Welcome to Flowers in the Attic Weekend!

Lifetime's remake of Flowers in the Attic airs this weekend -- so we're going to celebrate here at the blog until it hurts. 

Flowers, Not in the Attic

Flowers in the Attic was the first book written by V.C. Andrews, and it was published in 1979. It immediately became a hit. The book struck a chord with readers. With it, Andrews forged a career that continues after her death and pioneered a genre. Her writing is marked by its unusual mix of gothic horror, youth-oriented narratives and the recurring theme that sometimes blood is not thicker than water. Flowers was mainstream fiction, yet it explored extremely taboo subjects like rape and incest. 

And it inspired yours truly. I became aware of this book at age 9, Thanksgiving Day. I found it on a nightstand and started to read, purely out of boredom (what was I gonna do, watch football?). By the end of Chapter 1, Flowers in the Attic had changed my life. I decided, then and there, that I would write stories for a living. Almost every single decision I've made since that moment has been based on that goal. So it's very fair to say this book shaped my life, and made me who I am. 

I don't think it's completely out-of-line to honor it with a weekend, all things considered. So check back on Saturday to learn more about this remarkable story, and what it's meant to me. On Sunday, you'll find a full review of the Lifetime remake. Spoiler alert! I'm not likely to be forgiving about any deviation from the novel. Join me this weekend to let me know what you think of the books, the remakes and anything else Flowers-related.

Visit Lifetime to read an excerpt of the book, and feel free to live Tweet with me during the broadcast -- you'll get a sneak peek of my Sunday review if you do!

Writing 101: The Love-Hate Relationship

Sam and Diane. Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy. And my personal favorite, Scarlett and Rhett. The love-hate relationship is a strong literary device...and incredibly difficult for writers to pull off. 

Opposites Attract

Some say that hate is the other side of love, and the two are closely linked. Many married people will tell you that's the truth. If you haven't really hated someone, maybe you haven't really loved them. So it's only natural to depict love-hate relationships in fiction. When it's done well, it can be very engaging and moving. Done badly, and it's just unbelievably annoying. 

Writing 101: Action Scenes

Can you effectively write a thrilling sword fight? Show me a round of fisticuffs with full blow-by-blow? Make me gasp my way through a frightening chase? Action sequences can appear in any book, and they should. Otherwise, you've just got a bunch of sit-down dialogue.

Show Me the Blood

When a character walks across the room to pull a book of the shelf, it's action. But this is probably easier to write than an entire jousting scene replete with horses and squires and the whole show. In either case, at some point in every book it becomes necessary to make characters move around. It's your job to do that convincingly.

Writing 101: Do You Really Want Writing to Be Your Job?

Various studies and focus groups and research (and by research, I mean Twitter) show that many authors and would-be authors hope to one day write books full-time to earn 100 percent of their income. And maybe that's a flawed plan...because most novels don't make that much money. 

Dead...and Hating It

I don't want to get too gothic, or anything, but there's a long list of authors you've heard of who died penniless. Poe, Oscar Wilde,  Herman Melville (author of Moby Dick)...I could go on. Writing novels isn't likely to net you a lot of money, unless you write a lot of them or you write at least a few of them that hit really, really, really big. 

If you sell 1 million copies of anything, you're a huge success. But you're probably not ready for retirement. In order to be a best-selling, full-time novelist, you're going to have to sell in the neighborhood of 100 million copies...of more than one book. That's the reality, because you don't make much money per book whether you self-publish or walk the traditional publishing path. In fact, in traditional publishing you're likely to make much less so you must sell much more. 

Nor will writing gain you love. Emily Dickinson, Jane Austen, Jonathon Swift and John Keats wrote with romantic, poetic language that touched the soul. All died single. 

Give yourself a quick reality check before you think about writing as a full-time job. Go look at how many books are on Amazon. Now make a list of all the rich and famous authors you know. The ratio is going to be something close to 100,000,000 to 1, and I'm being really generous.

Making a full-time living from writing novels is very difficult. It takes a great deal of hard work and lots of luck. You have to write and market and write and market, and if you have a whole lot of support and people working with you then it's possible...for a rare few. 

But making a full-time living from writing...now, this is much more possible. 

The Everyday Writer

Traditional mediums like newspaper and print magazines are difficult to break into, and they're becoming a dying breed so it's harder than ever. But the Internet offers lots of wide-open opportunities for writers. There are many jobs out there for creative writers, bloggers, freelancers, copywriters and technical writers. You have to work a lot to make money. You have to establish good contacts. And you have to look for new jobs all the time. But writing full-time is possible, and while you're at it you can supplement your income and build your fan base with novels you scratch out on the side. 

But you have to ask yourself if you really want writing to be your job. No matter which road you try to take, you have to work hard. You will probably have to work 7 days a week, holidays as well. You must spend lots of time on non-writing tasks, like social media, and sometimes that can feel like a pain. You will be building a persona and putting yourself out there, and when you put yourself out there you open yourself up to all the criticism the Internet has to offer (and it's an infinite wellspring). 

It's lonely to write, and it can be hurtful. It requires a lot of hard work and you're going to take a lot of ribbing from friends and family who think you have it easy, somehow. You're going to get fired from jobs. You're going to have to fight to get your money, sometimes. You're going to read comments that hurt and you're going to suffer disappointments. But you're also going to be writing full-time, and for some that totally balances the scales. Now you have to figure out if that's enough balance for you.

Writing 101: Let's Talk About Title Case

I've Noticed a Disturbing Trend Among Authors, and I Can Stay Silent No More. Title case, which I just demonstrated in my last sentence, is being used way too much...and incorrectly, at that. 

It's Not a Title!

Writing perfectly in your novels isn't enough. If I get one more title case quote recommendation on Goodreads, my wrath will no know bounds. I've pointed out many, many times that you must always conduct yourself like an author. And if you're using title case incorrectly -- anywhere -- I'm going to see it. And I'm putting you on my Do Not Read list.

Indie News: Indies Prefer Tradition

A new survey shows that the majority of authors, even indies, still prefer traditionally publishing to taking the indie route. 

The Road More Traveled

Digital Book World and Writer's Digest partnered for the Author Survey, which shows exactly where writers stand when it comes to choosing their path.

Among traditionally-published authors, only 7.5 percent said they wanted to self-publish. Among authors still aspiring to be published, 10.1 percent said they would take self-publishing over being more traditionally published. Only 35.1 percent of self-published authors said they preferred taking the indie route, and only 29.8 percent of hybrid authors preferred to self-publish alone.

More than 9,000 writers participated in the 2014 Author's Survey, with the majority of participants stating they had not yet published any work. The vast majority of authors who took the survey are fiction writers (to the tune of over 80 percent).

Books on Film: The Princess Bride

Unless you've come here from the planet Twilar, you've at least heard of The Princess Bride. And if you're like most people, you've seen the movie at least 10 times. After all, doesn't it come on cable like every day? But before it was a movie that everyone can quote, it was a book...though its origins still remain a mystery to many.

The Book

William Goldman wrote The Princess Bride in 1973, and the world was for ever changed. Now, the origins of the book are shrouded in mystery because Goldman is quite the jokester. At the top of the book he explains that it's an abridgment of The Princess Bride by S. Morgenstern, which does not exist. Morgenstern did not exist, either, until Goldman himself wrote a novel under this pseudonym (presumably to further his joke).

Writing 101: The Great Cheap Book Debate

Depending on who you ask, cheap ebooks are either a scourge upon society and the potential death of all literature...or an amazing way to affordably spread the written word. I got pulled into the great cheap book debate rather unexpectedly recently. Much of the argument has since taken place between me...and me. 

Why Cheap Books Are Bad

I search for myself quite regularly on Google -- not because I'm vain (though for the record, I am) but because I advise all indie authors to do this. I stumbled across some of my own blog posts being plagiarized one day, and I've since appointed myself as my own watchdog. So imagine my surprise when I found my name appearing in a debate about cheap books...and how evil they are.

I was introduced into the topic in the comments section, after I'd already read through an impassioned blog post and a very persuasive argument that nearly inspired me to run right to my Amazon page and lift the price on all my novels.