Author: Elizabeth Spann Craig

Friday afternoon my husband and I had a nice lunch together, then he asked if I could run an errand for him (he was going back in to the office) and return a purchase to a major electronics chain store.

I walked into the store, in my usual sort of absentminded fog, strolled over to the customer service area, and immediately noticed that everyone was very angry.

There were two men from management looking grim and anxious with their arms crossed. The customer service representatives were frozen. There were two customers being helped at the same time and both were sort of leaning in over the desk, looking tense. There was a police officer (who is frequently assigned a beat at the store) watching intently. The customers in line seemed very stiff and kept looking sideways at each other.

And I had just sort of wandered in in a very peppy mood and into this tension. What’s more, I couldn’t even tell what was going on. Finally, the elderly lady in front of me turned around and said in a fierce tone, “Someone should help that woman!”

“That woman?” I asked, nodding to the middle aged woman at the desk. “What’s happening?”

But I didn’t get an answer because suddenly the woman erupted like Mt Vesuvius, yelling that that was the worst customer service she’d ever seen, going up to the police officer and seeming to make some sort of low-voiced suggestion to her (maybe that they arrest the customer service department?!) then storming out the door, still yelling.

Afterwards no one looked at anyone else and the customer service people started quickly helping the rest of the line. And I never did find out what was going on.

But it made me think that this is the kind of thing we want to do with our readers.

We don’t know what kind of day our readers are having. Maybe they’ve just had a nice lunch and are feeling happy and daydreamy, like I was. Maybe they’re having a rough day or week.

We want to drag our readers into something different—something funny, something tense, something interesting. We want to provide some escape and something to pique their curiosity or interest. We want to get them hooked.

Read any good openings lately? Written any? How do you propel your readers into a new world?

For some reason, Blogger insists this post was published Friday, instead of today! Trying to republish it now…

Below are my tweets from the last week.

The Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine, designed by software engineer and writer Mike Fleming, makes all these links searchable—try it for searches on plotting, characterization, querying, book promo, and more.

I’m also compiling a directory of ebook professionals—cover designers, formatters, freelance editors, etc.—to make it easier for writers to connect with services. If you’d like to be added, please email me at elizabethspanncraig (at) gmail (dot) com with your contact info, website, etc.

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The Number One Reason Why Marketing Tactics Fail: http://bit.ly/r8DFpZ

Literary Agents: Top 10 Ways to Make or Break that Relationship:The Agent as Superman/Superwoman: http://bit.ly/o6KauM

A series on avoiding mushy book middles: http://bit.ly/pJEiLg http://bit.ly/mQ3YQ3 and http://bit.ly/oqpJiA

Tips for landing an agent: http://bit.ly/qtENRG

10 things 1 writer has learned about blogging: http://bit.ly/qZPkcl @CatsEyeWriter

3 Ways Social Media Can Help You Avoid Procrastination: http://bit.ly/pmNz1a

The positive side of distractions: http://bit.ly/qrdawY

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Joe Konrath addresses ebook misconceptions: http://bit.ly/nGj7Ts

Publishers Playing the Social Media Game: http://bit.ly/o6sLxI @WriteAngleBlog

Writing for fun for 10 minutes a day: http://bit.ly/niWZpJ @BookEmDonna

A singer/songwriter recommends focusing on writing, not social media: http://bit.ly/pSEwrm

Killing the Sacred Cows of Publishing: Writers Don’t Need to Practice: http://bit.ly/nWQstW

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Keeping personal bias out of your stories: http://bit.ly/pwJthO

How to Query Agents Part 1: http://bit.ly/prn1s8 @EmilyCaseysMuse

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From Good to Better: 10 Tips On Editing Your WIP: http://bit.ly/ormO2D @AnneRAllen

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Pretend your main character isn’t there: http://bit.ly/p2sP1X @dirtywhitecandy

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The art of discovering your innate genius: http://bit.ly/pWpP06

Great Ways for Writers, Authors, Speakers, and Readers to Use Google+: http://bit.ly/rkyA0E

Remind yourself of the joy of writing: http://bit.ly/qVEBRp

Search my tweets– http://dld.bz/KPgS

Making Writing Work For You When You Still Have To Work: http://bit.ly/qukQ7I

Regency sex ed: http://bit.ly/pdAaB1

Ladies, Don’t Let Anyone Tell You You’re Not Awesome: http://bit.ly/pItmlT

25 ways to abuse your characters {strong lang.}: http://bit.ly/rtt2iZ

Editorial Agent, or what? http://bit.ly/o4oLXU

The Publishing World Turned Upside Down: http://bit.ly/oao4Gh

Biography, Autobiography, and Memoir: http://bit.ly/qYNmEI

The 5-Second Trick To Writing More Each Week: http://bit.ly/qegvTE

POV confusion? Helpful links: http://bit.ly/hJZD8n

How to Read a Book Contract – Who Decides What Contracts You Sign? http://bit.ly/mTB8lX @PassiveVoiceBlg

7 Ways to Make Family and Pets Respect Your Writing Time: http://bit.ly/p9OL3Y @KMWeiland

Why Novelists Can Embrace Unexpected Life Change: http://bit.ly/mYaCqu @writeitsideways

Writing Psychic Superheroes and Psionics: http://bit.ly/qnXsTN

Ebook cover designers, formatters, & freelance editors–I’m compiling a directory. To be listed: http://bit.ly/pmIdny

The Inevitable Traffic Jams on the Journey to Publication: http://bit.ly/nmbQra @jodyhedlund

3 tips for writing thrillers: http://bit.ly/nGpJIz

Enrich Your Life – Go on a Digital Sabbatical: http://bit.ly/okQqbT

How authors can get started with video blogging: http://bit.ly/pdKOke @jfbookman

Seeing Stars: Why Some Reviews Matter . . . and Some Don’t: http://bit.ly/mYogy6 @YAHighway

Switching From Literary To Genre Fiction: http://bit.ly/q8ER5z @thecreativepenn

The Low-Down on Literary Magazines: http://bit.ly/ruDknQ @LTWFblog

An agent talks about questionable practices by literary agents: http://bit.ly/ncB06h @rachellegardner

Break Writer’s Block: Become the Storyteller, Not the Writer: http://bit.ly/qtzGwX

7 Types of Hyphenation That May Seem Wrong But Aren’t: http://bit.ly/pA5WKW

Networking as a means of promotion: http://bit.ly/pNpUll

Tips for naming characters: http://bit.ly/rmNh2H @BTMargins

Russian Publishing 101: http://bit.ly/o1OLb7 @pubperspectives

Start Today, Not Tomorrow: http://bit.ly/plV164 @jeffgoins

10 Twitter Hashtags for Writers: http://bit.ly/rnVn4I

Why Self-Published Authors Know Best: http://bit.ly/q0cVhb

5 mistakes that turn your ebook promotion into spam: http://bit.ly/q0Ya1H

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Knowledge Plants the Seed. Imagination Makes it Bloom. http://bit.ly/r2SNQw @SherryIsaac @joanswan

Getting the Reader’s Sympathy: http://bit.ly/rtZFZW

Will print and ebook publishers ultimately be doing the same books? http://bit.ly/qCQe5l

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3 Steps to Finding Your True Writing Voice: http://bit.ly/ng96ke

7 things one YA writer has learned so far: http://bit.ly/oZFZ65

The Power and SEO Behind Blog Commenting: http://bit.ly/q4PIu6

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10 keys to hosting a successful Twitter chat: http://bit.ly/qT9Eaz @michellerafter

Surviving the Literary Gong Show: http://bit.ly/mSKUGj

A Guide to Publishing an Ebook on Amazon Kindle, Barnes and Noble and Smashwords: http://bit.ly/ofgO7p

6 Steps to a Winning Writing Workshop: http://bit.ly/p1CdiE

Need research help with your character’s medical ailment? A doctor to the rescue: http://bit.ly/o1bsHq via @spunkonastick

Thoughts and tips for handling backstory: http://bit.ly/qiFNdU

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8 Personal Development Mistakes: http://bit.ly/pIWHoj

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The Speed Of Writing: http://bit.ly/n8Uxul

Adjusting To The Paradigm Shift in Publishing: http://bit.ly/oYhCf4

Public speaking tips for writers: http://bit.ly/o0sTdR @jhansenwrites

Genre blending crime fiction to lure non-mystery-reading friends: http://bit.ly/ro13WQ @mkinberg

A Writer’s Tools: WriteWay Pro: http://bit.ly/oYRtux @manon_eileen @GeneLempp:

An agent explains what you should bring to a conference: http://bit.ly/njQqi4

To blog or not to blog about writing: http://bit.ly/r2k3Aj @LauraPauling

What Do You Do When You Can’t Write? http://bit.ly/ru9TZi @writeitsideways

Sign up for the monthly WKB newsletter for the web’s best links and interviews: http://bit.ly/gx7hg1

How Starving Artists Can Support Their Work: http://bit.ly/pYr46F

Pacing and 4 types of rests in books: http://bit.ly/pBLFTE @FantasyFaction

Concerns (and Solutions!) for Freelance Writers: http://bit.ly/qEudl5

Resources for finding an agent: http://bit.ly/r3ZDJU

Writing A Book – Structure: http://bit.ly/p5Vw72

The (Not So) Dreaded Synopsis – 5 Tips To Set You Free: http://bit.ly/nBzkAD @roniloren

6 reasons an agent/publisher will stop reading your submission: http://bit.ly/pGfX9n

The difference between ebook conversion and ebook formatting: http://bit.ly/qQPZc2

Critique Workshopped The Voice Right Out Of There: http://bit.ly/ogmvEi

An agent advises: don’t clutter your story with stuff: http://bit.ly/nRjTcN @greyhausagency

A summary of the Assoc. of Amer. Pub.’s sales data for books (online retail is tops): http://bit.ly/pHJpWi @PassiveVoiceBlg

The rule of 3: http://bit.ly/pOCKFC @iggiandgabi

5 reasons Facebook and Twitter won’t replace 1 writer’s blog: http://bit.ly/r07EML @CatsEyeWriter

Investigation into Underpayment of Ebook Royalties: http://bit.ly/nDsZx5 @PassiveVoiceBlg

An Entrepreneur Tackles Book Publicity: http://bit.ly/mSVNsn @BlurbIsAVerb

A screenwriter on endless producer notes: http://bit.ly/nxLI9r

Writing A Book – Discipline: http://bit.ly/o4FLdP

Dreaming in Two Languages – Writing In The Second: http://bit.ly/pKl5gW

10 Terms of Gender Identity: http://bit.ly/p4WmoM

Why It’s Hard To Write Well (And How To Do It Faster): http://bit.ly/pUroCC @ChandlerWrites

Cover design:Color: http://bit.ly/nL2ppj Image: http://bit.ly/r8q4xv Font: http://bit.ly/pZDHPX Layout: http://bit.ly/pcoxQY @clarissadraper

Can You See Your Lion? http://bit.ly/pQQs2D

Are you an expert? Plan to Promote Your Work: http://bit.ly/omGEsi

3 Tips To Help You Choose An Editor: http://bit.ly/nIfPXi

Tips for finding an agent: http://bit.ly/pqhr1e @bubblecow

Insiders and Outsiders (in Worldbuilding Cultures): http://bit.ly/o9JYK5 @JulietteWade

Spam Toad vs. Author Brand: http://bit.ly/mOx2ib @KristenLambTX

Tips for writing back cover copy: http://bit.ly/qxWsDF @WriteAngleBlog

Best Articles This Week for Writers 8/12/11: http://bit.ly/nEdcKU @4kidlit

4 Keys to Unlocking Your Creativity: http://bit.ly/pDPKa4 @jodyhedlund

Creativity Tweets of the Week — 8/12/11: http://bit.ly/pFiBWm @on_creativity

4 techniques to create a likeable character: http://bit.ly/pOA79i

How Do You Deal with Difficult Characters? http://bit.ly/mSWsQ5 @JamiGold

Writing a Saleable Book: http://bit.ly/qY23Yl

Conflict v. Tension: http://bit.ly/qdV7IL @AngelaAckerman

5 Ways to Reduce Use of Prepositions: http://bit.ly/nPvRcu

“The process of this first revision is as much about rereading as rewriting.” @BrunoniaBarry http://ow.ly/61gje RT @Porter_Anderson

Description and Your Characters’ Lens: http://bit.ly/qCe2sK @bluemaven

The importance of covers: http://bit.ly/qvHiIc

Figuring out your strengths and weaknesses: http://bit.ly/pqpLw1

5 things to do between writing projects: http://bit.ly/rkX3Of

How to Create an Informational E-Book: http://bit.ly/mXhXBS @AlexisGrant

Need help with pacing? http://hiveword.com/wkb/search?q=pacing

Why Writing Can Be Dangerous: http://bit.ly/qCs1fF

Is Your Character a Windbag? http://bit.ly/oa8sHd @KMWeiland

How to Sell Yourself Without Selling Your Soul: http://bit.ly/pyAgMw

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New publishing numbers and some insight: http://bit.ly/oDxm9u

Tests of character: http://bit.ly/qfKbpM @JulietteWade

8 Reasons Authors Don’t Complete Their Manuscripts: http://bit.ly/o7GDlk

Ideas for Real Life Characters: http://bit.ly/r51Ycu

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I’ve noticed my buying habits, as a reader, are changing.

Some of it is due to necessity. I’ve got several avid readers in my house and the library is, sadly, not able to purchase the new titles that are frequently on our to-be-read lists. If there’s limited availability at the library, I’ll buy the books we want to read.

I’ve also found that I’m reading more and more with my Kindle. It’s easy to get books. If I wake up with insomnia in the middle of the night (a common occurrence), I can download a book, where I couldn’t drive to a bookstore or the library.

Reading on my Kindle has made me more apt to give new authors a try. I’m also more open to impulse buying. This is, I’m almost certain, because there’s not a big financial risk in doing so—ebooks are (usually) inexpensive. I’ll read about a book on a blog or I’ll see something on Twitter that looks interesting and it’s instant gratification—I download it immediately before I can forget the author and title.

I think, in fact, book pricing is especially important for that very reason. It’s important for a reader to either feel confident that they’ll like a book enough to buy it, or that they’re not losing much money in case they don’t.

I’ve read lot lately about ebook pricing on different blogs. The impression I’ve gotten is that $2.99 seems to be a good price point. Then you can run sales on your book, bringing it down as low as $.99 or free….then return it later to the $2.99 (where you still get a decent percentage of the book sales as royalty.)

As a reader, $2.99 doesn’t make me blink at all. That’s not much of an investment for hours of reading time. That’s so low that I wouldn’t think twice about downloading something that’s not a genre I usually read or from an author I’m not familiar with.

This being said, most of my ebooks are $6.99 and up. :) That’s because my publishers have set the price (yes, I’ve gotten emails from readers before…not that I have any control over the pricing, but they think I do.)

I think that traditional publishers will eventually be lowering ebook prices for their mass market and trade paperbacks (I’m not sure about bestsellers/hardbacks.) Otherwise, long-term, I’m not sure how well they’ll be able to compete in the book market.

What kind of price range are you either publishing in or looking for, as a reader?

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about cover appeal.

Wednesday, I went to our Borders’ going-out-of-business sale (which makes me sad) and picked up a book for my teenage son. I looked at the book, briefly read the cover copy and bought it. When my son saw the book that evening, he glanced at the cover, which depicted a dystopian scene of apocalyptic disaster (left). He said, “This will work. Thanks.”

Which bothered me a little. I made him read the back cover copy and he repeated that he would enjoy it. Then I thought about it…I’d really done the same thing. Looking at the cover, I knew in a second it was dystopian—his favorite genre. It seemed similar to other books he’d enjoyed—even down to the male and female protagonists on the cover. It made me buy the book, much as I hated to think it.

One of my editors called me about a cover earlier this week. She was preparing for the cover conference for the first quilting mystery and wanted to ask me what the Civil War quilt I mentioned in my manuscript looked like.

I hesitated. “Well, in my head, the quilt wasn’t very attractive. It was just old. How about if I sent you some attachments with some quilts that look similar to the one I imagined? And if it needs to be a pretty quilt, that will work fine. I never wrote that it was an ugly quilt.”

I knew that something attractive needed to be on the cover.

Then I’ve been busily working with a designer for the ebook I’m about to release. She wanted to tie in the book with the feel of the first, traditionally-published book in the series. She used the same colors, a similar font. I liked the simplicity and the humor in the cover. And….it looked good in a thumbnail, which is becoming more and more important.

I still like to think that covers are just a small part of a book’s appeal. In reality, though, I’m not so sure.

How important do you think covers are to a potential reader? What do you think the qualities of a good cover are….and, are these qualities changing with the digital revolution?

You can usually tell when someone really loves to write.

The writing seems animated, sparkling, sharp. When I volunteer at my daughter’s elementary school, there are some stories that even really young children have written that just pop off the page.

But frequently I’ll read passages in books that seem really flat to me. There’s no passion at all in it…just a straight narrative.

Sometimes if we overthink what we’re writing, we can mess ourselves up, too. It can also be a sign of over-vigorous editing.

Infusing Life in Your Writing:

Consider your voice. Is the delivery flat? How you tell the story is uniquely yours…but you need to discover that voice.

Get your characters moving. Are your characters spending too much time sitting at diners and talking? Maybe it’s time to kick your characters in the rear and get them to move around a little. They don’t have to be jogging or anything—they could be looking for something they misplaced and be absentmindedly answering the protagonist’s questions. They could be washing their car. Change the scenery, use some verbs. Give them some action to respond to or have them instigate action.

Cut out the dead wood. Is there a scene that’s really pedantic? Is it necessary? Pinpoint the information that the scene is there to convey. If it doesn’t advance the plot, develop conflict, or assist characterization, then why is it there? Cut it out. If it does advance the plot, see if there’s a way to rewrite the scene to give it more feeling.

Create settings that pop. Make your setting pop by using vivid words and imagery.

Change the sentence structure. Are you stuck in a subject-predicate pattern? Try switching the arrangement of your sentences a little. Start a sentence with a verb, prepositional phrase, or adverb.

Consider your choice of words. Are you writing in an accessible way? What kind of an impression is our vocabulary or style giving the reader? The worst thing to do is sound pedantic or as if we’re talking down to our reader. Plus, it’s not drawing the reader in. And, usually? It reads very woodenly to me.

Use more dialogue. A conversation between characters that moves the plot forward or provides some character development is a great way to liven up a wooden scene.

Use both long sentences and short sentences. Mixing up the sentence length lends the text a different rhythm and pace.

Show, don’t tell. Instead of telling how a character feels about something, show the emotion through the character’s actions. There are times where telling is better than showing (action sequences, for example), but for the most part, it’s more interesting for the reader if they can draw their own conclusions instead of being spoon-fed information.

Consider the project itself. Have you lost interest in it? If you’re writing woodenly day after day, it could be symptomatic of a problem on your end. Have you fallen in love with an idea for a different novel? Have you written yourself into a hole? Assess what’s changed.

Has your WIP ever sounded flat? What did you do to fix it?