Storytelling | Painting With Light

Archive for the ‘Storytelling’ Category

Things That Matter

May 14, 2016

early-morning

My latest novel, Blood Lake, was just published. You will find it on Amazon and online at Barnes & Noble.

(Whew!) There, the shameless publicity effort is done (don’t I wish). Now on to more important things.

Writing is hard work. The last few months have been hectic, and I’ve quite often been less attentive than I should have been. My bride puts up with me, because she says she likes the way I write.

It must be true. I know it can’t be the money.

Once I subtract the cost of any advertising I do (as an indie author, it’s something I have to do … no one else is going to do it for me), design and print giveaway bookmarks, rack cards, posters for book signings … and whatever else needs doing, I only make enough profit most months to buy her a nice dinner out … maybe.

So, why do I do it?

I like to write, and I’ve got stories to tell. How many stories? To paraphrase one of my favorite old-time sci-fi writers, Isaac Asimov: “If I found out I only had a few weeks to live, I wouldn’t complain…I’d just write a little faster.”

I’m already more than 11,000 words into my next book (number seven). Not bad for someone who only got serious about publishing six years ago.

You’ve heard my lament before.

I’ve written since I was seventeen, and when I retired from the nine-to-whenever-I-got-done marketing job I had, I thought writing novels would be a nice sideline. Something to occupy my time.

When I had the first one almost done, I went looking for an agent, since I knew the Big Five publishers (Penguin-Random House, Macmillan, HarperCollins, Hachette and Simon & Schuster) wouldn’t talk to me without one.

Most decent smaller ones wouldn’t either. After two years, with no agent willing to sign me, I said the heck with it (actually, my language was quite a bit stronger than that) and decided to become an indie author. That was in 2012.

shelf unbound award I haven’t looked back. I’ve written one book every year since, with the exception of 2013 (that year I wrote two). With one Readers Favorite Gold Medal (and one Silver), a favorable Kirkus Review, Five-Star reviews from reputable review houses for all my books, and a “Notable 100 Book for 2015” from Shelf Unbound for my novel STREET LIGHT … I’m not rich, but I’m pretty happy.

I attribute the modest success to paying attention to the factors that make for good storytelling. I learned how to write dialogue. I learned to show the story, not tell it … and those are probably the two biggest things new writers need to learn.

Now I need to figure out how to get my name (and my books) better known. I’m still working on it .. and I’ll let you know what I find out.

I still urge every wannbe indie writer out there to keep writing … and keep reading. Me? I’m going to pay attention to my bride for a while, because she deserves it (OK, I’m going to keep writing, too … I never said I was perfect).

**********

My books have all garnered some terrific reviews, and you can see the ones I have available by using the Amazon link below. My latest, BLOOD LAKE, was just published. Look for it. You might like it.

You’re invited to visit my web site, BROKEN GLASS, or
like my Book of Face page. You can find me on Goodreads, or follow
some of my shorter ramblings on The Twitter.

**********

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

Tags:book marketing, self-publishing, storytelling
Posted in Book Promotion, Independent Publishing, Self-Published, Storytelling | 8 Comments »

Secrets to Writing a Best-Seller

April 14, 2016

Author Stephen King in Bridgton, Maine. Stephen King in Bridgton, Maine (picture © Rolling Stone).

If you’ve read my blog for any length of time, you know one of my favorite authors is Stephen King.

Not that I enjoy all of his work. I readily admit I don’t.

However, he did write some of my favorite stories. Among them: Shawshank Redemption, The Body (you may remember it better as the movie Stand by Me), The Green Mile, and The Shining.

Whether you like his stories or not, this much is absolutely true.

The man knows how to tell a story.

Books by American author Stephen Edwin King (born 9/21/47) … have sold more than 350 million copies. As a perennial member of the top-10 bestseller lists, he knows a lot about writing popular books.

With all his success, he’s still a big supporter of beginning authors. His amazing book, On Writing, is required reading on many author’s writing shelves, my own included.

You don’t have to be a fan of horror stories to recognize the worth of his advice to countless authors on their own path to publication.

As I get ready for the Rochester Writer’s Spring Conference next week, where I hope to glean a lot of new information about this daily affliction I have called writing fiction, I thought it would be a good time to pass on a bit more of Mr. King’s advice.

Eight Best-Seller Secrets
Besides his well-known writing admonition (that every writer should follow): “The road to Hell is paved with adverbs” … here are eight of Stephen King’s tips for writing a novel that wannabe writers (and, more importantly, their readers) will love …

Use small words

2. Tell your own truth. You can make up stories about anything you like, but your characters and plot have to ring true to your ear. No one is all bad or all good. Even super-baddie Darth Vader achieved redemption in the end.

3. Mix up the paragraph length. It’s boring to look at a page and see uniform blocks of words. Make some of the paragraphs one sentence long.

4. Think of your perfect reader and write only for them. Write a story that person would like and ignore what the rest of the world thinks. No one writes a book everyone likes, but with this method does your marketing for you. If you write solidly for one reader, everyone who’s like them will love your books.

5. Read, read, read. I can never say that enough. Read every time you’re waiting somewhere … when you’re sitting in the doctor’s office … when you’re trying to fall asleep. Immerse your brain in words all day long. The variety will give your own work more depth.

6. Write one word at a time. This may be the most famous piece of advice King has given on writing. How do you write a novel as long as The Stand? One word at a time. Just sit down and do it. Don’t think about writing hundreds of thousands of words. Aim for the next word, and then the next one.

7. Write every single day. It really does get easier the more you do it. You’ll have days when it takes hours to hit your word count and days when it takes no time at all, but set an appointment with yourself and sit down to write every single day, without fail.

8. Find something you love about your work. Yes, writing what’s popular will sell more books, but you’ve got to find some middle ground between what will sell and what you love. Being an author is hard enough. There’s no sense making it even harder by writing something you hate.

Of course, if zombie love stories with skinhead motorcycle gangs in Scotland during an alien invasion in the Middle Ages is something you love, all I can do is wish you luck.

**********

My books have all garnered some terrific reviews, and you can see the ones I have available by using the Amazon link below. My latest, BLOOD LAKE, will be out this summer. Look for it. I’ll look for you at the writing conference.

You’re invited to visit my web site, BROKEN GLASS, or
like my Book of Face page. You can find me on Goodreads, or follow
some of my shorter ramblings on The Twitter.

Tags:award-winning writing, Rochester Writer's Conference, storytelling
Posted in Award-Winning Fiction, Book Promotion, Market Your Book, Storytelling | 4 Comments »

When Did You Start to Write Stories?

April 3, 2016

kid writing
When You Feel the Urge to Write … You Write.

I’ve been thinking about all the wannabe authors out there. I don’t know why. I suppose it’s because I’m in the same boat with them. I write because I feel the urge to put my stories down for others to read. It’s something I have to do.

Have to.

Even though I occasionally wonder if I’m relevant.

I often hear young people talking about what cool new music they’ve been listening to and, if they bother to ask me about it, all I can think of is stuff from the 60’s. Some of them might even laugh at some of the songs I mention.

Nobody seems very interested in my opinions about the sorry state of music these days which, I suppose, is the way it should be. I had my turn, with my father not liking all that yeah, yeah shit I listened to.

Except …

Music isn’t just for the young. I noticed a few months ago that SiriusXM Radio quit their 40’s channel (it actually went away in 2014), which would have been a great shock to my mother … if she knew anything at all about XM Radio.

She would have missed the music, if she had subscribed to the station. That, alas, was never going to happen. Her shock would have come because she distinctly remembers radio coming through the airwaves for free. Why would she ever want to pay for it?

Is it really the same thinking to wonder why my sons (or most anyone else in their generation) wouldn’t want to listen to The Last Train to Clarksville, by the Monkees? It was a really big song in 1965, and I still know all the words.

Am I going to wake up some morning to discover SiriusXM Radio has discontinued their 60’s channel … because there aren’t enough subscribers in that age group anymore?

I suppose it’s inevitable.

That was the same year I wrote my first serious short story (I was a little older than the kid in the picture). Most of the magazines I sold a few shorts to over the years don’t even exist any more.

I didn’t really sit down to write fiction full-time, however, until I left the nine-to-five grind in the first quarter of 2008.

My first novel (published in 2012) was set in the 60s.

It was something I knew about, which was a very good reason to write about it … but just because I lived through it doesn’t mean it’s the only thing I can write.

The same should be true for you.

Personal experience shouldn’t be something limiting, despite the phrase write what you know. I’ve also written short stories dealing with Alzheimer’s, the war in Iraq, quantum physics and a meeting with the devil … none of which I’ve been directly involved in.

I can, however, read … and I do a lot of it.

That’s the key. Read. Read a lot. Read everything you can get your hands on. And, if you want to write … write. The stories will come.

I can’t vouch for how good they’ll be. You’ll have to take responsibility for that. But I promise you … if you sit down and do the work … they will come.

My latest, BLOOD LAKE, will be out this summer. Look for it.

**********

My books have all garnered some terrific reviews, and you can see the ones I have available by using the Amazon link below.

You’re invited to visit my web site, BROKEN GLASS, or
like my Book of Face page. You can find me on Goodreads, or follow
some of my shorter ramblings on The Twitter.