I’ve been noticeably absent from my blog and the truth is I missed posting here. This is where my mind spills random thoughts I have had over night. Sorry, sometimes they’re worthwhile and sometimes not. This week I hope I can provide you with something useful. Everyone either has a job, a child, a sport, or an interest they can write about. I thank the brilliant people who share how to’s on YouTube. We look up everything there. I could probably do open heart surgery following a heart surgeon video.

SO I’m thinking about adding my how to #selfedit lessons to YouTube. SO now there’s a whole new learning curve for me and another social media nut to crack. I write fiction and I love doing it. But if I spend all my down time researching, it will reduce my productivity.

Last weekend I attended a social media workshop I found extremely helpful. I think this is the second time I’ve gone to this one and just one of many Each time I learn something new. Each time I discover how many things have changed since the last time I attended a class on the subject. And within a few days I practice what I’m comfortable with and avoid branching out. I can tweak what I know without the hours of R&D I’ll need for a new venture.

I have a very old Twitter account. This week I had a better idea of what and why I was doing some things. I have an old Pinterest account that I like because I saved all the pretty pictures, and occasionally check out hot guys for inspiration. I am Eliza March and I like hot men. There you know my weak spot. I do not know squat about how Pinterest can be used for promotional purposes. I get the idea at first…but when I try to visualize what to do…poof…nadda.

Facebook is a bain on my peace of mind, sanity, and my ability to control my opinions… and I believe on most of their users too. I’ve been on it so long…I get it. Then I don’t. Then I do, then I don’t. If you’re anything like me, you don’t like being played. I could give you an arm’s length list of companies I deal with daily that are playing with my mind and my life. How do you trust any corporation in this day and time? I’m beginning to suffer from borderline #conspiracy theorist issues. Should I accept my $29.00 (not a real figure) royalty check and keep my mouth shut? I want more. I’m tired of being invisible, suffocated beneath other books, and authors buying reviews, promoters with money, algorithms and bots.

How can I help you? Apparently, those of us who band to together, and share information with each other, and help each other, and inspire each other can pull ourselves up the ladder and drag a few others with us. The stronger you are the more you should pull up with you. Never forget that someone helped you up too. We need each other more than you can ever imagine until that day come when you put your hand up and there’s no one there to rescue you.

Whatever goes around, comes around.

The original post was awhile back but it resonates today with man’s inability to connect with nature.

 JUNE 17, 2007

Although I don’t know why, the place wasn’t what I was expecting. When I first glimpsed it as we drove over the rise, I felt a moment’s disappointment. It stood starkly gray out in a farmer’s sunny field. I shouldn’t have been surprised at the way it didn’t impress. What was I looking for? Even I don’t know what I anticipated that day —

Druids pacing? Lightning flashing? Magick?

DECIDING it was a normal place, after all — nothing spectacular beyond its impressive size, I recognized it as just another tourist trap. Like the rest, there were mugs, books, miscellaneous souvenirs and food for sale. Digging in with all the others, I bought a mug and a sandwich. Then I picked up the electronic hand piece and listened to the taped program as I walked the circular path around Stonehenge. I took pictures with my digital camera, listened carefully to the narrative.

THEN something happened. I became engrossed with the ancient history. The information was interesting and informative, but something else happened–this place was far from ordinary. The monolithe was deceptive standing innocently out there in the unusual bright English day. The Stones stood proudly alone, warming in the sun, massive in an open field with tourists munching sandwiches and cameras all a-flutter. But there was something more.

IT was old, it was ancient, it was powerful. It spoke to me. It was more than the story on tape, more than large stones hiding their secret mystery of how they appeared in the stoneless region. Their mystical force engulfed me as I walked the circle, listening, looking, searching, learning. I was drawn back to a long-gone time when wizards were all-powerful and Mother Earth ruled. In that time, Man took care with Nature, respected and cajoled it. But when Man left the pagan temples to tumble and halted the blood sacrifices of old to sacrifice Mother Earth to our gluttonous needs, things changed. Now Man plunders Her and lays waste to Her bounty.

STANDING outside the aged stones, I felt the call to battle.

GLOBAL Warming is a unique and imminent possibility. Is it an eventual reality? Will the dark salty waves of the North Atlantic soon lap over the lowly terrain where Druids stood? Will the great Stonehenge be nothing more than a pile of rocks standing against the pounding waves of the North Sea?

WHEN I returned home I printed my photos and fixed tea in my souvenir mug. The images all had blue ghosts surrounding the stone where the sacrifices were believed to have taken place. I reached for the mug and it shifted toward my hand.

That wasn’t the first or

 the last time the ghosts appear in appropriate places in my pictures. In Italy, they appeared on the pictures I took of the portraits of St. George (who looks surprising like like my youngest son).  So no matter what you believe a little meditation in ancient places can’t help but to ground you into good thoughts and good deeds. Have a wonderful weekend.

I’ve done both with a number of books, and though I thought I preferred the independence of self-publishing, and still do at times, I am leaning toward mixing it up again. I like the support of a small press and the comradery of having other authors in the stable who are willing to cross promote and bolster me up when I need advice. writing is a solitary undertaking, but promoting and dealing with the business of writing doesn’t have to be.

A publisher with a good track record, who is a good fit for you, can be your best asset. My needs were much different years ago when I started than they are now. Yet both publishers I began with each serves a different purpose for my writing needs now, and both are not only still in business, but successful and well thought of in the industry. That’s saying something in these times. I also recently published with a third small press and am excited to announce I’m thoroughly pleased with the team I worked with. Being part of another supportive group, specializing in the genre I write, has been a pleasure.

The trick is finding the right fit. I like a quick turn around on correspondence and edits. I like easy access to the team I work with. I like flexibility and custom service. If I need more than two rounds of edits…let’s do it! I want input on my cover and the marketing plan. I want to be able to participate. Some companies don’t work that way. Some authors don’t have any interest in working that way.  It’s all about finding what works for you and your career.

My self-publishing experience has afforded me the flexibility to adjust with the market. In an industry of change and shifting markets, we need to adjust quickly and research to be prepared for the next wave.  I like testing the market to see what works. In the process, I’ve found thinking ahead of the curve is a crap-shoot. As fast as we adjust things shift. So writing to please yourself is the best answer because…you can’t please everyone.

The downside to self-publishing is the number of hats I have to wear unless I want to hire someone to do them. Then there’s the cost. Once again, the loss of a certain amount of control. Waiting for someone else to do the work. Hoping they have the same vision…

And finally, the time-consuming time away from writing.

I’m considering a co-op of stable writers who want to form a group. Not only can we write together, we can write apart and still be there for each other. It’s been done before and may be my answer.

When I can’t depend on SMASHWORDS’ meatgrinder to accept my old formats…I need another set of eyes and a ton of suggestions. Thank goodness for GOOGLE search.

My books at iBOOKS

My books at SMASHWORDS

My books at AMAZON

High Concept question. You ask, “What’s the book about?” A Fae Myth? The Gemini: a species born when twin fae royalty fell in love with twin druids.

Another answer: A mashup of Criminal Minds meets Supernatural somewhere in one of the lands in Lord of the Rings, then sprinkle a little True Blood and Underworld  into the cauldron of blood and see what you get. Are you ready for a modern day Indiana Jones meets an Irish Sookie Stackhouse?

There are light fae trying to keep the world from going dark, while daemons from the Underworld posing as ancient serial killers are set on murdering supernatural psychics posing as profilers who work for the government. Breathe… Oh yes, there are soul mates and destined love to deal with too. Unfortunately, soulmates meant to save the world can’t deny their gifts or be at odds with each other. Duh! Can’t we all just get along? Work together? save the world?

No!

Hello?

Conflict goes there or there wouldn’t be a story.

Goal: Everyone wants to control the elements of Earth.

Motivation: To prevent the world from being destroyed…or in the case of the antagonists: to destroy the world.

The Gemini are going to have to step up their game. Trouble is, they don’t know the rules or that they were involved. Playing catch up from behind is Hell. Try reading this so you’ll be ready for the series.

Prequel Blurb:

Morgan and Brianna, two sixteen year-old Irish girls, stumble upon a magical book hidden within the standing stones. Believing local mythology is just an interesting tale about immortal killers, vengeful gods, and age-old battles, they take the stories lightly…until the book mentions their ancestors and reveals the girls may be destined to fulfill an ancient prophecy.

Discovering a deadly rift once split the fae and mortal realms as the result of a forbidden love between the fae and druids, the girls dedicate themselves to the book. A covenant with the gods had been broken, and the responsibility of restoring the worlds fell to the Gemini, descendants of the illicit lovers. These chosen caretakers of the elemental stones were challenged to protect the elements from the dark mystics. With a vow to destroy all the chosen, evil forces used black magic to release the daemon from the Underworld, and the Gemini went into hiding while the battles to find them raged on through the ages.

Years later, psychics and profilers all over the world are being targeted for death. A historic pattern becomes obvious to a former FBI agent and an Irish profiler when they are assigned to join forces. As they uncover more and more details about who or, more precisely, what is targeting the victims and why, even more improbable evidence surfaces to expose their linked pasts.

Fae mythology isn’t in the FBI training manual, but when a killer disappears into a solid stone wall, it’s time for Graeme to re-evaluate reality. Recently, the pragmatic FBI instructor and history buff has a hard time dealing with the woman’s thoughts seeping into his mind. Psychic or not, none of this can be real. He’s convinced she’s the same girl who’s been in his dreams since childhood, but he doesn’t dare admit it.

Morgan only felt whole  when Graeme joined her in her dreams. There is no doubt he’s her old imaginary playmate. But what does it mean now that his thoughts are breaking through when she’s awake? Even if he refuses to accept their connection, his presence in her mind is a comfort…until their shared dreams turn into nightmares.

BUY at AMAZON

SMASHWORDS for all formats epub, html, mobi, pdf, pdb

I can’t tell you how often I started writing a book only to realize the story really began in the second or third chapter. When I critiqued writers’ manuscripts the same thing happened. If I told one author the book started in the wrong place I told fifty. It’s common to start the story too soon. The process of warming up to your book, getting to know your characters, getting comfortable with all the backstory shouldn’t actually end up in the first chapter. You should know all this before you sit down to write…whether you write it down or mull it around in your head.

So how do you decide on a starting point? Many writing coaches advise authors to begin the story as close to the first conflict as possible. What does that mean?

Put your main character in his/her ordinary world before slamming them into the story conflict. The reader wants to see them react to life as they’ve known it before it’s about to change. And the character could be inanimate like the sea. The sea is calm before it turns stormy. The sky is stormy before it clears. The hero is happy before the day goes to sh*t. You get the picture.

During this short introduction to the main character and the story, we should learn something about her. She could be leaving the house for work, then the cat sneaks out because the door doesn’t close all the way. She’ll have to call her new sexy neighbor again because she’s running late. Worry. He’s going to think she’s a flake or is interested in him. Well she is…both. The rain hasn’t stopped for two weeks and caused the wood to swell. He’s pretty handy around his house. Hmmm. She drops the papers she’s holding. The red ink runs on  the pages from the raindrops. She curses the rain, but doesn’t actually use profanity. She says to herself–Whatever…most of the kids can’t read yet anyway.

This is just a general rundown. So what do we learn about her in that brief introduction? She teaches youngsters. Has a sexy new neighbor. Is a little flustered. Has a cat she cares about. Seems nice but realistic. This isn’t the first time the cat has escaped. It’s raining and she is late for work. Hopefully the reader imagined more, too.

Do we want to know more about her? Sure. Are we worried about her? Yes? No? Not yet?

Next. What could happen to hook you so you would want to read more?

From this opening I think the writer has several options to introduce the transition from ordinary world to something happens depending on the genre.

• Another woman could leave the neighbor’s house and kiss him good-bye.
• Backing out of the driveway, a truck could swerve out of control and hit the heroine’s car.
• An alien spacecraft could land in her front yard.
• A ghost could pop into her front seat.
• Her fangs could descend in jealousy.
• Her abusive ex-boyfriend could call.

These are a few options.

But what we decide determines the promise of the book. Here is where the reader figures out the genre, decides whether or not this book might be for them. Your voice (the unique style of your writing) and person, tense, pov, as well as word choices define the book at this point.

In a movie or book, the promise is defined in the first ten percent. Included in the first ten percent will be the locale, the identity of the main cast of characters,  the style, the genre, the main characters’ goals and motivations, and ideally, the main conflict. Other conflicts may play a part in getting to the resolution of the goal, but the main conflict should be at least hinted at in the opening ten percent.

Depending on the length of your story, the first chapter may not include all the characters etc. But in the first 200-500 words of any book, the writer must hook the reader. Most readers won’t skim more than a few pages to get into a book. They may skim after they’re curious about what’s going to happen.  And different hooks work for different genres. Read some opening scenes from books in your genre and see how best-selling authors do it.  I prefer reading examples from their early work, before they made a name for themselves. Those books defined them to their reading audience.

And I know it’s hard, but tighten that opening until it squeaks. Pacing is the rate that the reader is pulled into and through your story. Genre will influence your word choices, but so will pacing. Horror pacing and word choices will be somewhat different from romance, but may be similar to suspense. Give the reader a breather every now and then especially after an exceptionally exhausting scene. The ones when you try to get the reader’s pulse rate going. That’s great writing, but you don’t want to kill your favorite readers.

Please leave me a comment if you found this helpful and if you have something to add, your comments are welcome. Thank you.

View my other blog here Eliza March Writes