Zoe M. McCarthy & spotlight of Tailor Your Fiction Manuscript in 30 Days

We're excited to have Zoe M. McCarthy with us today talking about her new book Tailor Your Fiction Manuscript in 30 Days.  I actually purchased this one and have been reading it and am gleaning some great treasures from this book.

You’re an author of Christian contemporary romances. Why did you choose to write the nonfiction Tailor Your Fiction Manuscript in 30 Days?

I was an actuary in my first career, but I always held a passion to create stories. Determined to learn the route to publication, I attended writers’ conferences, picking up and studying presenters’ books on writing, and joined a critique group.

When my first contemporary romance contracted, my research on publishing and marketing convinced me I needed to start a blog and post regularly. Because my analytical side gives me a keen interest in the mechanics and methodologies of good writing, a how-to blog on writing appealed to me. In 2012, I began my blog.

After I had published over one hundred fifty blog posts, an agent and a publishing house editor suggested I write a book based on my blog. The idea interested me, and I attended a workshop on the dos and don’ts for turning blog posts into a book. I wanted to share more than the information I’d accumulated. I desired to help writers who had manuscripts but didn’t know how to get them ready for publication, writers whose manuscripts received rejections, writers whose self-published novels received poor reviews, and writers who wanted to write the stories on their hearts but needed help to put them to paper. Tailor Your Fiction Manuscript in 30 Days was born.

Which is more difficult for you to write, fiction or nonfiction, and why?

I’m more comfortable writing fiction, but it took years for me to feel at home in writing novels. I signed with an agent early in my career. Then I had four rejected manuscripts. I didn’t give up. Before my fifth novel contracted, I joined critique groups, read many books on writing, entered contests for feedback, and attended writing workshops at conferences. I loved learning how to improve my novel writing. When I attended a pre-conference class on the Hero’s journey, my fiction writing became easier and more enjoyable.

For non-fiction writing, I enjoyed two parts, 1) producing a methodology to help writers get their manuscripts in shape and 2) sharing in a purposeful, unified manner good writing principles I’d learned and posted in my blog. My analytical side enjoyed organizing all that material. I was less enthralled with creating a detailed table of contents and an index.

In the interview for The Putting Green Whisper earlier this month, you told us five random things about yourself. Please tell five other things we might not know about you.

In my freshman year in college, I spent almost the entire night in the hall outside my dorm room working on a logic problem the professor had assigned us with a twinkle in his eye. My roommates gave up after about thirty minutes. It dawned on me that the solution involved several cases. The next day when the professor asked if any of the fifty class members had solved the problem, only two of us raised our hands. The professor saw that I’d burst if he didn’t choose me come to the black board. My solution was correct.

I attended Bible Study Fellowship for nine years and was a children’s leader for five of those years.

In fifth grade, I entered the talent show dressed like an old miner with a pipe, and recited Robert Service’s poem, “The Cremation of Sam McGee.” I didn’t win, but the teaching staff asked me to perform it for the PTA one evening. I did.

I’ve seen the Taj Mahal in India, Michelangelo’s David in Italy, The Mendenhall Glacier in Alaska, the site of the bridge over the River Kwai in Thailand, and the Christ the Redeemer statue of Jesus Christ in Brazil.

At ten living in Haiti, my family had five parrots, a donkey, and two dogs. One parrot came with us to the U.S. and, when I was in my early twenties, Jaco ended up in Busch Gardens in Florida.

Tell us more about Tailor Your Fiction Manuscript in 30 Days.

The revising method in Tailor Your Fiction Manuscript in 30 Days works for any fiction genre. The goal is to shape a not-yet-submitted, rejected, or self-published fiction manuscript with low ratings into a book that shines. The method can also be a guiding resource for writers starting a manuscript.

I think the comments from some of the endorsers of the book describe it well.

Zoe McCarthy’s book, Tailor Your Fiction Manuscript in 30 Days, is a fresh and innovative refocusing of your novel or novella. Through a few simple—and fun—steps, Zoe helps writers take their not-ready-for-publication and/or rejected manuscripts to a spit-polish finish. Writing is hard work, yes, but it doesn’t have to be difficult.

—Eva Marie Everson, best-selling and multiple award-winning author, conference director, president of Word Weavers International, Inc.

If you want to increase your chance of hearing yes instead of sorry or not a fit for our list at this time, this book is for you. If you want to develop stronger story plots with characters that are hard to put down, this book is for you. Through McCarthy’s checklists and helpful exercises and corresponding examples, you will learn how to raise the tension, hone your voice, and polish your manuscript. I need this book for my clients and the many conferees I meet at writer’s conferences around the country. Thank you, Zoe. A huge, #thumbsup, for Tailor Your Fiction Manuscript in 30 Days.  

—Diana L. Flegal, literary agent, and freelance editor

Tailor Your Fiction Manuscript is a self-editing encyclopedia! Each chapter sets up the targeted technique, examples show what to look for in your manuscript, then proven actions are provided to take your writing to the next level. Whether you are a seasoned writer or a newbie, you need this book! 

—Sally Shupe, freelance editor, aspiring author

Zoe has developed a guiding resource for beginning writers. Her method is designed for brainstorming, shaping, and revising the early draft of a manuscript. General and specific tips are offered for applying rules of writing to enhance one’s story for a workable second draft. By exploring the plot line of Love Comes Softly, writers may examine their own work for stronger plot and characterization. Valuable tools are offered that enable the writer to develop a workable draft in only 30 days!

—Yvonne Lehman, award-winning, best-selling author of 48 novels

Where else can readers find you online?

https://zoemmccarthy.com

https://www.amazon.com/Tailor-Your-Fiction-Manuscript-Days/dp/0989106497

Bio:

Zoe writes contemporary Christian romances involving tenderness and humor. Believing opposites distract, Zoe creates heroes and heroines who learn to embrace their differences. She’s the author of Good Breaks, The Putting Green Whisperer, The Invisible Woman in a Red Dress, Gift of the Magpie, and Calculated Risk.

In respect to her nonfiction writing, Zoe still attends writing workshops at popular Christian writers’ conferences, and explores online writing articles to improve her writing and her blog posts. Her weekly blog posts share what she’s learned and often include examples of how she incorporated skills and techniques into her own writing. In addition to her instructional blog, Zoe has taught workshops at libraries, writer groups, and the Virginia chapter of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) Conferences. She belongs to Word Weavers and ACFW, is the treasurer for the ACFW Virginia chapter, and taught a month-long ACFW course on writing.

Her husband, John, partners with Zoe on the nonwriting tasks in her publishing career. They live on a hill in the Virginia Blue Ridge Mountains. Zoe and John enjoy exploring mountains and valleys, canoeing the New River, or spending time at their cabin on a lake. She also teaches a community Bible study and hosts a prayer shawl ministry. Zoe and John have two sons, two daughters-in-love, and six grandchildren.