Scott McCloskey's Blog: RainHand Books (Goodreads Digest) - Posts Tagged "writing"
Author support on the Journal of Ord
So I've been meaning to add some diversified and useful content to the Journal of Ord. I've added an author support page, which currently has some tips on running free promotions as well as a bevy of links to helpful sites. This has mostly been pieced together from my own experiences and information I have gleaned from elsewhere, but all are welcome to give it a look. Maybe you'll learn something new. While you're there, maybe you can teach the rest of us something new -- feel free to comment and provide your ideas!
I will be updating that section from time to time as I encounter new ideas. I hope it proves helpful!
The Journal of Ord Author Support
I will be updating that section from time to time as I encounter new ideas. I hope it proves helpful!
The Journal of Ord Author Support
The End is Only the Beginning
(Original article can be found here.)
Here's a topic for all you writers out there (and I mean anybody that writes, publishing notwithstanding):
How do you create a scene?
What do you start with? Do you plan everything out meticulously with an outline and pie charts, or do you thrust your characters into a new situation and let the chips fall where they may?
For me, I find that coming up with a new scene, chapter, or even entire story starts from the smallest point, and expands out in a "big bang" of ideas that all eventually congeal into something worthwhile. Call it an unpolished way of thinking, but that's just what works for me. For example, if I was writing the arrival of Dorothy in the land of Oz, I might start with the Lollipop Guild. First I come up with the concept of a few munchkins with a song on their lips and a sailor-like attitude. Perhaps I like them, but what can I do with them? Ah, perhaps I can create an entire race of similar beings with a city -- the perfect place to start my protagonist (Dorothy, who I have already come up with in a previous scene) on her journey through the curious land of Oz! From here, I create the other munchkins and their personalities. I'll also need a reason for Dorothy to travel to the Emerald City...ah, here's where we can add the good witch Glinda. She'll conveniently get the plot moving forward after her appearance in this city, but...hmm...what's she doing there? Oh! The wicked witch, of course!
Like I say, sounds a bit convoluted, but that's how I work. Start at the finer details, and paint the overall picture from there.
How about you?
Here's a topic for all you writers out there (and I mean anybody that writes, publishing notwithstanding):
How do you create a scene?
What do you start with? Do you plan everything out meticulously with an outline and pie charts, or do you thrust your characters into a new situation and let the chips fall where they may?
For me, I find that coming up with a new scene, chapter, or even entire story starts from the smallest point, and expands out in a "big bang" of ideas that all eventually congeal into something worthwhile. Call it an unpolished way of thinking, but that's just what works for me. For example, if I was writing the arrival of Dorothy in the land of Oz, I might start with the Lollipop Guild. First I come up with the concept of a few munchkins with a song on their lips and a sailor-like attitude. Perhaps I like them, but what can I do with them? Ah, perhaps I can create an entire race of similar beings with a city -- the perfect place to start my protagonist (Dorothy, who I have already come up with in a previous scene) on her journey through the curious land of Oz! From here, I create the other munchkins and their personalities. I'll also need a reason for Dorothy to travel to the Emerald City...ah, here's where we can add the good witch Glinda. She'll conveniently get the plot moving forward after her appearance in this city, but...hmm...what's she doing there? Oh! The wicked witch, of course!
Like I say, sounds a bit convoluted, but that's how I work. Start at the finer details, and paint the overall picture from there.
How about you?
TGL's Sequel Continues On...
9000 words later, and it's on with chapter 2. Already, Tessa and Marie have deviated from what I'd intially planned for them and introduced a whole new character in so doing. They seem to know what to do next better than I do myself, as they created a great scene that I was able to really get back into the story with. Chapter 2 promises some good action, but we'll have to see if the cast agrees with me!
Updates from the World of Ord
Hello all!
Wanted to take a moment to keep interested readers abreast of the developments in TGL's sequel. Things have been a little on the slow side lately, as I've been using some of that oh-so-precious free time to fulfill reviewing obligations to fellow indie authors. I don't so reciprocal reviews, but I'm a memeber of several review groups on Goodreads that have excellent schemes for matching up books with potential reviewers. If you want something out of the community, giving back is a good way to get it :)
At any rate, I also wanted to bring up a friendly mention I received in Real Indies, Real Answers, an article by Simpklu, a small team of editors, proofreaders and promoters who work quietly behind the scenes with small press, minor publishing houses, independent writers and self publishing authors. Simpklu recently asked several pertinent questions of the indie author community, and included a blurb in their article including one of my responses to their questions. Thanks Simpklu!
More writing to come!
Wanted to take a moment to keep interested readers abreast of the developments in TGL's sequel. Things have been a little on the slow side lately, as I've been using some of that oh-so-precious free time to fulfill reviewing obligations to fellow indie authors. I don't so reciprocal reviews, but I'm a memeber of several review groups on Goodreads that have excellent schemes for matching up books with potential reviewers. If you want something out of the community, giving back is a good way to get it :)
At any rate, I also wanted to bring up a friendly mention I received in Real Indies, Real Answers, an article by Simpklu, a small team of editors, proofreaders and promoters who work quietly behind the scenes with small press, minor publishing houses, independent writers and self publishing authors. Simpklu recently asked several pertinent questions of the indie author community, and included a blurb in their article including one of my responses to their questions. Thanks Simpklu!
More writing to come!
Updates from Ord
Well, things are moving along at a good pace. The manuscript for Everywhere the Road Ends is through the initial editing phase and is waiting on the editor's eye. Hopefully Book II of the Traveler of Ord saga will be on the cyber-shelves before the end of the year. This installment features a lot more of well...pretty much everything!
While I'm waiting and enjoying a nice 10-day family vacation, I decided to dust off an old manuscript for another project that got sidetracked last year in favor of work on the Traveler of Ord. It's a standalone YA novel with a much more contemporary theme (and a message). As I re-read it, I feel it deserves to see the light of day. So, be on the lookout for some non-Ord related updates as well.
Happy writing, and don't be a stranger :)
While I'm waiting and enjoying a nice 10-day family vacation, I decided to dust off an old manuscript for another project that got sidetracked last year in favor of work on the Traveler of Ord. It's a standalone YA novel with a much more contemporary theme (and a message). As I re-read it, I feel it deserves to see the light of day. So, be on the lookout for some non-Ord related updates as well.
Happy writing, and don't be a stranger :)
Fading Away in the Writer's Cup
(From The Journal of Ord.)
I've shared this tip before, but I find it to be sound advice to the point that I'm about to put it out there again.
To those writers who find they never quite have time to get anything down on paper, I submit to you that any amount of time you spend on your craft, no matter how insignificant, is still an accomplishment. There's no shame in nickel and dimeing, especially if your willingness to work at all is on the line. It's easy to sink into the assumption that if you only have half an hour a day to write its not worth your time, and you might as well wait until tomorrow. Then tomorrow comes, the weekend comes, vacation comes, and you find that by Christmas you're still right where you started, justifying why only a little time is not enough.
Do you like coffee or tea? I'm partial to Earl Grey myself. No matter how busy your day is, I find it somewhat difficult to accept the fact that you have so little time on your hands that you can't at least sit down to a cup of your choice and the paper (or tablet as the case may be) once a day. If you're so tied up with life that you don't even have time to drink something, that's an entirely different issue. Use that cup as your timer, and instead of whatever you normally do while enjoying your drink, write. When the drink is finished, so are you.
It may not seem like much, but even if it's fifty words (or just a brainstorming session), at least you accomplished something today. That goes a long way towards keeping your eye on the prize and your head in the game. A project never worked on will only fade away.
I've shared this tip before, but I find it to be sound advice to the point that I'm about to put it out there again.
To those writers who find they never quite have time to get anything down on paper, I submit to you that any amount of time you spend on your craft, no matter how insignificant, is still an accomplishment. There's no shame in nickel and dimeing, especially if your willingness to work at all is on the line. It's easy to sink into the assumption that if you only have half an hour a day to write its not worth your time, and you might as well wait until tomorrow. Then tomorrow comes, the weekend comes, vacation comes, and you find that by Christmas you're still right where you started, justifying why only a little time is not enough.
Do you like coffee or tea? I'm partial to Earl Grey myself. No matter how busy your day is, I find it somewhat difficult to accept the fact that you have so little time on your hands that you can't at least sit down to a cup of your choice and the paper (or tablet as the case may be) once a day. If you're so tied up with life that you don't even have time to drink something, that's an entirely different issue. Use that cup as your timer, and instead of whatever you normally do while enjoying your drink, write. When the drink is finished, so are you.
It may not seem like much, but even if it's fifty words (or just a brainstorming session), at least you accomplished something today. That goes a long way towards keeping your eye on the prize and your head in the game. A project never worked on will only fade away.
Thief in the Night - Surviving the Rapture of Writing
(Summarized from the Journal of Ord. Check out the original discussion here, and share your thoughts!)
You've just completed your manuscript. Your novel. Your opus. Your glorious addition to the world of literature. Now you want to share it with the world, but a nascent thought tickles your mind.
What if somebody steals my work?
You just put your blood, sweat, and tears into your baby, and soon it will be in the hands of reviewers, agents, editors, et cetera. What's to keep some dirty criminal from snatching up your prize, beating you to the copyright office, and claiming the rights to your work before you do?
Broaching the subject on writing forums is likely to get you a 50/50 response, with half the users patting your head and calling you a cute little newbie to the world of writing, while the other half warn you to hide your manuscript under your aluminum foil hat for several months until somebody at the copyright office gets around to sending you that shining piece of paper that proves your work is yours. Still others will make suggestions like mailing a copy of your manuscript to yourself before you share it with the world and leaving it sealed, with the idea that the postmark from the United States Postal Service will hold up in court should you have to sue anybody over intellectual property rights. Another suggestion I've heard is asking potential reviewers, or those who might have reason to come in contact with your pre-published work, to sign a non-disclosure agreement.
Well, I'll tell you one thing. If you approached me as a potential agent/reviewer/reader or even publisher for your work, and you asked me to sign a legally binding anything simply for the privilege of basking in your glory, then you're going straight to the wastebasket in favor of the hundreds of folks a week who are sending me manuscripts to review and not asking me to get involved in a legal quagmire.
Thankfully, the concept of copyright isn't all about a race to see who can get the first little piece of paper to back up their ©, and it's not nearly as troublesome a subject as one might think. Copyrights cost a little money and a lot of time, but they don't have to. The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works is good reading material for those who want to know. The gist is that your work is automatically protected by copyright the moment you write it, and this copyright is recognized in all of the nations that participate in the Berne Convention. The United states has been a participating member in Berne since 1989. Spiffy, no? You can read more about Berne at Copyright.gov. While you're there, be sure to check out §104 and §104(a) of Title 17 of the United States Code.
Still concerned, or have anything to add? Check out The Journal of Ord for some more helpful points to consider, and an example of how to tell the world that your work is your own!
You've just completed your manuscript. Your novel. Your opus. Your glorious addition to the world of literature. Now you want to share it with the world, but a nascent thought tickles your mind.
What if somebody steals my work?
You just put your blood, sweat, and tears into your baby, and soon it will be in the hands of reviewers, agents, editors, et cetera. What's to keep some dirty criminal from snatching up your prize, beating you to the copyright office, and claiming the rights to your work before you do?
Broaching the subject on writing forums is likely to get you a 50/50 response, with half the users patting your head and calling you a cute little newbie to the world of writing, while the other half warn you to hide your manuscript under your aluminum foil hat for several months until somebody at the copyright office gets around to sending you that shining piece of paper that proves your work is yours. Still others will make suggestions like mailing a copy of your manuscript to yourself before you share it with the world and leaving it sealed, with the idea that the postmark from the United States Postal Service will hold up in court should you have to sue anybody over intellectual property rights. Another suggestion I've heard is asking potential reviewers, or those who might have reason to come in contact with your pre-published work, to sign a non-disclosure agreement.
Well, I'll tell you one thing. If you approached me as a potential agent/reviewer/reader or even publisher for your work, and you asked me to sign a legally binding anything simply for the privilege of basking in your glory, then you're going straight to the wastebasket in favor of the hundreds of folks a week who are sending me manuscripts to review and not asking me to get involved in a legal quagmire.
Thankfully, the concept of copyright isn't all about a race to see who can get the first little piece of paper to back up their ©, and it's not nearly as troublesome a subject as one might think. Copyrights cost a little money and a lot of time, but they don't have to. The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works is good reading material for those who want to know. The gist is that your work is automatically protected by copyright the moment you write it, and this copyright is recognized in all of the nations that participate in the Berne Convention. The United states has been a participating member in Berne since 1989. Spiffy, no? You can read more about Berne at Copyright.gov. While you're there, be sure to check out §104 and §104(a) of Title 17 of the United States Code.
Still concerned, or have anything to add? Check out The Journal of Ord for some more helpful points to consider, and an example of how to tell the world that your work is your own!
Goodreads, Hello Again!
Good lord, how long has it been?
Well, just in case anybody was wondering just why I happened to drop off the face of the earth, I blame some of it on my difficulty over keeping up with lots of different social media sites. Things fall through the cracks, and with my ridiculously complicated schedule, sometimes weeks go by when I perceive only days. I'm still reeling over posts I made a year ago, wondering how it could possibly have been that long!
The rest of it I blame over, ironically, my sheer love for the craft of writing. The writing itself has always been what comes first for me, before the promotion, before the 'business' aspects or the social race. Thus I found my way into the world of fanfiction, and well...half a million words and 33+ stories later, along with a few hundred followers elsewhere from my main writer self has kept me busy to say the least.
But it's time to get back into the traditional swing and get to work on that next book. I'd like to be alive on here again, so if you're an old connection who'd like to say hello, or a new one looking to make friends, please feel free to drop a line. Meanwhile, I'm hoping to do some book reviews on here and my other social media platforms that connect to here, so if you're looking to have your book reviewed, let's talk!
Good to say hello again!
Well, just in case anybody was wondering just why I happened to drop off the face of the earth, I blame some of it on my difficulty over keeping up with lots of different social media sites. Things fall through the cracks, and with my ridiculously complicated schedule, sometimes weeks go by when I perceive only days. I'm still reeling over posts I made a year ago, wondering how it could possibly have been that long!
The rest of it I blame over, ironically, my sheer love for the craft of writing. The writing itself has always been what comes first for me, before the promotion, before the 'business' aspects or the social race. Thus I found my way into the world of fanfiction, and well...half a million words and 33+ stories later, along with a few hundred followers elsewhere from my main writer self has kept me busy to say the least.
But it's time to get back into the traditional swing and get to work on that next book. I'd like to be alive on here again, so if you're an old connection who'd like to say hello, or a new one looking to make friends, please feel free to drop a line. Meanwhile, I'm hoping to do some book reviews on here and my other social media platforms that connect to here, so if you're looking to have your book reviewed, let's talk!
Good to say hello again!
RainHand Books (Goodreads Digest)
A digest of posts from my writing and review blog, RainHand Books. Check out rainhandbooks.com for more!
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