Interview your Character #BYBin30

I had an odd dream last night. I am a fan of a certain Korean singer. In the dream, I was doing an interview for a magazine. I was not interviewing that singer but, instead, I was interviewing his former group, which now consisted of only two other singers.

I wanted to ask them the kinds of questions that their fans would be most interested in hearing about, not just the stuff that would be considered standard questions. I was more interested in finding out more about their interpersonal relationships, with each other and with former members of the group, as well as their reactions to some of the fan fiction written about them, especially the writings that would have been, possibly, awkward for them. I had other questions for them too, once they'd answered these, but, as often happen with dreams, I have forgotten a lot of the dream and can't remember everything I asked them.

But the point of telling you about this dream has nothing to do with the KPop idols I interviewed in my dream. The dream made me think about the characters in my stories. What kinds of questions would readers ask of them, if given the chance? How would they answer those questions? And how could I weave these aspects of their answers into the story? Their answers, obviously, would tell something about their personalities, but also about their relationships to others in the story, because, I suspect, many of those questions would have to do with those relationships.

I'm suggesting that you, dear writer, interview your characters as a way of more fully developing your characters within your own mind. Let their answers tell you more about your characters and their relationships, and then find ways to allow those aspects of your characters to be seen within the stories you are writing.

If you do this, let me know how it goes by telling me in the comments.

Writing Dream Sequences Into your Story #BYBin30

Image by Leandro De Carvalho from Pixabay

Some authors will tell you to never include a dream sequence in your story, but I don't think there are any rules to writing that can't be broken if broken in a way that benefits the story.

There are some things to keep in mind when adding a dream sequence to your story though.

Does the dream sequence benefit the story in some way? Is your character having this dream important to the story? Does it advance the story at all? If you removed the dream sequence, would it harm the story in any way? Does the dream sequence inform the reader of something that can't imparted in a better way?

Does a dream sequence fit into the overall theme of events within the story? Dream sequences can work really well in fantasy stories. Dreams can be given to a character through magic, or through an elder "wizard" figure. Dreams can be had by a character who can see glimpses of the future through them or sees omens. Dreams can be had as prophecies. For non-supernatural stories, dreams can be had as a way for your character to work something out in their mind.

Dream sequences do not have to be rational or follow the normal laws of nature. Just as people in real life have different types of dreams, your characters can have different types of dreams too. Some dreams are very realistic, and other dreams do fantastical, magical things, some dreams make sense when remembered in the light of day, and other dreams are disjointed and jumbled, full of imagery from a mish-mash of storylines in one's head. In some dreams, you might follow a normal time-line and in other dreams you might jump from one place and time to another with no explanation of how and why.

Dream sequences do not have to be fully remembered by your character. Just as we sometimes wake up and don't remember what we were dreaming about, your character might have the same thing happen. If your character can only remember pieces of the dream, and the dream imparted some important information to them, this can set the stage for the reader to be hoping and waiting for your character to remember. thus the dream can either be a way of foreshadowing a future event in the story or as a way to create suspense because the reader knows what is coming and the character does not.

Dream sequences should not be in place to trick or cheat the reader. If your story goes along the lines of the dream without the reader knowing it is a dream until several events occur, and you leave them with the idea that "it was all just a dream," your reader is going to feel cheated. If your dream sequence misleads your reader into believing something that isn't true, your reader is going to feel betrayed by the story. Be careful how you use your dream sequence. Don't use it just for an easy out. If you want to change your story from a certain point but don't want to lose the word count, setting everything back to that point by claiming it was a;; dreamed from there is lazy and disingenuous and your readers will not thank you for it.

Stringing Bits of Your Soul Onto the Page #BYBin30

Image by Dagmar Räder from Pixabay

I wrote a blog post for a friend's blog today. In my guest post, I recycled a phrase I have used in the past. That phrase was describing writing as "stringing out tiny bits of your soul onto the page for people to read." 

Reading that phrase again got me thinking about how difficult writing is, at least most of the time. And how difficult it is to share what we have written with the rest of the world. 

Whether or not someone likes what we have written is subjective and every reader has their own likes and dislikes and personal tastes in the type of writing they prefer. But when someone doesn't like what we've written, because, no matter what story we've written, we put so much of ourselves into the writing of it, it can feel very much like a personal attack.

The converse is also true though. Because we are sharing a part of ourselves when we share our writing with the world, when someone likes what we have written, it can feel like a beautiful light has been shown on us, making our hearts feel warm and loved.

Writing, no matter what the subject is, is personal for a writer. Our stories are special to us. Stringing out tiny bits of our soul onto the page can sometimes hurt and is usually difficult. And letting people read those words, those bits of our soul, is scary for us.

All writers are also readers. So this message is for the readers out there. Please, when you read our words, be gentle with us. Remember how difficult putting our words out into the world is for us, and, if you like our writing, please tell us.

Don't Sweat the (Boring) Details #BYBin30

Image by Iván Tamás from Pixabay 

Details can be important for your story, especially if you are doing some world-building. Readers want to feel like they are there in the moment, tasting, touching, hearing, seeing and smelling their surroundings within each scene within the story.

However, no one wants to know the boring details, the details of the story that are unnecessary to conveying the story to them. No one want to know that Karen got up from the couch and walked over to the table. No one needs to know the tiny, excruciatingly boring details of someone's day-to-day life if those details don't move the story along in any real, or interesting way.

I once read a story by a very talented writer. Most of her book was riveting and intriguing. However, it took until the fifth chapter for that description of her story and her writing to be true. She could have deleted the entire first four chapters of the book without any negative impact on the story. In fact, it would have improved the story by sucking the reader into the action from the very first page instead of making them slog through the boring ordinary life of the character for months before they actually got to the action part of the story.

I read another story once where a very long and detailed day out with the main character and her mom was one of the scenes - a scene that had nothing to do with the story and did nothing for the story.

So take a look at your story and really evaluate each scene. Ask yourself, does this part add any necessary information to the story? Does it move the story forward? Can this scene be deleted from the story without any negative impact on the story? Or can the story even be improved without this part?

Have you found any scenes like this in your current story? Let me know in the comments!

Writing from the Heart #BYBin30

Image by cromaconceptovisual from Pixabay

I've had a rough day today; my emotions have been all over the place, from sad one minute and impatient another to smiling and feeling content in the next. Restlessness has hit me at several times during the day, as though my mind is telling me I should be doing something else, be somewhere else, but it doesn't tell me what or where.

I don't mind days like today though. It all feeds into my writing. It means I can truly write from my heart.

We've all heard the expression "writing from the heart," but what does it really mean? I've always understood it to mean that you write emotions into your story using your own experience of them. Or, if you've never felt them, then you write them the way you think they might be. But there's a power in being able to write about an emotion you've actually experienced. If you've never been infatuated, you might not be able to fully portray it the way people truly experience the feeling, or you might not be able to distinguish the things that make infatuation different from truly being in love with someone.

As readers, we can learn a lot about emotions from the books that we read. But as writers, it can sometimes be even more powerful to write those emotions into our stories by delving into the depths of those same emotions we've been through ourselves. Devastation, depression, love, joy, contentment, heartbreak, infatuation, desire, passion, anger, hatred - each emotion is experienced slightly differently by each person experiencing it. But it is the things that are universal about going through a particular emotion that will make it relatable and believable to your readers.

And, in writing these emotions into our characters' hearts and souls, we have the added bonus that, in doing so, it can sometimes be cathartic to our own hearts and souls, or to those reading our words.

Making your Story Unique #BYBin30

Image by Mystic Art Design from Pixabay

I mentioned an idea for a story that came to me in dream to someone and she pointed out that she had seen an episode on one of the shows she watched that had a similar plot. I looked it up, and she was correct. The plot was similar to the story that I had dreamed up.

It's actually quite rare to come up with a story-line that is truly unique. While you shouldn't purposely use someone else's story plot, it is nearly impossible to come up with a plot that hasn't already been done before. What makes the story unique isn't the plot itself but how you tell the story. Yes, you need to make the plot as unique to your story as you can. Add-in to the plot, give it different subplots, give it characters with personalities that you have imagined for them. Your story needs to show your ideas and use the ideas from your imagination, and those ideas will be unique to you.

Yes, someone might have already done a story, for instance, of a witch's spell that goes wrong that splits someone else into two identical people with two distinct personalities of good and bad. But what if the person split in two is a celebrity? And what if letting the "bad" personality loose on the world creates the risk of creating a scandal for that celebrity? And what if the witch isn't really a witch but a new-to-the-religion Wicca who found a very old book of spells of unknown origins and that spell book has a mind of its own? (Yes, this is an actual story plot I had in a dream one night.)

No matter what plots have been used before, your story will be unique to you and to your own imagination. If you feel the pull to write that story, then don't worry too much about what has been done before and write your story.

Music to Write To #BYBin30

Image by Bruno Glätsch from Pixabay

I often listen to music while I write, and I have heard from many other writers that they do too. I'm not sure what everyone else would say is the reason they listen to music while they write, but I sometimes listen to music while I write to set the mood for what I am writing, if I can find the right type of music to listen to for the mood I am trying to achieve.

Sometimes, listening to music just calms my mind and helps me to focus on my story, but with one caveat: if the music I am listening to is a song and sung in a language I understand, it doesn't help but instead hinders me in my writing. I am the type of person who, when hearing a song in my own language, I mentally start singing along (sometimes not just mentally but out loud as well). I can't shut off the story the song is telling me.

So when I listen to music, the music is either an instrumental piece with no lyrics or the lyrics are sung in a foreign language (one I, currently, have no hope of understanding). This kind of music can set the mood for me or help me focus on my story without interfering in my writing. It actually aids my writing. (The same is true for music I want to go to sleep too; it can't have lyrics that make me want to sing along or listen to the story the lyrics tell.)

I used to not listen to any music when I wrote, back when I only had a radio to listen to, because, if the music had the wrong mood to it, it would interfere with my writing in that I would start writing to fit the mood the music was creating. And there was no way to choose which songs would play from the radio station I was listening to. But now, I can select my music ahead of time and set it to play the songs I want playing while I write.

Do you listen to music while you write or do you find it more of a hindrance when you write? What kind of music are you most likely to listen to while writing, if you listen to it? Let me know in the comments!

How Your Dreams Can Feed Your Stories #BYBin30

Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay

I've been having some strange and interesting dreams lately. Sometimes, those dreams are more like wish-fulfilment and other times, they are nightmares I try to escape from. Sometimes my dreams at night are of the mundane variety, and sometimes they are magical. Often times, they make very little sense, and occasionally, they make no sense whatsoever.

But one thing every one of those dreams has in common is that they are fodder for stories. They can become whole new stories for me to write about, or they can give me new scenes to add into already forming stories. Sometimes, they just help me better pinpoint an emotion I am trying to portray (by letting me experience it in depth within the dream so that I can better describe it to my readers).

Just as our nightly dreams can sometimes help us work through issues we are having to deal with in real life, they can also sometimes give us answers to problems we are having in the writing of one of our stories. There are times when dreams are largely symbolic though, so we might have to navigate their meanings before we can find those answers.

Have your dreams ever inspired a story you've written (or wanted to write)? Have your dreams ever helped you with a story you were already writing? Let me know in the comments!

When Real Life Inspires Events in your Story #BYBin30

Image by Sarah Richter from Pixabay

Today, I am suffering from a horrible, horrible migraine. In fact, my head hurts so much, that I just spent the last two hours with soft music playing from my noise-cancelling headphones, resting in a room with the curtains drawn and the lights off. At this moment in time, I am still barely functioning, but I am determined to get this post written and posted. (Then I will go back to my resting, music-listening ways.)

I was a bit stuck on my story, but my migraine gave me an idea. My main character is in a world where she doesn't belong, with her entire being sometimes fading in and out of existence within that world. Why can't she, also, suffer with a migraine? Granted, it won't be a huge scene, but it will be a scene which can show the care and attention the male lead shows her and will also show the concern he feels towards her well-being. Her migraine might be part of the overall struggle she is having within this world as it tries to eject her from it. (No one knows yet if it is ejecting her back into her own world or completely out of existence altogether.)

I have to admit that I do, frequently, use real-world knowledge and experiences to add things to my stories. This is why my main characters are often mothers and also frequently middle aged. Although I have experience being young and single, I find that most books are written from the perspective of a young main character, so it sometimes makes me want to change things up for the stories that I am putting out there. (Faith, in this story, is young, single and not a mother though.)

Do you ever use life experiences in your stories? What kinds of experiences or moments do you or have you used before? Let me know in the comments!

Obstacles to Writing #BYBin30

Image by Pintera Studio from Pixabay

Today, I sat down to write, and it was yet another day where my laptop is not charging properly. It's been having this issue for over a year now. Some days, it charges better than other days. Today was one of those days where I had to hold it at a certain angle and put pressure against the cable where it attached to the charging port. This caused my hand to ache, but it was the only way to not lose charge on my laptop.

It had the unfortunate result in that it was difficult to write. I like typing with both hands. When I am limited to just one hand, it takes longer to type and, when the other hand has to hold the cable just-so at the same time, that hand starts to hurt which is a distraction from my writing.

I'm one of those people who will find a way to write despite the distractions. I will probably do some writing by hand tonight on a notepad and then type it up tomorrow, despite the discomfort. One benefit of doing this is I can catch typos, spelling mistakes and awkward or just plain bad grammar when I type up what I've hand written.

Obstacles to our writing can take many forms. And there is no one solution to getting past, around, over or through those obstacles. Perseverance is the only thing that matters.

What kinds of obstacles are you facing to your writing? What have you done to overcome your obstacle(s)? Let me know in the comments!

Time Off from Writing while Enjoying Other Creative Pursuits #BYBin30

I took today off from writing my story. Instead of working on my story, or even thinking about it, I enjoyed a new song that came out from one of my favourite singers, I practised my own singing (and got complimented on it by my kids, which, as most of the ones at home now pre-teens and teenagers is a BIG DEAL, because teenagers are begrudging when it comes to compliments), practised my Korean language skills, and worked on writing a new song.

I still engaged in creative activities, which kept my imagination in use, but I took a break from writing this particular story because I felt as thought I was blocked and I needed the break from it.

Tomorrow, I will write some more of the story, and, with any luck, this little break will help bring about some fresh ideas for it. Sometimes, when I am feeling blocked with a story, all I need to get writing again is a mini-break to refresh my mind.

What do you do when you are suffering with writer's block or a story is not coming easily to you? I'd love to hear about it in the comments! How is your story coming along so far?

A Meandering Writing Day & New Story Ideas #BYBin30

Today, I managed to write another 902 words for a total so far of 12,016 words written of my story. The writing today was just a bit to expound on what happened in the story yesterday. I'm also not entirely sure what the next part of the story will entail yet, so I will have to think about it tonight in order to be able to continue the story tomorrow.

I also have another story growing in my mind, which I am struggling to set aside so that I can continue working on this story. Ideally, I like to finish one story before beginning another one, but sometimes my muse won't l;eave me alone when a new idea comes to me. It's being fairly persistent this time, but I am more determined to continue this particular story, so I will write a paragraph as a quick synopsis of my new idea, and then I will set it aside until I have finished my current writing project.

What do you do when new story ideas come to you and beckon you to leave your current project behind? Do you give in? Or do you set the new ideas aside for later? Let me know in the comments!

The Full Writing Day that Turned Into a Research Day #BYBin30

Today, as the start of the weekend, was intended to be a day of intense writing. Instead, it was a day of no writing, but lots and lots of research.

My story is set in the Joseon period of Korea's past. Occasionally, I get to parts of it that need setting description or even a closer relating of certain roles within the period that require me to do some research in order to get it right. Fortunately, my story is a story within a story, and the setting, rather than being purely in the Joseon period is actually set in a Kdrama version of the Joseon period, so, if I get a few small things wrong, it can be put down to the drama being wrong. But I still want to write this as accurately as possible.

That research can sometimes take me down a rabbit-hole of interesting information and I can let myself get carried away by the research, beyond what is needed for the scene I am writing, and that is what happened today.

How about your story? Does it require you to do any research? Or does your story stick to things, places, people and roles that you are already familiar with? Let me know in the comments below! Also let me know how your writing is coming along.

Day 21 - Why We Need Superheroes Stories #BYBin30

(This post was originally posted to the SuperHERo Tales blog.)

illustration by Samuel Dixon
for "SuperHERo Tales: A Collection of Female Superhero Stories (Volume 2)"

Superhero stories give us something to believe in. There are 4,200 recorded religions in the world. People with no religious affiliation now make up the third-largest group in the world. Whether you hold a religious belief or not, most people have a set of morals that they adhere to. Superheroes are known for standing up for what is right. They give us someone to look up to.

Superhero stories give us hope. The world is changing fast, and people are becoming more cynical every day. When we can't trust our politicians and leaders, who can we trust? The news shows us every day that there are people in the world who do awful things. But superhero stories show us that there can be good people in the world too, and that the world and the people in it are worth fighting for.

Superhero stories are inspirational. They give us ideas and the urge to do better. Their stories inspire us to make our own lives into something more worthwhile. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the word "inspiration" means "something that makes someone want to do something or that gives someone an idea about what to do or create : a force or influence that inspires someone." Superheroes do this for us.

Superhero stories are aspirational. According to the Oxford dictionary, the word "aspiration" (in this context) means "a hope or ambition of achieving something." Superhero stories make us want to achieve more, for ourselves and for the world.

Superhero stories let us see our potential for positive change within ourselves. Superheroes struggle too, maybe not in the same ways that normal humans do, but making the right choices can be just as difficult for them as it can be for your every day non-super-powered person. We get to see the journey they take as they become a superhero, and we get to see how they change for the better throughout that journey. Superhero stories show us that, despite being difficult, it is always worth doing the right thing.

Superhero stories let us see our potential for positive change within the world. Comic book superheroes have changed over the years to reflect the changes in society. But one thing most of these superheroes have in common is the desire to make the world a better place, a safer place for the people in it. For us, this can mean working towards more equality in the workplace, fighting towards more environmentally-friendly corporate policies, or helping feed the homeless. The world is constantly changing and superhero stories show us that, sometimes, it's up to us to make sure that those changes are for the better.

Superhero stories bring light to a sometimes dark world. One thing that superhero stories tend to have in common is that good always wins out over evil in the end. The villains get their comeuppance and the hero saves the person they love and the world. No matter how dark the superheroes story gets, it will brighten by the time the story wraps up.

***** 

Give-away

One signed-up member of the challenge who comments on this post will win a Catwoman Bendable Figure. The winner will be chosen by a random number generator on April 30th, 2017. (If the figure becomes unavailable, another superhero may be substituted.)

Welcome to Blog Your Book in 30 Days 2017! #BYBin30

Today is the first day of the Blog Your Book in 30 Days 2016 challenge! We have our own badge, if you'd like to use it.

First, for those of you who are new, here's a bit of information about the challenge (which you can also find by clicking on some of the links at the top of the page).

About the challenge:

Blog Your Book in 30 Days is a challenge to write the first draft of your book by posting one chapter a day for an entire month. During the month of the challenge, helpful blog posts will be shared on the website.

The challenge is here to help you write the book you have always wanted to write but have never written. Whether you want to write a memoir, a fiction novel, a comic book, a children's chapter book or middle grade novel or a non-fiction book, this challenge is going to help you get it done.

Every day, you are going to do any research that is needed for the day's writing and your are going to post a blog post of one chapter of your book. By the end of the month, you should have 30 chapters and a completed first draft.

This way of writing your books works best if you are planning to self-publish your book, but there are some instances where blogs have garnered the attention of agents and publishers and resulted in book deals. Those instances are the exception though, not the rule.

But the rules are much more flexible than they may seem by reading the "about" section, so here are the rules (which can also be found by clicking on one of the links at the top of the page).

The rules of the challenge:

Sign up. You will not be entered into the prize drawings unless you are signed up.  Sign up here.

You have from the first of the month until the 30th of the month to complete the first draft of your book. No starting early, unless it is only research and outline you are working on beforehand.

On the 7th, 14th, 21st, 28th and 30th of the month, you will do a quick comment on that day's blog post posted on this blog about that week stating how the week has gone for you and anything you have learned or achieved from the challenge that week. Your comment might be quoted in the Blog Your Book in 30 Days book when it comes out or later in the blog itself and, by commenting, you are giving permission for your quote to be used. (You will be named with the quote.)

Each day, you are to write one chapter and then copy and paste it into your day's blog post. By the end of the challenge, you should have a final word count. On the 30th, your comment will include your final word count and whether or not you have finished your first draft. Everyone who completes their first draft will be entered into a prize drawing. (The prize this year is a collection of different, mostly home-made things, and the items will be pictured on the blog as we go through the challenge, one thing at a time.) Every time you leave a comment on (one comment per post) a blog post, you will earn one more entry into the drawing. Your comments on the 7th, 14th, 21st, 28th and 30th will earn you two entries into the drawing, and my favourite comment from each of those five days will earn an extra entry. 

This challenge is self-driven and monitored. It is a way to keep yourself accountable as you write.

There are some optional ways of following this challenge for those who plan on having their books published traditionally rather than self-published.

1. Write your one chapter every day, but only post on your blog about the writing, such as how much you wrote, what part of the story you were working on, what was easy about it, what was difficult about it, whether it stayed on plan or strayed from the original plot idea, etc. (Have you made a book cover for your book, even just a working cover? Share that too!)

2. Write your one chapter every day, but only post a small (one paragraph) excerpt from that day's writing as your blog post for the day.

3. Blog your book as per the original plan, but leave out important chapters, which will only be seen in the finished product. (This is mostly a good idea for those who plan on self-publishing, but not so much if you plan on submitting your book elsewhere. But it's still an option if you are certain you can build up a large following for your book as a publisher will take that into account.)

4. Use this challenge to edit a previously written book and make notes on the blog about the editing process as you work through the different issues in your book.

The main point of this challenge is to get your book written and to build up a following for it before it comes out. 

Good luck!

Go ahead and grab a badge from below:

The first time I ran this challenge, I wrote a daily blog post on different topics having to do with writing. Feel free to read through previous posts. My posts might not be as informative during this challenge in 2017, but I intend to make sure you will have at least one informative post to learn from each week.

Last day of the Blog Your Book in 30 Days 2016 challenge #BYBin30

Today is the last day of the challenge. I hope everyone had managed to complete the challenge! If not, I hope you have done more than you would have done without the challenge.

It's time to announce the winner of all of those prizes mentioned during the challenge.

The winner is:

Melissa Gijsbers

Congratulations, Melissa!

Deadlines and how they help you reach your goals #BYBin30

I have always been an expert at procrastination. If I have a task set out in front of me, I will find other things to do instead and put the task off indefinitely, or I will put it off until it can no longer be put off. That is where deadlines come in for me. Deadlines give me that point where things can no longer be out off. For example, if I wait too long to write a draft for a story that is due for an anthology, then I won't be able to write a compelling story before the deadline arrives.

I thought it might be helpful to list some of the ways that deadlines are useful to writers, so I have made a list below.

1 - Deadlines give you a set time to achieve your writing, without which you might put that writing off indefinitely. If you have a deadline at the end of the week, then you know that you will need to start writing and researching at some time prior to that deadline in order to give yourself time to complete your writing project.

2 - Deadlines give you a sense of satisfaction to your activities. Knowing that you are working towards a deadline can give you a feeling of accomplishment as you take steps towards reaching that deadline on time. Each chapter written in the story you have a deadline for, each page or each higher word count you achieve, helps you feel you are getting somewhere with your writing.

3 - Deadlines can give you structure towards reaching your writing goals. Not sure which story , article or post to start working on first? Look at your deadlines and start working on the one with the closest deadline. Need three days to do the actual writing? Start your research earlier to make sure it is complete in time for you to start writing.

4 - Deadlines can help you prioritize your writing when life tries to intrude. We all have lives outside of our writing. some of us have families. Some of us have jobs not related to our writing. Some of us have pets. Some of us have a regular work out schedule or have classes to go to. The list can go on when it comes to what kinds of things can interrupt and interfere with our writing time. Deadlines can help you say "no" to interruptions, because you know that you only have a set amount of time to complete a project. Yes, we all have to spend time with family, and we can't say "no" to our jobs when it is those jobs that pay the bills, but if a writing deadline is looming, it helps you to weed out the things that interfere with your writing time which can wait or be set aside or can be out-sourced to someone else temporarily.

5 - Meeting deadlines can improve your confidence in yourself and your ability to meet future writing goals. Every time you meet a writing deadline, you have attained a writing goal. With each goal achieved, you improve your confidence. Also, meeting deadlines can help others to take you more seriously as a writer. They see you working towards your goals and respect that effort.

The usefulness of deadlines is why I run writing challenges such as the Chapter Book Challenge (ChaBooCha) and this Blog your Book in 30 Days challenge. It's also why I join in with other writing challenges such as National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and the 12 X 12 Picture Books Writing challenge. These give me deadlines even when I don't have an employer setting one for me.

So tell me, have deadlines helped you achieve your writing goals?

***** 

This is just one of the prizes that you might win at the end of the challenge. (Subject to availability. If this Culater®Vintage Leaf Leather Cover Loose Leaf Blank Notebook Journal Diary is not available at the time, something similar will be substituted.) One of these will be added to the collection of prizes that one signed up member will win during the drawing on April 30th.

Welcome to Blog Your Book in 30 Days 2016 #BYBin30

Today is the first day of the Blog Your Book in 30 Days 2016 challenge! We have a new badge, if you'd like to use it.

First, for those of you who are new, here's a bit of information about the challenge (which you can also find by clicking on some of the links at the top of the page).

About the challenge:
Blog Your Book in 30 Days is a challenge to write the first draft of your book by posting one chapter a day for an entire month. During the month of the challenge, helpful blog posts will be shared on the website.

The challenge is here to help you write the book you have always wanted to write but have never written. Whether you want to write a memoir, a fiction novel, a comic book, a children's chapter book or middle grade novel or a non-fiction book, this challenge is going to help you get it done. 

Every day, you are going to do any research that is needed for the day's writing and your are going to post a blog post of one chapter of your book. By the end of the month, you should have 30 chapters and a completed first draft.

This way of writing your books works best if you are planning to self-publish your book, but there are some instances where blogs have garnered the attention of agents and publishers and resulted in book deals. Those instances are the exception though, not the rule.
Sign up here.

But the rules are much more flexible than they may seem by reading the "about" section, so here are the rules (which can also be found by clicking on one of the links at the top of the page).

The rules of the challenge:
Sign up. You will not be entered into the prize drawings unless you are signed up.

You have from the first of the month until the 30th of the month to complete the first draft of your book. No starting early, unless it is only research and outline you are working on beforehand.

On the 7th, 14th, 21st, 28th and 30th of the month, you will do a quick comment on that day's blog post posted on this blog about that week stating how the week has gone for you and anything you have learned or achieved from the challenge that week. Your comment might be quoted in the Blog Your Book in 30 Days book when it comes out or later in the blog itself and, by commenting, you are giving permission for your quote to be used. (You will be named with the quote.)

Each day, you are to write one chapter and then copy and paste it into your day's blog post. By the end of the challenge, you should have a final word count. On the 30th, your comment will include your final word count and whether or not you have finished your first draft. Everyone who completes their first draft will be entered into a prize drawing. (The prize this year is a collection of different, mostly home-made things, and the items will be pictured on the blog as we go through the challenge, one thing at a time.) Every time you leave a comment on (one comment per post) a blog post, you will earn one more entry into the drawing. Your comments on the 7th, 14th, 21st, 28th and 30th will earn you two entries into the drawing, and my favorite comment from each of those five days will earn an extra entry. 

This challenge is self-driven and monitored. It is a way to keep yourself accountable as you write.

There are some optional ways of following this challenge for those who plan on having their books published traditionally rather than self-published.

1. Write your one chapter every day, but only post on your blog about the writing, such as how much you wrote, what part of the story you were working on, what was easy about it, what was difficult about it, whether it stayed on plan or strayed from the original plot idea, etc. (Have you made a book cover for your book, even just a working cover? Share that too!)

2. Write your one chapter every day, but only post a small (one paragraph) excerpt from that day's writing as your blog post for the day.

3. Blog your book as per the original plan, but leave out important chapters, which will only be seen in the finished product. (This is a good idea even for those who plan on self-publishing.)

4. Use this challenge to edit a previously written book and make notes on the blog about the editing process as you work through the different issues in your book.

The main point of this challenge is to get your book written and to build up a following for it before it comes out. 

Good luck!

Go ahead and grab a badge from below:

Changing the World Through Stories #BYBin30

Stories, both personal memoirs and fictional stories, have the unique ability to bring about social change. However, unless you are writing a non-fiction book on the topic, it is best not to beat your reader over the head with the idea of social change.

Some subtle ways that stories can help bring about social change:

1. Your characters can be written as different and this can causes others to ostracise them or treat them unfairly. For example: In real life, we see people of different races,  genders,  ages and sexual preferences being treated unfairly in mainstream society. In stories, this can be shown using otherworldy creatures and alien beings. Do people fear your characters? Does the government want to regulate them? Are there laws that cause them problems because they are different? Examples of this in stories (books and movies), being "muggle" or "mudblood" in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter stories, being a "mutant" in Marvel's X-Men, being a vampire or werewolf in Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse series.

2. Your character can defy the negative stereotypes. For example, if you have a female character, she can be strong, bold, determined and she doesn't need a male character to rescue her. Maybe she does the rescuing. Diversity in your stories is important, but you need to be careful not to create characters that fit the negative stereotypes that society might dictate. Let your readers see your diverse characters as multi-faceted human beings who can't be pinned to one single trait, and you will create characters that can change the world.

3. Have diverse characters in your stories. Don't whitewash the world you are creating on the page. The world we live in is made up of a large variety of people, people who are old, people who are young, people of all colours and races, male and female, gay and straight, transgender or cisgender. The world you create on the page, whether your story is set in the "real" world or in a fantasy world of your creation, should be just as diverse as the world we live in.

4. Your story can show current events and issues in a fictional light. For example, if you want your story to say something about climate change and pollution, your can write a dystopian novel set in a world that has to face the dire results of society's lack of willingness to change how it consumes energy. Or your story can be set in an alternate world that deals with something that can be a metaphor for climate change in this one. Maybe you want to address the pollution of our oceans, so you create a character who lives in an underwater kingdom. 

5. The important thing about writing these kinds of messages into your stories is not to let the message take over the story. If your too focussed on getting your message across, you might let the rest of the story fail, and, in doing so, you ruin your chances to reach people with your message. You have to have an intriguing plot that draws your reader in and you have to have characters that your readers will feel for. If your characters are nothing but creatures put into the story to represent a type, then they won't be multi-faceted enough to draw your reader into their world. 

Write a good story. Use issues we face in today's world to enhance your story and make it stronger. Your readers won't even know you are sending them a message through your story, and THAT is how you influence people to change their thinking or to think about something more deeply than they had previously.

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Give-away

Today's give-away is Rory's Story Cubes. If you are a signed-up member of the challenge, all you have to do in order to enter to win these story cubes is leave a comment on this blog post. The winner will be selected by a random number generator on April 30th, 2015 at noon GMT and announced later that same day.

Tips to Creating Your Book Cover #BYBin30

A book cover can make or break your sales. If it looks amateurish, it can hurt your sales. If it looks appealing, it can greatly increase your sales. There are a few tips on how to make sure your book cover is one of the ones that helps your sales.

The first thing you need to do is to look at other books for sale in your book's genre. Which ones appeal to you? Which ones are best sellers? What is it about those book covers that draws people in? Do you see any trends in them? For example, current trends in YA tend to show the main character (or a representation of the MC) prominently on the cover. Romance covers often show a couple on the cover.

Next you need to think about your story and what you want the cover to convey about it. What aspects of your story will look good on the cover? Do you want your cover to be illustrated or photo-manipulated? Your cover needs to set the mood for your story. For example, horror covers should have a very different feel to them than a humorous book.

Your book cover should pertain to your book’s subject. If you are writing a book about a girl and her pet cat, but your cover shows a knight fighting a dragon, this can be confusing and misleading to your audience. You want your readers to instantly get a feel for your story's subject when they see the book cover.

Your book title’s font needs to be readable even when viewed as a thumbnail. It can be really eye-catching to use unusual or elegant fonts, but you need to make sure that whatever font you use still looks good and is easy to read when your book cover is only viewed as a thumbnail as that is how most people who buy your book on-line, through Amazon and other retailers, will see your book.

Stock photos can be useful, but be careful about using public stock photos which can be over-used in other book covers. You want your cover to stand out from other covers. One way to avoid having to use stock photos in making your book cover is to take the photographs yourself or hire a photographer (or illustrator/graphic designer) yourself.

Did you already publish your book with a book cover that, upon retrospect, was not the best fit for your book? Don't fret about it; you can still re-publish your book with a new, better cover. Some authors have found that by simply changing the cover of their book, they have seen a noticeable increase in sales.

Some advice often told is to never make your own book cover. The idea behind this is that most authors do not have the skills to create a good book cover and their attempts will look amateurish. That isn't as true in the current indie book publishing climate though. More and more authors are learning the skills to create professional looking book covers, and if they spend enough time studying other covers in the market, they are more likely to be able to judge whether or not their cover works for the book they want to sell.

Just make sure to get opinions from the right people about your cover before you publish. When I say the right people, I am talking about people in the industry, not friends and family. The problem with asking friends and family is that they will want to like your cover and will be less likely to tell you if they see something that can be improved. But if you have a critique group or are a part of other groups of writers and publishing professionals, it is a safe bet that they will let you know what you can do to improve your book cover or if it just isn't working.

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example of book mark; actual prize may look different (different charms, etc)

Have you made any of your own book covers? Let me know in the comments and be entered in a drawing to win your choice of an e-book cover created by me for your book or a handmade charm book mark. The drawing will occur on April 30th. (Must be signed-up for the challenge in order to enter.)