Riley Adams's Blog, page 126

10 Things to Know About Pitching Agents and Editors

by Colby Marshall, @colbymarshall

The first time I pitched agents in person was a terrifying, enlightening, fantastic, and awful experience.  I met my now-agent that day, but I also made some mistakes that—trust me—I would be sure I never made again. (For Example: that bad joke I threw out as I sat down across the table from an agent with a sign hanging behind her that read, ‘No genre romances, no unicorns.’ The first words out of my mouth probably shouldn’t have been, “So, I guess you’re really going to love A Tail that Shines, my Unicorn Romance complete at 97,000 words.”

But, after a dodging a few cuss words, outrunning an intern who’d been promised a partnership if she returned wearing my scalp, and vowing to myself that I’d never joke about another directional sign at a pitch conference so long as I lived, I ended up taking the paper sack off my head for the last day of the conference in order to actually taste the food I’d already paid for once before heading home instead of sitting behind it blindly and in shame like I had the rest of the week. 

And as I sat there, my paper bag mask turned lunch garbage catcher beside me, it occurred to me that writers didn’t deserve to spend their days at a conference—a place to learn pitching, networking, and the ins and outs of the industry—huddled under a paper sack, hyperaware that at any moment, they might be chased by an angry mob of interns with their own agendas or tripped by a group of outcast editors known as the Publishing Professionals Who Prefer Pensive-Only Prose (who actually make very real efforts to cause writers who display so much as a hint of thinking that any form of humor–especially satire–is allowed, condoned, or funny in any way to have “accidents” that might result in serious injuries to life or limb.  But I digress…).

No!  Writers should take off those grocery sacks, demand that intern give them back their glasses, and find a wet rag with which to wipe off all the gunky food items from the past six meals no one wanted to eat and so instead threw at them.  They should learn from my idiocy and go out there and kick some agent-pitching rear end!  (Only, don’t actually kick any agents in the rear end.  That’s mistake number two, and the paper sack won’t cover this one.  I hear it involves actual law enforcement being brought in.)

I give you the Top Ten Things I’ve Learned About Pitching Agents and Editors:

10.)  Let your pitch do the standing out.  This one is obvious, considering my epic unicornian mishap.  While your goal is to be memorable, let your great idea—and its brilliantly rehearsed pitch—be what impresses the person you want to leave with that good memory.  While you might think your stellar personality (or sense of humor) will win you fans, it’s almost always better to sell yourself by being professional and having a kickass pitch prepared and polished.  No need to paint your face blue or perform a card trick to get noticed. You want to stand out in a crowd, not stick out like a pimple in a bridal photo.

9.) And speaking of sense of humor…proceed with caution.  The agent you’re pitching might match you one for one on early 90’s TV references or enjoy a similar vein of bathroom humor, but these are things to be found out after you’ve sparkled and shone.  Don’t whip out the redneck or blonde jokes–no matter how much of a bead you think you have on the pitch-ee–just yet, lest you strike out before you have the chance to leave the on-deck circle.  For all you know, that agent was blonde before she hit the hairdresser’s yesterday.  For all you know, he may just have a rare medical condition causing him to have an actual red neck.

8.)  Go with the flow.  No matter how many times you practiced your pitch in the shower of the hotel room before you run into THE agent or editor, I’ll give you nine out of ten that what one agent/editor is intrigued by in your pitch won’t be the exact thing that sparks the interest of the next agent/editor who listens to your exact same shpeel.  With that in mind, go on with your practiced pitch, but watch for the moment during your pitch when the Pitchee’s eyes light up and their ears perk up. No matter how ready you were to launch into your five-point-plan for promotion involving your awesome, 12 billion person platform, if you see signs of life when you mention your character’s name is Dave, you better shift gear into Dave like it’s not only listed on your drive shaft, it’s also the speed you use most, the way you reverse, and what you look at in your rearview mirrors.

7.)  Sell what you’ve got.  And speaking of Dave and how that one agent seems to love his name, if you sense an agent latch onto something in your pitch, tell them about it. Tell whether your character loves or hates that concept that intrigues the Pitchee more than the concept you’d planned to talk about and why. Talk about the character’s mother, and how she got the idea to name him Dave because it was the name of the bartender in the pub where she gave birth to him because they were snowed in. Anything you’ve got in your wealth of information about the world you wrote that will help Dave stick in that agent or editor’s mind.  Because even if you don’t sell the whole book right there, if you sell ‘em on Dave—who they already like—the book’s a hop, skip, and a jump away.  After all, Dave’s the star!

6.)  Don’t think you know everything about everyone.  Your dream agent might be great (or heck, your dream agent might be anything from a pile of innocent, cuddly kittens to the Dark Lord Zargrath’s older, more evil, less hygienic brother. So maybe first things first would be that if you have a dream agent, know why they’re it.  But I digress…), but one day you may find yourself in the fortunate situation to have to weigh multiple offers of representation at once. Talk to everyone, and keep an open mind. You may be shocked to find your gut screaming to go with someone completely different from your preconceived notion. Go with your gut every time.

5.)  Know when to seal the deal, and know when to walk away.  You can tell they’re interested, or you can tell it’s a bust. There’s no need to beat a dead horse, figurative or otherwise. If you make it through your entire pitch and the agent doesn’t bite at any of it, don’t filibuster. No one’s book is for everyone, nor should it be. That’s why you cast a wide net. Let the agents who slip through slip through without making them (or you) feel awkward and without prolonging the pain. On the flip side, if interest is radiating off the agent or editor opposite you, don’t assume it’s because there must be a mirror behind you and the Pitch-ee is a narcissistic bastard ready to primp and pay himself compliments. Finish your pitch, sell the points they seem most interested in the hardest, then put a button on it and wait for them to request pages. And when you those requests come, get home and send those suckers. No stalling. Don’t do a final pass of edits for three days. Have the requested materials waiting on their desks when they return to work the next day, while they’re fresh on their minds.

4.)  If they’re not interested, they’re not.  Speaking of walking away, I met one agent who only requested pages because they knew others would.  They told me as much. I know I’m not the first blogger to say this, but it can’t be emphasized enough that you want your agent and, later, your editor, to be excited about your book. You don’t just want it to be on their mind.  You want them to love it so much that they share an equal desire as you to see it succeed. Think of your agent and editor as gladiators representing you in the ring. Would you want a gladiator who looks around and goes, ‘Meh. I’ll fight for ‘em since everyone else seems to want to, but I don’t really personally give a damn’?

3.)  Toss out your street cred like candy in a kindergarten classroom.  Published?  Let ‘em know.  Give ‘em what they want…a reason to like you/be interested in you. Get a feel for the worth of each item in your repertoire, so you know how much time to devote to it. Don’t spend your whole day one it—or even your whole three allotted minutes—but do give your key resume items a mention.  If you have a prior self-published novel that didn’t do so well, it may be best to not mention it. If its sales are currently putting your kid through college and you recently appeared on The Today Show talking about it, though, then you might want to let your potential agent know you have a base of loyal readers ready to buy your next book.

2.)  What you think is important to your pitch might not be. Say your book is about a sentient truck that gets lost on a dirt road in Brazil, stumbles across a tribe of natives who take it in and teach it to live like they do. There may be an editor out there determined to buy the next book that comes their way featuring a dirt road. You just never know. You might frame your pitch around your fascinating Brazilian setting, but find later there’s a hole in the market for stories about sentient cars. Be ready to adjust your pitch if necessary. No amount of practice in front of a mirror can teach you what practicing in front of an agent or editor can. Use what you learn. (Unless, of course, you’re dead set against playing up the dirt road in your book.  Then, I’d say you’re probably really stubborn and aren’t going to work well with an agent anyway if that small a request gets up your hackles).

1.)  Trust your gut. I mentioned going with your gut before, and I really, really meant it. I meant it so much, I decided to say it again and make it number one on this list. One of the biggest setbacks in my writing career to date came from not trusting my instincts and being afraid to make the choices they told me. Your brain will always be there to weigh statistics and probability, and you need that, but this is a subjective business. If you don’t have a good feeling about something, don’t sign a damned thing. If you can get an offer from one agent, you can get an offer from another.  It might take some time, but it’ll happen.  All I can promise you is that if you have a bad feeling about working with someone, trust that feeling no matter what. However scared you are to make a choice that will keep your career from moving forward, you should be more scared of a choice that will set it back.

What’s the best pitch advice you’ve ever heard?

 

A little about Color Blind:

“Years ago, forensic psychiatrist Dr. Jenna Ramey’s special ability to “read” people and situations by making spontaneous color associations helped save her and her family from a psychotic serial killer: her own mother. Now, a captured killer holds the key to stopping a twisted chain of events already in motion, but he’ll only talk to one person: Dr. Jenna Ramey.”

Links:

Author’s website: http://www.colbymarshall.com

Buy link, Barnes and Noble: http://tinyurl.com/p7uhjvp

Buy link, Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/pbs3uts

Buy link, Powell’s: http://www.powells.com/biblio/1-9780425276518-0

 

The post 10 Things to Know About Pitching Agents and Editors 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.

Beat Burnout with Expressive Writing:  http://ow.ly/DdAIo @CherylRWrites

Getting Reviews for our books:  http://ow.ly/DXFV2

Successful Querying: It’s Not All About The Letter.  http://ow.ly/DdAIq @mmfinck @womenwriters

Creating Engaging Dialog by Using Subtext:  http://ow.ly/DdAIt @CSLakin               

You don’t need support to write: you own your own words:  http://ow.ly/Ddzp8 @racheline_m @womenwriters

8 Elements to Nailing Your Plot & Owning NaNo:  http://ow.ly/DhDMA @kristenlambtx

Quality critique services for your manuscript, novel, book, or proposal:  http://ow.ly/DdAIw @CSLakin

Be Accountable to the Muse: the Writer’s Production Plan:  http://ow.ly/DGFg6 @thecreativepenn

Writing Spies: 5 Dos and Don’ts:  http://ow.ly/DGFg9 @piperbayard

7 Deadly Sins (If You’re a First Chapter) http://ow.ly/DGFga @Janice_Hardy

‘Every scene is either a fight, seduction, or negotiation.’ http://ow.ly/DGFgc @KenLevine

Top 10 Delights of Obscurity:  http://ow.ly/DGFge

5 Writers Offer Lifelines for Post-MFA Despair:  http://ow.ly/DGFgf @Furunati

What Makes an Amazing First Chapter?  http://ow.ly/DGFgi @jenichappelle

5 Tips for Fleshing Out a Story:  http://ow.ly/DGFgj @jemifraser

Self-publishing, Free, and Flexibility:  http://ow.ly/DGFgk @JLeaLopez

NANO: Awesome Ways to Get it Done http://ow.ly/DGFgm @KateBrauning

Is Your Story Bloated?  http://ow.ly/DGFgo  @Jen_328

Stuck during NaNo? Tips: http://ow.ly/DGFgq  @AlexSokoloff

Leveraging Scrivener for NaNoWriMo:  http://ow.ly/DGFgs  @Gwen_Hernandez        How Romeo and Juliet Can Help You Write Your Next Book: http://ow.ly/DGOwj @HelenSedwick

Art vs. Commerce: Can Writers Make It Without Day Jobs?  http://ow.ly/DGOhy @hollyrob1

How to Stick to a Writing Schedule:  http://ow.ly/DGOwm @melaniepinola

3 Common Writing Myths and How One Writer Challenged Them:  http://ow.ly/DGOws @saulofhearts

How Great Writers Find Their Writing Voice:  http://ow.ly/DGOwv  @Woelf20

12 Essential Essays for Writers – The Electric Typewriter http://ow.ly/DGOwz

Elections in crime fiction:  http://ow.ly/DXH0b @mkinberg

The Great Theme of Childhood: Coping: http://ow.ly/DvtNM @camillelaguire

How to write a novel (in a 30 days):  http://ow.ly/DGP8V @mailonline  @chrisbaty

When is it okay to quit? | Brad R. Torgersen http://ow.ly/Dvtwo

Typographic Sanity:  http://ow.ly/Dvt0G @parisreview @DanPiepenbring

Does British Humor Translate Across the Pond?  http://ow.ly/DvsTp @pubperspectives

5 easy ways to research your novel:  http://ow.ly/DvvYk @nownovel

Go to Your Worst Case Scenario…and Back:  http://ow.ly/DvvYg  @pospositive @fearlessstories

5 ways to follow up with an editor or agent:  http://ow.ly/Dvt6I @ElawReads

7 things 1 writer would do before publishing a book, if she could do it over again: http://ow.ly/DvvCw @cleemckenzie

In Defense of Spoilers:  http://ow.ly/DvsKX @dkthomp

Query Question: Revising novel when on submission to agents:  http://ow.ly/DvvIx @Janet_Reid

Fractal Conflict in Storytelling:  http://ow.ly/DvtzX @brianstaveley

Tips and thoughts for writing endings:  http://ow.ly/DvteB  @JennyCrusie

Reviewing? What’s your motive?  http://ow.ly/DOEu5 @Porter_Anderson  @ThoughtCatalog

5 Tips for Plotting a Mystery:  http://ow.ly/DusoX @PamelotH

Writer Legacy Issues:  http://ow.ly/DusoW @chrisschiller @scriptmag

10 Reasons Why The Gatekeepers Of Self-Publishing Have Become… You:  http://ow.ly/DusoS  @selfpubreview

Marketing Tip: Put Your First Chapter on Your Website:  http://ow.ly/DusoO @mariamurnane

Your Author Platform Is Not Your Social Media Following:  http://ow.ly/DusoN @brooke_warner

Should writers only query female agents for women’s fiction?  http://ow.ly/DusoK @Janet_Reid

Creativity On Demand: Why You Need BICHOK Time:  http://ow.ly/DusoI @CarlaYoung

When Your Character’s Diagnosis Becomes Your Own:  http://ow.ly/DusoF @BTMargins

Why No Advice Is Perfect: Character Emotions: http://ow.ly/DusoE @jamigold

For the Writer Who Wants to Create in the Mornings: A Guide to Help You Wake Up Earlier:  http://ow.ly/DusoC @bemorewithless

Tips for More Complicated POV Issues:  http://ow.ly/DusoB @jodyhedlund

Formatting—The Difference Between Mediocre & Magnificent:  http://ow.ly/Dusox @WyrdingWaysPres

Are we still not ‘prepared’ for digital progress?  http://ow.ly/DNKEP @Porter_Anderson

On Riding and Writing Boldly:  http://ow.ly/DnSvT @mcfawn

The Difficulty Writers Have with Identity: http://ow.ly/DnSvN @losapala

NaNo Pep Talk from @ChuckWendig http://ow.ly/DGP1z

What is Past is Prologue:  http://ow.ly/DnSvJ @storyfix

6 Tips for Writing Minor Characters:  http://ow.ly/DnSvG @robinrwrites

The Secret to Crafting Genuine Characters for Your Novel:  http://ow.ly/DnSvD @CSLakin

Selling Your Story: The Zombie Ice-Cream Wagon Gambit:  http://ow.ly/DnSvA @yeomanis

Starting a Group Blog:  http://ow.ly/DnQkV @madelineiva

An exercise to help write better dialogue:  http://ow.ly/DnSvv @writeabook

How To Help Budding Authors (without killing their spirits) http://ow.ly/DnSvt  @aplazar

Figuring out your book’s ending:  http://ow.ly/DnSvn @glencstrathy

7 Tips for Metadata Magic for Self-Publishers: http://ow.ly/DnRrt @JFBookman

The optics of poetry http://ow.ly/DnSvh @Jim_Murdoch

Finding the Confidence to Write what You Want:  http://ow.ly/DLOBy @LyndaRYoung

Bad Advice for Writers: NaNoWriMo edition:  http://ow.ly/DGOWu @GeneDoucette

Foreshadowing in crime fiction: http://ow.ly/DLPzc @mkinberg

How to Make Subplots Work: http://ow.ly/Dmnzt

A blog dedicated to writing and resources centered on race and ethnic diversity:   http://ow.ly/Dmnzs

10 things you can do in the middles of novels http://ow.ly/Dmnzr

Finding the Time to Create:  http://ow.ly/Dmnzq  @BalzerDesigns

The Query as a Plotting Tool:  http://ow.ly/Dmnzn @janice_hardy

Sites and links for writers:  http://ow.ly/Dmnzj

Don’t Let ‘Play-It-Safers’ Talk You Out Of Writing:  http://ow.ly/Dmnzh @JonathanGunson

On Writing Memoir: How to Begin http://ow.ly/Dmnzg @ClaireJDeBoer

5 Ways Writing Can Make You Braver and Happier:  http://ow.ly/Dmnzf  @HarrietLerner

Allowing Your Book to Be True to Itself:  http://ow.ly/DIKKu @PatrickRWrites

Braving Your Second Draft:  http://ow.ly/Dmnze @KMWeiland

A site that helps you find the word on the tip of your tongue:  http://ow.ly/Dmnzc

8 Proofreading Tools for Beta Readers:  http://ow.ly/DhOUr @CKmacleodwriter

Minimalism in Writing:  http://ow.ly/DhOUo  @rsmollisonread

Writing Religious Thrillers And Storytelling Lessons From Commercial TV:  http://ow.ly/DhOUh @simontoyne

3 ideas for fixing the publishing industry:  http://ow.ly/DhOUd @LJSellers

Hindsight is 20/20: 1 Writer’s First Year in Self-Publishing: http://ow.ly/DhOUa @misskyokom

Editing psychosis: recognize the signs:  http://ow.ly/DhOU4 @bwilliamsbooks

How To Write A Book In A Month: http://ow.ly/DGONC @ninaamir

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

Getting Reviews

By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

I’ve noticed that my books with the highest number of reviews usually tend to be my top sellers.  Not always (there are a couple of Penguin books with a couple of dozen reviews that still tend to sell well), but most of the time.

I’m not sure how it works—it’s either because Amazon’s algorithm favors books with more reviews (they show up near the top in searches or in the “customers who bought this also bought” section) or because readers think “oh, everyone is reading this” and they jump on the bandwagon too.

Whatever the reason, sales do tend to follow reviews.

I’ve been asked, in the last couple of interviews I’ve done for bloggers, how I’ve gotten reviews for my books.

The only thing I’ve done with my self-pubbed books to garner reviews is to run sales.  I didn’t advertise the sales in any way…not on my blog, newsletter, Twitter, Facebook…nothing.  I just ran them.  The free promos tend to garner more reviews than the $.99 promos.

Pros with this approach are that your book finds its way into the hands of new readers.  Many of these readers tend to write reviews (expect them usually a month or so following the sale).  It’s free, unless you’re counting the cost of the lost sales (I like to think of that loss as a form of unofficial advertising). I put books out for free by making them free on Smashwords and then Amazon price matches.

The only con with this is that you sometimes hook readers who don’t read your genre and, perhaps, don’t even like your genre. They will sometimes write reviews too.   I think that most readers are savvy enough to realize that these types of reviewers simply don’t care for those types of books.

In the past, I’ve more actively courted reviews for my Penguin books.  Oddly, however, they have a very low number of reviews compared to most of my self-pubbed books…I’m convinced this is due to pricing and volume of readers.  I’ve contacted Amazon’s top reviewers for my genre (see this article by Laura Pepper Wu for Joanna Penn for tips with how to do so), I’ve connected with book bloggers who review my genre, and I’ve signed up for Goodreads giveaways to give free copies of either ARCs (advance reader copies) or finished copies of my books. The idea was to try to get some reviews out there soon after the release to jumpstart sales.

The Amazon top reviewer approach was time-consuming.  But if you are eager to try something new and need to move some books, it’s definitely worthwhile to check into.  These are not guaranteed good reviews, obviously.  I’ve found, though, that it honestly doesn’t appear to matter if I have bad reviews…it seems to be the number of reviews. And, no, I’m not sure what to make of that.

Goodreads worked well.  You can’t really count on a review, but the chances are that you will receive a review (good or bad) if you give away at least a few books.  It definitely also helps to increase awareness of our books on a site that’s popular with readers.

Have you actively courted reviewers for your books?  How have you done it?

The post Getting Reviews appeared first on Elizabeth Spann Craig.

Allowing Your Book to Be True to Itself

by Patrick Ross, @PatrickRWrites

“The author has certainly gone on an interesting journey, but I’m afraid the tone is too journalistic for our list. I’m looking for more literary and personal accounts of creativity and personal growth.”

That was a rejection my literary agent received on June 2, 2011, to our proposal for The Artist’s Road, a yet-to-be-written nonfiction work that we pitched as a craft book. It would focus on creative lessons I learned from artists I interviewed on a cross-country U.S. road trip for a documentary video series. My encounters with those artists and their authentic approaches to living an art-committed life had transformed me; part of that transformation was a compulsion to write the story of my trip. Yet my background was journalism; I wrote about others, not myself, and the book proposal reflected that.

Three weeks after that rejection I found myself in Montpelier, Vermont, at my first residency in an MFA in Writing program. Eleven classmates and two instructors workshopped my submission, a proposed chapter of the book. It contained an interview with a compelling printmaker named Sabra Field, lessons Sabra had to offer on her own creative process, and some humorous anecdotes of life on the road. Everyone in the workshop had the same reaction. They told me how well I had captured both Sabra and the location, just as a journalist should. But they also told me one thing was missing: the narrator.

“If we’re going to travel across the country with you, Patrick, we want you in the story,” one classmate said.

What I came to realize that June was that my book wanted to be a memoir. The problem was that I was not a memoirist. I could have abandoned the project entirely. But I had just begun an MFA program to grow as a writer, so I took a leap of faith and began writing the book anew, with the guidance of Vermont College of Fine Arts instructors. I made them earn their pay; I proved remarkably resistant to putting myself on the page.

Two years later, however, I had a complete rough draft of an actual memoir, which told in raw and honest prose why I had been so obsessed with artists and the creative process; I had turned away from my own creativity out of fear of a downward spiral as someone with bipolar disorder. I feared modeling behavior I had witnessed growing up in a household ruled by mental illness.

Three years after that original rejection, the book–rechristened Committed: A Memoir of the Artist’s Road–had found a publisher. Now it’s out in print and I stand exposed to the world, my flaws and mistakes visible to anyone willing to purchase or borrow a copy. Fortunately I’ve had a lot of time to get used to that idea.

Michelangelo believed that when he sculpted, he was merely liberating art that was already hiding inside the stone. I have come to believe that Committed existed all along. It just took me several years to liberate it from the layers of resistance and denial I had placed around it. In the book I write about my admiration of those living authentic lives; I learned to be authentic to what Committed needed to be in order to write it, and to see it published.

As it happens, Committed still contains lessons on creativity from the artists I interviewed. One from award-winning science fiction author Michael Swanwick resonated with me while writing Committed. Let me quote from the book:

I haven’t read any of Michael’s books, although I had intended to before I became buried in video editing. I ask Michael to explain his fiction as much for my benefit as for the video’s viewers. He says he writes all types of fantasy and science fiction. He’d make more money if he stuck to one genre, but then again, he says, he’d make more money as an accountant. He likes being a full-time writer, which gives him the freedom to write whatever he wants. Doing so means he doesn’t always choose the most lucrative publication path. “It is, however, the most satisfying way to spend your life.”

Michael has learned to write each book the way that story wants to be told. He may be right in saying he could make more as an accountant. But he is a successful, full-time author because his books, when written the way they want to be told, are compelling, and thus are published.

One thing I learned on my cross-country road trip, and the writing process that followed, is that when we meet resistance in life it is easy to push back. Sometimes, however, we should stop to listen.

Patrick Ross is an award-winning journalist,

creative writer, and blogger. His first book, Committed: A Memoir of the Artist’s Road, was published in October 2014 by Black Rose Writing. He blogs on creativity, writing, and living an art-committed life, and teaches creative writing with The Writer’s Center in Bethesda, Maryland, and online with The Loft Literary Center. He lives in Alexandria, Virginia, with his wife and teenage son, and wonders constantly what his daughter is up to six hundred miles away at art school. Learn more at patrick-ross.com.

Amazon:  http://bit.ly/rossamazon 

Barnes & Noble

The post Allowing Your Book to Be True to Itself 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.

Pre-NaNoWriMo Tips http://ow.ly/DhEce @ava_jae

NaNoWriMo: Planning Your Novel’s Middle:  http://ow.ly/DhE4p @janice_hardy

How free book promos, a pen name, and audiobooks have worked out for one hybrid writer:  http://ow.ly/DC2A1  @jimhbs

3 Steps to Pre-Plot for NaNoWriMo:  http://ow.ly/DhDwp @plotwhisperer

What Halloween Can Teach Us About Character Development: http://ow.ly/DAItB @jessicastrawser               

Let it get gross, let it get weird, and figure out later how far to take it:  http://ow.ly/DAJ0Z  @fdelilahfa

The Scariest Moments in a Writer’s Life:  http://ow.ly/DAJ9a @womenwriters

Take a Break, Write a Short Story:  http://ow.ly/DAJvv

How Writing Horror is like Writing Comedy:  http://ow.ly/DAJL7 @HeatherJacksonW

50 Ways to Generate Ideas for NaNoWriMo:  http://ow.ly/DALea @YAtopia_blog

Death and the Writer – a Halloween audio story:  http://ow.ly/DALss @camillelaguire

Write a Novel (NaNo), Minimize Revisions, & Improve Odds of Finishing AND Publishing:  http://ow.ly/DAKZS @kristenlambtx

Using Layers to Pre-Write Your Scenes:  http://ow.ly/DAKQW @janice_hardy

An Editor Says Not to Edit During NaNoWriMo:  http://ow.ly/DAKIN @epbure

13 plot twists that utterly ruined good horror movies:  http://ow.ly/DAKou @EvanHoovler

How to Fast Draft:  http://ow.ly/DhGhl @ava_jae

Backstory: The More You Know, The Less Readers Have To: http://ow.ly/DhGho @piperbayard

123 Ideas for Character Flaws:  http://ow.ly/DhGhu @writers_write

NaNo:  Ready to Start Drafting?  http://ow.ly/DhDz0 @jamigold

Guide to Surviving NaNoWriMo:  http://ow.ly/DhGhz @BookGeekConfess

Expectation, Event, Reaction:  http://ow.ly/DhGhI @plotwhisperer

Positive and negative character traits:  http://ow.ly/DhGhP from Clever Girl Helps

How to give your story a purpose: http://ow.ly/DhGhS

Whose Point of View Should We Use? http://ow.ly/DhGhU @jamigold

5 Tips for a Successful NaNoWriMo: http://ow.ly/DhGhX @CDugmoreWrites

The definitive post on word count:  http://ow.ly/DhGi3 @Janet_Reid

Clarifying Thoughts: Revising Your Outlines to Make the Writing Easier http://ow.ly/DhGif @janice_hardy

Indie Book Marketing—Early Readers:  http://ow.ly/DhOTB  @heatherdgilbert

5 Steps To Find Your Book’s Ideal Audience:  http://ow.ly/DhOTH @angelaackerman

Tips for handling multiple plot lines:  http://ow.ly/DhOTO

The Runner’s Guide to Better Writing:  http://ow.ly/DhOTU @writetodone

Have You Orphaned Your Dialogue?   http://ow.ly/DhOTW @MarcyKennedy

Little Known Sources for Public Domain Images:  http://ow.ly/DhOU1 @HelenSedwick

Sleuths sizing up suspects in crime fiction:  http://ow.ly/DAPcH @mkinberg

Literary Halloween Costumes:  http://ow.ly/DAJij  @ingridsundberg

Chaos and Creative Expression: The Creative Mind:  http://ow.ly/DdAdS @psychcentral

Creating a Treatment for Your Book Trailer:  http://ow.ly/DdAdQ @byRachelMWilson

7 Deadly Sins of Punctuation And How to Avoid Them http://ow.ly/DdAdO @lifehackorg

Writing vs. Publishing:  http://ow.ly/DdAdL  @behlerpublish

Monetizing the Business of Writing:  http://ow.ly/DdAdF @victoriastrauss

5 Reasons Why It Matters What Your Website Is Called: http://ow.ly/DdAdz  @selfpubreview

Remember social bookmarking as a marketing tool: http://ow.ly/DdAdw @bookgal

Studying nonfiction could be the key to creating the best fiction:  http://ow.ly/DdAds @statepress  @willruof

Is Relatability Important in a Script? http://ow.ly/Ddyiw @heroesareboring

Why you’re a writer (even if you don’t think so) : http://ow.ly/DdAdn @billycoffey

Your Scene Needs a Problem:  http://ow.ly/DdAdj @TheKenHughes

15 Lessons from 15 Years of Blogging:  http://ow.ly/DdAdd @anildash

8 Reasons to Write Something Right Now:  http://ow.ly/D9oUt @ediemelson

Five Misspelled Idioms http://ow.ly/D9oUs @writing_tips

17 Things English Majors Are Tired Of Hearing:  http://ow.ly/D9oUp @KirstenKing_ @jmschaff @buzzfeed

20 Fiction Writing Renovations in Simplified Format:  http://ow.ly/D9oUo @randysusanmeyer

Is a strong social media presence overrated?  http://ow.ly/D9oUn

Does Book Touring Still Matter? http://ow.ly/D9oUm @scalzi

5 Things Literary Writers Can Learn from Sci-Fi Writers:  http://ow.ly/D9oUk @manzanitafire

When to Describe a Movement:  http://ow.ly/D9oUg

Above the Plot Planner Line: How to Test Pacing and Tension in Stories:  http://ow.ly/D9oUd @plotwhisperer

Top 10 health and safety fails in children’s books: http://ow.ly/D9oUc @guardianbooks

Should You Be Using a Pen Name?  http://ow.ly/D9oU9 @HelenSedwick

A Closer Look at the 16-24-Year-Old Reader Demographic:  http://ow.ly/D9oU6 @Porter_Anderson

Your 10 Point Website Check Up:  http://ow.ly/D7cwS @bookgal

How to explain your story without using backstory:  http://ow.ly/D7cwN @nownovel

How to Create the Habit of Writing:  http://ow.ly/D7cwJ @zen_habits

Turn Your Blog Into a Book Production Machine: http://ow.ly/D7cwD @ninaamir

Audiobooks: Interview With A Narrator:  http://ow.ly/D7cwA @JulieMusil

6 Tips to Get Your Writing in Shape:  http://ow.ly/D7cwx @DiAnnMills

When a publisher goes under before a book is published:  http://ow.ly/D7cwq @behlerpublish

Write It By Hand:  http://ow.ly/D7cwj  @SusanKelley

Revision for the Organizationally Challenged:  http://ow.ly/D7cwa @Kathy_Crowley

Why we need a new way of talking about YA literature:  http://ow.ly/D7cw6 @ElizabethMinkel

Should You Cut That Character? http://ow.ly/D7cw1 @MargoWKelly

Fan fiction ‘gives women…the chance..to fracture a story and recast it in their own way':  http://ow.ly/D7cvV @ElizabethMinkel

The importance of diversity in the publishing workplace: http://ow.ly/DnZ0v @Porter_Anderson @CrystalMMorgan

Conjunctive Adverbs:  http://ow.ly/CZDwA @writing_tips

5 Top Social Media Dashboard Tools to Manage Your Social Accounts:  http://ow.ly/CZDww  @jeffbullas

Book to Screen: Seeing Your Book as a Visual Story http://ow.ly/CZDwr @chicklitgurrl

Picture Books: Character Development in Every Word: http://ow.ly/CZDwm @NJFarmScribe

Writing Novels in a Minor Key:Where Are All the Good Tear-Jerkers? http://ow.ly/CZDwh by  P.J. Parrish

Writing Our Region–Without Overdoing It: http://ow.ly/DnYeu

The Writing Life: Re-Entry:  http://ow.ly/CZDwg  @DeborahJRoss

Tips for Keeping the Muse Alive When Life Gets Rough:  http://ow.ly/Dnzbw @Robin_Gianna @jemifraser

Casting Off the Spell: Learning to Believe in Your Own Gifts: http://ow.ly/CZDwC  @EDFsChronicles

Setting the Stage: How to Hook Readers From Page One http://ow.ly/CZDws @stefaniegaither

7 Point-of-View Basics Every Writer Should Know http://ow.ly/CZDwq @jodyhedlund

Innovating to Enable Storytelling in a Digital Age: http://ow.ly/CZDwn @pubperspectives

Is Amazon KU exclusivity a velvet barrier for authors? http://ow.ly/DnYrX @Porter_Anderson @HughHowey

Exposition in Expansive Epics:  http://ow.ly/CZDwl @FaithBoughan

12 Promises Writers Must Make to Themselves to Fulfill Their Dreams: http://ow.ly/CZDwj @EdieMelson

A Word About That Incomplete Manuscript on Submission:  http://ow.ly/CZDwi @behlerpublish

Variations of Villainy:  http://ow.ly/CXUXA  @NancyFulda

Social Media for Authors 101:  http://ow.ly/CXUXz @gmparkes

The Trouble with Writing http://ow.ly/CXUXx @MHuneven

Why You Need More Art in Your Life (and 5 Ways to Get It) http://ow.ly/CXUAV @michaelhyatt

Why Is Our Sci-Fi So Glum About A.I.?   http://ow.ly/CXUXv @Jayson_Greene @NYTimes

6 Steps To Finding Your Writing Voice This Week:  http://ow.ly/CXUXu @NaomiDunford

4 Great Lessons for Writers from Character Ron Swanson:  http://ow.ly/CXUXt  @SarahAllenBooks

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Promo Tactics and Balancing Life and Writing

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Hi everyone!   I’m over at James Moushon’s HBS Spotlight today talking about how free book promos have worked for me, how I’ve gotten book reviews, how audiobooks have affected my sales, handling a pen name, balancing life and writing…and a whole bunch of other stuff.    Hope you’ll pop by.

And Happy Halloween.   Hope everyone has a fun day.  My costume this year is a sleep-deprived mom.  Oh wait….think that’s my costume every year…. :)

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Writing Our Region—Without Overdoing It

By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

If you live in the Southern US or have spent much time here, you’ll know that even something like a short trip to the grocery store can mean many conversations with strangers.

Whenever I’m in the store (which is, really, nearly every day considering I keep forgetting to put things on my lists), I know that items in my shopping buggy, the length of the checkout line, something I’m wearing, or any other random thing may engender comment.

A woman waiting in line with me the other day smiled and said, “Well, your groceries all looked super-healthy until I saw those Doritos.” 

Nearly every trip there’ll be questions about how ripe the cantaloupes looked, how much the ground beef ran me, or whether a particular snack food is tasty or not.  A couple of times I’ve heard, “I’ve got a joke for you” or “are you from Charlotte originally?”

I’m told that the public isn’t this chatty in some other parts of the States, but I wouldn’t know, having only lived in the South.  Living in the Charlotte area, though (Charlotte is a good sized city), I’ve seen plenty of people who clearly aren’t from around here look startled when complete strangers strike up conversations with them.  I guess it isn’t scary only if you’re expecting it.

It’s the kind of thing that makes for regional flavor in a book—and makes a book believable to residents of that area when you slip it in.

Sometimes regional flavor is so subtle that I wouldn’t consider putting it in a book because it would go over too many readers’ heads.  “Good morning/afternoon, young lady!” is a common, jovial salutation from Southern elderly gentlemen to femmes d’une certaine age.  I believe that the certaine age has crept up and while at this point in my forties I would once (and fairly recently)  have qualified, it now usually seems to be addressed to women at least a decade older than I am.

However, I received this greeting recently when dodging into the store wearing no makeup after driving morning middle school carpool.  I shot the man a horrified look, stuttered a greeting, and then quickly finished my shopping so I could drive home to make repairs.  Clearly I’ll have to be more diligent about makeup when running morning errands. I knew Southern women would understand and sympathize if they read about this experience. But it would be too subtle for a book written for an international English-speaking audience.

A major contributing factor to my getting the two Penguin series is that the editors were looking for a Southern writer and Southern settings.  But it can be tricky when you’re writing a region.  It’s easy to either overdo it or to work in things that won’t resonate with readers from other areas.

I knew (or figured) that the editors weren’t looking for a lot of Southern dialect, which can be tricky to read. Diction is usually better–for instance, the way I call it “grocery shopping” instead of “food shopping,” which my Northern neighbors usually say.   I mainly work in setting, culture, word choice (being careful not to be too obscure) and general behavior (like the friendliness of strangers) into the books.  Local attitudes in common situations is a subtle way of adding color to a book.

Traditions involving weddings and funerals and family gatherings also make it in. Weather/climate is quick and easy.  Architecture can help when describing a setting.  And food—regional food is probably one of the easiest ways to set up a sense of place for readers.

If your books are set in a particular region, how do you write it?

Image: MorgueFile: citysafari

 

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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.

Query question: submission guidelines that are off-putting:  http://ow.ly/CUuj8 @Janet_Reid

5 Ways to make Characters “Click” with Readers:  http://ow.ly/CUuja

10 Tips For Taking Notes at a Writer’s Conference:  http://ow.ly/CUuje @JarvisWrites               

How To Read Your Own AudioBook And Sell Direct To Customers:  http://ow.ly/CUujf @thecreativepenn

Resources for creating a small town setting:  http://ow.ly/CUujh

The gap in your narrative, the scene you’re avoiding: –stop and brainstorm:  http://ow.ly/CUuji @Roz_Morris

When your characters are too similar to you:  http://ow.ly/CUujm Writing Questions Answered Blog

Phoning it In: 5 Simple Rules for an Author Interview:  http://ow.ly/CUujp @MovieGirl

How to Catch Those Pesky Typos:  http://ow.ly/CUujt @aplazar

Self-Publishing Checklist: The Random No One Tells You:  http://ow.ly/CUujy @PattyTempleton

For word-loving writers: 10 of the best collective nouns:  http://ow.ly/CUujC @chlo_rho @guardianbooks

5 Tips to Writing Your Author’s Bio http://ow.ly/CUujH @djeanquarles

Resources for graphic novels and Noir:  http://ow.ly/CXUXg

Chaos and Creative Expression | The Creative Mind http://ow.ly/CXUXk @psychcentral

Query Question: crossing gender lines:  http://ow.ly/CXUXn @Janet_Reid

Authors on the New Adult Genre:  http://ow.ly/CXUXo @ingridsundberg

How Vivid Verbs Transform Your Writing:  http://ow.ly/CXUXr @JanetKGrant

4 Great Lessons for Writers from Character Ron Swanson:  http://ow.ly/CXUXt  @SarahAllenBooks

Frustrated with Slow Progress? Join the Crowd:  http://ow.ly/CUq4l @jamigold

Critiquing Without Scars:  http://ow.ly/CUq4h @RandomOenophile

How to Write Character Arcs in a Series:  http://ow.ly/CUq4f @KMWeiland

A Checklist for Race/Culture in Kid/YA Books:  http://ow.ly/CUq4d @MitaliPerkins

How To Use Your Mistakes To Achieve Success As A Writer:  http://ow.ly/CUq48 @writetodone

How to Write Young Adult Horror: 6 Tips:  http://ow.ly/CUq41 @nightowlauthor

Screenwriting vs Prose Writing:  http://ow.ly/CUq3X @Kutzera

5 Ways Writing Fanfiction Can Help the Beginning Writer:  http://ow.ly/CUq3O @theinfodojo

Handy-Dandy Responses to Non-Writers’ Questions:  http://ow.ly/CUq3C @LZMarieAuthor

Planning Your Novel’s Beginning http://ow.ly/CUq45 @Janice_Hardy

Novels aren’t movies – how to write great description in prose: http://ow.ly/CUq3R @Roz_Morris

Pre-Writing: Discovering Your Character’s’ Secrets http://ow.ly/CUq3H @RLLaFevers

10 Etsy Stores for Writers:  http://ow.ly/CQBcu @miuconsult

What to do about a negative review:  http://ow.ly/CQBcq @Roz_Morris

34 Blogging Topics Just for Writers:  http://ow.ly/CQBcp @CaballoFrances

How to Build an Audience on YouTube:  http://ow.ly/CQBcm

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

How to Save Money on Editing Your Book:  http://ow.ly/CQBci @MarcyKennedy

Tips to Avoid Cliches and Weak Writing:  http://ow.ly/CQBcf @jamigold

Distraction and Writing: Never That Second Bird:  http://ow.ly/CQBcd @EDFsChronicles

Avoid Awkward Joint Possessives:  http://ow.ly/CQBcb @writing_tips

AuthorEarnings.com: Kindle Unlimited On The Line:  http://ow.ly/DdHXH @Porter_Anderson @HughHowey

21 Tips To Get Your Blog Content Shared On Facebook and Twitter:   http://ow.ly/CQBc7 @jeffbullas

Using writing to heal depression:  http://ow.ly/CQBc5 @justjanna

Tips for publishing an anthology:  http://ow.ly/CQBc3 @nikkibaird @PStoltey

Publishing Genre Fiction in Africa:  http://ow.ly/CNrRf @pubperspectives

You Are Your Best Source of Motivation:  http://ow.ly/CNrR7 @kayedacus

7 Tips for the Uninspired – She Writes http://ow.ly/CNrR2  @brooke_warner

Discoverability Dependency is Hazardous to Your Fiction Marketing:  http://ow.ly/CNrQY @storyrally

How to Spot a Great Picture Book | Writing and Illustrating http://ow.ly/CNrQT

Podcasts for Indie Authors:  http://ow.ly/CNrQJ @JulieMusil

The unreliable vs omniscient narrator:  http://ow.ly/CNrQH @nownovel

How Self-Publishing Has Changed In The Last 2 Years:  http://ow.ly/CNrQC @DavidGaughran @thecreativepenn

How to Do Research for Your Novel:  http://ow.ly/CNrQx

The Challenges of Writing a Sequel:  http://ow.ly/CNrQt @StinaLL

1 Great Way to Write a Short Story http://ow.ly/CNrgR  @JimmieKepler

45 Things a Reader Wants to See More of in Post-Apocalyptic Fiction: http://ow.ly/CNrQq

Worldbuilding: How Religion Shapes Characters:  http://ow.ly/CNrQj @RebekahLoper

Brainstorming for Writers: —Use Social Media to Get Unstuck http://ow.ly/CNrQO @lynetteeason

How Contrast In Characterization Works:  http://ow.ly/CJ4f5 @bang2write

Rituals Between the Writing : The Science Writers’ Handbook http://ow.ly/CJ4f1 @sarahwebb

Protagonist Checklist: http://ow.ly/CJ4f0 @woodwardkaren

The future of the book:  http://ow.ly/CJ4eU @TheEconomist

Quality Not Quantity for Self-Published Writers:  http://ow.ly/CJ4eR @Tom_Chalmers

15 ways to promote your book with a book trailer:  http://ow.ly/CJ4eP @chrisrobley

Granting Rights in Literary Contracts:  http://ow.ly/CJ4eL @susanspann

How to Make Your Book Cover Stand Out:  http://ow.ly/CJ4eK @JanetKGrant

NaNoWriMo – Should You Take Part?  http://ow.ly/CJ3GG @GlynisSmy

Too Close? 5 Techniques to See Our Story Objectively: http://ow.ly/CJ4eI @jamigold

27 Copywriting Formulas:  http://ow.ly/CJ4eG @kevanlee

How to Get Traffic to Your Author Website: 30+ Tips for Discouraged Writers:  http://ow.ly/CJ4eB @writerplatform

Researching Your Novel: http://ow.ly/CGCZ3  @stdennard

4 Tips to Survive, Thrive in Frankfurt as a Foreign Rights Agent:  http://ow.ly/CGABu @2SeasAgency

Transforming the book: it’s about connection: http://ow.ly/D4mkZ @camillelaguire @Porter_Anderson #FutureChat

4 Types of Prologues:  http://ow.ly/CGCZ0  @ingridsundberg

3 Ways to Unlock your Imagination & Beat Writers’ Block:  http://ow.ly/CGCYY novelexperienc3

Self-Publishing Stumbling Blocks (and 27 Tools to Get You Back on Your Feet):  http://ow.ly/CGCYT @allison_boyer

Why 1 writer enjoys being a hybrid: http://ow.ly/CGCYP @jennyalexander4

7 Questions to Make Sure Your Plot Has Believable Consequences:  http://ow.ly/CGCYM  @joanyedwards

10  tips on writing characters with accents: http://ow.ly/CGCYG @RoseLerner

Is Inspired Writing Just a Huge Myth? http://ow.ly/CGCYC @jodyhedlund

10 Tips To Block Creativity http://ow.ly/D29vv @mishy1727

Short Story Tips: 10 Ways to Improve:  http://ow.ly/CGCYA

How to Write Compelling and Balanced Backstory:  http://ow.ly/D1g1b @jenichappelle

Is It Worth Writing? How to Critique Your Story Ideas http://ow.ly/CGBAn @jkbibliophile

How To Create Brand Names and Domain Names That Don’t Suck:  http://ow.ly/CGCYx @jeffbullas

Write your passion —but keep an eye on the market:  http://ow.ly/CGCYJ  @kayedacus

Story Deconstruction: ‘Remember Me?’ by Sophie Kinsella: http://ow.ly/CDMOB @InkyBites

Building A World: Basic Concepts:  http://ow.ly/CDMOA @G_R_Matthews

SF/F in Anime and Manga: Historical and Epic Fantasy:  http://ow.ly/CDMOz @fantasyfaction

How Sensitivity Can Enhance Creativity:  http://ow.ly/CDMOy @psychcentral @DouglasEby

On making a main character an antagonist:  http://ow.ly/CDMOx

Query Pitfall: failure to include pages:  http://ow.ly/CDMOw @Janet_Reid

Launching Multiple Books at Once: Pros & Cons:  http://ow.ly/CDMOu @goblinwriter

Top 7 Mistakes That Make our Writing Look Unprofessional:  http://ow.ly/CDMOs @SarahAllenBooks

9 Simple Tips for Writing Clearer & Cleaner:  http://ow.ly/CDMOo @jchenwriter

Team-Produced Stories: An Author Perspective:  http://ow.ly/CDMOn @jessicagadd

It’s Okay If What We Write Stinks:  http://ow.ly/CDMOt  @kayedacus

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

10 literary canines:  http://ow.ly/CC3Zc @guardianbooks

Query Question: What do you do with multiple offers?  http://ow.ly/CC3Z9 @Janet_Reid

Don’t Do ‘Due Diligence':  http://ow.ly/CC3Z8 @writing_tips

Insurance investigators in crime fiction: http://ow.ly/CC3Z7 @mkinberg

Mystery Writers: Writing a Series http://ow.ly/CC3Z5  @Rhysbowen

Talents and Skills Thesaurus Entry: Blending In:  http://ow.ly/CC3Z2 @beccapuglisi

Why should authors care about Google+?  http://ow.ly/CC3YZ  @jenniferlellis

If you only write once in a while, should you change? http://ow.ly/CC3YY @BWBODRasch

An MFA in Creative Writing–the Good, the Bad, the Ugly:  http://ow.ly/CC3YX @everywriter

9 Dos and Don’ts of Typography:  http://ow.ly/CC3YV @cjgmanlapas

An Agent on Querying a Self-Published Book:  http://ow.ly/CC3YR @susan_adrian

Self-Publishing Checklist: The Random No One Tells You:  http://ow.ly/CC3YQ  @PattyTempleton

Writer’s Block: Creativity as Chameleon:  http://ow.ly/CC3Z4  @kimtriedman

When the singer is also the composer: #MusicForWriters: http://ow.ly/CWZv5  @ThoughtCatalog @Q2Music @Porter_Anderson

Indie Authors: Getting Past The ‘Bookstore Barrier':  http://ow.ly/CUO33 @Porter_Anderson @BarbaraFreethy

Mentioning previous representation in a query:  http://ow.ly/CyKNP @Janet_Reid

Let tech innovators create the tech. Let writers create content: http://ow.ly/CX0fk @camillelaguire @Porter_Anderson #FutureChat

The Craft of Outlining:  http://ow.ly/CyKNL @Sullivan_Kiki

5 Tips How to Write and Sell a Picture Book with a Plot:  http://ow.ly/CyKNH @plotwhisperer

How to publish ebooks:  the beginner’s ultimate guide: http://ow.ly/CyKNR @Roz_Morris

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Using Critical Reviews as Resources

By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Wired’s founding executive editor Kevin Kelly stated that if writers and other artists have “one thousand true fans” then they’re able to sustain a living from their art.

I don’t honestly know how many true fans I have (and I prefer calling them readers instead of fans) but I know I get nearly-daily emails from readers.

And I do know one true ‘fan’.  She is, actually, my number one fan (no Stephen King reference intended).  She is also my number one critic.  Since she doesn’t have a public presence, I won’t call her out by giving her name online.

She started emailing me over a year ago, giving me feedback on various books in various series. She has mentioned reading each of my books numerous times.

I’m almost positive that she knows my characters better than I do.

The emails start off with a list of things she enjoyed about the book and end with things she hadn’t enjoyed or character issues she questioned.  Sometimes she’d mention absent recurring characters or elements that I had used in other books in the series that hadn’t appeared in the most recent book.

I always wrote her back, thanking her for reading my books and for her feedback.  And when I had a new release, I knew she’d be emailing me within the week with a detailed critique.

I’d wait for her feedback with a mixture of anticipation and apprehension.  Because…there was nothing I could do.  The book was published and, aside from small corrections, I wasn’t planning to go back into the document to add scenes or rewrite large portions of the book.  But she always had such good points.

Finally I decided that I was approaching the situation the wrong way. Here was a very perceptive reader who loved my books and had constructive, heartfelt criticism of my work.  Why on earth didn’t I just shoot the book over to her before I published it?  Let her be a beta reader.

I emailed the reader and asked politely if she might be interested in an advance copy of the manuscript.  I said a downside would be that it wouldn’t be formatted for Kindle yet (I know that’s her preferred way to read) and wouldn’t be professionally edited prior to her reading.  I cautioned her that I may not use some or any of her suggestions but that I was very interested in hearing her thoughts.  And I mentioned that she wouldn’t feel she had to spend any additional time reading the material than she usually did.

My experiment worked out really well.  I used roughly 75% of her suggestions to improve and tweak the book.  She was excited to get an advance copy for free and I was excited to get a preview of a critical review.  I sent her a free copy of the finished book and thanked her in the acknowledgments.

There have been recent, widely reported incidents of writers behaving badly in the face of bad or sometimes somewhat unfair reviews.

When I hear these stories, I’m always surprised.  Not because bad reviews don’t sting (they can and do), but because they frequently present an opportunity for the author in terms of reader base research and areas that might require improvement (especially if it’s a chorus of complaints targeting specific story or character elements).

Besides enlisting a reviewer as a beta, I’ve used critical reviews to gauge reader reactions to suspense, humor, character arcs, and other elements of various books.

I think if we look at our worst, constructive reviews as opportunities for improvement, it gives us the necessary distance and objectivity to find the usefulness in the reviews and overcome the sting.

If you’ve received negative reviews (as I have), what’s been your strategy in dealing with them?

Image: MorgueFile: JDurham

 

 

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How to Write Compelling and Balanced Backstory

By Jeni Chappelle, @jenichappelle

Writers often spend hours creating a realistic and compelling backstory for each major character in their novels. After all that hard work, it’s natural to want to include as much of that as you can. But there’s a fine line between clarifying a character’s past and writing too much backstory. Readers don’t usually need to know much of the characters’ history in order to engage with the story. Here are some ways to help you find the right balance.

The Four I’s

First, let’s revisit what makes an engaging backstory. Only include backstory that fits four criteria—I call it The Four I’s.

Important: It’s directly relevant to the plot.
Individual: It reveals something essential about the character.
Interesting: It pulls the reader in with mystery.
Interval: It’s spread out so it doesn’t overwhelm or bore the reader.

So How Do I Work in Backstory?

There are three main ways to include backstory in your novel: dialogue, narrative summary, and flashbacks. In a long work like a novel, it’s important to use more than one technique, or you risk your backstory feeling stale to readers.

Brief summary

A short narrative summary of the event is often best. This can vary from a few words to a couple sentences. It can be simple exposition, or the character can reflect on it internally, depending on the POV.

When to use: most of your backstory will likely be shown through narrative. Focus on the most important aspects of the past event. Only describe the situation enough to give context to the necessary actions and their impact on the character.

Dialogue

Dialogue allows the character to directly relate his experience. This is especially effective for stories where characters need to know the information, like mystery novels.

When to use: the character is relating a previous experience to someone who doesn’t already know about it. If you could insert “as you know…” or “remember when…” in the character’s speech, you may want to reconsider using dialogue.

Flashback

Flashbacks allow you to show your reader the character’s backstory as if it were happening in real time. It’s written just like the rest of the book, only the verb tense changes to indicate that it takes place outside the timeline of the story.

When to use: there’s too much essential information to use dialogue or a summary. Make sure you provide a setting as to when and where it occurs and that it follows a strong scene, since flashbacks by nature don’t have much urgency.

Some other guidelines
Relevant

I said it once, but it’s so important, I’m going to say it again: relevance is key. If it doesn’t directly impact the plot by either consequences of an action, a character’s motivation, or an important facet of two characters’ relationship (such as how they know one another), it likely doesn’t need to be in the story.

Conflict and Action

Tie the backstory to conflict or action in the main timeline of the story.  For example: The POV character reflects on her own childhood after saving a child from a dangerous home.  When Important Side Character #1 is introduced, the protagonist tells his current partner that he used to work with ISC#1 and they never liked each other.

Realistic

Stay true to your characters, plot, and the world you’ve created. If your character is emotionally distant, it’s unlikely she will disclose her life story to a lady in line at Starbucks. A murderer probably won’t tell a detective that he and the victim hated each other.

Short

As a rule, backstory needs to be as short as possible so you can get back to the main timeline of the plot. There are always exceptions to this rule, but most of the time you don’t need whole chapters of backstory. If you find that extensive backstory really is needed for clarity, you may need to reconsider where in the timeline you start the main plot.

Breadcrumbs

I always think of the timing of backstory as breadcrumbs, like Hansel and Gretel (although, now that I think about how that ended up in the fairy tale, maybe that’s not the best analogy). You want to leave little clues throughout the story—just enough that the reader can follow the trail. Give them the sense that there’s more to come, but be careful not to cross the line into confusion.

How to handle in a series

I’m often asked how to handle backstory in a series. These same basic rules apply—keep it short and relevant. But since not everyone will read your books in order, there are two big concerns to watch out for: avoid full flashbacks to events from previous books in the series, and try not to spoil the plots of previous books.

Rule of thumb: When in doubt, cut it out.

If you’re not sure whether you should include a certain backstory or not, try deleting it. If the story flows well without it, it isn’t necessary. One writer I know includes these as “deleted scenes” on her website and shares them on social media. That way her readers can still see them, but they don’t have a negative impact on the readability of her story.

How do you work backstory into your book?

Jeni Chappelle is a freelance editor and writing coach. She lives in an itty-bitty town a few miles from Charlotte, NC with her husband, two kids, and what often feels like a million pets. Her clients have published with Penguin, Simon and Schuster, and St. Martin’s. They have won awards and are National, International, and Amazon Bestsellers. She blogs about the writing process, resources for writers, and other aspects of the writer’s life. Go to www.jenichappelle.com to check out her blog and sign up for a free critique.

Image: MorgueFile: Jessica Gale

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