The local writer's community has worked really, super hard and put together a second annual writer's conference for November. I already missed the early bird price due to not being on social media and generally acting the hermit. That was my fault. I'm wondering whether I should go this year.
Morally speaking, I probably should. Support the local scene, their success is mine, etc. The more attendees, the more funds they raise, the better speakers they can recruit, the better experience they can create, the more buzz they generate, it all builds on itself. Then there's the networking. I wouldn't have published a dang thing without networking and look at me, I've published two stories. Plus there's classes, of course. I know how to write, but it takes a special kind of arrogance to think you know it all. Heck, some of the best, most succinct instruction I have ever received regarding both plot and character development, I got from that conference last year. Finally, there's the motivation. Everybody needs a good kick in the pants every once in a while, and hanging out with other writers and talking about how special we are is a great way to get that done. You get the encouragement, the inspiration, the hope, the tough love, all at a conference. I should probably go.
On the other hand, if I do go it will negate all the earnings I've made writing this year. Not because it's an expensive conference, either. On the contrary, it's the best value I've ever seen, not that I shop conferences a lot. It's in town, so I don't have to worry about lodging or anything. It's just that I haven't made much money this year. Or any year, for that matter. And I know what to write and how to write it. I have a plan. I just need to get over myself and find a way to get it done. Weekends are (sometimes) a great time to get some writing finished, and if I'm at a conference that means, by definition, that I am not writing. I probably shouldn't go.
I don't know. Maybe I'll just read some Brandon Sanderson and write some stuff about dog-people forcing young adults to fight to the virtual death in simulated combat or something.
Saturday, October 15, 2016
Monday, October 10, 2016
Will Work for Free
What makes a person buy a book? Is it the plot, the genre, the brand, the advertisement? Is it the title, or the blurb?
Back in olden times, authors didn't sell books to readers. Authors sold manuscripts to publishers, who would take those stacks of awkward phrasing and stilted dialogue, edit them to their own liking, change the title, slap an unrelated illustration on the cover and flip them into bona fide, genuine, honest to God books. Publishers didn't buy manuscripts because they loved the stories. They bought them as an investment. They made the decision based on myriad criteria, including how much work it would take to make it presentable, if there was a brand to be exploited or built, and if they thought the market was looking for that kind of thing at the moment. Whether or not the novel was a good one was not part of the equation; it was whether the novel would appeal to the masses.
Consequently, writers didn't have to worry about how to sell to readers. That was the publisher's job. All they had to worry about was selling to the publisher, which has a different set of criteria.
Then the Technological Revolution hit us like a sack of mealy potatoes, and books would never be the same.
There are so many changes, good and bad, that have been wrought by the advent of self publishing but the one I want to focus on here is how readers buy books. Readers used to go to brick and mortar stores, browse the displays, pace through aisles, thumb through pages, and examine handwritten staff picks scrawled on index cards taped to the shelves. The books they used to examine were universally pre-approved and professionally edited, guaranteeing a certain degree of quality. They started with genre, scanned titles, looked at covers, read blurbs, perhaps surveyed the table of contents, read the first paragraph. Maybe the first chapter. At any time, if they lost interest they could shelve it. Nothing lost but a little time. Selecting a book was part of the rite, part of the pleasure. Now it's all searchwords and algorithms, and 'customers also enjoyed' and 'frequently purchased with.' There can be pleasure in this process as well, but it now carries more risk. You would spend fifteen dollars, but you could be assured that the writing would at the least be competent. Now you pay five, or two, or even one dollar, but the market is riddled with landmines. You never know if the self published author took the time to polish their work, hired an editor, listened to and applied constructive critique, or if this book was just their ill informed vanity project. This has made readers suspicious. They want assurance that their next reading experience will at least be bearable before they plonk down their hard earned clams. They prefer known quantities with their authors and, barring that, they want a free trial.
It's not fair to ask someone to work for free, but I'm over it. Life is not fair. I'm not in a rush to get paid anyway, so I'll go ahead and work for free. That's exactly what I am doing with this new short I am working on. It's essentially a long advertisement for the series, an extended blurb. The question is, what part of the series should I represent?
I'm already writing in first person, like the main series. I'm introducing the conceit of the sci-fi elements, inhabiting the same world, using pop/gamer culture references and using characters in the same age range. I'm foreshadowing plot points that were originally designed as standalone for the book, which is a skill I never suspected I'd use or even existed, but that's fun. What I'm worried about is if the whole thing will work because, despite our professional compatibility, J.C. Ahren and I are still different authors. We have different names and different authorial voices. Should I ghost write this, or does this not matter to readers?
What do you think?
(I inevitably have to plug something, so here it is)
In order to help you out here, I suggest looking at the Juniper Tales project. Author Aaron Michael Ritchey created a wonderful book series in the Juniper Wars series, and an incredibly rich universe for the series to inhabit. Then he invited other authors to play in his sandbox. There are currently four short stories only obliquely related to the main plot, all featuring different characters, all written by different authors, but all in the same Dusterpunk universe. They are available for free in pdf. here. Do these make you want to check out the series, or at least make you feel like you can make an informed decision to not check it out?
Back in olden times, authors didn't sell books to readers. Authors sold manuscripts to publishers, who would take those stacks of awkward phrasing and stilted dialogue, edit them to their own liking, change the title, slap an unrelated illustration on the cover and flip them into bona fide, genuine, honest to God books. Publishers didn't buy manuscripts because they loved the stories. They bought them as an investment. They made the decision based on myriad criteria, including how much work it would take to make it presentable, if there was a brand to be exploited or built, and if they thought the market was looking for that kind of thing at the moment. Whether or not the novel was a good one was not part of the equation; it was whether the novel would appeal to the masses.
Consequently, writers didn't have to worry about how to sell to readers. That was the publisher's job. All they had to worry about was selling to the publisher, which has a different set of criteria.
Then the Technological Revolution hit us like a sack of mealy potatoes, and books would never be the same.
There are so many changes, good and bad, that have been wrought by the advent of self publishing but the one I want to focus on here is how readers buy books. Readers used to go to brick and mortar stores, browse the displays, pace through aisles, thumb through pages, and examine handwritten staff picks scrawled on index cards taped to the shelves. The books they used to examine were universally pre-approved and professionally edited, guaranteeing a certain degree of quality. They started with genre, scanned titles, looked at covers, read blurbs, perhaps surveyed the table of contents, read the first paragraph. Maybe the first chapter. At any time, if they lost interest they could shelve it. Nothing lost but a little time. Selecting a book was part of the rite, part of the pleasure. Now it's all searchwords and algorithms, and 'customers also enjoyed' and 'frequently purchased with.' There can be pleasure in this process as well, but it now carries more risk. You would spend fifteen dollars, but you could be assured that the writing would at the least be competent. Now you pay five, or two, or even one dollar, but the market is riddled with landmines. You never know if the self published author took the time to polish their work, hired an editor, listened to and applied constructive critique, or if this book was just their ill informed vanity project. This has made readers suspicious. They want assurance that their next reading experience will at least be bearable before they plonk down their hard earned clams. They prefer known quantities with their authors and, barring that, they want a free trial.
It's not fair to ask someone to work for free, but I'm over it. Life is not fair. I'm not in a rush to get paid anyway, so I'll go ahead and work for free. That's exactly what I am doing with this new short I am working on. It's essentially a long advertisement for the series, an extended blurb. The question is, what part of the series should I represent?
I'm already writing in first person, like the main series. I'm introducing the conceit of the sci-fi elements, inhabiting the same world, using pop/gamer culture references and using characters in the same age range. I'm foreshadowing plot points that were originally designed as standalone for the book, which is a skill I never suspected I'd use or even existed, but that's fun. What I'm worried about is if the whole thing will work because, despite our professional compatibility, J.C. Ahren and I are still different authors. We have different names and different authorial voices. Should I ghost write this, or does this not matter to readers?
What do you think?
(I inevitably have to plug something, so here it is)
In order to help you out here, I suggest looking at the Juniper Tales project. Author Aaron Michael Ritchey created a wonderful book series in the Juniper Wars series, and an incredibly rich universe for the series to inhabit. Then he invited other authors to play in his sandbox. There are currently four short stories only obliquely related to the main plot, all featuring different characters, all written by different authors, but all in the same Dusterpunk universe. They are available for free in pdf. here. Do these make you want to check out the series, or at least make you feel like you can make an informed decision to not check it out?
Sunday, October 2, 2016
"Magpies" Released!
Here's a free story. It's about a girl and her dad, and there's a steam powered truck and some prairie dogs and an adjustable wrench or something. While you're there, you have access to three other stories, also available for the low, low price of free. Also taking place in the same steam driven universe. One has sky pirates, one has explosions and Richard Nixon, and the other has missiles and stuff.
If you find yourself intrigued or even possibly captivated by the setting in which these stories take place, there is this full length novel about machine guns, grenade launchers, and a post apocalyptic cattle drive in a world almost devoid of men, and this second, excellent followup, so you can be assured this is an actual legit series that will keep releasing novels on a regular schedule instead of getting sidetracked with TV shows, UNLIKE your favorite epic fantasy series. You're welcome.
I've done a lot of writing and complaining about other people's fiction, so that first one, "Magpies," is my offering. It's entirely self contained, so you don't have to read anything else to 'get' the story, and once again, it is free. Did I mention that it won't cost you anything but time? Wouldn't you rather spend your time reading escapist fantasy fiction than some guy talking about himself?
No?
Fine. "Magpies" is more accessible than my currently only other offering, "Fool's Game" (a short sidequel to "Pawn"), and I also think it will be more successful, in terms of reader enjoyment. That's because it's more formulaic. The protagonist in "Magpies" is a typical teenage girl thrown in an atypical situation. She has a little attitude in the beginning, but you learn that it's kind of justified. I tried to make sure the reader wants a happy ending for her.
This was accomplished through a few tricks I picked up at last writer's conference, right here in my hometown. The fabulous Angie Fox, author of the Accidental Demon Slayer series, laid out how to do a great character and plot arc with easy simplicity.
For character, find out what your protagonist wants at the beginning, more than anything in the world, and offer it to them at the end. This ensures two things. First, in the beginning when your characters are most fuzzy in your mind, you have to figure out what motivates them and show it. This helps to shape them, and it's more efficient than just starting to write ad figuring it out along the way. Second, it gives you a chance to ensure that their desires change over the course of the narrative. There are so many wonderful endings you can give with this choice, nearly all of them solidifying character arc.
For plot, figure out the worst thing that could possibly happen to your character, the thing they fear most, and make them face it in the climax. Strip their beauty, strip their power, kill their loved ones or let them be betrayed. Discover the deep, existential dread lurking in the darkest recesses of their soul, and force the reality of it on them. Again, what happens next is rife with possibilities, but there are few ways to get it wrong.
I did these two things, and made the protagonist a teenage girl, similar to the protagonist from the main series and tadaa! Successful story. The only question is the execution. A little canned? Maaaaaybe, but we like canned. Just ask Hormel Foods Corporation.
In contrast, "Fool's Game" is not canned, and not as impactful. I've talked about this before, but I had significantly less freedom to craft a narrative. I also had to use a protagonist that is not only inhuman, he's a despicable entity. I had to make the reader believe he's smart, even though he's ultimately outwitted. His motivations are cloaked. His deepest fear is confronted, but it's not clear what that is, and we don't get to see what he does with it. Despite all this, I think it works. But of course I would think that. I wrote it.
Both "Pawn" and "Fool's Game" are free with Amazon's Kindle Unlimited program, so there you go. Or, if you feel like supporting our creative efforts in hopes that we produce more, that option is available as well.
If you find yourself intrigued or even possibly captivated by the setting in which these stories take place, there is this full length novel about machine guns, grenade launchers, and a post apocalyptic cattle drive in a world almost devoid of men, and this second, excellent followup, so you can be assured this is an actual legit series that will keep releasing novels on a regular schedule instead of getting sidetracked with TV shows, UNLIKE your favorite epic fantasy series. You're welcome.
I've done a lot of writing and complaining about other people's fiction, so that first one, "Magpies," is my offering. It's entirely self contained, so you don't have to read anything else to 'get' the story, and once again, it is free. Did I mention that it won't cost you anything but time? Wouldn't you rather spend your time reading escapist fantasy fiction than some guy talking about himself?
No?
Fine. "Magpies" is more accessible than my currently only other offering, "Fool's Game" (a short sidequel to "Pawn"), and I also think it will be more successful, in terms of reader enjoyment. That's because it's more formulaic. The protagonist in "Magpies" is a typical teenage girl thrown in an atypical situation. She has a little attitude in the beginning, but you learn that it's kind of justified. I tried to make sure the reader wants a happy ending for her.
This was accomplished through a few tricks I picked up at last writer's conference, right here in my hometown. The fabulous Angie Fox, author of the Accidental Demon Slayer series, laid out how to do a great character and plot arc with easy simplicity.
For character, find out what your protagonist wants at the beginning, more than anything in the world, and offer it to them at the end. This ensures two things. First, in the beginning when your characters are most fuzzy in your mind, you have to figure out what motivates them and show it. This helps to shape them, and it's more efficient than just starting to write ad figuring it out along the way. Second, it gives you a chance to ensure that their desires change over the course of the narrative. There are so many wonderful endings you can give with this choice, nearly all of them solidifying character arc.
For plot, figure out the worst thing that could possibly happen to your character, the thing they fear most, and make them face it in the climax. Strip their beauty, strip their power, kill their loved ones or let them be betrayed. Discover the deep, existential dread lurking in the darkest recesses of their soul, and force the reality of it on them. Again, what happens next is rife with possibilities, but there are few ways to get it wrong.
I did these two things, and made the protagonist a teenage girl, similar to the protagonist from the main series and tadaa! Successful story. The only question is the execution. A little canned? Maaaaaybe, but we like canned. Just ask Hormel Foods Corporation.
In contrast, "Fool's Game" is not canned, and not as impactful. I've talked about this before, but I had significantly less freedom to craft a narrative. I also had to use a protagonist that is not only inhuman, he's a despicable entity. I had to make the reader believe he's smart, even though he's ultimately outwitted. His motivations are cloaked. His deepest fear is confronted, but it's not clear what that is, and we don't get to see what he does with it. Despite all this, I think it works. But of course I would think that. I wrote it.
Both "Pawn" and "Fool's Game" are free with Amazon's Kindle Unlimited program, so there you go. Or, if you feel like supporting our creative efforts in hopes that we produce more, that option is available as well.
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