All posts tagged Publish

I want your opinion….

on my blurb. Yeah, I know, exciting stuff, huh?

Anyway, here it is:

With Kateesha dead, there’s no one to hunt Katelina and Jorick. That means it’s time to face the consequences – in both worlds.

When Katelina accepted her new life of night and vampires, she left behind a worried mother and an abandoned apartment. However, instead of wrapping things up, a trip home starts a chain reaction. First, they meet Verchiel, a strange vampire who seems too eager to befriend them. Then the police arrest Jorick for kidnapping. Even worse, the vampire’s government may want to question Katelina concerning Kateesha’s death.

And they do. Despite Jorick’s best efforts, he and Katelina go from being prisoners of one world to prisoners of another and must go before Malick, the oldest of the vampires and head of The Guild. Does Malick want to punish Katelina for killing Kateesha, or is he after something else? And why does Verchiel keep popping up? What is he up to, and why can’t Jorick read his mind?

In the third installment of the Amaranthine series, events are set into motion that could change both Jorick and Katelina’s lives, if not the world.

That’s the longer version for the back of the book. I’ll have to tighten it up into 80 words or so for other places.

If you’re an Indy author with your first book there’s a tip: always have different length blurbs – have your long one, one that’s around 100 – 80, and one that’s around 50 or so because different people and sites want different things. The more you have ready, the faster you can advertise. I learned the hard way with my first book.

Anyway, let me know what you think. Good? Bad? Too melodramatic? Not melodramatic enough?

14 Comments

by Joleene Naylor on July 17, 2011 • Permalink

Posted in Ties of Blood

Tagged Amaranthine, Amazon Kindle, author, blurb, book, description, E-book, eBook, fiction, Guild, Horror, independent publishing, indie publishing, kindle, novel, paranormal, promotion, Publish, romance, self publishing, self-publish, Smashwords, synopsis, thriller, vampire, writer, Writing

Posted by Joleene Naylor on July 17, 2011

https://joleenenaylor.wordpress.com/2011/07/17/i-want-your-opinion/

Chance to win a free copy of Target Identified by Lindsay Downs

Target Identified by Lindsay Downs

I’m late posting this, but if you hurry there is still time to enter Lindsay Down’s contest to win a free ebook copy of Target Identified, her new Thriller/Mystery novel.

To enter, follow this link to her blog, read the blurb and answer the question in a comment. The first ten correct answers win a free ebook. SImple as that.

Go. Enter.

http://murdersandmysteries.wordpress.com/2011/06/01/contest-to-win-an-ecopy-of-target-identified/

4 Comments

by Joleene Naylor on June 3, 2011 • Permalink

Posted in Contest, Self/Indie Publishing

Tagged Amazon Kindle, author, book, Books, contest, E-book, eBook, fiction, free book, independent publishing, indie publishing, kindle, link, Literature, novel, promotion, Publish, self publishing, self-publish, Smashwords, thriller, writer

Posted by Joleene Naylor on June 3, 2011

https://joleenenaylor.wordpress.com/2011/06/03/chance-to-win-a-free-copy-of-target-identified-by-lindsay-downs/

Who is Your Audience?

My 101 Tips for Traveling with a Vampire is still free on Amazon. I’ve given away over 11,000 copies of it and though I know those numbers probably aren’t much in the scheme of “real” authors, it’s mind boggling to me. Up to now I’ve only ever managed to give away and/or sell 437 through Smashwords and all of its markets (Barnes & Noble, Kobo, etc). I guess this shows the importance of being on Amazon, too. That’s not to say that I don’t think Smashwords will catch up to those kind of numbers or that people can’t do fantastically well there, I just think that if you do minimum advertising (like I do) it makes sense to have the book in as many places as possible so more people are likely to stumble on it.

Of course, with free has come the bad reviews, but they’re mixed with good ones, so not too big of a deal. The bad ones mainly seem to be from people who expected different genres (One lady has reviewed only romance novels besides that book) or else expected it to be longer, despite the fact that the description says it is exactly what the title implies. No fault to them, though. They just didn’t like it. Not everyone can. But then, I’m not really writing for everyone, anyway.

Which leads me to a point – not “my point”. “My point” is right on top of my head, which makes wearing stocking caps hard – hahahahaha! Get it? See, now not everyone thought that was funny. But, I digress. The point is that I’m not writing for everyone, I’m writing for “my audience” and, as Ruth pointed out in a post on SPAL earlier this month, that’s the most important thing. I guess I’m just lucky in the fact that “my audience” is probably ~~ten~~ eleven people. So long as they like it, then I’m happy because they’re the ones I have in mind as I’m writing or editing.

Does that make me short sighted?

And who exactly is this audience of ~~ten~~ eleven people?

Without naming names, I will say that most (though not all) of them like anime. They also generally find my jokes funny, or at least pretend to. And the female portion of said audience seems to like pretty boys. They also tend to like the alpha-get -your-hands-dirty-in-the-blood-of-your-enemies kinda guys. It’s even better if they can be that AND pretty at the same time. Oh, and men who take care of their women (much to the chagrin of some of the more radical women’s rights kind of readers). I firmly believe that women can do anything they want to and are capable of the same things as men, but frankly, why should they spend their time doing it all if they don’t have to? If the guy wants to take out the trash – or protect the damsel in distress from a horde of blood thirsty killers – I don’t see how that diminishes her as a person. Let him handle some of it. We don’t have to do it all just because we can. It’s not a contest.

Also, my target audience of ~~ten~~ eleven people like some gore or violence in between their romantic moments, seem to enjoy stretches of conversation as well as the odd overly dramatic setting (the old warehouse I compared to a bloody eyed monster in book 1 springs instantly to mind) and they like vampires that don’t sparkle.

Frankly, they sound like a fun group. No wonder I’m writing for them!

So here’s a big thank you to my audience, I believe you all know who you are. And also a thank you to those of you who are in my audience without my realizing it. After all, if you’d asked me last year I’d have told you my audience was only about five people, so there’s plenty of room for growth. Heck, I’ll even say thanks to those people who aren’t in my audience at all and left scathing reviews on Amazon. Some of those reviews are so bad they’re good. And isn’t that what we’re all striving for?

You can check out 101 Tips for Traveling with a Vampire on Amazon and Smashwords

(edited per the comments below – thanks Juli!)

13 Comments

by Joleene Naylor on May 30, 2011 • Permalink

Posted in 101 Tips for Traveling with a Vampire, Random Yacking

Posted by Joleene Naylor on May 30, 2011

https://joleenenaylor.wordpress.com/2011/05/30/who-is-your-audience/

Interview with Ellie Bourke

Hello! My name is Katelina, and welcome to Weekend Character Interviews. Using state of the art-mumbo-jumbo author magic, Jo has temporarily bent the laws of fictional space and time to allow various literary universes to converge long enough for me to ask different characters a few questions. Since I spend a lot of time in the Amaranthine series quizzing vampires on what they’re doing, where they’re going and why, Jo thought I would be the perfect interviewer.

Today we have Ellie Bourke, the blonde 23 year old main character – heroine, even – of G’Day L.A., a suspense/thriller by Tony McFadden. This promises to be fun, so let’s get started!

Katelina: Hello, Ellie and thanks for being here! Wow, if you don’t mind my saying so, you’re tall!

Check out that cool cover!

Ellie: I’m almost six foot.

K: And is that an Australian accent?

E: As a matter of fact, I’m Australian, but acting moved me to L.A. a year ago.

K: Oh wow! An actress! You must be really confident.

E: Actually, I start out pretty insecure about myself and my acting abilities. Self-doubt is a constant companion for those of us in creative work. Actors, painters, even, I’ve been told by the author, writers. With some really good advice from a couple of good friends, plus having to fight for my life on more than one occasion I’ve come to believe in myself a lot more.

K: Fighting for your life will do that to a person. Though I have to ask why did you move from Australia to L.A.?

E: I was in a schlocky B-Grade Horror movie called Beast of Bondi filmed around Sydney, Australia, where I’m from. I was one of the few that lasted to almost the end before I was killed off. Bart Sweeney was the director and he thought I did a great job in the movie. It was he who suggested I move to LA. I’m living in his guest house in the San Fernando Valley while I’m trying to make it as an actress.

K: Well I bet you won’t have too much trouble! (whispers to audience, Take a look at that cover! Yeah, that is what she looks like! Some people have all the luck, huh?) *clears throat* I bet you have to beat off the men with a stick! That is if your boyfriend doesn’t do it for you!

E: No, no boyfriend right now. Way too busy. I’m lousy at relationships anyway. The thing I find most appealing about guys is their ability to make me laugh, though.

K: Fun guys are – erm… fun. *glances at Jorick, who is hovering in the background* Change of topic! What would you say is the most life changing event that happens to you in G’Day L.A.?

woulda worked for a motel bathtub - oh well

by Jo Naylor

E: That would be discovering that my roommate and best friend died in the bathtub. Totally rocked me to my roots.

K: OMG! I bet! I hope there’s not too many more horrible surprises for you!

E: Oh, there are. I definitely have an enemy. No names though; I don’t want to spoil the book. I can tell you it comes out of left field at me. Completely shocked me.

K: Oh wow! Well, at least you don’t have a nemesis, too!

E: As for a nemesis I guess Constable Larry ‘Life-Time’ Perkins would qualify. It took almost forever to convince him that my best friend Joel didn’t commit suicide and was actually killed.

K: Your author sounds as mean as mine! Hopefully he takes it easy on you after that!

E: Not really. I spend a lot of the book trying to stay alive. Once the killer knew that I knew he was a killer he did everything in his power to kill me. I had to avoid that while I attempted to Nancy Drew up enough evidence to convince Constable Perkins that I was right.

K: Are you these authors don’t know one another? That sounds familiar… *eyes Jo*. Speaking of authors, if you could say something to Mr. McFadden right now, what would it be?

E: Do you have a sequel planned? Because, despite all the fighting I had to do, this was fun.

Tony McFadden: *whispers from off stage* Yes. Early next year.

K: Wow, instant answers. I’m impressed! Talk about a well-organized machine! Well, while we’re doing shout outs, would you like to say anything to your readers?

E: Something I was told. “Every time self-doubt crawls into your skull, grab it by the throat and kick it’s head in.” Seriously.

Hi-yah! “Every time self-doubt crawls into your skull, grab it by the throat and kick it’s head in.” (image by Seth Sawyers)

K: That is fantastic advice. Do you mind if I write that down? *digs randomly through pockets for a pen*. Okay, well, maybe not. I’ll just have to remember it, I guess. Though I think we’re almost out of time. Before you have to go, though, what is the one thing you want the most in the whole world?

E: World peace? Ha. Just kidding. No, really, world peace would be great, but it’s not achievable. What I really want the most in the whole world is to be able to be financially comfortable while I pursue acting. Financially comfortable means I can choose what I want to do and not have to show for auditions for roles that are so not like me that I want to head back to Australia.

K: That seems pretty reasonable to me! Ellie, thanks so much for stopping in! You’ve been a great interviewee (Unlike some vampires I know!) and I wish you the greatest of luck in your sequel and hope that someday I’ll turn on the TV and see you there! (Not like I ever get to go to the movies…)

You can find Ellie Bourke in G’Day L.A., available at Smashwords ( http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/55698) and Amazon ( http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004XWC0AO)

Also a special thanks to Tony McFadden for playing along!

If you’re an author and would like your character(s) to be interviewed by me, then check out this very cool page that has all the details:

https://joleenenaylor.wordpress.com/character-interviews/

3 Comments

by Joleene Naylor on May 21, 2011 • Permalink

Posted in Weekend Interview

Posted by Joleene Naylor on May 21, 2011

https://joleenenaylor.wordpress.com/2011/05/21/interview-with-ellie-bourke/

Do you…..

Like polls? Yeah, I do, too. There’s something about voicing my opinion that just makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. If you like it too, then read on, as there are not one but three chances for you to chime in!

I’ve been trying to decide whether to publish my short Vampire Morsels on Amazon or not. So, I thought I’d get the opinion of the world at large about short stories and prices in general!

and…

and…..

Thanks for stopping in and – hopefully – leaving your vote 🙂

13 Comments

by Joleene Naylor on May 16, 2011 • Permalink

Posted in Vampire Morsels

Posted by Joleene Naylor on May 16, 2011

https://joleenenaylor.wordpress.com/2011/05/16/do-you/

Who Art Thou…

Did you know that:

I’ve never killed a vampire?
I’m obsessed with anime?
I once wrote an 800 page book that some of my friends hidden in it as reworked characters?

You can find this and more on Reena’s blog, including who I think my top four fans are! Author and blogger Reena Jacobs is kind enough to host different author interviews on her Who Art Thou Thursday , and this week I’m making an appearance! So go check it out! And check out her work while you’re there!

On a side note, David Kubicek’s novel In Human Form is now available in Paper back. Check his blog for the details, and don;t forget to look for his short story collection, Moaning Rocks!

4 Comments

by Joleene Naylor on May 5, 2011 • Permalink

Posted in Links

Posted by Joleene Naylor on May 5, 2011

https://joleenenaylor.wordpress.com/2011/05/05/who-art-thou/

Tuesdays with Terry – Part 11

*As this is the last of the series, I want to take a moment to say a special Thank You to Terrance Foxxe for contributing posts for out Tuesdays with Terry segment! If you’ve missed it, be sure to check out the previous installments as it is jam packed full of information that any writer can use! Also, be sure to check out his books, and don’t forget, he has his own blog, too!

Now on with the show!*

Notes From a Twenty Year Almost Career. The guest musings of Indie Author Terrance Foxxe

Part Eleven

You want me to pretend I’m in front of an audience, and read it aloud? You’ve got to be kidding!

Nope. Believe it or not your ears will pick up on mistakes in grammar and pacing and sentences that don’t work, faster than your eye will. Reading may be done with the eyes, but the brain actuallyhears the words.

Silently, as you read any book or magazine, your brain hears it as if you are reading it out loud. Try to skim over the words of a favorite author, and see if you remember half of what was said five minutes later. Now relax, and read for the pleasure of it, imitating the voice the author has set down for you with sentence construction and punctuation. How much do you remember after five minutes?

I resisted doing this for the longest time, simply because I felt stupid doing it. Now I feel exceptionally stupid for not doing it.

I live in a house with very little privacy, and my wife and sons are not interested in what I do. Not really. Plus, well, as I said, I felt stupid.

There are writer’s groups, and you may be asked to read for them.

I don’t know. Me, I don’t do writer’s groups. I tried a writer’s group once, but I found a bad one. I arrived at the first meeting with high expectations, only to find most there were talking about writing, and not doing any writing. Okay, I thought, I’ll see about reading something I’m working on. Not to lead the group, but to get something productive done. I craved feedback.

I read, and then I was raked across the coals so hard . . . For forty-five minutes, I timed it, this little guy ranted about how my Horror should have humor, and basically, be just like his stuff. I told him it was my sandbox, and I’ll play in it any way I want. I left so angry I couldn’t see straight. I tried again, another meeting, and was sucker punched. I was told I was uncooperative. That sandbox remark came back to haunt me.

I never went back, and didn’t bother to look for another writer’s group. I tried to start one of my own.

The first question I was asked? “Are you published?” The answer then was no, and my small group never showed up for a second meeting. The all wanted me to give them the secret. The Magic Formula.

I was on my own, no computer, no feedback other than my many rejection slips. Hell, I would have killed for “The Magic Formula!”

Online writer’s groups can be a bad or good thing. Ghost the posts for a while, see what’s what, then decide for yourself. A good group doesn’t meddle with content, understanding that this is your sandbox, and you’ll play in it however you want. They should concentrate on the mechanics of good writing. Style, not content. Style is grammar, punctuation or logical progression. Too much detail? Not enough detail? The mechanics of writing.

I’m very happy with my content, but want to know if I missed something.

“I can’t see where you’re going with this.” Of course you can’t, and you should know that yourself. Hell, if someone out there can tell where a novel is going in just three fucking chapters, I want to meet them and kiss their ass.

I try to limit my own comments on how they can make their own writing better. If the writing is great, but they misspelled a word, I let them know about the typo and tell them it’s great. So . . .

What is The Magic Formula?

To be truthful, there is no such thing.

The magic to all this is a matter of knowing just what the hell it is you’re doing, and why the hell you’re doing it. Knowledge is power. That’s the magic.

I hope you enjoyed my series. Now, go buy my books! Find out for yourself if I’m full of shit. I might surprise you with a great, provocative novel.

******

Terrance Foxxe is crazy enough to share everything he knows about catering to readers, because readers matter most to the Indie Author of today, and tomorrow. He had two books published under his real name, only to discover publishers really suck. After being royally ripped off and then some, he is the Indie Author of A Post-apocalyptic Story of Love,$2.99 USD & In The Dreaming, $0.99, both for the Kindle. Links provided. He’s now a happy man. Buy his books. Read them. Write reviews.

Post Apocalyptic Love Story

The Dreaming

He blogs at http://terrancefoxxe.blogspot.com/

2 Comments

by Joleene Naylor on April 26, 2011 • Permalink

Posted in Self/Indie Publishing, Tuesdays With Terry

Posted by Joleene Naylor on April 26, 2011

https://joleenenaylor.wordpress.com/2011/04/26/tuesdays-with-terry-part-11/

Tuesdays with Terry – Part 10

Notes From a Twenty Year Almost Career. The guest musings of Indie Author Terrance Foxxe

Part Ten

Proofreading is tedious. Editing is hard.

Yes it is.

I used to write a story and be done with it. Well, doing it that way makes for a bad story.

Before I edit a story for the first time I let it rot in a drawer for as many months as I need to forget my story. When I pull my story out for the first time, I’m looking at it with new and fresh eyes.

The miracle that is new and fresh eyes! You have no idea how formidable on your ego it is to look at your own hard work with new and fresh eyes. Words that work jump out at you and inflates your pride. Linguistic bombs detonating in your face inflates your sense of stupidity.

I may repeat this process as often or as little as needed. Only I know when I’m done, and I’m done when each novel reads as good if not better than what you find coming out of the big six, mainstream publishing houses. 150% effort to be the best, 99.8% mistake free. A professional read.

You ever labor over a paper, getting everything perfect, set it down, come back to it, look down and see a typo you swear to God was not there an hour ago? It took a while, but I finally figured out what does that. Your brain. My brain, too.

How? Your eye takes in thousands of bits of information each and every second. Your brain processes the information into your reality, but there are always gaps in the information you receive. Your brain automatically fills in those gaps. It gives you continuity.

A wonderful gift, continuity. It keeps you sane. Unless you happen to be a writer. Then what your brain has been doing all of your life seems to work against you. Insidious, isn’t it?

Here’s a tip I’ll pass along to you, dear reader. You can break up the continuity your brain uses to give you that annoying typo when you least expect it. Yes, you too can learn to outsmart nature.

EDIT IN REVERSE!

Start with the last paragraph first. It works amazingly well. I find I can concentrate on individual sentences, every mark of punctuation, catch every typo and grammar gaffe. It takes practice.

Editing in reverse also gives you a very good idea when to kill them babies you suffered through. What I mean by this are sentences that read good when you were constructing the story, but now read poorly when you edit in reverse. Sentences or words that are stuck into your story like a pencil stuck into your eye. Delete them. In fact, if you have a three thousand word story, pretend your job is to cut three hundred words out of it. That’s story, minus ten percent. You’ll have a better story in your hands when you’re done. Even if all you managed to cut were a hundred words, you will have a better story.

When you proofread, you want every sentence constructed to say what you mean. Every comma and period in place. Every single word spelled right. The right word used (affect or effect) for the meaning you intend. That takes practice.

Knowledge and practice, that is. That again is where reading for fun and self-education comes in handy. Let other writer’s published works teach you writing that works.

Again, a good book on editing is: Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King. Illustrations by George Booth. Subtitled: How To Edit Yourself Into Print. Harper Perennial.

******

Post Apocalyptic Love Story

The Dreaming

He blogs at http://terrancefoxxe.blogspot.com/

Tuesdays with Terry – Part 9

Notes From a Twenty Year Almost Career. The guest musings of Indie Author Terrance Foxxe

Part Nine

Checklists are a complete waste of time.

Every writer has to keep track of just about everything in their writing career. I have many lists going at the same time for different reasons. I have a calendar, planning my day. What needs to be done.

My “how to write well” checklist runs about fifteen to twenty pages. I say that because it’s a fluid thing. Most of the time I’m adding to it. I review all of it at least six times a year. Page one deals in scene construction.

My checklists are what I’ve found pertinent to the understanding of my writing. Stuff like, Resist the Urge to Explain, with an example: Rather than telling your reader your car is trash, tie a wire to your starter and touch the other end to your hot battery cable to start it. You can pump the gas with that lever thingee on the side of your carburetor.

Book after book after book, I did just about everything I could think of to figure out just what it was I was doing wrong, not realizing what I was doing right.

I cut or converted into scenes narrative summaries. I hardly ever mentioned emotion, writing scenes to show emotion and help my characters breathe. How I could have a character’s history in my head, and use only what was necessary of that history to highlight an action or reaction. Why too much technical information can kill a story.

Name it. I had it all and used it all. I rewrote just about everything I had those first few years more than ten times each, and used a lot of time doing it. I’m glad I made my lists. They do tend to keep me on the right path.

Use – to show an interruption. Use . . . to show a character’s conversation trailing off, or for a one-sided telephone conversation, use four . . . . Em dashes and ellipses can be overused, so sprinkle with care.

Start a new paragraph when starting a new speaker.

High energy verbs! Crammed! Attacked! Bloodied!

Two words into one list. Good grammar. “Incredibly hard to take” becomes “insufferable.” “The smell of the thing” becomes “its stench.” And little words too, “issued forth” becomes “erupted.” “Opened up on” becomes “revealed.” And about thirty other examples as I discovered them in my own writing. The find and replace feature in my word processing program is a wonderful tool.

I ask myself questions like: Does the story have a logical flow? Do I care about the outcome? Do I have enough conversation? When is too much, too much?

There are questions and examples that helped me gain empathy.

What and why does your character love? What limits would they breach in order to keep that love? What are they capable of doing once love is lost?

God is in the details. So, what details are you using?

If writing is a war, is there enough battle in the middle, or does it sag.

Action, reaction, more action, and more reaction.

Read it all aloud. All change is good change.

A scene dragging along? Cut it down.

Proper words for their proper jobs. Emotions need proper words.

Get rid of the “right foot, left hand” thing. The reader can decide for themselves which foot or hand is which.

Words to waste: And, that, even, up, just, besides, over, and about 40 more I sprinkle all too liberally within my first drafts.

The words most commonly mistaken for each other. That’s part of proper grammar. And, that list is huge.

Most of you are screaming at me for not including my entire list. I could have, but I didn’t. My list is personal. It’s geared to what I think is important for me to remember and understand about mywriting.

In a fantasy I’m working on, I list descriptive words and phrases that apply to the world I’m building. Tall as a scarecrow, a bullock in length. You can figure it out from there. No modern reference points within the story. I draw on other’s words to show me the way.

I can list locations or draw a map, and the map concept is old news. I have lists of character names for each book, and what they do. Business names, street names, on and on. The thing is, lists are good.

I don’t usually get lost. I have a page of titles I might use some day. Lists of ideas. Words and descriptive phrases. I have many notebooks full of things I used (hard copies as well as computer files), can use or will use, helping me improve each story. I want to be one of the best out there today. I do try hard, and then harder still. I owe it to myself and my readers.

******

Post Apocalyptic Love Story

The Dreaming

He blogs at http://terrancefoxxe.blogspot.com/

3 Comments

by Joleene Naylor on April 12, 2011 • Permalink

Posted in Tuesdays With Terry

Posted by Joleene Naylor on April 12, 2011

https://joleenenaylor.wordpress.com/2011/04/12/tuesdays-with-terry-part-9/

Tuesdays with Terry – Part 8

Notes From a Twenty Year Almost Career. The guest musings of Indie Author Terrance Foxxe

Part Eight

Get lazy. Don’t bother with researching squat. It’s not that important. You can fake your way through anything. They don’t call it fiction for nothing.

I have invented many a world. Some familiar, some strange, some extreme. Readers can tell if a story rings true. If it doesn’t . . .

Blues for a Red Planet

was one of those created-world stories. I took a manned orbital flight around a living and vital Mars, added a monumental disaster, an exploding planetoid between Mars and Jupiter, had that lone survivor get lucky and land on Earth roughly three million years in our past. His present, our past. What I had pointed out to me was, Earth would have been pelted with debris from the exploding planetoid, too. Life might have been wiped out on one planet, but the other planet would have suffered something terrible. Nuclear winter terrible.

My lone survivor lived in the sun, ate freely, and helped found modern humanity.

Logical progression.

It’s not a concept, it’s a writing reality.

What is logical progression? One thing leads to another thing, which leads to another, which leads to another. A bowling ball gets knocked off a roof, hits a window ledge, and gets bounced out into the street. Five stories below is where you are. You hear a strange sound, possibly a shout of exclamation or warning. Maybe you hear the ball hit the ledge, a hollow thwok sound. You look up and see the ball falling. You either let it hit you, or you get the hell out of the way. That’s what logical progression is.

New writers tend to rush the process, and you can’t. Each scene has within it potential. Each scene moves at its own pace. Logical progression demands a scene is what it is, is detailed or not, takes as much time to unfold as it does, builds up a sense of what comes next, or builds up suspense, and does all this within the confines of your character’s perception. What they see, touch, taste, hear, smell, feel, physically or emotionally.

This is their world, after all, and you are simply their scribe. Your characters, they don’t know you exist.

Your characters don’t live in your world, but in their world. Do you know how their world works? Do you know the streets of their city, and the flavors of people you find section to section within their city?

Do they live on a space station, another planet, or as part of an alien culture?

Do you have what it takes in knowledge to define their existence? Can you find that knowledge? Probably, sure.

In building worlds you need to know mast from bow if you’re writing about pirates, and it doesn’t matter if the pirates are on this planet or another, solar sails or canvas sails. You need to know how things work, what to do and why you do the things you do. You need to know the details. God is in the details.

Your characters need to know what the consequences are to their actions.

The characters you put in your literary world need to know what to do, but they act as themselves. What they would do, and not what you want them to do. Logical progression. Details.

In writing my second novel I had a lot to learn about Heaven and Hell. I had to learn the story of the Christ. Every word had to ring true in a horror story that relies on Revelations to make my plot points. I had to know the rules my world depended on in order to bend or break them. I had to know the details. Mix in logical progression, how one detail affects my character’s actions and/or reactions, you got movement, you got plot, you got a book.

What not to do!

deus ex machina

. God in the machine. Angels coming out of nowhere to save, at the last minute, your hero.The Soap Opera Effect.

Life has its ups and downs, but you don’t go down in a jet every time you board a plane. The people who inhabit the world of soaps do, and they live through it, only to be saved by a fisherman, who then takes advantage of their amnesia, and on and on. Pointless suffering. All of your suffering should have a point to it.

Do your research. Examine, study, talk to people. Your average working Joe or Jane doesn’t mind talking to you about what they do. In fact, most will be thrilled that you sought them out, and are listening to what they have to say. They, indirectly, get to be in your book! And, it’s kind of fun. You don’t get to carry a gun and solve real crimes, but I have witnessed an autopsy. In real life, the inside of the human body reeks.

“Why shouldn’t truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense.”

– Mark Twain

******

Post Apocalyptic Love Story

The Dreaming

He blogs at http://terrancefoxxe.blogspot.com/

5 Comments

by Joleene Naylor on April 5, 2011 • Permalink

Posted in Tuesdays With Terry

Tagged Amazon Kindle, author, book, Business, E-book, eBook, independent publishing, indie publishing, kindle, Mark Twain, novel, Online Writing, promotion, Publish, self publishing, self-publish, Terrance Foxxe, writer, Writing

Posted by Joleene Naylor on April 5, 2011

https://joleenenaylor.wordpress.com/2011/04/05/tuesdays-with-terry-part-8/

Eternal Night : Amaranthine Gender Swap

When Kaden meets the beautiful but strong Johanna, he doesn't know he's entering a world of eternal night; a world of vampires. Is it worth the death, pain, and nightmares to stay by her side? Enjoy all the books in one long saga.

This is NOT the gender swap previously published on Patreon.

Start reading today on Kindle Vella!
Email Subscription

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Email Address:

Join 4,374 other subscribers
Shades of…Jorick?

You asked for it, so here it is! Join me on Patreon to read Shades of Gray from Jorick's point of view! Peer into Jorick's mind and get all the behind the scenes events Katelina couldn't see.

Become a patron!
Amaranthine: The Complete Saga

Find the complete Amaranthine Saga, as well as Brothers of Darkness, the expanded Vampire Morsels, and the expanded Tales of the Executioners on Dreame, WebNovel, AnyStory, and more!

Start reading today!
Blog Categories
Blog Categories
Coming Events!

Nothing for now
Joleene Naylor

An independent author, freelance artist, and photographer for fun who loves anime, music, and writing. Check out my vampire series Amaranthine at http://JoleeneNaylor.com or drop me a line at Joleene@JoleeneNaylor.com

Personal Links
Verified Services
View Full Profile →
Find me on Facebook

Find me on Facebook
get featured

Get Your Work Featured!

Find out how to get a short excerpt of your novel featured on my blog!
Have your character(s) Interviewed!
Have yourself interviewed !
Authors db
Want your ebook autographed?

Check out Authorgraph.com to get your digital ebooks autographed!
Editing services
Awesome Review Blog