The Door Swung Open...

It's time for the first challenge in Rachael Harrie's platform building campaign!


Write a short story/flash fiction story in 200 words or less, excluding the title. It can be in any format, including a poem. Begin the story with the words, “The door swung open” These four words will be included in the word count.

If you want to give yourself an added challenge (optional), use the same beginning words and end with the words: "the door swung shut." (also included in the word count)

For those who want an even greater challenge, make your story 200 words EXACTLY!

The door swung open, and she could see nothing but darkness. Not ordinary darkness, the type that came with the absence of sunlight. This darkness was thick, cloying. As she walked the doorway she became coated with it. Thick and gloopy, it clung to her hair, her clothes and the bare skin of her arms.

She slid a foot out with trepidation. Every fibre of her being was urging her to stop, too go back. There was no way that a simple promise could lead her to so much danger, was there?

But she had promised. No one had forced her to give her word. She had even been given a way out. But a promise made in the cold light of day was easy to give. Carrying it out was another story.

There were steps made of cold stone beneath her feet. A fumble to her side revealed a handrail. Each step brought her further away from safety. Each step made her question her judgement.

Then she heard a movement behind her. A breath. The door swung shut.

Five Top Twitter Tips For Writers

I'm relatively new to the world of Twitter. I held out for a long time because I thought that 140 characters was a ridiculously small amount of space to say anything worthwhile in. But since activating my profile a couple of months ago it has become a staple in my tabs bar, and a place for much procrastination.

But how can you get the most out of your twitter account? The micro-blogging site can be a really effective tool at any stage of your writing journey, but only if you you it correctly. That's where these ten tips come in.

1) Have a small focus: Twitter is at its best when it's used to track a particular industry. If you are looking to become a professional writer, then you should primarily follow other writers, publishers, agents, and aspiring authors. If your best friend is on twitter, then yes you can follow her too. But if you follow widely and indiscriminately, then the tweets in your feed will be mostly useless to you.

2) Follow people who give value: This links in with the first point, but there are many people who tweet useful links for different professions. Elizabeth Spann Craig is a published author who tweets links to useful advice from people at all stages of the writing cycle. I've found her links (and her own posts) invaluable.You can find her at @elizabethscraig.

3) Go for quality, not quantity: It's true that the more people that you follow, the more people who are likely to follow you. While you should bear this in mind, following people just to up your own follower count is counter-productive. First of all, as I said before, if you don't enjoy the person's tweets then you get no value from the follow. Also, if a person is only following you because they want you to follow them then they won't be interested in the content of your posts. This will be a particular problem if you intend to tweet links to your blog, or build a buzz about a book release. It's better to build meaningful relationships, rather than shallow connections.

4) Keep self-promotion to a minimum. Yes, twitter is a good vehicle for promoting your book/blog/published short story, but keep it polite. There's a difference between telling someone at a party that you have a book coming out, and jamming the title into every topic of conversation, from the price of baked beans to Kim Kardashian's wedding. Have some news that you think would interest your followers? Tweet with a link, no more than twice in one day. And that second time is only to account for different time zones.

5) Have fun: Twitter is a fun medium. You get to find out news as it's happening through a cascade, often before the main news sites and channels have released it. You get to read pithy takes on current events, find out random facts and meet some very entertaining people. Who doesn't want to follow a person who's having fun? Enjoy yourself and the rest will take care of itself.

Oh, as writers we hear a lot about developing a platform, but sometimes it can be difficult to do. Luckily, Rachael Harrie is holding her third Writer's Platform Building Campaign. It's a great chance to meet new writers, and you can sign up until August 31st. Head over here now to take part.

Netiquette

Just where is the line when it comes to self-promotion?

Since I’ve started using social media to reach members of the writing community I’ve met a lot of great people. Most of the people that I’ve met are aspiring writers like me, but some of them are published writers. There’s both indie and traditionally published authors in the mix.

Now, I have no problem with someone using their blog, Facebook page or Twitter feed to promote their books. Marketing is part of the writer’s job these days, whether you have the backing of one of the big six or not. If I’m following your blog or your Twitter account it’s kind of assumed that I have an interest in what you write, and that information on how to purchase your book could be useful to me. I love reading about new titles, book covers, and all that jazz. What I don’t like is when a writer crosses the line from informing to spamming.

I follow an author on Twitter who is self-published, and she is a lovely person. She was very welcoming to me when I was a newbie tweeter and I like her. I don’t want to have to stop following her. But the writer in question regularly tweets message after message with slogans about her books. When I say regular, I’m talking about multiple times an hour.

So where is the line? What is an acceptable amount of promotion for authors to do for their book? I find the hard sell off-putting, and if someone engages properly with me and tweets interesting things and occasionally mentions their book, then I’m much more likely to purchase.

What do you think?  

Liebster Love

I was the lucky recipient of the Liebster Blog award a few days ago, and now I find out that I've been given it by three more people! How great is that?

What makes it even better is that the three people who gave it to me have brilliant blogs, so the fact that they even pop on by here occasionally is amazing in itself. You should definitely check them out.

Julie Fedderson is a physician, blogger and romance writer. Her blog is laugh out loud funny, and definitely one of my favourites. When I grow up I want to be Julie.

Caitlin Vincent is a nanny and novelist. Her blog deals with the technical aspect of writing, and she explores language and new words regularly.

Krista M is a prolific writer who blogs about writing, life, and her pending move to New Zealand. Well worth stopping by.

Have a happy Thursday everyone! :)

Liebster Award!

The fabulous Catherine Stine has given me the lovely Liebster Blog Award! Thanks Catherine! I encourage as many people as possible to check out Catherine's blog, she's an author, artist and teacher who is never too busy to give newbie authors some advice and encouragement.


 The aim of the award is to spotlight up and coming bloggers who currently have less than 200 followers. The rules of the award are thus:

1. Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who awarded you.

2. Reveal your top 5 picks & let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.

3. Copy & paste the award on your blog. (see award image above!)

4. Have faith that your followers will spread the love to other bloggers.

5. And most of all—have bloggity-blog fun!

My Five Picks Are:

1. Aspiring YA novelist and all round entertaining person Juliana L. Brandt

2. Alicia Gregoire has one of the most entertaining blogs around, it's laugh out loud funny.

3. Alleged Author is an aspiring MG and YA writer with a unique take on the world of writing. 

4. Agent intern and astrophysicist Brit Hvide blog is very informative and illustrated with lots of Microsoft Paint diagrams. Reminds me of a publishing centric  Hyperbole and a half.

5. Chelsey Blair is a sharp and witty aspiring author and her blog always makes me smile. Definitely worth checking her out.

Hope you're all enjoying the weekend!

ABNA in retrospect

So, today I got an email from CreateSpace, offering all participants in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award a free proof copy of their book. This is because, as well as finding two breakthrough novels, the contest also serves to publicise CreateSpace as a self publishing platform. A lot of entrants to the contest have gone down this route, but I'm holding off for a while at least. I'm going to give traditional publishing a decent attempt first.

So now that the winners have been announced, was it worth entering? Definitely. The odds of winning are low, after all there are 5,000 entries in each category. But there is a certain amount of buzz when you get past each level. I made it into the quarter final stage, which is roughly the top 5%. Before I entered I was a mass of neuroses about my work, so to actually get through to that point gave me a more confidence in my work. The reviews from the Vine reviewers were helpful, and I even got some constructive criticism from Publishers Weekly. I may not have won, but I got some confidence and my manuscript will be in better shape as it goes off on query.

I also met  a lot of nice people on the ABNA forums, and discovered a lot about building a platform, self-publishing, and how to write queries. I started my blog here, after seeing how many entrants had their own already.

The negative parts of the competition? ABNA is an international competition, and some of my criticisms in my reviews said that I had many spelling 'errors' when in fact I was just using British spelling conventions. If we have to use North American spelling conventions, we should be told at the start.

Another issue, though not in the control of Amazon, is that when you cull so many entries in each round you're going to have some very disappointed people. 8,000 entries are cut in the first round, 1,500 in the second, 400 in the third. A lot of disappointed people started criticising other entries, and saying the contest was unfair. This took some of the good away for those who had gotten through. Fortunately, these people were a minority.

All in all, I'm happy with my ABNA experience. I'd definitely recommend it to any aspiring novelist.

Virtuosity

I didn't even know that virtuosity was a word...you learn something new everyday. I am feeling especially virtuous because, despite the fact that it is a bank holiday in the Emerald Isle today, I actually did some work. I edited more of Storms in Teacups, a job that is proving so arduous it could have been one of the ten tasks of Hercules. But, I also got to read the opening chapter of a novel by my friend Krista, which was much more fun. It was so engrossing and well-written that I may have to hack into her hard drive to retrieve the rest of it. Don't worry, I'm only joking. I don't know how to hack.

Anyway, I have a busy week ahead so I'm going to settle down and read a Cathy Kelly book to unwind. Then I'm going to sit down with my husband and watch the latest instalment of Game of Thrones. Is anybody else watching it? It's brilliant stuff. It's nice to be able to watch a period drama as a historian without being irritated by inaccuracies. The wonders of fantasy! I especially love Daenerys and Tyrion Lannister. I may have an espresso martini too, which takes a little of the shine off me being virtuous, but hey, it is a bank holiday weekend.

Hope everyone else is having a happy Monday ;)

Tag, I'm it!

Thank you all so much for the kind messages yesterday. Today I'm feeling much the same, but my attitude is more upbeat. Which is good news, because self-centred pity gets old after more than a day.


The lovely Kate Larkindale tagged me, which means that I have to answer some questions and pass it on. So here we go...


Do you think you're hot?


Of course I don't, I'm Irish. We're generally a self-deprecating lot. If someone gives you a compliment, we consider it impolite to take it at face value. We have to argue with the person, repeatedly insulting ourselves and driving down our self-esteem. Here's an example:


Non-Irish person: 'You look really lovely in that dress.'
Irish person: 'This old thing? I have it ages. It's horrible, really.'
Non-Irish person: Yeah, well it sets off your skin tone.'
Irish person: Really? I think I look really pasty. Like I have some type of disease. A contagious disease.'


So no, I don't think I'm hot. If I did everyone here would think I had 'notions above my station', a term used for people who think too highly of themselves.


Upload a picture or wallpaper that you're using at the moment.

This is something I have everywhere at the moment, because I need all the motivation that I can get. In typical me style I have bitten off more than I can chew and am struggling to get one book out on submission, another edited and to write 50,000 words of my current WIP before I go on holiday on July 2. Sensible is not my middle name. As a matter of fact it's Nicole.


When was the last time you ate chicken meat?


I had a lovely chicken burrito from one of my favourite Mexican places yesterday. I like my food spicy, and they do frozen margaritas. What more could you ask for?


The songs you listened to lately


I'm a big fan of Florence and the Machine. My favourite songs are Howl and Drumming Song, so I played those today. I also love Bjork, especially her Vespertine album.


What were you thinking as you were doing this?


That I married a geek. My husband is currently painting more models for one of his Warhammer armies, and I just realised I know the names of a lot of them. I can tell a night goblin from an orc. I'm a normal 24 year old woman, I shouldn't be able to do this. Then again I write YA urban fantasy, so we're probably well matched.


Do you have nicknames? What are they?


The only person who has nicknames for me is my husband. He calls me 'C' or 'kitten'. Some people call me 'Chris' occasionally.


This is the part where you usually tag eight people, but I don't want to burden anyone by making them do this. I found it quite fun though, so feel free to take the questions and answer them on your blog.


Hope everyone is having a nice weekend. It's a bank holiday here, so I have no day job tomorrow. Woot!

Looking for opinions on author platforms...

All us aspiring authors know that if we are to be successful we need to build a social platform. Every book or article on becoming a successful writer tells us this. Yet when we go out to create one there are almost too many options. I have a Blogger account and that's about it. I have personal Facebook and Twitter accounts, but I don't want to use those for networking because most people in my real life don't know that I write so seriously.

I'm starting to think I should set up writing accounts on Twitter and Facebook. But then there's Wordpress, Tumblr and personal websites. My question is, just how many of these things are necessary when you're still at the 'aspiring' stage? What tools do you all use?

T is for...'The Five Things You Wish To See More of In Fiction'

Ok, so this is a little bit of a cop out, but the people over at Paper Hangover are great at coming up with blog prompts, and if I don't take them up on it then I'll end up talking about how much I missed my broadband connection. Again.

So...

5: More non-white protagonists. I'm Caucasian, but one of my sisters in Chinese and another is mixed race (my parents have seven children, but I'm the only one that's biological). I never realised until my sister's came along just how unrepresented they are in popular culture. Though that is getting better.

4: Strong female protagonists. I like there to be more going on in my YA fiction than just the love story.

3: Less of a dichotomy. Some YA books pretend that teens don't swear, drink or have sex. Other books assume that all teens do these things all of the time. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle.

2: More elements from medieval history, but that's probably just the historian in me. Or the fact that I've just discovered Game of Thrones.

1: More books with the name 'Christine Murray' on the front.

R is for...Respect

When I started writing first, I came across a couple of writers groups that were a little exclusionary and hostile. I'm glad to say that other than that, everyone else has been so nice and supportive.

I got some great feedback from the query blog hop, so thanks to Alicia Gregoire for that. The advice was spot on, I have a heart of my novel and I need to emphasise that in my query. Also, while my novel is about ordinary people and their lives, what makes it special is its voice, so I need to write the query in that register. My comments were nice yet constructive. Seriously, it never fails to overwhelm me that people take time out of their busy lives to help each other out. If I ever manage to sell a book, it'll be partly because of the support of the online writing community. You're all fantastic.

Broadband man is coming tomorrow, so I can return to my blog to its usual level of verbosity. Which will save my husband's ears  :)