Faces of Social Media

Social media is social. Wild concept, eh? But it’s true. We read time and time again that plugging into an online social network is a must for the aspiring author. But some of us groan. Some of us resist. We don’t have time to comment on a bunch of random blogs. We don’t feel like hocking ourselves to faceless masses. We certainly don’t get that twitter thing—I mean, who wants to read what I had for dinner and why do I care if you are at Starbucks? How on earth will that help me sell books or get a contract?  Well, it won't.  Not with that attitude.  Your investment must be in people.

There are several great articles making the case for social media—the whys and hows of successfully developing a platform and “voice” through Facebook and the rest. This one assumes you’ve read all that already. (And if you haven’t, I have provided some great links at the bottom of the post for you to check out later!) This piece is to show you the proof in the pudding.

Over the next few months, I am going to introduce you to some of the wonderful women I have met through social media. You see, it’s not about having the most glamorous blog or leaving the wittiest comment. It’s not about blasting your WIP (that’s work-in-progress) stats to the virtual universe and hoping a bunch of people will care and become your groupies. It’s about making real connections with the people behind the keyboards. And I have formed some very special bonds with the most beautiful people I never would have known if not for the internet. I can’t wait for you to get to know them too.

Next week, I’ll welcome Elaine Cooper to my blog to meet you all. Please make her feel welcome (I know you will!) Each Monday thereafter will feature another visitor for you to get to know. Some are published, some aren’t. But we are all on this same journey, finding Adventures in Writing. Mark your calendars!

AND the early bird gets the worm…

Elaine has been gracious enough to offer a FREE copy of her award-winning book, The Road to Deer Run, to one lucky reader of my blog! You can start dropping your name in the hat this week by sending people this way. For every new subscriber you refer, you get an entry into the drawing. So make sure they use your name when they pop over and introduce themselves. They’ll get an entry too, of course. And they can, in turn, refer friends as well. Your name will go in the hat just for tweeting or facebooking about the giveaway too, just send me the link to your tweet/wallpost. During Elaine’s visit, entries are given to each commenter who joins the conversation. So there are plenty of chances to win.

See you soon!

Awesome articles:

Jody Hedlund: Where Should Authors Focus Their Limited Marketing Time?
and: 3 Reasons To Start Blogging Before A Book Contract

Michael Hyatt: Social Media Framework
and: 7 Ways To Build Your Online Platform From Scratch

Diane Graham--Clash of the Titles' Latest Victor

The winner of COTT's epic month-long Clash is....

Diane Graham!

 

Diane joins the ranks of COTT Conquerors as a pre-published author. She writes speculative Christian fiction steeped in allegory. Her excerpt garnered comments from readers such as:  

•  a fully charged powerhouse of emotion and raw courage.
•  All of them are intense, but I cannot shake the first excerpt from my mind. It moved me just as deeply the second time I read it as it did the first. I find myself deeply concerned for the well-being of this character.
•  [it] grabbed me with such powerful emotion and desperation, that I found myself wanting it to not end.
• Excellent emotion.

 Her novel I Am Ocilla, was a winner of Marcher Lord Press Premise Contest 2009.

A peek at her excerpt:

The darkness of my abyss consumes. Direction is irrelevant and time is worthless. If only I could pinpoint the moment when it all faded, then maybe I would be able to crawl back into existence. I slip in and out of reality. My heartbeat taunts me with hope for life, but the aches and emptiness of the rest of my body only offer death.

(cont. here)

Congratulations, Diane! We can't wait to see you in print!

Get to know Diane through her interview with COTT's marketing rep Jennifer Slattery:

 

Readers can keep up to date with Diane's journey here, or connect with Diane on Facebook.

 

Join us at COTT again on Monday when two Antagonists square off. Vote for your favorite and be entered to win a free book! Will it be a mustache-twirling fiend, or the unassuming granny-type? Who knows what kind of antagonists we'll find!

 

Have a book or theme suggestion? Send it in! Have you written the next blockbuster hit? Send us your 500 best words. We want to hear from you! Help spread the word by linking us in your social network and earn entries into the drawings.

 

bio: Michelle Massaro is Assistant Editor for the literary website Clash of the Titles and an aspiring author. She and her husband of 15 years live in sunny So Cal with their four children. Connect with her on twitter @MLMassaro and Facebook

 

The Snowflake Guy

It's a busy day in the Massaro household so I am treating you to a repost of one of my favorite topics:

Today I want to talk about Randy Ingermanson's Snowflake Method.

The what?

The Snowflake Method. Some of you may have heard of it before, but for those who haven’t, let me give you a crash course. (Then go check out the full explanation)!

Okay- what IS it and why should I care?

The Snowflake Method is an organized process for writing a novel. Perfect for split-brains like me. By that I mean that it marries my creative side with my structured, list-loving side. So if you love algebra and poetry (like I do) this will appeal to you.

In fact, I give the Snowflake a big chunk of credit in getting Beauty for Ashes from my mind to the page in the first place. Maybe you can relate to this. See, I had the basic idea for my novel for YEARS before writing it. I sometimes scribbled down thoughts about setting and characters, but always stopped short of BEGINNING THE MANUSCRIPT. It was too daunting. I didn’t have the time. I would drown if I began swimming across the vast ocean of the novel-writing process. Anyone been there? That all changed for me with two things: Stephanie Myers’ inspiring story of “getting it done”, and Randy Ingermanson’s Snowflake Method.

So… how does it work?

Basically, the Snowflake starts with the bare bones of your story and gradually fleshes it out layer by layer, step by step. For example, Step 1 is to spend an hour writing a one sentence summary of your story. Here are my early attempts:

• A man loses everything, including his faith, in a deadly fire and struggles to put the pieces of his life back together again.
• One man’s journey to find peace after losing his family and his faith in a deadly fire.
• When a deadly fire destroys his family and his faith, one man questions whether God has forgotten him, or if He exists at all.
Later, I settled on a much shorter version:
• A young man struggles to regain his faith after losing everything in a deadly fire.

Now, none of these is what I would choose to use now that the book is finished, but it was a good start- and wonderful practice on boiling down the plot. (You’ll wrestle with that job for weeks or even months after the book is written when you want to start querying agents.)

Step 2 has you writing a 3-Act paragraph (just a single paragraph!). This is what I ended up with for mine:

Jonathon Douglas’ future looked bright- he had a beautiful young wife, a job he loved, and a faith in God that couldn’t be shaken- what more could he want? But his life goes into a tailspin when a deadly fire rips through his town and burns his future to the ground. Stripped of everything he ever held dear, he turns his back on God to embrace a life of lonely days and wild nights in Las Vegas. There, Jonathon hits bottom and discovers that God had been with him all along. As he begins to rebuild his life and discover a new future in California, his days of hard living catch up with him and threaten everything once again. But this time he chooses to cling to his faith and trust in God to carry him through.

Keep in mind that I wrote this paragraph long before I wrote the actual story. It’s pretty good! I used much of this same verbiage in my later summary and query letter attempts. The fact that this paragraph is still so accurate speaks volumes to me about the value and efficiency of the Snowflake. Granted, it is way too vague and full of clichés. I know a lot more now than I did back then about writing. But how exciting it was to see my story coming to life before it was even written! There’s no greater motivation than that.

Later in the process, you will take each sentence of that single-paragraph-summary and expand it into its OWN paragraph so that you get a full page summary. Do you see the snowflake appearing?

Interesting! Is there more?

Oh yes! Randy’s method takes you all the way through the entire writing process including scene charting and extensive character development. But what’s great about the Snowflake is that you don’t have to remain glued to it the whole way through. If all you need is a kick-start to get you going, these initial steps are perfect for the job. I started out using the scene spreadsheets he recommends but later let them go, not that I would pooh-pooh them. Once I began getting my first couple of chapters on paper, I just plunged ahead full-steam and no longer felt the need to check in with Randy on what I should be doing next. But if I’d needed to, he would have been there.

So will you use it again next time?

I cannot imagine writing a novel without at least using the basics of the Snowflake. I highly recommend using it if you are stuck on your half-finished novel, or have never started writing because you didn’t know where to start. If you don’t like starting a journey without knowing exactly where you’re going (see me raising my hand?), this is a must-have tool. The basic Snowflake Method article is absolutely FREE on Randy’s website. FREE! So no excuses! If that’s all you have, it’s enough. But he does offer a lot more, and with his track record it’s worth a looksie.

So check out his website, follow his blog, sign up for his FREE e-zine, and please let him know that I sent you!
**

10 Clichés in Today’s Fiction

Happy Monday! Real quick I want to let you know that I’m over at Jessica Patch’s blog today and would love it if you stopped by there and said hello. Also, Wednesday I’ll be talking about Deep POV at Edie Melson’s site, The Write Conversation.

And now I bring you my personal Top Ten clichés found in today’s fiction. Some are classic clichés and others are personal pet peeves.
***

10) Punching buttons.

Is everyone in your story punching buttons? Do they punch in every phone number; punch the elevator button, etc? This is losing its freshness. Use sparingly.

9) Too many adverbs
This isn’t new but is still a trap I see authors falling into, particularly new authors. Do a document search for “-ly” words and see if you can find a replacement verb instead of using the adverb. I.e. Instead of “walked quickly”, use “scrambled”.

8) Raven-black hair
No comment needed.

7) Never using the word ‘said’
‘Said’ is an invisible word. If you must use a dialogue tag, ‘said’ is preferred to “breathed, huffed, etc”.

6) Characters rolling their eyes
Not only is this cliché, it’s not terribly accurate. A full eye-roll is rare. But semantics aside, try to find another way to display your character’s attitude. Reserve eye-rolls for an occasional teen response or when another expression just will not do the job. Use it as a last resort.

5) Your MC describes themselves for the reader by looking in a mirror.

Oy vey! Mirrors have their place, but please. Most of us don’t wake up every morning and ponder our auburn curls, honey colored eyes with golden flecks, admire our high cheekbones or bemoan our double chin (ok maybe we do with that one). But you get the idea. There’s something to be said for allowing room for the reader to fill in the blanks with their own imagination too. Personally, I want an idea what the character looks like but I don’t want to work at putting every freckle and scar into place in my mind’s eye. It’s too much work. Mirror or no mirror.

 

4) Noticing eye color from across the room.

People, I have a bone to pick with you. I often can’t tell someone’s eye color even when having a face-to-face conversation with them, unless I make a point to really look. And you’re telling me that your MC noted the shade and brilliance and every colored fleck in someone’s eyes from across the restaurant? In my humble opinion, not every character needs their eye color revealed. It’s one of the last things we know about our own friends, honestly. What color eyes do I have? What about your kid’s kindergarten teacher or your pastor—do you know without checking? Mmm hmm. (Disclaimer: There are legitimate times to notice eye color. During a romantic embrace perhaps, or when a character does have eyes that are uniquely bright blue. But don’t make every character fit this bill.)

3) Characters who “gaze” at everything.
I don’t know when this trend picked up so much momentum but this one has really gotten under my skin. I use the word too, but I try very hard not to overuse it. I won’t give you a book quote because I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. But if you put this word on your radar next time you pick up a new release, it will jump out at you.

2) “Cupping” things
This is just a personal thing but it is high on my list because it just makes me cringe. There is nothing in the industry that says to avoid this word, but I would love it banned. It just makes me feel icky. Maybe it has something to do with bra shopping, I don’t know. Just be forewarned if I ever crit for you and see this word it will be replaced.

1) “Verbicizing” of nouns
My number one pet peeve, born I believe out of the passion for active voice, is the verbicizing of nouns and adjectives. (This term was coined, I believe, by miss Phoenix Sullivan in a previous post.) You know what I mean, right? A poor example is hands "fisting" rather than balling INTO fists. Or how about ‘he treed the cat’ instead of ‘he chased the cat into a tree’. Her hair "rivered" over her shoulders. I’m all about word economy but not when the result sounds weird. What’s next: It was so cold her lips blued? It must stop! If you find yourself thinking this is a nifty way to cut your word count, please step back and assess whether the phrase works or just sounds odd. Ask a reader (not a writer). We write for them, right? It doesn’t matter if our author friends love a neat trick to convey a line succinctly if the reader wants to laugh out loud, throw the book against a wall, or simply feels pulled out of the story by the unfamiliar use of English. For the love of all things good and decent in this world, please don’t do this.


So there you have my Top Ten. Feel free to disagree with the opinions expressed in this post. I hope I haven’t offended anybody. If you are gazing at your computer screen, ready to punch in a reply, and find yourself cupping a piece of rotten fruit to chuck at me, please don’t; it will only muck up your computer screen anyway. *grin*

 

What about you—what are your literary pet peeves?