Breaking Through the Genre Mold: Author Interview with K.M Weiland

The description for your current book, Storming, says it is “a jaunty historical adventure / dieselpunk mash-up that combines rip-roaring steampunk adventure and small-town charm with the thrill of futuristic possibilities.” What made you decide to mix all those genres together? 

Honestly, it wasn’t so much a decision as just something that happened. The story started out as straight historical, set in western Nebraska in the 1920s, but it soon took a turn into something with a slightly fantastical bend. I knew from the beginning I wanted it to have a distinct “summer blockbuster” vibe—an adventurous romp of a story, but one with a lot of heart.

What do you think makes it work? 

As for why it works, it’s deeply grounded in our realistic world, with only touches here and there of the speculative, and those I tried to keep realistic in their own right, even as I had fun with them and didn’t worry too much about the physics and science.

How did you get started in writing? 

I started writing when I was twelve and published a small newsletter throughout high school. I independently published my first novel, the western A Man Called Outlaw when I was twenty. But I didn’t really take it seriously as a business until my next book, the medieval historical Behold the Dawn, came out three years later.

Who encouraged you? 

My family has always been incredibly supportive, and I’ve had many wonderful writing buddies and critique partners who have joined me in the struggles and joys of the writing life along the way.

Besides writing novels, you’ve also published short stories. What is the market for short stories? Even though they are not printed books, you still have to buy a cover, format and market them. With those expenses, how can you make a profit? Or are they like loss leaders at a grocery store meant to create interest in your novels? 

When I first started writing, I churned out about 120 short stories in 5 years. Since then, I’ve written hardly any. But I emerged from that intensive apprenticeship with three shorts in particular that I was proud of. They were just sitting there, doing nothing, so I decided to throw them together as little e-books and offer them to my readers for just $.99 apiece. They obviously aren’t very lucrative, but they’re an easy way for new readers to gain an introduction to my work

PenForASword Publishing is your own imprint, correct? Why did you decide to indie publish? 

Yes, PenForASword Publishing is mine. As both an independently and traditionally published author, I’m a proponent of both publishing venues. Independent publishing has presented authors with previously unheard of opportunities that should always be taken into consideration and weighed against the pros and cons of traditional publishing.

However, independent publishing does not guarantee success. I’ve seen far too many indie authors who jumped into publishing, believing with all their hearts their books were polished and professional, when they were anything but.

What pitfalls do you see for those who are new to indie-publishing? 

Before opting to self-publish, I always recommend that authors take that extra moment to be brutally honest with themselves about their priorities. It's always worthwhile (even crucial) to hire professionals (especially an editor) to help produce a product that will enhance a career as an author, rather than tarnish it.

It's also important to realize that even if you do have a great product, there's no guarantee it will be profitable. I couldn't live off what I make from my fiction.

That said, self-publishing as a whole has treated me very well and if you can make it work, I definitely recommend it over a traditional route.

How do you go about choosing your cover art? 

Book cover design is an art unto itself, and one that is integral to any author’s marketing efforts. Unless you happen to be an expert in design and marketing (in addition to being an awesome author, of course!), your book cover probably isn’t something you’re going to want to relegate to DIY.

I started using the awesome design company Damonza when Structuring Your Novel came out—and then I immediately had them redo my existing cover for Outlining Your Novel, so the two books would be visually branded together.

Since then, Damonza has also done the covers for Outlining Your Novel Workbook, Structuring Your Novel Workbook, Conquering Writer’s Block and Summoning Inspiration, the updated version of my medieval novel, Behold the Dawn, as well as Storming, of course.

What makes for a good cover? 

I start out by describing the book to them and the general tone I want to convey to potential readers. They take it from there, and then we go back and forth until I have something I’m completely happy with.

With all the books on writing in print and eFormat, what makes your writing tips a must buy?

I’m addressing niche subjects that are in-demand but that aren’t being covered in much depth elsewhere. I break down complex subjects—such as story structure—into the smaller pieces of an overall process. I like taking the big picture and analyzing the different integers that make it work. I think people find that nitty-gritty approach useful, amidst what is largely a swarm of very general information.

As writers we’re told that social media is the live blood to growing an audience and readers. Your blog is listed as one of the 101 Best Websites for Writers. How did you become so popular? How do you find time to build or find content? 

I stumbled into blogging about writing because, hey, every writer needs a blog, right? And you’re supposed to blog about what you’re interested in, and that would be…writing. Then one day I woke up, and the blog had just sort of taken off!

I keep a running list of blog article ideas, and in over six years, I’ve never run out. Many of my ideas are based on the lessons I’m learning in writing my own novels; other posts are subjects requested by readers. They say, “Those who cannot do, teach,” but I don’t think that’s true at all. When you’re forced to distill thoughts into a teachable form, you learn so much more from it yourself.

What do you know now about publishing that you wish you knew sooner?

Probably the biggest bit of advice I would have offered myself would have been to seriously consider where my blog would be in five years if it succeeded. By that point, many of the decisions I made in the beginning were too difficult to change. I wish I’d spent more time considering my blog title, url, publishing platform (Blogger, Wordpress, etc.), subscription options, all that stuff. You don’t want to have to make major changes down the road that might undo some of your hard work in building a following.

What’s next for you in writing?

I’m currently in the throes of editing my next novel, a historical superhero story set in Regency London. I’m also getting ready to start work on several new writing how-to books, including one on character arcs, which I’ve been getting lots of requests for.

That's it for today's interview. If you would like to learn more about K.M's writing and books, here's some links to get you started. 

http://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/

http://www.kmweiland.com/

https://twitter.com/KMWeiland

https://www.facebook.com/kmweiland.author/

http://www.amazon.com/K.-M.-Weiland/e/B002RCXQ00

Writing Through Your Life: Interview with NY Times Best-Selling Author, Susan Wittig Albert

My interview today is with Susan Wittig Albert, an award-winning author, whose books have appeared on the New York Times bestseller list. Her books cover the range of YA, mysteries, academic non-fiction and memoirs. Read on to find out how she has made writing her life.

You’ve had a long an prolific career as a writer. How did it begin? When did you think you could make a career at it?
I started writing for YA magazines when I was in my late teens. Then I detoured to go to college (I was a freshman at 24, with three little kids) and begin an academic career as a university professor, with a focus on medieval literature. The career requirements included writing academic studies in my field; I wrote four books during that time.

I stayed with it until I was 45, then left the university for a writing career. I was still at the university (in administration/teaching) when I submitted my first YA novel, to Bantam, in the Sweet Dreams series, under the pseudonym Susan Blake. It was accepted and I went on to write five more in that series. When I started that last book, I felt I could make it, and I left my academic career for fulltime writing. That was 1985—30 years ago!

You've written under multiple surnames. Why the pen names? Were they works for hire?I wrote the first YA books, and several more, under Susan Blake—I wasn’t eager for my university colleagues to get a glimpse of my moonlight efforts. After that, I worked for hire in 10 different series, under the series pseudonyms: Carolyn Keene, Franklin W. Dixon, Francine Pascal, and so on.

After 1986, when Bill Albert and I were married, I co-authored some of these books with him. Co-authorship presents a special problem, since publishers like to present books under one name. Bill and I co-authored a dozen adult historical mysteries under the name Robin Paige. (You can see a full list, and count the pseudonyms, from the book link below)

For one of series, I see you wrote 23 books. How did you come up with that many plot lines for the same characters after so many books?
Plots are everywhere in the world—I’ve never ever had a problem coming up with one. Actually, each book has many more plots, since each character in a story has her or his own plot. Right? Think about that for a minute. If a character is fully-fleshed (she should be, to deserve a reader’s attention), she has a story. Her story is her plot. So a good (i.e. rich, multi-storied, engaging) novel will have as many plots as there are characters. Some plots will be extended, others abbreviated. But they should be there, and be evident enough that the reader can follow them.

After so many years of writing for children, you switched to writing for adults with your China Bayles series. Is your female protagonist’s career change, symbolic of your own writing change?
China’s career change is related to mine, yes. When I started the series, I had just written a book called Work of Her Own, about career leavers (including myself).

What made you choose herbs as your focal point for these murder mysteries?I chose herbs because that’s an interest of mine. I studied herbs in medieval literature and followed that interest out into my own garden. China Bayles was an extension of that.

You’ve seen a lot of changes in publishing over the decades. Do you think there will always be print books? Or do you think it will all go digital?

Print books won’t go away for a while. Last week, I sampled an eBook but bought the print edition because I wanted to work with the notes; it’s hard to access notes in most eBooks. I buy quite a few print books, because I need them for research. But digital is my choice when I read a particular book for entertainment, and I think digital books will increasingly dominate the market. For one thing, they’re much less expensive for publishers to produce, so the industry will move in that direction.

How do you feel the digital market has changed the publishing industry for the better or worse?
Digital publishing and marketing has opened options for many writers, and that’s very much to the good, in my opinion. The traditional publishing model presents many barriers to start-up writers. Digital gives them a place to get a foothold. Some will stay at that level, others will go on to create a crossover career in both digital and print.

As if all these series weren’t enough, you are also prolific in helping other writers through your Story Circle Network to help women writer their memoirs. How did this begin? What do you for the future of this endeavor?I was teaching memoir and journaling (lifewriting) to women, then wrote a book about the process: Writing From Life.  That same year (1997) I worked with a dozen women to start Story Circle, a nonprofit international membership organization. We sponsor the largest women’s book review site on the Internet: the Sarton Women’s Literary Awards,  and offer online writing classes for women and conferences and workshops. 

What promotions have worked best for you in book sales? How do you make a book signing a success?
For years, I did extensive (4-5 week) book tours, doing signings/talks in bookstores, libraries, garden clubs, etc. around the country. In 2007, I stopped touring began doing blog tours. I can reach many more people online, at a much lower cost and with just about the same effect. I’m active in social media, and support websites for my series. I still do an occasional bookstore and quite a few libraries, but that’s no longer my promotion focus.

What is some of the best writing advice that you’ve received or could give?

Read. Read read read read read. If you don’t read, you can’t write.

What new works do you have planned?
I have a contract to write two more books (#25 and 26) in the China Bayles series. I will likely continue that series, although I’m doing fewer mysteries these days. I’m currently working on a biographical/historical novel and have another of those planned.

If you would like to learn more about Susan and her writing, here are some options:
http://www.susanalbert.com/books/
To purchase her memoir writing book      http://tinyurl.com/WritingFromLife   
To learn more about memoir writing: ww.storycircle.org or  www.storycircleonlineclasses.org 
The Sarton Women's Literary Awards: http://tinyurl.com/Sarton 

The Promise of the First Chapter, Guest Blog Post by Chris Eboch

You’ll hear it over and over again — opening lines are important. Your opening makes a promise about the rest of the story, article, or book. It tells readers what to expect, setting the stage for the rest of the story to unfold — and hopefully hooking their interest.

 What You Promise
The first scene should identify your story’s genre. This can be trickier than it sounds. Say it’s a romance, but the main character doesn’t meet the love interest until later. Can you at least suggest her loneliness or desire for romance? (And get that love interest in there as soon as possible!)

Maybe you’re writing a story involving magic, time travel, ghosts, or a step into another dimension, but you want to show the normal world before you shift into fantasy. That’s fine, but if we start reading about a realistic modern setting and then halfway through magic comes out of nowhere, you’ll surprise your reader — and not in a good way. Your story will feel like two different stories clumsily stitched together.

If you’re going to start “normal” and later introduce an element like magic or aliens, try to hint at what’s to come. Maybe the main character is wishing that magic existed — that’s enough to prepare the reader. In my novel for ages 9+, The Genie’s Gift, an early draft didn’t introduce magic until chapter 5, when the heroine is on her quest. In revisions, I introduced magic in the opening paragraph:

Anise knew the candy must be enchanted. The genie cook always put some kind of protection on the food, so no one could eat it until he said so. Would it stick her jaws together so she couldn’t speak? Turn her lips and tongue blue? Taste like camel dung? But Anise didn’t want to wait until after the wedding. She was hungry now.

For this book, the title and cover help establish the setting anyway, but I still don’t want to make readers wait, especially impatient kids. For other genres, the title and cover may not be quite as clear-cut, and people using certain e-readers might not even see the cover or remember much about a book they bought some time ago. Give them a reminder right away.

When and Where
Your opening should also identify the story’s setting. This includes when and where we are, if it’s historical or set in another country or world. Once again, you don’t want your reader to assume a modern story and then discover halfway through that it’s actually a historical setting. They’ll blame you for their confusion. In my middle grade mystery, The Eyes of Pharaoh, not only do I identify the historical setting with a tagline, but I then follow with a scene that is clearly not contemporary America:

Waset, Egypt
Year Seven, Day Five of the First Month of Summer
in the reign of Pharaoh Ramses the Third

Seshta ran. Her feet pounded the hard-packed dirt street. She lengthened her stride and raised her face to Ra, the sun god. Her ba, the spirit of her soul, sang at the feel of her legs straining, her chest thumping, her breath racing. 

In a contemporary story, you may not identify a specific city, but the reader should have a feel for whether this is inner-city, small-town, suburban, or whatever. Whispers in the Dark, a romantic suspense written as Kris Bock, features archaeology and intrigue among ancient Southwest ruins. The opening immediately establishes both the unusual setting, and the "fish out of water" challenge for the main character:
 What had I gotten myself into?

I closed my eyes. Yes, I was driving, but a moment of distraction seemed safe enough, since I hadn’t seen another car in half an hour. Even the jackrabbits and rattlesnakes were hiding in the shade, leaving the road clear of everything but rocks and ruts. 
 I was starting an adventure. I had to remind myself of that—an adventure. I wanted to be here. I wanted to get away from the city, the classroom and office, the people. You couldn’t get much farther away than this, a tiny cluster of seven-hundred-year-old ruins in the Four Corners area of the Southwest. I had found the middle of nowhere.

 As I had wanted, I reminded myself.

Who and What’s Up
Your opening pages should focus on your main character. You may find exceptions to this rule, but your readers will assume that whoever is prominent in the opening pages is the MC. Switching can cause confusion. You should also establish your point of view early. If you’ll be switching points of view, don’t wait too long to make the first switch. In novels, typically you want to show your alternate point of view in the second chapter and then switch back and forth with some kind of regular rhythm.

And of course, you want some kind of challenge or conflict in your opening. This doesn’t have to be the main plot problem — you may need additional set up before your main character takes on that challenge or even knows about it. But try to make sure that your opening problem relates to the main problem. It may even lead to it.

In my latest Kris Bock romantic suspense, Counterfeits, the story opens with the heroine returning to the New Mexico art camp her grandmother ran. Jenny is grieving over her grandmother’s recent death and wondering how this will change her life. Two pages later, she wakes up in the night to hear people searching the house. During her escape, Jenny crashes into a sexy man, an old friend who seems to have secrets of his own. She doesn’t figure out what’s going on until much later. Still, the book opens with a character who has problems and quickly gets into greater trouble.

The Fast Start
So, an opening should introduce many elements of the story. Yet you can’t take too long to set the scene, or your readers may lose interest. You want to start in a moment of action, where something is changing, and cut the background. But don’t rush things — take a little time to set up the situation, so it makes sense and we care about the characters and what’s happening to them.

Fast, but not too fast. How do you find the balance?

You can test your opening by seeing how much you can cut. What if you delete the first sentence, the first paragraph, the first page? Does the story still make sense? Does it get off to a faster start? What if you cut the whole first chapter, or several chapters? If you can’t cut, can you condense? Another one of my romantic suspense novels, Rattled, involves a treasure hunt in the New Mexico desert. I jump into the story when the main character has found the key to the treasure, and give more detail throughout the opening chapters: 

            Erin could hardly believe what she was seeing. Could this be it? After all this time waiting, searching, had she finally, finally, found what she was looking for?

            She fumbled in her desk drawer for a magnifying glass and studied the symbols in the photo more closely. At a glance, they looked like your standard Indian petroglyphs. You could find them throughout the Southwest, tucked away in caves or scattered among boulder fields.

            But this was different.

            If she was right—and she had to be right—these symbols were a map. A map that could lead her to one of the greatest caches of buried treasure ever. 

On the other hand, if your beginning feels confusing or rushed, you might want to try starting earlier in the story. Try setting up a small problem that grabs the reader’s attention, luring them in until you can get to the main problem. In The Well of Sacrifice, another of my novels for ages 9+, the Maya are dealing with famine, disease, and marauders in the early chapters, even before the king dies and an evil high priest tries to take over. That gives readers time to understand these characters and their unusual world.

The inciting incident — the problem that gets the story going — should happen as soon as possible, but not until the moment is ripe. The reader must have enough understanding of the character and situation to make the incident meaningful. Too soon, and the reader is confused. Too late, and the reader gets bored first.

Options for Fast Starts:
· Start in the action, at a moment of change. Then work in the back story.

· Start with two people on the page.

· Start in the middle of a fight or other conflict.

· Start with a cliffhanger — something powerful about to happen.

· Start with a small problem that leads to the big problem, or is an example of the main problem.

Chris’s book Advanced Plotting is designed for the intermediate and advanced writer. If you struggle with plot or suspect your plotting needs work, this book can help. Use the Plot Outline Exercise to identify and fix plot weaknesses. Learn how to get off to a fast start, prop up a sagging middle, build to a climax, improve your pacing, and more.

Chris Eboch writes fiction and nonfiction for all ages. Her novels for ages nine and up include The Genie’s Gift, a middle eastern fantasy, The Eyes of Pharaoh, a mystery in ancient Egypt; and The Well of Sacrifice, a Mayan adventure. Learn more at www.chriseboch.com or her Amazon page.

As Kris Bock, Chris writes novels of suspense and romance for adults. Counterfeits starts a new series about art theft. Whispers in the Dark features archaeology and intrigue among ancient Southwest ruins. What We Found is a mystery with strong romantic elements about a young woman who finds a murder victim in the woods. Rattled follows the hunt for a long-lost treasure in the New Mexico desert. Read excerpts at www.krisbock.com or visit her Amazon page.

Let's Talk Indie-Publishing with author Bryan Cohen

You’re part of the new breed of authors that doesn’t want to wait for publishers to anoint you to write. What made you decide that self-publishing was the route for you? 

The funny thing about my trip into self-publishing was that it was partially a lack of self-confidence initially. Obviously, you need a certain amount of self-confidence to write a book in the first place, but my thinking at the time was, "Ahhh! I don't have any money. Maybe I can use some of my blog posts as a book?" First, I just tried to sell them on my website as a PDF. Later, I learned about Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing and off I went. It wasn't until Christmas 2010 that I really saw just how powerful self-publishing could be.

You’ve now written nine books that are available on Amazon. How has that worked out for you?

When I first started self-publishing, I was strictly using Amazon's site instructions and I didn't have a ton of help figuring it out. I stumbled through it and made some mistakes, but when you can't find someone to help you; I thoroughly recommend crashing through the front door and hoping for the best. Later on, I received some help from members of the Kindle Boards website and eventually from mega-indie superstars J.A. Konrath and John Locke.

What surprised or frustrated you most about the indie-publishing aspect?

I was surprised by how easy the process was after I'd been through it a few times. I'm happy to say I've had few frustrations with indie-publishing, other than the frustrations any author might have, like releasing a book without anybody buying it :).

Those nine books all have print dates from this year. Did you just write non-stop in 2010? Why such a rush to publish?  

A few of the books, like 1,000 Creative Writing Prompts and Sharpening the Pencil were created using material I already had lying around from my website. Covenant Coffee and Chekhov Kegstand were plays I'd written years ago. Once I realized that self-publishing could work, I threw a bunch of the wood I had on the fire. I figured the more I had out there, the better chances I had of scoring a hit! Out of the nine books I have up online, I wrote about four of them in 2011, which is still a decent haul for one year.

Your five books on writing seem to be intertwined and work into each other. Why five books? Why not only one or two? What makes your books unique on writing as compared to the thousands of others out there?  

My first book, my baby, 1,000 Creative Writing Prompts is pretty unique in that it's incredibly thoughtful. I'm very proud of all the work I put into that over the course of a couple of years through posts on my blog. The others were kind of an off-shoot to see what area of the industry might need another boost. Writer on the Side was meant to see if those with 9 to 5 jobs might need help getting their writing done and was half-based on a series I did on my site.

What about the other three books?

Sharpening the Pencil was a collection of essays for writers to bolster up various parts of their lives. 500 Writing Prompts for Kids was my attempt to be scholastic and see if elementary school teachers might want to test out some of my prompts. The Writing Sampler is a tiny sample of each of the other books. All of them have been successful in their own way, but the reason I released five of them was to experiment what the market was like.

I can see that your books are largely written from your personal experience of writing. Such as your play, Chekhov Kegstand, which was a final paper for a class. How many times have you re-written it and produced it in different adaptations.

Chekhov Kegstand was originally Mangum 310, based on my junior year experience in college. Magnum is a dorm on campus at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I first wrote the play at the end of that year and re-wrote it a couple of times before producing it during my senior year. I directed the play, which was a surreal experience indeed. How do you cast your life? I let the play sit on the shelf for a number of years before producing it early last year. I rewrote it, renamed it and sat on the sidelines while a friend of mine directed it. It was scary letting someone else take over, but then again, that's what most writers do.

Which do you feel more comfortable doing – writing, directing or acting? What gives you the most satisfaction?

I love all three: writing, directing and acting and I actually might be the most comfortable at directing, though I've done it the least. I find it the most satisfying because you have so much control over the final product. I've written a couple of other plays including a superhero spoof with my friend Kit FitzSimons called Kerpow! and an ensemble play called Something from Nothing, based on the improv comedy scene in Chicago in the 1980s.

When you see or hear something that seems a potential for a story idea do you immediately write it down? Or do you do a daily journal of sorts?

 This has changed a lot actually over the years. I used to get so many ideas that I could barely elaborate on any of them. My writer's block was more like a log jam! Eventually, I was able to focus long enough to write one out in full and it felt so good, I was fortunately able to settle down and write a few more. I keep a little red notebook and I'm constantly jotting down ideas in there. I've also been keeping a blog, Writing for 365 Days in a Row that notes a few of my ideas as well.



That's it for today's interview. Come back on Thursday for Part 2 of this interview. In the meantime if you would like to learn more about his writing you can by using the links here:

Website,  Blog,  Amazon,  Facebook,  Twitter