P.H. Solomon's Blog, page 324

Novels aren’t movies – how to handle passage of time in prose

PHS:

Time passes differently in the world of fiction writing. See these tips to handle the passage of time. Re-blogged on Archer’s Aim!

Originally posted on Nail Your Novel:

Do you learn your storytelling from movies as much as from prose? Many of us do. While certain principles translate well between the two story media, others don’t.

I’ve already discussed a few general points in a previous post – scenes with a lot of characters and shifting point of view  , dialogue   and description. Today I’m going to look at passage of time (modelled here by Dave).

When is it?

One of the key questions when we come into any scene is this: when is it happening?

Movies and prose handle this in different ways.

Suppose your story features a man who’s refurbishing a derelict bar. In a movie, it’s shown with a sequence of scenes. In one, he is getting to work, pulling old cupboards off the walls and uprooting obsolete appliances. In the next scene, it’s clean, the floorboards are sanded and he’s opening…

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Guest Post: “SPOTLIGHT” Author, Garrett Addison

PHS:

More tidbits from Garrett Addison on The Traveller – re-blogging on Archer’s Aim!!!

Originally posted on Beth Mikell:

If you love mystery and suspense, here’s a little treat for you. In helping RAVE REVIEWS BOOK CLUB PROFILE, PROMOTE & PROPEL Indie Authors, I’m hosting Author, Garrett Addison today. Join me in welcoming him as he travels on his Blog Tour. Get cozy and settle in for a few moments…

Enter the world of an unnamed family man struggling in his pursuit of a work/life balance. Too much travel at the whims of his tyrannical boss, known variously as Stalin and ‘the Anti-Christ’, has left him failing at work and at home, but after his wife prophetically warns that his next trip will be different, he is suddenly a world apart from his usual self. Confident, capable and unafraid of his manager, opportunities abound as he embraces his altered state away from home.

What begins as a quest to reclaim his career and satisfy his ego soon descends into…

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Spotlight Blog Tour: The Traveller by Garrett Addison

Today I welcome Garrett Addison, author of The Traveller, as host to the Rave Review Book Club Spotlight Blog Tour. Garrett has received great support in the spotlight so check out the club and see what they can do for you and tell them I sent you. With that note, take it away, Garrett!

A main character to love hate.

As an Indie author I figure there’s almost an expectation that I’ll be brave enough to try something different in my writing.  Perhaps I’ve got it wrong, sure, but I’m inclined to think that you’re way more likely to discover something different with the works of Indie authors than those of traditionally published authors.  That said, regardless of whether the writing is ‘different’, it still needs to ‘work’.

Expectations aside, I really wanted to try something when I wrote ‘The Traveller’.  It occurred to me that the exploits of my nice guy family man taking a walk on the wide side wouldn’t endear him to many readers.  The obvious thing for me as the author would have been to soften his actions a little or add something else to make him more likeable.  It’s probably amongst the many must-do’s of ‘Writing 101’: your readers need to ‘love’ your characters.  Purists will argue that ‘love’ is a bit of a stretch, and it’s probably closer to ‘care’ or ‘empathise’ but anyway.

I thought about it, a lot.  Why can’t I have a really unlikeable hero? What if my ‘good guy’ was a complete bastard?  Could I make readers want to turn the page?  That was a challenge too delicious to ignore, so I got brave.  I wrote my main character to be an angry, arrogant, philandering, vengeful, self-absorbed guy, devoid of anything likeable.  He’s not really an anti-hero … he’s just a bastard.  Then I got even braver and told my story in the first person.  Readers: welcome to the world of a bastard.

Have you ever driven past a vehicle accident and you just couldn’t help yourself from looking?  That’s how I liken my un-named main character in ‘The Traveller’; he’s a veritable ‘car wreck’.  Told in the first person, it feels like a personal account and the reader has little choice but to come along for the ride inside the head of ‘The Traveller’ as he takes his walk on the dark side.   Sure I’m biased, but I feel vindicated for my little piece of literary bravery.

I’m a huge fan of Indie fiction because I like to read different kinds of books.  I don’t want to read the same stories, clichéd characters and copycat plots, and I think Indie authors are just brave enough to try something which might set their writing apart and get the world start to talk about their book.  Of course, those ‘big swings’ don’t always work … but then, Indies have nothing to lose!

 

Follow Garrett online:

Twitter – https://twitter.com/garrettaddison

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/garrettaddisonauthor

Goodreads – http://www.goodreads.com/GarrettAddison/

Website – http://www.garrettaddison.com/

 

 

Amazon Book Links:

The Traveller – http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AW4EP8W/

Minions – http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AW4EP8W/

Thank you, Garrett, for sharing your book on Archer’s Aim and to Rave Reviews Book Club for the opportunity to host the Spotlight Blog Tour today. I will be hosting more in the near future so stop by anytime for updates and posts.

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Filed under: Blogging, Fiction, Indie Publishing, Marketing, Rave Review Book Club, Self-publishing, Spotlight Blog Tour, The Traveller, Writing Tagged: Announcement, Coverart, Garret Addison, Indie Publishing, Rave Reviews Book Club, Self-publishing, Spotlight Blog Tour, The Traveller

Applying Information Theory to RAVE REVIEWS BOOK CLUB’s Phenomenal Success (And Why You Should Join!)

PHS:

A well-written blog sharing experiences with Rave Reviews Book Club & its support of authors. Re-blogging on Archer’s Aim!

Originally posted on Blog of Author Danica Cornell:

By Danica Cornell

The early part of the 21st century has been hailed as the Information Age—and with good reason.  The advent of high speed Internet access has enabled us to live in a time when information, learning, and the acquisition of new skills are readily available to billions worldwide.  And with so many tapping into this wellspring of data and knowledge, it’s not an overstatement to say this disruptive technology has had transformative socioeconomic impacts globally—the likes of which haven’t been seen since the industrial revolution.

As a science fiction writer, UFO researcher, futurist, and nanotechnology business owner, I end up spending a considerable amount of time on the Internet.  I’m talking, a lot.  So it’s not surprising it was through some research I conducted a few months ago, that I was able to make the connection between information theory and RAVE REVIEWS BOOK CLUB (RRBC). 

Say…

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Book Marketing: Twitter vs. Facebook

PHS:

This is eye-opening and specific information on what kinds of books to promote on various forms of social media. Re-blogging on Archer’s Aim!

Originally posted on Nicholas C. Rossis:

As you know, there is research being done about pretty much everything nowadays.  I recently came across an interesting research by Michelle Bertino on Klout, that studies the reactions on Twitter and Facebook according to different subjects.  Nice guy that I am, and since a large part of it has fascinating repercussions for our book marketing efforts, I thought I’d share. So, let the battle begin: Twitter vs. Facebook!

Photo: articlemarketingco.com

Top 10 Subjects

The research categorized the subjects that get a noteworthy reaction on Twitter or Facebook.  As you can see, music, television, holidays and celebrities have the greatest engagement.  Amazingly enough, religion is in the top 10 of engagement in Facebook – something I did not expect, since the contrast with the previous subjects is quite amazing.  Apparently Facebook attracts many different people!

Research by Michelle Bertino, Klout

I carefully glance through the list, expecting and hoping to see books…

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Guest Post: Repetition In Writing.

PHS:

WOW – amazing tidbit of good writing using repetition. And the example is simply stunning. Re-blogging on Archer’s Aim

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Originally posted on The Editing Hart:

Today we’re very pleased to have Karen Conlin from Grammargeddon with us! Without further ado:

If I’ve told you once . . .

There’s repetition, and there’s repetition.

It’s something editors warn writers about all the time. Don’t repeat the same sentence structure throughout a paragraph. Don’t begin every sentence with the same word. Don’t use the same phrase every time X happens.

And yet, if it’s done well repetition is a powerful tool. The thing is knowing how to do it well and knowing when not to indulge.

When done well, repetition makes prose sound nearly like poetry. When done badly, it makes prose sound like—well, like bad prose.

He got up from the chair and walked to the window. He opened the window and looked out. He saw a rose garden across the street and noticed a woman walking. He closed the window and leaned his head against…

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Fantasy and Sci-Fi You Should Watch

PHS:

Looking for shows in the spec genres? Here’s some show you should watch and why – re-blogging on Archer’s Aim!

Originally posted on Guild Of Dreams:

Ok. I’ve spent the past couple of posts harping on about cheesy fantasy movies you should avoid…but what about some stuff you should watch?

Rather than movies, I’m going to switch to television here, and broaden the discussion to include science-fiction (because, let’s face it, there’s a hell of a lot more sci-fi than there is epic fantasy out there in TV land).

Here’s a brief list of some good stuff on TV that, in my opinion, every fan of sci-fi or fantasy should be checking out (not all of it current).

Supernatural

I’m not always a fan of urban fantasy/horror, but Supernatural does it right. For 10 Seasons now the Brothers Winchester have been chasing ghosts, ghouls, vampires, demons, and all sorts of other stuff that goes bump in the night, and the results are often scary, at times funny, and always entertaining. Some may argue the show has started…

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Being The Bigger Man

PHS:

A well written opinion regarding the state of publishing. Re-blogging on Archer’s Aim!

Originally posted on William Drayman:

I just finished reading an encouraging article by Hugh Howey that PHS re-blogged.

The original is here.

I’m almost brand new to the whole self-publishing scene, having been determined from the outset to go the trad publishing path.

If it had not been for the intervention of my friend, who has been an author for years, I am now pretty convinced that The Road Out would never have seen the light of day.

The shift in the industry is far more dramatic than I had thought up to this point, but Hugh’s post is a revealing insight into the scope of what is going on.

I have written before about this, but looking back at that post makes me realize I didn’t know the half of it.

The stance that we as self publishing authors take is going to be critically important to the outcome of public opinion…

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Tech Tip: 5 Ways To Get More Out of Twitter

Clip Art Image Copyright by Microsoft. Clip Art Used by Permission of Microsoft

Writers, do you need more information out of Twitter? Perhaps you already have HootSuite and schedule tweets as well as view reports about your reach. Maybe you need more information about the performance of your account. Here are three sites that provide information you can use to improve how you tweet. BE AWARE that all these sites show free information but offer more for payment. I’m not instructing you to pay for anything – only providing sites that show basic information at no charge. Just like with Hootsuite or JustUnfollow, if you want more than the basics it costs money.

Twittercounter - This tool helps with long-term analysis of your Twitter account and is especially helpful with marketing. You can see months of information including who has followed you, who you have followed and how many tweets you have sent.

You can also receive their helpful newsletter with tips for Twitter like these:

Hashtags
10 Lesser know features of Twitter

Tweriod - This is another online analysis tool that provides reports about your Twitter account regarding best times to tweet. If you are promoting something you can find out when your followers are most active and available to interact with your tweets.

ads.Twitter – this analytics page allows you to see your engagement in the world of Twitter. Once you click on the link, click the Anylitics drop-down menu and choose “Twitter activity”. This site is where you can sign-up to use ads on Twitter but it has several useful pieces of information with several charts including:

Impressions performance over the last 28 days – you can adjust the time to specific months too
Engagement rate
Link clicks
Retweets
Favorites
Replies

Hashtags.org – this site lets you search for hashtags to verify they exist and for what they are used. It has a simple search field at the top of the page and provides information for the hashtag that includes:

24 hour trend graph for the hashtag – this tracks the recent trends
Related hashtags
Related tweets with the hashtag – this can be useful to determine whether it fits your tweet well

Retweetrank.com - need to know how you’re doing with your tweets? Use this site to check how much your tweets have been re-tweeted. This is handy for verifying what your reach is so you can track your reach over time and how effective your promotions and ads are. Just enter your Twitter name to check.

Bonus Material: Read this article from Nicholas Rossis which compares marketing on Facebook and Twitter. This blog post from Marc Guberti gives even more information about using Twitter for marketing. While you’re on Marc’s site you can receive his free book about improving chances of getting more retweets.

Available at Amazon, Smashwords and All Major E-Book Vendors!

Do you need more performance information from your Twitter account? Do you use other tools for gathering analytic information? What other information do you track for your account? I’d love to hear from you so won’t you leave a question, idea or strategy in the comment section? I’d also love to connect with you over social media so check my contact page for that information. See the News page for announcements and remember to sign-up to receive news and posts by email. I’ve added a new sign-up tab on my FaceBook page to simplify the process. New followers can download The Black Bag via free coupon today!

Thanks for reading!

PHS

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Filed under: Blogging, Creativity, Indie Publishing, Marketing, Planning, Self-publishing, Social Media, Tech Tips, The Black Bag, Tips, Twitter, Writing Tagged: Facebook, Indie Publishing, Marketing, P. H. Solomon, Planning, Social Media, The Black Bag, Twitter, writing

Beta Reader Questions

PHS:

A post parallel to my recent post on Archer’s Aim – re-blogging

Originally posted on Megan Haskell, Author:

What questions would you ask? What do you feel comfortable answering?

I’m gearing up for the final push to get SANYARE to beta readers. There are just a few chapters left to edit before it’s ready, and my firm deadline is to send it out on the 13th. Lucky number 13, right?

Anyway, to help prep the readers and direct them toward the kind of feedback I’m looking for, I’ve put together a list of questions that I’m planning on sending out with each manuscript. I don’t expect detailed answers for each and every question, but I want to get the readers thinking critically and considering all aspects of the manuscript.

So here’s my list. What do you think? Have I gone too far? Is there anything I’m missing?

General

~ Do you like the title? If not, do you have any suggestions for alternative options?
~ Did the story hold…

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