How To Write A Middle Grade Novel

Wondering how to write a novel for the middle grades? Here are three articles penned by full-time freelance writer, children's author, and Working Writers Coach Suzanne Lieurance.

Writing the Middle Grade Novel - From Start to Finish: Part One
Are you aching to write a middle grade novel but you don't really know how to get started much less finish such a project? Then here are a few tips to help you get going.

Writing the Middle Grade Novel - From Start to Finish: Part Two
Now, here are some tips and tricks for plotting and writing your novel.

Writing the Middle Grade Novel: From Start to Finish - Part Three
Here are a few tips to help you FINISH your manuscript.

Suzanne Lieurance's websites:
- Ezine Articles
- www.SuzanneLieurance.com
- The Working Writer's Club

Related reading:
- Middle Grade Novels - How To Write Them

7 Tips On How To Launch A Book Without Losing Your Mind

Elizabeth S. Craig writes:

Today is the launch for the first book in a new series—Quilt or Innocence in the Southern Quilting mysteries. 

How often will I track its sales numbers? Rarely.

7 Tips for Releasing a Book Without Losing Your Mind:

1. Get off the grid. That’s right. Take yourself offline. It can be done! The longer I stay offline when I’ve got a release, the more relaxed I feel.

2. Don’t watch your numbers. Sales numbers will fluctuate…and most of the time we don’t know what’s behind them. It’s sort of like the flapping butterfly wings creating the hurricane.

3. Don’t read your reviews unless you can be objective. You don’t even have to be objective…being analytical about the reviews is good enough.

4. Write your next book. Always a good idea to get a jump on a sequel or another standalone.

5. Write guest posts. Not only will a well-crafted guest post keep you distracted, it will also help circulate that book cover and headshot of yours. 

Read the rest of Elizabeth's post here: How to Launch a Book Without Losing Your Mind.

I love getting tips from a pro! I can't wait to read Quilt or Innocence, I love Elizabeth's books.

Cheers.

Steve Wasserman Compares Readers of Genre Fiction to Drug Addicts

Kris Rusch hit another home run with her Thursday column. Her article will be met with a resounding, "Heck ya!" by any who felt insulted on behalf of E.L. James because of the way she was treated at the Authors Guild Dinner.

In case you missed it, here's the offensive part:

A number of the evening’s speakers, who also included writers David Rakoff and Sarah Jones, made obligatory digs at 50 Shades of Grey, an erotic work derived from Twilight fan fiction and derided as “mommy porn” that has inexplicably topped the New York Times bestseller list.
- Authors hail Teddy Roosevelt, rip ‘mommy porn’ at annual gala

Really? E.L. James is an author whose books have sold well, hers is a success story, but if she thought the Authors Guild would welcome her she was wrong. Instead they act like common schoolyard bullies. Why? Well, I'm guessing it was because her work was self-published in the beginning, before Random House signed her, and because it sold like wildfire.

Where will this bullying end?

In a recent article, The Amazon Effect, Steve Wasserman tucks into writers and readers of genre fiction. What follows is excerpted from Kris Rusch's article.

Kris writes: 

[Wasserman] writes, “Readers of e-books are especially drawn to escapist and overtly commercial genres (romance, mysteries and thrillers, science fiction), and in these categories e-book sales have bulked up to as large as 60 percent.”

In other words, junk sells better in e-book format, something you hear a lot from the folks in traditional publishing these days.

Wasserman then quotes an unnamed traditional publishing executive who says, “But as Amazon’s six other publishing imprints (Montlake Romance, AmazonCrossing, Thomas & Mercer, 47North, Amazon Encore, The Domino Project) have discovered, in certain genres (romance, science fiction and fantasy) formerly relegated to the moribund mass-market paperback, readers care not a whit about cover design or even good writing, and have no attachment at all to the book as object. Like addicts, they just want their fix at the lowest possible price, and Amazon is happy to be their online dealer.”

Is it any wonder that traditional publishing is in trouble, with that attitude? The books that sell well don’t deserve (in their opinion) the respect of good covers or good marketing, and the readers certainly don’t deserve their respect. Apparently, the book collectors who predominate in science fiction and fantasy don’t care about books as objects (that’ll be news to them). Apparently people who read this junk just want their fix, like any other drug addict.

Insulted yet?

No wonder readers who enjoy genre fiction like to read it on their e-readers. The covers from traditional publishers are deliberately ugly, the writing is awful (supposedly—and if so, then what does traditional publishing bring to the table, if they publish any old crappy writer?), and the people who publish it are awfully judgmental. Best to enjoy it in private, without someone leering at the awful cover that the publishers have put on the book.

Go back to that Authors Guild meeting, note that they made fun of a book that first sold well as an indie title in e-book, and ask yourself who those writers identify with? I have a hunch it’s not those of us who write genre fiction.

What's the moral of the story? Is there one? I don't know. I'll admit to being disillusioned when it comes to traditional publishing and the ideals it stands for.

There is good news, though. With the demise of the big bookstore chains there has been a resurgence of independent bookstores. Book sales, both of digital and paper books, are up.

It's always nice to end on a positive note. :)

Cheers.

Esquire Interviews Bill Murray

Bill Murray is one of my favorite actors. I watch What About Bob at least once a year. Just thinking about curling up on the couch with a big bowl of sinfully buttered popcorn is enough to put a goofy smile on my face.

Mr. Murray did an interview for Esquire last month, here are my favorite it-could-apply-to-writing bits from it.

Bill Murray on his teacher/mentor Del Close:

He taught people to commit. ... You've gotta go out there and improvise and you've gotta be completely unafraid to die. You've got to be able to take a chance to die. And you have to die lots. You have to die all the time. You're goin' out there with just a whisper of an idea. The fear will make you clench up. That's the fear of dying. When you start and the first few lines don't grab and people are going like, "What's this? I'm not laughing and I'm not interested," then you just put your arms out like this and open way up and that allows your stuff to go out. Otherwise it's just stuck inside you.

 The next time I have writers block I'm going to try that!

On making a movie:

SR: It's amazing what goes into making a movie.

BM: But nobody cares. It's like talking about the difficulties of fame. Nobody gives a shit. No one could care less. But it's an amazing triumph even to make a bad movie. Even a crap film is really an extraordinary achievement. You're taking a two-dimensional object and making it three-dimensional. The number of people. The number of days. The number of cuts.

I think that applies to writing as well. Even if you think, "This is a bad book, this is the worst book ever," while you're writing, you still need to finish the book. And, really, it's probably not as bad as you think, but it's easy to be negative in-the-moment.

If you'd like to read the rest of Bill Murray's interview, click here: Bill Murray: The ESQ+A

Clive Barker Doing The Rewrite of Zombies vs. Gladiators

Although in a coma this February because of blood poisoning, Clive Barker is now fully recovered and looks forward to rewriting Zombies vs. Gladiators:

I’m excited by the opportunity to interweave two very rich narrative threads. One of them concerns itself with the reality of the decadence of Rome and its rise and fall. The other is a fantastical narrative element - the living dead. My brief to myself on this project is to give the audience not only zombies they have never seen before but also a Rome they have never seen before.

Amazon Studios offered up the dream ticket with this project. In twenty-five years of working in this town, I've rarely had people listen to what I had to say as closely and as carefully as they did and then simply give me the freedom to go do it. Amazon Studios is an innovative creative concept. I am looking forward to providing my own perspective to make Zombies vs. Gladiators a highly commercial and entertaining movie.
- Amazon Studios' 'Zombies vs. Gladiator' script to receive a Clive Barker rewrite

This is the Roman version of the zombie apocalypse so, of course, the action takes place in a Roman Colosseum. A shaman is set to become the latest casualty of the Romans casual barbarity when he casts a spell that brings the victims of previous battles back to life.

Rumor has it that the hero is going to be a male version of the Alice character in Resident Evil.

Books, household items and now movies, Amazon is focused on capturing ever bigger slices of the entertainment pie. I'm looking forward to see how this story develops.

To read more about Zombie vs. Gladiators, click here:
Amazon Studios' 'Zombies vs. Gladiator' script to receive a Clive Barker rewrite

More On Writing Life, Kobo's New Self Publishing Platform

Yesterday I wrote about the announcement that Kobo had created a self publishing portal for writers called Writing Life.

At that time we didn't know much, only that it would enable authors to offer their books, free of charge, for however long they liked. This is in contrast to Amazon's KDP program which allows writers to offer their works free for a maximum of 5 days every 3 months.

Yesterday Kobo released more information:

- Writing Life files use the ePub format which can be played on any eReader.
- Writing life with be available to the English speaking public at the end of June
- You can sign up for Kobo Writing Life here.

Kobo has also released screenshots of their interface. The "Sales at a Glance" page is impressive.

Kobo Writing Life: Sales At A Glance

For more information on Kobo's Writing Life, click here:
Kobo Announces Writing Life—Best-in-Class Open, Collaborative Self-Publishing Portal

Further reading:
- Read more about Kobo's Writing Life portal over at the Passive Voice Blog: Kobo provides more sophisticated reporting for indie authors.

Short Story: A Night In The Country, Part 5

This post has been removed.

Writing Life: Kobo's New Platform For Self Publishers

Kobo's Writing Life program, still in beta, is going head-to-head with Amazon's KDP and Barnes & Noble's PubIt programs in the battle for the self-publishing market.

What is Kobo's competitive advantage? Granting that Writing Life could open up new foreign markets to the North American writer, why should we take the time to publish on yet another platform?

Here's why: because Kobo allows self publishers to set the price of their books to free anytime they like and for as long as they like.

Contrast this with Amazon's KDP Select program which only allows writers to set their book to free for a maximum of five days every three months. With the recent changes to Amazon's ranking algorithm keeping ones book free for a longer period of time has become even more desirable.

Kobo's announcement of their Writing Life program comes at a good time. Their ebook downloads are up 400% from last year and ereader sales are up 280%.

It will be interesting to see how this unfolds. It would be great if Amazon responds by offering more free days for books enrolled in their KDP Select program.

For more on this story click here: Kobo launches e-book self-publishing platform, “Writing Life”

Further Reading:
- An Indie Writer Shares His Experience With KDP Select
- More on Amazon Select: Is exclusivity worth it?
- Changes in Amazon's Algorithm: An Update

Joe Konrath: Are You Ready To Quit Your Job And Write Full Time?

Joe writes:

Every writer needs to figure out what their goals are, and decide upon the best ways to reach those goals. Quitting your job to write full time is a big risk, with no guarantees. Remember that luck is extremely important. You can write a great book and it could take years to find an audience. It might not find an audience within your lifetime. Betting your entire future on luck may not be a wise way to approach life.
- Guest Post by Jude Hardin

I couldn't agree more.

As I read these words Isaac Asimov came to mind. Asimov, one of my all-time favorite authors, was a professor of biochemistry at Boston University and one of the most prolific writers of all time. Did you know he wrote or edited over 500 books? 500! By the way, that information comes from Asimov's Wikipedia page, which is bursting with interesting facts. For instance, I had no idea he had published books in all 10 major categories of the Dewey Decimal System. That's prolific.

Back to Joe.

If you are thinking about writing full time, here are some questions you might ask yourself before telling your boss to go to hell.

Do I Write Quickly? The faster you can write, the better chance you have at making a living. I can comfortably write four novels a year, plus a handful of shorts.

What Is My Financial Situation? You need to understand how much money is required to stay afloat, and when you guess how much your book income will bring in, guess low. Ebooks aren't a steady paycheck. Sales fluctuate. 

Do I Have A Back-Up Plan? Do you have money put aside if things get rough? Would your job take you back six months from now? Do you have an alternate stream of income (spouse, investments)?

What About Insurance? I couldn't afford health insurance the first seven years I was writing full time. I got really lucky my family had no serious health issues. 

Can I Write? Every writer thinks they can write good books. But not every writer actually writes good books. Obviously, some people are deluding themselves. Are you one of them? How do you know for sure?

We all have different goals, and there are many ways to reach those goals. There are no right ways and wrong ways. The best plans can be derailed by bad luck. The worst plans sometimes succeed. But the more informed we are, the more we understand, the likelier we are to make smart choices.
- Guest Post by Jude Hardin

It's all about risk management.

I once took a course at my alma mater that was taught by the owner of Talon Books Publishing. His main focus was on drilling it into our heads that the number one thing we had to focus in any business was on was how to manage risk.

This is true for writers as well, at least writers with their business hats on. The creative artist inside us doesn't give a fig about risk, nor should she, but when we think about marketing, sales, etc, when we think about how nice it would be to continue eating and not having to fight Big Joe for the good cardboard box, then we don our business caps and think about risk management.

Cheers.

Free Photos At morgueFile

I'm constantly on the lookout for royalty-free photos. A few days ago I came across morgueFile. Grizzly name, but the site promises a lot of photos for free use.

Free images for your inspiration, reference and use in your creative work, be it commercial or not!

Here is the human-readable summary of their full license.

Cheers!

The Secret To Making A Living As A Writer: Work For Free

Penelope Trunk writes,

High performers work for free. The difference between working for free because you’re a loser and working for free because you’re a high performer is what you get from the deal.

People often ask me how to become a writer. The answer is to write for free. You won’t get paid for years. I wrote for decades before I saw any money from my writing.
- How to decide when to work for free?

I guess this is what you would call a long term plan for writing success. On the other hand, if you've written for years--blogging, journaling, scribbling on the walls, whatever--you can count that as part of your unpaid apprenticeship.

In any case, let's say someone approaches you with a project, it's something you wouldn't mind doing, but you would be expected to work for free. How do you know whether this opportunity would represent a stepping stone or just one more thing to take you away from that novel you swore you'd finish this year?

I'm reminded of Neil Gaiman's recent commencement address where he compared ones goal, whatever it is, to a mountain. He said, and I'm paraphrasing: If you have a choice to make ask yourself, If I do this, will it take me farther toward, or farther away from, the mountain?

Simple, huh?

What follows is an unholy mashup of Neil Gaiman and Penelope Trunk. Here are guidelines on how to tell whether working for free would take you farther toward, or farther away from, your mountain.

1. Is the path to your mountain jammed with other people or is it an empty thoroughfare?

The more crowded the path, the more attractive free work becomes because it allows you to build your resume.  Penelope writes:

But you know how you can tell when it’s a job no one else wants? It’s really easy to get. If you are having trouble doing the work you want to do then it’s a pretty good bet that it’s not easy work to get.
- How to decide when to work for free?

If it's not easy work to get then working for free can help you fly about the crowds as you work you way closer to your mountain.

2. This job will get you closer to your mountain, but will you starve along the way?

Do your research. Make sure the path you are on really does lead to your mountain and not into a quagmire.

If you're a photographer, taking free pictures for Penelope Trunk's blog makes sense. It's read by thousands of people, potential customers, who will see your work. It's great advertising.

On the other hand, taking pictures for Jane Doe's blog who has 1 subscriber, someone who is currently lost in the subarctic, doesn't make a lot of sense.

3. Will this job help you establish contacts with other people who are heading in the same direction you are?

Everyone is the hero of their own journey and every hero needs a mentor. If working for free will help you meet people you can learn from, perhaps people who would be valuable business contacts for the rest of your professional life, then what are you waiting for?

4. Is the mountain your mountain?

Sometimes we think our goals are the ones we chose when they're really the ones our parents picked out for us, or our society wanted us to have. Perhaps we got swept along a certain path without actively choosing it for ourselves.

Say you want to go into business for yourself. Taking a free internship that will allow you to observe business leaders in action, that will allow you to learn about various aspects of an actual business first hand, could be great experience. Not only if you keep entrepreneurship as your goal, but perhaps as a test to see if going into business for yourself really is your mountain.

Best of luck on your journey toward your mountain.

Other articles you might like:
- Penelope Trunk Discusses Time Management
- Pixar: 22 Ways To Tell A Great Story
- Kristen Lamb: Don't Let Trolls Make You Crazy

Stephen King's Doctor Sleep: Release delayed

Stephen King's sequel to The Shining, Doctor Sleep, is not going to be released in the middle of next January as previously planned.

Here is the original announcement. I'm including it because of the great description of Doctor Sleep.

Just got the okay from Scribner to release the publication date for Doctor Sleep. It is tentatively set for January 15, 2013. Here's the catalog copy:

Stephen King returns to the characters and territory of one of his most popular novels ever, The Shining, in this instantly riveting novel about the now middle-aged Dan Torrance (the boy protagonist of The Shining) and the very special twelve-year-old girl he must save from a tribe of murderous paranormals.

On highways across America, a tribe of people called The True Knot travel in search of sustenance. They look harmless—mostly old, lots of polyester, and married to their RVs. But as Dan Torrance knows, and tween Abra Stone learns, The True Knot are quasi-immortal, living off the “steam” that children with the “shining” produce when they are slowly tortured to death.

Haunted by the inhabitants of the Overlook Hotel where he spent one horrific childhood year, Dan has been drifting for decades, desperate to shed his father’s legacy of despair, alcoholism, and violence. Finally, he settles in a New Hampshire town, an AA community that sustains him, and a job at a nursing home where his remnant “shining” power provides the crucial final comfort to the dying. Aided by a prescient cat, he becomes “Doctor Sleep.”

Then Dan meets the evanescent Abra Stone, and it is her spectacular gift, the brightest shining ever seen, that reignites Dan’s own demons and summons him to a battle for Abra’s soul and survival. This is an epic war between good and evil, a gory, glorious story that will thrill the millions of hyper-devoted readers of The Shining and wildly satisfy anyone new to the territory of this icon in the King canon.

- Release Date? Page 3

Three days ago this statement was published on the forum, again from Ms. Mod:

Steve needs more time for editing as he doesn't feel it's anywhere near ready for publication. He has a number of projects he's working on so would not be able to accomplish that within the deadline they would need in order to get it ready for production for a January release.
- Release Date? Page 5

I'm guessing Doctor Sleep is still going to be published in 2013, just a few months later.

Thanks to Lilja's Library for posting about this.

Related Reading: