Making Time for Writing By Mary Einfeldt

Fun Fact: In order to be a writer, you actually have to sit down and write. While this sounds pretty straightforward, things can get complicated, fast.

An average day for me goes something like this: I wake up with every intention of getting a solid 1000 words down. I plop down at the table, open up my laptop, and am promptly reminded by my two-year old that she needs a chocolate milk. RIGHT NOW. By the time I finally make it back to my computer, I have assembled a meal (or two) for a bevy of young humans, assisted in the cleaning of a spilled chocolate milk, started a load of laundry, folded a single load of laundry while watching a half a season of Parks & Rec, ferried the youngsters to and from the library, loaded and unloaded the dishwasher a couple times, scrolled through a small novel’s worth on Facebook, and a few other not-so-minor tasks. And now it’s 11:00 p.m. So much for my solid 1000 words.

While my experience is certainly not universal, it’s not terribly unique either. Most of us have the desire to write, but struggle finding the time amidst the whirlwind of daily life.
I can’t, unfortunately, loan you a time-turner, as I believe the Ministry of Magic keeps those under pretty tight security, but I can offer up a few suggestions that may help you manage your writing time more efficiently.

Make Writing a Priority

In his book Zen in the Art of Creative Writing, Ray Bradbury talks about how he spends an hour writing first thing each morning. Before breakfast, before shower, before everything else. This time of day may or may not work for everyone, but one thing is clear. You need to make your writing a priority. It’s like going to the gym. If you don’t schedule it and make it a priority, you’ll keep putting it off. If first thing in the morning isn’t your jam? Find a time during the day where you know you can get at least an hour of uninterrupted work in, and stick to it. Schedule it in your calendar, set a reminder on your phone, whatever you need to do.

Get a Support System

Once you have your writing time scheduled, you need to get your people on board. This may be the most important part of this whole list. Regardless of your situation in life, you need to have a team who can support you in your writing endeavors. First and foremost, you need to communicate with them. If you have family, get them on board with you. Ask for help when you need it. In my case, enlisting the support of my spouse and my older kids is crucial. Whether it’s keeping an eye on the little ones or taking a chore off my to-do list, they make this all possible. However, even if you’re not in the midst of family life, keep your support system in mind If you’re constantly ditching out on basketball games or D&D night with your buddies to work on your book, relationships could suffer. Make sure you let your pals know how important both your writing, and they themselves, are to you. These will be the ones who will be your first book buyers down the road.

“A Clean, Well-Lighted Place”

Settle on the best place to let your creative juices flow. Hemingway and J. K. Rowling found success writing in cafes, Chuck Palahniuk wrote in busy public spots, and Stephen King believes the most important attribute of your writing space needs to be a door. Regardless of which environment fits you best, make sure that you designate a spot that best suits your writing needs. For me, it’s the library. I can separate myself from the distractions and responsibilities of home, plug in some noise cancelling ear buds, and focus solely on the task at hand.

Defeating Distractions

Last of all, your writing time needs to be as free from distraction as humanly possible. Keep that Facebook tab closed! Leave your phone in another room! Lock your kids in the closet! Ok, no, maybe that’s a bit too far. This is where the first three items on our list all work together to make sure you can use your writing time effectively. Schedule yourself a time when you can put aside other responsibilities, make sure your support system has your back (aka, leaving you alone), settle into your writing space, and let your imagination go crazy.

In addition to these tips, remember to keep your goals realistic. Set schedules that will reasonably work with your own unique situation. Don’t get down on yourself if everything doesn’t run smoothly from the get go. Allow yourself time to get into good habits, and tweak things as necessary. Jobs change, kids grow up, and situations can take your life down some unexpected paths, but as long as your commitment to writing is there, you can make it work. So keep going, and good luck!

Illusive Ellipses by Rachelle Abbott

Why so much trouble over such little dots . . .? The ellipses points are used to show missing words. In a way, it is like an apostrophe being used to show a missing letter in a contraction.The trouble usually arises over when to use three dots and when to use four. (Darn those English professors who taught all the ways to use the ellipses, and now, only pieces and parts of those rules remain swirling around in your brain.) My suggestion is when in doubt, and you can’t look up the rule, use three points.

Having said that, I think the best idea is to know the exact rules and use them appropriately. Because Mystic Publishers uses the Chicago Manual of Style as the final word on editing, I will be using that text to support the rules for using ellipses.

There are essentially three methods of using ellipsis dots:

1. The three-dot method (used general works and some scholarly ones).
2. The three-or-four-dot method (used for most scholarly works).
3. The rigorous method (used for legal works and textual commentary).

I am only going to discuss the three-dot method because for our purposes of writing stories, whether fiction or non-fiction, this is the method that should be used. Only three points are used no matter where the omission occurs, whether the omission is at the beginning, the middle, or the end. It is also only three points if entire sentences or paragraphs are removed. The most common use of the ellipses points in fiction is in dialogue. It is used to show that the speaker is fading into or out of his/her own thoughts leaving things unsaid to the reader. If the speaker is being cut off either by another speaker, an event, or action, then the EM dash is used to show this. The Ellipses can also be used to show a long pause, hesitation, or fragmented speech.

Let me give a few examples:

1. “I wish I had never met you! I wish we had never kissed! I wish. . .” Slamming her fists against his chest, Brynn’s body begged for him to hold her once more. (Notice that even though the ellipses signal the end of a sentence, and the capital “s” signals the start of a new sentence, you only use three ellipses.)
2. He tiptoed to the door and leaned his ear against the cold mahogany wood and heard crumbs and shards of hushed words, “. . .please. . .my family. . .never. . .please.” (Notice that there are still only three points whether there is one word missing or many.)
3. Fidgeting with the threads hanging from the hem of her shirt, Lucy couldn’t manage to meet his questioning eyes. “I didn’t mean to . . . ,” she said through clenched teeth and searched for the right words to continue. (Notice that the comma is still used as it should be at the end of a quote and before a dialogue tag.

An example of when to use an EM dash instead of ellipses:

Wyatt took a deep breath and tried once again to help her understand, “Mom, it wasn’t my fault—".

Mom grabbed him by the shoulders, and said, “I’m not interested in whose fault it is! I just need this fixed.”

            *                      *                      *                      *                      *                      *                     

Wyatt took a deep breath and tried once again to help her understand, “Mom, it wasn’t my fault. . .”

Mom grabbed him by the shoulders, and said, “I’m not interested in whose fault it is! I just need this fixed.”

(Notice that written the first way, Wyatt is trying to explain but is interrupted by his mom. In the second example, Wyatt fades off in thought without finishing his sentence.)

I hope this helps demonstrate how to use the ellipses in writing narratives. The other rules of using the ellipsis . . . well, that is a post for another day!

Common Writing Mistakes by Richard Draude

When you're writing, are you tempted to use adverbs to punch up your pros. Don't!

EMPTY ADVERBS

Actually, totally, absolutely, completely, continually, constantly, continuously, literally, really, unfortunately, ironically, incredibly, hopefully, finally – these and others are words that promise emphasis, but too often they do the reverse. They suck the meaning out of every sentence.I defer to People Magazine for larding its articles with empty adverbs.

A recent issue refers to an “incredibly popular, groundbreakingly racy sitcom.” That’s tough to say even when your lips aren’t moving. In Still Life with Crows, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child describe a mysterious row of corn in the middle of a field: “It was, in fact, the only row that actually opened onto the creek.” Here are two attempts at emphasis (“in fact,” “actually”), but they just junk up the sentence. Remove them both and the word “only” carries the burden of the sentence with efficiency and precision.(When in doubt, try this mantra: Precise and spare; precise and spare; precise and spare.) In dialogue, empty adverbs may sound appropriate, even authentic, but that’s because they’ve crept into American conversation in a trendy way.

If you’re not watchful, they’ll make your characters sound wordy, infantile and dated. In Julia Glass’s Three Junes, a character named Stavros is a forthright and matter-of-fact guy who talks to his lover without pretense or affectation. But when he mentions an offbeat tourist souvenir, he says, “It’s absolutely wild. I love it.” Now he sounds fey, spoiled, superficial.. (Granted, “wild” nearly does him in; but “absolutely” is the killer.) The word “actually” seems to emerge most frequently, I find. Ann Packer’s narrator recalls running in the rain with her boyfriend, “his hand clasping mine as if he could actually make me go fast.” Delete “actually” and the sentence is more powerful without it.

The same holds true when the protagonist named Miles hears some information in Empire Falls by Richard Russo. “Actually, Miles had no doubt of it,” we’re told. Well, if he had no doubt, remove “actually” – it’s cleaner, clearer that way. “Actually” mushes up sentence after sentence; it gets in the way every time. I now think it should *never* be used.

Another problem with empty adverbs: You can’t just stick them at the beginning of a sentence to introduce a general idea or wishful thinking, as in “Hopefully, the clock will run out.” Adverbs have to modify a verb or other adverb, and in this sentence, “run out” ain’t it.

Look at this hilarious clunker from The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown: “Almost inconceivably, the gun into which she was now staring was clutched in the pale hand of an enormous albino.”

Ack, “almost inconceivably” – that’s like being a little bit infertile! Hopefully, that “enormous albino” will ironically go back to actually flogging himself while incredibly saying his prayers continually.

Self Editing: The Bane of Self-Publishing by Richard Draude

Think how many times you've received a reply to an email you sent out, only to noticed that your original text contained errors. It turns out that editing one’s own writing is remarkably difficult. Once they are initially missed, errors tend to become "invisible" to a writer when they review their work. Our eyes skim past them. A lot of new writers make the critical error of self-editing and think they are done.

If the publishers of writers like James Patterson, Issac Asimov, Sue Grafton, Robert B Parker, Raymond E. Fiest all require an editor to review and check their work. What makes any of us first time writes believe we are better and don't need an editor.

My co-author and I had our self-published Tyranny series picked up by a publisher in Las Vegas. What was the first thing the owner did? He tore out the first chapter (literally). We had to create a whole new chapter starting in a different place. Next he took a scene from book one and had us move into to book two. Next he underlined all the places where we did tell and not show. We sat together in a marathon session over a weekend and removed all the places he raised objection. Now the company editor is taking her turn and bringing up very good points about character development, scene description, and repetition in the story. The process is frustration at times but necessary.

I'm doing a last read-through of The Adam Eradication. I printed the entire manuscript, got away from my computer and started reading. While the manuscript is complete, and was edited twice, this read is pointing out a boat load of typos made while removing my telly pros and replacing them with pros that help the reader to see the story.

This brings to mind an elderly woman I met. She wrote a book and was very anxious to get it published. So anxious in fact she didn't want to bother having an editor read it at all. This was a huge mistake, made by those who decided to self publish.

Concerned about her book I request she allow me to send the first five chapters to the woman who did the first edit on my book. She went through the pages as a courtesy. What this editor returned shocked the woman into taking a second look and she paid the editor to run through her manuscript.

She received her red-lined manuscript back entered the edits and corrections. This writer figured she was done. I tried to convince her to have someone outside her family read through it one more time. Her reply, I made all the changes, it's ready to go.

She had 500 copies printed. After receiving cases and cases of books, her son took one home to read. He returned it to her three day later, red lined, pointing out errors on almost every page. Her concept is a good one, but instead of a book worth reading she had boxes of books that are good for little more than starting a fire.

My first editor did the work and I made the corrections. But The Adam Eradication, being my first book, I found what I considered holes in the story and proceeded to plug them. Enter a good friend (enough of a friend to tell me the truth) she did the second edit. The first thing she did was cut the last 10 chapters (48K+ words). Her analysis. Your book ends at this point. A good piece of advise. I used those 10 chapters to start the second book. (Never trash anything you've written, archive it. A good idea can be reworked to fit somewhere else)

Throughout the edit she deleted whole paragraphs as redundant. Some writer suffer from this problem some do not. I was anxious to get the story to press and rushed though the last edit. After publishing the book I gave several copies away. My friend's wife read the book and sometime later handed me her copy. She said "I love you story but --"  The book was marked with over forty sticky tabs each on a typo. Though minor typos, I learned my lesson. Fifty fire starters.

Editors cost money. Not as much as publishing an unreadable book. This mistake marks you as an amature, not serious about your craft. This kind of attitude will stop readers from ever considering reading any future work you publish, no matter how much you improve. And without someone finding your story compelling enough to look past your mistakes, no publisher will take you seriously in the future.

What can an editor do that I can't?  What can an editor do that you can't? An editor will read what you wrote, not what you think you wrote. A good editor will find your inconsistencies, help you with the language appropriate for your genre. For instance a steam punk novel's use of nouns, pronouns, adjectives, etc will be different from those used in a science fiction novel as will a fantasy fiction novel will differ from SF or romance. Next, an editor will point out your flaws in the construction of paragraphs, scene breaks and poor character development. Some writer's characters all talk the same. A good editor will point this out and help you see how to vary your character's personalities. A good editor will tell you when you've shifted you POV (Point Of View) If character A is you POV character you cannot have character B's thought in a scene or describe a scene through character B's eyes. You can if your novel is written from an omniscient POV, but few good writers use this POV anymore.

An editor will spot problems with spelling, punctuation, and grammar that can escape your notice.

Does the phrase familiarity breeds contempt. Well, familiarity with your subject can result in explanations and descriptions that are incomplete or confusing to readers. What you see in your minds eye is always what you've put on paper. An editor will ensure that your copy is intelligibly and concisely written.

You may also ask yourself why an editor is necessary when your word processing program already has spell checking capabilities. Spell check, it turns out, is only partially effective at catching problems. For example, homonyms (e.g., council/counsel) you won't find these flagged. Words used nonsensically are regularly accepted by a spell checker. These programs have nothing to say about confusing, ones needlessly wordy, jargony or telly prose.

One of the biggest helps is to join a writer's group. You read your work aloud and they critique your writing. Be advised, while most groups offer good nonthreatening environment, you need a thick skin, because it is still hard to hear your writing evaluated by others.

You took the time and effort to create a good story. Give it the polish and attention it deserves.

What’s the Character’s Motivation? by Janelle Evans

As an author and editor I feel one of the biggest struggles we face as writers is how to make our characters connect with the audience. This must happen in every story, or the reader won’t keep turning the page. How I deal with that struggle is to draw upon my years as an actor.

‘What’s my motivation?’ is something I was often asked by directors. They wanted me to take the time to create an inner dialogue for the person I portrayed. Though these inner thoughts were never shared with the audience, they helped make my outward actions, the things the audience could see and hear, more realistic. Now, if that only confused you, don’t worry. Next, I’m going to illustrate what I mean.

Below are two short scenes. In each of the scenes the action and dialogue will remain the same. The only thing I’m going to change is the motivation for the main character.

Scene 1

Why had he come back to this stupid town? It had been so hard to leave in the first place. “I can’t do this anymore.” He glared at the lines of the sidewalk passing under his feet, wishing he had more courage than to just storm out of his parent’s home like a child. He was a grown man now, for heaven’s sake! He should have acted like one, and punched his brother in the face. His hurried march barreled him into the back of a woman not moving fast enough.

“Hey.” She stumbled forward but didn’t fall. The tear-streaked face she turned his direction couldn’t have been caused by him. Her red eyes looked like she’d been at it for a while. She crossed her arms. “What’s the deal? Are you lost or something?”

“Uh…no.” He looked her up and down. She seemed familiar, but he’d been gone so long he couldn’t be sure. “Are you from around here?”

“Seriously—now you’re trying to hit on me?”

            “Of course not—you seem upset. Is there something I can do?” Jeez, why had he asked that? He had enough problems of his own, but her expression seemed so forlorn. How could he ignore it?

            “I don’t know.” She squeezed her folded arms even tighter, her eyes pooling with tears again.

            “Come on, now.” He held out his hand as an offering of comfort she could take. “How will you know unless you try?” In his thirty years of life going out of his way to help others had slapped him in the face more than once, but here he was, doing it again.

Awe…right? He sounds like such a nice man, going out of his way to help another. Now watch me turn the scene on its head by doing nothing more than changing the motivation.

Scene 2

His whole body itched for another victim. It had been so long since his last, he struggle to hide the frustration behind his easy-going demeanor. “I can’t do this anymore.” He glared at the lines of the sidewalk passing under his feet, wishing Peggy’s body hadn’t been found. Though the police hadn’t come knocking on his door, the discovery had made everyone in town hyper-aware of their surroundings. Watchful eyes were never a good thing for someone like him. His hurried march barreled him into the back of a woman not moving fast enough.

“Hey.” She stumbled forward but didn’t fall. The tear-streaked face she turned his direction couldn’t have been caused by him. Her red eyes looked like she’d been at it for a while. She crossed her arms. “What’s the deal? Are you lost or something?”

“Uh…no.” He looked her up and down. The supple curves on this woman just begged to be scratched.“Are you from around here?”

“Seriously—now you’re trying to hit on me?”  

            “Of course not—you seem upset. Is there something I can do?” He needed to keep her talking—reel her into trusting him and his friendly smiles. Her emotional state only made it that much easier for him to manipulate the situation.

            “I don’t know.” She squeezed her folded arms even tighter, her eyes pooling with tears again.

            “Come on, now.” He held out his hand. His fingers burned with so much pent-up desire it took all of his control not to lash out and force her to the ground. “How will you know unless you try?”

What a creepier take on the same moment, right? I hope these two examples help you understand the importance of showing your point-of-view character’s motivation. In fact, I would say it’s more important than the dialogue your characters actually speak. It will elevate your novels to a whole new level, and you’ll find the need for redundant actions like smiling, frowning, or brows furrowing in confusion almost disappear.

Subsidy Publishing - 4th portion of the 4 Types of Publishing series by Jo A. Wilkins

A subsidy publisher is a publisher that acts like a commercial publisher. They do produce books and go through most of the steps of a commercial publisher. However, even though they put manuscripts under contract, they do not print them unless they get their authors to pay for the cost of publication. They usually hide this criteria under the guise of having the author purchase a certain number of books before production. This usually amounts to 1000 to 2500 books.

With the exception of certain types of publishers such as university or scholarly presses, any publisher that requests a fee from the author is a subsidy publisher. These types of publishers are, in most respects exactly like the commercial publisher. In most cases, the authors are the only ones who know they are paying to have their books produced. As with commercial publishers, the books are owned by the publisher and remain in the publisher's possession and authors receive royalties on the books sold.

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Part 3

Vanity Press - 3rd portion of the 4 Types of Publishing by Jo A. Wilkins

When the amount of submissions to commercial publishers became so large that 99% of those submissions were not being read unless you knew someone in the industry to send your work to, vanity presses were born. These vanity presses are known under various names, which I will not list here for obvious reasons. They did not start out as publishers, but as entrepreneurs who saw a need in the industry and tried to fill it. They, in most cases, do not edit the content of construction of your work.

A vanity press is exactly what this division of publishing implies; its total existence is predicated on stroking the author’s ego. They do not care if the content will sell or if the cost of their services are bloated to the author who pursues their offered avenue of either publishing or marketing. One vanity press offered getting your book reviewed by the New York Times for a mere $2500. If you didn’t bite on that, a few weeks later they offered a sale on the service for $1900. I know, because it happened to me. They kept it up until I told the representative that I knew I could send my book to the Times for nothing and I also knew that they did not waste their time reviewing books without sales or ones from a vanity press.

Another portion of their marketing scam is to offer a publicity kit and schedule book signings for you. When I took them up on the offer, I received a list of the bookstores in my city (that I could have compiled from my phone book), 100 invitations, and two posters to put up at the signing. They also let me know that they no longer set up book signings for the author. For all this, it only cost me $750.

·         No selection criteria

o   If you send a vanity press the telephone book on a disc, they will print it into a book for you and list it on their site for sale. They do not care about the content or construction of the book you send them.

o   I have a friend that sent her submission in to them like we are told we are supposed to submit, in a double spaced document. They printed her 250 page book on 500 pages with all the double spaces so it cost her twice as much to purchase her book.

·       While a commercial publisher's intended market is the general public, a vanity publisher's intended market is the author.

o   A vanity press will list your finished book on their website with a thousand other books. If the reader looking for a book happens onto their site, the reader is lost unless they know your name or title to enter into the search. A vanity press is out to sell your book to only one person – YOU.

So, you can see that vanity presses are out to take the desperate author who wants to see their work in print to the proverbial cleaners.  Although self-publishing has its place in niche areas, this type of self-publishing is what it hampering the publishing industry. Their only aim is to make a profit off frustrated authors.

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Time Management—Writing Every Day By Denice Whitmore

Being a writer can be a tricky business, especially when starting out. After all, life doesn’t stop because we want to chase our dreams. Many of us start writing as a hobby. Everyone has hobbies—things we do occasionally because we enjoy doing them. But when we decide to take the leap and change our writing from hobby to something more fulfilling it can be daunting and scary. Becoming a serious writer takes planning and time management.

I consider myself a stay-at-home mom first and foremost. I have four very active boys ages 21, 14, 10 and 8. I am chauffeur, cook, financial manager, activity coordinator, chore overseer, homework tutor, laundress, seamstress, therapist, first-aid specialist and giver of hugs and kisses. I am also a book editor and writer, both of which I do from home. And recently I went back to school to finish my degree. Life gets pretty busy around here. Daily planning is a must.

To be a full-time writer, it is important that you set time aside every day to write. Some of my friends from school would get up at five in the morning to do their studying before their kids got up for the day. This minimized their distractions. It’s a good strategy to use for writing as well. I’m more of a night owl than a morning person. I like to write after my kids are in bed for the night. This is tricky in the summer since they never want to go to bed. I am also lucky that all my boys are in school. During the school year I usually have a good five hours each weekday to edit, write or work on school work. The strategy that works best for me is to have a focus for each day of the week. I edit two days a week, do school work two days a week, write two days a week and take Sundays off. The important thing here is to set time aside every day or every week to do nothing but write.

Another setback to writing is distraction. How many times have you sat down at your computer to write and your email dings or you get a Facebook notification? Next thing you know, an hour has gone by and you’re still staring at a blank page. Here are some suggestions to eliminate distractions.

First, NO INTERNET! It is too easy to get distracted on the internet. If you need to research something for your book make a list of things to look up or questions that need to be answered and work on them another time. This will help you stay on task writing which is the goal of the time you have set aside. If you have to, turn off the wi-fi. All your notifications will be there when you turn it back on.

Second, find a quiet place to write. Turn off the TV. If you like to sing along to the radio, don’t listen to music with lyrics. I like to listen to movie soundtracks and classical music while I write. Sometimes the music even affects the tone of my writing.

Third, turn off your cell phone or put the phones in the other room and let the machine pick them up or let them go to voice mail. I screen my calls because my children are at school and you never know when one of them will need something urgently. Think back to before we had cell phones. If we weren’t home they had to call back. In most cases you can talk to someone after your done writing with no harm done.

Lastly, let your family know that you are writing and you need them to leave you alone for the next hour or two. Impress upon them how important it is to you and how much you appreciate their support. My husband is very supportive of my writing. He reads my first drafts and my second and my third…He knows it makes me happy and does what he can to be supportive. Your family will, too.

In order to be a serious writer, you have to write. If you don’t make time to write on a regular basis you can’t improve your craft. The more you write, the better writer you will be. With a little time management, you can make things happen and become the writer you want to be.

Keep writing.

How Does it Feel to be a New Editor by Rachelle Abbott

I am excited for this new opportunity to work for Mystic Publishing and learn more about writing, editing, and publishing. I am not a huge fan of change, and I would be very content with a predictable, stable—boring even—life; however, I have become far too familiar with the adage, “The only thing constant is change.” I am sure I am not alone when I disclose that my life has not enfolded exactly as I planned. That is not a complaint, but merely a confession.

My bachelor’s degree is in secondary education with a major in English and journalism. Initially I planned to teach for a few years, save money (I know laughable on a teacher’s salary), and eventually go to law school. Let me make a long story short. I fell in love, married, taught for 5 years, and then stayed home to raise 7 magnificent human beings—at least that is my hope for them when they are fully grown.

Reading has always been an important part of my life. I have been a part of many book clubs and a few writing clubs as well as secretly aspiring to be an author myself! I am not yet ready to debut a best-selling novel, but hopefully that will be a part of my future.

The circumstances of how I ended up in editing can only be described as an evolving process accelerated by a series of events that put me in contact with the right people at the right time. That is a story for another post. I don’t believe in coincidences, but I do believe in a Higher Power that is involved in my life.I am fortunate to work with and learn from some amazing people here at Mystic Publishing.

The most challenging part of this new adventure is teaching a middle age dog new tricks. I have never liked feeling incompetent or inferior. While deep down I still think I am an intelligent person, I am now doing something I have never done before (which involves new specialized terminology as well as new rules to writing— the writing rules teachers teach students, don’t always translate the same for writing novels), but I am doing it while living with 4 teenagers in my house. Anyone who has teenagers doesn’t need further explanation, but just in case, let me explain: it is a daily assault on your intellect. Teenagers know how to parent better than you; they know all the answers to every question, and they are not afraid to let you know it!

My best resource in this business is my fellow editors. I can question and discuss things with them. The internet is extremely helpful as well. I have decided my college research papers would have been so much easier in today’s world with awesome search engines unlike my research experiences of the 1990’s. A lifetime of reading definitely hasn’t hurt either.

The most rewarding part of being an editor is working with authors. I am intrigued that their words and imagination can breathe life into fictional characters and stories. The revising/editing process can be long, frustrating and even exacerbating at times, but in the end, it is satisfying to see the final product of hard work turn into a published book!

Deep POV and How It’s Used? by Richard Draude

Deep POV is the third-person subjective taken a step beyond the normal third-person subjective. Deep POV shows your story through the eyes of one or more characters—one at a time please, avoid any head-hopping. Deep POV goes into the head and heart of a character, taking your readers beyond the action on the page, thus allowing you, the writer, to help your readers understand your character’s thoughts, his or her experiences, history, and feelings.

What first-person POV executes with the I narration, Deep POV accomplishes with third-person he or she narration.

Using Deep POV puts your readers inside your viewpoint character. They feel story events as your hero or heroine does. What your protagonist or antagonist sees, the reader sees. What they feel or think, the reader knows. The reader understands automatically what is being reported are the thoughts, feelings and intentions of your viewpoint character.

Deep POV allows writers to do away with what he thought, he felt, he wondered, he saw, all those phrases that intrude into the fiction, that unnecessarily encumber the story.

Once upon a time such phrases were considered necessary, a way to let your readers know we were in the character’s head or seeing through his or her eyes. With Deep POV, readers are in the character’s head –almost– all the time, and no other intrusions are necessary.

A few examples of simple sentences to show the contrast—

Third-person—

He was lost, Michael thought. Lost and certain someone followed him into the woods.

I’m lost, Michael thought. Lost and certain someone followed him into the woods.

Third-person Deep POV—

He was lost. Lost and certain someone followed him into the woods.

I’m lost. Lost and certain someone followed him into the woods.

➢➣➢➣➤➢➣➢➣

Third-person—

Sherry trailed her quarry down Broadway, careful to look busy with store windows shopping on the opposite side of the street. She giggled when she watched him slip into the Big and Tall Shop and saw him hide behind a mannequin.

Third-person deep POV—

Sherry trailed her quarry—better known as her ex husband—down Broadway, careful to look busy window shopping on the opposite side of the street. She had to laugh when he slipped into the Big and Tall Shop and hide behind a mannequin.

➢➣➣➢➣➢➣

Third-person—

Allen shook his head. It was moronic, he said to himself, the way Zen fawned over his wife’s parents.

Zen threw open his mouth, faking a long laugh.

A moron, Allen thought again, turning away.

Third-person deep POV—

Allen shook his head. It was moronic the way Zen fawned over his wife’s parents.

The loser threw open his mouth, faking a long laugh.

Moron.

Allen turned away.

➢➣➢➣➢➣➢➣

A first-person narrator never needs to identify his or her own feelings and thoughts as being their own. So, the third-person viewpoint character doesn’t have to tell his readers over and over what he or she is thinking or hoping or seeing or feeling. Readers understand the thoughts and hopes and visions and feelings belong to the viewpoint character.

The writer who uses deep POV for his viewpoint character doesn’t have to use markers to tell readers what a character feels—

Melissa reluctantly stuck her hand into the pouch. She thought there was no way she could back out of the dare gracefully. She wiggled her fingers around. She felt slime ooze between them.

Melissa reluctantly stuck her hand into the pouch. There was no way she could back gracefully out of the dare. She wiggled her fingers around, wincing when slime oozed between them.

Using Deep POV rather than the traditional third-person subjective, can cut your word count while keeping the intensity high. It can also keep readers deep in the fiction of the moment rather than reminding them that they are reading a story.

Markers used to remind readers a character is reporting that he’s doing something—felt, saw, watched, thought and so on—become a barrier between readers and the events and emotions of the story. They keep readers one step removed from story events and a character’s feelings.

Removing those reminders pulls your readers deeper into the story’s events and deeper into the character’s mind and heart. When you remove visual physical barrier, the psychological barrier is also separated. Then the reader dives even deeper into the fictional world.

Of course, being in a character’s thoughts and emotions for the length of a story can make readers antsy or induce a sense of claustrophobia. It’s quite okay to draw back at times, to step away from that Deep POV.

When Deep POV is too much

At the opening of a new chapter, help the reader look through a distance lens. Allow scenes to gain perspective and provide relief from Deep POV. Go from the big-picture shot, shifting focus until your viewpoint character is again in the frame, then you can let him or her resume the storytelling.

Switching viewpoint characters lets readers get the view from inside a different head. This gives them a break from the intensity of a single character’s viewpoint.

Remember, however, to switch viewpoint characters only with scene changes. And be choosy about the heads and hearts you dump your readers into. Not every character deserves to tell your story. Not every character is the right character to tell your story.

Richard Draude

IT and Graphics Administrator

Book Blurb by Richard Draude

If you're going to self-publish your book, you must know how to construct the blurb on the back of your book.

Fewer selling tools are more important than a well-written story blurb. For readers, the cover design creates intrigue, but if you catch a potential reader’s attention, the blurb is what will sell your book and bring you new readers. A “blurb” can refer to both a “description blurb” that you write for the back cover of your book and a “review blurb.” For the purpose of this post, I’ll focus on the “description blurb” and how you, the writer, can craft the best possible one.

A Blurb’s Do’s

-Reference the book’s genre and it’s central theme

-Create intrigue around your character’s main conflict

-Dive straight in and introduce your protagonist(s)

-Keep it short and punchy

-Reference your book-writing or professional status, if it relates to your book.

A Blurb’s Don’ts

-Summarize the first chapter

-No spoilers, no matter how tempted you are

-Compare your book to other books, or yourself to other writers

-Open with any overused phrase like, “In a world,”

-Give anything away

-Say how amazing your book is

Anatomy of a Blurb

While there’s no perfect formula for writing the best blurb for your next novel, there are some patterns worth taking note of: Calling out your success in the book-writing world, introducing the reader to the protagonist in a way that creates intrigue without delving into all the assorted details, and referencing the central point of conflict without explaining how a resolution may come about.

Searching online I looked for best sellers and came across these blurbs. Jayne Ann Krentz Secret Sisters, Donna Tartt The Goldfish, and Gilly Macmillan’s debut novel What She Knew.

Take note of patterns, any consistencies, and what the authors seem to be saying—and more important what is he or she is not saying.

Jayne Ann Krentz

Secret Sisters,

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Madeline and Daphne were once as close as sisters—until a secret tore them apart. Now it might take them to their graves.

They knew his name, the man who tried to brutally attack twelve-year-old Madeline in her grandmother's hotel. They thought they knew his fate. He wouldn't be bothering them anymore...ever.Still their lives would never be the same.

Madeline has returned to Washington after her grandmother's mysterious death. And at the old, abandoned hotel—a place she never wanted to see again—a dying man’s last words convey a warning: the secrets she and Daphne believed buried forever have been discovered.

Now, after almost two decades, Madeline and Daphne will be reunited in friendship and in fear. Unable to trust the local police, Madeline summons Jack Rayner, the hotel chain’s new security expert. Despite the secrets and mysteries that surround him, Jack is the only one she trusts...and wants.

Jack is no good at relationships but he does possess a specific skill set that includes a profoundly intimate understanding of warped and dangerous minds. With the assistance of Jack's brother, Abe, a high-tech magician, the four of them will form an uneasy alliance against a killer who will stop at nothing to hide the truth....

The Goldfinch,

Donna Tartt.

PULITZER PRIZE WINNER

Theo Decker, a 13-year-old New Yorker, miraculously survives an accident that kills his mother. Abandoned by his father, Theo is taken in by the family of a wealthy friend. Bewildered by his strange new home on Park Avenue, disturbed by schoolmates who don’t know how to talk to him, and tormented above all by his longing for his mother, he clings to the one thing that reminds him of her: a small, mysteriously captivating painting that ultimately draws Theo into the underworld of art.

As an adult, Theo moves silkily between the drawing rooms of the rich and the dusty labyrinth of an antiques store where he works. He is alienated and in love—and at the center of a narrowing, ever more dangerous circle.

The Goldfinch is a mesmerizing, stay-up-all-night and tell-all-your-friends triumph, an old-fashioned story of loss and obsession, survival and self-invention, and the ruthless machinations of fate.

Gilly Macmillan

What She Knew.

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

In her enthralling debut, Gilly Macmillan explores a mother’s search for her missing son, weaving a taut psychological thriller as gripping and skillful as The Girl on the Train and The Guilty One.

In a heartbeat, everything changes…

Rachel Jenner is walking in a Bristol park with her eight-year-old son, Ben, when he asks if he can run ahead. It’s an ordinary request on an ordinary Sunday afternoon, and Rachel has no reason to worry—until Ben vanishes.

Police are called, search parties go out, and Rachel, already insecure after her recent divorce, feels herself coming undone. As hours and then days pass without a sign of Ben, everyone who knew him is called into question, from Rachel’s newly married ex-husband to her mother-of-the-year sister. Inevitably, media attention focuses on Rachel too, and the public’s attitude toward her begins to shift from sympathy to suspicion.

As she desperately pieces together the threadbare clues, Rachel realizes that nothing is quite as she imagined it to be, not even her own judgment. And the greatest dangers may lie not in the anonymous strangers of every parent’s nightmares, but behind the familiar smiles of those she trusts the most.

Where is Ben? The clock is ticking...

The fewer detail about the plot the better. Draw potential readers in and hook them so they will buy your book and read your story

What is Exposition? By Denice Whitmore

What is exposition? Exposition in a novel is the part of the writing that tells the story. Or, in other words, the important details that drive your story and inform the reader. Here are a few definitions that pertain to writing from www.dictionary.com.

the act of expounding, setting forth, or explaining:

the exposition of a point of view.

writing or speech primarily intended to convey information or to explain; a detailed statement or explanation; explanatory treatise:

The students prepared expositions on familiar essay topics.

 Some things that are included in exposition are, point of view (POV), setting, back story (but only limited), dialogue, description, emotion, thoughts, and many more things.

 Everything you write in your novel should further the plot in some way, build character, give a sense of setting and build tension all from a fixed POV. Good exposition will do these things. Great exposition will do all of them at the same time with as few words as possible. 

How many times have you picked up a book and had to slog through fifteen to twenty pages of back story before anything happens. Back story should only be shared as it becomes relevant. But be careful not to give an info dump. There has to be an active way to introduce back story. Dialogue is a great place to add back story but it must be done carefully. Is the main character confessing something that he did—his deepest darkest secret? Is she uncovering a hidden truth that will change her life for better or worse and shock the reader? You want to tease the reader and let them uncover things from the past that are relevant to the present without dumping a load of irrelevant information on them.

Many people make the mistake of writing talking heads. The ‘he said,’ ‘she said,’ type of dialogue where the characters robotically stand still having a conversation is boring. This is where exposition in narration can really work for you. Your POV character may have thoughts that don’t jive with his words. People move around and interact with each other and their setting. Physical and emotional reactions build character in between dialogue pulling the reader further into the story. Instead of dialogue tags, try writing only with action tags that show emotion, build character, or interact with the setting. It will pull the reader into your world more than ‘he said,’ ‘she said,’.

The most important thing to me as an editor is to make sure the novel has the proper amount of tension. Because what keeps readers turning pages? Tension. When tension builds in a steady arc throughout each chapter, the reader becomes more invested in the characters. What will happen next? How will they get out of that situations? Are they ever going to have that first kiss? Lead your readers on a bit. Make them bite their nails. Keep them awake at night wondering, until they get out of bed to read one more chapter because they have to know what happens next. Tension is an author’s best friend.

 All in all, it can be hard to strike the right balance of the elements that go into your story. Balance is the key. Once you find that proper balance in your exposition, it shows in your writing and readers can’t put your book down.

Here is an excerpt from Knowing Amelia by Jen Atkinson that shows great exposition.

            Sitting up, I felt like a queen, eating my meal in bed. All I needed now were my—oh, no! My books were all downstairs. I couldn’t sit in bed doing nothing all day, and I didn’t have a servant—like a queen should, to order the promptness of my novels. If I kept quiet, maybe she wouldn’t notice me. Maybe I could sneak downstairs and be back to the safety of my room without one grouchy glance from Grandma.

            The creaking of the bedroom door screamed through Dad’s old room. “Shh!” I glared at it. I tiptoed down the wooden staircase without much noise. Creeping over to the living room, I saw my things lying on Amelia’s old square coffee table.

            And then I heard it.

            The horrible blubber came from Amelia’s dining room. Jerking my head upright, I held my breath. What is it? Who is it?

            Again, I heard a weak moan, this time followed by a cry. “Oh, Seth.”

            My racing heart pumped blood through my veins. My eyes widened as the cries grew louder. Each sob, just out of my view, as if it were right next to me. I took one step. Just turn around. Another step. Just walk away. One more—closer. Just get out! But—I had to see.

            Knuckles white, I clutched my book to my chest, my heart thumping against the hard cover of Romeo and Juliet.

            Peeking around the wall separating the two rooms, my eyes focused on the figure before me. Amelia—down on her knees in the dining area. She had moved the table and pulled up one of the wooden floorboards, leaning it against the wall, revealing a hole in the floor. A small wooden box sat beside her, its contents a mystery.

            Sucking in a quiet breath, I let it go—she couldn’t see me. Thank goodness her back faced me. Amelia didn’t know I was there. Her body rocked back and forth with her sobs. “Seth,” she said through another sob. “My Seth.”

            Grandma sat there crying. Her husband of more than fifty years had died and finally—finally she had decided to cry. Even grumpy people should cry when their husbands die.

            Only my grandfather’s name wasn’t Seth.

 Keep writing!

Self Publishing: Four Types of Publishing Part Two by Jo A. Wilkins

The definition of a self-publisher is one who accepts payment from an author for the cost of designing, printing, and distributing his or her book. Frequently, the author invents and registers a publishing "imprint."

Self-published books remain the property of the author and are usually held in the author's possession; all proceeds belong to the author, NONE go back to the people who help you produce it.

Positive points for Self Publishing

• You have complete control over content.
• You tell the self-publishing outlet how you want them to format the book and what you want on the cover.
• You set the pricing.
• You do the research on how much other books like yours sell for and determine how much you need to sell the end product for to recoup what you laid out to produce the book
• You control production
• It is you who decides when the book is ready for publication and each step is completed
• You decide how, when and where to market
• Marketing is the demon in the side of all authors, even those who commercially publish, but in self-publishing it falls solely on the shoulders of the author.

Negative points for Self Publishing

• You bear ALL costs for production
• In this option every expense of production falls on the author. You must keep tract of the costs that will affect your bottom-line if you want to make a profit off the sale of your books
• You are responsible for editing or hiring an editor
• This is a step that most self-publishing authors skip, but it is one that NO author should omit. Having an editor who knows the publishing world will make an enormous difference in the sale of your book
• You must store and distribute your books
• If you choose self-publishing then make sure you use a print-on-demand printer or have enough room to store the books you have printed in bulk (it is less expensive in bulk).
• You are responsible for ALL marketing
• Again, this is the setup that if skipped, will kill the sales of your book. Just listing it for on-line sales will not sell your book.
• Lesser amount of prestige
• If you are publishing your own book it carries less weight than if picked up by a stranger that feels it will sell
• Difficult to tell the difference between a vanity press and a true self-publishing company.
• Readers are not sophisticated enough to tell the difference between true self-publishing and the work behind it and the books that come out of a vanity press.

If you as an author take the road of self-publishing then be prepared for unexpected expenses and a little less prestige to the book you produce. But, remember there are many authors who, down through the ages of publishing history, have utilized self-publishing  Some of the authors and their titles are:

Betty Zane                                          Zane Gray

Elements of Style                                 William Strunk/E.B. White

Huckleberry Finn                                Mark Twain

Leaves of Grass                                    Walt Whitman

Tarzan (1931-1948 Series)                Edgar Rice Burroughs

Legally Blond                                      Amanda Brown