Writing 101: You Are Always an Author

I saw an author trying to creatively promote themselves on Goodreads the other day with an interesting, funny little forum post. Here's the rub: the post was riddled with grammatical errors. A thought popped into my head, unbidden: Sure I'll buy your book. Just as soon as you can string together two intelligent sentences. 

I immediately felt bad, of course. I don't want to have mean thoughts, or anything, and this guy's just trying to sell some books. But it did get me to thinking (not just mean things, either) about the image of an author. Whether you're an indie or someone with a famous name, you are always an author. 

And I'm always going to expect you to write like it.

An Author's Image

An author's image matters, and when you're presenting yourself on social media sites, your blog or anywhere else as your author persona, you've got to remember something very important: you are always an author. 

When you're presenting yourself as an author -- anywhere and everywhere -- you should always be writing like it. Your Tweets, your Facebook update, your every piece of writing should be punctuated well, grammatically correct and written like you have some idea of what you're doing. Why? 

Because you are always an author, that's why. Even if you can mix it up on Twitter with the best of them and you know what all the anagrams mean, I don't want you to use them. You can't expect people to take you seriously as an author unless you're presenting yourself in that way, and even one sloppy forum post is going to make some reader, somewhere, roll their eyes (considering my knee-jerk judgmental responses, it's probably going to be me). If you're an indie author, you can't afford to alienate even one potential fan. 

 Presenting Yourself

There are, of course, exceptions to every rule. You want to present yourself as an author who knows how to write, but the world's an imperfect place. Don't be too rigid to fit into it, even if you're doing it in the name of good English. 

• Quotes. If you're quoting one of your reviewers, you're not really allowed to clean up their quotes. There are tricks you can use to better them (such as adding an ellipsis and bracketed words), but you may run into bad grammar and poorly-written phrases that are still highly complimentary of your work. Don't misquote; just clean it up as best as you're allowed, grit your teeth and feel proud that you actually have some reviews. 
• Space. There are times when you're going to be working against yourself. Space is limited on Twitter, which is a great platform for promotion. When space is limited, so are your words -- and that's torturous for any writer. Self-edit as best you can to keep your tweets reasonable, and when absolutely necessary resort to the most common shortening methods (abbreviations, swapping in numerals, etc.). Just don't create an entire tweet using nothing but abbreviations and acronyms, because you won't look at all like you understand words. 
• Mistakes. You're only human, and you're bound to make some errors. You should always give your tweets, forum posts and other writings, no matter how glib or small, a good once-over before you hit that "submit" button. But if some mistakes do fall through the cracks, don't berate yourself. If you're being careful, you'll end up being perfect most of the time -- but no one can be perfect all of the time. 

Presenting yourself well as an author doesn't mean you have to be stiff and formal. There's a way to write casually and conversationally, and still write within the basic rules of grammar and correct punctuation. I know that's true because humor novels exist. But if writing correct prose all the time is too heavy, you can always get creative and throw in some poetry every now and again. Poetry knows very few rules, particularly if you're just writing free-form verse.

Deck of Lies Reviews, and a New Author Interview

"If you have an idea what this book is about you will be rushing to download a copy too...Every chapter bought fresh excitement, and even more questions to light, and I just had to keep reading."

-on Justice (Deck of Lies, #1)

"The question still remains though; who had the means and will to murder one of her classmates? And what were they trying to hide?...I really enjoyed this book. I picked this one up straight after finishing the first one, cause I couldn’t wait to find out what happened next!"

-on The Tower (Deck of Lies, #2)

The Deck of Lies has found a home on Sarah Elizabeth's bookshelf this week. She's kindly reviewed the entire first half of the series. Read both her reviews, and don't stop there! If you keep going, you'll find a new interview with me where I reveal what I think about the characters in the Deck of Lies and what you can expect to find in the fourth and final book of the series. Check out the giveaway at the bottom of the post to find out how you can add the Deck of Lies to your bookshelf!

Writing 101: Are Prologues Really the Root of All Fiction Evil?

I love a good prologue. My first favorite writer always included them, and even when they read more like a first chapter than a novel introduction, I was always down. It wasn't until I started reading writing forums and looking at writer blogs that I realized some people hate them -- passionately, vehemently, unendingly. And if you start looking for writing tips at will, you're going to find a lot of know-it-alls who will tell you, over and over again, that prologues are anathema in fiction. 

I don't agree...and I'm here to defend prologues. 

Prologues, a History

Prologues have a long history as an integral part of fiction. Shakespeare and other playwrights opened their stories with prologues, generally delivered in a monologue, in order to set the stage for the audience. The prologue from Romeo and Juliet is famous ("In fair Verona, where we lay our scene...").

Since those early days of fiction writing, novelists have adopted their own version of the prologue -- but they still serve the same purpose. Authors use prologues to introduce a story, certain characters and situations. Sometimes, they're used to tell an important piece of a character's history. Sometimes, they're used at the beginning of series books to catch readers up on all that happened in the story before. Sometimes, maybe they're used too much.

Prologues, and Why Readers Hate Them

Prologues are a point of contention among many readers and writers, and there are some who say they're a terrible literary decision in just about all cases. One writer called them "the blight upon all who read."

Yeah, that's kind of harsh. If a bad prologue is the worst thing you have to face in a book, count yourself lucky. I'm reading a book right now that has -- at last count -- 15 different scenes of a character fooling around on Facebook. I am not even 40% of the way through this book. What I wouldn't give for a prologue that condenses all 15 of those scenes into a few concise paragraphs, right? 

Emphasis on the concise part. The main reason that some seem to so passionately hate prologues is because they tend to feel extraneous. If you start reading a book, you expect to get right to the interesting parts -- right? A chapter-length prologue that goes into a long, detailed backstory is only going to delay the enjoyment of the action readers are trying to reach. Too many ingredients can spoil any story. Prologues should serve as a delightful little appetizer before the main course, which begins in chapter 1. 

The Prologue Argument

What I'm saying is this: readers hate prologues when they don't serve a purpose. If yours introduces something important and helps to set the scene that I, as a reader, need to understand, then isn't it necessary? Your prologue shouldn't quite read the same as the rest of the book; it shouldn't be comprised of paragraphs that just as easily could have been written into the first chapter. It should do exactly what prologues have always done: set the scene. If it does, write it and forget about all the prologue hate.

After all, weren't they good enough for Shakespeare?

Love for Justice

 "I fell in love with this book. It pulled me in very quickly, and I did not want to put it down."

"There are many great YA authors out there, but Varden's style stands out."

Justice (Deck of Lies, #1) has been reviewed by The Eager Reader, and I'm eager for you to read the whole thing!

Writing 101: Writing from All Five Senses

Are you writing from all five senses...or just one? It's standard to describe what your characters are seeing, but there's a lot more to living life than that. If you really want to immerse your readers in your world, you're going to have to let them know what it's like to be there. You're going to have to write from all five senses.

The Five Senses

Many book characters have all five senses, but how often do writers acknowledge that? To make your writing really descriptive, you've got to write from all five of those senses and really make every page come alive for your readers.

• Sight

The easiest sense to capture in print is sight. It's standard to describe what your characters look like, where they are, everything they can see. It's so common to focus on the sense of sight, in fact, that you might end up neglecting the other senses -- which are just as important.

• Sound

The sense of sound is often captured in books in dialogue. Everything the characters are saying is essential to any story, but the world is filled with other sounds as well. If you've got a character riding around in a hybrid car, for example, it's not going to have the deep, throaty roar of a '70s-era Chevy, is it? Your character might hear ringtones when their cell goes off, or special chimes when they get a text. Don't always tell me that someone is laughing -- tell me what their laugh sounds like. Is it low-pitched and soft or loud and grating? When that character talks, is their voice smooth and melodic or abrasive and whiny? Sound is an important sense, and it can lend a lot to any story.

• Smell 

I always crave potatoes if I smell french fries, and I can always tell when someone is cutting the grass outside because I get the urge to go to the park. Smell is one of the most important senses and one of the most under-valued. Certain smells can trigger memory and emotion, and some scents may be indelibly linked to an individual that you know. Baby powder, for example, conjures up images of sweet-faced, clean toddlers. Don't neglect this sense in your book. Love interests might smell a little nicer than other people; villains might have bad breath; the house on the corner that always smells like bread might be a favorite place. Adding certain scents to your story will make it all the richer, and all the more real.

• Touch

Ever shaken someone's hand and noticed they have very rough skin? How about someone with smooth skin? The sense of touch is extremely evocative, and it provokes a lot of feelings and sensations, thoughts and desires. If your characters don't have a sense of touch, they're not fully three-dimensional. Slipping into a silk robe, for example, might feel like Heaven -- or it might make your character feel sweaty and strange. Skin is the largest organ, and it's something everyone's got, so your characters should certainly have a sense of touch.

• Taste

Have you ever eaten alligator? I don't know where you're from; maybe it's common where you're at. But I've never tasted it, so if I'm reading a book where someone's eating it I'm definitely going to wonder. Sense of taste is essential in books, though many authors forget that it even exists. Don't tell me what people are eating and drinking, because I might not even recognize what it is. Tell me about the texture, the flavors, and put it in a context that I can understand. If you don't happen to know what alligator tastes like but you want to write about it anyway, you're in luck -- you can simply research it, and find out from people who have eaten it firsthand.

The Sixth Sense

 It's not easy to write from all five senses, but it is easy to write from the sixth. Intuition and intangible feelings are described all the time in books -- maybe too much. Unless your characters are intentionally psychic, if they're "sensing" everything seemingly at random, this might be a sign that you're neglecting the five main senses. Why does your character feel frightened? Why doesn't your character like the dinner? Why is that outfit uncomfortable? If I'm asking questions like this when I'm reading your work, it's because you're neglecting your senses.

From the Trenches: Self-Publishing Pioneer

A story we've all heard almost didn't make it, because the author trying to publish it was rejected so many times. She heard the word "no" from publishers so much, in fact, that she decided to self-publish -- just like so many of today's authors. The thing is, she did it way back in 1902...more than a hundred years before the Kindle existed. 

Beatrix Potter started writing as a child. She invented her own secret writing code and started recording the events of her life as young as 15 years old. As a girl, she often secretly brought small animals into her house. She loved writing stories, but Beatrix Potter also has a scientific mind. She tried to publish a paper about fungi and algae, but because she was female she couldn't submit it. Her parents tried to find suitors for Beatrix as she became of an age to marry, but she rejected them all and retained her single status against their wishes.

Her Own Way

She wanted to be a writer. Beatrix submitted a children's book and accompanying drawings to several publishers, but it was rejected many times.Finally, she self-published the book at her own expense. All the drawings were done in full color, something Potter's youngest brother Norman insisted upon. The book was also made in a small size, because she wanted it to be easy for children to hold in their small hands. 

 

That self-published book was The Tale of Peter Rabbit, which would go on to become one of the most beloved children's books of all time. Frederick Warne & Company eventually published the book on their dime, though they didn't have a lot of hope for it. It sold nearly 30,000 copies that first year, and Beatrix Potter went on to write 22 more children's books. She introduced young readers to characters like Squirrel Nutkin, Benjamin Bunny and Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle. 

Beatrix Potter wrote and drew for the rest of her life, and ended up getting married while in her 40s. Today, young children still read Peter Rabbit and watch animated movies about the rabbit that stole into the garden when he shouldn't have. Beatrix Potter wrote in the trenches when women were supposed to be getting married and having children instead, and when she heard the word no she decided she didn't need any old publisher, anyway. She became a huge success in her market, but before she did it Beatrix Potter was an indie author, too.

Writing 101: Going to Extreme Lengths

Would you read a novel with more than a thousand pages? Could you even pick it up? In a modern world where any question can be answered in seconds and entertainment is accessible from a dozen different electronic devices, how long is too long when you're writing a book? Lots of writers struggle with writing full-length novels, because there's a whole lot of words involved, but at the opposite end of the spectrum you have a few who do something that's even worse: they write too much. If you're going to extreme lengths in your books, it might actually be a serious problem you need to address.

Book Length

I saw a forum thread, the other day, where a writer was asking how many words you have to write to technically create a book. I've addressed the question of book length before, but I didn't address a big book problem that some writers don't even realize exists: going to extreme lengths. 

When is a Book Too Long? 

The longest actual novel ever written, according to some sources, is Clarissa, or the History of a Young Lady. The paperback version of the story (measuring at close to 9 inches) is 1,534 pages long. In total, the book is just shy of a million words long. I haven't read the book, so I can't say whether or not it's too long, but I can say this: I just plain don't have the time to find out. 

Writers love to write, and good for you. But if you just let yourself go, you might end up with a few thousand (or even a few hundred thousand) words too many. When is a book too long? When I'm bored, that's when. 

I don't think about the books I write in terms of pages or chapters; I think about them in terms of scenes. Each scene I write in my books serves some important purpose -- it conveys information, or progresses the story, in some way. For example, if I need to show a deep, history-filled relationship between two characters, I can convey that information over four different scenes if I like. I can write about the two going out together, maybe having an intense phone conversation, possibly talking together at school. But I can, just as easily, convey that information using just one scene.

I don't have the time, or the inclination, to read pages and pages of descriptions of the same thing or the same event. I don't necessarily need to go out to the club with the characters in your book four nights in a row to understand that this is how they live; you can write that scene brilliantly just once, and in one line say "we went out to the club again for the next three nights" without giving me a full blow-by-blow of similar events from the first scene. Unless something is actually happening, I don't need to waste a bunch of time reading about it. 

With every chapter, or scene, or paragraph you write, ask yourself some questions to see if you're going to extreme lengths: 

• Does the reader need this information? 
• Is the reader getting this exact information anywhere else in the book? 
• Is there a better way to convey this information? 
• Does this serve a purpose that isn't being served by another piece of writing elsewhere in the book?

The world moves fast, and there are a ton of books in it. There's lots of stuff to read, and you want every moment of your book to be compelling, engaging and interesting. If readers feel like they're reading the same thing over and over, they aren't going to be very pleased with your writing. 

The Epic Novel

That said, there is merit to be found in the epic novel. Gone With the Wind and Doctor Zhivago, for example, are giant books and they both became lengthy movies because of it. Yet both are popular, and well-loved, both in spite of and because of their size. Some stories are huge, and don't lend themselves to being split into multi-volume collections. If you are certain that every part of your book serves a purpose and there's nothing extra and it's still coming in at an epic length, then it's okay. Some stories just happen to be big, but you have to continuously be aware of your length and make sure you're doing everything to keep it reasonable and keep every page exciting. Don't write for writing's sake.

When a Book is Too Short

You don't want your book to be too long, full of unnecessary words, and boring. But on the other side of the coin, you don't want your book to be too short, either -- especially if you're going to charge full price for it. Young adult novels, children's books and short story collections are generally smaller in size than full-length novels, but if you're writing for an adult market you should have a story that requires at least 50,000 words. Nicholas Sparks' The Notebook weighs in at a mere 49,000 words, a length many publishing houses would consider a novella and not a full-length novel. Brevity is a fine quality, but you can't call something a book unless it actually is one.

Sometimes, you might need to take a little more time with your writing. Read your book, and make sure that your readers are going to "get" everything. You can write that "Gwen and Stacey were good friends from way back," but I won't really absorb that information well without the proper context. You'd be telling me, and not showing me, this relationship. Why not write a scene of a memory from their past? Show me something that happened, something that illustrates this closeness, or perhaps how this friendship was forged. One sentence isn't likely to make a big impact, but a descriptive scene certainly will. I don't want to feel like I don't have a good handle on Gwen and Stacey's relationship the entire time I'm reading the book; I don't want to wonder about their history and feel like something's lacking. When a book is too short, it might be due to the fact that you aren't giving me enough information. See where your story might be lacking, and add the necessary scenes to paint a better (and bigger) picture.

Death: Official Trailer Revealed

The official trailer for Death (Deck of Lies, #3) is here! I'm unveiling it here first, but soon you'll be able to find it on Smashwords, Goodreads and Twitter. As always, you can tell me what you think of it in the comments section.