Author Tools – How to Write an Epic Story Using the Hero’s Journey [Infographic]

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Author Tools – things to help you get your writing done

Writing a heroic story? Then this infographic from Lifehack is a good place to start and has examples from popular epic adventures. You can follow the classic pattern or use it to bridge off of for your own amazing tale.

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How to Write an Epic Story Using the Hero’s Journey [Infographic]

Epic story line plot curve
Epic story line plot curve

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The concept of the Hero’s Journey isn’t a new one–in fact, it’s as old as storytelling. The Hero’s Journey, known in literary circles as the Monomyth, is an archetypal plot structure that can be found at the core of stories across multiple genres and mediums.

1. What is the Hero’s Journey?

Think of your favorite story: does the protagonist face an obstacle? Do they experience a change in character or a shift in perspective? Then your favorite movie follows, at least to some extent, the Hero’s Journey.

There’s a reason for that: the Hero’s Journey is a plot structure that works. It centres on a protagonist overcoming a great obstacle and undergoing a profound change. Those driving forces of conflict resolution and change makes for a compelling plot where the readers/viewers root for the protagonist.

Read the full post (and get the free worksheet!) on Lifehack

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Quick Links: Anthologies: How They Can Advance Your Writing Career

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I love anthologies as a way of finding new authors. Alex J. Cavanaugh discusses how anthologies can help writers and has tips to make your anthology experience successful.  Anne R. Allen’s Blog… with Ruth Harris has the full details.

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Anthologies: How They Can Advance Your Writing Career

Anthologies - where too many chefs makes awesome sauce!
Anthologies – where too many chefs makes awesome sauce!

by Alex J. Cavanaugh

Anthologies are an excellent way for a writer to break into publishing. They can also do a lot to expand the audience for your existing titles. Blog ninja and Master and Commander of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group, Alex J. Cavanaugh, has edited several anthologies, and gives us the skinny on how they can help your career. 

Anthologies offer something for everyone – the authors, the readers, and the organizing team.

The Insecure Writer’s Support Group recently released its second anthology, Parallels: Felix Was Here. Previously, we’d put together The IWSG’s Guide to Publishing and Beyond.

Comprised of short essays from various IWSG members, the Guide was put together as free gift to our members and to any writer seeking assistance. The second anthology was the result of a yearly contest and offered the authors royalties. Both were a huge undertaking for the IWSG team to put together.

But the anthologies embody what the IWSG is all about – offering support and providing opportunities for writers at all levels to achieve their goal of being published. When you’re in an IWSG anthology, there’s a sense of family. All the winners become friends and offer support for each other. Watching that unfold is worth any amount of effort.

So, for anyone considering submitting to an anthology, putting together one, or even reading such a collection, I offer these tips and advantages.

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Author Tools: Craft Your First Story With This Creative Writing Reference Chart

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Author Tools – things to help you get your writing done

Lifehacker‘s Eric Ravenscraft shares a great chart he found to help writers plan their story.

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write_ref_chart

 

Read the full post (and get the free worksheet!) on Lifehacker

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Quick Link: Ten Clever Ways To Keep Your Reader Enthralled

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The Wicked Writing Blog is actually very helpful with tips by Sue Coletta on tweaking your writing to pull your reader further into your story. Check it out.

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Ten Clever Ways To Keep Your Reader Enthralled

by Sue Coletta
June 10, 2016

en·thrall - verb capture the fascinated attention of.
en·thrall – verb
capture the fascinated attention of.

We all know how to inject pace into our stories, don’t we? Just drop in a lot of exciting moments and space them with ‘scene hangers’. ‘Little did I know that my life was about to change forever’, and the like.

But hangers are clichés. Sure, they’re useful but not right for every story.

So what else can we do to keep the reader enthralled? Turning our every page? And wholly immersed in our story?

Top crime suspense writer Sue Coletta reveals ten tricks of the trade. We can adapt them to any genre!

1. Language itself is the subtlest means of pacing.

Throw away those passive expressions. ‘His head was hit by something sharp and cold.’ Yawn...

Think concrete words.

Concrete words are nouns that we experience through our senses. Example: smoke, mist, iceberg. Use active voice plus sensory information that’s artfully embedded. If you write long, involved paragraphs, try breaking them up into shorter ones.

‘Hail pounded his head. Icy water down his spine. He drew his collar round his throat and shivered.’

Drop in lots of white space.

 

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Quick Link: In the Flesh: Fleshing Out Flat Characters

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Janice Harding always has great advice. This time it is about how to change some less than memorable characters into more dynamic integral parts of the story.

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In the Flesh: Fleshing Out Flat Characters

Friday, June 10

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

The only flats in a story should be these or a tire.
The only flats in a story should be these or a tire.

This week’s Refresher Friday takes an updated look at fleshing out flat characters. Enjoy!

Characters play just as many roles in the writing process as they do in the novel itself. Some characters spark the very idea of the story, others show up when needed to suit plot, and others are doomed to life as nothing more than spear carriers. Most of the time, by the end of a first draft you’ll have too many, and some (if not all) will be flat as cardboard. Now’s the time to start bringing them to life.

Get Real, People

Characters will pop in and out as you write, even if you aren’t sure what to do with them or how they fit. After you’ve figured out which to keep and which to cut, you’ll likely want to develop them more and make them as rich and three dimensional as your main character. Or, you might be the type who prefers to flesh out everyone after the first draft is done and you see how the story unfolds.

Look at what role each character plays in the story. Not their “the protagonist’s best friend” type role, but a thematic role. For example, in my fantasy novel, The Shifter, Aylin is the voice of reason. She’s the practical one when Nya gears up to dive headfirst and full speed into something she believes in (she’s  a bit of an idealist). Knowing this, as I edited the draft I kept Aylin’s role in mind. Her style and behavior reflected her personality and role, both as the best friend, and as the voice of reason. Her actions also reinforced this.

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Quick Links: Letter to a Discouraged Writer

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Writing getting you down? Perhaps you are feeling discouraged and even though you got published, it didn’t turn out like you thought it would? James Scott Bell has some encouraging words to help you keep your chin up and move along at Kill Zone.

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Letter to a Discouraged Writer

June 12, 2016
by James Scott Bell

Get back up, start writing! Starting with a funny caption for here!
Get back up, start writing! Starting with a funny caption for here!

My man,

Here’s the thing. You got yourself good enough to get a publishing contract back in the “old days” when you needed to impress an agent, get repped, get shopped, and then sign on with a house. Your books came out with nice covers, some marketing, some placement. You did book signings and conference appearances. Three books I think it was, right?

So what happened? Sales weren’t enough to earn back the advance. And not enough to get another contract from the publishing house.

There’s an author support group for that. It’s called “Practically Everyone” and they meet at the bar.

I don’t know the exact percentage, but most fiction authors who ever lived never caught on in a big way. Many used to manage a “midlist career” which meant at least enough sales to keep on publishing, though not enough buy a yacht.

So you went through a dry period. Your agent shopped you but without success. So you parted ways. That was a tough time for you. You wondered if you’d ever get published again.

 

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Quick Links: It’s Not You, It’s Me: Nine Things I’m So Over in Romance Novels

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Ok, I admit it. Romance is not my favorite genre. Not saying I haven’t read any but I am very picky and they are few and far between. Even so,   at Book Riot has some great points on things that are so wrong or overdone in romance novels. My particular favorite topic to rip on is #4 The wonder virgin but don’t forget to add her billionaire dominant lover who only wants her and only she can redeem him.

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It’s Not You, It’s Me: Nine Things I’m So Over in Romance Novels

All she needs to do is take off her glass and undo her ponytail and voila instant vixen!
All she needs to do is take off her glass and undo her ponytail and voila instant vixen!

By Jessica Tripler

Romance is my favorite literary genre. I read 4-6 a month. But here’s a list of things I’d like to see receding in my reading rear-view mirror:

  1. Building up the heroine by tearing down other women. This typically involves comparing her favorably to either the hero’s ex or his faceless army of sexual conquests. When her positive attributes only show up against the backdrop of all the lying, gold digging, narcissistic, and promiscuous women he’s ever known, I learn a lot more about him than her. As a reader, I’m more interested in why this particular woman is special to this particular man.

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Quick Link: How Writers Can Develop Emotional Connections between Reader and Hero

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We all want to tell our story and as writers we want someone to get our story, to fall in love with our characters. Patrick Cole at Live Write Thrive, shares with us his tips on how to connect the reader and the characters.

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How Writers Can Develop Emotional Connections between Reader and Hero

June 10, 2016

Even though she was on her way to marry David, she knew in her heart no one could compete with Mr. Darcy
Even though she was on her way to marry Norman, she knew in her heart no one could compete with Mr. Darcy

by Patrick Cole

Today’s guest post is by Patrick Cole: 

When I first met Sydney Carton in A Tale of Two Cities, I was in high school and certainly not yet “fully baked.” In fact, my major emotional connection to the novel was not with Sydney Carton but with Lucy and Charles. They were so in love, and I just wanted there to be a romantic happy ending for them. Dickens did not disappoint me.

Of course, since that time, I have reread this novel two more times—once in college for an English Lit. class and once more because there is much to learn from Dickens’s writing.

To me, now that I am closer to coming out of the oven, Carton as a redemptive figure is one of the best in literature. And while many fiction writers do not have “Christlike” characters in their novels, the methods used by Dickens to establish that emotional connection are timeless and universal. Here are things I have learned that you can learn too.

  1. What’s the Backstory?

Readers cannot develop connections with characters unless they have the backstory that got them to where they are at the opening of your piece.

Backstories can help to establish empathy, understanding, and credibility, as long as they are done well.

Before you ever develop your protagonist in his/her current situation, spend some time developing a history that logically leads to the emotional and behavioral state in which they find themselves today. Never do this through a narrative. Provide that history through thoughts, behaviors, words and interactions with other characters.

It’s easy to see Sydney Carton’s backstory by his behaviors in the beginning of the tale—he is a drunk who feels worthless and inept, despite his stellar legal history. He has “fallen” and, though would like to redeem himself, cannot muster the strength and courage to pull his life together. He has no purpose.

 

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In The News – The World’s Oldest Working Library Will Soon Open Its Doors to the Public

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In The News – Articles Of Interest For Authors

Morocco’s al-Qarawiyyin University is the worlds oldest continuing working library and soon it will be available for everyone. Road trip? If I only had the money! Smithsonian.com has the details.

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The World’s Oldest Working Library Will Soon Open Its Doors to the Public

Seriously who want to come!
Seriously who want to come!

By Danny Lewis

smithsonian.com

After renovations wrap up in September, the library at Morocco’s al-Qarawiyyin University will debut an exhibition section for non-scholars

When the library at Morocco’s al-Qarawiyyin University was first built in the 9th century, it was one of the world’s great centers for learning. Scholars from around the world traveled to Fez to visit the library and peruse its books, and today it is the oldest continually operating library in the world, Selina Cheng reports for Quartz. But soon students and researchers won’t be the only ones with access to the storied library. The architect in charge of a lengthy restoration project to the library, Aziza Chaouni, confirmed to Smithsonian.com that after renovations wrap in September, the library will be debuting a wing for the general public’s use for the first time in history.
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Read the full post on Smithsonian.com

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Quick Links: From Trad-Pub to Self-Pub–Tips and Observations

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Elizabeth S. Craig is one of those amazing authors who has had book published by a publisher as well as self-published. She recently got rights back to some titles from her publishing house and decided to re-release them as eBooks her self.  She is gracious enough to share her experience and thoughts.

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From Trad-Pub to Self-Pub–Tips and Observations

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

 This is the second time I’ve gotten the rights to my characters back from a publisher and taken a trad-published series to self-pub.  The last time I did this was five years ago.
Karma Karma Karma chameleon....
Karma Karma Karma chameleon….

There were some big differences between this time and last time.  The first time I’d had only one book released in the series before taking it to self-pub.  This time the series had five books in it.

This latest series had a nice following but I found that many of my readers for the Penguin series  seemed unaware of my self-published series.  They would email me asking when the next Southern Quilting Mystery was coming out and I would tell them…and then ask if they knew about my Myrtle Clover series.  Many times they didn’t.

One reason they didn’t is because Penguin didn’t want any non-Penguin books included in my author bio.  I can understand this.  So not only were my self-published books not included in my bio, the original trad-published book in the series (from Midnight Ink) wasn’t, either.

So that’s officially my favorite thing about taking this series to self-pub. I loved, loved, loved being able to advertise my self-pubbed series in the back of the book.  I’m hoping for some real crossover from my audience.

And now for the curiosities from this release.   Print sales have been very strong…I’ve ranked as high as in the top 15,000–18,000 for printed books on Amazon.  It’s also selling well through IngramSpark, which tells me that bookstores are ordering it for customers.

 

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Quick Links: 5 Tips for Editing Dialogue

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Over at Writers Digest, Arlene F. Marks has some great tips about writing and editing Dialogue. Check it out and tell us if you have any handy tips for managing dialogue.

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5 Tips for Editing Dialogue

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"Frank, do you have clean underwear on?" "Depends"
Matilda was curious. “Frank, do you have clean underwear on?” she asked inquisitively. “Depends” he replied curtly.

Here’s a guest post from Arlene F. Marks, author of From First Word to Last: The Craft of Writing Popular Fiction and The Accidental God, in which she shares her tips for editing dialogue. If you have a great idea and would like to contribute a guest post of your own, please send an e-mail to robert.brewer@fwcommunity.com with the subject line: Guest Post Idea for No Rules.

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Dialogue is the writer’s equivalent of the Swiss army knife. What other storytelling tool lets you reveal character, advance the plot, establish the setting, and deliver a theme, all at the same time? Well-written dialogue is a fast and easy read. Ensure that the character conversations in your story will hum right along by catching and repairing the following “dialogue fumbles” at the editing stage:

1. Wooden dialogue

It’s important to read dialogue aloud while editing it, because the words you put into your character’s mouths need to sound natural and spontaneous coming back out. At the same time, unlike real people who often stammer and repeat themselves when conversing, fictional characters are expected to “talk edited.” Here are two culprits in particular that make dialogue sound stiff and rehearsed:

Radio talk: In the heyday of radio drama, scriptwriters peppered the actors’ dialogue with narrative details to help the listener picture each scene more clearly:

“Lucinda, why are you raising that hammer over your head?”

As you go through your manuscript, remove or revise speeches in which a character is doubling as narrator.

Unnecessary naming: Unless there is a good reason for doing so, including the name of the person being addressed can also make dialogue sound wooden:

“Congratulations on your promotion, Bob.”

“Thanks, Janice.”

“Are you planning to celebrate with your wife, Bob?”

“Yes, Janice. We’re going out for dinner.”

As you read through scenes of dialogue, be alert to excessive or unnecessary naming and trim it out.

 

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Quick Links: The Best Ways To Root Out A Cheesy Villain

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Having a great protagonist is very important but like my t-shirt says “every great story needs a great villain”.  The quality of the bad guy is what makes a story. So at Stand Out Books, helps you to root out a cheesy villain and make your story awesome.

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The Best Ways To Root Out A Cheesy Villain

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Sometimes extra cheesy is a good thing!
Sometimes extra cheesy is a good thing!

Ever wondered how to tell if your villain is cheesy, or how you can make them more realistic and engaging? In this article I’ll be looking at exactly that, but instead of offering advice to authors, I’m going to the heart of the problem…

In a cloud-shrouded castle he waits, plotting the demise of all who would oppose him in his quest for unlimited power. Outside, lightning streaks through the fell air, punctuating his cackling laughter. Silence falls and, in the distance, he hears the distant tinkling of a bell.

“Who dares enter my presence?” he booms, waving one perfectly manicured hand – an indication that his hulking assistant should go and fetch their midnight caller. A few moments later his visitor is ushered in, trailing behind him a motley assortment of brigands and rogues. There’s a serial killer, clutching a bloodied hatchet and a well-thumbed holy book. Behind him there stands a gorgeous woman, quite clearly hiding some kind of knock-out drug behind her back. Further back, a bulbous-headed alien is engaged in hushed conversation with a poorly built killer robot. The visitor, clearly leading this strange group, smiles at Dark Mage Kardak.

“Who are you?” asks the dark mage.

“I’m the editor,” says the visitor, “and I think we’ve got a problem.”

 “What kind of problem?”

“I think…” the editor hesitates. “I think you might be a bit cheesy.”

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Quick Links: 5 common audio book production misconceptions

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Offering an audio book version of your story is a great way to add value to your eBook and also a way to attract a different type of fan.  To learn more check out Richard Rieman’s post over at Build Book Buzz.

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Guest post: 5 common audio book production misconceptions

June 8, 2016

"It was a dark and stormy night...."
“It was a dark and stormy night….”

Today’s guest blogger, Richard Rieman of RRVoice.com, is the author of The Author’s Guide to AudioBook Creation. He’s also an audio book self-publishing expert and a top Audible narrator. Richard has narrated dozens of titles on Amazon, Audible, iTunes, and more. He also produces audio books for authors voicing their own audio books and consults authors seeking a narrator.

Guest post: 5 common audio book production misconceptions

By Richard Rieman

Do you ever wonder if an audio version of your book is a good idea?

Maybe you listen to audio books – perhaps a Harry Potter book with Jim Dale doing more than 150 voices – and you think that it’s probably way too complicated or expensive.

Not necessarily!

It’s not as hard as you think if you do a little research and know what you’re getting into first. Like anything else in the book publishing business, the more you know about how to do it, the better your end product will be.

If you’re an audio books rookie, you’ll want to get smart about these five common audio book misconceptions now:

1. Audio books aren’t popular enough to make this worth my while.

E-book popularity is waning, but audio book listening on Audible grew 38 percent last year. Audio book sales growth is up 20 percent worldwide two years in a row.

Smartphone listening is the fastest growing method for enjoying audio books, so automakers such as Honda and GM are now including audio book apps from Audible and iTunes in new cars.

Audio books also have their own fan base, so it’s a way to sell more books.

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Quick Link: Eight things booksellers would like self-published authors to know

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Ever thought about trying to get your book into a bookstore or hold an event? Niki Hawkes at The Independent has some tips for you that booksellers think you should know. There is also a podcast along with the story.

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Eight things booksellers would like self-published authors to know

By Niki Hawkes

We want YOU to sell your book!
We want YOU to sell your book!

Self-published authors are sometimes ill-prepared or don’t know what to expect when they approach booksellers about selling their titles, signing events, policy, etc. To be successful in pitching their books to booksellers, self-published authors should have a sense of the resources available to booksellers, what is appealing to them, and how to approach them. Here are eight things booksellers would like self-published authors to know.

Making sure your title is available for bookstores to order is an important first step

Bookstores don’t have access to all titles, and corporate stores like Barnes and Noble can’t sell your title unless it’s in its system and available from one of its distributors. Independent bookstores are much more likely to accept copies you bring from home, but each one is different, so it’s important to do some preliminary research. The more available your book is, the easier it will be to make sales.

Before setting up a book signing, do research on how to get your title accepted into the bookstores you are considering.

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Quick Links: How to Prepare for Self-Publishing: Ebook Formatting

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This is the next in a series of posts about self-publishing from Digital Publishing News. talks about some basic formatting hints and things to look out for. If you have a question or problem with preparing your manuscript for eBook publishing, let me know in the comments below and perhaps I can help.

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How to Prepare for Self-Publishing: Ebook Formatting

By: Catherine Dunn
J

This is part three of a six-part series.

Not an acceptable Amazon file format.
Not an acceptable Amazon file format.

You’ve got your finished manuscript in Microsoft Word and you’re ready to turn it into an ebook. You need to convert it into MOBI format (for Amazon Kindle) and EPUB (for everywhere else). There are various companies, tools and programs that can convert your file for you, but how can you make sure it ends up looking right? You already know that ebooks behave quite differently from Word documents, so how can you be confident that your carefully crafted file will work as an ebook?

Keep it simple

Don’t forget that most ebooks—unless you’re specifically opting for a fixed format to handle lots of illustrations, charts, tables, etc.—are reflowable, which means that the reader can choose the size of the text and some other elements like font, line spacing and margins. So your careful choice of 12 point Palatino won’t always render exactly as you envisaged. By keeping the formatting as simple as possible, you reduce the risk of introducing anything that will be too distracting to the reader. After all, you want her to focus on what you’ve written, not on what it looks like.

Before you submit your book for conversion, there are a few really basic things you can do within Word to make it look more professional.

Switch on the “Show nonprinting characters” option—click the button that looks like this: Show nonprinting characters

This displays the formatting marks, showing all the formatting you’ve used: spaces, line breaks, paragraph breaks, tabs, page breaks—the works. This makes it easier to see what you’ve done and will help you to strip out extraneous formatting.

Remove rogue spaces from the beginnings and ends of paragraphs. This can be a tedious job, but it’s worth it, because extra spaces often stand out on an e-reader.

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