Author Jean Davis: April 2018

Monday, April 30, 2018

A to Z - All Things Writing: Z The Satisfying Ending

Welcome to the Blogging A to Z Challenge, where, this month, I'll be focusing on all things writing. This may be a random jumping around of topics within my theme, but hopefully something somewhere will be useful to someone. (V is for vague - see that last sentence.) Check out all the participants here . Now, lets get on with today's letter.

Z is for The Satisfying Ending

I'm sure I've harped on endings before, maybe even last year, but it bears repeating. Stories, all stories, should have a satisfying end. But it's got a sequel. It's part of a series. I don't care. End it. If a book doesn't end in a manner that leaves me a least mostly fulfilled, I'm not ever going to pick up book two.

It's fine to leave some subplots a bit open ended. A happily ever after for now, is perfectly acceptable. We don't need everything tied up in a neat little bow. But we do need closure. The main plot of that particular book should be resolved. The mystery needs to be solved. An aspect of the big bad must be defeated. The couple should get together. You get the idea.

Books that just end like the writer dropped dead at the end of whatever sentence stands at the end of the novel end up denting my wall and go in the donation pile. Books should not end with (...to be continued).

Short stories might end with a surprise, a twist. They don't often have a shiny wrapped up bow on top ending. A short story is a much smaller investment of a reader's time so more of an ah-ha moment is sometimes all it takes to be satisfying. A novel, however, needs more closure. We're invested in characters, in the plots, we want to see things through. So make sure your books end. Your readers will thank you.

Thank you for joining me on this year's A to Z adventure. I hope you found a few useful posts this month. Good luck with your writing endeavors throughout the year and I hope you'll stop back to see where I am in mine.

Would you like a free e-book? This April, I'm giving away free copies of my new anthology, Destiny Pills & Space Wizards. Claim your copy here: https://claims.instafreebie.com/free/vhJFWpLL Enter code atozpromo

Prefer paperback? The print book goes live on April 20. Reviews are always appreciated.

Saturday, April 28, 2018

A to Z - All Things Writing: You Know What You Mean

Y is for You Know What You Mean

The biggest issues many writers have is getting what is in their head onto the page. You know what you mean. You know your story and your characters. We've already covered how beta readers and critique groups can help point these areas out. But you can find some of them too.

The best way to do that is to give yourself some time away from your story so that you can approach it with fresh eyes. It's tempting to churn out a draft, tweak it with a few edits and toss it out into the world but your story could be so much better if you give it a little time to age and grow.

So finish you story and put it away. Go write something else. Be that a short story, a few short stories, another entire novel or edit another novel. The point is to get your mind working on something entirely different. When you're ready, be that weeks, months, or however much longer, read your story as if you've never read it before.

You might be surprised at what parts you enjoy and what you find yourself skimming over. Or what you thought you had explained that now you're wondering about. Maybe you don't remember what all the characters looked like or how they were involved with one another from the notes you had on paper or in your head that never really made into the story. Wasn't there backstory on a character? I swear this scene was going somewhere important, but I can't remember why I kept it. Guess what? You can do something about all of that. Put those things into the story.

Read that story aloud, either yourself or have your computer read it for you. You'll probably find missing words that you swear where there because you know what you mean.

Prefer paperback? The print book goes live on April 20. Reviews are always appreciated.

Friday, April 27, 2018

A to Z - All Things Writing: X + Y = Z

X is for X + Y x Q = Z

If you've conquered a query letter or logline or blurb, you're likely familiar with the fact that there is a formula. If you haven't gotten to any of these stages yet, there's still plenty of time to get frustrated while trying to figure these things out with the rest of us. Here are the four main things you need to look for in your book.

Who is the main character?
What do they want?
What stands in their way?
What will happen if they don't succeed?

If you can't identify these things in your book, there's a big red flag. Your book is missing something essential. Time to head back to the rewrite stage.

Got your four pieces identified? Good. It's time to construct the seed of your query/logline/blurb.

MC wants ___ but opposing force ___(does what?) . MC must ___ (action) or _____(stakes)

You could also approach it as:

When ___ (bad thing) happens to MC, they must (action) or (stakes) happen

There are other formulas out there too. Just remember to keep it simple and build from there as needed. This will help you boil your story down to a sentence or two to hook readers or agents. And you thought writing a synopsis was hard?

Have you had to write a query letter?

Would you like a free e-book? This April, I'm giving away free copies of my new anthology, Destiny Pills & Space Wizards. Claim your copy here.

Prefer paperback? The print book goes live on April 20. Reviews are always appreciated.

Thursday, April 26, 2018

A to Z - All Things Writing: Writers

W is for Writers

Are you a writer or an author?

Some people prefer one over the other. Some people think of themselves as writers until they have been published and then they are authors. I've read conflicting reasoning on both.

A writer is someone who writes.

An author has been published.

A writer has written something

An author has finished something

A writer is someone who writes as an occupation

An author is someone who has created something

An author is a writer

As far a I'm concerned, they are interchangeable. What about you?

Prefer paperback? The print book goes live on April 20. Reviews are always appreciated.

Wednesday, April 25, 2018

A to Z - All Things Writing : Vague

V is for Vague

One of the problems we have as writers is not adequately describing things. By things I mean setting, emotion, clothing, food, action, etc. We can see it all in our head, but it's difficult to use enough words to get all that on the page. So we tend to be vague. In some cases, the reader will fill in the gaps but in others, what is missing can mean the difference between a scene that a reader skims through and one they an highly engaged in.

Watch for:

• Leaning on adverbs. They often don't give us a clear image of the action and would be better served as a stronger verb instead.

• Words like 'a few' 'some' 'very' 'a couple' 'often' 'sometimes'. These all have appropriate uses, but ask yourself if a more definite description would be better suited to convey what you are trying to show.

• Rooms/places and people without anything to distinguish them. It's hard for a reader to get a visual to attach them to the scene if all we have is Sue running into the living room.

• Not committing to the full emotion of a scene. You're going for a tone or mood, but is it conveyed clear enough that the reader feels it too?

• A character has big feelings about something but do we have enough background and description at to why? The same for their motivations. "Because I said so" doesn't work well between writers and readers. These are things we need to show in the context of the story.

All of these are good points to ask your critique partners and beta readers to watch for because some of them are hard to spot yourself. You know your story too well.

Are there any particular aspects of writing that you find yourself being too vague about?

Prefer paperback? The print book is now live on Amazon. Reviews are always appreciated.

Tuesday, April 24, 2018

A to Z - All Things Writing : Understanding what to keep and what to let go

U is for Understanding what to keep and what to let go

Getting all that feedback from editors, beta readers and critique partners can be overwhelming. So how do you know what to take into account and what to ignore and everything in between?

• Did more than one person point out the same issue? That's a good sign that it's not just a subjective opinion and is something you should take a deeper look at.

• Thinking of that person's comments overall, do they seem to have a good understanding of your book/characters/plot? If so, that's a good indication that this comment is something to give thought to.

• If the feedback is 90% praise, read that and enjoy it, but focus on the other 10% more. The issues they did pause to point out might be major ones.

• Does the comment feel harsh or hit hard on a sensitive issue? You don't have to agree with it 100%, but it may be something you should let digest and work on with a clear head another day.

• Remember all feedback is subjective. It's someone's opinion. It might not be right. It might not be right for your particular story. But just because someone disagrees with an aspect of your story, doesn't mean they're wrong either. Give it some thought and time and move forward as appropriate.

• Should you make all the changes everyone suggests? Goodness no! What a frankennovel that would make. Use what your gut tells you should be used. You're the one writing your story.

• Don't be afraid to make changes, even big changes, but only when your heart is in it. It's too easy to get bogged down in trying to make everyone happy and that can suck the life out of you as a writer.

• Some people like to offer suggestions, and that can be very helpful to illustrate what they mean in the context of their comment. Use caution when adopting these suggestions word for word because they're not in your voice can stand out like a sore thumb. Try rewriting that line/section in your own words using the suggestion as a guideline instead.

Keep in mind, that through it all, you have that back up copy of your original work. You can rewrite edit your heart out because your precious words are always safe, gathering dust in a folder on your hard drive. No one can take those away from you - even though you'll probably never ever go back to them.

How do you decide what to keep and what to let go?

Prefer paperback? The print book is now live on Amazon. Reviews are always appreciated.

Monday, April 23, 2018

A to Z - All Things Writing: Talking About Your Novel

T is for Talking About Your Novel

Maybe you like telling people what you're writing about or maybe you dread it, but either way, it's good practice.

While you're writing, telling a few trusted people that you're writing a book can be great accountability. They will likely keep asking you how it's going. This will hopefully guilt you to stay relatively on task. If you don't have friends or family members who can fill this role for you, because not everyone is always supportive, find a writing group, either online or in person.

No one likes to talk about their book while it's in submission. That's a long, nail-biting process that is full of speculation and despair. Write something else while you're submitting. It will give you something more pleasant to talk about.

Once you have your book in your hand, you're going to have to start telling people about it or it will only ever be in your hands. Use that synopsis, your blurb and your logline and tell everyone about your book. Don't spam everyone at every turn, but do mention it when the opportunity arises. The more practice you get talking about your book, the easier it becomes. After a few times, those couple sentences about your book will just roll of your tongue and sound natural instead of forced by sheer panic.

It may sound weird to think about bringing up your book with people in your daily life, but you never know what people like to read. Toss the information out there and see what happens. The biggest trick to remember is to know when to expound on your couple sentences and when to stop there and move on in the conversation if they don't seem interested. Aiming for the hard sell isn't going to gain you sales, it's only going to annoy people.

Do you enjoy talking about your writing or do you avoid it?