The evolution of writing

By Liz Kellar
The Daily Times

Published September 17, 2005

The popular perception of a writer might well be that of a tormented hermit scribbling away in a garret.

But the reality is that most writers need feedback. They need a community of like-minded souls to discuss their work and to critique their prose.

That writing community can be elusive, particularly if you live in a small town.

Local author Jan Holloway, who publishes her “dark suspense” as J.M.M. Holloway, found a solution online.

Besides being a member of the Kerrville Writers Association, she also belongs to an Internet-based writers group, NovelPro.

The group was formed in 1997 by Houston-area author JR Lankford; its 30 members read and exhaustively critique each other’s new or revised manuscripts in four-week “clinics.”

“They have really rigorous standards for critique,” commented Holloway. “This is the kind of stuff you pay thousands of dollars for.”

The virtual writing community has had an impressive string of successes in eight years. One member recently had a mystery selected by Avalon and another member’s book on the Tour de France, “The Race,” hit number one on Amazon’s sport fiction bestseller list in July. Founder Lankford’s novel, “The Jesus Thief,” recently was optioned by actress Alfre Woodard.

“I was just amazed at what they were doing,” Holloway said. “I think I would have quit without that kind of input. I wish I could find something like that for my short stories.”

She has taken chapters of her new novel, “Thicker Than Blood,” to the local writing group, she said, but it is not an appropriate venue for an entire book.

“I do get great feedback,” she said. “You get great visceral reactions — and you can’t get that online.”

Holloway, a Beaumont native, returned to Texas from California three years ago after her husband accepted a teaching position at Schreiner University.

She began writing fiction while she still was living in California, after a career as a technical writer.

“I had always wanted to be a writer but other things got in the way,” she said.

But a decline in health put her back on track.

“I had had polio as a child, and when I hit my 40s, I started to lose mobility and muscle,” she said. “Writing was something I could continue to do.”

Her first novel, “White Witch, Blue Lady,” was published in late 1999 as an electronic novel, but the press went bankrupt shortly thereafter.

“In 1999, (e-publishing) seemed to be the coming thing,” Holloway said. “It just seemed so great and better than a print book.”

She hasn’t abandoned her belief in the medium, she said, but thinks it will exist more as a companion to print.

“I think it will evolve into a significant part of publishing, but I don’t think books are going away,” she commented.

Some e-publishers pay and some don’t, she said, adding that some of the better online magazines that don’t pay go to the effort of submitting stories to contests and anthologies.

“Those that pay tend to go belly-up,” she said ruefully.

“There’s just so many out there. Some are really awful, and some are really good. It will be interesting to see how it all shakes out.”

Holloway currently has one published story online, at The Vacant Funhouse, http://vacantfunhouse.com/ issue2-5-05.html.

While she writes some “straight” mysteries, she said, she prefers adding elements of the supernatural or paranormal to her work.

“First of all, it’s what I enjoy reading,” she explained. “I don’t think anyone can create fiction who is not an avid reader. I always have been interested in parapsychology. I’m something of a skeptic but I just find it very, very fascinating, so that’s generally where my stories lead me.”

The novel she is working on now, “Thicker Than Blood,” is set in the Big Thicket.

“It’s a very strange, evocative place,” she said.

“At some point, I fantasized that the fountain of youth that all the early explorers sought actually existed deep in the impenetrable thicket,” she said.

The main characters, who she describes as “water vampires,” are a family of slaveholders who discover the fountain of youth and use it to survive until modern times. The powers of the fountain start to fail, however, and the clan will do anything — including blood sacrifice — to survive. 

“I was fascinated by these characters,” she said. “I always start off with someone I know but they never stay that way ... They always evolve.”

Holloway hopes to have the first draft done in a couple of weeks and she will then sent it to NovelPro.

“Hopefully that will leave me in a place where I need one serious revision,” she said.

Then, she said, she needs to find an agent. Her experience with the first novel taught her that she wants to find a major publisher.

Holloway has plenty of ideas for her next novel.

The difficulty lies in committing to one, she said, since writing it will require a commitment of several years.

She has thought of working on a series, she added, but she is afraid she would get sick of her characters.

“To me, they are real people,” she said, “and you might get sick of them just like you can get sick of real people.”

One thing she knows for sure, she said. She will never rewrite “White Witch, Blue Lady” for another publisher.

“(That book) was how I taught myself to write,” she said. “It went through so many revisions that I’m not up to making changes to it. Not with that book. It will always stay in its present form and be my first novel.”

Liz Kellar may be reached at liz.kellar@dailytimes.com.

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