An Interview with Ali Luke, Part Two

Posted on May 14, 2012 by admin

In Part 2 of the interview with Ali Luke the topics include her writing community “The Writers’ Huddle,” improving your writing, and her novel Lycopolis…

The Writers’ Huddle

Recently you created “The Writers’ Huddle” online community. And as you know, I myself am an active member of that community. I’ve found it to be a warm and courteous group of writers, who are not afraid to give their honest opinions and are also generous in sharing what they know. Almost immediately, I was able to get some insightful critiques of my writings-in-progress.

You started with about 100 members, but you also very recently opened it up to new subscribers.

Please describe its features and tell us how it’s going?

Writers’ Huddle is a community and teaching site, so as well as the forums for members to interact, there’s lots of content to help writers out. That includes:

- Mini-courses aimed at beginners, or people who want a refresher, in particular areas (MS Word, blogs, fiction)

- Monthly seminars, either with me or with guest speakers

- Monthly Q&A sessions to answer members’ questions

- The full On Track ecourse, which I’ve added to the package this time round

It’s going very well, I think! It’s been great to see members interacting in the forums, although I know that there are quite a lot of members who never use the forums and who are just there for the teaching content.

What is some of the positive feedback you’ve received?

I had lots of lovely comments when I ran a survey of the original members. The webinar with Seth Leonard got lots of great feedback (sadly, I can’t really take much credit for that..!) and many people have said how much they’re enjoying the Huddle community.

Have you yourself, personally, found it a rewarding experience.

Definitely. There’s something special about leading a community like this; I feel that I’ve been able to bring together something really worthwhile. Writers’ Huddle is the sort of site that I wish I’d belonged to when I started out!

And on a more mercenary note … having regular membership payments makes it easier for me to plan things financially, and it also means I can concentrate on producing content for the Huddle rather than thinking about how to sell it in the form of ebooks or individual courses.

I know you have been adding fresh material constantly (you must spend your weekends brainstorming!), so where do you see the community going in the near future?

I’m really excited about On Track, because I’d love to see members making some great process on bigger projects – I know some already are, but I’ve heard from quite a few others who are struggling a bit. I’d also like to create and publish an anthology of members’ work, probably this summer, as that’s something that most survey respondents were interested in.

Writing improvement

How about building your content to help your readers learn to write better?

I try to give specific examples wherever I can; I think this makes it much easier for people to “get” what I’m explaining. I also try to split posts up for easy reading, using subheadings, bold text, and so on, and I’ll often give clear action steps. Most of my readers are already pretty good writers, but I want to help them take things even further.

If someone were to ask you, How can I become a better writer?— what would you advise them to do? What specific activities do you think could accelerate learning most?

Read a lot, and read widely. I think every writer will tell you that! And write, too; not necessarily every day, but on a regular basis. You can’t become a better writer without regular practice. Write for a clear purpose (e.g. aim to get a letter published in a magazine, or a guest post onto a big blog) – there’s nothing wrong with doing morning pages or journal writing, but you also need to be thinking about getting your work to a publishable standard.

Edit after you write. That means two things: don’t edit while you’re trying to get the first draft down, and don’t neglect editing altogether. No-one writes a perfect first draft – half the work of writing is in the editing.

Some writers who have written on writing in books and on blogs, have advised readers to–for learning purposes—to mimic or imitate the style of writers they admire. Do you agree with that advice? If yes or no, why?

I think it can be a fun exercise, and if you’re guest posting, it’s useful to shift your style to suit the blog you’re writing on. (For instance, Copyblogger tends to use punchy, chatty language and short sentences and paragraphs; I try to do the same when I’m writing for them.)

There’s a bit of a danger, though, of ending up unintentionally mimicking other writers when you’re trying to compose your own material. So if you are going to do this exercise, I’d suggest trying out a wide range of styles, not just imitating one particular writer.

Lycopolis

It seems such a short while ago that you published your novel Lycopolis. How is it doing?

I brought out the ebook version in November 2011, and the paperback in April 2012. Sales have been slower than I’d hoped – it’s a lot harder to market fiction than non-fiction – but the reviews and other feedback have been fantastic. So I’m hoping that, with more work from me on the marketing, the sales will start to pick up.

How is your book tour going?

It’s been a bit more work than I’d expected! As well as writing the posts themselves (which is great fun), there’s also the organizing side of things, and replying to comments. These elements are fun too, but they’ve been taking up a fair bit of mental energy.

In terms of results … probably too early to say. I’ve definitely seen an increase in sales, just not such a dramatic one as I might have liked!

I know you have a sequel in the works. Care to share any hints about the story?

I do, and I’ve got around 55,000 words of very scrappy first draft on the sequel. I can’t tell you much without spoilers, but I can tell you that this time, the story involves a pleasure demon rather than one of nightmares…

Thanks so much, Ali, for your time and for sharing some fascinating details.

It’s been a pleasure, Bill! Thanks for lots of thought-provoking questions.

_____________________

You can find Ali’s work here:

http://www.aliventures.com/

http://thewritershuddle.com [AL1]

http://www.lycopolis.co.uk/blog/

Recent Guest Posts:

http://menwithpens.ca/how-to-write-an-book-in-7-days/

http://writetodone.com/2012/03/24/how-much-should-you-write-every-day/

http://www.oxondigital.co.uk/two-great-reasons-to-write-an-ebook-and-three-crucial-tips-for-getting-it-done/

Recent Book Tour Stops:

http://www.thecreativepenn.com/2012/04/24/write-your-novel/

http://blog.bookbaby.com/2012/04/how-to-plan-your-book-and-set-yourself-up-for-success/

Posted in Announcing, Interviews | Tagged Ali Luke, Huddle writing community, Interview with Ali Luke, the novel Lycopolis | 4 Comments

An Interview with Ali Luke, Part One

Posted on May 7, 2012 by admin

Welcome to Ali Luke, successful blogger, freelance writer, coach and novelist. She is the author of the Aliventures.com blog and newsletter, the novel Lycopolis, and creator of the thriving writers’ community “The Writers’ Huddle.” She is also under contract and currently writing a book in the popular “For Dummies” series on writing ebooks.

Ali, would you start with some info about yourself, your background, how you got into writing, and basically how you got to where you are today?

Sure thing – and thanks for having me here, Bill!

I’ve been writing since childhood (and I was making up stories before I could write…) In my early teens, I started work on my first novel, and never really looked back. I studied English Literature at Cambridge (and wrote a second novel) and, after a couple of unfulfilling years in the “real world” of a 9 – 5 job, I quit to be a freelance writer and to take a part-time Masters in Creative Writing & Life Writing at Goldsmitsh College, University of London.

When I started freelancing, most of the work I did was for blogs. I’d had a couple of personal diary type blogs as a student and while I was working a day job, but I then got into “professional” blogging – with a clear topic and the intention of making money. This was what led to a few initial freelancing gigs, and what gave me the confidence to quit my day job.

Blogging

You have what I consider to be a successful blog and writing career. Your posts and articles draw a constant flow of comments from readers who relate that they find your content helpful. And, you seem to have a canny way for hitting on quite practical advice that resonates with your readers.

So tell us, if you would, what’s your secret?

Hubris and luck! I threw myself into blogging, confident of success. It took a good while longer than I expected, but I was constantly learning new things and putting myself out there. I started writing guest posts within my first month of blogging, and my first two guest posts actually led to paid positions.

I suppose perseverance played a role, too, along with a deep-seated love for both writing and the online world. I’ve also got a definite business-minded streak, which surprised me a bit!

Do you still enjoy blogging? I know for some it can become like a treadmill, and it can be all-to-easy to burnout.

I love it – though I’ve changed direction a few times over the past four years, and it’s only in the last two that I’ve really settled on my core topic (writing for writers/bloggers). It definitely helps to be writing about an area that I’m immersed in as part of my work and life.

Did it take a while for you to build up your subscriber list?

Oh yes! Aliventures was my third blog (after one on dieting and one on student tips, respectively…) and it still took me a good while to establish a strong readership base. Here’s how the stats look:

0 subscribers – July 16th, 2009 (launch)

1000 subscribers – February 12th, 2010

2000 subscribers – February 5th, 2011

3000 subscribers – March 26th, 2012

When you were starting out, did you use any particular strategies to build your subscriber list? If so, did they help?

Guest posting has always been my best strategy, and it definitely helped. In the early days of Aliventures, I was blogging about personal development rather than writing, so I was able to tap into the audience for some of my paid work too.

Over the past year, I’ve also focused on my newsletter rather than RSS subscribers, and that’s now close to 2,000 members: in my guest posts, I’ve often promoted the newsletter rather than the blog itself.

I’ve noticed that your posts and guest posts get a lot of comments. And I suspect that it’s because you aim at being very practical. Anyway, can you share how you think about addressing reader concerns and being practical–I’m assuming my suspicion re practicality is correct?

I absolutely try to be practical, though I’m not sure that’s necessarily linked to the number of comments. At least, I’d never thought of it that way! But you may well be right. I definitely think that readers like posts that offer practical advice which they can implement … though I try to mix this up with occasional posts that aim to be more inspirational.

I try to reply to all the comments on Aliventures (unless they’re very short) and also on my guest posts. Not only does this encourage people to come back and comment on more posts, it also boosts the number of total comments. Sadly, it’s getting harder to keep up with that now that I’ve got a bigger readership, and when I post on big blogs.

The internet has enjoyed exponential growth worldwide. It seems to be evolving almost as fast as technology. Where do you see blogging going in coming weeks, months, years?

We’re in for a fantastic ride, I think! When I was an undergraduate, blogging was still the reserve of geeks – I certainly had no idea that anyone made money from it (beyond, perhaps, covering their hosting costs by running a few ads).

In the time that I’ve been blogging (2008 onwards) there have been some substantial changes. For one thing, WordPress has become much more user-friendly, so I think we’ll see more and more people joining the ranks of the blogging world. Twitter has also become hugely popular, and so bloggers tend not to do so many round-up posts, preferring to link to posts from Twitter instead. (Twitter’s one of my best traffic sources, in fact.)

I think we’ll see micro-blogging, with sites like Twitter and Tumblr, become increasingly popular. I also think blogging will become better understood and more respected in the wider world – for many people, it still seems like something a bit techy or geeky. The technology will, of course, continue to get better and better, and I imagine video blogging will become increasingly popular too.

Do you see blogging and online entrepreneurship as a force for good in this world, generally or specifically?

I do. On a personal and individual basis, running your own business can be immensely fulfilling – it may well also mean a better lifestyle with more time for family or friends. And on a broader level – bloggers can be a powerful force for change, often able to express opinions that the mainstream media are unwilling to commit to.

Entrepreneurial bloggers can provide excellent services all around the world, and they all give away a huge amount of content too – so even those who can’t afford to, say, buy an ebook can at least benefit from blog posts and newsletter material.

Freelance and Copywriting

You make your living with your writing. I find that admirable. I spent most of my career in government, actually writing a lot, and I’ve done some ghostwriting and did various work as a writer outside of my career, but I have never made my living at it. But you earn part of your income freelancing and writing for the web.

How did you get started in freelancing? I mean from day one?

In January 2008, I wrote a guest post to promote my new and fledgling blog The Office Diet (it still exists, and brings in some advertising revenue, but I haven’t updated it in years). The guest post was for Diet Blog, and the editor there, Jim, said he could offer me a paid gig. That email opened my eyes to the world of freelance blogging. (Thanks, Jim!)

Did you do anything to prepare yourself in the way of skills and knowledge about copywriting before taking or looking for assignments?

I bought a couple of books on copywriting and freelancing, and I read Copyblogger and Freelance Switch avidly. In terms of my assignments, though, most of what I was doing was fairly straightforward – I wasn’t writing sales copy, just content.

For readers thinking of getting into freelancing, how would you advise them? For example, would reading some good books and blogs on copywriting fundaments and insights be advisable—or should the wannabe just jump in and sink or swim?

I think this really depends on the individual. If your writing skills are already pretty strong, I’d just jump in! (By “strong”, I mean that you’ve written as part of a day job, or you’ve been blogging consistently for a while, or you’ve had work published – even if it’s in a somewhat different style.)

If you’re going to be writing sales copy, then you will need to get some solid knowledge on that. I didn’t take on any sales copy until recently, and even now, it’s something I only tend to do for existing clients – I don’t advertise myself as a copywriter.

eCourses and writing eBooks

You’ve written a number of ebooks and also ecourses, so…

Do you have what they call an “ideal reader” in mind when your write? Do you aim your materials at beginning level writers, as well as more advanced? Or do you have a wider target?

I concentrate on what I consider relevant about my ideal reader. I don’t worry about things like how old they are or where they live, but I do consider their level of technical expertise, as well as their writing experience. I tend to assume that my readers want to write and that they’ve done at least some writing beyond what they had to do in school.

I suppose I’m aiming at the beginner to intermediate range in my ebooks, with The Blogger’s Guide to Irresistible Ebooks being more advanced than the others. With my ecourses, I try to make them as broadly applicable as possible, but they’re not suitable for absolute beginners.

I suspect that you started with you first ecourse (Ontrack, right?) when you didn’t have quite the online following you have now? So, did you have a sizable number of followers when you offered your first ecourse?

Yep, On Track was my first ecourse, in January 2011, so I had about 2,000 blog subscribers at that point but just 250 email newsletter subscribers. (I think loyalty is often underestimated in the blogging world; it’s not just about the size of your list, but about how much those people actually care about you and what you’re offering!) Forty people joined up for On Track, which made it well worth running.

Would you advise those with knowledge to teach to start out small. I know, later on, a course-giver can recycle the ecourse in an updated version, say.

Definitely start small in terms of offering something that’s fairly straightforward: On Track was an email ecourse to keep things simple both for me and for the participants. In terms of your audience, I think you need to be confident that you’re not going to end up spending a huge amount of time for very little return – obviously you can reuse the basic course materials, but if you’re also offering a weekly Q&A or similar, technical support, etc, then the time invested can quickly add up.

You might prefer to begin with an ebook (or self-study course) so that you can easily sell it over time, rather than relying on bringing in enough people with an intense launch.

I’ve noticed you do well when you offer ecourses. How did you learn to write them, in a lesson format?

Thank you! The wonderful Ainslie Hunter of Courses That Matter helped me out a lot, and I also ask for feedback from course participants, which helps me improve each time. I come from a family of teachers, too, so perhaps it’s in my blood.

I approach my courses in a similar way to my blog posts: I try to make them as practical as possible. I’m particularly keen on including step by step instructions and short, straightforward exercises to help get people moving.

What has worked well with your ecourses, and what not so well, if anything?

I’ve been lucky enough to attract great people to take them! With a group course, the mix of participants is really crucial. I’ve found that breaking things into short, simple lessons works well, particular in a web format; that way, people don’t have to wade through huge passages of text at a time.

In terms of not so well … the technology can still get in the way, and this is something I really hope will improve over the next few years. I know Writers’ Huddle members have been having a few problems with the login system (and I’ll be the first to admit it’s not perfect) – unfortunately, I have to work with what’s available.

I’ve also not done as good a job as I’d like of promoting my courses at launch. Next time I open up Writers’ Huddle, I want to do lots of guest posting to reach out to a wider audience than my own blog and newsletter list.

Coaching

What sort of coaching have you done? For example, do you coach fiction writings as well as nonfiction, copywriters, webwriter?

Yes! I’ve had years of experience of fiction critiquing, both in informal workshops and an academic context, so I do work with clients on short stories and novels. Most of my clients are writing blog posts, ebooks, or web copy, and with those, I’ll often give some strategic support as well as help with the actual writing bit.

Do you offer coaching of small projects as well as large ones?

I do; some people come for just one session on a specific project, like a guest post for a big blog. Most of my clients stick around long term, though, often working on an ebook, a blog, or a whole writing career.

What specific areas do you focus on when critiquing a client’s work?

This depends a lot on the client, in terms of what sort of support they’re looking for, and in terms of what level they’re at with their writing. With most people, I’ll look at the big picture (structure, flow, etc) as well as the details (voice, grammar, etc).

I find that voice is often a key area – it’s easy to accidentally slip, and I’ll pick up on any words or phrases that seem inconsistent with the overall voice of a piece. Most people tend to over-write, too, so I’ll often make suggestions for where words, phrases, and sentences could be cut out.

Do you enjoy coaching?

I love it, and I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t! It’s wonderful to see a client’s work progress over time, and I also get lots of great ideas from my clients – if I see the same sort of problem coming up for several people, I know that will make for a great blog post.

Thanks, Ali.

Note: Do you have any questions after reading the interview above. Please feel free to share them, or comment of course…

Coming next Monday, May 14th: Part Two of the above interview.

Posted in Uncategorized | 10 Comments

Coming Tomorrow: Part One of an Interview with Ali Luke

Posted on May 6, 2012 by admin

Read Part One tomorrow of an enlightening interview with successful blogger, writing coach and novelist Ali Luke, author of Aliventures.com and creator of “The Writers’ Huddle” community for writers.

You may have noticed one of her several guest posts on the Write to Done and Men with Pens blogs, and others. She is currently on a virtual tour, promoting her supernatural thriller Lycopolis.

Join us for some intriguing insights on blogging and her writing life.

Posted in Announcing | Tagged Ali Luke, Blogging, Interview with Ali Luke, novel writing, the writing life | Leave a comment

Are you ready for the challenge?

Posted on May 4, 2012 by admin

How good of a writer can you become? How much do you want it?

30 years ago John Naisbett published his book Megatrends: Ten New Directions Transforming out lives. It was based on ten years of research and wound up on the New York Times bestseller list for two years. Much, if not all, of what Naisbett predicted has come true.

We are living what he predicted.

We are in the age of information he foresaw. The lion’s share of our economy is based on the exchange of information. Companies like Google, Facebook, Twitter, and the Internet and blogging, think tanks, research institutions and corporations, international news agencies–all those and many more more traffic information. It has become the coin of the modern world.

Bottom line: Having skill with your language is vital.

It always has been, really. But now more than ever, it is indeed vital to your success. It is vital if you want to make yourself heard, not to mention be taken seriously. It is vital in your relationships with the people who are dear to you. It’s part of being human.

It’s an addiction

If you’re a writer, or if you merely want to feel comfortable calling yourself a writer, understand that being accomplished at speaking or in conversation and at putting words on a page is a life long pursuit. Good writers get better because they want to. It’s an addiction, a good one.

Is there a writer you admire?

His words move you, amaze you, tear up your eyes or make you laugh? You think, “Wow, would I like to write like that!” Your next thought will probably be, “Yeah, but I’ll never be that good.” Hey, I’ve been there.

Don’t be hasty.

How good you can get remains to be seen, doesn’t it?

Your potential is alwyas there, waiting.

One thing I’ve learned about human beings: our potential is real and mostly uncharted territory. You just never know how far you can get until you try–and keep trying. A terrible accident and a little girl is trapped under the wheels of an SUV, and her frantic father nearly kills himself lifting the car up by himself, and she is rescued. Climbers survive a freezing storm and make it to the top of Everest, then live to tell about it.

And Jon Morrow, a life long victim of muscular dystrophy, who has faced death several times, who must use speech recognition software and a mouse moved with his lips to write, is now one of the most successful and respected bloggers on the Internet. And if that is not enough, the Web has dropped into our laps amazing opportunity.

So what will you say?

What do you want to tell us? And more to the point, how well can you tell us?

Will your words be dead on arrival, or will they grip us?

Will they persuade us, challenge us with language that wakes us from a walking slumber and delight us like wind chimes in a breeze. Will it clobber us with potent ideas that cause us to resonate inside with silent shouts of “Yes!”

Being a writer is a good thing.

Becoming a better writer is a worthy goal. Yes, it takes work. It takes a lot of work, and not just on an occasional weekend. You have to keep at it.

So what can you do?

1. Make up your mind that you will get better–as good as you can get.

You’re in this for real, you’re serious, and you will go for it. And you won’t quit, even when you fail and get discouraged at times. You’ll fight for what you want. You’ll do the work.

Sandra Madeira of mywritingchallenge.com just completed 366 days in a row writing blog posts, each day. She works. She has a family, children to take care of and read to at bedtime. She has more than one blog. And today, a year later, she is a better and more confident writer. She and her daughter baked a cake for the celebration. You should have seen her smile.

2. Put that piece of writing by an author whose writings you love on the lab table and dissect it, analyze it. Find out how it works. Discover its secrets. Learn its magic. Then do it!

3. Be on a perpetual quest, not just to get better at the writing craft, but also to figure out the things you can do that will be worth your time and study and produce tangible results in your writing.

And you’ll pause at some point on your writing journey and notice something: I really am getting better.

It’ll warm your heart.

“Pros are always looking for a chance to get better, to improve their craft just a little more.”
– Jeff Goins in You Are a Writer (So Start Acting Like One), Kindle Location, location 198.

_________

Note: Sandra Madeira’s blog address as I listed it in the post above has changed. It is now http://mywritingnotebook.com/

You’re invited to check out her posts which I anticipate will continue to include interesting insights from her writing journey as well as her usual practical writing advice.

Posted in Pep talks | Tagged a challenge to improve your writing, good writing is superessential today, the age of information | 8 Comments

Is your blog writing working for you?

Posted on April 24, 2012 by admin

Do you wonder when you’ve edited your post if it’s good enough? Are there proven formats and blog writing guidelines that can make your posts meaningful every time?

Yes, there are.

A good blog post is like a good story: both meet human psychological needs. Ignore those needs and you can wind up with boring writing.

We all enjoy a bit of suspense, a puzzle to solve, having our curiosity stirred up. We also appreciate a piece of writing that promises to help with a problem we are having, calm our fears, or, on a more positive note, help us improve a skill.

So what are the ingredients of an effective blog post?

1. A catchy title.

A title that isn’t too long. Sean D’Souza of Psychotactics advocates using the breath test. If you can say the title of your post without needing a second breath, it’s length is probably okay.
A title that asks a question zeroing in on a need or worry or interest you figure your reader has. Or, wording that stirs your reader’s curiosity.
A title that also hints at the topic of the post.
And, remember, the job of a title is to motivate your reader to keep reading, to move to that next sentence.

2. Content focused on your reader, not you all the time–a suggested outline.

A potential reader has stopped by your blog. She has read past the title because she senses there’s something potentially helpful to be gained. She has come with a problem that calls for relief, a desire for improvement, a hunger for knowledge. In your first paragraph let her know you are aware of her need.
Next give some evidence you are going to provide that help. In other words, announce the content.
Now provide the help. Here is your core content, your points, your message, your advice—the value you are providing. Spell it out briefly but enough so that it is clear and useful.
If you have authoritative indicators that what you are advising works, add those in too.
Then end with a call to action. What’s the biggest problem with a lot of business letters? Too many letter writers end without asking the reader to do something. So the reader is left with a question? “What does he want me to do?” This can be a weakness in a blog post too. So, what can your reader do to take your advice and take action?

3. A reader-friendly format.

Keep those words, and sentences and paragraphs short for the most part. But include some variety too. Don’t have a lot of one-sentence paragraphs, for example. Put white space between your paragraphs. Make it easily scannable.
Keep your content focused on you main idea. Don’t meander. Stay on target.
Suspense is a great idea throughout your post, not just in the title. Constantly ask yourself what will keep your reader intrigued enough to want to keep reading. “What question can I ask at this point?” Make it suspenseful—a key aspect that works well with nonfiction and not just fiction. “Am I keeping my reader wondering?”
Use bullets and numbering for your points.
Keep it informal, conversational, and make sure you are saying what you mean to say, that it’s clear.
Make it personal. Include some of your experience with the content. If you have a brief anecdote or illustration fit it in.

Your turn: Do you have any points to add for effective blog posts?

Resources:

http://www.psychotactics.com/blog/three_elements-storytelling/

http://writetodone.com/2012/04/01/slip-sliding-how-to-get-customers-to-read-every-word-of-your-copy/

http://writetodone.com/2012/04/13/one-tip-that-makes-writing-blog-posts-easy/

http://www.problogger.net/how-to-write-great-blog-content/

http://www.typepad.com/tips/writing-blog-posts-tips.html

http://www.smartpassiveincome.com/blog-writing-tips/

Posted in Blog writing | Tagged effective blog posts, writing blog postgs | 8 Comments

Why is Showing More Important than Telling?

Posted on April 10, 2012 by admin

Courtesy mikebaird @Flickr. Artist Barbara Rosenthal in Los Osos, California.

Writing is like painting

Fine art that is. There are some key similarities. I started painting watercolors years back. And in my youthful enthusiasm I over-detailed everything in my landscapes. My paintings wound up looking surrealistic. I had to learn to backoff in certain areas.

One key lesson

It can be a serious mistake to paint every area in a painting in sharp focus. Now if a painter is into photo-realism that’s not true. But I find I get quickly bored looking at paintings that imitate photos because everything is spelled out for me. It can also be tiresome because of all that detail. And there’s not much to do beyond admiring the technique.

So I learned to leave some things for the viewer to do. Some areas in the painting that challenge her to ask, “What is that?” A little creative visual interpretation work for her. That’s not mean or purposefully cryptic but instead engaging. The viewer becomes co-creator of the painting experience and the resulting emotion is more powerful.

Writing is like that too

Telling the reader everything she is supposed to get from your text can be insulting to her intelligence. Inviting her to witness the body language of the characters in a story is more powerful than telling her about them.

Telling: Marjorie was angry, disgusted and feed up. She threw down the manuscript and left the room.

Showing: Marjorie’s face lit up like a red-neon light. I could see the pulse throbbing in side of her throat. She grabbed the manuscript and threw it on the floor and stomped out of the room, glaring at me all the way.

Which example above worked better for you? Which painted a more vivid picture? Which convinced you?

Showing verses telling pertains to nonfiction writing too.

Granted there is a lot more telling in nonfiction writing than in fiction. But it is all-too-easy to tell too much, provide too much detail, too many explanations because we’re afraid that the reader won’t get it.

Don’t Spoon-feed the Reader

A couple years ago a writing instructor, critiquing one of my pieces of writing, came right out and told me: “You’re spoon-feeding the reader!” She was right. In my eagerness to make my writing clear I was explaining too much.

The line between showing and telling is thinner with Nonfiction

It’s a judgment call. What helps is having a clear idea of who your intended reader is keeping that reader in mind as you write. Then ask yourself questions like “What does she need to read next to get my meaning?”

How do you show and not just tell with nonfiction?

Instead of just giving your opinion, you cite statistics, give case studies, provide analogies, tell anecdotes, quote an authority, relate your personal experience.

Telling is easy.

Certainly showing is harder work than telling. Telling is seductive because it’s easy. Opinions are cheap. It’s like using the first word that comes to mind, rather than pausing to consider finding a verb with more punch or that specific noun makes your writing sizzle.

The effort can pay big dividends in reader involvement and enjoyment of our writing.

Just last evening I read one of A. Victoria Mixon’s posts (link below). She pointed out, regarding contemporary fiction, that there is a lot of exposition, way too much telling that seems to be a current trend:

Fiction lives and breathes through scenes.
So, as the greats have been saying for over a hundred years: “Show, don’t tell.”

And nonfiction stays alive that way too.

Your turn: What do you think about showing verses telling?

Resources:

http://victoriamixon.com/2012/04/02/3-things-to-know-about-exposition-telling/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+VictoriaMixon+%28Victoria+Mixon%29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Show,_don’t_tell

http://users.wirefire.com/tritt/tip1.html

http://www.dailywritingtips.com/show-dont-tell/

http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/show-dont-tell.aspx

http://jerz.setonhill.edu/writing/creative1/showing/

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged hows to engage readers, painting is like writing, showing verses telling in writing | 4 Comments

Building a Novel Demands Organization

Posted on April 1, 2012 by admin

If you’re at work on a novel or have worked at writing one, you have probably realized it can be an organizational nightmare.

Once you come up with a good idea for a novel that you think will work as a plot, organization enters the picture. Or at least it should.

Once you have developed your fiction-writing skills, preparing to write a novel can be, roughly say, 50% invention, and 50% organization of what you come up with.

There’s always a lot to keep track of. After all you’re building a whole world, even if you draw heavily from the world you know and do not invent an entirely new one on a different planet. And it’s a lot of work.

It’s sort of like writing a doctoral thesis, mountains of research you need to fit into just the right places–only worse. You need specialized writing craft for fiction.

But since it is a lot of work, I like to keep that work to a minimum. I don’t skimp on editing and rewrites, but I like to cut down on work I make for myself. Like being able to find ideas and pieces of research, bits of dialogue or character details when I need them. Like not forgetting to include plants and to followup with those plants later on.

4 Basic Strategies

So I work at 4 basic strategies: (1) a cross-referenced filing system; (2) a beat sheet; (3) a timeline; and (4) character work sheets.

1. A filing system for filing and locating all that information.

It’s very frustrating to me when I’m in the zone, and the writing is going well, to have to stop to find a piece of information or a note on setting, for example, when I need it. Especially when it takes a half hour or hour to find it, if I find it at all.

So when I get the initial idea for a story, I create a file folder in my word-processor and start indexing it right away. Each new idea gets a number and a category. Is it a bit of dialogue that occurred to me? A detail on the setting? A plot twist or surprise? Each gets a label, a key word, which I use over and over again so that I can collect similar items when I want to.

And I cross-reference every idea I can, using the helpful functions of my word processor to the limits of my skills.

Of course this is a good way to go about writing anything, except perhaps for really short pieces. Such efforts can also help with putting together short stories, magazine articles, blog posts.

I find, too, that recording and filing my notes often helps me generate new ideas.

2. I start to build a “Beat Sheet” as early as I can.

A beat sheet, for any of you that may be unfamiliar with the term, is a chronological list of the scenes in the story (it can be a list of chapters, but most fiction writers find the scene the best segment to list).

This list is handy for linking your notes to. It is also helpful when you need to have a quick look at what is happening at each point in your story. Hence novelists often keep the description of the scene brief, like a sentence or two to describe each.

And of course, such a list of scenes can be an essential help in developing that all important structure of your story.

3. Avoid embarrassing mistakes with a timeline.

Even when you have one basic plot line and events unfold in a neat, chronological series, you can easily make mistakes about what happens when.

With subplots, and most novels have a least one, probably more. those story lines will connect up with the action of the main plot line. It gets more complicated to keep the timing straight.

To do this, you can create a timeline. Either an independent file, say in a spreadsheet or your word processors, or just include it via small notes in your beat sheet.

4. Keep your characters straight with character sheets.

If you have a sizable number of characters in your novel, it can be challenging to keep their traits and aspects straight. This can be particularly true with minor characters, often much less developed and less in the spotlight than your major story-people.

I keep two lists. One contains brief notes on each character–eye color, hair color, basic physical descriptions, major/minor traits. These serve as reminders when needed.

I have additional sheets for each important character that go into more detail, for example backstory, weaknesses and strengths, and the all important character arcs for each–the range of growth seen in the character throughout the story.

Coordination is Key.

Done well, these organizational efforts make for productive writing. You have the information you need handy as you write because you have put in the effort to coordinate it all. It can also help you avoid some major re-write tasks.

You can keep track to what you need to remember at each stage, or scene, you are writing. What was it about the setting, that detail, that can contribute to the mood of the story at this p0int? What was the color of the minor characters eyes? It’s the halfway point in the novel, so where is my protagonist in her character arc now? Do I need to foreshadow the major crisis here?

There’s more you can do.

Like planning each scene like you would a short story. On that, see my previous posts–this one: http://keystowriting.com/how-to-get-your-scenes-going-right-from-the-start/ and this one: http://keystowriting.com/are-you-asking-enough-questions-about-your-scenes/.

Try these strategies and draw from them to add to your own system for compiling, recorfding all your ideas and research and keeping it findable. It can make that long road to a publishable novel a shorter one.

Additional resources:

First Draft in 30 Days by Karen Wiesner

Character & Viewpoint, The Elements of Fiction Writing, by Orson Scott Card

How to Write a Damn Good Mystery by James N. Frey (Chapter 9)

http://storyfix.com/storytelling-to-the-beat-of-a-different-drummer

https://www.google.com/search?q=novel+timeline+template&hl=en&sa=X&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&ei=OLZ4T9iRHcXliALFtMynDg&ved=0CHgQsAQ&biw=640&bih=469

Posted in Fiction Writing in Particular | Tagged novel organization, novel writing | 2 Comments

A Challenge for You: Describe these Sentences.

Posted on March 23, 2012 by admin

How would you describe the sentences in italics below?

A. What kind of sentences are they? They are obviously not simple subject-verb constructions or what are commonly called compound or complex –or even compound-complex sentences.

B. Do they work for you? Do you find them effective, easy to follow, descriptive, and maybe even at times evocative?

C. Are they grammatically correct?

1. A pungent odor of dried coriander and bay leaves permeated the room; the scent mixed with garlic, a hint of bread, and darker overtones.

2. Roman guards stood equally spaced at intervals along the wall, silhouetted against barrels of fire and the considerable light of the almost-full moon now setting on the horizon.

3. The Lower City rose to her left, white boxes with dark windows and door slits, tiered row upon row.

4. Sara moved through the street of the Lower City, holding an infrared flashlight that pulsed invisibly, something only Benjamin could see with the night vision goggles.

Here are my answers:

A. They are called cumulative or loose sentences. I call the segments added onto the main clauses “add-ons” See more in the post here: http://keystowriting.com/2011/11/

B. Yes. Yes.

C. Yes.

Modern English constantly transcends what is taught in many books on writing–certainly many books on grammar.

Contemporary published writers, including best-selling ones, use the types of phrases illustrated in the italicized quotations above constantly in their writing. And effectively too. Often with lyrical beauty approaching poetry and with descriptive power.

Are they part of your writing arsenal?

Recommended additional reading:

http://grammar.about.com/od/c/g/cumulativesentencegloss.htm

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080927151905AADbTCs

http://onpinestreet.com/2011/08/11/how-to-write-better-sentences-7christensens-cumulative-sentence/

http://www.fldoe.org/BII/pdf/TheCumulativeSentence.pdf

http://www.online-literature.com/forums/blog.php?b=10124&page=2

Best books and courses:

Notes Toward a Modern Rhethoric by Frances Crhistensen

A Modern Rhetoric by Frances Christensen and Bonniejean Christensen

Building Great Sentences by Brooks Landon, Ph.D., University of Iowa, 24-part lecture series, http://www.thegreatcourses.com by The Teaching Company.

Posted in Modern English Sentence Series, Recommended Books | Tagged good writing, How to write modern, modern English, professional sentences | Leave a comment

How to get your Scenes Going Right–from the Start

Posted on March 19, 2012 by admin

Photo courtesy of boboroshi @Flickr.com

Do you find it hard to remember everything you want to include in a scene?

I do. That’s why I put together my own template that I can refer to when writing.

Last January, I posted 33 key questions to ask about your scenes. Here’s the link: http://keystowriting.com/are-you-asking-enough-questions-about-your-scenes/

Here is a supplement to that post. It’s a worksheet you can fill out to make your scenes dynamic and exciting…

THE SCENE TEMPLATE

SCENE Notes (things you want to be sure to remember while writing)

SCENE BLANKS TO FILL IN…

(Remember: Not as short as possible but as dramatic as possible—but no wasted words.)

POINT OF VIEW character:

PLACE IN STORY STRUCTURE (within or at plot point):

TYPE OF SCENE: Drama and Reaction/Brief Sequel, Action, Beginning, Ending

Indicate time, place and situation for the reader:

Key piece of info this scene provides for the reader:

What are the stakes?

How will you make them clear?

Who and What will the reader root for?

MISSION of this scene/its purpose/the scene question—How does this scene further the story?

CHARACTERS IN THE SCENE AND WHERE THEY ARE AT IN EACH (Main character’s) Arc…

Main character:

ARC:

What does this character want?

What are the obstacles:

How is each revealed?

What is each feeling? Emotion?

Key “show” expressions, body language, dialogue?

OTHER CHARACTERS inthe scene:

PLANTS:

Any SURPRISES/TWISTS?

Where is the point of maximum INTENSITY in the scene?

SUSPENSE ELEMENTS:

THEME(S) this scene expresses:

Add any LAST MINUTE REMINDERS:

AND REMEMBER:

Stimulus and response! (Show, specify or strongly imply what causes each character’s important reactions.)

WRITE IT MOMENT BY MOMENT—DON’T SUMMARIZE.

Avoid redundancy or unnecessary descriptions of setting, place, character appearance, or other issues of ambiance?

Remember: A scene is like a short-story, so outline it…

SCENE OUTLINE

BEGINNING (at latest moment, w/o skipping key info or dramatic potential):

Beginning attention grabber?

Does your scene open with something clever, poignant, surprising, or intrinsically interesting?):

MIDDLE (What gets worse?):

END:

Logical twist or Disaster at the end?

What gets resolved?

What doesn’t get resolved?

And what is the hook and the transition to next scene?).

What is the level of anticipation during the scene, as paid off by the moment when the morsel of key story info is revealed?

Or, if it’s a deliberate surprise, how have you set up the reader to make that moment as jarring as possible?

Posted in Fiction Writing in Particular | Tagged fiction scene writing, fiction-writing, planning scenes, scene writing | 1 Comment

My Nomination for the Versatile Blogger Award

Posted on March 13, 2012 by admin

I’ve been nominated by the capable and hardworking Sandra (My Writing Challenge) for this award. Thank you, Sandra.

The rules for accepting this award are as follows:

1. Thank the award-givers and link back to them in your post.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Pass this award along.
4. Contact your chosen bloggers to let them know about the award.

# 1 has been accomplished (Whew!)

So, I’d better get going with #2…

7 things about myself:

1. I turned 70 last January. That ought to be enough right there.

2. I have been painting watercolors for nearly 35 years now. http://www.flickr.com/photos/21521891@N06/sets/72157603373191723/

3. I have been writing all my adult life and still find it rewarding and challenging.

4. I used to be a rock climber, when younger, more daring, and definitely more fit.

5. In my main undergraduate college work, I majored for the first two years in music. Piano and voice. So like Sandra I play piano too. But unlike her I don’t presently have one. I hope to fix that regrettable situation one of these days.

6. I have a master’s degree in divinity (New Testament Greek major), which unfortunately doesn’t make me divine–or even necessarily look divine, but I have my moments.

7. I have two daughters, two sons-in-law, 6 grandchildren, a big black female Labrador that goes by the name of ‘Shadow,” and a cat named “Mr. Wuggles” (not my name firs t choice). I used to have a parakeet or three, but that’s another story.

My nominations for this award are–and as Sandra put in, in no particular order:

1. Ali Luke (Aliventures), novelist, writing coach, and freelancer, and probably the smartest gal on the Internet. Also creator of a fine community of writers, The Writers’ Huddle, which is constantly a help to me.

2. Sandra Madeira (My Writing Challenge)–she deserves to be nominated twice.

3. K. M. Weiland (Wordplay)–winner two years in a row of the Top Ten Blogs for Writers award two years in a row. She too deserves to win again. Wonderful posts on fiction writing wisdom.

4. Amy Deardon (Amy Deardon), novelist, blogger, and author of The Story Template, an excellent book on novel/story writing. I’m reading and enjoyng her novel A Lever Long Enough, as well as the Story Template book.

5. Ruth Zive (Ruth Zive Copywriting), who is not only a dynamite copywriter but also a generous and adept teacher of the craft with her constant and insightful posts.

6. Joanna Penn (The Creative Penn), also novelist, writing coach, and blogger who continually offers a mountain of good info to authors and would-be authors on fiction writing and publishing.

7. A. Victoria Mixon (Victoria Mixon), an all around nice gal who is a savvy writing editor and coach, with years of experience, who also shares insightful interviews with notable writers and has a lot to say on the subject of quality fiction herself.

Now to notify all these people…

Posted in Announcing, Reommended books, blogs, teachers | Tagged versatile blogger award, writing blog award | 1 Comment