Adam Croft's Blog, page 21

As writers, we are always on the lookout for inspiration, and imagery can be a great source of it. Whether we’re talking about intricate works of art or big, bold posters, it can all provide useful material to inspire our writing. Here are three ways in which imagery can help our writing.

The stories behind paintings

One interesting way in which imagery can inspire our work is in imagining the stories behind the paintings. The Girl with the Pearl Earring is one popular example of this. It can also be useful as a simple writing exercise to get our brains whirring and our creativity flowing. Imagining what’s going on in a picture, or what people in a photograph might be saying to each other, or what inspired an artist to create a particular piece of work, can all be useful starting off points for writing.

The impact of colour

Colour is another aspect of imagery that can have a huge impact on our work. For example, even looking at a single block of colour can help to create a sense of a certain mood or location by jogging our memories or forcing us to make links between what we’re seeing and everyday life. Institutional green, for instance, is something we can all easily imagine and it can act as a good starting point for creating a setting for a story.

Active roles in stories

Equally, art work or imagery can play an active role in your writing – either in terms of metaphor or in more practical terms, where a particular painting is physically there, making up an important point of the plot. I’m sure we can all think of an example or two of stories where artwork has played an important part (The Thomas Crown Affair, for instance). Imagery is enduringly popular, and could well help you shape a compelling plot.

While there is little disagreement over the fact that independent publishing is becoming more popular among writers and that they are increasingly finding success through it, there is a bit of a disagreement over whether readers actually benefit from the recent changes in the industry. I think that they do, so with this in mind, here are some of the top reasons both writers and readers benefit from independent publishing – and, interestingly, some of the answers overlap.

Why writers benefit

One of the big reasons independent publishing is beneficial for writers is that it gives us control over every aspects of our work. Rather than writing a book that is then largely taken out of your hands in terms of marketing, as can happen with traditional publishing, you get to decide how to promote your work.

You also get to choose what you publish, rather than being at the mercy of a publishing industry that often – not always, but often – plays it safe. Sure, you might not always succeed in your ventures, but at least independent publishing gives you the opportunity to try, and you never know what might happen.

Then there’s the potential for success – even though independent publishing is undoubtedly competitive, more and more authors are doing well at it. And, with this model of publishing, you get to keep more of the royalties, so even if your book is priced extremely low, you can still make more than you would through traditional publishing.

Why readers benefit

In many ways, the benefits for readers are the other side of the same coin. One big benefit is that they have more choice in terms of what to read – and that choice hasn’t been shaped solely by what people in publishing houses thought is worth reading. There is something to suit all tastes out there in the world of self-publishing.

Another big benefit for readers is that most independently published books are cheap, and available instantly on e-readers. Affordability is often a big issue, so the ability to browse through loads of books that are all affordable and easily accessible is definitely important.

What do you think?

One of the most common things independent publishers have to learn about when they first start to think about publishing their book is formatting. Formatting a book is something that needs to be done and, even though you can pay people to do it for you if you’re not sure about the process,  it’s worth knowing a bit about it so you’ve got a general idea of what it entails.

With this in mind, let’s take a look at some of the things you need to think about when formatting your book. It isn’t an in-depth ‘how to’ guide, but hopefully will provide a brief overview of the different issues you need to consider when it comes to formatting – with regards to both print and e-books. Please feel free to add your own thoughts or tips in the comments.

The size of the book. This particularly matters when it comes to print books, as the size of the book will affect everything from the margins to the number of pages.
The margins. Again, this matters in particular with regards to print books; not enough space in the centre of your book and it will be hard to read. Too much space around the text and it will all look a bit odd.
The spacing and paragraph indents. There isn’t just one way of setting out your book, but once you’ve decided how you’re going to do yours, you need to stick to it. Your formatting shouldn’t start jumping around midway through the book.
The number of different e-readers. Most independent publishers go down the e-book route, and you need to make sure your book can be read on all of them. A standard Word document, for instance, simply won’t do, not least because the pages will never properly translate to the range of different screen sizes. This brings us on to…
Digital files. You’ll need to convert your manuscript into a digital file for e-book publication. The ePub and Mobi files are the two big types of digital file that you need to know about.
What it actually looks like on screen. You could spend ages formatting but unless you’ve actually checked what it looks like on a range of e-readers, it could well be for nothing. It’s vital that you check how your work displays before hitting publish, or else you could end up with serious readability issues.

At a time when technology is so widely available and new, snazzy marketing techniques are being developed all the time, it is often easy to forget the lower-tech ways of doing things – including word of mouth marketing.

Word of mouth is unlikely to ever provide the entirety of your marketing for your new book, but it can be a useful tool that’s worth making the most of. Here are some of the things you can do to help you get as much out of it as possible.

Get your book on a book club reading list. People who go to book clubs often read more than most, and if you can get them talking about your book to fellow readers, it could prove to be great publicity.
Make your book cheap. If someone hears about a book but then finds out that the price is relatively steep, they’re less likely to buy it. If you’ve gone down the independent publishing route, you can make your book cheaper so that people are more likely to buy it on spec – important if you’re trying to get your foot in the door.
Be noticeable. Word of mouth marketing can be great, but it’ll never cover all of your promotion needs. People need to know about you so they can talk about you. Make sure you have a presence on Twitter, Facebook and so on.
Take a look at your unique selling point. What is your USP? If you don’t know then it’s unlikely other people will now. Why should they promote you to their friends?
Be useful. If you can add value to your readers, they’ll be more likely to recommend you to others. For instance, as well as writing books you might offer an interesting, useful blog or run regular competitions or giveaways.
Be good at what you do. Make sure your word of mouth marketing is as positive as possible by writing the best book you possibly can – after all, without that, there won’t be much for people to talk about.

There is no getting away from the fact that crime is at the centre of crime fiction. It might sound obvious, but therein lies a challenge that all crime writers have to overcome – how to make the crime believable.

With any luck, you won’t have ever committed a crime, and certainly not the kind of crime that ends up in the pages of a thriller. Yet it’s your job as an author to make the crime believable – to sell it so that the reader buys into it, even though we all know that it’s fiction.

One option when it comes to making the crime believable is not to write about the act itself. It’s not uncommon for crime novels to start after the fact, or to skip over the incident if it occurs after the opening of the novel. However, if you decide that you do want to write about the crime – whether a principle or secondary incident – in your novel, how can you make sure it will seem plausible and real?

An important point is to make sure you’re writing from a human point of view as well as a technical one. Of course, it is important to get the technical side of things as accurate as possible (with a bit of artistic license thrown in, naturally). Research into how the body reacts when placed in a stressful (to put it mildly) situation can be useful. But arguably it is more important to get inside the heads of the characters involved.

After all, if you’re involved in a crime, whether as the perpetrator or victim, it’s unlikely you’ll be thinking all that hard about the science of what’s going on. You’ll be thinking about survival. You’ll be thinking about how you’re feeling, and your reactions to what’s going on. You might be thinking about other people close to you or, as the perpetrator, you might be thinking about how to get away without being caught. A lot of it will be about instinct.

Another point to make is that when it comes to writing about the actual act of a serious crime, less can very often be more. A few salient details could be all you need to create a compelling, believable event around which to base the rest of your novel. Let the readers fill in the gaps themselves. The images their imaginations supply are likely to be more vivid than anything we could ever think to write. Don’t tell them what they should be seeing – let them see it for themselves.

This is, admittedly, not always an easy task, but it is an important one. The rest of your crime novel depends on whether or not the reader buys into that crime. It’s worth taking the time to get it right and make sure it is as real as possible.

What do you think? How do you make sure the crimes you write about are believable and compelling?

I imagine many writers will be familiar with the scenario. You have an idea for a story, or perhaps have already started to write one. You have some time set aside to work on it and have loads of ideas about what to write and where you want the story to go. You sit down to do it and then… you don’t do it.

I’m not talking about writers’ block, that frustrating predicament that sometimes creeps up on us from behind and leaves us staring dumbfounded at the computer screen with no idea what to write, but rather about a lack of motivation.

It’s something that can easily leave us annoyed with ourselves. After all, we want to write. There’s nothing that we want to do more, and yet somehow faffing around on Twitter suddenly seems like a much better use of our time. It’s not even a case of turning off the internet to help ourselves focus – when a lack of motivation strikes, any distraction will do.

So what can we do to combat it?

One option is self-bribery, which can be very effective. “If I write for half an hour, I can spend ten minutes doing whatever I want,” for example. As great as it can sometimes be to have all the time you want to write stretching out in front of you, it can also leave it hard to actually get down to business – giving yourself defined time periods of work followed by a break is well-known as an effective means of boosting productivity.

Another option is to re-read your favourite book. Reading something that you love and that reminds you just how great writing can be can help to give you the shove you need to get back into writing your own. You could also try doing things that are writing-related-but-not-actually-writing-the-thing-you’re-meant-to-be-writing. For instance, instead of writing your novel, write a blog post. Schedule some Tweets or Facebook posts, or read some respected writing blogs to look for tips. Channel your distraction into something that will be useful even if it won’t boost your word count in the short term.

Something else that can be good for getting around an attack of low motivation is to set yourself small goals. Really small goals. Goals that are so small that they can be measured in terms of just a handful of words. Tell yourself to write a sentence. That’s not too hard, is it? It doesn’t matter if you’re feeling no motivation to write whatsoever, surely you can still force yourself to write a sentence. Mission accomplished? Write another sentence. Then another and another. When you have a paragraph, challenge yourself to write another. Even if you only manage a couple of short paragraphs, it’s still progress. It proves you still want to write, and that you can write, no matter what else you feel like doing instead.

And eventually, sooner or later, your motivation will come back. Distractions will be easier to ignore and those paragraphs will be easier to write. So don’t give in to that lack of motivation – you’ve got a story to write.

Book marketing is often something of an art, require a certain finesse and creativity to make an impact. However, we can’t deny that it is also a science, and having some facts and figures about the people we are trying to appeal to can be extremely useful when trying to decide how to shape our marketing.

In particular for independent publishers, e-book facts and figures can be very helpful as they form such an important part of our sales. This is why some recent figures from Random House are so interesting; they give us an insight into the kind of people who read e-books, which can be helpful when we’re trying to decide who to aim our books at.

For example, the stats show that while 59% of print readers are women, 63% of e-book readers are women. 60% of e-book readers are under 45. 66% have a degree. 44% of e-book readers are planning to read mystery, suspense or detective fiction within the next month compared with 36% of print readers. The only genre where more people were planning to read a print book rather than an e-book was history. More e-book readers than print readers agreed with the statement that reading is an important part of their lives.

Facts such as this help us to build up a more detailed picture of the kind of people who tend to read e-books and, even though we might not use all of the information when developing a marketing strategy, it is still useful to keep in mind.

You can read more about the Random House findings here.

It’s something that plenty of writers ask themselves when they are just starting out – and even when they have been writing for years: does this writing business ever get easier?

Writing will never be easy, but does it ever get even slightly easier?

I think it does, in a way. The more you write, the more you are used to what it takes to complete a novel or other lengthy project. You get to learn what works and what doesn’t. You become used to the habit of writing, which can make the simple act of sitting down and getting on with it considerably easier. It becomes a part of your life – something that you always do, rather than something you have to make yourself do.

However, in another way, it never gets any easier. There is always the challenge to write things that are good, which is different to simply writing for its own sake. There is the challenge to write things that are new and different and interesting. It can be hard to keep going if you’re finding it hard to get a professional break in the business.

That said, these two sides of the argument taken together can be a good equation for more successful writing if not always easier writing. The more you write, the more you are used to it, and the more you are aware of the challenges involved in writing. You get used to the habit of writing, and of developing strategies for dealing with the difficulties. Even though those difficulties will always be there, your skills when it comes to overcoming them should get better with time.

And we all know how important that writing habit is for producing good writing; if we are really serious about writing things that are good and worthy of readers, we need to be writing regularly to improve our skills and produce the best work we possibly can.

What do you think? Does writing get easier with time?

We’ve all been there. I think every writer in history has, at some point in their writing career, produced work that they hate so much the only sane option seems to be to put it straight in the bin. After putting it through the shredder. After ripping it up by hand first. After scribbling all over it and stabbing it with a pen. Or the computer equivalent.

We’ve all had our writing misses, but I think there is a strong argument for keeping everything you have written, good and bad. No matter how much you dislike what you’ve written or think you could do better, there is a point to keeping it and saving it from the mercies of the paper recycling bin.

Seeds of a plot idea

Firstly, even if you can’t remember why you started writing your piece in the first place, there was a reason to begin with. At some point, you had an idea that you thought worthy of developing, and gave it a good go. It doesn’t mean the idea is worthless just because it didn’t work first time. It might just need some time to develop before you go back to it and try again. In the meantime, your disaster in prose will help you remember what the idea was and give you ideas as to how you could improve it.

Characters to develop

OK, so maybe the plot turned out to be unsaveable after all, but that doesn’t mean your characters aren’t any good. They just didn’t have the right story the first time around – save them, and use them for something else.

Nice turns of phrase

The story might be rubbish, but it might be well-written rubbish. It’s quite a common thing for writers to have to cut out lines and passages of which they are quite fond, so why not do it the other way round and go back through your work to see if there’s anything you could cut out and save?

Snappy dialogue to utilise elsewhere

Ditto dialogue. Even if all you manage to save is one line, the exercise will have been worth it.

Context for editing current work

Finally, anything you cut from a larger project can still be useful for your current work. It provides context when it comes to editing and means that if you get a bit stuck with what’s left, you have something to go back to that can remind you of your original intentions.

It is often said that when it comes to writing, getting started is always the hardest bit. There is just something about staring at a blank page at the start of a new project that is always daunting, and finding the words to start your tale is always a challenge.

But is this really true?

Like so many other things with writing, I think the answer is, on balance, yes and no.

I would argue that, really, it isn’t always that hard to write your first page. Even if you have no real idea of how to begin your story, you can generally think of something to put, even if it is just mostly gibberish to get you into the writing groove. The sense can come later.

The hard bit is getting that first page right. It’s easy enough to write something, but it write the right thing is a different matter. Often, when we come to editing our work, the first section can be cut. It often doesn’t add much to what comes after and is commonly just there as background rather than to propel the story forwards.

Still, that kind of writing has its place. If it helps to get us into the meat of the story while we’re writing the first draft, then fair enough. We just need to remember that we can’t be precious about it when it comes to going back over the text.

In that sense, the first page or scene really is the hardest bit of writing a book. It has to do so much – grab the reader’s attention, hold it long enough to let them know it’s worth sticking around until the end, get your story started, introduce important elements of the novel (characters, themes etc) and prove that you know how to put a good sentence together. That’s a tall ask.

So while the waffle that often comes out when we first sit down to write the first page can be useful as a means of getting us started and is, in some respects, easy to do, creating a first sections that is purposeful, compelling and hints at more to come is a much tougher task.

What do you think?