Writers in the Storm

by Colleen M. Story

One of the things we have to learn as writers is how to take control of our writing careers.

Nothing happens unless we power the machine, so to speak. It’s one of the lessons of writing—we have to be self-motivated and self-directed.

So it’s common for writers to celebrate when things go right…and then to seriously beat themselves up when they don’t.

After publishing six books so far (3 traditional, 3 self-published), I’ve learned something important: as hard as we writers work, we can’t control everything.

Sometimes the proverbial sh— happens.

It’s at these times that we have to stop, exhale, and learn how to let go.

And man is that hard, particularly after all that learning to take charge!

But letting go at the right times can help ease your stress and keep you sane.

Why It’s Important to Realize When You’re Not In Control

Trying to maintain control when you’ve already lost control is an experience in crazy-making.

You feel bad enough already when something goes wrong. If you then try to control it when you can’t, you’ll make things worse for yourself.

“One of the reasons we worry too much is because we tend to focus on problems that are beyond our ability to solve, or things we cannot control,” writes holistic coach Dr. Gala Gorman. “Accepting the fact that you cannot control everything will lift a lot of burden from your shoulders … and will eventually end your worry.”

The big problem for writers is that we feel we can control our writing futures—and in many ways, that’s true. Many things are up to us—how much we write, what we write about, how much time we spend marketing, etc.

But then when something goes wrong, we can take it especially hard because everything falls on our doorstep. Whatever it was, it had to be our fault.

If so, we can learn from our mistakes and try again. But sometimes, what happens isn’t our fault and the best thing we can do is remind ourselves that we’re not always in control.

5 Times When Writers Are Not In Control

1. When the Market Fails to Respond to Your Book

Most of the time when a book doesn’t sell well, there is a reason for it.

Maybe the cover design was wrong for the genre or the audience. Something may have been off about the story itself in terms of pacing, plot, or characterization. The marketing campaign could have used some tweaking, or maybe the writer didn’t do enough to get the word out.

It’s always best to examine all the possible contributing factors. But it also helps to know that sometimes, the market just doesn’t respond for some unknown reason.

There are a lot of examples of classic books that didn’t sell well when they were released. LitHubhas a list of 15 of them, including T. S. Eliot’s The Wasteland, Henry David Thoreau’s Walden, and James Joyce’s The Dubliners.

The good news is that after a time, these books found their audience. Yours might too, but in the meantime, you may have to let go a little.

2. When Your Publisher Makes Changes

My latest novel, The Beached Ones, suffered through several of my publisher’s mistakes when it first came out.

This was mainly because the publisher changed distributors just as my book was being released (bad timing). That caused a lot of chaos. Initially, there were a few canceled pre-orders because of it. (I received emails from some readers wondering why their orders were canceled. Argh!) Then some of the books were released with the wrong copy on the back cover.

Worst of all, several books were released with the wrong interior file—one that had not gone through a final proofread/edit. This one drove me nuts! I was running around trying to replace the incorrect books with the correct ones. The publisher paid for these copies, but it was still embarrassing for me.

For a while, all of this was super anxiety-inducing and I struggled a lot. Here was the culmination of all my work on this novel and instead of the launch being an exciting, fun time, it was disappointing and dispiriting.

I finally realized that all of this was out of my control and I had to let go. Otherwise, it was going to keep eating at me incessantly. Eventually, everything got ironed out and now I can proudly share the book knowing that everything is correct.

3. When a Reader Doesn’t Like Your Work

This one can also be hard to take. You put your heart and soul into a story. You thought you did everything right.

But then one reader got ahold of it and just didn’t like it. Worse, that person decided to share that opinion in a bad review. On multiple platforms.

Writers work ridiculously hard to write, market, and sell their books. One bad review, however, can turn off a lot of potential readers.

You see it sitting there and your heart plummets because you know two things:

• the book was good—it just didn’t click for that reader, and
• you can’t do anything about the fact that the review will influence some readers who otherwise might have bought a copy.

It’s frustrating. And discouraging. But you can’t control it. All you can do is let go and move on.

4. When You Feel Lousy About the Tough Times

Writers are supposed to develop a thick skin.

“Learn how to take rejections, bad reviews, and poor sales in stride!” they say.

When we feel horrible about these things, we can tend to then feel guilty for feeling horrible. Talk about a double whammy of negative feelings!

This sort of self-recrimination sets up a vicious cycle of feeling bad, feeling bad about feeling bad, then feeling worse.  

The thing is, we can't control how we feel. Those emotions live inside us, and trying to squash them isn’t healthy. All we can do is let go and accept that they’re there, then find healthy ways to work through them.

5. When Other Things Interfere with Writing

Even the most disciplined writing routine can crumble in the face of difficult life events.

I’m talking about the big ones like death, divorce, the loss of a job, health problems, and the like. When life gets tough, sometimes writing has to take a back seat.

This is hard for many writers to accept. We tend to blame ourselves when we’re not getting the writing done or when other things like book marketing fall through the cracks.

Many of us also feel out of sorts when we’re not regularly writing. It contributes to the stress and anxiety we may already be feeling because of the trauma or upheaval we’re going through.

We can’t control when these things happen, or the toll they can take on us physically and emotionally. The best we can do is take a deep breath, let go, and assure ourselves that we will get back to writing as soon as possible.

Other Coping Techniques for Accepting the Things You Can’t Control

As a writer, you can count on things occurring in your writing life that will be out of your control.

The key is to identify when these times are, then learn to let go. “Identifying” is key because sometimes there is something you can do to make things better. But if not, it’s time to try these coping techniques:

• Accept that this is something you can’t change. (Easier said than done!) Focus on “not resisting” and letting it be.
• Journal about your feelings, or talk them out with a good friend. Don’t bottle them up.
• Redirect your energy toward something you can control—like your next book or marketing effort.

There are a lot of quotes about accepting what you can’t control. But in case you haven’t heard it, here’s one I liked:

“Anything you can’t control is for teaching you how to let go…”

(part of a poem by Jackson Kiddard)

Note: Get Colleen’s free report on finding your blogging niche plus free chapters of her award-winning books for writers here!

What is your biggest writing struggle you have gone through? Have you turned a sour situation around in your writing work? Share and commiserate below!

About Colleen

Colleen M. Story is a novelist, freelance writer, writing coach, and speaker with over 20 years in the creative writing industry. Her latest novel, The Beached Ones, was released with CamCat Books on July 26, 2022. Her previous novel, Loreena's Gift, was a Foreword Reviews INDIES Book of the Year Awards winner, among others.

Colleen has written three books to help writers succeed: Your Writing Matters, Writer Get Noticed, and Overwhelmed Writer Rescue. You can find free chapters of these books here. Find more at her author website (colleenmstory.com) or connect with her on Twitter (@colleen_m_story) and YouTube (@ColleenMStoryteller).

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Internalization breathes life into your characters and allows readers to connect with them on a deeper level.

What sets a novel apart from a movie or play is the ability to see inside the character’s head and understand what makes them tick. You aren’t simply watching the action from the sidelines, you’re right there with that character as they experience the story and face the novel’s problems.

You see what they see. You feel what they feel. You know what they think and why they think it.

Not only is this more fun to write, it gives the reader a much more immersive reading experience, which increases the odds they’ll rave about your book to all their friends.

Let’s look at some benefits of crafting a strong internal narrative:

Internalization Shows Who the Character Really Is.

Characters come alive through their internalization, because it’s where they reveal their true selves. They share information with readers they wouldn’t tell anyone else, hint at secrets or even confess terrible wrongdoings. Readers get to muck around in a character's psyche and gain a deeper understanding of their core identity and how they view and interact with the world.

It’s also where character voice shines through, and internal thoughts play a significant role in differentiating your point of view character’s voices. No other character in the book will have their same perspective or opinion on what’s going on, or think about things the same way. Those difference show up in their internal narrative.

No matter what facade a character puts up, inside, readers can see their real fears, desires, and beliefs, which helps them understand the character’s motivations. And knowing someone that “intimately” helps readers connect with the character, which makes them more relatable.

Internalization Does the Heavy Lifting for the Plot.

Plots are created by characters making choices, and the more you understand what a character wants, why they want it, and what they’ll do to get it, the easier it is to write how they pursue those goals. Their thoughts will tell you what they need, so you’ll know what needs to go into each scene.

Even better, internalization shows the emotional struggles a character faces, revealing the moral dilemmas and conflicting desires that crate strong internal conflicts. These internal conflicts make the external plot harder, which adds tension and suspense as the character fights those inner demons to succeed.

It goes even deeper. Internal conflicts are the backbone of the character arc. If readers can’t see inside a character’s head, how will they know what they’re going through or what they’re struggling with? Their thoughts show how they evolve, learn from their experiences, and become a better or happier person in the end.

But it doesn’t stop there—internalization is also a powerful tool for adding plot twists and reveals. It lets you hint at a character's secrets, and unveil their hidden agendas at the right time to surprise readers with unexpected revelations that can reshape the plot and send the story in a whole new direction.

Internalization Gets Readers on the Character's Side.

Empathy is the bridge that connects readers to characters and makes them care. The better a reader understands a character, the more they’ll feel invested in that character’s goal and what they hope to achieve in the story. They’ll root for them, worry about them, and feel like they’re part of that character’s journey. The novel will feel more real, because the characters feel like people, not actors on a stage.

They’ll even care when a character slips up and does the wrong thing for the right reasons. It’s a lot easier to forgive someone for making mistakes when you understand how those mistakes happened, and what the character’s intent was all along. Often, readers care more because they know the character’s heart was in the right place all along.

Internalization Helps Control the Pace.

Dialogue is fast paced, description is slow, and internalization bridges the gap between them.

It can work like description and let you slow things down so characters can process their experience, giving readers a breather and a chance to catch up and process what just happened as well. It can work like dialogue and speed up heavy descriptive passages by slipping in a character’s opinion or judgment, making the description relevant to the scene.

It can create a stronger sense of urgency and heighten emotions, which also increases tension. It can add moments of levity, or be an emotional touch point in heavy actions scenes, drawing the readers back into the story.

Internalization Clarifies the Point of View and Narrative Distance.

Unless it’s first person, readers don’t know whose point of view they’re in until they see a character’s internalization. If those thoughts are personal, and clearly the thoughts of the character, then readers know they’re reading a close, subjective point of view. If the thoughts feel more distant, or are shown through an outside narrator, then readers know they’re reading a more objective viewpoint.

This is particularly important in third person point of view novels, where several characters are introduced in an opening scene. Without the internalization, any of those characters could be the point of view character, which makes it harder for the reader to connect to the protagonist and get on board with the story. The longer it takes them to connect, the more likely it is they’ll put down the book.

Internalization Lets You Show, Not Tell.

One of the most powerful aspects of internalization is that is helps you show and not tell. Being inside a character’s head forces you to show what they think is important or worth noting, so they won’t just be spouting random details. You’ll be able to add judgment to what a character sees or thinks, so even small infodumps read like opinions or observations.

At the core, internalization is how you reveal your point of view and show what’s important to a character.

It connects the internal to the external and gives everything that happens in the story relevance and deeper meaning. The story won’t be an explanation of things that happened, but a character’s tale of woe and how they endured a difficult time in their lives.

And those are stories readers want to read.

Want to dig further into internalization and strengthening your point of view?

I’m giving my Make the Most of Your Point of View workshop for Lorin Oberweger’s Writing Success Series on June 15, 7:15 PM ET - 9:45 PM ET on Zoom. This is a great workshop that goes beyond the basics and really explains how to use POV and just what it can do to improve your writing. Plus, it has fun exercises to put what you learn into practice right away.

Here are the details: Point of view is the single-best tool writers have in their toolkit. With it, you can create immersive scenes and deepen the emotional layers of your story. A strong point of view helps you determine what details and to share, understand how a character will react in any situation, and even helps you develop character voices. In this workshop, you’ll learn how to see your story from the eyes of your characters (no matter which point of view you use) and how that unique perspective can make your novel stronger.

Cost: $39. Ten percent of webinar proceeds to benefit World Central Kitchen. Recordings will be sent to all participants within twenty-four hours of the webinar. Registrations will be accepted up to twenty-four hours in advance of each workshop. Hope to see you there!

About Janice

Janice Hardy is the award-winning author of the teen fantasy trilogy The Healing Wars, including The Shifter, Blue Fire, and Darkfall from Balzer+Bray/Harper Collins. She also writes the Grace Harper urban fantasy series for adults under the name, J.T. Hardy. When she's not writing fiction, she runs the popular writing site Fiction University, and has written multiple books on writing, including Understanding Show, Don't Tell (And Really Getting It), Plotting Your Novel: Ideas and Structure, and the Revising Your Novel: First Draft to Finished Draft series. Sign up for her newsletter and receive 25 ways to Strengthen Your Writing Right Now free.

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by Piper Bayard

One of the most common elements of fiction writing is some type of faction vs. faction conflict, whether we are writing about a change of regime in a local PTA, a kingdom, a modern republic, or interstellar empires. The writers who nail this type of conflict are the ones who understand the questions that impact regime changes of all kinds and the tools that achieve those changes. Today, we will look at the big questions that must be addressed with a coup, whether fictional or real. In our next article, Part II, we will dive into specific tools that both countries and fiction writers can bring into play when dealing with state vs. state/faction vs. faction conflict.

Who Wants to Throw a Coup and Why?

Governments exist to protect the interests of a dominant social group. This is true whether we are talking about an HOA board or the government of a large and vital nation. Foreign countries support governments of other nations that have aligning interests. Foreign countries also often subvert the governments of other countries when those governments have interests that do not align with their own. People and nations want coups when they are seeking some kind of radical change in support of their own interests.

Coups are nothing new. For example, there are cuneiform records of Assyria’s Sargon II invading the kingdom of Manna in the late 8^th century BC and placing a puppet king on the throne. In response, the king of Assyria’s main enemy, Urartu, sent instigators to Manna to create civil unrest and support for a king that would be more favorable to Urartu. Many modern-day equivalents can be found in the Cold War.

Bottom Line: Coups happen all around us, all the time, from our local organizations to the leaders and governments of countries.

An Important Point About Throwing Coups

Successful coups are not just about deposing a leader. Whether they be against PTA presidents, HOA boards, state dictators, or administrations, coups are only worthwhile if there is someone or something better to take over. That’s because if a government is deposed without a rapid, organized replacement, a power vacuum is left behind, and chaos will fill it.

If our characters are like Littlefinger from Game of Thrones, and they see chaos as a ladder, power vacuums are just the ticket for our stories. Most of the time, however, that is not the case. That means that our protagonists can’t just be against the leader of the status quo, they must be for someone or a government that has something better to offer. Otherwise, the tyrant is overthrown, and our characters are left in a “what next” state that will inevitably devolve into chaos.

One great fictional example of an overthrow without a viable replacement is in the series 3% out of Brazil. Spoiler alert: I’m going to be pointing to the end of the series.

In 3%, we see a society where 3% of the people live well while the other 97% live in abject poverty and misery. At the end, a small group destroys the 3%. Then, rather than replace the rulers with a viable government, the resistance leaders call a big meeting and say that all of the citizens will decide everything together. . . . Right. . . . Because no one needs to go home and cook dinner tonight instead of learning what a sewer system is and what’s necessary to keep it working. That arrangement is neither a functional replacement government, nor is it a satisfying ending to a story.

Bottom Line:  A successful coup, whether getting rid of a tyrannical HOA board or a Fidel Castro, is not just about what our insurrectionists resist, it is about what our revolutionaries support.

What size is the organization or country?

Is this a small organization or country, or is it a large one? That is critical to what tools are used to achieve the coup and how long it will take to do so.

Small, Local Groups

I’m going to keep picking on the PTA because it is representative of pretty much any small group with a small administration, whether it be a dance club, a pottery studio, or . . . a PTA. The process of a coup in an organization is a microcosm of what happens with country coups.

Like small countries, coups within groups tend to be rather rapid because everyone knows everyone, everyone is familiar with the resources, and opposition is usually between cliques of would-be leaders. For example, PTA President Tiffany and her cronies, who want to spend all of the money on a carnival, might face opposition from prominent parent Madison and her cronies, who want to spend the money on STEM tutors for the kids.

The biggest differences between a PTA ouster and the overthrow of a small country dictator is that generally no assassinations or foreign countries are involved with the PTA, and propaganda campaigns tend to take the form of gossip and social media rather than coordinated print and mainstream media.

Bottom Line: Local group ousters can be as hostile as the overthrow of dictators, employing many of the same tools and driving divisions just as deep, but they are almost never as violent. Then again, it could make an interesting read if they were. Just saying.

Small Country Coups

Small, stable countries with low corruption, such as Iceland, are not especially vulnerable to coups. On the other hand, small, unstable countries with a high corruption index are quite vulnerable to coups. That’s because corrupt leaders are open to influencers, both internal and external. Also, where there is more instability and corruption, there is less loyalty, and, therefore, populations are less likely to resist coups.

That said, popularity of a dictator is just one factor, and there are some exceptions. For example, North Korea is not as susceptible to a coup even though Kim Jong Un is brutal to the North Korean people. In his case, he has also been extremely successful at indoctrination, and that is critical to his maintaining control.

Small countries tend to have more rapid coups because those with power and resources all know each other, and they are often, though not always, related by blood and/or marriage. They know who owns which politicians, who owns which political parties, who is tight with the banks, who is tight with the corporations, etc. The moving parts are known quantities. Think of coups in vulnerable small countries as extended, frequently violent family feuds.

To keep a small country coup realistic and successful, the deposers must kill the deposed leader. Deposed leaders in small countries are generally executed during a coup in order to put any conflict over who should be in charge to rest immediately.

If the deposers are smart, the deposed leader is dead before they notify any foreign allied countries of the coup. That’s because, while many allied governments are secretly thrilled when the dirty work gets done without their fingerprints on it, they will feel obligated to publicly refuse support for a new regime committing an after-coup execution.

For what it’s worth, many citizens of smaller countries actually expect deposed leaders to be executed. For example, when Piper’s law professor was at a bougie cocktail party in Costa Rica when Nixon stepped down, and one prominent guest asked the professor when Nixon would be executed. The guest was quite surprised to be told that is not the American way of doing things, and that ex-presidents, including Nixon, simply retire to estates in sunny locations and get book deals.

If we have a publisher that rejects stories where the good guys actually kill anyone, which seems to be the popular trend, it is also viable for the deposed leader to escape to voluntary exile. We’ll take a look at a delightful story about a Soviet-backed Central American dictator who jumped ship to voluntary exile during the Cold War in Part II.

Bottom Line: For a coup in a small country, that country must be unstable with corrupt leaders. What we don’t want in our books or in real life is for the deposers in small countries to take the deposed dictator prisoner, as then they are stuck with the sticky wicket of either keeping the former dictator alive while their supporters are scheming to set them free and back on the “throne,” or killing the deposed to the public displeasure of the world and being labeled a murderous, illegitimate regime.

Large Country Coups

A coup in a larger country can take months to decades of groundwork, depending on the foreign interests involved. That’s because there are more players and more pieces to coordinate. This groundwork will include everything from purchasing politicians and prosecutors, to long-term propaganda campaigns, to instigating prolonged chaos that climaxes with a heavily influenced election. We’ll take a closer look at these groundwork tools in Part II.

Regimes with communist traditions, such as Russia and China, play the long game and are patient enough for decades of investment in coups. Western countries, on the other hand, tend to fluctuate more in their politics and not be as sustained in their efforts at influencing foreign countries.

Deposed leaders of larger countries might be executed or exiled, depending on the nation and whatever foreign nations are backing the deposer. However, these days, the deposed are likely to be defeated in a heavily influenced election and then relentlessly discredited through long-term propaganda and criminal and civil lawsuits. They may even eventually be jailed. Gradually, they slip from the public view, and they are only remembered by the new regime’s version of them and their deeds, while much of the population remains unaware that a coup has taken place at all.

Bottom Line: Successful coups in larger countries require more groundwork and coordination, and the deposed leaders are not necessarily executed.

What factional conflicts do you have in your stories? What questions do you have about coups?

About Piper

Piper Bayard and Jay Holmes of Bayard & Holmes are the authors of espionage tomes and international spy thrillers. Please visit Piper and Jay at their site, BayardandHolmes.com. For notices of their upcoming releases, subscribe to the Bayard & Holmes Covert Briefing. You can also contact Bayard & Holmes at their Contact page, on Twitter at @piperbayard, on Facebook at Piper Bayard, or at their email, BayardandHolmes@protonmail.com.

*All pics are purchased from Canstock with clear copyright.

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Though crafted with advice and specific tips for writers, SPYCRAFT: Essentials is for anyone who wants to learn more about the inner workings of the Shadow World.

“For any author, this is the new bible for crafting stories of espionage.”

~ James Rollins, New York Times Bestselling Author of The Demon Crown