Today’s guest post comes from Kimberly Hunt, freelance developmental editor with Revision Division.
Let’s set expectations from the start. I am NOT a writer. Through extensive reading, professional training, and my experience as a developmental editor, I’ve learned the essentials of genres. A novel can contain elements from multiple genres but three components distinguish mystery, horror, and suspense.
They are: Timing, Revealed clues,and the Appeal, of the story to the reader’s emotions.
Any novel needs structural
elements with tension provided by formidable conflict and character growth, but
when you’re ready to pass your manuscript to a beta-reader, knowing your genre
will help you know how best to describe it. Use the following key components to
quickly identify if you’ve written a mystery, horror, or suspense novel.
Mystery
It’s all about the chase. Drop the reader in after the crime and
let the story unravel – revealing the why and who at a moderate pace.
The hook in the beginning should establish a question that must be
answered by the end.
Solve the mystery in the end or there is no story. Even if the
criminal gets away, you’re expected to solve the crime.
Along the way, your style of writing characters and plot should
make demands of the reader’s brain to figure out the puzzle. To help them, leave
subtle clues so that it all falls into place in the end.
No cheating – waiting until the end to present a tidy wrap up is
not satisfying for readers.
Horror
It’s all about fear.
Often, a horror story includes themes of bad people or actions (or
both) and usually leans toward the morbid.
Shocking plot twists are great, but it should be believable. In
fact, that’s what makes it so scary.
Character motivations are still important even if horror is
usually more plot-driven than character-driven. In order to evoke a strong
emotional response, the reader must strongly like or hate the character.
The sought after emotional response is intense whether it be from fear
or shock. Readers should be screaming at the book as they see the evil plot
unfold.
Many authors embrace disgust head-on without flinching, unafraid
to turn your stomach with graphic depiction, but use grossness sparingly as
this can be perceived as a lazy trick, much like leaning on coincidence to
solve a mystery or fate to wrap up a romance.
Suspense
It’s all about tense uncertainty. Suspense involves a main
character trying to prevent something from occurring.
A reader of suspense novels should feel tightly wound and worried
about what may happen.
Some authors leverage time limits to increase tension and speed up
the pace.
If Mystery is about what already happened, and horror is happening
now, then suspense is danger about to happen.
Similar to Horror, the reader is aware of the danger, perhaps even
more aware than the main character.
Use your biggest fears against your
characters slowly and subtly, leaving a little to the reader’s imagination.
New authors often struggle to categorize their work, but these guidelines should help. A blend of genres is great as strict rules are nonexistent. However, it’s beneficial to know early in the publishing process what your target audience hopes you’re about to deliver. And it’s absolutely mandatory later for marketing effectively when you’re querying or self-publishing.
Kimberly Hunt is a freelance
developmental editor with Revision Division, specializing in fiction for
self-publishing authors. She’s happy to answer questions about writing and
editing but beware as she can go on at length about her passions: reading,
running, and volunteering.
Writing Bloc’s Escape! An Anthology is available for preorder now for your favorite ebook format (the Kindle link is separate, just click here)! The ebook is only $2.99 during this preorder phase, which is a steal for all of the stories you get from the amazing authors below. On New Year’s Day, the price goes up to $5.99, so grab your ebook today! Be sure to check out all of the author bios below, visit their sites, preorder Escape! An Anthology, and get the book to download automatically to your e-reader on New Year’s Day! Keep your eye out for the upcoming announcement about the print version…details coming soon!
For now, cheers to all these wonderful authors for their contributions to this amazing collection of short stories!
Jason Pomerance, Author of “Mrs. Ravenstein”
Photo Credit: Steven Murashige
Jason Pomerance has written film and television projects for numerous studios and production companies, including Warner Brothers, Columbia Pictures, FremantleMedia, and Gold Circle Films. His first novel, Women Like Us, published by the Quill imprint of Inkshares, debuted in 2016, and his novella Falconer was published in four parts on Nikki Finke’s site for showbiz fiction, Hollywood Dementia. He’s currently working on a new novel. Visit Jason at www.jasonpomerance.com, or on Instagram (@whowantsdinner), and Twitter (@whowantsdinner — and yes, Jason is always hungry!).
Susan K. Hamilton is the author of Shadow King, Darkstar Rising, and the forthcoming The Devil Inside. She lives outside of Boston with her husband, Jeff, and their cat, Rio. An avid equestrian, when she’s not tapping away at a computer, chances are you’ll find her at the barn. She loves fun movies, pizza, and pretty much any furry creature on the planet, and is currently working on a new, follow-up project to Shadow King.
Michael Haase is the author of the forthcoming book, The Man Who Stole the World, to be published by Inkshares. Michael is a happy husband, father, musician, and spontaneous comedian who does nerdy stuff like study computer programming in his spare time. He lives intentionally near Cleveland, believe it or not
Peter Ryan is a sci-fi lover, motorbike rider, darts player, and T-shirt designer, as well as being an English professor at a university in South Korea. He grew up in Perth, Western Australia, and has traveled much of the world. While on the move, he has done a variety of jobs, including sales support at an insurance company, laborer on the building sites of London and Melbourne, chauffeur/minder for an English lord, and business English consultant in Shanghai.
Deborah Munro is a scientist and biomedical engineer from Oregon who recently expatriated to New Zealand. She is passionate about writing, especially hard science thrillers that engage readers on current issues.
Durena Burns currently lives in Southern California and has worked for special education in elementary. She mostly writes biographical stories about her family. Her first published book ‘Call Me Whitehead’ is about her late uncle’s experiences as a black man in the Vietnam War.
Ferd Crôtte is an Internal Medicine hospitalist physician and is the author of ‘Captiveedom’ in this anthology. His debut novel, Mission 51, is currently in production by Inkshares. Ferd and his wife Gail live in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Christopher Lee is the independent author of Nemeton and Bard Song. Outside of his gig as an author, he is an avid history buff, amateur mythologist, bardic poet, Holistic Life Coach, Reiki Master/Teacher, Mindfulness Practitioner, and keeper of the old ways.
Christopher lives in Denver, Colorado with his wife and two cats.
Mike worked for the BBC as a sound mixer, wrote for comedy sketch shows, and developed sit-com ideas. Brought up in Scotland and England, he worked as a script analyst for gap finance company Aramid Capital, and has written many award-winning screenplays.
Born in the backwoods of West Virginia, Chris Hinkle is a country boy down to his molecular structure. He now lives in New Zealand where he works for the Government and puts forth a reasonable effort at masking his inner-hick for the benefit of those around him.
Evan Graham is the author of upcoming science fiction thrillers Tantalus Depths and Proteus. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Education Studies from Kent State University, where he triple-minored in English, Writing, and Theatre. He currently lives in rural Middlefield, Ohio and is extensively involved in local community theatre, both on the stage and behind the scenes.
Tahani Nelson is a Writer, Teacher and Nerd in rural Montana. Her debut series, The Faoii Chronicles focuses on strong female warriors in epic fantasy.
Michael James Welch is a proud Western New Yorker, an even prouder snowflake, and above all, husband and father to a wonderful family. His first novel, PrOOF, will be published by Inkshares in 2019-20. He feasts on your derision and bathes nightly in your disdain.
Cari Dubiel juggles writing, librarian-ing, mom-ing, and bassooning in Northeast Ohio. Her novel, How to Remember, is in production with Inkshares. She is a past Library Liaison to Sisters in Crime and the co-host of the ABC Book Reviews Podcast.
Becca Spence Dobias grew up in West Virginia and now lives in Southern California where she writes hard and moms harder. Her debut novel, Rock of Ages, is in production with Inkshares.
Grace Marshall is an author, mother, and TV enthusiast. She writes technical documentation as her primary profession but has also been known to post randomly on her site escapeoftheinnermonlogue.com.
Daniel Lee, Author of “A Grave Ordeal”
Photo Credit: Megan Annis
Daniel Lee is the author of the novel AFTER DEATH, which won First Place in the Nerdist Sci-Fi Contest and is forthcoming from Inkshares. He lives in Los Angeles, where he makes his living as an editor of movie trailers. See more of his work at Dan-Lee.net
Patrick Edwards, Author of “Wendell, Wendell, & Wendell”
When he’s not busy mushing words into silly stories, Pat spends his time battling inter-dimensional shadow monsters and having tea parties with his two daughters. His debut novel, Space Tripping, is currently available wherever books are sold. Check him out on Twitter @ThePatEdwards
Kendra Namednil was born in Northern California and began writing when she was 26, publishing her first full novel at 30. She has volunteered for many organizations, though her greatest joy was working with behavior-plan dogs with the San Francisco Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
When not working on computers to pay the bills, Jason Chestnut is a writer, musician, avid reader, and gamer. He lives in Asheville, North Carolina with his wife Shannon, their two kids and lazy pug.
Rachael Sparks is the author of the hard science fiction novel Resistant, which Publishers Weekly called “a scientifically accurate apocalypse.” Resistant takes place in a near future in which drug-resistant bacteria are winning the battle over humanity. Rachael was kind enough to chat with me about science, character development, and writing habits.
In the final battle with drug-resistant bacteria, one woman’s blood holds a secret weapon.
Rory and her father have survived the antibiotic crisis that has killed millions, including Rory’s mother—but ingenuity and perseverance aren’t their only advantages. When a stoic and scarred young military veteran enters their quiet life, Rory is drawn to him against her better judgment . . . until he exposes the secrets her mother and father kept from her, including the fact that her own blood may hold the cure the world needs, and she is the target of groups fighting to reach it first.
When the government comes after Rory, aiming to use her for a cure it can sell to the highest bidder, she’s forced to flee with her father and their new protector. But can she find the new path of human evolution before the government finds her?
Your novel draws from real-world science. Tell us a little bit about your background and what the research process was like for you.
I’m a microbiologist by training, a transplant expert, and now I work in hospital infection prevention with a medical device startup. So my education and career has centered around public health and that experience was half a lifetime of research for several books! For this novel, the research I needed to do was easy in that it was mostly mining my own brain and then confirming my filed-away facts were not yet discredited. Knowing that several friends who are legit scientists would be reading, I wanted badly for them to be convinced.
When did the idea for Resistant first strike you?
I’d wanted to write a sci-fi novel that explored this problem[antibiotic resistance], but a dream of a scene in the climax really inspired the characters. A handsome guy with swaths of discolored skin. . . readers will know his disfigurement plays into the plot but I honestly couldn’t say whether that was already in my mind or came after the dream!
Tell us about your protagonist? Are they inspired by someone you know in real life?
Rory is an amalgam of a lot of wonderful people I’ve known. She’s smart and a little unfiltered at times, with a bravery that can get her into trouble. I wanted her to be flawed, to make mistakes and be mature enough to solve them on her own.
Do you have a favorite character out of all the ones you’ve created?
Yes, I like Navy. He’s not an open book, not easy to read, so he was a challenge to write. I wanted him to be reserved but not aloof, to have integrity despite having made massively bad judgement calls in his past. He’s fun to get to know as I write more about him.
How important is research to you when writing a book?
It’s critical, in my genre. In retrospect I would’ve loved for Resistant to be longer, with more science background explained — an excuse for even more research! So aside from enjoying the process, translating the useful bits into my writing in order to create an absorbing, believable premise is important to me. Science can be unwieldy for some, but the best sci-fi makes it palatable and fascinating to any reader.
Do your novels carry a primary message?
I hope so. My goal is to entertain while also imparting a bit of knowledge that arms the reader, even if only for an interesting fact to drop into cocktail hour.
If given the opportunity to start over, would you change anything in your books?
Ugh. Who wouldn’t? I’d just do more backstory for everything and everyone.
Do your characters seem to hijack the story or do you feel like you keep a hold of the reigns?
When I’m writing, it feels like it! Even the end of Resistant surprised me, so I credit Rory for that. But more often I feel like I’m a director talking to an actor: “How do you think your character would react?”
Do you often project your own habits onto your characters?
Sure! Our habits are our expertise, too, right? Rory and her father brew beer, for example, and I sorely wanted an excuse to explain how they might have harvested and cultured their own yeast and scavenged ingredients. Alas, it had no plot value.
I love a good mystery fiction with a bit of adventure, action romance — couples in peril saving each other is catnip for vacation reading. Magical realism genre is delicious when the authors ground it in theoretical science. I’m still in awe of Deb Harkness’ use of genetics to plausibly structure a tree of life that could explain a vampire!
Tell us a little bit about your writing process. Do you aim to complete a set number of pages or words each day?
Oh hell no. When I sit down to write, I’ve usually been thinking about scenes for a while, and I first refresh myself on where I left off. But often I’ll also pick a random spot in my MS to re-read, as it helps me keep a consistent mood. And I turn on my playlist for each work in progress, and pretend it’s the soundtrack to the future movie. I don’t judge my progress on words — if it’s something I want to keep reading, I feel successful. Some writers create a bubble around themselves until they finish a project – how true is that for you? Gosh, that sounds lovely. I have a 4 year old, a husband I love to spend time with, dogs, career, and other relationships to nurture. Maybe one day I could do that! The closest I get to a bubble is a closed office door on an early morning.
If you were given the opportunity to join a book club with your favorite authors, dead or alive, who would you want to become a part of the club?
Michael Crichton. Emily Dickinson. David Walton. Nora Roberts. Katherine Howe. Jacqui Castle. Deborah Harkness. Celeste Ng. Emily and Anne Bronte. And I’d invite Andrew Mayne, if he promised to entertain us with magic tricks.
Anne and the Emilys would likely clique off, but maybe we could ply them with sherry and put them at ease.
Awww shucks. I would love to be in a book club with you!
What do you do to market your own books yourself? Any advice on that front?
I doubt I have some magical insight here, but I try to promote myself on all the normal channels: website, social media, Goodreads and other places an author profile can be added. Talking about yourself is the pits, so I just try not to take myself very seriously. I think being fun, informative, genuine and engaged is the best marketing.
For advice, specifically to new authors, I say: to make the most of social media as an author, I think you have to abandon rules about friends on platforms. When launching a new book, everyone is your friend. I also suggest they ask themselves before spending dollars in marketing (a website, for example) – how can I measure its return, so I’ll know whether to continue investing there. Analytics and data are your friend!
What is your preferred method for readers to get in touch with or follow you (website, blog, Facebook, Goodreads, etc.) and links?
I’m most active on Twitter and Instagram, but Facebook and Goodreads get a daily visit. My website is a great place and goes straight to my inbox!
Today, Jason Pomerance is here to talk about his journey publishing his debut novel, Women Like Us.
Welcome Jason. First, I want to say congratulations on the release of your novel, Women Like Us, which hit shelves on July 26, 2016! How does it feel to be a published author?
Thank you for having me! I think pretty much almost nothing compares with holding your book for the first time. Most authors spend untold amounts of time — years most likely — thinking about his or her book, writing it, rewriting it, editing it, editing it some more, so that when it actually is a physical thing that you can leaf through it’s pretty astounding. Here it’s almost two years after pub date for Women Like Us, and sometimes I’ll pick it up and leaf through it and I still can’t believe it’s actually in my hands. Then other cool things happen — you see it on the shelf of a bookstore, or you see it’s been shelved at a library, or you look at reviews that pop up on Amazon or Goodreads, and if somebody really connected with it, that’s another totally sweet thing. Oh, and when it crossed over from hundreds sold into thousands. That was a nice moment.
Can you tell us a little bit about Women Like Us and what inspired the story?
The book actually began its life as a screenplay. I had in mind to write a mother/son road trip movie, but when I was outlining it, I just kept writing and writing until it began to feel more like a novel. So I just went with it and kept writing. But I have to say the whole thing didn’t really take off until the character Edith Vale started to take on a bigger role than originally envisioned. She sort of sprung to life fully formed; if you read the book you’ll see she’s quite bossy, and it’s like she started telling me what to do!! Anyway once she took on a life of her own, it became not just a story of a mother and son, but a story of a mother and her ex-mother-in-law. And people seem to love Edith, even though, quite frankly, she’s a little bit crazy. But probably everybody knows a person like her.
Is there a primary message in Women Like Us?
I believe there is. Women Like Us is really about family. Oh, it’s a fractured family to be sure, but it’s a family that comes together in a time of crisis. In any family good things happen and bad things happen, and I think the message is that even though bad things might happen, good can also come. It’s sort of a circle-of-life kind of thing too.
How much of yourself do you put into your books?
I think all authors put something of themselves into their characters. And of course often we’re writing from experience, even if the experience may be altered a little (or even a lot!).
Have you ever incorporated something that happened in real life into your story?
Yes!
If given the opportunity to start over, would you change anything in your book?
I still look through the book and find things I wish I could say differently — you know, a different word in a sentence, or a different sentence altogether. When it came time to turn the book in after the final edit, they pretty much had to pry the book from my hands. I love to tinker with words and sentences.
People believe that being a published author is glamorous, how true is that?
I’m pretty sure it’s glamorous if you’re lucky enough to get on a best seller list, but I think most authors toil away in a degree of obscurity that’s not exactly glamorous. But like many writers I’m sure, I’m not doing this for any other reason but to get a story out that I want to tell. For me, anyway, that’s the most important thing.
Do you enjoy book signings? And what is your setup?
I didn’t do a whole lot of book signings unless you count Goodreads Giveaways of signed books, which I actually love and did a lot of until Goodreads changed the price structure on giveaways. But I’ve been asked on a few occasions for signed copies, and I’m always happy to sign.
Tell us about an interesting encounter you had with a fan.
I posted about this on my instagram recently. I walk our beagles by several Little Free Libraries that have sprung up around our neighborhood. One lady had seen me leave a copy of Women Like Us in one, and after she read it she asked if I had written it. When I said, “Yup,” she said how much she enjoyed it and asked for a signed copy, So I was happy to oblige.
What do you do to market your own books yourself? Any advice on that front?
If you’re published under the Quill imprint of Inkshares you’re mostly on your own for marketing so, yeah, I’ve done tons of stuff. Closer to when the book was coming out, I did I whole bunch of guest blog posts — I reached out to a ton of bloggers really and got a good amount of responses but it’s a ton of work. I reached out to a bunch of local newspapers, big and small, and managed to get a little bit of press. Also, we decided to lower the price of the eBook, which I think is critical, unless you’re a brand — people are way more willing to take a chance on your book if it doesn’t cost them a whole lot. And if you want more readers, and you’re not a brand, I think there’s no other way. Then you have to get on a whatever discount ebook email blasters are best in your genre. I’ve had very good luck Book Gorilla and Ereadernewstoday. Promos on both got Women Like Us into the top 100 on Amazon in it’s top sub genre. Which was pretty amazing.
Have you ever destroyed any of your drafts and started from scratch?
I started and stopped and restarted Women Like Us many times until I got the right tone but I’ve never totally destroyed a draft.
When can the readers expect another book from you? Any details that you can share?
Hopefully soon!! It’s written, although I’m still sort of tinkering and editing. I’ve been in a long agent query process and it’s down to about one or two agents who are reading. If they pass, I’ll go indie and put it out probably via Ingram Spark for print and eBooks. I’m hoping not to have to go that route, but I will if I have to.
Some details? It’s called CELIA AT 39, and it’s sort of SWEET HOME ALABAMA meets MOONSTRUCK. It’s definitely more of a Rom-com than anything else. It’s about what happens when a package mysterious shows up at a front door 40 year after it was mailed. When Celia Bernhart (successful in her career and engaged to marry her longtime boyfriend) decides to try to deliver the package to its rightful recipient, her whole life is turned upside down!
If you were given the opportunity to join a book club with your favorite authors, dead or alive, who would you want to become a part of the club?
I’ve said this elsewhere, but I’ll say it again — I worship at the altar of Anne Tyler. I’m just such a huge fan of almost every one of her books, and I read and reread them over and over again (which I think any author should do). So Anne Tyler for sure. Charles Dickens, of course, because Great Expectations is probably one of my all time favorites, and then maybe one of the hard-boiled noir writers like James M. Cain, who was just brilliant.
What is your preferred method for readers to get in touch with or follow you (website, blog, Facebook, Goodreads, etc.) and links?
Susan Jones, a brash and ballsy chef who hopscotches from one demanding restaurant job to the next, was barely in her twenties when she married and had a son, Henry. But after her marriage to Andrew fell apart, she ceded most of the raising of the baby to her mother-in-law, the very opinionated Edith Vale, a woman as formidable and steely as her stiff blond bouffant, the veritable helmet that helps her soldier through life. Now, after letting Henry drift away, Susan is determined to make things right. But just as mother and son seem to make headway after embarking on a cross-country road trip, things take a dark turn. When the family reconvenes in California, everybody must fight to find courage and humor in the face of a situation that threatens to change them all forever.
So, you want to go to a convention. Maybe you’ve attended conventions before, but now you want to go professionally — to make contacts, sell books, or to be a celebrity. Depending on the convention you attend, a booth/table could set you back a lot of money, so how do you make sure your con is successful?
We’ve spoken with several members of the Writing Bloc community who have attended conventions and compiled their tips for planning and executing a successful convention.
This interview is part of a short series looking at marketing and selling books at conventions. You can find my interview with Rick Heinz here and my earlier interview with Rochelle Campbell here. In this post, I talk to Cari Dubiel. Stay tuned for my consolidated advice article dropping in the next few days.
Cari Dubiel
Cari Dubiel is the author of How to Remember, forthcoming from Inkshares/Quill. The novel was the winner of the Hugh Holton award from the Mystery Writers of America – Midwest Chapter in 2017. Cari’s previous works include All the Lonely People, a book of short stories, and several other short stories found in anthologies and online magazines. Cari is also a librarian, and she served as the Library Liaison to Sisters in Crime for five years.
What conventions have you attended? Why did you pick those conventions? In hindsight, were those reasons valid?
I’ve attended the American Library Association and/or the Public Library Association conference every year since 2012. That was the year I started as Library Liaison to Sisters in Crime, which is a national organization of mystery readers and writers. My term ended in 2017. In that role, my job was to bring writers and librarians together – to help writers sell books and make partnerships with librarians, and to help librarians make connections with writers for their collections and public programming. Since I am both a writer and a librarian, this was an ideal way for me to get started learning about the convention experience. I’ve met so many interesting people and discovered some amazing books, and I’ve learned about the promotion experience from the writer’s side – something I didn’t know about at all before I joined Sisters in Crime. Since then, I’ve also attended some strictly writing conventions, and it’s been a strange but rewarding experience to switch back and forth between the two parts of my identity. This has been a fabulous experience for me, and while I might make different decisions if I were to do it again (see below), it was the right path at the time.
What were your objectives for the conventions you attended (e.g. Direct books sales, online sales, Facebook likes, email list sign-ups, etc.)? Do you feel you achieved those objectives?
We could not sell books directly at the conference, but we wanted to get face time between the librarians and the authors, so we set up signing times for each author with book giveaways. We also collected e-mail addresses. Each author was allowed to collect their own data, since we didn’t want to share organizational data due to privacy concerns. Authors would often have a newsletter mailing list for librarians to join. They also had bookmarks that librarians could use to order the titles when they got back to their library.
It was very tough to measure the success of the booth, because we didn’t have the sales data to draw from. I talked to every author after their signing time. Some were happy and others were… not so happy. I learned a lot about managing author expectations.
What was your strategy for engagement at the conventions? What did you have on display? How did you draw people in and engage? Did you have any incentives? Did you have physical copies of your books on hand?
Yes, we had tons of swag and giveaways. I mentioned the bookmarks – we also had pins and tote bag freebies. We allowed authors who couldn’t be there to send in copies of their books for giveaway. The free books were the biggest draw, especially when the author was there in the booth to sign them. Librarians – and I think readers in general – love to interact with writers and get personalized books. We also had an iPad giveaway for getting on the mailing list, so we usually collected about 500 e-mails per conference.
What did you feel worked well?
The quality of the interaction between the author and the reader was key. ALA brings in about 25,000 people per year. Not everyone who came by the booth wanted to talk to us – they grabbed free stuff and disappeared. When we were able to talk to readers and librarians about what they wanted, and people were able to make connections, cool stuff happened. I made connections with lots of people in the publishing industry, which has ultimately helped me to promote my work outside of conference-land. I hope the other authors I’ve worked with over the years have had similar experiences.
What didn’t work, or not as well as you had hoped?
My main concern was that we were not reaching everyone in our target audience. Not everyone can afford to travel and come to a big conference. I felt there were other ways to reach librarians online or through state and local conferences. When I transitioned my role over to the new Library Liaison, Shari Randall, we talked about ways to do that more strategically. I’m meeting up with her at this year’s ALA to talk about ways we can use our data and experiences to reach more people.
What other lessons have you learnt?
Authors have to think critically about how they use their conference time and how they distribute their swag. Bookmarks, while great, did not get taken as often as they hoped – and they’re expensive! Free books are also expensive, but readers love them, and if they read them, they might review and pass them on. Choosing the right conference/convention is also critical. Because I’m a librarian, ALA worked well for me, but I struggled in the writing-only space. I’m still getting used to that, and I still have a lot to learn in that arena.
I’ve seen some of my friends who write fantasy have great success in fan conventions and medieval faires. That, too, is part of knowing your audience. You have to go to the place where your readers go. ALA was a good opportunity for Sisters in Crime members because librarians and library patrons love mysteries.
Do you plan to attend more conventions to promote your book?
Yes! I won’t go to ALA every year now that I have stepped down from SinC, but I’m going to New Orleans this summer, and I can’t wait. I’m also looking forward to learning more about how to sell books at conventions and conferences!
How to Remember
Thank you to Cari for sharing her experiences with us. Cari is the author of How to Remember, which is currently in production with Inkshares. I encourage you to check it out.
2017: A woman tries to find out what happened to her during the year she lost her memory. 2016: A man tries to find out who killed his mother. They fell in love once, but she doesn’t remember it.
You can also find Cari online in the following places:
Today, as part of Writing Bloc’s Author Interview Series, Evan Graham is here with us! We’re going to talk about Tantalus Depths and Proteus, his two upcoming sci-fi novels, as well as his journey with crowdfunded publishing.
Welcome Evan. Your book Tantalus Depths is currently in production, and you are also in the middle of a crowdfunding campaign for another book, Proteus. Can you tell us a little bit about the stories?
They’re both science fiction thrillers set in the same universe, but the stories are set most of a century and several thousand light-years apart, and they deal with very different themes.
Tantalus Depths is about a small survey expedition to the planet Tantalus 13 that goes immediately off the rails when they discover it isn’t a planet at all, but a planet-sized artificial structure built and abandoned by an alien civilization thousands of years ago. Curiosity gets the better of the crew, and they take it upon themselves to explore the interior of this impossible structure, but the secrets it holds may spell the doom of not just the crew, but all of mankind. Adding to the danger is SCARAB: the self-constructing, artificially intelligent mining facility that arrived on Tantalus 13 two years before the crew. SCARAB is hiding secrets of its own; secrets it seems willing to kill to protect.
Proteus is a science-fiction adaptation of Shakespeare’s Richard III. It’s set on a colossal multi-generational colony ship that’s just passed the halfway mark on its 150-year journey to establish a new colony on the distant planet Bella Rosa. Our protagonist is Jacob Sicarius, a cyborg veteran destined to be the leader of the new colony: a destiny that is stolen from him when his cryonic stasis pod is sabotaged. He awakens from stasis to find that the fourth-generation crew of the ship have fallen into mutiny, with half the crew dedicated to continuing the mission and the other half determined to turn the ship around and return to Earth. With his AI combat implant making him a literal killing machine, Jacob sets out to wipe out the mutineers and preserve the mission, even if it costs him his mind and soul.
You successfully crowdfunded Tantalus Depths, selling over 750 backer copies before production began. What did this crowdfunding process look like for you, and why did you chose to go this way for publication?
Crowdfunding Tantalus Depths was, without question, the hardest thing I’ve ever done. It took me farther outside my comfort zone than I’ve ever been by forcing me to beg friends, family, and complete strangers to invest in a project that none of them would ever care about as much as I would. It was such a long road; I experienced every kind of setback imaginable. Campaigning became a full-time job; at one point I was putting in 16 hour days where I did nothing but bug people for pre-orders. It was worth it, though, and through that experience I learned I had way more people in my life who I could count on than I’d ever realized before. Some of my biggest supporters ended up being people I hadn’t spoken to in years, who I never would have thought would be willing to invest so much in my dream.
I went with Inkshares initially because they were hosting a contest that was a really good fit for Tantalus Depths. I didn’t end up winning that contest, but I did come in the top five, and by that point I’d already gathered enough orders that pushing through to the end goal just made sense. I definitely didn’t realize what I was getting myself into at the time, but even if I had, I would have preferred going through all that to the even more soul-crushing work of pursuing traditional publishing. It’s one of the hardest industries for an outsider to break into. I once went to a literary agency’s website to send in a query, then turned right around and left when I saw “Agents typically receive 500 queries a week and only follow up on ten. No repeat submissions.”
When you’re up against that, you’re completely at the mercy of luck. No matter how good of an author you are, there’s no way you can guarantee an agent’s going to see the quality in your writing when you only have one shot to get a five-page excerpt noticed among 500 others. At least with Inkshares, I knew if I could put in the effort, I would reap the reward. So I did.
Tantalus Depths and Proteus are both characterized as Hard Science Fiction. For those who may not know, what are some of the differences between Science Fiction and Hard Science Fiction?
Science fiction comes in all kinds of subgenres. You can really combine just about any other genre with science fiction and get a great story out of it. That’s one of the things I like about it; its versatility. All those different subgenres are going to fit into one of two categories, though: “hard” or “soft” science fiction. The only real difference is how much the story actively tries to stay scientifically accurate.
Soft sci-fi doesn’t try very hard to follow real scientific laws and principles, if at all. Usually the “science” element just isn’t that important to the story it’s trying to tell. It has more in common with the fantasy genre, in many ways, just with a sci-fi flavor to it. You’ll see aliens and robots and laser guns and the like, but most of what you see wouldn’t hold up in science class. Doctor Who is a prime example of soft sci-fi.
Hard sci-fi does try to stay within the realm of the theoretically possible. It’s more grounded, more realistic. You’ll see things that don’t exist in the real world, but most of them are going to be logical progressions of technology we already have, or involve scientific concepts we mostly understand. It takes a lot of research to do hard sci-fi well, and it can also be tricky to make it still seem interesting and not seem like it’s spilling out of a textbook, but if it’s done well, it lends a degree of realism that makes the reader feel like these things could really happen someday, which I love. The Martian is a solid example of hard sci-fi.
How realistic are your books?
I strive for as much realism as possible. It’s not easy, and it requires a lot of research. You have to spend a lot of time learning new things, especially if you’re like me and don’t have a natural gift for the physical sciences, but that’s part of what I like about it. I like having to learn new things, and I enjoy the satisfaction of strengthening my storytelling with newfound knowledge.
That being said, I definitely cheat. I’ve got made-up, entirely unscientific McGuffins in the shared universe of Tantalus Depths and Proteus. Faster-than-light space travel is possible, for instance, though I have very strict rules about what it can and can’t do. There isn’t a real scientific principle that allows for this, but I’ve chosen to give myself the ability to break that rule in order to tell the kinds of stories I want to tell; namely, in order to give the characters in my stories the ability to travel to other worlds we’d never be able to reach with conventional science.
Which of your books took you the most time to write?
Definitely Proteus. I first came up with that one almost eight years ago, and I’ve been fussing with it on and off the entire time. I’d probably still have it on the back burner of my brain if I hadn’t finally taken the plunge with Tantalus Depths and finally started my career as an author.
Do you invent new vocabulary words to use in your book or resort to the existing ones?
I invent them on an as-needed basis, but I try to keep them as plausible as I can. Since I’m going the hard sci-fi route with these books, I try to name things in a way that feels true to reality. There are no aliens in these stories who speak fictional languages, so I can’t just call a new planet “Zalaprax” or something else entirely made-up. Instead, I look at how we name things right now, and extrapolate how that might be done in the future. We often name stars and celestial bodies after famous astronomers, so I named some of the planets I mention after real or fictional people who could conceivably be important enough to earn that honor, like Hayden, Showalter, and Tahani. We also name celestial bodies after characters from mythology, which I show with planets like Tantalus 13, Atropos, and Buyan. I try to draw from many cultures, so I’ve pulled from Greek, Hindu, and even Slavic mythology.
As far as technology goes, I try to keep that as real as possible. If there’s a real-world term for the thing I’m trying to create, I use it. I am constantly amazed by the sorts of ideas the scientific community comes up with. Some of the real theoretical science out there is wilder than anything I could ever come up with. I love integrating those cutting-edge theories into my writing, though. My favorite so far is SCARAB: the Self-Constructing Autonomous Resource Acquisition Base who serves as the villain in Tantalus Depths. It’s a hyper-intelligent AI that’s designed to build itself using the resources available to it. Science already has a name for that kind of robot: a Von Neumann probe. Ironically, the real concept of a Von Neumann probe is so over-the-top amazing that I had to tone back its capabilities for SCARAB. Reality is just too crazy to fit in fiction sometimes.
Tell us a little bit about your writing process. Do you aim to complete a set number of pages or words each day?
Oh gosh, I wish I had a writing process. I’m the last person anyone should go to for writing advice. I am a chronic procrastinator, but I’m also obsessive about my work, so I often go for days without writing anything, getting more and more stressed and feeling more and more guilty the longer I go without putting words down. Then, when I can’t handle the guilt anymore, I’ll sit down and write for eight straight hours.
I don’t recommend that method to anyone, but I’ve managed to harness my mania and make it work for me.
I think that’s the best thing any writer can do: figure out your own strengths and your own weaknesses, and tailor your writing process to use both of them to keep you productive. As long as you make steady progress toward your goal and put down writing you can be proud of, it doesn’t matter what method you use.
Tell us a little bit about the world building that went into Tantalus Depths and Proteus, and what that process was like for you.
A lot of things happen on Earth between now and the time these books take place in. Earth goes through a near apocalypse called the Corsica Event at the hands of a Rogue AI towards the end of the 21st century, wrecking the global economy and leading to a period of rebuilding that lasts about 80 years. Resource depletion and overpopulation have forced humanity to colonize new worlds in order to survive. AIs are heavily regulated to keep another cataclysm from happening. New technology arose as a result of the Corsica Event has given us the ability to travel faster than light, so we’re exploring areas of the universe we never thought we’d reach thanks to technology we don’t really understand.
Establishing all that world building in both books has been tricky, since they both take place so far from Earth. They’re still affected by what’s been going on at home. I try to establish a lot of that backstory in offhand, in-character dialogue whenever possible. I like to avoid info dumps whenever I can, because I want this universe to feel like a place where people live and work and establish relationships, rather than a series of encyclopedia entries. The universe in these stories doesn’t look much like ours, but I try to make the people feel like folks you’d meet anywhere, and I want to give the reader the idea that they could step into this world and fit in.
Not that they should, mind you. This universe is a dark and dangerous place. I sure wouldn’t want to live there.
Which writer’s work do you believe most resembles your work?
I feel a kinship between my stories and James S. A. Corey’s The Expanse series. It’s also a hard sci-fi setting, full of intrigue and conflict , where humanity would be its own greatest enemy if the universe didn’t have such dark and deadly tricks hidden up its sleeve. If anyone likes the parts of The Expanse that deal with mysterious remnants of an alien civilization that pose a deadly threat to the survival of mankind, they’ll like Tantalus Depths. If anyone likes the parts of The Expanse that deal with warfare and corruption and conspiracy in a sci-fi setting, they’ll definitely like Proteus.
All books say that characters are fictional, but are they really all made up, or do you base them on people you have known in your own life?
I try to give my characters unique personalities, but I definitely draw on what I know in order to do that. I’ll take a particular personality quirk I’ve seen in someone I know, or someone famous, and I’ll attach it to a character I’m developing, but I never use more than one or two from the same source. I never set out to make a character a clone of someone else.
I have extensive experience and education in theatre, which has proven to be an incredibly useful tool when it comes to character creation. When you portray a character on the stage, you learn how to think inside that character’s world. You see what drives them, what affects them, what they want and what they’re willing to do to get it. I apply the same lessons I’ve learned as an actor to my writing, making sure every character has a unique, true-seeming personality, definitive goals, and character-specific tactics they’ll utilize to get to those goals.
And my favorite question – if you were given the opportunity to join a book club with your favorite authors, dead or alive, who would you want to become a part of the club?
Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Jim Butcher, H.G. Wells, Timothy Zahn, Oscar Wilde, and William Shakespeare. Although, if I was in a book club with all of them, I’d never get any writing done. I’d spend the rest of my life fanboying over everything they were working on.
Where does the crowdfunding campaign for Proteus stand right now, and what can people do to help?
Currently, Proteus is very close to the 500 pre-orders mark, and we have until the end of August to reach 750 pre-orders. We’re about two-thirds of the way there, which is very encouraging, but we still have a lot of ground to cover.
The main thing people can do to support Proteus is simply to pre-order a copy, but word-of-mouth publicity is also invaluable. Anyone who’s a fan of grim and bloody military science fiction, or anyone who likes the idea of a science-fiction adaptation of one of Shakespeare’s greatest plays, should find plenty in Proteus to enjoy.
Also, Tantalus Depths still doesn’t have a release date, but we’re about to go into copy edits, so it won’t be much longer until that one launches. Pre-orders are live for that one as well.
What is your preferred method for readers to get in touch with or follow you (website, blog, Facebook, Goodreads, etc.) and links?
I haven’t set up an author website yet, but that’s one of the many things I’m currently working on. Meanwhile, my main social media platform is my author page on Facebook, which you can get to here.
I also have a Twitter and a Youtube channel. Both have been inactive for a while, but as we get closer to launching Tantalus Depths I plan to put out a lot more content on all my platforms.
Continuing our series on marketing yourself and your books at conventions, we have a special guest post from author Christopher Huang. In this article Huang summarizes his experiences with mystery and crime conventions, which, as he tells us, can be very different to a popular culture convention. It’s all about knowing the event you are attending and your reasons for being there. I’ll let Chris take it from here…
This post was originally posted here and is part of a series looking at marketing and selling books at conventions. You can find my earlier interview with Rochelle Campbell here. In this post, I talk to Rick Heinz. Stay tuned for next week’s interview with Cari Dubiel and my consolidated advice article.
Today, we are fortunate to have Brian Fitzpatrick, author of the SciFi, YA novel Mechcraft, in our midst. Brian is going to talk with us today about Mechcraft, and the various techniques he’s employed to get his name out there and build his audience. You’ll want to stick around and hear what he has to say.
Welcome Brian! Your book Mechcraft hit shelves earlier this year. Can you tell us a little bit about the story?
Thank you for this interview.
In Mechcraft, Jake London’s ideal teenage life is thrown into chaos when he discovers the ability to control a swarm of shape-shifting nanotechnology that has, until recently, lain dormant in his DNA.
Mechcraft is the skill of controlling the nanotech, summoning and creating tools, weapons, and even machines. Being the first person born with the nanotech, warring factions desire to use Jake for their own sinister ends. Now, with two Mechcraft agents at his side, and a horde of enemies chasing them down, Jake finds himself in a desperate race to safety. . . It’s slick sci-fi action of The Matrix meets the awe and wonder of Harry Potter.
How about your protagonist? Are they inspired by someone you know in real life?
Jake is a 15 year old with a stable, easy life until the nanotech embedded in his DNA activates and reveals a god-like power. He’s kind, compassionate, a bit timid at first, but crisis reveals his true nature. He’s not based on any one person, but in some ways he represents the best in all of us.. what each of us aspires to be like. But he’s certainly not without flaws – and these will be dealt with deeper in the sequel.
Does Mechcraft carry a primary message?
Although this story is fast-paced and full of action, at its core Mechcraft is about Hope and Perseverance.
How important is research to you when writing a book?
For me, it depends on the subject. In many cases thorough research is required for authenticity. However, beyond the basics of nanotechnology, no other research was needed for Mechcraft. Most of this tech and the abilities stemmed from my imagination. Los Angeles plays a role in the story, and I provided a lot of detail of the geography. I live locally, so no research was needed in this case either. However, when stories are set in unfamiliar locations, research is vital to keep it real.
Do you believe it is more challenging to write about beliefs that conflict with the ones you hold yourself?
Surprisingly, it’s not difficult to step into the role of characters who hold conflicting beliefs to my own. In fact, sometimes those opposing characters are the most fun to write. In Mechcraft, the villain Sasha is perhaps secretly my favorite character despite her absolute madness.
Do you write down revelations and ideas as you get them?
I’ve paid the price in the past when ideas come and I tell myself no need to write it down, I’ll remember this amazing idea for sure. Nope! I would inevitably forget. So now I write down everything. Everything!
I’ve noticed that you have been participating in events such as signings and readings. Do you have any advice for authors wanting to increase their event presence?
This is where reaching out and getting to know people really helps. Call local bookstores. Drop in and speak to the manager. Go to conventions and network. Meet anyone and everyone. And always have something on hand to give interested people: a business card, a postcard, or even the book itself.
I went to Wondercon in Anaheim, Ca this past March and met wonderful, energetic, ambitious people of all success levels. Those connections have led to a radio interview I just did, a connection with a TV writer/producer, and a seat on a panel at the next Wondercon.
Many authors are introverted and aren’t comfortable putting themselves out in the public. I get it. I was one of these writers. I forced myself to initiate conversation and ask questions. I was awkward as hell at first, but over time and with practice, I became better and more comfortable. It is worth the effort.
— Brian Fitzpatrick (@TheWritingFitz) May 30, 2018
What is your setup for book signings?
If it’s a table signing/booth, I have my vertical banner, a tabletop banner, a lighted marquee, and I like to have a high stack of books. The more 3-D you can make your table, the better. For a talk/signing I just have the vertical banner behind me as I speak.
What else do you do to market your own books yourself? Any advice on that front?
The honest truth is authors must market themselves consistently and often if they want to transition to earning their living writing. For authors who are satisfied with just completing and publishing books, then marketing is not so much a factor. If you want financial success and widespread readership, you must learn to put yourself out there. You must become social media savvy, be willing to do public appearances, and perhaps budget for PR. I commit to a minimum of one hour a day on marketing, often times more. Business cards, postcards, banners, social media interviews, podcasts, guest blogs, book trailers, book signings, audio book release… it’s all part of the deal. But as you become used to the process, it can actually be fun.
How active are you on social media? And how do you think it affects the way you write?
I’m extremely active on social media. The best advice for social media presence is to dive in. Get a dedicated FB page or group. Create a Twitter account. Create an Instagram. If you want to go deep, you can also add Snapchat and Tumblr. Post genuine, engaging content- not just advertisement for your book. You need some of that, but don’t overwhelm your audience. Post questions, polls, related articles, and of course updates on all things about your book. Learn to use hashtags on Twitter and Instagram- they will link you to wider conversations and draw in followers. Avoid the businesses that offer to get you followers for a fee. These are mostly BS and can ruin your credibility in the online community. Social media savvy is vital to success. Take the time to learn. There are dozens of YouTube videos to help you.
My writing is affected only by the time my marketing and networking takes away from actual writing. I’m working on balancing the two. The Mechcraft sequel is not going to write itself and I need to park my butt in front of the laptop and get some work done!
Do you have a new project on the horizon, and can you tell us a bit about it?
Mechcraft is just the beginning. The sequel, Mechcraft: Harbinger, is on its way. This will be followed by the conclusion, Mechcraft: Cataclysm. My goal is to land a film deal for this trilogy. I also have a TV series outlined, a graphic novel series, mobile apps, video games, action figures, and a trading card game all in the mix.
And my favorite question – if you were given the opportunity to join a book club with your favorite authors, dead or alive, who would you want to become a part of the club?
My dream club would be H.P. Lovecraft, Anne Rice, Ernest Cline, Peter Clines, Chuck Palahniuk, R.A. Salvatore, Robert Kirkman, and Stephen King.
Any advice you would like to give to aspiring writers?
Don’t give up. No matter if you get stalled, or stop. Start again. Never call it quits. The successful author is not necessarily the most talented, but the one who persevered.
What is your preferred method for readers to get in touch with or follow you (website, blog, Facebook, Goodreads, etc.) and links?
Los Angeles – Jake London’s ideal teen life is thrown into chaos when he discovers the ability to control a swarm of shape-shifting nanotechnology that has, until recently, lain dormant in his DNA.
Mechcraft is the skill of controlling the nanotech, summoning and creating tools, weapons, and even machines. Being the first ever born with the nanotech, warring factions desire to use him for their own sinister ends. Now, with two Mechcraft agents at his side, and a horde of enemies chasing them down, Jake finds himself in a desperate race to safety.
Cari Dubiel is the author of 
