To Review or Not To Review

I have a bit of a dilemma that I'm sure ya'll can help me solve. Last week, someone I admire (I paid to take his class once) recommended a book written by a former student. The premise looked fun. Reviews on Amazon gave the book five stars and awesome comments. On Goodreads, there were only three reviews, but they were four- and five- stars with nice comments. To top it off, it was just $2.99 for the e-book. I felt compelled to buy the book and read it on the Fourth of July. Yes, I read the entire thing in nearly one sitting (I had to go watch the kids blow stuff up for a few minutes in the front yard and offer the appropriate oohs and aaahs when the pretty colors lit up the night sky). 

(Photo courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net)

When I finished, I felt a major let-down. It was an okay book, but not a five-star book. I'd give it two stars.

I seriously thought about writing a review. Then I DID write the review. A whopping five-pager. Then I took out all the spoilers (that I'd used for examples) and trimmed it back to a more respectable four paragraphs. Now I face the question: Should I post the review on Goodreads, Amazon, and/or my blog?

It just so happens I read two blog posts recently about the pros and cons of book reviews. Kristen Lamb says authors shouldn't do book reviews on other authors. We see the man behind the curtain. We know what goes into novel writing, so our critiques aren't fair. We ruin the magic. Plus that whole "If you haven't got something nice to say" thing, and I'm a firm believer in that one. I don't want to offend anyone. Words are powerful, and I could easily crush someone's spirit with gentle words that basically say "that sucked."

To bolster the idea of Not Posting my review, another friend said, "What if that agent who's looking at you seriously knows that author and they're friends? Or worse, what if the would-be agent WORKS with that author?" I doubt they're working together, but it doesn't negate the fact that I could possibly offend the agent I want to represent my works to the publishing world. I think she'd be less inclined to sign me on if I hurt her feelings.  

On the other side, Kat Heckenbach said in her blog that reviews are for readers, so they can make informed choices on the books they purchase (or check out from the library). If five-star reviews are the only ones that get published, and those who didn't like the book keep quiet, how can potential readers get a well-rounded review of the book? Her point is proven perfectly in this instance--there were only good reviews of this book on Amazon and Goodreads. If I'd read a few negative reviews, I might not have purchased the book. In fact, if someone had put in a spoiler or two about some of the immoral behavior in the book, I definitely would not have purchased it.

Furthermore, Kat says, how will authors know what to fix in their next book if no one points out the mistakes they made in the previous book? As an author, I know exactly what mistakes the author made in the book that made me dislike it. If I shared those in my review, she could learn from my thoughts and not do them again. But that makes me feel arrogant. She's published and I'm not. Why should I think I have successfully identified all the errors? Maybe they're not errors, they're just a sign of my ignorance of the publishing field. 

So I face this dilemma. Should I put my review out there for the world to see, or keep it to myself? Please share your wisdom! 

-Sonja

O Captain! My Captain!

I am pleased to have Melody Steiner as a guest blogger through the month of July. Set aside your Saturdays for an awesome read. I am also posting on her site every Saturday if you're interested in what I have to say about marketing. Here's a bit about Melody and what she has to say:

Melody Steiner enjoys the simple things in life—her husband, her kid, and good books about robots and aliens and crazy tech. A sci-fi and fantasy enthusiast, she's managed to mush all her favorite things together into a haphazard conundrum that she likes to refer to as a "novel." She's represented by Nicole Resciniti of The Seymour Agency. You can tolerate her musings by visiting her website, http://www.melodysteiner.wordpress.com or follow her Twitter account: @melody_steiner.

Sometimes a writing career can feel as unsettling as a ship trapped in still waters. The sun is bearing down, there's not even a hint of wind in the air, and the food and water supplies are running out. All around you, there's nothing but broad, open, mysterious seas. And your eyes are getting incredibly tired focusing on the horizon as you wait wait wait for something to happen. Anything. Another friendly drifting ship to boost your moral. An island so you can stop for a while, restock, and recharge. Or, the ideal situation, for the wind to kick up again so you can go where you are meant to go.

Writing is a lot like this at times. Writers can be every bit as neurotic and frenzied as they wait for their "wind" to blow their careers into motion. So while you're in that limbo, yearning for the magic something to happen so life can move forward, here are a few tips: 

1)     Remember who's the captain of your writing career—you. It can be easy to blame the industry, the market, the recession, but the truth of the matter is that you are your own worst enemy. The most productive and powerful thing a writer can do is write. Don't get bogged down and distracted by the blame game or else you'll find yourself in a mutiny situation. Bad things come of emotional mutinies. So instead, just do what you were meant to do.

2)     Remember the end goal. Is it glory and fame? Is it money? Is it publication? Is it writing because you enjoy the act of writing? Or is it writing with the goal to learn, improve and grow? Whatever your motivation, envision that final destination and hold on tight. It could be a rocky ride, but you know the adage: "You'll miss 100% of the shots you don't take." 

3)     Look back to appreciate how far you've come. Maybe you've only been seriously writing for two years. Maybe you're going on seventy years of perfecting your craft. However long, there's nothing more gratifying than pulling out the old manuscripts and laughing (wincing) at the clunky dialog, the poorly constructed sentences, and the overused adverbs to give you a sense of perspective. With each manuscript you write, you really are improving.

Good luck on the journey, folks. There's no telling how long you may be stuck at sea. Some people feel the breeze again after five minutes, while others wait a lifetime. But if the worth of any career is directly proportional to how dedicated you are to it, a long wait may equal an even sweeter payoff when you finally do feel that light breeze against your cheek.

-Melody

Adding Tension to Every Scene

In her book Writing a Killer Thriller, Jodie Renner says every scene should have tension/conflict. To prove her point, she quotes a bunch of famous people:

"In fiction, the best times for the writer--and the reader--are when the story's main character is in the worst trouble. Let your character relax, feel happy and content, and be worried about nothing, and your story dies." --Jack M. Bickham.

"Conflict is the magnet that draws reader interest, the discomfort that demands our attention."  --Donald Maass

"Drama is life with the dull parts left out."  --Alfred Hitchcock

Renner says, "Every single scene in your novel should have conflict of some kind, whether it's actual arguing and fighting, or just dialogue with an undercurrent of inner doubt, disbelief, resentment, indecision, turmoil, or angst. If a scene has no conflict, either rewrite it or delete it." But she doesn't leave us there. She has some tips for adding tension.

1. "Start with an inciting incident and bridging conflict." If the opening paragraph has meaningful and intriguing conflict (but not necessarily the main conflict of the story), your reader will stick around long enough to find the main conflict. The protagonist has to be relatable, or likable, or otherwise sympathetic for this to work, but I've gotten ahead of myself because this is the next point.

2. Offer a protagonist the reader will worry about. If the reader doesn't care about the hero, he/she won't get sucked into the story the way they need to and might not stick around for the good stuff you've got planned for chapter 3. Your hero must be fabulous: "Likable, charismatic, resourceful, smart, strong--but vulnerable and conflicted." A hero the reader will cheer for and worry about.

3. Include a worthy antagonist the reader can hate. He (or she) needs to be "multidimensional, clever, determined, and nasty enough that he's worthy of your hero." In many ways, the antagonist needs to be stronger than the protagonist so when the final confrontation appears, there's doubt about who's going to win. 

4. "Write in close third-person POV." This helps the reader feel emotionally engaged with the hero because they see through her eyes.

5. "Create real conflict, not just accidents or coincidences." A car accident is exciting, but it's impersonal. One car accident is believable. Six isn't. So stack some real opposition against your hero that's deliberate and planned, not some freak accident or random bad luck. When the hero has a chance to fight back, he grows and develops.

6. "Create complex problems with escalating conflict." If your hero has a hangnail, the reader doesn't worry. But give your reader a real challenge, and the reader will be hooked. Raise the stakes, make things harder for the hero, show him struggling and learning and striving and never giving up. Don't offer an easy answer, or you'll frustrate the reader. Make it appear as if there's no way out. As you toss out conflicts for the hero, make them grow in complexity. If you start with the hardest one first, you'll lose the reader.

7. "Create subtle or overt tension, resentments, or competition even among friends, family members, co-workers, or allies." Don't rely solely on the villain to thwart your hero. Family, friends, neighbors, and casual acquaintances can also cause discord, jealousy, angst, resentment, competition, and frustration.

8. Include tension in dialogue. When you have two people with opposing agendas, you've got the makings of great tension. As James N. Frey said, "Decide you will have fresh, snappy dialogue and not a single line of conversation."

9. "Throw in some pressures and time constraints." I love the ticking bomb scenario, where there's a deadline that looks unbeatable. 

10. "Vary the level of tension--write in highs and lows." If you've got constant edge-of-the-seat tension, the reader will get exhausted. So vary the pace. Even low-action scenes can show the hero's inner tension, his worry, fear, confusion, frustration. As James Scott Bell said, "Give your readers some breathing room... but when they breathe, let it be with a tight chest."

Open your current work-in-progress and choose a scene you think is boring. Now use one (or more) of these tips to add tension to the scene. Share your success in the comments section--nothing makes it easier to delve into work when you read of someone else's success!

-Sonja

Using Pinterest to Market your Novel

Beginning this Saturday, I'll be guest blogging at Melody Steiner's site, where I'll be talking about marketing. But I want to begin the discussion today. I'm currently in the span of suck known as The Waiting Game. I've written a bunch of truly awesome novels, and I've queried every agent in existence, but no one's jumped at the chance to represent me to the publishing world. I'm getting close, but I'm not there yet. I won't give up--it will happen eventually. And when it does, I'll need to have a marketing plan. If not a plan, then at the least I should have some coherent thoughts regarding the topic. So I've begun to research marketing strategies for first-time authors. By research, I mean that I've dug through all the blog posts I've saved to scrounge some information. I'll share that acquired knowledge here and at Melody's site throughout the month of July (or until I run out of stuff to say).

 (This graphic courtesy of Pinterest)

Today I want to discuss using Pinterest. I'm new to it--I just signed up last week. I created a few boards, got started on pinning stuff to my boards, and realized how quickly Pinterest can become a time suck. I spent nearly an hour on it my first day! It was fun. It was addictive. And it's full of juice potential as a marketing tool. Erin MacPherson was a guest blogger at Rachelle Gardner's sight back in April of 2013 and she shared her ideas about using Pinterest to market a book. I won't share all of them, but I want to hit the one that looked promising to me.

Recruit a Guest Pinner: Erin says, "I've used this strategy to great success for about six months now and it's not only helped me to build my Pinterest boards up, but it's also allowed me to have new, fresh content to share on my Facebook page each week. I love it. And it's so easy! Invite another author/blogger/writer to pin on one of your existing boards (or a secret board if you want to do a big one-time roll out) by clicking "edit board" and then "invite other pinners." From there, allow your guest pinner to add pins to your board. It's a win for you because you'll get fresh content on your Pinterest boards that you don't have to work for, new pins for social media and some Pinterest collaboration with another author. And it's a win for your guest pinners because they get a whole new audience with whom to share their content." As I'm new to the Pinterest game, I'm not sure what kind of guest pins would generate new book sales, but I'm up for trying it out. Anybody out there want to be a guest pinner on my site?

Another idea that occurred to me (I probably read about it somewhere else and can't remember where, so I apologize profusely if it's your idea I stole) was to create a Pinterest board for my novel and pin stuff related to the story. I have famous actress photos who served as physical inspiration for my characters (also knows as the "who would play the hero if the novel were made into a movie" game). I could pin those photos and label them with the character names. The places in my novel actually exist in real life. I could pin photos of those places. I'm creating a logo for the bakery in my novel, and I could pin that graphic once I've created it. My novel features tons of Greek baking. I could post those recipes. I could pin quotes from the book. If I sat around long enough, I could think up a bunch of other great photos to post on my novel's board. 

Do any of you have a Pinterest board dedicated to your book? What did you pin to it? Did it help with extra blog traffic or book sales? Please share your results with us.

-Sonja

Writing A Strong Scene

I want to dig into the book Writing a Killer Thriller by Jodie Renner. I started a short series a week ago, then got sidetracked by something shiny. Now I'm back. The part I found most useful regarded scenes. Chapter 5 has a list, a process, to go through when planning a scene. The process comes from Jack M. Bickham, but was re-worded by Renner for brevity. I'm going to copy Renner's list for you here, then comment.

1. Decide specifically what the main character's immediate goal is.

2. Get this written down clearly in the copy.

3. On a separate not to yourself, write down, clearly and briefly, what the scene question is. Word it so it can be answered by "yes" or "no."

4. In your story, after the goal has been shown, bring in another character who now states, just as clearly, his opposition.

5. Plan all the maneuver sand steps in the conflict between the two characters you have set up.

6. Write the scene moment-by-moment; no summary.

7. Devise a disastrous ending of the scene--a turning of the tables or surprise that answers the scene question badly. [ends badly for the protagonist]

Every scene must grab the reader and involve them in the protagonist's goal. If the stakes aren't high enough, if the protagonist isn't likable enough, if the emotional investment isn't there, you could craft the most amazing scene and it'll still fall short. 

Pull out your latest work and examine a scene you feel is boring. Try the seven steps above, re-write the scene, and see if it isn't stronger. Do it now, then come back and tell me how well it worked.

-Sonja

Engaging Readers

Dan Blank at Writer Unboxed posted about a subject that I've just begun to seriously think about: Am I building an audience of writers instead of readers? Yep. Sure am. I love to teach, especially those subjects that I'm passionate about. Writing happens to be one of them. I taught English Composition and Creative Writing in a Home School Co-op, and thought I'd found one of the most rewarding things in my life. I love passing on writing tools and tips. My blog is definitely geared to writers, not readers.

 (photo courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net)

But it brings up a valid point: WHEN I get a book published, I will need a blog geared to readers. I have ideas for a Pinterest board that will appeal to my readers. My website will appeal to my readers. But I'll have to begin a new blog dedicated to fans and soon-to-be fans of my book/books. So how do I find those readers and direct them to my blog (which doesn't yet exist, so I don't have to worry about it quite yet...)? Dan Blank had some suggestions. Pop on over using that link to look at all his nifty ideas. In this post, I'm only going to talk about three of them.

Dan's second point is, "Understand what other books are like yours, especially those published in the past 5 years. Where are they shelved in bookstores, how are they displayed, what comes up in "People who bought this also bought" in Amazon?" These are called comparable titles, and every writer needs to know this information, if for nothing else than your proposal package. The comforting thing about this point is that I already know the answers. The challenge comes in the form of "how do I direct those readers to my blog?" Dan doesn't answer that question. I'm on my own to figure that out. Any suggestions out there?

Point number four is, "Talk to readers. On social channels, follow them, comment on their updates, learn about them. Engage as a fan of similar work, not an author trying to promote your own books." This one is much easier to see how I'll direct readers to my blog. I've never read the rules, but I've noticed on Twitter and Pinterest that, when I "follow" someone, they tend to "follow" me right back. Even if they've never heard of me. They liked something they saw on my boards or in my tweets and took a chance. It's a small chance, of course, because there's nothing at stake except some wasted minutes if they feel the need to read what I wrote and it's not pertinent, but suddenly I'm way off my point. The point is, if I actively invest myself in searching out readers and PAY ATTENTION (that's the key) to what they're doing, I may attract them to the blog that I've established just for them. 

The last point of Dan's I want to discuss is the best one, in my opinion. "Craft messaging that gets readers interested in your writing." I think I've heard that before... anyway, Content is King. My readers blog needs to contain information regarding my books that the readers will find interesting. That could include photos of actors I envisioned when creating a beloved character; backstory on an interesting character (I'm thinking this should be in a creative format, like a short story or a journal entry, as opposed to a character sketch); on-line contests where my book will be given away for free as a prize; places I'll be signing books and discussing upcoming works; and other stuff like that. How do I figure out what readers will want? Well, I'm a reader, too. When I go to my favorite author's site, what type of stuff do I want to see/read? Those are the things I'll need on my own blog.

Can you think of anything else readers would want to see on an author's blog? Share your ideas in the comments area please. These types of brainstorming sessions can be invaluable, not only to me but to others who are reading this post. 

-Sonja

If you can't say anything nice...

This week was devoted to Vacation Bible School, and I was in charge of the 3rd - 5th grade kids. Two of the boys (one of whom lives in my house) had a hard time getting along. No surprise there. Aggression is part of being a boy, and tension is a sure thing when you get two or more boys together in the same place. Since one of the feuders belonged to me, I took it upon myself to have a private chat with both of them early this morning. My words of wisdom: "Work on being kind to one another. It will take effort, but you must do it." It was received, because they didn't fight today, but it made me think about my newest work-in-progress (WIP).

(This grumpy girl courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net)

In any work of fiction, you're going to have some characters who are usually kind and some who are not so kind. The kind ones are going to be realistic (because kind people do exist in the real world)--no worries there. Unfortunately, there's the potential they'll be boring. In fiction, being "nice" or "kind" doesn't usually lead to tension. It could, if you've got someone who's terminally nice being kind to someone who's really grumpy, but for the most part, you don't want a bunch of niceness in your story. You want arguments, disagreements, tactlessness, not-nice words flung about, that sort of thing. 

The hard part is that you want the reader to LIKE your protagonist, and readers want kind, nice characters to cheer for. So how do you keep the kind/nice in your WIP and still plug in the tension?

First, remember that even the kindest people on the planet (think Mother Teresa) are human and therefore prone to moments of impatience or anger or tactlessness. They are perfectly capable of saying something cruel, or lashing out verbally, or picking up a blunt object for unkind purposes. But think about the guilt they'll feel afterward! Think of the mental angst your hero will feel after he's smashed his grandma's vase in a fit of anger, or the gut-wrenching turmoil when momma sees the look of hurt on her child's face after she's screamed at him (or spanked him, or sent him outside to play in the rain because she needs some quiet time), or the prospect of mending a friendship after harsh words are spoken in jealousy. Your nice character can still have plenty of physical and emotional conflict.

Second, even if your protagonist never loses her temper (not very believable, but you could try it....), she will undoubtedly run into other people who are not as saint-like. She's standing in the express check-out lane at Safeway and someone with 35 things starts unloading. If your hero is dedicated to "being nice," she won't say anything to the perpetrator, but she'll most definitely THINK of a few choice words she'd like to say, were she not such a nice person. Or your hero has kids. That introduces tension immediately, because there is no child on the planet at this time who behaves perfectly and always pleases the parental units. (Jesus doesn't count in this example.) Or maybe your hero is married. Again, there's instant tension, because you've put two imperfect people in close proximity. Once the honeymoon stage wears off, and they are no longer actively seeking ways to please the other, stuff starts to stand out. What the wife once thought was adorable ("He misses the laundry basket with his socks every night, isn't that cute?") is now an irritant ("How can he possibly miss the basket EVERY SINGLE NIGHT? And why can't he pick them up afterward?"). 

The possibilities for tension are nearly endless. Even if your nice, kind hero is living like a monk in solitude on top the mountain, he'll still have to live with himself. It's okay to have characters who behave nicely. Just don't forget to introduce conflict in every scene. Any comments about niceness? Any examples you'd like to share with the rest of the class? Don't be shy. We all like reading the comments section.

-Sonja