After countless NaNoWriMos, something has become clear to me: Once you pass 10,000 words, writing quality can quickly go downhill. This isn’t to say that the quality cannot be improved. It just takes a lot of work.
Lately I’ve read a lot of books that suffer from this problem. For all the writers out there struggling once you hit 10,000 words, here are some tips for creating an engaging middle:
Fear is death for writers. Fear cripples and keeps thoughts at bay. Or keeps them from being shared, which is just as bad.
But as an artist, and no matter what type of writing you do, you are an artist, it is hard to get beyond the fear. Every time you publish a piece, you are putting it out there for the world to judge, and, let’s face it, the internet has made it very easy for people to post hurtful critiques – it’s easy to forget that there are real people at the receiving end of those comments.
Lately I’ve been thinking about this a lot. I know that to feel satisfied, i need to write. But I’ve let the fear conquer me. And this fear doesn’t just keep me from publishing things to my blog. It keeps me from writing period.
I used to write any and everything. And I enjoyed it. I enjoyed researching and writing nonfiction. I enjoyed playing with my imagination and crafting works of fiction. But then something happened. I started applying for writing jobs and each job I applied for seemed like a shoe in, until I submitted my writing sample. And then, silence.
I began to doubt myself, and, in doing so, my craft. Every time I sat down to write, a voice in my head kept asking “is this good enough?” I was paralyzed.
So how do you overcome the fear once it has sunk in?
The first step, as with any problem, is to admit that there is a problem.
The second step is figuring out what to do about the problem, because choosing to not do something just because someone might think you did it poorly is sad.
For me, I found solace in hearing people critique well-known, highly successful writers, specifically J.K. Rowling and Stephenie Meyer. Here are 2 women who have sold millions of copies of their works and who’s stories touched readers enough to justify turning them into movies. Regardless of what critics say about writing quality or storytelling abilities, there are millions of people who have found something to love about these writers. Pleasing everyone is never going to happen. And as a reader who has found something to love in the works of both of these authors, and in the works that exist because of the changes Harry Potter and Twilight wrought on the MG & YA genres, thank goodness they didn’t listen to the naysayers.
The moral is, there will always be naysayers. I think, sad as it is, that this is just part of human nature. Sure, my book review or my piece on Harry Potter World may not be the most informative, well-written thing. But the next review or the next article I write will expand upon the things I learned. And if people criticize my work, well those critiques are things that I can add into my future work.
No one starts out perfectly, but if they did, how much fun would that be?
his weekend I attended SCBWI SF/South’s Agent’s Day. The conference was a wonderful experience to spend a day gaining insight from local agents. They discussed everything from the author-agent relationship to story structure to the business of publishing.
One presenter, Laurie McLean of Foreword Literary, stressed the importance of setting goals and creating a 5-year plan. This resonated with me for a couple of reasons.
Reason #1: Professionalism. Building a 5-year plan adds a level of professionalism to my writing. It takes it from hobby to career
Reason #2: Accountability. It’s one thing to broadly say “I want to write books and have them published.” It’s another thing to say “By x I will have completed this book and sent it to y agents.”
Reason #3: Focus. Like most writers, I have a million ideas in my head for my next book. When my current project gives me speed bumps, I’m often tempted to jump into the next idea. This is not advisable if I want to finish my project. My 5-year plan will give me something to look forward to – it will show me what I have to do to get to work on my next great idea.
To create a 5-year plan, there are some things you need to figure out.
The end game: Be a full-time professional author
Genres: YA & MG. I want to establish myself first as a YA writer, and then publish some MG books (mainly my Max’s Plant WIP series)
What is my style: Sci-fi/Fantasy
This plan is not set in stone – there are a lot of unknowns that could change this. But it is a good start for keeping me grounded and focused.
For more 5-year plans, check out Marissa Meyer’s 5-year writing plan.
here are several great articles out there about ways to tweet effectively. When I first started tweeting, I relied heavily on Debbi Ohi’s The Writer’s Guide to Twitter. She shares tons of helpful information, from the basics, to how twitter can help writers, and even twitter etiquette.
There are a few basic types of tweets. There’s the retweet, where you literally retweet something another person tweeted. There’s the link share, where you share a link with your followers. There’s the @, where you are replying to another tweet or trying to tell something to a specific tweeter. And there is the straightforward, here’s what I’m doing/thinking tweet. In general, you do not want to only use one of these types of tweets. It is best to mix it up. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m guilty of over-sharing links. Link sharing is simple. So is retweeting. What I’m not great about is sharing my own thoughts. Do people really care? I’m also not great at @tweets. Just because I don’t do them often though, I do make a conscious effort to mix up the tweets.
Let’s face it, Twitter can be a huge distraction. You think, oh, I’m just going to quickly post this tweet. Then you get sucked into reading other tweets and clicking links and the next thing you know, you’ve killed two hours. The other problem with Twitter is spreading out your tweets. I personally don’t think about Twitter all day. I have set times when I like to check out Twitter and catch up on blogs. Unfortunately, if I post all my tweets during these times, I’d post several in the span of 30 minutes or so, which is not good Twitter etiquette and it does not help with Twitter engagement.
Thankfully, there are tools that help you manage your tweet posting schedules and that can also limit the time you spend on actual Twitter (meaning less distraction).
I used to use Hootsuite. Hootsuite is great because you can schedule your tweets well in advance and see your Twitter stream (what your followers are tweeting) on the dashboard. You can also see @mentions and pending tweets. The downfall is that you have to login to Hootsuite and actively think about when to post a tweet.
Hootsuite also has an analytics function. You select what type of report you want to create (follower growth, retweets, etc) and Hootsuite then generates the report. A downfall to their analytics function is that you need a paid account to use it.
I recently discovered a new tool, Buffer. Buffer is great for many reasons. You do not have to login to schedule tweets. You can install a button to your toolbar and, if you see something you like, push the buffer button. A tweet screen pops up with the link and title and you can alter the text and decide whether you want to schedule your tweet or tweet it immediately.
You can also add tweets within buffer or schedule buffered tweets directly through Twitter. Buffer auto-schedules your tweets to spread them out during the day. You tell it how often you want to tweet and it picks strategic times. What’s great is that you can look at your scheduled tweets and move things around so you aren’t posting the same type of tweet several times in a row. What’s not so great is that you can’t schedule a specific tweet for several days down the road, like with Hootsuite unless you change your posting schedule or add in lots of filler tweets.
The best part about Buffer, in my opinion, anyway, is the analytics tool. Buffer tells how many people clicked links (per tweet), favorited a tweet, or retweeted a tweet, and it shows the potential reach for each tweet. Typically, my tweets only have the potential of reaching my followers, but I’ve had some tweets that were retweeted by users with huge followings, increasing the reach potential for my tweets. The caveat is that you only get analytics for tweets that were sent through Buffer. Buffer has a paid account option, but so far everything I want is available through the free account.
Analytics are extremely useful because they can help you learn what types of tweets are successful – clicks, retweets, likes, etc. All of these activities equate to engagement, and social media success is all about engagement.
Analytics can also help you determine if the reach of a tweet is affected by the time/day. Despite studies I have read to the contrary, among my followers I have not seen a correlation between time/day and engagement, but that is not to say that other people with different audiences will not find this to be the case.
Knowing how your tweets are received can help you create more engaging tweets as you move forward. It helps pinpoint what worked and what did not work. It also helps you monitor changes over time. Maybe something that worked last month does not work this month. Social media is constantly changing, and monitoring your analytics can help you stay on top of these trends and continue to create engaging content for your followers.
Are you using any great tools for Twitter? I’d love to hear about other Twitter management apps.
Photo courtesy of Holley St. Germain
Lately I’ve been noticing more and more tweets that fall into the category I would describe as Twitter spam. For me, Twitter spam is the number one reason I drop a person from my follow list. It is also the number one reason I will opt out of following someone back.
There are a couple forms of twitter spam. The biggest one is blasting twitter every hour or couple of hours with a desperate plea to buy a book. Here’s an example from a particularly spammy twitter feed (I have removed identifying information):
Get the #bestseller NOVEL TITLE on Amazon for #Kindle only $2.99! (1hr ago)
Need a short but fun read this weekend? Check out my new series SERIES TITLE for your #kindle each only $0.99. (3 hr ago)
Please visit and like my author page on FB (link). It’s got the latest news on my next novel NOVEL TITLE (4hr ago)
A #supernatural #war raging for millions of years follows man as he conquers our solar system and heads to the stars (link to book mentioned in above tweets). (6 hr ago)
Check out this review of the #bestseller NOVEL TITLE in paperback (7hr ago)
What’s short, awesome, and you can’t put it down? My new series SERIES TITLE. Get it for #Kindle each $0.99 today! (9hr ago)
What can you get for $0.99? How about an awesome novella! Grab SERIES TITLE for your #Kindle right now. Really! Get it! (10 hr ago)
Support independent authors and fill your #Kindle & #iPad with content from people who write for you – link to all of this authors books on amazon. (11hr ago)
Want something short to read tonight? Grab my new series SERIES TITLE for your #Kindle each only $0.99 (12 hr ago)
Slightly obnoxious, right? Now, I’m all for self-promoting. And I know for self-published authors, this is especially important. But here’s the thing. If someone is following you, they either a. are already a fan of your book and probably planning on buying the next one or b. are interested in what you’ve got to offer or want to offer support.
What does this mean? It means that spamming is not going to increase your sales. Instead, save the book promotion for your about section and maybe tweet a couple of times here or there (never more than once in the same day) about where your book can be purchased or for how much. Then reserve your tweets for actual content. Share a link to a book someone else wrote that you admire or, better yet, think your readers will like. Chances are, that author will reciprocate and share your book with their twitter fans. Or share information that your readers will find interesting. Are you writing about a zombie invasion? Share information from how to survive the apocalypse sites. Or share literary news. Or tell people something funny that happened to you, the person who wrote these books. Give your feed content and people will be more likely to follow you, like you, and, ultimately, buy your book.
Another, slightly more obscure form of spamming is posting the same tweet, word for word, multiple times a week for weeks on end. While it is not an obvious form of spam, if I notice someone doing this, I often take it as a sign that they have no new content and are not worth following.
In all fairness, I can see the temptation to repost a tweet. The reality of twitter is that tweets can often go unseen. But to your loyal followers, this can begin to feel spammy, and could lead to a loss of followers. Mix it up. Create new tweets that get across the same information. Find ways to rework the old ones. Because, in all honesty, if your original post did not generate a lot of engagement, chances are it was the tweet itself that did not encourage engagement, rather than the massive amount of tweets that make their way across a person’s feed. Be creative. How else can you say what you want to say? How else can you get your message across?
Now that you know what Twitter spam is, you may be asking, so what can I tweet? How can I engage my followers? Stay tuned for my next post on Engaging Tweets.
Image courtesy of Tsahi Levent-Levi
I recently served as a beta reader for a ya novel. Sure, taking time out of my writing to read someone else’s seems like it would be counterproductive to my overall goal of finishing my own novel. But here’s how being a beta reader can actually help you as a writer.
Every time a writer reads something, they cannot help but to read it with a critical eye. When you read a work that has already gone through multiple edits with a professional, writing for publication can seem daunting. You find yourself wondering how you can get to that point. But when you are a beta reader, you get to see manuscripts before they have been primed and primped. You get a taste for what most manuscripts look like before an editor has done his/her magic.
Beta manuscripts will have both good and bad elements. But the good elements seem more attainable when you are viewing them alongside the not so good. Not everyone is perfect. By realizing that you can focus on one element at a time, the task of creating a ‘perfect’ manuscript goes from impossible to possible. Beta reading helps you see that this is the way most writers get their manuscripts submission ready, piece-by-piece.
Not only does beta reading help to improve your self-esteem, it also helps you take your critical reading skills and apply them to your own writing. It is often easier to pinpoint why something isn’t working in other people’s writing than it is to do the same with your own work. But if you have just spent a day reading a manuscript with poor character development and then read your own manuscript and note similar awkward or poorly developed bits, it will be easier to see what needs to be improved – just use the same advice your gave the other author.
So how do you find beta reading opportunities? I’ll let you in on a secret. Writers want beta readers, but many writers don’t know how to find them. Put yourself out there on the web. Is there a writer blog you follow? Send them an email. Put a notice on your own website offering your services. Tweet your interest in beta reading. I bet someone will jump at the offer. Just remember, a real person is on the receiving end of your critique. Don’t forget to compliment the things the author has done well in addition to providing useful suggestions for the things he/she has not done so well. Think of the writer as yourself. Critique their work in the same way you would want your work critiqued.
You should never write something just because you think it will sell, and you should never stop writing something just because you think there is no market out there for it. Markets change and what is hot today can be ice cold tomorrow and vice versa.
Last year when I started writing my WIP, I didn’t see sci-fi come up very often as a genre agents were looking for. Last week I was reading the most recent edition of Writer’s Digest and almost all of the agents they spotlighted are now looking for sci-fi. This is great news for me if I can keep to my schedule and get my darn book finished and start soliciting agents.
I won’t lie and say I didn’t see this trend coming. I suspected it might be on its way, following in the footsteps of some recent sci-fi-esque books and now with The Curiosity landing on Mars, space seems to be getting cool again. While my suspicion that this could become a trend wasn’t the reason I decided to write this book, it did push me to work harder. The worst thing would be to miss the trend because I couldn’t get my act together and write/edit faster.
Sadly, you can’t always anticipate it. Sure, if you are keeping up with newly published works and seeing where the holes are and what genres are being touched on, you can start to anticipate where things are going, but you can never know for sure. The most important thing is to write what interests you. You will spend a long time with your WIP, so if you don’t find it interesting, it will feel like an even longer time.
It’s been a while since I posted anything, so I’m sure you are all wondering what I’ve been up to. There was an epic road trip from Austin to Florida with my sister and her 3 young kids (5, 3, 1) that ended in a surprise visit to my grandma. There was a wedding shower in New Hampshire that resulted in a rather embarrassing, but extremely creative, gift from my mom. There was a trip to a Jewish mikvah to complete my conversion. There was a visit to the vet just to learn that my cat really is eating himself sick ($70 well spent). And then there was a TON of editing.
I always thought writing was the time-consuming part of being a writer, until I decided that one of my characters had to go. He was getting in the way of plot elements and relationships and, when I looked closely at the manuscript, I could see that the only reason he was there in the first place was because I didn’t want to have to work out some tricky elements. But putting a bandage over a leak never fixes the leak. You have to actually discover the source of the problem and repair it. So over the past 4-6 weeks, I have been exorcising this character from the plot. And you know what? Even though it takes a lot of work to remove a character, my other characters are growing more interesting and the plot is flowing better now that I’ve made these changes. Of course, removing this character has forced me to rewrite entire chapters since his removal has altered the plot in significant ways.
While this process has set me back some, it has been well worth it because I feel like I have gotten a stronger WIP out of it. So the take away from this – don’t be afraid of change, even if it is BIG change. If you feel like something isn’t working, chances are, it actually isn’t working.
I’ve never been a fan of outlining. But it’s not because I don’t think it’s a good idea to outline. Rather, I don’t want to do the work. Every time I sit down to outline my brain hurts. So why, you might ask, am I make myself outline now?
I hit a wall where the plot was not flowing right. I knew something was wrong but I didn’t know how to fix it. Enter the outline. For the past couple of days I have been putting together a solid outline detailing the main scenes in each chapter. Doing this has helped me to get reinvigorated about my project because I am seeing ways to make it work. And since I have written it all down, I don’t have to remember the brilliant ideas I came up with.
The other advantage of outlining is that it is allowing me to realize which relationships/characters do not work. I am cutting plot elements and adding new twists and scenes that contribute to the over all movement of the plot. In short, I am finding ways to make my story the best it can be.
What do you think about outlines? Do you outline before you write, in the middle of the writing process, or do you avoid outlines at all costs?
Asking a writer how close their book is to being done is like asking an artist how close their painting is to being ready, or a computer programer how much time they need to finish a project. You cannot put a timeframe on creative output. It’s done when it’s done.
I’m sure once I’ve written multiple books, I will have a better gauge, but for now, I have no way of knowing how long or how close I am. I can estimate, I can work towards a given timeline, but until I’m in my final stage of editing (fixing grammer, not content), I won’t really know.