New Year’s Day, 2014

The new year came to Ottawa with a high, clear sky, a pale winter sun refracting off smooth expanses of pristine white snow. With the temperature around minus 30 C in the morning, the packed snow on the pavements squeaked. 

By afternoon, the temperature has warmed to the minus 20 C range. The radio meteorologists say the wind chill is even colder, but I haven’t noticed much wind. To me, this is ideal, the perfect temperature for enjoying the world. You have to be dressed for it, of course, but I love the look of dark green spruce trees against a pale blue sky and pure white snow, the feeling of cold air on my face and in my nose while my body is warm inside my clothes.

A perfect Canadian New Year’s Day! Welcome, 2014!

Guest post: Bruce Blake on productivity

When I tell people I wrote the first draft of my upcoming novel, When Shadows Fall (The First Book of the Small Gods) in fourteen days, they either stare at me with a blank expression, make me repeat it to ensure they didn't mishear me and I actually said forty, or they ask me how I managed to churn out an entire novel in such a short time. Since you are not looking at me, and it clearly says “fourteen” days in the last sentence, I'm going to assume you fall into the third group...so here's how it happened.

First, it's important to realize I am a full-time writer—making stuff up is what I do. This output didn't happen in half-hour snatches here and there, but in 5-7 hour chunks of tapping on my laptop's keys. Before you stop reading because you don't have that much time to write, realize that what's most important about this output is how much I produced in the time I had—consistently about 1,300 words/hour. This number—your productivity—is how all authors should evaluate the effectiveness of their writing time, with a goal of maximizing the number of words written in the time available. It can be difficult to work around a day job, family, and other commitments—and none of us can jam more hours into the day—but you can control what you do with the time you have and get the most out of the minutes you put in at the keyboard. Here are the steps I took to keep my word count high.

1.      Pre-planning. More effort went into the planning of this book than any I've ever written. For a month, as I was writing and editing another project, I spent my evenings world-building for the Small Gods series. It was really during this phase that the seeds of the story grew and blossomed. The more I learned about the background and history of this world, the more the story I was planning kept taking twists and turns I wasn't expecting.

2.      Outlining. There's always a debate among writers about outlining versus writing by the seat of your pants. Simply put: I find I'm more productive when I have a pretty good idea where I want to go. It means I don't lose writing time by stopping to think about what to do next. This dovetails perfectly into the next point.

3.      Daily planning. This is a tip I picked up from Rachel Aaron's great little writing book 2,000 to 10,000: Writing Faster, Writing Better, and Writing More of What You Love. It's a simple concept...take the first five minutes of your writing session, grab a pen and paper (that's right—the old-fashioned way) and jot down what you will be writing about. Include actions, bits of dialogue, descriptions; all the points you want to hit, plus some of the detail. This is your road map for what you will write today—not tomorrow, not yesterday, but today.

4.      No editing. Sounds funny, doesn't it? Of course I edit, just not while I'm writing the first draft. I know too many writers who never get to the end of their manuscript because they spend too much time polishing the first half of the book to perfection. Not only are first drafts supposed to suck, I know the way I write; chances are good that, if I did a bunch of editing before I finished the rough draft, something else would change and I'd end up going back to rewrite all that careful editing, anyway. Time well wasted.

5.      Unplug. The Internet is not your friend. If you are writing and you can't find the word you're after, can't come up with a great name for a new character, or need to do a bit of research, bookmark it and save it for non-writing time. Seriously, it will still be there at 10 o'clock on Thursday night when there's a commercial during The Amazing Race...do it then. Don't even get me started on Facebook and email.

6.      Make writing a priority. We all hear many writers lamenting that they can't find time to write. I never have that problem because I plan my writing time, then make everything else work with it. I did the same thing when I was working sixty-hour weeks...the job schedule was the only thing that was inflexible; everything else had to realize I had a book to write.

With planning and forethought, it's more than possible to write quickly without sacrificing quality. Be ready, be focused, be dedicated...now go write.

Independent novel review: Double Bind by Seb Kirby

“The guy with the bad attitude has been following me all week.”

Seb Kirby gets right into the story in Double Bind. There’s not a wasted word in this book: no background, no world-building, no nonsense. The writing is spare and clean, active yet evocative, told in first-person present tense, which enhances the action and immediacy.

Take this for an example: “Elmington Drive is a wealthy suburban street. Smart gardens, no parked cars, large houses, most with gravel drives and tall shrubs.”

Because he gives readers credit for knowing something, Kirby is able to painted a picture in a few phrases.

In short, Kirby is a true professional writer of fiction.

The story begins with the narrator, successful author Raymond Bridges, meeting his double at a book signing. The double accuses Bridges of stealing his face and identity — and his pen name. Soon, Bridges finds himself in a new body, victim of spreading ripples of identities displaced into new bodies. Double Bind is a science-fiction story presented like a mystery — not an easy assignment for any writer. Kirby has the skill to pull it off.

Kirby makes it all make sense by explaining the process and the science through the characters’ actions. Bridges, who becomes Erin Pascoe (that’s a man’s name in the UK, apparently) gradually learns the details, like one of Raymond Chandler’s detectives.

Kirby makes his characters real through their words and actions more than through verbose descriptions. Bridges is actually not that likeable. He’s a liar, an imposter, someone more than willing to take shortcuts to get what he wants, no matter what they do to others.

Victoria Bletchley, Bridge’s love interest, is one of the most desirable and admirable women I’ve read in fiction lately. An English professor, she’s a long-legged looker, too. She loves “rutting” and reading, more or less in that order, and she’s smart. Even for an English professor.

Here’s my favourite passage featuring Victoria:

Strang [a cop] is sounding impatient ... “Pascoe is a suspect in at least one, possibly two, murders. Keep stalling like this and you’ll leave me with no option but to take you in for obstruction of justice. That’s if I don’t arrest you as an accomplice to murder.” 

I’m wondering how Victoria is going to get out of this when she uses her contextualizing skills to great effect. “OK. I do porn. Looks like I’m well off, but this is my mother’s place and I have expensive tastes.”

Smart, sexy, beautiful, brave and able to think on the spot of something sure to throw a cop off his game — what more could anyone, even a writer, want in a woman?

All the characters are believable, especially the villains, who range from London gangsters to corporate types. Again, Kirby is able to evoke them clearly in the readers’ minds with a minimum of words.

All the way through (it’s not a long book), Kirby keeps us hooked with tantalizing clues and a style that you just cannot put down.

Double Bind may not be Kirby’s best-known book, but if you want a read that won’t let you go, that tells a good story well and doesn't waste your time, download Double Bind now.

5*

Find Double Bind on Amazon

Seb Kirby's Amazon Author page

Seb Kirby's website and blog

Guest post: How I landed publishers by choosing to self-publish

By Kristen Elise, Ph.D.

Here’s a secret: publishers love the self-publishing author.

When Scott asked me to do a guest post about marketing for newbie novelists, my first reaction was, “I don’t know anything about marketing — I’m a newbie novelist myself.” Then I received two contract offers for my first novel without soliciting them. And it occurred to me that I do know how to market. Even without a book to sell, I have learned how to market my name, and publishers noticed.

Four months ago, I finished The Vesuvius Isotope and began contemplating the next step. I had a choice: I could either learn how to self-publish, or I could learn how to query acquisitions editors and agents. I had no clue how to do either. For several reasons explained here, I decided to self-publish. And it occurred to me that I had just become my own marketing department.

I already had my blog, author site, and other pages up and running. I guess I already had some semblance of a platform. But it was only when I decided to self-publish that it occurred to me just how critical the platform would become: It was now my only connection to readers.

So as I created a self-publishing checklist and started checking its boxes, I simultaneously began boosting my platform. I thought about what I could offer readers that everyone else wasn’t offering. I thought about my target audience and how I could attract them to my site. I thought about how I could develop meaningful connections with people who might one day buy my book. For specific examples of platform-building techniques, click here.

The effort worked: my sites began gaining more readers, members and page views. One of those readers was an acquisitions editor who began asking questions about why I wanted to self-publish. Then she asked for my manuscript and ultimately offered to publish it. Another new reader was an author crazy about his new publisher. He referred me to his acquisitions editor, who ultimately offered me a contract as well.

So I’m now in the uniquely awesome position of choosing how to publish The Vesuvius Isotope. And I would like to reiterate: I did nothing spectacular to get this opportunity; all I did was build the very platform I would need anyway, in order to sell the book.

I cringe when I hear authors say things to the effect that they expect a publisher to do their marketing for them. Reality check: this doesn’t happen anymore.

If you choose to go the traditional publishing route, this means you will solicit agents, typically for more than a year, and if one takes you on, he or she will then solicit the Big Six publishing houses for God knows how long. If you are lucky enough to sign on with one, you are now in the unenviable position of competing with all best-selling authors and the occasional Newbie Novelist of the Year.

If you are that breakout artist, you will have it made. The house will use its muscle to send you on book tours, mass distribute your novel across the globe, translate it into Swahili and connect you with their “people” in the movie business. My sincere congratulations. Please mention my name to your agent.

But if you’re in the other 99 percent, guess what the Big Six will do for you. Nothing. Book tour? Please. They won’t even arrange a book-signing in your hometown. Then they’ll take almost all of your profit. Another reality check: most authors never get royalties, as the publishing house never recoups their expenses. And they need their money to fund marketing efforts for the best-selling authors and Newbie Novelist of the Year.

This grim picture is reality. And that’s why small publishing houses have now popped up all over the place. As a newbie author, these might be your best bet. A small publishing house may take you, a total unknown, because they are also not very well known and they’d like to change that. So they’ll take a shot with you. They’ll sign you on and pay for the publication of your book. They might pay you a small advance. You might even see some royalties.

But these smaller publishers come with a catch. Small houses don’t have the bandwidth to market their authors and titles extensively. They can’t afford to send you on those expensive book tours. They will expect you to do part of the legwork. A large part of it. So they look for authors that are already doing it. They look for authors that have already demonstrated that they're willing to get into the trenches. They look for authors who are already their own marketing teams.

They look for self-publishers.

Kristen Elise is the author of forthcoming novels The Vesuvius Isotope (fall, 2013) and The Death Row Complex (Fall, 2014). A long-time resident of San Diego, she lives in San Diego with her human family and three canine children. To contact Kristen Elise, visit her author site or blog or e-mail kris@kristenelisephd.com.

Christine Nolfi: a professional writer confident about her style

In my pursuit of the meaning and importance of writing style, this week I am turning to veteran Christine Nolfi, best-selling author of Second-Chance Grill, The Tree of Everlasting Knowledge and Treasure Me. Christine is also a founder of BestSelling Reads, a cooperative promotional group of writers of "new fiction."

Christine has definite views on the writer's style.

How would you describe your own writing style?

A combination of short, staccato sentences blended with longer, closer-to-literary passages. The combination is wholly intentional, a surefire way to evoke emotion in the reader.

Are there any authors whose style you admire? Do you try to emulate them?

I’m particularly fond of Ann Patchett’s style, but I don’t emulate her or other authors. I’ve been writing for many years. My literary voice is well established.

Are there authors whose writing style you dislike?

I dislike any prose that’s choppy, disjointed or poorly edited.

How important is your writing style to you? Are you happy with your style, or are there aspects of it you try to change during rewriting or editing?

After years of study, trial and error, critique groups, literary agents and much revision, I’m very happy with my writing style. Now when I sit down to begin a story, the entire process feels organic.

What are the important elements of your style? What are you trying to achieve?

An author receives the incalculable gift of the reader’s attention. Add in the modern world, with all the distractions and thrills of mass media, television, film — even the texting feature on your cell phone. Given all of that, I strive to create visual images on every page. Conflict rises, chapter by chapter. And I never forget to pack emotion into every sentence, and the novel’s essential structure.

Your style uses a lot of dialogue. What do you do to ensure your writing is authentic and believable?

I rehearse each scene out loud, becoming the different characters at different turns. This used to frighten my children. They’d arrive home from school to find Mom staring at the Mac and babbling dialogue. Now they’re grown and take my eccentricities in stride.

How can readers identify your writing style? Are there particular words or kinds of words that you tend to favor? Sentence structures? Or is it more in the story, the pacing or the characters?

I suspect readers first recognize my characters as something arising from Nolfi novel. Then the dialogue, which can veer from comedic to poignant in the blink of an eye. Writing style? The combination of short sentences and long passages are a dead giveaway.

Do you think your genre imposes certain restrictions on writing style?

Not at all. I write contemporary fiction, which covers the gamut of human experience. No, you’ll never find horror or erotica in my books. But you will find elements from many other genres — romance, mystery and suspense especially.

Do you think your audience responds to your writing style, consciously or unconsciously?


If fan mail carries proof, I’m sure of it. No doubt the response is both conscious and subconscious.

Why did you add discussion questions to the end of Second Chance Grill? Is this something you do with other books?

Book clubs welcome ready-made questions and I’ll probably supply them in each new release. The Tree of Everlasting Knowledge also has a discussion section. I’ll tell you, devising the right mix of questions for each book was arduous. I worried about missing important issues, or placing too much emphasis on others.

How important do you think writing style is to an author's commercial success?

I think readers in every genre have certain expectations. As an author, you must meet those expectations for any hope of success. In the case of contemporary fiction, readers demand a writing style rich in emotion, with striking visuals and deep symbolism. They don’t want a surface read. If they aren’t quickly immersed in the story and the conflict, they’ll move on to another novel.

Do you think your style will change in the future? Is there something different you would like to do in terms of style in a future book?

With each new book written, I sense my style veering closer to literary. Readers will decide if I’m making a wise decision. Someday I would like to try my hand at something different — a fantasy, perhaps, or science fiction. Or something gritty. Presently I’m editing my next two contemporary fiction releases, and will write the third installment of the Liberty Series over the summer. Perhaps I’ll find time in 2014 to try something new.

Christine Nolfi owned a small public relations firm in Cleveland, Ohio. She closed the firm after traveling to the Philippines to adopt a sibling group of four children. She has been writing novels full-time since 2004. Her debut Treasure Me is a 2012 Next Generation Indie Awards finalist. Her most recent book, Second Chance Grill was released in October 2012. Her works continue to earn high marks on GoodReads and Amazon.

You can find out more about Christine, her books and her blog at www.christinenolfi.com.

Follow Christine on Twitter @christinenolfi

Check out her GoodReads Author Page, her FaceBook Author page, and her Amazon Author page.

And don't forget to check out her books!

Second Chance Grill:
on Amazon.com 
on Amazon.ca
at Barnes & Noble
on GoodReads.

Treasure Me — 2012 Next Generation Indie Awards Finalist
on Amazon 
at Barnes & Noble

The Tree of Everlasting Knowledge
on Amazon.com
on Amazon UK
on Barnes & Noble

I have won TWO (count 'em!) Liebster Awards for blogging!

Two good friends, fellow bloggers and writers have nominated me for the Liebster Award for Blogging: Christine Nolfi, founder of the BestSelling Reads group; and Bruce Blake, fantasy author and fellow member of Independent Authors International.

As a Liebster Winner (Liebsterite? Liebsterine?), I now have to:

• tell you 11 random facts about myself

• answer 11 questions that Christine and Bruce sent

• nominate 11 authors; and

• send them 11 completely new questions.

11 random facts about me

1. My last name has changed twice in my life, and I’m not running from the law.

2. I was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, the land of frozen Januaries.

3. I had a LOT of hair when I was in university.

4. I suck at paperwork.

5. My first car was a 1969 Cutlass two-door with a V8 engine.

6. I cannot focus a camera myself. I need auto-focus.

7. I know how to sail a sloop.

8. I have occasionally been unkind to others. Okay, more than occasionally. Sorry.

9. I love maps.

10. I am fascinated by plate tectonics and ocean currents.

11. I could listen to Carlos Santana play guitar all day long.

11 Questions from Bruce A. Blake

1. Who is the most famous person you’ve ever met?

I waved once at Bruce Springsteen a couple of years ago in Lake Placid, New York, and he gave me a “peace” or “Victory” sign back. But I didn’t actually speak with him. I guess the most famous person I’ve ever met and spoken with is Bill Gates, back in the 80s, when he wasn’t the Wizard of Oz but merely the world’s youngest self-made billionaire.



2. What article of clothing could you not do without?

Pants are good for walking down the street, but for some other activities, they’re too ... obstructive. I’m not much of a clothes fan. I like my leather jackets, but I survived before I had them and I’ll survive without them, too.



3. You have one meal left before you are put to death. What would you eat and what did you do to be condemned?

I pissed off the people in power by asking too many tough questions. Seriously, back when I was a full-time journalist, I once made a guy sweat with so many questions. And it wasn’t even that serious a story!

My last meal: New York steak with perogies and lots and lots of fried onions; two bottles of Chianti from Baron Ricasoli’s most private, select cellar; a gallon of Stella Artois beer to wash it down; chocolate soufflé for dessert, finished with lots of Remi Martin Louis XIII cognac. While getting oral sex from the SOB who condemned me.



4. If you were a computer program, which one would you be?

A grammar checker vastly better than Microsoft’s, one that would suggest shorter and more elegant sentences.



5. What book have you read that you most wished you had written?

Either Life of Pi, Winter’s Tale or The Master and Margarita.



6. If you could only own one movie, which one would it be?

David Lean’s Doctor Zhivago, the movie with Omar Sharif.



7. Sweet or savoury?

Boldly, dangerously savoury.



8. Would you rather give a speech in front of a large audience or touch your tongue to frozen metal?

Already touched my tongue to frozen metal, back in Grade 1. Don’t want to do it again. Already spoken to large audiences. That wasn’t as bad.



9. If you had your choice, are you an early bird or a late riser?

Early bird. I do have the choice. Sleeping is such a waste of time.



10. You have a new pet and it is entirely up to you to name the beast. What kind of animal is it and what do you call it?

How about a swordfish named Cyrano.



11. If you could recommend one non-fiction book, which one would it be?

Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time.

11 questions from Christine Nolfi:

1. Describe your life five years from now.

Here’s the fantasy writer’s answer: I make more than enough money from selling books to live comfortably. I come down to my main-floor study every morning with a big cup of coffee to write, correspond, update social media and create my next work. I can afford to take my family on vacations once or twice a year, and occasionally give an interview or a talk on my work, the writing process or the publishing world.

Now the reality: in five years, I’ll probably be doing more or less what I’m doing right now, except that I’ll have five more books available at bookstores.



2. What was your favorite toy during childhood?

I remember a turquoise Matchbox car, and later, a larger die-cast Batmobile. I also had a GI Joe (back when Joe was bigger than Barbie) as an astronaut, with a Mercury space capsule and a silver space suit.

But I have to admit that the leisure items I spent the most time with while growing up were books.

3. Most embarrassing moment during adolescence?

Geez, Christine, whose side are you on? Okay, this story requires a little background: in Canada, we have a TV games show called Reach for the Top, where teams of high-school students compete in answering trivia questions — kind of like a team version of Jeopardy for teens.

In Grade 11, I had two friends on my high school’s Reach for the Top team, and one Saturday I accompanied them to the TV studio. This was a working studio in a small-city station; the only accommodation for a live audience were a few random chairs at the back.

I sat on a high stool. At the very end of the show, when my team had won, I applauded. I don’t know what I did, but the stool tipped and I toppled onto my butt. Watching the taped show later, I saw my friends on the team pointing at me (off-camera, thankfully) and laughing as the credits started to roll.

4. What do you most enjoy about the writing process?

I know that some people say “I don’t like writing — I like having written.” I disagree. I love the process, I love thinking up ideas and the way they take their own shape as I type them onto the screen.

5. You can spend the day with someone famous (living or dead). Who do you choose? Why? What do you talk about?

Jack Kerouac. We could talk about writing, about breaking into the publishing world, gaining attention and the interface between literature, music and other arts.

6. How many unfinished manuscripts sit dusty and unloved in your office?

Many dusty, none unloved. I really plan to finish them all, one day.

• There’s the high-adventure science-fiction novel that I began with “It was a dark and stormy night.”
• Then the story of the girl who stole all her research from her unappreciative employer.
• Dark Clouds, the story of the son of the Witch Queen.
• A psycho-killer story.
• My memoriam to my father-in-law, who was drafted into the Red Army in 1941 and later escaped, with the 12 men under his command, from a German POW camp.
• The doctor's in-laws
• And several more.

7. Of which of your works are you most proud?

So far, it’s the only novel that’s been published so far: The Bones of the Earth. I am proud of it for being my first published novel, and because I believe it’s a good novel. It has several levels: it’s an adventure story, but it also illustrates the struggles of a young man with a disability in an unforgiving society.

The plot encompasses all seven basic stories: the quest, revenge, rite of passage, kill the king, fish out of water, redemption and of course, boy meets girl — you gotta have a love story!

And I’m also proud of it for earning some very good reviews. Not a huge number (not a huge number of sales, either), but mostly very positive.

8. Please share the most heartwarming or amusing comment you’re received from a reader.

There have been many, I am very thankful to be able to say. I am so moved when readers tell me how they love Javor, the protagonist of my novel, The Bones of the Earth. For example: “Javor, whom I love, is the slayer of monsters and dragons,” from Linda, a reviewer on Goodreads.” And a good Internet friend and fellow author, Cinta Garcia Rosa, wrote about Javor “One of my favourite characters from now on.”



9. Do you eat your veggies?

Absolutely! Not only do I love vegetables (and meat, and dairy, and sweets, and ... food), I hit the “5 to 10 a day” mark every day!

10. What was the catalyst that drove your to write your first book?

I had wanted to write a dragon story for my children for a long time, and I wanted to write something that went beyond typical fantasy. Also, I wanted to write something that evoked eastern European cultures, something largely overlooked in Western literature.

The catalyst had two sparks:

• David Keys’ Catastrophe: An investigation into the origins of the modern world, which theorizes that the eruption of the Krakoa volcano in Indonesia in 535 AD led not only to the plague that killed Emperor Justinian, but the migration of the Avars from China to Europe, the rise of the Turks and the weakening of other civilizations around the world.

• At about the same time, I came across a theory (cannot find it again, alas) that the historical King Arthur and Beowulf both died that same year — 535 AD. That led to the story!

11. Favorite vacation spot?

Vienna. Friendly, clean, courteous, walkable with unbelievably great food and dense, rich culture!

11 new questions for authors:

1. Which villain character did you have the most fun writing. Admit it, you loved it!
2. In the genre you have chosen to write in, which convention (typically followed by other authors in the same genre) drive you nuts the most?

3. What genre that you have not written in yet would you most like to? What’s holding you back?

4. Have you ever written a character based very closely on someone you know in your real life?

5. What word or phrase do you find you overuse the most?

6. Name your favourite author: what is it about that person’s writing that appeals to you so much?

7. What music do you listen to while you write?

8. Coffee or tea?

9. Dog or cat?

10. Who was Jessica Rabbit?

11. If you could meet one fictional character from any book other than your own, who would it be? Why? What would you talk about?

And now, the next 11 victims authors to receive the Liebster Award:

1. David C. Cassidy

2. Cinta Garcia Rosa

3. Scott Morgan

4. Roger Eschbacher

5. Gary Henry

6. Benjamin X. Wretlind

7. Martin Crosbie

8. David Mark Brown

9. Alan McDermott

10. Kathy Lynn Hall
 
11. RS Guthrie

 

The reader-author connection: Joe McCoubrey on writing style

Joe McCoubrey on Style

Joe McCoubrey knows a thing or two about writing style. As a newspaper editor, he dealt with several writers' styles before turning to fiction with his first novel, a thriller set in his home of Northern Ireland during its "troubles."

Joe has graciously agreed to weigh in on Written Words' Style debate.

How would you describe your own writing style?

I like to think it’s a tell-it-like-you-see-it style. I tend to go for the line of least resistance by getting the reader involved as quick as possible. That tends to mean I cut out the flowery stuff and reduce scene-setting to the minimum. I think it’s important, particularly in action thrillers, not to lose sight of why the reader has picked up your book – it’s certainly not to help an author indulge in rambling descriptive stuff and dialogue that takes forever to get to the point.

Are there any authors whose style you admire? Do you try to emulate them?

I love the styles of Lee Child, Matt Hilton, Vince Flynn, Brad Thor and James Patterson. They produce works that are not only a great read but succeed, where too many others fail, in putting the reader into the heart of the action. You can learn a lot from the style of writers like these but budding authors should never try to emulate. It’s important for an author to find his or her own style – without it I would suggest it is almost impossible to pen a credible story.

Are there authors whose writing style you dislike?

Yes. I’ve discarded literally dozens of books after only a chapter or two because the writing style, or more correctly, the absence of it, makes it difficult to buy into the story being told. I won’t name any particular authors but generally there are too many first-time writers who narrate their story rather than coming down from their overview perch and stepping into the events as they are unfolding.

How important is your writing style to you? Are you happy with your style, or are there aspects of it you try to change during rewriting or editing?

I subscribe to the view that without a style that is personal and identifiable with an author he or she ends up pushing a rather large boulder up a steep hill. Style is something that develops over time and needs to be worked on. I constantly edit to make sure I’m keeping true to the style I have chosen, though it does become easier to employ with the experience of continual writing. After a while it simply becomes natural and requires reducing effort to "slip into" character.

How can readers identify your writing style? Are there particular words or kinds of words that you tend to favour? Sentence structures? Or is it more in the story, the pacing or the characters?

In many ways it’s a combination of all these characteristics. For me the important first starting point is sentence and paragraph construction. I detest having to read a story that is filled with six or seven line sentences or where single paragraphs take up an entire page. Readers like to catch breath and be able to keep up with what’s going on in the page rather than face steep cliffs every time they turn a page. If I had a motto it would be "keep it short and tell it succinctly."

Joe McCoubrey's first novel is
available exclusively on Amazon.

Do you think your genre imposes certain restrictions on writing style?

No question about it. Action demands speed and tension, not a slow build up that will leave the reader wondering when the action kicks in. I don’t mean that every page should be full of action but when the time comes for it then go to it! Obviously this would not apply to other genres where a slow-burner approach is not only necessary but is expected.

Do you think your audience responds to your writing style, consciously or unconsciously?

Yes, there has to be a connection between the reader and author. Often this will be a subconscious connection where the reader is comfortable with the writer’s style and this is what makes him or her keep going back for more. Clive Cussler is perhaps the best example of an author who has developed a way of telling his stories – the style and format never change from book to book, and that is what attracts his army of followers. They love what they get and they know they can trust the author to deliver the next time around.

How important do you think writing style is to an author's commercial success?

It is everything. Devising storylines and plots is relatively easy. We all see enough TV and films to be able to conjure up a story with a few twists and turns but the real work lies in being able to tell the story with authority and effect. There are, of course, a few exceptions where relative success has been achieved despite the clear absence of style. However, if a writer wants longevity in this business he or she will need to impose their style. Just look at the list of bestselling authors – they top the charts for one very good reason. They have style!

About Joe McCoubrey

Joe McCoubrey is a former Irish newspaper editor who is now a full-time action thriller writer. In the early seventies he was working in the civil service based at Stormont, the seat of the Northern Ireland government, and was watching behind the scenes as some of the country’s most momentous events unfolded. These were the early dark days of the “troubles” — events that reverberated around the world, and somehow served to push him towards his real passion of writing. He became a newspaperman, started his own media business, and took a front row seat as history was played out in Ireland.

His debut full-length thriller Someone Has To Pay was released by Master Koda Select Publishing in September. He has also had a short action story, Death By Licence, published in an anthology and is preparing a second full-length actioner, Absence of Rules, for release in January 2013. He has now started work on an Irish crime thriller, also due out in 2013.

Joe McCoubrey has lived all his life in the beautiful Irish town of Downpatrick, made famous by its association with the national patron saint, St. Patrick.

You can visit him at: http://joemccoubrey.com/

Update from my book signing event!

I thought I had sent this post yesterday from my iPad, but Google and Apple don't play nicely together. See the note at the end of the post.

Here are my two lovely assistants at my book signing event: my boys, Nicolas and Evan. This is my second post today from Gaia Java in Stittsville, so I'm going to use a different approach this time.
 
How is the signing going, you ask? (Yes, I can hear you — there's an App for that). There's a little lull now, but I had a small crowd up to about a half-hour ago. Some friends dropped in, had some coffee, talked about books and kids and cars. I spoke to a couple of readers and gave away some copies of my short story, Sam, the Strawb Part. 

It's thrilling to be autographing copies of your book — I have never felt like that before. Now, the crowds have died away; I'm waiting for the next rush to come, the people who need their afternoon coffee. Maybe I'll meet some more readers. I won't hope for more sales — I've had more than most authors get in one day at this kind of event. But I won't turn them down, either.

The technological side 

The last post, I wrote the text in a word processor, then copied and pasted it into Google's Blogger app. I could also add a picture or two, taken with my iPad2. That part worked fairly well, although the resolution is not great because of the iPad2's (the "old" iPad, now) rudimentary camera.

The Blogger app is not very good. It's designed for use on a phone, and the iPad version does not use the whole screen — just a little rectangle in the middle. There isn't enough room to see much of what you write. The onscreen keyboard — well, let's just say that it's a good thing I have the Kensington Bluetooth keyboard synced to the iPad.

This time, I'm using the old-fashioned approach of emailing the post to my Blogger account. It takes more planning, because you cannot attach a picture to the email from within the iPad. If you want a picture, you have to open it in Photos, select Email Picture, and add the post as a caption.

 Enough for now. I'll be here for another hour, so as the celebs on all the talk shows say, if you're in town, come and see me.

One last technological note:

 Live blogging from the iPad has a number of holes in it. I tried, twice, to send this post from my iPad. Doing that requires a double work-around.

First, for remomte blogging, Blogger requires that you set up a special email account in Blogger; type your text into the email, put the title as the Subject line, and email it to this special address, and the content goes to your Drafts folder. Then you can edit it.

However, on Safari on the iPad, you cannot select a photo from the camera roll or anywhere else in the iPad. So if you want to put a picture, you have to use the second work-around, this one imposed by Apple: select the photo in the Photos app, select E-mail Photo, address it to your Blogger account and add your text in the body of the email below the picture. This does not give you the option to format the picture in any way, however. I suppose if you had a Picasa account, you could include the photo in your blog by selecting its URL, but you can't do that with Photostream, because Apple likes to keep those URLs secret.

So there, two work arounds, but in this case, they didn't work. I thought I had updated the blog yesterday afternoon, but no — all I got, instead of a new post, was a single photo in the Drafts folder. I have had to edit it in HTML mode in Safari on my iPad, because for some reason, I cannot add text in the Compose mode.

Here's a recommendation to Google and Apple: play nicely together.

Sent from my iPad, then finalized on my desktop.

Three-way blog swap: How do we choose names?

This week's guest post is part of a three-way. Joe McCoubrey, former journalist and now novelist, with a book coming out very soon, writes here about naming fictional characters; my guest post is now on paranormal author Cathy Brockman's blog, and Cathy is writing for Joe. Be sure to check out these other blogs, as well as anyone else with the Master Koda badge, for some great reading. But first, read Joe's words.

 

 

How do authors come up with names for their fictional characters?

If you think about it, the average novel will introduce about 20 or 30 different characters — from the hero or heroine (and their closest friends/family) right through to all the people they need to encounter in the various twists and turns of a story.

So where does an author start the naming process?

We all do it differently, but put no less thought into coming up with names that roll off the tongue, stay memorable for the reader, and somehow capture the character we’re writing about.

Lee Child’s engrossingly enigmatic MP wouldn’t be the same if he wasn’t called Jack (just call me) Reacher, and how did Stephen Leather take an everyday kind of name like Dan Shepherd and make it resonant through a gripping series? In the latter case, Leather’s use of the nickname ‘Spider’ provided an easy alliteration that we, as readers, instantly buy into.

So where did the names come from? The secret might just be as basic as authors playing about with a list until they get one they like. By building a great character (and great stories) around the chosen names, they hope to succeed in getting the reader to identify with the overall concept in such a way that the name remains with us. Obviously, it helps if you’re a prolific author who constantly finds interesting stories for your character and therefore builds the brand through the series.

Many authors use the names of friends, either in full or by coming up with a subtle derivative. This helps not only to prepare a nice long list but also makes it easier to describe characteristics and traits if the actual person is always on the mind when writing about their fictitious alter ego. Not much good if your friends are plain John Smith (with apologies to all John Smiths)!

There are also some pitfalls to be avoided.

Let’s say an author picks a name for a character who is an eminent surgeon with a private practice in a particular city and you attribute some unsavoury or unprofessional actions to the character. Where would the author be if such a professional with that name actually existed? Unlikely? Pick a name at random, Google it and see what happens! You’ll be surprised.

By the way he or she doesn’t have to be a surgeon — the same applies to any profession, including police officers, who figure most in popular fiction.

Our literary forefathers could delve into the realms of the surreal to come up with tasty bites like Robinson Crusoe or Wilkins Micawber. And you really had to be there to understand the mind of PJ Wodehouse when he gave birth to Bertie Wooster, Watkyn Bassett, Gussie Fink-Nottle and Tuppy Glossop!!

The process, however, could be as simple as the choices faced by all parents when picking a name for their child, although in this case they have half the job done for them. There’s not much they can do about the surname but just think of the tizzy they get into trying to come up with a first name that “sings” to them when they bolt it on. The modern writer has to find both halves of the equation!

And perhaps the secret is as simple as that. Start with one half — either the first name or the surname — and then try to find a match. It would be interesting to know if Child decided first on Reacher and then added Jack, or was it the other way round?

When all’s said and done, the readers are the people who decide whether the choices we make are appropriate. So why not ask the readers? In these days of social media it would be an interesting experiment for authors to Facebook or tweet their friends/followers/fans and ask them to submit possible names for particular characters. I can just see a typical post: I’m writing about gangland criminals in London and have decided to include twins by the names of Ronnie and Reggie. Does anybody have a suggestion for a surname??



Bio

Joe McCoubrey is a former journalist turned author. His first novel, Someone Has to Pay, is being released shortly, with number two already in the bag and number three halfway there. In between, he has written a short story, "Death by Licence," which was published last month in an anthology called Action: Pulse Pounding Tales, edited by Matt Hilton. To find out more about Joe, check out the following links:



Blog: http://joemccoubrey.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/joe.mccoubrey
Twitter: http://twitter.com/JoeMcCoubrey1


My contribution to the three-way is on Cathy Brockman's blog at http://cathybrockman.com/our-next-stop-on-the-tour-scott-bury/
And don't forget to visit Joe's blog to read Cathy's post!

On Tour with Master Koda Linda Bolton: What kicked off her book?

For the TTC Master Koda Virtual Blog Tour this week, I'm hosting Linda Bolton, full-time fitness instructor, things Scottish fan and as-yet-unpublished romance author. Her assignment for this week (week 7)  is "what kicked off your current book?" Her book ... well, I'll let Linda tell you.

Yes, You Could Be A Character In My Book!

I write contemporary romance. My ideas come from everyday life...mostly from my friends or public figures.


Since my divorce, I have reconnected with a lot of male friends from high school and college. One of the many things they have in common is a lack of sex life with their spouses. Somehow I have become their confidant and unofficial sex therapist.


I was debating what I wanted my current book to be about and thought how much fun it would be to write about my sex advice. I have always told my friends nothing they say or do is exempt from my writing, but I would use creative licence to protect the embarrassed.


I’ve been working on character profiles and this will be one hot book. It has many middle-aged, still very sexy, men with steamy sex scenes. You wouldn’t believe the things I’ve learned while chatting with sex-starved men. Texting and Facebook make it very comfortable for people to speak freely. Maybe I should have gotten that psych degree instead?


I would never tell the true identities of my characters. I’m hoping, if they’re brave enough to read my book, they won’t recognize themselves. I would hate to make enemies of my friends; they really should feel flattered I found them so interesting!


If you check out my blog, you’ll see its about everyday relationship issues that can increase romance or block it. I’m hoping this book, with humor and naughtiness, can remind us of the romance we are missing in our lives and how to get it back.


How’s the romance in your life? What are you doing to “bring sexy back”?


Linda's blog is "Romance is in the Air." This week in the Virtual Blog Tour, she's hosting Kristina Jackson.
 
My guest post in the Tour this week can be found Inside the Secret World of Allison Bruning, where I write about five sparks that started my novel.

Master Koda virtual blog tour: Brad Fleming

This week's guest blogger is Brad Fleming, whose first novel, Role of Dishonour, will be published by TriDestiny Publishing. He's here to tell us about his favourite author. And as always on the Master Koda—Tasha Turner Virtual Blog Tour, I have a guest post, this week on racy Laci Paige's blog, Laci's Place. But read Brad's piece first.

I’m delighted to occupy the guest spot on Scott Bury’s site today. He’s a new friend and I’m glad to make his acquaintance. I have to confess I carried out a little gentle reconnaissance on his site and I can thoroughly recommend it. I know I’m in safe hands.

MY FAVOURITE AUTHOR

Narrowing the field down to one favourite author is quite a task. In the end I had to imagine I was a guest on the long-running BBC radio show Desert Island Discs where each week a celebrity is invited to choose eight favourite records – and one book. That concentrated the mind considerably and I realised it had become a simple choice.

This man has been my best-loved author from childhood. I have read, and re-read, all his books, not only for the marvellous stories but for his writing style, for his ability to tell a good tale and for his knowledge and appreciation of humanity.

That man is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, chiefly remembered for having created the great consulting detective Sherlock Holmes, in the opinion of many the most famous character in all fiction. Add to that a succession of historical romances, the Professor Challenger stories, including The Lost World, and his work as a war correspondent and his output was staggering. Only Dickens and H Rider Haggard were more prolific.

I have his four Sherlockian novels and his canon of short stories in one volume and that is the book I would choose. As Holmes himself may well have said, “The choice is elementary my dear Watson.”

Why not let Scott know about your own favourite book or author? I know it’s a toughie so I’m sure he won’t limit you to just one.

Thanks Scott for inviting me to your place.

Thank you, Brad! Brad's blog is Writer's Den. Check out his books, too!