Adventures in Writing: October 2013

The first thing you must consider is the kind of book you're writing. Flashbacks are quite common in literary fiction, not very common in genre (popular fiction).

Literary fiction and some mainstream fiction aren't concerned with plot and linear time (one event followed by another event). In fact, plot suspense is often tossed away by having the end of the book revealed at the beginning of the book.

Popular fiction, however, depends on plot and linear time, and the reader wants to see what happens next.

Flashbacks are a major speed bump which slows or stops the reader's forward movement through the story. The reader must pause and readjust at the beginning of the flashback and then again at the resumption of the regular plot. That pause can be fatal to the reader's immersion into the story.

Most flashbacks are poorly done, even in published writing, and the inexperienced writer would be wise to avoid them entirely because they give too much information which can be deleted without a loss to the story. Instead, the important bits can be sprinkled judiciously through the story with dialogue and interiors.

Readers are surprisingly smart about picking up scattered bits of emotional information about a character and piecing them together to figure out the past. Most readers find that fun and engaging. (See my article on interlocking questions.)

Many novelists also give the main character a close friend or a romantic partner in a non-romance for a very good reason. They not only humanize the main character; they are dang handy for exposition and backstory.

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Links of Interest

WAYS TO REACH POTENTIAL READERS:

http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2013/4-ways-for-authors-to-reach-the-right-audience-for-your-book/

THE ADVANTAGES OF HAVING YOUR SELF-PUBBED BOOK IN PRINT AS WELL AS E:

http://mysterywritingismurder.blogspot.com/2013/10/advantages-to-having-your-self.html

IMAJINN UNDER NEW OWNERSHIP:

http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/59588-bellebooks-aquires-new-imprint-and-editorial-director.html

HOW ONE AUTHOR PLANS HER BOOKS:

http://www.publishingcrawl.com/2013/10/18/how-i-plan-a-book-of-plotters-and-pantsers/

SIDEKICKS AND HENCHMEN:

http://bloodredpencil.blogspot.com/2013/10/calling-for-back-up-sidekicks-and_18.html

http://bloodredpencil.blogspot.com/2013/10/calling-for-back-up-sidekicks-and_21.html

USING PINTEREST TO BUILD YOUR AUTHOR PLATFORM:

http://tonyriches.blogspot.com/2013/10/building-your-author-platform-9.html

PROMO, SHOULD YOUR CHARACTER HAVE A TWITTER ACCOUNT FOR READERS?:

http://www.authormedia.com/lead-character-twitter-account/

USING SIX STAGE PLOT STRUCTURE TO PLOT YOUR NOVEL:

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2013/10/plotting-with-michael-hagues-six-stage.html

AN INFOGRAPHIC OF “A BRIEF HISTORY OF PUBLISHING:”

http://finvy.com/a-brief-history-of-publishing/

HOW TO RECEIVE DIRECT MESSAGES FROM FOLLOWERS OF YOUR TWITTER ACCOUNT:

http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/how-to-receive-direct-messages-from-any-twitter-follower_b79109

YOUR PROTAGONIST SHOULD BE IN THE FRONT SEAT OF THE ACTION:

http://mysterywritingismurder.blogspot.com/2013/10/protagonists-should-climb-in-front-seat.html

DESIGNING YOUR OWN BOOK COVER:

http://writerunboxed.com/2013/10/19/design-your-own-epic-book-cover

WAYS TO REVEAL CHARACTER:

http://howtoplanwriteanddevelopabook.blogspot.com/2013/10/writing-emotions-into-your-book-how.html

WHY SARCASM ONLY GOES SO FAR IN YOUNG ADULT:

http://www.publishingcrawl.com/2013/10/21/the-ya-sass-attack/

INNER CONFLICT:

http://writersinthestorm.wordpress.com/2013/10/21/turning-whine-into-gold-put-inner-conflict-on-your-team/

USING SENSORY DETAIL:

http://killzoneauthors.blogspot.com/2013/10/sensory-details-suck-your-readers-in.html

WHAT’S MOST IMPORTANT IN A STORY:

http://mysterywritingismurder.blogspot.com/2013/10/whats-important-in-story.html

http://www.trademarkandcopyrightlawblog.com/2013/10/copyright-office-recommends-new-administrative-tribunal-for-small-claims

LINKS TO HELP YOU WITH NANO WRITE:

http://pbackwriter.blogspot.com/2013/10/nanolinks.html

CHANGING YOUR BUSINESS MODEL FROM REGULAR TO SELF-PUBLISHING, (SOME DECENT LINKS TO INFO ON RESOURCES FOR SELF-PUBBING):

http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2013/10/converting-your-business-model-to-self.html

Monday, October 21, 2013

The Yin and Yang of Worldbuilding

One of the fun things about worldbuilding for a fantasy or paranormal novel is that you can take bits and pieces of religions and mythologies to build your own world. Popular writers like Kevin Hearne have had confrontations between their main character and the gods of Greece, the Norse, and the Celts as well as demons, angels, werewolves, and vampires.

This mix and match can be as much fun as an a la carte dessert tray.

However, and this is a big one, you must include the light/good and the dark/evil elements of these choices so that the playing field isn’t ridiculously one-sided.

One of the most common mistakes I see is the use of only the dark/evil part of a pantheon or religion.

A recent young adult novel I read had Judeo-Christian demons invading this world with only a small number of magical characters to fight them. The two most powerful humans were a couple of ten-year-old boys.

I kept expecting some force from the light to make its appearance to help give these kids and the human race a chance, but none appeared. Any major victory without help is ridiculous and unbelievable.

Consider the show SUPERNATURAL. The universe in this series has both angels and demons in play. The angels, for the most part, are “big dicks,” but a few offer some assistance in the constant struggle against demons and other monsters. Sam and Dean have more than themselves in this struggle.

SLEEPY HOLLOW has a demon and Death, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, as well as the monster of the week, but there is a light/good side not only in the good guys but in subtle hints that God isn’t missing in this fight for human survival.

As writers we must stack the odds against our heroes so that their victories are sweet and hard fought, but we can’t make the mistake of making that victory ridiculous by offering no help from the the light side.