Any writer new or old knows the famous Stephen King quote: "Kill your darlings." What's a 'darling?' Any character, scene, word, chapter, or even full-length novel you wrote. No, not your actual darlings or loved ones, just the fictional ones.
What does he mean by "Kill your darlings?" Simple. KILL THEM ALL. Sorry. I had a Spartacus moment. Anyway, yes, King means to kill whatever you might feel is super important in your novel and yes, sometimes even your main character. Why? Lots of reasons.
When you kill a character you instantly invoke some kind of emotion in the reader and making your reader emotional is your goal. If they feel nothing then you're not doing your job. Then there's the whole dealing of the death of a character your other characters have to deal with and that will give you conflict. Plus hey, there's a cool death scene to write.
When you kill your scenes, certain words, or full chapters then you're tightening up your writing. You have to learn to read your writing from a reader's perspective. You have to learn to read your writing as if you've never read it before. You have to disengage yourself from every word, scene, and chapter so you can make your novel the best it can be. What does it do for you? Makes you a better writer. Plus it puts less strain on your editor.
So, how do you deal with killing your darlings?
First off you have to take the initial step in actually, you know, killing a darling. Start small: take out a few unnecessary words then take out a whole scene, maybe even *le gasp* a chapter. Honestly dissect your writing, look it over word by bloody word to see what doesn't move the story along. Once you find that non-consequential bit: take it out.
What do you do if that unneeded bit is a character? Well, you slaughter them mercilessly while cackling from atop your high tower. Sorry. The imagery helps me.
But seriously, you kill them. Throw them off a building, have them stabbed 27 times, let them get hit by a car, have them beheaded, burned to death, have a heart-attack, whatever makes sense for your world and your story. BUT, make sure the death will be impactful.
Don't go randomly killing off all your characters seconds after you introduce them (I'm looking at you Basilisk). You have to make the reader feel something for that character before you kill them off especially if they're a main character. Minor characters? Eh, not so much though you can and should feel free to try.
How do you know if a character is going to die? You take a good, long look at your story and that particular character. How will the story change with the character's death? What impact will this death have on the other characters? Do you need this character in another part of the story? Can your story survive without them? The deaths in The Walking Dead are all meaningful.
*SPOILERS* Pete's death by Rick's hand shows Rick's descent into madness, how he's become this tragic "survive at any cost" character which is emphasized by Morgan's reaction. Noah and Aiden's deaths reveal how much the Alexandria group really needs to learn. Tyreese's death is the loss of the "optimistic" character. Beth's death is the loss of innocence. *End Spoilers*
Like I said before: every character death has to mean something or move along the plot. If it doesn't then you didn't need to kill that character off. Don't kill off a character to end a series because you think you'll keep writing if you don't kill said character off. You'll have a lot of disappointed readers if you do that. Readers like to imagine what could have been after the series.
So, how do you deal with a character's death?
It depends on the character. You can either slaughter them horribly or have them go peacefully but again if you're not feeling something then your reader won't. Every main character I've killed I've felt something for. Yes it hurts. Yes I was balling like a baby as I wrote. But guess what? My readers will do the same.
So, buck up, take a few breaths, and kill the darling. Feel free to cry. Don't worry if you have to stop to get some semblance of sanity back. Do it. Kill your darling because it'll make you a better writer.
Until next time: thoughts, comments, rages, rants, questions, and out-right insults can be directed to the comments.
Showing posts with label first drafts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label first drafts. Show all posts
Saturday, January 28, 2017
Saturday, January 14, 2017
Writing Tip #18: Death and Where to Stick 'em
This tip is going to be way different than the other tips I've written about so freaking long ago. Sorry about that. Anyway, we're not talking about dealing with the death of your character. That's next time. Today, we're dealing with what happens to a typical person when they're, you know, KILLED. And yes in the physical sense.
For those who don't know: I wrote a 13 book thriller/murder mystery series. I went into the Forensics side of things (vaguely) and found out a lot of interesting things about what the human body does when placed in the vicinity of various deadly objects.
In short: can your character jump into ice water and swim for a mile? Nope. Unless they're immune to the cold they will experience hyperthermia almost immediately. If the water's cold enough they may even have a heart attack upon hitting said water. There are certain factors in determining hyperthermia. I found a cool article: HERE. I used said article's information in Bloody X-Mas.
Can a character survive the blast of a 12 gauge shot gun at 10 feet? Nope. Unless the person shooting at them grazes them and even then it could cause your character's death. A 12 gauge shot gun can go through at least one cement wall and can blow a hole through a tree. The human body is all soft tissue and muscle. Our bones aren't even as hard as cement. If you get grazed with a 12 gauge, you are going down. This information appears in Hunter.
Can your officer character hit a target at 15 feet? Maybe but with a standard issue Glock: they're going to stun and not kill. The range on a police Glock is 10 feet and that's if your character is a good shot.
Can you shoot one-handed or while in a moving vehicle? Nope. Recoil is a bitch and you will have a sore wrist or be thrown back depending on the size of your gun. Can you fire a bigger gun from hip height? Kind of. The butt of the gun should be supported by your pelvis or your shoulder to prevent recoil because the bigger and more powerful the gun then the further back you're going to be thrown.
For those who think your character can survive a cut to the upper arm, stick a patch on it, and move around for days, here are some bleed times for various arteries. Bleed time refers to about how long it will take a person to die if they are struck in said place. It depends on the person's age, heart rate, etc. I found all these here when looking for the proper name of the brachial artery.
Carotid Artery (neck): 2 to 20 minutes.
Jugular Vein (neck): 2 to 20 minutes.
Subclavian artery: 2-20 minutes. This is an artery in the shoulder that runs down the front of a person's body and by the first rib. Unless someone does field surgery on you right away: you will not make it.
Subclavian vein: 15-60 minutes.
The Brachial Artery: 5-60 minutes. This is the one located in your upper arm and protected by the bicep. Depending where you cut along this artery changes the bleed time. Up closer to the arm pit and you're looking at the 5 minute range. Down further by the elbow and you might survive a bit longer.
Femoral Artery: 5-60 minutes. This is the big one located in your upper leg. You hit this puppy right and you're going down in seconds.
Axillary artery: 5-60 minutes. You can hit this via the armpit and front of the shoulder joint. It's hard to hit but an upwards slash or stab hit just right and the wound becomes extremely difficult to treat even with direct pressure. Yes: insta-death.
Inguinal artery: 5-60 minutes. It feeds the femoral artery in the leg and can be accessed by striking upwards between the legs and into the groin. Another extremely difficult wound to treat even with applying direct pressure. Think Blackhawn Down.
Aorta or any part of the heart: 1-2 minutes. These are instant death bleeders.
So, what's in a CSI Kit? It depends on your kit. Here's a good website to check out: https://www.shopevident.com/category/field-kits-crime-scene
How do you do an autopsy? Wiki-how gives you a nice step-by-step guide WITH pictures located here:
http://www.wikihow.com/Perform-an-Autopsy-on-a--Human-Being
How long will it take you to dig a grave? Well, that depends on a lot of factors. If you're doing this at night with a shovel, are average in athletics, and the ground isn't frozen from the winter, and the grave is shallow: about 3-5 hours, depending how shallow. You WILL NOT be able to dig a grave in an hour, with a shovel, in the middle of the woods, at night. It is not possible. I found a cool thread: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=486094
I have reams of information about decay times dependant on environmental factors as well as information about the human body in general. I don't have a link for any of it, sorry. I would suggest for any author wanting to delve into crime fiction or murder mystery: take a basic Forensic Anthropology and a Criminal Psychology course.
You can find plenty online (that's what I did) and you'll thank yourself later when your novel comes off as more believable. No, don't get a degree. You just need a single course available through a continued learning program to get you going. Of course, you can specialize in both fields if you have the time/money/motivation.
Until next time: thoughts, comments, rages, rants, questions, and out-right insults can be directed to the comments section.
For those who don't know: I wrote a 13 book thriller/murder mystery series. I went into the Forensics side of things (vaguely) and found out a lot of interesting things about what the human body does when placed in the vicinity of various deadly objects.
In short: can your character jump into ice water and swim for a mile? Nope. Unless they're immune to the cold they will experience hyperthermia almost immediately. If the water's cold enough they may even have a heart attack upon hitting said water. There are certain factors in determining hyperthermia. I found a cool article: HERE. I used said article's information in Bloody X-Mas.
Can a character survive the blast of a 12 gauge shot gun at 10 feet? Nope. Unless the person shooting at them grazes them and even then it could cause your character's death. A 12 gauge shot gun can go through at least one cement wall and can blow a hole through a tree. The human body is all soft tissue and muscle. Our bones aren't even as hard as cement. If you get grazed with a 12 gauge, you are going down. This information appears in Hunter.
Can your officer character hit a target at 15 feet? Maybe but with a standard issue Glock: they're going to stun and not kill. The range on a police Glock is 10 feet and that's if your character is a good shot.
Can you shoot one-handed or while in a moving vehicle? Nope. Recoil is a bitch and you will have a sore wrist or be thrown back depending on the size of your gun. Can you fire a bigger gun from hip height? Kind of. The butt of the gun should be supported by your pelvis or your shoulder to prevent recoil because the bigger and more powerful the gun then the further back you're going to be thrown.
For those who think your character can survive a cut to the upper arm, stick a patch on it, and move around for days, here are some bleed times for various arteries. Bleed time refers to about how long it will take a person to die if they are struck in said place. It depends on the person's age, heart rate, etc. I found all these here when looking for the proper name of the brachial artery.
Carotid Artery (neck): 2 to 20 minutes.
Jugular Vein (neck): 2 to 20 minutes.
Subclavian artery: 2-20 minutes. This is an artery in the shoulder that runs down the front of a person's body and by the first rib. Unless someone does field surgery on you right away: you will not make it.
Subclavian vein: 15-60 minutes.
The Brachial Artery: 5-60 minutes. This is the one located in your upper arm and protected by the bicep. Depending where you cut along this artery changes the bleed time. Up closer to the arm pit and you're looking at the 5 minute range. Down further by the elbow and you might survive a bit longer.
Femoral Artery: 5-60 minutes. This is the big one located in your upper leg. You hit this puppy right and you're going down in seconds.
Axillary artery: 5-60 minutes. You can hit this via the armpit and front of the shoulder joint. It's hard to hit but an upwards slash or stab hit just right and the wound becomes extremely difficult to treat even with direct pressure. Yes: insta-death.
Inguinal artery: 5-60 minutes. It feeds the femoral artery in the leg and can be accessed by striking upwards between the legs and into the groin. Another extremely difficult wound to treat even with applying direct pressure. Think Blackhawn Down.
Aorta or any part of the heart: 1-2 minutes. These are instant death bleeders.
So, what's in a CSI Kit? It depends on your kit. Here's a good website to check out: https://www.shopevident.com/category/field-kits-crime-scene
How do you do an autopsy? Wiki-how gives you a nice step-by-step guide WITH pictures located here:
http://www.wikihow.com/Perform-an-Autopsy-on-a--Human-Being
How long will it take you to dig a grave? Well, that depends on a lot of factors. If you're doing this at night with a shovel, are average in athletics, and the ground isn't frozen from the winter, and the grave is shallow: about 3-5 hours, depending how shallow. You WILL NOT be able to dig a grave in an hour, with a shovel, in the middle of the woods, at night. It is not possible. I found a cool thread: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=486094
I have reams of information about decay times dependant on environmental factors as well as information about the human body in general. I don't have a link for any of it, sorry. I would suggest for any author wanting to delve into crime fiction or murder mystery: take a basic Forensic Anthropology and a Criminal Psychology course.
You can find plenty online (that's what I did) and you'll thank yourself later when your novel comes off as more believable. No, don't get a degree. You just need a single course available through a continued learning program to get you going. Of course, you can specialize in both fields if you have the time/money/motivation.
Until next time: thoughts, comments, rages, rants, questions, and out-right insults can be directed to the comments section.
Sunday, July 12, 2015
Writing Tip #15: Vanity Presses
There will come a time when you've finished drafting your novel and you're ready to put it out there in the world. You have two choices when it comes to publishing: self-publishing and traditional publishing. There's a post in the "Writing Tips" tab called Self-Publishing is Hard Work which I suggest you check out for more information. You can do it now or later, either way is fine.
If you're still with me: I mention in Self-Publishing is Hard Work something called "Vanity Presses." More specifically, I say to avoid vanity presses. For those that don't know: a vanity press is a publication company that says they'll publish your book for you. Sounds good, right? It's not. When something sounds too good to be true then it usually is.
Before anyone asks, YES, I did publish through a vanity press. Tale of the Twins Book 1 was originally published by AuthorHouse in March 2010. So yes, I do know what I'm talking about. Below you will see a list because lists keep concepts neat and tidy. There's a lot to go through.
1) Money
When someone asks YOU to pay for publishing your book: RED FLAG. Money should only be dealt out on cover designs and editing because, hey, they have to be paid too. Now, a vanity press will charge you exuberant amounts of money to do a lot of what you can do on your own. You will be spending anywhere from two to five times the amount of money publishing your book if you go with a vanity press.
Yes, they will give you an ISBN. But you can get it for free.
Yes, they will give you promotional material. But it won't come with how to use said promotional material and said material is normally bookmarks, postcards, and business cards centered around this ONE book. This is fine if all you're ever looking to do is publish ONE book and not make a brand.
Yes, they will give you hard and soft cover copies of your book. Yes, it will be more expensive then getting them printed somewhere else. And yes, there has been cases when they HAVE NOT delivered on printed books.
Yes, they will do other promotional stuff...for a price.
Oh, and those prices you see on their websites? Mm, yeah, they don't include the cost of editing.
And the stuff they might list under marketing? Mmm, yeah, you can totally do it on your own for free.
2) Marketing
Despite what any vanity presses' website says: They will not market your book. Oh, they'll put out some news releases and put you on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and a few other sites. But that's all they'll do. And sure, they'll talk to Kirkus for you to get a review but only if you're willing to shell out $5000 for the whole package. Kirkus charges $425. Let's say editing is about $2000, cover is around $500...you're all ready saving by NOT going through a vanity press.
Sorry, we're on marketing. Oh, you might get a social media set up guide. So, they'll give you a list of what social media sites to sign up on and might even sign you up themselves. That is not marketing my friend. They will give you an account and you have to take care of it.
If you really shell out some cash you can do a couple of video interviews and get some stand-alone ads on Google...both of which won't work if no one knows who you are anyway. Interviews and videos only work if you can show people where those interviews and videos are, that is PROMOTE YOURSELF.
Don't buy into anything they say about marketing. You will be on your own and out a couple thousand dollars.
3) Your "Team"
A lot of these vanity presses talk about your personal "team" of people working on your novel. You get your own book consultant, cover design team, editor and EVERYTHING! In the four years I was with AuthorHouse I went through about ten book consultants, NOT through my own doing. They just got changed and I never saw the guy or girl before again. My cover design team got switched on me mid-cover design. I'm pretty sure my editor no longer works there. Personal team? Nope.
You will continually get people who know nothing about your book trying to sell you more hard copies of your book so they can get paid and you can sit there trying to figure out what to do. You are not a special member of their Publication House. You are a number and nothing more.
4) MORE Money
Every so often I'd get these calls from AuthorHouse telling me I was a special little snowflake that had been selected to participate in an event to promote my book. I fell into the trap and flew all the way to Los Angels for a Book-To-Screen event.
You are NOT a special little snowflake. You're number 54 of the thousands of authors in their "House" they've tried calling and who has said "yes" to doing said event. You will be shelling out MORE money to participate in the event then you will have to pay for your way TO the event, as well as your lodging AT the event.
My trip to Los Angeles wasn't a total bust (I did get a replica Saber Tooth Cat fang and to see a Tim Burton exhibit) but it did cost about $3000. What did I get out of it? The knowledge that some people thought my book was "too similar to Twilight", a replica Saber Tooth Cat fang, to see the Tim Burton exhibit, to say I've been to LA, a cool cab driver story, and to meet 149 other authors. Was it worth the $3000? Nope. Would I do it again? Nope.
Later that year I got a call about shelling out another $3000 to go to a book signing event in some park in Toronto with another 150 authors. Um, yes half a million people would be going through said park. No, just because I would be there wouldn't mean people would take copies of my free book. Yes, free. I wouldn't be making any money while there. I would just be gaining a readership. Oh, did I mention I would have had to BUY copies of my own book before going? No? Well yes, I would have had to buy copies of my book to hand out for free. Think about that for a minute. Yeah.
5) Your Rights
The cool thing about being self-published is you get to keep your rights. The not-so-cool thing about going traditional is you don't keep your rights. Vanity presses SAY you can keep your rights but if you decided to stop publishing through them you don't get to use anything with their name on it. What does that mean? Oh, the cover, the inside EDITED version of your book, the bookmarks, postcards, business cards, posters, and any other "promotional" material is null and void.
Why yes, that does mean you shelled out thousands of dollars to give up your rights and be back where you started before meeting said vanity press if you break contract. If you want to be able to use the cover, INSIDE EDITED VERSION OF YOUR BOOK, or anything else you have to pay a fee. Yes, that's right: you have to pay a fee. I suppose it's only fair. I mean they did do all this work setting you up with people and what not. But after spending $10,000 with them that extra fee felt like a kick to the groin.
Worse yet, if you want to self-publish on Amazon, you really can't. Why? Because THEY have all ready made a page for your other book and it would look stupid to have two separate accounts. That's not good for branding.
Did I mention you can't control your pricing? Well you can. But you can't offer the book in any kind of promotional deal with other books you might self-publish because you don't have access to the vanity press' book through Amazon. You can't offer that book for free because then you're throwing money out the window and THEY won't let you. And if you want to make any REAL money through them you've got to charge at least a dollar or more than other authors to make the same amount as them.
Do they tell you when your book is coming off their shelves? Nope. Do they deliver the files you paid for in a prompt and efficient manner before taking your book off their shelves? Nope. As of this writing (January 23), Tale of the Twins is no longer available on the AuthorHouse website but I still haven't gotten any of my files even though I paid the fee on January 9th. Yeah. Think about that for a minute.
So, an update to the file thing. I finally had to call to see where the Hell my files were. When did I call? March 23. March 23 after paying for my files on January 9. What did I get? A PDF of my novel. No cover. And no, not a Word doc which is easily editable for any excess pages, a PDF which when you convert over to a Word doc. you have to reformat everything. I'm currently in the process of reformatting line-by-stinking-line because there were excess pages, wonky paragraph tags, and a bunch of other crap I can't get rid of unless I literally bring a line into the paragraph before then do a hard return. Yeah. What did I pay $150 for? More work and needing a new cover.
In conclusion:
DO NOT USE A VANITY PRESS.
I will admit there have been some authors who have had success with vanity presses but they are few and far between. In order to be a success with a vanity press you have to have disposable income and you have to be able to promote yourself...which are the EXACT same things you need for self-publishing. Except with self-publishing you get to keep your rights. You'll also get to stick with one cover designer and editor who you'll grow to like and keep doing business with. A vanity press can't give you a permanent team. You can give yourself one.
I know it might not seem like it at first glance but it's MUCH, MUCH cheaper and better for you to self-publish without a vanity press. If you're going to self-publish you want as much control as possible so that your book will come out perfect. A vanity press can't offer you that.
And a funny note: There is a company out there who helps you to self-publish. They look like a vanity press but there are major differences. To be honest, I haven't checked them out as much as I normally do but they do offer a discount if you're trying to re-publish your book after being with a vanity press. Think about THAT for a minute. Yeah.
A note for those thinking I'm being bitter: AuthorSolutions (AuthorHouse and iUniverse for those curious) had a class action law suit filed against them. There's a section in Self-Publishing is Hard that talks about research. ALWAYS DO YOUR RESEARCH. Don't fall into the same trap I did.
Until next time: thoughts, comments, rages, rants, questions, and out-right insults can be directed to the comments section.
If you're still with me: I mention in Self-Publishing is Hard Work something called "Vanity Presses." More specifically, I say to avoid vanity presses. For those that don't know: a vanity press is a publication company that says they'll publish your book for you. Sounds good, right? It's not. When something sounds too good to be true then it usually is.
Before anyone asks, YES, I did publish through a vanity press. Tale of the Twins Book 1 was originally published by AuthorHouse in March 2010. So yes, I do know what I'm talking about. Below you will see a list because lists keep concepts neat and tidy. There's a lot to go through.
1) Money
When someone asks YOU to pay for publishing your book: RED FLAG. Money should only be dealt out on cover designs and editing because, hey, they have to be paid too. Now, a vanity press will charge you exuberant amounts of money to do a lot of what you can do on your own. You will be spending anywhere from two to five times the amount of money publishing your book if you go with a vanity press.
Yes, they will give you an ISBN. But you can get it for free.
Yes, they will give you promotional material. But it won't come with how to use said promotional material and said material is normally bookmarks, postcards, and business cards centered around this ONE book. This is fine if all you're ever looking to do is publish ONE book and not make a brand.
Yes, they will give you hard and soft cover copies of your book. Yes, it will be more expensive then getting them printed somewhere else. And yes, there has been cases when they HAVE NOT delivered on printed books.
Yes, they will do other promotional stuff...for a price.
Oh, and those prices you see on their websites? Mm, yeah, they don't include the cost of editing.
And the stuff they might list under marketing? Mmm, yeah, you can totally do it on your own for free.
2) Marketing
Despite what any vanity presses' website says: They will not market your book. Oh, they'll put out some news releases and put you on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and a few other sites. But that's all they'll do. And sure, they'll talk to Kirkus for you to get a review but only if you're willing to shell out $5000 for the whole package. Kirkus charges $425. Let's say editing is about $2000, cover is around $500...you're all ready saving by NOT going through a vanity press.
Sorry, we're on marketing. Oh, you might get a social media set up guide. So, they'll give you a list of what social media sites to sign up on and might even sign you up themselves. That is not marketing my friend. They will give you an account and you have to take care of it.
If you really shell out some cash you can do a couple of video interviews and get some stand-alone ads on Google...both of which won't work if no one knows who you are anyway. Interviews and videos only work if you can show people where those interviews and videos are, that is PROMOTE YOURSELF.
Don't buy into anything they say about marketing. You will be on your own and out a couple thousand dollars.
3) Your "Team"
A lot of these vanity presses talk about your personal "team" of people working on your novel. You get your own book consultant, cover design team, editor and EVERYTHING! In the four years I was with AuthorHouse I went through about ten book consultants, NOT through my own doing. They just got changed and I never saw the guy or girl before again. My cover design team got switched on me mid-cover design. I'm pretty sure my editor no longer works there. Personal team? Nope.
You will continually get people who know nothing about your book trying to sell you more hard copies of your book so they can get paid and you can sit there trying to figure out what to do. You are not a special member of their Publication House. You are a number and nothing more.
4) MORE Money
Every so often I'd get these calls from AuthorHouse telling me I was a special little snowflake that had been selected to participate in an event to promote my book. I fell into the trap and flew all the way to Los Angels for a Book-To-Screen event.
You are NOT a special little snowflake. You're number 54 of the thousands of authors in their "House" they've tried calling and who has said "yes" to doing said event. You will be shelling out MORE money to participate in the event then you will have to pay for your way TO the event, as well as your lodging AT the event.
My trip to Los Angeles wasn't a total bust (I did get a replica Saber Tooth Cat fang and to see a Tim Burton exhibit) but it did cost about $3000. What did I get out of it? The knowledge that some people thought my book was "too similar to Twilight", a replica Saber Tooth Cat fang, to see the Tim Burton exhibit, to say I've been to LA, a cool cab driver story, and to meet 149 other authors. Was it worth the $3000? Nope. Would I do it again? Nope.
Later that year I got a call about shelling out another $3000 to go to a book signing event in some park in Toronto with another 150 authors. Um, yes half a million people would be going through said park. No, just because I would be there wouldn't mean people would take copies of my free book. Yes, free. I wouldn't be making any money while there. I would just be gaining a readership. Oh, did I mention I would have had to BUY copies of my own book before going? No? Well yes, I would have had to buy copies of my book to hand out for free. Think about that for a minute. Yeah.
5) Your Rights
The cool thing about being self-published is you get to keep your rights. The not-so-cool thing about going traditional is you don't keep your rights. Vanity presses SAY you can keep your rights but if you decided to stop publishing through them you don't get to use anything with their name on it. What does that mean? Oh, the cover, the inside EDITED version of your book, the bookmarks, postcards, business cards, posters, and any other "promotional" material is null and void.
Why yes, that does mean you shelled out thousands of dollars to give up your rights and be back where you started before meeting said vanity press if you break contract. If you want to be able to use the cover, INSIDE EDITED VERSION OF YOUR BOOK, or anything else you have to pay a fee. Yes, that's right: you have to pay a fee. I suppose it's only fair. I mean they did do all this work setting you up with people and what not. But after spending $10,000 with them that extra fee felt like a kick to the groin.
Worse yet, if you want to self-publish on Amazon, you really can't. Why? Because THEY have all ready made a page for your other book and it would look stupid to have two separate accounts. That's not good for branding.
Did I mention you can't control your pricing? Well you can. But you can't offer the book in any kind of promotional deal with other books you might self-publish because you don't have access to the vanity press' book through Amazon. You can't offer that book for free because then you're throwing money out the window and THEY won't let you. And if you want to make any REAL money through them you've got to charge at least a dollar or more than other authors to make the same amount as them.
Do they tell you when your book is coming off their shelves? Nope. Do they deliver the files you paid for in a prompt and efficient manner before taking your book off their shelves? Nope. As of this writing (January 23), Tale of the Twins is no longer available on the AuthorHouse website but I still haven't gotten any of my files even though I paid the fee on January 9th. Yeah. Think about that for a minute.
So, an update to the file thing. I finally had to call to see where the Hell my files were. When did I call? March 23. March 23 after paying for my files on January 9. What did I get? A PDF of my novel. No cover. And no, not a Word doc which is easily editable for any excess pages, a PDF which when you convert over to a Word doc. you have to reformat everything. I'm currently in the process of reformatting line-by-stinking-line because there were excess pages, wonky paragraph tags, and a bunch of other crap I can't get rid of unless I literally bring a line into the paragraph before then do a hard return. Yeah. What did I pay $150 for? More work and needing a new cover.
In conclusion:
DO NOT USE A VANITY PRESS.
I will admit there have been some authors who have had success with vanity presses but they are few and far between. In order to be a success with a vanity press you have to have disposable income and you have to be able to promote yourself...which are the EXACT same things you need for self-publishing. Except with self-publishing you get to keep your rights. You'll also get to stick with one cover designer and editor who you'll grow to like and keep doing business with. A vanity press can't give you a permanent team. You can give yourself one.
I know it might not seem like it at first glance but it's MUCH, MUCH cheaper and better for you to self-publish without a vanity press. If you're going to self-publish you want as much control as possible so that your book will come out perfect. A vanity press can't offer you that.
And a funny note: There is a company out there who helps you to self-publish. They look like a vanity press but there are major differences. To be honest, I haven't checked them out as much as I normally do but they do offer a discount if you're trying to re-publish your book after being with a vanity press. Think about THAT for a minute. Yeah.
A note for those thinking I'm being bitter: AuthorSolutions (AuthorHouse and iUniverse for those curious) had a class action law suit filed against them. There's a section in Self-Publishing is Hard that talks about research. ALWAYS DO YOUR RESEARCH. Don't fall into the same trap I did.
Until next time: thoughts, comments, rages, rants, questions, and out-right insults can be directed to the comments section.
Friday, May 15, 2015
Writing Tip #14: Reviews
We've left the mini-series in this series of writing tips behind. Yes, we've gone through the basics of setting and world-building, plots and subplots, characters and minor characters. Now we'll head back to some tips, tricks, and other fun stuff having to do with writing.
If you don't all ready know: I get inspired to write a lot of what I write based on real events and this blog is no different. The inspiration for this post about reviews came from something that happened to me in January. So, STORY TIME!
I submitted Best Friends: Body Part Fairy to this horror anthology back in December. The people for the anthology said they'd tell me what was wrong with the story and why they hadn't accepted it if that was the case but never did. Side-note: if you say you're going to do something: DO IT. Don't tell an author you'll give them a reason as to why you didn't accept their story then don't. Because guess what? That author will remember you.
Sorry. ANYWAY. Said anthology didn't accept Best Friends but I knew it was supposed to be out around this time so I went to check it out. I then stumbled upon an author who shall not be named but we'll call him Volty. Yes as in a corny adaption of Voldemort. Stay with me. ;)
Volty has other books out. He has one book in particular with a rather crude title which turns out to be a collection of short stories. The reviews were good all except one. The interesting thing about this review is it had originally been two lines to the effect of "this is not a brilliant work of fiction and nothing makes sense."
Okay, why is this all important? Volty responded to said 1-star review by saying something like "My book got it's first 1-star review and the person said I don't make sense. They don't make sense." What happened? Said reviewer SAW the tweet Volty posted then WENT BACK and edited his review, not to make it better, oh no, to PROVE HIS POINT FURTHER.
Said 1-star review is what made me read Volty's book. I also agreed with said 1-star reviewer and did not end up purchasing Volty's book. What have we learned from this tale? DO NOT RESPOND DIRECTLY TO ANY REVIEWS GOOD OR BAD.
You can (and should) give general thanks to your readers for reading your book or leaving a review in the sense of "thanks everyone for reading and reviewing! Stay tuned for my next book!" You SHOULD NOT say what Volty said or anything near it because you WILL prompt a response and if the person started negatively, well, they're going to get more negative.
While any publicity is good publicity, it's not a good thing to be known as the "bad writer." You don't want to be known as the hack who doesn't make a lick of sense. You don't want people to buy your book to see what steaming pile of crud you made now. Generally speaking you want most people to like you.
The problem with reviews (like in Volty's case) is that ONE negative review is the one we tend to take personally. It's the one that prompts us to respond negatively and the one the keeps us up at night. Does it matter if we've got six 4 or 5 star reviews? Nope. It's the one 1-star that'll stay with us.
No matter how much it hurts: DO NOT RESPOND. You won't even have to. Why? Because the six other reviewers who gave you four or five stars will be the ones who will defend you. AND LET THEM. Don't even mention a 1-star review on your social media in any way that can be seen as an attack on the reviewer. You can however turn it around: "My book got it's first 1-star review. Check that off the bucket-list!"
Not everyone is going to love your work but you can't please everyone. As hard as it is: don't let those bad reviews get you down. Remember, a lot of famous authors were rejected and had bad reviews about their books but they're still writing.
And for the love of all that exists in every plane of every world: do not retaliate. If they're outwardly mocking you on social media: block them. If they're leaving bad reviews for the sake of bad reviews: report them.
How you respond to bad reviews is criticized as much as your writing. How you respond to praise is as criticized. Remember, you're in the public eye and how you present yourself will make an impression on your readers. Make sure you don't become a train wreck people only look at because of morbid fascination.
As for Volty? Eh, I won't make an effort to go looking for his books or reading his work. That response to one bad review was my first impression of him and I didn't like it. My second impression was his Twitter account in which there were 12 tweets that were being rotated through. Yes, 12 tweets over and over and over again which means he's got nothing interesting or detrimental to say.
You have to sell yourself. How you act on social media and how you respond to fans good or bad is a IMMENSE part of selling yourself. Don't crap on yourself before you even get started.
Until next time: thoughts, comments, rages, rants, questions, and out-right insults can be directed to the comments section.
If you don't all ready know: I get inspired to write a lot of what I write based on real events and this blog is no different. The inspiration for this post about reviews came from something that happened to me in January. So, STORY TIME!
I submitted Best Friends: Body Part Fairy to this horror anthology back in December. The people for the anthology said they'd tell me what was wrong with the story and why they hadn't accepted it if that was the case but never did. Side-note: if you say you're going to do something: DO IT. Don't tell an author you'll give them a reason as to why you didn't accept their story then don't. Because guess what? That author will remember you.
Sorry. ANYWAY. Said anthology didn't accept Best Friends but I knew it was supposed to be out around this time so I went to check it out. I then stumbled upon an author who shall not be named but we'll call him Volty. Yes as in a corny adaption of Voldemort. Stay with me. ;)
Volty has other books out. He has one book in particular with a rather crude title which turns out to be a collection of short stories. The reviews were good all except one. The interesting thing about this review is it had originally been two lines to the effect of "this is not a brilliant work of fiction and nothing makes sense."
Okay, why is this all important? Volty responded to said 1-star review by saying something like "My book got it's first 1-star review and the person said I don't make sense. They don't make sense." What happened? Said reviewer SAW the tweet Volty posted then WENT BACK and edited his review, not to make it better, oh no, to PROVE HIS POINT FURTHER.
Said 1-star review is what made me read Volty's book. I also agreed with said 1-star reviewer and did not end up purchasing Volty's book. What have we learned from this tale? DO NOT RESPOND DIRECTLY TO ANY REVIEWS GOOD OR BAD.
You can (and should) give general thanks to your readers for reading your book or leaving a review in the sense of "thanks everyone for reading and reviewing! Stay tuned for my next book!" You SHOULD NOT say what Volty said or anything near it because you WILL prompt a response and if the person started negatively, well, they're going to get more negative.
While any publicity is good publicity, it's not a good thing to be known as the "bad writer." You don't want to be known as the hack who doesn't make a lick of sense. You don't want people to buy your book to see what steaming pile of crud you made now. Generally speaking you want most people to like you.
The problem with reviews (like in Volty's case) is that ONE negative review is the one we tend to take personally. It's the one that prompts us to respond negatively and the one the keeps us up at night. Does it matter if we've got six 4 or 5 star reviews? Nope. It's the one 1-star that'll stay with us.
No matter how much it hurts: DO NOT RESPOND. You won't even have to. Why? Because the six other reviewers who gave you four or five stars will be the ones who will defend you. AND LET THEM. Don't even mention a 1-star review on your social media in any way that can be seen as an attack on the reviewer. You can however turn it around: "My book got it's first 1-star review. Check that off the bucket-list!"
Not everyone is going to love your work but you can't please everyone. As hard as it is: don't let those bad reviews get you down. Remember, a lot of famous authors were rejected and had bad reviews about their books but they're still writing.
And for the love of all that exists in every plane of every world: do not retaliate. If they're outwardly mocking you on social media: block them. If they're leaving bad reviews for the sake of bad reviews: report them.
How you respond to bad reviews is criticized as much as your writing. How you respond to praise is as criticized. Remember, you're in the public eye and how you present yourself will make an impression on your readers. Make sure you don't become a train wreck people only look at because of morbid fascination.
As for Volty? Eh, I won't make an effort to go looking for his books or reading his work. That response to one bad review was my first impression of him and I didn't like it. My second impression was his Twitter account in which there were 12 tweets that were being rotated through. Yes, 12 tweets over and over and over again which means he's got nothing interesting or detrimental to say.
You have to sell yourself. How you act on social media and how you respond to fans good or bad is a IMMENSE part of selling yourself. Don't crap on yourself before you even get started.
Until next time: thoughts, comments, rages, rants, questions, and out-right insults can be directed to the comments section.
Tuesday, April 21, 2015
Writing Tip #12: Subplots
With every great war there's a bunch of little battles to be won. What does this have to do with writing? Let me put it to you this way: with every conflict, there are minor setbacks. Still confused? With every PLOT there are SUBPLOTS.
Life is not a happy trail along a singular path. There are lots of different choices to make which can put you on an entirely different path than the one you meticulously planned out in career studies five years ago. That's right, I went there. ;)
The thing with five year plans is life happens. What you thought would happen at High School graduation when you were first starting High School likely won't be what happens. Or happened. When I was younger I figured by now I'd have a husband, a nice house, and kids. I've a house, a cat, and no children. When I started high school I was planning to go into the sciences, more specifically genetics. Life happened and I don't have a degree in science or any fancy letters after my name. Hell, I figured I'd be a best selling novelist by this time and, yeah, no.
Why is this important? The same concept occurring in your story makes your story more interesting. What are these minor setbacks called? Subplots. How many do you need? Enough to make life interesting and as with most novel concepts: there is no set number on how many subplots you need.
What you do need is one main plot or conflict: defeat the bad guy. How many subplots do you need with this? Well, there could be a romantic interest (one). Your hero might not know how to defeat the bad guy (two). Your hero's sibling could be kidnapped (three). Your hero might have to find the bad guy. (Four)...You see where I'm going with this?
The fun part is there could be conflicts within those subplots. The love interest of your hero might be working for the bad guy (one-a). The hero might have to find a special relic to defeat the bad guy and learn how to use said relic (two a and two b). Your hero's sibling could be part of a bigger problem (three a) Your bad guy might be able to travel between four different worlds (four a, b, c, and d). You see how subplots can get complicated?
The job of your subplots is to make your main plot more interesting. This usually means things are going to get complicated for your character but that's okay. Complicated is good just, try not to go overboard. We don't need two romantic love interests, six different relics needing to be combined in a certain way at a certain time in order to defeat your bad guy, multiple family members being killed, kidnapped or otherwise causing distractions, and a bad guy who's always on the move all in one novel. Spread that out in a series if you're going to get so complex.
That's the other fun thing about subplots. When you are doing a series you can have new ones appear for each book or one continue over multiple books. Some might start in book 3 and end in book 6. Another might start with book 1 and end in book 5.
Do you have to tie up every subplot in every book? Yes, again, not in serials. Every subplot must be resolved before you write THE END though. If not your reader will throw the book across the room and ask what the hell happened to X? Then they'll bug you until X is resolved and that's not fun for anyone involved.
Remember, subplots are little mini-stories attached to the main story that make the story more real, interesting, and drive the main plot. Do they have to make sense right away? Nope. But they MUST have something to do with the main story. Don't throw in a love interest just because, hey romance. Said love interest should be bringing something to the main story line.
Subplots move the story forward, keep the reader's interest, give some more information about what's going on in the story, and make sense in the world of your story. They provide little battles to the main war. You don't need thousands of them but you do need a few to keep things moving along nicely. Again: there's no set number for the amount of subplots you need to have. It all depends on your story.
Until next time: thoughts, comments, rages, rants, questions, and out-right insults can be directed to the comments section.
Life is not a happy trail along a singular path. There are lots of different choices to make which can put you on an entirely different path than the one you meticulously planned out in career studies five years ago. That's right, I went there. ;)
The thing with five year plans is life happens. What you thought would happen at High School graduation when you were first starting High School likely won't be what happens. Or happened. When I was younger I figured by now I'd have a husband, a nice house, and kids. I've a house, a cat, and no children. When I started high school I was planning to go into the sciences, more specifically genetics. Life happened and I don't have a degree in science or any fancy letters after my name. Hell, I figured I'd be a best selling novelist by this time and, yeah, no.
Why is this important? The same concept occurring in your story makes your story more interesting. What are these minor setbacks called? Subplots. How many do you need? Enough to make life interesting and as with most novel concepts: there is no set number on how many subplots you need.
What you do need is one main plot or conflict: defeat the bad guy. How many subplots do you need with this? Well, there could be a romantic interest (one). Your hero might not know how to defeat the bad guy (two). Your hero's sibling could be kidnapped (three). Your hero might have to find the bad guy. (Four)...You see where I'm going with this?
The fun part is there could be conflicts within those subplots. The love interest of your hero might be working for the bad guy (one-a). The hero might have to find a special relic to defeat the bad guy and learn how to use said relic (two a and two b). Your hero's sibling could be part of a bigger problem (three a) Your bad guy might be able to travel between four different worlds (four a, b, c, and d). You see how subplots can get complicated?
The job of your subplots is to make your main plot more interesting. This usually means things are going to get complicated for your character but that's okay. Complicated is good just, try not to go overboard. We don't need two romantic love interests, six different relics needing to be combined in a certain way at a certain time in order to defeat your bad guy, multiple family members being killed, kidnapped or otherwise causing distractions, and a bad guy who's always on the move all in one novel. Spread that out in a series if you're going to get so complex.
That's the other fun thing about subplots. When you are doing a series you can have new ones appear for each book or one continue over multiple books. Some might start in book 3 and end in book 6. Another might start with book 1 and end in book 5.
Do you have to tie up every subplot in every book? Yes, again, not in serials. Every subplot must be resolved before you write THE END though. If not your reader will throw the book across the room and ask what the hell happened to X? Then they'll bug you until X is resolved and that's not fun for anyone involved.
Remember, subplots are little mini-stories attached to the main story that make the story more real, interesting, and drive the main plot. Do they have to make sense right away? Nope. But they MUST have something to do with the main story. Don't throw in a love interest just because, hey romance. Said love interest should be bringing something to the main story line.
Subplots move the story forward, keep the reader's interest, give some more information about what's going on in the story, and make sense in the world of your story. They provide little battles to the main war. You don't need thousands of them but you do need a few to keep things moving along nicely. Again: there's no set number for the amount of subplots you need to have. It all depends on your story.
Until next time: thoughts, comments, rages, rants, questions, and out-right insults can be directed to the comments section.
Wednesday, April 1, 2015
Writing Tip #11: World-Building
A novel is like a movie. You need a stage (setting) for your actors (characters) and a director (plot) to tell those actors where to go. If you're missing one element then your novel will fail. Like I said in the Setting blog post: you don't have a novel if you don't have a setting.
Setting can be as simple or as easy as you want. It can be earth based or a whole new world. When done correctly the setting can become it's own character, showing your reader the tone of your novel and giving them clues as to what's happening in your plot. No matter how complex your setting you're going to have to do a bit of world-building.
What is world-building? It's everything that occurs in the world you've made, or the world you're borrowing (earth). What do I mean by everything? Here's a world-building sample question list:
So, why the questions? They're examples and nothing more. You may need one set in great detail (like the magic set) and not another (like currency). Furthermore, your world-building serves the story, not the plot, these are two entirely different things. Your story is the finished work from first to last word. The plot is the series of events (conflict) that runs through the story. World-building is kind of like stepping stones.
Anyway, world-building serves the story. Your reader does not need to know every single rule in the world, especially if said rule will never come up. You're not writing an encyclopedia or new law book for your world. You're giving the reader enough knowledge so they know why the characters may be in trouble if these use certain types of magic or whatever. It's actually cool to leave out some little details so the world is mysterious and interesting.
A few things you should ALWAYS remember when world building:
The Princess: Is it about a princess who's kidnapped and has to find her way back home? Then you have to know the differences between poor and rich in your society, possibly about how clothing is made and who makes it, possibly other countries, and especially food and how it's obtained. Do you need to know about religion? Eh, not really. A simple "She prayed to the gods to let her get back home" is good enough. Do we need to know about politics? Hells yes. She's a princess, this is going to come up. So, who rules? How many rule? What's the hierarchy like in ruling? How does one secure land?
You'll also have to know why she's been kidnapped and what the people think of her. Is she important because she's a princess or are the people okay with her younger brother being the ruler even if he's not of age because they're a patriarchal society? Good example: The Starks in Song of Ice and Fire. Sansa and Arya are leveraged by many enemies because it's thought all the boys are dead and both girls will be the Stark in Winterfell. BUT, if one of the boys pops up then the girls don't matter so much.
The Mage: Someone comes into newfound magic! YAY! See that big set of questions up there about magic? Yeah, answer all those. Do you need to know how many Kings rule, who rules under them, etc? Eh, not really. A general mention but you're going to be focusing more on how society deals with any aspect of magic. So you won't need to know who the King was two centuries ago. Hell, depending on the story you might not even need to know who the current King is. And depending on who's coming into their magic you might not even need to know about how the 'rich' people live. Good example: Harry Potter. Everything in the story revolves around magic and how it's used and seen...so I'm told. I haven't actually gotten around to reading it yet.
The BARE BASICS of world-building are the following:
Now do you see why you don't need the whole big list of questions in the beginning? World-building is completely dependant on your setting, your plot, and your characters. Again, it's only as complicated as you need it to be and you don't need to tell the reader everything.
A word of advice: figure out the main conflict of your story and how your characters are going to solve that conflict. World build from there. Remember, the world-building comes after you know what your stage (setting) is going to look like, who your actors (characters) are, and what direction (plot) the story is going in. And no, your reader doesn't need to know every little detail.
Until next time: thoughts, comments, rages, rants, questions, and out-right insults can be directed to the comments section.
Setting can be as simple or as easy as you want. It can be earth based or a whole new world. When done correctly the setting can become it's own character, showing your reader the tone of your novel and giving them clues as to what's happening in your plot. No matter how complex your setting you're going to have to do a bit of world-building.
What is world-building? It's everything that occurs in the world you've made, or the world you're borrowing (earth). What do I mean by everything? Here's a world-building sample question list:
- What kind of currency does your world have? What is the cost of living for an average person and how many may or may not be below the poverty line? Is there a big gap between poor and rich?
- What kind of clothing do the people wear? Does this clothing change based on status? Who makes the clothing? How difficult is it to get the materials to make clothing?
- How many countries are in this world? What are the boundaries between countries like? How is the world ruled (multiple Kings, one King, lord and ladies, etc)? How do people travel between countries? Do they need permits in order to travel from one country to another? How many languages are there? Are there different races and do the races have different customs than others?
- What are the customs? Are there days of the week, months, years, different than ours? What holidays are there and how are they celebrated? What are the traditions?
- How do they build and what are their main building materials? What are their streets and roads like? How are their cities and towns laid out? What kind of technology do they have?
- What kind of food do people eat? At what time? How much? What kind of table manners are people in different castes expected to have? Does food differ between rich and poor and by how much? How easily accessible is food? Does each country have its own supply or do they trade for rarities and what are those treaties like?
- What does society think about and how does it treat: sex, abortion, religion, specific customs, women, men, animals, and children? What are the general rules of society and how is a person punished if these rules are broken? What are the morals of society as a whole? What do they do for entertainment?
- What is the main religion? Are their cults? How does believing or not believing in this religion affect a person?
- What's the wild-life and fauna like? Are there hybrid animal-humans? Do some countries have specific fauna and others don't? What's the general layout of the lands? Forests? Rivers? Desert? Mountains?
- Is there a caste system? If so, how does it work and can one move up or down in the system?
- Is there magic? If so, what are the rules behind this magic? Do people need a totem, potions, rituals, or some other object of power? What are the limits to the magic? Is it only certain people who can perform it and if so, how are these people seen by society as a whole? Are certain mages liked more than others and are there forbidden magic types? Why are these magic types forbidden but others not?
So, why the questions? They're examples and nothing more. You may need one set in great detail (like the magic set) and not another (like currency). Furthermore, your world-building serves the story, not the plot, these are two entirely different things. Your story is the finished work from first to last word. The plot is the series of events (conflict) that runs through the story. World-building is kind of like stepping stones.
Anyway, world-building serves the story. Your reader does not need to know every single rule in the world, especially if said rule will never come up. You're not writing an encyclopedia or new law book for your world. You're giving the reader enough knowledge so they know why the characters may be in trouble if these use certain types of magic or whatever. It's actually cool to leave out some little details so the world is mysterious and interesting.
A few things you should ALWAYS remember when world building:
- Stereotypes should be avoided. Don't make white rulers and black slaves. Please, Higher Power, AVOID that.
- Small details are sometimes better than a huge run on Bible. For instance, how a person greets a higher up can say a lot about the culture.
- There are people who will not behave as culture dictates because of free will. (Raven in Bonehemmer Princess comes to mind...)
- Just because a rule or punishment might be cool: if it's not important to the story then don't include it. On that note: Take a look at how the real world works and base your world off it.
- Not everything has to be a huge info dump for the reader, show instead of telling.
- The changes in one part of the world (new laws in a different country, draughts, famine, etc) effects other parts of the world.
The Princess: Is it about a princess who's kidnapped and has to find her way back home? Then you have to know the differences between poor and rich in your society, possibly about how clothing is made and who makes it, possibly other countries, and especially food and how it's obtained. Do you need to know about religion? Eh, not really. A simple "She prayed to the gods to let her get back home" is good enough. Do we need to know about politics? Hells yes. She's a princess, this is going to come up. So, who rules? How many rule? What's the hierarchy like in ruling? How does one secure land?
You'll also have to know why she's been kidnapped and what the people think of her. Is she important because she's a princess or are the people okay with her younger brother being the ruler even if he's not of age because they're a patriarchal society? Good example: The Starks in Song of Ice and Fire. Sansa and Arya are leveraged by many enemies because it's thought all the boys are dead and both girls will be the Stark in Winterfell. BUT, if one of the boys pops up then the girls don't matter so much.
The Mage: Someone comes into newfound magic! YAY! See that big set of questions up there about magic? Yeah, answer all those. Do you need to know how many Kings rule, who rules under them, etc? Eh, not really. A general mention but you're going to be focusing more on how society deals with any aspect of magic. So you won't need to know who the King was two centuries ago. Hell, depending on the story you might not even need to know who the current King is. And depending on who's coming into their magic you might not even need to know about how the 'rich' people live. Good example: Harry Potter. Everything in the story revolves around magic and how it's used and seen...so I'm told. I haven't actually gotten around to reading it yet.
The BARE BASICS of world-building are the following:
- Is magic important to your story? If yes, go into some rules and limitations about magic.
- Is money important in your story? If yes, go into currency arrangements, how people obtain money, etc.
- Is the Leader (King, Queen, etc) important in your story? If yes, go into the differences between rich and poor and expectations of royalty. Who ruled before who and how the rule is separated between countries as well as what treaties their may or may not be.
- Is someone in your story part of a religious faction? If yes, then you're going to need to go into religion.
Now do you see why you don't need the whole big list of questions in the beginning? World-building is completely dependant on your setting, your plot, and your characters. Again, it's only as complicated as you need it to be and you don't need to tell the reader everything.
A word of advice: figure out the main conflict of your story and how your characters are going to solve that conflict. World build from there. Remember, the world-building comes after you know what your stage (setting) is going to look like, who your actors (characters) are, and what direction (plot) the story is going in. And no, your reader doesn't need to know every little detail.
Until next time: thoughts, comments, rages, rants, questions, and out-right insults can be directed to the comments section.
Friday, March 20, 2015
Writing Tip #10: Characters
Welcome to the final installment of a three-part blog series (within a blog series - blogception) dedicated to the basics of any novel. Part One was Setting, Part Two was Plot and in Part Three we have characters.
If you've been following along, let's continue the analogy. You've got your stage set up (Setting) and even if you don't or your set designers are on strike, it's okay. You know what direction you're going to go in (Plot) and again, if you don't then that's okay to. Now you just need to find some actors (characters). What's that? You don't know any actors? That's okay. This is going to help you send out advertisements.
As I've said before: there is no set way on how to get your movie, er, novel, started. You can start with characters, figure out a plot then put together a setting. You can also start with a plot, find the setting then make some characters. It's all up to you as an individual.
It completely depends on the story for me. I found about four or five good story concepts while cleaning out my closets in January. All of these ideas had characters and a basic rundown of plot and setting. When I started doing the pre-planning, that is, putting them in my idea list I didn't start with describing the same concept. One idea mentioned the plot. The second idea started with the characters. The third was the setting. The last was a combination of all three.
Again, it depends on YOU as a writer what you want to decide on first. With that being said: don't be afraid to take a plot and setting (or plot and characters, or setting and characters) and run with it. Free writing can sometimes help you figure out one of the missing elements. You can't wait around for inspiration to hit and sometimes have to go with what you have.
Okay. You need actors. Not just any actors, no, these actors are going to have to do what you say and follow along in your story. I wish you good luck. Characters can take a life of their own and it is best to follow along with what they're thinking sometimes. You're asking how we even GET actors, right?
Sometimes they'll come along on their own, introduce themselves with their name, likes, dislikes, personality, backstory, and everything you need to get the novel done. Other times they'll be this blank shadow person who doesn't know how to speak. Sometimes they'll have a backstory but no name or description. Other times they'll be a name with nothing else. It doesn't matter how they appear: you have to figure them out.
The best way to do this is to conduct a character interview. Ask them what their name is, what their goals are, and who they are in general. I know you can't literally sit down with this person but you're a writer. Envision yourself talking to this person, meeting them for the first time, and wanting to get to know them.
That is the key to any novel: making your characters seem like REAL PEOPLE. They might be in the most ridiculously fantastical world, but they still have to come across as REAL. So, how do you make your characters real? You act as if they are real.
They are your best friend (or worst enemy), you know every detail about them, you know what it takes to break them or build them up, and you FEEL when something happens to them. If you don't feel upset when they fail then your reader won't either. If you're not relieved when they've defeated the villain or made it out safely then your reader won't either. Characters aren't just disposable concepts. No, you have to see them as a PERSON or they will always remain two-dimensional and flat.
In summation: if you don't care about them then neither will your reader. It will show through in your writing (eventually) and people will begin to remark on not enjoying your story because of it. You can survive if your setting isn't hugely descriptive and you're on earth. People can fill in the blanks. You can survive if your plot is the same basic concept as hundreds of other books out there and you've tweaked it slightly to be vaguely different. You can't survive if your characters are irrelevant, unrealistic, and unemotional. It won't matter how awesome the plot or setting is because readers will not forgive a flat, unbelievable, and robotic character.
And again, you make them relatable, realistic, and emotional by thinking of them as REAL PEOPLE. Remember people react differently to the same situation and not every character will immediately grab a first aid kit and help the wounded. Some of them might faint. Some of them might throw up. Others might run away screaming. This is especially important when you're dealing with a group of characters and one gets injured.
If you're having trouble figuring out how real people act you can either go people watch for a couple hours on a day off (try not to be the creepily smiling person in the park though, okay? ;) ) or you can read a book with believable characters. Stephen King says it right: "If you don't have the time to read then you don't have the tools to write."
The best way to figure out how to succeed in making real characters (or a good plot behind a great setting) is TO READ. The next best way is to keep writing. Give your writing to friends and family (even online friends) and see what they think. You can't improve if you don't practice and figure out what you might be doing wrong.
Until next time thoughts, comments, rages, rants, questions, and out-right insults can be directed to the comments section.
If you've been following along, let's continue the analogy. You've got your stage set up (Setting) and even if you don't or your set designers are on strike, it's okay. You know what direction you're going to go in (Plot) and again, if you don't then that's okay to. Now you just need to find some actors (characters). What's that? You don't know any actors? That's okay. This is going to help you send out advertisements.
As I've said before: there is no set way on how to get your movie, er, novel, started. You can start with characters, figure out a plot then put together a setting. You can also start with a plot, find the setting then make some characters. It's all up to you as an individual.
It completely depends on the story for me. I found about four or five good story concepts while cleaning out my closets in January. All of these ideas had characters and a basic rundown of plot and setting. When I started doing the pre-planning, that is, putting them in my idea list I didn't start with describing the same concept. One idea mentioned the plot. The second idea started with the characters. The third was the setting. The last was a combination of all three.
Again, it depends on YOU as a writer what you want to decide on first. With that being said: don't be afraid to take a plot and setting (or plot and characters, or setting and characters) and run with it. Free writing can sometimes help you figure out one of the missing elements. You can't wait around for inspiration to hit and sometimes have to go with what you have.
Okay. You need actors. Not just any actors, no, these actors are going to have to do what you say and follow along in your story. I wish you good luck. Characters can take a life of their own and it is best to follow along with what they're thinking sometimes. You're asking how we even GET actors, right?
Sometimes they'll come along on their own, introduce themselves with their name, likes, dislikes, personality, backstory, and everything you need to get the novel done. Other times they'll be this blank shadow person who doesn't know how to speak. Sometimes they'll have a backstory but no name or description. Other times they'll be a name with nothing else. It doesn't matter how they appear: you have to figure them out.
The best way to do this is to conduct a character interview. Ask them what their name is, what their goals are, and who they are in general. I know you can't literally sit down with this person but you're a writer. Envision yourself talking to this person, meeting them for the first time, and wanting to get to know them.
That is the key to any novel: making your characters seem like REAL PEOPLE. They might be in the most ridiculously fantastical world, but they still have to come across as REAL. So, how do you make your characters real? You act as if they are real.
They are your best friend (or worst enemy), you know every detail about them, you know what it takes to break them or build them up, and you FEEL when something happens to them. If you don't feel upset when they fail then your reader won't either. If you're not relieved when they've defeated the villain or made it out safely then your reader won't either. Characters aren't just disposable concepts. No, you have to see them as a PERSON or they will always remain two-dimensional and flat.
In summation: if you don't care about them then neither will your reader. It will show through in your writing (eventually) and people will begin to remark on not enjoying your story because of it. You can survive if your setting isn't hugely descriptive and you're on earth. People can fill in the blanks. You can survive if your plot is the same basic concept as hundreds of other books out there and you've tweaked it slightly to be vaguely different. You can't survive if your characters are irrelevant, unrealistic, and unemotional. It won't matter how awesome the plot or setting is because readers will not forgive a flat, unbelievable, and robotic character.
And again, you make them relatable, realistic, and emotional by thinking of them as REAL PEOPLE. Remember people react differently to the same situation and not every character will immediately grab a first aid kit and help the wounded. Some of them might faint. Some of them might throw up. Others might run away screaming. This is especially important when you're dealing with a group of characters and one gets injured.
If you're having trouble figuring out how real people act you can either go people watch for a couple hours on a day off (try not to be the creepily smiling person in the park though, okay? ;) ) or you can read a book with believable characters. Stephen King says it right: "If you don't have the time to read then you don't have the tools to write."
The best way to figure out how to succeed in making real characters (or a good plot behind a great setting) is TO READ. The next best way is to keep writing. Give your writing to friends and family (even online friends) and see what they think. You can't improve if you don't practice and figure out what you might be doing wrong.
Until next time thoughts, comments, rages, rants, questions, and out-right insults can be directed to the comments section.
Friday, March 13, 2015
Writing Tip #9: Plot
Ladies and gentlemen, new writers and experienced professionals: welcome to Part Two of a three Part blog series dedicated to the basics of every novel. Part One was Setting. This is about the plot.
So, you've figured out what the stage (setting) is going to look like. If you have no idea what the stage is going to look like or your set designers are on strike: it's okay. You can still gather your actors (characters) and direct them on how to tell the story. What's that? You don't have a direction or a story? Oh. Well, that's okay too.
There are three types of writers. Many authors have come up with cool names for all three types and some even say there are five types of writers. Technically speaking there are two types: those who write and those who dream about writing but never do.
There are three types of writers who write: The Plotter or Planner, The Pantser, and the...Hybrid. Yes, like the fancy new cars but unlike the fancy new cars: it doesn't matter what kind of writer you are.
Plotters or Planners know how their story begins, how it ends and how they will get to that ending sometimes in the greatest detail. Pansters have NO CLUE what's going on. They might have a setting, maybe even a single scene, and the thought of a few characters but have no idea what the characters are doing or why.
The Hybrid? A mix of The Plotter and Planner in varying degrees. I'm a Hybrid: energy efficient, good for the environment, er, sorry. As a Hybrid I have to know how my story ends. I have to know kind of where/when the story is taking place and I have to have the main characters in mind. Everything else is up in the air.
What does all this have to do with plot? A lot. If you're a Panster: you can stay for the ride but we're going to get into a lot of planning which you're not used to doing. But, do stick around because you might find something interesting and could begin a transformation into a Hybrid *cue Transformers music*
Plotters/Planners and Hybrids: buckle up and keep all limbs in the vehicle at all times. There is a package of cookies under your seat was well as a carton of milk. If you need spiked milk there will be an attendant coming along shortly.
Every novel needs a plot. Sometimes the plot isn't as simple as "hero is introduced, bad guy is introduced, hero fights bad guy and wins (or loses depending on who you are), and everybody goes home." The plot varies with every genre but it boils down to this: YOU MUST HAVE CONFLICT.
Conflict does not always mean your main character is fighting with someone else or against something in order to save the world. Conflict can mean something as simple as: main character grows up. No magic, no evil demon lord to defeat, no world to save, and no ninjas. Of course, you can have the magic, demon lords, and world-saving in a growing up story but not all novels have a 100 percent crystal clear conflict.
The goal of your main character could be to get through life and its various changes without getting beat up too horribly. Examples? Glee, The Big Bang Theory, Fresh Prince of Bel-air, Full House, Friends, Seinfeld, Everybody Loves Raymond, and the list goes on. The one concept all these shows (and shows similar) have in common is the fact there is no major conflict. There is no evil villain and the world doesn't have to be saved.
Everyone one of those shows was popular in some sense and most of them went on for many seasons. They were shows about the characters growing up and changing depending what life threw at them. Yes there was something to "defeat" in every episode (someone getting fired, someone moving, a new person at school, failing a test, etc) but the entire show did not revolve around the little conflict. The villain was life.
The plot of these shows is simple: throw believable hurdles in front of the characters and see how they react. Make sure it's funny, heart-warming, sometimes sad but definitely makes you care about the characters, wash, rinse and repeat until the characters can move beyond the show in the readers/viewers mind.
Of course the plot of a novel is easier to figure out when the conflict is clear. If you have a villain who wants to destroy the world because he believes we suck in general and he can fix it then you can give your main character direction on how to defeat said villain. It's also easier if your character has a set profession like doctor, FBI agent, or cop. Shows like House MD, CSI, Criminal Minds, Law and Order, and Flashpoint have characters who not only have to go through the changes life throws at them but also have to deal with saving people's lives every episode.
The point of the plot is to give your characters something interesting to do. No one wants to read about a person getting up and going to work every day unless said person is a superhero by night or they have to solve a murder or life is particulary evil to said person.
The problem with plot is every plot is as different as every novel. Yes all the concepts are the same (boy meets girl, falls in love with girl, tries to get girl, struggles to get girl, finally gets girl) but it changes depending on your characters and your setting.
The only rule when it comes to plot is: make sure you have an interesting conflict that will keep your reader/viewer entertained. Everything else is up to your imagination. My advice? Know where you're going or what your main character wants/needs to do. If you get stuck you can throw ninjas at it.
Next time we'll talk about characters which will finish this three-part series. I'll be expanding on concepts mentioned in this mini-series with posts about world-building, subplots, and minor characters.
Until next time: thoughts, comments, rages, rants, questions, and out-right insults can be directed to the comments section.
So, you've figured out what the stage (setting) is going to look like. If you have no idea what the stage is going to look like or your set designers are on strike: it's okay. You can still gather your actors (characters) and direct them on how to tell the story. What's that? You don't have a direction or a story? Oh. Well, that's okay too.
There are three types of writers. Many authors have come up with cool names for all three types and some even say there are five types of writers. Technically speaking there are two types: those who write and those who dream about writing but never do.
There are three types of writers who write: The Plotter or Planner, The Pantser, and the...Hybrid. Yes, like the fancy new cars but unlike the fancy new cars: it doesn't matter what kind of writer you are.
Plotters or Planners know how their story begins, how it ends and how they will get to that ending sometimes in the greatest detail. Pansters have NO CLUE what's going on. They might have a setting, maybe even a single scene, and the thought of a few characters but have no idea what the characters are doing or why.
The Hybrid? A mix of The Plotter and Planner in varying degrees. I'm a Hybrid: energy efficient, good for the environment, er, sorry. As a Hybrid I have to know how my story ends. I have to know kind of where/when the story is taking place and I have to have the main characters in mind. Everything else is up in the air.
What does all this have to do with plot? A lot. If you're a Panster: you can stay for the ride but we're going to get into a lot of planning which you're not used to doing. But, do stick around because you might find something interesting and could begin a transformation into a Hybrid *cue Transformers music*
Plotters/Planners and Hybrids: buckle up and keep all limbs in the vehicle at all times. There is a package of cookies under your seat was well as a carton of milk. If you need spiked milk there will be an attendant coming along shortly.
Every novel needs a plot. Sometimes the plot isn't as simple as "hero is introduced, bad guy is introduced, hero fights bad guy and wins (or loses depending on who you are), and everybody goes home." The plot varies with every genre but it boils down to this: YOU MUST HAVE CONFLICT.
Conflict does not always mean your main character is fighting with someone else or against something in order to save the world. Conflict can mean something as simple as: main character grows up. No magic, no evil demon lord to defeat, no world to save, and no ninjas. Of course, you can have the magic, demon lords, and world-saving in a growing up story but not all novels have a 100 percent crystal clear conflict.
The goal of your main character could be to get through life and its various changes without getting beat up too horribly. Examples? Glee, The Big Bang Theory, Fresh Prince of Bel-air, Full House, Friends, Seinfeld, Everybody Loves Raymond, and the list goes on. The one concept all these shows (and shows similar) have in common is the fact there is no major conflict. There is no evil villain and the world doesn't have to be saved.
Everyone one of those shows was popular in some sense and most of them went on for many seasons. They were shows about the characters growing up and changing depending what life threw at them. Yes there was something to "defeat" in every episode (someone getting fired, someone moving, a new person at school, failing a test, etc) but the entire show did not revolve around the little conflict. The villain was life.
The plot of these shows is simple: throw believable hurdles in front of the characters and see how they react. Make sure it's funny, heart-warming, sometimes sad but definitely makes you care about the characters, wash, rinse and repeat until the characters can move beyond the show in the readers/viewers mind.
Of course the plot of a novel is easier to figure out when the conflict is clear. If you have a villain who wants to destroy the world because he believes we suck in general and he can fix it then you can give your main character direction on how to defeat said villain. It's also easier if your character has a set profession like doctor, FBI agent, or cop. Shows like House MD, CSI, Criminal Minds, Law and Order, and Flashpoint have characters who not only have to go through the changes life throws at them but also have to deal with saving people's lives every episode.
The point of the plot is to give your characters something interesting to do. No one wants to read about a person getting up and going to work every day unless said person is a superhero by night or they have to solve a murder or life is particulary evil to said person.
The problem with plot is every plot is as different as every novel. Yes all the concepts are the same (boy meets girl, falls in love with girl, tries to get girl, struggles to get girl, finally gets girl) but it changes depending on your characters and your setting.
The only rule when it comes to plot is: make sure you have an interesting conflict that will keep your reader/viewer entertained. Everything else is up to your imagination. My advice? Know where you're going or what your main character wants/needs to do. If you get stuck you can throw ninjas at it.
Next time we'll talk about characters which will finish this three-part series. I'll be expanding on concepts mentioned in this mini-series with posts about world-building, subplots, and minor characters.
Until next time: thoughts, comments, rages, rants, questions, and out-right insults can be directed to the comments section.
Friday, March 6, 2015
Writing Tip #8: Setting
This will be the first-part in 3-part blog series about the basics of any novel. The other two parts will be dedicated to plot and characters. No, you don't have to think of the parts in this order when you start a novel. You are allowed to consider plot or characters first and setting last. And no, sometimes I don't even think of setting first. This is the order I picked because it's the easiest to go in.
Now we're going to get into the bare bones of your novel. You don't have a novel if you don't have a setting. It's great you have multiple people playing different roles strolling on the trail we call a plot but if they've got no stage to stand on, well; they look kind of stupid.
Setting can be: 1945, London, England or it can be: sometime in the future somewhere in America. The difference? 1945, London, England is restricting. It means you have to research what it was like in London, England in 1945. What were people wearing? What were people's rights? How much did things cost? How did people live? For sometime in the future somewhere in America you have much more creative freedom but then you have questions like: are there flying cars? Have people's opinions changed on *insert major controversial issue here*?
Even if your setting is entirely fictional you have to answer the following: what's the layout like? Are there mountains? Streams? Rivers? Lots of people? Roads? How's the weather? What does my main character's living quarters look like? How does MC travel? What does their place of work look like?
A lot of this depends on your plot and your character. For instance if you're writing about the past it's unlikely you're going to be looking up the newest models of cars or have your female MCs wandering around in anything but a gown. If your character has been described as a general slob they're not going to have a pristine home in the best part of town.
Setting can also be a major factor in moving along your plot. A character comes home from work, notices the hammer they always kept on the bench in the garage has been moved and the door to the rest of the house is ajar. Uh-oh. Looks like a break-in or potential murder.
Character watches flying cars zoom by their window from a steel and glass building hovering above the ground. They're thinking about going to the Virtual Reality arcade to play some new game with their friends and wonders if their cyborg-dog will have its new programs downloaded before supper. Oh hey, we're in the future.
Your character is waiting for their date to arrive, wondering if they'll go horseback riding through the meadow and maybe have some crumpets at tea time. She hopes her dress won't get in the way of riding and it'll be clean enough to wear at tea time. Yep, we're in the past, likely England. Sorry, had to. ;)
Setting isn't only about showing your reader where your character lives but it shows how they live. It can also be used to move along the plot and show how your character reacts to the plot. Setting is one of the biggest concepts you need to consider before sitting down and writing your novel.
Setting is a small sample of "world-building" which is a whole other blog post. Sorry. World-building can get pretty complex even if you are on earth. The good news is once you have a established world and setting they can become a character of its own.
Setting can be used for everything and anything in your novel. It can set the tone of the story (cliché rainy day when things are going bad, sun breaking out of the clouds when bad things are over) and give that extra umph of believability to your story. Setting is the je ne se quoi of any novel. If you ignore it then you've got actors (characters), making all the motions (plot) on a green-wall and that's no fun.
Until next time: thoughts, comments, rages, rants, questions, and out-right insults can be directed to the comments section.
Now we're going to get into the bare bones of your novel. You don't have a novel if you don't have a setting. It's great you have multiple people playing different roles strolling on the trail we call a plot but if they've got no stage to stand on, well; they look kind of stupid.
Setting can be: 1945, London, England or it can be: sometime in the future somewhere in America. The difference? 1945, London, England is restricting. It means you have to research what it was like in London, England in 1945. What were people wearing? What were people's rights? How much did things cost? How did people live? For sometime in the future somewhere in America you have much more creative freedom but then you have questions like: are there flying cars? Have people's opinions changed on *insert major controversial issue here*?
Even if your setting is entirely fictional you have to answer the following: what's the layout like? Are there mountains? Streams? Rivers? Lots of people? Roads? How's the weather? What does my main character's living quarters look like? How does MC travel? What does their place of work look like?
A lot of this depends on your plot and your character. For instance if you're writing about the past it's unlikely you're going to be looking up the newest models of cars or have your female MCs wandering around in anything but a gown. If your character has been described as a general slob they're not going to have a pristine home in the best part of town.
Setting can also be a major factor in moving along your plot. A character comes home from work, notices the hammer they always kept on the bench in the garage has been moved and the door to the rest of the house is ajar. Uh-oh. Looks like a break-in or potential murder.
Character watches flying cars zoom by their window from a steel and glass building hovering above the ground. They're thinking about going to the Virtual Reality arcade to play some new game with their friends and wonders if their cyborg-dog will have its new programs downloaded before supper. Oh hey, we're in the future.
Your character is waiting for their date to arrive, wondering if they'll go horseback riding through the meadow and maybe have some crumpets at tea time. She hopes her dress won't get in the way of riding and it'll be clean enough to wear at tea time. Yep, we're in the past, likely England. Sorry, had to. ;)
Setting isn't only about showing your reader where your character lives but it shows how they live. It can also be used to move along the plot and show how your character reacts to the plot. Setting is one of the biggest concepts you need to consider before sitting down and writing your novel.
Setting is a small sample of "world-building" which is a whole other blog post. Sorry. World-building can get pretty complex even if you are on earth. The good news is once you have a established world and setting they can become a character of its own.
Setting can be used for everything and anything in your novel. It can set the tone of the story (cliché rainy day when things are going bad, sun breaking out of the clouds when bad things are over) and give that extra umph of believability to your story. Setting is the je ne se quoi of any novel. If you ignore it then you've got actors (characters), making all the motions (plot) on a green-wall and that's no fun.
Until next time: thoughts, comments, rages, rants, questions, and out-right insults can be directed to the comments section.
Friday, February 27, 2015
Writing Tip #7: Endings
When I start off a writing session I normally check the #amwriting hash-tag on Twitter, if it's trending. Most of the time it is and I take a few minutes to look at the pictures which usually include a cool writing quote. The #amwriting tag is also notorious for Reddit questions about writing and one of said questions is what inspired this post.
A question most (if not all) authors ask is "how should I end this?" Normally it's not so much a plot problem but more of a problem of "Should this be a happy ending or a dark ending?" They've gone through the novel exploring their main theme, put their character through big changes, and now they have to chose whether to make it a nice, neat, happy little bow, or a complex, kind of messy, dark bow.
The other issue with this question is happy endings might be so cliché and we're supposed to avoid those. But, a dark ending can be as cliché and again, we're supposed to avoid those.
The problem is some people prefer a happy ending and some people prefer a dark ending. Writer's can't please everyone no matter how much we try so there will be people who are disappointed no matter what ending we give our novel.
Ultimately, there is no definite answer to "how should I end this?" or "Should this be a happy ending or a dark ending?" Not only will the answer be different because of plot, it'll be different for you as a writer.
Ending a novel doesn't rely on what will make other people happy. Ending a novel is answering the question of "is this resolved?" A novel being resolved depends on a lot of different concepts and sometimes isn't as easy as killing off the bad guy.
The end of the novel should resolve the major issues through the novel. Whether this resolution is benevolent or not is ultimately up to the rest of the story. Yes, the ending relies entirely on the beginning and middle bits.
So if you have a dark, depressing story about an unaccepted character discovering who they are and fighting against the people keeping them down, maybe you'll want to go for a bittersweet ending. The character finds happiness but maybe isn't 100% accepted. Maybe the character dies. Maybe they find The One and live happily ever after.
Confusing right? Again, it's those middle bits which determines how happy or sad your novel is going to be. Let's take The Walking Dead. It's a post-apocalyptic world riddled with zombies where the characters are dying while trying to survive. Is it going to end with the characters in a nice happy field surrounded by friends, food, and having cured the zombies? Nope. It wouldn't fit the death, destruction and generally dark themes of the rest of the show. The ending is going to be horribly dark, it might be bittersweet but in no way is it going to make you smile happily and be glad everything turned out okay.
Let's be honest: it's the books with the bitter-sweet or depressing endings that stick with you the rest of your life. If everything is tied neatly into a bow you smile, put the book down and everything's right with the world. If there's a cliff hanger or the slightest chance darkness will come again, you're left wondering about the book, the characters, and the plot.
But, some novels (or series) deserve the happy ending. The characters have gone through so much that giving them anything but a happy ending will leave readers horribly depressed and possibly angry at you. Will the ending be completely happy? Not really because the reader will still be thinking about what the character had to do to get to that happy ending. It's like the ending of The Hunger Games. *SPOILER ALERT* Sure the Games are over and Katniss ends up with Peeta and they have kids. But, Prim died, Katniss was horribly burned, she lost her best friend, and caused a rebellion. *END SPOILER ALERT* It's great she has a happy life now but the Hell she had to go through to get it makes the ending bittersweet. She deserved the ending and if she had died in the end then the book would have made a lot of people disgusted with the novel itself.
It's would be like trying to force a dark ending on something like Disney's The Little Mermaid: you can't do it or it would ruin the story. If your story is generally happy then you have a happy ending. If it's generally dark or disturbing, your ending becomes bitter-sweet or dark. You can't have a book full of puppies, kittens, rainbows, and unicorns where everyone dies. Well, okay, you could but they would have to be flesh eating puppies and kittens with murderous unicorns and acidic rainbows.
Basically: your ending has to match up with the rest of the novel. Don't worry about it being cliché because in the end, most everything can be a cliché. Don't worry about making your readers happy (unless your readers are kids under 10 and you're writing for Disney) and write an ending THAT SUITS YOUR NOVEL. Don't try to change the tone so drastically it's like two different people wrote it.
Your ending, like everything else in your novel, has to make sense for the characters, the plot, setting, and everything else.
Until next time: thoughts, comments, rage, rants, questions, and out-right insults can be directed to the comments.
A question most (if not all) authors ask is "how should I end this?" Normally it's not so much a plot problem but more of a problem of "Should this be a happy ending or a dark ending?" They've gone through the novel exploring their main theme, put their character through big changes, and now they have to chose whether to make it a nice, neat, happy little bow, or a complex, kind of messy, dark bow.
The other issue with this question is happy endings might be so cliché and we're supposed to avoid those. But, a dark ending can be as cliché and again, we're supposed to avoid those.
The problem is some people prefer a happy ending and some people prefer a dark ending. Writer's can't please everyone no matter how much we try so there will be people who are disappointed no matter what ending we give our novel.
Ultimately, there is no definite answer to "how should I end this?" or "Should this be a happy ending or a dark ending?" Not only will the answer be different because of plot, it'll be different for you as a writer.
Ending a novel doesn't rely on what will make other people happy. Ending a novel is answering the question of "is this resolved?" A novel being resolved depends on a lot of different concepts and sometimes isn't as easy as killing off the bad guy.
The end of the novel should resolve the major issues through the novel. Whether this resolution is benevolent or not is ultimately up to the rest of the story. Yes, the ending relies entirely on the beginning and middle bits.
So if you have a dark, depressing story about an unaccepted character discovering who they are and fighting against the people keeping them down, maybe you'll want to go for a bittersweet ending. The character finds happiness but maybe isn't 100% accepted. Maybe the character dies. Maybe they find The One and live happily ever after.
Confusing right? Again, it's those middle bits which determines how happy or sad your novel is going to be. Let's take The Walking Dead. It's a post-apocalyptic world riddled with zombies where the characters are dying while trying to survive. Is it going to end with the characters in a nice happy field surrounded by friends, food, and having cured the zombies? Nope. It wouldn't fit the death, destruction and generally dark themes of the rest of the show. The ending is going to be horribly dark, it might be bittersweet but in no way is it going to make you smile happily and be glad everything turned out okay.
Let's be honest: it's the books with the bitter-sweet or depressing endings that stick with you the rest of your life. If everything is tied neatly into a bow you smile, put the book down and everything's right with the world. If there's a cliff hanger or the slightest chance darkness will come again, you're left wondering about the book, the characters, and the plot.
But, some novels (or series) deserve the happy ending. The characters have gone through so much that giving them anything but a happy ending will leave readers horribly depressed and possibly angry at you. Will the ending be completely happy? Not really because the reader will still be thinking about what the character had to do to get to that happy ending. It's like the ending of The Hunger Games. *SPOILER ALERT* Sure the Games are over and Katniss ends up with Peeta and they have kids. But, Prim died, Katniss was horribly burned, she lost her best friend, and caused a rebellion. *END SPOILER ALERT* It's great she has a happy life now but the Hell she had to go through to get it makes the ending bittersweet. She deserved the ending and if she had died in the end then the book would have made a lot of people disgusted with the novel itself.
It's would be like trying to force a dark ending on something like Disney's The Little Mermaid: you can't do it or it would ruin the story. If your story is generally happy then you have a happy ending. If it's generally dark or disturbing, your ending becomes bitter-sweet or dark. You can't have a book full of puppies, kittens, rainbows, and unicorns where everyone dies. Well, okay, you could but they would have to be flesh eating puppies and kittens with murderous unicorns and acidic rainbows.
Basically: your ending has to match up with the rest of the novel. Don't worry about it being cliché because in the end, most everything can be a cliché. Don't worry about making your readers happy (unless your readers are kids under 10 and you're writing for Disney) and write an ending THAT SUITS YOUR NOVEL. Don't try to change the tone so drastically it's like two different people wrote it.
Your ending, like everything else in your novel, has to make sense for the characters, the plot, setting, and everything else.
Until next time: thoughts, comments, rage, rants, questions, and out-right insults can be directed to the comments.
Friday, February 13, 2015
Writing Tip #6: Words to be Wary Of
This writing tip isn't so much about the process behind writing but focuses more on the actual writing. You should be aware of what you're writing at all times. I'm not talking only story-wise, nope, I'm also talking about the words you're using.
It's difficult to master the ability to tell a story while consciously making sure you're not over-using words or using one of the words/types of words I'm going to list too much. Even though I've been writing for about two decades now I still stumble and accidently use one too many of the words below and it ends up weakening my writing.
Of course, the easiest way to master the ability to tell a story while consciously watching your word choice is to keep writing. Write every day even if you have nothing to write about or you think your story is crud. Keep writing. Then go back and edit. Then rewrite. Write some more. Read some more. Edit some more...you get the picture, right?
For those who know what National Novel Writing Month is: REMOVING SOME OF THESE WORDS WILL KILL YOUR WORD COUNT. Some of the words listed below are meant to make your writing concise which is kind of the opposite of NaNo's goal of getting 50K in a month. It is possible to avoid these words and still hit the 50K. I've done it, not as well as I do when it's a non-NaNo month, but it can be done. There are a few words if taken out and replaced properly can add more words to your novel. You have to know how to use them.
Anyway, here are some words you should either outright avoid or tone down as much as possible:
That
"The fact that," "she said that," "that was going to be difficult,": take out "that" and your sentence will become tighter. If the sentence sounds awkward as in the case of "that was going to be awkward" replace your "that" with what was going to be awkward. "That" can easily become a lazy descriptor for something you should be explaining in detail. If there is no detail attached to your "that" then remove it.
There are few exceptions to the rule, mainly in the case of dialogue. Most people use "that" without even realizing and it would sound odd if there wasn't at least one "that" in your characters speech patterns. Most people would say "Well that's weird" instead of saying "It's weird the sky is purple today."
Another exception? "As typical of theaters there was a sign atop the awning that showed what was playing." But, you could change the sentence to say "As typical of theaters there was a sign atop the awing showing what was playing." It depends on your narrator's personality and what your reader has come to expect from said narrator. Generally: if it's not needed: don't use it.
Very
"Substitute 'damn' every time you're inclined to write 'very'; your editor will delete it and the writing will be as it should be." - Mark Twain.
One hundred percent accurate. Unless used in dialogue YOU SHOULD NEVER USE VERY. If you want to say an object or person is "very" something, there is ALWAYS a better word. You are not very hungry: you're ravenous. You're not very angry: you're enraged. You're not very scared: you're terrified. A person isn't very small: they're tiny. They're not very strong: they're unyielding. They're not very tall: they're massive or immense.
For more ways to avoid very, here's a chart:
Again, the only exception to including "very" in your writing is if your character is saying it. Even then, I'm sure your characters can come up with a better word as well.
Really
Is exactly like "very:" AVOID AT ALL COSTS UNLESS IN DIALOGUE. The other exception? You're writing in first person PoV and your character is "normal" as in someone who thinks casually using easy to understand words, as most people do.
Just and Only
Same as all of the above: it's unnecessary and unless in dialogue it's not needed. Remember, even in dialogue using "very," "really," "just," and "only" all the time make for annoying dialogue. Yes, there are instances when people will use "just" in dialogue: "Oh the place you're looking for is just around the corner" and it's fine to use "just" in this way. But do realize you can say: "Oh the place you're looking for is right around the corner." And please don't say "the only thing wrong with..." because you're breaking two rules. Say what was wrong with whatever is wrong. BE DESCRIPTIVE.
It again depends on your character as well as your audience.
In order
As in "I did the autopsy in order to find out when he died." Replace with "I did the autopsy to find out when he died." YOU DO NOT NEED "IN ORDER." The sentence makes the same amount of sense BUT it's more concise. If you can say it in fewer words but still paint a pretty picture: DO SO.
Thing
Is a lazy descriptor, kind of like "that." Instead of saying "James' thing was profiling" tell us what James' thing was: "James' talent was profiling." Instead of saying "the thing was huge" tell us what the thing is: "the tower was huge." Bonus points: don't say "the thing was very big" but instead: "the tower was immense." Sorry, had to. ;)
Anyway, again the only time "thing" might be acceptable is in dialogue in which a character says: "You know the thing with the swirly things, the yeah?" because yes, people do talk as such in real life.
Besides dialogue you should be replacing "thing" with the specific word for whatever "thing" is describing. And yes this ALSO means the dirty "thing" those with minds in the gutters are thinking of. Don't have lazy descriptors. They weaken your voice.
Quite
Unless you're writing old English style, skip the "quite" as in "he was quite tall." Saying: "He was immense" has more impact. Unless you want to sound like you're an English person sipping on tea and eating crumpets (which there is nothing wrong with): take it out.
Get or got
These are tricky because there are instances where a more descriptive word won't make sense. Generally speaking: "He got up" can become "He stood up" OR "He woke up" depending on what your main character is doing. But, "He got into the car" might sound better than "He settled into the car" depending on your narrator and when the story occurs, time wise.
Be careful you're not over-using "got" or "get" but also remember people aren't formal when they're talking. "Get down!" won't become "Oh could you kindly lower your body to the floor so you don't get shot?"
-ing words
This is a difficult one for me and I know a lot of people will find it difficult to drop words with an "ing" ending. Instead of saying "I'm struggling with this" you say "I struggle with this." Proper grammar and all but to me "I'm struggling" sounds more human. Could be me though.
Anyway, -ing words also tend to mean you're writing in the passive voice where you should be using the active voice. Of course, there are -ing words you sometimes can't remove: "something" and "nothing" hold position for the top two. "Saving him is something I have to do." "I can't sit back and do nothing." "There was something behind the bush." "There was nothing in the sky." Same concept with was: passive writing so get rid of it. Yes, I know it'll be difficult but the strength of your story will be worth it.
Then
As in "Bill stood, strode across the room then sat." We don't need to constantly know one action comes after the other ALL THE TIME. "Then" is another word you'll find hard to dispose of.
Suddenly
I get you're trying to build suspense and life can sometimes happen "suddenly." Please, please, PLEASE keep this to a minimum. It's a mark of inexperienced writing.
Smirk
I'm horrible at over-using this word. It's fine if your character smirks one or twice and it's cool to use it if your character is being condescending or smug. Smirking is similar to a sneer, NOT a smile so please DO NOT replace all those "he smiled" with "he smirked" in your novel because you're using smile too much. It will not fit.
Quirk
There are two meanings for quirk. One is the verb: "he quirked an eyebrow" and two is the noun: "he has his quirks." Both are perfectly acceptable to use once, maybe twice, in a single novel. If your character's are constantly quirking their eyebrows I might think something is wrong with them.
Like
Overuse means you have too many metaphors. I love a good metaphor, I do, but I don't want to be reading one after the other through your entire novel. I will toss your book across the room then burn it in ritualistic fashion.
As
Be careful with this one since it does imply a person is doing two things at once. Yes, people can "chatter as they walked" or "chomped on his gum as he moved" but be careful how many tasks your character is doing at once or how often because overuse will confuse your reader.
Feel and Think
SHOW US what your character is thinking or feeling. Instead of "I think we should run" say "we should run." Instead of "he was nervous" say "he bit his lip." Be aware how often a character is biting their lip or trembling or whatever else you may use to show us feeling. The Emotion Thesaurus is a great resource to help you mix up those feelings when you find yourself stuck with characters who keep shaking their heads or biting their lips.
A lot
How much is a lot? Is it 1,000 pieces or 100,000,000 pieces? What I think is a lot is different from what you think is a lot so be specific. Remember, people do use this word in regular conversation so you can have "a lot" in dialogue or sparingly in first person narrative.
Sort of/Kind of
What do you mean you're "sort of" cold? You're either cold or you're cool. What, you're "sort of" on fire? How can you be "sort of" anything? Give exact descriptions and again, liberties can be taken in dialogue.
Remember: you have more freedom in dialogue and first person point of view because no one speaks grammatically correct all the time. You should still be conscious of how often you're using the above words and what effect they will have on your story and your reader.
Trust me when I say I know how difficult it can be to remember to use these words sparingly. It's a big list. So, write your story in full then go back to the beginning and hit Ctrl+F on your keyboard. Yes, you're going to find every instance of every word on the above list and either replace it or take it out. You editors will love you. And yes, I do try to Find/Replace all the words mentioned above...when I remember to.
Until next time: thoughts, comments, rages, rants, questions, and out-right insults can be directed to the comments section.
It's difficult to master the ability to tell a story while consciously making sure you're not over-using words or using one of the words/types of words I'm going to list too much. Even though I've been writing for about two decades now I still stumble and accidently use one too many of the words below and it ends up weakening my writing.
Of course, the easiest way to master the ability to tell a story while consciously watching your word choice is to keep writing. Write every day even if you have nothing to write about or you think your story is crud. Keep writing. Then go back and edit. Then rewrite. Write some more. Read some more. Edit some more...you get the picture, right?
For those who know what National Novel Writing Month is: REMOVING SOME OF THESE WORDS WILL KILL YOUR WORD COUNT. Some of the words listed below are meant to make your writing concise which is kind of the opposite of NaNo's goal of getting 50K in a month. It is possible to avoid these words and still hit the 50K. I've done it, not as well as I do when it's a non-NaNo month, but it can be done. There are a few words if taken out and replaced properly can add more words to your novel. You have to know how to use them.
Anyway, here are some words you should either outright avoid or tone down as much as possible:
That
"The fact that," "she said that," "that was going to be difficult,": take out "that" and your sentence will become tighter. If the sentence sounds awkward as in the case of "that was going to be awkward" replace your "that" with what was going to be awkward. "That" can easily become a lazy descriptor for something you should be explaining in detail. If there is no detail attached to your "that" then remove it.
There are few exceptions to the rule, mainly in the case of dialogue. Most people use "that" without even realizing and it would sound odd if there wasn't at least one "that" in your characters speech patterns. Most people would say "Well that's weird" instead of saying "It's weird the sky is purple today."
Another exception? "As typical of theaters there was a sign atop the awning that showed what was playing." But, you could change the sentence to say "As typical of theaters there was a sign atop the awing showing what was playing." It depends on your narrator's personality and what your reader has come to expect from said narrator. Generally: if it's not needed: don't use it.
Very
"Substitute 'damn' every time you're inclined to write 'very'; your editor will delete it and the writing will be as it should be." - Mark Twain.
One hundred percent accurate. Unless used in dialogue YOU SHOULD NEVER USE VERY. If you want to say an object or person is "very" something, there is ALWAYS a better word. You are not very hungry: you're ravenous. You're not very angry: you're enraged. You're not very scared: you're terrified. A person isn't very small: they're tiny. They're not very strong: they're unyielding. They're not very tall: they're massive or immense.
For more ways to avoid very, here's a chart:
 |
| These words are MUCH stronger and more descriptive than "very something" |
Really
Is exactly like "very:" AVOID AT ALL COSTS UNLESS IN DIALOGUE. The other exception? You're writing in first person PoV and your character is "normal" as in someone who thinks casually using easy to understand words, as most people do.
Just and Only
Same as all of the above: it's unnecessary and unless in dialogue it's not needed. Remember, even in dialogue using "very," "really," "just," and "only" all the time make for annoying dialogue. Yes, there are instances when people will use "just" in dialogue: "Oh the place you're looking for is just around the corner" and it's fine to use "just" in this way. But do realize you can say: "Oh the place you're looking for is right around the corner." And please don't say "the only thing wrong with..." because you're breaking two rules. Say what was wrong with whatever is wrong. BE DESCRIPTIVE.
It again depends on your character as well as your audience.
In order
As in "I did the autopsy in order to find out when he died." Replace with "I did the autopsy to find out when he died." YOU DO NOT NEED "IN ORDER." The sentence makes the same amount of sense BUT it's more concise. If you can say it in fewer words but still paint a pretty picture: DO SO.
Thing
Is a lazy descriptor, kind of like "that." Instead of saying "James' thing was profiling" tell us what James' thing was: "James' talent was profiling." Instead of saying "the thing was huge" tell us what the thing is: "the tower was huge." Bonus points: don't say "the thing was very big" but instead: "the tower was immense." Sorry, had to. ;)
Anyway, again the only time "thing" might be acceptable is in dialogue in which a character says: "You know the thing with the swirly things, the yeah?" because yes, people do talk as such in real life.
Besides dialogue you should be replacing "thing" with the specific word for whatever "thing" is describing. And yes this ALSO means the dirty "thing" those with minds in the gutters are thinking of. Don't have lazy descriptors. They weaken your voice.
Quite
Unless you're writing old English style, skip the "quite" as in "he was quite tall." Saying: "He was immense" has more impact. Unless you want to sound like you're an English person sipping on tea and eating crumpets (which there is nothing wrong with): take it out.
Get or got
These are tricky because there are instances where a more descriptive word won't make sense. Generally speaking: "He got up" can become "He stood up" OR "He woke up" depending on what your main character is doing. But, "He got into the car" might sound better than "He settled into the car" depending on your narrator and when the story occurs, time wise.
Be careful you're not over-using "got" or "get" but also remember people aren't formal when they're talking. "Get down!" won't become "Oh could you kindly lower your body to the floor so you don't get shot?"
-ing words
This is a difficult one for me and I know a lot of people will find it difficult to drop words with an "ing" ending. Instead of saying "I'm struggling with this" you say "I struggle with this." Proper grammar and all but to me "I'm struggling" sounds more human. Could be me though.
Anyway, -ing words also tend to mean you're writing in the passive voice where you should be using the active voice. Of course, there are -ing words you sometimes can't remove: "something" and "nothing" hold position for the top two. "Saving him is something I have to do." "I can't sit back and do nothing." "There was something behind the bush." "There was nothing in the sky." Same concept with was: passive writing so get rid of it. Yes, I know it'll be difficult but the strength of your story will be worth it.
Then
As in "Bill stood, strode across the room then sat." We don't need to constantly know one action comes after the other ALL THE TIME. "Then" is another word you'll find hard to dispose of.
Suddenly
I get you're trying to build suspense and life can sometimes happen "suddenly." Please, please, PLEASE keep this to a minimum. It's a mark of inexperienced writing.
Smirk
I'm horrible at over-using this word. It's fine if your character smirks one or twice and it's cool to use it if your character is being condescending or smug. Smirking is similar to a sneer, NOT a smile so please DO NOT replace all those "he smiled" with "he smirked" in your novel because you're using smile too much. It will not fit.
Quirk
There are two meanings for quirk. One is the verb: "he quirked an eyebrow" and two is the noun: "he has his quirks." Both are perfectly acceptable to use once, maybe twice, in a single novel. If your character's are constantly quirking their eyebrows I might think something is wrong with them.
Like
Overuse means you have too many metaphors. I love a good metaphor, I do, but I don't want to be reading one after the other through your entire novel. I will toss your book across the room then burn it in ritualistic fashion.
As
Be careful with this one since it does imply a person is doing two things at once. Yes, people can "chatter as they walked" or "chomped on his gum as he moved" but be careful how many tasks your character is doing at once or how often because overuse will confuse your reader.
Feel and Think
SHOW US what your character is thinking or feeling. Instead of "I think we should run" say "we should run." Instead of "he was nervous" say "he bit his lip." Be aware how often a character is biting their lip or trembling or whatever else you may use to show us feeling. The Emotion Thesaurus is a great resource to help you mix up those feelings when you find yourself stuck with characters who keep shaking their heads or biting their lips.
A lot
How much is a lot? Is it 1,000 pieces or 100,000,000 pieces? What I think is a lot is different from what you think is a lot so be specific. Remember, people do use this word in regular conversation so you can have "a lot" in dialogue or sparingly in first person narrative.
Sort of/Kind of
What do you mean you're "sort of" cold? You're either cold or you're cool. What, you're "sort of" on fire? How can you be "sort of" anything? Give exact descriptions and again, liberties can be taken in dialogue.
Remember: you have more freedom in dialogue and first person point of view because no one speaks grammatically correct all the time. You should still be conscious of how often you're using the above words and what effect they will have on your story and your reader.
Trust me when I say I know how difficult it can be to remember to use these words sparingly. It's a big list. So, write your story in full then go back to the beginning and hit Ctrl+F on your keyboard. Yes, you're going to find every instance of every word on the above list and either replace it or take it out. You editors will love you. And yes, I do try to Find/Replace all the words mentioned above...when I remember to.
Until next time: thoughts, comments, rages, rants, questions, and out-right insults can be directed to the comments section.
Tuesday, February 3, 2015
Writing Tips #5: Your Voice and Writing Rules
If you've been doing any sort of research into how to write then you've come across the term "Voice." No, it's not what you (or your characters) physically sound like. It's how you write. I know, I know, it's a bit confusing. You've stumbled upon this post to learn how to write so you don't know how you write.
It's okay. You don't have to know how you write right now. All you have to know is your voice is how you tell your story. It's how you string together your sentences, how long or short your paragraphs are, how much detail you include, what tense or PoV you write in, and all the other fun stuff that comes with writing combined in a way uniquely you.
Finding your voice can be difficult and to be honest the best way to find your voice is to read a lot and write a lot. You'll begin to develop your own way of doing things differently (for the most part) to everyone else and eventually people will began to recognize your Voice as yours.
Finding your Voice, like everything else in writing takes time and patience. It also takes a lot of practice and knowing the rules. It also means knowing when you can break the writing rules. What are the writing rules? Well, those differ from author to author but we'll go over the basics. Ready? Let's go.
Avoid Prologues (and Epilogues)
The basis for this is the reader skips them anyway. The other basis is if you're writing a prologue or epilogue then they can be a chapter of the story. Mm, not so much. I'm a believer in prologues and epilogues if the story needs them.
A prologue or epilogue should be no longer than a few pages, just enough to give a basic idea of an event or space in time prior to the events of the novel or act as a good summary to what happened in said novel. In serials the epilogue can be used to lead into the next novel, breaking up what happened in the current novel and helping to push along into the next.
Again, they should only be used if needed. I used a prologue for every novel in the thriller/mystery series. Why? Because the prologue was where the unknown subject gave their feelings and motivations behind what they were doing. It's kind of like the first few minutes of Criminal Minds or House MD where the viewer gets to see what's going to happen before the show actually starts. Do you skip those first few minutes? Heck no. They draw you in and make you try to think of what the show is going to be about. You also get to try and connect the rest of the show with the "prologue" and see how everything fits.
I didn't use a prologue in any of the Mists of Time books. The story didn't need a different PoV or an explanation leading into it. I'll probably have an epilogue in the last book that will summarize the events of all three books.
That is the job of the prologue and the epilogue: to summarize everything neatly so the reader can readily understood what might be happening (in the case of prologues) or what has happened (in the case of epilogues).
Never use a verb other than said and never modify the verb said
I hate, hate, HATE this advice. I wrote an entire blog post about my reasons behind hating the word said but I'll summarize here.
I AM in agreement said should make up the majority of your dialogue tags. I AM in agreement overusing other verbs gets to be overwhelming. I request instead of flooding all dialogue with said, we as writers use other verbs or modify said sparingly to keep things interesting.
The arguments for always using said:
1) It's distracting to the reader. I get it. When you start using fancy words every time someone talks your reader might not understand the word or be so stunned by the word they might stop. You know what distracts me? Said. All. The. Time. It makes me think you've written a news article instead of a work of fiction.
2) The reader doesn't pay attention to dialogue tags anyway. Well too bad. I've spent weeks/months/years of my life writing this novel, going over every word, and if you're going to ignore 10% (or more) of my words then don't bother with the rest. I put my heart and soul into every word, the least you can do is read them all.
3) You should be showing the reader what your character is saying. Basically it means you should use said then the sentence after should be something like: "He was keeping his voice low so they wouldn't be caught." You know what single word says the sentence in quotes? Whispered. HE WHISPERED. Then you can go on: "If they got caught they would be killed." And hey, you cut down nine words.
Again, I AGREE said should be the main dialogue tag. But there are words like whispered, muttered, mumbled, told, yelled, shouted, exclaimed, explained, answered, and replied. There are modifiers like with a grin, with a frown, while scowling, with his eyes narrowed, with a growl, in a low voice, with a grunt, and with a chuckle. I ask again: why should we disregard entire words and phrases? It's like asking a plumber not to use his wrench or an electrician not to use rubber handled tools.
Dialogue tags should be a comfortable mixture of said alone, other verbs, modified said, or no tags. Also: Stephen King, JK Rowling, and Anne Rice break this rule. Best of all GRR Martin busts this rule to bits IN A PROLOGUE in Game of Thrones. So. MIX IT UP. Be creative and find what works for you when it comes to dialogue tags.
Avoid detailed descriptions of characters, things, and places
This was covered in detail (ha) in my Show vs Tell blog post, writing tip #3. Again, I'll summarize.
Showing is fine and it's okay to include the five senses in your novel. Don't include every sense for every character in every scene or your reader's going to drop your book with a groan and move onto something else. General rule of thumb: if you're going over 100,000 words and you're not half way done (or close to being done) then you've got too much going on in one book and/or you've over-described.
Now, I agree with describing a character. I want to know what they look like. Black hair, green, eyes, pale skin, freckles, average in height, slender build? Awesome! Just don't do:
Blair had thick, straight black hair that fell to his mid back like a curtain of silk across his shoulders. His green eyes were the color of jade, clear, and bright framed with thick curled lashes and perfectly arched eyebrows above. His skin was light in color from his Scottish descent and in the sun would go bright red before peeling and returning to its natural moon-pale tones. A smattering of freckles went over both cheeks and his nose but did not extend to his forehead or chin. Only a few stray freckles covered his body and randomly in so many different places that not even Blair was sure how many freckles he had. He was average in height for a male, standing at precisely five feet and nine inches. He was not a proponent of weight lifting nor did he do any exercises that were physically draining. His frame was slender, not defined, but he was not over-weight in any way. In fact, his frame was delicate, almost like a woman's with a slender waist and broad hips. Blair was often mistaken for a woman and hated it but did not wish to cut his hair to stop the miss-gendering. Sometimes, he liked being miss-gendered, especially when he was feeling like a woman when he woke.
I'm betting at least half of you started groaning half way through. Don't feel bad if you did. See, all that description could easily be tacked onto other parts of the novel, sprinkled through when needed until your reader gets the entire block of text in their head without you needing to include the entire block of text.
Yes, I want to know what your character, place, and objects look like in great detail if you care to give it to me. No, I don't need all the detail at once. And no, I don't necessarily need to know EVERY detail. Brown eyes, short black hair, dark skin, female? Cool. I'll get a general picture and fill in details when you give them to me.
That's the thing about description: sometimes it's okay for the reader to fill in the little details. The trick to knowing if you're over describing? Give it to someone else. If they start groaning then you know you've got to much. The other trick? If you start skipping over your descriptions during editing then you know they're too long.
Avoid clichés
A cliché is one of two things: an overused phrase (frightened to death) or an idea with a different meaning, ex, sweaty palms. We know the person's palms are sweaty but it's a sign of nervousness.
I can agree on lessening the amount of clichés in your work. I don't want to read string after string of cliché but a modified cliché or a bare hint of one? That's okay. Instead of saying he had sweaty palms to say a character was nervous, give some other tell. Say his eyes were moving back and forth over the room and he was sweating. Say he kept swallowing too much and licking his lips. Don't show me how sweaty his palms are unless he's holding hands with someone and they notice it.
Don't use a long word when a short one will do
Basically this means don't use some strange unusual word you found in the thesaurus when a simple word like "pain" will do. On the same token, don't keep reusing the same word over and over. Yes, mix it up, but don't go digging for words people have to look up because then they'll get distracted and if they get distracted they'll stop reading.
Now, if you're dealing with someone who describes things in medical terms and you know it's part of this person's personality: use it but make sure the person explains what the word means to the other characters who don't.
If it doesn't belong then cut it out
AGREED ONE HUNDRED PERCENT. If a word, sentence, paragraph, scene, CHAPTER does not move along the plot or show character growth then take it out. Kill your darlings, as Stephen King says.
Grammar rules: don't start with joining words or end with linking verbs.
This can be played with carefully depending on the tone of the novel, the scene, and the character who's narrating. This also goes for run on sentences because what better way to show fear than have your narrator start to ramble?
Avoid repetition
Again, it can be played with depending on the situation. "And she looked up at him. And up. And up" means hey, we're looking at a tall person in comparison to the "she." Better yet, we're being shown we're looking at a tall person instead of being told this person is tall.
Remember: all rules in writing CAN AND SHOULD be bent (or broken) every so often. No one gets it right the first time and even best selling authors break the above rules. Just be sure you're breaking the rules in the right way to make your writing interesting enough to stand out.
One final point because I know it'll come up. Other writers might say the only people who can break/bend the above rules are professional authors and if you're a first time published author you should stick to the above. I say *chuckles*: JK Rowling, Stephanie Mayer, EL James...I could go on but I think you get the idea. I also say: If you want to be a "professional author" to the likes of Stephen King or G.R.R Martin (or whomever) then write like one. That is, BEND AND BREAK THE RULES LIKE THEM.
Until next time: thoughts, comments, rages, rants, questions, and out-right insults can be directed to the comments section.
It's okay. You don't have to know how you write right now. All you have to know is your voice is how you tell your story. It's how you string together your sentences, how long or short your paragraphs are, how much detail you include, what tense or PoV you write in, and all the other fun stuff that comes with writing combined in a way uniquely you.
Finding your voice can be difficult and to be honest the best way to find your voice is to read a lot and write a lot. You'll begin to develop your own way of doing things differently (for the most part) to everyone else and eventually people will began to recognize your Voice as yours.
Finding your Voice, like everything else in writing takes time and patience. It also takes a lot of practice and knowing the rules. It also means knowing when you can break the writing rules. What are the writing rules? Well, those differ from author to author but we'll go over the basics. Ready? Let's go.
Avoid Prologues (and Epilogues)
The basis for this is the reader skips them anyway. The other basis is if you're writing a prologue or epilogue then they can be a chapter of the story. Mm, not so much. I'm a believer in prologues and epilogues if the story needs them.
A prologue or epilogue should be no longer than a few pages, just enough to give a basic idea of an event or space in time prior to the events of the novel or act as a good summary to what happened in said novel. In serials the epilogue can be used to lead into the next novel, breaking up what happened in the current novel and helping to push along into the next.
Again, they should only be used if needed. I used a prologue for every novel in the thriller/mystery series. Why? Because the prologue was where the unknown subject gave their feelings and motivations behind what they were doing. It's kind of like the first few minutes of Criminal Minds or House MD where the viewer gets to see what's going to happen before the show actually starts. Do you skip those first few minutes? Heck no. They draw you in and make you try to think of what the show is going to be about. You also get to try and connect the rest of the show with the "prologue" and see how everything fits.
I didn't use a prologue in any of the Mists of Time books. The story didn't need a different PoV or an explanation leading into it. I'll probably have an epilogue in the last book that will summarize the events of all three books.
That is the job of the prologue and the epilogue: to summarize everything neatly so the reader can readily understood what might be happening (in the case of prologues) or what has happened (in the case of epilogues).
Never use a verb other than said and never modify the verb said
I hate, hate, HATE this advice. I wrote an entire blog post about my reasons behind hating the word said but I'll summarize here.
I AM in agreement said should make up the majority of your dialogue tags. I AM in agreement overusing other verbs gets to be overwhelming. I request instead of flooding all dialogue with said, we as writers use other verbs or modify said sparingly to keep things interesting.
The arguments for always using said:
1) It's distracting to the reader. I get it. When you start using fancy words every time someone talks your reader might not understand the word or be so stunned by the word they might stop. You know what distracts me? Said. All. The. Time. It makes me think you've written a news article instead of a work of fiction.
2) The reader doesn't pay attention to dialogue tags anyway. Well too bad. I've spent weeks/months/years of my life writing this novel, going over every word, and if you're going to ignore 10% (or more) of my words then don't bother with the rest. I put my heart and soul into every word, the least you can do is read them all.
3) You should be showing the reader what your character is saying. Basically it means you should use said then the sentence after should be something like: "He was keeping his voice low so they wouldn't be caught." You know what single word says the sentence in quotes? Whispered. HE WHISPERED. Then you can go on: "If they got caught they would be killed." And hey, you cut down nine words.
Again, I AGREE said should be the main dialogue tag. But there are words like whispered, muttered, mumbled, told, yelled, shouted, exclaimed, explained, answered, and replied. There are modifiers like with a grin, with a frown, while scowling, with his eyes narrowed, with a growl, in a low voice, with a grunt, and with a chuckle. I ask again: why should we disregard entire words and phrases? It's like asking a plumber not to use his wrench or an electrician not to use rubber handled tools.
Dialogue tags should be a comfortable mixture of said alone, other verbs, modified said, or no tags. Also: Stephen King, JK Rowling, and Anne Rice break this rule. Best of all GRR Martin busts this rule to bits IN A PROLOGUE in Game of Thrones. So. MIX IT UP. Be creative and find what works for you when it comes to dialogue tags.
Avoid detailed descriptions of characters, things, and places
This was covered in detail (ha) in my Show vs Tell blog post, writing tip #3. Again, I'll summarize.
Showing is fine and it's okay to include the five senses in your novel. Don't include every sense for every character in every scene or your reader's going to drop your book with a groan and move onto something else. General rule of thumb: if you're going over 100,000 words and you're not half way done (or close to being done) then you've got too much going on in one book and/or you've over-described.
Now, I agree with describing a character. I want to know what they look like. Black hair, green, eyes, pale skin, freckles, average in height, slender build? Awesome! Just don't do:
Blair had thick, straight black hair that fell to his mid back like a curtain of silk across his shoulders. His green eyes were the color of jade, clear, and bright framed with thick curled lashes and perfectly arched eyebrows above. His skin was light in color from his Scottish descent and in the sun would go bright red before peeling and returning to its natural moon-pale tones. A smattering of freckles went over both cheeks and his nose but did not extend to his forehead or chin. Only a few stray freckles covered his body and randomly in so many different places that not even Blair was sure how many freckles he had. He was average in height for a male, standing at precisely five feet and nine inches. He was not a proponent of weight lifting nor did he do any exercises that were physically draining. His frame was slender, not defined, but he was not over-weight in any way. In fact, his frame was delicate, almost like a woman's with a slender waist and broad hips. Blair was often mistaken for a woman and hated it but did not wish to cut his hair to stop the miss-gendering. Sometimes, he liked being miss-gendered, especially when he was feeling like a woman when he woke.
I'm betting at least half of you started groaning half way through. Don't feel bad if you did. See, all that description could easily be tacked onto other parts of the novel, sprinkled through when needed until your reader gets the entire block of text in their head without you needing to include the entire block of text.
Yes, I want to know what your character, place, and objects look like in great detail if you care to give it to me. No, I don't need all the detail at once. And no, I don't necessarily need to know EVERY detail. Brown eyes, short black hair, dark skin, female? Cool. I'll get a general picture and fill in details when you give them to me.
That's the thing about description: sometimes it's okay for the reader to fill in the little details. The trick to knowing if you're over describing? Give it to someone else. If they start groaning then you know you've got to much. The other trick? If you start skipping over your descriptions during editing then you know they're too long.
Avoid clichés
A cliché is one of two things: an overused phrase (frightened to death) or an idea with a different meaning, ex, sweaty palms. We know the person's palms are sweaty but it's a sign of nervousness.
I can agree on lessening the amount of clichés in your work. I don't want to read string after string of cliché but a modified cliché or a bare hint of one? That's okay. Instead of saying he had sweaty palms to say a character was nervous, give some other tell. Say his eyes were moving back and forth over the room and he was sweating. Say he kept swallowing too much and licking his lips. Don't show me how sweaty his palms are unless he's holding hands with someone and they notice it.
Don't use a long word when a short one will do
Basically this means don't use some strange unusual word you found in the thesaurus when a simple word like "pain" will do. On the same token, don't keep reusing the same word over and over. Yes, mix it up, but don't go digging for words people have to look up because then they'll get distracted and if they get distracted they'll stop reading.
Now, if you're dealing with someone who describes things in medical terms and you know it's part of this person's personality: use it but make sure the person explains what the word means to the other characters who don't.
If it doesn't belong then cut it out
AGREED ONE HUNDRED PERCENT. If a word, sentence, paragraph, scene, CHAPTER does not move along the plot or show character growth then take it out. Kill your darlings, as Stephen King says.
Grammar rules: don't start with joining words or end with linking verbs.
This can be played with carefully depending on the tone of the novel, the scene, and the character who's narrating. This also goes for run on sentences because what better way to show fear than have your narrator start to ramble?
Avoid repetition
Again, it can be played with depending on the situation. "And she looked up at him. And up. And up" means hey, we're looking at a tall person in comparison to the "she." Better yet, we're being shown we're looking at a tall person instead of being told this person is tall.
Remember: all rules in writing CAN AND SHOULD be bent (or broken) every so often. No one gets it right the first time and even best selling authors break the above rules. Just be sure you're breaking the rules in the right way to make your writing interesting enough to stand out.
One final point because I know it'll come up. Other writers might say the only people who can break/bend the above rules are professional authors and if you're a first time published author you should stick to the above. I say *chuckles*: JK Rowling, Stephanie Mayer, EL James...I could go on but I think you get the idea. I also say: If you want to be a "professional author" to the likes of Stephen King or G.R.R Martin (or whomever) then write like one. That is, BEND AND BREAK THE RULES LIKE THEM.
Until next time: thoughts, comments, rages, rants, questions, and out-right insults can be directed to the comments section.
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