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Jean Lorrah Go To Chat How To Chat Lorrah's Home Page Nessie and the Living Stone

Jean Lorrah Professor of English, Murray State University, Author of 15 trade-published novels, Creator, Savage Empire Series, Co-Creator, Sime-Gen Universe, CEO of Sime-Gen Inc. Nessie and the Living Stone by Lois Wickstrom and Jean Lorrah is a children's e-book which came out this fall from Crossroads Publishers.

JaniceMars Jean...good to have you here today.
Jean Lorrah Thank you. Always happy to publicize a new book!
JaniceMars Jean, we invited you out to talk a little about NESSIE AND THE LIVING STONE.
JaniceMars This is a children's e-book, correct?
Jean Lorrah Right--too bad my c-author couldn't be here. NESSIE is intended for children 8-12. But adults should enjoy reading it to kids.
JaniceMars Now this interesting Jean, does the book come on a disk or is there a special format?
Jean Lorrah It's available for download in a couple of formats, or on CD. Plug, plug: http://www.crossroadspub.com/Nessie.htm
JaniceMars 8^D
JaniceMars So folks can go directly to the site and download the book, or get a CD.
Jean Lorrah I'm teaching it in a college-level course next semester, and I think it will hold up. Yes, it's available now.
JaniceMars Jean, you've done Star Trek novels and other work with Sime-Gen...what....
JaniceMars caused you to turn your hand to a children's novel?
Jean Lorrah Well, Lois and Eric (her husband) and I got inspired on a trip to Scotland. Lois had written children't books before, but I hadn't. She knows the style for children, while I tend to work on plot and archetypes. When she writes children, they sound like real children.
JaniceMars There is a growing market for children's books, as evidenced by the popularity of Harry Potter books...
Jean Lorrah Anyway, we went Nessie hunting, but she didn't show up for us.
JaniceMars what is it about writing for children that is different than other types of novels?
Jean Lorrah So we decided to write about a couple of kids for whom she did show up. Actually, not that much difference for me. The story is shorter and the plot less complex. You don't use flashbacks or other complicated techniques.
JaniceMars Okay. Everything is present tense then?
Jean Lorrah Oh, no!
JaniceMars No?
Jean Lorrah Yuck--I HATE present-tense writing. It certainly has no place in a children's book--that is definitely an adult suspense/violence technique.
JaniceMars Okay. Which technique works best?
Jean Lorrah Standard past tense, like any other book.
JaniceMars Okay...good.
Jean Lorrah Otherwise, I start with conflict, as for any book. Here the conflict was simple: Craig wants to capture Nessie. Of course as it turns out, Nessie captures him instead.
JaniceMars So, Jean, how did your collaboration work? Did Jean do certain parts first.
Jean Lorrah That scene is the book sample you can hear me read on our Nessie's Grotto website. We talked and talked and e-mailed and e-mailed, until we had a working outline. Then Lois first drafted. Lois Wickstrom, BTW. Then I rewrote extensively, and then she rewote my rewrites. We kept at it until we had a book we both agreed on.
JaniceMars Thanks Jean. Jean, Is Nessie's Grotto linked from your homepage at ... http://www.jeanlorrah.com/ ?
JaniceMars or is there a seperate URL?
Jean Lorrah Yes, there's a link from jeanlorrah.com or you can go to www.nessiebook.com .
JELEINEN How long did it take to finish?
Jean Lorrah Probably about a year, because we have lives. Then we wasted about four years trying for tree publication. We were utterly astonished that it was rejected everywhere, because we knew it was good and there was no other children's book about Nessie in English. One came and went in England while we were trying to sell ours, but that one is now out of print.
JELEINEN That is surprising, given, as you said, the popularity of the Potter books.
Jean Lorrah So ours is currently the only children's book about the Loch Ness Monster. When we started, no one had ever heard of Harry Potter. Now everyone thinks we are imitating those books. Grrrr!
JaniceMars Hmmm....so what drew you to crossroads publications?
Jean Lorrah We went to Crossroads because they do good children's books.
DaveKuz You don't have any of your Nessie books with Hard Shell Word Factory?
Jean Lorrah Very few e-publishers publish children't books at all. This is our first one. We would have gone to Hard Shell had Crossroads rejected it, but they didn't.
JaniceMars May I ask why you say that the book is for ages 8-12?
Jean Lorrah It's what's called a "children's chapter book."
DaveKuz Hmmm, then I'm confused. I feel certain that I've seen a book cover for something with Nessie in it on their site.
JaniceMars Yes?
Jean Lorrah Librarians want to classify everything. If you don't write in one of their classifications, it can't be published.
DaveKuz I will be right back. I'm going to recheck.
Jean Lorrah Okay--for all I know, Hard Shell could have published a Nessie book when we were busy with ours, but it wasn't there when we were studying them.
JaniceMars Ah. What is a "chapter book?"
Jean Lorrah Seven chapters. It's just that simple!
JaniceMars Are they designed to be read a chapter at a sitting?
Jean Lorrah Probably so--bedtime reading. That's why I wish Lois were here--she probably knows the answer to that. But she had another commitment this afternoon.
JaniceMars Cool. Jean I'm at the sample chapter site...
JaniceMars http://www.simegen.com/writers/nessie/sample.htm
JaniceMars I see that you have quite a few options besides the sample chapter to offer.... online activities for the kids.
DaveKuz The book at HSWF is Nessie's Highland Fling and it apparently refers to a bear who is the main character.
JaniceMars Ah...so not the Loch Ness Monster, then.
Jean Lorrah Yes--we have a whole website for kids 8-12.
DaveKuz Well, a bear is pictured on the cover in a kilt and carrying bagpipes.
Jean Lorrah Everything is associated with Loch Ness or Scotland or our books.
Jean Lorrah The science experiments come from events in one or both books.
JaniceMars Jean.... I'm assuming now that the 8 age minimum is because this is as early as most kids can handle a mouse and work a computer?
Jean Lorrah No--it's the same for tree books.
JaniceMars So it's the reading level then?
Jean Lorrah It's probably the age at which the average child first begins to appreciate books that are more text than pictures. We have a wonderful illustrator, Sara Strand, but there's only an illo about every five or six pages. Or screens.
JaniceMars But it's not to say that this book wouldn't be one that a parent could read to a child on their lap at the computer....
JaniceMars even if the child were younger than 8.
Jean Lorrah Oh, definitely. Those age categories aren't set in stone. I expect my college students to enjoy the story. I wouldn't write anything I wouldn't want to read.
JaniceMars Jean, you mentioned that the online activities relate to *both* books. How many books in the Nessie group do you expect there to be?
Jean Lorrah Indefinite. We'll go on as long as we can get them published. Or until we run out of ideas, which isn't likely.
JaniceMars So you've finished a second book? When is it due for publication?
Jean Lorrah One of the characters in the second book is based on the man who is trying to record Nessie's sounds. The second is NESSIE AND THE VIKING GOLD. We just turned it in about ten days ago. We expect it to be out late spring, but don't have a date yet. As the study of Loch Ness is ongoing, we expect it to provide us with more inspiration.
JaniceMars Okay... I have a niece and a nephew who would probably love to sit on their dad's lap while he reads them a book from the computer...
Jean Lorrah Great!
JaniceMars so let's talk a little bit about the advantages of this format.
JaniceMars About how much does NESSIE cost as compaired to a pulp book.
Jean Lorrah Much less--even the CD is only $10, when a similarly color-illoed children's book goes for $25 or so.
JaniceMars My goodness....well that's a big reason right there.
Jean Lorrah The download is less.
JaniceMars I believe there's still time, right now to order the CD and expect to have it under the christmas tree.
JaniceMars But the download would be an excellent last minute stocking stuffer.
JaniceMars The download is only $3.95, I see.
Jean Lorrah Right! And I haven't checked into how to do it, but you can give gift certificates from Crossroads. I think all the indy e-publishers are doing that, which should really help sales.
JaniceMars Ah...so if you have children you could download the book for your home computer....
JaniceMars or you could send a gift certificate.
Jean Lorrah Yes, and put it where the kids CAN reach it.
JaniceMars True, and a much longer shelf life than some of the pulp books out there.
Jean Lorrah Definitely--these are not protected so you can't transfer them if you buy a new computer.
JaniceMars Jean, now that you've started working with Wickstrom on the Nessie books, do you have any plans to do other children's series on your own?
Jean Lorrah No, I probably won't do more children's books alone. All my current ideas are adult books. BLOOD WILL TELL, due from Awe-Struck next year, is a very adult dark fantasy.
JaniceMars But there is the possibility that this series will continue indefinately.
Jean Lorrah We hope the Nessie's Grotto books will go on indefinitely. Hey--we'd like to see them get popular and go to tree books and then a Saturday morning cartoon series! We can dream, right?
JaniceMars After reading the first chapter, I'm definately going to get one for the niece and nephew.
Jean Lorrah Or maybe Disney movies--dream big.
Jean Lorrah Great!
JELEINEN Hehe With lots of merchandising, of course. ;)
JaniceMars Jean, never hurts to dream.
Jean Lorrah Warner Brothers would do just as well. Or Dream Works. We're not picky.
JaniceMars Jean, you've mentioned that you are going to be using Nessie in your college course. You'll be teaching writing children's books this year?
Jean Lorrah No, I'll be teaching a course called Fantasy, Myth, and Legend. I teach it every Spring. I always include my latest publication. It's not often students get to question the author in a situation where they actually know that person.
DaveKuz When you approached Crossroads, how long did it take before your book was released?
Jean Lorrah Hmmm--it was just a few months. The longest part was getting the illos right--we drove poor Sara crazy! But not too crazy apparently, as she has signed on for the second book.
JaniceMars Ah...so there's that advantage for parents as well. Children do get attached to their favorite stories, and It's good to know another book will be available soon.
Jean Lorrah Yes--and next summer we will write the third, which is about a lake monster in Canada, and the secret links between lake monsters around the world. Guess where we vacationed last summer?
JaniceMars You know, something occurred to me. When I was a kid I read Nancy Drew books, and as I recall they were about $4. So these online books are affordable on a kid's allowance.
Jean Lorrah That's right--and we would love it if the kids discovered the books for themselves. I would rather the kids loved the books and bought them themselves than if librarians loved them but kids never read them.
JaniceMars Well, and it's an excellent way for people to help teach children the value of money and earning things, as well as enjoying an egaging story.
JaniceMars A $25 book just isn't in most younger kid's budget.
Jean Lorrah I'm a populist type--I'd rather have written _Gone With the Wind_ than some boring critical success. I want to write books people read because they love them, not because they think they are good for them. Kids love monsters, so I hope they will love the Nessie's Grotto books.
JaniceMars True.
JaniceMars Jean, Nessie was nominated for a Dream Realm Award. Can you tell us what category that fell under?
Jean Lorrah Children's. We didn't win, but it was nice to be nominated.
JaniceMars Very true. E-Books are getting a lot more attention these days.
DaveKuz Well, there's still the 2000 Readers' Poll sponsored by Preditors & Editors.
Jean Lorrah Lois probably has us entered in that one. She does all the entering.
JaniceMars And the Golden Duck Awards among others.
Jean Lorrah I can't keep up with that end of promotion because of all the work with simegen.com.
DaveKuz Actually, no one is entered in the Readers Poll as nomination and voting doesn't take place until 1 Jan 2001.
Jean Lorrah Basically, we're working to become known as a reliable product overall.
JaniceMars Speaking of Sime-Gen, can you tell us a little about that now? We'll want to schedule a separate chat for the future to go into Sime-Gen in depth.
Jean Lorrah That would be great!
JaniceMars But could you give us a taste of what Sime-Gen does?
Jean Lorrah First of all, there is Sime~Gen the domain for creative people, and Sime~Gen the sf series of novels. We started the first to promote the second. Jacqueline Lichtenberg started the series over 25 years ago. I quickly became involved, and we collaborated on three books, and I wrote one in the series alone. Then the series was involuntarily ended by the NY publishing establishment, along with literally thousands of others. You all know THAT story.
JaniceMars Ah, yes. We most certainly do. So we existed in snailmail fandom for about ten years, and then along came the Internet. So now we are building something that isn't just for us, but for all types of creative people. We hope it will eventually support getting our books available again, and new ones--but we also exist to help others.
JaniceMars Excellent. You have a lot of tips on the site about how to channel the creative impulse into workable salable products.
Jean Lorrah We need teachers for our WorldCrafters School of Creative Writing. Our Review areas are going great guns.
JaniceMars Jean, I'll be contacting you and Jacqueline Lichtenberg to set up a time when you both can come out and chat at length about Sime-Gen. Thanks for the taste.
Jean Lorrah But we can always use more reviewers, who get free books.
JaniceMars For now, though, we've kept you online and typing for about an hour now.
JaniceMars Folks...
Jean Lorrah Okay--we'll be happy to come and chat.
JaniceMars do we have any more questions about NESSIE AND THE LIVING STONE for Jean?
Jean Lorrah We have had four very positive reviews so far.
JaniceMars Yes, I'm curious about that too, Jean. Oh that's excellent!
Jean Lorrah With the book out only a month, we have no sales figures yet.
JaniceMars And what a perfect month for it to come out as well!
Jean Lorrah Yes--we are HOPING for holiday sales.
JaniceMars Well you've made one here.
* JaniceMars looking around for credit card right now.
Jean Lorrah Thank you! Every sale helps--and we hope word of mouth will get around.
JaniceMars No thank YOU for letting me know about ebooks for kids. I know Kate and Chuck will be tickled pink...
JaniceMars to have something that is theres that can be used on a computer.
JaniceMars And they *do* love monsters.
Jean Lorrah You'll probably be surprised at what they already have. Send them to our website--we have lots of interesting stuff for kids.
JaniceMars I will.
Jean Lorrah All safe, too, and all compliant with FCC rulings.
JaniceMars Thanks for joining us today Jean.
Jean Lorrah Thank you!
JELEINEN Nice meeting you Jean.
* Ryan smiles and nods.
Jean Lorrah Nice to meet all of you, and thank you for coming.
JaniceMars Thank you Jean!
Jean Lorrah Bye now.

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