior presentation, I felt that Agent Wonderous and I had developed rapport. When I later saw her take a seat in the row in front of mine, I decided to speak up. I honestly don't remember what I said, but it was meant to be witty. She looked around, we traded remarks. I definitely felt she was someone who I could connect with, and I already knew from research and reptutation that she was someone who repped my kind of book and would be my dream agent. There was just one problem. She'd already rejected my query. A form rejection, too. NOT the most auspicious beginning!

However, I am nothing if not a determined optimist and I truly believe in my book. Also, I KNEW that my book was a good fit for this agency. The book was getting plenty of full requests from other quarters and even a couple 'I know I'll regret passing on this--please sent me any future work' personalized rejections of encouragment. So, where had I gone wrong?

As I sat chatting with Agent Wondrous, I decided to ask her. Perhaps she could give me some pointers, so I'd know if this project was doomed and I should just trunk it, and if my writing skills needed a boost before I attempted anything else. I was careful, though, cause I didn't want her to feel cornered. Better that I go without getting any insights than I be forever branded in her brain as the Unpardonably Obnoxious Writer of whom she would tell horror stories in future conferences. I waited til our chat was winding down and the presentation was about to start, then told her I'd love to get her thoughts on some questions I had about my book, if she had time later.

She seemed open to the idea, then the lights dimmed as the presentation began. I confess I was a little distracted. At one point, Agent Wondrous left her seat and appeared to leave the room. I hoped I hadn't scared her away.

The lights came back up, I said goodbye to my seatmates and gathered up my things. Only to discover Agent Wondrous had come back, and was waiting to talk to me! I explained my concerns for the book, and asked if she remembered what was lacking. She confessed she didn't--that while she recognized the title, nothing else from the query had caught her attention. I filled her in, briefly. Without any prompting from me, she gave me permission to re-send the query and first chapter. She would read them over, and give me feedback as to why the query was a miss. This was not a re-query, I was to understand. Instead it was a generous offer on her part to give me a bit of direction.

I came home estatic and thrilled with my efforts at the conference. Quickly I put together my new and improved query and new and improved first chapter, and sent them off. A few weeks passed, and I got a reply from Agent Wondrous. She was glad we'd met and chatted at the conference, and that she'd had the chance to take a second look at my query. She was intrigued. Would I please send along the full manuscript?

Well, you can guess my answer! I'd since started a rewrite of the manuscript, but I finished it up and sent it along. And I'm still glowing.

So, remember as you approach your writing conferences that agents are people. They don't like to be stalked, they don't like to be treated like a trophy, and they don't like to be the bad guy. They enjoy people who smile, and respect their time. And sometimes, they'll feel that extra interest in your work which comes from a personal connection, and they'll give you a second chance. Best of luck!

Agents: Research, Reality & a Bit of Remorse

How I think other people get agents:

1. They research them by perusing reputable websites, asking their agented friends, and stalking them at conferences across the nation--perhaps timing their elevator rides just so in order to have that very special conversation.
2. They then write a perfectly worded email which includes impressive bits from their research, a referral from a friend or a reminder of the invitation the agent extended when they were pitched during an elevator ride. This continues for about ten to twenty rounds because no one gets an agent on their first try.
3. Finally an agent is enamored of their work, gets back to them in three hours, they sign a contract, they sell books, have get togethers in New York and name their cats after one another.

How I got an agent:

1. I had the distinct and alarming impression that I had better get an agent. 
2. I thought of the only agent I'd ever had contact with. She represented the illustrator of my first book.
3. I looked her up online, figured out how to submit and followed instructions.
4. She got back to me when I nudged her several weeks later with positive comments.
5. I waited a few more weeks and emailed something intelligent like, "So...are you my agent then?"
6. She said yes and sent a contract. Whew.
7. I had guilt because it wasn't supposed to be so easy.

How I lost an agent:

Also easy.

1. I didn't write any more books.
2. She didn't sell any more books.

I think one or the other may have saved us but sadly, neither happened.

In a couple of years I will be sure and post: "How I Got Another Agent."

For now, I'd better get writing some books.