Maria Savva's Blog - Posts Tagged "writing"

As many of you know, I am a resident author at BestsellerBound

For the past couple of weeks I have been involved in a fun writing exercise with a fellow writer on the site, Jason McIntyre author of, 'Shed', and 'On the Gathering Storm'.

We are effectively writing a joint novel/story.

Jason has blogged about it on his blog, click here to read more:
Jason McIntyre's Blog

To read the story so far go here: The online novel

I’m fascinated by the creative process which is why I love reading and writing so much. I am often inspired by events in my own life, or by things I’ve heard, when I write my stories and novels.
I'm often asked, 'How do you come up with the ideas for your stories?'
So, I thought it would be nice if I wrote a paragraph or two about a few of the stories in my latest short story collection,Fusion. These stories were written over a period of over 10 years. Some of the descriptions below contain spoilers, so, unless you’re the type of person who always reads the last line of a book before you finish it (I actually know someone who does that!!) you might want to read ‘Fusion’ before you read this article!

Only Time Can Divide Us

I remember watching a documentary many years ago about young men who fall in love with much older women. It always seems okay when we hear about an older man dating a much younger woman, but for some reason it’s not so well regarded if it’s the other way around. I wrote this story as a love story for a competition.

Untold Crimes

This story came to me around the time that the Swine ‘Flu epidemic was taking hold in the UK. I remember a television advert at the time which seemed to be suggesting that you could be a murderer without realising it if you didn’t take precautions against spreading the virus.


Me and My Dictionary

This one was written for a short story competition where the theme was 'The Dictionary'. The story had to feature a dictionary in some way. My mind somehow came up with this funny little story. For some reason, maybe because I’ve written it in the first person, everyone who reads it always thinks it’s autobiographical. Maybe I just look like the sort of person who would learn all the words in the dictionary? I’ve never really taken the time to learn all the words in a dictionary before... or have I?

Make Hay While The Sun Shines

Again, this story was inspired by a theme for a short story competition. The theme was ‘Make Hay While The Sun Shines’. The story was to be based around that saying. It’s a story about deception, and looking for love.

Hope Springs Eternal

This story is loosely based on my own idealistic attitude towards love and romance. It takes it to the extreme; what would happen if someone fell in love at first sight and then waited around for ever for this special someone who never felt the same?

The Reunion

This is a ghost story. I was always interested in ghost stories when I was growing up, and we lived in a haunted house. I am sure this story was inspired by something I once heard about a person communicating with someone after their death.

A Virtual Affair

This story was written years ago when I was using email for the first time. It explores the idea of how people can pretend to be who they want to be when they are only communicating online.

Till death us do part

This one was inspired by a documentary I watched over ten years ago, about women who would correspond with prisoners on death row, and even have relationships with them. In more general terms, the story is about how it can affect someone’s life when their friends or family don’t agree with their choice of partner.

Seize the day

This is a fun story, dealing with subjects such as how reality TV can propel someone to super-stardom over night, and the modern type of celebrities whose lives are documented daily in newspapers and magazines, and the exploitation that can arise.

The Time Machine

A sci-fi tale. I don’t usually write sci-fi, but I was told by a sci-fi writer that it’s good.
The title says it all, really. I like the ending of this story. It’s one of my favourites.


The Valentine’s Card

There is a great story behind this one. One day, about 17 years ago, I was standing at a bus stop on the way back from work. An elderly woman asked if she could borrow a pen. When I gave her my pen, she said it was nice and asked me what I did for a living. I said I was a trainee solicitor. As she was writing something, another middle-aged woman came over and said something like “That’s a nice pen”. Then when the elderly woman said she’d borrowed it from me, the other woman looked at me and said: “You could write a lot of good things with that pen”. Then she told me a story about a friend of hers who owned a card shop. She told me that a man had gone into the shop and had bought two Valentine’s cards, one for his wife and one for his mistress. The one for his mistress was much bigger and more decorative than the one for his wife. That inspired my short story about ‘The Valentine’s Card’. The thing about those two ladies was that they told me other things, and when I look back they seem to have been some kind of fortune tellers. Anyway, they definitely foretold that I’d be a writer, because I hadn’t started writing stories or novels when I first met them, but they must have seen something in that pen.


Fusion is available as a paperback at all good online booksellers, and can be ordered from bricks & mortar stores by quoting the ISBN 978-0956410139

You can also order it from your local library.

Here are a few links:

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Lulu

Barnes and Noble

Today, I would like to introduce you to one of my favourite people. He's not only a gifted writer, but he is a marvellous person. I met Joel on the BestsellerBound forum, not long after it launched last summer. He immediately caught my attention because he is a bit of a practical joker, and full of fun. To put it simply, I love Joel. I am sure you will all fall in love with him, too.
I have read his novel, Breathing into Stone, and it is one of my favourite books. Joel has generously agreed to give away 2 print copies of this epic novel to readers of my blog. It's an international competition. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment below. Winners will be picked randomly on 5th May 2011.

Joel is the author of four novels, all of which have received fabulous reviews.

Joel is a great supporter of indie authors. On his blog, The Tales The Thing he features authors and books that he has found interesting. His interviews are always fun to read, and I'd highly recommend you to stop by his blog when you get an opportunity.

Last year, Joel single handedly put together a 3 volume sample anthology showcasing 62 authors. This anthology is available as a free download. It includes short stories and excerpts from novels, in various genres. Here's a link to the promotional trailer, for more information:
BestsellerBound Anthology Trailer

Here are Joel's answers to my interview questions:


Is there a particular author, or book, that inspired you to start writing?

Nearly every book I’ve read has inspired me; I just love stories. I really prefer hundred year old narratives, because they were not manipulated as things are today. I’ve admitted to being in love with Gary Jennings’ tales. I hope someday to form a novel as he did.

Do you have any tips for someone who is considering self-publishing their own book?

By all means get it done! There are few feelings as grand as reaching those last few pages. Self-publishing, to me, is the only thing the modern age has gotten right in literature. For someone who feels intimidated by the process – don’t isolate yourself and continue to feel alone; ask for help. Indie authors are a community – a very generous community.

You have published 4 novels in under 2 years, if we are to believe the rumours. That is quite a feat. Can you describe your writing process, and is it true that it took you only 36 days to write one of your books?

True, and still shocking to me. What I’ve only recently admitted, is that I took a year sabbatical from my career and spent the whole time writing. It was easy to write for 14 hours a day. I exploded, so-to-speak. Not knowing I could market on the web, three novels were in my hands before things slowed down. Then I began to poke around the internet and learn what self-publishing was all about. (I believed for months that traditional publishing was my only avenue. I got over that nonsense quickly.) And, yes, Breathing into Stone was completed at just under 200K words in five weeks. Someday I shall be ripped to shreds for that. It will be called a hopeless mess.

My process is very simple. Ideas get swished around in my mind, until they feel good. The best ones are typed a bit. About twenty good story-starts have been filed away. The first chapter is always done in a flash, so I know where I’m going, and those set the tone of the book. Then I unleash my brain to sort everything out. Nothing is typed until I’ve worked it out beforehand. I already have the first chapter of my fifth novel complete, it’s just waiting for me to get going.


From looking at the synopses of your four books, they seem quite unique in themes and genres. Which one was the hardest to write and why?

I don’t have a genre yet. In a few years that will arrive. It’s too much fun experimenting to worry about nailing that down just yet. Harmony's Passing caused me the most work, because the science is so familiar it had to be correct. I researched as the story formed, working out sky positions, and instruments, and a bit of biology. My desk was cluttered with star-charts the whole time. The other three books were just odd ideas that I loved exploring. My upcoming book will cost me a lot of research, because every element of it is taken from actual history – history that I will scramble apart completely.

Which one of your books was the most fun to write, and why?



Harmony was ‘fun’ because I’m a geek. But it was such a delight being with the characters in the others. I am quite in love with Caraliza (from Caraliza), and with Anoria (from Breathing into Stone). My wife thinks that is so stupid. To me, Shared is a bit darker, much more personal. Some elements of that book were difficult to write.

If someone was new to your work, which one of your books would you recommend they read first, and why?

Caraliza, would have to be my choice. It is my shortest novel, that’s a plus already. It is also the purest entertainment, asking only that the reader allow the ghosts to speak to them. Harmony requires some patience for the flood of scientific detail; Breathing into Stone is just a barge – you know that – a short vacation is needed to read that thing. Shared? That book wants into your mind, and into your heart. It wasn’t written to entertain. Shared is a spiritual expedition.

I own all your books, but have only as yet had time to read one of them. Breathing into Stone, is a literary masterpiece in my opinion. I am eager to read your other books after reading that one. Can you tell us what your inspiration was for Breathing into Stone, which is a historical drama, set in Italy, revolving around the life of a master sculptor and his beautiful daughter.

Anoria came to me in a sudden burst of warmth. I had been wondering if I could write from a woman’s perspective, and make her believable. It seemed natural to make her challenge a man’s world, because I knew something about that. I adore that period of time, the 1700’s. The earth was much bigger then. I put Anoria in her father’s marble workshop just hours after imagining her. From that setting, I could indulge my love of that period’s art, and play it all against the Church. Also, I looked around to see if there were any women like her in that period, working with stone. There were so few turned up in my research, I knew Anoria would stand out as very unique. There is nothing unique in my antagonist, Novia. He’s as generic as they come – Furio might really just be cliché, but I like him. He did his job.

The setting is real, Resceto is a charming, tiny little village – right where I claim it is. It gave me some isolation, which enhanced the characters, and it afforded me the chance to fill the novel with the setting. It would have been boring, and half as long if I put them in a little house in Massa. When you stand in Resceto on that single street, it seems you are swallowed by the mountains. But climb just an hour above the village, and you begin to see the stunning landscape, the sea to the west, the mountains rushing away north and south. Suddenly you are in a wide world, and it is a perfect mirror for Anoria’s personal journey; from isolation to the grandeur and fame of the marble culture.

When I read Breathing into Stone, I thought that somewhere in your work background, or at least for a serious hobby, you were involved with carving marble! The description of the way the marble was carved was so intricate, that sometimes I could almost see each tiny detail being carved by the hand of Antonio Lisi or Anoria. But I read in a recent interview that you have no experience in this whatsoever, and didn’t undertake much research either. I find that amazing. Did any of your novels require much research, or do you find that you are always able to write convincing prose without researching your subject matter?

Beginning Breathing into Stone, I could already name more than a dozen of Michelangelo’s most famous marbles. I wrote as an admirer, it’s been a lifetime devotion, and I let that drive the text. If you can’t fill the narrative with love, you’d better be ready with something else, like facts. Harmony could not have been written without a second computer screen open to Google. My next novel will be oppressive work, I actually dread some of that research.

Your ebooks were recently pirated and up for sale on Lulu.com by an unknown seller. Did you ever find out how that happened, or manage to gain any insight into how other authors could possibly protect themselves from having the same happen to them?

Yes, that was resolved in just under two weeks. We had a stupid pirate. I found her on Facebook. She’s been banned by the websites that she used. 52 books were in her storefront on Lulu.com. I’ve had correspondence with nearly all those authors. Any one of them could file international complaints against the pirate. I have certainly done that.

As to protection from book theft: there is none at the retail websites. There are no systems to identify false books, only the author can do that. Also, nothing will be done by any retailer, other than remove the content and ban the pirate from the site. So, don’t believe the legal scarewords in the user agreements on those sites. Retailers could not care less if a work is stolen or legit. Retailers care about profit and nothing else. (Sheesh – isn’t that already sooo obvious?) Authors must be aware of themselves on the internet; you should do regular vanity searches. Know where your books should be. Know how your books appear at all times on the web. It is a lot of work, but it helped me uncover a thief.

You have gained a reputation as a man who likes to help other indie authors succeed. I understand you have a blog dedicated to seeking out and promoting authors who in your opinion should be read by the masses. You also masterminded the BestsellerBound Sample Anthology, where over 60 authors (including myself) were able to showcase a chapter from one of their books, or a short story in an anthology which is available free for anyone to read on various websites. What is your motivation behind such efforts?

Fun :)

What is your opinion of the current state of indie publishing as compared to traditional publishing, and do you have any predictions as to how the publishing industry will change in the coming years?

My opinion is tiresome. I’m really a whiner. No one in traditional publishing had time to look at me, so I complain about them. They shout their refrain ‘.. it is good, because we say it is good,’ but it is not the exclusive reality they think they own. It is no longer true. Oddly, my opinion is also shared by about 4 million people on earth....

Traditional publishing (modern publishing) has been strangling literature for my entire lifetime. Makes no difference they have published an increasing number of books every year since the advent of the printing press. In my lifetime they have applied ‘marketing’ which didn’t improve a single damned book. I cannot predict what traditional publishing is about to endure, but I’m thrilled they must change. If part of the industry dies... I don’t care. Writers are no longer suffering with false constraints.

The ants in the industry, who should be screaming in panic, are literary agents. They have no purpose in self-publishing. Even editors can enjoy some trust from Indie authors, but the agency driven paradigm is dying. It has already drowned in good submissions, and proven itself useless.

Who are your favourite authors and what is it about their writing that you like?

That’s a long list, Dear. I’ve already named Gary Jennings. He can make me close my eyes, and close the book, with a single sentence. His words are stunning. I enjoy classics, and have read most of the standards – Edgar Allan PoeHerman MelvilleJules VerneOrson WellesCharlotte BrontëJane Austen. If you want to be seriously challenged on every subject possible, in a single narrative, find and read Bulwer-Lytton. But, I also love quirky things. Christopher Moore is also a favorite of mine because he seems to be writing as though he cannot believe his books are being published. THAT must be such fun.

Indie authors thrill me, and I’m a kid in the candy shop again. Just look at the authors featured on my blog, and discover cutting edge talent.

Is there a book you own that you’ve read more than once?

I’ve re-read every classic that I own. But I’ve gone back to J R Tolkien and Lewis Carroll more than any others. Half a dozen times for Tolkien’s Ring fantasy. I have an original 1898, first edition printing of a rare book by a dentist, Dr. Henry Allen Tupper. Around the World With Eyes Wide Open: The Wonders of the World Pictured by the Pen and Pencil 1898 is a travelogue, written at the moment the world began to shrink, and modern transportation made the globe a vacation ground. I’ve read that several times.

What was the last book you read? Yours - The Dream (soon to be published). Before that, two of mine, because I was hunting errors in my own text. Before that....several other Indie authors. I did finish reading Tolkien’s ‘Hobbit’ aloud my son Colin, just a month ago. He loved it.

Are you reading a book at the moment?

At the moment I’m reading first chapters of submitted works for the JournalStone Publishing Horror contest. That has been an enlightening exercise, because I’m not reading to be entertained, but to judge. Jurists have been asked to read with very particular guidelines, and then score the work for the next step in the competition. It has made me think very differently of the way stories are created. I have ten elements that must be considered with each submission. I’m having great fun with it.

What do you think of ebooks?

eBooks have made reading fun again. We’ve invented a cool way to tote our books. I love them, for their ability to show text to the masses. I hate them for their inability to make a page look as the author intended. I’m good at sneaking things into the format that I demand, like fonts which normally refuse to appear. I don’t just submit, I experiment and then hammer on the file before upload. One retailer finally gave up on me, because I couldn’t get what I wanted in the final ebook’s appearance. They got tired of refusing my submission.

How important are reviews for you as a writer?

Don’t tell me you are reading my book. I’ll drive you nuts to hurry you and get the review. Can’t grow without it, can I?

How do you go about choosing a cover for your books?

Um...I may be bad at it? Caraliza is a professional bit of work by Serendipity Graphic Design in Holland. I paid for that. I love that image, but also saw the other couple hundred taken. That photoshoot, in The Hague, was magic. The model, Maret Reutelingsperger, captured my character perfectly. At least for me.





Shared also has a stunning cover, and that was a lucky find on a photo website. I really only care the cover give some impression of the book, and perhaps only the mood of it. I really couldn’t care a whit that my name be on the cover.


What are you working on now?

Something which is so secret that I won’t say more than this: it is an alternative history. We all know the story, up to the point I take it over. It will only be available in hardbound print; no ebooks. And the synopsis is a single sentence of five words. It might be ready sometime in 2012.

Where can people buy your books?

Smashwords for the best price and selection of formats

Lulu for prints

I’m beginning to use Createspace for prints too. Only Shared is available there now.


Apart from your blog, where people can read more about your work?

Hehe Google my full name. I have a huge footprint.

Is there anything you’d like to say to your readers?

Read Indie Authors! Hug your kids a lot. Don’t get dressed in the dark; people will stare at you.

Thank you, Joel, for being such a splendid guest :)


Remember, you can win a print copy of Breathing into Stone just by leaving a comment on this blog post :) Good luck!

My good friend and fellow author Jason McIntyre has asked me to continue this blog meme... You can read his blog about what writing is like, here: The Farthest Reaches

Well, how do I follow that?

Jason is a very talented writer, I would say he has a gift. As many of you already know, I wrote Cutting The Fat with him as an online novel on BestsellerBound.com last year. It was a fun experience and it definitely made me realise that he is a top notch author. Try reading one of his books and you'll fall for the magic too.

Here goes, I shall attempt to describe what writing is like...

Writing is like walking into a movie theatre and having a choice as to what happens up there on the big screen... it’s exhilarating, exhausting, and it takes you away to places you never thought you’d go. It’s exciting. The way I write is by having a brief outline of what my novel will be about and then I start writing and the story flows as I go along. I create the characters and they will then direct me as to what should happen based on what type of person they are and what happened to them in their journey of life. Writing is like reading someone’s secret diary and finding out all their secrets and sharing them with the world... it’s only when you read over the finished product that writers will realise that those little secrets you are sharing are most often your own... Our subconscious mind is responsible for creativity and it also hoards a lot of information about our pasts. It’s all stored away there like old belongings in boxes in an attic that you just don’t want to get rid of. Some of the boxes have fun items which translate into the more humourous portions of the book, some of the boxes have been sealed because we’d rather not look back there, but sometimes if we take a peek, we can find that writing about it can somehow help us to deal with the darker memories. These usually translate to the more dramatic aspects of our writing.
Writing is a solitary experience but with all the characters in our heads and the stories overflowing in our imaginations writers are never really alone.
Writing is like baring your soul to the public, hanging your laundry out for all to see. The great Paulo Coelho once said, “Writing books is a socially acceptable form of getting naked in public”. Many writers will relate to that statement.

Now, I have to ask some of my fellow authors to continue this meme. I choose:

Quentin R. Bufogle because he is so funny and I know I'm just going to love his blog post about this :)

Jen Knox because I'm currently reading her collection of short stories and am mesmerised by her talent

Joel Blaine Kirkpatrick because I know he will come up with a spellbinding blog post.

My excitement for my book launch today has been doubled because I am launching on the same day as my good friend and fellow author, Darcia Helle.

For those of you who might be new to my blog, I'll explain a bit about how I connected with Darcia.
Last summer I was invited by Darcia to join BestsellerBound.com as a resident author. Up until that time I didn't really know Darcia, except that I was a friend through Goodreads and maybe some other networking sites. I was very impressed by her website and blog so I agreed to join her and Stacy Juba in launching BestsellerBound. That message board is now very popular with independent/small press authors and readers. If you haven't already been there to have a look, please do join us. We love meeting new authors and readers.

A few months ago I found out that Darcia was busy writing her new novel, 'Into The Light'. As I was planning to release my new novel, 'The Dream', it made sense to launch the books together, especially as they are both books that feature ghosts!

More about the books:

The Dream:



Blurb: Lynne cannot shake her feelings of dread; her dreams tell her she is making a terrible mistake, she must not marry Adam. But, how can she believe the dream? Lynne and Adam have shared their lives for three years now. She is certain she loves him. It is not that love, which her dream warns against. It doesn't matter that she loves this man she will soon marry. If she marries him, the voice in her dream says her soul mate will die. Her true love will perish. Soon, Lynne's world is transformed and becomes almost unrecognisable, except for the déjà vu. Time doesn't seem to mean much anymore, and things are not quite as they seem. As her world spins out of control, Lynne must sort out what's real and what isn't to fulfill her destiny.

Link to the book trailer: The Dream - Book Trailer

Where you can read a sample: Goodreads

Where you can buy it! Lulu.com for the paperback version. Save 30%!

The paperback version will also soon be available on Amazon and B&N and other such sites. You can also order it from any bookstore or library quoting the ISBN: 978-0-9564101-5-3

Ebook!
Amazon Kindle
Journal-Store
Smashwords.com Where you can download in any format to suit your ereader.

Into The Light:



The blurb:
Max Paddington refuses to go into the light until he finds his killer. This presents a dilemma, since Max is even less competent as a spirit than he was as a live person. No one sees or hears him and he can't manage to get anywhere or do anything on his own.

Joe Cavelli is a private investigator, living an ordinary life. Then one day he walks across a parking lot, gets yelled at by a ghost, and his life only gets stranger from there.

Max and Joe team up to find Max's killer. In the process, they form an unlikely friendship and change each other's lives in ways they never expected.

Link to the book trailer: Into The Light - book Trailer

Where you can read a sample: Darcia's Blog

Where you can buy it! On Darcia's website (print copy pay via paypal): The Book will also soon be available on Amazon and other good book stores. You can order it from any bookstore or library quoting ISBN: 978-1463640200

Ebook version on
Amazon Kindle
Smashwords

Contest!

Darcia Helle is currently hosting a giveaway where you can enter to win a print copy of both our books! It runs until Wednesday 20th July, so be quick, this is a 48hr giveaway! Here's the link to the contest: Giveaway!

Enjoy the books!

The Dream has been published for just over a week now, and I have already started writing my next novel. I told myself I would have a rest after completing The Dream as it was very hard work getting it finished! But as they say, there is no rest for the wicked, so I am on to my next project. In fact, far from feeling bogged down, I am actually enjoying it. As with all my work, it is slightly different from the other novels I have written to date... I like to try new things. This one is quite deep and deals mainly with crime and the psychology behind that and the impact of it. I shall say no more for now. With this one, I have started off with a plan, but am drifting away from that and into quite interesting territory. I have written about 12,000 words so far, although it's hard to be precise as I have gone back to writing it with pen and paper rather than typing it. It just seems to suit me better that way.

In other news, my latest short story: 'Isolation', will be featured in "The BestsellerBound Short Story Anthology-- Volume 2", which is to be released very soon... any day now I am told. Watch this space for further news.

You can read all about my new novel, 'The Dream', on Darcia Helle's blog:

Interview -- Dreaming With Maria Savva

I'm going to start a new series on my blog: my A-Z of Writing and Self-Publishing Tips. The first post from that series can be found on author K.B. Walker's blog.

Here's a link to the blog, where I have posted A-C, including tips about apostrophes, blogs, and writing contests.


http://nutsandcrisps.wordpress.com/20...


Enjoy!

Welcome to the second instalment of my series, in which I highlight a few things I have learnt over the years about the self-publishing journey.

I hope the series will be useful to aspiring writers and those who are having a hard time navigating their way through the often confusing self-publishing process.

The first part of the series was featured on author K.B. Walker's blog: A-C Writing and Self-publishing tips

So here we go:

D

Dialogue & Description:

There is a view that you should not include too much dialogue in your fiction. This is a view that, frankly, I don't believe in. I write character-driven fiction that contains a lot of dialogue, and I like it that way. When I'm reading books, I also like a lot of dialogue; when it's done correctly, it helps move the action along and also entertains more than a paragraph of prose ever could. That said, you should not include too much dialogue to the exclusion of other description. I think that description in a novel is also an important part of it. I really believe that there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to how much dialogue and how much description you include in a novel, the important thing is that you write in a way that makes it easy for the reader. Writers will find their own style, and some will include a lot of description, some more dialogue. Where there is more description than dialogue in a novel, it can result in a slower paced book. Books with more dialogue are often quicker to read.

The important points when constructing dialogue in a novel, are as follows:

1. Make it clear who is speaking. So, for example, where there are two men talking to each other, if you say 'he said' a few times, this could result in confusion. Perhaps, have one of the men mention the name of the other within the dialogue once or twice, or mention the name of one of the men, e.g. 'said James.'

2. Vary the writing, i.e. don't keep saying, 'he said', or 'she said' every time a character finishes speaking. Add other things, like, 'he swept his hand through his hair as he spoke', or 'she avoided his eyes'. In this way you are 'showing' your reader what the characters are doing as they're speaking. An example:


One way of doing it:

'How much is this vase?' asked John.
'Fifty pounds,' answered Bobby.
'That's expensive for a vase.'
'It's rare... an antique,' said Bobby.

Another way:

John picked up a blue vase with a floral design.'How much does this cost?' He asked.
Bobby eyed him up and down as if trying to work out how much he could afford to pay. He narrowed his eyes and said, 'That's fifty pounds.'
John's eyes widened. 'That's expensive for a vase.'
'It's rare... an antique,' said Bobby as he wiped a stain from the top of the shop counter, avoiding John's stare.

Okay, so that's a basic unedited paragraph, but I hope it highlights what I mean about trying to make the dialogue interesting.

3. Make the dialogue realistic; i.e. if your story is set in a certain part of the country where people have an accent and a certain way of saying things, you should really include that within the dialogue.

I do know of writers who have done quite well writing a whole short story only using dialogue and nothing else. So, it is doable. I suppose the point I really want to make is that you should never listen to anyone who says there are hard and fast rules for this type of thing; as with any creative pursuit, use your own intuition, and make sure you feel happy with the writing you are putting out there.

Digital publishing:

Any new writers would be forgiven for being confused by all the various ways you can publish e-books online. This is very much the digital age when it comes to publishing. More e-books are sold than print books these days, so if you are serious about your writing you do need to consider having your books available in digital form as well as print.

There are number of sites available for publishing your books as e-books. Some of them are listed below:

1. Amazon Kindle - probably the most popular, and most widely read. I sell the majority of my e-books via Amazon Kindle. It's relatively easy to upload your books onto Kindle yourself and you don't even need an ISBN number to do that. Your book will be available more or less worldwide and at a price you choose. I don't think any serious writer can get away with not publishing their books on Kindle.

2. Smashwords.com - This is a great site for indie writers. It allows you to upload your book and it will be converted into most digital formats, so it's available for download to most (if not all) e-readers.

3. Barnes and Noble (B&N) - Nook. This is also a popular reading device. If you publish through Smashwords, your book will be available through B&N. Or, you can upload to B&N directly (although when I last looked at that you can only upload directly if you have a US address or bank account).

4. iBookstore - the iPad is becoming more an more popular. Uploading your books onto the iBookstore can be done direct. I am told that if you produce a document on Pages (on a Mac) you can convert it into ePub and upload very easily onto the iBookstore. I haven't tried that yet, and believe there may be some restrictions for anyone outside the US trying to publish on there. I did get a few of my books converted free by Lulu.com, so they appear on the iBookstore.


E

Editing

This is a biggie. Ignore this at your peril.

You MUST make sure that before you publish a book of any type, it has been edited, and in most cases this means that someone other than the author has looked through it with a fine-toothed comb.

By 'someone', I mean someone who has knowledge of grammar, spelling, syntax.

I can't stress how important that is.

In the past few years, I have read hundreds of indie books, and about 98% of them have had problems associated with the fact that a good editor was not used... It's frustrating. I know that when you're a writer starting out you will be very keen to publish your work. You will love it, you will feel accomplished when you write a whole novel, you'll show it to a friend or two, maybe your mum and dad, they will all tell you it's great. Then you publish... then you learn. This is the road most authors take on the journey. We all make mistakes.

I can give an example from my own publishing journey. I know that I published Coincidences too soon. I should have sat on the story, re-read it, edited it, and waited until it was perfect, but I was keen to publish and a less-than-perfect version is out there in hardback. My second edition is as near as what I would say is perfect (in my opinion), but my reviews from the older version are still there on Amazon, and will live with me. The first version was good, but not great. We should all be aiming for great books before we publish them. At the time I published Coincidences the first time, I was sure it was perfect and would become a best-seller, but that was over 12 years ago and I have learnt so much since then. There is a lesson in that to aspiring writers: just because you think your book is the best thing since sliced bread, it may not be :)

In conclusion, it's okay, and not the end of the world, if you've published a less-than-perfect book, but we must always be striving for perfection, so either do what I did with Coincidences and rewrite it until you're happy with it, or try to edit your work before your publish it to avoid all that.

Try and use an editor who comes recommended by someone else. With my soon-to-be-released novel, Haunted, I used the editing services of Susan Helene Gottfried. I am quite confident with my writing by this stage of my writing life, but I spent so many months editing Coincidences that I wanted to hand over the hard part of the publishing process to someone else. I'm glad I did, because I now have someone's comments on my book that will make me think from the perspective of a reader when polishing my work.

It's also important to have proof-readers. But I can deal with that subject in a later part of this series.

F

Formatting

This follows on nicely from the part above about digital publishing.

Self-published writers are expected to wear many hats. They are artists, writers, entertainers, now marketers and editors, and the digital age has required them to be able to be computer-literate and format their books into a version that can be accepted on e-book seller sites.

There are guidelines that you can follow on Amazon Kindle and Smashwords and other sites that will enable you to upload books yourself to the sites. I found I was limited with what I could do as I have a Mac computer and until recently most sites were not very user-friendly for Macs. I was lucky enough to have a good author friend who helped me with formatting. I won't mention her name in case she's inundated with requests for help LOL.

Formatting is a big issue in publishing. I read a lot of Kindle books and notice that most of them have formatting issues. This is partly due to the fact that the book is being converted from one file type to another. It can also be due to the fact that Microsoft Word is quite a basic software system not capable of functioning well for this type of usage (an IT expert told me this.)

There is help and there are resources you can find on the Internet if you find that you are stuck and need help with formatting.

If you want to go it alone, self-published without using another company but just require formatting help, I would recommend, eBookBuilders: https://digitalebookformatting.wordpr... I am told that this company will produce the best quality formatted ebooks for your requirements. I am probably going to use the company for my next e-book. It would be peace of mind to know that the product I am publishing will be the best it can be.

Facebook

One of the features I have recently started using on Facebook is the Author Fan Page. So, I've set up a page separate from my own personal page, and use that for promoting my books. I think all authors should have a fan page. It makes sense, because then you can post personal stuff on your own page and project a more professional image on your Author Page. It's quite easy to set up the page. You go to your 'home' page and click on 'Pages' then there should be a link for 'start a new page', or something like that. You build the page as you would your normal Facebook page.

I found that getting people to 'Like' the page can be a struggle, but I was invited to a Facebook Event yesterday, where people were swapping 'Likes' and it was very successful. I ended up with 315 'Likes' of my page. When people 'Like' your page, they will see whatever you post in their news feed. So, the more 'Likes' you have, the better.

Friendly

I'm just going to tag this on the end because I believe that now we are in the e-publishing world we are all much more accessible on the Internet. A big part of what we do as self-published writers is marketing. That's marketing of our book, but also be aware that you are also marketing yourself as a brand name. It's important that you are friendly in your approach to readers and fellow indie authors. There is nothing more off-putting than an author who obviously just wants to sell you his or her book, but just as obviously, doesn't want to know anything about you...
Get to know your readers and have a circle of fellow writers that you can chat with. Writing is a lonely business, but with the advent of the Internet and all the various social networking sites, it can also be a lot of fun.

That brings me onto another word: Fun You should have fun as a self-published writer, enjoy what you are doing and this will come across to others. If you are not happy, you should perhaps not be self-published. Being a self-published writer is hard work, it's something that won't bring immediate results, and there are many things that can drag you down. This is another reason why it's important to have fellow authors you can chat to.

Here's another F word: Forum Join a writers'/readers' forum, liked Bestsellerbound.com, that I mentioned in my last post (Under B).

Look out for my next post in this series. Coming soon...

I'm continuing my series with a few more self-publishing and writing tips that I hope you'll find handy.



N:

Names

One thing that is very common for writers when they first start out, is the need to use capital letters for everything. I've done it, and I've read lots of books by debut novelists that have the same issue.

You only need to use a capital letter at the start of a proper name, place name, or the brand name for something, or for a title. Obviously you use capital letters for days of the week, months of the year etc., but I find the most common errors are to do with misuse with words like mum and dad, aunt and uncle -- with these types of words you only need a capital letter where it's being used as a name. A few examples to hopefully make this clearer:

Where you don't need a capital letter:

Rachel's mum was doing the ironing.

Greg's dad was watching television.

My uncle came to visit.

The queen was in the parlour.

The king was in his counting house.

I went to university with him.

I have an appointment with the doctor.

Where a capital letter is needed:

"Are you doing the ironing, Mum?" asked Rachel. (Notice the word 'mum' is being used as a name.)

"What's on TV, Dad?"

"Thanks for visiting, Uncle Bob."

The ruler of the land was Queen Elizabeth.

For fifty years, King Henry had ruled.

I went to Middlesex University.

My appointment is with Doctor Green."

Another one is God. You always use capital G for God because it is a name, assuming you are using it for the one and only God. If you are talking of multiple gods, you don't need a capital letter. Again, when you're talking of the one and only God, you would also use capital letters when referring to Him, and use He and His, when you are talking about Him.

Hopefully, I haven't thoroughly confused you now.


NaNoWriMo

I have never actually taken part in this, but have been told by fellow writers that it's an excellent way to kickstart a new project, especially if you tend to procrastinate.

It means: National Novel Writing Month, and the idea is to write a complete novel in a month. Some people (amazingly) do manage to do this. Others don't, but those that don't finish often say that they are pleased they took part as they now have the beginning of a novel and can continue to work on it. I am not an expert of NaNoWriMo, so I can't really add any more to this, except, here's a link to the website where you can find out more about it. It takes place every November:

http://www.nanowrimo.org/

Networking

One of the most important things you can do as a self-published writer is network with fellow writers, readers, and people involved in the book-publishing industry in some way.

I have mentioned the forum, Bestsellerbound.com, where I am lucky enough to have met many supportive and talented independent writers. The great thing about having a support network is that you can get help when you need it, and two heads are better than one when it comes to finding ways to promote.

Find a writers group that you are happy with, and stay connected.

Twitter is also a great place to meet other writers, I have found (writers tend to follow fellow writers). I've also signed up to the World Literary Cafe Twitter Follows, here: http://www.worldlitcafe.com/, where you follow other Twitter users and they follow back. A good way to build a following, and network with other writers.


O:

Okay and OK

Many writers seem to be very confused about this word. I find variations, including ok, Ok, Okay... they are all wrong (except the last one if it's at the beginning of a sentence and needs the capital O.)

The only two correct ways of writing OK are:

OK and okay

OK????


P:


Podcasts

Increasingly, authors are using podcast interviews as a way to promote their work.

Two internet podcasts that I have appeared on are Tweep Nation, and Blue Bonnets, Bagpipes & Books.

I am still quite reluctant to agree to do podcast interviews, because I always get very nervous. However, if you like that sort of thing, I'd recommend the two podcasts listed above. There are many more similar opportunities if you search around the Internet.


Promotion

What are the best ways to promote? That is the million dollar question. I am not sure that there is a way to promote your books to make sure you get sales. The nearest I've got to success was when I did the last KDP Select free promotion of my book Coincidences. There is no doubt that the Amazon KDP Select programme increases the visibility of books on the Amazon website. However, I have found that the only way to be sure of lots of downloads is to promote using the free days. i.e. give your books away. I had about 14,000 downloads in my last free promotion. For about a month after the promotion the book was selling well, but it appears to have died down. I think because there are so many books on Amazon, and so many being given away free each day, in order for your book to be noticed it has to be quite high up in the bestselling lists. The free promotion goes some way to helping this, but after the promotion dies down, sales do too. The benefit of giving away so many free books though, is that when people read your book, if they like it, they will go on to buy more of your books. So, I suppose if you only have one book, I wouldn't recommend the KDP Select free promotion as a great way to advertise, but most writers have more than one book in them.

Even if you don't want to be part of the KDP Select programme, you can get your book listed free on Amazon. Author Darcia Helle has had great success from giving away one of her books free on Amazon, she continues to offer her first novel, Enemies and Playmates, free on Amazon and sales of her other books have taken off because of that. Again, this is only an option for those authors who have one or more books. The way to get your book listed free on Amazon without joining the KDP Select programme, is by listing it free on another site, e.g. Smashwords or Barnes and Noble, and then going to your book's page on Amazon and reporting the free book, by clicking the link that says: 'Tell us about a lower price'. There is no guarantee that Amazon will match the free price, but if you ask some of your readers and fellow authors to help out with reporting the free book to Amazon, there is more of a chance this will happen.

Proofreaders

I think I have already mentioned the importance of good proofreaders when preparing your book for publishing, when I was talking about Editing, in an earlier post in this series.

I will quickly mention it again, as it is so important. I would recommend that you have at least a handful of good proofreaders to check over your work for grammatical and typographical errors. There are things that your spellchecker won't pick up. For instance, where you use a word that sounds like another word e.g. their and there, it's a very common mistake to use the wrong one, not because you don't know the difference, but because the brain is a strange thing... You could accidentally have written "is" instead of "if", for example, or "of" instead of "off", "to" instead of "too". These are some of the most common mistakes I've noticed in writing. Proofreaders can often notice these things. One proofreader wouldn't notice all of them. I have found that when using 6 or 7 proofreaders they tend to find different errors, often completely missing those found by the other proofreaders, so I would never rely on just one person to check through the finished manuscript.

This leads me on to the next point I want to make:

Perfection

Although we must all strive for perfection in our writing, over the years, I have learnt that it is almost impossible to achieve it and you should not be too hard on yourself. Try to make sure that your book is error free; use an editor; proofreaders, and beta readers. Read it through yourself a few times, but realise that even after you've done all of this there will likely be 2 or 3 (if not more) typos. As a reader, I can forgive these, and I'm sure most readers can. What you don't want to produce is a book with a typo on every page, or every other page... that will frustrate your readers.


Pinterest

I'm going to quickly mention Pinterest. I have an account there and I know it's catching on, because there are P signs alongside the Google+ and FB and Twitter signs on many websites, so you can share things that you like to Pinterest.

On Pinterest, the idea is simple, you create 'Boards' containing things that you have found that are of interest on the Internet. For writers, you can use it to list your books, and links to your websites. There are also Boards that you can join where you can add your books, for example, I have joined a board called 'The World of Indie Authors' and there are links to books by many different authors.

I hope you have found some of the above helpful.


To see the other posts in this series, please follow the links below:


A-C: http://nutsandcrisps.wordpress.com/20...
D-F: http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_...
G: http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_...
H-J: http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_...
K-M: http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_...

I was looking through my blog posts a while back and came across one that I wrote this time last year about my writing goals for 2012. Here's a link: http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_...

I accomplished 2 out of 3 which isn't bad. Number 3 was my new short story collection. I had planned to publish that last year, but life gets in the way of these things. Anyway, I'm almost ready to publish that collection, so not too far behind schedule.

Here are my writing goals for 2013:

1. Publish my new short story collection, titled, "Delusion & Dreams, an Anthology". I have decided on the stories that will be included in this new collection. The story "Delusion & Dreams" is a story in four parts. The first part I wrote about a year ago, but when I read it over a couple of months ago I was inspired to continue the story. I ended up writing three more parts to it. I banned myself from writing any more because I didn't want to be writing another novel (I'm already working on one!). Two of the stories in this new collection were rescued from an old floppy disk. I'd written them back in the mid-late '90s. There were several other titles of short stories that showed up on the old disk when I tried to copy them on to my new computer, but there was no data, so either they are lost forever or I have just not found a way to recover the data yet. Time will tell. Quite a few of the other stories for this new collection were found on my computer, dating back a few years at least. I'd originally written them for short story competitions. I have edited all the stories. Two of the stories in this new anthology were stories I discarded from the original ones I wrote for Pieces of a Rainbow. When I read the stories again, I liked them, so although they didn't fit in with what I wanted for "Pieces of a Rainbow", they deserve to be published, in my opinion (I may be biased, of course). I'll be including bonus stories; those that have already been published in the BestsellerBound Anthologies. I thought it would be nice to have all the stories in one place.

2. I would hope to at least be almost ready to publish my new novel by the end of the year. The book is very much in the early stages at the moment, so it depends how much time I get to write this year. The working title is "Illusion", but this could change. It's a fantasy/romance with a splash of rock fiction.

3. I will be publishing a second edition of A Time to Tell sometime this year, hopefully. I've ended the contract with the original publisher who helped me publish the book. I will be self-publishing the second edition through Lulu.com as I have done with my other titles. I thought it made more sense to have all my titles in the same place, and also, this way, I have more control over the book and royalties.

4. I am involved in a joint writing project with the BestsellerBound members. I have already written my chapter, and a few other authors have done too. There are a few outstanding chapters left to write for that project. I'm hoping that the novel will be published this year.

5. Last year I started writing an experimental novel with another author. I'm not sure whether this one will ever see the light of day as we are both very busy, but if it does, it will be something different, and hopefully something our readers will enjoy. As you can tell it's in the 'top secret' stage at the moment.

I will of course keep you updated on all the developments.