Jade Varden Official Blog

Being a writer is pretty brutal. Even the good reviews might contain comments that feel like arrows piercing your innards. That's why, as the author, you've got to be the toughest person in the room when it comes to your own story. Before you present it, you've got to cut it into usable slices your audience can digest. Just how adept are you at carving up your story?  Knife Skills I'm referring to editing techniques , of course, but I'm doing it in a colorful way (I hope). You have to be a real killer when it comes to your own story lines and plot. Too many sub-plots muck up a story, and over-long descriptions get skipped. Length is a factor in each and every single book, and it's a problem that only goes one of two ways: the book is too short, or too long. Rarely is the length ever "just right," because if a story is really good then readers want more of it. But books can be too long as well. In fact, this is a very common characteristic ...

Writers have to imagine entire worlds, people and situations inside their heads. Then they have to take those thoughts and put them on the page. It's a personal process, and because of that you have to know how to isolate yourself. Tuning Out Can you write in a noisy room filled with people? I can...because I can isolate. Clearly it's not an ideal writing situation, but I'm guessing that you don't live in a large mansion with lots and lots of rooms. I'm guessing you live in a normal-sized home, and that other people are sometimes around you.

Halloween is coming, and all the spooky stuff is coming out. Want to write a scary book? Then you might just need to know how to create a monster. It's not so easy to do when all you've got is your words.  It's Alive! Some of the greatest monsters ever created come not from Hollywood, but from the page. When Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein and Bram Stoker penned Dracula , movies didn't exist. They had to use words to create terrifying creatures bent on destruction. And if they can create such iconic monsters so many centuries ago, you can definitely create a decently scary one right now. But even the best of writers use certain literary tricks to inspire fear. 

What the real secret of being successful as an indie author? Sticking with it. The key ingredient to success at anything is perserverence. You have to learn how to stick with it...even when the entire universe is conspiring against you in every possible way. Stubborn Success and stubbornness go hand-in-hand. People who are successful heard the word "no" hundreds of times before getting the "yes" that mattered. If you want to make it as an indie author, you've got to stick with it. Cement yourself to a spot, hitch your wagon to a goal, and don't waver. 

I'm pleased to announce that I'm finally ready to reveal the cover for my new book, Hope's Rebellion !!!  Their friendship will test the fabric of tradition, duty and destiny... There are only two seasons in Godenor: summer and winter. Weather brings the only surprises to a society where everything is planned, and everyone's status is determined at birth...by the color of their hair. Rinna has the right hair, Drexi the wrong, and Prelly is almost too ordinary -- in every way but one. Small mistakes bring them together, creating ripples in a pond that knows nothing but serenity. If they reach their goals, they can't help but shatter the world they know. Love of any kind, even the bond of friendship, isn't allowed in their world...but then, the heart can't always follow orders. COMING IN NOVEMBER!!!

There is something essential in writing that lots of indie authors simply don't have, and it forces them to take a huge leap of faith every time they put another book out there. Without a literary agent or a publishing house, indie authors lack the one thing they really and truly desire: validation. All writers are secretly afraid that they're no good. When you choose the path of going it alone, that fear walks with you. Being brave is the ingredient that all indies have to have. I know, because I've been completely cowardly for many, many weeks now. And as my Amazon author page will prove, I haven't published anything all year long. Did You Hear That? I wrote, recently, about the way I've been obsessing over my latest book. I've had all sorts of reasons for not finishing it. First, I was moving. That's hectic, that's an adjustment, so I didn't really get any work done for months. Next, I was swamped with work. Somebody's got to...

If you're an indie author and you self-publish books all on your own and you're living in this economy, chances are good that you could do with a little extra money. And believe me, I'm not going to give it to you. But I can tell you where to get a few extra bucks. Only be warned: I do mean that literally.  Does a Little Go a Long Way? Do you have some tidbit to share about crafting, gardening, fashion, some other area of your interest? Do you know recipe secrets, or all sorts of stuff about homebrewing? You can turn your skills into articles, and you can turn those into a little bit of extra cash.  If you're not an expert and you have no idea how to write an article (which isn't so different from writing a blog post, honestly), you can always share your creative writing. Short stories and poems may also net you a few bucks. 

As some of you know, I read a lot of author forums. Lately I'm seeing a topic that greatly disturbs me at the deepest levels. The debate between block paragraph versus indented paragraphs continues to be an issue among indies, and this is distressing. Because this isn't even an issue, or a debate. There's one way to format a book...my way. Visual Appeal Have you ever picked up a fiction novel and found block paragraphs waiting for you inside, with blank lines between each one? If the answer is yes, was this book self-published or otherwise released by an indie? Because this answer is yes as well, and I know it to be true.

Authors have to be a little bit viscous (or downright evil) in order to create exciting books. What would Harry Potter be without Voldemort, who senselessly kills? Where would we be without Dracula , an immortal murderer? Books often have villainous characters. But here's the secret that authors know: we're the real villains. You're the one who has to learn how to become evil. How else are you going to torture your characters?  I'll Give You Something to Cry About... Look, bad things happen to everybody. Have you ever fallen off a bike? Broken a bone? Been involved in a car accident? ...Known someone who has died? Real life is filled with tragedies big and small, and that's why all the best books must have the same.  If you're writing properly, your characters should be going through a fair bit of hell before they reach their happy or tragic conclusions. Characters should not be perfect , and neither should their lives. In other words, you have...

You may notice some features missing on the blog this weekend while I work on a brand-new design. That's right: everything around here is changing. The blog is getting a makeover to help me celebrate the release of my newest book, Hope's Rebellion . Keep checking back to see the new design and the upcoming cover reveal! 

Digital books have sparked a self-publishing revolution that allows anyone to become an indie author, and this is what's so fantastic about it. But this is also what's bad about it, because there are a lot of indie books out there. No matter how hard you work on yours, it could easily get swamped in a bunch of books that didn't get the same time and attention. So when you write, when you publish, when you promote, you've got to ask yourself a question: what's different about your book?  The Cheese Stands Alone Go look for a vampire novel on Amazon -- only wait until you read this blog post. You might be busy doing that for hours, because there are so many to choose from. And if you also write a vampire novel because you love vampires and you've been thinking about them since you were a kid, your book could easily get lost in the shuffle.  You might focus on the fact that it's a vampire novel, like Twilight and so many other popular novels. Yo...

I've been posting Facebook updates about my newest book...for many, many months now. It's not quite 60 thousand words and it's consuming me. And the other day I finally figured out what's been taking me so long to just finish it already: I've been trying to make it perfect. But here's the truth about that: perfect isn't possible. And I don't mean that it's not possible for indie authors...it's possible for no author. Imperfect I have never read a perfect book. In every story there is a typo, punctuation out of place, mixed-up names. Some errors are even more grievous -- a ridiculous character, an unbelievable plot, a horrible cliche. Even the books that millions love have their flaws . Read your books again and again, and you'll keep finding stuff to change. Scenes to shift. Sentences to shorten. Punctuation to perfect. Keep looking for errors, and you will find them. Because writing is never going to be perfect. It's the ...

If you want to get more followers, you have to follow more people. It's one of the basic tenants of Twitter that everyone knows, but it still leaves so much to desire. Like, who the heck should you be following?  It's not as easy as you might think to find people who are into books on a site that's driven by misspelled words, random phrases, and very little punctuation. Go figure. But don't worry: I have the answer. Let me tell you who you should follow on Twitter , and you can put an end to your weird hashtag searches. A Follow for a Follow Following people on Twitter is only effective if you're following specific targets. Just start following anyone you can find, and your account will get flagged for spam -- and you won't gain that many more followers, to boot. You can follow random people if you like, but the whole point is that you want to sell books. So apply a bit more strategy, and you'll get a lot more results.  Books. Twitter...

Everyone's got a story to tell, and I'm not just talking about the ones in your self-published books. As an indie author, you also have your own personal story of tragedy and triumph. If you use that to sell more books, are you marketing yourself...or exploiting yourself? Walking the Line The question is a hard one, and I know because I had to face it head-on. I was randomly following people back on Twitter one day when I caught one profile that stood out. It was an author (I get followed by a lot of authors) who mentioned, in the same sentence, a terrible personal tragedy and a book she wrote about it. Now, all authors draw from personal experience. If you write a book about your own personal tragedy, you're within your rights to promote that book for what it is. But you have to be sensitive about the way you choose to promote. Because if you start out by hitting me in the face with your tragedy, it feels a little insincere. It reads a little like "My dau...

Notice a change in the Goodreads forums lately? The moderation policy for the site has changed, and with it a lot of discussions. But how do these changes affect indie authors?  Good reads Manners According to an announcement released by the site, the new changes will now prohibit discussion threads and "reviews that were created primarily to talk about author behavior." Salon.com says it all stems from a conflict that arose last summer when indie author Lauren Pippa (Lauren Howard) challenged a Goodreads reviewer for a 2-star rating. She took her complaints to the Goodreads forums, sparking a heated debate that led several Goodreads members to flag Pippa's book with low ratings and "do not read" lists memberships.  She aired her grievances on Twitter, which just fueled the flames of the fire. Apparently she then took to her blog to say she was bullied into canceling the release of her book.She later reconsidered.  I advocate that all ...

I've always found Planet of the Apes to be a rather frightening story. I don't want a forced lobotomy, after all, and I just can't live in a cage. I like to pace when I think, and that would be maddening . But I didn't know that one of my favorite classic sci-fi movies was actually based on a French book. Did you? The Book La Planète des Singes , or Monkey Planet, was released in France in 1963. Pierre Boulle, the author, was already familiar with writing for American audiences. His other best-known novel is Bridge on the River Kwai . The story isn't about America, anyway, it's about the entire world. It opens with three astronauts who are visiting a planet near the star Betelgeuse. They discover that the atmosphere is somewhat Earth-like, so they name the planet Soror. The water is drinkable, the air is breathable and the vegetation is tasty. So everything looks pretty good...at first.  Then the astronauts go swimming and see a young woman....

You're a self-published author, so of course you're on Goodreads, and you've got a blog and you Tweet about your book all the time. So when I ask you if you're talking about your book, I'm not talking about all your online efforts. I'm talking about your daily interactions. Every single person you know, every store clerk and everyone you ride in an elevator with ought to know you're an author. Talking to someone face-to-face is the type of marketing that absolutely can't be overestimated in value. Hello, My Name Is... I'm bringing this up right now because the season for holiday parties is approaching. Halloween, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, New Year's -- you've got several chances to get invited to a get-together, a party or a soiree. I want you to spend some of the evening talking about your book. If you happen to have some business cards, bookmarks and signed promotional materials with you...well, that's just good luck....

Indie authors have to promote as much as they write (maybe even more) in order to sell books. But if you restrict all your marketing to Twitter, you could drive yourself insane. Don't miss out on email marketing. For indies, it's an invaluable promotional tool. If you do it the right way, it's also a fun way to stay in touch with readers and other writers.  Pen Pals Everybody checks their email. I've actually had trouble managing my own email time in the past, because I can just get lost in my own inbox. So I happen to know that email promotions work -- I'm one of the people who clicks the links you send me.  And good news for you indie authors, I read books. So you'd better start using email marketing, and get more purchases from people like me. There's a simple way to do it: add a widget to your blog. Sites like this one (Blogger) and WordPress allow you to create a mailing list of your readers. Put all these people into a contact list in you...

I've found that Pinterest is a great way to distract myself from writing, but if you can manage to stay a little more professional than me it's also a great marketing tool. Pinterest and self-publishing were made for each other, in fact. It's a little site that became huge, and it's driven by ordinary people who are simply sharing what they like. If that doesn't have indie written all over it...what does?  Get on Board(s) I belong to several boards about books and reading, and I created my own boards to show off book covers, book blogs I like, books I've reviewed and books I love. There are a ton of book-oriented boards you can get into on Pinterest, but you can also take it one step further...and I think you should.  Pinterest is great for sharing book covers, but please don't stop there. If you really want to promote your book, use the site to start building that world online. I've seen authors who create Pinterest boards for character w...

Unless you've decided to model your books after Charles Dickens, there's a good chance that many of your characters don't come to your book fresh and new. Some characters have a past, previous events that have shaped them...events that may continue to influence them. When this past becomes relevant to the character's present or future, the reader may need to know more about the past. The easiest and best way to do it? Flashbacks. But if you use them, use them with care...because flashbacks get very annoying very quickly. The Past...Within the Past By and large, fictional tales are told in the past tense. Flashbacks are always events that have happened in the past. So when you start throwing flashbacks into books that are already relating a story that has already happened...well, it gets confusing. This is only one of the reasons why you have to use extreme care when you write flashacks into your tale. The other reason? It gets old really, really quickly...

What's the difference between an author and a book writer? One HuffPo blogger opines that if you're self-published, you certainly aren't the former. In a post titled "Are Self-published Authors Really Authors or Even Published?" he explores the relative merit of not the books themselves, but the scribblers who create them. Getting Real Dr. Jim Taylor (University of San Francisco adjunct faculty) says that self-publishing allows " anyone with a computer and a small amount of money to call themselves authors." The sentiment isn't far from wrong, but Taylor is certainly wrong when he says "despite their warts" the publishing industry is "an initial arbiter of literary quality," and points to different quality standards in the traditional publishing industry, as compared to indies. And I pretty much disagree. I've read atrocious books that were traditionally published, stuff that's riddled with grammatical a...

It's not your typical horror story, but Lord of the Flies scared the bejesus out of me when I read it. The story was even more horrifying as a movie. If you can't figure out what's scary about a group of young boys marooned together in a remote location, you've never had brothers...and you've also never read this book. It's time to familiarize yourself with this terrifying dystopian tale. The Book William Golding published Lord of the Flies in 1954. He was waaayyy ahead of the current dystopian trend.  It was his first novel, it was adapted into a movie and it's still read in schools all over the world. It's so controversial, people are still fighting it's use as a teaching tool today. To me, this book always meant one thing: get a group of guys together, and the wheels just fall off the cart. But actually, Lord has a lot of deep symbolism and important meaning (so they say).   Here's how it goes down: there's a nucle...

You can't fall into a Goodreads group without finding a thread that discusses books and their opening lines. The first line if the hook, and that's why so many people consider it to be so important. That first line is truly the most important of the book. So...do you know how to sharpen your hook?  Reeling Them In I don't always read blurbs, and I'm not always interested in covers. When an author or an agent sends me a review request, I only really need one thing from them: the Amazon link. With this, I go straight to the book's sample...and I read the first line . If I don't like it, that's it.  This is how a lot of readers make their decision about books. That's unfortunate for authors, because books have tens of thousands of words in them...and most of the time, you're getting judged on the first 7 you write. This creates an enormous amount of pressure to start the book off really strong. You want to be funny, touching, compelling, e...

I wrote a post about the importance of humor in books, making your audience laugh , but tears can be just as moving as amusement. In fact, the books that make us cry can be as powerful as the books that make us laugh. Do you know how to make your readers cry?  A Series of Unfortunate Events Tragedy happens in life, and books that contain tragedy will feel authentic if it's written well. Tragic events are the best way to make your readers cry, but you have to walk a very fine line.  Death is a common tragic event in books, and it can inspire tears...but it can also fall flat. It's all about the character who dies. You have to be part writer and part scientist to create the perfect destined-to-die character.  First, don't make them too obviously good. I read a book, once, where I was absolutely certain the sister was going to die because she was being painted as some sort of perfect saint. Then she died, and I didn't care because I knew all along she wa...

Editing is an essential part of writing, and any author will tell you the same. But don't get bogged down in the details of grammar and punctuation and forget to look at the bigger picture. When you're editing, you always have to check for gaps in the story.  Plot Holes and Other Errors You're the author, so you know how the story ends. You know who the characters are and what's going to happen. And when you're writing, it's common to be focused on getting to the end. It's only natural for gaps to appear in any first draft. But you've got to fill in those gaps when you go back and do the editing . Remember that the reader doesn't understand the characters the way you do, and they don't know how the story is supposed to end. You have to fill in the blanks for them. If your heroine is supposed to be brave and confident, write a scene that shows her acting this way. If the reader is supposed to care about a friendship between two people...