INKSPOT NEWS - August 18, 2012

Sale! Sale! Sale! Great news! Amazon has put the Kindle version of many Midnight Ink mystery books on sale from August 11 - 23 as part of its "August Big Deal" promotion. Move fast to take advantage of this special promotion, and please spread the word to all of your mystery reading friends!

Here are the titles available for a measly $1.99 during August 11 - 23:

C.S. Challinor's Murder of the Bride
Beth Groundwater's Deadly Currents and Wicked Eddies
J. B. Stanley's Stiffs and Swine
Terri Thayer's Old Maid's Puzzle

Here are the titles available for $1.99 only on August 24th, as part of Amazon's "Kindle Happy Anniversary Deal" promotion:

Sue Ann Jaffarian's Ghost in the Polka Dot Bikini
Karen MacInerney's Dead and Berried
G. M. Malliet's Death and the Chick Lit
Lynn Sholes and Joe Moore's The Grail Conspiracy and The Phoenix Apostles

Also, on Saturday, August 25, 2012, from 9 AM – 4:30 PM, Midnight Ink author Beth Groundwater will present an “Engineering a Mystery and The Art of Dialogue Writing” Workshop at the Chaffee County Writers Exchange in the Meeting Room of the Sangre de Cristo Electric Association, 29780 US Highway 24, Buena Vista, CO 81211. There's still time to sign up to attend! Beth will sell and sign copies of her books after the workshop ends.

Blind Baby Raised by Worms

By Joe Moore

When I first started attempting to write fiction many years ago, I subscribed to and devoured all the writer’s magazines out there. Writers Digest, Writer, and many more. I read every article, sometimes multiple times, and I would use a yellow highlighter to mark those pearls of wisdom from the experienced authors on how to be a better writer. Over the years, I accumulated large piles of magazines containing many yellow highlights. When the day came to clean out my closet and give the copies away to some of my writer friends, I first sat down and went through every edition, copying those jewels of advice into one complete list. Today, I will share them with you. Maybe you might not agree with them all, but there’s a wealth of advice from countless bestsellers that can help improve anyone’s efforts at being a better author.

And if you’re wondering why this blog post is called Blind Baby Raised by Worms, check writing tip number 35. It’s the only one I personally contributed. Enjoy.

1. Easy writing makes hard reading, but hard writing makes easy reading.

2. Surprise creates suspense.

3. Vulnerability humanizes a character.

4. Anything that does not advance the plot or build character should be deleted.

5. Their reaction to a situation shows a great deal about your characters.

6. What your characters say and do under stress reveals their true feelings.

7. Coincidence is used effectively when it sets up a plot complication instead of a resolution.

8. Use all the senses to build your setting.

9. You are not accountable for the absolute accuracy or completeness of your factual information as long as it’s plausible. Write so it sounds right.

10. You can build characterization by seeing your character from another’s viewpoint.

11. The reader doesn’t know how a story will resolve, but they should have no doubt what must be resolved.

12. As a story grows, so should the obstacles.

13. Any word that can be substituted by a simpler word should be.

14. Suspense is created by having something extraordinary happen in an ordinary situation.

15. The simile includes the quality that is being compared as well as the comparison. The metaphor’s comparative frame of reference is only alluded to in the image used.

16. There must always be conflict in some form to keep the story interesting.

17. Deleting “very” usually strengthens a sentence or phrase.

18. Your story must interest you. If it does, there’s a good chance it will interest someone else.

19. Credible prose is not self-indulgent; it exists to illuminate the story, not to show off how clever the writer can be.

20. If you cannot describe your story in one or two sentences, you’re in trouble.

21. Rather than describing your characters, come up with actions that show what they’re like.

22. One way to decide if sex in a scene is necessary is simply to delete it.

23. If it comes easy, it’s a cliché.

24. Don’t give your characters names that are similar, start with the same letter, or are hard to pronounce.

25. A cliché is a sign of a mind at rest.

26. Think of your settings as a character.

27. The reader must feel that your characters were alive before the story began and will live on after it ends.

28. Begin the story where the reader will anticipate what happens next but is compelled to guess wrong.

29. A commercial novel is one that a lot of people buy, finish reading and tell others to read it.

30. The average reader must be considered a genius with the attention span of a two-year-old.

31. To get an editor’s attention, you have about three paragraphs in a short story and three pages in a novel.

32. Conflict, the basis of all good writing, arises because something is not going as planned.

33. Villains never think of themselves as “bad guys”.

34. Always start with the character, not the plot. The needs of the character will drive the plot.

35. Always use a cheap tabloid-style blog title to grab attention.

Are you a “student” of writing magazines and books? Have they been helpful? If so, which ones?

Writing is Rewriting

By Joe Moore

I just finished the first draft of my new thriller, THE BLADE, co-written with Lynn Sholes. This is our sixth novel written together; this one coming in at a crisp 92,500 words. Now that the first pass on the manuscript is finished, the rewrite begins. As E.B. White said in THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE, “The best writing is rewriting.”

Some might ask that if the manuscript is written, why do we need to rewrite it? Remember that the writing process is made up of many layers including outlining, research, first drafts, rewriting, line editing, proofing, more editing and more proofing. One of the functions that sometimes receives the least amount of attention in discussions on writing techniques is rewriting.

There are a number of stages in the rewriting process. Starting with the completion of the first draft, they involve reading and re-reading the entire manuscript many times over and making numerous changes during each pass. It’s in the rewrite that we need to make sure our plot is seamless, our story is on track, our character development is consistent, and we didn’t leave out some major point of importance that could confuse the reader. We have to pay close attention to content. Does the story have a beginning, middle and end? Does it make sense? Is the flow of the story smooth and liquid? Do our scene and chapter transitions work? Is everything resolved at the end?

Next we need to check for clarity. This is where beta readers come in handy. If it’s not clear to them, it won’t be clear to others. We can’t assume that everyone knows what we know or understands what we understand. We have to make it clear what’s going on in our story. Suspense can never be created by confusing the reader.

Once we’ve finished this first pass searching for global plotting problems, it’s time to move on to the nuts and bolts of rewriting. Here we must tighten up our work by deleting all the extra words that don’t add to the reading experience or contribute to the story. Remember that every word counts. If a word doesn’t move the plot forward or contribute to character development, it should be deleted.

Some of the words that can be edited out are superfluous qualifiers such as “very” and “really.” This is always an area where less is more. For instance, we might describe a woman as being beautiful or being very beautiful. But when you think about it, what’s the difference? If she’s already beautiful, a word that is considered a definitive description, how can she exceed beautiful to become very beautiful? She can’t. So we search for and delete instances of “very” or “really”. They add nothing to the writing.

Next, scrutinize any word that ends in “ly”. Chances are, most adverbs can be deleted without changing the meaning of the sentence or our thought. In most cases, cutting them clarifies and makes the writing cleaner.

Next, go hunting for clichés and overused phrases. There’s an old saying that if it comes easy, it’s probably a cliché. Avoiding clichés makes for fresher writing. There’s another saying that the only person allowed to use a cliché is the first one that use it.

Overused phrases are often found at the beginning of a sentence with words like “suddenly,” “so” and “now”. I find myself guilty of doing this, but those words don’t add anything of value to our writing or yours. Delete.

The next type of editing in the rewriting process is called line editing. Line editing covers grammar and punctuation. Watch for incorrect use of the apostrophe, hyphen, dash and semicolon. Did we end all our character’s dialogs with a closed quote? Did we forget to use a question mark at the end of a question?

This also covers making sure we used the right word. Relying on our word processor’s spell checker can be dangerous since it won’t alert us to wrong words when they are spelled correctly. It takes a sharp eye to catch these types of mistakes. Once we’ve gone through the manuscript and performed a line edit, I like to have someone else check it behind us. A fresh set of eyes never hurts.

On-the-fly cut and paste editing while we were working on the first draft can get us into trouble if we weren’t paying attention. Leftover words and phrases from a previous edit or version can still be lurking around, and because all the words might be spelled correctly or the punctuation might be correct, we’ll only catch the mistake by paying close attention during the line edit phase.

The many stages making up the rewrite are vital parts of the writing process. Editing our manuscript should not be rushed or taken for granted. Familiarity breeds mistakes—we’ve read that page or chapter so many times that our eyes skim over it. And yet, there could be a mistake hiding there that we’ve missed every time because we’re bored with the old stuff and anxious to review the new.

Spend the time needed to tighten and clarify the writing until there is not one ounce of fat or bloat. And once we’ve finished the entire editing process, put the manuscript away for a reasonable period of time. Let it rest for a week or even a month if the schedule permits while working on something else. Then bring it back out into the light of day and make one more pass. It’s always surprising at what was missed.

One more piece of advice. Edit on hardcopy, not on a computer monitor. There’s something about dots of ink on the printed page that’s much less forgiving than the glow of pixels. And never be afraid to delete. Remember, less is always more.

How do you go about tackling the rewriting process? Any tips to share?

Sholes and Moore contest winner - June new releases

We just drew the name for the lucky winner of signed first editions of Sholes and Moore's first two books in the Cotton Stone series.

And the winner is...

NINA!!

So Nina - send me your address and you'll have these wonderful books in no time!  (submissions at midnightinkbooks.com)

Yesterday also marked the official release of two Midnight Ink books - Twice as Dead by Sue Ann Jaffarian and The Phoenix Apostles by Lynn Sholes and Joe Moore.

Twice as Dead features plus sized sleuth Odelia Grey and her cast of family and friends.  Odelia seems to be attracted to dead bodies - she just seems to stumble over them all the time!  And in this instance, she finds the body of a wedding planner at her best friend's daughter's wedding.  Once Odelia starts digging, more bodies start turning up...

The Phoenix Apostles brings us Seneca Hunt, a journalist who is almost killed while on an archeological dig with her fiance.  Wanting to find the truth behind her fiance's death, Seneca begins investigating and finds that someone is stealing burial remains from some of the most infamous murderers in history.  This thriller will not disappoint!! 

I do apologize for not drawing the winners yesterday...  unfortunately, I had to go to the dentist.  I hate the dentist, but a toothache forced me to go in.  I will gladly accept symptathy hugs and of course, gifts of food to help me overcome this traumatic event.

FREE BOOK GIVEAWAY, Memorial Day, BEA and other ramblings

Hi everyone!  I hope you all have recovered from the last week or so.

For those of us who didn't attend BEA, there are many BEA reports, but my favorite is this one by agent Josh Getzler http://heydeadguy.typepad.com/heydeadguy/  Josh talks about the status of epublishers at BEA as well as the dance between epublishers and traditional publishers.

Another sweet blog to check out is Inkspot.  This weekend Jessie Chandler had a great post about Memorial Day - http://midnightwriters.blogspot.com/  I also would like to add my thanks to all of those who have served past and present in our armed forces. 

And while you are on Inkspot, Lois Winston's grammar rant is awesome!

Besides the pure joy of the NCIS marathon yesterday, spring seems to arrived in Minnesota.  Complete with thunderstorms and tornados.  But also with sunshine.  Yesterday the boys and I went swimming.  It was awesome.  This is my favorite time of year, when it's not too hot and the nights cool down.  :)  Soon summer will be here in full force - humidity, mosquitos and sunburns.  But for now, I am thankful with what we have.

Ok, ok.  I know the real reason you are reading.  Did I say FREE BOOK GIVEAWAY?!?  Oh yes, I certainly did.  We at Midnight Ink really do love to make our fans and readers happy.  And what is better than free books?  Seriously?!  Through my blog, we are giving away one set of signed first editions of THE GRAIL CONSPIRACY and THE LAST SECRET by Lynn Sholes and Joe Moore.  The contest runs through June 8th (which happens to be the release date of the new Sholes and Moore book, The Phoenix Apostles.)  And just how do you enter to win??  In the comments sections, please give me some feedback about suspense/thrillers...  such as...

Who is your favorite thriller writer and why?

What type of thriller would like to see MI publish?

What is your favorite Sholes and Moore book?

Is there anything lacking in the thriller genre, like a female assassin as the main character?

One person will be randomly selected from the folks who leave comments.

Please make sure to follow Midnight Ink on all the social media fronts as we'll be doing a lot of giveaways and contests this summer.

http://www.Facebook.com/MidnightInkBooks
http://www.Twitter.com/MidnightInkBook
http://www.goodreads.com/midnightinkbooks

And last but certainly not least, happy birthday to my little sister Tiffy.  Tiff, there is no way I could love you any more than I do.  Thank you for keeping me sane.  :)



Tiff and me in Vegas :)



The Value of Book Trailers?

I have to admit...  I am easily distracted.  Some days it is very difficult for me to read at work because people stop by my cube, emails come in, etc.  I can get totally lost looking and giggling at lolcats.  My newest distraction today... book trailers.




Perhaps I am missing something...  do book trailers work?  How do they get out to the readers?  I found this Sholes and Moore trailer by searching Lynn Sholes.  It seems to me the reader has to actively search for an author's work.  What am I missing?  I suppose they are on an author's website as well.  Can they be uploaded to Amazon?  Do indie stores post trailers on their websites?

I think book trailers are fun.  :)  It's interesting to me what elements an author chooses to highlight, the music selection, if the author uses images of the characters or not... 

Authors - have you seen a positive impact because of book trailers? 

Readers - has seeing a trailer cause you to go out and buy a book?  Or made you not buy one?

Exposing myself is hard work

by Joe Moore

There are more places to expose yourself on the Internet than you can possibly keep up with. For me, it started a long time ago with a website, then another, then a blog, then another, and on and on. Sometimes it feels like a full-time job just to maintain and update all the blogs, forum profiles, and social networking sites where I have my profile and book news posted.

Most are available for public viewing while some are for those who register first. But when a news item or piece of info needs to be added such as a book launch or a signing, it can take hours just to update them all.

Did I change my Facebook status today? Did I post the newest version of the book trailer on YouTube?

Here’s a partial list of where I've exposed myself. As you can see, it can quickly get out of hand.

Facebook
Redroom
Kill Zone
InkSpot
Amazon Blog
Personal Website
Book Website
Thriller Website
Goodreads
Mystery Writers of America
Plaxo
Live Journal
Linked In (members only)

How many places do you expose yourself? Is it worth the time needed to keep everything updated? Do these sites generate books sales or just more busy work? Shouldn’t we all be writing rather than posting or updating or checking or commenting or . . .

Was your working title etched in stone?

By Joe Moore

Book titles are critical. It’s that first impression when a potential reader glances down at the new fiction table in the local bookstore. And even if you’ve got a great title, you hope the publisher’s art department doesn’t somehow screw it up with the cover art. I’ve seen books with good titles that were almost impossible to read from a distance. And others where the design was so busy, it gave me a headache.

When Lynn Sholes and I decided to collaborate on our first book, we used CORPUS CHRISTI for the working title during the three years it took to write. Since it was a thriller about cloning Christ, we thought using the Latin for Body of Christ was cleaver. But when we sent it off to our agent, she pointed out the error of our ways. Could be a travel guide to a city in Texas. Could be a novelization of a Broadway play running at the same time. So we changed it to THE ENOCHIAN PROPHECY, a brilliant title that no one could pronounce or spell. Our publisher wisely changed it to THE GRAIL CONSPIRACY which has stuck in all the foreign translations except German.

Book 2 had the working title of THE THIRD SECRET. Steve Berry released a thriller by the same name so our agent changed the title to THE LAST SECRET. So far, it has worked for the foreign publishers that have translated it, although we haven’t seen the German version yet.

Book 3 had a working title of INDIGO RUBY for the year it took to write. The title had a great deal of meaning for at least two people: Lynn and myself. Again, the publisher stepped in and wisely renamed it THE HADES PROJECT which is exactly what the book is about. Clever.

BLACK NEEDLES was what we called number 4 which was the name we gave the deadly retrovirus that formed the threat of the book. Cool title, but it really didn’t tell the reader anything about the story. Could be a book about a knitting club for witches. So the publisher finally settled on THE 731 LEGACY. The book involves the Japanese WWII biological warfare division called Unit 731 and how its legacy propels the story. OK, we agree that was a wise decision and makes sense.

The working title to our next one is THE PHOENIX APOSTLES. We'll see if that makes it to print.

Sometimes it’s better to leave the titles to the marketing and sales department and just stick to writing the story.

So why are titles important? Paul McCartney’s working title of the Beatles classic “Yesterday” was “Scrambled Eggs.”

Have all your working titles made it to the cover of your book? If not, were you happy with the final version?

Survey Says IV

By Joe Moore

In Survey Says I, I summarized a member's survey taken by Novelist, Inc. on how many writers with bestsellers and multiple books published could make a living writing. The answer was, not many. In Survey Says II, I covered some of the highlights of a Zogby International/Random House poll on how and where readers shop. With that one we found out among other things that word-of-mouth is the best advertising and cover art really does count as one of the first reasons table browsers pick up a book (or don't). In Survey Says III, I reported on a Sisters In Crime Publishers Summit that, among other revelations, told us that our book cover art is critical, paranormal is hot, thrillers are hotter, and the use of social networks is a great way to promote your books.

This time around, I’m posted some statistics found in Publishers Weekly. The source is the National Endowment for the Arts study--Artists in the Workforce: 1990-2005

185,276 is the total number of authors and writers, 2005

I had a feeling everyone was writing a book.

39% is the increase in authors between 1990 and 2005

Apparently the glamour of a writer’s life has leaked out.

51.9% of authors work full-time writing

This one surprised me, in a good way.

$50,800 is the median income for full-time authors, 2005

Combine this with a part-time job at Dunkin' Donuts and you’ve got a decent salary.

$38,700 is the median income for entire civilian labor force, 2005

That’s the Dunkin' Donuts job I was talking about. Of course you have to be the owner/manager.

$38,800 is the median income for all authors, 2005

May have to combine the Dunkin' Donuts and a Subway sandwich gig.

$47,300 is the median income for male authors, 2005

James Brown sang "it’s a man’s world."

$33,300 is the median income for female authors, 2005

OK, I was joking around about the James Brown lyric. Plus my wife saw what I wrote and whacked me.

54.9% of authors are female

Exactly the same proportion as the famous writing team of Sholes & Moore.

10.8% of authors are minorities

This is sad it’s not more.

26.8% of authors are under age 35

Maturity must count for something.

83.1% of authors have at least a bachelor's degree

If we're so smart, why aren't we all on the bestseller list?

45.9% of authors are self-employed

At least we’re employed.

50,000 is the estimated number of writers living in California and New York

Sort of like a set of national bookends.

No 1 is the rank of Santa Fe, NM, among cities, authors per capita

That’s a lot of laptops using Starbucks hotspots.

So why do so many people want a job that pays little, has no medical benefits, requires us to work 24/7 with no paid vacation or sick leave? I guess it beats that Dunkin' Donuts idea.

Tune in next time for Survey Says V. If there is a next time. My wife is still pissed.