Thursday Technicalities: Genre-Switching In a Series

Introduction

When I asked those who follow this blog on Facebook to give me some topics they’d like discussed, this was one of the suggestions. This is a somewhat nuanced topic, and the question is: how do we approach genre-switching in a series, and is it going to lose readers? That’s the question I will be getting into today.

When can you employ genre-switching?

First of all, every book in a series has different needs to make it a good story. Generally, series stick to the same overall genre, but they may change in tone or flavor through the progression of the series. For example, book one in a steampunk fantasy might focus more on action and fantasy while maybe the second one moves to a more urban fantasy/steampunk mix.

A good example that comes to mind is Orson Scott Card’s Ender series. Ender’s Game is mainly action/sci-fi. But the second book, Speaker for the Dead, sees Ender a bit older and traveling through space. The book takes on a heavily political tone with less action/adventure undertones while remaining sci-fi. The books after that were more philosophical than anything, though, again, they remained sci-fi.

So what do we take from this? Primary genre shouldn’t change. If book one is fantasy, you can’t switch to realistic fiction and romance in book two. But you can change the secondary genre. Perhaps book one is fantasy romance but in book two the characters are now married and the focus shifts from romance to adventure giving you a fantasy adventure. As long as the transition is smooth, you’re unlikely to lose readers over this. A well-told story is more important than a contrived adherence to secondary genres or elements.

How do we make the genre-switch?

This depends on the needs of your series. Some switches are easier than others. Going from action to adventure or from fantasy to science fantasy is easier than going from urban fantasy to high fantasy might be. The goal is to make the transition smooth whatever switch you are trying to make.

Abrupt changes in genre are no better than abruptly going from a kick-butt heroine to a whiny teenage girl between books with no warning (Divergent…). We want a gradual transition. Setting up a shift in secondary genre–especially if the change is big–is a part of setting up for book two. It’s your job to leave the clues there in the end of book so that the reader is unsurprised by the genre shift.

Unless the series is made up of standalones tied by some sort of theme besides genre, you don’t want your genre-switching to be a surprise. Again, I want to stress that how this is achieved varies from book series to book series. I would be doing you a disservice if I told you there was a one-size-fits-all solution. That is rarely true in writing, even in grammar.

How do i know if genre-switching is working?

I have two suggestions when looking at how well genre-switching is working for your series. First, you should be an avid reader. If you are a writer and want to be a good one, you need to read. You need to know what a good story looks like to construct it. As is the case in so many things, learning by example and by doing is much better than reading thousands of books on the topic. If you have been reading well-written fiction, then the first suggestion I have will work well for you. Use your intuition.

So long as you’re honest in your assessment of the transition, your intuition can go a long way in helping you decide if genre-switching is working.

Second, get outside perspectives from friends who read a lot of books, especially ones that are well-written and in your genre. They don’t need to be fellow writers, but if they are, that’s a bonus. This is especially important if you’re a new writer or don’t read much because your intuition will likely catch only the most glaring issues.

However, even seasoned authors should be looking for outside input. I started writing at eleven. I’m twenty-two now, and even after eleven years of writing, I still hold the insight of my beta-readers (or listeners since my mom prefers I read the stories to her instead) in high regard. No matter how well I can write or edit, there will always be blind spots I have that my readers don’t. Every honest, seasoned writer admits the same. Never discount the usefulness of beta-readers and critique partners. They are indispensable and the really good ones deserve your appreciation and a huge thank you at the very least.

Conclusion

I hope this has been helpful in providing you with guidance on handling this nuanced area of writing. There’s no one way to handle genre-switching mid-series, but there are some ways that work better than others. So be willing to try several methods until you find the one that works for your series. You can always delete, re-write, and edit. It’ll be worth it for a piece that is of exceptional quality.

Getting Back Into Writing After Publishing

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Introduction

Anyone who has published before knows it’s a long, involved process. It isn’t easy, and getting back into writing after publishing can be hard. After pushing so hard to reach the finish line of publication, we often feel burned out and unprepared to dive back in. But if we’re trying to build our list of publications, we have to keep writing. So how can we get back to writing after publishing?

Tip #1 For Getting Back into Writing: Take a Break

Not all of us are able to do this. We may have deadlines looming for other projects. This is the case for me as I just finished editing Trader Prince of Aleshtain and am preparing to launch in in December, but I also have to dive headlong into pounding out the words on my Children of Chaos project then editing and launching that, all before April 2021. It doesn’t leave much wiggle room to take a break.

However, if your deadlines allow for it, do take a break! Often, we feel burned out because we haven’t properly balanced work with life. I know I’m absolutely horrid about balancing these two areas. My family and best friend will tell you that I would probably work myself to death if my health issues didn’t flare and force my body to quit going at some point. And even, then, I still push myself far past when the first warning signs of a breakdown in health appear and frequently need to be told by others I trust and respect to stop. So I know very well how easily imbalance leads to burnout, unfortunately. While the opportunity to step away is often impossible during the process of getting a book publish-ready and then actually published, a break after goes a long way.

Tip #2 For Getting Back into Writing: Lessen Time

If you can’t take a full break, try lessening your time on other projects for a bit or breaking it up a little more. This allows for a little breathing room if you’re struggling with burn out or going back to writing after publishing. This is most frequently the method I employ, and it’s the one I’ve employed with Shadow’s Dissident for the Children of Chaos series. After the whirlwind of writing and editing and now formatting with Trader Prince of Aleshtain, I really do need a break, but I can’t take one. Lessening my time spent a bit and breaking it up so that I can focus on sewing (something else I really love) in between or can go read really works wonders.

Tip #3 for Getting Back into Writing: Vary What You Write

This one is a little less obvious, but sometimes I find that writing in a different genre or having two projects going that I can switch between does help. Especially if one of those projects is just for fun and has no deadline. It helps me to remember why I love writing, and that makes it easier to go back to the writing that’s on a deadline. It puts the life, creativity, and fun back into things and gets me out of any ruts I might have ended up stuck in with the previous project. It also gets the previous project out of my head. Sometimes it’s hard to let go of the project you just finished because you’re so invested and you just need to find a way to let go and be excited about something new.

Tip #4 For Getting Back Into Writing: Rewards

We are reward-driven creatures. None of us does anything on any frequent basis that we don’t feel like doing unless there is a reward for it or, alternatively, an unwanted consequence for not doing it. Since there aren’t always consequences to choosing not to write when you should be (especially if you are only answerable to yourself for the missed deadlines), rewards are the way to go. It doesn’t have to be big, but set small goals and corresponding rewards for finishing them.

Tip #5 For Getting Back Into Writing: Take It At Your Pace

Lastly, take it at your pace. There’s something to be said for sitting down and writing a little bit each day, even when you’re not feeling inspired. It builds a good habit. However, overwhelming yourself with huge word count goals or large time commitments right after a large project’s completion is setting yourself up for a struggle at best and failure at worst. Start small and build into your routine for the new book. No two books are the same, and you may find that the routine you had with the last book changes for the new one. Be flexible and learn to know when you’re overdoing it.

Conclusion

Everyone handles burnout differently. These are just a few tips I’ve found work well for me. Some may work better for you than others, and some may not work at all. That’s fine! The important part is finding what works for you so you can still get writing done if you need to without burning out. Have tips to add? Feel free to share them in the comments!

Thursday Technicalities: Philosophy in Writing

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Introduction

Recently, it struck me that one of the reasons I rarely find anything to challenge my mind in indie fantasy (and even in many traditional fantasy pieces) is that the authors do not often intentionally use worldview and philosophy in writing their books. They generally tell a good story, but it doesn’t challenge me to think or to consider a different perspective on anything in particular. While the occasional mindless read can be stress-relieving, turning one’s brain off isn’t the purpose of reading, in my opinion. I’d watch TV if I wanted that. So how can we ensure we’re including philosophy and worldview in our writing in a balanced way? We’re going to go over that here.

What Do I Mean by Philosophy and Worldview in Writing?

When I say philosophy or worldview in respect to writing, I mean the unique set of beliefs and the outlook on life you possess. These may come out subtly, but in fantasy, it’s easy to become so divorced from reality that we don’t concretely ground our work in the world around us and in our own unique take on that world. We then lose even the smaller ways that those views may come to light. But when we fail to give to our work the underpinnings of reality, philosophy, and worldview, things tend not to resonate as well with readers.

In the Interest of Honesty With Philosophy in Writing

When dealing with worldview or philosophy in writing–particularly in fantasy–we have to be careful to keep ourselves honest and transparent. This doesn’t mean that we hit the reader over the head with our point of view, but it does mean that we have nothing to hide and are not trying to use our words to in some way trick the reader into agreeing with us when they would not otherwise do so. We’re not propagandists; we are authors looking to tell a good story that also imparts some truth or viewpoint that might not otherwise be as well received outside of a story context. (Or even truths that are. There are many reasons to include even basic truths in our work, particularly if we’re writing books that are meant to teach good values to a younger audience.)

This transparency and honest might come in the form of an author’s note at the beginning if the purpose or inspiration directly relates to real world issues, your philosophy, and your worldview. But it could be more subtle in that the worldview may simply manifest in an easily seen theme or element that acts as an undercurrent to the entire story. There are many ways to handle this area, but the goal should be honesty and transparency. Present your viewpoint and let the reader decide what to accept or reject, whether your viewpoint or another you have also represented that may not agree with your own. It is particularly crucial we do this when writing for younger audiences who are highly impressionable and may not always be able to pick up on worldviews if they are not clearly presented. Whatever your audience, fantasy is still fantasy. We’re looking to tell a good story at the end of the day, and adding in worldview is part of that goal. We aren’t interested in sacrificing the story for the sake of creating a soapbox out of it to preach against whichever philosophies we dislike or for those we do like.

Avoiding Heavy-Handedness Using Philosophy and Worldview

One thing I know many authors I’ve spoken to struggle with is how to include philosophy and worldview without hitting the reader over the head or becoming preachy with it. There’s no one right way to handle this area in order to avoid the pitfalls. However, i have found a few that work well for me or that I have observed used to great effect by others.

Philosophy in Theme

This method is one that I frequently utilize. Each book I write has one or two concepts (occasionally more for longer works) that provide the underlying theme of the book.

For example, Trader Prince of Aleshtain’s theme is mostly living for what’s right in the face of persecution and the struggle to decide whether it’s right to leave a place bent on destroying you for doing the moral thing. Bane of Ashkarith focused on the theme of truth, its worht, and the ways that people can take objective truth and twist it or subvert it until it is considered a lie. In Darkness Lost focused on how we handle suffering. My short story for Glimpses focused on submission to show readers the strength that can be found in a person who chooses to submit to another’s authority while still retaining the capacity to think critically.

All of the themes have a great deal of variety, but each fits neatly with the story showcasing it. Theme is one of those pieces of a story that should develop naturally from the plot and your worldview intersecting. This, rather than weakening the story with poor attempts at philosophizing through the story, strengthens and deepens it because it is a natural result of story and worldview instead of being forced.

Philosophy in Allegory

Allegory is often considered a device used only in religious fiction. While this is often one of the largest uses for it, the technique can be used to convey any sort of idea or philosophy through story so long as one or more elements intentionally and clearly represent their real world equivalents. I haven’t employed this technique as often, though I suppose some might say my Eclesian Chronicles series has allegorical elements when you get into books two and three. But for a better example, you’ve got C.S Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia or something like Idi and the Oracle’s Quest by T.N. Traynor (see the review I did for that here.)

Philosophy in Individual Elements

And the last major way to achieve our goal is to include elements of the philosophy directly and intentionally where the story allows. If you’re making a social commentary, for example, on poverty and caste, you might weave both into the story to great effect by simply doing it directly. If you’re trying to illustrate the destructiveness of certain habits or beliefs, having characters and/or societies who have these beliefs or habits and discover their destructiveness can also be extremely effective. You get the idea. Every story, particularly in speculative fiction, varies in the degree to which you can employ this technique, so use discretion in how much you use it and where.

Conclusion

Worldview is a vital part of writing. We can’t escape it as readers or as writers, nor should we try. More and more, we see that today’s fantasy is particularly shallow in this area, but we don’t have to contribute to that trend. Let’s start utilizing worldview and encouraging our readers to engage mentally with our works even as they enjoy a good story.

Thursday Technicalities: Story Ideas

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Introduction

Today, we’re talking about story ideas, both before and during the writing process. After all, all the things we’ve been discussing about plot do us no good if we have no ideas or concepts to play with. Often, people I meet discuss the idea of writing a book but not the idea they will write about. One results in a pipe dream that never happens. The other gives the chance, at least, to see a dream become reality. Fellow writers and those aspiring to be writers alike have asked me how I come up with ideas so easily, hinting to me that–especially in the realm of fantasy–they don’t know all of the areas of inspiration open to them. So let’s talk about where ideas can come from and what to look at when you’re stuck.

Story Ideas in the Real World

One of the things I notice disappearing from fantasy as a genre these days is the grounding in reality. The great fantasy writers of old, and even today, certainly included many fantastical elements, but they also brought it back to Earth by including in those elements a glimpse of reality. They took real world problems into their fiction, whether it was through the ideas of the day or a specific event they wished to focus on. For example, Tolkien’s inspiration for the final scene in the Shire has been said to be the destruction of the countryside he loved so well in the real world. He drew that into his story, and it leaves something that can resonate with fellow lovers of nature and idyllic beauty seen in the countryside. We can do the same in finding story ideas.

All of us have experiences and see the events around us in our world. Why waste those two things? They make the books you write, however fictional, seem even more real to the reader when you artfully weave reality with your fictional world. This is what an author does. They tell truths in the form of artfully woven lies. The truths are the themes behind the tale, and the story itself is the lie since it isn’t reality.

Experiences

This is, in a way, a subset of the real world, but we all have experiences that have taught us things about life. We can use those experiences which are unique to us to find story ideas that can inspire or touch others. My book, In Darkness Lost, is entirely founded on that premise. It is fantasy, but it is inspired entirely by an experience that occurred in my life when I was around eleven or twelve. You would be surprised how many people are more connected to a book that has its roots in a personal experience of the author.

In Darkness Lost received the most notes from readers who were touched by it and wanted to tell me it had encouraged them. Readers have said my other works are eye-openingly realistic at times. However, they have not left notes saying that it was an encouragement. Why? Because the encouragement to the reader came from hearing a story rooted in personal difficulties. They then read about the real story behind the book in the author’s note and felt encouraged. They felt that encouragement, many times, because someone else understood their pain.

Story Ideas from History

The third place of inspiration is history. You may have heard the saying that reality is often stranger than fiction. Well, it’s true. Even if your book isn’t about history, you can find many strange tales in history to draw ideas from. In the process, you give your story grounding in the real world even if the tale itself is fantasy. It brings that sense of humanity to the story that otherwise might not have been present.

As an added bonus, this has the effect of expanding your mind and your knowledge. Two birds with one stone, right? You get story ideas and a chance to learn interesting things you hadn’t heard before.

Story Ideas from Other Books

This is the final place I frequently find inspiration. You have to be careful here because you don’t want to plagiarize, obviously. However, other books can be great places to draw inspiration, ideas, and learning. I’ve found some of my greatest inspirations for books in reading someone else’s handling of a topic then having an idea spark on the topic from another angle. You can do this as well.

This one, like history, has an added bonus. You get to see the trends going on in your genre and in the world of writing in general. For authors, this is indispensable. Knowing what the competition is doing so that you can stand out in a manner appealing to your target audience is essential. So while you’re drawing inspiration for your own work, you can also use it for research purposes.

Conclusion

There are so many avenues of inspiration available to us if we will learn to stop, observe, and remember. Wherever you choose to find inspiration, there is little reason to be bankrupt of ideas when you’re actively taking the time to observe, live, and learn. Even fantasy writers can use these sources of inspiration to give them the characters or a plot for their next novel. We just have to learn how to utilize it. Once we do that, we often end up with more ideas than we know what to do with!

Thursday Technicalities: Plot Complexity

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Introduction

Today we move away from our discussions on character to discussing plot. A good plot is one that is both character driven and intricate, but many new authors (and even some who have been at it for a while) struggle in this area. Often, writers are unsure how to deepen plot, make it interesting, and keep it from becoming predictable. Today, our discussion will focus on the idea of intricacy and complexity in plot, but in future weeks, we will also discuss how writers can make plot less predictable, up the stakes, increase tension, and make things matter more in relation to the characters. We will also discuss sub plots and how you can properly use them to add dimension to the book and to keep life in every page. Let’s get started on today’s discussion, shall we?

The Importance of Complexity and Intricacy in Plot

While characters are the lifeblood of a good story, plot is the foundation. If you don’t have an interesting plot, the story will still end up collapsing or falling short. You need both elements to make the story go well. It is true that you can have a somewhat generic plot (as is often the case in many romance novels) and manage to make the book somewhat memorable if only because the characters are memorable. However, if you want a truly exceptional novel, the plot needs to be just as exceptional as the characters.

This makes complexity and intricacy in a plot integral parts of any story that an author wants to polish until it shines. I don’t mean that it has to be the level of complex or intricate you see in many murder mysteries or thrillers, though it could certainly become that complex depending on your genre. What I mean is that there should be many layers to the plot. It should not be simplistic, nor should the layers clash in such a way that there is no subtlety to them at all. Crafting fiction is an art, and it must be done with balance and artistry to be done beautifully.

There is a great deal of variety in how this goal might be accomplished when it comes to writing. You’ve probably heard that there’s no one way to do things as a writer. This is very true in most areas, with the exception, in some instances, of grammar-related issues. But there are just as many wrong ways (or ways that do not work) to do things. Therefore, our goal is to know some of the key tools that will help us to do the right things so that we can succeed.

Giving Plot Complexity and Intricacy

One of the first, and simplest, ways to add complexity to plot is to ensure that nothing is too easy for your hero. Make sure that your protagonist can’t get what they want easily. This could mean they have an internal conflict that’s preventing them from having one thing if they go after the second thing they want equally, or it could mean that some external force gets in the way. But what other options are there for adding much-needed complexity besides this first, obvious one?

Obstacle Difficulty Mounts

The obstacles that show up in their way should be increasingly difficult to surmount. What do I mean by this? Well, take Trader Prince of Aleshtain for example. In my current work-in-progress, the goal of both main characters is ultimately freedom. But one thing after another stands in the way. For Rhubhian, the female lead, she has the entire Aleshtainian system, which has enslaved her in the way. Then she has Eras, the male protagonist, and her own feelings in the way of what she perceives as freedom. Even once she has a chance to live free, she isn’t able to live with the brand of freedom she’s won back for herself because she has lost the other thing–love–that she now realizes she wanted more than her “freedom”.

For Eras, he finds that duty, his father, the priesthood in his kingdom, and financial straits keep him from gaining his freedom. Then, in a desperate bid for freedom, he signs a contract with his father–the king–that takes an incredibly risky gamble with his future while allowing him at least the chance to win it. But even here he meets obstacles as the pieces he was relying on to allow him his victory prove to be against him instead. The two of them face problem after problem, some due to intentional intervention from outside forces and enemies and some due to simple misfortune and life getting in the way.

But that’s what keeps the story moving. The goal is always just out of reach or, at their worst moments, seems impossible to achieve. In a very real way, failure is always on the table for these two, and while it may or may not be how things end for these characters, it should always be something you consider an option.

Multiple Plot Lines

Another way you can add complexity is with the introduction of several plot lines. Each main character has their own thread to follow in the tapestry that is your story. Sometimes those threads will tangle with other threads along the way, and at times, a character may even have multiple threads at once as they pursue multiple goals. But either way, however many threads you have, if you are able to successfully bring them all together, you can create a plot that is complex and seemingly genius or effortless to any who don’t see the hard work that went into it.

Subplots

Finally, you can introduce subplots. We’ll discuss these in more detail later on, but essentially these are the other threads in the story that run beneath the overarching story goal or plot. So, in the case of my earlier example, freedom for the two main characters is the overarching story goal, but the attempt to keep Rhubhian safe from others in the castle would be a sub plot for Eras. It adds complexity, but it is only an underlying thread in the larger tapestry and the goals both are ultimately striving to achieve. The goal is not to keep Rhubhian safe and a slave for the rest of her life. The goal is her freedom. Keeping her safe is just a necessary journey or sub-goal along the way.

Weaving It All Together

In the end, the best method to add complexity and intricacy to a plot is to have several threads all running throughout the story. Some may be immediately obvious in their connections while others may be less so, but in the end, you have to bring them all together.

One example of this is Pathway of the Moon, a piece I wrote about a year ago and am in the process of editing. In this story, the book has two distinct storylines for much of the book: that of the assassin-vigilante, Leo Ryalin, and that of High Imperial Knight, Alrian Haridan. These two interact under various aliases throughout the course of the book without ever realizing who the other is until, finally, circumstances, an investigation into the assassin on Haridan’s part, and the connecting link–a maid Ryalin rescued–end up bringing Haridan to an Aha kind of moment.

Examples

But the two have entirely separate story lines for much of it and only hear about the other’s story line when they happen to hear rumors or are directly investigating, in the case of Haridan. The clues pile up, and while the reader knows that Ryalin is the assassin, they begin to realize there’s far more to him than just that as Haridan’s investigation uncovers threads of his ties to other happenings in the kingdom, which were seemingly unrelated.

Another example, which is far more masterful at tying things together than my own work is, would be Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archives. If ever you want to see a master of plot and character in action, you should read Sanderson. As an author and editor, I can imagine (and in some cases know all too well) how much work goes into making the kind of sweeping plot lines, intricate connections, and unexpected twists Sanderson utilizes work properly. If this is an area you’re trying to improve, read this series. I say that as someone who learned most of what she knows about plot intricacy and characterization from simply reading and observing this master in action via his own work.

The Concept in Action

Practically speaking, this is an exercise in imagination, logic, and creativity. You can find some initial connections quite easily by considering your characters, your major plot lines, and your locations. Donald Maas, in his Writing the Breakout Novel, suggests that you write them down and start pairing a character with one item each off the other lists. Some connections aren’t going to make any sense, but often you’ll find ones that do that you never anticipated would work. Write those ones down to keep. Make notes on them. Use them. It will make the novel better and far more complex if you can find a way to weave all of the key connections you’ve made together.

Conclusion

Good plot, like good character, is something you must develop. It takes time and planning. Some books may require much more formal planning than others, but all will require some degree of planning or else a great deal of revision if you want your plot to shine like it can. While the effort may to some seem an unworthy use of time, I can promise you that this is an area you don’t want to skip. It’s an area that Donald Maas focuses on heavily in his book because, as a literary agent, he rejected thousands of manuscripts due to issues with plot. It pays to pay attention to and to develop soundly the plot for any book you’re endeavoring to write. Don’t ignore this crucial piece of crafting a novel.

Thursday Technicalities: Marketing #2

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Introduction

On to the next topic in this set of marketing discussions. Social media. Most of us have it, though I know there are some who really can’t stand it and would rather avoid it. But, if you’re a business, you can’t afford to ignore social media since that’s where most of your potential customers and clients congregate. However, figuring out how to appropriately utilize social media for your business as an author can get confusing. We see how all the bloggers with other types of businesses utilize it for marketing their business, and we think: I can’t do that because it doesn’t fit my business.

And, you’d probably be right. As an author and a freelance editor, I’ve used multiple social media platforms and gone to a lot of different master classes via webinars or in person to learn more about marketing and social media. Problem is, a lot of the action steps given are hard to apply to authors. So, I’m going to share with you my perspective on it and what I’ve found seems to work for me.

What Types of Social Media Work Best?

If you’re like me, you’d rather not worry about every social media platform on the planet. Instead, you’d prefer to figure out what works and scrap whatever doesn’t. After all, unless you’re paying someone to do it for you, how much time do you realistically have to manage this? If you don’t do anything besides writing for your day job and you don’t have kids, maybe you have the time to learn and figure it out on your own while managing five different social media accounts. It takes time away from writing, but if you have time to spare, fine.

But most of us don’t have that kind of time. I work a 8-5 job, and while I may have lapses where I have nothing to do and can, therefore, check my social media or work on handwriting my next blog post, I don’t have a bunch of free time during the day. So, I come home, already tired, and I only have so much time to write and manage my social media pages before I need to make sure I go to bed so I’m not too tired to do it all over again the next day. Sound familiar? Throw in needing some time to go read a book for a review or just get away from work, and I don’t have the time to manage things that don’t work.

So, what does work? For me, I’ve found that I have the most success with Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. I rarely touch Instagram, though other authors have told me it works well, and I’ve not gone anywhere near SnapChat because I don’t have time for more platforms.

What Kind of Marketing Works Best with Each?

I find that Twitter works best for letting friends, fans, and prospective readers know what I’m up to throughout the day or for posting content I think will be helpful. I’ve had more success, on the whole, with finding ARC readers on Twitter and getting people to engage with me than I have on Facebook. People generally seem more engaged on Facebook, and I don’t have to go to random groups that will allow me to post my book link in order to hopefully gain some new readers. Lots of Twitter users will actually post things like #ShamelessSelfPromotionSaturday or #SupportIndieAuthors to ask for book links and new reads.

While you might not get any new readers from it, if you share it with your following and others are doing the same, there’s a better chance of your work being seen by someone than there is posting it in a group on Facebook where it’s going to be buried under thirty other similar posts within the next twenty-four hours (more if you’re unlucky).

What Facebook has on Twitter is the room to have a group to engage with your fans through playing games, doing author takeovers where other authors and yourself have scheduled time slots to post about your books and yourself as an author, sharing what you’re up to, and taking questions for Q&A type stuff. They make it far easier to do events where authors team up to bring readers new books, content, and even giveaways. Twitter isn’t set up for that because they impose a strict character limit on the tweets sent out and don’t have any way to easily organize everyone.

The Odd One In The Bunch

As for Pinterest? Well, Pinterest is the unique one out of the bunch. It isn’t technically social media, though you can use it similarly. Instead, Pinterest is a search engine. I like it most out of the three I use because it requires the least amount of activity. I can Pin one or two blog posts or writing prompts of my own and drive traffic to my blog, generate interest in my services, or guide people toward my books or others’ books that they might enjoy reading. But I don’t have to constantly post, try to run ads, or bother people asking them to share the content around.

It’s also nice that once you start to gain traction, Pinterest works with you. If your Pin is doing well in the related categories for search results, then they’ll put it higher up in the search so more people will see it. They don’t bury it, and those following the board or you will be notified of the newest Pin you created. Unlike Facebook, they’re not going to pick and choose whether or not to show it to the people who already said they were interested, and that alone makes it better.

If you’re looking for an easy platform to help drive traffic to your blog and to your products by extension, Pinterest is the way to go. Facebook and Twitter are far more time-costly than Pinterest to manage, and I’ve seen way less traffic to my blog from either as opposed to Pinterest. It’s worth learning the new platform. If you haven’t used it before, I’ve got some tips and will walk you through it in this post.

What Kinds of Marketing Content Work?

Obviously, this will be a little different for everyone depending on what sort of book you have and who you’re trying to reach. The starting point for everyone, however, is to know your audience. There are few directions you can go with social media to really build your brand: informative/expert in industry, humorous/light-hearted, a combination.

For Example… My Approach:

I’m not generally a very funny or light-hearted person. Unless sarcasm counts as funny… But most people would argue that poking fun at others isn’t the best way to build your brand unless satire is your brand. It’s not mine, so I went with informative/expert in industry. You can tell I have pretty easily because my blog and a lot of what I post on social media that isn’t related to my own books has to do with writing and editing. The content is geared toward educating and establishing the fact that I do know a thing or two about editing, writing, and publishing.

This was a choice I made before I even began the blog because I knew I wanted to appeal to both writers and readers of speculative fiction and, specifically, fantasy. As a freelance editor and an author, it can be hard to find an approach that will gain me new clients as well as new readers. This was my approach. It lets people know up front that if they come to me for editing or for advice of any sort on writing, I’m going to have an answer or I’ll find one that’s based on research and fact. Having this approach also has the added bonus of gaining me opportunities to guest post for things unrelated to my published books specifically. My article on Burning Embers Publications regarding editing and the other one regarding Pinterest are two good examples of that.

What Difference Does That Make?

To put it succinctly, a huge difference. My choice of approach affects the kind of marketing content I use. Granted, if I’m marketing my books, I’m probably going to market them about the same way anyone does (or wants to): with strong copy and information on how to get the book. But if I’m trying to market myself as an author, which is really what you’re doing whether you’re actively trying to sell a book or not, then my choice of direction changes what I’ll post about.

Sure, I post stuff that I just find amusing or interesting. But usually, those are shares or retweets of other people’s stuff, not my own marketing content. I strive to make my content reflect my goal: providing expertise on the industry and helping others to learn from what I know. Your content should do the same.

But Really… What Types of Marketing Content do I post?

For authors, it’s all about readers liking your writing and, ideally, liking you. It’s not just about them buying the book. It’s about whether or not they want to support the message you’re sharing. If they don’t buy into the message you’re trying to share, they’re not going to be very eager to share the work with others. But if they really like the book or series and your style and message, they’re going to be much more happy to tell all of their friends about you.

We all want to support businesses and brands that align with what we care about and the values we feel are important. If the content we’re reading, whether it’s on social media or in the book itself, doesn’t align with what we believe in and the core values we hold to, we’re not going to pass it along to others. Why would we? As a business, it’s our job to know what our message is and how the audience we’re targeting will perceive it. Then, we have to take that information and find a way to package it so that it’s interesting, palatable, and engaging for our target audience.

It’s like I said at the beginning. I can’t tell you exactly what kind of content will work for you because every individual brand and author will be different. But I can tell you that if you know your goals and the approach you want to take, you’ll be able to discern what content will fit that and post only what does. It’s not easy, but it is pretty simple.

Final Notes

Navigating social media is difficult. It poses all kinds of nuances, potential trip ups, and points of stress. Some people find it easier than others, but at the end of the day, none of us can avoid it if we want to utilize all the marketing tools available to us. If you know the angle you want to take and have goals to accomplish, it’ll make your journey easier.

In the end, my best advice regarding social media and marketing is this: be professional. That’s the number one thing you can do for your brand, no matter what direction you take. No matter what you’re posting, be professional. Act in a manner that is courteous, treat people with respect even if they’re not giving you that same courtesy, and make it about your reader and your audience, not you. It’s fine to talk about yourself and let them know you need help, but make sure that more of your content is focused on what they’re wanting and needing than it is on what you want and need from them.

This will go further than just about anything else in any area of your life. Treating others in a manner that’s kind and professional puts out a lot of fires. I’ve watched what happens when someone’s upset and the business or individual treated them with disrespect, condescension, and lack of compassion. It’s not pretty, and it doesn’t achieve anything except giving your business a bad reputation. It isn’t worth it. If you need to, scream about it away from the computer, phone, or person. But don’t let your frustration or anger out on them. Be polite and kind to a fault even if they’re not.

Conclusion

Professionalism and courtesy should be obvious parts of your marketing and branding strategy, but I’ve seen so, so many people screw this up, and it can make the difference between failure and success. Don’t let it be the reason you fail in your marketing and business goals! Use the tips I gave for platforms and content, and then add professionalism to it. You’re going to get much better responses from people that way, I guarantee. Best of luck to you in your marketing endeavors! Next week, we’ll talk some about your blurb, Amazon sales pages, and attracting readers.

Thursday Technicalities – Weaving WorldBuilding Into the Story – Final Thoughts

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In the end, no post or set of posts can possibly cover every detail of world-building and weaving it into your story. Your story will have some elements and not others, and your style will utilize some techniques but not others. This means that, if you really want to grow in this area, you’re going to have to read. Read authors who do this work really well. Find out which authors in your area of speculative fiction (or any fiction) are the best at bringing their world to life, then read those authors. Pay attention to how they do it. Mark up your copy of the book (yeah, I know… Write on a book? Are you insane? Maybe, but taking notes in pencil or underlining the sentences that really bring out some aspect of writing you’re trying to learn will help you recognize what works and what doesn’t. If you can’t bring yourself to write on a book, which I rarely can, then jot notes in a notebook and make sure to keep them labeled.). Whatever you do, don’t spend thousands of dollars on courses on how to do it. You don’t need to! You’ll learn best by example and by seeing it done.

To that end, who do I recommend for this endeavor? First, I do recommend reading through Holly Lisle’s ebook course on world-building. It’s the only course I’m going to recommend, but I highly recommend this just because she’ll teach you so much. You’ll go through tons of exercises, and it’s a great way to learn how to do the world-building quickly while also weaving it into your work. Besides Lisle’s course, I recommend reading Tolkien, Brandon Sanderson, Orson Scott Card, Cinda Williams Chima, Ursula K Le Guin, and Terry Brooks. These authors in varying ways and to differing degrees are phenomenal world builders. Tolkien, Sanderson, and Brooks are my top three authors for this area in fantasy. I’ve learned most from Sanderson’s work, but I learned my share of things from Tolkien and Brooks too. I really can’t recommend these guys highly enough.

All of them know how to bring their worlds to life using many or all of the techniques I’ve mentioned plus some. You’re going to learn what really good world-building within a story looks like if you take the time to really dig into and pull apart these authors’ works. Most of them have paperbacks available for a lot of their books in addition to ebooks, so this is a much more affordable way to learn than taking who knows how many courses. Plus, if you’re like me, you have a tendency to start a course and then forget you were doing it in the busyness of life. Sure, you plan to go back to it, but you somehow never do, and so that’s money somewhat wasted. A book though? I might be slow in reading it, but I usually finish the books I start. It’s not too common that I don’t. So I’ll learn more in a less expensive way if I just try to learn from what great authors did well.

Thursday Technicalities: Weaving World-Building Into Your Story – Through Your Character’s Eyes

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Introduction

This week, we’re going to talk about weaving world-building into the story through your character’s eyes. There are multiple ways to go about weaving your world into the story, but one of the best ways is through your character. So let’s talk about how.

dISCOVERIES

The first way you can go about weaving your world into the story is to allow your readers to discovery it alongside your characters. When you have characters who haven’t experienced the world before, it’s a lot more acceptable to show more of the world in a way that’s overt instead of hidden in the lines between the action. Characters’ confusion over things in their world suddenly make sense because they don’t know anything about what’s around them to begin with.

Interactions

What if you don’t have a character who’s new to the world just like the reader is? You can still world-build and weave that building into the story. One great method for this is to develop the reader’s understanding of the world via interactions between your world and your character.

This method strongly goes back to the idea that your world is its own character with its own personality. No one person or world will interact the same way with each other. This method requires you to know a few things. You need to know your character, know your world, and know how your character views the world. These three determine how your character and your world will interact together.

Interactions can happen a lot of ways. It can happen through the character’s meeting with various creatures in the world. Or, maybe your character is a healer and spends much of their time gathering plants and supplies from nature. They might be an adventurer who has to brave the elements and the difficulties of terrain to reach their goal. Really, the possibilities are endless and allow you plenty of room to show the world to your reader. But the key with this method is that you should treat it the same way you treat an interaction between two characters. You won’t info dump on the reader because an interaction between two characters only reveals bits and pieces of both individuals, not everything. Instead, you’ll reveal only what is relevant to the interaction/scene and the story as a whole. Reveal what needs to be revealed then and no more.

The one difference between this method and an interaction between characters is that you may reveal things about the world that aren’t necessarily serving a specific purpose to the plot. At times, you may choose to reveal things about the world in interactions simply to make the world itself feel richer and more alive or even to reveal something about the person interacting with the world.

Happenings

The final main method for weaving world-building in has more to do with sentence-level inclusions and events. These may not be interactions with your main characters specifically, but they typically affect the character in some way or another. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be seeing it as the readers since you can’t show us what your viewpoint characters don’t see unless you’re using omniscient POV.

With this method, your world-building will be less obvious. It might be a common phrase that’s used by the inhabitants of the world or a common creature that is seen all over the place. It might be some sort of distant report of a creature terrorizing villages on the outskirts of a kingdom. Maybe it’s a brief mention of terrain in an area a character is occupying. One way or another, this world-building method usually doesn’t involve intrusive or overt mentions of the world. This is more subtle and is like the spice added to a dish. It makes everything read better, but your reader won’t notice the individual additions: only the whole of the writing’s flavor.

Conclusion

This type of world-building is more complex than what we often think of as world-building, but it’s also vastly more effective than what we usually see in most writing these days. It takes practice and instinct to do this well, but the instincts surrounding what type of weaving to use and how can be developed the more you write using the methods I’ve given here and in the previous post on this topic.

Thursday Technicalities: World Building Tools – Weaving Together Plot and World

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Introduction

This seemed like a fitting place to begin a new series on Thursday Technicalities since we talk about world building tools on Saturday Setups and since I was just discussing where I learned most of what I know in my newsletter this week. So, yes, we’re going to talk about more world building tools, but this time, we’re going to start examining ways to really weave world building into your story and how you can bring your world to life.

A lot goes into world building writing. There’s lots of room for failure, but it’s not always so easy to succeed at this. Sure, there are lots of ways to weave world building into the story, lots of ways to show your reader this world you’ve built, and lots of ways to world build and many more tips for world building. But more often than not, those methods aren’t used by authors. Worlds either end up flat because the author decided they wanted to flavor their romance/adventure/thriller/etc with fantasy instead of flavoring their fantasy with those other things, or they end up flat because the author didn’t weave the world into the story well and ended up info-dumping, which drives readers nuts. Neither way is a pretty way to die. So, let’s start into how you can avoid this.

Beginnings

For world building to truly work well, you have to understand that what you choose to do outside the story will probably be way more than what you’ll ever show in the story if you take the conventional approach. Now, it doesn’t have to be that way, but usually it is, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But while a series might have room for you to show your reader a picture of your whole world and all the cool things you put into it, a single book will not. This means that when you’re actually considering your world building in light of your novel, you need to do so with the very beginning of the book: when you start working on that kernel of an idea known as your plot.

There are really two, maybe three, ways this happens.

First, you may have a plot but not necessarily the world. In this case, you’re able to start building the world and the plot together. If you’re taking this approach, you can use an approach that Holly Lisle’s world-building course calls SANE world building. You build what you need when you need it and no more (unless you’re just doing it for fun). This approach is good if you’re the sort of person who feels like you can’t start writing until you have every detail of the world nailed down. You’ll never get anywhere doing that, so approaching world building writing as a part of building your plot can help you to tie the two together without going insane or never writing a single word of the story on paper.

Second, you may have the idea for a world, but not a story. This can happen to those of us who love world building writing because we conceive an idea for some sort of power system, magic system, or other world-based structure, but we don’t necessarily have the characters and the stories that are going to populate it. However, in this instance, the world building itself often gives rise to the story. When I was doing my undergrad in accounting, a friend and I came up with a story idea and were co-writing. However, she was taking a long time to do anything on her end, and I was bored, so I started doing world building writing for a bunch of random things and history-related stuff for the world. (Yeah, I know. Nerdy. But I was in accounting, and that was really, really boring.) Long story short, as I was developing the history, I ended up with the idea for Rith’s Disciple, which led to a vague desire to fill out the history following it. When I joined Wattpad’s ONC contest, that desire combined with a really good prompt resulted in Bane of Ashkarith.

Finally, though perhaps not always as common, sometimes you have the idea for a world and a story idea, which leads to further stories. This happened with Bane of Ashkarith. I already had the world established, as I mentioned above, but the history I’d developed for the world gave rise to Bane of Ashkarith and the rest of the series that I’m working on. All of the stories are literally just histories of the famous people from the world’s past. Readers wouldn’t necessarily pick up on that right away unless they knew me and had read about the background behind the series, but because of the combination of the idea for a world and a story together, I ended up with an entire series. Nice when that happens, right?

Expanding our Understanding

I think the other important world building tip for world building enthusiasts (and those who hate it too) to realize is this: world building is more than creating languages, building races, and making up fantastical creatures or cool tech. It’s way more.

Have you ever thought about how strange it would be to us if metal striking stone made a hissing sound instead of a clink? Or what if, when you stepped on grass in the summer, it crunched like gravel but stepping on gravel was soundless? What if the sky was purple, not blue?

When you’re creating a world, building it includes little details. These details can be split into three areas, really. Set, objects that act as props for the set, and mechanisms/methods by which things work.

tHREE aREAS OF pLOT-oRIENTED wORLD-bUILDING

Set is pretty straightforward. Having a sky that’s purple instead of blue is a set item. It sets your world apart from others. Lots of things could be part of the set. Anything from the color of the sky to the way water looks lapping on the sand to the sand itself could be a part of set. To clarify, set is different from your prop objects in that props are things people bring onto the stage. They’re objects like pens, candles, food on a table, or the table itself. Your set is anything that occurs there naturally like trees, bushes, deer paths, bodies of water, and so on.

Your props and objects are just as varied as set. But they’re also a part of world building writing, something Holly Lisle points out in her course on the topic. People don’t often think that props are as important to the stage you’re building for the story as the story or the big flashy fantasy creatures being installed, but they are. The objects around us say a lot about who we are and why we are the way we are. They are our insight into those around us and even into the world. What is there can sometimes be as important as what’s not. If everyone uses candles and not flashlights, that tells you something about the world. If stone doesn’t exist much of anywhere, but people build everything with wood, it says a lot about the set without you ever having to come out and say anything. Objects can also help us to understand the more immaterial mechanisms and rules in place surrounding the world. Those rules have to act upon an object, person, or part of the set. So we can often see them in action and learn those rules of order by observing what they act upon. This can help us to avoid info-dumping or becoming too obtrusive with our world.

Objects carry a lot of weight in the world, though. In a story, if you show us an object, particularly if you show it to us independent of any human interaction, we’ll assume it’s important. Now, maybe you put it there intentionally to tell us what kind of person occupies the space it’s in. Or, maybe it plays some larger role in the story as a whole. Only you know that and can decide. But, the fact remains that if you put it there, it needs to serve a purpose. If it doesn’t serve one, don’t put it in. That’s what leads to overwriting, purple prose, and bored or confused readers. None of those are good, so just don’t do it.

Mechanisms and rules are far less obvious than the first two, but no less important. Mechanisms and rules are what tell us that on Earth, when you drop a coin on a concrete surface, it clinks or gives off a ringing noise. It doesn’t purr because that would be breaking the rules. Mechanisms tell us that healthy grass should bend under our feet and spring back when we step on it in the summer time. It isn’t going to turn into a bunch of deadly spikes and stab the bottoms of our shoes or our feet. If we didn’t have mechanisms and rules to keep things organized and somewhat predictable, then everything would devolve into chaos. Your world is no different in this regard.

The main method for showing mechanisms and rules, however, is different than it was for the first two categories of practical, plot-oriented world-building. For mechanisms and rules, you generally end up showing them when they’re in use on objects, interacting with the set, or affecting a character. They’re seen subtly, but even though most readers don’t immediately pick up on it all the time, they’ll expect it to be a trend unless you’ve made it clear what just happened was really weird.

For example, in the first chapter of Pathway of the Moon, I show my main character, Leo, scaling a wall using shadows to stick himself to the wall. He proceeds to do the same on the way back out of the castle after a successful execution of his target. This sets a precedent or a rule for his magic. Shadows allow those who can use them to stick themselves to different surfaces. I didn’t represent it as an odd thing or something that other shadow users couldn’t utilize, so the reader will anticipate that it’s normal for the world and the character, and if I use it again, they won’t find it odd. These kinds of encounters help to flesh out and build the world for the readers without them even noticing or realizing that you have.

Conclusion

In upcoming posts, I’ll go into some more specific writing tips for slipping world building into your story and talk about the techniques. The point of this post was simply to help you to understand some basics on how you can begin weaving the two together. It is by no means an exhaustive thesis on the subject. I hope that it’s been useful to you, and I hope you’ll stick with me as we explore some of the various ways myself and other authors utilize to develop worlds that readers can delve into and enjoy in their own rights because of their individuality and fresh perspectives.

Saturday Setup – Creatures: The Usual Suspects

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Introduction

This week, we’re moving from language creation to talking about fantasy creatures. Today, we’re just going to go over some of the typical fantasy creatures and what you ought to be considering for them. Mainly, this week’s post is going to be focusing on bigger creatures like dragons and sea monsters. It won’t be a long post, but I’ll discuss some things I think people overlook a lot when they populate their world with these monolithic creatures.

Problems Presented by Large Creatures

First off, most fantasy novels featuring dragons, giants, sea monsters, and their ilk never take the time to consider some very important factors. Given the size of these creatures, we’ve got a few issues: living space, temperament, and food.

With living space, you’ve got some leeway because if your world is vast and has lots of forests, mountains, and ocean that isn’t being ruined by mankind, then these larger creatures will be fine in this arena. But, it is something to think about. A dragon is by no means a small beast, and it’s going to need lots of room to fly, hunt, and live.

On the temperament side of things, you also have leeway. For creatures similar to humanity in their varied temperaments, such as giants, trolls, or other similar creatures, you may not need a particular environment to satisfy them temperamentally. But if your dragons prefer their privacy and really don’t like humans, you’re going to have a problem if they live near or on human territory. On the flip side, if dragons just adore humans and can’t stand trolls or giants, they might not be so happy living in the mountains or forests away from humans. These sorts of considerations have to be made.

Finally, food! This is the biggest one that nearly every fantasy novel with these creatures ignores. They have to eat something. They’re not going to survive on air, not with those big frames. So what are they going to eat? If they can’t get enough food from hunting big game, then they’re going to spend all their time hunting. A few measly deer from the woods or even a nice cow or two from the local village won’t sustain these creatures. They’re simply too large biologically for this to work, so you’ll have to find a way this can work if you want these guys in your world. Without that, it just isn’t going to make much sense. Granted, readers have been taught to just accept their existence, so you may get away with it on some level, but laziness doesn’t pay, and some subset of avid fantasy readers will notice.

Considerations

Now that you understand the problems, you should be able to figure out where to start for considerations. Take those three main problem areas and start asking yourself how you’ll solve them. Start thinking about what kind of personality your different large creatures have. It’s important that you don’t just throw generic fantasy creatures into your world to give it the flavor of fantasy. Doing that will end with your world feeling flat and unmemorable. So have fun with it. What makes your fantasy creatures unique, and how does that play into considering their needs in the environment around them?

Conclusion

That’s it for this week, everyone! I did promise it would be short. Next time, we’re going to talk a little bit about creating your own creatures. This can be a ton of fun, so I hope you’ll join me for it. See you there!