K.C. Sprayberry's Blog, page 110
March 24, 2018
Details
We all know the devil is in the details but how does that apply to writing a book?
This is more than the details of your characters’ appearances. This is about all sorts of details. Let’s look at a few of these.
What most authors concentrate on when they’re imparting details is their characters, especially those who are in the forefront of the book. They’ll give you everything from birth to that moment, in a long narrative that can and does detract from the story. You’ll not only know what the person looks like, but also their favorite food, places they love to go, every house they’ve ever lived in and for how long. You’ll learn what they like to do and what they hate in minute detail. The reader will even be given their dreams for the future. Only after all this has been imparted will you learn what their place is in the story and how important they are. This will go for each new character as they’re introduced. Personally, my characterizations are minimal. The reader can add the details themselves after seeing those individuals act out their part in my tales.
Other visualizations that are often overdone are scenes. We’ll see a character step into a room or leave a building, and we’re treated to a long diatribe about everything, including how many leaves are on the nearby trees or a deep description of the concrete jungle, so you can “see” where the character is standing. Turn this into time, and your character should be halfway to their destination in their vehicle, which will also be treated to this over-characterization.
As an author, we are tempted constantly to move away from plot when it comes to description. We need to learn to avoid this and remain focused on the plot. This element is what’s important to the story. Like seasoning a fine dish, one must only give out as much details as are necessary at that moment. Save some of that spice known as details for when it’s needed elsewhere.
One of the best ways to learn how to create details is to read the masters. Robert Jordan got it very right in his Wheel of Time series. You were served the details of the characters’ lives as they were living through the adventures of this epic tale. Even near the end, in the final book, we were still learning so much about the characters, things that wouldn’t have mattered in the first book. That is how to play out the art of details.
About K.C. Sprayberry
Born and raised in Southern California’s Los Angeles basin, K.C. Sprayberry spent years traveling the United States and Europe while in the Air Force before settling in northwest Georgia. A new empty nester with her husband of more than twenty years, she spends her days figuring out new ways to torment her characters and coming up with innovative tales from the South and beyond. She’s a multi-genre author who comes up with ideas from the strangest sources. Those who know her best will tell you that nothing is safe or sacred when she is observing real life. In fact, she considers any situation she witnesses as fair game plotting a new story.
Find out more about my books at these social media sites:
Facebook Twitter Website Goodreads Amazon Author Page Google + Pinterest
Manic Readers AUTHORSdb Readers Gazette Instagram Authorgraph Email
March 23, 2018
Nimble Fingers
Oh, the nimble fingers racing across my keyboard. The words that appear on the monitor in front of me from almost no effort at all. That magical moment when I realize a new book is becoming extremely interesting.
Yes, I am the author. I use my life experiences and a very vivid imagination to create stories I share with the world. Ture, they are fiction but they are not lies nor are they all made up. These tales reflect my view of a world that has become somewhat unrecognizable to many. These books allow my readers to see situations from the safety of their reading device, be it electronic or a paperback book. They are able to lose themselves in another world, where they can see that good is overcoming evil, where those who stand for right do win against wrongdoers, and once they’re finished they have a sense of being able to handle the madness that is our world these days.
Does this mean that I’m oblivious to world events? Sadly, no. I’m well aware of world events and am at times disgusted with how people today act when working from behind an electronic device. Meanness seems to be the order of the day on social media, with those intent on ridiculing others will take over and rant to their heart’s content. That most of these individuals can’t find anything good in our world and demand that others join them in their hateful expressions of incidents shows their true colors, often hidden behind a smile.
Many people have decided they can become authors in the twenty-first century. Some never survive the release of their first book, often fading into anonymity within a month or two, once they discover how much work is involved in promoting that first book while writing the second. I have to admit, the second book was a little harder to work than the first, but soon I was working the next book as soon as the one I’d been working on went to the editor. This helps me do the edits much better, because I’m no longer seeing as my recently completed book as perfect and not in need of editing. My mindset has been moved forward and I’m working the next story.
As authors, we are committed to days, weeks, months, and years of not just letting our nimble fingers put out the next story. We are also committed to devising promotional materials and using them to let others know about our books. We are committing ourselves to personal appearances, although if you’re like me, we’re telling the world the author is a recluse. I do love my privacy and no one asking me hard questions when I’m devoted to writing a new story. But I also love hearing from my fans how much they love one of my books and the sheer joy on their faces when I sign their copy.
So, nimble fingers let us finish this necessary monthly madness known as blogging. The next story awaits our attention.
About K.C. Sprayberry
Born and raised in Southern California’s Los Angeles basin, K.C. Sprayberry spent years traveling the United States and Europe while in the Air Force before settling in northwest Georgia. A new empty nester with her husband of more than twenty years, she spends her days figuring out new ways to torment her characters and coming up with innovative tales from the South and beyond. She’s a multi-genre author who comes up with ideas from the strangest sources. Those who know her best will tell you that nothing is safe or when she is observing real life. In fact, she considers any situation she witnesses as fair game when plotting a new story.
Find out more about my books at these social media sites:
Facebook Twitter Website Goodreads Amazon Author Page Google + Pinterest
Manic Readers AUTHORSdb Readers Gazette Instagram Authorgraph Email
March 22, 2018
Experience Counts
Many teens I’ve met when going on appearances are surprised to see a grandmother in their midst. They have asked “How do you know what it’s like to be a teen?”
Well, let me tell you kids. Despite seeming otherwise, I’ve been where you’re at. I can write about school violence because I experienced it when I was in high school. Not the level you see now, but it wasn’t a pretty sight for this then naïve fourteen-year-old to have tear gas hurled into a mob of rioting students or see the National Guard and police outside your school. Yes, I have been there. I’ve felt the fear and terror you have, even if it seems to have been on a smaller scale when viewed through my memories.
I won’t tell you that I know your pain. I can’t. It’s your pain. But I know my pain and fear. I can put those emotions into the pages of my books, and that’s what makes them so real.
This is how I create believable teen books, by leaning on my own experiences. Having your friends die in an automobile accident has been happening since the first teen got behind the wheel of a car. Losing someone you care about to domestic violence has been going on since humans inhabited the Earth. While you feel this is new and terrifying, those around you have gone through these painful events and probably many others.
What my books are designed to do is open a dialogue between you and your parents. That’s how my characters interact with their parents, or a trusted adult. If you know you have someone you can lean on, it will assist you with what you’re feeling.
Don’t give up on asking for help from an adult. We have been there, maybe not exactly what you’re going through but we have seen more than a few things in our lives. You’ll soon discover that sharing your pain will help you ease it away.
About the K.C. Sprayberry
Born and raised in Southern California’s Los Angeles basin, K.C. Sprayberry spent years traveling the United States and Europe while in the Air Force before settling in northwest Georgia. A new empty nester with her husband of more than twenty years, she spends her days figuring out new ways to torment her characters and coming up with innovative tales from the South and beyond.
She’s a multi-genre author who comes up with ideas from the strangest sources. Those who know her best will tell you that nothing is safe or sacred when she is observing real life. In fact, she considers any situation she witnesses as fair game when plotting a new story.
Find out more about my books at these social media sites:
Facebook Twitter Website Goodreads Amazon Author Page Google + Pinterest
Manic Readers AUTHORSdb Readers Gazette Instagram Authorgraph Email
March 21, 2018
Breaking News as Your Next Book
Good morning and welcome to wwwblogs. Today, we’re talking about using breaking news as a story. Can the author turn a hot news story into a viable book? How do you go about doing this so it’s timely when you finish writing the book?
We’ve all been mesmerized by breaking news stories. We’ll sit in front of the television and watch reporters breathlessly talk about the incident. They’re telling us what happened and in some instances their opinions. As an author, you’re hit with the desire to turn this into a novel that will touch millions.
Hold that thought. Literally. Stop before you start writing and using all the elements of the ongoing story that will be back burner before the week is out. Ask yourself if this breaking news is actually story worthy.
As an author who has turned more than a few breaking news stories into book, I can tell you that focusing on a single event and making that into a novel can be difficult. You need to research the event, see if others like it have happened. If there have been enough to provide you with a lot of information, keep going. If this is a singular event, it’s best if you don’t delve too deeply into the story and instead find another topic to write on.
The recent spate of school shootings does seem like fodder for a book. Some might even say it’s a good reason to segue into another hot topic, gun control. But that could backfire on you, the author, especially if you argue either for or against the hot topic in your book. What you need to do when writing a book that’s based on breaking news is make it pertinent to your area. Step back and examine both sides of the issue on hot topics. Be even with your characters and how they interact. Remember, as an artist, your fans expect certain things from you and that doesn’t include having a different opinion from them.
Another thing you will have to consider is how you promote this book. Take Chances is a story I wrote nearly a decade ago. Yet, the events in this book are much the same today as they were then about school shootings. The book remains timely because I didn’t focus on the gun control cries that always come up after a school shooting. Instead, I focused on the characters, their feelings, and how their lives were changed forever, including their decisions on what they would do after graduating high school. Because, in the long run, these students do have to return to school and they do have to finish their education. Make the story about what’s a real life rather than the news that will soon go away once the reporters find another breaking story.
About K.C. Sprayberry
Born and raised in Southern California’s Los Angeles basin, K.C. Sprayberry spent years traveling the United States and Europe while in the Air Force before settling in northwest Georgia. A new empty nester with her husband of more than twenty years, she spends her days figuring out new ways to torment her
She’s a multi-genre author who comes up with ideas from the strangest sources. Those who know her best will tell you that nothing is safe or sacred when she is observing real life. In fact, she considers any situation she witnesses as fair characters and coming up with innovative tales from the South and beyond. game when plotting a new story.
Find out more about my books at these social media sites:
Facebook Twitter Website Goodreads Amazon Author Page Google + Pinterest
Manic Readers AUTHORSdb Readers Gazette Instagram Authorgraph Email
March 20, 2018
An Everlasting Battle
Good morning and welcome to Tuesday Blog Share. Today, we’re focusing on family, how they are important but how they can also be your worst enemy. The Storm Rider series plucks the best of certain families out of the troubles wrought during the Jacobean War and Irish Potato Famine. They are selected for their courage when faced with an impossible task and given the opportunity to stop the animus between the opposing sides.
Get Storm Rider 1 Donovan Versus Cameron on Amazon
Phillip Werner finds himself in the middle of a tryst between an unwilling serving maid and the lord of the manor. His common sense tells him not to interfere, but he can’t stand aside when the young woman is thrown to her death from a tower in the castle. Despite knowing his family depends upon him, he steps up and pays the ultimate price.
Storm Rider 1 chronicles the battle between the Cameron clan and the Donovan family. Throughout history, their actions cause problems for those who have no idea they’ve been fighting since the eighteenth century. Can Phillip do his duty without being dragged into the anger-laced confrontations?
About K.C. Sprayberry
Born and raised in Southern California’s Los Angeles basin, K.C. Sprayberry spent years traveling the United States and Europe while in the Air Force before settling in northwest Georgia. A new empty nester with her husband of more than twenty years, she spends her days figuring out new ways to torment her characters and coming up with innovative tales from the South and beyond. She’s a multi-genre author who comes up with ideas from the strangest sources. Those who know her best will tell you that nothing is safe or sacred when she is observing real life. In fact, she considers any situation she witnesses as fair game when plotting a new story.
Find out more about my books at these social media sites:
Facebook Twitter Website Goodreads Amazon Author Page Google + Pinterest
Manic Readers AUTHORSdb Readers Gazette Instagram Authorgraph Email
March 19, 2018
Don't Be That Author
Good morning and welcome to Monday Blogs. Today, we’re going to discuss when to push a publisher and when to back off. In other words, don’t be the author everyone hates.
Just how does one become the author everyone hates? Be obnoxious promoting your book on social media. Post tons of times about your book. Beg people to buy it now. Tell them they’re missing out on a great opportunity if they don’t get your book.
That will not get you sales. It will cause you to lose friends and followers. People don’t like to be bombarded with ads to buy a product. Sure, you can post a couple of times a day. Look for the time when your friends are online the most and put up a nicely worded promotion post. Wait for people to ask you questions. Answer them as if you were standing near them. Make them think you are speaking only to them. Don’t repitch the book, tell them what they want you to say.
Once you have this art perfected and your book is selling, don’t drop into irritating author mode again. Sure you’ve had sales. Maybe a few people have left reviews, but you want more. You want every copy sold garnering you fabulous reviews. So, you start posting those memes about reviewing a book.
First of all, Amazon doesn’t require fifty reviews before they include your book in their advertising emails. How do I know this? Because none of my books has reached fifty reviews. Some don’t even have a review, but I have received emails from Amazon telling me that this book is a great buy, based on what I’ve looked at. Guess what? They’re telling me to purchase and review my own book. Yup, not even close to fifty reviews and my books are being pitched to me by Amazon.
The book market is saturated. There are literally thousands of books uploaded weekly to Amazon. This means you have to find a way to unobtrusively promote your book; you have to be the author who isn’t intrusive but does make the best of the few promotions you post. It takes time, but you’ll soon find that your book is selling.
About K.C. Sprayberry
Born and raised in Southern California’s Los Angeles basin, K.C. Sprayberry spent years traveling the United States and Europe while in the Air Force before settling in northwest Georgia. A new empty nester with her husband of more than twenty years, she spends her days figuring out new ways to torment her
She’s a multi-genre author who comes up with ideas from the strangest sources. Those who know her best will tell you that nothing is safe or sacred when she is observing real life. In fact, she considers any situation she witnesses as fair characters and coming up with innovative tales from the South and beyond. game when plotting a new story.
Find out more about my books at these social media sites:
Facebook Twitter Website Goodreads Amazon Author Page Google + Pinterest
Manic Readers AUTHORSdb Readers Gazette Instagram Authorgraph Email
March 18, 2018
A Look at the Storm Rider Series
Good morning and welcome to Sunday Blog Share. Today, we’re deviating from the normal blog and looking at the types of westerns available to today’s discerning reader.
The Storm Rider series is about a group of individuals caught up in the battles between the Irish and Scots against the English. These are happening during the time of the Jacobite Wars and Irish Potato Famine, when those in Ireland and Scotland were attempting to kick the boot of the hated English from their throats.
Get Storm Rider 1 Donovan Versus Cameron on Amazon!
In each book, a hero is chosen by Michael to oversee the families involved in these battles. Their duty is not to interfere but to rescue the innocent. They are called throughout history, as their ancestors fight over and over in a neverending battle against each other, until it seems they will involve the world. The Storm Rider must each time ride into the unknown, to stop evil and overcome the temptation to go too far.
About K.C. Sprayberry
Born and raised in Southern California’s Los Angeles basin, K.C. Sprayberry spent years traveling the United States and Europe while in the Air Force before settling in northwest Georgia. A new empty nester with her husband of more than twenty years, she spends her days figuring out new ways to torment her characters and coming up with innovative tales from the South and beyond. She’s a multi-genre author who comes up with ideas from the strangest sources. Those who know her best will tell you that nothing is safe or sacred when she is observing real life. In fact, she considers any situation she witnesses as fair game when plotting a new story.
Find out more about my books at these social media sites:
Facebook Twitter Website Goodreads Amazon Author Page Google + Pinterest
Manic Readers AUTHORSdb Readers Gazette Instagram Authorgraph Email
March 17, 2018
Research
Research is as important for the fiction author as it is for the non-fiction author. Despite protestations to the contrary, we need to look up information that will make our book stronger. Even if it’s discovering the location of a city, the traditions of a country, or what the people in a certain area like to eat, we need to check out this information before we include it in our book.
The author in the know will do their research and go further than a Google search if they want their book to be liked. They’ll talk to people who have experienced events, if that’s possible, and write to organizations dedicated to maintaining records about them. In this way, they can give a flavor of history or showing the reader what was going on without being afraid someone will call them out for being inaccurate.
It would be horrible to have a reader point out in your historical fiction novel that you had the wrong person as president. What if you claimed the Civil War didn’t end with a surrender but by Northern forces overwhelming Southerners? Imagine the outrage if you mentioned that the president during Vietnam was Gerald Ford?
It’s the details that can make or break a book. It only takes seconds to verify or give you the correct information for your story. Take that time and get information right, or pay the price with poor reviews.
About K.C. Sprayberry
Born and raised in Southern California’s Los Angeles basin, K.C. Sprayberry spent years traveling the United States and Europe while in the Air Force before settling in northwest Georgia. A new empty nester with her husband of more than twenty years, she spends her days figuring out new ways to torment her characters and coming up with innovative tales from the South and beyond. She’s a multi-genre author who comes up with ideas from the strangest sources. Those who know her best will tell you that nothing is safe or sacred when she is observing real life. In fact, she considers any situation she witnesses as fair game when plotting a new story.
Find out more about my books at these social media sites:
Facebook Twitter Website Goodreads Amazon Author Group Google + Pinterest
Manic Readers AUTHORSdb Readers Gazette Instagram Authorgraph Email
March 16, 2018
Life Experiences
How can we equate life experience with a book theme? This is a question authors ask themselves all the time. We’ve all experienced life in many different ways. Finishing school, landing a dream job, having a family, seeing places we’ve always wanted to visit. Those are just a few things that can give us life experiences.
So many of my books are for teens and these stories encompass themes from underage drinking to school violence to non-custodial parental kidnapping and so much more. One of the things I always do before settling down to put a book together is to research the subject thoroughly. Yes, I do research for fiction. Doesn’t everyone? Don’t you want the tiny facts right, so no one feels as if you just tossed the book together without any concern for facts?
There are other reasons for doing research. When first starting on the background for Take Chances, I spent a lot of time developing the background of the characters. Because Julie had experienced a violence situation in another school while overseas, I need to know how many school shooting incidents had occurred, when they started, and was this just a problem within the United States. (It’s not but that’s a subject for a different blog.)
After getting all the major information together, I began the painstaking task of ensuring the minor information would fit the storyline. Showing a person’s self-centered attitude can be done so well when their child is wearing jeans and a t-shirt while Mom is decked out in the latest designer apparel. Bringing out the self-centered attitude of adults when their children are concerned about others in their school became a lesson in preparing a meal for a picky eater who called it trash.
All of these tropes have been used by many authors. To be honest, there are no new themes in books. What makes a great book stand out is how the information is presented. That’s when you spend months if not years ensuring the opening of your book snatches the reader by the throat and you only ease up a bit on that sensation as you let your story grow.
This is where life experience comes into play in a big way. Think back to all the times when you were going through a problem in your life. Sure, you have told people it happened without warning, but as an author you’ve learned how to parse out those memories and break them down into seconds, where you’ll learn that in fact you had a sense of this situation coming to bear, you just didn’t realize it with everything else going on. This is how you use things that happened to you as a teen to build the tension in your story.
A lot of people will give you advice about being a good writer. Only a few realize that sticking with brought them to this field is by using life experiences always adds a touch of realism that is so desperately needed in today’s books.
About K.C. Sprayberry
Born and raised in Southern California’s Los Angeles basin, K.C. Sprayberry spent years traveling the United States and Europe while in the Air Force before settling in northwest Georgia. A new empty nester with her husband of more than twenty years, she spends her days figuring out new ways to torment her characters and coming up with innovative tales from the South and beyond. She’s a multi-genre author who comes up with ideas from the strangest sources. Those who know her best will tell you that nothing is safe or sacred when she is observing real life. In fact, she considers any situation she witnesses as fair game when plotting a new story.
Find out more about my books at these social media sites:
Facebook Twitter Website Goodreads Amazon Author Page Google + Pinterest
Manic Readers AUTHORSdb Readers Gazette Instagram Authorgraph Email
March 15, 2018
How Real Can You Get?
Authors write the stories they conceive. Those ideas can come from a very active imagination or real life. This begs the question just how real can you get about life experiences. Specifically, how real can you get with books for teens about situations they face?
We, the authors of teen books, have learned lessons about graphic description. Don’t go too far or your book won’t sell. But, you argue, so and so major author with big publisher does this all the time. Their books sell.
That is very true. This author with a major publisher does have books that sell, but how are they received. As indie authors, we depend on our reviews to sell books. We can’t afford to have angry parents going to our Amazon page and writing things like “This is not what teens do!” “You don’t need to be so ugly!” or even worse. The few reviews we get would soon be overwhelmed by the guardians of teenagers making sure our book was never purchased.
Yet, those subjects are the ones teens want to see in books. They endure bullying, relationship abuse, school shootings or other violence, alcoholism, and drug addiction. They have lost friends to any number of violent acts, or lost a parent to an ugly divorce. Their lives are disrupted in ways many parents have never experienced personally and they want to learn how to deal with their feelings about this.
This leaves you, the indie author with a great story to tell, in a quandary. How do you convey the sense of violence, of pain being dulled through drugs or booze, even the sheer terror of a school being terrorized by someone bent on killing as many as possible? What can you do to show these teens they aren’t alone in a world dominated by the news of the second on social media.
One way to do this is to focus on the emotions of today’s teen. They’re the same emotions many adults had when they were that age. You’re worried no one will like you. Perhaps you’re concerned about a test you didn’t study for or a friend is sick and you’re scared they won’t recover. These teens need a place to lose themselves in a story where they can say, “That’s me! That’s exactly how I feel!” And a great author can give that to them.
What you need to do is observe teens. See how they interact, talk, approach subjects most parents wish they didn’t know about. This can be done without seeming like a stalker. Wandering the nearest mall on a weekend is one way. Instead of heading straight to your favorite store, walk slowly. Listen to the gist of a conversation. Hear how these teens are communicating. Learn their favorite places to hang out.
This is how to make your book real without being too real. Yes, we’re writing fiction but a dose of reality gives your readers a sense you’ve seen into their lives, even if you live halfway around the world, and they’ll love your story all the more.
About the K.C. Sprayberry
Born and raised in Southern California’s Los Angeles basin, K.C. Sprayberry spent years traveling the United States and Europe while in the Air Force before settling in northwest Georgia. A new empty nester with her husband of more than twenty years, she spends her days figuring out new ways to torment her characters and coming up with innovative tales from the South and beyond.
She’s a multi-genre author who comes up with ideas from the strangest sources. Those who know her best will tell you that nothing is safe or sacred when she is observing real life. In fact, she considers any situation she witnesses as fair game when plotting a new story.
Find out more about my books at these social media sites:
Facebook Twitter Website Goodreads Amazon Author Page Google + Pinterest
Manic Readers AUTHORSdb Readers Gazette Instagram Authorgraph Email
