Tag: writing

LIVE On The Magic Happens Radio With Annette Rochelle Aben

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Join Annette and I and tune into The Magic Happens LIVE on Monday, October 3rd on your lunch break! I’ll be sharing my thoughts on how blogging has impacted my writing career AND  the major move that I hope will be a blessing to all Indie Authors! That’s right, my next move involves you. My official announcement comes Monday and I’ll also be discussing it on the show. Keep your eyes glued to this blog and stay tuned.

PS. If you’re following my email newsletter you will hear the news first! Before this blog and before the radio show. Join Here. I love my email subscribers and enjoy letting them get to know me on a more personal level than this blog.

PSS. My Facebook keeps freezing when I try to invite those of you on my page but that just means its not time yet. I’ll post it to my personal page soon. In the meantime here’s the direct link: Show Link

From the show page:

“Today, on Tell Me a Story, we welcome one busy lady. Yecheilyah (e-see-lee-yah) Ysrayl is the owner and founder of Literary Korner Publishing and has written eight books to date going back to 2010. A poet, book reviewer, and blogger, she is most noted for her Stella Trilogy, a historical fiction series about a woman named Stella and her family’s search for acceptance and racial identity. Yecheilyah is also the owner and founder of The PBS Blog  http://www.thepbsblog.wordpress.com/ where she blogs on a variety of topics from black history to poetry, biblical analysis, inspirational quotes, and self-publishing tips. Let’s tune into The Magic Happens Radio Network today and see what the woman, affectionately known as EC, is up to these days.”

The Layover – Pre-Order

Congrats Lisa! Join me in the support of this amazing author! Put your pre-orders in. I got mine, you better get yours!

Lisa W Tetting's avatarLisa W. Tetting

Hi Lovies,

Just a quick note to let you know my latest book The Layover – Book 1 in The WanderLynn Experience Series, is now available for pre-order on Amazon! Get it for the low price of $1.99!!!

Click Here to reserve your copy now!

Thanks guys and remember

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Show and Tell – The Show vs Tell Debate Critiqued

A wise man once asked a simple question: “What is water?”

A few people gave their answers. Some said “H2O”. Some said, “a transparent liquid found in lakes, oceans, and seas.” Other’s said, “a chemical substance.”

The man smiled. “None of the above.”

The people’s brow buried deeper into their foreheads and their mouths twitched, “what?”

“Don’t give me the name or what you’ve been told it is made of,” said the man.

“Tell me what it is.”

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Self-Publishing is a lot like life, there is a question behind everything we think we know. There’s a lot of advice in the Indie Author community. What if I told you that not all of it was good advice? Or shall I say, not all of it is wise advice? It may be useful advice, but is it wisdom? Do we actually know what water is? We do not.

What is the most talked about thing in this community? What is that thing that people just can’t stop talking about? Yes, the Author Platform is one, but what’s another? That’s right, “Show, Don’t Tell.”

Hold on to your seats. A lot of you are not going to like this:

What if I told you this was not very good advice?

I didn’t say it wasn’t useful advice. Advice is subjective like that.

Let’s establish the facts. New authors indeed tend to lean more toward telling than showing and this is a problem for readers because it makes the story difficult to get into. The author’s purpose is to make the reading as easy and as effortless as possible.

Please, for the love of all that is set-apart, make sure your script does not read:

“I walked up to the coffee machine. I grabbed the pot. I walked over to the sink. I filled the pot with water. I put the pot back and turned on the machine. Brandon calls me from the other room. What does Brandon want?”

Everyone say it with me:

“Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.”

― Anton Chekhov

Great advice.

 

I sympathize with staunch “Show, Don’t Tell-ers” because I’ve come into contact with many books that sound just like that example. All the author did was told me what was happening (like one big summary) and bored me to death. My brains shifted in my skull, turned into liquid and oozed from my temples. Gross, right? You don’t want to gross your reader’s people.

Here is wisdom: Show AND Tell.

  • Showing – Writing vividly with detailed images, sensory information, and/or dramatized action
  • Telling – Writing in abstract summaries or simple statements

It is the secret no one is talking about.

Or, almost nobody.

Kristen Kieffer wrote a most excellent post on balancing show and tell and I will quote her in this post because ya know, no need to reinvent the wheel. Though I’d already written this article as a newsletter for my email list long before I read Kristen’s article, I am glad I eventually came across it as it further solidifies my point and now I can use some of her examples as a reference. Kristen Lamb says:

“As writers we are often guilty of too much brain-holding, of coaching the reader. We want to control every emotion, perception and description yet often less is more. When we leave blank space for the reader to fill in, the fiction can have room to blossom into something unplanned for. The story becomes richer and the experience more visceral because it transforms into an echo of the audience’s self-projection. Thus instead of one fixed interpretation, we get countless.” – Kristen Lamb

Aside from both Kristen’s and a few others, few people are talking about this aspect of balancing show and tell. Because of the show vs. tell debate authors are now showing us everything but their booty cheeks. That’s not what show means and makes the story sound just as boring as too much telling. It’s called Storytelling for a reason. You are supposed to tell a story.

The difference is not eliminating telling. You don’t want to show and not tell. You want to balance the amount of telling and showing. The straight action works no more than no action. Your characters just can’t be running all over the place, they need quiet, emotional times too. Balance is key.

Storytelling came from the oral traditions of passing along information by word of mouth. It is the days where your grandmothers and great-grandmothers told the stories of their childhoods. It’s when you sat at their knees to learn of the world that existed before you.

The easiest way to understand this is remembering that Telling gives us the statement, in other words, tells us something is done. Whereas showing is the demonstration of how something is done. That said, why is Anton’s example so popular?

“Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass”.

 –Anton Chekhov

When I first read this quote, I pictured a triangular piece of glass that fell from a window and is now sitting on a street corner under the moon. It rained earlier, so it sprinkles the glass with droplets of water. I can tell by the position of the glass and the tiny pieces of gravel because something bad happened. This caused the glass to shatter and yet, there is the light shining through all the brokenness. The story is not over because there is hope.

The moon is shining, tells me what is happening, but the glint of light on broken glass shows me how it happened. (Or at least how I imagine it happened.) It is a demonstration versus information. Don’t tell me they shot the woman in a restaurant. Show me the sweat on the palms of her hands and underneath her armpits, the perspiration sliding down her temples; the tears rolling down her cheeks, and the shakiness of her hands as the pistol is pointed at her head.

Telling is Just as Important

In the words of Steven Moore, who left a comment on the article 5 Examples of Bad Writing Advice from Great Authors:

“You should only provide enough detail so the reader can participate in the creative process by forming their own ideas about characters.”

Telling is just as important as showing and it is because of this being left out that makes “Show, don’t tell”, strange advice. It just doesn’t explain the entire matter. I need not know every single thing that is happening in the restaurant. You don’t have to show me the fly on the windowsill if it’s not relevant to the story.

A general rule of thumb is to show only when it has something to do with the story. Bernice McFadden does a most excellent job at this in This Bitter Earth. Everything mentioned in this book connected somehow. There is nothing mentioned that is insignificant to the story and no question that is not answered by the end of the novel.

Telling is making a statement without the drama. “She touched the pillow.” That’s telling. We don’t learn how she touched the pillow or what she thought when she touched the pillow, we are just told she did and it’s enough. We need not overdramatize her touching of the pillow.

It’s a matter of knowing when to show and when to tell.

Let’s refer to an example in Kristen Kieffer’s article:

Too much showing:

“His eyes were like the sea during a storm, dark blue and tumultuous. His jaw was chiseled like marble, his nose sharp and strong. His golden locks glimmered in the sunlight as he carried the boxes, ropy arm muscles rippling beneath the crimson fabric of his t-shirt.”

I enjoyed reading that actually, but, I am learning something as well. Because I love poetry, I can sometimes show too much! Good thing we have beta readers and editors. Moving on…

Too much telling:

“His eyes were dark blue. His shirt was crimson red. He had a prominent jaw and big muscles. I watched him as he walked into the office, holding a box with his name on it.”

As you can see, too much telling is BORING. My brain is shifting…

Showing and Telling:

“His eyes were dark blue, as tumultuous as a storm at sea, a stark contrast to his cheery crimson shirt. He had that classic Adonis look so many girls admired. Chiseled jaw, strong nose, ropy muscles, I admired them all as he carried his box of belongings into the office.”

“His eyes were dark blue (statement), as tumultuous as a storm at sea (description), a stark contrast to his cheery crimson shirt (description). He had that classic Adonis look so many girls admired (statement). Chiseled jaw (description), strong nose (description), ropy muscles (description), I admired them all as he carried his box of belongings into the office (statement).”

Now that’s a tasty description. Want to create the same in your writing? Kristen advises we use the following formula:

1 Statement + 2-3 descriptions = Balanced writing

I love this advice and will be incorporating this nugget of wisdom in my own writing.

7 Tips for Making Time to Write

Great tips on making time to write.

Yesterday, even though I was tuned into the blog, I didn’t do much of anything outside of revise my novel! I’m excited at how the true story is unfolding (the one you don’t usually see under the first draft) and felt really accomplished afterward. I was busy, sure, and there were a million and one things to do but I made time.

The point: The greatest investment you can make with your writing is not money, it is time.

From Grammarly to WordRake: A Review of 6 Automatic Editing Tools

Writers check it out! Excellent editing tools for those self edits. Use them to edit your manuscript or blog post. But, as the article states,remember:

“An automatic editing tool doesn’t replace a human editor. Because language rules and elements of a good story can be so flexible, human eyes will always be superior to the rigidity of automatic tools.”

The Process of Release – Planning Book Releases in Advance

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Consider this a commercial break into Laying Bricks. I’m still working on the next episode so you’ll have to wait another week. To make up for it, I decided to speak on another aspect of Self-Pub you may find useful.

What I love about book publishing, self-publishing specifically is the many new experiences I go through with each book I publish. When I look at some of my older works (which I still have available) I think “Goodness, how amateur of me!” To the point, I almost want to remove everything from the shelves and start over, but I don’t because of the way they aid in my experience and testimony, contributing to the proof of my growth as a writer. There’s so much I did not know way back when to include how to properly launch my books.

I won’t speak extensively on this topic, or at least not now. What I will say at this time is that one thing I’m learning is the importance of making some noise (OK so maybe just a few taps) as early as possible in the book release process. One of the ways to spread the word about a book is to create buzz about it before it’s released. It reminds me of something my sister always says, “Be thankful before you get your blessing. Say thank you that it’s on the way.”

Once I know for sure that I’ll publish a book, I try to begin the process of release as soon as possible. The process of release, what’s that? Well, it’s something I just made up (you can do that when you Self-Publish you know. Makeup stuff, try new things, your book, your rules).

The Process of Release (again, an EC thing) is not the same as the book publishing process. It’s part of that process sure, but it’s also a separate entity altogether. My book publishing process is when I am preparing my book for publishing. It includes first writing the book, of course, formatting, editing, revising, book cover, and everything in-between. My process of release, however, is when I am engaged in letting people know that I am going to in fact release another book. It’s the minor or major marketing and promotion I do to lead up to the book’s release. It could be as subtle as posting updates on social media, or as major as an entire campaign. The Process of Release can start as early as one year before the book is written to six months before it’s to be released.

The truth is that it’s never too early, but it can be too late. I cringe when I see debut authors release books that I never heard of. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a proud moment and I am proud of them. I do not cringe because of the book’s publication. I cringe because letting people know you have a book out on the day of release is not a good idea. And while I am no expert in the least, I do know that authors who release books their audience has been in on in some capacity has a greater chance of spreading the word in a wider capacity than those who pop up from nowhere with “My book is out!” Your book? What book? I didn’t know you were writing a book.

While I’m still learning concerning those major book release campaigns and will be soliciting the advice of many of you pros, I do know that there are some things we authors can do on the smaller scale in advance of our book’s release that may help a great deal:

The Process – People feel differently about this but if it’s your thing, go for it. One way to get the word out is to inform people of your process. Are you in the first draft stage? Have you finished your first draft? Have you met today’s word count? Are you revising? Beta readers? Editors? Let your blogger friends or social media buds know you’re cooking up something in the kitchen.

Sharing – If you’re feeling brave, share some excerpts on your blog (you do have a blog…right?). Again, people feel differently about this since not everyone wants to share their work. Some people feel it’s to an authors detriment and some feel it is to an author’s advantage. The truth is that no one really knows. The experience is different for each person and a solid list of rules for self-publishing does not exist. That said, it’s really up to you.

If you are feeling up to it, be sure your excerpts are the best of the best but don’t give away spoilers. You may go far as to be sure it’s a little bit edited for grammatical errors prior to uploading it. It may not be final, but it’s all about giving readers the best experience even at the early stages. You can use Grammarly or another program to help edit your posts.

Milestones– This is something I do a lot because it helps keep me on track. Set a series of short-term goals and share your milestones with your social media buds. Maybe you plan to have a book cover finished by the end of the year. Decide on a date for this and do a grand book cover release on your blog. When I say big, I mean be super-duper crazily excited about it. Plaster it across your social media. Use the book cover release as your official come out. People are highly visual. Use that to your advantage. This year, my book cover release will probably coincide with the official release date for my 2017 novel “Renaissance: The Nora White Story”. It will probably include social media headers and images of the book cover with the pending release date and perhaps a quote or two from advanced readers.

Flyers – Offline, print flyers of your book cover and pending release date and drop those babies off to libraries. They usually let you sit flyers around on the front desk or in the display glass (I’ve done it before). Or you can just deliver them to the people in the library directly! lol. Just don’t be rude about it.

Blog Hops, Guest Postings, Author Interviews – Believe it or not, even if you’re not talking about your book, being a guest on someone’s blog or doing an author interview can help generate buzz. Not that you should stalk people, but usually interviews end with something like, “So, what are you working on now?” I put blog hops in here because I’ve seen many authors doing it and it seems to work. Though I haven’t tried it yet. I am considering it but I’m not sure. Have you blog hopped? Tell us how it works!

Strategy – As Self-Publishers we can really do what we want with our release but I would still recommend doing so strategically. Release your book around high book reading cycles. A book reading cycle is a time where people purchase books the most or do the most reading. We’ve all heard it before: selling books are not like other businesses, nevertheless, there are ways selling books is similar to other businesses. One way is a cycle. Usually, businesses bulk up and do sales and all sorts of things around popular sales cycles. Could be a holiday or whatever the product is popular for. For your book release, consider releasing it around high reading cycles:

  • Holidays
  • Weekends
  • Summer

…and if your theme is AFAM historical in nature, February for Black History Month.

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Epic Book Release – Make your book release day a special one. Since 2014 (when I started this blog and got serious about book publishing) I’ve been releasing my books online and in person on the same day. If my book goes live on Amazon on release day, I’ll spend that same day pushing paperback sells at a hotel lobby or library with book signings. This gives me a chance to speak, sign hard copies, increase total launch day sales, and takes pics of my newborn to post online. I mean my new book of course.

Things to remember when you’re up close and personal:

– Purchase books in advance of event (like 3mos in advance. Live events are more expensive since you’re renting space, possibly traveling, and purchasing items so purchase books in bulk ahead of time).

– Include promo items: Bookmarks, business cards, flyers, post cards, whatever you can bring to liven up your table and give away as gifts

– Laptop – You can use your laptop two ways: You can have your eBook page open for staunch eBook readers. They can approach your station, which you’ll have set up nice and professional like they’re applying for a job at Walmart, and they can purchase the eBook there, supervised by a personal assistant, while you sell the paperback to those wanting hardcopies.

Or, you can use your laptop to show your book trailers. Of course this is all dependent on the internet. If the place has no internet, throw a QR code on your flyers. They can scan it with their phone taking them to your site and you won’t miss a sale.

– Make sure you have change and something to carry it in, and an electronic payment method. I used Square, a credit/debit card reader you can attach to your smart phone to process card payments.

– A bunch of writing pens for autographs.

– Optional. Print large Posters of your book cover and hang them around or attach to a board so that people entering know you’re in the place to be. Have an arrow next to your lovely sign that you, the awesome author, is selling books around the corner.

– Be sure to have someone designated to take pics, a photographer or your sister with the HD camera. Trust me, you won’t have time to do it and you wouldn’t want to miss capturing the moment.

Even if you release strictly online, there are things you can do for your electronic release:

  • Giveaway – have a major giveaway (include a bookmark, business cards, and flyer in package) or something exciting.
  • Blog Release Party  – Do a blog release party or a game related to the theme of your book. You can host this on your blog or by throwing a Facebook Launch Party. To learn more about how to plan for a Fb Launch Party, google it. No, seriously, everything is on Google pretty much.
  • Start a thunderclap campaign. I did this and its great. Instead of paying for social media  people pay in a tweet or facebook post. You set a goal and those who sign up pledge a tweet or post. On the day of release, their accounts simultaneously post about your book release!

To succeed in anything, we often look at what we know but the key is what you do not know. Only when you can understand that you don’t know anything, can you come to truly understand. The Stella Trilogy is not my first work. My Self-Publishing career did not begin with The Stella Trilogy.

I’ve actually been publishing since 2008 but it wasn’t until 2014 when I realized I knew nothing about publishing, that I truly started to learn a little and it is why I am most known for Stella and consider it my best work. My hope is that my next series does better, garners more reviews, and reaches a wider audience. Now that I know I know nothing, I am ready to understand all.

The same can be said for blogging in general. Do you really know how to blog or do you just perceive to know?

In short, this is why I cover the very basics of Self-Publishing. This is why I talk about the ABC, goo-goo, gaga. Because until we can admit that we don’t know anything, only then can we begin to see. If you don’t understand the simple, how can you understand the great?

And so, I am for building strong foundations so that from there, I can build on what I build.

In closing, we want to start letting people know that yes, we are writing a book and plan to publish it at least six months before the book is to be released. Funds are limited, at least mine are! That said, it doesn’t have to be anything grandiose, but set goals. Will you get lots of reviews? Probably not. Will you sell lots of copies? Probably not. But, what if you do? The truth is you don’t really know until you try. Don’t wait three months or two weeks before the book is to be released to let people know about it. A general rule of thumb is that when you release your book, no one should be surprised.

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Missed the first 3 episodes of Laying Bricks? This is a great time to catch up before next week!

Laying Bricks Ep 1: Guide The Bricks  (About Focusing on the Story)

Laying Bricks Ep 2: Mortar  (About the Revision)

Laying Bricks Ep 3: Cutting the Excess (More on revision with a focus on editing)

Sign- Up for my Newsletter  for a chance to read more Self-Pub Tips, Updates on my latest projects, and a free PDF of Book 1 in The Stella Trilogy: Between Slavery and Freedom.