I’ve finished my tour of the blogosphere! It’s been a fun, if pretty tiring, few weeks. Here’s the last third of my journey, so you can catch up on any of my posts you missed.

You can also hop back and read the list of April’s posts and the first part of May. If you want all the posts as one simple list, plus a bit of explanation about the tour, that’s here.

The links to my guest posts below will open in a new tab/window, so you don’t lose your place here.

Tuesday 15th May – Connection Revolution (Pace & Kyeli Smith)

Write From the Heart and Find Your Voice

Pace and Kyeli are two of the loveliest people in the blogosphere. Their blog, Connection Revolution, is all about changing the world, whether that’s for one person or on a grander scale. I was thrilled to score an interview with them for Aliventures, all about changing the world with your writing, which you can listen to here. In my post, I covered a topic that all writers face … finding your voice.

Voice is that hard-to-pin-down quality that makes your writing come alive. It’s not something you can impose on your writing (though you can practice using different voices). It needs to come from who you are – from the heart.

(Read more…)

Wednesday 16th May – Day-Timer (Jeff Doubek)

Stress-Free Writing: How to Finish Your Essays and Projects Before Your Deadline

The Day-Timer blog is a companion to Day-Timer’s tools and apps, which help you plan things and check your tasks and calendars on the go. Jeff came to me with a great topic suggestion (which was very welcomed, because planning the tour took up a lot of brain-power)! Although I don’t talk much about academic writing here on Aliventures, I’ve done my share of years in university … and I had lots of deadline-meeting tips to share.

Have you ever forgotten an essay, or found that you had much less time than you realized? If you’re badly organized, you virtually guarantee that you’ll be stressed out trying to meet your deadlines.

(Read more…)

Thursday 17th May – Cheryl Reif Writes

How a Virtual Book Tour Can Help You Publicize Your Book

Cheryl not only waited patiently for her post (since I was blogging about virtual tours, I wanted to leave writing it till I was well underway!) … she also wrote a lovely review of Lycopolis on Amazon. (Thanks, Cheryl!) Her blog is packed with great advice for fiction writers: check out the links in her sidebar, too, to lots of useful resources and other writing-bloggers.

A virtual book tour has many of the benefits of a live book tour … without all the travel. Instead of going from town to town, doing talks, readings, or signings in book stores, you go from blog to blog, sharing useful information in the form of a guest post or interview.

(Read more…)

Friday 18th May – Creativity Ninja

Ten Ways to Ensure No One Will Ever Read Your Novel

I had a lot of fun writing this post, as you can probably tell…! Dave, who runs Creativity Ninja, is one of the loveliest guys I know. When I went out to LA for BlogWorld last November, he took me out to dinner, and drove me to Venice Beach the Observatory … I was so grateful for his kindness and hospitality. (My husband Paul may or may not have him on a hit list now. ) Dave has just relaunched Creativity Ninja after a break, and I highly recommend checking it out.

Any idiot can write a bestseller. It’s more of a challenge, surely, to write a unique, obscure, novel that no-one ever reads. Maybe a century or two after your (artistically tragic) death, someone will discover it and realize your true genius.

(Read more…)

Monday 21st May The Lyon’s Tale

Why Editing Matters and How to Stay Motivated to Do It Well

I got really stuck into writing this post for Annette … so much so, that once I’d finished, my brain clearly packed in. I left it sitting on my hard drive for two weeks (whoops). Annette very graciously took it anyway! She’s an award-winning novelist, and has a site packed with great articles, well worth checking out. In my post, I covered editing from the motivation side … I know many writers find it tough to face yet another draft.

If the creative bit of writing is what excites you—seeing a blank page fill up with new words and thoughts—then editing may feel uninspiring. You may be very tempted to just call it “done” and publish your blog post or send off your book manuscript as-is. But here’s why editing matters…

(Read more…)

And… that’s the lot! It’s been an action-packed tour, and I hope you get the chance to dig into some of the posts.

All this has been to help promote my supernatural thriller / contemporary fantasy novel Lycopolis, which has a dedicated website over here where you can find out more, download a free sample, or read the prequel short stories.

If you have a book-related blog and might be interested in a review copy of Lycopolis, you can download the information sheet here (pdf) or just contact me at ali@aliventures.com for more details.

Whew! My virtual book tour is drawing to a close … and I wanted to give you a round-up of where I’ve been and what I’ve been posting about. (As before, you can find the full list of tour posts here.)

Here’s where I went in early May:

(All links open in a new window, so you won’t lose your place here.)

Tuesday 1st May – Write to Done (Mary Jaksch)

It’s Time to Start Your Novel: Here’s Why

I always love guest-posting on Write to Done; it’s a great blog with posts from a wide range of different writers, and there’s always a great response from readers in the comments section. In this post, I wanted to encourage any would-be novelist who’s been waiting for “the perfect time” to stop waiting and just start!

You’ve had the seed of a novel in your head for months now. Maybe it’s a plot idea (“What if..?”) Maybe it’s a character. Maybe it’s simply the thought of writing something that’d bring other people the same pleasure that you’ve had as a reader. That seed has been sitting, waiting. And now it’s time to let it grow.

(Read more…)

Friday 4th May – Wordplay (K.M. Weiland)

How to Get Feedback on Your Writing (and Sort the Good from the Bad)

K.M. Weiland came highly recommended to me by a friend. Her blog Wordplay is a wonderful resource for writers: you’ll want to check out her in-depth series on The Secrets of Story Structure, starting with Part 1: Why Should Authors Care? In my guest post for her, I wanted to address the tricky issue of feedback: it’s the single factor that’s made the most difference to me as a writer, but it can be tough for newer writers to have the confidence to seek and effectively use feedback.

One of the fastest ways to progress as a writer is to get feedback. However many books you read, however many conferences you attend, direct advice about your work-in-progress will let you see exactly what’s working well and, more importantly, what isn’t.

(Read more…)

Monday 7th May & Monday 14th May – Keys to Writing (Bill Polm)

An Interview with Ali Luke, Part One

and

An Interview with Ali Luke, Part Two

Bill Polm from Keys to Writing has been a loyal reader of Aliventures for quite some time … and a fantastic, committed member of Writers’ Huddle (my teaching/community site for writers). He knows my work well, and asked lots of really insightful questions in this two-part interview. If you’re interested in what goes on behind the scenes with my various projects, you can find out here.

Bill: So tell us, if you would, what’s your secret?

Ali: Hubris and luck!  I threw myself into blogging, confident of success. It took a good while longer than I expected, but I was constantly learning new things and putting myself out there. I started writing guest posts within my first month of blogging, and my first two guest posts actually led to paid positions.

(Read more…)

Tuesday 8th May – Lateral Action (Mark McGuinness)

Seven Powerful Ways to Gain More Confidence in Your Creative Work

Lateral Action is one of my must-read blogs. Mark McGuinness is a fantastic writer, and always has something thoughtful to say about creativity – his posts are always very worthwhile, in-depth reads. (Mark is also a very lovely bloke … I’ve been lucky enough to hang out with him a few times in London.) I was thrilled to have the chance to guest post on Lateral Action, and I chose to tackle a topic that comes up again and again for my clients and writer friends: having confidence.

I work with a lot of writers, both in one-to-one and group situations. Some of those writers have huge amounts of talent … but very little confidence. I always want to wave a magic wand and open their eyes to their own skills and abilities. Sadly, I can’t do that for them, or for you. But I can offer you seven powerful ways to grow your confidence.

(Read more…)

Tuesday 8th May – Digital Book Launch (Jim Kukral)

Seven Great Reasons to Self-Publish Your Book

Jim Kukral is a prominent figure in the self-publishing / indie publishing world, and runs Digital Book Launch, as well as providing book marketing tips & resources for authors through his other site, Author Marketing Club. Although Jim and many others have blazed a trail for self-publishers, some authors still aren’t sure about whether self-publishing’s for them. In this guest post, I offered seven reasons why it might well be.

Self-published authors (often called “indies”) are currently enjoying an unprecedented amount of success. Many of the best-selling ebooks on the Kindle are self-published (with authors able to put out lots of titles, charging competitive prices) and print-on-demand services like Create Space and Lulu are easy, cheap ways to see your name on the cover of a physical book.

(Read more…)

Friday 11th May – Time Management Ninja (Craig Jarrow)

Why Managing Your Time Makes You More Creative

When I started out blogging, my focus was on personal development / productivity topics, and that’s how I came across Craig, who runs Time Management Ninja. As well as having a great blog, he’s also active on Twitter, and tweets great tips and links (you can follow him here, TMNinja). Although time management might not seem like a very exciting topic, it’s a crucial one for writers and, really, anyone engaged in creative work.

However much you love your creative work, you need time for it. That means being organized in the rest of your life: finishing your day job on time, getting the chores done efficiently, scheduling your creative sessions in your calendar, and so on.

(Read more…)

And … in case you’re wondering what all this virtual book touring has been in aid of, it’s to promote my novel Lycopolis, a supernatural thriller / contemporary fantasy with a fairly hefty dose of geekery. (Though it’s been popular with plenty of non-geeks too!)

You can find out more and download the first five chapters free at www.lycopolis.co.uk.

I was lucky enough to snag an interview with Pace and Kyeli Smith from The Connection Revolution. They’re two fantastic women who write straight from the heart, and who’re on a world-changing mission.

As part of this, they run an annual World-Changing Writing Workshop. It takes place online (so you can join from anywhere in the world) and the 2012 one will be starting very soon. I spoke on last year’s WCWW, and it was a fantastic, inspiring event.

In the interview below, Pace & Kyeli share some great writing advice. I asked them about:

• What they’ve learnt from the World-Changing Writing workshop, and how their writing has changed and developed over the past three years
• What “The Usual Error” is (they have a great book with that title) and how to avoid it in writing
• How to find time for writing – this is an issue that comes up for pretty much all writers
• Whether all types of writing can be world-changing … what about technical writing, or fiction?
• If they could share one writing tip, what would it be?

Just click the “Play” button to listen. The interview runs for 24 minutes.

Join the World-Changing Writing Workshop

If you’d like to get in on the World-Changing Writing Workshop action, you can find out about it here.

(Note: I’m a proud affiliate for the WCWW and was one of the speakers last year.)

Pace and Kyeli have lined up six fantastic speakers, including Julia Cameron, of The Artist’s Way fame, Sonia Simone, from Copyblogger, and Kelly Kingman, who’s a fantastic ebook-writer and ecourse-creator.

If you think this might be for you, check out the World-Changing Writing Workshop today: there’s an early-bird discount until 24th May.

Hope you enjoy listening to the interview! I don’t usually run audio or interviews on Aliventures, so if you’d like more along similar lines in the future, let me know in the comments.

My virtual book tour for Lycopolis is going really well, and I thought I’d update you on where I’ve been so far!

In April, my tour of the blogosphere took me to:

Tuesday 24th April – The Creative Penn (Joanna Penn)

Six Great Reasons to Write Your Novel

It was fantastic to begin my tour with The Creative Penn which, in many ways, is where the publication journey of Lycopolis began. Joanna’s indie trail-blazing with her novel Pentecost opened my eyes to how self-publishing had changed. We also share an Oxford connection (both in real life and in our fiction) so I guess I started the tour close to both my virtual and physical homeground.

But there is nothing wrong with doing something simply because you love it. If you enjoy writing fiction – if it brings you alive, makes you happy, keeps you sane – then that’s a good enough reason. It’s more than good enough. And don’t let anyone convince you that it isn’t.

(Read more…)

Tuesday 24th April & Friday 27th April – Book Baby

How to Plan Your Non-Fiction Book to Set Yourself Up for Success

and

How to Plan Your Novel to Set Yourself Up for Success

This was originally one post, which Book Baby very sensibly suggested splitting into two parts. (I sometimes get a bit carried away when I’m writing blog posts, as you might have noticed here on Aliventures…) BookBaby are making waves in the self-publishing world, and if you’re not too confident about the techy side of putting together and distributing an ebook, they have well-priced packages to help you.

Before you start writing your novel, you need a clear idea of who your characters are. You won’t know everything about them at this stage, but you should have a sense of what they’re like as people. What would they lie about, or for? What secrets lie buried in their pasts? What goals and dreams do they have?

(Read more…)

Friday 27th April – Steff Metal

Five Epic Reasons to Be Your Own Boss

I came across Steff a while back, when I was looking for advice on creativity and stumbled across this fantastic post, 25 Ways to Spark Creativity. Steff isn’t just a fantastic writer and blogger – she’s also a devoted metalhead (as you might guess from the name of her blog…) I got into metal around the same time I started writing Lycopolis, and a couple of my characters listen to it too, so this tour stop felt like a great fit.

When you work for yourself, you can be yourself. You can wear what you like (whether that’s PJs, jeans and a band t-shirt, steampunk attire, or anything in between). You can tweet about the bands you love. You can be chatty and friendly and silly with your clients.

(Read more…)

Monday 30th April – Men with Pens (James Chartrand)

4 Simple Ways to Create a Well-Written Ebook

I’ve been reading Men with Pens since my early days in the blogging world. And while James still scares me a little, it’s always a huge privilege to guest post on her blog. The Men with Pens audience are a little more business-focused than the readers here on Aliventures – but they’re just as lovely and thoughtful in the comments.

The good news is that you don’t have to tackle every stage of writing your ebook alone. If you have a blog, email list, Twitter account or Facebook page, you’ve already got at least a few readers or potential customers.

(Read more…)

Monday 30th April – Literascribe (Lorna Fergusson)

Why Every Self-Publishing Author Needs an Editor

Lorna is one of my writing heroes: she’s an inspiring, insightful teacher and she’s also a fantastic editor. (And she lives all of ten minutes’ walk from me in Oxford.) She edited Draft 5 of Lycopolis – I thought I was pretty much done, but she (thankfully) got me to do some radical rewriting. I ended up cutting the 135,000 word manuscript to around 85,000 words in the finished book – and all the reviews and comments I’ve had have confirmed that was definitely the right decision.

However tempting it is, don’t decide that your manuscript is “good enough” and put it online during a free weekend. You want your novel to be as good as it can possibly be, before you launch it to the world. Yes, it’s relatively easy to update an ebook or print-on-demand book – but you really want those first few readers to love your book. (That way, they’ll write reviews, tell their friends, and help you get the marketing ball rolling.)

(Read more…)

Monday 30th April – Cat’s Eye Writer (Judy Dunn)

Eight Powerful Ways to Build a Readership for Your Blog

I know Judy through the blogging world, and I’m really looking forward to catching up with her properly at BlogWorld in New York this June. Like me, she focuses on the intersection of blogging and writing, and she has a wealth of great advice on Cat’s Eye Writer for writers and authors who are looking at getting into blogging or taking things further.

It can be tough to give away your best content, whether that’s in the form of blog posts, recordings, or ebooks. But it’s also one of the most powerful techniques for helping your readers to like and trust you. And if they get great, useful content for free, they’ll be much more likely to take the plunge and buy from you.

(Read more…)

This virtual book tour is to promote my novel Lycopolis, a fast-paced supernatural thriller about a group of online roleplayers who summon a demon into their game … and into the world.

I think it’s the best thing I’ve written (so far!) and I’d love it if you’d buy a copy. Here’s what a couple of readers said about it:

This is one of those books I started reading late in the afternoon and then couldn’t put down. I stayed up WAAAY too late reading it, because it’s the sort of story where you want to read one more chapter and one more after that because you care about the characters, and you’re afraid something terrible will happen to them.

Cheryl M. Reifsnyder (Read the rest of Cheryl’s review…)

This compact supernatural thriller walks the edge between two worlds: reality and fantasy. Ali Luke does a great job of juggling both worlds and then some. Despite the amount of people introduced, and the complications that gives in those two worlds, she manages to keep confusion at bay with her clear and consistent writing, while exploring the characters involved in depth. The action almost jumps off the page, and the fast pace leaves your head spinning.

Vala Faye (Read the rest of Vala’s review…)

You can find out more about Lycopolis here: download the first five chapters, read the prequel short stories, or take a look at the blog with quotes from Underground Book Reviews’ review.

Or if you’re sold on it already, you can get Lycopolis from:

• Amazon.com (Kindle ebook, $2.99 / paperback, $12.99)
• Amazon.co.uk (Kindle ebook, £1.99)
• Smashwords.com (ebook in multiple formats, $2.99)
• Lulu.com (paperback, £7.99)

(And if you’ve already read Lycopolis? I’d love it if you’d recommend it to a friend, or even write a short review on Amazon. Thanks so much!)

Photo from Lorna Fergusson, fictionfire

You might already know that I live in lovely Oxford, famed for its dreaming spires. It’s a great city for writers … and if you’d like to spend a day (or more) learning something new alongside other keen writers in inspiring surroundings, then read on!

I’m working together with Lorna Fergusson from fictionfire and Joanna Penn from The Creative Penn on some great day courses. These are:

• Sat 19th May: Write It! … with Lorna Fergusson
• Sun 20th May: Edit It! … with Lorna Fergusson
• Sat 26th May: Publish It! … with Lorna, Joanna, and me
• Sun 27th May: Market It! … with Lorna, Joanna, and me

All four will be held in Trinity College, Oxford.

Although I’m only involved with the second weekend, I highly recommend the first two courses too, if you can make it to those: Lorna is a fantastic and motivating teacher, and my go-to person for professional fiction editing.

The sessions are aimed at novelists, and we’ll be covering publishing from both the traditional and self-publishing perspectives. Whatever type of publication you’re going for, you’ll need to know how to build a platform and market your work, which is why we’ve devoted a whole day to that.

Each day is just £85 (though you get a discount for booking multiple days) and you can mix and match between the four sessions: you don’t have to come to all four.

If you’d like details on accommodation, just drop me an email and we’ll get that to you.

You can:

• Click here for full details about each course, and biographical details on Lorna, Jo and me
• Click here to make your booking

Over the past five years, I’ve been on a lot of writing-related courses myself, and I’ve found that they’re a great way to devote some focused time to my writing … as well as a guaranteed boost to my writing energy levels.

If you want to learn new tips and techniques this spring, or if you need a little extra motivation and support, then check out these courses, and treat yourself to at least one inspiration-filled day in glorious Oxford.

If you’ve been following Aliventures for a while, you might remember that I published my novel Lycopolis back in November 2011. It’s been getting some lovely reviews on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk, and I’ve decided it’s time to spread the word a little further.

From today until 21st May, I’m on a virtual book tour … posting in lots of different places around the blogosphere about writing, self-publishing, blogging and more.

I’ll be updating this post to link to all my different “stops” on the tour, and I’ll also be posting on Aliventures to let you know what I’ve been up to each week.

I’ve also produced print editions of Lycopolis, and if you have a non-Kindle ereader, you can now get an .epub version of Lycopolis through Smashwords.

About Lycopolis

One Hallowe’en, a group of online roleplayers summon a demon, The Prince of Nightmares. Seth, who’s in charge of the game, says it’s “just for fun”. But disturbing things start to happen in real life: red marks appear on the foreheads of the gamers, and they’re all having nightmares about a dark forest.

Secrets come out, friendships are broken, and the boundaries between the real, the virtual and the imaginary become increasingly fractured as the Prince becomes more powerful. Kay, a student at Oxford, is the only person who realises what Seth is doing – and it’s up to her to stop him.

Lycopolis is a fast-paced supernatural thriller / contemporary fantasy novel, available from:

• Amazon.com (Kindle ebook, $2.99 / paperback, $12.99)
• Amazon.co.uk (Kindle ebook, £1.99)
• Smashwords.com (ebook in multiple formats, $2.99)
• Lulu.com (paperback, £7.99)

You can find out more, and read reviews, short stories, and the first five chapters, at www.lycopolis.co.uk.

My Tour Stops

Here’s where I’ve been so far:

Tues 24th April: The Creative Penn – Six Great Reasons to Write Your Novel

Tues 24th April: Book Baby – How to Plan Your Non-Fiction Book to Set Yourself Up for Success

Fri 27th April: Book Baby – How to Plan Your Novel to Set Yourself Up for Success

Fri 27th April: Steff Metal – Five Epic Reasons to Be Your Own Boss

Mon 30th April: Men with Pens – 4 Simple Ways to Create a Well-Written Ebook

Mon 30th April: Literascribe – Why Every Self-Publishing Author Needs an Editor

Mon 30th April: Cat’s Eye Writer – Eight Powerful Ways to Build a Loyal Readership for Your Blog

Tues 1st May: Write to Done – It’s Time to Start Your Novel: Here’s Why

Fri 4th May: Wordplay – How to Get Feedback on Your Writing (and Sort the Good from the Bad)

Mon 7th May: Keys to Writing – An Interview with Ali Luke, Part One

Tues 8th May: Lateral Action – Seven Powerful Ways to Gain More Confidence in Your Creative Work

Tues 8th May: Digital Book Launch – Seven Great Reasons to Self-Publish Your Book

Fri 11th May: Time Management Ninja – Why Managing Your Time Makes You More Creative

Mon 14th May: Keys to Writing – An Interview with Ali Luke, Part Two

Tues 15th May: Connection Revolution – Write From the Heart and Find Your Voice

Weds 16th May: Day-Timer – Stress-Free Writing: Finish Your Essays and Projects Before Your Deadline

Thurs 17th May: Cheryl Reif Writes – How a Virtual Book Tour Can Help You Publicize Your Book

Fri 18th May: Creativity Ninja – Ten Ways to Ensure No-One Will Ever Read Your Novel

Mon 21st May: The Lyon’s Tale – Why Editing Matters – and How to Stay Motivated to Do It Well

If you’ve read Lycopolis, I’d love it if you’d help spread the word … you could post about it on Facebook, tweet about the book or my virtual tour, or even write a short review on Amazon, Smashwords, or Lulu. Thanks so much.

Image from Flickr by Sir_Iwan

There are all sorts of qualities that writers have, but one that I don’t see discussed a lot is faith.

Faith …

… that you do have something worth saying

… that you aren’t wasting your time

… that someone, somewhere, will be impacted by your words

… that you’re making progress

… that you’re brave enough (even when you don’t feel at all brave)

Faith doesn’t mean you never have doubts. Faith means you wrestle with those doubts, and you don’t let them beat you.

Faith doesn’t mean you never give up. Faith means that when you’ve fallen down – again and again – you get up and carry on.

I can’t tell you that the writing path is an easy one. I can tell you that it’s worth travelling. And if you want to be a writer, if your life doesn’t feel complete without writing, then you already have the faith that you need.

Today, faith brought you this post.

I didn’t feel like writing a word.

I didn’t even create an outline.

I didn’t know what I wanted to say.

I just knew that today, someone needed to read this. And that today, I needed to write it.

Eternal thanks to the wonderful and talented Antonina for this photo of me!

Launa from Indonesia asked me, by email:

One of my big dreams is to become a successful writer. I’ve one project right now. I’m planning to make a non-fiction book. But, I’m still confused about how to make an outline. Could you tell me how to make an outline?

What is the different between an outline for a fiction book and a non-fiction book?

Whatever sort of writing you do — blog posts, short stories, essays, articles, novels, non-fiction books — you’re going to need to outline.

That outline could be anything from a few words for your own use to multiple pages in a proposal to a publisher. In general, the longer your project, the longer your outline.

Here’s an example of a blog post outline, from my journal/notebook (basically my electronic brain ).

Seven Simple Ways to Boost Your Mood, Right Now

#1: Walk

#2: Laugh

#3: Chat

#4: Write

#5: Shower

#6: Eat

#7: Breathe

(If you want to read the post that resulted from that outline, it’s one of my pieces on Pick the Brain: 7 Simple Ways to Boost Your Mood, Right Now)

I wrote that outline straight into my notebook, just as it appears here. I knew I wanted a list post (I had the title in mind first) and I decided that it’d be interesting to have one-word subheaders for the list items; this isn’t something I normally do, but I wanted to echo the “simple” of the title.

For anything longer than a blog post, though, you won’t generally start writing your outline straight off: you’ll need to do some other work first.

And before I dig in too deep, I’ll clear up Launa’s secondary question:

A non-fiction outline will normally be more detailed and more definite than a fiction outline (because you’re more likely to stick to it, and you’re also more likely to be selling a book to customers or a publisher on the basis of its outline or chapter list).

Writing a Non-Fiction Outline

If you’re writing a non-fiction book or ebook, an essay for school/university, or even a fairly in-depth blog post, then you’ll want a full and complete outline.

That means knowing the start and end of your writing project, and planning out all the major steps in between. For an essay, those major steps might become key paragraphs (or for an article, your subheadings). For a book, you’ll probably have chapter headings plus subheadings for those chapters.

The wrong way to do this is to sit down, write “Introduction” at the top, then try to hit each stage in turn. Unless you’ve already got a good grasp on your topic and idea, this is just going to get you stuck.

Instead, make a mindmap (or you can use another non-linear method, like writing each chapter heading onto index cards, if you want).

Put your topic or title in the centre of a sheet of paper. Write down key points as they come to mind, joining them to the centre. Link sub-points to a larger one; draw lines between related points. You can use different colours, symbols, whatever works for you.

This isn’t just a way to sort your existing ideas — it’ll also help you come up with new ones. As you start to get things onto paper, you’ll find more and more thoughts bubbling up.

Once you’ve got a mindmap, you can outline. I’ll often put numbers on my mindmap to indicate the order that I want to put chapters (or key points) in. Sometimes, I’ll just use the mindmap as my outline, if I’m writing a blog post.

Your outline doesn’t have to go into lots of detail, but it should include all the main chapters or points for your project: don’t leave big gaps in the middle in the hopes you’ll figure it out later. You might want to start at the highest level and gradually add in more information.

Outlining a Blog Post / Magazine Article

For a blog post or fairly informal magazine article, the outlining process might look like this:

• Create a mindmap and get all your ideas down onto paper
• Write your outline:
  • Introduction
  • Several subheadings or key points (perhaps with a link, quote, or other resource for each)
  • Conclusion/call to action

Outlining an Essay

For a English Literature school/uni essay (I’m using Eng Lit because that’s what I studied; you can tweak this for your own subject) the outlining process might look like this:

• Select a question or topic, if you have a choice, then come up with an argument that you want to pursue (your lectures/books should help!)
• Go through the book/play/etc that you’re studying and write down key quotes that relate to your topic and your line of argument; do the same with books/articles of criticism — you’re gathering your evidence here
• Write a plan
  • Introduction
  • Two to four key points that you want to make, depending on the length of your essay
  • A quote (or other example) to back up each point; you’ll definitely want a primary quote (from the text itself) and probably one from a critical work too (at uni level; you’re not so likely to do this in school)
  • Conclusion

Outlining a Non-Fiction Book

For a book, the whole outlining process might look like this:

• Create a mindmap where you jot down all your ideas that relate to your book’s title, or write each idea onto an index card or post-it note
• Group together ideas on your mindmap (or index cards on your desk) — maybe use colours, symbols, or numbers to help you organize them
• Start your linear outline in an easily editable format — electronic, not paper is definitely good here
• Begin by putting in the chapter topics/titles and try to get each chapter in place, even if you’re not certain about some yet
• Add in a few subheadings or key bullet points for each chapter; you might also want to include crucial notes (e.g. a book to read on that topic, an expert to consult) here

If you’re working on the book yourself, that’s probably enough; if you’re working with a publisher, they should be able to show you a sample chapter outline so you know how much detail to give.

Writing a Fiction Outline

Fiction is a little different. While it’s still a good idea to outline, you probably won’t want to plan out every step right at the start.

In non-fiction, your work is generally functional. It’s usually pretty clear what topics do and don’t belong in your book or article. For instance, if you’re writing a blog post on “How to grow great carrots,” you’ll know that a section on tomatoes isn’t going to fit in there.

In fiction, you’ve got a whole lot more scope. Anything could happen. You may know how your story or novel should start … but you won’t necessarily know what happens next.

Every time I’ve tried to write a start-to-end chapter plan for a novel, I’ve gone off the rails after about five chapters. Now, your mileage may well vary here, but my suggestion is that you don’t plan a major piece of fiction from start to end.

Outlining a Short Story

With a short story, it’s probably enough to:

• Know your major characters (probably just two or three for something short)
• Have a one-line description of each scene
• Know how it’s going to end (happily, unhappily, twist in the tale…)

You’ve not got much space to play with during a short story, which means that knowing how your characters get from A to B is important; that’s why having descriptions of the scenes helps.

Outlining a Novel

With a novel, your outline can be a lot looser:

• Know where it all begins, especially the links between your main characters
• Plan the first five or so chapters (so you don’t stall after a few pages)
• Mark out a few  big plot points that need to happen during the middle
• Have at least a vague idea of how it’s all going to end

As you write, you’ll find that new ideas come to you — and some of the ones that you’ve planned no longer fit. It’s often work outlining on a micro-scale with a novel, perhaps by writing a quick plan for each scene as you reach it.

Fiction-writing is, generally, a much more intuitive process than writing non-fiction. I tend to be pretty uptight about plans in most areas of my life, but when it comes to fiction, I’ve learnt to trust much more in instinct and inspiration (and I’m prepared to do a lot more redrafting for fiction than for non-fiction).

So … your turn to create an outline! Today, find five minutes to start planning a writing project that’s on your mind. Jot down some thoughts, draw a mindmap, or play around with some index cards … and you should find that your ideas begin to come together.

I’m always very happy to answer writing-related questions here on Aliventures. If you’ve got a question, or an idea for a post topic, feel free to email me at any point (ali@aliventures.com) or alternatively, you can use the form on my Contact page.

As well as blogging here on Aliventures, I hop around the web, taking advantage of other people’s lovely blogs and readers too (and you may well have found Aliventures through one of my guest posts…)

Here’s where I’ve been over the past week:

All the below links open in a new tab/window so you don’t lose your place here.

Men with Pens: How to Write a Free Ebook in Just 7 Days

If you want to put together a short ebook (or “report” or “mini-guide”) to promote yourself or your business, this post is aimed at you. I break down the writing process into a seven-day plan … and you can use this for pretty much any sort of content, too. (So if you’re writing fiction, or an epic blog post, take a look.)

Write to Done: How Much Should You Write Every Day?

This post stirred up some great comments, and it’s been fascinating to see how different writers approach their work. As a younger and more anxious writer, I tried and failed to follow advice to hit some magic number of words (often 1,000 words per day) … but we’re all different, and I wrote this to help you find the right routine for you.

OxonDigital: Two Great Reasons to Write an Ebook – and Three Crucial Tips for Getting it Done

In case you didn’t guess from the Men with Pens guest post, I’m a big fan of ebooks (in fact, I’m writing the book on them … Publishing Ebooks for Dummies, scheduled to come out this September ) but I’m also aware that an ebook is a pretty daunting project for many writers and business owners.

In this post, I explain why an ebook is a great business asset, and I give three tips on getting it written. The post is aimed at non-fiction writers, but even if you’re a novelist, Tip #3 applies to you…

Heads-up! From April 23rd to May 18th, I’m going to be on a virtual book tour for my novel Lycopolis, visiting lots of different writing-related blogs in the process.

If you’d like a guest post or interview from me, or if you want a review copy of Lycopolis, just let me know in a comment below or send me an email  (ali@aliventures.com). I’d love you to be part of my tour.

(Image from Flickr by *clairity*)

A lot of fiction-writers struggle with dialogue. It’s tough to make fictional people sound convincing; it’s even tricky to punctuate dialogue correctly.

But dialogue is an essential part of your story. It makes your characters seem real; it’s often vital to the plot. It keeps your story fast-paced and easy to read, partly because of the way dialogue breaks up a page of text.

I usually find dialogue much easier to write than action or description. Even so, I’ve picked up plenty of tips over the past few years – and I’m hoping these will help you too.

#1: Your Dialogue Needs to Sound Real

Your dialogue should be convincing, so your readers can “hear” the conversation that’s taking place. This means:

• Don’t let characters give long, unbroken speeches. In a normal conversation, there are interruptions, questions, or at least visual cues (e.g. someone nodding or frowning).
• Use language that’s appropriate for your character. Most people will use contractions (“isn’t” rather than “is not”) when they talk; some will use non-standard English like “ain’t” or colloquial phrases.
• Don’t always have your characters speaking in complete sentences. They might just say a single word or phrase, or they might trail off.

Here’s an example, from Orson Scott Card’s novel Ender’s Game:

“You’re in deep poo,” said Peter. “They found out what you did to that kid at school, and now they’re gonna make you do time out in the Belt.”

“I’m only six, moron. I’m a juvenile.”

“You’re a Third, turd. You’ve got no rights.”

The dialogue isn’t a true representation of how children speak (especially as Card’s child characters are extraordinarily intelligent) – but it sounds realistic, with the use of contractions like “you’re” and non-standard words like “gonna”, as well as the insults (“moron” and “turd”).

#2: … But Not Too Real

It’s all too easy (and I’ll confess I’ve fallen into this trap) to go a bit too far in trying to make your dialogue realistic.

Yes, if you listen to any real-life transcript of conversation, there’ll be a lot of pauses, “ums”, “you knows”, run-on sentences, and so on. Your job as an author, though, is to give a flavour of real dialogue, not a faithful reproduction.

This, for instance, could be a verbatim reconstruction of a conversation, but it’s going to (a) quickly become annoying to read and (b) make the characters sound slightly moronic, even if they’re not supposed to be.

“Um,” she said, “I dunno … that is … well, perhaps you’re right, I guess.”

“Yeah, of course I’m right,” he said. “Like, I’m always right, you know?”

Save the pauses, “you knows” and “ums” for when you really want to convey hesitancy or uncertainty; don’t use them as part of every conversation.

#3: Keep Dialogue Tags Simple

A dialogue tag looks like this:

• He said
• She answered
• John asked

It’s the speaker’s name (or a pronoun referring to them) plus a speaking verb. This “tags” the dialogue as belonging to a particular character.

When I was a budding writer at primary school, I remember being taught to vary dialogue tags – we had to come up with a list of different words to use instead of “said”. While this is a great exercise for building a child’s vocabulary, it’s a useless one for real writers.

Readers don’t notice the repetition of “he said” or “she said”. We’re so used to reading these that our eyes just skim on over them.

But if you throw in a few unusual dialogue tags, those will stand out. Tags like “snarled” or “expostulated” probably don’t belong in your story, unless you’re writing a humorous piece.

The tags I tend to stick to are:

• Said
• Asked (it seems weird to me to have “said” for a question)

I’ll occasionally use “whispered” or “yelled” if a line needs to be delivered at a particular volume!

It’s also a good idea to avoid using adjectives with your dialogue tags. Often, your character’s tone will be apparent from the words they use; you don’t need to tell the reader “John said angrily” or “Susan asked impatiently”.

#4: … Or Take Dialogue Tags Out Altogether

You definitely need some dialogue tags in your short story or novel, but you don’t need to tag every single line of speech. Here’s another way to assign dialogue to a character:

John looked up from the paper. “I don’t see what all the fuss is about.”

It’s obvious that John’s speaking, because the dialogue comes straight after his action.

You can do it the other way round, too:

“He should have been home by now.” Sarah paced around the room, pausing long enough to glance out of the window at the empty street.

If you have a conversation between two people, you can sometimes get away with just having the lines of dialogue, with no tags at all, for a short space. This works especially well if the characters have quite different speech patterns.

Here’s an extract from Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit by P.G. Wodehouse. The first line is Wooster’s, then the second is Jeeves’.  If you’re at all familiar with the characters, it’s very easy to tell who’s who!

“Under the tiddly-poms of whatever-it-is … How does the rest of it go?”

“Under the bludgeonings of change their heads are … pardon me … bloody but unbowed, sir.”

“That’s right. Your own?”

“No, sir. The late William Earnest Henley, 1849-1903.”

“Ah?”

“The title of the poem is ‘Invictus’. But did I understand Mrs Travers to say that Lord Sidcup was expected, sir?”

…and it goes on with a few more lines before there’s a line of action.

#5: Every Speaker Should Get a New Line

Something that’s obvious when you just have dialogue, but not so obvious when you have a mixture of dialogue and action, is that each new speaker should have a new line.

This, for instance, is incorrect:

“Could he be right?” David asked, turning to Rachel. “I don’t know,” she said.

Instead, it should be:

“Could he be right?” David asked, turning to Rachel.

“I don’t know,” she said.

(You could get away without the “she said” here, too, because the new line indicates the change of speaker.)

If a character does something just before they speak, you’ll also want to move their action onto the new line.

“Could he be right?” David asked, turning to Rachel.

She shook her head. “I don’t know.”

#6: Punctuation Goes Inside the Closing Quotation marks

Dialogue can be fiddly to punctuate, because of the quotation marks. The main thing to remember is that punctuation goes inside the closing quotation marks. This applies whether it’s a full stop, exclamation mark, question mark, or comma.

It works like this:

“I don’t know.”

“What!”

“Is that right?”

“I think so,” she said.

If you’re ending dialogue with “she said” or any other tag, then the dialogue sentence should finish with a comma, not a period, and the tag should start with a lower-case letter (unless it begins with a name, obviously).

If the dialogue is followed by action, it should end with a full stop like any other sentence. Compare these:

“I found out all about it,” she said.

“I found out all about it.” She turned away.

In both cases, the punctuation still goes inside the quotation marks.

#7: You Can Break a Line of Dialogue in the Middle

Most of the time, dialogue tags or associated actions go before or after the dialogue. Sometimes, though, you’ll want to position a dialogue tag or action in the middle of the speech.

Here are a couple of examples:

“No,” she said. “No, I don’t believe you.”

“What the hell?” Tom looked around at the others. “Did any of you know about this?”

Usually, you do this to indicate a pause. It’s also a useful way to get the dialogue tag in near the start, if a character is going to deliver several sentences of dialogue.

If you split up a sentence, then the second part of the dialogue should start with a lower case letter. (At some stage I was taught the exact opposition – that the second part should always start with a capital – but it seems like that’s not how it’s supposed to be done!)

“Well,” Jane said, “perhaps we’d better agree to disagree.”

Whew! Dialogue is a lot of fun to write, though it can be tough to do well – it’s definitely a good idea to go back and edit your dialogue carefully after writing the first draft.

Got any questions about dialogue? Just drop a comment below.

If you found this post useful, I’d love if it you’d share it with friends – by emailing or Tweeting it, or by linking to it from your Facebook account. Thanks!