Links of Interest

WAYS A QUERY LETTER CAN GO BAD (BESIDES LEAVING IT OUT OF THE FRIDGE OVERNIGHT):

http://labelleseditorialservices.com/blog/query-letter-mishaps-part-1/

http://labelleseditorialservices.com/blog/query-letter-mishaps-part-2/

TIPS TO SHOOTING YOUR COVER PICTURE:

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2014/08/10-tips-for-shooting-your-own-cover.html

PROMOTION, A CLEVER IDEA ON PROMOTING AT GOODREADS:

http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/lauren-oliver-launches-the-ghostly-goodreads-challenge_b89085

BUILDING AN ALTERNATE WORLD FOR PARANORMAL, SCIENCE FICTION ROMANCE, AND FANTASY ROMANCE:

http://writersinthestormblog.com/2014/08/writing-paranormal-science-fiction-and-fantasy-romances/

MULTIPLE DRAFTS, MULTIPLE VARIATIONS OF INFO:

http://www.publishingcrawl.com/2014/08/15/dealing-with-multiple-drafts-during-revisions/

HOW CHAPTERS ARE BUILT:

http://howtoplanwriteanddevelopabook.blogspot.com/2014/08/how-chapters-are-built-what-to-include.html

CHARACTER IMMERSION AND THE NARRATIVE VOICE:

http://fantasy-faction.com/2014/character-immersion-and-the-narrative-voice

CUTTING WORDS FROM YOUR MANUSCRIPT:

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2014/08/one-road-at-pen-and-muse-how-to-trim.html

PAINTING VERSUS DRAMATIZING A SCENE:

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2014/08/painting-scene-vs-dramatizing-scene.html

TWEAKING YOUR WRITING AND GENRE FOR SUCCESS:

http://www.livewritethrive.com/2014/08/18/tweaking-your-writing-and-genre-for-success

GIVING BACKSTORY WHILE AVOIDING INFO DUMP:

http://www.publishingcrawl.com/2014/08/19/revealing-backstory-while-avoiding-the-info-dump/

CUTTING OUT PARTS OF YOUR BOOK YOU LOVE BUT DON’T NEED:

http://bloodredpencil.blogspot.com/2014/08/kill-your-darlings.html

PROMO, MARKETING YOUR BOOK, AN HOUR A DAY:

http://tonyriches.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-i-dont-have-any-time-hour-day-book.html

SOCIAL MEDIA RULES AFTER A NATIONAL TRAGEDY:

http://thewritersalleys.blogspot.com/2014/08/three-social-media-rules-after-national.html

USING THE DARK SIDE OF EVERY GOOD TRAIT OF YOUR HERO:

http://writershelpingwriters.net/2014/08/boost-story-conflict-exploring-dark-side-heros-best-qualities/

WORLDBUILDING, EXPLAINING THOSE UNIQUE CHANGES OR RULES:

http://writerunboxed.com/2014/08/19/bafflegab/

HOW TO AVOID THE COMMON NEW WRITER MISTAKES:

http://jodyhedlund.blogspot.com/2014/08/put-your-best-work-out-there-avoid.html

WRITING A NOVELETTE:

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2014/08/writing-novelette-5-myths-debunked.html

THE ADVANTAGES OF PUTTING ROMANCE IN A NON-ROMANCE STORY:

http://www.livewritethrive.com/2014/08/20/add-a-bit-of-romance-to-your-novel/

Using a Real Place With a Fictional Name

QUESTION: I've tried to turn small towns with which I'm familiar into fictional towns or settings--usually for a paranormal world. Each time, I've ended up with a big, confusing, frustrated mess. You have mentioned that you have done this. Do you have any tips or tricks for developing your hometown into a fictional town? 

In my novel, TIME AFER TIME, my heroine’s hometown of Moravia is literally my hometown with the location of streets, etc.  

The heroine's engagement party is in a country club that's about five miles away from where I live.  I fiddled a bit with the look of the huge room and the patio where she meets the hero, though, to fit the plot.

The hero picks her up in a horse and carriage and takes her to the golf course to the east of the country club.  

I know where the McDonalds is that they stop at for a late snack and the apartment complex where she lives.

In a series I'm working on now set in Moravia, the hero's house is about a block away from where I live. The house is across the street from the Methodist church I went to as a child. 

The hero and his best friend ride on trails I rode as a girl, and the heroine goes to a fictional version of my alma mater.  When she drives there, I know what she passes, and the campus is described accurately. 

If I change some element of the real town for my fictional town, I make a note to myself to that effect although I rarely reuse settings like the country club.

I give the streets different names because I don't want people to make too close a connection between High Point and Moravia, and for the new series, I'm using the High Point of forty years ago because it fits better.  Those riding trails are now housing developments, for example.

Rather than a map, I have an equals list.  

Willow Street = Chestnut Drive

Nathanton = Greensboro

Most of my names have a word play involved.  Willow and Chestnut are both trees, and Greensboro is named after Revolutionary War hero, Nathaniel Green.

I never use exact distances, but I know how long it would take to get from the magic equipment storage warehouse to Daniel's house in the middle of the night if you were driving well over the speed limit.  

This information doesn't really change what happens or anything, and I could change the time for my own convenience, but just knowing helps keep the place real for me, and, hopefully, that makes the place more real to the reader.  

Links of Interest

THE CHARACTER-DRIVEN PLOT:

http://www.magicalwords.net/specialgueststars/delilah-s-dawson-how-to-plot-a-character-driven-story-or-why-harry-potter-should-probably-be-a-complete-d-bag

FORMATTING YOUR SUBMISSION:

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2009/03/dont-sweat-small-stuff-week-not-my-type.html

SELF-PUBLISHING INTRO AND SCAM WARNINGS:

http://www.sfwa.org/other-resources/for-authors/writer-beware/pod/

BEWARE OF ORPHAN DIALOG:

http://marcykennedy.com/2014/08/orphaned-dialogue

BACKSTORY:

http://bloodredpencil.blogspot.com/2014/08/avoid-backstory-plot-holes.html

SELF-PUBS, THE ADVANTAGE OF LEARNING AND USING HTML FOR YOUR MANUSCRIPT:

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2014/08/clean-up-your-ebook-files-with-html.html

DANGEROUS CONTRACT TERMS IN SHORT CONTRACTS:

http://writersinthestormblog.com/2014/08/how-bad-can-one-page-be-the-hidden-dangers-in-short-form-contracts/

KEEPING UP WITH DEADLINES:

http://www.magicalwords.net/specialgueststars/its-raining-deadlines-jim-c-hines

HOW TO FIND YOUR CHARACTER’S BREAKING POINT:

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2014/08/how-to-find-your-characters-breaking.html

POSITIONING YOUR BLOG FOR SUCCESS, PROMO:

http://bobbrooke.blogspot.com/2014/08/so-you-want-to-write-blog-part-2.html

YOUR COMPUTER AND OTHER TECH DEVICES AFTER YOU DIE, NO ENTIRELY WRITER RELATED, BUT YOU SHOULD READ:

http://dearauthor.com/features/essays/after-the-bell-tolls-for-thee-what-happens-after-you-die/

TAKING APART A SUCCESSFUL NOVEL AS A LEARNING TOOL:

http://www.livewritethrive.com/2014/08/11/nailing-genre-by-studying-successful-authors

HELP FOR THE PROTAGONIST SHOULDN’T COME EASY:

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2014/08/why-should-anyone-help-your-protagonist.html

DEATH DOESN’T HAVE TO COME IMMEDIATELY FOR A MURDER CHARGE:

http://writersforensicsblog.wordpress.com/2014/08/11/manner-of-death-after-33-years

MARKETS, NEW DAW GUIDELINES:

http://writingcareer.com/post/94435276661/daw-books-posts-submission-guidelines-for-sci-fi

CREATING A SETTING THAT COMES ALIVE FOR THE READER:

http://thewritersalleys.blogspot.com/2014/08/creating-setting-that-comes-alive-for.html

WRITING A TRILOGY:

http://www.publishingcrawl.com/2014/08/12/lessons-learned-while-writing-a-trilogy/

ROMANCE, WHY SHOULD YOUR HERO AND HEROINE GET TOGETHER?

http://scotteagan.blogspot.com/2014/08/why-should-your-hero-and-heroine-get.html

WRITING THE BOOK BLURB:

http://writershelpingwriters.net/2014/08/blurbs-bore-blurbs-blare/

SECONDARY CHARACTERS AS REFLECTIONS OR ALLIES OF YOUR MAIN CHARACTER:

http://www.livewritethrive.com/2014/08/13/characters-in-novels-that-are-allies-and-reflections

Pen Names

One of the dreams most writers share is seeing a book with their name on the cover, but more and more writers are choosing a pseudonym (pen name).

Why?

Years ago, finding someone by just knowing their name would have required lots of effort or the use of a private detective.

These days, most of us can use the Internet which can give us the person's address and even print out a map to their house in just a few minutes. We can find out if they are married, their kids' names, and about anything else we want to know.

Years ago, authors didn't worry about the dangers involved with using their real name, but today, professional writers talk about stalker fans, scary letters from prison inmates, and identity theft they and their friends have experienced. 

I have never had any problems, but, if I had it to do over again, I wouldn't use my real name. 

Other reasons to use a pen name aren't so scary. 

If your books' sales stink, your publisher or your agent may insist you change your name so that you have a clean slate with book distributors and bookstores who look at your last book's sales numbers before they buy or don't buy your book. 

If your next book has a different audience than usual, a new pen name will allow you to attract the right readers and not disappoint your regular readers. For example, if your books are sweet romances, and you decide to write erotica, you don't want to disappoint your fans or lose readers of erotica who think Jane Smith only writes romance with no blatant sex.

Some authors are so prolific that they write under two or more names because publishers don't want to publish more than X number of titles per author a year.

How can you keep your real name secret?

Just choosing a pen name isn't enough. Your real name will appear on the copyright information page.

To avoid this, you'll need to incorporate your pen name so that name will appear on the copyright notice instead of your real name. 

You also need to tell friends and colleagues that you wish to keep your real identity secret. More than one author has been "outed" by careless friends.

Links of Interest

THE CAST OF CHARACTERS IN  YOUR NOVEL:

http://www.livewritethrive.com/2014/07/30/the-cast-of-characters-in-a-novel/

REPAIRING THE HOLES IN YOUR PLOT:

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2010/08/find-your-plot-fridays-back-fill-those.html

SMOOTH TRANSITIONS:

http://writershelpingwriters.net/2014/07/pulse-pacing-smooth-transitions-keep-story-moving/

PROMO, SIX QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF BEFORE PROMOTING:

http://publishingperspectives.com/2014/07/6-questions-to-ask-before-publicizing-your-book/

THREE-DIMENSIONAL CHARACTERS:

http://www.publishingcrawl.com/2014/08/01/writing-3-dimensional-characters/

LIBEL AND THE AUTHOR:

http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2014/08/lessons-from-pyrrhic-victory.html

BACK STORY SECRETS:

http://www.sfwa.org/2014/08/back-story-secrets/

WRITING SCIENCE FICTION ALIENS:

http://ericbrown.co.uk/2014/08/04/writing-aliens/

READER PET PEEVES:

http://jodyhedlund.blogspot.com/2014/08/reader-pet-peeves.html

PROMOTION, GENRE HASHTAGS:

http://bloodredpencil.blogspot.com/2014/08/favorite-twitter-hashtags.html

ADDING DEPTH TO SECONDARY CHARACTERS:

http://www.publishingcrawl.com/2014/08/05/adding-depth-with-secondary-characters/

KEEPING YOUR CHARACTER’S INNER LIFE BELIEVABLE:

http://writershelpingwriters.net/2014/08/keep-story-moving-character-believable/

WHAT TO DO AFTER THE WRITER CONFERENCE:

http://labelleseditorialservices.com/blog/four-things-writers-conference/

HOW TO BE A GOOD WRITER GUEST:

http://thewritersalleys.blogspot.com/2014/08/how-to-be-good-guest.html

OVERVIEW OF SCRIVENER SOFTWARE:

http://fantasy-faction.com/2014/so-whats-the-fuss-about-scrivener

“WHICH” AND “THAT” GRAMMAR BRUSHUP:

http://www.dailywritingtips.com/which-and-that-to-introduce-clauses/

THE NEMESIS CHARACTER TYPE:

http://www.livewritethrive.com/2014/08/06/the-nemesis-character-type-in-your-story

Dealing With the Naysayers

Last week I talked about all the negativity we writers deal with.  Here's how to live with and deal with it.

I've been at this business for over thirty years, and I am an ebook pioneer so I've seen it all. The first thing you need to know is that whatever you write, whatever publisher you choose or not, whatever media you write for will have someone making fun of you.

From your fellow writers and publishing professionals, you will face sneers and contempt. If you are e-published or self-published, if you write for Kensington rather than Pocket, or paperback rather than hardcover, or if you write romance or erotica or mystery or science fiction or any other sort of fiction, you are looked down upon by someone, and that person has no trouble telling you so.

From the real world of family, friends, readers, and strangers, people will sneer at you for all the above reasons as well as a few more. Most people think LeBron James works hard for his craft and has a natural born skill, but writers just put words on paper and anyone can do it.

Over half the people who learn you are a writer tell you that they are going to write a book someday, and they think it will be published instantly. People believe that most celebrities actually write their own books, and therefore, if that idiot can write a book, anyone can.

The most important thing to know is that THEY don't define you. YOU define you.

I've discovered that my enthusiasm can win over those blank stares. The trick is to believe in what you are doing and who you are. If you give those people with sneers or blank stares the power to define who you are, then you've lost, and you are nothing.

Instead, believe in yourself and what you are doing. Writing is one of the hardest jobs in the world, and if you succeed, then you are a success. Glow with it, and no one can belittle you.