10 Tips for Fiction Writers: Editor Spotlight with Liz Broomfield

Hello dear readers! Please welcome my guest poster, Liz Broomfield: editor, writer, and wonderful resource for getting your book done write (er, right).

An editor’s advice: ten tips for fiction writers

As a busy editor (among other roles), I work with fiction writers, many of whom are considering self-publishing. I’ve seen the same issues time and again, both with their work and with their wider endeavours in getting their work out there, and I’d like to share with you ten tips that can

via Flickr Commons

help you to write a good book and get it out to its audience.

1. Join a writing group
   Everyone needs peers, and writing can be a lonely game. At a writing group, whether it’s online or face-to-face, you’ll learn a lot about how to write and how other writers write, and have your work critiqued if you wish.
2. Be professional
   I’ve blogged about this elsewhere, but if you’re serious about your writing, you need to treat it as a professional job, allocate time and resources to it, and take yourself seriously. If you don’t do that, how can you expect other people to?
3. Spelling and grammar do matter
   Many people seem to think that just sticking down your words anyhow and sending them out into the world is all you need to do. OK, I’m an editor, but how many times have you seen amusing signs and menus with typos shared on the internet, or read criticisms of books that are riddled with errors at the expense of getting the story across? Don’t be that person. Be the person whose reviews mention the good writing!
4. Continuity matters
   Keep tabs on your characters, timelines, locations, everything. You can use software to help you, or an Excel spreadsheet or even index cards. A good editor will pick up when your character’s eyes change from blue to green, they age one year while 20 years pass in the world (and it’s not sci fi) or they break their arm in one scene, get all plastered up and then wave their arms around in happy abandon the very next day (all true examples!), but if you keep control of it all, your book will just hang together better.
5. Get a team on board
   As you might have gathered, I’m suggesting using an editor here. There are different kinds of editing, but having someone else, a professional, look over your words is vital. I do it when I write, and I’m an editor myself! It’s also worth getting a book cover designer. I know that makes all the difference, as sales of both my books jumped when I got the covers designed and matching.
6. Use beta readers
   In addition to editors, have a few people who are familiar with your genre read your book to give feedback from a reader’s point of view. You can ask them a set of questions or leave it to them. Check if they’re OK with you quoting their (good) opinions in your publicity material; prospective buyers will want to see reviews to check the quality of what they’re intending to purchase.
7. E-books and print on demand
   I strongly recommend publishing your book as an e-book first. You can upload the files yourself to Amazon, Smashwords, etc., so there’s little expense or technical knowledge needed. My rule: my book must pay for its own print version, so I won’t do one until online sales have made enough for me. If you do want to go into print, go for print on demand rather than having boxes and boxes printed in advance that you’ll never sell. Many publishers, as well as designing the text and setting up the printing, can set up the fulfillment for you, so they take the orders, print the book and send it out. Be careful and compare prices, but this is still better value than paying upfront for printing.
8. Learn about marketing
   Educate yourself about marketing your book. Just because you have written it, it doesn’t mean people will buy it! I recommend the Creative Penn website for masses of information and guidance.
9. Social media is your friend
   Get on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn. Build groups of friends, join communities, share other people’s content and blog posts and book links and they’ll share yours, too. Which brings me on to—
10. Guest post, send review copies and build karma
    Consider harnessing the power of book bloggers and other writers’ online platforms. Write guest posts full of useful content. Send a free copy of your book to a book blogger and ask them if they’ll review it for you (many of these have guidelines, so do take note of those). If you have a book review blog or a Goodreads account, or your own writing blog, allow others to guest post for you. Do it reciprocally, as Tammy and I have. Good karma leads to more recognition leads to book sales and opportunities!

Good luck in your endeavours. Be professional, work hard for that overnight success, and share your good fortune with others.

Biography:
Liz Broomfield is an editor, proofreader, transcriber, localiser and writer. She’s passionate about helping her clients and about helping people to transition to self-employment the safe way. Her e-book, Going It Alone at 40: How I Survived my First Year of Full-Time Self-Employment is out now, and you can visit her at www.libroediting.com for business, writing and Word tips and www.librofulltime.wordpress.com for her own personal journey plus book news and book reviews.

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All content copyright unless otherwise specified © 2013 by Tammy Salyer, writer. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to use short quotes provided proper attribution is given.

Guest Post: Living with the Dreaditor

G’day dear readers. Join myself and fellow editor Liz Broomfield at LibroEditing today where I’m discussing the trials of being both a professional writer and editor. A sneak peek:

We all know that voice. The one in our head that says, “My Godiva, woman, did you really just string five adjectives in a row to describe your character’s appearance?” Or, “What-what-what!? You do know that dangling modifier makes you sound like a complete goon, right?” We’ll call that voice “The Dreaditor”—the evil, amorphous being that skulks within the crevasses of our brains and tries at every turn to squash our creative voice into so much jumble-y pulp.

For a lot of writers, the inner editor is worse than having Spock after he’s downed ten cups of coffee quoting bad lines from Star Trek directly into our ears in a bid to create order out of our creative chaos. “Are you sure it isn’t time for a colourful metaphor?” ~ Spock,”The Voyage Home” Or, “Nowhere am I so desperately needed as among a shipload of illogical humans.” ~ Spock, “I, Mudd”). Continued here.

Liz asks some very compelling questions that I thought I’d pass on to you all as well. Do you also hear the voice of your Dreaditor every time you write? How do you manage to not let it stifle your creative flow? Can you edit as you go along?

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All content copyright unless otherwise specified © 2013 by Tammy Salyer, writer. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to use short quotes provided proper attribution is given.

Writing for Recognition

Writers write for two reasons. (1) A thirst for recognition. (2) And to release the baying hounds of unchecked and untrained inspiration that run amok inside our brainmeats and threaten our (questionable) sanity.

It was just under eight years ago that I stopped writing simply to release the hounds and gave more than a split self-effacing second of thought to the possibility that someone, somewhere might actually want to read what I have to say someday. That was the moment I started writing for recognition.

Yet, after the first two novels began drowning in ever-expanding puddles of their own spilling and dissolving plots, I finally quit beating my head against the many questions that kept arising (no. 1 being: why is this so hard???), and decided to seek professional help. For the writing dilemmas I was facing, that is.

Subsequently, I took a lot of creative writing and editing classes, read a few books on the subjects, and, most importantly, wrote a lot of ridiculous, often hilariously silly, prose. Still, recognizing the embedded lessons of even silly and ridiculous prose is to a writer’s benefit, and makes that prose valuable.

And now, two completed and three to six (but who’s counting?) uncompleted novels and several short stories later, I’m penning the third book in my science fiction trilogy, and finally trying to do it in a logical, structured way. You’d think that someone who spent three years crawling through the mud under concertina wire and jumping out of olive-drab-painted cargo planes for the army would have the structure thing down, but, like most stubborn and willful children (even grown ones), I somehow aspired instead to reject everything the military required of me. Except for remaining fluent in acronymese.

Which brings me to the current topic. Over the last few weeks, I’ve been bouncing around ideas for Contract of War’s anchor scenes (and here’s a great summary at From the Write Angle of what those are). This process, as many of you know, is an agonizing battle of generating wonderful plot ideas, which, after the requisite analysis, you realize aren’t so wonderful and murder with shameless savagery. Because no idea is ever good enough until one IS.

When my gray matter finally started to ooze with sweaty exhaustion even worse than Lawson Craddock felt at the recent Amgen Tour of California, I had a flash of inspiration that told me to step back and first figure out what the hell it is exactly that drives and motivates my characters. Perhaps knowing who they are will help me better know what story eventually needs to be told about them. The notes below are a result of this process and come from using writing techniques taught by the late Jack Bickham in Elements of Fiction Writing – Scene & Structure (and if you write novels and haven’t read this book, I can’t help but wonder if you also like to drive a car with your feet).

SPOILER NOTE: As these are notes for Contract of War, it’s safe to reason that these characters will all be featured in it. Some of the mischief they are planning will likely also be in the notes. So, if you don’t want to know what may go down, best to just leave it at: there’s a congregation of main characters (most you’ve met), and they be wantin’ somethin’.

Character Self-Concept Files

What is each character’s self-concept, and what turns that on its head?

1. Aly
Aly’s self-concept is that she is a woman of action; a doer and a survivor. She was inadvertently recruited as a medic during the war thanks to her affiliation with Vitruzzi. When she ends up still in that role at Broken City, it begins to chafe at her. Her natural cynicism starts to claw at her nerves. When Quantum and Vitruzzi/Brady’s fight for leadership starts to grow, it compounds her own restlessness. She is not a politician and simply wants a regular, 3 squares/day lifestyle where she and Karl can live in relative sanity and peace. If that can’t happen, then she wants to be busy and free from overt dictatorialism (not a real word, but it should be!).

2. Quantum
Quantum refuses the rule of law or rule of authority, or the idea that humanity is capable of order. He is both a technophile and a caveman. Broken City’s mini-government is getting under his skin because he believes it is just the seed for a new version of the Admin. He’s an interferer, but thinks of himself as proactive and a pragmatist about human nature. An egomaniac who thinks machines are better than people, thus machines should be the ultimate goal of people. When he perceives the colony regressing into an atavistic reinstatement of Admin control, he begins looking for ways to sabotage.

– Incidentally, he and Aly share this concept of authority.

3. Vitruzzi
Vitruzzi is a compassionate realist, leader, and reluctant about nothing that serves to keep peace and order. Unflappable and stern, she regards herself as levelheaded and a fair judge. It’s when her own decisions cause harm that she starts to lose touch.

4. Brady
No nonsense, no passes, no breaks. He’s a bulldog and a humanitarian that treats any gray area as an outright enemy. The pain and losses he’s suffered have turned him hard, but the inner Brady is one hundred percent finest-quality human. He is loyal and just, but has a hard time admitting when he’s wrong. Stubborn, like Aly, he believes himself to be a guardian of what is right, but can be too quick to decide what that is.

5. David
David is a joker and a mediator who doesn’t like to fight, but can handle himself in any kind. He reasons lengthily before deciding on a course of action. His loyalty to his crew can be rigid to a fault. He’s quick to think the best of people, but still slow to embrace them in his inner circle or confidence.

6. Karl
Like Aly, Karl is a doer. Stoic and driven, his main goals include keeping his friends safe, keeping out of the way of trouble, and enjoying what life has to offer. Having been a soldier and wounded, most of his life experience has trained him to value rules and be realistic about consequences and avoiding recklessness. Yet he’ll turn himself inside out to come to the aid of those he is loyal to.

The great news is, after doing this exercise, those anchor scenes are finally done!

Anyone want to share some of the steps you undertake as part of your pre-writing process?

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All content copyright unless otherwise specified © 2013 by Tammy Salyer, writer. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to use short quotes provided proper attribution is given.

Randomly Epic Videos of the Week

Just for fun, here are a few things that kept me giggling, thinking, and rejoicing this week.

We’ll start with rejoicing, aka, *SQUEE*. A short video I took at yesterday’s opening stage of the Amgen Tour of California. For those who don’t know, I get a little nutty about the whole cycling thing.

Next, Internet and humanity guru, Ze Frank. And cats. Enough said.

Commander of the International Space Station, Chris Hadfield, blows our minds with his rendition of Bowie’s “Space Oddity.”

Another cat. This will make you squirm in uncontainable hilarity.

And finally, on a serious and somber note, here’s a great TED Talks episode on reframing the language we use to discuss violence.

Okay, and because you deserve it, a bonus video from a college class in Saskatchewan regarding the portrayal of both genders in advertising. They do an awesome job of flipping gender roles in this and making you really think about what you’re seeing in the media every day.

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All content copyright unless otherwise specified © 2013 by Tammy Salyer, writer. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to use short quotes provided proper attribution is given.

Turning Flat Stanley Into Stanley Tucci: A Take on Texture

When you look at a flat black-and-white stick figure drawing, you see exactly that. A one-dimensional, basic, mono-chromatic image.

smoothdude via Wikimedia Commons

Often, the idea for a new novel or story begins exactly the same way. A single line of thought—what would happen if a butterfly’s wings contained a map to the greatest treasure on earth, or, if defense-deployed micro-computers became self-aware  autonomous actors, would they form nano-coalitions that could infiltrate and control human minds?—is usually the same as our stick figure drawing. But we, as storytellers, are not content with drawing mere sketches. We want texture.

But, what is texture? Merriam-Webster clears that right up.

: something composed of closely interwoven elements
: essential part : substance
: identifying quality : character
: the disposition or manner of union of the particles of a body or substance
: the visual or tactile surface characteristics and appearance of something : a composite of the elements of prose or poetry

Ah, yes. Composite, interwoven elements, disposition or manner of the particles of a substance. What this is telling us is simple: Texture IS storytelling.

As writers, particularly when we’re just starting to cut our teeth in the world of words, we learn to break down each component, or particle, of writing into discrete steps and practice those until we get comfortable. Character description, scene setting, the overall plotting and outlining of an engaging story arc, world-imagining then building; and then the more abstract elements of setting a mood, deciding on a tone, and developing a unique writing voice.

When looking at these individually, the act of writing can begin to seem formulaic. Yet it’s the craft of writing that takes each of these items and turns them into a layered, compelling story that brings readers into the unique, multi-faceted world you have created. Combining the particles of a story’s substance means not simply putting readers into your characters’ shoes, but shoving their too-big feet into the humid, smelly, compressed insoles of your characters’ ragged chukka boots with mismatched laces, one of which bears a suspicious stain on its musty canvas tongue, and neither of which will EVER make it past the threshold of a black-tie party.

And that, dear readers, is what makes a texture so important. Texture is not merely detailing the facts, it’s flourishing the facts, the sensations, the pace, the who-what-when-where-how-why, and the dark matter of the universe in sweeping, calligraphic brush strokes that turn flat words into a three-dimensional masterpiece.

A bit more on texture from the experts:

Chuck Wendig – FUCK THE STRAIGHT LINE: HOW STORY REBELS AGAINST EXPECTATION

The status quo is a known quantity and so it does not demand the attention of our description — we know what a chair looks like, a bed, a wall, the sky, that tree. The straight line is as plain and obvious as a pair of ugly thumbs. We know to describe instead the things that break our expectation, that stand out as texture, that are the bumps and divots and scratches and shatterpoints of that straight line. We describe those things that must be known, that the audience cannot otherwise describe themselves, that contribute to the violation of their expectations. We don’t illuminate every tree in the forest: just that one tree that looks like a dead man’s hand reaching toward the sky, pulling clouds down into its boughs, the tree from whence men have hanged and in which strange birds have slept. We describe the different tree. The tree that matters. The crooked tree that doesn’t belong.

David Farland’s Daily Kick in the Pants—Storytelling as a Fine Art

For me, a plot is like the skeleton of a dinosaur. You could wire up the vertebrae of a T-Rex, hook up its femur and skull and other bones, and get an idea of what it looked like, but even a completed skeleton only hints at the monster. You need to put muscle on those bones to get a real idea of its composition, and then flesh to get the textures of the creature, and you’d need pigments to see its coloration. You’d need to finish by putting in things like eyeballs and nostrils, and little cowbirds living on its back as they fed on parasites. In short, the bones are just a skeleton. Even if they’re put together perfectly, it won’t bring your story to life.

Artists at that time in the mediums of poetry, music, and painting were also trying to discover new ways to express themselves, so that we had various experiments cropping up—poetry that was un-metered or un-rhymed, music that was cacophonic or avoided self-resonance, and paintings that sought to draw out the viewer’s emotions by the use of color and texture rather than by portraying any realistic images, and so on.

Note: For David’s fans, you may not know that his son was recently in a terrifying accident. If you’d like to send David words of encouragement, or help with his son’s ongoing medical expenses, please visit: http://www.helpwolverton.com/.

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All content copyright unless otherwise specified © 2013 by Tammy Salyer, writer. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to use short quotes provided proper attribution is given.