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Why Pay It Forward?

October 3, 2014

I’m getting ready to go to the seventh annual Rochester Writers’ Conference at Oakland University tomorrow … an event I look forward to every year. Over the years I’ve found it a great way to bone up on the basics of the business, while I network with other writers and industry professionals.

Early Fall on the Oakland University Campus, Rochester, Michigan

The Seventh Annual
Rochester Writers’ Conference
Saturday, October 3, 2014
Oakland University

A good conference, which this one always proves to be, can offer an interesting inside look at the craft of writing.

In fact, if you’re a newbie, or just new to writing conferences, I suggest you start with a smaller, local conference like this. It’s less expensive and much less intimidating than big, national multi-day events, but you can still make vital connections.

As much as I may think I know, I learn something every year. You may only occasionally meet a literary agent but, and probably more importantly, you get to network with other local authors.

But I won’t lie to you; it can be an exhausting experience. There are a lot of choices to make and a lot of ground to cover in a day.

Good Writing is Hard Work
Good writing is very hard work, but the journey is worth it. Why do I say that? Well, the answer could be as simple as “writers write.”

Every fiction author I’ve ever met says pretty much the same thing. They all write to tell a story, make an esoteric point, chronicle an era or expound on an event. Some say they actually write to please their readers.

But I think they really write for the same reason I do … the joy of the writing process itself.

It’s for those almost mystical and ethereal moments when the all the hard work you put in finally allows the muse to spit a few words from your brain onto the page … in the process creating something exciting and new.

Publishing Has Changed
Publishing has produced its own exciting, dynamic story arc since I first submitted a story for consideration … way back when I was seventeen (to give yourself some idea of just how long ago that was, think pterodactyls).

Back then, except for the monthly magazines that bought a lot of fiction, we all knew that in order to be published in a book, you had to pitch a traditional publisher.

After I decided (much to my sweet bride’s dismay) to take an early retirement from my nine-to-whenever corporate marketing job, I thought, OK, pitch to a publisher, that’s writing, too … I can do that. How hard can it be?

Of course, I soon discovered that in order for that to happen I first had to secure an agent, since no large publisher would deign to talk to me without one.

However, at my age, finding an agent willing to take a chance on my writing was tough. I suspect every one I contacted really wanted to find an erudite thirty-something with many, many years of writing time ahead of him.

They probably didn’t see me fitting into their picture of a nice, long, sustained collaboration. Which was ultimately fine with me because, conversely, I didn’t feel like I had the time to search for someone who would.

Since self-publishing was quickly becoming the new pathway for getting noticed, as good, entrepreneurial indie authors made ever more assured strides in the marketplace, I decided to join them. I became a published indie author.

Once I made up my mind I was an indie, my path was set. Good things have followed, and I don’t regret it.

But why a conference?

You Will Get Energized
The real answer is why the hell not? It may sound like an obvious statement, but where else can you meet so many people at varying stages in their writing careers?

I find that writers, as a group, are very supportive. If you sit at tables with people you don’t know and make an effort to say hello, it’s easy to meet others who are not only willing to talk, but are willing to offer help and advice for any problems you encounter.

It’s one of the reasons I write this blog in the first place.

Call it paying it forward. I’ve already met others who’ve been there before and who were ready to go out of their way to help me as I tried to figure out some of the rough spots, so why shouldn’t I pass it along to everyone I can?

Besides, there’s nothing more infectious than a bunch of people all excited about the same thing.

My brother-in-law, whom I affectionately call Little Brother, does it with his buddies and baseball. I go to a writing conference with an ear to listen, because I guarantee there will be speakers who seem to be talking directly to me.

You might attend a session on how to query an editor, create dynamic characters, or even self-publish; or how to effectively use social media, as I’ve talked about here so often.

You might even find one on exactly how to pitch to that publisher you’ve been salivating over … and those sessions can be just as interesting as college classes. Sometimes even better.

The only difference … there are no tests … and everyone wins.

Excited now? I am. I can hardly wait for tomorrow!

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You can find my books as eBooks or paperback on Amazon, or at Barnes & Noble. You’re also invited to visit my web site, BROKEN GLASS, or like my Book of Face page. You can also follow my shorter ramblings on The Twitter.

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Comments posted below will be read, greatly appreciated and perhaps even answered.

Tags:indie writers, Rochester Writer's Conference, self-publishing
Posted in Award-Winning Fiction, Independent Publishing, Self-Published | 2 Comments »

The Final 1,000 Words

January 21, 2014

It’s no surprise to anyone – author or not – that every good story needs a beginning with an interesting premise, a middle that’s full of conflict, and an ending that more-or-less resolves it all.

I know a lot of indie authors who have a gazillion good ideas that would make fabulously great story starts, and many who know that spectacular events are not what conflict is about … good conflict is about emotions.

But I’ve seen some stories that just … end … and leave you wondering if the printer forgot to include some pages, or the digital cloud decided to swallow a few. Some end so abruptly it’s as if the author failed to understand that, when crafting a story, you need to give substantial thought to the conclusion.

Resolve the Central Conflict
By that, I don’t mean merely tacking on the-good-guy-gets-the-girl, or the-bad-guys-lose. If you think about it, life seldom resolves anything like that. When it does, we usually call the outcome cute.

When I say give thought to your ending I mean, in terms of your plot, what do you need to put into the final 1,000 words, if cute isn’t your target?

It seems to me this should be a no-brainer … but in the new indie-publishing world, how many weak story resolutions have you read? It doesn’t have to be a happily-ever-after ending, but you do need to tie-up any loose ends.

Also, keep in mind readers generally look for something uplifting, regardless of genre. I always try to leave something to feel positive about, even in disheartening scenes, because whether they admit it or not, it’s what readers really want.

As an author trying to please your audience, so should you.

Surprise Your Reader
No, I’m not suggesting you write O. Henry-ish twists or Twilight Zone endings into your stories. But you don’t have to establish a picture-perfect moment either, where every minor contentious issue is neatly solved.

Yes, every question you planted earlier in a reader’s mind should be addressed, but the answer could be to suggest that a known character … or another one yet to come … might address that minor issue later, after the book ends.

And the resolution doesn’t have to be one that seems expected. In fact, it’s sometimes a stronger story if it isn’t … as long as what happens is consistent with the facts that have already been presented … and avoids those pesky contrived twists.

Tie Your Final Words to Early Events
When you begin the journey of writing your novel, you should also try to have an established destination. I’m not suggesting writing to an outline. I can’t work like that and I wouldn’t ask you to do it, either … although I know a lot of authors prefer to work that way.

But even though I don’t create an outline, I have to admit it doesn’t hurt to have some idea where the characters … the main ones, anyway … are likely to be headed.

How they actually get there is the “something” I leave up to the characters to discover as I write.

I find it much easier to make detours, twists and turns in my storytelling by using such tactics, because I’m often surprised by where a character takes me … so my reader is going to be surprised, too. And that’s generally a good thing.

But it’s always a good idea to create a feeling that the final words somehow hearken to an earlier moment in the story.

Offer Redemption to Your Heroic Characters
No matter how many mistakes your main character has made along the way, allow the reader — and the character — to realize in the end, regardless of the outcome, he/she has done the right thing.

Don’t Change Voice, Tone or Attitude
Your ending will feel tacked on if the voice of the narrator suddenly sounds alien to the voice that’s been consistent for the rest of the book. The last impression you want to create is a positive one, at least as far as the story is concerned.

So, even if your ending is not the most positive outcome possible for your characters, don’t leave your readers feeling tricked or cheated … or they won’t have nice things to say about your book, and they won’t be looking for your next one, either.

The Making of a Winner
I’ve said it before: Writing is vastly overrated. As hard as it may seem when you’re writing your story, it’s after you’ve written your last word that you really go to work.

You actually begin to craft your work into a readable story in the editing, and you elevate yourself as a writer if you can polish your story until it dazzles. Your intent should be to leave your reader spent when he/she closes your book.

Don’t use obscure words or elaborately complex sentences and, for heaven’s sake, don’t suddenly write complicated scenes with vague references or hidden meanings. The ending, more than anywhere else in your story, is the place to be direct and assertive.

So edit, edit and then edit some more, until you’re certain what you’ve done is the best you’re capable of doing. This is where you should put your best work, making sure everything that remains is essential. It’s hard to do … but your story (and your readers) will love you for it.

As I’ve said in other posts, when I do this I sometimes wind up making changes that leave me with a manuscript that’s actually longer than when I started (good writing is often like that).

But whether your climax is 1,000 words long or 10,000, your reader must feel as if they’re racing through it … and that they cannot possibly put your story down until it’s done.

When that happens, you’ve got a winner … and nothing, my friend, feels better.

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R.L. Herron Book Signing, January 25, 2014

Tags:award-winning author, award-winning writing, indie writers, self-publishing
Posted in Award-Winning Fiction, Market Your Book, Self-Published, Storytelling, The Dreaded Edit | 2 Comments »

Never Let Anyone Steal Your Dream

January 12, 2014

Keep On Dreaming

What Are You Going To Be?
My road to indie author has been a convoluted one. When I was a little kid, it seemed all grownups loved to ask, “What are you going to be when you grow up?”

For a long time I gave the answer all little boys around here did back then: “I’m gonna play baseball for the Tigers, and I’m gonna be the next Al Kaline.”

I would get a smile, a pat on the head, and a “Good luck, kid.”

I thought it was funny, because it was the same response I heard grownups give to kids who said they wanted to be Superman, and he wasn’t even real.

When I got a little older I realized my batting and fielding skills weren’t going to get me a major league tryout, much less entrée into the Baseball Hall of Fame. It wasn’t likely I’d even get a chance to be a batboy. I probably had a better shot at being Batman.

Changing Priorities
So, I switched my response to “teacher” whenever I was asked, even though I hated the idea.

To me, being a teacher wasn’t a choice at all (sorry to you teachers out there, but I just couldn’t picture myself dealing with a whole classroom full of me every day … although it probably would’ve put me on a fast track to sainthood).

But that simple answer kept adults from nagging me. They’d nod and smile again, like I’d just said the magic word or handed them candy, and the conversation would be over.

A precocious reader, I’d discovered all the classic writers before I was a teenager. I loved all those stories … from Charles Dickens’ “Tale of Two Cities,” to Joseph Conrad’s “Lord Jim” — and the two monumental works of Homer, the “Iliad” and the “Odyssey.”

And then I discovered sci-fi. Somehow, for me, Greek gods and aliens went hand-in-hand.

An Early Author
I’d been writing stories for quite a while before I finally got up the gumption to make my first submission. It was to the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. I was seventeen. It was rejected.

But after that first submission, I would send another new story to a magazine … somewhere … every few months.

I collected rejection slips for most, but I actually did sell a few of them (all general fiction to publications that no longer exist). The payments were small, but the feeling was tremendous.

But when I told friends I wanted to be a writer, they told me, “You’ll never make any money at that” — and I thought perhaps they might be right.

By the time I was ready for college, I had no real idea what I wanted to do. Choosing a major was difficult … but necessary. The war in Vietnam was raging, my draft lottery number was low, but I had a scholarship — and college gave me a four-year deferment.

College Choices
I’d already convinced myself teaching was out, but I was good at math, so I looked at options like accounting and statistics.

I wasn’t exactly sure what a statistician did all day, but it had to do with manipulating numbers and it sounded much more exotic than being an accountant.

I was wrong. I found it tedious and boring. I didn’t want to play with numbers at all.

So I studied other things in school … art and design subjects I found I had a knack for doing. I earned a BA in design … and looked for work. Anything creative, I told myself.

Everyone then told me, “All you can do with a degree like that is teach.” I would shudder when they said it.

However, I was fortunate and found creative work in ad agencies. I was even luckier to discover I was reasonably good at it. I got to design ads and write copy.

I got married, started a family, went back to school to earn an MBA and then secured a nice position on the public relations staff of a Fortune 10 company, where I got to write standard PR press releases, as well as proofread and print the things others had written … whoopee.

But the fiction writing bug had already infected me … big time. I kept on writing and submitting short stories while I worked to earn the money that paid the bills.

A Voracious Reader
I also read in almost every spare moment. I read everything. I read both for the stories themselves, and to discover how other writers created worlds so believable with their words, and drew readers into them so thoroughly, they couldn’t put the book down.

I even read in precious lulls when I was supposed to be doing other things, teaching myself to speed-read so I had time for it all.

And I wrote. Constantly. During tedious work meetings. At lunch. When I was supposed to be paying bills in the evening. I’d dig-in my heels and write when bed was calling and I hadn’t slept for twenty hours.

I kept writing … and reading, and getting up the next morning to do it all over again.

Then, in early 2008, I was forced into early retirement from the nine-to-whenever routine I’d followed for my entire working life. I didn’t want to, but I didn’t have any option. Most of the people around me lost their jobs too, less than eight months later.

I looked briefly for other creative work that wasn’t there, cursed the financial institutions that had caused the new recession and started writing again, full-time.

That’s when I discovered traditional publishers wouldn’t even talk to you without an agent. I also discovered how difficult securing one could be … and how long it could take.

Lucky Again
I didn’t feel like I had that much time to search and wait, so I decided to self-publish and join the rapidly growing indie-author movement. Then, just as I’d done when I discovered the beautiful woman who became my wife, I got lucky again.

My Beautiful Bride

Four short years after my “retirement” my first novel, REICHOLD STREET, became a 2012 Readers Favorite Gold Medal Winner.

In 2013, my collection of short stories ZEBULON, was selected as the Readers Favorite Silver Medal Winner in Young Adult Fantasy.

I’ve also published another collection of general fiction short stories called TINKER … and I’m hard at work on a sequel to my award-winning novel.

I’ve spoken at a writing conference, had a write-up in two local papers, been mentioned in Publishers Weekly, and even have a high school in Florida where the creative writing teacher is trying to get REICHOLD STREET designated as required reading.

On January 25, 2014, I will be at the Michigan Book Boutique, in Waterford, Michigan, doing a book signing.

Not too bad, for an “old guy.”

All this is why I can confidently say to every indie author out there you should never let anyone steal your dream. Work at it … work hard. It doesn’t matter how long it takes.

Dreams are meant to be lived.