Author to Author: October 2013

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

The Wednesday Word

Author To Author’s Newsletter

October 30, 2013

Writing & Publishing Tips

Going Deep

This is part one of a three-part series on Researching and Writing Historical Fiction originally written in 2012.

Reading an article is a grand thing, if one is doing a research paper. Writing fiction, though, means that a writer has to be able to breathe with a character’s lungs, see with their eyes, smell with their nose, and hear with their ears. The writer has to immerse themselves in a place that is, frankly, no longer extant. They have to go deep.

Know Your Era

In order to bring depth to your historical fiction, it is helpful to have an idea about the political scene (insofar as it was evident), societal norms, and artistic tastes or your era. Reading biographies (or autobiographies, if so there be), examining the great works of art, and even studying the varieties of household furnishings can serve to enrich the world for yourself and your readers. Do you have the opportunity to go to a museum to see artifacts from your chosen time period? Can you walk where the people walked, even though the landscape has changed since then? Do you know people who have been able to do so?

Studying clothing of the era is, of course, very helpful. It is not enough to just get the outer garments right, though. One should also look into undergarments (if they had them) and what the contemporaries thought of them. And, if you can, try on costumes made to suit that era. Walk around in the breeches and waistcoats, the boots and garters, the wigs, the panniers, the leather wrapped around your legs. How does the clothing affect the pattern of a stride? Does the stride affect the rhythms of thought? The speed at which people moved, then?

Not only is this an outer thing, it’s also an inner process, the immersion. Language plays a huge role in different eras. If one is writing about ancient Celts, for example, one can look into any surviving poetry. Read the sagas, listen to the songs that have survived. The heartbeat of a people is in its music and music carries history within it.

Reading commentary, news articles, or anything that was written near the time one is writing about is also helpful. Getting a contemporary slant as to morals and values is important, too. This does not always help with phrasing dialogue, however, as older cultures often wrote in a more stylized manner than they would have spoken, day to day. If the historical era in question is within the past three centuries or so, it is much easier to pinpoint social ideas and possible characterization references from contemporary sources.

A note: It is generally acceptable to write a quirky historical character, but make sure the quirks will fit in with the society or make sure that their quirks are noted by their contemporaries.

Resources You Can Use

One type of resource for more information about an era is finding people who are still connected with it in one way or another. People are outstanding resources for the historical fiction writer. Do you need to internalize the religious values of a culture? Find people who know these values and can express them. You might even find practitioners! Make very sure you approach them with respect; in trying to bring their culture to life within your story, you want to do it honor in every possible way. Treat your living, breathing resources with respect and appreciation.

If you need help with languages, find experts. If you want to know how it feels to walk next to the Nile River, look around online, perhaps in travel forums. People, I have discovered over the years, are happy to share their experiences with you. Sometimes they appreciate being credited, other times not so much. That’s okay. You can always ask.

Another tool I find very helpful in writing historical fiction is Google Maps. Shocking, but true. You can better gauge distances over unfamiliar terrain by using this website. I have a character, for example, who needs to walk from one location to another and I didn’t know how long it would take. I plugged the two locations into Google Maps and asked for the walking route. Granted, things today are quite different than they were three hundred years ago, but this gave me an estimate with which to work.

There is always latitude for creativity beyond this. But that is an article for another day.

By Author to Author Member and Contributor, Sandi Layne. You can learn more about Sandi on her website, http://sandyquill.com

Exciting News for Author to Author Group Members

Author to Author to Host HUGE Halloween Giveaway!

Join A2A members on Halloween as they give away up to $120.00 in Amazon Gift Cards! That's some serious Kindle Cash! Visit the Facebook page of each author and play Trick or Treat for your chance to enter! You can find the Facebook pages by visiting the A2A page on the morning of Halloween, October 31st! It's going to be BOOKtacular! https://www.facebook.com/pages/Author-to-Author/131653083691953

Odin's Murder $0.99 Sale

Authors Kira Gold and Angel Lawson have put their newly released book, Odin's Murder, on sale for just $0.99 until Halloween! Get it while you can! http://www.amazon.com/Odins-Murder-ebook/dp/B00F2ISDHM

Lissa Bryan Hosts Ghost Story Contest

To celebrate the one year Book Birthday of Lissa Bryan's, Ghost Writer, she has hosted a ghost story contest! Find out who the winner is tomorrow! http://www.lissabryan.com/2013/09/ghost-story-contest.html

Sherri Hayes Hosts Giveaway

Stop by Sherri Hayes' blog to enter the giveaway for a signed set of Sherri Hayes' bookmarks and a Red Zone key chain! http://sherri-hayes.blogspot.com/2013/10/big-cocks-and-broomsticks-blog-hop.html?zx=51ae08dd043eac66

Happy Anniversary, MORE!

Author T.M. Franklin is celebrating the one year book birthday of MORE by making Window, a novella, FREE from 10/7-11/2013! Be sure to get your download, only a few days left! http://www.amazon.com/Window-ebook/dp/B00BU7TYBS

Join Author Lindsey Gray in the Paranormal Palooza

Lindsey Gray will be featuring her novel, Redemption, with a character interview, excerpt, and giveaway. The giveaway runs until October 31st. Head on over and join the fun, you have one more day! http://writeawaybliss.com/redemption-by-lindsey-gray/

T.M. Franklin To Make Appearance

Join Author T.M. Franklin as she signs books and teaches about bargain book trailers at the Northwest Bookfest this weekend at Northwest University in Kirkland, WA. Visit the Northwest Bookfest's Facebook page for ore information! https://www.facebook.com/NorthwestBookfest

Andrea Goodson to Reveal Cover for To Be Loved

Join author Andrea Goodson on Thursday, November 7th as she reveals the cover to her upcoming YA new release, To Be Loved! You can also enter for a chance to win a signed paperback! Visit Andrea's website to learn more about her books, www.andreagoodson.wordpress.com.

Wednesday's Weird Word

Leiotrichous

Definition: Having straight hair

This word is near extinction!

Origin: Greek

Savvy Savings

Love in Disguise

7 Romance Novel Set on Sale for 99 cents!

By Multiple Authors, take a look!

http://www.amazon.com/Love-Disguise-Romance-Boxed-ebook/dp/B00FQMZB1A

Thank you for reading this week's edition of Author to Author's, The Wednesday Word! Visit us again next week for more news and savings to refresh your bookish pleasures! As always, feel free to share and spread the word!

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Tempting Tuesdays ~ Cinnamon Bun Bites

I usually get these posts together a couple days in advance. This last week I was trying to be proactive and get it done Thursday. I found a recipe for Candy Corn Cookies. I thought it would be a great seasonal treat. The whole process went perfectly ... until I pulled the cookies out of the oven.

Not what I was going for. So I combed Facebook and Pinterest and finally found something that looked yummy. I found this recipe on Inspired by Charm which was adapted from a Martha Stewart recipe. I think this one turned out much better than the Candy Corn Cookies. Try it out and be your own judge.

Ingredients

Bites:

1/2 cup warm water
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more if needed
4 large eggs
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 teaspoons coarse salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 stick unsalted butter, softened, plus 1/2 stick, melted for coating
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

Vanilla Glaze:

1 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 tablespoons whole milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

First, we start with our yeast. I know, I hate yeast as well. This wasn't too bad of an experience though. Pour your warm water into a bowl then sprinkle your yeast evenly over the water.

Let it sit for 5 to 7 minutes until it gets frothy. Whisk until smooth then add 1/2 cup of flour to form a loose paste.

Let your mixture rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes.

Add eggs, 1/4 cup of sugar, salt, vanilla, and remaining flour to your yeast mixture. Kneed your dough until smooth. Now add 1 stick of butter and kneed until smooth and elastic. Put in a warm place covered with a damp towel or plastic wrap for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Dough should be doubled or there about by then. Make sure to punch down the dough to get rid of any air bubbles.

This is a good time to grab a couple extra hands to make 1 inch dough balls. This recipe makes 45 to 55 balls depending on how big you end up making them and how the fit in your pan. Melt 1/2 stick of butter in a bowl and set aside. In another bowl, mix your remaining 1 cup of sugar and cinnamon.

Roll each ball in 1/2 stick of melted butter.

Then roll in your cinnamon and sugar mixture.

Place in a pie plate and arrange in a dome-like fashion.

Cover your balls and let them rise by half for about 30 minutes. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 to 55 minutes.

Now on to the glaze. Stir your sugar and salt together in a bowl. In a separate bowl, mix your milk, vanilla, and melted butter then mix into your sugar mixture until a smooth paste forms.

Let your bites cool for about 15 minutes before pouring on the glaze.

I think we have a winner! Enjoy the cinnamon goodness.

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Sunday Sneak Peek - Hidden Threat

Three o’clock rolled around, and a knock sounded on Matthew’s door. He’d been staring at his phone for the last ten minutes trying to come up with an excuse to cancel his meeting with Cali Stanton today. The problem was there wasn’t a valid reason.

The knock came again, but louder this time. It could only be one person, and he knew if he didn’t respond this time, Jason would just come in anyway. “Come in,” Matthew said without enthusiasm.

Seconds later Jason was through the door and standing in front of him, hands on his hips.

Matthew stared up at his brother. “What?”

“What?” Jason said, clearly unable to believe what he was both seeing and hearing. “What? Matthew you’re supposed to be upstairs right now for your weekly briefing. You’re still here. Why?”

Matthew’s mind was scrambling for an answer, but he didn’t come up with one fast enough to suit Jason.

“What is going on? You haven’t been yourself for days, and now you’re missing meetings? This isn’t like you.”

He didn’t need Jason to tell him he wasn’t himself---he knew that already. “I’ve just had a lot of things on my mind lately.” Grabbing on to the first thing he could think of besides seeing Cali again, he said, “I talked to Martinez. The tape was tampered with.”

It took Jason only a second to fully grasp that information. “Who?”

Matthew nervously tapped his fingers on his desktop as he glanced back to his computer screen. “I don’t know, but we have to figure it out. Until we do, we can’t trust anyone.”

Jason nodded. “What do you need me to do?”

This was a strategic move, and one that Jason would always defer to his younger brother. “I need to think.” After another minute, Matthew came up with an idea, not one to solve the mystery of the security tape, but one to solve his more immediate problem. He looked up at his brother. “Do you think you could cover the meeting for me today? I’d like to pick up that tape this afternoon and take a look at it myself.”

“Yeah. Sure,” Jason said. “I’ll take care of it.”

As Jason left the room, Matthew took one last look at the computer screen and the flashing message reminding him about the meeting he’d just handed off to Jason. Matthew wouldn’t see her today. He’d stick with his plan. He could do this. Space. That’s what he needed—just a little time and space—then all would be normal again.

Grabbing his jacket, he was out the door.

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About The Author

Sherri spent most of her childhood detesting English class. It was one of her least favorite subjects because she never seemed to fit into the standard mold. She wasn't good at spelling, or following grammar rules, and outlines made her head spin. For that reason, Sherri never imagined becoming an author.
At the age of thirty, all of that changed. After getting frustrated with the direction a television show was taking two of its characters, Sherri decided to try her hand at writing an alternate ending, and give the characters their happily ever after. By the time the story finished, it was one of the top ten read stories on the site, and her readers were encouraging her to write more.
Six years later, Sherri is the author of six full-length novels, and one short story. Writing has become a creative outlet for Sherri that allows her to explore a wide range of emotions, while having fun taking her characters through all the twists and turns she can create. She is most well known for her Finding Anna Series about a young woman rescued from being a sex slave by a wealthy Dominant. The third book in that series, Truth, released July 25, 2013.

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Saturday, October 26, 2013

Saturday Snapshot: 10/26/13

Saturday Snapshots is a picture prompt brought to you by Author to Author, meant to inspire the creative genius within you.

Maybe you’ll be moved to write flash fiction for it, perhaps it will kick start and old idea of a novel, or it may inspire a new short story. Whatever it does, we hope you’ll enjoy these images from around the web.

If inspiration does hit, we hope you’ll post a snippet or link in the comments.

Today’s image: Grief

Photo from: http://rickmcnary.me/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/grief2.jpg

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

The Wednesday Word

Author To Author’s Newsletter

October 23, 2013

Writing & Publishing Tips

Quick Self-Publishing Tips

At some point in time all aspiring writers and authors face the question, do I self-publish or go the traditional route of attaining an agent and publisher?

The answer to this seemingly simple question is, at the very least, complicated. Writing an amazing, life-changing novel is one thing, and a huge accomplishment all by itself. However, when it comes to getting published, the amount of blood, sweat, and tears you will put into marketing and promoting your book to agents and publishers will be astronomical. The amount of rejections you will most likely face? Let's just say you better have a super-human ability to shake off negativity.

For the sake of brevity and blog space, let's say you've already decided to self-publish.

What are your chances of achieving success in the book world and what factors will influence that outcome?

Subject matter seems to be of little importance. In all of the research I have done, I have found that any idea is a good idea, because there will always be other people out there who can relate to your ideas and point of view. This is true in fiction and nonfiction. Whether it be an epic tale of love and loss, a “how to” book for projects, a sarcastic comedy, reflections on life, or even a novel about space alien zombies who make cheeseburgers for breakfast, someone, and usually many more than one, will find your ideas and concepts worthwhile and entertaining. So, if you have that evil little voice of self-doubt telling you that your idea isn't mainstream or popular enough, tell it to shut up and move on.

I have found the real issues to be as follows:

Is your work complete?
Is your work edited?
Is your work refined from it’s originally inspired version?
And, for the love of all that is holy, is your work spell checked?!

This last one may seem silly but I have found that I tend to miss errors, not because I do not know that they are errors to begin with, but rather, there is so much work to do and so much going on that an error can be easily skipped over without notice.

If the answers to the above questions are yes, then you are now ready to publish your work. However, the potential reach your book can achieve will depend on many more factors than the ones listed above.

The questions you must now ask yourself is:

Will I have the energy, not just now, but into the indefinite future, to market this book?

And the answer to this question better be yes. If it is no, you will need to re-evaluate your goals and ask yourself why you wouldn't want to work to promote something you slaved away so hard on, probably for many months and even years.

There is not one author out there who writes a book, sends it in, and then simply gets paid. Well, maybe Stephen King or Anne Rice, but other than a select few, every author has to work like crazy to promote their work. Even those well known authors whose books fly off the shelves put in their dues at the beginning, why shouldn't you?

So, now that you realize you have made yourself a slave for the foreseeable future, there are a few more things to consider:

Are you comfortable using social networks (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, Google+, etc..) to self promote?

If the answer is no, refer to the above.

If the answer is yes, there are a great many resources at your disposal to aid you in this venture, one of my favorites being Hootsuite. This is a site that allows you to mass schedule status updates, Tweets, etc… containing links to your books, blogs, contests, and events. It is very convenient and I find that if I devote an hour or so to scheduling posts, I can have the entire week scheduled, which allows me much more time for writing and editing.

In my efforts to self-publish my series, Riverbend: The Collection, I had to do a huge amount of research. To save you time I will post a few links here, at the bottom of this post, that may aid you in your journey and decision on whether or not to self-publish.

First of all, Smashwords is an excellent venue. It is completely free to upload your work and, if edited properly, automatically uploads to Barnes & Noble, Sony, Kobo, iPad, Amazon, and other venues as an ebook. Smashwords has very easy, step by step directions on how to properly format your book. Your royalties are around 60%, which is much higher than most traditional publishing royalties. Of course, you are doing all of the work yourself, so that is only fair and makes sense.

There is also a little marketing opportunity in using affiliates on Smashwords. An affiliate is someone who decides to post your work on their website or blog and, if a purchase is made through someone clicking on their link, they get a certain percentage of your sale. Mine is currently set at 20%. You can set the percentage yourself, the minimum to participate being 11%. I made mine 20% because those who pay a higher rate are likely to have more affiliates posting their links thus a wider reading base, so on and so forth.

Blogging and social networking is key to ebook success. A blog shows the world your writing, that you love to write, and serves as a tool for communication and marketing opportunities.

Hosting other authors and giveaways is another great way to get attention. Not only are you offering your readers more than your own work, but you are actively networking and helping other authors. Let's face it, you might need help at some point and what better way to get that help than to have author and blogger friends that you regularly worth with?

If you are interested in getting paperback versions of your book I would recommend Createspace. This is a site that is owned by Amazon that is easy to navigate, free to use, and your royalties are around 50%, which is again higher than many traditional contracts and more than fair to you, considering they print, bind, and ship your book on demand. There isn't any bulk ordering that you have to do and the sale never even passes through your hands, you just get your royalties from the sales.

Last, but not least, writing contests! Enter as many of them as you possibly can! The more you participate, the more you get your name and work out there. Becoming a member of a writing group is an excellent way to find out about and participate in these events.

Even if you are uncomfortable with editing and cover creation, there are very reasonably priced people out there who will do it for you. Social networking is an excellent way to find these artists and editors.

Usually, my posts are about inspiration and reflective thoughts on life but after all that I have researched in the past few months I felt it would be beneficial to share some information with all of you and perhaps save you some time! There is so much more to learn and believe me, I couldn't possibly cover it all in one post. I'm hoping this is a good starting place for you and wish you all the success in the world with your books. As well as a ridiculous amount of motivation and ambition too!

Useful links below:
http://www.smashwords.com/about/how_to_publish_on_smashwords
https://www.createspace.com/
http://www.slideshare.net/Smashwords/the-seven-secrets-of-ebook-publishing-success-7968488
www.hootsuite.com

By Author to Author Contributor Andrea Goodson. Learn more about Andrea and her books at www.andreagoodson.wordpress.com

Exciting News for Author to Author Group Members

Congratulations to Lissa Bryan

Lissa was recently featured and quoted in a Reader's Digest article about Henry VIII! With all of the research Lissa as been doing for her new book, Under These Restless Skies, who better to go to for interesting facts about all things Tudor? Learn more about Lissa on her website, www.lissabryan.com.