A.J. Race's Blog, page 13

21 Most Annoying Things About Being a Writer

Yesterday on my Facebook page I shared a link from BuzzFeed about the 25 Worst Things About Being A Graphic Designer. It was funny and completely true, but it occurred to me they’d probably never have one for writers. So I’ve decided to make one up of my own. Tomorrow (maybe) I’ll do a best of… just fyi lot’s of gifs ahead and it’s a little (okay a lot) NSFW.

#1 Everybody and their grandmother thinks their a writer:

#2 Because self publishing has made it easier for anyone to be published it’s harder than ever to get noticed. 

a literary where’s waldo

#3 Family doesn’t take it seriously. (Even if parents or significant other is okay with it there’s always going to be someone who says… when are you gonna get a real job?)

#4 Unless your name is J.K.Rowling, Stephen King, Jackie Collins or E.L. James it isn’t particularly lucrative. 

can I pay this bill with Monopoly money?

#5 This question: So what do you like to write about?

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#6 People who say, They want to be a writer they just don’t have the time. 

#7 People who want to know if you’ll write a story for them or about them. 

#8 Having someone ask you to read their writing and trying to find a nice way to say it’s horrible. 

#9 Reading the latest hot trend and wondering why the hell it was ever published in the first place. 

#10 Fifty Shades of Twilight

#11 Non-writers get touchy when you correct their grammar

#12 The knowledge that your Google Search History would look really bad if it was ever taken into court. 

#13 Having to Google search how to poison someone without feeling like the FBI is about to knock on your door. 

#14 For as much information may be readily available 98% of it is absolute unusable bullshit and the other 3% is impossible to find. 

#15 Having to research an obscure bit of information for a novel

#16 A word that is right on the tip of your tongue but for the life of you you can’t remember it and it sends you into a rage. 

#17 Getting distracted by in depth research of a minor element into your book because it’s actually really fascinating. 

#18 Finding yourself lost in a marathon of social networking and realizing you’ve written nothing new in a week. 

#19 Seeing commercials for the remake of an already terrible movie and knowing it should be the movie version of your book up there instead. 

because fifty remakes of the same shitty film really needs to happen.

#20 Movie versions of books not living up to expectations. 

#21 People who say books are dying. 

 

Serial-ly?

AN: Please forgive me the horrible horrible pun of a title. I wrote this at 5 a.m. with no sleep. I’ve been reading Stephen King’s 11/22/63 and it’s just a touch addictive; also I’m a bit of an insomniac and I apparently think I’m just HILARIOUS at 5 a.m. Also if you laughed at the title and got where I was going feel free to disregard this message.

I’m leaning more and more towards making this work a serial (even though I actually have a good chunk more written than one might expect when starting such an undertaking) but I still have a few questions I need answered before I decide on anything. I’ve Googled a few articles on the process for Kindle Serials and in some it sounds like you’re provided an editor by Amazon, and in others it sounds as though the authors already had an Amazon editor. Maybe it’s based on my own experience with editors but finding ones who can go through 10-15k words on a weekly basis and have a few back and forths to make sure that it’s perfect who isn’t through Amazon sounds a little nerve wracking for everyone involved.

Not to mention the fact that the idea of people being able to comment on particular characters and scenes (and that apparently the author should be influenced by that, or at least the authors who have written thus far seem to allow themselves to be) is a little odd to me. The whole thing is not entirely unlike writing fanfiction in that you post in chapters (if you’re smart on a weekly basis), it’s (hopefully) edited, though most times not, and because it’s a live story people can comment in real time. Where some authors might like the idea of a novel being a bit less of a one man show, I’m not sure how I feel about the idea of readers getting a say in how the story ultimately turns out. Not that anyone can require you to make changes based on what readers say, but that isn’t how writing works. If it was, I suspect Harry Potter (among others) would have turned out quite differently, a lot less characters would have died, and in the long run it wouldn’t be the story we know and love (and secretly cry ourselves to sleep over). People will always have an opinion on one character or another who should die or should have lived, but if authors start making changes to their entire storyline based on something a reader thinks should be in there rather than what the story calls for…. I think there’s a problem there. Sure the reader might want to know more backstory about a given character that isn’t mentioned much, but I think it becomes a slippery slope. Suddenly you’re trying to please everyone and you end up pleasing no one. But hey maybe I’m overreacting. Maybe reader driven literature in which readers tell the authors where the story should go and what it should be, is the way of the future.

I’m curious to know your opinions on all of this, and if you’ve worked with Kindle Serials or know more about it, what you think of it and the idea.

Exploring My Options

Secrets of Witches may be on hold for the time being while I work on a newer project, but it doesn’t mean that the trilogy isn’t on my mind.

Recently, thanks in no small part to Jordanna East, I’ve recently added an entirely new option onto the list of possibilities for Secrets in the form of a serialized novel. Kindle Serials, (their special imprint specifically for serial novels) has given rise to the resurgence of concept of serial novels. The idea behind them being smaller stories that make up part of a much larger work. While the concept had been fairly out of fashion for quite some time now, apparently it isn’t just Amazon who’s hoping to capitalize on the idea of the serial novel. According to the Wall Street Journal (who’s opinions I usually trust about as much as Fox News), St. Martin’s Press and Penguin (who recently merged officially with Random House) have both taken on the serial novel concept. 

Obviously there are lots of things to consider, not the least of which is ensuring that the story in question is one that could be made to last more than a season (which in a trilogy would likely equal out to three depending on a myriad of factors) and it would, hopefully also equal out to a story that each episode in the season could stand alone as well as a part of a whole novel. I think the easiest way to accomplish this (besides doing a massive outline) might be to write the entire novel first; in the separate increments insuring that they all work together and stand alone and then publish them periodically. Typically it would seem that every two weeks seems to be the standard for Kindle.

It’s an exciting concept I think, and more importantly it’s an exciting new format that I’ve actually never tried before which makes it a little dangerous and scary and I like that. I like the idea of trying something I’ve never done. There’s quite a bit for me to consider and research before I make any official decisions to be announced here… watch this space.

Favorite Quotes: RuPaul Edition

As a writer it’s difficult sometimes not to indulge ourselves in little fantasies of becoming wildly successful authors. Beloved by everyone who reads us, landing on the bestseller list and being able to quit our day jobs and make writing our exclusive career path. Reality however, is often a cruel mistress and it’s important to keep several things in mind when it comes to this experience as a writer, and maybe even as a human being. Luckily the Dalai Lama of drag, as I have decided to call her, has some brilliant quotes on this matter.

As authors, writing a book for us is an immensely personal experience. To some it’s like giving birth, you’ve created this thing that you think is perfection and now you have to give it to the world. I think it’s important that when we put ourselves out there and decide to either self publish or publish that we not have any kind of expectation about how well the book will do because it can only lead to disappointment and resentments. If you publish the traditional route and the book fails to sell what we hope or expect it to, who gets the blame? The publisher for not pushing it enough? The marketing team? The cover designers? Self publishing is much the same problem, if you opt to have people help you there are a lot of people you could blame for the book not doing as well as you think it should, and ultimately some authors even blame and resent themselves for the failures of their book. If something is meant to do well it will, sure it takes work and it takes a collaboration of people, but ultimately having expectations of what it should do, versus just being pleased with what does happen, is a good way to drive yourself crazy.

“What other people think of me, is none of my business.”

(sadly I couldn’t find a gif of this)

Going hand in hand with the above quote, part of I think a lot of our expectations as authors is that we feel that because we think a book is good or our family and friends think it’s good that really, everyone should think it’s good. A part of the problem is that because we’re so close to our work it’s hard as an author not to feel like it’s a personal attack when someone doesn’t like what we write. There will of course be personal attacks, regardless of whether or not one is a writer. Some people will always be haters, the point is… we can’t focus on these people. In fact, if at all possible, we should probably ignore these people. Authenticity is the key to good writing, and if you are yourself and you write what you want to write and what your passionate about it shows. Writing something or trying to be some way just because you think it will make people like you will only get you labeled as fake and then hated more. Be you, because as they say, “Everybody else is taken.”

I think this quote speaks for itself, particularly with the above quotes. If you can love yourself, ignore the haters and do you no matter what any other asshole thinks, you may be able to live a very happy life*.

*happiness not guaranteed. Some restrictions apply, see fine print of life for details.

Seriously?!: Own It edition

I see this all the time on certain blogs (generally LGBT centric blogs), but I’m sure it happens everywhere, and it just really drives me crazy. A person will make a statement that is fairly judgmental… and then turn around and say, “But I’m not judging your decisions, or your personal choices.”

Really? Really now?!

Saying, you’re a shitty person if you do x, but I’m not judging you.., and then turning around ten seconds later and further emphasizing how x makes you a shitty person….

Oh well, as long as your not judging me.

I don’t care if you want to judge my personal choices or someone else’s. You have the right to believe that a certain action makes you a shitty person, but my problem is when you don’t own up to your judgement.

It’s kind of like this idea where politicians wanna hide behind the bible or trying to protect your soul when they say gay people shouldn’t get married. Why don’t you just be honest and say, you find gay sex icky. I may think your an idiot and completely disagree with you, but I would at least respect the fact that you were honest with me.

Don’t just tell me the truth and then turn around and lie directly in my face and act like you didn’t just tell me how you really felt ten seconds ago, as if suddenly I have amnesia. I may have a shitty memory for important details, but it isn’t that bad.

The point is… you can have your opinions about me and what I do, and who I am. That’s fine. I may not agree with you, but you have the right to your own opinion; but if you’re going to lie directly in my face and act like ‘I’m not a homophobe, some of my best friends are gay,” and then turn around and do things that are completely and obviously homophobic, we’re going to have a problem.

Oh and in case it wasn’t clear…

I’m so totally judging you…

 

Titling: Thriller Edition

While I’m not willing to reveal the working title for my W.I.P. just yet, I wanted to discuss the dreaded subject of titles.

I’ve spent a great deal of time this week considering a title for my current work in progress. I’ve got a dozen or so mulling around, but the one that has always stuck out to me, doesn’t exactly fit the thriller criteria.

Certain genres of books have with them certain expectations for titles. Crime/Mystery/Thrillers tend to have short, punchy titles that generally have something along the lines of Murder, Blood, Killer or the like (not always, but I’m generalizing to make a point).

Romance novels tend to have titles that sound in some small part romantic, or sexy. Affairs, Desires, Secrets, Passion

Action/Fantasy and Sci-Fi: Seem fairly eclectic as far as titles go (particularly if one considers what’s currently popular in such genres).

And the rest. Literary fiction, can be pretty much whatever you want.

Theoretically a title is always at the whim of the author, but if you want a title that will instantly pop in a readers mind as a thriller, there’s a bit of work involved.

My question I pose now to you my fellow authors is, when your coming up with a title does the genre factor in for you at all, or do you just come up with something you feel fits?

One Sentence Synopsis

If you don’t follow me on Facebook (which really what are you doing with your life?), you probably missed my repost from Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing in which they posed the following question:

Summarize the book you’re currently working on in one sentence!

One sentence is surprisingly tricky, but a fairly interesting test of your writing prowess if ever there was one.

This is what I came up with, it may or may not change as the book goes on:

Scandal is a deadly business. 

I now pose the question to you, in one sentence, tell me what your working on.

Pretty please?

Why You Should Be Reading Blood in the Past

Being an author I really don’t read as much as I’d like too, but when my good friend Jordanna East recently self published her first novella: Blood in the Past I knew that I wanted to find time to read this book, and at 100 pages, it didn’t seem like something that should take me a particularly long time to read. Unfortunately for both of us, I am often times a slower reader than I’d like (mostly because reading makes me want to write something of my own and then I forget to continue reading and it’s a whole big thing), so this post really should have come out a lot sooner than it did, and for that I apologize. But now that I’ve finished it (all in one night) I have to say, I really really enjoyed this story. I had never read a novella before, and the only complaint I could possibly have is that it wasn’t longer, but that would completely defeat the purpose, so I suppose I can begrudgingly forgive her for it’s shortness.

I have always had a bit of an obsession with strong, powerful, women. Particularly, if I’m being honest, when their badasses who end up killing people. Evelyn Salt, Olivia Pope, Christina Yang are all female characters for whom I have always had a great love. (Admittedly Christina Yang, of Grey’s Anatomy is more in the business of saving lives, but she’s no less a badass). And now, thanks to Jordanna East I feel I can add Lyla Kyle into the list as well.

Blood in the Past is a case study in the ripple effect of one person’s actions in the lives of several different characters, in a way that is darkly fascinating. It’s impeccably written and researched. I found myself cheering for Lyla Kyle on several different occasions and all in all with the possible exceptions of Jillian and Calvin Kyle I couldn’t help but want to root for these characters.

I honestly can’t wait for the next book in the series.

A+ all around, I’m sure I don’t have to say, a five star read.

 

The Sound of Creativity

Of the many tools I find particularly useful when creating a new novel, Scrivener, new notebooks and pens, occasionally a pencil or two and every so often Google Maps, one of the more underwritten about tools is that of the writing soundtrack I create for all of my books. Sometimes it’s songs that I would love to see in the film version of my book, but more often than not it’s songs that have a certain feel to them and motivate me to write the particular scenes necessary for any given book.

For instance if I need a dark, somber, mood or perhaps a tearful scene I have tracks that are emotional to me and that have the ability to make me cry. For intense action packed scenes I like to grab the soundtrack to an action movie and borrow that. And for everything in between there are just certain songs that I feel fit the mood of the story and can inspire me, so I compile them all into a playlist on Spotify, press shuffle and get to writing. Occasionally I still need to skip songs depending on the particular scene at hand, but for the most part the over all theme of the songs I’ve chosen seems to work rather well. I also have, unrelated to the story specific playlists, a writing playlist which houses slower songs, the occasional movie score—I’m particular to Philip Glass and his work on the Hours as well as Notes on a Scandal. Both excellent films by the way. There are a few jazz numbers, the occasional classical piece, two songs sung by Eartha Kitt that were both featured in the film Something’s Gotta Give, and for reasons I will never fully understand the main theme to Saw. Like my musical tastes outside of my story specific playlists and my writing playlist, it’s an eclectic and arguably strange compilation of seemingly unrelated songs that all manage to set the tone that I need them too, and in the end that’s all that really matters.

PS: Because you totally asked, occasionally in the background of all of this music I like to play my sounds of nature collection which is an hour long disc of rain and thunder. This without a doubt always manages to inspire me.

PPS: If anyone is interested I’d be more than happy to discuss the specific songs that can be found on the current playlist for my W.I.P.

Fresh Ideas

There’s nothing quite like the high of a fresh new storyline, new characters, and a brand new beginning. What is it about starting a new novel that is both magical and terrifying and that has the ability to get you out of a writing rut?

For the last few months now my writing has been at a bit of a standstill. I’ve been attempting to work on the final novel in the Secrets of Witches trilogy and while it technically was a ‘new novel’ it’s still the same old characters and the same old ideas that I’ve been trying to get out of my brain for the last decade now and honestly it’s grown a lot tiresome over the last ten years. For one reason or another I’ve never quite been able to get the story right and so (as tends to happen) I drop the story for a little while then come back to it a few months to a year later and try to start over. Inevitably, as in previous years, I like it for about ten minutes, until I come to a part that makes me hate it again. I’ve never been satisfied with a single draft and I have wondered for a long time now whether or not I ever will. In keeping with this great time honored tradition I’m taking a small break from my rewrite of Bridge of Memories (the reason for which can be found here) to start something entirely new.

I’ve said on this blog a few times now that I wanted to start something new, but some bizarre and albeit misplaced sense of duty has kept me from it. It was only in my decision to take a break from blogging that I realized I should also take a break from Secrets of Witches if for no other reason than my own sanity.

The first few days of my blogging break were spent working on an outline for this new novel, the next few days were actually continuing writing (and as usual abandoning a large portion of said outline). Maybe it’s the newness of the story that has me so excited or maybe it’s because it’s completely different from Secrets of Witches but I’m enjoying myself so much so that I think I can manage continuing to work on this blog, and work on the novel. Hopefully in the coming months I’ll discuss my work in progress more on this blog, but for now I’d like to keep some secrets to myself.