Writing–Experimentation
If you’ve read my blog for a while, you know that I’ve been experimenting with different types of novels and novellas in the last two years. With Fallen Angels and Blood Battles, I’ve tried using multiple points of view for storytelling. The advantage of multiple POV is that you can choose which character will add the most emotional impact for each chapter of your novel. You can juxtapose points of view to build tension and add layers and depth to your story. Romantic suspense authors use it often to show a nice, sympathetic woman’s POV before they flip to a villain’s POV. Then they let the reader know these two characters are going to collide, and the rest of the book will be a struggle for the woman to survive that encounter. Multiple POV is a wonderful tool that lets an author come at a story from several different angles.
For everything else I write, I’ve used third person, limited POV. The advantage to third, limited is that you live in one character’s mind and can only know or experience what that person experiences. Therefore, the reader only knows what your character knows and, just as importantly, thinks and feels, which in theory results in the reader identifying more with your main character. In Wolf’s Bane and Shadow Demon, I tried for a kickass heroine in a traditional type, urban fantasy novel. In Empty Altars and the novel I’m working on now, I did the kickass heroine with layers of Greek and Norse myths. In my novellas, I experimented with different settings and time periods, some more like romance plots, some more like mysteries or quests. Whatever struck my fancy.
I haven’t just been experimenting with my writing, though. I’ve been playing around with marketing too. I started this blog and a facebook author page, joined Goodreads and twitter to have an “author platform,” to learn a little about “social media.” I can’t honestly say that I have an opinion on how effectively any of these have worked. Sometimes I tweet about a novel or novella and my numbers go up. Sometimes, they don’t. When I first started Goodreads, it was a lot easier to list a book for read-to-review and get some reviews. Now, Goodreads is deluged with authors, and finding reviews isn’t so easy. Bloggers have reviewed or interviewed me, and they’ve all been wonderful to work with. Have I gotten sales from them? I don’t know. But my theory is, a little of this and a little of that might add up to something eventually. I don’t expect overnight success. I plan to just keep doing what I’m doing and give it time to grow.
I can say that Book Bub was worth every penny of the $90 I paid to advertise Fallen Angels when it was free for four days. Book Bub was full when I wanted to promote Shadow Demon, so I paid $40 to try eBookBooster. For $40, eBookBooster sent my free days for Wolf’s Bane to 50 sites. Do I know if those sites actually listed my free days? No, but I know that my ranking for Wolf’s Bane shot to #120–all free, of course, but I’ve had 3 more good reviews on amazon as a result and hopefully more to come. Enough to make me happy. Right now, I’m just trying to get readers to find my books.
The thing I just started to experiment with is Wattpad. I just downloaded the first two chapters of Fabric of Life there and joined that community. I plan on downloading a new chapter every Tuesday and Friday. My first impression is that Wattpad is going to be a fun place to be. I’ve started following some really good writers on it. Eventually, I hope some readers start to follow me. Would I put my chapters on Wattpad if I only had one book? I don’t know. But I don’t plan to write any more novels for that series. I’m only using the setting–Emerald Hills–for a series of novellas, a tourist town filled with different shops that not only sell painted gourds, bonbons, or imported shoes, but each of their sells items comes with a touch of magic. And if Fabric of Life bombs on Wattpad? I’ve learned something. Wattpad isn’t for me.
I’m still trying out new things. I’m getting an idea of what I’ll keep writing and what I’ll close up. In marketing? I’m still learning. The journey might be bumpy, but so far, it’s been fun.
http://www.judithpostswritingmusings.com/
http://www.wattpad.com/23706023-fabric-of-life
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What a clever way to say "Be daring". It is obvious that writers have to be business people as well as artists. More and more, success depends on how much you're willing to invest in your book after it is written.
I think it's been that way for a long time if you're a midlist writer. Once upon a time, Little Professor book store could get lots of writers to come to Fort Wayne for book signings, because that's how publishers got writers out to meet fans. And there were lots of writers' conferences with lots of panels so that writers could try to win readers over with their wit and charm:) In some ways, it's easier now. We turn on a computer and give it a go.
Good comments on the use of various media to promote your books. It's always interesting to learn what marketing tools other writers have found useful--or not.
My goal is to try something new every month to see what happens. Wish me luck! What are you working on? Is your Shakespeare book close to finished?
It's smart to try something new on a regular basis. I'll bet it helps to prevents "tunnel vision." What I've started doing before I write a scene is to literally draw a half circle, and describe in no more than three words the character's goal (on the bottom left side or the arc), conflict (at the apex), and setback (on the bottom right of the arc.) Only takes a few minutes. Then I go to clustering. I've been surprised how much the exercise helps me when I write the scene. Getting closer on the novel. Thanks for asking!
Sounds like a neat writing technique. Makes each scene pull its weight. What's clustering?
Clustering is said to be a way to access your right brain, (creative and non-sequential,) and temporarily block your left brain, (logical and sequential--and doesn't let you talk to your characters!) Set a timer for one to three minutes (less time is better than more time.) With pen and paper, draw a "nucleus" (a circle, square, oval, a cloud-shape--a shape you don't have to think about) in the center of the page and write whatever word you want to explore. Without stopping or looking at anything else, draw a another circle away from your center circle, write the first word or words that pop out, and draw a line connecting the second circle to the central word or nucleus. Keep repeating the process. What you end with looks like a lot of planets orbiting a sun in a messy way. For one of my characters, Reginald, my center circle has "Panderer" in it. I connect that with another trait that pops up, "controls others," "risk taker," and so on. So you could do a cluster for internal/external motivation, family history, or any other trait you want to explore. Gabriele Lusser Rico's book, "Writing the Natural Way," addresses writers and word people.
Interesting. I've never tried that. It would work better for me than the long lists of questions, though. I get too bogged down in info when I do those. I've been using Shirley Jump's character wheels for years, and they give me enough info, but not too much. Clustering's similar.
