Riley Adams's Blog, page 125

Multiple Projects at Once

By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

I try hard not to work on more than one project at a time.  But sometimes, with several series, I’ve had to juggle multiple projects at once.

For me, the hardest part is writing two first drafts simultaneously. I think that’s because it takes a bit of time to move out from one story world and into another.  Right now I’m outlining two books for a Penguin editor, and working on the first drafts for two different books.  Ugh.

Things that I’ve discovered can help:

If possible, edit one and brainstorm another.  Or outline one and draft another.  For me, anyway, this helps because it feels like I’m working out different areas of my brain.  Or maybe I’m just deluding myself.

Outlines help.  I know…I was anti-outline once, too.  But they help keep storylines straight, especially with the sometimes complex storylines in mysteries. And they prevent mistakes where a character from one book makes a guest appearance at your other book. If you don’t like outlining, try just thinking through the very next day’s writing.

If you’re equally alert/creative in both the morning and the afternoon and have the flexibility, work on them six or more hours apart.

I’m trying a new genre now and am finding that writing two different genres is easier to keep straight than when working on the same genre (I guess this should be a no-brainer, but I was pleasantly surprised).

I’ve found that taking a few minutes before sitting at the computer to get my head back into that story’s world can make the transition easier into the other book.

This is going to sound really absentminded of me, but the more characters I’m dealing with (and with two or three books at once…we’re talking about a ton of characters to keep straight) the harder it is for me to remember even main characters’ names.  I might know everything about them and how they react to the world, but can’t cough up their name.  So…I lean heavily on cheat sheets.  Think basic.  A snippet from one of mine reads like a cast of characters in an old program.  Another reminds me of everyone’s motives and who is misdirecting me to whom. Another has a list of recurring series characters, settings, etc.  I keep the cheat sheets either printed out beside me or up in another window on the computer.

Take breaks. Get sleep.  Sleep deprivation doesn’t help prevent confusion, obviously.  Healthy eating and exercise helps with stress.  I’ve gotten better lately with both since stress levels were building up pretty high.

And then, of course, the books are edited to death later by both me and a professional editor(s) to make sure I haven’t screwed anything up.

The upside of writing like this is that I’m producing more, earning more, and engaging my readers by providing them with more content (and quality content. If it’s not hitting a certain level of quality, I’ll delay publication until it does).   The process is also something of a creative rush.

The downsides are evident.  :)

Have you worked on multiple projects at once?  What tips do you have?

Image: MorgueFile: dhester

The post Multiple Projects at Once appeared first on Elizabeth Spann Craig.

Twitterific Writing Links

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Twitterific writing links are fed into the Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine (developed by writer and software engineer Mike Fleming) which has over 23,000 free articles on writing related topics. It’s the search engine for writers.

Hope my American friends had a happy Thanksgiving!

How to Make a Character Moodboard:  http://ow.ly/EQSKb from A Not-So-Classically Trained Writer

Character Date Ideas:  http://ow.ly/EQSKc @CherylRWrites

Who’s Your Ideal Reader?  http://ow.ly/EQSKf @rachellegardner

Crafting the Perfect First Line:  http://ow.ly/EQSKg @AuthorKeller               

How To Edit Books On An iPad – http://ow.ly/EQSKj @murdertakestime

Why Character Names Are the Secret Ingredient to Your Story:  http://ow.ly/EXhzn @eliseabram

Step-by-Step Guide to Prepare Your Ebook for Print:  http://ow.ly/EXhzq @aplazar

Using Sticky Notes to Help You Revise Like a Pro:  http://ow.ly/EXhzt from Cameron Filas

Pleaded vs. Pled:  http://ow.ly/EXhzx @writing_tips

Basic Formatting of Your Manuscript (Formatting 101) http://ow.ly/EXhzA @JodieRennerEd

So You Want to Be an Author? You Don’t Need an MFA… http://ow.ly/EXhzC from Justin Aireland

Killing the Villain: A Daring Plot Device:  http://ow.ly/EXhzD @rogerdcolby

Find Your Beginning in “The End”: Are You a Trustworthy Writer?  http://ow.ly/EXhcf @kayedacus

Writing Characters Who Aren’t Like You . . . Completely:  http://ow.ly/EXhzF @gryphonrose

Find the Conflict: Unblocking (or Actually Planning!) your Novel http://ow.ly/EXhzH @mharoldpage

How To Create A Killer Opening For Your Science Fiction Short Story:  http://ow.ly/EXgXi @io9

What To Do When You Can’t Settle On A Story Idea:  http://ow.ly/EXhzM from Clever Help

3 Writing Myths and How 1 Writer Challenged Them:  http://ow.ly/F0xQ1 @saulofhearts

Thoughts on Writing Experiments:  http://ow.ly/F0xQ4 @NathanielTower

Tips for writing Jewish characters: http://ow.ly/F0xQ7 from Writing With Color

7 non-career-destroying ways to deal with bad book reviews: http://ow.ly/F0xQ9 @batwood

Concept  Is The First Concern In Screenwriting: http://ow.ly/F0xQa  @storydepth

Why the horror of Stephen King’s words don’t translate well to film:  http://ow.ly/F0xQb @kylefowle

Switching from Adult to Young Adult http://ow.ly/EQSK7 @gailcarriger

Character Driven-Flash Fiction:  http://ow.ly/EQSK5 from Gila Green

Compiling and marketing a box set:  http://ow.ly/EQSK3 @annvosspeterson

6 Traits Every Writer Must Develop:  http://ow.ly/EQSJW from Alton L. Gansky

The Art of a Distraction Free Life:  http://ow.ly/EQLyq @bemorewithless

6 Tips for Re-imagining a Classic Story:  http://ow.ly/EQSJT @robinrwrites

For Series Writers: Find a New Entry Point:  http://ow.ly/EQSJP  @ErinMFeldman

A writer reacts to plagiarism: http://ow.ly/F0waj @RachelAnnNunes

The Point of Writing:  http://ow.ly/F0wy7 @megrosoff @writerunboxed

Last Week of NaNoWriMo: How To Catch Up:  http://ow.ly/F0vVf @CariBennette

Giving Thanks for Amazon and Smashwords:  http://ow.ly/F0vNh by Dario Ciriello

11 Exercises to Do While Sitting at Your Computer: http://ow.ly/EOS2w

Should Children’s Book Authors Self-Publish?  http://ow.ly/EOS2t @sangeeta_editor @Janefriedman

Publishing: Everyone is in the Middle:  http://ow.ly/EOS2q @HughHowey

Creating Conflict in Romance:  http://ow.ly/EOS2m @LaurieTomlinson

Don’t Pay to Self-Publish:  http://ow.ly/EOS2g @JAKonrath

How Morals and Basic Needs Influence a Character’s Strengths:  http://ow.ly/EORTL @beccapuglisi

8 Bogus ‘Rules’ New Writers Tell Each Other:  http://ow.ly/EOS2b @annerallen

Story Structure: What ‘going with the flow’ Really Means: http://ow.ly/EOS29 @storyfix

How to Write a Synopsis:  http://ow.ly/EOS24 @thisgirlclimbs

DNA Testing: Overview for Crime Writers:  http://ow.ly/EMF9o @LeeLofland

Ideas for Creative Writing Projects and Practices:  http://ow.ly/EMF9k @melissadonovan

Fixing the First Page:  http://ow.ly/EMF9g @ava_jae

Tips for Dealing with Novel Interruptus During the Upcoming Holidays:  http://ow.ly/EMF9e  @CaitLondon

Top 9 reasons to write in first-person plural: http://ow.ly/EXiai  @speechwriterguy

Platforms as a Natural Extension of a Writer. (Just Fantasy?) http://ow.ly/EMF9c @Janefriedman

How to be a plotter even if you’re a pantser:  http://ow.ly/EMF9a @nownovel

How Recording One Second A Day Will Make You A Better Writer:  http://ow.ly/EMF96 @SarahAllenBooks

Plugging In To Your Peeps: Author Platform Expansion:  http://ow.ly/EMF94 @wherewriterswin

5 guaranteed ways to bore your reader:  http://ow.ly/EMF90 @writers_write

How To Get A Unique Illustration For Your Book Cover: http://ow.ly/EMF8W @thecreativepenn

How to Tell If Your Script Sucks: http://ow.ly/EMF8Q @ozzywood

Using Sticky Notes to Help You Revise Like a Pro: http://ow.ly/EMF8M  by Cameron Filas

The best time to launch a book:  http://ow.ly/EL3v7 @theindiepubmag

5 Tips on Successful Co-Authoring:  http://ow.ly/EL3v6  @EmmaMichaels

Creative writing: when characters are difficult to get along with: http://ow.ly/EL3v5 @guardianbooks

Writerly Mystique Vs. Self-Exposure: Mind The Gap:  http://ow.ly/ESXLz @lanceschaubert @Porter_Anderson

Getting to Know Your Characters:  http://ow.ly/EL3v4  @CherylRWrites

Character Talking as Plotting Help:  http://ow.ly/EL3v0 @wordsbywebb

Sympathy for the Devil: Writing Unforgettable Villains:  http://ow.ly/EL3uZ @jamesscottbell

Nonfiction Writing as Answering Questions:  http://ow.ly/EL3uX from Christine Liu-Perkins

Plot Mapping With Characters:  http://ow.ly/EL3uU

The Building Blocks of Storytelling: Gossip:  http://ow.ly/EL3uT from Sherwood Smith

The Role of Theme in a Story’s Climax: http://ow.ly/EL3uS @KMWeiland

Talents and Skills Thesaurus Entry: The Midas Touch:  http://ow.ly/EL3uP @beccapuglisi

An agent on Twitter abuse and how to use Twitter more effectively:  http://ow.ly/EL3uM @JanetKGrant

Why Marketing Your Book is Like Trying to Lose Weight:  http://ow.ly/EJX6Q @bookmarketer

5 Biggest Mistakes When Writing Mental Illness:  http://ow.ly/EJX6P @rosieclaverton

Missing persons cases in crime fiction: http://ow.ly/EMyv8 @mkinberg

3rd Person POV Advantages:  http://ow.ly/EJX6L from Novel Writing Help

Why 1 Writer Loves Scrivener:  http://ow.ly/EJX6I @katweyer

Promoting your novel with a short story:  http://ow.ly/EJWuo @RayneHall

Take Your Writing Seriously:  http://ow.ly/EJX6G  @WritingForward

Tools for writing: Microsoft OneNote:  http://ow.ly/EJX6F  @mstibbe

Why Kindle Scout Was Worth the Risk for One Writer: http://ow.ly/EJWpY @benjaminsobieck

10 Ways to Spark Creative Connections:  http://ow.ly/EJX6E @CherylRWrites

34 Tips and Tactics to Rapidly Grow Your Social Networks:  http://ow.ly/EJX6D  @jeffbullas

How to Create a Believable Character: http://ow.ly/EMtTs @SpunkOnAStick

10 Ways To Publicize Your Book You May Not Have Thought Of:  http://ow.ly/EJX6B @selfpubreview

Plotting Your Hero’s Emotional Journey:  http://ow.ly/EJX6A @Natalie_Lakosil

World Building Tips:  http://ow.ly/EJX6z @etcashman

All the links I shared last week:  http://ow.ly/EKQAM . All the links I’ve ever shared (searchable): writerskb.com .

Top Secrets of Bestselling Authors: http://ow.ly/EET1f @NikkiWoods

How To Get Out of Story Stall:  http://ow.ly/EET1a from PJ Parrish

Tips for Creating 4D Characters:  http://ow.ly/EKGge @JasonWLaPier

The post Twitterific Writing Links appeared first on Elizabeth Spann Craig.

Dealing With Writer’s Block

by David Khara, @DavidKhara

I wish I received a dollar every time someone asked me if I suffered from writer’s block—in France, they call it “the blank page syndrome.” You know, those moments when you want to write, you are ready to write, but you can’t seem to write a single word. Ideas keep coming to mind, but don’t seem to make sense. Or worse, every time you write a sentence down, you immediately erase it because you simply hate it.

Actually, I do no suffer from this syndrome, probably because I started writing novels at a fairly advanced age. Still, when I worked in advertising, I had this problem.

I was 21 at that time, and luckily enough, my boss taught me something that made quite a big difference, something I still believe in today: not writing is already writing.

What did he mean by that? Well, when it comes to creating, we all have a very specifically structured mind. For instance, when musicians walk in the streets, they don’t hear sound, they hear notes. Standup comedians do no hear conversations, they hear sketches, photographers see pictures, and so on.

When you can’t write, get out, leave the computer behind, go shopping, go to a movie, read a book, play videogames, have a drink with friends—do anything instead of staring at that bloody blank page. If you are truly a writer, getting back to ordinary life will fill your imagination, words pronounced around you will nourish your dialogue, and people will become characters.

The fun part of it is that you won’t be aware it happens, it just does, and when you go back to your pen or computer, words will simply flow without any problem. Try it, you’ll see.

Today, I don’t give writer’s block a chance to settle in. On some days, I wake up knowing I won’t be able to produce anything worthwhile so, I simply forget about it, confident in my ability to produce more the next day. And I do every time.

Writing is about action, knowledge, emotions, and these don’t come out of nowhere. They come from our past, our experiences, our connection to the world around us.  Basically, writing is all about life, no matter what kind of book you’ll write.

So the only way to do it, is, obviously, to live your life.   

David Khara is the author of the Consortium Thriller series, which offer a roller-coaster ride that dips into the history of World War II, rushing back to present day with a loop-to-loop of action and humor. The Bleiberg Project was an instant success when it was first released, and The Shiro Project just came out in paperback, published by mystery and thriller publisher Le French Book. The third book in the series, The Morgenstern Project is scheduled for release in English spring 2015.

 

The post Dealing With Writer’s Block appeared first on Elizabeth Spann Craig.

Going from ‘Pantster’ to Outliner

by Elizabeth Craig, @elizabethscraig

I loved the organic, ‘pantster’ approach to writing.   I followed the genre-determined general structure  (meet victim, meet suspects, question suspects…) and then happily made up each story as I went along.

This worked really well until I started writing three books a year…a book each for several different series.  Then, apparently, I was juggling too many balls at once and I had to give myself more of a plan to follow.

I’ve got a post up on Writer Unboxed, which is a great resource for writers if you’re not familiar with it.  My post covers how and why I changed to outlines and what I learned from the experience, analyzing my results.  Hope you’ll pop over.

The post Going from ‘Pantster’ to Outliner appeared first on Elizabeth Spann Craig.

Twitterific Writing Links

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Twitterific writing links are fed into the Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine (developed by writer and software engineer Mike Fleming) which has over 23,000 free articles on writing related topics. It’s the search engine for writers.

Examples of using kernel ideas to write your book:  http://ow.ly/EqgzV @bob_mayer

The missing author mystique–authors and social media:  http://ow.ly/EGq4O @Porter_Anderson @writerunboxed  

Writing a Novel? 6 Visual Storytelling Techniques to Borrow From Film and TV http://ow.ly/EqgzZ @CSLakin

6 Ways To Let Others Do Your Book Marketing For You:  http://ow.ly/EqgA3 @SarahAllenBooks

How clichés and tropes can be useful for writers:  http://ow.ly/EqgA9 @fictionnotes

Your Author’s Photo – 7 Tips to Getting it Right http://ow.ly/EqgAd @djeanquarles

A Look at a Fantasy Query: Would You Want to See More? http://ow.ly/EqgAi @Janice_Hardy

A Simple Bedtime Routine To Get Writing The Next Day:  http://ow.ly/EqgAl @finallywriting

RT @Porter_Anderson: @Elsevier a  new #publisher in #ebook-bundling with @BitLitMedia http://ow.ly/EBu8r @TheBookseller

4 Free Writing Contests for Self-Published Authors:  http://ow.ly/Ext9o @ericaverillo

Story structure made simple:  http://ow.ly/Ext9u @storyfix

3 Ways Your Characters Could Forgive … Or Not:  http://ow.ly/Ext9x @skyefairwin

Staple characters in classic/Golden Age mysteries: http://ow.ly/Ext9E @mkinberg

Inspirational Fiction–to preach or not to preach http://ow.ly/Ext9K @territiffany1

Adult Non-Fiction Retrofitted for YA Readers:  http://ow.ly/Ext9M @pubperspectives

Bloated writing–worst offenders:  http://ow.ly/Ext9U  @Jen_328

The Secrets of Subtext:  http://ow.ly/Ext9Y @StinaLL

Writing conversations–what to keep, what to edit out:  http://ow.ly/Exta4 @JacksBlackPen

Amazon is not a robber baron:  http://ow.ly/Extaa @JAKonrath

Effective Use of Foreshadowing:  http://ow.ly/Extag @DaxMacGregor

5 tips for writing a sequel:  http://ow.ly/Extal

Blurbing–authors and fake praise:  http://ow.ly/EET0T @medium @jasonsanford

The Pomodoro Technique® for Writers:  http://ow.ly/EET0W by Sharon Arthur Moore

Persuasive Writing Checklist:  http://ow.ly/EET0Z @writers_write

A writer’s goal is to persist again and again.  http://ow.ly/EET11  @BishsBeat

Supercharge Your Writing  Using This Cinematic Technique: http://ow.ly/EET13 @writetodone

On Rejection and Renewal:  http://ow.ly/EET14 @WarrenAdler

Free Help With Graphic Design:  http://ow.ly/EEPmL

Deconstructing Micro-Tension http://ow.ly/EqgzQ  @jan_ohara @writerunboxed

How to Deflate those Inflated Phrases:  http://ow.ly/EqgzN @writers_write

#EthicalAuthor Code at #FutureChat  11aET/4pGMT (now)  http://ow.ly/ECSLC  @IndieAuthorALLi @Porter_Anderson

5 Traits to Help You Create Your Character’s Personality http://ow.ly/EqgzI  @Janice_Hardy

A breakthrough for ‘Ethical Authors’?  http://ow.ly/EENT6 @Porter_Anderson @IndieAuthorALLI

How to Transform Your Inner Critic Into an Inner Cheerleader:  http://ow.ly/EqgzD  @finallywriting

Science fiction – have we forgotten what it should be? http://ow.ly/Eqgzx @Roz_Morris

Taxis in crime fiction: http://ow.ly/EEKIo @mkinberg

BitLit partners with pubs to offer discounted ebook editions of our print library: http://ow.ly/ECPFB @Porter_Anderson @BitLitMedia

The Marketing Muscle Behind The NBA Finalist “Station Eleven”:  http://ow.ly/EAPJc @Porter_Anderson

4 Tips for Writing for the Romance Market:  http://ow.ly/EmKyn  @jessicainclan

Don’t Know Your Story’s Theme? Take a Look at Your Character’s Arc:  http://ow.ly/EmKyl @KMWeiland

Dialogue Tags: Getting Rid of Them: http://ow.ly/EmKyi @SharlaWrites

Screenwriting: 5 Reasons to Use an Online Writing Network: http://ow.ly/EmKyh @jeannevb

9 Qualities Writers Should Look for in a Co-Blogger:  http://ow.ly/EmKyf @brianaknorth

Best Films About Writers, Ranked:  http://ow.ly/EmKye @flavorwire

Help with naming characters:  http://ow.ly/EmKyc  @AlisonPotoma

Are Your Characters Talking Too Much?  http://ow.ly/EmKya  @PATRICKRWRITES

A TED talk on the art of the metaphor:  http://ow.ly/EmKy9

4 book publicity tips: http://ow.ly/EmKy8 @sandrabeckwith

The Ethical Author Code: http://ow.ly/EAOQ1 @OrnaRoss @Porter_Anderson

A Writer’s Babelcube Experience:  http://ow.ly/EmKy5  @Jason_Matthews

17 Ways To Make your Novel More Memorable:  http://ow.ly/EmKy2 @writers_write

World-Building — Planning Your Setting http://ow.ly/Eh84u

The Best Alien Characters in SF (and What Makes Them so Successful):  http://ow.ly/Eh84p @sfsignal

Tools 1 Writer Used to Improve Writing Workflow:  http://ow.ly/Eh84i  @WilliamKing9

6 Tools to Make Your Life Easier:  http://ow.ly/Eh84g  @RachelleGardner

3 Tips for Using Color Theory In Your Writing:  http://ow.ly/Eh84d @robinrwrites

Preposition Mistakes:  http://ow.ly/Eh849 @writing_tips

Secondary Characters Have a Primary Role:  http://ow.ly/Eh845 @hopeclark

5 tips for writing a romance:  http://ow.ly/Eh841 @WritersCoach

12 Reasons for Writers to Love Facebook: http://ow.ly/Eh83Y @beckyajohnson

An example showing improvement of writing flow:  http://ow.ly/Eh83X

Is Crowdsourced Editing Right for Your Book?  http://ow.ly/Eh83R @CarlaJDouglas  @byondpapr

A tactical guide to slaying your writing demons:  http://ow.ly/Eh83N @SuddenlyThurs

Tips for physical description in first person: http://ow.ly/EeIV0

Encouragement for Writers Who Don’t Know If They Should Keep Going: http://ow.ly/EeIUW @jodyhedlund

Memoir or Novel? 8 Issues to Think About Before Writing Your Own:  http://ow.ly/EeIUV @LeslieLehr1

How the Antagonist Affects Character ArcThe Story Department: http://ow.ly/EeGln @KMWeiland

Dreams vs. Goals: Give Your Writing Dreams Marching Orders:  http://ow.ly/EeIUU @kayedacus

3 Tips For a Better First Revision: http://ow.ly/EeIUR  @aeskens

When Should You Change Your Book for an Agent or Editor? http://ow.ly/EeIUO @brooke_warner

Why Writers Love Red Herrings: A Brief Guide:  http://ow.ly/EeIUI @epbure

How to Increase Your Income By Writing Short Books:  http://ow.ly/EeHIb @ninaamir

Tips for Revisiting a Shelved Manuscript:  http://ow.ly/EeIUF @LaurieTomlinson

16 Tips for Writing the Cozy Mystery:  http://ow.ly/EeIUC

How to Monetize ‘Free':  http://ow.ly/EeIUz @bookgal

Tips for writing horror:  http://ow.ly/EqgVi  @booksthatmatter

9 Reasons Readers Get Bored:  http://ow.ly/E6KD5 @ingridsundberg

Beware the Action Beginning: http://ow.ly/E6KCS @behlerpublish

3 Ways to Build a Stronger Story:  http://ow.ly/E6KCQ @willb_sullivan

Writing Fiction? 21 (or 22) Things A 21-Year-Old Should Be Doing: http://ow.ly/Eq7wA @joshspilker

11 Novelist-Tested Ways to Defeat Writer’s Block:  http://ow.ly/E6KCM @WarrenAdler

Noncompete Clauses in Contracts – What are we agreeing to?  http://ow.ly/E6KCJ @tinagabrielle

Targeting Our Book Promo: http://ow.ly/E6KCC @CaballoFrances

How to Write a Scary Story:  http://ow.ly/E6KCz @EmilyWenstrom

Sampling: An Effective Marketing Tool:  http://ow.ly/E6KCu

Changing roles for a subplot:  http://ow.ly/E6KCq @glencstrathy

3 Ways to Know If Your YA Fiction Is Really New Adult Fiction http://ow.ly/E6KCl @fictionnotes

Tips for continuing on with #NaNoWriMo:  http://ow.ly/Eo2YB @JL_Campbell

5 things one reader wants to see in horror:  http://ow.ly/E6KD8 @Pabkins

Creating Strong Characters: Tips for Handling Challenges:  http://ow.ly/Eqc83 from Jack Smith

5 Traits of Seriously Despicable Villains:  http://ow.ly/E6KCX @SarahAllenBooks

How to Get a Platform Like a Reality Star:  http://ow.ly/E6KCO @brrbach

Indie publisher launches the EverAfter app for romance readers:  http://ow.ly/EmMgo @Porter_Anderson @scottwaxman

10 Lessons from Plot & Structure:  http://ow.ly/E3H7k @jamesscottbell

Crime Writers: Autopsy: From Crime Scene To Toe Tag:  http://ow.ly/EmKuZ @LeeLofland

The 10 strangest twists on classic horror tales:  http://ow.ly/E3FVk  @blastr

Tips for Reimagining Fairytales:  http://ow.ly/E3I9e @woodwardkaren

3 tips for crafting characters:  http://ow.ly/E3GBx @RogerDColby

4 tips for crafting a hero:  http://ow.ly/E3HdC @shalvatzis

Unusual Work Habits of Great Writers:  http://ow.ly/E3Gns @wherewriterswin

The post Twitterific Writing Links appeared first on Elizabeth Spann Craig.

Free Help With Graphic Design

By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

I’m design-challenged. 

I learned this early.  My father was a teacher and when I was in elementary school, one of my father’s friends (also a teacher) knew I was very creative and asked me to create a back-to-school bulletin board for her students.

I loved the huge box of art supplies that she brought over.  Tissue paper, construction paper, markers, stickers, stencils.  I loved it.  But I didn’t know what to do with it.  I ended up making a tissue paper flower that was about 6 inches in size.  I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how to make an entire bulletin board and fill up all that space.  The teacher had to scrap the idea.

For my books and for my website, I’ve been smart and hired designers.  But I kept making my own Google+, Facebook, and Twitter covers or headers.  And kept doing a very bad job.

It’s Canva and I discovered it while I was going through my RSS feed and read a post by agent Rachelle Gardner, “6 Tools to Make Your Life Easier” that mentioned the site.

It’s free unless you use one of their images, which are $1 apiece.  But if you’re like me, you’re wanting to use your own book covers or author photo or whatever and won’t need anything from them.  I like not spending money.

Let’s say we want to make a Twitter cover.  I made one myself prior to using Canva and it was…absolutely ghastly.  But using Canva, it was easy because they sized the pictures correctly.  When I did it myself, everything was warped and blurred and weird.

So you click “Twitter cover” (you’ll have to scroll to get there) at the top of the Canva page (after you’ve created an account (which is free) there:

First of all, you choose a layout for the background.  They have quite a few, just scroll down.

If you’ve got a few books out, you could choose one of the layouts with several or more spots for covers.  Like maybe this one:

Then you upload your covers or other pictures.  There is an upload button and arrow at the bottom of the left-hand menu.

Once they’re uploaded, you just drag them from the galley on the left hand side under the menu.  If your covers are like mine, they’ll look like this at first:

So you’ll either want to resize the covers (using your computer or another app) or crop them to show what you want.  Click “crop” under the cover you’re working on and it brings up a window so that you can drag your cover to show the area of design you want to highlight, then you click the checkmark.

You can even flip your cover vertically or horizontally if there’s a cover element you want showing that’s not being highlighted.  Obviously, you would not want to do this with a section of a cover that has text on it.

For the text elements that are in the layouts of some designs, you just click on the text box and a menu pops up to help you change the text or the text box itself.

So you come up with something like this, which is the one that I loaded onto Twitter:

Then you click ‘download’ at the top right of the page, and then you’ve got either a link or you can download an image or a PDF.

I will point out that one of the projects you can do on here is a Kindle cover.  But y’all…I still say go with a pro for this stuff…it’s worth it. Use this for a social media design.  But, I don’t know, if you have a short story or some really small project or you’re just experimenting with publishing on Kindle…sure, this might work for something like that.

Have you run across any helpful sites lately?  Are you design-challenged, too?

 

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Creating Strong Characters—Some Typical Challenges

Guest Post by Jack Smith

To write a publishable novel, you must cover a lot of bases.  This means handling a number of fictional elements seamlessly.  Chief among these is creating a strong protagonist, one that is believable as well as compelling.

It’s one thing to speak of a strong character in the abstract, another to create one in a novel.  If you’re like most writers, you continuously face any number of challenges, and since each novel is different, each set of challenges is different.

There are, of course, some standard character issues every writer eventually faces.

And so let’s mull over some of these . . .

Is your protagonist stereotypical? Cardboard?  And if so, how could you make this character more complex?  Which character traits would you add to round out your character more?  Should you make your character ambivalent at times?  Should you work in a few contradictory elements that might be explained in some way?  Should your character be confused, muddled, perplexed at times—like most people are?  Should your protagonist exhibit different reactions to antagonists than the ones you’ve presently shown?
Related to the foregoing, is your protagonist too predictable? If so, can you find ways to provide more suspense?  In dialogue perhaps?  In actions?  In character thoughts?
If your protagonist is a so-called bad guy, not sympathetic, do you find ways to keep the reader’s interest? If the reader’s not exactly going to root for this character, do you make the character compelling enough that the reader just has to follow along—to see what’s about to occur next?  Do you make the bad guy character emblematic of a particular culture or ethos—organized crime perhaps, so that the reader will most likely say, “Okay, now I’ve got a better handle on how this works. . .” (Consider The Sopranos.)
Do your scenes reveal your protagonist’s chief characteristics but also drive the plot? Would different scenes work better to accomplish both of these?  Could you work in different or additional material within these scenes to better accomplish these two objectives?
Do you give your protagonist enough inner life? Most readers like to sense a character’s inner being, especially if this involves internal conflict.  If you do manage to do this, how gripping is your internal sphere for this character?  Do you capture character thoughts and feelings with some force?  Doing so takes a good handle on expository prose.
Does your protagonist change enough? Given the nature of the experiences your protagonist has gone through, should your character be more profoundly affected?  But where is the line between just enough and too much?  It’s most likely not enough if your protagonist is hardly affected by a siege of devastating outcomes; it’s most likely too much if s/he becomes somebody totally new without a vestige left of his/her former self.  It’s hard to locate the believable slot on the scale of character change, zero to one hundred, but that’s what you’ve got to do.  Once you know the answer to this, you’ll have a believable character arc in hand.

If a novel is going to be marketable, it must have a protagonist that keeps readers reading.  Even if a novel is idea-driven, most readers want a character that pulls them in.  (Roquentin of Sartre’s Nausea pulls me in.)  The subjective element always comes into play, of course, and clearly if you pass your work from reader to reader, you will get different responses, different judgments on how well you’ve developed your character.  It feels good when there’s common ground on both strengths and weaknesses.  Ultimately, of course, you as the writer must be the final judge.

Jack Smith is author of the novel Hog to Hog, which won the George Garrett FictionPrize (Texas Review Press. 2008), and is also the author of Write and Revise for Publication: A 6-Month Plan for Crafting an Exceptional Novel and Other Works of Fiction, published earlier this year by Writer’s Digest. His novel ICON was published in June 2014 by Serving House Books.

Over the years, Smith’s short stories have appeared in North American Review, Night Train, Texas Review, and Southern Review, to name a few. He has also written some 20 articles for Novel & Short Story Writer’s Market, as well as a dozen or so pieces for The Writer. He has published reviews in numerous literary journals, including Ploughshares, Georgia Review, Missouri Review, Prairie Schooner, American Review, Mid-American Review, and the Iowa Review.

The post Creating Strong Characters—Some Typical Challenges appeared first on Elizabeth Spann Craig.

Twitterific Writing Links

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Twitterific writing links are fed into the Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine (developed by writer and software engineer Mike Fleming) which has over 23,000 free articles on writing related topics. It’s the search engine for writers.

3 Methods to Trigger Story Ideas:  http://ow.ly/E0a5y @galleycat

When we get a bad review–top 5 most scathing book reviews :  http://ow.ly/E0a7s @guardianbooks

The 5 Screenwriter Stages:  http://ow.ly/E0arf @scriptshadow

What to do with your manuscript after NaNo:  http://ow.ly/E09Ig @Rachellkent

A Book in 30 Days: What Writers Can Learn From Rapid Publishing:  http://ow.ly/E09EZ @AmandaBabs1

New Literary Publications to Watch: http://ow.ly/E09U9 @flavorwire      

6 ways to write your title:  http://ow.ly/E09Ob @amabaie

One Word to Transform Your Writing http://ow.ly/E09t9 @write_practice

10 tips for keeping your script fast-paced:  http://ow.ly/E0agX @scriptmag

Stages of Revision http://ow.ly/E1tUf  @nataliewhipple

Writing Action Scenes:  http://ow.ly/E1vpR @jonrog1

When You Feel Invisible in the Crowded Book Market:  http://ow.ly/E1u45 @jodyhedlund

Building a Bestseller:  http://ow.ly/E1u01 @DavidGaughran

When What You Don’t Know Trumps What You Do Know: http://ow.ly/E1u9i @storyfix

#NaNoWriMo: How to make writing a novel easier than it looks:  http://ow.ly/E1u2l @rchazzchute

Writing a good novel ending: http://ow.ly/E1vrk @rxena77

How Not to Register Copyright: http://ow.ly/E1vmM  @victoriastrauss

5 Things Learned Between Deal & Debut:  http://ow.ly/E1tNc @andeehannah @PenandMuse

The Perils of Writing a Series: http://ow.ly/E1tQv @VioletteMalan

10 Tips for Finding Motivation When You Don’t Have Any:  http://ow.ly/E1tXb @ajackwriting

Adapting A Novel And Other Lessons Learned From London Screenwriter’s Festival:   http://ow.ly/E1u5C @thecreativepenn

Talents and Skills Thesaurus Entry: Strategic Thinking:  http://ow.ly/E3ld1 @beccapuglisi

Putting our work through the Bechdel Test: http://ow.ly/E3Geg  @wordsxo

10 Short Story Competitions To Enter Before The End Of 2014:  http://ow.ly/E3kNo @writers_write

How NanoWriMo Hones Your Fiction Skills:  http://ow.ly/E3IGx @lindasclare

5 Things “The Crucible” Can Teach Us About Good Writing:  http://ow.ly/E3Hye @rogerdcolby

How to Write Chapter Endings That Make Readers Want to Turn the Page:  http://ow.ly/E3I1p @annerallen

Pros and Cons of Switching Genres:  http://ow.ly/E0amk @SummeritaRhayne

5 Ways to Modify NaNoWriMo:  http://ow.ly/E0apT @writersdigest

Why Stephen King’s Road to Hell is Paved With Adverbs:  http://ow.ly/E0a2V @OffTheShelf

How to Work with a Book Designer:  http://ow.ly/DY4tF @1106Design

Finding Time to Write: Retreats: http://ow.ly/DY5QQ @KnowlesMarianne

Should writers blog?  http://ow.ly/DY4Bs @Jason_Matthews

How 1 writer’s mother gave her the importance of place:  http://ow.ly/DY5qq @kimtriedman

6 Hot Trends in Indie Book Marketing:  http://ow.ly/DY4Sw @wherewriterswin

3 Lessons Gone Girl Teaches Writers About Suspense:  http://ow.ly/DY52B  @epbure

Amazon/Hachette Negotiations Finally End:  http://ow.ly/EdWCQ @JAKonrath

A quick lesson on hyphens:  http://ow.ly/DY593 @mariamurnane

Frustrated with Slow Progress? Join the Crowd : http://ow.ly/DY5UK @jamigold

How to Get Traffic to Your Author Website: 30+ Tips:  http://ow.ly/DY5Ht @WriterPlatform

Writer’s Block? Work on Subplots:  http://ow.ly/DY4Ym @fictionnotes

5 Tips for Choosing the Correct Short Story Competition:  http://ow.ly/DY5yS @MiaJouBotha

Creating Characters: –Is the Devil in the Details?  http://ow.ly/DY4L2  @kayedacus

A wrap-up of the @writerunboxed conference: http://ow.ly/E9NKD @Porter_Anderson @DonMaass

Women Rise in Sci Fi (Again):  http://ow.ly/DVBin @roseveleth @theatlantic

NaNoisms Ten:  http://ow.ly/DVBii

20 Writing Retreats to Attend in 2015:  http://ow.ly/DVBib @TravlJunkette

The future of books is on your phone, not your tablet:  http://ow.ly/DVBi8 @hamburger @verge

How To Kickstart Your Sales:  http://ow.ly/DVzpC @DavidGaughran

3 editors explain the book commissioning process within their publishers: http://ow.ly/DVBi1 @andrewlownie

Could Fake Reviews Kill Amazon?  http://ow.ly/DVBhS @DataScienceCtrl @AnalyticBridge

4 creative writing exercises to improve your craft:  http://ow.ly/DVBhP @standoutbooks

4 Ways to Write a Killer Plot Twist:  http://ow.ly/DVBhL @writersdigest

The Kindle Scout Program:  http://ow.ly/E9D87 @alanorloff

Concepts pubs should consider to avoid being mere content acquirers & polishers”:  http://ow.ly/E9PFE @Porter_Anderson @georgeberkowski”

The NaNoWriMo Survival Kit:  http://ow.ly/DVBhG @_RobbieBlair_

A hybrid story planning method may work for pantsters:  http://ow.ly/DVBhy @JordanDane

Crime fiction: illusions of a perfect life:  http://ow.ly/E9Lxo @mkinberg

How to Make Your Own Book Catalogue:  http://ow.ly/DQUKR @MsBessieBell

Steps for writing loglines:  http://ow.ly/DQUKI @cleemckenzie

6 Ways To Begin A Story:  http://ow.ly/DQUKD @woodwardkaren

Free Book Promos Aren’t What They Used to Be: Tips for Success:  http://ow.ly/E7JCU @claudenougat

Turn ‘Real Life’ into Bestselling Fiction: http://ow.ly/DQUKy @RuthHarrisBooks

How 7 Famous Writers Cope With Their Fear Of The Blank Page:  http://ow.ly/DQUKw @writers_write

Special thesauruses for writers to make writing easier: http://ow.ly/DQUKX @StinaLL

How to Create A Pop-up Bookstore:  http://ow.ly/DQUKT  @L1BCat: @IndieAuthorALLi

Why You Should Start a Blog (Even If You’re Not a Writer): http://ow.ly/DQSNv @jeffgoins

How to Craft Characters: Desperate Needs:  http://ow.ly/DQUKQ @stdennard

So You Want to do a Boxed Set:  http://ow.ly/DQUKK @lynnettebonner

15 Story Beats to Keep Your NaNoWriMo Novel on Track:  http://ow.ly/DQUKz @HeatherJacksonW

Writing What You Love and Earning What You’re Worth:  http://ow.ly/DQTCk @jamesscottbell

In defense of dystopian science fiction:  http://ow.ly/DQP5s @ramez @slate

Thinking Like a Bookstore Retailer:  http://ow.ly/DQP5o @JanetKGrant

Perils and Pitfalls of Signing with a Small Press – And Avoiding Them:  http://ow.ly/DQP5m @call_me_salome

Novels aren’t movie scripts: how to write great dialogue in prose:  http://ow.ly/DQP5h @Roz_Morris

22 Mind-Blowing Book Designs:  http://ow.ly/DQP5c  @youthedesigner

Tips for Writing A Book Review:  http://ow.ly/DQP52  @JimmieKepler

Negative Thinking and Writing Blocks:  http://ow.ly/DQP50  @BWBODRasch

Indies & Audiobooks: An Alternative to ACX:  http://ow.ly/DLCk8 @epicuniverse @Janefriedman

10 Things to Know About Pitching Agents and Editors:  http://ow.ly/E3kCa @colbymarshall

KDP Select & Kindle Unlimited: Why Ebooks Not Enrolled Are at a Disadvantage:  http://ow.ly/DLC6d @goblinwriter

50 Ways To Reach Your Reader:  Your Amazon Author Page:  http://ow.ly/DQP57 @IndieAuthorALLi

Great Storytelling: 3 Secrets Revealed:  http://ow.ly/DGOwT  @NikkiWoods

5 Small Publishers Who Are Changing the Face of the Industry:  http://ow.ly/DGOwP  @flavorwire

13 Scariest Things About Living with a Writer http://ow.ly/DGOwL @EdieMelson

The 25 Best Quotes About Authors:  http://ow.ly/DGOwH @writers_write

Building the Scenes In Your Novel:  http://ow.ly/DGOwF @inkybites

Novels aren’t movies – how to handle passage of time in prose:  http://ow.ly/DGOwC @Roz_Morris

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Conflict and Series Characters

By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

I was driving carpool from the middle school last week when a couple of radio hosts started talking about Facebook and vacation stories.

One of the hosts said he really hated Facebook because people always put up beautiful vacation pictures of their lovely families and everyone looked as if they were incredibly happy and having an amazing time.

The radio host went on to point out that no one wants to hear a happy vacation story—that these friends of his should just keep their experiences to themselves.  People only want to hear a story about a vacation that starts out great…and then something horrible happens.

This made me smile for a couple of reasons.  For one…I’m not wild about Facebook myself and everyone there does put their best face forward. (Who can blame them, though?)  I do have one friend from college who puts up absolutely hysterical snippets about her (rather stressful) life with her young children and I always love reading her updates.

This all sounds awful…but it’s how we’re entertained, right?  If everyone is blissfully happy then it’s not nearly as memorable or interesting.  Not that we wish bad things on our friends, but…

We need to wish them on our characters.  Our characters need to have a heap of issues to deal with, and issues that aren’t solely related to the main plot.

I’ve found that, as my series have grown longer, I have to force myself to throw some really nasty things at series characters.  It’s a lot harder than making trouble for the same characters at the beginning of the series.

I was wondering why this is and two reasons came to me.

Space issues. Readers have asked me to make sure to include their favorite series characters.  And…as series continue, new characters tend to crop up and become recurring.  It’s much quicker and easier to pen a happy subplot with these secondary characters than to create an arc for each one with conflicts to resolve.
I’ve spent too much time with these characters over a period of years and am too fond of them.

 

I was reading a very lengthy Elizabeth George novel recently and thought that she was trying to check in with a lot of regular characters in her Inspector Lynley mysteries. I know readers enjoy catching up, but it had the feel of a Facebook update…just a glimpse of the characters being happy with each other. But gosh, that book was so long that it sure didn’t need any other plot developments.

So here is what I’ve been doing:

Tie in these little catching-up subplots of these likeable supporting characters with the main plot. So maybe I’ve got some sort of happy subplot with some minor characters…they’ve got a new relationship maybe and are going on a delightful picnic (where they’ll likely take photos for Facebook).  But along the way, they’ll find a body.  Or they’ll become a witness and offer a clue/red herring.  Or they’ll lose their dog and the dog will end up finding a clue.  At any rate, they’re working harder for me and earning their keep.
Occasionally, I’ll make one of these secondary characters play a primary role in the action and will have an entire developed arc for them during the course of the mystery. But only for one or two characters—this gets sort of involved and too lengthy for a 75,000 word mystery (which is what mine are under contract as).

As a reader, do you look forward to catching up with minor characters in series?  How much catching-up do you require?  Do you like the characters to contribute to the overall plot and encounter conflict?

Image: MorgueFile: mantasmagorica

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The Kindle Scout Program

by Alan Orloff, @alanorloff

Thank you, Elizabeth, for hosting me on your fabulous blog!

A few years ago, we had a guinea pig for a couple of weeks. It (I never checked if it was a boy or girl) used to make an odd squeaking noise, and I couldn’t tell if it was excited or stressed. These days, I know exactly how it felt.

That’s because my suspense novel, RUNNING FROM THE PAST, is among the first wave of books in Amazon’s brand spanking new experiment, the Kindle Scout program. Yes, I’m one of their guinea pigs.

Here’s how it works:



Authors submit their completed books to the program. The submission package includes a novel of at least 50,000 words, a cover, answers to a few questions, and a description (the catchier, the better). Right now, books in three genres are being accepted: Mystery, thriller, & suspense, Science Fiction & Fantasy, and Romance. Shortly after submitting your package, Amazon will let you know if your book has been accepted.

Once accepted, your material gets uploaded to the site, and your 30-day campaign begins (mine runs through Nov 26).

Now it’s the readers’ chance to get involved: They can read excerpts from any of the books in the program, and if they like what they’ve read, they can nominate it for publication. A reader can have three books nominated at any one time.

Then, when a book’s campaign ends, all the nominations are tallied. According to Amazon: “The more nominations your book receives, the more likely it will get the attention of our Kindle Scout team and be selected for publication.”

I think this means that the program is not solely a popularity contest: “Nominations give us an idea of which books readers think are great; the rest is up to the Kindle Scout team who then reviews books for potential publication.”

As a thank-you to the readers, if a book they nominate garners a contract, they will get a free advance copy of the entire novel.

That’s the basics. It’s like American Idol for books.

Why did I decide to get involved? I’m what’s referred to as a hybrid author. I had three books published with Midnight Ink (which is how I met Elizabeth), including DIAMONDS FOR THE DEAD, an Agatha Award Finalist. I also self-pubbed three books. So I understand the pros and cons of each strategy. (The Kindle Scout program is itself a hybrid of the two methods.)

For my self-pubbed books, the most challenging part was getting them discovered. So far, I haven’t found too many effective ways to market them. Although a modest advance is part of the winners’ contract, the most appealing part of the Scout Program is the possibility of getting access to Amazon’s powerful marketing engine.

Say what you will about Amazon, but they know how to sell stuff.

I’m not sure I would have participated if I didn’t already have a suspense novel (and professionally-designed cover) ready to go. I’d put RUNNING FROM THE PAST up on Wattpad in another “publishing” experiment (without much success). When I heard about the Kindle Scout program, this novel was just languishing on my hard drive, with no real plans and no place to call home.

So I figured, why not try it here? Nothing to lose. Something to gain.

Once my campaign began, I realized I needed to do some, gasp, marketing to make people aware of the program and get them to read an excerpt, hoping that they’ll then nominate it.

First, I tried the obvious things. Posting on Facebook. Tweets on Twitter. Many of my Facebook friends shared my posts (bless them) and my Twitter followers retweeted my tweets (bless them). I put a notice on my website. I created a Facebook Event (but I haven’t invited anyone yet—I hate getting spammed myself). I told my friends and family. I sent out a few press releases to local newspapers. I plan to send an email blast to those on my mailing list.

I also am offering to give a free PDF copy of my not-yet-published short story CHEAP MEDZ to anyone who shares the Kindle Scout link to my book on Facebook or Twitter, in an attempt to leverage the power of social media.

But then what? Go door-to-door? Stand on the street corner with a sandwich board? Maybe make up one of those spinning signs and hang out at a busy intersection? Get endorsed by Oprah? (If anyone has any bright ideas, I’m all ears!)

Of course, I won’t know how the campaign did until it’s over (there are no metrics beyond a “Hot & Trending” list that is updated frequently). If I’m lucky enough to get a contract, great. If not, I guess I can apply some lessons learned from my marketing efforts.

While I’ve been concentrating on the marketing, I can take solace that the most important thing, the thing that really matters, has already been done.

The writing of the book.

(If you’d like to read the excerpt, here’s the link: https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/2QOKLYZIY0P1M   And if you read it, I’d love your nomination! And, and, and, if you share it on Facebook or Twitter, I’ll send you a PDF of my short story—just message me with your email address.)

Alan Orloff is the author of Diamonds for the Dead (2010), an Agatha Award finalist for Best First Novel. He also writes the Last Laff Mystery series (Killer Routine (2011) and Deadly Campaign (2012)) and has three e-book originals, THE TASTE (horror/thriller), FIRST TIME KILLER (thriller), and RIDE-ALONG (suspense).

For more info, please visit his website: www.alanorloff.com

 

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