Angela Booth's Writing Blog

New Author Fast-Start: 5 Productivity Tips For Fiction

The big new author secret: your story question (who wants what? And why?)

Your story question is the point of your novel; it’s why readers will read it. In Gone Girl, readers want to know what happened to the missing wife. Think about the novel you’re reading now: what’s the point of the novel?

You’ll arrive at the story question via your characters. Each of your characters wants something desperately. (If they aren’t willing to fight for something, toss them out of your book; they don’t belong in it.)

Readers read romances to discover how two mismatched souls will get together. They read mysteries to solve the mystery, whatever it is. When they’re in the mood for a thriller, readers want lots of excitement.

via www.fabfreelancewriting.com

Fiction Writing: 2 Strategies To Make Revision And Editing Easier

Revision and editing: what’s the difference?

In self-publishing today, authors conflate revision and editing. I like to separate them, so that I know exactly what’s happening, and when.

Revision is re-vision: that is, seeing again. It’s looking at the story of your novel afresh, rather than tinkering with words.

via www.fabfreelancewriting.com

Mind Mapping: 3 Tips To Plot And Revise Your Novel

When you’re writing a novel, there’s a thousand pieces of information you need to keep straight. Mind mapping is the easiest way to do that, without stress.

That’s the biggest benefit of a mind map: you can take in information at a glance. Rather than rereading chapters of prose, you can check your mind map, and you’re good to start writing.

via peneloperedmont.com

3 Steps To Write A Book With The “8 Hours” Strategy

Looking for a side hustle? Self-publishing is hot, so perhaps you’ve decided to write a book. Sadly, books can take months and years to write.

What if you could write a book within hours?

via www.justwriteabook.com

(New) Write AND Sell In Just 8 Hours: Video Training

 

Do you wish that you could stop trading hours for dollars? You can. Over the past 12 months, I’ve had many requests for video training on our popular ebook, Write AND Sell in Just 8 Hours: Create Top-Selling Ebooks FAST.

The video training is available now.

AS ALWAYS, COACHING IS INCLUDED

You’re an individual, with your own needs. Personal coaching helps me to create products which work for you, whether you’re a beginning writer/ author, or are an established pro.

JUST IN TIME FOR HOLIDAY SALES: START CREATING NOW

I’m encouraging my coaching students to ramp up their productivity for the holiday season. What could you create and sell?

Whether you choose to create fiction, or nonfiction, I know that the new Write AND Sell in Just 8 Hours: Video Training will help.

Join us. Here’s the introduction to the course.

3 Quick NaNoWriMo Writing Tips To Boost Your Inspiration

Are you doing NaNoWriMo this year? If you are, you’re around a week into your novel, and your inspiration is flagging.

Professional novelists know that after a week or two of writing, or at around 10,000 words, they’ll hit “the wall.”

The wall is the point at which you think you’re writing the wrong novel.

via www.justwriteabook.com

Writing Goals: 3 Tips To Increase Your Success In 2018

The final quarter of 2018 is well underway. It’s time to review the year’s writing goals. What worked for you this year? What didn’t?

Were you productive? We looked at writing habits and deadlines. We also looked at boosting your self-publishing income with short stories.

Whether or not you were especially productive, you created assets this year, and you can use those assets to increase your profits over the next few weeks.

via www.fabfreelancewriting.com

Create Your Own Writing Process: Write Fast, Write More

Do you have a writing process which works for you — no matter what? Last week I received a message from a writer we’ll call Sophie. She was ready to quit writing, because she found it too difficult. Sophie became a full-time writer at the start of 2018. She’d had some success with a couple of novels she published on Amazon, and was writing web content for several clients. Since she was making more from her writing than she made at her day job, she was ready for the freelance life.

via www.fabfreelancewriting.com

Writing Mystery Novels: 3 Dramatic Plotting Strategies

New mystery authors spend a lot of time creating an unusual sleuth, especially in “cozy” mysteries. Over the past couple of decades in cozies, there’s been an abundance of hobbyist sleuths — the sleuth is a caterer, or a dog walker, or a quilter. My students tie themselves into knots developing unusual sleuths. That’s OK, BUT if you settle on your sleuth before you’ve organized the victim and crime, it can lead to problems later. My suggestion: start with the crime.

via www.justwriteabook.com

NaNoWriMo: Make November Your Best Fiction Writing Month

What’s NaNoWriMo?

If you’re not familiar with NaNoWriMo, it’s National Novel Writing Month. Totally free to enter; hundreds of thousands of authors take part each year.

Let’s look at some tips to help.

NaNoWriMo: yes or no?

In Write Fiction: Nanowrimo Or Not?, we looked at some reasons you might do the program, including:

You’ve always promised yourself you’d write a book, one day. Having hundreds of thousands of authors who are also writing will inspire you…

via peneloperedmont.com

Writing Fiction When You’re Stuck: Let Your Characters Plot For You

Writing fiction: plot first, or characters first?

After zooming through my Ideas notebook in Evernote, I chose an idea, and briefly outlined a plot. Three days later, I deleted everything, because I couldn’t force myself to work on it.

The same thing happened with the next idea I chose: three days, delete.

Anxiety set in. I swore under my breath, then out loud.

The time I’d allocated for this novel zoomed closer to the deadline; I had to start writing.

via www.fabfreelancewriting.com

Short Stories: The Untapped Marketplace For Your Words

Over the past couple of months, I’ve been asking authors whether they write and sell short fiction, and what their experience has been.

Some authors seem prejudiced against it.

Comments I’ve heard include: “yes, but you can’t sell short fiction, can you?” and “I don’t want to waste time. I need to complete my novel, and it’s taking much longer than I expected…” etc.

Authors who do write short material however, have a completely different outlook.

An author reported: “I write slowly, so to boost my sales, I write a short story a month. When I have five stories, I compile them into a collection. At the moment, my two collections are outselling my novels.”

I’ve had similar experiences, so if you’re in the “shorts don’t sell” camp, experiment. You may be surprised.

via www.fabfreelancewriting.com

Kindle Unlimited: The Horror Remains (Sigh)

If you’re a new author, KU helps you to build an audience

For new authors KU offers benefits, with little downside.

With millions of books in the Kindle Store, and many thousands of new books uploaded each month, a new author gets swamped in the tsunami of content. When your first book is in KU, it’s free to subscribers, so you get readers.

For authors who already have a publishing catalogue, the picture’s much less clear.

via www.fabfreelancewriting.com

Get Creative With Book Marketing: 5 Ways

Book marketing: paid, or free, which is best for you?

Use both, if you can, but when you’re marketing a new book, begin with free and low-cost options.

Two reasons I suggest you begin with free options:

1. Ideally, if you’re a new author without an audience, you’ll start getting the word out before you complete your book (see below.) This means that you have nothing to sell yet, so it’s pointless to use paid advertising.
2. Free promotions are a way of doing market research: you’re gathering information about the market. Once you launch your book, this information will be invaluable.

Now let’s look at how you can get creative.

via www.fabfreelancewriting.com

Writing Fiction: Stop “Writing”, Create Experiences

Wherever you are in your publishing career, you want one thing — the same thing every other author wants. You want your novel to sell because you want readers.

So, how can you be certain that your novel will sell?

There’s only one way.

When you’re writing fiction, stop “writing”

To sell, your novel must entertain readers.

via www.justwriteabook.com