Marketing your ebook and links

Today you'll find a post by me over at Romantic Friday Writers. The post is all about marketing your novel once you've published, and has some helpful tips for self-publishers. Please head over and say hello!

So that my blog is not completely empty this week, here are some fantastic links on story structure and finding a formula for your plot:

1. The Lester Dent Pulp Paper Master Fiction Plot
2. Structure by Screenplay Mastery
3. Get a Little Conflict in Your Scene
4. Writing Novels - Formulas and Structures
5. How to Write Your Novel Using a Formula
6. Story Structure and Plot - Novel Writing Tips
7. Plot and Pacing Part One, Plot and Pacing Part Two and Plot and Pacing Part Three
8. Story Elements Checklist for Brainstorming Index Cards
9. Writing Lessons by Richard Setlowe
10. Novel Endings 

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Why Writers Should Flash

Flashing is a great way to tighten your writing, instead of having pages to set up your story, you only have a line or two. It's also a great way to feel more productive, a novel takes a long commitment, but with flash fiction, you can get several pieces quickly to the point 'the end'. I find it very challenging and have a lot of work to do before I can claim to master the flash. Luckily for me, Romantic Friday Writers provide plenty of challenges for flash writing. Why not give it a go? Click the picture to sign up to this challenge, your prompt - Being the Perfect Ex.

Unsure how to tackle Flash Fiction? Try these links for some tips:

Fiction Factor - Writing Flash Fiction

Matt Moore Writes - How to Write Flash Fiction

He’d stay if he knew.
‘I've got the photo album. You love looking at it, remember?’
No. She did not remember. Not the album or the woman holding it.

‘Here’s your favourite, you and Lilly.’

Lucy straightened. It was the photograph from the Autumn dance. Lucy was wearing her new tight skirt, just like Lilly. The girls had changed in the ladies room, Lilly warning Lucy, Keep your mouth shut, Mum’ll flip if she finds out. And there he was, dark hair combed back, thumbs in pockets, wild eyes daring the camera. Lucy ran a finger over the the figure in the picture.

‘Max.’

The woman turned the page.

Lucy peered at the next photograph. ‘Who?’

‘It’s you.’

‘I’m so… old.’

The woman laughed and gave her a hug. ‘That was your seventieth, everyone came, remember?’

Seventy? But last night her and Max… they fought. He left. 

‘Here’s one of the whole family.’ The woman pointed to a group of smiling strangers. 

‘Who’s this?’ Lucy poked at a face.

‘That’s your nephew, Sam.’

‘Who’s this?’

‘Ron, Lilly’s husband, and look there’s Lilly. Jess and Rachel are Sam’s kids. See, I’m there too, with Richard.’ 

Lucy's finger jabbed a pasty image with lifeless eyes and then waved it at the man with the matching face seated by her hospital bed. 
‘Him?’

The woman frowned. ‘Henry, remember?’

‘Where’s Max?’

The woman's shoulders dropped, she reached across and closed the album.

‘Did I tell him?’

‘Tell him what? Who is Max?’

Keep your mouth shut. Mum’ll flip if she finds out.

‘We had a fight. Lilly will know him.’

‘Lilly died last year, remember?’

Lilly’s gone?

Lost. Everyone she loved gone. A moment flittered over a lifetime.
Except... ‘Do I have a child?’

‘Yes! You do remember, don’t you?’

The woman’s dark eyes shone with pleasure, those same eyes… a name...

‘Gemma?’

Gemma hugged her. She was hers. A flash of memory, a wild-eyed girl, maybe four, in a muddy dress.

‘Gemma… your father...’

Gemma pulled back, her grin wide. ‘It’s okay Mum, Dad’s here too. He always comes to visit his sweetheart, don’t you Dad?’

The old man’s focus didn’t move towards them, but he nodded.

Henry? Max had known. They’d fought. He left.

Lilly’s warning. Yes, she’d just shut her mouth. She was Henry’s sweetheart.

I'm not at all sensitive when it comes to feedback, feel free to critique if the mood strikes you, I do listen... sometimes.

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6 Reasons to Try Writing Exercises

When you have a manuscript you're working on, it can be easy to assume writing exercises will just take away valuable time from that WIP. Why waste a thousand words on random things when you really need to get that scene down with the alligator and the microwave?

There's lots of reasons to try writing exercises:

1. Perfect one aspect of your writing. Especially when you are starting out, you can separate each learning tool and perfect it until you move on. This mastering method works well with school children and can be good for us too. For example, dialogue was something I struggled with at first and so I didn't have a lot in my work. I've done so many workshops on it now that I feel a lot more confident (but still find new ways to tighten it!).
2. Free your mind up to explore new ideas for your WIP. Writers are usually not short of ideas, because we a strong on the imagination side, but sometimes weak on the structure jobs. Ideas are great but they can be a big jumbled mess. By trying different exercises you can clarify those ideas and develop a complete plot (or maybe come up with a great sub-plot for your WIP). Free writing is  a good one for this, or clustering.
3. Find out the true motivation of your characters (they're sneaky, sometimes they lie to you at first). We have our story idea, we know what happens, but sometimes there are parts where our characters perform a necessary act for the story, but lack an appropriate motivation. By trying exercises and using your character in them, you can get a feel for why they do the things they do, and again might come up with more material for your WIP.
4. Give yourself a break from your WIP. It can get draining working on the same thing, especially if your piece is something that requires a lot of research or hits an emotional nerve. If you're writing about a tragedy, you might just need to try a short comic piece to pull you through the slump.
5. Push yourself out of your comfort zone. Try a different genre or writing style. I've taken courses on genres I don't write. I even signed up for a class to write sizzling sex scenes - and I never use those. It doesn't matter, it helps me see things from a different angle (which could be quite disturbing in a sex scene). I freely admit I suck at romance. So what if I never write a romance novel? Some of my characters are teens and romance is still an important element. I intend to try and learn more about that genre to help me in my genre.
6. Connect with other writers. Blog challenges are a great way to try something new and see how different writers approach the same prompt. Why not sign up to try a Haiku or flash fiction? There's always plenty of exercises online to try.

So wether you sign up for a class, try a blog challenge, read a book on writing exercises or just sit down to write in your journal, it all helps, nothing is wasted. Today, I'm having a go at romance! Want to have a go? Go sign up at Romantic Friday Writers here's the prompt:

And here is my piece:

The Tune of Love

Country ballads? He shrugs. What about Kenny Rogers? He picks biscuit crumbs from his polo shirt.

  Sinatra, or Elvis, older Elvis? His only reaction a cringe.

  Meatloaf then? Demis bloody Roussos? His figure leans forward, but only to reach the remote. 

  His CD collection gives her no clue. An almost random compilation of artists, common only by the fact that they are all gifts. Each one revealing something about the giver but not the receiver.  She remembers crying and yearning to so many different ballads over the years. Has he never felt that passion?

  She accuses him of not liking love songs. He answers that he doesn't not like them. She thinks he never really wanted to get married, he just didn't not want to. Maybe he just doesn't not love her. She puts this to him, but he doesn't react. She suddenly realises, after all these years, she can't remember seeing him cry or yell or belt out a really hearty laugh. 

  She asks if he likes any songs from The Carpenters. This is a trick. He says he doesn't know. She reminds him that he sang Close to You on their first date. It was as a joke, but it should still matter. He is quiet and she thinks he won't remember ever loving her. She gasps when he jumps out of his chair and yells, "Yes!"

  He dances her around the living room, lifting her feet from the ground and kisses her forehead many times. She smiles. She is loved. Elation as she leaves the room, he is hers. Close to You will be their song.

  He sits back down deep into the sofa, still grinning as he watches the horse he backed in a trifecta being led to the winner's circle.

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Dirty Writer

Lilly slipped sensuously out of her long-johns...

Every now and then writers should branch outside of their comfort zone. Work on the areas we're weak in. My stories all contain some humour, a dog and are usually aimed at the kids - YA market. Last year during NaNoWriMo, I wrote the first draft of DIGGING UP DEATH, a paranormal mystery. I surprised myself when my protagonist, being in her early 20s, jumped into bed with a hottie from her dinosaur dig site (who may or may not turn out to be a murderer). Woah. I don't write sex... do I?

I don't know if I do or not. This story might get scaled back to YA level in the edits. What I do know is I don't write romance well, which affects my ability to write passion, which dictates how well I could write a sex scene.

When I saw the ACT Writers group was hosting a workshop called 'Turn up the heat' - I knew I had to take the opportunity to try it out.

Well, you think you know things.... The workshop leader, Nicole Murphy opened my eyes to some important elements and techniques of writing about getting hot and sweaty.

One key piece of advice applies to all types of writing - READ lots of the style of writing you want to write. Find great examples to imitate and find woeful ones to learn from someone else's mistakes (I made quite a few mistakes you could learn from in my writing exercises today, e.g. 'pungent' not a great word for exploring the scent sense in lurve making).

Nicole Murphy also tells us to consider the emotional intensity in any sex scene - how much do your characters have invested in this, does that show (to the reader, if not to the other character)?

There was lots more advice and exercises (which I am hiding well under a stack of literary books so my kids don't find them, partly because they're raunchy, but mostly because they're BAD). If you want some reading to give you some saucy examples, check out Nicole Murphy's paranormal romance novel:

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