Getting the most from a critique

Maureen Vincent-Northam, my good writing friend and co-author of the The Writer's ABC Checklist asked me to guest post on her blog. I gave some advice on getting the most from a critique. You can read it here: Critically Speaking

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Don't Know? Look it Up

Today my guest post is from my very good friend and research guru, Maureen Vincent-Northam. Her advice is invaluable for all writers, whether researching for an article, non-fiction book or even fiction.

Don't Know? Look it Up

Some words have a certain writery ring about them: muse, reflection, creativity, contemplation. Others are less inspiring: tedium, frustration, research.

Okay, let’s leave tedium and frustration at the bottom of the pile – like frilly shirts and fitted sheets when we do the ironing – and take a closer look at research. Not everyone’s cup of tea, I grant you, but stay with me here.

When Lorraine and I wrote The Writer’s ABC Checklist, we carried out a whole heap of the stuff. As authors of a guide to professional presentation, it was vital that we got our facts right; there were many things we had to check (and we checked out many sources and took advice from publishing professionals) before we were satisfied we’d got the correct information.

But research isn’t confined to reference books. Even in works of fiction, a reader will expect your facts to be spot on – there’s always some clever dick ready to point out that, actually, your hero couldn’t have used Morse Code in 1786 and your heroine may have been pioneering and avant-garde but she wasn’t flogging teabags in her corner shop in 1902.

When writing stories, where an overview of a particular period is all you need, the children’s section of your local library is a hard act to follow. Books covering the Romans, Tudors, Victorians and just about any other era, will tell you how they lived, what they wore, and whether or not they sold teabags.

Tracking down info for any work, be it a novel or a non-fiction book, an article or a short story, can be time consuming. The secret is to prioritise and break down your search into practical and workable chunks.

• When using the Internet, look for websites run by associations, societies and official fan clubs of the people or subjects you’re covering, as these will have the most reliable data.

• Use primary sources rather than secondary ones. A primary source is the original – the secondary has been written using the original source in some way. And a transcript of an original document may contain errors.

• Gather info from more than one book if you are researching this way and check the bibliographies to ensure the writers haven’t taken their information from the same source, thus perpetuating inaccuracies.

• Gather the views of more than one expert to lessen the risk of biased data and personal opinion over facts.

• Be very careful that you are not citing old facts and figures, as newer research may mean this material has become obsolete.

A final, and pretty darned clever, tip. When even reputable sources differ on dates or measurements, you don’t need to risk getting it wrong; it’s still possible to be correct without being specific. For example: The church was built in the latter half of the 13th century or the limo was twice the length of two average family saloons.

MaureenVincent-Northam has been published in newspapers, international magazines and on the Web, contributing regularly to markets aimed at writers. She is the author of Trace your Roots and co-authored The Writer’s ABC Checklist. She won The Writers’ Advice Centre for Children’s Books 2008 competition and her short stories and poetry have appeared in a number of anthologies. Maureen is also a freelance editor, has judged online writing contests, and tutored writing workshops.

www.maureen-vincent-northam.co.uk

The Writer’s ABC Checklist

Pressing for publicity

Geoff from Carlisle says: I have self-published a novel and want to arrange some publicity. I got in touch with the local paper and the editor said to send in a press release. This is great, but I have no idea how to go about it.

A press release is an extremely effective way of garnering some free publicity. The main function of a press release from the newspaper’s point of view is slightly different to yours. You want it to promote your book; the newspaper is looking for newsworthy, interesting and pertinent information of benefit to its readers. So your press release won’t find favour if it comes across as a straightforward blatant advertisement for your book.

With a bit of luck, the editor will use your press release as the basis for a longer or shorter feature of their own. However, you need to bear in mind that it might get run it as it is – word for word. Because of this, you have to write your story as you would like to see it published. This means keeping it concise, pithy, but, above all, error-free.

Write in the third person, present it in double line spacing, use an acceptable font, such as Times New Roman or Arial and keep it to one page, if at all possible.

Write PRESS RELEASE in capitals and centre it at the top of the page. Below this, indicate when the release can be used. This will be the date when your book is available; if that is straight away, write ‘for immediate use’.

Under this comes the all-important headline which should describe the content of the press release in a nutshell. Sharp, concise, and amusing headlines are the most attention-grabbing. Type it in bold and centre it on the page.

The first paragraph contains a brief summary of what the press release is about and this is followed by more detail in consecutive paragraphs. Explain the book’s theme in a few words, what inspired you to write it, and your interests and experience in the field. Enliven the release by including a piece of information as a direct quote.

At the bottom of the page, write your contact details including a phone number and/or email address, so that you can be contacted immediately if the editor needs further information.

Include a picture of the book cover and a head and shoulders shot of yourself. Write a caption for each, and submit with the editorial.

It’s important to consider the timing of your press release. Magazines may not have space to include your editorial for several weeks, or longer, if it’s a monthly publication. Local press, on the other hand, might be persuaded to run the story to coincide with a book signing, an appearance on local radio, or a talk or demonstration held locally.

The Writer’s ABC Checklist

Avoid this writing scam

Janice from Blackburn sent in a question that seems to be coming up more frequently recently – and it’s a worrying trend. She writes: I have subscribed to a freelance site where we have to bid for writing jobs. Many of these jobs specify quite low rates of pay, which I ignore, but there are others where the pay rate seems fair, but in the bid we are asked to supply a newly written sample article on the subject stated in the job offer, for which the bidder will not get paid. Do you think this is a scam, even though the lucky writer who gets taken on will (presumably) receive a fair payment for future work?

Janice, I’ve seen such job offers on numerous sites and very often the job is never awarded to anyone – and why would it be when the so-called employer has collected enough free work to use for a long time to come? Usually the brief says the sample article has to be able to pass Copyscape to prove it’s not been copied, which sounds fair until you think about it a bit more. I’ve noticed that these jobs sometimes get over a hundred bids, which means the person asking for samples has received that number of free (freshly written) articles.

Assuming the articles are used in a print publication somewhere on the other side of the world, or even on a website, the chances of the writer being able to claim payment for their work are not high.

Don’t reply to such job offers. If the person seeking a writer asks for samples of your work, send them something that has already been published, for which you have been paid, and state where and when it appeared. No reputable employer would ask for newly written samples, but would be only too happy to look at your previous writing clips to judge your ability to undertake the task.

The Writer’s ABC Checklist

When Your Characters Don't Speak Your Language ...

Margaret from London is writing a novel set abroad. She asks: What is the best way to show my characters are not native English speakers? Should I put dialogue in a foreign language and then give a translation?

If used in moderation, foreign words in dialogue can give a flavour of the character’s origins, but don’t overdo it. When using foreign words, make sure that the meaning is made clear from the text without the reader needing to resort to a foreign/English dictionary – and don’t give translations, as that will take the reader out of the story (although you could have one character asking another to translate, but that might get tedious for the reader after a while).

Do not be tempted to insert foreign phrases into every aspect of dialogue. Choose one or two phrases or exclamations and use them sparingly. Often changing the word order gives a better sense of someone exotic, and not comfortable in English, than littering the page with foreign words.

Any foreign words you use should be written in italics and have the necessary accents in the correct place. Words in common use in English (such as rendezvous, pronto, macho) should not be italicised.

The Writer’s ABC Checklist

Branding for Writers

My good friend David Robinson has kindly provided today's guest post, which is likely to be of use to most authors, both self and traditionally published.

“Self-publishing on the Kindle? You need a brand.”

That’s what they said, so I lit the fires and jammed the irons into them. I wasn’t too sure how the Kindle would react to burning my initials onto the plastic casing. I know the dog played hell when I branded him, and the wife wasn’t so happy when it was her turn.

Now that we have all the gags out of the way, the bestselling indie authors on the Kindle are those who produce series of books based around the same characters. This is not the most devastating of insights. When it comes to pulp fiction, Holmes, Poirot, Bond, even Harry Potter have been around a lot longer than the Amazon Kindle. But from an indie point of view, it’s even more important. Put out a series of whodunits with the same loveable characters, and the readers will be queuing all the way to virtual checkout.

Simple, innit?

In principle, yes, but does it work?

The signs are promising. Earlier this year, bored with sci-fi and horror, I put out a novella entitled A Death at the Seaside, a cosy, British murder mystery with three amateur sleuths from the Sanford Third Age Club. Mostly whodunit, partly humorous, I stuck to the old adage of writing about what you know, and I know about lunatic third-age rockers reliving their teens because I am one.

To my surprise A Death at the Seaside began to sell, so I wrote a second book, An Heir to Murder, and that, too, began to sell. Titles three and four are complete-ish, scheduled for release in October (Halloween) and December (Christmas). This is not an accident. This is branding. When do Christmas puddings sell? Clue: it’s not the 3rd of August.

Like any brand, the secret is in the stability of the ingredients. The Sanford Third Age Club go away for a weekend, a crime is committed, Joe, Sheila and Brenda put their sleuthing heads on and solve the crime before coming home to their workaday lives. The locations vary from a day out in Filey to Christmas spent in a classy hotel in Leeds, and I have plans for a minicruise to Bruges and a week in Tenerife. The baddies and their motives vary, too, but every tale is recognisable by its similarity to the predecessors.

Formulaic, is one way of looking at them, but it’s that essence which keeps the hard core fans buying. They’re looking for the repartee between Joe and his female companions, seeking out Brenda’s innuendoes, looking for Sheila’s lectures, and all the while, the reader is also digging for the little clues that will help them solve the crime.

This does not mean that you can churn out a heap of old rubbish and bung it up on Amazon. I’m traditionally published, too, and I know the value of editing. Maureen Vincent-Northam, a friend of both Lorraine and myself, proofs and edits all my work, and the finished product then goes out to independent readers before it’s unleashed on the Kindle.

It’s early days yet. I’m not breathing down Amanda Hocking’s neck (she’d probably have me arrested if I did) but the signs are promising. Without any serious marketing effort, my titles are selling. STAC Investigates has its own Twitter account (@stacinvestigate) my website is currently under reconstruction to concentrate on STAC and my other brand, Space Truckers, my Facebook author’s page focuses on them, my blog concentrates on the characters and background, and I have another blog which gives away FREE reads from the STAC Casebook. Pricing doesn’t appear to have as large an impact as many indies would have us believe, but I’m still playing with it as part of my research.

Creating a brand is like creating a new detergent. When you go to the shop, you don’t ask for a packet of Unilever soap powder, but a packet of Persil. You don’t ask for a bar of chocolate, but a Cadbury’s Dairy Milk. When the buyers come to the Amazon Kindle Store, they won’t be looking for the latest novel by David Robinson; they’ll come for the latest STAC Investigates title.

Website: http://www.dwrob.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/davidrobinsonwriter

Email: dwrob96@gmail.com

Kindle storefront: http://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B004M204BC

The Writer’s ABC Checklist

Copying from someone else's work

George from Cape Town, South Africa asks: Is it okay to use bits from someone else’s work in my non-fiction book? I don’t want to find myself in court on charges of plagiarism or breach of copyright.

It is not plagiarism or a breach of copyright to use short quotes from someone’s work, as long as you acknowledge the original source. It should be clear that you are citing another author, and appropriate reference given, including the title of the work, the year it was published and the publisher.

Publishing long passages of work without the author’s permission is a breach of copyright, even if the author is acknowledged. You may be allowed to reprint part of another author’s work by gaining permission from the copyright holder. If the copied section is part of a book, rather than from an article, it is usual to contact the publisher. In most cases, use of someone else’s work involves a fee.

The Writer’s ABC Checklist