POV Boot Camp

Donna F. Crow, an author with thirty books published, and Jill Williamson, the author of a Christian fantasy series, will headline Idahope Writer’s Mini-Conference on February 27, 2010.

Crow’s publishing credits include historic epic novels covering the history of Christianity in Scotland, Ireland, and England as well as juvenile fiction, mysteries, historical romances, cook books, and books on prayer.

Williamson is the author of By Darkness Hid, the first book in the Blood of the Kings trilogy. She is a former editor of Wild Rose Press and will be representing Marcher Lord Press at this year’s conference.

Other speakers include author Sherry Lord, local blogger and Pajamas Media columnist Adam Graham, Ray Ellis, and motivational speaker Jon Colson. Topics include the future of fiction writing, the structure of the novel, and writing about the police in fiction.

The cost of attending the conference is $20, which includes a one-year membership in Idahope Writers, the local chapter of American Christian Fiction Writers.

More information is available on the conference and Idahope Writers at: http://idahopewriters.org/events.html

To follow up to our last column on the common mistakes made by do-it-yourself publishers, I interviewed three authors who have either self-published, or have published through independent houses they have a financial interest in.

First up is Caprice Hokstad, the author of the Duke’s Handmaiden:

1) What method did you use to publish your book?

Xulon Press, a “Christian” POD company

2) Why did you choose this method?

Because they were the only company at the time that promised I could get in Ingram AND Spring Arbor, and they were one of the few companies that would allow returns. These features were supposed to help me get in bookstores. It didn’t work.

[note: bookstores won't carry your book unless it can be returned.]

3) What steps were involved?

I did all the formatting because they said they couldn’t do it and preserve my fonts. So I did it myself, printed it out on a laser printer, and sent it to them, camera-ready. They were supposed to take my suggestions on a cover, but they threw out what I suggested and tried to give me stock pictures of totally unacceptable castles that didn’t match any of my descriptions. After a phone call, I gave them a second chance, but they dragged their feet and took MUCH longer than originally promised. The resulting cover was okay, just not what I wanted or felt I paid for.

5) What, if anything, would you do differently?

I would NEVER use Xulon again. I took my second book to Lulu and got better service for a MUCH BETTER price. They put me in Ingram, which doesn’t really help get in bookstores, but I didn’t pay huge bucks for the “privilege” like I did before. They didn’t lie to me. They didn’t exploit me. I had to pay an artist, but the artist I hired listened to me and gave me exactly what I asked for. And even with the artist charge, I still paid a lot less for the whole process. Only difference: my second book is on Amazon and B&N, but not CBD. Big fat hairy deal.

Next, I chatted with Grace Bridges, owner of Splashdown Books:

1) What method did you use to publish your book?

Lightning Source, [LSI] which is used by traditional publishers both large and small and are directly connected to Ingram and Bowker, enabling worldwide cataloging and discounting. Unlike self-publishing services, such as Lulu, in which you can use your own ISBN and get distribution for an extra fee, LSI is a reputable printer where you HAVE to have your ISBN and the fee is for file processing and entering the book into distribution catalogs. LSI also accepts returns.

2) Why did you choose this method?

It provides a POD service while publishing under my own name and ISBNs.

[Note Graces means  Splashdown Books is the publisher rather than Lightning Source. Self publishing services like Lulu often offer printing services also, but are rendered disreputable by their primary product.]

3) What steps were involved?

Signing up with LSI, which proved to be quite complex. Then the individual book setup, which is not too hard if you’re familiar with Lulu, though it is certainly not quite that easy. To obtain the required pdf file for the interior I went through Lulu with a dummy project to convert from Word. For the cover, I hired someone from Elance for $50 to convert to a CMYK-compliant pdf as required. All they did was the conversion; I already had the wraparound graphic complete.

4) Have you been satisified with the results?

Yes, the print quality seems better than Lulu and the cover price has gone down while the profit margin has gone up.

5) What, if anything, would you do differently?

Take more time in the run-up. Yeah, right. But these projects will suck as much time as you can throw at them.

Finally, I posed my questions to Arlene Knickerbocker, owner of the Write Spot.

1) What method did you use to publish your book?

My first book was published by a traditional publisher in 2001- Circles of Blessing: Redemption in the Rain Forest.

I started my writing and editing business in 2001 also. After working with a local printer and publishing a few small booklets for people, I decided to self-publish my second book: Open the Door to Another Realm. I also published a children’s book for my granddaughter using the same method.

2) Why did you choose this method?

God directed me on the first book. The publisher actually called me about doing some freelance editing, and I asked if they were open to a book proposal. It was out in 3 months.

The second book is a daily devotional done with poetry. I know that is not an easy genre to sell to a publisher. So I decided to publish it through my business, The Write Spot.

3) What steps were involved?

For the first book, I sent a formal proposal including a personal marketing plan. The book is creative non-fiction about my co-author, and he has a broad speaking platform. Thus, we were able to buy several hundred books up front. I think that helped cinch our deal with the publisher.

I sent the manuscript. They asked us to add a sub-title (which we did). We signed the contract. They sent a copy for our okay. It was a simple process.

For the second book, I bought a bar code [ISBN] and set the book up as a PDF file. I designed my own cover. I sent it to the printer, received a sample copy, okayed it, and paid somewhere in the neighborhood of $5 per book. I printed 210. I have done some book signings, poetry readings, and writing workshops. I also sell it through my website. I have about 25 books left. Several stores carry them on consignment. They sell them for $12.99 and pay me $7.75. I sell them for $10.00.

4) Have you been satisified with the results?

Yes, they are not on the best-seller list, but I’ve received many positive comments from readers. My goal was to follow the Lord’s leading and put the results in His hands, so I have been satisfied with what He has done.

5) What, if anything, would you do differently?

I don’t know of any changes I would make.

[Note: the links included in this article are for educational purposes only.]

Recommended further reading: Self-publishers and piranhas

Dear Andrea,

I’m tired of getting rejection slips.  I’ve found some presses that will gladly publish my book, if I’ll just purchase a certain amount of books. Others  simply outright try to sell me a publishing package. I’ve heard that in a legitimate publishing contract, all the money flows towards me, but so few first-time authors are getting published. This book needs published, so I’m thinking about self-publishing.  What mistakes should I look out for?

Signed,

Perishing*

Dear Perishing,

Five big mistakes come to mind:

1) Thinking about self-publishing.

Sorry, I stooped to shock value. What I actually mean is all some people do is think. They never actually get around to doing anything.

2)Publishing under your own name.

Have you ever seen an advertisement for a movie made by Johnny Amateur, directed by Johnny Amateur, written by Johnny Amateur, and starring Johnny Amateur? What kind of quality production did you expect? Were you eager to see it? Publish under your name, and the reader in the book store will see, “Written and published by Johnny Amateur.”

The reaction of industry professionals is even worse. Fairly or not, many, if not most, of the very folks you’ll need to help you market your book and actually get it into readers hands won’t touch you with a ten foot pole.

3) Publishing under the non-traditional publisher’s name.

Professionals in the industry know who these guys are and that you paid for the privilege of being published, so you’ll face all the same problems as you would if you’d put your name where the publisher’s name goes, such as the spine.  Speaking of which, to the book store owner, the number one mistake is putting nothing on the spine at all. They can’t stock your book that way.

4) Skipping the professional edit, or relying on the services of the publishers who have the money going the wrong way.

My apologies to any editors who work for these companies who actually do their jobs, but those who will publish you if you pay them are notorious in the industry for not properly editing your work and even editing in mistakes. I personally have yet to pick up a novel printed at one of these presses that couldn’t have benefited from another edit and most of them needed another edit quite badly.

This is one of the most serious problems self publishers face.  Unless you hire the appropriate professionals to edit your book, you’ll end up putting out a shoddy product wrapped in a cool cover–and that’s if you use a well-intentioned subsidy publisher (that would be the ones that require you to purchase a bunch of books). Otherwise, the cover is usually of inferior quality as well.

If you want to publish a quality book, at minimum, you’ll need to hire two professionals. One to do a copy or a comprehensive edit (depending on the shape of the manuscript)  and another to proofread the book after you’ve gotten it typeset (looking like a book rather than a manuscript).

The hitch? While I don’t share the qualm myself, you may have difficulty finding qualified professionals willing to take on a self-publishing client.

Naturally, this one is pretty big in my mind. However, there is one mistake that tops it, because it’s the mother of all self-publishing mistakes.

5) Thinking like a consumer rather than like a business owner.

If you had the opportunity to start up your own business, would you jump into it without researching the field and what goes into making that business run? Would you not shop around, find out how much time and money you will need to invest to make your new business venture profitable? Would you not seek to learn everything there is to know about your new business?

That’s exactly what you’re considering right now. A business venture. Treat it like one. That’s another reason you need to create your own publishing house with it’s own name that isn’t yours. You’ll feel and think more like the business owner you are.

You’ll face many decisions as a brand new owner of a publishing company. Such as where to outsource the actual printing and warehousing of your book, preferably to the folks the large established houses use, but a POD printer like lulu.com may suit your needs as well.

One more major decision you’ll have to make is whether to only publish your books or those of other people as well. Whatever you decide, know the decision to publish others’ manuscripts would mean becoming a literal independent publisher, which would give you some measure of actual credibility, or more pointedly, make it more likely that marketing and distribution professionals will be willing to do business with you.

Even if you chose to only publish yourself, treating this venture like the business it is would lead to wiser decisions that would result in more book sales. If your sales figures were high enough, a traditional publisher would then pick up the book and you’d escape the self-publisher ghetto that way.

In Christ’s Service,

Andrea Graham

*This letter is based on the sentiments expressed to me in conversations with various individuals over the years.

In bible times, the Greeks had a tendency to transliterate the names of Jewish figures into Greek, and the Romans likewise into Latin, that’s how we got Jesus from a Hebrew name that today otherwise translates into English as Joshua. But there were actually two methods for doing this, one being a straight phonetic translation, which the authors of the bible used with Jesus, since that was the established equivalent of Joshua, but you could also transliterate by meaning (for example, Tabitha becomes Dorcas, both meaning gazelle.)

Hosanni does this quite often in Daughter of Eve; Verity becomes Alethe, (both meaning truth) and Antonio becomes Anthon (because they sound similar.) The Lord is treated in like manner, and the natural laws of Argevane means, if we did a phonetic transliteration, they’ll transliterate His name by meaning.

Right now, I chose the common definition of, “The LORD Saves” which comes out to Emisozo, Emi being their transliteration of I AM and which they’re not afraid to say, the natural laws of their universe again (We can’t even remember how to pronounce God’s name, so they fling it around wantonly.)

Okay, my question is, a more precise meaning is “The LORD is Salvation” or simply, “Salvation,” which would be Soterion. I’m of course used to Emisozo, and it’s technically picky, but I thought I’d throw out both options and let people vote on which they prefer.

Dear Andrea,

How do you find a good balance in using adverbs and adjectives? Too many sound amateurish, and too few sound Spartan.

Signed,

Between an Adverb and a Hard Place

Dear Between,

I hear adjectives knocked on less frequently, but adverbs especially do get a bad rap. They’re actually important and sometimes necessary parts of speech and stripping every adverb from your work would indeed be misguided at best.  Instead, I recommend you examine them to see if they are being used correctly. What should you look for?

First, let’s rehearse what these babies are in the first place.

According to Merriam-Webster, an adjective is, “a word belonging to one of the major form classes in any of numerous languages and typically serving as a modifier of a noun to denote a quality of the thing named, to indicate its quantity or extent, or to specify a thing as distinct from something else.”

Generally, unless it follows was, in my experience, an adjective won’t be a problem. And if it’s following was, you have a bigger problem with the choice of the weakest and most common verb in the English language, as the most common reason, aside from poor grammar, that an adjective would come after a verb is that you’re telling, as in, “the coat was blue” or “Jenny was sad.”

The problem with both sentences isn’t the adjective, but that they’re telling rather than showing. If you’re being told to eliminate adjectives, it’s probably telling that the editor is gunning for.  And by the way, an adjective that follows a verb is either functioning as a noun, or is being misused as an adverb. In most cases, rewrite it this way, “Jenny wore a blue coat” or better yet, “Jenny fingered the top button of her blue coat.” We’ll get back to “Jenny was sad” once we’ve discussed adverbs.

According to Merriam-Webster, an adverb is, “a word belonging to one of the major form classes in any of numerous languages, typically serving as a modifier of a verb, an adjective, another adverb, a preposition, a phrase, a clause, or a sentence, expressing some relation of manner or quality, place, time, degree, number, cause, opposition, affirmation, or denial.”

For those of you who still don’t know what an adverb is, they usually end in -ly and usually modify a verb.

The number one issue with adverbs lies in the modifying a verb part. When this is the issue, the problem isn’t the adverb, but the verb itself. When we write a first draft, we often will go with the first verb to come to mind. The easiest verb to write will often times be the weakest. Since it doesn’t say precisely what we want to say we will then add an adverb. So every adverbial clause should be examined with the question, “Is there a plain old verb that would communicate in one word what I am saying in two?”

For instance, instead of “walked quickly” (or briskly) try “jogged”  or another verb that describes the pace you’re looking for. If none come to mind and you’re describing something the english language is likely to have a verb for, check a thesaurus.

A similar issue is the old Tom Swifty, but while this looks the same as the above, finding a verb that means “said gently” isn’t going to fix it even if you actually find one.  These usually signal one of two things, that your dialogue isn’t being phrased gently at all and you added a crutch rather than fix the line, or a lack of confidence on your part.

The other major issue goes back to “Jenny was sad.” Whether Jenny is sad or feeling badly, the problem isn’t that adverbs or adjectives are innately evil, but that here you’re using one to tell us rather than showing us.  Any time an adverb or adjective references someone’s emotional state, unless it’s a line of dialogue, cut it and describe the “symptoms” of sadness and let your readers make that diagnosis. It’s much more powerful and much more believable.

It’s the association with telling in general that gives adverbs especially their bad rep. Adverbs that aren’t being used to tell, and aren’t propping up a weak verb choice, or weak dialogue, should be perfectly fine. While it will far less frequently be an issue, adjectives that aren’t propping up a weak noun choice, aren’t being used incorrectly to modify a verb, and aren’t telling are also fine.

In Christ’s Service,

Andrea Graham

One way is to find a copy editing error anywhere on this website. That’ll get you the introductory offer for free (or $5 off a longer edit if you’ve already purchased the introductory offer.) But if you have a website, now there’s an even better way.

First, download the following image by right clicking and choosing save as:

Next, upload the image to your own server. Place it in the sidebar or any prominent but unobtrusive location on your site and link it to www.povbootcamp.com.

If you need it, here is the code:

<a href=”http://www.povbootcamp.com”><img title=”POV Boot Camp: helping you whip flabby novels into shape with free writing tips, free writing exercises, and the first ten pages of your manuscript edited for only $5″ src=”http://www.yourdomain.here/camo1.jpg” alt=”POV Boot Camp: whip that flabby novel into shape” width=”150″ height=”200″ /></a>

If just one person finds me through the ad on your site, and it shows in my traffic stats widgets, you’ll get my introductory offer for free, or a $5 discount off your full manuscript edit if you’ve already purchased it. Thereafter, every visitor to click through is worth an extra page of free editing, with a minimum of 20 to collect. Every referral known to lead to a full manuscript edit will get you a ten percent discount off your own editing bill should you choose to work with me.

This offer also applies to text links in articles discussing the contents of this website or my editorial services and word of mouth referrals (you will have to notify me of those, however.) Please do let me know if you put the graphic ad up or text links in case I miss them.

Your own traffic stats tracking system should show you the number of visitors who followed a link from your site to mine also, if you’d like to keep track yourself to make sure I don’t miss any referrals you made. I’m afraid you will have to take my word for it on referrals leading to a purchase, since I’ll have to simply ask where you heard of me.

Otherwise, check around, as some editors offer to do free sample edits, and many will if  you just ask them. Also join critique groups and professional writing organizations. Networking and developing relationships with other writers can build you a stable of associates willing to check over your manuscript for you and this is a good thing to have. Don’t expect a full edit for free from any professional editor you might happen to have a relationship with, however. Be respectful of the amount of time that goes into going through a full length novel and return favors in kind as often as possible.

Trademarks only protect businesses in the same category as you from using the same name or slogan. That means there is no legal protections prohibiting an author from using the name of a real company or product in their novel. In normal situations, you are only required to use trademarks appropriately.

The big deal to most companies is that you spell and capitalize their name properly (e-Bay), that you don’t use it in a way that implies an endorsement, and that you don’t use it in a way that makes them look bad. You show a name is trademarked generally by capitalizing it (e.g. “Kelly tugged on her Reeboks.”

You can use real locales, however if you’re using a real place, you need to research to make sure you have things located where they actually are in the city, whereas for a fictional location you can make things up, which is not necessarily easier as mapping out a fictional city to make it feel authentic can be a lot of work, also. So, in most cases, using a real city versus a fictional one is entirely author preference.

However, there is one consideration when using real places and brand names in your work: slander and libel suits. Any setting or item used in a negative context is best left generic. For instance, if your plot requires health code violations in a restaurant, don’t name the restaurant Burger King. Likewise, if your character is locked in a battle with their local  government or the story otherwise reflects negatively on the locale,  you’ll want to use a fictional city.

Otherwise,  it comes down to POV and characterization. What products would your character use? What terms would they use for them? What places would they visit or frequent? Whether your character takes a Kleenex out of her purse at the Olive Garden or a tissue at the Pasta King, whether your character buys Kirkland’s Signature toaster pastries at Cost-co or Kellogg’s Pop-tarts from Kroger’s says quite a bit about them. So don’t make those decisions lightly. If it arises in your plot, think through the situation carefully and decide what is best for your character and whether the usage would cast a negative light on the product or place, as again, that could potentially lead to a lawsuit. Otherwise, it’ll be up to your editor at your publishing house.

Good POV requires good characterization. It’s hard to stay in point of view if you don’t know how your character thinks and perceives the world. So in this exercise we’re going to examine our character’s personality development.

Some of us are intutives and develop characters’ personalities by the seat of our pants and may have difficulty describing how we “discover” who our characters are. The rest will probably need systematic methods to develop their characters. Either way, this exercise will help you see if you have created a human being or a cardboard cut out.

So first, determine your own personality type by taking one or more of the following free Myers-Brigs inventories:

Similarminds.com

Humanmetrics.com

Personalitypathways.com (simplest)

Or you may want to simply read the sixteen types and decide which one closest fits you. Please pay special attention to where you deviate from the cookie cutter. It is these deviations that make you an individual.

Next, do the same thing for the major characters in your work in progress.  Look for places where your character deviates from the mold. Having a personality type that generally fits indicates your character actually has a distinct personality, but the deviations,  and competing values especially,  are what make your character human.  The main character’s need to resolve the internal conflict of such self-contradiction will oftentimes prove integral to your plot, too.  So the important thing is that your character has an internally-consistent personality that changes only as a result of their personal growth and life experiences.

Please do take the step of taking inventories for more than one character in your book. I hope you find each or most of them have different results from each other. If you discover all or most of them have the same personality as you, you may want to branch out more.

If you’d like to practice writing from the perspective of  a different personality, pick the personality type least like you, borrow a scene from an existing WIP, and rewrite it so the POV character’s actions, thoughts,  dialogue, and her ways of describing everything, including people, more closely align with the profile. This will probably be a tough assignment. The more different a personality is from ours, the harder it is to write in their perspective. The exception to this is if you happen to be a personality type that easily sees through others’ eyes, in which case you probably already have a healthy cast of individuals rather than clones of you.

If you prefer, there are other personality type systems you can choose from to do this assignment with, and you can use the system of your preference if you have one. I just prefer the Myers-Briggs/Kiersey systems because they offer  sixteen cookie cutters to choose from rather than a mere four.

Incidentally, you may also want to try this with your supporting cast. While they keep their thoughts to themselves, their behaviors and the things they say should still be indicative of a distinct, individual personality.

Well, first she wakes up and gets out of bed. Then she stumbles to the bathroom mirror, where she proceeds to describe the exact appearance of her face down to the tiniest detail. And after the shower we get to describe her picking out what to wear for the day . . .

Seriously, don’t do that.

Several reasons why not:

1) Every element of that paragraph is overdone and hence cliched. Especially the mirror (in any context). Just in case no one has told you yet, under normal circumstances, cliches will brand you with fiction’s scarlet letter.

2) The place where you’re going to be most tempted to write something like that is the beginning of your book. And that is a boring way to begin your book. Your first goal is to hook the reader. While tempting it may be to begin your book just this way, spending paragraph after paragraph telling us everything we might possibly ever need to know about your characters is an anti-hook. And your second goal, introducing or setting up the initiating conflict, doesn’t require all that, either.

3) The odds are this has nothing to do with your plot. Characterization is a must and scenes showing character are good, but any scene that doesn’t advance your plot should be reexamined to see if it’s actually necessary. You can do a scene that only enhances one story element (the three basic elements of story being plot, character, and setting) but strong scenes enhance at least two elements, and ideally you want to hit all three.

Obviously, the exception is if you’re able to somehow overcome these obstacles and have such a powerful author/character voice you’re able to make it interesting. But most of us simply aren’t that good.

So how do you have a POV character describe herself?

First, if you’re writing from multiple view points, you don’t. If it suits your work, the best way is to write a scene where she’s  introduced to another character and describe her from the other person’s view point.  But it still works better even if you have to use a character who already knows her. They just need a good internal reason to note her appearance. There, ask yourself, “What is different about her today? What would stand out most to this person at this moment?” We do often pay attention to friends’  looks when we first say hello, especially if we haven’t seen them in a while. Just don’t take any more time to do it than you would in real life.

If you’re writing from a single point of view, you’re pretty much stuck with self-description, however. This isn’t a problem if your character happens to be incredibly vain or is otherwise overly focused on her looks. But if you don’t want her to come off that way, you have to be very careful.

A stand by is simply dropping in physical traits as she interacts with her environment. You can easily give her a nervous habit that involves doing something to her hair and in the course of her action mention the color and texture. Some editors won’t like it, but others prefer all description arise in the course of action like this. So take your pick who you want to please.

Do be careful with eyes. Mentioning eye color, even in the course of action, has the appearance of a POV jump even if you rationalize it by saying she knows her eye color even if she can’t see it. But eye color is a bit of a cliched description, anyway (though it is one of my own favorite cliches, I’ll admit.)

One thing to consider is the triad description method. Mentioning just three things about a person, or a room, will often be enough to paint the complete picture.

The bottom line? Think of reasons for her physical appearance to come up naturally, whether in dialogue, internal monologue, or self-scrutiny. And try to think of a reason that hasn’t already been done to death (i.e. a mirror.)

Admittedly, you can avoid the problem by using a more distant narrator, just be aware it’s still considered poor form to call time out for a full character sketch, that the method isn’t universally accepted, and that you risk your character being perceived as vain if your reader can’t think of any other reason she’d be describing herself.

One of the biggest issues to hit right is timing. Description should not be your first priority in chapter one, but it is a necessary scene element that should be there to some extent. We just don’t need the full picture right away.

Be aware your readers, although spoiled by television, do still possess imaginations and will fill in the blanks. Make this work to your advantage rather than disadvantage. How can that hurt you? Ever date someone through correspondence and meet in person only to discover the person you’ve been picturing as gorgeous  is short, fat, and has an ugly mole? That’s the same feeling your reader gets when you wait until half way through the book to describe your hero’s physical flaws.

So in describing your POV character, think about what physical traits are strictly necessary for the plot to work and put your focus on communicating those. You reader will fill in the rest. Thus, unless it really flows, you may find it best to wait until the second draft to work the description in.

• Finished a comprehensive edit of Genesis of Judgment for Adam, and on schedule. Now to put together the very late issue 6 of Laser & Sword #