More Good Writer Web Links

The Read ...

There really isn't one this posting.  I'm caught up in reading a laugh-out-loud-sometimes, non-fiction book --  The Anglo Files by Sarah Lyall, a transplanted American who had to adjust to living without central heating among other things.  If you ever wondered about English foibles or about their Parliament, you might give this book a peak.

The book makes me glad we lived in Wales when on sabbatical and not England proper ... though I must say English folklorists are really quite pleasant and don't want to know what your paternal grandparents' did for a living.

Web and Other Stuff ...

Some promotion ideas, thanks to E. J. Wesley's blog, The Open Vein -- Trailer Talk:  Book Trailer Reviews.  Both examples appear to be relatively inexpensive to produce.  I bookmarked it for reference ... in case I ever have something to sell. 

[Come on artist.  Actually, my daughter is going to give me a promotional trailer for Christmas.   Only problem: I've got to write something to make it worthwhile.  Oh, she's also going to compose the music since she's a composer and harpist.  Yeah.  She's part of the family fantasy readers.]

After some thought, I decided to add this link from Jessica Faust, an agent (who doesn't represent what I write) on Learning from Your Reading.  Guess I'm on the right track even though I don't seem to have learned much.   She and her commentators do seem to make a bigger production of it than I do.

Then, 1st Turning Point came up with another useful promotion discussion by Rowena Cherry about "To Freebie or Not to Freebie".  If you're so inclined, she has a couple suggestions on protecting the stories you give away free.  Since I'm doing the freebie-bit with Renna's Tales, the article interested me greatly, especially the comments about freebies given out by newbie writers.  --   An after thought:  the site reviews both trailers and websites if you want to get some insight on what works and doesn't.

[Someday when I get my pictures up, I hope to have my website critiqued.  If I'm mean, I'll have the trailer critiqued too ... if they'd do two for one writer.]

Last but not least, Patti Struble at The Writer's Bump gives us a list of idea generators on her second blog about NaNoMo --  Taking Your Meds.  You might want to look and bookmark them in case your idea reservoir runs dry.

Progress ...

Trying to get my writing schedule reworked.  Thought I could write after the nightly news.  Turns out I can revise, but can't create.  My brain stutters.  Back to the drawing board with more sitting in front of the computer and ... hopefully ... some accomplishments besides winning at Solitaire.

Trivia ...

The old man assures me the zucchini is dead ... really and truly dead after three months (120 days) of the stuff.  I can't believe I actually know someone who buys the stuff in winter after growing it all summer.

Writing Success x 2

The Read ...

Writing success is rewarded a second way from getting your back list re-published.  You get your short stories reprinted ... by "traditional" publishers.  Got reminded about this aspect when I dug into the pile of unread books I bought last summer.  Had great fun reading a bunch of short stories by Leigh Brackett and Mercedes Lackey.

For a writer, short story collections help you see how a writer has developed ... provided they didn't rewrite every story in the collection.  The Lackey collection, Fiddler Fair, was published in 1998 and contains some of her earlier ... maybe as far back as when she wrote on a 286 computer while holding down a full-time job with an airlines. 

A comment from Lackey's introduction in case you ever wonder about finding ideas. -- "As for finding ideas, I can only say that finding them is easy; they come all the time.  Deciding which ones are worth developing is the difficult part."

Leigh Brackett has been one of my favorite authors since I discovered her John Stark novels -- written long before the space program destroyed our fantasies about the solar system being habitable without massive technological intervention.  Whatever, I still enjoy the stories even though the space program proved them impossible.

The introduction to The Best of Leigh Brackett written by her husband, Edmond Hamilton, gives an insight on how writing hasn't changed.  "We found, when we first began working together, that we had quite different ways of doing a story.  I was used to writing a synopsis of the plot first, and then working from that.  To my astonishment, when Leigh was working on a story and I asked her, 'Where is your plot?' she answered, 'There isn't any ... I just start writing the first page and let it grow.'"

And that was in the days of typewriters!  I wonder what her revisions looked like. 

[I wrote then too (... and published some non-fiction).  I can remember the stapled re-write  pages, some 5 inches long and other 24+ inches long ... and some typewritten and other pieces in pen on binder paper.  For variety, I taped pieces together into a similar mess.] 

Web and Other Stuff ...

Okay, the distinction over MG (tween) and YA has my head swiveling because of There Be Demons falling through the gap.  Michael Stearn at the Upstart Crow Agency has come to my rescue (sort of) in his blog:  Middle Grade?  Teen?  Where Do You Draw the Line?.

[I'm still confused about my writing.  I think my stuff is too old for kids but too young for teens.  Maybe that's why I'm playing with the Half-Elven again.]

Curious about what happens when you get The Call (from an agent) or any call for that matter.  Roni Loren at Fiction Groupie shares her experience here.

Perhaps a great idea?  Via Coleen Lindsay on Twitter, an article on a British site that's linking individual writers into support/critique groups --  Quilliant.com.  If you're a loner, you might want to check them out.   I think it's interesting if you want a brilliant quill ... or computer.

[I'm fortunate.  The Northern Colorado Writers and AW Water Cooler mostly meet my needs here.]

Progress ...

Well, I did get my one lonely picture up.  Felt like getting trapped in a black hole.  And, I've got promises of more artwork to come.  Maybe, I won't spend forever getting the next batches up.  Glad I didn't have to pay someone else to do it.

Also, have my outline for the new Mariah novellette/novella/whatever as done as it's going to get. Tonight I start writing.  :-)  *heh*,  *heh* 

Next, now that my critiquing is almost done ... I need to decide what I'm going to revise.  The decision?  Probably, give Dark Solstice  a once over since it was rejected ... again.  I'm trying for e-publishers but can't quite separate out whether or not they want romance with their fantasy.  DS comes after the HEA has disintegrated and in need of reconciliation. 

[Oh, there are other real hurdles to jump over ... but one of them is that the kind of book I wrote would fit into the 1970s easier than it would now.

Trivia ...

One of my favorite fantasies is finding a new C. L. Moore or Leigh Brackett book/story that I haven't read before -- while standing around in dusty used bookstores waiting for the old man to check out the folklore etc. sections.  If I'm lucky, the stores have chairs for spouses to sit in.

Publishing, Better the Second Time Around?

The Read ...

Mid-list authors get no respect.  At least, that's the impression you get from many of the writing blogs and forums -- but there are exceptions.  Writers who persevere and end up writing a popular series.  Their publishers reward them by reprinting their back list.

Okay.  A second chance happens to best-selling authors and people who get back their e-rights all the time.  [But, that's another story.]  

Today, the read's about Masques, Patricia Brigg's first published novel which had gone out of print.  Her introduction is well worth a trip to a mortar-and-brick store to read the introduction where she discusses the process.  Her Mercy Thompson series [about a coyote shapeshifter caught in a world of European werewolves, vampires, and fae] opened the republishing doors for Briggs. She revised Masques and was rewarded with a pop onto the New York Times best seller list.

Oh, the book.  Imagine the damaged son of a power-mad mage finding a magic-wielding mercenary who helps him defeat his father before he destroys their world.  Actually, the book is written from the mercenary's viewpoint and was a good read deserving of being on the best seller list.

Problem:  She gave me an excuse not to market.  I need to revise.  Yeah, I do.  See "progress" below.

Web and Other Stuff ...

Promotion has been pushing to the top of my mind for a while, so all the articles about book promotion ... and other writing too.  Arielle Ford, a publicist and writer, recently did an article on "The Rule of 5 for Book Promotion." in the Huffington Post.   Bottom line: she likens promoting your writing to a marathon rather than a sprint.  --  This is courtesy of Writer's Beware who listed it on Facebook.

If you think an agent will solve all your post-writing problems, think again.  Rachelle Gardner (agent blog Rants & Ramblings) ... talks about what happens when an agent fails.   Actually, the blog links to a series of blogs by Wendy Lawton, another agent, in Books & Such who had the courage to tackle the ticklish subject.

More on promotion:  Author K. C. May give a nice idea for using Kindle to promote your book in her blog:  Writer in Training.

Progress ...

Write?  Market?  Promote?  All three at the same time?  

After realizing my first attempt at fiction -- written to amuse myself --  was over 400,000 words that could be cut into three books [the Far Isle Half-Elven] plus leftovers, I went on to write three more self-contained book manuscripts.  The YA/MG stuff which is laying around in various stages of revision.  

Even developed a nice writing pattern.  Draft a manuscript in the first half of the year.  Revise the manuscript in the year.  Then, I discovered the usefulness of critiquing and beta-reading, where I played with the manuscripts, changing them over time.

Problem:  My writing skills for long stuff kept improving.  Now, I'm staring at four manuscripts wondering how I'm going to retool.  [Plus, I have all that draft material lurking in the computer files.] --  I think I've found my excuse to a void marketing.  *heh.  heh.  heh.*

What makes me think I'm not procrastinating?  Well, There Be Demons was very nicely beta-read, thank you.  Lots of revision done.  Thought it really was ready to market.  Even have been compiling a list of fantasy-liking agents who might like the kind of fantasy I write.  Then, I happened to revise the first 300 pages of the Prologue.  After it was reduced to 250 words, I read so much better.  --  I think I've found a wondrous Mobius strip to play on.

Trivia ...

Something's wrong ... major big time wrong.  The last three books I've read showed up on the New York Times best seller list on Sunday.   [Dark Slayer (Feehan), 61 Hours (Child), and Masques (Briggs)]  Things I like usually don't become main stream popular.


Oh, I've made it to 300 Tweets.  [@kaytheod]

Gotta Love the Villain

The Read ...

Love the way Lee Child constructs his villains.  Take a couple common traits, and then he twists them into something evil.  The twisting gets tighter and tighter through the some 400+ pages of the book until Reacher, the hero, finds a way to defeat them.  61 Hours presents an excellent example.  This time it's a super-short guy who over compensates, and Child gives a running commentary of the villain's actions/POV during the course of the book.  You'll never look at short people the same again.  

Child never ceases to amaze me with the way he weaves seemingly unconnected facts together to make a reasonable sub-plot when he ties them together.  Most authors do well with one or two.  [It's one of the reasons they get published by "traditional" publishers.]  Child scatters sub-plots like seeds ... manages to tie the results neatly at the end.  In this case, he manages to create a plausible defeat the human villain and his assortment of bad guys.

One possible loose end.  When the snow near the bunker was melted for two miles around at the end, it left the question that Reacher might not have survive his race up the stairs to the surface.  Here the internet is a spoiler since his official site publicizes the next book in the series ... where Reacher is very much alive.

This book may be a pivot point in the series.  Reacher, the supreme loner, is showing some need for attachments ... however much he denies the need of them.

Web and Other Stuff ...

Writer groups are an invaluable new set of eyes to review your manuscript.  They can catch the craft mistakes you make and then gloss over.  They can tell you when your plot and characters don't make sense.  They can tell you when you say the same thing twice in the same paragraph [aka telling, then showing].  I you lack a group, the Galleycat's recent blog gave its readers some good pointers on keeping a group going if you find a couple writers to work with.

1st Turning Point contributor, Jeri Westerson, gives an interesting case study on being a mid-list author ... and needing to promote your own work since your publisher won't pay much attention to you:  Promo Idea Number 25.  She nails my feelings in the first sentence:  "Promotion is the bane of authors."  Only problem is that it's also the bane of writer's too.  [Since some of the agent blogs I've read, my mind separates the part of seriously writing (writer) and getting published by someone other than yourself (author).]

Do have a complaint about the article.  I've read other blogs of Westerson which mentioned her sleuth.  This time for some reason Crispin Guest -- disgraced knight turned "private eye" with a thief side-kick -- poke my curiosity enough to go looking for the books.  And, I thought my to-read pile was down to 3 1/2 feet.

I've mentioned the Northern Colorado Writers before.  On Wednesday, Kerrie Flanagan wrote a right on blog about writing queries.  As I said in the comments, I wonder why I was able to write accepted queries [most of the time] for non-fiction, but can't seem to find my footing for fiction.

Most writers should know Nathan Bransford has one of the best publishing blogs around, but he also often features guest  bloggers. On Thursday it was author Hannah Moskowitz, who I think I should know.  Whatever, she discusses professionalism and writing.  I include the link here because of the info, but also because I flunked most of the activities, especially remembering book titles and authors.  

Example?  At the moment, I can't remember who wrote the Hunger Games trilogy even though the books wrung me out emotionally.  Yeah, I know I could look it up on the web and appear more insightful than I am.

Then, Stephen Tremp gives shares a great idea on using Twitter [and Facebook] for promoting your book.  Check out "Blowout Sale".

Now to forget the serious stuff.  Followed some Tweet to Tabby's Nocturnal Nights.  Now I know why I don't shop at Wal-Mart ... if only I'd have to fight with too many train crossings [in our town].  If you want the full gallery, check this out.  Actually, this is pretty gross -- just to warn you.

Progress ...

None.  Unless you consider the rejection of Dark Solstice progress.

Trivia ...

The old man's prowling ... waiting for me to get off the computer to do the important stuff.  Going to the bank, out to lunch, and buying groceries.