Patricia Kelly Designs

 

This week I am going to be talking about quite an interesting lady that I met on Facebook. Her name is Patricia Kelly, and she is a graphic designer. This is a good lady for any author to know! As we all find out sooner or later, we are the ones who have to promote our own work (especially those of us that are Indies). Aside from editors, proof readers, and beta readers, we need people in out network that can help us with the visuals for promoting our work. (I am most definitely NOT artistic in any way, shape, or form!

Patricia is based in Palm Beach, Florida. She is a graphic artist, production assistant, and does photo retouching.  She has experience in ad layout and design, and has strong skills in Adobe Photoshop. She also works with press releases ... that could very well come in handy for an author! Patricia works with both Mac and PC. 

There is quite an interesting portfolio of her work up on her site. Wherever you are in your WIP, at some point you have to think about promotion. It might be a good idea to keep this lady in mind!

More information can be found on Patricia Kelly's site. Those who know me will understand why her landing page brings a smile to my face!

(c) 2000 - 2013 Bonnie Cehovet

Reproduction in any venue is prohibited without written permission from the author.

Outline For A Mystery Novel

I tend to work from outlines, even with my fiction writing. It flows, but I need to have some kind of foundation to get a grip on what I am writing, In the first chapter I look at introducing the main character, and setting the tone for the story – I am working on a mystery, so I set the plot for the mystery itself, and what needs to be solved. The time and place of the mystery itself needs to be clearly set. This can get tricky, because often a mystery that occurs in the present is based on actions in the past.

In the second chapter, I start setting out clues … some of which may be real, some of which may be false. There needs to be a few twists and turns in this story, after all! Secondary characters may also start appearing as soon as the second chapter. A little “back story” on my characters – I do a complete identity sketch on each of my characters: their name, where they are from, what their physical characteristics are, what they do for a living, where they live, what they wear, what their beliefs are, what their goals are. This helps me to keep things straight, and to keep each character and their relationship with the other characters authentic.

In the third chapter I want my characters to start following leads. To start trying to solve the mystery. Odd facts start popping up, some leads end up nowhere, other leads bring out information that sheds new light on people and events. This is the chapter that I introduce a sub-plot … something for the reader to follow that has nothing to do with the mystery being solved. The sub-plot for me has to be two things: interesting and relevant.

In the fourth chapter the plot thickens! Clues start coming together, and suspects start revealing themselves. Clues may disappear, or people may disappear. Suddenly there is more of a sense of urgency to get this mystery solved, before something else happens, or someone else gets hurt.

In the fifth chapter evidence that is coming out of the investigation starts to point at a specific suspect, or group of suspects. A solution begins to reveal itself … although this may not be the right solution, or at least not the complete solution.

In the sixth chapter the sub-plot takes precedence. This generally has to do with the main character, and addresses what makes them tick, what drives them, that little something in their own background that has them taking the actions that they have taken.

In the seventh chapter  things start to get a nit sticky. Hidden motives, and hidden relationships start to reveal themselves.

In the eighth chapter the main character in some way reveals the results of their investigation. I try to put things together in a way that makes sense, but that does not reveal the solution to the mystery.

In the ninth chapter my main character is going over their actions, the clues that they have revealed, and the information they have gathered. Basically, they are looking to see what they may have missed. At this point, I will bring out critical evidence that has somehow been missed up until now.

In the tenth chapter I bring things together, and the mystery is solved. I love dramatic resolution, and I love justice for all!

This is my basic outline for mystery writing. Things can be adjusted, more chapters can be added, but the basic ingredients need to be there: there needs to be a crime, the crime needs to be investigated,  there has to be tension and drama, and my primary character needs to be deeply involved.

Here’s to a good mystery!

© 2000 – 2013 Bonnie Cehovet

Reproduction prohibited in any venue without the written permission of the author.

Holiday Promotions

Barely into July, and I am already thinking about promoting my work for the holidays! Not really all that unusual ... I have to decide how I am going to promote, where I am going to promote, and then find out how much it is going to cost. And I want the promotion to start soon after the beginning of November, so that people have the time to order my books, get them, then send them out as presents. 

I am going to be doing half-page ads in  the October edition of Attune Magazine, a quarterly devoted to personal growth, poetry, and metaphysical themes. I am also going to be doing videos for my site pages and to pout up on You Tube. Okay ... I am not going to do them myself, I am going to have them done by Mary Nale, the founder/editor for Attune Magazine.

Here is a link to an awesome video that Mary did for co-author Brad Tesh and my self for our book  "Seek Joy ... Toss Confetti". If you want to see more of Mary's portfolio, click here.

I will also be promoting through my Twitter, Facebook, and Google + accounts. If I get terribly brave, I might even chance trying to set up a Google + Hangout! That is still in the "iffy" stages! ;-)

And yes, I still have to WIP's ongoing: an e-book on decision making, and another e-book ... the first in what I hope will be a series of mysteries. I am looking at an issue here, though. I want to self-publish, and Create Space wants bucks per page after an author hits the 110 page mark. That will one heck of a short mystery! ;-) Do it in parts, perhaps? ;-)

Time Traveler

 

As a writer, on any given day I feel like I am traveling through time. Sometimes into the future, sometimes into the past, with brief stays in the present. Why is that? This is what a writer's life looks like:

1. Your day begins. Coffee cup in hand, you check your daily calendar to see what needs to be done. If you are like me, your personal and professional "to do" list goes on the same page.

2. You check your e-mail, and respond to whatever needs a response.

3. You get a few small tasks done.

4. You get out any promotion that you need to get done.

5. You get your blogs out there. I have several blogs ... I schedule one a day to be written, and I keep them short.

6. You start on any research that you need to do. 

7. There is almost always a review to get out, or an "emergency/unexpected project" to be hammered out.

8. Time for more coffee ... and probably lunch.

9. Put some quality time into my WIP.

10. Go do my "day job" (which for me is an evening/night job).   

Somehow, this never gets old. Right now, along with most people, I am looking at options for replacing my RSS feed, as Google Reader is non-existent as of July 1st. I do have it switched to another reader, but I am seriously considering doing e-mail notifications only. G-mail recently gifted me with "categories" (determined by them!), which is probably something that I should have done anyway. So I can put the blogs that I follow into a specific category. 

I also need to put more time into learning Dragon Speak. Once I have that figured out, it will save me some time. i wonder if they have audio for that that I can run while I am sleeping? There are only 24 hours to a day (last time I looked, anyway).

I need to move my reviews to a thumb drive, to make space on my laptop.I also need to move downloads that I haven't had the time to read, some music, and who knows what else. I need to go through my downloads and delete items no longer needed, and through my docs to delete items relating to a business program that I recently decided to leave. 

Then there is the mystery that I am currently reading for relaxation ... I always have one of those going. This is how I am able to leave the day behind and get some sleep.

What can I say ... it's all good!

(c) 2013 Bonnie Cehovet

Reproduction in any venue prohibited without the written permission of the author. 

Where Did the Time Go?

 

Where does the time go? As authors, we like to think that we are in charge of our own time. That is seldom true, unless we publish independently. Even then we have deadlines ... self imposed deadlines that help us to stay professional, and not wander into the twilight zone of writing.

There are so many things that can claim the time of a writer. It is up to us to decide what is important, what is not, and where we want our time and focus to go. Social media is a very gray area ... how much  is going to bring us in readers/followers, and how much is overkill (or underkill, if we don't do it right)? How many pages do we need on Facebook? How many Twitter accounts do we need? How often should we tweet, and what should be say? Do we schedule our tweets to go out, or do we just send them out spontaneously? Do we play the #FF game? (I did, at first, and then dropped it.) 

Do we send out newsletters? Do our newsletters actually say anything? Are the newsletters converting into sales? How often do we publish a newsletter? How are we getting e-mail addresses for our newsletter? We need to do this in a manner that we reach people who are interested in our work, and will open the darn newsletter and read it! How often do we publish a book? Do we really need to publish more than one book a year? We are generally writing one book, promoting another book, and outlining a third book anyway. How thin can we stretch ourselves? 

Do we really need to go on blog tours? I mean, really! We write a guest post to fit into someone else's site. We keep track of the post, and respond to any comments made. Our face is put into focus for new readers, but how many are really going to convert into fans? Are we going to sell more books? Is this a good use of our time? For me, I have decided that no, it is not.

We don't need a ton of Twitter, Google + or Facebook followers. What we need are a few good followers that interact with us, like our material, and buy our books. It doesn't matter how many people "like" you  Facebook page. Look at how many of them are commenting on your posts, at how many of them are engaging with you. 

Blogging and blog hopping. I have several blogs on different topics. I send out one blog a week ... unless there is something that I really feel that I need to write about. 

What does this all boil down to? Whatever you do, do it with intent and purpose. If it doesn't look like it is working, and you have tried tweaking it ... let it go!

Take charge of your time!

(c) 2000 - 2013 Bonnie Cehovet

First Chapters

 

I have spent a fair amount of time lately thinking about entering a writing contest ... a specific writing contest. In the end, I decided not to. This lead me to thinking about taking my mystery novel out, sharpening my pencils (or learning to work with Dragon Speak!)  and getting a first draft written. For me, the first chapter can be a difficult one. What do I need it to do? Introduce my main character, for one thing. Establish my "voice" for another. My voice for my fiction writing will be a bit different than my voice for other writing that I do. Or perhaps not ... perhaps I am always me.

In my mind, I need to make the main character a strong one ... one that readers will identify with, and that I feel comfortable with. Rather like the person that I would want to be. I want my readers to be drawn into this person's world, to want to walk with her, to want to finish the story! I want to show my character's strengths, and perhaps hint at what her weaknesses might be.

The first chapter is also where I set the tone for the story,where my readers decide if they want to read the rest of the book. Am I going to be uber serious? Am I going to inject a bit (but not too much!) humor? Is there a lot of blood and gore to follow? And by the way ... what is the theme? Perhaps I should sneak that into the first chapter too! Is it romance? Is it theft? Is it family secrets? Is it cyberspace? Is it addictions? Fess up ... let the reader know!

I know exactly where my mystery is going to take place ... in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is important to me as a reader to know what country, and what part of that country, a story that I am reading is taking place in. I will give my readers that same courtesy ... to know where the story is taking place. And the places will change, as I have great hopes on making this a mystery series.

The bad guy (antagonist) will need to show up in my first chapter too ... or at least a hint of who they are, why they are in that position (perhaps a bit of back story), and what the tension is between my main character and the antagonist. Hint ... the antagonist does not need to be all bad (none of us are all good or all bad).

Lots of stuff that I am finding out needs to be in my first chapter! That's okay - I am ready. I have my outline, and I have my characters sketched out in profiles. Who they are, where they live, what they do for a living, where they went to school, what their preferences and dislikes are. It's all written out! To be honest, I did that for reference for myself, so that I can keep my characters straight!

One least thought,  that doesn't belong in this article, but is too good to keep quiet about! When you take out a phrase, or even a whole section, or chapter (this is called editing), don't throw it away. Keep it ... you may be able to use some of it in later chapters, or even in other books or articles. Waste not, want not!   

(c) 2000-2013 Bonnie Cehovet

Reproduction prohibited in all  venues without written permission from the author.

My Own Little World

I recently wrote about finding out that Amazon.com had discounted the price on the book that I co-authored with Brad Tesh. Neither of us were happy about that, but we were assured by Create Space that we would be paid royalties according to the price that we had set for the book. That calmed us down a bit. A few days later I saw that a newly released book that I have out from a traditional publishing company (Schiffer Publishing) had been discounted, Deja vu all over again! Prices on any and all products can change from minute to minute ... and this is not just an Amazon quirk. What is this world coming to!

Now I am in a quandary about where I want to publish (and retain maximum control over my work). I am seriously thinking doing print books with a local printer, and selling both the print books and the e-book version from my site. I don't know if an e-book version from my site is possible ... I will have to look into that. n the end, I may stay with Kindle and Create Space. But I don't feel that I have total control over my work, not do I feel that I am adequately compensated. This my world ... I am a writer. There has to be a way to make this work.

Here's a fun link on marketing testing - AB Testing. If you site is an e-commerce site, you might want to read this.

From SmashingMagazine - 50 free resources to help improve your writing - 50 Free Resources.   

(c) 2000 - 2013 Bonnie Cehovet

Use of this material in any venue prohibited without the written permission of the author.