2015 Year end post from Russell Blake

Another way of looking at it from a pragmatic sense is to calculate what your time is worth, and ask yourself whether that extra 100 hours on fourth draft is likely to produce anything appreciably different than what you have on third. Perhaps it will, and perhaps, if your time is worth $50 an hour, you’ll see $5K extra in revenue for your effort. But at some point, there are diminishing returns, and only you know what those are.
Be nice to each other in the new year, and remember that it’s all good. There’s no one right way to write anything. Or if there is, nobody can agree on it, which is the same thing.

For rest of post  Click here and specifically for Joanna Penn link click here

Douglas

Next Meeting

Monday 4th January 2016 at 19.00

Topic Flash fiction 250 words on lodgers as a subject.

Douglas 

End of an era

The writer's life with thoughts of publishing does not get any easier.

See Russell Blake's latest comments Click here

Douglas

Oxygen Aspirin and Jewelry

See interesting post on product ideas ... click link as follows

Writetodone

Douglas

November 2015 Meeting

After a discussion on evil in fiction members heard readings about early school days, a fantasy gateway, life in heaven and  a shark attack. Next meeting 7 December 2015. Topic - an animal viewpoint.

Good reading and writing

Douglas

NEXT MEETING NOW MONDAY 9th November at 19.00

Experiences of a Newby Writer

I am not enamored by the word but his post still worth a read. Click link as follows.

More from Russell Blake

Douglas

Last and next meeting

At the Inkplotter’s October meeting members heard and discussed readings about - a meeting with the Fuehrer, a TV fantasy, a gatehouse challenge, a sting and a piece on the use of simile and metaphor. Next meeting Monday 2 November 2015 at 19.00.

Next Meeting and Launch of - The Affairs of Gods and Men

Dear All, the next meeting of the Inkplotters will be on Monday October 5th at 7pm, in the Caretakers office Landsdowne Street. Hope to see some of you before then at my book launch of - The Affairs of Gods and Men - at St. Patrick's Irish Club September 19th at 8pm. 

Contact me for further details - pomcrame@hotmail.com

Pauline  

Worth a read

http://writetodone.com/how-to-write-a-book-20-tips-from-world-class-authors/

http://writetodone.com/to-write-with-confidence/

Douglas

Pauline Publishes The Affairs of Gods and Men

Polly lives in suburban Britain in relative affluence, Kabita in the foothills of the Himalayas in comparative poverty. When the car in which their husbands are travelling plummets down a ravine the women’s lives become entwined.

Wishing to understand her deceased husband’s love for the place Polly journeys to Nepal; she is also armed with a gift of money for the bereaved family.

Meanwhile, due to her financial dependence on her deceased husband’s brother, and to cultural attitudes both real and imagined, Kabita becomes ever more isolated.

Can Polly’s gift help to emancipate Kabita from the traditional beliefs of her culture, which blames the death of her husband on her own bad karma?

                                                     CLICK HERE TO BUY

I moved from Wiltshire to Warwickshire in the late 1980’s. It was then that I began writing; first as a hobby but later more seriously. The Affairs of Gods and Men is my second novel, it was shortlisted for the Luke Bitmead Bursary in 2012.

The novel is semi-auto-biographical. Although few of the events within the novel occurred as written, Pauline and a Nepalese woman were widowed within days of each other; and the book was written with the intention of any monetary gains going to the Nepalese widow. The real story that inspired the writing of the novel is explained on the inside cover.

              Since the book was written, the Nepalese widow and her family of four children and two elderly in laws have been made homeless by the earthquake.  Clearly their need for financial help has greatly increased.

              All of the proceeds of this novel will be donated to Nepalese family.    

Pauline

Historical Fiction

In a further extract from her annual reader's survey Mary Tod lists favourite books and authors. See link :-

CLICK HERE

Good reading

Douglas

Last and next meetings AMENDED 24 7 15

The Inkplotters met on the 13 July and heard and commented on writing contributions on a birth and death in a fantasy chase, an arrival after time traveling without memory and a semi fiction piece about a smoky high level WW2 meeting. Music and writing and self publishing were also discussed.

Next meeting NOW Tuesday 1st September 2015 [was on original of this post - Monday 7 September 2015.] Members to bring extracts from others writing they like with commentary and suggestions.

New members welcome.

Douglas

Bookbaby Blog Post - Blow Up your Novel

Radical revision: four ways to blow up and rebuild your novel

by Chris Robley on June 9, 2015 in Editing, Writing Tips

You’re stuck. Something about your book just isn’t working, but you’re not quite sure what it is. Time for drastic measures.
Yes, you could tinker away at the sentence level or rearrange a few chapters here and there — but when your ideas stall or you’ve written yourself into a corner, maybe it’s time to do something radical to shake things up and revise your book. Why not GO EXTREME!? You can always return to your original stinker of a draft if these attempts at radical revision fail, right? So yeah; you’re totally safe to play around and get your hands dirty.
Here are four things to try when your manuscript feels like it’s falling flat.
Read More...

Explosive stuff

Douglas

More Russell Blake

Four Years

June 11, 2011. A day that shall go down in literary infamy. On that day, I pressed publish on my first novel, a little ditty titled Fatal Exchange. Little did I know it would change my life.

Having just typed “the end” on Emerald Buddha, the sequel to Ramsey’s Gold, it’s fitting to me that tome’s my 40th book. Counting my blog, I’ve easily clocked 5 million words over that four years, and probably closer to 6 million if I throw in all my message board posts.
So what’s changed during that time?

Read on by clicking here.

Dealing with Criticism

I had a long discussion with an author the other day about her slumping mood due to having received a spate of one star reviews on her latest book, which caused her to question the direction her writing had taken, whether she was really cut out to be an author, etc.
Here’s my view on negative criticism:
Everyone’s got an opinion. You can’t make everyone happy. You aren’t trying to please the entire world, just those you target with your work. And sometimes, even those folks ... 

Read on by clicking here.

Have a good read

Douglas

Turning - Point Calvin's Book - You Tube Video

Calvin has a video for his book. Click to see video

Tony Riches author of Warwick Go to Amazon Uk

and Secret Diary of Eleanor Cobham Go to Amazon

has prepared the video and I offered a view of picture topics which would illustrate the story.

Douglas

More Russell Blake - Being a Writer

I’ll confess to more than a little arrogance. But I’ll also excuse it somewhat by stating that writers need a healthy sense of their own worth, because otherwise they’d never write a word. It goes with the territory – to have the temerity to believe your words are worth reading, much less paying for, you have to believe that you can make magic happen with prose, or at the very least, tell a story well.

Read on http://russellblake.com/being-a-writer/

Thoughtful stuff.

Douglas

May and June Meetings

The Inkplotters at their May meeting listened and had a lively discussion about members writing on the theme of escapes. These were from an online wedding, a psychopath, the Gestapo, an apocalypse and a burning city. Topic for next meeting on Monday 15 June 2015 – Waking up. Further details see web site. www.leamingtonspawriters.org.uk

as submitted to Courier

Douglas

More Russell Blake - Building Houses

Russell says - A friend of mine emailed me today, worried. The email asked whether I’d seen the latest review on one of my books. I said, no, I largely don’t read ‘em anymore. She didn’t believe me, and was aghast at the complaints over the writing in the book. Outraged, more like it.

Here’s my take: criticism is a difficult topic to approach dispassionately, as a content creator of any kind, but if you’re to succeed you need to have a system for evaluating it, so you can learn from the meritorious critiques and flush the garbage.

I used to design and build luxury homes. Big ones. Six, seven thousand feet, on the beach.

When you design homes, it’s much like writing a book, in that your target audience (the client) will express preferences in the style of architecture they favor. Some like contemporary, others Mediterranean. Some demand as many columns and arches and curves as possible, others want only straight, clean lines. One person’s fugly might be another’s treasure. Rather like babies, that. And nobody’s really wrong, assuming the design’s competently executed.

To read more click here

Douglas

The Ultimate List of Books About Writing

Gary Smailes of BubbleCow was very helpful to me in editing some of my first writing in 2011. I still receive copies of his blog and think his post this week is worth passing on.

Books about writing are common place. No matter what you feel about the age-old debate of 'teaching creative writing', one thing is true - a good grounding in the technical side of writing will make you a better writer. 'Show, don't tell', has almost become a cliché, but if you are unable to 'tell' a story in the best way possible, your writing will suffer. And let's face it, writers love to write books about writing!

After years of editing at BubbleCow, we have read and absorbed hundreds of books about writing. This article highlights those books about writing that actually work. The aim is to give you a collection of books which, when read as a whole, will make you a better writer. The criteria for inclusion on the list is that they support the three principles on which we teach and edit.

1. A modern simplicity and clean writing style.
2. The importance of using dialogue and action to tell the story (show, don't tell).
3. The essential nature of structure (3/5 act).

Read on Rest of post click here

Douglas

April and May Meetings

The Inkplotters at their April meeting listened to details of a new member’s fantasy writing partnership, an interrogation, a talking book and a thrilling prison cell discussion. Topic for next meeting on 18 May 2015 – An Escape. Further details see web site. www.leamingtonspawriters.org.uk

Douglas

40 Books in 43 Months Wow!

Russell Blake says ...

I just typed “The End” on my 40th book in 43 months of self-publishing. It felt pretty good. And I think it reads better than the first book I wrote, but that’s debatable, because that first one (Fatal Exchange) still sells well when I promote it, and still garners great reviews. It would suck if I’ve gotten worse, but that’s also possible. Guess I’ll have to wait to see how the reviews come out on JET – Escape to know for sure.

I responded honestly that it feels like I’m starting to get the hang of it. I’m taking a month off in April to recharge my batteries, and then will be knocking out another couple of novels in May and June.

A buddy of mine asked me how it feels to have written a solid 4 million words in about four years, not counting blog posts or message board missives, which probably easily brings it to 5 million.For those who’ve missed my prior posts on process, here’s a quick reminder of the habits I follow to write an awful lot of books in a relatively short period of time ...

read on - http://russellblake.com/40-books-in-43-months/

Thanks Russell 

Douglas

Writing for the family beware the cost!

Some self-published authors just write a book and decide only to publish it for family and friends. They have no pretentions to be a bestselling author, nor do they wish to embrace stardom.

In the early noughties that’s just what Maria de Fátima Almeida Leitão Bento Fernandes decided to do. Fernandes, a Portuguese national living in Fundao, wrote a novel that told the story of a family emigrating from Portugal to the United States during the time of the Colonial War. She called her novel The Palace of Flies. She edited it and self-published the book, had one hundred copies printed, and gave them all to family and friends for free. Fernandes adopted a pseudonym for the book, calling herself Bento Xavier, presumably because Maria de Fátima Almeida Leitão Bento Fernandes doesn’t roll off the tongue too easily and it’s a hell of a lot of words to fit in large type on a book cover. Good move Maria… sorry, Bento!

Read on ...

http://www.theindependentpublishingmagazine.com/2015/03/self-published-novelist-defamed-in-laws-in-e53k-payout-case.html

Thanks Mick

Douglas

Next and last meetings

At their March meeting members heard stories on a theme of a chase about disappointment and time travel. There were other readings about bad friends and an incident in London during WW2. Next meeting Monday 20 April 2015 at 19.00 with the theme - prisoner dialogue. 

Douglas 

 

Last and next meetings

New member Dinah was welcomed who is working on an historical novel. Everyone read out their writing attempt at a sex scene, all amusing and two featured a couple where one half had another person on their mind.  Calvin read out an early chapter from a sequel to his book Turning Point. Next meeting will be on Monday 16 March, topic 'a chase' in up to 1000 words. 

Douglas

5 Things a Ghostwriter is NOT by Bobbi Linkemar

5 Things a Ghostwriter is NOT

Posted on February 25, 2015 by Bobbi Linkemer 

Thanks Bobbi - Douglas

If you are ever going to work with a ghostwriter or are thinking of becoming one, yourself, there are many things you should know before you take the step. For example, it is important to understand what a ghostwriter does and does not do. A ghostwriter is many things to an aspiring author, but there are 5 things a ghostwriter is not.

1. A ghostwriter is not an agent and won’t get your book published, though she might help you through the necessary steps to find an agent. There are several ways in which these professionals interact. First, an agent usually knows acquisition editors at publishing houses. Then, an editor may hire a ghostwriter to work with an author who has a great concept but weak writing skills. On the other hand, as an author, you may hire a ghostwriter and then look for the right agent. An agent’s job is to sell your book idea to a publisher.

2. A ghostwriter is not a publicist and won’t promote your book, though he might work with you to develop a marketing plan if that is part of the contract. Publicists specialize in letting the world know about your book. Not only do they know a lot about book promotion, they have also spent years cultivating valuable connections with the media. A publicist’s job is to get you and your book exposure so that it will sell.

3. A ghostwriter is not a graphic designer and will not design your book for you or get it ready for the printer. Graphic designers see the world in patterns and images. Book design is a specialty within the larger field of graphic design. Book designers not only know how to create beautiful books but also how to produce them by setting up digital files for printers and online publishers. A book designer’s job is to package your book in the most appealing way.

4. A ghostwriter is not a copyeditor or proofreader and will not take responsibility for the final product. Every writer, including a ghostwriter, needs at least one editor, often more than one. The last editor to review a manuscript before it is ready for the designer is a copyeditor; the last person to review the page proofs before they ago to the printer is a proofreader. A copyeditor’s and proofreader’s job is to catch and eliminate every possible error from your book before it is published.

5. A ghostwriter is not a website designer or technical expert. Web design requires a good eye for arranging the elements of a site, marketing savvy to understand what will attract viewers and keep their attention, and the technical know-how to create a site that functions seamlessly and is easily found by search engines. A web designer’s job is to work with am author or ghostwriter to bring the right words to life in the World Wide Web.

A ghostwriter has one job: to write or help you write a book that says what you want it to say in the way you want it said. A ghostwriter is, in a sense, your alter ego.

PS by Douglas Not Ewan McGregor either!

Conversational Writing Tips

I found this via Write to Done

http://writetodone.com/conversational-writing-2/

Thanks Mary

Douglas

Top tips for creative writing

From - http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/words/top-tips-for-creative-writing

Crafting an original work of fiction, poetry, or creative non-fiction takes time, practice, and persistence. While there’s no exact science to creative writing, the following tips will help you get started:

1 Write about what you know

Beginning writers always get told ‘write what you know’, but it’s good advice. Use settings, characters, background, and language that you’re already familiar with and create new stories from the world that you already know. This is like using research you’ve already done. And remember, your background, what you bring to the act of writing, is as valid as what anyone else can bring.

2 Write about what you don’t know

Use your imagination to create new situations, new characters, new relationships, even new worlds. Choose to write about a different period in history, or a place that you’re not familiar with. Where your imagination needs help, fill in the gaps with research. The best thing about being a creative writer is creating.

3 Read widely and well

Writers love reading. Make yourself familiar with thepublished landscape of writing in your chosen field, whether it’s modern poetry, literary fiction, thrillers, short stories, or fantasy. Nothing encourages good writing like reading good writing.

4 Hook your readers

Nobody is forced to read your novel or short story, so it’s important to hook readers right away. Your opening sentence or paragraph should encourage them to continue, perhaps by making them laugh, or exciting theircuriosity, or just making them want to find out what happens next.

Consider the intriguing sting in the tale of the opening sentence of George Orwell’s 1984:

It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.

It seems like a very traditional opening and then -thirteen? You want to know more and so you read on.

Now look at the first sentence of Raymond Carver’s short story Viewfinder:

A man without hands came to the door to sell me a photograph of my house.

Just a short sentence but with so much that we need to have explained. We’re hooked.

5 Get your characters talking

We find out about the people we meet through what they say to us, how they say it, their choice of words, theiraccents, their verbal habits. Readers should be able to do the same with fictional characters. People on the page really start to live when they start exchanging dialogue.

Writing dialogue needs a lot of work - making it fresh andauthentic, editing repeatedly to get it right – but it’s worth the effort.

6 Show rather than tell

Too much description, too many adjectives and adverbs, can slow up your narrative and cause your readers to lose interest. Where possible, it’s better to show you readers what a person, the atmosphere in the room, the relationship between your characters is like - show, that is, by what they say, how they interact, what they do. It’s more effective than telling the reader through wordy piles of information.

This is a tricky one. You have to do some telling so it’s important not to become obsessive about avoiding it.

7 Get it right first time

Try to get your first draft as near perfect as possible. Few writers manage this kind of quality the first time but no one ever wrote great literature by aiming low. On the contrary, aim for the best and do your best from the very start.

8 Keep polishing

If you don’t get it right first time, you can do what most writers do – polish and perfect through the editingprocess. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that editing is the same as proofreading; it’s about much more than correcting errors. Rather, editing involves carefully going through your work to see what to leave out, what to change, finding out what you have to do to improve your writing, make it sharper, tidier, better.

Editing can be hard work. It’s said that Ernest Hemingwaytook the last page of A Farewell to Arms through nearly 40 drafts, so don’t give up if you feel you’re getting nowhere.

9 Make the most of your opportunities

Many aspiring writers claim they simply don’t have the time to make the most of their ideas. Yet, if you analyse a typical day, there are always those intervals – using public transport, waiting for a friend, time spent in the waiting room of the doctor or dentist – when it’s possible to pull out a writing pad, a laptop, a tablet and just write. Identify your opportunities – five minutes is enough to get a few sentences down – and use them.

But most of all, enjoy your writing!

Thanks to OED for these tips.

Douglas