Art Challanges

The styles and techniques between short stories (1-10K words) and novelettes (10,001 to 18K words) on the lower word count side and novellas (18-40K) and novels (40K+) on the higher sides are radically different. Please note that these are the averages I learned over the last thirty years. Each publisher can have different numbers for their specific requirements.

(Don't get me started about flash fiction, i.e. a story less than 1K words. It's a talent I haven't mastered, and mad respect to those who have.)

It's been a while since I've written the shorter forms, so my skills are a little rusty. A writer still needs descriptions and strong characters, but there's fewer words to drag a reader into the story. The genre and editor requirements make a difference.

There was a time I was a natural short form writer, but I was leaving a lot of stuff out that would make my work a better story. In fact, a couple of published author friends said I was writing screenplays, not novels.

But the freedom of being indie is that I don't have to force my stories into particular boxes. I finish the first draft. I edit it. I send it off to my alpha reader. That's it. Whatever the final word count is only matters when I go to make a print version. If it's a short story, I'll publish it as an e-book, and then I'll decide to group stories of a particular theme or by characters and group theme into a an anthology. For example, the Bloodlines short stories and novellas are collected in one paperback.

Unfortunately, when an editor contacts you with an invitation to write a story for them, they have a specific genre, word count, and theme already decided. I have to force a story into their dimensions, which for me is pretty damn difficult. And frankly, it scares me a little bit.

But if it scares me, then I need to do it. That's part of growing in our art.

Do You Need an Editor?

Well, it depends on your level of knowledge in regards to grammar and spelling. By the way, this post is primarily aimed at writers looking to publish their prose fiction.

I'm rehashing the types of editors because once again, a writer told me they needed a developmental editor.

The only reason you'd EVER need a developmental editor would be if you never read fiction or watch TV or movies. Humans are inherently consumers of stories, whether it be nursery rhymes, the MCU, or your favorites uncle's wild tall tales. We instinctively understand story structure. Sometimes, a writer needs a course or a how-to book to point out what they already know. However, it amazes me how many writers don't trust themselves when it comes to storytelling.

What bothers me (in my experience) is how developmental editors want to change a writer's story to what the editor would tell, not improving the existing story. . I know developmental editors will deny that with their dying breath, so let's forget about developmental editors for the moment.

 

1) Copyeditors - These are the people who check for plot holes and consistency. 

Example: In the Bloodlines and Millersburg Magick Mysteries, my vampires' eyes turned a neon color and glow during extreme emotion or hunger. A copyeditor would make sure the story rules are maintained.

2) Line editors - These are the people who check the flow, style, and readability.

Example: I have a bad habit of repeating words in the same paragraph or page. A line editor would tag my repetitious use of "parking lot" or "spell".

3) Proof reader - These are the people that nitpick spelling and grammar.

Another one of my bad habits is typing "my" when I mean "my" and vice versa. leaving out prepositions and articles, or typing a comma when I mean a period. A really good proofreader would catch those mistakes that sleppied by the copyeditors and line editors.

4) Acquiring editors - These are the people who license books to be published by a trad publisher.

Example: A friend's novel was acquired and published by a now-defunct traditional publisher. When she got the rights back, a company scanned the book into a PDF. The friends then asked me to convert the PDF into a MS-WORD document.

There were still a ton of typos. Some were introduced by the publisher. Some were caused by the scanning software. I fixed them before I returned to the files to my friend. How do I know some of the typos were introduced my the publisher? I still had a copy of the nook file she submitted to the publisher for comparison.

What's worse is the remaining trad publishing  houses aren't paying for in-house editing. The cost is getting dumped on the writer, even though the trad publishers claim that's a service they still offer.

So do you need an editor? An editor should improve your work, not change it to fit their image of what your story should be. In the end, hiring one is totally up to your and your pocket book. However, you can save money by either learning to do it yourself or trading manuscripts with another writer.

Best wishes of your new career!

Why Don't Writers Trust Their Own Talent?

We writers have an inherent self-esteem problem. The trad publishers have known this for the last forty years. They've preyed on writers and used gaslighting and threats to keep writers under their collective thumbs.

You'd think with the advent of Amazon's Kindle and other indie publishing routes writers would trust their own instincts. But nope. Writers as a collective don't trust their own skills to write a good story, but we don't.

Instead of relishing our freedom under the new paradigm, we recreate the same psychological obstacles that had been inflicted on us through trad publishing.

Writing by committee has transformed from the publishing house editor and your agent to beta readers and book doctors. The problem is the writers using this method feel they need outside validation in order to succeed in this industry.

Under a similar outside validation need are reviews. Writer beg for reviews. However, those reviews, both good and bad, affect the writers in the worse ways. If the reviews are overwhelmingly positive, the writer stops learning and experimenting. They fear changing their style, but that style becomes stale over time, and they lose readers. Or if the writer receives bad reviews. they often quit doing something they loved, even become suicidal due to the perceived rejection.

No one likes everything, and a story won't be liked by everyone. Invariably every writer gets bad reviews. However, many of these reviews have nothing to do with the writer's actual work. In fact, reviews are often weaponized for a multitude of reasons, including jealousy and hatred.

Seriously, my favorite bad review of my own claimed I wrote anti-white, feminazi propaganda. And this was for a superhero story.You've got to laugh at people who take things so passionately the opposite of a work's intent.

I believe a lot of this need for outside validation stems from a fear of failure But outside assessments have nothing to do with a writer's success or failure. In the long run, using other people to review your work, whether prior to or after publication, is no guarantee of success, money, validation or whatever need isn't being met in the writer's soul.

Write what's in your heart, what entertains you, and/or the story you haven't seen in your that tickles your fancy. Most of all, enjoy the process.

Sisters and Monsters

I submitted a short story to an editor last night. I don't know why I submitted it.

I had lunch with one of my sorority littles on Saturday. She found me through Facebook shortly before the pandemic started. We hadn't seen each other in thirty-five years and spent a good two hours talking. I made sure to tip our server well for taking up a table for so long.

So what does that have to do with writing and submitting a short story last night?

Little #2 and I didn't like a particular sister. She was a Karen before Karens became a thing. The Particular Sister was constantly trying to get me in trouble with both our sorority advisor and an advisor in another club. She tried to bully the girls in Little #2's pledge class. She was manipulative and passive-aggressive and an all around negative person.

And while I was reminiscing about college yesterday, the perfect revenge story clicked in my head. Or maybe I've watched too many episodes of Supernatural.

Anyway, the story spilled out of me during football yesterday. You know an idea has me in its grip when I pay no attention to a Steelers game.

I finished the story and sent it into the world. If it doesn't sell, I'll post on my author website. Maybe I needed a small break from all my other projects. Maybe I'll write more monster stories and publish a collection.

Either way, the experience helped me deal with some lingering anger at some people who shouldn't matter in my life now. And it felt good.

Writers and Social Media, Redux

There's a myth going around writer circles, egged on by trad editors and agents, that a writer HAS to do every, single type of social media available, and if you don't, then your writing career will fail miserably!

(Say that sentence all in one breath. I'll have an oxygen tank waiting for you.)

No, you don't have to do every single one. (Hold the mask to face and inhale.)

There's no measurable, predictable way to know which social media will work for you specifically. None. What worked for Amanda Hocking or J.A. Konrath or Bella Andre may or may not work you.

Why do I say this?

Because Suzan Harden DID everything and couldn't sell shit for her first year. Alter Ego did NOTHING, she had no plans to do so either, and sales took off in the second month.

Why did Alter Ego's sales take off with no social media? I published her first novella the month before everyone and their grandmother went apeshit for Fifty Shades of Grey. And that first novella happened to be a BDSM romance. So all those ladies needed a fix until Book 2 in the FSoG series came out. It all came to down to luck and timing.

As for the Suzan Harden books? Well, frankly, I burned myself out trying to do a zillion marketing things everyone insisted HAD to be DONE in order to be successful. And they didn't do jackshit for me.

So how do I decide what social media to engage in? I go where I am having fun.

Blogs

1) Alter Ego has a blog, but it acts as a surrogate website with announcements of releases, a mailing list sign-up, catalog of available books, and buy links. She doesn't anything more than that.

2) Suzan has two blogs. One is publishing business and other things she finds cool (i.e. the one you're reading right now). The other is for readers, where she posts short stories and samples from current wips. She also comments on the blogs of other folks actively involved in indie publishing.

Facebook

1) Alter Ego has a very active FB account. She loves talking to readers and other writers!

2) Suzan thinks FB sucks. Her husband insisted on creating a fan page. She tries to post something funny once a day, but often forgets. Even then she gets nasty messages from people she doesn't know (and sometimes from people she does know) who think she sucks. She'd chuck it all if a handful of fans hadn't started visiting the page this year.

Twitter

1) Alter Ego gets on Twitter once in a while, but for the most part has her FB posts going to her Twitter account.

2) Suzan has given up on Twitter because the only folks who follow her are other writers hawking their books and third party vendors trying to sell her their overpriced services for indie writers.


Yep, that's it. That's all I do. This isn't a slam against other social media you might enjoy.

Well, wait. That's not true. I won't do LinkedIn because they have a very bad habit of harvesting e-mails from your address book. (Or they did. I'll retract that last statement if someone can prove to me they've stopped.) I also won't do Pinterest because they made a blatant rights grab in their original terms of service. If that's changed, send me the link. But I refuse to go back to their website because they seriously pissed me off the first time.

The big thing you need to remember to BICHOK, aka Butt In Chair, Hands On Keyboard. (If you don't use a computer, then change the fucking acronym!) The best publicity/marketing is putting out a new story. All the promotion in the world won't help you if you do gain fans, and there's nothing else for them to buy.

Which means I need to get back to work!

CONTEST! Sh*t Agents/Editors Say

A Monday morning counting exercise: how many of these phrases have you heard/been said to you?

Leave a comment with your number before 11:59PM CDT on Thursday, March 29, 2012. A winner will be randomly drawn from the infamous Easter Basket shaped like Capt. Rex 's helmet. The prize is e-book copies of the Seasons of Magick series: Spring, Summer and the soon-to-be-released Autumn. (Yes, you'll get it before it goes on sale!)

Contest is open to everyone!

The Thing That's Easy to Forget - Editing

Currently reading - Pale Demon by Kim Harrison (HC)

Editing.  Despite what a lot of indie publishing writers think, almost everyone definitely needs it.

Hell, I need it.  One of the most difficult things to learn as a writer is how to look objectively at your baby.  Don't fool yourself into thinking you can upload your first draft (or second or third) to Amazon.  For your baby to sell, it needs to look and smell its best.

Start with the basics.  A copy of Strunk & White's Elements of Style is always a good reference guide.  Take classes, in person or online.  Find a good critique group.  Don't take the criticisms personally.  Learn from everything anyone has to say, even if it's what not to do (or how to deliver critcism more politely than it was delivered to you).

If you find you need additional help, hire a freelance editor.  The hard part is finding someone you trust, with previous experience and who's reasonable.  Ask for recommendations from other writers you know.  Prices can ranges from a couple of hundred dollars to a couple of thousand.  Make sure you get references before SIGNING ANYTHING.  Know what you want from the editor.  Confirm that you both agree on what constitutes line editing, copy editing, proofing, etc.  Don't be afraid to ask questions.  A freelance editor works for you!

I'll warn you now.  Even when you've had a dozen people read and critique your book, invariably you'll find a typo when you're re-formatting the file for upload.  *grin*


(Editor's note:  Tess brought up a good point about reading your manuscript aloud.  I use the Text-to-Speech function in the Microsoft Reader, which is a free download.)

Pitch Analysis

Currently reading - Death's Excellent Vacation, edite by Charlaine Harris and Toni L. P. Kelner

For those of you who write romance and want a pitch analysis from a real editor, check out Casablanca Authors Blog. Sorry this is a little late since I just found out (too many errands to run before I had a chance to read/write blog stuff today).

About once a month, Deb Werksman from Sourcebooks takes a look at authors' work. Sometimes it's just the pitch, or maybe the first page depending on Deb's schedule. But it's definitely worth looking at the pitches to get some ideas of what works and what doesn't.

Deb's a straight shooter, doesn't put anyone down, and gives some valuble insight into the mind of an editor.

Business Plan Part 6 - Who Do You Submit To?

Currently reading - My own novel before I submit it

Before you send out any submissions to agents or editors, did you do your homework?

By this, I mean (1) do you understand what genre your opus falls into (and for the record, I consider literary fiction a genre) and (2) do you know who's looking for the type of work you just created?

If you're reading my blog, then you've got no effing excuse for not entering search criteria in your internet search engine. For those of you who may not have done this yet, look at this as homework: go find sites that list agents and editors and start weeding through them. Yes, it takes work. But you want to send your precious babies to a good home, don't you?

I've got Excel spreadsheets for each manuscript with a list of my dream agents for the genre of that particular novel. Use whatever method works for you, but I've got a quick snapshot of who's repeatedly asking for partials and fulls with a short entry of what he/she liked about my writing. For me, this method narrows the focus on who would fit best with my style.

Your mileage may vary.