Writing for the Money and Loving It

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Kelly Clarkson, the first American Idol winner, did an interview where she was quoted (paraphrased) as saying, "When my agent asked what I wanted, I replied I want to become so well off I never have to make a career decision because I need the money." And she got her wish.

So sad, few professional authors ever reach that level and I certainly hadn't gone beyond needing the money when my agent told me my editor suggested I set my next paranormal in Scotland. I'm not too crazy about using settings or plot devices that are currently hot. There are a number of reasons why that I'm not going to talk of in this blog because, more troubling, the suggestion contained a hint that perhaps the story could be straight romance, no paranormal at all.

Well . . . readers either praise me for it or complain, but they all seem to know I'm not real great at writing straight, tender romance. I adore a good love story quite as much as anyone else, but I not quite as good at writing them. What I think I am good at is crafting stories where the love is so pressured, the characters so endangered, that emotions rise to unbearable heights, forcing the attraction to go beyond everyday conversations and conventions.

 

My biggest fear as a writer is that I'll create a boring book, which is a true risk if I'm pushed to write a story that I consider boring. Which is why I couldn't help myself, I just had to throw in a paranormal element.

A time bubble, which sent me out to research Einstein in the children's books section I always visit first when I'm researching something I'm a dummy in. The great man's take on time truly is radical – he calls it the fabric of time – and numbers of readers didn't understand my best stab at explaining it. But you don't need to understand the mechanics of time to understand the disturbance that this handful of thugs brought to the Scottish paradise when they crossed through the fragile gate. Not that these hardy people weren't up to the battle. Let's face it they could squash these twenty-first century fops like bugs. But the ruler of the paradise had said no fair killing outsiders, meaning I had to create a bigger conflict

Just Love Those Dragons

Which brought me to dragons, and Ormeskirk, the scourge that was destroying the peaceful life in this floating kingdom. But was that truly what he was?

This book turned out to be so much fun to write, proving that "needing the money" maybe isn't such a bad thing after all. THE DRAGON HOUR not only had me researching stuff I'd always been interested in, it stayed on the Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Borders Books bestseller lists for nearly two years, plus going out to win me the PRISM award from the FF&P chapter of Romance Writers of America.

That was quite a surprise. I'd been up for the PRISM before, but lost out to my good friend, Christina Skye. I was so sure I wouldn't win I didn't even write an acceptance speech, something my friends really balled me out about. But that didn't mean winning wasn't just thrilling, it was astounding. How, I wondered, could a book that threatened to be so flat end up as an award winner? And I know I'm not the only author that has happened to.
 
Which puts me in mind of Christina Dodd, whose book cover for CASTLES IN THE AIR came complete with a three-armed woman. That's not a typo, this historical heroine did indeed have three arms. Fortunately, none in naughty places, but very visibly present. So what did Christina do? She kept her wits about her. Rather than complaining and crying "Why me?" Christina went to her email loops and sent readers straight out to see this unusual and startling mistake. The book became a bestseller.

How about you? Have you had a surprising success? Or maybe it didn't happen to you directly, but you know someone else who had that experience.  If so, let me know by dropping a line in the comments section or sending me an email. If I get enough of them, I'll do a dedicated blog about these unique situations and surprisingly delightful outcomes.

In the meantime, I retain my fondness for Ormeskirk. Without him, there would have been no story at all except for a micro-war between a handful of thugs and a village full of Scots. Ho-hum.

Until later,
–Connie

Website: http://connieflynn.com 
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ConnieFlynn
Email: connieflynn@yahoo.com
Subscribe to Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/qOHbT

Writing Great Dialogue in the 21st Century

by Connie Flynn      

At the turn of the twentieth century, the few books that dealt with fiction writing advised writers to use, oh, thirty percent dialogue and seventy percent narrative.  By the mid twentieth century it was a forty/sixty split and by the end it was a minimum of fifty/fifty.

So what about our new shiny century?  What is the currently advised ratio of dialogue and narrative?  I’m not certain, actually, but my best guess is that the attitude surrounding dialogue these days is excess is not nearly enough. 

I’m kidding, but only sort of, because the ratio of dialogue to narrative has increased.  At a minimum it’s  sliding to the other side.  The average book now is at least fifty/fifty, with some moving to forty/sixty.  Part of the reason for this increase is the popularity of deep third person point of view, which often makes it difficult to write compelling narrative without making your character look obsessive.

Those who hold back from writing dialogue tell me they don’t know how to make characters sound like two real  people talking.  Well, it isn’t all that complicated.  What is complicated is how to make it interesting, how to make it move the story.  And it’s important to master the skill.  Nothing endears readers to a story more than dialogue that sounds natural while at the same time relating what the story is about. 

DIALOGUE, THE PARADOX
What makes good dialogue hard to produce is that it must read like real people talk and also not read like real people talk. Good dialogue simply creates the illusion of being natural while performing the function of telling your story.  It often takes years to develop an ear that translates to good writing. Here are a few tips on how to get a head start and what to avoid and on writing like real people talk.

AVOID BAD DIALOGUE
Avoid formal language or strictly adhere to the rules of grammar.  Think about it. Nobody talks that way.

Use contractions. Exceptions might be made if English is the speaker’s second language, but in normal conversation people mostly run their words together as in “we’re agonna go to the concert ta'nite’” Okay, so you’d never say that, and you certainly wouldn't make your characters do it, but I wanted to get your attention.

Be sure your characters don’t call each other by name all the time.  For some reason even experienced authors who know better do this frequently. Maybe it helps us keep track of who's speaking but real people seldom call each other by name – usually only to get the other person’s attention or when they’re angry. Remember your mother when you’d done something wrong, well there you go.  Most of the time she called you by a sibling’s name, right? 

TO WRITE GOOD DIALOGUE
Keep it short.  Most of us speak in incomplete sentences to get our ideas across and there’s a back and forth thing going on.  However, we do know people who open their mouth and go on and on and on . . . and (yawn) on.  You might even have one of them in your book. This is where you present an illusion rather than the real thing.  Give that gabby character a few run-on sentences, have the other character try to get a word in edgewise, then have the point of view character think about how this character hogs the conversation. That’s pretty much all it takes. When the first character shows up again, provide the reader with a light reminder, maybe give that character an extra line or two more than the others in the scene.  Next thing you know when that character comes on scene, readers will already know they’re tiresome gabbers.  We all know people like that and it will make them sympathize with your focal character.

Have characters give indirect answers. Dialogue that is too direct is called on-the-nose and tends to be predictable and therefore boring. Character one asks character two if they are attending a meeting that night. The obvious answer is yes or no, with perhaps an excuse. To make the dialogue indirect, have character two say something that leaves the question partly unanswered. For instance, “What time is it?” or “Where’s it at?” Or even, farther afield, “Is Becky going?” Which actually isn’t so far afield because we’ve all done something like that, and that’s why this techniques makes dialogue real.   

Try to provide two to three clever lines per scene –- cliches turned on their heels are good, Or   an unexpected insight. Or a reply that’s so far from what’s expected that the reader is jarred or amused.  It doesn’t have to be funny, although it can be, but it does have to be unexpected and off-the nose. The reason I suggest only two or three lines is this: If all the dialogue is clever, none of it is.  Save these lines for important moments in your scene, which the lines will make memorable. And give them to your protagonist, not the spunky sidekick.

In the meantime, if you want your dialogue to improve start listening closely to what people say and try to figure out what they actually mean.  It’s a fun way to spend time at the party and all those people you talk to will sing praise about how well you listen. Odd, I know, but then again, in today’s world, a good listener is a rare thing.
 

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Buy Now

A Scottish paradise lost in time is invaded by 21st century thugs. During a robbery gone wrong, Luke carries his wounded cousin through a window in time, killers hot on their heels. Caryn rules this land and knows Luke has a duty because he's the legendary Dragon Slayer. Her duty is to convince him.

Connie Flynn, bestselling, award-winning published author of ten novels and three short stories in several genres — paranormal romance, romantic comedy, action-adventure and contemporary fantasy/sci-fi. She also teaches fiction writing. She lives in Arizona in the Valley of the Sun in a townhouse located on the edge of a lush green park..

               

Is There Gold in Them There Hills Part IV

This is the last in a series of four posts about how to succeed in independent publishing on Kindle. 

So, have I determined if there really is gold in the Kindle store world? Yes, I believe it's still there, but  a lot like the San Francisco gold rush days, it's not laying on the ground anymore waiting for people to scoop it up. The indie publishing world is now bigger than Kindle. The only reason it had ever shrunk, though, was because of the KDP lure that tied authors to publishing exclusively with Amazon.

Personally I don't believe authors can afford to put all their eggs in one basket, no matter how much gold may still be down that glittering mine. There are other venues for selling your books, and the question now becomes, can you be a successful independently published author?

I believe you can. But it's no longer a matter of just throwing together a book, slapping it up on Amazon and waiting for the checks to come in. Fact is, I'm not sure it was that easy anyway. The famous moneymaking writers who were spotlighted for having earned mouth-watering returns actually worked their butts off.

Keep the faith It's out there.

I actually think those of us coming behind will find it easier to earn a substantially adequate income because the pioneers have shown us what works and what doesn't.

What works is what has always worked in book selling . You have to put it out there, you have to tell people about it, you have to ask people to tell people about it, you have to ask them to buy. And most important, and so often said it sounds clichéd, you must write good books and lots of them.

What doesn't work is trying to game the system, tweaking numbers, getting bogus reviews, putting shoddy writing up to increase the number of titles for sale.

Right now, I'm becoming clearer every that all of this is about the writing. No matter the angle I look from, I can see that it's the writing that enriches me. Coming up with a new idea, tweaking it so it becomes a story that works, writing it page by page, meanwhile staying in touch with present and potential readers through the various social media. Those are the activities that make me happy and energized.

That's why I'm moving most of my books back to Barnes and Nobel, Smashwords, I-Tunes, Sony stores and the various library outlets out there. I may even sell them right off my own website. I'm in it for the long haul. I'm not here to get rich. I'm here to generate an income that frees me to have and do the things I need to maintain the peace of mind to write my books. If you're reading this, it's my guess you understand how outside distractions make it very hard to write the good book you need to succeed.

If you stayed with me this long, I'm going to give you a few more things that you need to be successfully indie published. We finished off last month with me extolling the virtues of Twitter. Hopefully, you've already signed up for the program and installed HootSuite to help you manage it. Be sure to read at least some of the tutorials. They're fairly good and it will speed up your progress with both Twitter and HootSuite. I did neglect to mention bit.ly (http://bitly.com/) This little program condenses your web addresses so they don't take up so many characters in a tweet. HootSuite also has that function, but bit.ly keeps track of how many clicks you get on their urls and that's very useful for keeping track of your promotions.

This is the time to bring up the remaining heavy duty marketing tools: the newsletter, the website, the blog and your Amazon author page. These are must haves if you hope to succeed.

You must have a website or a blog to have a central place to communicate to your readers. The advantages of websites are that the pages are static. You can put up content that doesn't change much and it won't move on with time. This is the place for your long bio or letter to your readers, your books and covers, the buy links. Put buttons for your social media links on every page of your website and remember to also link to your blog.

Although it requires a bit more diligence about updating, I also recommend that you list your appearances. You can put them on your Amazon page and announce them on your Facebook profile, but your website is where people go when they have a purpose. They've heard of you and want to check out your books or read your biographies or find out what social networks you're hooked into.

Now it's time to establish your 'brand.'  If you haven't done any of this already or even written a book, that's perfect. Because now is where you'll establish the tone and attitude and colors that will eventually announce you even before you've mentioned your name. Okay, that may be a little optimistic, but the idea is that you want your website, blog and newsletter to follow the same color scheme. Promo copy should communicate the same message from media to media. The headers and backgrounds of your Twitter and Facebook pages should also harmonize.

This may be enough to have you running from indie publishing altogether, or conversely, it may be a very exciting challenge.  If you're still with me, here are some links to help you get started.

Websites:  http://www.networksolutions.com/web-hosting/index.jsp
        http://www.godaddy.com/hosting/web-hosting.aspx?isc=hos1gb

I use Go-Daddy but lots of my friends use Network Solutions. These are some of the places to get your domain name and to where you'll upload your website onto the internet.  You will still need to design and compose the website or have someone else do it.  There are free programs that will help you put together your own site if you don't already have web designing experience. This is the most technically demanding of the marketing tools you need and these programs help guide you through. Here's an example that had a good rating but I can't personally vouch for it..  Build a Website   http://download.cnet.com/BlueVoda-Website-Builder/3000-10247_4-10380081.html

Blogs: 
These two companies have free blogging sites.
Set up Blogger: https://www.blogger.com/tour_start.g
Set up Wordpress: http://wordpress.org/
I use Blogger. I have tried Wordpress, but found it way too complex and it doesn't give you the freedom of color schemes and fonts the way Blogger does.
Check them both out because the Blogger/Wordpress debate is kind of like the P.C./Apple thing.  Here's a comparison chart you may find useful (or maybe not): http://pulsed.blogspot.com/2007/07/blogger-wordpress-chart.html

Mailing List: http://mailchimp.com/features
As said, you'll also need a mailing list. Here's a link to a very useful site that is free as long as you don't want their more advanced features. The mailing list is your primary tool for keeping in touch with readers. Currently, I'm still using the free program and with a list of about 650 subscribers it will probably serve me for quite a while. But I'm aiming to add 5000 new subscribers over the next couple years, which means I'll have to provide a lot more useful content than I do now, so I'm working on that and at that level I'll probably need a much more sophisticated mailing list program.

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If you've enjoyed these blogs or have missed some, here are the links to the first three posts:

Part I http://muchcheaperthantherapy.blogspot.com/2013/02/is-there-gold-in-them-there-hills.html
Part II http://muchcheaperthantherapy.blogspot.com/2013/03/is-there-gold-in-them-there-hills.html
Part III http://muchcheaperthantherapy.blogspot.com/2013/04/is-there-gold-in-them-there-hills-part.html

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Click Here to Buy

A Scottish paradise lost in time is invaded by 21st century thugs. It was a robbery gone terribly wrong, ending in Luke Slade and his wounded cousin being swept through a window in time, with  killers chasing in behind them, trapping them all in 1672.

Caryn McLaughlin rules Lochlorraine and when Luke appears she knows her worries will soon be over. He is Luke the Dragon Slayer, none other, and his duty is clear. Her duty is to convince him.

Connie Flynn, bestselling, award-winning author of ten published novels and three published short stories, also teaches fiction writing at Mesa Community College. She has been reissuing her legacy books in the Amazon Kindle store and her online bookstore is growing.  Busy polishing a recently completed new novel scheduled for mid-summer publication, she also had another new work in progress. She writes in several genres — paranormal romance, romantic comedy, action-adventure and contemporary fantasy. She also writes mystery and suspense as K.C. Flynn. Look for several new releases from Connie/K.C. in 2013.

Is There Gold in Them There Hills? Part III

This is the third in a series of four to five posts about how to 

succeed in independent publishing on Kindle.  

If you have an interest in reading the previous posts, these are the links:

http://muchcheaperthantherapy.blogspot.com/2013/02/is-there-gold-in-them-there-hills.html
http://muchcheaperthantherapy.blogspot.com/2013/03/is-there-gold-in-them-there-hills.html

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SEE AND BE SEEN by Connie Flynn

I've been a lot more gabby with my blogging lately and I had to reread part II to see where I left off.  With Twitter, of course. It's no secret that I love this media or that I fully understand why many people don't. After all, 140 characters and you have to count the spaces between words, too? Whose crazy dea was that?

If you agree with that question, you've told me that you're living the Twitter-land fantasy.

So what is the Twitter-land fantasy?

That Twitter is all about building relationships. 

Am I saying that it isn't? Oh, yes, I am. Think about it. Do you really care if a stranger is having a relaxing moment on his beautiful patio or that a woman just found a cool place to get a manicure or that a--  Nope you really don't, do you? If you want relationships you go to Facebook.

Twitter is a marketplace. It's about seeing and being seen, another reason why that photo is so important. Because people like to do business with people they like, but on Twitter they don't want to be your best friend. They just want to know you've been around a while and will probably stick around. They do this by seeing your tweets.

It's also about letting people know what you have to offer, so don't be shy. Just be willing to retweet and engage in conversations because that helps the other tweeter be seen. Trust me, they'll do the same for you.  Don't let your tweets devolve into personal matters. Some people do use Twitter entirely for personal reasons, but most of them won't stick around because they, unlike you, are not there to do business.

So what's this content tweet people are talking about? It's a tweet that gives back without asking for something in return. Content tweets are hard, which is why so many of them are a bit inane. Quotes are good, but if you can come up with something original that's even better. Personally, I like to promote other authors and author venues -- conferences, appearances, things like that. I occasionally talk about my tai chi classes, mostly because the positions have such intriguing names. I could never come up with White Swan Spreads its Wings on my own.

Sorry, got off track. But here's the deal about content tweets. There's some arbitrary rule about 4 content tweets for every sales pitch. Oh, come on! Is anyone paying attention to how the twitter stream works? It's a chronological listing of every tweet put out that somehow includes your address. Unfortunately, you have little control over what goes in that stream, other than that it will only contain tweets from people you follow and follow you.

So the deal is that if you tweet someone and they retweet, their tweet goes to their followers and many of them will be people who aren't following you.

One to two content tweets a day are enough. Then do at least ten marketing tweets. (Yes, I know, I know, that's totally against everything you've read but most of that advice came from Twitter-land).  And unless you're a tweet-a-holic, it's also a pain to have to go in ten times a day to tweet. That's why you need HootSuite. Its basic service is free and while I've been toying with subscribing to its upgraded service, so far basic HootSuite has filled my needs. The best thing it does is let you schedule your tweets. Launching a book? Schedule a tweet every hour for 24 hours (remember Twitter never sleeps) and see what happens.

(See my post on Imagination Gone Wild about my experiment with heavy tweeting.)

My point, however, is that most likely the same people will not see each tweet unless, of course, it is retweeted within your twitter stream. This is a good thing. An endorsement that comes from others. Respond in kind even if you haven't read their book. Remember, it's about seeing and being seen.

Are there behaviors that turn people off on Twitter?  Definitely, yes. The first is any attempt to sell when you respond to a mention or retweet and responding is something you should definitely always do. But never ask someone to buy your book or product. They know you're selling something, so let the tweet be a billboard and just include a link to buy. Mind your manners when you send out those 140 characters.

The other turn-off is ranting about a favorite pet peeve or even saying anything negative unless you're in a private list where everyone is doing the same, and probably not even then. Remember what happened to the politician who tweeted his photo while wearing only his whitey tighties.

Okay, so now you know the purpose and the perils, it's time to get your followers. Your first goal should be to have 1000 followers. It took me nearly a year and a half to do that because I didn't realize two things. Lots of people drop you if you don't follow back. And Twitter makes it  easy to follow. Just click on "followers," found in the upper left-hand box on the "Me" tab and go down and follow everyone who is listed as following you.

This is what works to build your followers.

1. Follow everyone that Twitter recommends, which they continually do.
2. At first, when people follow you reply with a thank you -- later you won't have time  -- and retweet them if appropriate because these are the people that will help you be seen.
3. Do not weed out your list at this time. 
4. Follow everyone who follows you.  
5. Search out who follows your followers and follow some of them.
6. Do this at least once a week. 
7. When someone mentions you in their tweet, reply to thank them.*

*Mentions show up when you click the @connect tab at the top of your Twitter page. 
When I started doing these tasks, I increased my follow numbers by 300 in just a few weeks and hit and exceeded a thousand shortly thereafter. I fully expect to exceed two thousand by the end of the year. More followers mean more peeps to see and see you and a wider audience for your books or products.

For authors, proper use of Twitter has become essential.  Amazon has been clamping down on the prevalence of free books offers and recently tightened the rules of payment for Amazon Associates who run websites promoting free books.This may or may not be bad, but the major pitfall is that it will make it harder to drive the traffic on Amazon to push up your rank. It's becoming more up to us to drive that traffic. See my May post for my take on how this is going to shake out for indie authors.

In the meantime, explore Twitter. I only know a tenth of the ways to use this service so run searches to learn more. 

I

Website, http://connieflynn.com
Subscribe to Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/qOHbT
Blog: http://imaginationgonewild322.blogspot.com/
Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/ConnieFlynnAuthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ConnieFlynn
Email: connieflynn@yahoo.com


I have been writing fiction for so long I can barely remember when I didn't. Sometimes people ask where I get my ideas and I can't comment too much on "ideas" either, since they come one at a time from different sources. THE DRAGON HOUR came from a suggestion that I set my story in Scotland, which to my mind was an overused setting. I wanted to spice things up so I threw in a dragon because my writing motto is never be boring. .I'm hoping I succeeded . THE DRAGON HOUR will be available on Kindle on April 10th.

A Scottish paradise lost in time is invaded by 21st century thugs