Ask the Author: Loralee Evans
Answered Questions (12)
Loralee Evans
First, find your book. Look for it in "Search books". Once you've found your book, you'll also need to find and accept your author page.
I don't know if you're this David Olsen: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
But if you are, you'll need to accept it as yours. It may take a few days for Goodreads to make sure it is yours.
Once you've set up your author page, you'll also need to set up your profile to be able to send and receive private messages. You'll need to follow this link:
https://www.goodreads.com/user/edit?t...
Then go down to "Who can send me private messages" and click anyone.
To get onto a review group, go to the Reading Rounds of Review Group here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...
You may also want to try out the One for One review group here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
That's a good choice if you don't want to, or can't commit to a review group (where you would review four books). You can go to the one for one, read one of the books on the list, review it on Amazon and Goodreads, then post your goodreads and Amazon reviews on the thread, give a link to your book, and then the Moderator of the One for One list will add your book to the list.
If you want to join a review group, you would find a group that says "Now Forming". The moderator would then add you to a group of 10 authors. Once the group is full, you would be assigned to read four books, four authors would be assigned to review you. One person will be in your blind spot. This is done to avoid reciprocal reviews.
In the review round there is only one group that is in the process of forming. But new groups are created every few weeks. The one that is in the process of forming is a "Clean" review round. If the book you want reviews for is clean, meaning no on screen love scenes, swearing, or violence, you could comment on the thread and see if you can fit in.
Here is a link to that thread: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
If you have any more questions, please message me. You can also message Kat as well, here: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Go to the down pointing button that looks like this: V next to the button that says Follow Author, click on it, choose "Send message" and then you'll be taken to a page where you can send a private message.
Good luck!
I don't know if you're this David Olsen: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
But if you are, you'll need to accept it as yours. It may take a few days for Goodreads to make sure it is yours.
Once you've set up your author page, you'll also need to set up your profile to be able to send and receive private messages. You'll need to follow this link:
https://www.goodreads.com/user/edit?t...
Then go down to "Who can send me private messages" and click anyone.
To get onto a review group, go to the Reading Rounds of Review Group here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...
You may also want to try out the One for One review group here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
That's a good choice if you don't want to, or can't commit to a review group (where you would review four books). You can go to the one for one, read one of the books on the list, review it on Amazon and Goodreads, then post your goodreads and Amazon reviews on the thread, give a link to your book, and then the Moderator of the One for One list will add your book to the list.
If you want to join a review group, you would find a group that says "Now Forming". The moderator would then add you to a group of 10 authors. Once the group is full, you would be assigned to read four books, four authors would be assigned to review you. One person will be in your blind spot. This is done to avoid reciprocal reviews.
In the review round there is only one group that is in the process of forming. But new groups are created every few weeks. The one that is in the process of forming is a "Clean" review round. If the book you want reviews for is clean, meaning no on screen love scenes, swearing, or violence, you could comment on the thread and see if you can fit in.
Here is a link to that thread: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
If you have any more questions, please message me. You can also message Kat as well, here: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Go to the down pointing button that looks like this: V next to the button that says Follow Author, click on it, choose "Send message" and then you'll be taken to a page where you can send a private message.
Good luck!
Loralee Evans
Hello, in review groups there are ten people. You are reviewed by 4, and you review 4. You are assigned who reviews you and whom you review. You can join the one for one thread if you don't want to commit to reading 4 books. You would go and pick a book from the lineup, and once you've read it and reviewed it on both goodreads and Amazon, you put links to your reviews on the thread, and can then get your own book put on the list. If you have written books, you should have an author page, which you would need to claim. You can upload a picture of your choosing to that. If you have more questions, or need something clarified further, please private message me.
Loralee Evans
I'll send you a message!
Loralee Evans
I will send you a message!
Loralee Evans
Certainly! I will message you.
Loralee Evans
Yes, when a group say “Now Forming”, it has open spots. If your book is “clean” meaning no explicit violence or explicit sexual situations, there might be one spot left in group 304. It is about to get started, but one person might be a no-show because she hasn’t responded. If you want to make a comment there, you might be able to fit if the person doesn’t comment in the next couple of days. Here is a link: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Loralee Evans
Hello! I’m so sorry I didn’t see this question until now. I really love Japan and miss it. It’s a beautiful place. I was in Hokkaido.
Loralee Evans
Hello! I’m so sorry I didn’t see this question until now. I really love Japan and miss it. It’s a beautiful place. I was in Hokkaido.
Loralee Evans
Benedict and Beatrice from Much Ado About Nothing. The way they get together and realize that they actually do care about each other is hilarious.
Loralee Evans
The following advice for aspiring writers is by no means everything one needs to know in order to become a published writer. But they are rather some good ideas to think about as you gather skills and ideas to help build and improve your skills.
First, I know this sounds like a cliché, but it’s true: Believe in yourself. Don’t give any heed to naysayers who tell you not to write, or who try to discourage you. Don’t think this means you shouldn’t listen to criticism at all. If someone is giving you constructive criticism that can help you improve as a writer, listen to it. It may not be what you want to hear, because it’s human nature to like praise best of all. But if someone is giving you advice that will help you improve as a writer and make your stories more enjoyable and plausible for your readers, listen to the advice.
Second: Write because you love to write. Don’t start writing because you think you will get rich off of it. Write because it’s something you enjoy. Even if you get published, very few published writers can make a living solely off of writing. Most published writers, like me, have jobs they do during the day, and they write in the evenings, and on weekends. If you love to write, and are not expecting to get suddenly rich, then you won’t be disappointed, and no matter how much money you make or don’t make, you’ll enjoy what you do.
Third: Go to writers’ conferences. Rising writers can benefit significantly from going to writers’ conferences. There’s a lot of information taught at writers’ conferences that will help aspiring writers and even already published writers improve their skills. You may think that writers’ conferences are rather expensive, and many are, but they are definitely worth the money if you are a serious writer and want to get better.
Fourth, this goes back a little bit into the first suggestion: Be willing to accept criticism. Now, again, I’m not saying to let someone discourage you from writing. I’m saying that you need to be willing to listen to someone who is saying something you may not want to hear, but which is advice that will help your writing improve. There is an interesting truth that I have learned as a writer; I’m not sure why it is this way, but I know it’s true, and it is this: There are things that a reader can see in a story that the author simply can’t. Sometimes it’s just a typo or grammar error which can be an easy fix. But sometimes, it’s a huge chunk of story that the author thinks is brilliant, but that an audience would balk at, because it isn’t plausible, and the characters are not being themselves. An author might not be able to see such things, but a reader who can stand back from the story and look at it objectively could see it.
Whatever the criticism is, be willing to listen to it, and make necessary changes when they are needed. Now, not all criticism means you have to run and change something whenever anyone says they don’t quite like it. Certainly don’t think you need to impress everyone. But do listen to criticism and consider that there may be some weight to it. Then do, do, do make needed changes. Do fix typos and grammar errors (I mean unintentional grammar errors; not deliberate errors like what Mark Twain made) because those aren’t negotiable. And listen when readers tell you that what a character is doing doesn’t make sense. Don’t force characters to do things just because you don’t know what else to do with them.
Fifth and possibly most important of all: Keep your own rules! I cannot say it enough. Keep your own rules when writing. Absolutely and unwaveringly. Nothing makes a story implausible faster than broken rules! If you want to build a world that has flying unicorns with lasers shooting from their eyes, great! If you want, say, to have mutated juvenile turtles who know, say, martial arts skills, that’s great too. Your audience will be willing to follow you anywhere so long as your world stays consistent. But once you have your world established, the rules made, and the rights and wrongs clearly established, do not violate those rules. If you do, you will destroy the plausibility of your world, and your reader will no longer be able to suspend her/his disbelief. So again, keep your own rules!
To conclude, I hope these suggestions can help aspiring writers. Believe in yourself, write because you love it, go to writers’ conferences, be willing to accept criticism, and especially, keep your own rules! Do these things, and your skill as a writer can only get better.
First, I know this sounds like a cliché, but it’s true: Believe in yourself. Don’t give any heed to naysayers who tell you not to write, or who try to discourage you. Don’t think this means you shouldn’t listen to criticism at all. If someone is giving you constructive criticism that can help you improve as a writer, listen to it. It may not be what you want to hear, because it’s human nature to like praise best of all. But if someone is giving you advice that will help you improve as a writer and make your stories more enjoyable and plausible for your readers, listen to the advice.
Second: Write because you love to write. Don’t start writing because you think you will get rich off of it. Write because it’s something you enjoy. Even if you get published, very few published writers can make a living solely off of writing. Most published writers, like me, have jobs they do during the day, and they write in the evenings, and on weekends. If you love to write, and are not expecting to get suddenly rich, then you won’t be disappointed, and no matter how much money you make or don’t make, you’ll enjoy what you do.
Third: Go to writers’ conferences. Rising writers can benefit significantly from going to writers’ conferences. There’s a lot of information taught at writers’ conferences that will help aspiring writers and even already published writers improve their skills. You may think that writers’ conferences are rather expensive, and many are, but they are definitely worth the money if you are a serious writer and want to get better.
Fourth, this goes back a little bit into the first suggestion: Be willing to accept criticism. Now, again, I’m not saying to let someone discourage you from writing. I’m saying that you need to be willing to listen to someone who is saying something you may not want to hear, but which is advice that will help your writing improve. There is an interesting truth that I have learned as a writer; I’m not sure why it is this way, but I know it’s true, and it is this: There are things that a reader can see in a story that the author simply can’t. Sometimes it’s just a typo or grammar error which can be an easy fix. But sometimes, it’s a huge chunk of story that the author thinks is brilliant, but that an audience would balk at, because it isn’t plausible, and the characters are not being themselves. An author might not be able to see such things, but a reader who can stand back from the story and look at it objectively could see it.
Whatever the criticism is, be willing to listen to it, and make necessary changes when they are needed. Now, not all criticism means you have to run and change something whenever anyone says they don’t quite like it. Certainly don’t think you need to impress everyone. But do listen to criticism and consider that there may be some weight to it. Then do, do, do make needed changes. Do fix typos and grammar errors (I mean unintentional grammar errors; not deliberate errors like what Mark Twain made) because those aren’t negotiable. And listen when readers tell you that what a character is doing doesn’t make sense. Don’t force characters to do things just because you don’t know what else to do with them.
Fifth and possibly most important of all: Keep your own rules! I cannot say it enough. Keep your own rules when writing. Absolutely and unwaveringly. Nothing makes a story implausible faster than broken rules! If you want to build a world that has flying unicorns with lasers shooting from their eyes, great! If you want, say, to have mutated juvenile turtles who know, say, martial arts skills, that’s great too. Your audience will be willing to follow you anywhere so long as your world stays consistent. But once you have your world established, the rules made, and the rights and wrongs clearly established, do not violate those rules. If you do, you will destroy the plausibility of your world, and your reader will no longer be able to suspend her/his disbelief. So again, keep your own rules!
To conclude, I hope these suggestions can help aspiring writers. Believe in yourself, write because you love it, go to writers’ conferences, be willing to accept criticism, and especially, keep your own rules! Do these things, and your skill as a writer can only get better.
Loralee Evans
For many people, depending on your personal style and the way your brain is wired, writer's block can be minimized if you write an outline before hand, and know, even before you begin, roughly how your story will go, and how it will end. That can get rid of most writer's block situations before they even begin. Still, writers may come up against a wall. Sometimes that just means that you need to step back, take a break, and let your creative juices stew for a while. But also often means that your story is going in a direction that couldn't work organically, and you need to rethink things, and perhaps take the story in a different direction.
Loralee Evans
When I was in 7th grade, I imagined a sparrow going on an adventure to help some fairies. As I grew up, the idea kept coming and coming back, and after my last book was published, my children asked me to branch out and write something in a new genre for younger readers like themselves. I thought that was the perfect reason to write about Felicity.
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