Discussion: Do Writers Need Social Media?

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I remember reading this post by Nathan Bransford years ago on when you should start using social media. His post is actually what pushed me to take the plunge into Twitter and blogging, a decision that I couldn’t be happier with.

Now that I’ve waded around the social media world for two years and written posts on the best social media sites and accounts for writers, I’ve started thinking: do writers really need it?

I’m hesitant to make generalizations about what anyone needs to succeed (or generalizations at all, for that matter) with few exceptions. And while social media is not one of those exceptions, I do believe that being active in social media can at the very least make a writer’s life easier. And a little less lonely.

You see, social media is so much more than telling the world about what you had for breakfast—it’s a community, and lucky for writers there’s a rather large one of wonderful people who love words and just want to tell stories to the world. But more than that, social media is a world rife with opportunity—from pitch contests, to wish list requests from agents, to online writing conferences (which are actually a thing).

And that’s available to everyone long before publication is a reality.

Post-publication, social media becomes even more important. It allows writers to connect with their readers, both future and current. Social media drives word-of-mouth marketing, keeps readers in-the-know regarding your book, and it allows anyone and everyone to share their thoughts on your work.

So while I won’t say that it’s impossible to be a successful writer without social media, I do believe that social media can make a writer’s life much easier (and, dare I say—a little more fun?).

Even if you don’t think you need social media, it might be worth a try anyway. You never know—it might turn out to be one of your best decisions yet.

Do you think writers need social media? Why or why not?

Twitter-sized bites: 

Do writers really need social media? (Click to tweet) 

It may not be impossible to be a successful writer without social media, but it does make life easier. (Click to tweet)

Discussion: Do You Finish Every Novel Idea You Start?

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Confession time again: I have started several novels that I never finished.

Considering I’ve often written about finishing your novels and just getting the words down and worrying about the rest later, this may be a little surprising to some of you. But it’s true, and it’s something that I’m actually quite unashamed of.

Most times, these starts are a false start of sorts—more of an exploration of an idea than an actual attempt at writing out a novel. But I have fully plotted WIP ideas from start to finish, written a page or two, then decided I didn’t want to write it after all. On two occasions, I have written more than a couple thousand words, then realized with some disappointment that it wasn’t working.

So there. I’ve said it: I don’t finish every novel idea that I start.

The thing is, that initial writing for me is part of the exploration process. I could have plotted out my most epic novel yet, but if the voice of the protagonist doesn’t work for me, I immediately lose interest and move on to something else. For me, character is king, and if I don’t find an intriguing voice to tell the story, then it’ll remain a snippet of writing and some jotted down ideas.

This is why I don’t really call a first draft an actual draft or WIP until I’ve hit 10,000 words. Even that isn’t necessarily a guarantee that this is a novel I’m going to finish, but the odds are astronomically higher after that milestone because I’ve gotten a good feel for the characters and usually if I’ve made it that far, I know something’s there.

Now, I’m well aware that not everyone works the same way I do, and so I want to hear from you: what is your exploration process like? Do you finish every novel idea that you start? 

Twitter-sized bites: 

Do you finish every novel idea you start? @Ava_Jae doesn’t, and here’s why. (Click to tweet)  

Why one writer doesn’t call a WIP an actual draft until she’s written 10,000 words. (Click to tweet)

Character Development: Write Gray Characters

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When I first began writing, I wrote characters who were black and white—good and evil—with little
in-between. My antagonists were entirely villainous with few, if any, redeemable qualities. My protagonists were the essence of good and had little to be ashamed of.

I had this thinking, I suppose, of pure good against pure evil, but what I didn’t realize is that people are rarely completely black or white—our morals and our understanding of what is good and what is bad come in shades of gray.

I discovered over the course of several manuscripts that I really enjoy writing characters who struggle against that darker side of themselves—whether it’s addiction, rage, a thirst for revenge, or something else. Characters who make terrible mistakes with dire consequences and have to face and accept the side of themselves that they so desperately want to bury.

Characters who aren’t white or black, but somewhere in between.

When I say “write gray characters” I don’t mean characters who are apathetic, or boring, or plain—I mean antagonists who feel justified in their actions, and protagonists who make bad decisions and say and do things they didn’t mean. I mean write characters who are dynamic, who struggle to make decisions, who aren’t always sure if they’re doing the right thing, or what the right thing really is.

Because the truth is, no one is 100% evil or 100% good. So why should our characters be any different?

Think back to your favorite characters—are they entirely black or white, or are they gray?  

Twitter-sized bites: 

Are your characters black, white or gray? (Click to tweet)

Do you write gray characters? Here's why you should. (Click to tweet)

Writability Turns Two!

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Well it’s official, guys: Writability is two years old. The actual two-year date was on the 6th, but I was silly and forgot to check the calendar when working out my posts, so it’s a belated blogoversary celebration.

Nevertheless, it’s somewhat incredible to me to think that I’ve been blogging for two years. I mean, I remember when the blog was a weird tan and red color and had a tiled book background. I remember being terrified when I put up that first post two years ago and I remember thinking well, it’ll be worth it if one person likes it.

I never imagined this. I wasn’t sure that the blog would last a couple months—let alone two full years. I never thought that I’d have wonderful discussions in the comments or that I’d get nice e-mails from people that I will save forever. I never thought I’d meet some wonderful people or that’d I’d learn just as much from writing the posts as I do from discussing the ideas behind them.

And it’s thanks to you. Really.

Whether you’ve read one post or you’ve been here since May 6, 2011—every comment, every page view, e-mail, Facebook like, Twitter follow and tumblr reblog is a vote of support. Every kind word and virtual high-five is a reminder of why I continue to do this. Of why I wrack my brain three times a week for a post to write.

In a way, nothing has changed—I’m still an unagented writer dreaming of publication. I’m still a person who loves to write and read and gets excited about Harry Potter fandom and Marvel movies, and occasionally I’ll write a post that scares me just as much as that first ever post did.

But in a way, everything has changed—I’ve shared an excerpt from my novel here for the first time, I have people regularly sharing my posts with others and I’ve had truly incredible conversations about why writers must read and whether or not cursing is acceptable in YA novels, and I’m proud to say that I have an awesome community right here at Writability.

So thank you. All of you. You have truly made this experience worthwhile and wonderful and I cannot thank you enough.

How to Avoid Writing Info-Dumps

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Easily one of the more difficult aspects of writing a novel is balancing explanation with prose. Giving readers enough information to understand the story without drowning them in particulars.

In other words, explaining without info-dumping.

The reason info-dumps can be so tricky to avoid is because it’s often difficult for writers to determine how much is too much, and oftentimes, in an effort to avoid confusing readers, we overdo it. We explain way too much at once and end up freezing the story altogether to rant on and on about why elements of the story work the way they do. It’s like freezing the action in the middle of the movie to say and now for a little history…

It’s jarring, and it often results in bored readers.

What makes this even tricker is that the opposite problem is one that is just as deadly—not explaining enough, which results in losing readers entirely to confusion and frustration. This is a common problem as well, because as the authors of the story, we sometimes forget that readers aren’t privy to the information we have stored away in our skulls.

The key is to reach a sweet spot in between by spreading the information out throughout the novel.

What this requires is a prioritization of information. Right from the beginning, you need to determine what information is essential for readers to understand immediately— information about your characters, the setting, the world rules, etc. That information should be sprinkled throughout the beginning of your novel.

From there, determine what else is important, but you can hold off on revealing without utterly confusing your readers. History, backstory and more detailed explanations usually fall into this category, and this information should be spread out throughout the middle-end of your book.

Regardless of when the information is conveyed, the important thing is to make sure you spread it out. Have a couple characters talk about something important—then interrupt them. Show us the way your fantasy world works rather than explaining it over the course of a couple pages.

If you strategically sprinkle bits of information throughout your prose, you’ll teach your readers all they need to know to understand your story without drowning them in information—and that’s exactly what you want.

Have you ever written an info-dump? What did you do to fix it? 

Twitter-sized bites: 

Are you drowning your readers in information? Avoid info dumps now. (Click to tweet)

Make your readers happy: strategically sprinkle bits of information throughout your prose. (Click to tweet)

25 Helpful Writerly and Twitter Terms

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When you think about it, we writers have our own language. We have abbreviations and terms that make non-writers stare like you’re speaking Tagalog. Words that can sound intimidating to new writers jumping into the writing world. Words that writers throw around in everyday conversation, completely forgetting that not everyone will understand.

I’ll admit I do it, too. And so I thought I’d put together a quick list of help writerly and Twitter terms. So without further ado, a quick introduction to the language of writers...

Abbreviations:

• MS: Manuscript. To quote from dictionary.com, "the original text of an author's work, handwritten or now usually typed, that is submitted to a publisher." 
• WIP: Work-In-Progress. Usually referring to an unfinished manuscript, or a non-final-draft manuscript. Technically a manuscript can be a WIP until the final, published draft. 
• CP: Critique partner. Very special people that every writer needs. 
• SASE: Self-Addressed Stamped Envelope. Only necessary in mailed queries. With the rise of e-mail queries, this isn’t as common as it used to be. 
• ARC: Advanced Reader Copy. Copies of a soon-to-be-published novel sent to book reviewers, etc. shortly before the publication of said novel. This is not the very final draft, but it’s close. It’s also how writers get those lovely blurbs before the book is officially published. 
• MC: Main Character. 
• NA: New Adult. A relatively new term for book centering around protagonists aged around 18-26. See books like Losing It by Cora Carmack and this post by NA author Christina Lee who explains it much better than I can at the moment. 
• YA: Young Adult. Term for novels centering around protagonists aged about 15-18 (with wiggle room, of course). 
• MG: Middle Grade. Term for novels centering around middle-school and slightly younger-aged protagonists. 
• PB: Picture Book. Children’s book with pictures...self-explanatory, I hope. 
• TBR pile/list: To-Be-Read pile/list. Basically a list of books that you want to read; AKA the list that never ends. 
• R&R: Revise and Resubmit. A request from a publishing professional to make suggested edits and resubmit the manuscript. Usually R&Rs are sent if the agent/editor is very interested in the novel, but believes it needs significant revisions before it’s ready to be taken on. 

Terms:

• edit letter: The letter of doom. Ok, not really. Edit letters are letters from editors that detail fixes/rewrites/adjustments that a manuscript needs before publication. Length may vary. 
• query letter: A letter sent to agents and editors with the purpose of (hopefully) enticing said publishing professional to request the full manuscript. 
• pitch: Not to be confused with synopsis, a pitch is a brief summary of a novel meant to intrigue and entice readers to open up the book. This should not give away the ending of the book. Think back-cover copy (the blurb usually found on the back of a book). 
• synopsis: A horrific torture device (well, it could be). A synopsis is a summary of the entire book. It includes all of the main characters, major plot points and the ending. 
• full: A request from a publishing professional to see a writer’s full manuscript. 
• partial: A request from a publishing professional to see the first section of a writer’s manuscript. This can vary from a few chapters to half the book, but is often around fifty pages. 

Twitter:

• RT: Re-tweet. A tweet shared word-for-word from another Twitter user. 
• MT: Modified Tweet. A tweet shared from another Twitter user with minor adjustments (usually to make it fit in 144 characters with attribution). 
• DM: Direct Message. A private message only viewable between the sender of the message and the recipient. 
• @-reply: Replying to or commenting on a tweet while using the @ symbol to direct the tweet to a specific user. Tweets starting with @[username] can only be seen by the mentioned user and those who follow both the sender and the recipient. 
• hashtag (#): A phrase or abbreviation marked with #. These are used for two purposes: to add commentary to a tweet like this:
  

  I keep seeing trends with "Revis" in it, and while I know it has to do with sports, I think of @bethrevis first. #whoneedssports #booknerd
  — Ava Jae (@Ava_Jae) April 21, 2013

  And to tag a tweet to a specific thread. Hashtags are often used to mark a Twitter forum of sorts—all tweets tagged with a hashtag will appear in a thread together. 
• Twitter handle: Twitter username. All Twitter usernames start with an @ symbol. For example, mine is @Ava_Jae. 
• Auto-follow back: Following a user immediately and only because they followed you first. I don’t do this for reasons. 

This isn’t a comprehensive list (because that would be way too long), but what terms would you add to the list? Can you think of any that you are unsure of or find confusing?

Query Critiques: More Important Than You Think

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While I’ve written several times about the importance of having critique partners and getting your work
(gently) ripped to shreds, it has occurred to me that we’ve yet to discuss another very important step to the critiquing process: getting your query letter looked at.

Most writers are not enormous fans of the query letter writing stage—in fact, many writers have no problem admitting that it’s on the lower end of enjoyable things to write.

Writing a good query involves summarizing your book into a couple paragraphs in a way that makes others have a good understanding of your story and want to read more, while also making your book stand out. It also involves accurately reflecting the tone of your book, giving away enough so that readers understand the main idea of your novel without giving away too much, and writing it in a way that flows.

In short: query letters are hard.

Good news, is there is a way to improve your query and get valuable insight into how to improve it, and it’s called a critique.

The nice thing about query critiques is that they don’t take a huge commitment. Writers can trade three or four drafts of their critiques over the course of a couple days, versus trading 60-100k word manuscripts over the course of a month.

But like beta-reading and manuscript-swapping, query critiques are enormously helpful, because they allow you to get outside feedback before industry professionals start looking at it critically.

Because the truth is this: the query is the first impression industry professionals have of your work, and if you don’t polish it as well as you did your book, it won’t matter how much you edited, or how beautiful your writing is, because many professionals won’t get to your actual pages. Your query has to make your book stand out and shine, or you’re likely to get rejections regardless of how well-written your book is.

Query letters aren’t easy to get right, but if you trade query critiques with other writers, not only will you get valuable feedback on how to improve your letter, but you’ll also begin to develop an understanding for what works and what doesn’t in a query.

It’s a win-win, and it’s a step that you definitely don’t want to skip.

Have you ever critiqued a query or had your query critiqued? What was your experience like?