HATE DIALOGUE WITH GESTURITIS?

HATE DIALOGUE WITH GESTURITIS?

Using body language effectively.

     Ever been distracted by dialogue where every line was followed by a gesture made by the speaker? Often, a simple “he said” or “she said,” will do. All writers have favorite gestures they sprinkle through the dialogue of their novels. 

         Some of the most ubiquitously used are:

 Sighing, grinned, smiled, frowned, shrugging, glaring, sitting, looking, pausing,  chuckling, bolting, smirking, staring, breathed, nodding.

       Writers use gestures and body language as speech tags or as ways to identify the speaker. What you don’t want to do is bore the reader with them!

       It’s easy to critique your writing is by doing a search of your manuscript for any body language you suspect you’ve overused. A yawn, blink, or grin can be used occasionally, but original phrasing and fresh observations are always better. Try to use gestures that reveal something about the character or the situation. A glut of position-shifting description is not action. It’s fidgeting, and will encourage a reader to drop your book out of sheer frustration.

        When checking your work for gesturitis, study your usage and ask:

1.     Do the gestures add value by deepening characterization?

-       If not they’re merely a collection of tics and fidgets.

2.     Have you included any redundancies?

-       e.g., “nodding in agreement,” or using a gesture to describe what the dialogue already mentioned.

3.     Whenever possible, use a gesture description to show what a character is feeling, rather than just state the emotion.

4.     Make every gesture serve a purpose.

5.     Use your computer’s search feature to check for repetitious use of gestures.

As a reader, and I still manage to read a book a week, I hate the use of constant body movement to identify characters in dialogue. I think the reader wants to know who is speaking, but if the dialogue is compelling, frequent identifying of the speaker by his name, followed by “said” is much easier to read.

  

Dear readers,

 I’ve written this post is for both authors and readers. I’m hoping you readers will comment, letting us know if you even notice overused gestures. It's possible, the average reader, once involved in a book he enjoys, will not necessarily be put off by them as long as the writing in general is good. However, readers are becoming more critical as many new writers enter the book market and great numbers of them do so too quickly, overlooking the importance of editing and proofing their writing.

So readers, tell us what you think!

 Hope all of you are enjoying your summer,

Marla

 Note: The term “gesturitis” and some of the commentary on this subject, is from Chris Roerden’s Don’t Murder Your Mystery. I highly recommend the book for anyone who writes mysteries, thrillers or suspense.

MUDDLING THROUGH THE MIDDLE

MUDDLING THROUGH THE MIDDLE

Stuck in the maze between beginning and ending?

            Your idea for a story is brilliant. Original. You begin your novel, excited about the project, then it happens—you get mired in the middle. Sound familiar?

That’s where I am in my third novel, going down in quicksand with no save in sight! Recently I read some great advice: when stuck in the middle of your novel, go ahead and work on the end. Okay . . . Did that. The middle remains an endless sea of ideas, twists, and surprises for the reader. I feel like I’m going in circles. What to do now?

I look to my shelf of how-to books on writing and basket of Writer’s Digest magazines, all screaming advice. Some of the best suggestions:

1.     Go back to the beginning and work on your characters’ evolution.

2.     Plan conflict resolution for your main characters. And for the crime, if writing a mystery, thriller or suspense novel.

3.     Go over all of your clues (or subplots) and make sure they are all relevant. Add any that are needed, keeping them as subtle as possible.

4.     Work toward tying up loose ends. Start with one and move on from there.

5.     Have the end planned? Work on it a bit, then go back and see if it inspired you to work toward it!

6.     When all else fails, do something! Edit what you’ve written or develop an outline for your book. Outlining is a tedious task, but will have the effect of bringing it all together in your mind and encourage you to keep moving.

7.     Plan your final action scene. As a reader, I like them to be neither  too short or too long. A dragged out climax will send your reader rushing to the end. Also, one of my least favorite endings is when the killer (usually at gunpoint one way or the other) tells the protagonist every detail of his/her crimes. Boring. Find a more creative way to wrap things up.

Dear readers,

I hope these suggestions are helpful. Putting them together has me eager to go back to my writing! I’m getting over a lingering case of the flu and need to get my physical and my writerly mojos back!

Thank you for stopping in and for all your wonderful comments. If you have any other ideas for tackling the middle, please share with us.

Have a wonderful weekend,

Marla

WHAT A CHARACTER!!

What a Character!!

Can your characters please all readers?

 

  

            Long before I became an author, I was a reader. Have been since I got my first library card at age 8. Now I write books too, but still make time to read. I read 1-2 books a week. Suspense is my genre of choice, and as a suspense reader, I’ve become weary of female protagonists who are all beautiful, have perfect bodies, and either bright green or orchid eyes and male protagonists who are all tall, handsome, athletic, and have every woman they meet willing to drop their panties for them. Sound familiar?

            So when I wrote my second suspense novel, Relative Malice, I created a female detective who wasn’t drop-dead gorgeous, had weight issues, doubts about her femininity, and didn’t even have a boyfriend! Shocking, right?  When the reviews began coming in, I smugly sat back and collected their praise for this character. Then I got this one:

AND, why oh why do these self-published authors always portray female law enforcement officers as being so masculine! Even the name, Kendall so all the men can call her Kenny, is masculine. I've known and worked with many females in law enforcement and while, yes, some of them are gay, many of them are not! They wear make up, they're married, they have children. Oy, and every darn one of these chicks jog! Can you say cliche?

 I wanted to develop a character we could all identify with. Kendall is not gay, and during the course of the book, evolves into a woman comfortable with her femininity and male attention.

            I share this with you to illustrate the impossibility of drafting a character everyone will adore. A lot of advice is given to writers to find their “target audience.” In my case, the majority of my readers loved Kendall. 

            John Locke advises independent authors they only need to satisfy their target audience. And he’s right! I have to keep reminding myself of that and not waste time whining about the inevitable handful of one and two-star reviews.

            What I’ve learned about character creation:

1.     Characters need to have individuality. If you must have a beautiful protagonist, give her a foible or two that we can identify with. Perfection is boring.

2.     If your main character is gorgeous, either male or female, be sure not everyone he or she meets wants to hop in bed with them. At least have a few exceptions to their charms.

3.     Readers like variety when it comes to characters. Mix it up! In my first novel, all of my main characters were good looking. When my writer’s group pointed that out to me, I toned their looks down a bit.

4.     This is probably fodder for an entire book, but try to watch your characters' dialogue to be sure they don’t all sound alike. This isn’t easy, but can be as simple as a small difference in the usage of slang, swear words or cliché’s.

Dear readers,

What do you love in a character? Perfection or reality? One of my favorite characters is an FBI agent, Will Trent, Karin Slaughter’s damaged hero, who suffers from a severe case of dyslexia and manages to live with it and still maintain his career. I think the characters we love the most are the ones with imperfections.  I know I do.
The doggie with the big smile is a Staffordhire Terrier, a very loving, happy breed. This one happens to look a lot like my dog, who is half Staffie and half lab. I've never seen her smile quite that big!

Have a great week everyone, and enjoy the spring weather,

Marla

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

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

eBOOK RETURNS

eBOOK RETURNS

The Newest Scam?

  

             I admit I tend to be a negative person. To use an old cliché, I always see the cup half empty and tend to read the worst interpretation into anything I perceive as a slight. When I look at my eBook sales and see returns, I immediately leap to the conclusion that people are using Amazon’s generous return policy to read my books without buying them.

I got used to seeing a few returns among the sales of my first book. It seemed to happen the most after I’d run a free KDP promo. Annoying, but understandable. People apparently thought the book was still free. I didn’t stop to think that even though they asked for and received their money back, they still had the book on their Kindle. How could they possibly return an eBook?

When my new book, which has not had a free promotion yet, began to have returns, the practice began to concern me. The book has not gotten a huge  number of sales yet, so returns are very obvious to an author who keeps an eye on daily sales. I decided to go right to the source for answers.

Here’s what I found out when I contacted KDP.

1.                    Amazon’s return policy on eBooks is seven days. If you purchase an eBook, you get your money back as long as seven days after the day you bought it.

2.                    Amazon has the ability to remove the book from your device once you’ve returned it.

3.                    After the second email, I was informed that was the last communication they would give me regarding the subject.

I understand it is important for Amazon to give the customer excellent service. But, to me, seven days is excessive. It is easy to read a book in seven days. And, Amazon gives the customer a significant amount of the book to read which should be all the reader needs to make the decision to buy.

I'd love your input on this subject!

Readers, do you feel the 7 days is necessary even thought you have the ability to read at least an entire chapter of a book? Do you believe the increase in returns are all innocent errors?

Fellow authors, are your eBooks being returned? How frequently?

Dear friends,

I had a hard time deciding whether to address this topic on my blog. Personally, I hate dwelling on things I cannot change. I respect Amazon for the many things it does for self-published authors. The 7-day eBook return policy, however, is one thing I wish they would change. I don’t think eBooks should be returnable unless a person hits a wrong button and immediately contacts Amazon. My real fear is a burgeoning practice of read-and-return.

Here’s wishing all of you a glorious Easter, and hoping to hear from you.

Thanks for joining me,

Marla


3-31-13

I've just been informed that there is a petition circling on trying to get AZ to change their eBook return policy. Go to Change.org. You will have to sign up in order to sign a petition there, but it is a simple process. Then do a search for "Amazon eBook return policy." I was surprised to see that there are more than one in the works! Let's hope they help.

  

How to Stay Out of Twitter Jail

There’s No Get-Out-Of-Jail-Free Card for Twitter Jail!

How to stay out of Twitter’s overuse jail.

          After I published my first book, She’s Not There, it wasn’t long before I became overwhelmed by how many social media sites there were and how many I was “supposed” to be active on. It quickly became frustrating trying to keep up with  with them all.

Then I found a book recommending that an author, rather than do a poor job on all of them, pick two and do them right. This spoke to my state of angst, and I quickly settled on doing the two things I actually enjoyed: Twitter and blogging.

I clipped along on Twitter for more than a year, acquired 5000+ followers and a long list of folks I regularly exchanged RTs with. It became a comfortable routine.

Imagine my distress the first time I received a Twitter message informing me I’d gone over the allowed transaction limit and wouldn’t be able to tweet or RT for an undisclosed number of hours—a dilemma quickly dubbed “Twitter Jail” by someone much more clever than myself.

 Twitter “tweet allotment” facts:

1.    Twitter allows an individual user 1,000 tweets a day. Sounds like a lot, right? Well, not really.

2.    Those thousand tweets permitted, which include RTs, are broken down into semi-hourly intervals. What does this mean to the user?

3.    You cannot use more than the amount allowed for a semi-hourly break down without risking having your tweeting ability frozen for hours. If you use automated tweets, they will not be run.

4.    Twitter doesn’t give exact details, but if you divide 1000 by 24, that means roughly 41 Twitter transactions allowed per hour.

5.    To be safe, I limit myself to 20 every half hour since Twitter’s descriptor is “semi-hourly,” which defines as twice per hour.

What this means for authors who practice a regular RT exchange with other authors and readers, is you can’t sit down at your computer in the morning, run a huge number of RTs, and consider yourself done for the day. Not if your own scheduled tweets are important to you! By scheduled tweets, I’m referring to those that you set up on sites like Hootsuite and Gremlin.

The only way to beat the system is to stagger your RTs. Don’t groan, I know it’s a lot more work. On days I’m home, sometimes I set a small timer to remind myself to do my 30-minute RT allotment! Unfortunately, the end result on busy days is I just don’t get to give back as many RTs as I would like.

Use your transactions wisely. When RTing for someone, find one that will help his or her cause. And if you want people to RT for you, make sure you have something there you’d like RT’d, other than a long list of thank-you’s.

Dear Readers,

I decided to address this topic because I’m often disappointed that I cannot always RT for everyone who does it for me. There is just not enough time in a day to do it with the new restrictions. Hope this helps you understand Twitter Jail--I've been there--the food is awful!

Have a great week,

Marla

Selling eBooks - How to get lucky

SELLING eBOOKS

Is it all about luck?

And if so, how to get lucky!

During March, the month of four-leaf-clovers and little green leprechauns, we celebrate the luck of the Irish. We’re all Irish on St. Patrick’s Day and we can all have that luck! The word luck, beaten and bastardized, gets tossed around like a day-old doughnut whenever we discuss our success (or lack thereof) in selling our books.

            The first time I took advantage of KDP’s Select promotion and placed my suspense eBook, She’s Not There, free on Amazon, I only had 8,202 downloads at the end of the two days, compared to a friend’s 26,000 downloads using the same promotion. She told me, for her, there had been a lot of luck involved, and it was due to the fact that a popular eBook site noticed her promotion and highlighted it for their readers. I know firsthand her success is not all due to luck. She’s a devoted marketer, and spends every available moment maintaining her book’s sales’ momentum. Me, I’m addicted to things like Spider Solitaire, playing bridge and watching The Young and the Restless; my marketing ethic is not nearly as fierce!

Luck is more likely to happen to those who go after it.

How to get lucky:

1. Expect the Best

Lucky people believe they will be successful. Research shows that if you believe you’ll succeed, your odds of hitting a lucky streak go up. There’s no magic involved—expectancy is a real driver of behavior. Expecting something as opposed to wanting or hoping for it, will affect your decision-making and you’ll put in more of an effort than you may normally have.

 Writers—find ways to stay positive and expect success—it works!

2.    Notice What Others Miss

Lucky people are more open to random opportunities. They notice chance situations and act on them. Lucky people are flexible in their thinking, and it’s that relaxed, open attitude that allows them to see what other don’t.

         Keep your eyes open for opportunities—they’re out there!

3.    Say “Yes”

 Lucky people do not remain passive. Instead, they seize opportunities as they come without endless second-guessing.

   When chance encounters occur, don’t overthink them, act on them.

4.    Switch Things Up

Lucky people increase their chances of getting opportunities by meeting new people and trying new things. Luck won’t come looking for you or knock at your door.

      The more you put yourself out there, the more likely it is you will find luck.

5.    Practice Bouncing Back

Lucky people don’t let one failure sidetrack their road to success. When you let a bad break get you down, you close the door on new situations that could lead to a lucky break. Closely linked to the first trait, expecting the best, bouncing back means you will have a greater chance of success with each failure, because you’ll be trying more often.

     Regard every bad break as an opportunity to find the right course for you!

           

Dear readers,

            Although I didn’t spell out detailed ways these traits apply to the self-published author, I’m sure their relevance is obvious. So many of us, myself included, wait for that magical “break,” that will mean success for our novels. You know what magical thinking does, it delays success. Practice the habits of lucky people; they work!

Have a wonderful St. Patrick’s Day,

Marla

Readers - What Will You Pay for an eBook?

Readers - What Will You Pay For An eBook?

The high and the low of eBook pricing.

When I put my first novel up as an eBook, I priced it high because of its length. Now that my second novel, Relative Malice, has just been released, I’m wondering once more about what to charge for it.

Do I reduce novel #1 now that the new one is out? Should I bring down the price of both books? Many people advise not charging more than 2.99 for an eBook, and many readers say they will not pay more than $2.99 for one.

I need your help. I’d love some input from both authors and readers on the following questions.

1.     Do you believe $2.99 is as high as any eBook should be priced?

2.     Are you only wiling to pay more for a book written by a famous author?

3.     Should older releases by an author be priced lower than newer ones?

4.     Do you pass up books priced at 99 cents for those that are free?

5.     Are free books worth a look-see?

6.     How often do you find a gem among the free offerings?

Dear Readers,

Please take a minute to express your opinions. Pricing is an issue many authors are struggling with. My spouse keeps telling me that a quality product should be priced accordingly, and I keep telling him the eBook market is a new dog on the block. No one knows for sure what it is or how friendly it’s going to be!

Hope all of you had a loving Valentine’s Day.

Thanks for your help,

Marla

FIVE WAYS CUTTING CAN IMPROVE YOUR NOVEL

FIVE WAYS CUTTING CAN IMPROVE YOUR NOVEL

“I believe more in the scissors than I do in the pencil.”—Truman Capote

My first novel came in at more than 100,000 words. After editing, it went down to 93k. After it’s final proofing, it lost another 300 words. Painful? You bet!

But what I’ve come to realize, is without exception, anything I’ve sliced and diced has become a much more polished work.

Tightening and trimming can be a difficult lesson, but after my second novel was edited, I actually had to add a few things.

Things I learned the hard way:

1.     If you’re writing fiction, there is only so much the reader wants to know about technical issues, and, in general, background information about geography, art, science, whatever. Unless it’s vital to the story line, ( and sometimes even then ) you should keep it brief. Avoid the self-indulgence of overloading the reader with your own knowledge of a topic.

2.     Backstory.  As a reader, I hate it. I don’t tolerate excess, and will skip over it and only check to make sure I’m not missing anything germane to the story. When adding backstory that is necessary, try to intersperse it where it’s relevant rather than dumping it on the reader all at one time. When fine-tuning your manuscript, remember when it comes to backstory, succinct wins over wordy.

3.     Check and double check for repetitions. Occasionally the reader does need to be reminded of something that happened a few chapters ago, but unnecessary repetition is annoying. Cut it.

4.     Run-on character descriptions. Like backstory, keep descriptions short, and break up details of the description with dialogue or action. Better yet, have your characters' actions describe something about his appearance.

5.     Dialogue – Leave out any that’s unnecessary. The reader doesn’t want to hear small talk! Break up any long speech with details about the speaker or the listener.

Dear readers,

I enjoy hearing all of your comments. Please share your own experiences with cutting your work. If you’re reading this in a climate like Wisconsin, stay warm! I advise curling up with a warm cat, a cozy throw, a glass of wine and a good book.

Thanks for visiting,

Marla