How I Self-Published on KDP

I recently collected a bunch of my previously published short stories and poetry and bound them together in a self-published collection titled Classic Camp's Classic Horror Emporium. It is available now on Amazon here. After doing so, several people asked me how I published through Kindle Direct Publishing, and I kind of stammered through the answer. Not trying to be rude, but it was just one of those things that I figured out as I went along. So, I thought a blog post about how I self-published my first short story and poetry collection would be fitting since I have not blogged in a while.

First go to Amazon.com and sign in. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on Kindle Digital Publishing. I actually Googled KDP and found this shortcut later, but it brought me to the same page.  Click the big yellow button that reads + Create at the top. The next page asks what you would like to create, a Kindle e-book, paperback, hardcover, or a series. So far, I have only created a paperback and a Kindle e-book, but it appears the hardcover is pretty much the same as the paperback. I am not sure about how to create a series, yet.

So for the sake of this blog, I clicked paperback. It then asks you type in your book title and subtitle (the subtitle is optional). It is also optional to enter the edition number. You can then add up to nine other contributors, which is important if you ever want to create an anthology instead of a collection (an anthology being a collection of short stories and poetry from different authors and a collection being works from only one author).

Scrolling down the same page a little further, it then asks for a description of the book. For this, I used the forward from my collection. Next, you choose if you own this work or if it is a public domain work. I checked off that I own the work. After that, it asks if there are any sexually explicit images or language, and I checked off no for my work. Then it asks for the minimum and maximum ages for the work, and I chose 12 to 18+ because these works do not contain any real explicit language. They are pretty much PG-13.

Next, it asks for the primary marketplace, and I chose Amazon.com because all of the other choices are international markets. Choose your categories, such as "mystery, thriller, and suspense," or "fiction & literature" from a dropdown menu. This is so Amazon can categorize the work. There are also subcategories and placement to choose from. It asks for some keywords so your book can come up when related words are searched. I chose words like short stories, collection, nature poetry, gothic, etc. You can choose up to seven of them. Then choose if your publication date is the release date or if it was previously published, and finally choose if you want today to be your release date or if you want to schedule it for a future date. I chose the same day, but in the future, I may try to build some anticipation and choose a future date. Click save and continue.

Here you can let Amazon give you an ISBN number or enter your own if you have one. I just let Amazon give me one. Next, choose if your book is in black and white or color and if you want white or cream paper. Then choose the trim size. This is the size of paper your book will be and determines how you will need to format your file to upload. Choose bleed or no bleed depending on if the book has images. This is all laid out in the KDP instructions. Choose if the book cover should be matte or glossy. I like glossy book covers, personally.

Now you finally get to upload the manuscript, and this is where things grew a little hairy. I write everything in Microsoft Word, and through trial and error, I have learned that single space in Times New Roman works well for books, but you can choose whichever font you like. I do suggest single space, however, because it looks more professional. Then click the previewer to see how it lines up. Likely you will need to adjust the margins of the Word document until they align into the margins of the trim size you chose earlier. If you want page numbers, this can also be accomplished by clicking insert, and then going to page numbers and choosing the placement of those page numbers. To adjust margins in Word, go to view and check the box next to ruler, then click and drag the tiny box on the left to where it you want to margins. Click and drag the tiny triangle on the left because the pages have to be centered. Then click the part of the ruler on the left at the top of the page where the shaded portion meets the dark part of the ruler and drag it where you want the top and bottom margins. However, to get the page numbers into the trim margins on Kindle, double click in the top margin to open up the header and hit enter as many times as needed until the page numbers appear within the trim margin. I wound up readjusting my manuscript several times and reuploading it and previewing it over and over until I got everything to line up correctly. I believe there is a way for KDP to do this automatically, but I kind of liked doing this part manually so I know it was done right.

Next, choose the cover photo. Kindle has an option of uploading cover you have already created, or you can choose among the many covers they have created. I chose one of Kindle's previously made covers because I'm on a slow track of learning about this stuff on my own. You can also choose where the book title appears in various styles and fonts. I chose a different style for the title across the same cover image for my paperback and e-book versions, just to have some differentiation.

Amazon also asks you to indicate whether or not generative AI was used in the creation of the book. I obviously chose no.

Finally, choose the pricing for the book. I chose to have my book available in all territories. Pricing, royalties, and distribution gets a little confusing. My first self-published book, a short story titled, "House of Vergosi," which is also included in this new collection, I did not include in expanded distribution because it keeps the price down. This one I did choose expanded distribution because I believe it is available to more people in more areas around the world. I'm still not fully sure what the difference is, honestly, but I do know the book has to have a higher price if you choose expanded distribution. It will tell you what the whole sale price of the book will be and you can figure out how much you want to charge for it to earn a profit.

Finally, click publish your book. It is pretty much the same for the e-book version. Choose the price at the end again, and the break-even price is far lower for e-books. That's how I did it. Every author should try to self-publish at least once just to see what goes into the process. There are other platforms that will allow people to self-publish, but from what I've heard, Kindle is still the easiest and the best way to make any money. Speaking of which, getting the money earned from book sales is another process, which I may blog about at another time. I hope everyone found this process helpful.

'Tis the Season for Literary and Academic Festivals

Lately, I have been making the rounds to a number of literary and academic festivals and conferences. On March 16, I attended the Suffolk Mystery Authors Festival in downtown Suffolk, Virginia, which is the city where I currently live. It was nice to talk writing and books with several fellow writers. I was also scoping this event out for a possible table for either the Horror Writers Association Virginia Chapter to get a table at the event next year, or for me to get a table by myself. I think the Edgar Allen Poe anthology I appear in would be a good fit for this event, and I know some of my fellow Virginia chapter authors also write and have published some mysteries.

While there, I attended a presentation on short story writing, because that was something that I do and wanted to hear more about what these authors had to say about it.

After the festival, I was notified by mail that I won a raffle for a bundle of books by one of the authors, Karen McCullough. I have not dug into these just yet, but some of them do look tempting, and I can wait to cut into them soon.

I also work in higher education, and spring is a popular time for many academic festivals and conferences, which we sometimes call "academic development." It helps for teachers to get together once in a while and confer with each other about what we are doing and share ideas. One such festival I attended was the Old Dominion University Spring Conference on the Teaching of Writing. Being an ODU alumnus, I always enjoy getting back on campus. Interestingly, while I was there, I ran into Kole Matheson, who did a presentation with me at the 2018 conference. Not only did he recognize me, he even remembered my Frankenstein project that I presented that year (hoping to work on that again this summer).

After that, I attended the Norfolk State University William Carroll Writers' Festival. I enjoy teaching English composition at NSU, which is a traditionally Black university. During this festival I was asked to do a public reading, so I read my latest short story, "Beheaded" which appears in Madame Gray's Poe-Pourri of Terror, and is available here (plug, plug). The reaction was a mixed bag of those who seemed to love it, and those were more than a little shocked (in a good way [I think]).

Later in the festival, I participated in a creative writing activity where we were given cards from the kids' board game Apples to Apples and asked to come up with something within a few minutes. I ended up with the card "Knock, Knock" and thought to myself, "What the hell am I going to do with this?" But then I just used a little stream-of-consciousness to see what followed, and I think I actually came with something pretty damn good. I might even try to sell it as a poem after a little editing to clean it up. That could be a good activity for others to try at home. This may have also led to me finding a new summer writing group🤞.

Lastly, just this week, I attended a professional development presentation at the other higher education institution where I teach, Paul D. Camp Community College. It was about latest practices on diversity and distance learning. Again, it's a good way to compare what I do in the classroom with some of my colleagues and provide ideas on how to improve.

And speaking of PDCCC, I was asked to add another literature class in the second eight weeks of the semester, which I was allowed to gear toward Romantic elements in literature, both during the Romantic movements in the United States and England and unto today. I do feel that teaching writing and literature improves my own writing, and would encourage anyone who is qualified to teach to do so. I may have to post a little bit more about this at another time as it lends itself to another topic.

That's about it, and looking at it now, boy have I been busy. Even if I have not had that much time to write lately, I have been immersing myself in the writing, education, and publishing field. This immersion, in my opinion is the best way to find success (I hope).

My Latest Short Story Sale

I am particularly excited about my latest short story sale for several reasons. For one thing, it is always exciting to make a short story sale, obviously, but this sale is particularly exciting. My latest short story sale is "Beheaded" (I love that title, by the way, but again, that's not why I am particularly excited about this sale). It will appear in the anthology Madame Gray's Poe-Pourri (cover pictured above) with the publisher, HellBound Books.

I have submitted to other anthologies with HellBound Book, but this was the first one they have actually accepted so far. All these are great reasons to be proud of this short story sale, and they are all reasons that I am proud of this short story sale. But there is one reason that makes me particularly proud of this specific short story sale.

The thing that makes me particularly proud of this short story sale is the fact that I consider this story, "Beheaded," to be part of the same universe as my first completed novel-length manuscript, The Sorcerer and my current work in progress, Blood of the Werewolf. That proves to me, and hopefully one day to a publisher, that stories in this universe can and will sell.

That universe is Romantic England (note the capital R in Romantic). It is similar enough to Victorian England that fans will be able to identify with both eras. It is the era just before the Victorian Era, usually noted as 1800 to 1835 in England. It is also my favorite literary era, with its love of nature and "spontaneous overflow of emotions." And it is the literary era I studied in college.

For more information on these works, you can see my previous blog-post on Shameless Self-Promotion. And for more information on this anthology, here is the link to HellBound Books. 

Shameless Self-Promotion

 

I was sending out my old manuscript for The Sorcerer to another small press recently, and their submission guidelines said their authors should be prepared to promote their work nearly every day. Most small presses, and even many large presses, want their authors to do quite a bit of their own promotion. Perhaps it has always been this way, but I think most people in the writing and publishing industry would say authors are expected to do more of their own promotion that at any time in the past. And most of that promotion at this stage should be about my current projects.

Then just today, I was in my Horror Writers Association-Virginia chapter meeting when we got to the end of the meeting, the point where we all discuss our current projects, and I spouted off a few items I have out for consideration. When they moved on to another member, it occurred to me that I had an intriguing story about my current manuscript project, Blood of the Werewolf but forgot to mention it.

With that in mind, here is that (hopefully) intriguing story:

I am currently in the editing process of Blood of the Werewolf, when I reached a scene that needed a total revision. Why? Because one of the characters was supposed to leave town by train, but the story takes place in 1815 England. When I researched the history of train travel, I discovered this was about 15 years too early for regular train travel. While many of my horror writing cohorts are researching far more interesting things like types of poisons and how much bloodloss a human can endure, I spent my writing session researching the history of train travel and the history of slippers. Anyway, it is a pivotal scene that cannot be totally deleted, so I must revise it in a way that the character uses a different mode of transportation. The most obvious mode of transportation would be ship.

This opened up an interesting possibility for the story. I want both The Sorcerer and Blood of the Werewolf to take place within the same universe, and it would be even better if they had another direct connection. But up until now they did not have any connections other than parts of both stories take place in England in the 1810s. The Sorcerer actually concerns a man who owns a shipping company. So this character in Blood of the Werewolf will now travel via the Nichols Shipping Company because it is the name of the shipping company the character in The Sorcerer owns, giving the two novels the type of direct connection I was hoping to create for them.

Oh yes, the photo above is me promoting a public presentation at Monster Fest.

Fiction Friday

 

The biggest question from people who want to write but often don't is how to find the time, and while I have posted about finding time before, this will be another post about how to carve out that time. In fact, that previous blog post about how to find time to write was my most popular blog post to date with almost twice as many hits as the next most popular post.

But that's not why I'm posting about how to find the time again. I posting about it because it is important to schedule yourself a time to write, and it should be as frequent as possible. Some writers say it is important, some might even say crucial, to write every day. There are times of the year when I am able to write every day, but that's just not possible all year round for me. And I sometimes get frustrated with myself if I cannot write every day when I set out with that sort of an aggressive schedule. This makes me feel like it is likely other writers who set out with that sort of aggressive writing schedule might also get frustrated with themselves if they don't end up following their own schedule and write every day.

Don't get me wrong, if you are able to write every day, more power to you. I wish I could write every day, and as stated earlier, there are times when I can and do. But there are other times when that is just not possible because life catches up to me in one way or another.

It kind of reminds me of the scene in the film Breakfast at Tiffany's (an adaptation of a Truman Capote novel of the same name, which I own and still have not read [I need to get on that]). Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn) asks Paul Varjak (George Peppard), a writer, if he writes every day and he claims that he does. Then Hepburn asks why there is no ribbon in his typewriter. Hepburn's character later gifts Peppard's character a typewriter ribbon so he can in fact write every day.

The important thing is to make sure you schedule out some sort of time and make sure you write at least that much. For me, I carve out, at minimum, a few hours on Friday nights to write. I often write more than just that once a week, and I certainly try to, but I tell all family and friends that this block of time on Friday nights is my "Fiction Fridays" (not coincidentally the title of this blogpost).

So get out there and carve out your time to write, or join me in writing on my Fiction Fridays, or go watch the movie Breakfast at Tiffany's, or go read the book (like I need to do). Or go do something, because it is Friday, and I'm still writing this blog instead of writing my fiction. 😁

2021 by the Numbers

 

The most important thing for any writer to do is to, not only keep writing, but to also keep submitting, keep putting his or her work out there. For those looking to be traditionally published, this means submitting to publications such as literary magazines and anthologies. And if you are submitting your work, it is important to keep track of where you are sending it to, how many works are accepted for publication, how many are rejected, and how many are left as dead letters. I keep track of this with a Microsoft Spreadsheet.

I try to keep as many items out there under consideration as possible at all times. When an item comes back with a rejection, I immediately start looking for the next publication to send it out to. Sometimes I consider giving it a revision before doing so, but sometimes I send it out again as is. It depends on if I received a form rejection, or a more personalized one with suggestions on how to make the piece better. It also depends on how many rejections the particular piece has already received.

I once read from one published author (I cannot remember who) that they try to submit up to 100 pieces for publication per year. I have found this does not seem to be possible for me, but I do try to send out as many as possible, and am able to submit between 35 and 50 pieces per year.

I often read from writers with less experience than me that they feel hurt when they receive rejections, particularly if they receive too many of them. The best advice I ever received was that writers should not count their rejections. Instead, they should only count how many pieces they send out in a given time, such as a given year. Therefore, I try to compete with myself, to send out as many as possible each year.

So without any further ado, here are my numbers for the past year, 2021: I sent out 29 short stories, 11 poems, and 4 novels for a total of 44 pieces sent out for consideration. This is the third most submissions I've made in any given year. Of those submitted this year, I sold three items, two poems, and one short story, for publication. The last item I sold was to the anthology, Alternative Deathiness (pictured above). It includes some notable authors, placing me in some good company, so I am honored to be a part of it. It contains my poem "Old Forgotten Grave" and can be found on Amazon here. 

So when writing and submitting, be sure to keep track of your works, even if for no other reason than to make sure you don't accidentally send the same work to the same publication twice. I certainly would have accidentally done this numerous times if I didn't have a Spreadsheet to keep track of these things. If you like, tell me about how many works you submit per year, or in the last year.

Collaborative writing

 

(My dog, Ahsoka, and cat, Serenity, collaboratively sleeping together)

There is something to be said in favor of collaboration when writing. On some level all writing needs to be collaborative. Now I'm not talking about so much collaboration that the story is no longer your own, but on the other end, there can be great advantages to letting others read your story and provide feedback.

Recently, I've managed to find a few beta readers for some of my short stories, and I received incredibly useful feedback. With the internet age, finding beta readers has become easier. Instead of going out and finding people in the real, live, three-dimensional world, one can post on a Facebook group, or other social media platform, that you have a short story you would like feedback on.

In many circles, you may have to pay an editor to do this, but there is a way around this. If you do not have the money to pay an editor, you can offer to read someone else's short story in exchange. The point is, it will cost you something. If you cannot afford to pay money, you will have to pay with time.

I also don't want to take anything away from paying a good editor. If you do have the money, chances are they may provide better feedback. But offering to read someone else's story can certainly be another viable option. Also, it allows you to read what other writers are working on and see how your own work matches up.

I recently had the opportunity to exchange short stories with a few other writers, and the feedback I received was excellent. It is certainly an experience I will try to replicate in the future. It was spot on in almost every case. Keep in mind, your stories are always your own, and you do not have to make changes that you feel will weaken your story. But in my case, the vast majority of suggestions were viable, and helped the stories overall. There were only a few suggestions I chose not to follow because I did not feel comfortable with them.

If you take any creative writing course that is worth anything, you will be asked to change stories and provide and receive feedback. This is almost always the most important part of the course. So if you cannot afford a creative writing course, this can also be an alternative to that as well. So go out and give and get feedback on your current works. It is invariably a key part of the writing process.

After One Year of Covid

 

It's been one year since Covid 19 shut down the entire world, and it seems there is finally land on the horizon. It had been about hundred years since the world saw a good fashioned pandemic (the Spanish flu in 1918 was the last), so we were long overdue.

But now we have a vaccine out for this virus, so we should be seeing its final throes soon. I finally received my first shot today, and will be returning in about four weeks for the follow-up. Additionally, one of the colleges where I teach just announced we are returning to in-person classes in the fall. While there are new variants of the virus emerging, getting the vaccine is supposed to keep us from getting so sick we need hospitalization, or even face death, even from those variants. Factor in that most people are just plain tired of being cooped up, and all indicators show that we this is ending one way or the other.

So what did you accomplish as a writer? And for that matter, what did I accomplish as a writer? Honestly, things were a bit distracting, with not only the pandemic, but also a TON of misinformation about it, and a very contentious presidential election. Factor in the summer of protests from the Black Lives Matter movement, and there was a lot to keep track of. I don't think I'm alone when I say I could have been more productive than I was. But there were areas where I was productive.

I did manage to finish editing my first novel. . . again, after a mentor looked it over. I wrote a query letter for it and sent that out. I also finished my other novel, and began editing it. I sent out a lot of works, and many of them fell to dead letters, but I noticed I'm starting to receive the rejection letters again (which is a very good thing), another sign this pandemic and quarantine are in their final throes. And don't be afraid of those rejection letters. I've started reading those books for my Frankenstein research project again. And yesterday, I finally wrote another short story.

Could I have been more productive than that? Probably, but it also goes to a point I've always suspected was true: the more you do, the more you want to do, and the less you do, the less you want to do. Writing kind of works like that, perhaps more than other aspects of life. So keep plugging away, and I will do the same.

Every Writer's Favorite Topic: Coffee

 

Today I thought I would blog about a very important topic for writers: coffee. The way your take your coffee and how your make it can provide very important information about a writer, and for the writer to be able to describe their characters. I am inspired to write about this for a very important reason: it seems my newest percolator has died. 😞

Before I get too far, that photo above is not my newest percolator. That is the percolator my grandfather used going all the back to when I was a little kid. But I chose to use that photo because not only is that percolator coffee maker still working, but it also makes better tasting coffee than my new percolator system! I don't know what its secret is (magic?), but that damn thing makes the best freaking coffee I've ever tasted (screw you, Starbucks!).

There's a meme that goes around with various coffee makers and what it says about you. Under the percolator system it says you're either pretentious or an old Italian. Well, that percolator pictured is from my Italian side of the family (mom's maiden name was Notarione). Both my parents were big coffee drinkers, my non-Italian dad even moreso than my mother. I can't say my parents knew everything, or that they did everything perfectly, but I can say they were correct about the percolator system being superior to the new drip systems.

So how do I take my coffee? I'm not so traditional that I take it black, but I do need a little cream and sugar. I'm also not a big fan of those longer coffee drink names you can find at Starbucks and other similar places. I have a hard time getting myself to spend as much as those modern coffee shops are asking for a cup of joe. I can't even imagine drinking iced coffee. I don't want to insult anyone who does like these types of coffees, but they are just not me.

Isn't it interesting how much you can learn about a person just by knowing what kind of coffee they drink and how they take it? So how do you like your coffee? And if you are writing, how do your characters take their coffee? Or do they drink coffee? And if they don't drink coffee, what do they drink, and how do they drink it? This can be important information for your readers.

Editing . . . Again.

 

 In a recent blog post, I wrote about editing a novel. Since I recently finished editing that novel, I would like to post an update.

It was the first manuscript I ever finished and edited to the point where I felt it was ready for prime time. By that I mean I felt comfortable enough to send it to agents and publishers, but to get it to that point, I had to edited it over and over again, to the point where it felt like the movie Groundhog Day, I keep living the same novel over and over again. It actually got the point where I promised myself I would never edit it again, so I could concentrate on completing other projects. Or at least I would never edit it again unless a professional like an agent or publisher asked for edits. Of course that would warrant another edit.

Then I applied to the Horror Writers Association to have a mentor, and was assigned one some time later. Since this was my only completed work, I sent him this manuscript. He provided me with some important feedback to the manuscript and pointers about my writing in general, which you can read about in the link above.

Since then, I set out to edit that novel one more time. It had been looked at by a professional author, so that warranted it one last edit. But the process at this point really did feel like Groundhog Day, working on the same thing over and over, reliving the same novel over and over. Well, that process is mercifully over once again. Don't get me wrong, I love that story I created, and feel it has great potential, and even after this many edits, there was some joy in revisiting it one more time.

But once a project like this over, there's nothing left to do but submit it. So I reviewed, once again, how to write a query letter, researched a number of small presses to submit it to, and geared my query toward one particular small press that seemed appropriate for my work. I also sent this query to my mentor, since he mentioned he often looks at former mentees' works from time to time, and I asked for his advice. I was very pleased he did not have any edits to the query. I have sent queries to professional writers before and have always had some edits in the past, so it was nice that for once, I seem to have mastered at least one part of the process. And I do think I wrote a pretty good query this time.

So the next step in the process is to continue editing one of my other novels and get it ready to send off to agents and publishers. This novel is starting from a different place than that previous one was. I think I have learned a lot since that first completed and polished manuscript, so I don't think this one will require nearly as much editing. I will likely also research more agents and small presses to send out that first manuscript, so several places can have a look at it at one time.

Such is the life of a writer: write, edit, submit, repeat.

Three Tips to Writing Dialogue

Look at this cat and tell me what you think she is saying. (It's one of my four cats, Patch, sitting at the bar in my house, by the way.) I imagine her saying, "What'll you have?" or something similar."What'll" because it is colloquial, improper English, for "What will." People rarely speak in proper English, unless they are giving a speech or something similar. The quote also gives the cat a motive. She has a job to do, tending bar, and to accomplish that motive she first has to find out what drink you desire so she can properly make it. Additionally, it implies that there is someone on the other side of the bar, listening, or not listening, or most accurately, half listening, because that is what people do most of the time, even in conversation. That person may answer right away, or they may hesitate, think, or finish a conversation with someone else before answering. We each have our own motivation and half listen to each other to achieve our own motivations while we deal with the other person's problems are to see how much we have to help them to achieve our own goals.

Is that a pessimistic view of the world? Perhaps, but one that I think is still pretty accurate. As human beings we must negotiate with each other to gain what we want and need. Ideally, there should be give and take. So now the question is, how do we capture that plurality of motives in conversation on the page in a work of fiction?

One aspect of fiction where I seem to excel is writing dialogue. Some of the short stories I've managed to get published were virtually all dialogue. Furthermore, when I receive a personalized rejection, more often than not, they mention that the dialogue was good and seemed natural. While there may be other areas I still need to work on, I do seem to write good dialogue. Therefore, I thought this may be a good time to share what I know about creating good dialogue.

There are three things to remember with writing good dialogue.

1. People rarely, if ever, speak proper English. I assume this is probably true of speakers of other languages as well. We use figures of speech, idioms, slang and often try to appear witty to others. When someone does speak proper English in a normal conversation, we would think of that person as stuffy, uppity, pedantic, arrogant, or other unflattering adjectives. In fact, most people don't even speak in complete sentences. We get distracted, have other thoughts to convey, or just don't have the time.

2. Each character should have their own motivations, and their dialogue should reflect that. Yes, all the time. This is a work of fiction after all. This moves the plot and creates the type of conflict and tension people like to read about. Dialogue can move the plot in this way just as well as the actions, perhaps even better than the actions in many cases.

3. People don't really listen to each other. Have you ever just listened to two people having a conversation. Try it some time. People half listen, but again, are distracted by what was said earlier, or what we want to say, or by, wait, was that a squirrel? We don't have time to listen, so we end up half listening. Watch a Neil Simon play, or a film adaptation, or read one of his plays. He's really good at this aspect, in my opinion.

For another example (okay, one that's not as good Neil Simon, but still . . .), consider the opening conversation to one of my published short stories, "Paranormal Experiment," which was published in parAbnormal Digest some time ago. Rights have reverted back to me at this point.

“What’s wrong, Linda?” Eric asked his translucent girlfriend as she sat on a large wooden box in the college physics laboratory. He placed an opaque hand on her see-through shoulder in a comforting gesture.

     “I’m just not sure I want to go through with this. I mean what if something happens to me?”

     “Awe, come on babe, don’t you trust me? I mean what can happen? You’re already dead, right?”

     “Don’t call me babe! You know I hate that.” She stood up, threw her arms down, and turned away, her faded white dress flowing in the motion, the long belled sleeves trailing behind her. “And how can I forget I’m a ghost and you’re not when you keep reminding me.”

The very opening line asks what is wrong, implying conflict from the very first line. We learn Linda is a ghost by her description. Her motivation is that she is in love with Eric, who wants to experiment on her, and is unsure how far she wants to go to show her love for Eric. Eric's motivation is that he wants to be a famous scientist by conducting the first experiments on a ghost, one which he just happens to be dating. It also seems that Eric is rather a jerk, calling her "babe," a slang term, which she doesn't like. It even seems he may be using her to accomplish success in his career. The final lines add the underlying wedge to their relationship, that she's a ghost and he isn't. (Don't worry, Linda gets her revenge in the end by killing Eric, so he has to give up science, and they live happily ever after . . .  as ghosts.)

So I hope I have helped you come up with great believable dialogue. Please feel free to use these tips to your advantage. Just remember, people don't speak proper English, everyone has motives, and nobody really listens to one another. Now get out there and write great dialogue!

Why Write During Times Like This?

I have seen on several social media pages that some people are questioning why anyone would or could write, draw, or otherwise create any type of art during times like this? The world seems to be in turmoil. The Covid-19 pandemic is still going strong, although many people seem to have moved on. Numbers of infections continue to increase in many states and regions in the United States. There are still many protests going on for equal rights for African-Americans, although thankfully there appears to be few violent clashes.

Some might even argue that we should be helping defeat the pandemic, or providing support for those who are marginalized. And they may be correct.

However, I would also argue that writing, and more broadly creating any type of art, is a way of providing support for a cause or helping stamp out a pandemic. Writing and other arts help move opinions and has done so for thousands of years. It reflects the time, encapsulates it for generations to come.

Besides, at some point the world will calm back down and things will come to some sort of new normal. It would be nice to have a world to return to and a world without any sort of art is not much of a world at all. And that makes this the best time of all to create your respective art.

How is Everyone Faring out There?

As chaos continues over this virus pandemic and quarantines continue, I thought I'd take a minute to address that we all have and will deal with the coronavirus in different ways, and that is okay. Some mean-spirited memes out there are shaming writers in writing groups if they are not being productive during this pandemic. The argument from these memes is that now that we are all shut in, if we are not being productive writers, we were and are never going to be productive writers.

I'm here to say that those memes are hogwash. Bunk. Malarkey. These can be very trying times, and when stress levels are high, writing can be difficult to impossible. It is true that some people claim to be better writers when they are stressed, but not for others. Everyone is different and everyone has to deal with this in their own way. Certainly it can be difficult to write if you are in danger of losing your job, or your house, or are having trouble putting food on the table.

For myself, I've been okay so far. I was even offered to take over another class from an instructor who could not finish the semester. However, this could be short-lived success for me. My summer classes were canceled and no one seems to know what they will do with fall classes. The stimulus money will help me get through for a little while, and hopefully there will be an end to this pandemic or some return to a new normal soon.

Writing wise, I've been a little too busy with teaching to do a lot, but I've managed to get a few words on a page. I'm not too stressed to write yet, and am hoping I don't reach that point. I try to limit news coverage because it can get to you after a while. The good news is I sold a poem to Teach. Write. and it was just released earlier today. It is available here.

So I hope everyone out there is doing well. To leave this depressing post on a happier note, here's a much funnier meme about the coronavirus from Ozzy.

COVID-19 writing and publishing.

It seems like you can't turn on a television, radio, or internet website without hearing something about COVID-19, aka the coronavirus. So in my usual philosophy of being just another monkey slinging poo around, here's my entry into the fray.

Because people are being quarantined with nothing to do, I'm seeing a lot of people in the publishing world offering free or reduced priced books from their lists, which is pretty cool, in my opinion. There are also a lot of books out there about pandemics, including the ones provided in this list.

Because I work in higher education, I have been assigned to work from home until at least early April, at which time they will reassess, and decide if we need to stay home longer. My guess is we may see all online courses until the end of this semester, but we shall see. It does give us writers and artists a chance to sit at home and work on our crafts, but at the same time, I prefer in person classes, and enjoy a little human interaction from time to time. But I understand the concerns. Students live in dorms and spend a lot of time with each other in classrooms, so colleges can be petri dishes for sicknesses and viruses. I therefore adhere to their decision, and understand its necessity.

Anyway, be safe out there and wash your hands. Good luck and stay healthy. Here is a music video to help you get though these times.

I'm Baaack! And Welcome to the Roaring 20s

It's been a while since I made a blog post, and a few things have happened since then. In fact, one could say I have not written a blog since last decade. Hyperbole? A tad, but technically true. We have entered a new decade, so welcome to the new roaring twenties! (Dig the photo above.)

Anyway, I was very busy teaching classes last semester. I began at a new school, which will pay me a bit more, but it's a longer drive, and the classes are full, so it takes up more of my time. The other good news is that I will be teaching a literature class at my new school, if enough students sign up. Fingers crossed.Unfortunately, lately that means less time for writing, but I'm still slugging away, and writing whenever I get the chance. 

I've also found time to do two more public presentations since my last blog. One was at this year's Monster Fest in Chesapeake, VA, where I presented on the history of mummy stories in film and books. The other was a presentation on the six degrees of separation from Smithfield, VA to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein at the Isle of Wight Museum. For those presentations, I put together some Power Point files, and that kind of counts as writing, right?

Last year, I broke my all time record of the most submissions I have ever made in one year. I found a blog recently that claims you should aim for at least 100 submissions per year to get published, and my record is not quite half of that, but I'm going to work toward breaking my current record again this year. It has not quite turned into numerous publications yet, but I am getting published more often than I used to. I also have a few ideas for some nonfiction articles, which I would like to work on this year as well as my usual fiction.

Anyway, I just thought I would bring everyone up to date on what I've been up to. I will try to make a few more frequent blog posts in the future, and I will make them a little bit more useful to you the reader. In the meantime, here is a music video on my return, "Back in the Saddle" by one of my all time favorite bands, Aerosmith.

What I Learned by Having a Mentor

This is author Tim Waggoner. He has been my mentor for the past few months. The mentoring program is over now, but I thought I'd share some of what I learned through the experience.

First let me go over how I got a mentor. I signed up for the Horror Writers Association mentoring program about six months before I was accepted. In fact, I had forgotten I signed up for the mentoring program by the time I was accepted. But it came at an important time. My writing had hit a plateau. I'm finally able to publish one or two short stories or poems a year at some small publications for nominal fees, but I just can't seem to break through to the next level. I'm really hoping the advice he provided will help me be able to publish with more regularity at larger publications. This made me very excited to have acquired a mentor in the first place.

When they told me who my mentor was, I felt like I had some homework to do (and some cyber-stalking). I had heard of him, but needed more information. Turns out, he's published over 40 books, some of which have received some critical acclaim, including the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in Long Fiction and he was a finalist for the Shirley Jackson Award. He's also published several short story collections. He's even published some novels with movie, television, and video game tie-ins, such as "Supernatural," Nightmare on Elm Street, and Resident Evil. I had to confess I felt a little overwhelmed and out of my league (and I probably was).

Tim's website can be found here.

Anyway, the first thing I sent him was my completed novel manuscript, The Sorcerer, and then I sent him a sample short story I had recently written. He provided a lot of criticism and advice to improve. One thing of note, If you are planning to become a writer you have to be prepared for all sorts of criticism. Even if you plan on self-publishing you need to be prepared for bad reviews from readers, and arguing with negative reviews only makes you look even more foolish.

His criticism basically broke down to two main ideas. One was that my characters needed to have stronger reactions to supernatural events. I write mainly horror and other genre fiction, so there should be some pretty strong reactions from my characters. There was some, but not enough, not nearly enough. For whatever reason, I could not see how little there was until he mentioned it. I guess that's the power a mentor can have.

The other was that I needed to start using a technique called "scene and sequel." He provided a link to the technique, but I found another that seemed to suit my needs a little better. This is supposed to be the technique that draws readers in and keeps them reading to the very end of a story. I went ahead and made some notes in one of my notebooks about the technique as well, and try to keep it handy whenever I write fiction.

The last thing I sent him was a PowerPoint of several chapters of Frankspoitation, the the non-fiction book I've been working on about Frankenstein films. He was far less critical of this, and felt it helped him see some of these films in a new light. I'm pretty close to sending a few sample chapters to a former professor of mine who's agreed to help me out on it. I'll blog about this again soon.

But the lessons Tim provided me concerning my fiction writing will not be forgotten. He's even agreed to keep in touch so I can ask him further questions when needed. I've since rewritten the short story I sent him and have written a few new ones, hopefully using many of the techniques he suggested. Remember that your story is always yours, ultimately, but feedback is still excruciatingly important. In fact it's crucial. I'm still looking for a critique group either online or in person. I'll keep at it, and hopefully keep improving, and hopefully I've provided some information here that others can use as well.

Finding Time

They say time ⏰ is a human construct. It doesn't really exist, except that humans have devised a way to measure it. If this is true, it is good news to the writer, because we are at a constant battle with it. Things have been pretty busy for me lately, which is why I haven't had much time to blog, and is why I've decided to talk about what to do when real life is leaving you with little time to write. I had the end of another semester recently, which is always a busy time of the year. Then I had a honey-do list of activities that was ignored for longer than it should have been. Along with all of this, I've had some personal issues that required a lot of my attention. Obviously, this has left me with little time to write or blog. So I thought I would take some time to talk about what I have accomplished in these last (good lord, has it been almost two months already) since my last blog, and how to steal as much time as possible to write during life's little moments like these.

I did manage to finish the introductory chapter to my book on Frankenstein in film, Franksploitation, and I'm writing the first chapter. My goal is to get a few chapters of this completed before the end of the summer. I also managed to outline the rest of the book, and make lists of films I would like to cover in each of those chapters. Just this week I also managed to write a mystery short story. It's the first mystery I've managed to complete, but not the first I've attempted.

I've read some writers who claim a writer has to write every day, regardless of outside influences. I suppose this may be true if you've already reached the level of writing full time as the main source of your income, but for many of us this is just not realistic. However, I will say the shorter the breaks the better, and it is important to steal a few moments whenever possible. I am much better at night, sometimes just before bed. Sometimes I have to quit because I'm just so sleepy I cannot concentrate any more, but if I can get in even a few hundred words, I call it a victory. If you are more of a morning person, you may want to plan on waking up early.

The main thing is to keep going, keep writing, and keep trying. Even if this means taking breaks that last, days or even weeks. Just don't beat yourself up over it. Write as much as you can whenever you can. I've had a few personal setbacks lately, and it can be hard to remain positive. But when this happens, it is equally important to remain focused on the goals and keep striving to improve.⏰⏰

I Received 3 Rejections in One Day (And Why That's a Good Thing)

I hit a new record the other day, three rejection e-mails in one day. Even though all three were rejections, do not feel sorry me. In fact, I'm rather proud that I received this many rejections in such a short period of time, and here's why.

For one thing, it shows I'm being productive. It means I've been writing and submitting my work at a reasonable rate. Naturally, it is always better if at least one of those rejections were an acceptance letter, but in some ways publishing fiction is a numbers game. You have to get your work out there to as many publications as possible in order to become successful.

Aside from that, I also received feedback. Only one of the three rejections was a form letter, and that actually from the smallest publication. The middle sized publication provided me with a small note asking me to keep sending them my work, and the largest of the three publications actually provided me with some very personal and helpful suggestions. This was a professional paying publication that actually commented that my piece was "well written" and offered a suggestion for revision.

But most importantly, at the end of the day, no one really cares about how many rejections one receives, only how many successes they achieve. There are very few exceptions to this, although I will state that one exception is Robert Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance which holds the word's record for the most rejections before becoming a New York Times best seller, after being rejected 121 times.

The point is, writers need to make goals for how many submissions they make in order to subvert the depression of inevitable rejections. All writers receive a great deal of rejection letters in their careers, and this is why it is imperative to aim for a number of submissions, and let the rejections and acceptances come as they may.

That's my advice for this week. Happy writing, and feel free to use this image for inspiration:

Throwing Shit Against the Wall

I am from a blue-collar town in Pennsylvania, Erie to be exact. For whatever reason, everything up there relates back to various excrements and the crotch. We don't say a business went belly up, we say it went "tits-up." If an idea didn't work out, we say it "shit the bed." It's just part of the colorful way we talk.

So when we're trying all sorts of things to be successful, sometimes we'll say we're just "throwing shit against the wall to see what sticks." For some time now, I've been doing just that, and FINALLY, I have a few things that have stuck. Mind you, most of these things I was working on all summer in the hopes of drumming up some business during my slow time of the year as adjunct faculty. But then when things began to come in, it really began to pour.

First off, I spent part of my summer shopping my resume and a few clippings around to a few of the newspapers in the area to try and drum up business, keep busy, and bring in a few extra dollars. Well, they finally got back to me as soon as classes started again. I'll still work in a few articles into my busy schedule. I feel it is important for a writing teacher to continue writing for an audience anyway. And getting paid for it is always better than not.

Then the poem I sold at the beginning of summer is finally published in Teach. Write. Here it is. I seem to have a regular place to publish some of my more literary works since this is the second time they published my work. I have a personal essay I worked on over the summer that still needs some work, but when I do send it out, I will likely send it to them first. I like the publication a lot, and I think the piece is a good fit for them anyway. Their homepage is here.

Third, and most importantly, I just won the Horror Writers Association Rocky Wood Memorial Scholarship for Non-Fiction Writing for a non-fiction book idea I have on the history of Frankenstein in film. This is actually a really big deal. They split the award between myself and another writer, Joseph Maddrey, who seems like a real heavyweight, having published eight books and written and produced over 50 hours of documentary television. It's a tremendous honor just to be named in the same breath with someone with these kinds of accomplishments.

I'm sure I'll post much more about this scholarship and the project in the coming weeks and months. In the meantime, since winning this scholarship, I've received two more rejection letters in my email, but somehow, they don't seem so bad now.

Getting Paid to Write Fiction (and Poetry)

I sold a poem a few weeks ago. I sold it to Teach. Write. which is the publication I sold a short story earlier this year. It is a small literary publication that pays token payments to its contributors. It is a very small payment, but the amount isn't the point. The point is that I found someone willing to pay me to write: fiction and poetry.

Perhaps then today's blog is a good time to talk about getting paid for writing fiction and poetry.

literary magazines, whether they cater to any particular genre or not, fall into four different categories: non-paying markets, token paying markets, semi-pro rates, and professional paying markets. I'll look at each going from lowest to highest paying markets.

The lowest is of course, zero. the non-paying markets will agree to publish your work, but will not pay you. There is some debate about whether markets that pay in copies of the publication should be lumped here or if they should be added to token paying markets, but I believe there is a majority who believe they belong in the non-paying category. This is becoming a moot point because the majority of these markets are now websites or some other online form these days. I do not submit my work to non-paying markets. It's not that the money is the issue, but the prestige. I just need someone to say this piece that I wrote is worth something, even if it is some small amount. For me, there has to be some acknowledgment that what I wrote was "good." (A subjective statement at any level).

Then we get to the token paying markets. These generally pay some small, flat rate for contributors. While many would debate where the defining line is, most would say the lowest rates are around $5 and go as high as $25. However, I think most would say they really end when you get paid by the word, a penny per word or so. This is where I am as a writer currently, although I have submitted to higher paying markets in the past and received rejection slips from them. I do have a few stories out in consideration at higher paying markets at the present time, and I feel they have a better chance this time around, I have not made any of these sales yet.

Then we get to semi-pro rates. According to Duotrope's Glossary of Terms, semi-pro rates go from 1 penny per word to 5 cents per word. If you don't know, Duotrope is an online listing of publications for, mainly, short stories and poetry. They used to be free, but now charge for their service. If curious, Write Good Books uses the same payment scale, so I would say it is likely very accurate.

Finally, there are the professional payment rates, which is essentially anything over 5 cents per word. Some may even pay royalties, but I believe those are anthology books only, and even then it is pretty rare, unless you are a big name in your genre.

One thing to keep in mind is that money should always flow to the writer. Many people have gone broke in the pursuit of becoming an author, and many others have gotten rich by taking their money for very little service in return. Be careful, but that doesn't mean isn't always to your best advantage to spend money to make money. This is another reason I don't submit to non-paying markets, but if you are desperate to get published, and have been turned down numerous times, sure go ahead and submit to them. Also remember that non-paying does not mean they are scammers. A scam will ask you for money for the "privilege" of publishing your work. Good luck and stay safe out there. And remember: