Best authorship reference books according to redditors
We found 294 Reddit comments discussing the best authorship reference books. We ranked the 78 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
We found 294 Reddit comments discussing the best authorship reference books. We ranked the 78 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
The problem comes when you take your reader's interest for granted. Your reader's interest is a fickle resource. If you just start infodumping indigestible blocks of text cut-&-pasted straight from your worldbuilding files, then of course they are going to lose interest. They didn't sign up for a lecture or a history lesson; they came to you looking for a fun story. So you have to make it fun for them. You can't pull the business of I've suffered for my art, now it's your turn.
Basically, you should take it as given that your reader isn't going to care about anything you write unless you first make an emotional connection with them. You need to bond your reader to your writing so they are emotionally connected to what's happening in your story.
Please take a look at Mary Buckham's Writing Active Hooks. As a fiction writer, you need to apprehend your reader's attention, and then actively maintain that attention through your story. You can do this by employing various conventions.
For instance, although there are a number conventions you can use, probably the best is to make your reader identify with your main character. If you can do this successfully, then your reader will visualize themselves in your MC's place, and they will become very emotionally involved. If your MC is in trouble, they will have to keep reading to make sure your MC is going to be okay.
If you like history, and you think about it, your favorite parts of history are stories, and they involve historical figures that you've come to identify with to some extent. You might even recall an epiphany when it first occurred to you that an historical figure was a real live person, just like you and me.
If you're going to write fiction that's primarily expository, you need to make your characters into real, live people for your reader. It also helps to construct an interesting narrator with a slightly unreliable personality, rather than simply use an objective, emotionless point of view.
I can give you three books that I recommend without reservation. The first is the easiest to read and a solid introduction to fiction editing. The second goes into more depth, with an excellent workflow for the revising process in the latter chapters. The third is the most dense, like a college class in fiction editing with a focus on how the 19th and 20th century masters actually revised their works, but it is also the most thorough.
Self-editing for Fiction Writers (written by two editors)
Stein on Writing (written by an accomplished editor)
Revising Fiction (written by an college professor, writer and editor)
Honorable mention:
Here's your pacing: each action a main character takes should be in pursuit of something, and they should be faced with progressively more serious challenges. Keep ratcheting up the stakes and tension.
That's not absolute, of course. Let's say you've got three big hurdles for the protagonist to face, with the third being the climax of the story. The second should be more serious than the first, and less serious than the third. Within the lead up to each of those challenges, the things that get in the way for the character obviously won't be as big as the challenges themselves – but there should still be rising difficulty within each phase.
As long as your character is pushing forward and isn't faced with the same kind or level of challenge as they've already faced, your pacing will be fine. Though of course between each individual conflict you can give the reader a rest.
I would really recommend Techniques of the Selling Writer. The vast majority of it isn't about selling at all – it's about exactly the sort of concerns you're bringing up.
What's concerning to me in what you've told us so far is this:
> My first act is roughly fifteen scenes. I can do all of that in the first scene.
What are the other fourteen scenes for? Showing off the pretty world you designed? Backstory? Not that everything has to be packed into the first scene, but if you really could introduce the protagonist and the issue in a single scene, then there you go – your act 1 is finished and you can get on with throwing more trouble at the character.
I don't want to sound like a jerk but maybe take a creative writing class or something?? Writing good isn't easy, and I feel like there's too much to go over to put in a reddit post.
edit:
or read this https://www.amazon.co.uk/Writing-Memoir-Craft-Stephen-King/dp/1444723251
or this https://www.amazon.com/Stein-Writing-Successful-Techniques-Strategies/dp/0312254210
very helpful books.
Pick up a book on structure, for example Save the Cat!
You should be aiming towards highs and low points, with a slow progression between each where the character struggles and fails towards transformative crescendos. Failure is how your character changes, not successes - so keep legit stamping on your protag's face.
Act 1 - 25% of the book - Establish the world, the rules, the principle character and its relationship to them. Halfway through this act you should throw them into the adventure then spend the rest of the act getting them to accept their role in it. This is setting up the story you want to tell.
Act 2 - 50% of the book - Do the fun and interesting stuff that makes up the body of the book. If its a detective story, this is where the crime scene inspections happen and the witnesses are met a few times. If its a cliche fantasy series this is the "journey" to the evil castle. Halfway through the act you should have a false high (everything looks great but isn't) or a false low (everything is hopeless but isn't). This is where you develop a love interest and character interactions. Act 3 is when the point of no return is passed and you enter the endgame.
Act 3 - 25% - the Endgame. The character recovers from a crippling loss and "transforms" spiritually. This is the scenes at and inside the evil castle where the changed protagonist uses what he learned from act 2 to beat the villian. This is where the twists go since you are breaking rules you have solidly established and where you have the mature protagonist to properly digest those twists.
In terms of how to connect scenes and order them, alternate the scenes where your character is trying to accomplish a goal and then recovering from the failure to achieve it. ABABAB. As in another thread I'd recommend Tecniques of a selling writer for this. However you can find a synopsis by more modern writers if you just search with "scene and sequel", which are the terms he coins in the book.
Check out Gwen Hayes's book on romance beats. Worth every penny. Not much out there on romance writing beats.
https://www.amazon.com/Romancing-Beat-Structure-Romance-Kissing-ebook/dp/B01DSJSURY?ie=UTF8&keywords=gwen%20hayes&qid=1464139967&ref_=sr_1_1&s=digital-text&sr=1-1
Also, for good feedback, check out Michael Anderle's Facebook Group at
https://www.facebook.com/groups/781495321956934/834263983346734/?notif_t=group_activity&notif_id=1464062128021251
and his forum at http://20booksto50k.com/forum/
I (typically) write in sessions ranging from 45 minutes to 1.5 hours. In that window, I put down between 800 and 2400 words. The initial 500 or so are always slower than the rest.
At that pace, and using your six sessions per week, it would take between 7 and 21 weeks to write a 100,000 word novel. That seems like a perfectly reasonable pace to me.
Perhaps the issue is one of organization, rather than time?
I don't plan scenes or chapters.
I post this all the time but I love Butcher's advice on scenes: http://jimbutcher.livejournal.com/2880.html
I break for chapters when I can feel that something is resolved, while at the same time there's still a question at hand. I use smallish chapters because I think it makes a book feel faster paced.
I think readers like the breaks, but I also want to make sure they make the leap to the next chapter.
FWIW /u/jeikaraerobot, I think, is referring to Dwight Swain and "Techniques of the Selling Writer" https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0806111917/rsingeshomepage/
Get the book How to Write a Damn Good Novel: A Step-by-Step No Nonsense Guide to Dramatic Storytelling.
Have not read Chris Fox but I did read Rachel Aaron's e-book and I thought it was good.
https://www.amazon.com/2k-10k-Writing-Faster-Better-ebook/dp/B009NKXAWS
For 99 cents it's certainly not going to bankrupt you. However if you're really cheap you should know it's basically an expanded version of the article she wrote here:
http://thisblogisaploy.blogspot.com/2011/06/how-i-went-from-writing-2000-words-day.html
Absolutely.
The main book I would say has helped me instrumentally is this one. It was suggested to me when I had the privilege of speaking to a New York Times bestselling author. He recommended it highly, along with this book that I have not had a chance to get into yet.
The first one is a major chore to read. It is not bad or hard to comprehend in any way, just very conceptually thick. I have read books twice as thick that communicate half as much.
The second one is great too, but I realized I needed the first one more earlier on.
Anyway, I hope those help!
I'd recommend buying a book on writing.
I would suggest these as good places to start. If you wanted to pick just one on this list, I'd say go with James Scott Bell's Plot & Structure.
Some of the best I've used:
Story by Robert McKee -- As its title indicates, this book takes a look at story construction from a more theoretical perspective. McKee works mostly in the realm of screenplays but the ideas he puts forth are universally applicable and have already helped my writing immensely -- story itself was one of the big areas where I was struggling, and after reading through this book I'm able to much better conceptualize and plan out thoughtful stories.
Stein on Writing by Sol Stein -- if McKee's book is written from a theoretical perspective, Stein's takes a practical look at how to improve writing and editing skills. The mechanics of my writing have improved after reading this book; his examples are numerous and accessible. His tone may come off as a bit elitist but that doesn't mean he doesn't have things to teach us!
On Writing by Stephen King -- A perennial favorite and one I'm sure you've already received numerous suggestions for. Kind of a mix of McKee and Stein in terms of approach, and a great place to start when studying the craft itself.
Elements of Style by Strunk & White -- King swears by this book, and although I've bought it, the spine still looks brand new. I would recommend getting this in paperback format, though, as it's truly meant to be used as a reference.
Writing Excuses Podcast -- HIGHLY recommended place to start. Led by Brandon Sanderson, Howard Tayler, Dan Wells and Mary Robinette Kowal, this is one of the places I really started to dig into craft. They're at Season 13.5 now but new listeners can jump in on Season 10, where they focus on a specific writing process in each episode (everything from coming up with ideas to characterization and world building and more). Each episode is only 15(ish) minutes long. Listening to the whole series (or even the condensed version) is like going through a master class in genre fiction.
Brandon Sanderson 318R Playlist -- Professional recordings of Brandon Sanderson's BU writing class. Great stuff in here -- some crossover topics with Writing Excuses, but he is a wealth of information on genre fiction and great writing in general. Covers some of the business of writing too, but mostly focuses on craft.
Love this idea - hopefully I've sent a couple you haven't received yet!
My two favorite books are:
Rather than writing your novel from the end, get James Scott Bell's Write Your Novel from the Middle. It's $3 and you can finish it in a couple hours. Basically, you want to find the moment when your main character has a long, hard look at himself.
If you want more, his Plot and Structure goes more in depth into plotting and pacing.
They also sell the literal manifesto which is all sorts of ironies.
Also it's promoted as free on Kindle every few months for the past 4 years
Richest/biggest company in the world is legit sponsoring the 'anti-corporate revolution.' That makes all kinds of sense fersure.
Check out Wired for Story and Techniques of the Selling Writer. The latter is dated - as in the guy wrote it from a white, male perspective in the 60s - but the advice on craft is solid. Good luck.
ETA: This is a decent podcast series so far.
2k to 10k: Writing Faster, Writing Better, and Writing More of What You Love is a great ebook, for a dollar, that walks you through how to prepare for writing, and talks about why each step helps. It has some great advice that will help you be confident by the time you sit down to write.
If $0.99 is too rich for you (or you're skeptical), you can read the author's blog post, which was later adapted into the above ebook. It's shorter and doesn't go into as much detail but still gives the core advice from the book.
I've certainly found myself surprised to realize how many erotica and even romance writers are guys hiding behind a female pen name. No need to feel left out.
I know there are plenty of guys that read romances, but at the end of the day, the majority of romances -- and erotic romances -- are consumed by women. So you'll likely be best served to write to that expectation, even if you write from the narrative perspective of the male main character. Take that for what it is worth. There is no single true female perspective but something like this will not fly with a predominately female romance reader. Plenty of men have managed to pull off female characters to not have to beat a dead horse about the topic, but here is a good discussion thread, if you are so inclined to read it. (Side note, you might enjoy watching the Vaginal Fantasy screencast; it's a few semi-celebrity women discussing a book-of-the-month erotic romance and their discussions might be relevant to your interests, plus very entertaining to watch.)
You are probably best served by checking out a few of the "top" erotic romances that are in your erotic romance niche (there are plenty of niches, similar to erotica) and dissect them like you have to write a book report on how they work. How does the author build tension between the characters? How does the relationship grow and change over the course of the book? What are the re-occurring similarities between these top selling books that your readers are expecting from your book?
There are a few books and websites that describe in detail how to write romances.
Try some of these resources:
I followed some of the suggestions in Rachel Aaron's 2k to 10k, to boost my output.
In the very beginning of a story, I use very rough outlines, kinda similar to the method discussed in James Lofquist's Tell, Don't Show!
Basically, I just throw it all on the page (I mean even the shittiest idea) and come back to edit it later. Saw a thing somewhere on reddit yesterday that said "You can edit a bad page; you can't edit a blank page", and that's pretty much been my philosophy since the start.
I have never taken a class, save for the basics that are required for any degree in college. I find workshops (in my area, anyway) to be full of people who just want to critique the shit out of your stuff, but who aren't actually pulling in any money from their writing. I read a lot, though, and I think that's pretty key to being able to internalize (and then naturally emulate) style, plot patterns, etc.
As for the distractions, I will usually put on a headset and crank up some kind of white noise (I have a whole host of websites that I visit, but a favorite is rainymood.com). My boyfriend knows that this is a source of income for us, and gives me the free time that I require -- if you are not in a similar situation, you may have to be firm about setting your boundaries, or just lock yourself away for a bit each day.
If I'm really not into it that day, I'll read instead. Sometimes I just need a break from the story.
People rave about Bryan Cohen's work, and admittedly he does have a lot of clients who go on to become bestsellers, but there are other resources you can consider before dropping $300 bucks.
I found Libbie Hawker's book on blurbs extremely helpful and it's only 99c. Same for this video she did, which sums up her method pretty nicely.
But if you have your heart set on Best Page Forward, FWIW there are apparently sales throughout the year, so maybe wait or poke around for one of those.
To me what helped me the most was this book, I had a character and a setting but I struggled to find a plot that could fit my ideas, but reading this book helped me to identify what kind of story I wanted to tell. Of course this won't help you if you don't know at least some bits of your story, but can help you focus on the right thing and help you writing your story. It's such a shame because this book was free last week but now it isn't.
This one is considered one of the standards. https://www.amazon.com/Techniques-Selling-Writer-Dwight-Swain/dp/0806111917
Story Engineering by Larry Brooks should be able to help. The author explains elements of story structure common to most novels and films so you can apply the same structure to your own story.
Okay, sure. I probably shouldn't have, but I watched it. I've heard the dichotomy argument before: "it's a state monopoly or free enterprise!" But don't you think that the wide array of views on this subreddit alone justifies looking at economies through more than just the lens of a one-dimensional line?
The key problem with the guy with the spear is that a random dude with a spear by himself on an island is in no way representative of the system we have inherited. The spear-hunting man did NOT produce anything by catching something -- he killed a living thing and appropriated it as his own property.
Communism and socialism do not have a problem with this in an island vacuum, of course. If you're starving, take something and eat. It doesn't really matter what on the tiny-desert-island-scale. It is actually capitalism that has a problem with this very example: if you are starving on the street in the city and take an apple from a street cart, what happens? In communism you simply eat it and go on with your life, not starving; under capitalism you are beaten and taken to jail.
Besides, if there are a thousand people all on the island, and they all go spearing fish, what's going to happen? The fish will dwindle and soon cause a famine. Sticks don't produce fish, hatcheries produce fish. So go the crises of capitalism. I see far more problems with the arguments in the video, but my comment is getting long.
Now, I challenge you to read The Communist Manifesto and send me a quote from it -- one you agree with, one you disagree with, whatever, don't care, let's talk about it. I doubt I'll hear back, but who knows? Anyway, it's free and short: https://smile.amazon.com/Manifesto-Communist-Party-Karl-Marx-ebook/dp/B0039GL21I
I'll be here.
"Is there a particular scene or moment in the story that is giving you trouble?"
This. Nine times out of ten this is my problem. There's not enough conflict or I'm trying to force a character deviation or my idea for the scene doesn't fit the trope or something. (And when it happens, 90% of those instances can be attributed to not enough conflict. My own personal cross to bear, maybe.) I doubt it's a personal failing on your part, OP. You already knocked out 50K... that's no small amount of work.
Rachel Aaron Bach's 2K to 10K helped me learn to step back and look at a scene if I was having a hard time. You already got suggestions for Cold Turkey Writer and I saw StayFocusd mentionded at some point -- both of those work for me as well.
Good luck with the book!.
I'm surprised people haven't said much about the actual writing itself. Tone is an issue, but the actual structure of your writing needs work. I'll pull a few examples that way you can see what I mean.
"Unless you’re a member of an isolated ancient tribe living under one of the six remaining trees in what used to be the Amazon rainforest, you have almost certainly heard the term “Machine Learning” floating past within the last few years."
Your first sentence is almost a paragraph. This is a problem. Writing should be succinct and to the point. Clarity and strength of word usage will make what you say much more meaningful.
"In fact, personally, I’m convinced that if humanity doesn’t eradicate itself prematurely, there won’t be anything left humans can do that can’t be done much better, faster and cheaper by a suitably designed and programmed computer (or a network of them)."
This is a sentence in your third paragraph, which is again almost an entire paragraph by itself. You also severely diminish the strength of your sentence when you use things like 'In fact', 'personally', 'I'm convinced'. Your readers know that you are convinced because you are the one writing it. You need to convince them.
"Even though a computer can do just about anything, making it do what you want it to do can be very hard indeed."
Adverbs are not your friend. - Stephen King
Strength of sentence structure is impacted when you use adverbs like 'very'. And throwing on an 'indeed' doesn't do you any favors either. Make a point to think about what you are adding to your sentences with these words. Is the answer "I am adding nothing with these words."? Then those words should not be there.
I'm going to leave you a list of books where you can learn from writers that will help you with these things. Try not to get discouraged. We all have a lot to learn, so just think of it as part of the process. I would HIGHLY suggest you at least look into Elements of Style.
Sol Stein's On Writing
Stephen King's On Writing
Elements of Style
Oh man, that's tough. I was lucky during my first book. I've always been in writing (as a journalist) and have thought about writing a novel for a very long time. That meant I had a lot of ideas stored up, and writing this first book was like opening the floodgates. Admittedly, I took it very slow, writing it out over a year or so.
During that time, I read From 2k to 10k a Day by Rachel Aaron. She has a great system for writing faster. She makes a strong case for plotting, and has totally converted me. I think that's what has kept me from suffering from writers' block. If ever I doubt where I'm going, I just go back to the outline and reassess what I'm doing. The added benefit to that is, I always know where I'm going, giving me time to focus more on prose, which has helped my writing tremendously.
If you're looking to spend a few bucks check out this book. I've been writing double-time since implementing her suggestions.
It's not exactly revolutionary, nor do I think it needs to be, but it provides a good template for character arcs while leaving a lot of room to pants it in between.
>Has anyone used this method before?
Kinda sorta, I write dialogue-heavy on the first pass with very minimal descriptions, then ink that shit in on the second pass. It can help knowing what the scene looks like for dialogue (pro tips can be found in Aaron's 2K to 10K book) and related actions, but a dialogue-rich approach helps your characters step from the page.
Also, you avoid painful exposition :)
If you can track down a copy, Enough Is Too Much Already is a book written entirely in dialogue, and it's superb. I lent my copy out, never to be seen again, so don't make that mistake.
Here's a list of some of my favorite books on writing:
Yeah this is way too mysterious... to the point of I don't know what's going on.
Most romance blurbs are like:
Paragraph 1: Main Character #1--who they are, what's their external struggle, what's their problem why they can't find/want love, their role in the plot, etc.
Paragraph 2: Repeat for other main character.
Paragraph 3: Why they are coming together/forced to spend time together/inciting incident. Why they are resisting each other.
Read any romance blurb. They're pretty much all like this.
Also read Romancing the Beat for a quick, easy way to understand the romantic character arc that your book needs in order for you to correctly label it a "Romance."
If your story is just a cast of characters running around fucking and giving into/resisting temptation--even if there is love and emotion--it's not a romance and you'll get run out of town on a rail.
This might help you out. If you have Kindle Unlimited it is included in your subscription. There are also some related books by the same author I haven't gotten to yet called Conflict & Suspense and Characters, Emotion & Viewpoint that I have checked out.
While you are planning, you could try filling out little things like this form I created in Scrivener. I find that it helps me solidify what my idea for a scene is and know when another scene is needed as well when before I would sit there and say, "I have no idea what to put here."
Edit: Of course there's a typo in the image I made for the sole purpose of sharing with writers. Why not! lol.
Game related :
https://www.amazon.de/Slay-Dragon-Writing-Great-Stories/dp/1615932291
Stories in General:
https://www.amazon.de/Stein-Writing-Successful-Techniques-Strategies/dp/0312254210
I own each one of those books and I would only cosign on the Amy Cooper and the Emily Baker. I also got a lot of helpful info from Unsilenced's first book.
For Erotica in general - I would also skip the Susie Bright. Instead I would go with Stacia Kane Be A Sex Writing Strumpet. Also this website also helped me helped me think stories through.
I would suggest you start learning story structure and outlining early. Dan Wells is an awesome free source - through his youtube videos, and Dwight V Swain Techniques of the Selling Writer. Also Gwen Hayes Romancing the Beat.
As a writer I would keep reading additional sources, once you find a story structure that you like - as in 3 part or 4 part, then find an ultimate resource for this.
When I first started I didn't really understand pinch points so I read a book on screenwriting that helped.
Hi u/Calicox,
Brandon Sanderson has a series of lectures he did at Brigham Young University when teaching a creative writing class there. Here's his lecture on character, but the others I've seen are also worth your time.
You may find the following books helpful:
This
This
This
This
This
This
This
Best,
DR-M
This is the method that many fiction writers use to keep themselves going. See a nifty little book called 2K to 10K.
Pretty sure she not only tracked how many words per date, but also did an hourly breakdown, and discovered that she wrote as much in her two or three most productive hours as she did in the other five or six. Cut her workday in half when she figured that out.
There's actually a post on the sidebar, second one down. It's not as detailed as it could be, but it gives a good primer in Romance.
And thanks for the callout /u/YourSmutSucks.
Here's the thing about Romance, there's a lot of good information in this subreddit, in other subreddits, and on the Internet. But the key, is that just because you call something romance, doesn't make it romance.
If you want to get a good foundation for genre writing in general, start with Storygrid by Shawn Coyne (his website has all the information in the book for free and the podcast is great).
Then look up Romancing the Beat. Just released and it's probably one of the best, if not the best Romance structure books out there.
Writing Down the Bones is pretty good, as is Stein on Writing Actually, anything by Sol Stein is good for a aspiring writer, if for no other reason than it'll be an outstanding example of good writing.
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I go to the coffeeshop and write 2000 words every day in the morning, that's my minimum. I've broken 10k in a day before, but it's usually hard for me to get through the 5k mark. Hopefully when I drop my full time job (later this year) I'll be able to work my way up.
When I first started writing, I could only do like 200-300 words an hour. Now I'm up to more like 1000-1500. Practice, practice, practice.
Also, the 2k to 10k thing helped me, like, a LOT: http://www.amazon.com/2k-10k-Writing-Faster-Better-ebook/dp/B009NKXAWS
Joining a weekly writing group has helped me immensely. Like you, my work-life schedule is completely full, but my hubby and I managed to find a 2-3 hour window during the week when I could go write OUTSIDE of the house. Tuesday night is my time to write. My kiddos know I have writing group, and Daddy gets home from work and holds down the fort so I can go be creative without distractions.
Knowing that I have three other people waiting for me to show up at the Barnes & Noble and write at the same table holds me accountable. I've found that I'm extremely productive during that time (sometimes 2,000+ words/hour). If I find myself with any free time during the week (a rarity), I try to get on my laptop and write, even if it's just notes or vague ideas that I can refer to on Tuesday night. Ten minutes here, 250 words there--it does add up.
I also carry a small notebook for that purpose. Driving home last Tuesday, for example, I had a sudden idea for a change that solved a major plot issue in my current book. Every time I sat at a red light I scribbled my thoughts about the change in my notebook. Yes, my penmanship was atrocious due to my hurried pace, but it was legible. I got home in time to read a story, sing a lullaby, and spend time with my hubby. He watched Netflix, and I snuggled next to him on the couch with my laptop and made those changes.
TL,DR: Work with your wife to find a small window of time once or twice a week where you can leave the house and do nothing but write without distractions. It will help with productivity and isn't an unreasonable request.
EDIT: I also found Rachel Aaron's book to be quite helpful.
Hey there...welcome to the world of writing. Hang on, it's going to be a bumpy ride.
So, let me start out with some basics...as I don't want to assume how much you do or do not know.
Okay, with all that out of the way...there are two basic approaches once you have a finished manuscript:
And yes, you can be published by a US or UK author even if you are from another country. You, of course, must be fluent in English, and again either route (self or traditional) is possible.
I've never read it, but it's this one: https://www.amazon.com/2k-10k-Writing-Faster-Better-ebook/dp/B009NKXAWS
I use a beat sheet based roughly on Larry Brooks' Story Engineering method. I'll write a detailed paragraph for each scene for the first 25% (up to the first plot point), and then an idea of each of the major elements thereafter. Once I've got the first 25% in a first draft, I'll do a detailed scene outline and flesh it out from there.
For the second draft, I go through and make sure that all my scenes do their job, and that I don't have anything that is dragging. A good, rough reference for this is this scene structure article, which has helped me out a lot.
For the third and subsequent revisions, I go through and really focus on my prose. I nail down the dialogue as best as I can. This is one of the places where your beta readers are invaluable.
Rachel Aaron/Rachel Bach. She writes [several thousand words] (https://www.amazon.com/2k-10k-Writing-Faster-Better-ebook/dp/B009NKXAWS) per day and, since 2010, has written thirteen novels and other various works.
This book is invaluable for me. If you read it, you'll notice that a lot of what I said is a summary of this, because it's just so damn on point. She goes into all the parts a bit more in-depth. That should definitely help!
There’s a book called “shoot your novel:applying cinematic techniques to supercharge your writing”
https://www.amazon.com/Shoot-Your-Novel-Techniques-Supercharge-ebook/dp/B00O4HSMMS
I own the book, it’s very good.
Feedback is great, but the foremost person to satisfy is yourself. If this story entices you, keep writing, as keepfuckingwriting will no doubt mention.
Hemingway has this great line: "The most essential gift for a good writer is a built-in, shock-proof, shit detector."
In my view the detector isn't built-in. It evolves--by reading fiction and by studying the craft of writing. Read even more in your genre and branch out of it. Find mentors in writing books; some of mine are John Gardner, Chuck Wendig, and Dwight Swain.
Sure. https://www.amazon.com/Gotta-Read-Simple-Steps-Fiction-ebook/dp/B00OI9HHQY
I read a lot - books, short stories, graphic novels, screenplays, plays. Not only do you learn from studying how other writers construct their work, but by studying different mediums you tend to strengthen specific writing muscles. For example, when studying screenplays you learn how to craft better dialogue. When studying graphic novels you become better aware of how to utilize your setting.
A trick I stole from college is mimicking the style of a writer, or book, you admire (I actually do this after every good book I read). You'll inevitably pick up at least one cool thing you can use in your own writing, and it's a great way to hone your own style.
I recently bought this book on Amazon, which gives tips on how to write faster. It's only .99 and, personally, I think it's aimed towards amateur writers but the one thing I got out of it was planning before you write. It sounds like a no-brainer but I used to hate outlining. But the way she describes it, it's more thorough than traditional outlining and I've been able to write 10,000 words in one sitting without becoming frustrated.
I recommend reading Rachel Aaron's book, 2000 TO 10000. It's basically a instruction manual for how she become more disciplined in writing. I've gotten some great ideas from it.
http://thisblogisaploy.blogspot.com/2011/06/how-i-went-from-writing-2000-words-day.html
And the buy link--it's $1 right now:
http://www.amazon.com/2k-10k-Writing-Faster-ebook/dp/B009NKXAWS/ref=la_B004FRLQXE_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1349882755&sr=1-9
For those intending to write a romance, bestselling author Nina Harrington has a book Keep Your Pants On that discusses how outlining helps even "intuitive writers" (i.e. pantsers)
I find general writing books are pretty good. My favorite is Techniques of the Selling Writer mainly because it teaches how to write smoothly. But, the biggest is just to keep reading erotica and find what works for you.
Update (for my own satisfaction):
Hit 3.4K on the first few scenes of a possible romance novel. I also completed a first draft of an outline using Romancing the Beat by Gwen Hayes, which I am sure I saw recommended somwhere here on EA and it was a massive help.
Buy this book.
My favourites are these exact two books, as well.
I like this one too.
How To Write A Damn Good Novel
If you want more than two books:
Stein on Writing is fantastic for learning an editor's perspective
Invisible Ink (not sure what happened to the Kindle edition) is more about storytelling in general but it's fantastic at breaking down what makes good movies good
How Not to Write a Novel will crack you up
One useful tool was described by Dwight Swain in his book. I've written a post on it some time ago, and I guess I'll just copy it whole here for convenience instead of linking to it. The question it answers is very similar to yours.
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Dwight Swain in his "Techniques of the Selling Writer" proposes a method that alternates between what he calls "scenes" and "sequels" (to those scenes). You can read the book for in-depth discussion, but long story short here's how it works:
A scene** is a sequence of the following material:
At this point the scene technically ends and what Swain calls the sequel launches, consisting of, in order:
Now, back to your question. While Swain considers his "scenes" physical and, so to say, "real time", the "sequels" are psychological and, therefore, detached from time and space. In a Swainian scene the character deals with something specific and likely physical. In the "sequel" the character thinks, mulls over, fears, hopes, considers, reconsiders and makes a decision. As Swain puts it, "Where time unifies the scene, topic unifies the sequel." Such "sequel" sections can do away with the concept of time, taking form of collages that span months or years if you so wish, in as much or little text as you want.
So, there's one technique to manage the passage of time without resorting to metatextual clues like chapter breaks or time passage disclaimers (all of which are perfectly valid techniques too, of course). Besides, the Swainian trick is useful for managing pacing: "If an air of improbability pervades your masterpiece, lengthen your sequels. Follow your character step by stop, in detail, as he moves logically from disaster to decision." E.g., some Golden Age comic books lack "sequel" type material almost entirely, which might make them feel caricaturic and improbable to some readers.
http://www.amazon.com/2k-10k-Writing-Faster-Better-ebook/dp/B009NKXAWS
Could be..
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0039GL21I/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
Relevant: http://imgur.com/a/JVdPF
Thanks to this nifty book I've been doing a daily writing log where I chart my word count, time spent writing, words per hour, etc. It's helped me tremendously in making me more productive and keeping me on track. I find that I'm most productive either early in the morning or really late at night.
I don't bother much with KDP select anymore, as the changes in Amazon's affiliate program has made free giveaways less appealing to book bloggers; their affiliate codes don't bring in the cash anymore.
Unfortunately even if you're not in it for the money a steady production schedule is the only way to keep visible. Amazon heavily weights its search results towards new releases. If it takes you a year to publish another book, well, by the time that year has past your first book has been hidden in search obscurity for 10 months.
There are only really two things I can suggest.
Anyway, good luck.
KM Weiland's blog is helpful.
Also, Story Engineering by Larry Brooks will get you on the right path. Most stories follow the three act structure, or even more simply, three disasters and a conclusion.
Take Off Your Pants is an excellent book on plotting from character motives. Changed the way I go about outlining, and demonttrated that pantsing and outlining can work together and are not the antithesis of each other.
Example of a novel using this: Game of Thrones, and The Windup Girl. In both of these (2 of my favorites) it is the hugely conflicting character motives which create the plot.
Stein on writing, by Sol Stein?
Write Your Novel from the Middle by James Scott Bell. An unusual perspective that involves finding the defining moment for your main character. Once you have that, the rest of the book practically falls into pladce. $4 and only 100 pages. Put it on your phone and you can read it in an afternoon or two. Also, his Plot and Structure.
How to Write a Damn Good Novel by James Frey.
Dramatica: A New Theory of Story by Melanie Anne Phillips.
Writing Active Hooks by Mary Buckham. Also, her Writing Active Setting.
Million Dollar Outlines by David Farland.
This is the first book I've read by Rachel Aaron, but as it happens I have read her writing help book (2k to 10k: Writing Faster, Writing Better, and Writing More of What You Love - also available on Kindle Unlimited) and quite liked her style. In fact I wonder now why I didn't pick up any of her other books at the time ...
Anyway! This book is a solid urban fantasy story, low on the romance and high on the morbid humor. Although it is the first in a series, it does not end on a cliffhanger.
Libbie Hawker's TAKE OFF YOUR PANTS is a great book on outlining, and short enough that you can get through it in one evening, so you won't get bogged down and flustered. Here's a link to the ebook on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Take-Off-Your-Pants-Outline/dp/1518637825/
That's pretty good. I like Write Your Novel from the Middle by James Scott Bell. It's short, $4; you can download it onto your phone and read it in an afternoon. There's a certain point in the middle of a book where the hero takes a good, hard look at himself, then decides what he needs to do. Figure out that point, and the rest of the book falls in place.
I also like How to Write a Damn Good Novel by James Frey.
Save The Cat by Blake Snyder (Technically for movie writing, but a ton of tricks and tips that would help any writer.)
Take Off Your Pants by Libbie Hawker
Stephen King: On Writing By Stephen King
http://www.amazon.com/Techniques-Selling-Writer-Dwight-Swain/dp/0806111917
Techniques of a Selling Writing is a great book for me, it talks a lot about creating concise narrative and engrossing stories.
You'll laugh even more once you read this book. It's full of jokes, just like your ideology.
To anyone checking this out in the future, or right now. I'm compiling a list of good translations.
Communist manifesto, look for Samuel Moore. http://www.amazon.com/Manifesto-Communist-Party-Karl-Marx/dp/1934451630/
War and Peace, look for Ann Dunnigan. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0451523261
On the search for mein kampf, I have probably been added to every government watch list there is... anyways, after reading through... unsavory white power and neo nazi forums, 1/3 recommend Murphy, 1/3 recommend Ford, 1/3 Say "Learn german dumbass"
"I guess I need to figure out just how seksi-time I'm going to make my romance novels. Are erotic romances where it's at? Or should I aim for straight up romance (i.e. less graphic seksi times, less seksi times in general)?"
Romance is wide-open (er, so to speak) in terms of how sexy you make it, but there's something that many erotic authors discover when they start writing romance: romance readers have their own expectations, and it's important to meet those expectations when you write romance. Pick up a copy of -- at least -- Romancing the Beat by Gwen Hayes. (And there are a lot of resources about romance floating around the Net.) Romance readers are more interested in the developing relationship between well-written characters -- the chase -- than the capture: "seksi times". Doesn't mean that erotic is right out the door: you just have to make it part of the story rather than the whole story.
If all you are interested in are the mechanics of the self-pubishing process, Amazon has an excellent book that is free here:
Publish on Amazon Kindle
That book focuses exclusively on publishing on the Amazon Kindle Direct platform.
For publishing on other platforms (B&N, Smashwords, AllRomanceEbooks, Apple, etc) take a look at:
Self-Publishing Step by Step
Plot and Structure By James Scott Bell: Far and away one of the best book I've ever read on writing.
http://www.amazon.com/Plot-Structure-Techniques-Exercises-Crafting/dp/158297294X
I actually just started Techniques of the Selling Writer by Swain, which I have heard great things about but I haven't read far enough to give my own opinion.
http://www.amazon.com/Techniques-Selling-Writer-Dwight-Swain/dp/0806111917
I'm not sure about what questions you could ask a coach, but any information i'd ever want to learn about writing can be found in the following books:
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1444723251
Stein on Writing
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0312254210
Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, Second Edition: How to Edit Yourself Into Print by Renni Browne
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0060545690
Maybe some questions you can answer for us? Why have you sought out a writing coach? What kind of writing do you do? How long have you been writing and at what level?
You may get some better responses after these questions. :)
That obviously depends on the day. If I have nothing else to do I would expect 5K at least. If I'm busy I might not get anything done.
Anybody interested in writing faster might benefit from reading Rachel Aaron's 2K to 10K at $1 for the Kindle edition.
Main lessons from that: Take a couple of minutes before starting to write a short outline, be really excited and interested in the scene you want to write (if something bores you, it will bore readers as well), keep records of your progress.
I found this book helpful on this particular issue: Shoot Your Novel: Cinematic Techniques to Supercharge Your Writing by C.S. Lakin. The quality of her books on writing vary greatly but this one was particularly well done and helpful in my opinion. I think it very much addresses how to approach the problem you are describing.
What made you go directly for a smaller author-services company?
According to industry though-leader Guy Kawasaki, Amazon has a majority of the market share (over 70%) and he subsequently recommends publishing first with CreateSpace should you choose to use author-services.
I worked for an up-and-coming author services company & was not impressed with their ability to help their customers sell books.
If you are feeling overwhelmed, Guy's book APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur (link below) is an amazing resource for the first-time self-publisher.
Hope that helps!
http://www.amazon.com/APE-Publisher-Entrepreneur-How-Publish-ebook/dp/B00AGFU5VS
Amazon has you covered.
I think it's more of a manifesto. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0039GL21I
But yes, you can read it.
> Am I just missing something? Where should I go to learn what I want to learn?
https://www.amazon.com/Techniques-Selling-Writer-Dwight-Swain/dp/0806111917
Read this. It's an in-depth answer to the questions you have about turning an outline into a first draft.
As far as "Write more". I like to write my first draft long hand. Then I re-write my second draft long-hand using my first draft as a reference.
Then I type my third draft into my computer using my second draft as a reference.
Then I print out my third draft and type my fourth draft using my third draft as a reference.
For the fifth draft I cut 10%. For the sixth draft I cut another 10%. Then I polish it.
I think that's what most people here mean. Writing is re-writing.
>I learned a lot reading this book, so before anything thank you to James N. Frey. By far the best non-fiction on writing I've ever read. Please consider purchasing the book itself (here, as no amount of notes will ever be satisfactory substitutes for reading the actual book. And quite honestly the man deserves the sales).
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>Second, apologies for taking so long. A close friend of mine was having some health issues that I had to help her with, and on top of that my internship has been kicking my ass lately. So anyways here are the notes. I assumed .pdf was universal enough, but if someone needs a different format let me know and I'll oblige.
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>I left out the chapters on revising/editing and "the zen of being a novelist," because I myself didn't read them. I wrote a small little checklist at the bottom of the document to ensure you hit all the marks for a 'damn good novel.'
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>https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B29ZBVzB0Z-TWTVkeUtzZE1zQkE
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>edit: I tried to make my notes as readable as possible (you should've seen them before I went through and edited them..). So I'm sorry if you can't read them, or if some parts are incomprehensible, but I did my best! I also included some screenshots of the examples the author used for parts that, I thought, demanded such.
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>edit: Wow. Thank you to the kind stranger that gilded me. What do I do with my hands? I've never been gilded before..
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>I learned a lot reading this book, so before anything thank you to James N. Frey. By far the best non-fiction on writing I've ever read. Please consider purchasing the book itself (here, as no amount of notes will ever be satisfactory substitutes for reading the actual book. And quite honestly the man deserves the sales).
>
>Second, apologies for taking so long. A close friend of mine was having some health issues that I had to help her with, and on top of that my internship has been kicking my ass lately. So anyways here are the notes. I assumed .pdf was universal enough, but if someone needs a different format let me know and I'll oblige.
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>I left out the chapters on revising/editing and "the zen of being a novelist," because I myself didn't read them. I wrote a small little checklist at the bottom of the document to ensure you hit all the marks for a 'damn good novel.'
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>https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B29ZBVzB0Z-TWTVkeUtzZE1zQkE
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>edit: I tried to make my notes as readable as possible (you should've seen them before I went through and edited them..). So I'm sorry if you can't read them, or if some parts are incomprehensible, but I did my best! I also included some screenshots of the examples the author used for parts that, I thought, demanded such.
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>edit: Wow. Thank you to the kind stranger that gilded me. What do I do with my hands? I've never been gilded before..
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>I learned a lot reading this book, so before anything thank you to James N. Frey. By far the best non-fiction on writing I've ever read. Please consider purchasing the book itself (here, as no amount of notes will ever be satisfactory substitutes for reading the actual book. And quite honestly the man deserves the sales).
>
>Second, apologies for taking so long. A close friend of mine was having some health issues that I had to help her with, and on top of that my internship has been kicking my ass lately. So anyways here are the notes. I assumed .pdf was universal enough, but if someone needs a different format let me know and I'll oblige.
>
>I left out the chapters on revising/editing and "the zen of being a novelist," because I myself didn't read them. I wrote a small little checklist at the bottom of the document to ensure you hit all the marks for a 'damn good novel.'
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>https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B29ZBVzB0Z-TWTVkeUtzZE1zQkE
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>edit: I tried to make my notes as readable as possible (you should've seen them before I went through and edited them..). So I'm sorry if you can't read them, or if some parts are incomprehensible, but I did my best! I also included some screenshots of the examples the author used for parts that, I thought, demanded such.
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>edit: Wow. Thank you to the kind stranger that gilded me. What do I do with my hands? I've never been gilded before..
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Sol Stein recommends the opposite as well: examine crap to identify what doesn't work. Since that sentiment is mirrored in our sister profession, I'd call that a good tip.
Well... it's hard because I have two different approaches to novels. The one I have for my non-romance plot stuff and the new one I'm developing for romance. All that terminology "pinch points" "inciting incidents" makes me want to puke. I don't bother with that. I'm sure when people told stories hundreds of years ago around the campfire they didn't worry about pinch points.
I keep a few things in mind (and this will be different for romance sort of)
If you can make a good story... you don't need to worry about those 'pinch points' it will just sort of happen. If that makes sense. I guess what I'm saying is when people tell stories they didn't sit down and think "hmm what is my pinch point?" Instead, they came up with their characters, and a story. Be a storyteller. Not a story analyzer (is that a thing?) Don't let yourself get wrapped in analyzing or terminology that your reader doesn't know or care about anyway. Tell a story with good characters and you'll win.
Now with romance, I'm still learning... it's a harder beast imo to plot/plan. (If you have KU these might be of some help.) I've read this:
http://www.amazon.com/Busy-Writers-Tips-Writing-Romance-ebook/dp/B009HUQ8KK/ref=sr_1_25?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1449616072&sr=1-25&keywords=writing+romance
And
http://www.amazon.com/KEEP-YOUR-PANTS-OUTLINE-INTUITIVE-ebook/dp/B018688KPY/ref=sr_1_56?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1449616122&sr=1-56&keywords=writing+romance
And there is some helpful info in there... might need to dig a little but it helped me figure out my 'plan' for plotting romances without worrying about what pinch point really means.
To sum up, don't get bogged down, just tell a story about the characters. Get them together, love love love, kiss kiss kiss, pull them apart and make them find their way together again. Swoon. After all, romance is more about the characters than anything else anyway.
This is what works for me but some people may disagree. I'll let you know how it works for me when I'm taking a bath in all my money. :)
I don't know how much advice I can offer, as I write coming-of-age pieces that aren't necessarily vast or world-building. I may misjudge your audience.
However from a personal level, I can tell you that I come to a story for a character and the plot he/she goes through. I know that in scifi world-building is a huge element, but books involve stories, and stories involve characters, and the character should be mentioned as early as possible. Not just the fact that he's a sweaty pilot--say something painterly about him, humanize him.
As a reader, I don't mind being confused about the plot if I like something about the character. If he's 19 and scared out of his mind and there's someone waiting at home for him. Throw the readers a little treat, and they'll be patient on their leash.
Then, once you've roped them, you can find ways to sneak information. Use dialogue during this mission to explain to the readers important details in a natural way.
And don't forget that you may want to reveal some details to the readers in later chapters instead of earlier on. The right amount of confusion is a plot device that keeps people reading the next chapter.
Game of Thrones has what people jokingly call "sexposition," which (as you may have guessed) when exposition is revealed through the dialogue of people having sex. I'm not suggesting you use sex scenes as liberally as GoT, but keep in mind that it's easier to read important details while characters are doing things or talking than it is to read great big chunks of information--especially if we don't care about the characters yet, or know what they're going to do.
Again, I don't know if this is at all helpful--if it's relevant to your audience--but I think it applies to general readership.
Also, I highly recommend 2 excellent books, "Stein on Writing" and "How to Grow a Novel," both by Sol Stein. He's an old editor with plenty of brilliantly sharp writing and editing advice. He has a lot of "rules", but it's really fantastic advice if you take it with a grain of salt.
https://www.amazon.com/Stein-Writing-Successful-Techniques-Strategies/dp/0312254210
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0312267495/ref=pd_aw_sim_14_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=09Q68W3D49Q8ZQ5PJTTR
Just buy APE. It has pretty much everything you'll need to get your book up.
I read this book early on, and it really helped me put the pieces in the right spots. Getting structure figured out early frees you up for learning the fun stuff like characterization, etc.
Another place for instant info on structure is http://cockeyedcaravan.blogspot.com/, although it's a bit advanced.
And here is a super basic run-down of how movies are structured. Novels can have a slightly different structure, but scrolling down and reading about a bunch of stories you already know helps you get a feel for the reader's expectations.
http://thescriptlab.com/component/abc/?view=alphabetical&task=&catid=131&Itemid=152
http://thescriptlab.com/screenplay/five-plot-point-breakdowns
Have you read Guy Kawasaki's book? Any opinions on his advice?
I generally write, then map, then write, then re-map, repeat. (I also have a giant file of ideas and snippets.)
If you're interested in different types of plotting/mapping, check out Dan Wells' YouTube videos on the 7 point plot structure, Rachel Aaron's book 2k to 10k, and everything the Writing Excuses podcast has under their plot tag.
Edit: added links.
I've been reading up on Scene - Sequel and MRUs this week, so I figured I'd throw in some useful links to jump start you!
A general overview of the Scene Sequel concept: http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/articles/writing-the-perfect-scene/
Then some examples:
http://storysensei.blogspot.com/2005/08/scene-and-sequel-scene.html
http://storysensei.blogspot.com/2005/08/scene-and-sequel-sequel.html
This next one is my favorite MRU post. It covers another version of the MRU called Stimulus, Internalization, Response (SRI) and has the best break down of the MRU/SRI method I've seen yet. (https://www.writingforums.com/threads/130361-Master-Class-The-MRU)
All of these methods come from a book by Dwight V. Swain. I haven't read it yet, but if you want to know more that'd be the source.
https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0806111917/camysloft-20/
> Fucking parasites.
It's not entirely their fault, tho they deserve a lot of blame. The one good reason to go traditional publishing is to get into physical bookstores. The problem with that is that unless you are jK rowling or stephen King, you'll only be there for a few weeks before being replaced with whatever is next in the publishing assembly line. I'm sure you've noticed that there are fewer B&N stores, and inside each one, the shelf space for books keeps shrinking in favor of toys and coffee bars. Bookstores have one insurmountable problem they cannot solve: finite shelf space. On Amazon or Smashwords, shelf space for ebooks is effectively infinite.
Here's two books on how to self-publish. The first, by Amazon itself, is free:
Buy Rachel Aaron's book of writing advice. It is actually very helpful.
Also check out the snowflake method.
See what other famous, prolific writers do. Try a bit. See what you do best with.
If something gives you a headache, either it's not for you, or you're doing it wrong.
Up to you to figure that one out.
Rinse, repeat. :)
I'm not sure. I feel so lost. Here is a good resource that may give you some guidance.
http://www.amazon.com/Manifesto-Communist-Party-Karl-Marx/dp/1934451630