April 2019 — World Building - Society Norms

This is Part 4 of a 12-part series dealing with Story Settings 
◆ © 2019 All Rights Reserved


World Building — Society Norms




Whether the setting is a starscape world or a medieval or primitive one, whatever is in the world's setting must suit the world not distort the world and make it seem like something unbelievable.

A story world may be different from reality. That world might ghosts, gods, myths, dinosaur theme parks, the supernatural, wizardry, the metaphysical and surreal, the oneiric (suggesting dreams), or the unlikely. A story world might be a cosmos of a stage for a universe or star system. A story world might be hidden in another dimension or beneath the earth above it. However, the narrating character and all the characters who inhabit the story stage will find nothing surprising or unusual or odd in that world because they were born into it. They will not stop to explain things.

Let me say again — The narrating character lives in their story world on a daily, hourly, minute-by-minute, second-by-second basis and have done so for their entire lifetime. Where they live is "ordinary" to them. So, think about their "everyday" life and make sure nothing counters the facts of that character's existence or the existence of their world.

Never forget that readers are logical people. To get them to suspend their disbelief and go along with your story world and its inhabitants is never easy.

So logically, when world building, everything begins with a setting. A story's setting is the story's environment, its physical environment. That setting is a stage on which the story is enacted. 

Although you as the writer need to know the big picture of the planet or universe or realm or country where your story is set, the reader needs only a fraction of that data because your story will be focused on a particular place on that world or in that universe for a scene.

Nonetheless, you'll likely need a notebook or file folder with all sorts of details of flora and fauna, sketches and maps of the planet's terrain (or that planet's proximity to other heavenly bodies), and data—real facts and extrapolations of facts that will pertain to science, industry, agriculture, and technology. 

Such records help you avoid mistakes. You can reuse the information for other stories set in that same universe. Thus you maintain a logical order of time and history.  

In keeping with the world, there will be layers ranging from the simple to the highly complex. Here are questions to ask and think about for those layers (these are in no particular order):

What is the landscape—the actual, physical terrain?

What type of society developed and how? 

What in the past now affects the present or will impact the future? 

Are there any ethnic groups? 

What religions evolved and now hold sway over society? (More on this in May's post.)

What wars have been fought or what affect did past wars have on society now? 

What are or have been the priorities of society when it comes to the safety of its people? 

Are there laws to enforce obedience? Govern magic? Govern trade? Govern travel? Are there penalties for going against the reining society or government or deviating from a status quo? 

Is there justice for one and all or justice at any cost?

As to a new war, is it to be avoided? Is it peace at any cost?

What level of dissension is tolerated?

Think about the infrastructure of the society. Think about food sources, shelter, and clothing. What do the people eat? What do they wear? What's considered valuable or a luxury item? What happens to the garbage and bodily wastes? What about medicine and health care practices?

What's the mode of transportation being used, being developed? 

What is the economy based on? What type of money or barter is the norm? Who holds the money and why? What dominates the marketplace (Agriculture? Technology? Magic? Guilds? The Military?)

What is the technological advances that have shaped the society or the world? 

What are the politics? Do dictators rule? Is it a democracy? Who sways the masses? Is free speech and news controlled?

In this world, what will affect the characters the most? (Think about Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.)

Remember a world is never static.  Civilizations rise and fall. It's survival of the fittest. Greed and dominance over others drives change — things are always changing.

But remember, people hate change. What is it about the world in which your Protagonist lives that they love and hate? Will your Protagonist defy the value system of his or her society or government? If not, why not? If so, why?

Bear in mind that story worlds which capture reader's hearts are ones where details— specific details— make the world seem alive and very real. Present the specific details through the eyes of ones who live in that world—your Major Story Characters—and readers will be drawn into the story.

Continue to write well, tell a story well, and strive for a strong sense of place when you develop all your world and scene settings so the society is believable.

***********
Next Month:  Part 5  - May—Religion and Belief Systems

**********
SPECIAL NOTE: I have recently learned that my Facebook page was not an author's page (long story) and so I've spent the past couple of weeks setting up my Facebook Author Page— https://www.facebook.com/CatherineEmcleanauthor  — I would very much appreciate it if you would stop by and "love" or "like" some of the content so this site can be found by the autobots that glean content from web pages. I sincerely thank you for  your help. 

*******************************************

2019 - March — The Protagonist's POV-Viewpoint of Their World

Part 3 of a 12-part series dealing with Story Settings 
◆ © 2019 All Rights Reserved  

There is a kind of belief among my students that things that are true are interesting. But most things that are true are not interesting. Four pages describing how I got up and brushed my teeth in the morning would kill you. - Alistair MacLeod

As a writer, your job when opening a story is to hook and then immerse your reader into the story world. So, it's important to understand that when a reader reads a story, they should hear the voice of The Story's Narrator.

It doesn't matter if the Narrating Voice is that of the author, an omniscient God On High, the Fly-on-the-Wall, a Storyteller, or one of the primary characters (Protagonist, Antagonist, or Romantic Lead, etc.). What matters is that the voice be highly opinionated and have a distinct diction, vocabulary, and syntax and be different from every other character in the story.

It is especially important when a character narrates that their voice reflects their POV (Point of View) and Viewpoint, which is their unique personality and biases in how they view the situation (even the setting details) thus heightening, reinforcing, or even changing how they feel emotionally about what's going on.

To achieve the best narrative, a writer uses fiction techniques of personification, metaphors, similes, and pathetic fallacy. (Pathetic fallacy is the assigning of human feelings and responses to non-living things or animals, even the weather.)

Of course, while witnessing or perceiving his or her environment, the scene, or the situation, The Story's Narrator will be judgmental, open- or closed-minded, ethical or unethical, biased, perhaps bigoted, and show their personal prejudices.

So, how does this affect setting? Answer: It's in the details.

You see, that POV-Viewpoint Story Narrator should not catalog a room's layout from left to right or right to left, or even stop to give an information dump about the setting. Instead, some sensory perception will attract the immediate attention of the narrator and that item is called the "dominant impression" of a room, landscape, or whatever the setting happens to be.  

Topping the list of attention factors for a dominant impression is light. 

Lighting has to do with what can be seen or what cannot be seen. So, what is the setting's lighting like? Brilliant, blinding sunlight that forces the heroine to shade her eyes? Or is it the darkness or shadows that hides a mouse, a person, an object, a vampire, a stalker, etc.?

Think of lighting as the difference between walking into Notre Dame Cathedral and walking into your local mall. Both are enormous buildings, but the way the light and sounds echo are very different and affect how you and your reader feels emotionally (happy, sad, frustrated, angry, etc.). 

Next on the list of sensory impressions that dominate is smell. What does the narrator immediately smell? Is it sweet, tangy, sour, pleasant, or foul? Why that particular smell over other smells in the setting? 

Take for example the Protagonist entering an old house. The first thing that strikes him is the scent of lemon furniture polish coming from an antique Queen Anne sideboard. The smell draws up warm memories of his grandmother's home and her lemon-scented furniture. He has a good feeling about being in that house and will carry that good feeling into his meeting with the person he came to see.

But say the Protagonist enters his brother-in-law's garage and inhales fumes from the riding lawn mower that's idling. Instead of standing and cataloging what else is in the garage, the Protagonist mutters something about his brother being inept and heads for the machine to turn it off. En route, he must step over a haphazardly coiled, mud-streaked water hose and trip, smack his shin on the lawn tractor's torque bar-hitch, then cuss, and perhaps dance a little jig to sidestep an open, three-tiered, tool box where tools are scattered about on the floor. 

Now you have a character in motion, in action, in an interesting setting, and doing something important. And that character has a goal, which is to get to the machine to turn it off because it's a safety hazard.

Note that only a few items were used to give the impression of a cluttered garage. The scenario by the POV-Viewpoint narrator has been chronological, moment-by-moment, and in a cause-and-effect sequence. This garage setting also has been presented in a far more interesting way than from left to right and right to left.

Better yet, and based on what has been revealed (shown), the reader makes a judgement about the brother-in-law's character— i.e., because he's careless about leaving the lawn-mower running, what else will he be careless about and what danger will such behavior put the Protagonist in?

Next might be sound. What is the exact sound? Is it the creak of floorboards or the crack of frozen wood decking being walked on? Is it the splash of a dog through a puddle of water? Or is it the sound of silence that either reassures or terrifies?

Next is taste. Using similes and metaphors helps the reader "taste" the poison, or blood, or salty-sea air, and can help distinguish between liquors like whisky and a margarita. The idea is to help the reader experience the taste, which brings the props in a setting to life for the reader.

As to touch? It can as light as cobwebs or the sting of a viper. It could also be the blast of an inferno's heat or a blizzard's wind-whipped, pelting snow. So, what does the POV-Viewpoint narrator feel or how do they react?

As you can see, sensory perceptions help define a setting, but the real impact comes from the reaction of The Story's Narrator. That's why it's important to let the narrator notice only dominant setting details that are important to the on-going action and not stop the story's forward movement to dump in details.

Equally important is that any dominant detail used will cause a reaction, a memory, or evoke an opinion from the narrator. That, in turn, affects the reader or guides the reader in drawing the conclusion the writer intended. 

So, to create mood and tone and to breathe more life into the setting and story, show through the POV-Viewpoint narrator. Reveal more, tell less, and blend setting details with the action.

**************

Next Month —  April — World Building, Society Norms

*************************

http://tinyurl.com/TerrificTitles

# # #

2019 - February - Setting Tropes

This is Part 2 of a 12-part series dealing with Story Settings
Catherine E. McLean ◆ © 2019 All Rights Reserved



Setting is the bedrock of your story. 
If you choose a real-world backdrop, 
be certain you get your facts straight. 
— Lynn Flewelling


Be it contemporary, historical, magical, science fiction, or fantasy, the setting details of a story must suit the world not distort the world. 

Nor should those details be unbelievable to the reader.

When a new writer decides to play God-of-Creation, what they don't realize is what they've created likely has been done before, often many times, even to the point of being a trope.

What is a trope? It's a common or overused theme or device that has become a cliche. 

Not all tropes are bad because in some genres there are standard tropes that readers like and which never seem to bore a reader or go out of style. To use an old cliche, it's better to look before you leap by doing some research, or google a search, to see if your story idea and setting premise falls into a good or not so good story or setting trope.

You could start with some TV and movie tropes at the website below. Then ask yourself— Does my story's setting or premise fall into one of the tropes? If it does, what can I do to revitalize the trope, make it different, interesting, or give it a wow factor? 

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Settings


When it comes to revitalizing a story or setting trope, there are two basic ways to handle it:

1) Change the trope in a new and fresh way. Of course, you first must know what components of your setting will tip readers off to it being a worthwhile trope, something they're familiar with. Then hone in on what does the NOT EXPECT? Knowing the reader's expectations, you can change that expectation and thus keep the reader's attention.

Of course, in the process, you may also find a better direction for a plot point to take. For example, the legend of King Arthur. You would think this legend would have been done to death, but no, there is currently a new twist to the tale with the movie The Kid Who Would Be King. A new setting (modern world) and an old setting (medieval) combination. 

2) Switching Fantasy for Reality or vice versa. Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. So, what if your fantastical setting premise were not a figment of the imagination but real? That it actually exists? Can it change or complicate things? Hopefully it complicates things, adds a freshness that wows a jaded reader, editor, or agent.

Although the above methods sound simple enough, they are not easy to execute. 

There are also other aspects of setting tropes. For example when a new writer ignores their story's world or setting or treats the setting as something static, a mere backdrop done with a huge watercolor brush. The reader just gets a foggy-vague look at the setting instead of clear imagery. Which means the reader is not anchored sufficiently in the world.

A good example of ignoring a setting is in dialogue where "heads talk." That is, two characters are in conversation and nothing else is going on—no setting props are in use or being handled, no wind, weather, smells, sounds, etc. that add realism and validity to the narrative. By the way, readers consider Heads Talking as boring stuff (and it is always wise to avoid boring a reader).

Another type of "boring stuff" goes to the other extreme—The Information Dump. This is where the writer dumps in information that they found fascinating when they discovered it during their research of a geographic area, its topography, climate, soil, vegetation, and fauna. So the writer shares their zeal by expounding for paragraphs and paragraphs, describing ad infinitum.

In reality, the reader wants to skip over all that text to get to the good stuff of action and drama. [Refer to last month's post and The Story Iceberg.]

The best way to avoid a genre trope is to read 100 or more books in the genre you want to write in. Not only will you avoid plot tropes but you'll also become a wiser writer by learning how other authors handled world-building, landscapes, and props.

********** March's Topic — The Protagonist POV-Viewpoint of Their World

# # #

2019 - January - SETTING, SETTING, SETTING

Part 1 of a 12-part series dealing with Story Settings 
◆ Catherine E. McLean - © 2019 All Rights Reserved



Every story would be another story, and unrecognizable, if it took up its characters and plot and happened somewhere else . . . Fiction depends for its life on place. Place is the crossroads of circumstance, the proving ground of What happened? Who's here? Who's coming?                                — Eudora Welty


A story's setting is more than world-building. 

A story's setting is a key aspect of fiction, along with plot, character, theme, and style. However, a story's setting provides the backdrop, the "theater stage" of an environment, the time (or era) that creates or reinforces the story's circumstances, mood, tone, and believability.  

A story's setting can run the gauntlet from the wide view of a sci-fi or fantasy universe to historical and contemporary eras— and on down to scenes where there are actual props for the Protagonist and Antagonist, or other characters, to handle or use.

Often the first thing a novice writer is told to do when opening a story is to anchor a reader in a specific place and a specific time (era, year, time of day or night, season, etc.).

Obviously, the anchor should be done as quickly as possible, ideally on page one, like within the first 250 words. However, that anchor is not to be a dump of information or lengthy description (nothing exceeding 60 words in any one spot) or it will turn off the reader. The best anchors are succinct details rich with imagery that are woven into the action or narrative.

Let's backtrack a moment and take a look at the various definitions of the word "setting"— 

● the context and environment in which something is set
● the state of the environment in which a situation exists
● the arrangement of scenery and properties (props) that represent the place where a play, movie, or story is enacted
● the set of facts or circumstances that surround a situation or event
● the physical position of something

In other words, setting is a broad topic. So broad that for 2019 all the monthly topics for this Writer's Cheat Sheet Blog will deal with an aspect of a story's world or what is entailed for a "theater stage" on which a scene plays out. 

Regarding "world-building" — The very word suggests creating a fictional world. When writing science fiction or fantasy, care must be taken to create believable environments so the reader suspends their disbelief. That means striving to make the reader curious or to wow a jaded reader with something new, different, fresh, or fantastic.

Historical writers need to know their era. Which means research and triple checking dates for inventions and discoveries as well as conflicts, wars, politics, holidays, and religious events. Always at the back of the historical writer's mind is the knowledge that their audience knows the era well and those readers do not tolerate authors' mistakes.

Contemporary storytellers often think that because the story's time period is present day, or takes place in the writer's life-time, they don't have to create a setting—which can be true. However, the drawback to such thinking is getting the facts or a date wrong. Like the historical reader, a contemporary reader will pick up on errors and the writer's credibility nosedives. 

Regardless of genre, having a written record (of research, quotes, excerpts from biographies, etc.) helps immensely in the drafting and the revision-editing stages. Consider, too, that having visual records (photographs, drawings, sketches, etc.) makes it far easier to accurately describe something so the reader can visualize the same image. All in all, having such records-files ensures accuracy and, more importantly, believability and credibility.

You can create such records by setting up and using a file that organizes the various aspects of a story's world. That file can be done with a computer file or with some type of notebook, ring-binder, etc. Subdividing the file with indexes or having specific headers, sections, or separate files enables a writer to quickly locate, add, or update information. Such subdivisions are especially useful when writing a sequel or a new story that takes place in the original world's setting.

A writer can go online and google free images of setting forms or find blog posts of what others use for their story world building or setting pages. As I've said many times, don't take a form verbatim. Instead take the ideas presented, the information or questions that you most need, and make your own "cheat sheets" for the way you tell a story. 

Of course it sounds grand to be a God of Creation for a fictional universe that is a story. The trouble is, a writer can get carried away with the creation of said world and spend countless hours generating details that never play into the story (and the story never gets written). 

Lastly, remember, a story's setting or a scene's setting must help develop the story's drama, urgency, and keep the plot moving along. After all, a story is about one interesting character (who is the protagonist) facing or about to face an interesting problem (dilemma, trouble, or danger) in an interesting setting. 

********February's Topic— Setting Tropes.********

Mark your Calendars for this month-long short story course. (Permission to forward is granted---tell your fellow writers!)

# # # 

December 2018 - Short Story or Vignette (What's the difference and who cares?)

Anthology of Short Stories

Short Story or Vignette?  

Okay, let's start with definitions to make it clear what each is.

A short story is a story with a fully developed theme, a beginning, middle, and ending but which is significantly shorter and less elaborate than a novel. A Short Story has a protagonist facing off with an antagonist (which can be a who or a what and involves a problem with dire consequences). 

Please note that this type of short story is called The Developed Short Story (DSS). If you master the DSS, you can write a novel because the only difference between the short story and novel is length [50,000 words and up] and scope [number of characters who have Point of View (POV) and Viewpoint as well as subplots or underplots].

A vignette, on the other hand, is a brief, evocative description, account, or episode, or even a portrait of someone (think character sketch). Vignettes are "slices of life" which may have a moral or point but which do not have a beginning, middle, and resolution. Often vignettes are literary prose.

Which is harder to sell or market, the Short Story or the Vignette? Answer: It's the Vignette. 

Which is easiest to write? The Vignette

These days the short story is enjoying a comeback thanks to downloadable short stories, short story collections, short story anthologies, and short stories in audio versions. 

*** Call it Karma or whatever, but last year, when I posted the schedule for this year's WCS blog topics, little did I know that come October I would be contacted by Pennwriters and booked to do a workshop on the Developed Short Story.

If you want to write well and tell a marketable short story, give yourself a great Christmas gift — register for the Feb. 1-28 2019  - From Story Spark to Story Done - Let's write a short story.  Details are HERE.

**********JANUARY 2019 TOPIC — SETTING, SETTING, SETTING, Part 1 - A Story's World, an overview

# # # 






Merry Christmas!

November 2018 - — The Inciting Incident (where the story really begins)

For 2018, all the monthly topics have been submitted to me by writers and readers of this blog.

This month's question is— What exactly is "The Inciting Incident?" 


The Inciting Incident is the specific point in the beginning of the story where the protagonist is drawn into solving a problem, dilemma, disaster, trouble, etc. 

For example, in Alice In Wonderland, the spot where Alice sees the White Rabbit is the Inciting Incident. When she saw that rabbit, her curiosity was sparked enough so that she followed the rabbit. 

Now someone might think that Alice falling down the rabbit hole is the Inciting Incident. But it is not. Again, it was her seeing the rabbit and making the decision to go after him that then culminated in her falling down the rabbit hole into Wonderland. In other words, if she had not seen that rabbit, there would be no story.

Another way to look at the Inciting Incident is to liken it to the domino that falls and which creates a cascade of events that leads to the climax and resolution of the story.

When an idea, premise, what-if, or character, etc. emerges from the imagination, it intrigues a writer. Thus intrigued, the writer writes, penning volumes of words to understand the story world (the setting) and the Protagonist's and Antagonist's personalities, strengths, and weaknesses. 

Please realize that back story, back history, character sketches, scenes to get to know the various character's personalities, figuring out setting details, and other pre-writing will be jumbled into the opening pages of a first draft. 

Only after the draft is completed is it time to look for the tipping point, the Inciting Incident for where the real story begins.

How do you determine where that Inciting Incident really is? 

You ask yourself:

● Where is the point that things truly changed for the Protagonist and which plunged him or her into the new story world of having to deal with some problem, some trouble, some danger, etc. that leads to the climax?

Or— 

● Where did the Protagonist encounter or confront a White Rabbit, which might be a person, incident, problem, dilemma, danger, etc. — and which is The Trouble that begins that domino effect of events leading to the climax of the story?

Sometimes it's not easy to find the correct Inciting Incident. The hardest time I ever had with finding the Inciting Incident was with my novel Jewels of the Sky. You see, I assumed early on that the death of the Protagonist's (Darq's) grandmother triggered the domino effect.  After a dozen trial-and-error openings that didn't work, I read farther into the story, beyond the pages dealing with the funeral. Then I  realized the real turning point, the real Inciting Incident, was when God picked Darq to test and have her choices determine the fate of her people  —  a matter of survival or extinction.

I will also confess that most of my story openings are spot on when I draft a work because I'm a Foundation Writer, number three on  the "10 Types of Writers" list. By the way,  if you're curious about what type of writer you tend to be, that list is still available as a free download at https://www.writerscheatsheets.com/free-writers-cheat-sheets.html

Keep in mind, a writer has only eight seconds to catch a reader's attention with a story's opening. That opening must make the reader curious or intrigued in some way, which captures the reader's attention and compels a reader to read on and turn pages. Make no mistake  — The Inciting Incident is the most compelling spot for a story's beginning. Find that spot and then revise for the drama that will hook and pull a reader into your story. 

*****NEXT MONTH'S TOPIC: December 2018 — Short Story or Vignette (what's the difference and who cares)


MARK YOUR CALENDARS! 

Feb 1-28, 2019  -  From Story Spark to Story Done — Let's write a Short story."  This in-depth, hands-on course is hosted by Pennwriters. www.Pennwriters.org - Registration details will be forthcoming. 

# # # 

October 2018 - How long does it take to become a published author?

For 2018, all the monthly topics have been submitted to me by writers and readers of this blog.

This month's question is—
"Is it a matter of talent vs. craft in becoming a published writer?"

Two things about talent— 1) Talent cannot be taught, and 2) talent will take a writer only so far. 

As to the writing craft? Craft can be taught and the devices and techniques can be learned. But—and you knew there was going to be a but, right?—the kicker is that it takes time to learn craft because craft enhances talent and liberates creativity. 

Oddly enough, there are writers with the highest ability and degree of talent but who don't write. And then there are those writers who strive for years to learn story, to learn writing craft, techniques, and devices who succeed as published authors and storytellers. So, what's the difference in the two groups? It's desire and drive.

Or at least that used to be the norm. Actually, these days anyone who writes anything can self-publish overnight. Craft and good storytelling isn't in such an equation. The proof is in the 4,500 books a day that glut the marketplace.

If you want to write well and tell a story well, sell books that readers will thoroughly enjoy, you'll need to understand how much talent you were endowed with and weigh it against your desire to tell stories vs. the quick, overnight fantasy of becoming "a rich and famous author." 

To enthrall readers and sell books means putting in the writing time and learning how to overcome your talent weaknesses. How much time? Figure a million words and The 10,000 Hour Rule.

What is The 10,000 Hour Rule? Simply stated, it takes roughly 10,000 hours of work—hard work—and diligent practice—in any field to become accomplished. This doesn't make you the best, but it certainly does make you highly skilled and savvy.

It doesn't matter if the field is sports (like swimming, dressage, or soccer) or a particular profession (veterinarian, surgeon, or engineer), it takes time to learn skills. It takes time to practice and experiment with techniques and devices. It even takes time to digest the failures because those provide valuable knowledge and insights.

Because there are 144 aspects to a novel, and no one can learn everything overnight, The 10,000 Hour Rule for a writer translates into roughly five years. However, that only makes a writer "accomplished." To make the expert-author league, triple or quadruple that. Yes, there are those one-in-a-billion people who become overnight successes. If you're one of them, more power to you. The rest of us, well, we take the long and winding road to success.

Here's the thing, writers are basically self-taught. They learn by reading how-to books, attending workshops, taking courses, actively interacting (talking) with successful writers, and getting reliable feedback on their works in progress. And they write and write and write. As Sol Stein said, "A writer is someone who cannot not write."

Unfortunately, because of the ease to vanity publish* with Amazon or Smashwords and others, far too many writers skip the learning aspects of fiction and storytelling. What further complicates things these days is that the burden of quality and comprehension falls squarely on the shoulders of the writer. Just ask readers. And don't forget, readers who sample poor-quality stories don't usually buy another book from that author.

So, I encourage you to take the time necessary to learn and become a terrific storyteller.

* To Vanity Publish means paying a company a fee, or full costs, or giving them a percentage of sales to produce books, videos, music, academic journals, or other works. (In my opinion, Amazon.com has for many first-time writers become their vanity publisher.)

~~~~~~~~~~ November 2018 — The Inciting Incident (where the story really begins)

........................................................................

http://www.rimstoneconceptsllc.com/Workshops-Courses_c3.htm

..............................................................................................................................................

September 2018 - How to Start a Blog (why and when)

For 2018, all the monthly topics have been submitted to me by writers and readers of this blog.







The question posed for this month is — 
"Should I blog before I finish my first book or after?"

The reality is that you should have begun blogging before you wrote the first draft. Why? Because you need a readership to tap into when you do publish or are published. The experts say that for success, you'll need a following of 1,000 people before you launch a book. That's a truly daunting task if you wait until after the book is out in cyberland.

The most popular blog venues are Blogspot and Wordpress. For the record, I prefer using Blogspot ( https://www.blogger.com ) which, thankfully, ties into my hub website (www.writerscheatsheets.com). I also have a Wordpress blog but I don't like it as well as the Blogspot one. The reason I ended up with a Wordpress blog is that someone had already taken the name Jewels of the Sky (https://jewelsofthesky.wordpress.com/) at Blogger. Which brings me to advising you to google your name and the name for any blog you want to set up so you can find out if it has already been taken.  

When setting up your blog, strive to keep the name for the blog as short as possible. Doing so cuts down on typing the link as well as enabling your followers to find your blog as fast as possible. 

As to frequency of blogging, that's a quandary. Two things to consider are: 

1) how much content can you produce and on what time schedule? What happens when you run out of topics (if writing a daily blog, that's 352 days a year and 352 different topics).

2) who are your readers? Will they love or hate being pestered daily, weekly, etc.? So, when is the best time to engage with your followers or your potential followers?

Choices in frequency of blogging are daily, weekly, bi-weekly, tri-weekly, monthly, quarterly, only on the first (or fifteenth) of a month, only on Tuesday and/or Thursdays, etc. It's up to you, the time you have available, and who your audience will be.

One other aspect about blogging to consider is becoming a Guest Blogger, that is, you become the "guest" and are featured on other people's blogs. That I enjoy doing. [And, yes, if you would like me as a guest at your blog, feel free to contact me.]

The sooner you start blogging, the sooner you work the kinks out of the process and gain loyal followers who'll help sell your book when you do have it published.

Of course, blogging isn't for everyone, but it is a basic necessity for an author. It also counts as "social media," which editors, agents, and publishers consider part of an author's platform.

Blogs and blogging is a broad and controversial topic, so I can't go into great detail with this post, but here is a link to a post that I found very informative and which mirrors my own views on blogging.

https://smallbluedog.com/do-authors-really-need-to-blog.html

****October 2018 — Is it a matter of talent vs. craft in becoming a published writer?
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

# # # 

August 2018 — Misplaced Modifiers are laughable and the bane of writers

For 2018, all the monthly topics have been submitted to me by writers and readers of this blog.



The question posed for this month is "Critiquers have nailed my writing for misplaced modifiers. How can I recognize them and stop making this mistake."


Misplaced modifiers are common grammatical errors where a clause, phrase, adverb, or adjective is inappropriately separated from the word it modifies or describes. This type of error often happens during the heat and speed of drafting a story. This post will be about misplace modifiers— not dangling modifiers, which is a subject unto itself. 

Whether a misplaced modifier comes at the beginning of a sentence or later in the sentence, the result is awkward— often illogical,  unintentional, even humorous— imagery when read.  For example: 

Misplaced Modifiers— 

CLAUSES— at the beginning of a sentence (notice this is an introductory clause)— 

After fixing the prairie schooner's wheel, the horses pulled the load down the road. (Can horses fix wagons wheels?)

PHRASES— at the end of a sentence—

Marsha noticed the fence behind the house made of barbed wire. (A house made of barbed wire?) 

Or even, John spotted the airplane using binoculars. (An airplane using binoculars?)

ADVERBS—Misplaced use of adverbs often changes the meaning of a sentence. The most common "Red Flag" adverbs to look for are only, just, nearly, merely, and almost. Examples include— 

Just Marsha was picked as prom queen. 
      Marsha was just picked as prom queen. 

      John only donated ten dollars to the camp fund. 
      Only John donated ten dollars to the camp fund.


ADJECTIVES—Like adverbs, placing an adjective in the wrong position changes the meaning and imagery of a sentence:

Marsha ate two slimy bowls of spaghetti. 
      Marsha ate two bowls of slimy spaghetti.


Catching misplaced modifiers— be they clauses, phrases, adverbs, or adjectives— is best done by slowly reading the manuscript out loud and visualizing the actions, the cause-effect sequences, and being mindful of clarity. 

Since grammar checkers don't usually flag misplaced modifiers, it is helpful to go old-school and diagram the sentence that has been flagged for a misplaced modifier. For example— 

Coated with ketchup and mustard, I enjoyed the
         hamburger.


Actually it was the hamburger that was coated in ketchup and mustard. Diagramming the sentence nets— 

Remember, readers are not mind readers, they only have the words on a page to go by. It is in the revision process that you can more clearly look at what you wrote and get the words right.

P.S. Feel free to share one or two of your misplaced modifiers and brighten my day.  ☻

******Next month -  September 2018 — How to Start a Blog (why and when)

# # #