Writers in the Storm

by Lynette M. Burrows

So you’ve written a first (or 100th) draft of your novel. Your emotions range from “Look how good I write” to “It’s rough, but I can fix it,” to “It’s broken beyond repair.” Maybe you’ve done this revision thing dozens of times before, but this novel is turning into a nightmare. Join me in a deep dive into revision tips, tricks, and techniques.

This isn’t a journey for the faint of heart nor for the authors who believe their books are “good enough.” This is for those who want to create the best book they can. Writing out the process in detail makes it large and ungainly. How quickly you can get through this process depends on the condition of your first draft, the level of your skills, your ability to analyze your own work, and the time you have available to work these steps. With repetition it gets faster and smoother.

Full disclosure. I’ve spent a lot of years learning from some of the best in the business. You’ll see bits of learning from Margie Lawson, Donald Maass, Holly Lisle, and Dwight V. Swain, plus a lot more. These things have worked for me in the past or are working for me now. YMMV. Cultivate what you think might work and test it. There will be bits that work for you and there will be parts that absolutely do not work for you. That’s okay. A guide is a tool to use how, when, and where you need it. 

I will give you a lot of detailed steps over the next few posts I write. While I strongly recommend you do every step the first time you deconstruct one of your own stories, as your skill grows, what and how you edit will evolve. Those of you who have experience doing this sort of thing may wish to try a few of these steps. Explore any that appeal to you. 

Preparation

This is a systematic way to check for those times when you (the author) made assumptions, forgot details, or lost track of plot threads. You know the story you meant to write. Unfortunately, what you wrote and what your reader sees aren’t necessarily the same thing. Even those of you who use detailed outlines can miss a few things in the first draft.

Let It Cool

 One of the human foibles most of us have is that when we re-read our own work, we often see what we thought we wrote. This is especially true if you recently finished writing the story. That’s why it’s recommended that you let a draft sit in a drawer (digital or real) for a while. “A while” is a different time frame for each author. Waiting allows you to “forget” some of your words and your intentions so you can see the words on the page with fresher eyes.

Get a Fresh Perspective

Alpha readers read the complete manuscript can be helpful in giving you the headspace to see your manuscript through fresh eyes. I strongly recommend that you find two or three trusted author-friends read the completed story. Consider making a list of questions to give each reader. Questions to ask can include: Which character did you want to read more about? Where did the story go too slow or too fast? Where did you get lost or not understand what was going on? Could you see what was happening in your mind’s eye? 

Don’t make the list too long or you will overwhelm your reader. Invite your readers to give additional feedback.

Consider offering these first readers a free copy of the book when it’s published. If you have the means, offer an autographed physical book. These are not rewards, but thanks for the time and work that your first readers put in on your project.

Prepare the Manuscript

There are many ways to trick your brain into seeing your manuscript with fresh eyes. Many research studies have shown that people skim electronic text, so I prefer to use a physical print out of my story.

Some people change the font or the font style. Others change the color or size of the print. Try everything. Different things might work better for you at different times or on different manuscripts.  

Space and Time

I don’t know about you, but my desk is never clean when I finish the last chapter. To prepare for editing, I clear off all the old reference notes, research books, and printouts. A clean work surface signals your brain that this is a new project. 

Changing your location for the read through is another way to trick your brain out of the writing-editing modes and into a reader’s mindset. Consider reading your manuscript in your favorite reading spot. Or take it to the library or coffee shop.

You’ll need to schedule time—large blocks of time to do your revision. The first time, you’ll need far longer than you think you will, so be generous with your estimate. Plan for thinking time and writing time, and perhaps some time for research as well. 

Supplies

I recommend hand-written notes because they slow your thoughts down, but you do you. You’ll need physical or digital index cards, tons of self-adhesive notes of various sizes, and multi-colored pens or pencils or highlighters. Plus, if you haven’t started your story bible, you’ll need a notebook or folder designated to become your story bible.

Have a dictionary and at least one thesaurus available. These can be digital or paper according to your preference.

Stock your work area with plenty of water to drink and snacks if you’re the kind to go looking for something to eat and get distracted.

The late Holly Lisle recommended choosing a set of songs you can play on endless repeat. You’ll only play this music while you are working on your revision. It’s another way to cue your editor-brain that it's time to work.

The First Step

In the first step of this process, you need to take your “editor cap” off and put your “reader cap” on. You are going to sit down and read your manuscript in as close to one sitting as possible without changing one thing. You heard me. Not one tiny edit. Don’t even change a comma. 

I don’t know about you, but I find this darn near impossible to do. The way I trick my brain into not editing at all is by using those little self-adhesive flags, dozens of them. Every time I see something that I want to edit, I stick a flag on that line. That tricks my editor-brain to let go of that because the flag means I’ll get back to it later. 

When you finish reading, write a review of the book. Yup. Remember, you’re acting as a reader. Write out what you liked and didn’t like and how the book makes you feel now that you’ve re-read it. Give the book stars, even if it’s only a one star at this point. It’s okay because you’re going to learn how to fix all those things you see as problems right now. 

Next Steps

Next month, I’ll give you guidelines on how to take your story apart. Later we’ll analyze the parts, and in the following months we’ll learn to fix the broken pieces and make the most of the good parts, and finally we’ll put them back together so your novel shines like a multi-faceted diamond.

What do you find to be the hardest part about preparing to edit your manuscript? 

About Lynette

Lynette M. Burrows is an author, blogger, creativity advocate, and Yorkie wrangler. She survived moving seventeen times between kindergarten and her high school graduation. This alone makes her uniquely qualified to write an adventure or two.

Her Fellowship series is a “chillingly realistic” dystopian alternate history where even the elite can be judged an unbeliever and hunted by the Angels of Death. Books one and two, My Soul to Keep, and  If I Should Die, are available everywhere books are sold online. Book three, And When I Wake, is scheduled to be published in 2025.

Lynette lives in the land of OZ. She is a certifiable chocoholic and coffee lover. When she’s not blogging or writing or researching her next book, she avoids housework and plays with her two Yorkshire terriers. You can find Lynette online on Facebook or on her website.

Top image by Lynette M. Burrows

Second image by Michaela, from Pixabay

by Jenn Windrow

Today we are going to talk a little about the dreaded “M” word…marketing. 

Every author needs it, but not every author is good at it. I’m one of those authors who is horrible at it. Every year I say I am going to be a better marketer, and every year, I fail.  But that doesn’t mean I don’t understand what I am supposed to do.

Let’s spend some time today talking about one of my favorite parts of marketing, and something I am actually good at. 

Marketing quotes.

As a self-published author it is never too early to start thinking about marketing your book. In fact, you can start thinking about marketing while you are writing and editing, and I suggest you do.

What is a marketing quote?

My definition of a marketing quote is simply a great line or lines that you pull from your book and then use in a marketing campaign, paid ads or social media posts. They can be used for any kind of marketing that you do. They can even be used to entice readers to visit your table at author events. 

Simply put, marketing quotes are one of the most valuable forms of marketing any author can have. 

Why are they so important?

Marketing quotes are a simple, cheap, and effective way to showcase your writing to new readers and to give them a hint of what to expect when they pick up your book. And if you pick the right quotes, they will help you with sales.

How do you get marketing quotes?

Finding them is the easy part. As you are writing or editing, I suggest pulling out some of your favorite lines in your manuscript and placing them in a word document, so they are easy to find when you are ready to use them. And you will use them…frequently. Here are some I pulled for my vampire series as I was writing. I keep them in my files and add to the file and pull from the file as needed.

Here is an example of some that I have saved to my file.

I slid my dagger back into its sheath and replaced it with my stake. Righty had just bought himself a fast pass to hell.

When André had reentered my life after a fifty-two-year absence, I had imagined my days filled with brother and sister bonding. What I got was free porn on constant loop and dirty boxers on the bathroom floor.

I may be getting ready to meet a heavenly being, but that didn’t mean I needed to put on airs…just pants.

Delano was stoking the sparks of fear and prejudice that still lived inside the humans, hoping it became an out-of-control fire. A fire that would lead to craziness and chaos.

What do I do with the quotes after I have them?

Once you have your quotes, it is time to create graphics to use for promotional puposes. If you don’t have access to Adobe photoshop or illustrator, there are a couple of really great sites that you can use to create graphics. BookBrush and Canva are the two that come to mind. Both sites have limited free options and of course they have paid options as well. The price points aren’t that far off from each other and in the end, I think it depends on which site you are more comfortable using. 

BookBrush

Bookbrush makes creating eye-catching marketing pieces easy. They offer background images, fonts, and 3D templates to place your book covers on and make them look like actual books. They even offer already designed templates that you can use if you don’t want to create your own.

But they don’t only make marketing material, you can also create video’s, social media headers, covers, and just recently they added the ability to create box sets.

Here are a couple of graphics I have created using BookBrush.

Canva

Canva has come a long way in the past few years. I used to prefer BookBrush, but now I find myself switching between the two depending on what I want to do design wise. I even belonged to a marketing service that would set up templates in Canva for everyone to plug their own graphics and text into to use for promotion.

The one thing missing from Canva is the ability to put your cover on a 3D book image, otherwise it really is a great program.

Here is the latest design I did in Canva.

I am sure I am missing a program that has popped up in the past few years, but you can’t go wrong with the tools and options that both BookBrush and Cava have to offer. Even someone without a background in graphic design can create something beautiful using either site.

No matter what you use, you can't go wrong with a good marketing quote to help readers one click the buy button and download your book on their Kindle.

I’d love to see some line from your WIP or even published books that are worthy of a marketing quote, so let’s fill the comments with all the well written lines!

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About Jenn

Sass. Snark. Supernatural Sizzle. 

Award winning author of Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance. Vampires, Greek gods, and a bit of Demon Destroyer fun for everyone.

Jenn Windrow loves characters who have a pinch of spunk, a dash of attitude, and a large dollop of sex appeal. Top it all off with a huge heaping helping of snark, and you’ve got the ingredients for the kind of fast-paced stories she loves to read and write. Home is a suburb of it’s-so-hot-my-shoes-have-melted-to-the-pavement Phoenix. Where she lives with her husband, two teenagers, and a slew of animals that seem to keep following her home, at least that’s what she claims.

Website: https://jennwindrow.com/

by Lisa Hall-Wilson

I love Facebook. It has helped me launch a business, find old friends, document family memories, and engage with communities that otherwise I wouldn’t have connected with.

But a few days ago, Facebook decided to suspend my account without warning, without real appeal – permanently. I was on Facebook for 17 years without any infractions in those years. Being suspended on Facebook also gets you banned on Instagram (because Facebook owns Insta).

I have, in the past, taught writers how to use Facebook correctly to avoid Facebook jail or getting suspended. I’m typically a rule-follower. I’ve always warned people that Facebook is a game of roulette, and I guess I finally lost that game.

What Did I Do To Get Banned

I commented on a post shared by a writer friend. I didn’t post the photo. Many people commented on that near-viral post, or made a very similar comment. Here’s the photo in question:

I checked with Snopes – this is a legit label for One Night Cough Syrup from the 1800s. I made the joke that all they were really missing was cocaine – then they’d have had something really fantastic.

Now, keep in mind that Coca (the plant cocaine is made from) was a key ingredient in Coca-Cola in the 1800s and became popular because of its euphoric effects and boosted energy (source here). Sigmund Freud wrote the “Cocaine Papers” and prescribed it as a miracle drug.

I was joking, but the regular accepted legal use at the time this cough syrup was being marketed of Coca and cocaine is very well documented.

Context. Computers Are Not Good With Context.

Facebook says I violated their Community Standards (read the whole policy here).

I was not promoting drug use. I was not trying to sell or make drugs, and (in my opinion) the sarcasm about the helpfulness of cocaine in this recipe was blatant. It wasn’t a positive endorsement of the drug. What I did was use a banned word: “cocaine.” That was the real infraction. Yes, technically I was allowed to appeal, but the appeal was denied within one minute.

There were no human eyes involved in that appeal. And what adds to the sting is when speaking with a friend who’s a cop and sharing this experience, they laughed. They personally know of several cocaine dealers who use Facebook to move their product and have multiple Facebook accounts. *sigh*

May the odds be ever in your favor!

The Problem With AI Censors

Censorship is a problem, generally IMHO, but Facebook’s punitive use of banned words has been a recognized reality for a long time. In fact, Mark Zuckerberg (founder of Facebook), announced just this week that the platform would no longer censor users and instead promote free speech and is backing away from the banned words filtering.

The problem in tasking a computer to simply catch words that are banned means false positives (as in my case), and that any personal bias on the part of the developer, “fact-checkers”, or high-level execs filters down and silences voices that hold differing opinions. The Zuck openly admits this in his announcement this week (Here’s the announcement the Zuck made on the very same day I lost my account: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSHpYHncNxw )

You Could Lose Your Facebook And Instagram Accounts Too

Here’s the stark reality (and this hasn’t changed in the 17yrs I’ve used Facebook): you don’t own any real estate on Facebook, or Instagram, or Tiktok or any other platform. That means you can be restricted, censored, and removed without any meaningful way to appeal or get human eyes or ears on your plight. There’s not really even any point in trying in my opinion.

Facebook has known for many years that their filters are punishing and suspending accounts wrongfully, and there was never any real mechanism put in place to deal with it. They don’t care:

• how long you’ve been on Facebook.
• that you’re losing access to a genuine community you’ve spent ten years building.
• that you’ve lost precious photos and family memories.
• how much money you spend on ads.

Tough luck.

Fooling The Filters

If you are using Facebook to promote your books or create a community, you’ve probably already been warned about the banned words filters. Many writers avoid the filters by asking for advice on how to “unalive” a character in a particular setting or historical time. Some replace characters with symbols to try and escape the AI: de@d for instance.

Posting book covers that reveal any amount of skin is problematic. I’m hearing of people having accounts restricted or suspended for posting a pic of a baby’s face for crying out loud. A friend got thrown in Facebook jail for using the word “fairy” in the context of talking about the Nutcracker Ballet’s Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy. Posting book covers or book titles that show any kind of weapons can get you in trouble. I heard of another who landed in Facebook jail for mentioning they were “hanging” a photo.

Filter Sensitivity

The filters are so sensitive it’s ridiculous. (I’ve heard many many similar complaints about Amazon filters on book covers, titles, and descriptions as well.)

If you’re writing content that others may find objectionable (language, nudity, sexuality, violence), you’re playing Facebook roulette. If the AI filters don’t nab you, all it can take is one complaint. And don’t be naïve and think that complaint system isn’t used punitively by others because it absolutely is.

Don’t neglect building community on space you do own – like a website, or an email list. For years, writers have been told not to rely on social media and make sure they build an email list. And that’s really hard as a fiction author because:

• What do you blog about?
• Should you go to the time and expense of a website if you haven’t got a book out yet, but realize you need to build community if you’re going to sell the book once it’s out?
• If you’re not publishing a new book every month, what do you include in a newsletter?

I get it. It’s a catch 22. Keep writing more books. It’s still true that the best way to sell the last book you wrote, is to publish another.

An email list may be the only way you have to communicate with people should the worst happen. Include links to an email list inside book matter for new releases and such. Try giving away free content in exchange for an email: extra chapters, prequel short stories, maps and other resources, etc.

Why Losing Facebook And Instagram Isn’t A Huge Problem

As someone who’s a news junkie, Facebook forced me over to X simply to stay on top of world events and to engage with local news. This move drastically reduced my Facebook usage. Perhaps for the better, given the events of this week. (As a Canadian, I’ve been barred from seeing any news links from anywhere around the world for a year and a half - see that announcement from Meta here.)

I have guest-posted here and in other places for many years, always leaving the same link to the same Facebook group. I’ve got a very good, organically-grown, audience there. And the reality is that the majority of those won’t sign up for my email list. And that sucks.

I have always relied on organic reach for my blog. I took a really fantastic course on organic growth a few years ago, and it has paid me back three times over. It doesn’t run anymore, but if you connect with Rachel Miller (www.rachelmiller.com) on her blog or other socials, she gives away a lot of free content.

Diversify!

All my eggs aren't invested in one social basket. I invested a moderate amount of time into Pinterest. I get very little traffic on blog post links from Facebook (the algorithm changes from time to time, but blog links have had seasons of very dismal reach). A great majority of the social traffic to my blog comes from Pinterest. Now, my blog’s audience is mostly writers, but even if your blog audience are genre fiction readers there is a lot of opportunity on Pinterest to engage and drive traffic.

If there’s one type of content I’ve been asked for more than another other from readers, it’s video content. So, I’ll be launching my YouTube channel very very soon.

Does YouTube have similar maddening censorship? Absolutely. I’m exchanging one roulette gun for another – I’m aware of that. So, I’ll be building in whenever possible links to the blog which encourages people to sign up for the emails. Creating unique content on each channel helps people see the need to get email even if they follow on Pinterest or subscribe on YouTube.

I’m waiting to see what happens with TikTok in the United States. That may be a platform I dive into learning if there’s a positive outcome there.

Backup Everything

I’ll be doing videos of my blog posts, and posting the short tutorial videos I had been posting infrequently on my Facebook group. I have a lot of those short tutorial videos saved offline (you can download even the live-streamed videos). That’s another key. Save everything offline (or at least the popular content), so if you have to start over, you have the content your audience resonated with to get you started.

Make a point of saving your email list offline at regular intervals.

Don’t rely on website platforms to buy your URLs. Make sure you own them, and can take them with you should something happen to your website platform (I use WordPress, but there’s a learning curve with that).

Invest In Learning SEO

Search Engine Optimization is always a great investment of your time, in my opinion. If you’re not hiring out your social media posting or blogging, then learning SEO is going to deliver really great bang for your buck. There are a variety of free and paid resources out there to help you do this, but understanding SEO means you’ve got a better understanding of keywords as they’re used as hashtags, or search features on social media or Amazon.

Learn Google Analytics for your blog or book data on retailer platforms. Know where your traffic is coming from, and focus on those platforms.

Don’t try and do it all. Learning these features means you’re better positioned to take advantage of organic discovery and algorithm recommendations (which cost you nothing).

I may try and create a new profile in a bit. Afterall, Facebook was the primary way I kept in touch with family. My first attempt got shut down almost immediately. I had a new email, used a device I’ve never used for Facebook, but it didn’t matter. You need a new email and phone number (unless you’ve somehow been able to avoid giving your phone number to Facebook), and restrict posting any photos of yourself because those were all mapped and catalogued and will be flagged on future profiles.

How do you feel about using Facebook to build community or drive traffic?

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About Lisa

Lisa Hall-Wilson is a writing teacher and award-winning writer and author. She’s the author of Method Acting For Writers: Learn Deep Point Of View Using Emotional Layers. Her blog, Beyond Basics For Writers, explores all facets of the popular writing style deep point of view and offers practical tips for writers. 

 Interested In Deep Point Of View? Here's the place to learn! https://deepdiveauthorclub.vipmembervault.com/ Class begins January 12th!

Cough Syrup Image from one-night-label.webp

Katniss Image from Lisa's personal blog

Top Image by DanXaw from Pixabay