Wow, another week has gone by already and we’re now 25% of the way through the year (you really wanted to know that, didn’t you?). So once again, here are some of our favourite recent reads.

Looking forward to a writerly get-together? Kait Nolan discusses the etiquette of talking to writers.

Over at Romance University, Laura Griffin discusses chapter hooks.

Nathan Bransford talks about the war on ebook pricing.

And while we’re talking ebooks, David Gaughran goes through the basics of self publishing.

Wondering how the length of your current WIP matches up against expectations? Aaron Stanton discusses average book length for various genres.

At Writer Unboxed, Anna Elliott talks about the necessity of trusting your own instincts.

For a laugh: Word count envy

For fun: How fast do you read?

For inspiration: how will we obtain additional resources once we exhaust the earth’s supplies?

And just because it’s cool: over at The Accidental Author, our very own Joshua Essoe talks about working as an editor.

Celebrating Milestones and Birthdays

March 30, 2012

fictorians

The Writing Life No Comments

You can’t celebrate what hasn’t been done.

We all have dreams – to write well, to be published, to have an awesome web presence, to reach and engage readers – that’s what our lives are about. How do we achieve those dreams? One step at a time by making a plan, setting goals and executing them. And sometimes, you do it with a little help from your friends.

When the Fictorian bloggers first discovered each other at the Superstars Writing Seminar, we learned that we had the same dreams, one of which was to establish a web presence where we could blog, grow as writers, share information with other writers and reach our audience. Alone, the task was daunting; together we’ve created a dynamic presence with wide ranging topics and experiences.

HAPPY 1^st BIRTHDAY FICTORIANS
collectively we’ve achieved what we couldn’t do alone

Our greatest MILESTONES:
* we’ve become great friends who support each other through our ups and downs;
* in our first year, we’ve posted over 165 blogs on topics from craft, to the writing life, to understanding the publishing industry; and
* superstar authors and industry professionals are blogging with us.

In his guest post, Brian Hades talked about the need for a virtual presence, how social media is like cocktail party and hiding in the corner means no one notices you. If you’re unsure about etiquette rules at the social media party, check out Mignon Fogarty’s post. At The Fictorian Era, we are hosting the party, inviting interesting guests, serving a buffet of tools for writers and most importantly, we’re having fun doing it!

Why did we choose to host a party together rather than go it alone?

Because we knew that in the act of learning and supporting each other we would grow as writers, establish connections we couldn’t do on our own and we’d have a supportive social media presence. One Fictorian summed up a common sentiment, Fictorians for me are amazing friendships formed from a common goal. And it is an amazing alliance with bloggers and guest bloggers from the USA, Canada and Australia. Our broad backgrounds and experiences give our readers many perspectives on issues and varied content.

Most importantly, we’ve all had some special mentor or have read an awesome blog which has helped us in our writing journey. That’s also why we’re together – to give back what we’ve received. Helping others as we’ve been helped.

But really, it’s fun to work with a group of dedicated writers who have a joint sense of purpose. That’s the bottom line. We’re together because we want to be.

Writing your novel or short story maybe a solitary endeavor but the writing life doesn’t have to be. Form a writing support group or join one. Form a blogging group. Form a virtual support group which sets goals and challenges you to meet them. Do whatever you need to keep your writing career on track. We did. And now we’re celebrating!

Happy writing everyone! Hey, who ate my piece of cake?

What I Did (and Didn’t) Learn from Writing Fan Fiction (Part Two)

March 28, 2012

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Craft & Skills Mary Pletsch The Writing Life 2 Comments

My fandom years writing fanfiction helped me a great deal. By providing me with an audience of fellow fans, and the inspiration to write regularly on a subject about which I was passionate, I grew from a juvenile writer into a teller of stories. However, when I changed my focus from fan fiction to original novels-something I could publish-I realized there were certain aspects where my fan fiction experience had not helped me.

Worldbuilding from scratch. In fan fiction, you’ve got a setting already laid out for you. This is more than just physical locations; it’s the “rules” of what is possible in that world. How does magic work? What technology is, and isn’t, available? What is the major conflict? What are the central themes? Building an internally consistent set of rules isn’t easy, and it’s vitally important: a poorly designed set will leave readers wondering why something previously impossible is suddenly possible, or why the hero struggles under restraints that don’t bother the villain, or why the hero is at odds with the villain to begin with.

Character introduction. In fan fiction, a writer can assume his readers are going to know who Naruto is, or who Spock is, or who Bella is, and all the important details about the character’s appearance and personality. In an original work, writers need to remember that if they don’t convey it, their readers won’t learn it-and better yet if they can convey it without the old “my character looks in the mirror and describes what she sees” trick.

Cast dynamics. In fan fiction, even if you make up your own characters, you’ve also got a main cast of canon characters to work with. There’s a difference between adding a new character into an established cast, and building, from scratch, a group of characters with believable group dynamics. In short, every group has a “character” of its own. A group comprised of five dynamic leaders-or five timid wallflowers-isn’t going to last, or convince your readers of its believability, unless at least some members of the group begin evolving and changing to fill different roles.

Professional discipline. If you get bored with a fan fiction story, you can go do something else. Or turn your originally-intended romance into splatterpunk horror. You’re not getting paid; you can do as you please. It’s entertainment. This isn’t the case when you’re under contract to produce something on a certain subject in a certain time frame.

When to walk away (Internet fame vs long term career); or, If you don’t want to be an amateur forever. About three years ago I was getting a lot of positive feedback from my fan fiction. Writing quick short stories, posting them on the internet, and enjoying the response was a thrill; putting another 5000 words on a novel was a long slog in comparison. In the end, though, a complete novel-something publishable-will be a bigger accomplishment, and with this goal in mind, fan fiction is now an occasional treat for me, not the focus of my writing.

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with amateur writing-writing for pleasure. It’s a state of mind where people can explore and experience, hone their craft, and learn to love the act of creation. Nor do I think there’s anything wrong with the choice made by several fan fiction writers of my acquaintance who, although they have story telling skills equivalent to professional authors, choose that they would rather pursue something else to earn a living, and reserve writing for a hobby-something they do for entertainment.

Creating original work for publication is a different experience from the fan experience. It requires privacy-putting samples of your original work up on the Internet may disqualify your work as being “previously published,” or open you up to having your work plagiarized. It requires you to create something that will excite and interest you, through the long hours of crafting something that’s not already a pop culture phenomenon. It requires a dedication to persevere and a consideration for the desires of your readers and potential publishers. It requires the groundwork to build a coherent world for your characters to inhabit. These factors have nothing to do with the quality of the work itself, and everything to do with the creation of a professional writing lifestyle, as opposed to an amateur’s hobby.

Brian Hades: Are You in the Business of Being YOU?

March 26, 2012

fictorians

Guest Posts The Writing Life 4 Comments

I’m BULLISH on today’s marketing and publishing environments.

It is certainly NOT the time to own a newspaper, be an advertising executive, or deal with the vagaries of the worlds’ economic climate.

It is the best time to be an author/publisher/media personality/entrepreneur…

Why?

You do NOT have to rely on traditional media to grab some attention. By being creative you can get a LOT of exposure and sell yourself to the world virally — and for free.

How?

Simply by using social media tools like Facebook and Twitter. With your limited time and resources (it’s a problem for all of us) the return on your investment in paid print ads (newspaper or even magazines) would pale by comparison.

If you spend, on average, an hour every day updating your Facebook, Twitter, and social media profiles it won’t take long for the world to know about you, what you’ve written, and what you’re currently working on.

It won’t happen overnight. You need steady and strategic postings to make it happen. Prior to Facebook and Twitter, networking and referrals were your best methods for making connections. Social media is networking on steroids.

But you must remember that networking — in person or on social media — is like going to a cocktail party.

If you walk in the door and all of a sudden you’re in everyone’s face selling, and yelling “buy me me me,” people back away and avoid you. In social media, you get deleted and reported for spam.

If you post a profile on Facebook and never visit it again or close off your wall for postings, it’s like standing in the back corner of the live networking event with your back to the room, as if to say: don’t talk to me.

Today it’s all about building RELATIONSHIPS.

You only need to post what you want people to see, but if you post nothing personal, then people may not engage you. Today, people want to know who they are talking to. If you are interesting and engaging there’s a good chance your social media profile will be checked out. If you post nothing about what you do or how to reach you, people will move on to the next person.

There are two must-have books if you want to know how to navigate marketing in 2012 and do so successfully to the growing number of people who get their content exclusively online:

Socialnomics by Erik Qualman; and
The New Rules of Marketing & PR by David Meerman Scott.

Be sure you only look at books that were published after 2009. A lot has changed since then. The Kindle and iPad did not exist. Those two platforms alone have impacted how people see you. But that’s another post.

Brian Hades, publisher
EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing
www.edgewebsite.com
403-254-0160