Elizabeth Spann Craig's Blog, page 71

September 29, 2018

Twitterific Writing Links

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Twitterific writing links are fed into the Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine (developed by writer and software engineer Mike Fleming) which has over 48,000 free articles on writing related topics. It’s the search engine for writers.

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.

New Stuff

If you’ve ever dreamed of seeing your name in print but don’t know how to get there, register for this free video series, Stop Dreaming, Start Doing: https://bit.ly/2OJGJBi . It’s produced by Gabriela Pereira, creator of the DIY MFA blog and program for writers. As a note, I’m an affiliate for Gabriela’s workshop.

Business / Miscellaneous

2018 Reader Survey Report: Popular Genres and the Popularity of Print: @MKTodAuthor

Conferences and Events / Miscellaneous

6 things every author can do to captivate an event audience: @BetsyGFasbinder @sandrabeckwith

10 Essentials to Pack for a Three-Week Writing Retreat: @ZoeMMcCarthy

National Book Foundation Announces ‘5 Under 35’ Honorees: @Porter_Anderson @nationalbook

IlluSalon’s Global Illustration Award: At Frankfurt Pavilion October 10: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives

Creativity and Inspiration / Goal setting

How To Reduce Shame When You Don’t Meet Your Writing Goals: @pubcoach

Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration / Reading as Writers

Diving into Graphic Novels without Drowning: @rfishewan @DIYMFA

“Seven Books I’ll Never Read”: @AdamOPrice @parisreview

Reading Fearlessly in Troubling Times: by Chaitali Sen @ElectricLit

8 Classics of Suspense and Isolation: @ericrickstad @CrimeReads

The Wind in the Willows Isn’t Really a Children’s Book: by Peter Hunt @lithub

Five Books About Unconventional Pirates: @seesarawrite @tordotcom

5 Books About Women Who Make A Fuss: @eklages @tordotcom

Six Works of SFF Short Fiction that Defy Convention: by Thea James @tordotcom

Creativity and Inspiration / Motivation

Finding the Tribe that Fuels Your Writing: @NancyJAuthor @WriterUnboxed

Embracing the Discipline to Write Your Book: @JeffGoins

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Fitting in Writing

Why I Only Write for 15 Minutes A Day: @the_writing_pal

Writing on a Schedule: @Lindasclare

Write More in a 15 Minute Session:

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / When to write

How a Morning Ritual Changed My Life: @Britt_the_wit @MichaelHyatt

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Writer’s Block

7 Ways to Beat Writer’s Block: @writing_tips

5 Ways to Defeat Writer’s Block: @dougeboch

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Writing Quickly

Writer Worries: Why Am I Such a Slow Writer? @BrynDonovan

Creativity and Inspiration / Success

How Reader Profiles Can Help You Sell More Books: @Bookgal

Creativity and Inspiration / Writing Life

8 Questions to Help You Simplify Your Writing Life: @colleen_m_story

The Books We’re Drowning In: A Bookseller’s Lament: @MargaretKWrites @BookRiot

How a Structured Evening Ritual Can Help You Stay Sharp and Rested: @Manish_Analyst @MichaelHyatt

How Much Time Do You Spend Writing And How Much Time Marketing? @thecreativepenn

Funny gifts for witty writers: @TheWriterMag

The Artist’s Journey in the Real World: @SPressfield

5 Reasons a Writer Should Move to Tucson: @__eshani @lithub

When Your Imposter Syndrome is Out of Control: @RedfordJan @lithub

Notes on Nearing Ninety: Learning to Write Less: by Donald Hall @parisreview

Why Writing Can Be The Best Way To Deal With Adversity: @writingcookbook @thecreativepenn

The best advice that many writers fail to take: @DanBlank

Writing and the Creative Life: “The Power of Structured Procrastination”: @GoIntoTheStory

Fit to Write: 9 Tips for Becoming a Healthier, More Productive Author: @BuildYourBrandA

Inside the Weddings of 10 Famous Writers: @knownemily

Email to a Young Writer: How to Keep On Writing: @PaulaSMunier @CareerAuthors

Write Like You Diet: @CherylProWriter

Two Words that are Deadly to Your Writing Career: @colleen_m_story

Genres / Horror

Like ‘Goosebumps?’ Here’s Another 30 Years’ Worth Of Horror For Kids: @grady_hendrix @NPR

Genres / Memoir

Editorial suggestions for a memoir: @sarahrcallender @WriterUnboxed

Genres / Miscellaneous

Handling Violence, Swearing, and Sex in Christian Fiction: @_HannahHeath

Genres / Mystery

Hunches as an Element in Crime Fiction: @mkinberg

Courtroom ‘Bombshells’ as Elements in Crime Fiction: @mkinberg

Using Contrasting Characters to Add Tension and Contrast to a Mystery: @mkinberg

Writing the Cozy Mystery: The Right Motive:

Genres / Screenwriting

Writing a spec episode: Story and Theme Development: @BittrScrptReadr

Writing a Spec Episode: Act One Scenes: @BittrScrptReadr

Writing a spec episode: Act Two scenes: @BittrScrptReadr

Writing a spec episode: Act Three scenes: @BittrScrptReadr

Promo / Book Descriptions and Copywriting

How to Write an Amazing About Me Page: @EditingWizard

5 Traits Great Copywriters Have in Common: @nera_joy @WritetoDone

How to Write an Effective Author Bio: @DebbieYoungBN @IndieAuthorALLI

Promo / Book Reviews

Your Book Isn’t for Everyone: by Julie Glover

Promo / Connecting with Readers

Discoverability for Writers: @nlowell @RMFWriters

Promo / Miscellaneous

Deleted Book Reviews and Waning KENP Income: Try a Simple Fix: @KathySteinemann

How to Create Merchandise for Books: by Melissa Chan @JFbookman

Promo / Platforms

An Author Logo Can Make Your Brand Memorable: @DaveChesson @BookWorksNYC

An Agent Answers Questions About Author Platform: @RachelleGardner

Publishing / Miscellaneous

‘Publishers have the responsibility and opportunity to use technology to extend their reach (and) explore new media’: @Porter_Anderson @galitariel

Association of American Publishers to Focus on Advocacy, Copyright: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives

Discrimination in the Writing World: @davidfarland

A Very Short History of the New Oxford English Dictionary: by Richard Charkin @pubperspectives

The Freedom To Publish and Challenges in the Way: @Porter_Anderson @KristennEinars1

What is the Best Service for Print on Demand Books? @ReedsyHQ

Publishing / News / International Publishing

IPA and United Nations Unveil New ‘SDG Book Club’ Promoting the Sustainable Development Goals: @Porter_Anderson @antonioguterres @michielams

“We need to relate to an international world. Our literature still primarily focuses on white middle-class men and women.” @Porter_Anderson @ Gyldendal

Eksmo CEO Evgeny Kapyev’s Optimism for Russia’s Book Market: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives

Interview: The Bookseller’s 2018 UK Rising Star @SophieHJonathan: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives

Industry Notes: Marrakesh Treaty; Bologna Carle Award; Kids’ Black Detectives in the UK: @Porter_Anderson

Publishing / Options / Traditional Publishing

Tips for Building a Strong Author-Agent Relationship: @lauraeweymouth @laurenspieller @NatalieIAguirre

Publishing / Process / Book Design

When You’re Asked to Design a Cover After Others Have Tried: @colleenie_r @lithub

Book Design Pet Peeves: @JFbookman

Writing Craft / Beginnings

Nail That First Line: @PBRWriter @RomanceUniv

Writing Craft / Characters / Development

12 Common Character Archetypes Every Writer Should Already Know: @ReedsyHQ

What are Good Character Traits? 7 Helpful Attributes: @nownovel

Occupation Thesaurus Entry: Tattoo Artist: @beccapuglisi

Writing Craft / Diversity

9 Picture Books with Diverse Characters Any Kid Can Relate To: @CynthiaVarady

How to Write Cross-Culturally with Authenticity: @vanessa_hua @SignatureReads

Writing Craft / Miscellaneous

One Simple Trick to Write Everything Better: @LMacNaughton

Tightening Your Focus: @davidfarland

Why Structure Matters When You Are Writing a Novel: @louise_candlish

What is the ideal reader? @Peter_Rey_

Four Challenges of Nonlinear Narratives: by Chris Winkle @mythcreants

Writing Craft / POV

5 Tips for Choosing the POV Character for a Scene: @LauraDiSilverio

Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Naming

Title Your Novel for Maximum Visibility: @ZaraAltair @ProWritingAid

A Trad-Published Author on Choosing Book Titles: @AmySueNathan

Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Plotting

Game Theory in Story: @StoryGrid

Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Story Concept

Where to start when developing a story? @GoIntoTheStory

Nailing Your One-Sentence Story Concept: @LiveWriteThrive

Writing Craft / Punctuation and Grammar

7 Flawed Sentences Redeemed by Commas: @writing_tips

Writing Craft / Revision

Writing Rules, Guidelines, and Just Plain Bad Advice: @LyndaDietz4 @TheIWSG

How to Improve Your Self-Editing in One Simple Step: @kristen_kieffer

Taming a Terrible First Draft: An 11 Step Editing Process: @katekrake

Writing Craft / Synopses

Tackling the Dreaded Synopsis: @jkolin27

How to Write a Synopsis: from Let’s Write Some Novels

Writing Craft / Tropes

10 Superhero Tropes and How My Hero Academia Blows Them Out of the Water: @VictoriaGHowell

Know Your Tropes: from Let’s Write Some Novels

Writing Craft / Voice

10 Tips for Strengthening Your Unique Writing Voice: @writingthrulife

Finding My Voice—So Easy. So Hard. @VaughnRoycroft @WriterUnboxed

Writing Craft / Word Crafting

Stealth Words: A Writer’s Overlooked Weapon: @marciamoston @EdieMelson

Writing Tools / Books

Finding the Plot: 4 Plot-Focused Writing Books: @LynseyMay @scottishbktrust

Writing Tools / Miscellaneous

Novel in a Month Notebook (Printable): @EvaDeverell

Writing Tools / Resources

A Free Video Series to Hone Skills, Build Productivity, and Learn Ins and Outs of Publishing (registration required): @DIYMFA

The top writing links from last week are on Twitterific:
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Published on September 29, 2018 21:02

September 27, 2018

Writing the Cozy Mystery: The Right Motive

by Elizabeth Spann Craig, @elizabethscraig

I can only imagine the number of murder motives that I’ve come across in the last 35 years that I’ve read and watched mysteries.

While writing cozy mysteries, I think finding a motive can be a bit tricky. Although there’s some breadth out there in terms of how writers approach cozies, a large number of cozy readers seem to appreciate a very traditional approach…nothing too gritty. They want an escape in which the reader helps the sleuth find the killer.

This means that a recent mystery I watched where the motive involved revenge for past child abuse wouldn’t really be a great pick for the audience. Drug addiction can be tough too, although doable if treated carefully.

In my books, I tend to play it very safe. The motives are still what I consider real life motives, but they’re more toned down.

Frequently, they’re the common annoyances that just get out of control: the obnoxious neighbor, for instance.

Deaths of blackmailers are fun because first we have to discover the fact that the blackmailer was a blackmailer and then we have to find out what he knew about various suspects.

The usual trio of jealousy, greed, and revenge are also good for cozies.

The killers can be really awful or they can be good people who were pushed a little too far.

I’ve written victims who seem like delightful people, which worked out well (the sleuth later uncovers that some suspects didn’t consider the suspect that delightful). I’ve written victims who were particularly nasty people, too, who stirred up a lot of resentment against them. This used to worry me because I was concerned if the victim was too horrid, no one would care who killed her. But now I’ve come to the conclusion that this is more of an accepted part of a cozy mystery. It’s part of the process and the point is still to solve the case and bring the murderer to justice. Taking a life is serious and, even in a humorous cozy, the crime is taken seriously. The secondary characters, the supporting cast, more than makes up for the deficiencies of character in the victim and keep the books from getting too dark.

The point is that the motive is personal. These are not the types of mysteries where there are political motivations or hitmen or international intrigue or drive-by shootings. The killer is well-known to the victim and the other suspects (all of whom are usually not too upset by the victim’s death) and there is a closed group of people who might be the murderer.

There are now many cozies that don’t necessarily follow these guidelines. Some cozies have become a bit edgier. As a writer, you don’t have to do anything. The story, its world, its crimes and people are totally up to you. My thoughts are that it’s just easier to find an audience if you deliver what readers of a specific subgenre expect to find.

For further reading, see mystery writer Camille LaGuire’s post on motives (some are cozy motives, some aren’t).

Any other thoughts on what makes a good cozy mystery motive (from readers or writers)?

Finding the Right Motive for a Cozy Mystery:
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Published on September 27, 2018 21:02

September 23, 2018

Write More in a 15 Minute Session

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

My favorite way to write is in fifteen minute sessions. That’s short enough for me to stay laser-focused on my story, but long enough to make some real progress.

It helps that I can usually write several pages in this amount of time. This post is for anyone who would like to get more writing accomplished in short sessions.

Outline

This is a no-brainer, although I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. It wasn’t my cup of tea until I started running into plot holes and also realized I wasn’t working as quickly as I could. If your story is already loosely mapped out, you’re going to write right out of the gate instead of trying to brainstorm every single writing session.

Note where you left off and where you want to pick up each day

This may seem to go along with outlining, but should work for almost everyone, even if you’re not usually an outliner. If you make a small note at the end of every writing session stating where you left off with your story and where you want to pick up, it prevents you from wasting precious time rereading what you wrote the previous day. (It also prevents you from going into left-brain, editing mode.)

Think about the story before you open your laptop

What do you do before you start writing? If you write the first thing in the morning, you’re probably like me…brushing your teeth, walking downstairs, making coffee, feeding the dog. While I’m doing those rote tasks, I’m thinking about my story and where I’m planning on going with it that day. When I open my laptop, I’m ready to go.

Turn notifications off

If email or other types of notifications are distracting to you, turn them off. Or disable the wifi on your laptop.

Use a timer

I love using a timer when I write because it helps me keep focused until it goes off. Frequently I’ll find myself writing even after it goes off.

Be flexible in terms of when and where you write

This relates more to finding those fifteen minutes to write, but it’s important. If you can’t write first thing in the morning, grabbing those fifteen minutes can be tough. If you can be flexible enough to write on the go, in public, or at different times of the day, you may be more successful in establishing a writing habit.

Write daily, if possible, for easier sessions

This won’t work for everyone but, if possible, write every day, even if it’s just for 5-15 minutes. If you can do this, you’ll find it’s much easier to hop back into your story each day and that the percentage of easy writing days increases.

On those rough days where your session can only be five minutes:

You really can make progress on your story in five minutes time, if you make lists. A short list is a quick way to brainstorm ideas. The lists can be related to your ending, your middle, descriptions of important settings or characters, etc. For more ideas on using lists on busy writing days, see these three posts of mine: here, here, and here.

Are your writing sessions long or short? How do you stay focused and productive (no matter how long they are?)

Tips for more productive 15-minute writing sessions:
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Published on September 23, 2018 21:02

September 9, 2018

That’s What She Said: 3 Dialogue Tips

by HL Carpenter, @hl_carpenter

We think about how much writing styles change over the years every time we open one of the books on our reading shelf—a book that was published in 1908. Of the many differences between today’s style and the approach used back then, we find the evolution of dialogue especially interesting.

Here are three stylistic comparisons.

“We’re not fans of fancy dialogue tags,” they said.

In today’s style, if “said” isn’t enough after dialogue, the sentence needs to be reworked. The reader should know what’s going on from the words, not because the writer has added a description of the way the words are supposed to sound.

In the book from 1908, dialogue tags are not only fancy, but at least one of them appears to be made up.

Examples include:

“Now, Orde,” said he, “here is where you come in.”

“Look here, Joe,” he objected.

“Not a bit,” negatived Newmark.

“But, Mother,” expostulated Carroll.

Based on comments from editors, good dialogue avoids overuse of character names. “Not that we would know personally of course, Elizabeth,” they said. :)

Think about real life conversation. How often do you use the name of the person to whom you’re speaking? You probably don’t include given names in every sentence. Applying that habit to fictional conversations can make the narrative flow more smoothly.

The book from 1908 follows this practice as well. Typically, the author includes given names when the conversation includes multiple participants.

We think avoiding words no one ever uses outside of crossword puzzles is a good idea…unless your hero is a naturally pompous speaker. “I really must request elucidation on that prohibition,” the hero said.

Here again, the idea is to model real-life conversation.

The dialogue in the book from 1908 comes across as stilted, though this is likely due to today’s less formal conversational habits. Here’s an example:

“In a moment,” replied Gerald. “Have patience. I have come in the last twenty-four hours to a decision. That this happens not to affect my own immediate fortunes does not seem to me to invalidate my philosophy.”

A final note: No matter how writing styles change, a solid, engaging story can overcome the drag of datedness. The book we used for this comparison is the tale of a turn-of-the-nineteenth century riverman, published in 1908 and written in the terminology and mores of the time. Not our usual choice of reading material.

And yet— We’ve read the book before, but we once again found ourselves drawn into the story while writing this post.

In the end, a book that talks to the reader is the best dialogue of all.

About HL Carpenter

Mother/daughter author duo HL Carpenter write family-friendly fiction from their studios in Carpenter Country, a magical place that, like their stories, is unreal but not untrue. When they’re not writing, they enjoy exploring the Land of What-If and practicing the fine art of Curiosity. Visit HLCarpenter.com to enjoy gift reads and excerpts and to find out what’s happening in Carpenter Country.

Find them online:
HLCarpenter.com
Pinterest
Linkedin
Google+
Twitter
GoodReads
Amazon Author Page

About Walled In:

When her father is accused of fraud, seventeen-year-old Vandy Spencer discovers her entire life has been built on a heart-shattering deception.

3 Tips for Better Dialogue (by @hl_carpenter ):
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Published on September 09, 2018 21:02

September 8, 2018

Twitterific Writing Links

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Business / Miscellaneous

Why Nobody Gives A Crap About Books In The Summer: @helpfulsnowman @LitReactor

Writers & illustrators: Run Your Backups: @inkyelbows

A Book Release in Numbers: the Cozy Mystery Publishing Process: @Ellen__Jacobson

5 Steps to Prove You’ve Been Plagiarized: @plagiarismtoday

Conferences and Events / Miscellaneous

Five Easy Ways to Look Like a Pro at Conventions: @johnhartness

How to Sell Books in Your Local Community: @Magic_Violinist

‘Vintage Man Booker’ Is Launched, an Online Retrospective on the Prize’s First 50 Years: @Porter_Anderson @ManBookerPrize

Cuba Named Guest of Honor at Upcoming Liber Book Fair in Barcelona: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives

Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration / Reading as Writers

11 Books Where Poetry and Politics Overlap: @TobiasCarrol @SignatureReads

Reading a Book Takes Time—Deal With It: @erinkbart @ElectricLit

“Why I Can’t Stop Attempting Impossible Reading Projects”: @JonathanArlan @lithub

8 Things You Didn’t Know About Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep: by Anthony Dean Rizzuto @SignatureReads

Overdrive vs Libby: Which Will Serve You Best? @katsudonburi @BookRiot

Josephine Tey: A Crime Reader’s Guide to the Classics: @CrimeReads by Neil Nyren

A Close Reading of 1 Writer’s Favorite Short Story: @knownemily

Creativity and Inspiration / Motivation

11 Web Comics for Writers: Inspiration and Motivation: @JessZafarris @WritersDigest

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Fitting in Writing

Making Time to Write: Quitting to Win: @JanalynVoigt

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Writing Quickly

3 Ways to Move Forward Fast With Your Writing Even if You’re Overwhelmed and Exhausted: @Eclecticwaters

Creativity and Inspiration / Success

The Satisfaction of Excellence: The Growth Mindset for Writers: @jennienash

Be a Bad Writer to Be a Great Writer: @StefanieFlaxman @copyblogger

Creativity and Inspiration / Writing Life

Why 1 Writer Gave Up Drinking: @BrynDonovan

No Writer’s a Geek: by Andrew Pettigrew @scottishbktrust

How to Write While the World’s Burning Down: @mdilloway @WriterUnboxed

Readers’ Taste (or Blaming The Writer): @KristineRusch

8 Fears That Hold Writers Back From Publishing Their Books: @ScottAllan2 @thecreativepenn

Talent is a Myth: @p2p_editor

It Helps If You Can Write: @jamesscottbell

3 Types of People to Watch Out For In Your Writing Life: @Margo_L_Dill

Why Writing Is A Form Of Meditation: @swetavikram @WomenWriters

Writing For Life: @sowulwords @DIYMFA

Do Writers Have To Be Sad? @helpfulsnowman @LitReactor

4 Book Lovers who Left Charitable Gifts in Their Wills: by Hayley Hutchison @scottishbktrust

Writing a Book Did Not Change My Life: @DanaSchwartzzz @lithub

Writer’s Envy-And 3 Thoughts on What to Do About It: @KMWeiland

Fighting Anxiety Even When You Think You Can’t: @TheKTDaxon

“Eighty percent of what you write will never go anywhere.”: @MegDowell

Genres / Fantasy

5 Steps to Creating a Perfect Fantasy World: @andrewtheauthor

Crafting A Fall: Turning Heroes to the Dark Side: by Aaron Miles @FantasyFaction

Genres / Miscellaneous

Tips for Writing Graphic Novels: by Oren Ashkenazi @mythcreants

Genres / Mystery

Where Southern Gothic Meets Crime: @LORIROYauthor @CrimeReads

Crime Writing: Inside The Four Corners: Search Warrants: @LeeLofland

Genres / Science Fiction

Writing Combat for Character and Scale in SFF: @TracyATownsend @lunaquarterly

Genres / Screenwriting

Find Your Authentic Screenwriting Voice To Make Your Film Script Stand Out: by Matthew Kalil @CreativeScreen

Why Spec Scripts Fail: Formula vs. Structure: @stewartfarquhar @scriptmag

When Flashbacks Attack – Your Guide To Correct Use In Your Screenplay: @JamesNapoli

Promo / Connecting with Readers

Authors Are You Building Social Media Relationships with Your Readers? @CaballoFrances @annerallen

Promo / Metadata

How To (Ethically) Hack Amazon Categories: @DavidGaughran

Promo / Miscellaneous

3 fiction lead magnet ideas: @sandrabeckwith

10 Tips for Pitching Your Book: @bookouture

Promo / Websites

12 Ways to Ensure Your Website Helps You Sell More Books: @Bookgal

Top 8 WordPress Plugins for Bloggers, Writers, and Entrepreneurs: @TCKPublishing

Publishing / Miscellaneous

Why All the Books About Motherhood? @LaurenElkin @parisreview

Good Reasons to Rerelease a Revised Version of Your Book: @Bookgal @BookWorksNYC

Why We Shouldn’t Be Fighting Over Trigger Warnings: by Chris Winkle @mythcreants

Simon & Schuster’s Woodward Book on Trump Roars Up the Charts Ahead of Its Release: @Porter_Anderson @realBobWoodward

Author Coaches: How They Can Help Both Beginners and Experienced Writers: @IngeniumBooks @IndieAuthorALLI

Publishing / News / Amazon

Industry Notes: Amazon ‘Prime Book Boxes’ for Children: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives

Publishing / News / International Publishing

Moroccan Author Leads a Widening Call for an End to Rabat’s Silence on Rape, Poverty: @oliviasnaije @pubperspectives

Beijing International Book Fair Reports Gains in Rights Sales: @Porter_Anderson

Chad Post Named 2018 Ottaway Honoree in International Literature: @Porter_Anderson @chadwpost @pubperspectives

Publishing / Options / Self-Publishing

“Mistakes I Made as a New Indie Author”: @Creativindie @annerallen

Publishing / Process / Distribution

List of Print Book Distributors: @ReedsyHQ

Choosing Your Book’s Distribution Channels: @Ellen__Jacobson

Publishing / Process / Translation

‘Words Without Borders’ September: ‘The Lullaby of the Machine Gun’: @Porter_Anderson @GvantsaJobava @wwborders

American Literary Translators Assoc. Shortlists Titles in Poetry and Prose: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives

Writing Craft / Beginnings

4 Signs You Might Be Confusing, Not Intriguing, in Your Opening Scene: @Janice_Hardy

Writing Craft / Characters / Antagonists

Use The 7 Deadly Sins To Strengthen Your Antagonist’s Motives: @Writers_Write

Writing Craft / Characters / Development

Character Motivation: How to Write Believable Characters: @ReedsyHQ

5 Simple Tips For Powerful Character Development: @Bang2write

Writing Craft / Characters / Emotion

How to Write Emotional Scenes When You’d Really Rather Not: @AnneGBrown @WriterUnboxed

Writing Craft / Hooks

5 Tricks that Help with Hooks: @SeptCFawkes

Writing Craft / Lessons from Books and Film

Learn About Storytelling from Blockbuster TV Series: @writingthrulife

Writing Craft / Miscellaneous

Tips for Writing Female Characters: @CM_DZA @lunaquarterly

3 Signs You Might Be Ignoring Writing Advice That Can Help You: @Janice_Hardy

How to Capitalize On An Unconventional (aka Crazy) Childhood: @JGDornbush @WomenWriters

When should your character’s goal be identified? by Bucket Siler

Writing Craft / POV

How to Use Deep POV for Pacing: @LisaHallWilson

A Beginner’s Guide to Multiple Point of View: by Bucket Siler

Diving Deep into POV: @christinadelay @beccapuglisi

Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Naming

Creating Character Names: by Valerie Allen

Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Plotting

Scene Trackers for Writers: @plotwhisperer

How to Skillfully Use Subplots in Your Novel: @dianakimpton @JaneFriedman

Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Research

Research: So Your Character is From Israel: @VictoriaGHowell

How To Write Effective Injuries For Your Characters: by Samantha Keel @thecreativepenn

Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Story Concept

4 Steps for How to Turn an Idea Into a Story That Rocks: @KMWeiland

Writing Craft / Punctuation and Grammar

3 Ways to Use Coordinating Conjunctions: @JJ_Burry

Writing Craft / Revision

On Editing Your Novel: @davidfarland

Writing Craft / Series

Series, Sagas, Cycles… How About We Call Them “River Novels”? @KentWascom @lithub

Writing Craft / Word Crafting

The Power of Word Choice in Fiction: @Janice_Hardy

Writing Craft / World-Building

8 Easy Details You Can Include To Add Depth to Your World-Building: @_HannahHeath

Writing Tools / Apps

The Best Mobile Apps for Writers: @TCKPublishing

Uncategorized

Why Writers Should Have Their Books on OverDrive:

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Published on September 08, 2018 21:02

September 6, 2018

Update on OverDrive

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Getting our digital books into libraries is much easier these days than it was a few years ago. All we need to do is upload our ebooks to a distributor like Smashwords, Draft2Digital, PublishDrive, or StreetLib , which will make the file available to OverDrive. OverDrive supplies over 30,000 libraries in 40+ countries.

OverDrive is one of my favorite sites as a reader, so I was eager to have my books available there. I was writing this post and pulled the site up and then immediately became distracted and requested three books. :) Eventually I realized that I was trying to write a blog post.

A little bit of background for those of you who aren’t familiar with OverDrive. For me, OverDrive makes reading easier. I’ve read over 45 books so far this year and OverDrive definitely helped. When I hear about an interesting book, I check OverDrive through my library’s website. If it’s available through OverDrive, I add my name to the waitlist. When the book becomes available, it’s automatically checked out to me. I download it on my Kindle (readers can also read on epub devices or by reading a PDF) and then, when it’s time for the book to be ‘returned’ to the library, it becomes unavailable on my device. It’s just a very easy process for a busy person who might not have time to go to the library as much as they’d like.

I use PublishDrive to distribute my books there and have done for the last year and a half or so. I do like the graphs on their sales dashboard that help me make sense of my sales (which are steady on OverDrive). I don’t price any higher for libraries than I do Amazon or other retailers. The graph below shows that my newer titles (which are priced higher than older ones) do the best in sales.

The graph below shows that my sales, despite OverDrive’s reach, are overwhelmingly in the US (I’m hoping this will change as more international readers try OverDrive).

If you’re someone who doesn’t have an epub version of your book (which is the file type needed for OverDrive), you can easily create one (for free) by uploading your original Word document to Draft2Digital. They will convert it and even distribute it to OverDrive for you, right from their platform. That, I’d imagine, would be the easiest way for someone to get on OverDrive who is ordinarily only published on Kindle (obviously, if you’re in the KU program, this is off limits to you).

If your books are already available through OverDrive, you may be interested in seeing exactly where your books are. If you look up a title on WorldCat (you’ll need to enter your location to see where your books are located), a list of libraries that have your book available will pull up. It’s fun for me to see a recent release of mine in libraries in Ohio and Washington state.

I do also have print copies available for library purchase through IngramSpark … but that’s another blog post.

Wrapping up, for me, it’s a no-brainer. I make money every month on OverDrive and it pleases me to have my titles available in libraries.

Are you on OverDrive yet? Do you use the app as a reader?

Why Writers Should Have Their Books on OverDrive:
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Published on September 06, 2018 21:02

September 1, 2018

Twitterific Writing Links

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

I’ll be observing the Labor Day holiday tomorrow and won’t be posting. I’ll see everyone on Friday. :)

Conferences and Events / Miscellaneous

How to Make Writers’ Conferences Work for You: @katiemccoach

6 Steps to Selling Your Books in Person: by Jacob Mohr

Frankfurter Buchmesse’s THE ARTS+ Contextualizes AI, Innovation: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives

2018 PEN Pinter Prize Winner and acclaimed author @Chimamandabook will address Frankfurter Buchmesse: @Porter_Anderson

Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration

How to Start a Creative Journal: @KarenBanes

Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration / Reading as Writers

Five Novels Dealing With Time Travel: @PrentisRollins @tordotcom

Boring Books and the Appeal of the Hypnotically Dull Novel: by Christine Ro @BookRiot

The 13 Unluckiest Characters In Fiction: @xymarla @LitReactor

The Scariest Children in Crime Fiction: @zooshka @CrimeReads

Creativity and Inspiration / Motivation

20+ Writing Strategies (That Helped Bestselling Authors Finish Their Books): @ReedsyHQ

How to Stay Motivated When You’re Not Making Progress: @ADDerWORLD

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Fitting in Writing

3 Time Management Tips: Writing When You Have No Time: @angee

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Writer’s Block

10 Writer’s Block Memes: @ReedsyHQ

Creativity and Inspiration / Writing Life

On Motivation, Becoming an Indie Author, and Healthy Changes in Routine: @colleen_m_story @natNKB

How to Avoid Writing Advice Overload and Trust Your Own Creative Process: @katekrake

How to Copy Your Favorite Authors’ Best Beach Looks: @knownemily @lithub

How much sleep do writers need? @pubcoach

Use Writing Therapy to Enhance Personal Growth and Improve Mental Health: by Mary Ann Cohen @writingthrulife

Working on multiple projects: @jodimeadows

Are Writers More Vulnerable to Migraine Headaches? @colleen_m_story

5 Reasons to Give Up on Your Novel (And One Reason Not to): @Janice_Hardy

Forcing Yourself to Write What You Don’t Want To: @Kid_Lit

Genres / Horror

Top 5 Mistakes Writers Make With Low Budget Horror: @SamanthaHorley @Bang2write

Genres / Miscellaneous

Top 10 Online Tools to Help You Write the Perfect Essay: @writing_tips

Spy Novels: How to Nail The Character of an Espionage Hero: @PiperBayard @AngelaAckerman

Genres / Mystery

Character Observers in Crime Fiction: @lisajohnljc @wvancamp

Information as a Commodity in Crime Fiction: @mkinberg

Starting School as an Element in Crime Fiction: @mkinberg

Sleuths Working Past Sticking Points as Elements in Crime Fiction: @mkinberg

Genres / Picture Books

How to Find the REAL Target Market for Your Children’s Book: @ReedsyHQ

Genres / Romance

Six tips for writing romantic comedy for the modern reader: by Catherine Bennetto @CurtisBrown

Missed Connections: How Characterization Creates Chemistry: @HDemchick @RomanceUniv

Genres / Short Stories

Tips For Ending a Short Story: by Sara Kopeczky

Promo / Blogging

Blogging Can Jumpstart Your Writing Career…Even Before You Publish a Book: @annerallen

4 Lessons from 4 Years of Blogging: @KristinaAuthor

Promo / Book Descriptions and Copywriting

A Book Title Generator: @ReedsyHQ

Promo / Book Reviews

10 Reasons Book Reviews Still Matter: @Gabino_Iglesias

Promo / Connecting with Readers

Increase Your Readers and Your Book Sales with this One Thing: @Bookgal

How Readers Discover New Books to Buy [Infographic]: @DianaUrban @BookBub

Promo / Crowdfunding

6 Steps to a Prosperous Patreon Campaign: @TCKPublishing

Promo / Social Media Tips

How to Use Facebook Live to Promote Your Book: @TCKPublishing

How To Simplify Your Social Media Marketing Strategies: @KarenBanes

Don’t Break Up with Social Media—8 Tips That Help You Stay Committed: @EdieMelson

How to interact on Facebook using your author page: @helpingauthors1

Promo / Websites

What Publishers Want to See on an Author Site: @helpingauthors1 @LiveWriteThrive

Publishing / Miscellaneous

Who Are You Going to Acknowledge in Your Book? @JudithBriles @JFbookman

Publishers Field Trump Books–Pro and Con–With the Midterms Looming: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives

‘We Cannot Stand Silent’: Macmillan’s John Sargent Is Featured in Frankfurter Buchmesse’s CEO Talk: @Porter_Anderson

What Makes a Story ‘Big’ or ‘Small’? by Janet Beneton @SignatureReads

Industry Notes: Penguin Random Opens Education Site, Cengage Unlimited Provided by Two Campuses: @Porter_Anderson @CengageLearning @penguinrandom

Millennial reading habits have changed the definition of a classic book: @Queerpants @qz

Barnes & Noble’s Former CEO Launches Lawsuit Against Bookseller: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives

Writing and Publishing Graphic Novels from Start to Finish: @stevekissing @WritersDigest

Berlin State University Cooperates With De Gruyter on Digital Archive: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives

Germany’s Bertelsmann Reports a Half-Year Decline at PRH; Dohle Messages Staff: @Porter_Anderson @penguinrandom

China Bestsellers for July: Entrepreneurism and School Reading Lists Boost Sales: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives

Moving from CreateSpace to KDP Print:

What is the Best Service for Print on Demand Books? @ReedsyHQ

Publishing / News / International Publishing

South Africa’s Snapplify and Econet Wireless Announce Partnership for Digital Reading in Africa: @Porter_Anderson @Snapplify

Publishing / Options / Self-Publishing

11 Things Nobody Tells You About Being An Indie Author: @_HannahHeath

Going Indie With A Traditionally Published Series (Podcast): @JennAllyson @SteveCampbellFL

Publishing / Process / Book Design

What 10 Books Looked Like Before the Final Cover: by Jo Lou @ElectricLit

Publishing / Process / Services to Avoid

Watchdog Analysis: De Montfort Literature: @JohnDoppler @IndieAuthorALLI

Publishing / Process / Translation

US National Endowment for the Arts Announces $325,000 in Literature Translation Fellowships: @Porter_Anderson @MACartsDC @pubperspectives

Writing Craft / Characters / Development

Understanding Character Karma: by Chris Winkle @mythcreants

Writing Craft / Endings

How to End Your Book: 5 Steps to Writing a Fantastic Final Chapter: by Jacob Mohr @TCKPublishing

Writing Craft / Literary Devices

How to Write Unique Themes: @KMWeiland

Recognizing Themes at Each Stage of the Writing Process: @SaraL_Writer @DIYMFA

Writing Craft / Miscellaneous

How to Create the Perfect Storm in a Novel: @aquavita

Writing A Series: 7 Continuation Issues To Avoid (video): @thecreativepenn

Focusing Your Novel With a Journalist’s Trick: @AndreaWriterlea

Writing Characters’ Thoughts: @JeriWB

Tips for Writing in English for ESL Writers: from Just a Writing Aid

When To Utilize An Ensemble Cast and How To Do It Well: @JoshuaIsard @LitReactor

Writing Craft / POV

Tips for POV: @HankPRyan @CareerAuthors

Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Outlining

Constructing Story Outlines: @AJHumpage

Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Plotting

Where Do You Place Your Inciting Incident? @SnowflakeGuy

The Plot Clock: The Structure Template that Saved 1 Writer’s Career: By Joyce Sweeney

Working with Multiple Plot Lines–Is There a Specific Way? @SeptCFawkes

Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Story Concept

The Quest for Originality: by Nils Odlund

Writing Craft / Punctuation and Grammar

Punctuation Boot Camp: by Gail Radley @TheWriterMag

Writing Craft / Revision

5 Ways to Know Your Book is Finished: @LyndaRYoung @TheIWSG

5 Ways to Take Your Story from Good to Great: by Ashly Hilst @DIYMFA

Writing Craft / Revisions / Critiques

5 Main Benefits of Creative Writing Workshops: by Sara Kopeczky

Writing Craft / Scenes

The Essentials of Scenes: @p2p_editor

Writing Craft / Settings and Description

Fictional Gardens and Gardeners: @ClaireFayers

Writing Craft / Tension

Scene Writing Tension: Boundaries: @Lindasclare

Writing Tools / Apps

A Closer Look at Editing Software @ProWritingAid :

6 Good Reasons To Use Scrivener To Write Your Book: by Julie Pierce @Writers_Write

The top writing links from last week are on Twitterific:
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Published on September 01, 2018 21:02

August 30, 2018

Moving from CreateSpace to KDP Print

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Always leery of more work, I’d put off moving my print books from CreateSpace to KDP Print. With about 20 titles to transfer (the rest were trad-pubbed), I was concerned that it would be a long, problem-riddled process.

There were originally other concerns, too. I was used to buying cheap author copies on CreateSpace and for a while, there was not an avenue to buy those copies on KDP Print. That changed as of November 2017.

A full list of differences between CreateSpace and KDP Print can be found on Amazon here.

But I changed my mind about not making the move when I received an email Tuesday from Amazon, stating:

In a few weeks, we’ll start automatically moving your CreateSpace books to KDP. Your books will remain available for sale throughout the move and you’ll continue to earn royalties. Once we begin this process you’ll be unable to edit existing titles or create new titles on CreateSpace.

If you have a release planned soon or you would like to start the move yourself, we are making updates that will allow you to move your entire catalog in just a few steps. During this transition, you can contact KDP customer support by email and access phone support in English.

I decided to stop putting it off and make the move myself. If there were going to be issues, better to go on and address them now and before we all started having issues at once. And I have a fair number of titles.

Here’s what I found:

First off, Amazon has a handy list of things you should do before your transfer. This is a good time to make sure that you don’t have any books awaiting your proofing or approval, for instance. You also lose your CreateSpace reports, so go ahead and download those if you want to keep your historical sales figures.

Although several sites recommended migrating from the KDP side and not the CreateSpace side, this did not work for me. The dashboard wanted me to completely upload the files, etc. I definitely didn’t have time for that.

Fortunately, I found this video from KDP that walked me through the process (if you have problems seeing it, the YouTube link is here.)

According to Amazon’s email, they’re staggering the start of the move, so it’s possible that you may not yet see the prompt/popup on the CreateSpace site that helps you start the process:

To ensure a quality experience, we will add links to the CreateSpace member dashboard in phases so authors may see it at different times.

The linking was easy. And the transfer took only 2 minutes.

After the transfer, CreateSpace sends you to your KDP dashboard to check and see if everything migrated (all your projects are now removed from the CreateSpace dashboard).

Everything had switched over. I only had a few issues. Two of them were easy to resolve. You can immediately tell the ones that have issues because they have ‘continue setup’ highlighted. Two examples below.

How a problem migration looks:

A successful title migration:

First, my most recent release didn’t have the ebook and print versions linked on my KDP dashboard (they were linked on the Amazon product page). I clicked ‘link to the print edition’ from the Kindle edition and they matched right up.

Next, one of my titles had somehow transferred twice. I deleted one of the print editions and then linked the other print edition to the digital (again, on my KDP dashboard) since they weren’t linked.

The only other issue was one I had to call KDP about: an ISBN issue. There was an error message saying that my imprint (which is my name) didn’t match the ISBN. Support actually wrote a ticket up for this issue and are keeping in touch as they resolve it.

I checked to make sure that author copies were similar to the CreateSpace prices. They definitely appeared to be:

I’ve read on forums about writers having issues with covers, interiors, etc…but this wasn’t my experience, thankfully. Aside from the one problem I took to support, this was a painless process.

Here is a link to Amazon’s KDP Print FAQ.

Have you made the move yet? How did it go?

Transferring Books from CreateSpace to KDP Print:
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Published on August 30, 2018 21:01

August 26, 2018

Writing While Uninspired

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

What is inspiration? I don’t think ‘inspiration’ is synonymous with ‘ideas’. I get ideas and don’t feel necessarily inspired.

To me, inspiration is more of that creative rush or creative energy and passion. It’s being in the zone and writing until your wrists and hands are numb or sore. It’s trying to jot down a tsunami of ideas or even a whole plot before it disappears into the far reaches of your brain.

I rarely write while feeling inspired. When I write, I usually feel as though I’m working very hard at it. But the end result still works out…there’s still life in my words and in my characters. The dialogue can even still be funny (I write humorous mysteries), even if I’m not ‘feeling it.’

I think the whole concept of the muse does something of a disservice to writers. It may make writers feel as though they need to write when inspiration strikes instead of simply making time every day/week to make progress on their stories, regardless of how they’re feeling.

How do I make progress without inspiration?

First off, the outline must be complete and solid. Am I inspired when working on my outline? Again, not particularly. The number one question I ask myself all the way through the outlining process is: what would appeal to my readers? What would they like to see in the story? What character might they like to see more of? Being reader-focused helps me to create a good outline. If you don’t outline: At least know what you want to cover for the next writing session. Just one or two sentences can give you enough direction to keep you from stalling out.

Next, I make sure I show up every day. For you, it may be that you show up weekly or twice a week. Whatever your goal is, make it happen.

Change up the routine if needed. On days when I haven’t gotten as much accomplished (which can happen when I’m not feeling especially driven to write), I make a point to switch up my routine a little. This usually means that I tack on an additional writing session at another point in my day. It nearly always means that I go to another location to write (library or coffeeshop, for me).

Make sure the story sparkles during revisions. One way I do this is by rereading well-written passages of mine from previous works. I fix anything in my current manuscript that seems flat.

Most importantly: keep filling that creative well. As I wrote in this post in June, it’s one thing writing while uninspired and it’s another to write when you’re actively burned out. Forcing the words out makes for wooden words. I make sure that not only I’m well-rested, eating well, and generally taking care of myself, but also that I make time to enjoy the products of other artists’ creativity and that I give myself some quiet time to just think. More on that in a series of posts soon.

I write books this way every day. The creativity is there. The fervor is not. But I love my characters, take pride in my work, and respect my readers. When I keep at it daily, there may not be inspiration, but there is rhythm. And I can work with rhythm.

For further reading and other ideas for those times you’re uninspired, see these posts:

How to Get Into the Mood to Write Daily by Now Novel

7 Tips for the Uninspired by Brooke Warner

How inspired are you when you write? How do you stave off burnout?

Writing While Uninspired:
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Published on August 26, 2018 21:02

August 25, 2018

Twitterific Writing Links

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Twitterific writing links are fed into the Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine (developed by writer and software engineer Mike Fleming) which has over 45,000 free articles on writing related topics. It’s the search engine for writers.

Cleaning is Murder cover I had a book release last week. :) Cleaning is Murder launched Tuesday.