Elizabeth Spann Craig's Blog, page 15

February 24, 2024

LitLinks

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

LitLinks are fed into the Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine (developed by writer and software engineer Mike Fleming) which has over 70,000 free articles on writing related topics. It’s the search engine for writers. While you’re there, check out the Writer’s Digest award-winning Hiveword novel organizer.

Have you visited the WKB lately? Check out the new redesign where you can browse by category, and sign up for free writing articles, on topics you choose, delivered to your email inbox! Sign up for the Hiveword newsletter here. Follow the WKB on Facebook here.

The Top Writing Links From Last Week Are On LitLinks:
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Published on February 24, 2024 21:01

February 17, 2024

LitLinks

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

I’m taking tomorrow off for Presidents Day, so I’ll be back again a week from today with another installment of Twitterific. :)

The Top Writing Links From Last Week Are On LitLinks:
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Published on February 17, 2024 21:01

February 11, 2024

Adding Supernatural Elements to Cozy Mysteries

by Sierra Cross, @SierraCrossBook

Hi all! I’m Sierra Cross, author of the Blue Moon Bay Witches series, and I’ve been writing about magic since the early 2000s, when the dominant trope in urban fantasy was “The Masquerade.”

Back in those angst-ridden old days, supernatural were forced to hide their differences from the world and operate in the shadows.

Wow, we’ve come a long way since the first cans of Tru Blood hit the market. Let’s talk about what lights readers up in 2024!

Tip 1: Don’t add supernatural elements to your mystery – instead, ground your story in the supernatural … and add a mystery.

As a reader, when I open a supernatural cozy mystery I long to escape the real world and be immersed in a magical place. Fully. Immersed. I don’t merely wish to visit a normal town where one or two characters deals in a touch of the mystical from time to time. No, I want to be transported to another world … that happens to look like a small town. Spend some time with worldbuilding. A well-thought-out overview and clear storytelling details will logically and sensorily anchor the reader – and make it clear they’re not in Kansas anymore.

Magic in these stories needs to be foundational, not a flavor you sprinkle on, or you risk falling into the crack between two different sets of reader expectations. If it’s not a straight cozy and not quite a para cozy either, who is your reader? (Caveat: if you want to be writing magical realism, and that’s your brand, great. I want to save you the frustration if you simply weren’t aware of a paranormal cozy reader’s expectations.)

Tip 2: Magical or not, it’s a cozy at core.

Remember how I said as a para cozy reader I long to be whisked off to a magical world that feels real? That’s true. But at the same time, because I’m seeking a calm and soothing reading experience, your world can’t feel too realistic in the sense of being chock full of heavy, real-world problems, political conflicts, etc. Instead, you handily replace all those problems with magical ones. Everything from your heroine’s core wound to your murderer’s motive will be related to the supernatural.

Can the magical stuff ever be symbolic of something that happens in our world? Absolutely. In fact it deepens your story’s theme if its made up, magical problems ring true and meaningful.

Even so, make sure you render them to be lighter in tone (even humorous) and shrink them down to a town-sized scale, from a global one.

What the hex, maybe you can even replace jarring swear words with whimsical, magic-themed “curses.”

Tip 3: Read widely in the genre to understand it deeply.

You probably already know that most paranormal cozies feature a witch protagonist, but does that mean you must have one? (Short answer: no. If you can make a vampire, mermaid, or gargoyle a relatable protagonist, awesome.)

What other tropes are currently popular in this genre, and what is at the heart of their appeal to its fans?

As a reader, I can tell you that some tropes I enjoy in magical cozies (such claiming your power, found family, and small town) induce feelings of vicarious community. Also, I appreciate that the current era of witch cozies celebrates female friendship, sisterhood, and the female self – quirks and all.

Those are my own favorite discoveries, the things I delight in. As you read you’ll come up with your own observations. Take notes on tropes in your favorite magical cozies the same way you would with other conventions, such as chapter length, pacing, setting, and POV.

It’s 2024 and nobody’s hiding their magic behind a bushel anymore, so don’t hide yours either. Claim your power and write that magical book.

About the author, Sierra Cross

Modern magic, infused with heart and humor.

I’m the author of two series, BLUE MOON BAY WITCHES and COVEN OF FIRE.

BLUE MOON BAY vibes: cozy sweaters and the perfect magical mocha. Slow burn romance, paranormal mystery, and heartwarming female friendship.

COVEN OF FIRE vibes: Spells and skyscrapers. Warriors and warlocks. Coven secrets, nonstop action, and forbidden romance.

When I’m not spinning urban fantasy tales, you can find me flying after my 5-year-old witchling, cackling with my coven sisters, or reading and drinking coffee while cuddled up with my cat familiar.

Three Tips for Writing Paranormal Cozies from @SierraCrossBook :
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Published on February 11, 2024 21:01

February 10, 2024

LitLinks

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

The Top Writing Links From Last Week Are On LitLinks:
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Published on February 10, 2024 21:01

February 4, 2024

What Constitutes Success for a Writer?

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

The subject of success . . . mostly how to get it . . . is a popular one for writers. When I pulled the word up in the WKB, it had close to 24,000 entries. I remember there was a book that came out a few years ago that delved into the idea that there were similarities, or coding, that distinguished bestselling books.

Having a bestseller is definitely one marker of success. Making a living off of writing is another.

But there are many other markers of success.

Yours may not include publication at all. It might be to start or maintain a writing habit.

It might be to finish a book you started years ago.

It might be to have something to share with family and close friends.

It might be a writing project you keep to yourself, something that is meaningful for your eyes only.

It might be just to experiment and see what it’s possible for you to create.

It might be to heal from a painful time in your life.

The goals for writing are different for every person. And, no matter what your goal is, if you meet it, you’re a success.

How do you view success as a writer?

What Constitutes Success for a Writer?
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Published on February 04, 2024 21:01

February 3, 2024

LitLinks

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

The Top Writing Links From Last Week Are On LitLinks:
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Published on February 03, 2024 21:01

January 28, 2024

Keeping Up With Writing And Business

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

No matter if you’re traditionally published or self-published, you’ll be dealing with lots of writing-related business. Having done both, though, I know you’ll have a bit more as a self-published author, especially if you’re going wide and publishing in lots of formats.

Sometimes, family and friends are a little sketchy on what that entails. Sometimes, I get so wound up in it myself that I can’t even relate all the things I might do in a day. Some of my writing-related business relates to book production (communicating with my editor or cover designer, emailing or texting IngramSpark or Draft2Digital with any hiccups I experience, etc.). Sometimes it relates to publishing wide (getting a book formatted and covered for translation, auditioning narrators for audio, approving audio, dealing with any issues). Sometimes it’s work to promote my books (running ads on Amazon or Facebook, updating my website, writing a newsletter, responding to readers, scheduling social media).

Whatever it is I’m wrangling in a day, I try to balance out the creative work and the business work. Here are a few tips for doing that:

Get your writing done first. For me, this is a non-negotiable. If I don’t knock out my writing first, I’ve learned that my day can get totally hijacked along the way. And business-related stuff can be such a rabbit hole that it can be one of the things that hijacks our writing.

Don’t try to tackle too much business at once. When you’re facing a lot of business-related work, it’s tempting to jump in and just keep going until you’ve finished. But sometimes business tasks can be so complex and overwhelming that it’s better to break it down into manageable bits to keep burnout at bay.

Use a timer and set a time limit. You may have the opposite problem from tackling too much business at once; you might not want to tackle it at all. If that’s the case, set your timer for a quick session to get started. Say you’re going to get started with Amazon ads, for instance. That’s going to involve some research before you run advertising on the platform. Divide the task into a few pieces: look up free Amazon ads courses online, read/watch/listen to the course for 15 minutes at a time, create ad copy, run the ad. Setting a timer helps make the different tasks less onerous and ensures you’re not going to get too sucked up into the process.

Keep notes. Some of this stuff can be complex. Whenever I’m learning something new, I always think it was such a bother that I’ll be sure to remember how it all worked next time. This never seems to happen! Now I take notes in Evernote or OneNote to remind me of all the steps I need to take the next time I do the task.
How do you keep up with your writing and business-related tasks? What have I missed?

Keeping Up With Writing And Business-Related Tasks:
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Published on January 28, 2024 21:01

January 27, 2024

LitLinks

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

The Top Writing Links From Last Week Are On LitLinks:
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Published on January 27, 2024 21:01

January 21, 2024

4 Odd Writing Tips That Really Work

by Rose Atkinson-Carter, @Reedsy

Like many writers out there, I have my favorite strategies when it comes to my craft, from setting realistic goals to carrying a notebook with me everywhere I go. But whenever I feel stuck in a rut, I try to do something new — shaking things up, after all, is the best way for me to approach my writing from a new perspective.

In this post, I’m going to share four writing tips that I consider strange but also always reliable. If you’re struggling with your work at the moment or just want to know what my tried-and-true strategies are, read on!

1. Write when you’re tired or sleepy

An hour after the sun rises, I typically get out of bed and shuffle over to my desk, a freshly brewed cup of coffee in one hand. But when the words just aren’t flowing, I leave writing until after dinner or right before bedtime.

Have you ever tried writing in a completely exhausted state? While you probably won’t find yourself composing very polished and refined sentences, there’s something wonderful about writing without a filter. When I’m fully awake during a writing session, I tend to fixate on self-editing; instead of steadily moving my story forward, I’ll obsess way too much over word choice and sentence structure.

So, whenever I feel like I’ve been unproductively working for too long on the same section, I switch things up and work at night. This helps me get more words down without revising my writing every other minute! Then, I can go back to what I’ve written the following day and clean things up.

2. Write using an unconventional font

What’s your favorite font to use while typing away on your computer? Are you an Arial person or more of a Times New Roman fan? I typically use Georgia or EB Garamond, but when I’m in a frazzled headspace, Comic Sans is my preferred font.

Comic Sans doesn’t have the best reputation — in fact, countless people around the world have openly expressed their hatred for it, and you should certainly be concerned if you ever see it on the cover of a book — but if you want to get the words flowing, an unconventional font just might be your best bet.

Whenever I use a silly-looking font that’s stripped of pretension, it becomes easier to write whatever comes to mind without feeling the need to edit every sentence right away. There’s something about a more casual font that encourages me to take risks and be okay with making goofy mistakes, so why not try it yourself? You’ve got nothing to lose!

3. Take a dance break

Picture this: you’re sitting at your desk, eyes strained after spending an unknown amount of hours in front of your computer, and nothing you read or hear makes sense anymore. What do you do? You could call it a day – but if you don’t want to just yet, try taking a dance break.

The thought of you randomly dancing to some upbeat music might seem silly at first, but trust me on this one. Moving your body has so many benefits, from relieving tension and stress to increasing energy. It also helps your body release hormones known as endorphins, which are known to boost one’s mood.

Whenever I want to quickly get out of a slump, I force myself out of my chair and dance to my favorite songs for around ten minutes. Once I return to my desk, I feel less frustrated, more energized, and ready to focus on the task at hand!

And remember, if dancing’s not your thing, you could always try brisk walking, running, jumping jacks… anything that’ll get your heart rate up!

4. Write your story backwards

If you’re like me, you probably gravitate towards a chronological approach when it comes to penning a story. But what happens when writer’s block hits and you’ve been staring at the same page for days, maybe even weeks? Well, that’s where my last odd tip comes in.

Instead of letting yourself reach a point where you want to rip your hair out, try skipping all the way to the end of your story, then work backwards. Write the very last scene or chapter, then write the one before it, and so on. Even if you’re relying on a story template, you can approach its various parts in a non-chronological order.

Let’s pretend you’re composing a cozy mystery and reveal the killer’s identity in your book’s last chapter. You could write the whole story from beginning to end, but what would happen if you compose the big reveal first, and then work on each preceding chapter until you’ve reached your book’s first chapter?

This could help you find more motivation to write due to the novelty of the situation, and who knows? It may even help you find more ways to subtly hint at the killer’s identity or hidden motive! By working your way backwards, you’ll have already written how your story ends, which will give you a chance to think deeply about all the events and clues that build up over time until that grand finale.

And there you have it — my favorite odd writing tips that always help me out of a slump. How about you? What are some of your time-tested techniques that other writers might consider unconventional?

Rose Atkinson-Carter is a writer with Reedsy, a marketplace and blog that helps authors with everything from finding the best creative writing courses to hiring a ghostwriter and more. She lives in London.

4 Odd Writing Tips That Really Work by Rose Atkinson-Carter @reedsy :
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Published on January 21, 2024 21:01