When last we left, we were talking about the six elements. We covered the first three in the last post… Exposition (the beginning), Inciting Incident, and Rising Actions/Progressive Complications. If you haven’t read it, check it out. Read More

I’d love your feedback, too.

On Vocal.media, there was an eight week challenge that involved a new prompt each week. I did two groups of challenge entries. One, the Hammond Family saga, will be profiled on Wednesday. This is the other. Each of these are stand alone stories to meet the prompts. They are each very different from the others.

For the first challenge, the barn, I wrote a story called Holy Grail about a car found in a barn. I have to admit that the story is similar to the barn find in Planning Vengeance, but at the same time, it is completely different. Read More

You can always find me on Amazon and Vocal.

I wrote a few non-fiction pieces on Vocal, including a few essays on writing. If you are interested in my process, or wondering how to go about a few of the steps in creating a novel, these might help… or not. For that matter, they might be a good negative example.

The first was Just Write the Book. Seriously, that is the first step. People research until they have talked themselves out of doing things. Analysis paralysis. Break the bonds and give it a rip.

The next one might be called Why I Write, but it is really another essay on the process of writing.

One of my favorite essays on writing is It’s Not You. I refer back to it every once in a while myself as a reminder. I have to write to please myself. I want you, dear reader, to like it, but I can’t create something I know you’ll like. I can only create something I know I’ll like.

Finally, Building a Character tells how I create and keep track of my characters. You never know… you might be famous. I do draw on people I know as characters… kind of.

You might have noticed…

I have posted up a few excerpts from unpublished works. I don’t know how many will be posted… honestly, I don’t know how many projects I have that are mature enough to post anything from. I’ll have to sit down and figure that out.

A few of these have been “in the works” for quite a while. Others, popped in and might get dome quickly. I have one that I might include here that, as I write this post, I haven’t started writing yet. I am writing this blog post on July 5th, to post on July 30th. I may have a few chapters on a new project written and included here before I head out on vacation.

No, I don’t write everything that far ahead, but I do try to have a week or two ready to post. When the well is full, I get out everything I can. That way I am not pressured to come up with a blog post shortly before it is to go live. Been there. Don’t like the stress.

Regardless… the excerpts that are posted are not guaranteed to ever make it to the book. If they do make it, they might change. A lot. That is the nature of unpublished works.

After I write something, I edit it… several times. And then edit it again. After that, I send it to my beta readers, those angels that read it and give me their opinions. After getting the feedback from the beta readers, I generally make more changes. I’m not changing it to “suit them” but usually I see some logic in their feedback and find ways to make the story stronger or the characters better.

So, I hope you enjoy the excerpts, and I welcome your feedback. And if you are interested in becoming a beta reader, let me know.

Like cable TV, but for books

If you aren’t familiar with Kindle Unlimited (KU), it is a “free-to-read” program from Amazon for use on Kindle devices and apps. The short form is that there are a pile of books… a pretty big pile… that are free for subscribers to read through Kindle. It is a monthly subscription service, currently priced at $9.99/mo. There are usually deals for new subscribers.

Books may be priced anywhere $2.99 and up, depending on the whims of the author. I price mine currently at $2.99… and you can still buy them outright.

Authors are paid based on page views, the first time they read the book. Basically, all of the subscription fees are dumped into a basket, and then doled out based on an algorithm involving total fees, total pages read and the pages read from an individual author.

It isn’t terrible… unless your books are priced higher. My books tend to produce about the same profit for me for a sale as for a full-read on KU. The advantage of being on KU is that the reader isn’t “stuck” on the whole book if they decide they don’t like it. Therefore, as an “unknown” author, readers might be more willing to take a risk on one of my titles than they would if they had to come out of pocket the $3 to pay for the title.

The disadvantage is that people will dive into a book, and perhaps get distracted and not finish. Or maybe there is one little thing that throws them off… and since they are financially invested, they will drop the book.

Honestly, I am a completion reader. I will read almost anything to the end of the book. A series, not so much. Several books that were the first in a series… recently… I have decided to let go after finishing the first entry. A variety of reasons will throw me off a series. Usually I don’t like the style or can’t connect with the characters.

Anyway… If you are a KU subscriber, I’d LOVE for you to check out my books. Give them a read and see what you think. And don’t forget to leave a review.

As I’ve said, writing a book is easy… at least in comparison. A bigger challenge is selling the book after it’s written. As you likely know, I generally promo my books or this blog almost every day. And the reason I promo the blog is to promo the books.

Shameless plug for my Author Page…

Thank you.