Writer Wednesday

The blog hop is over, the winners have their coupon for free download. I ended up giving one to each commenter (who wanted one), since comments came in either very early or very late, so even if I moved from 120 to 113, I felt that those people who eventually made it down that long list deserved a prize, if only for reaching my blog! 🙂 So, happy reading and if you can, leave a review on the usual places – if you forget, I won’t hold it against you. Like Kris Rusch says, it’s word of mouth that sells, not reviews, tweets, constant announcements, etc. So, if you enjoy the read, spread the word, thank you.

Not sure if it’s the blog hop or else, but another record month for visits. We’ll see if it keeps up and if I start finding my readers. For sales, this month has been very slow – only Kobo/inMondadori (yeah, Italian short stories, can you believe it). Just sayin’, not complaining. My sales go like my blog and my mood – up, down, like a yo-yo, life is just a giddyap a gogo (okay, showing my age again)! 🙂

I have finished the first draft of Choices, so if there’s some male volunteer, I’d really love to hear your input on that story. Just because it has a male protagonist, although it’s probably aimed to women readers! 🙂  In the meantime,  since May is almost over, I’ll move on to the next project – back to Silvery Earth and the Amazons. I’m rewriting my original Amazon story (that had sequels through the years, part 1 was written in 1985, part 2 in 1990, part 3 in 1991 and part 4 in 2004 + I’ve added the sister’s story recycling old Amazon stories from the end of last century, so the draft I’m going to translate/rewrite is from 2010), so I’m very excited.

Speaking of the other Amazon – a.k.a. Mighty Zon – the internet is ablaze with their announcement of Kindle Worlds. See the reactions of Passive Guy (especially in the comments), Chuck Wendig, John Scalzi and Laxmi Hariharan. What do you think of legal fan fiction? Personally, I’ve never written fan fiction (but I’ve read some slash, even with celebrities in it) and I don’t have fans writing stories set on Silvery Earth or in the Star Minds universe, so I’m not really bothered yet. But the comment #7 (Saruby) on John Scalzi’s post kinda made me think:

I am not a writer, but I do have some legal training and I would strongly advise anyone not to sign any contract that does not include specific reversion rights within a limited term. Also, no one should be able to use your ideas in other media without paying you. In the long run, any contract that takes rights (and therefore money) away from the writer is bad news. Far from helping publishing, Amazon is pushing a scheme that will deter writers who want to be self-supporting. Who can afford to write when future income from your work goes to someone else? These schemes will kill publishing.

I don’t know about that, but I’ll just keep my eyes open. We’ll have to wait and see… This new world of publishing is shifting so quickly, sometimes I think I’ll never be able to keep up! My new sloth-ness isn’t helping either, but I’ll keep trudging ahead. There’s no stopping now! 🙂 Want a study on readers’ habits (albeit based on romance readers)? Check the RWA stats. And they’re just for the US. Don’t forget, my American friends, you’re not the only living and reading beings on the planet! 😉 What about the rest of the world?

Again, about the quick shifts, read Dean Wesley Smith’s take on the dismission of Ella distribution and the changes in the field of printed books. Yes, things are that fast in shifting – needed 2012, not needed 2013. He also suggests to follow Passive Guy, but I’ve given up because he posts too often, and it’s mostly reblogs with some comments (took me to go back 6 pages on the blog to find the post mentioned by Dean…). Still this post about trad and indie has interesting comments from the IP lawyer married to a major writer (Mr.PG himself, in case you didn’t get the joke) about how rules don’t really apply to both.

Now, on writing, take your pick. Outliner or improviser? You can see how others do. I’m in the middle – I write a very brief outline and mostly improvise while writing, but unlike Ruth Ann Nordin, I don’t have problems adding scenes where needed. I write backwards, bones first, meat after! 😉 That’s why I never know my final wordcount when I start. I have tried more specific outlines or character bios, but they felt like waste of time and went mostly unused anyway. But if you like outlining, please check how Rami Ungar does it! 🙂 Whatever you choose, remember: we’re all different. You have to find your own way. What works for you. There are no rules, as long as you finish your story!

See also why 90% of the advice about writing is bullshit right now. While I was reading I thought “Hey, sounds exactly like those creative writing books written by editors who dissect novels of (often dead) authors and want to teach you how to write without asking the author” – summarized in the post’s P.S.! A real writer won’t really know how he or she writes. I could never “teach” you how I write. I could teach you how to format or upload your stuff to the different retailers, but that’s it. That’s the technical part. For the “artistic” part, we’re all on our own. We must experiment and try different things and don’t let other’s (or our own) expectations take us down.

I want to tell stories. I have written down a lot (some good, some bad) and have more to tell. I have a very niche readership and I haven’t find them all yet. Actually, I can still count my readers on my hands – but I don’t care. I’ll keep writing and publishing and writing more stories – for the fun of it. I do write for myself first… so I won’t stop until I get enough (which hopefully is… never!)! 🙂 Happy writing!

Posted by Barb on 29/05/2013

https://creativebarbwire.wordpress.com/2013/05/29/writer-wednesday-64/