Tips for Writers
Writers and Authors in Control
By Jerry D. Simmons | March 4th, 2010 | No Comments » (Click to add yours!)
Book publishing has always favored the big companies and only a select few of the mega-bestselling authors have real input on how their titles are handled in the marketplace. For everyone else they are merely a name and title on a pub sheet and the difficulty of separating themselves and their book from all other authors under contract is difficult. Adding insult is the fact that authors under contract do not own the rights to their own content.
Along come the print-on-demand companies and the surge in new titles exploded which unfortunately did not give the author any more leverage or control over their writing. The status quo was entrenched and unsuspecting writers who turned manuscripts over to these printers found them with less money in their pocket and no market to sell their book.
Left with few options and no way to sell large quantities of books, independent authors found it difficult to compete with published titles from the big companies.
Entering the market was the new hybrid model for publishing offering independent writers a real opportunity to compete on the same level with all published books. In response and faced with mounting competition from small and niche publishers the big six New York based behemoths decided to up and ante and begin offering booksellers huge incentives, discounts and fees for anything from placement to advertising in newsletters to subsidizing author appearances. The playing field once again was stacked against the small guy and favored the deeper pocket publishers.
Then along came a new reading device called iPad from a company named Apple and the big publishing industry was knocked back on their heels. The iPad will open doors and create opportunities for independent authors never before possible in the print world of book publishing. Technology is a wonderful thing and the time will come when authors will be able to control their own destiny with the emergence of the eBook market.
The eBook is nothing new; they’ve been around for many years. When Amazon introduced the Kindle it opened up the market for eBooks however Amazon remained the 800 pound gorilla in the room that major publishers detested having to work with. Suddenly introduction of the iPad has been a major break in the stalemate over the market for eBooks. The economics have changed and the advantage is finally shifting to the independent author.
For information on how you can take advantage of the emerging eBook market, send me an email Jerry@WritersReaders.com.
Tags: Book Publishing, eBook, Hybrid Publishing Model, Self-Published Author, Self-Publishing
Book Tour and Amazon Promotion by Dave Lieber
By Jerry D. Simmons | March 4th, 2010 | No Comments » (Click to add yours!)
Here’s an easy and free way to get noticed every week as a popular author in your hometown.
BookTour.com, which calls itself the world’s largest, 100 percent free directory of author events, offers a wonderful event calendar for your author engagements. The best part is the periodic e-mail update that gets sent to all readers who subscribe to learn about author events within a certain number of miles from their zip code.
What this means is this: If you list several events each month, you’ll show up on subscribers’ e-mail updates on a regular basis — unlike a visiting author who makes one appearance a year. Your consistency and obvious popularity will cause more buzz about you among your region’s serious readers.
But aside from pumping life into your public image, that same e-mail that arrives to subscribers with your “tour” dates, also comes with everyone else who is scheduled to appear in your designated region. This gives you real-time intelligence about which stores and events host authors on a regular basis and who they are hosting. This insight gives you a head-start when calling the bookstore: “Hi, I saw you booked Jerry Simmons last week. You know, I’m almost as good as him.”
As a reader award, I’m saving the best for last. Recently, BookTour and Amazon struck a deal so that all of your listed events on BookTour now stream into your Amazon Author Page, assuming you have one. (Go to authorcentral.amazon.com to sign up for that.)
A live stream of appearances on your Amazon Author Page gives you a leg up on many other authors, especially those who aren’t around anymore. Nathaniel Hawthorne and Mark Twain aren’t coming to a bookstore near you. But you are.
You’re out there! Now the let the world know free and easy, every week, all the time — and find out what everyone else is doing, too.
Dave Lieber is an international speaker and newspaper columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. His newest Web site is davelieber.org – which he says is a sleek new “hub-of-the-wheel” author site that he just completed with author-tech guru Thomas Umstaddt Jr. of authortechtips.com.
Tags: Book Marketing, Book Sales, Booksellers, eBook
Changing the eBook Game
By Jerry D. Simmons | February 15th, 2010 | 3 Comments » (Click to add yours!)
Two weeks ago Apple introduced the iPad which shook the eBook business to its core and ignited a firestorm over the future of the digital marketplace. Last week one of the largest publishers in New York, Macmillan settled a dispute with Amazon over pricing of their eBooks effectively allowing the company to price above $9.99. These two events have suddenly changed the outlook for eBooks and instantly provided tremendous opportunities for independent authors.
Apple overnight made the market for eBooks more viable as a form of content delivery since the publishing industry holds the company in such high esteem. The book business is very old school and sometimes it takes a major event to open the eyes of New York publishers to the possibilities. Apple provided that eye opener. Amazon was a player and the Kindle opened some doors, but nothing like Apple and their new iPad. Suddenly everyone is taking a second look.
The big New York companies have been fighting with Amazon over the pricing of their eBooks since the Kindle was introduced. Today, for a hardcover priced at $28, Amazon sells the eBook for $9.99 and then pays the publisher $4.01. For each unit sold, Amazon was paying publishers $14.00 and as a result was trying to force the publishers to lower their price for all eBooks. The big publishers have refused. Amazon desperately wanted to seed the market with low priced eBooks and sell more Kindle’s; that strategy will now change.
The New York publishers have always felt that the pricing for their bestselling titles should be closer to the hardcover price, in effect raising the price for most if not all New York published eBooks. This opens the door for the independent author and publisher to price in a manner that will undercut their bigger competitors in a market that is already comfortable with $9.99 and below. This is something the print market has forbidden simply because of the cost of paper, printing and handling. This is a major event in the emerging market for the sale and distribution of eBooks.
As a result of these two significant events, every author should take steps to secure eBook distribution. Even though the print and eBook markets are the same, many of the major retailers for book sales look at both print and eBooks the same, which means the advantage of distribution for your eBook under a publisher banner is necessary to gain full market advantage of the distribution opportunities.
I would be happy to help you distribute your unpublished or published book as an eBook and provide the independent author with a market boost. Distribution of eBooks is a fraction of the cost of print and the economics make it much more advantageous for every author. The marketplace is getting ready to explode and if I can help you find a market for your eBook please contact me immediately. The window of opportunity may be small.
Tags: Book Distribution, Book Publishing, Book Sales, Hybrid Publishing Model, Self-Published Author, Self-Publishing
Be Your Own Best Editor in 5 Easy Steps by Diane O’Connell
By Jerry D. Simmons | February 15th, 2010 | No Comments » (Click to add yours!)
If you’re like many writers, getting that first draft down can give you a rush of excitement. The words flow freely, the ideas come at lightning speed, the book seems to be coming together just as you had in your head. But then you read it back and — oh, boy, does it need fixing! The thought of cleaning up the “mess” you created is about as appealing as cleaning out a garage stuffed with a quarter century of accumulated stuff — and just as overwhelming.
Many first-time authors begin the revising process by going through their manuscript line by line and painstakingly “editing”: correcting syntax, adding some things, taking out other things, cleaning up punctuation and spelling. Often, this process can seem like torture. And there’s a good reason why.
Revising and editing is a multi-stepped task. You may clean everything up and make it look pretty, but your manuscript may still not work because you haven’t addressed the underlying issues that need to be fixed. To be your own best editor, you need a plan. Here it is:
1. Read your entire draft. Grab a cup of coffee or tea, and have a pad of paper at your side. As you read, make some general notes and impressions on the pad — what things are working for you, what things don’t, places that seem overwritten, others that need beefing up. Avoid the temptation to correct anything on the draft; that will only slow you down. What you’re looking for is the big picture.
2. Identify the problems. Take a look at your comments and see if a pattern emerges. Do you have problems with structure, character development, awkward writing, point of view, length, plot, subplot, etc.? In all probability, there will be multiple issues that need to be addressed. Make a list of these.
3. Brainstorm new ideas. Take each element that needs fixing and at the top of a piece of paper, write it out (e.g., “Shelly’s motivations for leaving her husband are weak”). You can also do this on a chapter-by-chapter basis. Next, draw a line under the problem. Then brainstorm all the possible solutions to the problem. Write more than you think you’ll need. Write some crazy ones, too. Don’t censure yourself. When you’re done, review what you’ve come up with and circle the solution you think will work best. You might even end up circling two and trying both to see which one actually works better. Determine how you’re going to tackle these revisions: One at a time? Or more organically? There’s no right answer – just whatever makes the most sense to you.
4. Rewrite — don’t tinker. If more than one-third of your manuscript (or of a section) needs to be revised, put it aside and start fresh. Yes, I know that sounds like a lot of work, but believe me, this is the most effective way to revise a manuscript that needs more than just simple polishing. The problem with trying to fix what’s already on the page is that your brain becomes wedded to what’s already there. It’s difficult to come up with a fresh way of thinking when you’re faced with what already is. Somehow, the very fact that words are put on a page in black and white lends a certain legitimacy to them. Plus, you know how hard you worked to get a particular passage right, which makes it really hard to let go of. (This is why the “director’s cut” of films is never as good as the released version; because directors can’t separate the work they put into a scene from whether it serves the story. That’s why we have film editors.)
5. Make it sing. Now that you’ve fixed the big-picture problems, it’s time to go back over the revised manuscript and polish your prose. Look for redundancies, too much reliance on adjectives and adverbs, clichés, weak nouns and verbs, dialogue that goes on too long, paragraphs that need to be broken up, poor word choice, problems with syntax, punctuation, and spelling.
Putting in the time to revise your manuscript the right way will pay off — with a better, leaner, more marketable story or nonfiction book. As any successful writer will tell you: Writing is re-writing.
Diane O’Connell Literary Services
Specializing in Working with First-Time Authors
Fiction and Non-Fiction
Find out about her very affordable Express Coaching service: http://www.docls.com
Or call (718) 268-9282
“I can state categorically that my first novel would never been published without Diane.”
— Cody McFadyen, international bestselling author of Shadow Man, The Face of Death, and The Darker Side (Bantam).
Tags: Book Publishing, Hybrid Publishing Model, Self-Published Author, Self-Publishing, writing
What is a Virtual Tour? by Stephanie Barko
By Jerry D. Simmons | February 15th, 2010 | 1 Comment » (Click to add yours!)
A virtual tour takes a book through online sites that feature content about the author and title during a finite length of time. Blogs and websites where content appears are called Tour Stops. The blogger or website owner at the Stops is called the Tour Stop Host. The person arranging the Tour Stops is called the Tour Provider.
What happens during a Tour? Depending on the topic, the book is toured on blogs, forums, social networking pages, frequently updated websites, and video sites. Sometimes the content submitted by the Provider is passive, meaning no action is necessary by the author after it posts, and sometimes the content is active. With active content, the author has the opportunity to interact with a site’s followers, as in a chat room or a site with comments enabled. Content during a tour may include interviews, excerpts, author videos, book trailers, podcasts, review snippets, endorsements, cover art, headshots, candids, author essays, articles and guest blog posts.
How long does a Tour last? Density of content over time is important in a tour, so stops are usually completed within a 30-45 day time frame.
Where does the Tour go? It goes to both genre-specific and general book blogs & websites.
What does an author need to do to prepare for a Tour? The author must email any interview responses or files that are requested by the Tour Provider and check in online when active content is running.
What are the benefits of a Virtual Tour? First off, the author is going directly to hisor her audience. Secondly, everything on the net leaves a footprint, so unlike print media which is here today and gone tomorrow, your blog, podcast, or book review will stay on the net forever – or as long as the site archives exist -which means new visitors to a site will still be exposed to your message months down the road. Over 79% of the media now find their experts online, so virtual tours have the power to attract the media to (especially nonfiction) authors. With a virtual tour, you are leaving a bread trail for the media and new readers to find you.
For more information about custom Virtual Tours, visit Stephanie Barko, Literary Publicist. www.authorsassistant.com/Barko.htm
Tags: Book Marketing, Book Sales, Hybrid Publishing Model, Self-Published Author, Self-Publishing
Print and Digital Publishing Strategy
By Jerry D. Simmons | February 1st, 2010 | 1 Comment » (Click to add yours!)
The business of book publishing was founded on the concept of the printed word on paper. With the recent rise of the eBook and digital delivery of content the industry is being forced into rethinking their strategy toward both print and digital. Old school publishers are hesitant to give digital any noticeable recognition for two reasons: first because today it represents only a few percentage points of total business and second, digital delivery upsets the tradition of the printed word.
The development of eReaders has given rise to a potentially lucrative market for publishers. However the tendency to publish first with print followed by digital has flaws. Traditional fears of canalizing sales from one format to another is an anachronistic way of thinking and in order for publishers to succeed, they need to change. It’s no longer possible for publishers of any size to ignore the marketplace and continue with business as usual.
This is especially true for small independent publishers whose business model has up to this point centered on print. The focus of print followed by digital is no longer a viable option. The economics of production and long standing discounts to booksellers have made the margins for print virtually impossible. It makes little sense, outside an overall strategy of print and digital, to consider the printed book the cornerstone of an author’s plan to create an audience and sell books.
Recent changes within the industry now make publishing a manuscript independently more acceptable than ever before. Professional production standards with savvy marketing have created some outstanding books that have been successful competing in the marketplace against all published books, not just independently published titles. This is a major accomplishment for the segment of the market that has long since been ignored. However, the negative perception of “self-published” remains so writers must be smart about the imprint that is attached to their book.
Any writer who has a professionally edited manuscript and is interested in charting a successful course to publication must develop an overall strategy that includes print, digital, audio and foreign rights, I encourage you seek out all options before making a final decision. Setting goals for yourself as an author and for your books should include professional consultation. Information is vital to making smart decisions and avoiding the pitfalls of publishing on your own.
Tags: Book Distribution, Book Marketing, Book Publishing, Book Sales, Hybrid Publishing Model, Self-Published Author, Self-Publishing
Kitty Chappell’s Trip to Poland by Kitty Chappell
By Jerry D. Simmons | January 27th, 2010 | No Comments » (Click to add yours!)
In 2002, even as a first-time book author, I realized the day I signed the contact with New Hope Publishers there would come a time when my book—my baby that I’d given birth to, Sins of a Father, Forgiving the Unforgivable—would one day die. I knew it would go out of print and be deleted by the same wonderful publisher responsible for its birth, the very one who had covered all its “birthing” expenses, announced its entrance into the world, and who did everything to celebrate and promote its birth except pass out cigars.
As a former business owner having dealt in a business supplying products and services, I understood that a business simply cannot continue producing products without also dropping others—those that fall below a certain sales volume—unless you want to become a nonprofit business. Understanding that business reality, however, did not lessen the pain and grief I felt the day I received the written notice by mail informing me of the demise date of my “baby”.
I made all of the necessary arrangements, beginning with asking for and receiving the copyright to my book and purchasing as many of the remainders as I could. But what was my next step?
I knew I could self-publish, but as a new widow, faced with a myriad of new responsibilities, dealing with my late husband’s business partner regarding sales negotiations from our 50% share in the business, selling our house on the lake which I could no longer afford without my husband’s income, downsizing from a 5-bedroom home into a tiny house, while at the same time trying to keep up with my speaking responsibilities. And all without the physical support of my children who lived out of state while missing deeply the love of my life who had taken care of me for 47 years. I simply had no energy for self-publishing.
For months I coasted but as I saw my hoarded book supply dwindling, I realized I must take action. As a believer, I know God cares about each of us and is vitally interested in every aspect of our lives. So I prayed.
Sometime later, I met Polish publisher Piotr Waclawik, CEO of Vocatio Publishers in Warsaw who had recently opened an office in Phoenix. We met at a mutual friend’s social function and at the suggestion of our host; I gave Piotr a copy of my out-of- print book. Piotr graciously accepted it but I could tell he wasn’t actually interested, nor did I expect him to be. (No other publisher was interested in an out-of-print book—I had already checked) To make conversation, Piotr politely asked about the book’s theme and when I mentioned forgiveness he suddenly came alive. “In Eastern Europe people are begging for anything in print pertaining to forgiveness that they can get their hands on!” After he read the book, I signed a contract with Vocatio and what happened next was amazing!
My book was updated, given a new cover and title of I Can Forgive if I Want to, translated into Polish and Danish, released in Poland in 2008 and then Denmark in 2009. Its translation into Nepali and Burmese are nearing completion and there are enquiries regarding possible translations into Arabic, Swahili, and Lithuanian.
In 2008 I was invited to speak in Poland for the entire month of October, 2009. While there I spoke 17 times in thirteen cities (four times in the Warsaw area alone) sharing my life story emphasizing not only forgiveness but also the great need for Poland to establish more shelters for abused women and children.
At my kickoff speaking event in Warsaw, a representative from The Prime Minister’s Office in the Capitol of Warsaw presented me with a long eloquent letter of welcome from Elizbieta Radziszewska, Government’s Plenipotentiary for Equal Rights. She commended me for my book (she had a copy) and my willingness to come to Poland and teach people with emotional wounds how they can be healed and overcome their past—while at the same time raise public awareness regarding domestic violence. She officially endorsed all of my scheduled public appearances throughout the 13 cites in Poland.
Jagoda Markiewicz, Women’s Forum Director for all of Poland was amazed at this endorsement by the government official, saying to her knowledge this was a first.
The level of Poland’s awareness of domestic violence is about the same as was America’s 50 to 60 years ago. Society there, as a whole, heretofore has denied the existence of abuse—relegating it to a few isolated incidents limited to the “lower class”—as did America at the time my family and I suffered abuse.
Wherever I spoke, I was overwhelmed by the love and gratitude shown to me as people hugged me and wept. My translators repeated their phrases over and over as people thanked me for bringing the message of forgiveness to Poland. One event leader in a large city greeted me with a strong embrace, and, through tears, said in her fluent English, “I have prayed six years for someone to come to Poland with a message of forgiveness. Thank you for traveling so far to answer my prayer.”
As I toured Auschwitz and relived the horrors of the holocaust, my heart broke for this great country. This brave nation has been beaten and brutalized by its neighbors during its entire existence. It has rebuilt its beautiful cities but the healing of its soul is a longer process. I felt humbled to be there at a time when the stirring of the nation’s heart is nudging them toward healing through forgiveness.
This reality was reflected by the media’s open interest regarding the subject of forgiveness as a whole. I was guest on seven radio broadcasts; two of them live radio talk shows where everyone was eager to discuss forgiveness, so much so that all of the calls couldn’t be taken—and they were one and a half hour long shows. I was also guest on one live talk show videoed for TV, and interviewed by a number of newspapers and magazines. So intense was their interest on the subject of forgiveness, domestic violence, and Poland’s need for shelters for abused women and children, that a number of those interviews were 3-1/2 hours long.
I will never understand how God works, for His ways truly are mysterious. But in looking back at the rebirth and evolvement of my book, I suspect these events and circumstances could only have been orchestrated by God. I am reminded of the statement made by Jesus in John 12:24 unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
As painful as it was for me at the time, had my “baby”, my Sins of a Father book not died and gone out of print, I Can Forgive if I Want to would never have been born and this timely European trip would have not taken place—and thousands of people in Poland would have missed the blessing of its message of forgiveness.
— Kitty Chappell
www.kittychappell.com
Note: This updated book is yet to be released in the U.S. but is available on my website in English.
Tags: Book Marketing, Book Publishing, Book Sales, Self-Published Author, Self-Publishing, writing
How Publishing Has Changed
By Jerry D. Simmons | January 14th, 2010 | No Comments » (Click to add yours!)
Traditional publishing has always centered on print, with audio and foreign rights secondary revenue streams. The focus of the biggest publishing companies was on the printed book. Lists of titles were sold seasonally to an established distribution channel of booksellers via wholesalers, jobbers, retailers and eventually online stores. Manuscripts were scrutinized and only the very best were placed under contract. Discounts were standard, the rules of the game established, and everyone was making money.
Once print-on-demand technology was introduced as a way for publishers to reduce waste and streamline distribution everything begin to change. Publishers who feared losing the bookstore experience rejected the single copy print to customer demand and continued along their merry way, business as usual. Not to be deterred, the POD folks opened up their own publishing shops, accepting the written word of anyone willing to pay their price for services such as cover design and printing. The market exploded and suddenly everyone had a book.
However the marketplace that was nurtured and developed by the big six in New York decided to solidify their strangle hold on booksellers by subsidizing shelf space and retail placement. Through an assortment of discounts, fees and incentives, publishers and booksellers agreed to prevent the wide scale penetration of the “POD publishers” by labeling everything rolling off those presses as substandard and of poor production quality. The strategy has worked.
Consumers today have a strong negative opinion of a self-published book, especially those that look and feel inferior to what they find in bookstores. POD printers understood their business model had to revolve around the upfront pricing instead of actual copy sales since they lacked direct sales and distribution, a result of the rejection by the traditional marketplace. This decision strengthened the notion of inferior quality writing and played into the hands of the big New York publishers, eventually the marketplace was protected.
Today the self-published book is making a debut in a completely new format completely hidden behind the reputable imprint of experienced professional publishers. Booksellers are openly accepting these titles due to the fact that each one is vetted and proven to be of high quality in both the written word and production. Now through the advance of the digital delivery system, self-published books utilizing this exciting new concept is finding their work can be competitive on bookstore shelves with any published title.
As the book publishing business continues to evolve the key component for all authors in the future is control, ownership and rights over their content. Big traditionally publishers are resistant simply because their investment in each book must mean the forfeiture of an author’s right to that content. Otherwise, they will go out of business. Nowhere is this fact more dramatic than the contracts that bind all authors to the large POD printers.
It is unbelievable to me that the mass produced, low production standards of some companies include retention of all files created for a paying customer, forever. Why would any writer who has invested heavily in their written word be willing to agree to such terms of publication? Unless the answer is price! The Wal-Mart mentality may work wonders for household products, groceries and paper goods, but not for books.
If you are shopping for a publisher for your manuscript, I strongly recommend you submit to the INDI Publishing Group. It’s the model of publishing that will be the future of the written word.
Tags: Book Distribution, Book Publishing, Book Sales, Hybrid Publishing Model, Self-Published Author
When Your Writing Is Attacked — How to Cope With Soul-Crushing Rejection by Diane O’Connell
By Jerry D. Simmons | December 15th, 2009 | No Comments » (Click to add yours!)
At the beginning of my online writing seminars, the students each introduce themselves. On more than one occasion, a student will reveal that he or she is coming to the class after having experienced a devastating rejection. By that I mean, not the standard rejection you get when you send your work out to get published, but the more personal kind that rips apart your writing with no constructive feedback, the kind of rejection that feels as though you are being personally attacked, and leaves you wondering if you were crazy to ever think you could write.
One of my students had entered her manuscript in a contest. As she said, “two of the judges had really helpful critiques, but the 3rd really ripped me to shreds. I’ve been having a hard time writing and revising since, wondering if I even have any talent, if I’m just wasting my time, etc, etc.” My heart goes out this writer. I know exactly how she feels, because I’ve been there.
In my case, the nasty rejection came from a teacher I had revered. I was utterly and completely devastated. I stopped writing. I became completely blocked. The worst part of it all was that I allowed another person to take away from me something that gave me joy. It was only after reading Julia Cameron’s wonderful book, The Artist’s Way, that I healed myself and began writing again.
Here are some ways you can cope with this kind of soul-crushing rejection:
Step away from the emotion. The natural response to getting a nasty rejection is to want to jump out a window, burn the manuscript, cry into a pillow. It’s okay to feel that way, and crying can be cathartic. But before you do anything more drastic, allow your emotions to calm down.
Keep it in perspective. If you look at the quote from the writer above, you’ll see that she got helpful critiques from two judges, but it was the nasty critique that had the greatest impact on her. Don’t shut out the positive or helpful responses or put too much credence in the negative ones.
Ask yourself what else might be going on. Sometimes people are jealous and attack you. Others are looking to make a mark and go about it in the wrong way. Some may have suffered devastating criticism in the past and are really getting back at the person who hurt them. Still others are looking to stroke their own egos by bringing someone else down. And some just want to be Simon Cowell.
Read between the invective to see if the critique has any validity. Easier said than done, I know. But sometimes people get really ticked off over a particular thing and allow their feelings to run away with them. For instance, let’s say your spelling and grammar are not up to par. Well, it could be that your characters are well drawn, your story compelling, your dialog sparkling, but the reader goes ballistic over writing mechanics. So, maybe that’s something you need to work on.
Get back on the horse. Don’t stop writing – not even for a day. Write because you love to write, because you have to write, because writing brings you joy. Don’t ever allow anyone to take that away from you.
Diane O’Connell Literary Services
Specializing in Working with First-Time Authors
Fiction and Non-Fiction
Find out about her very affordable Express Coaching service: http://www.docls.com
Or call (718) 268-9282
“I can state categorically that my first novel would never have been published without Diane.” — Cody McFadyen, international bestselling author of Shadow Man, The Face of Death, The Darker Side, and Abandoned (Bantam).
Tags: Book Publishing, writing
When You’ve Hit a Wall: Five Ways to Get Unstuck by Diane O’Connell
By Jerry D. Simmons | October 22nd, 2009 | No Comments » (Click to add yours!)
Eventually all writers — even the most experienced ones — hit a wall in their writing. Rather than staring at the computer screen with your stomach tied in knots and cursing the writing gods, do something to break the cycle. Here are five things to try to get you unblocked and writing again:
1. Take a break. Get up from the computer and do a few stretches, walk the dog, phone a friend, empty the dishwasher. It doesn’t matter what you do, just do something other than writing. Activity will help clear your brain so you can come back refreshed.
2. Get more information. Usually when I get stuck, it’s because I don’t have enough information to move forward on whatever I’m writing. Instead of struggling to find the right words, do a little research. Search the Internet, call an expert, refer to a book, or review your notes.
3. Do a journal entry. Sometimes it helps to simply step away from the story and write about what’s getting you stuck rather than trying to write the perfect words. Write what you want to say and perhaps why you’re having trouble saying it. The more you stay with this, the better chance you’ll have of finding your way out of the rut and into something fresh and telling.
4. Try a different angle. Write from the point of view of a different character, or write a letter from one of your characters to another character if you’re writing fiction. If you’re writing nonfiction, try a completely different approach. For instance, let’s say you’re writing a how-to book, and you get stuck on describing how to do something. Try writing the instructions from the viewpoint of your family pet or as your favorite TV or movie character. This will generate some fresh ideas that you can adapt to your piece.
5. Rapid write. In this technique — also known as freewriting — you write continuously without stopping — no matter what. You either keep your hand moving across the page or your fingers typing without pausing for corrections or thoughts. If you don’t know what to say, then write that or keep repeating the last thing you’ve written until something new comes to your mind. Do this for at least 10 minutes without stopping. This will allow the right brain to take over, giving your left brain a much-needed break. When you continually write without letting the left brain interfere, then fresh, original ideas will come to the surface.
Diane O’Connell Literary Services
Specializing in Working with First-Time Authors
Fiction and Non-Fiction
Find out about her very affordable Express Coaching service: http://www.docls.com
Or call (718) 268-9282
“I can state categorically that my first novel would never have been published without Diane.” — Cody McFadyen, international bestselling author of Shadow Man, The Face of Death, and The Darker Side (Bantam).
Tags: writing
