Further to this post, I wouldn't say that I've had a change of heart as much as a change of perspective about book covers. It suddenly occurred to me that what I like in a cover is of very little importance. It's what everyone else likes that matters. I'm not trying to sell my book to me; I'm trying to sell it to you. If everyone else likes the kind of covers that I grimace and turn away from, then that's probably what I should go with.
Well, there's no accounting for taste; but there is for my tax returns...
Friday 12 September 2014
Tuesday 9 September 2014
WIBBOW wobble
Heh! As some of you might know, "WIBBOW" stands for "Would I Be Better Off Writing?"; a marketing precept I cribbed from Kristine Rusch. (If you're an author and don't read her stuff, particularly her business advice section, you definitely should. She's been there and done that and knows the ropes better than most.) In essence, WIBBOW boils down to time management. Am I wasting time Tweeting/writing a blog post that relatively few people will read and far less will care about, when I could be writing a short story that (potentially) many people will read and care about? The answer is usually "Yes", of course. Social media is unlikely to actually harm your sales, (unless you are a truly obnoxious personality, of course,) until it actively distracts you from getting your work out there. At that point, you should probably quit updating your status and get back to work.
So with that in mind, I should stop waffling! I have a few short stories on the go and I'll be aiming to get them in some professional (5 cents-per-word +) markets with big readerships. I'll keep you posted when they're out there.
So with that in mind, I should stop waffling! I have a few short stories on the go and I'll be aiming to get them in some professional (5 cents-per-word +) markets with big readerships. I'll keep you posted when they're out there.
Tuesday 2 September 2014
Drivelling under the influence
Not a post about writing whilst drunk, which isn't something I'd advise. (I mean, best case scenario, you'll come out with a load of crap. But what if it's brilliant? What if you find you can only produce works of wit and poignancy when you're soused? For your liver's sake, it's probably best not to find out if your "Mr Hyde" is a literary genius.) Anyway, no, this is a post about the other authors you read while you're writing. Those influential whisperers who creep into your own prose while you obliviously hit the keys.
I've heard it said that everyone starts their own writing life by aping another author. I certainly did. (Raymond Chandler in my, and many other people's, case.) But after that initial, faltering "parody" stage, we naturally begin to develop our own voices. A bit of pride creeps in once we start to venture off the well-trodden path of imitation. We might, eventually, even fool ourselves that we're beyond outside influences and henceforth develop the silly notion that we're being entirely original.
We're not, of course. Our literary forefathers stand behind us in a line and frown at our hubris.
If you read -- hell, if you receive communication your fellow man at all -- you can't help but be influenced. Whether it's the words themselves or simply the rhythm of language. Something someone said to you or a mannerism you poached for a character in one of your stories. It lends a sentence veracity if it describes something that really was done or said.
But whilst standard advice to all authors is to read a lot, I've discovered the necessity to be discriminating about it. An earlier, unpublished novel I wrote was largely written whilst resentfully hacking through "Atlas Shrugged". (I did this solely because I thought that I ought to. Seldom a good reason for reading anything of that length.) And, without any conscious effort, Randian extended monologues began creeping into my own work. Every so often, one character would climb up on a soapbox and start making themselves disagreeable by haranguing another. The worst part was, I could see that the show/tell ratio was out of whack, but couldn't seem to break out of it whilst I was reading that damned book. In the end, the novel was serviceable enough, if bloated, but I disliked it and it sits on my hard-drive still, waiting to be cut up for spare parts.
So, yes, I think writers ought to read a lot. But only the sort of stuff that helps them.
I've heard it said that everyone starts their own writing life by aping another author. I certainly did. (Raymond Chandler in my, and many other people's, case.) But after that initial, faltering "parody" stage, we naturally begin to develop our own voices. A bit of pride creeps in once we start to venture off the well-trodden path of imitation. We might, eventually, even fool ourselves that we're beyond outside influences and henceforth develop the silly notion that we're being entirely original.
We're not, of course. Our literary forefathers stand behind us in a line and frown at our hubris.
If you read -- hell, if you receive communication your fellow man at all -- you can't help but be influenced. Whether it's the words themselves or simply the rhythm of language. Something someone said to you or a mannerism you poached for a character in one of your stories. It lends a sentence veracity if it describes something that really was done or said.
But whilst standard advice to all authors is to read a lot, I've discovered the necessity to be discriminating about it. An earlier, unpublished novel I wrote was largely written whilst resentfully hacking through "Atlas Shrugged". (I did this solely because I thought that I ought to. Seldom a good reason for reading anything of that length.) And, without any conscious effort, Randian extended monologues began creeping into my own work. Every so often, one character would climb up on a soapbox and start making themselves disagreeable by haranguing another. The worst part was, I could see that the show/tell ratio was out of whack, but couldn't seem to break out of it whilst I was reading that damned book. In the end, the novel was serviceable enough, if bloated, but I disliked it and it sits on my hard-drive still, waiting to be cut up for spare parts.
So, yes, I think writers ought to read a lot. But only the sort of stuff that helps them.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)