5 Reasons You Should Write Right Now

1. Because time has a habit of going by. If you don’t make your writing a priority — on the same level as your job or your family — it will always come second or third, and you’ll find that valuable days or weeks will go by in between writing sessions. Ain’t nobody got time for that!

2. Because you have a unique story to tell. As creative writing instructors (myself included) tell aspiring authors across the world, no one can tell your story but you. So get cracking.

3. Because it’s an exciting time to be in publishing. A chorus of new voices. A variety of formats. A slew of new author services. Seemingly infinite ways to reach new readers. What are you waiting for?

4. Because you ARE good enough. Silence that self-critic, but good! And even if you think you’re not, write anyway. You might surprise yourself.

5. Because somebody has to be the next Stephen King or JK Rowling. Why not you?

Building Your Brand: Create a YouTube Trailer

On Monday night, in a lesson about marketing, I was discussing with my continuing ed. class at Hofstra the various social media networks out there and how to maximize them when promoting your brand and your work. When I clicked onto my YouTube page, it suddenly seemed so uninviting and, well, unhelpful when compared to my other social media pages. While I’m not a big fan of book trailers, specifically, I do believe videos — of author events, appearances, interviews — can help build a platform. YouTube is kind enough to give you space on your landing page to upload a channel trailer, and it’s a good idea for authors to take advantage of this facet of the page to give viewers a quick glimpse of who they are and what they do. Last night, when I should have been writing — or sleeping — I composed this one-minute video on Animoto that I think does the trick for my needs, at least for now:

Although anything goes with this kind of thing, my advice is to keep your trailer lively, keep it short, preferably under a minute, and keep it professional, showcasing high-quality photos, videos or commentary. You only have a few moments to capture a viewer’s attention, so put your best foot forward.

Do you have a YouTube trailer? If so, post it or the link in the comments. I’d love to see it!

Just. Do. It.

At the beginning of this month, I announced I would finish the first major edit of In the Red, my current work-in-progress, by April 1. And, lo and behold, I’m still on schedule. I’ve been editing 25 pages a week, so by tomorrow I’ll have edited 125 pages. Thrilled doesn’t even begin to cover how I feel. There have been so many stops and starts with this book that I had forgotten the secret to getting things done: Just sit your butt down and do it. Commit. Commit. Commit. Make writing/editing your book just as important as feeding your kids or working. That’s it. Just. Do. It. I knew this when I wrote Baby Grand. I’ve always known it, but somehow lost my way. Well, I’m back. And determined. I know the next 100 pages will be the toughest — the middle always is. That darn muddy middle. But my hope is that I’ll report at the end of February that I’ll be at 225 pages and ready to hit the homestretch.

In other news, my nonfiction book Daft Punk: A Trip Inside the Pyramid (St. Martin’s Press) was published on January 21. Very exciting! You know how people talk about the summer of 2013 being The Summer of Daft Punk? Well, it was doubly so for me, as I spent those three months, as “Get Lucky” raced up the charts and broke records, researching and writing this book. When Daft Punk won Album of the Year at the Grammys last Sunday (among other awards), I was smiling to myself as I recognized all their collaborators who were standing up at the podium with them: Paul Williams, Todd Edwards, Nile Rodgers and DJ Falcon, among others. I had learned so much about them that I felt as if I knew them. :)

What are you up to these days? Tell me what you’re working on. Together, we can get our WIPs done and toast our successes.

Writing Tip #118

Idea capture is not writing, but it IS the first step to writing. A coaching client of mine, in response to an email I sent to her offering suggestions on a chapter, decided “you are right. I am throwing out most of Chapter 2.”

I was confused. I didn’t think I said she should.

She had submitted a chapter to me that had some issues — with pacing, clarity, information dumping — so I made quite a few notes and suggested she take another look, never thinking she’d decide to start again.

Of course, that is her choice, and she is very brave to do so. Starting over — whether it’s a chapter, several chapters or an entire book — is always a disheartening prospect, whether you are a new or a seasoned writer. The thought of killing those darlings, crafted with such care over hours, days, weeks or years, can be painful. But sometimes it’s necessary.

But not always. As I wrote to my client regarding her decision to scrap the chapter: “That’s totally up to you. There’s a lot of good stuff throughout the chapter that may just have to be fine-tuned. I think what you say…is true: ‘Idea capture is not writing.’ But it IS the first step to writing.”

Remember, there are times when you don’t need to throw out the baby with the bathwater when a simple siphoning will do.

I told as much to my client. Just so she knows. In the end, the decision will be hers.

 

Writing Tip #117

One space after a period. I am always surprised when I read the manuscript of a new coaching client or when I work with a new freelance writer and his or her copy has two spaces after each period. Gosh, I haven’t put two spaces after a period since I typed my college term papers on my handy-dandy new typewriter (the one with the cool erase ribbon!). With the advent of personal computers and desktop publishing, the two-space rule went bye-bye, so try to remember, if you can. It’s one of those things that dates you as a writer.

Meet Author Katie McNight

Today’s featured debut author is Katie McKnight, whose husband underwent surgery at the age of 25 in order to repair a hole in his heart. “This was the first grown-up problem in our marriage,” she told me, “and I had a difficult time dealing with it.” What Katie decided to do was keep a diary as a way to express her fears, and soon her journals turned into fictional stories. Twenty years later, and after completing online writing courses, Katie’s first novel, Secrets Revealed, was born. And her husband’s heart is healthy!

Name: Katie McKnight

Name of book: Secrets Revealed

Book genre: Suspenseful romance

Pub date: August 1, 2013

What is your day job? I work in the middle school my children attend. They love that…not! I also work as a reference verifier for a background firm.

What is your book about? The book is about a Broadway actress named Melanie O’Shaughnessy and her new husband, Hollywood heartthrob Ryan Carlisle. Work obligations force the young couple to live on opposite ends of the country a good part of the year. With their latest projects completed, they leave work, fans and the paparazzi behind to enjoy an overdue holiday vacation. When a secret from Melanie’s past brings the celebration to a horrifying halt, Melanie fears a public scandal. What she doesn’t realize is that someone in her life is masterminding a plan for murder.

Why did you want to write this book? I wanted to quiet the characters in my head. It still mystifies me that an idea can haunt you until you get it on paper.

When Are Things ‘Supposed to Happen’?

One of my writing coach clients was working on the first few chapters of her novel and was struggling with knowing when things were supposed to happen?

What should be in the prologue? Should there even be a prologue? When does the action start? Is there a “thing” that’s supposed to happen in the first chapter?

As far as I’m concerned, there really are no rules to fiction writing. I know there are lots of books out there that say otherwise, but for me it’s about just getting the story down — even in a loose, rough form — which is hard enough without worrying about all that other stuff.

A writer-friend of mine keeps changing her manuscript to whatever folks tell her will make it sell. “You can’t just write for yourself,” she told me.

I disagree. I think, in the beginning, you really do need to write for yourself in order to tell the story you want to tell. I’ve shown early manuscripts of Baby Grand to enough editors to know that everyone — even editors who work for the same publisher — have different opinions, and if I changed Baby Grand every time someone had a criticism I wouldn’t be writing the book I wanted to write. That is not to say that I didn’t change the manuscript at all. I did, but only when I felt the criticism was valid regarding the story, not the book’s marketability. I really believe readers are open to more kinds of stories than publishers give them credit for.

It’s true, though, that you should know who your audience is — adult fiction, women’s fiction, romance, YA, children’s books. If you really, really want to write a horror novel, good for you but you shouldn’t expect to be selling it to middle schoolers.

But as far as formatting your book for an audience, or employing literary devices, and all that stuff you’re “supposed to” do? You’ve got plenty of time to worry about that. For now, just write.

New Writing Tips Series on YouTube?

For months, I’ve been toying with the idea of doing a series of YouTube videos about writing, similar to the writing tips I have here on Sundays. If you search through YouTube you’ll find all kinds of tips — some really good and some really bad. I thought I would throw my hat into the ring, and, as a test run, I took my very first writing tip from this blog and created a short video for it. Not sure if it works. I’m trying to make these tips helpful, but also personable. Casual and fun, but informative. Here’s the first one. I’d love to hear your thoughts. Is this worth pursuing? Or should I stick with type tips?

Writing Tip #111

Invite your writer-self to your evening out, but don’t let her monopolize it. One of the most difficult things about being a writer is trying to live your life in the moment and, at the same time, try to mentally record everything that you see for your current and future projects. There’s a constant struggle between living and observing. Last night I attended a local fire department event with my husband, and it just so happens that one of the characters in my next novel is a volunteer firefighter — which meant that although my intention was leave my writer hat at home for the night and just have a good time, I observed lots of things during the evening where the hatless writer in me would whisper in my ear, Oooh, that’s good! Remember that.

Generally, what I do in those situations is whip out my cell phone and then email myself whatever observation I’m trying to capture, so that I know it’s safe and preserved and then I can go back to the living part of the evening. Sometimes I’ll take my phone out ten times within the span of a few hours, but then once the business of writing is done I can go back to my herb-crusted salmon and dinner conversation. You might think that’s a bit disruptive (or obsessive), but for me it’s better than spending the entire night worrying that I’ll forget whatever it is I want to remember — I’ve tried it, and in the end I neither live nor observe, because I wind up spending the night worrying and forgetting.

When Authors Pull an Anne Rice

Yesterday, the internet was abuzz with news that author Anne Rice posted a link on her Facebook page noting that a blogger had given her novel, Pandora, a bad review and proceeded to rip up the book (literally) for a decoupage project. For those of us who follow Rice on Facebook, she wrote her customary “Comments welcome” above this post, which she often does to promote discussion about various things — usually current events. Although she didn’t encourage anyone to, needless to say, many of Rice’s 740,000+ FB fans barged over to the blogger’s page and let her have it. And some of the comments left for this blogger were pretty hurtful.

Anytime an author interacts with a reviewer, particularly one who has given a bad review, sparks are bound to fly. I agree with the first line of this Mary Sue blog post which discusses the Anne Rice incident: “If there’s one valuable lesson a creator can learn, it’s not to engage with reviewers.” I just feel like there is nothing to be gained by confronting someone who posts a bad review. Everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion and shouldn’t have to defend it or justify it.

The other day I got a lukewarm review for Baby Grand. Hey, it happens. But what especially bothered me about this review was that there was something written that was factually incorrect — it never happened in my book! A friend suggested, “Why don’t you just write a comment under the review and tell the reviewer what’s incorrect?” I shook my head. I told him that I find it lame when authors do that for the reasons I stated above. As I wrote on Anne Rice’s post: Better to just shrug one’s shoulders, I think, and move on.

The other day, a blogger wrote (for the life of me, I can’t remember where — I read so many blogs!) that his grandfather told him never to look strangers in the eye, particularly when you see them acting erratically. You just keep walking. The blogger said he uses his grandfather’s advice when dealing with internet commenters — who, essentially, are strangers.

I agree. When faced with a poor review, rather than pull an Anne Rice or give into the temptation of confrontation, an author’s best recourse is to steer clear and just keep walking.