Stuart Aken's Blog, page 334

How Should A Story Begin?

Image by pobrecito33 via Flickr
As a reader, do you like your stories to begin with a bang, or do you prefer a slow build-up, perhaps a question to be answered, some mystery introduced? As a writer, do you hook readers or do you tempt them, tease them with small tit-bits of information, make them so involved with your characters that they feel compelled to continue to read?
It's generally considered, by those who are supposed to know such things, that the best way to persuade a reader to travel through the first paragraph and beyond is to engage their interest. And, logically, that makes sense, of course. But it's the how of this that interests me. It comes down, I imagine, to the type of book you're reading or writing. The action book needs to grab the reader at once, posing some threat or challenge that must be faced and resolved by the hero. The love story requires that the reader cares about the heroine and is quickly engaged by her potential lover. The literary story can begin more slowly, more deliberately, with fascinating language and images presented in words well chosen. The crime novel employs the body in the library, or the detective about to embark on a new mystery.
So, this is a matter of horses for courses. I write in many genres and always try to engage the reader with the main character(s) as early as possible. I want readers to care what happens to the people in my stories. If I can introduce an air of menace, intrigue, mystery or simple desire, to fit the story, then I feel I've gone a long way to keeping the reader interested. Some writers, especially when they begin the craft, try to tell the reader too much in one go and drown the reader in facts, forgetting that they can be shown these things as the story unfolds.
So, I ask you; what do you prefer to read as an introduction to a new story? What's your approach as a writer to the beginning of a new tale? Please comment and let others know whether your response is as reader or writer.
Thank you.

A Blog For and About Women

Just came across this site via LinkedIn and thought all my female (and some of the more enlightened male) readers might like to have a look at this. It deals with feminine issues in a caring way.

Kindle - The Process of Publishing Your eBook.

Image via WikipediaHave you tried to publish your work as an eBook on Amazon's Kindle? I published my print novel, Breaking Faith, as an eBook on Smashwords a short while ago and reproduced an article about Brian S. Pratt, a very successful Smashwords author, on this blog. But I was informed by a Kindle owner that using Smashwords for that platform is not so simple as it is direct through the Kindle Store, where it is a one click operation.

I decided to try to place the novel as a Kindle eBook so that potential readers have that option. The first step is to join Amazon's Digital Text Platform ,which gives all the details of how you go about this slightly convoluted process. I'd advise that you first download Kindle for PC , which will allow you to read Kindle books on your PC. Many of these are free, including the instruction book - Publish on Amazon Kindle Using the Digital Text Platform - which details the process in fairly straightforward language.

The instructions need to be followed closely, or the eBook will look poor on the Kindle and you will appear as an amateur (something I risk as I write this, since it takes 48 hours for Amazon to 'approve' your submission, and you can't sample the result until after this).

I had already simplified the text of my novel and compiled an anthology of short stories, A Sackful of Shorts, for my writing group, Hornsea Writers, to place them onto the Smashwords site and I advise you to do the same. The fewer bells and whistles you have on the document, the better will be the result on the eReader.
Ideally, you need to convert your Word doc into an HTML doc (in Word 2007, this means going to the 'Save as' area and selecting 'Web' from the drop down list). Basically, I copied and pasted my single Word doc into Windows Notepad to strip it of all formatting, and then pasted it from there into Word as a 97-2003    compatible document. I replaced the first line indents using the 'paragraph' tab, formatted the whole text as 12 point Times New Roman, and replaced the curly quotes with straight ones.
You'll also need a cover picture, which can be uploaded as either a TIFF or JPG file - they recommend a size of 600x800 pixels for this. You'll need a blurb of up to 4,000 characters as your sales pitch and you'll need to choose the genre you want it to appear in - they give you up to five options.

Pricing is more or less up to you, as the author, but I advise you to read the agreements thoroughly to work out which you feel will best serve you. Many authors make their first eBook free in an attempt to garner more readers in readiness for their subsequent books. And this has worked well for some.

Finally, if you run a website or a blog, I'd suggest you open an Amazon Associate account  which will allow you place various widgets on your site - see the sidebar right and the advert at the foot of the blog. This allows readers of the blog to search and buy from your site. It costs the customer no more than if they visited Amazon directly but it earns you a few pennies or cents and helps keep the blog/website viable.

So, hopefully, I've given you an introduction to this area of enterprise and enough information to help you make a start as a writer. If you're a reader, hopefully I've supplied you with an insight into the why and how of independent author eBook publishing, which might persuade you to look for such books in the future.

Anthology Progressing Even More Slowly

Sorry, head full of cotton wool - I've got a head cold. So, this is all taking rather longer than intended. But it will be done. I thank you for your patience.

The Sci-Fi Anthology Progresses, Slowly.

Image via CrunchBaseSo far untitled, the collection of my science fiction stories I'm currently putting together is well under way. There's a need for some minor editing and formatting before I can transform the text into the style needed by the machinery at Smashwords that converts text into the formats suitable for the many available eReader platforms.
I'm also gathering images to use for a cover design for the project. I don't suppose any of you know of any good sites that allow free commercial use of images, by any chance?

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all my Readers

Image via WikipediaI'd just like to take this opportunity to wish a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all my Readers. And, for those of you who don't subscribe to the Christian rites, Happy Yuletide - a pagan ceremony far more ancient than the current one it preceded.

Website Still Suffering Problems

Image by stuartaken via FlickrI still can't get onto my website to update it. Sorry about this. Looks as though the problem won't be sorted now until after Xmas.
In the meantime, please take full advantage of all the stuff on the blog here, add your comments, follow the blog for updates etc.
I'm in the process of compiling some anthologies, so watch this space for news of that. Currently working on a sci-fi collection.
Oh, and the picture to the right? That's me, aged 11, as photographed by my father for the family Christmas card that year. By all means, send me your observations.

Is The Best Fiction Plot Or Character Driven?

Image via Wikipedia
Following on from yesterday's post, about character development, I'd like to explore how writers develop stories, and discover from readers whether they prefer plot or character driven tales.
All my fiction is character driven. I've tried writing from plot – I once wrote 80,000 words of a thriller in longhand and binned the whole thing because I didn't connect with any of the characters. If I couldn't connect, how could I expect my readers to empathise?
Although fiction is no more than a mirror to life, it deals with relationships more than any other aspect of living. Relationships are the lifeblood of social life and inherently dependent on the nature of the characters involved. It seems to me, therefore, that a book that pays little attention to character development is less a reflection on real life and more a narrative on imagined actions. There can be little depth in such fiction, surely? In order to create a work with any real meaning, isn't it essential for the writer to get into the skin of his characters?
There's a gender factor here, of course. And I understand I'll inevitably offend some people when I suggest that action novels are popular amongst the male readership because a lot of men are emotionally immature. Do you agree? The hugely successful genre of 'romance' is frequently vilified, mostly by men, for being too sentimental. Whilst I've read romance which falls into that category, I've read a great deal more that deals honestly and in depth with real emotion and depicts thoroughly imagined people travelling through events that test and question them. In fact, I'd say that the most satisfying reads I've enjoyed have been, in one sense or another, in the romance genre.
Plot driven fiction is generally action led; the Bond books, war stories, much science fiction, westerns, are all the sort of escapist fiction where little effort goes into the true natures of the characters. In these stories, stereotypes are often considered good enough to carry through the action. As long as movement is rapid and compelling enough, it takes the reader through the story without allowing time for the pause that might raise the questions; why is he doing this? What motivates this person? Does he have any finer feelings? But these questions are often of little interest to the readers of such books.
I realise, of course, that there are romances where action takes a front seat, in the same way as there are novels with intricate plots where character provides the momentum. But I've tried, here, to form the basis of a discussion by making a few suggestions.
Now it's your turn. Please comment and let me know your take on this topic. I'd be interested to know whether you're making your contribution as a reader or a writer, by the way.

Time to write

Image via WikipediaFor the past few months, I have been busy blogging, on a daily basis. This has slowly eroded my time available for writing. Also, changing the current post so often leaves little time for followers or casual visitors to respond. So, starting this week, I intend to make a scheduled post just once a week. I've chosen to make the changes on Thursdays at 16.00 GMT, simply because that best suits my work patterns.
From time to time, I'll insert an odd post, when something strikes me as interesting to my readers. And I might also start posting a work in progress piece, to keep readers informed of my current writing projects.
So, the current series of posts on aspects of writing and reading, which started with the question about character development, will now run as a weekly, rather than a daily event.
I look forward, as ever, to input from everybody who has an interest in reading and writing, and I welcome all comments. You can comment as a casual visitor or, more easily, as a follower of the blog. But you are all welcome here.

Website suffering problems

The host for my website has changed servers and I can no longer make changes to the site. This is a temporary situation and should soon be resolved. Please bear with me until I can bring the site back up to date.
Thanks.