Sometimes, the best solution to a story or writing problem is to sit back, read a how-to book, think and then write. No one book has a solution for every problem and for that reason, I have several in my library. I find most books on writing more useful AFTER the story is written. Once you’ve read applied some of the techniques and lessons in these books to either an outline or a revision, your skill as a writer grows and subsequent first drafts become richer and better written.

My five go-to books are:

The 10% Solution: Self Editing for the Modern Writer by Ken Rand
Are you saying what you intended to and are you using the best word choices? Use the ACBs of editing – accuracy, clarity and brevity. Rand lists the syllables (such as -ly) and words which may signal a writing problem. This systematic approach is good for line edits because it allows you to see the words without getting involved in the story.

Writing 21^st Century Fiction: High Impact Techniques for Exceptional Story Telling by Donald Maass
This book is great for both brainstorming and examining the first draft’s effectiveness. The chapters provide a good foundation for all the questions Maass suggests writers should consider when writing about a character or scene or the plot. I must admit that it would be too much for me to apply all the questions to an entire novel, but addressing even one or two of them, I have found can enrich a scene or the story immensely.

Writing Fiction for Dummies by Randy Ingermanson and Peter Economy
From fiction writing basics, to what makes a great story, to creating compelling setting and characters, story structure, theme and getting published, this book is a great how-to for beginners and a good reference for everyone.

The Fiction Writer: Get Published, Write Now! By Nina Munteanu
Take every workshop you’ve attended, develop cheat sheets for quick reference, and you’ve got The Fiction Writer. This book focus on the writing side of getting published with tips on everything from world building, to the hero’s journey, plotting, writing query letters and synopses to the zen of passionate writing.

Revision and Self-Editing for Publication: Techniques for Transforming Your First Draft into a Novel that Sells by James Scott Bell
Written in two parts, Self-Editing, and Revision, this book is a compendium of the items that are non-negotiable in writing a novel. It’s written concisely and filled with great examples. The chapter “The Ultimate Revision Checklist” has great points to strengthen beginnings, middles and endings along with scenes, setting, theme and how to polish your manuscript.

Other books recommended by my critique group (thanks everyone!):

Writing Million Dollar Outlines by David Farland
This book is part of David Farland’s Million Dollar Writing Series. Learn how to analyze an audience and outline a novel so that it can appeal to a wide readership and become a bestseller.

The Emotion Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi
Designed to enrich your ability to express emotions on the page, this thesaurus tackles 75 common emotions by defining them, listing physical signals, internal sensations experienced, mental responses and cues for suppressed or long term encounters with the emotion.

Story: Style, Structure, Substance, and the Principles of Screenwriting by Robert McKee
It may have been written for screen writers but the elements of story, the principles of story design and the elements of craft used to tell a good story are universal. It explains the principles that shape the art of storytelling and the realities, not the mysteries of writing.

On Writing by Stephen King
Entertaining and empowering, Stephen King not only teaches about writing, but provides a practical view of the craft and a writer’s life.

Telling Lies for Fun and Profit by Lawrence Block
A fun approach to writing and the writing life chapters include: Washing Garbage (revision), Creative Procrastination, and Creative Plagiarism.

How to Write a Damn Good Novel: A Step-by-Step No Nonsense Guide to Dramatic Storytelling, Parts I and II by James N. Frey
Filled with down to earth basics, principles, and suggestions, this book helps writers recognize, analyze and correct problems in their work.

The Anatomy of a Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller by John Truby
A story consultant for the film industry, Truby challenges writers to dig deep within and explore their own values and world views. From making an audience care to making characters grow in meaningful ways writers will learn how to move an audience.

Bullies, Bastards and Bitches: How to Write the Bad Guys in Fiction by Jessica Page Monell
The title says it all! From moral codes and personality traits, every character needs a specific level of integrity, decency and honesty filled with complicated yet believable motivations.

How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy by Orson Scott Card
A long standing favorite, the MICE quotient – milieu, idea, character and event- will help you structure a successful story. And if it’s science fiction or fantasy you’re writing, you’ll learn enough about the genre to ensure your stories are publishable.

This list is by no means comprehensive, so please share your favorites with us. Which books do you recommend?

Wattpad

May 25, 2015

fictorians

Emily Godhand Software Writing Tools 1 Comment

A guest post by Emily Godhand.

At the Superstars Writing Seminar, I had the pleasure of meeting Wattpad’s own Ashleigh Gardner, a friendly and charming woman who gave a great speech on what Wattpad could offer budding writers as well as professional writers.

What is Wattpad?

It would be an easy mistake to describe Wattpad as “just a reading and writing app”.

While as of January 2015 it does offer over 100 million uploads of stories in over 50 different languages contributed by Wattpadders, and is often used by mobile readers and writers (85% of traffic!), it does so much more than just enable you to read or write a story.

What makes Wattpad so unique is the ability for readers to interact with those stories they love so much through in-line comments, and for writers to not only respond to the feedback, but to receive and post fan-made works of music, videos, and art.

What does Wattpad offer authors?

It would also be a mistake to describe Wattpad as a “publishing platform”.* Anyone over the age of 13 that has a working internet connection can post a story to share with the world. But Wattpad isn’t only useful for teenagers looking to get into writing, it offers many things to more established or professional-minded authors as well.

*though authors would be wise to take note of editors who state they prefer works that haven’t been seen on the internet.

Visibility

Wattpad enables you to get your name out there and build a fanbase of people who recognize your name and works. This is truly especially if you are a young-adult writer, as most Wattpadders are under 30.

Feedback

Receive real time feedback, even line-by-line commentary, on what readers enjoy or disliked about your works. Build excitement for your works and get them talking amongst each other, or people they know, especially on other social media.

Why wait for a review that may or may not talk about specifics, when you could learn what lines or characters or scenes are working (or not working) for people?

((A preference for this differs by author; some people don’t like others in their kitchen and that’s fine. You can ignore it!))

Motivation

People look forward to your updates! If you have an update due, and your readers are expecting it, how can you justify disappointing them? If people are counting on you to write, you are more likely to glue butt to chair and get on it.

Connection with Fans

On that note, your readers and fans can comment their responses, questions, and comments in your stories, leave a message on your message board (‘wall’ like on Facebook’), or message you directly.

I never thought growing up that I’d ever be able to speak with the authors I loved reading, but here they are on Wattpad. I could send them a message at this moment or write a fan letter on their message board. I remember one time I managed to track down this Indie author on Amazon and sent him a heart-felt message thanking him for his book, and how much it meant to me. I didn’t expect him to respond. But then…he did. And that means so much to readers.

Community

But with that, you not only create this community of supportive readers, but also fellow writers who can provide support and feedback.

You’re going to love it. 🙂

Guest Writer Bio:

Emily Godhand is a cross-genre author who lives in a book fort in Denver, CO, with seven rats who revere her as their Queen.

As former psychiatric technician, she draws her inspirations from her work and the constant nightmares she’s had for 13 years. As such, her works tend to focus on an exploration of trauma, immortality, and human consciousness.

Read her latest work on Wattpad, where she is an Ambassador.

On the Road… with Google Street View

May 24, 2015

Evan Braun

Evan Braun Software Writing Tools 1 Comment

My recently completed Watchers Chronicle is by and large a travelogue. The stories hit every continent, more than a dozen countries, and even more cities and countrysides. At book signings, I am often asked if I have visited all the locales featured in the book, to which I must sadly answer, “No. I wish.” Frankly, I don’t have the budget or time for first-person research on that scale. Very few authors do, including those many times more successful than me.

So what’s an author to do? With a story like this one, the locations exist in the observable world. I can’t just make up geography to suit my needs. The cities and streets and lakes and fields and mountainsides are all real. They exist, and therefore they need to be as accurately depicted as it’s possible to do from the confines of my home in the middle of the Canadian prairie. It’s very flat here, and I can see an awfully long way, but I can’t see all the way to Switzerland.

Fortunately, Google can. Specifically, Google Earth. Google Earth is an encyclopedia of visual information sorted geographically. If you want to see locally sourced pictures and information from any location in the world, all you need to do is scroll to it on Google’s beautiful globe of accurate and increasingly detailed satellite imagery, and there you will find everything you could possibly hope for. It’s a geo-lover’s paradise.

The most powerful tool in the arsenal is Street View. A fleet of Google vans has been busy crisscrossing the globe’s million-or-so highways and streets for about a decade now, capturing a constant stream of 360-images as they zoom through urban centers, savannahs, high-altitude plateaus, and stunning sea sides. You can literally jump to just about any street you can think of and see for yourself exactly what it looks like. You can study the buildings, the passersby, the sidewalks, the shops, the road surfaces themselves, the soil and terrain, the trees and vegetation, even the wildlife, literally everything available to the eyes. Do you want to know exactly what the terrain is like at the opening to I-50’s Eisenhower Tunnel in western Colorado? No problem. Do you want to see which shops and restaurants adorn New York’s Times Square? Easy. Do you want to track the exact route between London’s Piccadilly Circus and Heathrow International, and capture all the sights along the way? Done.

What a resource to travelogue authors everywhere. Jack Kerouac never could have imagined this.

Of course, these research tools don’t fill in all the gaps. Your imagination still has to bring these still images to life. And of course the eyes only account for one of the five(ish) senses. You still have to fill your story with the endless sounds, smells, and tactile details needed to create a truly rich and diverse literary experience.

That said, Google Street View really is the perfect place to start. Unless your story is set on Mars. Except, actually, Google is working on that too…

Evan Braun is an author and editor who has been writing books for the last two decades. He is the author of The Watchers Chronicle, whose third volume, The Law of Radiance, has just been released. He specializes in both hard and soft science fiction and lives in the vicinity of Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Computer Spring Cleaning

May 23, 2015

Guy Anthony De Marco

Business Guy Anthony De Marco Writing Tools 1 Comment

It’s the start of a new year, so it’s time to discuss a bit of pre-spring cleaning for your computer. For perspective, my “day job” used to involve working in an Information Technology department for a large corporation with 13,000 users, a field I’ve been working in since I started writing computer programs in 1977. I performed these tasks quarterly at a minimum on my personal equipment, and twice daily on the 983 servers I was responsible for.

1. Back Up Your Data

In the IT field, there’s an old saying: “There are two kinds of people, those who back up their data, and those who wish they did.”

Yes, everyone knows they should back up their data, but most forget to do it if the task isn’t automated. In the past, I was guilty of forgetting to do this on my laptop, and I’ve lost works in progress. So, like changing your smoke alarm battery every time there is a change to Daylight Savings Time in the United States, at the very least you should make a concerted effort to back up the data from the previous year.

I back up all of my fiction, articles, and poems onto a CD, then put it in a safe place. I also archive it on my website in case I need copies when I’m traveling. Make sure you label the disc and put it in a sleeve or CD case. Use a permanent marker, put on a sticker label (use the round ones so the CD isn’t unbalanced when spinning), or write the label directly on the CD if you happen to have LightScribe. Do not use ballpoint ink pens on the CD — use permanent markers like the Sharpie brand. Most people think the underside of a CD is the most sensitive to damage, but it’s actually the top portion that is fragile. Once the thin layer of laquer is damaged, such as from writing on a CD with a ballpoint pen, the reflective backing starts flaking off, destroying the CD. The underside may get scratches, but the CD writing process includes error correction, which is why many scratched CDs still work for data.

If you have a large amount of data, such as your story files, ebook files, audio files, and images, use a DVD-ROM to back up your work. The same rules apply for the care of the discs.

If you have a safe deposit box at the bank, consider keeping a copy there in case something happens to your house. I know several authors that were impacted by Hurrican Sandy, and several of them lost their homes and their computers.

In addition to backing up important files, I also recommend purchasing a USB external drive that comes with backup software. This way, your entire hard drive can be restored if you get a nasty virus or malware that destroys everything on your computer. One terrabyte external drives are around $100. Restoring your computer after you get hit by a nasty virus with a couple of clicks is priceless. Another option is to use an external storage solution like Dropbox (see May 4th’s post by Kristen for a writeup), Evernote, and Google Drive.

2. Anti-Virus Scanning

I’m assuming most of you have an updated anti-virus program running on your computer(s) and laptop(s). Good for you! If you don’t, there are several free anti-virus programs available, such as AVG and Avast. If your computer connects to the Internet, you need protection.

Now is the time to do something that your computer has been bugging you to do for a while. Close all of your open files and programs. Yes, that includes Facebook — don’t worry, you’ll survive the withdrawals. Open whatever anti-virus program you use and select “full system” or “full hard drive” scans, then leave your system alone. If you’re running a laptop that goes into hibernation mode if it doesn’t feel your loving hands brushing the touchpad, deftly sliding the mouse, or even stroking the keyboard, try setting your system to stay out of hibernation mode by adjusting your power settings. Leave your laptop plugged in, in case it takes a while to scan your data.

Your anti-virus program is going to scan every file stored on your computer. Depending on the number of files and the speed of your computer, this may take an hour or ten. If it finds any nasty lurking virus files, let the software kill or quarantine the offending data.

3. Dump Unused Software

If you have software installed that you never used in 2012, consider deleting it from your computer to free up space. Make sure you have the original software available should the need arise to re-install. A good example is getting rid of old income tax software. It’s doubtful you’re going to re-file your 2008 taxes again, so save your data files (onto a CD!), then uninstall.

4. Catch Up on Updates

Now is a good time to update your operating system … AFTER you have backed up your data. Allow your system to go online to download patches and updates, then allow your computer to install without slowing it down by surfing the Internet. If you have the urge to post a Twitter update, tweet using your smartphone.

Once your operating system files are updated and your computer is restarted, go through your programs and check for updates. Don’t forget programs like Microsoft Office, Scrivener, Adobe Acrobat, Java, Firefox, and any other browser updates (including browser plugins, if any.)

5. Catch Up on Writing

Now that your computer is backed up and updated, it’s time to get writing. No excuses!

About the Author:

Guy Anthony De Marco is a speculative fiction author; a Graphic Novel Bram Stoker Award^®; winner of the HWA Silver Hammer Award; a prolific short story and flash fiction crafter; a novelist; an invisible man with superhero powers; a game writer (Sojourner Tales modules, Interface Zero 2.0 core team, D&D modules); and a coffee addict. One of these is false.

A writer since 1977, Guy is a member of the following organizations: SFWA, WWA, SFPA, IAMTW, ASCAP, RMFW, NCW, HWA. He hopes to collect the rest of the letters of the alphabet one day. Additional information can be found at Wikipedia, GuyAndTonya.com, and GuyAnthonyDeMarco.com.