Category Archives: Writing Tips

Seething

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So here’s a general question open to discussion, that I hope my readers will get involved with:

What is it that makes you hate a character in a book?

What is it that makes you simply seethe and want that character dead (or worse, expelled!)

I must plea self-serving purposes, I sort of want a general consensus on why certain characters are annoying to a large number of readers. Mainly so in my second book (which I am writing) my annoying character can be really annoying to MANY people and not just a select few.

I’m going more for villainous types, like Dolores Umbridge, but Bella in Twilight is also a reasonable answer! ;)

Leave your thoughts in the comments below!

-JMS

Digital Manuscripts: What You Need To Know About Publishing in the Internet Age: Part 1 Italics

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So I’ve been sending out my manuscript to agents for a little while now. I’ve gotten three solid rejections and three non-responses, which I suppose also count for rejections.

I decided maybe I’d better have a friend edit my manuscript because, you know, my computer spellcheck had decided to miss some very easy spelling errors- in my query, which I didn’t catch until after the first two rejections.

She asked me, after less than a week of reading, why I had italics represented as underlines. Well, I said, that’s what the websites say to do for manuscript formatting.

She wasn’t sure if it was right either, so I put it out on Twitter to my published buddies:

@juliamaestaley: @kellysimmons @rbwood @edenbaylee @AddisonFox Published friends: in manuscript form, do you represent italics as underlined?? @kgwaite

Here is what they said:

“@AddisonFox: @juliamaestaley Italics. W/ electronic editing it now takes longer for them to re-format w/ underlines”

@kellysimmons: @juliamaestaley @rbwood @edenbaylee @AddisonFox @kgwaite I have never done that — I just use italics.

“@edenbaylee: @juliamaestaley no, I don’t. I italicize it, but I guess it depends on whether you are able to do that.”

Wow. That was… Totally different than what I had read on formatting- from some supposedly reliable, MAJOR sources.

So I pressed one of my friends a little further:

@juliamaestaley: @edenbaylee but are you using 12 pt Courier? Because I do see it is hard to tell italics in that font.

She responded, kindly:

“@edenbaylee: @juliamaestaley no hon, I always use Times new roman. That’s normally a standard, and italics are distinguishable in that font.”

That was a total shock to me. Even books on publishing- put out fairly recently- stressed the use of Courier as the font. I personally have always hated it, and much prefer Times New Roman. And here was a published author saying it outright.

@AddisonFox: @juliamaestaley Glad it helped. No one will hang you up by your toes if you underline but the italics are quicker.

Why I get so frustrated is that many agents and publishers have switched to online submissions, (Which is great,) but nowhere online can you find cohesive, accurate information on digital publishing.

(It’s almost like they are trying to prevent people from knowing this information, like its some insider club. If that’s the case, I am infuriated.)

Even in the 2013 Writer’s Market, which always has a ton of helpful info, I could not find more than snippets on digital manuscript formatting.

So here I am, maybe getting rejected not for the content, but because they get an underlined, weird-font manuscript and think to themselves: man, this writer is totally out of touch. Slush pile, instantly.

So rather than rant about the major websites and published “help” books with very wrong or lacking information, I have decided to start up an ongoing series on formatting for digital publishing.

I would ask all my published friends, genre irrelevant, to please share their formatting tips and tricks via email to me, or in comment boxes on this blog which I will repost as an article. Of course, this only applies to friends that submit their stuff digitally!!

Let’s help one another out here! Getting published is hard enough without the additional problems of incorrect formatting due to outdated sources.

It’s not like it will create more competition. Wouldn’t you rather a publisher based their rejection on your content, rather than your formatting errors?

I would, anyway.

The digital revolution began a long time ago… So let’s help the publishing industry catch up, huh?

-JMS

Sources:

Published Authors:

Kelly Simmons, author of the dramatic and beautiful: “Standing Still” and “The Bird Cage” (Simon and Schuster)

Addison Fox, author of the hot paranormal romance series: “Sons of the Zodiac” and the latest: “Come Fly With Me”.

Eden Baylee, Canadian author of the “Four Seasons” erotica and an awesome indie writer/author.

Writing Tips and Tricks No. 1: Five Things

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Tips and Tricks

As a writer, I’m asked a lot: “How do you come up with your ideas?!!” as if it is some arcane and mysterious process that cannot be understood by mere mortals. Well, I guess there is a little of that too, but sometimes I need a little something called PROMPTS.

Most of you are familiar with websites like Trifecta and Indie Ink, and how those prompts work. Most, if not all, of us, took some form of Creative Writing class either in high school or college that gave us the desire and burn to write, as well as giving us the foundations of writing.

But sometimes we need more than just a prompt. Sometimes we get STUCK. Times like these, we need a little help from other places.

I’m going to plug a book by Damon Knight called “Creating Short Fiction.” He was a masterful writer of a lot of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, but the things he had to say are important for every writer. I’ve taught about this book in several Creative Writing classes now, and I really want the world of writers to know about this, because it has saved my butt multiple times in the course of my writing life.

In his book, Mr. Knight presents an idea called: “Five Things”. I used this to write my last Indie Ink prompt because frankly, I had problems writing something not medieval. (That’s when you know you’ve spent too much time in one time period….)

You should really read how he describes it in his book, because anything I say won’t do it justice and there are many more topics than what I’m giving here, but this is how it works:

Take your object, or prompt, and then think of five ways you could execute that idea in a short.

Sounds easy, right?

Okay, so here’s my prompt from Sunshine on Indie Ink this week: “You have just robbed a bank and are in the getaway car. What happens next?” So let’s take the obvious responses:

  1. Engine is running. I get away!

Well gee, that hasn’t ever been done before.

  1. Tire has a flat. I get caught.

Could be interesting, but that’s been done a lot as well. Now we start moving into more interesting territory:

  1. I get into the car. I’m betrayed by my partner and shot.

Nice! But still pretty cliché.

  1. I’m sitting in the driver’s seat. I recall my life up until now as I’m dying in the seat, having been shot by an officer.

This one would be the one I would probably have gone with. But now is the real challenge. The fifth response. By now we have moved out of the realm of basic clichés. This is NOT always the case. Sometimes you have to use the 6th or 7th idea. It depends on how cliché of a prompt you’re working with. They get a lot harder to think up as you go. I once tried to get to 10…that was a bad day, and I think eventually it works its way back into clichés again.

If I were Chris Carter or someone on the team of X-files, my answer would be:

  1. I am a police officer, possessed by the ghost of a dead bank robber, returned back for the woman I love and a second attempt at crime. I almost get away but am left to die by my lover, who betrays me.

But that was already a very good episode, and I can’t take that.

Similar story for Dark Knight:

5. I am secretly the Joker, pretending to be a simple thug, and through an ingenious and awesome plan, I’ve systematically killed every other thug that was present so only I would benefit. I get away.

SO, I have to think. It has to be the FIRST thing that comes into my head that is NOT fanfiction!

  1. I didn’t steal anything, I just wanted to see what it would be like. I’m a thrillseeker. The consequences of my actions are only just now hitting me.

Ah-hah! Now we are getting somewhere! I may not use this, but it is definitely a start.

I use Five Things a lot when I get writer’s block. You should try it too, and see what you come up with!

Happy Writing!

JMS