We CAN! promote our books

Outlining #5 – Pacing Needs Planning

Today is December 25.  Wishing you a blessed Christmas from Gail Gaymer Martin at www.gailmartin.com

The screenwriting outline article I have been sharing with you lists a fifth and final major point for creating a dynamic story—pacing. Pacing is not only important for screenwriting. It is vital for plotting a novel. I’ve stressed this before in other articles on writing, but this will be a good review.

5. Pacing needs to flow like a river with all its hidden dangers. Through outlining the author can visual pacing before writing the book. He can see the river's calm and the turbulence and then place these scenes in the most meaningful way to impact the story.

Outline #4 – Developing Subplot Arcs

It's another writing blog day and I'm a day late, but better late than you know what. . .as they say. First I want to wish you a blessed Christmas and joy in the new year, and next I want to continue talking to you about the fourth point on the Outline series I've been sharing with you which is  Subplot Arcs.  At the Gideon conference, I had the opportunity to hear about some interesting concepts that work while outlining plot elements for a dynamic film or book. The fourth point under outlining dealt with developing subplot arcs.

4. Develop subplot arcs affect the main plot. Weave these subplot arcs through the novel rather than dropping them into the story and then resolving them early. A subplot must make an impact on the main story and change it in a meaningful way by adding conflict.

Outlining #3 – Setting that makes a difference

Another Monday, and hello from Gail Gaymer Martin at www.gailmartin.com  I'm to share another topic on techniques in writing.  

I’ve been cover information I learned about screenwriting techniques from the Gideon Media and Film Festival. The third technique to enhance your novel is using setting to make a difference in characterization and mood.

3. Setting should be specific and used to deepen characterization and conflict, not just a place to plop characters. Setting influences the storyline because it influences the lifestyle of the characters, and it affects their needs and wants or their ability to reach these goals.

OUTLINNG THE NOVEL #2 - CREATING CHARACTER ARCS

Hello from novelist Gail Gaymer Martin at www.gailmartin.com

In the Outlining for Screenwriting which I attended at the Gideon Film Festval, the second point deals with the topic of creating characters arcs. This is an important element in writing novels as well.

2. Create individual character arcs. What does the character want? What does the character need? The need factor is often the hidden desire of the character. The difference between the want and the need are sometimes in conflict and an effective technique is to create a situation where to gain what the character needs means to give up what he wants. This is an excellent technique to create conflict.

Outlining the Novel #1: Finding the Theme

Hello from novelist Gail Gaymer Martin at www.gailmartin.com

Recently I attended the Gideon Film Festival and Media Conference at Ridgecrest and learned many techniques for writing screenplays. These same points work for fiction as well, and I believe that many screenwriting techniques can enhance fiction. In the next five weeks, I will share these points with you.

The first point was: Define the overall theme or meaning of your work. What will happen and why does it matter? Why? If your story does not make a difference, if it doesn't matter, then why write it? How can it serve the reader?

Think first of non-fiction novels. Can you imagine reading a book that didn’t have a point. A non-fiction book focuses on a topic or theme, It has a purpose. Fiction is no difference. Your purpose could be to point out the foibles of the human condition. It could be to dramatize how a mother’s love can push her to give her life for their child. A novel can be a story of good verses evil and shows the power of good. It can show the power of love. It can dramatize that we are not alone, that others share our fears, worries, or sinfulness.

When a novelist sets down to write a book, he has an idea. It may begin as people doing things, but if it doesn’t have direction or purpose, it falls flat. Think of Gone With The Wind without the backdrop of the Civil War. How long would anyone remember that book?

As an author of Christian fiction, my purpose is often focused on a Bible verse that sums up a major idea in the book. For example, Proverbs 16: 9 reads: In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps. This book would be about someone who has made a life plan— a career, a goal, success, fame, an accomplishment—but things happen, and the character realizes to reach that goal, he may have to give up something else equally important.

While you might not write Christian fiction, any genre can be summed up in a sentence that points out what the major theme or purpose of your novel seems to be---good wins over evil, love is worth fighting for, a parent will give their life for their child, lies tangle lives, gossip only begets gossip, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and laughter can heal. You can think of many more. These themes work for a romance, a thriller, a western, or any genre.

I know this works because of reader mail. Letter after letter reveals how my novel has made a difference in someone’s life. They tell me what they learned about themselves or about someone else. They tell me how they found an answer to a question or how they realize they need to ask questions about their life. They walk away with something that has made a difference.

When you sit down to write a novel, ask yourself what you want the reader to take away when she finishes. If you can’t answer the question, this is the reason your story is not making an impact on an agent or editor. It might be why a reader enjoys it for the moment and can’t remember the title or what it was about two days later. Write so that you make an impact on your readers with a purpose. Create a theme or a message that you want to leave readers with at the end of your novel, and you will have written a memorable story that makes a difference. 

Writing - It’s a Business

 Welcome to the CAN Marketing blog from Gail Gaymer Martin at www.gailmartin.com

Next week, I'll be traveling, but today I'm ready to share some new thoughts with you.

It’s a fact. Writing is a business. And it’s a business in many ways and with many facets. After reading an article fromRoland Smith’s blog: Get Known before the Book Deal, I began thinking about those ideas and added my own.

 

I think writers make a mistake thinking that Christian publishers will be more kind, lenient, and fair than secular publishers, but again, this is a business. All publishers’ purpose is to make money. So authors need to consider a number of things that revolves around selling their books.

 

Creating an On-line Community

 Another great day and welcome from Gail Gaymer Martin at www.gailmartin.com

Since joining Shoutlife, Facebook and Twitter, I’ve been noticing something. When I see the same people over and over in my comments section or in the message section who are promoting their books or trying to draw people to their blogs and website, I tend to lose respect. I don’t see them using these networks as building friendships but as cheap promotion.

These communities are Social Networks. They’re meant to make social connections first, then occasional promotion can follow. Many people do it right, but those who don’t jump out at me and turn me off.  So, what can you do?

Marketing - What Works?

 

 

 Greetings from Gail Gaymer Martin in sunny Michigan. www.gailmartin.com

 

Authors try so many ways to promote their books. In these marketing blogs, I've presented a multitude of ideas, gimmicks and techniques that are free and some that cost money. Many I’ve used myself. Getting befuddled as to what to try and what will work is the bane of the newly published and even the established novelist.

So what is it? What works?

Recently a discussion came up in a group of multi-published authors about experiences with various attempts at promoting. They discussed the money spent and the speculative return on the dollar. The results were more than interesting.

 

Finding Your Niche

With birds singing outside my door, welcome from Gail Gaymer Martin at www.gailmartin.com

Marketing and promotion can look overwhelming, so overwhelming that authors sometimes let the publisher do all the work. But that’s really not part of the deal with a publisher. Unless you can find help them find an audience for you books, you and they both lose.

In my wanderings to find interesting articles on this topic, I ran into one called, Think Small: Five Ways to Niche Yourself To Success by Tony Eldridge. Though the article is in part pushing his new book, it does offer some things to think about.

Seven Techniques to Draw Readers to Your Website

 Hi from Gail Gaymer Martin at www.gailmartin.com  It's good to be home. I had a wonderful experience at the Gideon Film Festival Conference at Ridgecrest in North Carolina. The setting is the Blue Ridge, and what can be more beautiful? There I had the opportunity to view Christian films, meet actors,screenwriters, and movie producers who listened to novel pitches of the authors attending. Nothing can be better for a novelist.

But we all can't meet producers and pitch our novels, so what can we do to bring people to our websites to learn more about our stories and then run to the stores or on-line bookstores to purchase our novels?