Stuck Plot

I was reading something on a forum the other day about getting plot ideas and about getting stuck in a rut and not being able to climb out. I don't do much outlining so if I get in a similar situation it can get tricky. Don't panic! If you don't outline then the way to get out of that rut is to write your way out. Take the particular character you are dealing with and plonk them in a setting. It doesn't really matter what the setting is - familiar or strange, relaxing or stressful. Then start writing. For me the act of writing tends to produce something useful. I don't know how it happens, but it is like my muse pops out from where she has been hiding and says "Hey! Try this!"

To be clear, the piece of writing that results doesn't have to be used. In fact in most case it gets shoved in my snippets bin. But in nine case out of ten a plot element, a new character or some trait emerges and can be used later on.

I think this is why I don't like outlining: I find the process of how these ideas come to life quite incredible and when I outline it all seems a bit too clinical.

Try it, put your character in a:

Supermarket
Minor car crash
Doctors surgery
Swimming pool
Divorce court
Hospital bedside
etc.

and see what happens. Sometimes the more ordinary the situation the better, possibly because if you are trying to describe your character going shopping all the stress of trying to work up plot points has gone allowing free rein for writing. Then, bingo! Out pops a new baby you can nurture and help grow.

Spotlight on the software I write with

I use Writemonkey as my word processor. The observant of you will have noticed the link to it in the menu column. I am thinking of setting up a page dedicated to the reasons why I like this software because I rate it so highly. The latest update is even better.

So what is so good about it? Firstly it takes over your screen so you can see nothing else. There are no buttons or menus it is just you and the text (or a blank screen if you haven't written anything lol!). That's the way it should be, right? I mean you are not sitting in front of the computer to Tweet, check or write emails. surf the web, chat on IM or do anything else, are you? You are there to write. So write, don't do the other stuff. If you had a job would you be doing that? No. Your job when you are writing is writing and Writemonkey lets you do that.

You are also not supposed to be mucking about with formatting - no changing the text sizes or fiddling around with paragraphs. Once you have set up Writemonkey the way you want there is nothing to distract you in that department.

Writemonkey also has a very useful feature called jumps. I use these to mark the start of scenes and chapters. I use it to insert the timeline and "to dos" as well. You create these jumps yourself so they can be whatever you want. Once set up it enables you to jump around your story with ease because the jumps sit in a panel you call up and click (it might not make much sense, but when you get Writemonkey you will see how it works).

There are many other features inlcuding a word frequency counter that can help you cut down on overuse of certain words (we all do it and this highlights your failings!).

There is also the repository. You access this by pressing a key and are taken to an area that is outside of your main text. Here you can store all the bits you have discarded, ideas you might use, synopsis, whatever you want. Jumps also work here so I set up my scenes with details of the characters, the location, weather, etc. Since it is outside the main text it is not counted in the word count and doesn't get in the way.

And that is the best thing about Writemonkey. It frees you up to not only write, but also to be creative with how you work.

As I say in the panel to the right, I honestly wouldn't have finished Touch without Writemonkey and if it disappeared from the face of the planet I would have to spend a couple of years writing my own version. It would be my number one desert island software choice over everything else on my computer. I can't recommend it enough so why not try it since it is free?

The Writemonkey website

Sales Numbers Don't Equal Success

I think indie authors are too hung up on sales numbers. Having thousands of sales at 99c (approx 70p) does not mean that the author is more successful or better than one who prices their book at $2.99 and sells a few hundred. I know I have bought several books at the lower price on impulse without looking at the sample (lazy, I know) and then ditched the book after only a few chapters. With a 2.99 book I do take more time to buy and I am more likely to continue reading.

As authors we need to also think like business people. Because of Amazon's split royalty rate the percentage you get for a 99c book is half that you get for a $2.99 book. So:

35% of 99 = 35.

70% of 299 = 210.

210/35 = 6

So you need to shift six times more books at the lower price to make the same amount of money.

For anyone who missed the last line that's SIX TIMES!

To put it another way an author who sells just 166 books a month at 2.99 is making the same as one who is selling 1000 at 99.

Or another way: to make $10,000 selling at 99c you need to shift 28500 books. At $2.99 you need to sell less than 5000!

What do you need to live on? $50,000 (£31,000)? At 99c you are going to need to sell close to 150,000 books. At 2.99 just 25,000.

The trouble is there is a weird sort of kudos that seems to be attached to selling 1000/10,000/whatever books a month (see for instance this thread on Kindle Boards) when it doesn't really tell you anything about the quality of the work compared to books priced a higher amount. Note: I am not saying that higher priced books are better, I am just saying the items shifted seems to be the measure that a lot of indie authors use as their yardstick.

Of course introductory offers, loss leaders into a series or aiming at a particular market (YA for instance) may necessitate having a low price. That aside I feel my work (when it is published) is worth more than the 24p I would get if I priced at 99c.

Oh, and happy Valentines Day!

Dreams

Have you ever had one of those dreams that appears to solve everything? In this case I am talking about my novel. Last night I had a dream where everything fell into place. Plot points cascaded from an empty sky to land one after another in a perfect pattern. An ingenious twist was conjured from somewhere and the whole thing was iced with sugar. All was good. Until I woke up. Then I couldn't remember a blind thing. All I can say is come on Google, please try to find some way of storing my dreams. I don't mind paying for extra storage, I really don't. Oh, and if you guys can make sure it is integrated with Google Apps as well then I would be eternally grateful.

Down To Work

So why on earth am I writing this?

Still in second draft purgatory and having read through my old SF novel (see previous post) I am now wondering about the somewhat meandering plot in Touch. There a lot of threads and they are in a bit of a tangle. Of course my readers are super-intelligent and well able to sort out the plot... or are they?

Never overestimate the cleverness of readers (I am one, for starters). What seems obvious when you are writing something might be a complete mystery to a reader. That little sliver of information you poked into the corner of a scene expecting a reader to grab and shout out 'clue!' will probably be overlooked and pages and pages later the poor reader will be wondering how your main character managed to get hold of the diamond/gun/girl/****.

Ok, so down to work. Ah, but first this author's favourite delaying tactic: a cup of tea!

Dusting Off

So I have been dusting off and old science fiction novel I wrote a few years ago. I thought that I would be shocked at how bad it was but it was the other way around. It was actually quite good. It had done the merry-go-round of agents but to no avail. I guess that put the scuppers on it in my mind. Of course this was before the rise of the ebook indie revolution and one thing I now realise is that we shouldn't let those old-style gatekeepers (the agents and publishers) have the sole say on whether a book is good enough because they don't necessarily know best. So... I am going to get it out there and see what the real people thing. Yes, I know, real people are kind of scary because they can write reviews and things (things? - well, they can email you and tell you how rubbish you are for one), but in the end if the real people don't like you then you ain't any good, are you? Ok, ok, so it isn't always the cream that rises to the top, there are the occasional floaters as well. And I am not talking about those spots in your vision - I mean something rather more lavatorial in nature...

Misbehavin' Characters

Charlotte has been behaving herself recently, which is nice. Unfortunately some of the others haven't. They keep getting ideas well above their stations or else they try fading away into the text leaving great bloody holes that need filling. Second drafting is like that: it is a see-saw, a tug of war, a game between two sides, sometimes a game where the loser kicks the board and all the pieces fly into the air and one or two disappear under the sofa never to be seen again. Just when you think you have thrown a six and are about to cross the finish line you step on a snake and slide halfway back to the beginning.

Analogies over. The truth is it is tough to keep going, but the answer, for me at least, is to write your way out of trouble. Write, write, write and then miraculously something appears to solve all the problems. Until the next set rear their ugly little heads at least...