Z = The Final Step of Writing a Novel and the End of the A to Z Challenge

Z is for the end, both of writing a novel and this blogging challenge. It's been an interesting ride this month (and this is the only time I've ever completed the challenge). Camp NaNo ended up derailed so I wrote less than 1/10 of what I had planned to. But at least I'm excited about going back to my novel again so the end should be written soon.

I hope all of you have enjoyed reading the various posts linked throughout the month. And the giveaways have been fun (you've got until midnight to enter for Angel Eyes). I'll probably not be quite as active over the next two months due to all the logistics of moving to another country to start my job, but that's life.

Enjoy the last article and please do click through to M J Wright's website to read the rest of the article.

One of my favourite writing tips is so well known it barely needs repeating. When you’ve written your first draft manuscript, stick it in a (metaphorical) drawer for a month and don’t look at it.

The idea is that you come back with fresh eyes.

The other problem is that it’s too easy to re-awaken the old ideas – to lock back into the old thinking. Sometimes the ‘novelty factor’ lasts about a page and a half. Sometimes those old thoughts can creep up on you without you even really noticing.It sort of works, but like all cliches there are two problems with the idea. One is getting that month, especially if there is a deadline and the work has to be juggled between half a dozen other writing projects, along with all the impecunious demands of everyday life.

But there are ways around it. Try this. Print the manuscript off and look at isolated pages, making sure you don’t start with the first one.

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Y = A Map to the Land of YA Publishing

The people over at YA Highway have created an interesting visual map of the publishing process complete with links to articles on various subjects. Click the image below to view the full map on their website.

Click here to enter the Angel Eyes Giveaway! Only one day left!

Kagerou's Journal 10

Read part 9 here.

Even out on the street people pointed and stared. Some even clapped or called out, but I dodged away before any could attempt to waylay me. I set my course for the northern gate, deeming my report incomplete until I found out what had happened the previous night. I also was curious to know upon whose side the green giant had been.

Upon reaching the northern gate I observed a large number of workmen clearing away piles of rubble. The enormous wooden gate lay to one side, twisted and broken. A group of workmen labored to repair it. Curiously, I didn’t observe any bodies from the fight the previous night.

I caught a passing workman, a carpenter by the look of his tools, and asked, “What happened here?”

His face twitched as he frowned in concentration. “H-he r-ripped off th-the g-gate.”

“Who did?”

“Th-the giant from th-the Rusty D-dragon,” he replied. His stutter made him difficult to understand. When I looked puzzled he explained, “Th-the c-cook.”

“He’s the cook at the Rusty Dragon?”

He nodded.

“Ok, thanks.”

It looked like I came to the wrong place for information. It was time to seek out the gigantic, green cook at the Rusty Dragon. At least that explained the apron and the hat from the previous night.

I headed back that direction, intending to seek him out, but something distracted me. I paused as I saw the halfling, Shoanti, and Breuvial leave the Rusty Dragon together. Curious, I followed along behind. As far as I knew, we were all strangers, so why were they joining together as friends outside of the necessity during battle?

The halfling led the way across town to a short building whose windows were filled with curios. The sign over the door said ‘Brodert Quink’. The name was the same as the one on the job listing I’d read. Maybe they were here to apply for it?

She knocked on the door. I crept closer to listen as the door opened to reveal a short man, who looked to be of asian descent.

“What do you want?” His voice rang out sharply.

The halfling handed him a sheet of paper. I strained my ears to hear what she was speaking. I caught something about “drawings of the animal” on the sheet. I edged closer but Quink had the sheet now so I couldn’t see what was drawn on it.

“Sure, sure. It looks like a sinspawn. No I don’t know what kind. Maybe rage. Maybe not. I got job. You want to do it? I pay gold.” He looked around at them eagerly. “You go there you might find out what kind of sinspawn.”

I jumped into the conversation at that point. I’d been considering applying for the job anyway. Casually, I walked closer.

“What kind of job is this? I saw your notice at the Rusty Dragon and it sounds interesting.”

“The halfling and Breuvial looked surprised at my appearance but the Shoanti spearwoman didn’t.

“Of course it interesting. I want you to go to lighthouse ruin and look for writing to bring back.”

“What about this sinspawn? Why should going to the ruin help?” the halfling persisted.

“And what is a sin spawn?” Breuvial asked.

“Are you accepting job?” he asked.

“Yes.” The halfling nodded.

“Then come inside and we talk over tea.” He retreated into his house and we followed.

X = 7 Reasons Agents Might Give Your First Chapter an X

The dreaded first chapter, or even the first paragraph of your novel. That's all the time you have to impress an agent into asking for more. So here are some tips on what not to do, unless you like seeing how fast an agent can lose interest in your novel.

Previously, I attended the Writer Idol Event at Boston Book Fest. It was not for the faint of heart, but for those willing to brave public ridicule, it was a great way to get helpful feedback.

(How to Support an Author’s New Book: 11 Ways For You to Help)

This is how it worked: An actress picked manuscripts at random and read the first 250 words out loud for the panel and the audience. If at any point a panelist felt he would stop reading, he raised his hand. The actress read until two or more panelists raised their hands, at which point the panel discussed the reasons they stopped, or in cases where the actress read to the end, they discussed what worked. Helene Atwan (Director of Beacon Press) and agents Esmond Harmsworth, Eve Bridburg, and Janet Silver (all from Zachary Shuster Harmsworth) served on the panel.

These panelists were tough! I’d say less than 25% made it to the end of the passage. Here are some of the common reasons panelists stopped reading.

1. Generic beginnings: Stories that opened with the date or the weather didn’t really inspire interest. According to Harmsworth, you are only allowed to start with the weather if you’re writing a book about meteorologists. Otherwise, pick something more creative.

2. Slow beginnings: Some manuscripts started with too much pedestrian detail (characters washing dishes, etc) or unnecessary background information. 

Click here to read tips 3-7 at Writer's Digest.

Click here to enter for a chance of winning Angel Eyes until the 30th!

W = 13 Ways to Scare People Away from your Website

Website building is not my forte, nor that of most writers. We try many things to create a website which looks good but keeps people coming back. However, here are 13 ways to make sure no one ever comes back, courtesy of Author Media.

This can be a scary time of the year.

Here at Author Media, there is nothing that scares us more than bad author website design.
Here are 13 proven ways to scare people away from your author website.

1. Music

Many people surf the web while listening to Pandora, Spotify or iTunes in the background. If your website starts music when someone arrives, it will create chaos in their headphones as two songs play at the same time. For bonus points, hide the “pause” button so the only way to stop the music is to leave the website.
To turn your website into a horror show, make the song restart every time users load a new page. This way you can bludgeon your readers over the head with the first few bars of the song.

2. Focus on Yourself

People don’t care about you, they care about them. So, focus on yourself. You are the author after all. Fill the website with photos of you and your family. Talk about personal details of your life that have nothing to do with your book. Blog about irrelevant topics. Avoid giving away any helpful information.
Avoid the things in our list of what readers want from your author website.

Click here to read tips 3-13 at Author Media.

Click here to enter the Angel Eyes Giveaway!

V = Victory at Last!

Well, at least for one writer. His story and perseverance are amazing! Most people would have given up long before then.

If your novel has been banging on agents’ doors for years and got nowhere take heart from Berwick Coates, an English author who this week nailed down a $130,000 deal and a two-book contract at age 80.

His historical thriller The Last Conquest was snapped up by one of the world’s largest publishers Simon & Schuster after Coates had failed to impress agents with several previous novels. “They were clearly not being read,” he said.

A retired history teacher, Coates succeeded only when he caught the eye of agent Jim Gill, who was recommended to him by a fellow author. Now Coates is finishing his second novel The Last Viking and can hope to see both in book stores at an age when most authors might have given up or resorted to vanity publishing.

Click here to continue reading his heartening success story at The Writing Village.

Click here to enter for a copy of Angel Eyes!

U = US Tax Treaties for Writers

Taxes. Yes, even writers have to deal with them and they only get more complicated once you throw living out of country into the mix. I've been sniffing around for information related to this due to my going overseas soon and I thought I'd share the information I found with you, my readers.

Thank you Stina for allowing me to take over your blog today. I hope that I may bring some knowledge to those who plan on doing business in the U.S., but may reside elsewhere.

When I was paired with an illustrator on an anthology project, I had no clue where Maldives was located, but I knew I needed to work with Rimi no matter the consequences. Working with others who reside outside of the U.S. requires knowledge of certain tax laws.

Are you thinking of publishing in the U.S., but live in another country? Maybe you are working with someone else in another country on a collaboration, perhaps even a business partnership? Regardless of whether you plan on self-publishing or going the traditional route, if your work will be published in the U.S., you’ll need to understand certain aspects of our tax laws.

The U.S. government requires companies to withhold 30% of royalties made in the U.S. and paid to entities residing in other countries…unless the U.S. has a tax treaty with your country. 

Click here to continue reading at Stina Lindenblatt's blog.

Click here to enter for a chance of winning a copy of Angel Eyes!

T = Twitter: How on Earth do you Become Successful?

Twitter is a powerful social media tool for sharing your writing (you might even have come to this post via my tweet about it) but it can be difficult to figure out how to grow your following. Here is one writer's experience on how to attain a massive following.

I wasn’t planning to write this post. It more came to be as a matter of chance. It all started a few days ago when author, editor and blogger, C.S. Lakin (@cslakin and @livewritethrive on Twitter), contacted me via my website to ask, “How did you get so many followers?” As I’d done in the past with a few others who asked, I emailed C.S. and explained my process. In response she came back, suggesting this should be a blog post and even offered to put my email into blog format, leaving me with only whatever fine tuning I desired. I said, “Cool,” she said, “Here you go,” and voilà, here it is, I’m coming clean about my Twitter success.

When I joined Twitter in August 2009, I went with the simple logic that the more followers I had, the more people would learn about the thrillers I wrote. With that in mind, I got busy with an easy process requiring little account management time which I’ll now share with you. The basic plan was to follow people, some of whom would follow back. Those who didn’t, I would unfollow. All I did was repeat this process over and over again. It obviously works because I now have almost 250,000 followers.

Click here to continue reading at Live, Write, Thrive.

Click here to enter for your chance at winning a copy of Angel Eyes!