Can You Write a Gripping Book?

I'm sure you've been told gripping books sell. I'm sure you've tried or are trying to write one. But have you figured out why writing a good book is so hard? 

My take: it's a matter of opinion. Publishers. Agents. Writers. Book Stores. Readers. All have their own idea of what works. Was thinking about this when I read Ilona Andrews, of the Magic urban fantasy series of Atlanta gone awry with fluctuating magic, making a comment in a blog which I think sums the situation up beautifully:

"A gripping book is like porn.  You know when you see it, but if you try to identify the elements of it, chances are someone will come back with a gripping book that does exactly the opposite."

Want an amusing look at a successful writer's day seen through the eyes of his/her hypothetical intern? Here's a link to the blog "Interns".

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So do I write gripping stories? I don't think so. I'm sort of a dilettante who writes more to amuse myself than become a great author or even a best-selling writer. Still, do have a publication date for "There Be Demons" of Spring 2014. Arcs should be ready about October-November. Then, I have to go into marketing mode to justify the investment Grumpy Dragon is making in me.

Have a big editorial meeting coming up in a couple weeks. I'm hoping my editorial board asks enough questions to fill in the holes in my storyline, characters, descriptions and all that other stuff that goes into making a readable story. In the meantime, I hoping the storyline is gripping enough not to put them to sleep.

Some Writing Thoughts -- Making Your Writing Better

Am really putzing. Like I'm not making much progress with my word counts.  One problem: I try to edit as I write. Slows you down, but I like the results better than encountering an embarrassing mess the next day.

Not doing much marketing either. Read Facebook but haven't contributed anything ... not even about the rioting roses and clematis. Even have slacked off on Twitter. Did read six of the early Anita Blake novels in front of the fan-enhanced A/C. In fact, I recommend the early Blake books by Laurell K. Hamilton. Better than anyone else I can remember off-hand, she weaves two-three plot lines with finesse ... without the romance/erotic stuff which adds other complications and distractions.

Are you editing yet?. Better yet, do you want to memorize some words that'll make your writing leaner so your storyline reads faster? Lauren Spieller has some suggestions for you: Words to Eliminate from Your Writing.  --

One of the ways I check for "flabby" words is to use the "find" in my toolbar. For "to-be" forms I seach for "ing" since it usually happens using "to-be"

While you play with ideas, do you also play with titles? What do you think of Emily Veinglory's comments on adding "xxx: a novel" to the end of your title? -- 

Titles are always hard for me. Like my current title for the opening to my Half-Elven series is 'Forbidden Fruit'. Don't like it but it sums up the situation. And, no. It isn't a 'romance' even though relationships are central to the plot line. And, yeah. I added "A Tale of the Half-Elven" to the title "The Foiling of Gorsfeld". [free at my author website]

Coming up with new, unused, or beaten-to-death situations is another problem for writers.  Susan Vittitow Mark wrote a blog at The Writing Bug about Making Big, Messy Art.   Bottom line: Mark writes about journaling to create a mine where you can dig for ideas. The opening is a gas. Won't do a spoiler here. Just go look at the pictures.

Then there's procrastination. There was a great article on the differences on being a writer 20-30 years ago. I didn't capture the url and paste it here for further use. In the meantime my computer and the phones died. Short version: Being a mid-list for major publishers has become a version of "hell". 

Oh, the computer -- I'm learning how to type on a new laptop computer. Don't have all the files finessed ... but it looks like I haven't lost any in the transfer.

Gargolye news. Have a tentative publication date for April 2014.  I'm waiting for the second edits on There Be Demons which should be done when I get back from visiting family in July. Oh, it is July. Well I'll be gone for a couple weeks.

And Pat, the Pet will come out in February or March. The delay here has been the artwork edits. Think we have an artist for the work -- both for the short-vowel stories and the unpublished long vowel ones. May do another set on dipthongs/letter combinations but the editor hasn't decided what. -- Actually, she's making noises about chapter books, and that scares me.

Enjoy ... and don't melt in the heat.

20 Years and Counting -- Think You Could Write a 23-Plus Book Series?

The Anita Blake series by Laurell K. Hamilton has dwindled down to a "guilty pleasure" for me -- and no, not because of her multiple-multiple sex scenes. She's created characters I care about but often have no major roles in subsequent books. 

Was hoping Kiss the Dead would change the pattern. But it's gotten worse. Many characters have just stopped growing as people. Or if a character has changed, like Claudia hinting she has a significant other in Kiss the Dead, Hamilton mentions it and drops it.  --[Claudia is a senior security guard in Master of Saint Louis' underground compound.]--

When I first started reading the series I was fascinated by Hamilton's plot twists and her take on the preternatural/ paranormal conventions. I also like the the fact the main character is short and Mexican/German. --[Hey, there aren't that many of us around in the US.]-- Even understood the conflict of Blake's abilities to raise the dead and the Roman Catholic church, not to say her German grandmother, who unfortunately never made an appearance in the books. Unfortunately, Blake has moved on from her conflicted youth to accepting her unconventional, polyamorous live style.

Yeah. I consider the books a guilty pleasure because, even though Hamilton kept her place on the best seller lists, the plot lines got thinner and thinner and potential conflicts get mentioned and tossed without much, if any, emotion or elaboration. Like Hamilton tells us what was going on rather than showing us. 

Still I hung in there when Hamilton introduced  Mommie Darkest, the mother of all vampires [in Blake's world at least], as an antagonist. When the big denouement with Mommie Darkest came in Hit List , it lasted maybe five pages. Big Time Bummer.

Then, Kiss the Dead appeared in mass paperback. I couldn't resist buying it ... just because I was wondering what Hamilton would do once the founder of all vampires had been destroyed. Also had a interesting hook -- the capture of a fifteen-year-old. I waited, hoping Hamilton would get back some of her old moxie. Wondered how defeating Mommy Darkest would influence Blake's life, reactions, and feelings. Turned out ... Blake hardly thinks about it as she chases a laisez-faire vampire who believes in individual liberty.

Okay. I liked the book better than Hit List. But, and it's a big but. The writing competence is there. But the characters don't seem to exhibit much fire. Blake seems to be wading through much of the same emotional ground without a strong mystery component. The flavor of the book doesn't include much cayenne or even chili. 

And where oh where did Jean Claude go. Wasn't he supposed to be a major character? There aren't any conflicts going on with him setting up a Council of Masters of American Cities though there is a minor toss up with Asher being pissy. What's new?

I give Kiss the Dead three stars -- even though I'm keeping it for now.

One thing the book did do -- sent me off to read Guilty Pleasures, the first in the series. No, I won't be doing a review. I only review about a third of the books I read. Guess I need to get on Goodreads more.

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Turned in the first round of edits for There BE Demons to the Grumpy Dragon. Now seem to be wallowing in summer-type ennui even though we've turned on the a/c. Still trying to finish the first novella of the Half-Elven companion novels ... but it's a slow slog. Think I'm trying to draft it too perfect ... if that makes any sense

I might be self-publishing the short story that started it all:

Night for the Gargoyles

which was published by Spectra Magazine, volume five.

Grumpy Dragon is deciding if they want to do it. 

Here's the tentative cover if I self-publish.

To Self-Publish? -- That is The Question Every Writer Faces

Can you really, truely succeed if you self-publish? Are you stuck in the ghetto if you give up on traditional commercial publishing too soon?

Was ambling down the post on my Facebook page between chapter edits of There Be Demons. At Chisled Rock, J. A. Kazimer -- a romance, mystery writer -- blogged about the "7 Things I Wished I Knew Before I Indie Published". She doesn't knock it. In fact she's planning to repeat the process ever though the sales were disappointing. Read her comments and be forewarned about what you must do, especially in the dreaded area of marketing.

-- Thought Kazimer was right on. May be glad that my self-publishing efforts are to build platform more than selling epubs to make money. Though my self-published novella [Troublesome Neighbors] has sold more than the indie publisher one [Taking Vengeance].

-- Psssst. Don't tell the Grumpy Dragon that I may still self-publish if I ever am able to get some short stories written.

One Writer's Progress

On LinkedIn, I read a lot of unsuccess stories. I can even contribute grumps of my own. But self-published writers can achieve greater success as they go through the process of writing and self-publishing. Milo James Fowler is a case in point. He's self-published lots of short pieces including the funny western fantasies about Coyote Cal [Amazon]. I networked with him first at Write One, Sub One -- basically a group who aim to write and submit at least one story a week. Fowler combined stories written in 2011 for Immaterial Evidence.

-- Even joined it in hopes of speeding up my own writing ... but fell by the wayside. First couldn't keep up. Second my ideas tend to turn into novels.

Back to Milo. Since he has lots more reviews that I do, I assume he's more successful with his self-publishing. Now. Ta-dah. Musa Publishing is released his new book Immaterial Evidence. 

Tagline: A detective with a price on his head. An invisible criminal with nothing to lose...  Basically, it a story about a private detective who comes out of hiding to help the FBI solve an impossible theft. If it's runs true to form, you'll get more than one chuckle along with your mystery.       

So a book you like gets published: What can you do to foster its success -- especially if a friend wrote it. Chuck Sambuchino of Writer's Digest blogged at Writer Unboxed about ways to support a writer's new book. Some of the support tactics are real simple and don't cost anything. Some of them are even doable by the author anonymously.

-- Now if I wish I was the type who networked easily. Fowler is good at it and has all those Write One, Sub One rooting for him. He has implemented some of the marketing advice: built a following with his stores and his networking activities. 

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Progress of sorts. I'm building up a sympathetic character to be killed later in There Be Demons. I'm also starting to Twitter-promote it with the hashtags #WIP, #novelines, #writer, and #amwriting. I'm not impressed with Twitter, but I'm doing it anyway. Also mention what I'm doing on my author Facebook page. [I even have some 60 likes and 20-some reads on the page.]

Also am still rewriting the first couple of chapters of Forbidden Fruit, the beginning Far Isle Half-Elven story, for my critique group.  -- Then I'm going out and read under the hackberry. If I'm lucky the hawk will come sit in the bird bath. For some reason we aren't seeing many small birds again this year.