Author: Elizabeth Spann Craig

Is it just me, or did this week go by in a blur?

In case you missed it (and I think a lot slipped by me this week), here are three different helps for writers:

Critique sites.  Clarissa Draper focused on critique groups this week on her blog, Listening to the Voices.  She talks about what it means to be a critique partner/beta reader, launched a critique partner match-up feature for her blog, and linked to six other sites that match writers with crit partners.

Alex J. Cavanaugh is launching the Insecure Writers Support Group.  As he explains in this post :

I’ve noticed a lot of posts lately about doubts, concerns, and a lack of confidence. Insecure is a term most writers use to describe themselves….

I thought it would be cool if one day a month, everyone involved in the Insecure Writers Support group posted either:

• A situation where they need some encouragement
• Words of encouragement for others about to face a situation

Alex is working out the logistics of this project and was looking for feedback in his post on Friday.

I applaud Alex for setting this up because I think if a writer is confident (and maybe even stubborn), they’re going to go far with their writing and stick with it.

And, this week, I opened up a free directory for writers looking for cover designers, ebook formatters/converters, freelance editors, etc.  It’s not pretty (my spreadsheets always look clumsy), but all the information is there to get you started if you’re in the process of looking for a pro to help you with your ebook.

I also released an ebook this week. :)  Progressive Dinner Deadly is a Myrtle Clover mystery and is available for $2.99 on Kindle and Nook.

Anyone else got anything to announce or promote for the week?

I’d been hearing good things about Paula McLain’s The Paris Wife, so I recently downloaded it to my Kindle and read the book. I really enjoyed it.

I found, however, that I kept sympathizing with Ernest Hemingway instead of Hadley, which is not what I think I was supposed to do. :)

As a writer, it’s hard not to, though. After all, he was a literary genius. He’s got to get those books out there. Don’t hold him back, Hadley!

There were other times, of course, when Hemingway was less than likeable.

This book is a novel based on real events, so we can’t really treat it as a biography, but it does have a lot of really interesting insights into the couple (and McLain did a ton of research.)

One of the things that apparently created some concern for Hadley Hemingway was the way that Ernest wrote about their friends and even parodied one friend’s work (destroying some friendships in the process). And the fact that he didn’t write about Hadley in The Sun Also Rises.

Apparently, everyone knew who Hemingway’s characters were drawn from.

So some people were upset at being portrayed in a particular way and some were upset at not being portrayed at all.

This could become a problem with our own stories, too. Friends or family could get their feelings hurt. The thought of libel isn’t too thrilling, either.

For me, it’s more fun to take lots of small bits of different people and make it into a sort of Frankenstein’s monster of a new character. That way I’ve still got the solid traits that I can easily describe, but I’m not drawing too much from one person.

And I don’t put people’s secrets into my book. Although I don’t know too many secrets! And the fact that I’m a writer might be why. :)

To me, it’s just not worth losing friends over. Some characters may be amalgams of many different people I know, but I’m not going to use one person’s life or appearance to base a character or story on.

Do you write about people you know? Do you have a line you won’t cross?

One of my favorite things about reading a book is being surprised. (Which is interesting, because in real life, I don’t like being surprised.)

This surprise doesn’t have to be anything as dramatic as a twist ending. It can be something as minor as a character showing an unexpected bit of depth or an unusual facet of his personality.

But I also like it when I’ve expected the plot to take a particular trajectory and something else happens.

I like to see an unexpected bit of trouble thrown at a character, too. How will they react? How does it change the direction of the story?

What surprises are good for:

As a distraction: A suddenly erupting argument or a quickly-contained but alarming grease fire provides a wonderful opportunity to slip in a clue under the radar. Writers of other genres can also use this slight of hand technique to protect a larger surprise later in the book.

For adding humor or quirkiness: You think a character is going to behave in a particular way. You’ve carefully portrayed Agnes as an uptight prude. Your protagonist views Agnes that way. Then Agnes says something outrageous and brazen that completely shatters this stereotype. Or Agnes invites the protagonist to lunch—and serves McDonald’s Quarter Pounders with Cheese on her delicate china. With Bloody Marys.

For suspense: You can write a fairly ho-hum scene with a character going through her usual routine…which is suddenly interrupted when she’s carjacked.

As a change of pace: Is your scene getting stale? Is your character going through the same motions every day? Liven things up with something unexpected. It doesn’t have to be something major (scary landing during their plane trip)—it could be something as minor as a flat tire or a broken air conditioner that takes their day on a different and surprising trajectory.

As a way to add depth to a character: While we want our characters to behave in character, it’s always fun to see different facets of a character, too. How do they react when we put them into an emergency situation? How do they react when we poke fun at them or put them under stress? What happens when we press their buttons? Sometimes their reactions can surprise us.

Do you enjoy throwing in surprising elements to your story? Do you use big or little twists?

This is my public service announcement for the next few months. :)

Y’all—back up your work.

Back up your writing and everything else that’s important to you on your computer.

And…back up to more than one place. What if your backup fails? It’s happened to me before.

Here are some backup options to consider that range from low to higher tech:

Use an online location to store your writing. You can email your book to yourself using any email address that can be accessed by webmail. You can also store your writing on Google Docs or an online story organizer (like Hiveword, from my friend Mike Fleming.)

Use a flash drive. Cheap. Easy.

Use an external hard drive. Word files don’t take up much space, but you might want to buy an external hard drive if you have a lot of music or pictures to back up.

Print a copy. Bulky and a pain, but an option for anyone looking for a really low-tech option.

Use an online storage solution like Dropbox or Carbonite.

Blogs:

You should also backup your blogs. They sometimes disappear, too. Here is an article on the Guide to Literary Agents blog that discusses how to backup a Blogger, WordPress, and LiveJournal blog.

Also, if you’re on Google Reader, remember to subscribe to your own blog there. You’ll be able to access all your old posts from the Reader.

Go forth and back up! And, while you’re at it, change your passwords, too. :)

What do you use for backing up?

It’s out! Progressive Dinner Deadly, a new Myrtle Clover mystery is now available on Kindle and Nook for $2.99 .

This is a follow-up to Pretty is as Pretty Dies, published by Midnight Ink in 2009. I’m publishing this book myself.

When intrepid octogenarian sleuth Myrtle Clover caught Jill, her new housekeeper, peering into her medicine cabinet, she should have been upset. But discovering that Jill wasn’t such a squeaky-clean goody-goody made her vastly more interesting in Myrtle’s eyes.

Myrtle would have happily continued figuring out what made Jill Caulfield tick…if Jill hadn’t foolishly gone and gotten herself murdered.

Thanks to Kendel Flaum, who designed the lovely cover, and Keith Snyder from Typeflow who formatted and designed the interior of the book.

I wanted, also, to go ahead and share with y’all a work in progress—the ebook services directory. It’s in a Google Spreadsheet format and divided into cover designers, formatters, freelance editors, ghost writers, and book trailers.

It’s a work-in-progress because I don’t frequently work with spreadsheets (which you’ll probably be able to tell!). :) I’ll be coming up with a badge and a bit more of a polished look, soon. Also, it’s something that it looks like I’ll be adding to every couple of days (I’m getting in plenty of additions.) But I wanted to go ahead and make it available since I’m already getting emails from writers asking for it.

I did put a caveat emptor on there because, unfortunately, I don’t have time to vet everyone. As always, and with any business arrangement, please enter the relationship with caution. This directory is intended to be a starting point to connect writers with services, since currently the ebook industry seems to be working on word of mouth.

If you want to be added to the directory or see any errors, please contact me at elizabethspanncraig (at) gmail (dot) com.

Thanks!