The Big Black Quiet

After it all ends, what is left?

So, my first novel is published. Self-published that is and on Kindle at that. After years of plotting, drafting and (re-)writing my epic young adult fantasy novel is out there...

...among thousands of others. Lost among the white noise. Unnoticed by all, but family and friends. I sold exactly one copy and got perhaps a few hundred Likes on my promotional Facebook page (for which I paid $65). Where is the release party? The interviews? The press releases and the bestseller nod? One month after my ego manifested itself online and my creativity up for sale, there is only a big, black quiet.

Let's put things into perspective. It's not death. Death is the end of a living being - surely not comparable to the mere release of one's creative endeavor? It's not that bad, and in fact I don't experience it as such, either. I'm having fun advertising my book. But it's not easy...

Any author/(self-)publisher will tell you it takes a lot of time and effort to advertise your work once its finished, getting the word out, making some noise and knocking on doors. Admittedly there are a lot of supportive websites that will gladly promote your ebook for free (as long as your book is for free) or have amateur reviewers read your book and post their opinions in blogs and articles. Then there's Twitter and Facebook. Tweet about your book. Build connections with first adopters, who actively are looking for new authors and new stories. Reward new readers with free give-aways, quizzes and Likes on their pages. There is quite frankly a ton of venues to sell your story.

When you don't have a fan base, you need to make connections.

Connection

 by MistoAcrilico

And so that's what I've been doing. On Facebook and Twitter I've been showing off present artwork in the book as well as sneak previews of artwork yet to come. I've run a single Facebook Ad campaign to test the waters and it's quite frankly a lot of fun to do it at first. 

But I'm not committed to accessing all channels of advertisement just yet. After all, the trailer version of the book - now available at Amazon :) - still has its fair share of grammar errors and temporary artwork. I'm drawing the official artwork as we speak and one of my three editors is already finished with checking the manuscript. So when I'm confident that the edition I release is proofed and complete, I will throw myself fully at the advertisement machine and give it its best shot. 

And to keep me really happy in the meantime? Start writing the sequel. That after all is the best way of getting picked up by a publisher/agent: proof that your not just a one-book wonder.

The Final Dash, part 6 (of 6)

:(

I didn't make it. It's alright. I worked hard these last few days and got to write over 40.000 words. I'm also in the second to last chapter, which really is the last one if you like happy endings (hint). The last few chapters were hard to write despite them revolving around action. Or maybe action is that much harder to write. In my head I see the action scenes play out and I have to capture it in words. On the one hand it's very satisfying because I write much faster (with many more syntax errors by the way) wanting to keep up with the action in my head. I play soundtracks from Hans Zimmer, Danny Elfman and Michael Giacchino on my iPhone as they usually have adrenaline pumping tunes. If you don't believe me listen to Gladiator, Sherlock Holmes, Batman etc.

But they are also harder to write because of the choreography consistency. Characters in certain spots need to be there when you switch to another character and back. Objects used or destroyed, characters disposed of and tempo. Especially that last part is very important. You don't want to get bogged down by lots of dialogue, but you need that to get a personal involvement and for dramatic reasons. Also you don't want to sink in a mire of descriptive text, but that too is needed to keep it realistic and not just a rundown of events. So writing action can be very frustrating if you don't feel you're hitting the right notes and the right speed. Well, during the redraft I'll look it over and see if it flows.

So many many soymilk mocha's and green tea latte's later (and one bloated sore behind) I have made many coffeshop friends, who might be interested later in picking up the book. This weekend I'll wrap up the last of the words and take a long break. I'll see what I'll do with the blog. Maybe there's a need to get away from my monologues as well. :)

Talking About Action

Greetings,

The heroes are now in the Yucatan, Mexico. Digging through ancient Mayan sites to find clues about a hidden city, they encounter black-clad villains, underwater beasts and the scariest of all: camera-toting tourists. And despite  that it takes them a day or more to do so, the action translates from my Muse-poked brain onto the digital version of the book within the space of a paragraph or two.

 On the other side there is dialogue. Dialogue is great. Dialogue is fun. Dialogue is... wow, lengthy. Characters interacting and developing at real time as the reader reads about it is one of the things that, to my feeling, makes or breaks a book. You can have all the great concepts and plot twists you want, the most imaginative scenery laid out before you and the craziest action making you flip pages like you're thumbing through the Yellow Pages, but if the characters never seem to do anything but move the reader from location to location then the book is really a waste of a good tree.

Dialogue can also be so much fun, literally playing cat and mouse with presumptions and false conclusions, which then need to be dissected, all the while drawing the reader along from the unknown into the secret knowledge needed for the heroes to reach their goal. I think it's the most intimate way for a reader to experience a story. That's why so many protagonists start out knowing nothing of the challenges awaiting them and slowly but surely learn the ropes of the trade, so the audience can feel the accomplishment too.

Lengthy. I find dialogue certainly adds towards a fair share of the book's volume already. I can spend (and will) just a whole chapter of the hero and a friend talking to each other in the back of a truck as they speed towards their destination, trying to figure out what to do next. I need it too, because as it stands I've plotted already way too much information that the audience needs to absorb within the course of the story in order to make sense of the world they are venturing in. No doubt a lot will get cut in the editing, but for now having the characters discuss rather than do is the only way to keep the reader feel she is still part of this roller coaster ride.