Ava Fails's Blog, page 12

Constructive Criticism and Where To Find It

Prepping For Critique

Once you've got a good start on your novel or you've completed the rough draft of your manuscript, it's time to enter the editing phase. This is the point where you let go of your baby and see if it can stand alone. It's not an easy step, but necessary in the publishing process. The first step is Proofreading. While it's difficult to proofread your own work, you will catch mistakes.

If you would prefer your manuscript to be a little more polished before you let others critique it, you can always run it through editing software like Editor by Serenity Software. Editor will set you back $55 for the standard version, but it will find mistakes and inconsistencies that you will initially miss during your proofread. Personally, if I bought every 50-dollar piece of software that I could benefit from, I'd have no space on my computer AND I'd be broke.

Finding an Objective Eye

More than likely, as you seek out a beta reader or critique partner to put an objective pair of eyes on your draft, you're going to have to count on getting lucky. There are communities online dedicated to such pairings but the caveat is it will be difficult to find a dedicated reader and you may be expected to return the favor. If you haven't started using Twitter to meet and interact with other writers, now's a good time to start. That's the next post.

You can also find readers by blogging. Those who take the time to comment are already reading what you're putting down. Most Writers' forums have an area where you can post your work for critique. I suggest that you find a writers' community where you feel comfortable, interact, and post some good information BEFORE you ask for critiques. You should never have to pay a beta reader, but remember, the relationship is usually a reciprocal one where you will be asked to critique your partner's work as well. Look for someone in your genre. Writers' communities are a dime a dozen.

What's Next?

It's time to hire an editor. After you've done everything you can to get your work to a polished state, bring in an editor. Why now? Well, because it will be a less time-consuming task at this stage in the game. It's always a good idea to send the editor you choose a sample to edit so you will have an idea of their editing style and what you are getting for your money.

Why Are These Steps Are So Important?

As an indie publisher, the odds and resources are stacked against you. Following these steps will ensure that your work is on a level with mainstream publishing. Churning out the best product you can helps quell the stereotype that indie publishing is less professional and shows readers that you are serious about writing and providing them with the best product possible.

 

 

 

No Writer Is An Island

[image error]As with most aspects of life, if you're serious about writing, you're going to need a serious support system. I know ALL of your ideas are sheer brilliance, but you have to bounce them around a little before you throw them out there as gold. Trust me. I'm no different from other writers, I have several ideas in the works at all times. Of course *I* think they're brilliant since they've made it past the "No, that's stupid" phase of thought. With me so far?

I'm reluctant to share my ideas before they're complete because I fear that they're so brilliant someone might steal them. Please cast my confidence and narcissism aside because I assure you that is not what I'm about. More than anything, writers want to be read. However, we definitely don't want to read our ideas coming from someone else's pen. That being said…I'm going to jump out there and share an example.

I had this brilliant idea for a book that would delve into a genre I have yet to explore: the paranormal. I've been ruminating on this one for more than a year now. I had the perfect title, perfect start, and had even managed to find a couple of willing victims to contribute to the project. As the project neared the collaboration/writing stage, I unveiled my title…what I thought was an intelligent and luring one-word lull to an interesting non-fiction work.

Are you ready, here it comes: PRINCIPALITIES. Isn't it beautiful? The first reaction I received from my comrades in arms was, "What does that mean?" So, I proceeded to explain, "It mean evil spirits." Right? WRONG. The title is based on a verse from the Bible:

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. ~ Ephesians 6:12

The second reaction went something like, "If I were searching for a paranormal book to read, I'd never search that. Even if it came up in the results, that title wouldn't prompt me to buy/read the book."

Well, that's a huge problem, so there went my gorgeous title out the window. It had to go. Not only did it not represent the project well, I found that I didn't know the definition of "prinicipality" which is as follows:

prin·ci·pal·i·ty [prin-suh-pal-i-tee]

noun, plural -ties.

a state ruled by a prince, usually a relatively small state or a state that falls within a larger state such as an empire.
the position or authority of a prince or chief ruler; sovereignty; supreme power.
the rule of a prince of a small or subordinate state.

Boy, was I way off. In my defense, it does have a different theological meaning:

principalities, Theology .

an order of angels.
supramundane powers often in conflict with God. Ephes. 6:12.

As a writer, you have to be able to separate yourself from your work and look at it from a reader's standpoint. My title actually fit if you use the second definition, but there's a serious combination of thought that must take place for it to work, and that is why it doesn't work. I'm not writing for an academic paper or journal, I'm not doing my research at the Harvard library, so it's really ineffective to title my book like I am. Keep it simple = reach more readers.

Thank goodness I conferred with my contributors! I was set and completely prepared to proceed with an ineffective title! You can apply this idea to all areas of your writing in progress. Ask yourself a few questions:

Is my title simple and effective?
Who is my target audience?
Does EVERY word in my work cater to that audience?
Have I separated myself from my work by having it edited?

If you answered "No" or "I don't know" to any of these questions, you need to reach out to some objective opinions, and I don't mean your mom. Stay tuned. We will discuss where to go for constructive criticism next.

Contribute to ProWebWriter

That's right! YOU can contribute to ProWebWriter. I'm going to set this up a couple of ways to best serve YOU. Let's talk about what ProWebWriter has to offer first. This is NOT a paying gig. This is simply to help YOU get more traffic to your site, have a website to list on your resume or when you apply for freelance opportunities, and help you build your writing portfolio.

The Specs

PWW gets between 2500 and 3000 visitors per month
PWW gets between 10000 and 15000 pageviews per month
PWW makes on average $2.00 in ad revenue per month
PWW articles are automatically broadcast via Facebook and Twitter using Networked Blogs
PWW articles get about 900 impressions via Networked Blogs

While the specs aren't jaw-dropping, they are significant enough to give your traffic a kick.

Your Options as a Contributor

You can contribute in the following ways:

Become and Author for PWW and periodically (NO frequency requirements) post articles directly to PWW
Post articles pertaining to PWW subjects on YOUR OWN SITE and get linked from a special page at PWW (for example, view the Rants and Raves page.

If you contribute directly to PWW as an Author, your posts will automatically be sent out to Facebook and Twitter. They will go out manually should you choose the second option above.

What's In It For Me?

A bump in traffic
A site to add to your writing portfolio and resume
Becoming a member of a growing community designed for Writers
Being listed as a Contributor

What's In It For PWW?

Perhaps a reciprocal bump in traffic
Expanding the community to a wider audience
Networking with some amazing Writers

How Do I Sign Up?

Head over to the Contact Me page and fill out the contact form. This will shoot me a quick email. Be sure and include a writing sample or a link to your site. That's it!

How To Push Past Writers' Block

Okay, Writers…let's review how to get past 10,000 words. I did it! Have you? If you're a returning reader at PWW, then you've seen my posts about getting stuck on my debut novel at 10,000 words. In those posts, I've pretty much covered how to push past Writers' Block. However, we learn by repetition, so I'm going to pull the advice from both those posts and put them here in one place.

Push Past That Writers' Block

The first and most important piece of advice is to KEEP WRITING. I know, I know, you don't feel like it, you feel blank, you don't have time, it will come out all wrong, you'll have to trash it anyway….etc. etc. WRITE ANYWAY. Even if you just write a few sentences here and there…that's a few sentences you didn't have before. Oh, and while we are right here…GET RID OF ALL THOSE EXCUSES. Glad we covered that.

Now…the best case scenario is to WRITE EVERYDAY, but life happens and it is sometimes impossible. If you don't have time to sit down and write, jot notes and ideas. You can never have too much material to draw from. I am the gold-medal procrastinator, stop that too. NO PROCRASTINATING. If you feel like procrastinating, revert to the above note-jotting and idea-storming.

If You Just Can't…

…write a coherent sentence, work on the marketing side of things. It will be less you have to later when you really just want to get your book OUT THERE. Here's a few ideas:

Create a book trailer for YouTube
Work on your profiles at: Goodreads or Shelfari
Release a teaser on Facebook, Twitter, YOUR WEBSITE, etc.
Get established on sites where you plan to sell your book like Amazon, Smashwords, etc.
Network with other writers, cover artists, book reviewers, etc.

 

Brevity

brev·i·ty/ˈbrevitē/Noun

1. Concise and exact use of words in writing or speech.

2. Shortness of time.

It's a gift not many writers have. I tend to be a wordy writer whether it's an email or Facebook status. I recognize that it is somewhat of a problem, and I often use the fact that I'm a writer as an excuse. Ironically, I'm not a fan of reading or writing LONG articles…and by LONG, I mean more than 500 words. As a freelancer, I've been asked to write articles that were upwards of 1000 words. As a result, I have an unwritten rule to limit myself to 500 words.

However, there are exceptions. How To pieces and tutorials need to run their course. If you try to shorten these types of articles, you end up shorting your readers on valuable information and steps. While I don't like to write more than 500 words, it's really about the subject matter. While writing about a specific product such as a purse, 350 words is probably plenty. If you try to make a finished article longer, you end up with useless information.

On the other hand, how many people do you know who have time to read more than 500 words? The world runs on time and the lack thereof. People today like their information short, easy to read/scan, and BRIEF. I try to write the way I like to read. I need to get to the information I'm looking for easily. I don't want to read 3 paragraphs of filler only to find what I needed in the last paragraph of the article.

Tips

Here's a few tips on how to keep your writing brief and easily readable:

Proofread and EDIT. When you feel done with editing, go through it one more time. Remove words you don't need or repetitive statements.
Bulleted lists. Bulleted lists are easy to read and scan.
Headings. Utilize heading to break up your articles into easy-to-read sections.
Include images and/or video.

These few, BRIEF tips will get you started.

A Writer Gifted With Brevity

A dear friend of mine and Guest Blogger here at PWW, has the gift! Abby runs a blog called AbbyAsks.com

I strongly urge you to check out her site and give her stuff a moment of your time. I'm not just saying this because she mentions me there once in a while. She seriously has a gift. Not only are her posts funny and witty, but they're never too long or too short. She truly has a talent for presenting and discussing a complete thought in a brief manner.

This is the second post in my new series for writers and why you should have a website. Read the last one here.

ProWebWriter Contributor Featured in God Makes Lemonade

ProWebWriter works to help writers in the community. One of the ways we do that is by featuring writers as Contributors on the site itself. This doesn't happen very often because the main idea is for writers to establish their own professional websites to showcase their content. However, the other thing we do is help writers up to the same level as PWW by giving them a platform.

Lisa and Joey Lane. 2011

Not too long ago, a dear friend of mine wrote a guest post here at PWW about becoming published. Please read Lisa's post. Lisa Lane is an up and coming writer who has already created a bit of a buzz with her first published piece. Her first published story will appear in a book coming out this fall called God Makes Lemonade. The movement has spawned a website as well as more information and updates via various social media outlets. Please visit the link for more details.

Check out this promo for the book:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=89-wNp8HfJQ

You can read all about how Lisa landed this gig, what kind of compensation she received and how it felt to become a published writer in her article, but just listen to the author of the book talk about her story:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8K1kNGjlu30

If you would like to contact Lisa, you can do so by using the contact form available from her article page: http://prowebwriter.com/i-got-published/

If you are interested in becoming a contributor here at ProWebWriter, please fill out the contact form on our Contact Page.

 

A Word on Credibility

This post will mark the first in a new series at ProWebWriter to emphasize the importance of having a website as a writer. Having your own website offers you a certain amount of credibility. The maintenance of that credibility depends upon the type of content you choose to present on your website. It should contain your Writing Portfolio…your best of the best. Your Writing Portfolio can also illustrate your range as a writer. A blog is optional, but a nice touch.

An Illustration in Credibility

Most Americans have probably seen this commercial:

 

 

The star of the commercial hasn't been the guy with the pulsating muscles (CREEPY) per se, but the tiny giraffe on the treadmill. This little fellow has quite the Internet following. I was Stumbling (StumbleUpon.com) last night and came across this website:

 

Home Page of petitelapgiraffe.com.

This is a website touting the tiny giraffes from the TV commercial above as reality. I admit, I had to check a couple pages on the site and really think it through to realize if there were a such thing as tiny giraffes, I would know about them before now. That is the credibility of a professional website.

Let's take a look at how the content on this website drives home the point. First, they have a live webcam of a tiny giraffe on the Home Page. There is a rack strategically placed for size reference. Second, the site has and About Page that includes some black and white photographs that scream P.T. Barnum's sideshow. These photos give an air of credibility of the grounds that the breeders aren't a new company. Age gives credibility. Third and final, there are just enough photos to present the myth as reality. The whole site makes you stop and say, "Is this for real?"

There one screaming clue indicating that all of the above is false; however, and that is the written content. Since the breeders are supposed to be based in Russia, much of the content is written in broken English. There is also a cheesy quality to the writing. As a writer, make sure your writing is believable. Back yourself up with credible sources, but don't stress yourself out about it. The above site is living proof that it's possible to cause intelligent (and not so intelligent) people to question reality even without proper written content.

Debunking the Petite Giraffe (Irrelevant to Writing – Feel Free to Skip)

A web savvy investigator can easily debunk the above website as a fake. Let's start with a WHOIS domain search. I used: http://www.networksolutions.com/whois-search/ — This search yielded the following data:

Registrant:





Grey Global Group



200 5th Ave



4th Fl



NEW YORK, NY 10010



US







Domain Name: PETITELAPGIRAFFE.COM

 

The Grey Global Group is a marketing company (a brilliant one) in New York. Fair enough, but not quite telling enough. Let's check out some of their images on the above site. First this one:

It looks like la petit giraffe is taking a bath. Further investigation yields that this image of a marble bath is available via Corbis: http://www.corbisimages.com/Enlargement/42-25705449.html — Showing here:

A myth to the madness. Perhaps all is fair in advertising.

DEBUNKING SOURCE: http://iandennismiller.com/blog/2011/03/petite-lap-giraffes/

Intracranial Hypertension Information

An MRI image of my brain.

While this website is a community for writers, I have written some personal articles about my various afflictions, namely: Intracranial Hypertension (Pseudotumor Cerebri) and Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD or ADHD Inattentive Type). These articles bring in quite a lot of search engine traffic to this website. A lot of searchers have questions and are seeking others who have personal experience with these afflictions, for lack of a better word.

This post includes a few questions that I have received regarding Intracranial Hypertension. You can read my other articles on the subject here: http://prowebwriter.com/category/intracranial-hypertension/

Question 1. What can you do to fix a bad lumbar puncture?

Lumbar punctures are used as a treatment for Intracranial Hypertension. Lumbar punctures are more commonly used to check for bacteria in the spinal fluid usually when Meningitis is suspected. However, in cases of Intracranial Hypertension, a lumbar puncture is a therapeutic treatment that drains away excess cerebro-spinal fluid from the head via a needle inserted into the spinal cord via the lumbar spine.

A "bad" lumbar puncture would be when the hole created by the needle doesn't seal properly, and spinal fluid leaks from the spinal cord. This causes a very intense headache called a Spinal Headache. The treatment or "fix" for this problem is either to wait until it passes or a procedure called a Spinal Patch can be performed. A Spinal Patch is when blood is drawn from the patient and injected into the hole. The blood then clots and seals the leaking hole causing the headache to be relieved.

Question 2. Why is pseudotumor cerebri called that if it's not a tumor?

The prefix pseudo means "not actually but having the appearance of; pretended; false". This means that the disorder Pseudotumor Cerebri has the same symptoms of a tumor inside the skull, but is not an actual tumor.

Source: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/pseudo

Question 3. What does it mean if your optic nerve is bleeding and swollen?

Swollen and bleeding optic nerves can mean more than one thing. In the case of Intracranial Hypertension, your doctor will look for a bilateral problem. This means bleeding and swelling in BOTH optic nerves. The next step will be an MRI of your head to rule out other problems such as an actual tumor.

If your optic nerves are swollen and bleeding, I cannot stress to you enough that you have a VERY LIMITED time to relieve the pressure inside your head before your vision is permanently damaged or LOST. Speak with your doctor and get to the Emergency Room as soon as possible. I speak from experience. I have a permanent loss of vision due to this exact problem. A portion of my optic nerve actually died due to lack of blood flow and I have permanent damage to my vision. By the grace of God, I am able to live a normal life due to the areas of my vision loss which are mostly peripheral areas.

This post is a part of the ProWebWriter Answers program. If you send a question to ProWebWriter, it will be answered in a post with a link to your website or online profile.

Too Late — I'm Stuck at 10000 Words

Read my previous post: http://prowebwriter.com/dont-choke-at-10000-words/

And…your soul is probably screaming, "What do I do now!?!" Fear not, you are not alone. For here I sit, completely stuck at…you guessed it…10000 words. The first thing that I found while researching for this post was that I'm not alone.

A Little Backstory…

I've never written anything longer than probably 10 pages all at once. I've written loads of blog posts, tons of web articles, lots of web copy, a small collection of poems, and a story here and there. I always figured novel-writing was for everyone else and that my niche was writing things that gratified me in less time. After all, this was the reason I gave up art for writing. ADD has always afforded me the tendency to choose toward the path of least resistance. This is NOT a good thing.

I've had the ideas for no less than 5 books sitting in a folder that has traveled with me for the better part of probably 7 years. Some of these ideas included an outline or even the first few pages of a rough draft. One of them is even a completed manuscript for a children's book. Yet they sit, and I can't answer the question as to why they sit with anything but a number of useless excuses.

So When I Decided To Do Something About It…

…I made myself a goal for the month of April…yeah, nearly 2 months ago now…to complete the rough draft of my first novel by the end of the month. That would give me May to do a nice long revision and hopefully have it out for summer reading. So, the first week in April, I began writing. I overshot my goal for 10000 words in my first week by nearly 300 words. The sense of accomplishment was AWESOME…and debilitating.

I haven't opened the file since. It's a shameful thing. All the talking up I did about writing my first book has become a point of shame with friends and family. The conversations usually go a little something like this: "How's the book comin'?"

"Er, I haven't opened the file in __ weeks. I'm trying to get motivated though."

"Oh."

Finding Motivation

The only REAL piece of advice when it comes to writer's block is to write anyway. (I have an excuse for that too.) A solid piece of follow up advice is abandon ALL excuses. For the last few weeks, I've been procrastinating by thinking up ways to motivate myself. Oh! There's another one…stop procrastinating! Aside from the 3 stellar tips bolded in this paragraph, here's what I came up with:

Get some software that is actually for novel writing
Release book teasers via your marketing avenues (Facebook, MySpace, or whatever)
Create a book trailer for YouTube (similar to a movie trailer with still images)
Set up your marketing accounts (Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Shelfari, Goodreads)

Of course the problem with ALL of these is that none of them include any work on your actual novel. The more time you spend doing things like this, the less time you are spending writing. These tasks are merely mean to re-motivate you and force you to open up that file! Check out this link for some actionable steps to get you back in the groove: http://www.aliventures.com/project-started-in-four-steps/

7 FREE Tools for Writers

There are hundreds of programs available to help writers no matter what your genre. Here at PWW, we LOVE free, so without further ado…

7 FREE Tools for Writers

OpenOffice — OpenOffice is a FREE alternative to Microsoft Office. OpenOffice is compatible with Microsoft Office documents and I have used it professionally for three years. I've never had cross platform formatting problems and find it a suitable replacement. OpenOffice is easy to use. The interface is similar enough to Office to make it easy to figure out as soon as you install it. There are tons of documentation to execute any task you can do with Office.

 

FocusWriter — FocusWriter is a fullscreen word processor designed to remove distractions from the writer. This tool is LOADED with features including: autosave, themes, music player, goal tracking, and spell checking. FocusWriter removes flashy menus and covers toolbars so you can focus  on your writing project. If you are easily tempted by the Internet, instant messenger, or other programs, FocusWriter can help.

 

Wordnik – As they say on their website: "All the words, and everything about them, for everybody." Wordnik is fast-growing dictionary of words in today's language and how to use them. You can become a member of the community and add works or your opinions about words. There is nothing to download. Wordnik works right from your favorite browser as a kind of word search engine. It's worth a bookmark.

 

Zoho.com – Zoho is a complete in-browser business suite. That means there is nothing to download. If you are limited in download space based on the device you use to write, Zoho might be your answer. The less room you use for programs, the more space you have for writing. Zoho documents are compatible with Office, you can export as a PDF, as well as a number of other formats.

 

Storybook — Storybook is a free, opensource plotting software. If outlining isn't quite your style, Storybook will help you organize your novel. Storybook helps you keep track of your scenes and characters as you craft your story. This prevents plot mistakes and eliminates the possibility of elements of your books not adding up in the end. Storybook allows you to work on your novel as a multi-level project in manageable chunks.

 

 

yWriter5 — yWriter5 is a lot like Storybook. It helps you organize your novel in small bits instead of trying to memorize, digest and organize a huge amount of text all at once. The maker of yWriter5, Scott Haynes, also makes a myriad of other tools and FREE software to help writers complete their projects. Since Scott is an author, you can count on usefulness and quality from his work. ALL his software is free.

 

 

JaLingo — JaLingo will bring a convenient dictionary to your desktop where you can check the spelling and meaning of words. JaLingo will work on any operating system. JaLingo is also equipped with a simple drag and drop feature that allows you to drag and drop words directly from webpages. In addition, you can conveniently search and find words in JaLingo from the convenience of your desktop.

 

And One Honorable Mention

Liquid Story Binder XE — Liquid Story Binder is second to none when it comes to writing software. It is distributed widely across the Internet as Shareware, but you can get a license for less than 50 bucks. I know this is a list of free software, but LSB XE merits a mention since you can try it before you buy it. There is nothing you can't do with LSB XE. It does it all from organizing and plotting to creating dossiers of your characters. It's more than worth a try.