Writers in the Storm

Marcy Kennedy

Hashtags are one of the best things about Twitter. (In case you’re brand new to Twitter, a hashtag is the # sign followed by a term.)

Normally, your tweets are seen only by people who’re following you, but if you add a hashtag, everyone who’s watching that hashtag sees what you’ve tweeted. If we’re using Twitter to build our author platforms, making connections with new people is one of the key things we want to do.

But hashtags on Twitter do more than just build our author platform. When we know which hashtags to follow, they can be amazing learning tools, provide us with inspiration and motivation, and help us keep up-to-date on the industry.

So today I’m going to share the twelve best hashtags for writers.

Genre-Related Hashtags

Sometimes, you just need to ask a question of someone who writes the same thing you write. Or you want to talk about an issue that really only affects others who write in your genre. That’s where genre-related hastags can be great. Not every genre has an active one, but these three do.

#SciFiChat – This chat is held Fridays from 3:00–4:00 pm Eastern. You can find more details on David A. Rozansky’s (the moderator’s) website.

#KidLitChat –You can find more details at www.kidlitchat.blogspot.ca. It’s held on Tuesdays at 9:00 pm Eastern.

#ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers) – This isn’t a chat, but it is an active hashtag for faith-based writers.

Industry-Related Hashtags

Keeping informed on what’s happening in the writing industry, what’s working and what isn’t, and what the current taboos are can be headache inducing (at least for me). Here are the hashtags I’ve found help me keep up-to-date on the latest, greatest, and worst of the writing world (without wasting a lot of precious time).

#getpublished – This hashtag contains information on exactly what it says—ways to get published. You’ll find calls for submissions, contests, and articles offering tips on how to increase your chances at publication.

#publishing – This hashtag focuses on publishing “news” such as the newest author programs offered by Amazon, ways to avoid common publishing snafus, and how the publishing industry is changing (plus what that means for authors both indie and traditional).

#promotip – Book launch promotion tips, whether or not free still works, the importance of author branding, ways to market your audio book, etc. If a tweet or link to a post deals with helping you spread the word about your book, you’ll likely find it bearing the #promotip hashtag.

#askeditor – This hastag has been around for years for a good reason. While it doesn’t seem to have a set time of use anymore, you’ll still see editors and small publishing houses announce that they’ll be taking questions for a certain period of time on a certain day using this hashtag. Even if you can’t attend, it can be fun and informative to read through the conversations afterward.

Bonus Hashtag Tip: Go Conference-Specific – There are too many of these to list, but a great trick is to find out the hashtag being used for some of the bigger conferences in North America. Many people use these hashtags during the conference to tweet awesome tidbits they’ve learned. It’s not as good as being there, but it comes close.

Creativity and Productivity Helpers

Let’s face it—the well occasionally runs dry. We’re out of good ideas (or so it feels) or we’re struggling to put fingers to keyboard. Hashtags come to the rescue for this as well.

#writingprompt – I don’t keep this one open because some people abuse it. However, when you’re needing a kickstart, this is a good hashtag to scroll through. You’re sure to run into a prompt or idea that gets the juices flowing again.

#storystarter – This is the sister hashtag of #writingprompt. I find this one to be a touch less spammy, so if you’re really in a time crunch, I recommend going here first.

#1k1h/#1k1hr – Have you ever noticed how you get more done when you have to report your progress to someone else? (I sure hope that’s not just me.) That’s what these two related hashtags are for. The idea is that you go internet black for an hour to write, and when you return, you need to report your word count. You can either put out a call for other people to join you or you can watch for someone else to ask for joiners. Even though this hashtag implies you need to try to write 1,000 words in an hour, the real goal is to write as many words as you can. Beat your own personal best.

When You Just Need to Talk

No list of the best hashtags for writers would be complete without some hashtags where you can share your blog posts (both non-writing and writing-related) and simply talk with other writers. The non-writers in our lives won’t always understand what we’re going through, so being able to share with other writers can often be what saves our sanity.

#MyWANA – This is my absolute favorite hashtag. Author Kristen Lamb created it as a place for conversation and human connection. You’re fine to share your blog posts on the #MyWANA hashtag so others can support you with re-tweets, but only if you’re a regular and active participant there. No spam allowed.

#amwriting – If you need encouragement, this is a great place to hang out. Writers post their words counts, cheer each other on, share funny anecdotes, and link resources they’ve found particularly helpful.

Are you regularly using any of these hashtags? Are there others you think fellow writers should know about?

Want to know more about Twitter and how to use it to build your author platform in a time-efficient way? Check out Marcy’s newest book, Twitter for Authors: A Busy Writer’s Guide. It’s available in both print and ebook versions!

About Marcy

Marcy Kennedy is a suspense and speculative fiction writer who believes fantasy is more real than you think. Alongside her own writing, Marcy works as a freelance fiction editor and teaches classes on craft and social media. She’s also the author of the bestselling Busy Writer’s Guides series of books. You can find her blogging about writing and about the place where real life meets science fiction, fantasy, and myth at www.marcykennedy.com. If you’d like a free copy of her PDF booklet Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Hiring a Freelance Editor, make sure to sign up for Marcy’s newsletter.

I married a grump. Don’t get me wrong, Alpha Dog is my hero and my best friend, but he can be a bit – negative. Sometimes when I realize I’ve been listening to an hour long gripe-fest, I’ll put my hand up and tell him he can’t say anything else, until he says something nice.

Sometimes it takes him a while.

Well, I’m outing myself here. In my writing life, I’ve been the same. This is the perfect time of year to remind myself to appreciate my blessings.

Hey, it’s easy to fall into the negativity – one of my publishers was just sold, the other just ended a 9 month fight with the largest online book retailer. Every author is fighting for reader’s attention, and if they were listening, readers would feel like a pound of hamburger in a circling pack of wolves.

But they’re not listening. Sigh.

Seriously. When I hear myself complaining, I want to slap myself.

I mean, I have the best job in the world. The best room in the house is my office, there's NO dress code, and I get to sit and make up shit all day. How does it get better than that?

Yes, I'll always be looking for The Next Thing. It's a human condition.

Even if your country isn't celebrating Thanksgiving this time of year, it's a good reminder.

My Thankfuls:

• My current WIP - it's the book of my heart
• My supportive writer-friends, and at the top of the list, my buds here at WITS
• My amazing readers, who like me! They really like me!
• My supportive husband, who doesn't mind that I live in  a room with the door closed most of the time
• My new adopted State, my new home town, and THE perfect house
• My super-agent, Nalini Akolekar at Spencerhill Associates

And last, but never least, my muse, cranky old broad that she is.

So let's hear it, WITS followers - what writerly things are you thankful for?

About Laura:

Laura Drake is a city girl who never grew out of her tomboy ways, or a serious cowboy crush. She writes both Women's Fiction and Romance.

She sold her Sweet on a Cowboy series, romances set in the world of professional bull riding, to Grand Central. The Sweet Spot (May 2013), Nothing Sweeter (Jan 2014) and Sweet on You (August 2014). The Sweet Spot won the 2014 Romance Writers of America^®   RITA^® award in the Best First Book category.

Her 'biker-chick' novel, Her Road Home, sold to Harlequin's Superomance line (August, 2013) and has expanded to three more stories set in the same small town. The Reasons to Stay released August, 2014.

In 2014, Laura realized a lifelong dream of becoming a Texan and is currently working on her accent. She gave up the corporate CFO gig to write full time. She's a wife, grandmother, and motorcycle chick in the remaining waking hours.

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Piper Bayard & Jay Holmes

*** For those of you who write about covert operatives, we invited Bayard & Holmes back to share some insider tips on how to write believable spies. Enjoy! ***

The basic function spooks serve is to spy on people and organizations. Technology makes that task easier. One major segment of that technology revolves around “bugs.”

In spy parlance and crime stories, the term “bug” refers to electronic devices for clandestinely monitoring targeted spaces. We’ve all seen and read about fictional spooks locating bugs in homes, offices, and hotel rooms. The characters usually find them in a few seconds on lampshades, behind pictures, and inside desk phones. It’s cute and convenient for writers to pretend that bugs are so easy, but it’s far from the truth.

The Soviets successfully bugged the US Ambassador’s residential office in the US Embassy in Moscow from 1945 – 1952 with a gift of a carving of the US Great Seal. After that, the CIA invested heavily in developing better bugging and bug-detection technology. They developed “audio teams” whose specialty it was to bug targeted spaces. The term predates video surveillance. Modern intelligence services around the world now all field such specialty teams.

Bugging technology has improved tremendously since audio teams were first formed, but they still use some of the basic practices and principals developed prior to 1960. While other types of intelligence operatives partake in bugging activities as opportunities allow, when time and opportunity permit, a specialized team can do a better and less detectable installation of bugs.

How an operative or a specialty team bugs a location depends on several factors.

• Time—How soon do they need the information?

If critical information is needed quickly there may not be time for an audio team to show up and do a thorough job. In that case, field operatives would do the job, and they have varying degrees of training and expertise in basic bugging techniques.

• Time—How long will they have to plant the bugs?

If a team or operative has only a few minutes, then they will use the simplest installations of disguised bugs. If a specialty team has as much as twenty minutes to work, they consider it a luxury. With less time, they will be less thorough.

• Time—How sophisticated is the target?

In twenty minutes, a six-man team can install a high quality eavesdropping system that will be difficult for a sophisticated opponent such as a Russian or Communist Chinese embassy to detect. With a less sophisticated target, such as a drug gang or a third world military or diplomatic installation, a good team can do a great job in as little as five minutes.

• Time—How long must the power source for the bug last? (Are you seeing a theme?)

Transmitters—bugs—need a power source. They are now smaller than a dime, and in the smallest devices, battery power is limited. However, technology allows for bugs to use external power sources, such as the target’s own electrical system, without a direct tap into the electrical system.

The bug’s transmission need not be powerful. In fact, if a bug transmits too strong a signal, the target can too easily detect it.

• Location—Where can the operative or audio team monitor the bugs?

If the operative or team can’t safely monitor the installed bug from a nearby location, such as an apartment or business in an adjoining building, then larger (but still compact) relays can be installed nearby to receive and re-transmit the bug’s weak signal.

They can also install monitoring equipment in a vehicle. A car’s trunk can contain equipment that can trigger a relay to quickly transmit information and recordings picked up by the bug in a matter of seconds when the car drives past the relay.

• Alternative Installation Methods

Sometimes, the operative doesn’t need to access the space. Many a bug has been placed by sending a nice gift to a target, such as a heavy desk clock, a lovely antique lamp, or the US Great Seal carving referenced above.

The trick in these cases is to have a viable source for the gift. A contractor trying to do business with a foreign embassy might serve as such a source if the contractor is in the employ of the folks doing the bugging. Unfortunately, most of the premier targets, such as a Russian Embassy, will not be easily duped into accepting gifts and placing them in secured areas.

In the most ideal case, a targeted building can be bugged during construction. These windfalls are infrequent, but they provide the best opportunity for placing the most sophisticated, long acting bugs.

A more frequent event would be gaining access when repair work is being done. If you can intercept a delivery of new furniture or appliances, then you have a great opportunity to place the highest quality bugs with well-disguised installations without setting foot on the premises.

The Field Spook’s Bugging Kit

Once your character gains access by way of bribery or burglary, his bugging kit need not be any larger than a paperback novel.

A basic bugging kit would include bugs that can be programmed to record and/or transmit on preset schedules. The bugs can also be turned on and off remotely to foil bug sweepers. The kit would also contain a small hand drill, a minimal paint kit, and epoxies for patching minute holes in walls. The paint is odor free and fast drying. For the finishing touch, the kit would contain a “puffer” for adding a layer of ambient dust to a painted area.

The entire kit may be disguised in something such as a travel-size chess set or built into real cosmetic containers for a female spy.

• How a Field Spook Plants a Bug in a Wall

The operative first selects an advantageous location—often just above a baseboard. She begins by drilling a small hole, catching the dust on a little piece of plastic. She then selects a bug from her assortment, pops it in the hole, and seals the hole with epoxy. She empties the wall dust from the hole into a baggie and then uses the plastic as a palette to mix dabs of paint to match the color of the wall. With a small brush, she paints over the epoxy and then collects all of her materials to take with her. As a finishing touch, she sucks up ambient dust from against the baseboard with the puffer and puffs it onto the freshly painted wall until it looks like the surrounding area.

In short, your characters’ bugging efforts will be believable if you consider the full nature of the opportunities they have for surveillance and plan their bug installations accordingly. Where are they? How much time do they have? Who is the target? What equipment do they have? Work logically with your space, time, and tools, and your characters will bug like the pros.

Do you have any questions about bugging? What kinds of surveillance equipment do your spooks use in your books?

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Piper Bayard is a bestselling author and a recovering attorney. Her spy thriller writing partner, Jay Holmes, is an anonymous senior member of the intelligence community and a field veteran from the Cold War through the current Global War on Terror.

You can contact Bayard & Holmes in comments below, at their site, Bayard & Holmes, on Twitter at @piperbayard, on Facebook at Bayard & Holmes, or at their email, BH@BayardandHolmes.com.