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Writer's Notes

Fans and Flowers: Fans are the Heart of a Writer’s Life

By Ally Shields

May 25, 2018

 Ally Shields illusWho doesn’t love book fans? Those intrepid readers who snatch up every book you write on the day it’s released, the book clubs who analyze your characters from motives to what they wore in a particular scene, and the bloggers who sing your praises in online reviews. Sigh. Fantastic. The kudos are wonderful…like warm fudge cake with double chocolate frosting.

But fans can also be your most persistent critics. Such as the reader who takes you to task for too many commas or too few, for the over-usage of “warm” words, or complains that the model on the cover doesn’t look like her concept of the heroine. And I vividly recall the reader/reviewer who’d read all of my Guardian Witch novels but was sharply indignant that one of my characters, in one book, used the word Ugh! She explained at length how this didn’t fit the character’s personality or the atmosphere of the scene. (By the way, I agreed with her. While proofing for the print edition, I deleted the word!)

How could I—or any author—not be flattered by all of this? They’d read my books! And carefully enough they could talk about them, in minutia. They knew the characters, the plots, and subplots better than I did. An author couldn’t wish for more.

reviews picBut book fans don’t always understand the power they can wield. Series live or die on sales, and those are often dependent on the number of positive reviews. The best book in the world will never be enjoyed if readers don’t know it’s there. Placements in search engines and on best seller lists, even acceptance for advertising, and ultimately sales are driven by reviews. And believe me, my publisher pays even more attention to them than I do. She can quote from them.

demon picAre there “bad fans?” That almost seems like an oxymoron, but yes, there are those who carry fandom too far, who stalk authors online, or even worse, bully other readers who aren’t fans of their favorite author. Like others, I’ve been on the receiving end of someone’s misdirected fans, and it’s best just to ignore them. Most authors don’t want or appreciate this kind of support. Personally, I believe these “trolls” need to get a life. But enough said about that aberrant minority.

Real book fans are the life and breath of authors. Like roses thrown upon the actors’ stage, we love hearing from you. I respond to every email and any tweets I catch. Whether it’s a personal note, a comment on the blog, or a review posted somewhere, I hope readers keep them coming. Authors are depending on you….

And feeling so grateful you “get” their books.

Ally’s website is here: http://allyshields.com

 

 

 

 

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Writer's Notes

May Writer’s Notes: Fans and Flowers

By Thonie Hevronpexels-photo-1034910.jpeg

 

What’s that mean? The term ‘Fans’ is clear: anyone who likes reading your books. ‘Flowers’ can mean accolades, awards, positive reviews, or any other “Yay” moment. Fans and flowers are two terrific benefits to publishing your work.

I chose this month’s topic because as writers, we so often go long periods of time without feedback about our work. Being writers means being alone—even if you write in a coffee shop, the story is in your head. It’s safe to say most writers would like to earn big money, but the sorry truth is most of us don’t. I would also bet that most of us write what we like to read. This means we write because the story drives us. It’s what we delight in—writing the worlds that are behind the blank stare in the grocery store check-out line. I cannot NOT write.

All the above being said, there are few moments in a writer’s life that bring that warm glow like someone telling us what a great job we’ve done. Having someone else recognize our efforts is gratifying. It’s not necessarily what keeps us going but a well-timed 5-star review can jump-start faltering inspiration. We don’t have to have accolades but they sure are nice!

Oddly, most award-winning authors don’t tell you about their prizes. Oh sure, honors and exceptional acknowledgements are posted on book covers, websites, business cards and promotional items. But face to face, no author I’ve met has shaken my hand and told me how wonderful he is. Most writers are modest introverts who do promo as a matter of necessity (usually kicking and screaming).

If an author has one fan he has an inherent responsibility. The author must fulfill the fan’s expectations with every book. That means writing the next story—and writing it well–better even.

I’ll never forget the first time I overheard a conversation between two women who had read my books. One posited that “Meredith would understand given her background.” The other proposed that Meredith’s childhood ghosts might get the better of her.

Talk about a warm glow! I loved that readers came to know my characters well enough to talk about them like they were friends. I felt I’d done my job—brought the story from my head and into readers’ minds.

To do this, did I abandon my muse and write to market? Yes and no. I wrote my story, but I did my research to figure its marketability. It’s a stroll on a tightrope, for sure. I looked over market trends, attended author events (soliciting attendees critiques) and conferences, even perused a forum or two. I also read reviews of books I felt were similar to mine.

In the end, I hope to listen to those readers who comment (yay or nay—and why) and continue my balancing act. Thanks for indulging me.

 

Join Writer’s Notes on May 11th for Joanell Serra’s take on “The First 100 Books Sold,” celebrating May’s theme of Fans and Flowers. On May 18th, read Becky Clark’s observations after returning from a mystery fan convention; she’ll talk about what it’s like from both sides of the book signing table. Finishing up the month, Ally Shields shares how “Fans are the Heart of the Writer’s Life.”

And don’t forget to check in on Sundays for stories behind the badge. Read about how different eras of law enforcement (specifically LAPD) survived day to day business. These guys are the real deal, not celluloid cops.

 

        

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Writer's Notes

Breaking My Own Rule

A review of Shot to Pieces: A Novel by Michael O’Keefe

Review by Thonie Hevron

Shot to Pieces coverBlurb: SHOT TO PIECES is the story of NYPD 1st Grade Detective Padraig Joseph Durr. Durr is tasked with solving a particularly grisly gang related homicide in Brooklyn. When Paddy catches the squeal, he is also on the verge of an emotional and psychological breakdown. Because of his penchant for self-destruction, fueled by a childhood of abuse and sexual exploitation, coupled with an ingrained sense of worthlessness and abandonment, Durr has brought his entire life to the brink of ruin. Can he hold it together long enough to solve this murder? Can he fix himself enough to be re-united with the one true love of his life and his family? Or will he implode, irrevocably destroying his career, his family and himself?
A few weeks ago, I was contacted by fellow Public Safety Writers Association author Michael O’Keefe. He asked me to read and review his debut novel, Shot to Pieces: A Novel. I told him that I would happily read it as it is a genre in which I write—police procedural, but I don’t do book reviews on my blog. I don’t have an MFA, nor any formal education in literature. I felt unqualified to make a comprehensive review. I am religious about leaving reviews on Amazon, however, and that is what I told him I’d do. We exchanged books the next day. He read mine and posted a very nice 5-star review on Amazon. Read it here.

I, however, was bogged down enough that I couldn’t finish his book until today. I began Shot to Pieces with the expectation of reading a depressing police procedural. Check out the blurb above to see why. But I’d committed to read the book, so I read on.
And boy, am I glad I did! This was one exciting, wild ride with a lot of heart. I’m a west coast law enforcement veteran, so some of the situations hero Paddy Durr gets himself into seem foreign to me. But here’s the deal: they are believable. I can see these things happening during an active career. As can be expected, NYPD differs from small town agencies I worked for. But the personalities of the other detectives, brass, and mutts are collages of many personalities I know!

And the hero, Paddy Durr, has many traits—both desirable and unfortunate—that make him a realistic and exciting protagonist. He’s prone to trouble—you already know that. But his observations on the job are stunning, particularly one in Chapter 27 where his fiancé asks why all the cops in the area come to see him while he’s being treated in the ER. I’ll start the paragraph for you, but you’ll have to read it for the full effect. “Active cops are a different breed. We’re the gunfighters, the alpha dogs of the police department. We’re not special, just different. … So, this pilgrimage is as much away to say I’m glad we’re not meeting at your funeral as it is to say thank you for reminding me to get my head out of my ass. An event like this forces everybody to get back on their A-game.”

M O Keefe
Author Michael O’Keefe

 

Every page is laced with an unusual combination of intelligence, testosterone, and heart. It’s gritty, it’s real, and moved me to tears a few times. Make no mistake: Paddy’s story is basically a love story—his love for the job and all it stands for as well as his love for his wife and family. However, if you’re a romance reader, take a pass on this book.

 

But if you enjoy police procedurals like Michael Connelly and Joseph Wambaugh, this is right up your alley. I may not have the ed creds to analyze Shot to Pieces (aside from a little head-hopping now and then) but I know what I like.

So, it’s my blog and I can break my own rules: I highly recommend Shot to Pieces: A Novell!

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Writer's Notes

When You Hit the Brick Wall: Pamela Beason

 

BeasonSmall photo flipped
Author Pamela Beason

By Pamela Beason
I can SO identify with this topic. Once, when I was whining about how difficult it was to be discovered as an author, my mother remarked, “Well, you must like hitting your head against a brick wall.” (Such support, right? But I digress…) Of course she meant that I could do much easier things instead of trying to write and publish novels. And in that, she was correct.

It’s hard to be an author. When I speak to high school students, I ask them to name the most important trait needed to become a successful author. They guess aspects like “good grammar” and “imagination,” which are important, but not the most important. The correct answer is “self discipline.” Nobody makes a novelist work forty hours a week. There’s usually no guarantee of payoff for all the hours we put into assembling words into stories. We have to make ourselves sit down and write and edit and finish a book. And then most of us have to make ourselves market that book, too. So, as we toil away at our computers and rearrange endless Post-It notes, it’s all too easy to hit the wall and simply not want to continue.
I smash into that dang wall on a pretty regular basis. I get stuck on plots. I decide my writing is total crap. I’m almost always certain I don’t have a clue how to market a book. Sometimes I don’t even how to finish the freaking story.
But I know I want to try. So, I back up from that wall, bandage my injuries, then take a long solo walk or paddle my kayak around the bay. Some evenings, I’ve been known to have several glasses of wine and feel sorry for myself. But I allow myself only a day to wallow in self-pity. The next day, I suck down several cups of good coffee and get to work on employing these techniques for getting over or around that invisible barricade.

  • To help with writing:
    • I read a book that I love that is similar to what I’m trying to write, and make notes about what happens in each chapter. This must be a book that I’ve read at least once before, because I don’t want to get so involved in the story that I can’t see the structure. I’m not going to copy the plot or characters, but taking notes about the structure allows me to see how the author built the story. Then I can often see where I am going wrong, usually by telling too much too soon, or straying off on some tangent that kills the suspense.
    • I watch a movie in the same genre and take notes of the scenes to accomplish the same goal I described above. Again, this should be a movie I’ve seen before, so I don’t get too wrapped up in what’s going to happen next.
    • I read an instructional book on writing mysteries. Yes, I know all this stuff, but for some reason I need to be reminded over and over again.
    • I brainstorm with another writer, asking for criticism of my story and for any and all ideas for improvement, no matter how wacky. It’s easy to lose all objectivity about your own writing, and it’s easy to fall into a rut, so you need to seek out the ideas and opinions of others. I generally don’t end up using the ideas presented to me, but brainstorming sessions open my brain to new possibilities.
    • I practice writing the short description for the story that will go on Amazon or on the back of the book. This is always an agonizing exercise for me, but it often causes me to focus on what the heck the story is really about.

 

  • To help with marketing:
    • I Google other authors who are similar to me and look at what they do on Facebook and author websites and such. Since I am an indie author now, I mostly look at other indie authors, because traditional publishers have larger advertising budgets and more marketing opportunities than most indies do.
    • I ask other authors at my level (or slightly above) and in my genre which marketing techniques and advertising sites have worked for them. I write mysteries, so it won’t help much to ask a nonfiction author or a romance or fantasy author; I’m seeking ideas on what works for marketing mysteries.

The process of writing, editing, and marketing a book takes a long time for most of us. I meet many writers who finished a story but did not bother to proofread or polish it, uploaded the rough version to the internet and then got frustrated and bitter when that effort did not result in massive sales. I call this group “hobby writers.” They aren’t yet professional authors.
Professional authors know that writing and marketing good books is work, and they are willing to put in the days to push on when they hit the wall. The process doesn’t necessarily get easier with each book, but we know that when that barricade inevitably looms in front of us, we will find a way to get around it.

~~~

Backcountry_ebook-final-cover-2x3-200x300Pamela Beason is the author of Backcountry, Book 4 of the Sam Westin series, s now available in eBook form almost everywhere. Print copies are available from Amazon and Ingram. She is the author of nine full-length novels: The Only Witness and The Only Clue in the Neema Mysteries, romantic suspense novel Shaken and novella Call of the Jaguar, and Endangered, Bear Bait, Undercurrents, and Backcountry in the Sam Westin Mysteries, and young adult novels Race with Danger and Race to Truth in the Run for Your Life trilogy). I also wrote the nonfiction eBooks SAVE Your Money, Your Sanity, and Our Planet and So You Want to Be a PI? and multiple informational eBooks for authors. You can check out everything from the Pam’s Books link here.
In Backcountry, after the murder of two friends on a popular hiking trail, Sam reluctantly agrees to take over the job of leading a group of troubled teens on a three-week wilderness therapy program. But she soon begins to see signs that the killer may be traveling through the wilderness with her band of teen misfits.

When not writing, she’s out hiking and kayaking and having adventures so she’ll have something to write about!  She has a jam-packed, wonderful life. Carpe diem!

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Writer's Notes

It Takes a Village

author

By Thonie Hevron

You’ve all heard the African proverb (a cliché these days), “It takes a village to…” fill in your blank. My answer is “write a book.” Writers are solitary creatures—shy by nature. But if you think a writer completes their work alone, let me educate you.

Granted, most of the hard work is done solo. Charlotte Bronte hardly had a critique group to whip her text into shape. While “taking a village” may be a stretch, the support systems we have now weren’t around in their day. I refer to critique groups, beta readers, editors, and experts.

Here are a few words on my support systems:

  • I owe my growth as a writer to the members (current and past) of my critique group. They’re honest enough to say, “This just doesn’t work,” and tell me why. If I want compliments, I’d ask my mother. If I want the truth (and constructive suggestions), I ask my critique partners. To be clear, I’ve written these pages in solitude. But their review and input are part of the process. Their criticism can only improve my work—and it has.
  • Another writer notion is that writers prefer aloneness. We do. I cannot deny it. But having a group of people behind you, cheerleading, challenging, and empathetic, soothes the ouch of an agent’s rejection letter. When I joined Redwood Writers (RW—a branch of the California Writers Club) in 2006, I had two books completed and I needed to figure the next step. Between monthly speakers and workshops, I realized I had more work to do before the manuscripts were polished enough to submit to a literary professional. Through the club, I found my critique group, mentors, learned how to set and achieve goals, and many other lessons. I learned the value of networking. As my genre is mystery/thriller/police procedurals, I joined the Public Safety Writers Association (PSWA). I applied RW lessons here. This group was comprised of active and retired law enforcement, fire, emergency medical, and military personnel. Several publishers also belong. It was through PSWA that I found my publisher.
  • While I could write a post on each of these support systems (I think I will!), here I need to stress how important it is to put another pair of eyes on my work. I wouldn’t think of letting an agent look at a manuscript without review from two or three Beta Readers (readers who check for general critiques-flow, plotting, etc.).
  • An editor is critical. A submission should be as error-free as possible. More on that later, too.
  • I can’t live without my “experts.” I had my third novel almost half done when I found Mike Brown, a retired lieutenant from Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office. I’d worked with Mike years before and re-connected on Facebook. After he looked at my outline, he said, “It couldn’t happen like that.” Sheesh. As I market heavily to law enforcement, I knew my story had to be authentic. Back to the drawing board. The result was, “With Malice Aforethought.” Yet to be published, it won PSWA’s Writers Contest second place award in the 2016 unpublished novel category.

All this before the book is even published! In the weeks that follow, two of my esteemed colleagues will present their ideas on the same topic. Be sure to check in every Friday, or better yet, subscribe to my blog post, Just the Facts, Ma’am.

Thonie

 

 

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Writer's Notes

What’s Up?

By Thonie Hevron

I haven’t posted a progress report since November 12, 2016. I’m overdue and hope to make up for it with this. Last winter, I wrote that I had re-gained my book rights from Oak Tree Publishing due to the publisher’s ill health. In the intervening months, I’ve taken two major vacations, struggled with some worrisome health problems (all good now) and polished my third manuscript, With Malice Aforethought. I’ve been submitting queries to agents (for representation) and publishers (for a contract).

authorThis week alone, I sent three queries out to two agents and a publisher. The deal is, I must wait for a response. But here’s the kicker: the timeframe for an answer (if I even get one) is anywhere from three weeks to six months—yikes! Who has that kind of time? Normally I wait a few weeks, then move on to another agency. All these queries must be researched. Agents receive from 20 to 100 queries a day. Given that workload, it wouldn’t be wise to submit a mystery query to an agent who only handles children’s book, would it? And even more checking is needed to make sure my mystery agent handles thrillers/police procedurals as my genre is defined. Again, a cozy (think Agatha Christie) mystery literary agent wouldn’t look twice at my sub-genre.

So. A lot of work. Which takes away from writing.

Book report:

I have a fourth book in the wings. I wrote it in the mid-90’s so it needs updating and re-structuring. I hope to have it ready for a publisher/agent later this year.

open bookAs if I don’t have enough to do, my blog seems to be growing. A third retired LAPD officer is now sending me stories in addition to Hal Collier and Ed Meckle. Their posts are entertaining and serve my mission to de-mystify police officers to the public but particularly writers.

However, lately, I’ve been feeling like I’d like to butt in, too. Not stories but commentaries on the writer’s life, hence Writers Notes. So, I plan to write one post per month and publish it on Fridays. On May 12th, I’ll begin with, “It Takes a Village,” my take on the myth of the solitary writer.

My friend and colleague, Marilyn Meredith, will offer her ideas on the same subject on May 19th.  Amy Bennett, author of the Black Horse Campground Mysteries, will chime in on May 26th. I’ll provide links so you’ll be able to click right onto their websites.

June will bring another challenge. What topic and who will weigh in?

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Writer's Notes

All Fired Up

Redwood Writers Author Support and Craft Support Groups had our inaugural gathering today before the General Membership Meeting.
The Author Support concentrated on getting to know each other and deciding how the members could best support each other. Each person decided on a goal for next meeting and how to achieve it. Future topics could include: How/when do you write? What tricks have you learned to help carve out time to write? What do you do with ideas you don’t yet have time to write about?
Craft Support used a prompt to generate discussion: How do you organize your story? Do you outline? Each of the half dozen participants had a different answer. Some used outlines while others didn’t but everyone gained a different perspective on how to put together their story. A discussion began on plotting but alas, we ran out of time. Next prompts will include: characters, dialog, and developing resources.
Both groups were moderated by a member who kept participants on track (not an easy task for writers!). Leaders will vary each meeting as will those who attend. All members of Redwood Writers are encouraged to take advantage of these unique Writers Support gatherings. They are free and are held from 1pm-2:15 pm on the day of the monthly General Membership meeting in the Empire Room at the Flamingo Hotel.
I am still gathering names for critique groups. The plan is to offer the same venue and time slot to people who want to meet. In the next 3 weeks, I should have enough information to decide whether we can go forward with the critique groups at this time. I’ve also been considering who best to work in a technology discussion—maybe a panel, but that will have to wait for another day.