For your reading pleasure this weekend, I’d like to share several articles I’ve read this week and found useful, thought-provoking, and otherwise helpful. It’s been a busy week both in terms of the beta read for my novel The Gideon Effect, and in terms of my numerous research projects as I figure out the next steps on the route to eventually publishing the novel. Last week I realized there may be some value for others in collating the articles I find useful as I go through the process.
Writing
KEEPING IT REAL
If you were me, would you like yourself? Would you want to stay in my head for a series of novels? That’s the challenge faced when writing close point of view. We’re kept close to the characters’ thoughts. If we like that character’s world view, or their elusive voice, chances are we’ll stick with them. If we don’t… meh. Book set down and forgotten.
Source: JoZebwrites: KEEPING IT REAL
This is an excellent exposition on character development via Close POV, something I’ve been working on in recent writings and revisions.
49 Professional Tips On How To Write A Book – Developmental Editor Susan Mary Malone
Blog post at Developmental Editor Susan Mary Malone : So much goes into a well-written book. We’ve settled on 49 tips here, but it could go into the thousands. As I often say when speaking[..]
Source: 49 Professional Tips On How To Write A Book – Developmental Editor Susan Mary Malone
Though there are 49 tips in this article, I fear it is probably not exhaustive. Every writer, editor, agent, etc. develops rules of thumb. One thing I like about this list, though, is that it embraces contradiction. So many “do nots” are really about overuse. Used at the right time and for the right reasons, “do nots” become useful. For an example, check out the discussion about passive voice in this article.
Can’t Keep Up? 7 Brilliant Ways To Finish Your Story | Kristen Lamb’s Blog
Today we have a special treat from Dr John Yeoman, PhD Creative Writing. He’s going to give us some ways to tackle one of the biggest problems plaguing writers—the inability to finish w…
Source: Can’t Keep Up? 7 Brilliant Ways To Finish Your Story | Kristen Lamb’s Blog
– Karen Lamb’s blog, by guest blogger Dr. John Yeoman
The advice mostly boils down to how to manage all the little scraps of story you scribble down and never sort out, and how to keep yourself interested, nay enthralled, by what happens next in your story.
Planning A Fantasy Epic by CC Hogan
When I think about it, I have been working on this project for the last year and it has consumed me to the point that I go to bed dreaming of characters, wishing my dragons actually existed and have sleepless nights worrying about whether I have got dates right, travel times right, names right … oh, the list goes on!
I do not know how many words I have written in total in that time, but the first four books add up to nearly 600,000 finished words, 1,346 pages in print, and my OneNote notebook is becoming a significant memory hog!
On top of that, I have written the first two books of series two and a couple of short stories. The final book count is going to be around 12 books plus some side projects, so I suspect that I am looking at around 2 million words, one way or another.
So, how does a writer manage to keep all this in control?
Source: Planning A Fantasy Epic by CC Hogan – The Readers Gazette
The author of Dirt writes about how he goes about keeping track of hundreds of named characters, and two continents worth of settings in a story spanning a thousand years.
10 Tips For Taking Feedback On Your Writing (And How To Trust It, Too!) – The Writer’s Circle
Embrace the red pen!
Source: 10 Tips For Taking Feedback On Your Writing (And How To Trust It, Too!) – The Writer’s Circle
The main messages that resonate for me are not taking feedback too personally, looking for common themes in multiple feedback sources, and not sweating feedback that is mean or genuinely insulting.
Publishing
L. Anne Wooley, Writer “The best fiction has a splash of truth.”: What next? A Look into what you should do after finishing (editing) a novel/story
After you have polished it to high sheen, you should submit to an editor and/or Beta readers (these are folks who read your work for you, to let you know if there are any snags, readability, any glaring errors) This should be done before you start the next step. If you have already done this GREAT, you are ready for the next step.
The next step is deciding upon a route for publication. Wooley outlines some of the advantages and disadvantages to traditional and independent publishing, and gives some advice on making the right choice for you.
In Defence Of The Indie Writer | Derek Haines
From my perspective, it is the new authors, Indies and self publishers that are bringing fresh ideas and powerful stories to print. They are the innovators and the ones willing to experiment.
Source: In Defence Of The Indie Writer
Haines believes the future of book publishing is moving in a similar direction to the digital music industry.
11 Mistakes New Self-Published Authors Make
Newly self-published authors make big mistakes. But they can be avoided very easily. These 11 tips will help you avoid them, and give your book every chance.
Source: 11 Mistakes New Self-Published Authors Make
The Self Publishing Train Wreck Is Upon Us
Kindle Unlimited will be the self publishing train wreck that has been waiting to happen for quite some time now. There is no future in devaluing books.
Source: The Self Publishing Train Wreck Is Upon Us
The pitfalls of Kindle Unlimited explained. The discussion in the comments portion of this article are worth the price of admission. Several writers discuss the pros and cons of Amazon’s current algorithm for paying authors for kindle unlimited downloads. It’s currently based on the number of pages read, with some obvious downsides. Even better, there is some discussion about the lack of worldwide buy-in to the eBook model, and about other ways to distribute eBooks.
Promoting
ABC’s of Authors on Instagram: Everything Your Account Should Have
Source: How to Save Money and Do Online Book Publicity Yourself | Jane Friedman
Some great suggestions on DIY book publicity, including ideas on how to keep track of it all.
A Little of This, a Little of That
The 8 Best Reader’s Advisory Websites | INALJ
here’s my list of the 8 best book recommendation websites, whether to help your patrons or yourself to find a new book.
Source: The 8 Best Reader’s Advisory Websites | INALJ
Librarian Rebecca Tischler talks about using book review sites to stay up to date on new releases for recommending to patrons. I found a link to this article on Cynthia Kraack’s blog. She recommends the same list of sites as ways for authors to stay in touch with potential readers.
Harlan Ellison’s epic rant about Warner Brothers expecting him to give them a free interview. Some profanity. The short version: Writers deserve to be paid.
Workload and the Writer | Typosphere by Tom Collins
So, yeah … remember that thing about how quitting the day job to write full will help with the work load? Not happening. This writing gig, it turns out, is just about the same as any project-oriented corporate job I’ve ever had—the multitude of projects overlap forever, and the base skillset for “surviving” is to figure out which issues to freak out over right now and which to freak out about later …which, in writer reality, means finding ways to be okay with not doing all the other things I really know I need to be doing as I go along (which in the role of being an indie publisher, is pretty much a bottomless pit of tasks … Yes, my brain says, I need to do All the Things).
Source: Workload and the Writer | Typosphere
It’s a relief to read that it’s not just me, that this writing thing is a ton of work on a ton of different fronts! Tom Collins has a humorous and engaging voice, and that makes me quite curious about his books and short stories. He’s on my summer reading list.
Endnote
If you’d like to see an article you’ve recently read or written included in a future issue of the Roundup, please leave a comment or contact me via the contact page. Or hit me up on twitter!
Until next week, happy writing, and happy reading!
photo credit: Maquina d’escriure via photopin (license)