S.L. Viehl's Blog, page 181

Hodge Podge

For you NaNoWriMoers, author Kris Reisz has a great post up about writing, creativity, and one of a writer's most valuable skills: persistance.

Seventh Sanctum has
A StarDoc reader sent me this link to a ceramic sculpture of the Lok-Teel by TheFinalHikari. It's not only adorable, it's also quite accurate to how I've always envisioned my helpful little mold.

SPAMcam

As always, I reserve the right to make fun of anyone who SPAMs me. This one was particularly clueless:

Dear Lynn,

Uses first name. Must be someone I know.

I'd like to take a moment to congratulate you on your release today, Nightshine.

Okay, not someone I know.

I read the blurb and thoroughly enjoyed the premise. It sounds like a really interesting book.

You read the blurb? Wow. I don't know what to say. The entire blurb? I'm so grateful. What a trooper.

By now, you are caught up in promoting your book.

No, not really. Well, there was that one post down there.

If you are interested in exploring new ways to get the word out, I hope you will consider our new program, [Kindness Duct Tape]. This is not your standard [Kindness Duct Tape]. With [Kindness Duct Tape], you will chat and answer questions from your readers live via webcam.

I don't have a web cam. In fact, I've never had a web cam. Is this some kind of porn? It sounds like porn.

You will be able to give your fans the one thing they want

Jobs? World peace? Self-Induced Multiple Orgasms? (Yeah, I know, but I'm still thinking it's porn.)

--You--

See? I was right. Author porn.

and you can do this at home in your office or on the road in tandem with a booksigning or blogtour.

At home, okay, in my office, eh, but while I'm driving? What if I get pulled over? What do I tell the cop? I'm naked and doing naughty things so I can promote my book? He's never going to buy that, you know. Even if I lie and say I'm on my way to a booksigning (and could you explain why would I drive to do a blogtour?)

We can work directly with you, your publicist, or your publisher.

Aha. Now I get it. What you really want is a threesome. I'm pretty sure my publisher isn't that into me. Or my publicist, assuming I have one for this book. Sometimes I do, if it's a full moon and a slow week in the marketing department.

Our objective is to help you connect with your readers and sell more books!

Sure, that's what they all say before they tiptoe out in the morning with their shoes in their hand and all of my money in their PayPal account. Then the grainy video shows up on YouTube, and I have to do another E! special, and the PETA people start calling about the goats . . . I'm sorry, but it's just exhausting, you know?

If you would like to see a demo on how [Kindness Duct Tape] works, please contact me by email at [Kindness Duct Tape]. I'd be delighted to
show you what we've done for NYT bestselling authors [Professional Kindness Duct Tape] as well as aspiring self-published writers.

Nice line up of award-winning people I don't read. *Yawn* I don't know if I want to see any of them naked and doing naughty things to promote their books, though. Especially [Professional Kindness Duct Tape.] That chick naked would probably give me nightmares for life.

Thank you for your time. I look forward to your response.

Actually I did write a response, and sent it to you three times, but it has bounced back every time. Thus I will post it here:

No.

Exotic

Got a nice surprise today in the mail; my first look at the Thai edition of Heat of the Moment, one of my oop Jessica Hall novels:



Thai is a beautiful language, and I wish I could read it, but then, I already know the story.

Our blogpal Vanessa Jaye has a new release this week, Hunter of the Heart, which you can get at Samhain on sale here. If you've been a regular visitor to her blog, this is that wildly intriguing werewolf on a cruise ship story she mentioned awhile back that we were all crazy to read -- and now we can! My thanks to Raine for the heads-up.

Finally, here's a short video by Dmitris Ladopoulos that gives an interesting glimpse into the world of a working carpenter (warning for those who are also at work, includes background music):

The Carpenter from Dimitris Ladopoulos on Vimeo.

Design Your Own

[image error]I was picking up some photo paper at Office Depot today when I spotted this printable magnet paper for inkjet printers. This is the kind of product that for years I wished someone would invent, as I love creative magnets and have a nice if limited collection of my own on our fridge. So I bought a pack of 5 sheets and brought it home to test it out.

I will say up front that cost-wise, the magnet sheets aren't cheap. Office Depot charged me $16.49 for a pack of five sheets, which works out to about $3.30 per sheet. Not a product I'd buy for a huge quantity of magnets; you're probably better off going through a printer for those. But for small batches I thought this product would be ideal. Fridge magnets are usually no larger than a business card, so you could expect to fit six to eight images per sheet, bringing the cost per magnet down to about fifty cents each.

Like most standard printer paper, the sheets are 8-1/2" X 11" in size, and about the same thickness as a heavy cardstock. One side is white semi-glossy (like photo paper) and the other is the black magnetized material. The entire sheet feels like plastic, not paper.

There were no particularly special instructions involved in printing; I just popped it in our old inkjet, although the manufacturer does clearly warn not to use it with any other type of printer but inkjet as it may damage the printer. In my photoshop program I put together a random set of my favorite photos in different sizes along with my cover art for Nightshine and sent them to the printer. The sheet came out with beautiful, crisp images that were much better than I expected (note: the instructions do say to wait until the sheet dries before you try to cut it.)



First I put the entire sheet on the fridge to see if it would stick, and no problem there. After a few minutes the sheet dried (I left it on the fridge to dry) I trimmed it using my paper guillotine. One nice side benefit; the magnetized sheet stuck to the metal edge of my trimmer and didn't move or shift while I was cutting it down. I also tested cutting the sheet with regular scissors as well as a rotary cutter; both worked fine and cut through the sheet easily. The individual magnets also stuck nicely to the fridge, and looked like something I might have bought at a store.

As to what you can do with magnets you can design and size yourself, the sky is the limit. Authors, here's a painless way to make promo cover magnets, release schedule magnets, and web site or blog URL magnets to hand out at cons and booksignings (and I find this product far superior to those sticky-backed business-size magnets intended for business cards that everyone has been using for years.)

This product is also ideal for things like fun family photos, inspirational quotes, a list of emergency phone numbers, addresses, contacts or basically anything you want to display on your fridge or other metal surface. Proud moms can take the best of their kid artwork, scan it and make a magnet version that will last a lot longer. The gift and craft possibilities are endless, too. Writers, if you're kicking around title ideas and not getting anyway, you could print out a list of keywords, cut them up and make fridge word clouds with them.

Poets, I don't have to tell you what this product means for us. Finally we can design our very own custom sets of magnetic poetry! I've already begun compiling mine.

Btw, you don't have to have a commercial-grade or expensive printer to use this product. The printer I used for mine is about six years old; a Lexmark all-in-one, and while it's been a nice, reliable printer for us it's really nothing special. The end results were much better than I expected. I'd just make sure you clean and align your printer if you haven't done that in a while, and print out a test page on plain paper first to make sure you've got everything the way you want it on the magnets to save wasting a sheet of the much more expensive magnet paper.

Charlotte Arrives

Nightshine, the fourth and final novel in my Kyndred series, is hitting the shelves nationwide this week.

This is probably one of the most unusual stories I've written in the dark fantasy/paranormal genre, but I had a lot of fun with it. I think those of you who have been following the Kyndred will be pleased with the wrap-up of the series.

A release day is one of the few times I ask my visitors to do something for me. I don't accept advertising or any form of compensation for Paperback Writer, so if you find my blog to be a useful resource, buying my book is a great way to say thanks. If money is tight right now, which I know it is for many of you, you can also show support by requesting a copy of my novel at your local public library.

To buy online, visit these retailers:

Books-a-Million
Barnes & Noble.com
Amazon.com

Ready, Set, NaNoWriMo

[image error]Today is the first day of National Novel Writing Month, and as one of your (unofficial) NaNoWriMo torch bearers I'll be sharing ideas and putting up lots of posts and links every week in November in hopes of helping you along the way.

Some suggestions on how to kick off your NaNoWriMo:

Set up a wordcount widget or progress meter (like Another Little Progress Meter, NaNoWriMo Word Meter or one of Writertopia's Progress Meters) on your blog or web site and update it as you complete new work.

Put together a novel notebook in which to keep your outlines, chapters, research notes and/or other story ephemera (for examples and ideas, check out my Novel Notebook; for notebook making freeware check out AM-Notebook, Keynote or The Magic Notebook.)

Write a brief (one or two page) outline of your novel idea (try my Ten Point Novel Plotting Template, William Victor's Novel Outline Summary (.pdf) or Writing.com's Blank Novel Outline.)

Find a NaNoWriMo group near you and attend a write-in or other gathering.

Let your online friends know you're NaNoing by displaying one of this year's official web badges (and if you don't have an image account, feel free to use the 2011 NaNo Web Badges I've uploaded.)

One final thought: before I start any new writing project, I take a little time to think, meditate and get my head in the right place. You're always going to have doubts and fears and other ways to talk yourself out of writing a novel (thirty days isn't enough time, you're not that good, it's too much work, etc.) If you can't dispel those anti-NaNoWriMo thoughts with self-confidence, then agree with them. Say yes to all the negativity. It's absolutely right; you can't write a book, it's too much work, there's not enough time, and you're not that good. Then, for the rest of the month, just do it for the hell of it. That way it's nothing important, no big deal, and there's no pressure to be perfect or publish or even finish. You're simply having some fun.

For more ideas on how to dive into writing novel in a productive manner, try reading my how-to Way of the Cheetah, which is free for everyone on the planet until December 1st.

Wishing You

Winner

You all put together a nice list of title recs for the Double Vision giveaway. We just got the hat to work its magic, and the winner is:

Robin Connelly

Robin, when you have a chance please send your ship-to info to LynnViehl@aol.com so I can get your package in the mail. My thanks to everyone for joining in.

Double Vision

Daniel Pool's What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew is one of my favorite nonfic reference books, as it's written to inform but delivers the facts in a friendly, completely readable fashion. It's not just for writers, either; I think what daily life was really like in 19th century England is universally fascinating.

Today while rearranging some shelves I also discovered that I have two copies of the book (I'm pretty sure the extra was a gift from a friend.) While I'm very tempted to keep the spare -- I know eventually I'll read mine to pieces -- it's exactly the sort of book that begs to be passed along. Which means, you guessed it, a giveaway.

If you'd like a chance to win, in comments to this post name a reference, nonfic or how-to title that you've found particularly helpful (or if you can't think of any, just toss your name in the hat) by midnight EST tonight, October 29, 2011. I will draw one name at random from everyone who participates and send the winner my extra unsigned trade paperback copy of What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew by Daniel Pool, along with a surprise. This giveaway is open to everyone on the planet, even if you've won something here at PBW in the past.

NaNoWriMo Prep IV: Glass Wisdom

Ten Gems O' Wisdom You Should Probably Ignore During NaNoWriMo

A Real Writer Earns Money: I guess that means Dickinson and Poe and Thoreau were all fake writers. When I hear this I always think of a not very famous writer named Henry Darger. A quiet, ordinary janitor in Chicago, Henry did not write for money or anyone else. He wrote for himself. Among his many works, which weren't discovered until after he passed away at age 80, was a 15,000+ page, single-spaced typed manuscript that he also illustrated with hundreds of drawings and watercolor paintings. To say someone like Henry wasn't a real writer would be like saying Van Gogh wasn't a real painter (but hey, he didn't make any money, either.)

All NaNoWriMo Novels are Nothing But Crap: Oddly enough (and I love the timing of this) my agent is currently negotiating a contract for the book I wrote the first draft of during NaNoWriMo 2009. I consider it one of the most original novels I've ever written, and the publisher and I are both open to the idea of making it a series. So what was that about crap again?

Always Write the Book of Your Heart: You'll hear this one a lot from writers who can't get past one novel, most of whom should really take that manuscript into the back yard and burn it. If all you want to do is write the Book of Your Heart, it will probably end up being a book that only you want to read. Which if you're like Henry Darger is okay, but I say write the Book An Editor Will Buy.

Feedback Helps While You're Writing: Over time I've watched writers being pressured more and more to take on critique partners, beta readers and otherwise accept assistance while actively writing a story. I've also noticed writers seeking in their own ways to add outside approval before they're finished the work. Whether you call it collaboration, critiquing or writing by committee, it is not automatically helpful. Outside sources (who have their own rules, prejudices and problems with writing, too) can distract or derail you, and obviously that's not going to improve the work. It's your call, but feedback is much more valuable to me after I have a finished product, when I'm fully into my major editing mode. Then I'm in a better place to judge whether or not the feedback is valid.

Follow These Rules: There are so many rules out there I think they've begun breeding like pond scum. I hate rules, too -- there's never been one I've run into that I didn't want to stomp to pieces. Look, as a writer, your job is to write a great story that your readers will enjoy. Do whatever it takes to accomplish that. I think that's the only rule you should worry about.

Life Experience is Important so Wait to Write Your First Novel: This comes from people who think you can't write a book until you're over forty. All of them are probably over forty, too. I wrote my first book when I was thirteen, submitted it and got feedback from an editor, so no, I don't buy into it. I also made my first short story sale a year later. Write when you're ready to write.

Write Every Day: I will say that it's an excellent ambition, and writing daily may help you reach your NaNoWriMo goal. But you probably also have a life. That means if you have four kids and three of them are sick, a day job, a spouse out of town, a sick puppy and/or your sister keeps calling with updates on her latest drama, you're excused from writing for the day. P.S., If you need a note, let me know and I'll write one for you. Unless my sister calls.

You Can'ts and You Musts: You've all heard these; they're issued by those inflexible PC-obsessed folks who believe they should decide how you write, when you write, where you write, what you write, etc. Smile at them, nod at them, but unless they're holding an advance check with your name on it, I suggest you ignore them and make those decisions yourself. Especially when it comes to what you write. Writing simply to placate someone else is utterly demoralizing and, to me, just plain wrong.

You Have to Write Slowly to Write Well: I've been bombarded with this one my entire career. I could do the reverse and say you have to write faster in order to write well -- since that works for me -- but I'm open to the idea that some people do need a decade or more to finish one book. I don't, but that doesn't make me less of a writer; it just means I write and publish more books and I don't have to work a day job. Bottom line, the pace at which you write should be what's most comfortable and productive for you. As long as you're writing, who cares how fast or slow you are?

You Should Write What You Know: I saved this one for last because I think it's the worst gem of all. A great big ugly worthless piece of fossilized dinosaur dung, that has ruined more writers -- for life -- than I really want to think about. It's an imagination killer. Think about it: if we all followed this advice, there would be no science fiction, no vampire fiction, no fantasy fiction . . . really, no fiction whatsoever. Everything published would be autobiographies. That's it, that's all. With the way this world is, I believe that we need more than nonfiction. We need inspiration, and hope, and dreams. Writing what you don't know, writing about the things that exist only in your imagination, shares it with someone else. That creation, those dreams, can help make their reality a little more bearable. And isn't that the point?

What writerly glass wisdom would you like to shatter? Smash it to pieces in comments.