Tip O'Day #457 - For Sale: Pure Unadulterated Crap

Guest blogger Robert N. Stephenson on “The Difficulty with Editing.”

In this fast-paced age of publishing and self-publishing, the first and most important aspect of writing seems to have vanished from the whole publishing process - editing, and I mean real editing, not the formatting you do yourself before you post the files to Createspace and Amazon.

The down side of almost all self-published books is that they are poorly edited. They often validate the impression that all self-published books are cheap and a waste of money.

Sometimes authors pays substantial fees to editors for their suggestions, but them ignore or argue against those comments. Yes, you are the author. You have all the rights in the world regarding how your book is presented, rightly or wrongly. It is true that you can reject all advice, based on what you determine to be art, or your artistic voice.

But, and this is a major but, if an expert suggests a change to make the story better, or to fix a flaw in the plot, maybe it’s best to follow some, if not all of that advice. After all, you are trying to sell your work to readers who expect value for their money. If you disappoint readers with shoddy editing and a poor story, they will not read more of your work and will often tell others not to bother. What's more, they will spread the view that ALL self-published books are rubbish. I will be quick to add that traditional publishing sometimes delivers stinkers because writers ignore editorial advice and stick to their artistic guns. However, the hit-and-miss rate of legacy publishers is quite a bit lower than among self-publishers - which is currently about 80% rubbish.

Why so high? As indicated, there has been next to no editing involved in the creation of these books (both fiction and nonfiction). For some strange reason, new writers often think they are the next JK Rowling and know everything there is to know about being famous. Yet they know absolutely nothing about being a professional writer and working damn hard to tell not only a good story, but a story that will move someone to say, “Yes, I was glad I purchased that.” It has been said in many forums that places like Amazon are overflowing with poorly edited crap.

Yep, pure unadulterated crap.

What is the cure? Dig into your pockets and pay an editor to get your book to a state of professional quality. The reason traditional publishers actually sell books is because they invest in the books they publish. If you believe in your work, surely you too can invest in yourself. After all, you are asking readers to invest in buying your book.

Robert N. Stephenson’s latest book is Uttuku, available at Kindle here. His work has appeared in many languages and he has received honors such as the Black Dog Award for nonfiction and the Aurealis Award for short science fiction. He teaches writing at several Australia colleges.

Tip O'Day #453 - The Bird is the Word

Guest blogger, author, life coach, and Toastmasters friend Sherri Gerek on humming right along.

A favorite quote of mine comes courtesy of Albert Einstein: “Look deep into nature and then you will understand everything better.“ I took this to heart these past couple of years as I meandered along an unseen path while writing my first book, The Hummingbird Way, Putting Hover, Zip, and Zoom to Work in your Life. I used my experiences with nature to draw correlations to human nature, often asking myself, what can I learn here? What might this mean to someone else?

After nearly thirty years in the corporate environment leading and developing employees in the travel and hospitality industry, I felt confident that what I had learned about communications and relationships could benefit others. I just had to find a way to share that knowledge, especially what makes us successful, and what it takes to foster good relations. As I transitioned away from the corporate environment to open my own coaching practice, I started the book. What I didn’t know then was that I needed a process for writing.

I smile thinking back to my initial approach. Let’s see, it’s Wednesday…I’ll write a couple of chapters today, and at this rate I will finish the book in a month. Now, you are likely reading this while wearing a knowing smile and thinking…this is not going to work that way. Right you are. When the end of the first week rolled around, there I was…staring at my computer still searching for the right words. In reality, I had the words but my internal editor was having a field day with my internal writer, which stymied the creative process. Why do editors do this to us writers? The difficulty getting started came down to my internal editor picking things apart, which resulted in my internal writer shutting down.

That’s it – writer on strike!

Once I realized what was happening, it was an easy fix. I had to find a new job for my internal editor, and I quickly assigned her to my monthly magazine column. Letting go of editing opened up this writer’s imagination. I began carrying a notebook with me because often the best inspirations bubbled up when I was far from the computer. Later, I would transfer ideas to sticky notes which I posted on giant story boards. Before beginning to write each day I would review the boards. Whatever happened to inspire me that day, I wrote about.

Not a month, but nearly a year later, I had finished the manuscript, cultivated a love for writing, and decided to create a series of books with themes drawn from lessons in nature. My internal editor and internal writer buried the hatchet and formed a great partnership. In fact, they are currently in discussions about the outline for the next book. It should be a real hoot! (Spoiler alert - there I go giving away the theme.)

Sherri Gerek is an author, speaker, certified professional life coach, and veteran sales and marketing director. Sherri wrote The Hummingbird Way to help guide other busy people, whether top executives or newbies starting to climb the ladder. You can learn more at Sherri’s website or on Amazon. Also, The Hummingbird Way was recently awarded 5 stars by Readers’ Favorite website.

Tip O'Day #452 - Lessons to Unlearn

Guest blogger Margaret Callow tells the lessons you must learn, and then unlearn.

What I know of the craft we call writing has been sourced to me by learning along the way. I’ve gathered up suggestions, advice and knowledge. Add to these copious reading. It seems there is not a writer around who is not willing to guide another, often based on their own ideas and assumptions. It is a support system I think most writers cherish. I know I do.

On the road to getting published, prospective friends are met, some only to be discarded. Others are kept and nurtured, like all good friendships. While always grateful for input and help from others, for me this is also a cautionary tale. Learning can be confusing. I offer you some simple examples. Beware of too many adjectives and adverbs; distance yourself from had and the; be warned of purple prose; never info dump; be wary of prefaces. No matter the genre, it all applies. If like me, you are a willing learner, all of this will be assimilated eagerly like food for a hungry chick in a nest, but here’s my dilemma: be ready to throw it out the window at a moment’s notice.

There will probably be many experienced writers who on reading this will nod knowingly, but I am sure there are some less confident who like me have had quite a rude awakening. Or is it only me? Surely not. When my first novel was picked up with an offer to publish, I spent many a weary hour with the editor writing back in all the missing hads, extending description, adding adjectives and adverbs which I had so carefully avoided, and numerous other small adjustments which I had considered no-no's.

Please don't take this as any form of criticism of the editor, far from it. So grateful was I that she liked my work, I would have gladly written these things in my own blood, had she asked.

So for any would-be writers out there, just remember nothing is written in stone. Personal preferences often play a part in editing. Hopefully, just as you know the story you wish to tell, so your editor knows all about editing.

Learning never stops, that I do know. Last autumn, I signed a contract with Holland House Books. They are interested in my three early Medieval rebellions and a novel which is based on a true Norfolk story, about the last man to hang as a public spectacle at Norwich Castle in 1849. Working with H.H. editing is almost done and once again, I have absorbed a lot of new information. I hope this work will be published sometime this year. It is only a working title at the moment, but when there is a link, you can be sure you will see it somewhere!

Tip O'Day #449 - We Don't Want No Stinkin' Colons

Guest blogger and Montana author Karen Wills says “We Don’t Want No Stinkin’ Colons.”

Well, sometimes we want them…maybe. The easy part of writing is the creative, free-flowing draft work. After that comes editing. I’m in the throes of that for my second novel. Thanks to Dixon’s request for a guest blog, I can take a break. But then I find myself perseverating about the infernal editing.

Let’s start with the tricksters of punctuation, hyphens. You think you’ve cornered them. A two-word adjective before the noun it modifies will be hyphenated, right? But then, the rule wriggles out and throws an exception at you. Think of storytelling bards.

My husband found me a book by Mary Louise Gilman, One Word, Two Words, Hyphenate? Gilman’s book is mostly wordlists, but helpful ones. The Chicago Manual of Style is also essential, as are dictionaries. When all else fails, see whether Internet writers hyphenate a word.

Almost as tough as hyphens are members of the colon family. Believe it or not, punctuation has trends. The semicolon, so necessary and popular with long-winded eighteenth and nineteenth century authors, seems to have fallen out of favor, especially in dialogue. I see those lowly drones of punctuation, commas, now separating long phrases that semicolons would have divided in the past. The ground explanation of what semicolons are for, one I still like, is that a semicolon is halfway between the full stop of a period and the California stop of a comma. Colons were once used to introduce lists of cumbersome phrases or clauses. Colons are now in disfavor with many groups: critique groups, editors, teenagers. You see what I mean.

Some punctuation is unpopular, but necessary. Modern philistines don’t care about apostrophes. Don’t the people who put up billboards ever look at what they’re doing? My favorite is the sign with big eyes that says, “If your looking at this, its selling.” The rule is that the apostrophe goes in place of the missing letter in a contraction, and outside plural possessives, but just before the s in singular possessive, except for (here’s the inevitable exception) its.

Besides punctuation, there’s the matter of spelling. It’s been said before, but I’ll repeat it. Use the spell checker with caution. It might not understand which word you meant of two or more spelled correctly, as in rest and wrest.

As for capitalization, we all know about proper nouns, but then there are those pesky points of the compass. I have a block about this, so routinely visit section 8.45-46 of the Chicago Manual of Style to read again, “Compass points and terms derived from them are lowercased if they simply indicate direction or location.” Then come the exceptions, including the North and the South.

There’s plenty more to watch out for when you want perfectly clean copy. I’ve been advised to read from the bottom, read out loud, or give it to somebody else, but a few mistakes might still creep in. I speak from personal experience after editing my thriller, Remarkable Silence, for the second time.

Bibliographies are a whole different headache.

Clean copy sells better, and it makes an author proud. Exhausted, but proud.

Dixon says: Karen Wills is a former critique partner of mine, and just an all-around nice person. You can find her archeological thriller, Remarkable Silence, on Amazon Kindle here.

I will also echo her advice that Spell Check doesn't always help. Especially if you write about cereal killers.

Tip O'Day #444 - Really? Did I Ask For That?

Guest blogger Gary Ponzo on “Do You Really Need an Editor?”

Recently I've had some opportunities to work with editors for my published novels. Now, I've always worked with a critique group who would line-edit each chapter as I was writing, so I've been conscious of the importance of a keen eye to scrutinize my work. After I finished each book I would have an editor go through the manuscript for grammatical errors and that was helpful as well. But as time went on my books began to expand to Germany and audio rights and print options, I felt compelled to have my work fully edited by a professional editor. Why not?

Well, here's what happened with me. And let me state right now, these opinions are completely my own and have no bearing on the competence or abilities of editors. I truly believe they serve a real purpose, especially in a day when Indies are trying to compete with traditionally published books. There's a real need to look and sound and smell professional.

First of all, I had one editor go through my work and I noticed a trend. The editor kept adding semicolons. Everywhere. No kidding, maybe one every other page. My eyes began to gloss up from the interruption of rhythm. My sentences no longer flowed into each other. They now had a “;” to remind us we were actually reading words instead of a story. Okay, that's a personal choice, I get it. Maybe even technically correct. But that wasn't how I intended the prose to sound to the reader's ear.

Then I had another editor actually change the language one of my characters spoke in dialogue. This character was in the mafia and the editor was correcting his grammar. Changing his words to the point where he sounded like an English professor instead of a hitman. I began having questions thrown at me from the editor like, "I don't understand his motive here? Why can't you explain this better?" Well, the truth is, it would've ruined the plot. So then I started second-guessing my plot. Should I change it so the reader has full understanding? But I've left plenty of foreshadowing? It was paralyzing. I wrote three page over the next month because I was afraid to write freely.

So, do you need an editor? Almost certainly, but I would set some parameters. Tell the editor what you're looking for and exactly what you're not looking for. I think I've found someone who fits that description and I will use that person on the remainder of my novels.

When you work with an editor, just know what to expect when that page full of red ink paralyzes you. Trust yourself to know when the advice is sound and when it's opinion. Sometimes, that's not easy to distinguish.

Tip O'Day #438 - More Writing Rules

Author, blogger, columnist and writing teacher HMC is today’s guest blogger on “Don’t Tell Me What to Write” (Part II of II).

Killing a New Scene: Do you want to be the next Scorsese? No? Then here is how to move away from dialogue overkill. Atmosphere is crucial.

Before my students write a story (oh, I’m a teacher by the way, can you tell?) I always get them to imagine. I ask where they are and get them to write everything that they see, then hear, smell, taste, touch and feel. If you are ever stuck on describing a setting, this is a wonderful exercise.

Setting: Graveyard

See: stone, grey, cracks, shadows.
Hear: wind, trees rustling.
Taste: salt from tears.
Smell: damp earth.
Touch: hard and smooth.
Feel: sorrow, mourning, heavy.

Becomes

Long shadows were cast over the stone graves, and I could taste the salt of my tears as I mourned for my father. The wind rustled the trees. I smelt the damp earth underfoot. Cracks formed in the older graves, but his was smooth and new. The heaviness of his passing weighed a tonne upon my shoulders and it was difficult to drag myself away.

Building Suspense with a Packed-Punch: Ever feel deflated by a climactic scene? Perhaps the story was there, but why did the suspense not quite peak as it should have? It could be to do with the sentences — shorter, sharp sentences pack-a-punch. Also, try to end some sentences with a strong word. Take a long, descriptive piece and slash it. See what happens.

The corridor seemed endless and he could hear the soft engines of the station wagons, work-utes and family vans that purred along the street in front of the old, Fairholmes, arcade building. Perhaps he could make it out in time, and perhaps the daylight would be his saviour from the man who was chasing him. Close now, he could feel a rush of adrenaline, but it was too late; the man was gaining on him now. Damon wrapped an arm around his throat and took him to the ground, scattering the resident cockroaches.

‘Relax, Doc. I’m not gonna hurt you. We just have some questions for you.’ The doctor’s body went limp and he let his assailant win the battle.

Becomes

The corridor seemed endless. He could hear the soft engines of the station wagons, work-utes and family vans. They purred along the street in front of him. If he could just make it out into the daylight, visibility might be his saviour. Close now, he felt one last rush of adrenaline. Too late. He felt the heat and smelled the sweat of the man gaining on him. Damon wrapped a strong arm around his throat and took him down. The two men grappled, raising clouds of dust and scattering the resident roaches.

‘Relax, Doc. I’m not gonna hurt you.’ His body went limp. Damon won the battle. ‘We just have some questions for you.’

Streamlining Sentences: I’ll be the first to admit that I have to work hard at my writing. Stories come to me easily, though, which is lucky. Some people are the other way around. My sentence structure often needs work as I am a waffler. It’s why I received mixed marks at uni — some liked my waffling, others didn’t. As a rule now, I check each sentence and remove excess. Streamline is the word my editor uses, and I love it.

Freddy started to sneak out the door to evade any trouble that would come, if Anne were to notice them missing, but Sam caught him.

Becomes

But before he could make good his escape, Sam caught him.

You see, the readers already knew that Freddy was sneaking around and that Anne might catch him. So the first sentence is not only confusing, it’s redundant. Using ‘started to’ or ‘began to’ is useless… either they are doing it or they are not. These tentative words bog writing down.

Well, that’s all for now. I could keep going, but I’ll pass it over to you. If you have any more that you know of, please, add them to the comments section!

You can learn more about HMC at her website http://www.hmcwriter.com/ with links to her blog as well as the trailer for her thriller White Walls, which is having its online release during June 21-23.

As a reminder, guest bloggers wanting to share tips or stories of their writing triumphs/ordeals are always welcome. Please email me at montananovels@yahoo.com

One-Sentence Writing Tips, Part VI

This is Day Six (and Last) of One-Sentence Writing Tips Week, with Facebook writers and other book lovers sharing writing and publishing advice with a dash of panache and a pinch of brevity.

Jennie Gardner Spallone: Hire a developmental editor, not just a copy editor, to look over your manuscript before you submit it to a publisher.

Mark Terry: Think more, write less.

Troy Wilkinson: Write about something you dreamed of as a child, before you knew it wasn't possible.

Kristen Wood: Only in humility can we ever truly learn and only in learning can we ever truly write.

Finally, my favorite one-sentence tip from last year, by RomCom author Kathy Dunnehoff: Say ‘yes’ to caffeine.

Thanks to all the kind folks who participated this week. Hope you had fun.

Tip O'Day #417 - How One Reader Spots Winners

Guest blogger Trisha Russon on choosing what to read.

I'm passionate about the things that interest me. I'm addicted to reading. One of the most beneficial outcomes of reading is relaxation. For me, this is important therapy. To some people, myself included at times, reading offers an escape from the real world.

I'm an avid reader, always searching for new authors to fuel my addiction. I enjoy reading different genres depending on my mood. When I choose a book by an unknown author, there is a combination of specific things that draw me to the book. First and foremost are a striking cover, an impressive title and an intriguing description.

If a book lacks these qualities it gives me the impression that the unknown author is an unprofessional beginner who doesn't know how to write. In my honest opinion, that's a sure way to quickly lose a reader’s interest. I know there are people out there who believe in the saying "don't judge a book by it's cover." Sorry, but I have to disagree. I want to be captivated and drawn into the book like a child entering a candy store for the very first time.

I like to use a variety of different sites to help me when choosing a book. Web pages like Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Goodreads, authors and readers blogs, and even Facebook pages and groups with descriptive blurbs, synopses, anthologies and great reviews are all helpful tools.

With that being said, I still don't base my final decision about a book solely by what others have to say about it, for one reason. We all have different opinions about the books we read. What other people like or don't like will not sway me either way. At the end of the day it comes down to one thing.

Did the authors have what it took to draw me into buying their books?

Dixon says: These are all good points, and yet we’ve all had the experience of buying what appears to be a professionally-produced, thought-provoking book, only to quickly realize it’s poorly written garbage. However, there’s a way to prevent that.

Let’s say you’ve been intrigued by the catchy title, striking cover and interesting blurb. You’ve seen it mentioned on some websites you follow. You’ve read a few positive reviews, and noticed it has a high rating on Goodreads. My suggestion is that you now read some sample pages.

Sure, we all know the first chapter get edited and proofread a lot more than later sections, and yet believe me, any writer too lazy or clueless to run a book past Beta Readers or a critique group, will demonstrate those same qualities in the first five pages. One of the things I really enjoy about eBooks is the ability to preview a certain amount of the opening pages, usually about ten percent, just as you might do browsing in a physical bookstore. I recently previewed a book where I didn’t need to go past the second page to find about a half-dozen misspellings and misuses of there, their and they’re. So be a smart consumer, and do the work needed to avoid buying junk.

Tip O'Day #414 - Save & Recycle

Guest blogger Linda Greene on the art of rewriting.

Returned to its source, the pulp from the rejected pages of my rewrites over the course of my writing career would constitute a woodland the rival of Robin Hood’s Sherwood Forest. It wasn’t until I discovered that the master wordsmith himself, F. Scott Fitzgerald, considered the art of fiction to be the art of rewriting, that I stopped viewing it as a blot on my abilities and grew keen on the practice.

Actually, it is one of the tasks of writing that I enjoy the most, not only because of its value to the finished product, but also because I’ve discovered almost none of it goes to waste. Just as there was said to be “gold in them thar hills,” there is gold in those abandoned pages.

Developed through layers of evolution, sometimes my completed writing projects barely resemble the early drafts — but, oh, those early drafts have been priceless when adapted for other projects. My latest novel, Guardians and Other Angels, is an example of this fusion of independent pieces of writing, some of which I had thrown on the heap of the unfinished or uninspired that I considered of little or no further use to me; when pitched to the tuning fork of the new piece, they sang the praises of my story. My obsessive compulsive nature that makes me hoard every scrap I pen often pays off in the end.

My penchant toward collecting pages of personal writings is apparently inherited, for included in Guardians and Other Angels are my transcriptions of authentic private letters written by ancestors during the Great Depression and World War II. It is a preserved anthology remarkable in its recording of their thoughts and feelings, and of their day-to-day experiences, as well as in its powerful chronicling of the incomparable history of those times. Like my set-asides, those hundreds upon hundreds of pages written by my ancestors were thrown in an old chest and thought worthless; in fact, when once again shown the light of day, their share of my novel is golden.

Based on this one example alone, my advice is to rewrite until your work reflects the best of your capabilities, and value all of your written words. First, save them for your own future work; second, like me, one of your descendants might need your discards for the novel or biography he or she will eventually write about you.

Tip O'Day #399 - A Writer also Reads

Guest blogger Ellen Grogan on how technology and becoming a writer simplified her reading life – Not!

Two years ago when I got my first e-reader (a Nook Color), reading was simple. I read what I love, and I love historical fiction. Nine months later, things got a bit complicated when I decided to try my hand at writing. My reading time got divided between historical fiction and “how to write” books. Then, of course, genre books had to be added into the mix to further complicate things.

Several more months went by, during which time I discovered Facebook and started “friending” authors, telling them how much I appreciated their books, how helpful their writing had been, yada, yada, yada. More months passed and it was time to purchase a second Nook, the Simple Touch. It was lighter, more portable, easier to use for studying all those “how to write” books when on the go. Now things got even more complicated. So many wonderful authors, so many wonderful books they’d written, so many reviews to post on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads and Smashwords. Yikes! How did things ever get this complicated?

It’s been two years now and I’ve broken down and added a Kindle Touch to my collection, but only because of those dastardly DRM’s that prevent me from converting Kindle books to epub format for my Nook. Well, at least now I have all my favorite types of books, all my “how to write” books, and all my favorite authors’ books at my fingertips all the time on one or another of the e-readers. I am one happy camper, let me tell you. (Not!)

Most mornings, I spend five hours with my “how to write” books, learning and writing. In the afternoons, I spend three hours sampling books by authors who are new to me. After dinner, I spend another three to four hours reading books by authors I’ve already become familiar with and whose writing I enjoy.

I know, I know, you’re wondering how I find time in between all this learning and writing and reading for the editing work I do. No problem! When an editing job comes in, everything stops until that manuscript goes to print. Everything. Except at night. I will steal three hours each evening to stop and rest and read historical fiction – usually something by Margaret George because her writing calms me down and keeps me sane.

A little sanity in my life – priceless!

Tip O'Day #389 – Kill Your Editor?

Guest blogger Feather Stone discusses finding a critical eyes for your manuscript.

Until I actually hired one, I believed it was an editor's job to make the corrections, make my novel perfect. I had researched the list of editors and selected five whose interest was in my novel's genre. After interviewing each one, I selected the editor who I believed best suited my needs. We seemed to be compatible and her price fit my budget. We signed a contract and met after she read my masterpiece. I was prepared for glowing comments.

"It's going to take a lot of work," she remarked without enthusiasm.

I slumped in my chair. Crestfallen, I listened to the list of issues with the characters and the plot. She pointed out important areas that I had glossed over leaving the reader confused. And, she hated the ending.

"But otherwise," she brightened, "it is well written. It's got intrigue and a lot of potential. I'll work with you if you're willing to put in the work."

Okay, my naivety just got a kick in the pants. I'd spent five years creating something that came from my soul. I wasn't about to give up. My editor and I met once a month. Each paragraph was dissected mercilessly. Everything from the time of the sunrise in Acapulco to details of each scene, action, and dialogue had to be in synch with the whole.

When the editor told me to reduce the manuscript by half, I sat speechless. "If an action, character, dialogue, or scene does not add to the plot or the climax, get rid of it," she insisted.

She was right. All of my instructors had been clear that publishers are reluctant to accept large manuscripts from unpublished authors. The toil of deleting paragraphs, sometimes entire chapters was painful. Not just because beautiful scenes were being cut, but that process was complicated and exacting. If a scene or action was deleted in one area, it likely affected scenes before or after. Another two years of rewrites went by.

Then came the assignments. The shocker was to write a detailed biography of each of the main characters. At this point, I checked the contract to find the "kill the editor" clause. However, it was probably the best advice she gave. Through this process, the characters became alive. Their birth, education, goals, drives, weaknesses, sins, strengths were spelled out. Some of these traits never actually appeared within the story. However, I was able to more instinctively know what and how each one would react, say, feel in all their circumstances. The result was the reader had a more intimate experience with each character. After another year of continuous rewrites, the manuscript was ready to send to a publisher.

The education I received from my editor was worth every penny, and more. My grammar still needs improvement. But I'm now more aware what words are typically over used. And, if something can be said in one sentence, it will have more impact than said in an entire paragraph.

There are hundreds of websites that provide support to writers. Other authors are often happy to offer guidance. Find a support group of writers who will critique your work. Be sure to check your ego at the door. They can be just as tough as a paid editor. But, in the end, that's exactly what you need. A critical eye will polish your work, making you the author of the next best seller.

In the end I'm glad I didn't kill the editor. Besides, it would have looked bad on my book's author bio.

Here’s the link to Feather’s novel The Guardian's Wildchild. Also, check out her website.

Tip O'Day #382 - Writing is Hard Work

Guest blogger Jennifer Harlow says, “Oh, @%&^!”

She's done. The weeks of research, the months of writing, the weeks of typing, the month of editing, it's all done. She is ready to be read by my wonderful Beta testers who will see how splendiferous she is and confirm I am the genius I always knew I was. Huzzah!

Three Weeks Later...

Oh, @%&^. They hated it. They really hated it. They thought the main character was annoying. The male lead was too perfect (meaning no real man would act like that). I kept switching between too much description and too much telling and not showing. The entire first fifty pages were dull and redundant. And the grammar. Oy!

“Didn't they teach you anything at the baby Ivy college your father and I took out a second mortgage on our house so you could attend?” my mother asked. (Yes, that watching Frat boys play beer pong is not how I want to spend my Friday nights, thank you very much).

Well, did you like anything? “Yes. The chapter titles were funny.”

Anything else? “ I liked the character names.”

@%&^!

What do you do when what you've written the first time around isn't that great? Me, there was vodka and three Real Housewives marathons involved. (Kidding about the vodka.) It's hard hearing criticism about something that you spent so much time and effort on. When they're telling me their constructive criticism, I try to put on a brave face while inside I'm considering skewering them with a fireplace poker. (Once again kidding. It was a machete.) Then I watch more Real Housewives, calm down, and think about what they've said and the suggestions they give.

Like how to make the hero less of an archetype. Make the heroine have faults instead of her being little miss perfect. See how much of the beginning can be cut away without losing the characterization and world building you presented in those pages to get to the action quicker. Use a thesaurus as much as possible. When in doubt, use a comma. Really ask if you need to describe the leaves on all the trees. Then put on your big girl pants and get back to work. (Unless there's a Real Housewives of Atlanta on. Love me some Kim and NeNe.) With every word on the page ask if this is the best choice. Sound like fun? About as much fun as Andy Cohen has at the Housewives reunions. (I think I have a problem.)

Writing is @%&^#*! hard work. Most of my books have gone through at least five edits before I even present it to my agent, who does one more. Right now I'm on the third of the steampunk book I wrote, Verity Hart Vs. The Vampyres, cutting the first chapter entirely, working eight hours on the current first chapter, twelve on the second, and so on. My main character went from Cher Horowitz in Clueless to a pretty version of Jane Eyre. My hero now smokes, drinks, cusses, and is rude. There is more red ink on the pages than black. As it should be. Nothing comes out of the gate perfect, but if you're smart enough and trust in your skills and vision, it can certainly get pretty darn close.

Publishers are tough. I once got rejected because two character names were too similar and the reader got confused. So though it may hurt, and take for-bloody-ever, editing is probably the most important part of writing. I've learned that 80% of the time my Beta testers are right. As long as you have the backbone of the story and halfway decent characters with potential, then all is not lost. Most things can be fixed. And after all the hard work and tears, in the end you get this...

Jennifer Harlow is the author of Mind Over Monsters, the first in the F.R.E.A.K.S. Squad series (out now) and To Catch a Vampire (out in September 2012). To learn more, check out her website.

Tip O'Day #379 - Who Do You Write For?

Guest blogger Lauren Carr on “The Ailment of Writers with High Standards.”

Several years ago, I was speaking at a school after the release of my second book, A Reunion to Die For. When it came time for questions, a student asked, “What do you do for writer’s block?” To this, I laughed and said, “I don’t know. I’ve never had writers block.”

Well, now I have had writers block. For a year, between 2008-2009, I stared at my laptop without knowing what to do. So, I packed up my laptop and announced to my family that I quit. I was no longer going to be a writer.

A month later, I was back at the laptop working away. Once again, I made an announcement to my family. “Okay, I’m going to write, but then I’ll publish my next book independently. If it sells, fine. If not, so what? From here on out, I’m writing for myself.” It’s Murder, My Son and subsequent books have been my most successful books and I have not had writer’s block since.

How did I get rid of my writer’s block? The secret is in this advice offered by American poet William Stafford: "There is no such thing as writer's block for writers whose standards are low enough."

What? I'm supposed to write junk? Can you be serious?

In order to understand the meaning behind Stafford’s advice, let me explain the circumstances surrounding my writer’s block.

A Reunion to Die For was published by a commercial publisher. It was a $26 hardback. My thrill of being published in hardback was quickly extinguished when I discovered how hard it is to sell a $26 hardback when you’re an unknown.

My next book (It’s Murder, My Son) had to come out in paperback. My traditional publisher didn’t handle paperbacks. In October, 2008, I went to a mystery conference, where I discovered that the new word count that publishers were looking for was below 90,000. At this time It’s Murder, My Son was 94,000. So, I had to do a rewrite to trim what I considered a perfectly good book in order to find a new publisher. A few days after I arrived home from the conference, my father-in-law, for whom I was primary caregiver, passed away.

For a year I stared at the laptop not knowing what to do. Then, I decided to “lower my standards” and write for myself. Since I made the decision to stop writing for literary agents or publishers or anyone but me, I have never run into a problem of deciding what to write.

No, Stafford is not encouraging writers to produce garbage. He is suggesting, however, that it's easy to take yourself too seriously in trying to please agents or publishers or reviewers. As a result, you end up staring at your laptop, thinking how inadequate your writing is and cursing God for giving you the love of writing. Yes, I did a rewrite of It’s Murder, My Son, but I did it for myself. I quit sweating over a turn of phrase for fear that a literary agent would disapprove. I didn’t think about if this plot line is “hot right now” or not. I wrote with the intention of pleasing myself. If readers and reviewers happen to like what I have written—then that’s the icing on the cake.

Since I independently published It’s Murder, My Son and the other installments in the Mac Faraday Mysteries, (Old Loves Die Hard and Shades of Murder) I have been on a sugar high.

If you want to be a writer, you need to forget about the judgment of others. Write what you want to write, write what you love, write for yourself.

Besides being an author, Lauren is owner of Acorn Book Services, serving as publishing manager, consultant, editor, cover and layout designer, and marketing agent for Indie authors. The ABS website is here. Also check out her Literary Wealth blog.

Tip O'Day 368 - Something Was Lacking

Guest blogger Michael Keyth: “What made me write a book?"

I’m Polish, living in Poland. I’ve never been to the USA. I have visited the UK on three occasions, for just a few days each time. So why the heck am I writing in English? It’s not that I’m an English teacher and I have completed English studies, for sure. It must be something else. I have currently one novel completed, and am working on my second one. My family won’t read them; they don’t know the language. My friends, well, they know some basic English, but even those who took advanced English on their final tests, had some problems with vocabulary they didn’t understand. When people ask me why my books are in English, I usually answer, “Well this language is more suitable to write in.” It is. More words, better sounding and it’s the official language of our planet.

Still, what made me write? Me, a simple teacher with lots of hobbies and little time for anything. I remember in late 2007, when I was 23 and a horror fan, I was about to watch a long-awaited movie that just came out. I don’t remember the title, but it was something about ghosts. Well, I was never so disappointed. Another movie with ghosts killing everyone one by one, only for one or two people to survive in the end. Where are the movies where people oppose them, huh? The same story repeated with many other horrors. Every time, something was lacking. Something that could made the movie better, like different plot twists, different characters, different villains. Then I watched the Supernatural series for the first time. To be honest I expected something like a team with high-tech devices to deal with hordes of supernatural things…nothing what I expected. I’m not criticizing the series. I like it how it is, but I had expected something different.

Then it happened. I asked myself a very important question: Why not write about what I want to see in other movies or books? But how could I, with no writing experience (apart from some short texts for tests), and few books read at that time, actually create something as huge as a novel? Other people spent years working on their novels.

During my fourth year of studies, I was dying of boredom, gazing into my laptop. I decided to write something. It wasn’t perfect, so I had no choice but to learn the art of writing. I read around ten e-books about creative writing. Based on their tips, I did a lot of research, created characters, made an outline and wrote. After one year the book was written - over 120,000 words. Just to make matters weirder, I wrote it on my mobile phone during school breaks, train travels, holidays and waiting in long queues.

As I said, the first draft took me a year. Then I gave up the book for one year. When I finally woke up, I re-edited it within three months adding 50,000 words, and then re-edited it for the third time. Now I’m working on the sequel, and find myself liking what I do. Hundreds of ideas implemented into my stories make up for the mistakes which a non-native English speaker will make. Will I continue writing after finishing the sequel? The answer is a resounding yes, yes, yes. This art is addictive.

Check out the link to Michael’s book.

Tip O'Day #344 - Getting Past Rejection

Guest blogger Ann Harrison on being a ‘pantser’ and overcoming rejection.

Ever since I could remember I’ve loved books. I would read anything I could get my hands on and it’s only now that my taste has really settled on certain genres. I love a good romance. Who doesn’t love a happy ending and all the angst in between? I greedily absorb as much young adult (YA) as I can, and I can’t pass up a good suspense and murder mystery.

'I wish I had started writing years ago,' is a cry you probably hear from many a writer. I think I was always too busy reading to sort out the voices in my head. Four years ago, it all got too much and I had no choice. My first seven books spewed forth at a rate of speed that literally scared me half to death. I started with YA because that came to the surface first. You might gather from this that I am a pantser (writing by the ‘seat of my pants’ instead of planning every twist of the story). I can’t do it any other way and am in awe of those that do plot every part of their manuscript.

YA books one through three (and notes for the fourth) in a series were very quickly written. After having book one rejected, (six times), I thought I wasn’t cut out for YA and tried my hand at romance. Three books were written in as many months and sat while I entered competitions and took the judges’ comments to heart.

What scared me most was the almost impenetrable wall you hit when you start submitting your work. It is nearly impossible to get traditionally published in the current market. Many print publishers will only take on repeat authors they already have a connection with. This is the time that many good authors will give up and throw it all away. I almost did after another three rejections.

It wasn’t until I met freelance editor Annie Seaton, who pointed out the flaws in my stories (in a way that I understood) that I took heart. I polished them until I was happy to submit them. It was the turning point for me; within 48 hours I had three contracts on my desk. I feel I chose wisely and carried on writing. Three weeks later I signed my second contract with Breathless Press.

Taming the Outback will be out in August and Mistress for Magnus will be released in September. With my success I felt brave enough to resubmit Book One of my YA series. Witchling has now been signed with Lycaon Press and I know that all of the hard work has paid off.

Check out Ann at her website or on Facebook and Twitter.

Tip O'Day #341 - Gender Bender

Guest blogger John DeDakis asks, “Can a man write effectively as a woman?”

I'm a guy, but I write in the first person as a woman.

When my first mystery/suspense novel Fast Track was published in hardcover in 2005, one of my male friends said in astonishment to one of our mutual female friends, "I didn't know John was a closet woman!"

I inscribed his book: "Welcome to my closet."

My CNN colleague and cone-of-silence friend Carol Costello once told me after reading an early draft of the manuscript, "You have a very well-developed female side." I suppose some guys might be freaked to be told that, but Carol meant it as a compliment, so I accept it, even though I'm still not totally sure what she means (but I think it has to do with nuanced emotional depth, or something).

Writing as a woman started when I first began toying with writing fiction nearly twenty years ago. Someone suggested that I choose a point of view that would be different for me -- and a challenge. It was only later that I realized that most people who buy books are women. Cool.

I found that writing from the female perspective hasn't been as tough as I thought it would be, for a number of reasons:

• I had a great relationship with my mom (a third grade school teacher, incidentally) -- I could talk with her about anything.
• Cindy, my wife of 33 years, is one of those quality people who have a lot of substantive things to say. She's smart, compassionate, articulate, and never boring.
• My 30-year-old writer/daughter Emily is never shy about offering an opinion on just about everything. She has a PhD in Creative Writing from Queens University in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and edited both my novels.
• I work in a newsroom surrounded by twenty-something young women who tell me about their boyfriend, career, and family issues, probably because I'm much more comfortable asking questions and listening than pontificating.

I asked a lot of women to read the Fast Track manuscript before I found my agent -- also a woman (Barbara Casey) -- and their feedback helped me make tweaks that rendered the text authentic to the female psyche. For example, I had a line of dialogue in which Lark Chadwick, my protagonist, says, "I'll just jump into the shower." The women of the Princeton Lakes Book Club in Marietta, Georgia, who let me sit in and listen as they critiqued the manuscript, said, as one: "Women do NOT just 'jump' into the shower. We savor the sensuality of the experience."

Got it. Lark no longer jumps into the shower.

After that first novel came out, Kris Kosach of ABC Radio wrote, "DeDakis crawls inside the mind of a twenty-something female, authentically capturing her character, curiosity and self-expression in this can't-put-down thriller." Nice.

And I continue to be amazed at the numerous 5-star reviews I get on Amazon from women who don't seem to mind that a man is writing as a woman. See for yourself here.

Bluff, the second novel in the Lark Chadwick series, came out a year ago. Veteran investigative journalist Diane Dimond (NPR, NBC, and now Newsweek/TheDailyBeast.com) writes, "Lark reminds me of me in the early days of my career.... DeDakis can so accurately write from a woman's point of view -- with all the intrinsic curiosity, emotion and passion -- [that it's] nothing short of astounding."

Conversely, I think it goes without saying that women, too, can effectively write as men. In fact, I would venture that all authors have at least some experience writing characters of the opposite sex because most novels contain male and female characters.

Yes, there is probably still plenty of prejudice out there among people who don't believe it's possible for a writer to be able to bridge the gender gap, but I've found that emotions are universal. Women, as well as men, experience fear, joy, anger, and sadness. Neither gender corners the market on having feelings, it's just that I've found women express them more interestingly and articulately.

So, I'm proud to be a woman -- if only on the printed page.

John DeDakis is a Senior Copy Editor for CNN’s “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer” and the author of the Lark Chadwick mystery-suspense series “Fast Track” and “Bluff.” He is currently at work on books three and four in the series (“Troubled Water” and “Bullet in the Chamber”). John will be a guest speaker at the Flathead River Writers' Conference, Oct. 6-7, 2012 in Kalispell, Montana. You're also invited to visit John's website.

Tip O'Day #334 - The Drive for Perfection

Guest blogger Kenneth Weene asks, “Do I really want to edit it again?”

I’m sure it will be done soon. I mean it has already taken a year and a half. The book is titled The Stylite. It is in many ways my best work. The language is poetic. The characters reach the heart. The plot is unexpected. The imagery and use of metaphor are excellent. At least that’s what Jake, my editor, tells me. He absolutely loves the book. So do I.

There is no question that my writing is good. Reviewers tell me that it is. My writing group compliments it. Word is getting out and people are buying.

Even better, my work keeps improving. I take great pleasure in that improvement. As powerful as Memoirs From the Asylum may be, I must admit that Tales From the Dew Drop Inne is a better-crafted book. The shorter pieces I have written since I finished Tales are even better. And The Stylite may even be as good as Jake says. I want it to be.

Therein lies the problem—the drive for excellence, the hope for perfection. I keep worrying at this manuscript like a dog who can’t give up a bone. I just keep gnawing. This must be the fourth time through since I came home last October. I had taken three weeks at the Writers’ Colony at Dairy Hollow to finish the book. It had been a delightful time, writing to my heart’s content. And Eureka Springs, Arkansas, is a lovely town, a place that encourages artistic effort. And, yes, I had come home manuscript in hand.

Since then, I have read that manuscript three times, read parts of it with others, read it with Jake and listened to his suggestions. Over and again I’ve worked each sentence, each word. Hopefully this, the fourth time, is the last challenge. I want to make the science fiction sections of the book work with the evocative literary fiction, which is the novel proper. I want the two to fit snugly together. I have to make sure that the sci-fi novel, which is excerpted within the larger story, works for the reader while being written in a clearly different narrative voice. I demand of myself a seamless whole.

This last task is underway; it will soon be done.

But then what? Will I start over? Do I really want to edit it again? When is enough? That is a question that good writers must ask of themselves. If Jake hadn’t told me how good this book is, if I hadn’t found myself reading and rereading portions just reveling in the words, I probably would have made an end already. But maybe I’ll take another run through. Just a quick one, just a little tweaking.

Argh!

Tip O'Day #321 - A Young Author’s Advice

Guest blogger Zack Wall on his writing journey.

As a new author just barely out of my teen years, I found writing my first novel to be anything but traditional. Inceptum began as an assignment in college, but quickly developed into a passion I wasn’t aware I even had. I’ve learned much along the way. My biggest lesson was to never self-publish, except as a last effort to see your book in print. If you feel your story is worthy of being read by the public, then seek out a literary agent, or a small publishing company to get you on your feet.

There are thousands of agents across the country, and chances are high that at least one or two will show an interest in your book, provided it has been professionally written and edited. One way to achieve this for free is to contact professors at a nearby university, and ask if they’d be willing to review your book for grammatical errors. Many in the education field would be glad to offer their services for free or inexpensively.

Another mistake first-time authors make is with scheduling their writing sessions. If you feel you’re an “inspired writer,” that’s great, but you still need to balance time spent in front of the computer, or you will burn out from overexposure. After I completed my book, I was so sick of reading it that I didn’t even touch it for several months. Make time for yourself during periods when you won’t get distracted by anything, and sit down for at least an hour to create your story.

If you’re having trouble finding the inspiration to write, consider sitting back and ask yourself why you’re writing this particular book. What inspired you in the first place? Is the story going anywhere, or is it dead in the water? Don’t be afraid to delete a chapter here and there if they aren’t contributing to the overall flow of the book. My story was science fiction, so to find inspiration I would watch my favorite science fiction movies.

The best advice I have ever heard is to write a story you will want to read over and over. It shouldn’t matter if you never sell a single copy of your book. If you are happy with the finished product, then any sales are an added bonus.

I plan on writing many more novels in the future, as well as working on a sequel to Inceptum.

You can find Zach’s book at his website, download the Kindle version on Amazon, or follow him on the novel's official Facebook page.

One Sentence Writing Tips: #5 of 5

This has been a fun week, sharing “one sentence writing tips” from a wide range of FB friends – from literary agent Michael Snell, to newbies, to Amazon bestseller Kathy Dunnehoff, everybody had interesting, sometimes hilarious suggestions. Here’s the final five:

Michael Snell - “Good writers need editors more than bad writers; the best writers need the best editors.”

Linda Swink - “Never trust speel check.”

Peggy Zabicki - “Before you even pick up a pen, sit down and day dream.”

Kathy Rowe - ‎"If you don't know anything about it: RESEARCH!"

Dixon Rice – “If you could use improvement at writing dialogue, challenge yourself by drafting a screenplay.”

One Sentence Writing Tips: #3 of 5

This week, we’re looking at what happened when I asked: Do you have a “one sentence writing tip” to share? Here’s the third installment of replies sent by my FB writer friends.

Judith Anne Horner - “Don't do any major editing until you've finished the first draft.”

TD Jones - “When you believe you're a writer, other people will start to believe it too.”

Angie Ledbetter - “BICFOK = Butt in Chair, Fingers on Keyboard.”

Jo Marshall - “Read it out loud.”

Dixon Rice – “If you can’t find the right authors critique group, start your own.”