Hi Jim,

HELP!!! I’M TRYING TO WRITE A SEQUEL, BUT I CAN’T COME UP WITH ANYTHING! I JUST DON’T HAVE THE SAME INSPIRATION WITH THESE CHARACTERS AS I DID IN THE FIRST BOOK! I GET HALF WAY THROUGH, AND JUST CAN’T SEEM TO GET THROUGH IT BECAUSE IT BADLY CHANGES THE CHARACTERS PERSONALITIES AND THE DYNAMIC OF THEIR RELATIONSHIPS!

DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE???

THANKS,
KHIMBAY

Hi Khimbay,

First of all, you don’t have to shout. Do you know how many internet etiquette laws you’re breaking by typing in all caps? You’re breaking one; Do Not Type In All Caps!

Okay, on to your question… I’m in the same boat. I know that there has been a lot of people asking about Soul Siphon’s sequel and I tried to give the audience what they wanted. However I couldn’t get anywhere with it…

What was holding me up? Well for starters, I spent a lot of time writing Mary Kelly. I was very careful to portray her in a way I think would be like who the actual historical MK was… if she was resurrected and lived for another 130 years. However I couldn’t replicate that in the second story. Why? Because all the mystery behind her was gone. We know about her soft side now, we know that her bitterness was shield against her own problems. I kept trying, but I wasn’t happy with how she was coming out.

The second issue was writing the devil. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get her (yes, HER) right. I wanted her to be flamboyant, outgoing, and an all-around like-able character,  but that came off too much like a certain TV show we all know and most of us love.

So I tried again with the devil, trying to make her lose her memory so that the one lacking her previous history isn’t even and the group is left with the moral conundrum of what to do with the devil, who may not actually be the devil. Again, it went nowhere and I couldn’t get her right in a way that would have made people like her.

So… sorry everybody, the Soul Siphon series is… at this point in time, defunct. Will I revisit the universe at some point, yes. I still have things l’d like to do there, but I doubt it’ll be in the form of a direct sequel.

So… unfortunately Khimbay, I can’t help you as I don’t have an answer to this problem either. My solution is to simply wash my hands of the whole situation and simply say ‘That’s it, no more direct sequels.’

This is something I did with Damnation. I refused to drag the characters from Divinity back out into another adventure when the characters already been possessed, beaten, one had been tortured, raped, and murdered, while the others had been put through LITERAL Hell. I know they’re characters that I just made up, but to me, that’s just cruel, and I’ve honestly seen how mean-spirited writing hurts a story.
However, I knew I wanted to do a follow-up to show the effects of what happened in Divinity and needed to find a way around that. So I created new characters and wrote a whole new story around the events of the previous novel. Yes, a few of the old characters made appearances, but they were strictly cameos.

I’m actually planning on doing the same thing with Drakin: The Story of Raiya after its published. There will be other stories (hopefully many) that take place in the same world. Yes characters from  The Story of Raiya may make appearances (if they survive), and will get honorable mentions, but the follow-up stories will not be about them. A post-apocalyptic world where humanity is recovering from literal decades of bloodshed to the point where they were facing extinction, opens up the possibility to a plethora of stories that can be created. The potential is there and the characters are waiting to be written… and I personally can’t wait. I plan on spending a lot of time in that world. Who knows, maybe we’ll see a familiar face or two along the way.

So that’s my advice to you, Khimbay and I apologize for going off-topic a little. If you don’t want to write a direct sequel, but do want to do a follow-up? Write a new story in the same universe. It’s technically still a sequel.

Hope this helps, but maybe our readers have other ideas, so I’ll open it up to the floor. What does everyone think? Do you have advice for Khimbay? 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 multiple 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

Hi James,

I’m having trouble writing a character with a dual personality. Do you have any advice on writing a character that talks to themselves? I can’t seem to figure out a way to do it that won’t be confusing.

Thanks,
AJ

Hi AJ,

If the character has a dual personality, then we’re not necessarily talking about the character talking to himself. At least not as far as the character is concerned.

I actually tackle this one in Damnation with Xaphine.

In this story, we’re dealing with a fallen angel that has been corrupted by the powers of Hell. In order to keep her safe, the devil places her on Earth in the form of a human. He also completely wipes her mind. She doesn’t even completely remember her own name and chooses the name Xaphine for herself.
This is a bit of a spoiler alert, but I’ll do my best not to give away too much;

Because of extenuating circumstances, the angel, General Xaphan (now Xaphine) spends about a decade among humans, more time than anyone intended. She marries, has friends, and a life that she cherishes. When the devil finally comes for her, she puts up a fight. He eventually restores her memory but because he’s lost much of his power, he’s unable to remove… as he calls it, the human taint.
Because of this, the clash of her human memories with those of her angelic ones completely destroys her psyche. To compensate, her mind quickly separates both sets of memories and forms two symbiotic personalities, one is a confused mesh of her human traits, as well as her angelic persona, while the other is the darker persona combined with her angelic traits.

So how do I make that work when they need to confront one another? Well… I guess you could say that I make her hallucinate. Time freezes and she goes to an undisclosed location where her other personality exists when its not in control. They argue about what to do in certain circumstances.

So that’s pretty much how I handle dual personalities. I also name them differently. One is Xaphan, the other is Xaphine.

Otherwise, you’re pretty much just going back and forth saying ‘he said to himself’ and ‘he thought to himself.’

I hope this helps!

Readers, how do you handle this type of thing? Let AJ 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 multiple 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

Hi Jim!

Hi Marian,

Welcome to Godhood. I’m actually not kidding. Writing puts the ability to create worlds, whole universes, people personalities… literally everything right in your hands. It’s a wonderful yet daunting responsibility, especially when you take your first steps.

It’s very difficult to know when you’re ready. VERY difficult. You literally have to have all your ducks in a row. You need a synopsis, hook, an edited manuscript, and a good literary letter to send to agencies (assuming you’re going the traditional route).

Before you get going on putting your work out there for all to see, you want to consider whether or not its professional enough. Get someone to read it, get a group of people to read it, edit it, and give you their thoughts. Do NOT assume that you can do this yourself. You can’t. Trust me, your eyes are biased and rigged in a way that you will overlook your own mistakes over and over. Also, what makes sense in your mind, may not make sense in other people’s.

This cannot be overstated. Editing as much as possible is key!

If you’re going to go the traditional route, then yes, I would say getting your work printed in Magazines, entering contests, and getting yourself out there is essential. This will get you recognition that you can put into a pitch letter you send to an agency. Almost like a resume.

If you’re not going to go the traditional route, this may not be necessary. However yes, I would try to build a following on social media. You can do this by creating a blog, handing out advice, talking about your experiences, or just write about things that interest you that others may gravitate towards. I personally found my niche long ago by helping people and giving out advice, as you can see.

There are a lot of writing blogs out there, but not as many that actually answer direct questions, so that’s where I found my place.

You also want to make sure that you do this across multiple platforms. I have this blog connected to my Facebook page, pinterest, twitter, and several other social media sites so people can see what I’m doing and follow me if they don’t have a WordPress account.

Whichever publishing route you choose, DO YOUR RESEARCH!!! Look into everything you need to know before going ahead. Feel free to look back on my blog. I provide several resources over multiple posts that can help point you in the right direction. However, don’t just use my blog. Look at several literary sites to gain a feel for the environment ahead of you.

Hope this helps, thanks for the question!

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 multiple 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

(Heads up, this one is… sensitive. It may not be an easy read for… pretty much anyone with a heart. I already cleared it with the requester that it was okay to post this. To which she agreed on condition of anonymity.)

Hi Jim,

I’ve been trying to write a story about my husband’s life. He was died in the line of duty a year ago. The thing is… I’m having trouble. I don’t know how to convey how the world changed when he left us. I sit in front of the keyboard and scream because I just can’t get it out. He was the love of my life who was willing to put his life on the line to keep everyone he loved safe.
I think about how I had to put my kids to bed each night and they would ask me when daddy was coming home. I’d wind up not being able to sleep, instead sitting up wondering what to tell them. How do I permanently break the hearts of children that haven’t even reached double digit ages?
His death left me with a hole in my chest that I couldn’t fill and could never be repaired. I don’t know how to write about it. How do you express the hole left when someone like that just permanently vanishes from your life.

Any advice you can offer me would be greatly appreciated.

Hello…

Believe it or not, this is why I really hope no one ever asks me to write a eulogy. I can do it, but I’d probably hate it because no matter what I write, it will sound trite, contrived, and cliched in my head. No words will ever be enough. I really wish I had some sage advice for you… but honestly… I think you just did it. I had a hard time reading what you wrote. You conveyed how you felt, how it affected the people around you and how the world was different for you now.

That’s really all you have to do. You simply need to take what you wrote above and elaborate on it. Build on the feelings you’ve already expressed. If you have trouble finding the right words, ask around. Ask the other people who knew him to help you. Maybe have other people contribute or even write in quotes. Word articulation comes much easier to some people than others, especially if they aren’t grieving as badly.

I know it doesn’t seem like it, but you’re not alone. There are people out there ready and willing to help. You just have to make the big leap and… ask. You’ll be surprised how many people will come out of the woodwork if they haven’t already.

As cliche as it may sound, speak from the heart and readers will pick up on it. Write genuinely and people will pick up on it. Just put your feelings down on paper, all of them. Once you’re done, sort them out, or ask for help in organizing them into some semblance of coherency. Don’t worry about how it sounds, just get what you can down on paper. Trust me, once you start writing, the words will begin to flow. It takes time, but it will happen.

So on that note… I’m sorry… I can’t really help you any more than that, because honestly, you can write for eternity and never fully convey how wonderful a person is or how you felt. Every day is a different emotion worth a million words, probably infinitely more than that in your case.

Just don’t give up, write as much as you can until you feel that you’ve gotten out a satisfactory amount. Please feel free to email me back if you have trouble finding the right words. I’ll be happy to help!

All – please take a moment to thank our friend for her loved one’s sacrifice… and any advice or words of encouragement you can give her would be greatly appreciated. Don’t forget to support our men and women in uniform!

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 multiple 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

I really don’t know what else to call this, but it applies to writing as well as film making. I’ve always found it quite vexing when something happens off screen like during the plot or between stories.

Too often, we see characters killed off between a movie and its sequel with little to no explanation. Usually in movies, this is done because either the actor who played the character died, or there were budgetary concerns, etc. I wouldn’t mind so much, but we see this happen in books as well. Too often there is a character or a major plot point that happens between the stories and we never get to hear the how or why.

It the book is intended to take the reader back in time to see how things got the way they did in a sort of flashback manner, that’s one thing. I get that, but too often that is not what we get. In other cases in movies as well, we see characters who solved mysteries, identified people, or came up with some new idea off-screen, and its never explained how that happened.

I love the idea of leaving some things up to the reader to figure out, but there’s a difference between pinholes and black holes. Don’t over explain, but don’t leave something in a way that it comes out of the blue with no precedence.

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 multiple 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

Hey Jim,

Cheers.

Dacia

Hi Dacia,

Haven’t seen you comment on my posts in a while. Was starting to wonder what happened. Hmm… looks like we’ve got a multi-question one today… all right. Let’s take it one at a time.

First off, stalk away. I don’t mind frequent visitors, it helps my blog more than anything!

So beta readers… it’s tough. It’s really tough. First thing I would do when looking for a beta reader is document every exchange you have back and forth with someone if you don’t know them. Goodreads usually has some pretty trustworthy beta reading circles, but you still need to be careful. I tried to go through their a while back and honestly, got a bull assessment of my first chapter from someone who claimed to be a ‘speed reader.’ They wanted money to review the rest… and not a small amount either.

Look into the person you’re considering working with. Do they have other publications with reviews? What is their level of education? Are they an active member of whatever community you’re searching through? Don’t be afraid to ask questions and turn down offers if something doesn’t seem right.

The second thing you can do is try to forge a relationship on here with someone. That’s pretty much how I did it. I’d also recommend finding more than one person, two sets of eyes, one biased (yours), one not (a beta), are still likely to miss a few things. Multiple beta readers however will help you out a lot. So… I guess I’m volunteering if you’d be interested in doing an exchange?

That’s usually the best way to do it. An exchange with another author anxious to find someone who’s willing to sift through their work as well. Otherwise you’ll likely shell out $100-$300 for a college student to do the work… which is fine, they really do a great job, but when you’re spending $300 (min.) for a cover, $100 a piece for each ISBN needed, and $35 for the copyright fee, it adds up fast.

One piece of advice I’d give you before reaching out to people you don’t know is to REGISTER YOUR WORK! That’s right, get it copyrighted. It’s technically already copyrighted the moment you put pen to paper, but registering it guarantees that you’ll be protected and able to furnish proof against another writer who hijacks your book.

Finally, inspirational pieces with no vocals… that is a tough one.
I’m afraid I don’t work with much in the way of instrumental music, but I do have a few selections…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooIUtXEuTYQ

Since you mentioned classical, might I recommend checking into music from the Baroque era? I tend to like that a lot more with my writing. I don’t have any real selections for you as I wouldn’t be able to identify them. I usually just switch on baroque stations on spotify.

Anyway, hope this helps!

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, Jim–

Hi Mark,

It’s an age-old problem to be sure. How do you attract an audience. Well to be honest there are a lot of ways. Your crowdfunding page certainly caught my attention, but really word of mouth is everything. For starters, I would update your kickstarter listing. Offer autographed copies as a perk. Collectors (like myself) love that sort of thing. We eat it up and… given how much I spent on a Lady Mechanika #1 that is autographed by the writer and artist (no I will not give a dollar amount), we’re willing to spend more on them… even if the artist is start up.

Second, I would update the kickstarter to include “advertising” as to where the funding goes. If you’ve really exhausted all other options, then you are going to need to put some money into advertising whether you like it or not. Fortunately there are plenty of advertising companies that can help you for fairly cheap. Amazon is really a great place to do it as many of their ads show up on Audible and that’s often how I find new books to read.

So I also took a look at your page as well and I don’t mean this in a negative way, but I found it wanting. What I mean by that is that you have no footer, nowhere on there other than your Amazon page where people can interact with you or get updates other than WordPress… This is very important because… most readers typically don’t have wordpress accounts. They come here for the articles, but most won’t be writing anything.

Go into wordpress, got to ‘My Site> Configure> Sharing.

If yours doesn’t look like mine (yes I know, I need to update the Linkedin one), then you’re not doing everything you can to advertise your work or yourself. Sign up for an account on each of these and spend a few hours here and there reaching out to people. Comment on the things they post, off your opinion, and/or offer help (like I do here). This is how you build a community and gain yourself a following.

A few weeks of doing this gained me a few thousand followers and a considerable boost in traffic to my pages.

The playlist has definitely gained me a following, mostly of writers looking for something to listen to while they brainstorm, but it has helped. This isn’t a method I have copyrighted or anything, so if you feel like it could help you, go for it.

Anyway, I hope some of these ideas help, but let’s open it up to the community;

Readers, do you have any ideas that could help Mark spread word of his new book??

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 multiple 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

Right now, I’ve hit a bit of snag in my writing. I’m a few chapters in and I am unsure on how to progress from where I am at. I have a storyboard and basic layout of the plot but I’m just hitting my head against the wall second guessing how I SHOULD write it.

Any thoughts?

–Jak

Hi Jak,

I actually get this question a lot. So without knowing a ton about your specific case, I’ve been in your shoes at least in some way. You’ve got a great story, great ideas, but several directions you can go in with said ideas.

Well… I remember back in High School when we were taking SATs, we were told that if we didn’t know the answer, to go with our initial thought. Like you look at the answers and the first one that stands out as being right is the one you should go with. They didn’t want anyone second guessing themselves because then they’d foul up.
At the time, I thought that there was so much wrong with that advice… however when I realized how much of a time constraint we had, and how many of my answers turned out to be right when I went with me ‘gut.’ I realized that there was some value in it.
Intuition is a very powerful tool.

The same can be said for writing. If you’ve got a bunch of ideas flowing, go with the first one that pops out at you. Write it all out and get it on paper so that you can see and read your ideas. Often you’re going to find that those ideas were better in your head, but in most occasions, those initial ideas may only need a few tweaks here and there to iron them out.

In the instances where you read through and just think ‘Eh… this is stupid!’ you can always go back and change anything (or everything) that you need to.

So basically what I want you to do is sit down, look at what you have so far and ask yourself the question ‘What comes next?’ Then just write the first thing that comes to you. Don’t bother with any second thoughts, you can deal with those later.

Hope this helps. Readers, what do you think Jak should do in this situation? 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 multiple 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

Take care, be well, and happy blogging.
Denny

Hi Denny,

Well… if there’s a maxim a writer should live by, it’s that if you’re good at something, don’t do it for free. Writing, creating, brainstorming, and eventual publishing take time and money and everyone deserves to be compensated for their time.

You may notice that I have several stories posted on here that are not currently in print. That’s because most of them are either abandoned stories or ones I never really considered worth publishing. In one or two cases, I posted them to gauge reader reaction and decide if it was worth publishing.

I’d leave those up because they’re really rough drafts and there would be many edits and changes made to a final product, so it wouldn’t be the same thing. However, I never post more than a single chapter of any published work.

Anyway… I know that doesn’t answer your question. So if you’re going to go against the piece of advice, let me put it this way; your work is YOUR WORK the moment you put it to paper. It is technically already copyrighted. However that’s not going to stand up in any court if you decide to pursue a claim. Posting on a blog, free or paid does not guarantee you ANY protection. You’re putting your work out there, it isn’t up to the site to protect that.

Personally, I’d stay away from ANY resource on copyrighting if the site doesn’t have a .gov at the end of it. I’m not sure what country you’re from, but for the U.S., the best thing you can do is register your work with the U.S. Copyright Office. 

I know a lot of people will say that if you’re going through traditional publishing, don’t do this because most publishers won’t take the extra time and money to purchase the copyright from you. However that doesn’t appear to be what you’re doing so it doesn’t apply. This is for posting your work and for self-publishers.

So I guess the best advice I could give is to register any work you plan on posting and do not post any work that you plan on publishing later.

Hope that helps. Readers, what do you think? Is there a better way to protect your work? Let Denny 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