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Authors Talk

Author Devan Sipher of The Wedding Beat: All or nothing

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When Devan Sipher, author of The Wedding Beat, began writing his story, he knew it was all or nothing.

He wrote 12 to 15 hours a day, six days a week for a year and a half.

While writing, he made sure to make every page a page turner.

I read the book and I think Sipher succeeded.

In the short-but-sweet glimpse into his writing process, Sipher shares his number one tip to writing a novel that landed him attention from a big six publishing house.

Straight from the author’s mouth: Writing full steam ahead

Why did you choose to write this book?

For five years I was a single guy writing the Vows wedding column at The New York Times. It occurred to me that my life would seem somewhat amusing (if I wasn’t living it). Then the movie 27 Dresses came out, with a male romantic lead who seemed to write the column I wrote at the newspaper I worked for, and I figured if someone was going to steal my life, it should be me.

How long did it take you to write it?

I wrote the book in a year over a year and a half, six days a week 12 to 15 hours a day. You could say I was driven. I had never written a novel before (or anything as long), and I was so intimidated by the prospect I felt I needed to do it full steam ahead or I might be tempted to give up.

Any editing tips you used to help you get to the final draft?

On every page ask: What does the character want? How badly do they want it? Why do they want it now? What’s stopping them from getting it? On every page.

If you could share one tip you learned with self-publishers who share the dream of one day being published, what would it be?

Be ruthless with yourself about your writing, and try to find a writing group of kind and smart people – and preferably sane. But kind and smart are more important.

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Luv/Hate Reviews, Romance, Serious reviews

The Wedding Beat: A 4/5 star romanctic comedy

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Your incandescent smile short-circuited my brain. I can’t stop thinking about you, and I will be eternally grateful if you agree to have dinner with me.

                                                                – Gavin pg. 44 of my Nook

 Review: 4 Stars

The Wedding Beat is the kind of read where I found myself laughing out loud every minute or so at a quick and poignant joke buried in the literature.

For those who do not know, The Wedding Beat is a romantic comedy, about a  lonely wedding columnist’s quest for true love.

Gavin Green is a journalist for one of the nation’s leading newspapers, but writing stories about extravagant weddings is no fun when you’d rather be the one saying, “I do”.

Things seem to turn around when a beautiful travel writer walks into his life, opening his eyes to the possibility of making a connection deeper than pen and paper.

The sentences are so well written, the paragraphs so free of clichés’ and wordiness, allowing the chapters to read like the opening to headline news.

Yet I never expected anything less from a New York Times journalist.

The fact every chapter was structured so there was a beginning, a climax, and an end was the strawberry topping on my sundae.

Such structure evokes the same kind of feeling you get when your favorite television series ends for the week, and you find yourself waiting impatiently for the next week to roll around.

I would flip to the next chapter just to ease the feeling of lost in my chest.

Now I’m the kind of girl who’ll read anything as long as the plot is flawless and the style profound. However my tastes favor slow, character-driven novels where a lot of detail is not just given to characters, but the world in which they live.

What detail is in this book is there only to further the plot. So I have not noticed any long, drawn out descriptions of wedding halls, exotic cuisine, and blowing wind.

Such long descriptions can be used well to ease the reader into a new world, a technique I would have used in the beginning of the novel.

I found the first two chapters to be jarring, but by chapter four I was able to fasten my seatbelt and cruise through the rest of the book.

My favorite line –

The way I look at it, Mike found me. He found me over and over. Even though I didn’t know that I was lost.

                                                – uttered by Amy pg. 63 of my Nook.

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Industry News, Romance

Devan Sipher’s The Wedding Beat beats all romance novel cliches

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The Wedding beat: A novel

Finally a male other than Nicolas Sparks claiming some market share in the romance genre.

Devan Sipher, A New York Times wedding columnist, released his novel The Wedding Beat yesterday.

Straying from the lonely damsels or wanton-women reads one can find on their drugstores’ local shelves, Sipher tells the story of a successful bachelor’s desire for wedding bells.

To think the media would have us believe there were no more straight men in America left who wanted to get married.

Well Sipher finds a way to stick it to the media while  maintaining a positive image in the media.

As Jen of Devourer of Books published on SheKnows, Sipher’s story follows Gavin Green, a columnist for The Paper.

“One New Year’s Eve, Gavin’s luck seems to change and he meets the woman of his dreams. Melinda is a dimpled, travel writer who seems to be just as into him as he is to her. Just as Gavin is about to get Melinda’s number, though, she is swept away by another man. Gavin would give anything to find her once again — hopefully before he finds himself writing about her wedding,” Jen wrote.

There seems to be a lot of promise with this novel.

Sipher used his own life experience when writing, trusting the wisdom, the best art is truth peppered with exaggeration.

The reviews are all great, people are tweeting like crazy, and it’s a nice reminder men need love too.

Plus the author is a nice guy, qualities that are pertinent for romance writers. When I asked him to answer a few questions for my blog, he said,  yes . . . after I get sleep.

What more do you need in a romance novel? Get out to Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, hop on Amazon, and buy your copy of The Wedding Beat today.