Authors Have 'Dream Realized' With First Novel Published

They haven’t fully grasped the enormity and excitement of the situation—but they both know that this is a dream realized.

With a release date of June 8, Bridgewater authors Charlotte Bennardo and Natalie Zaman are celebrating “Sirenz,” their first book in a trilogy about two girls at the mercy of the Lord of the Underworld.

“This has always been a dream, and this book is a dream realized,” Bennardo said. “I actually believe that.”

“It’s still sinking in for me, just to be able to touch the book,” Zaman added.

The book is about two girls who are recruited by Hades to be his sirens.

“Unwillingly, we call it Lucy and Ethel meets warrior princess meets ‘Project Runway,’" Bennardo said.

Zaman said the two were in a critique group together, and were lamenting the success of other authors, wondering when they would get that break.

“It started as a little joke, but that’s how it happened,” Bennardo said.

They had both done a lot of writing in the past, with Zaman focusing on nonfiction articles and more fantastical pieces.

And Bennardo, at the time, had written more fantastical and other fiction pieces.

“This wasn’t too far of a stretch for me,” she said.

The two contemplated ideas for a novel, talking first about vampires and how they could build a story on them. But at that point, Bennardo said, they realized there were just too many novels already in the bookstores on that topic.

Zombies were also not as interesting to them, so they settled on sirens.

“We didn’t want to do the same old story, so we picked the sirens which are lesser known,” Bennardo said.

Zaman said they brainstormed their novel for a while, then began to draft chapters before bringing it to a conference with the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, of which they are both members.

“We brought the chapters to the conference, and they were pretty well-received,” Zaman said. “Then it was like, ‘OK, now we have to finish the book.’”

“We had to sit down and plot it out,” Bennardo said. “We were thinking in different directions, but we had to sit down and plot it out chapter by chapter. Then it began flowing from there.”

The book, Zaman said, is targeted for the young adult sector, namely teenagers ages 12 through 18.

From there, Bennardo said, it took about eight months to complete the writing of the book before they moved on to revisions.

Zaman said they were able to get an editor at Flux, who worked with them on continued changes.

“He said, ‘I love it, it’s polished, keep the first five chapters and throw out the last 15,’” Bennardo said with a laugh. “But he did make it a better book because he simplified it.”

“What he did for the story, for us as writers too, there’s nothing like having a professional third eye,” Zaman added.

From there, the edits took about eight months, and they had it completed by August 2009.

“There was one point where, near the end, we actually read it from beginning to end out loud,” Zaman said. “It took 11 hours.”

Bennardo said they received the offer for publishing around October 2009, when additional edits were needed to finish it completely.

When they first heard about their offer for actual publication, Bennardo said, they were thrilled by the new opportunity. She said they had put a lot of work into the book, and their families were glad the contract came through because they were “tired of hearing us whine.”

“They want us to succeed,” she said with a smile.

“Just to get that contract, it’s an accomplishment,” Zaman added.

When they got the contract, Bennardo said, she just started screaming incoherently into the phone.

“I was just jumping up and down, my neighbors must have thought something was wrong,” she said. “They must have thought we were lunatics.”

The book, Bennardo said, is what is called “mid-list,” not the biggest seller, but still good. She said there was a pre-debut at Book Expo America to schmooze with the book and play it up to others.

“Our publicist said we would see who we could scare up,” she said. “And there were 300 people waiting for us.”

“We did a lot of marketing before then on social networks, but you can never tell who’s watching and who’s listening,” Zaman added. “You can try to predict, but there is really no way.”

And with the success of the first book—and book two scheduled for 2012, with book three coming in 2013 and the possibility of a fourth after that—Bennardo said they consider themselves full time writers.

“We also each have some individual projects,” she said. “We have the same agent who represents us together and separately.”

For those looking to take on their own careers in writing, Zaman said, they must begin working while also learning. She said writing the actual book is not the only part of the job.

“It’s not just about writing, it’s about marketing,” she said. “And polishing the manuscript.”

“We’ve been turned down by the best, but we took criticism and moved on,” she added.

Zaman said being a writer is a dream, and, despite it being a cliché, inspiration does come from everywhere.

“You have to keep your eyes open,” she said. “We see some of ourselves in the characters. And little things like the language, we hear our children talk and that’s how we think, so it helps us to not write in a mommy voice.”

And anyone who is an inspiring children’s author, Bennardo said, should get involved in an author’s group, go to conferences and get critiques.

“Meet with them, have feedback, take critiques from other members,” she said. “I don’t know what we would have done without the group.”

For Zaman, she also believes that networking is essential to getting into the business, and the group is where she met Bennardo initially.

“I get the sense that a lot of people think about New Jersey and scoff, but the state in general has so much to offer and it’s such a hub,” Zaman said. “You can get the best of everything, and it’s central.”

Bennardo said she and Zaman have even had the chance to speak throughout Bridgewater, doing guest presentations at some of the schools and a career day at the high school.

“The schools are very enthusiastic about the book,” she said. “We live here, and word gets around fast.”

Zaman—who has a bachelor of arts degree in English from Caldwell College, and who minored in marketing before getting certified as a kindergarten through 12th grade English teacher—taught for several years before her first child was born. She then started a graduate program at Drew University.

“Then I made a decision to stay with my kids instead,” she said, adding that she has three kids. “Eventually I started writing seriously to get published.”

Bennardo has an associates degree in journalism from SUNY Morrisville, an associates in paralegal from Suffolk Community College and a bachelors in English from Rutgers University.

“And we both always knew we wanted to write,” Zaman said.

For them both, publishing is all about making time to write, working at any time and just getting it done.

“You find a way and you work around things,” Zaman said.

“You grab time to write when you can,” Bennardo added. “If you want to write, you find a way. There is no one day, there is only now.”