Adventures in Writing: January 2016

When the letter is being viewed by the viewpoint character and isn't terribly long, I've put the text in its entirety on the page but separated it from the regular text by having a space break above and below the letter and an inch-wide margins on both sides. (The inch is from your normal margin, not from the paper’s edge.) Some writers put this text in italics.

This method works particularly well when the content isn't highly emotional for the character. It also works when the character is alone.

For longer letters, particularly those with emotionally charged content, I have a character read it aloud as dialogue to another character. At certain important points where the character or characters are emotionally affected or the content changes things in a big way, I'll have the reading character stop and express an opinion, feelings, or questions. A bit of dialogue/discussion between or among the characters will also break up a long monologue to make it easier for the reader to keep up and not be bored with too much information.

When the character begins reading again, I say something like "Adam continued reading," or "Adam picked the letter up again and continued."

Normally, when a character quotes someone else, you use single quotes to denote it.

“Gramps always said, ‘You reap what you sow. boy.’”

If a character is quoting a letter, and the reader knows he is quoting it, you need only use standard double quotes.

For other types of text used in narrative and for paragraphing in dialogue, check out these articles.

http://mbyerly.blogspot.com/2014/10/paragraph-lengths.html

http://mbyerly.blogspot.com/2014/04/using-texting-in-fiction.html

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Links of Interest

FIRST SCENE STRUCTURE:

http://www.livewritethrive.com/2016/01/14/scene-structure-your-opening-scene

HOW TO AVOID THE SIX MOST COMMON PUNCTUATION ERRORS:

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2016/01/6-common-punctuation-mistakes-and-how.html

CRAFTING AN EFFECTIVE SETTING:

https://janefriedman.com/effective-setting/

THE TRUE NUMBERS OF ROYALTIES AND ADVANCES:

http://www.publishingcrawl.com/2016/01/14/pubcrawl-podcast-publishing-201-advances-royalties/

WHAT TO DO AFTER YOU BUILD YOUR WEBSITE:

http://bobbrooke.blogspot.com/2016/01/youve-got-sitenow-what.html

IS THAT SUBPLOT LEADING YOU ASTRAY?

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2010/03/stay-on-target.html

WHAT IS YOUR CHARACTER ASHAMED OF?

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2016/01/what-are-your-character-ashamed-of.html

SCENE STRUCTURE AND CHARACTER ARC:

http://www.livewritethrive.com/2016/01/18/scene-structure-and-character-arc

35 SYNONYMS FOR RAIN AND SNOW:

http://www.dailywritingtips.com/35-synonyms-for-rain-and-snow/

FINDING AND WORKING WITH BETA READERS:

https://janefriedman.com/find-beta-readers/

THINGS FANTASY GETS WRONG ABOUT FIGHTING:

http://fantasy-faction.com/2016/three-things-fantasy-cant-get-right-with-combat

USING BODY LANGUAGE TO STRENGTHEN DIALOG:

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2016/01/how-to-subtly-boost-your-dialogues.html

BLOG DESIGN:

http://www.problogger.net/archives/2016/01/20/are-you-ignoring-this-all-important-aspect-of-your-blog/

LONG TERM MARKETING MODELS FOR SELF-PUBS:

https://janefriedman.com/long-term-marketing-models-for-self-published-authors/

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SETTING AND WORLDBUILDING:

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2016/01/the-difference-between-setting-and.html

Monday, January 18, 2016

Paragraph and Sentence Length in Fiction

QUESTION: What is the correct length of a paragraph and a sentence when you are writing fiction?

There is no average length for paragraphs, but a really long paragraph is off-putting to the eye on paper and even more off-putting when you are scrolling on a small screen so shorter paragraphs have become the norm for current narrative.

When the average person looks at a page, they want to see some space, not a massive block of text.

The best way to do paragraphs, as a writer, is to vary the paragraph lengths on the page.

I go into much more detail about paragraph lengths in this blog entry.

http://mbyerly.blogspot.com/2014/10/paragraph-lengths.html

The same is true of sentence length.

Both sentence and paragraph length are also influenced by what is being written. A narrative description can have a longer length for both, but an action scene would have a shorter length for both.

Some writing teachers suggest varying between long sentences and short sentences in the same paragraph.

Long sentences are good for leisurely story pace. Short sentences are perfect for action scenes.

If you are unsure about how your sentences work with your content, read the sentences aloud. Sentence problems usually show up while doing this.

A good critique partner helps, too.

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Links of Interest

RESEARCH, NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY OFFERS HISTORICAL ARCHIVES FOR FREE ONLINE:

http://digitalcollections.nypl.org

SELF-PUBS, WHAT IS YOUR PRICING PLAN, PART 2:

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2016/01/indie-publishing-paths-whats-your.html

THE THREE THINGS YOU NEED IN YOUR SCENE:

http://www.livewritethrive.com/2016/01/07/scene-structure-the-first-3-things-you-need-in-your-scene

BUILDING YOUR PROMOTION TEAM:

http://www.thewritersalleyblog.com/2016/01/building-dream-team-part-1.html

CONTRACT CLAUSES, WHEN IS A BOOK OUT OF PRINT?

http://writersinthestormblog.com/2016/01/when-is-a-book-out-of-print/

DESCRIBING MOVEMENT:

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2010/01/passing-through.html

EIGHT STRATEGIES FOR MARKETING YOUR BOOK:

http://www.livewritethrive.com/2016/01/08/8-powerful-and-efficient-strategies-for-marketing-your-self-published-book

DOWNLOAD, WHAT SHOULD YOUR BOOK OUTLINE LOOK LIKE:

http://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/complete-book-outline-transcript-storming/

WRITER BEWARE’S BEST YEARLY LINKS OF WARNINGS AND CONTRACT ADVICE:

http://accrispin.blogspot.com/2016/01/best-of-writer-beware-2015-in-review.html

HOW LONG DOES A TWEET LIVE AND HOW TO FIND OUT ABOUT YOUR OLDER TWEETS:

http://writerunboxed.com/2016/01/09/ask-annie-how-long-does-a-tweet-live/

DESIGNING YOUR WEBSITE:

http://bobbrooke.blogspot.com/2016/01/designing-your-writers-web-site.html

GETTING YOUR BOOK RIGHTS BACK:

http://writerunboxed.com/2016/01/10/obtaining-reversions-of-publishing-rights-the-good-the-bad-the-ugly

http://voxindie.org/will-safe-harbor-finally-get-fixed/

THE FIVE COMPONENTS OF SCENE STRUCTURE:

http://www.livewritethrive.com/2016/01/11/the-5-essential-components-of-scene-structure

UNDERSTANDING SHOW, NOT TELL:

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2016/01/what-you-need-to-know-about-show-dont.html

DOING AUTHOR INTERVIEWS:

http://writerunboxed.com/2016/01/11/the-art-and-craft-of-author-interviews

SETTING UP AN AUTHOR WEBSITE:

http://www.publishingcrawl.com/2016/01/11/how-to-set-up-a-website/

ADDING EMOTIONAL PEAKS TO YOUR SCENES AND CHAPTERS:

http://howtoplanwriteanddevelopabook.blogspot.com/2016/01/emotional-peaks-how-to-make-sure-theyre.html

IMPROVING YOUR AUTHOR PLATFORM IN 30 DAYS, DAY 1 (I WON’T LINK TO THE OTHER POSTS):

http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/there-are-no-rules/improve-your-writing-platform-author-platform

HOW ESTABLISHED DARK FANTASY AND HORROR WRITERS DEAL WITH THEIR DARK SUBJECTS:

https://www.blackgate.com/2016/01/10/things-your-writing-teacher-never-told-you-escaping-the-darkness-or-what-to-do-when-your-imaginary-world-gives-you-real-nightmares/

SIX QUALITIES OF BAD WRITING:

http://marcykennedy.com/2016/01/6-qualities-of-bad-writing

WRITING A LOG LINE:

http://writershelpingwriters.net/2016/01/how-and-why-to-write-a-log-line-for-your-story/

HOW TO CREATE YOUR OWN AMAZON PREVIEW WIDGET:

http://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=13489836011&utm

GRAMMAR, THOSE TRICKY LITTLE DEVILS RELATIVE PRONOUNS:

http://thewritepractice.com/who-which-that-or-how-not-to-ruin-a-sentence/

OPTOMIZING YOUR BOOK DESCRIPTION AT AMAZON:

https://janefriedman.com/amazon-book-description-optimize/

GRAMMAR, THE DREADED DANGLING MODIFIER:

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2016/01/writing-basics-pardon-me-but-your.html

GRAMMAR, THE MISPLACED MODIFIER:

http://www.dailywritingtips.com/misplaced-modifiers/

GETTING THAT FIRST LINE RIGHT:

http://writersinthestormblog.com/2016/01/nail-that-first-line/

MAKING THE RIGHT WORD CHOICE:

http://www.publishingcrawl.com/2016/01/13/building-blocks-of-a-novel-word-choice/

Monday, January 11, 2016

Educating the Reader

BOOK BIZ 101: EDUCATING THE READER

Readers are passionate about their books, and some, bless them, are ravenous in their reading.

Unfortunately, many don’t understand enough about the business of publishing so they end up hurting the authors and the publishers which means fewer favorite authors and publishers.

It’s up to authors to educate them for both their sakes. Here are some suggestions.

First and foremost, readers, publishers, and authors are an ecosystem, and money is the food that keeps that ecosystem alive.

If you financially starve any part of the system, the whole system can fail.

These days, with the advent of self-publishing, some authors are their publishers, but the ecosystem is primarily the same.

WAYS TO HELP AUTHORS:

•If you can't find a book, ask the bookstore to special order it for you. If enough people do this, they'll order the author's next book. This also helps the bookstores stay in business.

•Pre-ordering a book before the publication date tells the publisher and the bookseller that this book will be popular, and they may buy/print more copies. Many authors consider this tip the number one way for readers to help an author’s career.

•Don’t pass around new books to friends. A bookstore and the publisher can only tell how popular a book is by the number of copies sold. If you share your one book with six friends, the publisher and the bookstore won't know this. Get those six friends to buy the book themselves. The only exception to this rule is the first book of a series after a few books have been published. If you get friends addicted to a series you love so they will buy the rest of the series, you will help keep that series alive.

•Buy the book new, not used. If you buy the book used, you won't be counted as a reader by the publisher who only knows about new book sales. Neither the publisher nor the author gets paid when a used book is sold so money is being syphoned away from the producers of books.

•E-books cannot be sold used because of copyright laws. Nor can they be borrowed except from a library or a closed system like Kindle. Authors/publishers have to agree that their book can be loaned.

•Don't take a paper book to the used bookstore until it is no longer on the bookstore shelves. Two to three months from the time you buy it is a good rule of thumb.

•Paperback books without their covers are stolen books. Tell the person at the flea market or used bookstore that it's illegal to sell and show them the legal note to this effect at the front of the book. If you continue to see books like this sold, send a letter to the publisher or use their website to tell them.

•If you see an electronic version of a copyrighted novel available for free at some website or on a newsgroup, contact the publisher or author immediately and tell them. Not only is this illegal, but it is the financial murder of your favorite authors and the end of the kind of books you love.

•Even if you are financially forced to buy used or to borrow books from the library or friends, you can still help the author. Write reviews. Tell friends. Reviews and word of mouth sell books.

NOTE: If you have other ideas, please share them in the comments.

Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Links of Interest

MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR BOOK LAUNCH DAY:

http://www.magicalwords.net/gail-martin/making-the-most-of-your-launch-day

THE SELF-PUB TO-DO CHECK LIST:

https://janefriedman.com/self-publishing-checklist/

INEFFECTIVE SETTINGS:

http://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/common-mistakes-series-pt-47/

GIVING YOUR CHARACTER THE PROPER ENTRANCE:

http://www.darcypattison.com/revision/making-a-grand-entrance/

FINDING THE RIGHT CRITIQUE GROUP OR PARTNER:

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2015/06/are-you-looking-for-critique-group-or.html

CHOOSING THE POSSIBLE PATHS IN YOUR PLOT:

http://writerunboxed.com/2016/01/05/the-storyteller-and-the-roads-not-traveled-in-the-wip

NONFICTION QUERY LETTERS:

https://janefriedman.com/the-complete-guide-to-query-letters-nonfiction/

SELF-PUBLISHING COMPANY AUTHOR SERVICES, HATED AND SUED BY MANY WRITERS, HAS BEEN SOLD:

http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/69062-author-solutions-sold-to-private-equity-firm.html

CREATING COMPELLING SETTINGS:

http://writersinthestormblog.com/2016/01/23212/

MASTERING THE CLIFFHANGER CHAPTER ENDING:

http://writershelpingwriters.net/2016/01/mastering-the-art-of-the-cliffhanger-chapter-ending/

Monday, January 4, 2016

Quiz: Do You Have What It Takes to be a Writer?

Do you have what it takes to be a fiction writer? Here's a true or false test to find out.

Be brutally honest. The only person you will be cheating is yourself. Choose TRUE if the statement describes you or what you believe, FALSE if it does not.

1. I don't need to know grammar and spelling. That's the job of the editor. My job is to tell the story.

2. Most authors make lots of money. That's why I want to write.

3. I want things NOW. I'm just not a patient person.

4. Friends or family want to watch a movie you really want to see, but you haven't written your quota for the day. You usually stay at the computer and write.

5. If I don't write every day, I get grumpy or edgy.

6. There's one secret to writing a publishable story, and when I learn what it is, I'll succeed.

7. Criticism really hurts me. If someone criticizes my work, I feel like a failure.

8. If someone criticizes my work, I will change it immediately.

9. I love to read a certain kind of story, and that's what I want to write.

10. It's easy to write and sell a novel. All I will have to do is sit down and write it, then I will sell it.

BONUS POINTS QUESTION: I dream of stories to tell, or characters demand their stories be told, or I envision whole scenes, and I want to find out what happens next.

ANSWERS

1. FALSE Editors are busy people, and they don't have the time to correct simple mistakes. Simple mistakes indicate a poor writer, as well, and usually brings a fast rejection. WORTH 10 POINTS

2. FALSE Most authors are very poorly paid, expenses are high, and the time required is intense. The average writer can't support herself or her family on several books a year from a major publisher with good distribution. A few self-published writers do but most don’t. WORTH 10 POINTS

3. FALSE Publishing is an excruciatingly slow process. First you write the book, then you wait for months as you send out queries, more months for them to look at a portion of the manuscript, and even more months to look at the complete manuscript. And if they want to publish it, it will take a year or more to see print. Even self-publishing a book, if you do it correctly with an editor, etc., takes many months of work. WORTH 10 POINTS

4. TRUE You have to create writing time and that means you have to give up other things. You have to want to write, or you'll never succeed. WORTH 10 POINTS

5. TRUE Writing is an adrenaline addiction. WORTH 10 POINTS

6. FALSE There is no one secret to creating a publishable novel. There are, however, a few things you need to do. The first is sticking your rear in a chair in front of the computer with some consistency and writing. WORTH 10 POINTS

7. FALSE A tough skin must be standard equipment if you want to be a novelist. Every step along the way will be filled with criticism and rejection. The trick is to realize that they are talking about your work, NOT you. WORTH 10 POINTS

8. FALSE Writing isn't a project by committee. You know your work best so you must decide if a suggestion has value or not. The trick is determining what changes are part of learning craft and what changes force your voice or story in the wrong direction. WORTH 10 POINTS

9. TRUE You have to enjoy, respect, and read the types of stories you write. This gives you a good basis for knowing what works and what readers want.

Nothing is more obvious to a reader or an editor than a writer who doesn't read in her field. This is especially true in romance. A reader can spot someone who is writing for the money really fast. WORTH 10 POINTS

10. FALSE Writing is a craft that must be learned. You are as likely to have the natural skills to be a publishable writer as someone who has never played basketball would have the skills to play professional NBA basketball.

The first novel rarely sells. Most published writers write several before they sell. Some can write up to a dozen novels before selling. WORTH 10 POINTS

Bonus Points Question: TRUE If this doesn't happen to you, you really aren't meant to be a fiction writer. All the other things above can be learned, but this can't. WORTH 100 POINTS

SCORES

0 to 99 A writing career isn't for you. Do a happy dance because you have escaped such an evil fate and go read instead.

100-145 If you're willing to change and work hard, you can become a professional writer.

145-190 Congratulations. You are completely insane and the perfect candidate for being a professional writer.