Z is for Zombies!

Zombies are the only monster that actually gives me the heebie-jeebies. When I was about five or six, my parents went to the drive-in to see a late night zombie flick, assuming I'd stay fast asleep on the back seat. I woke towards the end, just in time to see a mob of zombies rip through the wall of a house and attack the only survivors inside. I was not able to watch another zombie movie after that until peer-pressured to see Shaun of the Dead - I still shivered.

But I got tougher and after freaking out when Hubby bought home The Walking Dead TV series, I actually sat and watched it with him... if by 'watched' I can count running in and out of the room several times screaming. It's now one of my favourite shows (although I still can't look most of the time) and I am addicted to the graphic novel of the same name. I even have a PINTEREST board of ZOMBIES.

It might seem silly that I wrote a kids horror zombie story, MY ZOMBIE DOG, when I can't bare to even watch a zombie flick. But that's one of the ways this story came about. I had a fear sheet where I wrote everything that scares me. Plus I had that zombie dog that one time...

What freaks you out? (My list is very long).

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Y is for YA Fiction

Cartoon by Debbie Ridpath Ohi at Inkygirl.com

I'm pretty excited about taking on Year of the YA Novel, so today I'm sharing some links for information on writing for teens.

Writing Young Adult Fiction for Dummies - this is a cheat sheet with lots of tips on writing for teens.

Radio National - The Book Show - How to Write YA Fiction - download the audio file to hear a talkback show on writing YA fiction.

10 Top Issues to Address in YA Fiction - this came from discussions with teens at my last high school. They were very honest about issues that were important to them, these can be the basis for your conflict and your theme. Some of their responses might surprise you.

My top tip for writing YA fiction? A non-judgemental voice. Yes teen pregnancy is a good edgy topic for a novel. No, we do not want to encourage a bunch of teens to rush out and get pregnant. BUT. If you are writing from the teen perspective, you have to be honest about their feelings, you have to be truthful about describing the rush of endorphins experienced with a first kiss, and the desire to take things further. You can't just skip straight to the consequences, otherwise you'll be like the coach in Mean Girls, "Don't have sex because you'll get pregnant and die." 

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X is for Crossing off the list.

Ok, so I'm taking some liberties with X. But I do need to cross some things off my to do list - without doing them! Gasp, shock, horror. My list is too long and it's preventing me from moving onto new projects.

Sunday I begin a the Year of the YA Novel course through my writers centre (QWC), and I need to choose a project to work on. I'm not stuck for ideas, I've just too many. Who'd have thought decision making was so hard? Here's what I've got:

1. Historical paranormal. Starts current time, bunch of private school students travel to Gallipoli on a school excursion to commemorate Australia's role in the landing. They are dressed in various period uniforms for a performance. Through misadventure they manage to stumble into a portal and travel back to 1915. This would explore how a handful of spoilt teens would cope thrown into a war zone. They will be separated and journey to reunite. During this adventure they will each discover something about themselves, that they are smarter than they think, braver than they believe and stronger than they seem (Winnie the Pooh).
2. Devil's kiss - 15yr old Samantha is sick of being the looser at school with no friends, but all that changes when Dee, the new foreign exchange student arrives. Dee is gorgeous, smart, athletic and funny and despite being incredibly popular, she wants to be besties with Samantha. Samantha's never been happier and the girls are inseparable. But Dee likes to play games, and one game is a little like truth and dare, only the stakes keep getting higher. Before she knows it, Samantha has willingly signed over her soul to Dee. But hey, it's just a joke right? Wrong. Turns out Dee is a daughter of the Devil. Now Samantha is destined to do something truly horrible, unless she can buy back her soul. The price? Ten other souls.
3. If the Shoe Fits - 15 yr old Raine is considered a freak. That's ok, she's worked hard for that image. She dresses like a goth and practices witchcraft. Better for kids to think she's a freak than to know the real reason she doesn't fit in, her dad took off and her mum drinks way too much. Raine's never wanted to blend in with the normals, until the new boy arrives at school. He's troubled, hot and actually likes Raine the way she is! Unfortunately, miss perfect Sarah Sinclair is also interested in the new boy. Raine hates Sarah, she's so popular and prim and has the perfect parents. Truth is, Raine is jealous. So jealous, she wishes she could walk in Sarah's shoes for a change, and that's what happens. After a botched spell, Raine finds she's living in Sarah's body and Sarah is in hers. What Raine will discover is Sarah's life is not as perfect as it seems.
4. 15 yr old Justin is bored with his life. His only girlfriend has lost interest and dumped him, his grades are down and his parents are on his back. Everyone accuses him of being an unmotivated sloth. Life is about to get a whole lot more exciting for Justin when he meets the sexy and mysterious Samantha Jones. Samantha is a rogue agent with the secret service. This spy thriller involves espionages, shoot outs and flesh-eating robotics.

So there you go. Eventually I'll work on each of these, but I need to make a decision for now! Any take your fancy, or which would you cross off the list?

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W is for World Building Workshop

Build an amazing world for your story

Today I'm sharing a creative writing workshop I run for kids. It's on World Building and this is an important part of science fiction and fantasy stories. You can follow along and write up your own responses, or you can use the worksheet we use in class. It can be downloaded and printed from here:

World Building PDF

I've broken this workshop into two parts, the lists and the drawing. You can do either first, I love the lists, my kids will probably want to draw theirs first. 

 Step 1: The Written World Description

• Binaries and Parallels - What's the same as our world and what's different?

• Temperature - Is it below freezing or really humid? The temperature of your world will affect the type of vegetation you have, and even the action that can take place (imagine The Wizard of Oz without a tornado). Is your weather seasonal or is it always like this?

• Landscape - When your character stands still, what can they see and how far can they see? Can they see Mountains, ranges, hills or a horizon?

• Ground cover - Dirt, rocks, pebbles, sand, grass or snow? How does it feel to walk under your character's feet? What sound is made when they walk on it?

• Vegetation - Tree varieties, weeds, shrubs, edible fruits, mushrooms and flowers. This can create scents and colour to your story. Plants are used for more than shelter and food. Sometimes they can be medicines and sometimes they are just for enjoyment. Do your characters like to pick flowers? Or maybe there's a plant like tobbacco that they smoke? And maybe it's not good for them and they find out they could die from it. Maybe some yummy looking berries are poisonous.

Now beyond the ground.

• Laws of Physics - Will your land obey them? Is there gravity? How might this affect your characters?

• Sun/Moon/Stars - What is the natural light like or what alternatives are there for light? Does sun or moon or stars play a role in your character's religion?

• Civilisation - Is your world built up or entirely natural? Are there pathways, roads, houses, airports, industry?

Step 2 - Drawing

• Draw rough maps of the entire area and show how your different locations meet up.
• Draw up an outline of each town, where are the homes, the shops, the tavern, etc.
• Then go wild and paint or sketch lots of views of your world, be as artistic as you want!

Want to visuaslise your world but don't have crayon skills?

• Make a virtual world in a game like Sims3 or Second Life or perhaps you can suggest one?
• Search online, steal National Geographic magazines and travel brochures. Cut out all the elements that match your world and glue them onto a large sheet of cardboard. Layout the pictures to align with your map, showing where the rainforest is compared to the Castle and what you pass when you travel from one to the other. You can keep this by your desk while you write.

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V is for Verbs

One of my flaws in first drafts is passive writing. Weak verbs slow down the pace. Want a better way to say 'walking', 'looked' or 'sadly'? Check out this list of active verbs. It's a treasure!

ACTIVE VERB LIST

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U is for UDEAD KEV

UNDEAD KEV is a WIP I'm working on, and the sequel to MY ZOMBIE DOG (MG Horror/Humour). I've been amazed and touched by the popularity of MY ZOMBIE DOG. One of the common responses I've received is that readers want more Kev. Kev is Zane's (main character) friend, he's a bit foul-mouthed, unkempt and has lousy ideas, but he is loyal. Well, so far.

In UNDEAD KEV, Zane has to try and 'raise' his best mate from a zombie-induced slumber. It seems to work, but Kev doesn't come back quite right. He's also massively pissed at his best mate for letting him down in the first place. Now Zane has to prove to Kev he can be there when needed. Lucky for him, the opportunity arrises when Kev gets kidnapped by a secret government laboratory... using invisible stealth-monkeys. Can Zane save his best mate and his friendship?

Book Dreaming reviewed MY ZOMBIE DOG, see it here.

U is also for Undecided.

This week I start a course with QWC, Year of the YA Novel. All I need to do is pick which project I want to work on for this. I couldn't decide. So, I tried free-writing a little on each project. I managed to come up with two more projects to choose from. It might be time to pull one from a hat. 

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T is for THESAURUS FOR WRITERS

Do you have overused words? I do. Looked is one of mine, when I could use stared, glanced, glared, gaped, gazed (wow, lots of g words). Sometimes the quickest way to find a fresh replacement is to use a thesaurus. No need for big heavy books on your shelf, there are these great online ones. 

VISUWORDS - This is a more graphic way of viewing words, you're provided with the synonyms, opposites, verb groups etc in a brainstorming style map.

THESAURUS.COM - exactly what you'd expect from a thesaurus.

Remember a few rules for thesaurus surfing:

• Only use the words that stay true to the voice of your narrator or character. Don't use big long fancy words for the voice of a young child.
• Check your spelling - a lot of the online sites are US spelling, so double check you have a UK site if you need that (or your computer might pick it up).
• Don't overuse the variety in words. Sometimes a character can just walk, in one stroll they shouldn't wander, trudge, storm, stomp, tread and race. The reader will get exhausted!

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S is for Scrivener

I listed Scrivener in my blog: 13 Best Resources for Writers, it's a amazing tool for writers and is available on Mac and PC. Here's some reasons I love Scrivener:

• You can write your scenes and chapters into separate documents, but have them all listed in your sidebar as part of your novel project. Then you can move them around into a new order or add scenes between others. 
• All your images and research handy in the sidebar. 
• There are templates for character profiles and settings.
• You can switch views to index cards, this is great for us visual people who like to chart out our story, it also helps with plot building before you start writing.
• Scrivener AUTOMATICALLY saves as you go - no more lost manuscripts.
• It can compile and export your files to Word, PDF or many other formats.
• Best of all, it will format your finished manuscript into a Kindle document or other ebook format.

There are many tutorials on the Scrivener site in video format, if you're thinking of switching to this program, check those out. There are also lots of blog posts about to help you with formatting your documents and getting the most out of Scrivener. This one is a real winner, it's a list of Scrivener templates you can download to suite your genre. Want to write to a traditional mystery novel structure? Download the template - I've grabbed all of these templates, they're gold!:

S M Worth - Scrivener Templates

At first Scrivener was only available for Mac, then they made a PC version, but soon (very soon I hope) Scrivener will come to iPad. That's exciting news for me, especially since the newest iPad just about replaces laptops. Check out the latest news on that:

The Cellar Door - Scrivener for iPad

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R is for Radio for Writers

There are many online radio shows for writers, and the great thing about these is if you can't listen when they're live, you can playback the show later. Here's a few I find helpful and interesting for the world of writing and publishing:

Publishing Insiders
http://www.litopia.com/radio/bringing-up-baby/ - podcast about books in the electronic era.
Indie Self Publishing Secrets
The Book Market Marketing Show

If you know any others, add them in the comments!

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Q is for Quest

The Hunger Games - a modern quest story

Emily has an assignment to plot out a quest novel (what a cool teacher she must have!) and write the last chapter. This is very good timing for me, as I needed a Q word for today.

The Quest is a common story structure involving a character on a search for... something. It can even be an internal something (forgiveness, confidence, etc). Or it might be a literal quest (find the holy grail, return the sword of Okinesphere to its rightful place, save a princes). Often this is referred to as The Hero's Journey. Basically the 'hero' (they might not start out very heroic) will receive a 'call to action' (sometimes a shove) and be on their quest, with some magical help/advice from a wizard/elder. They will face challenges, opponents and bad hair days. The story will peak when they are in their darkest time (down a pit, facing an uber-bad guy, or just apparently failing all over) it will seem there is no hope for our hero to succeed. But then they find that inner strength/forgotten sword of Okinesphere/Bad guys secret weakness to overcome this doom and gloom stage and rise up to fight one more time. The final battle usually ends in success (but not always) and the hero returns to the start of the story, only this time changed forever in some way. 

There are whole books dedicated to this structure and I sometimes use it for my writing workshops for kids.

This is a must see learning site - you can choose your characters and fill out the story prompts to plot out your hero's journey. Designed for school kids, but awesome for any writer, especially beginners wanting a helpful push. Check out:

ReadWriteThink - The Hero's Journey

And here's a chart you can fill out for your own Hero's Journey - just click on it for the full size and print (I found this at ReadingArt.Info):

If you like the picture of Katniss Everdeen, you'll love this blog that shows how The Hunger Games fits the Hero's Journey. After all, Katniss answers a call to action when her baby sister is put in danger.

The Gallery of Heroes - Katniss Everdeen

How would you go with Emily's assignment - could you write your last chapter first? I've never tried it before, but sounds like a challenge!

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P is for Plot

I came across this brilliant resource (which admittedly I found it linked on someone else's blog but can't remember which one to credit) for writing novels. There are many different methods writers use, and mine has usually been, get an idea and just start writing, once I can see some direction, I then plot the whole thing out.

Some writers claim novels don't need plot, but realistically that makes the story hard to follow and most readers won't want to continue the meandering journey. I love plot. This video from The Plot Whisperer will help anyone just starting out that can't find the direction they need to write a novel, and experienced writers who'd like some motivation and increase productivity in their writing time.

So enjoy, and remember, these tools are only useful if you USE them. As soon as you're done watching, make some notes on that next novel!

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O is for Onomatopoeia - Plus a Freebie!

O is for Onomatopoeia

Today's post is adapted from one I used previously - I've had a lot of dental work this week and am just not zippy with the ideas today. 

One of my favourite Onomatopoeia words at the moment is 'nom nom nom', the sound of Zombie Dog eating brains... and for just 2 days you can download MY ZOMBIE DOG for FREE! 

Descriptive words that sound like an action or noise when spoken out loud, create the effect of onomatopoeia. For instance, the word to describe water falling in small portions from a tap is called a drip - drip, drip, drip. Poets tend to have a natural talent for using onomatopoeia words, but they can be effective in fiction as well, especially if you're writing for a younger reader.

If you are anything like me, you can sometimes get overwhelmed by all these literary devices and rules that we should be including in our writing. My humble advice is... just write your story, when you go through in your revision you can tighten your plot, characters and writing style. These sound words are simply another way of showing instead of telling.

Imagine writing about a bad guy pointing a gun at his intended victim - instead of saying he shoots its, the simple word. 'BANG' lets the reader know what's going on and can make them feel like they are there. Here's an example of sound words I'm using in The Warracknabeal Kids:

THWAT (slingshot shoot at poor innocent chicken)

AUWK! (sound made by poor innocent chicken)

Sometimes I find examples that I don't think sound like the real action at all (like a dog saying 'woof' or 'Zzzzzz' for snoring). Really listen to actions and try to work out what sound they make, I've used: 'Hmmnn, Hmnnn?' for a puppy's whine. Have some fun with it :-)

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N is for Names

How do you pick your character names? I just throw in something that suits the gender and age when I write the first draft, I've even named one MC. But as I get to really know the character I can decide who they are.  I also like names that relate to the character's activities.

My girl detective in the DOG SHOW DETECTIVE series is called Kitty Walker - I got that from playing with lots of dog-related words.

The Paleontologist in DIGGING UP DEATH became Dusty Fields.

In my yr 7 class last year, one kid kept going on and on about some bloke his family knew called Kev. Kev was apparently a bit of a legend who starts every trend in the neighbourhood. I knew Zane's goofy best friend in MY ZOMBIE DOG had to be a Kev. Kev is now earning his own book.

I love that moment when you find just the right name for your character. How did you find yours?

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M is for Metaphor

Metaphors are like pineapples... because... um...

During a recent writing workshop I picked up some useful advice on creating metaphors to add colour and flavour to your writing.

The thing to avoid with metaphors is clichés like 'raining cats and dogs' or my pet hate is when people 'drown' in each others eyes. 

Another problem is when metaphors are mixed in a sentence or paragraph and provide conflicting or confusing comparisons. For example: I could see by her expression she was a crazed dog with a chip on her shoulder. I tried to leave the shop but she drove at me like an angry bull. There are too many different images here that do not organically sit together well. The safest route is to keep metaphors simple, just one comparison for a passage, however, clever writers can continue with a metaphor and keep the flow cohesive. Take this example from English Essential (Mem Fox & Lyn Wilkinson): Writing is a bumpy road, full of obstacles, potholes and loose stones. ...If you can avoid these problem areas your writing stands a better chance of reaching its destination without being wrecked on the way.

In this workshop, we were given the theme friendship and a set of unrelated nouns to compare for a metaphor. For example, you might compare friendship to a diamond, circus, city... or a pineapple. There were some fantastic results, but you'll have to make do with mine today:

Teenie, Becka, Sophie and Jess were 'the bunch'.

"Like a bunch of bananas, you girls are always hanging together," Jess' mum would say.

No. They weren't bananas, they were pineapples. As a group they put forward a hard outer-skin, their spiky exterior, keeping everyone else out. But they enjoyed a sweet delicious secret, with just enough tang to be thrilling. 

Try to think outside the cliché square - what else could eyes be like? Diamonds, fireworks, vodka... a bicycle?

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L is for Learning

This might explain why writing workshops are so helpful, they get you to try what they teach!

As a writer I'm always learning, sometimes I stumble across gems of information on the craft and sometimes it's from making mistakes. But to make sure I'm constantly learning, I actively seek out lessons in the craft and life of writing. This week I attended a seminar at Queensland Writers Centre on the Business of Writing. This seminar consisted of a panel of experts on the topics of copyright, contracts and self-publishing. Here's some things I learned:

• Self-publishers CAN have their Indie books distributed through bookstores by hiring a distributor (and of course there are a lot more variables that will decide if this is successful).
• Royalties can be negotiated in lieu of an advance. The standard in Australia is 10%.
• You should negotiate royalties on RRP and not Net Income. Otherwise publishers can offer huge discounts which takes from your pocket.
• You can copyright your story, but not the idea. Anyone can write a story about a vampire teen love story, it just has to be in your own words with your own characters.
• If you want to be taken seriously as a writer you need to act as a professional. This is a business, your business, treat it, your product and yourself with respect.  

There was lots more, but you get the idea. Did you learn anything new about writing this week?

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K is for KDP Select

KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) is growing in popularity as a promotional tool for Indie authors. But is it the right tool for you? There are some benefits and drawbacks to this program, your book will boost in popularity, the free days will flow on to create more paid sales and your book will show up underneath other popular books, but, the more popular this program becomes, the less effective it will be for individual books. Also this program requires you to only have your book listed on Amazon, cutting out many other ebook sales sites like Smashwords or iBooks.  With the popularity of iPads growing, I'm not sure it's wise to keep your book off iBooks.

My experience? MY ZOMBIE DOG was downloaded over a thousand times on the one free day I held. The flow on sales were more in one day than the first month. My next promotion will last for two days to see if that works even better. I haven't decided yet if I will stay with KDP or list my book on some of the other sites as well.

If you want to try this program, read up on these helpful posts:

Why Amaon's KDP Select is God's Gift to Authors - The Creative Penn

Best Days to Promote Your Book - The Writing Bomb

The Writers Nook - How to Have the Very Best Promotion

K is also for Kev. Kev is a character who has a small role in MY ZOMBIE DOG, but turned out to be so popular the next book features his story. I'm working on Chapter One of UNDEAD KEV to add to the back of the paperback edition of MY ZOMBIE DOG. CreateSpace are putting the novel together for me and doing a great job, here's a sneak of the cover:

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J is for Juxtaposition

Juxtaposition is a strong tool you can use to create imagery and emotion. It occurs when two things that shouldn't usually go together are placed side by side for comparison. For example, seeing children playing and running through a war-torn village, amongst rubble and death. Children and Death are two themes we don't expect to see together.

I use this writing technique when teaching English for assignments such as creation a visual representation of a poem. Using a poem about the vietnam war, a student showed children on swings and the next slide was of dead young soldiers. The image was made stronger because we were reminded that those dead soldiers were once just kids on swings. Even though the two images seem totally unconnected, we find a connection. That's what people do, we look for connections.

Cinderella appears even more beautiful and sweet because she is contrasted with her wicked ugly step-sisters. But rather than have such black and white juxtapositions, make good and evil exist within the one character. Seeing your bad guy condemn a prisoner to death and then buy his little girl a pony shows a contrast of personalities within the one character. 

If your theme is loyalty, you'll want to contrast it by showing betrayal. If it's bravery, show cowardice. And try to show new ways of placing these themes together, rather than the old one bad guy, one good guy. Mix it up.

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I is for Introvert

I'm very much an introvert and know many other writers are too. So what does that mean? I used to think introverts were shy, lacked confidence around other people. But I don't believe that anymore. I've come to realise wanting time alone does not mean you're scared to be around other people. Introverts recharge and gain inspiration from quiet activities, whereas extroverts gain inspiration and recharge from socialising and being amongst the crowds.

Not sure if you're an introvert? You could take the Myerw-Briggs personality type test. Or see if this list sounds like you...

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H is for Help for Writers

H

Writing is a solitary task, but you don't have to be alone. Sometimes we need help to motivate us, help with techniques and help with evaluating our work. Here are just few ways writers can get help:

• Join your Writers Centre, I'm a member of QWC, they hold workshops, seminars and provide lots of services for its members.
• Books, there are lots of books that offer help for writers, including this one: 

• Writing courses, there are some online, or in person, through your writer's centre or educational centre (like TAFE or Uni). If you're looking for online courses, here's some I've tried and liked:

Sydney Writers Centre

How to Think Sideways - by Holly Lisle

• Blogs. I get the most help from other bloggers. So many offer help for writers, here's a couple of helpful posts:

Max Barry - Help for Writers

Lifehack - Fifty Tools which can Help you in Writing

Write Help - Help for Writers

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G is for Google and Goodreads for Writers

Had a conversation with my dad last week about the marvels of Google. He said he can still remember having to research in libraries, and even then you were very limited to the books that library had in stock. Now he's writing humorous, military thrillers, he often needs to check information and dates of political events and underworld activity. I have to agree. I grew up with computers only being able to move two white lines up and down the sides of the screen to hit a digital ball that bounced between them (go Atari!), and became very impressed with those tables that showed Space Invaders and Pacman. 

But now you can find out whatever you need from Google. But Google has plenty more to offer writers than just a search engine:

• Google Maps - actually see the street where you're setting your story without ever going there.
• Gmail - I got sick of my email changing every time I changed Internet providers. I've had my gmail account for years now and love the stability.
• Google Docs - If you work on your manuscripts at work and home or out and about, by putting them on Google Docs you can access them on the go and never worry about loosing your manuscript. I used this before I became a dedicated Scrivener user.
• Images - A great way to find pictures of your characters to add to their profile.
• Google+ - Social media site where you can connect and sort your followers into groups, such as writers or readers.

Another important G site for writers is Goodreads. This is a community of readers and writers where you can record the books you're reading. On Goodreads you can set up an author account, write your bio and have your own book launch or giveaways. Make sure your book is listed on there!

Now I have to figure out where to hide the chocolate eggs for my kids. It never failed to intrigue me why kids aren't scared of this giant rabbit that sneaks into their home at night and leaves chocolate eggs - Don't want to bust that bubble, but bunnies don't lay eggs, if they do leave round chocolate-coloured things... not sure you should eat them.

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F is for Free

F is for Fossil, the inspiration for the MY ZOMBIE DOG

If you've been following my blog, twitter or wireless telegraphs, you'll probably know I've release My Zombie Dog and have tried a few different promotions with this book. One of those promotions was the KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) FREE day. For the three months that you sign your book solely to Kindle, you can elect up to five days to have your ebook available for FREE on Amazon. 

I have no concerns about trying different marketing/promotions with this book. It's my first release and I'm happy to learn from the experience for the next books coming out this year. I do have concerns sometimes about the bigger picture. I need to make sure the decisions I make are not positive for this one book but detrimental to the Indie ebook industry as a whole. 

My concern with free is an old philosophy I have, 'don't think you're doing your client/employer a favour by decreasing the cost of your service, in the end that is what they will think it is worth and will resent paying normal price'. I came across this article that made me worry that free, 99c, $1.99 ebooks are devaluing the book as a concept.

So what if my book is downloaded thousands of times, if it's free is that helping sales? Turns out it does. 

• Each time someone downloads my book it lifts in the rankings, bringing it to more people's attention. MY ZOMBIE DOG reached number 2 in children's free 'Spine-chilling Horror'.
• People download multiple books, so in future when someone is browsing a book, underneath it says Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought... and you increase the chance of your book showing up there.
• My book received a lot of tweets and sales at regular price spiked the next day. This was my second best day of sales since release.

As a customer, for me the novelty of free books is wearing off, I don't mind paying for books, in fact I prefer to. But obviously free is still popular with a lot of readers. Perhaps it will also result in more reviews which may help sales as well. 

I'm still investigating the affect of free on the Indie book industry, but here are two articles with varying opinions:

Are eBooks Too Cheap?

Using free ebooks as a marketing tool

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E is for Easter and Editing

Love vintage? You HAVE to check out French, Pink, Poodles and Pearls

Tomorrow begins Easter weekend and for me, time to edit. There's a few manuscripts backed up to edit, and a few more waiting to be written, but this weekend I'm focusing on some short stories. I don't usually read short stories or write them, but I've been dabbling as a way of tightening my skills. Editing is its own skill that needs to be strengthened. There's a few ways you can do this:

1. Search the Net - There's loads of great sites out there, try this one: The Editor's Blog
2. Take a workshop - Look up your local writer's centre, mine is QWC
3. Read a book - Grab something like Revision and Self-editing by James Scott Bell
4. Get professional help - This is what I recommend if you funds allow. I have a wonderful manuscript editor helping me with my girls' mystery novel. Through this process I'm learning a lot and my manuscript is becoming much tighter. It's important you find someone you're comfortable working with, I'm very appreciative to my editing angel, Margot Finke.

Enjoy your weekend, and your chocolate!

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D is for Detectives

My last post was on chaos and that might be appropriate, because today is detectives and the good ones have this uncanny ability of being able to tune out the chaos, the static noise and busyness to focus on a single point, a clue.

I love detective stories and most of my novels have a mystery to solve involving clues. At the moment I'm editing the first book in the Dog Show Detective series called DOGNAPPED? In this mystery series, 12 yr old Kitty, with the help of her mischievous mini schnauzer called Spade, solves the mysteries that come her way. You'd be surprised how many times a young girl can be involved in a murder mystery (especially in small country towns, happens all the time). Here's my favourite detectives, which ones are yours?

1. Dexter. Dark, disturbing, deadly Dexter. I'm enjoying the books and love the tv series (they're quite different except for the premise and characters). Dexter is a serial killer, but he's a good guy, he has a code - only kill people who are... serial killers.
2. Columbo. I just loved this show. He was so clumsy, ragged and had no social skills. But boy, his 'one last thing' was always a showstopper.
3. Miss Marple. Old and frail, but incredibly quick witted.
4. House. The Sherlock Holmes of today, with Wilson as his Watson. House is not a people person. He is selfish and rude. No mysterious illness can stump him.
5. Harry Dresden. I have the audiobooks for The Dresden Files, Sam Spade style detective, only, more of a coward and he's also a wizard with a few enemies.
6. Christopher Boone. Christopher is a 15yr old boy who decides to solve the mystery of the death of the neighbors dog. He is a mathematical wiz and able to analyze all the clues, he's also autistic.
7. Castle. Alright, I just think he's yummy.
8. Trixie Beldon. Childhood favourite. Trixie is a teen tomboy who solves lots of mysteries with her best friends and brothers. For some reason I could never warm to Nancy Drew.

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C is for Create Chaos

Chaos. Doesn't matter how much we try to avoid it, we are enveloped by it constantly. It's hard to ignore, we worry that it will prevent us from finishing our manuscript, from getting to our workshop on time or from even finding where we saved that darn WIP. But Chaos can be our friend. Chaos is creative.

The popular film I Don't Know How She Does It uses chaos as the conflict in the plot. It's the chaos in Oliver Twist's journey that added colour to an otherwise drab and grey environment. I'm a plotter, and one of the drawbacks of that method is creating carefully planned events to form a plot. Sometimes I need to just let go and let chaos take over my WIP. This way my characters end up in predicaments that take me days to figure out how get them to rescue themselves. I need chaos in my writing, and, in my writing practice.

How can you write chaos if you don't experience it. Do you go somewhere peaceful and quiet to write? I do. But what about heading into a crowded loud place, like a food court at the shopping centre? Don't ignore the chaos, soak it up and write it! Describe the calamity, the overlapping conversations, the movement and mixture of smells.

Order and planning lives in the left-brain, while chaos sprouts from the right side of the brain, the same side creativity resides in.

"Our real discoveries come from chaos, from going to the place that looks wrong and stupid and foolish." Chuck Palahniuk.

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B is for Bargain Books

Bargains are always popular and as part of the KDP program (Kindle Direct Publishing) I've elected a FREE day for MY ZOMBIE DOG.

For today only (April 2nd PST) you can download MY ZOMBIE DOG for FREE. Yep $0. This is only for today, tomorrow the humorous horror novel about the bond between 14yr old Zane and his undead dog will return to the regular (and still amazingly inexpensive) price of $2.99.  

Why free? For me it's just for the fun of it. I'm trying loads of different promotions with this book as it's my first published. There's a whole pricing debate on free and cheap books and I'll cover that later (maybe F for Free or P for Pricing?).

So if you haven't already grabbed MY ZOMBIE DOG in Kindle format, head over NOW and please let all your twitter friends know too!

To see the top selling free books on Amazon you go to this link, it's updated all the time:

Amazon Best Sellers

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