Thoughts and tips about the craft
While it’s good to practice thankfulness all the time, every day, during the month of November many people think of gratitude in a special way. It’s great to take time to focus on specific things you’re thankful for.
I have a lot to be thankful for. And in particular I’m very thankful for books.
Writing books may be the hardest part of being an author, but actually selling books is even harder. I have links to all my books right here on my website, and other places online. Earlier this month, some friends and I got together to try selling our books in person at a live event.
Some months ago my critique group (me and three other women who have been meeting regularly for over eight years now) decided to formalize our group with a name and a theme. We’ve always supported each other in our writing, brainstorming, and editing processes, and we decided to expand that support to the marketing side of things. None of us are marketers (we’re authors, gosh darn it, not sales people), but we went with the idea that four are better than one.
Continue readingLately I’ve been coming to better understand myself as a writer, and I’m coming to terms with the likely probability that I will never be a “popular” author, or even a “best-selling” author. Yes, part of that is because I dislike marketing, but without marketing it’s hard for the public to know about you or your books. (All of that is a topic for a different blog post, but anyway…)
The biggest part of why I’ll probably never be considered a “popular” author is because I don’t follow trends. I never have, actually. I was always “uncool” in school because my clothes, and favorite books, shows, and music, were never what was popular or trendy at the time. Sometimes I’m just late to the party with trendy things (like finally watching a popular TV show eight years after it ended). But most of the time, whatever is popular and trendy just never interests me.
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A commonly-shared writing tip is “don’t edit as you write.” I understand this advice, and for the novice writer who is trying to finish their first short story or novel, I believe it’s good advice.
The idea is that you finish a project before you start to polish the project. Actually finishing can be tough (for both the novice and the seasoned writer), and saying “don’t edit till you’ve finished the story” is meant to keep the writer on track. This advice advocates moving forward to the point of writing “The End,” rather than spending time and mental energy on polishing the perfect first page and leaving a story incomplete.
So yes, “don’t edit as you write” can be good advice for certain people in certain circumstances. But like a lot of writing advice, it’s not a one-size-fits-all sort of thing. I edit as I write; in my early days of writing, I quickly learned that the “just keep writing and edit later” thing wasn’t going to work for me.
I self-edit, revise, delete, and make all sorts of changes while still writing my first draft because, quite frankly, I can’t think straight if I don’t. As I write, new ideas come to me as the plot, characters, and story world develop. (Yes, I outline before I write – sometimes in great detail. But even so, the act of writing generates new possibilities that have to be handled on the fly).
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In my previous blog post, I went over some simple world-building tips for anyone writing fantasy who is creating a magic system for their world. No matter how unique you want to make your fictional world, things within the story should follow the rules of the world you’ve built. This creates consistency and helps build trust with the reader; this makes your story more believable, no matter how fantastical some elements may be.
There are a few more basic concepts that I think can help writers to build the structure of magic within their fantasy world. Answering these questions can help you think more deeply about how you want magic to work in your story.
How does the society of your world view magic? Is it just an everyday thing, or reserved for special people or special occasions? Is it viewed positively or negatively, or kept a secret? A society that casts spells with the same casualness and frequency that we check our smart phones would be very different from a society that hunts down magic users and puts them in prison. The cultural ideals regarding magic should be a huge element in your worldbuilding.
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StorytellerGirl 