Writing Lesson #64: World-Building Offers Many Avenues of Storytelling — Use Them

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NaNo 2016 got off to a less-than-stellar start for me. For a variety of reasons, not the least of which was the shock induced by the presidential election, I was not focused on writing my second novel, The Warden of Everfeld: Legacy. Part of me feels like I’m jumping ahead too much, considering my first significant round of revisions looms for part one, The Warden of EVerfeld: Memento.

I tend to second-guess myself in such ways. The point is, I haven’t advanced WoEL much beyond the 5,000 words I covered over the first eight days or so. Instead of wallowing in my own thought process, I decided to change focus. Continue reading “Writing Lesson #64: World-Building Offers Many Avenues of Storytelling — Use Them”

Marketing Your Novel: Intro to SEO

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Disclosure: I work for a marketing firm. While I have no formal education in marketing or business and would never claim to be an “expert”, working in online marketing for two companies over the last  four years has taught me a lot. This series will explore the marketing strategies I will use to promote my upcoming novel.

While I am not going to be talking exclusively about SEO in this series, SEO happens to be one of the major facets of Content Marketing, a larger theory and set of strategies of online marketing. Thus, at least a basic introduction to SEO is necessary. So… Continue reading “Marketing Your Novel: Intro to SEO”

Friday Write-Day: The Joys of World-Building

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My outlining has really taken off in earnest this week. I definitely have some big revisions in mind for The Warden of Everfeld: Memento, and dropping the synopsis on this site a couple days ago was invigorating. However, I’ve decided to let the alpha manuscript of WoEM (mostly) sit tight through National Novel Writing Month so I can focus on other aspects of my grand writing scheme. Continue reading “Friday Write-Day: The Joys of World-Building”

Novel Synopsis Announcement!

Okay, I’m ready. After mulling over and sitting on a synopsis for The Warden of Everfeld: Memento forever, I will finally publish it. I definitely wrote this synopsis after I wrote the story, but that was mostly because I began writing with a vague idea of where I was headed. Continue reading “Novel Synopsis Announcement!”

Friday Write-Day: NaNo Prep Begins in Earnest!

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I’ve finally finished my first read-through of Manuscript: Alpha. I should have finished weeks ago, but the last 40 or so pages were difficult to get through. I rushed writing the ending simply because I wanted to finish the first draft, and boy does it show. There are probably more spelling errors in those sections than in the entire rest of the book, not to mention several glaring plot-holes. I’d like to apologize publicly to my alpha readers for that. Just know that it was infinitely more tortuous for me because I wrote it 🙂 Continue reading “Friday Write-Day: NaNo Prep Begins in Earnest!”

Friday Write-Day: Revisions Beget… NaNoWriMo!

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Another week, another round of pondering. Revisions to The Warden of Everfeld: Memento are coming along. I have about 40 pages to go to complete my first read-through. I’d like to do that by Sunday so I can start gearing up for NaNo 2016. Continue reading “Friday Write-Day: Revisions Beget… NaNoWriMo!”

Marketing Your Novel: Types of Indirect and Content Marketing

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Disclosure: I work for a marketing firm. While I have no formal education in marketing or business and would never claim to be an “expert”, working in online marketing for two companies over the last  four years has taught me a lot. This series will explore the marketing strategies I will use to promote my upcoming novel. Also, I know free stock photos are lame. I’ll get my own legit photo for this series at some point, I promise.

As we move through this series, I’m going to try and tackle each subject in a logical manner, going deeper and deeper into the many topics and subtopics within marketing without jumping around too much. Thus, some of this information may seem repetitive, because we summarized a lot of it in my first post on where to begin with marketing your novel.

Today, we’ll look more closely at indirect marketing, since this type of marketing is more readily available to most writers, through the magic of the internet — and content marketing. Continue reading “Marketing Your Novel: Types of Indirect and Content Marketing”

Creativity Sessions: Questions to Ask Your Alpha Readers

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I’ve been discussing the revision process for Manuscript: Alpha of The Warden of Everfeld: Memento since completing the first draft way back in July. (That really does feel so much longer ago than two months…)

Since my alpha readers are nearly finished with their reviews, and I am (basically) finished with my own first read-through, I thought I would share the actual questions I typed up for my alpha readers to answer. Continue reading “Creativity Sessions: Questions to Ask Your Alpha Readers”

Friday Write-Day: Revisions and Putting Yourself Out There

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My read-through progress slowed considerably over the last week or two, and not for any reason I can readily identify. With the past three days off from work in the run-up to wedding weekend, I have been able to make considerable progress, getting through about 220 of 275 pages.

Continue reading “Friday Write-Day: Revisions and Putting Yourself Out There”

Marketing Your Novel: Where to Begin?

Disclosure: I work for a marketing firm. While I have no formal education in marketing or business and would never claim to be an “expert”, working in online marketing for two companies over the last  four years has taught me a lot. This series will explore the marketing strategies I will use to promote my upcoming novel. Also, I know free stock photos are lame. I’ll get my own legit photo for this series at some point, I promise.

Telling people that I work in online marketing typically induces one of two reactions in people. Either, “holy crap, how could you work in such a scummy, manipulative industry,” or “wow, marketing my work is so intimidating, where do I begin?” Continue reading “Marketing Your Novel: Where to Begin?”