Might Be Light

 Still trying to figure out pasting issues into Blogger, and work is getting crazy.  Plus, I still need to get back to writing my new novel, so January may be lighter than usual on blogging.  Just wanted to let y'all know.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, everyone!  May the promise of the season find its way into your
hearts and homes.  And if you’re thinking about a good present for someone you 
know, my books are always for sale!  😉  

Something Odd

Normally I cut and paste from a Word document into this blog to save time since it's easier to write in Word than on here.  I'm just more comfortable using Word, so I write everything in advance and then cut and paste it in before publishing.

However, this month, as I try to cut and paste in, something bizarre is going on - my text is showing up as one long run-on sentence that I then have to painstakingly correct.  In other words, it's taking me three to five times longer just to put in my "normal" posts.
(Don't worry - I typed this one directly into Blogger to make sure everything worked)

I need to figure this out.  It happened with only a few posts - not all of them - but it's annoying and making posting not worth the time.  Anyone have an idea why it's doing this to some of my posts and not others that I write the exact same way?

Traditional Publishing Consolidation and Competition

Eons ago, there were a multitude of publishing houses.  These houses created true competition for not only established, blockbuster authors, but their hunger to come out on top led them to take risks on new authors no one had yet discovered in the hopes of finding the next big thing.  Yes, there were lots of failures, but they also found JK Rowling, Stephanie Meyer, Tad Williams, and Timothy Zahn.  They appreciated a Stephen King, but they took time to develop a David Weber, because they had to find fresh blood to keep up with everyone else.

However, in the late 1990s, publishing houses began to merge and consolidate until today there are only five major publishing houses(Penguin/Random House, Hachette, Harper Collins, Simon & Schuster, and MacMillan).  And if the merger between Penguin/Random House and Simon & Schuster goes forward, we’ll be down to four.  That consolidation and monopolization of the market is why the DOJ is stepping in to limit it.

The continuing mergers of large publishing houses in restricting competition, to say nothing of shutting out new voices…at least in the traditional publishing market.  Resources are becoming so scarce, and traditional publishing houses have become so risk-averse, that they tend to dedicate resources only to “proven” blockbuster authors.  The few new authors that get a contract are kept on meager wages and onerous contracts that strong them along without allowing them to breakout.  They can try to take their work to one of the other publishing house in search of better terms, but that has become increasingly more difficult as competitors shrink.  In the olden days, an author with talent could find a friendly editor willing to develop raw talent and turn them into a star, but those days are long gone.

Kristine Kathryn Rusch does a great job talking about the what-ifs of the business and how consolidation has hampered new talent growth.  If you want to see something analogous that you can relate to, look at how Hollywood is looking for the next sequel or summer blockbuster in an established franchise rather than taking chances on something new(could Star Wars or Blade Runner get made today?).  She muses that the move by the DOJ is 15-20 years too late, and that the damage has already been done and is lasting.

She has a point…when it comes to traditional publishing.  There are fewer and fewer auctions for books, and advances and marketing has dwindled.  However, that has opened up opportunities for indie publishing.  I could go into how indie publishing has gone from “you’re shit” to viable in the last decade and a half, from POD platforms to cover artist relationships, but the main point is that indie publishing has become a valid path for so many that it wasn’t early this century.  A writer that can’t break through can use an indie platform and make a successful living.  And just like with traditional publishing, an author that finds a viral moment can get big(like Andy Weir).  It still takes talent and a large stroke of luck, but it’s doable, and I think traditional publishing has enabled it.

That’s right – traditional publishing restricting itself has signed its own death warrant.  It froze out all but the top tier, established writers, leaving folks with no choice.  If dozens of houses still remained, breaking through the noise would be much more difficult given that indie could still be written off as not being “good enough” to find someone to publish them.  However, with options being so limited and so exclusionary, and platforms like Amazon and IngramSpark  providing such quality, indie writers can find their own path and people will give them a chance.  Ebooks especially make this possible since they’re cheap and don’t take up space.

So, is the limiting/consolidation of traditional houses, and more merges into larger and fewer entities, truly a bad thing?  I’m not so sure.  I think the narrow vision of traditional houses opens up lanes for those looking for more control.  I think if the traditional houses marketed their newbies worth a damn, they could still crowd out indie competition, but since new authors know they’re on their own until they break through, most figure they might as well keep control if they have to do most of the stuff for themselves anyway.  Now all we need is for the audience to follow suit.  Many are coming around, and if we can reach a critical mass, then the entire structure of traditional publishing will collapse.  In its place, we can build, and are already building, a more open world for artistic expression.

Lag Time And Profligacy

In a previous post, I gave aspiring authors advice on how to approach their writing careers.  I tried to be balanced, although I’m still pretty sure my obvious bias against traditional publishing came out.  Well, this post will be even more open about it.

For those looking to go traditional because they don’t want to worry about cover design, 
editing, or their own imprints, know what you’re getting into regarding both being paid and
your own profligacy.  I mean, although I know everyone enjoys writing just for the sake of
writing, we all also like to get paid, right?  Well, traditional houses tend to only pay every six
months(if you got an advance, then you don’t get paid anything more until your books have
made more in royalties than what you were advanced), and the best you’ll get is 15%(before
you pay your agent and your taxes).  Let’s hope you make enough from one paycheck to 
last the next six months.

There’s also profligacy, which means how many titles you can put out in a year.  Most writers 
make their money from not one, but multiple titles being in the public sphere.  Unfortunately, 
most traditional publishing houses won’t put out but one title a year(two if you’re really lucky).  
This goes back to the dumbass idea that the public will grow bored of you, so you don’t 
want to much out there in succession.  But that’s stupid since most people immediately 
search for other titles by an author that they find they like.  It limits authors’ ability to take
care of themselves.  And don’t give me this garbage about maintaining quality – any industry
that can publish either Pregnesia or Moon People has no real interest in quality.

Just take this stuff into consideration when you are considering whether to go indie or
traditional in your writing journey.  Maybe you can live with this stuff; I can’t.

Procrastinating Blog Topics

As I’ve mentioned before, I try to write my blog posts the month prior, and, for the most part, I’m successful.  I allow room for occasional breaking news, but staying ahead helps keep me out of a perpetual deadline panic.

This month, however, I’ve procrastinated even coming up with the topics for this month’s posts, much less writing anything.  Yes, procrastinated even for me.

I keep a small notepad on my desk at home, and when I get an idea for a post, I jot it down.  I went to this method once I figured out my memory – I’m sure I’ll remember that topic – wasn’t as good as I wished it was.  Most of the time, ideas will just come to me, and writing it down is easy.  Sometimes, though, I have to make a more concerted effort to find topics.  That was the case this month…except that I didn’t make that concerted effort, so I found myself mid-month with exactly one topic written down and no posts complete.  It forced my hand, so I sat down and gave several minutes of deliberate thought to topics, which is something I almost never do.

On the plus side, whining about not having enough topics provided a pretty good topic.  I’ll try to do better over Christmas…

Foreign Spam

As many websites do, I get spam comments from time to time.  However, I seem to have gotten on some Russian spam list, as so many of my most recent comments have been in Russian.  Here’s a small sampling of what I’ve been getting, and what they translate to:

Поставка продукции из ГидраРУ осуществляется по территории Российской Федерации. Громадное количество ответственных поставщиков https://www.playstationforum.pl/thread-32302.html обеспечат путевый товар по выгодному курсу. На сайте Hydra представлено огромное количество товаров различного предназначения. Надежный интернет-магазин осуществляет специализированную работу шести лет и продолжает активно развиваться.

Delivery of products from HydraRU is carried out on the territory of the Russian Federation. A huge number of responsible suppliers https://www.playstationforum.pl/thread-32302.html will provide travel goods at a favorable rate. The Hydra website contains a huge number of products for various purposes. The reliable online store has been performing specialized work for six years and continues to actively develop.”

 

Онлайн-магазин HydraRU обеспечит любому юзеру прекрасную степень защиты при обработке определенной операции. Стоит только авторизироваться на платформе Гидра, а личная информация направится на хранение в засекреченном формате на облачном сервере. Используя площадку вход гидра зеркало посетители получают наивысшую степень безопасности.

“The HydraRU online store will provide any user with an excellent degree of protection when processing a specific operation. One has only to log in to the Hydra platform, and personal information will be sent to storage in a classified format on a cloud server. Visitors get the highest degree of security using the hydra mirror entrance area.”

 

Множественное число водителей реализуют самолично доработку авто, но некоторые вещи лучше передавать профессионалам. Все автотранспортные средства разнятся не лишь только производительностью, но и дизайном определенных деталей. Реализуйте оригинальный дизайн через покраску дисков покраска штампованных дисков порошковой краской.

“A plurality of drivers personally implement the finalization
of the car, but it is better to transfer some things to professionals.
All vehicles differ not only in performance, but also in the design of
certain parts. Realize the original design by painting the rims; painting
the stamped rims with powder paint.”
 
I like getting comments, but I have no idea what these mean or why
I’m getting them.  Am I being recruited by the StarLeague to defend
the Frontier against Xur and the Kodan Armada?

Advice For New Authors

Bouncing off of my previous post, I wanted to expand on what advice I gave to my friend about starting his intrepid journey into the writing world.
(see what I did there about splitting one potential post into two?  😊)

First off, understand that writing is the fun and easy part.  I think a lot of us thought that our writing careers would entail us waking up when the sun was warm, brewing a fresh pot of coffee, and sitting down to craft our masterpiece.  After all, we went into this to write…right?

As I relayed to my buddy, writing is the least stressful and least time consuming part of what we do as writers…

Staying on the topic of just the writing, know that unless you’re a prodigy, rarely can you just sit down and churn out something grand.  Sure, lots of writers are what are known as “pantsers,” as in “writing by the seat of your pants”(little outlining), but even the most prolific panster needs to know where he or she is going, and that involves just sitting and thinking about your story.  Even if you don’t outline it, figuring out where it’s going is a huge time commitment.

Then there’s the editing.  Again, unless you’re a master who has bene doing this for more time than has ever existed, the first thin you put on paper isn’t going to be flawless.  There will be continuity problems.  There will be errors in spelling and punctuation.  There will be LOADS of extraneous words that make your story seem overwrought and cumbersome.  So you’ll need to invest time in editing.  This means you, the author, going back through your work and culling large parts while you correct others.  And this isn’t even to preclude working with an editor for hire whose edits you till need to look over to determine their worth(remember – never, ever, ever submit your stuff without outside eyes looking it over…no matter how good you think you are, you’ll miss stuff and come off as an amateur).

But let’s say that you’ve gone through all of that – the outlining, the writing, the editing, etc.  Now you have to get folks beyond you and your family to read it.  And that is multi-layered in itself.  You need to figure out if you want to go with traditional publishing or indie publishing.  Have you researched agents and how to write a query?  Have you thought about semi-annual reimbursement rates?  Are you willing to accept whatever edits the publisher says are required, and how comfortable are you with giving up control over the cover?  If you go indie, do you have the financial resources?  Do you know what you want your cover to look like?  Who will format your book for release, and what platforms do you think will be good to offer it on?

Yet even that pales in comparison to getting the word out.  Whether traditional or indie, you will be expected to generate your own buzz unless your name is Rowling, King, or Patterson.  It’s a lot like trying to find a job – you need to network, you need to attend trade shows(ie, writers’ conferences), you need to join readers groups, etc.  Remember, until you build a name cache, no one knows who you are, much less do they care about your story.  You have to find ways to make them care.

You also need to consider how you’ll run your business as an author.  In traditional, do you like the terms the publisher demands(pro-tip – when you’re a newbie, the publisher holds all the power)?  In indie, will you set up an LLC or a sole proprietorship(remember, Uncle Sam wants his cut)?  I know you got into writing to write, but there are laws about this stuff if you ever hope to make any money.  Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy writing just for fun too, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to eventually get paid for my creativity.

I’m not trying to scare anyone off – I just want to make sure those entering our world understand what is involved.  There’s a difference between being an amateur, just-for-fun writer, and a professional author.  Know what that means going in so you can make an informed decision.  You’ll be so much happier with whatever path you choose if you do.

Helping Out

A buddy of mine called me up recently to talk about how to get started as an author.  He knew I wrote books, and he wanted to know how I got started and kept going.  It was a great conversation, and I wanted to use it as a springboard to encourage other authors to help out those new to the craft.

There should be nothing about writing that we view as proprietary.  Unlike the product at Pizza Hut or FedEx, someone using another author’s product(ie, reading their book) does not mean ours is not being read.  In fact, increasing a reading audience usually means that more folks are reading books and, thus, are more apt to read yours.

If you’re an established author, and someone asks you for advice, give it.  Be helpful.  Maybe your protégé will turn into a best seller and return the favor by turning people onto your work.  Or maybe they’ll just increase the reading audience in general.  Whatever it is, you lose nothing by helping out, so take whatever time you can spare when someone asks.  It’s the write thing to do.  😊

More NaNoWriMo Thoughts

Okay, NaNoWriMo is now over, so I’ll give my unvarnished(and possibly offensive) thoughts on what I consider to be a bunch of hoity-toity virtue signaling rather than something good for writing.

For those who don’t know, NaNoWriMo stands for Nation Novel Writing Month, and it happens every November.  The idea is for folks to start a new project and write 50,000 words by midnight on November 30^th.  In order to accomplish this, a writer must write an average of 1667 words a day.

Now maybe this helps spur some folks to find the motivation they need to get to that book project they’ve always talked about.  Lord knows that I’ve had my own challenges with getting off my ass and writing on my newest novel.  However, I dislike NaNoWriMo for a number of reasons.

For starters, any book worth its salt requires thought and planning.  Yes, as I wrote Salvation Day or Akeldama, I managed 4000-5000 words in a single session, which is more than NaNoWriMo requires, but I didn’t write every day.  Sometimes I outlined.  Sometimes I corrected previously written work.  Sometimes I just needed a day off.  Whatever it was, while I could’ve reached 50,000 words, I think the quality would’ve suffered.

Second, if you need a specific month to finally write, are you really a writer?  Shouldn’t you be writing regardless of what the calendar says?  Or are you just looking for kudos from your friends as you make the cut?  And do you stop writing just because December is finally here?  It just feels so forced.

Finally, I dislike the pretension around NaNoWriMo.  Some say we should be encouraging each other, and I’m all about that, but I’ve found so many use it as an excuse to brag, and I despise that.  A good writer doesn’t need to brag about it, but rather should just do his or her best and write the best story possible.  But NaNoWriMo seems like a dick-measuring contest among writers.  Yes, we usually write for ourselves, but mostly because we like the story and want others to enjoy it, not to be self-righteous and tell other writers how awesome we are.

Of course, I am awesome, but bragging about it is unseemly.  ;-P

Blogging Interfering With Writing?

I enjoy blogging, even if the styles of blogging are different than novel writing.  However, as mentioned in the previous post, sometimes time gets away from me and I have to cram to get in the blog posts necessary to make it through a month.

However, since this creates a multi-day effort to catch up, and it has happened several times, I wonder if blogging is affecting my ability to write.  Admittedly, some of this is laziness – which I haughtily refer to as “breaking the inertia” – because I just haven’t done much at all on my most recent novel.  I finally found time to complete a recent chapter and get halfway through another, but I then promptly out it away and haven’t touched it in a few weeks.  Still, maintaining this blog does take away from writing time, and given the traffic, I wonder how useful maintaining the blog is.  If I let it wither for a month or two(as has happened in the past), would I be able to do more on my novel?  Or would I now have two writing projects that are neglected instead of just one…

Lazy Writing

 My last post talked about lazy editing.  This talks about my laziness in general - I have barely written anything on my new novel recently.

I love to write, but breaking the inertia and actually writing is tougher than non-writers know.  One famous author told me that not writing was something so many authors do well, and I'm certainly subject to that.  I finally forced myself to make time and write two new chapters on my sci-fi/fantasy mashup, and if I could do it consistently, I'd love it since it's starting to get exciting(ie, I'm as eager to find out what happens as you are).

But have I pissed off my beta-readers?  I haven't given them anything in six months.  I'm sure I'll have to at least give them the whole book again for context(I'm sure they've long deleted what they had and forgotten the main points).  I'm going to re-engage and hope they're still with me.  If not, it might be time to find new beta-readers.  :-P 

Lazy Editing

I’d love to say that I don’t read the reviews my books get, but that would be dishonest.  I don’t engage with reviewers, as I think that’s a horrible idea, but I’ve read most of the critiques I’ve gotten.  I simply have too few to just gloss over them the way someone with 1800 reviews can, and I always remember that reading tastes are subjective.

That said, comments about editing, as opposed to content, catch my eye.  I wish I could tell everyone that my work is error free, but it’s not.  I have two books that didn’t get the editing process the way they should have(ie, outside eyes) – Akeldama and Schism.  Akeldama was done out of pure arrogance.  I felt that since I’d meticulously reviewed my work, of course there were no editing errors.  Several resubmissions to my printer after publishing taught me one hell of a lesson in having proper humility.

Schism, on the other hand, was a combination of two things – the return of that arrogance, and my own laziness.  The arrogance returning thing was egregious, and I think that, much like a driver temporarily cured of speeding after getting a ticket, I’m at least temporarily cured of arrogantly thinking I can catch everything.  The second thing was simple laziness.  I just plain didn’t want to go through the process.  I wanted Schism out, and nothing was going to get in the way of that.  Again, stupid on my part.

If you have no time to get your work edited by an outside source, then you don’t have time to publish.  Sloppy work denotes an amateur.  If you want to be taken seriously as an author and not just a hobbyist, you’ll put out quality work, both from the perspective of content and editing.

Is Seeking Copyright Worth It?

I got a copyright for Akeldama.  I sought no copyrights for anything else I wrote.  I’ve found myself wondering which direction is the best course.

From my understanding, your work is protected he moment you write it.  As long as you can prove it was yours and you first wrote it, it’s not like someone can just copy your stuff and pass it off as theirs simply because you didn’t get something from the copyright office(if I’m wrong, someone please let me know).  So does that make the $75 I paid at the time, and the months it took to get, worth it?

I struggle with this moving forward.  Getting a full-blown copyright was a pain in the ass, but it does provide semblance of peace of mind.  However, is that extra step necessary?  I’d love to hear what you think.

Naming Conventions

In an ideal world, a good story would be all it took to hook an audience.  In such a world, the name or identity of the author would be wholly irrelevant.  Unfortunately, we don’t live in that world, and a recent/revelation/practical joke revealed that in spades.

A Spanish writer that went by the pseudonym of Carmen Mola wrote several aware winning novels about a female detective named Elena Blanco, “peculiar and solitary woman, who loves grappa, karaoke, classic cars and sex in SUVs.”  The author’s name was well known to be a pseudonym, and it had been publicized that the author was a university professor in her late-40s and a mother of three who chose anonymity to protect life outside of writing.  Seemed fine to most folks, since this kind of literature was largely consumed by women looking for a strong protagonist.  However, the Planeta Prize, an award worth over 1 million euros, drew the actual author out, and that’s when the fun began.

Or should I say the authors.

Seems like the author in question was not a middle aged mother, but three scriptwriters who’d previously worked on soap operas and movies.  And oh, did I mention they were men?

Depending on your worldview, this was either an incredibly clever marketing gimmick or an egregiously offensive way to crowd out women authors.  Some chuckled, and others were outraged.

Of course, lost in all of this has been whether the stories were any good.  Apparently they were good enough to win a prize strong enough to draw the writers out of anonymity.  That lone should speak to the strength of the work.  Unfortunately, everything has become political, and now folks have retreated to their respective corners.  It makes one wonder if the extra publicity will draw new readers, or if it will alienate the current audience.

I think this shows a weakness in our perceptions about what makes good writing.  JK Rowling, for example, used a form of this gimmick when she first wrote and marketed the Harry Potter novels using “JK” instead of “Joanne” since there was worry that boys would not buy a novel written by a women.  That’s insane since the Harry Potter novels are among the best written in modern times and appeal across genders and demographics.  The same should apply to the Carmen Mola moniker(Carmen Mola translates to “Carmen’s cool").  If the story is good, then folks should enjoy it; who wrote it shouldn’t matter.  But of course it does because we all have a) our preconceived notions about who can and who cannot write certain genres, and b) when we find out something politically upsetting, we sulk and mope like a child who didn’t get his or her way.  It’s a sad commentary on modern society that one would hope we can all get past.  After all, isn’t enjoyment of the story the point?

Controversial On Purpose?

Following up to my previous post about social media, I found myself wondering at the benefit/detriment of being controversial on purpose.  I know a few authors who try to be outrageous for the express purpose of generating traffic.  Some truly hold the views they promulgate, some exaggerate for effect, and some say things they don’t believe because they know people will react.

I’ve always been wary of this approach since a pissed-off somebody is unlikely to buy your book.  Growing numbers may produce a new fan or two, but unless you get big, doe that compensate for those who will dedicate themselves to destroying you over their pearl-clutching offense?

Don’t get me wrong – I have some very definitive views(ask anyone who knows me on a personal level).  I just wonder at whether putting them out there creates more good than harm with the general public.  Sales are great, but limiting the audience is rarely a good thing unless you already have so many fans it’s meaningless.

Maybe I’m on the outside of this.  After all, while some of my stuff has sold okay, I haven’t broken out, but I don’t know that I want to be an ass just to see if I can increase my revenue.  At best, some will buy my stuff while others will despise me and never buy my stuff.  At worst…well…I’ve seen people lose their livelihoods for pissing off the wrong person or group, not only decimating their sales, but the rest of their lives as well.  How risk-taking/stupid do you have to be to do this, and how do you walk that tightrope?

Knowing Your Strengths

Yes, this post will kinda sorta contradict an earlier post, but hopefully the nuance between the two will help you overlook that.  Something many non-writers don’t get, and which many writers can’t push past, is that writers in general usually have strengths in certain genres.  We instinctively understand this when we look at who wrote the book, but in conversation, we seem to think that being a writer translates across all domains.  It doesn’t.

I bring this up because a friend recently asked me to write a non-fiction memoir for a friend of his.  This person lost her husband recently and wanted to share the story of that person’s life.  As I found out more, it sounded intriguing…but it wasn’t something I could pull off.

I write fiction.  In fact, most of what I write is fantastical fiction.  I got asked once to critique a western novel, and I was completely lost since westerns aren’t my thing.  Similarly, while I may enjoy memoirs and documentaries, crafting them isn’t my thing.  I would do a horrible job, so I decided to pass on the project.

All of this comes back to writers knowing their strengths.  I know a comic writer who creates stories based on his life, and they’re awesome.  He then tried to eek his way into science-fiction, and the result was terrible.  Awful.  Among the worst sci-fi I’ve ever read.  He asked me for a critique, and I was as nice as I could be given the nature of what I read, but I tried gently telling him to stick with more real-life situations that you can put a comedic or relatable twist on.

Writers need to know what they’re good at, and what they’re not good at.  Yes, you can always seek out ways to improve, but sometimes it’s just not your thing, much like no matter how much I train, I’ll never be able to disassemble and reassemble an internal combustion engine – my brain simply doesn’t work that way.  So find out the way your brain works and go with it rather than fighting against the tide and looking untalented.

Real Places

I just wanted to re-visit a gripe regarding permissions.  I try to put as many “real life” locations in my work as I can because I feel it adds both an element of reality to the work, and it creates a cool set of easter eggs for readers to check out when they search for this stuff online or in person.  Unfortunately, there are restrictions on places you can use.

If it’s a public place, like a park or interstate, then there’s really no issue.  The issue comes when you try to use a private business or private person’s home.  In Akeldama, there was a large midwestern campus I wanted to use as the site for the introduction of the vampires.  Sooner or later, I had to show the coming conflict, and this was an OK place to dally in.  However, when I contacted this university, they said that vampire violence would paint them in a bad light.

As you finish retching over that bit of stupidity, just know that I had the same reaction.  Still, I removed their name and created Generic-College-Campus several hundred miles from the actual location.  It removed the sense of realness, but it made finishing the writing easier since I didn’t have to get permission.  Of course, lots of place did give me permission, like Philippe TheOriginal(which, to my horror, I misspelled in the novel, and although corrected, I’ve been too embarrassed to send them a new copy…I’ll get over that one day), and it adds an element of fun to the story.  Other places have similarly given permission, so check out what’s “real” in my books and what isn’t.

So reality helps add to the story, but bucking those that don’t like their places included isn’t worth the potential legal headaches it could create.  Balance out what you think adds to your story and what is extraneous.

Building Suspense

How does one build suspense as a writer?  I may as well ask how to spin gold out of straw.  If it was as simple as capturing it in a blog post, everyone would be great.  So I decided instead to share what worked for me, and to do that, I’ll need to go to what I consider my greatest work – Salvation Day.

For those who don’t know, Salvation Day is about a grief-stricken man who wants to kill God(a lot more complex than that, but that’s the essence).  To build a narrative that allows the reader to sympathize with such an awful motivation, I had to build it slowly and put the reader on the edge of his or her seat.  I brought in echoes of the past lamenting how he lost his family.  I integrated supernatural elements with his own paranoid personality.  I made characters that are nominally seen as “evil” into more fleshed out versions that push back against such a simplistic caricature.

I also had to know how to draw readers into wanting to keep reading.  Most folks read from chapter to chapter.  After all, the chapter is where the action is, so who stops reading in the middle of a fight scene or impassioned speech?  Yet the reader also had to be drawn into the next chapter and want to read it as soon as they could, so I set mini-cliffhangers.  The main character was fired, had an awful vision while sleeping, and wakes up to answer his phone.  The gates of Heaven had been breached and the demon army was on the cusp of storming inside.  The main character was given an ultimatum by his allies to decide whether to bend to them or face death.

Basically, it was about creating a compulsion to keep reading, even when the reader was tired and wanted to go to sleep or had to dart off to their kid’s ballet practice.  That compulsion may have to lay dormant for a while, but the urge to continue must be there or it becomes easy to not read.  So answer some questions, but create more.  That makes the reader hungry to know, and that’s what helps create suspense.

Shooting In The Dark

I’ve started sending out interview requests to a variety of authors.  Some of those I’ve sent notes to are just writers whose stuff I’ve read and liked; others are very well known authors who have sales most of us will only dream of.  I’ve gotten a few responses, but not many.  I’m throwing random darts and hoping to occasionally hit the target.  Makes me wonder how such a scattershot approach will work…

Repeating Blog Topics

Turns out I’ve been repeating a few of my blog topics.  I found that just the other day when I saw I’d basically redone a post about how blogging is different than writing a novel(stream of consciousness vs planning/outlining, etc).  No, I wasn’t trying to be cute – I simply forgot I’d covered it, even though it was only a few months ago.

This is what happens when you blog.  I don’t have photographic recall of what I’ve.  I remember a few things, especially the bigger ones(like my indie publishing advocacy), but I’ve done so many blog posts, that they sometimes run together.  It’s just reality.  Sorry.

Feeling Stuck

I saw a recent interview where the person being interviewed said, “You’re going to be stuck writing a series or a genre for quite a while.”  In fact, the entire tone of the interview was that you should pick a genre and stick with it.  I’m not sure I agree with that.

Don’t get me wrong – a writer shouldn’t write something he or she sucks at.  I’ve long criticized George Lucas for trying to write romantic dialogue in Attack of the Clones because he just wasn’t up to it.  It felt forced and campy and the kind of thing you’d see in a love note written by a 4^th grader.  If the writer can’t pull it off, then he or she should learn a lot before trying to do so(or at least before showing it to the general public).

But I think it’s possible to pull off different genres if you have enough skill.  I’ve written science fiction, paranormal, and political/military thriller.  I think each of my stories work because it’s the story that’s compelling rather than the genre.  Beyond that, I feel that limiting yourself to a genre is confining.  The world’s best don’t do this, and if you want to be the best, you have to find ways to break out(Harry Turtledove’s Great War saga may be an alternate universe, but it reads like military fiction; he also branched out into true science fiction with his WorldWar series).

I think it boils down to knowing your strengths and weaknesses.  Maybe you aren’t yet up to the task, but that doesn’t mean you brush it off forever.  If you want to write Americana or Crime Drama, then figure out how.  Even Stephen King doesn’t only write horror, so find out if you can translate your strengths to other areas.

Is Social Media Worth It?

Social media can be both a benefit and a detriment.  It allows us to keep up with friends and family, and for authors, it allows us to connect with the audience.  Unfortunately, in today’s polarized world, social media can also be a sewer.  Even leaving aside the room for misinterpretation by folks with their own agendas(given how much body language and tone of voice communicate but are left out of the written word), the wrong word or phrase can lead to excommunication from polite society.

Basically, is social media worth it?  I have an author page on Facebook, but not a lot of people engage on it.  I have a Twitter page, but do folks follow Twitter to get announcements, or do they peruse it to find the latest outrage of the day?  I’ve discovered that when folks agree with you, they tend to say little, but when they’re upset, or they’re looking for a fight, they scream and cry like scalded calves.

My life is busy enough.  I do dabble at some marketing, but my time requirements mean I have to pick and choose my spaces.  I haven’t seen much return from social media engagements(most of my new sales come from folks who got a recommendation from a friend, or who read a previous book and wanted to see what else I had out there).  Is climbing into the sewer worth it if all you do is come out dirty?

Link In

As I upload my blog posts into Blogger each month, I take great care to add links inside the text that I think might enhance either the reading experience or provide better context and understanding to what you just read.  However, is this really something any of you pay attention to?

It takes time to find and add these links.  In all honesty, most of these links are selfish on my part – they may link to a related blog post I’ve made in the past, or they may link to my novels on Amazon.  However, I sometimes link to articles or author websites.  Still, do any of you click on these links?

I ask because I’m wondering if the links I add are worth it.  This sounds like whining, but they take time that I’m not sure is well spent.  It has given me pause, and I’d really like to know your thoughts.

Counting The Days

I’ve spoken previously about the blogging process, but one I don’t know if I’ve shared is that I count the number of days in a month I need to blog, which, in turn, produces the number of blog posts I create.

I used to write all of my blog posts for the week on Sunday night, but this led to a general loss of both sleep and quality(depending on how tired I was).  I needed a way to get all of my blog posts in without compromising quality or creating a hectic pace that I wouldn’t be able to keep up.  So I decided to focus on monthly posts.

Breaking news still warrants a more timely or spur of the moment post, but many of my topics, from inertia to titles to fonts to mood creation, don’t need to be done the night prior because they’re not time dependent.  Therefore, I look at the number of blog posting days and figure out how many need to be made the month prior.  I publish late at night on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday so they’ll be visible on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings.

I try to write these posts several weeks prior to the end of the month – I’m not always successful, which can lead to frantic updates and shorter topics – because I still need time to actually post them.  Between formatting and adding in links, it takes about 30-40 minutes to properly schedule each post, and my work life doesn’t always lend itself to a time-friendly schedule.

Basically, this is the “secret” to the questions I’ve gotten about how I maintain such a consistent blogging schedule.  I got away from such organization once before, and it led to a severely reduced blogging schedule, simply because I wasn’t as on top of it as I should’ve been.  I don’t know if this is really worthwhile given the circulation, but one cannot get attention by just disappearing.

Epilogue Purpose

Just what is an epilogue?  Is it the satisfying final comment on/conclusion to a story?  Is it a lazy way to tell everyone everything will be okay without having to write a sequel?  Is it something unnecessary, a way for the author to not have to actually reach a conclusion within the confines of the story?

Honestly, it’s hard to know.  I’ve written books with an epilogue, and I’ve written them without.  One epilogue was about setting the stage for the next chapter without being heavy-handed with it.  Other stories didn’t seem to need one.

I’ve kind of struggled to categorize this.  I’ve read epilogues that seem mistitled, like they’re just additional chapters instead of true conclusions/after-comments.  Sometimes they’ve served a purpose, like an after-dinner drink.  Which statement fits depended greatly on how both the story and the skill of the author writing it.

Maybe it doesn’t need to be categorized, at least on a holistic level.  Perhaps they should be judged individually.  Bad epilogues can and should be called out, but maybe good epilogues give a feeling of closure.  The Harry Potter epilogue did that for me, but it was one of the few.  Most of the time, the epilogue does little for my enjoyment, one way or the other, but it sometimes fits.

So have I really said anything here?  Probably not.  Maybe it’s just another one of those stream-of-consciousness blogging things.  :-P

Conclusion Length

How long should a conclusion be?  This is tricky, because the action and main plot should carry the story, but a story without a conclusion just trails off into nothing.  The audience, in fact, will wonder why they followed the whole story since they never got closure.  So a conclusion is necessary.  But how involved/long should it be?

My stories tend to wind down quickly.  Once the action is complete, there is little desire for me to keep telling a story I feel is mostly over.  Games end, wars conclude, and life goes on.  For me, it should be acknowledged but not harped on.  After all, is there anything more to develop?

Some writers spend whole chapters – page after page – on what they think is a satisfying conclusion.  They feel the need to tie up every loose end.  I, on the other hand, think this is wasted space.  I feel that the action is part of the conclusion.  When it’s over, that’s where interest dwindles.  Sure, there needs to be some wrap up – characters hug, treasure buys security, bad guys go to jail, etc – but I can’t seem to make myself care enough to continue it for long.  Even my longest novels, Schism and Salvation Day, have conclusions that last barely two or three pages.  It either sets up the next story, or it is meant to let everyone know it’s over.

How long do you like your conclusion to be?  Do you keep on with a story after the issue has been decided, needing some kind of closure, or do you start to skim, satisfied it’s over and you just want to finish and move on?

Must Have Conflict

Conflict may be an uncomfortable part of life, but it’s a necessary part of stories.  Now this may seem obvious to most, but so many of us also like happy stories where everyone gets along since so few get along like that in real life.

Don’t get me wrong – I like happy endings.  I’ve written often before about how dark stories can lead to brighter resolutions, and how I detest writers pulling the rug out from underneath me and giving me a shitty ending that makes me feel awful.  That’s not what I’m talking about – I’m talking about how stories must have conflict to be interesting to the read.

Let me tell a story from my childhood.  There was a great board game I used to love called Survive.  You had to escape from an island that was breaking apart and get to safety, all while avoiding sharks, waves, and other hazards.  One game, my friends and I decided we wouldn’t try to put any obstacles in anyone else’s way.  The result was a disaster – very boring and everyone tied.  We decided right then and there, for the sake of entertainment, that we had to have some conflict.

Novels are the same way.  People won’t read a book where everything is hunky-dory because nothing is at stake.  So find some stakes.  Find some conflict.  You don’t have to be an asshole and try to be overly shocking, but there has to be something.  Even children’s books have conflict.  If you do otherwise, then you’ll have an audience smaller than that subset.

When Sequels Don't Measure Up

Sequels can be fun.  When a story gives us a satisfying ending, one where we cared deeply about the characters, we want to stay in that world.  It’s familiar and comfortable, so we look for more stories set in that universe, preferably with the same characters.  Unfortunately, not all sequels measure up.

When a sequel is done well, such as with UnionForever or Harry potter and The Chamber of Secrets, we view it as little more than a continuation of the world we fell in love with.  However, when a sequel is done poorly, like Ready Player Two, it can be soul crushing.  Badly written sequels can destroy the world we loved if it upends that world in ways we loathe.

Some authors write with the express purpose of creating a sequel, so the flow is seamless.  However, so many authors write with a single story in mind.  They said all they wanted to say, so they concluded their story.  But that doesn’t mean that they won’t succumb to demands for something else based on the love the audience had for the previous story.  This, in my opinion, is where writers get into trouble.  When a continuation is forced, the reader can sense it.  Sometimes, the writer will do something so against a character’s template, or change part of the world so extremely, all in pursuit of mixing it up to create new pull towards a story, that it makes the story fall apart.  If done badly enough, it can make the whole world(ie, previous stories) also fall apart.

A writer should only create a sequel if they find a good story, either because there was always meant to be one, or because they truly found inspiration.  Trying to appease the audience doesn’t rank as good enough reason and is dangerous.  The author tends to get either rushed, or get insane ideas that would have never otherwise made it into the story, or both.

Before you clamor for a sequel, see if it’s natural.  And if there wasn’t a natural continuation, go in with a jaundiced eye.  Maybe the author will re-create the magic that once captivated you, but he or she may also destroy a beloved part of your past.  Just know that going in.

Short Stories Versus Novels

Just as I noted that there’s a difference between blogging and writing a novel, there’s also a distinct difference between writing a short story and a novel.  Both are far more involved than blogging, but each involves a different skillset.

Novels are meant to be engrossing.  Much like a drive along a coastal highway, sometimes the view is the point.  Although needing to be on point, novels can be more circuitous.  This allows for greater character development and more suspense as the plot develops.

Short stories, on the other hand, are like going to the grocery store – you want to get there and back as quickly as possible.  Readers don’t expect to get caught up for days or weeks in the world created.  The world is considered mostly in place, and the story is augmented by the action or characters.  It’s kind of in-your-face, and it rarely allows for folks to get fully engrossed.  Writers must be much more precise.

Great writers can, of course, do both well, but that’s not to say that a writer who is good at one is necessarily the master of the other.  Like any part of writing, it takes practice to figure out each one, and that practice should be solely devoted to that task at that time.  Trying to multi-task will lead to a half-assed attempt that will be lacking, and the audience will notice.

Blogs Versus Novels

I thought this was understood, but judging by a few comments, many don’t get the difference between writing a novel and blogging.  Lots of people seem to think that writing is writing, and if you can blog, you can write a novel, or vice versa.  Nothing could be further from the truth.

Blogging is done usually through stream of consciousness.  Although I write out the subject I want to discuss, along with maybe one or two notes to make sure I hit those points, it’s very seat-of-the-pants.  The flow is intended to be more of a conversation, and unless we’re part of a debate club, few of us have notes for conversations(it tends to be off-putting).  The blog post can go off in any number of directions, and it’s chock full of adjectives and adverbs that wouldn’t survive editing in novel writing.

Novel writing, on the other hand, is much more deliberate.  I outline what I want to write, and even though some of it is general so I can allow the story to develop as I write, there are some pieces of dialogue or action sequences that I want to be pretty specific, so I’ll write it out very explicitly.  Even then, I’ll go back and revise the sequence to make sure it’s just right.  At the end, I put it away, as opposed to publishing a blog post right away(or at least on schedule), and then I go back to it and start cutting words.  A 120,000 word manuscript may end up at 75,000 words once I’ve revised and cut away the fat.

So next time you encounter a novelist who also blogs, understand that they switch mindsets and styles depending on what they write.  Think of it as the difference between the teenager who says whatever comes to mind, and the adult who (hopefully) has a great deal more discernment.

Making Time To Read

One of the best ways to become a better writer is to read.  Read good authors.  Read bad authors.  Read authors you like.  Read authors you dislike.  Read authors you’re indifferent to.  Basically, read as much as you can to broaden your vocabulary and style repertoire.

Unfortunately, life does happen, and finding time to read can be challenging.  Between work, kids, helping with homework, after school sports, cheerleading, and everything else, just getting time to breath can be tough, let alone pulling out a novel and becoming engrossed.  And it does take time since reading is something to get immersed in rather than just hit spottily.

Social media is also a distraction, if an avoidable one for those with discipline.  I’d love to say that was always me, but it’s not.  Sometimes I can ignore it, but other times I just get caught up(as most people do).  That can eat up reading time I should be spent with the latest tome I purchased rather than looking at pictures of cats that resemble Santa Clause.

If you can’t read, you will be unable to write well.  Seeing the various styles helps you see what you think works and what you think doesn’t.  The works of Harry Turtledove, Alan Dean Foster, Stephen King, Tad Williams, and numerous others has really helped me hone my style.  In fact, whenever I think my writing is getting thin, I pull out The Two Georges or Specter of thePast and refresh myself on how the writers slowed themselves down to tell a story without getting into Billy Budd territory.  That said, I need to write shortly thereafter in order to take maximum advantage.

So read.  If you don’t, don’t gripe about how tough writing is.  And I need to take my own advice.  I have three novels on my table now – it’s time to knuckle down.

Inflation

An unfortunate economic reality is that when the price of production increases, prices passed on to the consumer must also naturally increase.  As unfair as that sounds, I know of literally no one in business that is nice enough to just eat the new expenses.  After all, they have a profit margin to maintain, for as great as it is to write, one must also put food on the table, so breaking even just isn’t an option.  Selling books entails (hopefully) making a profit.  It may not be an extravagant profit, but it still need to be above what you paid for production.

I bring this up because one of my imprints has just raised the cost of production by 6%.  No, it’s not a lot, but it still eats into what was already a slim profit margin.  That’s going to dictate either an across the board increase in the prices you have to pay for my work, or I’ll have to cut ties with the imprint.

Honestly, I wish I could just cut ties, but I sell a reasonable number of books through this imprint, and my lack of general fame does not enable me to reduce my distribution channels.  It also means that I’ll likely have to raise prices in other places my books are sold so as to reduce disparity and maintain consistency for the public, although, admittedly, I haven’t fully decided on that yet.  I’m still analyzing the situation.  However, I only have until the beginning of November to make that decision.

Sorry for the basic lesson in economics, but I wanted y’all to know what the deal was when you saw my prices go up.  For the pair of you that are loyal readers, I hope you’ll continue to patronize my work and not let the extra buck or so bankrupt you.  :-P

Bigotry Through Exclusion

According to The Cambridge Dictionary, the definition of bigotry is “the fact of having and expressing strong, unreasonable beliefs and disliking other people who have different beliefs or a different way of life.”  We’ve been taught since we were small children that bigotry is morally reprehensible, an outmoded trope from an intolerant past that we’ve long striven to overcome.

That’s why I wonder why some in the writing world are so enamored of it.

Now I’m not talking about racial stereotypes we’ve seen in history that we have moved past.  Anyone trying to pump up a narrative about white supremacy or running down a minority race would, quite rightly, be excoriated.  Sure, they’d have every right to publish, as anyone who holds free speech dear would say, but that wouldn’t mean people had to buy their work or couldn’t trash them for writing such rubbish.  After all, freedom of speech and association runs both ways.

Unfortunately, a trend has emerged in the last few years where folks seem to think it’s okay to run down straight white men.  I get shunning or ignoring those who’ve said or done horrible things.  I do the same thing to people I think are execrable.  However, I make those judgments on an individual basis, and not on a group of people as a whole based solely on their gender, race, or sexual orientation.  That said, folks like Jessie Tu have come straight out and said things like she would “probably never read another novel by a straight white male.”  Let’s take down this bunch of bigoted bullshit a piece at a time, shall we?

First, and most obviously, imagine the outcry if she’d said the same thing regarding literally any other subgroup of people.  She’d be universally condemned for such out and out prejudice and racism.  Handy tip – if you can change the race, sexual orientation, or gender of any of your words, and they’d then produce a frisson of horror in your mind, you might have crossed some line that displays ignorance and bigotry.

Second, I wonder at the wisdom of eschewing a whole sub-section of authors.  I’m sure there are a lot of straight white male authors who suck…just as there are authors of every color and creed who suck.  However, there are also lots of brilliant authors who are outstanding from each and every race, gender, and sexual orientation.  You’re missing out on some great work if you exclude any particular group based on how they look or who they choose to fuck.

Third, if you’re mad at the publishing industry in the past for not being inclusive enough, the answer isn’t to go off on a childish tantrum.  The answer instead is to write your own inclusive stuff.  If you dislike the traditional publishing industry, then go indie and publish your own version of how you’d like the world to be seen.  Include characters you want involved, and set them in stories you think the audience would like.  But don’t trash or so openly exclude any group because you’re a small-minded fool who takes joy out of hatred.

It’s the story that matters.  If you have a compelling story that finds an audience, then you’re a success.  People will buy your work and you can write more in that vein.  However, if you decide to trash entire groups based on immutable characteristics, regardless of the group, then you deserve every but of scorn and exclusion you’re gong to find.  At that point, we know all you’ll do is then bitch about how some other part of the system is holding you down…