K.S. Nikakis's Blog, page 8
October 26, 2014
Deciding on Genre
A common question on submission guidelines or in pitches is: 'Whose work is similar to yours?' or 'Whose work would yours sit next to on a book shelf?'. As a fantasy writer, it is tempting to respond with some mega-selling author such as Stephenie Meyer but in truth, my work is not like hers ... or like anyone else's I've read for that matter.
So the challenge becomes to show why your work, that is, your product, is going to be commercially viable, when it is in fact new. Publishers will often say they want fresh new ideas, but the reality of any business is that new things, are by definition, untried.
So the challenge becomes to show why your work, that is, your product, is going to be commercially viable, when it is in fact new. Publishers will often say they want fresh new ideas, but the reality of any business is that new things, are by definition, untried.
September 15, 2014
Managing multiple projects
Without really thinking about it, I've tended to believe that you should finish one story before you start another. Again without really thinking about it, I tended to believe that your writer's voice would become smudged, or characters mixed up if more than one project was underway at the same time. Recently I've been working on my Angel series, some animated children's books for Zero Cut Entertainment and a stand alone novel that's popped into my head.
With the stand alone, I was so excited by the images and word flows that I wanted to start immediately,but I'm not dwelling on perfect word choices or sentences. I'm simply writing the scenes as they come to me, hopefully in the correct sequence. Gaps of many thousands of words will be filled in later. I'm not sure if there are disadvantages to this approach but the advantages include not losing the ideas and not becoming frustrated at having to finish something else first.
With the stand alone, I was so excited by the images and word flows that I wanted to start immediately,but I'm not dwelling on perfect word choices or sentences. I'm simply writing the scenes as they come to me, hopefully in the correct sequence. Gaps of many thousands of words will be filled in later. I'm not sure if there are disadvantages to this approach but the advantages include not losing the ideas and not becoming frustrated at having to finish something else first.
August 10, 2014
Editing an ebook
I haven't been blogging lately because my paid work has swamped me and I've spent the rest of my time writing rather than talking about writing. I have just finished editing The Third Moon which will be my first ebook. So, is there any difference between editing an ebook and a pbook (paper book)?
Not in that you want the best, tightest most powerful narrative you can create regardless of the publication type and The Third Moon will also be POD (print on demand) so available as a pbook too.
The difference is that most ebook authors don't employ a professional editor because they can't afford to. The Kira Chronicles had two wonderful editors and a proof-reader and it showed. I learned so much from watching these skilled folk at work.
So, I have held off publishing online because I have been editing, editing, editing. I want my ebooks to be of the same high standard as the Kira Chronicles. Good editing takes time, but also time away from the work; only then do the gaps, inconsistencies and flabby patches emerge.
Blurbs and titles are also an issue but I'll save them for my next blog.
Not in that you want the best, tightest most powerful narrative you can create regardless of the publication type and The Third Moon will also be POD (print on demand) so available as a pbook too.
The difference is that most ebook authors don't employ a professional editor because they can't afford to. The Kira Chronicles had two wonderful editors and a proof-reader and it showed. I learned so much from watching these skilled folk at work.
So, I have held off publishing online because I have been editing, editing, editing. I want my ebooks to be of the same high standard as the Kira Chronicles. Good editing takes time, but also time away from the work; only then do the gaps, inconsistencies and flabby patches emerge.
Blurbs and titles are also an issue but I'll save them for my next blog.
March 23, 2014
More on Writing Comps
Well the wait was short and sweet for Amazon; I didn't make it past round 1. Yet it was a really worthwhile exercise. It brought home to me that you need to approach the title, pitch and synopsis with the same excited commitment as you do the narrative. If you are submitting to conventional publishers you are probably not going to make it out of the slush pile unless you do; and the same is true in a way for epublication, as the reader will be firstly attracted - or not, by how engaging the title/pitch/synopsis is.
I'm even wondering if it would be worthwhile to write the synopsis first. It would really hone your ideas about what you are writing about. I'm sure I would find it a real struggle though as I have to write an awful lot to discover the story.
I'm even wondering if it would be worthwhile to write the synopsis first. It would really hone your ideas about what you are writing about. I'm sure I would find it a real struggle though as I have to write an awful lot to discover the story.
March 3, 2014
Writing Comps - Amazon
I used to enter lots of these and picked up the occasional lower placing. They can be useful as an incentive to write, or to finish and polish a particular piece, and if you win a prestigious one, they are certainly career advancing.
I haven't entered any comps for years until recently as I don't write what's in fashion: dystopic futures/urban fantasy/werewolves, vampires etc, but I've just entered Amazon's and am finalising works for the Text for YA children's writing.
Amazon had a lot of fine print and I didn't realise until after I'd uploaded the first story (and not the most commercial) that I was limited to one. Amazon have an interesting system whereby the quality of the pitch, then the excerpt, then the manuscript advances you through each round. A pitch is very different to an synopsis, but I didn't quite wake up to that either until after I had pressed upload. I could have edited if I'd remembered that Feb only had 28 days in it! I'm sure I won't get to round 1 even but writing a 300 word synopsis/pitch was a great exercise and I'll certainly be looking out for next year's comp.
I haven't entered any comps for years until recently as I don't write what's in fashion: dystopic futures/urban fantasy/werewolves, vampires etc, but I've just entered Amazon's and am finalising works for the Text for YA children's writing.
Amazon had a lot of fine print and I didn't realise until after I'd uploaded the first story (and not the most commercial) that I was limited to one. Amazon have an interesting system whereby the quality of the pitch, then the excerpt, then the manuscript advances you through each round. A pitch is very different to an synopsis, but I didn't quite wake up to that either until after I had pressed upload. I could have edited if I'd remembered that Feb only had 28 days in it! I'm sure I won't get to round 1 even but writing a 300 word synopsis/pitch was a great exercise and I'll certainly be looking out for next year's comp.
February 20, 2014
editing, editing, editing
I hadn't realised how quickly time has slipped away. I'm doing the 4th edit of my NaNoWriMo novel, or novella. The jury's out on how long a novel has to be and I think it varies from the USA. My 68,000 NoNoWriMo project is now 48,000 so almost a novella in Oz but I novel in the USA? Happy to be corrected on that one. As I've written in earlier blogs, NaNoWriMo forced me to write this story which has been in my head for years, but of course it aint the same story. Not sure whether it is better than the original (if there is such a thing in writing) but I'm happy with it.
The edits have given me time to see how it sits as deep fantasy, another topic I'm keen to explore more. I've almost settled on the title of Flightborn and my next step will be fumble my way through the process of launching it online.
The edits have given me time to see how it sits as deep fantasy, another topic I'm keen to explore more. I've almost settled on the title of Flightborn and my next step will be fumble my way through the process of launching it online.
December 3, 2013
Three tips from NaNoWriMo
Ten tips, five tips, three tips: these are all pretty popular lists in the writing world. So, what three thins did I learn from NaNoWriMo?
1. You can write 50,000 words in 30 days but to do so you need to abandon editing, perfection and fear.
2. If you're stuck, get the characters talking. The conversation will take you somewhere.
3. There are lots of ways of writing apart from being a planner or a pantser. NaNoWriMo opened my eyes to the possibilities of producing quantity as well as quality. Of course to get the quality bit requires more work, but the initial conversion of blank screen to words is done.
1. You can write 50,000 words in 30 days but to do so you need to abandon editing, perfection and fear.
2. If you're stuck, get the characters talking. The conversation will take you somewhere.
3. There are lots of ways of writing apart from being a planner or a pantser. NaNoWriMo opened my eyes to the possibilities of producing quantity as well as quality. Of course to get the quality bit requires more work, but the initial conversion of blank screen to words is done.
November 30, 2013
Life after NaNoWriMo
Last day of November and I've done my last update on the My NaNoWriMo site, ending my NaNoWriMo effort on 52,206 words. That doesn't mean draft one is done though. Normally I aim for 110,000 for draft one but that is for a novel and Imago will most likely be a novella.
Some of this word count is the ending, which popped into my head fully formed. Most writers seem to experience these 'gift' scenes and when I do, they form a major impetus for me to keep writing to get to them. This time I simply wrote it and am now writing the 'word bridges' to reach them.
It is a practice I think I will adopt in the future. I keep my books as one file so inserting scenes as they come to me creates no problems in keeping the narrative sequence.
Some of this word count is the ending, which popped into my head fully formed. Most writers seem to experience these 'gift' scenes and when I do, they form a major impetus for me to keep writing to get to them. This time I simply wrote it and am now writing the 'word bridges' to reach them.
It is a practice I think I will adopt in the future. I keep my books as one file so inserting scenes as they come to me creates no problems in keeping the narrative sequence.
November 28, 2013
Keeping the plot moving
One of the things NaNoWriMo has brought home is the importance of letting characters speak, especially to each other, in fairly long conversations. One thing literally leads to another.
As humans we are so wired up for speech, and spend so many hours practising it, we are all pretty expert.
There's nothing different about writing it, except the trivia has to stripped out. But if each character speaks in turn, they discover things about each other and their predicament. At the end of the day, they simply can't say, 'Oh well, never mind, let's put up with it.' They have to take action and so the plot moves on.
As humans we are so wired up for speech, and spend so many hours practising it, we are all pretty expert.
There's nothing different about writing it, except the trivia has to stripped out. But if each character speaks in turn, they discover things about each other and their predicament. At the end of the day, they simply can't say, 'Oh well, never mind, let's put up with it.' They have to take action and so the plot moves on.
November 26, 2013
Still NaNoWriMo-ing
Now at day 26 and at a word count of 44,061 on track to finish the 50,000 at Nov 30. I am going to have to keep going after Nov to finish the story though.
It has been an interesting experiment and quite different to the way I usually write. I watched a YouTube video of Kerry Wilkinson today as part of the Creative Penn blog (an excellent Blog site). Kerry is a prolific writer who started by self publishing, and is now hybrid: still self publishing but with a 15 (!)book book deal with a commercial publisher.
He is an ex journalist and this seems to be a fantastic training ground for writing as a business. He now plans out his books but once that is done, can write about 1000 words per hour, for very long stretches.
His comments and NaNoWriMo have really given me a different take on getting the words down efficiently.
It has been an interesting experiment and quite different to the way I usually write. I watched a YouTube video of Kerry Wilkinson today as part of the Creative Penn blog (an excellent Blog site). Kerry is a prolific writer who started by self publishing, and is now hybrid: still self publishing but with a 15 (!)book book deal with a commercial publisher.
He is an ex journalist and this seems to be a fantastic training ground for writing as a business. He now plans out his books but once that is done, can write about 1000 words per hour, for very long stretches.
His comments and NaNoWriMo have really given me a different take on getting the words down efficiently.
