Six Questions with Alicia Wright Brewster

Bonjour, and Happy Saturday! This is my first Saturday as a Published Author! Yes, you did read that right. In case you didn't hear, I went ahead and published The Forgotten Ones on Monday. I am so excited and it's all been great. Especially the reviews that have been coming in. 

Today I have Alicia Wright Brewster, author of Echo, in the hot seat for Six Question Saturday. Welcome to Finding Bliss Alicia!

Six Questions with Rebecca Berto

Happy Saturday, writers.Today I'd like to welcome Novel Girl Rebecca Berto back to Finding Bliss!

Rebecca is the author of novella Precise and is getting ready to release her first full-length novel Drowing in You.




What is your method of plotting out a new story?

I take time to gather my ideas for a story. From these ideas I brainstorm a whole heap of story problems and conflicts I can put in the way of the characters.

Secondly, I flesh out character bios.

Thirdly, I create a beat sheet/scene cards. In 1-3 sentences, I detail a summary of what will occur in each scene of every scene in the manuscript.

This means the story has a backbone and all other necessary structural bits.

However, I tend to deviate from what I plan with spontaneity and all (those characters are so stubborn), but for the most part, I stick to it and I spend minimal time writing and editing compared to with my first serious manuscript. *shudders at the thought*


What is your editing process?


After the first draft is complete, I put the manuscript aside for at least four weeks. That’s crucial to get out of the “author” headspace, forget what I wrote, what I meant to say, and such.

I come back to it, trying to think with the mindset of another person, i.e. a reader, and I do a structural edit. This means I look out for:

• Unbelievable character actions and plot events
• Unlikeable characters
• Flat characters who aren’t broken down and built up to be even stronger by the end
• Boring scenes
• Scenes that don’t forward the plot
• Paragraphs that are written really, really well but do nothing for the story (Kill Your Darlings)
• And more!

I don’t worry about:

• Typos unless I stumble on them
• Awkward phrases
• Word usage not fitting a type of character

Next, I copy edit, send to beta readers and incorporate their advice if I agree, more rounds of copy editing, finally proofing, and then I send to my copy editor.

Then I proof. Again.


When you published your first book, how did you spread the word?
I blogged about it for several weeks before publication, asked for reviews, planned a cover reveal with many bloggers (including your fine self), added it to Goodreads lists, had a Facebook launch party, held Rafflecopter giveaways to increase interest with entries that would increase my popularity on social media and for the book’s visibility on Goodreads, and much more that won’t come to mind at the moment.

What has worked the best for you as far as finding the right readers for your books?


My first book, Precise, is a novella and is a cross between dark contemporary and literary fiction. As you can imagine, it’s not the most popular of types of books or genres, so I looked out for people who enjoyed other books with a similar plot, theme or feel to mine and hunted down those people. (I didn’t really. I like chatting to everyone and I am nice about it.  ).

Also, I have been blogging since October 26, 2011 so I have many kind blog readers and friends I made through Novel Girl who were thrilled to be able to read, review and spread the word. << That, by far, worked best. Thank you all who helped!


How do you keep in touch with your readers?

In too many ways! Argh, seriously, I’m on the internet too much. We connect through my Facebook Profile and Page, Twitter, Novel Girl blog.


What is the one thing you’d change about your road to publication if you had a chance?

Oooh, well I’d give myself more time to promote and publicize my book; give readers more anticipation. I’d have organised a blog tour.

I don’t regret what I’ve done—just wish I had time to do more!

How do you find the right readers for your books?

What Agents Look For In a Self-Published Author

The most popular post I've had on this blog was Are Self-Published Books the New Query Letter?  It features author Erin Kern and her story of being picked up by an agent and eventually signing with a big New York publishing house.

People with varying opinions weighed in- from Self-publishing is the only way! to I won't consider myself successful unless I'm traditionally published. 

Your Book is Just the Beginning

Just a quick note and an infographic.... 

Are you tired yet? I love this stuff, but man-- it really is a lot! 

Thoughts?

Learning the Ropes with Ashley Barron

Ashley Barron was one of the first people I followed on Twitter, and to this day I continue to learn so much from her.




Her blog is a favorite among self-publishers, and she really lays out the steps for blogging (successfully) as she's learned through the past 12 months.


In May she published her first full-length novel, Ava.

 Some of the things we talked about:

Always been a voracious reader, three years ago the story of Ava came to her.
 
Put writing aside and took a year to learn the business of publishing and marketing.
 
Using Twitter as a marketing tool, tweeting blog posts and making friends.
 
Make your blog posts accessible to newcomers, different info is relevant at different times.
 
Publishing Ava through all e-retailers by the end of summer.
 
Using beta readers to find errors, lessons learned about editing.

Keeping the story arcs and character bios straight for a 26 book series


Changes to her marketing plan to include time to write & stay informed- Community News

Ava, the first book in the Priyas series, is now available on Amazon. Look for it soon on iTunes, Kobo and Smashwords.

Tweet with Ashley or if you haven't been to her blog, make sure to visit today and learn how she mastered blogging and social media for authors, you won't regret it! 

Like my interviews? Let me know in the comments and Please share with your friends on Twitter!

From Blog To Book with Maryanne Wells

You've made friends on Twitter, right? So you know what I mean when I say I'm so lucky to have met the lovely Maryanne Wells on my Twitter stream.



Maryanne and I recently got together for a chat on self-publishing her novel, Matriculated Death. 



Some of the things we talked about:

How she came up with the idea for Matriculated Death during law school 

Writing a blog-story for friends from law school

Using beta readers and a well-trusted friend for editing, and needing brutal honesty when editing

Marketing strategies and how they'll change between pre-publishing and post-publishing

Reasons for self-publishing, particularly freedom to release books on your own schedule

Why Twitter has been a pleasant surprise in her marketing plan

Putting pieces of ourselves into our fictional characters

Writing under a Pen Name

Matriculated Death, Book One of The Undead Bar Association, is available from Amazon in either e-format or paperback. It sounds like a fantastic romp with all the creatures of the night, and I can't wait to read it!

Make sure to visit Maryanne at www.maryannewells.com

or Twitter- @maryannewells


Or

Leave a Comment or Question for Maryanne Below!

Creating Tension with Jen Zeman

Happy Friday! I am so thrilled to present a post by my Twitter and Writer Unboxed pal, Jen Zeman. Like me, Jen is not yet published, but we have a great time talking writing and are a prime example of the relationships you can create by nurturing your Social Media community.

The Core of any Story

Tension within your plot is known as conflict and it is the core of any story.  Without conflict, a story will fall flat and readers will lose interest quick.  The more conflict you have in your story, the more your story will grab readers’ attention and have them clinging to the pages for more.


Simply put, conflict is a problem arising to challenge your protagonist to act in some fashion.  Literary agent Don Maass, in his book WRITING THE BREAKOUT NOVEL, states once you have conflict in your plot, the next essential element is to complicit the conflict.  Make it worse – for your main character, for everyone.  Maass states:  “What makes a breakout novel memorable are conflicts that are deep, credible, complex and universal enough so a great number of readers can relate.” 

Make the Conflict Feel Familiar

 An example would be a wife discovering her seemingly perfect husband of thirty years has had a second family on the side for the past twenty years.  To make this conflict even more spectacular, up the ante but still make the conflict feel familiar to readers.  

Sure, you could have the wife hide in her bedroom for a week crying her eyes out, but how exciting is that?  Your readers will close the book and never pick it up again.  

Have Tension on Every Page

Increase the tension instead – have tension on every single page.  Increasing the tension means the wife uses her secret assassin training by driving her car through the front door of the second family’s house (while the husband is there, of course), and her shooting up the place like a fireworks factory on fire!  

Okay, this was extreme, but you get the point.  The wife’s anger will seem familiar to the reader because surely most would be equally unhinged if they were in the wife’s position.  Your readers will excitedly turn the pages when the tension is piled this high.  

So look at your story again.  Find at least ten places within your manuscript where tension can be increased and do something unexpected in each instance.  Your readers will thank you.

Jen is a YA author working on her debut novel.

Other Donald Maass books I've read and recommend include:

Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook

The Fire in Fiction

Find What Works to Build Your Platform

Imagine five years from now when you have 10,000 Twitter subscribers and 50,000 blog subscribers. Each day when you log in to check your email, you have pages of eager requests for your attention. What will you have done to get yourself to that point?


 Large followings don't just happen, do they? I've been experimenting in April, and I want to share what things I've found to be the most helpful in building my platform and growing my audience.

• Make Goals Having a goal in mind is not the same as having clear, written out goals. Something about putting your goals on paper (or monitor) cements your commitment. I find that the cork board next to my desk is a great place to pin my personal goals, so that when I feel particularly lazy, they are there to stare me down O_O .

• Create a Schedule  Everyone is busy. Using the I have no time excuse doesn't fly in the real world, so it shouldn't fly in your virtual world, either. The truth is that if you want to be a writer in today's world, you need to schedule time to write and time to nurture your followers. Five minutes before lunch, ten minutes after. First thing in the morning, or just before bed. The point is if it's important to you, you make the time.

• Focus on What Works There are so many ways to connect with readers and writers on the web, how do you decide which one is best for you? I think the only way to know is to experiment. In April I've decided to tweet daily, and it's been a true eye-opener. I started the month knowing next to no one, now I find myself checking my Twitter feed even when I don't plan to, just to see who's on. Which brings me to my final tip...

• Avoid Too Many Distractions  Like anything else, Social Media and blog-reading can become huge time suckers. It's easy to become too focused on Twitter or your RSS feed, but if you're so busy posting/reading updates, when do you write? 

I hope one or more of these thoughts resonates with you. I've had a great month meeting new people, and I hope to keep the momentum up in May. Make sure to leave a message in the comments about what you're doing to grow your following! And, follow me on Twitter too :) .

Why Bother with Twitter?

Are you Tweeting?

Do you Twit?

Or my favorite-are you on the Twittersphere?

What is Twitter?


Twitter first came on the scene in 2006. I just couldn't imagine why anyone would want to tell the world what they were up to on a continual basis... my thoughts were: Who really Cares?? Apparently, a lot of people do.


As more and more people I knew and encountered on a regular basis began living with their cell phones attached to their hands, I began to realize that there was something to this Twitter thing. That didn't mean I would Tweet, but I didn't scoff quite as much. Reading blogs and checking Facebook a few times a day was enough for me.


Something funny happened in late 2010. I had a sort of routine where I'd check blogs and chat on FB, but I gradually began to realize I was missing part of the "conversation". People were posting stories on their blogs, and giving intermittent updates on FB, but it was like they were all in on some kind of a private joke. They were tweeting to each other... and I was AGAINST Twitter, so I was an outsider. I begrudgingly signed up for an account, checked it here and there, but refused to post anything.


Fast forward a few months. I'd been writing on and off most of my life, but after the birth of my son I decided I'd like to see about getting something published, maybe make a career out of my hobby. So, I researched the publishing world and guess what? People everywhere sang praise to Twitter! "Build your 'platform'," they said. "Communicate with the literary community, interact with agents and editors!" o_O


Why are so many people on Twitter?

• To drive traffic to their personal website

• To connect with their peers

• To share important dates

• To gather feedback 

Three tips to use Twitter to build your platform

• Be helpful- Don't just go on Twitter to spread the word about yourself. Share things you think other people would be interested in, retweet their important info, just be open to being helpful.

• Be interesting- Yes, it's important to tweet about trending topics. But, nobody will care if it's the same old recycled info. Put your own unique spin on topics people want to talk about.

• Be transparent- Put forth your best self, but also your real self. Sharing a small amount of personal information is acceptable as long as it's not too personal. In fact, it's important to be a real person, someone with feelings about things other than what their book is about and how their sales are this month.

Twitter is simple to use, and so many people are on it, it's definitely worth a try if you're serious about growing your influence online. If we're not connected yet, I invite you to join me in the-I'm gonna say it- Twittersphere. My handle is @laurahoward78 can't wait to chat!