Digital Publishing Workshop Recap

What I'm reading: The Reversal, by Michael Connelly

I'm closing in on another giveaway.  I need a few more likes and follows (see the sidebar).

I'm continuing with recaps of workshops from the Emerald City Conference. Since I'm working on getting my next book, DEADLY SECRETS, ready for digital publication, I thought I'd share another workshop given by Angela James. She spoke about digital publishing, and gave a fascinating overview of the topic. This is a short post, and more like bullet points, because I'm working on edits! But I've got a prize for anyone who can answer my questions, which I hope makes up for it. Quiz at the end of the post.

Digital publishing has a North American focus. We tend to think that everyone has the same options and opportunities, but that's not the case. But today, almost everything is available in digital format. More and more authors are taking advantage of being able to publish their own books, be they original or previously published titles. As she put it, "Self publishing is the new black."

Writing With Triggers

What I'm reading: An Invitation to Sin, by Jo Beverley, Sally Mackenzie, Vanessa Kelly & Katilin O'Riley; Island Nights, by P.J. Mellor

Only 5 more likes and 12 more followers before I give away more books. And don't forget to sign up for my newsletter on my website, which also enters you in the giveaway. Details on the Deals and Steals tab.

Today it's another recap of an Emerald City Writers Conference workshop, this one given by Bernadette Pajer. She called her approach "Trigger Writing" and she made some interesting points, giving another way to look at the "show don't tell" rule.

Pajer defined a trigger as a carefully crafted description, rich in innuendo or emotional responses. She said the beauty of triggers is that they engage readers by allowing them to be an active participant in the story.

When you use triggers, you're using implications and connotations rather than denotations, or strict definitions of the words. You're trusting that the reader will have the same associations with the word that you're trying to get across in your prose.

For example, if you put a Dumpster in a scene, odds are your readers are going to see and smell the scene, even if you don't go into details about what it actually looks like or smells like.

Branding Is For More Than Cattle

What I'm reading: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin (don't laugh; I never read it). And I'm reading it primarily because I won a copy of Pride and Prejudice: The Jewess and the Gentile by Lev Raphael, and figured I needed to read the original before the mashup.

I picked up more books at the Emerald City conference, and many of them are going into my Giveaway stack. Be sure you check the Deals and Steals tab for all the different ways you can enter the contest. I'm very close to Giveaway #2 with my "likes"

I hope you'll read through today's post, because I'd like some opinions, and I've asked a few questions at the end.

At Emerald City, I went to Angela James's workshop on Branding. She's an editor for Carina Press, which is part of Harlequin, and she made some excellent points. She also spoke about digital publishing in another workshop, which I'll save for another post.

As to Branding: it's more than a tag line. Branding is how you become known to readers.

1. Branding is a promise. She used the example of McDonald's. When you go into a McDonald's, you have expectations, because they have a very strong brand. If tomorrow, they said, "we're going to become a vegetarian restaurant", consumers would feel cheated.

2. Branding is how you stand out from the crowd. JD Robb makes a different promise to her readers than she does as Nora Roberts. Branding creates marketing opportunities.

3. Branding draws consumers in. Angela spoke of seeing a store in a shopping center called, "Wine Anthology." It immediately called to her, and she thought it would be a great place to shop. Then she noticed that there was a sign saying, "Clark Circle Liquors is now Wine Anthology." The image of Clark Circle Liquors was totally different from Wine Anthology, calling up images of seedy men carrying open bottles in brown paper bags.

Planning a POV Workshop

Today's picture goes with last week's post about discovery drafts vs editing as you go. It' a t-shirt I saw in a catalog and couldn't resist. Maybe I'll wear it to my next RWA chapter meeting.

Because I'm going to be doing a workshop on Point of View at the Emerald City conference, I thought I'd share some of the things I plan to cover as I prepare my speaker notes. If you have any POV issues you think I should include in the workshop, let me know. I'll lead off with the various types of POV, but didn't think I needed to include that here. Since I write in deep POV, that's going to be the focus of my workshop.

Point of view (POV) is the vantage point from which we show a section of the story to the reader -- and it's one of the hardest things to deal with when we write.

Usually, we only tell the story through the eyes of one character -- or at least one character at a time. When we switch back and forth, the reader is jerked from one person's head to the other, and it's hard to develop empathy for either character.

Using POV
If we've chosen to use our heroine's POV, then the reader will see what the heroine sees, hear what the heroine hears, and know most of what the heroine's thinking.

The reader won't know what anyone else is thinking, or what's happening behind the heroine's back, or what's said after she leaves the room. If the heroine doesn't see it, hear it, smell it or taste it, then it can't happen for the reader -- not in that scene, at least.

So how do you show the other character's state of mind (like the hero)? We'll know his state of mind by what he says, what he does, how he acts, and what the heroine thinks about it.

Let's try an example. Sally's the heroine, and she has just confronted Joe, the hero, about a lie she thinks he's told her. Sally's the POV character. How can we make sure our readers connect with Sally and know what's going on with Joe?

Emerald City 2 and School Pride

Not long ago, my guest,Tom Stroup talked about his involvement with the School Pride project. It debuts tomorrow night on NBC, and I encourage you to check your local listings, and if you can't watch, set your recorders. It's gratifying to see people giving back instead of taking for a change.



And, for more of my Emerald City recaps....

Emerald City Part 1

Thanks to Gerrie for yesterday's post. Writing seems to be something inside us, and we're going to do it no matter what.

After wrapping up notes from the Writers' Police Academy, it's time to plunge into recapping workshops from the Emerald City Conference. The first workshop I attended was about writing emotionally gripping scenes, given by Margie Lawson.

First, it's important to understand that we, as human beings, have involuntary responses to certain situations and stimuli. These are visceral responses, things we really can't control. In high-emotion situations, our hearts beat faster, mouths get dry, hands sweat, etc. These responses are tied to the body, not our conscious thought-processes.

When writing, especially in scenes with emotional impact, we should draw on these responses and make the reader feel them as well. We've all heard, "show, don't tell" and we probably know better than to say, "She was scared." Instead, we might say, "Her stomach clenched with fear." But is that enough?

He Fights, She Fights - Part 3

What I'm reading: Hot Mahogany by Stuart Woods

What I'm writing: Chapter 32

To wrap up the fighting workshop, we'll look at women fighting women. Compare these points to the ones in yesterday's post about men fighting men.

In a cat fight, anything goes.
Fights tend to be short and violent.
They don't stop when one participant is subdued.
Women never forget the outcome or the reason for the fight. (You remember that time in third grade when you scribbled on my homework?)
Women don't want their appearance diminished.
Women will go for what is most precious to her opponent. (Ruin expensive clothing, pull hair, etc.)
Women are embarrassed about fighting and seldom brag.
Women slap rather than punch, to avoid injury to hands.
A woman trained in fighting will be more violent and hold a grudge longer than a non-trained woman.
Women will sacrifice just about everything to protect their children and loved ones.

Advice to women (regardless of the gender of the opponent)

Make noise. Lots of noise. Attackers don't want to be noticed.
If you can get away, don't stop to look back. Get somewhere safe first.

In writing, remember that for characters in fights, all scenes have consequences, both physical and emotional.

Deb Maynard also suggested that unless you know a lot about the specifics of the various martial arts, it's wiser not to mention them by name. You might have your character performing moves that are totally out of place for that method. She divided the martial arts into two basic styles: Wrestling and Boxing.

Wrestling includes: Judo, jujitsu, Aikido and Hapkido.

Boxing includes: Karate, Kung Fu, Kenpo, Tae Kwon Do (which she pointed out is more martial sport).

He Fights / She Fights - Part 2

What I'm reading: Playing Dead, by Allison Brennan

What I'm writing: Chapter 32.

To continue with my notes from Deb Maynard's workshop at the Emerald City Writer's Conference:

Men fighting women. (Women, these are things to be aware of)

1. Grabbing clothing or purse straps.

2. Grabbing long hair (wonder if hubby will accept that I'm safer with short hair!)

3. Grabbing from behind, around the neck.

4. Lapel grabs.

5. Pushing a women against a wall.

6. Ambush.

7. In bed asleep.

The way men fight other men. Again, as I said yesterday, these are all generalizations. We all know exceptions, but these are the basics for men who fight.

Men will fight for just about any reason.

Men fight until one gives in

Men enjoy the fight. Often it's, "Great fight, now let's grab a beer."

Men brag about fighting.

Men are more physical, they will take more damage without worrying about injury or appearance. In fact, bruises are often badges of honor. And again, it's likely to be, "Great fight, now let's grab a beer."

Men fight and then let go of the reason for the fight. When it's over, it's over.

Men anticipate a fight and are more aware of surroundings and possible outcomes.

Men see fighting as part of their nature.

Men are proud to defend and protect (goes back to that hard wiring and the his brain/her brain)

A man's ego is engaged in the fight as much as his body.

Men see fighting in terms of a winner and a loser.

Tune in tomorrow for the last installment.

He fights / She fights

What I'm reading: Just Breathe, by Susan Wiggs

What I'm writing: Chapter 31. My aviation scenes are mended, thanks to a very nice airline pilot who took a lot of time making sure I understood how things worked--and didn't work.

Today, I'll start sharing some workshop notes from the Emerald City Writer's Conference.

Martial Arts expert Deb Maynard presented a workshop on fighting—the physical kind. The notes I'm sharing, as always, are filtered through my interpretation and sometimes shaky memory or illegible handwriting. For this workshop, we also had the added excitement of a fire alarm going off about 1/3 of the way through.

The points here are based on her research, and are also generalizations. I'm sure everyone can think of exceptions, but for the most part, the following are the differences in the ways men and women approach fighting. And, if you've read my his brain/her brain posts, a lot of it is grounded in our basic hard wiring that goes back to men as hunters and women as nurturers.

Basic differences between male and female fighting instincts:

Men fight to feel power.

Men will aim for the face and head; women aim for a man's groin and face. (Note: men are always alert to groin attacks, so go for the throat.)

Women slap, pinch and bite. Men rarely punch women; they don't feel it's necessary to use that kind of force—they're more likely to backhand her.

Men want control. Women want to get away.

Men chase. Women run (and too often stop to look back to see if the man is still chasing her)

Men want to demean. Women want to get away.

Men don't care if they hurt someone. Women don't want to hurt.

(Interesting side note here. The other day our local paper ran an article about the upsurge of women using Tasers—the article called Taser demonstrations the "new Tupperware party." While a cop's taser fires for 5 seconds, which is considered enough to subdue the suspect, the civilian model delivers a shock for 30 seconds, which is designed to let the woman escape. While testing these models and watching the electrical display on the target, a woman said she really didn't want to have to use it because she didn't want to hurt anyone. But she supposed she would if her life was in danger.)

Men will kill in a fight. Women try to avoid killing.

Men will attack without thought of defense. Women defend themselves first, then attack.

Over the next day or so, I'll post more about differences between the way men fight other men, men fight women, and women fight other women.

Home from the Emerald City

My travel reading: First You Run; Then You Hide; Now You Die; all by Roxanne St. Claire; The Secret Diaries of Miss Minerva Cheever, by Julia Quinn.

What I'm reading now: City of Secrets, by Katie Reus

What I'm writing. Writing? I'm still unpacking, but I'll be revising my Bad Stuff Happens on the Airplane scene thanks to a very patient seat-mate on the Seattle to Atlanta leg of my trip.

For me, the highlight of Saturday was the book signing, where I sold out. (Thanks to Allison Brennan for buying my last copy of Finding Sarah!). As with all conferences, networking abounded, and I met lots of new friends, and reconnected with some from the 2006 conference. Eileen Cook provided some great information on Why Smart People Do Stupid Things, and gave us some excellent psych fodder for our characters' behavior. Julia Hunter shared "Gadgets for the Busy Writer" tips, and Louise Knott Ahern shared PR tips.

Deb Werksman of Sourcebooks told us how to excite and editor (all the while pointing out that there were 190,000 new books published last year, and that out of the 900-1200 subs she gets, maybe 100 will be published. It's all about a good hook.

Sunday morning's first workshop was interrupted by a fire drill. At least it was late enough so most of us were in session on the ground or second level, and didn't have to go down 8 flights of stairs while carrying That Which is Essential (but are glad hubby took care of it). Allison Brennan's closing speech was the perfect wrap-up to the conference.

The trip home was more or less on schedule, and, as mentioned above, I found myself sitting next to a private pilot who was willing to answer my "I need a disaster" questions for a scene in my book.

Good to be home, although I sure miss the cooler weather. But, there's still shopping for food, unpacking and the requisite laundry to be done. And, I'll be realistic. I still haven't entered all my RWA receipts into a spreadsheet, so I doubt I'll be organizing my Seattle expenses any time soon.

And More from Washington State

A full day -- I was moderator (meant I read an introductory bio and made sure we started and ended on time) for Kerrie Droban's presentation on writing her True Crime book on the Hells Angels. More workshops, lunch (where I actually won a raffle drawing -- one of two I entered because of no room in my luggage because they were small. Got some nifty lavender scented stuff), and participated in the book signing. We're joining a group for dinner at a local brew pub, then there's a dance get-together, and another almost full day tomorrow. I'll have the usual sharing of notes once I get home and have more than ten minutes of Internet time.

Emerald City's next - and Customer Service -- Again.

I'll be out of the cyber-realm for the next week, headed for the Emerald City Writer's Conference.


My trip starts tomorrow with a visit to a very dear friend -- the kind of friend where time and distance don't make a difference. The kind of friend who says, "Pick you up at the airport? No problem. Drive you back on Friday, sure." Never mind it's a two hour trip each way, and gas prices are astronomical. She'll call from the market to make sure she's got all the foods you want--which flavor yogurt do you prefer? She and her husband recently retired to Bellingham, Washington, and I'm looking forward to spending several days with her prior to the conference. She's got all sorts of possible activities planned, weather permitting. Which leads to the next thing on my list: Packing.

I hate packing. I hate it more now that the airlines have made that second bag a price-ticketed item. But I've got to pack the professional style wardrobe for the conference, and the "maybe we'll go hiking" wardrobe for the visit. Plus, there are all the promotional items like chapter books, magnets, and postcards that take up luggage space. Plus, colder weather means bulkier clothes. I'm not good at deciding in advance what I'm going to want to wear, but now that I have to be more efficient, I'll have to forgo some of the "I'll decide which shirt to wear from the five I'm packing once I get there" and "What if I spill coffee?" backups.

At least my eBookwise is already loaded with reading material.

And then there's the airline grumble -- back to my old Customer Service rant. I booked our flights on our default airline--the one where we have Medallion perks. Great schedule, great price. Did everything on line as always. Only the Orlando to Seattle leg is on a code-share partner. No biggie, right? Wrong. What airline #1 doesn't mention is that in order to book 'real' seats, you have to call the code share partner. So, although hubby and I have seats on my itinerary, these are "REQUESTS." By chance, I checked with the code share airline. Yep

"You don't have any seats on this plane. We can give you 28 and 29E" That's two middle seats, back of the bus, in separate rows. Nobody bothered to mention this. But, she says, "You can always request a seat change at the gate."

The code share website has a nice "live chat" link for help with seats. However, the helper can't do anything about that, because her resources are limited to telling you why she can't help you. So, when I call my regular airline to see what's up, I get: "Gee, I always tell people to go to the code share airline to get seats. I don't know why nobody told you."

"But, I booked on line," I said. Nothing on your website mentioned that."

"Oh, well that's a website issue, not my problem."

"Excuse, me, I'm a customer pointing out that a flaw in your system has inconvenienced me."

"Well, you can use the 'contact us' link on our website."

"I thought I WAS contacting you with this phone call."

"I don't have access to the people you need to talk to. You can call reservations directly."

Which was exactly where I started. So, I may be arriving a bit grumpy and uncomfortable. Six hours is a long flight. But, my special friend has promised we'll go straight to a great Seattle seafood place and have some wine before heading to her home. See you all on the 14th!