Schedule Madness!

I've been rather quiet this past week and for this I apologise. It's that time of year again when the Uni deadlines go super crazy for a couple of weeks and everyone, and I mean everyone wants their first assignment. So, I'm up to my neck in New Media and Digital Communications. Don't ask me why I do this to myself because right now I really couldn't tell you... but ... I love it!

If you don't follow me on Twitter and your not friends with me on Facebook, or haven't liked my Facebook Page, or you don't have me in your circles on Google+ hint hint!

Then here's what you missed last week.

• I gave an interview to Mummy Adventures on Sunday, 


• I talked about going from 4 years to write my first novel to just 2 weeks to write Tainted Love over at Bunny's Review on Monday, 


• I gave an interview to Blog-A-Licious Authors on Tuesday,


• Tainted Love's Faith McKenzie made a special appearance over at Patti Larsen.com on Tuesday


• I guest posted on the booked that have changed my life on Friday at Author's Friend, who also wrote an awesome 5 star review of Tainted Love.


• Eden Baylee interviewed me on Friday with the popular Get Inside the Mind of @erincawood 


• I gave an interview to Tribute Books on Saturday, 

Erin

Posts You May Have Missed

Why Can't You Write A Novel?

I wrote this post a few days after I finished the 1st draft of my 1st ever novel, Life's A Ball? I've written 4 other novels in the last 28 months before my life was taken over by Valentina Secrets in at the beginning of the year.

I've grown as both a writer and a reader. But I thought I'd re-post this because I stand by these words as much today as I did 2 1/2 years ago. 

 One day I'll Write A Novel - 29th April 2010

Imagine you're standing in front of a mirror. C'mon indulge me for a second ... you'll see where I'm going with this soon enough... I would tell you to close your eyes but there's an obvious problem here... you can't read this with your eyes closed, hahaha!

So where was I? ...Oh yes! You're standing in front of a floor length mirror. Imagine you're wearing your favourite outfit, your hair is perfect, you're skin is radiating with the natural glow of summer, imagine how you're feeling in that moment.

Now imagine you've left the room and you literally run into someone who can only be described as a divine specimen of the human race. In that moment as your shoulders clash and the force of the blow, mixed with your parents insistence that you will grow up with manners, you twist around to apologise... in that one second when your eyes meet and you whisper a few courteous words... you realise that Mr/Mrs "Sex on Legs" has completely, totally and utterly just undressed you with their eyes. I want you to imagine how incredible that feels.

Hold on to that feeling while l bring you to my point ...

"They", whoever they are, say everyone has a book in them. There are many people who say they would love to write a novel. When I tell people I'm writing a novel the admiration, respect and support from people whom I least expected it is sometimes overwhelming. It amazes me so few of us actually do it. Why?

When taking on this challenge, no matter what is promised by others, there are no cheats in this industry. There are no quick fixes or magic formulae. There are, however, people who can tweak the recipe, people who can teach, and also people who may not teach, but you can learn from anyway.

There is a vast encyclopedia out there ready to help you turn your problem potion into to a magic spell just ready to be cast. You can touch the world with your written words. But ultimately its you, sitting in a lonely room, typing away and creating a fictional world and hoping people will enjoy it.

The deeper you travel in your imaginary world, the more you'll want to be there. The more your characters come to life the more intricate everything will become. Even the most outrageous fantasies need to be realistic and believable. Suddenly, what was once an enjoyable hobby is a time consuming, thought provoking, tears and tantrums creating war against the dream of becoming a published writer. Sounds like hard work, doesn't it?

Maybe this is why people don't write novels. Maybe this is why people make  excuses and never get around to writing. Well, I have something to say to all those who say they'd love to write a book, but never do.

1) Forget about the planning, forget about the characteristics, and forget about what everyone else tells you about how you should write.

2) Sit yourself down, somewhere you're alone and without distractions - maybe a little chill out tracks playing at a low volume, if that works for you - and don't forget that all important something to write with.

3) Just let go. I mean it, forget everything you've ever been told about everything. JUST LET IT ALL FLOAT AWAY AND FREE YOUR MIND.

Now put pen to paper, or fingers to the keyboard and let your inspiration go for a walk into fictionworld.

This is your imagination, you can go wherever, whenever, however, with whoever and do whatever you want to... If you want to jump off the Eiffel Tower without a parachute and survive you can... (please do not try that in the real world ... its not recommended!) But if you can come up with a plausible explanation, lets say your character has the power to burst into rain and reform unharmed from the puddle the water droplets he or she makes. Then surely, anything is possible?

I'm not going to profess that I have all the answers in the world of writing, I'm no JK, William, or even a published writer, but I don't need to be to tell you that despite all of the nightclubs, theme parks and extreme sports in this world, and no matter how many times the god-like divine specimen undresses you with their eyes... do you still remember how that feels after all this time? No...? Well it feels like your floating on air and can accomplish anything.

I don't think you'll find another adrenaline pumping, thrill seeking confidence building emotional rollercoaster better than the one you can create with your mind.

As for the rest of it...? Well, you can worry about later.

Go on ... I challenge you to release the writer within ... if you dare!.

I do have a few things to add to my optimistic and possibly naive self ... firstly, don't let anyone tell you, you can't. They aren't the ones pouring their heart and soul into the words and worlds of imaginary people who will become as dear to you as your friends. If you're prepared to invest the time and energy and emotion into them then don't listen to anyone who is going to tell you your not capable of doing it. And believe me, there is a whole world full of fellow writers online just waiting to cheer you on and help you achieve your goal because they all know exactly what's it like to be in your shoes. 

Secondly, don't write for money, for glory, for fame, fortune, to be the next XXX with movie rights, merchandise etc ... write for the sheer pleasure of writing. I say this from a monumental shift I experienced in my thought process this year. I stopped concentrating solely on writing that internationally best selling novel. I write for the fun of writing and when my beta readers tell me they loved my books theres no feeling in the world like it. I'm no longer chasing the stars, I just want my readers to be happy when my first book is released. And I'm a much better, much faster and much happier writer for it.

And lastly, thousands of novels go unpublished everyday. I have 5 of them sitting on my shelf, which I keep saying I'll get around to redrafting (And none of these are the Valentina Secrets Series that I've written this year). Just because you've written it, it doesn't mean you have to publish it if you don't want to. The very fact that you've written a novel is an amazing achievement in itself. But if you do want to publish then ...  welcome to a whole different and crazily exciting universe beyond the words 'the end'.

 Erin

Are You A Character Driven or Action Driven Writer?

I found this interesting post about whether you're character driven or action driven as a writer...  and well to be honest I can't make my mind up! 

I love my main characters to be complex

They have intriguing backstories that make them who they are and why they have come to be where they are at the starting point of my novel. One of the couples in within the Valentina Secrets Series I've tangled up the age old scenario of "Oh no, I have a crush on my best friend". But I've take it to the extreme where over sixteen years friends and family have speculated about the nature of their friendship and that one night  where they've always asked "well, did they? or didn't they? they probably did". I've complicated it further by having one decide to move from New York to Los Angeles on that very night in question. So did they? 

I'm also very character driven because I like to listen to my characters. I like them to tell me what's what? when? how? why? ... you know, I see their world through their eyes. So if things change its because they want them to. An example of this is Tainted Love. When I set out with Faith McKenzie I knew from the Valentina Secrets backstory she was married for twenty years and she had two children, she went on the run for three years, found a man who convinced her to stop running, get divorced and to live happily ever after. But it was Faith who told me she has five children and a step daughter through her second marriage. 

But... I also like my drama...

I open When In Vegas with a slap in the face marriage proposal rejection live on national television. Tainted Love with the words "you have to promise me something, promise you'll tell no one what you're about to read" and Life's a Ball with a hell raising argument between  Elle and her married ex-now-business associate and she's caught by her boss.

So I've also learn that pre plotting is important in this game. I need to know where my characters are starting from, what path I plan to walk with them and where we're aiming for. It's good to work out the kinks before we start on this journey and any detours along the way are easier to manage. I'm not aimlessly floundering waiting for the next big thing to happen because I already know. That doesn't necessary mean the path doesn't change completely.  Characters grow and develop over the course of the novel. When we set out on the path the complexity of the journey and the detours we have taken may alter the ending. So I'm not too ridged as long as their goal is achieved. The original ending of When In Vegas just didn't feel right for my characters so I changed it. I gave Ashleigh everything she wanted... only she realised it wasn't what she wanted any more.  

But I don't think this necessarily means I'm one of the lucky ones ...

and I can write both Character Emotional Development and Dramatic Action plotlines. It's just the way I approach my novels. I get to know my characters and I get to know them well. I get to know my story and I get to know it well. Then I write it.  

    

Erin

Posts you may have missed:


50 Shades of Grey Areas - June 2012


Can You Explore A Characters Backstory Too Much? - June 2012


Your Character vs Your Genre - June 2012


Novel Extract - Tainted Love - June 2012

Can You Explore A Character's Backstory Too Much?

I recently posted this question on facebook and got a resounding...  YES!! The majority has spoken. Okay, it was only 3 people who replied however, I admire and respect their opinions and they all said YES! ! !

So, I'm going to give you a little back story myself...and the reason I was pondering this question at all. It seems when I get started with a character, once I've outlined I know where they're going and we've started the journey I've planned, they'll tell me something fascinating about something they've done with/for someone else they know. Its only a line or two in their story. Its only something that appears maybe once or twice but its there... they've inticed me... now I want to explore it more.

I'll give you an example, last year when I begun a new work in progress. My male lead had given up his career and moved LA to rescue his sister from an abusive husband. She was his motivation for being in LA, working an unfulfilling job and having a life that sucked. His sister.  And of course her life was now wonderful, she'd achieved her happy ever after. He'd fulfilled his purposed for being there. That was it for this part of his backstory. Its relevance? the rest of the plot play out at her wedding.

This January, I sat down and really thought about my work in progress, about about the main characters and the web of threads that had developed. There's not one, not two, but half a dozen stories to tell and these are just the characters I've found fascinating.

So going back to this sister ... how did she get out of that bad marriage? how did she find her way to happy ever after? that can't have been an easy path for her to walk. So along comes a new love interest who of course had to have a massive conflict with her situation... another back story for me to explore and what do I find? Another half a dozen fascinating characters each with their own stories to tell.

The thing is ... when I went to the source of his conflict and I wrote about the source of his pain. I learnt so much about who he is and why he the person he is now that I wonder...

If your eyes capture every detail anyway and it's your brain that ignores the images it doesn't need is it possible for it work that way in writing too? Is it a bad thing to delve deeper your characters world with them? 


Erin


Posts you may have missed:


Novel Extract - Tainted Love - June 2012


Never Say Never - June 2012


Your Character vs Your Genre  - Jun 2012

Your Character vs Your Genre??

 There's hot debate in my world at the moment about the messages we writers are sending and while I am greatly opinionated to one side of the debate I'm going to save that for another day.

But it's really got me thinking about what we're doing with our craft.

You spend time with your character. You build their world, their hopes and their dreams. You then go and turn it upside-down and then leave it... how?? Well, that depends on your genre.

Everyone knows the first rule in romance is we all live happily ever after ...

em,well, no we don't actually.

And there's nothing more annoying than reading a fantastic novel with an excellent character-driven plot to reach a point where the character JUST WOULD NOT DO THAT!!! whatever "that" maybe, especially at the end.  Ergo, Book meet Wall ! ! !

When I was writing Life's A Ball? and when I created my main characters - commitment phobic Elle and her long time secret admirer Adam - THEY wrote their romance to the point where he convinced her their love was the real deal. Yes, of course, I shattered their happiness into a thousand tiny shards of glass because I'm evil like that. But when it came to bringing them back together... Adam would but would Elle? And I'm not going to tell you how I ended their story, like I said I'm evil... mwahahaha!

My point is just because the genre dictates a certain stereotype, You know your character, You're their best friend... would THEY do what you're expecting them to do? Besides who says you can't be different? who says you can't break the mould? I find if listen to my characters its always my best work.

Erin

Relexing Research

One of worst things about my 5-9 (or 9-5 for some) and my student life, is it tires me out. I get physically and mentally drained. My head tightens up and I have to take breaks. I actually burn out after a few hours. Hence the 5-9.

As a writer, I never feel like this. I can sit at my laptop from morning until night, or get down 10-12k words in a single session and not feel like I've worked at all. But my time is restricted and when I'm physically and mentally burnt out and when getting the words down isn't an option the writer in me still needs to work.

Where else can you watch TV and movies, listen to music, or read magazines and books and still call it research?

TV and Movies help the mind create mental pictures of situations I've never experienced myself. For example, the television show Touched by an Angel helps the imagination figure out how my Agents of Devine Intervention can guard the lives of their clients. And the Movie Marley and Me gave me an insight into the world of canine ownership as well as bringing back some incredibly painful memories over the death of my cat Kiara, that I have brought into Valentina Secrets.  

I draw a great deal of inspiration from music. Lyrics mean a lot to me and sometimes I pull a deeper understanding of a character because a particular song speaks to me about the character at that particular moment of their story. Duffy's I'm Scared instantly reminded me of Meg's situation in A Fairytale Ending? and Kelly Clarkson's You Can't Win speaks of Myleigh's awkwardness in Fake it to Make it?

The most important relaxing research, I think has to be the reading. Reading helps a writer to become a better writer. Magazines are a valuable source of information about what's selling, how to sell, techniques, tips, and books ... well... they're just fabulous source of everything. Characterisation, plot, narrative, speech, foregrounding. structure ...  I could go on and on. I read a lot within the romance genre and the romantic comedy/chick lit/women's fiction genre because it helps me understand the conventions of the genre that I write. But I also like to read outside this genre, Dan Brown, Stephenie Meyer, Martina Cole, JK Rowling are all on my list of authors outside my usual reads. I also pick up lesser known authors and since being involved with writing communities online indie authors make my bookshelf too.

Many people tell me to take it easy, watch I'm not taking on too much as a student, writer and responsible adult but my writing life gives me the best of both worlds. I get to relax and research at the same time.

Erin

www.erincawood.co.uk

My Tool Kit - Shay Fabbro

Since I write scifi/fantasy, I MUST have a notebook with all of the information on my characters and planets. Now that I’m working on the last book in the trilogy, most of the information is in my head at this point. J

But it’s nice to have the info handy in case I need some little tidbit. My notebooks are full of all sorts of neat tidbits. One section I come back to over and over is the one full of potential character names. If I hear or see a name that seems particularly interesting, I write it down for future use. For me, naming characters can be challenging. It’s important to use names that fit the genre. I find it amusing when people read a portion of a fantasy book and complain that the names are weird. They wonder why the author doesn’t use names like Kate and George. ;) Honestly, would Lord of the Rings been as powerful if Frodo and Aragon had been called Fred and Carl? Readers of the fantasy genre want to be whisked away to a different world filled with strange creatures, magic, and names and places that are unfamiliar.

 

Be True To Your Voice - Erin Cawood

As a writer your "voice" is probably the most important tool you'll ever have. Without it you're ... well you're a chocolate teapot or a snowball in hell.

When I was younger, I discovered romance on the pages of a Danielle Steel's novel and between the sheets of Mills & Boon (Harlequin). When I first dreamed of becoming a published author the stories and novellas that I wrote at 14 reflected the voice of a romance writer.

Then I grew up and life got in the way and I lost my passion for writing.

I was a late comer in discovering Chick-Lit, such as Bridget Jone's Diary. Author's like Marian Keyes and Katie Fforde have become favourites of mine but it wasn't until five years ago did I rediscover my passion for writing. I was studying an A-Level in English Language and we had to pick a text and write it for a different audience, in a different genre, whilst keeping the story and the fundamentals the same. I turned a classic novel in the style of Bridget Jones and what I learned was that I was able to immitate writing very well. Soon after I began my first novel and my "voice" was still as it had ever been. But I wasn't feeling it anymore. My "voice" had evolved into the Chick-Lit, sassy, fun, rom-com style of writing.

Recently, as an unpublished author, I entered Mills & Boon's New Voices competition. I had a great plan for a chick-lit I've been working on over the summer and when I learned that New Voices was coming back this year I thought I'd use it. I made a fundamental mistake. I changed my voice to suit the traditional modern romance series. I should have aimed my entry for the new RIVA series which suits my voice and plot better. Within 24 hours of putting my entry in I regretted it. It wasn't me. It wasn't my voice. I couldn't be 1000% happy with what I'd done because I wasn't true to my voice.

You can mix it up, target a different audience, write in a different genre, have a different purpose for your writing but you have to be true to your voice. Its the most important tool you have.

Erin

Introducing "My Hero": A Rebel with a Cause - Kim Koning

The hero of my stories is usually an underdog. My heroes are rough-hewn and rough around the edges. They have a rebellious streak and love bucking the system. They usually do not know they are a hero until push comes to shove an they are thrown into the white hot fires of adversity, conflict and tension. Even though they are underdogs, they are no cowards. They also don't have the bounties of life offered to them on a silver platter. They have had to fight for recognition and achievement every step of the way. They succeed through honour, integrity, loyalty and above all perseverance. They believe that if you do not stand for something or stand up for someone in life, you will fall for anything.

I love throwing my hero/oines into conflict and see how they get out of it. They never stand back from a challenge and though they will not create conflict, they will not flinch from it. They are also very strong-willed and stubborn.

For me there is nothing worse than a cookie-cutter hero or heroine. As a writer it is so easy to fall into the trap of making the most of your villain or antagonist. I don't want to read about some angelically perfect hero or heroine who annoyingly always knows the answers and swoops in picking up all the credit. I want a hero or heroine that I can see myself following and admiring and for me those have never been the "top dogs" in society. Rather it is the underdog who becomes the hero that makes the story for me every time.

Heroes should have flaws that they need to overcome and mine always do. You may not start off liking them in the beginning but towards the middle of the journey you are hanging on their every move and word and by the end you will fall in love with them. They will challenge you as the reader as they have challenged me as the writer. They do not like being told what to do or how to do it. They are by nature quite temperamental and they live by the heart. They are spontaneous and impulsive. They love adventure and thrive on living life on a dare. They are people who are not heroes because of their past but they shape themselves into heroes.

As for who are my heroes and heroines from old: Batman would be a favourite in the cartoon/graphic novel world, Zorro is another. Heathcliff, from Wuthering Heights, is one of my favourite heroes. Nobody said the hero has to be all good all the time. I also love the heroes and heroines found in Greek Mythology. They were always reluctant heroes but they believed in honour.

For me I love a hero that changes with the story. I love a hero who struggles against being seen as a hero. My heroes are not chosen they are made through their own mettle and their own wills. They will fight the good fight and even get dirty with the worst villains if that is called for but in the end they will not break their code of honour and integrity. For me, one of the most interesting heroes are the heroes that fight being a hero. But in the end that is what they are. They are the underdogs who will jump into a dogfight to defend another dog even if they are the smallest dog.

My heroes and heroines don't fit the mould of everyday society. They don't follow the rules. They fight for their own place in society and they make their own rules. They are rebels with a good cause and they will do whatever is needed to fight for that cause whether it be rescuing someone or standing up for what they believe in. You will want my heroes and heroines on your side because believe me they are better friends than enemies. You might say my heroes and heroines are heroic rebels.

___________________________________________________________________

Kim Koning is a writer, a reader, a blogger and an adventure traveller who always seeks the next horizon. Her first short story, a YA paranormal, was published in an anthology this year. She is currently in the submission process of her first novel, a historical paranormal. She can be found blogging and "Wrestling the Muse" at: http://kimkoning.wordpress.com    
 

Other places she can be found online are: website - http://kimkoning.com/wp
facebook - http://www.facebook.com/Kim.M.Koning
twitter - @AuthorKimKoning 

Social Networking:A Whole New World

If you've been following the debate this week then you'll know I've been putting in my two pennies worth. From time saving tips with apps like tweetdeck.com, marketing ideas such as email footers, advising you to think before you "speak" to achieve maximum effect, and the greatest tool ever invented - scheduling - available on blogger.com, tweetdeck.com and another time saving tool socialoomph.com.

I've had some fantastic responses to the TO BE OR NOT TO BE a writer debate on the subject of Social Networking. This week has been fun for me, as host, to see how people have interacted on the bloggosphere, especially because I've just started studying a degree which specialises in digital communications. Maybe its my fresh new look on the world as a 1st year student but I wanted to open your eyes to the differences between the way we communicate online. It really is a whole new world.

I hear people saying all the time "I don't get twitter" I didn't understand twitter either. It was a free for all and everyone could see everything and the character limit made life very difficult. I did very little tweeting. Then one day someone wrote #amwriting and I replied "what's #amwriting?" my dearest friend from across the pond, Lanetta, replied.  All of a sudden I discovered a whole writing community on twitter that I never knew existed. # Hashtags are the best way to find a topic on twitter.

Professionally, we use social networking as a means for promoting ourselves and our products. I said before to think before you 'speak'. If you're tweeting "lost my car keys" ... why? think need to know basis. If you're trying to sell something then you have to make people understand what it is that there getting for their money. What does "lost car keys" present to the outside world. .... On the other hand ... if said lost car key inspired a fantastic poem, short story or chapter in a novel then capitalise on it.

But how do you draw people in when simply asking doesn't always work in the cyberworld?

Again its a matter of thinking before speaking ... "Learn how I lost my car keys & found a new chapter in latest novel ... ", "Is Romance Dead?....", "Wanted: Honest Feedback ... ",

We weren't born with innate marketing skills or even the ability to communicate digitally, at the end of the day it goes against the grain of everything were ever taught in school about the nature of the English language from spelling and grammar to proper etiquette and manners. But Social Networking is vital in every way possible for an aspiring writer, personally and professionally. Without the friends I have made on twitter I would never have discovered the friends I have in writing communities on Facebook. Without these people I wouldn't have learned half of what I know today.  

Erin

Aspiring Writers Need to be Aware of the Demands on Their Time - Shay Fabbro

Writing can be the most rewarding experience, especially for someone who has an idea that just runs away and the book practically writes itself. And then there are the times when one must wrestle with each and every word, fling it face-down on the blank page and give it an elbow jab for good measure.

Writing, like anything else, has its up and downs. Good days and bad days. It’s the drive and passion that keeps people going, no matter what their profession. They deal with the downs because they know that soon, everything will be up again. For people like me who have a day job and write on the side, things can get a bit more complicated. I am a biology professor by day, author by night. Once a writer gets wrapped up in their characters and worlds, everything else gets pushed aside. Many an hour are spent thinking about the characters, letting them have conversations in your head, working out plot twists, getting through writers block. So between the actual writing and the thinking, this doesn’t leave a lot of time for other things. Friends, family, spouses, etc often go by the wayside when an author is in the grip of the muse.

Another aspect to writing is the marketing/promoting, which can be an even bigger time sucker than the writing itself ;) It’s hard to be in the now when you’re spending time on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, websites, and blogs. But these things are necessary for an author to sell books. It can be difficult for family, friends, and/or spouses to understand why the author spends all their free time on the computer. Aspiring writers need to be aware of the demands on their time above and beyond the actual writing process and make an extra effort to put down the computer or pen and spend some quality time with loved ones.

Getting Noticed Offline Is Harder If We DONT Have An Online Presence - Deb Nam-Krane

If an author was well-established in possibly 2002, he or she can probably get away without having a big huge, internet presence. However, that person is going to need at least a minor presence, even if it's only a website listing his or her books. For everyone else- especially those who aren't currently well-established- we need more. It's good to have at least a simple blog, but at the very least, they need to get on over to Twitter and start making some contacts. Social media, whether we're introverted or extroverted in our real lives, is essential for anyone who wants to gain notice for the simple reasons that 1) a lot of people are looking online and 2) getting noticed through offline venues is a lot harder now if we don't have an online presence.

So... no kidding; your four-year-old knows this. Social media is not a yes or no question, but I think all of us are still trying to figure out the best way of going about it. From what I've seen, writers face the same problem everyone else online does: avoiding the echo chamber. Many of the people I know- writers and non-writers- have talked about how much they enjoy finding a group of like-minded people. It's a big wide information super highway- there's someone for everyone, trust me. But when we start hanging out with those people exclusively- and when we're all talking about the same things- the conversations we're in and the knowledge we can generate together becomes stifled. It's the same problem the politicos, vegans, fashionistas and yogis have, but in our case it's a little worse. If we are, to some extent, responsible for recording and discussing the human condition, shouldn't we take all of the opportunities we can to thoroughly study it? What are we learning if we hang out with people who are more like us than not? And, oh yeah, for those who are really online primarily to sell some of their work, it just doesn't seem like selling to other writers almost exclusively is the best strategy, you know?

The only other thing I would say is that all of us- whether we're going the traditional or self-publishing routes- should approach our interactions with some professional decorum. I've seen a lot of things that have made me cringe: whether it's someone who started writing a few years ago bitterly complaining on their blog that they haven't been signed by an agent yet, an agent publicly accusing a publishing company of withholding royalties from a client, an author attacking someone over a negative review or someone on Twitter shilling their book every ten minutes (that is not an exaggeration). Social media- whether it's our blogs, Twitter feeds or Facebook walls- are public, and with very few exceptions, people want to see mature interactions there. Save the rants for your best friend- if you're going to be in business in public, be professional.

Social Networking. The Dos, The Don'ts, and the Huh?s - J M Kelley

Ah, social networking. The key. The golden ticket. Open a Twitter account, shoot out your book’s purchase links, and sit back and watch the money roll in.

Right?

Wrong-o.

Don’t misinterpret me. I think social networking plays a huge role in getting the word out about your writing. If you figure out the fine balance between promotion and spamming, you’ve got it made in the shade.

But it’s not just about sharing purchase links. The online world offers so much more to enrich your experience as a writer. You can connect with your favorite authors, and even have legitimate dialogue with the ones who enjoy interacting with their fan base.

My favorite moment came when I took part in a “twitterview” and not only managed to have people chiming in, but someone bought my book mid-event. Sometimes, I find a plea for purchase tinged with the right amount of snark yields a random book sale. Personal interaction is always key.

Social media, it is a wonderful thing. But there are a lot of hitches I never considered. And a lot of hurdles I can’t always figure out how to clear.

See, the online world has a good side and a bad side. You have so much at your fingertips. You can link. You can blog. You can tweet. You can have a Facebook fan page, your own website. You can wear the letters off your homerow keys with all the ways an author can network online.

But how the heck do you get anybody to listen to you?

Ah, there’s the rub. Talking to the virtual brick wall. Believe me, some days I feel like that’s all I do.

There are so many authors online. It’s great. You can network with thousands of people who feel the same as you about writing and reading. You talk shop. Commiserate about writer’s block. Cheer along as someone makes fantastic progress on their manuscript. Cross your fingers as someone else sends a full manuscript to an agent for review.

It’s a giant online crew of people in the exact same boat you’re in. You love it. You want to hug all the authors surrounding you.

But then a nagging question starts to form: Am I marketing to other marketing authors and that’s it?

And then the next nagging question bullies the first one out of position: How the heck am I supposed to do this and keep my day job?

Sometimes, the despair sets in. I’m a blue collar girl living in an easy-access-to-the-internet world. I don’t have a desk. I don’t have a work computer. I don’t have a system for getting around my duties and getting online during the day. So how do I find a way to get readers to hear me when I can’t always be around to do the self-promotion?

I love social media. But how do I get it to love me ? The question I pose, kind readers, is this: How do you make the internet work for you ? What are the pros and cons you’ve discovered about the fine art of social networking?


J.M. Kelley


J.M. Kelley's debut novel, Drew in Blue , is a contemporary romance available from Lazy Day Publishing. Drew in Blue was nominated for Best Contemporary of 2010 by The Romance Reviews, and is a TRR and Night Owl Reviews Top Pick. Drew is available for download from Amazon, B&N, All Romance, and OmniLit. J.M.'s dabbles next in the paranormal realm with her short erotic romance, Laws of Attraction , included in the Lazy Day Publishing anthology, Indulgence , available on Amazon on October 19th. For information and news, please visit http://www.jmkelleywrites.com/

My Perfect Hero is Flawed - By Shay Fabbro

I think writing heroes and heroines is the hardest part of writing. I think many (if not most) writers want to create heroes that are everything we’re NOT: perfect. It’s difficult for people to face what’s not perfect about themselves and therefore it’s easy to want to live vicariously through a character without flaws. But let’s be honest!

Readers don’t want to see page after page of ridiculous perfection.

They want characters they can relate to and the only way to do that it to create characters with flaws. But with just enough flaws to be realistic. It’s a tough balancing act, actually. I tend to give my characters flaws that are similar to my own, but exaggerated a little or just a tad different. I also use annoying tendencies I observe in other people. And if the writer REALLY knows what they’re doing, they will have their hero/heroine grow and change over the course of the book.

This is even more important in the case of a series. Nothing is worse than reading three or four books where the characters are exactly the same as they were in the first book. There must be some growth. I think this is particularly important for YA books. JK Rowling was superb in her treatment of the Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Each one grew and matured in their own way and changed over the course of the seven book series.

Shay Fabbro 

Author of the Portals of Destiny series and The Adventures of Alexis Davenport series

Website: shayfabbro.com

The Blackberry vs. The Library - A Writer's Tool Kit - Deb Nam-Krane

A year ago, I had a Blackberry. It let me be all over Facebook, Twitter and most of the rest of the Information Super Highway. I even wrote a number of blog posts from there- and not all of them were scattered and nonsensical. 

It was great- except for the way it removed me from my life. It was great that I could obsessively email, catch up on the news, update my statuses and tweet with it, but despite what the good people at Facebook and Google have to say, only so much of our lives are electronic. I like people watching on the train and listening to the stories I compose about where they're coming and where they're going. I like taking in the sights as I go walking with my children; maybe just the right word will finally come to me to describe spring in Boston (other than "rare") or the onset of autumn (other than "eternal"). I'm fortunate to live in a place filled with history and contradiction; I can better observe and learn from it live and in person than through research on my handheld. 

So I ditched the Blackberry and got a notebook and pen instead.

I jot down observations, make sketches of things I see and sometimes just clear my head with it. Sometimes I'll start drafting blog posts there or note revelations I have about my characters.

But when I go to write I'm happy to do it on a computer- in fact, I insist. (And while I can sit on the couch and edit, when I go to write large, new pieces I need to be sitting at a desk.) I love being able to use the internet for research, although I've found that I only get my initial ideas from what I find via a web search; if I want the real scoop, I need to get to a library and get a book.

So, for me, it's a notebook, a pen, a computer, a desk and a library- very 1990s.

Deb Nam-Krane

Born in New York City, raised in Cambridge and making a home in Boston, Deb Nam-Krane is thoroughly urban and her writing, whether on her blog or in her fiction, unapologetically reflects that. After hiding her interest in women's fiction and romance for decades, she came out of the closet in 2007.

When not writing fiction or being tugged on by her four homeschooled children, she can be found indulging her news and policy habit at Deb in the City . A history major, she was pleased to have the opportunity to write the History section of the upcoming Moon Thailand travel guide, to be released in late 2011.

Although she does her best to keep her blog focused on raising children in a city and within a budget, sometimes current events interfere.

She also blogs at the Jamaica Plain Patch and is a regular contributor to Moms Talk on the Jamaica Plain Patch and Literary Boston . When she can't strong arm an editor into publishing her book reviews, author interviews or thoughts on books in general, she takes matters into her own hands at Written By Deb . If you think she's a little bit obsessive about mythology, you might be right.

A longtime book reviewer, she is always looking for good things to read, but still prefers being able to hold a book and flip its pages.

This is My Job, Thanks

I’ve been my own boss for almost ten years now in one way or another. I opened two small businesses even before I was a full-time writer, both of which taught me a great deal about the itty-bitty details and necessary workings of organizing my life around being responsible for my own livelihood without a safety net.

When I sold one business and closed the other in favor of writing as a career, I actually forgot that was part of the deal. Honestly, I still had THE DREAM in my head. You know the one. Write a best selling series, find the perfect agent, wrangle multi-million dollar book deal, live happily every after. Um, yeah

Okay, deluded. But I got over it. And decided after much disgust and frustration with the present publishing model that I would go it alone as an indie. Fabulous. Mind you, I still have a few projects out there with small publishers and will continue to do so, I think. But the bulk of my career is my responsibility. And honest, that’s exactly how I like it.

Here’s the thing. Being your own boss is fabulous when you have clients waiting for product or projects. Deadlines. A business plan.

Did I mention I somehow fell off the entrepreneur wagon and into the fairy tale of being cared for by those who knew better? Right, then. Last year, my first, I wrote five novels. For some, that’s brilliant. For me, it was a great deal of time wasted. But I was holding back, resting on my surety that any second now some brilliant agent would recognize my talent and make me a star.

I woke up at last thanks to the help of some fabulous friends and the understanding that I wasn’t happy just waiting. There were books to write and voices to still. I’d developed a plan over the years to get my work done in the past. Why did I abandon it? Starting fresh, I reevaluated, created a business model and a forecast schedule of writing and publishing and dove in

Much better. I have deadlines again, goals and landmarks to hit. This year I will have completed thirteen novels and published nine. Next year is even more ambitious. Why? Because I mean business again. Not fun and games, not some Hollywood dream (although I’m planning on some of that being involved, let me tell you). This is real life, and a real career. I have to treat it like that. Or I get nothing done.

And for the folks who ask me what I do and either a) think I’ve got it made because I have books out there or b) looks skeptical that what I do is a real job… I can only say this. Like you, I work hard every day. Harder sometimes maybe. Because no one else is looking out for me.

I’m a businesswoman. I’m a writer. And I love every minute of it.

About the Author:

Patti Larsen is a middle grade, young adult and adult author with a passion for the paranormal who writes a great deal of horror for someone who is afraid of the dark. She lives on the East Coast of Canada with her very patient husband Scott and four enormous cats.

Her new series, The Hunted (Run, Hide, Fight and Hunt), is available now at http://www.smashwords.com/ and www.Amazon.com

You can find her at

www.pattilarsen.blogspot.com

www.pattilarsen.com

www.pattilarsenbooks.blogspot.com

www.facebook.com/pattilarsenauthor

http://www.twitter.com/#!/PattiLarsen

and her work on Amazon.com.

Introducing "My Hero!"

Without a hero you have no story and yet unless your reading or watching the latest action thriller would you consider the main character to be a hero?

What is a hero?

A Hero is:  

• A person who is admired for having done something very brave or having achieved something great
• The main male character in a book or film who is usually good
• Someone who you admire very much

 You'd think that as a writer I'd be more concerned with the second definition from the Cambridge Dictionnary... but actually ... for this series I'm interested in all three. I hope to bring an insight into the how creators of fiction think. How does an author form the hero of their novel? Do they draw the qualities from the heroes of modern day society? If they are writing heroes then who are the writer's heroes? I've invited several guest bloggers to join me in sharing their views on this subject and over the discussion will continue over the coming weeks.

Erin

Thought for the Day : How Do You Write?

A friend of mine emailed me recently and asked me 'how do you write?'

I thought my response was quite inspired for five thirty a.m and decided it needed to be blogged...

Every writer's different some have a set schedule like a shift at work. You have to find what works for you. Once I've a plot going around in my head that's it. I hate the idea of having to focus on 'real life' LOL! I get consumed by the world I'm creating. 

Stringing a few words together to form this world isn't as easy as it sounds. If you imagine everyone involved on a movie set, script writers, makeup artists, set designers, costume designer, actors, cameraman, composer, director, as a writer you are every single one of these people and you have to put into words each frame of the movie you have in your mind, They say a picture it worth a thousand words except you need to use as few of those thousand words as you possibly can while achieving the same effect.

Then once you're done you go through it with a fine tooth comb realise most of its crap! But you've got strong characters and there's enough sparks between them. The story line's got that something to keep a reader interested. So maybe...I never worry about the first few drafts. I free write, so let the creative process have control. If you can create any scene so detailed enough that you can taste, smell, feel, hear it in your mind and then put that into words so that other people can see what you see, smell what you smell... You get my drift... You can make anything happen and that's why I love it so much.

I'd love to know what everyone else's thought are on this?

Erin

This Week's Crisis

This week hasn't really been a usual week. The migraine decided to have a new symptom nausea... mmm ... not my most favourite of migraine symptoms I have to say and I've spent the best part of the week wondering why Gabrielle and Kyle from Devine Intervention's Halos at Dawn have decided to stop talking to me. So on Thursday night I decided to stop pushing the matter and move on to something more productive. I got out my first novel Life's A Ball? and had a read through.

Its the first time I've given LAB any thought in nearly three months

I so wish I hadn't.

It made me laugh. So I'm impressed with my little old self. But the perfect ending, the one which is the premise for book 3 and 4 and the whole reason for the final in the series, is no longer perfect! My world has just spiraled into chaos.

Oh what to do...?   

Erin

Taking a Walk Down Memory Lane

Uninspired by the idea of flashbacks I haven't paid much attention to the blog hop this month and in my defence I've had a migraine for 37days (I suffer from chronic daily migraine) and the second title from Devine Intervention is craving all the non-painful non-working hours. But this morning I thought I'd give it ago only to find out that ....

Maybe I should have listened to my teachers all those years ago and read the question properly!

So my writing flashback? What first piece of writing would I post and what advice would I give to my younger self?

Back in December 2009 I found a box under my desk of stories I'd written during my teenage years. These are my first novellas and I took a walk down memory lane. They're all hand written so I can't post them without typing them up and we all know if I was to do this I'd end up posting a re drafted version not the original - LOL - hey I'm being honest!

I think the one that stands as out the most exceptional to me was one about an orphaned girl who ran away from the children's home one summer and fell in love. This was actually the back story. My story began when she returned to the town of her first love after she left the children's home. Naturally true love doesn't run smooth and my character didn't get the happy ever after she went looking for. Her road suddenly looked very long and very lonely. Years of heartbreak followed before she found out who she really was, the knight in shining armour and her happy ever after.

I was swept away by this novella from start to finish. I was blown away by the characters because they jumped right off the page. I experienced emotional triggers that if I could have written then how I write now I'd have cried when the world came crashing down. There I was, twelve year later, slack jawed and blinking at the end thinking Did I really write this? 

What would I say to my younger self?

My innocence was written all over it so I'd tell myself to stop living in a bubble! I'd suggest reading more newspapers and watching more TV because I never did that as kid and get some ideas about real life.

I'd tell myself to think about the setting the scene a little more. Props are good, my characters tend to put their fist through thin plaster boarded walls or throw expensive crystal vases when they're angry these days.

Another one of my most favourites is the senses: touch, smell, taste, hearing and seeing. There is a difference between  the physical way something feels and the emotional way something feels, such as a kiss. The reader is living and breathing these characters. They need to experience what the characters are experiencing.

My final piece of advice would be a skill I don't think I've quite mastered yet myself and it would be to chose your wisely. A novel is 50,000+ words strung together over 175 pages. A published novel is 50,000+ words carefully crafted into an unput-down-able page turner. And Shakespeare isn't famous four centuries later for no reason!

I have re worked Finding Holly and I've every intention of making it one of my single titles but... I'm actually daunted by the prospect of taking on my fifteen year old self.

Erin

Writing Flashback is the topic for this months Fellow Writers Blog Hop

Other blog hops topics include:

Inspiration -  Where Does It All Come From? - June 2011

Judging A Book By It's Cover - I'm Guilty Are You - April 2011