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TAP047, What is a Story Beat? | How to Write Great ScenesListen on AppleStream on AmazonStream on SpotifyListen on GoodPodsSubscribe by EmailHello, Writers!In the previous episode, TAP046, I said that the next show would be on Value Shifts or Turning Points within scenes. As I wrote the outline and script for that episode, I realised that there is a smaller unit of story that I need to discuss that’s integral to understanding value shifts or how a scene turns. So, I considered adding it to that episode but soon discovered that the final version of the episode would be too long.

That’s why, I created this, hopefully, short bonus show, where I discuss what is a story beat. And how you can use them to create better scenes.

Without further ado, let’s get on with the episode.

About the Mini-SeriesYou’ll probably have noticed that I’ve mentioned that this is part of a four-part mini-series on writing great scenes. But, I’m still leaving this open-ended because I want to leave room for a topic that I might have overlooked, so I can give the series as many episodes as it needs.

Why?

Because I want this episode to help you to write better scenes, and in the spirit of that helpfulness, I’ve also included another writing exercise in this show as well.

Coming up in this series, you can expect episodes on:

What is a scene?
The Anatomy of a Scene: Goal, Tension, Conflict, and Stakes
Scene Cliffhangers
What is a story beat (this episode)
Turning points of a scene—also called value shifts

And, just in case you’ve missed it, the first episode in this series answers the age-old question: what is a scene?

If there is a topic related to writing scenes that you’d like me to discuss on the show, use the request form to submit your topic suggestions. Or, submit a question for me to answer on the show or privately by filling out the form.

Thank YouIf you’re new to this podcast, I want to say a huge thank you for stopping by and trying out my show. To those of you who have been faithfully listening, thank you for regularly listening in and supporting me; your support means more to me than you know.

Story Beat BasicsThe term beat comes from screenwriting—this is how I first learned the topic. Back in 2011, I started writing screenplays and I came to understand that the word can be used in two ways. Firstly, there’s the term “beat” that you’ll see in all caps encapsulated by parenthesis. Essentially, this is a pause within dialogue.

A beat has also been used more recently by writers within the screenwriting space in reference to plot points. When I first heard this, I thought, why not use the term plot point?
Why add unnecessary confusion to the mix of information out there? In this episode, I’m not discussing the kind of beat that gets confused with the overarching plot points within the greater story structure.

The third type of beat is a smaller moment within a scene. When an actor prepares for a role it’s these beats within scenes where they will do a lot of preparation for the role. These moments usually contribute to the turning of a scene.

I realise that not everyone will want to go back and listen to the previous episodes, so for the sake of clarity, let me share a few definitions so we’re all on the same page.

What is a Chapter?A chapter is a tool for controlling the pacing of a story by grouping together one or more scenes. Chapters can be as long or as short as they need to be, provided that the chapter has a page-turning effect on the reader. That’s what matters most—the reader’s experience.

If a chapter is a tool, then what is a scene?

So, What is a Scene?A scene is a unit of story that takes place in a specific location and time. If one of these changes, you have a new scene.

If you want to know more about scenes, check out episodes TAP041, TAP045, and TAP046.

Defining a BeatA Beat is the smallest unit of story that comprises of a moment that moves the story forward and compels the reader to consider what might happen next. Each scene in your novel may be comprised of several different beats. In short, it’s an exchange in action or reaction.

Now that we’re all on the same page, you must be wondering how story beats relate to outlining.

How Does This Relate to Outlining?When I used to outline my novels, I outlined every scene because this is the type of outliner that I was; as I brainstormed ideas for the scenes, I wrote out the important beats for the scenes. These beats then allowed me to block the scenes which is another film term and relates to how a director decides the way the actors move around the set during filming. But you don’t need to go to this extreme. This is just a me thing.

Examples of Beats within ScenesAs I considered whether to use examples of beats in popular fiction, I decided to use my own work. This decision was made not because I believe I’m an amazing writer but because it feels wrong to break down a scene from another author’s work without their permission. You get it; it doesn’t feel right.

So, here are the six beats in the opening scene of my amateur sleuth mystery novella, The Locked Room. There are other elements in the scene, like setting description, point of view, character thoughts, and character development, but I just want to focus on the beats for now. Technically, those other elements are beats within a scene, but I want to keep this example simple for now and not go into the scene and sequel structure of a scene.

James is leaning over his steering wheel in awe of the ground of Clovervale Hall, idling in the middle of the driveway.
Further down the page, a grey cat waltzed across the driveway in front of his car and James slams his foot on the break pedal.
The cat jumps up onto the bonnet of his car and sits down. James decides not to wait for the cat to move and gets out of the car and picks it off his bonnet.
Towards the end of the scene, another character overreacts to James and his car idling in the driveway as he is bringing the cat back to his car.
Next James continues to drive towards Clovervale Hall admiring the gardens along the way.
The owner of Clovervale Hall knocks on the passenger window of James’s car after he parks. He stares up at the wall of the English manor house and excitedly points at the cat.

So, if I outlined that scene before writing it, those story beats would appear in the scene description portion of my outline spreadsheet. I guess by now you’re wondering, how does this look on the page in draft form? Let’s take a look at the third beat in my opening scene.

A Scene Beat Fleshed OutThe fourth beat in my opening scene is short, and it’s okay for your beats to be of varying sizes. Let me read this story beat to you:

Loud honks from the car behind caused James to jump in his seat. He glanced up into the rearview mirror, and a tall man with rimless spectacles and dark-brown skin came into view. Gesturing at James with the classic one-finger salute, the man honked his horn again then pulled his smartphone out of the inside pocket of his tweed jacket—the uniform of the university professor. The man looked like he was about to blow a valve. He was going to struggle with the technology-free retreat-style bed-and-breakfast. Does he even know?

Sentence-by-Sentence BreakdownNow, let me break down the elements that exist within this beat sentence by sentence. Firstly, I want to quickly define the term action for you.

Action is the physical movement of the characters that moves the story forward.

It’s not just about fights, explosions or car chases—that’s the action genre. You get it; I’m talking about the literary definition of action.

[ACTION] Loud honks from the car behind caused James to jump in his seat.
[ACTION] He glanced up into the rearview mirror,
[DESCRIPTION] and a tall man with rimless spectacles and dark-brown skin came into view.
[DESCRIPTION] Gesturing at James with the classic one-finger salute, the man honked his horn again then pulled his smartphone out of the inside pocket of his tweed jacket
[POINT OF VIEW]—the uniform of the university professor.
[POINT OF VIEW] The man looked like he was about to blow a valve.
[POINT OF VIEW] He was going to struggle with the technology-free retreat-style bed-and-breakfast.
[THOUGHT] Does he even know? Another Scene Beat Fleshed OutThe second beat in my opening scene is essentially an obstacle thrown in James’s path preventing him from achieving his goal. It’s not that much longer than the fourth beat, but it’s around one hundred and nineteen words in length. And it goes something like this:

Lifting his foot off the accelerator, James inched his car along the drive. The gravel crunched underneath the tyres as he soaked in his new surroundings. Out of nowhere, a fluffy grey English Shorthair cat sauntered across the beige stones as if it had not a care in the world. James slammed his foot on the brake pedal as he watched the feline display a rebellious distaste for order and the rules. The cat was clearly French and out of place in a world where the queue was everything. Pausing in the middle of the driveway, the cat glanced up at him with an innocent expression in its bright yellow eyes. With his heart pounding, James shook his head.

Sentence-by-Sentence BreakdownNow, let me break down the elements within this beat sentence by sentence, just as I did in the previous example.

[ACTION] Lifting his foot off the accelerator, James inched his car along the drive.
[DESCRIPTION] The gravel crunched underneath the tyres
[ACTION] as he soaked in his new surroundings.
[DESCRIPTION] Out of nowhere, a fluffy grey English Shorthair cat sauntered across the beige stones
[POINT OF VIEW] as if it had not a care in the world.
[ACTION] James slammed his foot on the brake pedal
[POINT OF VIEW] as he watched the feline display a rebellious distaste for order and the rules.
[POINT OF VIEW] The cat was clearly French and out of place in a world where the queue was everything.
[DESCRIPTION] Pausing in the middle of the driveway, the cat glanced up at him with an innocent expression in its bright yellow eyes.
[ACTION] With his heart pounding, James shook his head. Further ReadingIn the process of double-checking my own understanding of the story beat and to avoid spreading misinformation, here are a few sources, mostly books, that I turned to that were most useful.
Story by Robert McKee*, specifically pages thirty-seven and thirty-eight. Be warned, it’s a huge book with a small typeface.
Plot and Structure: Techniques and Exercises for Crafting a Plot that Grips Readers from Start to Finish by James Scott Bell*, specifically chapter seven, which discusses scenes and gives some amazing breakdowns, inspired me to do the same in this episode.
Story Grid by Shawn Coyne*, this book is a terrific resource, but it’s worth pointing out that I find this technique a little overwhelming, but you may not. I think it might be all the moving parts that overwhelm me. Writing Exercise:Pull out your favourite novel and choose five scenes that pulled you in the most. Just a side note: you can also use the book you’re currently reading if you love it.
Take note of the beats in each of these scenes.
Summarise the beats
Then dissect all of the beats like I did to the opening scene of The Locked Room.

Then ask yourself the following questions:

Do you see a pattern emerging?
Did any of the elements within the beats surprise you?
How can you apply what you’ve learned in your next novel or current work in progress? Concluding ThoughtsI hope this episode gave you a basic understanding of what is a story beat and how you can use them to write better scenes. As always, I have a few important questions for you.
Do you focus on story beats as you write scenes?
What did you learn in this episode that you plan on applying in your next novel or in your current work in progress?

Share your thoughts in the comments section under the blog post, under the video, or over in the Am Writing Fiction Facebook Group. If you like, you can submit your writing exercise to me in the Am Writing Fiction Facebook Group.In the next episode of the podcast, I will delve deeper into the turning points of a scene and how they can help you write scenes that move the story forward.

Thank you for listening, and happy reading and writing, everybody.

With love,

Amelia xx DISCLAIMER: This blog post contains affiliate links (marked with an ), which means if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a small commission. The commission helps support the blog and allows us to continue to make content like this. Thank you for your support. 🙂

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Plot & Structure: Techniques and Exercises for Crafting a Plot That Grips Readers from Start to Finish

Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting

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TAP046, End Your Scenes with Cliffhangers | How to Write Great ScenesListen on AppleStream on AmazonStream on SpotifyListen on GoodPodsSubscribe by EmailHello, Writers!You’ve probably read the title of this episode and wondered, what do cliffhangers have to do with outlining?

I’m so glad you asked. Let me explain.

If you’re the kind of writer who needs to outline every scene, you need to be aware of the types of cliffhangers and how to effectively use them to create a page-turning effect and not turn readers away. In fact, there is more than one type of cliffhanger—there are four.

So, in this episode, I’ll unpack the four types of cliffhangers in fiction so that you can avoid the common pitfalls and end your scenes with cliffhangers in a way that keeps the reader turning the page.

Without further ado, let’s get into the episode.

Why?

Because I want this episode to help you to write better scenes. And in the spirit of that helpfulness, I’ve also included another writing exercise in this show as well.

Coming up in this series, you can expect episodes on:

What is a scene?
The Anatomy of a Scene: Goal, Tension, Conflict, and Stakes
Scene Cliffhangers (this episode)
Turning points of a scene—also called value shifts

And, just in case you’ve missed it, the first episode in this series answers the age-old question: what is a scene?

About The Three-Act-Structure eBookSlowly, over the last few months, I’ve been working on creating a three-act-structured ebook based on season one of the podcast. It’s taking a while because I’m rewriting the episodes so they flow and sound more like a nonfiction novel than a collection of blog posts. And, as I’ve been going through this book, I’ve come to realise that I didn’t do an episode on Romance structure because while it follows the three-act format, there are important things that you need to know when writing in this genre.

Do you want me to create an episode on romance structure for the podcast?

Let me know by commenting under the YouTube video or in the comments section below this blog post. Or, if you’re listening on Spotify, you can submit your answer by filling out the Q&A at the end of this episode.

A Word About Using CliffhangersBefore we start, I want to preface this topic of cliffhangers by pointing out that each scene needs to have a satisfying arc; something needs to be resolved at the end of the scene, and this doesn’t have to be major. In simpler terms, each scene needs to have its own encapsulated story with a beginning, middle, and end. This ending needs to serve as a transition to the next scene. All Your scenes need to feel like they belong to each other not as separate entities.

When I write mysteries, I don’t necessarily resolve each clue or red herring as they appear. Instead, I leave things open-ended to be resolved at a later time. Also, I make sure that the progression from scene to scene and the character’s actions are logical. But the scene still has its own encapsulated story or arc. This isn’t something that I’ve always gotten right.

In my earlier works, this was not something I was great at because the penny hadn’t dropped for me at that time. If you don’t create and close a satisfying arc within a scene, then the cliffhanger becomes a cheap trick and is an annoying thing that the writer has done in the middle of a great moment. And it goes without saying you need to avoid the latter. Also, a good cliffhanger, if used correctly, shouldn’t have a quick resolution.

Example:Imagine a person waking up at the start of a scene or novel, and they have a tonne of things on their mind. When the phone rings, somewhere in their house, they get out of bed and walk through their house towards the phone. As they reach the phone, before they answer it, they become aware that they’re not alone, even though they have lived alone for some time.

That can be a cliffhanger, and it’s not a cheap trick, even though it will most likely be resolved in the next scene. The scene has an encapsulated story arc and adds suspense because the reader needs to turn the page to figure out the character’s fate.

The Four Types of CliffhangersThis goes without saying, but none of this isn’t an original idea because you can easily point these moments out in fiction. Now that I’ve pointed out the obvious let us get back to the topic at hand—cliffhangers.

Peril CutThe first cliffhanger you could use in your story is the classic peril cut. Imagine the main character dangling on the edge of a cliff and ending the scene or chapter at that point. But don’t resolve the fallout from the peril immediately. Switch to another character, time, or setting, then circle back.

Eventually, when you circle back to the situation with the intention of resolving things, make it worse. Obviously, this peril-cut style of cliffhanger is only going to work for certain genres.

I can’t think of how you would use this kind of cliffhanger in a romance unless it’s a romantic suspense or romantic thriller. On second thoughts, you could use it in the meet-cute scene, and the love interest rescues the protagonist. But you don’t have to dangle your character off a cliff.

In a thriller, mystery, or suspense novel, your character might be checking out a location as part of an investigation and get locked in on a high floor in a building that catches fire. Sure, I’ve ripped that idea straight from Die Hard, but it’s a great example. You get it—any type of danger that you can think of will work here.

BlackoutThis is another type of cliffhanger that’s more common in the mystery, thriller, and suspense genre. In all honesty, I can’t think of a way that you would use this in a romance without taking the story out of its genre. But I could be wrong.

Essentially, the character is hit in the black of the head unexpectedly from behind, and the scene comes to a close at that point. The reader is left to turn the page to discover the fate of the main character. If you use this type of cliffhanger, it needs to be done sparingly and at the right time in the story. Using this tool too early in a story many not have the effect you desire, the reader needs to be invested in the characters journey in order for this to work and create that page turning effect.

Actually, I’ve just realised I was very wrong about the romance or women’s fiction genre. Back when I was in my late twenties, I went on a Sophie Kinsella women’s fiction kick. I kid you not; I was up until three a.m. reading one of her books; it was that good. For some reason, I gave that book away when I moved from Brisbane to Melbourne, but in the last two years, I repurchased the book, hoping to reread it. It’s called “Remember Me?,” just give me a moment to pull it off the shelf and flip through the novel and check.

An Example of a Blackout Cliffhanger from Women’s FictionAt the end of the prologue, the main character, Lexi, rushes for a taxi, falls over and knocks herself out. Chapter one starts off with her waking up, but her eyes aren’t open yet, you get a sense of her thoughts, she’s having flashback and she’s trying to remember the previous night. Eventually, she realises that the sheets on the bed don’t feel like hers, and she opens her eyes to discover she’s in the hospital. And things unravel from that point onwards.

My Thoughts About Remember MeIf you read this for yourself, you’ll notice that the cliffhanger is not resolved in the first line of the next chapter, but takes several pages for the character to open her eyes and discover her location. And, I think this is the key with a great cliffhanger, it doesn’t resolve itself quickly.

The RevealA reveal is exactly what you think it is. In a plot reveal cliffhanger, the reader learns something that has a huge impact on the story and essentially changes everything.

If the main character is yet to discover it and is about to stumble upon this course-altering reveal, this would be an ideal time to end a scene and then start the next chapter where the character left off. Or, if the reader and protagonist are discovering this plot reveal together, then you could choose to end the scene at that point and start the next scene or chapter off with the main character’s reaction to these events.

Obviously, this plot reveal cliffhanger is better used later on in a story after the reader has made a connection with the protagonist and is invested in the story. If used too early, it may not have a huge impact.

But the plot reveal isn’t the only type of cliffhanger reveal that you can use in your novel to create that page-turning effect.

An Example from Pride and Prejudice by Jane AustenIn chapter thirty-four of Pride and Prejudice, Mr. Darcy asks Elizabeth to marry him and then explains how his affection outgrew his concerns about Elizabeth and her family’s inferiority. Elizabeth is angry and refuses his offer of marriage, then proceeds to tear him a new one, citing all of his indiscretions.

Character RevealA character reveal is just as effective as a plot reveal. So, what is a character reveal? It’s that moment in a novel when you reach the end of a scene, and the story divulges something significant about a character. The character doesn’t have to be the protagonist, but it does have to be a major player in the story.

In a murder mystery, the reader and the character learn something significant about a suspect that changes the story. Similarly, in a romance novel, the reader and the character learn something important about the romantic interest, and the reader is forced to turn the page to discover what happens next.

An Example from Pride and Prejudice by Jane AustenIn chapter thirty-five of Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth takes a walk and then returns to find Mr. Darcy waiting for her. He hands her a letter in which he explains his conduct toward Jane and Mr. Wickham. The reader finally gets to see the world through Darcy’s eyes and his true intentions.

Reveal to the ReaderI’ve alluded to a reveal-to-the-reader cliffhanger throughout this portion of the show, so it would be remiss of me not to discuss it. In this type of cliffhanger, the reader discovers something integral while leaving the characters in the dark, creating a sense of dramatic irony. And what makes the reader turn the page is the need to know when the characters discover this new information before it’s too late.

Yes, that’s a little dramatic, but I can’t help it—I write murder mysteries.

In a romance, the reader might learn something about one of the romantic interests and is left to turn the page to find out whether the protagonist will choose the right partner. Or, in a fantasy, the reader might learn that one of the party of characters is a double-agent and is in lead with that big bad character or is being tempted by them. And once again, the reader turns the page and longs to figure out whether this character’s darkness is discovered before it’s too late.

For the sake of not revealing spoilers, I’m not going to share any examples from fiction because I can’t figure out how to do this without ruining someone’s reading experience.

EmotionalThis final cliffhanger requires a bit of set-up. In order for an emotional cliffhanger to work well, you need to ground the reader solidly inside the head of the viewpoint character. If you fail to achieve this, the emotion will come across as over the top or contrived.

Naturally, the emotion can come from the main character, another character, or even the reader. It goes without saying that the character needs to be the point of view character through which you filter the scene; otherwise, you’re creating unnecessary distance between the character experiencing the emotion and the reader.

Before you reach the emotional moment, you need to set up something unexpected to occur at the start of the scene or chapter. At the end of the scene, the point-of-view character has an emotional response to this event. It goes without saying that the reader needs to feel connected to the character before you use this emotional cliffhanger. What creates this page-turning effect is the reader’s connection with the character, and the reader needs to discover what the character is going to do after this emotional moment.

An Example from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J K RowlingIn chapter twenty-seven of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Harry puts on his invisibility cloak, and then he and Dumbledore rush to the Astronomy Tower on brooms. Dumbledore asks Harry to fetch Snape to cure him, but before Harry gets a chance to leave, footsteps are heard climbing the stairs. Before the door opens, Dumbledore immobilises Harry, who is still under the invisibility cloak, with a spell. Harry is physically frozen under the cloak and forced to watch the conversation with Draco and, ultimately, Dumbledore’s death at Snape’s hand.

Without the relationship between Harry and Dumbledore, which was built up throughout the book and the previous novels in the series, this scene wouldn’t have the emotional impact that it has as you read it.

Writing Exercise:Pull out your top five favourite books and find the cliffhanger moments in those stories.

So, why five?

It’s important that for this exercise, you have a few examples of cliffhangers and dissect how they made you feel as a reader and what drove you to keep reading. As you come across these moments in these five books, ask yourself the following questions:

What type of cliffhanger was in the scene or chapter?
How did this make you feel as a reader?
What made you keep turning the page?

Write these thoughts down in a journal.

Do you see a pattern?
And, if so, what is that pattern?

Next, brainstorm ways that you can create a similar effect in your current or next book.

Concluding ThoughtsIn a nutshell the key to creating a cliffhanger that keeps the reader turning the page and not closing the book forever is, you need to give the reader a valid reason to turn the page. That’s how you avoid the cheap gimmickry that often associated with cliffhangers. I hope this episode gave you a basic understanding of the four types of cliffhangers in fiction and how to write them. As always, I have a few important questions for you.

Did you do the writing exercise?
Would you like me to continue setting writing exercises like this?

I want to hear from you. Share your process or struggles with writing scenes in the comments section below or over in the Am Writing Fiction Facebook Group. If you like, you can submit your writing exercise to me in the Am Writing Fiction Facebook Group.

In the next episode of the podcast, I will delve deeper into the turning points of a scene and how they can help you write scenes that move the story forward.

Thank you for listening, and happy reading and writing, everybody.

Your coach,

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BTS057, A Year in Review and Self Publishing Products I Loved in 2023Listen on AppleStream on AmazonStream on SpotifyListen on GoodPodsSubscribe by EmailHello, Writers!I’m back again.

And yes, it’s been sixteen weeks since I released an episode of the podcast. Between now and November, I took December and January off because it was a busy time of year and I tend to travel during these periods. When I got back from vacation at the end of January, I had caught the flu from a family function.

Guess who didn’t get the flu vaccine?

But I was out of action for three weeks, and I wanted to wait until I got my voice back before I continued podcasting.

In this episode, I look back on 2023 and discuss the highs and lows. On top of this, I share the products and courses that I recommend and am still using in my writing and self-publishing business.

Without further ado, let’s get into the episode.

About the EpisodeJust to let you know, this episode was recorded on Thursday, the 14th of March, so this show is primarily me looking back at 2023 and the first few months of 2024.

A Writing Update—The Reader’s Digest VersionFor me, 2023 was riddled with a health issue that will not end in surgery, and I have mixed feelings about this. I’ll just have to keep going and push on despite these issues. In saying that, I spent twelve percent more hours writing in 2023 than the previous year. These extra hours resulted in me writing an extra 25,000 words in 2023. But I only published one novella-length story, The Locked Room, in April. And I started JL Book Three and a short cozy mystery.

Once again, I’m thankful for my detailed spreadsheet, which enabled me to keep track of my writing progress in both hours and word count. It helped me put 2023 in perspective. Without these statistics, I would have thought that I achieved less in 2023 than in 2022 because I only published one book, whereas in 2022, I published two.

New Fears UnlockedAfter the positive reviews I received from Duplicity, I now realise that I got stage fright and overthought everything. In addition, I decided to embrace Writing Into the Dark as my method of writing instead of heavily outlining because I had such a positive experience Writing The Locked Room in the Dark. However, due to my stage fright, I overthought everything and struggled to write book three. While I continued to overthink book three, I started writing a short cozy mystery. It was supposed to be a short story but is now well into novelette territory and heading into novella length.

What I’m Working On In 2024?At the start of 2024, I decided it was time to write a new reader magnet, so I’ve placed those two projects on hold and am currently writing that story, which is also no longer a novelette. I didn’t want to finish writing book three without a new reader magnet to point readers to at the end of the story.

Also, the quality of my writing has improved since I wrote The Lawn, and I want to show my readers just that. In saying that, the Lawn was never supposed to be a reader magnet but an end-of-book reward for readers of Suspicion because it tells the story of an event that is referenced in that story. Over time, I started incorrectly using it as a reader magnet, and it needs to stop because it’s not a proper murder mystery. In addition, I’m considering taking this book off sale on Amazon and all the other stores.

Struggling to Embrace the UnknownAs I’m pausing the writing of my new reader magnet to write the script for this episode, I’m starting to panic about the placement of the body in the murder mystery. As I approached the 13,000 word mark, the victim has been murdered and the body is about to be discovered, all the reader has to do is turn the page.

In saying that, I’m writing one of those stories where you need to meet the suspects and the victim before the crime is committed so the reader is not relying on secondhand information to figure out the whodunnit. Plus, it’s a short read. I’m laying clues beforehand that hint that something is about to go wrong any minute. But I won’t know whether the story works until the book is finished; that’s the thing with the Writing into the Dark process: there are many unknowns.

So, essentially, I could be panicking about nothing, which is a trend for me of late and is something I really need to stop because it’s not serving me. On a side note, I finally came up with a title for the story—The Wedding Party.

Enlisting Paid Beta ReadersAs of the beginning of March, the story had reached 22,343 words. I decided to enlist the help of beta readers before I finished the story because I was certain that parts of my novella were boring or dragging the story down because of the placement of the body. And I wanted to see how readers were reacting to the story so far. So, I hired a beta reader on Fiverr, thinking I would get the reader’s first impressions as inline comments.

Not What I ExpectedBut what I got was a one-page report with a few short paragraphs. Sure, I only paid less than twenty-four pounds, but I didn’t get the inline comments I wanted. After questioning the gap between what was promised in the gig and what I got, the manuscript with the inline comments magically appeared. In my manuscript, I got one comment per scene, and the comments weren’t helpful.

Generally, mystery readers will look for clues and try to figure out the whodunnit before the sleuth—that’s the mystery reader. This beta reader didn’t behave this way, I go the odd comment that tried to steer the story out of genre. In saying that, the reader did say that “the pacing was off from chapters six and eight.” But the comment didn’t make much sense to me because after saying the pacing was off, then immediately fixated on the chapter timestamps, then the actual story pacing, and didn’t point out where it was dragging.

So, I wasted seven days waiting for feedback that wasn’t useful. And I don’t want to continue the conversation; I just wanted to end the experience and move on.

A Second ReaderWhen I hire beta readers I don’t like to point out the issues that I think exist in the story because I’ve realised that sometimes these “issues” aren’t issues but me looking at my manuscript through my own insecurities. So, I got in touch with my favourite beta reader and asked him if he had time in his schedule to read my story. And for another thirty-nine pounds, I got a seven-page report and a tonne of in-line comments. This time I removed the chapter timestamps, and he didn’t have the same pacing issue. Instead, he had pointers about James’s reaction to certain moments and other points to strengthen characters.

I wonder whether I should hire another reader to see if someone else has an issue with the pacing. However, I don’t like to hire too many readers because, at one stage, I’ll start writing by committee, and if I do that, no one will be happy because it’s not possible to please everyone. I know that when I have too many opinions on my work, it will be difficult to drown them out so I can be creative and continue writing.

The Impulse Buy Marketing StrategyIf you’re unfamiliar with my impulse buy marketing strategy, please check out episode BTS055. For the sake of placing everyone on the same page, my first book, Suspicion, was set to free on all ebook stores, and Duplicity, which is book two, was set to ninety-nine cents. I did this in an attempt to encourage readers who downloaded book one to buy book two. During the three-month experiment, I noticed that two percent of readers who downloaded book one brought book two.

So, what happened after that three-month experiment?

Two percent of readers who downloaded book one went on to buy book two at ninety-nine cents, and this percentage continued throughout the year and didn’t change, even as downloads dropped.

A New StrategyNow that I’ve had a chance to reflect on this experience there’s something I need to share with you. All I did in this experiment was train readers to buy my books at no or low cost. I wasn’t finding an audience; instead, I was focused on the vanity metric of volume. But in a nutshell, I don’t want to write for the free market; it’s not an effective marketing strategy, and I want to focus on finding the right audience for my books and not getting my book in front of as many people as possible.

So, at the end of 2023, I switched back to full price on all my books to start a new experiment in 2024. In February 2024, I removed the leave a review page at the back of all my ebooks because the stores do this anyway.

Products that I’ve used and Loved in 2023Below is a list of products that I used, loved, and will use again in 2024. The list has been divided into the various parts of my authorpreneur business, and all affiliate links have been marked with an asterisk.

Le Villain Book Covers: Photoshop, Illustrator + InDesign * Canva * Deposit Stock Photos * iStock * Vector Stock * My Etsy Store * Stripe * WooCommerce * Product Bundles – A Plugin for WooCommerce (Paid) * Advanced Woo Labels (Free) * Sold Out Badge for WooCommerce (Free) * WordPress * The Divi Theme * * Divi Testimonial Extended (Paid) * Divi-Modules – Table Maker (Paid) * Author Box for Divi (Free Plugin for WordPress + Divi) * Gravity Forms * Siteground *

The Authorpreneur Podcast: BuzzSprout * Ecamm Live * Final Cut Pro * Adobe Audition * Blue Yeti Microphone * * Logitech Compass Boom Arm for Blue Yeti Microphones *

Self-Publishing: BookFunnel * Vellum * Draft2Digital * NaturalReaders (Premium) * Scrivener * Grammarly Premium * ProWriting Aid * AutoCrit * Authors ai (Marlow) * * BookSprout * Fiverr

Author Business/Admin: Google Workspaces * MailerLite * Evernote * Todoist * Microsoft Office Courses that I’ve used and Loved in 2023Below is a list of courses that I used and loved. All of these courses were purchased with my own money. I have completed most of them and thought they were valuable.

WMG Publishing Lectures and Workshops:* Writing into the Dark * Depth in Writing * Heinlein’s Rules Lecture

Other Courses:* Jumpstart Facebook Ads For Authors by Matthew J Holmes Concluding ThoughtsSo, that’s all I can discuss in terms of what I achieved and the products I loved in 2023. Also, I’m thinking of setting up a Discord chat for my podcast’s listeners, so let me know in the comments section below if that’s something you’re interested in.If you have any questions or tips on book marketing that you would love to share with me, please share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Thank you for listening, and happy reading and writing, everybody.

With love,

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TAP045, The Anatomy of a Scene: Goal, Tension, Conflict and Stakes | How to Write Great ScenesListen on AppleStream on AmazonStream on SpotifyListen on GoodPodsSubscribe by EmailHello, Writers!So, how do you write a great scene?

But not just a great scene but a scene that keeps a reader engaged and turning the pages, no matter what genre you’re writing. The answer is in the details. In order to write great scenes, you need to pay attention to the anatomy of the scene.

So, what do I mean by anatomy?

I’m referring to the elements of a scene, which include the goal, tension, conflict and stakes of a scene. In this episode, I’m going to break down these individual elements and share tips on how you can incorporate them into your writing.

Without further ado, let’s get into the episode.

Why?

Because I want this episode to help you to write better scenes. And in the spirit of that helpfulness, I’ve also included another writing exercise in this show as well.

Coming up in this series, you can expect episodes on:

What is a scene?
Scene Cliffhangers
Turning points of a scene—also called value shifts

And, just in case you’ve missed it, the first episode in this series answers the age-old question: what is a scene?

Also, I want to say a huge thank you to Jim Ward for buying me a coffee after reading my blog post on how to get interviewed on podcasts.

The Anatomy of a SceneWhen writing great scenes, there are four things you need to consider: Goal, Tension, Conflict, and Stakes.

GoalIn terms of a scene goal, there are two ways that you can look at this. The first and most obvious relates to character motivation. What does the character want? The second way that you can approach a scene goal relates to the purpose of a scene. But, in this episode, I want to focus on purpose, and then in another show, I’ll focus on the character goal, but that will be coming later in the season or next season.

So, what is the purpose of the scene?Why does this scene exist? Not every scene needs to be about moving the plot forward. Sometimes, it can be important to show a character’s reaction to events that have taken place. And that can be the goal or purpose of the scene. Also, the purpose of a scene would purely be to set up an event or conflict that will take place further on in the story.

However, every scene must have a purpose or something to achieve and not be present in your story purely because you enjoyed writing it or getting to know a character; it has to serve the story in some way and exist for a reason. And if it doesn’t, you need to remove it from your story.

Notice how I didn’t say delete?

Move it to a deleted scenes folder because you may end up using parts of it at a later stage or might need to refer back to it. You never know.

TensionBefore I dive into the tips on creating tension in a scene, it’s essential to highlight the difference between conflict and tension. Conflict is two opposing forces pitted against each other, whereas tension is the threat of something terrible happening. Often, when writers talk about tension, they talk about emotion, fear, or physical danger experienced by the protagonist. But there’s more to tension than what you read on the page. What is often overlooked is the tension the reader experiences while reading a story. Tension keeps the reader engaged and doesn’t give them an excuse to look away from the story.

So, how do you create tension for the reader?

Tension for the ReaderOne way to create tension for the reader is to build sympathy and empathy for the main character. Figure out what your character wants, make it specific to their life, and keep them from this goal. This experience is common for a lot of us mere mortals; we’ve all wanted something in life and struggled to get it—it’s a common human experience, and the struggle can unite us.

Tension also lies in that state of imbalance and uncertainty before answers and solutions arrive, which is why I like to pile on the obstacles, suspects, and clues and not provide the answers to the questions that arise from these things until the last possible moment. Usually, I reach a point in the story where, in order to open a new thread, I need to close another, but by the beginning of the third act, the majority of these threads are wrapped up, and two possibilities remain. But the same can be true of giving your readers more information than your protagonist. Or, tease and drop hints about potential dangers and get the reader worrying about what might happen.

Tension at the Sentence LevelFrom a technical standpoint, shorter sentences and words can help create tension on the page. In dialogue, tension can be made when a character isn’t completely honest, leaving the reader to wonder whether the protagonist will catch them in a lie at another point in the story. Or, dialogue can be overtly confrontational, depending upon the character and their personality. And now for tension in the plot.

Tension in PlotThe easiest way to discuss adding tension to the events of your story is to share examples of what I’m referring to—so, here are a few examples of how to create tension in the plot of your story:

A character eavesdropping on your main character’s murder investigation, or your main character eavesdropping on a conversation, then hearing footsteps approach and having nowhere to hide.
Two characters want the same thing for different reasons, but only one of them can win.
The main character’s internal conflict is at odds with something they feel compelled to do.
Hint at a shared history between two characters but leaving it unsaid.
Or hint at an upcoming wrench about to be tossed into your character’s well-laid plans.
Set up further complications yet to be added between your character and their goal.
End the scene with a cliffhanger hinting at a possible danger lurking in the shadows and start a new chapter. ConflictEvery form of conflict within a story can be boiled down into five categories. Without conflict, the story would simply be about everything going right for a character, and that’s a boring read. Before we discuss these five types of conflict very briefly, It’s important to point out that the conflict is something that prevents the character from achieving their goal. It should be present throughout the story, but at a minimum, it’s present in the try/fail cycles plot point in Three-Act-Structure.

Direct OppositionThe first type of conflict is Direct Opposition, which is also referred to as Man versus Man. This is usually a character’s actions, weather, or event, getting in the way, usually physically, from the character achieving their goal, which is why Direct Opposition is a better term.

For instance, in a mystery, the character might need to call the police after discovering a crime, but maybe they’re snowed in, or the roads are flooded, another character has cut the phone lines, and there’s no internet and mobile phone reception. Sure, that’s layered conflict, but all of these things are directly opposing the character. But it could also be as simple as another character telling a lie. As a result, the protagonist is on a wild goose chase down a rabbit hole, thus pushing the character’s goal further out of reach.

Inner OppositionThis type of conflict focuses on that internal struggle we all have and is sometimes referred to as Man versus Self. In its simplest form, in a mystery, a character might change their mind about the whodunnit and take the investigation in a new direction. It can also be that internal struggle you have when you’re forced to work with someone you don’t like, but you have to be polite and suck it up. Maybe their own personal struggles are getting in the way of achieving their goals, like Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and other things of this nature, or they need to face their fear or inner demons that are holding them back.

Circumstantial DifficultiesNow, Circumstantial Difficulties is a simple but effective form of conflict within a story. Perhaps they need to fly to a destination last minute, but there are no flights available, or they’re on the run with nothing but the clothes on their back and need a phone but have no money to buy one. So, this one is about a physical lack getting in the way of the character achieving their goal.

Active ConflictThe fourth type of conflict is usually what most people consider when the word conflict comes to mind. It’s that physical fight between the villain and the hero. Or a verbal confrontation between the protagonist and another character with an opposing goal. Usually, you see this type of conflict in the Hero at the Mercy of the Villain plot point. The tension in the story builds to this moment where the two characters face off, but you can also use this at other points in the story, especially if you’re writing Fantasy, Science Fiction, or an Action Thriller.

Passive ConflictThis last type of conflict is something that I didn’t consider conflict as a new writer, but it’s nonetheless effective. Passive conflict occurs when a character is being kept in the dark or ignored by other characters. In Duplicity, this was a type of conflict that was brewing in the background and came out of nowhere for James, but the reader slowly became aware of this as the story progressed—the clues were all present for the reader to discover. Over the years, my understanding of conflict has evolved as I’ve written more books. And that’s normal.

In episodes TAP009 and TAP010, I discuss the five types of conflict and how to add more conflict to a story. So, if you want a deeper dive and a different perspective on conflict, then check out those episodes.

StakesMuch like conflict, I used to look at scene stakes a certain way, but this soon changed as I grew as a writer. I used to solely look at stakes with respect to what the character has to win or lose in a scene. But, stakes don’t always have to be about life and death being on the line. Scene stakes are related to the character’s goal and compel a character to act—this is essential to move the story forward.

So, there are three types of stakes in a scene.

ExternalThe first type of stakes focuses on the larger story world. In a locked room mystery, the amateur sleuth might focus on a false suspect due to the evidence they discover at the time, leaving the actual murder suspect free to roam around the world unhindered. This leaves the possibilities wide open for the killer to strike again if needed. While the story world is small, the stakes are high but are also unrealised.

InternalAs you’d expect, internal stakes focus on emotion, thoughts, and perception. In a murder mystery, the sleuth might receive a threat after another character is murdered. This creates a sense of fear and compels the protagonist to solve a crime before they are next in spite of whether they are actually in any real danger; it’s about the perception of danger.

PersonalThe final type of scene stakes is Personal. This focuses on why an action needs to be performed or why a goal needs to be achieved. On the flip side, it can also relate to what they are personally putting at risk in a scene. For instance, a character turns up to a reunion dinner with friends, and during the night, one of them is murdered. On a personal level, the character is putting friendships at risk by pointing the finger or questioning them; if the protagonist pushes too far, they may lose friendships out of this. But they are compelled to do so despite this risk because they want justice for their friend and this family. In terms of raising the stakes as the story progresses, layering the stakes in a scene is a good way to achieve this.

Writing Exercise:Before you write the next scene in your current work in progress, outline the scene goal, moments of tension for the reader, the conflict, and stakes.

And if you’re yet to write your first book or are on a break between novels, then consider your favourite scene in a novel you’ve recently read. Write out the scene goal, moments of tension for the reader, the conflict, and stakes, then consider how you can achieve a similar result in your next book.

Concluding ThoughtsI hope this episode gives you a basic understanding of the elements of a scene and how to write them. As always, I have a few important questions for you.

Did you do the writing exercise?
Would you like me to continue setting writing exercises like this?

In the next episode of the podcast, I will delve deeper into the scene cliffhangers.

Thank you for listening, and happy reading and writing, everybody.

With love,

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Should You Use AI Generated Images for Book Covers?Disclaimer: This blog post was originally created for Le Villain Books covers on the 11th of August 2023, and has been cross-posted with permission. please do not reproduce this content without permission from the author.Hello, Writers!Since the creation of the various artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT, MidJourney, and the like, people have responded in two ways. The first is “I’ll never use this”, and the second is the excited response by those first adopters who rush into using everything new with a natural curiosity.

Should you use AI-generated images for book covers?

Before you embrace the newfound world of AI-generated images and create your first or next book covers, there is an important thing you need to consider.

And that is copyright.

It’s a very important topic that you need to consider. So, let’s talk about it.

Disclaimer: I am not a Lawyer and thus, this is not legal advice. In a similar vein, I am not a software engineer training in AI, but I’m married to someone who has a PhD in computer science. Over the months he and I have had many passionate but nonetheless civilised debates over these topics.How AI WorksBefore AI models like ChatGPT, Bard, MidJourney, and the like are made open to the public, they are written, then fed information and tested. While contrary to popular belief, an AI generator does not create images that are a mismatch of other images found on the web, it is difficult to know how the data feed to the AI is found, purchased, etc.

The ProblemAnd this is where the problem lies.

AI Images are created by machine learning from other images, but the creators of the tech do not disclose how this data was acquired and whether it’s obtained ethically, and they have not taken shortcuts by scrapping images from Google image search and other engines.

Technically, we are in the Wild West of the creation of AI-generated tools, before the time when best practices are created and laws are set in place to protect consumers and artists. Due to the lack of disclosure among these tech companies, the potential for copying is great.

And copying is where copyright and infringing on artists’ rights come into play. It’s the copying of an image that could get you into serious trouble.

The Elephant in the RoomSo, say if you’re confident that the data used to train an AI was ethically sourced, and everything is all above board. I know that’s a loaded phrase, but hear me out. And you create an AI-generated image for your Book Cover.

Who owns that image?

Technically, you did not create the image; you wrote out the necessary detailed prompts, and the AI made the image. Does that mean the AI owns the copyright? Or does it belong to the engineers who created the product? Is it considered public domain? Or Do you own the copyright?

Generally, you might own the copyright as stated by the creators of the tool. But that’s today; at present, there are no laws that state who actually owns these AI-generated images, so as the laws are created and changed over time, so too will your ownership over the art.

Mimicking StyleNow, this bothers me just as much as the other points I have made before. We’ve all seen those portraits created in the style of other illustrators. This is highly unethical and may open you up to issues surrounded copyright infringement. I understand that book covers can be expensive but asking an AI to generate an image in the style of your favourite or dream cover designer is going to land you in hot water. Please do not do this, it’s not worth the risk.

What About Me?By now, there’s probably a question floating around your mind. Do I use AI-Generated images? The short answer is no. So, why is that? I will not be using AI-Generated Images in my designs until these issues with data not being ethically sourced or companies are forced to explain how they are teaching these tools and laws are created around the copyright pertaining to the AI images.

I guess you probably saw that one coming.

Concluding ThoughtsSo, what is my advice for you? Tread carefully when it comes to using these AI tools, avoid copying styles, and leave a disclosure statement on the copyright page that the cover images were created using an AI tool. But most importantly, spend time learning how to use these tools effectively because the more information you give these tools in the form of prompts, the better the final product will be.

Or alternatively, wait, save up money to use your favourite designer because readers do judge a book by its cover.

With Love,

AmeliaLoving the Authorpreneur Blog? Sign up for updates... It's free!Sign up to my newsletter for podcast episodes, book release details, and offers.

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In the April Behind the Scenes Author Diary, I mentioned that I screwed up my amateur sleuth mystery series; well, a solution might be at hand. So, in this episode, I discuss my plans for my James Lalonde Amateur Sleuth Mystery series books three and four and a new shiny object. On top of this, I discuss a few self-publishing updates, including changes to the KDP print pricing, the new KDP categories, and selling direct with WooCommerce.

The post BTS054, Changes to the KDP Print Pricing, New Categories in KDP, and A Solution to My Series Mistakes | May Author Diary appeared first on The Authorpreneur Podcast | Writing Tips and Self Publishing Advice.

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In the spirit of celebrating the 100th episode milestone, I'm going answer the top questions asked by my Blog Readers, YouTube Subscribers, and Podcast Listeners, and questions asked through my Ask A Question form on my website.

The post BTS053, The 100th Podcast Episode: Ask Me Anything on Writing, Revision, Editing, and Self Publishing appeared first on The Authorpreneur Podcast | Writing Tips and Self Publishing Advice.

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BTS052, I Screwed Up My Series and Reaching a New Level of Appreciation for Draft2DigitalBTS052, I Screwed Up My Series and Reaching a New Level of Appreciation for Draft2Digitalby Amelia D Hay | The Authorpreneur Podcast™️ - Writing and Self Publishing Advice

https://media.blubrry.com/indie_authorpreneur/content.blubrry.com/indie_authorpreneur/BTS052_I_Screwed_Up_My_Series.mp3Leave a ReviewListen on Apple PodcastsStream on SpotifyListen on StitcherSubscribe by EmailHello, Writers!Welcome to the ninety-ninth episode of the Authorpreneur Podcast. Yes, I’m doing the countdown thing—I know, it’s super dorky, but I’m embracing it anyway. At present, I’m struggling to sell book two in my amateur sleuth mystery series, and I’m going into detail about my experiments to get this bookselling and my issues with publishing direct to Barnes and Noble upon the advice of going wide webinar.

Let’s just say that I regret leaving Draft 2 Digital.

And I discuss how I’ve screwed up my amateur sleuth mystery series. Just saying that out loud gives me anxiety.

But without further ado, let’s get on with the episode.

About the EpisodeJust to let you know, this episode was recorded on Tuesday, the 25th of April, so this show is primarily me looking back at March and April 2023. And, if you’re new to this podcast, I want to say a huge thank you for stopping by and trying out my show. To those of you who have been faithfully listening, thank you for regularly listening in and supporting me; your support means more to me than you know.

What I’ve Been Doing Since the Last EpisodeA few fascinating things happened this month that got in the way of me recording a few podcast episodes. The first was my husband was sick and worked from home for a while. And I felt a little bad, saying, “Hey, babe, can you die a little quieter, so I can record my podcast.” There is a confidential element to his work as well, so I had to wait for his working-from-home period to end so that I could get back to podcasting.

At the same time, I was struggling with my mental health, and I had a health issue of my own. My health issues started during the locked down, and I haven’t been the same since. If I’m super honest, I’ve become a hermit, and that has consequences.

My Health Issues and PodcastingSorry, but this is going to get a little TMI.

I have uterine fibroids. In a nutshell, I’m constantly bleeding and have trouble differentiating between fibroid-related bleeding and my period. At times, it can be hard for me to do all the things I want because I feel tired, and it can be difficult to concentrate. It’s not as bad as it sounds, but the first three weeks in April were a little wild for me.

Proofreading the Locked RoomAt the start of April, as I got back into the rhythm of writing book three, The Locked Room moved up in the queue and became available for proofreading. So, put the writing of book three on pause to work on these edits and publish the novella. The one thing I have noticed about the editing process is I’m no longer just blindly accepting the edits, and I’ve started rejecting a small portion of them because I want the narrative to sound a certain way when it’s read aloud. I discovered this issue while reading The Candidate aloud on my YouTube channel.

My FrustrationsAt times, I felt that my editor didn’t get that narrative is from the character’s point of view and therefore is opinion based. And often, I was pushed to explain how a character knows something. For instance, in one scene, James describes the curtain’s material as “thick, heavy, red drapes”, so my editor writes me a note wanting to know how he knows the curtains are heavy. And, I’m thinking, who cares about the drapes—this is his opinion on the drapes. So, she changed the wording from “heavy” to “heavy-looking.” After that change, the sentence just sounded clunky and was better without the word looking.

There was also another moment where he thinks another character’s workout gear is made from a sweat-resistant material, and again the editor wanted to know how he knew this. Once again, this is his opinion on the character’s clothing—it’s not fact. And I should have to stop the narrative to explain to the reader that he knows this because he’s seen the material before or he’s touched other thick, heavy fabrics—pointing stuff like this out is not important to the story, it just his opinion on the setting and events.

Should I Move on?I don’t know if this is a sign that I need to find a new editor or if this is just what the editing process is like. But I’m starting to feel frustrated by the experience.

Struggling to Sell Book Two in a SeriesSo, I’ve been struggling to give away book two in my amateur sleuth mystery series. However, giving away book one is easy because it’s free.
And that information should be of no surprise because “who doesn’t love a freebie?” It’s important to note that there’s no hook at the end of book one that points the reader to book two. This leads me to ask an important question.

Am I expecting too much at this stage?

The TruthThe truth is, discoverability is low at this stage of my career because I only have five published works one is a stand-alone, one is a prequel short story, another is the first in a series, and the other two books are a part of the same series. This is having an impact on my book sales. I’m guessing that if I had five books in the same series, then my sales would be a little different.

So, I guess this is the curse of writing multiple series at once.

ExperimentsWhile I was contemplating the lack of sales on book two, I had an epiphany. I realised that the price of the second book might be too high considering the first is free. So, I changed the price of book two from US$3.99 to 99¢ This tactic seems to be working well on Amazon, but it’s too soon to say. However, nothing seems to move the needle for me on Kobo, certainly not Facebook Ads.

Publishing Direct to Barnes and NobleSo, I tried to publish all of my five books directly to Barnes and Noble but came up with issues in regard to taxation. In a nutshell, Barnes and Noble were determined to tax me at a thirty percent withholding rate, even in spite of the treaty that exists between the IRS and the United Kingdom and other countries. Even though they are open to publishing authors from other countries, they have no idea what they are doing. So, I pulled my books from Barnes & Noble and went back to distribute them via Draft 2 Digital.

My ThoughtsGoing direct is not worth the hassle of being unnecessarily taxed so I can have access to the secret categories, and the so-called promotions tab isn’t that impressive—the Kobo promotions tab is better. I know this is brutal, but I’m being honest. However, I did speak with the support staff before going back to Draft2Digital, but I’m still yet to hear back from the support staff after my second attempt to contact them. By the way, I filled out the W8-N form correctly as per all the other forms I filled out on Google Play, Amazon, Apple, Draft2Digital, and Kobo

So, it’s definitely not me.

I’ve Screwed Up My Mystery SeriesTowards the end of February, I started writing book three in the James Lalonde amateur sleuth mystery series into the dark. So far, I’ve written 8,275 words. I’ve been writing this book on and off between working with my editor on the Locked Room and publishing tasks. And it’s been an enjoyable experience.

However, in April, I hit a wall in my writing process after realising that this third book is technically not a mystery because the whodunnit is known from the start for several reasons. The first is because I’ve written scenes from the killer’s point of view, and their identity is known. And secondly, there is a subtle reference to this person in the second book. So, technically I’m breaking the rules of the genre and not delivering on the promise of the whodunnit—it’s a thriller, and so is book four.

Now I feel trapped and have no idea what to do or even how to change my story, so it’s more of a mystery. Although, I could introduce another “potential villain” to create the scene of a mystery so the reader doesn’t know the whodunnit. If you have any thoughts on my dilemma, feel free to email me via my contact page or leave your thoughts in the comments section.

An UpdateWhile I was filming and recording the two versions of this podcast episode, I made a Google search and learned that I’m writing an inverted detective story or a howcatchem and not a thriller. That discovery was a huge relief. So, I’m still considering adding a second potential villain as well as leaning into this howcatchem. Storyline. But this inverted detective story isn’t hugely popular in the genre. So, I’m still interested in hearing your thoughts about whether I’m breaking the rules of the mystery genre.

Add More Depth to Entitled to MurderWhile I was feeling stuck with book three in the James Lalonde Mystery series, I opened up my unfinished cozy mystery and started working on that novella again. Just a side note, this switching between stories happened before I realised why I was stuck with book three.

Now back to the cozy mystery.

I added more depth to the narrative point of view in the first chapter in order to establish a connection between the reader and the protagonist. But I hit another brick wall when I realised that my main character was a grieving widow in desperate need of a fresh start. And I wondered whether this character suited the cozy mystery genre because the stories are supposed to be light and fluffy, not dark.

Actually, I should point out that the story is by no means dark, but she is sad that her husband is gone—she misses him. So, now I’m stuck writing two novels.

And I’m not going to start a third manuscript.

Concluding ThoughtsSo, that’s all of the things that I can discuss in terms of writing, editing, book marketing, and publishing. Now, I have an important question to ask you. Are you a UK author who has experienced those taxation issues with Barnes & Noble, or have you skipped this trauma altogether and published with Draft2Digital? Come on over to the blog post and share your thoughts and experiences in the comments section.

And, while I have this thought, the one-hundredth episode is coming up, and I thought it might be nice to do a celebratory Ask Me Anything session, so come on over to this page and submit a question for me to answer on the show.

The next episode of the podcast will be the bonus milestone episode, and then after that, I will release another episode where I will discuss the anatomy of a scene.

Thank you for listening, and happy reading and writing, everybody.

Your coach,

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TAP044, News From My Editor: My Experience Writing into the Dark (Part 2)TAP044, News From My Editor: My Experience Writing into the Dark (Part 2)by Amelia D Hay | The Authorpreneur Podcast - Writing and Self Publishing Advice

https://media.blubrry.com/indie_authorpreneur/content.blubrry.com/indie_authorpreneur/TAP044_News_from_my_line_editor.mp3Leave a ReviewListen on Apple PodcastsStream on SpotifyListen on StitcherSubscribe by EmailHello, Writers!Welcome to the ninety-eighth episode of the Authorpreneur Podcast. Honestly, I can’t believe that my podcast has come this far. But, back to the matter at hand. Toward the end of March, I started working with my editor on the Locked Room, and in this episode, I share the mistakes that were found in that manuscript in comparison to the previous stories that I’ve written.

Without further ado, let’s get into the episode.

Thank YouOne last thing, I’d like to thank Paul Teague for taking the time to buy me a few coffees and leaving a nice message. Your support and kind words mean a lot to me, so thank you.

Feedback from My Editor about The Locked RoomIn March, I received my manuscript back from my editor and performed two rounds of line edits before the manuscript was added to a proofreading queue. As expected, there were mistakes in my manuscript; after all, that’s why I hired my editor.

So what were these mistakes?

Word repetition
Dangling and misplaced modifiers
Occasional point-of-view slips
Unnecessary dialogue tags
Vague antecedents (This occurs when the pronoun didn’t clearly reference a word before it, and the fix for this issue was to change the pronoun to the name of the character).
Present tense words that pull the reader out of a past-tense narrative (this/these/here/now change to that/those/there/then or revised sentence)
Narrative question where I break the fourth wall
Confusion around the usage of toward vs to

The reason some of these mistakes are made is because as I write the first draft, I am conscious of not constructing my sentences according to a predictable pattern but varying them. So the sake of full transparency, through several stages of the writing process, I put my manuscript through programmes like Grammarly and Pro Writing Aid; and in particular, I use these tools before submitting my novels to be read by my alpha reader and again after I send it to my beta reader. I have heard some writers suggest that you could use these tools as a replacement for an editor, but I disagree with that advice because editing is an expense that you should invest in as a self-published author.

Did My Line Editor Find Any Plot Issues?Another interesting thing is my line editor raised no plot issues or problems with my characters’ motivations. In the past, with previous books, my editor has made some of these notes, which I’ve corrected during the editing phase. Even my alpha reader and beta reader didn’t find plot issues. Sure, my beta reader did have comments made in hindsight that, to me, felt more like a discussion about the plot that was better suited to a book club discussion, but I tend to ignore those types of comments.

Yes, I Ignore Some Types of FeedbackWhile I’m on the topic of ignoring comments, I think it’s okay to discard comments, especially if they’re made in the spirit of “looking for trouble” or purposefully searching for things to criticise. The perfect book does not exist. I’m writing for entertainment for people who love murder mysteries, not professional critics.

Realism is More ImportantThis will sound bad, but I’ll even ignore comments about the order in which someone explains their motivations because I value realism over reader comments. For instance, someone who commits a crime out of a place of trauma will not start with their most significant reason; often, they will begin with the easiest things to say and back into their big why. Even Chris Watts, who committed familicide, started off his confession with the easiest thing to say, which was, in fact, the truth dressed in a lie.

In the same vein, I don’t go back and force a character to explain why they lied to my amateur sleuth. Firstly, because someone who chooses to lie will very rarely admit to it while they’re being accused, James will usually catch someone in a lie and speculate the reasons, then continue searching for the truth.

Or on one occasion, I’ve had a reader criticise when I’ve chosen to wrap up plot threads. Up until the start of the third act, I’ll have multiple threads open that the amateur sleuth needs to resolve. The promise I make to the readers is that I’ll resolve these before the denouement, not in the way they expect. I try not to write to committee because it’s not possible to please every opinion you receive.

Handling Unhelpful Comments During the Beta Reading Phase.But you get it; I only take on board comments that contribute to the realism of the story or correct plot issues. If you’re struggling with this, simply ask, will this improve my story? If the answer is no, don’t take it on board and do not reply to the comment. It won’t end well if you do.

What Did My Line Editor Say About My Previous Books?In previous stories, my editor pointed out where I’d started a scene too soon and failed to set up the next scene in the story. On top of this, in past edits, it was recommended that I add more setting descriptions in certain parts of a book. And obviously, I have chosen to take on board this advice. But in The Locked Room, there were no instances of these mistakes, and I’ve put this down to a result of following the writing into the dark method because the constant cycling forces me to add more depth to the story. Also, there was an instance when I realised that a story was incomplete and missing a scene during the line editing phase. So, during rounds two and three, I wrote a short scene of 6000 words and added it to the manuscript.

The good news is none of these issues were raised in the manuscript for the Locked Room And, my line editor didn’t notice the change in how I wrote the Locked Room compared to all the others. It was evident that she thought it was written to the same standard.

Concluding ThoughtsSo, that’s all of the things that I can discuss in terms of working with my editor on my newly written into the dark novella. Now, I have an important question to ask you. Have you tried writing into the dark or discovery writing? Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments section below.

The next episode of the podcast will be a behind-the-scenes podcast diary episode where I will discuss my writing, editing, publishing and marketing tasks for March and April.

Thank you for listening, and happy reading and writing, everybody.

Your coach,

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TAP043, A Tale of Two Novels: My Experience Writing into the DarkTAP043, A Tale of Two Novels: My Experience Writing into the Darkby Amelia D Hay | The Authorpreneur Podcast - Writing and Self Publishing Advice

https://media.blubrry.com/indie_authorpreneur/content.blubrry.com/indie_authorpreneur/TAP043_Writing_into_the_Dark.mp3Leave a ReviewListen on Apple PodcastsStream on SpotifyListen on StitcherSubscribe by EmailHello, Writers!In February, I finished writing the Locked Room into the Dark, and I’ll discuss how I achieved this, along with the response of my favourite beta reader.

As you’ve come to expect, I will share my writing stats, days, time, word count and the step-by-step process that I used. Now that I’ve mentioned that, it’s crucial that I point out that I’m following Dean Wesley Smith’s Writing Into the Dark method, which he teaches in a course and in a book. I highly recommend that you check out both of these options if you’re interested in learning how to discovery write.

Without further ado, let’s get into the episode.

My Writing JourneyBefore I dive into the writing statistics for The Locked Room, there are a few things you need to know about my writing journey.

Since 2011, I’ve written four screenplays, all romantic comedy genre. Then I adapted the last screenplay that I wrote into a novel when I discovered self-publishing in 2013. Around the same time, I discovered that while I could write a romantic comedy, I couldn’t make a career in this genre. The first screenplay I wrote I ended up losing due to a hard drive failure, so I rewrote it from scratch. After deciding that I didn’t like the story, I used the characters in another script with an entirely different plot that became script number four. These characters were the earliest versions of some of the characters in the James Lalonde universe. Screenwriting was where I learned about story structure—it was one of the best crash courses I could’ve gotten.

So far, I’ve published four stories within the James Lalonde Universe—The Lawn, Suspicion, The Candidate, and Duplicity. Also, I have written one long unpublished novel. Technically, this novel was the first story I wrote featuring James Lalonde, but I soon realised there was more to the series I needed to write before publishing that novel. Including the three surviving screenplays, I’ve written 379,000 words of fiction, both published and unpublished works. And I regularly do courses on story structure and writing craft.

The Locked RoomHere’s everything you need to know about the Locked Room. You’re probably wondering why I’m sharing this with you. The answer is simple; I want to create a clear picture of the type of story that I wrote into the dark.

The Locked Room is a story that follows a single point of view. And has a simple timeline that doesn’t jump between time periods and has no flashbacks. It’s an amateur sleuth murder mystery, so I’m aware of the genre and its tropes. As the title suggests, the novella contains the locked room trope and, thus, has a closed setting with a small cast of characters.

Writing Stats for The Locked RoomFirst Draft* Writing Time: eighty-nine hours and nine minutes * Days: twenty-two * Draft Word Count: 26,201

Grammar and Spelling Edit* Writing Time: nine hours and thirty-seven minutes * Days: Two * Draft Word Count: 25,758 * Added or Removed: – 443 words

Beta Reader Edit* Writing Time: three hours and two minutes * Days: One * Draft Word Count: 26,171 words * Added or Removed: + 413 words

Other StatsI didn’t write every day, only a few days a week, four at the most. And I spent a lot of time listening to my manuscript being read to me using the voices from Natural Reader. The total writing time for the Locked Room is 101 hours and forty-eight minutes across twenty-five days.

About The CandidateBecause I have written six books, I thought it would be a worthwhile exercise to compare the experience of writing into the dark, and its statistics with another story of a similar length that I wrote with an outline. The Candidate is a similar length in terms of words, but it has a non-linear timeline in certain parts of the book and contains multiple points of view.

The Writing Stats for the CandidateOutlining* Writing Time: 37 hours and thirty minutes * Days: fifteen

One of the reasons why the outline took fifteen days was I chose to edit the outline before writing the first draft. I wanted to check for plot holes as a way of not repeating the mistakes of the past.

First Draft* Writing Time: 50 hours and 58 minutes * Days: Sixteen * Draft Word Count: 25,747

1st Revision* Writing Time: 13 hours and thirty minutes * Days: Four * Draft Word Count: 25,976 * Added or Removed: + 229

To guide the writing of the first round of revisions, I compiled a list of story questions, then went through the novella and checked if these questions were answered and the scene where the reader discovers this answer. This led me to make revisions based on these unanswered questions. Next, I performed a line edit using the built-in A.I. voice in my iMac to listen to the scenes read back to me. And I used Grammarly and Pro Writing Aid to find any last-minute errors.

Beta Reader Revisions* Writing Time: 14 hours and thirty minutes * Days: Five * Draft Word Count: 26,439 * Added or Removed: + 463

Over on Fiverr, I hired three beta readers and combed through their reports and inline comments, then made changes to the manuscript based on these comments. Also, I performed a line edit using the iMac AI voice, Grammarly, and ProWriting Aid before sending my manuscript off to my editor. The total writing time for The Candidate is 116 hours and 48 minutes across forty days.

Where did I save time in my writing?I know this is a weird question to ask, but I thought it had an interesting answer. Overall, I saved fifteen hours by writing into the dark, and the biggest difference can be seen in the time spent on revisions based on beta reader feedback. There were fewer mistakes to correct in the Locked Room.

Other than stats, what was different about these two writing experiences?Writing the Locked Room was an enjoyable experience. While my writing was broken up between a six-week trip to Australia and a trip to France to visit my in-laws, I looked forward to getting back into writing. It was almost as if I had returned to those days when I was writing screenplays after work and over the weekend. And I had no idea what lay ahead of me.

Whereas while writing the Candidate, I enjoyed outlining, character creation, and the research phases. But, the first draft and revisions were difficult, and I hated this part of the process; I had to bribe myself to get to the writing chair. Writing had become a job, and there was no joy left.

During the time period when I wrote the Candidate, I didn’t write every day, and I struggled with my mental health, which resulted in long gaps between writing sessions, but the lack of joy was definitely experienced in the first draft and revisions. For me, this is the biggest difference—The Locked Room and writing into the dark helped me love writing again.

How did I write the Locked Room into the dark?The method I use to write into the dark is the technique taught by Dean Wesley Smith in both his book and the course—I highly recommend you check out the course and learn the technique directly from him.

Start with a ConceptBefore I started writing, I had a concept in mind. In my book Duplicity, James Lalonde mentioned that he solved a murder at the bed and breakfast run by Professor Xavier Watson and his wife Flora. And that’s everything I knew before putting my fingers on the keyboard. At the time, I didn’t realise that the story was a locked room mystery.

Embrace FilteringOne of the things I did differently with the Locked Room than the Candidate is I filtered everything through the point of view character. So, the reader experiences the setting and events filtered through James’s opinion, and nothing exists outside of that. In episode TAP040, I go into deeper detail on this topic.

Outline as You Go AlongI started off the story by writing a description of the setting filtered through the point of view character; Dean Wesley Smith calls this writing with depth, and then I let the story evolve from there. At the end of each scene, I added the details of the scene into an outline spreadsheet, keeping track of the scene number, point of view character, scene goal, scene type, plot, scene blocking, value shifts, conflict, stakes, cliffhanger, story question, timeline information, and foreshadowing.
Just a side note, this outlining method is mine, but Dean writes plot notes, setting and character details. As I go along, I create character profiles in Scrivener as I go, so I can keep things consistent in later scenes. My outlining technique might have added extra time to the writing process, but it’s probably an extra ten minutes.

Cycling is the KeyAfter creating the outline, I cycle through what I had just written and add more depth to the story. Please note this is adding more depth to the story, not line editing or correcting spelling and grammar. Next, I wrote the next scene, created the outline for the new scene, then cycled through scenes one and two and added more depth. To help me see what I was adding to the text during these cycling periods, I used the revision feature in Scrivener and then switched back to normal mode when writing a new scene.

Research and Other TipsI guess you’re wondering, what about the research? All research was done as the need arose, and nothing was left to fix later because the research often led to ideas that helped me to keep writing. If I was stuck and didn’t know what to write, I gave myself time to think, read a book, watched a true crime podcast episode or took a short break—but in the end, I just asked myself, “what would James do next?” Just before I wrote the last scene, I went back and added more depth to moments where I told instead of showing the events taking place, then wrote the last scene.

But, Wait You Write MysteriesAnd I didn’t know who the killer was until the very end. As I got into the story, I had theories in a similar way that a reader does, but I didn’t know who the killer was until James was faced with a gun.

After Writing into the DarkAs I wrote and cycled, I spent a lot of time listening to my story being read back to me using Natural Readers. This helped me hear clunky sentences, overused words, and where the scene needs more depth or emersion into the setting. My second draft was essentially a line edit performed with the help of Grammarly and Pro Writing Aid, so the story was readable for my alpha and beta readers. Before I hired my beta reader on Fiverr, I wrote the book description.

What was the experience like compared to outlining?After I finished writing the locked room and performed the line edits, I struggled with it because I felt like I had to keep revising it. What I didn’t realise at the time was there was only a fifteen-hour difference between the two methods; I just didn’t notice the time had flown. I legitimately enjoyed the writing experience to the point where I thought this couldn’t be right; the story must be terrible. So, I have a few mindset issues that I need to work on, even now after recording this episode and waiting to receive feedback from my editor, I still think this book might be a pile of garbage—I’ve even caught myself hypothesising that the reason I haven’t heard back from my editor is because the story is bad.

Above in a screenshot of a section of the Marlwo report of The Locked Room from Authors.ai. *

AutoCrit and MarlowNext, I put my manuscript into Marlow because I was curious about what the report would say. For those of you who don’t know, Marlow is an A.I. tool that analyses your writing and is created by authors.ai, who are the authors of the Best Seller Code. And surprisingly, the pacing of the Locked Room was in line with bestsellers in my genre.

The Locked Room in AutoCritAfter that, I got even more curious about the score my book would get from AutoCrit, so I uploaded the book into the software, and once again, I was pleasantly surprised by the results. In AutoCrit, my manuscript got a score of 88 out of 100 when compared to books in my genre. Just for reference, the edited version of Suspicion got 90.8 which is a great score for pacing. Looking back, I’m not sure why I compared The Locked Room to Suspicion and not The Candidate, but that’s the choice I made at the time of the recording.

Above is a screenshot of the results for Suspicion in AutoCrit.

Above is a screenshot of the results for the Locked Room in AutoCrit.

Feedback from My Beta ReaderOver on Fiverr, I hired my favourite beta reader. As a part of their service, I receive both a report and inline comments on the manuscript, so I can see their reaction as they read the story. But here’s an extract from the report they sent to me.

“I feel like each time I write one of these about a James Lalonde story, I always start out by saying, ‘this is my favourite one so far,’ but, in a lot of ways, I think that might be true for this one, too! Starting with the pacing – I thought it was excellent throughout. We get to the murder relatively quickly, and pretty much every second up to that point is used assembling the main cast and setting the stage in a way that makes all of them seem rather suspicious and like they all have something they’re hiding. In the overall scope, the story read very briskly, and I just sailed along through it. I definitely felt like the pacing in this story made it a real page-turner.”

So, there were no issues with underdeveloped characters or motivations, and there were no plot holes, which is a huge relief.

Do I regret not trying this earlier?The short answer is no.

Now was definitely the right time for me to start writing into the dark. After revising Missing into the now third edition, titled Suspicion and making substantial rewrites to Duplicity, I was ready to let go of outlining. But outlining five stories and four screenplays, as well as transitioning from screenwriting to novel writing, taught me three-act structure that was a necessary part of my journey. I’m not saying that I know everything; in fact, I’m still learning the craft of storytelling. But I didn’t just discovery write my first book; I took a journey to get to a place where I was ready.

Concluding ThoughtsSo, that’s all of the things that I can discuss in terms of my experiments with writing into the dark. If you’re interested in learning how to write into the dark then I highly recommend you take Dean Wesley Smith’s Course or read his book on the topic and not just take the tips that I shared. The course was definitely worth purchasing.

Later on, after I receive feedback from my editor, I will share their thoughts with you as well. Now, I have an important question to ask you. Have you considered writing into the dark or discovery writing? Or, do you discovery write your stories? Come on over to the blog post and share your thoughts and experiences in the comments section.

Thank you for listening, and happy reading and writing, everybody.

Your coach,

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BTS051, Writing a Locked Room Mystery, Author Book Readings, and Tech Issues GaloreBTS051, Writing a Locked Room Mystery, Author Book Readings, and Tech Issues Galoreby Amelia D Hay | The Authorpreneur Podcast™️ - Writing and Self Publishing Advice

https://media.blubrry.com/indie_authorpreneur/content.blubrry.com/indie_authorpreneur/BTS051_Tech_issue_Galore_v_2_0_.mp3Leave a ReviewListen on Apple PodcastsStream on SpotifyListen on StitcherSubscribe by EmailHello, Writers!In this episode, discuss what I’ve been doing in February. I also share my frustrations about a tech fail and newfound thoughts on this product and delve into why I’ve changed my mind.

It’s important to discuss the positives and negatives of products I use and recommend because I’ve discovered something that needs to be addressed or I feel like I need to talk about it. So, perhaps this is, in part, a bit of therapy for me. And I’m coming off a rather super frustrated week where I feel like I’ve wasted my time. But, in the spirit of fairness, I’m all up for wasting my money on experimenting and trying things rather than letting you know about it because that’s the point of me doing this. I waste my money trying stuff, so you don’t have to, but I digress.

Also, I discuss a few things I did for the podcast, writing-related tasks, plus a marketing experiment I did this month.

So without further ado, let’s get into the episode.

About the EpisodeJust to let you know, this episode was recorded on Sunday, the 5th of March, so this show is primarily me looking back at February 2023. And, if you’re new to this podcast, I want to say a huge thank you for stopping by and trying out my show. To those of you who have been faithfully listening, thank you for regularly listening in and supporting me; your support means more to me than you know.

Thank You to the Podcast SupportersOne last thing, I’d like to thank Rita for taking the time to buy me a few coffees and leaving a nice message. Your support and kind words mean a lot to me, so thank you.

Writing a Locked Room Mystery into the DarkAt the end of the third week in February, I finished writing a locked room mystery into the dark. As a result of that achievement, I wrote for forty-five hours and forty-two minutes—an extra eight hours more than last year. Or 9,940 words written during February. It doesn’t sound like a lot of words considering the hours, but I’m also revising as I write. But don’t worry, I’ll go into more depth about how I write into the dark in the next episode of the authorpreneur podcast.

My Daily Word Count SpreadsheetI know what you’re thinking; these numbers are quite specific; how do you keep track of this? Over in excel, I created a daily word count spreadsheet listing my writing tasks and how long it took me to complete them. Yes, it’s a bit neurotic, but I like to know what makes up four hours of writing.

Click to watch the breakdown of the spreadsheet on YouTube.

Alpha, Beta, and EditorsNext, I prepared the manuscript and sent it to my alpha reader and my favourite beta reader. Upon receiving feedback from my beta reader, I made a few minor changes, adding an extra 431 words to my manuscript. Then, I sent The Locked Room off to an editor. But I need to wait because my manuscript is in a queue to be edited.

My MindsetNow that I’ve finished writing The Locked Room into the dark, I’m in a weird place where I don’t know what to write next. I have a few choices—perhaps this is why I’m struggling. My choices are either to write the second book in the Rookie Reporter series or the third book in the James Lalonde series. In saying that, I did start writing the opening scenes of the third book in the James Lalonde series, but I started to struggle and thought the book was going in a different direction than intended. So, I stopped writing after a few hundred words.

Writing Cozy MysteriesAnd on top of that, I’m wondering whether I should try writing a cozy mystery and finish writing Entitled to Murder. I think now might be a good time to try that because I don’t have a huge fan base for my amateur sleuth mysteries, and cozy is a genre I love to read and don’t mind writing. It’s not all about chasing a hot genre for me.

Amazon Followers on Book EdgeThe other day after listening to the Self Publishing Journey’s Podcast hosted by Paul Teague, I decided to try out Book Edge because he shared his amazon follower count on the show. Colour me intrigued; I signed up for a free trial of Book Edge to discover that I had eighty-four followers. In all honesty, I thought I would only have four (mum, her friend, and two of my aunts). So, That turned out better than expected.

Author Book ReadingsTowards the end of February, I devoted a writing-free week to an author book reading of The Candidate. Instead of doing a live reading at a bookstore, I did a reading on Youtube. A massive part of me knows better than to do this, but I pressed record and filmed myself reading the prologue and chapters one and two. This led me to have a few realisations.

First, I needed to write a script, which I did not do. And the second was I discovered that I wanted to change a few of the words in the novella because of how the narrative sounded when being read aloud. So, essentially, I edited my novella for audio, which took four hours and forty-five minutes. This editing time is included in the monthly stats that I shared earlier.

The Filming ProcessIn order to achieve the final product, a twenty-plus minute Youtube video where I shared a publishing update, the book description, and information about the series, plus the reading, I rehearsed the reading four times. And I record every one of those rehearsals. Let’s address the elephant in the room. I’m a perfectionist, which is why I filmed so many versions. And let me be the first to say the final product is imperfect.

But I did do something right. Each section of the video was filmed individually. Then at a later date, I edited the section together. If you do this, you must consider continuity and pay attention to the camera angle, where you sit and how. Ultimately, I filmed the introduction, publishing update, book description, series information, prologue, chapter one, and chapter two, all separately. And one last tip: if you do an author book reading, I recommend you write a script, insert pauses and breaths, etc., and then film it in chunks.

Sharing My reading in Mailer LiteNext, I included the book reading as a gift to my email subscribers using Mailer Lite. There is a feature in Mailer Lite where you can add a video, but it’s just a link with an image embedded and a play button icon over the top.

A New LogoAs you probably tell, I designed a new logo and favicon for the Authorpreneur Podcast. For quite some time now, I’ve had this idea for a new logo. I wanted to create a logo that was a podcast microphone either made up of books or with books in the middle. Because I’m over-ambitious, I thought this would only take two hours. And I was partly right; the logo design took a couple of hours because I experimented with sizing, images, and colour variations. Then I spent another two hours creating the logo with text then uploading it to all the various sources. The final design consists of six different elements, and I’m delighted with it.

Now for the tech issues that resulted from this new logo. After I added the logo to Ecamm Live, I realised that I needed to edit the intro and conclusion for the video podcast. So, I opened Final Cut Pro and discovered, to my horror, that I had deleted the intro video. This meant I had to create the video from scratch, so I spent another four hours finding clips for the thirty-second intro from my previously filmed videos. Why did I delete the old intro video in Final Cut, you ask? Well, my final cut library was getting too big, and I wanted to save space, so being the genius that I am, I deleted it thinking I wouldn’t use it again.

Click the video above to watch my Final Cut Pro X set up.

Tech Issues with Repurpose.ioIn past episodes of the podcast, I have said that I use and recommend Repurpose.io as a product to help you repurpose your podcast content and promote it. This week I spent more time than I care to admit talking to their support staff. Basically, Repurpose helps you to create a video from an audio file. All you have to do is link up your podcast’s RSS feed with a destination of your choosing; for me, it’s my RSS feed and Google Drive. After you set up a workflow, you press the repurpose button, and the audio sits in a queue waiting to be made into a video consisting of an image, a moving wave graphic, your podcast artwork and your audio file.

Click the video above to see the Repurpose template in photoshop.

Favouring New Content Over oldThe queue system for generating videos is a nightmare. Look, I’m half-British, so I love the concept of a queue. Usually, the first person in the queue gets served first, but not with repurpose.io. Their queue is ordered by the age of the audio file, not the moment you request the video to be created. So, if you’re asking for a video to be made from an audio file from 2021, you will be shoved down the bottom of the queue in favour of newer content that is requested after your request was made. To me, this is illogical and entirely unexpected because computer science and engineering are logic and math based.

In the end, I waited for a little under twenty-four hours and still didn’t have my eight-minute video. During this time, I contacted support, and they told me to wait. I attempted to get help in the Facebook group, but as of today, my post still has not been approved by the group moderators, who are company employees, which is another red flag. You see, they don’t want users discussing tech issues because that makes them look bad. Ultimately, I cancelled my subscription after using the product since 2019 and asked for a refund.

An UpdateSince I complained, the company has put out a message saying they have improved the wait times, but I’m not sure if I believe them unless they changed the queuing system to first in, first served. After I saw this message, I opened my email and noticed that I had received an email directly from the CEO of repurpose letting me know that my complaint was the catalyst for making these changes, and I’m welcome to come back to repurpose.io. In the spirit of fairness, I now have my eight-minute video, but it took them over seventy-two hours to produce it—I could’ve done this in under four hours with Final Cut Pro. This product is supposed to be a time saver, not a “we can do it longer scenario.” But hopefully, the experience is better now that the company have made changes. If you do try out this product, I highly recommend you test it with older content and not just your latest episode. I’m yet to try out these new changes, so this is not me endorsing the product—I’m just trying to paint a complete picture.

Concluding ThoughtsSo, that’s all of the things that I can discuss in terms of what I achieved last month in February. If you have any questions or tips on book marketing that you would love to share with me, please come over to the blog post and share your thoughts in the comments section. And if you have done an author book reading either in person or via video, then share your experience and tips with me below.

Thank you for listening, and happy reading and writing, everybody.

Your coach,

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BTS050, More Experiments with Ad StackingBTS050, More Experiments with Ad Stackingby Amelia D Hay | The Authorpreneur Podcast™️ - Writing and Self Publishing Advice

https://media.blubrry.com/indie_authorpreneur/content.blubrry.com/indie_authorpreneur/BTS050_More_Experiments_with_Ad_Stacking.mp3Leave a ReviewListen on Apple PodcastsStream on SpotifyListen on StitcherSubscribe by EmailHello, Writers!So, I decided to list Suspicion for free and promote it using various newsletter book promotion services ahead of the release of the second book in the James Lalonde series. The promotions I booked were with AuthorsXP, Fussy Librarian, Kobo, and Free Booksy. Altogether, these promotions cost me £176.67 or US$209.96. I used the Google exchange rate from the 19th of November, just in case you’re interested. So, in this behind-the-scenes author diary, I’m going to discuss the results of my experiments with Ad stacking on my first-in-series novella or short novel.

But first, let’s discuss my expectations.

My ExpectationsTo be honest, my expectations were relatively low in terms of download numbers. Still, I did expect around 2,000 downloads from the Free Booksy promotion only because of an experience in the past. But I was hoping some people would download Suspicion like the store and either follow me on Amazon and buy the next book when it’s released or even purchase the preorder. Even though I was hoping for these things, I was pretty pessimistic about the results and knew it was more of an experiment. On top of this, I was terrified that I would receive more harsh reviews or low-rated positive reviews, thanks to my experiences with BookSirens. I was starting to think this third edition was crappy, and as a result, I was a crappy writer. But that’s a story for another time.

Without further ado, let’s get into the episode.

About the EpisodeJust to let you know, this episode was recorded on Thursday, the 2nd of February, so this show is primarily me looking back at November 2022. And, if you’re new to this podcast, I want to say a huge thank you for stopping by and trying out my show. To those of you who have been faithfully listening, thank you for regularly listening in and supporting me; your support means more to me than you know.

Daily Deal with AuthorsXPThe price of the promotion was £17.45 or US$20.00. Originally booked for the 3rd of November, but that day was booked, so the organiser moved the promotion to the 5th of November. For this reason, I cannot split up the download numbers and explain which downloads came from a particular promotion.

Free Mystery eBook Promotion on The Fussy LibrarianThe price of the promotion was US$76.00 or £66.12 and was scheduled for the 5th of November.

The DownloadsBecause these are both email newsletter promotions, I’ll share the downloads for the day the promotion was sent out and the day after.

Downloads on the 5th

Amazon: 1,558
Kobo: 156
Apple: 104
Google Play: 48
B&N: 43
Direct: 1

Downloads on the 6th

Amazon: 242
Kobo: 36
Apple: 38
Google Play: 9
B&N: 8
Direct: 1 Interesting FindingsOn the 5th of November, Suspicion was:
69th on the Free Kindle charts on Amazon UK
111th on the Free Kindle charts on Amazon US

On Amazon UK, Suspicion reached the following positions in the Kindle store:

1 Top 100 Free Action Thriller Fiction
1 Top 100 Free Men’s Adventure Fiction
2 Top 100 Free Crime Action Fiction

On Amazon US, Suspicion reached the following positions in the Kindle store:

1 Top 100 Free Crime Action Fiction (Kindle Store)
1 Top 100 Free Action Thriller Fiction
2 Top 100 Free Private Investigator Mysteries (Kindle Store)

Suspicion didn’t fall out of those #1 sub-genre positions in the UK and US stores until the end of the day on the 9th of November.

And, as of the 19th of November, Suspicion is sitting in these positions in the free stores.

2,410th on the Free Kindle charts on Amazon UK
1,078th on the Free Kindle charts on Amazon US

On Amazon UK, Suspicion reached the following positions in the Kindle store:

13 Top 100 Free Men’s Adventure Fiction
24 Top 100 Free Mystery Action Fiction
27 Top 100 Free Crime Action Fiction

On Amazon US, Suspicion reached the following positions in the Kindle store:

2 Top 100 Free Crime Action Fiction (Kindle Store)
8 Top 100 Free Mystery Action Fiction (Kindle Store)
18 Top 100 Free Private Investigator Mysteries (Kindle Store)

To be honest, I’m pretty shocked that Suspicion was in a higher position on the free kindle charts in the US than in the UK store. Mainly because of the large audience in the US store.

Reviews and RatingsBy now, you’re probably wondering whether all these downloads resulted in reviews or ratings from readers. The answer is yes. Suspicion received the following ratings from readers on Amazon across all the stores.

6x five-star
6x four-star
3x three-star

My average star rating on the US store is 4.2, and on the UK store, it’s 4.1. The reason it’s lower on the UK store is I have a couple of low-rated harsh but somewhat positive reviews from BookSirens published on Amazon. But that’s an issue that I’ll leave for another day.

Kobo Free PromotionThe free mystery ebook promotion on Kobo cost me £6.00. Unfortunately, I can not share the price in USD because Kobo shows you the price in your local currency, which is nice. Over in the promotions tab, I selected the option for the book to be promoted from the 7th of November to the 13th of November

Downloads During the Promotion Period* Kobo: 69

Interesting FindingsMore downloads in one day from the AuthorsXP and Fussy Librarian promotions which are sent out by email, than paying to sit closer to the front in the free books slider on the Kobo store. Email marketing seems to shift books more effectively than listing them for free in the store, possibly because it makes the free books easier to find for the reader. All they have to do is open the email.

Free Booksy PromotionThe mystery eBook promotion with Free Booksy costs £87.10 or US$100.00, and it was scheduled for the 10th of November. And it ran on that day with no issues. Below are the download statistics across all the stores for Suspicion. And you’ll notice that I’ve only included the numbers for the day of the promotion and not the day after.

Downloads on the 10th* Amazon: 1,769 * Apple: 116 * B&N: 90 * Kobo: 84 * Google Play: 0 * Direct: 0 Interesting FindingsAs of the 10th of November, Suspicion is sitting in these positions in the free stores.

360 on the Free Kindle charts on Amazon UK
521 on the Free Kindle charts on Amazon US

On Amazon UK, Suspicion is sitting in the following positions in the free charts:

2 Top 100 Free Men’s Adventure Fiction
6 Top 100 Free Mystery Action Fiction
7 Top 100 Free Crime Action Fiction

On Amazon US, Suspicion is sitting in the following positions in the free charts:

4 Top 100 Free Mystery Action Fiction (Kindle Store)
5 Top 100 Free Crime Action Fiction (Kindle Store)
9 Top 100 Free Private Investigator Mysteries (Kindle Store)

Final ResultsListed below are the total downloads of Suspicion from the 1st of November to the 30th of November:
Amazon: 4,447
Apple: 349
B&N: 212
Kobo: 711
Google Play: 113
Direct: 2
Tolino: 1
Total: 5,835

Reviews and RatingsAcross all the stores on amazon I received 11 new ratings from readers who loved Suspicion on Amazon. For some reason, I didn’t list the rating in statistics in detail. Unfortunately, I’m unable to go back and figure this out.

Over on Goodreads, I received the following:

5x five-star ratings
1x four-star rating
2x three-star rating – one of which was from someone who read an earlier edition (either 1st or 2nd)
1x two-star rating (from someone who has a 2.67-star average rating across 916 ratings)

My average rating was brought up from 3.59 to 3.75 after I received a series of low reviews from BookSiren before the promotion began.

As a result of these downloads and the ratings from readers who downloaded and read my books, I’m starting to feel more positive about the quality of the novella. This is partly because these new readers haven’t sped read my book or felt compelled to write a review or want to be seen as a serious book reviewer and thus be more critical out of a belief that criticism is more valuable than simply enjoying the book. I’ve come to this conclusion because I have received more positive reviews on BookSprout than BookSirens. But I’ll leave that thought here because I’m going to turn this author diary into something that it’s not.

Concluding ThoughtsSo, that’s all of the things that I can discuss in terms of my experiments with Ad stacking. Also, I’m thinking of setting up a Discord chat for listeners of my podcast, so let me know in the comments section below if that’s something you’re interested in.

If you have any questions or tips on book marketing that you would love to share with me, please come over to the blog post and share your thoughts in the comments section.

Thank you for listening, and happy reading and writing, everybody.

Your coach,

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BTS049, A Year in Review and Self Publishing Products I Loved in 2022BTS049, A Year in Review and Self Publishing Products I Loved in 2022by Amelia D Hay | The Authorpreneur Podcast™️ - Writing and Self Publishing Advice

https://media.blubrry.com/indie_authorpreneur/content.blubrry.com/indie_authorpreneur/BTS049_A_Year_in_Review.mp3Leave a ReviewListen on Apple PodcastsStream on SpotifyListen on StitcherSubscribe by EmailHello, Writers!This year, I’ve decided to start my podcast by looking back at everything I achieved in 2022. After that, I will discuss the products I loved in 2022 and will continue to use in 2023.

I will also not dive too deeply into metrics like hours or word count because that’s not helpful. In fact, as a coach, I hate metrics because it doesn’t contribute anything of value, especially in the writing space. Everyone writes differently. Some people need to write slowly, think and research as they write. And if that’s you, it’s okay to write that way and slowly build your backlist.

But I’ll hop off my soap box now.

So, without further ado, let’s get into the show.

About the EpisodeJust to let you know, this episode was recorded on Thursday, the 2nd of February, so this show is primarily me looking back at 2022. And, if you’re new to this podcast, I want to say a huge thank you for stopping by and trying out my show. To those of you who have been faithfully listening, thank you for regularly listening in and supporting me; your support means more to me than you know.

Third Edition of MissingYes, I know this will sound ridiculous, but in 2022 before the release of book two, I created a third edition of Missing under a new title. This new title is Suspicion. The third edition was released at the end of July. I guess you’re wondering why—why create a third edition of the first book in a series?

The answer is two-fold. To improve read-through from books one to two in the future, that’s the most important reason. But another important reason is I wanted to use Maximilian Nicholls in another series, and I couldn’t with the previous ending of this short novel. Over time, I realised that I didn’t like another character I created but enjoyed writing from Maximilian’s point of view. And I guess there’s a third reason as well; I wanted to improve the average rating to above 3.65 stars, and I felt that attempting that with the second edition would be an uphill battle.

So, I enlisted the help of beta readers and a copy editor which was a wrong fit for me which led me to turn back to the company that I used for the candidate for a line edit and a final proofread. Next, I gave the book a new cover, but with the same colour palette; I did this on purpose so readers would recognise the book but also get that it was a third edition. Then, I used ARC readers found on Book Sprout and another programme I will not name, to source early reviews. The reviews I received on Book Sprout were honest and fair and came from actual readers who enjoyed reading in the genre.

DuplicitySo, I finished revising, Duplicity. Yay! Next, I employed beta readers, a line editor, and a proofreader.

Because I was certain that my book two was the crappiest novel that I had ever written, I put the novel up for preorder. And I was also curious to see if anyone that had downloaded book one would buy book two. The preorder was listed after I had finished the three rounds of line edits and sent my novel off to be put in the proofreading queue. When I send a story off for proofreading, I get told how long the queue is and the length of time it will take for the book to be proofread. So, I did some quick calculations and then added a four-week buffer to the preorder date.

Even though I was super apprehensive, I still submitted Duplicity to my ARC readers both on my email list and on BookSprout. At the same time, I changed the cover; this was a few weeks before publishing. One morning I woke up and realised that the cover I had wasn’t right. To be honest, I think either cover would’ve worked well, but my current one is better.

Writing The Locked Room into the DarkDuring the rewriting and revision stage of Duplicity, I had a lightbulb moment. I finally admitted that I hate revisions and was ready to try writing into the dark. So, I purchased a Writing into the Dark course and another on Writing Locked Room Mysteries, both by Dean Wesley Smith.

This prompted me to start writing a short story into the dark, which will now be a novella. I know this story is a novella because the story needs a lot of setting up before the body is discovered. In addition, the story I’m writing ties into an event briefly mentioned in Duplicity, and it’s titled, The Locked Room. And once I figured out the title, I purchased this premade psychological thriller book cover from my store. I wanted it to be a legitimate transaction because it was originally an asset that I wanted to make money from, so I paid for it at its usual price, £60.00 from my book royalties. Also, I changed the colour palate because it was too close to another short story that I published.

As of a couple of days ago, I’ve reached 18,699 words, and my protagonist, James Lalonde, has just discovered some information that has changed everything for him. So, I’ve reached the third act of the story. But I could be wrong about that—it might be a novel; I just don’t know. Once I’ve finished writing and publishing this story, I will discuss my experience with writing into the dark at length.

The LawnAfter making changes to the cover for The Locked Room, I decided that it made sense for the covers of The Lawn and The Locked Room to have a series feel to them. So, I made the series changes.

And I’m happy to announce that I’m finally pleased with the cover for The Lawn.

Just so that you’re aware, I plan on giving both of these stories away for free to my mailing list subscribers. Eventually, I want to give away a James Lalonde starter library.

Products that I’ve used and Loved in 2022Here are a list of products that I used, loved and will use again in 2023. The list has been broken up into the various parts of my authorpreneur business, and all affiliate links have been marked with an asterisk.

Le Villain Book Covers: Photoshop, Illustrator + InDesign * Canva * Deposit Stock Photos * iStock * Vector Stock * My Etsy Store * Stripe * WooCommerce * WordPress * The Divi Theme * * Gravity Forms * Siteground *

The Authorpreneur Podcast: Blubrry * Ecamm Live * Final Cut Pro * Garageband * * Blue Yeti Microphone *

Self-Publishing: BookFunnel * PayHip * Vellum * Draft2Digital * NaturalReaders (Premium) * Scrivener (Mac) * Scrivener (Windows) * Grammarly Premium * ProWriting Aid * AutoCrit * Authors ai (Marlow) * BookSprout * MailerLite * * Evernote * Todoist Concluding ThoughtsSo, that’s all of the things that I can discuss in terms of what I achieved and the products I loved in 2022. Also, I’m thinking of setting up a Discord chat for listeners of my podcast, so let me know in the comments section below if that’s something you’re interested in.If you have any questions or tips on book marketing that you would love to share with me, please come over to the blog post and share your thoughts in the comments section.

Thank you for listening, and happy reading and writing, everybody.

Your coach,

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An Update on My Three Act Structure Scrivener TemplateAn Update on My Three Act Structure Scrivener Templateby Amelia D Hay | The Authorpreneur Podcast - Writing and Self Publishing Advice

https://media.blubrry.com/indie_authorpreneur/content.blubrry.com/indie_authorpreneur/An_Update_on_my_Three_Act_Structure_Scrivner_Template.mp3Leave a ReviewListen on Apple PodcastsStream on SpotifyListen on StitcherSubscribe by EmailHello, Writers!In an upcoming episode of the authorpreneur podcast, I discuss how I stopped supplying my three-act structure Scrivener template to my email list and the reasons that led to the decision. As I was editing that episode, I had an idea.

I’m considering supplying a free ebook on three-act structure, a cheat seat, and possibly a video on how you can create your own Scrivener template.

Is this something that you’re interested in signing up for or downloading? Let me know by sharing your thoughts below in the comments section under this post.

Concluding ThoughtsOnce again, thank you for listening, and I’ll see you in the next episode.

Happy reading and writing, everybody.

Your coach,

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Have you found the blog and podcast useful? Wish you could buy the host, Amelia D. Hay, a cup of coffee? Now, thanks to Buy Me a Coffee you can!← PreviousThe post An Update on My Three Act Structure Scrivener Template appeared first on The Authorpreneur Podcast | Writing Tips and Self Publishing Advice.

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A few weeks ago, I received an email from Plottr letting me know they were interested in chatting with me on my podcast about plotting and story organisation techniques and how Plottr can benefit both Plotters and Pantsers. Because Plottr is a story organisation tool I thought the interview would be great for this season of The Authorpreneur Podcast because I'm discussing outlining and the pre-writing phase. Also if you've been thinking about trying Plottr this might help you decide whether the software is right for you. So, in the show I'm chatting with Troy Lambert about plotting and story organisation techniques with Plottr.

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Are you confused about scenes and chapters? Do you write scenes that aren't working, and you wonder why? In this first instalment of this mini-series on scenes, I will discuss the difference between scenes and chapters. Define what is a scene in the context of novel writing. I will answer the age-old question, what is the perfect length of a scene? And I will share how to end a scene and know when a scene has reached its natural end.

The post TAP041, What is a Scene? How to Write Great Scenes appeared first on The Authorpreneur Podcast | Writing Tips and Self Publishing Advice.

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In this episode, I discuss writing from a character's point of view and share how to overcome the biggest mistake many first-time writers make. I'm not saying that I've mastered this technique in any way, shape or form, but I've made mistakes and learned valuable lessons that I want to share with you.

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Before you put pen to page, you need to decide which point-of-view is right for your story. In this show, I will discuss point-of-view in writing fiction and the things to consider when choosing the right point-of-view for your novel. But I will not discuss second-person because I don't understand its mechanics. And I will not be delving too deep into third-person omniscient point-of-view for similar reasons.

The post TAP039, Point of View: Which One is Right for Your Story appeared first on The Authorpreneur Podcast | Writing Tips and Self Publishing Advice.

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As you can guess from the title of this show, I chat with Dave Chesson from Kindlepreneur about his new all-in-one writing software, Atticus. For those who don't know, Atticus is a brand new all-in-one writing software for writers launched at the end of 2021. That's when the reviews of the software first launched.

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So you've created an outline for your novel, and now you're ready to start writing. Diving into the first draft seems like the first logical step. First, however, I recommend you slow down and edit the outline of your novel. I learned this lesson the hard way after publishing my first-in-series novella.

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In this episode, I discuss how I go from a story idea to a fleshed-out outline. I know this is obvious, but this is my process instead of 'the way to outline a novel.' As you can see from the title, this is the third and final instalment in a three-part mini-series on outlining a novel.

The post TAP036, From Idea to Outline: How to Outline a Novel (Part 3 of 3) appeared first on The Authorpreneur Podcast | Writing Tips and Self Publishing Advice.

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Welcome to the second instalment of my three-part mini-series on how I outline a novel. For those of you who are unaware, I discuss how I go from fleshing out a story idea to a basic outline in the first episode. In this show, I share the steps in my outlining process that help me create a structurally sound story with scenes that actively move the story forward. If you haven't listened to episode TAP034, I highly recommend you pause here and go back and listen to that. The steps in this show take my outlining process and push it to the limits of being a zero draft.

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In this episode, I will discuss how I go from a story idea to a fleshed-out outline. I know this is obvious, but this is my process instead of 'the way to outline a novel.' This process has evolved since my very first novel. As I wrote the next story, more steps were added to my intricate outlining approach.

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In celebration of the start of season three and the release of my eighty-second episode, I’m taking a look back at the most popular podcast episodes from season two with help from the Blubrry Statistics dashboard, just like I did when season one came to an end. The episodes in this roundup style post are included purely based on the number of downloads, and complete or partial listens throughout season two which spanned from the 23rd of November 2019 to the 25th of September 2021

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In this episode, I share the things you need to consider before you decide to outline a novel, an important question that you need to ask yourself, a piece of advice that you need to keep in mind, outlining pitfalls, and my recommendations for new writers. On top of this, I talk about the downsides of creating an outline in order to give you a balanced and somewhat unbiased answer to this age-old question.

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In this episode, I discuss a series of frustrating issues with Apple Books. While I was struggling with Apple Books I decided to redesign the cover of the ebook, and I went on to design the paperback based upon this new design. Also, I started paying attention to the results of using advanced reader services like BookSirens and BookSprout.

The post BTS047, Issues with Apple Books, Cover Redesigns, and The Results of Using Advanced Reader Services like BookSirens and BookSprout | December 2021 Author Diary appeared first on The Authorpreneur Podcast | Writing Tips and Self Publishing Advice.

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In this episode, I discuss my newfound distrust of Etsy and no longer recommend them to creative businesses. Also in November, I finish preparing for my book release, and I get some snarky reviews.

The post BTS046, Preparing for My Book Release, Snarky Reviews and Why I No Longer Recommend Etsy to Creative Businesses | November 2021 Author Diary appeared first on The Authorpreneur Podcast | Writing Tips and Self Publishing Advice.

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Coming up in this episode, I discuss the highs and lows of working with a professional editor and preparing to self publish my second novella.

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In this bonus episode, I chat with Michaelbrent Collings on how he writes his fiction novels, or more specifically how to outline a novel.

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BTS044, Revision is Like Pulling Teeth and Working with a Professional Editor | September Author Diary Update

BTS044, Revision is Like Pulling Teeth and Working with a Professional Editor by Amelia D. Hay | The Authorpreneur Podcast - Writing and Self Publishing Advice

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Hello, Writers! I hope you are all well and are staying safe.

Revision is like pulling teeth.

Well, that’s how it feels to me, at the moment. I’m so over revising this story. But at the same time, I feel so insecure about this novella. Long gone is that innocent, naive Amelia, who was excited to publish her first piece of fiction. Perhaps, I know better now. Or, more realistically, I’m more cynical. I know what awaits me if I screw up and publish a book with plot holes, however minor.

In this behind the scenes author diary episode, I discuss the highs and lows of my revision process, what prompted me to move into the professional editing phase and my struggles with writer’s insecurity. Yes, spoiler alert, I’m riddled with it. And, I share an exciting milestone with Le Villain Book Covers.

Without further ado, let get on with the show.

About the Episode Just to let you know, this episode was recorded on Tuesday the 12th of October, so this show is primarily me looking back at September. If you’re on YouTube, you’ll notice that I’ve gone back to an audio-only version of the podcast. I’ve had to pull the plug on the video podcast episode because I couldn’t do everything, and something had to go.

If you’re new to this podcast, I want to say a huge thank you for stopping by and trying out my show. To those of you who have been faithfully listening, thank you for regularly listening in and supporting me; your support means more to me than you know.

The Candidate In the early hours of Monday, the 6th of September, I made a decision about whether I would tie up the minor plot thread that none of the beta readers noticed. This decision promoted me to continue the revisions on the Candidate after getting my manuscript back from the paid beta readers in August. That day, I made revisions based upon the remaining elements on my revision checklist that I created in August. If you want to know more about that checklist, listen to episode BTS043.

For the sake of clarity, the revisions I made didn’t affect every chapter, but there were a few. In terms of plot and characterisation, only eight chapters needed rewrites. I believe this is due to my extensive pre-planning and outlining phase. During this early stage, I mapped out the events leading up to the crime, including the villain and victims timeline, motivations for all suspects, and what they are lying and being honest about in the interviews. Those tasks made a difference to the revision phase.

Feeling the Fear While I was panicking in August, I had contemplated hiring another beta reader, the one that read Missing before I wrote the second edition. But I think I’m just stalling and putting off the inevitable, pressing publish. There’s a real fear being up within me as a step closer to the finish line; it’s a fear that I didn’t have before Missing. A part of me misses that naive enthusiastic writer.

It’s Like Pulling Teeth After the one-pass revision ended, I dived straight into performing line edits using Grammarly and Pro Writing Aid*. The line edit took eight hours, and I completed it in three sittings. But, I had to take breaks and devote time to Le Villain Book Covers, but more on that later. Quite recently, I reached the point where I had completed a self line edit. After that, I opened my manuscript in Authors.ai and AutoCrit, and I felt overwhelmed.

To be honest, I didn’t know what to do next. The sheer thought of doing another round of revisions makes me want to gauge my eyes out with a spoon. I know; I’m a little overdramatic.

Off to see the Wizard At this point, I need someone to tell me what is wrong with my manuscript on a sentence level. So, I submitted my manuscript to my editor. A few hours later, I got a response from the company saying that I’ve been scheduled with a different editor to Missing on a specific date. This response was strange because, on the website, the editor for Missing is listed as available. I replied and asked if I could stick to the same editor as last time. Now, I’m just waiting for a response. Eventually, I received the good news that I was now in the queue to work with the same editor as Missing.

Yay!

The Waiting Game While I waited for the first round of line edits for The Candidate to be completed, I decided to continue working on my other writing projects. I wrote and edited the next two scenes in Entitled to Murder, and I rewrote scene fifty-three in Duplicity, which is the second book in the James Lalonde series. And I also used this time to catch up on my podcasting tasks. On top of all of this, I made several attempts to contact Frostbite Publishing to hire a beta reader, but after getting zero response back, I turned to Fiverr* and hired a beta reader that I had never worked with before. Insecurity prompted me to hire this third beta reader. Right now, I’m so worried that I’ve written a terrible book; fingers crossed, I get helpful feedback on plot, characterisation, and pacing.

Line Editing Begins On the last day of September, I received the first round of line edits from my editor. That same day, I went through and accepted all of the tracked changes; those changes were the more straightforward changes to implement. Think commas, grammatical errors, and over-usage of words. Anything that needed a little more thought, I skipped over with the plan to tackle these on another day. After this, I went through the manuscript page by page and started working on the edits that required more of my time. In total, I spent four hours working through the line edits, and I still have pages left to edit.

Le Villain Book Covers During the first three weeks in September, I created three premade cozy mystery trilogy covers; that’s nine separate covers in all. Each set had a different theme. First, I created a small town themed trilogy, think a modern-day Miss Marple. After that trilogy was sold, I realised that I needed to design more covers for my store because the options were getting a little low. So next, I created a paranormal or witch-themed cozy mystery trilogy, just in time for Halloween. The next day, I designed a cottage garden-themed cozy mystery trilogy.

And now for the good news.

As I shared earlier, I sold the set of three small-town cozy mystery covers in ebook and paperback. The morning I sold those covers, I started a 20% off end of summer sale on Etsy store and my website; this sale will last until September 22. After this sale, I realised that Le Villain Book Covers is now making a tiny profit. Of course, it’s double digits, but I’m no longer in the red. When I say I’m making a profit, I’m including all the costs in setting up my business, including web hosting, plugins, stock images, Etsy fees, stripe fees, and other expenses. In order to achieve this, I had to sell two sets of three premade covers and two logo designs.

So, why all of this detail?

I didn’t want to give the vanity metrics.

Sharing that I made close to £500 in sales but negating to state that my expenses were a little under £400 is dishonest. No matter how you frame it, deliberately leaving out vital information is dishonest, and the keyword here is deliberate. Even as I’m saying this, I’m wondering if I included the cost of my domain name in the start-up expenses for Le Villain Book Covers. But that’s not deliberate; it’s an oversight.

You get it.

After working in finance for a little over eleven years, this is the one thing that bothers me about the indie author community. Climbing back off my soapbox now.

Concluding Thoughts So, that’s all of the tasks I completed in terms of writing, book marketing, and email marketing. By the end of October, I want to be finished with the professional editing process and be ready to publish the Candidate. The next episode of this podcast will be a bonus episode where I interview Michaelbrent Collings, and we discuss how he writes his novels.

If you have any questions or have tips on book marketing that you would love to share with me, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Thank you for listening, and happy reading and writing, everybody.

With love,

Amelia xx

DISCLAIMER: This blog post contains affiliate links (marked with an *), which means if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a small commission. The commission helps support the blog and allows us to continue to make content like this. Thank you for your support. 🙂

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TAP031, Write a Novel with Genre Expectations in Mind (Part 2 of 2)

Hello, Writers! I hope you are all well and are staying safe.

Welcome to the final instalment of this two-part mini-series on how to write a novel with genre expectations in mind. There’s nothing worse than reaching the halfway mark as you write your first draft or even as you’re starting the revision stage to realise that you’re not sure if there’s a market for your book. If this is where you are at, then don’t panic; it’s quite normal not to know what genre you’re writing in as you write or finish your first book.

But, there’s something you can do about it.

In this episode, I’m going to share with you five steps to revising your story with genre expectations in mind.

What to Expect from This Blog Post and Podcast Episode Before we get into the tips, this episode is the second in a two-part series focused on how to write a novel with genre expectations in mind. In this second part, I want to focus on writing with genre expectations in mind for writers who have written their first draft or are ready to revise their story.

However, if you’re at the story idea phase then the first episode will be better for you.

TAP031, Write A Novel with Genre Expectations in Mind (Part 2 of 2) by Amelia D Hay | The Authorpreneur Podcast - Writing and Self Publishing Advice

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How to Write or Edit with Your Audience in Mind So, why am I recommending writing with genre expectations in mind? Here’s what most authors do, when they write their first book. Just a side note, I’m including myself in this, too. Most writers will write the story they love without considering whether it will have an audience after it’s finished. As a result, they have a finished product that’s so cross-genre it’s difficult to market. In business, it’s easier to create a product or service to fill a need or demand than to create a new target market.

So, what should you do instead?

I recommend researching the online bookstores for genres that are in demand, that you would love to write. Doing this would be easier than bending a story you’ve written to an existing genre.

But what if you’ve finished writing the first draft of your story.

Before you do anything else, go through your story and write a one or two-sentence summary of each scene in your book. Creating this list of scenes is important because it will make the five steps I’m about to share with you, easier to complete.

So, please do not skip over this.

Step #1 – Finish Your First Draft The best thing you can do for your story right now is to finish your first draft. So, take a deep breath, don’t worry too much about whether your story fits into a genre until after you’ve finished writing. I’m sure you’ve heard this before, but you can’t edit a blank page. So, write the first draft for you, then revise and edit for your reader.

The One Thing to Avoid I can’t stress this enough; if you get to the halfway mark and realise that your book is so cross-genre, it doesn’t fit anywhere on the bookshelves in a store, continue writing the first draft. Because if you pause here and go back and rewrite, edit your outline, and fix the story, there’s a massive danger that you may not come back and finish.

Why, I hear you ask?

I’m going, to be honest and say it; revision is like pulling teeth.

Revision is challenging for those first few novels that you write. After you finish your first draft, you’ll be in this weird state where you know you need to revise, but you don’t know what to do because the advice that’s out there is vague. There are blog posts that say, go through your first draft and fix the mistakes; WTF! You’re new; this is your first book. You won’t know what those mistakes are yet.

Back to the topic at hand.

The most crucial thing you can do for your future writing self is to finish the first draft. It’s only by achieving this significant milestone that you know that you can finish a novel. Tackle all the other problems like reader expectations in the next step, but for now, your only task is to finish. Focusing on completing your first draft then coming back and writing with genre expectations in mind is the easiest way to avoid shiny object syndrome as a new writer. This is how some writers never finish a story but have several unfinished manuscripts, it gets heard, or they realise the story their writing is so cross-genre that they panic and move on to the next new thing. Break the cycle today by finishing the book you’re writing.

Learning that you can write a book is a far more valuable lesson for you to know right now than writing the first draft to reader expectations.

Please do yourself a huge favour and finish writing your story.

Step #2 – Read Five Novels in Your Genre, and Know its Conventions Choose five novels that you love with good reviews that are within the category you want to write. Then, as you read through each book, make notes on what happens in each scene and chapter, and notice how the story builds.

The second element you need to pay attention to is the types of characters that appear within each of the books you are reading. At the scene level, note how many scenes are character-focused, where the cast is reacting to an event and the number of action-orientated scenes. And, I’m referring to “action” in terms of fighting, battles, and big explosions. Actually, I’m also referring to “action” in terms of story events or plot.

Another vital element in a story is humour. How is humour used in the genre you want to write? Not every genre uses humour in the same way, and it’s important to get it right.

Lastly, consider how the stories in your genre end. Do the stories need to have a happily ever after moment? Or is an ending where neither the protagonist nor the antagonist get what they want, appropriate? Make all of these notes in a word document or an excel spreadsheet.

I know I’m a nerd; I love excel.

Analyse Your Findings Now, look at the information you have collected. What are the common themes and story elements in each book? Consider which of these elements are non-negotiable.

How do you figure that out, you ask?

It’s simple; ask yourself the following question.

If I don’t have this particular element in my novel, will it still fit in this genre? Therefore, if the answer is no, you need to include it in your book. For example, if you’re writing a romantic comedy and it doesn’t end in a happily ever after or happy for now scenario, then you haven’t written a romance; you’re writing in a different genre.

My Big Oops It’s important that you figure out where your story fits, and you don’t market your novel to the wrong audience. When I wrote Missing, I thought that I had written a crime thriller. I was so sure that I marketed my novella as a crime thriller to an entire book blogging tour and various email lists and pay per click ads. As a result, I received comments in my reviews like “it was a slow burn,” which refers to the pacing and it’s a convention of the mystery genre, not the crime thriller. And I also had other readers say that my story could be suitable for the cozy mystery genre. But, that it’s not quite right because James Lalonde is not a character that fits into the cozy mystery genre. The readers of that genre wouldn’t like the series. Eventually, I figured out that my novella was an amateur sleuth mystery.

That lightbulb moment I had about the genre of my novella was vital because It’s changed how I market my entire series. So, I’ve screwed up, and I’ve paid the price in my reviews. And, I made another mistake with the ending; I should have included the epilogue with Missing. The epilogue occurred six months later and isn’t essential to this story; technically, it impacts the start of another story in the series. To be honest, I wished I had taken the time and took these steps before getting my story professionally edited and published.

This is why I recommend that you take these steps; they will save you a lot of heartache in the long run.

Step #3 – Figure Out Where You Are Going Wrong A few years ago, I was at a publishing event organised by Orion Publishing in the Foyles Bookstore along Charing Cross Road in London. During one of the question and answer sections, someone asked one of the authors if they write to genre or market. And, the author said, “no, I just write the story I want and the marketing team figures out how to sell the book.” It’s not a direct quote, but it sums up the spirit of the answer that was given. Unlike a traditionally published author, you do not have a marketing team to figure out how to market your books.

Read your first draft and pay attention to the things that are out of your genre. Look for the genre conventions that are deal-breakers. Those conventions are a necessity for the readers, like a happily ever after for romance or the crime being solved and justice being served at the end of a mystery.

Are you ticking these big boxes for the reader? If not, you will need to go back and add these elements to your story.

And, sometimes you may need to rewrite your story’s ending. Or, more often than not, you may need to rewrite the parts of the story you love in favour of writing to reader expectations, especially if you want to write commercially or have a career as an author. But, unless you’re writing for fun, at some stage, you need to think about your readers.

So, start today.

A Quick Guide to Genre Conventions To help you get a better grasp of the genre expectations, I’ve created a Genre Tropes Cheat Sheet featuring the conventions of the five biggest genres. These genres are Romance, Mystery, Thriller, Fantasy, and Science Fiction. In addition, I’ve chosen to separate mystery and thriller because these genres have significant differences. You can also download this cheat sheet by filling out the signup form below.

When you sign up to the genre tropes cheat sheet, you’ll receive:

A PDF containing the genre tropes.
Plus, a weekly email dedicated to the genres, starting with romance.
Downloadable recordings to accompany the cheat sheet.
Updates with new genres and conventions (Cozy Mystery, Sweet Romance etc.).

I spend quite a bit of time researching these genres tropes because I don’t read in all of these genres. However, I did my best to research all of the genre conventions for the genres I read in and the categories I am unfamiliar with because I want this to be of value to you. But, I hope the Genre Tropes Cheat Sheet helps you to understand the main five genres. If you have something that you’d love for me to add to the cheat sheet and emails, maybe I’ve missed a critical trope or misunderstood something, then Let me know by commenting below or send me a message on my contact page.

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Step #4 – End it Right The ending you give your story is what will entice the reader to pick up the next book. So, it’s crucial that you get it right and make it memorable. In terms of endings, if you do something that’s not expected, then you should expect polarising opinions “loved it” or “hated it.” And those polarising reviews are tough to read because you’re tossed to and fro between the differing views.

James Patterson mentions his experience with this in his masterclass regarding the ambitious ending with one of his books. But, this was done on purpose. And, he’s James Patterson; and that’s important to point out. He already has an established fan base of readers who will, quite literally, read anything he writes. I’m going to go out on a limb here and suggest that you and I don’t have this type of readership yet, so save your genre-bending ideas for when you have super-fans.

Further Reading If you want to know more about writing an ending for your story, I’ve devoted an entire episode to this in season one; you can listen to episode 021 on how to choose the right ending for your story by clicking this link.

My Second Big Oops In light of this, you could write an epilogue that hints at how the current book has affected what’s to come. For example, the epilogue in my novella, Missing, shows the reader where the characters are in six months and how the story has changed their lives. This scene occurs after book three, and based on feedback, leaves the reader curious about the next books in the series. Thus, it does what it’s supposed to do. I made this choice because my story doesn’t end in a way that’s appropriate to the genre, but I felt the ending was realistic and posed an important question. So, I kept it and wrote an intriguing epilogue instead.

However, I later realised that I screwed up the epilogue too. The epilogue left the readers thinking all of these characters would return in the next book, but that’s not the case; only James does. Eventually, I will pick up that storyline again, but I have to set things up first. So deleted the epilogue intending to use it as a prologue for an upcoming novel.

Step #5 – Test Your Product After you’ve gone through your manuscript and revised your story with all of the things you found in steps one to four, you should have a story that’s written to a genre. But, what if you’re still not sure. Even if you’re confident, I still recommend you take this step. If you’re not sure whether you’ve written a story with genre expectations in mind, enlist the help of beta readers who read in that category.

Paid and Free You don’t necessarily have to trawl the forums of Goodreads looking for free beta readers. Instead, use a service like Fiverr* and hire a few paid beta readers. The reason I suggest paid beta readers is because they’ve read and provided a lot of feedback, plus they work to a schedule and often have their criteria when giving feedback. When hiring a beta reader, check that they read in your genre and provide inline comments on your manuscript because getting these first impression comments are invaluable. Usually, a paid beta reader will charge around US$50.00 plus taxes.

Ask them about your story’s genre as a part of a survey as you collect feedback for your novel. All you need to ask is a simple question with a few options for the readers to choose from or leave the answer blank for them to fill out. And look at the most popular answers. And, this is why it’s important to hire more than one beta reader because you get more than one answer, and it’s easier to pick up on the common reader reactions.

Recommended Reading So, where do you go from here? If you want more information on writing to market or write a novel with genre expectations in mind, check out these recommended books and courses. These recommendations come from my experiences using these products or come highly recommended through great reviews. First, however, I will point out which books I’ve personally purchased and read and those that I have not used.

Books and courses used and recommended by me:

Write to Market by Chris Fox *
How to Outline a Cozy Mystery by Sara Rosette *
Romancing the Beat by Gwen Hayes *
Courses by WMG Publishing – often, they have classes focused on writing a particular genre.

Just for the sake of transparency, I haven’t read this book, but it has a good number of reviews on Amazon.

Mystery: How to Write Traditional & Cozy Whodunits by Paul Tomlinson *

Another disclaimer, I recently became aware of this next podcast through an email that found its way into my spam folder, which is quite embarrassing because the email is old. My spam filter is strong, thanks to the programme that I use. But that wasn’t my point. I have not used any of these courses, but the courses are quite in-depth, from what I can see. In light of that, the Am Writing Fantasy Podcast has a range of courses on how to write fantasy, including all of the world-building and preplanning phases of writing.

Concluding Thoughts To write a story with genre expectations in mind, you need to take these five steps.

Finish your first draft
Read five books in your genre and know your genre’s conventions.
Figure out where you’re going wrong.
Focus on your story ending.
And, test your product.

If you want to download the genre tropes cheat sheet, please fill out the signup form below and join the emailing list. And, if you what to add anything or correct any mistakes that I’ve made in any of the genres, please share your thoughts in the comments section below, or fill out the contact me form.

Share Your Thoughts As always, I have an important question to ask. Are you struggling to write a story to a genre? Or, have you found a way to write a story to a genre that works for you? I want to hear from you. Share your tips or struggles in the comments section below.

Your coach,

Amelia xx

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The post TAP031, Write a Novel with Genre Expectations in Mind (Part 2 of 2) appeared first on The Authorpreneur Podcast | Writing Tips and Self Publishing Advice.

Romancing the Beat: Story Structure for Romance Novels (How to Write Kissing Books)

Write to Market: Deliver a Book that Sells (Write Faster, Write Smarter)

Mystery: How to Write Traditional & Cozy Whodunits (Genre Writer)

How to Outline A Cozy Mystery: Workbook (Genre Fiction How To)

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TAP030, Write A Novel with Genre Expectations in Mind (Part 1 of 2)

Hello, Writers! I hope you are all well and are staying safe.

Writing to market or writing with genre expectations in mind is often seen as a dirty word. And, I think there are a few misconceptions, largely to do with confusing the strategy with writing to a trend, which is very different. For the sake of clarity, writing to trend is all about writing what’s popular. An example of that strategy is writing a paranormal romance feature vampires because they’re hot right now; that’s writing to trend. By the way, I have no idea whether that’s a hot trend, so don’t take that as gospel because it’s just an example I plucked from my mind a few seconds ago.

However, writing with genre expectations in mind is all about writing for your audience. I know you want to write what you love, but hear me out. As a writer, I get it, you need to love what you write, but you also need to write something that others will enjoy and want to stick around for long-term.

In this blog post, I will share the exact steps to write a novel with genre expectations, even if all you have is a story idea and you’re yet to write your first draft.

What to Expect from This Blog Post and Podcast Episode Before we get into the tips, this episode is the first in a two-part series focused on how to write a novel with genre expectations in mind. In this first part, I want to focus on writing with genre expectations in mind for writers who haven’t written their first draft and merely have a story idea in mind. This episode will be great for you if you have a story idea or outline and want to write for an existing audience.

Part two, which will be in two weeks, will be great for those of you who have written the first draft or are revising and are concerned there’s no market for your book.

Don’t worry; the episode has already been recorded and edited and is scheduled on my podcast hosting providers website.

TAP030, Writing with Genre Expectations in Mind (Part 1 of 2) by Amelia D Hay | The Authorpreneur Podcast - Writing and Self Publishing Advice

https://media.blubrry.com/indie_authorpreneur/content.blubrry.com/indie_authorpreneur/TAP030_Writing_with_Genre_Expectations_in_Mind_Part_1_of_2_.mp3

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Write A Novel With Genre Expectations in Mind So, why am I recommending writing with genre expectations in mind? Here’s what most authors do when they write their first book. Just a side note, I include myself in this, too. Most writers will write the story they love without considering whether it will have an audience after it’s finished. As a result, they have a finished product that’s so cross-genre it’s difficult to market. In business, it’s easier to create a product or service to fill a need or demand than to create a new target market.

So, what should you do instead?

I recommend researching the online bookstores for genres that are in demand that you would love to write. Doing this would be easier than bending a story you’ve written to an existing genre. If you’re in the story idea phase of writing a book, here’s what you need to do.

Step #1 – Read Five Novels in Your Genre, and Know its Conventions Choose five novels that you love with good reviews that are within the category you want to write. Then, as you read through each book, make notes on what happens in each scene and chapter, and notice how the story builds.

Another vital element in a story is humour. How is humour used in the genre you want to write? Not every genre uses humour in the same way, and it’s important to get it right.

I know I’m a nerd; I love excel.

Analyse Your Findings Now, look at the information you have collected. What are the common themes and story elements in each book? Consider which of these elements are non-negotiable.

How do you figure that out, you ask?

It’s simple; ask yourself the following question.

This is why I recommend that you take these steps; they will save you a lot of heartache in the long run.

Step #2 – Create an outline for your story If you haven’t already, create an outline for your story. You don’t need to outline every scene in your story, focus on getting clear on the key moments or plot points. The reason why I’m recommending that you do this is because it will make the next step much easier.

Actually, I wouldn’t consider plot points and story structure at this stage of the process, that’s for later. Focus on the key moments in your story, and figure out whether your idea is structurally sound when you’ve created after you’ve figured out your story’s genre. You can always come back later and flesh out your story idea or expand your outline and check that your midpoint is in the right place. Just a side note, when it comes to story structure or three-act structure, use it as a guide instead of a rigid set of rules that you need to adhere to because that makes writing suffocating. There’s no need to obsess over the fact that your inciting incident is at the fifteen percent mark instead of at the ten percent point in the story. It’s just a guide. What matters is that your story is exciting and engaging for the reader.

Step #3 – Figure out where you are going wrong Now that you’ve read five novels in your genre, highlighted the genre conventions, and outlined the key moments in your story, the next step is to determine whether your story idea fits your chosen genre. Do your story’s synopsis and outline include your genre’s important conventions? These conventions are the elements you discovered in the first step by reading five books in a genre you want to write.

A Quick Tip For instance, if you’re writing a romance, do you have a “happily ever after” or “happy for now” moment at the end of your novel? If you don’t, I highly recommend that you change this because if you don’t have this element, you’re writing a tragedy and not a romance, which is about two characters finding love.

As you compare your story idea to your list of genre conventions, make a few minor changes to your outline and synopsis as you recognise elements that need to change. Perhaps, you’re in a situation that similar to mine where you thought your idea was a mystery, but now you realise that it’s a thriller because there’s more action and less cerebral elements. If that’s the case, you don’t necessarily need to change your story idea because you’ve discovered the correct genre for your book idea. The purpose of this exercise is to find the genre, not necessarily mould a story to a genre. But, if you realise that your story still doesn’t fit the genre, now is a good time to pause and consider if there’s another genre where your story could fit. After all, you could’ve read five books that aren’t like the idea you have for your novel.

When you sign up to the genre tropes cheat sheet, you’ll receive:

A PDF containing the genre tropes.
Plus, a weekly email dedicated to the genres, starting with romance.
Downloadable recordings to accompany the cheat sheet.
Updates with new genres and conventions (Cozy Mystery, Sweet Romance etc.).

Looking for a a list of Genre Tropes? If so, then you'll love this genre tropes cheat sheet. Sign up to my newsletter for the genre tropes cheat sheet, audio download, and updates on more genres.

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Concluding Thoughts To write a story with genre expectations in mind, you need to take these three steps.

Read five books in your genre and know the conventions of your genre.
Create an outline for your story.
And figure out where you’re going wrong.

A Fourth Step After you take those three steps, the fourth step is to continue fleshing out your story idea, outline your novel if that’s what you’re into, and start writing the first draft. But it would hurt to check to see if your story still fits into the genre after you’ve finished planning your story before you write the first draft. If you’re writing a book for fun, you’re clearly not listening to this podcast or reading the blog; you’re just writing for fun. However, if you want to write for readers and eventually make a career out of being an author, then you need to figure out a way to write to genre expectations while at the same time writing what you love. For example, even though I could write a romantic comedy, I don’t do it because it’s not a genre I love to write, even after considering its popularity. While at first, I might love it, the love soon fades, and I can’t maintain my interest. This is why I write in the mystery genre. The mystery genre can hold my interest when writing is challenging, and it’s has a strong readership.

Share Your Thoughts But, what if you’ve already written a novel or three? The short answer is you need to tweak your story. In the next episode of the authorpreneur podcast, I will discuss the steps you need to take to rewrite your story with genre expectations in mind. And I will provide you with a set of actionable steps. If you want to download the genre tropes cheat sheet, please fill out the signup form below and join the emailing list. And, if you what to add anything or correct any mistakes that I’ve made in any of the genres, please share your thoughts in the comments section below, or fill out the contact me form.

Your coach,

Amelia xx

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TAP029, What to Expect from Season Three of the Authorpreneur Podcast

Hello, Writers! I hope you are all well and are staying safe.

At the start of season two, I started with the best of intentions. Just like this episode, I set the expectations for the season. And that’s when everything went pear-shaped. Things aren’t back to normal for me either. I don’t need to remind you because technically, we’re still at this place. Now that I’ve said this, I will immediately follow through with this and devote this short episode to what you can expect from season three.

And, I’ll share a few changes to the podcast that you can expect from season three.

So stay tuned for all of this and much more.

TAP029, What to Expect from Season Three of the Authorpreneur Podcast by Amelia D Hay | The Authorpreneur Podcast - Writing and Self Publishing Advice

https://media.blubrry.com/indie_authorpreneur/content.blubrry.com/indie_authorpreneur/TAP029_What_to_Expect_From_Season_Three.mp3

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All About Season Three As always, every season of the podcast will consist of twenty-eight individual shows. The focal point for season three is how to outline a novel. Even if you don’t outline, you will still get something from this season because each episode is a deep dive into an element of writing a novel.

The reason behind this is I’m an outliner, and as a result, I can’t tell you how to write by the seat of your pants or “pants” a story. I honestly don’t understand how writers do this. My lack of understanding has more to do with the fact that I’m a bit of a control freak as opposed to a belief that one way is better than another. So, if you pants your novels and if it’s working for you, then that’s great. But, if flipping open a laptop and writing is your thing, then the episodes on outlining will help you to get clear on the major moments in your story before you start writing.

Content in the Podcast In essence, the seasons of this podcast are designed to be evergreen and will act as a resource on how to write a particular element of a story. My desire to create short evergreen episodes focused on a single topic is the reason why this podcast tends to be free of interviews. However, throughout season three, I will share short interviews with other writers discussing how they write stories, and in particular, I will try to interview as many writers who “pants.” But these interview episodes will be treated as bonus episodes and will not be the focus of the podcast season.

Just like season one, this season will contain evergreen episodes focused on a single topic, so you don’t have to listen to the entire season. You have the option of picking and choosing what you want to listen to, and you’re more than welcome to skip the episodes that don’t apply to you.

Here is a shortlist of topics that I will cover in season three:

Writing with Genre Expectations in mind.
How to outline a Novel, Novella, and a short story. There will be five episodes devoted to this topic, but they will not be in consecutive order.
Story research.
There will also be six episodes on creating a great cast of characters with shows focused on the protagonist, antagonist, and supporting cast.
Five shows on how to write a scene.
Two Episodes on Point of View and POV Characters.
Three Episodes on revising your story idea or outline before you start writing.
And many more.

Season Three Launch Date The official launch date for the podcast is Thursday, the 30th of September. So, you won’t have to wait long for content on this podcast.

Changes to the Podcast In season one, the podcast had two shows. The first was the official authorpreneur podcast episode, and the second was my behind-the-scenes podcast diary. My intention was to have two shows every week. But things didn’t work out as planned. For the sake of keeping things simple, I’m going to be blunt and point out that I couldn’t keep up with my ambitions.

Season Three Changes Due to this experience, I’m making a few small changes to the third season of The Authorpreneur Podcast. On the first Saturday of every month, I will share my behind-the-scenes author diary update for the previous month. Throughout season three, there will be one writing tip episode every two weeks, starting from the first show in September. I will aim to keep the author diary and the writing tip episodes under twenty minutes instead of the promised fifteen. Also, there will be the occasional bonus interview, where I will chat with another writer about their prewriting phase.

My Why It’s important for me to be open and honest and share my writing journey with you. But, I want to deliver what I promised you when I first started as a brand new podcaster. This show will always be of those same interviews you hear on every podcast because I want to avoid producing the same content as everyone else in the writing or self-publishing space. And, I want to respect your time. I get it; you’re busy and don’t have time to listen to an hour-long epic podcast episode.

I hope all of this helps you understand why I’ve made these changes to The Authorpreneur Podcast.

Concluding Thoughts As always, I have an important question to ask. Are you writing a novel, short story, or novella? And if so, is there a topic you want me to cover in the upcoming season of The Authorpreneur Podcast. I want to hear from you. Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Thanks for listening, and happy reading and writing, everybody.

Your coach,

Amelia xx

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