FREE WRITING FOR YOUR FANS
How many of you authors offer up free samples for your fans? The question came up on one of the many forums I am on and I had to think about that one.
I often wonder what one would give from a current work to entice the reader to buy the entire novel.
That’s assuming one is marketing an entire novel.
How do you look at it?
These are my thoughts.
AMAZON
If you already have a book out, guess what? All one has to do is go to the “look inside” feature, and there you go. A free sample of the first few chapters for everyone to see. The reader can see right away your writing style and how you start the book out. If it grabs you, which is kind of the point of “look inside,” they’ll be more likely to buy it. This is kind of what agents and publishers do when they review manuscripts before taking on clients.
If you don’t grab them, or the writing sucks, it goes right in the trash can.
The same for readers.
So…
RANDOM CHAPTERS
When you select random chapters as gifts to the reader, to entice them to buy your book, you’re not really giving them a true representation of the book. You’re cherry picking parts. You may be giving away big secret plot points, or trying not to. At the same time you’re trying to entice them to buy your book but maybe, just maybe, you don’t know how to start it. They may like that ONE chapter, but when they buy the book, may get bored and put it down.
I, on the other hand, let my writing do the talking with the “look inside” doing it for me. While I don’t mind samples per se, I have a different way of approaching it.
UNRELATED SHORT STORIES
In my fantasy series, Meleena’s Adventures, I have a page on this web site called just that. There, I post a short story under the banner What’s Meleena Up To? These are mini-adventures, loosely in chronological order that are not related to any of the books I have out. They’re mini-tales I write when I feel like it. No schedule, no pressure, just random inspirations that hit me. They may be some little thing I may have forgot to throw in to one of the books, or something entirely unrelated that I came up with. They’re independent and usually have characters from the books, but the setting, at least so far, have all been in her hometown of Bug Flat.
As for my Gold series, I have what’s called The Limnophobic Chronicles. The title is based on the protagonist Detach’s fear of fresh water lakes. There are no stories, per se, but facts and insights into the research on my Gold series of adventure/thriller novels.
LEGALITIES
Some people worry about posting chapters from their books. Do they have to get permission from their publisher? If they’re not self-published, yes they do!
Can someone steal your ideas?
Here we go again. Anyone can steal anything but once you write it down, it’s yours. Someone else may use the same plot, but they can only tell it in their own words. The Lord Of The Rings has been done over a million times, but it’s never the same. The idea isn’t unique, so each time it’s a distinct story.
Get over it.
SUMMARY
To me, sample chapters should be left to Amazon, because that’s where people are going to be able to determine if they’re going to keep reading or put the book down. A cherry picked chapter later in the book tells the reader nothing. Oh, and if that chapter gives away the plot…
Happy writing!
WHAT ARE YOUR WRITING GOALS?
Before I went to work on another project, I did my usual check of my Facebook new posts and came across one on a writing group.
“What are your writing goals?”
That was the question of the day.
My answer?
“My main goal is for the reader to know that my writing didn’t get in the way of the story and most of all, I want them to be able to close the book (the last page) with a big smile on their face. Can’t ask for more than that.”
In my original post, I forgot the “the last page” but I think everyone will figure it out.
GOALS
You’ll notice nowhere in there did I say anything about making a living, going for max sales, or any of the mercenary business things one might think about in this quite often frustrating undertaking.
Why?
Well, for one, I’m a frustrated and failed musician who never really got much out of three decades of loving to play, but not being loved in return. While some people liked our stuff, the whole hassle and everything that went with it wasn’t all that artistically satisfying, especially when to even get heard, we were forced to play cover songs. That brings up another point that if we didn’t play them exactly like the record, we sucked. Given the thousands of dollars in gear and hours of practice, you can see the payoff for doing something we loved wasn’t all that inspiring, especially when we tried to sneak in an occasional song we wrote, or played a cover song the way we really wanted to.
Writing gave me a better outlet, one where at first, the idea of getting published and maybe striking lightning had a bit of appeal. After twenty years and 689 rejections, I was just too old to give a crap when I finally earned my first publishing contract. I do it for the love and passion of writing, which I already had from day one. Getting published always took a second seat to the love of creating stories.
In a nutshell, getting published and selling books was always a distant second or third to the pleasure of writing, editing and honing my craft. I figured if lightning ever struck one day, so be it. If not, I could live with that.
I got published, but it wasn’t exactly lightning striking. It was hard earned. As of right now, I’m not exactly setting the world on fire.
On the other hand, I have made a small group of fans.
In that way, I’ve already reached both of my goals, and continue to do so every time someone new reads one of my books. I have the potential to make a lot of new fans. There are some that will never like my stuff, of course. So what? Apples, oranges. For the ones that do, they’re my legacy.
Folks, I’ve reached my goals. Of course, I’d like to reach a wider audience, but will it ever happen? Maybe one day.
HOW ABOUT YOU?
What are your goals?
Are you out to create art, get paid, gain popularity, or a bit of all three?
We’ve had a recent speaker at our writers group, and his main goal is to make money. Of course, he could do it in a thousand other ways, but he chose writing because he loves to write. He just has a different approach to the medium. There’s art, of course, but the main goal is to make a living.
I understand that and wish him the best.
I have a real job and have no plans to quit anytime soon.
If my books take off by some quirk of fate, or maybe because people just wake up to my writing, so be it. I still probably won’t quit my job. We’ll see.
What are you after?
Many I’ve talked to just write as a hobby. They get frustrated with all that’s involved. A good many of these people got into this to do a memoir. A one-and-done. After that? A lot of them lose interest and move on to some other less complicated hobby.
Then there are those where writing is a passion. They write all the time, so doing novels or short stories is part of their DNA. If you’re one of them, are you young enough to consider this a career? Are you mercenary enough to have both? Can you have both art AND business acumen to be a success? Are you willing to make artistic sacrifices to make a living rather than write from the heart?
Goals are great motivators. If you don’t have any, you may wallow in indecision and never complete anything. Even if you have the plot to your book mapped out, or are a pantser and have A and B already set, if you don’t have a particular goal in mind, separate from whatever plot the book might have, guess what?
Procrastination sets in.
You’ll be spending more time on Facebook or being distracted by Roadblocks than doing any actual writing whenever you sit down at the computer.
You’ll talk a lot about your story and what you’re going to do, but without an actual solid goal, you may never actually get there. That great story with the great plot will never get finished.
SUMMARY
Your goals should be well-defined. Mine are. They have been, pretty much from day one. Well, ever since I wrote The End on that draft of The Cave, my first-ever novel. Once I figured out I could do it, I never looked back. Getting published has always been in the background, but never front and center compared to just writing the best I can and creating stories that’ll put a big smile on the reader’s face. Can’t ask for more than that.
Happy writing!
THE RELIGIONS OF YOUR WORLD
In our continuing series on world building, you cannot forget about “relijjin.” Yup, that often uncomfortable subject that quite often gets people riled up, fired up, on their toes and ready to rumble. There are many ways to use belief systems that color your world. We’ll discuss that now.
WHY USE RELIGION AT ALL?
There’s no rule book that says you have to use religion in any book you write. It’s purely a matter of taste and whether the story calls for it. It can be a matter of plot or just color. If neither calls for it, don’t add it “juss cuz.” There has to be a reason. On the other hand, if you’re creating a world, such as in fantasy, it adds more realism and color to have real-world cultural thingies like religion, just as there are different languages.
REAL-WORLD FICTION
This plays into regions as much as the characters you utilize in the story. If you’re in South America, Catholicism is going to play into local religion. If you’re in the Middle East, Islam is going to be hard to avoid.
Here in the You Ess And A, it can be a mixed bag of beliefs and you can go with one of hundreds of beliefs based on region, or any grab bag you want.
On the other hand, you can mention no religion at all if you choose. It doesn’t HAVE to be part of your world.
I must mention that by religion, this could also include atheism and agnostic and non-religious beliefs, because after all, they are beliefs – philosophies of life. If they somehow play a key role in the story, use them.
FANTASY OR SCIENCE FICTION WORLDS
In world building for fantasy and science fiction, religion and belief systems are hard to ignore when creating your world. They’re integral parts of almost any society. With that comes the complexity of rules, prejudices, rituals, icons, and all the trappings. How far you want to go with it is up to you.
Does said religion dominate the story?
Does it only play a minor role?
Does this religion affect the plot?
Is this religion just color?
IS THE RELIGION OR LACK THEREOF A POLITICAL OR PHILOSOPHICAL STATEMENT?
This is where things get dicey.
It’s one thing to add real-world authenticity to your story, regardless of genre. It’s quite another to add an agenda. If it’s simply reflecting your observations of the world, fine.
On the other hand, if you have an agenda, watch out.
If you’re out to preach, you could alienate a lot of readers.
You have to step carefully when you add in a religion and start doing stuff with it that comes off not only as preachy, but promoting a specific agenda.
If you slip a bit of philosophy in and not shove it down the reader’s throat, that’s one thing.
If you bludgeon them over the head with it, jerk them out of the story with blatant preaching or bashing, you’ve not only violated their trust, but alienated them as future readers.
What you now have done is made yourself a pariah.
SUMMARY
Religion can be used to great effect to color your world. It can also be avoided if so desired. Either way, if used correctly, it’s a tool to help your world come to life. Used incorrectly, it can ruin a good thing.
Choose wisely, Grasshopper!
Happy writing!
THE LANGUAGES OF YOUR WORLD
I’ve alluded to languages in several other articles here at Fred Central, so I wanted to get that out right up front. In this one, since we’re specifically on a roll with world building, languages is an important part of that effort and should be addressed on its own. Recently, fellow blogger Richie Billing brought it up as well. Lately, we’ve been following similar paths with world building, and he specializes in fantasy, where my usual output is more in general terms. I’ve been concentrating on world building, with an emphasis on fantasy because of several Facebook threads I’m a member of. You can check out his wonderful articles at https://richiebilling.com/
Whenever you create a world, whether real life or made up, people speak to each other. They communicate in some fashion or tuther.
How they do that is important.
REAL WORLD FICTION
With real world fiction, it’s pretty simple. If your story takes place in Spain, some of your characters are going to speak Spanish. Therefore, you need to sprinkle certain phrases and idioms specific to the regions in your story to give it authenticity. If the story takes place in Russia, same thing.
If you have characters from such and such a place, they may say an occasional word or phrase in their native tongue.
SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY
This is a case where we can mix both genres together. Since they take place in alien/fantasy worlds, whatever languages exist are purely up to you, the author’s imagination. You can use any words, phrases, names for said languages you want. The alphabets, symbols, context, virtually anything is entirely up to you.
The only caveat is that, like with any other form of world building, you have to follow your own rules!
RESEARCH
When it comes to languages, research only applies to real-world languages. For instance, if you’re going to use a Castilian Spanish speaker from central Spain, they might pronounce the word for the number five “cinco” as “thinko” if they’re of the older generation. This is something the younger generation of Spaniards doesn’t necessarily adhere to anymore. THAT is what you need to think about when you utilize a non-native tongue, especially when you’re site-specific in your story. Otherwise, you have to keep your choices vague.
That’s only one example, but illustrates my point. When you cite a foreign language in your story, you have to keep in mind regional dialects versus Berlitz, Rosetta Stone, or just looking it up on the net in a generic translation dictionary.
You may never be called on it, but…
In completely made up languages, this is, of course, never a problem. However, you have to establish your own rules and make sure to follow them. There are some readers out there who actually keep track! I’m not kidding. If you pronounce “lool,” or use it one way in chapter 1, then a different way in chapter 10, they’re going to call you on it.
USING ALL THESE “FURRIN” TONGUES
Now, the critical part.
It’s one thing to create and utilize these furrin’ tongues.
It’s quite another to make them palatable to the reader.
There’s nothing more annoying that to try to slog through sentence after sentence, paragraph after paragraph, page after page of Cho’’trak’ga’ga’bleadet’ta’quoi’ga’a’a’agdta’aaaa’fa’da’.
Get it?
It’s okay to throw in the occasional foreign word or phrase, an off-kilter pronunciation, an accented phrase.
On the other hand…
NOBODY LIKES TO READ IT ENDLESSLY!
It’s annoying to try and read not only a slew of unpronounceable words and phrases, but using that tired and true trick of putting them in italics.
Sorry folks, but that italic trick doesn’t work. It’s annoying.
The point is, you need to create the impression of the language, not actually write it!
There can be many languages in your world. There can be many words and unique rules and pronunciations.
DON’T BEAT THE READER OVER THE HEAD WITH THEM!
Sprinkle them in very small doses. Create the illusion that they’re there, don’t actually saturate the text with them.
The text should be English (or whatever native language you’re writing in), not foreign gobblety-gook (and English might be that foreign gobblety-gook).
You get my point, right?
Whatever main language the book is written in, THAT should be the dominant language, NOT the foreign languages, whether made up or real-world.
SUMMARY
Languages are an important part of world building. They align with culture, races and regions. They should be represented, but should not dominate and get in the way of the writing or the story. They should not jar the reader out of the story.
Happy writing!
THE PHYSICS OF YOUR WORLD
Okay, as part of my world-building series, I cannot leave out the uh…rather uncomfortable one, at least for some of us. That’s the physical world. First, I have to give you a little bit of background.
I’ve been into astronomy, or rather telescopes, telescope making and looking “up” for over fifty years. I’ve had at one time, a deep fascination with the mystery and the wonder of outer space and what might be going on above our breathable air.
Telescopes was the only way I could reach out and touch that outer everything physically, by reaching out to the time machines of photons travelling toward earth, and seeing them in an eyepiece. Why did some of that stuff happen and what formed it? At first I wanted to know until I actually got into the science part of it. Then what I discovered about real astronomy, the stuff you think you know about the subject, was just a glorified math class in high school or college. It involved not only (to me) incomprehensible math, but the very subject of our article today, physics.
I can tell you, if I didn’t have such a deep passion for the mechanics of telescopes and the visual beauty of just “looking up,” all that math and physics would’ve just sucked the life right out of my interest in “astrominny.”
To this day, I don’t really prefer to be called an amateur astronomer. I like to think of myself as a visual observer who happens to use a telescope. However, for simplicity’s sake, and so as not to pick at straws, I just leave it as an amateur astronomer. Why complicate things?
It all boils down to physics. The physics of astronomy in that case. However, the physics of your world is something that doesn’t have to be bogged down in math.
REAL-WORLD FICTION
In real-world fiction, your physical world is already built for you. The rules are already there. All you have to do is follow them. That means your research should be focused on getting the weather right, making sure you know your guns, using any astronomical phenomena correctly, any other physical things that any normal person would know.
Pretty simple.
SCIENCE FICTION
With science fiction, when you actually build a world, by the confines of the genre, you have to comply with certain scientific theories. In other words, you can’t just break every rule of physics without completely losing credibility. You have to be a lot more careful when you do something that’s scientifically impossible. Now, if it’s something that’s theoretically possible but hasn’t been proven true yet, that’s one thing. When it’s something that’s been theoretically thought of as false, but someone is still trying to make it work, go ahead and stretch.
However, when you go so far as to do something that has been clearly proven impossible, or something that nobody has ever thought of and is clearly not possible, think hard before you use it. You may still be able to get away with it, but at the same time, your book may be ridiculed, or it may be re-categorized as fantasy. If so, it might not be accepted in that genre because it really isn’t. Things to consider.
FANTASY
Fantasy is where your physical world is what you make it. This is the one case where you make up your own rules. If it always rains up instead of down, if salt is hot and pepper is salty, if water isn’t wet, those are your physical rules. You’re free to do just about anything you want, even if it doesn’t make physical sense in reality.
However…
It HAS to make sense within your world. It cannot just be nonsense. It cannot be there just for shock value, or “color” to jar the reader. It has to have a reason.
The key is that whatever super-fantastic physical rules you make up for your world, you need to stick with them and make sure that physical these effects parlay into other effects that correspond.
If water travels uphill, make sure you have lakes on the top of mountains, not in the valleys.
RESEARCH
One of the fun things about creating a world is that you may or may not research. Some love the idea of research, while others loathe it.
If you want to throw some realism into your fantasy world, such as when it comes to medieval weapons, research real sword and axe and halberd fighting through an Age Of Chivalry group. If you want it to rain acid, maybe reach out to a volcanologist.
When it comes to real-world or science fiction writing, you have to research or keep the details so vague as to not get yourself in trouble. It’s almost inevitable you’ll have to do some.
SUMMARY
World building can be a fun experience. Whether you map it all out, or like me, do it on the fly, there’s a sense of accomplishment knowing you created something unique and all your own.
Happy writing!
