Lee Rene's Blog, page 7
February 21, 2016
A discussion of the Narrative
A valuable discussion on writing the narrative from romance writer, Maris Soule
Narrative is basically anything that’s not dialogue, which means it includes dialogue tags and action tags. Whereas grammar rules can be ignored, if desired, when writing dialogue, those rules should be followed with narrative. If you’re not sure about the rules, there are books (Shrunk & White’s Elements of Style; Lynne Truss’s Eats, Shoots & Leaves, and the back pages of Webster’s Dictionary for a few) as well as on-line sites (Grammarly Handbook, Grammar Book/English Rules, and more) that will give the basic rules of punctuation, capitalization, and sentence structure.
The first decision one makes when writing narrative is which tense to use: past or present. Whichever you decide to use, the important part is be consistent. If you switch from present to past, it must appear planned, not accidental. Check your work carefully when you are doing your final edits to make sure you haven’t switched without realizing it.
Writers of contemporary novels attempt to make readers feel as though they are right there with the point-of-view character. The readers should feel as if they are in the character’s head, seeing and hearing what the character sees and hears, and cognizant of the character’s thoughts. To achieve this, the narrative should be written as that character would think. That means if your character is poorly educated, prone to swearing, and hardened to life, she isn’t going to think: I rationalized the gentleman was proposing a rendezvous. Instead, your character would be more apt to think: Damn, the guy wants a date.
But if your character was born in an earlier century and had been properly educated, the first possibility might be in character.
By using words and examples in the narrative that reflect a character’s beliefs (possibly religious beliefs), education, job, area of residence or where he grew up, and status (or class) the writer helps develop the character as a real person in the reader’s mind. Using words or thoughts that don’t reflect the character’s background can destroy the reality the writer is trying to create.
Style of writing is also important to keep in mind for narrative.
Readers of literary novels want evocative, well crafted sentences. The words and rhythm of the writing can be as compelling as the story itself. Long, descriptive paragraphs of narrative are welcomed and expected.
Writers for children and young adults must remember to keep the words and sentences appropriate for the age; however that doesn’t mean the writer needs to dumb the writing down or write short books. J.K. Rowlings certainly proved that with her Harry Potter series. But the story and the characters in YA books are far more important than long passages of description.
Commercial fiction (genre books) tend to use shorter paragraphs and sentences than literary fiction. Those books have more dialogue and more white space on the page. They start out with a hook, an event that draws the reader in. The aim is to hold the readers’ attention from the first page to the end, what happens to the character(s) is more important than the beauty of the language.
Occasionally a literary novel will also become popular fiction. Generally there’s something about the plot that catches the interest of the masses. And genre novels aren’t all beach reads. There are many that could and should be considered literary novels, in spite of their financial success. No one size fits all.
Narrative is basically anything that’s not dialogue, which means it includes dialogue tags and action tags. Whereas grammar rules can be ignored, if desired, when writing dialogue, those rules should be followed with narrative. If you’re not sure about the rules, there are books (Shrunk & White’s Elements of Style; Lynne Truss’s Eats, Shoots & Leaves, and the back pages of Webster’s Dictionary for a few) as well as on-line sites (Grammarly Handbook, Grammar Book/English Rules, and more) that will give the basic rules of punctuation, capitalization, and sentence structure.The first decision one makes when writing narrative is which tense to use: past or present. Whichever you decide to use, the important part is be consistent. If you switch from present to past, it must appear planned, not accidental. Check your work carefully when you are doing your final edits to make sure you haven’t switched without realizing it.
Writers of contemporary novels attempt to make readers feel as though they are right there with the point-of-view character. The readers should feel as if they are in the character’s head, seeing and hearing what the character sees and hears, and cognizant of the character’s thoughts. To achieve this, the narrative should be written as that character would think. That means if your character is poorly educated, prone to swearing, and hardened to life, she isn’t going to think: I rationalized the gentleman was proposing a rendezvous. Instead, your character would be more apt to think: Damn, the guy wants a date.
But if your character was born in an earlier century and had been properly educated, the first possibility might be in character.
By using words and examples in the narrative that reflect a character’s beliefs (possibly religious beliefs), education, job, area of residence or where he grew up, and status (or class) the writer helps develop the character as a real person in the reader’s mind. Using words or thoughts that don’t reflect the character’s background can destroy the reality the writer is trying to create.
Style of writing is also important to keep in mind for narrative.
Readers of literary novels want evocative, well crafted sentences. The words and rhythm of the writing can be as compelling as the story itself. Long, descriptive paragraphs of narrative are welcomed and expected.
Writers for children and young adults must remember to keep the words and sentences appropriate for the age; however that doesn’t mean the writer needs to dumb the writing down or write short books. J.K. Rowlings certainly proved that with her Harry Potter series. But the story and the characters in YA books are far more important than long passages of description.
Commercial fiction (genre books) tend to use shorter paragraphs and sentences than literary fiction. Those books have more dialogue and more white space on the page. They start out with a hook, an event that draws the reader in. The aim is to hold the readers’ attention from the first page to the end, what happens to the character(s) is more important than the beauty of the language.
Occasionally a literary novel will also become popular fiction. Generally there’s something about the plot that catches the interest of the masses. And genre novels aren’t all beach reads. There are many that could and should be considered literary novels, in spite of their financial success. No one size fits all.
February 18, 2016
Keep it Simple: Keys to Realistic Dialogue
Writer Eleanore D. Trupkiewicz discusses dialogue with an impassioned plea: stick to said. I wholeheartedly agree! I read a popular novel that used every attribution except said. It drove me nuts and almost forced me to abandon the book.
First, dialogue isn’t usually the place to use complete sentences because most people in everyday conversations speak in phrases and single words. Second, effective dialogue takes correct punctuation so the reader doesn’t get yanked out of the story by a poorly punctuated exchange.
Remember, the goal in writing fiction is to keep the reader engaged in the story. But don’t give up on writing to spend the rest of your life doing something easier, like finding the Holy Grail, just yet. There’s one more key aspect that makes dialogue effective for fiction writers.
Problem: The Great He Said/She Opined Debate
In Part I, I mentioned learning from my grade school English teacher about complete sentences. Another subject she covered in that class was the importance of using synonyms and avoiding repetition. To this day, that discussion drives me absolutely crazy.
Thousands of budding writers all over the world heard those words and deduced that they would be penalized if they repeated the word said in any work of fiction. They dutifully found thesauruses and started looking up other words to use.
I’d like to submit that thousands of budding writers have been misled. Here’s my take:
Stop!
Do not touch your thesaurus to find another word that means said.
The attribution "said" is fine. In fact, when readers are skimming along through a novel at warp speed, the word said is just like a punctuation mark—it doesn’t even register in readers’ minds (unless used incorrectly, and it would be hard to do that). If you draw attention to the mechanics of your story with dialogue like this, you’re guaranteed to lose your reader in total frustration:
“Luke,” she opined, “I need you.”
“Raina,” he implored, “I know you think you do, but—”
“No!” she wailed. “Please!”
Luke shouted, “You don’t know what you’re talking about!”
“You’re being so mean to me,” Raina wept.
With an exchange like that one, you might as well run screaming out of the book straight at the reader, waving a neon sign that says: HEY, DON’T FORGET THAT THIS IS ONLY A WORK OF FICTION AND THESE CHARACTERS AREN’T REAL!!!
Why would you nail yourself into your own proverbial coffin like that?
Here’s my advice. Don’t reach for the thesaurus this time. Leave it right where it is on your shelf. You might never need it again.
Instead, if you need an attribution, use said. If you must use something different for the occasional question, you could throw in “asked” for variety, but not too often.
An even better way to use attributions in dialogue is to use a beat of action instead, like this:
“I just don’t know anymore.” Mary folded her arms. “I think I’m afraid of you.”
Harry sighed. “I’m sorry.” He shook his head. “I’m not very good at this.”
That way, you know who’s talking, and you’ve even worked action and character traits into the conversation. It makes for a seamless read.
Two final thoughts:
First, dialogue cannot be smiled, laughed, giggled, or sighed. Therefore, this example is incorrect:
“Don’t tickle me!” she giggled.
You can’t giggle spoken words. You can’t laugh them or sigh them or smile them, either. (I dare you to try it. If it works for you, write me and let me know. We could be on to something.)
Of course, if you’re using said exclusively, then that won’t be a problem.
Second, let’s talk adverbs. If a writer can be convinced to use said instead of other synonyms, then he or she becomes really tempted to reach for an adverb to tell how the character said something, like this:
“I don’t want to see you again,” Lily said tonelessly.
“You don’t mean that,” Jack said desperately.
“You’re an idiot,” Lily said angrily.
The problem with using adverbs is that they’re always telling to your reader. (Remember that old maxim, “Show, don’t tell”?)
An occasional adverb won’t kill your work, but adverbs all over the place mean weak writing, or that you don’t trust your dialogue to stand without a qualifier. It’s like you’re stopping the movie (the story playing through the reader’s mind) for a second to say, “Oh, but wait, you need to know that Lily said that last phrase angrily. That’s important. Okay, roll tape.”
Why rely on a telling adverb when you could find a better way to show the reader what’s going on in the scene or inside the characters? Try something like this:
Lily turned away and crossed her arms. “I don’t want to see you again.”
“You don’t mean that.” Jack pushed to his feet in a rush.
She glared at him. “You’re an idiot.”
Beats of action reveal character emotions and set the stage far more effectively than an overdose of adverbs ever will.
Conclusion
While a challenge to write, dialogue doesn’t have to be something you dread every time you sit down to your work-in-progress (or WIP). The most effective dialogue is the conversations that readers can imagine your characters speaking, without all the clutter and distractions of synonymous attributions, overused adverbs, and incorrect punctuation.
When in doubt, cut and paste only the dialogue out of your WIP and create one script for each character. Then invite some friends (ones who don’t already think you’re crazy because you walk around mumbling to yourself about your WIP, if you still have any of those) over for dessert or appetizers sometime. Hand out the scripts, assign each person a part, and then sit back and listen. Was a line of dialogue so complicated it made the reader stumble? Do you hear places where the conversation sounds stilted and too formal, or where it sounds too informal for the scene? Does an exchange sound sappy when spoken aloud? Are there words you can cut out to tighten the flow?
And don’t give up your writing to search for the Holy Grail. While the search would be less frustrating sometimes, writing dialogue no longer has to look demonic to you. You know what to do!
Eleanore D. Trupkiewicz is an author, poet, blogger, book reviewer, and freelance editor and proofreader. She writes full-length thrillers as well as short stories, flash fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction. Her blogs are Engraved: All About Writing (http://eleanoretrupkiewicz.blogspot.com) and Daily Poetry Prompts (http://dailypoetryprompts.blogspot.com). You can find her on one of her websites at www.eleanoretrupkiewicz.com or Refiner’s Fire Editing (www.refinersfireediting.com). Follow her on Twitter: @ETrupkiewicz. She lives and writes in Colorado with cats, chocolate, and assorted houseplants in various stages of demise.
First, dialogue isn’t usually the place to use complete sentences because most people in everyday conversations speak in phrases and single words. Second, effective dialogue takes correct punctuation so the reader doesn’t get yanked out of the story by a poorly punctuated exchange.
Remember, the goal in writing fiction is to keep the reader engaged in the story. But don’t give up on writing to spend the rest of your life doing something easier, like finding the Holy Grail, just yet. There’s one more key aspect that makes dialogue effective for fiction writers.
Problem: The Great He Said/She Opined Debate
In Part I, I mentioned learning from my grade school English teacher about complete sentences. Another subject she covered in that class was the importance of using synonyms and avoiding repetition. To this day, that discussion drives me absolutely crazy.
Thousands of budding writers all over the world heard those words and deduced that they would be penalized if they repeated the word said in any work of fiction. They dutifully found thesauruses and started looking up other words to use.
I’d like to submit that thousands of budding writers have been misled. Here’s my take:
Stop!
Do not touch your thesaurus to find another word that means said.
The attribution "said" is fine. In fact, when readers are skimming along through a novel at warp speed, the word said is just like a punctuation mark—it doesn’t even register in readers’ minds (unless used incorrectly, and it would be hard to do that). If you draw attention to the mechanics of your story with dialogue like this, you’re guaranteed to lose your reader in total frustration:
“Luke,” she opined, “I need you.”
“Raina,” he implored, “I know you think you do, but—”
“No!” she wailed. “Please!”
Luke shouted, “You don’t know what you’re talking about!”
“You’re being so mean to me,” Raina wept.
With an exchange like that one, you might as well run screaming out of the book straight at the reader, waving a neon sign that says: HEY, DON’T FORGET THAT THIS IS ONLY A WORK OF FICTION AND THESE CHARACTERS AREN’T REAL!!!
Why would you nail yourself into your own proverbial coffin like that?
Here’s my advice. Don’t reach for the thesaurus this time. Leave it right where it is on your shelf. You might never need it again.
Instead, if you need an attribution, use said. If you must use something different for the occasional question, you could throw in “asked” for variety, but not too often.
An even better way to use attributions in dialogue is to use a beat of action instead, like this:
“I just don’t know anymore.” Mary folded her arms. “I think I’m afraid of you.”
Harry sighed. “I’m sorry.” He shook his head. “I’m not very good at this.”
That way, you know who’s talking, and you’ve even worked action and character traits into the conversation. It makes for a seamless read.
Two final thoughts:
First, dialogue cannot be smiled, laughed, giggled, or sighed. Therefore, this example is incorrect:
“Don’t tickle me!” she giggled.
You can’t giggle spoken words. You can’t laugh them or sigh them or smile them, either. (I dare you to try it. If it works for you, write me and let me know. We could be on to something.)
Of course, if you’re using said exclusively, then that won’t be a problem.
Second, let’s talk adverbs. If a writer can be convinced to use said instead of other synonyms, then he or she becomes really tempted to reach for an adverb to tell how the character said something, like this:
“I don’t want to see you again,” Lily said tonelessly.
“You don’t mean that,” Jack said desperately.
“You’re an idiot,” Lily said angrily.
The problem with using adverbs is that they’re always telling to your reader. (Remember that old maxim, “Show, don’t tell”?)
An occasional adverb won’t kill your work, but adverbs all over the place mean weak writing, or that you don’t trust your dialogue to stand without a qualifier. It’s like you’re stopping the movie (the story playing through the reader’s mind) for a second to say, “Oh, but wait, you need to know that Lily said that last phrase angrily. That’s important. Okay, roll tape.”
Why rely on a telling adverb when you could find a better way to show the reader what’s going on in the scene or inside the characters? Try something like this:
Lily turned away and crossed her arms. “I don’t want to see you again.”
“You don’t mean that.” Jack pushed to his feet in a rush.
She glared at him. “You’re an idiot.”
Beats of action reveal character emotions and set the stage far more effectively than an overdose of adverbs ever will.
Conclusion
While a challenge to write, dialogue doesn’t have to be something you dread every time you sit down to your work-in-progress (or WIP). The most effective dialogue is the conversations that readers can imagine your characters speaking, without all the clutter and distractions of synonymous attributions, overused adverbs, and incorrect punctuation.
When in doubt, cut and paste only the dialogue out of your WIP and create one script for each character. Then invite some friends (ones who don’t already think you’re crazy because you walk around mumbling to yourself about your WIP, if you still have any of those) over for dessert or appetizers sometime. Hand out the scripts, assign each person a part, and then sit back and listen. Was a line of dialogue so complicated it made the reader stumble? Do you hear places where the conversation sounds stilted and too formal, or where it sounds too informal for the scene? Does an exchange sound sappy when spoken aloud? Are there words you can cut out to tighten the flow?
And don’t give up your writing to search for the Holy Grail. While the search would be less frustrating sometimes, writing dialogue no longer has to look demonic to you. You know what to do!
Eleanore D. Trupkiewicz is an author, poet, blogger, book reviewer, and freelance editor and proofreader. She writes full-length thrillers as well as short stories, flash fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction. Her blogs are Engraved: All About Writing (http://eleanoretrupkiewicz.blogspot.com) and Daily Poetry Prompts (http://dailypoetryprompts.blogspot.com). You can find her on one of her websites at www.eleanoretrupkiewicz.com or Refiner’s Fire Editing (www.refinersfireediting.com). Follow her on Twitter: @ETrupkiewicz. She lives and writes in Colorado with cats, chocolate, and assorted houseplants in various stages of demise.
6 Secrets to Better Characters
Writer Ellen T. McKnight shares her suggestions for writing more complete characters.Unlike personality, state of mind is constantly changing. But that doesn’t happen in a vacuum, not for people and not for characters. How we feel in any given instance is a complex interaction of who we are, what we face, and what we carry with us: our recent experiences, our relevant past, our concerns, our hopes and our fears. Progressing and expressing state of mind is critical to generating tension in fiction, as well as to forging an emotional connection with readers. However, simply stating how a character feels invites incredulity, and dumping a load of back story can undermine the forward action of a piece. Writers must look for more artful ways to convey what their characters carry.
1. Triggers for Memory
If your character was previously traumatized in a way that has significance for the present story, he or she will need to share those difficult memories, but only as they press upon the character’s mind. Relevance is key to maintaining tension. Events in the present, even images or smells, can be used to trigger a vivid recollection of the past. Such memories are best shared in scene, so that readers can experience them along with the character.
The Hundred Secret Senses by Amy Tan is a good example of how even extensive secrets of the past can be revealed in ways that enhance rather than dissipate tension.2. Wear the Scars
A character who was raped should act like someone who was raped, even if the readers don’t know it. Same with other wounds, both psychic and real.
Ernest Hemingway was a great believer in leaving his characters’ past in the past, but they wear their scars in how they behave.
In The Sun Also Rises, Jake has clearly been injured in the war, but we don’t know much more than that; still, we ache when we see him and Lady Brett unable to consummate their love and overpowering attraction. His stoicism makes it impossible for him as a character to share more or even complain, but that only makes us as readers all the more empathetic.3. Invest the Past in the Present
In The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt, the loss of the main character’s mother at the beginning is tied up with his clinging to the painting of a goldfinch. When he laboriously wraps it in duct tape in a sad attempt to protect it, we’re reminded of the bombing that almost destroyed it and took his mother away. The trauma in the earlier part of the book has been invested in something that’s part of the real-time story, so that the reader carries it forward along with the character.4. Objective Correlatives
Objective correlative is a fancy term for saying that perceptions are colored by feelings. If your point-of-view character is angry, the furniture looks hard, the food tastes bad, and the weather seems bleak. If it happens to be raining, all the better; if it happens to be sunny, then it’s painfully bright. This holds true whether you’re writing in first person or close third: we see everything, even solid objects, through the filter of the character’s state of mind. Your choice of telling details also comes into this – what you include should be guided by what would be most revealing of the character at that moment.
5. Figurative Language
Imagery and metaphor can reflect a character’s state of mind and keep it present for readers going forward. Figurative language can even amplify and deepen a character’s concerns.
In Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann, the tightrope walker suspended impossibly high above them acts to unite the disparate characters, both literally and figuratively, as the reader grasps that in a sense they’re all walking a high thin wire. It is an aspect of state of mind that they share.6. Intuition
Most important of all, writers need to use their intuition. They must internalize their main character’s state of mind to find the most real and honest reactions they can. We’ve all read books in which the main character seems to be suffering from sudden amnesia. If something big happens, it should impact the character’s feelings. We expect there to be cause and effect. To progress and convey the things that characters carry inside them, writers must first carry them inside themselves.
January 29, 2016
Building an Author Platform
Author Chantelle Atkins gives solid advice to writers about getting their names out into the world.Building an author platform is something that should concern all authors. It is important for both independently and traditionally published authors. In my opinion, it should not even matter if you have not finished your book yet. You can, and should, start building that platform now. But what exactly is an author platform, why should you have one and what are the first steps to take in creating one?
An author platform is essentially your ‘brand’ or what makes you visible as you. This is created online, but should include the real world as well. The platform is made up of several things, visibility on social media being high up on the list. This is not all it involves though. There is also all of your experience and expertise, books you have written, potential books or works, on-going projects, contacts, connections, and your personality. Perhaps even more importantly, it involves your ability to market all of these things successfully.
Building an author platform is important to those who are trying to get a traditional book deal, because agents and publishers will look at the existence of this, as well as at the book being proposed. Many publishers that accept direct submissions require you to include information about your author platform in the query letter. It is vital for them to know you are already building a name for yourself. They want to know they can sell you, as well as the book you are writing.
If you already have a significant social media presence and a good understanding of how it all works, and are already making contacts and connections, then you will be much easier for them to work with. In essence, you will be saving them some marketing money, if you have already started the process. Authors with successful blogs and fanbases are going to be more likely to achieve a deal because they have already shown they can sell themselves and their work.
An author platform is perhaps even more vital for the independent or self-published author. On their own from day one, this author must learn quickly how to market and sell their book and this involves building a reputation. They need to be able to consistently showcase their abilities and talents. This means acting professionally at all times, stepping out of their comfort zone and forcing themselves to network, both online and off. The more content they create through books, blogs, articles, and events, the more their platform begins to grow.
So where do you start? Building an author platform is a slow, steady and ongoing process, so there is no need to panic. It is not achieved overnight, and most of the time you will not even be aware that you are building one. But it is something you should keep in mind, if you are hoping to get a book deal or market your indie project yourself.
Remember that everyone has to start somewhere, so try not to feel overwhelmed at the thought of starting. Don’t forget you have all the basic ingredients already in place. Your personality, your individuality, your unique voice, and your passion. These are integral to the platform, and a great place to start. Remember it is not a race or a competition, but something valuable you will keep building on for years to come. It will never be complete, just like your writing journey itself.
To get started, join at least three social media platforms. Spend some time researching what is out there, and make a list of ones that appeal to you before you start. Get a feel for them, and how they work.
Social media works best when you enjoy it and understand how to utilize it, so if Facebook and Twitter appeal to you, then start there. Pinterest is a growing attraction for authors right now, and is very fun and addictive. Don’t forget Goodreads, Tumblr, LinkedIn, AboutMe among many others.
More importantly, start a blog. Blogging is a slow process. You start with just yourself, and slowly start to gain pace. Follow other blogs that interest you. Comment and share, and most of the time bloggers will return the favor. Link your blog to as many social media sites as you feel comfortable with. I have mine linked to Facebook and Twitter, so it is automatically shared to those sites when I blog. This is a great way to pick up more followers on all three sites!
I also have Pinterest linked to Twitter, so pins also end up on Facebook too and so on. Have a look around, see what suits you and set up camp. Try not to be overwhelmed by the idea of social media, or blogging. Start slow and steady. Share your work, or your thoughts. Even just sharing the first steps of your writing journey can be a part of the process of growing your following.
Write a bio, add a profile pic, and start posting! Learn from others as you go. What gets re-blogged or shared? What kinds of posts or articles are popular or resonate with people? Try sharing extracts of your work and tagging the relevant issues and interests in order to lure in readers. Make connections! Follow people, read their work, share their posts, in short, use social media to interact with people. This is how you begin to network.
Remember, the more you write, the more content you create and share, the more you will be adding to your platform. You will be making friends and connections, learning from others and having fun.
What about in the real world? What can you do there to help build your author platform and get your name out there? Have business cards made up and hand them out whenever you can. Get to know your local book stores and libraries, become a familiar face who has something to share. Volunteer, join events, create your own!
The more people see you in action, and know you as a writer, the more your following will increase. When your work is published, ask the libraries, book stores, and local press if they are interested in hosting or covering the launch. Join writer’s groups, so that you have a group of like-minded people encouraging you every step of the way. If you have qualifications and experience, then let people know, shout about them.
Everything you have done in the past has a reflection on what you are capable of now.
Remember to do everything with a professional and positive attitude, so that people want to know more about you and your work.
Building an author platform sounds like a daunting challenge, but it really isn’t. The chances are, if you are a writer, you have already started to build one without realizing this. Once you recognize this, and start to keep it in mind, you will become more aware of what you are doing to promote yourself, and as a result will become more effective at it.
Chantelle Atkins is the author of four novels including
The Mess Of Me and recently released This Is Nowhere. She lives in Dorset, England with her husband and four children. Atkins work is often described as gritty and character-driven, and she writes within both the adult and young adult genres.
January 14, 2016
Lessons learned between books
5 Lessons Learned Between Books 6 & 7
by Molly Greene
MIDNIGHT I just put Midnight at Half Moon Bay, Book 7 in my Gen Delacourt Mystery Series, up for pre-order, and it’s become a tradition to share what I’ve learned, good and bad, since I published the last title.
Lock the Cellar Door . went live May 31, leaving a long stretch to cover. Here goes.
The good
1. Good things come to those who wait
… and prepare. I was lucky enough to receive a lovely, unexpected opportunity in late October, when I was approached by an ACX-approved audiobook producer. He emailed out of the blue to ask if I’d be interested in turning my series into audio. OF COURSE I WOULD!! I replied. Mark of the Loon is now live on Audible, and The Last Fairytale is in progress.
I asked how he chose me. He said he looked for good reviews, and authors who were successfully self-promoting. So next time you groan about all the book promos you set up, and the blogging and social media work you’re doing with no apparent payback, think of me. Takeaway? Good fortune can come knocking when you set yourself up for it. I’ll write more about the audiobook process soon.
2. My books picked up lots of reviews
One of my biggest 2015 book-related projects was to use free BookBub promos to generate reviews for each of my titles, with the ultimate goal of growing total reviews for each past 100. I did it – for all but Book 6, Cellar, which BookBub declined both times I submitted it. I’m really pleased, as those reviews played a part in the audiobook deal. Still, rats re: Cellar and BookBub.Which leads me to …
The bad
3. Marketing is a moving target
The book promo game is ever-changing. I was hugely fortunate Dec 21, 2014 – Nov 1, 2015 to score seven Bookbub promos, which boosted sales and KU borrows. But my last three “free” submissions were rejected by BookBub, leaving me out in the cold for holiday exposure, while my peers with fewer reviews were accepted at 99 cents. Darn it!
I have recently noticed fewer freebies in BB emails. This suggests a couple things: 1) BB makes more money on 99 cent promos and their readership has matured to a point where fewer freebies isn’t irritating, and 2) the books getting accepted are “wide,” meaning available on multiple sales platforms. So I am mulling the fact that I may have to pull my titles out of Select in 2015, or come up with a marketing strategy that is not BB-centric. Good luck with that!
4. Life intervenes – or, I let it
I accomplished an enormous amount in my personal life during the past seven months. But by September, I realized I was ignoring a ten-page list of low-grade annoyances that added up to days chock full of irritation over one thing or another, things like long, witchy hair, an original Kindle which I use constantly in my work that now had the tendency for half a page’s pixels to go dark without warning, a rural cable company with unreliable Internet service that was crazy-making.
I was ignoring and putting up with a dozen things that didn’t work, and those misfires grew to a point where they were running my life. They interfered with my ability to work. They put a cap on my joy.
So I went down the list. I chopped off my hair and donated it, upgraded my cell phone, tablet, and computers (and so am now learning all new platforms), applied to renew my passport in hopes I can travel in 2016, bought some necessities I desperately needed. All this took a chunk of time away from writing – but the takeaway? I don’t feel distracted and irritated all day long. That makes my work more enjoyable, too.
The ugly
5. Writing gets easier, and it gets harder
I love my job and I’m grateful and excited over what I get to do for a (however small) living. But I won’t lie, I sometimes feel burnt to a crisp. While the “process” gets easier with subsequent books, the task itself gets harder with some. I sometimes reach for the whiskey bottle when other authors gush that “they were so excited about writing book #535 that they got the whole first draft down in four weeks.”
While I’m happy for them, these revelations can be depressing, especially when I’m flogging myself to get out the word count. I feel like I’m not doing enough. So when that happens, I mute social media for a while. The truth for me is that some books flow out like a raging river, and some are more like an abbreviated trickle in a desiccated desert. Regardless, being a novelist is a business that requires self-discipline, and I apply it, but I won’t be able to pop out books every two months. And that needs to be okay with me.
Authors, what about you? How do you balance the good with the bad? What have you learned along the way?
by Molly Greene
MIDNIGHT I just put Midnight at Half Moon Bay, Book 7 in my Gen Delacourt Mystery Series, up for pre-order, and it’s become a tradition to share what I’ve learned, good and bad, since I published the last title.
Lock the Cellar Door . went live May 31, leaving a long stretch to cover. Here goes.The good
1. Good things come to those who wait
… and prepare. I was lucky enough to receive a lovely, unexpected opportunity in late October, when I was approached by an ACX-approved audiobook producer. He emailed out of the blue to ask if I’d be interested in turning my series into audio. OF COURSE I WOULD!! I replied. Mark of the Loon is now live on Audible, and The Last Fairytale is in progress.
I asked how he chose me. He said he looked for good reviews, and authors who were successfully self-promoting. So next time you groan about all the book promos you set up, and the blogging and social media work you’re doing with no apparent payback, think of me. Takeaway? Good fortune can come knocking when you set yourself up for it. I’ll write more about the audiobook process soon.
2. My books picked up lots of reviews
One of my biggest 2015 book-related projects was to use free BookBub promos to generate reviews for each of my titles, with the ultimate goal of growing total reviews for each past 100. I did it – for all but Book 6, Cellar, which BookBub declined both times I submitted it. I’m really pleased, as those reviews played a part in the audiobook deal. Still, rats re: Cellar and BookBub.Which leads me to …
The bad
3. Marketing is a moving target
The book promo game is ever-changing. I was hugely fortunate Dec 21, 2014 – Nov 1, 2015 to score seven Bookbub promos, which boosted sales and KU borrows. But my last three “free” submissions were rejected by BookBub, leaving me out in the cold for holiday exposure, while my peers with fewer reviews were accepted at 99 cents. Darn it!
I have recently noticed fewer freebies in BB emails. This suggests a couple things: 1) BB makes more money on 99 cent promos and their readership has matured to a point where fewer freebies isn’t irritating, and 2) the books getting accepted are “wide,” meaning available on multiple sales platforms. So I am mulling the fact that I may have to pull my titles out of Select in 2015, or come up with a marketing strategy that is not BB-centric. Good luck with that!
4. Life intervenes – or, I let it
I accomplished an enormous amount in my personal life during the past seven months. But by September, I realized I was ignoring a ten-page list of low-grade annoyances that added up to days chock full of irritation over one thing or another, things like long, witchy hair, an original Kindle which I use constantly in my work that now had the tendency for half a page’s pixels to go dark without warning, a rural cable company with unreliable Internet service that was crazy-making.
I was ignoring and putting up with a dozen things that didn’t work, and those misfires grew to a point where they were running my life. They interfered with my ability to work. They put a cap on my joy.
So I went down the list. I chopped off my hair and donated it, upgraded my cell phone, tablet, and computers (and so am now learning all new platforms), applied to renew my passport in hopes I can travel in 2016, bought some necessities I desperately needed. All this took a chunk of time away from writing – but the takeaway? I don’t feel distracted and irritated all day long. That makes my work more enjoyable, too.
The ugly
5. Writing gets easier, and it gets harder
I love my job and I’m grateful and excited over what I get to do for a (however small) living. But I won’t lie, I sometimes feel burnt to a crisp. While the “process” gets easier with subsequent books, the task itself gets harder with some. I sometimes reach for the whiskey bottle when other authors gush that “they were so excited about writing book #535 that they got the whole first draft down in four weeks.”
While I’m happy for them, these revelations can be depressing, especially when I’m flogging myself to get out the word count. I feel like I’m not doing enough. So when that happens, I mute social media for a while. The truth for me is that some books flow out like a raging river, and some are more like an abbreviated trickle in a desiccated desert. Regardless, being a novelist is a business that requires self-discipline, and I apply it, but I won’t be able to pop out books every two months. And that needs to be okay with me.
Authors, what about you? How do you balance the good with the bad? What have you learned along the way?
Swoon Reads
I’ve submitted my manuscript, Mitzi of the Ritz, to Swoon Reads. The link is below:
https://www.swoonreads.com/
Swoon Reads is a Macmillan romance imprint for writers and readers of New Adult and Young Adult novels. The site is loaded with free novels, but I need support with Mitzi of the Ritz, a romance set in 1930s Hollywood during the Pre-Code era. The voting is free however, you have to join the site then give my book the best score possible and try to get others to look at it.
Welcome to Mitzi of the Ritz, a raunchy and often humorous New Adult romantic mystery set in Depression-era Hollywood. The manuscript was a semi-finalist in the 2011 ABNA. Publishers Weekly wrote, “The dialogue is so telling of the era and the mind-set of a young girl. This writing is filled with the specifics of the era, the feelings, the bits and pieces of a girl caught up in a situation that is moving and engrossing, sad and fearsome at the same time.”
I wrote Mitzi of the Ritz under the nom de plume, Lee Rene. Swoon Reads won’t allow you to download to a Kindle, but you can read online for free. Here is the link:
https://www.swoonreads.com/m/mitzi-of...
Please join me at Swoon Reads
December 20, 2015
Twitter is a Writer's Friend
This is a repost from Jane Friedman's blog
In today’s guest post, Chris Jane (@chrismjane), who writes the biweekly Q&A series 5 On, discusses overcoming her fear of joining the Twitterverse.
Like many independent authors, I’ve long understood the value of Twitter as a networking tool. Even so, regardless of what I “understood,” and no matter what any experts said, I would not embrace it. I recently realized I can blame my child-self for that.
As a kid in middle school, I was the wrong kind of nerd. Skinny, big teeth, goofy-looking. I hated being looked at. The thought of walking into a crowded cafeteria at lunchtime was so unnerving it became my daily mission to be the first one out of the classroom when the lunch bell rang. That way, I could be one of the first to the lunch room. As the end of the class period drew near, I’d start watching the clock. At the first in the upbeat series of chimes (an unwelcome revision to the harshness of the straightforward bell), I’d launch out of my desk and fly through the hallway, take the stairs two at a time (I became a pro at this), and make it to the cafeteria hot-lunch line before even the sack-lunchers had had time to take their seats at one of the long tables.
A couple of decades later, I still have the same anxiety. It makes me very uncomfortable to enter cafeterias, cafeteria-style restaurants—and crowded classrooms and buffet lines and nearly full airplanes.
And, it turns out, Twitter.
Though I’ve maintained accounts over the years (if “maintain” means the same thing as “not deleting”) because they say that’s what writers are supposed to do, I’ve always been quick—even proud—to say “I hate Twitter.” But why? And what does that mean? My best answer is Yoda’s: “Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate.”
It occurred to me that Twitter resembles an online cafeteria: a bustling environment crowded with an assortment of different-sized cliques, the amount of chatter upon entering so overwhelming a virtual cacophony that it seems impossible for any one person to be heard over any other one person.
What business did I have thinking I could add anything to that? I would never be the cool kid Neil Gaiman (@Neilhimself) is. I’m nowhere near as smart as popular “geek” Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson). And I’m no @GuyInYourMFA class clown.
Hitting the “Tweet” button after agonizing over what my 140 (or fewer) characters would say felt to me like calling across the cafeteria to get the attention of a group of kids I didn’t know and had never hung out with. I was afraid of being heard, being seen. (“Oh. My. God. She’s actually trying to talk to us, bless her heart!”) I was also afraid of not being heard, not being seen.
All of these factors combined to form a clear and simple truth: Twitter was not for me, and I was not for Twitter. I would use it occasionally to share links and respond to direct tweets, but that was it.
Then, one day in early December, I came across Engaging Audiences through Twitter in 15 Minutes a Day by Kirsten Oliphant (@kikimojo). I saw the headline, thought, “Fifteen minutes? Riiight,” and clicked the link. At the first mention of Hootsuite and Buffer, I was out of there. Forget the social anxiety synapses Twitter liked to tickle—anything requiring me to learn an entirely new category of social media language was something that would take far too much time away from …
Well, from what, really? Had I not spent two hours that morning not-really-listening to a political yammer show? Did I not have one little free half hour sometime between my writing quit-time of four o’clock and dinner at eight-ish? Yes. Yes, I did.
Still, what was the point? Millions of tweets fly at and past each other. What chance could I possibly have of being appealing to anyone when all the appealing people were already out there doing their own appealing things?
The answer to that, I think, is one of the early pieces of advice parents give their kids that’s too easily discarded or forgotten: there’s no reason to mimic or compete with any other person’s “thing,” which is effective precisely because it is that person’s own unique thing; just do you.
Important for kids to know, and equally important, I think, for this emerging Twitter user to know. I’m not sure, yet, what my thing will be, but I’m looking forward to finding out. Not only because a second stop at “Twitter in 15 Minutes” revealed the overall process to be an intriguing challenge far less complicated than my defensive shutdown would let me see, but because of the exceptional nature of the internet: in the real world, you can step outside of your house and smile and wave, and it will be known that you’re there, you’re alive, you’re a being in the world. But if you aren’t actively present and engaging online, in that world, you—your books, your businesses, your blog entries, your thoughts—simply don’t exist.
In today’s guest post, Chris Jane (@chrismjane), who writes the biweekly Q&A series 5 On, discusses overcoming her fear of joining the Twitterverse.
Like many independent authors, I’ve long understood the value of Twitter as a networking tool. Even so, regardless of what I “understood,” and no matter what any experts said, I would not embrace it. I recently realized I can blame my child-self for that.
As a kid in middle school, I was the wrong kind of nerd. Skinny, big teeth, goofy-looking. I hated being looked at. The thought of walking into a crowded cafeteria at lunchtime was so unnerving it became my daily mission to be the first one out of the classroom when the lunch bell rang. That way, I could be one of the first to the lunch room. As the end of the class period drew near, I’d start watching the clock. At the first in the upbeat series of chimes (an unwelcome revision to the harshness of the straightforward bell), I’d launch out of my desk and fly through the hallway, take the stairs two at a time (I became a pro at this), and make it to the cafeteria hot-lunch line before even the sack-lunchers had had time to take their seats at one of the long tables.
A couple of decades later, I still have the same anxiety. It makes me very uncomfortable to enter cafeterias, cafeteria-style restaurants—and crowded classrooms and buffet lines and nearly full airplanes.
And, it turns out, Twitter.
Though I’ve maintained accounts over the years (if “maintain” means the same thing as “not deleting”) because they say that’s what writers are supposed to do, I’ve always been quick—even proud—to say “I hate Twitter.” But why? And what does that mean? My best answer is Yoda’s: “Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate.”
It occurred to me that Twitter resembles an online cafeteria: a bustling environment crowded with an assortment of different-sized cliques, the amount of chatter upon entering so overwhelming a virtual cacophony that it seems impossible for any one person to be heard over any other one person.
What business did I have thinking I could add anything to that? I would never be the cool kid Neil Gaiman (@Neilhimself) is. I’m nowhere near as smart as popular “geek” Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson). And I’m no @GuyInYourMFA class clown.
Hitting the “Tweet” button after agonizing over what my 140 (or fewer) characters would say felt to me like calling across the cafeteria to get the attention of a group of kids I didn’t know and had never hung out with. I was afraid of being heard, being seen. (“Oh. My. God. She’s actually trying to talk to us, bless her heart!”) I was also afraid of not being heard, not being seen.
All of these factors combined to form a clear and simple truth: Twitter was not for me, and I was not for Twitter. I would use it occasionally to share links and respond to direct tweets, but that was it.
Then, one day in early December, I came across Engaging Audiences through Twitter in 15 Minutes a Day by Kirsten Oliphant (@kikimojo). I saw the headline, thought, “Fifteen minutes? Riiight,” and clicked the link. At the first mention of Hootsuite and Buffer, I was out of there. Forget the social anxiety synapses Twitter liked to tickle—anything requiring me to learn an entirely new category of social media language was something that would take far too much time away from …
Well, from what, really? Had I not spent two hours that morning not-really-listening to a political yammer show? Did I not have one little free half hour sometime between my writing quit-time of four o’clock and dinner at eight-ish? Yes. Yes, I did.
Still, what was the point? Millions of tweets fly at and past each other. What chance could I possibly have of being appealing to anyone when all the appealing people were already out there doing their own appealing things?
The answer to that, I think, is one of the early pieces of advice parents give their kids that’s too easily discarded or forgotten: there’s no reason to mimic or compete with any other person’s “thing,” which is effective precisely because it is that person’s own unique thing; just do you.
Important for kids to know, and equally important, I think, for this emerging Twitter user to know. I’m not sure, yet, what my thing will be, but I’m looking forward to finding out. Not only because a second stop at “Twitter in 15 Minutes” revealed the overall process to be an intriguing challenge far less complicated than my defensive shutdown would let me see, but because of the exceptional nature of the internet: in the real world, you can step outside of your house and smile and wave, and it will be known that you’re there, you’re alive, you’re a being in the world. But if you aren’t actively present and engaging online, in that world, you—your books, your businesses, your blog entries, your thoughts—simply don’t exist.
December 10, 2015
Top Ten Words Confused Words [Q-R]
A great post from Daily Writing Tips
My cumulative list of “words commonly confused” continues with ten that begin with the letters Q and R. The confusion relates to spelling or meaning.
1. quote / quotation
Traditionally, quote is a verb and quotation is a noun:
May I quote you on that? (verb)
I used a quotation from Dr. Johnson as an epigraph. (noun)
The Chicago Manual of Style includes a note on these words in the “Good usage versus common usage section,” apparently preferring to preserve the distinction in formal writing.
The CMS note also suggests that a difference may exist in the minds of some writers between quote as a noun and quotation as a noun:
quotes: contemporary remarks usable in their writing.
quotations: wisdom of the ages expressed pithily.
2. quiet / quite
This is a spelling problem for speakers who aren’t in the habit of looking closely at words.
Quiet functions as noun, adjective, and verb:
In the old days, librarians insisted on absolute quiet from the patrons. (noun)
Parents often worry when their children are excessively quiet. (adjective)
Susan is known as the quiet sister. (adjective)
Please do something to quiet that barking dog. (verb)
The most common use of quite is as a synonym for the adverb very:
They say that Bill Gates is quite rich. (adverb)
3. reign / rein
The noun reign refers to the period of rule of a monarch. The verb reign means to exercise sovereign power or authority.
The noun rein refers to a strap, usually of leather, that is used to control a horse. The verb rein means to control a horse. Figuratively, rein means to put a restraint on something.
For example, “to rein” or “rein in” one’s impulses.
The most common confusion between these words is with the idiom “free rein.” The figurative expression derives from horseback riding. To give a horse “free rein” is to hold the reins loosely and allow the horse a certain amount of free movement.
4. raise / raze
The verb raise has many meanings, but the meaning in contrast to raze is “build up” or “construct.” The pioneer raised a rudimentary cabin to house his family.”
The verb raze means “tear down” or “destroy.” “The historic opera house was razed to make room for a parking deck.”
5. real / really
Common in colloquial speech, real is often substituted for the intensifying adverb really. The adjective real means “actually existing, not imaginary.” This is a real denarius from Roman times.
Used as an intensifier, really means very, or thoroughly. Casablanca is a really memorable movie.
6. rebate / refund
A rebate is a discount collectible after a purchase. I paid $50 for the headphones, but the rebate was $10, so the final cost was $40.
A refund is the full amount of a purchase returned to a customer. The spaghetti-maker didn’t work, so I asked for a refund.
7. regardless / irregardless
The adverb regardless means “without regard to.” Charles intends to buy a herd of llamas, regardless of my objections. The soldier tackled the bomber, regardless of his own safety.
Nonstandard irregardless is used by some speakers as either a deliberately humorous portmanteau word or a confused collision of regardless and irrespective. Here’s a serious use of the word from a community non-profit agency in New Jersey:
Schools walk a delicate balance. Some schools that have tried to discipline a student for cyberbullying actions that took place off-campus and outside of school hours have been sued for exceeding their authority and violating the student’s free speech right. Irregardless, parents should inform the school if they become aware of any cyberbullying issue.
8. restive / restful
Both words are adjectives.
Restive means unsettled, restless. Ex. “Speaking softly, Nancy calmed the restive horse.”
Restful means “full of rest.” Anything that bestows a feeling of calm and invites relaxation is restful. “Beethoven’s ‘Moonlight Sonata’ is a restful piece.”
9. retch / wretch
The verb retch may be defined as “vomiting or trying to.” “She retched driblets of green bile.” “The smell of the Dumpster caused him to retch.”
Wretch is a noun. It can mean “a pitiable person” or “a vile person.” “The poor wretch has lost all in the fire.” “Anyone who would deliberately profit from another’s illness is a miserable, rotten wretch.”
10. rise / raise
Used as verbs, rise and raise are often misused.
Rise is intransitive. Ex. Here comes the Judge; all rise! The candidate says those things in the hope that his poll numbers will rise.
Raise is transitive. It takes an object. Ex. Let us raise a toast to departed friends. Does anyone wish to raise a question?
My cumulative list of “words commonly confused” continues with ten that begin with the letters Q and R. The confusion relates to spelling or meaning.
1. quote / quotation
Traditionally, quote is a verb and quotation is a noun:
May I quote you on that? (verb)
I used a quotation from Dr. Johnson as an epigraph. (noun)
The Chicago Manual of Style includes a note on these words in the “Good usage versus common usage section,” apparently preferring to preserve the distinction in formal writing.
The CMS note also suggests that a difference may exist in the minds of some writers between quote as a noun and quotation as a noun:
quotes: contemporary remarks usable in their writing.
quotations: wisdom of the ages expressed pithily.
2. quiet / quite
This is a spelling problem for speakers who aren’t in the habit of looking closely at words.
Quiet functions as noun, adjective, and verb:
In the old days, librarians insisted on absolute quiet from the patrons. (noun)
Parents often worry when their children are excessively quiet. (adjective)
Susan is known as the quiet sister. (adjective)
Please do something to quiet that barking dog. (verb)
The most common use of quite is as a synonym for the adverb very:
They say that Bill Gates is quite rich. (adverb)
3. reign / rein
The noun reign refers to the period of rule of a monarch. The verb reign means to exercise sovereign power or authority.
The noun rein refers to a strap, usually of leather, that is used to control a horse. The verb rein means to control a horse. Figuratively, rein means to put a restraint on something.
For example, “to rein” or “rein in” one’s impulses.
The most common confusion between these words is with the idiom “free rein.” The figurative expression derives from horseback riding. To give a horse “free rein” is to hold the reins loosely and allow the horse a certain amount of free movement.
4. raise / raze
The verb raise has many meanings, but the meaning in contrast to raze is “build up” or “construct.” The pioneer raised a rudimentary cabin to house his family.”
The verb raze means “tear down” or “destroy.” “The historic opera house was razed to make room for a parking deck.”
5. real / really
Common in colloquial speech, real is often substituted for the intensifying adverb really. The adjective real means “actually existing, not imaginary.” This is a real denarius from Roman times.
Used as an intensifier, really means very, or thoroughly. Casablanca is a really memorable movie.
6. rebate / refund
A rebate is a discount collectible after a purchase. I paid $50 for the headphones, but the rebate was $10, so the final cost was $40.
A refund is the full amount of a purchase returned to a customer. The spaghetti-maker didn’t work, so I asked for a refund.
7. regardless / irregardless
The adverb regardless means “without regard to.” Charles intends to buy a herd of llamas, regardless of my objections. The soldier tackled the bomber, regardless of his own safety.
Nonstandard irregardless is used by some speakers as either a deliberately humorous portmanteau word or a confused collision of regardless and irrespective. Here’s a serious use of the word from a community non-profit agency in New Jersey:
Schools walk a delicate balance. Some schools that have tried to discipline a student for cyberbullying actions that took place off-campus and outside of school hours have been sued for exceeding their authority and violating the student’s free speech right. Irregardless, parents should inform the school if they become aware of any cyberbullying issue.
8. restive / restful
Both words are adjectives.
Restive means unsettled, restless. Ex. “Speaking softly, Nancy calmed the restive horse.”
Restful means “full of rest.” Anything that bestows a feeling of calm and invites relaxation is restful. “Beethoven’s ‘Moonlight Sonata’ is a restful piece.”
9. retch / wretch
The verb retch may be defined as “vomiting or trying to.” “She retched driblets of green bile.” “The smell of the Dumpster caused him to retch.”
Wretch is a noun. It can mean “a pitiable person” or “a vile person.” “The poor wretch has lost all in the fire.” “Anyone who would deliberately profit from another’s illness is a miserable, rotten wretch.”
10. rise / raise
Used as verbs, rise and raise are often misused.
Rise is intransitive. Ex. Here comes the Judge; all rise! The candidate says those things in the hope that his poll numbers will rise.
Raise is transitive. It takes an object. Ex. Let us raise a toast to departed friends. Does anyone wish to raise a question?
December 7, 2015
Rude rejection letters could cost you the next JK Rowling or George Orwell
Every writer gets their share of rejection letters, but some agents appear to go out their way to be nasty. had to share this encouraging post from The Independent.com, UK
JK Rowling was advised not to quit her day job, George Orwell was informed there was “no market” for animal stories and Rudyard Kipling was told he clearly did not understand the English language.
There are countless such tales of writerly brilliance being turned away with a snooty dismissal. But in an age when it is increasingly easy to self-publish, whether online or in print, one publishing house has warned others to think again before sending rude rejection letters, for the sake of future profits.
September Publishing founder Hannah MacDonald said the industry should be more constructive with its criticism and rebuffs, as there is a danger that potential stars might abandon their dreams.
“The publishing industry has always been hugely selective,” she told The Independent. “Getting your book published is notoriously difficult. We need to reach out and nurture talent. Publishers could do more to help writers.
“There is nothing wrong with self-publishing and it has helped a lot of authors. But there is a risk of driving people away.”
Self-publishing is not new – Marcel Proust opted to pay for the print run of Remembrance of Things Past himself.
Ms. MacDonald raised her concerns at the FutureBook conference last week, saying editors should be given more time by the industry to provide authors with feedback.
“It is very difficult now for agents and editors to find time to reject constructively, and if we can’t communicate with the authors of the future, then they will abandon the industry and become self-publishing authors,” she said, speaking on a panel titled Writing the future: author-centric publishing.
She describes her firm as “author-centric”, with a focus on fostering new writers and working with them to produce books that appeal to readers. She encouraged the industry not to present itself as a “closed fortress” and to be more inclusive. There is also a need to diversify, she added. “We need to appeal to the next generation of writers – to appeal to more cultures, ages, and readerships.”
A rejection is still a rejection, even when it is polite. Had a friendlier approach been adopted in the time of William Golding, winner of the 1983 Nobel Prize in Literature, his allegorical novel Lord of the Flies might still have suffered 20 refusals before becoming one of the defining books of his time. Perhaps James Joyce would still have been knocked back 22 times for Dubliners.
However, the American novelist, Louisa May Alcott, certainly wouldn’t have been told to “stick to teaching” following her submission of Little Women.
Salt Publishing director Chris Hamilton-Emery agrees with Ms. MacDonald. His indie set-up receives about 60 manuscripts a month and puts out only 24 new books a year, but he believes that today’s smaller publishers, in particular, have a duty to writers.
“It is better for writers to have the industry supporting them. You need as many people around you as possible,” he said. “We can’t publish every book and it’s not always possible to give everyone a lot of time. But we don’t have to sweepingly turn writers away. We must nurture them and help them if we can.”
JK Rowling was advised not to quit her day job, George Orwell was informed there was “no market” for animal stories and Rudyard Kipling was told he clearly did not understand the English language.
There are countless such tales of writerly brilliance being turned away with a snooty dismissal. But in an age when it is increasingly easy to self-publish, whether online or in print, one publishing house has warned others to think again before sending rude rejection letters, for the sake of future profits.
September Publishing founder Hannah MacDonald said the industry should be more constructive with its criticism and rebuffs, as there is a danger that potential stars might abandon their dreams.
“The publishing industry has always been hugely selective,” she told The Independent. “Getting your book published is notoriously difficult. We need to reach out and nurture talent. Publishers could do more to help writers.
“There is nothing wrong with self-publishing and it has helped a lot of authors. But there is a risk of driving people away.”
Self-publishing is not new – Marcel Proust opted to pay for the print run of Remembrance of Things Past himself.
Ms. MacDonald raised her concerns at the FutureBook conference last week, saying editors should be given more time by the industry to provide authors with feedback.
“It is very difficult now for agents and editors to find time to reject constructively, and if we can’t communicate with the authors of the future, then they will abandon the industry and become self-publishing authors,” she said, speaking on a panel titled Writing the future: author-centric publishing.
She describes her firm as “author-centric”, with a focus on fostering new writers and working with them to produce books that appeal to readers. She encouraged the industry not to present itself as a “closed fortress” and to be more inclusive. There is also a need to diversify, she added. “We need to appeal to the next generation of writers – to appeal to more cultures, ages, and readerships.”
A rejection is still a rejection, even when it is polite. Had a friendlier approach been adopted in the time of William Golding, winner of the 1983 Nobel Prize in Literature, his allegorical novel Lord of the Flies might still have suffered 20 refusals before becoming one of the defining books of his time. Perhaps James Joyce would still have been knocked back 22 times for Dubliners.
However, the American novelist, Louisa May Alcott, certainly wouldn’t have been told to “stick to teaching” following her submission of Little Women.
Salt Publishing director Chris Hamilton-Emery agrees with Ms. MacDonald. His indie set-up receives about 60 manuscripts a month and puts out only 24 new books a year, but he believes that today’s smaller publishers, in particular, have a duty to writers.
“It is better for writers to have the industry supporting them. You need as many people around you as possible,” he said. “We can’t publish every book and it’s not always possible to give everyone a lot of time. But we don’t have to sweepingly turn writers away. We must nurture them and help them if we can.”
December 4, 2015
Top 10 Editing Tips for Your Final Draft
An interesting post from blogger, Kat Stiles
You’ve read all the great editing books, went through the manuscript at least a dozen times, fixed the largest gaping plot holes and checked your grammar (manually). The beta readers have even given their blessing. Think your epic novel is finally ready? Before you hit the send button, check out these ten pointers to ensure your novel is really ready for publication.
#10 Look for excessive detail of mundane actions
There’s no need to do a play by play when a character washes her hands. I recently read a novel that did this over and over, it was almost like reading stage directions. There’s a reason why no one ever uses the bathroom in the movies. Nobody cares, and it doesn’t add anything to plot. Keep the mundane stuff short or even better, just cut it if you can.
#9 Look for point-of-view (POV) violations
POV violations can be subtle – a simple thought of a love interest can do it. Even if your novel is in third person (if it’s not omniscient) then you should only be able to see the thoughts of the main character.
#8 Look for repetition of monologue and dialogue
If you say it in the internal monologue, there’s no need to also say it in dialogue. Summarize or use non-verbal to convey it to the other person, or just include it in the dialogue and not the internal monologue.
#7 Look for fancy punctuation
By fancy punctuation, I mean anything other than a period or comma. This includes the exclamation point, semi-colon, colon, and parentheses. I didn’t think I had a problem with these until I did a search and found a ridiculous number of them littering my manuscript. Some general rules: If you say, “she exclaimed,” then there’s no need to use an exclamation point. There’s almost no reason to use an exclamation point in internal monologue, it’s over the top. Semi-colons are wonderful, but too many of them are distracting. Same goes for colons and parentheses, they’re unusual enough to take you out of the moment when you come across them.
#6 Look for fancy tags
Fancy tags are also a terrific way to bring you out of the magic world of reading and focus on something that doesn’t matter. “Said” is the most common tag and the job of the tag is to let the reader know who is speaking. When there only two speakers, you don’t even need tags. You especially don’t need tags if you express a character’s thought immediately before or after the spoken sentence, because it’s then obvious who’s speaking. But too many “replied, implied, conjectured, retorted, asked,” and many other exciting ways to say “said” rips the reader out of the story to process the fancy tag. Don’t be afraid of “said.” It’s straightforward and keeps the focus on the dialogue, where it belongs.
#5 Look for your favorite words and phrases
Every writer has something they repeat ad nausem, whether it’s a verb, phrase, or even a dreaded adverb. I had trouble with smiling. Everyone was smiling all the time, and in individual scenes I had characters smiling three or four times. If you don’t know your own favorites, then read one of your longer scenes aloud slowly, that should bring them out in the open. Once you figure out your favorites, use the find feature to see all occurrences. It’s especially important to not have them in close proximity to one another, even if it’s a common word or phrase. Find different ways to express what you’re trying to show but don’t resort to a thesaurus – using a flowery or unusual way to say something simple is pretentious. Unless of course, your book is pretentious, then in that case go right ahead.
#4 Look for common filler words and excessive modifiers
Filler words are words that don’t really add much to the sentence. It’s not the same as spoken filler words like “um, like, er,” unless you really do write them. I find in writing I have the most trouble with: that, I think, I believe, just, and a lot of others. If you can write the sentence without it, it will make your writing stronger. Same goes for modifiers – sometimes, most, only, a little, a lot – all of these should be used sparingly. Speaking of adverbs…
#3 Look for excessive adverbs
Adverbs are the very bane of a writer’s existence. It’s kinda the easy way out, to make it obvious exactly what’s going on, but most of the time they’re not even needed. I see adverbs most often modifying tags, but if the dialogue itself is strong enough, the adverb is superfluous. Easiest way to search for adverbs, just look for “ly.” You don’t have to eradicate all adverbs, but look for opportunities to rewrite without them.
#2 Do a formatting check
Formatting can vary from publisher to publisher, so be sure to follow guidelines. Most involve font/font size, single or double spaced, proper header/footer information and margin sizes. If you have any questions in general as to how your novel should look, you can pop open any published book and see the punctuation and paragraph formatting. There are exceptions in some of the newer novels, but most follow a similar format.
#1 Do one last line edit / grammar check
Always a good idea. Best way? Read it aloud. Have I mentioned that before? Yes. That’s because it’s a great way to find omitted words, homonyms and other nefarious word traps you think are perfectly fine when you read them. Your eyes tend to scan and fill in words you expect to be there. If you take your time reading it aloud, you just might uncover some issues you didn’t see the last time around.
You’ve read all the great editing books, went through the manuscript at least a dozen times, fixed the largest gaping plot holes and checked your grammar (manually). The beta readers have even given their blessing. Think your epic novel is finally ready? Before you hit the send button, check out these ten pointers to ensure your novel is really ready for publication.
#10 Look for excessive detail of mundane actions
There’s no need to do a play by play when a character washes her hands. I recently read a novel that did this over and over, it was almost like reading stage directions. There’s a reason why no one ever uses the bathroom in the movies. Nobody cares, and it doesn’t add anything to plot. Keep the mundane stuff short or even better, just cut it if you can.
#9 Look for point-of-view (POV) violations
POV violations can be subtle – a simple thought of a love interest can do it. Even if your novel is in third person (if it’s not omniscient) then you should only be able to see the thoughts of the main character.
#8 Look for repetition of monologue and dialogue
If you say it in the internal monologue, there’s no need to also say it in dialogue. Summarize or use non-verbal to convey it to the other person, or just include it in the dialogue and not the internal monologue.
#7 Look for fancy punctuation
By fancy punctuation, I mean anything other than a period or comma. This includes the exclamation point, semi-colon, colon, and parentheses. I didn’t think I had a problem with these until I did a search and found a ridiculous number of them littering my manuscript. Some general rules: If you say, “she exclaimed,” then there’s no need to use an exclamation point. There’s almost no reason to use an exclamation point in internal monologue, it’s over the top. Semi-colons are wonderful, but too many of them are distracting. Same goes for colons and parentheses, they’re unusual enough to take you out of the moment when you come across them.
#6 Look for fancy tags
Fancy tags are also a terrific way to bring you out of the magic world of reading and focus on something that doesn’t matter. “Said” is the most common tag and the job of the tag is to let the reader know who is speaking. When there only two speakers, you don’t even need tags. You especially don’t need tags if you express a character’s thought immediately before or after the spoken sentence, because it’s then obvious who’s speaking. But too many “replied, implied, conjectured, retorted, asked,” and many other exciting ways to say “said” rips the reader out of the story to process the fancy tag. Don’t be afraid of “said.” It’s straightforward and keeps the focus on the dialogue, where it belongs.
#5 Look for your favorite words and phrases
Every writer has something they repeat ad nausem, whether it’s a verb, phrase, or even a dreaded adverb. I had trouble with smiling. Everyone was smiling all the time, and in individual scenes I had characters smiling three or four times. If you don’t know your own favorites, then read one of your longer scenes aloud slowly, that should bring them out in the open. Once you figure out your favorites, use the find feature to see all occurrences. It’s especially important to not have them in close proximity to one another, even if it’s a common word or phrase. Find different ways to express what you’re trying to show but don’t resort to a thesaurus – using a flowery or unusual way to say something simple is pretentious. Unless of course, your book is pretentious, then in that case go right ahead.
#4 Look for common filler words and excessive modifiers
Filler words are words that don’t really add much to the sentence. It’s not the same as spoken filler words like “um, like, er,” unless you really do write them. I find in writing I have the most trouble with: that, I think, I believe, just, and a lot of others. If you can write the sentence without it, it will make your writing stronger. Same goes for modifiers – sometimes, most, only, a little, a lot – all of these should be used sparingly. Speaking of adverbs…
#3 Look for excessive adverbs
Adverbs are the very bane of a writer’s existence. It’s kinda the easy way out, to make it obvious exactly what’s going on, but most of the time they’re not even needed. I see adverbs most often modifying tags, but if the dialogue itself is strong enough, the adverb is superfluous. Easiest way to search for adverbs, just look for “ly.” You don’t have to eradicate all adverbs, but look for opportunities to rewrite without them.
#2 Do a formatting check
Formatting can vary from publisher to publisher, so be sure to follow guidelines. Most involve font/font size, single or double spaced, proper header/footer information and margin sizes. If you have any questions in general as to how your novel should look, you can pop open any published book and see the punctuation and paragraph formatting. There are exceptions in some of the newer novels, but most follow a similar format.
#1 Do one last line edit / grammar check
Always a good idea. Best way? Read it aloud. Have I mentioned that before? Yes. That’s because it’s a great way to find omitted words, homonyms and other nefarious word traps you think are perfectly fine when you read them. Your eyes tend to scan and fill in words you expect to be there. If you take your time reading it aloud, you just might uncover some issues you didn’t see the last time around.
