H is for HTML for Writer Blogs

Um... yeah, sure.

Mention HTML and a lot of people break out in a sweat. It's really not that scary, it's just computer language. I can't claim to speak it fluently, but have learned a few greetings to communicate my needs with my blog design. Today I'll share a fairly easy code you can use. 

Blog link

Have you noticed some comments have the author's website or blog linked? Would you like a tag-line at the end of your comments that you can link back to your blog? Here's how you do it, below is the text for my link that I like to put in the bottom of my comments on other people's blogs:

It shows up like this:

Wagging Tales - Blog for Writers

All you have to do is change my url (http://clancytales.blogspot.com/) with your own, and, change Wagging Tales - Blog for Writers, with the name of your blog. All the other bits, like the <, a, ", / should all stay exactly where they are.

If you've mastered that, perhaps you'd like to make yourself a Blog Badge, that's the button that other bloggers put up on their blogs to link back to your site (mine's in the sidebar). Here's a previous post where I show you how I made mine:

Badge Craze

Good luck with it!

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G is for Graphic Design

I've noticed a lot of writers have complimenting hobbies like photography, sword fighting, or, graphic design. I've been dabbling in some design programs, but am far from having the expertise necessary for my writing needs. So what graphic design do we need as writers?

Business Cards

The best idea I've come across for writers' business cards is to produce bookmarks. I go this tip from:

Mystery Writing is Murder

But I've been wondering, what if your book is only available as an ebook? What could writers produce as a business card? I've got nothing... any ideas?

Website

Most people are able to redesign their blogs themselves, it's so easy with all the templates available, but what about having an author website? I said I was designing mine with Dreamweaver, and gave you some things to consider when planning your website in 7 Key Elements for a Writer's Website. I got started on my website, planned it out on paper first, and worked out exactly what I needed to appear. But the graphic design became too tricky for a novice like myself, so I've now got an expert working on the job. My Graphic Designer, Rhonda - you can visit her photography blog here (it's good to have friends with skills!). 

Book Covers

Your needs here will be different if you require a paper book or just an e-book. If you are publishing a whole book, you'll need spine and back cover designs, possible jacket flaps, etc. Even if you're self-publishing your book, you need a professional looking book cover. I've seen so many books on Amazon that have pretty dodgy covers. I know I never buy them. Book covers sell books, despite all the warnings, that's our first judgement. If you need some inspiration for your book cover design, check out these sites:

2010 Best Book Cover Designs

Readings Best Book Cover Designs 2010

Some Australian Designs

Here's a couple of my favourite covers:

 

 

There's many more of course.

Book Trailers

Book trailers are very popular now, and many look so professional they could be movie trailers. There's even sites for watching book trailers:

http://www.book-trailers.net/

So, are you arty enough to design for your marketing needs, will you let a publisher handle that or will you employ a graphic designer?

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F is for Fantasy Writing

Tonight I'm blogging from my hotel room, while away at a conference. My internet is a little dodgy, but I'll try and get around to everyone's blog as soon as I can.

My first Fantasy novel I read reluctantly, but then fell in love and had to read the whole series. That was Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials.

The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman

Then, for my first NaNoWriMo novel, I decided to try and write a fantasy novel, and now I'm editing The Costume Maker. One of the tools I'm using is the book Adventures in Fantasy:

I blogged about this helpful book in A is for Amazing Writing Books.

A key element of fantasy is magic. Here are some interesting things I learned about magic:

• Magic must have limits. You can't just whip out a wand to solve every problem. I like books that have a magic that first appears useless, but later its worth will save the day.
• There must be rules for magic. There must be costs. Many fantasy stories will show magic as physically draining to the user. In The Picture of Dorian Grey, the protagonist manages to stay young, while his portrait ages instead. But the young man gives up his soul for this magic. The price must be high, otherwise the protagonist would not question if it were necessary to use magic.
• Often magic will appear in the 'other world'. This is the magic's natural setting - an enchanted land. This is changing though. With Paranormal novels becoming so popular, often contemporary protagonists posses some magical gift withing our everyday urban setting.
• Magic is not good or bad, only the way it's employed will decide if it is white or black magic.
• Magic is old. Traditional 'other worlds' in fantasy are pre-industrialization. Meideval times host dragons, and Harry Potter, although contemporary, goes to a school in a historical building where old dusty bound books rule over technology.

For some more information (from people who know a lot more about fantasy than me) check out these sites:

www.sfsite.com/columns/amy26.htm

www.writing-world.com/sf/index.shtml

The next fantasy novel I'll read is:

Switched by Amanda Hocking

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E is for Editing Tools

You've finished your first draft - woo-hoo! You're excited, you want this book on shelves and read on Kindles NOW. Maybe you think it was a pretty good first draft and you could send it out to agents and publishers, after all, they have editors that will fix it up... right? Um, no. You want to give your story the best chance to be loved.

If you're anything like me, the first time you'll feel uncertain of where to begin with the editing process. There are lots of methods of editing to make sure you tighten your manuscript, here are the resources that I found most valuable:

1. Editing Courses

After I took on the How To Think Sideways course to help me write my first novel, I decided to try Holly Lisle's How To Revise Your Novel online course. This was fantastic. I can not rave enough. Holly's course provided instructions and charts in step by step modules to take you through the most thorough and productive editing process. You will chart up characters, backstory, plot lines, themes and more. You'll understand the importance of each element as it is explained clearly to you. If you think you'd like to learn more about producing a finished manuscript, you can check the course out by clicking below:

2. Books

The books I found the most helpful during the editing phase were:

Manuscript Makeover by Elizabeth Lyon. 

This book is also featured in my list: 13 Best Resources for Writers. It will help you take a rough draft and turn it into a well-written manuscript. I think it's a must have. I read through it for editing, but it also has a lot of helpful chapters about the creative writing phase. One key thing I picked up from this book was about Power Positions, I'd never thought before about the importance of the first paragraph, sentence and even word for each chapter. 

Revision and Self-Editing by James Scott Bell.

There is so much information about identifying your priorities in your manuscript and editing the elements of your story, that I suggest reading through it with a notepad and pen and writing down the dot point. Bell even helped me work out how to liven up slow passages (bringing in a man with a gun). You can read more about this book in a previous post: Read, Write, Drive.

3. Time

There's no way around it. You need to put your manuscript down and give it some time before trying to edit it. Everything in there will still seem like a good idea right now, because you just wrote it. What can you do while it ferments? Plot out your next novel, try some creative writing exercises and READ. Read a lot of novels in the genre of your manuscript, with similar characters, or, aimed at the same age-market. You will pick up a lot of tips on structure, pace and characterisation just from reading these books. Keep a note pad and record the pages that show examples of well-written text that you could use to help your story. During my waiting phase for Dog Show Detective (as well as writing my next WIP), I read books from the Trixie Beldon series, books with dog characters and general cosy mysteries like Agatha Christie's. This is research (and it's fun).

Do you have a favourite editing resource you want to share with everyone?

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D is for Dog Show Detective

As I have many new visitors, I thought I'd introduce you to my first finished novel: Dog Show Detective.

12yr old Kitty Walker decides to enter her Miniature Schnauzer, Spade, into a dog show to impress her mum. Kitty expected it to be difficult, Spade is not the best behaved dog, and she expected it to be embarrassing, Jessica Jones is sure to win, but she didn't expect it to be dangerous.

At the show, Kitty finds a lost dog, but, when she returns it, the owner insists it's the wrong dog. Only Kitty believes the owner and sets out to uncover the mystery of the missing dog. There are clues along the way, but why is someone trying to dognap the little terrier she found? And would someone really be desperate enough to kill to keep the identity of the little dog hidden?

While writing Dog Show Detective, I learned the importance of conflict, pace and most of all, allowing your first draft to suck. I had so carefully planned out the crime, clues and culprit, it was about halfway through I realised I only had one suspect (not much of a mystery'). I learned not to break my pace and go back to rewrite, but to continue as though the beginning was exactly as I wanted it. I add some great suspects, all so appropriate that towards the end of the book I surprised myself and found out it was actually not the person I suspect who'd actually 'done it'. This taught me that although planning helps, you have to leave some room for impromptu changes.

I was terrified about editing, until I took on Holly Lisle's course, How to Revise Your Novel.

I learned how to take criticism from my beta readers and the wonderful readers at http://www.critiquecircle.com/. I learned to edit again. And again.

Now I'm learning to be brave. I've sent my first 1,000 words into a writer's competition and I'm about send out queries to publishers. I wondered at times if I would ever get to this point, but I'm glad for every hurdle I've come across. This has been the best education I've ever received.

I won't stop while the queries go out. I'm doing up my first round of edits on The Costume Maker (a YA fantasy), and during the school holidays, I'll write up my first draft to My Zombie Dog.

So, the only advice I can offer up today, is keep going. It seems like a long road but you will get there.

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C is for Clear Writing Can be Creative

To be a writer all we need is a good imagination, right? Um, not quite. Our finished product must be written in a manner that is easy for the reader to consume. We need to make sure our writing is clear (not necessarily simple, even literary text can be clear). Why is grammar, structure and even spelling so important? Any form of writing is communication, and the point of communication is to deliver a message that can be understood. If you don't do that, your communication has failed. This is true for business reports, emails, Facebook messages, texting and manuscripts.

When time (and lack of crazy A-Z blogging) permits, I'll give deeper reviews of the books I've read on the craft of writing. But for now, here are a few books I recommend if you need some help with your writing style and structure:

The Book on Writing by Paula LaRocque

My previous post on The Book on Writing

Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss

Eats, Shoots Leaves has an engaging narrative and teaches us the importance of punctuation for understanding.

Stein on Writing by Sol Stein

My previous post on Stein on Writing

The Elements of Style by Strunk et al

Listed in 13 Best Resources for Writers

Children's Writer's Word Book by Alijandra Mogilner

This book is great if you write for kids, it will help you find just the right language.

I promise to try and do some more in-depth reviews later, but you won't regret trying any of the above books. Now, I have about 900 blogs to visit :)

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B is for Bookstore Fail

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE bookstores. I also love Amazon and Audible, but that's another post. Each week when we go into the big city with the fang-dangled shopping centre, I visit the bookstores. To browse, yes, to buy, yes, but I have another task when I'm there.

Our bookstores place all the fiction novels spine out, except for a chosen few (who I assume purchase special marketing bonuses as it's always the same ones). There are novels that I feel readers need to notice, because they are GOOD. Novels like:

click for Paper Dolls review

or

Paper Dolls review

or

Paper Dolls review

I won't sink low enough to show the books I think should not have six front cover places just because they became a blockbuster film. To each their own. So, I assume it is my responsibility to turn all my favourite books around for other book browsers to discover. This can take me a long time in big stores like Borders. My girls help me with my mission and we keep an eye out for staff so they don't catch us in the act. We are running a rebellion.

So, for poor display of fiction, I say Bookstores 'fail'.

I realise space is currency in a bookstore, but perhaps stores could decide what their focus is, and if it's fiction, then give it the room it deserves. Another side gripe I have lately is my bookstores have these wonderful series books, like the Inkheart series, but only have books 2&3 - stock more than one copy of popular books and make sure you ALWAYS have the first book in the series available (that's were most of us will start).

Visiting a Target store this week, I was happy to see my job had been done for me by the shelving designers:

Now that's how books should be displayed. Do you get tempted to turn your favourite books cover-out in bookstores?

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