Writing for Beginners

Self Publishing on Smashwords.com,and Amazon.com

noreply@blogger.com (Yolande Pienaar) — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 08:40:00 +0000

Although it is early days yet to form an opinion, I would like to share my thoughts and experiences on self-publishing. Yes, I took the plunge and published a novel, Gogga op ‘n Harley on both Smashwords.com and Amazon.com.

The novel is in Afrikaans so I didn’t expect a lot of sales from the onset. The Afrikaans market is very limited to say the least and although many South Africans are living abroad, it is a minute amount of people interested in reading Afrikaans compared to the rest of the English-speaking world.

First of all, it is scary to say the least, to let your baby loose on the world without the backing of a formal publisher that does the marketing and editing for you. I suck at marketing. So, I published on Smashwords.com first.

Self-Publishing with Smashwords.com

Smashwords.com makes it laughably easy to publish your work on their web site. They provide you with a style guide that, if followed to the letter, helps you format your work for acceptance into their premium catalogue. This means your book is automatically distributed to booksellers like Barnes and Noble, Sony, Diesel, Apple and Kobo.

The other advantage of using the style guide is that your book is 99% formatted already for publishing at Amazon.com’s Kindle Direct Publishing. You get to upload a cover for your book and if you are not up to creating your own, Smashwords.com even provides links to people that can assist – for a fee naturally.

Publishing is the easy part, just as writing is the easy part of a book, but marketing your book and getting it out to the general public is quite another thing. If you are mostly a hermit like me (according to my children), engaging in social media is very difficult. Using it to promote yourself, is quite impossible. Besides a few friends and family, I find it difficult to self-promote and tell everyone: “Hey, check out my book. I think you’ll like it!” That is just impossible for me to do. I hate salesmen and I detest sales pitches even more. So how on earth do you do it?

The honest answer is that I don’t have a clue. It’s not that I don’t believe in my book – I do, but I’m a writer, not a salesman.

Well I digress, publishing at Smashwords.com has the advantage that your book is published in a multitude of formats. Not everyone has a e-reader and not everyone can afford to sit for hours in front of a computer reading fiction. Smashwords makes it easy in the sense that you can download a PDF file and print it if that is what you want.

Another thing I like about Smashwords.com is that your book is not DRM locked. Nothing is worse than wanting to buy a book in a format you reader doesn’t support and then finding that it is DRM locked and you can’t convert it. While I understand the reasoning behind the locking of the books, I don’t support it – I trust my readers to use and not abuse the literature I spent months (sometimes years) to create.

With all these plus points, it is thus with a sad heart that I have to confess I haven’t yet sold one book on Smashwords.com.

Self-Publishing with Amazon.com via Kindle Direct Publishing

Just after I published at Smashwords.com I read on a forum that one should consider publishing through Amazon.com as well. I was a bit intimidated, being from South Africa at how the payment structure would work. At Smashwords.com you get paid via Pay Pal, which suited me fine. At Amazon.com, if you are from another country, you get paid via paper check – and only once you reach the minimum pay out level of $100. I didn’t really anticipate any sales so the pay out problem would be well and truly in the future and I decided to go for it.

Publishing with Amazon.com (KDP) was a breeze. I had already done everything required for publishing on Smashwords, so the process was painless. Then I sat back and waited. It takes a couple of days for your work to be indexed at Amazon.com and after it went live, I was like a junky. I checked a couple of times a day if there were any sales.

Wow, to my amazement, the fist day I had sold 2 books. To say I was excited doesn’t even begin to cover the feeling I had. A stranger had bought my book without any solicitation from me. Then I started chewing my nails. Would it be good enough? What if they don’t like it? What if . . . I had to laugh at this point.

How many books have I read that I didn’t like? Quite a few, but I never held it against the author. I just didn’t buy any more books written by him/her. And then I worried some more. Point being, in three weeks I managed to sell 14 books on Amazon.com and none on Smashwords.com. I think Amazon.com is just more visible than Smashwords and gets more traffic.

So bottom line- publish on both platforms to give your book a fair chance to be discovered and utilize all the writing tools you can to get your work read.

Above all, always keep writing.

del.icio.us Tags: self-publishing,Smashwords.com,Amazon.com,Kindle Direct Publishing,marketing your book

Tips to Improve your Writing

noreply@blogger.com (Yolande Pienaar) — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 13:16:00 +0000

Every writer needs tips on how to improve their writing. Whether you are just stuck at a certain point or need general ideas on how to edit you writing, we all need help sometime.

I found an excellent article today on how to improve your writing. Several different authors contributed to the article, which, in my opinion, only makes it better.

In essence, the article provides twenty-five helpful hints on how to improve your writing, including tips on what to do when you are stuck and the scene refuses to flow, where to find inspiration for your writing and several self-editing tips. The problems the writers state in the article are not new, but some of the solutions are quite engaging. Imagine talking to your piece of writing when you get stuck. Would you have thought of that? I never considered the possibility for fear someone might overhear and think I finally lost all my marbles. At least now I have an excuse by saying I read in an article that it might improve my writing.

So although some of the 30 minute solutions sound a little (maybe more than a little?) crazy, I can whole-heartedly recommend the article 25 Ways to Improve your Writing in 30 Minutes a Day. You never know, someday you might be stuck and one of these solutions might just work.

Please read the article and tell me what you think. Do you think us beginner writers need more articles along these lines? Do you think that experienced writers could also benefit from the article?

My First Book on Smashwords

noreply@blogger.com (Yolande Pienaar) — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 14:16:00 +0000

Today I managed to publish my first Afrikaans novel on Smashwords.com. It was a long road before I finally managed to have the courage to attempt this. Smashwords.com publishes mainly English books, but I felt that people should have a choice to read some Afrikaans as well.

Smashwords.com makes it easy to publish with them and if you follow the style guide they provide, you can format your book with relative ease. Hopefully I will be able to publish more of my novels there in the next couple of weeks.

Sample or purchase Gogga op 'n Harley: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/82039

How to Blog From Your Desktop to Blogger

noreply@blogger.com (Yolande Pienaar) — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 10:32:00 +0000

Most writers need to do more than fiction writing in order to keep the wolf from the door. One of these methods it to blog. Some choose to write blogs on an established site belonging to other people, but others choose to have their own blog from where they try to supplement their income.

If you want your own blog, there are plenty of sites offering free blog space like Blogger, which is powered by Google. The advantage of having a blog hosted by Blogger, is that you get indexed in the search pages of Google relatively quickly.

The problem I had until recently is to update the blogs hosted by Blogger from my desktop and include pictures in the update. A lot of software allows you to update the text directly to Blogger, but the photo’s remained a headache. That is until I found Windows Live Writer.

The program allows you to update blogs from your desktop after a minor setup process. The real neat feature is that your pictures are displayed as you put it in the text and up to now, I haven’t found any date being corrupted by the update from Windows Live Writer.

With a host of features for hyperlinking, editing photo’s, adding tables, maps, video and much more, this is a program which should be considered by any serious blogger. It also works perfectly with self-hosted web blogs.

What Beginner Writers Could Learn From Nanowrimo

noreply@blogger.com (Yolande Pienaar) — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 14:16:00 +0000

As previously stated, Nanowrimo stands for National Novel Writing Month and it is traditionally held in November each year. If you participate, you are required to write 50 000 words of fiction in a novel format and upload your efforts to be verified. (You may scramble your upload, but it is deleted in any case automatically after the computer verified the word count.)

Nanowrimo 2010 just came to an end and many writers proved to themselves and other participants that they are able to write 50 000 words in the space of a month.

I have read many arguments for and against participating in the Nano exercise, but here is what I found from personal experience:

1. Writing 50 000 words amounts to just under 1700 words per day for the whole month in order to finish comfortably. That is not an easy feat if you have a day job which pays the bills and a family to take care of.

2. Nobody knows if the word count you submit is true or if you submitted a lot of the same words or paragraphs. Nano is not a competition against someone else, it is a test of you own abilities. To cheat at Nano, you only cheat yourself out of a well-earned and morale boosting experience. Nothing gets the creative juices flowing better than seeing your word count climb and knowing that every single word was written by you in a story that you may someday be able to send to a publisher and be proud to do so.

3. If you procrastinate during the first two weeks, you will find yourself with a seemingly impossible word court to target every day just to finish on time.

As you can see on the graph above, which I copied from the Nanowrimo website, on the 9th of November 2010 I had a meagre 1791 words written. By the 14th I had only 4000 words and started to panic. Real panic only set in around the 23rd when I only reached halfway with just over 25 000 words and the requirement to finish on time climbed to over 3500 words per day.

4. It is possible to write a lot of words, while still keeping to your plot and being true to your characters, in one day. All the writing may not be good and some will be positively horrible upon reading it again, but some parts will actually be pretty wonderful. The best part is that you won’t recognize the good parts until you get to the editing stage.

5. Participating in Nano without having your novel planned out beforehand – like with YWriter or Storybook, makes it much more difficult to stay within the confines of your plot. You don’t have time to go back and check if what you wrote now didn’t contradict something you wrote two days ago and by properly planning your novel in advance, the writing just comes easier.

Would I recommend that beginner writers participate in Nano?

The answer is an absolute yes. If this is your first attempt at writing a novel, there is no better place to start writing it than during Nano month. What a feeling when you realise you just wrote the last word (although it is a first and very rough draft) of your first novel. This is an excellent exercise to see if you have what it takes to one day realise your dream and become a full time fiction writer.

Nanowrimo Time Again

noreply@blogger.com (Yolande Pienaar) — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 10:11:00 +0000

November is National Novel Writing Month. Writing a novel of 50 000 words doesn’t seem so bad – that is until you try doing it. This year I am determined to finish it – I need a rough draft done of a romance novel I have waiting in the wings for some time.

So how does nanowrimo work?

Easy. You register on the website, do a little planning if you like and come November 1, you start writing your novel and update the word count on the website. From November 25 you upload your writing (which can be encoded) for verification and if you succeed in writing the 50 000 you get a badge for your website.

So, now to finish everything else I might need to do in November in order to get ready to write!

Writers Need to Diversify to Make Money

noreply@blogger.com (Yolande Pienaar) — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 09:46:00 +0000

I came across a blog post on Rachelle Gardner's blog today - it was a guest post by Chuck Sambuchino, the author of How to Survive a Garden Gnome Attack , Formatting & Submitting Your Manuscript and 2010 Guide to Literary Agents advising writers to embark on a variety of writing in order to keep the wolf from the door.

This is sound advise and although fiction writers would like nothing more than to be able to concentrate on the characters in their stories, the reality is that we need to write in other genres, like non-fiction in order to supplement our income. I have numerous blogs and web sites that I write for and I'm writing articles for Suite101.com on travel. The point is, if you love writing, you should try to make a living from writing - no matter what type of writing it is.

Take a look at the post and please tell me what you think and do you write other stuff in order to make money?

How to Deal With Rejection of Your Novel or Book Proposal

noreply@blogger.com (Yolande Pienaar) — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 07:56:00 +0000

Every writer who ever tried to publish a novel will at some point experience the receipt of the dreaded rejection letter. What matters is not the rejection in itself. The true value, yes there is value in a rejection letter, is what you do with it.

The scenario upon receipt of the rejection letter goes something like this:

You log into your mail server, open the e-mails and there it is ... a letter from the publisher! Your heart beats like a freight train on full throttle and your hands shake. A light film of sweat laces your forehead. Must you open it or are you going to wait? No choice, you open the e-mail and read with astonishment the first couple of lines...

"We regret to inform you blah blah blah"

You seldom get past those first few words on the first read. Astonished you sit back and try to calm your pulse racing and avert the imminent heart attack. All those months, maybe even years, of hard work and it is not good enough. You might experience anger, which is understandable, or burst into tears. Also good. Then the most important result of the rejection letter from the publisher sets in - SELF DOUBT.

For a couple of days, sometimes even weeks, you vow you will NEVER EVER attempt to write anything again. But then, your mind starts throwing ideas at you and you realize there is no way in hell you will be able to refrain from sitting in front of your computer and not write again. Those pestly ideas just keep swirling and mulling around in your head without giving you a moment of peace.

Now - go back and read that e-mail again and try to find out what caused the rejection. Read it a couple of times, if it is not one of those generic rejection letters and try to understand the publisher's point of view.

The most common reasons for rejection of your novel are:

Your novel does not fit in with the genre the specific publisher is interested in.
You placed your novel in the wrong genre - romance where it should be suspense or true crime.
Your manuscript did not adhere to the submission guidelines of the publisher.
You failed to edit your manuscript properly and the first three chapters showed a lack of polish.

There might be a myriad of other reasons why the publisher rejected the novel, if you indeed sent in a partial and not just a query letter. Try to learn from it, get angry, but most of all - GET EVEN.

The best way to get even is to learn from your mistakes and write an even better novel. If you feel that your manuscript may still be publishable, re-think the plot and characters and find ways to improve the novel to re-submit to another publisher if you need to. If you are a true writer there is no way you will be able to stop writing. So, just do it better and with more vigor.

How did your experience of the rejection letter compare to the scenario above? And are you still writing?

Read Harlequin Romance Novels Online - Free

noreply@blogger.com (Yolande Pienaar) — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 16:45:00 +0000

We all know that very few things in life are free. However, there are still some things you can find on the internet that are free - well free if you have uncapped internet access.

Harlequin Romance has for some time now allowed their readers to read stories online - even download complete free romance novels in e-book format. If you are an avid reader of Harlequin romances, you have to visit their web site.

Harlequin offers free online reads and free e-books for download in every series they offer. If you are an Intrigue fan, just go to the subheading for Harlequin Intrigue and either read the free online romance, which is posted on a chapter by chapter basis, or search to find the free romance e-books for download.

From time to time Harlequin has special events that they celebrate by providing their readers with several e-books for download at once. Readers may then download the free Harlequin romance novels to their hard drive to read at their their own pace. It therefore pays to visit the Harlequin web site frequently to check for specials and new books for download.

With Harlequins 60th birthday they released 17 complete e-books for download in various formats. These books can be downloaded from the Harlequin web site and contains works of popular authors like BJ Daniels and many more.

Readers now have no excuse for not reading their favorite romance novels. Just like Harlequin there are several other sites where free e-books may be downloaded. An article on where to find these sites is: Where to Find Free Romance Books Online

How to Fight Writer's Block - A Layman's Approach

noreply@blogger.com (Yolande Pienaar) — Mon, 03 May 2010 18:39:00 +0000

Writer's Block - what does it mean and how do you get past it?

There can’t be any one method that is guaranteed to work every time, or can there? Thousands of books have been written and programs sold to cure the so-called writer's block.

But what is writers block?

Simply put, it means you stare at a blank page with the thoughts in your head being equally blank. It might be in the middle of a story and you are simply stuck and don’t know how to move forward, or you have this great idea for a story, but for the life of you, you can’t commit it to paper. That - in short - is writer's block.

How to "cure" writers block?

In spite of what the informed try to tell you, there is no external fix for writer's block. As the saying goes...it's all in the mind. Yep, no shortcuts, no quick fixes - nada. Only you can cure your writer's block. Different people use different methods to try to curb writers block. These include:-

Making a habit of writing every single day. Doesn’t matter what you write, as long as you write some form of fiction.

Sticking to routine. This means your write at the same location and at the same time, everyday.

Write something completely different from that which you are stuck with. Focusing on an entirely different story, might give your mind time to compute and solve the problem you wrought with for the last couple of hours or days.

Using music like binary beats to enhance creativity in the brain while you write.

Looking at all of the above, it is abundantly clear that the only way to cure writers block is to put your butt in the chair and write.

So, whatever you do...keep writing.

Showcase Your Fiction for Free and You Might Win a Prize

noreply@blogger.com (Yolande Pienaar) — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 17:35:00 +0000

Fiction Writers Platform is a relatively new internet site where writers of fiction can showcase their writing skills and get feedback from readers and writers.

Although still in its baby shoes, Fiction Writers Platform promises to become an important site for aspiring and established writers to showcase their work and introduce themselves to the general public and other writers.

With feedback from published writers like Carol Rzadkiewicz and editors like Jerry Lopper and Brenda Layman, both established authors and aspiring authors will benefit from the site. Fiction Writers Platform recently introduced editors choice awards for the best contribution and plans to run contests in the near future with prizes galore.

Being a new site, the selection of fiction on the site is excellent, although limited. A writer could do much worse than to spend a few minutes contributing to the site. Besides the obvious exposure of your writing to the world, you might actually improve your writing by taking the comments to heart.

Don't take my word for it - go visit the site at Fiction Writers Platform and decide for yourself.

How to Write Emotional Scenes in a Novel

noreply@blogger.com (Yolande Pienaar) — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 18:06:00 +0000

As we are in the writing stage of the novel using the free novel writing software of yWriter5, I found an article today which I think offers great value in regards to writing tips. The blog, Tell me a Story by Anthony James Barnett has a post titled: The Fulfilling Facet - Emotional Influence.

He gives the reader, presumably also a writer, tips on how to write emotion into the novels. Personally, I find it difficult to generate the right amount of emotion to balance with the descriptive parts. We need drama without being melodramatic and the advice he offers is sound and makes sense. (Why didn't I think of it?)

Anyway, be sure to return to this page and tell me what you think of the post.

Happy writing.

Free Novel Writing Software - Plan Your Book's Scenes with yWriter5

noreply@blogger.com (Yolande Pienaar) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 20:14:00 +0000

As stated previously, you don't need to buy novel writing software if you are just a beginner and can plan/plot the novel with free software available. But feel free to investigate the other paid versions like Novel Writing Made Easy, Storycraft and NewNovellest.

Now, we have created our characters and feel that we know them. Planning the novel can take the form of a step-sheet or scene by scene creation. I use the step-sheet as chapter summaries to ensure I stay on track while writing the chapter, while the more detailed scene summaries prevents me from getting stuck at any time during the writing process. If you know what you are supposed to write, it is just so much easier to find the words, but everyone must find the method that works best for them.

Each scene must have a purpose, otherwise why write the scene in the first place. Defining the goal of the scene before the time, helps you write scenes that advance the plot in some way, whether it is setting a scene for something else to happen or introducing a character to a reader by their actions or moving the story forward.

Every scene should have conflict to be engaging to the reader. Conflict can be inner conflict of the character, conflict with the environment or with another character.

yWriter5 has a space for defining the goal of each scene. Below the short scene summaries, a tab labeled "Goals" provides you with the space to enter the goals of the scene.

In the same row of tabs as the "Goals" tab, select "Description" and enter a short description of the scene you have planned. Remember to save the description after you are done.

We know what we want to convey with the scene and can now proceed to write short scene descriptions. This sounds like a lot of work while you probably only want to get started and write the book to tell your story to the world. But, be patient. If you want to someday attempt to have the book published, you will need a summary of the book. Writing short scene descriptions from the start, provides your with a basic summary/synopsis on which you can expand after you have finished the book.

Select "Reports" from the top menu, then Synopsis and then full synopsis.

A report will open in a new browser window, providing you with a synopsis of your project to date and a summary of your book and will save you hours of time after you finished writing the novel.

Now we can start writing the novel using the free software provided by Spacejock - yWriter5.

Please tell me if you found this post helpful.

Free Novel Writing Software - Developing Characters Using yWriter5

noreply@blogger.com (Yolande Pienaar) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 12:40:00 +0000

Using the free novel writing software yWriter as mentioned in the previous post, we must meet our characters. We know what the story would be about and saved it in the project notes and project settings tabs.

The book blurb for my project would read something like this:

Having lost everything in her life that she holds dear, 29-year-old Superintendent Valarie MacDonald grabbed at the chance to track a serial rapist to New York. When the FBI offered their assistance to find the man she had been hunting for three years, Val didn't think twice. That is until she met Special Agent Rocke Gillian. Arrogant and self assured, he challenged her investigative methods and her life philosophy. In the bustling city of New York, she has to battle the cunning of a dangerous murderer, but her worst enemy appeared to be herself and the attraction she felt towards the handsome Rocke.

I know it sounds so clichéd, but we have to start somewhere.

If you read the other posts on this blog, I suggested ways to develop a character so that you feel you intimately know the person. From the short summary above, we know there are at least three characters in the book, namely Valarie MacDonald, Rocke Gillian and the murderer. We now need to create bios for each of them so that at least we know what we are talking about (even though the writing skills may still confuse the reader).

Click on the Character tab in the top toolbar and select "Add New". A character sheet opens with five tabs. Start by typing in the character's name, nickname and then proceed to the description box - still on the same tab.

Here I like to answer questions like:
1.    How old is the character?
2.    What does the character look like (eyes, complexion, hair, height, weight)
3.    How does the character dress?

Moving to the next tab (Bio) I want to know the following:
1.    Where did she grow up?
2.    What kind of childhood did she have?
3.    How does she feel about her parents?
4.    What type of child was she - introvert/extrovert?
5.    What lead to her doing the job she does now?
6.    What was her love life like before the book starts?
7.    Anything that happened in her past that influenced her actions and decisions in the book.

Moving to the "Notes" tab, you can put anything you like in there. Oddities the character does and why, particular pet peeves or likes. Does the name of the character have a meaning? Can you incorporate that into the book?

Under the "Goal" tab, you can insert the way you want your character to grow. In this instance, Val lost her husband and son in a freak motor accident. She is love-shy and afraid to commit her heart to anyone else for fear of experiencing the same pain of loss again. (Yikes, but it does sound like all the other romances out there!)

She needs to grow into unwillingly feeling more for Rocke than she is prepared to admit, concluded that it isn’t so bad to have loved and lost the love. A life without love is not worth living - something like that. I’m sure you get the message.

Under the same tab, I like to have the character tell me more about herself/himself in her/his own voice. This may sound ridiculous, but it establishes a voice for the character in your head. The reader will never see the notes you make here, but these notes will help you keep the narrative true to the character you set in the beginning of the book.

The last tab is the "picture" tab where you can upload a picture of a person resembling the character you try to create. This helps when you need to describe other people's reactions to the character and makes your character seem more real to you.

Follow the same procedure with the locations where the book takes place and here, if you have a picture of the places you describe, it would aid tremendously in writing good prose to take the reader there.

In the next post, we will start planning the novel itself - chapter by chapter and scène by scène.

Plan/Plot Your Novel with yWriter5

noreply@blogger.com (Yolande Pienaar) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:09:00 +0000

So you have downloaded the yWriter5 program as discussed in the previous post, installed it on your computer and now you are ready to start using it. First of all you need to create a new project. Click on the project tab on the left and select New Project Wizard from the drop down menu.

Fill in all the details required by the wizard and return to the main screen. Now you need to add a short summary of your novel (think of the book blurb on the back of a novel) to the project notes so you keep your writing focused and on track. On the main screen at the right hand side you will notice the tab "Project Notes". Click on the tab and select "New".

Save the note you made there and click on the "Chapter" tab on top and select "Create Multiple Chapters" from the drop-down menu. A screen will pop-up asking how many chapters you want to create. Enter the amount and the chapters will be created in the left side pane of the view.

Next you want to create a number of empty scenes for each chapter. Click on the "Scenes" tab on the top and select "Create multiple scenes". Insert the number of scenes you want to add per chapter and repeat for each chapter. You can always add more scenes or delete scenes later.

Click on the "Project" tab on top and select "Project Settings" from the drop- down menu. In the pop-up box , enter the name of your project in the Project tab and if you wish, enter a short description of the project/book there. Move to the next tab and inset the author name. In the "Deadlines" tab you can enter the dates you want to finish with each part of the novel writing process.

This is important if you have a deadline to submit the novel to an editor (I wish) or a publisher. Next from the "Tools" tab on top, select "Daily Word Count Target" and fill in the amount of words you want to write, in other words the length of your novel and when you want to start and when you want to complete the first draft. The yWriter program will then calculate how many words you have to write per day to stay on target.

Now that you know how many words you have to write per day, you can start planning your novel. This you can do in various ways. You can first create your characters in the characters tab and add detail to each character or you can start planning the chapters (the story) and add the character detail as you write the draft. Having the details of the characters listed under the character tab helps you later in the novel to avoid inconsistencies in appearance, character traits, etc. The same reasoning applies to the locations tab and the locations where your novel takes place.

Write a short description for each chapter. What is the purpose of the chapter? Think of ten or fifteen questions you want answered in the chapter and formulate that into scene descriptions. In the long descriptions write three or more keywords to remind you what you wanted in the scene.

Once the outline is done, you can begin to actually write the novel by clicking on the scene and entering the text into the text box. This I will deal with in the next post.

All the images above can be expanded to view a larger image in a new tab.

Free Software to Write Your First Novel - Get to Know the Software

noreply@blogger.com (Yolande Pienaar) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:46:00 +0000

The term "free novel writing software" is actually a paradox. No software will write your novel for you and you must still use the good old grey matter.

Doing a search on the internet for free novel writing software, I could find yWriter5 from Spacejock and Storybook on the first couple of pages of Google. There are a number of other programs available offering free demo's like Novel Writing Made Easy, Storycraft and the ever-popular NewNovellest, but to make use of all the feaures you have to buy the program. Granted, it is not that expensive an exercise to buy these programs and you do get many additional features, but for a novice, first use the free ones.

People have different preferences in their method of writing and you may prefer to simply start with your story idea and let the characters lead you where they will. For some people this works very well, but for others, like me, I need some form of structure to guide me when I stare at the blank page and the character refuses to do his/her own thing. Hence, the search started for software that could make life easier.

Writing programs that offer you the ability to organize your novel in easy to find chapters and scenes and have information about your characters physical and psychological traits on hand while your write, just makes life easier. How many of you had to search for that one scene where you described a location or person. Searching through 40 000 words is time consuming and causes procrastination when you could have spent the time writing the next scene.

Whether you plan the novel completely in advance or simply write by the seat of your pants, copying the scenes into a program that organizes the work, makes editing at a later stage, easier. Trying to edit a scene of 300 words just seems like less work than staring a 3000-word block of text.

If you are a novice like me, you don't want to spend unnecessary money on a sophisticated program when you don't know if you are any good at writing. The two programs mentioned above will surely suffice for a start. Paid programs do offer additional features to assist the author and I would definitely consider looking into them - as soon as I manage to publish my first novel.

Do investigate the free programs mentioned here and tell me what your views of the programs are.
In the next post, I will start showing how I use yWriter to plan/outline a novel.

NaNoWriMo - Novel in a Month - You've Got to Be Kidding!

noreply@blogger.com (Yolande Pienaar) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:22:00 +0000

November is National Novel Writing Month. The mission? Write a novel of 50 000 words in one month. Start on the 1st of November and submit to verification from the 25th of November to 30th of November.

Long way to end when starting gate looms ahead.

Sounds easy? Think again.

You have to write on average 1700 words a day, every day for 30 days. Any writer busy with a book will tell you this is no easy feat. The positive side to this is that you get the first draft down and finished in a very limited time frame. Although most of what you are going to write is going to be crap style- and grammar wise, at least you will have something to edit in December.

I find that writing the first draft is the hardest part of getting the story down on paper. That is only until I have to start editing, then that is the hardest part, but at least it gives you something to work with.

Check out my personal blog for progress on the novel (don't even have a plot yet! )

Feel free to add you own nanowrimo story in the comment section. The more support we have the better.

Contest - Emotions Red Roses Evoke

noreply@blogger.com (Yolande Pienaar) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 16:28:00 +0000

What emotion do red roses inpsire in you?

This week I propose a little contest of sorts. Take a look at the picture and write a short story of no more than 300 words describing what emotion the roses inspire. Off the cuff, I can think of happy, sad, love, regret and forgiveness.

Post your story in the comment section before 12 midnight on Saturday, 18 October EST. After the entries have closed, I will afford everyone a chance to vote for their favorite entry until 12 midnight Tuesday 21 October.

On Wednesday 22 October I will reveal the result of the vote.

Why do I think it is a good idea?

No one can ever know enough about writing and reading other people's creativity often sparks some of your own. I believe all writers can learn from each other and that too few people are afforded the opportunity to do so.

So put pen to paper and let us have it.

Above all - keep writing.

Literary Agents Are Accessible

noreply@blogger.com (Yolande Pienaar) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 09:18:00 +0000

Anyone who finished a manuscript and edited it to perfection (well, your own version of perfection in any case) knows that finding a literary agent is a nightmare. First, you need to find out which agents are taking on your type (genre) of manuscripts, if they are taking on new clients to represent and lastly, and to me the BIG question...whom can you trust.

Call me cynical, but an agent about whom you struggle to find information, whether it is in print or online, inspires little confidence in me. I do not want a manuscript that reflects months and sometimes, years of work, to land in the hands of an unscrupulous fly-by-night agent who might disappear with my precious work.

This brings me to the agent Nathan Bransford. I mentioned him before in some blog posts, but never explained why I feel following his blog is worthwhile. Therefore, here goes:

He is accessible through his blog - unlike most people he actually checks his comments and responds to them.
His blog offers valuable advice to aspiring writers, including everything from how to write query letters (the hardest part of writing any novel), to which genre, terminology to understand the publishing world better and a lot more.
His blog is updated nearly every day with current news, views, and experiments that will leave you wondering how someone manages to produce fresh ideas every day.
Reading through the comments makes you realize you're not alone in the struggle to get your first book published.

In short, don't take my word for it. Check out his blog for yourself.

What Makes You Stop Reading?

noreply@blogger.com (Yolande Pienaar) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 10:22:00 +0000

Whether you read fiction or non- fiction books, some books you just can't seem to read to the end. What makes you stop reading? This must be the most prominent question in a writer's mind along with the question: "What makes you keep reading?"

Consider the following:

If you find a specific scène in your novel boring, chances are that your readers will do so as well. It might make them stop reading!
If your protagonist changes into a boring, predictable character, readers will get bored and...stop reading.
If the storyline or plot of your novel is overused and done a million times before and you haven't added some element to create a fresh approach, readers might stop reading.

A good test of your own work is to wait a couple of days or even weeks after writing a scène or chapter and then go back to it to read with fresh eyes. If you stop reading or find it boring and predictable, you have work to do because your readers will undoubtedly feel the same. This is one technique taught by various writing schools as part of self - editing your work.

That said, we should all remember that, lucky for us writers, people have varying tastes in literature and life and not everyone will stop reading. But why take the risk, if you could minimize the chance of bad publicity by only following your own tastes and keeping your work fresh and exciting.

For a glossary of relevant terms relating to writing, see Nathan Bransford's blog.

Above all - keep writing!

Writing Exercises - Why Do Them?

noreply@blogger.com (Yolande Pienaar) — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:19:00 +0000

The moment the word exercise creeps into a conversation, most people shift uncomfortably in their chairs. Exercise implies work and writing is supposed to be fun, isn't it?

Well, writing exercises can be fun too. If you are busy with a long-term project, like writing your first, second, or third novel, but you don't have time (or energy) to battle ahead, a short writing exercise will do wonders. Established writing coaches and lecturers agree that writers should write everyday to keep in 'shape' and to hone their skills.

But what to write about?

Simply put - anything. Look around you. Describe the surroundings, put down an unknown person's thoughts by just looking at them and observing or take a picture and write a short story based on the picture or photo. In short, let your imagination free and get your fingers typing or your pen moving.

How much should you write?

As much as you like - as long as you write something. The purpose of the exercises are to keep your creative mind functioning and to hone your skills in observing people and places. Try to make it a fun part of your day. Go back to what you have written a couple of days or even weeks later and you may be amazed at how good it actually may be.

For my part - I think I've done my exercise for the day. Until next time - keep writing.

Book Review - Dead Watch by John Sandford

noreply@blogger.com (Yolande Pienaar) — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 07:54:00 +0000

John Sandford is mostly known for his popular "Prey" series of books, featuring the main character Lucas Davenport. His book Dead Watch was first published in 2006 and countless reviews have been written about his departure from the Prey - series of books.

From John Sandford's web site the synopsis reads as follows:

Late afternoon, Virginia, and a woman is on the run. Her husband, a former U.S. Senator named Lincoln Bowe, has been missing for days. Kidnapped? Murdered? She doesn't know, but she thinks she knows who's involved, and why. And that she may be next.

Hours later, a phone rings in the pocket of Jacob Winter. An Army Intelligence veteran, Winter specializes in what he thinks of as forensic bureaucracy. Congress, the Pentagon, the FBI, CIA, Homeland Security – when something goes wrong, Winter kicks over rocks until he finds out what really happened. The White House is his main client, and the chief of staff is on the phone now.

If Bowe isn't located soon, he is told, all hell will break loose.

What Winter doesn't realize is – all hell will break loose anyway. And he will be right in the middle of it. Large forces are at work, men determined to do whatever it takes to achieve unprecedented ends. Before the next few days are out, Winter will discover he has to use every one of his resources not only to prevail... but just to survive.

And so will the nation....

This is a gripping suspense novel, which engages the reader from the first paragraph, forcing the reader to 'live' with the characters. Sandford portrays Jacob Winter as a man with strength, but also weaknesses, making it easy for the writer to identify with his character. Avid readers of the Prey-series of books by John Sandford will not be disappointed. He once again succeeds in writing gripping fiction to satisfy any taste.

Dead Watch will also provide novice writers with excellent examples of how to handle the shift in point of view from one character to the next, how to build suspense and mystery and how to use words with maximum effect. Sandford manages to describe a character in one paragraph, wasting no words and painting a clear picture of the description of the character, the emotions the character feels and setting the character is in.

An excellent read for entertainment and educational purposes.

New Book by Diana Jay

noreply@blogger.com (Yolande Pienaar) — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 12:36:00 +0000

Today I'm not going to say much. Diana Jay is busy with her new book and she provided me with a short teaser of what we can expect. If anyone else wants to feature their upcoming books or stories here, send me a message and I'll contact you for possible placement.

As promised, here is the teaser for Diana Jay's new book:

KILIMANJARO MAGIC

Pilots! A species of their own.

Sparks start flying between Captain Paul Andrea and First Officer Dianne Lordan from the first day of her appointment at Bay Air. Two people similar to fire and jet fuel… ready to ignite. They all but pulled each other's hair out. At least in the small confines of the cockpit, mostly during the long, quiet hours of nighttime, they performed their duties flawlessly, professionally.

Paul still battles to come to terms with his past. He takes his frustration out on his beautiful new employee whose cheeky demeanour, brings out the worst in him.

Dianne, on the other hand, tries to stay as far away from her handsome boss as possible. A pity, for he was tall, dark and Italian… a definite recipe for disaster.

Then things started to change between them. Suddenly an increasingly, unwanted magnetism, which they both tried to ignore, crept up on them.

The hot-headed Italian bachelor was not ready for any kind of commitment and Dianne, who had her own dreams and ideals, was not prepared to have a casual affair with her employer.

During a trip to Kenya, fate intercedes as the magic of Africa and the magnificent presence of Mount Kilimanjaro weaves its spell around them…

Above all - remember ...keep writing!

Drums of Siyapila Now in Free Downloadable E-book

noreply@blogger.com (Yolande Pienaar) — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 07:41:00 +0000

Exiting news! Diana Jay's book The Drums of Siyapila is now available for download in e-book format - but only from this site. Right click on the link and select 'save link as' to download or simply open in a new browser and save the file to your computer.

This is the fist of a range of free romance and other e-books I plan to offer readers. For those not familiar with Diana Jay. see previous posts for an interview with her or check out her profile on Buzzle

Above all, check back regularly for more exiting reads.

Why Novice Writers Must Join a Critique Group

noreply@blogger.com (Yolande Pienaar) — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 08:04:00 +0000

Here I was, getting pretty pleased with my development as writer and posting chapter after chapter of a novel on Buzzle. com. Although I didn't get a huge following, the comments from readers reading the story, inspired me to try and finish a chapter a week. I felt I was finally beginning to apply what I learnt and getting into the 'right' writer's groove.

After the first chapter, a reader commented on her preference for writing in the past tense contrary to the present tense writing used in the story. It caused me some discomfort, but I decided to continue with posting the story as is, and the story progressed in the present tense, naturally. Things were going along just fine, although some chapters caused me some misery to write. I couldn't get comfortable with parts of the writing.

When, after the fourteenth chapter the same reader complained the tense made the work hard to read and understand, I did a double take. Where to get experienced and knowledgeable feedback?

Critique groups like My Writer's Circle and other online and offline groups play a vital part in the development of any writer. I used to visit the forum everyday, but lately time and work made me neglect that part of my usual daily ritual... to my detriment, it appeared.

Nervous and jittery, I posted the first part of the same chapter on the forum, inhaled, forced my heart back to its normal rate and with sweaty palms requested members of the forum for their feedback.

Two days later, I received the most wonderful advice which boils down to the following:

Tense is a personal preference.
Present tense writing is fine, but the writer must be careful with the construction of the sentences. This was the biggest problem in the chapter, making it harder to read and understand.
When using the present tense, point of view (POV) must be treated with utmost respect and circumcision to avoid confusing the reader with facts known to the narrator and personal emotions and thought of the character.
The thread can be viewed at: http://www.mywriterscircle.com/index.php?topic=19938.new;topicseen#new

Wonderful advice once again from people writing for a living - well some of them, but mostly, all of them are much more experienced than I am and the constructive criticism is invaluable to anyone serious about writing.

So whenever you are in doubt about a part of your writing, ask the experts and fellow writers for honest critique. But above all...keep writing.