DAN ALATORRE gave me a lot to think about when he asked, “…if you were going to write a story like Harry Potter, how would you do it?” 

The HP books are some of my favorites. I mean, who wouldn’t want to write like JK Rowling?

Dan’s post discussed the art of layering a story. Layers add mystery, intrigue, and magic which keeps the reader guessing.

Ms. Rowling opens her first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, adding a sense of mystery in the thirdparagraph with a secret.

Does the character in your WIP (work in progress) have a secret?

Do you agree that a secret, mystery or illusion gives a story layers?

Is it enough for the main protagonist to have a secret or should there be multiple secrets scattered throughout the story?

Read the rest of Dan’s post and tell me what you think about…

There are so many choices for an author to make when embarking on a novel. What time period? What setting? What structure? What genre? What characters? What events? How true should it be to real history? What is the time frame? What is it all really about?

Many of these need to be answered before even starting out. No wonder so many potential novelists are put off at the first hurdle.

And as soon as you’ve made those decisions, (assuming you haven’t given up in despair,) another wave of questions immediately comes hurtling towards you.

How are you going to tell the story? Whose point of view? First or third person? What tone? What voice? Where should it start? What is going to kick the whole thing off? Where is it going to end? How are you going to layer in the clues to make that ending satisfactory? And, horror of horrors…

By Eva Lesko Natiello  on The Book Designer Site:

In today’s article, written by Eva Lesko Natiello (@EvaNatiello), indie authors are reminded of the importance of the decisions we make publishing our books. Enjoy, and be sure to comment below if you can think of other “staff” available to help self-published authors market their books.

_______________________

Yesterday an author contacted me to arrange a marketing consultation. He told me he was disappointed with his marketing team. He liked what he saw I’d done with my book, and thought my team was doing a much better job. He was different than the other authors I’ve worked with—this author was traditionally published.

Here’s another example of “the grass is always greener…” We indie authors think the traditionally published benefit from something we don’t: a roster of professionals that comprise:

a sales team
a marketing team
and a P.R. team

by Tonya R. Moore

Rejection bites. That’s the plain and simple truth.

You pour your heart into a story and revise the heck out of it. Then you submit/query and repeat until hopefully, someone finally thinks that you have something worth publishing.

Unless you’re some sort of literary genius whose work always gets accepted on the very first submission, it can become quite a discouraging process.

by Lauren Sapala

Every morning when I open my inbox a landslide of emails from the online writing community pour out. Blog posts, newsletters, classes and programs and retreats. And then I jump on social media and the wave continues: Advice and instructions on character development, plotting your plot, finessing the end and then going back to that first page and polishing your opening hook until it sparkles and shines and catches the eye of every agent with an email address.

Source: Lousy Writer

How old were you when you knew you wanted to be a writer?

I wrote poems, short stories, and a play when I was a small child however my desire was to be a nurse. Hence I did become a nurse and enjoyed a successful career in helping all of my patients. When health issues cropped up and I became home bound (for the most part), my focus turned back to writing. That was in January 2013. Since then I have 14 books published.

As a child, I was mentally, emotionally, and physically abused by my mother, and this abuse didn’t end until her death in November of 2013. Throughout all the cruelties, I knew something better would happen in my life and I knew God was in control. My battered body cried out, but I thought God must be too busy to help me. From that abuse, I went…

Note from Archer’s Aim: I totally agree with this. I also read and write fantasy for a host of reasons and believe that there are some very deep literary qualities that are often over-looked in good fantasy.

Fantasy fiction is often pooh-poohed by academics and intellectuals, but it can whet the appetite for learning.

Source: Children Should be Encouraged to Read Fantasy Fiction | Intellectual Takeout