I promoted myself before I even built up any content to promote. I was working on growing my audience before you had anything to read. Things were going a bit backwards.
I was proud of myself for keeping up on this blog and updating it regularly. I felt great until I read one or two articles that pointed out how social media and blogs are a big distraction for modern aspiring writers. They pinned me like a tail on a donkey.
So I stopped. I think this is only my second post this month. I got on track with my book, and it is nearly complete. The final edit is underway and the novel will be finished soon.
I’m working on my marketing and release plan. Frostarc will most likely be broken down into three novellas. Right now the plan is to release them one at a time, each next one a few weeks apart from the previous, culminating with the release of the entire novel in one piece.
This blog will be back in action soon. I promise you.
But first and foremost I must work on my writing. On my book. When I have something to give you I will be back in full force to let you know.
Thank you for being patient with me.
This novel has been years in the making, and I don’t want to ruin it by rushing it out now that it is so close to being finished.
I went on a bit of a vacation last week and got a chance to read some of the free downloads I “purchased” for my Kindle. I sat down and powered through a couple of rough reads, started and then soon trashed a couple more, and thoroughly enjoyed one. As a writer, I would say I gained more from the bad books than I did from the good.
First, I just want to give nods to Peace Warrior by Steven L. Hawk. It was the only good book of the bunch. There were only a couple of typos and the dialogue got a bit cheesy at times, but I found it to be an entertaining read with believable characters and a fun story line. It’s still a free download on Amazon and I highly recommend you pick it up if you’re into scifi and action.
I always thought I had to read good books, great books, to become a better writer, but reading some of the bad surprised me in a good way.
It is pretty much impossible to read your own work objectively. You know the world, the characters, and so when there is a hole in your writing your eyes will glance right over it because your brain can fill in the rest. But no other reader will be able to do that with your work. Missing information or plot is just that.
What these bad books gave to me was the opportunity to see the mistakes in my works through the writings of another. I’m just starting out, and so are most of the independent authors out there. I saw the grammatical mistakes, the repeating sentence structure, the thesaurus-abused descriptions, the lack of relationships between characters, the cliche dialogue, the flat protagonist, the walls of text that made my head hurt…I saw it all as it appeared in my own work-in-progress novel.
It was an amazing revelation. I was all like “That’s terrible! But I did that too!” and “He should have fixed that because it doesn’t work, and I should as well!” The exclamations are necessary because I was genuinely excited as I discovered all of this. The advice and criticism I received on my work only sunk in so deep, but I understand now after having seen it in other places.
I encourage all writers out there to read something crappy. It has helped me immensely. You would think that realizing all the mistakes in my own work would be depressing, but it’s quite the opposite. I have a new found drive to plow through my book again and fix all the bad parts I can now see bright as day.
That’s not to say reading the good stuff is unimportant. It helps teach how to be a good writer. I’m currently reading Zane Grey’s The Last Trail and damn I wish I could describe scenery and build relationships as well as him, but he is teaching me how to do it.
Bottom line: Read everything. The good will teach you skills, the bad will highlight your own mistakes.
I feel as if I’ve taken another step towards enlightenment.
Write Good or Die is a self-proclaimed guide for 21st century writers. Editor Scott Nicholson has compiled a series of articles written by a variety of best-selling authors and other contributors, all focusing their attention on the craft and business of writing. It is currently listed as a free download on Amazon.
I have read books and blog posts written by many of the contributors to this collection. Notable names like J.A. Konrath, Jonathan Maberry, and Heather Graham offer some of their most prolific wisdom in these pages. The guide was inspiring, full of motivation and great advice, but in some areas it was lacking.
I found myself appreciating the advice to new writers, to the beginners in the field. Maybe this is where I am in my career, so the articles focusing on motivation and determination were the most profound. One piece of advice that stuck with me was written by Heather Graham when she said, “Settle in your mind what you want, what your goal is with your writing, and then take steps to reach that goal.” Simple advice that should be so incredibly obvious that newbies like me should smack themselves in the face for not realizing it sooner.
Mur Lafferty wrote the most inspiring article in the book, summing it up with, “The day you accept that your writing is allowed to suck is the first day of being a writer–the day you set yourself free.”
This is where I am. This is the stuff I need.
There are wonderful tips and tricks on how to approach a career in writing, but some of the articles conflict with one another on their advice. In one post Heather Graham pleads that an author write what he or she enjoys. Some of the contributors say to avoid writing for the market like it’s a nasty plague, but others say the only way to success is to dumb down your work for the masses. The conflicting advice was frustrating, but I suppose no one person has all the right answers. Each writer will have their own path to take.
The one area Write Good or Die was lacking in was the electronic publishing (self-publishing) revolution. A couple of articles dabbled in the topic, but there was no true advice for me to sink my teeth into. There was praise for the new technology and author freedom, but no depth to those remarks.
The collection was released in 2010. The e-publishing market is still a chaotic wild west in the publishing industry, any many new writers like myself are venturing into the unknown. Write Good or Die has plenty of information on how to approach legacy publishing, but it sure could use an update to expand its advice on how authors should tread in the electronic world.
All in all I took a lot away from this collection, and it’s difficult to complain when you can pick up awesome information and advice for free. The great thing about Write Good or Die is that it is an e-published book, facilitating the update process, making it instant and hassle-free. Hopefully the editor will choose to update his collection, or compile a new one.
I appreciate the effort of Scott Nicholson and all the contributors. Thank you for helping those of us still finding our footing in the realm of writing.
Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn Trilogy is one of my favorite reads of all time. I also enjoyed Warbreaker a great deal. He is an excellent modern fantasy writer, and is still relatively new to the best-seller scene.
Below is a selection of videos that compose the lectures Brandon Sanderson gave at JordanCon 2010 at the Crowne Plaza Ravinia. This is the author’s crash course in fantasy writing. The lectures are broken down into plotting, character and setting, and magic system creation. The videos may seem very time consuming, but I’ve watched them all one at a time, day after day when I had a short break between my tasks. These lectures are very informative and insightful. By no means should you consider Sanderson’s words to be law for every writer, but there is plenty to take away from his experiences and knowledge.
I found this list gold mine of videos in and old post I found on Reddit and I thought it would be great to share them with you. Lectures such as this can save young writers a great deal of time by teaching what is usually gained through trial and error, by showing mistakes before they are made.
I haven’t yet had the opportunity to attend any lectures by successful and experienced authors, so I was ecstatic to find such a wealth of information on YouTube.
So I came across a user on Reddit named bovisrex. He has completed seven novels and a wealth of short stories and poems.
He has a new blog (Stark Writing Crazy) where he has been posting podcasts of the third draft of his most current novel, Witness. You can get not only a glimpse, but a full view of his unpublished work. Fans of horror and dark humor will find refuge in this fledgling blog.
Bovisrex also posts reviews on other author’s works, mostly in the same black veins as his work. This place creeps with haunting laughter. The updates are frequent and I’m sure you’ll like what you see.
So I penned and submitted my pitch to Amazon, which will be judged in the first round of the contest. I also had to submit the materials needed for the subsequent rounds, even though they won’t be judged until later dates and there is no guarantee that my novel will make it to those rounds. All in all they took my pitch for the first round, my first chapter for the second round, and my entire manuscript for the final round(s).
We’ll see how it goes. This is the first I’ve shown my novel to anyone other than close friends. I plan to have it self-published within a couple of months. You’ll be hearing more about Frostarc soon enough! I’m so excited!
Meanwhile, as I promised in a previous post, here is the pitch I submitted to Amazon. Let me know what you think!
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His son was murdered, he abandoned his wife, and he fled to the edge of civilization to hide from a revenge-seeking insurrectionist regime. For ten years he brooded over his shame and regret. Ten years has been long enough.
Frostarc is a journey through one man’s struggle to forgive himself. In the wake of a violent pandemic that has stricken his planet, Kozz decides to find a way off the ice-block that has been his prison and return to the world where he left his wife behind. He thought she would be safer with him gone, but now he finds it a rueful decision. A decade of isolation and self-loathing has destroyed his spirit, but the young boy and mother whom Kozz finds on his travels serve as a surrogate family, one he feels compelled to protect.
The nearby villages are mysteriously empty, but the people left behind have gone insane with murderous intentions. Kozz must make sure his wife is safe from this madness. Communication lines are down, and all forms of transport have been destroyed. The only sign of hope is a looping radio message instructing all to gather at the nearest quarantine zone in a distant city. The danger from his past may still be a threat, something his companions cannot be made aware of.
Mystery and turmoil plague a civilization in its early period of space pioneering. Frostarc will haunt readers with its bloody, western-shootout style and frightening revelations of Kozz’s secretive past. He needs to find his wife. He needs to ensure her safety. He should never have left.
After you have read the guidelines and put together a submission, read the guidelines again. Don’t miss a small detail concealed among a paragraph of policy and disclaimers that makes all the difference. Make sure you are actually eligible to enter.
If you put together a collection of poetry, submit it, and you are not eligible to enter the contest, then they have the right to keep your entry fee! Make sure you are of age, and even in the right geographic location. Some contests are restricted locally or to a certain region.
It’s extremely annoying and frustrating to put so much time and effort into a submission, only to have it rejected not for the poetry’s quality, theme, or style, but because you didn’t carefully read the guidelines over.
There are rules the guidelines about simultaneous submissions, number of poems allowed, etc. Ignoring these is irritable to the person receiving the submission and can lower your chances/disqualify you from the contests. Contests rarely not allow simultaneous submissions. If they don’t though, don’t break their rules. If you entered their contest, you’re playing on their turf.
Don’t try to be sneaky and submit the same poem you sent to them somewhere else if they don’t want that. If you are the winner of both contests, one of the contests you won is bound to notice. The people who submitted poetry along side you will also be entering other contests, and could notice your multiple victories with the same piece of writing. If your unlucky, someone who notices (may it be a fellow poet or editor) could report it. This could lead to your loss of both contests and revocation of your victory. If they allow simultaneous submissions, notify the contest sponsor immediately if you are accepted else where. It’s common courtesy, even if you think you’re going to lose.
Take Nostorvia! Poetry’s weekly poetry contest for example. They list their contest guidelines and rules clearly for the writer to follow. They allow simultaneous submissions and previously published works. They also ask you “not to blow up [their] inbox” with more than two submissions per week. Poetry of 100 lines or less is also prefered, but they also state they do accept longer submissions.
This is a classic example of a set of contest rules for writers to follow. Not following these rules ends up in disqualification from the contest. The rules are set in place for a reason. Don’t try to sneak around them.
One more very important guideline to follow. Do not submit your poem if it has already won an award or prize. This is considered rude and crass, and hurts your future chances of winning contests.
Winning a poetry contest is also a matter of theme. Certain poetry sites prefer a different style over others. Some may dislike freeverse, and others could dislike rhyming poetry. Read previous winners to see the stye they sought after. Write good poetry and enter it appropriately in contests. Don’t write poetry about nature and butterflys and submit it to a sci-fi poetry contest.
Another good, basic idea to follow is to focus on finding contests run in a manner ideal for poets and writers. The focus is on the contest or a sale, it’s on the writer. That’s how it should be. Find contests that follow the following writer/poet-friendly guidelines.
They request submissions in a standard one-copy of the manuscript form. Avoid contests that ask for numerous submissions (some with the poets name, some without) or a disk or cd.
Make sure the judge is named. This gives a lot more credibility to the contest. There are a plethora of scam contests, and a known judge is a helpful hint that the contest is not a scam.
Make note of the entry fee. Contests that have a high entry fee (of more than 2 percent than the winning money) are murky waters.
Poetry contests are a great way to spread word of your writing and kick start your writing career.
Poetry is an art that takes gradual learning and self teaching to become talented at. Entering contests is a good way to earn insight into yourself as a writer. The final and most important rule for any poetry contest is to not give up. Rejection is a natural phenomena in the writer’s world. Get used to it and move on to the next contest if you lose. Tweak your poem a bit and submit again. Learn what works and doesn’t. Grow as a writer with each acceptance and rejection.
by Jeremiah Walton
[ Jeremiah Walton is a 16 year old poet from New England where he attends high school. He is author of Nostrovia! and To Your Health: Humanities Diagnosis. Both are available at Nostrovia! Poetry. Nostrovia! is yet to be released, but a preview is available. To Your Health: Humanities Diagnosis is a free ebook short poetry collection. Jeremiah is heavily influenced by writers like Kurt Vonnegut and Michael Crichton. ]
