Tag Archives: NHRWA

July 1, 2014 · 11:27 am

All it takes is one “yes.”

Recently, I was a guest blogger at NHRWA author Mary K. Stone’s blog  http://marykstoneblog.com/ I decided to upload that entry to my site as well, so check it out here and then visit her website to see what she’s up to.

I’ve loved crossword puzzles since I learned how to spell, probably because I love words so much. My favorite birthday present when I turned 8? A dictionary.

So, what’s a 9 letter word for: refusal, dismissal, forsaking?

Here’s a hint: the answer starts with an r, ends in ion and can make you cry your eyes out and eat an entire package of Milano cookies in one sitting. Make that 2 packages.

Got it yet? Yup. REJECTION.

Some other words used to define rejection include: turning down, spurning, repudiation, and, my absolute favorite: the brush-off.

As a writer I have experienced my fair – and unfair – share of rejection from everyone from editors to literary agents, to publishers. I‘ve had synopses discarded, proposals denounced, queries snubbed, and outlines slighted.

I’ve been rejected in person, in print, in emails, in snail-mail, via phone and even once in a text.

I’ve experienced rude rejections (Ms. Jaeger, please do not query us again as we do not accept what you write) and form letter rejections ( Dear Writer: Thank you for your submission. We will not be asking for any further work from you)

Being a writer is fraught with enough problems without adding rejections to it. Finding time to write, liking what your write, having other people like what you write; editing, revising, restructuring; plot arc construction, motivation, goals and conflicts for the characters; deciding on a setting, theme, names of characters. The list is as long as my ingredients list for fruitcake!

The first time I ever got a piece I ‘d written rejected by an editor, I was 25. I’d already had over a dozen fictional story stories published in literary magazines, and had been writing non-fiction articles concerning health care and nursing for several years. I’d sent an article proposal based on my master’s thesis to a well-known nursing journal that had already published me twice before. I thought the topic was very timely and felt it would make a great addition to their monthly publication. I waited three months for a reply. Just as I was about to call them – this was eons before email was available and we were ALLOWED to call editors, I received a form rejection letter. Not even addressed to me personally, just “Dear Writer…” The editor stated the topic for the article was not relevant for their publication and that they were not going to ask for the article in its entirety.

Was I crushed? You betcha. Was I pissed off? To say the least. Did I want literary revenge? Hell, yeah! Did I do anything about it? Of course I did. When I finished the gallon of Cherry Garcia that I kept hidden in my freezer for emotional emergencies, I queried another nursing journal, telling them everything I’d told the first one. I got an actual phone call (remember, no email, no texting, no cells phones in the 80’s) from the Editor-in-Chief who wanted the article for their July issue, which would be featuring my UBER-RELEVANT topic from other health professionals.

The takeaway I got from this experience? Not everyone is going to like what you write. But someone will.

Flash forward several years to when I started writing book length fiction. When I was done with my first masterpiece, I began the literary agent query route. I sent out over 75 queries to agents all over the U.S. who specialized in representing what I wrote at the time: medical thrillers. Over 95 % of the responses I got back were form rejection letters addressed to “Dear Writer…” Three agents actually addressed me by name and told my why the weren’t choosing to represent my work, and two asked me to change the book completely around to what they thought might sell, and then they would consider – maybe –representing me.

When the box of Dunkin’ Donuts was gone, I picked up one of the responses I received that actually had been positive. I still have this rejection letter in my file cabinet today. The part that stuck out so plainly to me read: “While I do not feel I can devote the time and attention to representing this work that it needs, please be assured, you are a very good writer, and it only takes one person to say “yes” for you to be published. Unfortunately, I’m not that person, but I believe she or he is out there and that you will connect with them. Good luck, and I know I will see your name on a book jacket some day.”

 This was without doubt the nicest rejection I had ever received up until that time, and, to this day. If all rejection letters could be written this way, I believe we would have a lot less depressed authors milling about.

Now, the takeaway I got from this letter? You got it; same as before: not everyone is gong to like what your write. But someone will.

It only takes that one someone – be it an agent, editor, or publisher, and all those rejections that have been lining your file cabinet drawers will seem inconsequential and irrelevant. Or they will even seem like what they really are: the dues you’ve paid for persistence and perseverance.

As a writer, rejection of your work is part of the road you will travel on your way to publication. Yes, it hurts for someone to tell you they don’t like or want your work. Yes, it blows big time to have someone in a position of literary power tell you what you’ve written is not pertinent or that they don’t know how they could market it effectively. And yes, it destroys your soul when you’re rejected flat out, with no reason why, in a dry worded form letter.

But…

It only takes one editor, or literary agent, or publisher to say “YES.”

 

 

 

 

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June 21, 2014 · 1:00 pm

Tips from the Pros

Last Saturday  I attended my monthly NHRWA meeting in Bow. The “featured speakers” that day were all members of our chapter who have had publishing success either traditionally with print publishers, or by self publishing their work. The round table discussion was a very informative one for me and the chapter.  Some of, but not all, the speakers included, Christyne Bulter, Susan A. Wall, Nora De Luc, and Maggie McGinnis.  This was a varied mixing of authors and styles, but they all had one thing in common: They were published authors, some of them many times over.

My take away knowledge from their discussion of their writing paths was that each writer has to decide for herself what she is hoping to accomplish with publication. For the self pub’ed writers, it was more of a sense of writing and marketing control that guided them towards that route. They wanted the final say in things such as distribution of their work, art design, publicity, and ultimately, the control of the monies earned from their sales. The traditional pub’ed writers were happy to give over those jobs such as worrying about cover designs, editing, publicity and distribution to the “professionals” and concentrating on what they loved doing most: writing.

I can easily see both sides of this literary coin, even though I have opted to try and fit into the traditional side of it.  I’ve opted to try and be published via the book route that arrives on shelves and flies into your hands to find its way to your home because, I’ll be honest,  I’m lazy. I enjoy writing. It is to me the oxygen that keeps me alive. I would rather be writing than doing almost anything else. Most days, anyway. If I had to worry about  the formatting font and type needed to upload a book on Amazon, or tracking my sales ( assuming I had any!) , or the licensing and regulations necessary for this to happen, and even the cover design, book jacket blurb, complete self editing, line copy and content-wise, and them having to promote the work myself, I think I wouldn’t like writing as much as I do. I don’t mind having other people who know what they are doing, well, do that, for me.

Having said that, the women I know who have self published their work are dynamos at all of this and I am eternally envious of that. They are organized, focused, determined and talented women who have opted to be in total control of their careers, and my hat is off to them. I  know myself too well to know that I could never be as dedicated, methodical,  structured and regulated as they are. Not to mention, they are a talented bunch of writers.

So, whether we are self published, traditionally published, or not published at all, it is good to know we have options as far as the routes we want to take our careers through. The New Hampshire arm of the RWA is a wonderful mix of talented, spirited, informative writers who make it a joy for me to come to every meeting. You can check out their website at:  NHRWA and maybe catch us at the next meeting. This is a very welcoming, supportive, and encouraging group of romance writers, and women, in general.

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May 10, 2014 · 8:20 am

Deb Dixon Conference

On this lovely day before Mother’s Day, I’m privileged to be attending the Deb Dixon  Book In A Day Conference in Nashua with my New Hampshire RWA chapter. This was the perfect Mother’s day present  I gave to myself. Deb Dixon has an amazing CV and her landmark instructional book, Goal, Motivation and Conflict, helped me plot my last two books. I was able to pen them so easily, I wished I had known about her book when I was a neophyte writer.

After attending two writing conferences in two weeks ( last week was the NECRWA conference in Boston), I am uberinspired with my writing. I’ve updated my goals and I’m going to be starting something new tomorrow. Each day that I can – and hopefully that will be everyday – I plan on putting a quote up on this blog and will try to relate it to my writing journey. I hope you will join me in this new endeavor.

For now, I’m off to learn from the master, Deb Dixon.

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April 26, 2014 · 10:19 am

Why I write romantic fiction

Those who know me personally already know the answer to this one. Sometimes, though, it’s good to lay it all out so everyone knows the same thing.

For most of my life I’ve loved reading mysteries. As a kid I read Nancy Drew and the Trixie Beldon mysteries like they were sustenance for my starving body. As I got older I discovered Agatha Christie and by the time she died I had read every one of her novels and short stories at least twice. I never really read what was called “love stories” until after I had my daughter. I was browsing through the book store one day, looking for a new author – since most of the ones I liked had died! – and I spotted a Nora Roberts paperback. It was Irish Thoroughbred. I read the back jacket and it seemed like I’d like it, so I took it home and read it. In three hours. I was absolutely hooked by the way she wove a story. The same day I went back to the bookstore and bought the other three titles they had in her name. They were devoured within three days. For the past 25 years I have read everything published by Roberts, including her JDRobb works. By opening my reading world to romantic fiction, Roberts introduced me to a wealth of  other  romance novelists who have made my life so much sweeter and more exciting with their writings.

When I decided I wanted to try and write romance, I sat down and made a list – really! a list – of why I loved reading it so much. These were the highlights:

  • there is usually a happy, relationship-resolved ending. And who doesn’t like a happy ending?
  • the female characters are always independent, smart, many times funny and witty, go-getters, nurture-ers, thoughtful and someone I would like to be friends with.
  • the male leads are usually – but not always – alpha males, successful in almost everything but love ( hence the heroine!), smart, charming, family oriented ( usually) and someone I would like to have in my life. The beta males are pretty hot, too.
  • the secondary characters seem real to me, not walk on’s who come in and then go, usually just to deliver a message, like so many other kinds of novels I’ve read. You never see them again and they serve no purpose in the character’s life except to tell them one piece of info. In romance writing, the secondary characters are real people, just like you’d have in your own life. And they serve real purposes in the main character’s lives.
  • the sex is written from an emotional viewpoint, and not a clinical one. I’ve read enough “popular fiction” where the obligatory sex scene describes a going into b and then c happening. Boring. In romance, we get to hear and witness the character’s emotions, responses, desires and dreams. And a really good author will make you feel like the character’s emotions could be yours as well.
  • the stories told around the romance are fun, sad, exciting, mysterious, thrilling, though provoking and sometimes even just sweet.
  • who, after all, doesn’t love LOVE? Being in love, feeling loved, loving someone else. Even the Bible says “Love one another.”

Those are the main reasons I like reading – and now writing – romantic fiction. I’m sure if you ask ten different romance authors their reasons, you will get ten or more different answers than mine.

Some of my favorite Romance Novelists:

Nora Roberts, Tami Hoag, Julie Garwood, Linda Howard, Lisa Kleypas, Kasey Micheals,

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April 22, 2014 · 11:13 pm

You write WHAT?!?

For years I never told people my secret. I kept it between myself and my laptop. No one knew, suspected, or had any inkling what I did with my free time. Then one day, quite by accident,  I let it slip. The look I got from the person I told was comical and just this side of insulting.

“You write WHAT?!?” I was asked.

“Romance,” I replied.

“Why would you write that kind of book? You’re happily married and successful.”

I asked what that was supposed to mean and what connection it had to the kind of book I liked to write. The response floored me. “Romance books aren’t very interesting. I mean, the plot is always the same. Nothing new ever happens. They’re not very stimulating.”

Okay, did I say just this side of insulting? 

Romantic fiction has gotten a bum rap for a number of years, yet the sales statistics are staggering. Over 1.5 billion – that’s billion with a capital B – dollars in revenue in 2012. Compare that to its next highest competitor of mystery sales at just over 7 hundred million, and you can safely say romance sells. So why the bad rep? Why do people – professional writers included – feel that romance novels are the second class citizens of fiction?

You can probably get ten different reasons if you ask ten different people, but I’ll tell you the ones I’ve personally been told by friends and acquaintances.

“I don’t like books that have a lot of explicit sex in them.”

“The basic story line is always the same. The ending, predictable.”

“If I’m gonna buy a book,  I want to read about more than just  the two people in  the story.”

“I don’t like mushy writing.”

These are actually things that have been said to me when I asked. I’d like to address them individually.

“I don’t like books that have a lot of explicit sex in them.” This is so stereotypical that I’m pissed off I even have to address it. Romance novels come in all degrees of heat.  Everything from inspirational novels, where the two “love interests” don’t even kiss, to erotica, and everything in between. Some romance novelists are known for their heat level, jacking it up high and then cooling it down, just to fan it again. This is a normal romance roller coaster. The characters don’t hop into the sack on page one ( well, some authors in erotica do that). Their relationship grows in the novel until it reaches a point where the author either lets them act on their sexual attraction, or finds ways to keep them apart – interested – yet apart. It’s not all sesexsex on every page. That would be a boringly clinical book if it were, with nothing vested in the characters. You might as well read a sex manual.

“The basic story line is always the same. The ending predictable.”  Part of this statement has a smidge of truth – the last sentence. Almost all romance novels end the same way – with the heroine and hero discovering that they want to spend the rest of their days together. Marriage is usually the end product, but not always. The first part of the sentence is just flat out wrong. The basic story line of every romance novel is not the same. Sure, you have two main characters whom you’re rooting will fall in love, but how they get there, how they go on that journey, is different from book to book, character to character. Just like every person in real life is unique, every character in a novel is as well. Every person’s journey is unique, just like every character’s is. Nothing in life is predictable and neither are romance novels.

“If I’m gonna buy a book,  I want to read about more than just  the two people in  the story.”  This statement is surely made by a person who does not read romance. Yes, all romance books have two love interests. But just like in real life, there are people surrounding those main characters. Parents, siblings, friends, bosses, enemies and co-workers. Unless your story takes place on a deserted island and the main characters are shipwrecked, you’re gonna have more than two people in the story. Those secondary characters have their own story lines as well, again just like in real life. How they all intersect, intertwine and effect one another is the basis of sound story telling.

“I don’t like mushy writing.” Well, neither do I. Nor do I read it. What I read is dialogue that sounds natural, as if the two people were speaking in my own living room to one another. What I read is a plot that has a beginning, middle and resolution that satisfies me as the reader. I don’t read flowery sentences and purple prose, or any kind of drivel that makes no sense and makes my groan. I read well written, well plotted, superbly spoken works of talented writers. That these books have as their main premise a romance in them is frosting on the cake as far as I’m concerned.

Romance readers know what they want in a good story and romance writers strive to give them that with each and every book they pen. Numbers don’t lie and romance novels are here to stay.

Thank goodness for that.

 

 

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April 20, 2014 · 11:12 pm

But, what’s your book ABOUT?

I was speaking to an acquaintance the other day and she asked me what I was working on, writing-wise. I told her a new series of contemporary romance books concerning several members of the same family. She floored me when she then asked, “but, what’s it about?”

Really? Didn’t I just say it’s a series of contemporary romance stories about a family? What part didn’t she understand? A series of books? Contemporary Romance? Family members?

Then it hit me.

This chick is not a writer. Of anything. Not letters, not emails, not lists. I don’t think she even writes a check, just pays everything electronically with a swipe of her index finger on her smart phone. And it was me who wasn’t understanding her, not the other way around. If she had been a writer, or even remotely acquainted with some sort of writing, she would have understood the description I gave her. But she wasn’t, so she didn’t. She really did want to know what the book was about – everything from the plot line down to the characters and where it was taking place. To her, that’s what the book was about, not my clinical, yet apt, description.

Sometimes I take  for granted that people know what I’m talking about when they ask me about my writing. In truth, the only people who ever understand completely what you are saying when you discuss writing are actual writers. My non-writing friends do not know, for instance, what ARC’s are. Nor do they understand the difference between line editing copy and galleys. To them, ARC is what Noah sailed on – just spelled incorrectly. Writers know it’s an acronym for Advance Reader Copies of books. Line editing I still think is self explanatory(!)  and galleys are not the area in the bottom of boats where you cook your meals, but the final copy of your book  you need to check for any and all mistakes before it goes to print with those mistakes on the page forever.

I enjoy writing contemporary romances, but I love reading Regencies. I mentioned this to another acquaintance once and she asked, “what’s a regency?” Again, really? Not her fault. Her sum total of reading concerns biographies of celebrities, PEOPLE, and Cosmo. The funny thing is when I explained what a regency romance was and told her some of my favorite authors and titles, she actually became a fan. She asked once if it was possible to turn a regency romance into a contemporary one. Hello! Anyone remember CLUELESS!??

I really do need to have more patience with, and be kinder to, my non-writing friends –  of which all my close close friends are. There are so many times, though, I am  happy that I belong to the NH Romance Writers of America group and the national RWA. It’s so great to be able to talk about my writing with some people who never require detailed explanations of what my book is about! They get it on the first try.

 

 

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April 8, 2014 · 3:24 pm

How well do you know your characters?

This is an interesting question, and one I’ve asked other writers in the past. If asked, would you be able to state your hero’s favorite food or color? Your heroine’s favorite memory from childhood? The inciting event that helped mold each of their psyche’s? This is heady stuff and, I feel, very valuable to know.

In a tangential way, this goes back to whether you  are a pantser or a plotter. I’ve admitted I plot everything, and that includes having full disclosure from my characters before I start typing. I need to know what makes them tick, what they like, dislike, loathe. What turns them on in life and what turns them on sexually. I need to be able to think in their heads when they are speaking, know what their reactions to events and circumstances would be based on past behaviors and motivations. If they have the capacity to change, and why or why not. I never want a reader to say “he wouldn’t say that!” or “Where did that come from? She’s never said she feels that way.” That’s cheating the reader, and will ultimately disappoint them.

I’m nosey. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. I could talk to a rock and make it answer me. I’m that way with my characters, too. When I’m envisioning my heroine, I know what she looks like, who she got her upturned nose from, if her earlobes are attached or not. I can tell you how she felt when she wore braces and where she kept her diary hidden from her mother when she was 12. I know her secrets, her longings, her desires. With my hero, I can tell you how he felt when he was losing his virginity, who he resembles in his family tree, and how much money he has in his checking account. And I know the answer to this one very specific question for both of them: who would you die for. This sounds a little obsessive and believe me, it is. But the only way I know how to adequately show my characters to the readers  is by knowing what their actions and reactions will be, and why.

I heard someone say once that you should write up a series of questions for your characters as if you were going to be speed dating them. You can learn a great deal about people by asking just a few very well pointed questions. Like I said, I’m nosey. The more I know, the better I can draw the character.  The better the character is drawn, the more believable (s)he will be. And ultimately, the more believable your characters are, the better and more cohesive the story you can devise for them will be.

So, here’s to nosiness. In writing, it’s a good thing.

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April 6, 2014 · 9:47 am

Evil twins: Point of View and Head Hopping

I will admit this in all sincerity: I am a head hopping addict. I should really join a treatment program to cure myself of this addiction. When I write in third person the thoughts of the hero and heroine flow on the page equally. I find I want the reader to know every single thing the characters are thinking while the scene is taking place. While this works really well in visual media, where your attention is diverted from one character to another through their dialogue, not so much in written fiction.

In the olden days, publishers of romantic fiction dictated  the story be told only in the heroine’s point of view (POV). Every emotion, thought, sensation and occurrence was from her vantage point. We never knew what the hero was thinking until the climax of the story when he divulged his never ending love for our girl. Flash forward to the not too distant past and this changed. Now readers WANT to know what the hero is thinking and feeling as he is falling in love with our girl and much of romance fiction today is written from these two POV’s. Some really fabulous authors even include the secondary character’s POV as well just to give you a full rounded storyline.

I usually write in the two person scenario, and this works for me. Where it starts to come apart and be disjointed is when  I shift from one person’s head to another within a scene. For instance, I am writing this from Dylan’s POV:

He wished she’d just go away and leave him be. He was more than content, wallowing in his grief, enjoying the bottle of whiskey he’d stolen from the bar. 

Daisy wished he turn around and tell her what was bothering him so much. She couldn’t stand not knowing what she had done to make him so miserable.

Two sentences – and truthfully, not very well written ones – and I’ve hopped from Dylan’s head into Daisy’s. If the next line is back into Dylan’s again, it gets very confusing for the reader. I know who is speaking, because I’m writing the words. But the reader is jarred from one POV to the other. In a film you can do this easily because you have a visual clue to who is talking. On the page, it is difficult to keep tabs on.

My first drafts are chock full of head hopping scenes. The next read through I try to correct as many as I can find, but some do bleed through, so on the third edit I will print out a hard copy of the work and then take a blue and a pink magic marker and in the margins I will color code what character the scene is supposed to be told in. Pink – you got it – for the heroine and blue for the hero. Trite and a little sexist, but it works for me. If I’ve shifted into the hero’s head when the scene is written primarily from the heroine’s, I rework the head hopping part and try to show it from her viewpoint if I can.

Even with these safeguards I still have POV shifts, so that’s why it’s good to have someone fresh read your work when you feel it is ready to be put out there. I can read a scene 5o times and love the way it sounds, never realizing that I have subtly shifted back and forth between POVs.

My new work is being told from a first person viewpoint – something I’ve never attempted before. I must say, so far it has been liberating because I only need to be in one head at any time and if I feel the need to sneak in someone else’s  thoughts, I know it immediately. It should be interesting to see how this pans out.

MM Pollard is an amazing editor/author/teacher who is known as The Queen of English. Visiting her site will help all writers craft their work better. I learned more from her in one on-line class that I did after four years of english in college.

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April 5, 2014 · 9:28 am

Building your Author Platform

Until a year ago I’d never heard this term before. What the heck is an author platform? And more importantly, why was I being told I needed one if I wanted to be a successful author?

In the barest sense of the word, a platform is something you stand up high on – like a stage – to be heard by people surrounding you. An author platform, therefore, is how you get heard. Makes sense. In the not too distant past, editors at publishing houses and the houses themselves promoted your book. They did the advertising, arranged author book signings and tours, morning chat show visits to let the world know you had a new work out and arranged for you to be interviewed by trade and popular magazines. Not any more. The houses themselves now run very low budgets for all these things so it is basically up to the author to sell their book to the public, unless you hire a publicist, which can be costly. And let’s face it, you want more than just your family and friends to read your book. You want to reach a wide audience and build a fan base so that when your next book comes out, you’ve already got willing readers who will put down the dollars to buy your work.

And how do you do that? How do you generate the buzz needed to inform people about your book? How do you sell that book? How do you reach the multitudes of readers you want to reach? By having An Author Platform.

In a really good article by Ali Luke “Why You Need an Author Platform – And how to Get one, she outlines three key ingredients in how to accomplish this from your laptop:

  • build a website
  • get a really strong and involved email list
  • use social media to the fullest

By doing just these three cyberworld things you can potentially reach more people than by attending any number of author signings or speaking engagements. A quick internet search drummed up over 100 articles on how to use social media to build your platform and all of them say the basic  three things that Luke does.

So, if you’re a media virgin, get going. If you dabble a little on Twitter or use Facebook to catch up with friends, go deeper and use it for announcements. There is this saying I  heard a few weeks ago: “You have to realize if you are talking to one person on facebook, you are really talking to hundreds.” Unless you have unbelievably rigorous security settings, this statement is true. Pinterest, LinkedIn, any number of sites will get you coverage. And a website is an absolute must these days.

In today’s world we live and exist on our computers, laptops, smart phones and notebook devices. We do business on them, we keep in touch through them. Why not make that work for you by helping you build that much needed and wanted fan base.

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April 3, 2014 · 9:42 am

Finding your “Voice”

What makes your favorite author your, well,  favorite author? My answer has always been  the writer’s voice. By this I mean how the author structures the sentence, the story, the plot. About.com defines a writer’s voice like this:

  • Voice is the author’s style, the quality that makes his or her writing unique, and which conveys the author’s attitude, personality, and character; or
  • Voice is the characteristic speech and thought patterns of a first-person narrator; a persona. Because voice has so much to do with the reader’s experience of a work of literature, it is one of the most important elements of a piece of writing.

I can pick a book up off a shelf and read the first page and know instantly that it is a Nora Roberts work. Her descriptions of setting, the way her characters speak and engage with one another, even her backstories all define how she writes. The same is true for Jodi Picoult and JayneAnn Krentz.  Their writing styles define them for me and when they come out with new books I always know I am in for a literary treat.

When I write a first draft I free write it – which means I  have my story plotted out, but I write it as I would “tell” it to someone. In fact, many times I use my Dragon program and speak the book onto the page. The grammar is not perfect, the punctuation is disjointed, there are too many words for the same thing,  and I like to head hop, but this is how I “speak.” When I go through the editing process,  I fix the grammar, adjust the punctuation, delete a lot of wordy sentences, and try to fix the head hopping. This last thing is the hardest task for me for me, but I muddle through. What I’m left with is my way of telling the story. My voice. When I write in first person – with me as the narrator – you can really hear me. I’ve had people that know me personally tell me they actually heard my voice in their head when they were reading the story and boy, is that a major compliment! When I write in third person, I try to find the narrator/character’s voice through their descriptions of things, events, and emotions.  All this adds to my voice. Just as my real voice is very characteristic of me, my writing voice is as well.

Think about the authors you read and enjoy the most. I would bet the reason you like them – aside form the great stories they tell – is how they tell the story to you. Their voice.

 

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