Abbey
Okay guys we are shaking it up little bit. So SSS is going to be changed to SDP.. Saturday Daily Prophet and the other girls and me are going to take turns bring it to you. So lets get started.
I was able to Interview the lovely Shelly Muncaster. There is more about her below then are interview. Please read and share there is a lot of good information on publishing and writing. I also added what I have been reading this week.
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So this week I have been reading the Summer Trilogy by Jenny Han.
I just finished the second book and I loved it. So here are the books and the synopsis,
Belly measures her life in summers. Everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August. Winters are simply a time to count the weeks until the next summer, a place away from the beach house, away from Susannah, and most importantly, away from Jeremiah and Conrad. They are the boys that Belly has known since her very first summer--they have been her brother figures, her crushes, and everything in between. But one summer, one terrible and wonderful summer, the more everything changes, the more it all ends up just the way it should have been all along. (Goodreads)
Can summer be truly summer without Cousins Beach?It used to be that Belly counted the days until summer, until she was back at Cousins Beach with Conrad and Jeremiah. But not this year. Not after Susannah got sick again and Conrad stopped caring. Everything that was right and good has fallen apart, leaving Belly wishing summer would never come.
But when Jeremiah calls saying Conrad has disappeared, Belly knows what she must do to make things right again. And it can only happen back at the beach house, the three of them together, the way things used to be. If this summer really and truly is the last summer, it should end the way it started--at Cousins Beach. (Goodreads)
Interview questions
Bio:
Hi my name is Shelly
Muncaster and I am 22 years old. I live in Sydney, Australia and currently I am
in my fifth year of university studying a double degree of Law and Finance. I
live and breath writing and I will continue doing it for the rest of my life. I
started my blog Keystrokes & Closed doors in order to motivate myself to finish
my book, to meet other writers and to support emerging authors. This is what I
am passionate about and there is nothing I would rather do.
Questions:
1.
How to write better?
There are many ways one could write “better”. For instance, better by
way of deeper characterisation or plot structure, or through sheer technical
skill of writing words themselves or the cohesiveness of your writing.
For this question I will refer mainly to improving your writing style
and skill. This is just a guideline and not a set of steadfast rules, because
in writing there are no rules merely suggestions! I will tell you all the tings
I do to help improve my writing skill and instil clarity in my stories.
The only way to write better is to write. That is the honest truth. It
is like any skill such as practicing a martial art, dancing or drawing. You
should try to write everyday if you can and don’t feel daunted because it
doesn’t have to be much. I suggest 300 words a day or if you cannot do
everyday, I recommend not going over two days without writing. This is because any
longer than that motivation to write begins to dwindle and for me, I find that
sticking to this rule has taken me further in my writing.
Another thing you could do is to try my flash fiction technique (http://www.keystrokesandcloseddoors.com/hocus-pocus/how-to-beat-writers-block-flash-fiction). If you don’t
know what this is it’s a mini story of 300-1000 words. I prefer 300-400 words, as
this is a real challenge! You pick a random topic or even have someone else
think of it for you. Give yourself 5 minutes to plan and 10-20 minutes to
write. Then start writing a story within the word limit and make sure that your
tale has a beginning, middle and end. Make sure it is clear as well, in terms
of characters and plot. This is hard to do under pressure and you will see that
most attempts will be terrible, but eventually if you do this more and more,
you will become more switched on and you will start presenting your ideas in a
more clear fashion. I suggest keeping all your attempts and dating them, then
after a few months or a year look back at all of them and see how far you have
come. This helps so much when writing a novel, because less is more and flash fiction
teaches you that.
2. First steps of self publishing?
Self
publishing is super easy and can be done through Smashwords or Amazon. However,
before you even consider starting the process there are a few things you should
make sure you do:
A. Get your manuscript edited:
one thing about self-publishing is that everyone can do it. This is both a good
thing and a bad thing. In order to make your book stand out you must ensure
that it is at the standard of a normal book publisher. To do this you need an
editor to go over your manuscript and make sure everything is at a standard it
needs to be. They will check for spelling mistakes, irrelevant scenes or plot
points and will make sure you don’t have a saggy middle.
B. Hire a graphic designer for your book
cover: it’s all
about promotion, I am sorry to say. How many times have you bought a book just
because of the pretty cover? I know that I have (Red Queen, to be specific). If
you want your book to be professional and people to take you as a seriously, you
must hire a graphic designer to make your book cover and back. You can find
them on social media or the web, but always ask them for samples of their work.
Then
once you have completed these steps you can create an account on Amazon and
Smashwords without fear, pay a fee and upload your document. BOOM! You have a
book. These two companies have platforms that allow you to have you self-published
book printed which is really cool as well.
3. Character development?
Oh
I love this question. It is my favourite! Character development is the most
important thing you should do when writing a book. It is in fact the first step
to take when planning out your story. You need to get to know your characters
inside and out, as they are the ones driving your story. You should start off
by giving them a backstory and do not be afraid to go deep into their past.
Then get to know them as a person; what events in their childhood shape their
lives? What are their innermost thoughts and feelings? Getting to know your
characters helps overcome every issue you may have in writing your book such as
plot holes and unrealistic dialogue or unnatural reactions of events. If you
are missing chunks of your book, just think about what your character would do
and let him or her show you. Developing your characters is imperative, for
instance books which do this well are Anne Rice’s The Vampire Lestat and one which does not is (I know I will get
backlash for this) Red Queen by
Victoria Aveyard.
Exercises
for character development you should try:
· Writing
a journal for your character which the reader will never see describing in
detail how they feel about what is going on around them, chapter by chapter;
· Interview
your character. You can find such questions on Google.
· Act
out your character in a scene
· You
can also examine your own mind and what part of you they come from.
· Write
down a few things that the reader will never know about your character. This
will naturally seep into your words and create greater depth.
4. Tips for getting in contact with
publishers?
There
are two ways of getting into contact with publishers. Publishing houses used to
be very particular about how they got into contact with authors and never
interacted with them if they did not have a literary agent. In order to give
yourself the best chance at getting noticed by a publisher, you will need to
secure an agent as they have contacts within the publishing domain. You can
find one online by searching for literary agents in your country and applying
to them by email. Follow their criteria very carefully as you only get one
attempt to impress them and be sure that you only send it to relevant agents
for your genre.
The
other way to get in contact with publishers is via their website. More and more
they are allowing unsolicited documents to be submitted to them directly on
certain days of the month. This has its positives and negatives, first of all
your manuscript gets into the hands of the publishers, however it is added to a
slush pile of other manuscripts by thousands of other hopefuls who have
applied.
5. Most important things to practice when
writing?
I
have three simple rules when it comes to practicing this craft and they are:
· Writing
every day is very important and helps you, not only get things done, but also
enables you to be a better writer.
· Organisation
is the key (in my opinion) to being a great writer. Plan your story as much as
you can and you will see the whole thing come together. When you see your story
unfold, you will be motivated to finish.
· Enjoy
the process because writing is such a magical experience. Do not get bogged
down on the grammar, remembering the characters names or stressing if your
writing is not good. Someone out there will love what you are doing, but most
importantly you should love your work and your characters.
6.
How to create a writing habit?
I
will tell you what works for me. I found these very cool excel sheets, which
are not only really cool visually but keep track of your writing progress. It
helped me go from writing once in a blue moon to almost every day. You must
write down your target word count for each month and as you write more of your
book each day you record how much you typed down. The program makes a graph to
show you your progress and indicates how many words left before you reach your
goal. I do something a little extra which motivates more so much. In the comment section I note down my excuses or feelings
as to how much (or little) I have written for that day. On the days I do not
write I mention why and it really gives me perspective, as well as makes me
feel accountable. Also, by putting those excuses in the side column it makes
you want to strive to do better and then you do by writing more. You can find
these on my blog http://www.keystrokesandcloseddoors.com/hocus-pocus/writing-tips-using-nanowrimo-excel-sheets
and as a tip 10,000 words a month is manageable.
7. Tips for aspiring
writers
First and foremost, never ever give
up on your dream and do not prevent yourself from acting out what your heart
wants! There will be nothing but happiness when you look back in fifty years
from now and you say to yourself that you gave it a go. However, if you do not give
it a go, you will always wonder and be filled with regret.
In more practical terms, always get a
betareader and a professional editor to read your work before submitting to a
traditional publisher or if you are self-publishing. You need to know that your
story is interesting, makes sense and is professional. If you need help with
these things, do not hesitate to contact me at keystrokesandcloseddoors@outlook.com as I am capable in both capacities. I love helping
emerging authors get their voices heard!
Social links:
· twitter: shelly_kscd
· instagram: keystrokesandcloseddoors
· youtube: search
keystrokes and closed doors
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