Author Questions: What’s the Worst Writing Advice You’ve Ever Heard?

This is an ongoing series of “questions every author avoids answering” (based on this video by Dale L. Roberts) and my answers to them. I recommend every author ask themselves these same questions to better understand themselves and their art.

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Question:

What’s the worst writing advice you’ve ever heard?

 

The quick answer:

"Only write what you know."

 

The long answer:

This is actually a common bit of advice you’ll hear as a writer, often delivered with an air of pomposity, and I couldn’t disagree more.

At the heart of the statement is the idea that authors put a part of themselves into their writing, whether they mean to or not, and if you want to come off as genuine, you should avoid putting in your story/book/essay anything that would seem beyond your own experience. Makes sense, right?

Not at all.

Maybe this is true for memoir/autobiography writers. After all, you wouldn’t want to lie about your own experience and sell it as authentic (like this author did). And if you’re writing other non-fiction, then, yeah, you need to do your research and make it accurate. You wouldn’t want to lie about your sources or make up facts (as this author did).

But if you’re writing fiction, “only write what you know” is the worst advice. The entire POINT of fiction is to escape reality and see things from alternative points of view. The two point of view characters in my first fantasy book, Dragon of the Federation, are an elderly dragon and a young female mage. What do I know about being elderly, much less an elderly dragon? I’m also male. What do I really know about the experiences of any females? Or, for that matter, elves, demons, evil generals, ghosts, space nuns, space opera heroes, or all the other weird POVs I’ve written over the years. If I took that bit of bad advice, I wouldn’t have even started those stories.

Dragon of the Federation was released in 2021, and so far no one has come to me to tell me that I got it wrong. Nor for any of my other stories or books.

When I point this out to those who give this advice, they tend to stutter and backtrack and justify their statement by saying that I must be very imaginative to think of life as a dragon, and that my observations of the female condition must be very good. Maybe that’s true. And to be fair, I’ve tried to have “sensitivity readers” read my work who are more like the lead characters (when possible. There aren’t exactly real dragons flying around).

But we can’t go around stifling creativity.

So consider this your official approval to write whatever you want, no matter how outside your experience it is. Feel free to explore and create. And if someone tells you it isn’t accurate, ask them how, then go back and revise, but don’t give it up.

 

Cheers and happy reading!

Author Questions: What’s the Best Writing Advice You’ve Acted On?

This is an ongoing series of “questions every author avoids answering” (based on this video by Dale L. Roberts) and my answers to them. I recommend every author ask themselves these same questions to better understand themselves and their art.

Question:

What’s the best writing advice you’ve acted on?

The quick answer:

"Good writing is emotional writing."

The long answer:

There’s a book entitled The Emotional Craft of Fiction, by Donald Maass. On the back of my copy of the book, the blurb says “engage your readers with emotion” and “If you want to write strong fiction, you must make your readers feel. The reader’s experience must be an emotional journey that aligns with your characters’ struggles, discoveries, and triumphs.” If you don’t have this book, dear author, I highly recommend you purchase it and read it.

This, to me, is the one best piece of advice I’ve ever found for writing compelling fiction. It goes of other forms of entertainment, too, such as poetry, script writing, memoir, acting, composing, singing, sculpting, or dancing. Anything that uses your creativity is a place to insert your emotions.

Have your characters react emotionally. Make them struggle. Torment them. Have them claw their way out of the holes they’ve dug, only to be kicked back down and have to struggle back up and finally climb out. The reader will be right there with them experiencing the moments of struggle, sadness, and joy. Take them on an emotional rollercoaster. That’s what fiction is for, after all. It’s to experience all the things that we are afraid or unable to experience in real life, and to walk in the shoes of someone else for a little while. Keep it exciting. Never be boring.

And it needs to be emotional for you, as the author, as well. Feeling angry about the state of the world? Lonely? Happy about a success? Whatever you are feeling, pour it into your writing that day. Everything an author writes has some little bit of the writer’s persona in it. You can’t help it. So own it! Pour your feelings into your words. It will come through to the reader and bring with it a powerful impact.

Cheers and happy reading!

Author Questions: What Habits Keep You Moving?

 This is an ongoing series of “questions every author avoids answering” (based on this video by Dale L. Roberts) and my answers to them. I recommend every author ask themselves these same questions to better understand themselves and their art.

 

Question:

What habits keep you moving?

The quick answer:

Schedule my time as best as possible and stick to it.

 

The long answer:

A few years ago, my writing was in disarray. I was still actively writing, but I had trouble juggling my time. In addition to finding time to write new material, I was coordinating author events, dealing with blogging and social media, marketing, writing newsletters, and a whole host of other author activities, in addition to working about 50 hours a week at my day job, running a household, and “life in general.”

Luckily, I had a friend who was a life coach. I met with her many times, and she helped me figure out a weekly schedule that balanced all of those activities. I not only had a written schedule to keep to, but I also tracked my time and what I was doing. The schedule kept me on track, and the tracking of time made me realize just how much I was doing and where I needed to focus.

That was almost three years ago, and I have stuck with it. As a result, I am more coordinated, focused, and efficient at all of my author activities.

Our lives are complex, and it’s okay if you can’t find time, or if you go off schedule. I know of some authors who write in the morning for several hours, some who write in the evenings, and even one author who dictates her writing to her phone as she drives between work and home.

And while there are authors (usually full time) who say you should write X hours every day or Y number of words, don’t pay too much attention to such absolutes, everyone is different. Do you need a life coach to help? It can’t hurt, but it’s not always necessary (though I do recommend you find a writing coach, like me). Find what works for you and stick with it.

 

Cheers and happy reading!

 

Author Questions: What Is The One Thing You Wish You Knew Before Publishing?

 This is an ongoing series of “questions every author avoids answering” (based on this video by Dale L. Roberts) and my answers to them. I recommend every author ask themselves these same questions to better understand themselves and their art.

Question:

What is the one thing you wish you knew before publishing?

 

The quick answer:

Marketing.

 

The long answer:

I’m guessing that wouldn’t have been the answer you expected. You probably expected me to say something about the craft of writing, right?

I know writing. It’s my aptitude. Making up worlds and characters and describing them on paper is what I do. It brings me joy.

But what happens after you write “the end” and manage to either publish it yourself or get it accepted and published through a publishing house? Just go on to writing the next book?

Maybe it was that way fifty years ago or more, but it certainly isn’t now. Ernest Hemingway didn’t have to learn Amazon ads or Facebook ads. J.R.R. Tolkien didn’t have to post about his books on the numerous social media platforms and get thousands of followers there. Octavia Butler didn’t have to learn Adobe Photoshop enough to put together engaging graphics. Truman Capote didn’t have to make his own website or post regularly on a blog. Isaac Asimov didn't have to send out newsletters every month. Stephen King didn't have to man tables at festivals to sell his books. The thought of these authors doing those things feels a little silly, and yet these things are expected of authors these days. It’s a whole new ballgame now. In fact, only about a third of my author-related time is spent actually writing, editing, and revising my books, whereas back then nearly all their author-related time was spent that way.

These days, after you publish the book, the job isn’t over. You have to get it in front of readers somehow or no one will learn about your book, much less buy it or read it. Large publishing houses have massive advertising budgets and people hired to do nothing else but advertising and marketing, but small presses and self-published authors usually don’t. You have to do it all yourself AND compete against those large publishing houses with their big budgets. Good luck.

And what the heck do we writers know about marketing? I certainly never got training. Thankfully, I’m pretty tech-savvy and have some Photoshop skills. I also had the foresight to lay a good foundation to create a brand prior to publishing my first book, with a social media presence, a logo, brand name (“The Strange Worlds of Jason Kilgore”), blog, and website. I worked as a scientist in an international biotech corporation and had picked up some things. But that was only the barest step up.

Over the years I’ve read so many articles and books that it makes my head spin, and attended workshops, too. Most of what I’ve learned was through trial and error. What I really needed was a mentor who knew the ropes, but no one gives you their knowledge for free.

These days, I help other authors make Amazon ads and advise them on social media posting. It took years to get to this point. But I still feel inadequate at it. Competing for people’s attention, especially online, is mind-shatteringly hard, and the margins are razor-thin.

It’s also incredibly expensive. At least a third of my annual author budget is spent paying for ads, but it’s hard to say if they pay off. When someone buys a book, they don’t send you a message telling you how they heard about you. 

You can also pay people to do advertising for you, such as on gig sites like Fiverr.com, but be cautious. There are a LOT of scammers out there and amateurs who will take your money and give you nothing useful in return. It's better to go by word of mouth... if you can find an author who has actually paid someone and been satisfied. It's also insanely expensive.

If I had it to do all over again, I think maybe I would have taken a marketing course before publishing, preferably one aimed at authors and taught by an author.

 

Cheers and happy reading!

Author Questions: What Did You Learn Faster By Doing Instead Of Studying?

 This is an ongoing series of “questions every author avoids answering” (based on this video by Dale L. Roberts) and my answers to them. I recommend every author ask themselves these same questions to better understand themselves and their art.

 

Question:

What did you learn faster by doing instead of studying?

 

The quick answer:

In-person table sales of my books.

 

The long answer:

I had published books, but few were selling. I had some reasonable sales on Amazon, but I knew there were plenty of readers out there who would be eager to read my books if only they knew about them. But getting your book in front of potential readers online is incredibly difficult. There is so much competition for their attention, and so many millions and millions of books, that it seems like a Herculean task just to get the cover in front of them, much less tell them what it’s about.

Before I did in-person sales, I would try loads of social media posts across all of my social media platforms. I tried Facebook ads. I tried Amazon ads. I even ran an ad that showed on the screen at my local movie theater (yes, really).

My publisher, too, was selling very few of the books they represent.

So I had to take action and go out, in person, to talk to readers.

There’s no guide for how to do this. There’s no self-help book for authors that I’ve ever seen that discusses this topic. No one mentors you on these things. [if you’d like some advice, read to the bottom and follow the links]

I had seen authors at events, smiling at people and talking about their books, which were neatly arranged on the table in front of them – at festivals and fairs as people milled about eating ice cream or listening to live music or perusing art stalls - at author fairs where there were dozens of authors and too much to take in at once – and at bookstores.

So I started talking to them. Introduced myself as an author. Asked them how to sign up for the next event. Asked them where and when other events were, and who organized them.

And then I got my first event, doing a reading at a local bookstore during a monthly “street art walk” in a nearby town. Then I was able to get a table at a yearly author event.

Slowly, event by event, I built up a rapport with other authors, signed up for more events, until my weekends were filling up with them. I eventually even purchased a little camper so that I could extend my range to do events around the state and even into other states without having to pay for hotel rooms (which would eat up all of my meager profits), taking my efforts to a whole other level.

And, more importantly, I “learned by doing” slowly, figuring out how best to display my books, what accessories to bring, which book pitches worked for which kinds of customers, being able to pick out who my likely customers would be, and how to just put on my sales face and speaking tone.

It helps to be a “people person,” of course. But let’s face it, if you aren’t out there engaging readers, you aren’t going to sell many of your books. And that’s the point, right? You want your hard work to be appreciated. You want to share your inspiration. You want to have other people escape into the worlds you created or learn the knowledge you wish to share with your words.

Last year I sold 516 books at in-person events, which for me is a lot, and way more than I sold online or with my publisher. You can do it too.

HERE is my advice on how you, too, can find events to do in-person sales for your books, sign up, and what to bring.

HERE is my advice on what to do, and what not to do, while selling your books at those tables.

To learn more about what events I’m doing this year, click HERE (the page will be updated throughout the year as events are added and confirmed). That list will give you a good idea of the range of events that maybe you could find, too.

So get out there. Engage your readers. Build your fan base. There are people who crave what you write, you just need to find them first.

 

 

Cheers and happy reading!

Author Interview Of Me By C.M. Rosen

 In December I had an online interview of me by author C.M. Rosen, as posted on her website.

I love doing interviews. Every chance I get to engage potential readers is a joy for me. And maybe I'm vain enough to enjoy talking about myself?

In this one, we discussed my collection of paranormal stories, Around the Corner from Sanity. How did I choose stories for it. What inspired me for those stories. How I build suspense. And more. Also, what are my challenges when starting a new project, and what writing do I currently have in the pipeline?

Check it out and let me know if you have any thoughts or questions:

Here's a link to that interview.

I've been interviewed a number of times. Click HERE to find information on those.

Cheers and happy reading!

Author Questions: What Made You Start Writing?

 This is an ongoing series of “questions every author avoids answering” (based on this video by Dale L. Roberts) and my answers to them. I recommend every author ask themselves these same questions to better understand themselves and their art.

Question:

What made you start writing?

The quick answer:

An insatiable desire to be creative and lose myself in other worlds.

 

The long answer:

For the most part, I both read and write to escape the real world. This is why speculative fiction is my thing, for what I read and what I write: primarily fantasy, science fiction, and horror.

It has always been this way for me. I remember, as early as ten years old, reading books in those genres that were meant for adults. Authors such as Michael Moorcock, Stephen King, Stephen R. Donaldson, and J.R.R. Tolkien, took me far beyond the childhood books I had been reading and launched me into new worlds.

Oh, don’t get me wrong. I read books for my age range, too. For instance, I consumed all of the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew books, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, The Phantom Tollbooth, A Wrinkle In Time, and so many others. Scholastic book sales at school were super exciting to me. But it was the adult books that really set my imagination on fire.

Around the same age, my mother introduced me to Dungeons & Dragons (thanks, Mom!). It was the first edition basic box set. I promptly found other kids to play it with. Thus began a lifelong love of roleplaying games. Soon I found myself with a group of kids and doing dungeonmastering. Over the course of my junior high and high school years I developed the world of Irikara, which now serves as the world I set my fantasy stories in. It’s a vast world, with so much complexity that sometimes it feels more real to me than the real world we live in.

The need to escape from the real world is a driving factor for so many readers of speculative fiction. I know I’m not alone in that.

There are two very moving anecdotes I want to share, along these lines:

A few years ago, I was contacted by a young man who was an online acquaintance of mine. He said that he read my scifi space opera novel, The First Nova I See Tonight, and it changed his life. I was really surprised by this. To me, it’s just a fun and sexy romp through space with lots of action. I asked him why he felt this, and his response moved me to tears. His girlfriend had died, and he had a hard time dealing with life and coming to grips with it. He said that my book had helped him escape the pain, at least for a while, until he could get back on his feet. This was a real eye-opener for me, and I thanked him for telling me.

Then, last year, another young acquaintance of mine came forward. I had previously given him my book of poetry, Guide Me, O River. Then his best friend was murdered in a horrific manner. He said that reading my poems helped him get through that hard time. Again, I was very moved by this.

These anecdotes serve as a reminder to me that the power of the written word can move mountains. Our lives are complex and often difficult. Reading speculative fiction can help you escape those real world issues, at least for a little while.

 

Cheers and happy writing!