Hi Jim,

I was wondering if you had any advice on how to bring a character over from another story…

Example, Sherlock Holmes is someone I’ve always loved, so I wanted him to make a guest appearance in a mystery novel I’m currently working on that’s set in the same place.

Second example, I’ve got a character from another series I wrote, Juiliara that I also want to make an appearance, but they’re from completely different universes.

I know you write fantasy, so I wanted to see if you had any advice about how to make this work.

Thanks,
Mike

Hi Mike,

Whoa… okay, so you’re actually asking two different questions here as the examples you gave are of two completely different scenarios. Let’s take the one at a time. We’ll tackle the easier one first…

So from the sound of the second example, you want to integrate a character from a different world where… likely different rules apply and give her a cameo in your current story.

Not knowing the context or what kind of rules apply to the universe you created makes it difficult to give you the best advice I can. However, I’ll do my best. In my novel, Soul Siphon, I gave General Xaphan from Damnation a cameo and kind of made her a mentor to my team of heroes.

In the book, I didn’t give much detail into her backstory, though I did allude to the idea that this Xaphan’s backstory might be slightly different from the one in Damnation. I had the advantage that Damnation was basically a ‘behind the scenes of history’ story. The idea for that story was to write it in a way that history could still proceed normally. In other words, if you believe in religious mysticism, my story was not outside the realm of possibility.

So technically, Xaphan could reappear in the modern world, but there were still some inconsistencies. So I basically brought her back but obscured her experiences and backstory so that the reader would have to decide whether she was the fallen angel from Damnation or a General Xaphan from a different reality where the events of her life happened differently.

Using a parallel counterpart may be a good way of accomplishing your goal while keeping in-universe. Other than that, it really depends on the rules of your world. Is there a way to transport characters from one place to another, or could that character’s world plausibly be the same one?

Sherlock Holmes may be more of a problem for you. I’m not sure of the specifics, but I don’t think he’s public domain yet. The Copyright Act was extended not long ago so that the term of protection went from 75 years to 95 years.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle died in 1930 and his last work was published in 1926-1927(??). However, a recent legal ruling may have changed that.

The court case of Klinger v. Conan Doyle Estate settled the claim and actually put to rest the issue of whether a copyright claim would persist on a character even if the works that contained him/her have fallen out of copyright. The Estate tried to argue that, while the stories aren’t copyrighted, the characters still were.

I really don’t have the time or the inclination to try to contemplate the mental gymnastics around that thought process or the ramifications of someone successfully making that case. However, in rare form, the courts ruled correctly. So you may be in the clear, but I’d contact a copyright attorney on this one just be sure. There may still be some gray area there and you don’t want to tangle with the ACD estate. Even if you’re in the right, it could still cost you.

As long as everything checks out, you should have no problem integrating Holmes into your story. That being said, I’d first go through and carefully study Doyle’s works. Read them and get a feel for the character you’re borrowing. Sherlock Holmes still has a massive following 90 years later. If you’re hoping to break into the murder/mystery community, you DO NOT want to do an injustice to the biggest name in the group.

In any case, I hope this helps a little bit. As always, I’m available if you need further advice. Please feel free to email me.
Readers, do you have any further advice? Let Mike know in the comments!

Thanks!

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

Note:
If you have read my books, PLEASE log into Amazon and post a review. I really love to hear everyone’s thoughts and constructive criticisms. Reviews help get my book attention and word of mouth is everything in this business!

Thanks friends!

Catch you on the flip side!

-Jim

Hi Jim,

I’m getting really frustrated with my writing. I’m trying to write a cover blurb for a book I just finished. I have used several others as examples and templates of what to do and what not to do. However, every time I think I’ve got it down, I go back and rewrite the whole thing because it doesn’t convey what I want people to know about my book.

Do you have any insights on writing one of these? I’m getting ready to throw my laptop out the window!

Thanks,
Margie

Hi Margie,

There’s an old saying in IT circles;

Violence and technology are not good bedfellows. 

Don’t throw your laptop out the window! It hasn’t done anything wrong and, despite the momentary feeling of satisfaction, it’s not worth it.

Stop technology abuse!

Okay, on topic. Believe it or not, you’re in good company. Writing a blurb is the bane of almost every writer out there. I know many writers who would rather bang out a 400 page manuscript then write a 2-3 paragraph blurb. It’s tough because, in addition to being a brief summary, it’s also a sale’s pitch. This is the difference between a synopsis and a blurb. A synopsis just gives you a detailed summary of a book without giving too much away.

A blurb does the same to a lesser extent but also attempts to draw the reader in.

Your timing couldn’t be better as I’ve decided to revisit my blurb for The Orphans of Haven.

You’ve already done part of the work by looking at other samples. So what’s next? Well…

I think the first thing you should do is introduce the conflict. What problem are your characters facing? Spend a sentence or two addressing that. Make sure your first sentence is powerful and can effectively draw someone in so that they want to read more. A lot of people rarely read past the first sentence. If they’re not hooked right away, you’re not as likely to make a sale.

The next step is to introduce your main character(s). At a minimum, you need to introduce the main focus of the story. Give them a name and a brief, one-sentence- description of who/what they are. (veteran, police officer, normal guy, etc.)

Next, establish your hook. This really needs to be done in the first paragraph and near the beginning. The whole idea of the blurb is to entice the readers. Give them something that will make them want to rip that cover open.

Next, establish setting and mood. Give your readers a brief peek into the world your characters live in. Let them experience it for themselves.

Finally, leave the reader on a cliffhanger. Leave the reader wondering what will happen. You can do this easily by asking a question “Can our hero beat his enemy?”
“What will happen if he cannot solve the crime?”
“If he fails, reality as we know it may not survive.”

In this case, it is perfectly fine to leave the reader hanging.

Don’t be afraid to use a lot of hyperbole. Treat this like a sale’s pitch. Using big, exciting phrases will help you to draw your reader in. Try to keep your sentence short. This isn’t always possible, but there are ways to break up a longer one.

Finally, keep it short. Do not write a book to put on the back of your book. Three paragraphs at most IMHO. Establish what you need to and then end it.

Now, what should you avoid?

Well for starters, don’t give too much away. If you tell the reader too much, what’s the point of reading your book? This one cannot be overstated. You shouldn’t tell the reader anything past the introductory chapters of your book.

Secondly, leave out irrelevant details. This should be a given, based on how little space you have, but I see people put in distracting details way too often.

Finally, avoid misleading language. Don’t put anything on the back of your book that could be easily misinterpretted. You don’t want to give a reader the idea that your book is one thing, only for it to turn out to be completely different.

Anyway. I hope this helps a little. Good luck with your blurb! Readers, if I’ve missed anything or you have advice on how you write a blurb, feel free to leave it in the comments!

Thanks!

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

Note:
If you have read my books, PLEASE log into Amazon and post a review. I really love to hear everyone’s thoughts and constructive criticisms. Reviews help get my book attention and word of mouth is everything in this business!

Thanks friends!

Catch you on the flip side!

-Jim

Hi David,

Wow… that’s a pretty huge ask and I have to admit that I’m slightly out of my element when it comes to the process of comic book creation. Though I have danced with the idea a few times myself. If I’d been able to find an artist who would work for… well whatever profit we’d made… Drakin and Soul Siphon would likely have been comics. That said, I pride myself on giving my readers something to work with.

So let’s go through your asks one at a time. So it looks like you’re already halfway home in that writing is part of your job. Honestly, I’ve never really had professional training. I simply had a lot of great ideas and was lucky enough to be surrounded by the right connections and the right experienced people to help me navigate the waters. It’s something I’ve tried to pass on here. Since you have that, you’re off to a good start.

I actually want you to look at a few statements you made:

“I’ve been told are some incredible scripts but I always doubt myself ”

“I’m almost 40 and I think I knew I was meant to write; it’s part of my corporate job”

“It’s not my first published work, but definitely will be the most recognized”

“I have one script that’s getting a lot of traffic and noticed”

One of these statements doesn’t belong with the rest. Can you guess which one? If you said the first one, you’d be right. You’ve got four things pushing you forward and one holding you back. Build your confidence. Especially if you’re already getting traction.

Whenever I get apprehensive about something, I usually just shrug and say, “Hey, the best view of Heaven is on the Highway to Hell.”

Basically what I mean by that is that even if you go on a path that will likely lead to crashing and burning, at least you tried and you gained valuable experience… and probably had a great time doing it.

“I was curious if you had any tips as I have what I’ve been told are some incredible scripts but I always doubt myself and rewrite and rewrite; it just seems to be my process!”

There really isn’t any trick here. In most cases, when a writer gets stuck in this sort of rabbit hole, the only way they break out of it is to move on to another project. The best thing you can do for yourself is to do 6… maybe 7 drafts and then say, “You know what? It may not be perfect, but it’s good enough.”

And if your mind says, “Well no it isn’t.”

You just have to put the pen down and be like, “No it is. That’s it, I’m done with this one.”

It’s not an easy thing to do, but it’s the only way you won’t drive yourself insane. An artist will never be 100% satisfied with his work. NEVER! The trick is to get yourself at least 75% satisfied and be able to be happy with that. Find a way to pull yourself away, distract yourself, whatever.

I know that’s not much to go on, but you’re talking about something that literally all writers, artists, and musicians have suffered through at some point and none of us have found the perfect answer in how to deal with it.

“Can you recommend any books, online course in creative writing, or just any tips you may use to better yourself. “

I can’t really recommend any books on writing. I’m not really an academic in that way. The few books I’ve read with writing advice and techniques… I’ve found to be extremely arbitrary and in most cases, their methods will only work for one or two small groups of people that think a very specific way. So some of my readers may disagree with me, but instructional writing textbooks may not be the way to go.

I also haven’t taken any online courses. That being said, I have gone to several writing workshops/classes at both the local state and community colleges in my area. These are usually fairly priced, or in some cases, free. I’d look into something like that. Though if you’re looking for something a little more online-community, goodreads.com is worth a peak. They have all sorts of resources and message boards to help writers.

As for tips, I’d recommend going back through my blog. I have a whole library of FAQs, writing styles, etc. that should be able to assist. However to give you at least one piece of advice… I’ll give you the one I always wrote.

I remember when looking for interesting books to read… Most everything was disappointing or hard to get through. Then I watched an interview with someone who helped Tolkien write his novels. Tolkien essentially wrote his novels because there was nothing out there that he found interesting. So he wrote stories he’d want to read.

That’s essentially how I do it. I write for myself… people just happen to like what I write. So when writing, write for yourself. Write something you’d enjoy reading over and over. If you write something you really love, your readers will pick up on it. Don’t worry if other people will like it or not. What is the worst thing that can happen? It get’s some bad reviews, one stars, panned off the interwebs, and you go back to the drawing board. That’s all.

“I’m almost 40 and I think I knew I was meant to write; it’s part of my corporate job, but I’m just looking for ways to be the very best I can because it looks like one of my most recent scripts is definitely a go.”

I don’t know that there is much more I can tell you. You seem like you’ve already found your success. I would just say that you need to work on your confidence. Remember, when writing, it’s not you against the world. It’s not you against other writers. It’s simply you against you. How far are you willing to go? How hard are you willing to work? How much will you endure? If you have the stamina, you can do anything.

Just don’t sweat the small details. Let your editors worry about that.

“It’s not my first published work, but definitely will be the most recognized and get the most exposure, so I want to go back and spend another week or two just cleaning up some dialog and I’m looking for any tips I can get. I read as much as I can and always ask for constructive criticism, so anything you got, please share!”

I would say that it’s time to leave it alone. If it’s already a go, then you really shouldn’t have to do much more. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel here. Make sure it goes through editing (Other than you!) and then submit it to whoever has shown interest…

And please let me know when it goes on sale and if I can get an autographed copy ;)!

I do collect comics, as well as rare/unique/autographed/1st editions. So something like this would greatly interest me… especially if anything I did helped you along the way.

Readers, do you have any advice for our new friend here? Let him know in the comments.

David, please feel free to follow up with me if you need any further advice.

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

Note:
If you have read my books, PLEASE log into Amazon and post a review. I really love to hear everyone’s thoughts and constructive criticisms. Reviews help get my book attention and word of mouth is everything in this business!

Thanks friends!

Catch you on the flip side!

-Jim

HELP!!!

… please! 🙂 I am so frustrated, I’m not sure what to do. I am trying hard to write my book. I’ve got a lot of great ideas, but I keep getting held up on when we meet new characters. Each time one of my main cast makes their first appearance in the story, I wind up with five or six paragraphs of details about the characters. I hate reading stories that just pile on the detail, but that’s what I’m doing. How can I stop this?

Thanks,
Lane

Hi Lane,

I know the feeling. It’s tough to get through books that just drag the detail out to absurd levels. We don’t need to know what each individual stone on the wall of the castle looks like, we can picture it on our own.

Okay, the first thing I would do is CALM DOWN! You emailed me in all caps. Do you know how many internet etiquette rules you’re breaking by doing that? ONE! Do not type in all caps!  I get you’re frustrated, but trust me, you’ll work through it.

All right, are you calm? Good. Now, when typing out person/place/thing descriptors, ask yourself a few questions; Does the reader need to know about this? Is this something that will become relevant to the plot later? Believe it or not, we don’t need to know the thread count of the clothing their wearing.

All joking aside… I think the best way you can break up ram-eating walls of text is to actually turn them into dialogue and omit what isn’t necessary. Let me give you an example:

Then he saw her. Her hair was a lustrous blonde that shimmered in the sunlight. It flowed to the small of her back and tapered off just above her behind.

Take something like that and edit it down to something a little more simple and use it in dialogue:

Toby turned to Mike, “Who is that girl?”

“Which one?”

Toby beckoned to a tall girl coming towards them, “That one with long blonde hair.”

Which example is easier to read? IMHO it’s the second one. It’s broken up and while obviously longer, it’s more engaging and isn’t a huge wall of text. That’s really the best advice I can give you. Slim down what you don’t need to say and have your characters actually talk about it instead of just telling the readers.

What do the other writers on my page think? How do you avoid huge walls of text?

Thanks,
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

Note:
If you have read my books, PLEASE log into Amazon and post a review. I really love to hear everyone’s thoughts and constructive criticisms. Reviews help get my book attention and word of mouth is everything in this business!

Thanks friends!

Catch you on the flip side!

-Jim

So I’m published and like you, I have a blog with a fairly decent following. Over the past few months, I’ve gotten a number of friend requests to my personal facebook page. I’ve ignored them, but they keep coming and I don’t want to seem unprofessional. Do you have any advice on how to handle this?

Thanks,
Lindsey

Hi Lindsey,

I think it’s absolutely important to keep your personal and Professional space separate. I don’t think you’ve done anything wrong by rejecting or ignoring these requests. My advice to you would be to create a separate account of author’s page on Facebook. You can take a look at mine on the left, for reference if you like.

I would link it to your WordPress and other social media accounts. Once done, I would lock your private Facebook page with the highest security settings and then make adjust your page so that you’re unsearchable. It’s not perfect, but it’s a lot more secure that way. I’ve had the same issue from time to time and it’s really the best way to handle it. I love interacting with my readers and fans, it’s what I really enjoy about releasing books.

However, my Facebook page has personal interactions with close friends and family and I prefer to keep that separate.

So anything you want to keep out of the public eye, you need to secure as best you can. It won’t be perfect, but that’s really the best thing you can do.

I hope this helps. Authors and readers, how do you handle issues like this? Do you interact with the people who send you friends requests?

Thanks,
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

Note:
If you have read my books, PLEASE log into Amazon and post a review. I really love to hear everyone’s thoughts and constructive criticisms. Reviews help get my book attention and word of mouth is everything in this business!

Thanks friends!

Catch you on the flip side!

-Jim

I’m actually in the process of writing a novel, but I’m having a hard time getting the characters together. At times, it seems like the storyline kind of interferes with any chance to get them together. Do you have any advice on how to write a story with a romantic element?

Thanks,
Marylou

Hi Marylou,

It’s not always the easiest thing in the world, admittedly. In my books, I kind of like to leave the romance either to the beginning or middle of the story and just kind of allude to it through the body of the book. What I mean is, have the two characters forge a relationship before or in the middle of the main adventure. If your novel is fast-paced where there is no downtime, it may be a good idea for them to start off together and then have their relationship grow throughout the story.

This is more personal preference, but I don’t typically like stories where the relationship begins at the end. There is an old anecdote… that’s been mocked in several action movies; “Relationships based on intense experiences never work.”
Again, it’s an anecdote, but a pretty accurate one from what I’ve observed. This is just my opinion, but if you want a romantic element, don’t end on that note. It’s contrived, cheesy, and really doesn’t draw an audience in.

Since I’ve given you some do’s and don’ts, there’s another one I feel like I should bring up. This is something I see all the time in modern literature, tv, and movies and it really drives me insane. Do not write a story where the obvious ‘breeding pair’ has several close calls where the almost get together, but either one of them backs off or has second thoughts… more than once, and then another character comes in and interferes, only to disappear once his purpose has been served.

This is relationship drama and, while a little bit of it is okay, prolonging your story this way will annoy readers very quickly. This can be considered a form of baiting and readers don’t tend to like that very much.

Create a Dramatic Relationship, not Relationship Drama. What’s the difference? Well the opposed to what I wrote above, a dramatic relationship is one that responds and evolves due to outside stimulus, but remains strong. That’s really what you want if you’re going to draw people in.

So I went off on a bit of a tangeant there, and I apologize for that. Really all you need to do is create two likeable characters and let them work through things together. Create two characters who either compliment each other or work well off each other. Do that, and you’ll be just fine.

Hope this helps!

Readers,  do you have any advice for Marylou about adding a romantic element into a fast-paced story? Let her 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

Note:
If you have read my books, PLEASE log into Amazon and post a review. I really love to hear everyone’s thoughts and constructive criticisms. Reviews help get my book attention and word of mouth is everything in this business!

Thanks friends!

Catch you on the flip side!

-Jim

Hello,

A good question. Well honestly, I have to admit that my initial reasons were not as altruistic as one might think. I’d gone through site after site looking for good ways to advertise your writing. My books weren’t getting much traction with what I’d already had set up. Then I contacted another writer to see what he recommended. One of the main things was maintaining an online presence through a blog or other social media. He said the best thing you can do is give back some of that success you earned.

So I started my blog. At first, it got almost no traction because I was mostly advertising myself and my writing. I decided that, at that point, if I was going to get any traction, I needed to actually become part of the community. So I began looking at other blogs on WordPress and … sigh… tumblr… and a few other places. As I began commenting on and sharing what other’s had written, I began to notice a recurrent problem; There was plenty of talent, but not much in the way of experience. Too many skilled writers were having problems.

I started handing out advice in the comments section of a couple of the blogs that I frequented. I started getting a lot of compliments and gratitude. At that point, I really found my niche and started writing pieces about how to write and how to get published. Before I knew it, I started getting questions in my comments field.

My books got more traction and I set up an email for both fan mail and advice questions. Before long, I was inundated with emails from both. Unfortunately, I made a promise to myself to personally respond to each of these… and have since been paying the price for that.

Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love getting messages and will continue to respond. It has become a labor of love for me and I really enjoy doing it.

So that’s it really. What started off as a way to advertise my book, became an advice and geek culture page.

Hope this helps!

Thanks!

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

Note:
If you have read my books, PLEASE log into Amazon and post a review. I really love to hear everyone’s thoughts and constructive criticisms. Reviews help get my book attention and word of mouth is everything in this business!

Thanks friends!

Catch you on the flip side!

-Jim