Writers and Authors

Showing posts with label Carol Marlene Smith. Show all posts

When did you know you wanted to be a writer?

Although I've been writing since I was about nine, short stories and poetry, I didn't really know I wanted to be a writer until in my forties. I started writing commercials, which was a job I just lucked into. I guess that was when I realized that I could write and be a professional about it. Fiction and non-fiction started for me about the same time after I'd turned fifty.

What genre do you write and why?

My first attempt at fiction of course was short stories when I was a child. I wrote about everyday people then. My first attempt at a novel was a science fiction which never got finished. My second was an autobiographical type story, 1964: Chasing A Dream. I started sending that out and was told it was romance, but since it didn't end happily and didn't totally concentrate on one hero and one heroine, that I would have to change it and shorten it also. I didn't want to do that so I decided to write a formulaic romance and this turned out to be Angel's Blessing. After that I kept writing romance but adding in mystery and murder and suspense. I also like to write literary short stories and mainstream, so I jump all over the place as far as genre goes.

Tell us about your latest book.

My latest book is called Angel's Retreat and it is a sequel to Angel's Blessing. I am more than half way finished in writing and work on it everyday, hoping to have it complete within the month.

What marketing methods are you using to promote your book?

The usual ones. Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Goodreads, and Library Thing. I also have a blog called the Positive Power of Writing where I share my writing and what's going on with it, also I write posts on how to write and what's worked for me and what hasn't. I have not so far paid for any advertising. I have three book trailers on Amazon, Smashwords and You Tube that are getting some views. I do read other blogs and comment at times, also I have joined a number of forums but I rarely get to go on them and comment since I spend most of my time writing. That's about it.

What formats is the book available in?

So far my books are just available in electronic form and you can find them in any format. Read them on your kindle, your nook book, your Kobo, or just on your PC. I hope to publish in print on demand someday, but so far I haven't gotten around to that.

What do you like to do when you're not writing?

When I am not writing, I like to read, bike, garden, play with my grandson, watch my favourite shows on TV, exercise, and dance. I also like to travel when I can.

Who are your favourite authors?

That one's easy. My favourite authors are Stephen King, Dean Koontz, John Sandford, Timothy Findley, and Carol Shields. Years ago I was a big fan of Mary Higgins Clark. I also like J.J. Jance, and Lisa Gardener is amazing. I have so many it's hard to pick, but the first three are my big favourites.

What advice do you have for other writers?

That's a tough one. I hate giving advice. I actually don't feel that I'm qualified to, but I would say, don't get discouraged, don't let others' opinions get you down if they are negative. Don't obsess over bad reviews, and just keep writing. Writing is a writer's joy, so the more you do it, the more joy you will have in your life.

What's your favourite quote about writing/for writers?

"I write because I can't 'not' write." I don't know who said it first, but it's the first quote that comes to my mind and explains it all.

Carol Smith

What's the best thing about being a writer?

When I write I get to be me. I can shut the world out and live in my own. I also like getting nice reviews, it makes me smile and happy that I've been able to brighten someone's day.

Where can people find out more about you and your writing?

At my blog, The Positive Power of Writing, and on my author's profile at amazon.com/author/carolmarlenesmith

Anything else you'd like to add?

Since you asked, I'd like to mention my book series, The Dream series, which has five books in total. Two (1964: Chasing A Dream and Facing Reality) are now available in most electronic formats. Book three of the series, Missing Link will be something I will be working on this coming winter. Thanks for this opportunity.

Today I would like to invite you to take a little trip with me, sooooooo let’s go fishing in the writer’s stream. When you write you are always told that you need to have a HOOK to draw in the readers. Let’s go from there and start with the HOOK, then we will look at the LINE and finally the SINKER

Of course we will need the BAIT as well. And let’s not forget the BASKET to bring it on home. LET’S BEGIN.

What is a hook? Well, the hook of a good story starts with the first line. (sometimes the first line might be only two or three words, or it might become your first paragraph) Did you know that some book publishers’ readers might only read the first line of a submitted manuscript? Or maybe just the first paragraph? If you’re lucky they will read the first page, or the first few pages. So you had better be giving all that you’ve got in order to hook a reader in.

So start with that FIRST LINE. The one you are going to write and rewrite and rewrite a few more times until you think you have it right. It has to be stunning. It has to reel the reader right into the story. Then you have to follow that with a stunning sinker. The first paragraph and even the next few, right on down to the end of the first page. The words that are going to SINK your readers right into the book, make them so comfortable that they won’t want to do anything else except read your book.

Did we forget the LINE? This is where you string out the words, and they better be in perfect order and not all jangled up. You know what happens when you mess up the line, you won’t catch anything.

Give your reader a smooth flowing line. Take them on a journey they won’t soon forget. Let them breathe with your characters, laugh with them, cry with them, be shocked with them, and hopefully in the end, be satisfied with them.

The BAIT is of course the beginning hook and the following paragraphs where the readers will immediately have all kinds of questions flow into their heads. Who is this character and why is she acting like that? Why is he so sad? Why is he so scared? How did anyone get into such a predicament anyway? Or any one of a number of immediate questions that might come to mind.

When one writes an article for a newspaper or a magazine, there are rules to follow. For one thing, an enticing title,(which tells the whole story in a nut shell) followed by a short blurb of the complete story, without all the details. After that a writer will begin to write the five W’s. When did it happen, where did it happen, why did it happen? What happened? Who did it happen to? And then there is the how. How did it happen? Of course that can be classified under the what happened part. You don’t necessarily have to write these five W's in that particular order or in any particular order. If you did that for every article they would become stagnant and boring.

Much the same thing will happen in a novel. But you will have many pages more to describe and explain your story. And you will do it in a different writing form. But even an article should be entertaining in order to keep a reader’s interest. One of my favourite types of articles to write is the personal interest story.

Now I could start talking about the Need in a story. How you start out with a character who needs or wants something, so now they have to figure out how to get what they want. But that would lead us into Motivation and that’s a whole nother post.

So I will keep to the subject at hand and continue on with the BASKET. You might wonder what a basket has to do with writing. This is my take on a basket of writing. So you’ve created a nice hook and an interesting first few pages or first chapter to entice your readers to read on. And then you add the nice words (the line) and you sink your reader in. You hope they will take the bait now so you’ve given them opportunity to think about all kinds of possible questions that might arrive in their mind. You let them sit a spell and read peacefully, contentedly, much like a fisher sitting on the bank of a stream, with the line in the water and the bait dragging below attracting a crowd of fish (they hope) so they can bring it on home.

So after you have created all this and you have the readers right where you want them, (this is a fine craft and sometimes takes many years to prefect) you begin reeling them in. They are into the story, they know some of the answers to some of their questions, they know the motivation of the characters and what drives them on. They are coming down the home slope and this is where you toss in the basket, where you tie up all the lose ends and give your readers some kind of satisfactory ending.

You have put all your eggs in the basket now and your readers have sampled all of them. You have laid out everything; you have bared your soul to your readers. You have journeyed with them and all of your little tricks are now in the basket and they have seen them all. You’ve brought them all home. You’ve put everything in your basket of writing and placed it in their hands.

I enjoyed this little fishing trip. I hope you did. It’s something to think about when you write or even when you read. Some readers actually enjoy analyzing what they read. Happy Writing and Reading everyone.

Carol Marlene Smith is an author and artist living in Nova Scotia, Canada. She has five published novels and a number of short stories. She loves to write about The Positive Power of Writing on her blog at www.carolmarlenesmith.blogspot.com

Editing

It seems to be a constant procedure. How many times can one go through a novel and still find errors? I say many. Just when you think you have it perfect, it's not. Look again. But I agree with many others, trying to edit your own work is endless. Seems you never can win.

Okay, just imagine you have all these eyes. You keep them in a case. You open it in the evening and you take out a fresh set. Plop them in your head. (You put the old tired set in the case which has "refreshing abilities")

Now you get to the editing. Hey you just found errors that never seemed to pop up before. So you get about five chapters done and you close off for the night. Next day you plop in another fresh set of eyes. You skim over those five chapters edited yesterday. Hey a couple more errors pop up. What is it with fresh eyes? Anyway so much for dreaming. Alas we only have one set of eyes so better to not edit when one is tired or has been at the editing for too long. Put it away and go back to it another day when your eyes are again "fresh".

Publishing

Things have really changed in the publishing world over the last decade or so. The world is a morphing creature and we are along for the ride. I love the aspect of e publication. And I didn't always. I was a die-hard print book believer. I vowed I would never take the e book route. Look at me now? I've got four novels and a number of short stories in e books, and I love it.

I love having a place for my work. Smashwords.com Thanks Mark. I love having a reason to write once again. After writing for many years one feels like it is a useless procedure if one cannot publish what one writes. Everything has changed now and sure there's crap out there, also mediocre stuff and great stuff, everyone gets their chance to have their say.

Here are a few things I think work well:

Don't be in a hurry to publish your first work. Make sure it's quality before you press the publish button. (I was in a hurry and just recently went through my first two published novels and found errors that mortified me)

Take the time to check your novels after publishing. If you are not happy with the formatting or the editing, fix it and upload a new version. (Both Amazon and Smashwords give you that option)

Look at your novels in an e book form. Go through it and I guarantee you if there are any errors they will pop out at you. (It is hard to detect errors on your manuscript) For publishing kdp Amazon, I change my word document to HTML (webpage filtered) then upload on the Mobipocket Creator. The Creator changes my HTML into a PRC which I am able to view on the Kindle Previewer or on my Kindle for PC.

If in doubt check with the Kindle Boards or Smashwords Forum. Both are excellent and have many friendly people there who are always willing to help out. (Thanks to all who have helped me over my hurdles)

Don't be afraid to venture into the e-publishing word. (I love print books, love to hold them, smell them when they are new,etc) but this is the age of e publishing, the time when everyone who wants it gets to have a turn at showing their work. Keep e publishing fresh and keep it top grade by sending off your best work, just like you would to a print publisher or an agent. No one wants to see your drafts, let alone pay money for them.

Bring on the future... and the future is e-publishing. Happy Writing Everyone! Stay positive now.

####

Carol Marlene Smith is an author and artist living in Nova Scotia, Canada. She has four published novels and a number of short stories. She loves to write about the positive power of writing! carolstewart60@hotmail.com

The title might seem a bit strange but let me explain. At one time I was in the middle of a novel, writing everyday for a definite number of hours usually from about 9 to 11. After that I would take time out to ride my exercise bike and then to have lunch. This routine I did daily, religiously you might say because I found that like any other routine once you got into the habit of that being what you did everyday at that time, then you would naturally just get up and do it. There would be no slacking off, no procrastinating, just do it. I found that worked well for me.

In fact it worked so well that once I got into the novel and knowing my characters a bit better, I loved being with them each day. Loved it so much that in the afternoon, after lunch, I would find myself sneaking back to my studio and writing, writing, writing. Do you think I might have been a bit obsessed? You would be right on.

I would hurry and get my other work done. I had a young child in school and I could usually work around the time she was there, until around two thirty. Pick her up, come home, and no more writing until I could sneak back again after she was tucked in bed for the night. Then sometimes I would work into the wee hours of the morning. Just depending how fast my characters were getting around and how exciting their life was. ( I guess you might have figured out by now, that other than my writing and my child, I didn't have much of a life)

But there were times when I did have visitors, or other obligations that I just couldn't get away from. This brings me to the particular day that I had to be in the kitchen baking and cooking, which I didn't mind once I got started, but that day I found myself thinking only about my characters. Little dialogues would go running through my head and I just couldn't take the time to write anything down, let alone sneak up to my writing studio and get back into my book. Then an odd picture came into my mind. I call it odd because that is how it felt, sort of unworldly. There in my mind's eye were all my present characters exactly where I had left them, all standing like in a play, frozen in whatever position or room or frame of mind that I had left them last. It was a sight to behold and that is how they stayed every time I thought of them until I could finally get back to my studio and back to my writing world.

Then with the stoke of the first key, they all magically started moving, interacting, talking, crying, being angry or sad or happy. And this made me very happy to be back interacting once again with my unfrozen friends.

Happy writing everyone!

Copyright 2011 by Carol Marlene Smith

Carol Marlene Smith is an author and artist living in Nova Scotia, Canada. She has four published novels and a number of short stories. She loves to write about the positive power of writing! Email

Wondering how others settle down to write. Do you need a cozy corner off to yourself? Some place where you can think and put your thoughts in order? Do you sit in front of a laptop or some other form of electronic communicator? Or do you go the old route of pen and paper?

Editing

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