Gratitude in Writing

Writing doesn't happen in a vacuum. If it does, all too often, it isn't much good. Ideas that are challenged grow wings - so long as the challenging is done with respect and love. Any of you who've looked at my books and taking any note of the huge list of acknowledgements in the front. know I thank the same people over and over again. That's for a reason. They're the people I can count on through thick and through thin to talk me down from whichever writing ledge I may be staring down. Fellow Word Whores Jeffe Kennedy and KAK and former Word Whore Carolyn Crane will all give me the straight skinny my stories and/or ideas.

I'm lucky in that I have a local critique group that meets in person. Lisa Wanttaja, Darcy Carson, DeeAnna Galbraith and Melinda Rucker Haynes work their backsides off combing whatever I'm writing to make sure I'm making sense and the stories hold together. The great thing about this group is that it's been meeting since before forever. These ladies know me and my writing. Sometimes, it means they know what I *meant* to say but failed to. Sometimes, it means they can nail me for taking the easy way out of a conflict conundrum. When I can't see the forest or the trees, they're terrific at prodding me out of my rut and help me think differently about what I'm doing.

I have some of the best editors on earth and I am grateful for each and every one of them. Even my copy editors - ask any of my crit partners. I complain about my CEs. I do. And then I get over myself and seriously evaluate everything my copy editors suggest because the entire point is change my brain about how the story went together. It's the old sales technique: If there's a better way to make your point, you'd want to know about, right? Damn it. NO. . . Eh. Yeah. Yeah, I do. But I'm gonna grumble about it! It's all in the name of building a better book.

My family. My parents. My husband. My cats. All of them. These are the people who haven't (and who still don't) kill me for getting lost in my stories. They're now my biggest cheerleaders. My mother would be knocking on your door to hand sell my books to you if she liked to fly more than she does.

But you know what I'm most grateful for? You guys. Readers. Thank you. Seriously, thank you.

Amazon Ranking: An Expose!!!

by @CarolynCrane

Our Saturday Word Whore Veronica Scott is under the weather - hope you feel better soon, V! - so Word Whore alum Carolyn Crane is pitching in to share her insightful, meticulous and professionally mature system for tracking sales.

****

Hi!! It’s former Word Whore Carolyn here, filling in. The subject this week is one near and dear to my heart. I’m not obsessed! Here, a reprise of an old post from my first book, then updated November 5, 2o12.

It's so rewarding when you look at the way you were, say, two years ago, and see how far you have come!! 

Mind Games, the first in my Disillusionists trilogy, came out in 2010.  OMG, I was obsessed with my Amazon rankings!  You can tell from this old post, below.

The Oddshots blog, where this originally appeared, is sadly now gone. So I'm reprising it here.

The sad state of Carolyn Crane in 2010...

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The Amazon sales ranking: An expose!

Before my book came out, I noticed that many other authors talk about the Amazon ranking, and how on release weeks, they would check it a lot to see where their book was. I was sure I would be different because:

1. I don’t tend to buy books from Amazon, and naturally, I assume most people behave as I do.

2. I’ve always heard those ranking don’t mean all that much. 

3. I’m interested in whether people actually enjoy the book—not sales, or a silly number.

So! Mind Games was released last week, and what did debut author Carolyn Crane do? Check the Amazon rankings!

I started off not doing it much, but since other authors talk about it, I figured if they check it, there must be something to it. Because Carolyn Crane is all about the peer pressure. So I started checking it more and more. Also, maybe nobody knows what it means, but the little number kept changing! Something was happening. Somebody needed to monitor it.

What is the number all about? I did some high level research.

I typed “how do Amazon rankings work” into Google and quickly discovered that the rumors are true: nobody outside Amazon really understands it. (Though some say it becomes more meaningful when you get around 1000, or into the best-seller territory of 100 or lower.) But nobody really knows what it’s based on. Sales are part of it, but there are other factors. What are these other factors you ask?

Nobody knows. Many people work hard to try to figure these other factors out. They write articles with phrases like: “the sales ranking has to be dissected dynamically” and “figures are applied to the algorithm during the calculation.”

Essentially, these people are reverse engineering the rankings, just the way scientists tried to reverse engineer Arnold Schwarzenegger in the time between Terminators #1 & #2. And we know how that ended.

But, back to me. The thing is, these little numbers would change, and it became weirdly entrancing. Once, my number hit the 3,000s! I felt happy! Like the book was doing well! Other times, my number would backslide and I would be a sad bear.

In their FAQs, Amazon is suspiciously vague

Amazon says “the lower the number, the higher the sales” and that the rank “reflects recent and historical sales.” Which, if you sort of think about it, are somewhat contradictory. And why not just put a number that grows every time somebody buys a book? Like a fun little meter that says, hey! Another book was bought! No. Instead, they rank your book against ALL other books on the planet in the most mysterious way possible. As if authors aren’t insecure enough. 

 

Clearly something is going on. It has all the hallmarks of an experiment— something akin to the Dharma Initiative on the TV show LOST! What is the purpose of Amazon’s Dharma Initiative-type ranking? How does it work? I have theories.

Theory #1: It is a sinister ego-crushing experiment

In this scenario, the number is based only vaguely on sales, but mostly on how many times an author checks the number.

As you may or may not know, one of the classic techniques of breaking down a person’s self esteem is to praise them lavishly (You’re 3,200!) and then withdraw that praise (248,560. Loser!) And then, when the author goes crawling back: (Hey! You’re okay! 11,350!). And the more you check it, the more it messes with your head.

Theory #2: The ranking is simply a carrot and stick trick to drive author traffic

Maybe Amazon is simply interested in driving traffic. I mean, isn’t that what big websites ultimately want? Think about it: authors are huge purchasers of books; maybe the ranking number is calibrated to get authors to visit more. In this theory, Amazon creates a believable range upon your release, that is, they “seed” your book the way a sports team might be seeded, and then Amazon’s artificially intelligent system goes to work, learning what sort of fluctuation brings you back, and what sort of fluctuation disheartens you so much, you stop checking for a day, and it modulates until it has you checking at an optimal frequency.

Theory #3: A funny joke for Amazon insiders

What if the number is way more random than anybody imagines? What if, inside Amazon’s headquarters, there is this giant monkey cage, and computer keyboards are positioned around the cage. And the monkeys are like, eeee eee ee! punching the keyboards, and everybody who walks by laughs, because they know that people write articles about the number, and authors check it incessantly, and it’s just monkeys playing! And it’s this thing that boosts employee morale. A joke they are all in on that creates togetherness.

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UPDATE, November 5, 2012:

Oh, how sad to look back at those days when I was so hung up on a number to the  point of weaving paranoid theories about Amazon.  

This kind of behavior appalls me now. It not what being a  true writer, a true artist, is all about! I'm glad I'm over it. 

For example, my cross-genre PNR/spy/suspense romance, MR. REAL, just released this last week, and do I have it as an item on the toolbar? Actually, I don't have it on my toolbar! 

I'll admit to checking  the Mr. Real Amazon page now and then, but it's simple curiosity. A few years has put everything in perspective.

My other pen name, Annika Martin, writer of torrid bank robber erotica, recently got on a bestseller list as part of this 99-cent erotica bestsellers sale. 

Did I freak out? No. A rank is just a number. It means nothing! Artistic quality is what should count.  

Not to boast, but I think these past two years have allowed me to grow as a person, and truly put things in perspective. 

Hey! Thanks for visiting. If this post helps even one other writer see what a waste of time these obsessions with Amazon rank are, or gives them hope they they can change and get over their fixation on a number, I will rest easy tonight. Have a great week, people.

Savoring the Outside Point of View

Last night my most excellent friend, critique partner and Word-Whore alum, Carolyn Crane, won the Romance Writers of America (RWA) RITA award for her romantic suspense, Off the Edge. Even more exciting, she's the first author to win a RITA with a self-published book.

We knew she was one of the finalists, but it wasn't until the awards ceremony that we found out.

Carolyn has been my roommate at the conference all week, which is a treat for us. We live on different sides of the country and mostly communicate via email and instant messenger, sprinkled in with the occasional phone call. We often bemoan that we can't meet for a drink or lunch, so our five-day grown-up slumber party is an opportunity to saturate ourselves in writer talk and to savor each other's company.

The RITA finalists get to bring a guest or two to share their VIP table at the RITA awards, so I was Carolyn's date last night. I don't think it really hit either of us, the reality of the building tension, until a few hours before. We'd been running around all week, going to and from panels, speeches, meetings, lunches and parties. But we made sure to meet for dinner, eating early at 5:30, so we'd have time to get into our fancy dresses.

She was keyed up and so was I. Even though I kept reassuring her with the very true observation, that finaling for the RITA is really the big bump - in buzz and sales - I started to feel nervous. Now, a date's job at this kind of thing is to help maintain the calm, to buffer the anxiety, so I kept up a good face. Still, I really wanted this for her and the imminent possibility of great celebration or the bruise of disappointment loomed. I had my consolation words planned, knowing well how it can sting, even when you KNOW it's still amazing to get that close.

When her category came up, I rubbed a hand over her back, as much to soothe myself as her.

When they called her name, I burst into tears. I rarely have experienced the happy cry, but I did last night.

When she came back to the table, carrying her heavy golden statue, she sat and said, "Did I remember to thank you in my speech?" and I said, "I don't know - I was crying!"

One of those stories we'll tell forever.

This week's theme is: Choosing point-of-view (POV): How Do You Know Which One Is Right For Your Story?

In many ways, this is Carolyn's story. But it's also mine. I've walked this road with her from the very first glimmer of the concept for this series. Last night felt as much my joy as hers. Conventional wisdom says we should choose POV according to which character has the greatest emotional stake in a scene. Which means, if I were writing the book, I'd want to tell you this story from Carolyn's POV.

In real life, however, it's necessarily my POV. I can give a perspective that she can't. One infused with the pure elation of celebrating someone else's victory.

A sweet place to be.

Three Profound Impacts on My Writing in 2013

This week's topic is really quite interesting to contemplate. We ask each other, what are the Top Three Influences on Your Writing in 2013?

I have to say I'm answering this question differently this year than I might have in the past. My top three?

1) My CPs

I am blessed to be a part of an amazing group of writers who have been absolutely crucial to me this last year. Many thanks to Carolyn Crane, Marcella Burnard and Laura Bickle. Without their feedback, brainstorming and explaining my stories to me, I would have been lost. We meet weekly via Instant Messenger and maintain an accountability worksheet. Laura has had to back off to focus on her own work, but I cannot ignore the very important role she played in the books I wrote this year. I miss her greatly.

Also pinch hitting with answers, advice and last-minute reads were sister Word Whores Allison Pang and Kristine Krantz. Always there when I need them!

2) Reader Feedback

This was the year that I really started hearing from readers. From the blow-by-blow tweeted reactions to my books to long, detailed emails giving me their responses, these amazing people greatly influenced how I see my stories. Some very special ones: Carien Ubink - who also beta read for me twice when I needed it most - E and Has from The Bookpushers, who've been amazing with their insights into my stories, and Amy Remus from So Many Reads, who always asks interesting questions.

3) My agent

I signed with Pam in August 2012, so her influence started that fall. Still, my work in 2013 is largely in response to her. I wrote Master of the Opera (coming out January 2, eep!) at her suggestion. My Twelve Kingdoms trilogy will release starting this summer, because she sold it. While she has never directly edited my writing, her enthusiasm for my work and savvy guidance has had a profound impact on me. Much love going out to her.

I'll be interested to hear what my bordello mates say. Cheers all!

My Plotting Method: Toothpicks and Spider Silk

Has anyone created a Tetris-style game with cats?

So, before we get to the meat of what I'm not going to say today (ooh, *foreshadowing*), we have a BIG ANNOUNCEMENT.

As you may or may not have seen yesterday, Carolyn Crane is leaving the Word Whores blog. (Cue wailing and gnashing of teeth.) No, she's not moving to Timbuktu, so she'll still be around - just moving into a different focus. But this leaves what we like to call a HOLE.

Could you be the whore to fill that hole?

If so, we're taking applications here!

We just posted this last night and applications are already coming in, which is really very cool.

So.

Onward.

This week's topic is (kill me now): Brainstorming the Plot: With whom, when, etc.

See, you all just happened to catch me on the weekend that I'm cranking to finish my novel in progress. I haven't talked about it here much, but it's a modernization of Phantom of the Opera. It takes place at Santa Fe Opera, with more sex and lots of creepy paranormal occurrences. This is the eSerial I sold on proposal to eKensington. It's due April 1 (no fooling, ha ha) and I'm nearly done.

Nearly, as in less than 7,000 words left.

I took a holiday on Friday, when I had about 12,000 words left and figured I'd write 4K/day over the three-day weekend and be DONE.

But no.

I got in 2K Friday and 1.7K yesterday - and that was working on the book All Freaking Day.

This happens to me because I slow way down at the end of a book. Because I don't plot. Really, I can't plot. I don't get how other writers know what's going to happen before they write it. It sounds really cool and MUCH easier to do it that way, but it's just not how I do it.

So this "Brainstorming the Plot" topic is just a little taunting reminder. A little salt in my wound. Thank you very much.

Because I write for discovery (a term I love because it makes my process sound so thoughtful), when I reach the end, all my threads and bits of foreshadowing come together and I'm standing there, holding a bunch of these squiggly bits, waiting for them to weave together. Last night I told a friend it feels like knitting with toothpicks and spider silk.

That's really what it comes down to - waiting for them. I write a little bit. Things nudge along. I go back and noodle an earlier section. I go back to the end, write a bit more.

Writing this way takes a great deal of trust. I have to continue to believe that my subconscious knows the story and will reveal all in due time. It's that "due time" part that can strain my patience. That's when I compose snarky blog posts about the term "plotting" being a personal insult.

:D

But it's okay. This is my gig and I'm (more or less) at peace with that. I'm off to coax the story into place just a bit more.

Just wait until you see the final web.

Release Day: Two, Two, Two Times the Fun!

I have the big pimpin' pleasure of announcing today is release day for two of our Word Whores!

A Trace of Moonlight

Book 3 of the Abby Sinclair Series

by Thursday Word-Whore Allison Pang

During a week in which I should be discussing revenants, it is delightfully appropriate that Ms. Sinclair becomes a subject-matter expert in the third installment of the Abby Sinclair Urban Fantasy series. What will happen when a daemon meddles with the love-triangle of Abby, the elven prince Talivar, and the incubus Brystion?

 Buy A Trace of Moonlight today!

Mr. Real

Book 1 of the Code of Shadows

by Saturday Word-Whore Carolyn Crane

Technically, one has to die and then be brought back to a semblance of life to be counted as a revenant, but what if you began as pixels behind glass? What if you were conceived by an advertising agency, portrayed by a MMA Fighter, and summoned into the real world by a babe wielding magical software? When you escaped the prison of television, to what lengths would you go to remain Mr. Real?

Buy the paranormal spy thriller Mr. Real today!

The bite-sized writing resources I'm so loving

Happy Saturday, friends!

We’re all abuzz about favorite writing tools today, and naturally, I was going to write about the awesome Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass. Unfortunately, somebody stole the topic…Linda! But I don’t blame you. The book is fabulous. Really the best that’s out there.

And not just to read, but to re-read. I think writing resources speak differently to us at different points in our journeys. Or even during different books. 

Anyway, I have something else fun to discuss, also the work of Donald Maass, and that’s his prompts. Have you seen them? You can find them on his twitter page. These things are golden, people!! I've copied a few random ones. 

He throws out on twitter and numbers them. He has around 80 out there now. I love to grab a random one and really think about it, think how I can use it. They are really good in small doses, no more than one or two a day, almost like points to meditate on. 

I find these prompts useful when I’m developing a plot, and I find them useful when I’m deep into revisions. I so love them. Can you tell? 

You can use them to strengthen and entire book, or just add color to a scene. I need to work with them more, because I sort of want them all to sink into me, to internalize them as a writer. But it’s fun to encounter them, too, to push up against them.

Oh, I can’t say enough about these babies. Thank you, Donald Maass! Go follow Donald Maass at @DonMaass on twitter. 

A lazy girl's guide to humor!

As you may have noticed, we Word Whores are blogging about where we go for funny stuff on the Internet. There are so many funny things out on the Internetz! I see my pals here have alerted readers to many of them! Drat being on Saturdays! No, actually I like it.

I don't have a regular place I go for funny stuff. I more get drawn to funny things by twitter and other people. And then I forget about them. Like the fickle whore I am!

Basically, I depend on others to alert me to things. Ah! But who alerts me? Often Twitter, but there are two awesome funniness alerting blogs...

One of my fave sources of funny stuff is the Friday Links roundup my neighbor and galpal Chris from Stumbling Over Chaos puts out. These links are a gold mine of cool stuff in general, but there is a whole LOL section that always has something funny. Just yesterday, Chris kindly alerted her readers to Kate Roman's awesome tumblr full of vintage unintentionally homoerotic ads such as this one:

And this, from Bronwyn Green's Pinterest, from a few weeks ago, also via Stumbling Over Chaos. 

I feel bad for baby seals! But I laughed so hard. Shows the importance of commas! 

Another of my blogger/writer galpals, KT Grant (aka KatieBabs) does WTF posts every Sunday, which are hilarious. I don't know where she finds this stuff! She turns up a lot of questionable book covers, as well as other items, like this, from Regretsy:

As you see, this falls squarely into the WTF category. Thanks, KT & Chris, for helping my lazy self find endless funny and weird stuff. 

My Sweet Caribbean Home

by Jeffe Kennedy

By now you all will have read yesterday that Kerry Schafer is leaving us to move on to bigger and better things. Alas. But we're excited and thrilled to introduce our new Saturday Word Whore:

Urban Fantasy Author Carolyn Crane!

I first encountered Carolyn and her books on Sullivan McPig's review blog. I read just one of Carolyn's novellas and was totally hooked. And then she turned out to be this lovely, funny and insightful person, too. I'm greatly looking forward to what she brings to our weekly themes.

Which brings me to this week's theme: If You Could Live Anywhere, Where & Why.

The house pictured above is on the island of Virgin Gorda, in the Caribbean.I took the photo while on vacation and I even titled it "My House." Yes, it's right on the beach. One of the rooms, which I fantasize is the master bedroom, has french doors to a balcony that overlooks the beach and the water from a high wall like this. Yes, that's right: My Room.

David and I both love the Caribbean. We first went when I was sent to the U.S. Virgin Islands of St. Thomas and St. Croix to look at their drinking water. Of course, David tagged along on that trip. I don't know why he never wants to come on the Des Moines or Springfield jobs.

It was love at first sight. The incredible blue of the sea, the crystal clear waters, so calm and warm, teeming with so much colorful life. The long, winding white-sand beaches.

Since then we've been "collecting" islands. I've now been to the Puerto Rico main island, along with Culebra and Vieques, to St. Thomas and St. Croix, Tortola and Virgin Gorda. So much tropical goodness to love.

I'm totally working on a plan to make it happen.

Look for me in my white house, overlooking the blue waters.