We have heard this advice as often as we hear we should Show Don't Tell.
What exactly does this mean? What do we know? Does it mean our fiction should be limited to our personal experiences? Seems a bit confining, doesn't it?
I suspect writing what you know may be part of the Art of writing but not necessarily the Craft. Is the commandment, Write What You Know, talking about intellect or is it what we know on an emotional level?
Come to the Writer's Chatroom Sunday, September 27th at 7PM EDT and help me through the topic. The chat room thrives on everyone's input otherwise I end up doing Stand Up Comedy and trust me, you don't want that!
We are going to continue with some of the items listed in the article below.
On Sunday, September 20th at 7PM EDT we will talk some more about research and the rabbit hole.
Something I want to address for Sunday's chat is Confirmation Bias.
It is important to know what it is and how you can avoid it. In certain cases it may be okay to give in to bias but then, maybe not. I am curious to discover how you feel about it.
Researching before writing or on the fly.
Is research taking over your story or article?
Writing what you know.
September is Writerly Research Month
On Wednesday we touched on many of the items in the list below.
When to research..
When to stop.
Where to begin.
Avoiding confirmation bias.
Who are you going to call?
How do you dial your research back when you know you’d rather research than write?
What genres need the most research?
How do we credit the research we have done?
Using a library for research.
Using bibliographic information to expand or narrow your research.
Researching before writing or on the fly.
Is research taking over your story or article?
Writing what you know.
Staying on point and avoiding the rabbit hole.
When you’ve researched so deeply you think you can do brain surgery.
You’re no more than 6 people away from a living person with the best answers to your question.
Because my I approach research with a “liberal arts method” I sometimes get so interested in what I see or hear I fall into “self-indulgence.”
In fact, during college I took a job at the Holman Library so I could afford some “recreational-indulgence” I built and archived curious newspaper clippings, always 30 days behind. On slow afternoons, I would cancel Government Documents before releasing them for destruction.
I don’t think a single shift passed when the Head Librarian didn’t sneak up behind me and complain to me about my compulsion to read everything put into my workstation.
To minimize your exposure to an old Psych/English Literature Majors haphazard examples of research, I found a Blog Post to use during chat.
If you’re writing a novel and wondering whether you need to research it, the answer is generally yes. The same rules that apply to non-fiction writers don’t necessarily apply to novelists, but research is nevertheless an important step in planning to write a novel.
So how exactly should you approach the research process?
Top 7 Tips For Researching Your Novel
Establish a system to organise and store research. …
Read, read, and read some more. …
Delve into other forms of media. …
Talk to people. …
Immerse yourself in some real-world research. …
Extend your research to craft as well as content. …
Don’t get stuck on research and forget to start writing.
Drop by the chatroom at 7PM EDT on Sunday 13 September.
Join us Sunday, August 30 at 7PM EDT as we Wrap Up Blog Month
The following Blogs belong to our Chatroom Regulars
Humility is something every author needs and I know when a genre doesn’t work for my style. Mysteries with quick twists and a dash of comedy? That’s something I can handle. In this happy and comfortable place, I have a journal full of outlines that will keep me writing mysteries for the next decade.
Born in the Year of the Tiger, Pauls’ natural curiosity combined with a deep-seated feline need to roam has meant that over the years he has never been able to call any one place home. His wanderlust has led him from one town to another and even from one country to another.
Mike Johnson is a writer, entrepreneur and deer whisperer. He learned how to retire early and does his best to help others escape the employment wheel too. There’s more to life than work and there’s more to life than play. In the immortal words of Forrest Gump, “Both can be happening at the same time.”
LGBTQ+ Advocate and Fiction Author & Nonfiction Writer
Zada Kent is an author of fiction and nonfiction who grew up in a small mundane town in Ohio. To avert death-by-boredom she allows the creepy, unexplained, and horrific possibilities in life flood her imagination with stories. By writing them down she shares them with the world.
Last week we addressed how to use guest blogging to boost your book sales. Guest blogging will also get you name recognition. It will
cement your platform and let you use your unique voice.
If you want to get the most from your guest blogging, be strategic about it.
Select a topic that serves your host’s readers.
Provide a top-quality blog post.
Guest blog only for sites that are appropriate for your goals.
Do it right, and word will spread
What does a blog host do? Do they just hang out and wait to be approached by writers? What is in it for them?
Being a blog host is a way to gain readers for you own website and your books. The Guest should be sending her fans and readers to the Host Site. If you aren’t
promoting your Guest Spot, your Host will know in real time and she isn’t likely to ask you back for your next book.
If a Guest doesn’t have her own website then she probably isn’t aware of the work that goes into formatting, image placement, link checking, and the promotion the
Host will be doing before your appearance.
On my site, I run a Writerly Wednesday Author Spotlight. To help a guest out, I send them to look on my website to see past Guests. I give them a basic format and
then let them know what to send.
Below is an example of how I set up a Guest Interview. The Questions may change if I am interviewing a publisher or cover artist.
Writerly
Wednesday
On Wednesdays new interviews go up on my website. http://sallyfranklinchristie.com/wp and Your post will be available at a permalink to make it easier for readers to find you even after time has passed. I can make your spotlight a Sticky Post for 7 days. This means people landing on my blog page see you first.
These posts will be categorized as Writerly Wednesdays and searchable from the main page. You will also get a
permalink that anyone can retrieve. I also use keywords to make your post more searchable. If you can provide suggestions it will help as I begin to format the post.
Sharing the link is encouraged but flat out copy of the post is not. Sharing the permalink to your post is very
important because it broadens readership. Your steadfast fans discover a new website and future guests will benefit from your fans. I will also spread the word on the day of publication and leading up to the date.
The book may be fiction or nonfiction, traditionally published or self published, but needs to be for sale
somewhere. (No Porn Please and no Lewd Images)
Here is the information I need you to include. Attach graphics to your email and make sure the email says
Writerly Wednesdays in the Subject Line. Word format, txt or rtf formats are easy to work with, no pdfs, please.
In the past I kept the returned interviews with the first email I received from authors but I managed to lose them in
the clutter. So, please return the interview with a Subject Line that says Writerly Wednesday Interview Questions followed by your name... Example: Writerly Wednesday Interview Questions/Anne Frank. When I see this email I will reply with a date. If you need a particular date, please suggest it and I’ll see if I can get you there...
The basic format of the post begins with the Interview questions followed by a bio and blurb. I used to include
an excerpt but the average blog reader prefers a shorter post. Less scrolling. I like to include a bio photo if you have one and cover art.
To see all of the Writerly Wednesday Posts try
http://sallyfranklinchristie.com/wp/category/writerlywednesdays/
Thanks so much for letting me promote your
work!
Interview
1. What is your favorite marketing task that has resulted in a
sale?
2. What do you like about your publisher or why did you decide to Self
Publish?
3. What do you have under your
bed?
4. Are you a plotter or a pantser when you are
writing?
5. Do you write in a bubble or do you prefer critique groups, writing buddies or
other companionship during the process?
6. When do ideas come to you and how do you capture
them?
7. What is your favorite word processing program and what other tools do you use, pen, notebooks,
white board, index cards, finger on fogged bathroom mirrors?
Bio
Email, FB, Twitter links or addresses here…
Include a photo if you use one. Send as an attachment.
Blurb
Buy Link(s)Include Cover graphic. Send as attachment.
Include anything you wish I had asked. Other buy links to other titles.
Keywords
Email this interview with photo and cover graphic attached to me at sally@sallyfranklinchristie.com and I will put
you on the calendar.
You are encouraged to share the link to your interview with anyone you wish. I will promote it on my end as
well.
Thank you for letting me do this for you! All I ask in return is that you will help spread the word on the day
of your appearance. Together we can find new readers for you and those who follow you.
End of Interview and
Promotion...
When everything is set up and I receive the interview answers, images and links, the real work for me begins.
I try to keep to the same format. Sometimes f
I give the Guest a Permalink and again encourage them to promote their appearance. Quite a bit of emailing leads up to and away
from a Guest Post.
If you decide you’d like to be a Blog Host, be sure you give the Guest an outline and guidance. You want it to be as easy as
possible for both of you. Your Guest will appreciate your planning. It takes some of the pressure of having to come up with something fresh to say about their work.
Drop by on Sunday, August 16th and we’ll talk about making your guest
post work for you.
Sell More Books with Guest Blogging – Get the Visibility You Need
We are going to continue our topic of Guest
Blogging.
