Misty Massey is a first-time author with some advice for writers waiting to publish. Mad Kestrel arrives in store March 4 from TOR Books. The rollicking pirate fantasy taught her a lot about writing, and about the business of publishing.
"I hear many unpublished writers declare that they would never sell out their art by making changes. That’s okay," she says, "but if the manuscript you’ve written is something you want to sell…take the advice the editor offers."
She admits that she felt like crying when her editor requested changes involving a major rewrite, but then took a deep breath and looked at the manuscript again and began rewriting. "The rest is (now) history."
How did her expectations measure up to the real-life publishing process?
She was lucky to have befriended two published authors, Faith Hunter and Kim Harrison, long before she signed with TOR so she wasn't completely naive. "Through them, I knew publishing was all about the 'hurry up and wait,' but I still had to develop the patience of a saint."
The timetable spans six years since Misty finished the manuscript in 2002. She found an agent in 2004, who finally sold it to TOR in June of last year. Now seven months later, Mad Kestrel is reaching store shelves.
How did she come to be a novelist?
She credits her parents, both educators, with giving her encouragement early. They let her make her own reading choices, which helped her develop an extensive vocabulary. "I was one those kids who was never seen without a book in her hand." Her mother would bribe her with five dollars for any books she wanted if Misty wouldn't complain about clothes shopping. "That was when five dollars bought two books and left change."
Her dad was a history buff and took the family on touring day trips to nearby historical sites. On a trip to Charleston, SC she began her love affair with pirates. But it was author Tim Powers who made Misty want to write. She was working in a bookstore while she after she finished college and found Powers' novel The Anubis Gates.
"It was the perfect novel. I read it over and over until my little paperback fell to bits, and I had to replace it with a lovely hardback instead." His style and technique fascinated her, especially how he would tie "actual historic events with their otherworldly explanations. I decided that I just had to try doing the same thing."
It wasn't until 1995 that Misty considered writing a novel. She had published short stories in a college anthology and in some small-press magazines, but never attempted a novel. Then she met Faith Hunter, who not only encouraged her to step away from the "nice, safe short stories," but she stood by her, offering "straight-up critiques and advice."
"At first it was hell," Misty admits. She was used to being finished by page 20. "Producing 80 to 100 thousand words was unimaginable!" It took her 15 months to finish the original manuscript, working a few hours at a time shuffled between her job in a middle school library and caring for her son, husband and a menagerie of pets.
" My husband and son are incredibly supportive, and help out with the household upkeep so that I don’t feel like a bad mother!"
What's next for Misty?
Misty worked on two "practice novels" before tackling and completing the story of young Kestrel with secret magical powers who finds freedom living on the seas. "They taught me all sorts of things NOT to do."
Now she has a second book with Kestrel nearly finished and a third one plotted, which she believes will finish her heroine's adventures. "But novels are organic and changing," she adds, so anything is possible. She is also working on a novel about Renaissance faires, elves and the Anasazi.
Mad Kestrel can be preordered on Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble. Visit Misty's website to learn more about her and read one of her short stories.
