Konn Lavery's Blog: Posts from konnlavery.com, page 35

Author DIY Graphic Design – Layout

The layout is a critical part of all design projects. It is the final gatekeeper of how the public eye will perceive your work. In a way, the layout is the collage of all your previous efforts put on the page. We’ve previously discussed your design basics (shape, form, etc.), colour theory, and typeface. The previous topics all come together into the layout.

How to Start Your Layout

Making a layout will range drastically from a single column layout or multiple columns or even varying columns throughout the page. There are many options, as with all aspects of design and you can quickly become overwhelmed with the number of choices that you have in front of you. Remember, the critical thing in design is that design is functional art. We’ve discussed the importance of the scope of your project numerous times. The scope applies to your layout as well. This will help you break down what type of layouts you should use.

What type of project is it?

As authors, making our own designs, we might find ourselves designing a book cover, the interior formatting of our pages, a poster or even business cards. Each one of these will have a different layout.

Book Covers: Book covers tend to follow standard rules of large typography that will be easily readable if the book cover is shrunk to a small size (like on Amazon) or seen from a distance. Depending on your genre, you also have some freedom to explore creative ways of breaking up the text into rows or columns. Research your genre, examine what other book covers are doing, and see if that applies to your work.
Book Interiors: You don’t want to stray too far away from the standard one column layout with the interior of your book. Readers are familiar with this format, indentation and standard typography sizes (10pt or higher). You can explore some exciting typefaces and layout options for your chapter headlines, but it is strongly recommended not to push too far out of the ordinary and alienate readers. You could potentially lose sales.
Posters, Postcards, and Banners: Very similar to book covers, you want your posters and postcards to be eye-catching, easy to read and easy to understand. Your poster design might be for a book launch or book signing, or maybe it is a digital book release. Regardless, you will eventually need some form of advertising. Your layout will depend on the amount of information you need to display. If it is a banner, you will want the primary information to be seen upfront and centred while the secondary (contact information for example) can be much smaller when people are close to the banner.
Business Cards: Business cards offer a lot of Depending on the print shop you are working with, you have an array of paper types and finishing options. Regarding layout, usually, you have two categories: portrait and landscape layout. The amount of information you put on your card will affect the design as well. The less content on a business card, the more creative elements you can have on the card.

There are many other types of projects that you could find yourself doing as well. These are some of the more common projects, as an author, that you might have.

What is a good layout?

Now that we’ve discussed what type of project you have, and the common layouts used in these project types, we can use some design theory to make the right fitting layouts.

Grid Layouts

Grid layouts are a common way for designers to format their various elements (graphics, text and photos) onto the page. The lines and boxes shown in the example are merely for demonstration purposes. The boxes in a grid layout are to help guide you to know where to place your content and are removed upon your final design.

Grid layouts work exceptionally well when you are working with large sums of text, like a magazine, a website, or a book. The example in the top right with the two small columns and one full column is commonly seen in magazines, newspapers and social media sites. The reason? It is incredibly useful. The large column is your primary content and advertising goes in the smaller columns.

Golden Ratio Spiral

The golden ratio spiral is different from the grid layouts. It focuses on the hierarchy of information and drawing the viewer’s focus. As seen in the example, number one is the smallest square. Each square multiplies in size with five being the largest and the most visible. These squares would not be in your final design, but your elements would fit into these boxes.

Freedom to Experiment

You also have the freedom to play. The golden ratio spiral doesn’t have to be a wide rectangle as demonstrated. It could be rotated any way you wish. Once you start to train your eye, you can begin to bend and, dare I say it? Break the rules. Try a golden ratio spiral inside of a grid layout or vice versa.

Squint Eye Technique

Still confused on what to do for your layout? Look at the two examples below, one is a screenshot from the Calgary Herald website and the second is The Story Grid book. Squint your eyes and see what elements are still the most visible. This technique is pretty old school and very useful. Squinting your eye shows you first hand what are the most apparent items on the page.

When you squint your eyes, are the essential pieces (like your book title on the cover) in your layout visible? Or is another element easier to see?

Your Exercise

Pick up a pen and paper and draw! I know, drawing is scary, we are more comfortable with words. Remember, you’re not making the next Mona Lisa, you’re making concepts to guide you on where to go next with your design.

Try drawing boxes on a small-scale size (like in the examples above) for your project or make up a project like a book cover. The smaller boxes inside will represent text and photos. Experiment with grid layouts and the golden ratio spiral. See what type of creative book cover layouts you can come up with!

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Double Up

October flew by, and I must apologize for not having completed an Unprocessed Thoughts for that month. Because of that, we will double up on inner thoughts, exciting news and even the beer!

Welcome to another edition of Unprocessed Thoughts

You might be wondering why I didn’t bother writing an Unprocessed Thoughts in October. Let us work backwards for this double up special bundle edition of Unprocessed Thoughts. October, that was a crazy month. After recovering from the Edmonton Comic Expo late September, I jumped right into finalizing the Rutherford Manor chapter outlines in preparation for NaNoWriMo in November. Oh, I also went to Austin.

The Austin Trip

Launching YEGman in the spring and Purity in the fall kept me pretty busy. I’ve also had a lot of exciting design and web projects on the go. Most are still in development, and I haven’t added them to the revealdesign.ca portfolio. When they’re done, I’ll be sure to share it. The point is, this year has been compact with lots of exciting – and stressful – things. I could surely use a mini getaway. I didn’t know where I wanted to go; there are many places in the world to visit. So, as I usually do, I looked around to see what bands are touring which cities and used that as inspiration.

A Perfect Circle, Tricky and Night Club

The choice was made. Seeing all three of these bands was a triple combo, not a double up! Tricky’s music has been a significant inspiration for me (I am a big trip hop nerd), and I’ve always enjoyed A Perfect Circle. Night Club is a project I’ve been following on and off since their formation. Each of them lived up to my internal hype.

The show was supposed to play the day I landed in Austin, but due to the rain and the outdoor venue, they rescheduled it to the following day. So, I had a free evening to figure out what to do. Luckily, Austin is known for their music scene.

Dance with the Dead, Daniel Deluxe and Zërowolf

I was pretty pleased with the rescheduling of A Perfect Circle; it allowed me to see one of my favourite synthwave bands, Dance with the Dead. The openers were enjoyable too. They played in a wide-open bar called Barracuda where I got to meet some of the musicians and answer everyone’s questions about Canada legalizing weed. Fun times.

The Rest of Austin

After knowing I was going to Austin, I looked up some of the best things to see. One of these included the Museum of the Weird which contained a guided tour of their specimens. I also got to hear the famous bats of Austin, explore the Whole Foods headquarters, Waterloo Records and Video, and visit the two-levelled Book People store. The Book People store was a dangerous place to venture. Thankfully I made it out of there with only one purchase.

Fast Forward – NaNoWriMo in 11 Days

After the A Perfect Circle show, I flew back to Edmonton the following day and did a book signing. That was the end of October. November 1st hit and I was beyond thrilled to start participating in NaNoWriMo. The last time I started was in 2015, and I have learned a lot about story structure, character development and methods to increase writing speed. All of this has been covered in my How to Finish NaNoWriMo in Two Weeks blog post.

The first week of NaNoWriMo was a half week, and it was a bit rough. I had a lot of other commitments with my contract work and personal life and wasn’t quite making the speed that I knew I could. By the time the second week started, my word count had jumped up drastically, and I managed to finish NaNoWriMo in 11 days. The first draft of the Rutherford Manor novel is now complete.

Reaching the End of 2018

There will be an Unprocessed Thoughts for December, I promise. Since NaNoWriMo was finished so early, I’ve been catching up on a lot of research with some reference material I have and backlogging blog posts. Why? Because I am preparing to go full force into the revision phases of the new novel and be ready for 2019’s ride.

Beer Note: Schneider Aventinus Weizen-Eisbock

Remember how I said we would double up? The Schneider Aventinus Weizen-Eisbock is a 500ml, 12% alcoholic beer. Remember when I said we’d double up even the beer? This beer has a kick, and it is not taking any prisoners. It is smooth, full of flavour and has no citrus to it at all. The German Eisbock is a slow-drinking beer that makes you want to savour every flavour as you ponder over all of the world’s issues, solving them one sip at a time. All that aside, with my hoppy taste buds in mind; I’d give this a 4/5.

 

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Otherkin

In a small remote village, the town schedules their entire lives around sunlight. Anyone bold – or stupid – enough to be out at dark, are never seen again. Darold’s little brother Jack doesn’t understand why they should be afraid of the otherkin and tests the boundaries.

Otherkin is November’s flash fiction that’ll bring readers into a fantasy-horror themed creature feature. Experience the story in written word, audio, artwork and soundscape.

Otherkin

All Fun and Games

Normally I didn’t find myself wandering through the forest at dusk. The sun setting meant it was about to be dark, and that has everyone fearful. Being in a forest at night, hearing the soft singing of, “catch me, catch me. Don’t think you can. Guess I’m free! Hee! Hee! Hee!” echoed through the trees.

Hearing the silly song would be enough to send anyone screaming for their lives. No one else was out in the woods. Unfortunately, I know whose voice it was, and I couldn’t just leave him. What kind of brother would I be?

“Quit playing around!” I called out. “Mom is going to be mad at us. It’s past dusk.” I stepped through the slippery ground, carefully avoiding the creek, so I didn’t fall into the cold water. My rubber boots were covered in mud, overalls dusty. This was a trio of all the things that put grey hair on our mother’s head.

“Jack!” I called out again. This is downright childish, I thought. Jack knew the dangers of being out in the dark. He was a child, but that didn’t make this any easier.

A splash came from the creek, catching my attention. It was too dark to see what hit the water, but the ripples came in my direction. “Jack?” I asked, taking a step closer to the sound. The closer I got, I spotted a half-wet rock. In the dark, the narrow shape made it look like a strange mask.

“Cut it out!” I called out.

Ruffling came from the nearby shrubs. That had to be Jack.

I stepped away from the creek and hurried over to the sound. The ruffling continued, and I could make out branches of a bush shaking around.

Got’ya, I thought as I slowed my pace, creeping up to the bush. The plant continued to move at a consistent pace as I came arm’s length from it.

“Jack!” I shouted while jumping over to see the other side of the bush. Nothing. The bush continued to shake. Was Jack inside?

“CAW!!” came a high-pitched scream as small hands snagged my forearm.

I spun around while letting out a yelp. Beside me was a small blonde kid in a tattered blue coat – my brother.

“Jack!” I slapped his head. The bush stopped moving. “What the hell is wrong with you?” I asked.

“Ow,” Jack said while raising his one hand with string. “I got you good.” He pulled on the string, causing the bush to move.

“Very funny. We’re so late. We have to get home. Come on.” I snagged my little brother’s hand and marched down to the creek.

“We’re just playing,” Jack said. “Look how far we got today!”

“Yeah,” I said. “We can explore more tomorrow, just before dusk. This was way too risky.”

I understood my brother’s enthusiasm for going further up the creek. Our goal was always to see how far into the forest we could make it before dusk arrived. Considering we were on a strict time limit, it created a gamification aspect of exploring the woods. He just took it too far today.

“Mom is going to freak out,” I added.

“No, she won’t,” Jack said.

“Yes, for all we know they’re prepping a search party for us.”

“They’ve never done that. The otherkin would get them.” Jack said.

My brother had a point, no one ever seemed to do much when someone went missing in the forest. Once darkness hit, it was too risky to try and send in a search party. The lost quickly turned into the deceased in the eyes of the village.

“Alright,” I said. “You got me there. Just please don’t pull that kind of stuff again. Otherwise, the otherkin will get you too.”

Back Home

The two of us followed the creek back down to the village, leaving the thick forest, and onto the grassy foothills. There were a couple of lights coming from the homes down below. The rest of the village was blacked out. Lights off by dusk was the wisest thing anyone could do.

We reached the gravel road and walked into town, leading to our home. I couldn’t help but think how mad mom was going to be about all of this. She would have my head because I was the older brother. ‘Little Jackie’ couldn’t possibly do anything wrong.

Jack scratched his head, saying, “I’ve seen one.”

“What?” I asked.

“An otherkin.”

“That’s a big pile of crap,” I said.

“It’s true!” Jack argued.

“No way. You’d be dead.”

“Nu-uh.”

“No one has survived seeing one. People simply go missing.”

“Then how do you know they’re real?” Jack asked.

“Because we can hear them. We’ve found their nests and feathers. Oh, then there’s the obvious fact that people go missing,” I said.

“Not all of them, they’re not much different than us. They’re like, ‘kin’ more so than ‘other.’”

I shook my head, there was no point in arguing with my little brother. He had a mind of his own, hence the fiasco tonight. He was convinced he saw an otherkin. The boy had an active imagination, and there wasn’t much else to be said about it.

“You’d have to be out super late,” I said. “You couldn’t have seen one.”

“No, sometimes they are awake during the day.”

“Not from what I’ve heard.”

Jack and I strolled on home. Our house was one of the houses with their lights on. By the time we reached the front door, it had opened, and both my mother and father stepped out.

“Darold, Jackie!” My mom said, rushing up to us. She got down on her knee and took Jack by the shoulders and examined him thoroughly. “What on earth were you two doing?”

My dad put his hands on his hips, saying, “do you have any idea how late it is? You could have been killed!”

“Yes,” I said. “I am aware. Jack wandered a little too far again.”

“Heavens no!” mom said. “This was well past sunset. Jack, you got lost.” She wrapped her one arm around Jack and the other around me, bringing us both in for a tight squeeze.

I looked up at my dad who stared down at me, saying nothing. With a glare like that, I knew he was blaming me for this stunt.

A distant chatter roared through the skyline. It was high-pitched, almost like the sound of a little girl laughing.

Dad exhaled and waved his hand, saying, “let’s get inside.”

“That’s earlier than normal,” mom said while standing up.

“We haven’t seen much other wildlife over the past few weeks,” Dad said. “They’re hungry.”

Routine

The four of us hurried into the home. Dad locked the door and reinforced it with an additional plank of wood. Mom extinguished all the candles, leaving us to wander through the darkness. This was usual, we made sure everything was off the floor, and we could easily get to our shared bedroom. It was much safer sleeping in a group rather than separate rooms.

Dad kept his rifle with him, mom at his side and my brother and I between them.

Shouts and cries began to pick up outside. They were muffled, but they were the usual sounds we heard most nights when the otherkin came out.

“Don’t do that again,” mom whispered.

“Okay,” I said.

A thud came from above, causing us to look up. Dust fell from the ceiling as heavy thumping picked up.

Chattering and laughter came from outside. The sounds brought back the memory of when I first heard the haunting sounds of the otherkin, now, it was just another day of life. Another day of survival.

The thumping stopped as several big gushes picked up until the sound faded.

My dad exhaled heavily. “I hate when they peck the roof.”

The rest of the night was uneventful, and the four of us managed to get some sleep. We usually get up at about sunrise, when the otherkin returned to their nests. We attended to the village’s farm with our daily tasks, ate, and continued our work throughout the afternoon.

After dinner, my brother couldn’t wait to get out of the village and get back to the creek to see if we could make a further hike up to the forest. Maybe this time we would find an animal corpse – leftovers from the otherkins’ meal.

“Darold,” mom said. “Please don’t stay out that late again. Come back before dusk.”

“We will,” I said.

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

After that, mom gave us the approval and we hurried out of the house and followed the road leading into the forest.

New Records

Jack and I walked up the creek as per usual after dinner. This time I would keep a closer eye on the kid, make sure he didn’t get any wise-ass ideas to pull a prank on me. The last thing I wanted was to get another lecture from my dad about responsibility. Jack was lucky, he was the baby in the family and didn’t have to hear about responsibility.

The two of us wandered the creek up to where the long, mask-like rock rested in the stream. In the daylight, the shadows didn’t quite cast the same visuals. Either way, this was the last point we were at the previous night. We made good time.

“I need to pee,” Jack said, stopping in his tracks.

“Just go behind that tree,” I pointed to the large tree behind us.

Jack hurried away from the creek, carefully stepping around the slippery mud and up to the tree. He moved around the trunk and out of sight. A whizzing sound came from behind the tree. Then there was silence.

“Jack?” I called out. “Come on out, no games this time.”

“Catch me, catch me. Don’t think you can. Guess I’m free! Hee! Hee! Hee!” came a soft voice.

“Cut it out!” I hurried up to the tree trunk as my brother peeked around.

“Hi!” Jack said.

“Don’t sing that song. I’m so tired of your jokes.”

“I didn’t.”

“Excuse me?” I asked, eyeing my brother closely.

“I didn’t sing that,” Jack repeated

“You mean right now? Don’t mess with me.”

“C-a-ch me, c-caw-ch m-m-aw…” a voice picked up in the forest.

A metaphoric spider crawled down my back, standing every hair up on my skin. “Jack,” I said. “That song was never you, was it?”

A branch snapping came from the tree directly above us, causing debris to fall. I brushed leaves and wood splinters from my face until my hand came into contact with something soft. It was like a leaf, but grey. I snagged it off my face to see it was a feather.

The Otherkin

With no words, I snagged my brother’s hand and skidded down from the higher ground. Scraping came from above as bark tumbled down onto the dirt behind us. We reached the creek and sprinted down the forest, carefully avoiding the mud and slippery rocks. A thud came from behind as a large squawk roared through the woods.

Thumping echoed our footsteps, they were heavier and picked up in speed.

Don’t get us, don’t get us, I thought, tightening the grip on my brother’s hand. My knees began to ache from my legs slamming onto the descending ground.

“C-C-AW-TCH M-AH!” came a high-pitched scream behind us. “C-C-AW-TCH M-AH!” It sounded close, the stomping was unsettlingly louder.

Please don’t, please don’t, I thought. Was it right behind us? I honestly didn’t know. The trees in front of us were further apart, we were in the outskirts of the forest but still too far from the grassy hills and the village.

The stomping increased again, and I could hear the sound of ruffling feathers.

I couldn’t help it, I had to see what was behind us. If this was it, I had to see my nemesis. I turned my head to look back, just one quick glance.

My foot slipped on a rock, and a tumbled forward, still holding onto my little brother, falling directly into the creek, my face had to hit a rock because I slid into something hard. This was it, we were the otherkin’s next meal.

A deafening rifle roar echoed as the being behind us squawked. Several gushes of wind picked up as I rolled onto my back, wiping my face clear of the mud and blood.

In the sky, I could see a silhouette of a humanoid with wings and sharp talons for feet. The creature was too close to the sun, and I couldn’t make out any more details as it flew above the trees, further into the forest, and disappearing from sight.

My little brother cried, he was beside me, on his knees, covered in mud and water.

Further down the creek, I saw a tall man with a rifle as smoke escaped the chamber. Dad. Victor of the otherkin.

 

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Richard Paolinelli, sci-fi and fantasy author of Escaping Infinity

This month’s guest is Richard Paolinelli who comes from a sports writing career. In 2010 he retired from this craft to return to his fiction roots and follow his passion of storytelling. He had released two short stories The Invited and Legacy of Death – as well as a full-length sci-fi novel, Maelstrom prior to 2015. Since then he continues to write new works of fiction.

Let’s welcome him to the blog and learn more about what he is writing!

Thank you, Richard Paolinelli, for joining us, can you give a brief introduction of yourself?

I began my writing career as a freelance writer in 1984 and served as the lead writer for the first two issues of the Elite Comics sci-fi/fantasy series, Seadragon. In 1991 I was hired as a sports writer for the Gallup Independent in New Mexico and worked for papers in New Mexico and California and won the 2001 California Newspaper Publishers Association award for Best Sports Story.

In 2010, I retired as a sportswriter and returned to writing fiction. I’ve written six novels – including the Dragon Award Finalist (Best Sci-Fi Novel), Escaping Infinity – three Sherlock Holmes pastiches, two non-fiction sports books and three novellas. I’m serving as co-editor for one of the 11 volumes of Superversive Press’ Planetary Anthologies (Pluto) and will have short stories in several of the other volumes as well as three other anthologies that are to be released throughout 2018. My third full-length science-fiction novel, When The Gods Fell, is scheduled to be released on September 4, 2018 by Tuscany Bay Books.

I’m a partner in Tuscany Bay Books with Jim Christina, a co-host on the weekly radio show, The Writer’s Block on LA Talk Radio, and I recently founded the Science Fiction & Fantasy Creators Guild (www.sffcguild.com) a not-for-profit organization aimed at promoting science-fiction and fantasy and its creators in many media platforms.

Tell us about your latest novel, Escaping Infinity, which was nominated for the 2017 Dragon Award for Best Sci-Fi Novel.

I’ve often said I could write a book about the journey writing this particular book took. It’s a sci-fi/thriller that deals with a traveler who checks into an amazing hotel out in the middle of nowhere and quickly discovers that there is no way back to the outside world. Not only that, it appears tomorrow never arrives inside the Infinity Hotel, and with the aid of an enigmatic front desk clerk he fights to escape the trap he has found himself in. But he eventually discovers there is a lot more riding on him solving the mystery than just getting back out.

It has been very well received and was honored with being a Finalist for Best Sci-Fi Novel in the 2017 Dragon Awards at DragonCon. It was also nominated by a few members of the SFWA for a Nebula Award. While it did not earn enough nominations to be a final nominee for a Nebula, I was incredibly honored that fellow sci-fi writers thought that highly about the book to put it up for consideration. It has also picked up three other awards, including one for its cover, and I have been very happy with the recognition the book has earned.

Shifting careers into writing fiction is a big jump, tell us about how you approached this transition? Was it night and day or was it a slow migration?

I think the fact that early in my freelance writing days (1984-1991) I was writing a little bit of everything. Stories on a meteor crater in West Texas one day, a golf tournament the next day and the story/script for a small comic book series the next.

So after my years as a newspaper writer (1991-2010) ended and I decided to go back into fiction writing it really wasn’t that huge of a culture shock for me. What made it easier was that while I was working on my fiction novels, I was also tackling a couple of non-fiction sports books that I released in 2015 & 2016. So I never really felt like I was a fish out of water or anything like that. Now that I am about 18 months into doing nothing but fiction it feels very comfortable. I imagine if I wanted to, I could take on another non-fiction sports project and still manage to crank out fiction works without having to adjust too much.

What do you personally prefer writing –  Science Fiction or Fantasy?

I’m definitely more of a sci-fi guy, but I still manage to incorporate some elements of fantasy in my sci-fi novels where I can. Oddly enough, the book I am working on right now is more fantasy with sci-fi elements in it.

These genres often require a lot of backstory and world building, do you have a system in place for it?

Not really a system, per se. I tend to focus on my characters’ backstories more in my stories. But I don’t mean to downplay world building in the slightest because it is as important.

When I start to create my next novel, in addition to a synopsis and outline with notes, I do build a bible of sorts with all of the additional information that I feel needs to be worked into the story at some point. I have found that this helps me build up the world the novel exists in as well as develop the people and creatures that inhabit it.

What’s next in your writing career now that Escaping Infinity is released?

This year will see stories I’ve written appear in several anthologies – I’m even editing one of the Planetary Anthology Series (Pluto) by Superversive Press – and I am just about done with my next sci-fi novel, When The Gods Fell, which is due out in September. I am hoping to close out the year with one more sci-fi novel, Cursed Firstborn, as well.

But a project I am really looking forward to completing this summer is a pre-teen sci-fi/fantasy novel that I am writing with my eldest grandson. The working title is, Timeless, and I hope it will be the first in a series of books.

For aspiring writers, what would be one piece of advice you would give them?

Keep writing. If this is your passion then don’t let anyone talk you out of doing it. You will learn something new about the craft every time you write the next story that will make you a better writer. So keep writing, keep learning and in case I haven’t mentioned this yet, keep writing!

Let’s thank Richard Paolinelli for joining us to talk about him writing!

You can find Richard Paolinelli’s work at the links below:

scifiscribe.com

Amazon

You can also follow online him at:

Twitter

Goodreads

 

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Interview on the Just Joshing Podcast

During When Words Collide I was a guest on the Just Joshing podcast where we discuss my writing, YEGman and the meaning of life. We had a lot of fun while in the hotel pub. Give it a listen below!

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Guest on SHOUT for Libraries Podcast

October 2018 I was a guest on the SHOUT for Libraries podacst where we discuss my horror novel Seed Me. Give the podcast a listen below!

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How to Finish NaNoWriMo in Two Weeks

November is upon us! Another year of NaNoWriMo. For those that do not know, NaNoWriMo is the National November Writing Month. You can find out more on their website. 2018 was the first year I’ve participated since 2015. You can learn a lot in three years away from something. Needless to say, I was pretty excited to tackle the 50,000 words in a one-month challenge with all of my new experiences.

November 1st hit and NaNoWriMo began. The first couple of days I was slow at getting into the rhythm, but I found a consistent groove. Eleven days later I reached 50,450 words, an average of 4,500 per day. A number of people were curious about how I achieved this, so this blog post will shed some light on how you can do NaNoWriMo in two weeks too.

NaNoWriMo in Two weeks? How?

Let’s back up a few months, because the truth is, the writing process began before November. This does not include the first draft. You can save a ton of time during NaNoWriMo by doing some… planning!

Planning for NaNoWriMo

That headline will make pantsers shiver. Planning? That’s crazy! Plotters aren’t more effective than pantsers. Personally, I do a bit of both. There’s a lot to be said for improvisation. Before NaNoWriMo starts, you probably have some idea what you want to write about, otherwise, why else are you participating?

You’ll want to start thinking about NaNoWriMo probably a couple of months in advance, if not even further back, like in July. NaNoWriMo sends out newsletters throughout the year and reminds you about the looming November first. They encourage planning too!

While planning for NaNoWriMo, you’ll want a document (or pieces of paper) for each of the following:

Premise and Goals: This document includes, your premise, word count goal and genre. This process is taken right out of the Story Grid book by Shawn Coyne (mentioned further down). Writing down your premise is the starting point of knowing what story you’re writing. Some of this is covered in an earlier blog post series titled ‘Want to Write a Fiction Novel?’ too.
Character Sheets: This is the most valuable document. Character sheets are your first introduction into the people that make your novel real. Define their wants, desires, goals and struggles. The sooner you become familiar with your characters, the more intuitive their actions, and dialogue will be in your writing. Characters are covered in a blog series I wrote if you want more information on the topic.
Outline: Now that you have a premise and your character sheets, it is time to scope out the plot. Your outline can be as unclear or as detailed as you like. I limit my chapter outlines to vague, one-pagers. Some people plot down to the beat of the novel. Find a comfort zone for you. You’re looking to give yourself a general path of where the story will go from chapter to chapter. The outline is not written in stone and chances are you’ll make changes to the story in the first draft.
Research: I saved this as the last point, not that these bullets are in numerical order, but research is incredibly important. Depending on your genre, this could mean world building or studying an industry or learning about a specific time period. The more you research about your world/time setting, the less guesswork you have to do in your first draft. Research can also spark ideas for scenes. A more detailed blog post on research can be found here.

More Pre-planning Means Less Work in November

The planning points mentioned are all about exploring the creative work from a story and plot perspective. So when November first hits, you can focus entirely on the flow of the first draft. You’re not distracted by trying to come up with scenes, where the story is going, or getting to know your characters. You’ve done all that and have a clear roadmap on where to go and are familiar with how your characters are going to behave. You won’t be juggling a bunch of tasks in your head. You can focus on one job: writing an engaging first draft.

Don’t Edit!

Not editing is a no-brainer that is stated by many people during NaNoWriMo. I thought I’d touch base on it though to reiterate the importance of not editing. While writing your first draft, put that editor hat aside and be the writer! Sure, your draft is going to have typos, you’ll probably delete that sentence you just wrote, and that is okay. Your goal in the first draft is to create something to work with for the second and third draft when you do put the editor hat on. Make mistakes and get messy.

Writing Ritual

Life is crazy, and we all have obligations that keep us away from writing. In a perfect world, we could write all day and take our time. Because we are limited to 24 hours per day, we can only do so much before we go insane.

To fit NaNoWriMo into your day, dedicate a time to focus on your writing. Write at this time every day. This will become your writing ritual for the month. The dedicated time could involve getting up an hour early each day or going to be an hour later. The routine might be split into fragments, possibly a bit during your lunch break or just before dinner. Either way, set some time aside every day and put that phone away. If you need more info on distractions, check out a blog post I wrote on it.

Slow and Steady Wins the Race

Let’s reference that old fable involving the tortoise and the hair. NaNoWriMo is more like a marathon than it is a sprint. Keep yourself at a steady pace and track your word count, NaNoWriMo has a ton of fun stats to help you plan your progression. Write each day consistently and don’t over-do it one day just because you can. You’ll risk burning yourself out for days to come and set yourself back.

During NaNoWriMo, I split my writing sessions into one-hour sessions by removing my phone, turning off my email and turning on some music. Some days I did two-hour sessions, depending on how the rest of my day was scheduled. After an hour I usually need to step away from writing to clear my head.

Learning, Reading, Improving

Over the course of this year, I got my hands on some resource material that explored methods of writing better stories, writing with more precise goals and writing faster. These books were massive contributions for me to finish NaNoWriMo in 11 days.

The Story Grid: What Good Editors Know by Shawn Coyne

Truthfully, I was unaware of this book until a good friend, and fellow author gave it to me. He highly recommended the approaches it covered, so I gave it a go. The way Shawn Coyne systematically breaks down a book by clear, obtainable goals, was a major eye-opener. It gets pretty technical, and I have yet to apply all of it. There are a lot of powerful methods you can use from the book before you even start your first draft.

5,000 Words Per Hour: Write Faster, Write Smarter by Chris Fox

Pretty bold title hey? Chris Fox’s book has caught my eye for a good year or so, and I kept putting it off. After reading Story Gird, I figured I should finally give it a go. My writing speed wasn’t anywhere close to what I wanted. I’d be impressed if I could do 1,000 words in an hour. This book offers insight into how you can increase your speed by tracking your words per minute, remove distractions and set up a writing ritual. Ultimately it comes down to writing more frequently will improve your writing speed.

I have yet to reach the wonderful 5,000 words an hour (or apply everything mentioned in the book), but this resource did double my word count per hour. During NaNoWriMo, I averaged about 2,000 words an hour. Some days I did a bit more than that.

Story Genius: How to Use Brain Science to Go Beyond Outlining and Write a Riveting Novel by Lisa Cron

I picked up this book in October, so I haven’t finished it. So far it is worth the read. This book proposes complete opposite techniques mentioned in the Story Grid and 5,000 Words Per Hour by focusing on your protagonist internal story and less on external plotting events.

Summary of Finishing NaNoWriMo in Two Weeks

To recap what we covered:

Pre-Plan: This can be as detailed or as minimal as you want. Usually, the more you outline, the less work you have during NaNoWriMo. Study everything you can about your book, genre and time setting. If it is fantasy or science fiction, research often transcribes to world building. You’ll want to start pre-planning a couple of months in advance to give yourself plenty of time to explore.
Ritual: During NaNoWriMo keep a consistent routine. This is your new religion for the month, do it every day and keep at it. Don’t over-do it one day and exhaust yourself. You will cover more words over time.
Read: Resources are significant. Always practice and continue to learn as a writer. You’ll never stop finding ways to improve.

Comments? Additional Tips?

If you have questions, feedback or have insights into writing the first draft quickly, share them in the comments! We’d love to hear it.

The post How to Finish NaNoWriMo in Two Weeks appeared first on Konn Lavery.

Best Friends

Halloween night is a great time for parties. Three friends claim they’re the best at it. No night of fun is off limits for them, at least they thought so until they attend an underground exclusive gathering.

Best Friends is October’s flash fiction that’ll bring readers into a strange drama between three friends. Experience the story in written word, audio, artwork and soundscape.

Best Friends

Pre-Drink

We got our masks, accessories and outfits together and headed to the front door. Our group was ready to head out for a night of debauchery and chaos. A couple of my friends stuffed the bottles of vodka and gin into plastic bags, carefully trying to not make them clang.

It took us an abnormal, additional ten minutes or so to get our shoes on as we swayed side to side, trying to keep our balance up. The pre-drinking can get a little carried away when the three of us get together. Drinking was part of the fun. It was also a bonus that it was the end of October, Halloween season was our favourite time of the year.

“You think Brandon is going to be there?” said a black-haired girl in a grey alien mask. She was better known as Emma, my friend, than a grey-alien-mask girl.

I slipped my boots on and adjusted my plastic skeleton mask, shrugging at her.

“Why does it matter?” asked the second guy. His blue eyes stared at us underneath the rubber mask of a man with a crown. He carefully stood upwards as the polyester material of his king outfit stretched tight against his skin. Working out sure made you look good, but it also made fitting into costumes or fashionable clothing difficult.

Emma pulled out her vape and turned it on, saying, “I was just curious that is all.”

“It’s just because she is looking to bone him,” I said while grabbing the plastic bag of booze off the ground.

“And what if I was?” Emma asked.

“Go for it,” I said. “Just explaining it to Nick because he has had a crush on you for years.”

“Dude, shut up. I haven’t.” Nick said while scratching the back of his neck.

“Oh, Nick.” Emma rolled her eyes as I unlocked the front door and stepped out. Emma and Nick followed right behind me.

I nudged Emma’s arm, saying “unlike Nick, I actually want to chance my luck with an actual girl.”

“Sometimes you’re so stupid,” Emma said. “Where is this place anyway?”

It was a pretty rude thing of me to say, but I had to give her a hard time and lighten the mood. I couldn’t stand the constant tension between Emma and Nick, why didn’t they just plow already and get it over with? We’ve all been friends since Junior High. We’re adults now, they can embrace adulthood.

Moving On

I pulled out my phone and accessed my ride-sharing app, typing in the address. “You know, I can’t say I have ever been to this party, but I hear it is pretty gnarly.”

“A club?” Nick asked.

“Oh,” I said. “No, it is a house party.”

“Really? A house party that takes tickets?” Nick said.

“It’s an exclusive mask-only party. From what I hear, it is one of the crazier ones that happens at this time of the year.”

“Well,” Emma said. “Keep in mind they haven’t partied with us yet.”

“Cheers to that,” I said.

“Why the masks?” Nick asked.

I shrugged, saying, “they like to keep things anonymous I guess. Glen gave me the invite this year,” I said. “Last year I couldn’t even grab a ticket before they sold out.”

After calling a car through the ride-share app, I stuffed the phone in my pocket as we took the elevator down to the main floor. The three of us waited out front of the apartment complex, staying huddled close to each other to avoid the winds. Even though it was still fall, the night temperature dropped intensely. That’s Canada’s weather for you.

Nick pulled out a flask from his back pocket and took a chug of liquor. He passed the container to each of us, and we had a shot of whiskey. That marked the fourth type of hard liquor I had had this evening.

A black car arrived with a glowing ride-sharing logo stuck to the windshield – our drive to the house party.

The three of us scooched into the back of the car with Nick and me on either side of Emma. I handed each of my friends their tickets, and we awaited our arrival. It didn’t take long for the driver to navigate us to the opposite end of town. The guy seemed to know the city well, taking side roads to cut through the traffic jams by. This man would get a decent tip for his skills.

Party Time

We arrived at an older, quiet neighbourhood that was primarily populated with war-time homes. Mostly single-levels and bungalows.

“Here you are,” said the ride-sharing driver in a thick eastern accent.

“Thanks,” I said as the three of us exited the car.

Nick spun around, looking at each house as our ride accelerated down the road. He scratched his head, saying, “which house is it?”

Emma pointed to the house directly in front of us. “See those lights?”

The house in front of us had a red glow inside, and it was the only house that had lights.

“That is a good indicator,” I said while marching up to the home.

The three of us hurried up to the front door, each of us adjusting our costumes before I pulled open the screen door and knocked on the entrance. A muffled bass rumbled from inside the house, chances were they didn’t hear the knock.

I reached for the knob as the door swung open and a man in a PVC mask and undies stood in front of me. His hairless form was highlighted from the red glow behind him.

“Hey,” I said while pulling out my ticket.

The man reached for my ticket, looked at it and then waved me in. I entered casually, trying to keep a calm appearance. The last thing I wanted to do was enter a party too abruptly, that doesn’t win you any cool points. Funny how we get fixated on convincing people we are cool. Sure helps if you’re trying to get your grind on.

My mask made it next to impossible to see anything in my peripheral view. I could make out the main lobby, a hall, and the living room to my right. The entry was jammed at every corner with guest attendees in wild costumes and masks. Some of the outfits were as minimal as the door greeter and others far more concealing. Each guest’s outfit followed some sort of dark, artistic or kink theme to them. The sight made me realize that my friends and I got the wrong idea when it came to a ‘mask-only’ party.

A hand gently brushed against my back, causing me to look back, expecting to see Emma. No. A girl in a black feathered bra, panties and masquerade mask released her hand from me as she walked passed, entering the hall.

Maybe we’re not so out of place as I thought, I thought while watching the girl’s exposed hips move side to side as she disappeared into the crowded hall.

A shoulder nudged my own. I turned to see Nick and Emma were now beside me.

“…is classy A.F,” Nick said. He was difficult to hear through the pounding bass, but I managed to catch his point.

Emma leaned into the two of us, saying, “we are so out of place.”

“That was my thought too,” I said. “But I am second guessing that.”

“Why?” Emma asked.

“Give me a shot of that whiskey,” I said.

Nick reached into his back pocket and handed me the flask.

I snagged it and took a chug of the liquor before passing it back to him. “I’ll be back, gotta catch a birdie.”

The Chase

“What?” Nick said.

I ignored his statement and hurried through the small hallway, carefully avoiding people, so I didn’t knock their drinks. My balance was slightly off centre, that shot of whiskey outside the apartment was beginning to kick in.

Keep it together, I thought while looking past all of the mysterious guests for the bird-feathered-girl again.

I spotted bobbing feathers a good couple meters ahead of me. She didn’t get too far. The girl continued to move through the hall, past the kitchen and down the staircase leading to the basement of the home. Not thinking twice, I followed her down the stairs. The basement had a blue glow to it and a new type of thumping bass music. This tune was faster, thicker and grimier.

The girl came to a stop near the center of the unfinished basement den. She began to dance to the music by waving her arms and shaking her rear to the rhythm. I’m not much of a dancer but seeing a girl who I like with moves like that is precisely what I need to encourage me.

I busted out my gnarliest moves and appeared in front of the girl. She didn’t seem surprised at all, it was as if she was expecting me.

My moves felt smooth as I swung to the tempo, in synch with her movements. I made sure I stayed close enough to her body to welcome her to me, but not too close that so we touched. Teasing was all part of the dance.

The girl spun around and danced facing away from me for a portion of the track. A couple of times she brushed against me with a playful smile until the DJ shifted the track to a new beat.

She turned to face me and lifted her hand, revealing a palm full of small pills. Truthfully, I couldn’t even guess where she concealed them with the little amount of clothing that she had.

“Want to have some fun?” she asked.

“I’m down,” I said without processing what she asked.

What am I doing? I thought as I grabbed one of her pills. She did the same, and we both popped them into our mouths.

Join in on the Fun

“Paul!” came a female voice.

A gray-alien-masked girl and a king appeared beside us.

“Hey, guys!” I said. Right on, it’ll look good to this gal if my friends talk me up, I thought.

Emma punched my shoulder and leaned into me. “What did you just take?”

“Just enjoying the party, relax!” I said. Leaning closer to her I added, “this girl is into me. Let’s keep this going.”

The bird-feathered-girl began to dance to the beat, keeping her hand holding the pills extended to the three of us.

I nodded at the pills, saying, “I thought you said this crowd hadn’t really partied until they partied with us?”

Emma stared at the pills for a moment before saying, “alright. You got me there.” She snagged one of the pills and popped it in her mouth.

“Woah!” Nick said while taking the last one for himself. “We’re really doing this huh?”

“Let’s party!’ I said while patting Nick on the back.

“Who’s your new friend by the way?” Emma asked.

I turned to face the bird-feathered-girl, saying, “oh, this is…”

“Victoria,” the girl said. “Come dance!” She said while moving back into the crowd.

The three of us didn’t question her and joined her. We weren’t exactly sure what we took, it could have been anything. MDMA? Acid? Who really knew? What we did know was that we were here for fun.

Usually, I had a good sense of my party supplies, but I didn’t realize when the pill began to kick in. The music amplified as the depth of the room drastically widened. My body heat intensified as other forms danced around me. The nearest body was lightly covered in feathers, second a man of royalty and a strange alien. There had to be more people that came into the lower floor because the four of us were brushed pretty close against one another. That was okay, I felt a deeper level of connection with them all.

The blue light from the ceiling brightened. Movements were fast. Colourful echoed versions of people’s bodies move with the music behind them. Skin and clothing felt welcoming. Smells were alluring. Sensations were overpowering. Body heat increased as limbs began to melt into one. How many of us were there?

Material slipped away until there was just skin. Only skin, panting, bodies against and inside one another with passionate grasps.

Was I sleeping? The drunken self I was seemed to no longer be. My sense of realism and dream have collided into this melting pot of sensation. Whatever it was, it was bliss.

 

*             *             *

 

Aftermath

A bright white light beamed directly over me as my eyes slowly peeled open. A throbbing headache pulsated around my head, a typical hangover. My skin was quite warm, coated in dried sweat, abnormal. I felt numb, slightly depressed and out of energy, very unusual for a night of drinking.

Sitting upright, a small hand glided off my chest and on my thigh. I didn’t even notice the arm before because it was as warm as me. Looking to the side, I saw a naked girl beside me. Her black hair was spread all over the sheets. A grey alien mask was beside her.

Oh shit, I thought while scooching away from her. My movements made me realize I was also completely naked. Did Emma and I just…?

As I backed up, my butt pressed against firm skin. The sudden touch caused me to jump. I turned around to see a well-built man wearing a rubber mask of a bearded man with a crown, unmistakably Nick, who was also as naked as Emma and I.

“Oh God,” I groaned while brushing my hair from my face. The skeleton mask I had was completely gone. That mattered little to me as I began to piece together what the three of us had done.

Glancing around the room I spotted the windows were high above, indicating we were still in the basement. This had to be a guest room or something. The door was closed, our clothes were spread over the floor, and the bird-feathered-girl was nowhere to be seen. It was only the three of us. We were childhood friends, now grownups, experiencing adulthood.

The post Best Friends appeared first on Konn Lavery.

How to Craft a First Chapter

By J.J. Reichenbach

As an editor, I read a lot of first chapters and coach authors on what does and doesn’t need to be included in them. The rules vary a little bit depending on which genre you’re writing in (for example, literary works are allowed a much slower pace than would otherwise be acceptable, and fantasy grants more leeway when it comes to including exposition and worldbuilding than most genres), and which story structure you’ve chosen for your book (for example, crime fiction sometimes begins in the POV of the victim or the villain, not introducing the main character in the first chapter, while some books have multiple POVs that switch back and forth). But for the most part, the essence of first chapters remains the same. The following are some general guidelines for what your first chapter should and should not aim to include.

Hooks

All chapters should begin and end with a hook that makes them interesting and keeps a reader reading, but for the first chapter this is imperative. The first chapter (and particularly your first sentence, then your first paragraph, and your final paragraph, then final sentence) is your shot at capturing and keeping the attention of a potential agent, publisher, or reader. In a sense, your entire first chapter is a hook into your story, and it’s full of smaller hooks that catch readers and keep pulling them through the story along the way. That first line is the most important of all because if you don’t catch them there you won’t have a shot with the rest. Your first line has to be sharp, intriguing, and just odd enough to make the reader wonder what you’re on about and want to know more. It absolutely cannot contain any spelling or grammar errors, or clichés. This is good advice for the whole first chapter, by the way.

This first line leads your reader into the rest of your first paragraph if it has done its job, and your first paragraph will then have the same responsibility of leading the reader into the rest of the chapter. From there you’ve got more to work with and you’ve got the reader’s attention for a while—they trust you now, they’ll probably make it until the end of Chapter 1 so long as it isn’t too many pages (don’t tire them out, or you’ll lose them). Then you come to the last paragraph. The reader can see the end. They already have an idea as to whether or not they like the character and the premise so far but they’re still on the fence and you still have the chance to hook them into the rest of the book. The last paragraph has to go out with a bang. Set the reader up to crave Chapter 2—don’t let them put the book down, or you’ve lost them. Leave them salivating and with your final hook, that last line of Chapter 1, stick the landing and pull them into your next chapter. Never let them pause, blink, or hesitate. Make them flip that page and keep reading.

Your hook can make or break your chances of getting published. You absolutely must start strong and stick the landing with your opening chapter. Kill your darlings if you have to, but make it happen.

In Medias Res

Part of a great hook can include starting in medias res, which means “in the middle of things,” if this is what you feel works best for your story. Dropping your reader directly into the middle of the action of the story can be a great way to give them a fully immersive reading experience—a sink-or-swim shove off the edge of a dock—wherein they can quickly get to know the characters, the setting, and the basic premise with little to no exposition or hand-holding. This can be extremely effective if done well, but this doesn’t mean just dropping them into any action scene. You have to know exactly where your drop point needs to be, which leads us to the next part of a great hook…

Inciting Incident

Part of it is knowing when your story really starts. Your story really starts at your inciting incident, which is when whatever caused your Story Problem happened. If you identify your story problem (your main plot, or the major problem in your story that the Main Character has to solve), and identify the moment in time that it started, that’s your inciting incident and your ideal opening chapter would be to drop the reader right in the middle of that scene, that moment. Be careful not to go too far back here—it can be easy to say “Well, technically it started when Character A was born,” but that’s not usually the case. If you have, for example, an ancient amulet that is going to destroy the world if it falls into the wrong hands, we might think the inciting incident would be the forging of that amulet long before the MC was born, but that’s probably too far back. What we want is a scene where this problem first becomes relevant to the MC’s life, ideally (with the caveat that, yes, this is going to vary widely from story to story as each is unique), so in our example it’s probably going to be when our Archeologist MC discovers the amulet at a dig site and in that very moment is attacked by marauders and the amulet is stolen, starting the quest to get it back.

Exposition: Don’t Force-Feed Readers

To keep a chapter going and keep the reader reading, there has to be action in the chapter or scene—something has to be happening. If it’s too slow and there isn’t purpose behind it, especially in the beginning of a book, you’ve lost your audience (and if you’re looking for an agent, you’ve lost that chance). Anything that doesn’t move the plot forward actively needs to go. It’s unbelievable the difference it makes once you start cutting all the bloated writing that just doesn’t contribute to advancing your plot, or that’s really just exposition that should be worked in some other way.

Which leads to the major thing that Chapter 1 shouldn’t have too much of: exposition. As writers, we always assume that everyone wants or needs to know everything about the worlds we’ve created right at the start, but they don’t. I know, I know, it seems imperative, but hear me out. The readers don’t care. Not in Chapter 1. All of that information can be gradually sprinkled throughout the plot organically as it becomes relevant to the plot, and if possible you can show that information to the reader instead of telling it outright. It will be far more satisfying for the reader to learn a little bit at a time about the world rather than have it all at once—too much exposition is like sitting someone down and forcing them to eat an entire cake all at once; at first it’s okay but after a few bites it gets less and less appetizing and it just goes downhill from there. But if you draw that out in the form of more varied treats over the course of weeks (chapters), each bite is flavourful and delicious and they’ll crave more. So hold back on the exposition and backstory and trust the reader to figure it all out over the course of the story—give them a little bit at a time, and be especially sparing in Chapter 1 so they aren’t overwhelmed by it.

Other Responsibilities of Chapter 1:
Character

Beyond the obvious importance of the Hook, Chapter 1 is (usually) where your reader gets their first introduction to your main character, usually in some variation of that character’s Point of View. This is an important meeting, since first impressions are everything. Your MC is probably going to change and develop a lot over the course of the book, so who they are at the beginning won’t necessarily be representative of who they end up being, but the reader still has to want to spend the next 300 or so pages with this character. They have to care about this character enough to stick by them on their journey. This is not always an easy thing. Maybe your character is a jerk. Nothing wrong with that. Just be sure to give them some (any) trait that makes them in any way sympathetic or relatable, or even just interesting/entertaining enough for the reader to want to stick around and care what happens to them.

Worldbuilding/Setting

Chapter 1 isn’t a place to overdo worldbuilding or setting descriptions, as your main focus should be more on character and plot in most cases (with some exceptions made for fantasy as a genre), but you should definitely be starting to work some of your worldbuilding and setting into your first chapter, especially if it is really important to your story. The greater the importance, the more it should feature. Don’t fall into the trap of including too much worldbuilding-related exposition (like a 10,000 word dossier on the history of your kingdom which has no relevance whatsoever to your actual story plot), but do work it in organically where you can to give readers a sense of your world or of the setting in which your story takes place. It will make the story feel rich and vibrant, and the reading experience will be enhanced as a result.

Tone

Chapter 1 is also where you first establish the overall tone of your story. You tell your reader what they can expect from the rest of the book. Is it going to be funny? Dark? Gory? Romantic? As with genres, while you can do some genre-blending and that’s all well and good, you need to be up front about it. If you aren’t, your reader is going to feel misled and lied to. If they pick up what they think is a cozy romance and it turns out to be space opera sci-fi, they leave your book confused and frustrated. Similarly, if you establish a lighthearted tone in Chapter 1 but the rest of the book swings dramatically between dark and angsty to comedic to chipper to melodramatic, they are going to feel like they were misled by the book and they might worry for you personally. Establish the tone of your book in Chapter 1 and stay more or less within a reasonable range.

Stakes

It’s imperative in the first chapter that the reader not only cares about the main character and what happens to them (at least to some extent), but that the reader knows what the stakes are in the story. Now, this one can be a bit of a challenge, as you can have multiple levels of stakes (physical, life-or-death stakes, emotional, psychological, interpersonal/relationship, philosophical, etc.), and the stakes may either change as the story progresses or the character might not be fully aware of the stakes in the beginning. Nonetheless, readers should leave Chapter 1 with a rough idea about what the main story problem is and what the stakes are.

By stakes here, I mean:

The character has a problem.
The character has to make a choice in order to solve that problem.
There are consequences to either making or failing to make that choice.
What are those consequences? What’s at risk? Why should the reader be invested?

Here are some simple stakes scenarios:

Character A has to stop Character B from blowing up the world, but to do that Character A will have to leave her family forever and go to outer-space. Stakes: let the world be destroyed and die with her family, or save the world and lose her family.
Character A is engaged to Character B but is still in love with Character C. If he marries Character B, his family will be happy with him, but if he marries Character C he’ll be following his heart. Stakes: please family or follow his heart.

Conclusion

More than anything else, Chapter 1 is where your reader needs to get hooked into your story. However, Chapter 1 also has other responsibilities: an exciting introduction to the main character, reader’s find out what the main story problem is (or at least what the character’s problem starts out as) enough that they care about that problem getting resolved, worldbuilding and tone are established, and readers get a sense of what the stakes are (as in: the character has a problem, and there are consequences to succeeding or failing in solving that problem). Character, problem, and stakes need to be clear and riveting right in Chapter 1. That’s Chapter 1’s job. And of course, to get the reader wanting to read Chapter 2.

About the Author:

J.J. Reichenbach is a professional editor by day and a horror writer by night. J.J. lives just outside of Calgary, with two affectionate hellhounds and bookcases full of nightmares. She is an avid traveller and likes to spend time in Thailand as often as possible, where she writes and edits on the beach. She specializes in gothic and supernatural horror, thrillers, and suspense.

jjreichenbach.weebly.com
https://tmorganediting.weebly.com
https://www.facebook.com/jjreichenbachNIX/
https://twitter.com/jjreichenbach

The post How to Craft a First Chapter appeared first on Konn Lavery.

Author DIY Graphic Design – Typeface

Typefaces are a critical visual part of our work as writers. Open up any book, and you will see that the texts have varying weights, sizes and stylization from book to book. Choosing a typeface can change the entire mood of what you are representing.

Following the Author DIY Graphic Design series, we will now explore the wonderful world of typefaces.

Typeface Vs Font

These two terms are used interchangeably which isn’t the case. Typeface is what most people think a font is. For example, Arial is a typeface. Times New Roman is a typeface. Futura is a typeface. Fonts are the family within the typeface. If Arial is the typeface, Arial Bold, Arial Italic, Arial Black are the fonts.

Types of Typefaces

Now that we have clarified what the difference between typeface and font is, there is an even higher level of separation for typefaces. Typefaces fall under common categories as seen below.

Calligraphy

A hand-written or script-based typeface that is decorative. They aren’t commonly used for large bodies of content and serve as a stylistic approach due to its readability.

Sans Serif

A sans serif typeface is a typeface like Arial or Helvetica. The characters in the alphabet stand firm on their own.

Serif

Serif fonts have the small feet at the ends of the characters in the alphabet. The feet behave like subconscious bridges from one character to the other to allow us to read content faster.

Picking the Right Typeface

Knowing what typeface to use can be a challenge. Let’s say you are making a book cover, will you use all capitals, lowercase or formal English? Your choice will vary depending on your book’s genre, your target demographic and your own personal stylization. Thin fonts generally represent a more elegant visualization while heavier weighted fonts will be bolder and louder. If you’re using handwritten fonts, it can come across as more exquisite.

What do other authors do in your genre? Thriller covers often use a bold typeface for more impact. Romance or comedy novel covers tend to be more elegant with typeface choices. Knowing your genre will steer you to choosing the right typeface for your book cover.

Notice how different each of the examples look in the image below? All of them say “Your Brand” but vary significantly on appearance due to the choice of font and capitalization.

Anatomy of Type

We’ll only cover some basics you need to know for working with typefaces. The anatomy of type is an in-depth topic. Graphic designers specialize in typography and become what is known as typographers. There are plenty of books that dig into the details of type anatomy. For us, as authors, there are a few we should be wary of:

Kerning

This refers to space between to characters.

Leading

Leading references the spacing between two baselines. In other words, this is known as the line height. How far apart is each line of text in your novel?

Word Spacing

Word spacing is a lot like kerning but only applies to the space between words.

Each of the three pieces of anatomy mentioned help stylize your chosen typeface. Ever notice how poetry books tend to treat typefaces different than a genre novel? They use space quite strategically to express their words.

Know Your Project

Remember when I said we’d be chatting about projects a lot in this series? It’s because the context is critical. Your choice of typeface visually represents the words your book is wanting to portray.

Tips and Resources

There are plenty of sites that offer typefaces. Some are for a price and others are free. Some offer free for personal use but not commercial. Be sure to read the details before downloading a font.

Some sites worth reviewing for typefaces are fontsquirrel.com, dafont.com and typekit.com.

Headlines vs Content

Not sure what works for a typeface? A good rule of thumb is to use sans serif fonts as headlines and serif fonts for large bodies of content. As mentioned above, sans-serif fonts help guides the eye. Sans serifs fonts have each character be more prominent which works well for headlines (chapter titles or book titles).

eBooks vs. Print Books

Print books we can use any font imaginable. Of course, as long as the book is readable. eBooks are trickier because not all eReaders support different typefaces. eReaders have improved drastically over the years for typeface support but aren’t quite there yet. You will find you have less control over typefaces with eBooks and unfortunately it is the way the industry works.

Your Exercise

This is a two-part exercise.

Part one: Next time you’re in a bookstore, examine five different books from different genres and see how they handle typefaces on their covers and interior pages. Ask yourself, why did they choose these typefaces?

Part two: Remember that book cover we chatted about in the colour theory post? Time to pick the right typefaces for your project.

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