Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Links of Interest


FREE EBOOK FORMATTING TIPS OF VARIOUS SORTS:




HOW TO WORK WITH AN EDITOR, PART 1:




8 WAYS FOR FANS TO HELP AN AUTHOR:




THE GRANT OF RIGHTS IN PUBLISHING CONTRACTS:




TIGHTENING POV THROUGH WORD CHOICES:




SHOULD A WRITER BLOG?




HOW WRITING SUSPENSE IS LIKE A MAGIC TRICK:




THE CENTRAL QUESTION IN A NUMBER OF GENRES:




TRACKING TIME IN YOUR NOVEL:




KEEPING UP WITH DETAILS WHEN WRITING A SERIES:




TEN FREE PIECES OF SOFTWARE YOU CAN USE IN WRITING OR PROMOTION:




FREE FONTS, (BE SURE TO READ THE TERMS OF SERVICE.):




THE PREMISE STATEMENT:




THE NEW ADULT CATEGORY:




BUSINESS TIMELINES FOR WRITERS:




USING CAMERA ANGLES IN YOUR WRITING:



Monday, January 28, 2013

Book Readings 101


QUESTION:  I’ve been invited to do a book reading.  How should I handle it?  Should I sell books?

I've done a number of book reading and attended even more times at various colleges and science fiction conventions.

If your reading is sponsored by a group of people or a bookstore, ask whoever is running it how long they'd like you to read.   If you have no limit, around thirty minutes or a bit less is a good number to aim at unless you are the only reader.  In that case, around 45 minutes to an hour is better.

If you run short, you can always answer questions or read a bit more if the crowd wants you to.

If you're there to promote a book, by all means read from it.  Pick a chapter or scene that is interesting and dramatic.  Give a brief introduction about what the book is about and set the scene within the book for what you are reading if it isn't the first chapter.

When I'm reading but not promoting a particular book, I'll read a light and mildly funny short story.  Usually "The Werewolf Whisperer."  I know it will be a crowd pleaser. 

I do a special voice for each character so I make certain I remember how they sound.  If there's lots of dialogue without tags like "Jack said," I will add it as I read to make certain people know who is saying what.  

Practice the reading a number of times and use a watch to see if it lasts long enough.

Most writers get really nervous so they read really fast.  Make yourself slow down and focus on the words and story, not on your nerves.  Find a friendly face in the audience to read to.  

Look up occasionally and smile at people or just acknowledge your audience.  

I always print out a copy in a large font so I'm less likely to stumble over words, and, if I intend to hold the manuscript in my hand because there isn't a podium, I will back the manuscript with a piece of light cardboard so it doesn't wobble around, and I lay each page down as I read so the audience won't become mesmerized by flopping pages.  

If you have an ereader or a tablet, save your reading in a larger font.

If there are spots you want to emphasize, underline them or leave a note to yourself on the side.

As to what to bring, if you will be sitting at a table, a means to display your book or a large copy of your cover is good.  I use plate display stands.  Others use picture frame stands.  Some authors have a standup sign with their name on it in a font large enough to see from the audience.

A bottle of water or soda is good to have because it can be closed.  

Selling your book depends on the venue.  If it's a bookstore, they will handle the sales, but you may want to have extra books in your trunk in case they run out of stock. Mention you have them before the reading so someone can get the books if the audience is big.  Before you leave, make sure you are paid for those extra books.  Some bookstores love to have you autograph their copies of the book, others do not.  Ask before signing them.

If it isn't at a bookstore and the sponsor is agreeable to you selling books, bring someone with you to sell the books so you are free to chat with people and autograph your books.

Round off the price of the book in dollars so you won't have to worry about lots of coins. It's best to lower the price than bring it up.   Make sure your seller has plenty of petty cash to give change.  Your first buyer will always have a fifty dollar bill, and everyone else will have twenties so you'll need the petty cash.  

Mostly, though, have a good time.  People are there to support you, not to heckle you, so you are among friends.

Here's an link to an article I wrote on how Mark Twain promoted his books which should also prove of use.  

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Links of Interest


PROFESSOR SAYS PIRACY DOES HURT BOOK SALES:

THOSE TRICKY HYPENS IN DESCRIPTIVE PHRASES:


TEN TRICKS TO SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING:



6 WAYS TO PROMOTE YOUR BOOK ON A BUDGET:



THE BIRTH OF FANTASY:



CONTRACT LAW INSIGHTS FROM PUBLISHING LAWYER:



FREE PDF OF “THE BODY LANGUAGE CHEAT SHEET:”



REVIEW OF BOOK ON HOW TO FORMAT YOUR EBOOK FOR VARIED READERS AND EBOOK STORES, (USE THE LINK TO BUY THE BOOK IN THE UPDATE PARAGRAPH):



MARKET NEWS, SF MAGAZINE “AMAZING STORIES” NOW ONLINE AND LOOKING FOR STORIES:



THINGS TO CONSIDER WHEN SELLING YOUR BOOK TO A DIGITAL ONLY BOOK IMPRINT:



WRITING THE FAST DRAFT:



CAN YOU BE TAUGHT AUTHOR INSTINCT?



CREATING A PAGE-TURNING PLOT:



WRITING WITH AUTHENTICITY:



AVOIDING COOKIE-CUTTER WRITING:



FREE ONLINE REFERENCES FOR SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY READERS:



HOW YOUR PERSONALITY TYPE AFFECTS YOUR WRITING:



MARKET NEWS, ONLINE ROMANCE PUBLISHERS:



Monday, January 21, 2013

How Not To Plot a Series


I read over a dozen fantasy series.

I’m currently reading the fourth book in an urban fantasy series I’ve enjoyed so far, but this book just hasn’t grabbed me as a reader, and I’ve been trying to figure out why.  Some of my answers will help you as a writer, whatever kind of genre fiction you write.

THE BOUNCE-BACK BAD GUY

This bad guy is the super villain of a series or part of a series.  Whenever the main character kills him or stops him, he comes back in the next book.  

Sometimes, this works as in the case of Voldemort in the Harry Potter series.  One of the reasons Voldemort works is because in the first part of the series he’s not really there.  Instead, bits of him are there in the person of one of his loyal followers who is trying to bring him back from the dead or as avatar from a diary.  Harry and friends succeed in stopping him and his followers each time.  By the time Voldemort finally comes back, the reader is invested in the good characters and their goals.  Voldemort’s power keeps increasing in the following books and the good characters have goals to reach to stop him.

Sometimes, the super bad guy doesn’t work.  In the book series I’m reading now, the bad guy has died several times, yet he keeps hopping back as the same powerful bad guy in each book.  He just died again, and I’m not a quarter of the way through the fourth book, and his means of hopping back has already been stated.  This bad guy who will not die makes me less invested emotionally in him than if he were a whack-a-mole in the arcade game.  Same-old same-old doesn’t cut it for a bad guy.

APOCALYPSE DEJA VU

You can’t have some form of apocalypse looming at the end of each novel.  The end of the world is so big that it carries very little emotional investment in the reader who knows that the world won’t end in this novel because the series will end.  Instead, make stopping the apocalypse the final goal of the series and let each book work toward that major goal, one minor but important goal at a time.  

Make the goal personal or specific for the main character.  A loved one or an innocent child to be saved carries much more emotion for both the main character and the reader than some vague object as part of a treasure hunt of apocalypse-ending talismans.  

STUPIDITY FOR THE SAKE OF THE PLOT

If there is a desperate situation and one choice to save the day is mind-numbingly stupid or suicidal, don’t let the hero choose that choice immediately.  Instead, let him try some of the obvious safer solutions first until he either runs out of time and must try the suicidal solution.  Most of us don’t want our main character suicidal, stupid, or a stick puppet for author plot laziness.

For more information on this subject, I suggest you look at my articles on character goals, plot, and book series problems.

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Links of Interest


PROBLEM WORDS AND PHRASES TO LOOK OUT FOR:

THE BIOMETRIC GUN (IT ONLY WORKS FOR ONE PERSON):

HOW TO SHOW, NOT TELL:

PROMOTION:

USING QUOTATION MARKS CORRECTLY:

5 SURPRISES LEARNED ABOUT SELF-PUBLISHING:

ESTATE PLANNING FOR WRITERS, COPYRIGHT AND INVENTORIES. (YES, IT’S BORING BUT YOU NEED TO READ IT ANYWAY):

WORKING WITH SCRIVENER SOFTWARE:

USING SCRIVENER SOFTWARE TO ORGANIZE YOUR WRITING:

FREE EBOOK MARKETING AND PUBLISHING GUIDES:

SOMEONE ELSE’S OTHER FIVE THINGS LEARNED ABOUT SELF-PUBLISHING:

SEX IN SPAAAAAACE:

HOW BOOKSCAN SALES NUMBERS ARE WRONG AND HOW IT HURTS THE MIDLIST AUTHOR:

AGENT WEBSITE WITH SOME DECENT ARTICLES ON WRITING:

WHAT SHOULD WRITERS BLOG ABOUT:

QUERY STRATEGY:

AVOIDING BAD AGENTS:

PICKING A GREAT TITLE:

LIST O’ LINKS:

Monday, January 14, 2013

Life Experience and Writing


QUESTION:  Do I really need real world experiences to write fiction?  In other words, can I write a fight scene if I’ve never hit anyone or been hit?

Real life experiences can certainly inform your fiction and give it realism, but I don’t think it is absolutely necessary.

I have written space battles without being an astronaut, diving scenes and I can't swim, and fight scenes using swords, fists, and futuristic weapons, and I have never used any of them.  (I am a pretty good shot, though.)

I've never had the first reader tell me that I got any of my fight or action scenes wrong.

I have never been punched, but I used to ride.  I have had a horse smash her head into me. I've been kicked, knocked into a tree, and have had a six-hundred pound horse fall on me and step on me when she was getting up.  

All that has given me more than enough visceral information about taking physical abuse to use in my writing.

I got my diving scene right through research, then I ran the scene past friends who do dive to check for accuracy.  

However, the more you write about something in particular, say your main character is a diver who spends much of the novel underwater looking for a treasure, the more important having personal experience is.  

As a non-swimmer who has never dived, I would never choose a main character who spends important parts of the book underwater because no amount of research will keep those scenes as authentic as they need to be.


NOTE: For more help on writing a fight scene, click on the label "fight scenes."

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Links of Interest


TEN TIPS ON BASIC WRITING SKILLS:



PLOT FIXERS, (CHECK OUT THE LINKS TO HER OTHER ARTICLES ON THIS SUBJECT):

WRITING TIME TRANSITIONS:

TRICKS TO WRITING THAT BEGINNING:

HORROR ANTHOLOGY:

WORLDBUILDING IN AN HISTORICAL FANTASY:

NOTE:  Sorry for the lack of links.  Everyone seems to be posting their resolutions and best/worst of lists this week instead of useful stuff.