Writers are Weird

At a recent conference for writers, I overheard a young lady telling her father, ‘Writers are weird.’

I wanted to give that idea some thought, well, the thought it deserved. ‘Are we strange?’

Thinking back to one of my novels, The Girl Nextdoor, I remember an extraordinary occurrence.

My main character decided to be gay.

In my novel, I am the creator, the god of all things, and who is this bitch to derail my whole train of thought on this novel?

Some call me a pantser. I think ‘discovery writer’ is probably easier to understand but, I suppose I, too, am strange. The characters tell the story. Some nights at 3 AM, they will awaken me with dialogue. You see, the difference between a hobbyist and a true writer or author is the former will turn over and ignore the characters. Famous last words ‘I will remember that in the morning.’

I, the author, will crawl out of bed and switch on the computer.

The loss of those golden ideas is a travesty if your characters are like mine. Does that make us weird?

I know many authors who are died in the wool plotters.

Imagine that you are taking a car trip from New York to San Diego. You have your destination plugged into the GPS, your gas tank is full, and your stops for fuel, food, and sleep are all planned out. That is a plotter. You most probably have a list that contains your activities for any given day of the week.

Now take that same scenario but, you don’t own a Garmin. You have a general idea of what the major highways are and, you know that you need to head west.

Which of the two do you think will get to San Diego first, assuming you both left at the same relative time?

Which do you think will stay on budget?

Which one will have more stories to tell?

One of you made it in three days and the other in three weeks; who do you think will have had more fun?

I am the latter when it comes to car trips and writing.

I know that my main character has a goal. She has a shitty life; her father is nowhere to be found, and she must raise herself. She believes the reason he is gone all the time is she is a disappointment to him. (the lie) She is an awkward child as she grew up without a mother. Spending her free time mimicking the stars on MTV (yes, dating myself), her brush becomes her mic and her stuffed animals her audience.

Magic comes into this story as she discovers the pixies who are guiding her, unbeknown to her.

Without plotting any of this, I knew that I wanted her singing to her stuffed animals to be part of the payoff. How do I get there?

What series of events must transpire to follow the story structure and make this story enjoyable with memorable characters?

What if we add another broken person who lives not too far from her?  What if her heritage is from Scotland, and what if she not only knows of the pixies but is aware of the white witches and so on?

The story unfolds early on when the two meet while she is under a spell.

This novel is one of my early works, and I will most probably be re-writing it soon. I can do so much better now than then.

Grammarly reports that I have written over 27 million words.  During that time, I cannot tell you the number of classes, seminars, and so forth that I have attended. Yes, many were virtual thanks to the pandemic but, that is good in a way; I didn’t lose the travel time.

While the story is still wonderful as it is, I want to take another stab at it.  See, we are weird.

My current NANO project is almost finished.  Forensic Assassin will be released soon. I am actually toying with the idea of publishing it on KDP for three months to get some feedback.  You folks make sure and follow me here or on Twitter, so you are notified when it is released. @authortwscott

The young lady who told her father that writers are weird was not far off the mark. The truth that she will discover one day is that we are all a little weird.

As far as the car trips, always allow extra days to explore the world around you. With smartphones, we are dependent on step-by-step directions and we probably cannot read a map to save our lives.

Stop at the out-of-the-way shops, and take the side roads instead of the large multi-lane freeways, if you can.

I am a chatty Kathy when it comes to travel and meeting people. You would be shocked how everyone has a story to tell, and if you can get them to speak…you might have a story for your next novel.

I typically will start with their name and compliment it. If they respond I tell them I am an author and I am always looking for names. That is a half-truth, I am looking for interesting people with a name.

Jim Croce ‘I got a name’ is worth listening to. The song began rattling around my head as I wrote that last line.

I hope you all have a super weekend and are staying safe during these trying times.

Follow me here, drop me a note. I love to hear from you.

Much Love -TW

Negative Character Arcs

Hello people, it is I, your humble author reaching out to you once again.  Many of you are writers or authors, and I want to pay it forward.  If you have followed me for any time at all, you know this about me already.

Character arcs are a considerable part of character development, which causes your readers to empathize with them.  Much like the big-eyed boy with the black rim glasses living under a staircase, we all loved him.  Why?  The author did a great job of growing him as well as the other characters around him.

One way we do this is with character arcs.  So, Negative arcs???

I get this question posed to me often.

If you first understand what a character arc is, you know that it is basically the growth or change a character makes during the story.

Your protagonist will probably believe some lie that possibly they learned sometime in their youth.  They have lived a lie, and somewhere in your story, their ‘truth’ is challenged.

A common lie is, they are not worthy of love.  Many go through their whole life because of their upbringing, believing that.  A little secret here, I was one of them.  Shhh, that is our secret, and a lie that I had to overcome.   Those horribly abused children you read about…That was me, and I would have loved the staircase vs. what I went through.

Anyway…

During the plot, they go through twists and turns and discover that their ‘truth’ is indeed false.  This can create a crisis for them, which is fun to write.  This would probably happen during the climax where they ‘shift’ their thinking.  Letting go of the lie and accepting the truth as their new mantra.  Because the lie and reality are probably apparent to your reader, they can empathize with your character, which will engender support for your writing style.

Yeah You!

What about a negative character arc?

There is the same lie, but the truth remains elusive and, the character now embraces their lie even more and spirals downward into less than proper behavior.  Breaking Bad is a perfect example of a negative character arc.

Had I not learned the truth, I dare say that drugs and alcohol might have been my undoing.  That would have been a negative arc.  Death can be part of a character’s negative arc.

In my novel, Presidential Assassins, Kelly’s arc is compelling.  Before going into the military, her stepfather met an untimely demise, after attempting to rape her.  While it appeared as an accident, this action put her on the radar of a group that works outside or above the law.

After her mother re-married…Kelly became a military brat, enlisting as soon as she could to get away from her parents.

She was a pilot in the air force, shot down and tortured by the enemy.  Kelly, unknown to her captures, is a real badass.  She learned as a military brat, at an early age that she had to be tough. When she saved a school friend from being raped by a gang of older boys, she came close to killing them.  Her friend brought her father back to the scene in the nick of time.  He stopped her from breaking their necks.  She had them all down, and now she was going to end their reign of terror, one at a time.

Realizing that he now had a debt to repay, he hatches a plan.  Taking the gangly redhead under his wing, teaching her his ways would benefit her.  As a master of martial arts, he teaches her discipline, among other things.  While some of her talents come from her heritage as a red-headed green-eyed Irish woman, the lethal talents were taught to her by this man.  She became a master.

Fast forward past the war and her time in the exchange program on an aircraft carrier, she finds a job as a reporter.

After an explosion in California, Kelly is sent to research who was responsible.  During her flight, the plane she is on is hijacked.  Guess who kills the hijackers and flies a shot up 737 back into Scottsdale during a storm.

This novel is so full of action you will not be able to put it down.

Kelly has what we call a ‘flat character arc,’ or possibly a slightly positive arc as she does adapt and change to the situations.  I say that because, in reality, she arcs positive, negative, and then just kind of flat because she is who she is.  She is dynamite with a temper to match.

I don’t care what your gender happens to be; you will fall in love with her.

There is a secret organization that controls world leaders, and she is recruited….That is about as much as I can tell you without spoiling it.

A flat character arc is one where the character does not change who they are.  Some examples of that would be Indiana Jones or James Bond. To a large extent, it is Kelly McGuire.

I will put a link to the book here, Presidential Assassins.

If you honor me by reading it, please let me know what you think of it.  This is an adult read. There are sexual situations, some violence, and people Die!

My friends, I hope that you are all safe, and staying inside, away from those who this virus could be fatal.  With 7.4 Billion people affected, and the world’s economy headed for the toilette, we will be talking about this in the history books for some time.

Much Love…Stay Safe…-TW

Open letter to Amazon

 

Hello Amazon,

If you indeed have found this, thanks so much for taking the time to read my blog.

Yes, this is feedback.

As a writer the more information you can provide us, the better we are equipped to target our audience. I love the new reporting tool.

It would be interesting if not paramount to me to know which countries are purchasing which books.

I see that many novels sold are in the UK, but I have no idea, which titles.

As a novelist of many different genres, I need to know who my audience is, so I know whom to target with what ads.

For the rest of you writers out there, marketing is the largest part of the battle of making money from your books.  I know you thought it was just telling a good story with as few grammatical errors as possible, but that is not the case.

From the cover art to the marketing, it is all-important.  There are many steps or hoops as I call them, which you must hop through if you intend to be a novelist that only writes and does not have to work a day job.

In future blogs, I intend to assist other writers in this area as we are all in the same boat.  While a few authors think that this is some sort of grand competition, I assure you it is not.  I spend much of my time assisting other authors and do my very best to get them published if that is their goal.

Hints tips and kinks would be most helpful and I will publish them here if you care to share.

Amazon, thanks for the new reporting feature.

-Best TW

 

 

Writers, feedback, and what you should do with it.

Hello fellow bloggers, I have been busy and remiss from my blogging activities through NaNoWriMo.

I was successful with my endeavors for those of you who follow me on Twitter, or who have e-mailed me regarding my project.

I finished my 32cnd complete novel, all during November. That includes editing, creating the cover art all while learning a new OS (MAC) and a new software (Vellum). I still take the time to market my novels.

Over the years I have not put much effort into obtaining an agent as the time to do it is too costly.  Four hours for each query letter is a huge commitment for the ROI.

As a writer, I started throwing things at the wall to see what stuck.  Yes, that is a metaphor for testing the waters, while learning my craft.

Critique groups are helpful if you can find them.  Failing that, feedback from your readers will have to do.

E-mails to my website, are invaluable as most will not take the time.

Giving stories away on Kindle Unlimited, or BookBub, is a gamble; and here is why.

If you value your work so little as to give it away, why should I take the time to read it?  Further, if you give it away, and I read it, why should I spend my time to tell you why I liked or did not like it?

I market to other authors and writers like many of you, who are reading this right now.  You understand how valuable feedback is, and maybe you will take the time to offer comment, at the very least on this blog posting.

Failing that, we write a “spiffy” novel, we design the cover art, and we do all of the things one must do to sell a book.  We are learning our craft.

Finding someone to read your novel, and offer sincere feedback is imperative to shortcut the path that I have chosen.

My path has been this:

• Discover what is selling.
• Who is the author?
• What is the genre?
• Are they known or indie?
• Buy their book and read it carefully.
• Disassemble their work as if it were a clock, which you have to put back together. (cannot lose the pieces.)
• Apply your style, and construct a novel that is in the genre that is selling most.
• Market your novel through social media, word of mouth and so forth.
• Ask for feedback and hope that you get some.

The saga of the Starduster has been my best seller to date.

“Why?”

With 32 novels out there, spanning the spectrum of naughty to nice, what is it about that book which garners the most sales.

My first feedback on that novel “on Amazon” was one star, with a horrible poison pen review.

Having written the novel and reading the review, it was apparent that the person never read it.  Someone who is most certainly an author in this genre took it upon himself or herself to flame the novel as a way to knock it out of the running.

If you read the novel, and then his or her review, anyone with any sense can see this is a crap review.

Investigating the pseudonym person who did this, looking at the other critiques, it is obvious they were on a mission to destroy the competition.  That is sad and unnecessary.

Authors, we are not competing with one another.  Your voice is different from mine.  The stories have all been told before; your unique voice is the difference between what you write and what I write.

Resisting the urge to confront said anonymous flamethrower, I pressed on, figuring even a bad review is better than no reviews.

The next person who reviewed it gave it five stars. They gave an abbreviated synopsis of what they liked about the story.  It was easy to see that this person read it.

It might appear that I had someone do that last review.  I promise you I did not.  I do not know either of those people.  My moral compass is such that I would never cheat, period, end of story.  I would also never post a poison pen review like the one this person did.

Bribing friends to read your work, always works, however, friends and family may not be objective as they like you, and do not want to hurt your feelings.

Recently I was assisting a fellow writer in this capacity and OMG!  I had nightmares about telling her how badly she needed to re-think the concept of what she was writing.

“I get it.”

Our novels are our babies.

I have three, which are my babies, which I am going to have to kill.

• Is the concept off?
• Is the writing terrible?
• Have I not marketed them properly?
• Why are they not selling?

Resist the urge to take on negative nellies.

When you are asking for critiques from people, make sure that they are the correct audience for your novel.

Do not ask a technical nerd to read your romance, and expect anything but “yuck!”

Do not ask a purveyor of Hallmark or Harlequin literature, to read your sci-fi and expect anything but a cure for insomnia for them.

When analyzing their “baby,” look for what they did well, before you pull out the red pen.  Human nature is to be brutal with another person’s writing, as we have this whole pride thing going on.

Objective critiquing skills are developed over time, and not just innate to anyone.  Those that read the most are probably best suited for giving you their gut first impression on your work.

“You don’t want them to edit your grammar; you want their first impression!”

I truly do look for ways to pay it forward when I am writing and working with other authors both locally and through social media, and email.

Time is valuable to me, writing this blog is one way that I am giving of myself to those of you who take the time to consider what I have to say on the matter.

When you are critiquing for someone, make notes as you go. When you are talking to them about it, start with a positive.

“What did you like first?”

If you start with a positive, they will be receptive to what you have to say to them.  Once you start with “Holy shit, what were you on when you wrote this!”  You have just wasted their time, as they stopped listening to you, and you squandered your time, and you might even damage a friendship in the process.

If they are doing so for you, and they start with WTF!  Take a deep breath, and practice being humble.

Humility is my personal foible. There are many reasons why, and I know this about me. When this occurs, I must swallow the negative, and try to take what they are saying with self-effacement. I can choose to ignore them, which is human nature, or I can use this as a growing experience for me as a person.

In my Nudists novels, I write about Enlightenment as a subplot.  Yes, they are tawdry novels but there is meat in them for those of you who like steamy stories, but also want to think and maybe improve yourself.

It is my genuine desire that you derive something of value from my tweets, and blog postings, as they do take time, and are not just tossed together for clicks.

The same is true of my novels.  Even the naughtiest story has a purpose.  My latest book “Tiffany Discovers Reform School” Conjures up all kinds of wicked thoughts about girls in reform school.  That is by design and is indeed a subplot in the book.

Those of you who read it will discover that the novel is much more than that.  This novel will be the beginning of the Tiffany series as I plan to create a female sleuth, who ends up working mysteries with the FBI.

Yes, there is steamy stuff in them as I am working to capture an audience that likes to think while they read.  Arcing the story and the characters while practicing my craft is what I enjoy doing.

If you have ever pondered the meaning of life and not the Monty Python version, you will undoubtedly glean something from this blog post.

It is my genuine belief that we are here for more than procreating and pooping. While that conversation is well out of the scope of this blog post, you can glean some of my philosophy from my “Hole in Time Series.” I will be taking them off the market shortly.  I want to concatenate them all into one novel after I polish them a little.

“Life is a marathon, not a sprint. Make smelling the roses one of your tasks.”

Much Love -TW