Want to Be an Author? Read this First.

I was contacted the other day by a young writer who was working on a project for a class. She wanted to ask a published author a few questions about the trade. They were such good question and led to some very detailed answers that I thought others should have access to them too. Seriously, if you are an aspiring writer and want to be a published author, read this first:

1. What does the day-to-day work in your field look like? Pertaining to writing, that is.

It'd be impossible to pin down what the day-to-day is in my field because writers are a wacky breed. Not a one of us does it the same way. Stephen King writes 10 pages a day no matter what. Me, I can't do that. I can't even create a set writing time. My life is so fluid with family and teaching demands that I just write whenever I can. When I can write, I put the headphones on, listen to epic trailer music, and dive into story mode.

2. What are some key considerations you'd tell someone like me who's considering this field? That is, considering making writing part of one's income?

I'd recommend just that: making writing PART of your income. At first, no one, I mean NO ONE has ever heard of you or your books, so you need to have a primary source of income. Perhaps something that compliments your writing like being an editor or an English teacher. Once you have safe income in place, you can go to town on your writing, either going the traditional / legacy route with a publishing house or self pubbing on Amazon Kindle etc. If you do the selfpub route, consider submitting your novels to a service like BookBub. You can often start a readership through such services.

3. What skills would be important for me to have in this field?

Besides the obvious, I suppose. Lol.

I suspect "writing" might be a good skill to have. 0,o Seriously, though, there are a couple of subsets of writing that you need. First, I highly recommend taking a few classes in poetry (contemporary, if pos) because, in it, you will learn to make every word count. And that is SO key. When you tell a story, you are not telling every detail of someone's life, but only the highlights and most meaningful qualities that will form the basis for your character's decisions in the novel. Don't just pick good words or words that "will do," but rather, pick the best words. Try to use connotative words, words that trigger a reaction or feeling in the reader. Don't say "she sat down." Say she slumped. Don't say he walked across the room. Say he lunged. Don't describe a winter tree as bereft of leaves. Say the tree was black and rigid with branches and limbs like a thousand spiders linked in some unholy dance.

Secondly, work on suspense techniques because that, my young swordmaiden, is THE name of the game. You must make your readers wait for what they want. Be cruel in that way. Use mystery, the unknown, intense emotion, danger, unusual events, clues that stick out like a sore thumb—you will have the reader flipping pages like some kind of mad librarian! And do this right at the start. Your first sentence better grip the reader by the throat. Then, the first paragraph, should yank them forward. Then, the first page must shake them senseless. And your first chapter, well, your first chapter should end on such a potent cliffhanger that the reader will very nearly rip the page trying to get to the next chapter.

 

4. What are some of the unique challenges I might encounter in this career?  

There are several unique challenges that I've faced, and I'm not totally certain they are common to all writers, but for what it's worth: The first major challenge is wearing too many hats. When I got my first publishing contract, I was already a Dad of four young children, a husband of a wonderful wife, and a full time English teacher. Still am all of those things except that the kids are all in their late teens now. {Sigh}. Finding time to write was difficult. My wife was incredible, bearing a ton of extra burdens so that I could head to the library or the local Panera and spend the day writing. But the worst thing about it is that no matter what I was spending my time doing, it always "felt" like I should have been working on something else. If I spent the day sledding with my kids, I loved it and cherished that time, but always on the back of my mind: the deadline or the lesson plan. If I was writing, I would constantly think of my wife and kids and how I wasn't there for them. No matter what I did or was doing, I felt the pang of other responsibilities. Time. That's the big thing about writing. Novels take an absurd amount of time from your life. And, while it might be a ton of fun to invent worlds and races of people, creatures, etc, to do so, means letting the real world go by, real people and relationships are missed. Writers must sacrifice hours, days, weeks, and months. And it's time you cannot get back. Honestly, if I didn't feel that God wanted me to write these stories, I don't think I would have been able to keep doing it. Time is precious. What I wouldn't give now for an hour to play with my kids when they were young! Of course, I can still play with them now, but they can pretty much beat me up. lol

The second challenge was living up to the expectations and demands of the publishers. When I signed the dotted line for The Door Within Trilogy, I paid no attention at all to the deadlines. I was, more or less, mesmerized by the dream come true of being an author. But suddenly, I needed to write 75,000 words in three months. And then, I had to do it again for book 3. But there can often be creative differences too. I had to do research and fight and email battle with my publisher who didn't think the main character in The Door Within should be named Aidan. It's too uncommon, they said. Too unusual. I loved "Aidan" because it had roots in Irish (Gaelic), and it meant "little fire." To defend the name, I researched baby name sites and found that for that particular year, Aidan was the most common boy name given to newborn boys. The publisher conceded. Yay!

But they don't always.

There were times that I had to cut parts that I loved or add parts that seemed pedestrian. And there was once, during the writing of Curse of the Spider King (cowritten with Christopher Hopper) that I think the publisher was close to firing us—or whatever it's called when a publisher cuts you loose. The contention came over the ending of the book, which CH and I believed to be an AWESOME cliffhanger. But the publisher felt like it didn't follow the usual story arc or allow enough closure. Eventually, we came to a compromise, but it was a painful one. There was another unique situation that kind of blew my mind. Publishers, especially big publishing houses, tend to have "profit" worked out to a formula. And so they plan everything out ahead of time, often including the side of the book's binding, how many pages, etc. I'd always thought that the author just writes the story, however long it may be, and then, you edit out what needs cutting, and VOILA! A book. But with my publisher, I most often worked on a word count of @75-100K words. But with Isle of Swords, I went way over that. It was originally 120K, and so, after much discussion, I had to cut 20,000 words. That was an arduous and heartbreaking task.

 

5. Yikes, I imagine that would be. I wouldn't have guessed, though. I love Isle of Swords as it is. If you had to do it over, what would you do differently? 

If I had to do the author portion of my life over, there's a ton that I would change. 1) I would get published earlier. I took 13 years to publish The Door Within. But most of that was a lack of persistence and discipline on my part. God was patient and still opened the door later for me, but I wish I'd started earlier. It would have been so much better for my family financially. 2) I'd ruthlessly cut other "hobbies" from my life and use that extra time to spend with my wife and kids. On top of the time I needed for writing, I often took too much so-called "me" time for things like golf, tennis, video games, etc. What an idiot I was. Nothing wrong with any of those things, but those hours are gone. Jesus tries to tell us in His word, "if you lose your life for my sake, you'll find life, but if you keep it to yourself, you lose it." I was quite literally a fool for spending so much time with selfish pastimes. Please don't misunderstand, I was a very involved husband and father, but I could have been more. I should have been more. I'm sure there are other things I would change, but those are the main two.

Thank you, that's a lot of awesome advice. I appreciate the time you took to answer all these questions.

You're very welcome. It was kind of cathartic to explore all that you asked. I'm going to publish the whole Q&A on my blog. Hopefully, other aspiring young writers will learn a bit from it.

I hope so, too. You were one of my main inspirations to start writing. I don't know if God will guide me to opportunities in this field yet, but I'm sure your advice will be helpful if He does.

Well, aww, thank you for saying so. I pray that you'll take whatever path God lays out for you. It'll be an adventure, that much I can promise you. And, as you know, adventures always begin with the unexpected...    

     

   

My First Ever Writing Guide!

Aspiring writers often ask me:

1) Where do you get your ideas?

2) How do you create those powerful moments in the story?

3) How do you structure or outline a whole novel?

4) And the big one: How do I HOOK my reader?

Well, I've just published a guide to fiction writing. It's not your typical writing book because I've published it for teachers to use in the classroom with student writers. I've broken down my typical novel into 16 Recipes. I call them "Recipes for Adventure," or R4A, for short.

If you follow this plan for a novel, I can't guarantee you a bestseller, but I can guarantee that you'll learn tips, tricks, hacks, and insider fiction strategies that you can't find anywhere else. These are the trial & error techniques that I've learned, working with fantastic pro editors over 16 novels. You want to AMP your writing, this will get you there.

The format is .pdf, so you can pretty much open it on anything. The file is available in only one place: TeachersPayTeachers.com. The link you'll need is this one:

http://bit.ly/1GZDOKr

Guest Post at Speculative Faith: How do writers do "New?"

Any writers out there? Here are some tips for you on how to write something NEW. http://www.speculativefaith.com/2014/01/03/how-to-do-new/

Absolutes in Writing. Really?

It seems to me that there is a growing population of writers who are more than ready to dish out advice about what other writers should not do. If you want your prose to read as a professional's should read, don't do this. Avoid that. Don't use -ly adjectives. Don't tell. Don't use exclamation points. Don't use colorful speaker tags; only 'said.' Use passive voice and you'll be burned at the stake!

It sounds sage, but is it really? Think about it. Why does language have adverbs? In school, we learned that it is to describe how an action is performed. It just so happens, that in English, a very high percentage of adverbs end in -ly. And yet, the words have a very important and useful function.

And what about telling? Uhm...if we all quit telling, the world would be a very sad place, as there would be no stories. After all, what is narrative? It's storyTELLING. Surely, the 'show; don't tell' axiom has merit. Your words should vividly paint a picture. But so much of your tale will absolutely be 'telling.' Don't stop. Just get good at telling.

Exclamation points have a purpose. They communicate volume, tone, emotion, and context. Use them. Use them well. And speaker tags? What a crock. Twenty years ago, the advice was "avoid the overuse of 'said' as a speaker tag." After all, 'said' is so vague and impersonal…and boring. Now, it's use 'said' or no speaker tag at all. In the immortal words of Colonel Sherman Potter, "Horse Hockey!" If the use of a vivid speaker tag helps the reader 'live' the scene, shriek, gasp, howl, and growl away!

And lastly, what of the revered, axiom to never use Passive Voice. Tell that to Tolkien. There are legitimate uses for Passive Voice. That's, uhm, why we have a passive voice in our language. Yes, yes, there are definitely errors to be made with passive voice. It's kind of putting the cart before the horse, so to speak. But if you are doing passive voice on purpose, with a purpose, go for it. 

In many cases, what the writing pundits mean when they issue all the prohibitions is this: know what you are doing, and don't waste words. In writing, there are few absolutes, so don't get bullied. Experiment with language. See what works for the story you wish to tell. And do it all…well.

Showdown at High Noon: The Story At Last

{Cue Spaghetti Western Whistling} The gunslinger appears at the edge of town just as the church bell tolls high noon. The click of his mouse announces his arrival, and intensity shines out from his squinting eye-slits. The wireless keyboard, holstered at his side, shifts as the gunslinger steps forward. On the far end of the dirt road, separated only by whirling eddies of dust and careening tumbleweeds, is the Story. An elusive villain, wanted by every author in the land, and known to be as slippery as an eel, as mercurial as lightning, and as dangerous as life itself. The staredown begins. The gunslinger's hand twitches ominously at his side. He knows this chance is fleeting. He knows the stakes. His eyes narrow. His thumb slides against the knuckle of his forefinger. The wind stops. The time has come.

The Journey: A Milestone, A Request, and Coming Full Circle

Surreal. That's how I'd describe my writing journey. With the receipt of my last royalty statement, I've reached a milestone that blows my mind: To date, I've sold over a quarter of a million books. That would be 250,000+ books. Eight books published. Number 9 and 10 on the way. Six of these reached various spots on CBA and ECPA Bestseller lists. Several awards including: Mom's Choice, Silver Moonbeam, The Lamplighter, etc. I'm not boasting, or, if I am, it's boasting in God who made it all happen. But it just smacks me upside the head. Surreal.

Fifth Grade. I think my writing journey began in 5th grade. There was a Halloween Story writing contest in my school: Catherine T. Reed Elementary. I liked scary stories. But the prizes motivated me more. lol. First place was a big chocolate black cat. And, they would read my story to the whole school. On top of that, this girl I had a crush on was entering. There was to be a girl winner and a boy winner. The wheels turned, and I entered. I remember working on the story at home and letting my mom and dad read it. Believe it or not, I have a visual memory of them reading this one scene where the main character fell down a trapdoor in the haunted house that led to a sliding board down, down, down into some other creepy setting. And I remember my parents telling me, "Wayne, that is really creative." That meant the world to me, esp. because it came from my parents. I ended up winning the contest. So did the girl. They read our stories over the loudspeaker to the whole school. People I never knew came up to me afterward and told me how cool the story was. So I formed an equation:

Good Stories = more friends, cute girls, and chocolate

High School. Fast forward to my teenage years. I didn't write too many stories in high school. I got heavily into poetry. It was kind of adolescent therapy for me. Those are tough years, and I wrote my way through them. I ended up in a heavy metal band with some of my best friends. I wrote a ton of song lyrics. In my high school yearbook, I wrote that I wanted to someday become an author.

Teaching. I started teaching middle school reading/English in the fall of 1991. It wasn't too many years in that I began to realize, I didn't like most of what the county gave us to teach the kids. Not the skills really, but the literature. So I started writing my own stories for my lesson plans. My students responded big time. They really seemed to like my fiction. In 1993, my students challenged me to do the assignment I had give them: write a first person narrative short story. So I did. The story was called The Faith of a Child. It was written in green ink on 17 pages of loose paper. My students LOVED it. They kept asking me to read it again...and again. They encouraged me to write more. And over the years, it became about a 50 page novelette. Then it grew some more. During that time, God was very patient with me. I fell into kind of a rut where I was becoming content with mediocrity. I had this thing where I could tell people, "Yeah, I'm working on a book." I enjoyed being able to say that and all the kudos people threw at me for even attempting such a thing. But I was either too afraid or too lazy or both to do something more. But God kept sending little reminders of the gift He'd given me. People would come out of nowhere and tell me something positive about my stories. It kept me going.

Bill and Gregg. One of my best friends in the world, Bill Russell, got tired of me sitting on my book, then called The Door Without Hinges--yes, based on that little 17 page short story from 1993. Bill was attending Dallas Theological Seminary and befriended a guy named Gregg Wooding who part timed as a Publicist for Josh McDowell, Deion Sanders, etc. Gregg was thinking of expanding his operations to include literary work. So Bill suggested that I get my book to him. Gregg loved it. He said he wanted to be my agent. I went back to work on the manuscript, and it became The Door Within.

Atlanta ICRS. Gregg called and told me to book a flight to Atlanta in the summer of 2004. He wanted me to come to the big International Christian Retailer Show so that we could meet some publishers and pitch The Door Within. Interestingly, I sat down with the late Dan Penwell of AMG. He loved The Door Within concept and told me he felt we might be able to do business. I was STOKED. I remember calling my wife Mary Lu and my parents to tell them the news. And then, we sat down with Dee Ann Grand, the acquisitions editor for Thomas Nelson, and pitched The Door Within to them. She loved it. If anything, she was more enthusiastic than I was about the book. Thank you, God, for Dee Ann Grand. She really pushed my trilogy through some battles in Thomas Nelson. But that fall, I had a contract. I was going to be a published author. My wife cried. I stood there just numb over it all. Surreal.

Full Circle. This summer I'll be headed back to Atlanta for this year's International Christian Retailer's Show. But this time, I'll be with AMG publishers promoting The Sword in the Stars and The Errant King. Kind of cool, the way God works things.

New Frontiers. The publishing world has changed forever. And we're just on the doorstep. eBooks are becoming the modern Gutenberg Printing Press explosion. Kindle, Nook, Cruise, eReader, iPad, etc. etc. --these eReaders are appearing everywhere. eBook sales are exploding. And I don't think we're even close to the tipping point. So I'm working on Ghost, my first selfpublished novel. And I'm going to publish it as an eBook, though I will use print on demand through Create Space for those who want a hard copy. If I can get enough reader interest, I may also publish Ghost in a special Hardcover edition with all kinds of special tip ins and extras. We'll see. But you might be wondering, why self publish. Sure, eBooks are exploding, but couldn't you publish Ghost through a print publisher and have them do the eBook? I could, sure. And my other 9 books through Thomas Nelson and AMG are all available in eBook format. But, as much as I hate to admit it, I need to selfpublish. Really, it comes down to dollars and sense. Print Publishing's dirty little secret is that they don't pay their authors very well. In those 250,000 books I've sold, I've averaged 42 cents a book. I am dearly grateful for the income, but it isn't even close to enough to support a family, not over 6 years. So I've been a full time teacher and a full time writer. Add those to a full family life and you get a challenging juggle. So I need to selfpublish. Amazon is offering 70% royalties for eBooks. I just can't afford to miss out on that.

A Request. If you're still reading this, you're probably a pretty dedicated reader of my work. So, I'd like to throw a request out there. Tell me your story. How'd you find my books? Which books have you read? Which books are you hoping to read soon? What would you tell other people (who haven't read) about my books? Post a comment. I'd love to hear from you.

The Books: And, if you are in the market for a new book or an audiobook even, click the links below and check out these tales of adventure and fantasy!

The Door Within

The Door Within Audio read by author!

Rise of the Wyrm Lord

 Rise of the Wyrm Lord Audio read by author! 

The Final Storm

The Final Storm Audio read by author! 

Isle of Swords

Isle of Swords Audio

Isle of Fire

Isle of Fire Audio

Curse of the Spider King

Curse of the Spider King Audio

Venom and Song

Venom and Song Audio

Sword in the Stars

Words cannot describe how happy this makes me.

If it weren't for J.R.R. Tolkien, I don't really know if I'd be an author today. It was 30 years ago this summer that my cousin Diedre gave me a copy of The Hobbit to read. To that point, I hadn't been much of a reader. I read when school forced me to, but not for fun. The Hobbit changed all that and completely shifted the course of my life. So today, I hear the news that Sir Peter Jackson has officially begun shooting the two Hobbit movies…well, I couldn't be happier. So much about this photo resonates with me. How about you?

How do I get my book published?

 *Note: for you younger kids, the above picture is of a thing called a board

game. It represents the beginning of the game where you would physically roll

the dice and move your game piece around the game board.

I got an email from a reader who asked about how to get started down the road to being published. Before I knew it, I'd written quite a lengthy email in reply. This is NOT the magnum opus on the subject, but it might answer a few of your own questions. 

About getting published, the literary world is changing markedly with the advent of the ebook, so there are a number of options:

Traditional Print--The process works like this:

1) Write a good book (how's that for brilliant?)

2) Edit and revise until it is crisp, spotless, and most importantly, told in your stylish voice

3) Let someone you trust read it and make suggestions; then edit and revise all over again.

3b) Work obsessively on your opening chapter. Make it grab the reader by the throat. You MUST hook them in the first chapter or they may not read any more--ever.

4) Look for a reputable agent. You can find one by subscribing to Writer's Digest. Every issue, they list agents and what they are looking for. Or you can purchase a Writer's Market Guide which lists zillions of publishers and agents. Or you can look into works of published fiction in your genre and see what agency those authors used.

5) Call the agent, see what they want: proposal only, or with three chapters, whole manuscript, query letter, or whatever.

6) Google Book Proposal format, or whatever your agent asked for. Find out how to write a good one, and submit to agent. Allow 2-3 weeks for response. Hear nothing after a month, call. Rinse and repeat until you have an agent.

7) Your agent should then begin shopping your manuscript around to publishers who, if interested, will ask you for one of those things you submitted to your agent. Get your agent to help you craft the best proposal, etc. possible.

8) Then, pray a lot and hope for a contract.

eBooks--the process works like this:
 
1) Write a good book (Did I mention, brilliant?)

2) Edit and revise until it is crisp, spotless, and most importantly, told in your stylish voice

3) Let someone you trust read it and make suggestions; then edit and revise all over again.

3b) Work obsessively on your opening chapter. Make it grab the reader by the throat. You MUST hook them in the first chapter or they may not read any more--ever.

4) Hire a professional editor to help you edit and revise your manuscript. Only let a friend do it if they are professionals. Seriously, you don't want to upload a junky eBook.

5) Find a cover artist and pay for the coolest cover you can afford. The cover must look cool in both full size AND thumbnail. It's more important for ebooks to have a great cover because they are all FACE OUT!

6) Either find a professional or do-it-yourself format your book for Amazon Kindle. Check out their publishing program. It's the best thing going.

7) Price your eBook LOW .99 to $3.99, or even give it away for a few months. That price point is discretionary money for most readers. Like the iTunes model, the low price will sell lots of books and, if you're using Amazon's 70% royalty model, will still get you serious money. 

8) Once your eBook is online, promote, promote, promote. Visit eBook forums. KindleBoards, Smashwords, etc. Tell everyone about your book who will listen. People want to find the "next big deal author" and they will promote you if they like you.

Whew, so there you go! Hope that helps.

Never alone.   

  

Cures for Writer's Block

About Writer's Block...

A young writer asked me what to do about writer's block. I've posted on this before, but maybe you're finding yourself stuck right now. Hope these suggestions help.

1. Make sure you've been getting enough sleep and aren't wired up on caffeine. Often lack of ideas is the direct result of a too-tired mind or one that is over stimulated.

2. Try outlining. Seat of the pants writers, God bless 'em, are great but much more likely to get blocked because they simply have no idea what will come next. Take a day, a week, a month and do nothing but outline the major actions of the movie. Then, when you go to produce the manuscript, BAM, you've got the structure right there.

3. Do a "pride check." Often writers block is you being too much of a perfectionist you want it just right the first time. No chance. Let the story come, no matter how dumb it seems. That's what editing is for.

4. Do a "Lazy-Me-Check." Similar to trying to be to perfect is being too lazy to want to do several drafts, so you get too careful. In order to avoid the extra work, you go too slowly and get very annoyed when it's not just right. Again, let it come.

5. Get out of the Driver's Seat. The best stories are character driven, meaning the distinct and colorful personalities of your characters should dictate which way the story should go. If you're having too much trouble deciding what should happen next, take a break and write up some character profiles. Who are these people? I mean, REALLY, who are they? Go deep. What's their life story? What scares them? How have they hurt in the past? Who do they like, not like, trust, distrust, etc.

6. Read in your genre. If you are writing a mystery, read mysteries. If fantasy, read my books. {ahem}. Seriously, immerse yourself in the genre and you'd be surprised what ideas pop into your mind. Plus, you get the added benefit of seeing what's out there being published so that you can do something original.

7. The best for last: Pray. I know not all the visitors here are Christian, but for those who are, pray and ask God to place some ideas in your mind. Lord, is there a story you want me to tell?

Behind the Scenes Part 2: Drafting

Welcome to Behind the Scenes, Part 2. As you know, Author Christopher Hopper and I are working on a new fantasy series called The Berinfell Prophecies. Book 1: Curse of the Spider King is finished and will be out in stores Oct. 15th, or so I was told most recently. Now, we're working on the second book in the series.

Today, we're going to look into the drafting process. In other words, now that we've got an outline, a blueprint of where we're going with the story, we need to write out our very first draft, the ROUGH draft. I need to emphasize rough because to many would-be authors try to skip steps in the writing process by being too careful during that first draft. We agonize over the right word or right name; we stare at one paragraph trying for the most righteous turn of the phrase; or perhaps we labor over dialogue to get it "just right." Can I lift a burden from your shoulders? Don't do it that way. You will only frustrate yourself and slow yourself down.

For the rough draft, you just need to get those ideas down. Don't worry about spelling, grammar, word choice, colorful verbs, etc. etc. {Gag} Just write. Think of it this way: Suppose you have 2 hours to write today. You can either take your outline and run with it, ignoring the impulse to agonize over "just the right word" and finish two hours later with seven pages of content. OR, you can try to draft, revise, edit, proofread, and redraft--ALL in one step. In the end you will have a beautiful piece of prose...perfect even. But, it'll be one paragraph. Hmmm...

Another thing to think about is the importance of creative momentum. Your mind is a complex thing. Story comes flowing out of it, one thought leading to another and then another. Sometimes, you have to write several pages before something really REALLY cool comes along. Suppose, however, you are stop-start, stop-starting all over the place, trying to make it perfect in one shot...you may never get to that great idea that's lurking around the corner…if you could just get past yourself and get to the next page of content.

For Christopher and I, coauthoring a book means we need to talk logistics: what scene are you going to do? Where do you see that falling in the narrative? See the below capture of our iChat.





Once we've figured out who's writing what scenes, we draft the scenes. Our "system," if you can call it that, is to each write our rough drafts of 2-3 chapters. Then, we send it to the other for revising. We give each other TOTAL permission to make any changes we want--without using the "Track Changes" feature. In this way, we develop "OUR" voice rather than his and mine. After we revise the other's scenes, we send them back to the original author for "final" revisions. During this time, the original author may change some things back or alter things additionally. To us, it just doesn't matter. It can't matter. See below for an example of a section of Christopher's writing that I've "purple penned." I like to lay down on the bed with hard copies of the work and go to town on it with pen. Then, I hit the computer and make my changes.


See below two iChat conversations between Christopher and I. These are actually well prior to Spider King. Christopher was working on Book 3 of the White Lion Chronicles: Athera's Dawn and I was working on Book 1 of The Dark Sea Annals: Sword in the Stars. (Both Books Due out in 2010).

Reason I show these two is that they exemplify the benefit of having someone to bounce ideas off of: each one of us has some wisdom or experience that the other can learn. We teach each other and learn from each other. And guess what, it's also so much fun that it should be illegal. :-)


Part Three will be up in a few weeks.

Never alone.

Writing and Publishing: Behind the Scenes, Part 1

Welcome to BTS, part one, the first segment where I'll take you behind the curtain to see what goes into inventing, writing, editing, and publishing a novel. Keep in mind: you haven't read Berinfell Prophecies Book 1: Curse of the Spider King, and this series of blog posts will delve into the creation of Book 2. Therefore, I'll have to leave many details concerning plot elements extremely vague. It's the process we're after, not spoilers, right?

Christopher Hopper is the CoAuthor of this series, and we are quite literally right at the beginning of the book. Today, it was all about inventing. We left several key threads dangling at the end of Spider King, so we began with those. What you see below is an iChat window. We began our session of brainstorming and outlining with iChat, but quickly realized we needed speed.

So, we used iChat's phone feature. That way, we could talk and hear each other while we worked. The window you see below is the speak function of iChat. So what'd we talk about? Chapter one.



Whenever I give advice to young writers and aspiring authors, I tell them to work exhaustively on chapter one. It may be the only chapter an agent or publisher looks at, so make it good. You really have to hook the reader. Action, Drama, Intense Emotion, Mystery, Danger--all good for opening chapters. Dialogue is good if it really gets us into a character or in the midst of a relationship between characters.

What to avoid:

1. Lots of narration
2. Lots of description
3. Dream sequences
4. Alarm clocks
5. Too many characters

Christopher and I left book 1 with several main characters making a journey...an important journey. However, as much as we'd like to spend pages describing the cool sights of this amazing fantasy world we're creating--they journeyed here, saw that, journeyed there, saw that--we knew that it's a snoozer of an opening. We ended up deciding on fast-forwarding to a battle scene, and not only that, but an ambush. Nothing says lovin' like a sneak attack! lol

The opening chapter decided on, we decided to "Begin with the end in mind." We had some thoughts of how Book 2 would end, so we brainstormed and fleshed that out a little. And it was here that we came to a bit of a road block. Our publisher has contracted with us for two books in the series, but we feel like it could go to a 3rd book, maybe 4. So the question became: How do we give a satisfying ending that still leaves some threads open for future books? Good question. First, we tackled the satisfying ending part. This means that any promises you made to readers need to be fulfilled. For example: If you hint that the treasure-greedy pirate will be betrayed by his own greed, then you'd better have it happen or readers will be peeved. Christopher and I are big fans of foreshadowing. We've dropped some very interesting breadcrumbs in book one that will become HUGELY important in book 2. So, we had to think of ways for these loose ends to connect to something very fun and interesting. In the end, we decided that we could end the climactic battle with the appearance of a new threat, one whose very nature would render him/her/it more perilous than anything readers have seen.

Now, we had the beginning and the end and lots of questions in between. What you see above is the file menu of Scrivener, our favorite all-powerful writing software. It absolutely rocks. Take a look at the way we set up our files. Under "draft" you see the outline in progress...just working chapter titles for now. Beneath that are our resource files. This is a whole fantasy world we're working on, so we've got Language Files, Bestiary, Geography, even a file for scenes that are so cool they have to be in the book....but uhm, we're not sure where yet. lol

After outlining for several hours, Christopher and I chose scenes. That is, there were several segments we each felt visually attached to. Christopher really wanted to tackle the opening battle scene. I, however, wanted to hit the relationships and a mounting internal conflict that needs to arise a bit later in the story. You might be thinking, but how can you do that? You don't know exactly what the other person is writing! That's somewhat true. I have an idea of what Christopher will put into the segment he's doing. But I don't need to be too concerned. It's kind of like connect the dots. My latter chapters might be a bit far away from Christopher's earlier chapters. But that's okay. The differences between them will suggest where we go on the chapters that fall in between.

That's a good tip for those of you who struggle with Writer's Block. Sometimes you just get stuck somewhere around chapter 8. Now, you've got a killer idea for chapter 17, but you don't go after it because you figure, you've got to go in order. NO. You don't. Write whatever scene is hot in your mind. Sometimes that latter scene will unblock the issue earlier on. And no matter what, the chapter that feels like fun will be better than the chapter that feels like a chore.

More to come in the following weeks. Stay tuned.

New Blog Series: Writing and Publishing a Novel--Behind the Scenes

When I was little, the first three Star Wars movies came out and blew everyone away. The special effects of Lucas' ILM took us places we never thought possible. And whenever one of those "The Making of..." programs came on, I was one of those geeked-out fans who watched with rapt attention. I can still remember watching how they filmed the X-Wing Fighter chase through the Death Star channel. COOL.

Even now, I absolutely love watching all the extra material on DVD's. I count The Lord of the Rings Extended Version Bonus DVDs among my most cherished treasures. lol. So I got to thinking that so many visitors to Enter the Door Within have tons of questions about writing and publishing. What if I take you behind the scenes?

Christopher Hopper and I have finished Curse of the Spider King. We're getting ready to hit the sequel now. So for the next series of posts, I will literally show you the nuts and bolts of how a novel comes together. From invention to editing, polishing to publishing--you'll see how it gets done. So tune in! You might even get a few sneak peeks at the new book. ;-)

Interview with Author JA Konrath: Suspense, Pacing, and Giving Back

If you like Serial Killer Mysteries along the lines of James Patterson but with laughs and introspection in the vein of Robert Crais, JA Konrath could be a writer you'd enjoy. No mistake, these are not kids books. These are grab-you-by-the-throat, scary, white-knuckling chillers, oh yeah…with a side of hearty laughs.

I first met JA through the pages of Writer's Digest. He wrote an hour by hour account of how he became a published author. It was very inspiring and so funny I think I hurt something. At the time I read it, I was just a wanna be. Something about JA's selfdeprecating style just made feel like, wow, maybe it could happen to me. His M.O. is work hard and never give up, and you will get published.

So I visited JA's website: A Newbies Guide to Publishing, and found loads of information about the business of publishing--insider tips on everything from impressing editors to negotiating royalty rates. And JA just made the info available FREE. No sign up fee. No email address. Just here's the treasure, come and plunder.

By the way, JA has recently compiled most of his Publishing/Writing/Promoting into one resource that you can download, again FREE. Download the Newbies Guide to Publishing HERE.

JA, being the marketing genius that he is went on a special kind of booktour. He literally drove cross country and visited over 600 bookstores. He went in, met the staff, managers, etc. shook hands, gave stuff away, and thanked all the sellers for getting his books and helping the public get a hold of them. JA and I hooked up on the Maryland leg and visited a gazillion stores. As you can see from the picture above, this was JA and me AFTER the day's touring. We were exhausted. But it was great fun getting to know him.

JA continues to work as hard as ever, and his books continue to do well. He's generously agreed to show up here for an interview. Enjoy a visit from JA:


WTB: How important is suspense in terms of selling books? How do you build suspense?

JA: Suspense is what keeps a reader reading. It's all about revealing and withholding information.

The goal as a writer is to present unresolved situations; in other words, to make a big mess. The point of the narrative is to resolve the situation and clean up the mess.

In the case of thrillers, the suspense often comes from characters in trouble, and villains getting their just desserts.

To create suspense, write a situation where the reader is forced to ask questions, the main one being, "What happens next?" This is done through conflict, and the promise of conflict.

Happiness, while wonderful in real life, is boring in fiction. Compelling fiction heaps problems onto characters. If these problems are meted out at a pace that makes the reader want to read faster, you've achieved suspense.

In short, suspense is the action that happens in between the question and the answer.


WTB: One of the things I love about your Jack Daniels Mysteries is the pulse-pounding pacing. Your books just never drag. Do you create pacing as a conscious choice? If so, how can aspiring writers improve their pacing?

JA: I appreciate the compliment. Whether we like it or not, we live in a fast food, MTV, web-surfing world, and people's attention spans have gotten shorter. As writers, we need to hold their attention, and pace is a smart way to do that. James Patterson has the right idea, writing books that are 300 pages long that have 120 chapters.

To create a fast pace, first focus on action scenes--these are the scenes where things are happening. The scenes with the conflict.

Next, make sure things get worse for your protagonist before they get better. Escalation is essential.

Short chapters, short paragraphs, show don't tell. Dialog is better than internal monologue. A fast paced book has a lot of white space on the page.

Finally, make sure you cut scenes that aren't needed. Backstory and lengthy description tend to weigh stories down.


WTB: Having read your articles in Writer's Digest as well as on your blog: Newbies Guide, I think it's awfully generous of you to give so much information away, esp. on getting published. Why do you do it?

JA: Because the chicks dig it.

Seriously? Because no one helped me. I spent a lot of years, struggling and depressed, trying to figure out this business. It was like scaling a wall with no end in sight. I vowed that if I ever made it, I'd help other writers so they wouldn't have to go through that.

The Internet is a perfect vehicle for sharing information. For the first time in the history of fiction writing, writers can instantly access one another. What a wonderful group resource we have, and I'm happy to contribute to the knowledge pool. I've made a lot of mistakes. I've tried a lot of different things. I've learned quite a bit. What good is all of that if I don't share it with others?

For example, I'm currently on a blog tour, visiting as many blogs as I can during the month of March, in anticipation of my horror novel, AFRAID (written under my pen name, Jack Kilborn) coming out March 31. I had no idea if this tour would be a worthwhile endeavor.

But my Google hits have gone up about twenty percent. My Amazon.com numbers have spiked higher. I'm getting more email than usual, and higher traffic on my website and blog. Best of all, this blog tour didn't cost me a thing. I'll post more detailed results on my blog in April, but I think this tour was a smart thing to do.

Contrast that to mailing 7000 letters to libraries, which I did a few years ago. That took a very long time, cost a lot of money, but overall wasn't a worthwhile investment.

Live and learn. But the only good knowledge is knowledge that is passed on. Or else everyone has to reinvent the wheel.

Then there's the trickle down effect. If you help others, they may link to you, increasing your brand awareness and name-recognition. Some may become fans. Some fans may become book buyers.

There's really no downside to generosity. Which is why I encourage everyone reading this to be generous and buy all of my books. Except AFRAID. That one is probably too scary...

Joe

I'll second what JA said about "AFRAID." Again, since I know so many kids check out this site, remember these are adult books. I'm talking Silence of the Lambs kind of scary. You've been warned.

Description: Immerse, Don't Drown

If you're a little late to the party, allow me to explain what you're seeing in the image above. This is a piece, the 3rd so far, of the cover design for my next book: Curse of the Spider King. The first book of an epic fantasy series coauthored with Christopher Hopper, Spider King takes the traditional "portal fantasy" and turns it on its head. Rather than just sending a few kids into a fantasy world, we ask, "What would happen if the fantasy world came to us?"

A lot of writers, editors, and publishers will tell you that, if you don't "feel it" when you're writing a story, you're readers won't "feel it" when they read the story. I can honestly say, Christopher and I were "feeling it" as we wrote Spider King. It is the MOST fun I've ever had writing, and possibly the most "creeped out" I've ever been writing. There's one scene that Christopher penned that is every child's worst nightmare come true. It reminds me of a recurring dream I used to have, one that completely freaked me out.

Also, just a reminder that we have a contest going on. Design a HEADER for this blog and win a signed copy of any book I've written, including Spider King! See the earlier posts for details.

and now for something completely different...The Larch, er…just kidding.

The Art of Description

I. When to Describe:

The first thing to consider about description is that it generally slows down the pace of the story. So, if you're working on an action scene, you may not want to hit the brakes with a bucket of description. Imagine a car chase: frantic, treacherous action…but then, the author takes half a page to describe the nearby skyscraper. Good idea? Uhm…not so much.

Here are some times when you probably want to describe:
A. When we first meet a character: readers need to see who they are dealing with.
B. When you bring the reader to a new setting: see the picture above. This is the scene in Fellowship of the Rings when Aragorn brings the team to Lothlorien. It is the reader's first glimpse of the place. Tolkien spent pages describing it. Good idea? Absolutely.
C. When you are foreshadowing: dropping clues early on in the story can lead to supercharged scenes later. Sometimes, a clue is a little too obscure. Give it a little extra description, so it will stand out just a bit. The reader will wonder, and that's a good thing.

II. What to Describe:

Let's say you've identified a place you want to describe. Your hero has just wandered into the forest above. Now what? What do you actually want to describe? Rule #1: Do not attempt to describe everything. This goes for characters and settings alike. I can't tell you how many young writers introduce a character by giving a page of head to foot description. YIPE. If there's anything that screams: NOVICE, that's got to be it. Describe just a few things, but particularly something your reader can use to tag the character or place. Harry Potter had a lightning bolt scar on his forehead. Gandalf had bristling white eyebrows that stuck out past the brim of his hat. Robert Crais character Pike always where's aviator sunglasses. Those are quirky descriptive tags that allow a reader to file the character away. Every time the character appears thereafter, the reader says, "Oh, that's the kid with the scar."

Look back at the picture above. Sorry, I couldn't find a larger version of it. It's a cool picture of a creepy forest. So what do you describe? Give it the glance test. Glance at it. Look away. What do you remember?

I remember that it was misty. The trees were very dark. And, they seemed to be leaning in. It feels kind of suffocating, doesn't it? Cool! Describe that element. Don't mention that a little white moth flew by. Who cares?! Again, give the reader some meat for his/her imagination. The rule is: Immerse, don't drown. You want the reader to go there, but not to get sick of being there.

III. How to Describe:

Everyone knows you describe with adjectives and adverbs, right? Sure. But what about verbs? You might ask, uh, but those are those action words, right? They don't describe anything. In fact, that's why we have adverbs...to describe verbs. Right?

Wrong. Verbs are action words, but put another way, verbs are words that SHOW action. Sound familiar? How many times have you heard: "Show don't tell"??? It's too true. And verbs are the perfect thing to show the readers what's going on. The key is to use specific verbs. Why say "He ran quickly." When you can say, "He sprinted" --OR-- "He charged."??? Find the right verbs for the scene. Be precise with your verbs and watch your story come to life.

A word about mood: When getting ready to describe something, consider the scene's mood. What do you want the reader to feel. If it's sad, don't describe the cheery elements in the scene. And don't use cheery words to describe things. Pick the bleakest elements of the scene and describe them in bleak terms.

Christopher Hopper does a cool drill with students. He has them look out of a window and describe what they see. First, a happy scene. Then a sad scene. The results are amazing. For the happy scene, kids described the warm sunlight, the light breeze, the bright green leaves, the bunny shading beneath a full pine. For the sad scene, the kids described the veil of clouds that obscured the sun, the breeze that did nothing to soften the brutal heat, the dead leaves, sagging branches, wilting plants, etc. Try it yourself and enjoy the difference.

The Plot Thickens, The Contest Continues...

Well, well, it seems many of you solved the mystery of the previous post. {Ahem, how many of you peeked?} The picture clips you see are indeed pieces of the cover of my new book "Curse of the Spider King," the first of a new fantasy series coAuthored with my good friend Christopher Hopper. The cover is so unspeakably cool that I can't post it all at once. ;-) So, you'll need to settle for a slowwwwwww, drawn out process.

PreOrder Alert!
You may not have noticed, but Curse of the Spider King is now available for Preorder on Amazon. Click on this link here, or use the link on my sidebar if you'd like to get your copy reserved now.

Meanwhile the Header Contest Continues. This blog needs a new Header. Using my books' cover art, desktop art from the sidebar, your own original art, Photoshop, and /or any other cool graphic/titling software, create a header according to the following specs:

1. Header must include text: Enter the Door Within.
2. Header must be the following dimensions: 660 x 105 pixels.
3. Header must be created in jpeg format.
4. Header must be emailed to me by May 1st. (see sidebar for email addy)

The Winning Artist will receive a signed copy of any of my books!

The Plot Thickens

We've talked a lot about how to create the opening of a novel that will HOOK your reader. Click here, if you missed that series of posts. But now that you've hooked a reader, editor, or publisher, how do you keep them reading?

Here are some tried and true techniques to thicken your plot:

1. Develop Your Characters: Readers like to get to know characters, love them, hate them, fear for them, etc. But no matter what, your readers must want to follow these characters through the novel.

• So, get out a scrap sheet of paper, or open a new Scrivener file. (See sidebar for the most fantastic and affordable writing software on the market). Answer these questions: What does she/he look like? Why does he/she dress like that? What are his/her goals? What are his/her motives? Does he/she have any physical quirks--ie things that stand out: a scar, a tattoo, crook in the nose, thin lips, walk with a limp, slurs his "S" sounds, etc?

2. Complicate the Path: Now that you know who your main characters are, ie: you know your good guy's goals and your bad guy goals, it's time to start throwing things in their path that complicate the matter. What can you throw in their way that will keep them from reaching their goals? Good guy is trying to get a job? Make him late for the interview. A watermelon truck turns over on the Interstate. Oops, good luck main character. Good Swordmaiden needs to prove she is queen? Let someone else show up claiming to be queen with evidence to prove it. Keep in mind, these events are not called Rising Actions for nothing. You must up the ante.

3. Multiply the Plotlines: This won't work for all stories, but some authors have driven us crazy with technique. You have multiple main characters. Instead of following one main character through his/her linear (straight forward) path, leave one plotline, preferably with a cliffhanger, and switch to another character. JRR Tolkien, Stephen King, Tad Williams, Tom Clancy...are just a few of the authors who do this to spectacular effect. What happens? You're dying to find out what will befall main character one, but you know you have to read through character two to find out. YAAAAHHHHH!!! {SCREAMS pulls out hair}. The readers will race through your pages. Imagine what happens when you leave character 2 on a cliffhanger as well? Heh, heh, heh! {Cue fiendish laugh}

Beware: this technique can be overdone. If you leave one character's plotline TOO long, you risk losing the reader. Patience can only be stretched so far.

Beware 2: Careful when you switch POV (narrator's point of view). If you're telling the first character's story in first person (I did this. I said...etc), then you should probably tell the other characters' stories in first person from their points of view. I prefer to use 3rd person omniscient, as I can go anywhere and into any character's minds.

4. Offer Intriguing Clues, but Don't Give Away the Farm: If you wrote a good hook in the story's exposition (introductory scenes), you have probably tempted your reader with a mystery of some kind: Who's sending those threatening letters? Why was the sun an eerie greenish color? Who is the killer? The reader wants to know the answers. So, give them a few clues, some text details that lead the reader closer to the answer, without giving the answer away. Devious and evil, I know. But readers love it.

I hope that helps you thicken your plot. Post a comment and let us know how you're using the techniques!

DEADLINES

DEADLINES: Even the word sounds ominous. The finality of the concept is frightening: something is due. There are no excuses. No exceptions. No extensions. Finish on time or pay dearly.

We've all had deadlines. But for the author or aspiring author, deadlines become an everpresent reminder of what is left to do. If handled poorly, deadlines can lead to all kinds of pressure and stress. Deadlines are a part of the business, but ours is a creative field. We create when the muse strikes. How do you rush creativity? Doesn't rushing a creative endeavor mess it up? Hmmm, seemingly valid points. So what's a writer to do?

"I love deadlines.
I love the whooshing sound
they make as they fly by."
Douglas Adams

Love that quote. It captures the kind of manic frustration involved with working under a deadline. It almost feels helpless in a way...as if there's nothing we can do about deadlines whooshing right on past. I disagree.

I believe authors can to a lot to make deadlines manageable. As a matter of fact, I believe deadlines can provide much needed energy and motivation. Oh, and I believe yes, you can rush creativity. I'd even go so far as to say that there are times when the crunch we're in forces out creative ideas that would not have appeared otherwise. So here are my suggestions for getting the most out of deadlines.

Deadline Tip #1: Set reasonable deadlines.
If this is in your control, don't bite off more than you can chew. If you don't know how much your can reasonably write in a day, find out. Then consider the length of the thing you are writing, and do the math. If you write X amount of words every day, then, you can write a book in Y amount of time. When Thomas Nelson offered me a contract for The Door Within Trilogy, I jumped at it. I read the deadlines and went, "Duuuuhhhh, sure, I can do those." Not smart. I'm a full time teacher, and oh, by the way, I have a lovely wife and great kids I like to see once in a while. Now, I'm much more realistic. Keep in mind, publishers have schedules to keep if profits are to be made. Most publishers are going to ask you for a book in 3-6 months. If it's three, I have to say No, I can't do that.

If the deadlines are not in your control, then you will need other strategies.

Deadline Tip #2: Set your own deadlines
So you've got six months to crank out your 80,000 word novel. Divide the words by the number of days, and see what you've got. What you're looking at is about 500 words a day. That is entirely doable.

Deadline Tip #3: Frontload as much as possible
The worst thing you can ever do is look at that deadline six months from now and think, wow, I've got six months. If you did Tip #2, you know that every day you skip is 500 words on your shoulders. So go after it hard early. Knock out 1,000 words one day, 2,000 the next. Challenge yourself.

Two of my favorite techniques are: Race a Friend and Race the Clock

I'm coauthoring a fantasy series with Christopher Hopper. We are both Kings of Procrastination and Distraction. Seriously...it's scary. I wonder whose Twittering? Hmmm...did the Redskins get that free agent they were after? I wonder if Biff ever emailed me back? YIPE. Next thing you know, 2 hours are gone and I'm still staring at an evil, blinking cursor. So what Christopher and I do is we challenge each other to a "Sprint Race." We give a time limit, say 1 hour. We say GO. And off we write. It's amazing how much we can write in those sprints. Usually, I can pound out 500 words in an hour by myself. When I sprint against Christopher, I've never been less than 700 and many times top 1000 words. Yes, it's rough stuff. But, duh, it's a rough draft. lol

Race the Clock is just you and the minutes. You say, "It's Monday. I need 500 words in one hour. GO!!" Then you just pound until the time is up. Raise the number on Tuesday. Keep going.

Deadline Tip #4: Be satisfied with little deadlines met.
If you wrote the 500 words you needed for the day, be happy with it. If you want to do extra and the ideas are coming, go for it. But if not, get up, and be content. You did your job for the day.

Deadline Tip #5: Nibble away at the numbers.
I got this one from Author Sharon Hinck. Let's say you've got to finish 1000 words in a day. Sitting down to knock that out in one stretch isn't always easy. So nibble away at it. If you get up early and pound out 250 words, then later on, all you've got left is 750.

Deadline Tip #6: Outline.
I know there are some "Seat of the Pants Writers" out there who would want to string me up for such blasphemy (ahem, Bryan Davis), but I have found that outlining helps me meet my deadlines. I often take a month to outline a book. That's a long time, but it literally saves me three months of writing and REWRITING time. If you know where you're going in the next scene, then you can write on.

Deadline Tip #7: Stop in the middle of a cool part.
Speaking of author Bryan Davis, he's responsible for this gem. Never finish a writing session at the end of a scene. Always stop in the middle of a cool scene so that the next time you write, you can just leap back into the momentum.

Deadline Tip #8: Eliminate distractions.
That's right: get rid of them. If the internet distracts you, disconnect your writing computer. If it's a video game or a show, make it wait. Use it as a carrot dangling at the end for when you finish. But don't get out of that chair until you are finished what you need to do.

So, there they are, 8 ways to let Deadlines rest in peace.

What about you? Do deadlines daunt you? Do you have any other ideas for how to defeat deadlines?