Writers in the Storm

Today we welcome back Denise Domning, contributing blogger here at WITS, with the fourth in her series detailing her self-publishing journey.

by Denise Domning 

I did it!  I made my deadline!

Kind of.

It’s August 15th and the book, The Men Wars, Book One  Men-ipulation,  is up on both Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

What about the iPad version?

Well, that’s another story.  I did have it up on Lulu briefly.  I can’t say exactly why I was so uncomfortable with them, but I suspect what bothered me most is that Lulu was a middle man.  Having them standing between me and the iBook version just didn’t feel right.  Then my husband bought the Lulu version and tried to install it on his iPhone.  Lulu doesn’t offer the Apple version.  It only offers the book as a PDF via Adobe digital.  That was it for me.

I pulled the book down and had my son, who owns a Mac (along with six other computers; my niece has my Mac and it’s too far to drive to go borrow it back), start our iBook account.  I can’t do it with this laptop without installing Quicktime and Quicktime has never worked on any of my other computers so I didn’t bother.  Now, No Regrets the Book, LLC (that’s the company Monica and I formed around the book) is in the approval process with Apple.

If you didn’t know, Apple won’t publish a book on iTunes that (1) wasn’t created on a Mac and (2) doesn’t have its own ISBN.  I’m only guessing, but I think they must assume that only publishing companies would buy ISBNs.  Ergo, one of the questions was how many books a month would we be publishing.  Our lowest option was one.  So I had Justin put in “one”.  Who knows?  It might be possible.  Not probable, but possible.

Why didn’t I go with Smashwords like so many other authors?  For the same reason I didn’t feel comfortable with Lulu.  They’re a middle man.  That, and Smashwords wanted me to put up my Word doc, properly formatted of course.  That wasn’t happening.  (Read my last post for my Word issues.)

Instead, I sent my son the link for Sigil for Mac, then sent him the eBook I made in my Sigil for PC.  It should work, or so I read on someone’s blog.  When my son ran the PC version through the Mac version it validated with no errors.  Nice!

Now, this is just my opinion, but I want to state for the record I don’t think much of Calibre.  It’s one of those ebook editors, and it’s one that comes up first on a search.  I didn’t like the way it took control of my computer and wrote itself in with its own directories.  That’s just rude.  Then, when I tried to input my book, it reset all the sizes of the images.  Didn’t ask or anything.  Like I said.  Rude.

Sigil.  Free, easy, clean and it’ll do a search through every file in the whole document.  Now we’re talking!

And we’re still fighting to get the Createspace files uploaded.  So, the book is available on two of our four chosen venues.  We’ve received a stupendous first review and …we sold three copies on the first day.  (And I did not buy one.)  That’s three more copies than I thought we’d sell right away.

Meanwhile, Monica is gearing up to take over from where I left off.  And that’s nice, that’s very nice.  All I had to do was write the book.  She’s going to carry the ball the rest of the way.  Well kind of.  I’m still trying to figure out how to get more reviews and putting together ideas for our ad campaign (a Facebook ad).  I’ve helped her complete her questionnaire for Annie Jennings (our PR person).

And I’m still trying to find out how to reach Howard Stern.

Minor details.  The book is done.  VBG.

How is your self-pub journey going? Are there roadblocks you've encountered that you'd like to share?

by Fae Rowen

Before we get started, I'd like to announce the winner of a six-pack of my cards.   Janel is the lucky commenter.   Janel, if you would e-mail Writers in the Storm with your mailing address, I'll send your cards right away.

And now to today's topic:

Laura proposed this tag-team duo of blogs (AKA throwdown)  with this final challenge: "SO you should work on the one you suck at."  For me, that would be character-driven writing.

Gee, thanks a lot, Laura.  I love you, too.

First, I want to proclaim that I am a plot-driven writer.  Once I get my plot, I think about my characters in terms of who could survive what I'm going to throw at them and why they can survive.  I live in their backstory, flesh it out and revise that backstory until I know enough about the characters to do a first draft.

Did you see those pictures Laura used to show plot-driven movies?  Now I know why I like plot-driven stories.  Hubba-hubba.

But, what if my characters came to me first?  I have to admit, sometimes they do.

But here we go, into the land of character-driven writing.  Maybe I'll suck a little less at it after I study a bit.  Besides, it's always good to have more skills in your toolbox.

First, I need definitions, even though they may be disputed.  Here's what I liked best:

In plot-driven stories, actions propel the story.  An event occurs and the character reacts.  In character-driven stories there is a character trigger, an event occurs, and the character reacts.  (No wonder I write plot-driven...less steps. Ha!)

First, I have to say that I just saw (and enjoyed) the movie, The Help.  Though plot, because of the social time and setting, was important, it was definitely a character-driven movie.  Now I understand this whole throwdown a little better.

As I explored on the web, I was surprised there was so much furor over the two different types of writing.  Who cares what drives your story as long as it's well written?  As Laura wrote in Wednesday's blog, in a character-driven work:

"Characters are more important than what happens."

Hopefully, if you're a character-driven writer, or if (like me) you could use a little help in that arena, the resources below will help you write more compelling stories.

From Fae's library

It's important that you know what makes your character tick.  And get ticked off.  And how they show those emotions. Goal, Motivation & Conflict by Debra Dixon is my gold standard for this.

In character-driven fiction, assuming you have more than one character in your book, you need to know who has the most at stake in the scene. That's the character whose head you need to be in. Write the scene in their point of view.

Orson Scott Card, one of my favorite sci-fi writers, has a wonderful book on Characters & Viewpoint.

To make sure your characters are not one-dimensional, Building Believable Characters by Marc McCutcheon, is helpful. I also refer to What Would Your Character Do? by Eric and Ann Maisel. The Maisels' book contains personality quizzes that can be fun for you to take to find out more about your characters and their triggers.

A couple of fun, and also useful, books are Sun Signs for Writers by Bev Walton-Porter and Love Types by Dr. Alexander Avila.  The first classifies characters with the familiar Aries, Scorpio zodiac labels--which you don't have to reveal in your book.  The second has a test for you (or your character) to determine your love type.  Are you a mystic writer, a general, a wheeler-dealer or another interesting type?

My last two recommendations come from the land of science, where I live.  They are a little "drier" but you can mine them for a wealth of writing gold if you're so inclined.  You don't have to read them at one sitting, after all.  A few pages at a time works just fine.  When you need to work on a new character, you can read the next chunk.  A  free download of  Please Understand Me, Character & Temperament Types by David Keirsey and Marilyn Bates contains a self-test for those of you who like that sort of thing.  If you're a Meyers-Briggs afficionado, you don't need this book.

The other is Brain Sex, The Real Difference Between Men & Women by Anne Moir and David Jessel.  Great title, dry scientific reading, so check out some pages before you buy it.  I use it occasionally, but when I need it, it's worth it.

Finally, I have the Archetype Cards deck made by Caroline Myss.  Although I use them in other ways, I shared them with Laura, Jenny and Sharla and they thought they would be a wonderful tool for character development.  Lots of fun, too.

For those of you who can't wait for a book delivery or a trip to the library to try your hand at character-driven writing, here are some web links.  I must warn you that I was surprised to find that most sites about characters and writing offered classes or paid lessons.  These don't.

Simple Machines Forum has an essay about the plot vs character "fight" in the fantasy world (where I write) that is fun and enlightening.

Writers Store has an article by Martha Alderson, M.A. that contains a nifty test to see which kind of a writer you are.  I must admit I don't agree with the plot-driven writer as always being an outliner-structured writer, since I don't write that way.  What fun would it be to know everything that's going to happen in your story before you write it?

At The 15-Minute Movie Method we're told that memorable movies are character-driven and that plot-driven movies are only temporarily entertaining.  (I include this just to show I can be unbiased for two minutes.)  But actually, it got me to thinking that although I may write my novel from the plot-driven perspective, my characters are not cardboard, as The 15-Minute author postulates--forgettable, and therefore I must disagree with that idea.  Heck, you remember Rambo, right?

Now if you want a serious 6-minute Powerpoint lesson, watch Character-driven vs. Plot-driven Writing by Leigh Barbour for definitions and how both styles are written. She shares that Shakespeare was a plot-driven guy!

This link has some interesting situational exercises to complete for your characters.  You can come up with your own ideas (oops, plot-driven sneaks in) after trying these.

Many authors maintain a website that includes a variety of tips for writing.  Try visiting your favorite authors' sites and look for articles, lists or lessons on the craft of writing.  Doesn't it make sense to learn some "how to's" from someone whose reading you enjoy?

Hopefully as I work on my new novel, I'll suck a little less and my beloved critique group won't have to point out that my characters are one-dimensional.  Thanks, Laura.

So, what do you think?  Is it important to know whether you're a plot-driven or character-driven writer?  Do you have a definite preference for what you read?  More importantly, which side wins the throwdown?

On Monday we'll have the other half of the Plot-driven vs. Character-driven throwdown with Fae Rowen considering character-driven writing.  Fae will also announce the winner of a six-pack of her hand-crafted cards at the top of Monday's post.

Today, we're happy to welcome you to another installment of Sensational Summer Fridays, here at WITS with Louisa Bacio.  Enjoy!

By Louisa Bacio

Thanks so much for having me on Writers in the Storm. I regularly read the blog, so I was extra excited when Laura invited me to be a guest.

Do you have a favorite or favourite phrase that you tend to use often? Do you like to be the center, or centre, of attention? As an editor and copy editor of English in the United States, part of my job is to uphold our language and its spelling.

But, what’s one to do when even “English” users can’t agree upon the spelling of a word?

Recently I’ve been working with Nina Croft with her breathtaking vampire novel “Bittersweet Blood” (isn’t that title alone just gorgeous?)  Since Croft is based in Spain, and the novel takes place in London, for the most part, the manuscript was filled with … British-speak.

Part of the editing process was to change the spelling to be “American-English,” which means dropping the u in words such as “colour” and flipping the r with words such as “centre.’’

Ironically enough, soon after I sent suggested edits over to Nina, I received copy edits back from Lucy Felthouse, who’s the editor of the anthology “Seducing the Myth,” which places an erotic twist on mythology. My piece “Lilith: In Her Garden” was lucky enough to be included among the two dozen selections. Anyway, Lucy’s based in the UK and guess what she did to my manuscript?

Yep, made it into English-English.

All my lovely zs in words were taken out, such as in realising rather than our more familiar realizing.

It was a touch of my own medicine.

Finally, I undertook editing the history of a well-known university based in the United States. When I sat down with the writer/editor and a representative from the publishing company, can you guess where the publisher was based? Yep: England. Two hours later, we had hammered out some style guidelines. And, I can promise you, there won’t be one flipped 31 August 2011 in the book.

So when it comes down to it: Whose English is the correct English? It probably depends upon who is being asked.  Do you have a "pet peeve" or expression that sparks the King's English vs. American English flames?

Seducing the Myth

Seducing the Myth: Myths and Legends with an Erotic Twist is a collection of 24 tantalising tales that lead you on a decadent journey through mythologies the world over. As well as stories from the popular Greek and Roman periods, this anthology will also delight you with Arabian, Arthurian, Hindu, Jewish, Norse, Slavic, Sumerian and Welsh myths and legends. Add in a delicious sprinkling of fairies, mermaids and ancient fertility rituals and you have a recipe for a wickedly erotic read!
In addition to Bacio’s re-telling of Lilith’s exit from the Garden of Eden, “Lilith: In Her Garden,” the anthology includes “Djinn and Tonic” by Lexie Bay; “Logan’s Treasure” by Lisa Fox; “Down By The Pool” by Lucy Felthouse; and “Saving Orpheus” by Indigo Skye.

About Louisa

For more thrills, check out Bacio’s f/f contemporary erotic Sex University: All-Girls Academy, which features another threesome scene. Her story “Two’s Company” can be found in I Kissed a Girl: A Virgin Lesbian Anthology. For a short erotic paranormal tryst, “The Wait” can be found in Rekindled Fire: An Anthology of Reunited Lovers.

In addition to writing and editing, Bacio teaches college courses in English, journalism, film studies and popular culture. Bacio also serves on the board for the Orange County Romance Writers of America.

Ciao!

Louisa Bacio

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