Chaeya

Yes, it’s been a while. Since I really don’t have a readership for my blog as of yet, I’ve played a little hookey.

I also took a break from my soon-to-be-published novel. It was a good break because after getting my book back from my critique partner, I was overwhelmed by the changes I had to make.

I cannot stress enough that every author should have a CP or a friend who will tell it to them straight. CPs see things we cannot and offer a fresh point of view. Because something makes perfect sense to us as the writer doesn’t mean it will convey well with the readers. Especially when the writer has a different way of looking at the world anyway.

Every time my husband asks me why I’m not done, I have to grit my teeth and attempt to explain why. Then he says, “but I thought you fixed those problems the last time.” Old problems get fixed and new problems pop up. Welcome to writing. I have to try and explain this to my musician of a husband. He who beats his man breast triumphantly after sitting up all night and recording a song from beginning to end. His take is, I’m a good writer and if I ran the spell check, why isn’t the story finished? If only the spellcheck were the brunt of my worries. Ha ha.

I’m a perfectionist. I’ve always taken a long time to do things because I do the work, then stand back to check it out. Then come the tweaks, the fixes, the “this no longer works for me” stages of the project. I won’t even mention the rewrites and the sections which get taken out, then put back in, then taken out again. I probably shouldn’t also mention all the other sections which have to be edited to support the parts that were taken out. Most writers should feel me here.

When I have attempted to explain this to the mister, I can see his eyes slowly glaze over. I get abruptly cut off with, well you need to get finished and it get it out there. I tell him why? It isn’t like I’m gonna get famous and make a lot of money. He gets angry and wonders why I’ve been “wasting” my time for all these years. Uh, because I just happen to really love what I do. And if I’m going to do anything, it will be done well, money or no money.

Some of you may think I’m being negative by saying I won’t get famous and make a lot of money. I feel I’m being realistic. It stems from being a singer/musician all these years. At 46 years of age, I’ve long come to the conclusion that I’m not going to realize my dream of being a famous singer. The “never know” thing doesn’t work for me. I find by telling myself I won’t do something, keeps my mind in a balance state and I’m able to simply do what it is I do. Write, sing, compose or even making a lotion. I do it and I put it out there. I get what I get.

However, when it does get put out there, it will be in top form. I’ve come across authors who have taken ten years and more to get books finished. My only advice is that if an artist chooses to create something, they can’t rush it. I’ve just come back to my novel to put more edits on it after leaving it alone for three months. I’m glad I did this because now I feel fresh. After my last hiatus, I feel I can finally complete it now. I no longer feel an aversion to reading it like I used to.

This is the point where an artist has to say they are finished. And in reading over it, I know I am coming to the final stages before publishing. My artist is nearly complete with the cover art, so I told my husband that I will finish the book by May.

So I’m sure some of you can empathize with me. It’s a long road from beginning to end, not a nightlong session. I also feel kind of sad. Those characters have been with me so long, it’s like I’m saying goodbye to them. But this I do know, after finishing this first book, the other stories I have waiting in the wings seem much easier. Some of them I’ve completed in my head while working on my current book. That’s a good feeling.

If you’d like to read an excerpt of my upcoming novel “Srae Iss-Ka-Mala,” you can find it under “Books.”

You’ve seen them. Those little miniature videos advertising a book. Some of them are really cool, and in this day and age, you will definitely need one if ever write a book. But here’s the tick, I’m not sure how much they account for sales because I’ve yet to see any statistics regarding them. However, when a reader goes to check out your website, it does look professional to see not only photocopies of your bookcover, but a video advertisement of your book. It says to the reader that you are a professional and take your writing serious.

You don’t want to skimp when it comes to graphics and booktrailers, especially when you’re a self-published writer. You need all the advertising you can get. A few stigmas which haunts self-published writers is that they self-published because they couldn’t get accepted by a pro publisher, the quality of their writing is poor, and their stories are too personal to them to be of interest to anyone else. Being that we self-published authors have these strikes against us, it’s important to maybe spend a few extra dollars getting decent graphics and a book trailer to add to your website. Don’t have a website? No worries, there are numerous sites such as myspace, google blogger, ning and multiply where you can get a free website to promote yourself. They have numerous templates which will offer you a professional feel and readers can take you serious. You can now get your own url for cheap from places like Godaddy.com and buy like two and three years at a time. There are numerous cheap hosting sites, for instance, I pay only $5 a month for this.

So give you’ve done this, here’s so resources to getting a booktrailer:

Most book trailers are made with PowerPoint. Most computers come with PowerPoint, if not, I’m sure you can find a copy of Office somewhere. You can pick up Office 2003 at ebay. And you can do pretty well with that version.
There’s also cheap movie editing programs such as Roxio Movie Creator and Magix Movie Edit Pro. I have version 12, but I think they’re up to 15 now.

You can, of course, hit up that friend or cousin of yours with the fancy schmancy video editing programs. But honestly, you can do quite well with the above.

Royalty-Free Pictures:

http://www.istockphoto.com

http://www.dreamstime.com

http://www.fotosearch.com

Royalty-Free Music:

http://www.royaltyfreemusic.com/

http://musicbakery.com/

These are just a couple of sites. If you google any of the above you can find lots, however, these offer some quality music. Tracks will cost anywhere from $15 to $50. May sound like a lot, but it’s so worth it to have quality music on your trailer.

Here’s a good article on how to create your own book trailer and if you just find yourself lacking on time or just too intimidated, it provides a list of companies you can pay to do your trailer for you: http://www.squidoo.com/booktrailers.

Once you get your book trailer, upload it everywhere you can. Even if people have no intention of reading your book, if they watch it and rate it, it will move it up in the ranks and someone else may see it and decide they wish to purchase your book.

So hop to it, and happy book trailer-ing.

Have you as a writer ever had someone say that to you? Or have you read a review of a book where someone wrote it? I’ve had it said to me enough, and after I publish my books, I will probably keep hearing it.

I’m pretty open-minded when it comes to critique partners. After all, writing is a craft and one which you never stop learning. I take everything anyone has to say about my writing under consideration. The one thing I am a stickler about is grammar. Grammar is something where we writers can easily suffer pitfalls. I loved English in school and I’ve always done well in it. Still, there is always something else to learn, always something else someone can criticize. I will always try and hone that skill. So that aside, let me get to my main point.

One thing I do have a problem with, and I’ve said this in other writers, is when people say something is not realistic because no one in their right mind would do such a thing. Case in point, let’s take the character, Claudia, from my upcoming novel “Srae Iss-Ka-Mala.” At the beginning of the book, Claudia’s car breaks down in the California desert. Another car driven by Penelope Prescott comes along and offers to help. They can’t reach AAA so Penelope asks Claudia if she would like to come back to her house which is a short distance away. Claudia ponders the invitation and feels safe enough to accept her invitation. I have received critiques from two people and one judge of a contest telling me no woman would ever do such a thing. Really?

I don’t go into a lot of backstory or detail about Claudia, but here you have a woman who has driven alone to a small Arizona town. That alone should tell the reader she is a little daring and a bit on the adventurous side. And if anyone has driven through the California desert, it can be pretty intimidating. There is a stretch of freeway which boasts no gas stations or any signs of life for like 50 miles and in between here is where Claudia’s car breaks down. Also, if anyone lives in America they should know that more people have been killed on the side of the highways and freeways by drunk drivers than on the actual road. Just watching an episode of “The World’s Craziest Drivers” will show this to be true. There are periodic patrols by highway patrol officers, but that could be hours before they happen through. So Claudia is a little relieved when she meets and speaks with Penelope. Is it dangerous? Yes.

As the story progresses and she does get in the car, it does go into Claudia’s frame of mind and why she got in the car in the first place. However, this has been disregarded by some of my readers because they are taking more from the fact that nothing on the green Earth would have made them get in the car with a stranger. I respect that and their frame of mind is safe thinking in this crazy world. And to say it isn’t realistic is understandable. However, it is not true. Because I’ve done it. I have gotten in the car with more strangers than I probably should admit. I’ve hitchhiked when I was younger, I’ve been in homes of both men and women who I didn’t know. And would I do it again? Probably.

The French have a saying: “Plus le change, plus sais le maime chose.” The more something changes, the more it is the same thing. And I’m still pretty much the same. I’m bit more vocal than I was back then, but I’m still a little arrogant, a know-it-all and suffer from a little invincibility complex. All this and I suffer from anxiety/panic disorder. Maybe it’s only a delayed reaction from all the times I should have just said “no.”

Claudia’s dilemma isn’t new to me because it happened to me a few times when I was traveling in Europe. Where I found myself broke and I went to the home of an American guy I met on the street. I had run out of money and it was either sleep in the train station or go back to his place. It was the middle of November and Switzerland is pretty cold then. He was a very spiritual person and we had an indepth conversation about life and things before I made my decision. On the flipside, I’ve had strangers in my home. My husband and I have a believe that we like to give back the kindness that has been shown to us. Mind you, we don’t let just anyone in our home. We talk to them first and get a feel for their state of mind. But at the same time, we also have a house full of swords and daggers, so many people may be more afraid of us than we are of them.

But in defense of those who say, “that’s not possible,” I have also read things in books where I went “okay, that’s really never gonna happen in real life.” Then again, it is only fiction. We see movies all the time where things are presented to us that would never likely happen in real life, so why make a big deal if a woman accepts a ride on the freeway by another woman she doesn’t know? It’s important to note how the situation is presented. What thoughts led her to make her decision. If a reader keeps on in the book, they will get to know how Claudia comes to make her decision. I will say this much, after a person travels through Europe on their own or any country alone, you become way more daring and discerning of people. I’m not talking about going to Europe with your friends and a Eurorail pass. I’m talking alone, with little money, no resources, no Internet and no way to reach family and friends back home. It changes you and even though you come back home to America with all its craziness, there’s a part of a person which never lets go of that adventurous spirit.

Because we write fiction, we become mini gods and goddesses in our own right. We create our characters and put them through a slew of adventures, situations and decisions. Some of these characters and what they do are downright fantastic and other things they do are beyond belief. And as many times as I’ve seen a movie with grand car chases, with people hanging out of the windows and shooting at each other (and the police just never seem to be around for miles and miles as this goes on), I believe a character getting in the car with a stranger to be small beans.

So if you are going to have your character do some fantastic things which the average human wouldn’t do, just support it well in the writing. Let the dilemma of their decision trickle out in the paragraphs to come. It’s important to have their psychological make-up supported in their thoughts and their history. And if a person still says it’s not realistic after all is said and done. Well, sometimes, there’s just no making some people happy.

Anyone who thinks writing is easy and think “oh I can do that,” feel free to smack some sense into them for me. They’ve been reading far too many bad books. There is nothing easy about writing. Okay, I take that back. The only thing easy about it for me is writing down the story. It’s when I can honestly say it’s fun. Then comes the editing. Editing can take anywhere from a few minutes to years. I know some people thought my story would never ever see the light of day because of my neverending editing. Editing goes far beyond the misspelled word or the poor sentence structure. It really does get easier the more books you write. Then again, it really doesn’t.

It’s worse if you are a new writer. You don’t just write a story on your computer, edit it and toss it out there. You have to add all the psychological issues you put yourself through during your journey, from your story hanging out on your computer to getting published for all to see. You must mention the times you posted an excerpt or a blurb of your book and you lay awake wondering what people will say. Then comes the critiques where you have to find it within yourself to brave the negativities enough to realize you don’t write as good as you think. And I mean the real critiques, not the “oh that’s really good” pats on the back which come from your family and friends.

Then there are those times you read someone else and you feel your writing is so inferior to theirs, you want to just throw in the towel for good.

For me, I find it’s sometimes good to get away from other writers. As much as it is important to commune with them, it’s important to take breaks from them as well. To get away from the how tos, the must dos, the should dos, please read my book and so on. We can’t forget that we are supposed to be reading for enjoyment too! This is one reason I turn off the writer in me when I read other people’s stories, unless they ask for my critique.

And if you want a critique, find someone you admire and ask for their help. Providing they aren’t Nora Roberts, some of them will be happy to read a chapter or so. They will help you with grammar, offer tips on how to tighten up sentences and give you pointers on plot and so on. What they won’t do is tell you what your characters should or shouldn’t do or say. They may point out certain feelings they get from your characters’ dialogue and action, but not judge your characters’ actions. They shouldn’t be telling you what’s realistic and what isn’t. If you are a good writer and have a vivid imagination, then you can have your hero fly in on a cow and rescue his true love. We see stupid things done in movies all the time and depending on how it’s done, it can win praises.

In the end, writing is all a matter of viewpoints. While one person can say you are the bombnizshitz, the next person could say you can’t write your way into a wrong. Most people on the New York Bestseller lists are there because either they or their publisher paid top dollar for promotion. How many times did we buy a book because it had the tagline “NY Bestseller” only to read it and go “what the hell?” The only thing a NY Bestseller tag does for me is say an author has money behind them. It doesn’t mean their good. What attracts me first is the cover, then the blurb, then I page through the book. If I feel myself transported someplace else, then I’m buying it. I suspect many of the general public follows this too. I feel sorry for them if they give the New York Times Bestseller List power to pick what they should read.

The best thing we can do as writers is to keep writing, honing our craft and following our hearts. We need to perservere against these dark days of publishing.

In the end, we should all feel proud that we dared to keep writing. We forced our way through the mire of edits and then dared to hit that “Send” button which placed it either in the hands of an agent, a publisher or directly into the hands of the public.

So how do you all feel about writing?