Why You Should Be a Writer

I recently read a post by Susanna Breslin on Forbes (6/12/2012) about why you shouldn't be a writer. Susannah has one excellent point. If you want to get rich, writing is not the way to do it, unless you have some other accomplishment to your credit, or you've been involved in a terrible disaster. There are so many books available today, both published by the traditional press and self-published, it's amazing that anyone is selling well. However, becoming a millionaire isn't the only reason to become a writer.

One point she makes that I disagree with is that you shouldn't write because you're not good at it. Many, many people aren't really good writers. In my estimation, that includes a fair number that are published by large publishers. Writing is a craft that can be learned. The problem is that a great many writers think a creative imagination is plenty, stick words on paper and you're done. It doesn't work that you. If you want to be a writer you have to spend time learning how to do it well. If you wanted to be a brain surgeon, you wouldn't start by cutting people's heads open. (Thankfully, there are laws against that.)

A second point that I agree with is that writing is hard. Yes, it is hard to write well, and it takes time to craft a story, poem or even a non-fiction piece that accurately portrays your view of the world and is something another person would like to read. However, the fact that it's hard is not a reason not to do it. Many worthwhile things are hard to do. In fact, in my experience most worthwhile things are difficult. That is no reason to not attempt them. It's a call to recognize that you have to work that much harder to succeed.

Finally, my own reason for being a writer is that it makes me happy to create something. I feel wonderful when, as happened this weekend, my neighbor, who I'd give a book to, told me he'd give me an A+. He felt the book gave him an experience he wouldn't have had otherwise, and he enjoyed the ride. If you want to please other people and yourself, you have to be ready to work hard and learn your craft, but it's not a reason to give up your dream of being a writer. Just don't expect to get rich.  

The Importance of Consistent Details

Ever wonder why someone would stop reading your novel? There are several reasons, but one is inconsistent details. This is particularly destructive of reader trust in a mystery or thriller, but it can turn readers off in other genres as well.

In my first novel, I had an inconsistency that once I spotted it drove me crazy. I missed it after numerous readings, my husband missed it and so did my editor. I had a horse out on the racetrack and in the stall at the same time. The discrepancy drew reader's attention away from the dramatic events that were unfolding in the stable, because the tendency is to reread the paragraph and preceding paragraphs to find out whether you've missed something.

I recently reviewed a book that purported to be a mystery. The reason for killing one of the victims was that the person witnessed a scene. The problem was that the scene was also witnessed by several thousand people on television. It make the rationale for the killing to keep the scene secret very weak. At that point, I became much more critical of the novel. It I hadn't been reviewing it, I would have stopped reading right there.

For me, the issue of consistency pertains to trust. You are trying to build your reader into the fictional world you're creating. If inconsistent and obviously impossible things happen (Unless this is fantasy of science fiction.) your reader stops trusting that your world is real.

It's hard to find all the detail slips. After a certain number of reads, we tend to skip right over them because we know what's going to happen. There are some tricks to avoid this. Put the manuscript away for several weeks or a month before rereading. This technique is what allowed me to find my own inconsistency. Other readers can help, but don't count on anyone else to find your mistakes. Editors are wonderful, but it's up to the writer to make his or her product the best it can be.  

Brainstorming: A Way to Rescue Your Novel

My novel, The Yellow Diamond Caper, wasn't going anywhere. I couldn't get the sequence of the plot the way I wanted it, and I was having trouble fitting in all the technical information without doing an information dump. I stewed for awhile and then enlisted my favorite critic, my husband.

I prepared for the brainstorming session by writing a detailed plot summary. This helped with some of the places where things weren't working right, but it wasn't there yet. My husband is a wonderful, long suffering, collaborator. My next step was to read him the plot summary. He identified the places where it didn't work for him. Then we talked about how to fix them.

Two heads are definitely better than one. It would have taken me a long time to see the gaps he identified. I took notes while we talked and then rewrote parts of the summary. Now I feel like I can move ahead.

If you plan to use the technique, preparation is important. I couldn't have gotten good responses without a very detailed plot summary. It's also good to have someone who thinks slightly differently than you do. My husband understands technology better than I do. He could easily point out areas where what I was suggesting wasn't feasible. As soon as he pointed them out. I knew he was right, but I wouldn't have seen them as quickly.

When we hit a place where neither of us was quite sure how to procede, we talked about a variety of ideas, listed them and then analyzed how they contributed to moving the plot forward. The whole process took about two hours, but from my standpoint it was worth every minute. I'm a firm believer in working through most of the plot by yourself, but there comes a time when you need help. The only caution is: Don't feel threatened by what your collaborator suggests. Nothing is set in concrete. Feel free to explore ideas and reject those that don't fit your image of the story. After all, you are the one in charge.   

Magdalena Ball, Author of Black Cow

Today my guest is Magdalena Ball, author of Black Cow. Magdalena Ball is the author of the newly released novel Black Cow, Sleep Before Evening, Repulsion Thrust, and a wide number of collaborations, anthologies and poetry chapbooks. Grab a a free mini flip book of Black Cow here: http://www.bewritebooks.com/mb/BlackCow/BlackCow.html
For more information on Magdalena visit:http://www.magdalenaball.com

I asked her some questions about writing the book.

How did you get the idea for Black Cow?

Moving to an inexpensive house in Tasmania and becoming self-sufficient was actually something my husband and I looked at doing a number of years ago.  In the end, we decided not to pursue that, but the idea stuck with me as rich fodder for fiction (especially since I still get the odd real estate brochure from an agent that has yet to remove my mailing address), and I do sometimes like to intellectually play with taking a different path in my fiction. I’ve always been a fan of the BBC show The Good Life as well, and although I didn’t model James and Freya on Tom and Barbara Good (though I definitely pictured them in my head from time to time as I was writing), I liked the black comedy aspects of the self-sufficient dream.  For me too, I was drawn to their desire for simplicity, for cutting down on rampant consumerism, and for getting back to a more coherent and less chaotic lifestyle.  For a long time my working title was the “secret greenie book.”

Did you have any problems writing the book, ex get stuck somewhere? have to change the plot? characters wouldn't behave the way you wanted?

For me the problem is almost always about time management.  There were times when I got distracted away from the writing altogether – to poetry (my favourite diversion), to short stories, to plotting a different novel, but whenever I sat down and forced myself to focus, to set time goals, and to write to schedule, I didn’t have too many problems. 

You chose a traditional publisher. I know you've also used self-publishing for your poetry. Could you discuss your reasons?

Though there are strong reasons for self-publishing today and I’ve enjoyed self-publishing my poetry books, I do find that traditional publishing still offers some significant benefits that I wanted for my novel.  One of the key ones for me was distribution.  It’s certainly not impossible, but it’s hard to get decent distribution channels if you self publish.  With big, time consuming labours of love like a novel, I felt that the need for this kind of mainstream distribution/exposure was important.  My publisher BeWrite Books (www.bewrite.net) has a strong distribution network, particularly for ebooks, and I certainly didn’t want to have to try to recreate that myself.  Quality control was a key issue for me as well.  Having professionals edit, format, and pull together the book was important for me.  Yes, you can buy much of that these days, but not only is it expensive, it’s time consuming and I didn’t want to spend my time doing that (would rather spend the limited time I have writing).  I did choose a relatively small indie publisher (the same as for my first novel Sleep Before Evening)that I knew would provide the kind of attention that authors like me who aren’t celebrities would rarely get at a large house. 

My Review of Black Cow

The Archers are ensnared in the golden chains of their affluent life style: designer clothes, an expensive home, luxury cars, private schools for the children, and it's killing them.

Black Cow is a beautiful story of changing gears in midlife. On the surface, James and Freya have everything. But their world has turned upside down. The recession has hit both their industries, James , the CEO, has to lay people off. Freda can't sell expensive houses. Finally, health concerns, their failing marriage and out of control children force then to reevaluate what constitutes happiness.

Ball presents a sensitive picture of a family struggling to stay together and find fulfillment. The characters are well drawn and believable, the kind of people you know. They could be your family. This beautifully crafted story explores the question of whether changing your life can bring the happiness you seek. You can change where you are, but you can't change who you are, or can you? Can you get back to being the person you once were?

I highly recommend this book. It presents a modern dilemma in very readable terms that will allow you to look at how one family solves their problem. It could change your life.

Buy Black Cow on Amazon

Black Cow Trailer

Can This Story Be Saved?

Years ago, I wrote a short story that I liked very much. I couldn't find a publisher, so the story sat in my drawer for a couple of years. An opportunity came along to write a romance novella for inclusion in an anthology. I still liked the story, so I dragged it out and revised the word count upward by adding a new ending.

When the anthology project fell through, I began to think the story was jinxed. I liked my revised plot, but it needed more excitement, so I added a different ending and turned the romance into a romantic thriller. Still there were no takers. So the novella went back in the drawer for a couple of years.

I just finished a major project and didn't want to start a new book immediately, so I pulled out the novella, printed it out and reread it – not bad, but not great. So now the question is to spend the time revising it or to let it go.

My choice right now is to revise. It promises to take more time than I expected, but I think in the end it will be a good project. Some of the faults I found in the manuscript are:

• The opening is slow and doesn't have enough foreshadowing to pull the reader forward. I hope to solve this by putting more of the mystery up front.
• The middle of the story doesn't work well now that I've changed the ending. Some of the scenes and characters are superfluous.
• The ending is too skimpy. I rushed it because I didn't have a good handle on the outcome. It need significant changes.

So can this story be saved? I think so. Al least I will try. The first tasks are to make a good time line. The events have to lead into each other since this is now a mystery. The second task is to revisit the character profiles and make sure the characters fit. This includes adding some new characters and deleting others. I also need a good plot summary. It should fall out of the other two tasks.

It's going to take work, but I think it will be fun. I'll keep you up to date on progress.

Liebster Blog Award

What a thrill to receive the Liebster Blog award from Annie on her blog (The Slow and Steady School ofWriting). I'm honored. Check out Annie's blog. She has wonderful articles on writing, writing competitions and writing picture books, plus good interviews.

The Liebster Blog award originated in Germany.Liebster means dearest or beloved, and Liebe is love. The award is meant to encourage readership of small, lovable blogs with fewer than 200 followers.

In accepting the Liebster Blog Award, the recipient agrees to:

*Thank the person who gave them the award and link back to that perosn's blog.

*Copy and paste the award to their blog. I'm putting it in a permanent place on my sidebar.

*Reveal five snippets about themselves that readers may not already know! So here goes:

1. I love rain and cloudy skies.
2. I have six grandchildren and another coming in April.
3. I love palm trees and have about 150 of them.
4. I love mystery novels, particularly writing them.
5. I love figuring out how to do things with the computer, like make address labels!

Thanks, Annie, you made my day. 

Some Thoughts on Proofreading

I'm thinking about proofreading today because I”m doing a final read of the next book in the Montbleu Murder series, A Dead Novelist at Canterbury Falls. Proofreading well is probably one of the most important things you can do for the success of your book. Of course, you need an intriguing plot and likeable characters, but many people are turned off by a poorly edited book. In saying this, I can't claim to have conquered the problem, but I'm working at it.

I review books and belong to several book review sites. It's amazing how many people comment on the grammar and poor editing of books. It turns some people off an author completely. I have to admit that it's not fun to be distracted from reading by finding errors. They tend to leap out at you. So here are a few suggestions.

1. Finish your book, put it away for awhile then take it out and do a thorough review. I thought my latest book was finished until I put it away for three weeks. The errors just leaped off the page.
2. Proofread in a different format. If you wrote the book, or article on 8x10 double spaced pages, try 6x9 single spaced. The new format doesn't let your eye skip words the way it does when you're familiar with the text.
3. Read the piece aloud. This does two things. Reading aloud lets you hear as well as see the awkward places. It also slows the eye so you're more likely to catch errors.

Proofreading is particularly important for self-published authors. Readers are more likely to consider you incompetent, if the book is riddled with errors. I have seen books published by major publishers that contained a fair number of errors, but somehow people tend to forgive this more easily, possibly because they're supposed to be experts.

I hope these tips are helpful. I'd love to hear your tips. I could use them on my next book.