G is for Goodread

How Goodreads Works

Goodreads is a free website for book lovers. Imagine it as a large library that you can wander through and see everyone's bookshelves, their reviews, and their ratings. You can also post your own reviews and catalog what you have read, are currently reading, and plan to read in the future. 

What every author should know about Goodreads?

Patrick Brown advice for authors on Goodreads

'First, they should claim their author profile and join the Goodreads Author Program. It’s free to join and requires only a valid email address. In a broad sense, the best way for an author to build a presence on Goodreads is to be an active Goodreads member. That is, they should write reviews of the books they read, participate in groups, and generally use the site as a reader might. In addition to this, they can do some very simple things to get the word out that are not intrusive. If the author is already writing a blog, they can sync that to their author profile. If they aren’t writing a blog, they can start one. They can post videos, ebook excerpts, polls, etc. All of that will end up in their friends’ and fans’ update feeds.

More specifically, the best promotional tool at a Goodreads Author’s disposal is definitely the First Reads giveaway. Giving away an advance copy (or even a finished copy) of your book is a terrific way of getting your book some attention on the site. After all, if you want people to fall in love with your writing, the best way is to give them a taste of it. On average, about 750 people enter each giveaway, and of those people, we’ve found that about 8% of them will add the book to their to-read shelf, win or lose. About 45% of the winners review the book, meaning that the more copies you offer, the more reviews you are likely to get. And reviews are really the fuel that drives everything on Goodreads. When a member reviews your book, not only do their friends see that review, but it often gets pushed to Facebook, Twitter, and their blog, too. We’ve found that about 1/5 of all Goodreads users write a book blog, and we do our best to make it easy for those users to share their reviews on their blogs.

A great way to get a little bit of bang for not many bucks is to pair a giveaway with a self-serve advertisement. Self-serve ads are easy to create and can be bought for as little as $50. You pay based on the number of people who click on your ad, and you can target it to fans of a specific genre, as well as to residents of a specific country, one gender or the other, or a targeted age range. This way, you get your giveaway in front of the people you most want to reach.

To post a giveaway, just log into Goodreads, and visit this link:

http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/new

To see a list of current giveaways, go here:

http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway'

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F for Friction in the Family

Today days list is fun generalisations about family.

If you want to write about conflict, families can be a gold mine. Lots of lovely friction points, age gaps and jealousy. Here is a list of some behaviour traits depending on where a character is placed in a family.

Only children - tend to be self-sufficient because they are on their own a lot. They find it easier to get along with adults. An only girl can sometimes be treated like a boy by her father.

Second children - are fiercely competitive with their siblings.

Third - (and middle children) are usually contrary, they have neither the assurance of the oldest nor the advantages of the babies. They have to be different to attract attention. These are the children that may cry it's not fair.

The baby of the family - the stereotype is the child that is petted and spoilt, but they can also be bullied.

Twins - children writers love them. Editors hate them! Use twins with caution.

Other family conflicts to think about: 

Mothers and daughters

Mothers and sons

In laws

Step families 

Married couples

Ex's

Grandparents

Father and sons

Father and daughter

Things that cause the most friction;

Money - lack of, jealousy about

Attention - favouritism

Raising children - lots here!

Career - who's most successful and why?

The past - grudges and skeletons in the closest

Think about your characters family even if you don't include it in your writing.

This is a fun list. But beware of stereotypes. Make sure you differentiate characters of the same age, sex and background. 

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E is for Emotions

Writing emotions can be hard, but it's vital if you want your reader to care about your main characters.

When you are editing your work think about what you want your readers to feel at different points during the story? How do you want your reader to feel when they finish reading? 

How do the characters in the story feel about what is happening? What type of person is your character? What would he or she would do when faced with the situation you're writing about? What's your characters body language like when they are happy or upset? Are your descriptions consistent and believable.

I've found the following resources extremely helpful.

Although this isn't a writing book I found it incrediably useful. 

'A Woman in Your Own Right Assertiveness and You' Anne Dickson

Another great book is 'Writing with Emotion, Tension, & Conflict' by Cheryl St. John 

Fellow writer and blogger Lane Swift (http://laneswift.com) swears by her copy of 'The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide to Character Expression' by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi.

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D is for Dialogue

My editing list today is dialogue. 

Books need dialogue. But it's important to remember dialogue has a purpose!

1. To show character

2. To further action of plot

3. To illustrate the emotional state of the speaker

4. To convey information.

When it comes to editing makes sure you aren't repeating information in the dialogue. Does each of your characters have a particular way of speaking? Have you over done dialects or foreign accents? Have you gone OTT with a stutter?

Lastly, 'said.' It's the mark of the amateur to try and think of as many ways as possible to avoid using said. Most of the time readers don't even see it. 

My lecturer, author Sara Grant suggests once you have finished your piece of writing highlighting a characters speech and then reading just the dialogue. That way you can check that your character doesn't change their voice half way through the novel.

Quick editing tip

Read your dialogue aloud. Unnatural lines may hide on the page, but they tend to leap out when spoken.

Listen to someone else read your dialogue aloud. How do the lines sound? How do they feel to the speakers?

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C is for Creating Complications

Most successful stories follow a hero or heroine's progress through difficulties. Each time your main character sorts out one problem the next one should be at the ready. The writers object is to gain the maximum of suspense in your reader. The way your character solves a dilemma should be realistic and believeable. If you are writing for younger children, make sure an adult doesn't step in and solve the problem.

If you want readers to feel satisfied at the end of your book plan a good climax at the end, and don't forget to tie up loose ends. 

At the last SCBWI conference I attended the agents complained about certain cliche stories and twee  characters. These were the plots they were complaining about;

children foiling thieves

finding buried treasure

being cut of by the tide

children helping Father Christmas

I'm not saying don't use one of the stories on the list. However, if you want to use a cliche situation, make sure you add something fresh and exciting. Remember, everyone said boarding school stories were outdated until J.K came along with Hogwarts. 

My conflict test list

Is there a beginning, middle and end? Sounds obvious? 

Are the characters believable?

Is their plenty of conflict?

Is there a problem to be solved?

Is the ending satisfying?

Have you tied up all the loose ends?

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B is for Beginnings

Day two of the A to Z challenge! And I've chosen beginnings.

I thought I might share my checklist when I look at the first page. I have used this list on novels and short stories and I find it useful when macro editing.

EDITING LIST

1.       Does the story start in the right place? Has something momentous happened? 

       Is something going to happen in the next few lines?

2.       Have you started with a hook? Does that first line grab the reader?

3.       Are you writing active sentences?

4.       I like short punchy first sentences and paragraphs.

5.       Does it pique readers’ curiosity? Writers aim to make it difficult for readers to put down our work.

6.       Have you introduced you main character? A must with younger readers.

7.       What’s the problem? The character should have one. Maybe a bit of conflict.

8.       Is it confusing? Are there too many characters?

Basically in the beginning you are aiming to;

·             Start at a key moment in the character’s life

·             Make sure that the change will have consequences

·             Introduce the main character

·             Show movement or arevealing conversation

·             Make the reader want to read more

I have a few checklists for editing purposes. They help me.  Also, if you are in a writing group or have been asked to provide feedback, having a list like this can make you more focused.

Why not try it?

Alternative Worlds

Can you post every day except Sundays during this month?  And to up the bar, can you blog thematically from A to Z? That’s the A to Z challenge!  And I’ve decided to have a go. I’m pleased to announce that I have already had one small success this morning by successfully putting a new badge on the blog, so I’m on a roll.

The challenge doesn’t count the Sundays in April which leaves 26 days--one day for each letter of the alphabet.  

Alternative Worlds

I love stories set in alternative worlds. Philip Pullman ‘His Dark Materials’ trilogy of fantasy novels comprising Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass. Garth Nix ‘Abhorsen Trilogy’  including Sabriel, Lirael and Abhorsen are some of my favourites.

Since I’m preparing to do the Fantastic Fiction element of my MA in September, I’ve been doing a lot of pre reading. Which has resulted in me getting more and more confused about how I was going to build my fantasy world until I was given this incredible tip from a great (if unpublished) author.

‘Have you seen ‘The Last Samurai’ with Tom Cruise?’

I admitted I had.

‘Remember how the main character kept a journal of how these extraordinary people behaved? Do that. Lots of cups of coffees. Day dream and make notes on your world, get all the daily details down on paper.’

Best advice ever! If you are building an entire new world why not give it a go?’