Category: Writing Basics

I’m curious if you have any information, even an educated guess, as to how many (non-General Authority) LDS authors are male vs. female. I’d also be interested in your take as to why you think there are more men than women, or vice versa (depending on what your answer to the first question is).

Uhmmm, I have no idea…

But a quick check of my 2011 published fiction list (published thus far this year, including both LDS and national publishers) turns up 90 female authors and 36 male authors.

My guess is non-fiction would be opposite this, but I don’t know for sure.

As to why there are more women writing fiction then men?

• Women need something to do when the kids and housework make them crazy?
• Women are better multi-taskers?
• Men are busy working themselves silly at their day job?
• Men are less willing to accept the usually paltry financial payoff of writing?

Readers? What think ye?

I’m curious how others get over their writer’s block. I have a project I was working on and the creative juices just were not flowing. It felt like a wall that I just could not knock down. I ended up working on a new story idea that I have and I have been writing more than I have in a long time. So I’m wondering what other writers do to get past the writers block?

Every writer has their own secrets for overcoming writers block. My favorites are to use a writing prompt to get the imagination flowing or to purposely write bad prose—both options get me writing, and for me, that’s the important thing.

But sometimes, even tried and true doesn’t work. Here are a few links to ideas.

10 Tips for Overcoming Writer’s Block

How to Overcome Writer’s Block—15 Tips

LEO: Overcoming Writer’s Block

Creative Writing Prompts

Writer’s Digest Writing Prompts

Quotes on Writer’s Block

Readers, what do you find helpful?

I am very new to writing. I love to read and I’m amazed at all the ideas people have for fiction books, especially authors that put out a couple of books a year, every year. Where do they get the ideas? Do they ever run out? I have a couple of book ideas but then nothing… Help.

Most good stories start with the question, “What if…?” Starting noticing what captures your attention and then “what if” it.

For example, yesterday, it snowed where I live. It had been nice and spring-ish for several days. I hadn’t watched the news. For me, that snowstorm was totally out of the blue and unexpected. It caught my attention.

This morning, I looked out the window to see if it might snow again. Looks likely. And I thought to myself, “Man, it looks like late November all over again when it’s supposed to be Spring!”

Then I thought, “What if a woman woke up one late spring morning and looked out the window to see what she thought was a freak spring snowfall—only to discover that it really was late November and she’d somehow skipped 8 months into the future?”

The answers—what happened, how did it happen, why did it happen—are the basis for a story.

So readers, let’s play a game. Take that basic scenario (the red part) and write a very short outline for a book. If you want, post it on your blog and put the link in the comments, or post it into the comments. Or just leave a comment telling us you did it and how you feel about the exercise of imagination.

No scores, no detailed feedback from me, but if you post and leave links, I’ll come read and leave a short comment.

Is it true that it’s amateurish to start a book with a line of dialogue? What’s your opinion?

Depends on what that line of dialog is and where you go after that.

Starting a book with dialogue is difficult. On the upside, it puts you immediately into the middle of something live. On the downside, you have to then work a little harder to establish your scene, sense of place, character, etc.

Starting with dialogue is not really a right or a wrong. I’ve seen it done well (Ender’s Game & others by Card) and I’ve seen it done poorly (too many to mention).

Amateurish is not so much what you do, but how you do it, like using something cliché or cheesy. (Although, Kerry Blair did it in Ghost of a Chance and I thought it was funny.) Or something that is an obvious fake-out just to grab your attention, but then doesn’t follow through.

After writing this, I googled to see if I could find some examples for you and lookie here—Nathan Bransford agrees with me.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a list of books that start with dialogue. If you know of some that do it well, list them in your comments.

In connection with yesterday’s first page tip, use those first pages to firmly set the type of writing you intend your book to be.

I recently read a novel by an author I usually like. It was advertised as a suspense thriller, which I love. Chapter one started with a bit of a thrill in the form of a flashback but then it goes straight into romance mode. For eight chapters. I felt a bit cheated. It was chapter 9 before the antagonist and “thriller” part of the conflict was introduced. Somewhere around chapter five, I seriously re-read the backliner to make sure this was really going to be a suspense novel—eventually.

IMHO, that’s just too long to wait before setting up the current conflict in a suspense novel. If I hadn’t read and liked this author before, I’d have given up and quit reading long before chapter 9. If I’d wanted a romance, I would have bought a romance, but I bought a thriller, I wanted a thriller—and wading through nearly 90 pages of romance was ticking me off.

Now, I’m not saying you can’t have romance in your thrillers. You certainly can. While not absolutely critical, mixing a developing romance in with your murder adds interest to the plot and gives the reader a little time to breathe. But if you’re writing a thriller, you need to get to that story right away. It needs to be the main plot line—starting with chapter 1. Diverge to romance every other chapter or part of the chapter, but keep us on track with the suspense.

If you need some backstory and character development, that’s fine but build the tension a little more in every chapter to keep us hooked and always remembering that this is a suspense novel. You don’t want to lose your readers who thought they were getting one thing, but get so much of the other right at first that they never get to the good part.

The other day you had a post about other writing related jobs available. Like the person who asked the question, I have up and down days of wondering if I’ll ever get a book published. It’s not top priority in my life right now. However, I would also like to find jobs that have to do with writing, because I love to write.

There are tons of websites advertising online jobs, but I’m sure many are not reputable. Do you recommend any? Do any of the readers recommend any?

I do not personally recommend any of the online writing jobs—not because they may not be legit, but because I haven’t done any research on them. What I do recommend is Funds for Writers by C. Hope Clark. She has done the research.

I have gotten all my writing jobs via word of mouth. I tell my family, friends, other contacts that I’m looking for work and it starts to trickle in. The hard part is getting that first job, and doing a great job so that they’ll enthusiastically recommend you to others.

Readers, do you have any recommendations?

I’m not sure if you are the right person to contact about my questions but I simply don’t know where else to turn. I am wondering how to get a book published by and LDS company. I have a truly amazing story to tell about my life the past few years and my battle with brain cancer, recovery, mission,struggling with drug use, and my journey back. I have started writing but I am not a writer, or at least I don’t consider myself one. I’d rather have someone who is a writer possibly write it for me. So I am curious what my options are as far as how to tell my story. Are there LDS ghost writers? I really don’t know anything about getting a book published at all. Where is a good place to start? I’m sorry these questions are kinda dumb, but like i said, I really don’t know anything about this. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.

Yes, this is the perfect place to ask your question.

First, understand that this is a very difficult type of story to sell. You have a limited market and unless you’re a celebrity, most of the bigger publishers are going to pass. So will the bigger distributors.

You’ll probably have to self-publish and do a lot of personal promotion and marketing. I’d recommend going with a POD so that you don’t end up with 2,000 books sitting in your garage gathering dust.

However, there are people who ghost write. Check the comments HERE.

Anyone else do ghost writing? Post your contact info in the comments.

I’m ready to divide my manuscript into chapters and I was wondering if there is an equation for converting my document pages into book pages. This would greatly help me with placing chapter breaks.

A general rule of thumb (and you know that old adage about rules) is that a chapter should be about 10 to 12 pages, maybe 14, but no more than 16. It’s also generally a good idea to vary the length of chapters, to create drama or suspense. For example, chapter 1 might be 10 pages; chapter 2 might be 12 pages; chapter 3, 14 pages; chapter 4, 10 pages. You get the idea.

Chapter length is also dependent on genre. Historical, romance and literary fiction have longer chapters. Mystery and suspense have shorter chapters—sometimes only two to three pages. I’ve seen chapters that are only a few words. This is rare, but can be used effectively.

I’d rather an author err on the side of short chapters, rather than one that goes on and on. (Readers do occasionally need bathroom breaks, after all.) Also, I like chapters that end with a little tease, inviting me to—sometimes demanding that I—read on.

However, the number of pages in a chapter is less important than what happens in a chapter. Just like a paragraph conveys a unique idea, a chapter creates a unique scene or event that moves the story forward in a concrete step; or a chapter may be a series of small but interconnected scenes or events. It’s a matter of feeling complete.

There is no magic number or equation. I’d recommend that you do some study of the structure of popular books in your genre. Pick a few best sellers from a variety of authors and do some analyzing as you read.

• Count the number of chapters, as well as the number of pages in each chapter. What is the average length? Are the chapters within the books the same length or varied?

• How does the author use the chapter length to add tension to the story?

• Analyze the structure of individual chapters—is it one scene or several related scenes? Is it one event, one POV, or multiple events and POVs?

• Does the chapter feel cohesive and complete?

• Does it end at a natural break in scene or events? Or does it end in a cliff hanger? Does this help or hinder the reading experience?

After you’ve analyzed several popular books by authors you enjoy, go back to your book. Read it slowly, noticing where it changes scenes, events and/or POV. At each change, determine if this is a good place for a chapter break or if it is a small change that is part of a larger scene or event by asking yourself the same questions you asked as you analyzed the books you read.

• Are there a sufficient number of pages since the beginning of the chapter? Are there too many? Do I need to develop this scene or action a little more? Do I need to cut some of it out or break it into two chapters? (How long was the previous chapter? Is this one a little shorter? A little longer?)

• Does this scene or event (or these several interconnected scenes or events) draw to a natural conclusion?

• Does this section feel cohesive and complete?

• Does this feel like a natural breaking place?

• Do I want this chapter to have a soft ending/resolution? Or do I want it to be a cliff hanger? (What was the previous chapter ending? I recommend varying this a bit. That doesn’t mean they can’t all be cliff hangers, but vary the “height” of the cliffs the reader will be hanging from.)

To read what other writers have to saw about breaking your book into chapters, click HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.

In a comment on this post:

I am writing an extensive commentary on the book of Matthew. On the topic of plagiarism, many of the comments I would like to use are listed in several sources verbatim with no citation on any of them. How does one go about citing in this situation?

If you’re quoting scriptures, the only citation you need to make is which version you’re using. That is usually done on the copyright page and sometimes mentioned in the introduction or foreword.

If you’re quoting someone else’s commentary, do your very best to find the original source. Sometimes you can Google the quote and it’ll pop up. Unfortunately, some quotes are attributed to a variety of people and it’s difficult to find the original.

If you can’t find a source, you cite it as “Source Unknown” within the text. Then on the copyright page, make a note that explains you’ve done your best to track and cite sources correctly, but if a reader knows the source of a quote listed as unknown, to please contact you. Then double-check their source information to make sure it’s correct and add the new source in the next printing.

It also helps to keep a log of all the different ways/times you’ve tried to find the source and the results. That way, if someone sues you later, you can prove you did due diligence.

Last week, I suggested you keep a writer’s notebook as a way of tracking those brilliant flashes of writing ideas. I promised to talk about more uses for a writer’s notebook this week. I should have followed my own advice because last week, I had several really good ideas for this post. Now, as I’m sitting here ready to write about them, I can’t remember what they were. I’m having to force myself to recall and/or regenerate this list. If I’d jotted them down in my notebook when I first thought of them, I’d be good to go right now.

Therefore, I wish to reiterate (which is such a redundant word when “iterate” would do just as well) that the number one purpose of your writer’s notebook is to remind you of your wonderful ideas.

Other ways to use your writer’s notebook include:

• Practice writing. Be adventurous. Try things that are new to you—a different genre, POV or writing style than you usually choose. Remember, in your notebook, your writing doesn’t need to be perfect. It’s free-flowing. It’s spontaneous. It’s purposefully not good. If you get hung up on good writing, your notebook will not be the resource it could be.

• Write every day. This is critical. It is a way of training your mind to write on demand. Over time, you’ll learn how to get yourself in the writing mood.

• Writing pages. Some people do “morning pages” as suggested by Julia Cameron, who recommends three longhand pages when you first wake up, on whatever comes to your mind. If you’re not a morning person, do evening pages, or lunchtime pages, or whatever works for you. Daily freestyle writing is a good idea for everyone.

• Prime the pump. Use your notebook to start your writing session. Whenever you sit down to do your regular writing, spend 5 to 15 minutes notebook writing first. This gets the creativity flowing and can help prevent writers block.

• Create lists. To-do lists are great. It doesn’t necessarily need to be writing to-dos, although that certainly works. It can be a list of anything— Christmas ideas, new recipes to try, or your personal bucket list. If you don’t like to-dos, then make lists of favorites or do one of those annoying online memes. The simple process of listing moves your brain into creation mode.

• Character sketches. I mentioned people-watching last week and describing people that you see in your notebook. You can take this a step further and create full-blown character sketches. These can be characters for your work in progress, or someone you might use in the future. Make up a secret life for someone at the mall or your alter-ego. Write a complete and detailed character bio.

• Dialogue. Write snippets of dialogue. You don’t have to limit yourself to transcribing overheard conversations. You can rewrite a conversation you had last week—writing what you wish you had said.

• Play “what if” to create some basic plot outlines. Get creative with your current plot. Start with where you’re at in the story, then throw in some outrageous “what if.” You may not use it now, but it could become a springboard for future plots and ideas.

• Writing prompts. Use idea prompts, story-starters or competition themes to generate ideas. There are a zillion books out there with writing prompts in them. Writer’s Digest has them online and in their magazine. If you’re cheap (like me), Google Gadgets has several daily writing promps that can spark your imagination. I have some of these on my personal iGoogle page. I rarely use them exactly as they are, but sometimes they’ve helped me get started.

• Read your notebook. Don’t just write in it, go back and review it on a weekly or monthly basis. Pull out those ideas that you find are especially good. Create an index page for them, or copy them into a second notebook or a computer file.

Keep your old notebooks in a safe place. When you find yourself with a bad case of writer’s block, go back and review your notebooks that are years old. You may find an old nugget has turned into a mother lode of new ideas.

Readers, if you keep a writer’s notebook, feel free to share with us how and when you use it.

I should have known better. I have many, many writer friends who’ve lost precious files due to inadequate back-up. I thought I was better than that. I thought I was taking precautions. I backed up all my writing files (I thought) to copied files and stored them in a different place on my hard drive. I also put them on a jump drive. I thought that was good enough. It was not.

My hard drive crashed. Many files were unrecoverable. Although most of them were on my jump drive, I’d gotten busy and lazy and hadn’t put my newest WIP (nearly 40,000 words) on the jump drive. I also had an “idea” file, where I put basic plot lines for future books, that hadn’t been updated to my jump drive in about a month.

I learned the hard way that a good back-up system is worth its weight in gold. Fortunately, most of them don’t cost that much.

A good back-up system needs to be:

• daily

• automatic, invisible and easy

• off-site

There are several systems out there that fit this profile. (I ended up choosing Carbonite but this is not a commercial for them).

I just thought I’d share this with you and hope you’ll pass it along to your readers so they’ll avoid my truly sorrowful fate.

Amen.

Dear LDS Publisher, Your request for book reviewers started a huge debate in my writers group. I mentioned it in our last meeting because I thought it was a fun idea and a way to maybe get some exposure because I’m not yet published. But when I told them I’d be writing for free, one of the group members got really mad. She said we should never, ever, ever write for free. That writing for free is not only demeaning to ourselves, but also dilutes the earning capacity for writers everywhere. Another member then said that this might be a good way to earn writing creds. Then everyone else jumped in with opinions and suddenly we were all involved in a heated argument. How do you respond to that?

First off, everyone in your group needs take a deep breath and calm down.

Now.

Writing online book reviews is not a way to get legitimate publishing credits. Unless you’re applying for a job as a professional book reviewer, you wouldn’t mention this in a query. It would be a useless fact, akin to mentioning that you do underwater basket weaving as a hobby. Even if you are going into the reviewing profession (and I use the term “profession” loosely), it’s not much to brag about since anyone can publish anything online. So forget the creds angle.

As to writing for free, yes, as a general idea I discourage it. If your writing is good, you deserve to be compensated. Look for paying markets.

However, IMHO, there are conditions under which you can (and should) write for free. (Notice that none of the ones listed below say, “Write for free because you’re a new or inexperienced writer.”)

1. Do it for fun. Sometimes you come across a publishing opportunity that just looks fun, but they don’t pay. If it floats your boat and you want to do it for love, not money, then go ahead. This could include many online magazines, contests, and articles or short stories that wouldn’t sell in traditional markets (for example, an article on choosing the best dye for your underwater basket weaving designs).
2. Do it to support a cause or an organization you believe in. Many writers do freebies for various charitable organizations—with or without a byline. You might choose to write for a church newsletter, your child’s s school, or a political cause. This is not demeaning your writing—it’s you, being a good citizen and a charitable person.
3. Do it to help or inform others. This is what you do out of the goodness of your heart. For example, do you think I’ve gotten paid for the past three years of writing this blog?* Not one red cent, until I started running ads a few months ago (and I only did that because I’m in semi-retirement and I’ve become accustomed to some of the luxuries in life, like food and shelter). I do this blog for the warm fuzzies it gives me every time I read your comments. Many writers offer free mentoring in subjects they’re familiar with, just for the sake of being a good and generous person.
4. Do it to build your career. This type of free writing includes your personal blog, your website, guest blogging to generate interest and visits to your website, articles in professional journals and other places that highlight your career as a writer. This is part of a marketing plan, a conscious decision on your part, and should include references to your website, blog, book, or whatever it is you’re promoting. This is not an attempt to see your name in print, no matter what, or to polish up your skills until you’re “good enough” for a paying job.

Doing free book reviews for me would fall under the first three categories: it would be fun, you would be supporting a cause you believe in (namely, LDS fiction) (and me), and you would be helping to inform others.

*I just passed the three year anniversary for this blog on April 7th. I intended to make a huge deal of it, but I forgot. Maybe I’ll do something tomorrow.

Plagiarism: the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one’s own original work. (Dictionary.com Unabridged. Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.)

Notice how I gave credit to the definition above? Notice that I provided a source AND a link? Notice how even dictionary.com provided their source?

This is what you do when you copy stuff from any source and use it for your own purposes, whether from a printed book or posted on the Internet.

When you copy the wording from one blog (example: MINE) and post it straight on another blog (example: YOURS), and you give no source, that is called plagiarism. It’s illegal, unethical, and extremely bad manners.

Folks, I have StatCounter (see bottom right sidebar). About once a month, I check out who my visitors are and where they’re coming from. When I see a new referring blog, I go visit it. All too often (once is too often, and it’s happened way more than once), I find blogs by writers, on the subject of writing, that have lifted my posts and put them on their blogs—verbatim! Without credit back to me. (Shame on you!)

And when I say verbatim, I don’t mean that they saw that I talked about POV on Monday and they did their own post on POV on Tuesday, pretty much making the same points I did but putting it into their own words (although that’s irritating to me and just kind of lazy on their part). No, I literally mean “verbatim”—as in, “in exactly the same words; word for word.”* (Notice how I did this quote differently, but still gave credit to the original source?)

As a writer, you should know better and do better. If you don’t know better, inform yourself. And quite stealing my stuff!

P.S. As a publisher, yes, I researched authors who submitted to me and read their blogs and websites. If I discovered that they used someone else’s words on their sites without credit, they were rejected outright and were added to my “never publish this person’s work” list.

*(Dictionary.com)

Ideas come at odd times and you need to be prepared. Carry a notebook with you everywhere you go. This can be a pocket-sized notepad, a cheap steno pad that fits in your purse, or one of those pretty decorated things that cost way too much money but make you look really cool when you’re writing in it.

What the notebook looks like doesn’t matter. That it exists and is within easy reach is critical.

Let’s say your waiting for your turn in the dentist chair and you overhear a clever conversation between a mother and child. Get out your notebook and jot it down.

Or maybe you’re at the park, and overwhelmed by the Spring-ness of the day. Write an in-depth description of what you’re seeing, hearing, smelling, touching, tasting.

Or let’s say you’re struggling with a character and while mall-watching (you do go hang at the mall just to watch the people go by, right?), you see the perfect embodiment of a secondary, but critical, character. Whip out that notebook and write down the details—from the greasy long black hair and pierced left nostril to the holey Keds® sneakers on his feet.

If you don’t keep a writer’s notebook, start one today and practice using it. I’ll be posting more uses for this notebook next Tuesday.

There are a lot of books and gadgets out there on writing or that supposedly help you write better. Are there any that you would recommend? I am particularly looking for books that help me be more creative.

I have a whole shelf (or 10) of books on writing. A few of my favorites (in no particular order) are:

• Writing Alone and with Others by Pat Schneider

• The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron

• Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg

• On Writing by Stephen King

• Bird by Bird by Anne Lamont

I also have a new writing book on order that hasn’t arrived yet, but it looks great — Book in a Month by Victoria Lynn Schmidt. She has some great free downloadable worksheets HERE.

So readers, is this something you’d be interested in on a somewhat regular basis? A quick review of writing books and other writing related stuff?

Also, what about online writing courses I’ve received the occasional e-mail asking if I teach writing classes. I’ve always responded that I was too busy for that. But now that I’m in semi-retirement, it may be something I could consider. They wouldn’t be free. I have to support my chocolate habit somehow. But I’d try to keep the prices reasonable.

In your comments, let me know if you’re interested in a) writing book/product reviews, and b) online writing courses. If you are interested in online courses, let me know what specifically you’d be interested in.

When you’re writing, you need to consider the “so what” factor—that is, whatever it is that makes the reader care about your story.

Let’s say you have a story about a woman in her 30s who is divorced and looking for a new romance. So what? I know a dozen women in my own neighborhood who fit that description. Why should I care about what’s happening to the woman in your book?

Is it her personality? Is she funny? Quirky? Always getting into trouble?

Is it the way she finds romance? Is there a mystery involved? Suspense? Danger? Or does she continually reject the guy next door who is perfect for her?

There has to be an investing reason for the reader—and it’s usually the characterization, the plot or both. The more reasons a reader has to invest in your novel, the more they’re going to like it.

Take some time to evaluate your novel and your audience. Look at your plot and ask yourself, “So what?” Then look at your character and ask, “Who cares?” When you can answer those two quesionts, you’re on the right track.

If you quote a living general authority, where do you request permission? Does the church own the copyright or does the individual speaker?

Also, you do need to submit separate requests to the church for each quoted item or for each project?

At one point, I think I had a link to the Church’s copyright information but I’ve googled all morning and can’t find it now. I did find THIS, which talks about using music.

The Church is subject to the copyright laws of the U.S. You can find the copyright law HERE. Specifically, you need to know what constitutes FAIR USE. Since copyright law is written in legal-speak, it’s sometimes very difficult to interpret. That’s why you can find several books that help interpret it. I have a much used copy of THIS ONE.

When quoting General Authorities, copyright ownership depends on your source. Sometimes it’s the Church who owns the copyright and sometimes it’s the General Authority. But either way, you start at the same place, which is The Church Copyrights and Permissions Office.* Contact them and ask for specifics on how to request permissions.

*50 East North Temple Street, Salt Lake City, Utah 84150; 801-240-2190