Show Me!

            Experienced writers have learned this less well, but less experienced writers are still learning it or have it yet to learn. Even for experienced writers it is good to review it every so often. What am I talking about? The “show, don’t tell” rule of writing. It sounds so simple, and yet it is one of the hardest to learn for some of us.

            Telling is what you see with narratives, and it is okay in the proper prospective. But you do not want to fill your book with telling your story. Your readers like action, dialog, descriptions, emotions, all the things that your readers can take and create a picture in their minds.

            Show your story. Give it characters your reader can fall in love with and want more of them. Give them a setting or location that their mind can grab hold of and feel they are right there with the characters. Make the characters speak to them and create action that keeps the story moving. Give descriptions of the setting and characters through narrative and some through dialog, but do not insult your readers by giving them every little detail. Readers like to be a bit creative themselves so give just enough to stimulate their own imaginations, and let them run with it.

            When you have fast-paced scenes, it is good to slow things down and give your reader a chance to breathe. Your story should run in waves of fast pace and slow pace. That is where the narrative comes in. You can use it to slow down the pace of the story.

            Someone once told me to read through my story; and if there are areas where I am telling, ask myself if there is a way I can show it rather than tell it. If there are, then I need to change it.

            Narratives do serve a purpose, so remember not to change all of them. Also remember, it is the author’s responsibility to create a world in which his/her readers can get lost and want more of it.

            Following are some points to remember when self-editing your work:  1) How often do you use narrative summary?  2) Which sections do you want to convert into scenes (action)?

3) Do you have any narrative summary? (You do need some.)  4) Are you describing your characters’ feelings or are you showing them?

Faye M. Tollison

Author of:  To Tell the Truth

Upcoming books:  The Bible Murders

                                Sarah’s Secret

Member of:  Sisters In Crime

                      Writers on the Move

www.fayemtollison.com

www.fayetollison.blogspot.com

www.fmtoll.wordpress.com

Do you have an eReader?

If not, you might want to buy one. Or win an eReader, like I did!

Last year, I won a Kindle Fire. I love it! I’m still learning about all the things it can do, but mostly, I use it to read books. I have many books on my eReader, and have read some of them. They are about various subjects such as writing, business, health, home improvement, and money. I also have some novels and children’s books.

I have apps on my Kindle. Newspapers, travel, organizational, and shopping apps are mostly what are useful to me. I also purchased an app that helps me to categorize my books. I find that is the easiest way to locate what I am looking for. And the layout is attractive and organized.

An eReader can be used to access the internet, making it convenient for on the go. You can check your email and read social media sites. If you don’t want or need to carry around a laptop, an eReader may be what you need.

You can buy digital books on all kinds of subjects. If you have a Kindle, you can get books from Amazon. If you have a Nook, you can get them from Barnes and Noble. There are a number of websites where you can download free eBooks too. You can also borrow them from your library. Some also offer classes on how to borrow books with your eReader. Be sure to check out what your local library has to offer. You might be surprised.

Besides the Kindle and the Nook, there are other eReaders such as the Kobo and the Sony Reader. I recommend researching eReaders to learn which one is best for you.

I still buy, read and borrow regular books. I think I always will. However, I have found the Kindle to be very convenient, easy, and fun to use.

I plan to write about technology in future blog posts, as I learn more about my eReader and contemplate purchasing additional gadgets.

Do you have an eReader? How do you use it or would like to use it? If you don’t have an eReader, do you plan to buy one?

Debbie A. Byrne has a B.S. in Mass Communication with a minor in History. She is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) and is working on her first children’s book.

4RV Publishing Entered the Staples’ PUSH It Forward Contest and Needs Your Help

I’m an author and editor with 4RV Publishing and I know the quality and care that goes into the books it publishes. Being a small publishing house, 4RV incurs all the expenses of publishing books and like all publishers is feeling the financial squeeze.

So, please vote for 4RV in the Staples’ PUSH It Forward Contest. 

CLICK HERE TO VOTE EVERY DAY through May 31st.

The following instructions and contest information is courtesy of Holly Jahangiri:

You can help a deserving small business win $50,000 – and maybe win $1500 for yourself, while you’re at it! Voting is easy:

1. Go to http://tinyurl.com/a7hrdmv – this is Staples’ Facebook page already set up for you to vote for 4RV Publishing.



Next, you’ll be taken to this page, where you can Vote for 4RV Publishing – just click Vote now > :

2. Next, you’ll be taken to this page, where you can Vote for 4RV Publishing – just click Vote now >



You will be asked to give Staples’ app some permissions (Might as well – you can always revoke them later, but they ask only for access to your public profile data – something everyone can see, already – and to your friends’ list, presumably so that you can share this with them and promote the contest via Facebook. I have plenty of friends participating and have not seen any of them “spamming” me in the name of Staples, so I feel pretty confident in granting the requested permissions.)



3. Last, but not least, when you vote, you’ll have a chance to enter to win $1500 for yourself – how cool is that? Just for helping a small business achieve more. We could all use this kind of “push,” right?



A big thank you to Holly for allowing me to share these step-by-step instructions!

VOTING ENDS MAY 31, SO PLEASE CLICK ON THE LINK EVERY DAY AND VOTE FOR 4RV Publishing: CLICK HERE

For a great interview with Vivian Zabel, founder and owner of 4RV, visit:
http://jahangiri.us/2013/interview-with-vivian-zabel-founderowner-of-4rv-publishing/

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P.S. To keep up with writing and marketing information, along with Free webinars, join us in The Writing World (top right top sidebar).
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Moving Out of Your Writing Comfort Zone

My husband loves to wash dishes.  It’s not one of my favorite chores.  I like scrubbing sinks.  He doesn't seem to notice the scum at the bottom of the sink.  We have found a comfortable division of household labor. Generally we’re both responsible for chores we enjoy, or at least we’re able to avoid the ones we hate. 

Writers aren't always that lucky. There are many aspects of a writer’s life, and most writers spend a majority of their time in the role that is in their comfort zone.

Here are just some of the pieces of the process.

• Generating ideas

• Research

• Writing the first draft

• Revision

• Submission

• Marketing

The list could go on….

I recently heard Linda Sue Park, Newberry Award winning author of A Single Shard, talk about the role of Writer vs. Author. She felt marketing, speaking engagements and other promotional activities required her author’s hat, and the actual writing called for her writer’s hat.  She seems to have balanced both roles well.

I like the early stages of working on a manuscript.  That’s my sweet spot.  My critique group keeps me moving through the revision process.  I realized I needed to push myself to submit my work.  The realization alone was not going to make it happen for me, so I have allotted 2 to 3 hours a month for that piece of the writing process. 

Where’s your sweet spot and where do you need to push yourself?  Once you know where you need an extra push, schedule it into your writing life.  Amazing things happen when we move out of our comfort zone!

Mary Jo Guglielmo is writer and intuitive life coach who has helped writers achieve their goals. For more information check out  www.donorth.biz   or folllow her at:

http://theadvantagepoint.wordpress.com

http://twitter.com/do_north

http://facebook.com/DoNorth.biz  

Is Thinking about Writing .... Well writing?

Do you find yourself thinking about writing, dreaming about writing, and making up characters in your head? Is thinking about writing..... well the same as writing?

The answer is yes and no. Writers spend a good part of the time with their characters and actions for their characters twirling in their heads... thinking. Some call it percolating, others call it day dreaming, and yet others may call it procrastination. Keeping all those thoughts in your mind though and not on paper may be all of the above and could not be defined as writing.

Thinking about writing isn't writing if you never put pen to paper or fingers to the keyboard. We are not talking about publishing here or seeing your byline. We aren't even talking about revised and polished work. We are simply talking about getting those thoughts in your head onto the written page. That action makes you a writer even if you never get published.

Saying you are a writer when you have not written so much as anything more than your grocery list doesn't make you a writer. It makes you a wanna be.  Writers write. And all of this goes back to having three major writing goals, action plans for each of those goals, and using some of your time every day or every week to put those actions into play. Simply said, a writer writes with purpose.

When life gets in the way and keeps you from your writing it never keeps ideas from formulating in your heart and your brain. Take note of pain, sadness, and all happy things happening and record feelings or key words that will help you recall the incidents later to put on paper. Keeping in tune with what you feel, see, smell, and experience makes real life the percolating part of your writing process. Don't allow real life to assist you in procrastination. That won't make you a writer. Pulling those real life details out later to weave into a paragraph or chapter makes you a writer.

 If it is in your heart to write as it is with mine,  the seed to becoming a full grown writer has been planted. It is our job to tend to the seed by practicing our craft so at harvest our crop will be plentiful in the form of many pages of written words, our words. We are writers. It will never be enough for us to be thinkers so what will you write today?

Terri Forehand is a nurse, writer, and recently a quilt shop owner. She writes from the hills of Brown County Indiana where she resides with her husband, several rescue dogs, and 5 rescue cats. Visit her blog at http://terri-forehand.blogspot.com and her author site at www.terriforehand.webnode.com

Targeting Specific Audiences Part Two (One specific audience)

We're back with Part Two of Targeting Specific Audiences. If you haven't read Part One, please visit:
http://www.writersonthemove.com/2013/04/targeting-specific-readers-part-one.html

Targeting specific audiences, Part Two of Three:  One specific audience…

Guest post by Steve Moore

The Montclair Film Festival is in its second year.  For 2013 (from April 29 to May 5, to be precise), it’s expanded, with more venues, films, speakers, and discussion sections.  We attended last year.  Because I’m an incurable people watcher (even though I’m introverted and don’t enjoy being in large crowds), I observed that there is a large overlap between films and book lovers.  Thought-provoking films make people think while they enjoy the film—these are the films shown at the Montclair Film Festival.  A thought-provoking book does the same thing.

“Thought-provoking” is a sloppy term.  I can easily enter a vicious circle—a thought-provoking book is one that makes you think beyond its plot and characters to more substantive issues.  Even a vampire romance can make you think of issues you might not consider outside of your reading. My sci-fi thrillers will make you think too—they’re entertaining extrapolations into the future. What I observed at last year’s crowd at the Festival was that thought-provoking films and books have a common audience—people were talking about films and books.

This year I’m waging a two-stage PR and marketing campaign at the Montclair Film Festival. It sounds like I’m playing Eisenhower planning D-Day, but it wasn’t time- or money-intensive.  The Montclair Film Festival has a catalogue so people can figure out what events and movies to attend. I have a small ad in the advertising section. The local newspaper, The Montclair Times, also publishes monthly the Montclair Magazine. April’s issue will feature the Film Festival and has an advertising section where I’ve placed a bigger ad.

I believe I’m targeting a specific audience with my few marketing funds and time (because I’d rather spend it writing) in a more efficient manner. I’m reaching local people that don’t know about my books and might enjoy them if they did. How do I know this is true? Four of my PODs that I donated to the Montclair Public Library became so worn I had to replace them. Many of my “near future” thrillers take place in the tri-state area (The Golden Years of Virginia Morgan, just released, is set almost exclusively in New Jersey). Locals will definitely identify with the venues in the books.

Unfortunately, I’m at a stage in my writing career that deciding which books to promote is a problem—I have ten sci-fi thrillers and an anthology. In Montclair Magazine’s ad I focused on Virginia Morgan, my new release, but in both ads I highlighted my website URL—visiting the site allows them to peruse the entire list with their blurbs and buttons to peek inside the books at Amazon. The locals are very computer literate and shop online. Moreover, many editors and free-lancers live in Montclair because of its proximity to NYC news media outlets and publishing companies.

Who knows whether this will be a successful campaign? It’s an experiment and reflects my perhaps modest opinion that there are readers out there who will enjoy what I write if they could only discover it and know a wee bit more about my background. I discover new websites all the time. Internet sites don’t arrive and slap you in the face (and we tend to avoid those that do). Maintaining a website is a necessary condition, not a sufficient one, for writing success. Somehow, you have to drive people to it so you can see what you offer. This is true for all internet marketing, of course, but especially true for writers.

Stay tuned for Part Three in this book marketing series: the results of the Montclair Film Festival.  It'll be here May 30th.

Steven Moore
http://stevenmmoore.com



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MORE ON BOOK MARKETING

Scaling the Marketing Ladder in One Fell Swoop
What is an Author Platform and How Do You Create It?

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Surprise!

Both readers and writers can benefit from a surprise once in a while.

Creating surprises in your writing can take many forms. You can surprise a reader by choosing a word that is new to them - or at least one that is rarely used.  Consider ailurophile - one who is a cat lover, or bucolic - a lovely rural setting. 

Or consider a surprising metaphors. "A hospital bed is a parked taxi with the meter running." - Groucho Marx or  "Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom." Marcel Proust

Similes are another great way to surprise your reader. A simile uses the words like or as to form an image for your reader. "The snow fell like billions of breadcrumbs, promising a flurry of activity and a huge pile of shit in the aftermath."

Finally you can create a surprise for your reader by a turn of plot or by a character doing something, well, uncharacteristic. Some ideas for how to surprise: 

• have a character share an embarrassing secret
• cause your character to fail at achieving their goal
• increase the emotion in a scene or change the expected emotion
• introduce a new character in an unusual way

Creating surprises for your reader ensures your reader will want to keep going. Creating surprises while you write does the same thing for you. So go on - surprise me!

_________________________

D. Jean Quarles is a writer of Women's Fiction and a co-author of a Young Adult Science Fiction Series. Her latest book, Flight from the Water Planet, Book 1 of The Exodus Series was written with coauthor, Austine Etcheverry.

D. Jean loves to tell stories of personal growth – where success has nothing to do with money or fame, but of living life to the fullest. She is also the author of the novels: Rocky's Mountains, Fire in the Hole and, Perception. The Mermaid, an award winning short story was published in the anthology, Tales from a Sweltering City.  

She is a wife, mother, grandmother and business coach. In her free time . . . ha! ha! ha! Anyway, you can find more about D. Jean Quarles, her writing and her books at her website at www.djeanquarles.com

You can also follower her at www.djeanquarles.blogspot.com or on Facebook