This post at Writer Unboxed is among the best discussions of the distinction between “literary” and “commercial” that I’ve seen. Donald Maass’s comparison between excerpts from two books, one “commercial,” one “literary,” makes the difference visible. This discussion ties in well with my own attempts to define “voice” and effective “world building.” Let me know what you think! 
Tag Archives: writing novels
What is “Literary” Fiction? Donald Maass has a definition!
5 Hard Truths About Being a Published Writer
Some truly HARD truths, and worth reading. I can also add that when you’ve published in the past, a fair number of agents want proof that your prior books were bestsellers before they’ll even consider your current one. “Did well for a first novel” doesn’t seem like enough.
Have you ever had experiences like these in your writing career? Share!
You’ve dreamed of being a writer, getting published, and finally – you’ve succeeded. Someone has paid money for your words, and they’re out in the world for people to read! Or, maybe you haven’t yet sold a story or novel, or you’re still writing for free on blogs and hoping that’s going to get you noticed. Either way, you aspire to greatness with your ability to turn a phrase. Here’s five things you definitely need to know, but probably no one has told you:
- You’re still going to be rejected. No matter how many sales or awards or accolades you have, you will still not have them all. You’ll submit work that won’t be purchased. You’ll write beautiful prose that doesn’t get nominated for an award, or doesn’t win even if you make it onto the ballot. You’ll be left out of articles talking about the books to read this summer…
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All About Google+ For Writers | Savvy Book Writers
It looks as if it’s time to get serious about Google+. Let me know of your experiences with this platform. What do you find works best?
More than 625,000 People join Google+ EVERY DAY, according to Digital Buzz and Huffington Post statistics. Before I even joined Twitter, GooglePlus (Google+) was my first Social Media network of c…
8 Common Creative Writing Mistakes | Writing Forward
I’ve responded to this post with the thoughts and comments below. Share your own additions!
I agree on these issues! It’s amazing how many cuts I can find when I know I have to. And the result is almost always an improvement.
I especially have to catch redundancy. It’s a good tool for drafting, since you can try out six different ways of capturing a setting or an emotion. But then come back and pick the best one of the six!
A few points:
- Additional “filler” (or “filter”) words are “**She heard** the wind whistling through the trees” vs. “The wind whistled through the trees,” and “**She saw,**” which works similarly. These are so hard to catch.
- RE spell-check: Instead of turning off spell-check, turn off “autocorrect” functions. You will be notified of typos, but the computer will not try to guess what you really intended. I’ve seen some pretty crazy computer-supplied corrections!
- Also, grammar-checkers are notoriously poor substitutes for your own knowledge. The one on my Word program misidentifies fragments and rails against all kinds of style choices that work beautifully to establish voice.
- Finally, do give “older” books a chance, even if you know that these days, you don’t dare write in an older style. The Victorians, for example, lived in a slower age, but they wrote some of the most gripping fiction you’ll ever read.
The art of the hand-sell
Now that I have a print edition, I need tips like these! Let me know your strategies for “hand-selling.” I need help!
If you want to sell books at an event, you’ll have to master the art of the hand-sell. It all starts with a smile.
Source: The art of the hand-sell
Opinion: To Tweet or Not to Tweet? Does Twitter Worthwhile for Self-published Authors?
I’ve heard varied reports on using Twitter to promote books. Is Anna’s process the best to follow? How do you use Twitter?
Swedish indie author Anna Belfrage reports on her trial to see whether Twitter can sell self-published books and queries whether the return justifies the
Source: Opinion: To Tweet or Not to Tweet? Does Twitter Worthwhile for Self-published Authors?
How do readers discover #books #infographic
How you can avoid my mistakes
Check out these software tools from Jean. Do you use any of them? What was your experience like? Do you have others to recommend?
And boy do I make a lot of them. Or so it seems.
I hope by sharing with you, these posts will stand as a reminder to myself, not to repeat the same mistakes over again.
Why? Because mistakes are costly.
Mistakes cost when you have to do something over and over, not just in time but often in money too.
How you can avoid my mistakes…
- Use the right software for the right job.
I tried to use “workaround” software but that only make the job harder and take longer. You know what I mean like using a shoe to hang a picture instead of hunting down that long-lost hammer in the garage.
- A little investment is worth your time and sanity.
No one software does everything. Pick the one that works best for each task.
Listed at the bottom are some of the ones I discovered and love.
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Survey Question-Why do you put that book down?
I’ve been writing about this issue quite a bit on this blog, mostly because I’ve been disappointed by a number of the books I’ve picked up recently. My own concern is whether I’m being too curmudgeonly, since the books I can’t make it through often seem to have many fans. Here, I posted about the value of voice for smoothing over glitches that would otherwise stop me. And here, just recently, about a plot device in mysteries and thrillers that made me quit in the final chapters.
Others include what I call “illogic“: people who just don’t act like normal people or events that couldn’t happen because the author needs characters to behave bizarrely or the world to reorganize itself to make the plot work out. Hate that!
And not too long ago I stopped reading a book where everybody was so terminally nice that even when conflict reared its leonine head, everybody smiled and and gave it a gentle hug.
Finally, when I read a scene I could have written myself based on the hundred+ times I’ve already seen that exact scene or read that dialogue (e.g., “I want to be there for you”), I have a hard time pressing on.
Am I being too persnickety? I’m eternally grateful for books that surprise me, even if only just a little, with a view of the world I couldn’t get anywhere else.
Jog on over to the original post and add your thoughts, or share them here.
Here is the first of our LWI Survey Questions. Never a list, just the one. Yes, I know there are two but the second is clarifying the first. The results will be shared, minus names provided.
Make sure to share this post around through social media and reblogging.
Tech Tips for Writers #116: How to Screenshot
In addition to the very helpful hints in this post about taking screen shots from Jacqui Murray, Mac users can try the Grab utility. The only real advantage I see to Grab is that it opens your shot in a separate window so that you don’t have to hunt for it on your desktop. However, this process is faster than opening Grab from your Go–>Utilities menu. Enjoy!
Tech Tips for Writers is an (almost) weekly post on overcoming Tech Dread. I’ll cover issues that friends, both real-time and virtual, have shared. Feel free to post a comment about a question you have. I’ll cover it in a future Tip.
Q: I need to take a screenshot with my Chromebook.
Here’s the shortkey: Hold down the Ctrl key and press the Window Switcher key. The screenshot is placed on the clipboard and in the download folder. If you have trouble finding the Download file, click Alt+Shift+M to open the File Manager. Download will be one of the options on the left sidebar.
In case you use a different digital device, here are the screenshot shortkeys for other platforms:
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Filed under blogging, Tech tips for writers, Writing
Just Can't Help Writing 