When it comes to writing, publishing, and marketing a book, there are many mistakes to be made (many more than 99). The #1 most important mistake NOT to make is over-investment. I’ll give a quick anecdote about that, and then give the whole list of my 99 favorite book mistakes.
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As long-time readers of this site probably know, I’ve been dabbling with longer writing projects over the past year or so. Well, after an attempt at writing a sci-fi horror thriller novel failed at about 21,000 words into the story, I tried to work out what had gone wrong. What had turned this fascinating project into the kind of dreary, unrewarding chore that I’d use literally any excuse to avoid writing more of it.
Surprisingly, the main thing turned out to be the writing style. Since I enjoy reading fast-paced novels, I’d tried to write one in this style – only to find that it was lacking atmosphere, had some fairly bland sentences and generally didn’t have the level of personality that I’d hoped.
So, I thought that I’d look at a few things that you can do if you find that you can’t use your favourite writing style.
1)…
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Kindle Vella is an Amazon beta program in the US which allows authors to post serial stories in episodes. The mechanics of setting up a Vella story, posting episodes, and editing them is easy. There aren’t any deadlines, and there isn’t much of a risk since stories can be deleted and republished later as a book.
I was undecided about whether Vella and I were a good fit, but committed myself to giving it a try…
Until yesterday.
I sent Amazon an email, and they deleted the story for me.
Much of the decision whittled down to the old saying, “Writer, know thyself.”
I’m a writer who enjoys a challenge, but I should have taken a more realistic view of my writing process, something I’m happy with after more than a decade of producing books.
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Due to the success of my post about the things to consider when writing second chance romance I thought i would cover a new trope today – fake romance.
As a romance book blogger I LOVE reading this trope. I love how the fake relationship starts out of convenience; pretending to be together for a social commitment, pretending to be in love for a competition or needing to show the world that a secret love interest does exist, but soon the fake relationship starts to change into somethinge else. I get so excited when the chemistry between the characters gets to work and things get awkward. There’s so much potential for good comedy and hilarity.
Most of the time fake romance stories focus on reputation or pride.
Here are the things I think we need to consider when writing this wonderful trope.
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Take a moment to think about what makes you… YOU. Is it your personality? Is it the story you tell others about how you are? Is it the mission you have in life? Or your vision of the future? What about the way you treat others? Or your opinions, values, and beliefs? Chances areyou’ve…
Branding Your Blog: The Why, the What, and the How — The Art of Blogging
Good Morning, TLASSOF Readers! If you’re looking to give your blog its own personality, this is the post for you.
I always have ideas for new writing projects—especially when I’m up to my elbows rewriting. My brain would much rather be working on the next shiny thing than polishing up my works-in-progress.
How do I generate ideas?
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I’ve written before about where to find critique partners but I wanted to touch on something just as important…
… namely why you should be a good critique partner yourself.
A good critique partner is an incredible asset. And I don’t believe they’re made overnight. Learning how to give useful, good critique is a skill that you develop over time. And it’s an important one, as a writer.
Why?
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Following on from my post on first drafts, I was going to do a post on second drafts and then so on and so forth, but after much consideration, (and by much I actually mean very little) I decided to scrap that idea and just keep it simple, by posting about the rewriting process, rather than individual drafts on their own. Because lets face it, there isn’t really a set amount of drafts per creative piece – the possibilities are infinite.
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“The Official Motion Picture Soundtrack.” How many of those do you own? I know I owned a few soundtracks on cassette tape when I was growing up. Some of these albums were a central part of the film for which they were recorded, like Purple Rain (which I wore out listening to) or [insert musical title here] (which I did not own…because I don’t like musicals).
But most soundtracks were recorded to provide an audible background intended to enhance the movie by putting the audience in the right mood or frame of mind at just the right time, so they would experience the film the way the director intended.
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2014 was the year of YA books being adapted into the big screen such as the latest one to hit theaters, “The Fault in our Stars,” a tear-jerker romance by John Green. Specifically, I noticed dystopian YA novels being made into movies, such as Divergent which was released earlier this year and more to come such as the Maze Runner, The Giver, and Catching Fire: Part 1. I’ll admit I’m excited to see most of them, yet considering they’re all based on books, I contemplated picking up the book and reading it. However with my tendency to become passionate about books I really love I wondered if it was wise if I should read them before the movie.
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