L.E. Waters's Blog, page 4

Sockpuppet Reviews

Aw! But they’re so cute!

There has been a lot of chatter lately regarding prominent self-published authors ( link) and traditionally published authors that have been buying positive reviews by the hundreds or writing reviews themselves. One author has gone so far to write negative reviews on rival author’s novels under assumed names (link).

This started a whirlwind questioning how can we trust Amazon’s reviews if so many are purchasing five-star reviews or fabricating them. Many thought that Amazon should have a policy where there would be a bias to reviewers with hundreds of reviews under their belts. Then the review average would lean heavier towards ‘reputable’ reviews.

I’m glad that Amazon has not changed this policy since I’ve noticed that many of my reviewers (five-star to three-stars) have a few reviews or have left a review for the first time. To outsiders, this may look suspicious, but I know that they’re readers who most likely listened to my plea for reviews in my foreword. When I see these first timers it truly touches my heart that they wanted to help me so much that it compelled them to leave their first review.

Before I published, I never left a review for anything. I honestly never realized they were so important. Of course, I read them when deciding between products, but only now do I go out of my way to leave a critical review. I don’t think it’s fair to judge amazon reviews by how many they’ve left before. Most of my reviews are verified purchases with ‘real names’ and that should sway folks to see that they are not sockpuppets. But even if people thought they were false, I could care less. I know that they’re not and I appreciate each one.

Yesterday, I received a nice review on my second book and I realized what a high I got reading it. That’s when it hit me. I would keep writing, even if I only made back all my costs, for these fantastic reviews. They mean so much to me. They fill me with so much happiness and motivate me to keep writing.

Authors who buy reviews, leave their own positive reviews, or thrash another author’s books aren’t going to get very far. Readers will make their own judgements after they’re enticed to try your book. If you have been misrepresenting your book it will catch up to you. Nothing baits a one-star review more than misleading your reader.

How important are reviews to you as a reader? Do you trust five-star reviews? Are you wary of reviewers who have never left a review before?

The Grass is Always Greener…

 

I’m just realizing that no matter which writing phase I’m in, I mumble to myself that I wish I was at another stage. Seriously, this is the pattern that is revealing itself:

I begin writing my first draft (I wish I was editing, that is sooo much easier!)
I start to revise (I wish I was already sending it the editor since my delete-hitting finger goes numb)
I get all my corrections back from the editor (I wish I was blurb writing since I pop Motrin endlessly to keep the headache from seeing so much red at bay)
I have to take a whole novel and sum it up in a few attention-getting sentences (I wish I was promoting already, can I just pay someone to do this?)
Release,  promotion, and attempting to get reviews (I wish I was writing again, that is sooo much easier!)

The sad thing is that this took me three books to figure out. Honestly, I kept thinking the next step was going to be so much better. Only now, I realize that every step has its challenges. I even keep hearing this in the back of my head, “Take a break from the series, this next idea is going to practically write itself!” I’m learning not to trust that voice, it’s an immature, impulsive voice with no long-term memory, bent on distracting me. If I listened to this voice nothing would get done.

So, I know now that every step of self-publishing is tedious. Even a passion can be tedious since any worthwhile art is not created without sweat and tears. I think this is why writers have to fight that rush to get the book out and off their minds.There is such freedom once you move on to the next release.

Do you agree? Is there a step that is pure enjoyment for you or do you find yourself praying to move on to the next phase only to

find you struggle with that one as well?

Win a Free Copy of Infinite Devotion!

Just wanted to point you all to a fantastic giveaway hosted by the awesome ladies at the Open Book Society! It’s a simple giveaway and you have great odds of winning! Go check it out here if you’re looking for a free ebook:

http://openbooksociety.com/article/gi...

On an apologetic note, my blog has been completely neglected lately do to a nasty cough & cold that has made its way around my house (and it’s not even fall yet!) Be back soon

Rowling’s New Book

 

So, the moment has arrived where J.K. Rowling has released the cover and excerpt of her new book (and made it available for pre-order of course…at 17.99 for the ebook *cough, cough*).

Here is a glimpse of the cover and blurb:

When Barry Fairweather dies unexpectedly in his early forties, the little town of Pagford is left in shock.

Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty façade is a town at war.

Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils…Pagford is not what it first seems.

And the empty seat left by Barry on the town’s council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations?

While many are posting about how over-priced this ebook is, I’m more upset that Rowling has switched genres (fantasy to black comedy). Although the description sounds intriguing and I have no doubt that Rowling will make each character memorable and deep, this deviation has really let me down.

I LOVED the Harry Potter series—like stood-in-line-at-midnight-for-the-next-book loved—and I was hoping her next book would evoke the same feeling of wonder and sentimentality of the Potter series.

This made me realize something important. I always thought that I would try different genres. I didn’t want to be limited to one. I love historical/reincarnation fantasy, but so many ideas have fired up my creativity and I wanted to explore them. I thought if my readers enjoyed my voice and style that they would come along for the ride, exploring different genres with me. All that changed with reading Rowling’s new excerpt. My heart sunk when I saw that it was a black comedy, reminding me of a plot for new tv series. I know she is a great writer, but I don’t want to read about this sort of world. I want to read her fantasy.

It hit me—I don’t want to do this to my readers. My readers’ most frequent compliment is that they enjoy the historic immersion and little known details in my books. How can I switch to young adult paranormal or a paranormal thriller and think that these fans wouldn’t be surprised and let down? They would be hoping that I bring them what they enjoyed from the books they know.

This has altered my plans and convinced me of writing a historic fiction piece to follow my series. This is a better match with what my readers might expect from me. I can probably venture into other genres later, but while my readership is still young and growing, I don’t want to alienate them at the end of my series.

 

What about you? How do you feel about Rowling switching genres? Do you think it’s important to slowly evolve your genre?

Lucky Seven Challenge

I love these Lucky Seven Challenges! Not only do I get to share a little of Infinite Loss with you, (another perk being self-published), but I get to perfect seven lines of my book before revisions! Nothing polishes a few sentences up like releasing them for everyone to see. I’ve done a Lucky Seven before with this same work-in-progress, but it specified page 77, so it’s all good!

Thank you to Delia, from Postcards From Asia, for nominating me The rules are: you must go to the 7th page of your current work-in-progress, go down 7 lines, and post the following seven lines. The following is from the first draft of my third novel in the series, Infinite Loss.

Frantic yelps erupt within the camp and Father springs, yelping from our teepee. Mother grabs for my little brother in the papoose and takes me by the hand to flee with the other women and children. Everyone runs and screams—all except for Apawi, who lies down on his buffalo blanket in the center of camp for us all to see and sleeps soundly. In the light of the full moon, the men grab their lances and bows, jump on their ponies, and hurry to make the formation to protect the camp—the formation of wild geese. Father whoops and leads the group, taking the very top of the line. They all stand their horses still as the thundering sound comes closer and closer, shaking every living thing awake and running for cover. Dark shapes charge toward us, with a cloud of dust reaching high into the air above them.

 

Well, that’s all I’ve got to share with you for now. I would love to see what everyone is up to—so to all of my followers, consider yourself tagged! Put a link to your Lucky Seven Post below so we can all take a look!

Something to Strive For

I just wanted to share with you all an article about an amazing woman.

I’ve been following her journey for a while now and I can’t believe how much chutzpah she has. First of all, she has set her sights on what some say is an impossible feat: swimming from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage, through dangerous box jellyfish, terrible storms, and cold nights. Yet, Diana Nyad has attempted this three times before and failed. She just ended her recent quest when many thought she might actually reach the Florida’s sandy shore. Her sunburn, strained bicep muscle, and jellyfish stings ended her attempt. The most amazing thing of all—she’s sixty-three on Wednesday!

I could care less if she ever made it to Florida. I love watching her keep going—each time getting closer and closer. She never lets the failure stop her from trying…one…more…time.

She doesn’t let sharks, jellyfish, limits of the human body, or age deter her.

Diana, you are an inspiration and your drive and passion are much more impressive than your goal. You Go Girl! Never stop challenging yourself.

I think of Diana and I say to myself, this is why I self-published, this is why I keep writing, and this is why I don’t put any limits on myself.

Don’t let the voices of rejection, gradual sales, or other’s incredible successes infect your determination. Yeah, you might never reach your goal of topping the best seller list, being traditionally published, or granting movie options, but NEVER give up on yourself. Never stop pushing your limits.

I’m sure Diana’s journey has made her life that much more exciting. Give yourself something to strive for.

I’m Letting You In On A Little Secret…

After I finished writing my first novel, I stared at the pages, not knowing what revising entailed.

It’s perfect I thought. Exactly the way I wanted it.

But then I started to research the process of revising and it dawned on me that I had to completely slash away and polish every sentence, analyze every word, make sure every punctuation was just as I wanted it before querying.

I found some fantastic books and websites, but none helped me more than Caro Clarke’s in-depth advice.

If she taught a class, I’d take it. The way she explains everything and the topics she thought to include, astounds me. I read each and every one of her writing articles and if you have a little time I would check them out. How could you not, with unique article titles such as:

 Beginners’ four faults


Pacing anxiety, or How to stop padding and plot!


Not stopping the reader: avoiding the stumbling blocks that break the spell of your story


Dialogue: the best action


I am your editor: submitting your novel




Loving your characters too much


Plot and narrative: the twin rails of the novel


Killing your story: 8 guaranteed ways to wreck your writing


The strenuous marriage, Part One: careful observation


The strenuous marriage, Part Two: careful imagination


The strenuous marriage, Part Three: strict toiling with language

Just to name a few.

Caro truly knows her stuff and I promise you that you will come away a better writer after you have read through them all. I took her advice so seriously that I felt the need to thank her in my first novel. Best of all, the advice is free!

(Although it would be nice to purchase her novel in thanks if you find her advice as helpful as I do).

Just writing this blog has made me realize I should reread all these articles again before I revise the next book in my series. I’m sure I’m in need of a refresher course.

Thank you, Caro, for taking the time to write these extremely helpful articles and for sharing them so graciously.

Have any of Caro’s tips helped you? Whose writing advice has made the biggest impact on your writing?

On Writing Style

 

About.com on Fiction Writing defines writing style as, “the way you write, as opposed to what you write about (though the two things are definitely linked). It results from things like word choice, tone, and syntax. It’s the voice readers “hear” when they read your work.”

Wikipedia (the definite source on writing ) defines writing style as, “the manner in which an author chooses to write to his or her audience. A style reveals both the writer’s personality and voice, but it also shows how she or he perceives the audience, and chooses conceptual writing style which reveal those choices by which the writer may change the conceptual world of the overall character of the work. This might be done by a simple change of words; a syntactical structure, parsing prose, adding diction, and organizing figures of thought into usable frameworks.”

I have had a few reviews lately that have commented on my style and it surreal once you hear how others hear your words. All of the below excerpts were taken from Amazon reviews:

“The writing is clean and direct with very little flourish.”

“I was quickly entranced by the writing style as I partook in this unique, fascinating adventure. L.E. Waters captures scenery and dialogue with such ease that it’s easy to picture in your head, everything rolls naturally. No stilting, no rushing, no forcing.”

“I had never thought I would enjoy historical fiction however, it is written in such a way that it flows within the story and is very realistic.”

“The author’s writing is clean and well-done, and Waters does an excellent job giving a richness to the worlds her characters inhabit, while still staying historically accurate (at least as far as my somewhat meager knowledge of ancient cultures goes). Her characters are nicely complex while still being likable (that is, they’re not goody two-shoes, but neither are they evil).

“I found the writing to be somewhat flat; it didn’t feel like there was much action going on. I enjoyed the premise, but found the implementation lacking.”

(Oh well, you can’t make everyone happy)

I’ve looked up what clean writing implies and it seems it’s a direct, uncluttered delivery with minimal descriptions, that’s easy to read. So I can see why some may like this non-flowery narrative and others may detest it.

Did I set out to write like this? No. I really wasn’t aware, but I do tend to get itchy reading all the detail in a Dickens or Austen novel (yet I still love them!)  and I have been known to roll my hands rudely when someone tells a story in such a way, “Last Monday night—no, I think it was actually Tuesday and it was late afternoon…”

When I was researching how to revise and attract an agent I read that it was best not use adverbs, slash out needless words, and never use more than two adjectives to describe something within the same sentence. So I obeyed, and with the long list of characters I have it’s probably best to keep everything else simple. But I also write from two male POV and one Spartan female POV(more masculine than most females) in the first book. In these three lives I tried to be more direct and laconic. I wonder if readers noticed that I softened things slightly with the last female POV? I’ve yet to receive any comments about style on my second book but I’m curious to see if my ‘clean’ style is consistent.

Dashiell Hammett, author of The Maltese Falcon, once said, “It is the beginning of the end when you discover you have a style.”

Are you aware of your writing style? Have reviewers or classmates surprised you with comments on your style? Have you ever attempted to change your style? Is it the kiss of death to realize your style?

Ebook Sales Are Up

I wanted to pass on this link for an ebook sales report just in case some of you missed it:

http://news.yahoo.com/e-books-sales-s...

I think this is extremely positive for self-publishers who have trouble selling their print books. Even though the type of publisher is not specified, I’m assuming they surveyed the big publishers. I would love to see a study if self-publishers’ ebook sales are up as well. Any ebooks sales help out self-publishers though, since it shows that the public is drifting from shopping in the big chain bookstores and searching online where self-publishers like me stand a chance.

The future of publishing will still be a mix of traditionally published and self-published novels, and print books right now still dominate, but it’s good to see that ebook sales are steadily increasing. If you are a self-publisher or debating self-publishing, this increase will only work in your favor. This is especially promising if you are a young adult novelist.

Well, off to the beach

Sisterly Award Love

A heartfelt thank you to, Diane, for these stellar awards. Diane has one of the most honest and humorous blogs out there. Check her out. Now. I’ll wait.

I never get tired of adding these cute little badges on my side blog and passing them on.

Okay, so you all know how this works, I divulge seven more truths about me or accept the dare…haha:

1) I once had twenty cats at one time (in my defense I lived on a farm and rescued them all from death row). I’ve decreased my cat hoarding tendency down to two now, but most likely will go back to my cat-habit once my kids are grown.

2) I once took out kayaks with my little sister on a vacation and we didn’t realize until we turned to go back into the harbor that the current was super strong. Instead of choosing to be stranded on one of the goat-inhabited sand bars, we clung on to a huge cruise ship that we drifted out to. I sent my little sister up to get help as I held onto the ship and both kayaks like the hulk. We found out later it was one of the most expensive cruise ships in the world. We gave all the old rich folks a thrill for the day; a pathetic rescue at sea.

3) Ruth Chew was my favorite author when I was little. She has some of the best supernatural ideas ever. Buy them to read with your kids!

4) I once had a pet snapping turtle named Spike.

5) I’m mostly of Irish heritage, which does not explain why I look Spanish/Hawaiian/Native American (someone’s got some explaining to do!)

6) When I was young I didn’t wear any shoes all summer—hmmm…explains hobbit feet now.

7) I’m unable to listen to AM radio, the frequency is like nails on a chalkboard to me.

Now to pass on the award love to some truly deserving blogging sistas:

1) Saraflower

2) Ink-Splattered

3) Yesenia Vargas

4) Writerlious

5) Riedel Fascination

6) Morgan Shamy

7) Kathy S. Collier-Mehl

With that, I’m off to notify you all. Can’t wait to learn more about you