The Writing Process

Hi everyone, I’ve been tagged by two lovely ladies to participate in the writing process blog hop. Please take a moment to visit Tracey Alvarez, my amazing CP and amazing author of Contemporary Romance, and my friend Rachel Pudelek who writes dark edgy YA.

1. What are you working on? 

At the moment I’m working on the second book in my Personal Protection series with Ellora’s Cave, called For His Protection. In this book the roles are flipped, and feisty Brooke is our fearless bodyguard. Unfortunately for her the person she’s been assigned to protect is none other than Tyler Harrison, a man who will do anything to have her including letting her think she’s in charge—for now.  

This book is a little deeper and a little darker than the first book in the series, but I’m finding it to be a bittersweet, beautiful and heartbreaking book to write. I can’t wait until I can share it with you!

2. How does your work differ from others in your genre? 
I’m a total thrill seeker when it comes to books, I’m always skimming ahead searching out the next piece of action. So while hot, mind-blowing sexual tension and experiences might drive the characters through their journey’s in my work, there is no shortage of compelling plot. There’s always going to be a suspenseful undercurrent propelling the story.

3. Why do you write what you write?
When I first started writing I wrote a bit of everything because I hadn’t found myself as a writer yet. I was more conservative. Honestly, I was a little afraid to have people read work that was overtly sexual. When I was asked by my publisher to write an erotic romance, I made the decision to simply let it all out and completely do away with inhibitions. I started to write as if no one else would ever see what I put on the page, as if it were something private just for me. Writing that way was completely liberating. It brought elements of realism, authenticity and rawness, that I hadn’t achieved before. I could never go back to the old closed-off way of writing. I now put my whole self into it.

4. How does your writing process work?

I’ve now written six books and I don’t think I’ve done it the same way once. If I have to think of a process, I’d say I start with a single idea, such as What if a fiercely independent girl got stuck with a sexy domineering bodyguard? How would they compromise? Then the idea takes a life of its own and I usually have the key turning points mapped out in Scrivener, and then just start writing. I love scrivener because as I think of new scenes I can quickly outline it on a new note card, and drag ideas around if needed.

Who’s next?

I tag Stefanie London, her first book about a ballerina and a footballer will be published by Harlequin Bliss soon! You totally need to keep an eye on this girl!

I also tag my friend Lauren James, who writes small town romance.

Last, but not least, I tag Cassandra Page, who writes YA urban fantasy. You totally want to check out her great blog. 

How unscrupulous scammers could be destroying your social cred

I've seen a lot going around lately about mistakes some of us make in trying to be proactive self-promoters. These blogs are generally talking about the obvious things that I think most people are coming to understand are generally frowned upon—auto direct messages, auto tweets, and sending unsolicited links to your products. That is not what this blog is about. This blog is about the ways your social media could be sabotaged by outright scammers, some less ethical spammers, and by simple ignorance of applications—without you knowing it.

I've mentioned a few times my day job is running a Web Design business. I also do my share of marketing and SEO. So not only have I made my own mistakes trying to stay ahead of the latest marketing techniques and strategies, but I also hear from my clients whenever they fall for something that goes completely wrong. There are a few things (some more well know and some less well known) that can have a massive impact on your social credibility.  

I'll start with the worst.

1. Direct Message Hackers

Yep these are the badest of the bad. These people hack the accounts of people you know and trust, then send innocent messages inciting you to click on a link from your friends account. Once you click that link the hackers are then able to hijack your account and begin to scam your followers.

The solution—Never click on links in direct messages. Delete them.

Yeah so those of you sending direct message links to people with your Amazon Book unsolicited? Don't do it because it makes you look like one of these bad guys.

Some of the classic messages associated with these links I've come to recognise immediately;

·         "Have you seen this pic of you?"

·         "I can't believe what people are saying about you!"

·          "This is so funny!"

·         "Is this it?"

·         "What time?"

This is just a sample but see how they look so innocent? It's not what we've come to associate with hackers—it's not "CLICK HERE NOW FOR A GIANT PENIS!!"

2. So called social media experts and unscrupulous marketers

What exactly does it take to be a social media expert? I mean what qualifications does one actually require to call themselves that? I've studied marketing at a university level, I run a professional business in the field, but I'd never call myself a social media expert. In fact, while I help clients set-up in social media I'd never do it for them on their behalf. Simply because personally I feel the key to social media success is personal interaction and relationship building. But even with help, doing social media properly takes time, therefore any person or service offering to boost your social media in any way for absolute peanuts...just think about how they might be achieving that.

Are they going to be automating? Using unethical practises? Do you even know?

An example of this is blog promotion services. I've seen so called blog marketing companies advertising all the traffic they will get you with three trillion magic link-backs, and all for twenty-five cents!!!

Want to know how they do that? They turn you into one of these douches...

(Actual comments left on my blog, with links removed)

"Heya i am for the first time here. I found this board and I find It truly useful
& it helped me out much. I hope to give something back and aid others like
you aided me."

Oww how sweet I know you're a real person because I help you out much...

 "I loved as much as you'll receive carried out
right here. The sketch is attractive, your authored material stylish.
nonetheless, you command get got an impatience over that
you wish be delivering the following. unwell unquestionably come
further formerly again as exactly the same nearly a lot often
inside case you shield this increase." 

Okay, I don't even know what happened here. It's like the bot started off trying and then just gave up. In any case, is that how you want your blog promoted? If these bots target blogs in your industry and spam them what reflection do you think this will have on you?

My point is, good quality legitimate services don't charge in butterfly wings, they charge real money. If you absolutely feel you cant navigate this world of social media without help, make sure you are entrusting your precious name to someone credible.

3. Applications that access your account

I know some people have a massive problem with any program or application that is used to monitor/control social media. I get it but let's face it—with follower limits on twitter, most of us who like to follow lots of people and make many connections will use something to manage following.

One of the most well known tools is justunfollow.com. There's nothing wrong with this service or others like it, but if you are going to allow any application access to your social media be sure you understand how that application may interact with your accounts.  

These applications often have automated services which can be turned off! There is nothing more hideous than seeing someone's tweet "I had 5 unfollows via ...", and many users simply have no idea this program is tweeting for them, sending DM's with links back to the application, or how to turn it off.

Learn because people don't like it—like really, really don't like it. Don't let an application make you look like a social douche.

A final thought for writers

Also writers I want to tell you something...(I can feel the social media gurus lining up their snipers) the success of your book does not hinge wholly on social media. I promise it doesn't. Social media is a tool, a great one if you have the inclination and enthusiasm for it. But number of followers does not equal number of people buying your books. Just ask Chuck Wendig who has blogged about this in his hysterical fashion. 

So relax, don't be so desperate that you actually hinder yourself. There's no magic success tablet. Just go to the Amazon bestseller list and take a look at those author social profiles. Many bestsellers are self-published and only have very small social media followings. What determines your success is writing something that connects with people at the right time in the right way.

Use social media because you enjoy it, to connect with people and enhance your journey, do not use it as nothing more that a loud speaker for self-promotion. 

Having said that, everyone makes mistakes. Just because someone sends a link that turns out to be hackers, doesn't mean that they are a hacker. Just because someone commits a social boo-boo does not mean that they are unworthy of your time and cannot add to your social experience.

I hope this blog can help you navigate the possible risks in your social media experience.

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How a fling with US Mike can turn you into a proofreading princess

I’m a little ashamed to admit but proofreading is not my strongest skill. What’s that? You know this because you've actually read my blog? Umm, okay so a typo or two slips through. Really it’s not my fault it’s the way my brain works. Don’t believe me? Well, I have scientific proof!

Via http://www.positscience.com

Remember these and how they went viral? Yes it’s actually true; we will recognize a word even if it is completely wrong. Luckily for us we have spell check right? Wrong, because our brains will preempt if it knows what a section of text is supposed to say. So if we wrote it, if it’s gone from our brain to the page, it won’t matter if we have a word slightly wrong as long as it’s partially right. If that partially right word happens to be in your computers dictionary, then it gets a pass.

That’s how we end up with really awkward typos.

“Alana gazed at the antique grandfather clock. Perfection. Nothing beat a great big massive cock. The bigger the better.”

Geez, why are you looking at me like that? So what if my heroine likes clocks…

Ohhhhh…

Yes it gets awkward, and brain processing is no excuse. Whether you’re a writer, or you have a job where you need to produce written material, we all need to proof-read. There are a lot of suggestions out there, and I know there’s a biggy that I fail at when it comes to my blog…time. I spend so much time on these things in eagerness to get them up, I end up failing to wait day or two so I can go back to them with fresh eyes.

So what do you do when you’re in a pinch? If you only have fifteen minutes to revise a report, how can you best use that time to get results? Well you know me, I like a cheat. And boy have I been cheating big time. Most of us have heard that reading out loud is a good proof-reading strategy…yeah but it still doesn't stop our brains from preempting. We’ll still read barley as barely and cocks as clocks. The single best way to pick up those?

Cheat and bypass your brain by getting someone else to read it to you. That’s how I came to have my steamy fling with US Mike.

He’s a proofreading superhero who’s at my complete disposal night and day. And when US Mike whispers to me that Alana loves massive cock—well there’s no missing that. He’s amazing; anytime I need him there he is speaking my words in his very American narrator superhero voice. Actually to be honest I think he sounds a little like this…

For me this beats other techniques such as reading backwards. Because really, how tedious. It’ll make your brain drip out through your nose if you have to do it for more than five-minutes. Can you imagine doing that on a MS you’ve already read three times or worse—over ninety thousand words? Just kill me now.

Mike is better, and editing has got a whole lot more interesting. Especially since—err well you know that time I got all modest and said I’m not writing erotic romance, well not just then, but maybe one day? Well that day came. At the moment I’m all about some dirty talking Alpha hero’s with soft squishy insides. Some of the stuff I’m writing, while it’s all fun to read in the secrecy of the written word, well it should never, ever, be spoken out loud by a man to a woman because—

Yeah that. Mike has been saying some bad, bad, things. I almost had to warn him if he didn’t behave I’d switch to UK Rachel. Because dirty talk from a prim and proper English woman is heaps less erotic right? But then US Mike reminded me that he’s only an android, so it’s all good. I’m not breaking any fidelity rules my hubby will be pleased to know. Yes, Mike is an enhanced digital voice from Natural Reader, and the best proof-reading tool I’ve ever used.

Of course running an additional spelling and grammar check, taking time to let the document breathe, are all great. Do that too! I’m not saying it’s a magic wand—and how embarrassing are the typo’s I don’t pick up going to be now—but it sure is a handy shortcut. So my suggestion to become a proof reading princess? Have a fling with US Mike.  

Did you find this useful? Keep up with new Writing and Life Cheats by following this blog via Email, Google, or Facebook (Networked Blogs).

Who said what now? Gender Dialogue

Character Dialogue

How to create distinctive three dimensional characters PART 2

Remember the time I was reading and had to wonder why the heroine had a penis, but it turned out POV had changed? Well we've talked about using body language to define your character now it's time for dialogue.

Unless your characters are identical twins who finish each other's sentences and speak in unison, your characters should have their own distinct way of speaking.

The key to finding your characters voice is knowing who they are. Really knowing... Like where are they from, are they formal or informal, educated or uneducated, trendy or old fashioned, guarded and reserved or open, are they someone who speaks every incessant thought that comes into their head, or do they keep their cards close?

GENDER

Let's start with gender because that's where this whole topic started for me. If you're writing romance it's even more important to get this right because genders (particularly for the hero) are much more clearly defined.

DESCRIPTIVE AND EMOTIVE LANGUAGE

Ladies tend to use more descriptive and emotional language. I don't need to go further than my own living room to find examples. My husband being the very stereotype of overt masculinity provides them in abundance.  

Example; someone asks how our meal is, and we are both enjoying it.

• Hubby: "It's fine, thanks." If it's ABSOLUTLY THE BEST THING HE HAS EVER EATEN maybe, "It's good, thanks."
• Me: "It's fantastic/delicious/wonderful, thank you."

If fact I am quite sure my husband has never spoken any of the words I just used.

So think about connotations of word choices. Words that are emotional and descriptive might be used for the heroine and not the hero. Where the heroine might say, gorgeous, ecstatic, or devastated, the hero might use words like nice, pleased, or pissed.

DIRECTNESS

Men are more likely to be direct in what they say and get to the point. For example a hero would be more likely to answer a question with a simple yes or no, while the heroine might say something like "I'd prefer not to" or "I'm not sure about that".

• Females are more likely to phrase things as questions and males as statements.
• Females use more adjectives. Males have shorter sentences.

Tip: If you want to get a real feel for male and female speech patterns this exercise takes only a few minutes and gives great insight—it's also pretty funny.

Record five minutes of a male talk program such as The Footy Show, or Top Gear. Play the recording and write down all the dialogue as it is spoken. Then do the same for a female driven show like The View. Now compare the two. How different is dialogue? I bet you'd never confuse the gender of the speakers.

PERSONALITY AND BACKGROUND

There are a million ways you can reveal your character with dialogue. Here are just a few things to think about.

Revealing a background

• You'll notice a difference in the way people speak just from the area they live in, even if there is not a distinctive accent. People from some states or countries tend to frequently use certain words. Think about where your character is from to form their language choices.
• Formal/educated/professional characters will tend to have better grammar, use more formal language, possibly use less contractions.
• Less formal characters may have poorer grammar, use more slang and colloquialisms. 
• Is your character an expert on a certain topic? Clues might be woven into dialogue or even internal narrative.

Revealing a personality

• Does your character have their own saying or phrase? It can make your character distinct, but be sure not to over use it. 
• Does your character use humor in their speech? 
• Is the character cool/trendy? If so they would be all over pop-culture phrases (but careful these date). 
• Is your character mysterious? Then they might be more elusive and less upfront in their answers. 

Query Letters resolved

Sorry this has been a while coming, it's been a crazy week!

Whether you are just starting to query or been doing it for a while, you've probably noticed that there is A LOT of conflicting information about the "right" way to query. Even reputable query letter blogs can conflict each other! It's just because every agent and editor has different preferences. Even so, there are basic rules that will keep you safe if you follow them.

This next bit might be hard to hear but it's important so it must be said. It's really easy to screw up your query letter enough to get excellent writing consistently rejected. That's because many agents only take query letters, and many agents and editors won't read past a bad one.

To make it easier, I'm going to break it down, and highlight some of the biggest query mistakes. You'll find some hard truths here so be ready to don that thick skin.

It can be difficult to establish exactly what needs to be included (and what shouldn't be) in your query letter. Here's a basic run down of what should make up your query letter.

No 1. Business letter format

Yep this is a business letter. So before you start writing here are some rules. FORMAT IT PROFESSIONALY!

·         Set 1inch margins.

·        Select a professional font. Some choices are Times New Roman, Arial, Courier, Verdana or Calibri. If in doubt choose Times New Roman. A "special" font won't make you stand out and look unique—it'll make you look armature.

·         Set font size to 12point.

·         Put the date in the top right hand corner

·         Under the date type the name of agency or publishing house. Under that type "Attention: and the name of the agent/editor or if specifically instructed "Query Department".

·         Under that type the address, first the street address, then on the next line the state and post code. (If emailing queries an address may not be supplied, in which case just put the date, agency, and agent name.)

But your can be creative right? The agency specifies a one page query letter so if you use 8point and set margins to narrow, you can make your two page query letter fit!

 

No. Just no.

 

Agents and editors have seen it all before. Don't bend rules, follow their guidelines. Not doing so is a good way to get your query rejected without even being read.

No 2. The introduction

·         Start by addressing the letter to the agent you are querying. The only exception is if the guidelines demand that you address it to the queries department.  There is no good enough reason to address a query with "Dear Agent". I promise you will be starting off on a very bad foot if you do.

·         Next is your line of introduction. I start with "I am seeking representation for..."

Tip: Yes less is more, and you don't need to write anything that is implied. So some people would say this opening is not necessary and to launch right into the book details. I don't know, maybe it's because I'm a girl, but I need the buffer and I think it's perfectly acceptable. But you could always launch right in.

·         The remainder of the opening paragraph should include; the title of your book, the word count, and the genre (You need to nail this down; Speculative, Urban Fantasy, Romance, with Steam Punk elements, is not going to do).

·         Tip: if your book has won an award include it with the title. Eg. "Book Title, winner of the 2013 Professional Book Society's, Awesome Book contest."

·         Nothing else. Don't clutter this section. You want to give the agent/editor the essential info then hook them in with your blurb.

No 3. The Blurb

In the end it all comes down to this! 2-3 paragraphs of awesome hook to snare the reader! I have blogged about how to do this before.

·         Here

·         And Here

No 4. Closing paragraph

Include any pertinent information.

·         Your writing credentials/awards/publishing credits.

·         The details of any standing requests by Publishing Houses.

·         Personally address the agent/editor. If you follow their blog, twitter, interviews, and something they do or have said applies to you, or makes you think you would be a fit with them, or if you are a fan of their writers and think your writing would be a compliment to their list, or have taken a workshop with them, include this here. Keep it professional and relevant.

·        Optional: You can include something like "Would appeal to readers of..." Some agents and editors want this but many don't. Also it's essential that the authors you associate your writing with are not the current bestsellers. Your comparisons will reveal either your ignorance or solid industry knowledge.  

No 5. The very tricky personal info

Now this is where people get stuck. Some agents/editors really want to have a little bit of information about you. Many though, find it very irritating to read through thousands of queries and get bogged down in unnecessary information like what you do for a living if it doesn't give you unique qualification to write your book. The best way to handle this is to read interviews, follow the blog of, or twitter account of the person you're querying and find out how much info they want here. Otherwise, assume they don't want it unless it is MUST know information. If you are going to include it keep it brief; two to three lines. This can be included in your closing paragraph.

·         Unique qualifications to write your book.

This means: You're a former detective writing crime. You're a double amputee writing amputee recovery stories. You're lawyer writing court based drama. You're a Greek history professor and writing Greek Mythos which is your area of expertise.

This does not mean: You have researched your book (you had better hope you have!). You are divorced and your character is divorced. You are a doctor and therefore you are real smarts...

·        You can include a brief line about your ambitions/writing career objectives. But keep it brief. You don't need to ramble on about "your dreams".

No 6. In closing

·         Thank them for taking the time to consider your query.

·          Sign your letter.  You must include your pseudo name (if you have one and use it in your social media) and you real name. So if you have both sign like this.

Author Fabulous

Pseudo name for Jane Johns

·      Provide all your contact details under your signature like you would in a professional business signature. Include your website and social media accounts.

Query Letter Boo Boo's

The mistakes that WILL get you rejected

·         Not following guidelines.

·         Not following guidelines.

·         Not following guidelines and then trying to justify why. "I know you said you wanted a one page query/synopsis but" = Auto-pass.

or "I know you asked for one chapter but my book doesn't get going till chapter five..." = then cut your first chapters and also they will auto-pass.

·         Addressing your query "Dear Agent/Editor."

·         Spelling the agent/editors name incorrectly.

·         Not understanding the genre of your work.

·         Presenting your query unprofessionally; colour fonts, script font, ALLCAPS, etc. 

·         Sending mass generic queries and especially when you include the email chain/forwarding history in the email.

·         Comparing your book to Twilight, Fifty Shades, Harry Potter, The Davinci Code and other Bestsellers.

·         Rambling on about yourself.

·         Rambling on in general.

·         Including too much in your blurb.

·         Failing to hook in your blurb.

·         Including things not requested. Copy of your manuscript, marketing plans, cover designs.

·       Selling yourself short. "My writing may not be the best but I'm willing to put in the work."

    Just don't put yourself down.

    It's not professional. Besides, if you tell them your work isn't that great they'll assume you're telling the truth...

·         I'm sad that this needs to be said but I keep seeing agent/editor tweets about this. Arrogance/boasting. This includes telling an agent/editor (who receive hundreds of queries each month) how privileged they are to have the chance to represent/publish you. How your book is going to be a bestseller, how much your family like it, how much someone you paid likes it, etc. Presenting a polished professional query and polished outstanding manuscript pages is the only way to impress an agent/editor.

My final tips

Improve your chances.

·         Research the people you query. Learn their preferences and personalise!

·         Query in rounds so you have a chance to improve your query/pages after feedback.

·         Take feedback graciously and apply it.

·         Get someone who knows queries to critique your query letter.

·         Never send an angry response to a rejection—no matter what.

·         Get someone to proofread your query.

·         Give your manuscript time to "breathe" before you send it out. You'll be surprised at how much you can improve it with fresh eyes.

·         If in doubt, less is more. No one ever got rejected for being too professional. Even if the agent/editor would have liked to learn more about you, they won't reject a stellar query and awesome writing because you decided not to tell them about your collection of cat figurines.

Query Letter Resources

·         Query Shark

·         Miss Snark

·         Agent Query

·         Absolute Write

·         Successful query letter examples

Does this help? Let me know if you have any more questions!

 

Query and Blurb Workshop Week!

I've been thinking of doing something for a while. Y'all seem to like it when I blog queries and blurbs. I kinda get that from your feedback and bloggers stats—hint taken!

It can be really hard finding good critique and advice when it comes to queries and blurbs. Even those who have craft nailed often get stuck when it comes to this. The stinker is many agents will make requests based solely on a query letter. So no matter how good your writing is its something that must be mastered if you want to take the traditional publishing route. If you're Self-Publishing then the blurb sells your work and you need it to shine.

So this week I'm having an open query/blurb workshop. All you need to do is comment on this blog post and let me know what you want help with. You can comment with a question, something you're stuck on, anything really and I'll do my best to answer.

If you're willing to put your blurb or query up publicly for critique, I'll give one person a critique of either a blurb or query, so go ahead and post that too. I'll be picking based on who I think I can be most constructively helpful to and announce the winner next Monday. There's a week to enter! This is open to all followers of my Blog. Make sure you include a method of contact in your comment so I can let you know if you're chosen.

Of course all opinions are my own, gained via obsessive stalking researching of Agents and Editors, and various workshops. But even after so much research the most helpful thing for my own learning process has been good critique from people who know what they are talking about.

I'm so grateful I've had people to show me the ropes. So please start your questions!