Category: Uncategorized

First of all, I’d like to make a little plug for my upcoming release, Delicious and Suspicious, written under my Riley Adams pen name. Today, my book is reviewed on Mason Canyon’s book blog, Thoughts in Progress. I hope you’ll pop over and visit there.

And now, Twitterific. Here are writing links that I’ve posted to Twitter for the past 7 –8 days. If you’re looking for a particular topic, just plug in your keyword into the search box at the top left-hand corner of the blog and the roundup with your subject will come up. To narrow your search down on the page, do a CTRL+F, type your subject, and hit enter.

12 Useful Ways To Get Out Of Ruts– http://dld.bz/fhBc

The Battle Between Money and the Muse: http://dld.bz/fhAB

Self-sabotage and our writing day: http://dld.bz/fsT8 @meghancward

8 Rules to Consider Before You Write for Free for the Exposure– http://dld.bz/fhAp @wmfreelanceconn

How to Incorporate the iPad Into Your Social Strategy– http://dld.bz/fhAg

More On The Writer’s Eye– http://dld.bz/fhAd

Seven Things You Should Always Ask A Writer– http://dld.bz/fh9S

Are plays proper literature? (Guardian): http://dld.bz/fh9C

5 Tips to Tame the Social Network Monster– http://dld.bz/fh9b @BonnieGrove

Who’s afraid of Simon Cowell? Tips for embracing criticism: http://dld.bz/fh96

20 Questions to Enrich Your Setting– http://dld.bz/fqPt @PauloCamposInk

Why Creatives Are Confused– http://dld.bz/fh9j

Four tips for portraying young adult characters: http://dld.bz/fqPq @p2p_editor

7 Quick-Start Techniques for Fighting the Fear to Write: http://dld.bz/fqNY @copyblogger

8 Reasons No One’s Following You On Twitter– http://dld.bz/fqJW @marianschembari

How to cope when the publishing game has sucked your soul dry: http://dld.bz/fh9v

Developing Your Talking Points on Your Book: http://dld.bz/fh8T

Editing your novel? A roundup of sound advice: http://dld.bz/fh8K

“I want to keep my e-book rights!” (An editor’s post): http://dld.bz/fh8H

How to Never Find Your Passion– http://dld.bz/fh8F

10 tips on preparing a speech in a hurry: http://dld.bz/fh7Q @tonyeldridge

Am I doing my research and learning the craft, or am I just putting off writing my story? http://dld.bz/fh76 @meghan78

Check Scenes with GOLF Checklist: http://dld.bz/fh7h

On Theme in Query Letters: http://dld.bz/fh6H

How to form a daily writing habit– http://dld.bz/fh6C

Describing a hero: http://dld.bz/fh65 @Janga724

Why Writer Beware Doesn’t Provide Publisher Recommendations (Plus Some Advice)– http://dld.bz/fh6u

Making time to write: http://dld.bz/fh6a

Title attraction–what should go into title creation? http://dld.bz/fndn

12 elements of good storytelling: http://dld.bz/fncB @layindalayinda

Mystery Lovers’ Kitchen cookout for Mem. Day wkend– & @CleoCoyle w/ a coffee-marinated steak— http://dld.bz/fnbt @kristadavis @AveryAames

4 ways to fuel up for your writing time: http://dld.bz/fmSE

When You Should Stop Slogging Through Writing– http://dld.bz/fh5T

The “Triple T” you need to finish your writing journey on the right foot: http://dld.bz/fh53

How to write a blog post that has people rushing to your site: http://dld.bz/fmuQ @ZiggyKinsella

Elevate your blog posts by well-positioned quotes: http://dld.bz/fh4U

Pace–it’s not a race: http://dld.bz/fh4B

Make sure your novel has an edge to it: http://dld.bz/fh4A

Open Letter to Amazon: How Amazon can solve self-pub gridlock with independent rating index. http://dld.bz/fgYb @JohnBetcher

7 Tips on Book Publicity– http://dld.bz/faZz

Conducting an author interview: http://dld.bz/faZk @TeresaFrohock

Addicted to Researching? http://dld.bz/fhDZ @corramcfeydon

Acknowledging fears of the submission process: http://dld.bz/faY2 @bluemaven

The Hero’s Journey Part 7 – Approach to the Inmost Cave– http://dld.bz/fhDU @JustusRStone

The bookstore of tomorrow: More than just selling books: http://dld.bz/faYr

Everything I Needed to Know About Writing I Learned From Lost— http://dld.bz/fh4h

Looking at the BEA (LA Times): http://dld.bz/fhDB

Villains, Heroes, and Second Bananas– http://dld.bz/faYd

The No. 1 Habit of Highly Creative People: http://dld.bz/fh4f

Barbecue Mysteries: http://dld.bz/fhDv @JanetRudolph

Marion Zimmer Bradley vs. Fanfiction– http://dld.bz/faKH

Ten Ironies of Writing: http://dld.bz/fhCY

Author, we have a problem (tips for plotting): http://dld.bz/fh3W

BuNoWriMo challenge from @HartJohnson: Write a 50,000 word novel in June http://bit.ly/a0hVxk RT @inkyelbows

How to Monetize Your Site Without Causing an Audience Revolt– http://dld.bz/faKA

Verbal Warfare: do you engage in conflict on blogs and forums? http://dld.bz/faK9

What’s taking so long? I want your third book now! (The behind-the-scenes process of getting a book published): http://dld.bz/faK6

A Word on Literary Fiction— http://dld.bz/faK2

How we write: The phases of the writer– http://dld.bz/faKv

An agent with memoir-writing FAQs: http://dld.bz/faKs

Protagonists–what makes a bad one: http://dld.bz/fgcJ

Tips for writing comedy: http://dld.bz/ffNH via @thewritertype

What it’s like to work with a mentor: http://dld.bz/faKm

Writing–it might be simple, but it ain’t easy: http://dld.bz/faKj

Help readers keep your characters straight (video): http://dld.bz/faKd

What to do with positive and negative feedback: http://dld.bz/faJV @JodyHedlund

Protagonist and antagonist questions and answers: http://dld.bz/faJU

As a writer, are you a maximizer or a sufficer? http://dld.bz/faJG

How to Achieve the Same Benefits of a Guest Post by Leaving a Blog Comment– http://dld.bz/eYub

Even published writers have their insecurities: http://dld.bz/eYtG

Plot-Driven or Character-Driven Novel? http://dld.bz/faZ4 @CPatrickSchulze

One Sentence to Describe My ENTIRE Book? http://dld.bz/eYtc

Ways to gather information to help your writing career: http://dld.bz/eYsD

When you’re not the writer you thought you were: http://dld.bz/eYsj

Romance Roots: Jane Eyre– http://dld.bz/faZT

The Reader Responsibility to Author Direction- http://dld.bz/eYqZ

4 warning signs your novel isn’t working: http://dld.bz/fb7c (correct link this time.) :)

Which comes first–the title or the story idea? http://dld.bz/eYrQ

An agent on getting people to read your book: http://dld.bz/eYrJ

Trouble opening your story? http://dld.bz/eYrE @wawriters

15 more things your characters should never do: http://dld.bz/faYH @VictoriaMixon

Formulating a Plot…Thinking it Through– http://dld.bz/faMN @JustusRStone

Top 10 troubled males in fiction (Guardian): http://dld.bz/faKQ

The Importance of a Critique Group- http://dld.bz/eYr8

For Niche Writers – 9 Ways to Make Money in Specialized Markets: http://dld.bz/eYuK

Altering poetry for publication: Good or bad? (Writer’s Digest) http://dld.bz/eYrx

Quaint Brits Cling to Paper Books: http://dld.bz/eYrq

What’s the best poetry to learn by heart? (Guardian): http://dld.bz/eYuF

Authors: Build Your E-mail List—NOW (Writer’s Digest) — http://dld.bz/eYrf

Using conflict to help define our characters: http://dld.bz/eYq8 @p2p_editor

10 Ways to Cut Through the Social Media Noise and Be Heard– http://dld.bz/eVyC

Just because you have a finished manuscript doesn’t mean you’re ready to be published: http://dld.bz/eVy9

When jealousy holds us back: http://dld.bz/eTej

The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings? Artists’ perspective: http://dld.bz/eTdU

10 signs you’re almost finished with your book: http://dld.bz/eXQH @elspethwrites

Arm Chair BEA – How Do I Get to Actual BEA Next Year? http://dld.bz/eTdR

Publishers express fears over price, paperbacks and fragmentation at BEA: http://dld.bz/eYuT

On copy editing–why it works: http://dld.bz/eTdN @BubbleCow

An agent explains why writers shouldn’t get too frustrated with rejections: http://dld.bz/eTd2

The Title is…erm?: Recalling Book Titles: http://dld.bz/eVzr

What is an editor? http://dld.bz/eVzf

How many books do you have stored on your computer, waiting for you to write them? http://dld.bz/eTbF

Clay Shirky on Authorship, Wiki novels, and the Future of Publishing http://dld.bz/eTbm

Writing Contests-For and Against– http://dld.bz/eTbb

Writing tips one writer learned from “Lost” : http://dld.bz/eVK3 @flawritersconf

8 Reasons To Switch To Windows 7 (If You Haven’t Already)– http://dld.bz/eTaW

Visiting schools as a children’s book author? Tips for propping up your visit: http://dld.bz/eTaM

25 best true-crime books: http://dld.bz/eVyQ @JanetRudolph

Women in Peril in Novels– http://dld.bz/eTa5

When the Muse Leaves, It’s Time to Think—Creatively– http://dld.bz/eTav

The Hullabaloo with Yahoo! and the Content Mill Debate– http://dld.bz/eQaf

On Rural Fantasy– http://dld.bz/eTbs

From One Young Writer to Another: Develop Your Swag and Stay on Your Hustle– http://dld.bz/ePZ6 @litdrift

The Benefit of Critique– http://dld.bz/ePYH

Got writer’s block or writer’s flab? @CleoCoyle with tips to cure both: http://dld.bz/eUka @authorterryo

Contested Will: Who Wrote Shakespeare? (Barnes and Noble blog) http://dld.bz/ePY4

Neil Gaiman Dust-Up Raises Questions About Authors and Speaking Fees (Huff Post): http://dld.bz/ePYF

8 ways your story needs to be tweaked: http://dld.bz/ePY3 @VictoriaMixon

Victoria: A Steampunk Exploration– http://dld.bz/eTdt

Got research? 40 useful sites to learn new skills: http://dld.bz/eNM5

The Difference between an Agent and a Literary Publicist — http://dld.bz/eTcr

NY Times reviews– less of a big deal: http://dld.bz/eTfN

An author on working with small publishers: http://dld.bz/eNK7 @alexisgrant

Publishers Weekly Epic Fail (by JA Konrath): http://dld.bz/eTbP @jakonrath

Writing the Thriller: Keep It Unexpected– http://dld.bz/eNKg

Snow White and Seven Synopses: http://dld.bz/eMVk @Kate_Hart

8 ways to find motivation at home (working at home) : http://dld.bz/eMUV

The battle of discovery in writing (veering off the plot we planned): http://dld.bz/eMUT

What an editor does: http://dld.bz/eMTR

Work for hire vs. royalty writing: http://dld.bz/eNMC

A Showcase of Free RSS Icon Sets for Bloggers– http://dld.bz/eMTf

5 reasons to plan ahead when writing a non-fiction book: http://dld.bz/eMSW

In praise of short stories: http://dld.bz/eMS8

Pippi Longstocking, With Dragon Tattoo (NY Times): http://dld.bz/eMTp

When characters meet–writing introductory scenes: http://dld.bz/ePWC @dirtywhitecandy

Public speaking as a promo tool: http://dld.bz/eMS4 @QueryTracker

Writers–be courageous: http://dld.bz/ePYW @wordrunner

Lit Agents Analyze Impact of J.A. Konrath’s Amazon Deal– http://dld.bz/ePYB @GalleyCat

What to do with your novel when you don’t know what to do: http://dld.bz/ejBe @dirtywhitecandy

When reality hits our delusions of grandeur: http://dld.bz/eMSu @JodyHedlund

Our characters have to feel to come alive for our readers: http://dld.bz/eMSr

5 things TV teaches writers: http://dld.bz/eP9N @janicebashman

An agent asks if the grass is really greener…with another agent: http://dld.bz/eMTM

Hardening our skin against rejection and revision requests: http://dld.bz/eMSb

Email Marketing: The Killer Monetization Method You Haven’t Tried Yet– http://dld.bz/eMTJ

Beyond the Lost Booker: other neglected masterpieces (Guardian) — http://dld.bz/eMSE

The Fastest Way to Increase Your Google Ranking– http://dld.bz/eMRY

9 Unsavory Character Traits of Real Authors: http://dld.bz/ePer @ZiggyKinsella

On hiring your own publicist: http://dld.bz/eMTu

The Afterlife of Stieg Larsson (NY Times): http://dld.bz/eMRv

2 editors tell how to get past the first reader — Tips from SCBWI conf http://ow.ly/1P6Dp @4KidLit

How Online Writing Groups Help You Get Published– http://dld.bz/eMSB

Notes on dialogue: http://dld.bz/eMQY

Light your writing fire: http://dld.bz/eMQS

Character Emotions and You– http://dld.bz/eMTr

Konrath wants a world that’s DRM-free: http://dld.bz/eMQp

10 tips for overcoming stage fright: http://dld.bz/eMTc

A Date With An Editor or Agent – 10 Steps To Make You Look Beautiful– http://dld.bz/eMQh

Marketing our passion—or writing for ourselves? http://dld.bz/eMB2

5 books that can save the world: http://dld.bz/eMBj

Mystery writer @AveryAames w/ champagne fondue recipe & the last wk to win bookstore gift cert.: http://dld.bz/eMAp @CleoCoyle @kristadavis

Losing the secondary business can kill you: http://dld.bz/eHq4

If books were used as perfume: http://dld.bz/eHqa

On Amazon Book & Product Recommendations: http://dld.bz/eHp5

A time to write (even without support from our families or friends) : http://dld.bz/eHnV

When adverbs attack–a reminder to use them sparingly. http://dld.bz/eHg5 @KD_Miller

40 Beautiful, High-Resolution Wallpapers (for authors who want to spruce up their desktops): http://dld.bz/eHnG

Writing—manners and wit: http://dld.bz/eHr5

Book Signing Fail (photo): http://dld.bz/eHn7

Generality is the death of the novel: http://dld.bz/eGEt

Writing Comes Before Research, Or at Least at the Same Time: http://dld.bz/eGEr

Why Professional Writers Need a Blog. Or Not. http://dld.bz/eGDY

5 ways to improve your online visibility: http://dld.bz/eGDU

After keeping us waiting for a century, Mark Twain will finally reveal all (Twain’s autobiography to be released): http://dld.bz/eHrD

Why writers procrastinate–and tips for moving ahead w/ our writing: http://dld.bz/eGDy

Who needs a publisher? http://dld.bz/eG77

The Bookseller’s Patter– http://dld.bz/eCdy

New Wave of Dissent in Tibet Met by Crackdown on Writers— http://dld.bz/eCdx

Tips on non-verbal communication paired with your dialogue: http://dld.bz/eBZ9

Konrath on book piracy: http://dld.bz/eBZ7

7 things writers need to know today: http://dld.bz/eBMJ

Every author wants a great review: http://dld.bz/eBME

Agatha winner @SandraParshall shares turkey (or not) recipe at http://bit.ly/GU8HG @ElizabethSCraig @KristaDavis @CleoCoyle RT @ AveryAames

Twitter for writers–finding other writers, useful hashtags, and how I personally use it (elizabethscraig): http://bit.ly/bRkWPb

Worldbuilding, or world growing? http://dld.bz/eBM2

Authors and the victim mentality: http://dld.bz/eBMz

50 really cool bookstore blogs: http://dld.bz/eBGE via @cathyskye

Getting non-fiction clips for your writing portfolio: http://dld.bz/eBGx

How to read a publishing contract (part 13): http://dld.bz/eBGh

Ten of the best towers in literature (Guardian) — http://dld.bz/eASn

A collection of book marketing links: http://dld.bz/eASm

How to increase the pace of your novel: http://dld.bz/eASh

Adding up the cost of producing our own Ebook: http://dld.bz/eARV

3 Sci-Fi writing exercises: http://bit.ly/c7m0uQ

A Contrarian Stance on Facebook and Privacy– http://dld.bz/eARN

This is a subject I haven’t worked out for myself yet, but I’ve been thinking about it.

There are definitely some authors that, when you say their name, you get an image of a particular kind of book.

Stephen King.

Nora Roberts.

J.K. Rowling.

To a much lesser degree (and I think this mainly refers to genre writers), you have midlist authors who get associated with a particular genre and writing style. If the author has done their job promoting themselves and their books and creating a brand, then the reader is probably going to make an association.

Just among the websites and blogs that I visit, I definitely know who writes what—who writes YA, romance, mystery, steampunk, fantasy, SF.

And there’s a reason for that. It’s usually what the writer likes to read and what they’re good at writing.

Right now I have 2 cozy mystery series and am working on developing a possible third. They’re all set in the South and are humorous.

Not only do I enjoy writing these kinds of books, but they’re easy for me to write. They come completely naturally to me.

But what if you’re trying something completely different?

If you’ve worked on your branding and you have a particular following that knows you write a particular way and then suddenly you switch to a different genre and style, then you could possibly end up with some readers who aren’t happy.

Readers who were expecting one thing and got something else. Especially if you built a brand around it.

While I wouldn’t let my branding stop me from trying something new, I’d approach the marketing carefully, I think.

Yes, you’d want to carry some readers over with you, especially if you’d built up a nice reader base.

But not at the risk of alienating some of those readers by not being truthful about the change of genre.

Pros of pseudonyms in this situation:
There won’t be a book buyer perception that limits your scope—they won’t think of you as someone who writes something completely different.

You won’t upset readers who might expect one thing and get another.

You can develop a name but still tie in your other (real) name with marketing. It would be easy enough to put something on your blog page, web page, and social media that says something like “Check Out John Smith’s New Fantasy Series—Written Under his Aaron Felder Pen Name.”

Cons of pseudonyms in this situation:

To some degree, you’re starting over with your reader base. For someone walking through the bookstore and taking a book off the shelf, they’re not going to know you. So you’ll be promoting and building up a whole new name. In a new genre.

Although you can promote your other name through your real name, you’ll still have to do many things twice—promote both names at once and in different genre communities. Maybe not twice as much work if you’ve got a lot of that basic social media structure in place and know how to quickly build it up, but a lot of extra work. So far, since I’ve stayed in the same genre, I haven’t run into any problems promoting both my names online…tied together. But Riley Adams is about to have a Facebook presence really soon.

What do you think? Do you see author branding as something that possibly has a creative downside for a writer?

And a programming note–tomorrow= Twitterific!

Writing a novel is often compared to running a marathon – the necessary training, tenacity, endurance, passion, and sheer will to finish are shared by both endeavors.  I trained for a marathon but never ran the race.  It took a long time for me to look at it not as a failure, but as an opportunity to learn a lesson or two and apply those to a fresh challenge.  I also worked on my first novel for four years and finally put it aside, incomplete.  For that, too, it was difficult to move past the failure mentality but I have and I’m hard at work applying lessons learned to my second novel.

The biggest challenge of my marathon training involved adequate fueling. It seemed like I got the concept of carb loading but I’d lose the energy mid-way through my runs and it was torturous to make it through the next mile.  Unsurprisingly, I had the same challenge with my novel.  There were moments of excitement and bursts of creativity but I found it difficult to carry that inspired, fueled-up feeling when I got into the thick of things.

The lesson learned in both instances is clear – understand the options and use them.  There are a lot of ways to fuel for a run just as there are ways to remain inspired and plow forward during the writing process:

• Be prepared.  Come armed with an outline if you’re a plotter or dig into your character motivations if you’re a pantser.  Inspiration is less likely to run away from you if you you have the necessary energy shot in your back pocket.
• Nurture your creativity.  There are ways to be creative as it relates to your novel be it from collaging, charting, or making soundtracks. Some writers use these techniques during the pre-writing process but why not use them to get over a writing hurdle?
• Keep writing.  Just like there may be an unexpected water fountain around the corner on your run, there may be a burst of inspiration that comes to you as you plug along to the next chapter.  The quickest way to become uninspired is to stop writing.  Skip to a scene you’ve been dying to write or experiment with a new plot twist but keep that butt in the chair and those fingers moving.
• Surround yourself with friends.  There’s nothing like a running partner to cheer you on and there’s nothing like a friend who writes and understands the every challenge you’re facing.  They can often dispense that one tidbit of feedback that’s enough to get your fingers typing out that next scene that was giving you problems.

Despite your every preparation, and every fuel available to you, it’s still possible to hit the wall.  And when that happens?  Dig down deep. And cross that finish line.

What is your favorite way to nurture your inspiration during the novel process?

Bio:

A hard-working, shoe-loving insurance executive by day, Stephanie Janulis moonlights as a historical romance writer. She’s currently working on her second novel and blogging at Write Chic, a website that helps writers cope with the literary lifestyle. She also enjoys training for half-marathons, watching Texas A&M football, and eating her weight in Twinkies.

http://www.writechic.com/

@WriteChicBlog

Thanks so much for your post today, Stephanie!  I hope everyone has a chance to pop over to the Write Chic blog which has helpful tips and interesting articles for writers. 

Sometimes I read books and the protagonists just leave me completely cold.

The books frequently have plenty of conflict. Bad things happen to these characters and we’re supposed, as readers, to care about that.

But…I don’t. And when I get to that point in a book, I might as well just scrap it, and usually do.

This doesn’t mean the protagonist has to be a really good person. In fact, I can read books like the Dexter series by Jeff Lindsay or The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith and pull for the bad guys. That’s only because the authors are really good at what they do—they’ve made these guys likable in a very odd way. They’re smart and funny and unique.

In general, though, I’m looking for protagonists I can relate to or have some sympathy for.

Problems I’ve noticed with books where I don’t care if the protagonist lives or dies:

The author doesn’t get into the protagonist’s head or POV enough. I’m just watching from a distance and not really understanding what motivates their actions.

The character doesn’t seem proactive, only reactive.

The protagonist has no apparent sense of humor.

The character is selfish and only seems to think about how the conflict affects them and their life. This gets a little boring to me after a while.

The protagonist seems whiny.

The emotional range for the character is limited.

The protagonist has no ideas for getting out of the situation they’re in and relies too heavily on other characters for help.

They do dumb things and I lose respect for them.

They do dangerous things and I lose respect for them.

They’re not brave. Even if you’re scared, you can still show a glimmer of courage. Especially if you’re a protagonist and carrying a whole book on your shoulders!

Although these types of books frustrate me as a reader, I think they help me develop stronger protagonists. Have you got any character dislikes that you avoid?

An author, or aspiring author, website or blog plays a lot of important roles.

We can entice new readers, sell books, and generally offer a professional image of ourselves to people in the industry or readers.

Also—we can give people a way to contact us. These people could be agents, editors, journalists, book bloggers…or other people who would like to get in touch with us.

Over the last week, I’ve noticed that while many people have Facebook pages and Twitter feeds linked in their sidebar, they don’t have a “contact me” with an email address.

And sometimes, you just don’t want to get in touch with someone on a Facebook wall where their 1200 friends can read your message. Or maybe you don’t want to sign into your Facebook account and go through several steps to email the person’s Facebook inbox (if they’re even on Facebook.) And you don’t want to tweet your message to them, where you have to think in terms of 140 characters.

You want to send an email (says Elizabeth, with some degree of frustration.)

Believe me, I know that if you post an email address that you can get spammed like crazy. I’d be a rich, rich woman right now if all those Nigerian lottery spams were telling me the truth.

But still, y’all—an email address. You can get one for free if you’d like a separate one from your family account. I’m using Gmail, which I’ve been happy with so far. Yahoo and Hotmail both offer free emails.

You can download free “contact me” widgets (which offer a form service) for both Blogger and WordPress. Just Google “contact me widget.”

Or, if you like, you can type this into your sidebar: “Contact Me at elizabethspanncraig (at) gmail.com.” People know that they’ll put an @ symbol in the place of the “at”.” Or they should know that, anyway. And the spammer spiders won’t pick up on it as an email address.

What other things should go on our blogs or websites?

The Book Publicity blog recommends (for published authors) your publishing house, agent and publicist info, contact info, and press kit.

The Hey, There’s a Dead Guy in the Living Room blog recommends that we have a domain name that makes sense, buy links, buzz words, clear headers, and organized pages.

I’d say book covers, bio, interviews, headshots, list of appearances, news on upcoming releases, and review snippets.

And an email address. :)