Can a Book Never Have Boring Parts?

I didn't get much writing time in yesterday; two hours max. Writing a novel in tiny bits is not ideal. If I stumble upon an interesting plot point, it's time to quit before even fleshing it out. Additionally, having only a couple of two-hour sessions each week leads me to lose the thread of the story.

Yesterday I needed to do some housekeeping, write a transitional scene. While I try to make my exposition at least interesting, every scene can't be exciting. My MC wasn't exactly doing, so much as she was summarizing where she happened to find herself. She was penniless, jobless, hopelessly in love, and those important points needed to be covered. Yes, I like the scenes in which things happen as much as every other reader, but I've read plenty of books that have quiet passages, and they're fine as long as they don't go on too long. 

So, to address those three issues, I had her consider options for making money and ultimately discarding the few ideas she came up with as being unworkable. She finally applied for the opening she'd earlier spotted at a coffee shop. That's not going to solve her money issues ~ she has to pay back the advance she'd gotten from her record label when she signed her contract. Since her then-manager drained the trust he'd set up for her, she pondered filing charges against him, but she hit a dead end at every turn. It was a desperation move to begin with; one she knew wouldn't succeed, but she spent some time dealing with bureaucrats by phone before accepting defeat.

With her lost love interest, she almost calls him (she ruminates over the many times she's wanted to), but her phone rings just as she is finally tempted to do so. I haven't brought him up as much in the story as I should (this will be fixed in editing), so it was important to weave him back in. 

The call is from her mentor, inviting her to accompany the star to an awards show. MC demurs, asking whether she wouldn't prefer to invite the man who'd visited the mentor's bus while they were on tour. The star is perplexed and even says that the man's wife wouldn't appreciate that. Then she makes a joke about a "threesome". This is the first time MC is disillusioned with the woman and is disgusted by what she perceives as her affair with a married man. So she declines the invitation.

(Just between you and me, the star's relationship with the man is not romantic.)

And that's where I left things. So, half dull, half interesting. Ultimately, she'll accept the invitation, which will require some research on my part regarding the atmosphere surrounding awards shows. Could be interesting. I might even be able to bring back some characters of the (recent) past.

I'm okay with the boring parts, because things will pick up. And if readers (so-called) choose to skip over them, so be it.

Some Genres are Easier to Write

I chose my genre, so I have nothing to complain about, but "themes" in women's fiction are sometimes murky. I'm not a reader of the most popular genres, but I do know that their themes are clear ~ in romance, the couple needs to get together in the end; in fantasy, the hero needs to defeat the enemy. The theme of "finding yourself" only appeals to a select number of readers.

I thought about this recently when streaming my favorite TV dramas. I can't claim to know how other viewers ingest these shows, but I listen to the dialogue more for what a character doesn't say than for what he does. James Gandolfini was a master at this. Especially when he was meeting with his psychiatrist, it was evident when Tony was being truthful and when he was being evasive. More than just his words, his expressions gave him away. Was he looking her straight in the eye, or were his eyes wandering? Did his muscles tense or did he position himself to appear smaller? The way I perceive dialogue in shows like these is undoubtedly why my stories contain so much "talking". Action is not the main driver of my plots. Apparently this is a problem for some readers. 

I never begin a story with a defined plot anyway. Just like in real life, one can't predict what will happen. I can't even imagine coming up with, "My character's name is _____ and she will encounter _____." Who knows what she'll encounter? I'm not writing a quest for a magic sword or something. All I know is, some things will happen and she'll need to deal with those things. The "plot" is, she'll find her own way of dealing, and she'll likely learn some truths about herself along the way. Quite the page turner! (says no one.)

My style is never going to change, and that realization is freeing. My current novel will likely be my last, so I'm writing it according to my tastes. "Some things happen"; in this case, a lot of things, and I like that. I'm not even done throwing roadblocks in my main character's path. It's like a TV series, in that everything doesn't get wrapped up in one season. I'm not so dumb as to forego dramatic plot twists ~ it has them. It's not a travelogue, after all, but it is a journey. Not a quest; a journey. And yes, in the end, she'll learn some truths about herself.

My theme? I suppose it's "What you think you want, you really don't." Not very action packed, I guess. I don't care. I'm firm on this ~ this novel will be for me. I refuse to nag myself over, "Will a reader like this part?" If I like it, it stays.

When (if?) I ever finish this one, I don't know if I'll write again. If I do, I won't base my decision on the success or lack of success my published works have achieved. Success means "me" liking what I write.

 

 

 

Where Do Avid Readers Go?

I know avid readers exist; I've dealt with a couple (not always in a positive way), but the internet has managed to eliminate a lot of previously prolific readers. I know; I used to be one. Look at it this way ~ before the internet, there weren't a ton of things for someone to do in their free time. TV was as dull as it is now, plus there was no way to skip those irritating commercials. One of my big pleasures was taking a trip to the library. I put myself on the wait list for the best sellers in a quest to broaden my reading horizons, plus I dug into the shelves of biographies. I wouldn't call reading a time filler, but most off-duty pursuits were essentially that. Reading, at least, unlike TV, engaged one's brain.

Once the internet matured (trust me; at the start it was extremely limited. AOL, anyone?) a new time filler was born. While I still read books, I didn't read as many. Now any news I want to read is a click away (which also sort of killed TV), and social media allows me to interact with people, or to at least read what other regular people have to say. I've read maybe one and a half books so far this year. A book has to hook me or I won't say with it.

For those who are still avid readers, my hunch is that Goodreads is their go-to. Apparently those readers are not simply content reading a lot of books, but they want the world to know just how many they've read, and Goodreads lets them keep a tally. I fervently dislike Goodreads. There are many reasons, from their "librarians'" intransigence, to their author groups that are populated by the most inane people on earth. Most of all, the place cultivates an culture of meanness. I'm no Pollyanna, but neither do I go out of my way to be negative (this blog notwithstanding). A visit to Goodreads leaves me gloomy, which is why I refuse to go there anymore. Its air is heavy.

I had a feeling that LibraryThing was like a rich wine ladies book club, and I was correct. Its groups consist of faux-sophisticates and are blatantly political. No thanks. Members also apparently only (say they) read the classics or only form groups around them.

(By the way, today was the first day I logged onto LibraryThing since my giveaway, and sure enough, Inn Dreams has no reviews.)

So, I guess there is no "happy" place where avid readers gather. Or else everyone is just crabby in general. Interacting solely with other writers gets repetitive. Indie writers are the most negative of anyone; even their "advice" is sour. I would love to know what actual readers have to say. That's what would help me. That might inform my writing ~ what people like, what they dislike. What causes them to not finish a book? What type of characters turn them off?  

A place like that would provide real value to an indie writer. Of course, the stupid authors would ruin it by spamming everyone with ads. But if everyone behaved, it could be a two-way conversation. Authors could remind reviewers that while critical reviews are fine and often helpful, personal attacks are devastating. They could remind readers that authors are actually real people. 

Alas, there isn't and likely never will be a place like that. So I'm back to Reddit... 

 

 

 
 

Well...

Google Analytics informs me that my attempt to drive more visitors to my website failed. Of course, it's only been one day since I added more news to my blog. I frankly don't like posting my work, especially work in progress, anywhere, but I was willing to do it ~ post one scene ~ in the hope that someone would be intrigued enough to want more. But my visitor count hasn't budged. 

I'll keep trying, of course, up to a point. I don't know if I'll post more scenes or just talk about some of the characters and offer hints about things that happen. I'm not going to reveal the whole book just to get clicks! 

 

On another note, I'm running a free book promotion Friday through Sunday for Lies and Love. It'll be just as successful as my last free offer! Some authors reap thousands of downloads when they offer their book for free; I reap zero. Ehh, I've got nothing else to do right now, and its failure will give me something new to blog about. I keep going back to the same well anytime I run one of these promotions. It's always either Lies and Love, Shadow Song, or New Kaitlyn. Maybe I should branch out. I don't have much confidence in the others, generally because of either a lack of reviews or one bad one. (I'm easily discouraged.) I really should read some of my lesser-known (LOL ~ they're all lesser known) books to find out if I'm being too hard on myself. The trouble with doing that is, something will strike me as wrong and then I'll be forced to edit the manuscript and re-upload it, and I just don't want to have to do that. 

While I purchased every one of my books, I've not read any of them, and I probably never will. I wonder if other authors read their published works. Maybe the confident ones do. 

"Hey! What have you been reading?" 

"My own book."

"Cool. I hope you'll be surprised at the end."

??

I suppose I could always advertise my free book promotions on my website, but it seems like busy work with no reward, and I'd forget to delete the announcement until months later, which will make me look like more of a loser than I already am.

 

If you're a successful author, you probably read my bitchy posts for laughs. I'm okay with that. But if you are an author who, like me, can never get any traction, well, I've found a kindred spirit. That's always nice.

 

 

 

Is My Catalog Stale?

I'm not a prolific writer; quite the opposite. There was one year in which I published four novellas, perhaps two of them good, and that's the problem with writing fast or striving to be prolific ~ quality will inevitably suffer. No, I'm a plodding writer, a tweaker. I won't move on until the previous scene is exactly the way I want it. 

So, I have an apparently stale catalog of books for sale. It's not that the writing is dated, but that the books are. Amazon never made my books easy to find, but it's even worse now. Really, the only way my books are discoverable is by entering the title and the author name in the search bar. I previously noted how I finally located my novel, The Apple, on the 46th screen after searching for it by title. Even books that didn't have the word "apple" in the title or subtitle appeared before mine.

The only way to remain on Amazon's radar (apparently) is to constantly publish new books. Well, it doesn't work that way for me. I've been working on my current novel since...I don't know...it's certainly been months, and the finish line is nowhere in sight. Meanwhile, my catalog keeps growing older. I'll probably never net more than one or two sales of any of them again. That makes me sad. I'm not the world's best writer, but I'm good ~ when I'm not trying to set some kind of publishing record. Even the couple of novellas I denigrate really aren't bad. I just don't consider them my best.

I have no idea how Amazon's algorithm works; I doubt that anyone knows. I've scrutinized their search results enough to know that it doesn't sort results by sales or reviews, so it has to be publication date. What else is there? 

I'm comforted knowing that it's all out of my control. But a bit of reader recognition would be nice. 

 

  

Experimenting

When I was thinking about starting a newsletter, I did some research on the types of content authors include in theirs. "Sample writing" came up a lot. I never followed through on that because pasting a snippet of my work into a newsletter would be so out of context, it would confuse readers more than it would enlighten them. 

But as you know if you've been reading along, even though I've given up on the idea of a newsletter all together, I'm doing my best to enhance my author website and drive more visitors. I'm still unsure how that happens, regardless of my lovely revamped site. My Google Analytics report leads me to believe that most of my visitors have stumbled upon my site by accident. Still, there's no harm in trying.

So, after talking about my work in progress in my "news" section, I decided to paste in one short scene. It's a pretty benign one, but it does introduce my favorite supporting character. I guess in my dreams I hope that if I keep revealing more about the story, people will want to come back for more spoilers.

Not to be cynical, but nothing I've tried to date has worked, not just with my website, but with everything associated with my publishing endeavors. This probably won't work, either, but trying isn't going to kill me. Prior to my website revamp, nothing ever changed on it. The only additions I ever made was posting a newly published book, and considering how long it takes to write and edit one, those postings happened rarely. Who wants to come back to a site that never changes? 

Since I'm rarely writing nowadays, I need to do something. Shoot, by the time I finally get back to my novel, I'll have lost the thread of the story. 

I don't want to overdo it ~ I want my site to look clean ~ but even I was bored with things the way they were before. At least now I'm semi-interested in it.

 

 

My New and Improved Author Site

One thing I can say about me, I work with what I have. Yes, Blogger does not convert to an ideal website, but it's free. And it's generally not frustrating to configure (although it does have some quirks). 

This week I redesigned four of my five website sections and I'm mostly happy with the changes. I would prefer to have a background that's not white, and I will research to find out if I have the option to change that, but I will say that my site is now more professional in appearance.

Take a look here.  

I was unhappy with the "please like me" vibe of the previous iteration, such as my pronouncement that my site and I were "a work in progress". Really? That inspires confidence! I also went overboard posting multiple reviews for each of my books, another sign of insecurity. Now each book has one. 

I could probably humanize my bio a bit more ~ maybe add a touch of humor ~ and use the current one as a press kit (as if I need a press kit). And no, I don't have a profile pic, and I won't. I write under a pen name, so let's just keep me anonymous, shall we? I'm not so sure an author needs to paste their photo anywhere anyway. 

I removed most of my previous blog postings. I don't think I need to "announce" the release of a novel that's three years old. And I'm thinking that a blog shouldn't be hawking my wares; there are other sections for that. I think I'll share more of my writing process instead.

CTA's? Well, there's still my newsletter signup (for my defunct newsletter), plus I blogged that I give away freebies. I also added a "contact me" widget.

I'm actually quite proud of my changes. And they weren't painful to make at all.