If you read the previous post, Why Authors need a Website, you might now have a website up and running. If so, kudos! Your books are all nicely available for purchase. Perhaps you have noticed that no one is visiting it. You need to offer readers a reason to come and look at your books. Writing a post about what is going on in your writing life is a good way to connect with readers. It’s a platform where you can advertise your books and discuss your interests, and most importantly, talk about what you are writing. I first began blogging because my former publisher, hereafter known as Lord Voldemort, insisted I do so. This, he said, would help get my name out there, and give me a regular platform for my opinions. That original blog is long gone, and those posts were pathetic attempts to write about current affairs as a journalist. That blog failed because writing about current affairs is something that has never interested me. What I learned from that otherwise-negative blogging experience is important. It wasn’t until I stopped trying to fit into a mold someone else had designed for me and began writing about my interests that I learned to love the craft of blogging. When I made that connection and commitment to writing about what I enjoy, I began to grow as a writer. When I’ve had a small success and am in danger of becoming too full of myself, blogging never fails to provide me with a sharp dose of reality. I must work hard to proofread my own work and then publish it. Nothing bursts your bubble of self-importance like discovering gross errors and bloopers several days after you published the post. Oops. Regularly writing blogposts has made me a “thinking” author, as well as a “pantser.” I can write using the “stream-of-consciousness” method or write from an outline of whatever interests me at the time. I do the research, and the post begins to write itself. Once you have your blog set up, and the catchy title picked out, etc., it’s time to start writing. Both WordPress and Blogger offer you the ability to use html (Text) if you choose, which I don't have a clue about, or to go with the Visual (what you see is what you get). Unless you are a programmer, stay with ‘Visual.’ In WordPress, choose a category now for your post–do it first, so you don’t forget to do it. I published this post in the category of writing. Each blog post may have a different category, but you decide what your categories are. If you should forget to choose the category, it will go into the ‘uncategorized’ pile–the dreaded WordPress slush-pile where blogs go to die. Also, in WordPress, chose a few TAGS now, if you know what you're writing about, so that you don't forget to tag the post. That button is below the Categories list. Chose tags that most represent the core of your post, so that searchers for that subject will find your post. For this post, I would use ‘blogger, blogspot, blogging, WordPress, WordPress blog how-to.' If you are using Blogger, PICK YOUR LABELS NOW–Blogger doesn’t use categories, so your labels are very important. On the right-hand side, click on ‘LABELS’ and simply type your key words into the BOX, separated by commas. In Blogger, LABELS are what TAGS are in WordPress, so use words that represent the core of what you are blogging about so that interested searcher will find your blog. Next, schedule your post: In WordPress, in the right-hand menu-list you will open the ‘status bar.’ Use the calendar to pick the date and set the time of day you want the post to go live. You will find that it's hard to gain readers when your website is new, and you first begin to blog. This is true, but that will change if you just keep at it. If you blog at least once a week on a specific day and at a specific time, readers will come. My personal blogs are scheduled to post at 06:00 PDT Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I average 50 to 125 readers a day now, but I started out with maybe 5 or 10 a day. If even one person reads your post, that is one person who has been inside your store, which is where you sell your books. Remember, the reason we write is so people will read our work, and to do that they must be able to find it. When we have a limited audience, we feel a little defeated in our efforts to gain readers. In the world of blogging, as in everything else, we start out small and gain readers as we go along—but we gain them more quickly if we keep the content updated at least once a week. Because authors want to gain readers, it's necessary for them to use every platform available to get the word out. Updating our website blogs twice a month offers us many opportunities to do just that and keeps us in touch with the people who count—our readers. >>><<< >>><<< >>><<< >>><<< Portions of this article were published on Life in the Realm of Fantasy, Creating your Author Blog part 2, 04 June 2018, ©Connie J. Jasperson All Rights Reserved, Reprinted by Permission. Connie J. Jasperson is a published poet and the author of nine novels. Her work has appeared in numerous anthologies. A founding member of Myrddin Publishing Group, she can be found blogging regularly on both the craft of writing and art history at Life in the Realm of Fantasy.
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If you are an author, you need a website. Your website is your store, your voice, and your public presence. Readers will find you and your books there. Some of you will say, “But I have no money, and I know nothing about managing a website.” Frankly, neither do I, but the tools are free and easy to find and use. You don’t have to know anything special. Because we are ALL cash-strapped and perhaps we aren’t IT specialists, what you want to know is how to get a website up and running at little or no cost to you. It is shockingly simple. I am fluent with WordPress and Blogger, two free-to-the-author platforms, and I will explain how to get started with both platforms. My first website was a free Blogger site, and I still have it, although I converted it into a book review site when I went with WordPress. I went with WordPress because the finished product looks nicer and it’s a little more versatile. Like Blogger, WordPress is a free, open-source blogging tool, and content management system. I stayed with the free option for seven years, but now I own my domain and pay an annual fee, so I don’t have to have advertisements interfering with how my site looks. I also have several other sites on Blogger (Blogspot), which is also a free, open-source blogging tool and content management system. I prefer Blogger for ease of use, but it is limited. I love the way WordPress looks when you get to the finished product stage. There is a small learning curve for each. But with very few skills, I had a decent-looking website at no cost to me, using the fine tools and templates provided by the wonderful people at WordPress or Blogspot--and you can too. I still use the same theme that I began with. The thing that is so awesome about both Blogger and WordPress is you have the option to use them in what my husband-the-programmer calls ‘wysiwyg’ (pronounced wizzy-wig) or ‘what-you-see-is-what-you-get.’ The user does not have to know any programming or coding–all that is done for you already, and you just organize it the way you want it, within certain limitations. If you want to use WordPress, visit the WordPress home page and select the 'Sign Up' button to register for a WordPress account. You'll need a valid email address (that has not been used to create another WordPress account) to sign up for a new WordPress account. Follow the steps and bam! You have a blog. But you can also do this via Blogger (Blogspot), Google’s free blogging tool and content management system, also an extremely simple process. Whichever platform you choose, I suggest you use your author name. I used Connie J. Jasperson. This links your author name to your website, which is why you are doing this in the first place. Pick a title for your site—my website title is Life in the Realm of Fantasy. When I began, I used the free domain, which gives you a .wordpress.com ending after your blog name, such as http://myblogname1.wordpress.com. If you begin with Blogger, you get a .blogspot.com ending. In WordPress, begin with finding a template. Open the left-hand menu and go to Customize and click on Themes. Select one of the many free templates. Once you find a theme that you like, you are ready to go. I use the Pilcrow theme for my site because I like the versatility. In Blogger, you will also come to a screen with many options. I suggest you just start at the top of the menu where it says template and begin playing around with it until you find the look and style you like best. You will be able to see most of your changes in the area below the Template Designer. In both WordPress and Blogger, I keep the template simple because it is easier for people to read. Once you have decided on that catchy title for your site and the color of your fonts and background are all organized, decide the layout. You can make it one column with no sidebar, or with one or two sidebars. Sidebars are good places for advertising your books and book trailers, along with many other things you want to share with the world, such as blogs that you follow. Most importantly, this is where you can offer those who wish to follow your website a place to sign up. The trick with sidebars is to keep them from junking up the page, which I have a tendency to do. In WordPress, you will click “Upload.” This will take you to the part where you REALLY customize the look of your website. Open the menu on the left and begin customizing from there. Click on Customize and go to Widgets. You can add your book images there, and links to Amazon or other sellers, along with all sorts of other wonderful things that will make your site uniquely yours. In Blogger, click "Apply to Blog" in the upper right-hand corner. This should take you back to the Blogger page, where you will look in the menu on the left and click on the "Layout" button, just above the orange Template button. On the right hand side (yours may be different, depending on how you chose to display sidebars) click on “add a gadget.” This does the same as a widget does in WordPress. In both WordPress and Blogger, you will find many options to make your site look great, from inserting images to ways to add html code for embedding videos. You can get fancy with the header or use the header they offer you. The appearance of your site will evolve over time, as mine certainly has. Both sites have awesome and informative help in their FAQs, and I suggest you make good use of them. Everything I know was learned by my asking questions and going out to their FAQs. Do take some time to play around with arrangements. You can preview it, but if you accidentally hit publish, don’t freak because until you add content and tell folks it’s out there, no one will see your mistakes. Take as much time as you need to get comfortable with the system and remember that anything you don't like can be undone. The next post will cover blogging, and why having a place on your website where you communicate with your readers is a good way to interest them in your books. >>><<< >>><<< >>><<< >>><<< Portions of this article were published on Life in the Realm of Fantasy, Creating your Author Blog part 1, 18 May 2018, ©Connie J. Jasperson All Rights Reserved, Reprinted by Permission. Connie J. Jasperson is a published poet and the author of nine novels. Her work has appeared in numerous anthologies. A founding member of Myrddin Publishing Group, she can be found blogging regularly on both the craft of writing and art history at Life in the Realm of Fantasy. As writers, we all want to be accepted and have others like our work, but we owe it to ourselves to write from the heart. Chuck Wendig, in his post The Danger of Writing Advice from Industry Professionals, says, “And so the advice really should be, don’t use adverbs or adjectives when they sound awkward, or when they fail to tell us something that we need to know.” I repeat: Don’t use adverbs or adjectives when they sound awkward, or when they fail to tell us something that we need to know. In other words, use them when they are necessary and cut them when they aren’t. We know that certain words and phrases don’t add to the narrative and only serve to increase the wordiness. Used too freely, they separate the reader from the experience. For me, especially in my first draft, these words are like tics—they fall out of my fingers and into my keyboard randomly, and out of my voluntary control. I don’t self-edit as I go because at that point, I’m just trying to get the story down. The second and third drafts are where I shape my grammar and phrasing. Two of my three current manuscripts are genre fiction. However, even in my contemporary work, I must write active prose. This means I don’t want to use words with no power behind them. However, I will not blindly remove every ‘ly’ word because that would be ridiculous. Consider adverbs, words that are sometimes reviled and banned by writing groups armed with a little dangerous knowledge. Descriptors frequently end with the letters ‘ly.’ You could do a global search for these letters, and a list will pop up in the left margin of your manuscript. When it comes to adverbs, many times simply removing them strengthens the prose. If they are necessary, I leave them. As Chuck Wendig said, words like “later,” or “everywhere,” or “never” or “alone” are also adverbs. Personally, although it would be an awesome challenge for a NaNoWriMo writing sprint, I don’t see myself writing with no adverbs whatsoever. I seek out adverbs, descriptors, qualifiers, and other “weed words,” look at how they are placed in the context of the sentence and decide if they will stay or go. Many will go, but some must stay. Perhaps you are new enough to this that when other writers point out that you incorporate too many passive phrasings into your narrative, you become confused. This confusion can make us feel angry and hurt, make us want to quit that writing group. We want to avoid wordiness. Overuse of forms of to be (is, are, was, were) leads to wordiness. Long, convoluted passages turn away most readers. Each time you come across a form of this passive phrasing, see if you can use an active form of a verb in place of a form of to be. Acted, as opposed to acted upon. Some people use Scrivener for their writing and swear by it. For myself, I don't need a fancy word-processing program with a difficult learning curve—my life is complicated enough as it is, so I use MS Word as my word processing program, but Google Docs works just as well. Simple is good. A good program to help point out how certain passages need to be “made active” is Pro Writing Aid. I use the professional version for my own work, but they do have a free version that will show you some limited problems in your prose, and just knowing what these are will give you a road map. Indies who don’t have the benefit if a close knit writing group must hire line editors to go over their work. Even editors must have their work seen by other eyes. This is not cheap. If you don’t have an editing program, you must try to find these words on your own. Caution: if you are hasty or impatient, a global search can be dangerous and can mess up an otherwise good manuscript. Be aware: This is a boring, time-consuming task. You can’t take shortcuts. If you get hasty and choose to “Replace All,” you run the risk of making a gigantic mess of your work. Consider the word ‘very.’ This word comes in for a lot of abuse in writing groups and writers’ chat rooms, and there are good reasons to limit its use. BUT suppose you decide to simply eliminate every instance of the word “very” because you have discovered you overuse it. You open the navigation pane and the advanced search dialog box. In the ‘Replace With’ box you don’t key anything, thinking this will eliminate the problem. Before you click ‘replace all’ consider three common words that have the letters v-e-r-y in their makeup:
Deleting every instance of ‘very’ could mess things up on an incredibly large scale. If you have decided something is a ‘weed word,’ examine the context. Have you used the word “actually” in a conversation? If so, you may want to keep it, as dialogue must sound natural, and people use that word in conversation. If you have used it in the narrative to describe an object, it's probably not needed. Context is everything. Take the time to look at each example of the offending words and change them individually. You have already spent a year or more writing that novel, so why wouldn’t you take a few days to do the job right. It’s unfortunate, but there is no speedy way to do this. Every aspect of getting your book ready for the reading public must be done with the human eye, patience, and attention to detail. As I have mentioned before, editing programs are out there, some free, and some for an annual fee. Your word processing program probably has spell check, which can help or hinder you. Grammarly is another editing program I use for checking my own work, in tandem with Pro Writing aid. The BIG problem for those who don’t understand the basics of grammar is, these programs are unable to see the context of the work they are analyzing: “The tea was cool and sweet, quenching her thirst.” Grammarly suggested replacing quenching with quenched. Pro Writing Aid makes similarly strange suggestions. I have no idea why. Context is defined as the parts of a written or spoken statement that precede or follow a specific word or passage, usually influencing its meaning or effect. A person with limited knowledge of grammar will not benefit from relying on Grammarly or any other editing program for advice. This is because these programs operate by finite rules and will often strongly suggest you insert an unneeded article or change a word to one that is clearly not the right one for that situation. New writers should invest in the Chicago Guide to Grammar, Usage, and Punctuation, and learn how grammar works. Currently, at this stage in our technology, understanding context is solely a human function. Because context is so important, I am wary of relying on these editing programs for anything other than alerting you to possible comma and spelling malfunctions. I don’t mind taking the time to visit each problem and resolve them one at a time. I see this as part of my job, just what an author does to make sure her work is finished to the best of her ability. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Credits and Attributions: The Danger of Writing Advice from Industry Professionals, by Chuck Wendig, Terribleminds, The Ramble, http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2017/12/12/the-danger-of-writing-advice-from-industry-professionals/ ©2017. Accessed 12 Dec 2017. Portions of this post previously appeared on Life in the Realm of Fantasy in the article Context and Adverbs by Connie J. Jasperson © 12 Dec 2017 and are reprinted here by permission. About the Author: Connie J. Jasperson is a published poet and the author of nine novels. Her work has appeared in numerous anthologies. A founding member of Myrddin Publishing Group, she can be found blogging regularly on both the craft of writing and art history at Life in the Realm of Fantasy. This post arose out of a conversation with a fellow member of Northwest Independent Writers Association. She mentioned how one of the most difficult things for an indie author is the feeling of going it alone. She sometimes feels adrift and cut off from others and also from success. She knew I am a member of an indie publishing cooperative and thought I should post my thoughts on how well that aspect of my publishing life has gone. I was not always an indie. My first book was signed in 2011 by a small publisher, based in Indianapolis. I came into contact with them through the author boards at ABNA, a contest sponsored by Amazon. I liked their online persona and was thrilled, over the moon that someone thought my work was worth publishing. I happily signed with them. You will notice I hadn’t researched them when I signed, nor did I know anything about them, other than they were sometime very funny in the threads I frequented. I soon discovered that the company was run by an opportunistic master of smoke-and-mirrors, a man who had owned several “Gentleman’s Clubs” and a used car lot. He will henceforth be referred to as “Lord Voldemort.” Thirty-two of us who met through the boards at this highly reputable contest signed with him. Some were lawyers, others were teachers and engineers. I was a bookkeeper at the time, which was his temporary downfall. When we finally walked away from him, he owed a chunk of money to me, but that was a drop in the bucket compared to what he owed the others. We knew how our books were selling at Amazon because in 2011 a website existed that was called "Novel Rank." It was a website that tracked Kindle book sales, reporting both the actual number of books sold and the distribution of those sales: US regular or expanded, and UK sales. Using those numbers, we were able to see what we had earned. Fortunately, Lord Voldemort had made the mistake of leaving a clause in our contracts that
After nine months, twenty-five of us walked away, as our rights had legally reverted back to us at the point of non-payment of royalties. We did report him to Editors and Predators, and he in turn, listed our co-op with them as a childish form of punishment for leaving him. As we don’t seek new members, nor does our co-op own the rights to any of our books, it did him no good to be spiteful. We didn’t want to go it alone, but we had no faith in small presses at that point. So, in May of 2012, we formed an indie publishing cooperative, Myrddin Publishing Group. Membership is restricted, and any new prospective member must be voted into the group. We don’t seek new authors, and as a company, we hold no money or royalties. All funds earned by our books go directly to the author from the point of sale, i.e., Amazon, Smashwords, Barnes&Noble, or Draft2Digital, or IngramSparks. Our books are indie-published using Myrddin ISBN's and under that name, but each author has sole responsibility for their book, the royalties, and must market their own work. The publishing co-op model we use is quite simple. We pay $25.00 a year to be a member. That money goes to pay for our website, which is our store. One of our members lives in Wales, and her husband is employed in internet security. She manages the website and he is our IT man, but each member is responsible for creating their own author page, listing their books, and keeping their author page updated. We have a nominal leader since every group needs a person in charge. She manages our tiny bank account and pays any fees Myrddin might have accrued. She makes a full report of how the money was spent every quarter—usually on the website or for a service the group can use and benefit from. Because we met through ABNA, we have members all across the US, the UK, and Australia. The way we communicate is through a private group page on Facebook. When we first started in 2012, we bought 1000 ISBNs. A retired bookkeeper in Essex, England manages those for us. In 2012 those ISBNs cost us $1000.00, and we divided up the costs ($40.00 for each of us). I believe that cost has doubled since then, but don’t quote me on that. All our financial transactions are through the Myrddin PayPal account to our leader, and each Myrddin member can ransom back the requisite number of ISBNs (Kindle, Draft2Digital, and Print, etc.) for $1.00 each (two ISBNs, one 10-digit and one 13-digit number for each format). We have enough ISBN’s for all of us to create books for many years to come. What I bring to the group is my ever-evolving editing skill. I edit or beta-read for them as needed and can do book covers. I can create digital maps, banners, bookmarks, and logos as needed. Things to consider if you want to start your own publishing cooperative:
Remember, all of these are time-consuming services that the providers are not earning money for, so be gentle with those who are helping you. I can’t stress this enough: Even if you don’t use a service they offered you, be a good friend and give back to them when it’s their turn to seek services and help. There are sometimes hiccups in the group’s overall Zen. As I said above, each member in our co-op is responsible for listing their own books on the website and keeping their author page updated. But at times, we have problems with people not being able to figure out how to update their books on the website. They may panic. Their frustration may boil over. One of us is always available to help. Also, it’s easy for non-bloggers to forget to write a blogpost when it is their week. In general, people get sidetracked by life and forget what they're supposed to do for the group sometimes. These are all minor irritations, and I wouldn’t trade my group. The wonderful people I am partnered with have become my dearest friends and collaborators, people who have made the last seven years a wonderful adventure. >>><<< >>><<< >>><<< >>><<< Connie J. Jasperson is a published poet and the author of nine novels. Her work has appeared in numerous anthologies. A founding member of Myrddin Publishing Group, she can be found blogging regularly on both the craft of writing and art history at Life in the Realm of Fantasy. (The following article is from the author’s archives at Life in the Realm of Fantasy and has been reprinted by permission.) *** Every writer has moments when creativity fails them. We sit before our computer and the words refuse to come, or when they do, they seem awkward. At times like this, we feel alone and isolated. After all, an idea is jammed in our head and words should fall from our fingers like water from the tap. I have suffered this, the same as every author does. However, it never gets too firm a grip on me because I have several exercises that help me write my way through the block. Something we sometimes forget is that the act of writing every day builds mental muscle tone and keeps you fit and in the habit of writing. Every author suffers a dry spell now and then. Even so, this job requires us to practice, just like music or dancing. Doing well at anything artistic or sports related requires discipline. Just like a retired football player, when we stop writing for any reason, we lose our momentum and our purpose. We lose our passion. If you are in the middle of a manuscript and you lose your ability to go forward, save the file and close it. Walk away from that manuscript for a while. Before we go any further, you must delete nothing. You will come back to your manuscript later with a fresh viewpoint and will be able to use some or all of it, so file it properly. Occasionally, we get distracted by a different project that wants to be written. When that is the case, I always suggest you go ahead and work on the project that is on your mind. Let that creative energy flow, and you will eventually be able to become reconnected with the first project. But what about those times when you need to write, you have to write, but the words won’t come? Trust me, it isn’t the end of your career. This is true writers’ block. First, we have the element of fear to overcome. You are suddenly afraid that you have written everything good that you will ever write, and anything you write now is garbage. It isn’t the end of everything. You will prove to yourself that you can write. This is a small exercise, very short. It should take you perhaps ten or fifteen minutes each day. My solution for this problem is a combination of mind-wandering and a a few simple writing exercises. I got the idea for this while in a seminar on the craft of writing essays offered by the bestselling author of Blackbird, Jennifer Lauck. In that class, Jennifer gave us prompts and asked us to write to them. I have never been good at writing to someone else’s prompts. My ideas don’t flow that way. To make it worse, we were going to have to share them with someone else in the class. I felt panicky, terrified I wouldn’t be able to write, and would embarrass myself. My mind was blank. When I saw what Jennifer’s prompt was, it occurred to me that I could do that. I had one of those bolt-of-lightning moments, a tangent to nowhere that didn’t pertain to her class. But it seemed important, so I wrote it down. When I got home, I pondered a little more about it and put my thoughts into a short essay. In that class, I realized that most of the time, writer’s block is a result of not being able to visualize what you want to write about. If you can’t visualize it, you can’t articulate it. It hits us in two stages, two emotions that are so closely related, it feels like one horrible emotion.
This is the writing prompt Jennifer Lauck used as the first exercise in her class:
This is going to be a literal interpretation and description of your surroundings:
Just give it two or three paragraphs. For me, sitting here at this moment and writing this post, it runs like this: I sit in the small third bedroom of my home. It’s my office, a cluttered storeroom, known here as the Room of Shame. A cup of cooling coffee sits beside my elbow, as does my cell phone. My desk holds many books on the craft of writing and also my computer. Stacks of cardboard boxes filled with things that were, at one time, deemed important to keep, surround me. Filing cabinets full of legal papers, tax forms, and research take up space, all stuffed with the debris of our business life. I could easily clean this space. It would take no time at all, perhaps a day at most. It’s a mountain I put off climbing. See? At the end of this exercise, you have written a small short story. But, more importantly, you have written the setting for a scene. Those paragraphs are around 120 words and are nothing special. But they were words and I wrote them, which keeps my mind functioning in a writing mode.
You could do that on your porch, in a coffee shop, or the parking lot at the supermarket, but go away from your normal writing space. Just write a few paragraphs about the space you have come to, what you see, and what you sense. The third exercise is more abstract:
Your practice work is for your eyes alone. No one has to see it if you don’t want to share it. If you do these three exercises at the same time every day, describing the environments and your perceptions in a different space each time, even when you have nothing to say that is worth reading, you are writing. It’s a weird thing but writing about nothing in particular is like doodling. It is a form of mind-wandering. It can jar your creative mind loose. With perseverance, you will be writing your other work again. The important thing is to write every day, even if it is only a few paragraphs. These are the exercises that work for me and which I recommend for working through writer’s block. Remember, if you are suffering from a temporary dry spell, you are not alone. All authors go through those times. >>><<< >>><<< >>><<< >>><<< Connie J. Jasperson is a published poet and the author of nine novels. Her work has appeared in numerous anthologies. A founding member of Myrddin Publishing Group, she can be found blogging regularly on both the craft of writing and art history at Life in the Realm of Fantasy. This article was first published on April 10, 2019 on Life in the Realm of Fantasy as When Creativity Fails © 2019 Connie J. Jasperson https://conniejjasperson.com/2019/04/10/when-creativity-fails-amwriting/ and has been reprinted by permission. (The following article is from the author’s archives at Life in the Realm of Fantasy and has been reprinted by permission.) *** We who are authors and artists are notoriously thin-skinned. When we are young in the profession and still consider our works to be the equivalent of our perfect children, we bleed profusely when you admit you didn’t really enjoy what we wrote (or sang, or painted). Some of us handle this kind of conversation with grace and dignity, and others not so well. But what if the unloved thing was the best thing we ever wrote? It does happen. I get ten rejections at least for every one acceptance, but usually many more. I get so many that I hardly even notice them nowadays. I just keep the revolving door revolving. After all, if you don’t submit your work, you won’t get any acceptances. When I first began shopping my work out, I would feel crushed upon receiving a rejection. However, when I look back at those efforts, I can clearly see why those particular pieces weren’t accepted. First, I had no idea what a finished manuscript should look like. The internet wasn’t a thing yet, and I hadn’t heard of William Shunn or his instructions for how to properly format a manuscript. I knew my finished story had some problems, but I didn’t understand what those problems were or how to resolve them. I naively assumed an editor would fix them, because that’s what editors do, right? Wrong. I wasn’t as well educated as I thought I was. Typos, dropped and missing words, long, convoluted sentences, and hokey dialogue—all found their way into my first efforts. I began to get past that stage when I found Orson Scott Card’s book, “How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy.” I still didn’t understand everything, or even most of anything. But I was on the road to learning more about what I didn’t know. Books on the craft of writing began to fill my shelves, and I took classes and went to seminars. Nowadays my work is submission ready and as clean as I can make it. Sometimes my work is accepted, and believe me, I celebrate. Most of the time it is rejected, and not because it is bad. Most of the time, rejection means that I submitted something that wasn’t what the editor was looking for. Editors usually have a certain kind of story in mind when they put out an open call, and only a few of the landslide of submissions will be accepted. Those that are accepted are the few that perfectly fit the editor’s original concept. What I’m going to say next has been said before, many times. Sometimes we receive a form letter rejection that boils down to “Sorry, but no.” It isn’t personal, so don’t brood over it. Those kinds of rejections are bad only because they don’t tell us why the piece wasn’t acceptable. Sometimes we receive a little encouragement: “Try us again.” That means exactly what it says, so the next time you have something you think will fit in that anthology or magazine, send them a submission. I know this makes no sense, but when an editor explains their reasoning in a letter, it is very likely that some phrase will be like a knife to the chest for the author. This is because it’s a rejection and may contain detailed criticism. I once got a rejection from an anthology along with a note that said the subject of my quest had been done before. I was a little surprised and hurt because I felt that comment was vague and meant they didn’t even bother to read the story. I could have responded childishly, but that would have been foolish and self-defeating. The truth was the type of quest it involves has been done before. I felt that my story was original in its presentation, but it didn’t ring that editor’s bells. I hauled myself off to a corner and licked my wounds. Then, I sent that editor a response thanking them for their time. An editor’s bluntness is valuable, so I will someday rework that tale with a different twist. We live in a world that is always observing us. We are judged by the way we act and react in every professional interaction. If you’re in a writing group and your work isn’t as well received as you thought it would be, don’t respond to a peer’s criticism without thinking it through. Even worse, if you fly off and send a flame mail to an editor, you risk doing irreparable damage to your career—you will be put on that editor’s “no way in hell” list. Also, please don’t go bad-mouthing that editor on Twitter or Facebook. All that drama is just plain embarrassing, and unprofessional. It’s easy to forget that editors are also authors. They are involved with the same forums in all the many social platforms you are, so be careful of what you say online. Editors are just like the rest of us, and they’ve experienced their share of rejection. When an author has a public tantrum, the innocent bystanders remember it. Snide tweets about other authors, awkward Instagram photos, or Facebook rants don’t show a person in a good light. I shouldn’t have to remind anyone of this, considering all the noise about Facebook and our personal information, but how we interact online with others is public information and is visible to the world. We must always consider what an interested reader will find when they Google our author name. Our online interactions at Goodreads, Twitter, and in every other public forum will be available for eternity. What should you do if your work is accepted, but the editor would like a few revisions? If the editor wants changes, they will make clear what they want you to do. This happens most often for submissions to an anthology. Editors know what their intended audience wants. Trust that the editor knows their business. Make whatever changes they request. Never be less than gracious to any of the people at a publication when you communicate with them, whether they are the senior editor or the newest intern. Be a team player and work with them. Negative feedback is a necessary part of growth. I keep a file of my rejection letters/emails. Most are simple: “We are not interested in this piece at this time.” Some have short notes attached with the words, “Try us again in the future.” Some contain the details of why a piece was rejected, and while those comments are sometimes painful, they are the ones I learn from. Rejection is the most common kind of response an author will receive, sometimes for years. How we react to it is where each of us has the opportunity to cross the invisible line between amateur and professional. >>><<< >>><<< >>><<< >>><<< Connie J. Jasperson is a published poet and the author of nine novels. Her work has appeared in numerous anthologies. A founding member of Myrddin Publishing Group, she can be found blogging regularly on both the craft of writing and art history at Life in the Realm of Fantasy. This article was first published on March 25, 2019 on Life in the Realm of Fantasy as Gaining Strength Through Rejection © 2019 Connie J. Jasperson https://conniejjasperson.com/2019/03/25/gaining-strength-through-rejection-amwriting/ and has been reprinted by permission. We give characters names that show the sort of world they live in. We hunt for the right names, see how they look on paper. Naming characters with good, unique names takes effort. When we are laying down the first draft of any story, some characters become an example of “Chekhov’s Gun.” If the character is not a protagonist or a sidekick, does this character warrant you hunting up a unique name for them? If not, don’t bother giving them a name. Too many named characters can be confusing to the reader. We want the reader to stay focused on the protagonist(s) and their story. The second draft is where we make every effort to find the distractions we may have inadvertently written into the manuscript. Extraneous named characters is an easy one to fix. Simply remove their name, and identify them in general terms. The reader will move on and forget about them. I have learned several difficult lessons about naming characters. Rule one: Only give names to characters who advance the plot. You don’t have time to waste on fruitless internet searches, so when you introduce a named character, ask yourself if it is someone the reader should remember. Are they a disposable character, just a walk-on? Even if the walk-on offers information the protagonist and reader must know, it doesn’t mean they need to be named. Some throw-away characters will give us clues to help our protagonist along the way. Others might show us something about the protagonist, give us a clue into their personality or past. Do they return later in the story or do they act as part of the setting? Are they just part of the ambiance of a scene? If they don’t return, don’t give them a name. My current work in progress has a passage that takes place in an inn. It involves a conversation overheard from a table adjacent to my two protagonists and their sidekicks. The conversation between the merchant and his sons gives my protagonists information they need, but they are in this scene for only one purpose: to be overheard and don't appear again. For this reason, they are never named. Rule Two: No two characters should have names that begin and end with the same letters. In the Tower of Bones Series, I have a main character named Marya. She is the protagonist’s love interest and is central to the series. In 2009 when I was writing the first book, a side character was important enough to have a name. My mind must have been in a rut when I thought that one up: for some stupid reason I named her Marta. You can probably see where that went—the two names are nearly identical. What is even worse, halfway through the first draft of the second book in the series, Marta became a character with a major storyline. She actually becomes Marya’s mother-in-law in the third book. Fortunately, I was in the final stage of editing book one, Tower of Bones, for publication, and immediately realized I had to make a major correction: Marta was renamed Halee. My rule now is to NEVER name two characters in such a way that the first and last letters of their names are the same. To avoid that circumstance, I try to never have two that even begin with the same letter. Rule Three: Avoid fancy spellings, because ease of pronunciation is crucial. How will that name be pronounced when it is read out loud? You may not want to get too fancy with the spelling. I didn’t understand that concept when I first began writing seriously. When I named my characters, I was too concerned with how the words looked on the page. I never considered that they might be read aloud. My third book was Huw the Bard. I love that book and that character. It never occurred to me that most people wouldn’t know that Huw is Welsh for Hugh and is pronounced the same. I was raised around people of both Welsh and Irish origin. I wanted Huw to have that cultural flavor, but that spelling choice has been a problem since publication. Most people are unaware that a "W" is actually a "Double U" - UU -2 U(s). It is pronounced "Yoo" or "oo" (like goo) in Welsh and in old English words. I have another character in my Tower of Bones series named Friedr. This is pronounced Free-der. My own son never says it right, so that name is a problem for readers and if I wasn’t 5 books into the series, I would change it. Audio books are the new “must do” way to get your work into the hands of “readers.” Nowadays, when we write a book, we need to consider how a name will be pronounced when it is read out loud. It might be a good idea to be mindful of the spelling so that the narrator can easily read that name aloud. If you are just beginning your career as an author, you probably don’t realize how important this is. To wrap this up,
********************************************************************************* Connie J. Jasperson is a published poet and the author of nine novels. Her work has appeared in numerous anthologies. A founding member of Myrddin Publishing Group, she can be found blogging regularly on both the craft of writing and art history at Life in the Realm of Fantasy. Once again, NIWA is assembling an anthology of work written by its member authors. The deadline for submission is 11:59 pm on April 1, 2019.
Submission Guidelines:
The theme for this year’s NIWA anthology is “Doorways.” The story you submit must embody the desired theme in 5000 words or less. Along with exploring the theme of an anthology, editors only want your best work. Why is word count limited to 5000 words? The publisher of the anthology wants to present as wide a variety of stories as is possible. By limiting the length of each submission, they are ensuring that no one story can dominate the book with length. They are also making room for a larger number of authors to have their work accepted. What is “your best work?” Your best work is written with the theme of the Anthology in mind, a central facet of the story.
Your best bet is to have a member of your local writing/critique group edit your story to help you make it submission ready. Don’t expect the editor of the anthology to make your work look professional. Why is theme so important? In general, theme is what the story is about on a deeper level than what is seen on the surface. It’s the big meaning, a thread that is woven through the entire story, and often it’s a moral. Love, honor, family, redemption, and revenge are all common, underlying themes. In an anthology, the overall theme is an idea-thread that binds all the stories together, creating a coherent book of short stories. Without a central theme to connect the works of so many different authors, the anthology will be disjointed and uneven, a patchwork. The unifying theme ensures continuity. If you are all writing to a common theme, the readers who purchase the anthology will stay with it and read your work. Your story will be up against many entries, so you must make yours as unique as is possible. Analyze the theme and try to think creatively—think a little wide of the obvious tropes. Doorways is a theme with many possibilities, so look for an original angle and then go for it. To support the theme, you must layer
These three layers must drive the story arc. The theme is introduced, either subtly or overtly, at the first pinch-point. Many times, we are given a specific word count we cannot exceed. So, with that in mind I suggest you put together a broad outline of your intended story arc, and when writing a short story, it helps to know how it will end. Divide your story arc into quarters, so you have the important events in place at the right time. If you try to "pants" it, you might end up with a mushy plot that wanders all over the place and a story that may not be commercially viable.
Once you are satisfied you have caught all the errors and misspellings, garbled sentences, and plot holes, and that you have had it edited to the best of your ability, you must format your manuscript for submission according to the guidelines as set out by the anthology’s editor. NIWA has a Facebook page, a private chatroom, and those guidelines are also posted there. If you are not a member of NIWA you can join here at our website: https://www.niwawriters.com/membership.html Sometimes, we find out at the last minute that an opportunity for getting a piece into an anthology is open, and we think we can cobble a piece together in a day or two. I do advise against succumbing to this temptation, as your theme must be strongly represented throughout your story, and the work must be as clean as is humanly possible, two things that are difficult to accomplish when a story is slapped together. Don’t feel surprised if your sloppy, unedited work is rejected. The editor of the anthology has asked for your best work. You want the other authors to submit their best work so that your work will be included with the best the industry has to offer. Be respectful and do the same with your work. Do NOT rush it. Take the time to make your short story the very best work you can, so it represents you and what you are capable of. ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ Portions of Writing for an Anthology, by Connie J. Jasperson, were first published here at the NIWA blog on August 1, 2018 and are being reprinted by permission. Connie J. Jasperson is a published poet and the author of nine novels. Her work has appeared in numerous anthologies. A founding member of Myrddin Publishing Group, she can be found blogging regularly on both the craft of writing and art history at Life in the Realm of Fantasy. Much discussion can be found on the internet regarding the pros and cons of the Oxford, or serial, comma. As a reader, I feel the argument is a waste of time. I don’t like ambiguity in the works I am reading, and the proper use of serial commas can resolve that. When we have a list in a sentence, not using commas can create some interesting situations. Serial commas prevent confusion. In March of 2017, the New York Times reported that the omission of a comma between words in a list in a lawsuit cost a Maine company millions of dollars. Consider the legendary book dedication often attributed to Teresa Nielsen Hayden: To my parents, Ayn Rand and God. Parents, when named, are a unit. They will be written as Ayn Rand and God. In the above dedication, the author thanks three separate units:
By making the last two names a unit, the author introduced ambiguity about her parentage, because Ayn Rand and God can be read as meaning that the writer claims Ayn Rand and God are the parents. On a side note, that is actually rather hilarious because Ayn Rand was famously atheist in her beliefs. If she were to have had a child with God, I doubt she would have believed it. I'm not qualified to say whether or not God believed in Ayn Rand. However, using the serial comma removes the ambiguity: To my parents, Ayn Rand, and God. Lists can be written in other ways that eliminate the ambiguity without introducing the serial comma. We can use other punctuation or none. We can set the words in a list apart from each other. For example, we could show the above dedication in the following manner: To God and Ayn Rand and my parents. Ernest Hemingway used the conjunction “and” in place of commas in much of his work. Most will agree, Hemingway’s work was readable. Another famous example, reported by Wikipedia, was found in a newspaper account of a documentary about Merle Haggard: Among those interviewed were his two ex-wives, Kris Kristofferson and Robert Duvall. This could be taken to mean that Kris Kristofferson and Robert Duvall were Merle Haggard's ex-wives. Although Merle Haggard has been married five times, he was never married to either Kris Kristofferson or Robert Duvall. A serial comma would resolve that inaccuracy: Among those interviewed were his two ex-wives, Kris Kristofferson, and Robert Duvall. Think of it as a list: if there are only two things (or ideas) in a list, they do not need to be separated by a comma. I am buying apples and then going to the car wash. Whenever there are more than two ideas, the comma should be used to separate them. Always include a comma preceding the word 'and' before the final item/idea. I must buy apples, go to the car wash, and then go to the library. Grammar doesn’t have to be a mystery. If we want to write narratives that all speakers of English from Houston to Brisbane can read, we must learn the simple common rules of the road. To this end, I recommend investing in The Chicago Guide to Grammar and Punctuation. It is based on The Chicago Manual of Style but it's smaller, and the contents are easier to navigate. If your prose feels wonky to you, and you know the punctuation is weird but think a reader won’t notice, you are wrong. Take the plunge and open the grammar book. Look up the rules for punctuation that confuses you. You will become more confident in your writing, and your work will go faster. Editing will certainly go faster. *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** Connie J. Jasperson is a published poet and the author of nine novels. Her work has appeared in numerous anthologies. A founding member of Myrddin Publishing Group, she can be found blogging regularly on both the craft of writing and art history at Life in the Realm of Fantasy. I always begin with an outline, but part way in my stream-of-consciousness takes over, and the outline goes out the window. When that happens, I find myself giving every walk-on a name, right down to the dog. For me, the second draft is a mission to whittle down my cast of thousands. It’s sometimes difficult to decide should go and who should stay. What is the optimal number of primary characters for a book? Some say only four, others fifteen. I say introduce however many characters it takes to tell the story but use common sense. Rule 1: When you introduce a named character, ask yourself if it is someone the reader should remember. Even if this character offers information the protagonist and reader must know, it doesn’t necessarily mean they need to be named. Some random walk-on characters will give us clues to help our protagonist complete his/her quest. They might show us something about the protagonist, give us a clue into their personality or past. Does the character return later in the story? Give them a name only if they have a memorable role later. Some characters are part of the setting, showing the scenery of, say, a coffee shop, or a store. If they are just part of the scenery, overheard for the ambiance, they don’t need a name. Rule 2: Only give names to characters who advance the plot. In an excellent article on screenwriting, Christina Hamlett of the Writer’s Store writes: In a screenplay, the rhythm you're attempting to establish--along with the emotional investment you're asking a reader to make--is disrupted whenever you devote more than two lines of introduction to a character who is simply there to take up space. In order to justify their existence, each player in your script should perform a unique function or deliver a specific line that: 1. Advances the plot, 2. Thwarts the hero's objectives, 3. Provides crucial background, and/or 4. Contributes to the mood of the scene. If you've included characters who don't fulfill one or more of these jobs, they're probably not critical to the storyline and can be deleted. While she is speaking of screenplays, this is true of a novel or short story. A name implies a character is an important part of the story. Ask yourself if the character is an example of “Chekhov’s Gun.” Does this character serve a purpose the reader must know? If not, don’t give them a name. Rule 3: Never name two characters in such a way that the first and last letters of their names are the same. I learned a difficult lesson the hard way about naming characters. Ten years ago, when I began the Tower of Bones Series, I had a main character named Marya. She is central to the series. Also, in the first book, a side character was important enough to have a name, but my mind must have been in a rut when I thought that one up—for some stupid reason I named her Marta. Unfortunately, the two names are nearly identical. What is even worse, halfway through the first draft of the second book in the series, Marta suddenly was a protagonist with a major storyline. She actually becomes Marya’s mother-in-law in the third book. Fortunately, I was in the final stage of editing book one, Tower of Bones, for publication, and immediately realized I had to make a major correction: Marta was renamed Halee. Rule 4: My personal rule now is to never have two that even begin with the same letter. This means I must exhaust the alphabet, but trust me, your readers will be grateful that you did. Rule 5: Spelling and ease of pronounceability are critical. How easy is it to read and how will that name be pronounced when it is read out loud? Audio books are gaining in popularity. You may have your book made into an audio boo, so make those invented words and names simple to read and easy for the narrator to read aloud. You may not think that matters, but it does. I only have one book that is an audio book, but during the recording of that book, my narrator had trouble pronouncing the names of two characters, because I had written the names so they would look good on paper, not realizing they were unpronounceable as they were written. We ironed that out, but the experience taught me to spell names simply. In conclusion, don’t confuse your readers by giving unimportant walk-on characters names, never name two characters names that are nearly identical, and consider making your spellings of names and places pronounceable just in case you decide to have your book made into an audio book. *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** Connie J. Jasperson is a published poet and the author of nine novels. Her work has appeared in numerous anthologies. A founding member of Myrddin Publishing Group, she can be found blogging regularly on both the craft of writing and art history at Life in the Realm of Fantasy. Credit: Minor Characters Don't Need Major Introductions, Christina Hamlett, Copyright © 1982 - 2018 The Writers Store ® Incorporated, accessed Mar. 11, 2017. |
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