Elizabeth Spann Craig's Blog, page 89

Resources for Mystery Writers

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Probably one of the things I’m emailed the most about by other writers is how to find mystery writing resources.

Sometimes I feel that many mystery writers aren’t very visible online…at least to other writers. I think there are many more fantasy and romance writers who are active and interactive online. There are plenty of mystery writer blogs that are reader-facing blogs, but not very many that deal with crime writing.  I’m guessing that’s why I get the emails.

Now I’ll have a post to refer writers to.  :)

Blogs to Follow: 

I’ll start out with Margot Kinberg’s blog. Margot is a mystery writer and avid mystery reader with an encyclopedic memory. Both readers and writers follow her blog. If you’re interested in considering common themes in murder mysteries of all sorts (including international mysteries), I highly recommend her blog. It will help you read as a writer.

K.B. Owen has some nice resources for the historical mystery writer.

D.P. Lyle, M.D. really knows his stuff. He’s an award-winning author of fiction and non-fiction and has worked with writers on Law & Order, CSI: Miami, and Monk, among many others. He also maintains a list of forensic resources. 

 Fiona Quinn writes romantic suspense, but her blog covers all aspects of crime and crime investigation.

 Thriller writer Sue Coletta knows a lot of law enforcement professionals and posts informative interviews on her site. She has a list of forensic resources for writers.  dditionally, she hosts an informative Twitter chat every other Wednesday at 3 p.m. EST : #ACrimeChat (next one on the 14th, if you want to tune in live, but you can just look up the hashtag to see older chats.) As Sue puts it: “I couldn’t do my job if it weren’t for my police/coroner/firearm/profiler consultants/friends. Of which, I have many.” She taps into their knowledge every other week.

Lee Lofland is a veteran police investigator and writer with expert advice on a variety of topics. His blog is especially good for adding realism to a crime novel since he tells his experiences in sometimes gritty detail.

A group of mystery writers posts on The Kill Zone, including James Scott Bell.

In terms of the mystery writing community, I frequently recommend that new writers look into joining the Sisters in Crime group (and men are welcome) known as the Guppies (the Great Unpublished.  :) )

Courses (covering a variety of different areas): The courses I’d recommend (and which tend to be more bang for your buck) are the ones through the Romance Writers of America…regardless of your genre (I took several about 10 years ago and they really helped me out). Some upcoming online classes are listed here (search the page for ‘online workshops’: https://www.rwa.org/p/cm/ld/fid=517  . Other RWA opportunities: http://rwasd.com/register/ and http://lowcountryrwa.com/workshops/2017-online-courses/ . Most of them are just $25 for non-members of the RWA.

I wrote a series on cozy mystery writing.

This is what I’ve got, but I have the feeling I’m missing some great blogs (maybe some of yours).  What resources have I missed?

Resources for mystery writers:
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Book Translation

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

I’ve worked hard to make sure that my books are available internationally.  They sell well in Canada, the UK, and Australia, in particular. Not only do I have them available through the Amazon sites in those countries, printed books are available internationally through Ingram. Because Ingram has printers all over the world, shipping costs are a lot more reasonable for international readers than purchasing a printed copy through Amazon.

But why are my books doing well in the previously-mentioned countries, in particular? Because they’re English-speaking countries. Although my books do sell in Europe, Japan, and India, the sales aren’t nearly as strong.  This is completely understandable. I know with my college French that I wouldn’t want to tackle a book in French to relax.  I want to read in my native tongue.

I first posted my books as available for translation on the site Fiberead, as mentioned in this post. But I haven’t seemed to be able to get any traction there.  All I’ve done is sign a bunch of updated terms of service agreements.

I decided a few months ago to put a few of my Myrtle Clover books up on a different translation platform: Babelcube.

I’ll admit to doing this a little reluctantly. I knew that Babelcube, although most likely the largest platform, had a reputation for poor customer service on some indie author forums.  But I also knew that I’m familiar with similar platforms: ACX (audiobooks for indie authors) operates much the same way. You audition for talent through their portal (pitching your book in the process), communicate with your audiobook producer through a portal, sign your contract through a portal, agree on deadlines for completion, and review work after certain milestones (first page, first 6 pages, etc.)  This is also the way that Babelcube works.

Most significantly similar to ACX (and this will be music to self-published author’s ears), the process is free. You split royalties with your translator (as you’d split them with your narrator on ACX, if you chose a royalty share agreement).  My only cost for the project will be an updated, translated, cover. This is worth a royalty split for me.  It’s not cost-effective to pay for a translator out of pocket and so my books wouldn’t be translated any other way.

As opposed to Fiberead, I received interest in my series within a few months of signing up. The translator, Freddy Moyano, was experienced, had a solid resume of projects, and lives in the US. A translator’s place of residence can be useful because it may result in fewer culture-related questions from the translator. He’ll be translating several books into Spanish.

Soon after Freddy contacted me, another book received interest and is currently being translated into Portuguese by Fernanda Marchezini Brahemcha.

Taking the samples to a bilingual friend to check the content is a best practice.  Spanish was easier to check than Portuguese.

I’ve set a date with my cover designer to incorporate the translated copy.

On my side, the process is very simple and easy.  On Freddy’s and Fernanda’s sides, it’s a lot more complex and time-consuming.  I’m looking forward to introducing my books to new audiences.

For further reading on both Babelcube and Fiberead, read Keith Dixon’s post on the ALLi blog, “Writing: How Helpful are Free Translation Services for Self-publishing Authors?”

Have you considered translation? Are you using Babelcube?

A closer look at book translation through Babelcube:
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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 40,000 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. 

Have you seen the Top WKB websites for writers for 2017? Check them out here. 

Business / Miscellaneous

How to Make a Business Plan for Success as an Indie Author: @lornafaith @DeniseMSwank

Conferences and Events / Miscellaneous

61 Writing Conferences in June 2017: @EricaVerrillo
BookExpo Opens With Industry Data and a Focus on Consumers: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives

Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration

Local Heroes: Librarians Address Inequity Where They See It: @MarvaAHinton @sljournal
Mining Your Life for Your Stories: @KateMoretti1

Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration / Reading as Writers

Literature’s Arctic Obsession: @kathrynschulz @newyorker
“What I’ve Learned About Female Desire From Reading”: by Mallory Ortberg @TheToast

Creativity and Inspiration / Miscellaneous

Finding the Quiet to Create: @sbkaufman @carolyn_greg

Creativity and Inspiration / Motivation

7 Things To Do When You Want to Give Up (Instead of Giving Up): @DanicaDavidson @WritersDigest
How to Re-motivate Your Writing Career: @AnneKnol1

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Writer’s Block

Stuck with Your Story? Why You Keep Hitting Walls and Dead Ends: @losapala
Writer Struggles: 6 Steps to Get Unstuck: @RobinRWrites

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Writing Quickly

How Writers Can Retrain Their Brain to Tune Out Distractions: @CSLakin

Creativity and Inspiration / Success

Want to Become a Successful Writer? Develop Your Intuition: @AngelaAckerman
9 Tips for Writers from The Outsiders Author S.E. Hinton: @se4realhinton

Creativity and Inspiration / Writing Life

50 Things Learned about The Writing Life: @HeatherWeidner1
Transcending Worlds: How Travel Can Benefit Writers: @allisonamend
True Confessions of a Midlist Writer: by Chris Goff @RMFWriters
13 Ways to Support an Author Without Ever Spending a Dime: @StephPostAuthor
The incredible advantage of fast typing: @NathanBransford
Are you suffering from burnout? @pubcoach
Destined To Write: @VaughnRoycroft
An Hour Renting Emily Dickinson’s Bedroom Where She Wrote Her Entire Life’s Work: @AnyaJaremko
A Curse of Creativity: Writing with Anxiety and Depression: by Renee Ramsey @duelinglibs
Stop Yourself from Obsessing Over Duplicating Writing Success: by Noelle Sterne @WritersDigest
“How Embracing Minimalism Made Me a Better (And Happier) Writer”: @besscozby
10 Similarities Between Birding and Writing: @JMJauthor

Genres / Dystopian

Fitness Tips for the Apocalypse: Getting Around: @speechwriterguy

Genres / Historical

Taking the Mystery Out of Writing History: @michellecox33

Genres / Mystery

Family histories as elements of crime fiction: @mkinberg
Writing a Murder Mystery: 8 Ways to Make a Murderer: @woodwardkaren
Crime fiction: When reality differs from the myth of perfect relationships: @mkinberg
Mystery writing: the appeal of the amateur: @kbowenwriter
Self-absorption as an element in crime fiction: @mkinberg
Writing a Murder Mystery: 7 Tips for Creating an Interesting Detective: @woodwardkaren
Slums as an element in crime fiction: @mkinberg

Genres / Picture Books

Sell More Children’s Books With A Great Cover: @Bookgal
How to Write with a Sense of Wonder When Writing for and About Children: @DonnaGalanti

Genres / Screenwriting

Is It Done? 7 Signs You’re Ready To Sell Your Script: @ozzywood

Genres / Short Stories

4 Quick Tips for Short Story Editing: by Jeff Elkins

Promo / Blogging

A Step-by-Step Guide for Featuring Quotes in Your Blog Posts: @aliventures

Promo / Book Descriptions and Copywriting

Tips for Crafting a Blurb (video): @ScholarlyFox

Promo / Book Reviews

8 Tips to Keep in Your Mind When Seeking Book Reviews: @McKinneyPR

Promo / Miscellaneous

When to Start Marketing if You’re Unpublished: @NadineBrandes

Promo / Platforms

Craft vs. platform: which comes first? @DanBlank

Promo / Speaking

How to Give a Book Reading: A Bashful Author’s Guide: @MelodieCampbell

Publishing / Miscellaneous

Writing for the Star Wars Universe: @ChuckWendig @AlexanderMFreed @claudiagray
9 Reasons Audiobook Growth Is Soaring: by Sandy McDowell @DigiBookWorld
This Crucial Skill Will Help You Get on Your Book Editor’s Good Side: @batwood
Interview With Subrights & Royalties Manager Nancy Bruckman:

Publishing / News / Amazon

AmazonCrossing’s (Amazon’s translation imprint’s) 7th Anniversary: @Porter_Anderson @AmazonPub

Publishing / News / International Publishing

Germany in Poland: ‘Protection from Political Interference” @Porter_Anderson @ChefSteinmeier
Industry Notes: Foreign Rights at Diversion; Australian Teens on Reading: @Porter_Anderson
‘Soaring’ Ebook Sales in Spanish Markets: @Porter_Anderson @javiercelaya @bookwire
THE ARTS+ at Frankfurt Book Fair Issues a Call for Papers, Proposals: @Porter_Anderson @holgervolland
Industry Notes: Frankfurt’s Tiered Pricing; Sourcebooks’ Raccah Honored: @Porter_Anderson

Publishing / Options / Traditional Publishing

10 Things We Hate About Agents (And 10 Things They Hate About Us): @EricaVerrillo

Publishing / Options / Traditional Publishing / Pitches

An Agent on Why Authors Need to Dump the Elevator Pitch: @BookEndsJessica

Publishing / Options / Traditional Publishing / Querying

10 Tips to Query Literary Agents—Successfully: @LisaTener

Publishing / Process / Book Design

Tips for better book covers for your fantasy novel: @RobertsonWrites

Publishing / Process / Contracts

When to Walk Away from a Contract: @SusanSpann

Writing Craft / Beginnings

How NOT to start your novel: Six First Page No-Nos: @annerallen

Writing Craft / Characters / Arc

How to Plan Your Character’s Arc: by S.H. Mastersmith

Writing Craft / Characters / Development

Developing characters through everyday situations: @mishy1727
When Good Characters Behave Despicably (and They Should): @KBullockAuthor

Writing Craft / Characters / Emotion

3 Tips for Writing Sad Scenes: @ceciliaedits

Writing Craft / Common Mistakes

Practice Novels: 10 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Publish that 1st Novel…Yet: @annerallen

Writing Craft / Endings

How to Write a Great Last Line: @PBRWriter

Writing Craft / Miscellaneous

“How Being Patient Improved My Writing”: @millie_ho
Top 10 Ways To Improve Your Writing: @10MinNovelists
Have You Written Your Story’s ‘Mirror Moment’ Yet? @ProWritingAid
Where Are You on The Writing Growth Curve? @allisonmaruska

Writing Craft / POV

Should I use 3rd Omniscient within 3rd Limited? @p2p_editor

Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Plotting

3 Quick and Easy Tips That Will Make Your Novel Better: @storyfix
7 Tactics for Creative Writers to Generate New Story Ideas: @gloria_kopp

Writing Craft / Punctuation and Grammar

Punctuation Quiz: Attribution: @writing_tips
Words Ending in “-ly” Aren’t Always Adverbs: @writing_tips

Writing Craft / Revision

3 Groups of Words and Phrases to Edit in Your Novel: @lornafaith
Writing Cinematically: 10 Movie Techniques to Apply to Your Novel: @AuthorDebRaney
“10 Things I Look For When Selecting Submissions”: by Kara Cochran
The Benefits of Reading Your Work Out Loud: @Janice_Hardy
How to Shorten Longer Writing: @Lindasclare

Writing Craft / Revisions / Critiques

How NOT to Give Up When You Get Feedback on Your Manuscript: @writeabook

Writing Craft / Synopses

A Cheat’s Guide to Writing a Synopsis: @sarahannjuckes

Writing Craft / Tension

4 Proven Ways to Build Suspense: by S.C. Sharman @mythicscribes

Writing Craft / Voice

How to Embrace Your Strengths—and Flaws—to Find Your Writing Voice: @Tallie_Charles @WritersDigest

Writing Tools / Thesauri

Character Motivation Entry: Escaping Invaders: @AngelaAckerman

Uncategorized

Congratulations @WriterUnboxed for being the top WKB website for writers! https://t.co/TUheP6nODF
RT @pubperspectives: We appreciate being named among Top 10 sites by @Hiveword on #Writer’s Knowledge Base, thanks!
RT @ReedsyHQ: Why does @ElizabethSCraig love to write? Watch her story, and help make a difference yourself: #IWrit…
Need help organizing your thoughts? Check out @Hiveword :

The top writing links of last week are on Twitterific:
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Creating Distractions for A Protagonist

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Larry Brooks of StoryFix frequently offers helpful posts for writers. He wrote a post recently for the Kill Zone blog called “Three Quick and Easy Tips that Will Make Your Novel Better.”  One of the tips he listed was to “give your hero a distracting personal relationship.”

This is one element that can be used in a lot of different helpful ways in your story. It helps make your protagonist seem real and helps create reader empathy for the protagonist. It also can make for a nice subplot to weave through the course of the story to help keep readers reading to see how it will resolve (sometimes as a reader, I’ve found myself more interested in the subplot of a book than the main plot).

It’s especially helpful as a continuing arc in your series, if your series is to be read in order. It can be one thing that remains a constant in the series as crises and supporting characters and settings change.

The distraction could be a lot of different things. I think it makes it especially good if it’s something that resonates with readers because it’s a typical problem: helping aging parents, being a single mom or dad,  struggling with an addiction,  trying to balance work and a relationship, dealing with a difficult manager, handling a health issue for yourself or a family member.

Is your distraction any good? You can test it by asking yourself a series of questions: writer Janice Hardy has created a nice list to check your subplot (which is what your distraction is) against.  They include “does it explore a new problem and raise the stakes?”

You can even take this distraction a step farther. One of the posts I’ve got saved on my Evernote is Allen Palmer’s post on Cracking Yarn: “The One Subplot You Really Need.”  He’s a screenwriter, but his advice works well for novelists. He points out that:

“Emotionally powerful movies tend to have those 3 narrative elements:

The want that’s about external achievement
Subplots that complicate the quest for the want
A need subplot that’s at odds with the want ” 

Your protagonist’s distraction could both complicate his quest (and I think most distractions would do this…some more than most) and provide the ‘need’ that conflicts with the ‘want.’

Palmer offers concrete examples of how to pull this off well.

What distractions do your protagonists have in their lives while they’re saving the world?

Why distractions are important for our protagonist:
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Twitterific Writing Links

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

A weekly roundup of the best writing links from around the web.

Twitterific writing links are fed into the Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine (developed by writer and software engineer Mike Fleming) which has over 40,000 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. 

I’ll be away tomorrow in observance of Memorial Day, but back on the blog on Friday. 

Conferences and Events / Miscellaneous

London Book Fair’s Virtual Conference: 9 Markets in 9 Hours @Porter_Anderson @ornaob
The Authors Guild Honors Morrison, Patterson, and…IngramSpark @Porter_Anderson @rcutlerSpark

Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration / Reading as Writers

5 Books About Achieving Immortality: @nealasher @tordotcom
The Greatest Resurrections in Literature: @ElectricLit
Flowchart Connects the Entire Stephen King Universe: @FreddyInSpace

Creativity and Inspiration / Motivation

How to kill your procrastination by quitting: @beprolifiko
3 Habits of Prolific Writers: @WritersAfterDrk

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Writing Quickly

Fast Drafting Tips: @sona_c

Creativity and Inspiration / Success

3 Elements of a Good book: @MichelleGriep @NovelRocket
Writing for Your Readers: @Lindasclare
New Novelist: Write A Selling Novel With One Simple Strategy: @angee
The 7 Differences Between Professionals and Amateurs: @JeffGoins

Creativity and Inspiration / Writing Life

When your life goes off the rails: @Janet_Reid
“What I Didn’t Know Before Becoming a Writer”: @FinishedPages
3 Ways to Deal With the Feeling of Loss after Finishing a Highly Inspired Creative Project: by Pekoe Blaze
How to Write a Journal: 6 Tips: @hodgeswriter
A simple email trick for better organization: @mayorjenni
3 Benefits of Accountability Groups for Writers: @lornafaith

Genres / Miscellaneous

In Support of New-Adult Fiction: @MegWestfield @WomenWriters

Genres / Mystery

The murkiness between childhood and adulthood in crime fiction: @mkinberg
The Detective’s Sidekick: 3 Character Types: @woodwardkaren

Genres / Picture Books

Advice for illustrators: @pinocastellano
Writing Children’s Books With Readaloud Potential: @Kid_Lit

Genres / Romance

Writing Romance: the Alpha Hero: @JaxMHunter @RMFWriters

Genres / Science Fiction

How to create maps for SF/F: @Brianna_daSilva

Genres / Screenwriting

How To Assign A Character’s Race In A Screenplay: @Bang2write
Learning Screenwriting by studying The Bourne Identity: @CockeyedCaravan

Genres / Short Stories

5 Semi-Pro Markets for Short Stories: @jasonbougger

Promo / Book Reviews

Getting a Top Reviewer to Read Your Book: @TLCBookDesign
A plea for reviewers: can we open up a dialogue about self-published books? @Roz_Morris

Promo / Miscellaneous

How to Confidently Plan and Execute a Successful Book Launch: @KimberleyGrabas
The Importance Of Time For Selling Books And Building An Author Career: @bryancohenbooks @thecreativepenn
Writing Short While Going Long: @Lindasclare

Promo / Newsletters

Is Your Author Mailing List Effective? 5 Ways To Find Out: @clarewhitmell
This Is Why You Should Do Newsletter Surveys: @ADStarrling

Promo / Social Media Tips

10 Great New Social Media Tools for Indie Authors: @Bookgal @_theverbs
Repeat After Me: “Goodreads Is My Friend”: @SonjaYoerg
10 Ideas for Social Media Posts: @WriteOnOnline

Publishing / Miscellaneous

Publishing’s Digital Transformation: ‘What the Readers and Users Want’: @Porter_Anderson
How to Write a Book: Everything You Need to Know in 20 Steps @JerryBJenkins
Co-Writing Dark Fantasy In New Orleans With 4 Authors: @thecreativepenn

Publishing / News / Amazon

A Closer Look at “Amazon Charts”, Which Tracks What’s Hot at the Retailer: @Porter_Anderson

Publishing / News / International Publishing

60% growth in ebook sales in Russia last year: By Eugene Gerden @pubperspectives
Historian Margaret MacMillan Chairs $75,000 Cundill Prize: @Porter_Anderson
A Rights Agent’s View: Szylvia Molnar on Making True Crime Travel @Porter_Anderson

Publishing / Options / Traditional Publishing

When you don’t want to follow an agent’s editorial suggestions: @Janet_Reid

Publishing / Options / Traditional Publishing / Pitches

Are you ready to Pitch? The Pro Check: @jennienash

Publishing / Process / Book Design

How to Create a Book Cover That Connects with Readers: @erikaliodice
7 Essential Tips To Ensure Your Book Cover Is A Winner: @kj_bags

Publishing / Process / Formatting

Some Fun CSS Tricks for Ebooks: @dkudler

Publishing / Process / Legalities

How can you register the copyright for your book? Follow 8 simple steps: @ReedsyHQ

Publishing / Process / Translation

American Literary Translators’ Mentorship Program Applications Are Open: @Porter_Anderson

Writing Craft / Beginnings

Writing Chapter One: Tips: @Dwallacepeach

Writing Craft / Characters / Development

‘Hearing’ your characters: @GoIntoTheStory
Deepening Characterization: @WritingOnBoard @NovelRocket
Writing character flaws: @MisoMiss
How to Build an Interesting Character: 10 Questions: @woodwardkaren

Writing Craft / Common Mistakes

3 Common Mistakes Writers Make (And How to Avoid Them): by Blake Powell @write_practice
Why Readers Stop Reading: @beccapuglisi

Writing Craft / Conflict

Conflict, Plot Lines, and The Devil Wears Prada: @maryhorner @womenonwriting

Writing Craft / Dialogue

The Dos and Don’ts of Dialogue Tags: @KelsieEngen
The Dos and Don’ts of Dialogue Tags: @TheRyanLanz

Writing Craft / Drafts

Embrace your own process: @reallucyflint

Writing Craft / Endings

How Not to Crash-land an Ending: @SonjaYoerg
How to Write Better Endings: @WritersCoach

Writing Craft / Lessons from Books and Film

Piano Man’s Unexpected Writing Lesson: @p2p_editor

Writing Craft / Literary Devices

Foreshadowing — When and Where to Use It: by S.C. Sharman @mythicscribes

Writing Craft / Miscellaneous

Kindred Spirits: In Praise of Online Classes: by Ann V. Klotz
Better Use of Verbs in Your Writing: @JerryBJenkins
6 Reasons to use Chapter Titles: @WritersAfterDrk by Raymond Esposito
10 Tips for Successful Ghostwriters: m by John Peragine

Writing Craft / Pacing

Pacing: What Plot and Poker Have in Common: by Codey Amprim @mythicscribes

Writing Craft / Plot Holes

How Trust Affects Mysteries and Plot Holes: @p2p_editor

Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Plotting

Story Structure: The Magic Bullet that Nearly Killed Me: @mquirk
Classic Story Structures and What They Teach Us About Novel Plotting: @jesslourey @JaneFriedman
The “And then!” Plot @JaneLebak
Pets: Ways to Include Animals to Enhance Your Fictional World: @SueColetta1

Writing Craft / Punctuation and Grammar

3 Cases of Superfluous Wording: @writing_tips

Writing Craft / Revision

5 Questions to Ask When Editing Your First Novel: @lornafaith

Writing Craft / Revisions / Critiques

5 Tips for Surviving a Writing Workshop: @YourTrustyAlibi @BookRiot
How to Spot Toxic Feedback: 7 Signs: @manzanitafire @JaneFriedman
To Share Your Work Now or Later: When Is The Best Time? @10MinNovelists

Writing Craft / Settings and Description

Imagery: Create Strong Mental Pictures for Your Reader: @ZoeMMcCarthy
Description: Letting Readers Fill in the Gaps:

Writing Craft / Tension

Adding Tension to Your Story: @johnbriggsbooks

Writing Tools / Apps

Making A Story/Series Bible In Scrivener: @KhaosFoxe

Writing Tools / Services for Writers

A closer look at @ReedsyHQ ‘s resources for writers: @TheIWSG

Uncategorized

‘A German Life’ Memoir Finds Strong International Rights Interest: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives
Congratulations to @JFbookman for being a top website on the WKB!
Congratulations to @TheCreativePenn for being a top WKB website for writers!
Congratulations to https://t.co/IYpL4pZnWS for being a top WKB website for writers! @write_practice
Congratulations to @writing_tips for being a top WKB website for writers! https://t.co/3Ajv1BeZr3
Congratulations to @WritersDigest : a top WKB website and resource for writers: https://t.co/iPNEgaAbUq
Congratulations to @pubperspectives for being a top WKB website for writers! https://t.co/t1bSF8wUTP
Congratulations to @Janice_Hardy for being a top WKB website for writers! https://t.co/XM0M6JvVCC
Industry Notes: A Milestone at Dutch Sweek; Facebook Live at BookExpo @Porter_Anderson

The top writing links of last week are on Twitterific:
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Description: Letting Readers Fill in the Gaps

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

I read a nice post by Nils Ödlund, “Don’t Show, Don’t Tell — How to Leave Room for the Reader’s Imagination ” on the Mythic Scribes blog.

As he says in the post: “…I’d like to explain why the reader’s mind is so strong: it’s because they put something of themselves into it. They use their own experiences, expectations, and associations to create the image, and this make it theirs. It becomes more personal; making it easier to understand and to believe in.”

Twice recently, I’ve been surprised by readers with compliments on my character descriptions.

One woman said, “I could see her perfectly. She was just like my Aunt May.”

I strongly suspect that the woman simply filled in the gaps of my description of the character herself. That something in the character’s dialogue or manner revealed itself to be similar to her aunt.

I don’t like to over-describe…anything, really. I was prompted for more detailed description in the Southern Quilting series because that was part of the cozy brand for Penguin’s craft cozies.

I’ve written on this subject before, but the reason I want to again is because writers can worry a lot about descriptions. They can overthink them.

I’m not saying there aren’t books that are better served with a lot more description than mine have. But with a few telling details or broad brushstrokes, you can give the readers more than enough to go on. And you don’t have to stress yourself out in the process.

A couple of telling details are helpful. A sour expression, hooded eyes, a condescending smile, a galloping gait, a braying laugh.

You can also describe characters indirectly, letting readers draw their own conclusions based on character dialogue and other characters’ observations about him. Or by describing the character’s house or car, letting readers know how tidy he is, or whether he owns expensive things, or doesn’t have enough food in the house.

As a reader, I tend to skim over extra character or setting description. I’m not looking for a dump of physical characteristics that I won’t remember.  I’m looking for insight into the character or at least some sort of quirk or detail that will help me to remember him while he’s offstage.

I like this article from writer Ali Luke: “How to Write Character Descriptions that Work” (she also agrees with the minimal approach).  She gives a helpful list of description dos and don’ts, including “try describing one character through another character’s eyes” and “with any kind of description, word choices matter a lot.”

You can find more resources for writing description in the WKB “settings and description” entries.  Or sign up to receive articles on the subject via email.

What’s your view on description as a reader and writer?

Tips for writing minimal character description:
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Expanding into Hardcover

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig,o9

I’ve recently been interested in expanding my books into every format that I can.  Who knows how someone might want to read my books? I’m in digital, print (paperback), and audio. I’ve made my books accessible to an international audience and now the Myrtle books are being translated into Spanish (more on that in a later post).

But I’d never really thought about hardcover. It seemed like a very expensive option to buy. I know that, aside from gifts for family, I haven’t bought a hardcover book in ages.

As part of my expansion into other formats and to other markets, however, I realized that my books (through PublishDrive) are doing very well on the OverDrive platform.  That’s a major distributor of digital materials to libraries. (More on OverDrive in this post.)

If my books were doing that well at libraries, I figured that it would make sense to have them also available in hardcover. Perhaps an acquisition librarian would note that my digital books were circulating to readers and decide to purchase a hardcover for the stacks.

Things to consider: 

If you’re on Ingram, you’ll need to have ISBNs for your books (not the free ones from CreateSpace or Smashwords…which actually show CS and SW as the publisher). And, even if you have your own ISBNs, because this is a different format, you’ll need new ISBNs for the books for this particular format. I’m buying ISBNs from Bowker in bulk.

Obviously, your covers will need to be adjusted. I asked my cover designer to adapt the existing covers for hardcover dust jackets. You could also choose a case binding cover, but I wanted the cloth bound hardcover with the dust jacket.  (More about hardcover choices in this post from Ingram Spark.)  You’ll need a good deal more copy than you’re used to: there’s a back cover and front cover, but there’s also an inside front cover and an inside back cover to consider.

Your cover designer will need the ISBNs for the books in order to pull up a template from Ingram. And, of course, this means that your book needs to be at least partially set-up on Ingram to begin with. You’ll put in your book’s metadata as usual (I like to fill the fields out as completely as possible, not just focus on the required fields), set the international prices (this is hardcover, so you’ll want to go higher to see at least a little profit. Additionally, I set the book trade discount a bit lower, to either 30% or 35%), and upload the interior PDF. I used the same PDF that I uploaded for my trade paperback listing, and Ingram adapted it (it wasn’t a size-specific PDF to begin with). Depending on your file, you may need to upload an updated interior PDF.  Then the cover designer will pull a template from Ingram.

The trim sizes for hardcover are here on Ingram’s site.  I chose the closest size to my paperback size.

There’s is also a cost for Ingram’s set-up for the books at $49 a book.  I’ve never paid the full fee since I’m a member of The Alliance of Independent Authors and they frequently have discounts for Ingram services.

My total cost ended up being the ISBNs and the cover adaptation.  If you’re cleverer with design than I am, you could avoid that cover modification fee.

What I settled on: 

I chose a gray cloth cover with a matte laminate.

I looked at books at my local library for copy inspiration for the dust jacket.  I decided to go with:

Inside front cover of all books:

Description at top.

Series description (following) below that

Inside back cover of all books:

Author picture

Author bio

Website/contact info

Back Cover:

Testimonials for all three series

Each book ended up looking like this:

Some writers have mentioned that Amazon will discount the hardcovers as loss leaders…and must still pay full royalties to the author since the discount was on their side.

Will I make a lot of profit off these books this year?  Most certainly not at a margin of $2-$3 a book. Will they always be in hardcover and always available to print? Yes. It’s the long-tail in the publishing game, as everyone has overstated. I’m willing to have modest returns in the short term and write off my costs for this project on my taxes next year. In addition to the library market, these could be draws for avid fans (see “Why Hardcover is the New Vinyl” by Yahdon Israel), and can be used as special promotional giveaways.

Have you thought about hardcover editions of your books?

Tips and reasons for making your books available in hardcover:
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Twitterific Writing Links

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

A weekly roundup of the best writing links from around the web.

Twitterific writing links are fed into the Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine (developed by writer and software engineer Mike Fleming) which has over 40,000 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. 

Conferences and Events / Miscellaneous

On BEA Wednesday: Pre-Show Programming Highlights: @Porter_Anderson

Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration

J.K. Rowling’s Latest Advice Will Inspire You To Pick Up Your Pen And Write: @emmaoulton @bustle
Don’t Let Logic Eclipse Your Creative Writing: @RosanneBane

Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration / Reading as Writers

50 Fictional Days Immortalized in Literature: @knownemily @lithub
How to read more books: @ellekaplan
The Best Bookstore in Every State: @lizsteelman @realsimple

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Fitting in Writing

When ignoring advice makes sense: @pubcoach

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Writer’s Block

How 1 Writer Went From Scared Witless to Being a Published Author: @LauraJTong
Reveal Hidden Writer’s Anxiety to Restore Creativity: @colleen_m_story
Your Story Has Hit a Wall—What Now? @KristenLambTX

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Writing Quickly

7 Focus-Enhancing Tips for Better Productivity: @emi1y_morgan

Creativity and Inspiration / Success

5 Tips for Turning Pro for Writers as Inspired by @SPressfield @lornafaith
Is Your Fiction Big Enough? @jamesscottbell @WriterUnboxed

Creativity and Inspiration / Writing Life

“Ways I Learned to Love My Novel Again”: @CaitlinEJones
Is an MFA in Creative Writing Worthwhile? 7 Writers Weigh In: @decorcione
A 7-part podcast comedy on writing a novel: @Porter_Anderson @TheStoryPlant
Including People in Your Writing Process: @Writestream
Treating Your Writing Like A Full-Time Job: @Jen_328

Genres / Fantasy

5 Elements All Urban Fantasy Novels Must Have: @mishellbaker

Genres / Mystery

Unnamed main characters in crime fiction: @mkinberg
Crime Writers: 9 Key Steps for a Successful Crime Scene Investigation: @JChaseNovelist
Crime Writing: A Murder-Scene Checklist: @LeeLofland
Open vs closed murder mysteries: @woodwardkaren

Genres / Picture Books

How 1 Writer Hired and Collaborated with Illustrators: @caroleproman
How 1 Indie Author Created Her Kids Book Series: @caroleproman

Genres / Poetry

How to Write a Limerick Infographic: @lwlindquist @tspoetry
10 Essential Terms for Poets (and Everyone Else): by Edward Hirsch @lithub

Genres / Romance

Want to Write Romance? Layer Your Scenes for Success: @CSLakin @AngelaAckerman

Genres / Science Fiction

Defining Speculative Fiction: @MelanieMarttila

Genres / Screenwriting

10 Ingredients for Successful Screenwriting: Understanding Marketing Skills: @marilynhorowitz @scriptmag

Genres / Young Adult

4 Tips for Changing Genres Within Young Adult: @BrigidKemmerer

Promo / Back matter

Why you should have more than 1 bio: @SophieMasson1

Promo / Blogging

Content Creation for Bloggers: 3 Questions: @JFbookman
Why Every Author Needs A Blog: @SukhiJutla

Promo / Book Descriptions and Copywriting

How to Create a Back Book Cover Blurb that Sells: @DaveChesson

Promo / Book Reviews

What If They Hate My Book? Coping with Negative Reviews: @Bookgal
Do reviews impact sales? @rxena77

Promo / Miscellaneous

Guide to Creating an Author Media Kit: @BuildYourBrandA
Reasons Your Books Are Not Selling: @cksyme
3 Steps To Creating A Winning Sell Sheet For Your Book: @jckunzjr
The art of the anti-blurb: @nevalalee
Ways to support an author or illustrator (besides buying a book): @inkyelbows

Promo / Newsletters

7 Ways You Can Use Your Mailing List to Drive Sales: @PublishingSpark@clarewhitmell

Promo / Platforms

Comparing and Calculating IngramSpark and Amazon CreateSpace Author Royalty: @carlaking
Your Author Strategy: 3 Steps to Launch Your Writing Career: @CarmenConnects @annerallen

Promo / Pricing

How to determine your price point when self-publishing: @NathanBransford

Promo / Social Media Tips

Feeling Invisible on Facebook? How’s Your Organic Reach? @KristenLambTX
4 Tips for Successful Social Media Contests: @JDScherer @SMExaminer
Social media is a long-term investment for your writing career: @Roz_Morris
Streamline Your Social Media Life With These 9 Tips: @EdieMelson
How to Write the Perfect Pinterest Bio: @MarshaIngrao

Publishing / Miscellaneous

Why Novellas are Making a Comeback (and 5 Posts for Novella-Writers): @aliventures
Email Newsletters: A Writer’s Best Friend: @chris_shultz81

Publishing / News / International Publishing

The UK’s Publishers Association Takes Its Stand: ‘No Tax on Books’ @stevelotinga @Porter_Anderson
2017 Global Ebook Report: As Many Stories as Markets: @Porter_Anderson @wischenbart
Palestine Festival of Literature Marks Its First Decade: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives
China Reading Launches Qidian Platform for an International Audience: @Porter_Anderson
A Publisher Is France’s Minister of Culture: @Porter_Anderson

Publishing / Options / Traditional Publishing

Winning The Waiting Game: @PatPDonovan @womenonwriting

Publishing / Options / Traditional Publishing / Querying

Are good writers rejected? An agent answers: @Janet_Reid

Publishing / Options / Traditional Publishing / Rejections

Rejection and Failure: There’s a Difference, and Neither Means You Should Quit: @RuthHarrisBooks

Publishing / Process / Book Design

Covers Matter. A Lot. @MaryGillgannon @RMFWriters

Publishing / Process / ISBNs

Indie Authors, Buy Your Own ISBNs! @NewShelvesBooks

Publishing / Process / Legalities

Hiring Freelancers (Editors, Designers, Formatters): the Legal Nitty-Gritty: @HelenSedwick @BookWorksNYC

Writing Craft / Characters / Development

The “Unlikable” Characters We Love: @booksabound @BNSciFi
7 Tips to Creating Likable Characters: @Brianna_daSilva

Writing Craft / Characters / Emotion

Falling in Love With Your Manuscript: Why an Emotional Connection is Vital: @jkolin27

Writing Craft / Characters / Protagonists

The 9 Things Your Main Character Needs From You: @10MinNovelists
Dynamic Character: How to Write a Compelling Protagonist: @ReedsyHQ

Writing Craft / Common Mistakes

12 Quick Tips To Improve Your Writing Right Now: @Bang2write

Writing Craft / Humor

Increasing Your Funny Quotient: @AnnetteLyon
Tips and resources for tackling humor in your writing:

Writing Craft / Miscellaneous

Co-Writing a Novel: @JasonMHough
Middles and Scenes: @JAHuss
Writing Captivity Scenes: @RayneHall
How Exposition Breaks Empathy: @p2p_editor

Writing Craft / POV

13 More Mistakes You Could Make When Creating Narrative Voice: @10MinNovelists

Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Plotting

5 ways to get your characters (and you) through adversity: by Fae Rowen
Elevate Your “Genre” Book or Screenplay: @patverducci
Using Story Structure to Plot: @Janice_Hardy
4 Methods for Developing Any Idea Into a Great Story: @ESimsAuthor @JaneFriedman

Writing Craft / Punctuation and Grammar

Gender-Neutral Pronouns: Singular ‘They’: @GrammarGirl

Writing Craft / Revision

Options for Approaching Self-Editing: @katiemccoach
7 Strategies for Revising Your Novel: by Lisa Preston @WritersDigest
4 Common Copy Editing Issues to Watch For: @Julie_Glover

Writing Craft / Settings and Description

The Complex Power of Mapping the World of Your Novel: @barbaraoneal @WriterUnboxed

Writing Craft / Special Needs

Encouraging Reluctant/Dyslexic Readers: @ela_lourenco
5 Signs Your Story Is Ableist: by Chris Winkle @mythcreants

Writing Craft / Tension

7 Hitchcockian Secrets To Writing Amazing Suspense: @TonyLeeMoral
Show, Don’t Tell: How to Inject Drama Into Your Writing: @sarahannjuckes
Time Check: A Way to Build Story Tension: @Chris_Kokoski

Writing Craft / Transitions

How to Handle Time Skips in Your Novel: @p2p_editor

Writing Craft / World-Building

5 Worldbuilding Mistakes Even Enthusiasts Make: by Chris Winkle @mythcreants
Why ‘worldbuilding’ is the most overrated and overused concept in fiction: @TheLincoln

Uncategorized

@ShadowAuthor @LawrenceBlock Like you, I don’t have any info on that. Is this for self-pub or querying? You could h…
@ShadowAuthor @LawrenceBlock I’d probably skip footnotes for fiction (although House of Leaves used them effectivel…
@ShadowAuthor @LawrenceBlock Sorry! It was the ‘novel’ that threw https://t.co/B5RvwggFvz could skip it or not (I’v…
A top resource/blog for writers: @JodyHedlund ‘s blog: https://t.co/n0eQauj2RL https://t.co/3nPqFye7k6

The top writing links of last week are on Twitterific:
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Writing Humor

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

One thing that I love about writing cozy mysteries is the ability to integrate humor into the stories.

The amount of humor varies. I still somewhat regret writing A Body at Book Club which has a scene in which I actually laughed out loud while writing (startling the cats and dog around me). Since then, almost every book has at least one customer review that says: “It’s okay. Not as funny as A Body at Book Club.”

I’ve noticed that humor comes easier as a series continues and I know the characters better and better. I think that’s because my humor is all character-based and the set-up for a humorous scene becomes easy when the readers and I know the characters very well. Running gags can be particularly effective over the course of a series.

The easiest is putting characters in situations where the reader knows the character is uncomfortable. Situational humor (similar to the idea behind sitcoms, or situational comedies). I’ll put my hypochondriac character around someone with a terrible cold and have him anguish over that in the background as my sleuth is questioning the sick suspect. Or I’ll put my former English teacher sleuth on the spot at a book club meeting when she hasn’t read the book (and doesn’t want to own up to the fact).

I’ve always loved the classic clown and straight-man type of set-up evident in shows like I Love Lucy. Modeling that, I’ve got one sidekick whose dry sense of humor acts as a nice foil for my unpredictable sleuth.

I’m not afraid to delve into farce or screwball comedy every once and a while (notably, A Body at Book Club).

But my books are gentle books and the humor is gentle, too. Your books might be darker or edgier, but there’s definitely a style of humor that will fit your writing. Don’t think that your serious novel doesn’t need humor. There’s an interesting post by Dean Gloster to refute that notion: “7 Reasons Writers of Serious Novels Should Use Humor in Their Fiction” (including reader identification and assigning positive traits to characters).

There are posts that I’ve bookmarked on Evernote for repeated reading.  Specifically to incorporating the style of humor we want to focus on (with the right tone for our genre and books), I’d look at a couple of posts from writer Darcy Pattison: “Five More Ways to Add Humor” and “Running Gags“.  September C. Fawkes offers “15+Tactics for Writing Humor“.  Margie Lawson does a nice job with concrete examples in “Humor Hits Hook Readers.”  Jordan Dane’s “Five Ways to Stand Out With Humor in Your Writing” has some good tips.  I also like “How to Mix Humor Into Your Writing” by Leigh Anne Jasheway.

Do you use humor in your books?  How much do you use?

Tips and resources for writing humor:
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Mirroring a Book’s Beginning at its Ending

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