Riley Adams's Blog, page 223

On Momentum

I do a lot of skimming as I'm looking for blogs to tweet on Twitter.

Sometimes I stop and read the post carefully—and that was the case with a blog post on Work Awesome that I came across the other day.

The article's author, Oleg Mokhov, made a great point about starting the day out with good momentum. He recommends leaving the last task of the day unfinished so that you can quickly pick up where you left off the next day and polish the task off quickly—thus racking up a speedy 'win' to set your day in motion.

He recommends outlining each step needed to complete the task the day before—so there's no ambiguity that could lead to procrastination. He calls that procrastination start paralysis.

I've always used this idea with my writing—I never leave off the day with a scene that I'm not looking forward to writing (a complex scene, a scene with lots of characters, etc.). I try to end my writing time by leaving off at a spot where I'm excited about picking up the next day. Then I sketch out a really quick mini-outline of what I'm planning on writing the following day. This means that I'm eager to pick up my book the next day and don't put it off.

But it seems to me that it would also help my productivity to quickly complete off a non-writing-related task the next day. Some mornings I wake up already feeling deflated, thinking about all the work I have in store for the day. It would probably help my writing out if I completed a task I started the day before—I'd feel encouraged by my progress right at the beginning of the day.

I have a suspicion that one of the things that grabbed me about this article, when I was skimming it, is the Hemingway quotation at the bottom. :)

The best way is always to stop when you are going good and when you know what will happen next. If you do that every day…you will never be stuck.

Hemingway's quotation was parsed by another blog, The Second Act, some time back. They listed the benefits to this method:

You :

Avoid being stuck Keep the momentum going Start your day by the rewarding work of finishing a task Boost your self-confidence and motivation levels before starting the next task End your day on a high note Put your brain to purposeful rest when you stop working Allow you subconscious to work profitably on it = the bigger picture = your goal.

Again, this seems to work just as well with non-writing tasks as much as meeting our daily writing goal.

I like the idea of starting out the day with a win. How do you build momentum at the start of your day? Or are you finding it later on?

Food, Wine and Drink by Stephen Tremp

Never has food and wine been so popular among American culture. Cable and network TV is filled with cooking, wine, and travel shows. Food and drink play very important roles in my books. I think of them as inanimate, yet intimate characters in supporting roles. They have the power to define, distinguish, and differentiate characters. They give characters character and offer cultural insights into who they are.

Example: Six misguided M.I.T. grad students form the group of antagonists, led by Nicholas Fischer Jr. and his girlfriend Staci Bevere. Nicky is a health food nut, Staci, a junk food junkie. Staci's basic food groups consist of refined sugar, processed carbs, and coffee. Nicky won't touch any of the three. Minor conflict is introduced just sitting down to eat together.

Food, beer, and wine make their appearance throughout Breakthrough. I can add coffee and tea to the mix too. There is usually something significant occurring in the plot when characters are eating together.

Visiting Real Restaurants and Ordering Off Menus: if you are using real establishments like I do in your books, take the time to perform your due diligence in research. Not only do I incorporate existing restaurants into my books, I also visit them to eat and drink the same meals my characters. It's a tough job but somebody has to do it.

Example: The protagonists are made up of six southern Californians led by Chase Manhattan and his girlfriend Susan Anderson. They meet at a couple of local hangouts in Laguna Beach, Hennessey's Tavern and the Marine Room Tavern. Hennesey's is where Chase, Susan, and the rest put the pieces of the puzzle together, identify the players from M.I.T., and decide to follow through with a plan to destroy this breakthrough discovery rather than walking away.

There is an advantage to using actual establishments. My book takes place in two setting; metropolitan Boston and Orange County, CA. People who live or vacation in these places may recognize the establishments. There is a sense of familiarity that engages the reader.

Get a Feel for the Ambiance: There are numerous ways to capture the ambience of a restaurant. Eat there. Visit their Web site. I like to read actual customer reviews from the Internet. Set the ambience before the characters enter the establishment. I took this information from Ti Amo's Web site:

"Modeled after an authentic Italian villa, the restaurant featured stone tablet menus, faux and fresco artisan-plastered walls, heavy fabrics, candelabras, and soothing lighting. Chase had made reservations for six thirty p.m.—just enough time to get a good seat by the fireplace upstairs before the restaurant filled to capacity."

Have characters order food and wine right off the menu. Example: Chase paired Farfalle con Pollo Affumicato with sun-dried tomatoes in an oven-roasted tomato brandy cream sauce with a bottle of Tenuta dell'Ornellaia Bolgheri Ornellaia.

After fine dining at Ti Amo, Chase balances out the night with his girlfriend Susan Anderson at a not so great yet very popular Marine Room Tavern for more drinks and live music. Again, set the ambiance before they enter:

"Chase didn't have to spend much time looking for parking in Main Beach since it was still February—off-season for tourists. He found a spot two blocks north from Marine Room Tavern. They walked arm-in-arm to keep warm as the temperature dropped to the mid-sixties. Chase led Susan up to a row of choppers, all Harleys.

"The crowd sounds loud and raucous," Susan said as they approached the bar.

"No worries - fights are rare here. This crowd consists mainly of lawyers, doctors, accountants, and heads of companies. By day they're successful in the business world. But after hours, they're living a dream they'd longed for since they sat on their first motorcycle. Let's go in."

Pairing: You can pair restaurants with characters. If you introduce minor characters at restaurants, have them contribute in some way. Otherwise, you might end up with character clutter. Example: The waiter Antoine at Ti Amo provides Chase the one vital piece of information that helps him identify the players at M.I.T.

Caveat: DO NOT portray a real establishment (or real living person for that matter) in a negative light. We live in a very litigious society and you may be sued. Example: I originally wrote a scene were Nicky and Staci had a lousy meal served by a washed up waitress with a bad attitude at a Denny's. I changed the name to a fictitious Jimmy's Diner to avoid potential conflict.

I use meal time throughout Breakthrough (and Opening and Escalation) to let the characters come together, plot their schemes, attacks, and counter attacks. This is where they discover important things that help them make decisions and move forward. Whether they are eating in their kitchen, a sit down restaurant, or going through In-N-Out drive through, restaurants, food, and wine can help define characters, introduce conflict, and move the story along.

Please join me tomorrow as I visit Karen McGowan at Coming Down From The Mountain as we talk about Marketing and Promotion. As always, thanks for stopping by.

Stephen Tremp is author of the action thriller Breakthrough. You can visit Stephen at Breakthrough Blogs.

Thanks so much for coming by today, Stephen! You know how I love my food and drink in a book. I'm looking forward to reading my copy of Breakthrough.

Technology and Writing

I heard from a few folks regarding the fact that there wasn't a post from me on Saturday. Which is nice because y'all know I always post, every day…unless I say I'm not going to. It's really great to be missed!

But I was planning on posting on Saturday (I'd already loaded the blog post for yesterday, but Saturday's I was planning to upload on Friday evening.) Our family went to the mountains, though, for the weekend. It was gorgeous up there at the cabin—but it wasn't on WiFi. And we had to have actual directions from the owner of the house because the location wasn't on GPS.

Yes, I started having heebie-jeebies because I'm apparently an internet addict. My smart phone had an intermittent connection, but not for very long.

I was a big girl and dealt with it. I ended up playing lots of ping pong and air hockey (poorly) with my husband and kids, sitting by a roaring fire, watching the night sky with a telescope, and hiking. We had a really fun, unplugged time.

It's funny, though, how easy it is to forget that you're not wired. We were heading to South Mountain State Park with our corgi and I said, "Hey, let me check real quick and make sure dogs are allowed." Of course, I went right to my computer—which wasn't online.

Back at home last night for trick or treating, my husband and I were watching the zombie movie Dawn of the Dead. There's a moment where they're at the mall and the cop in the movie communicates with another non-zombie on the roof…with white boards.

It bothered me. Wouldn't you maybe exchange cell phone numbers on the white board and then call or text each other? I know the cell phones go dead after a while, but still. Where were all the cell phones?

It bothered me enough to look up when the movie came out—2004 was the release date. We were definitely all texting and cell phone addicted six years ago. I could see a movie set in the 90s not using cells…but the lack of mobiles in the film really bugged me.

I do use technology to a certain degree in my books, but I've been very reluctant to do it. I felt like social media was still possibly on the trendy side when Pretty is as Pretty Dies came out, but it's going to be mentioned in Finger Lickin' Dead—briefly. Facebook has a slightly more significant role in Memphis book 3 since I've decided that Facebook seems like a pretty solid format.

I've always been really conscious about dating my books. That's because they're at libraries and I don't want someone to pick them up in a few years and roll their eyes over the reference to something that no longer exists (VCRs, etc.) that will date the book.

But now I'm starting to get concerned the other way, too. Won't it date my books more if technology is ignored completely? Hasn't it become such an integral part of our lives that it needs a mention—even in a vague way? So maybe I won't refer to an iphone (the trendiness factor), but I'll definitely refer to a cell phone (generic mention).

If I can go to the top of a mountain and assume, without even thinking about it, that I can get state park information on my laptop or smart phone…then technology has really integrated into everything I do.

I'm going to try to reach a balance where the technology in my books is also integrated—where it doesn't stand out for being outdated and where it doesn't stand out in its absence.

How do you approach technological references in your books?

And please join me tomorrow when Stephen Tremp will be joining me with a post on "Food, Wine, and Drink." Hope you'll pop by. :)

Twitterific

Here are writing links that I've posted to Twitter for the past week.
If you're looking for a particular topic, just plug in your keyword into the search box at the top left-hand corner of the blog (on the black header right above my blog name…next to the Blogger symbol…the small search window is next to the magnifying glass) and the roundup with your subject will come up. To narrow your search down on the page, do a CTRL+F, type your subject, and hit enter.

Happy Halloween!

Did Steampunk Forget The Meaning Of The Word Dickensian? (NPR): http://dld.bz/3XJp

Tips for public speaking: http://dld.bz/3XHW @eveningfades

Myst. Lov. Kitchen: Baking up the famous $250 Neiman Marcus Cookies and Comment to win HOLIDAY GRIND! http://bit.ly/b5zEAg @CleoCoyle

The new face of the MFA (Huff Post): http://dld.bz/3XHB

6 Golden Rules of NaNoWriMo: http://dld.bz/3XH7 @victoriamixon

NaNoWriMo Workshop – Plot: http://dld.bz/3XHt

Words that can weaken and dilute your writing: http://dld.bz/3UgC

The Pros and Cons of NaNoWriMo: http://dld.bz/3UfK

Women in Horror Anthologies: http://dld.bz/3UeU

How to write like a rock star (Daily Beast): http://dld.bz/3Uef

How Writers Can Use Twitter for Networking and Success: http://dld.bz/3UdQ

Understanding Publishing: http://dld.bz/3UdF

Cranking out blog content: http://dld.bz/3UdB

Misconceptions about agents: http://dld.bz/3Udc

Building your tribe before publication: http://dld.bz/3UcT

Don't fall for publishing industry scams: http://dld.bz/3UcM

Are You Marketing Your Book With A Full Deck? http://dld.bz/3Uc6

An agent on dialogue: http://dld.bz/3UbT

POV--the cure for common writing problems: http://dld.bz/3UhE

How to send out requested materials: http://dld.bz/3BNW

On Launching an Online Community and Micropublisher from Scratch: http://dld.bz/3BNR

Avoiding the Slush Pile: http://dld.bz/3BNA

How to speak publisher - A is for Author: http://dld.bz/3BN4

Use the 5 Ds for a Purposeful and Peaceful Holidays (a system that can be applied to prioritizing tasks): http://dld.bz/3BNv

Gift ideas for writers: http://dld.bz/3BNc

Myst. Lov. Kitchen: No-Bake Peanut Butter Pie http://bit.ly/drefz2 @CleoCoyle

Queries, Synopses, Pitches and Other Uneasy Friends, Part 2: http://dld.bz/3BMW

Steampunk Abstractions: On Commodification: http://dld.bz/3BMD

An editor's checklist of 13 things to look for when editing: http://dld.bz/3BMs

Outlines and plotting for novels: http://dld.bz/3BKX

6 Things Your Website Should Tell Book Reviewers About You (and Your Book): http://dld.bz/3BKU

Vividly depicted characters in crime fiction--making even an unknown victim come alive for the reader: http://dld.bz/3BTz @mkinberg

An agent on seeing the words "utterly original" in a query: http://dld.bz/3BK8

Working in 10 minutes of exercise a day to make us better writers: http://dld.bz/389Z

Authorial Voice: the many hued definitions: http://dld.bz/389K

A case of the not-enoughs: http://dld.bz/389h @bluemaven

A genre glossary: http://dld.bz/388K

How Acting Can Help You To Develop Character: http://dld.bz/388C

An agent on--What if there aren't enough agents? What if I don't like the ones that like me? http://dld.bz/388r

Similes, cliché, and added information: http://dld.bz/388e

Travel Writing 101: http://dld.bz/387T

NaNoWriMo Boot Camp: Choosing the Right Idea: http://dld.bz/3876

Let's Make a Deal: An Editor/Agent Mock Negotiation: http://dld.bz/386K

Getting your NaNo on: http://dld.bz/386A

Writer platforms--why we need one and links to help develop one: http://dld.bz/3BPg

Reasons to write for writers not seeking publication: http://dld.bz/386q @jammer0501

Wonder why no one shares your blog content? Try this: http://dld.bz/385Y

Characters: When They Won't Talk To You: http://dld.bz/385n

Myst. Lov. Kitchen: Let's get pickled! http://bit.ly/cXX56l @CleoCoyle

Understanding screenwriting: http://dld.bz/3hgd

Don't assume your reader isn't literally taking you literally: http://dld.bz/3hg2

What to consider before shortening links: http://dld.bz/3kPG

Busting the Top 3 Guest Blogging Myths: http://dld.bz/3kPE

5 Freelance Fears - And How to Conquer Them: http://dld.bz/3kPA

Should You Mention Using Freelance Editors? http://dld.bz/3kP8

Character development – Ken and Barbie vs. The Seven Deadly Sins: http://dld.bz/3kPz

Writing for children and youth--word counts for different age groups: http://dld.bz/3kPv

Teaching Writing for Extra Income: http://dld.bz/3kPh

Ten Tips For Your Favorite Crime Scene Investigator: http://dld.bz/3hfX

Basic author websites: http://dld.bz/3hfH

6 lies everyone knows about writers: http://dld.bz/3hfx

Writing and publishing questions answered: http://dld.bz/3hfa

You thought *your* rejections were tough? http://dld.bz/3hen

Neglected character types in women's fiction: http://dld.bz/3hae

Writing good sex scenes: http://dld.bz/3gZw

How Much Does a Book Change From First Draft to Final Copy? http://dld.bz/3gZe @jodyhedlund

Writing in the nooks and crannies of life: http://dld.bz/3gYZ

Does having 2 creative people in a relationship work? Take an informal poll: http://dld.bz/33KU

An Author's List of Things That Go Bump in the Night: http://dld.bz/3gYK

What makes a character a hero? Some qualities: http://dld.bz/33Ey @camillelaguire

A synopsis template: http://dld.bz/3gYJ

Myst. Lov. Kitchen: Marvelous Meatloaf http://bit.ly/avdOQ2 @CleoCoyle

Is it ever time to self-publish? http://dld.bz/3gYE

Could Online Writing Communities Replace Creative Writing Programs? http://dld.bz/3gYz

The Ultimate Retro Laptop: http://dld.bz/3cQU @JanetRudolph

One writer's agent hunt experience: http://dld.bz/3cNP

A list of unusual tools for writers on the internet: http://dld.bz/3gZJ

Countdown to NaNoWriMo Part 4: Your Outline Will Fail: http://dld.bz/3cKp @PauloCamposInk

Jane Austen would have flunked English? (Baltimore Sun): http://dld.bz/3cHv

Nanowrimo - Make a list: http://dld.bz/3cF3

How a writer (or other creative) can develop multiple sources of revenue: http://dld.bz/3cEj

The Ecosystem of Independent Publishing: http://dld.bz/3cCZ

The No. 1 Component of an Effective Online Marketing and Promotion Strategy: http://dld.bz/3cBE

Writing compelling blog post titles--4 tips: http://dld.bz/3cAv

Reading That Helps Your Writing: http://dld.bz/3c8u

An Appeal to Poetry Editors: http://dld.bz/3c8d

How Live Readings Can Help Your Writing: http://dld.bz/3c7R

How to build a world--otherwise known as research: http://dld.bz/3cwZ

Developing contacts to promote your book (part 2): http://dld.bz/3hw5 @spunkonastick

Use Motion to Spice up Your Scenes: http://dld.bz/3cwj

Edits are *not* revisions: http://dld.bz/3hvv @authorterryo

A glimpse at some publisher-requested revisions: http://dld.bz/3hhc

How to state the obvious – obligatory scenes in Stephen King's The Green Mile: http://dld.bz/3cvR @dirtywhitecandy

The Fine Line between the Writing and the Writer: http://dld.bz/3gYu @paulgreci

Helpful character creation links: http://dld.bz/3cvH

Get It On The Page: http://dld.bz/3cvD

17 Reasons your film script was rejected...in 1925: http://dld.bz/3cvC

Myst. Lov. Kitchen: Welcome Jessica Faust! http://bit.ly/dn37oe @CleoCoyle

Revising Your Book? Check This: http://dld.bz/3cv2

50 Years of Mystery Book Awards in One Place: http://dld.bz/2S6z

The trial of Lady Chatterley's Lover (Guardian): http://dld.bz/2S6p

Best tweets for writers (wk ending 10-22): http://dld.bz/3dj7

The year murder got respectable: http://dld.bz/2S5X

Upcoming Events For YA Writers: http://dld.bz/3cQZ

Why one blogger deleted his Foursquare account: http://dld.bz/2S59

How to Avoid Using PowerPoint in 5 Easy Steps: http://dld.bz/2S52

Passion in Characters: http://dld.bz/2S5n

Writing Slow: http://dld.bz/2S4X

Twitterific--the week in tweets: http://dld.bz/3b49

Quality vs. Quantity: http://dld.bz/2S4S

The Seven Sentence Character Sketch: http://dld.bz/3baU

Writing with a formula (even if you're not a plotter): http://dld.bz/2S4Q

Where We Write: http://dld.bz/2S49

The Writing Fantasy: http://dld.bz/2S47

The Early Reader and Chapter Book Market: http://dld.bz/2S4z

How to Type in Your Own Handwriting on Your Computer: http://dld.bz/2S4q

Get Your Steam on II: New Steampunk Events the World Over: http://dld.bz/2S4n

Permission to Create "Bad" Art: http://dld.bz/2S4k

Ten of the best balls in literature (Guardian): http://dld.bz/2S3M

The Hay Festival: The literary institution to save the planet (Telegraph): http://dld.bz/2S34

Artfully recovering creativity: http://dld.bz/2S3w

Myst. Lov. Kitchen: CHIEF BAKER PAUL YATES with a LEMON CHESS PIE! http://bit.ly/bb8eRD @CleoCoyle

How to Get Boys to Read: http://dld.bz/2S2v

The Double-Edged Sword of Creative Community: http://dld.bz/2Ssu

When Every Word Is a Struggle (take 2): http://dld.bz/2S2s

Written for freelancers, but works for novelists, too: Keep Readers Hooked Past the First Paragraph: http://dld.bz/2S2m

Casting Characters

Last Sunday, my husband and I took my daughter to church (our son was camping.)

Our church has a children's moment worked into the service—a time for all the elementary-aged kids to come forward and listen to a homily by the youth pastor. The homily is usually themed, very short, and with a clear message.

Sunday's lesson? I can't remember exactly what it was. That's because the youth minister asked the children what they were going to be for Halloween (as a sort of warm-up question), and my daughter loudly proclaimed she was going to be the devil.

It is true that she's going to be a (cute) devil for Halloween. If I'd known the minister was going to ask such a question, though, I probably would have advised her not to pipe up that she was going to be Satan.

But then, this is a Presbyterian church (and a very laid-back one, at that) and the congregation burst out laughing both at what she said, where she said it, and the youth pastor's Art Linkletter expression as he looked out at the crowd. My daughter, of course, was totally baffled at the reaction, not really seeing the good vs. evil implication. She just liked the costume.

Still...the devil wasn't really the right casting for the minister's homily.

It got me thinking about my own character casting. Because I do it, almost without thinking about what I'm doing.

If there's not enough conflict, I add a character that grates on people's nerves (and might end up being an additional victim.)

If the book seems too serious, I'll cast a funny character to bring some humor in.

But sometimes I miscast, too. I'll put a character in who is too strong of a character and he or she steals the spotlight too many times. I'll have to change the character or tone him down. Sometimes a character just changes the whole dynamics of the story (like the devil in the pastor's homily.) Then I completely jettison the character, if it doesn't work out.

Because the protagonist can't do it all. They can't carry the whole book and all its elements. Well, I guess they can, but it's difficult. Much easier to have a cast of characters to support the protagonist or trip him up. As long as they've been well-cast.

Have you ever had to rein a character in or pull one out completely because of miscasting? Or added a new character to the cast because something was lacking?

POV: The Cure for the Common Problem—by Janice Hardy

I'm a firm believer that understanding point of view (POV) can cure most common writing problems. It's such a versatile tool that does more than just help us pick which pronoun to use. It allows us to put ourselves in someone else's head, empathize with them, see the world through their eyes even if that world is very different from our own. It's what lets us be storytellers and not just someone who plops details on a page in a logical order.

Here are five common trouble spots and how POV can help fix them.

Telling, Not Showing

This is the biggie, and a problem every writer has likely faced at some point. One reason why is that when we tell, we're explaining what is going on from our author perspective. We describe what we see as if we're watching a play, because often we see our stories unfold in our heads like one. But try applying a solid POV to this problem. Look out through the eyes of your character and think about what they see and most importantly, how they feel about it. Forget what you as the author knows. What do they see? How does that fit into their life and their problem at that moment? Because when someone is running for their lives, they don't bother to notice what the drapes look like. A solid POV can help keep you from telling what's there and focused on what matters.

Backstory

If we're telling someone else's story, we tend to slip in extra information because the listener doesn't know the person we're talking about. But when we're telling our own story, we usually only tell the details that are relevant to what we're saying, because we already know the other stuff and know the person we're talking to does as well. POV and backstory work in the same way. If you're looking at a newly created room or character, you're going to want to explain everything to catch the reader up. But think about that character as if you were her. Would you really think about your past out of the blue? Or bring up painful topics you're trying hard to avoid? Unless something happened to trigger that memory, you're more likely to go about your day doing what you do. If you stay inside the POV's head, you'll be able to see life as they do and know what's relevant to that scene.

Weak Goals or Motivations

POV is all about motivations, because it's how a character sees and feels about the world. Understanding how they feel or where they're at emotionally in a scene will determine how they respond to the situation. Someone who's terrified will react very differently from someone who is angry. They're motivated by different things. They're after different goals. So if a character is just acting out plot, get inside their head and think about what you'd do if you were them and why.

Low Stakes

Just like POV can help with goals, it can also help you understand what that character has at stake. It forces you to become that person, if only for a little while, and lets you ask why they're risking their lives or family, or whatever it is that fits the plot. A lot of what we ask our characters to do, no sane person would comply with. They'd run for the nearest exit. So why is this person willing to act? What about them is making them choose this path? If you can't find a reason for them to care, then you know where to start looking to raise those stakes. Find something about them that they do care about. To do that, get in their heads.

Voice

Voice is one of those things that's hard to explain, but we know it when we hear it. For me, voice comes from the judgment of the character, and to get that judgment, you need a strong POV. Who that character is determines what they sound like. If all you're doing is relating facts about a scene or story, it can sound flat, even empty. But if the scene is described how the character sees it and feels about it, it comes to life. There's a soul behind the words. A personality. A point of view coloring every word.

I've found that point of view has its fingers in pretty much every aspect of writing. We can do all the characterization and study sheets and interviews we want, but until we put ourselves in that character's head and show the world through their eyes, very little of that work can really shine.

Stories are about people. And point of view lets us be those people.

***********************

Janice Hardy Bio

A long-time fantasy reader, Janice Hardy always wondered about the darker side of healing. For her fantasy trilogy THE HEALING WARS, she tapped into her own dark side to create a world where healing was dangerous, and those with the best intentions often made the worst choices. Her books include THE SHIFTER, and BLUE FIRE from Balzer+Bray/Harper Collins. She lives in Georgia with her husband, three cats and one very nervous freshwater eel.

You can find Janice at her blog: The Other Side of the Story

Blue Fire Blurb

Part fugitive, part hero, fifteen-year-old Nya is barely staying ahead of the Duke of Baseer's trackers. Wanted for a crime she didn't mean to commit, she risks capture to protect every Taker she can find, determined to prevent the Duke from using them in his fiendish experiments. But resolve isn't enough to protect any of them, and Nya soon realizes that the only way to keep them all out of the Duke's clutches is to flee Geveg. Unfortunately, the Duke's best tracker has other ideas.

Nya finds herself trapped in the last place she ever wanted to be, forced to trust the last people she ever thought she could. More is at stake than just the people of Geveg, and the closer she gets to uncovering the Duke's plan, the more she discovers how critical she is to his victory. To save Geveg, she just might have to save Baseer—if she doesn't destroy it first.

***************************

Platforms—Standing Out from the Crowd

Selling is usually not the favorite thing for writers to do. Writers like to write.

But, as we all know, selling is a big part of the job now in 21st century publishing.

What is new about selling is the indirect approach, or building a social media platform.

The basic idea, as I see it, of platforms, is to have a large enough social media presence so when a new release comes out, you're able to promote it in a way that can impact sales. For pre-published writers, a platform gives industry professionals some insight into how much influence you have in the media…and how that might impact sales when they sign you as a writer.

It's more than that, though, which is where some writers get off-track. They toot their own horn too much—and everyone will just tune that out.

The idea is to develop friendships, network, and provide something of value to the community. And then, to use that platform as a way to promote—indirectly and without overdoing it.

You'd think that once you get published that things would get easier---but there are just so many books out there. I walked into both Borders and Barnes and Noble (no independent stores are near me) yesterday and the number of books on their shelves was amazing. I made sure mine were in stock (they were) and signed…but what makes mine stand out from the probably 150-200 other cozy mysteries on the shelves near it?

Nothing—unless the reader happens to be someone who might have heard of me or seen me on Facebook or Twitter or on my blog or around the blogosphere as I guest post. The book covers or my name might seem a little familiar.

Really, though, that's still statistically not likely. But it's more likely that when I have a release, I might get some clicks online to a website to buy my book—from people in my online circles.

This sales approach is really indirect. REALLY indirect. But I did nearly earn out my advance…before the book even released, just on preorders. And who knew about this book? Mostly people I knew online. Besides, of course, the folks who order every cozy mystery that comes out each month (bless them!)

The latest issue of Mystery Scene magazine has a really generous review of Delicious and Suspicious in it. But it did tickle me when they wrote: "Riley Adams—the pseudonym of veteran author Elizabeth Spann Craig…" It made me sound grizzled! And I haven't been around nearly as long as a lot of writers—but I think the difference is that I've been around online enough to give that impression.

So, summing up? Building platforms--I'm afraid we have to do it. But there are ways to do it where we're not in people's faces all the time or blasting out promo stuff so that potential readers unfollow and unfriend us. And best of all? It does seem to work…both for sales and for networking with folks in the industry.

This is a pretty big area right now, so I thought I'd link to a few helpful articles if anyone wants to look into this a little farther:

How To Discover and Build Your Author Brand
What Platform Means for Writers
Building Your Author Platform
Your Author Platform – Branding

What kinds of things are you doing to get your name or your book's name out there?

Creatives Together?

My daughter and I went to a Halloween party on Saturday night. Well, it was both a Halloween party and a premiere…the dad of my daughter's friend had an official premiere of his band.

He's an interesting guy—he has a huge record collection (vinyls— in floor to ceiling shelves), and just lives for music.

During the day he has a day job selling chemicals. The music really keeps him going.

His wife is a middle school assistant principal and is very matter-of-fact and serious.

I walked up to his wife at the party and raved over their house. It was full of antique music players and old radios and stereos—and books! Books everywhere. He also had a music room for all the LPs and his huge collection of 60s and 70s kitsch and toys that were on a shelf that ran along the ceiling. There were collections of different objects in different rooms. I pulled out my phone and started taking pictures. I was very impressed.

His wife said, "I get so overwhelmed in that room! I'm there for a few minutes and it drives me a little crazy so I have to go to a quieter room." She paused for a few minutes and said, "Really, I'm kind of boring, compared to my husband."

I said, "But I think if there were two people who were that creative in the same place, then they'd end up wanting to kill each other. Opposites work better." I was thinking about my own daydreaminess and the way I'm easily distracted—and my husband who is nothing if not grounded. He's very set in the here-and-now and helps rein me in from some of my flights of fancy. It works out well.

On the other hand, I do personally know a couple of husband and wife writing teams. And they work together really, really well. Although—I think they still have personalities that are very different from each other. Maybe that's the aspect that makes it work.

I think back to all the creative unions in the past that didn't go so well—the Sylvia Plaths and Ted Hughes of the world, or the Liz Taylors and Richard Burtons. Now there were other problems at work in those relationships, too, of course.

So I thought I'd take a little informal poll among those who'd like to participate. How many of you creative types are married to fellow artists? And how is that working for you? Or are you married to a non-creative. If you are, do they "get" what you're doing? If they don't "get" it, do they at least respect your reasons for writing?

Publisher-Requested Edits and Revisions

My second book in the Memphis Barbeque series, Finger Lickin' Dead, will launch June 2011. Last week I got the copy edited version of the manuscript—with items for me to clarify and corrections for me to make.

I was very happy to see that there weren't really many edits or revisions to make. But I couldn't feel smug about it—because it's not like I always write clean copy. You'd think that it would be more of a linear thing—that the more books I write, the cleaner the copy gets. That's sometimes true…and sometimes not.

But, despite the light load, there were my usual problem-areas to address. Editors are worth their weight in gold.

There were a couple of mind-boggling mistakes on my part that made me grit my teeth and get completely irritated with myself…and wonder if I'd had a small stroke in between the problem sentences. The cook is grating cheese and then is abruptly chopping onions? In the same sentence, practically? Really, Elizabeth!

The way that Berkley works is that even when these really, really stupid errors come up, they ask what I'd like to do. So on track changes, there was a comment in the margin—a polite "Would you rather have this be cheese? Or onions?" They don't automatically pick one for you—you rewrite the problem area.

So, a few times where I guess the phone had rung when I was writing (or I temporarily lost my mind), and I made inconsistent statements, continuity errors, etc.

Now, of course, typos or style mistakes get automatically corrected. But not continuity or timeline errors.

A couple of the mistakes were much more subtle. There's a can of beans that plays a (small) role in the book. It started out as baked beans. Then fifty pages went by and I referred to them as pork and beans. Then another one hundred pages went by and they were baked beans again. Continuity errors—got to love them.

This happened because I was writing the book pretty much straight-through—and I'd thought I'd written pork and beans, as I was busily working on the scene. I'd gone off of memory instead of checking the reference earlier in the manuscript.

I didn't catch the error. My first reader didn't catch it and my agent didn't catch it. Thank goodness for the copyeditor. I went back and fixed all the references, thanking the editor in my head again.

Most of the errors were mistakes like that. They were easily fixed.

There were a couple of timeline errors that were also easily fixed—where I'd said that something was going to happen in a particular frame of time, but then—if you counted up all the days when I said "the next day" or "the next morning" or "two days later," then the event hadn't happened in that timeframe.

This is also a fairly common error of mine. It helps to keep a spreadsheet of the days. It can get complicated when lots of events happen during a novel.

Luckily for me, there was only one error where I went, "Oh hell."

It was a timeline error and it was a fairly big one. It was going to cause me some rewriting.

I did what I usually do when I face a bigger revision—I slept on it.

The next day I made a list of all the possibilities I could think of to write myself out of the hole. And found the solution to the problem in my list.

What kinds of revision problems and edits do you usually run into? And how do you resolve them?

Publisher-Requested Revisions

My second book in the Memphis Barbeque series, Finger Lickin' Dead, will launch June 2011. Last week I got the copy edited version of the manuscript—with items for me to clarify and corrections for me to make.

I was very happy to see that there weren't really many revisions to make. But I couldn't feel smug about it—because it's not like I always write clean copy. You'd think that it would be more of a linear thing—that the more books I write, the cleaner the copy gets. That's sometimes true…and sometimes not.

But, despite the light load, there were my usual problem-areas to address. Editors are worth their weight in gold.

There were a couple of mind-boggling mistakes on my part that made me grit my teeth and get completely irritated with myself…and wonder if I'd had a small stroke in between the problem sentences. The cook is grating cheese and then is abruptly chopping onions? In the same sentence, practically? Really, Elizabeth!

The way that Berkley works is that even when these really, really stupid errors come up, they ask what I'd like to do. So on track changes, there was a comment in the margin—a polite "Would you rather have this be cheese? Or onions?" They don't automatically pick one for you—you rewrite the problem area.

So, a few times where I guess the phone had rung when I was writing (or I temporarily lost my mind), and I made inconsistent statements, continuity errors, etc.

Now, of course, typos or style mistakes get automatically corrected. But not continuity or timeline errors.

A couple of the mistakes were much more subtle. There's a can of beans that plays a (small) role in the book. It started out as baked beans. Then fifty pages went by and I referred to them as pork and beans. Then another one hundred pages went by and they were baked beans again. Continuity errors—got to love them.

This happened because I was writing the book pretty much straight-through—and I'd thought I'd written pork and beans, as I was busily working on the scene. I'd gone off of memory instead of checking the reference earlier in the manuscript.

I didn't catch the error. My first reader didn't catch it and my agent didn't catch it. Thank goodness for the copyeditor. I went back and fixed all the references, thanking the editor in my head again.

Most of the errors were mistakes like that. They were easily fixed.

There were a couple of timeline errors that were also easily fixed—where I'd said that something was going to happen in a particular frame of time, but then—if you counted up all the days when I said "the next day" or "the next morning" or "two days later," then the event hadn't happened in that timeframe.

This is also a fairly common error of mine. It helps to keep a spreadsheet of the days. It can get complicated when lots of events happen during a novel.

Luckily for me, there was only one error where I went, "Oh hell."

It was a timeline error and it was a fairly big one. It was going to cause me some rewriting.

I did what I usually do when I face a bigger revision—I slept on it.

The next day I made a list of all the possibilities I could think of to write myself out of the hole. And found the solution to the problem in my list.

What kinds of revision problems do you usually run into? And how do you resolve them?