I Am So Over this Project - My Muse Skipped Out on Me
What do you do when you've been writing hot, in the zone, imagining the next Best Selling Novel and your Muse puts her hand on her hip, stomps her foot and walks away in a huff?
Maybe, you've written yourself into a corner and instead of a full blown novel and your Muse gives you a premature ending?
What do you do when you are mid-novel and discover you've been following the wrong plot. You Wants Lists aren't what they started as and it turns out your Antagonist is more likeable than your Main Character?
Having Plot Bunnies is a big responsibility, we need to keep in mind, like in Watership Down, bunnies startle easily. (This confounds the old Shoulder Vulture) But, how do we keep our bunnies from going so far into the rabbit holes, we may not know where they plan on coming out.
Come Chat With Us
Plot Bunnies & Shoulder Vultures
November is NaNoWriMo
Our biggest goal is to write it down before our Shoulder Vulture (Internal Editor) swoops down to pick at the flesh of our Plot Bunny (Ideas, Plotlines, Story Arcs)
November is the Month our Shoulder Vulture does its best to defeat our Muse.
NaNo or Not, it is time to apply that butt glue and get something committed to paper or computer.
Wrapping up Dark Fiction Month - Dragging out the Butt Glue for our Muses
As the last group of children takes the last of your candy, you will turn off your porchlight and jot down potential topics, plot bunnies and things no one will ever see. At least until the names are changed.
NaNoWriMo is happening the entire month of November.
November is the Month our Shoulder Vulture does its best to defeat our Muse.
I am not planning to Commit Fiction during NaNo. I probably won't write anything near 50K words in 30 days. But, I will head over and make a donation to buy a Halo.
It is time for me to write those things that no one needs to see. Even so, I may change the names or genders to protect the people who watched it all happen and didn't raise a single alarm. It may potentially turn into a Therapy Journal so I need some creative ways to keep that from happening.
Maybe I will write a series of Personal Essays of my adventures, milestones, regrets and believe it or not topics with a generous dose of humor mixed in.
Let's Talk about the Best Horror Books
The article attached here is a list of the 13 Most Terrifying Horror Books of All Time.
I do not see mine on the list. The House on the Borderland by William Hope Hodgson.
William Hope Hodgson was an English author. He produced a large body of work, consisting of essays, short fiction, and novels, spanning several overlapping genres including horror, fantastic fiction, and science fiction.
A young family that moves into a small home on Ash Tree Lane where they discover something is terribly wrong: their house is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. Of course, neither Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Will Navidson nor his companion Karen Green was prepared to face the consequences of that impossibility, until the day their two little children wandered off and their voices eerily began to return another story — of creature darkness, of an ever-growing abyss
behind a closet door, and of that unholy growl which soon enough would tear through their walls and consume all their dreams.
Join us Sunday for a chat about Horror... share your favorite Horror read.
The Website Kerfuffle has been resolved.
The Website has been restored.
For those of you who manage your own websites, always keep things like PHP updated.
That is all.
How Do you Know what Genre your Dark Fiction Falls Under?
Genres form by conventions that change over time as cultures invent new genres and discontinue the use of old ones. Often, works fit into multiple genres by way of borrowing and recombining these conventions. ... Genre suffers from the ills of any classification system.
We are continuing to chat about dark fiction. I have always had a hard time with genres. Where on a Book Store Shelf does the book you're reading belong?
Do you have a specific idea of where a bookseller would shelf your book? (Not on the Bargain Table where many good books go before dying).
fears related to the natural environment (heights, thunder, darkness)
fears related to blood, injury, or medical issues (injections, broken bones, falls)
fears related to specific situations (flying, riding an elevator, driving)
other (choking, loud noises, drowning)
There must be 50 ways to scare your reader...
Join us at 7PM EDT at the Writer's Chatroom
Dark Fiction Month
It is that October Time of Year, again.
We are going to be talking about dark fiction.
Some questions to consider...
Is contemporary dark fiction scarier than the stories and poems many of us consider classics?
Why does a reader want to pick up a book that is going to make them check all the windows and doors before they turn out the reading light and take one quick peek under the bed?
What is your all time favorite Dark Fiction Book?
What book had a creep factor 10?
Is today's Dark Fiction Darker than those written 50, 75, 100+ years ago?
Join us in the chatroom and let's talk. Bring a flashlight.
EVPs, Research and Confirmation Bias
We are about to wrap up Research Month. For September's last Sunday Chat, lets talk about what we bring to our research. How we influence the results.
Can we avoid bringing our own expectations and experiences to the research table? Does it matter, I mean especially if we are writing fiction?
Would having a Research Plan of some kind help us avoid both the Rabbit Hole and our Confirmation Bias? What would a plan look like?
And what the heck is an EVP, anyway?
Join us tomorrow, 26 September at 7PM EDT at the Writer's Chatroom.
Down the Research Rabbit Hole
Welcome to Research Month at the Writer's Chatroom
I love researching. I know it isn't exactly news to anyone who knows me. One of my favorite writerly how-to books suggests we stop researching something like 'brain surgery' the moment we envision ourselves with a scalpel in our hand.
In the mid-nineties, my computer came with Netscape and DogPile as search engines. I am somewhat surprised to see it still works.
I ran a regular old Google on the word 'resources for research.' I hit the jackpot on the first article link.
From, How big is a Poppy Seed to Why do Roosters Crow at Sunrise or Who really invented Cursive Writing and Why, these resources are certain take you so far down the rabbit hole your little bunny head will pop off.
This is a University Article aimed for students, but, hey, we're always learning. Get yourself a cup of tea, coffee, cold soda and check out the 15 search engines. Go ahead and check out DogPile if you are curious.
These Keywords will also lead you to the Resources listed in the Topic Article
Keywords:
I am not listing the 15 sites with their links because I want you to use the link. :)
Research: Friend or Time Suck?
I truly love to research. Probably as much as I enjoy reading books. But, when do I close out the windows, put the stack of books behind me and get down to writing?
Let's start off with a relaxed chat about your research preferences.
This Sunday, let's talk about what we should blog about.
Refer to the article for more complete information on these types of blogs.
Easy: The literary citizenship model
Easy-Medium: Write for other writers
Easy-Medium: Write in your field of expertise
Medium: Behind the scenes
Difficult: Personal essay or daily life
During my personal blog's 12 year existence I have done the first item, and the Personal Essay or Daily Life.
Life is a Story - Tell it Big has gone through some very active times, followed by crickets. For a long time, I spotlighted authors and their works and called it Writerly Wednesdays.
During the time I was working on my anthology of houses, I wrote Fiction Friday Posts. Sometimes I would blog an on the spot response to a writing prompt.
Niles Giles: Vampire of Baltimore is a long running blog with new posts appearing every single Tuesday. This blog belongs to one of our very successful Chatroom Regulars.
The Graveyard Shift by Lee Loftland has been around forever and Lee is a consistent poster, as well.
Law and Fictionby Leslie Budewitz has two types of posts and she has been around and posting forever. Saturday Creativity Quote and Writing Wednesday, both geared toward
writers.
Build Book Buzz by Sandra Beckwith is a blog that Screams "I AM FOR WRITERS!"
Well, this is enough to get you thinking and who knows, you may even consider writing a blog or re-awakening the blog you already have.
You need to find the Goldilocks Zone for your blog. Who is your audience? Does your blog have a genre? These things take time.
Speaking of time, Janet Friedman says, "Furthermore, to stick with blogging long enough for it to pay off, you have to actually enjoy what it means to blog, and how online writing can be different from print."
With my personal blog, Life is a Story - Tell it Big, a series of over 50 posts written through the experiences of various types of houses, became my third book, available on Amazon. If Walls Could Talk: an Anthology of Houses.
Join us, Sunday 15 August at 7PM EDT at the Writers Chatroom and we can talk about blogging and what it means to be a Blogger.
Next week we will have a look at Consistency.
How to Start Blogging: A Definitive Guide for Authors
During the Month of August we will use Jane Friedman’s post How to Start Blogging: A Definitive Guide for
Authors.
Jane was my resource for most of June and July for our Self-Publishing Summer Series.
Jane’s article pretty much covers blogging from conception to seasoned blog sites. Some of the points we will cover are listed here. We will cover one at a time.
Each Sunday, you will be directed back to Jane’s article, so keep the link. Bookmark it.
The average author does not benefit much from blogging
For clarity: I define “blogging” as publishing material to a site that you own and control—usually your author website. Blogging is sometimes
conflated with writing for other websites or blogs, but that’s not what I’m discussing in this post.
“Blogging” has become a somewhat dated term.
The first Topic Chat will address What it takes to become an effective blogger.
Join us on Sundays at 7PM EDT bring your questions or experience to share
with the room.
Welcome to our August Month of Online Presence
During the month of August we are going to talk about our internet presence.
This may be accomplished in many ways. Blogging is just one of them.
You can have your own Facebook Group or Page and Twitter offers much the same. We are going to explore the topic of Internet Presence.
Join us on Sunday at 7PM EDT and we will discuss blogging, Social Media Platforms and various ways to establish an Internet Presence.
Self Publishing Summer Series Part 7
This will be our last topic chat of our Self Publishing Summer Series.
August – Blogging Month
BETA READERS
Beta Readers, we have all heard of them. We should at the very least have a beta reader on hand to read our final draft for formatting and typos, but a beta reader should, IMHO, come at the beginning, for me, my 3rd revision,t o catch any of my own personal idiocracy before I begin to format.*
All things come in their own time. An ARC is a copy that goes out just before you fully intend to hit that publish button, this is where you may also ask for reviews. You can add them to your book's description and your web page or blog. Don't confuse a Beta Reader with an ARC Reader.
** a beta reader would have drawn my attention to the longest run-on sentence she has seen all year.
Known as “beta readers,” these nice folks love books enough to read them and give you feedback, letting you know if your book is enjoyable and where it might need some work.
Join us at 7PM EDT at the Writer's Chatroom 25 July
Self Publishing Summer Series Part 6
6. Not selecting a specific release date and sticking to it
A big part of marketing is setting up your audience’s expectations. And nothing will destroy that relationship faster than becoming unreliable. Make sure you’re being realistic about your publishing date, and don’t let your readers down.
We are continuing our Summer Series with a focus on Timing.
"Look at your calendar and do a little digging online to find out when you should release your book. Beyond the obvious holidays and seasons, try to find a timely connection that might help position your book as particularly relevant."
Work in Tandem with the Book Retail Trade’s Calendar
No matter how you publish, books are tied into the trade and retail calendar. Whenever you plan to publish and release your book, make sure you plan and have a workable marketing plan to go with it.
Have a look at the article Reaching Readers and come to the chatroom on Sunday.
An Influencer is a buzz word in the Social Media Community somewhat like a Thought Leader was buzz word 6 months ago. Let’s talk about what the heck it means to be or find an influencer.
How to Find and Reach Influencers to Help Promote Your Book
I’ve posted about how to find your book’s ideal audience before, so I won’t wander down the same trail. Instead, I want to look at another piece of the marketing map that can greatly
improve your success rate with reaching your audience: influencers.
Check out these two articles and join us on the First Day of Summer as we continue our Self Publishing Summer Series.
June and July were designated Book Cover Months in the Chatroom. It feels like we just finished coveriing book cover month.
So, I am switching it up. Moderator’s Privelege.
I commit a lot of Facebook-ary brousing different Writers’ Groups and there are scams, pitfalls and all manner of potential
trouble an otherwise talented writer can fall into.
The 13 Most Common Self-Publishing Mistakes to
Avoid
Part Two Number Two
2. Not optimizing your book
description
Jane Friedman says..
” The best way to train yourself to write a good book description is to read as many of them in your book’s genre as you can;
you’ll soon notice a common structure to the writing and what kind of plot points are highlighted.”
What Your Amazon Book Description Needs to
Accomplish
It needs to quickly summarize or hint at what your story or topic is about in a way that tantalizes.
It needs to define the genre and subgenre (even though it’s assumed the shopper has already picked the genre as part of her search, that’s not always the case).
It needs to sound and look similar to the bestselling books in your genre.
It needs to integrate the main keyword phrases you’ve chosen that you believe potential readers will type into the Kindle search bar.
It needs to be riveting and hook your customers, just as your book’s opening page should hook them.
Keep checking back with our Newsletter or Blog Posts to discover more from our Summer Self Publishing
Series.
The 13 Most Common Self-Publishing Mistakes to Avoid
June and July were designated Book Cover Months in the Chatroom. It feels like we just finished coveriing book cover month. So, I am switching it up. Moderator's Privelege.
I commit a lot of Facebook-ary brousing different Writers' Groups and there are scams, pitfalls and all manner of potential trouble an otherwise talented writer can fall into.
I did some Google searching and Jane Friedman showed up like an old friend. I found an article that may well suit our Self-Publishing needs for the Months of June and July, so let's give it a go.
"For every new venture, there is a learning curve. When it comes to self-publishing your book, however, that curve can be steep. After spending all that time and effort writing (and maybe even illustrating) your book, you want to make sure you do everything right—or at least as
right as you can.
The shiny side of this coin is that a lot of authors have already made their mistakes, and many of them have been generous in sharing both their trials and successes."
Skimping on cover design
This just happens to be the first item on Janet's list of things a self-publishing author should know.
There are three links associated with the first topic and here they are..
