Elizabeth Spann Craig's Blog, page 19

September 10, 2023

Writing Myths: Slow/Fast Writing is the Best

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

It’s always a little frustrating to me when writers say a particular approach to writing is the only way to go. Just because something is right for you doesn’t mean it’s right for everyone.

I’m a fast writer. But that’s not going to work for everyone. Sometimes writers are deeply into word-crafting. Sometimes writers have complex plots and universes to world-build. Some writers have less time to devote to writing or are writing while wrangling young children or helping their parents. And some writers might just be very slow to put words on the page, which could be related to insecurity or not having a plan for their story.

There are also slow writers who feel that you can’t create a thoughtful or entertaining story without laboring over every word. It’s possible that this approach might be truer for literary fiction than for commercial fiction. But there have been entertaining and interesting quickly-written stories at least since the days of pulp fiction from the 1920s-1950s. You can write fast and create books that are fun to read.

As with many things in life, there can be a touch of truth in both approaches. I write quickly and edit slower. Maybe a slow writer who wants to speed up a little could find ways to rev up the process (detailed outlines, skipping description and chapter breaks until the second draft) without feeling pressure.

But the point is that you don’t have to follow anyone else’s method. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach. You’re free to go with whatever works for you or change it if or when that method no longer helps you create.

Are you a faster or slower writer? Do you ever feel you should speed up or slow down?

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Published on September 10, 2023 21:01

September 9, 2023

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.

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Published on September 09, 2023 21:01

September 2, 2023

LitLinks

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Hope everyone has a happy and safe Labor Day! I’ll be taking tomorrow off from the blog. See you back here next Sunday.

Business / Miscellaneous Your Publishing Options With Rachael Herron: @thecreativepenn Surprising benefits of launching a book – for the whole marketing funnel: @jbernoff Conferences and Events / Miscellaneous 9 Benefits Found on a Group Writing Retreat: @TickledPinkTam @ediemelson In England: The Polari Prize’s 2023 Longlists: @Porter_Anderson @PubPerspectives India’s Jaipur Literature Festival Heads for Three US Cities: @Porter_Anderson @PubPerspectives Have a successful Book Signing by Checking These 14 Things Off Your To Do List: @EdieMelson NYU’s New Advanced Publishing Institute: 2024 Speakers: @Porter_Anderson @PubPerspectives Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration Writing From Your Shadow Side With Michaelbrent Collings: @thecreativepenn Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration / Reading as Writers Five SFF Novels That Will Make You Long for a Breath of Fresh Air: @jamesdnicoll @tordotcom 8 Novels With Narrators That Defy Our Expectations: by Nathan Go @electriclit 8 Poems Everyone Should Know – Little Infinite by Tanya Marion @LittleInfinite 5 Iconic Horror Books From the Early ’90s: @JimmyRJuliano @tordotcom 7 Crime Books Featuring Special Events Going Off the Rails: by Jamie Day @crimereads Take a Minute to Celebrate the Forgotten Greats of Science Fiction: @jamesdnicoll @tordotcom Good Movies as Old Books: @MattStevensCLT Am I Reading Too Many Books at Once? @mollytempleton @tordotcom Time Travel Stories That Explore What It Means To Be Human: @HolSmale Braille Is Alive, Well, and Ever-Evolving: @smswrites Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Fitting in Writing 5 Tips for Building a Sustainable Writing Practice: @ArianaThePoet What Can You Write in 15 Minutes? @KelsieEngen Writing and Time Management: @dlfinnauthor Creativity and Inspiration / Writing Life Publish A Book with a Family Member: @indieauthoralli Time, Space and Grace: 7 Success Factors for Neurodivergent and Cognitively Impaired Self-Published Authors: @indieauthoralli I’d Rather Commit A Murder Than Write One: @lizzienugent @crimereads Paul McCartney on not-knowing and doing it now: @austinkleon Five Lessons Learned After I Signed With My Agent: @JenBohmueller @writerunboxed Why Writers Should LOVE the Back-to-School Season: @ediemelson Everything That Will Tempt You to Quit Writing and How to Deal with It: @MegDowell Genres / Fantasy The Seven Best Fantasy Settings For Your Novel: by Andrea Stewart @thenovelry Genres / Humor 11 Ways to Add Funny to Fiction: by Dave Cohen @selfpubform Genres / Miscellaneous How to Pick Your Writing Niche – And Why You Need One: @NathanielTower Genres / Mystery Catalysts in Crime Fiction: @margotkinberg Do Heists Require a Meta Mystery? by Oren Ashkenazi Disgruntled Employees as an Element in Crime Fiction:
@margotkinberg Psychological Crime Thrillers: @MandSMagazine Twists in Suspense Fiction: @MandSMagazine Genres / Romance Seven steps for creating a strong character arc in your romance novel: @HelenaFairfax Promo / Miscellaneous Five Main Areas To Help Authors Market Their Books: @KarenHWhiting @ediemelson Promo / Platforms The Importance of Author Branding: by Doug Lewars Promo / Social Media Tips What to Post on Instagram as Authors: @jessicathauthor Promo / Websites The Author Website: Which is the Best Hosting Service? by Margot Conor Who do you blame when something goes wrong with your blog? @HughRoberts05 Publishing / Miscellaneous Amazon’s Literary Partnership’s 2023 US Beneficiaries: @Porter_Anderson @PubPerspectives Texas Censorship Law Is Blocked, One Day Before Implementation: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives Publishing / News / Data PRH: 9-Percent International Revenue Gains, January-June: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives Publishing / News / International Publishing Brazilian Publishers in Rio: Book Fair ‘Professional Days’: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives ‘Chytomo’ Opens New Award for Ukraine Publishing: @PubPerspectives Karger and Kortext: Research for England’s National Health: @Porter_Anderson @PubPerspectives Italy: Publishers Call for Pandemic-Era Library Funds to Continue: @Porter_Anderson @PubPerspectives Abu Dhabi Arabic Centre Partners With Russian Academy of Sciences: @Porter_Anderson @PubPerspectives Publishing / Options / Traditional Publishing / Querying Query Quest: Agent Query Checklist : @Aeryn_Rudel Top 10 Reasons Your Query Didn’t Sell Your Book: @bookends Pitch Yourself Before You Pitch Your Book: by Catherine Baab-Muguira @janefriedman Publishing / Process / Contracts How to negotiate with a publisher: @jbernoff Writing Craft / Arc 10 Key Questions to Help Writers Flesh out the Story ARC: @ZenaDellLowe on @EdieMelson Writing Craft / Characters / Development Character Type and Trope Thesaurus: Hopeless Romantic: @beccapuglisi @onestop4writers Find Your Fictional Characters’ Energy Motivators: by Deborah-Zenha Adams @annerallen Writing Craft / Characters / Supporting Characters How To Write Supporting Characters That Readers Love (6 Tips): @LibbyPageWrites Writing Craft / Common Mistakes 3 Ways To Eliminate Head Hopping When Writing: @KMAllan_writer Know the Rules Before You Break Them: @jamesscottbell Writing Craft / Diversity 20 Tips for Writing LGBTQ Characters: by Tucker Lieberman @IndieBookView Writing Craft / Lessons from Books and Film The Messy Middle: The Brown Sisters Trilogy: by Colice Sanders @diymfa 37 Days of Shakespeare: Henry V: @cockeyedcaravan Writing Craft / Miscellaneous How to Make a Cliché Work for You: by Lori Z. Scott Moral Copying: @stacitroilo @storyempire Mixing it up in your writing . . . like Pedro Martinez: @jbernoff How to Use Misdirection in Your Story for Greater Impact: @KMWeiland How to Instantly Add Depth to Your Story: by Fake Redhead A 12-Step Process for Getting Desired Writing Results: @ninaamir Five Mistakes That Destroy a Story’s Message: by Chris Winkle What is the Inciting Incident? Definition, Purpose, Examples, Tips: @SeptCFawkes The Rhetorical Triangle for Writers: @SueColetta1 Writing Craft / POV Mind Your Own Business! or Maintaining the POV: @nlholmesbooks @floridawriters1 Writing Craft / Revision The Bread Machine Editing Trick: @jan_ohara
@writerunboxed A Line-By-Line Revision Tip No One Talks About: @authorSAT Writing Tools / Apps Easy Speech-to-Text Tools: @worddreams Writing Tools / Books 5 How-To-Write Books That Have Impacted My Writing: @ElaineRosemaryD @writers_write

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Published on September 02, 2023 21:02

August 27, 2023

What to Post on Instagram as Authors

By Jessica Thompson, @ jessicathauthor2

My writing group got together to talk about “what to post on Instagram (IG) as authors” and I realized I had many collected insights on the subject. So I’ve compiled information from other authors and their classes and from my own experience, if it helps one of you out there, please let me know! Drop a comment, find me on IG as @jessicathauthor2 or email me at jessicaisanauthor@gmail.com

Ok, so knowing what to post. First, the general rules, then we’ll get into ideas for specific posts.

General rules –

As a writer, don’t only post about writing, but do post about writing. You can talk about your journey, your book, your characters, etc., but also pick one other thing to post about. It should be a thing that’s related to your writing. Like your kids if you are a children’s author (but be careful about what you share) or your knitting if you write knitting cozy mysteries. Your past as a cop, your dog, your city, anything! But shoot for something visual since it’s Instagram.

I know a lady that lives in Europe and writes about historical fiction in palaces, so she visits a lot of castles. She posts about her weekend trips, the castles, her research, and her books. So she gets the history buffs, people who like castles, people who stumble upon her account because they loved this one castle they visited this one time, people intrigued by poisons, readers of historical fiction, AND other writers. If all you post about is writing, you might only get other writers to follow you. Plus, like, your mom. But that’s it. Writers are great, but the aim should be to cast a wider net.

Since I write culinary cozy mysteries, I post about writing and cooking/food. Food works great because it’s related to my books, everyone likes it, it connects me to a bunch of IG accounts that are not only other writers, and it’s very visual for Instagram.

Whatever you choose to post about, just jump in! Once you start, then you start seeing even more opportunities. Then they start coming to you! A friend gave me Oaxacan chocolate from her trip because she knew I’d appreciate it, or the other day I found myself sitting in an empty restaurant because I told a lady that I like cooking and it turned into an adventure! Then you just have to remember to take pictures of everything.

I guess it’s different for everyone depending on genre, personal situation, time of life, location, etc. The important thing is that you post about your writing and one other thing. Not just about your writing and not too many different things.

Some people will come to your Instagram account to hear about your writing, so don’t be too mysterious about that, but that will only be super fans and other writers, so pick another thing to post about to cast that wider net.

Don’t ask too much. Brandon Sanderson told us in a class to post about our books and ask followers to buy our stuff even less than the generally accepted guideline of posting about 3 non-asks for every 1 ask. He said more like 1 in 10 or even less!

“Asks” are requests like “Go buy my book” or “preorder now” or “sign up for my newsletter.” You are supposed to keep these to a minimum. Instagram is not free ad space. You are supposed to be letting people know who you are, forming connections, organizing a community, not just shouting about your book.

I find that I publish rarely enough that it’s okay to have times and seasons where I do more and less asking. Especially because most people are not going to see every post of mine. And if they do, they probably saw 100 others between them. Right now I’m doing a 30 day countdown. So I’m posting everyday about my upcoming release, but I’m still trying to break it up with other posts too. I also make sure that every day of the countdown is a little different. I got an app called “AI Arta” to generate pictures of my characters for free in exchange for my watching ads. There’s also a site called “Pixabay” with tons of free photos you can download. Those are more like stock photos. Then you take those into “Canva” or maybe “Gimp” (which is like a free, harder-to-use Photoshop) and make a ton of graphics. Then I can post about that one book forever because the only people seeing every one of those posts is my husband, my mom, and maybe a few fans. And if they’re fans, they don’t mind hearing from me a bit.

So right now I’m posting twice a day, but that’s only because I have a book coming soon. If you don’t have a book that’s about to come out, you really don’t have to post everyday.

Your visibility can ebb and flow. Most of the time, you can just glide along and post maybe three or four times a week, and slowly gain followers, then ramp up when a book is coming.

That’s important because more posts will be seen more because there are more of them, yes, but also Instagram will push your posts to more people if you are posting more, so your visibility goes way up. It’s something about the black magic of the algorithm. I don’t know.

Decide now if you’re going to get political or controversial. On my Instagram I stay away from politics because it’s always going to make someone mad. My opinion especially pisses off EV-ER-Y-ONE, so I just don’t talk about it. HOWEVER! Lots of successful accounts get very controversial and it works for them. It depends on if you are very politically inclined, if you enjoy getting yelled at by strangers, if that’s part of your brand, who your readers are, etc. I usually tend not to have strong political feelings anyway because I see both sides of the argument, so just staying out of it works for me. That’s part of why I like Instagram best. It seems the least likely to get political and argumentative. *Cue some aggressive activists yelling at me now for not being verbal enough.* Well, I can either not care at all or care 100-and-crazy percent, so I am picking my battles. And I am keeping it off social media so it stays separate from my work. Even though I decided this early, I have been tempted to jump into the fray a couple times. Decide this early, then stick to your decision.

Back to happier topics!

Add value. Try to add some kind of value to your content. What do I mean by that? Give those Instagram followers a reason to watch/look at/respond to your content. You can use humor or entertainment, offer education on a certain subject, create personal connections, give ‘em a little eye candy, something! Delectable pictures of food, being vulnerable or likable, doing something funny, teaching them about the stuff you have been researching, anything! Since it’s Instagram, do try to do something visual.

Pick one or two platforms instead of spreading yourself too thin. It’s good to jump in and work hard, but the general consensus seems to be that you should funnel your effort into one or two platforms instead of doing all of them. I do Instagram with Facebook as a second choice. If you try to be active on Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, Clubhouse, Goodreads, BookBub, Amazon Author Central, Chair, Laterspam, and everything … then you won’t make an impact on any of them. Okay, I made up the last couple of those. But the point is, you can give everything a little bit of effort and get nowhere, or you can concentrate on finding your readers on a few of those. It helps if you look into where your readers are. Find out about who is reading what genres and who is on which platforms. How do you do that? I’m not sure. That’s the rabbit hole I’m in right now. As for me, my reads are clean and most of them are cozy, so Instagram and Facebook seem to be where my people are. It also helps to choose ones that you like. I’m not sure I LIKE any social media, but my favorite is Instagram, so that works for me.

You also want to have the same handle everywhere if possible. And then even make it your email address. I have @jessicathauthor almost everywhere, but there was some unpleasantness with getting locked out of my account, so now I’m @jessicathauthor2 on Instagram. I have yet to use that as my email.

As for cross-posting, a lot of platforms, if they’re owned by the same bossypants mega company, can talk to each other and cross-post. I post from Instagram because you can set it up, toggle a switch, and link it to a Facebook page and it can post to both places at once. Sometimes I will post from IG, have it automatically post to my Facebook author page too, then I’ll go over to FB to change the post a little. Like changing “link in bio” to “this link – blah.com” since FB posts can have links and IG posts can’t. I only post separately when I’m scheduling posts, which you can do from a business account on IG. IG and FB pages can both schedule posts, but when you schedule ahead you can’t automatically cross-post between the platforms. So I go on IG, write the post, copy the text, then schedule it to post later. Then I go to FB and paste the text, use the same picture, and schedule it there. It’s easier than it sounds.

Start early. When figuring out what to post, it helps a lot to already have a book to post about, but you should be starting before that book deal is signed or your ebook hits Amazon. If you are querying agents, sometimes they look to see if you already have a following or an audience to sell your book to. On the flipside, if you are self publishing, you also want to have a community of people who will be interested in buying your book. It might be annoying, but you should be on Instagram or some other social media and doing all of this BEFORE your book comes out.

But don’t let it stop you from writing! Quick reminder: My publisher, Darkstroke Books, said “The best marketing you can do is writing the next book.” Sorry, but you need to be doing all this AND writing your next book so that you can get the next book out before your readers forget about you.

Specific Posts

So you’re on Instagram and have chosen topics to cover, maybe with some trial and error (that’s okay,) so now what do you post? We’ve talked about big picture and general rules, so let’s cover ideas for specific posts.

Post Ideas for any author out there-

-Make a reel about your process, or what you’re working on right now

-Tell about a funny thing that happened to you in a reel or your stories

-Share a milestone as a graphic or a reel, or a story

-Posts about your current word count always get a lot of support

-Trade posts with other authors and tag them

-Get excited about a promo or giveaway and post about it

-Read an excerpt in a reel

-Post an excerpt with a photo or graphic

-Post about putting your book in bookstores and libraries, or Little Free Libraries

-Always post about any author appearances or events. Before and after.

-Reposting stuff from other people with the app “Repost for IG”

-Ask a question. (Do you like beets? Have you seen this movie? Do you read at the beach? Anything!)

Questions seem to increase your engagement a lot. In my experience it seems like humor gets likes, but questions get comments. If you want responses to your posts to feel like someone is watching and you’re not just screaming into the void, ask a question.

The most engagement I get is on those posts where I have people finish a phrase or sentence through using their predictive text (or the suggestions that appear above your phone’s keyboard.) I especially love it when it’s related to my book. For my last book I had people finish the phrase “A Caterer’s Guide to…” because that ties into the titles of the books in my culinary cozy mystery series, “A Caterer’s Guide to Holidays and Homicide” and “A Caterer’s Guide to Love and Murder.”

Ridiculously Specific Post Ideas for you to adapt (because they worked for me)-

-Post about the recipe you just developed

-Post a picture of your dinner out and call it research

-Predictive text prompt of the first half of your book title

-Post that prompts people to “replace one word with Turkey and ruin a book title”

-Do a campaign of #showmeyourbooks where you show pictures of friends holding your book and ask people to post pictures of them holding your book

-The predictive text thing for different holidays, like “The Easter Bunny brought me …” And “With my four-leaf clover I wished for …” Or “I stuffed my turkey with …”

-Multi-post campaigns like “sign up for my newsletter and I’ll choose one person to name a character in my next book”

-Poll on the book title between two options you have it narrowed down to

-Poll on what flavor of macarons you should make for an event

-Watch some reels or tiktoks, find a funny audio, save it, and use it for a video about writing or about your book

Hashtags – As for hashtags, I’ve heard from Wintour Krueger, a fellow author, to pick ones that have under 1 million posts, but more than like 1 thousand. You can mix it up though. Give a post some popular hashtags and some less popular hashtags. And do variations on the same phrase like – #mysteryreader #mysteryreaders #mysteryread #mysteryreads #mysterybook

I also do different hashtags on different posts. So one day I’ll do all those variations on mystery, then another day I’ll do variations on #cleanbooks #cleanreads, Then another day

#comingsoon #newrelease #newbook #newmystery, then another day of #preordersopen #preordernow #bookpreorder.

It’s also okay to start your own hashtag, like I’m using #shootshovelandshutupbook, for my next book, “Shoot Shovel and Shut Up,” but no one is going to find my posts because of that tag. They might be following #newbook or #mysteryreader, but not one that’s so specific to my book. And once you have a following, then you can also do your name or your handle as a hashtag.

Monthly IG Challenges – These are those things where there is a list of prompts for the month in a graphic. They’re easier than they look. You can follow one and it helps you know what to post about because everyday has a different hashtag or question, like #meetmymc or “Beach or Mountains?” or whatever. The challenges don’t have rigid rules. They’re just there to help you and form a little community. You just take that prompt and look for something interesting to say about it, like “I like the beach better than mountains because this one time something really funny happened to me blah blah blah.”

Can’t find an Instagram challenge you are interested in? You can create one! Especially if you grab a friend or even distant acquaintance to host it with you. That’s how J.R. Lancaster and I became friends! It sounds crazy, but yes, we met over Instagram. You just grab a friend, pick a hashtag that’s not too crowded yet, pick a theme, make a graphic in “Canva,” and tell people about it before the month starts. J.R. and I did one in April 2023 and we used the hashtag #afreshmystery if you want to look up an example. It was springy and targeted at mystery writers. The days had hashtags as the prompts, like #freshgoals at the beginning of the month and #myauthorstory for you to share your author journey. When you do one of these and publicize it well, It’s amazing how many people jump on board!

Or… Hire it out. Still don’t know what to post? Just want to throw money at it so you can use your time and energy for writing your next book? There are ways to load off your Instagram posts onto someone else. The options I know of are hiring a PA (Personal Assistant) or a VA (Virtual Assistant, pretty much the same thing in this case) who can be given some direction and then let loose on your account to varying degrees, paying for a virtual book tour, or having a service do it.

I’m in the middle of a few months of a service right now and it’s going much better than I imagined. Since I have many books coming out in the next few months and I keep feeling really overwhelmed, I’m using an AI post generator from Lisa Kempton and cleanauthors.com. She got details from me about my published books and upcoming releases and now I have a “trigger form” from her. I gave her blurbs, URLs, cover art, and some things that my ARC readers said, and now I just have to go in, choose a book from a drop down list, select a type of post, and the whole post gets emailed to me. It generates the post’s copywriting, the graphic, even the hashtags! Then I just have to copy and paste it. Lisa even has the option of having her post the content that her AI generates, but I haven’t sprung for that … yet.

And as for book tours, I actually arrange those for clients. A virtual book tour is also known as a blog tour and it’s really just arranging for other people to talk about your book on lots of different accounts. You can reach out to countless people and arrange one yourself, or hire a “book tour” company like me, Bittersweet Book Tours, or someone else like Damp Pebbles or Kate Rock, for very reasonable prices. These book tour companies arrange for Booktokers, Bookstagrammers, bloggers, podcasters, YouTubers, etc. to feature, highlight, or review your book, or to interview you, or have a guest post written by you. Even if you only want to focus on Instagram, your book tour can have you featured in Instagram Live interviews, bookstagram accounts, and a lot of people also post on IG when they have a blog post or podcast episode coming out, so you could be on someone’s podcast and get that publicity from their podcast listeners and their Instagram followers.

Instead of reaching your own audience that you have grown on Instagram, you appear to someone else’s. Ideally, you should do both, have an audience and tap into other people’s followers, but I suppose you could use it as an alternative to having your own social media presence.

I hope this helped you figure out what kind of posts you want, a little bit of how to make them, and a lot of ideas for individual posts. And if not, now you know how to hire someone else to do it. If I forgot anything, please comment below or reach out to me. You can also contact me if you have questions at jessicaisanauthor@gmail.com or on Instagram as @jessicathauthor2 and Facebook as @jessicathauthor.

Good Luck and Happy Instagramming!

What to Post on Instagram as Authors by @jessicathauthor
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Jessica Thompson

Jessica Thompson is the author of the Amazon best-selling mystery novels “A Caterer’s Guide to Love and Murder” and “A Caterer’s Guide to Holidays and Homicide.” Her second book was a Whitney Award nominee in the mystery category and her first book was a finalist in the Wishing Shelf Awards. She also curated an anthology called “Beyond the Woods: A Supernatural Anthology.” She is active in her local writing community and volunteers as the Assistant Communications Chair for the Storymakers Guild.

Jessica lives in the suburbs of Austin, Texas with her husband and two children. When not writing, she’s getting her boots dirty at her parents’ nearby longhorn cattle ranch. Whether she’s revving up chainsaws or wrangling charging bulls, she sees it all as plot-inspiring material for her next mystery.

My Links-

Book Link

https://jessicathompsonauthor.com/sssu

Website

http://Jessicathompsonauthor.com

Instagram

https://instagram.com/jessicathauthor2/

Facebook

https://facebook.com/jessicathauthor/

Book description:

“Suspenseful, shocking, and sweet!

A riveting mystery set in

the heart of Texas.”

-J.R. Lancaster, author of Someone’s Always Watching

After a fight over the family ranch, Dad’s young fiancée is found dead. Bria risks her family’s disapproval to sneak around and investigate as the tragedies pile up. Luckily, she has help from her childhood crush and from the handsome new deputy.

When new love blooms in two directions and her main suspect dies, she must grow around her grief to discover the family’s secrets before she loses everyone she loves.

Image by free stock photos from www.picjumbo.com from Pixabay

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Published on August 27, 2023 21:01

August 26, 2023

LitLinks

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Lit Links 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.

Business / Miscellaneous Why Professional Editing is Vital for ALL Authors: @beemweeks Preparing for the ghostwriting interview: @jbernoff Writing: Be Your Best in Interviews: @lindsclare Self-publishing News: Amazon to Use AI to Provide Review Summaries: @agnieszkasshoes @indieauthoralli Conferences and Events / Miscellaneous The German Book Prize Names Its 2023 Longlist: @Porter_Anderson Tips for Attending a Writing Conference: @P_M_Anderson Daniel Kehlmann: The German Peace Prize’s Salman Rushdie Speech: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives The Ackerley Prize for Autobiography Names Its 2023 Shortlist: @porter_anderson @pubperspectives Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration 10 Quotes to Inspire Your Creativity: @BethVogt @ediemelson 6 Useful ChatGPT Prompts for Fiction Writers: by Juliet Dreamhunter Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration / Reading as Writers 37 Days of Shakespeare: Henry VIII @cockeyedcaravan 5 books to read during jury duty: by Nicole Kugel @lithub Crime Fiction: In The Spotlight: Stef Harris’ Double Jeopardy: @margotkinberg Seven Thrillers In Which Friendships Are Threatened: @ImMeganCollins @crimereads Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Writer’s Block What is Writer’s Block? A Guide to the Writer’s Worst Nightmare @reedsyhq Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Writing Quickly How I Zero-Drafted a Novel in 6 Weeks: @KelseyAllagood Creativity and Inspiration / Writing Life Do the Questions Writers Ask Really Have Concrete Answers? @LarryJLeechII on @EdieMelson Writing Myths: The Perfect Time/Place to Write: How Truman Capote Was Destroyed by His Own Masterpiece: @EbsBurnough @lithub 5 Simple Ways To Make It As A Writer: @bang2write Am I Becoming a Recluse? @SueColetta1 How to Figure Out Which Writing Advice Fits You Best: @trishajennreads @janefriedman Keep Trying, Don’t Give Up: @BeingTheWriter Do You Have What it Takes to be a Great Travel Writer? @jeremybassetti @colleen_m_story Write Like No One is Reading: by Liam Cross How to Take Criticism and Turn It into Growth in 5 Steps: by Daniella Levy What’s the Best Way to Learn to Be a Writer? @annerallen 11 takeaways to create a writing career from random and unpromising beginnings: @Roz_Morris Genres / Fantasy Boosting Your Speculative Fiction: 5 Creative Writing Techniques to Explore Alternate Realities: @StuartConover @HorrorTree Genres / Mystery The Characters of Cozy Mystery: @MandSMagazine Honoring a Fictional Lineage of Women Detectives: by Ripley Jones @crimereads Six Rules for Writing About True Crime: by Barbara Butcher @careerauthors Psychological Thrillers and the Concept of Home: @tashasylva @crimereads Political Thriller Protagonists: @MandSMagazine Genres / Science Fiction Writing Science Fiction: 8 Ideas for Quantum Leaps in Craft: @nownovel Promo / Blogging The Powerful Impact of Finding Positive Blogging Role Models: @ninaamir The Basics of Writing and Blogging for the Digital Audience: @ediemelson Promo / Book Descriptions and Copywriting How to Write a Book Description: by Lauren Aldrich @bookbub Promo / Miscellaneous How to Market a Book for a More Successful Launch: @bookgal Promo / Social Media Tips The Right Way to Use Social Media for Authors: @foxprinted Promo / Websites 5 Stunning Author Websites (& What They’ve Done Right): by Alex J Coyne @theIWSG Publishing / Miscellaneous The Rights Imperative for Frankfurt’s Guest of Honor Slovenia: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives Richard Charkin: A Day in the Life of a ‘One Person Band’ Publisher: @rcharkin @pubperspectives Publishing / News / Data AAP StatShot: US Sales Up 1.2 Percent in First Half of 2023: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives Publishing / News / International Publishing In Brazilian Educational Publishing: A Crisis Averted: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives Ukrainian Independence Day: Hay Plans Second Lviv Partnership: @porter_anderson @pubperspectives Publishing / Options / Traditional Publishing / Querying Formatting in an email query: @Janet_Reid Publishing / Process / Contracts The Intimidating Business Details of Contracts: by Laura Vanarendonk Baugh How to Negotiate Without Fear: @bookends Publishing / Process / Services to Avoid How Scammers Are Using Amazon and Amazon Trademarks to Rip Writers Off: @victoriastrauss Writing Craft / Characters / Development List of 125 Positive Attributes: @BrynDonovan Choosing Your Character’s Occupation: @MaeClair1 @storyempire Character Type and Trope Thesaurus: Grotesque: @beccapuglisi 3 Unusual Female Character Tropes Audiences LOVE: @bang2write Writing Craft / Characters / Protagonists Crime Fiction: In The Spotlight: Sara Blaedel’s The Killing Forest: @margotkinberg Writing Craft / Conflict The Difficulty in Killing Zombies: from How to Fight Write Writing Craft / Dialogue 9 Common Dialogue Problems and How to Fix Them: @AnneRAllen Tips on Writing Dialogue: @BookDoctor4u Writing Craft / Lessons from Books and Film 5 Bits Of Writing Advice From Kathy Reichs: by Alex J. Coyne
@Writers_Write Scene Analysis: Legendborn by Tracy Deonn: @abigailkperry @diymfa Barbie Has Always Been About Storytelling: @ECthetwit @tordotcom Writing Craft / Miscellaneous Writing For Different Audiences: @MorganHzlwood Writing in Present Tense: The Secret to This Popular Writing Style: @davechesson 5 Timeless Tips for Career Novelists: @jamesscottbell What is a Foil Character? Our Definition and Examples: @davechesson Writing a Character’s Thoughts: @OpAwesome6 9 Ways to Show the Reader it’s Love: @kcraftwriter @writerunboxed Stop Pulling on Threads: @richardgthomas3 Writing in Future Tense: The Secret to Using This Unusual Tense in Writing: @davechesson Hide Exposition Inside Confrontation: @jamesscottbell Writing Craft / Pacing 13 Tips to Create Irresistible Stories with Powerful Pacing: @LynetteMBurrows Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Outlining How To Outline By the Seat of Your Pants: @Stepha_OBrien Writing Craft / Punctuation and Grammar Using Apostrophes with Letters and Numbers: @TheGrammarDiva

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Published on August 26, 2023 21:01

August 20, 2023

Writing Myths: The Perfect Time/Place to Write

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

I remember being in my twenties, out of college and unhappy with the banking job I had. I’d been an English major and was planning on writing, but was waiting for the right time. I’m not exactly sure when I thought the right time might be, but it didn’t seem to be when I was in a stultifying mortgage banking job. I’d remembered reading about the Lost Generation in Paris in the 1920s. Birmingham, AL in the 1990s didn’t seem to be quite the same.

Directly following my banking stint didn’t seem to be any better, either. I had a baby . . . a pretty active one. I was juggling playgroups, diapers, and grandparent visits. It definitely didn’t seem like the right time.

And that effectively took care of my entire 20s, ha. :)

After a move to NC and baby #2 came, I started looking at things a little differently. There wasn’t going to be a mythical right time, was there? There were always going to be other obligations. There may not even be any peace and quiet. But writing was important to me, so I decided the right time was then and there.

Maybe you’re in the same spot. Maybe you’re wanting life to calm down just a little bit. But there’s that niggling thought in the back of your mind that you should be writing.

Here are some tips that helped me out:

Learn flexibility in terms of place and time. Can you write when you first wake up? During your lunch break? While your baby sleeps? In the carpool line? On paper? On a laptop?

Learn how to tune out what’s going on around you. You’ll get so much more done if you can block noise out. Or if you can write while listening to some sort of music or white noise in your earbuds.

Reduce your expectations. Shoot for something small and doable. 15 minutes. 5 minutes. A single page. Two paragraphs.

Value consistency over excellent work. To keep your project moving forward, it’s helpful to realize that you can always edit later.

How have you adjusted your writing time in order to get more done?

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Published on August 20, 2023 21:01

August 19, 2023

Lit Links

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

The Top Writing Links From Last Week Are On LitLinks:
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Published on August 19, 2023 21:01

August 13, 2023

Writing Myths: The Solitary Writer

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Today, I’m looking at another common myth: the solitary writer.

I’m thinking this one dates back to the days of Louisa May Alcott and earlier. I remember Jo and her “writer’s garret” where she would work. And, of course, we have Virginia Woolf with “A Room of One’s Own.”

That’s not to say it’s important to have some dedicated time and a space to write. But it may have more with having people respect those things than it is having a particular spot and time.

It can be helpful to write in a quiet spot by yourself. But sometimes, that quiet space at home is going to manage to remind you that the dishwasher needs to be unloaded, the laundry folded, and meals started. Sometimes I find that I can get the most done by working around others. There’s something about sitting in a library or a coffee shop among other people working on different things that can be motivating.

I think this isolation myth extends beyond a physical space. The life of a writer is often thought to be solitary in other ways. After all, many writers are introverts and observers. We can be more comfortable when we’re looking at the world through a lens.

Nothing exists in a vacuum, though. And writers do better, I believe, as part of a community.

The best things about the writing community to me are the support it offers and the information and resources it brings to the table. I wouldn’t have been able to get as far in my career today if it hadn’t been for the support of my blogging friends and mentors early in the process.

Where can you find your writing community? There are plenty of places online. There’s a great community at the Insecure Writers’ Support Group. There is also a great community of writers on YouTube (you can check out writing sprints here). Plus, there are plenty of writing groups on Facebook.

Maybe, like most everything, it’s important to balance out the quiet moments with the community.

Are you engaged in the writing community? How has it helped you as a writer?

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Published on August 13, 2023 21:01

August 12, 2023

Lit Links

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Lit Links 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.

The Top Writing Links From Last Week Are On Lit Links:
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Published on August 12, 2023 21:01

August 6, 2023

Writing Myths: Work and Writing

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

I once heard a writer say that it was a danger sign when you start calling your writing “work”. That writing should be fun and something we look forward to each day.

I get where the writer was coming from. And I think most writers do start with a true love of writing. The creative process can be fun. It’s often fun. But it’s definitely not always fun, at least for me, and I think for most of us.

But the thing that troubles me the most is that statement discounts the fact that writing, at least for those of us who are doing it either part-time or full-time, is also a business. And that business is work.

Most of my day is spent on the business of writing. That might be formatting translations, placing orders for covers, communicating with my editorial team, updating my website, running ads, or reading industry articles to make sure I’ve got the latest information on best practices for selling books.

If we don’t treat what we do as a job, if we don’t call it work, if we speak of it to others as a hobby or minimize it in some ways, we’re opening the door for others not to take it seriously.

My family and friends always ask me when they call if I’m in the middle of anything and if they should call me back. They respect my time and what I do because I respect it, myself.

That being said, I do try to remember to put the fun in writing. If days go by and I’m not having fun (feeling delight over a bit of dialogue, enjoying tweaking a draft), it’s a sign that I might be burning out. That’s when I make sure to take time to fill my writing well.

I’m curious to hear how writing feels to you most of the time? Work? Fun? A balance? How do you refer to your writing when you talk about it with non-writers?

Is Writing Work? Should It Be?
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Published on August 06, 2023 21:01

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