Category Archives: The Writing Life

Grandparents love grandkids, and they’re usually not shy about begging for more. The good thing is, they love talking about themselves and telling their stories even more. We can leverage that fact for a wonderful family event, while gaining a break from the constant pestering.

How do we do all this?

We tell stories. Their stories.

I’m a novelist, and I love great stories. But the more I learn about life, the more I study history, the more I realize that reality is crazier and wilder and intense than any story I could invent. Sure, history may be missing magic and dragons, but lots of real-life experiences could never be included in stories. Readers simply wouldn’t believe it.

We believe it when Grandma and Grandpa tell it, though.

So get them to sit down and tell you, “In my day . . . ”

Once the floodgates open, you might be amazed by what you’ll hear.

Writing those stories is a ton of fun, because we have a connection with them. Most of us are interested in our genealogy, in our family roots, and in the stories of our ancestors. The great thing about interviewing grandparents (or uncles or aunts or great-grandparents) is we can get the stories right from the source.

Even more importantly, the holidays are almost here. Doing an interview with grandparents not only distracts them from pestering for more grandkids, it also sets up one of the best Christmas presents you could give them. So first, ask them about their personal history, and anecdotes they remember of their parents and grandparents. This is best done using a voice recorder, since most of us don’t type fast enough to capture everything, including their tone and voice.

They’ll love it. Even more if you have one of your kids interview them, after preparing a list of questions to help your child keep the grandparents talking. I’ve seen grandparents spend hours on the phone telling stories to my kids, and everyone’s having a great time. It helps them connect with the new generation, and makes their history real.

When finished, transcribe the stories. You’ll have the story of their history and some of the major events of their lives, and can present it to them, perhaps bound in a beautiful book. If you can scrounge up some old family photos, like he one I included above of my grandfather, it really helps bring the history alive. It’s a present they’ll love, and one they can pass down through the years to other family members.

In my family, we’ve done a couple of interviews already. Next step is to complete transcription and produce the final books. I’m hoping we can do it as part of a holiday project in the family.

What about you?

About the Author: Frank Morin

Frank Morin loves good stories in every form. When not writing or trying to keep up with his active family, he’s often found hiking, camping, Scuba diving, or enjoying other outdoor activities. For updates on upcoming releases of his popular Petralist YA fantasy novels, or his fast-paced Facetakers alternate history fantasy series, check his website: www.frankmorin.org

Learning from Non-Fiction

November 16, 2015

fictorians

Non-fiction writing 1 Comment

A guest post by Billie Milholland.

NON-FICTION
In the 1980s when I wrote magazine and newspaper articles, the ‘reporter’ style was still fairly standardized. The inverted pyramid. You plunged right in with the ‘who, when, where, why, what, and how’; using the most newsworthy bits of information. The ones that delivered the highest impact.

Then you added the most sensational details. If the details seemed less than provocative (they most often did), you elevated them by stating in ways that suggested there was something more just below the surface that might be revealed later. “The bus driver neglected to mention her reason for….”. “It is interesting to note that the first person on the scene had the least to say about …”.

You wrapped up with general, background information that wouldn’t be missed if the reader didn’t get that far. The word count was tight and the belief that most readers were under-educated and overly fickle was strong. The biggest sin was ‘burying the lead’ – not waving around the flashiest information first. Bottom line… you informed people. Quickly, efficiently and with little commentary.

Direct quotes were prized, but longer anecdotes, not so much. I found it interesting however, that when I added a few anecdotes, and my beleaguered editors let them pass, I received actual fan mail.

FICTION
Leaving non-fiction behind for a while, my first foray into writing fiction led to realms of endless options. I could start slowly, building up expectations as I went along. I could dive right into the deep end of a pool of sharks and bloody up my protagonist right away. I could then wander into a stream of consciousness, before I sent my protag over a thundering waterfall clutching the last piece of her grandmother’s embroidered tablecloth.

I was giddy with freedom. Story poured out. I entertained people; informing them was secondary. I could use facts, but my story didn’t have to be based directly on facts. I could play with time and space.

NON-FICTION
Returning briefly to non-fiction, after about a decade away, I was pleasantly surprised to see that magazine writing, and to some degree, newspaper writing as well, had evolved to a more conversational style. Apparently the inverted triangle had been an American aberration, brought about by reporters trying to communicate stories during the American Civil War. Since the telegraph service could be interrupted unexpectedly, they had to make sure they top-loaded their news.

The rest of the world didn’t do it that way, and now we don’t either… well, not as much. I wrote a few cook books during this time and a small book about the North Saskatchewan River. Using a more casual, conversational style, along with a seasoning of anecdotes made those books more fun to write and they were reasonably popular.

FICTION
When I started writing fiction again, I felt very experimental. Producing successful non-fiction had taught me more about what people wanted to know. Bits of interconnected trivia could work in fiction too, if they were stitched carefully along the edges of the theme. People are information junkies at heart, but still wanted the rise and fall of a good story. I played with that in my novella in Women of the Apocalypse. The feedback I received from readers was encouraging. The feedback I received from readers of some of my short stories validated my tendency to use quirky bits of trivia in fiction.

NON-FICTION
After another decade away, when I returned to non-fiction, I found daily news tossed into endless Twitter streams; bits and pieces about immediate news, interspersed with links to longer discussions about what’s happened, what’s happening, along with various versions of ‘who, when, where and how’. Many longer discussions showed up in blog form. A brilliant system.

Because reading text online is harder than it is in traditional hard copy, I learned that blogs worked better if broken up into digestible portions by subheadings and images.

More experimentation. Information bulletins about specialized scientific studies and initiatives written for a general audience. Successes I had with those, culminated in my most recent book, Living in the SHED, which is full of bits and pieces of information, broken into digestible portions by subheadings and images. Will it be successful? Time will tell.

FICTION
2016 will be all about fiction for me. I haven’t completely processed everything I’ve learned from writing non-fiction this time, but what I do know is the rush of ideas about how to edit the first drafts of two novels I left simmering on the back burner are much different and more exciting than the ideas I had when I left them there.

Billie Milholland has bobbed back and forth from non-fiction to fiction and back again. She’s written for newspapers, magazines and had stories produced on CBC radio. Women of the Apocalypse, in which one of the four novellas is hers, won an Aurora Award in 2009. She has a short story in Bourbon and Egg Nog, the 10th Circle Christmas anthology, which won an Aurora Award in 2012. More recently, Green Man She Restless, her story in the Urban Green Man Anthology was nominated for a 2014 Aurora Award. Her most recent project, a non-fiction, environmental book, Living in the SHED, will be out in December 2015 and can be ordered at www.nswa.ab.ca. Visit Billie at www.billiemilholland.com.

How to Write Non-Fiction Books for Profit

November 13, 2015

Ace Jordyn

Ace Jordyn Non-fiction writing 1 Comment

How-to, self-help and inspirational non-fiction books abound. People write a non-fiction books because it’s faster than writing fiction, people pay money for information and they have something to share. But where does one start?

FIND THE PERFECT IDEA
Finding the perfect idea means knowing what kind of information people will pay money for. To find this idea you can:

find one question people really want answered. What is a frequently asked question that doesn’t have an adequate answer?
ask or survey your readers, friends, an interest group, fellow hobbyists. Ask what concerns them, what their problems are, and what they want to know.
participate on forums, ask questions, find out what the target group really wants to know, debunk a myth or misinformation.
do a how-to. Whether it’s cooking, software, athletics, fitness, weight loss, crafts, arts, writing, we all want either learn or improve upon skills.
find a blog topic that has lots of frequently asked questions. It may be opportune to have all those questions asked and answered in one spot.

KNOW WHAT’S SELLING AND WHAT ISN’T
Now that you’ve got an idea, it’s time to test it. Writing a non-fiction best seller means you must do the market research, understand the problem or knowing what people are willing to pay for. After all, you want to target those people who need your information.

Study the niche and the bestsellers within your niche either at a bricks and mortar book store or online. Look at covers – what’s appearing on the covers of those ranking highest in sales? Who are the pictures of men, women, abstracts, pets, food appealing to? Analyze everything you can see – title length, font. The high ranking books will tell you as what appeals to buyers. Read the table of contents, tags and any information you can find. Most importantly, read the reviews! People will say why they liked a book but also why they don’t and knowing why they don’t may provide the best insight on what you should offer.

Check how many similar books there are and their rankings. If your idea has been done a million times before and the books aren’t popular, scrap it. There may not be a desire for such a book, but if you’re determined to write it, make sure you have a unique twist on it and that you’re answering a problem that customers have. Otherwise, it isn’t worth your time and energy to rank at 256,000.

WORK THE IDEA
You’ve got an idea now but aren’t sure where to take it. You’ve done your preliminary research, seen what the market is responding to, now what? Start writing. Ask more questions. Ask your target market more in-depth and specific questions. This may be in the form of a blog post, a survey or interviews to test the idea. Their responses will help you find the gaps in your information, broaden or narrow your focus and they will, most assuredly, ensure that you’re giving them information they need and are willing to pay for. Most importantly, you’ll be keeping them engaged in the process, anticipating the final result and they’ll be your first buyers.

GIVE THE IDEA FORM
Study the best sellers to understand not only what they’ve said, but how they’ve said it. Although I’m interested to see how movie stars and high profile people have written their books, I know that readers will give them more leeway when it comes to paragraphs of dribble and useless information. I personally don’t like how-to books filled with pages of blah, blah, blah. Expand on a point and explain a concept to be sure I understand it and its context, but drivel for the sake of drivel, doesn’t work.

give it context and your personal touch by saying why you’re writing this – is there a personal story in this that will make it easier for people to relate to you and the book?
answer the question (s) by providing useful, helpful content. People buy non-fiction for the information, not for reams of literary prose. If you don’t know it, don’t make it up.
expand your answer with examples. Examples can be in the form of case studies or personal stories. Are there real examples from people you have helped or from someone who has solved the problem? Examples serve to motivate and inspire.
consider using step by step methods to provide solutions, graphs and charts to explain.
write with a view to entertain, don’t be dull and boring. A book that is easy to read, easy to scan with good grammar and editing sells better.

ENJOY THE PROCESS
Fiction or non-fiction, people will glean your enthusiasm for the subject in how you write. The more excited you are, the more fun you’ll have with the market research. Your enthusiasm will become infectious and people will want to buy it because they want to know what all the excitement’s about!

The key to writing a best selling non-fiction book is to know your market and to keep it simple while solving someone’s problem. And that problem may be as simple as fixing a bathroom sink or wanting your grandmother’s recipe for pickled beets. But no matter the topic, enjoy the process – enthusiasm is infectious!

Blurbs: Baiting Your Hooks

November 12, 2015

mary

Mary Pletsch Non-fiction writing The Writing Life No Comments

Have you ever seen an interesting-looking book cover and turned the book over to read the bit on the back? Or have you ever been browsing online and scrolled down to the paragraph that tells you what the book’s about? Those short paragraphs are called “blurbs,” and they’re almost as important as the story itself. Readers check them out to decide if your book is the sort of story they’d be interested in reading.

If you’re self-publishing, you’ll definitely need to learn how to write an enticing blurb. But even if you’re hoping to be traditionally published, it’s a useful skill to have. When I made my most recent novel pitch, I was asked to provide a blurb that would introduce the main characters, the principal conflict, and a “hook” that would make my audience want to read more. If I couldn’t get the publisher (agent, editor, etc) interested in my story, how could I convince them that readers would be interested?

I want to emphasize that a blurb and a summary are not the same thing. If you’re asked to provide a summary, the publisher/agent/editor wants to know your entire story, including how the plot will be resolved at the end. Unanswered “hook” questions (“how will Ali save the kingdom now?”) are frustrating and unprofessional in a summary.

Blurbs, directed to your potential readers, are different. If the blurb explains how the story ends, it will be the opposite of enticing–why bother reading the book if the back spoils the surprise? The point of the blurb is to give the reader some basic information about the start of the story you’re telling, let them know what kind of story it is, and make them eager to find out what happens next. Blurbs and summaries serve different functions, even though both describe “what the story is about.”

I learned to write blurbs thanks to the folks at Dreamspinner Press, who published my short story “Ace of Hearts” in their steampunk romance anthology, “Steamed Up.” Dreamspinner requests that authors provide blurbs for short stories as well as novels and novellas. Even though the blurbs aren’t used “on the back of the book,” they do provide the company with material they can use to market the story and the anthology.

Blurbs need to be tightly focused. Dreamspinner suggests approximately five sentences: long enough to give an idea of the story’s flavour, short enough to skim. Blurbs aren’t a place for world building, minor characters, or other small details. Keep your focus on the most important factors:

Who is/are your main characters?
What is their primary goal? What major challenges do they face in achieving that goal?
Where is the story set? Sometimes the setting hints at the genre (a spaceship might be science fiction, for example, and a magical kingdom is definitely fantasy). If it doesn’t, be sure the blurb gives some clue as to the genre.
What kind of story is this (action, romance, horror, mystery, etc)? This may be different then genre. It’s possible to have a romance about werewolves, or a fantasy story where the plot revolves around a murder mystery.
What will the reader feel: Fear? Romance? Excitement? Curiosity?

If your book has a specialty theme, let your readers know! (ie, if it’s a historical romance but also a pirate story, the blurb should make that clear. You want readers looking for pirate stories to know that your book qualifies!)

When you edit your blurb, ask yourself:

Do I have a feel for who the main character(s) are – not just names, but who they are as a person?
Do I know where these characters are “starting out from” and what they hope to accomplish?
Do I know what obstacles are in their way?
Do I know what sort of story I’m about to read – not just genre, but tone (rollicking adventure? Dark and gritty? Scary and creepy? Humorous? Tragic?)

Most importantly: does this blurb make me want to read more?

Here’s my blurb for “Ace of Hearts.” “Ace” is a romance between a pilot and a mechanic, told in the tradition of the old British boys’ adventure stories. The story’s set in a steampunk alternate universe during the time of the First World War.

Barred from serving as a professional pilot due to a childhood injury, aircraft mechanic William Pettigrew nevertheless finds himself caught up in the political conflict between his home nation of Albion and the enemy Boche. When he meets dirigible ace Captain James Hinson, William can’t quite muster the courage to confess his attraction, nor does he have the self-confidence to interpret James’ advances as anything more than friendliness. Then James is shot down over enemy territory, and squadron command seems reluctant to go to his rescue. William finds his courage put to the test as he is forced to decide between loyalty to his chain of command, or taking a gamble on love.