It had to happen...I diagree with Jeffe.

"I don't think so. Name a piece of writing advice you do not agree with and explain why."

Go read Jeffe's post from yesterday. 

My entire counter-argument is this: I hate the boring parts when I'm reading. It will often make me put down a book. 

I kid, Actually, the only part that normally makes me crazy is the redundancies. If I read fifteen pages of a book and al that happens during those pages comes down to," We are far from home, walking through the mountains and I miss home" You cold cut about fourteen pages. Sometimes it's setting the mood and sometimes it's just too damned long.

Here's a piece of writing advice that I USUALLY disagree with. "Consider the feelings of the reader."

Nope. Not a chance. I start worrying about whether or not I'm hurting someone's feelings, especially as a horror writer, and I'm doomed. My first rule has always been write the story that you want to read. I can't write what Dan wants to read. I'm not Dan and would never presume to know his desires, even if he wrote them down on paper for me. I most assuredly can't write a book for Sarah, either. I'm not her. I write for me. To entertain me. To examine the issues that bother me. 

I can only write for me, and hope that what I write entertains others.

So, yesterday I was at the Writers Coffeehouse New England. About every three or four months, me and Christopher Golden try to host a gathering of writers at all levels of achievement in the industry. the entire point of this is to meet our peers, and, if we can, to offer a little advice. We are not alone in this. It's not about the two of us offering a Q and A session. It's about having open discussions about the things that writers are working on getting to understand better. We are not there to preach so much as we are there to facilitate and occasionally learn a few things ourselves. 

This is always done at either a library or a bookstore. This time around it was done at a great place called AN UNLIKELY STORY in Plainville Massachusetts. A delightful store owned by the creator of the DIARY OF A WIMPY KID series the amazing Jeff Kinney. What a wonderful store and what a spectacular staff. I can't thank them enough for having us.

We were joined by a lot of authors, including Hillary Monahan among others.

Hillary is always at the cutting edge for me. She is wise, she is sharp, she is direct and she is talented. She also brought up something that I, as a guy, almost never consider. That is trigger warnings. 

Okay, let me get this out there right now: I don't normally care about trigger warnings. I write horror, My usual philosophy is, if I make you uncomfortable, I'm doing my job. You may rest assured that the comment is normally meant with tongue firmly planted in cheek. I write about a lot of dark subjects, but as a rule I very seldom get graphic. If I lead you to the scene the right way I don't need to get explicit and I prefer it that way.

However, after giving Hillary a copy of BOOMTOWN to read if she so desires, I also listened to her words. She often puts a foreword in her books, a warning about the sort of stuff that will be encountered in the books, because in this day and age it's far too easy to trigger someone. 

On teh off chance that you;'e not familiar with the term, triggering a person comes down to making them remember something traumatic that has happened in their past. Again, I don't usually consider this.

Here's the thing: BOOMTOWN is a weird western. I set it in a fictitious version of the western expansion and at the end of the American Civil War. Things tended to get very ugly historically speaking, and I did not flinch from them in the book. There are Native Americans being done wrong, women being done wrong, ex-slaves being done wrong. Hell, there are just plain a lot of people being done wrong, because it was a genuinely ugly time in American history, no matter how much we might want to pretty it up. Any crimes committed against those poor, innocent settlers back in the day were very likely earned. Not necessarily by that group of settlers, but certainly by others.  The things that were done to Native American women by Caucasian men during those times were horrific and "justified" in the eye of those very same men because the women they were dealing with were considered savages who were only possibly better than animals. Here's one to consider: if the things done to those women had been done to livestock, the men responsible would have been hanged.

So, that said, I make mention of several sexual acts of savagery. Rape, that is, and worse. I do not take my time to get graphic with these scenarios, but they are mentioned. I felt I'd done enough as I didn't handle them "on screen" as it were. Still....

I gave it a bit of thought abd decided to add a foreword in this one case. As a rule, I don't mention rape, etc when I'm writing, the idea is to write an escape, not to make someone suffer. 

This one time, I'm aking an exception, I make mention of dark deeds, the sort that, unfortunately happene back then and still happens today. If I lose a few sales and manage not to cause someone any trauma in the process, I'm okay with that.

here, for your perusal, my one exception:

Warning Shots

I don’t normally give a warning on my books. I write horror and dark fantasy. I usually assume that is enough of a warning. I mean, seriously, if you come to a horror novel with the notion that you aren’t going to be made uneasy at some point, you’re maybe reading the wrong horror.

There are exceptions to every rule. There are scenes in BOOMTOWN that involve violence against children and sexual assault. In the case of the latter, it is mentioned but none of the scenes are “on screen” as it were. That’s deliberate. I don’t believe that sexual assault should ever be taken lightly and I certainly have no desire to stimulate any fantasies. The point in the story is simply that, sadly, in both the past and the present these sorts of assaults happen. They are not, I believe, truly sexual in nature. They’re a dominance play, a power trip and a way to make someone suffer.  I find them loathsome.

That said, it’s best to remember, even when you write horror, that some horrors hit too close to home. As this is a western, you can expect shoot-em-ups. As this is a book with monsters, you can expect fangs. As this is a novel that, as I feel all books do, investigates the human condition in one form or another, there are human monsters, too. I mostly avoid sex in my novels. I make mention of it, but there’s no reason for gratuity in these cases. Not for me, at least.

That said I want readers to be warned: there is mention of rape in these pages, and mention of children being hurt. I step into taboo areas, because I write about dark things, many of which make me uncomfortable, too. So, no surprises here, not when they might cause genuine pain rather than a chance to tell a tale.

Really, but No

Happy St. Patrick's Day! David and I are both from Irish families. You can see it in those smiling eyes, yes?

Our topic at the SFF Seven this week is "I don't think so. Name a piece of writing advice you do not agree with and explain why."

Some of you might be able to guess which bit of advice I'm going to say. It's been on my mind lately and I've mentioned it often enough that I already have a tag/label for it.

It's this one: "If You're Bored Your Readers Will Be Too."

Really, but no.

When I've posted about this before (Looks like I did nearly a year ago, so that's not TOO recent), people have argued with me. "People" meaning other writers. They contend that they must FEEL the feels in the story or their readers won't. I can't argue with anyone else's process - the First Rule of Being a Writer is Own Your Process - but I don't think the writing experience should be conflated with the reading experience.

The two are VERY different. In the most basic sense, reading is faster than writing. I suspect if we did a cage match of the slowest reader with the fastest writer, the reader would still prevail. Also, absorbing a story is different than creating one. Finally, "boredom" is a relative term.

I'm going to focus on this last one.

Anyone who's been a parent, or spent any time around kids, is familiar with the "I'm so boorrrrred" complaint. It's usually ill-timed, delivered when the adult is working hard on some necessary but unexciting task of their own.

Merriam-Webster - the dictionary with the most politically on-point Twitter feed of its ilk - defines boredom as the state of being weary and restless through lack of interest. That "weary and restless" part is what makes the complaint from kids irritating. They're expressing a restlessness of youth, and the weariness is mostly emotional. The usual temptation is suggest various household chores to absorb their energy, but we all know that doesn't answer the complaint.

What they need to do is solve their own problem, and find something to invest their energy into.

I argue that "boredom" in writing is much the same. When we feel weary and restless while writing, it's a sign that we're working on a problem that needs our attention and energy. When a reader is bored, it's a sign that we've failed to engage their interest.

See how these are two totally different problems?

That's why I think it's terrible advice. If the writer is bored, they need to work through it, knowing that feeling restless with the slow pace of writing is part of the process. If you're worried about the readers being bored, then you need to look at other factors, like plot, pacing, emotions, investment in the characters, and so forth.

Éirinn go Brách!

There Is No Club But You Can Be a Fan

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As an author I certainly hope for people to discover my books, enjoy them and not stop until they’ve devoured my entire backlist (scifi romance, fantasy AND ancient Egyptian – hey, I can dream, can’t I?) and are clamoring for MORE. That’s the daydream…

But I’m the type of author who writes her books very much alone, at my great-grandmother’s desk (on a laptop though!), and doesn’t seek input or suggestions or want people to proffer names for characters or suggest plot points or what-have-you. I don’t like to discuss my plots while the books are being written, not even with my best real life friend of 30 years. I don’t have beta readers, critique partners or share details of works in progress.

 I’m very self-contained. I do have a wonderful editor and respect her inputs but she doesn’t see the stories until they’re done and I’m not likely to make any major structural changes. I have added things at her suggestion or clarified plot points…on KIERCE, my upcoming book, I added about 5K words in total after receiving her notes. There were adds and subtracts of course.

So while I may enjoy reading the daily Facebook posts from some of my own favorite authors, I shake my head and marvel at how much they seem to share, not only about the books but about their personal lives. But that’s genuinely ‘them’ to do…

That’s not me, folks.

Sometimes even the topics here on SFF7 make me squirmy as requiring too much of a glimpse into what I regard as personal and I deflect those or pass on writing a post that week.

I’m not going to get into all the background of why I am the way I am…I haz reasons…but I am pretty set in my ways.

What I do enjoy very much is being a member of several groups on Facebook oriented to scifi romance, both for readers and for authors, and participating in the conversations there. These groups are general, not dedicated to any one author (I don’t belong to any one author’s group for their books) and at times the discussions get lively, but not personal. I love connecting with readers in these groups and have made a number of really good friends over the years, speaking in social media terms. We’ll probably never meet in person but they’re lovely people and we’ve had great conversations, primarily around shared interests like scifi romance, books, movies, TV shows, pets…

I absolutely do not mind if a reader asks me questions about my books, either via the Contact Me form on my blog, or on FB or twitter. I try to give good thoughtful answers. I really appreciate the kind remarks readers have made about my books on social media. I LOVE the lady who has done some gorgeous fanfic drawings of scenes from my ancient Egyptian novels!

I call these ‘grace notes’ and I love them when they happen – they brighten my day. But I’m not going to set up a private group to try to cultivate more of these. Spontaneity works for me.

I also don’t want and will not read communications with story suggestions or plot ideas. I have my own, more than enough to last me a lifetime and I’m never going to be as enthused about an idea coming from someone else as I am about the ones bubbling in my own brain.  I have a general overview of the timeline in all my various ‘universes’ and no one but me knows who is going to do what, when, where.

Also, sadly, in the current crazy publishing environment, where many people don’t understand that ideas cannot be copyrighted, that there are no truly unique ideas (or very rarely), that genres and tropes have existed for years…well, I can’t afford to take the chance of reading someone’s well-meant  plot suggestions in order to be polite.

I’m on twitter and love it for the most part…

I’m in a couple of Goodreads groups but I tread warily and try to be super respectful that it’s a reader space, not for me as an author…

If I set up a group, would I then have a group of super dedicated readers/fans and thereby rocket my book sales into hyperspace? We’ll never know…but I do know I treasure every single reader, enjoy each reader interaction and am grateful for all the readers!

In the meantime, you can find me at the SciFi Romance Group,  the Pets In Space Readers group or the SFR Brigade on Facebook, and at https://twitter.com/vscotttheauthor on twitter, or my blog.

Happy reading!

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The President of My Fan Club

Suuuuuuure I have a fan club! This is the president. Look at those smoochable lips. Unfortunately, these fans aren't readers. At all. And it turns out, they really seem to enjoy impeding the work in favor of being held while they snooze. Negotiations are underway on that front. 

As for reader groups, in a way I have one - it's a pre-existing group of people in a cat group. You're surprised, right? They've known me and my writing since long before I'd been published. They pulled for me and encouraged me. That group are AVID readers and these days there are weekly conversations about what everyone is reading. We have at least three authors in the group. Each time one of us publishes something, the group descends upon it. It's amazing and lovely and heartwarming. It's nothing formal, of course. It's simply my friends being awesome and helping keep my cats in kibble. 

Other than that, there's a Facebook author page which I update once in a blue moon because I refuse to pay FB's extortion that would allow the people who followed that page of their own free will to actually SEE that page. I've done my best to shift those followers to my actual friends page because right now, that's the only thing that isn't being held hostage. There's also an Instagram account that has a bunch of followers, and while I'd originally set it up to be *my* author account, the cats took it over. Entirely. I think out of 300+ photos, one is a book cover. Maybe two. Regardless, that account generates a lot of conversation regarding feline rescue efforts, so when I do post something specific to the human behind the IG curtain, there're always a few 'hey cool!' comments. But if we want to be honest, that group are fans of my cats. Not me.

I had a Twitter account. It's still there, but I have had to accept the fact that Twitter doesn't work for me. My brain just handles information in a way that Twitter wasn't designed to accommodate. And that's okay. So I don't go out there much. Tumblr was fun until it got nerfed. Now it's just -- a sad shell, really. I have a terrible secret about social media, too. I'd MUCH rather talk to readers in person. I so much prefer the energy exchange of meeting someone face to face and getting to talk books and stories. Mine, anyone else's - it's all good. But trying to do that via a couple hundred characters or via a one way newsletter? Not my happy place. Maybe one day, I'll have so many readers, I'll change my tune because newsletters and Twitter are the best ways of letting that many people know what's going on. I would love to have that opportunity. Until the day I cannot possibly meet ALL THE READERS I'll keep doing my best to engage in personal relationships with the ones I do have. Cause they are wicked cool people.

Fan groups, wikis and eligibility

So, a while back, I was chatting with an old friend who is far more business/marketing minded than I am capable of being, and he was talking about giving readers the opportunities tone more than fans, to "live" in Maradaine-- in the sense that there is more for them to engage in beyond the books. Partly that's encouraging things like fan art and fanfic (which: yes, especially fan art.) Partly that's merchandise. But largely it's about engagement and community.

I'm not entirely sure how to go about that, but I do know that some fans have been working on a Maradaine wiki, which is AMAZING. If you are interested in helping out with that project, I highly encourage it: https://the-maradaine-sequence.fandom.com/wiki/The_Maradaine_Sequence_Wiki

ALSO, since I've been asked, here's are my eligible works for this year's Hugo nominations, which are due on the 15th:

• Best Novel: LADY HENTERMAN'S WARDROBE
• Best Novel: WAY OF THE SHIELD 
• Best Series: MARADAINE (the whole saga, not any of the individual series)
• Best Related Work: #BelgariadLive Read

All right, back into the word mines for me. No use having fans if I'm not putting out the work, right? Right.

Come play in my vortex (reader group)

Following the accumulated wisdom of How to Be a Writer in Public, I have developed all the things a writer is supposed to have: web site, at least two social media presences, newsletter, public Facebook page, and so on. But the common thread on all those is pushiness: I'm pushing info at folks. Even worse, sometimes I'm just pushing info out into the void, like "buy my book" pollution that nobody's ever going to pick up.

It's hard for authors to get a handle on the value of some of these one-way communication paths. We can count our followers or likes or whatever, but it still feels, to me, very bleak.

My goal in writing has never been to make money or get awards. It has always been to connect with other people, via a story. I can't even tell you how exciting it is to write a thing -- any thing -- when I know for certain that someone is going to read it. Even better when I know someone is looking forward to reading it. Those people make this sometimes dismal job worthwhile.

And I will never meet them by shoving out news items into email inboxes and swiftly flowing Twitter feeds. So I made a place where they could hang out, and I could hang out, and we can talk. People who might have an interest in my stories or worlds can tell me what they like, what they don't, what they would be interested in reading in the future. We exchange recipes and pet pics and memes and fandom and science info.

That place is Viv's Vortex of Readers and Space Vodka. It's not a fan group per se. It's more of a gathering of friends. I think we all know each other, and we welcome new members rarely enough that anybody joining is going to get a lot of attention.

The coolest part of the group so far is that I've noticed friends from one area of my life (for instance, my fandom friends from way back) meeting folks from another area (like my writing friends), and interacting and forming relationships that detach from me completely and grow into awesome things on their own.

I don't run contests in the group. I don't have rules about posting or reviewing or any of that. I make no demands on your time. We're small enough that we don't even have rules about members promoting their own work (though I wouldn't be against that... we should discuss). It's as close to a safe place on the internet as I've found.

You are cordially invited to join.

Author Groups vs Genre Groups: Love To All

Author Fan Clubs. Fans of Specific Author Groups. Multi-Author Reader Groups. Genre Reviewer Groups. Whatever they're called, the most awesome thing to see is readers enthusiastically sharing their love of books.

Author-Run Fan Clubs/Groups are neat to observe. Maintaining that connection is a significant time investment, and I hat-tip to all the authors who thrive in the setting. The romance community--especially the PNR readers--IMHO, win the prize for most author-to-reader engagement. Nalini Singh's and Sherilyn Kenyon's are two of the author-run groups that spring to mind. UF comes charging into second place, probably due to the huge crossover from PNR (the LKH fan club was strong for a long, long time). Yes, I know personal assistants and fan club moderators help the authors balance writing their books and engaging with their fans. Mad props to the whole engine making fan clubs happen.

Now, that's not to throw shade on the fantasy readers, no, no. Fantasy fans seem to congregate around the genre more so than specific authors. Sure, they champion the hell out of their favorite series within the genre groups. You can make a drinking game out of frequency with which Malazon, LOTR, Farseer, and WoT are mentioned.

Personally, I participate in genre reader groups (okay, I lurk a lot and post when I have an answer to a question that doesn't already have dozens of responses). I don't have a fan group of my own beyond my Facebook Author Page, mostly because I suck at small talk IRL and online.

Fan groups?Do those really exist?

I'm joking of course. Yes, I know they exist. No, I don't have any.
I have followers on Twif=tter and facebook. That's about all I've managed. If I ever figure out how to do more, I will.
"Jim, why don't you hire a publicist?"
Money. Unless they can do it for the love, (You know, like a lot of publishers ask the writers to do) that just isn't happening.

So here: Instead let me remind you I have a new book coming out in a few weeks.


YOU can order it HERE

Screaming Love and More for You

At the SFF Seven this week, we're discussing author fan groups – whether we have them, like them, how they work, and we're interested in what the readers think about them. Do you belong to any fan groups and what do you like about them, which are your favorites and why?

I confess I didn't have a fan group for a really long time. I don't really love the word "fan" to begin with, and given the opportunity, I'll say "my readers" instead. With I think of "fan" I immediately picture Simon Zealotes from Jesus Christ, Superstar, singing and dancing with his crew about their fanatical zealotry.


What can I say? Early impressions and all that.

But I did finally form a fan group on Facebook because one of my readers asked me to. I did it back in November of 2016 and it's called "Jeffe's Closet." That's a bit of an inside joke. I used to have a Tumblr called Jeffe's Closet. Actually, it's still there - but because Tumblr freaked out about erotic images, and my closet was full of naughty pictures, it's been gutted. Or it's there, but behind a firewall? I don't even know anymore. I haven't added to it in forever, mostly because in the era of Trump, images of girls in chains began to feel too literal and not at all sexy anymore.

Alas.

Anyway, I like my private group! I post extra things there occasionally, and ask people to weigh in on stuff. Probably I should post there more often. So that leads me to ask - what should I be posting? What author fan groups do you belong to, what's the platform and what are your favorite things to see there?

Oh, and in case you haven't seen it, there's the final cover for LONEN'S REIGN! Out March 20 and available for preorder now :-)

Amazon
Smashwords
Kobo

Silence Is the Sound For Me

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Do I have a soundtrack or playlist for my novels?

I don’t write to music. I used to, many years ago, but there came a point where I found the music too distracting in the background, so I now write surrounded by silence, other than the ambient noises and Jake the Cat’s occasional demand for attention.

I find music immensely inspiring and I love to go for long drives on the Southern California freeways with the music turned up loud and contemplate plot challenges. At various times in the old day job I had long commutes to make and I got used to doing some of my most complex plot problem solving during those otherwise boring drives. (I find driving on the freeways is mostly routine but every now and then there’s a CRISIS and you’d better be able to respond fast. There was also the time I got trapped on the freeway by a brushfire, surrounding several other cars and mine, and I was right next to a gasoline tanker…CHP thankfully got us out of there…and we won’t discuss the wreck I had in 1982 where I rolled the car three times…thank goodness for seat belts! I wasn’t worrying over plots when that happened – I’d just decided to find another job, came around a curve and oh my, all the traffic was stopped while here I was going ummm perhaps a bit north of the posted speed…)

I also enjoy listening to music on my old ipod. I’ve got hundreds of my favorite songs on endless replay and I just let the melodies flow. Pretty soon I’m not really hearing the songs because I’m in the zone and the ideas are swarming.

My playlist ranges from golden oldies to rock to show tunes to bagpipes to country, with a lot of stuff in between. Sometimes a certain song will inspire a plot point or will remind me of a character or a situation. The connections probably wouldn’t be obvious to anyone but me and my Muse though! I tried to come up with a good example for this post and the explanation got very convoluted. Which is the way my creative mind works!

One of my favorite novellas from my backlist is STAR CRUISE: SONGBIRD, which was my scifi rock star romance and even for that one I didn't have a soundtrack. Here's an excerpt from the first concert in the story:

The show was already going on at full volume. Karissa’s was the final set of the evening and when she ran onstage, her dancers bouncing and doing acrobatics around her, the roar was astounding. Grant stood in the wings, as close to the stage as he could, and watched the performance. Karissa strutted, she danced, she teased, she brought a child on stage for a brief chat, she sang full throated. The crowd loved it all. He had a hard time keeping his eye on the audience, watching for problems, because she was so riveting.

“First time at a show?” asked an older woman standing next to him. “This is nothing compared to what she’ll do at the big concert on Calillia next week. There’ll be multiple costume changes and aerial components. And maybe some new songs, although she’s been quiet about her songwriting lately. She doesn’t want Ted getting the rights to any more of her stuff if she can help it. Things are unfixably sour between them now.” She laughed self-consciously and held out her hand. “I’m  Desdusan, by the way, her chief makeup artist. Chief busybody too. I try to look out for her as much as I can. Been with Karissa for nine years, ever since she hit the bigtime with ‘Twisted Comets’. She’ll probably sing that for the encore.”

“I hate to admit it but I’ve never heard her music before—it’s all new to me,” he said as they shook.

The woman did a double take. “You’re kidding, right? You’re probably the only person in the Sectors who hasn’t heard at least one Karissa song.”

“I have now,” he pointed out, annoyed to feel so defensive.

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The Writer's Playlist

Even though I've managed to save so much music to Spotify that it won't let me save any more - what's up with THAT? 10k songs is nothing! My music tastes are wide ranging and horrify pretty much everyone I've ever lived with. So I do most of my listening (and singing) for when no one else is around. But I have come to the conclusion that music is for when I'm not writing. My writing playlists used to be game sound tracks.

Myst. ALL OF THEM. The Diablo soundtracks. Halo soundtracks. Anything moody and/or without lyrics. I dipped into Brain.fm and some of the other binaural sound tracks available. Anything to shift my brainwaves and help me concentrate and shut out the world. For along while I listened to Nox Arcana to get my fill of atmospheric, we're all gonna die music. Frontline Assembly and, oddly enough, Nine Inch Nails worked for that, too. (I know I said no lyrics. I guess I lied.)

But then science happened and now there's data pretty much proving my high school science teacher's most unpopular assertion. Music impairs creativity. Granted. One study does not a landslide make. But if you're trying to listen to the still, small voices inside, maybe consider turning down the interference?

So I'm writing silent. This is a luxury and I freely admit that. When my folks move in and I'm having to block out conversations, TV, and the sounds of other humans breathing, earphones and sound may be my only solace. Until then, I'm writing a deaf heroine. Silence is exactly what's needed.

Creative Focus, and the Playlists Behind Them

I've been a little radio silent the past few weeks, at least in terms of posting, because I've been chin-deep on a few things, both in terms of creative projects and other personal responsibilities. Nothing bad, mind you, just busy.

Two things have been my creative focus of late. One is finishing the draft of THE FENMERE JOB, the third Streets of Maradaine novel, and like all third novels in the Maradaine saga, there is a crossover element, which I'm sure you can suss out just from title alone. 

The other is more in the developmental stage, but let's just call it a Secret Project for now. But it will probably be a standalone thing to palate cleanse myself between Phase I and Phase II of the Maradaine Saga.

Both of these, I've got some inspirational music for, though I don't tend to go full-on curated playlists. Rather, I tend to find thematic material and throw it together and then, in process, figure out which stuff really works for me.

In the case of The Fenmere Job, I'm leaning toward film scores from films that evoke the same feeling I'm going for. Here's the spotify link for that one.

For The Secret Project, it's got a very different feel from the other stuff, and the playlist matches it. As you can see, it's largely focused on a specific artist. That might morph over time, though.

All right, back to the grind. Plenty to do over the next few days.

Drawing Inspiration from Music and Brains

It’s not really a secret that listening to music can get you into a mood. Writers draw on that mood, and on the related emotions, to make our stories more memorable and effective. I think most writers have a playlist of some sort.

I do a lot of my writing by walking and thinking. Yes, this is work time. It’s just how my brain operates. When I’m walking and thinking and writing, I pipe music into my ear holes. Playlists match particular characters and scenes and feelings. Angela was AC/DC’s Back in Black album. Kellen was “Desperado” by The Eagles. Mari and Heron each had a playlist, but when they were fighting together against the world, they were “Read My Mind” by The Killers. Chloe is a lot of Def Leppard and Dollyrots, and intimate scenes almost always lean heavily on the music of Prince (well I mean, duh).

But when I sit down to actually put words on a screen, music no longer works for me. I need to get out of the song’s story and into my story, deep in my own brain. For that particular sorcery, I use a phone app called Brainwave Binaural.

The app works by starting a wave in one ear and finishing it in the other, sort of forcing the brain in the middle to match its mood. I use the Concentration setting for editing and Euphoria for drafting, but if you use this app, you’ll need to find your own personal sweet spot, the setting combo that drops you right into go mode.

Which is what I really love about this app: I sit down, plug in, and am instantly in the writing zone. If I don’t have Brainwave on, it takes me maybe 15 minutes to get into a writing groove.

So that’s my playlist advice: a lot of classic rock n’ roll and a brain-control app. (Brain control, not mind control. No matter what kind of speculation you’re writing.)

Sing Me A Song & I'll Tell You A Story

I listen to music...all the time. When I need to sink into a mood, I have a playlist for that. When I'm not connecting with a situational mindset of a character, I have a song, an album, or an artist to get me there. When I need to drown outside noise, I have a smart-station for that. When my dog's losing her mind due to a storm, there's music for that too.

As I'm working my way through the fifth book in the Immortal Spy series here's what's in my Top 5 Playlists queue:

1. Pain is Necessary Mix: Dommin, Godsmack, 3 Days Grace, Metallica, Theatre of Tragedy, Shinedown, BVB, etc.
2. Blues Guitars & Grit: Joe Bonamassa, Beth Hart, Johnny Lang, Kenney Wayne Shepherd, Koko Taylor, Memphis Mille, Muddy Waters, BB King, John Lee Hooker, etc.
3. The Bogeyman Cometh (Opera's Bass/Baritones) Mix: Bryn Terfel, Thomas Hampson, Rene Pepe, Sam Ramey, and more.
4. Women Have Had Enough Of Your Shit Mix: Halestorm, Dorothy, Heart, Joan Jett, In This Moment, Gin Wigmore, ZZ Ward, The Pretty Reckless, Aretha, Ella, Janis, Tina, Stevie, etc.
5. We're All 12 with Dirty Minds (Classic Rock): Meat Loaf, Aerosmith, Def Leppard, Mötley Crüe, AC/DC, Alice Cooper, Bon Jovi, Cinderella, Van Halen, etc.

Play me a song....

SO, much like our Jeffe, I don't have playlists. I prefer silence when I'm writing. That said I love a good soundtrack. I sometimes write to music to work past the problem of other people's noise.

When I was living back in Georgia in a communal sort of environment brought on by circumstance, my brother-in-law, in his passive-aggressive fury, would play video games while I was trying to write. He would play them very loudly and then play them loud enough to shake the walls. I would ignore that with music until we reached the stage where the bass shook my chest, then I would walk over to the next room where he was playing and offer to ram his speakers when the sun didn't shine if he continued at that volume. good times, good times.

So, yes, sometimes music, And when I am working out scenes and stories in my head there is always music.

I have listened to every type of music but it's often soundtracks.

The Sopranos soundtrack, volume one was very handy. Still is.

SONGS ABOUT JANE by Maroon Five was the music of choice for the entire marathon stint of writing BLOOD RED.

Bladerunner's soundtrack by Vangelis is definitely high on the list,

Everything by Hosier compiled into a playlist works wonderfully for me.

now and then a bout of Disturbed's first album goes a long way,

And then there's Norah Jones (I love that woman's voice) to soothe me when I'm feeling the need to calm down after a stressful day.

There are no guarantees as to what will work for me, but now and then Music hath Charms....

Jeffe's Musical Inspiration

A little tease of the LONEN'S REIGN cover, which we'll be revealing in my newsletter sometime in the next 24-48 hours. If you want to subscribe, the link is here. 

Our topic at the SFF Seven is what playlist or poetry we use for inspiration. Longtime followers of mine know that I don't have playlists for my books. I prefer silence when I write. Maybe some birdsong, but I don't even like classical music to play.

When I first started out, yes, I used music - especially movie soundtracks like The Mission and Master & Commander - but I changed over time. Silence allows me to immerse the flow of writing and forget the real world.

That said, some songs really do resonate with me. They capture a feeling in music that I'd love to convey in words. This song is one of them. I particularly love this rendition, as Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel bring to it their long friendship and all the years that have passed and strengthened the ties between them. You know that, just like Galinda and Elphaba, Kristin and Idina have had conflict over the years of working together. Recognizing that friendship can survive conflict and come out the other side has incredible emotional resonance.


 

A Collection of Thoughts on Reviews, Author Branding and More

Our topic this week is whether reviews do any good, which also segued into marketing, branding and the long game as an author. WHEW!

OK, first to reviews. I very much appreciate every reader and book blogger who takes the time to review books. That’s a wonderful thing to do! I think reviews are the readers’ experience with the book and as such not really meant for me as the author per se.  When I’m in reader mode, reviews help me decide whether to try a book or not…as an author, I have to say I’m writing the stories I want to tell and I’m not going to be influenced by something I might read in a review of a previous book. The reader is totally entitled to their opinion and their thoughts might help someone else decide to try the book or not…but writers gonna write and my Muse dictates which book I write and how the plot goes.

I write what I want to read and can’t find enough of, be it ancient Egyptian paranormal romance or scifi romance. Or even fantasy romance, which reminds me,  I really need to write the next book in that series!

What REALLY helps an author nowadays in word of mouth, which yes, has been around since medieval days or before LOL. Nothing new under the sun.

 If one reader tells another reader and they tell two readers etc. etc. (or posts on Facebook or does a recommendation on Goodreads or BookBub) then the Sky is The Limit. Not so long ago an author I admire told her readers on FB how much she loved my scifi romance Badari Warriors series and wow, I really saw an upswing that week in people buying the first book of the series to see for themselves and I was so grateful…plus wildly pleased that someone I had such a high opinion of as an author actually liked my book.

As far as branding, I write action adventure with romance, no matter what time frame and which world the story is set in. If you buy a ‘Veronica Scott’ book, that’s what you will get. I’m pretty consistent.  Branding-wise, I emphasized the scifi romance because that was where my strongest sales were and enjoyed quite a few opportunities to blog and do interviews (of other SFR authors and scifi-related TV actors), which further strengthened the identification of name and genre. Science fiction is genuinely my first love, going all the way back to when I was a kid reading my first Andre Norton novel (which alas lacked romance). If I had infinite time, I’d write all three genres equally but my career path has skewed mostly to the SFR.

Marketing. I am not a whiz at that. Running thousands of ads and doing A/B testing to see what works and tweaking that and…not for me. I was pretty good at Amazon ads for a while until they changed their whole algorithm AGAIN. I do a newsletter when I have a new release…I occasionally buy an ad somewhere else or once in a blue moon luck out and get a Book Bub ad. Remember that word of mouth thing I mentioned above? Yeah, that’s my best hope. I put out what I feel are good books, professionally edited and hope readers will enjoy them enough to want to read more of them and tell their friends.

I'd love to have a really savvy PR person who'd take all of that marketing stuff off my hands and run ads in every medium and get me on talk shows and....oh, but that requires BIG BUCKS. Which my little indie publisher me budget doesn't run to.

Long game? ABSOLUTELY! The indie publishing world has its ups and downs and even a solid backlist like the one I have doesn’t always do as well as a person might hope, but I love writing my stories, I love sharing my stories, and I have no plans to stop.

Besides, you never know when the next book might turn into an astronomical hit! (I can dream – that’s a strategy, right?)

Hiccups in the publishing world come and go but I’ve been published since 2012 now and I’m really happy with how many books I have released (closing in on 30), with the fun I’ve had and the amazing authors and readers I’ve ‘met’, either in person or online.

All stock photos from DepositPhoto.

The Greatest Gift

Since the internet is for gratuitous cat photos, here's yours for the day. Let it be noted that the kittens are now six months old. They are eight pounds and still growing. Yesterday, they took down the shower curtain and the rod in the guest bath. I spend a lot of my time sprinting from one end of the house to the other, squirt bottle in hand, yelling, "Don't you dare!" at some rambunctious kitten offender. They're slowly learning manners. Slowly.

Which brings us to the topic of reviews. If you've had cats before, my paragraph above reminded you what it's like to have young, untrained cats in the house. If you haven't had cats before, it should have given you a glimpse into the reality that having kittens isn't all cute and cuddles. There's destruction and mayhem. Either you're okay with that or you aren't. The point of my paragraph, and the point of a book review, is to help you decide whether having kittens, or reading a particular book, is right for you.

I feel like book reviews live in this weird in-between state. While they help an author beyond measure, reviews aren't really for the author. They're for other readers to help them decide whether my writing and my stories are going to work for them. 

Very likely everyone's seen classes taught by any number of people promising you can make your book a best seller on Amazon if only you get enough reviews the day your book comes out. While I didn't take one of those classes, I figured what the heck. Lemme give this a try. I offered a free review copy of a book to a group of my readers. I kept my list to 25 people. I got those 25 reviews. What did this do for me? It got me in trouble with Amazon because the 'Zon really, really hates review copies. They really, really hate reviews that show up from readers who did not purchase the book on Amazon, even though advance reader copies are a standard in the industry. The experiment did provide a brief sales bump for the book, but I don't know that it actually helped other readers. Here's the rub. The people who read and reviewed for me are people who specifically like my writing and my weird bent on story. My stuff works for them. Their reviews are lovely and ego boosting and I adore every single one of these people. But if you were new to my work and wanted to look through reviews to find out that my stories can be a bit complicated and strange, those first 25 might not have done that job. 

So I'm not likely to solicit reviews like that again. Lesson learned. I adore my readers and if they're moved to review my work, brilliant. I will weep tears of joy, but no more dabbling in a realm that should remain the sole domain of readers. I will 100% send review copies into the world and where readers leave reviews will be THEIR business, not mine, not the 'Zon's. 

Are reviews worth anything then? Absolutely. They are worth the reviewer's weight in gold, every single one, whether the review is five stars or one star. Because they help other readers find me. And that is the greatest gift, ever.

Why reviews are the most valuable thing ever

If you're here looking for marketing insight or information about how reviews affect sales or branding or  anything regarding the business part of writing, my fellow SFF Seven folks have got you covered. Just keep reading this week and you'll soak up all the wisdom.

But you won't get much biz wisdom from me. My only thought nugget regarding reviews is THANK YOU. 

Thank you to the people who read my book and said something nice about it. 

Thank you even more to people who read both my books and left reviews for them -- you are my madstone in a very bitey biz.

Thank you to the people who read my books, found something they disliked, and then left a review so that other people who dislike that dislikable thing won't dive into the book and then get disappointed.

Thank you to the people who bought my book and didn't finish it but left a review saying why they DNF'd and at what point. I'm pretty sure you aren't the only reader who was bored or turned off at that spot, and being a reader is like being a writer: it's valuable to know when we aren't alone.

Thank you to that one dude on Goodreads who made some assumptions about my personal sexual promiscuity and relationship with my parents. I'm ... sure leaving that review helped you work through some stuff.

All this to say that yes, reviews are worth it. They are worth your time because they remind me that all this work, all this effort and care and hope and incantation I put into a story is being received. I've shouted my existence into the stars, and someone has replied.

Yes, I heard you and loved your message, you might have said. 

Yes, I heard you and think you're full of crap, you also possibly said. 

Yes, I heard you and you aren't alone, you always, definitely said.

And that has value.

Reviews: Don't Confuse Marketing with Sales

I'm loving the topic this week of "Reviews: Are they worth it?" Mostly because I keep hearing Missy Elliot, and now I want to put my thing down, flip it, and reverse it. (I'm sure if I did, I'd pull my back and break my hip.)

As readers, it likely comes as no surprise that authors are under pressure to amass reviews on leading retail sites and in reader communities (eg, Reddit and Goodreads). Whether it's in hopes of improving our odds at being discovered through word-of-mouth or triggering algorithms to have our book(s) surface at the top of search results, we're all eager to make that next sale. Our great fear is that someone will happen across our book, see it has no reviews, assume it's horribly written, thus not buy it.

Of course, our worst nightmare is that we'll get reviews, but they're mostly negative. 

That's enough to send us rocking in the corner, sucking our thumbs. 

It is too easy to lose sight of reviews being a marketing tool. Marketing not Sales. Big difference. Marketing = Spaghetti Against the Wall. Sales = Revenue. Marketing trends are ever-changing. The current fad is reader-reviews (ten years ago, the trend was blogging). There are many authors who give away their book for free trying to hit a magical and moving target number of reviews that the elusive "they" have defined as being effective. Note: It's a different goal from those authors who list "first in series free" in hopes of enticing new readers to pay full price for the rest of the books in the series. Still marketing, but repeat customer is the goal there not reviews (though reviews are still nice).

Bless the readers who post reviews. We love you. Really. 

So, to the question of the week, "are reviews worth it;" the answer is "depends on the size of the ulcer you're giving yourself trying to gather them." It's okay to ask for reviews, just don't let it become your primary marketing message. Put a "please review" reminder at the end of your book, put it in your newsletter as a footnote, post it monthly-ish on your social media feeds. However, never lose sight of SALES being your primary goal.

As many of us have said over the eight years this blog has been around, the best thing you can do to drive sales is Write the Next Book. Building your backlist is like stocking your store with inventory. The more items you have available, the more opportunity you have to make money.