Author, Editor, Publisher, Coach

Tag: Lane Diamond Author (Page 6 of 8)

This was a difficult decision for me, but it made perfect sense.

I’ve decided to postpone the release of my novel, Forgive Me, Alex. I am now stating for the record (etched in stone, folks) that the release date for my psychological thriller is (Shouldn’t there be a drum roll or something?):

December 20, 2011

Yep, just in time for Christmas, so be sure to stay in touch with the big guy up north. To those of you who’ve been anxiously waiting for me to launch the book, I beg your patience for just a bit longer.

So why the delay? The simple answer is that I need a little more time to establish a coherent launch strategy. I’ll want to promote it, advertise it, market it, generate some buzz, make children weep in the streets and make real singers of Milli Vanilli… err, okay, maybe not those last things. I may also do all of this in a coordinated effort with two other authors from our Evolved Publishing team, who will be releasing books around (or exactly) the same date.

When releasing a new book, it’s not just about writing it and getting it out there, it’s also about managing the business end of things. And that requires more time and preparation than I’ve been able to devote to it so far.

So please hang in there, my friends. It’s not so far off, in the grand scheme of things. And believe me, no one is more anxious than I am. So stay tuned—more to come soon.

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Trying to Cash In on the Social Media Madness

How shall readers connect with those who write, and with their material? And how shall authors build a following?

It hardly matters what you do for a living, or which hobbies interest you, or which sports teams or movie stars or musical acts or authors you like—a social media presence is pretty much a given in modern life. Unless you live in under a rock, or you’re a seasoned citizen who never quite got the hang of them dang computer contraptions (in which case you’re not reading this anyway), you have at the very least a Facebook or Twitter account.

We communicate through the internet. That’s just the world we live in. Even if you only use it to “keep in touch” with that long lost brother who last phoned you in 1992, and who, on those rare occasions when he sees you, has to snap his fingers and scratch his head and say, “What was your name again?”

Yet it’s moved well beyond that. The internet is increasingly where we do business. We look for work on the internet, or seek potential new hires for our company. We study on the internet, or catch up with the news. And yep, we buy and sell on the internet.

Never has that been more evident than in the world of books. EBooks are revolutionizing the way we read and write. If you’re a booklover, you’re already finding old-fashioned bookstores harder to find—a trend that will continue. EBooks and eReaders are here to stay, and to that, brothers and sisters, I say, “Amen!”

For an author like me, it opens up a whole new world of possibilities. That’s the good news. The bad news is that I must now spend a lot of my time not writing, but reaching out to readers. It’s not that I don’t appreciate the opportunity to communicate with those who like my work. I do. I mean, seriously, what author doesn’t want to hear from readers how his work has affected their lives?

Nonetheless, it’s more work—another ball we must juggle… or ten.

It means I must not only embrace the new technologies, I must also educate myself on their proper use. Opinions vary so widely on how best to do this, it seems largely a matter of trial and error for most. However, some folks have already established some expertise in this arena, and they can help you. One of those is Dan Zarrella, whose blog I heartily recommend.

For readers, the new market also considerably changes the dynamics. If you want to keep up with what authors are offering, to remain apace of all that’s happening in the world of books you love, you’ll have to stay tuned-in to various online activities. One of the communities that’s most geared towards readers’ needs is Goodreads. Here, not only can you discover what’s new in the world of books, you can also find out what other readers—potentially millions of them—think about specific books, and engage with them in an interactive community. If you’re a true booklover, you need to be on Goodreads. And I say that not as an author, but as a fellow reader.

You can also peruse reviews at the big eBook retailers such as Amazon (for their Kindle) and Barnes & Noble (for their Nook).

Naturally, where readers go, writers must go. It’s not that we’re stalking readers, it’s just that… well… okay, we’re stalking readers. Really, we just want readers to know about our work. How else can they make an informed decision about whether or not to buy it?

I’ve set up my own Goodreads Author’s Page, as well as a Publisher’s Page for Evolved Publishing, our indie publishing business. I have an Amazon Author’s Page too. Yes, I have a presence at social media sites everywhere (well, seems like everywhere). As an author, I can’t escape it.

Then, of course, there’s this blog, which provides a more detailed and more personal forum to connect with folks. All part of doing business in the 21st century.

Yet what is enough? What is too much? Should I drive, drive, drive people to buy my books, constantly hammering them over the head? Pfft! Like that won’t send readers running to the hills! As a reader myself, I hate that kind of constant barrage.

No, I think a softer approach is required, a gentle touch—followed by huge portions of patience and perseverance. I’ll be talking about the “Soft Sell” in an upcoming blog post, so please stay tuned.

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eBook Pricing – The Market Is Still Sorting Itself Out

Kristen J. Tsetsi has posted an article at her blog, The Cost of Kindle Books – Pay up or Shut Up, which has drawn quite a lot of discussion. If you’re an author or a reader, I recommend you check it out. I’ll first post my response below, and then I’ll expand just a touch at the end.

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This clearly displays the frustration on the part of authors who are not making a heck of a lot of money. The problem is exacerbated, of course, BY AUTHORS. Every time an author gives away her work, another author feels pressured to do the same in order to compete. Authors have been giving away their work forever. Anyone tried to place a story in a literary magazine lately?

I think authors should never — and I mean NEVER — work for free. Do plumbers work for free? Do teachers work for free? A loss-leader promotion to drive traffic to other products is one thing, but simply giving it away is nuts.

However, eBooks should cost significantly less than a paperback; the economics of production are a guiding factor in the pricing of any product. As an author, I can make more on my $4.99 eBook than I could make on my $27.99 hardcover through a traditional publisher. And I can “produce” it with far less up-front investment, in far less time.

Ultimately, the market will decide (and yes, that means the buyers) what a product is worth. Authors can help themselves by not giving away their work and establishing those expectations, but they must respond to market conditions. As for me, I’ll be selling my eBook for $4.99, because I think that’s a fair price all around. That means J. won’t be buying my book, but I can live with that.

In fact, that $4.99 price point is the amount above which I’ll likely balk at buying an eBook. I might pay more, but man, it would have to be something special. We all have our limits.

And to the publishers who price their eBooks at the level of their paperbacks, thereby asking eBook buyers to SUBSIDIZE their paperback business, I say, “No thank you very much.”

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It’s important, particularly for indie authors who are wading into “business” for the first time, to understand the dynamics of market response. The customer is king. Always.

At some point, if authors are unhappy with the customers’ decisions about what they’re willing to pay, they’ll have a difficult decision to make: A) Price it lower to meet customer demands, and to sell more books, or; B) Keep the price up, and settle on the fact that they’ll sell fewer books.

Either is a legitimate approach, driven by the author’s true goals. I think that, ultimately, holding the price up, but having a large selection to offer your readers, will be the key. Yes, you may sell fewer copies per book, but the sheer number of books you offer will ramp up your income.

I am loath to give away my book, after spending 5 years toiling over it, and I’ll likely choose Option B above. I plan to price my eBook at $4.99, which I think is eminently fair—an absolute bargain.

Indeed, as co-owners of Evolved Publishing, D.T. Conklin and I have concluded that $4.99 should be the regular, non-promoted price for all our books. Some of our authors may feel differently at times, and we’ll allow them some flexibility, but I think anything higher is inappropriate in most cases, and anything less begs the question, from a business perspective: Why bother? Every business asks that question at the beginning, and again each step along the way.

For readers too, that last question must be part of the decision-making process about what to buy, and how much to pay. If you want great books from great authors, you’ll have to pay enough to make it worth their while. Yes, you can get a lot of eBooks today for $0.99-$2.99. Have you sampled some of those? I have, and I’ve not been terribly impressed. Ultimately, in this business as in any other, you get what you pay for. In my experience, the best books are those selling for $4.99-$7.99. And guess what? Many of those authors are succeeding nicely.

The issue isn’t price alone; it’s about value. It’s a subject I’ve addressed in two previous posts: Quality Matters and Quality Counts when Publishing eBooks.

I think we’ll be sorting out this eBook pricing thing for a couple years. The entire market remains in a state of flux. Ask 20 people what they think, and you’ll get several different answers.

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The New Look of My Website

Yep, I updated the banner across the top of this site—finally got rid of the template image and put in something that makes sense to Lane Diamond, Author. How does it look?

I also added a link at right if you prefer to follow this blog via Networked Blogs on Facebook.

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The Gnashing of Teeth, the Wailing of Souls: Emerging Authors Struggle to Find Their Way

If you follow many blogs by authors and aspiring authors, you see the extensive conflict, both internal and external. Do legacy publishers still offer the “grand dream?” Is self-publishing the way to go? Could it be that indie publishers provide the best alternative in this new environment? Opinions run hot and heavy, and debate can become quite animated.

Is there a single right answer? Okay, so that’s a rhetorical question. The world of publishing has opened up, offering authors more options than at any time in history, and that’s a trend still developing—there will be many more opportunities ahead.

LEGACY PUBLISHERS

The simple fact is that technology is driving the train—for everyone—pulling the traditional boxcar publishers kicking and screaming into new territory, and offering authors greater flexibility and market reach than ever. Legacy publishers, often referred to erroneously as “The Big 6,” still offer authors certain benefits. They pay advances, but those are getting smaller and smaller, especially for unproven authors. They offer editorial assistance, though many would argue that both quantity and quality has diminished in that area. They provide distribution access to bookstores around the country. And your agent—yes, you must have an agent—may provide access to worldwide markets through foreign sub-agents, and may provide inroads to sell your movie rights and audio book rights.

In other words, they’ve built their industry to provide you access to all the markets, the better for them to make money. So what’s the problem? Why not just stick with legacy publishers? Well, the odds of entry are stacked against you (How’s that for an understatement?). You could try for years, decades even, and never crack that bubble, and it may have nothing to do with the quality of your work. If you’re one of the lucky aspiring authors who actually wins that lottery, good for you. Maybe. Or maybe not.

Most authors don’t earn out their advances, meaning that whatever they receive as an advance is all they make on the print copy. They’ll likely earn less per print copy than they would from a self-published eBook. As for eBooks, publishers are paying a whopping 17.6% royalty to authors, on average, based on recent industry reporting. Yep. 17.6%. Some are talking about raising that now, to as high as (perhaps I should say as low as) 40% of profits. Additionally, the answer for most authors is, “No, they won’t likely market your book for you. They’ll expect you to carry that load.” Thus, you can expect to pay out of pocket to sell your book. Finally, don’t be surprised if, from the moment you sign with an agent to the moment your book appears on the store shelves, two years or more have vanished into history.

Authors in the traditional, legacy publishing industry have many mouths to feed: publisher, literary agent, distributors—each with all their employees, buildings and expenses. Thus the authors, creators of the works that are the reason those entities even exist, get a much smaller piece of the pie. That’s just how it is. Do the benefits they offer outweigh that concern?

In my experience in recent months, those most vociferously defending the legacy publishers are the ones presently invested in them in some way. Of course, I could say the same about the other publishing options.

SELF-PUBLISHING

It sure is easy these days. And cheap. If publishing time and cost are your only concerns, this is the way to go. A few days of studying and formatting, and you’re ready to upload your eBook and/or POD book. But wait! Has your book been professionally edited? Do you have a professional cover? Do you have a professional marketing plan in place to sell your book, or are you going to trust your fate to… well, fate? (Note: The preponderance of the word “professional” here is no accident.)

We used to refer to self-publishing as the Vanity Press, back when the primary option was a pay-in-advance printer. In those days, 99% of self-publishers lost money. Yep. Lost money. Thus, the “Vanity” tag—people self-published not to become professional authors, but to see a book on the shelf with their name on it, or to impress their family and friends and coworkers and neighbors who didn’t know any better.

Nowadays, one can create a print copy via a POD (Print-on-Demand) publisher, minimizing both the up-front expense and the likelihood of losing money (which is not to say the author will actually make much money on it). One can also create an eBook at virtually no expense (which is not to say the author will actually make much money on it). Hmm, I sense a trend here.

Is the new ease of self-publishing, and the better author royalties per copy sold, attracting better authors, luring them away from the traditional path? You’d better believe it. Sadly, it is also drawing all those folks who self-published sub-standard work just to see their name in lights—only more of them, now that it’s so cheap.

The truth is that I have a love/hate relationship with self-published authors. Those who disregard professional quality, for whatever reason, frustrate me. They devour my time and energy, and muddy up the waters where I intend to swim. Yet if you’re a self-pubber who does it right, who insists on quality from start to finish, I love you! Really, I do.

I’ve learned one thing, for sure: no group is more vociferous in defending their choices than self-pubbers. One must enter that maze of discussions with great caution, lest one unleash the very hounds of hell. Many of those debates are lively and interesting, but many of them (and please, let’s just be honest here) devolve into exercises in self-rationalization.

The professionals will rise to the top, in the end, and they will remain the exception to this general rule: Most self-published work is not very good. I know, here come all the screams and hollers from self-pubbers. Please note that I said “general” and “most.” Will it continue to be 99% bad, as in the past? I don’t know; maybe it’s just too early to tell. However, early indicators are not good. I’ve sampled about 150 books at sites like Amazon, Smashwords and BookieJar, and only 3 of those moved me to purchase. The rest were dull, poorly structured, or laced with errors—or all of the above. Of the 3 I purchased, 2 have proven disappointing. Let me say that the 150 I sampled were all from relative unknowns—authors still trying to find a market.

And so, if it seems as though I’m not supporting indie authors, it’s not for wont of trying. 3 out of 150. Not good.

INDIE PUBLISHERS / SMALL PRESS

First, I do not consider self-publishers “indie” publishers, even if they create a publishing label to publish their work (and only their work). I relate indie publishing to what we always called the small press—those who publish several authors, but who don’t meet sales numbers large enough to be called a major publishing house.

This, I think, is where a good number of authors will eventually go. Furthermore, I think bolder, fresher business models will continue to evolve to meet those authors’ needs.

However, as this is already a long piece (thanks for hanging in there), and because it’s such a complex subject all its own, I shall discuss this option in detail in the near future.

And yes, by way of disclaimer, I am one of the co-founders of Evolved Publishing, an indie publisher. More on that next time.

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Random Musings from Lane Diamond’s Not-So-Idle Mind – Part 1

I’ve received three emails the past couple days asking essentially the same thing: “Hey, Diamond, no blog posts this week?  Wass’up with that?”

Well… err… um… let’s see… I’ve been just a bit busy.

So I thought I might add to a relaxing Sunday (well, I’m working, but that’s okay) an update on projects under construction.

The biggest chunk of my time the past couple weeks has been dedicated to editing. I’m happy to say that, excepting a few minor, last minute adjustments by Megan Morrison, we’re ready to release her debut memoir, And Then It Rained: Lessons for Life.  It will be available as an eBook on November 12th.

The second big piece I’ve been working on is Ruby Standing Deer’s debut historical novel, Circles, which features a charming cast of Native American characters from 500 years ago.  We have a ways to go, but her eBook will be available before Christmas.

 

I’ve also been working with three authors “off-line,” as it were, in the hopes they might eventually join our Evolved Publishing family. They’re not quite ready—needed a little “online writing class” first, to address a few nagging bad habits—but this process will make them better prepared to complete or edit their WIPs.  Even if they don’t join EP in the end, I hope they’ll find the exercise helpful.

This weekend I’ve been putting the finishing touches on all our current project contracts for EP. I spend a lot of time on our business these days—no surprise there. Marketing research and strategies have accounted for a lot of that time, and we’re looking at a couple of potential new authors for our group. We’re hoping to add perhaps an author every month or two—not sure we could handle more than that at the moment, given our workloads.

As for the EP release schedule, in addition to the two books mentioned above, please, let us not forget my book. Forgive Me, Alex has been a long time coming—much longer than I would have liked—but I’m finally setting aside the time to finish the final polish. I hope the eBook will be available by Thanksgiving, but it may be a week or so later. I’ll keep you posted.

This coming week I’ll be a little more engaged in this blog and in some social media sites I’ve neglected recently. So little time, so much COGNAC WORK.

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If You’re a Poetry Fan, Perhaps You’ll Enjoy a Couple of My Modest Offerings

I started my writing pursuits at the ripe old age of 12 with some rather pedantic poetry. I’d be embarrassed to show most of that now. Of course, my poetry matured with me over the years, and I’m pleased with much of it—at least, not so embarrassed that I’m unwilling to share it.

I don’t visit the form often. It seems I must be in a specific, introspective frame of mind to feel the urge. Poetry has always offered me a certain cathartic release during difficult times, and I’m sure you’ll see that theme in some of my work.

I now offer some of my Poetry via a page at this website (tab at top). I’ll start slow, with just four offerings, but I’ll add to it as time allows. Please enjoy.

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Under the Heading of SHOW, DON’T TELL: With Words as Paint and the Page as Canvas, Paint Us a Picture.

This is a continuation of my last post, though I focus on a slightly different element of SHOW, DON’T TELL.”  Those three little words constitute one of the High Commandments of effective writing.  It sounds so easy, doesn’t it?  Yet it requires commitment, determination, vigilance and inexhaustible effort.

We writers tend to get lazy with our prose as we rush through the first draft of a story.  We so focus on the plot, the characters, the setting, the central conflict and eventual resolution—a proper focus, of course—that we pay too little attention to the words.  If I may revisit a metaphor I use often: we so focus on the forest that we forget to enjoy the trees.

This, my fellow writer, is why the writing gods created self-editing, lest we fail to honor our covenant.  We have much to address in the self-editing process, but for the purposes of this blog entry, I’ll focus on that one commandment: SHOW, DON’T TELL.”

We most engage a reader when we create for him a scene he can visualize, when we fire-up the film projector in his mind.  The longer our piece drags on without affording him the opportunity to exercise his mind’s eye, the likelier he is to set our story aside out of boredom.  Put another way, the reader should see not our words, but the images those words create.  Think of words as your paint and the keyboard as your brush, and paint a picture to compel the reader forward.

Simile and metaphor function as effective tools in this artistic pursuit, as they force the reader—if you’ve done your job well—to visualize your image and translate it to, or associate it with, the underlying, true meaning of your scene.  Symbols will also enhance this experience for the reader.  As a simple example, a gray, overcast day mired in a constant drizzle might highlight and heighten your character’s depression.

As is true of so many writers’ tools, you must use these to maximum effect, which not only means using them in the proper places, but also that you must not overuse them.  Too much of a good thing can be… well, not so good.  Give the reader a slice of chocolate cake as dessert, but don’t skip the meat and vegetables and force him to eat the entire cake at one sitting.  We writers mustn’t make our readers sick.

As a rule, the shorter your similes and metaphors, the more frequently you can employ them.  If you pop a quick, one-sentence simile into your story, you needn’t wait several pages to offer another.  On the other hand, if you just completed a three-page metaphor, you don’t want to jump into another metaphor on the next page.  Like all artists, you must apply a deft hand.  Let your instincts guide you initially, and let your editor, your writers’ group, or your trusted reviewer help you refine and polish it. I offer now a series of examples from pieces I’ve edited or reviewed.  As always, I shall keep confidential the authors’ names and story titles to protect the not-so-innocent.

TELL: He was by far the tallest person in the meeting room.  >>>>>  Note: First, the author started with the weak state-of-being verb.  Second, the author provided nothing to stretch the reader’s imagination, to engage his mind’s eye.  >>>>>  SHOW: He towered above the others in the meeting room as if they’d all skipped over from the local chapter of the Lollipop Guild.  >>>>>  Note: Did you just see that moment after Dorothy landed in Oz?  Perhaps you even heard their song.  In the end, you should have concluded that the character “was by far the tallest person in the meeting room.”

TELL: He walked slowly and without enthusiasm toward the door.  >>>>>  Note: The author fell into a typical lazy trap here.  Few adverbs are duller than slowly, quickly, loudly or quietly.  Remember the value of body language to express a character’s mood and mental state.  >>>>>  SHOW: His shoulders slumped and his face drooped, as he dragged his feet toward the door.

TELL: “What are you doing with these jokers?” asked Little Butch. <P> Rosemary said, “Partying.  What else?”  She was sloshed.  “You still going with Jennifer?”  >>>>>  Note: At issue is the simple description: She was sloshed.  Sometimes simple is fine, and you don’t want to paint with too heavy a hand, but consider these types of sequences opportunities to paint a picture for the reader.  >>>>>  SHOW: “What are you doing with these jokers?” asked Little Butch. <P> “Partying.  What else?”  Rosemary’s words mixed in an alcoholic slur as she leaned against the car to prevent herself from falling over, and her eyelids bobbed in time with her head, as if they weighed a hundred pounds each.  “You still going with Jennifer?”

TELL: The sky was a brilliant blue with a few white wisps scattered here and there.  Her long smooth legs were warm from the sun.  >>>>>  Note: The key here is to replace the weak state-of-being verbs with more active verbs that bring the image to life for the reader.  This typically requires some simple restructuring.  >>>>>  SHOW: Sunlight, broken occasionally by scattered white wisps, radiated through a brilliant blue sky and bronzed her long, smooth legs.

TELL: He knelt by the gravestone, completely exhausted and desperately needing sleep.  He’d never been so sad and lonely.  He couldn’t imagine what life would be like without Karen, the only woman he’d ever loved.  >>>>>  Note: It’s important to remember that readers hear you telling them that something happened, or merely that something was, when you pile on the adverbs and adjectives.  Conversely, they envision the scene (see what happened) when you utilize active verbs and descriptive nouns.  >>>>>  SHOW: He collapsed to his knees alongside the gravestone, and expelled his last ounce of energy in a sputtering, tearful gasp.  Silence shrouded the cemetery, broken only by his heavy breathing and the uncertainty that pounded like war drums in his mind.  The love of his life, the object of his greatest dreams and desires, lay six feet beneath him, beyond his reach for all time.  How would he survive without Karen?

Remember: The reader must see more than your words; he must see the images those words create.  When you write, live within the scene, and paint a picture of everything that happens around you.  Don’t tell the reader what happened; let him see what you see, hear what you hear, feel what you feel, as though he’s standing beside you inside the scene, witnessing and experiencing it right along with you and your characters.

‘Til next time, and as always, remember: To write well, you must work hard.  To succeed in this tough gig, you mustn’t be lazy (or discouraged).

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Under the Heading of SHOW, DON’T TELL: Make Your Characters Blind, Deaf and Dumb

No, I’m not suggesting you write a story where the only characters are Ray Charles, Helen Keller and Marlee Matlin.  Although, now that I think of it, that would be quite the writing exercise, wouldn’t it, to create a scene in which the three of them interact?

I’m merely suggesting that a reader doesn’t really care what characters see, hear, feel, etc, in the most direct sense.  In other words, she doesn’t want you, Dear Author, to TELL her THAT the character saw something.  She wants you to SHOW her WHAT the character sees, right along with him, at the very moment he sees it.  She wants to experience it as the character does.  She doesn’t want to hear from the author, after the fact, that the character saw it.

This is truly the essence of storytelling.  Perhaps we should coin a new, more appropriate term: Storyshowing.

The first step in eliminating excessive telling from your story is to find all instances such as those I list as “triggers” below, and to replace them with sequences that show instead.

SAMPLE TRIGGERS:  She heard, he saw, I thought, we listened, they noticed, she felt, he looked, I peered, we smelled, they anticipated, she observed, he imagined, I wondered, I knew, etc.

NOTE: Like all “rules” of writing, this is not a 100%-er.  You may have occasion to use appropriately these phrases in your story.  However, these should be the exceptions, not the rules.  These phrases should trigger a self-review.  How can you better show what happened rather than tell that something happened? I offer now a series of examples from pieces I’ve edited or reviewed.  As always, I shall keep confidential the authors’ names and story titles to protect the not-so-innocent.

BAD: I could feel the intense heat radiating from the smoldering hulk.  >>>>>  Note: In a first-person narrative like this one, the author is clearly in the character-narrator’s POV.  Thus, when he mentions “heat radiating,” the reader already knows it’s because the character “feels” it.  Not only should the author not tell us (show us instead); Author doesn’t need to tell us.  >>>>>  GOOD (Simple): Intense heat radiated from the smoldering hulk.

BAD: She heard the crashing waves of an incoming tide and she saw the gleam of whitecaps under the stars.  >>>>>  Note: Not only does the author tell us that the character heard and saw, he does so in a wordy way.  Note how, in the show-us-what alternative below, I cut the word count from the original 19 to a more concise 11.  >>>>>  GOOD (Simple): Waves crashed on the shore and whitecaps gleamed under the stars.

BAD: She saw a wound at his hairline, deep and ragged.  She peered closer and didn’t feel the horror she expected.  She saw a portion of the white skull.  >>>>>  Note: First are the various triggers: saw, peered, feel, and saw again.  Second, “white” is unnecessary in “white skull”—everyone knows the color of human skulls.  Third, although the scene teases at an intense, gruesome image, its weak construction fails to deliver.  >>>>>  GOOD (Detailed): A deep and ragged wound pierced his hairline, and a portion of his skull protruded from his scalp, laced by tattered skin and tissue.  Horror lingered at the edge of her mind, yet the grisly scene compelled her to investigate closer.

BAD: I knew then that there would be no more looking back to the future.  My destiny lay ahead of me in the past.  >>>>>  Note: The author almost—almost—creates a compelling paragraph here.  The first problem is the telling trigger: I knew.  Please, it’s a first-person narrative—if the narrator is relaying events, of course he knew the events.  The second problem is that it’s wordy and awkward.  Some simple tightening, along with showing rather than telling, makes all the difference.  >>>>>  GOOD (Simple): There would be no looking back to the future.  My destiny lay ahead of me in the past

BAD: He felt the wolf pack curl around him and his grandmother, and when he looked up, he saw his mother and his baby brother sleeping peacefully among them.  >>>>>  Note: We have the usual triggers here: felt, looked and saw.  We also have redundancy: “he looked up” before “he saw.”  Finally, we can trim back on the word count, from 28 to a more concise 19.  >>>>>  GOOD (Simple): The wolf pack curled around him and his grandmother, and his mother and baby brother slept peacefully among them.

BAD: “Come Fire,” he murmured before each life breath he blew.  “Wake Fire,” he whispered as if into a lover’s ear and a timid crackle he heard.  >>>>>  Note: Set-up: The author uses “Fire” as a character, and thus capitalizes it as a name.  The first thing that struck me was the length of the dialogue tags, which feel forced and awkward.  By combining the tags into a single dialogue lead, the reader will better hear the tone of voice and emotion.  Finally, the author ends with a classic telling trigger: he heard.  >>>>>  GOOD (Detailed): He murmured before each life breath he blew, as if whispering into a lover’s ear.  “Come, Fire, and wake.”  A timid crackle provided his first reward.

BAD: John looked at the sack with uncertainty.  “I thought we would be attempting another animal first.”  >>>>>  Note: The first sentence, the dialogue lead, is a perfect example of where we writers must earn our keep.  Most writers, and a fair share of editors, would think nothing of that sentence, and the author might be fine leaving it be.  However, it is all telling.  Now, let me make clear that some telling is fine, but you should always consider a situation like this an opportunity to engage the reader.  The keys here are “looked at” and “with uncertainty.”  The author could have run him through one or two brief mannerisms here—I’m talking about body language—that clearly shows John’s uncertainty to the reader.  The telling is… well, dull; a little in the story is fine, but every reader has his own boredom threshold, so it’s always risky.  When you show the reader, you pull her into the scene, you engage her, and that’s interesting for her.  This author needed to stretch a bit.  >>>>>  GOOD (Simple): “I thought we would be attempting another animal first.”  >>>>>  Note: Yep, the author decided (rightly so) that the dialogue flowing between the two characters of the scene—their actual words—said all that needed to be said.  The dialogue lead was unnecessary, and it interfered with the scene, so the author simply cut it—a good choice.  However, for the sake of illustration here, let’s assume that he still needed to paint the scene and show John’s uncertainty.  >>>>>  GOOD (Detailed): John bounced his leg up and down and nibbled on his lip.  “I thought we would be attempting another animal first.”

BAD: The lighting was dim and the only sound he heard was the piped in elevator music that played in a seemingly endless loop.  He could hear Karen Carpenter’s “Close to You” over the relentless rain tapping on the ceiling of his cell.  >>>>>  Note: Note the weak word choices (was [2], seemingly, could) and the usual triggers: heard and could hear.  Once again, the author should trust in the character’s (“he”) POV and just show the reader—paint the scene.  >>>>>  GOOD (Simple): Dim lighting deepened the sullen mood as piped-in elevator music played in an endless loop.  Karen Carpenter’s Close to You accompanied the relentless rain that tapped on the roof of his cell.

When you allow the reader to experience your story at the instant your characters do, you make it possible for her to share in the emotion and impact of the moment.  This mechanism, more than any other, draws a reader right into the story as though she’s a spectator at the scene.  The difference may be subtle at times, the reaction hidden in the reader’s subconscious.  Yet it’s often the key to making a reader say, even for reasons of which she’s not consciously aware, “I liked this story.”  If you fail, she might instead say, “Eh, this story didn’t really do it for me.”

‘Til next time, and as always, remember: To write well, you must work hard.  To succeed in this tough gig, you mustn’t be lazy (or discouraged).

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The Bond Between Reader and Writer: How Long Will the Reader Trust the Author in Any Given Story?

Every reader takes a leap of faith when she picks up a book.  She places her trust in the author, expecting the author to hook her early in the story.  She then expects—I might say insists—that the author will hold her level of interest at a steady clip, compelling her ever forward.

Yet no book is Bam!-Bam!-Bam!-Bam!all the way through.  Great books are not 90-minute action movies on paper.  Great books are rich, deep excursions into another time and place, into one or more characters’ most intimate desires or darkest fears.  Ironically enough, great books play out like a movie reel, but the 6- to 12-hour version.

How much exposition might an author engage in?  How long may an author drift away from plot to build character or setting?  Ah, the tightropes we must walk.

The simplest answer is that an author must do what she must.  I would suggest the key word is this: relevance.  Does the extra characterization, or setting, or historical foundation, truly matter to your story, or will it merely make the reader yawn?

Every writer likes to talk about the first step: the opening hook.  Must an author hammer the reader over the head right out of the chute, or can she ease her into the story?  Yes.  No.  Maybe.  Different genres have different rules, which is to say readers have come to expect a specific approach in any given genre.  Every story is both a beneficiary and a victim of its genre conventions.  Authors break with those conventions at significant risk.

I don’t mean to suggest that authors can’t break the rules, merely that they understand the difficulty, and their odds of success, in doing so.  However, and let’s just be honest here, ’tis better to grab the reader by the collar and shake her like a rag doll, than to cradle her in your arms and gently rock her to sleep.  Excitement good.  Snoozing bad.

Many are fond of insisting that authors start in the middle—en media res.  Nonsense.  Start at the beginning.  Or start in the past.  Or start at the end.  Start where it makes sense to start your story.  No two stories are identical.  Well… no two stories should be identical.

I’ve read articles that said, “Never start with a flashback.”  Yet I’ve read many books that did so… and knocked my socks off.

I’ve read articles that said, “You must hook the reader in the first paragraph.”  Yet I’ve read books that took me a few pages to warm up to, and which I then couldn’t put down.  It’s important to note, however, that while those authors did nothing to hook me at the very start, neither did they do anything to turn me off, to cause me to stop reading.

So which rules can you fudge on, and which ones must you follow as though they were the word of God?  First, remember that in writing, no such thing exists as a 100% rule.  Yet some are 99%-ers.  For example: Don’t start with setting; start with action.  That doesn’t mean take-a-deep-breath, grab-onto-your-socks and hang-on-for-dear-life action; it just means something meaningful needs to happen.  Another example: Build the action steadily and finish with a bang.  If you do that, your readers will come back for your next book.  If not….

Other than that, I believe story structure is wide open, a playground where you can kick the ball around and have some fun.  There’s only one requirement: Keep the reader turning those pages. I would be remiss if I failed to mention that all this assumes another critical fact: The author actually knows how to write—no spelling errors, decent grammar, well-structured sentences and paragraphs, no mixed tenses or continual head-hopping—prose that is, if not exceptionally strong, at least not terribly weak.

My personal limit is 5 pages; that’s how long I give an author to make her case.  Again, this assumes the writing is not terrible, in which case I’ll quit after 1-2 paragraphs.  How about you?  What’s your limit?

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