03/27/2012 • 6:57 PM 4
How about you? Do you prefer outlining first or just diving in and trusting the Force, Luke?
(That animal at the end is Piggle, the cutest skinny pig on earth.)
Click to check Sex, Death & Mind Control here.
Filed under: Books, Video, What about Chazz?, writing tips, Chazz, pantsing, plotting, Sex Death & Mind Control, writing, writing tips
03/27/2012 • 9:18 AM 0
Via Scoop.it – Writing and reading fiction
Does this book qualify as "literary" fiction? I don't know.
I reject the distinction many people make between literary writing and fiction. I think good writing is good writing.
Is literary fiction a different genre? Perhaps, but since all good fiction has depth, style and character and can be intellectual, the boundaries are fuzzy. Still, the arguments people make for those distinctions are no less interesting.
Maybe the literary novel is like pornography: undefinable but you recognize it when you see it. I don’t necessarily recognize it, though. Is my book Self-help for Stoners literary fiction? It has all the elements listed in the link, but I really don’t know. I just call it suspense. If you figure out if Self-help for Stoners is “literary” or not, please email me. I’d love to know! Click Jane Friedman’s link below to see if you can puzzle it out. ~ Chazz
Filed under: publishing, book, fiction, jane friedman, Literary fiction, Literature, Sex Death & Mind Control
03/25/2012 • 4:19 PM 3
Once upon a time, as a healer, I engaged in counselling someone in a spiritual quest to free them from pain. It’s a long story I will not indulge today, but I will say that before each of those appointments, I meditated. I did that then. ow writing is the only meditation I seem to need. Before each of those appointments, I went to my bookshelves. I’ve collected books for years, so I have several thousand waiting to be rediscovered. Each time, one of those books would call to me. I felt a change in energy through my palm as I ran my hand along the shelves. I would then open the book at random…or seemingly at random. Something always arose in the client’s session that related to the passage from the chosen book. The woman I worked with used to be trapped in an electric wheelchair. She walks, drives, travels and lives a full life now. She became a healer and took my place. Make of that what you will.
When I’m stuck or need a nudge or a connection to an epiphany, I still go to my bookshelves. Call it inspiration, weird, or the hypnogogic state, pattern recognition, divine intervention or neural connection through confirmation bias. Call it nonsense if you want. I’m conflicted about it myself. Nevertheless, it worked. It still works. When I need it, that intuition can propel my narratives forward.
I’m now revising one book while writing another. As I survey my extra desk (spreading out is such luxury), there are several piles I either reference or keep close by just to stay on track. I thought you might be interested to know what I pulled from my bookshelves to draw from as I go through my process:
For my crime novel:
The Pool Bible by Nick Metcalfe (as in nine ball), Mobspeak, The Dictionary of Crime Terms (Sifakis), Writing the Private Eye Novel, Cause of Death A writer’s guide to death, murder & forensic medicine (Wilson), How to Write a Mystery (Larry Beinhart), New York City Day by Day and Frommer’s New York City.
For Editing:
The Artful Edit (Susan Bell), The Subversive Copy Editor (Carol Fisher Sailor).
For Inspiration:
Brother (William Goldman), Best American Crime Writing 2003, When the Women Come out to Dance and The Hot Kid (Elmore Leonard), Small Town (Lawrence Block), This Year You Write Your Novel, (Walter Mosley).
NEXT POST: Pantsing versus Plotting
Filed under: ebooks, Editing, getting it done, My fiction, publishing, What about Chazz?, writing tips, Elmore Leonard, Hot Kid, Larry Beinhart, Lawrence Block, This Year You Write Your Novel, Walter Mosley, William Goldman, writing and intuition
03/23/2012 • 4:34 PM 6
Specifically, are there words or phrases you might encounter in an Amazon book description that turn you off the book immediately? Are these annoying words or phrases arbitrary?
This is an original work, based on international road sign design. It symbolizes the question "Where do we go from here" and is also a play on the words "Right of Way". (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
For me, it’s the word cuppa. “Would you like to come in for a cuppa, Miss Beasley?”
Oh, god. Spare me. Hate it. I can’t tell you why because I don’t know. Maybe I associate it with a low-class colloquialism that sounds like a warning of cliched, filler dialogue ahead, but I’m just guessing.
On the other end of the spectrum there’s something about writing the word weight with a calligraphic pen that is so enjoyable, I have written it down a page while doodling, over and over. Is this a weird, unexplored cul-de-sac of OCD? What are the words that make you want to grind your teeth? Or does this just happen to me?
Filed under: rules of writing, What about you?, writing tips, English, overused words, Phrase, what bugs you?, Word
03/22/2012 • 10:48 AM 3
Here's the new cover design for my novella. The graphic designer is Kit Foster of kitfosterdesign.com. IF YOU CAN'T SEE THIS IMAGE IN YOUR BROWSER, you can get the new cover image here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/83426
The Dangerous Kind is a top-notch, heart-wrenching novella of suspense (and I don’t just say so myself). Happy with the guts of the story, I put a bad cover on a good book. My reasoning at the time was that I didn’t want to spend money on any book that wasn’t a full-length work. I priced The Dangerous Kind at just 99 cents to introduce my flavor to new readers. I did not consider that you can’t sell a gorgeous mansion if the front of the house looks condemned.
I created the first cover for my novella using picnik and morguefiles.com. I’m actually happy with some of the short story ebook covers I created, but with The Dangerous Kind? I made a mistake. The original cover makes sense to readers only after they’ve read the story. If I were a freakish hybrid with Bones McCoy after an unfortunate transporter accident, I might say, “Dammit, Jim! I’m a writer, not a graphic designer!” I should have asked for professional help instead of trying to do it on the cheap. I can recognize a good cover, but there’s a big gap between flying the plane and riding in back.
I was shortsighted. Once an ebook is for sale, you get to sell it forever. Why not make the best first impression you can? It will make a better return with a pretty face and you have forever to make back the investment. That’s what a good cover is: an investment, not a cost. My graphic designer is Kit Foster of kitfosterdesign.com (great guy!) so the cost was reasonable, too.
The other good move I made (finally!) was to ask for a cover endorsement from a fellow suspense novelist. I got one from a bestselling author: Jeff Bennington, author of Twisted Vengeance (and more). Jeff read The Dangerous Kind and gave me some nice quotes for the cover. Cover endorsements give readers courage to make that first click to buy our work and get sucked into our worlds.
Thanks Kit and Jeff. I may find new mistakes to make, but I don’t think I’ll be repeating this one moving forward.
Filed under: All That Chazz, authors, Books, ebooks, Publicity & Promotion, self-publishing, writing tips, Amazon Kindle, E-book, Jeff Bennington, Kit Foster, new cover, Novella, short story, suspense novelist, The Dangerous Kind
03/21/2012 • 10:35 AM 0
Via Scoop.it – Writing and reading fiction
Otis Chandler says: “The most valuable commodity for the sustained promotion of a book is word-of-mouth buzz . . .
Filed under: publishing
03/20/2012 • 3:28 PM 0
Via Scoop.it – Writing and reading fiction
I’m running a little promotion today and anyone who helps out will get a coupon tomorrow for a free copy of my novella, The Dangerous Kind. Kevin Smith fans will especially like this promotion, but I’ll let The Inimitable Tony Collett explain it from his blog. If you aren’t that my little promotional deal, there’s a much more important one you should consider, too. Check out Tony’s blog for more on that. Thanks!
Filed under: publishing
03/19/2012 • 12:45 AM 0
Last week I talked quote trailers. Here’s a fresh one for a different book: Sex, Death & Mind Control. If I had to do it again, I’d change the title. Why? Because I’ve run into a startling number of people who expect it to be porn or too violent for them (not that there’s necessarily anything wrong with that, but it’s not porn and it’s not even gory.) It’s twisty and weird and fun and you don’t see the groin punches coming. I ran into similar problems with another title, Self-help for Stoners. I write suspense, but my titles are obviously missing that mark.
I blame myself because I don’t have an intern around the office to accuse of incompetence and inadequate pencil sharpening. Oooh, but if I did…er…anyway, perhaps the quote trailers will change potential readers’ expectations. Download a sample from Amazon here or from Smashwords. I’m everywhere, and yet nowhere. I’m a riddle inside a paradox wrapped in a burrito. Which is a problem from a sales perspective but I’m confident my readership will find me. And if not, I’ll just have to suit up in my cape and cowl and go hunt them. By night. In a car with a jet engine that can turn into a submarine. The usual lengths authors have to go to find readers.
Now off to interview some intern candidates to see how tolerant they are to screaming fits, being called Alfred and cleaning up bat guano. The lair is looking untidy.
Filed under: book trailer, ebooks, Publicity & Promotion, publishing, What about Chazz?, Amazon, E-book, quote trailers, Robert Chazz Chute, Sex Death & Mind Control, Smashwords, Trailers, YouTube
03/18/2012 • 12:22 PM 0
Via Scoop.it – Writing and reading fiction
Writer Wordart (Photo credit: MarkGregory007)
Not everyone respects writers enough to pay them for their work. Writers are sometimes at the bottom of the list of who gets paid. The light, heat and phone bills get paid on time, but writers? Not necessarily. Yet “content provision” is supposedly the basis of the publishing business. Editors and publishers can’t moan on at length about their respect for the written word if they don’t have respect for the people who come up with those words. Then there’s the “paying your dues” defence, but the people who ask that tend to ask that sacrifice of everyone. Click the link for a humorous rant on a subject that isn’t so funny. ~ Chazz
Via preposteroustwaddlecock.blogspot.fr
Filed under: Intentionally Hilarious, publishing, Useful writing links, Writers, getting paid, ray garten, tips for publishers, tips for writers, writer, writing
03/16/2012 • 1:04 AM 2
Many regular readers expect a new podcast from me right about now. Since my throat has closed up and I’m currently absorbing oxygen through my pores, there’s no podcast this evening (though if you missed any, they can all be found at AllThatChazz.com.)
Twisty and twisted. Click the pic for more.
From the NSFW category, erotica author Eden Baylee asks me some piercing Proustian questions and I give some earnest, logical and scatological answers. Not only is it not safe for work, it may not even be safe for your living room. Click here, read there and have a laugh.
Over at The Raven’s Quill, Krista Walsh gives a lovely review of Sex, Death & Mind Control.There are allusions to Dr. Hannibal Lecter. She’s beguiled, so I know my experiments with mind control really are working. See what the fuss is all about and read the review on her site.
Recently, RaeBeth McGee interviewed me at The Writing World. I’m all about the pithy answers about writer’s block, verisimilitude and my enemies will get a clue as to where to search for the hidden secret to my weaknesses! Enjoy in a click.
A new cover is coming for The Dangerous Kind. This time it will be pretty since Kit at KitFosterDesign is pinch hitting for me. It will be more effective because the new cover will include a happy endorsement from a bestselling author.
If you don’t have a Kindle, but still want The Dangerous Kind edition with the vintage cover, you can get it on Smashwords here. I’ve had great reviews of this suspenseful novella. You could be the next happy reader to review this claustrophobic story of greed, betrayal and inner demons in the Maine woods. (Still for just 99 cents! Couch change!)
I shall be podcasting again when my throat is no longer full of razor blades. For now, I think you’ll find these links plenty entertaining. For me? Each of these links taste like affirmation of me as a writer and acknowledgement that I’m a player…excuse me, that should be playah. And all that tastes like chocolate croissant. My thanks to Eden, Krista and RaeBeth! That was fun!
I have major announcements cooking, so stay tuned.
Cool stuff is coming your way.
Related articles
Filed under: All That Chazz, ebooks, My fiction, publishing, reviews, self-publishing, short stories, What about Chazz?, Eden Baylee, Kit Foster, Krista Walsh, Not safe for work, Podcast, Raven's Quill, Sex Death & Mind Control, Smashwords, The Dangerous Kind
Winner of Writer's Digest's 2014 Honorable Mention in Self-published Ebook Awards in Genre
The first 81 lessons to get your Buffy on
More lessons to help you survive Armageddon
"You will laugh your ass off!" ~ Maxwell Cynn, author of Cybergrrl
Fast-paced terror, new threats, more twists.
An autistic boy versus our world in free fall
Suspense to melt your face and play with your brain.
Action like a Guy Ritchie film. Funny like Woody Allen when he was funny.
Jesus: Sexier and even more addicted to love.
You can pick this ebook up for free today at this link: http://bit.ly/TheNightMan
See my books, blogs, links and podcasts.
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