Monday, April 22, 2013

How Many Characters Are Too Many?


How Many Characters Are Too Many?




 Will too many make readers lose interest?


My critics told me my first novel had too many characters. My critique group said the same thing, and during the writing, I actually cut down on them! Even a good friend, who loved the story, told me she had to take character notes. So on book number two, I made sure that particular complaint wouldn’t happen again. Guess what? One person said even that book had too many.
Should authors worry about having too many characters? I write and read suspense. I have to agree that sometimes the use of large numbers of characters gets confusing. But it’s pretty hard to write good suspense or a good mystery with just a few characters. Remember the Girl With The Dragon Tattoo series? Yikes! If there were ever books requiring the reader to take notes, those were the ones. A few of the names were even spelled very similarly. And that series was on the NYT bestseller list for years.
            So I had to ask myself, what makes a tolerable character list for readers? Why will they accept dozens from some authors yet complain about too many from authors with 10 or twelve? Readers—we want to hear from you!
            Here are some ways I’ve learned of to keep your reader abreast of your characters:
1.     Do keep characters’ names different. Avoid names that sound alike, look alike or begin with the same letter.
2.     If possible, introduce characters one at a time, with scenes in between the introductions. There’s nothing harder to follow than getting hit with an entire team of law personnel, for example, at the same time.
3.     Try not to switch points-of-view within a scene. This is a basic “rule” of writing style, however, I’ve seen some famous writers breaking it when doing dialogue between two main characters. Unless you’re in their league, I’d stay away from it. It’s difficult to do it effectively without confusing the reader.
4.     Find creative ways to remind the reader of who a character is and how he fits into the story when he or she hasn’t been mentioned for a while. Keep in mind every reader won’t be reading the book straight through and will need to have his/her memory refreshed.
5.     Always be sure each character is necessary to your story. Characters, like words, may need to be cut if not relevant to the plot line.



Dear Readers,
As always, I’d love to hear from you. I hope some of you are enjoying spring! We’re still waiting for it here in upper Wisconsin. Amazingly, there are still ice-fishermen on the lake in front of my house, which I’ve heard is going to be a record breaker this year! They seem to be pulling a lot of fish out of the lake, while the eagles are circling, patiently waiting for their opportunity.
            Have a wonderful week,
Marla

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Do Your Sample Chapters Outshine the Rest of Your Novel?


Do Your Sample Chapters Outshine the Rest of Your Novel?

How perfect sample chapters could hurt your book sales






  

            In my last blog, as we discussed the prevalence of eBook returns, I was informed that often books are returned because the sample chapters were polished and professional, while the rest of the book lacked the same effort.
            Writers beware. I know we read everywhere how important those opening words are for our sales. But as eBook authors, we have to remember, we need return readers. The more product we have out there, the more each book or story helps sell the others. If a reader buys your first book because the sample chapters made him want to read it, he would have felt cheated when the rest didn’t match the beginning. Even if he doesn’t return it, you end up with a reader who will never buy another of your books, or worse, write you a scathing review.
            Word of mouth remains the best form of advertising. Don’t let a disgruntled reader spread the word that your work is not professional. It is up to you to make your writing captivating all the way through.
Two important reminders:
1.     Be sure your entire work is free of spelling, grammar, typos and formatting errors before you publish. It’ll save you a lot of work later!
2.     Everyone knows not to add too much back-story to the first pages of your novel.  But you also don’t want to leave it out of your opening chapters, and then dump it on the reader all at once. Add it when the storyline warrants it, but as frugally as possible!

Dear readers,
Thank you so much for your thoughtful comments on the topic of eBook returns. After considering them all, my personal opinion is that rather than shorten the time during which they can be returned, it might be fairer to limit the number of returns any individual could make in a given year.
            I was dismayed to hear that writers actually published books having perfect sample chapters without an entire book to match! I thought addressing that might be worth talking about.
            Thanks to all of you for your continued support,
Marla