Blogs by Jay Palmer: How to Self-Publish 10 Steps to Starting Your First Novel Writing Page One of your Book Where do writers get ideas? My Words on Dialog The Fun of Writing The Pain of Writing Writing a Real Person in Fiction Villains! Writing Realism in Magic Plot Arc Maintaining Tension Marketing your Book How to Self-Publish
You can pay hundreds or thousands to get someone to edit your book, and you can pay hundreds or thousands to get someone else to create and format your covers, and you can pay hundreds or thousands to get someone else to market your book. None of these are required costs, but someone must do each. For the cheapest rates, look to that person in the mirror ... you can do it yourself!
How can you publish your own writings?
First and foremost, you have to be a writer. To some, this will be incredibly painful, and to others, it will be excruciating. There are only two primary requirements: time and determination. You must write alone, stay focused, and you can't be interrupted. You will spend hundreds of hours writing ... and doing nothing else.
Are there any tricks to writing that work?
Yes, and I highly recommend them. You can write without them, but unless you were born rich and talented, you must use all 3:
Trick #1: The more you write, the better you will get.
Trick #2: The more you read, the better you can write.
Trick #3: The more feedback you get from others, the more you will understand how well you write.
That's it. Those 3 tricks are all that you need. You don't need a great idea or an original plot; if your writing does not contain these things, then you'll find that out from the feedback that you get. Then you can fix it.
(The most-important trick is #3. Without feedback, you probably will never get to where you want to be.)
When will you be a good writer?
I have a very clear definition: "A good writer is someone who can look at something that they wrote and recognize that it is crap." Until you can recognize your own crap, you can't know when you are writing well.
Can I can get published quicker by going the easy route?
What 'easy route'? Hey, maybe you think that you can just write kid's books or poetry; the text of 'Hop on Pop' by Dr. Seuss or 'The Raven' by Poe could fit into two pages of a novel. But guess what? The competition for success there is the fiercest, and if you think that those writers put less effort into their products, then guess again. In many cases, they put in more ... every word is crucial ... and requires more hours working (and marketing) to earn success.
Anyone who puts in the time, has the determination, and uses these 3 tricks will eventually become a good writer. How soon that happens depends on your level of effort. Now, let's say that you do these things and produce something that you feel others would love to read .... now what?
Publishing and writing have nothing to do with each other. Once you become a writer, and that hat fits, it's time to put that hat on the shelf and try on another hat: a businessman's hat. Artists write; businessmen (and businesswomen) sell. And, if you thought that your transformation into becoming a writer was painful, break out the morphine; you have yet to experience pain.
Can I Self-Edit?
No. Someone who knows spelling and grammar and sentence construction must edit it. The author may know these things, but there are aspects that authors are too close to see, things which require the eyes of others. If you can, swap edits with other writers, marry an editor, or pay thousands to have it edited. Any of these methods work ... but no author can do it alone.
Research! Research! Research!
Read at least three books on marketing by diverse types of people: authors, publishers, marketers. If you try to reinvent the wheel, you will most likely end up building a cube. The best processes are well-documented, easily-accessible, and change with the advent of each technology; read only the newest professional marketing experts or advice from authors that you trust.
Identify your audience.
Talk to your audience. Study your audience; learn what they like and what they don't. Read books by the authors that they like. Read stuff that is popular to examine them (this is why I read Twilight, several romance novels, and The Hunger Games series - very informative!). Identify multiple target audiences; just one is not enough. Then decide how you should target marketing to each group.
A friend and I were recently discussing revolutionary video game designs. We discussed numerous great ideas for systems that don't exist today, multi-player options that can be done but aren't, and finally I realized that we were going about it all wrong; rather than focus on what is technologically cool, we should have been asking ourselves "what experience do gamers want?" and proceed from there. That is what marketing is all about, and what writers need to focus on: what do readers want, and how does your writing provide that?
Remember: you can't make anyone buy anything; all you can do is make certain that as many people as possible know that your books exist. You don't want people to buy your books who won't like them; their reviews will reflect that their expectations were not met.
Can I publish using one website?
No; I had to use numerous online companies to publish ebooks and paperbacks. Each was a pain in its own way.
Google: Expect to spend countless hours on a search engine. If you hope for every reader to know that your book exists, then you need to get your book in front of them. But who are your target readers? Where do readers of your genre find out about new books? Where/when do they get together? Who is reviewing your type of books? Most of your potential readers won't come looking for you; you need to reach out to them; before you publish, you need to collect their emails now; as large a list of these folk as possible. You have to find them, and the best reviewers change.
VistaPrint: You will need business cards, fliers, and signs; they don't magically appear. VistaPrint is one of the many online printers, and they have a graphics tool, but one way or another, you will need to create/edit your own graphics - better get good at it now. Your first efforts will probably suck (mine did), and you have to be careful of stealing images off of the internet; using someone else's artwork for a business can get you sued. Start early ... and keep improving your efforts.
Bowker: For each book, you will need an ISBN number to publish; many publishers will provide these at a big cost, but the best/cheapest is from Bowker. Buying just one ISBN is expensive, but no one gets rich off one novel, so you might as well get the package discount. But Bowker is confusing - they are also a self-publisher, and their confusing website tries to trick you into using their services, so you could be signing up for more than you intended (if you're not careful).
Important: Everyone wants to sell you ISBNs. If you only want to publish a few copies of your book on your family history, you may not need one - not all companies require one. The publisher wants to sell you multiple ISBNs per book; they will tell you that you need a different ISBN for your paperback and ebook versions, but I didn't do this. Kindle Direct Publishing and B&N will want you to use different ISBNs on their platforms, but I used the same ones and no one complained. Do as you think best, but I'm too cheap to believe everything a salesperson says or writes.
Barnes & Noble: If you plan to publish at B&N, it has advantages and disadvantages. With B&N, you can actually have your books accessible by a physical bookstore, where you can send customers who don't use the internet, and it has a more targeted audience of readers. The disadvantage is that B&N has a much smaller audience, so nonreaders looking to pick up a book as a gift will be less likely to shop here. Whatever your genre, there's lots of 'just-off' genres, where those on Amazon interested in finding new garden tools may find your book on gardening, whereas they are unlikely to be searching for gardening tools on B&N.
Important: The B&N book cover formatting has much more stringent size requirements than places like Kindle, so if you're going to publish on both (which I recommend), do B&N first, and your cover will fit nicely into other publisher's requirements.
CreateSpace: You may see references online to CreateSpace. This was the name of the biggest paperback online publisher, who partnered with Kindle, who was the biggest e-book publisher. However, the two merged, both are now Kindle Direct Publishing.
Kindle Direct Publishing: You need to create an account. This is easy because it walks you through it. Templates exist for covers and text/insides.
For e-books, just add the front-only image of your cover art as one .JPG file, download their e-book template, and copy and paste your novel text into it. There are some details, like page headers and chapter-breaks, that you will have to finesse, but these are pretty straightforward. However, e-books can be done while waiting for approval on your paperback, so do paperback first.
For paperback books, the process is similar: download their text template, revise it with your novel, and upload it. However, their requirements for cover art are not easy. You can use their automated cover creator, but they have lots of little rules of what is acceptable and what will be rejected; these rules are not well-explained, and their auto-generated emails telling you why your artwork was rejected are practically worthless. Remember, people only look at the text of books when they like the overall image; cover art, single photos, font size, style, and color - everything must be perfect.
To submit covers such as mine, good luck; I had a nightmare of a time, and no one on their Help lines knew anything. It must be exactly the right size, formatted exactly as they want, and the instructions one reviewer gives may cause another to reject you, and you can only speak to the idiot Help desk; you never get to talk directly to those who rejected you, assuming that you were not rejected by an automated process (never looked at by a human). Even artwork that I built using their own templates was rejected.
Then, paperback cover art has to be in a PDF format of a specific size, so you may need special software to create it. Also, their printing process can vary, so your spine may be misprinted by 1/8 inch (in any direction), and they consider that acceptable. For best printing, you must design your covers/spine so that little printing variations do not make it look terrible.
Photoshop Elements: If you understand computers and graphics programs, but don't want to make a living as an artist, Photoshop Elements will give you most of what you need without the big price tag or enormous learning curve. There are free graphics programs, and I've used some, but none gave me everything I needed.
Important: You must first decide on one book size - for all your paperbacks. This is important if you want your books to look good side-by-side on your reader's bookshelves. To look good, all images must have at least a 300 DPI (Dots Per Inch) and for paperbacks the width of the spine must be exact per your number of pages.
Freelanced: Unless you are a talented artist, or are just using a photo or plain cover, you will need a cover artist. I went to several sites, but the one I chose my artist from was Freelanced. Thousands of artists sign up and display their artwork, and you can contact them directly that way. Or, you can post an ad, such as "I am looking for an experienced cover artist for 3 historical fiction novels. Images must be similar to 10 Steps to Starting Your First Novel
Many people, especially in bars, tell me about the story that they want to write. Most of them will never write anything. Why not? Because writing is frightening to most people because they fear that they will be judged by the quality of what they write. NEWS FLASH: All writers are judged by the quality of what they write. Accepting this is part of being a writer. If you easily succumb to the fear of rejection, don't waste your time. However, if you have the courage to write something and then show it to someone else, how do you get started? Do you need an interesting idea? Do you need a unique plot-twist to end your story? Do you need a complex storyboard and fully-filled character psychological summaries before you even begin? No, you need none of that. All of it helps, but there is one simple fact that makes all of those things unimportant: few writers start out as great writers. To become a great writer takes practice. Writing happens in two parts: get it written ... and get it right. Your first goal is to get it written, from first sentence to last, even if it has errors in it. Don't fix the errors at this point; make a list of corrections that need to be made and keep working on that first draft until it is done. Then go back and fix things. The more polished that you can write first drafts, the better, but recognizing poor writing, and fixing it, is perhaps the most important part of learning to be a writer. First drafts are the fun part of writing. Second, third, and fourth drafts are where the work of writing happens, and where most writers learn their craft. With experience comes clarity; your third first draft will be more polished than your first. Never write to throw something away; always write your best. Eventually, good writing will become habit. But to get there, you must follow these steps. Step 1: Define the person and their problem. To start your first story, all that you need an interesting character. An interesting character is someone who has a problem. How they are going to resolve their situation isn't important yet; define the person and define the problem in great detail. Perhaps it is an urgent problem: they have been slipped a slow-acting poison and have an hour to figure out who killed them. Perhaps is it a mundane problem: their girlfriend is pregnant and they are only sixteen years old. It can be a good problem: perhaps they won the lottery, but don't know what to do with the money. Any problem will do. The person should have some trait which compounds the problem, such as a man who loses a leg, but only had one leg left. Or a small, weak person who is bullied by a big, strong person. Step 2: What situation would trigger or display the start of this person's problem most dramatically? The opening scene sets the pace and tone for the whole book. It must be interesting. How people deal with a problem is usually interesting. The attempt should describe the person: a smart man is likely to succeed at resolving their problem quickly; a stupid person is only going to make their problem worse. Both resolutions work, but solving the problem doesn't always end the story. For example, the lottery winner may select a company to manage his new-found wealth; this may seem like a solution, but only if the writer wants it to. The little guy may try to avoid the fight by dialing 911, then buying drinks for the bully until the cops show up. Step 3: What new problems would the character's attempt at resolution generate? This may take longer to write and should not be written until the opening scene is complete. Since no solution is perfect, the opportunities for further trouble abounds. The lottery winner discovers that the agent of the company that he chose stole his money and fled the country. The bully who was dragged away by the cops has a brother who rules the local biker gang. The guy who had one leg left feels like he has suffered enough and loses his faith in God. In this world, or any that you can dream up, wherever there are people, there is always another problem. Step 4: Go back to step 2 (with the problem from Step 3). How many times you go back to step 2 is up to you. Are you writing a short story, a novel, or a novella? This process continues until you reach step 5. Step 5: End the story. Problems escalate, and eventually become life-changing. This is what you want: teenagers think that they rule the world until they discover that they rule nothing. A small, weak person learns to fight back. A lottery winner loses his wealth but finds love; some problem will become a big enough that the main character can't resolve it without changing themself. Once this happens, resolve the current problem and type "The End". Step 6: Perfect your story. At this point, you have had the fun of writing. Now you face the work of writing. Now you can ask yourself the important questions: Is my story too long or too short? Is my main character sympathetic? Will people who read my story like it? The last question is the most important, and the hardest task facing new writers; you have to get feedback from someone. You may do one edit pass, no more, just to clean it up enough that you can print it out, and then hand it to someone who is a heavy reader. If your mother doesn't read much, her opinion will be worth little. The best feedback comes from other writers; find a local or online writer's club and join it. Step 7: Shut up and listen. Don't talk while someone tells you what they thought about your story; this isn't the time to make excuses. If you have to explain something, then take notes, because you failed to write it clearly enough. FACT: Readers seldom misunderstand a well-written story. The best option is to get more than one person's opinion; if one person suggests that you should change the sex of your main character, then consider it, but if three people suggest the same thing, then do it. Every comment is valuable; always give out a clean printed copy of your story so that each reader can review it without being influenced by the comments of others. After a while, you may get to the point where you can predict feedback; that is one quality of a good writer. Step 8: Make the changes. This may be harder than it seems. You may have to add new subplots or delete whole chapters that you struggled to write; for this reason, keep older versions in case you want to recover something that you deleted. Smoothing out rough parts, making sure that everything is consistent, from the spelling of names to the color of each character's eyes, and adding drama is hard work, but that is what separates writers from dreamers. Step 9: Judge your work. Is this story worth submitting/self-publishing? Does everyone like it? Is it good enough to sell, or just plain bad? You must decide this; is it worth fixing, and all stories need some fixing, or should you start over? Or, if you've done all of your work right, remember that your task is not over. While you self-publish or try to sell this work, you need to start on your next novel; that's what makes you a writer. Either way, hopeless or finished, you go back to step 1 and start again. If you need to do more fixing on your first novel, then go back to step 6; this is why being a writer sucks. Step 10: Backup everything. Even if you decide that your novel is beyond repair, don't delete it. Football players don't start in the majors; most start in high school, graduate to college ball, and only then make a single dollar from playing ball. You may not be able to fix your story right now, but if you keep writing, then your skills will improve, perhaps to the point where someday you can fix this story and make it something worthwhile. Save your story permanently; send it to your friends to store on their computers, send yourself an email with your story attached (so that it is stored on a network computer), burn three CDs, keep one in your house, one in your car, and one in your office. (Having your story on both your laptop and your desktop won't help if your house burns down in the middle of the night.) Real writers may trash their own stories; they don't lose them to a failed hard drive. Backup frequently, and make sure that the backups are never stored in only one place. Do all of these steps sound intimidating? Once again, before you attempt step 1, deal with the fear ... like real writers face their fears every day. The rest will come in time. Writing Page One of your Book
What should be on page 1 of your novel? Where do your readers want your novel to start? Chances are that they want to start at the beginning, so giving them anything else (historical details, backstory, dreams, etc...) will turn them off. Always give your readers what they want! Simple Suggestions: 1. Facts and details are not your story; they are the spice required to keep your readers reading. Use facts and details sparingly, a tiny bit at a time, and sprinkle them throughout your whole story, preferably as needed. Don't dump all your information at the earliest possible moment. 2. Focus on your characters to make them real to your readers. If your readers don't care about your characters, they won't care about their adventures. 3. Start small, with one or two characters. Make them different people with different wants and needs. At least one of them should be doing something to resolve one of their wants or needs. At least one of them should not be a jerk. 4. Don't provide information that your characters do not need at that specific time. 5. Imagine the opening scene and identify at least one of each of the five senses to include: sounds, smells, sights, touches, tastes. 6. Stay in the moment. Every second, your character is aware only of what is going on at that second, not just what they see, but what they feel. Characters may think of other times, but only when the needs of their current situation are not painful or threatening. 7. When no one has an urgent need, there is no tension. You need tension. Long term goals won't cut it. 8. What makes this character different from every other character? Until you can answer that, you shouldn't be writing about that character. 9. Strangers are more likely than best friends to be polite to each other. Real friends aren't afraid to frequently argue with each other. If your characters are best friends, they wouldn't constantly agree with each other ... or constantly call each other by their first names. Add contention to show different points of view. Where do writers get ideas?
You see a stranger standing on a street corner holding a sign. You know better than to give them anything or even make eye-contact; a lot of these people are scam-artists, and there are real charities that need your donations. Most people glance at their sign, and then drive past them and never give the stranger another thought. But a writer can't do that: Is that person a scam-artist? Do their clothes look like they are living on the street? Are they smoking or carrying a cell phone? Why did they choose the text that they wrote on their sign? What choices did they make that put them on that street corner? Now extrapolate this scenario for every person that you have ever seen. (Hey, no one said that this was easy!) Go as wild as you can: They are a criminal hiding from the FBI. They abandoned their wife and kids and guilt ruined them. They are a time traveler who destroyed their perfect world. They just got out of jail for a crime they didn't commit. They are a Master Villain whose ultimate weapon backfired. They are the richest person in the world in disguise. My point is: story ideas are all around us. All you have to do is learn to see them. Practice this yourself and look for the 5 requirements needed for every story: 1. A unique and interesting person. 2. A unique and interesting place. 3. A physical challenge. 4. A mental difficulty. 5. A moral dilemma. For example, imagine a main character. Are they special enough? Give them a superpower - now are they special? Let's say that you give them invisibility - now are they special? Take any place - what would make it more-special? A castle is already special - one author may fill it with ghosts ... and another with wizard-students. Is it even more-special now? The physical challenge = they must find the 'hidden room'. The mental difficulty = a riddle to find the room must be solved. The moral dilemma = finding the hidden room may kill someone who is a nice person and totally innocent. All of this may sound silly, but now try this: that main character that you thought of ... forget them ... replace them with your best friend! You know your best friend intimately - you know how they think. If they suddenly gained the power of invisibility, what would they do first? 1. Fight crime. 2. Rob a bank. 3. Sit around and watch TV. 4. Sell their act to a circus. 5. Sneak into a gym locker room and watch very attractive people shower. Now you have an interesting main character. They are not just a hollow, 2-dimensional shell; they are based on a real person, someone who is normally very boring, but is given a special power, and how they handle that power can be interesting. Superman used his powers for Truth, Justice, and the American Way. Do you really think that your best friend could be as noble as Superman? Maybe, once they get a superpower, they will want to be Superman, but would their attempts to fight crime be successful? Probably not ... but why not? Chances are that your best friend could never be like Superman, but their failed attempts and realization of their failure would make an interesting story. But the story is not about the place ... or the super-power ... or the things that happened: the real story is about the person. And that's the real answer to my original question: Where do writers get ideas? Novel ideas start as daydreams about people, but then you have to work on them, build their stories, and develop a plot by filling in the 5 requirements for every story. It isn't easy, and it takes practice. But the greatest part of your work is not coming up with the idea; after the idea is created and fleshed out, then you have to convert it into 50,000+ words of written text. Good luck with that! My Words on Dialog
"Yes, I finally have the mystical scroll that I need to destroy those pesky do-gooders!" Who talks like that (except in Scooby-doo)? Stupid people make terrible leaders, and powerful leaders are very careful about what they say. Dialog like this is the author's way of explaining a plot, nothing more. Perhaps it helps, but why explain the plot in this way? Plots can be shown using action much better, and trite dialog destroys the realism of the moment. If your characters don't speak like real people, who is going to believe in them? In writing, distancing your reader, reminding them that they are only reading a story, takes them out of the story. How often do you hear someone say: "Work is done; now I can go to the bathroom and not be hurried as I do what I must before I flush!" If people don't talk like that in the real world, then why would your characters? Believable dialog helps make characters believable. Gloating is acceptable for two teenagers eating pizza and comparing their last romantic encounters (assuming that they've ever had any). Professional people don't gloat; why should overlords? Sauron raised the greatest army in Middle-Earth, but Tolkien didn't describe him trying to impress some random orc by bragging. Powerful lords care more about gaining power than diluting it by boasting about their evil triumphs to their enemies; if it doesn't increase their power, why would they do it? Dialog by a hero is often equally bad: "Oh, I must sacrifice myself and risk my virginity in the hope that everyone's lives will be spared from the doom of the Empress of Vaginalla." (Give me a break, please!) Personally, if I ever met any character so naive that the sight of a sexual organ makes them blush, then I would laugh at them. Even in my private conversations with God I would never speak like this. Noble people are often very good speakers, but true nobility is shown in people's actions, not through their words. If you need dialog like this, to explain to the reader that the hero is about to sacrifice themself, then you need to rewrite the scene. If you think that dialog like this works, try using it on your current sexual partner during an argument: "Obviously I am right, for all the signs of the universe point to my total and inescapable correctness in all matters, whereas your contradiction of my beliefs assures your incorrectness, and therefore you must submit to my reasoning." See how far that gets you. Dialog that is never used can be the most powerful. When a character wants to say something obvious, it is often more powerful to use internal dialog, to have them turn away and say nothing. All humans relate to this; we have all had to keep our mouths shut at one time or another when saying what we wanted to would only cause us trouble. Besides, why repeat the obvious? Redundancy is sometimes required, but it should be extremely sparse, used only when a point must be made for future reference. Michael's lips parted, but he uttered no sound. He had wanted to break up with Janis, but he wanted to be the one to initiate it. He'd thought that she had eyes for no one but him; how could he have been so wrong? Michael gave Janis a dark, penetrating stare, an expression of his fury that he wanted to linger in her mind, and then he walked away without a word. He was glad to be rid of her; in private, he would give a cheer, but right now, all that he wanted was for her to see his back. This is internal dialog, and it is better than: "I was going to break up with you anyway, you worthless whore." Although shorter, the internal dialog makes Michael interesting and sympathetic, while the verbalized dialog makes him a jerk. Timing is important for dialog. The worst examples of this are talking while running, fighting, or hiding. When evil men are searching for you, do you really think that they can't hear you whisper? When running for your life, do you usually have breath for conversation? When about to fight your mortal foe, do you often waste breath giving a speech about morality and the importance of being nice? Conversations happen at two times; when it must, and when the action pauses to allow it. Traveling from one scene/situation to another is a wonderful time for conversations; in the middle of the scene/situation is often the worst time. Conversers should seldom agree. Why discuss something that you both agree upon? Arguments are more fun and interesting; arguments draw stark contrasts between your characters and help to make each more unique. Use arguments frequently. As writers, we choose the dialog that best promotes our stories, but it should always be a conscious choice. Characters should use dialog that fits their personality, the setting, the tone of the story, and the urgency of the moment. One trick is to go through your story once for each main character and read only their dialog aloud; does it sound consistent? Do they use complex words in one part but mostly-simple words in most? Could their voice (style of talking) be confused for another character? Is everything that they say from their perspective ... and convey their unique attitude? How do you know if dialog is good or bad? In any situation, imagine your best friend shouting out a semi-appropriate line from your story; would you laugh at them? Good dialog is essential to a good story. My most-hated dialog is: "If I don't get out of here right now then I am going to die a horrible death!" In this situation, I only use two words: "Oh, fuck!" The Fun of Writing
Writing takes 3 stages: plotting, writing, and editing. Plotting can be skipped if you have a good opening (and an idea), but when required, plotting can be intensely stressful. You can plan what your characters should be doing, but as every writer know, your characters won't always go along with your plans. Plotting must make sense and define a series of scenes which are required to get to your conclusion, but the best of plans go awry. If the 'big secret' that you needed to save for chapter 12 must unexpectedly be dropped in chapter 9, then what do you do? Plotting is like planning a drive across America using only backroads; you can never tell when or where a detour may appear. The VIKINGS! Trilogy was plotted only in the most general terms. Of all of the scenes I planned, about half of them never happened. For example, those companions who rode out of Castle Bristlen were the only characters I planned. Also, it was only supposed to be 1 book. Writing is the fun part. In writing, you can create and experience and enjoy the novelty of who your characters are and what they are doing. You can write freely, since when something violates your original plot, you can change course, and sometimes come up with things that are better. Writing is a writer's pure joy. All of those fun rides that the characters go on; during the writing phase, you get to be a part of those. The sensations that they feel, the loves that they develop, and the triumphs that they achieve; you feel, love, and triumph. When bad things happen, you can jump from the mind of the hero into the villain and laugh maniacally as the puny heroes must flee from your diabolical inventions ... which prove your ultimate worthiness to be the master of everything. The Fun of Writing
Editing is the pain of writing. Editing is where the writer works, and the part that consumes the majority of the writer's time. Editing is where you have to cut out everything this isn't relevant to your story, including subplots, evil secondary characters, romances that you liked but which never should have happened, impressive monsters, and all of those medieval sciences and culture references that you love, from metalsmithing to plumbing to navigation with Norse sunstones: all of these were deleted from my original version of The VIKINGS! Trilogy. And as a writer, you feel like you are performing surgery upon yourself. Then you have to edit your remaining text (this part is excruciating!). For example, every sentence must have the right verb. Look at this sentence and choose the right verb: He ________ down the hall. Now choose the one and only correct verb: walked ran danced skipped dashed slid frolicked charged tiptoed crept slipped sauntered crawled moseyed stomped sneaked wandered tramped stormed staggered tumbled creeped flew snuck pranced oozed tripped rolled Each verb must be the correct one (and only one!) to describe the action, the mood, and the setting. Which verb would you choose? Now imagine doing this for every verb, adverb, adjective, pronoun, and noun in every sentence in your novel; that is the pain of editing. Then you get to the hardest part; is it ready for others to read? There's only one way to really know that: let others read it. Then, and only then, must you do the hardest part of editing: KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT! When receiving a critique, you don't talk back. You don't make excuses or explain; if your writing needs excuses or explanations, then it needs fixing. Do you disagree with the critique? Get another opinion. If possible, get several. If you need convincing, get a lot. Reviews from anyone helps, but if they are a writer, or at least frequently read the genre that you write, then their opinion may be worth more. If only one person has a comment that you don't like, then you may choose to ignore it. If three people say the same thing, then swallow your pride and fix the text. This will be the least fun. The fun part is the writing, the not-fun part is the editing, and the excruciating part is getting critiques; all are required to get to the best part: a finished novel. Writing a Real Person in Fiction
Fictional characters should not be fictional. All humans share many characteristics; if your characters don't share these characteristics, how can your readers believe that they are human? A fictional character that survives five days without food must suffer horrible hunger-pangs, weakness, sweating, grumpiness; what would you experience if you endured what they did? If all humans would experience a specific reaction to one circumstance, then your characters must do the same ... or they are not realistic. This requires two aspects: logistics and symptoms. Logistics: Everyone has needs and expectations; for some people, these are the same. A wealthy person may have grown up having never gotten caked with mud; such a character could never casually walk through a city sewer system, no matter how badly the plot requires them to. A prude can't strip naked and seduce a prison guard without extreme emotional discomfort. This does not mean that your characters can't do these things; given a character who is a wealthy prude, I would do exactly these things: force my character to perform some act that repulses them. The inner struggle to do something that a character wouldn't normally do is what makes them real and sympathetic and admirable, but they can't do it easily; characters must suffer. Symptoms: When a character's lover is taken from them, that character must experience jealousy. When a character tries and fails, then they must experience disappointment. When a character gets knocked out, then they must wake up with a splitting headache. When something happens to a character, they must endure what every other human would endure facing the same pain or humiliation. Why must characters suffer? Because readers suffer. Readers suffer not being able to go out to dinner because they can't afford it. Readers suffer relationships that end. Readers suffer from losing jobs and from bosses that are having a bad day. All humans suffer, and dream about having the requirements to avoid repeating their sufferings. By reading about characters that suffer, and then overcome the causes of their suffering, it helps the reader empathize with the characters, transforming the characters into real people, and thus characters help readers deal with the sufferings in their own lives. Characters must also be multi-faceted. I don't know anyone who is one-dimensional; every adult that I know has hundreds of likes and dislikes, quirks, styles, class (or lack thereof), favorite words, and a unique philosophy and outlook on life. Characters must be equally complex. Almost every characteristic of my characters exists in someone that I know. Why? Because those characteristics are real. Real characteristics make realistic characters; I am always watching other people for interesting characteristics. Arguments are especially valuable; people mostly argue points of view that they are passionate about; by giving my characters those points of view, my characters become passionate. Passionate characters engender passion in readers. But it must be written down! A character can love music, but if music never enters the story, then that characteristic only exists in the mind of the writer. As a writer, choose one of your main characters and write a list of facts about them that come from the story. Do the same for your best friend. Compare the lists: which is more complex? This will tell you if your character is more realistic than your best friend. And, if your character wins the contest, then imagine how much fun you'll have telling your best friend how unrealistic they are! Villains!
No matter how much I love my heroes, and how fun they were to write, I must confess: Writing Villains is the most fun! Does writing villains make writers evil? Of course not! Writers were evil long before they started writing! Meanness! Diabolicality! Sadistic pleasures galore! Certain types of shackles may be fun in certain occasions, but in writing, nothing beats freedom. With heroes, freedom is limited; heroes must by sympathetic, kind-hearted, and have a sense of justice. Heroes must be likeable, reasonable, and mostly-honest. Heroes are the powerful people that writers wish we were. Villains are pure freedom! Villains can be likeable, detestable, vile, humorous, greedy, dishonest, honorable, megalomaniacal, or even friendly; villains have no limits. Villains are the powerful people that writers would actually be. In The VIKINGS! Trilogy, there are many villains. To avoid giving away any spoilers, I will mention just a few as TYPES without naming any names (my readers will recognize them!). Types of Villains Forced Villains: Manipulated, controlled, and completely blameless for their actions, these victims must do terrible things, totally against their will. Forced Villains are people who have been brainwashed, hypnotized, cursed, driven insane, or controlled by a mental power vastly exceeding their own. Forced Villains can originally be innocent or horrible people, but once they succumb, then they are only mindless puppets committing atrocious acts. It is best to introduce Forced Villains early, as their true controllers are usually far more evil than they, and that true evil must eventually be confronted or it will always come back worse than before. Unwilling Villains: Trapped, left with no alternative, Unwilling Villains have made a terrible choice to be evil. Their dearest love may have been kidnapped, their family threatened, or their whole world about to be blown-up, or ... the most common impetus: they may be dying ... and have only one chance to live. Whatever the situation, Unwilling Villains make a reluctant choice to do something terrible in order to achieve some small amount of goodness. Unwilling Villains are people who made a bad choice and feel that they can't back out; they must continue with the bad decision that they made even when their choice becomes horrific. But they made a choice; Unwilling Villains can be sympathetic, but they are never blameless. Casual Villains: Following the flow, Casual Villains are often no more evil than anybody else (except the heroes); Casual Villains are just better at it. Casual Villains can be slave-owners in an age/location/world where slavery is common; they are bad people by our standards, but not by their own (assuming that they have any standards!). They do what their peers do ... only moreso. Casual Villains can be the greedy investment banker that goes below-and-beyond the law to rip-off his clients. Casual Villains can be leaders of armies who will do anything to win a battle. They don't have to be truly evil; Casual Villains can simply have unlimited ambitions ... and be willing to sell their own daughters for a chest of gold or control of a large tract of land. The worst part of Casual Villains is that they are the most common type of malefactor in the real world, and Casual Villains never see themselves for the evil monsters that they truly are. Covetous Villains: Desiring one goal more than life itself, Covetous Villains seek only to gain the treasured object of their desire. Nothing else matters; no immoral act stays a true Covetous Villain from their passion. Perhaps they desire immortality, a powerful magic, a specific sexual gratification, wealth beyond measure, ownership of an ancient artifact that will grant them immeasurable honor, or even just the favor of a respected deity or superior. The countless human lives that Covetous Villains sacrifice (willingly or not!) add to the value of their goal, since they would not have murdered if their goal were not worth it. Mass-murder, in a twisted way, justifies their choices. In time, Covetous Villains may elect to enhance the value of their treasured object by purposefully committing extremely-heinous acts; anything to make their ultimate success even better. Ego-maniacal Villains: No goal or prize will ever be more important than they are; Ego-maniacal Villains do what they want simply because they deserve it. They may steal treasured objects, but only because no one deserves those treasures more than they; Ego-maniacal Villains would never sacrifice themselves for anyone or anything. Perhaps they have some justification; they could be inherently superior; the smartest, the strongest, the fastest, the best, ... or the most-evil. They could be superheroes or gods. They could have been born a wealthy prince or princess in a land of penniless peasants. Whatever their justification, Ego-maniacal Villains are out to prove their superiority by crushing any opposition to the total subservience of everyone and everything. Ego-maniacal Villains are challenged by everything, as even the finest, and owning everything, isn't good enough for them. Even in victory, their need for endless security will never let them relax their guard against possible threats; in the end, Ego-maniacal Villains destroy everything around them. Question: What kind of villains are the writers that write these types of villains? Answer: While writing them, we are all of them! Writing Realism in Magic
Making magic seem real is a difficult task. Casting a fireball or lightning bolt is a common skill for powerful wizards, which is why I never use those spells. First, they have been used before, so there's nothing new or novel about them. Second, those spells are clearly documented in several Dungeons & Dragons handbooks, so either you must carefully follow the rules or risk losing interest in your book by the gamer community, many of whom are avid readers. Were I to use fireballs or lightning spells, then I would make them special or unique ... and definitely dangerous. Perhaps I would have them severely burn the caster's hands, requiring a healing spell if they aren't wearing thick leather gloves, or burn the required wand to a crisp. Fireballs explode; cast at close range, the effects of a nearby fiery explosion could seriously harm the caster. Lightning can't be easily directed without a wire or a stream of water to vaporize; just because you cast a bolt of lightning doesn't mean that it can't arc back. Magic isn't interesting in what it can do; magic is interesting in what it can't do. In every story, a character has problems; if they have a magic ring that can do anything, then all of their problems can be solved and the book is over. The more powerful the magic is, the less interesting the magic is. Magic (in stories) has three common limitations: Temporariness (magic that quickly wears off), Specialization (magic that only does one thing), or Expensiveness (the cost to gain the magic is great - the vampire gains immortality but must kill to feed). Expensiveness can be rare materials or a debilitating weakness; in most sword & sorcery, magic weakens the spell caster slightly, but they always have just enough strength to cast one more critical spell. Sadly, the 'strength for one last spell' plot device has been used so many times that it is predictable and always disappointing. Many books have been written about magic, from Wicca to Satanism. Reading them can help add a unique flavor and style which is missing in many novels. Many ancient civilizations have different practices of magic, from the bottle of the genie to the blood-sacrifices of the Aztecs. Try to add something new to your magic; if the required component is a precious gem, then the price for each spell is high, and when the gems run out, then there is no more magic. If the price is the magician's blood, then too high a price can kill the magician. In The VIKINGS! Trilogy, the Seer is a unique magician; when he tries to cast a simple spell, he attempts to justify what he thinks happens by the best science known in the Dark Ages (which has all been discredited). His speculations add color to his spellcasting, and he tries to use his spells in ways that are special, not just 'cast the spell and solve the problem'. His spells are also limited; he can't just make anything happen, and even something as simple as a headache can prevent his spells from working. If the Seer could do anything, then his story would never have involved the companions; he never would have needed their help. It is his magical limitations, the fact that he is still learning and hates his limitations, which makes him interesting. Magic has to be unique to your story, not stolen from some other fantasy novel or video game. Magic should be a system, a faith, or a mythology; something that is more than just a plot device. Look at Hogwarts; Harry Potter hosts a system of magic and learning magic that can be described without mentioning any of its students or teachers. Systems of magic can be as unique as any character, and they add just as much detail to your story. Plot Arc
STARTING SCENE: You walk up the gangplank to board the Titanic. ENDING SCENE: You finish eating in the onboard dining room on the first night of the cruise. Hello ...? Any plot here ...? Your plot arc is equal to how successful your story will be. Why? Because word-of-mouth is the best advertising that any story can have, and when readers describe a book to each other, they often describe the plot arc. The plot arc is the destination that your story takes from its starting point to its climax. This is not 'boy meets girl'; that is an incident. Nor is it 'boy meets girl, does wacky stuff to trick her into marriage, then lives happily ever after'; that tells what happened after the climax. Plot arc is: 'boy does wacky stuff to trick newly-met girl into marriage'. From this plot arc, you can tell where the beginning of the story is and where it should end. Should you write 4 chapters describing the boy as a loser before he meets the girl? No! That would change the plot arc to: 'Loser does wacky stuff to trick newly-met girl into marriage'. You might think that this is a subtle change, but it changes the whole story arc, the perspectives of the characters, and their attitudes; it is not the same story. But the same rule applies: from the plot arc, you should know where your story starts and what your climax is. You want to avoid writing stories where the plot arc sounds idiotic: 'Frodo invents a transporter that teleports him to the Land of Oz where he must fight Darth Vader.' The plot arc will tell you if you should be writing the story or wondering if you are insane. Plot arcs need not be physical activity: 'man goes camping with army buddies and all of them suffer from flashbacks to the war.' What you want to avoid is: 'man and his old buddies from the army stare into a campfire.' A good plot arc must include an action, even if it is just emotional. Why do you need a plot arc? A plot arc can tell you things about your story that may not be obvious. Are you beginning and ending your story in the right place? Do you maintain ongoing tension? Is your story a single growing thread or a series of unrelated incidents? Are your subplots beneficial to your story? All writers suffer from some level of tunnel-vision; we may think that a story is great, but it could be all about a character that we love ... and not really have a storyline. Plot arcs give writers a perspective that we might otherwise lack. Maintaining Tension
Tension is a fact of human life. Peasants in the Dark Ages feared having too little resources, risking starving or freezing, or having too many resources, risking having it taken from them (and probably costing their lives); they lived with deadly tension every day. Modern people are overwhelmed by tension, such that many take drugs to alleviate hypertension. Why would readers who need to escape tension want fiction full of tension? Literature is full of tension, and its release is the 'happy ending'. Look at children's literature, where reading starts: The Cat in the Hat caused great tension. One Fish Two Fish was full of tension. The story in each of these books is how a growing tension was ultimately released. A total lack of tension is called sleeping, which doesn't make for good reading. An absence of tension is unreal; a character without tension has no challenges to overcome, takes no risks, and starts no action. A person without tension would not be human, just a shell of a real person. But the real problem with zero tension is that it gives the reader time to pause, to ask themselves: "Why am I reading this?" Writers never want their readers to ask that question. If they do, then the answer is obvious: stop reading. Reading is work, and readers do the work because they want the reward that no other media type offers: total immersion in a book, the discovery of new worlds, and experiences that they might otherwise never know, and to enjoy it as a personal experience, seeing the action through their own minds, not the mind of some movie director. Without that reward, no one would read fiction. The last thing that they want is to lose interest in the story due to lack of tension. Poetry requires no tension; I read Walt Whitman and others regularly, but those aren't novels. Of the greatest novel writers in history, there are only a handful who write so well that the beauty of their prose could hold my interest, but all of them pack their novels full of tension. Since they are the masters, they probably knew what they were doing. Tension can be singular, like a character with one problem so paramount that nothing else matters, or plural, like the many struggles of daily life. Tensions can come on slowly, as for the inmate with six weeks before his execution, or quickly, where the dragon is chasing the hero through the cavern. Tension can be constant or ebb and flow. Tension can be physical, mental, or emotional; tension can even be imagined, but it must always exist. This doesn't mean that tension can never be resolved; in chapter 5, the rugged hero can acquire the magic wish-granting ring, but in chapter 6, the beautiful belly-dancer that he conjures with the ring must steal it from him. The tension vanished after Frodo dropped the ring into Mt. Doom; why do you think that Tolkien had Sharky take over The Shire? One of the best methods of relieving tension is having the main characters believe that the crisis has been resolved, but the reader knows that the real trap awaits them on the way home. Another way is ending a chapter just as the main character grasps the depth of the crisis that they are facing. The classic cliff-hanger is a tried-and-true tension climax. But one of the best tension-makers is pure suspicion, simply one character worried about the secret motives of another character; few tensions can hook a reader so completely. One of the best methods of creating tension isn't added until the plot is fully-known: make the final challenge the worst experience of the main character. Indiana Jones hated snakes, so, of course, he had to overcome his fear of snakes in the Well of Souls. If the hero must climb to the top of a mountain, why not give them a paralyzing fear of heights? If they must propose to their girlfriend, a fear of commitment would only heighten the tension. A story can be nothing but tension, but without tension, there is no story. Marketing your Book
If you think that writing a book, and getting it published, will end your labors, think again. Your closest friends *might* buy your book, as well as a few relatives, but face it: Some people want to read books but can't. Reading books often requires situations not everyone has. Many parents are working, raising kids, and simply don't have spare time like the rest of us do. The same is true for people taking care of sick friends or relatives. Students are busy reading textbooks and can't spare their study time for pleasure reading. People dealing with unemployment or other crises are often too stressed out deal with things they would rather be doing. I have personally experienced times of my life when I couldn't afford to buy books I wanted (horrible times indeed!). Leave these people alone; they will get to your books when they can ... and not before. Some people claim to read many books ... but don't. Several people have claimed to me that they are experts on the Lord of the Rings, but they had no idea who Tom Bombadil was. Being a great reader is a lot easier to boast of than to accomplish. Few want to be known for not having read any books. These people don't need to be outed by you; that will only insure that they will never read your books. Pressuring them won't make them frequent readers. Leave them alone; they may be good friends, but they would not be good reviewers. Hopefully they can give your books to others as birthday presents. Many people won't read a book if they know the author. I have relatives and long-term friends who won't read my books. They each have a reason, I'm sure, but very few are vocal about it. One close friend had been promising to read my unpublished manuscripts for 2 decades before I published and "never had the time" ... despite a serious online gaming habit. Some people don't enjoy reading at all. Again: Pressuring these people to read your books won't help. Leave them alone. The inevitable outcome is not worth losing a friend. Some may never tell you that they read your book. Writers want reviews, but very few people like giving critiques, let alone writing reviews. I know several people who read what others write on Facebook every day, but they never post anything themselves, or they only repost images other people created. One close friend loved my trilogy and Jeremy Wrecker, but he was born and raised in China, and would only feel comfortable writing a review in Chinese. Others may avoid admitting that they read your books for fear that your friendship might end if they tell you that they didn't like your book. Pressuring these people is impossible; you will never know if they read your book. There are no books that *everyone* likes. Not everyone will like your books ... even your friends. If you want to be a writer, deal with it. Even if you could get everyone you know to read your book, how will that affect your sales? To be honest, few people know enough friends to make writing a book profitable. Yes, you have to market as much as possible, and it helps, but I feel sorry for my closest friends who get inundated with my ads, many after they have already read and reviewed my books. You must spread the news quickly and as widely as you can, but unless you can afford to hire a marketing agency, you will have to do the majority of advertising yourself, and you have to get it in front of as many people as possible. What is my sales goal? I don't have a sales goal. Sales goals are dependent upon your ability to reach people. That ability is hampered by the realities of marketing options and out-of-pocket expenses - marketing is not cheap. The one required price of sales is courage: You MUST be able to walk up to a total stranger, ask if they read books, introduce yourself, give them a card, and tell them about your book. If you can't do that, hire an agency - someone has to do it. My primary goal is not to sell to everyone; someone who only likes books of a different genre than yours won't like your book, won't recommend your book, and would write a bad review. My goal is to make sure that everyone I can reach knows about my books. That's it. That's the best I can do. But with that in mind, my next goal is to reach as many people as possible. How can I get more people to read my books? Only a small percentage of people on Earth read books, and nothing you do is going to significantly change that percentage. Of readers, only a small percentage reads any one type of book, specifically, your genre. Of those readers that you can reach, that same percentage applies. At this point, it becomes a numbers game; the wider a group you reach, the more people will learn about your book, and of those people, that small number (a percentage of a percentage) will buy and read your book. If you can do that, then you can sell books. Books don't spread like gossip. Tell ten people a juicy lie about the local mayor, and days later, a hundred people will have heard your lie. Those people who read your books do try to get their friends to read it, but they will be facing the same small percentage of success that you struggle against. Most people don't read books, and even with reports of high-quality, books propagate slowly. With gossip, two friends each tell two friends, and word spreads. With books, for every five people that read it, and tell their friends, chances are that only one new person will buy your book based on their recommendation. Are chances of big sales hopeless? The chance of any one author gaining world-wide notoriety for one book is tiny. Billion-dollar marketing corporations spend millions trying to figure out the same thing you are, the clues to selling large quantities, and you are unlikely to have their resources. But there are some things you can do: 1. Go where large numbers of people gather. 2. Make yourself as visible as possible. 3. Always be eager to meet new people and make new friends. 4. Always be ready to introduce yourself as a new friend and have your business card in hand. 5. Produce as much high-quality advertising as you can and put it online. 6. Ask yourself why people would want to read your books ... and keep the answer on the tip of your tongue. 7. If you can, target celebrities; if a famous person comments on your book, that will reach more people than all the marketing you can do. (But remember, not all celebrities are going to like your book.) 8. Investigate paid advertising and do what you can afford. There are other, more basic options you should consider: 1. Write to the widest book-reading audience - the bigger a percentage of readers that like your genre, the better your chances. 2. Write more books - each book is another chance to attract a reader. 3. Don't stick to just one story - if someone has specific tastes, they may be attracted to one of your books, but not all. 4. Listen to critiques of your books very carefully, take each word seriously, and constantly try to improve your writing style - no matter what writer you name, someone doesn't like them, but if they are/were a successful author, then many loved them. Ignore the haters, but hear what they have to say. Ignore the comment that says your book is trash and the comment that says it is the best thing ever written. Listen for similar comments said by different people - those are what you need to focus on the most. 5. Cover art attracts the eye - if readers are not instantly attracted to your book, they probably won't pick it up to read the back cover. Plan your art carefully or get an artist to read your book and make a recommendation. Catch their eyes if you would catch their interest. Prepare for a difficult change in your life. Marketing is a long, hard, endless slog. Most of my writer-friends spend almost every weekend marketing or looking for new marketing venues. It will eat up enormous amounts of your time. Unless you are very lucky, luckier than the average lottery winner, then you will join us, at a table, shaking hands and signing books, for years to come. FEAR
So ... now comes the part every writer must deal with most - fear. New writers fear that their works will be ridiculed - experienced writers wish that they had that fear. Why? Because new writers fear that people who read their works will think they're immature, badly written, or have a stupid plot ... but that is exactly what new writers need! That's called feedback, and negative feedback is better for us than positive feedback! If someone tells you that your main characters don't seem real, or the physics of one incident wouldn't work, or your historical events aren't right, then you can fix those things! Fixing those things makes your story better and you a better writer. Experienced writers would kill for feedback like that! Imagine giving a 100,000 word story to someone and their only comment was “it was nice” or “I loved it”. There's no clues there for you to improve your story or yourself as a writer, which we want more than anything else! Put your fears aside - they won't change anything - and write! If all this does not frighten you off: Welcome Aboard, Writer! Epilog:
If you've ever wanted to write your own books, these are the topics that you need to understand. Jay Palmer (me) is the author of over 13 books, including Historical Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror. He has written books for all age levels, from child-appropriate (Disney-like stories) to Young Adult (adventures of early teenagers) to extremely mature (Norse women doing 'viking' things). Each novel is different, but some characteristics of writing are the same. Each of these are covered herein, with explicit examples, descriptions, and instructions. These are the secrets and methods I use every day in every type of writing for any audience. All my best to you and your efforts! I wish you every success! Jay Palmer, Author JayPalmerBooks.com Books by Jay Palmer! The VIKINGS! Trilogy: Deathquest The Severed Arm Quest for Valhalla The EGYPTIANS! Trilogy SoulQuest Song of the Sphinx Quest for Osiris Jeremy Wrecker, Pirate of Land and Sea The Magic of Play The Grotesquerie Games Viking Daughter Viking Son The Seneschal Dracula - Deathless Desire Souls of Steam JayPalmerBooks.com |
