"The Write Characters"

     Sometimes it is difficult to come up with likeable characters for you novel or story--it is all in the imagination that us writers hone them to perfection, or at least close to perfect. Our characters make the story believable or unbelievable. If they feel more like flat personalities then the reader will not like them or they will give a writer a bad review. Round out those characters and see where they go.

     Characters, whether female or male need to have characteristics, which means they need to have issues, and many of them. With many different back stories that go along with these characters enhance them by adding something they must do, like a habit. One character in my book has a habit of rubbing envelopes before opening them. Believable right? Yes, people do have habits, no matter good, bad, or ugly. Insert one into your book before it is through.

     Good characters bring a story together and enable the reader to finish the book from front to back almost in one sitting. Horrible characters are challenging for the reader to wade through and at times, readers put the book down and never pick it up again. There have been too many icky characters written out there. It is up to us writers to make them awesome!

     Keep writing that book even know it is terrible right now--that is what editing is for. When a writer edits, we blow up our characters into something majestic and flowing. "They walked into a room filled with multi-colored balloons and happy smiles." A character with a debt is what readers want to scan, and not a character that is all balloons and smiles on every page. That is just not real-life.

     Let's keep it real for the reader. Write not only what you know but what you are in the process of learning. Life is one huge learning experience and by adding something new to you, you are adding something new to the character. Make him or her something special to you and your reader. Keep this character grounded in reality or any other place, if they are too much of a loose cannon then readers exit the scene.

     Love what you write. If you don't, neither will your readers. Always edit and edit again whenever something is finished or almost completed. And always write your characters well....

~Author Candy O'Donnell

http://authorcandyodonnell.blogspot.com/

When You Write?

     Where is it does a writer find themselves when the mood strikes them? Is it at work, before they go to bed or perhaps at anytime during the day? I have discovered that writing does not follow a time piece but rather flows whenever the mood strikes. It is when this creative architecture takes place as it bows down and releases words for the writer to grasp then write in such a loving manner.

     Writing is not always sporadic or indecisive. I can continuously move along in such a way that the writer themselves does not have an apparent reason why characters, plot, or meaning is the way it is. Accept it and write at night, during the day, or in the morning. I myself write anytime I feel like it. Writing is one of those wonderful insights that comes and goes and when it comes, be prepared to exhaust your brain.

     The morning hours are usually best for writers just after a morning walk. It inspires the mind to take hold of ideas that had been stirring within. A good jog loosens many good stories ready to leap from the writer's hands. Exercise in the morning wakens the mind and prepares it to write what simmered during the night. Early writing is blurted out so the writer can move forward with their day to do whatever is waiting for them after the words have flowed.

     Day writing can be very soothing too. During the day, the morning is through and the children have gone to school so there is no excuse not to write unless you have a job to attend to. This time can be set aside for you, your mind, and your creativity. Let to move outward where words can distinguish themselves from what transpired during the morning. Release them! Don't hold back. I find that I can receive a headache if I do not write.

     Night writing is especially grand. Many writers are without distractions and feel their outward movement clutch their minds. Write your heart out and do so with integrity and honor. Allow this time to spew your sentences of the day. Sometimes we come up with great concepts for future books and can rehash what we thought about. The main premise is to write, write, write!

~ Author Candy O'Donnell

http://authorcandyodonnell.blogspot.com/

Book Buying

Bargaining 

Going into a bookstore is like entering a new world, one scented with ink and paper, coffee and tea, dust and wood. I could browse the literary and young-adult sections forever but at the end of the day, I could never purchase any of them. The trip usually results in me buying something from the clearance or the bargain bin. However, I have gone into a Barnes & Nobles or a Books-A-Million and walked out feeling angry about the prices. For all who buy books, we know that at the end of the day it all comes down to money. How much are we willing to spend on a book when we can buy it elsewhere for a better price?

Below, I have ranked the order in which I purchase my books as well as the sites and stores I frequently visit or find the best deals:

You can find free books at your local library and online through give-a-way sites and e-books:

Free Book Friday- It is site that gives you the option to enter a “raffle” to win a free book in any of the four categories.
http://www.freebookfriday.com/

Get Free Books- It is a site that allows you to legally download free books.
http://www.getfreeebooks.com/

Online Alternatives

You can find a multitude of discounted books! I use this to find a majority of my books (I almost never use any e-book format but I do own a kindle for schooling purposes). I would consider these the best options for those who like to have a physical copy of the book:

Best Bargain Books- It is a site that guarantee’s each book to start out at 60-80 percent off its original price. The fault is that books are almost always out of stock and you do pay around $3’s in shipping.
http://www.bestbargainbook.com/

Better World Books- It is an organization dedicated to improving literacy world-wide. It has a “bargain bin” where you can find a majority of popular titles and authors for under $3’s per book. For every book you do buy, the organization gives a book to a child or adult in a foreign country. Shipping is free!
http://www.betterworldbooks.com/

Trick-or-Treat Sellers

Barnes & Noble- It is probably the best known bookstore. However, it’s prices can be drastically lowered if you are willing to look around and price elsewhere. I would recommend checking their website for bargain-buys but shelf buying should be prohibited.
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/

Books-A-Million- It is a smaller bookstore but a great place to find bargains. Here, you will find popular titles in each genre for under $5’s on clearance. No shelf buying unless you have a membership and even then, it can cheaper through online alternatives.
http://www.booksamillion.com/

Half-Price Books- It sells and buys used books. It is a great place to shop the bargain boxes and clearance shelves. I would recommend browsing the shelves for hidden bargains which cost about the same as a book and its shipping online.
http://www.hpb.com/

I know that finding a good bookstore is often hard simply because of prices. It is tragic that the publishers and owners must sell at a high rate to make their own profit. Over this past year, Border’s went out of business and I was heart-broken;. However, I never bought books except from the bargain table. It is the sad reality of books; it all comes down to price, quality, and format.

By

Matthew Benton

Make money in between projects with Fiverr and Elance

Hi everyone,

I hope your holidays are going well thus far. I have been engaged in several writing projects recently. In addition to my new ebook which will be finished soon, I have been doing a bit of freelancing. For authors it is sometimes diffficult to earn an income while we are in the middle of any projects. i have found several great ways to earn an income online without the need for long-winded introductions, interviews, meetings, etc. One of the sites is Fiverr.com. Most of you probably know about Fiverr. It is an awesome way to make a little spending cash in between larger jobs. Another great way to earn is through Elance. I have a profile on Elance and I think it is a great program. You can market your skills and even certify your skills for the site. This gives you more credibility with employers. There are no physical interviews or anything like that and this is great for supplemental income. You can sign up for Elance at:  https://www.elance.com/?rid=2TWAX

Some authors may be against doing anything outside of their craft but sometimes you have to eat. I would rather outsource some of my skills from time-to-time rather than being a starving artist. While my books do bring in income, I sometimes need something extra while I am waiting to be paid from my larger more mainstream products.

I hope this post has helped all of you. I will be adding more helpful tips to get you through some of your dry spells. Remember, doing these things does not  not make you any less of a writer or an author. In fact, some of these side jobs can help you hone in on your skills. You can use your writing skills to do things on Elance and Fiverr like blogging, ebook creation, etc. You can develop new skills such as: marketing and SEO as well. These thing will not only put a few extra bucks in your pocket but will help you develop and market yourself more effectively!

Higher standards

Recently, I went onto the Amazon discussion boards. Many readers are upset about the fact that lots of Ebooks are being published with a lot of errors. While I would like to say that this is not the case, I must admit that it is the case. While not all Ebooks are riddled with grammatical errors, lots of them are. I was under the impression that this was getting better but I am not so rue anymore. I went to Barnes and Noble recently and read some books via my Nook (yes, that is a cool feature that Barnes and Noble has provided its customers..eat your heart out Kindle, ha ha). It was disheartening to see how many Ebooks has mistakes in them. Many of these mistakes were so obvious that I am led to believe that the person did not even use the 'spell check' feature before converting and publishing their work.

I am not the grammar police. I commit many structural sins with regard to sentences. However, one of the easiest things to correct is spelling. I am not saying that Authors should be perfect with no flaws. However, I am saying that we need to be more mindful of what we publish. You do not need editors to find the errors that I found. We have to hold ourselves to higher standards. Just because it is easy to publish an Ebook doesn't mean that we should throw caution to the wind. Our readers are looking at us very closely and they do not like what they see.

Have some fun!

Looking to relax a bit and step away from the writing? Check out my other blogs..you'll be glad that you did!

http://pique1.blogspot.com/
http://thelounge123.blogspot.com/

Spread the word!