A good friend and writing colleague of mine recently asked me for advice about writing good romance into a story and it got me thinking…

A dangerous passtime…

Yeah, I know, but I thought I’d share some of my advice here…

So you’ve got two characters. They’re getting close… very close… but you don’t want this to become a romance novel. So how do you bring a romantic element into the story without it going fully over to the romance side of things…

Well honestly… make it an element, a plot point, just don’t make it the major point of the story. If the romance is anything more than a side mention, you’re doing something wrong.

The way I see it is that you can approach this from two ways; passively, which is what I do if I want it hinted that my characters like or love each other, but don’t want a major romantic element.

So let’s say you’ve made your decision. You know the characters are going to end up together. You want the readers to want these characters together. You want the mush, you want all that… so how do you prevent it from completely taking over the book like it so easily can?

Well first of all, donate one or two scenes to it. Don’t bring it up over and over. Let the characters experience everything once and then move on.

Second way… downplay it! In some of my more recent novels, I make the characters out to be friends, casual daters or… sex buddies at most. It’s not until the end of the story where one character reveals that they love the other… and honestly it’s only at this point that the romantic sub-plot has it’s effect.

Third way, keep the romance in hint only. What do I mean by that? Don’t come right out and say anything. Let them show affection for each other, but not like outright romantic affection. Let them connect slowly, compliment each other, work well together, and don’t even use the word ‘love.’

In any case, those are the ways I typically use. Let me know what you think in the comments.

Readers,

Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.

jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com

I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.

I have been writing for several years, have 4 published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.

Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.

Also, feel free to check out my works of Fantasy and Historical Fiction, Available on Amazon and where ever books are sold. See the link below:

http://www.amazon.com/James-Harrington/e/B00P7FBXTU

Thanks friends!

Catch you on the flip side!

-Jim

So you’ve finished writing your book (Congrats btw).

It’s taken you weeks, if not months. You’ve gotten all your thoughts down on paper, arranged everything coherently, and added more description and metaphor to your story.

Now you’re done and the book is in the hands of your editor. Now what? Well you are going to be doing some writing when the editor get’s back to you with each chapter, so don’t stress too much. However, now you’re not writing consistently every day. You thought that once you finished, you’d be filled with a sense of relief, but instead you’re sitting there not knowing what to do with yourself.

This can understandably be a very stressful time for a writer, mentally. You feel like you should be writing. The stress you usually feel when you’re not able to work on your book during the normal time you would is still with you. Your brain apparently hasn’t caught up with reality that YOU’VE FINISHED! So what do you do? How do you handle it?

Keep writing, duh!

No… not really a good idea. One, don’t add more to your book. If you weren’t done with it to your satisfaction, you never should have handed it off to the editor. Most of us could keep working on the same book until judgement day, but that is not healthy. Your book is done. It’s in the hands of the editor now and once the edits are complete, the next step is publishing. Let it go.

Starting on another writing assignment right off is also a bad idea. Writers are not immune to burnout and often any writing done now will suffer the effects of rebound. Painful though it may be, you need a break.

As a writer, you sacrifice a lot of time staring at a computer screen. No doubt you’ve lost out on some time with your family… and likely have put on a little weight. It’s normal as writers tend to get a little consumed. Normal, but not healthy.

Get out of the house, get some exercise, make up some lost time, do some of the things you enjoy. That keyboard will still be there when you’re ready with a new idea and you’ve had enough time to destress and detox.

This is also healthy because, in addition to allowing your mind to relax, once you’ve had a chance to detox, your mind will be wide open and receptive to new ideas. Going out and experiencing the world will give it new sensations to absorb and before you know it, you may have another story to write.

In short, yes writing is time consuming… if not life consuming, but once you’ve finished one piece, taking a break is so important. I’d say give it 3-6 months AT MINIMUM before writing something new.

Readers, how do you detox your mind after finishing your writing? How long do you take off? Let me know in the comments.

Readers,

Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.

jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com

I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.

I have been writing for several years, have 4 published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.

Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.

Also, feel free to check out my works of Fantasy and Historical Fiction, Available on Amazon and where ever books are sold. See the link below:

http://www.amazon.com/James-Harrington/e/B00P7FBXTU

Thanks friends!

Catch you on the flip side!

-Jim

Hello all,

So this is mostly for the self-publishing people. There’s been a lot of back and forth about how to make publishing affordable. Obviously with self-publishing, there are a lot of expenses and nuances to the process. Sites like Createspace and Lulu make the process easier, but it’s still a lot of work and decision-making.

Below is a list of expenses, what to pay for and what not to pay for… Keep in mind though, this is my own opinion. So if you’ve had other experiences or disagree on where the priorities are, feel free to leave a comment. I’d love to hear from you.

So let’s get started…

You’ve written your book and you’ve decided to go with the self-publishing route. Awesome! There are quite a few advantages here, but also several disadvantages. I’ve explored these in other topics, so feel free to take a look back through my posts.

Now obviously with self-publishing, you’re going to incur a lot more in the way of up front costs for publishing. Let’s go through them one at a time. I’ll address what each one is, how much it’ll cost, and whether or not you can avoid it.

1. ISBN Numbers…
   There’s really no way around this one. If you want to publish, you need at least one. If you plan on mulitple formats, you’ll need more than one. At the very least you’ll need 2; one digital, one print version ($100/apiece.) Many publishing services out there will offer you a free one… but you basically hand over the rights to the book if you do that and get less of a return on your investment. You also have limited options as to where you can sell your book.
   In short, you can go with the free option if you’re really strapped, but it could come back to haunt you later.
2.  Copyright registration
   There are several different trains of thought here. Many argue that the ISBN is sufficient. Others say that it’s worth shelling out the $40 for the copyright to protect yourself in the case of copyright lawsuit initiated by you or someone else in the future.
   With these, I’ve adopted a ‘better safe than sorry’ philosophy. I pay for mine. I guess you can avoid it for now if you must, but remember that if someone plagiarizes you, you’re going to need register your work before filing a claim. (United States).
3. Cover
   I can’t stress this enough, the cover is likely the most important part of what you’re going to pay for. Plan on a price of between $250-$900 for a truly professional cover design. My advice is to get in good with an artist and set up a good working relationship. They tend to offer discounts with the promise of future work. However DO NOT try to low ball them. I see this all the time and find it disrespectful. They work hard and often don’t get much for their work. Pay what they ask and if you can’t, then try to find another artist who will work within your budget. Either way, ALWAYS pay your artist. A lot of services will offer generic covers… AVOID these. One, other people have used them and two, they tend to be fairly plain and don’t really draw attention to your book.
   Finally, unless you’re artistically inclined, please don’t try to create the cover yourself. It rarely ends well and often looked a lot better in your head. While you can translate your thoughts from energy to the written word, an artist can take that written word and come up with an amazing design for you.
4. Editing and Reviewing 
   Not going to lie this is fighting with the cover design for the most important piece. A lot of services and sites offer proofing… for a rather hefty price. I know $.05/word doesn’t sound bad… but when your book is 80k to 100k, that $.10 becomes thousands of dollars. If you go this route… be ready because you’re not going to break even on your writing for a while.
   My advice here is to seek out writing groups. There are a lot of people on both good reads and other sites that are as anxious as you to have someone edit their works. Help them and they’ll help you.
   If all else fails, there are plenty of college students with writing or journalism majors out there looking to make some money. They’re usually pretty cheap too ($100-$300).
   DO NOT RELY ON SELF-EDITING! While it is important, and independent pair of eyes is absolutely essential.
5. Advertising
   This is one where I would say that you can get away without paying… If you’re good at social media. Create accounts on all sites, gain as many followers as you can, and occasionally peddle your works. Get people interested in what you have to say, and they’ll find the way to your book in fairly short order.
   If you need help or can’t navigate social media very well, then go ahead and shell out for the advertising (on average $30/month to $2,000 total)

In the end, I would say to expect your book to cost you roughly $800 on average. $400 is the MINIMUM. Anything less… I’d say don’t even bother because you’re going to be cutting way too many corners.

Anyway, hope this helps. We can discuss it further in the comments if anyone has any further advice or questions!

-Jim

Readers,

Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.

jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com

I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.

I have been writing for several years, have 4 published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.

Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.

Also, feel free to check out my works of Fantasy and Historical Fiction, Available on Amazon and where ever books are sold. See the link below:

http://www.amazon.com/James-Harrington/e/B00P7FBXTU

Thanks friends!

Catch you on the flip side!

-Jim