Hugh Howey's Blog, page 59

Away We Go!

Because of the nature of Amber’s work*, it behooves us to take our vacation time in the dead of summer. And with my birthday** right around the summer solstice, it always feels like some massive celebration (on her part) of my growing older. And so we depart tomorrow for two weeks of seeing parts of the U.S. that we haven’t seen before.

For me, it’ll mean writing in airplanes and in hotels, so it’s kinda like book tour but without the bookstores. I hope to keep up with my email, but there’s a chance things will fall through the crack. Someone once told me that vacation is when you work twice as hard before and after an event just to stress about the fact that you’re not doing anything for a brief period between. Yeah, that’s how it usually works for me.

Non-DUST signed book orders are going out today, so you should see those trickling in while I’m gone. Stay cool out there. And if you have a hit out on you in the South Florida area, enjoy two weeks of not looking over your shoulder.

______________________________

*Contract killers typically take the summer off, as it really gets to be too muggy to enjoy an execution, and breathable bulletproof vests are never as breathable as advertised.

**Incidentally shared by both Joss Whedon and Alan Turing, making it by far the coolest day of the year on which to be born.

Hometown Meet-Up (Monroe, NC)

I’m announcing this meet-up way out because I’m so damn excited about it. Oasis is a downtown Monroe staple. They have the best hotdogs you’ve ever shoved into your hotdog hole . . . ever. When I released my debut novel back in 2009, Oasis hosted my very first book signing. I set up a folding table and chair on the sidewalk and hugged a parade of childhood friends and family who came out to support a poor artist trying his damnedest to make a go of this writing thing. It was a great time. It’s time to do it again.

On July 23rd, I’m going back to the places that hosted me when I was just starting out. I’ll be on WIXE radio in the morning, and then I’m heading to Oasis for hotdogs and to sign books. I’ll show up around 11:00 and stay until 2:00. Take a long lunch break and come see me!

Not Found

I have a funny little writing habit. Well, I have a bunch of them, but one is this habit of writing BOOKMARK anyplace I need to come back to the text to clean something up, add a scene, or pick up with tomorrow’s writing. That way, I can just search “bookmark” and find the next thing I need to work on. When I get into the last phases of a project, I can jump to the top of a document, do this search, work on that bit, search again, and keep doing this until I reach the end.

Inevitably, I’ll add one or two BOOKMARKs for every one I clean up. Which means the last few weeks of revisions and edits will see a dozen or more of them. When I get to the end, I can jump back and find that I still have a lot of work to do. I whittle away; the draft improves; I move on to the next BOOKMARK.

Until I do a search, and I see the following screen:

Not Found! And then I know I’m just about done. A full and complete rough draft of DUST now exists. 114,502* words, which should grow by a couple of thousand as I do the next two passes from beginning to end.

So that’s it. I should get my next two passes in this weekend. On Monday, I’ll fire it off to editorial (I.E. my wife, mother, and David Gatewood) and work on their suggestions while I’m on vacation. This is the home stretch, which means it’s almost time to start a new novel! And finish the fifth Molly book!

____________________________________________

*Incidentally, when I first put up the word counter for DUST, I pegged it at 120,000 words. I moved this down to 100,000 while I was on book tour, as it saved me a minute with the calculator every day. I could just look at 54,000 words and know that was 54%. It looks like I’ll have a finished size of 116K – 117K, which is the length of a MOLLY FYDE novel or two SHIFT books. It feels like the perfect length to me.

Tune in to HuffPost Live Tomorrow Night!

Tomorrow night, Thursday the 20th, I’m going to be on HuffPost Live with an unbelievable lineup of authors. Jasinda Wilder, Darcie Chan, Bella Andre, and I will discuss our self-publishing success.

What’s awesome is that I got to hang out with all three of these amazing writers at BEA. It doesn’t have to be reciprocal, but I even consider them friends. We’ll be discussing the amazing times we are living and writing in these days and hopefully taking questions from live viewers. So please tune in! 9:30 PM EST (6:30 PST).

Here’s the link!

Where Words Become Worlds

There used to be a slogan plastered across the header of my old website that read: “Where words become worlds.” I made this my mantra not because of my love of alliteration (which is strong), but because of this process wherein words are strung together and turn into worlds. Worlds that come alive. You can people these worlds with characters that you come to know and love, sometimes to loathe, all with more words. Even to those of us who do this on a regular basis, it can seem like witchcraft.

I never thought I would write a story that anyone cared to read. As an avid reader, it’s all I ever wanted to do, but I spent twenty years giving up on writing. I would get through a chapter or two before walking away in disgust or out of disinterest, and the dream of completing a novel seemed unattainable. It took a spark for me to learn that I could do this. It took Caroline Todd on a writing panel telling those of us in the audience to stop thinking about writing, dreaming about writing, talking about writing … and just write.

We all need some kind of spark. For some, it comes by dabbling in other worlds. Fan fiction is like writing with training wheels on, and that’s not meant to diminish what’s involved. Fan fiction helps turn readers into writers by providing a sense of comfort and familiarity. But once you dabble in another’s world, you soon learn that the world is the easy part. Coming up with a satisfying plot, realistic dialog, powerful tension, and a thrilling resolution … these are the hard bits. This is why borrowing from history or the world we currently live in doesn’t make writing any easier. So for those who think fan fiction is cheating, I’m telling you it isn’t. This is real work and real art, which is what fan fiction writers soon come to realize as the training wheels float above the pavement. They realize that they didn’t need them bolted on to begin with.

Fan fiction should be celebrated as a means of increasing writership and also as a means of making literary pursuits more widespread and enjoyable. Really, it’s the literary equivalent of what musicians do as they learn to play their favorite tunes. Or what cartoonists and comic artists do as they grow up drawing their favorite characters. Or athletes who mimic the moves of their idols. You revel in the thing you love, and then perhaps you strike out and do it on your own.

It can even work the other way around. Established authors write fan fiction all the time. Scalzi’s REDSHIRTS is an ode to the world Gene Roddenberry made, but it’s more of a literary nod than full-on fan fiction. Timothy Zahn wrote what are arguably the best Star Wars stories ever told in what we call licensed novels. E.L. James wrote some Twilight fan fiction and skirted legal issues by changing some names and altering key plot points. Nearly every play written by Shakespeare was based on historical circumstances or a previous play by someone else. All of these routes are a little different, but I think all of them should be celebrated. Anything that gets people writing and people reading is a win for all.

That’s why I couldn’t be prouder to announce today that the Wool universe–the Silo Saga–is joining Amazon’s Kindle Worlds program. For those of you who missed the announcement of this program a few weeks ago, Amazon Worlds is a mix of fan fiction and licensed storytelling. It gives those of us who own the rights to a world the ability to bless others with its exploration; they can even profit from their works. I was blown away when I first heard about Amazon’s take on fan fiction. It immediately felt like a natural fit for the world introduced by Wool.

That’s because for the past year, talented authors have been exploring Silos of their own creation. Many of those works of fan fiction have become bestsellers (check out my dedicated fan fiction page for a sampling). The ones I’ve read so far have blown me away, and I look forward to reading more and to crafting some Worlds stories of my own. What Kindle Worlds is going to allow us to do going forward is make these Silo Stories official, give them extra exposure, and invite more readers to put their spin on their favorite Silo and/or characters. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun. My hope is that the expanded awareness of fan fiction will turn more readers into writers. I also hope, selfishly, that it’ll give fans more material to gobble up rather than sitting on my website all day clicking “refresh” and waiting for my word count meters to move.

SILK!

I’m not kidding — Amber thought I was going to die. If you’ve read WOOL, you might get a kick out of this. Absolutely hilarious, wrong, irreverent, disgusting at times, and spot-on as a parody.

Now the guessing game begins: Who the hell wrote this?!

Get it here for a buck.

What do Self-Published Authors Need?

Jason asks:

Mr. Howey,

 

First of all, I’ve read the first four parts of Wool (you got me hooked with the first part, which was free!) and am loving it, it’s been a while since I’ve read a sci-fi novel that had truly original ideas, and I’ve felt compelled to stay up late to read.

 

However, I’m writing you, not to ask you about your specific motivations/inspirations, but hoping that you might be able to answer a few questions for me. I’m not exactly an aspiring author (though I suppose I am one at heart, I don’t have any specific book inside just waiting to get out), I’ve become somewhat disenchanted with the current publishing models that are available for those who are aspiring to write full time.

 

I love the self-publishing model, though, as I’m sure you’re aware, it does tend to lead to the mass-publishing of less than ideal literary works. I don’t necessarily think that there is anything wrong with this as certain gems occasionally achieve public recognition. I do, however, think that if aspiring authors were able to find more affordable and perhaps reliable help in editing, proofreading, illustrating and the like, that perhaps there would be an overall increase in the quality of self-published works and even less reliability on the current publisher model in the literary arena.

 

I was wondering what you consider to be the biggest barriers to the self-publishing of quality works (as someone who has done it himself). 

 

I have been thinking about trying my hand at an online solution specifically for aspiring authors involving an online community of sorts to help, and any advice you have would be much appreciated.

 

I’m not really expecting a reply (I’m sure you’re inundated!) but you miss every shot you don’t take!

 

This is a great question. I’d say the biggest barrier to releasing quality material is probably impatience. You have a work that feels pretty good; you’re exhausted; you want to move on; you might be a bit delusional about how good it really is; so you hit publish. Nobody steps in and tells you to make it better, to do another pass, to get a better cover, to write a better blurb, to hire or trade for some editing, to beg or trade for some beta reading. You simply jump the gun.

What the community of self-published authors needs is readers and reviewers. They can get this by publishing, watching the feedback, and attempting to fix and re-publish their work. If they are smart, they get a loved one or friend to do this before they publish. If they are smarter, they get beta readers. Smartest, they hire an editor.

What might be helpful, as a service, is a process whereby manuscripts are uploaded and read for a fee. A random reader is paid to get as far as they can into a manuscript before they lose interest (hopefully they read to the end). Let’s say the fee is $10. Here’s why it can be so inexpensive: If the reader is enjoying what they’re reading, they’ll want to keep reading! Hey, they are getting paid $10 to read something they like! A book they didn’t pay for!

But let’s say they get to a part they don’t like (this is good; remember we are hoping to make these stories better). It could be they get hung up on the first page. It could be in the second chapter. After this mild stumble, they push on, determined to see it get better. But it doesn’t, not quickly enough. This is where they would abandon the book had they paid $3.99 for it on Amazon. This is where they would throw in the towel. To earn their $10, they write a note to the author explaining that it was just too many typos, this or that sentence was clunky, not enough action, too many unicorns, whatever.

Of course, you’ll get some Hamiltons (that’s what we’ll call these $10 beta readers) who try to collect their $10, say they simply didn’t like it, and move on. They’ll game the system. But what if the author could rate the Hamilton right back? Like how eBay cuts down on scammers and how Amazon lets you rate third-party sellers. You would want to do a good job and give great feedback so you have more authors willing to hire you. You may even take pride in this skill. You may get addicted to the joy of reading indie works, shaping them to make them better, and getting paid in the process.

Let’s call the system The Slush Pile. Monetize it. Make it fun. For the writer, a $50 investment to get five honest opinions is a great deal. And I think writers will do MORE work before they even upload the manuscript, knowing they are paying someone to read it. The works that come out of this system will be vetted; they will have more polish; they will have reader feedback built-in; and they will have interested parties out there, hoping to see the work they helped shape do well.

On the other side, there are a lot of adventurous readers out there looking for the next great thing. Imagine the joy of getting paid to discover those reads (and even helping make them better). Imagine making an extra $30 on the weekend to read a few stories, highlight typos, and suggest that the love triangle look more square-ish. How cool would that be?

Anyway, that’s what I think self-publishing needs. And if I wasn’t knee-deep in writing my next book, I would build it myself.

Beginning at the End

Here’s a writing tip to test out: Write the last chapter early on. You might even write the final chapter first.

I’ve heard from dozens of writers who do this, and there’s a lot to be said for playing with the technique. I almost always have the final chapter written before I’m halfway through with a book. Several times (including with Molly Fyde books), I wrote the epilogue before I wrote the prologue.

This doesn’t mean you’re locked into that chapter. You can change the ending later. Maybe it’ll be different characters. None of that matters. What matters is that you have a sense of what your book is about, what the great climax or resolution is all about, so you know what needs to happen to get you there.

It’s also like a line in the sand. A target. Something to aim for. If you set off on a walk, and you don’t know how far you’re gonna walk, you don’t know how to pace yourself. You might not even want to set out, because the journey feels interminable. Last chapters are also just plain fun to write. Give it a try. And then go back to the start, connect those two dots, and you’ve got yourself a story.

Final Shift!

This took longer than expected. When I released the combined SHIFT OMNIBUS, I knew the blue cover with the fallout shelter symbol wouldn’t last. It was at the behest of readers that I used the cover, and I couldn’t wait to update it, both to make it look snazzy and to reward those early buyers by limiting the number of copies floating about. So, it’s with great pleasure that I announce the end of that edition. If you own it, there is no reason in the universe for getting this new one. It’s the same book (a few typos fixed, of course). For those who order SHIFT going forward, they’ll be rewarded with the cover from Random House UK, which matches the new WOOL cover. I don’t think the video does this book justice; it’s the prettiest print-on-demand book I’ve ever held.

Michael J. Sullivan is Wicked Smart

Michael takes a point I’ve been trying to make for years and explains it a lot better and more thoroughly than I ever could. A great piece.

http://amazingstoriesmag.com/2013/06/publishing-lets-stop-comparing-apples-and-oranges/