Once
you've completed your manuscript, put it through revision, secured an
agent or not, and sold it to a publisher, maybe you think you can relax
back and let everyone else handle the nasty details of getting it into
readers' hands. When I began publishing in the eighties, that was the
case. But it's not true anymore. Now writers need to learn all about
marketing and promotion. It's part of being an author.
Friday, December 15, 2017
Becoming a Marketing Machine--What It Takes to Promote Your Book
It's hard for writers to hear this: writing your book isn't your only job in becoming an author.
Friday, December 8, 2017
Writing about Sex, Intimacy, and Other Dangers
Sex is hard to write. I've written two sex scenes in my life
so I'm no expert, but I found each extraordinarily difficult.
The main challenge was not any reservations about including sex scenes in my fiction but how to make them reveal more about character than the character's actions. That's my personal preference as a reader, as well as a writer, and it may not be yours. You may be a Fifty Shades of Gray kind of writer and reader, and more power to you. But I wanted to address the topic, especially after a coaching client sent me this email.
The main challenge was not any reservations about including sex scenes in my fiction but how to make them reveal more about character than the character's actions. That's my personal preference as a reader, as well as a writer, and it may not be yours. You may be a Fifty Shades of Gray kind of writer and reader, and more power to you. But I wanted to address the topic, especially after a coaching client sent me this email.
Friday, December 1, 2017
Feedback Says My Writing Is "Dense"--What Does This Mean and What Can I Do About It?
A
student in my online classes is writing a futuristic thriller about
memory loss. I've enjoyed reading her chapters in class and so have her
classmates. But recently she emailed me about some feedback she'd
received that she didn't understand. She said she couldn't find much
information about online, so she was hoping I could help her with what
to do with the comments.
Readers
have told her that her writing can be dense and hard to get into. As a
thriller writer--and someone who is very comfortable with action
scenes--this confused her. "For my book to be accessible I want to make
it as quick and easy to read as possible," she told me. "I've tried
to make it fast paced because that grabs people's attention."
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