Ruth Ann Nordin's Blog

Testing What Makes a Story Compelling (And What Doesn’t)

This post is specifically geared to other writers since the topic is about storytelling. Earlier this year, I came across a YouTube video where the person mentioned how she realized she had a lot of books on her device that she never read. Instead of buying any more books, she decided she would start reading each book on it, and as soon as it bored her, she would remove the book then move on to the next one. She was surprised by how many books she lost interest in within the first couple of chapters. Her point in mentioning this was to tell other writers that it’s crucial to pay attention to how you setup your story. You don’t want to lose your reader early on by writing stuff that takes the story off the rails.

About two months ago, I decided I would do something similar, but my goal would be to read a book until I lost interest. Not only would I stop reading, but I would take note of where I lost interest and why. On the flip side, I also started noting what books hooked me in right away and kept me going through to the final page. More importantly, I ask myself “why”.

As you can expect, this started getting expensive since I wasn’t even getting past the first few chapters on most of the books I picked up, so I decided to become a Kindle Unlimited reader. I will pick up free books if I find them, so that is how I have discovered wide authors.

So if I find a wide author who is offering a book for free, I am inclined to get the book. I did break this rule and purchased a $0.99 book only because the vibe to it was something that I really like. (I would not have purchased this book at the $4.99 regular price because this is an author I’ve never heard of before. But the sale, along with the book description and genre piqued my interest. In short, I was a huge Goosebumps fan back in high school and even in college, and this book delivered on the same premise. Anyway, I enjoyed this book so much I subscribed to the newsletter and pre-ordered the next book in the series. So if anyone wonders if running a promotion works even at $0.99, the answer is yes. You also don’t have to be in Kindle Unlimited to attract a readership if you are able to find your niche. I will add that this book is not a big seller. In fact, it’ll be hard to find in a search. That is why the ad paid off. I found this book on BookDoggy promotion list. They email promotions once a day. I look through these every day and have found most of my reads this way. I like BookDoggy because it gives me a range of genres. As I mentioned in another post, I’m exhausted from reading romance, probably because I have read so many in the past and write this genre. I have picked up a couple of romances, though, because they do sound interesting enough to try. I’ve enjoyed a couple of them, too. And I do ask myself, “Why?”

The why is the key to everything when you are a storyteller. The goal of writing a book is not to appeal to everyone. That is impossible. You can, however, find your audience. The way to find that audience is to make the book something they want to read to the end of the book. If you can tap into why you lose interest in a book, then you can write to avoid those pitfalls in your own story. Likewise, if you can tap into why you kept reading, you can use those elements in your own story to make the story more engaging for your specific audience. Please note: I am not talking about stealing another author’s work. I am talking about the elements in storytelling that can apply to any story.

Let’s say, for example, your mind starts to wander when Chapter 1 in the book goes into a heavy backstory about the character’s life. Now you know not to do this in your own story. Perhaps you find your mind wandering if the characters in a scene are doing a lot of talking with very little action or internal thoughts. Now you know that you should be sure to balance action and internal thoughts in with the dialogue. Or maybe the story was going along really well, and all of the sudden, you are thrown into a chapter that makes no sense at all to the stuff that came up before it. You know that you don’t want to do that in your story, too. There are many reasons why we could lose interest in a book. Those reasons can help you fine-tune your own storytelling.

And discovering what it was about the books you did like can be just as helpful. If you love a lot of description and the slow build, then this strategy will serve you as the writer. If you would rather start with some action to get things rolling, then this will be a better way for you to go. Maybe you realize you don’t like a certain character type. Like I was trying to read some romances with the super hunky, rich, and powerful hero who pretty much tells the heroine what to do. I should know that would never appeal to me because I wouldn’t tolerate that kind of thing from my husband. I am just as capable of doing things as he is, and I want him to realize it. I’m sorry if that sounds harsh. I am not trying to be harsh in stating it that way. I almost deleted it. But then I realized that kind of statement illustrates the “why” in the kind of hero I should be writing. So let me flip this around to smooth things over a bit because I really don’t mean to step on anyone’s toes. Some people have found the beta hero (which is my preferred hero) to be a spineless simp who lets everyone walk all over him. I don’t see the beta hero that way, but I can see how some do. If you see the beta this way, this is your “why” on why you should write the alpha hero. You might see the alpha hero as a strongly attractive man who isn’t afraid to rise to the challenge.

Anyway, you can use other tropes to figure out what you like or don’t like. Do you enjoy an enemies-to-lovers setup? Do you gravitate toward a serial killer horror novel? Do you enjoy reading books where you explore new planets? What is it about all of these core elements in the stories you read that keeps you going? Is it the building of suspense? If the answer was given too quickly, why do you think that? If the answer was given at the perfect moment, why is that? Do you enjoy thinking on new ideas, like how would a political or religious system work on an alien planet? Did the author present something you found plausible? Why or why not?

There are many ways to dissect elements within the story and think on how the author did, or did not, pull it off. It all boils down to “why” something works or doesn’t work for us. In the end, you should be writing for people like you. I like to think that we are our first primary reader. If the book can engage us from start to finish, then we have successfully written a compelling story for the specific audience we wish to reach.

Random Thoughts About Reading Genres Other Than the One I’m Writing

I can’t speak for all writers, but I’m at the point where I don’t want to read the kind of books I writing. I know that sounds terrible. Early on (from about 1996-2007), I actually wrote thrillers, science fiction, and fantasy. This was before 2009 when I discovered the ease of self-publishing. This is why you don’t see a lot of thrillers, science fiction, and fantasy under my name. While I was writing that genre, I was reading a lot of romance, specifically historical western romances. It was my favorite genre to read. I just hadn’t written one yet. I did go with a couple of vanity presses to publish those books, but that got pretty expensive, so I would only put out about one book a year.

In 2008, I discovered that I could publish paperbacks on CreateSpace (this is no longer around, but it was under Amazon). I still remember the writer forum where I learned about CreateSpace. One author told me that all I had to do was pay for the proof copy of the book. There was no other cost involved. That was a lot more affordable than spending $500-$1000 per book. This was at the time when I started writing romance. Since I could afford the $20 (proof copy plus shipping), my enthusiasm for writing went way up. Once ebooks became doable, that excitement shot up even more. I basically wrote whenever I had free time. (Back then, my four kids were 4, 5, 6, and 7. Yep, they were “stair-step” kids. I had to write in 10-15 minute sprints because I was constantly interrupted. This probably explains why I’ll stop writing around the 20-minute mark to get up and do a chore around the house these days. I have trouble sitting for longer than that to just write. Considering how often I hear about authors needing to get up and do something because it’s hard on the body to sit all the time, I’m glad that I learned to write under these circumstances.

Anyway, had the self-publishing boom exploded anywhere from 2000 to 2007, you would see a lot more thrillers, science fiction, and fantasy under my name. I had plenty of ideas for those books. I just didn’t have the motive to go crazy into writing it. So you can thank the timing of the emergence of the Kindle and Smashwords for all of the romance books I’ve done.

That all said, I always loved reading romance. I’ve been reading romance from YA to adult since I was in the sixth grade. I’ve read the range from “clean & wholesome” to “erotic”. I ended up landing in the middle of the spectrum as a writer. I do think there’s a benefit to reading a wide spectrum of whatever genre that interests you. That way, you know the different levels. After some experimentation, you’ll settle on the level that best fits you. Even if you vary that level from time to time, you’ll end up gravitating to a certain “range”. It’s a process to figure out your sweet spot.

I was a heavy romance reader until about 2012. At that point, I was starting to get bored of them. I wasn’t bored with writing them. I did have a conversation with another author recently, and we both agreed that we are now bored reading the genres we write in. We would rather read something else. That struck me as curious. You’d think if you love writing something, you’d want to keep reading it, right? But that hasn’t been the case for me. I find myself wanting to read other genres. I think it helps to keep the creativity humming if I’m not expanding my horizons with different things.

I want to support self-published authors (especially those not in the top charts). I don’t read any authors you’ll find in a brick and mortar bookstore. I prefer someone who needs a readership. I want my money going to them. So if there’s an author who is all over the place, I choose not to read their books. They already have readers. They don’t need me. I want to be where I’m needed. To find new authors, I do some searches, but I mostly rely on promotions in BookDoggy to find them. The search engines keep bringing up the same authors, and that doesn’t help me find new ones. With BookDoggy, I have no idea what author or even what genre will come in each day, and that has done wonders to finding new authors. So if an author is reading this and wondering if running a promotion is worth it, this is a strong case for it. I have not joined BookFunnel as a reader to see their promotions, but my guess is that it might be a good idea to do so at some point because you can tell BookFunnel to alert you to promos in a specific genre.

Currently, I am enjoying horror. I did read a science fiction short story the other day about the government using AI to wipe out memories and alter history to fit the government’s agenda. That was an intriguing idea, and I did enjoy the premise. I’ve read a couple of thrillers, and while they’re okay, they don’t offer enough “creep” factor for me. I don’t want to have to keep the lights on when I sleep, but I do like thinking, “Ooh, that would be creepy.” So I am leaning toward horror. Horror is pretty much thriller to the Nth degree. I am quickly learning the best way to creep someone out is to take something surprisingly normal but twist it a bit. For example, I just finished a story where a mom took over her teenage son’s game because the people in the game were coming into real life to follow him around. This is a super simple premise, but there was one moment where the son comes across this nun who is just staring at him in the middle of a store (and no one else sees her) that actually gave me the “that is really creepy” factor. There was no blood. There was no “jump scare”. All the nun did was try to bump into him (as if he were in the game). I mean, there was a backstory to all of this, but that backstory set the foundation for the “creep” factor in this scene, and the authors did it very well. This kind of horror is intriguing to me. That is what real horror is. And yet, people will say horror is “trash”. Horror, when done right, is far from “trash”. I’m learning that what horror really does is take an aspect of the human condition and delves into the dark side of it.

I guess I’m reading these other genres because, on a subconscious level, I know I have something to learn from them. I’ve been reading and writing romance for so long, I pretty much already get it. Sure, there are still things to pick up in romance, but I’ve been studying it enough. I need to explore other things.

Getting Things Organized for the Future

The subject of death is morbid, but it’s something that needs to be dealt with. At the moment, I am fine. I’m in good health, and I have full control of my mental faculties. After hearing stories about authors dying and what a hard time people have of managing things afterwards, I feel it prudent to make a plan for my eventual demise.

As a self-published author, I am also the publisher. No one has the rights to handle my books but me. I love having full control over my books. If I had the option, I’d self-publish all over again. Even so, I’m aware that there’s a lot of things that goes into this business. It can be daunting for people who have never published a book before. I wasn’t surprised that most of my family didn’t want to do deal with this. Fortunately, my son Eric said he’ll take over for me when I die.

Right now, I am working on a packet giving him detailed instructions on what I do when my time comes. I expect this packet will take a few months to complete, and I’m sure there will be things I’ll need to update as time goes on. These things include (but are not limited to) a full list of my books, the retailers I publish them on (and how to change prices, covers, etc in case he needs to do any of those things), what I collect for the accountant at tax time (and how I do it), what to do in a case of copyright infringement (that will take the longest to explain), what I do to market my books (including this blog), my bank information, and where to find all of my accounts associated with my books and the passwords that go with them. I’m also going to create a letter to grant him full rights to my books.

I’ve been doing this stuff since 2009, and I have gotten so used to it that I no longer think of all the details anymore. I do remember that it took me a good couple of years to figure out. So I know there is a learning curve involved. The good news is that once I teach Eric what to do, it should be pretty smooth sailing for him. Since I’m doing this while I’m alive, he’ll have a foundation to bounce off when it comes time for him to take over the business. I am glad he accepted this role. If he hasn’t, I would have had to write out a letter telling my family how to contact the retailers so that all of my books would be unpublished. I don’t remember for sure, but I think Amazon has a policy where it will unpublish books automatically when they know an author dies. It makes sense. If there’s no one living to contact to manage the books, what retailer would want to keep the books up for sale?

I am going to create a post that I’ll put in draft on this blog. When I die, I will have Eric publish it. That way, you’ll know when the time has come.

For now, just know that I feel very blessed that God has allowed me two dreams I had when I was only 12. One was to be a wife and mother. The second was to be a bestselling author. I realize I’m not a bestselling author anymore, but back in 2011 and 2012, I was, and I’ll always be grateful for that. In the meantime, I get to continue writing books I enjoy and be a part of a family I love. It’s been a wonderful life. I have no regrets.

When You Should Listen to Your Readers

This post is inspired by a YouTube video I listened to the other day. In this video, an editor was listing out the worst ways an author can end their books. I agreed with a lot of her advice. The one part I didn’t agree with was her advice on the “over the top happy ending”. This is the ending where you tie up all loose ends, put a nice bow on everything, and everyone rides off happy into the sunset. You know, a fairy tale. Her advice was NOT to do this. Her advice was to leave something out there that could possibly go wrong so that the character has more growth and development for the future. You know, wrap up the end so that it mirrors real life. In real life, nothing is ever 100% perfect.

In her defense, she does not edit romance books. After reading through some comments where people either argued in favor of her advice or against it, I came to the conclusion that some things should be decided by the readers. This is one of them. Over the years, a few readers have told me that they like having fairytale endings where everything is perfect. They want “over the top”. I have had no reader tell me they wish for more realism in the ending.

This brings me to the topic of today’s post.

ID 176713395 © Flydragonfly | Dreamstime.com

The best place to go to for advice when you have a question about the story you’re writing is your reader base. You are not writing for the editor. You aren’t writing for other authors. You are writing for the people who read your books. These are people who already love what you’re writing. They have invested in your work already. They know what you enjoy writing. They have already connected with you.

This doesn’t just apply to endings. It can be with any aspect of your book that you are having a hard time making a decision about. For example, maybe you are torn between the age of a character. Years ago, I wasn’t sure if I could get away with pairing up a certain hero with a heroine because of the age gap. So I sought out the advice of a reader I knew and trusted. Another time, I wasn’t sure if I should end the book with a particular angle. So I went to a reader I trusted and asked them what they liked the most. These are small aspects of the story that don’t change the plot or character development, but they still leave you wondering if one will be more appealing to your reader base than the other. If you get conflicting opinions, go with your gut. If your gut isn’t telling you anything, flip a coin. (If you don’t like the results of the coin flip, your gut is telling you to pick the other side.)

Keep in mind that no book will ever be perfect. No matter what you do, there will always be something in your book that you could have done better. Nothing kills your ability to publish books like the quest to write “the perfect book”. The best you can do is good enough. Your readers will enjoy your work, and that is what counts. It doesn’t matter what the critics think. They are not the ones buying your books. If your reader base is happy, you’ve done a good job.

For new writers who haven’t found their reader base yet, I would recommend the coin flip option when making a decision. If there are more than two options, jot them all down on a piece of paper, and pull one from a hat. I mentioned this above, but I really have found this method to be a good way of figuring out what my gut is telling me. If you are happy with the coin flip/piece of paper you picked, then you know you are on the right track. If you are disappointed with the coin flip/piece of paper you picked, then you know you really want to do the other thing.

Getting readers to reach out to you so you can connect with them will take time. This is where having an online presence is necessary, unless you do all of your promotion in person. You should at least have a website with a contact form. If you don’t want a contact form, that’s fine if you are on a social media platform like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, SubStack, and whatever else is out there these days. (I can’t keep up with them all.) Some authors like to pose a question on their page and let readers answer them there. (Be sure that the people answering the question are actual readers of your books, not other authors chiming in for what they would do in your shoes.) Have a way for people to reach out to you. Another option is to have an email list. Put links at the back of your books to let people know where they can find you. Over time, you’ll start meeting your readers, and when you give that connection enough time, you’ll be comfortable enough to seek advice when you come across something in your work you’re not sure about.

Random Thoughts about Writing and Publishing

ID 107388860 | Different Paths © Marek Uliasz | Dreamstime.com

I need to find a way of lowering my non-writing tasks so that I can do more of what I really want to do: write. I have been in this writing sphere since 2009. Back then, you could only publish your books on Amazon and Smashwords. Sadly, I only know three authors from those days who are still actively writing and publishing. I have met a lot of authors along the way. Most authors have disappeared from the writing world, and I wonder if they’re doing okay.

It’s been sad to see so many vanish. I suspect it has to do with the stress of trying to make money. It’s not easy being a writer. I doubt it’s ever been easy for most writers to stick it out in the past. But in this day, we have come to expect that we’ll make money at this. In 2009, we didn’t think about making money because we didn’t think it was possible. I spoke with traditionally published authors who said the most they made was enough to buy a purse. Of course, you always had your big time authors who had movies made from their books, and so on. I don’t know if they were making big money. I assume they were, but I have not studied this. What I have found is that most authors didn’t make much, if anything.

The gold rush of self-publishing really was a gold rush. I still can’t believe how easy it was to make money back then. I also can’t believe I made the kind of money I did. There are authors who do still make good money with their writing. Not all of us still do. Some of us saw a drop in the sales that never recovered. Could those of us who lost income have done something to avoid it? I guess you could make the case for it, but can we ever know for sure? No. We can’t know for sure because that’s an unknown variable. When I first came out and said my income was going down, I was criticized by a couple of writers for not doing enough marketing. Sometimes I think income just drops, and it’s not the authors’ fault. Sometimes things just change. It’s not personal. It’s just the way things happen.

It can be easy for authors to blame themselves when income drops. It can be easy to chase after some new marketing strategy that has worked for someone else. If that new strategy doesn’t work out for them, they blame themselves and maybe even get blamed for not doing it right. Maybe those authors did do it right. Maybe it just didn’t work. Luck and timing are factors at play. It takes more than talent and hard work to make authors succeed in a financial way. Luck and timing were the two things that I stumbled upon in the gold rush era. But the gold rush ended, and that was that. I have made peace with this aspect of my past. It was painful, but striving to keep earning money burned me out, and I lost my joy in writing. Sometimes writers do lose their joy because they aren’t earning money. When we are used to hearing about writers making “six figures”, we believe this is the norm. When we believe it’s the norm, we are disappointed (and understandably so) when it doesn’t happen for us. That’s why we latch on to different marketing strategies so much. But the reality is someone can’t guarantee that their marketing idea will work for you. You can try it if you want. There’s no harm in trying if it’s something you truly want to do.

An author friend and I were emailing recently, and this was a topic that popped up. She and I have both seen so many writers come and go. She thinks some took on new names. Maybe that’s where some of them went to. I wonder how many got burned out and walked away because they had nothing left in them. She and I both agreed that writing books is not easy to keep doing year after year. It’s rewarding. I have never regretted a book I wrote, even ones that sold very little. There are some books I reread from time to time, and I’m reminded of how much satisfaction there is in having written something I wanted to read. You can tell when an author loves what they’re doing. There’s a spark in their work. I wish I could say that spark was in every one of my books, but I can tell when I was suffering because the business end got to me too much.

I guess with all of this rambling, I have come to the conclusion that if I want to have the spark in all of my work, I need to cut out the stuff that distracts me from my writing. If what I really want to do is write, then I need to write. I need to let go of the business. I will still have to keep track of expenses and any income I bring in, of course. The government wants to know how much you owe in taxes. If you aren’t keeping track of those things, you could end up paying too much (by not factoring in your expenses) or paying too little (and ending up with some fines and a letter in the mail like I did in the past). As a quick note, the IRS NEVER calls or emails. They only send physical snail mail. I know there are some scams out there, and I don’t want anyone to fall for them. When in doubt, go to an accountant.

Back to the topic…

Now, I do think if an author is making good money and has a system in place where they can keep doing so, then that’s something they should do. There’s nothing wrong with treating this as a business. Each author is going to have their own path. You have to figure out the path that works best for you. If you want to make money, you should try for it. There’s nothing worse than looking back on your life and having regrets because you didn’t pursue your goals. Even if you don’t meet those goals, at least you tried. It’s better to have failed than to have never tried at all.

For anyone who is exhausted from focusing on the marketing and the money angle of writing, it’s okay to cut back on things you don’t enjoy doing. You have the freedom to decide you’re not going to pursue the marketing stuff that’s out there. It doesn’t make you any less of a writer than someone who has made this their “six figure” business. There is nothing inherently good or bad about “why” someone writes. I’m not a fan of the way the writing community looks down on authors who aren’t “taking this seriously” by endeavoring to make a living at this. Some of those authors who used to preach about writing to market burned out and stopped writing. I’m thinking of one in particular who was quite vocal about how silly it was to write for passion because there was very little money to be made in it. Yes, his attitude was upsetting to me. I didn’t like it. I don’t like any writer who treats other writers like they are wrong for doing what they want. Even if you choose to write for passion, that does not mean you’re a hobby writer. Being a “hobby writer” implies that you don’t care about the quality of your work. This simply is not true. Plenty of writers who write for passion care a great deal about their books. We want to make good, polished stories. We want good covers. We want good book descriptions. We like having a website, a blog, and/or other forms of social media presence. We can write for pleasure and be professional writers. Why is it that we’re in a culture that tells people it’s okay to be whatever they want, but when we don’t all agree that we are writing for the same reason, we are somehow frowned upon? That doesn’t make any sense to me.

Enough rambling for now.

I Will Take August Off From Writing

Originally, I was going to pick back up with writing today because I am done with my portion of edits for The Earl’s Bluestocking Bride. Then I got sick. It’s not a head cold, though that is what I expected at first. Whatever is happening is in my sinuses and, to a lesser extend, in my lungs. It’s come with some headaches. So I am sure this is the result of stress.

I pushed myself too hard in July. At first, I was trying to write while editing. Then I was taking the Author Summit online conference while editing. Then I was finishing the narration for The Hero Least Likely while editing. I could feel that I was doing too much but had trouble saying “no” because there was so much to do. There’s still so much to do. But I have to learn to step back and tell myself no.

I have decided that I will take August off from writing. I will still be working. So I’m not technically going anywhere. I just need to tend to the stuff that often gets moved to the side while I’m in my writing and editing mode. This is mostly the business end of things. Mostly, I need to get back into the walking that I haven’t been doing in June and July due to the heat. I don’t do well in heat, but I need to suck it up and deal with it because I’m sure not walking has contributed why I’m sick right now. Walking is the best way I’ve found to manage stress. The stress can’t be fully helped. Not when I have a husband and four sons who usually come to me with whatever is bothering them. I appreciate the fact that they feel comfortable enough with me to do that, but sometimes their frustrations get “stuck” to me, and I need a way of shaking it off. Also, writing is really like any other job with its own forms of stressors. I have found some relaxation in cooking meals from scratch and experimenting with different ingredients. I have found just cutting up fruits and vegetables has a nice soothing effect. However, nothing beats walking. There is something about physical exercise that helps the mind relax.

Alright. so with all of that aside, I still want to blog, and I need to get to emails. I have let the emails pile up. That’s a form of stress in itself, and I get overwhelmed. It doesn’t help that I struggle for a good half hour to an hour on even what to say. It should be easy since I’m a writer, but this isn’t fiction. But I will start in on the emails tomorrow. I will hopefully get to the Monthly Newsletter blog tomorrow, too. I have some ideas for this blog that I’ve been wanting to do, and since I won’t be writing, I think I can finally get to them this month. So you’ll still see me around in August.

Updates on What I’m Working On

The Earl’s Bluestocking Bride is now out to my editing team

This is Book 1 in the Marriage by Obligation Series.

I just wrapped my initial edits this week. The longer the book is, the longer it takes for me to go through the initial edits. Initial edits involves me rewriting portions that don’t work, removing as many typos as I can find, fixing consistency issues, etc.

Side issue that is more writer related:

I hear a lot of authors insisting that each books needs a developmental editor before moving to this stage, and I’m going to push back on this. I don’t believe every author needs a developmental edit. I don’t believe every author needs to give a thorough rewrite of their book. I have also learned that not every author is better off editing as they go. I have not been in the habit of editing as I go in the past, but I thought I’d give this advice a try on this book. It has made no difference in my editing time. I spent just as much time cleaning up and rewriting that I did on my other books. The irritating factor was that I wasted time editing as I went along when I could have been writing instead. I spent a good 15 to 20 minutes each writing session editing instead. So a lesson has been learned. I do not benefit from editing as I go.

My point in the above paragraph is to emphasize that the “rules of writing” do not apply to every single author. Every author is different. They need to find the method that works best for them and do it. So if another author is telling you that what you’re doing is wrong, ignore them. It’s not fair to put all writers into a single box and say that one method works for all of them.

End of side issue

Okay, so I am done with the initial edits and have sent the book to people who are helping me polish it up so it’s the best it can be. I like to have more than one person looking over my book. I feel this helps me see the book from enough perspectives to give me a solid (more objective) view of it. Everyone brings something valuable to the process.

I’m not putting this one on pre-order. This time, I thought I’d experiment with just releasing it and then announcing it after it’s out. Right now, the book will be out in September. I don’t have a date set yet.

My guess is that Masquerade Bride will be out in January

That’s my hope anyway. I got no writing in while editing The Earl’s Bluestocking Bride.

This is Book 1 in the Marriage by Chemistry Series.

I was taking an online Author Summit with the Better-Faster Academy with Becca Syme. Every once in a while, I like to participate in something that feeds the motivation factor of writing. I really enjoy Becca Syme. She emphasizes that all writers are different and need to do things differently, and when you take the strengths test and then connect it with her YouTube videos, you figure out “why” you operate the way you do as a writer. Probably the biggest takeaway I got from the summit was that it’s okay to slow down and have patience. A lot of times, the writing community tells you that you must be faster and that you must aim for more of everything (more followers on social media, more money, more books, etc). Knowing it’s okay to slow down and relax helps me to focus on what’s most important: the writing itself. I’m not going to stress deadlines anymore. When the book is done, it’s done.

I’ve also learned that I need to work on different stories to keep up my creativity. Becca Syme has a word for it. It’s called a Laboratory Author Platform. Now I understand why I could never just focus on one specific genre. I needed to work on historical western romances and Regencies. Before that, I was separating out my interests between historical western romances and contemporary romances. But I fell in love with the Regency characters and the world I made for those characters, and I don’t want to leave it. I was not attached to anything in the contemporary setting, so it was an easy trade to make. I recently discovered something else I want to write, but that will have to fall under a pen name. That will separate out my writing time and make books under “Ruth” slower in coming out. I need to go down this path, though, because I’m fired up by these other books in my writing lab.

I’m sure all of this sounds nuts to a lot of people, but it’s the best way I can explain it. If I want to keep up my enthusiasm and enjoyment for historical western romances and Regencies, I need to dive into another area, and I don’t mind saying it’s a mix of romance and horror (the two genres I love most), and it’ll be set in the contemporary world because I want to mix technology in with these stories. Due to how different this off-shoot is, I am creating the pen name.

I’m Stalled on The Preacher’s Wife

This is Book 2 in the Oregon Series.

I am 30,000 words in. I expect this to be at least 70,000 words, though given how much is involved with this one, we might be looking at 80,000 words. And while I know the high points, I’m having trouble filling in the lower points that need to connect them. I will make an attempt to continue on with where I left off before I dove into the edits on The Earl’s Bluestocking Bride, but if the story isn’t flowing, I’ll put it on pause for a while. I am not going to write until I know where to go. I’ve forced stories in the past, and I’ve never been satisfied with the outcome.

This could put a wrench in the 40-50-aged hero and heroine trope that I promised someone I’d write. Book 3 in this series features a woman in her 40s and a man in his 50s. I have no idea when I can deliver on that, and I do feel bad about it. I tried to carve this age trope into the Love Under Desert Skies Series. It didn’t work. I was pushing for a character to be in her late 30s, but it made a friend uneasy since I had already established that the hero was going to be in his late 20s. So I pushed the character’s age to her mid-30s. That is now what this person wanted. This person wants older than 35. So I’ve had to give up the idea there. I have no plot ideas to go with this age trope for my Regencies. I think a lot of this has to do with the historical setting. I can make this work more easily in a contemporary setting, but that’s under a pen name, so… Yeah, I feel stuck in this situation. If the person who requested 40s-to-50s is reading this, please know I have not giving up on the idea. The idea is just taking forever to get to. In a world where books come out fast, I understand how frustrating it is to wait.

What Book is Next?

I don’t have a title for it yet. This will be Oscar’s story, and it’ll be Book 2 in the Marriage by Chemistry Series. I do have the plot established. This is a plot idea I’ve had for years. I’ve just been waiting for the right characters to place for the plot. Now I have it. I have idea what I’m going to title the thing. I was originally going to go with The Virgin Widow, but the heroine is not going to be a widow anymore. I’ve decided she’ll have an annulment to get her out of the first marriage instead.

My mind is blank on Book 3 in the Love Under Desert Skies Series.

I can’t write Book 3 in the Oregon Series until The Preacher’s Wife is done, though I do have the plot in mind for that one. Ironic, I know.

Progress on YouTube

I am just over halfway in uploading The Hero Least Likely on my channel. I did create a Playlist for it that I thought would make it easy to go from one chapter to the next, but it might not be working that way. It might not be converting as nicely as I expected.

I have tried to put all of the chapters into a file on iMovie, but I don’t have enough space in one single file on iMovie to do this. My guess is that I’d have to pay in order to create a full audiobook in one file. I don’t have the kind of money to do this. I make nothing on YouTube. I’m not expecting to make anything on YouTube. I don’t have the time to do a professional job, nor can I pay someone to narrate in a way that makes this professional. So we are stuck with the quality we have.

I am going to finish reading The Hero Least Likely. After that, I’m taking a couple of months off. My sister is a trucker, and she listens to these books while she’s driving. I will continue reading books for her. I don’t know if anyone else listens to them (or even enjoys them), but she enjoys them, and that’s enough of a reason to read them. She has requested Bid for a Bride and Bride of Second Chances, so those books are next.

I think I’m going to delete my Rumble account. No one is over there, and the two comments I received were from some scammers wanting me to give them money for marketing. What a joke. I know there are scammers on YouTube as well, but I don’t think there is an actual “real” person listening to my books over on Rumble. At least on YouTube, I know my sister is there. Having to upload to Rumble is more time out of my day that could be spent writing. My goal is to focus more on writing and less on the other stuff. I can’t be everywhere and do everything. Nor can I pay someone to do it for me. So we are stuck with a one-woman-shop and what this one woman can accomplish.

What’s So Appealing about Romance and/or Horror?

I did a video to give an audio version of this post if you’d rather listen to this content than read it:

I’ve been doing some thinking over the past couple of months about why romance and horror as a genre. These seem to be the redheaded step-child in the book world. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard people dismiss romance and horror as being “trash”. They aren’t seen as “real” books. At least, they aren’t as respected among the literary community like other genres.

Note: this is how I perceive things from my own experiences. I will admit that my perspective might not be what others pick up on when doing a genre comparison. For example, someone out there might believe the technological future of AI in a science fiction story would be way more terrifying than any horror book out there. But since this is my blog, I am issuing my own opinions because I don’t personally find AI scary, though I am not in favor of using AI to write actual books. Also, I’m not a fan of AI taking jobs in other industries. But I do not fear AI. Some people do fear it. To them a story about AI is a lot more terrifying than a story where some monster is hunting down people to kill.

Okay, enough rambling. Let’s get to the post…

What I think of when I consider other genres:

When I think of literary fiction, I think of a book that will end up being on an English teacher’s required reading list where the teacher will make students dissect different aspects of storytelling. Elements like symbolism, foreshadowing, setting, and theme. When I think of science fiction, I think, “This is a look into where the future might take us.” It can be a look into technology or an alien species. Sometimes it will even look into diseases and how people, especially the government, will respond to it. When I think of fantasy, I think of adventure and magic. It’s often the journey of some humble, unknown person who ends up performing some great feat that makes them a hero. When I think mystery, I think more of a puzzle that needs to be put together in order to solve it, so this is more intellectual than anything else.

So those are the main genres that make me think of a more low-key emotional experience. I mean, there are certainly high emotional experiences within these genres if the author chooses to use them, but overall, the stories are pretty “calm” to me. There aren’t high emotional stakes. I see these as more intellectual or perhaps “emotionally satisfying enough”, depending on how the author takes the story. These stories are not all that exciting to me as a reader unless they merge a strong romance or horror angle to them.

Now that is just my opinion. That’s how I see those genres, and it’s why I don’t spend much time in those genres.

As a reader, I am looking for an intense emotional experience. I prefer feelings over intellect. I want to be in the character’s heart, not the character’s head. And this is why romance and horror is appealing. I’m going to give a quick side note here to address thriller. Thriller, to me, is a cousin of horror. Done right, thriller can be just as intense as horror. I am especially a big fan of psychological thriller because I think it’s what you don’t “see” that can be even more terrifying than what you do “see”. The human imagination can really fill in some blanks that can cause a lot of emotion.

A tangent about how I hate “loose ends”:

That said, I do think the author should give answers to questions that are raised during the course of the story. To “leave the ending up the reader” or decide to not answer a key question is lazy writing, in my opinion. If I wanted to come up with the answers myself, I would have written the story. The author’s job is to deliver on the promise. In horror and thriller, the author needs to answer all questions. Just as in romance, that author needs to deliver on the “how” the hero and heroine get to their happy ending. If a romance author decides that the hero and heroine just end up together because “it’s a romance”, that is also lazy writing. The romance author needs to show the emotional development between the hero and heroine as they grow closer together and then solidify the journey by making the commitment for love.

So why the Romance and Horror Genres (with a nod toward the Thriller Genre) Appeals to People:

I’m tuning in specifically to romance and horror because they have clearly high emotional stakes attached to them. They are genres that exist simply because emotions exist. They need to pull an emotional reaction from the reader in order to be effective. Other genres don’t need to do this to be successful. As I mentioned above, those are fine dealing strictly with the reader’s mind. Romance and horror require the reader’s heart. Whether it’s love, terror, excitement, dread, joy, anger, or sorrow, the reader needs to “feel” something in order to enjoy the book.

I have no way of proving this, but my theory is that people who enjoy romance and/or horror are higher in empathy than those who don’t. I think readers of these genres are comfortable with their feelings and the feelings of others. On the surface, you might see a romance book and think, “Smut. Porn.” On the surface, you might see a horror book and think, “Gore. Disgusting.” What they aren’t getting to is the stuff that surrounds the steamy love scenes or the stuff surrounding the murders that happens on the page. I understand why people don’t like these genres. But I personally love these two genres the most, and I’m just explaining why.

We are not reading romance for the sex. We are reading the romance for the thrill of finding love, of being connected with that one special person we’ll get to spend the rest of our life with. It’s the emotional completion we are looking for in a romance. If you ever fell in love, you’ll remember how exciting those emotions were. I’ve been married for 25 years now. Not every day has been a paradise with my husband. No marriage is perfect because humans aren’t perfect. But I’m happy to be married to him. I don’t want to be with anyone else. But it’s still fun to “fall in love for the first time” all over again. That’s the pull of romance. I get to fall in love. Love is a highly-charged emotion.

We are not reading horror because we want some person or some entity to hunt us down in real life and brutally kill us. We are reading horror for the thrill of being scared. There is a thrill to being scared, but that thrill is only fun when you are actually safe. I remember being a kid, and my mom would tell me and my sister scary stories that creeped us out so much that we had to sleep in the bedroom with her. (My dad was in the civil service of the military, so he went on quite a few overnight trips for work.) I remember being creeped out of my mind while safely in her room, but I loved it, and I think fondly back on how safe I was despite the fear because she was in the room with me. I love Halloween stories. I love exploring things aren’t real. I love “not knowing” what will happen next in a book, and horror will deliver on that, more often than not. The not knowing factor plays a role in the dread and tense emotional pull in horror.

So that’s the appeal in romance and horror: the two genres I love most.

A Look Into the Brainstorming Process (How a Book is Born Series: Naming the Characters)

This post is not about any book specifically. I just wanted to have fun. This is a peek into what goes through the mind of an author as they come up with a new book.

Each author has their own way of doing things, of course. This is just how I do them. I usually start with the character names. Most of the time, I already have a plot in mind, and those plots come during the course of writing a book. Sometimes I get inspiration from other books, from movies, and the like. Once in a while, I’ll get an idea from a dream or during a conversation I’m having with someone.

For the sake of this series, we’ll say that I have no plot in mind yet. I have decided to start with the characters. We’ll look into the plot in another post.

To illustrate how a character’s name is born, I will have a conversation with the hero and the heroine of the story I will eventually write. (It’s more fun to write if an author thinks of their characters as real people.)

……..

Ruth: We’re gathered here today to start a new book.

Character A: What is this one about?

Ruth: I don’t know yet.

Character A: If you don’t know anything about the book, how can you put the right characters in place?

Ruth: Granted, it would be helpful if I knew the plot, but right now I don’t. We’re just going to dive in and name the main characters. Since we know this is a romance, we’ll need a name for the hero and a name for the heroine.

Character B: I hope it’s not a name that you’ve done for another one of your books. I can’t help but notice that you have repeated a couple of them in the past. Obviously, you like the name Chris because you did a contemporary romance with a Chris in it, and you did a Regency with a Christopher in it. Then there was Anthony in a Regency and Tony in a historical western. Sure, it was a slightly different version of the names, but those were still the same names.

Character A: And let’s not do any nicknames that bounce off a name you’ve already done, OK? There are so many names in existence. There’s no reason why you should repeat any of them, even if you have written over 100 romances by now.

Ruth: I do not set out to use the same name over and over again. I just forget that I had that name in another book. It’s not until I’m ready to publish a book or have already published it that I realize I used the name before.

Character B: If you realize the mistake before you publish a book, you can go back and change it.

Ruth: Do you know what a pain in the butt it would be to try to go through and replace a single name in an entire book? The “find and replace” feature is not as smooth as one would think. For instance, let’s say I name another character “Chris”. If I were to change the name to something like Mike, it would alter every word with “chris” in it. So instead of “christening” or “Christmas”, I would end up with “miketening” and “Mikemas”. That would create a whole slew of problems for me in a full-length book.

Character B: I don’t recall you ever using the word “christening” anywhere in any of your books. And how many times do you put “Christmas” in one of your stories?

Ruth: I was illustrating a point. There are tons of other words out there that can be modified for the worst in a last-minute name change.

Character A: All right, we get the point. There’s no reason to continue on this particular discussion. We’ve got a book to write. 

Character B: You know, Christina is a name you have not used yet for a female lead. That might be something to consider for this one.

Character A: And if you don’t like the name Christina, you could always do a nickname like Tina. You haven’t named a character Tina, have you?

Ruth: I don’t think so. But I should go back and search through my book list just in case I have used that name before.

Character B: What about the name for the man? What name should we give me?

Ruth: Are you the male lead in the story?

Character B: Well, I thought since Christina or Tina was already taken by the other character in this discussion that I should take on the male lead.

Ruth: To be fair, we didn’t commit Character A to being the heroine in this romance. But it doesn’t matter at this point which role you both take. So yes, we can let Character A be Christina or Tina, as long as we verify the name has not been used for a main character in another one of my books. Let’s look at men’s names now.

Character A: I suggest you do a search that isn’t a simple Google search for “1800s historical Victorian names”. That’s how you end up using the same names over and over. Names really don’t change much from year to year.

Ruth: I can’t go with anything too modern. This is going to be a historical book.

Character B: It’s funny how you don’t give much thought to being authentic when it comes to verifying when something was invented or how people would have actually spoken back then. But when it comes to names, authenticity suddenly matters.

Ruth: I could write you out of this story and put someone else in your place, Character B.

Character B: Pretend I said nothing. We can always delete that comment if you want.

Ruth: I don’t think so. I want people to know what kind of abuse I put up with from my characters. People read a book and assume the characters were sweet little angels the entire time. It’ll be good for them to know the truth.

Character B: Whatever. Let’s get back to the point of this brainstorming session. I think it’d be easier to come up with my name if we know what the historical time period is. Is this for a Regency or a historical western?

Ruth: I haven’t decided yet.

Character B: Why not?

Ruth: Because the purpose of this session is to come up with the names. We are going to figure out the plot later. The plot will determine if we’re better off with a Regency or a historical western setting.

Character B: I suppose that makes sense. Okay. What about Brad?

Ruth: Hmm… That name sounds familiar. I think I’ve done that one.

Character A: I know you’ve done Chad. That was in one of your earlier books.

Ruth: Yes, I remember using that name for sure. I know I’ve even used a Tad. Oh wait. I used Brad in a Regency. Married In Haste. So cross off the names Brad, Chad, and Tad.

Character A: *giggles* Those all rhyme. Do you have any other names that rhyme like that?

Ruth: Well, in one story, I did have siblings I named Sandy and Randy. That was in a contemporary romance. And yes, I did that one on purpose. The parents were quirky that way. Brad, Chad, and Tad weren’t all in the same book. Oh, wait. I guess Brad and Tad were. One was the heroine’s brother, and the other was the heroine’s husband.

Character B: We will not be rhyming names in this book. So don’t make the male name anything that rhymes with Christina/Tina.

Ruth: We know not to use the name Chris. So that’s something we can dismiss.

Character B: Now we’re rhyming with our sentences?

Ruth: For putting up such a fuss, we could always name you Gus.

Character B: *groans*

Character A: Christina/Tina and Gus might go well together in a historical western. I can see some guy out west named Gus. At least for a nickname. Is Gus short for a longer name?

Ruth: I have no idea. But for the sake of this brainstorming session, we’ll use Gus. I’m pretty sure I haven’t used the name before, and I agree it needs to be in a western because I can’t see anyone in England using the name Gus. The name makes me think of America. So we’ll go with Tina and Gus, our hero and heroine who are going to embark on a historical western romance.

Character A: Sometimes the historical setting comes before a plot then.

Ruth: Indeed, in can.

End brainstorming session.

A Peek into Drama in the Business Side of Writing

Our true story begins about three years ago when my youngest son decided to use my email address to create a Spotify account. I had also used this email for my Findaway Voices account. Findaway Voices was a distributor I was using to upload the human-narrated audiobooks I have. (Thankfully, I was unable to pay for more than five of them and only managed to narrated two. So I’m not out my entire catalogue at this point.)

But fast forward to this year where we are now at in this story. Findaway Voices is closing. All the audiobooks are moved over to Spotify. Since the email I used in Findaway is the same as the one my son used for his account, guess what happened? He had full control of this new Spotify account, only he doesn’t remember the password, and he hasn’t been over there for three years. I tried looking for a “forget your password” option to at least take full control of the account. Sometimes when you forgot your password, you can get an email allowing you to change the password that way. On the Spotify account, I was unable to find that option. I needed my son’s password, and as I said above, he doesn’t remember it.

I did manage to invite myself through another email, but I could not get access to my audiobooks that way. I tried to remove my son from the administrative dashboard in hopes that it would kick the access directly to me. That ended up with both of us being locked out of it now.

I have already sent an email to Spotify and explained the situation the best I could. I don’t know if it’ll work. All I know is that this business side of writing is a big pain in the butt. I realize this is what I get for not having a publisher. It’s a price I’m willing to pay because I want full creative control over my work.

I was fighting this for most of the day. It’s not resolved. It might never get resolved. I have no idea if Spotify is any good about working with authors. Some places are better than others. I finally came to the conclusion that worrying over this isn’t going to solve anything. I have done everything I can. If it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out.

Then I got myself ice cream and am eating a small apple pie and a couple pieces of chocolate to help decompress. I rarely eat dessert anymore, and today was a day that I needed it.

A side note that has nothing to do with the business side of writing but contributed to why I’m frustrated at the moment:

The last two weeks have been rough. I spent all last week going with my husband from a family care doctor to an ER doctor to an optometrist to figure out what was happening with his eye. Then I had some stress involving my deaf kid. Deaf people miss so much. They do not read the written language the same way hearing people do. Anyone remember that game of telephone where a group sitting in a circle would whisper something to the person sitting next to them? By the end of the circle, the message was different from what the original person said? It’s like that. The deaf person has a concept of what was said but often lacks the exact context. For someone who grew up hearing, I’m sure the situation is much better. But for someone born deaf, like my son, this is definitely an obstacle. What makes things worse is that some deaf people can misunderstand on their end, too, and they get upset with other people. I have to explain to my son that people did not mean things the way he believes they did. He doesn’t hear the way something is said, and sometimes a person’s facial expression can take on a meaning that really isn’t there. For example, if I am feeling overwhelmed because I woke up late, dropped a plate of food on the floor, and am trying to clean it up before I’m ready to drive him to work, he assumes I am mad at him because of the expression on my face and my frenzied movements. Sometimes we are too late for me to sit and explain exactly why I’m upset. I have to do it later in the day. But that kind of thing does create friction for deaf people.

Back to topic:

I also got news today that Radish is going to be closing its doors at the end of the year. This means I’ll have to go in and remove all of my Radish links. With a hundred books linked up, this is going to take some time. Some of my Barnes and Nobles links don’t work because Barnes and Noble did some adjustments to the urls. I didn’t even get a notice on that one. But I don’t even know how many people actually go to the links. I spent so long on them in the past, and I think it wasn’t even necessary. I think having the links when the book first comes out is good enough, really. I’ve been doing this since 2009, and I have gotten a lot of feedback, but the links are not one of them.

Draft2Digital is now transferring my books from Smashwords to my Draft2Digital dashboard. I hope that goes smoothly. I don’t need another Findaway to Spotify debacle. At the moment, I’m aware that some of the books will be doubled up. There’s supposed to be some way to resolve that. I have bookmarked the information in case I need to use it. But that is going to take a while because I published almost 100 of my books on Smashwords. I do know that Draft2Digital has good customer service, so if I run into problems, I should be able to get the help I need.

So anyway, it’s never a dull moment when you’re an author. You’d think that you could get away with just writing. I remember when I started putting books up on Amazon and Smashwords back in 2009, and I honestly thought I would only be writing.

I guess if I were to talk to someone new at this writing thing today, I’d say this:

Make sure you keep a list of your income and expenses because you need that information for tax time.

The more widely you publish, the more time you’ll need to maintain the books on those platforms, and if a place closes up or transfers to another one, there might be bumps in the road. I am not exclusive to Amazon with their Kindle Unlimited program; however, I can see how being just in one place would simplify things.

On the flip side, being widely available helps to offer a buffer in case something does go wrong on one platform. For example. right now, I am so grateful I have audiobooks available on sites other than Spotify.

Realize that you will not just be writing. You will have to do the business end of things as well. You are not just the writer. You are also the publisher. The work doesn’t stop after you get the cover and editor. Books need to be maintained once in a while. You might need to update back matter. You might need to fix an error. You might need to change a cover or the book description. You might need rewrite the whole thing. If you run into an issue with a retailer, you have to deal with it. It might not be resolved in your favor. (Do all you can but realize you can’t do everything. For example, if Spotify won’t help me, that is something I ultimately have no control over.) But for the most part, you can take care of things without a retailer’s assistance.

Join writing groups so you can have support and advice. The writing community is good about helping each other.

As much as I’d like to say otherwise, your book will probably be pirated. I’ve watched authors run after pirates, but in the end, it’s like playing whack-a-mole. However, an author should never have to deal with someone stealing a book and trying to make money with it on Amazon or some other retailer. That is the worst that’s ever happened to me as an author. Don’t let it stop you from publishing because it’s your dream.

Anyone who tells you that you can’t write a book primarily for yourself is wrong. Yes, you want to share your book with the world because there is bound to be someone who’ll enjoy it. But that’s no reason to avoid writing the book with you as the primarily audience. If you write the book you love, you’ll be more likely to create a much better story than something you’re only writing that “other people” want to read.

So even if there is some unpleasant drama that comes with writing, it’s still worth it because of the books.

Okay, I’m done rambling. I had to get all of that off my chest. I hope it helps someone.