Sorry about the first attempt to reblog Stephen Swartz’s wonderful post on the proper way to think about your last words! Here is the proper working link:
The Deconstruction of the Sekuatean Empire
This time it will work!
The Deconstruction of the Sekuatean Empire, take two
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Filed under Uncategorized
Stormy Weather
Amaranthus and Savvy at the needles by haystack rock cannon beach Haystack Rock Cannon Beach ©cjjasp 2012
We are on holiday in Oregon, at a little town called Cannon Beach. This is a wonderful place, famous for the rock formations and caves, and the scenery was featured in the film, The Goonies.
Even in August, the northeastern Pacific Ocean on the Oregon Coast is cold and frequently cloudy and rainy. But when the sun shines, it is amazing.
Watching the storms roll in from the safety of the porch of the condo is nothing less than awesome. The beach is uncrowded, and Amaranthus and Savvy can play to their heart’s content, running wild the way cousins have always done since time began.
Amaranthus digs bunkers, and wades waist deep in Ecola Creek where it runs into the ocean. He rides his skim-board along the edge of the ocean like a pro, using his skate-boarding skills to the max. When he steps onto the porch, he is chilled to the bone, and his 6 foot tall, 14 year-old frame is shivering. His lips are blue from the cold, and he doesn’t even have to be told to take a shower–he’s a man now. He knows what to do.
Leah and Christy Cannon Beach 2012 © cjjasp 2012
Savvy is bright-eyed and deeply interested in creating marvelous sculptures of sand, just like her mother, my daughter Christy and her Aunty Leah. All our children were keen sandcastle engineers! The girl also rides her skim-board and stays out until she is blue from the cold.
It’s a family tradition.
Savannah is 11 and she’s a girl, so she also doesn’t have to be told to warm up. She wants only to sit in the Jacuzzi when she finally has to abandon her sand castles.
Sandcastle Sam 2010
Nephew Samuel is 16, and is fixated on riding his bike the length of the beach, from Rockaway Point to Ecola Creek as many times as he can fit into the vacation. He is also a sand castle excavator, bringing spades, a pick-axe and many other large implements for proper excavation. No matter how cold, blue and near death from hypothermia Sam is, he won’t take any advice on how to get warmed up, preferring to sit in a corner looking like death-warmed-over. Did I mention Sam is 16?
Rockaway Beach © cjjasp 2013
This year I’m here resting up, recovering from my surgery, and writing intense scenes for the revised version of Julian Lackland’s story. This is the perfect environment for me, and with everyone else checking out the caves on Rockaway Beach and trudging down to Haystack Rock, I have the perfect combination of peace, quiet and beautiful scenery to motivate me. Throughout the rest of the year I live for this week of writer’s paradise.
Local legend says Ursula K. Le Guin spends time writing here in Cannon Beach, which seems right since she lives in Portland, 1 hour and 45 minutes away. I know that this place inspires me more than any other place we go.
The Needles at Cannon Beach ©cjjasp 2013
The weather is frequently awful, but we know it, and we plan for it. But there will be two days of glorious skies of a blue impossible to adequately describe.
The moods of the Pacific Ocean are anything but peaceful. It is a wild, beautiful thing, that is never the same two days running. The waves crashing against the sea stacks and the cries of the sea birds combine with the wind to clear my mind, and at last I am free to just write.
Filed under Adventure, Books, Fantasy, Literature, Uncategorized, Vegan, writer, writing
It’s smart and clickable!
As you know I have been working on the nuts-and-bolts end of the indie publishing business for a while now, but not really long in terms of my career. I only dove into this in 2011, and in the last two years of sometimes floundering I’ve picked up a few useful tricks. One of the most useful in terms of a finished manuscript is how to create a table of contents for your eBook that is “clickable”, a Smart TOC.
When I read an e-book I really like it when I can easily navigate within the ms by using the hyperlinks embedded in the table of contents. This is a “Smart TOC” and is very easy to create when you are formatting your ms for publication.
First make your table of contents. The one I am using for this is an old file for the original version of Billy’s Revenge, so ignore the page numbers. I didn’t know that page numbers are like prisoners—they just weigh you down!
Your print manuscript will most likely not have a TOC as most novels don’t waste precious pages on such things. Technical manuals and textbooks must include a TOC, but every page you can do without when publishing your novel in paper form will keep the final cost down and make your paperback more affordable for your prospective reader. Very few people will pay $18.99 for a book by an unknown author.
The first thing you want to do is create a bookmark. First highlight the words “Table of Contents” and then go to your ‘Insert’ tab. Click on ‘Bookmark’ in that ribbon. Type in the words ref_TOC
Then click “Add”. In every ms it is important to name the Table of Contents bookmark exactly that, including the underscore, because that’s what Smashwords looks for and it is simply a good practice to have a uniform system for naming files. See the next picture for how it will look and ignore the page numbers:
Now it’s time to bookmark the prologue. Scroll down to your prologue and do it exactly the same way as you bookmarked the TOC, but for this ms let’s name it BR_prologue. You will name yours with your ms initials and the word prologue. If you have no prologue, skip this step. See the picture below:
As long as you are there, with the chapter title highlighted, click “insert Hyperlink” on the ribbon. On the left, you want to ‘Link to:’ “Place in this Document”. That will bring up your bookmarks. Select ‘ref_TOC’ and click OK. This will turn your heading blue, which is called a ‘hyperlinky’. Press control and click on the link. it will take you back to the table of contents. Once you have used the hyperlinky it will turn purple. How cool is that! This is how that screen looks:
Now that you are back at the Table of Contents, highlight “Prologue and click “insert Hyperlink” on the ribbon. On the left, you want to ‘Link to:’ “Place in this Document”. That will bring up your bookmarks. Select ‘BR_prologue’ and click OK. That will turn it blue. Press control and click on the link. it will take you back to the heading of your prologue.
Do this for the entire table of contents, always remembering to link your chapter heading back to “ref_TOC”, and test each link as you go. Four more pictures just to help you remember:
I hope this helps you in formatting your eBook manuscript. I just redid all my books so that they have Smart TOCs and will be building the TOC into my future manuscripts as I go. This is an incredibly useful too to help you navigate within any long manuscript, and although I had used book marks before in the course of my work, I didn’t realize that the fancy TOCs I admired so in other people’s e-books was such a simple thing.
But that’s the way it always goes–things that seem like they should be hard are often the most simple, while something that should be easy turns into a drama of epic proportions.
Here’s to less drama and more simplicity! Learning how to format an e-book isn’t really that hard, and the wonderful people at both Smashwords and at Amazon have a lot of information freely available to you. Remember, as an indie, you are your own publisher, and what you put out there has to be the best you can make it.
Making use of the free information that is out there on the internet can only help you in this regard!
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Filed under Books, Fantasy, Food, Humor, Literature, Uncategorized, writer, writing
Cover reveal,Tales from the Dreamtime
Great covers sell books! I love great covers, but haven’t always been that good at creating them.
This is the cover of my soon-to-be-released book, Tales from the Dreamtime, a collection of two short stories and one novella.
The image is The Lily Fairy by Falero Luis Ricardo. The image itself is in the public domain, because the original author or artist passed away over 100 years ago. Thus, instead of crediting the artist with a © symbol, we use a different method:
Luis Ricardo Falero Lily Fairy 1888.
{{PD-Art|PD-old-100}}
The credit line is extremely important, as you must always clearly represent on the copyright page of your book each person with an interest in the work. You must have on file a license clearly granting you permission to use the image in way you intend to use it.
In the case of public domain artwork, a good source of free artwork with clearly written creative-commons licenses is Wikimedia Commons. There is a limited number of works that are suitable for my purposes, and some of the best ones have restrictions clearly stated on them. This picture, however, has the following provenance clearly stated on the bottom half of the page beneath the picture:
| Author |
|
||||
| Description |
Lily Fairy
|
||||
| Date | 1888 | ||||
| Medium | oil on canvas | ||||
| Source/Photographer | [1] | ||||
| Permission (Reusing this file) |
Author died more than 70 years ago – public domain | ||||
| This is a faithful photographic reproduction of an original two-dimensional work of art. The work of art itself is in the public domain for the following reason: |
 |
This work is in the public domain in the United States, and those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 100 years or less. |
| This file has been identified as being free of known restrictions under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights. | |
The way you are to credit the artist is also clearly expressed in a link:
Courtesy credit lines[edit]
Public Domain media do not require credit line or any kind of attribution; however, reusers are encouraged to attribute author (if known) and inform users that the work was released into public domain. Below are suggested creditline formats for the reusers:
| License | Author | Source | Credit line |
|---|---|---|---|
| {{PD-self}} {{PD-author}} {{PD-heirs}} |
John Doe | Own work | John Doe / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain |
| {{PD-old}} | John Doe | publication / self-scanned | John Doe / Public Domain |
| {{PD-self}} | [[user:JohnDoe]] | Own work | user:JohnDoe / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain |
| {{anonymous-EU}} {{PD-anon-1923}} {{anonymous work}} |
anonymous | publication | Public Domain |
I have found many old masters that I use on this blog on Wikimedia Commons.
“Public domain” means nobody claims any rights to the property, either because they gave them up or because time or some other factor ended copyright. Anyone can use it for any purpose. For instance, anyone can publish and sell a copy of “A Christmas Carol” because it is no longer copyright due to age.
“Royalty free” means “I own it, but I am allowing you to use it under specific conditions without paying me royalties for it” A Royalty free license does have qualifications. For instance it might allow you to use the work but not to sell copies. Many times you pay the artist a onetime fee and then you have the rights to use the work within the limits of your contract.
Affordable Royalty Free art can be found on Dreamstime.com, and the price ranges from $1.00 to $75.00. There are thousands of images on that website. iStock.com is another great royalty free website. Their contracts are clear and printable and the credit lines are also clear. You always have a record of your purchases through them, on the website so your provenance is never in doubt.
Being an indie is a lot of work, and you really have to be your own art department. It is a lot of fun, I find. I have even tried making my own cover art, with mixed results, but I really learn a lot from these sorts of experiences.
Being an indie is a s much about the learning the ropes of the publishing business as it is anything else. I have learned that just owning the rights to use the art is only the first step to a good cover. You must either be able to use Photoshop (mondo expensive) or Gimp (free), both of which are startlingly difficult to learn the ropes of. Not only that, you must understand how a book cover is laid out. There are YouTube and Amazon walkthroughs, which is a free education but also which is complicated.
My advice? Hire a graphic designer with experience in designing book covers. It is well worth it. My own choice of artwork is dictated by my both my pocketbook and the image’s relevance to the story, but I find that good graphics can really make a great cover.
I have a graphic designer, Ceri Clark, who does the graphics on my book covers, because I don’t have the eye for them. My advice? Hire a graphic designer with experience in designing book covers. I know I already said that, but that is my advice, lol!
So here is the blurb for my new book, Tales from the Dreamtime
Three grownup Tales from the Dreamtime in one novella…
A conversation with Galahad
A prince on a quest and a goddess in mourning
A stolen kingdom and the Fractal Mirror
Three tales of wonder and great deeds
Three tales of heroes and villains
Open the door and enter the Dreamtime, the world of fairytales, the flower of all that is delightful and mysterious, frightening and amazing.
It will be offered for sale as an ebook by Monday August 12,2013 if all goes as planned.It contains three tales:
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1 Galahad Hawke (a short story)
2 The Tale of Prince Darién (a short story)
3 Arrabelle and the Prince of Thieves (a novella)
Each tale is written with my own particular brand of let-the-chips-fall -where-they-may take on traditional fairytales.
I may yield to pressure and pick up the story at the end of Galahad, turning him into a novel during NaNoWriMo this year–he is an Arthurian tale with a Steampunk twist. Nothing is certain yet!
Filed under Adventure, Books, Dragons, Fairies, Fantasy, Literature, Steampunk, Uncategorized, writer, writing
Unplanned Obsolescence
I turned sixty in June. The very next day I started falling apart. I am not kidding, my internal organs began failing the next day. Well, at least my gallbladder gave out on me.
Who knew planned obsolescence applied to the human body? At 60,000 miles you need a new timing belt, and possibly a brake-job.
Several expensive tests and a trip to urgent care later, it turned out I didn’t have gallstones. My gallbladder simply was failing, or as the doctor put it, dysfunctional. If you only knew my family, you wouldn’t be surprised. I’m sure it’s not the only dysfunctional internal organ in the family.
I felt rather like the 1974 Chevy Vega we once owned, the vehicle with the duct-tape interior. We had proudly bought it new, but at 50,000 miles the armrests fell off, the dashboard began cracking, the seats came apart–the interior was nothing but duct tape; a vast sea of silver. And the car was only three years old.
Duct tape is also known as “hundred-mile-an-hour-tape” in my family. Uncle Jim had a purple 1962 Chrysler station-wagon with both the rear-view mirror and the back bumper duct-taped on and he drove it like that for two years while he worked in the woods, planting trees.
So last Wednesday I had surgery. It was just a bit of internal housecleaning–out with the debris cluttering up the place. Unlike Dr. Frankenstein’s monster I had nothing new to replace it with, but the gallbladder is apparently an internal organ we can do without.
Today I am hanging around the house, waiting for tomorrow when I will get the staples out.
I know! Staples–almost as classy as duct tape! My Father would have been proud!
Hurricane Hilton
Last week I attended a 4 day convention in Seattle where there were several glitches on the dietary front.
The kitchen at the hotel failed miserably on Thursday and Friday, but by Saturday they had figured it out at least for the final dinner. In the meantime, there were a lot of starving authors sharpening their pens and busily writing culinary reviews that were less than glowing.
When we reserved our place in January, we were asked what dietary requirements we had, and were given many options. The breakfast buffet was nothing but donuts, muffins and bagels–none of which are vegan or gluten-free – options that were offered to registrants at the time of my original sign-up.
I am not gluten intolerant, but I am vegan, and not for moral reasons. I am vegan for health reasons, as I get horribly ill from eating even small amounts of meat and dairy. So, when I realized there was NOTHING for breakfast or lunch that I could eat, I figured I’d just go to the restaurant and order side dishes off the menu. I have usually found that to be an option that works for me. After all, hash browns and steamed veggies are usually easy for the kitchen to turn out.
When faced with a simple request, such as, “Can I have veggies sautéed in olive oil instead of butter please?” or “May I have my toast with no butter, please?” the waiters and waitresses got the deer-in-the-headlights look.
I know what it’s like to be faced with a horde of prima donnas who think they should have special treatment. I worked in the food service industry as both a waitress and a dishwasher, and I was a hotel maid for 12 years, actually, during the Reagan and Bush Sr. years. That was one of my 3 jobs. I was also a free-lance bookkeeper and a darkroom technician during those years. Three part-time jobs kept the kids fed and the roof over their heads, right?
Trickle down economics didn’t always trickle down too far.
It’s amazing how many hotels and restaurants are not prepared for guests with strange dietary needs like those weirdo hippy-freak vegans.
I get it, and I understand it. I left good tips in the VERY expensive coffee shop anyway, because everyone did their best, and why be more of a pain than you have to be? My fried spuds and steamed veg averaged $15.00 to $20.00 per meal for breakfast and lunch for 4 days. Hurricane Hilton blew through my wallet leaving behind a budgetary disaster.
But in this case, I was not the only hungry author there. There was little concession made for any of the other people who’d been offered diet options, including the carnivores. In fact the first three days were total catering catastrophes, and hardly anyone was pleased with the pathetic offerings.
By Friday, things were looking up for me but the Carnivores were starving. The catering team had gotten the 3 vegans at the convention served, and the plate they put in front of me was lovely.
Yep. There I was alone, surrounded by starving authors, armed only with a plate of grilled asparagus.
The carnivores were all looking at my veggies covetously. Irene Roth Luvaul suffered worse than me. She was told that A: they had run out of food, and B: they weren’t going to cook any more. 6 people at our table were yet to be served.
Irene is an editor. Did I mention that? Just in case I didn’t, I will just say it’s bad juju to cross an editor. And the room was full of them.
There was blood in the water.
The announcement that no food would be forthcoming didn’t fly well with the comma-Nazi. Irene said, “What do you mean, you aren’t going to cook any more food?” Her clipped Texas tones could have shaved the fur off a cat at fifteen feet, they were so sharp.
This was the voice of the woman who edited briefs for the Texas State Supreme Court. She wrangled lawyers for a living.
The server brought her a plate of cold ravioli in pale tomato sauce.
Faced with a resounding plea-bargain, Irene desperately wished she was a vegan, and eyed my asparagus with longing.
However, by Saturday night the catering staff had redeemed themselves beautifully with a lovely, well-prepared meal that even the gluten-free authors were pleased with, along with copious quantities of decent wine, proving that giddy, well-oiled authors are a bag of fun.
Despite near starvation, it was a fun week, and meeting Greg Bear was awesome. But making new friends and connections with both sides of the industry was the best part of this for me.
Filed under Battles, Fantasy, Food, Literature, Uncategorized, Vegan, writer, writing
What I’ve learned from Greg Bear
Wow. I just made me a new BFF! I’m never going to wash my ears again (insert starry eyes here.) I am currently at the Pacific Northwest Writers Association Conference in Seattle, Washington with my real BFF, Irene Roth Luvaul. We are having the best time and even though we are only on the second day of the event, with two more days to go, this thing has already paid for itself in what we have learned about writing, editing and the publishing industry in general.
The keynote speaker was none other than Greg Bear (cue the angels) and what he had to say was more than entertaining–it was inspirational.
While still in high-school, this man and his gang of sci-fi fanatic friends used to hang out with mentor Ray Bradbury! THAT connection was invaluable to his career as writer and storyteller, working in the less-than-respectable genre of speculative fiction.
Greg’s complete dedication to the craft of writing and his passion for the genre of science fiction and fantasy comes across in his talks. He is very frank and has a sense of the ridiculous that resonates with his audience. He is a humble man, who told me he worked to deadlines because he has to pay the mortgage, and publishers frequently have deadlines.
Greg spoke about working on the foundation series after Asimov’s death, and how he frequently felt he heard the man’s voice in his head, guiding him as he was writing Foundation and Chaos.
The best part of the evening for me was meeting the man and getting his signature on my copy of the Mongoliad, book 1.
Irene is a champ at getting things done. She got me moving so I was fourth in line to meet him and get his signature. I’m just going to say it–Nothing is more undignified than an old fat woman who has just met god.
You will be so proud of me! I made it all the way out of the room before SQUEEEEEing like a school girl with a front row ticket to see One Direction. I am fully convinced that by virtue of having exchanged pleasantries while he signed my copy of his book, Greg Bear and I are now best chums and will be forever.
Irene managed to get me peeled off the ceiling and back to earth, but it was dicey there, for a while.
What I learned from Greg Bear is this: to be a writer, you must write. You must have passion for your story and you must be obsessed with your universe and the worlds therein. His passion and obsession for the craft of writing really come across in his speech. He lives in his worlds, he knows his characters and their lives better than he knows his own.
Another thing I have learned from Greg Bear is to attend writers conventions if you can.
These forums offer us the tools to advance our careers. With the huge boom in indie publishing, it is even more crucial than ever for those of us who intend to remain indies to have the edge that knowledge of the way the industry works gives us. We have to stand out of the crowd, and to do that we must have a professional product and a real marketing plan. If we intend to compete, we have to know and understand the competition.
For the indie author, the competition is the high quality of the finished product put out by traditional publishing houses who are blessed with talented staffs of editors and cover designers and their long established connections with literary publicity publications.
We can compete. We have to put out the best, most professional product we are able to create. We have to hire editors, and pay for good covers. We have to write ‘blurbs’ that intrigue our readers. Our personal online presence when we are googled must be consistent and professional. Attending conventions offers us the opportunity to meet people in the industry and make professional connections. It is so much more than just being an elderly fangirl.
I am inspired to write. More than ever I am driven to live this writing life, inventing improbable plots and eccentric people. And I am empowered to believe I can succeed because great storytellers like Greg Bear have gone before me, and paved the way.
One small word; one large demon-spawn of heck for author-kind
Whee!!! I am merrily spinning through my mental universe, spewing my thoughts onto the keyboard when suddenly I am brought up short by none other than the dreaded Over Used Word.
Somebody shoot me now! But at least I have that magic tool “Control-F’ to help me search for words that seem to come up too frequently. By clicking the down arrow on the menu on the left, I can navigate easily to each instance of the word and decide whether to keep it or remove it. Many times, removing it is the solution, and often you don’t have to replace it with anything at all. The sentence can be stronger for not having the word at all.
When I look back on my work I can see where my mind seemed to run out of options and I developed a ‘fall-back’ habit, which in turn, leads to a stale narrative. Some of my favorite fall-back words?
As. This word can be useful, but insidious. Like bamboo in an unwary gardener’s first garden, ‘As’ creeps into every paragraph if not kept in containers. To search for it, hit control-F. When the navigation box pops up on the left, key a space before and a space after to isolate only the two-letter word as, or every instance of any word containing those letters together will pop up. ( as )
That. Many times, removing it is ideal the solution, and often you don’t have to replace it with anything at all. Once again, the sentence will be stronger for not having the word at all.
Searching for these words and others like them in our precious manuscript can seem to be a daunting task, but with this tool it is much less trouble to do than it seems like it will be at first. It must be done on a word by word basis, because Global changes can inadvertently wreak unimaginable havoc with your manuscript! Think of how many words in the English language have the two letters ‘a’ and ‘s’ next to each other in them? Was, Assign, Bass–you see the problem with global changes. Never click ‘Replace All’!
For small words that are frequently found inside of larger words, use the ‘space word space’ trick and you will have much better results.
And now here is my list of handy-dandy overused and the alternatives that I fall back on:
Overused Words and some alternatives
about – approximately, nearly, almost, approaching, close to
absolutely – unconditionally, perfectly, completely, ideally, purely
activity – action, movement, operation, labor, exertion, enterprise, project, pursuit, endeavor, job, assignment, pastime, scheme, task
add – attach, affix, join, unite, append, increase, amplify
affect – adjust, influence, transform, moderate, incline, motivate, prompt
amazing – overwhelming, astonishing, startling, unexpected, stunning, dazzling, remarkable
awesome – impressive, stupendous, fabulous, astonishing, outstanding
bad – defective, inadequate, poor, unsatisfactory, disagreeable, offensive, repulsive, corrupt, wicked, naughty, harmful, injurious, unfavorable
basic – essential, necessary, indispensable, vital, fundamental, elementary
beautiful – attractive, appealing, alluring, exquisite, gorgeous, handsome, stunning
begin – commence, found, initiate, introduce, launch, originate
better – preferable, superior, worthier
big – enormous, extensive, huge, immense, massive
boring – commonplace, monotonous, tedious, tiresome
bring – accompany, cause, convey, create, conduct, deliver, produce
cause – origin, stimulus, inspiration, motive
certain – sure, unquestionable, incontrovertible, unmistakable, indubitable, assured, confident
change – alter, transform, vary, replace, diversify
choose – select, elect, nominate, prefer, identify
decent – respectable, adequate, fair, suitable
definitely – unquestionably, clearly, precisely, positively, inescapably
easy – effortless, natural, comfortable, undemanding, pleasant, relaxed
effective – powerful, successful, efficient
emphasize – underscore, feature, accentuate
end – limit, boundary, finish, conclusion, finale, resolution
energy – vitality, vigor, force, dynamism
enjoy – savor, relish, revel, benefit
entire – complete, inclusive, unbroken, integral
excellent – superior, remarkable, splendid, unsurpassed, superb, magnificent
exciting – thrilling, stirring, rousing, dramatic
far – distant, remote
fast – swift, quick, fleet, hasty, instant, accelerated
fill – occupy, suffuse, pervade, saturate, inflate, stock
finish – complete, conclude, cease, achieve, exhaust, deplete, consume
funny – comical, ludicrous, amusing, droll, entertaining, bizarre, unusual, uncommon
get – obtain, receive, acquire, procure, achieve
give – bestow, donate, supply, deliver, distribute, impart
go – proceed, progress, advance, move
good – satisfactory, serviceable, functional, competent, virtuous, striking
great – tremendous, superior, remarkable, eminent, proficient, expert
happy – pleased, joyous, elated, jubilant, cheerful, delighted
hard – arduous, formidable, complex, complicated, rigorous, harsh
help – assist, aid, support, sustain, serve
hurt – injure, harm, damage, wound, impair
immense – huge, vast, enormous, massive, gigantic, mammoth, colossal
important – significant, substantial, weighty, meaningful, critical, vital, notable
interesting – absorbing, appealing, entertaining, fascinating, thought-provoking
job – task, work, business, undertaking, occupation, vocation, chore, duty, assignment
keep – retain, control, possess
kind – type, variety, sort, form
know – comprehend, understand, realize, perceive, discern
like – similar, equivalent, parallel
like– enjoy, relish, appreciate
main – primary, foremost, dominant
make – build, construct, produce, assemble, fashion, manufacture
mean – plan, intend, suggest, propose, indicate
mean – small, cheap, hurtful
more – supplementary, additional, replenishment
need – essential, necessity, want, require, requirement, prerequisite, basic, must, requisite
new– recent, modern, current, novel
next – subsequently, thereafter, successively
nice – pleasant, satisfying, gracious, charming
old – aged, mature, experienced, used, worn, former, previous
open – unobstructed, accessible
part – section, portion, segment, detail, element, component
perfect – flawless, faultless, ideal, consummate
plan – scheme, design, system, plot
pleasant – agreeable, gratifying, refreshing, welcome
prove – demonstrate, confirm, validate, verify, corroborate
quick – brisk, prompt, responsive, rapid, nimble, hasty
really – truly, genuinely, extremely, undeniably
regular – standard, routine, customary, habitual
see – regard, behold, witness, gaze, realize, notice
small – diminutive, miniature, minor, insignificant, slight, trivial, mean
sometimes – occasionally, intermittently, sporadically, periodically
take – grasp, capture, choose, select, tolerate, endure
terrific – extraordinary, magnificent, marvelous
think – conceive, imagine, ponder, reflect, contemplate
try – attempt, endeavor, venture, test
use – employ, operate, utilize
very – unusually, extremely, deeply, exceedingly, profoundly
want – desire, crave, yearn, long
It is strange how these words seem to crop up all the time in the rough draft of my work and I have to stay on top of them, using my wide vocabulary! The point is, you must make a list of words YOU use too often, and find alternatives or eliminate them if they are not necessary. Believe me, this list of words to watch for and solutions for expressing that thought without being repetitive grows and evolves all the time, just as my writing does.
Many of these first draft bloopers are descriptors -‘ly’ words. Like salt and pepper, they are usually not required in too large of quantities so closely examine your ms to make sure it isn’t so thick with description your reader’s teeth hurt from the sweetness!
Happy writing, and may the over-used words of heck NOT bloop in your manuscript!
‘Like’ me
This weekend my professional Facebook page was suddenly ‘liked’ by 6 people in the space of 5 minutes. I was sort of wondering what was going on, as it was a little unusual. It gets a few likes each week under normal circumstances but this was different.
A few minutes later I got a fb personal message from an author I met through Goodreads. It read:
“This LIKE is being sent along with another like from J***, on behalf of our friend, M*******. She left for a 6 week writing vacation, so we are wanting to surprise her with hopefully 25 more page likes. If you’ll like her page, you’ll get 2 fer 1, and possibly 3 likes for your one to her page.
**PS. Please remember to like from your personal page as likes from fan page to fan page do NOT roll the counter.
>Thank you in advance, especially if you’ve already liked her page. Best of Luck with your writing:)
M***”
I felt like I had just been shaken down for my lunch money. But then I thought, “This is a kind gesture on the part of her friends, but the wrong way to go about it.”
Don’t get me wrong, I like M*******, and while she writes romances, which usually don’t attract me, she writes well enough.
I just don’t like being coerced, and that is what I felt her friends did. It’s all about manners, in this business.
SO – how do we encourage people to ‘like’ our professional Facebook page? After all, we are all trying to get exposure for our books.
In my opinion, people will look you up and like your page as they become fans of your work. You will gain followers, just not real rapidly.
Identify your target market. Are you trying to sell books only to other authors? That is what you are doing when the only place you post the link to your page is in a page-swap forum. If the only people who are ‘liking’ your fan-page are authors, you are shooting yourself in the foot. You are limiting your visibility to a small number of people who most likely won’t buy your book, as they’ve books of their own to write, and you don’t write in their genre.
You need to make it easy for your fans to like your page by posting the link on your blog, and on your Goodreads or Smashwords profile. Have the link on your Amazon author page too! Those places are where people who buy your books will look, and that is how fans will find you.
Identify who your target audience is. Make sure your Facebook link is prominently displayed and let it do its thing.
We live in a society where instant gratification is the norm, and everything wonderful has to happen right now. I wondered, “Do we get some sort of award for having a lot of likes on our fan page?” Not that I am aware of–it’s only a number. The higher your number, the more likely fb will boost your visibility in the news feeds. You earn that visibility gradually.
But for those who are too impatient to wait, they can join a Goodreads page-swapping event, where the participants all go out and like each others’ pages. This is voluntary and I’ve been involved with that. I liked about 50 authors and 15 liked me back. 6 of them used their fan page despite being asked to use their personal page, and their likes didn’t raise my count.
So, that didn’t go as well as I thought it would.
And don’t even get me started about the inconsiderate authors who posted links to their books and pages smack dab in the middle of MY fan-page.
Delete.
Delete. Delete. Delete.
(Die! Die! Die!)
Most of the indie authors I know are lovely people, polite and sensitive. They have a basic understanding of manners. They are a joy to work with, and I would do anything for them because of that. They make up 98% of the authors I have met.
There are those few who are as delicate as battering-rams, and they ruin it for everyone. They are the same people professionally that they are in the real world–immature, selfish, and rude. They meet other aspiring authors in forums and then make all sorts of small requests, expecting that you will drop everything and go out of your way for them, because they are so damned important.
If you choose to be kind to them, don’t expect anything in return, because it’s just not going to happen. The next time you see them will be when they need some other small service from you. “Tweet my book.” “Interview me.” “I just need five more likes….”
The Facebook Fan-page is a thing we have to do in this modern world of self promotion, but it sucks.
I have one and I am keeping it, but I am feeling quite rebellious about it just now.
Filed under Adventure, Books, Fantasy, Humor, Literature, Uncategorized, writing
Thoughts on Internal Monologues
I had a conversation with a friend in my writing group the other day. He paid for an expensive edit, but was not pleased with the results. The editor gave his ms only one fairly good look, and gave him a report with suggestions and ideas, but he was left more confused than ever. She has not worked with him to help him resolve those issues, and wants to be paid for a second look. This was more of a beta read than an edit, and that fact should have been disclosed when he hired her.
The professional editors I know do expect to be paid for their work, but they also work closely with the authors to help their clients turn out books that are finished to the best of their ability, thus giving the author their money’s worth. This involves many revisions of entire sections and lots of back and forth communication between the editor and the author.
When I looked at his ms, I could see one thing that stood out immediately. His characters have a lot of internal dialogue. The editor told him not to set it off with italics, and technically she was correct, but she offered no insight to him on how to correctly portray his character’s thoughts. Unfortunately, with no way of distinguishing it, I found it difficult to differentiate the internal dialogue.
Now don’t get me wrong, the editor was technically correct. The Chicago Manual of Style agrees with her, and in some ways, so do I. As a reader, a wall of italics is daunting, and causes the eyes to get tired. If she was truly acting in his best interest, she could have shown him ways to get around the whole issue of internal dialogue, instead of just saying don’t use italics.
But I do use italics to set off certain thoughts in my own work, so how do I balance this apparent hypocrisy? I have learned to use less internal dialogue, trying to only use it now when it is natural in the context of the scene.
As I look at my body of work, I can see it evolving toward a leaner style of writing, and less emphasis on idle thoughts is key to that style. My early work is rife with internal dialogue. In my recent work there is some internal dialogue, but not as much. The context of the story determines whether it is necessary or not.
In the days before computerized word processing and desktop publishing, the publishing process began with a manuscript and/or a typescript that was sent to a print shop where it would be prepared for publication and printed. In order to show emphasis—to highlight the title of a book, to refer to a word itself as a word, or to indicate a foreign word or phrase—the writer would use underlining in the typescript, which would signal the typesetter at the print shop to use italic font for those words.
Nowadays we have word-processors. Authors can italicize to their hearts’ content and the ms will not be full of underlined words that distract the editor. This has lead to some authors being a bit too free with italics, and I have been guilty of that.
The important thing to remember is that everything your main characters think does not have to be written. When it is necessary, there are ways to get it across without resorting to italics except in the most important instances.
Indie author Karen Fox has an awesome post on common mistakes made by authors. She says, (and I am directly quoting from http://www.karenafox.com/commonmistakes.htm,)
“(Interior Monologues are) very important in writing. Reveals parts of the story not available through dialogue. A powerful way to establish character, but often overwritten. Again don’t explain if emotions or details are already shown through dialogue or action. This should be unobtrusive. Long passages of internal monologue often become ways of telling the reader information instead of showing.
One way to do this is to get rid of speaker attributions. Instead of Why had she said that? Because he drove her crazy, she thought, use Why had she said that? Because he drove her crazy. He wondered what he’d done to make her leave can be transformed to What had he done to make her leave?
Interior monologue helps set point of view. It is not the same thing as description, though the two can blend together. Use impressions obtained through the POV character’s senses. We use our sight, hearing, smell without thinking about it. Your character will, too.
You can use italics to show a character’s thought, but use sparingly. Too many italics are irritating, but they can be a good way to set off a more important thought in the middle of a monologue.”
Internal dialogue is necessary, but not if it is a crutch. Authors tend to be lazy. Once we find an easy way to get a point across it becomes our go-to tool when a particularly tough scene is refusing to unravel for us. We tell ourselves it is “our voice” and therefore it is our style.
Yes, that can be true, but we must never rely on easy tricks to tell our stories. Readers always notice, and it makes our work less enjoyable for them.
Life in the Realm of Fantasy 
