Authors J.A. Konrath, Blake Crouch, Lee Goldberg, J. Carson Black, and Scott Nicholson are running up a lovely promotion for their combined 5-book “Ultimate Thriller Box Set” by giving away 10 Kindle Fires and other prizes. The promotion is called Big Kindle Boogie, and you can find out more at http://bigkindleboogie.blogspot.com/.

Digging around online, all the buzz revolves around the FREE KINDLE FIRES and the PRIZES, but I can’t seem to find out anything about the contents of this “Ultimate Thriller Box Set.” Can’t even find the titles of the stories involved. Are they a secret? It certainly is suspenseful.

What really is thrilling is finally seeing someone promote the Kindle Fire over the i-pad. But I wonder if there is an actual “box” involved in this “box set”? I”m guessing that these are e-books, since they’re giving away Kindle Fires and all, so I wouldn’t get my hopes up for a physical box.

Here’s the official press release:

WIN A KINDLE FIRE IN THE BIG KINDLE BOOGIE

10 Free Kindle Fires, 75 free ebooks, $300 in gift cards, a $500 library donation! Entries for 10 free Kindle Fires are already underway at http://bigkindleboogie.blogspot.com and gift cards are bing randomly awarded on Twitter for those who tweet about the Big Kindle Boogie.

On Feb. 1-2, bestselling thriller authors J.A. Konrath, Blake Crouch, J. Carson Black, Lee Goldberg, and Scott Nicholson are making 75 Kindle books free on Amazon. They are also making a $500 donation to the local library of one Kindle Fire winner. They are also releasing the five-book Ultimate Thriller Box Set for free during the event. Contest is international, no purchase necessary. You can also join the Facebook party at http://www.facebook.com/BigKindleBoogie.

Three easy ways to enter:

• Use the entry counters at http://bigkindleboogie.blogspot.com
• You can also enter manually by tweeting to be eligible for Kindle Fires and Amazon gift cards: 10 free Kindle Fires. 75 free ebooks. http://bit.ly/xWOoKN #bigkindleboogie RT to enter for a Fire!
• You can email bigkindleboogie@yahoo.com ONCE PER DAY with “Boogie entry” as subject line

Everything free, everything fun. Good luck!

So spread the word and best of luck!

 Dark Fiction Author Carole Lanham allowed me the opportunity to preview her upcoming collection of dark fiction short stories titled The Whisper Jar.

From the Publisher

“I do not know what you have done, but put your mouth right here. Confess your crime to this fruit jar as though it were God’s ear.” ~ from The Whisper Jar

Some secrets are kept in jars — others, in books.

Some are left forgotten in musty rooms — others, created in old barns.

Some are brought about by destiny — others, born in blood.

Secrets — they are the hidden heart of this collection. In these pages, you will encounter a Blood Digger who bonds two children irrevocably together; a young woman who learns of her destiny through the random selection of a Bible verse; and a boy whose life begins to reflect the stories he reads…

Most importantly, though, if someone should ever happen to offer you a Jilly Jally Butter Mint, just say “No!”

Review of The Whisper Jar

The Cover

The cover shows a red eye peering through an ornate door/windowframe. This looks great, and a touch unnerving. Definitely fitting for a work of dark fiction, but I was disappointed that it wasn’t more directly related to the title itself.  I would rather have seen a visual of an actual Whisper Jar.

The Content

Overall, there were nine stories

• The Whisper Jar
• The Good Part
• Keepity Keep
• The Blue Word
• Maxwell Treat’s Museum of Torture for Young Girls and Boys
• Friar Garden, Mister Samuel, and the Jilly Jally Butter Mints
• The Reading Lessons
• The Adventures of Velvet Honeybone, Girl Werewuff
• The Forgotten Orphan

The running theme of this collection is secrets, and none of the stories capture this theme more succinctly than the first story/poem, also named The Whisper Jar. This is a riveting story-poem written (in rhyming couplets) about people capturing their secrets in glass jars, and the troubles that follow…   A quick and fun read, this first story definitely piqued my interest in reading the rest of the book.

Another delightful poem/story is The Adventures of Velvet Honeybone, Girl Werewuff  - a short, rhymed couplet that gives a new twist to the classic Red Riding Hood mythos.

The stories Keepity Keep and Friar Garden, Mister Samuel, and the Jilly Jally Butter Mints both have a Brothers Grimm feel to them. Keepity Keep is about a fairy discovered by two brothers.  (Or two brothers discovered by a fairy, if you like.) The contrast of this innocent fairy and these two nearly-innocent brothers is fun to explore. I enjoyed Friar Garden… but it was tough for me to put my finger on exactly what was real in the story and what was imaginary. Actually, I think I enjoyed Friar Garden… because it was tough for me to put my finger on exactly what was real in the story and what was imaginary.

The Good Part is the highlight of the collection for me. A wicked, incestuous story reminiscent of Let Me In but set in the deep South. The story highlights the relationship between coming-of-age teens and coming-of-age vampires.  The Reading Lessons is another awesome addition of teenage angst, lust, and doubt about who-is-really-in-control.  These two stories work so well because Carole’s writing really sells the characters. They are disturbingly real, and so are their actions.

The Blue Word is a post-apocalyptic genre tale with a clever twist. But I don’t want to tell too much here, lest I spoil the surprise. Suffice to say, the story twist in The Blue Word would make this story a  great Twilight Zone episode.

Overall

Carol Lanham’s stories flirt with relationships, sexuality, paranormality, brutality and even reality.  The stories are glimpses into dark places and alternative realities which never go to full-on Horror, but there is at least one implied death.  Plenty of sexuality, but very little actual sex.

The Short Story

The Whisper Jar blends dark and sometimes paranormal situations into the really-real everyday world with clever writing, an Edgar Allen Poe sensibility, and a splash of Neil Gaiman’s Fragile Things. Carole Lanham writes in her own carefree but intuitive voice. Audiences will slip into these short stories as easily as they would a warm bath, only to be surprised at how quickly the waters deepen.  Those looking for a variety of dark character studies, whimsical situations and disturbing relationship dynamics will enjoy The Whisper Jar.

The Whisper Jar will be available from Morrigan Books on 31 October 2011.

For those getting their Fringe on this week, I recommend Michael Merriam’s Darkly Through the Light Waters, Twin Cities Tales.

Michael is a great writer and reader. His performance is a hybrid of an author reading and a minimalist, one-man show where the one man happens to have the script with him on stage.

The three stories Michael presents are short, entertaining and chock-full of magical beings, action and romance. Think True Blood without the vampires.

Here’s a copy of the flier which gives you pricing, schedule and more description:

Which Is Better, Outlining Or Organic Writing?

To outline, or not to outline, that is a fiction-writers battle as old as fiction-writing itself. Books on writing are as polarized about the subject as authors.

Julia Cameron pretty much paved the path of organic writing in her famous book, The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity. Although I don’t think she called the process “organic writing” she showed how anyone can channel their own creativity into writing without using an outline.

On the other hand, Larry Brooks latest book Story Engineering trounces on the process of organic writing, calling it “…nothing short of insane,” and stating that “A scene written organically – without a mission – is already being fitted for a casket.”

So who’s right? I’ve tried organic writing myself several times. One result was my first published short story, Big Game which sold on its first submission, and has reviewed quite well. Another result was a disasterous mess of dark fantasy pseudo-manuscript that shall not be named here, and made me wonder if Larry Brooks was right.

I did some research on plotting methods and the comparison of outlining vs organic writing. Here’s a look at the differences between these two methods and my answer to the question of which is better.

What is Organic Writing? (aka ‘Pantsing’)

Organic Writing is writing free-form, without plan or structure, and no real concern about where the writing is going. Check out free writing or automatic writing. The visual equivalent would be an artist doodling until they stumble upon an image. The musical equivalent would be ‘jamming’ in which a person or group simply plays until some musical structure jumps out of the ether and manifests into a song.

Some fiction writers use organic writing as a tool to flush out a scene, a character, or even a story.  They write to find out what their character is like, or where the story or scene leads. The author just… writes, letting a spontaneous flow of words rush through them. The author might be as surprised as anyone else about what hits the page. This is sometimes called discovery or exploratory writing.

I call this exploratory writing tactic “Chasing The Muse.” You let the muse out of the bottle and see where she goes. Sometimes she won’t move even if you prod her with a Tazer. That’s called writer’s block. Sometimes she plods along, (which is where this method also gets jokingly referred to as ‘plodding’ as opposed to ‘plotting’) feeding you a stream of words, and you write it all down.

If you’re lucky the muse runs, and it’s your job as an author to keep up. If it’s 2AM and you’re dead tired but you can’t stop because you’ve been possessed by the spirit of an amazing writer with words flowing faster than you can type them… congratulations, you’ve experienced true organic writing.

Some people call this “Pantsing” which is short for “Seat of the Pants Writing.”  Mr. T from The A-Team would call it being “On The Jazz.” Some people call it “insane” and begging for a rejection letter. Those opposed to organic writing suggest a different method – Outlining.

What is Outlining?

Outlining is the method of defining the structure of a story before writing any of it. The analogy is often made to building a house. Planning the structure down to the nearest sixteenth of an inch is crucial if you want to build the house with maximum efficiency and minimum waste.

Likewise with story construction, if you plan out how the story will start, end, and all the pieces between, then when you actually sit down to write the story, you know not only what goes where, but why.

There are various systems of outlining. Some people use notecards. Some use the Outline View in Microsoft Word. Some use the Snowflake Method software by Randy Ingermanson. Some just have the story structure in their head.

Regardless of how they do it, the primary difference between outliners and organic writers is that outliners write from A to B, and organic writers write from A.

Which writing method is better?

Which method is better? Let’s take a look at several different aspects of writing that can be affected:

Speed

In both methods, you will do lots of work up front on something that influences the final product but will not necessarily be part of it.

Outliners like to point out that much of the organic writer’s work will be edited or cut later. This is true. This is why organic writing is sometimes called “discovery writing” in which case you are discovering the outline.

But isn’t it also true that you’ll spend a lot of time on outlining? And once the outliner’s work is done, isn’t the organic writer thousands of words ahead?

It’s impossible to say which is a faster method for you. There are just too many variables. How fast do you outline? How fast do you write? How detailed an outline do you need before you start writing? You’ll have to answer these questions for yourself, probably by experimenting with both methods to see which is faster for you. And, as my own experience has shown, which method is faster could change on a project-by-project basis.

Quality

Which method results in the best quality writing? Outliners make a good case that your writing will flow better if you know where it’s going before you start. But some argue that outlining results in contrived writing and wooden characters, and organic writing begets more natural prose. I once heard someone remark that if the ending doesn’t surprise the author, it won’t surprise anyone else either.

Your mileage may vary. It’s impossible to say which method will result in better quality writing for you.

You see where this is going, don’t you?

Difficulty

Which method is more difficult? It might be more meaningful to consider which method is more fun. If the thought of outlining makes you feel as though you are strapping the muse into a straitjacket… if the constraints of getting from point A to point B give you writer’s block… if the thought of writing thousands of words that might be reworked for hours and/or thrown away makes you reach for the liquor cabinet…

Again, this is a subjective measurement that only you can make for yourself. It’s impossible to say which method will be easier or harder for you.

Really Zero, stop screwing around and tell us! Which method is better?

Sorry folks – after all that analysis, it turns out the whole thing is a trick question. In the logic field of Philosophy, this is what’s known as a False Dichotomy – focusing on two possibilities when there are actually others. In this case, the question of “Which Is Better?” implies that the two can’t both be used.

The truth is you can use both. The wicked truth is that you have to use both.

Structuring and Organic Writing are ingredients, and finding the best possible mix for you is like trying to find the right combination of Jagermeister and Red Bull in your penultimate, writing Jag Bomb.

Let’s take another look at both methods, and see what we missed.

Structuring, Revisited

The structural method sounds efficient on the surface. Once the structure is complete, you won’t waste many words filling that structure. Every word you put into that structure will be used to make the story go forward as it should. Very little rework, very little waste. Right?

Look again.

What exactly are you putting INTO that structure? Well, you know you have to get the scene from plot point A to plot point B, but when it finally comes time to fill that space, how do you do it? What do you fill it with?

That’s right, Organic Writing. At some point you have to stop drawing the outline and start filling it in.

And what happens if you fill that space as directed and when you’re done the scenes are flat? Boring? Contrived? What then? You rewrite.

But what if you rewrite those scenes a dozen times, and they still don’t sing? What if you find the structure is limiting your writing? You restructure.

What happens if your muse starts coloring outside the lines? What happens if your characters won’t behave? What happens if you find a plot hole big enough to sail an aircraft carrier through? What happens if you start writing from point A to point B and discover you’ve ended up at point C, by way of F, Y and the color Blue? What if point C is a far more interesting place than B?  Now what do you do?

If you want to keep point C in the story, you’ll have to revisit the structure and adjust everything! You’ll have to change all your foreshadowing, and maybe even the ending… oh boy. Maybe it’s better just to forget you ever discovered point C, get the train back on the structure track and rewrite your way to point B? Rewrite or restructure?

Not quite as easy as you thought, eh? Don’t be fooled. Good writing is hard work.

Organic Writing, Revisited

The organic writing method sounds pretty on the surface. Pretty easy too. So easy in fact, that many writers think they can shortcut the process by organically writing a bestseller out of the air.  Don’t be fooled. Good writing is hard work.

You’re going to throw away or rework a lot of that organic writing. You’ll need to go back and check that the plot flows, and the pacing and that all subplots resolve, and you’ll have to go back and check your foreshadowing and make sure all scenes are leading toward an ending you weren’t even aware of when you started…

Wait a minute! What exactly are you doing to that organic writing?

Surprise! You’re putting structure on it. Yes, you can structure your work after it’s written. And you’d better, unless you are journaling or writing poetry.

The Question, Revisited

Every author outlines, whether they do it intentionally, intuitively, subconsciously, naturally or artificially.

Every author writes organically, unless they are writing technical manuals for the military.

Those who outline have to fill their structures with organic writing. Those writing organically have to rework their organic writing to check/create/enforce a structure.

Without a structure, you don’t have a story, you have a dictionary run through a blender. Without organic writing you have a sterile description of a story.

The questions are not “which method is best?” or “should you outline?” The questions are “how do you outline?” and “how much outlining do you do?”

The Middle Path

Structure is a necessary component of ALL fiction, but whether you apply a structural outline before, after, or even during the creative writing process is not important. In other words, you should have a structure to your finished story, but how you get that outline is up to you. Some authors need to discover the story as they go. Some authors need an outline before they can start.

Between the two extremes are an entire purgatory of options that are overlooked by most authors. What if you organically wrote a story structure? What if you loosened up the story structure, and instead of putting the muse in a straitjacket, you got one of those dog leashes that allows some play before setting a boundary? What if you designed multiple ending structures and wrote each one organically to see which was best?

What works best for me is to bounce back and forth between organic writing and outlining. I write organically for a while, then take a step back to look at the big picture, and adjust the outline as necessary. Here is a link to a process called phase drafting which is very similar to what I’ve learned to do on my own. Yes, I rewrite a lot. No, it’s not easy. Need I say it again? Good writing is hard work.

The method that will work best for *you* is… whatever works best for you. If you want to improve your writing, read about organic writing in The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron and read about story structure in Story Engineering by Larry Brooks. But don’t let Julia Cameron, Larry Brooks or even me tell you how to write. Learn the ingredients and then mix your own drink to taste.

Part of the adventure of becoming a writer is making the craft your own, and experimenting to find a method that feels good to you and helps you release your best writing.

I’ve never given much thought to story length. My stories come out at whatever length they are, and changing the length of the story once it’s written is generally the domain of publishers and editors. But it’s interesting to hear Stephen King talk about it in this short youtube clip:

A Convention for High-Level Author Discussion

The 4th Street Fantasy Convention Conversation describes itself this way:

• a convention for people who are serious about good fantasy and good stories.
• a weekend of high-quality, high-intensity, mind-stretching fun.
• a single track program sized so that everyone can experience the same panels.
• fascinating conversations.
• an opportunity to promote interest and quality in fantasy literature.

I like that they call it a Conversation, not a Convention. The panel programming is structured like a Convention, but the audience is allowed to interact  add, and steer the conversation (under the control of a panel moderator). Some of the best conversation for me was found outside the actual programming, when writers would break into groups between panels, kibitzing in the back room, noshing at nearby venues, assembling in the hotel bar for some social lubrication, or taking over the conference room after hours for a late-night music jam.  The ability to digest and process the info with other authors is great because it allows you to take the high-level theory back to the day-to-day applied practice of writing.

Fourth Street is geared more toward art than craft. The level of discussion is more philosophical and abstract than the discussions we have at MNSpec Writer’s Groups. The topics are heady, and even panel topics that were started simply because “I didn’t like it when author X did this…” end up getting analyzed at a high level that might throw newer authors. With a roomful of experience, intelligence, alcohol and overcompensating introverts, your mileage will definitely vary. You could get moments of non-topic pedantic bullshit, but the results are usually writer-philosophy-Nirvana.

Who-All Was There

It was good to see a respectable turnout of my fellow MNSpec writers: the talented, published (and MODEST, damn him) Michael Merriam, his lovely wife Sherry Merriam, the uber-talented Dana Baird, the lovely and talented and very pregnant Abra Staffin-Wiebe, the cheerful uber-hipster couple Eli Effinger-Weintraub and Leora, and the charming Tracy LaChance. It was comforting to know that we could have taken the conference if we had to (except maybe Elizabeth Bear, she seems like a scrapper) but fortunately it didn’t come to that. It would be great if MNSpec could have an even greater presence at 4th Street in 2012. I was glad to have plenty of people I knew at the convention, because socializing is a major component of the event, and if you have people there whom you know, (or if you’re naturally outgoing and extroverted) I think you’ll get more out of it.

I was forewarned that there is a “country club” feel to the 4th Street convention, and I can tell you this is  is kinda-sorta true. A high percentage of people attending conference have been there before. I would say less than 10% of the group were first time attendees. Overall the regular crowd was friendly and accepting of The New People. There is also the core group that created 4th street called the Scribblies. These are the royalty in the not-so-invisible hierarchy of 4th Street. You don’t have to bow to them, but it’s clear that they run the show.

If the Scribblies are the Royal Court, then the Queen would be Janet Grouchy, the real power behind making 4th street a success. Janet is actually a Momma Duck in Disguise who made sure we were all taken care of over the long weekend. She was my personal caffeine source, keeping me supplied with Diet Coke and Louisiana Coffee for my high-octane needs. Janet was the epitome of Southern Hospitality. She checked on each table personally to make sure our lunches were alright before she sat down herself. Fourth Street is very lucky to have someone like Janet to coordinate this awesome event/resource for writers.

Highlights

Conrad Zero and the Queen of Urban Fantasy, Emma Bull

The #1 highlight of the convention for me was when one of my personal hometown heroes Emma Bull sat down beside me, and we got the chance to chat. For those who don’t know, Emma Bull wrote War for the Oaks in 1987, which is considered to be the book that defined the Urban Fantasy genre, and had a huge impact on my own writing career. I told Emma that her work inspired me greatly, but that she should not feel responsible or guilty for any stories I might publish because of that inspiration. After three days of observing Emma in action, I can tell you she is smart, sparky, fun, and still passionate about writing after almost 25 years. She is living proof that writing will not eventually turn you into Harlan Ellison.

Another personal highlight was during a panel called “Off with ‘is head!” which discussed how, when and why authors might kill off main characters. One audience member was struggling to come up with an example of a character who become immortal, even mythological, by transcending death. I yelled out “Frodo Lives!” The guy looked equal parts confused and annoyed, like I had Tourette’s Syndrome or something. I could just as easily have yelled out “Jesus Christ!” but I figured more of the audience had read The Lord Of The Rings than The Bible. (I’m waiting for the movie myself.) But seriously, I didn’t just make up this phrase. If it has it’s own wikipedia page, it qualifies as pop culture. Good thing I had a +3 Potion of Snub-Resistance on me.

The “Another Panel” is complete genius. If anyone tries to take the discussion off-topic (intentionally or not) people can claim “That’s Another Panel” in which case someone writes it down on a board and the discussion returns to the topic at hand. At the end of the weekend, the last panel is called “Another Panel” where the list of topics is examined for further discussion.

There was so much book/author-name-dropping that it made me feel guilty for not reading more. The good news was that I was able to add a whole slew of fiction books to my amazon wish list. (Thank goodness for free wireless.) and a slew of movies to my Netflix queue. Uncle Hugo’s Science Fiction Bookstore had a handy table at the conference with an assortment of books by the authors in attendance.

I picked up a copy of The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch, and got Scott to sign it. Scott is a great speaker with a great sense of humor and an odd combination of gregariousness and modesty. One of the discussion panel topics was about killing off main characters, which apparently happens in this book. Of course, I immediately had to buy it. Not because a main character dies, but I told Scott that any author willing to take chances like that is going to take chances in other areas too, and that’s the kind of author I want to read.

The best parts of 4th street for any author are information, motivation, and networking. Just talking about writing with writers, and bouncing around so many great ideas made me want to go home and write ten novels. If you’re a writer in the Minnesota/Minneapolis area, you owe it to yourself to attend the 4th Street Fantasy Conversation.

Things I learned at 4th Street Fantasy Conversation 2011

• If you have a clean house, you are not an author.
• If you aren’t a control freak, you aren’t really an author.
• Weight gain in authors is also known as “street cred.”
• Write better.
• Write things you have a passion for.
• Simply because you talk a good talk on a panel doesn’t mean your writing is good.
• Simply because you botch or get trounced on a panel doesn’t mean your writing sucks.
• You’re never going to keep your audience if you worry about keeping your audience.
• The deadline for your Science Fiction manuscript is Fantasy, and the deadline for your Fantasy manuscript is Science Fiction (esp since it involves Time Travel.)

Dreams With Sharp Teeth

At the MNSpec writer’s group, there are three names that keep coming up. These three would be the Prince, Michael Jackson and Madonna of writers for our group. They are writers who not only pushed the boundaries of commercial speculative fiction, but have also stood the test of time. They are Stephen King, Anne Rice and Harlan Ellison.

So who the hell is Harlan Ellison?

I was asking myself that very same question. Despite knowing a bit about his antics (See this fantastic rant from Harlan.) I’d heard more about Harlan’s personality than I ever did about his writing.  So when I tripped over a documentary called Dreams With Sharp Teeth I had to check it out.

Harlan is such an interesting and quirky person that even if you aren’t an author or an avid reader, you still might want to watch this well constructed and highly entertaining documentary, directed by Erik Nelson. Guests include Robin Williams and Neil Gaiman.

Scattered throughout the documentary are clips of Harlan reading from his work. The man definitely has a way with words. I’ve never read anything by Harlan Ellison, but with titles  like “Repent, Harlequin!” Said the Ticktockman and I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream, I’ll be checking these out soon. My favorite parts of the film are clips of him being interviewed back in the 70′s. Harlan is one cool cat, no question. And his biting cynicism, worldviews, chaotic behavior and intolerance for stupidity made me feel like I just discovered my real father. (Harlan might actually be my real father for all I know. My mom told me I was dropped off by the gypsies… long story.)

Dreams With Sharp Teeth is an excellent documentary about a fascinating human being. If you were thinking it would be  cool to sit down and have dinner with Harlan, make sure to check out the bonus feature where Harlan Ellison, Neil Gaiman and the director sit around a table eating pizza and telling stories until Harlan looks at them and says, “When are you guys going to leave?” Fabulous.

Michelle Raftner, whom you may recognize as the brains behind WordCount’s Blogathon 2011, tossed a little light on yours truly in her secondact.com article Blogging Their Way to a Midlife Makeover.  I was thrilled to be interviewed by Michelle for her article. Sadly, it wasn’t until after I read the article that I realized my response to her e-mail interview questionnaire was firmly planted in my drafts folder, and did not make it back to her in time for the article. Thankfully, she was able to piece together a reasonable article from our conversation. My sincere apologies to Michelle.

For those who care, here are the more detailed answers to her questions:

Name of blog:

Conrad Zero – Dark Fiction Author

URL:

www.conradzero.com

What is your blog about?

Tips, tricks, inspirations and motivations for all authors and writers, and the occasional day-in-the-life revelations of a dark fiction author.

How long have you been blogging?

I’ve been blogging since 29 Jan, 2004. At first, my blog was more entertainment-based, and I did reviews of movies, music, books, video games and occasionally, self-important bullshit that I mistook for “life.”  Over time, I’ve changed to become more of a mix of useful writing information and entertainment (infotainment?) spiced with interesting website links, news and technologies that I hope writers would find interesting or useful.

What have you learned about blogging?

1 – Know the difference between facts and your opinions

I once had a commenter who kept flaming me because I made fun of Naomi Watts performance in Peter Jackson’s remake of King Kong. No, seriously. I tried to get him to understand that we simply had differing opinions on the matter and that was OK. But he valiantly attempted to “prove” me wrong, and made an ass of himself in the process. Luckily for him, comments got reset when I moved from Blogger to WordPress, but it made me realize that some people will read your blog and think you are giving them real, objective facts when you’re just stating your opinion.

If you are clear with your readers about what you feel vs what you know, you can prevent some (but not all) angry responses. For those that manage to be pissed off at you anyway, if you know the difference between subjective and objective you’ll be better equipped to defend yourself against the flamethrowers.

2 – See both the good and bad in your reviews

Cynics can be funny and even entertaining, but if you are one of those snide reviewers who think its fun and funny to be anti-Everything, why do I need to read your blog? I already know what your opinion is going to be, and I’ll never take your reviews seriously, because I wouldn’t trust you to find the good in anything.

Remember that there are real people behind these projects (movies, books, music, whatever) and they worked really hard to create them.

As a member of the Minnesota Speculative Fiction Writer’s Group, one of the things that impresses me about our writing critique workshops is that our members always try to see both the good in writing submissions as well as the bad.  Authors who are diligent enough to finish a piece of writing and brave/conscientious enough to share it with a crit group deserve at least a charitable interpretation.That includes both constructive and destructive criticism. Few bloggers do this, because it takes more work and requires thinking. But, if you can do this, you will raise your blog from stand-up comedy to a useful source of info that helps artists make their own works better.

3 – The Very Best PR You Can Get

Lots of bloggers fuss over colors, keywords and SEO, meanwhile they ignore, or even snap back at their audience, missing out on the very best PR they have at their disposal: their attitude towards their audience.

I sent an e-mail to an up-and-coming author telling him I really enjoyed his new book. Six months later I got a confused reply, ‘Did I ever thank you for this?” I was thrilled to get that much, but I decided that I would do better when it came to my own fans. [Editor's Note: Tell that to Michelle Raftner! LOL]

Last week, I received an angry e-mail from a reader about my recent post comparing online file sync systems Sugarsync vs Dropbox. The reader was angry that I didn’t include anything about online security. I replied calmly, presenting the reader with my OPINION (See above) and the research I’d done on the matter that backed up my opinion. The reader responded saying he had never considered the points I presented, and he mentioned how nice it was to receive an intelligent thoughtful reply “for a change”.  People may not expect a personal reply, much less a thoughtful one, but they certainly do appreciate it.

4 – No, it really isn’t all about you.

Most bloggers favorite subject is themselves. This is great after you’ve sold a million books, because people might actually care. Till then, the only people who are going to read you going on and on about yourself are your mom and your psycho ex, (neither of which are going to buy your book, btw.)

A tip for the unfamous: if you can become a resource of a specific kind of info (not yourself) you will get all the linkage, comments, and SEO you could want.

5 – You are no expert, but you don’t have to be

Here’s a great bit of blogger humor:

Q: How many bloggers does it take to screw in a light bulb?

A: Tell us what YOU think in the comments below.

Many of the more successful bloggers aren’t necessarily the best knowledge sources on a subject – they are enablers. They find, filter and focus content and are able to pull together like-minded people who can help with the answers. Look up crowdsourcing, and then see how it’s done on sites like lifehacker, digg, imdb, problogger, etc. The truth is that anyone with a passion for something can make a website that will draw like-minded people, regardless of their credentials.

The goal is not to be (or pretend to be) an expert on things and to have all the answers. What’s more important is meeting people on the same journey you are on, and to share and grow wisdom along with them.

The breaking of my Dark Fiction virginity - Dark Forces #1 - The Game by Les Logan

Early Books That Inspired My Path Into Dark Fiction

Someone recently asked me what books I read while growing up that influenced me to write the kind of stories I do. I was a fairly voracious reader in middle/high school, and fully capable of devouring one complete paperback book per day. (It was a long bus ride to school and back.) I was also lucky to have parents who valued reading, and although money was tight, books were considered a necessary expense, like food and clothing.

Much of my early reading was non-fiction, but filled with elements of horror: Bigfoot, The Bermuda Triangle, The Loch Ness Monsters, Witchcraft, Aliens and my favorite subject – Sharks. I decided after seeing the movie Jaws and reading the story, I decided I was going to become an oceanographer, although I didn’t even know what an oceanographer was. But I knew they got to hang out with sharks. Cool.

My taste in fiction took a while to gel. I enjoyed the Encyclopedia Brown series of mystery books, and I have fond memories of the Choose Your Own Adventure books. I remember reading a Hardy Boys adventure and thinking it was utterly lame. Ditto for Nancy Drew. Ugh.I don’t recall why I read the first 35 volumes of  the Trixie Belden series of mystery books, but I can safely say that Trixie Belden was my first fictional love.

I latched onto a mystery-adventure series called Alfred Hitchcock and The Three Investigators, the first of which was The Secret of Terror Castle. A cool cover led me to read A Clockwork Orange at far too young an age to appreciate it. And I enjoyed The Hobbit and The Lord Of The Rings when the only people who read such things were the social outcasts who played Dungeons and Dragons.

Most of the fiction I read was dark, but it was all mystery or fantasy.  The very first book I can recall that I would classify as horror or dark fiction would be the first in the Dark Forces series of books, The Game by Les Logan. I hadn’t even finished the book and was looking forward to the next in the series. No doubt if I read any of the Dark Forces books today, I’d find them filled with enough cheese to keep a Taco Bell in business for a month.

I quickly graduated to modern horror classics by Stephen King and Clive Barker. Reading Alan Dean Foster’s Alien late at night in bed with a flashlight was a bad idea. Soon, I found myself branching into older horror classics by authors like Edgar Allen Poe and my all-time favorite horror author, H.P.Lovecraft. And it wouldn’t be until years later that I decided to write dark fiction myself (a blog post for another day) but these are the roots of my love affair with horror, paranormal and occult fiction.

How about you? Any early books, movies or inspirations that set you on the author’s path you find yourself on? Drop your experiences in the comments below.

Using Image as an Author Branding Tool

This article is part 2 in a series on author branding.

Many authors confuse Brand with Image. This is easy to do, since image is a large part of any author’s brand. But there’s more to brand than simply image, and I’ll discuss more aspects of authors’ brands over the course of this series.  But Image is a large part of your brand, and you do have lots of choices and influence regarding your image.

There are hundreds of fluffy definitions of ‘image’ as it relates to brand on the web. I don’t like any of them, so I’ll add one more:

Image is a compilation of sensory perceptions of a product/person/business.

Don’t think just in terms of visual perception, because blind people create an image of you, too. It’s the way you look, crossed with the way you sound/smell/act and the colors of your website, the thickness of paper you use in your novel, crossed with ten-thousand tiny details (some of them subconscious) that people put together in their mind when they see/hear/smell you, your website, your products and your interactions with others. All that data is compiled into a group of adjective-labels. Shady. Smart. Cool. Dark. Slick. Feisty. Bitchy. Masculine. Stinky.

Aspects of Your Brand Image

Here’s a list of aspects that have a major affect on your brand image:

YOU

The #1 aspect of your image is… yourself. How you personally look, dress, and act will trump any brand image people put together from other sources. How’s your personal hygiene? How’s your posture? How about your sense of humor? Are you always scowling or smiling? Do you laugh like hyena,  swear like a sailor, dress like Kurt Cobain, and drink like an author of dark fiction?

Your image choices should align with your true qualities. If your true qualities don’t mesh with the image you try to present…well, the words fake and poser come to mind.

There’s little harm in accentuating the positive and minimizing the negative, but be careful. If you’re writing a book on eating healthy and someone posts a picture of you on flickr.com eating a dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts… or if you’re writing a book on being Green and Earth-friendly, then a pic of you turns up riding around in a Cadillac Escalade… no one will trust a word you write. Your image is shot, and so is your brand. So focus on your good traits and minimize the bad, but never, ever lie. The internet sees all and knows all.

Color, Fonts and Graphics

This goes for not only your websites and book covers, but printed materials like business cards (you do have business cards, right?) Choose a color scheme and fonts, then apply them across all your print materials and websites where you can. If you have a series of books, make sure they look like they belong together on the shelf.

Be picky about the pictures and graphics on your website. Are your backgrounds filled with cheerleaders playing beer-pong? You might want to get outside opinions from people who are not only objective, but aren’t afraid to be honest with you.  It’s easy to go overboard with graphics and colors.  If you think it might be too much, then it definitely is.

The Face Of Conrad Zero - Part Mark of Zorro and part Empty Set Indicator

Logos

Companies and publishers have logos. I think it’s only fair that authors do too.

For my own website, I use a logo instead of a picture. This goes against the conventional wisdom of the marketing pundits who swear that you need a picture of your face on all your social media sites. Puh-lease. I honestly have no idea what Dean Koontz, Dan Brown, Stephanie Meyer, James Patterson or J.K. Rowling look like. Nor do I care. Besides, I get enough marriage proposals and death threats without everyone recognizing me in public.

But I have no problem pasting a logo all over the place. And I can put it in places I wouldn’t dare put a picture. It works as my avatar for all social media and in my signature for blog posts and e-mails, it works great on print media, websites, and tagging overpasses. Seriously,ever try tagging an overpass with your picture?

How To Get The Most Brand Image Bang For Your Buck

Here are the top areas I see author’s image either impress or depress me. If you want to work on your author image, start with these items:

Author Bios

Your author bios on the web are probably your most important image asset. Note the plural; bios. Not just the About page on your website. There are lots of little author bio pages scattered across the social media. Facebook, Myspace, Google, Twitter, they all have an ‘about me’ section, and this is where you have an opportunity to help define your image. If you don’t have a fascinating and well-written (you’re a writer, right? It better be well-written) description of yourself, a stunning picture, and a link back to your home base… You just wasted that opportunity.

Book Covers

Like hell you can’t judge a book by its cover. I do. In fact, I wrote a blog post about how to judge a book by its cover.  It might be true that good book covers are not indicators of good quality writing, but bad book covers are almost always used to wrap bad writing. And if you have a series of book covers, anyone glancing at them all at once is going to put together an image of you and your writing very quickly. Make sure that image fits with the image you are trying to convey.

Your Home Base

I love the part in movies where the hero finds the villain’s lair, and they’re not at home, but all their stuff is. Their master plans of world destruction lie spread out on the coffee table. Newspaper articles and terrifying sketches are tacked up on the walls. The hero drinks it all in, trying to figure out what makes the bad guy tick. Check out the movie Se7en if you don’t know what I’m talking about.

When people visit your primary online web presence, they are doing the exact same thing. They are piecing together YOUR IMAGE based on your pictures, website colors, fonts, graphics, web copy, and anything else they can get their eyes on. Do you have music playing on your website? (Here’s a hint: *don’t*) If you do, that music gets added to the compiled brand image.  Is your home base a facebook, myspace or livejournal account? Or is it a slick, flash-animated website using your own domain name? Is it Shiny? Grungy? Techy? Green? Modern? Faded? Whatever it is, your audience adds it to their image of you.

Home is where you point your links.

If you don’t have a home base, pick one. Then tweak it. Customize it. Trick it out, so it represents the image you want to be known for. Funnel all your traffic there, and make it a place people can figure out what makes you tick.

E-mail Signature

Another overlooked place where authors can impress people with their brand image savvy. Check out the wisestamp plugin for firefox, which lets you drop a preformatted signature into e-mails, blog posts, and forums.

Your Personal Interactions

Sorry introverts, but here’s where many authors drop the ball. They create a stunning online presence, and then you meet them at a book signing or convention and they have a personality like a day-old dead fish, and a handshake like a fish that’s been dead for three days. Which leads me to my next point:

Your Image Should Reflect Your Work

This should go without saying, but far too often I’m surprised (in a bad way) by authors’ pictures or websites.

See this book cover? ITS BEEN DONE! So don't use it.

I wish I could remember the horror novel I saw that had an author picture of a geeky uber-nerd, hanging out in a sunny garden with a greasy comb-over and a cheesy grin that made me laugh out loud.

Epic Image Fail.

You don’t have to wear a cloak and scowl in a graveyard at midnight, but if you’re a horror author, you probably wanna look like a horror author. Especially on your own book and website.

If your book cover has a pair of disembodied hands offering something to the reader… I’m going to write off your story as a yet-another poor quality fanfic knockoff of Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight.

And if you aren’t clever enough to come up with a book cover that doesn’t have fangs, a neck bite, a three-quarter twist, or a bloody hand print on it… then I’ll just assume your writing is equally unimaginative.

Image Consistency

It’s a good idea to keep your image consistent across all media. Ideally, your social media pictures, graphics, colors, and fonts should be the same, or at least look like they belong together. Consider social media sites to be extensions or branch offices of your main website. Sometimes this isn’t possible on crap websites run by draconian overlords like Facebook.com. But if you look at my twitter, myspace and author website, you’ll see that I’ve tried to get them all to match in color, graphics and layout as much as I can, to keep a consistent brand image.

There’s More To Brand Than Just Image

While it’s tempting (and gratifying) to sit around and tweak on website colors and fonts, and get a snazzy picture of you wearing your favorite cloak and scowling in a graveyard at midnight, that isn’t all the audience will consider when they piece together your author’s brand. So check out the other posts in this series on author branding, and make sure your audience gets the whole picture.

The Author Branding Series

This is the first in a series of blog posts about the different elements of author branding. In the rest of the series, I’ll give examples of how myself and others use them, and how you can use them to create a brand for yourself as an author.

1. An Introduction To Author Branding
2. Image
3. Genre
4. Quality, Cost, Speed and Consistency
5. Content, Keywords and Tone
6. The Company You Keep