Be True….

Multi-pubbed author, Anne Whitfield is visiting Rule of Three today to give us a couple of writing tips.
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Do your characters speak to you?
They should dictate what happens and how it happens. Have you ever written yourself into a corner and couldn’t understand why the story isn’t moving forward?

Often this could be you taking the character where it doesn’t want to go. Read back a few chapters and analyse where the change happened.
If you force a character to behave in a way that is not true to them, the reader will notice it and wonder why. Don’t give the reader pause for thought in a negative way at any time.

Your goal as a writer is to sweep the reader into your character’s world – their world, not yours.

To add to this subject — be true to your period, especially if writing historical fiction.

Historical writers must know their era well. A reader can tell when the author has done her research or when the author has fudged along the lines. You don’t have to bog down your novel with details – you aren’t writing a textbook! Information dumps aren’t interesting. Instead, you need to sprinkle all the little facts you know about those times throughout the story. Sometimes, all it can take is an extra word.

You also have to be true to your genre. Don’t write a romance and query it as a mainstream, or the other way around, etc. Know what genre you write and which publishers release those kinds of books.
It might sound common sense, but you’d be surprised how many people get this wrong.

The large publishers know what is selling and what will sell. They have to fit your book into their marketing production demands. So make it clear what you write, what readership it is aimed for and who will buy it.

Small publishers are a little more flexible, so if your book is cross-genre, you can sometimes have a better chance in being published by small companies who are willing to take a risk.

As I’ve said many times before, write the book of your heart, but then use your head when it comes to selling it.

Need more books!

. Oh goodness, late again. There’s a long and complicated reason, beginning with a druid’s head, going through a dorset belle and involving a biting turtle.

Anyway, this is a story that took place about a week ago. I had a long trip home from work – a trip I’d taken many times, so I’m pretty bored of it by now. But that’s okay, I, as always, had a book.

Except, at the bus stop, I opened the book, read a few pages – then realised I’d finished. The fifty pages I thought I had left were just notes. I was in that awful situation – I had nothing to read.

The bookshop was closed. The local shop only sold magazines of the ‘Heat’ ilk. They wouldn’t do. That would be the equivalent of wanting a three course meal, and being offered a soggy crisp instead.

I had to do without, for an hour. And it was hell. My boredom level shot up, and as that went up, my anger and frustration went up too. My over-active and under-stimulated mind couldn’t settle on any one thing (including creating my own story) and instead raged about how much everyone annoyed it. I became jumpy and annoyed and in need. In other words, I was suffering withdrawal symptoms. I only started to feel better when I got home, and picked up a book.

Don’t ever let anyone tell you ‘the world doesn’t need another book’. There’s people like me in the world. We need all the books we can get.

English – the “common” language

As we near the end our first year of blogging at Rule of Three, we have figured out that life still happens. We get sick or go on vacation (or is that on holiday, ladies) or take on a few more responsibilities. And sometimes that means we just can’t post. So we have asked for someone to come in and pinch hit for us on those days. Luckily Karen Fainges responded and is here today to post for Narelle.

When asked to describe herself, Karen Fainges says teacher, wife, mother and writer, though not necessarily in that order. The Shaytonian chronicles were born one day as a story to keep her cousin and sister from being bored. The spark grew through many retellings, some in short stories, some in role-play. All those years of games, tears and laughter are distilled into a much more adult version than that long ago tale. Still, the childlike wonder of life, the fierce need for acceptance that we all can feel and the belief that the universe really does revolve around us; all comes through in this irreverent stab at all those old B movies. What if out there, there really was a race of beautiful slave looking for a male with whom to rebuild the species? And what if he said, “Sure, why not?”
Here is what Karen has to say about a subject that comes up often here at Rule of Three: English.

When George Bernard Shaw said that, “England and America are two countries separated by a common language”, he never spoke a truer word. Even in this world of constant online communication, this is still true. One question every Australian writer has to answer for themselves is, “Will I leave the ‘u’ in flavour?”

For some, the characters are Australian or English and then it is easy to say yes, it’s part of the character. As a writer of science fiction/fantasy, I have to decide for characters that learnt their English at the turn of the century (and I’m talking 1300’s).

But there is more to it than that. It’s not just different countries. I have found differences even in other states in Australia. What do you call a roll of pressed meat made to put in sandwiches? Is it spam, luncheon, deli meat or one of a dozen other names? And if I call it spam, do I have the characters spend five or six lines explaining that it is meat for sandwiches, and not annoying unsolicited emails? Actually, now I think of it, that gives me a great idea for a scene, I should write that down.

http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/ gives some wonderful examples of the differences in English and American. Chips, are they hot or cold? Is being made redundant becoming obsolete or losing your job?

I have found more and more that I have to pass my work on to three or four different nationalities to see if it means the same thing to all of them. I am amazed how often the same words can invoke a completely different reaction.

Some of it is tone. To an Aussie, “yeah right” is often spoken sarcastically. For us, it can mean, pull the other one, it’s got bells on. For others reading those words, the tone of voice sounds a lot different, it means agreement.

So where is the line between making your writing clear and adding way too much explanation? I guess I can post this blog and see if anyone “gets” it.

Blogbook Tour Update

I’m beginning to think a blogbook tour is actually a mental health challenge. If you make it through without being certified, you are good for life. If not….well there are some nice facilities for mental rehab nowadays.
Today’s post was supposed to be a calm update about my blog tour which kicked off Sunday. I was going to tell you how I got it all together, had all the posts written, the links up, and was now just waiting for comments.
You guys all know me better than that now, don’t you?
First off, the book is not out yet. We were waiting to get the blurb from a review, but then the reviewer needed it edited. Then the reviewer’s editor wanted a live link on Amazon or Borders or some other online bookstore, which ISN’T GOING TO HAPPEN UNTIL THE BOOK IS PUBLISHED which we don’t want to do until we have the review. (it is on Fictionwise and Amazon as an e-book with my other pub, but that apparently wasn’t enough.) You see the circle?
Okay, so no print book yet since I can’t see my way out of the circle and neither can my publisher apparently. But I do have the tour lined up all the way into the beginning of June. And I have the posts written (okay, most of them. You folks who are waiting for the first week of June posts–I’m working on them. As soon as I get this post written and the one written for MakeMineMystery for the last Thursday in May and the intro post for our guests here, oh and I have to tweet and put updates up on Facebook and myspace and crimespace bout Linda Faulkner visiting here tomorrow. Okay, it’s not probably going to happen today–but I’m working on it.
I do have the first part of the tour schedule up on my website. and I’m going to list it on Goodreads and FB events and anywhere else.
Should we have a pre-order link do you think? Maybe something tasteful up on the pub’s website? Or just keep going on the blogtour until the book is actually out?
I can practically hear Narelle. Breathe in, Christine.

What’s a Writer? by Linda M. Faulkner

Our guest this week at Rule of Three is Linda M. Faulkner  who is  a novelist (check out her book, Second Time Around,)  and the author of the newspaper column, “Business Sense.” She’s also a member of MWA, RWA, SinC, EPIC, Rocky Mountain Chapter of MWA, Montana Chapter of RWA, past-present of RWA’s New England Chapter from 1990-1994.  So the woman knows a bit about writers! Here’s what she has to say

 

Here’s a question for you:  What’s the definition of writer?

            According to Webster, it’s:  one that writes.  Personally, I’d say one WHO writes…  But hey, I wasn’t hired to write the dictionary and Webster was, so who am I to talk?

            Which sums up, quite nicely, what I’d like to say.  So, why did I put it at the beginning, you ask.

Because.

Because that’s the way I write.  Because I’m a writer and I get to write what I want to write.

First Amendment—remember that?

            A lot of talk goes on in the world of writers:  within writing organizations, within publishing houses, between the members of writer’s organization and the employees of publishing houses.  Between writers, too.  What amazes me is that so much intolerance exists.

            I attended a critique group once and Writer A refused to listen to Writer B read an excerpt from her erotic romance novel because Writer A embraces a certain religion, doesn’t read erotica, and finds it offensive.  I’ve also heard a published writer say that she won’t attend a critique group with unpublished writers in attendance because the unpubbed don’t have any experience and she doesn’t trust her work with them. 

            HELLO!  If we’re all writers, we’re doing the same thing:  we write.  We sit in front of our laptops (or word processors or legal pads), we holler at our imaginations to come up with stuff no one has come up with before, we string words together—hoping that our arrangements of the little buggers will rip emotion from the hearts of our readers and motivate them to buy more of our stuff.

Does the writer of science fiction novels work any less diligently than the writer of historical romance?  Does an unpublished writer have a less effective inner-editor than a published writer does?  If your book is published by an ePub, does that automatically make it less well crafted than if it’s published by Doubleday?

I’m sure there are people who will answer Yes! to all three of my questions.  I wish there were more of us who will answer No!

I am a proponent of writers sticking together and supporting each other.  Every published writer was once unpublished and lacking in experience.  Very few of us were born with the innate understanding of grammar, punctuation, spelling, noun-verb agreement, developing a voice, creating sympathetic characters and exciting plots, etc.  We all had to learn these things.  Where’s our compassion and tolerance?

If I embrace my own First Amendment rights as a writer, then I sure as heck am not going to infringe upon someone else’s First Amendment rights.  The more writers we have, the more stuff we readers have at our fingertips.  Your success doesn’t threaten mine:  it inspires me to work harder; it proves to me that my success isn’t out of reach.

I’m a writer.  I write.  What do you do?

Trying on a different person

. I’ve been trying a little experiment the past few weeks. Ordinarily, most of the time, when I’m at work or shopping or watching TV, I’m plain old Michelle. But once I pick up a pen and start to write – I become Jenna (name changed because I’m naturally secretive). I’ve decided to write a pseudonym.

Lots of writers do it when they want to change styles or genres. Agatha Christie wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, Victoria Holt had three pseudonyms for her three different genres (Victora Holt – Victorian romances, Jean Plaidy, historical novels, Phillippa Carr, a family saga. All very good). One historical romance writer, Madelaine Brent, turned out to be Peter O’Donnell, the creator of Modesty Blaise.

And of course, there’s Stephen King. He created Richard Bachman to avoid flooding the market with Stephen King, and to test whether it was his talent or his name that sold books.

But Richard Bachman became more than just another name. He got a life – with a wife, and a photo and eventually, a grave stone. Stephen King wrote about a writer’s pseudonym coming to life and taking the writer over in the classic Dark Half (a particularly chilling story for writers)

And that’s why I did it – to become someone else. Michelle isn’t very successful. I hope Jenna will be. And when I think of myself as Jenna, I change subtly. Michelle is lazy, and likes to curl up with a good book. Jenna is motivated and hard working, and will write till she drops. Michelle is nice and sweet and a bit of pushover. Jenna is harder and pushy. Michelle worries her stories are too dark. Jenna likes the dark.

It’s an odd sensation, becoming someone else, but I must admit, it seems to be working. I’m writing more, and having more ideas. Maybe Jenna will get the success Michelle never could.

FB, MS, Tweets

If you know what the heck the title of this post means, you do your fair share of networking. Me, I always have to stop and think–MS is a disease in my book, not myspace and as for FB, I tend to think of some feminine product. Lately, all the writer’s listserves I’m on seem to be devoted to these acronyms as the authors try to get each other’s Twitter addies or facebook urls.
I guess that’s promo at work. If we’re promoting to ourselves as writers. Don’t get me wrong–if you send me your Twitter name, I’ll follow you. I tweet about this blog and the other blog I’m on MakeMineMystery and I like being part an on-line writing community. I pick up a lot of stuff there just as I do on the writing listservs I’m on.
But I don’t expect you guys to buy my books either. Plus I keep hearing that these things are on the last legs of the fad. So what’s the newest fad? What new way is there to get your book out there promo wise? Are you podcasting? Are you putting book trailers up on Youtube? (I really don’t see the point of that one–are there really that many people so bored with their lives that they’re sitting on Youtube trolling for book trailers? Isn’t it easier to just go to a store and check out the covers and the backs of the books?)
Or are you trying the old fashioned way–going out to the book stores and trying to hand sell your stuff one signing at a time?
The thing is I have learned in the last year or so just how much of a time sink blogging, tweeting, facebook, and all the of the rest are. So a podcast or a book trailer would probably be even worse. Wouldn’t they? And I am trying to write the next in the series although my critique partners claim not to have noticed. And with this economy, I tend to shudder at the thought of how much it would cost to go across the country trying to sell my book.
Still I need ideas. What are you doing right now to promote and why?

Writing is a lot like Cooking by Kim Smith 2009

I want to introduce Rule of Three’s guest author for this Sunday. Kim Smith is the author of the wildly popular Shannon Wallace mystery series and show host at the online radio show, Introducing WRITERS! She is a full time network administrator, wife, and mother of two, although she swears her little dog, Tink, is the one who really runs things.

Currently, Kim is revving up for edits to a romantic novella, a short story for an anthology, and the next Shannon Wallace book. All coming soon from Red Rose Publishing! Here’s Kim:

When I was a teenager and decided I wanted to learn how to cook, I took on spaghetti as my first choice. I had watched my mother do it countless times, and it seemed like an easy feat. After setting about the task, I wondered just how she made cooking look so easy. It wasn’t really. There was a lot of time spent at the sink, standing, stirring, cutting and chopping. I quickly realized that cooking was an art and it required dutiful observance to the rules.

When I make spaghetti, I buy only the freshest ingredients, tomatoes, peppers, onions, mushrooms, and ground meat. I find healthy versions of this, and have made it with turkey, pork and beef. Pasta is a major player in spaghetti so I make sure I pick a good brand (although I would love to make my own one day!)

In preparation for the batch of spaghetti, I cut up the vegetables and brown the meat, meticulously keeping cross contamination of meat to veggies. I boil the pasta in its happy red pot until it is just the right consistency. When I am ready for the big finish, I ladle the noodles onto a colorful dish, top it with a batch of the meat sauce, and sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top for a zing.

Writing is a lot like cooking. You have to follow some guidelines, like use the best ingredients, prepare it well, and send it to the table looking its best.

Don’t settle for stale words! Find a new dictionary, or thesaurus and challenge yourself to test those “taste buds” and try to find new words, new ways of saying things. Then, take those fabulous words, sentences, and paragraphs and put them into a document that makes every reader sigh. Wake their senses! Throw in an extra dose of spice. Make your writing appear pleasing to the eye. Scoop it out of its usual plain wrapping and present it to the public on a glamorous new plate that will make your readers say “ah”.

Change is good, but too much veering from the norm may make your reader (or dinner guest!) turn in the opposite direction. Don’t do things that send them for the nearest diner to get their fill of fiction, or fettucini.

Well, someone has to make them up!

. Here’s an interesting little tip lots of proper, grown-up,published writers keep to themselves; if you can’t find the right word, it’s okay to make one up.

Shakespeare did it. He made up around 3000 words, including amazed, moonbeam and majestic. And as a writer, as far as I’m concerned, if Shakespeare did it, then it’s okay by me. Science Fiction writers do it all the time – William Gibson invented the word ‘cyberspace’ and Anthony Burgess made up a whole language in Clockwork Orange.

Once upon a time, two drunken men, in Dublin, I believe, towards the end of the eighteenth century, bet each other that one of them couldn’t invent a new word and get everyone talking about it in 24 hours. The bet was taken, the word was invented, and the man painted it all over town. In 24 hours, everyone was taking about it, and the bet was won. The word was ‘quiz’.

Have I done it? There is a word on the internet, a popular word, that I never saw before I used it on a mailing list about ten years ago. (No, I won’t tell you what it is!) This week I came up with ’sqooply’ to describe the wobbly, dizzy feeling you get when you’re ill, and your knees are shaky, and you just don’t feel right. I felt it deserved a word. And then there’s hampidampi – I don’t know what that is it yet, but it’s a good word, and deserves to mean something. (Feel free to use it, if you figure it out)

So don’t be afraid of it. If there isn’t a word, make it up. (Although Google it first, just to check it doesn’t actually exist). You’re a writer, a creative soul, you can pull whatever you need out of your mind.

Ho-hum

In between writing papers for uni and programs for school, I’ve been (selectively) sending out queries.  Sadly, to no avail so far.  In fact, I received another ‘no thanks’ letter yesterday.  All is not lost though because there are still a few live ones out there.  Fingers crossed.

Unfortunately I have little else to report about my writing because the selling stage of the game is about as uneventful and uninteresting as it sounds.  Uninteresting, that is, until I receive the nod from a publisher.

Keep you posted.