Who Scares Ya, Baby?

Posted on June 23, 2013 by SharonJoss

dreamstime_l_4442155   Okay, I must be the last person on the planet to see Iron Man 3 in the theatre.  In fact, I saw it on Thursday, and by Friday, it was no longer playing in the theater.  No worries, this is NOT a review of Iron Man 3 (although I will say I did enjoy it.  How can you not love Iron Man?  I mean, I can still sing the theme song from the old black and white cartoon – Iron Man, Iron Man… well part of it, anyway).

No.  The topic of today’s blog is what scares you?

The reason I bring this up is that I went to see that movie with a certain amount of expectations with regards to ACTION! SUSPENSE!  SPECIAL FX! COOL COSTUMES!  And I wasn’t one bit disappointed in that regard.  The surprise bonus came with the glowing eyes and skins of the bad guys.

It was really creepy.  Even at 2 o’clock in the afternoon.

So I started thinking about all the kinds of images that creep me out.  Glowing eyes is a big one, but when I did an image search on ‘scary’, the images that came up didn’t bother me like I thought they would.  Oh sure, they had black eyes (“…like a doll’s eyes…”), bloody eyes, white eyes.  But for me, it’s the glowing fire eyes that gets to me.

And I started to think about it. So how come I haven’t put in any of the stuff that really creeps me out, like glowing fire eyes and fire veins in my stories?  Why did I have to go to a movie to see that great stuff?

So I decided to make a list of all the stuff that really scares ME, and came up with some interesting ideas.  Like sometimes, the image (in this case of the glowing fire eyes) is what touches the real primal fear inside you (of being burned).  It was never Bruce the Shark in Jaws that scared me; it was the primal fear of being ripped apart and eaten alive that has kept me wary of swimming in the ocean all these years (even as Jaws is one of my all time favorite films).

So the lesson learned (for me) was the realization that the special effects/action, whether in a movie or in your story must  reach a primal place in the audience to be most effective.  The action and threat in any story has got to reach someplace much deeper than body count.  Like the Twilight Zone,  it’s got to reach that place that makes you turn more lights on when you’re at home alone on a quiet night.

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Oh My Darling…What’s That Title?

Posted on June 18, 2013 by SharonJoss

Getty-Carousel-Background   Two years ago, when I finished my FATE manuscript (FATE was the working title), the title I’d picked for the story was (I thought) unique and memorable.  I considered myself somewhat clever in coming up with the idea for not only the first volume in the (planned) trilogy, but all three titles, which would work well together and carry a similar theme.

However, in the past two years, things have changed.  I do realize you cannot patent an idea or a title, but when I did a last-minute double check of similar titles out on the internet, I was quite disappointed to discover that my idea was no longer unique. In fact, in the last two years, it had already been used on several books (in various genres, both fiction and non-fiction), a couple of video games, a play, and even a heavy metal rock album.  I couldn’t believe it!   I realized I would have to start over and search for THREE new titles which would work for not only FATE, but the two other planned manuscripts.

So I started over.  I searched for terms which I COULD use in my title, to see what would pop up.  I checked all the usual search engines, of course.  And the book seller sites.  And the music sites.  And game sites (this was actually a great help), which gave me some good (new) ideas.  I also made a list of the best-selling titles in my (urban fantasy and fantasy) genre.   This was the clincher.  I could now see that my original title idea would not have been right in that genre.  I needed something better.

By the time I was done with my searches and competitive analysis, I actually came up with two or three good alternatives that I think will be better than what I’d originally planned.  Simple, ironic, memorable, and more in line with titles in my genre.   I hope.

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One Picture Sells A (Hundred) Thousand Words

Posted on June 12, 2013 by SharonJoss

Swingwheel-for-Twitter-head  Since I’ve decided to e-publish some of my earlier stories, I need to dedicate real, focused time to that effort, without pilfering time from my writing practice.  Thus, I’m dedicating two hours every night to benchmarking the covers of other books in my genre, searching the internet for comparable images for my covers (keeping in mind  the need to keep the costs cheap/free ),  and improving my skills with InDesign. 

You might think that designing an eye-catching, professional-looking cover would be easy, but for me, that is not the case.  I’ve got a three-book series I’m planning to e-publish, so I need to find three pieces of cover art that in some way appear consistent.  I finally found a collection of images, and did purchase them and designed the covers, but after I was finished, I realized that while they looked consistent and professional (in my opinion), they did NOT look like the covers of my favorite best-selling Urban Fantasy authors.  After one day of glee at the look of my covers, I descended into a week of uncertainty, followed by a grim determination to start over, this time using the covers of my favorite authors as inspiration. 

 Handily, I have copies of all those best sellers right in my home library, so I can see the sort of thing that readers expect in Urban Fantasy.  So now, I’m older, wiser, and getting better at searching for those elusive images I need to give my cover the intriguing look that inspires readers to pick it up.  So far I’ve spent days and days without finding what I’m looking for, but my search terms are getting better.  I have no doubt that the right image is out there waiting for me (and royalty-free).

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Time In, Time Out

Posted on June 4, 2013 by SharonJoss

Portland-RoseGarden-053113  May was a very busy month.  I spent eight days at a Print On Demand (POD) workshop, another four days in Missoula at MISCON for a writer’s conference, and my sister came for a brief visit last weekend.  I’ve learned how to use InDesign software, designed covers and interiors for my books,  learned about the differences between fonts you use on covers and fonts you use between the covers, attended panels on world building, plotting, dystopias and utopias, and how to snark up my characters.  I attended a class on how to tail someone without being spotted, officially set up my writing business (with a separate checking account, and business license) here in Oregon, and last; but by no means least, I completed two short stories and submitted them to professional markets.

On the down side, I didn’t make my writing quota this month; not by a large margin.  I put the time in this month, and accomplished much of what I needed to get done, but the words don’t lie.  I didn’t meet my daily quota.  I didn’t make my writing goal.   I barely blogged at all, and wrote only 11 thousand new words on my latest manuscript.  My average daily word count was about 525 (against my new goal of 2000 words per day). Ugh.

I don’t feel like a failure though.  I’ve learned a lot, accomplished a lot, and am finding my way around my new community.  My writing goals help focus and prioritize my efforts, but writing is not the only thing in my life.   I also recognize the value of getting away from the writing desk from time to time.  The roses started blooming last week, and this weekend, my sister and I visited the Portland International Rose Test Garden and Japanese Garden.  Blue skies, balmy weather, the delightful scent of roses, and a couple of turkey sandwiches made for a great afternoon.  Sometimes, you’ve just got to stop and smell the roses.

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The Business of Writing

Posted on May 22, 2013 by SharonJoss

Stipula_fountain_pen      I guess you could say I’ve been a bit remiss in my blogging the last few weeks. In April I attended a week-long writing workshop on the coast which was grueling, liberating, and life-changing (all at the same time). Three weeks after that, I attended another week-long class on publishing, and as soon as I got home, I was busy setting up my new author identity—new tax forms, website, twitter, bank account, software purchase, and all the rest of it.

All of this extracurricular activity, while important, has distracted me from my REAL business, which is telling stories by putting words on paper. One of the biggest lessons I learned from both those workshops I attended was that as a writer, my product is WORDS. I’ve recently come to realize that my early ideas of publishing a novel and a few short stories each year probably isn’t going to be enough produce enough revenue to support myself unless I hit the best-seller list (a good goal, but not within my control).

Until recently, I considered myself to be a disciplined, professional writer, who, given enough time and persistence would realize my goal of making a comfortable living from my chosen profession. But in the last six months, I’ve come to realize I was wrong. An author needs more than one or two book titles to make a living; it’s more like a two dozen (or even more). Based on conversations I’ve had with writers a lot more successful than me, the writer with the most titles wins. And by titles, I’m not just talking about novels; nowadays authors can reasonably expect to sell their backlists and short fiction through e-pubs and print-on-demand as well. Writers have more options to get their words published today than ever. There is no reason not to put your words to work.

I did a quick inventory of my own (shortish) list of (as yet) unpublished titles. I have a few novels and short stories which did not get the response I’d hoped for when I sent them out on query. So I’ve decided to move ahead and self-publish the earlier titles. I’ve also decided to accelerate my writing pace and significantly up my daily word count quota. I plan to finish the year with at least 3 completed novels (Aurum and 2 more), and at least 10 short stories (I’ve already got three finished). My new website is up and running, and I’ve got no more excuses to keep me from my work. Writers write.

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Welcome to Sharon Joss Writes

Posted on May 19, 2013 by SharonJoss

Here it is, my new blog.   Blogger has been a terrific platform to learn about blogging these last few years, but as I move into the professional landscape of writing for a living, I am making the move to a real web page.  The blog will continue, but under my professional name, Sharon Joss; and now it will be hosted by WordPress.  The look is a bit different, and will continue to evolve as I add content, but I hope  you will continue to keep stopping by.

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Fun Zone

Posted on April 25, 2013 by SharonJoss

I spent quite a bit of time setting up my website this week, especially since at my last writers workshop, I was teased a bit for not having a ‘real’ business website up.  I admit, getting my website set up had always been part of the plan, but I wanted to get my feet wet with blogging first, before  tried anything more complex.  Well, now that time has come.  I could have paid someone to do it for me, but I decided (for better or worse) to try doing it myself. 

I decided to go with WordPress (.org, that is); arguably because it’s the platform ‘writers’ use.  It’s sort of expected, and all my writerly friends are using it, so I decided to enter the same fun house.  I got me a dummies book on WordPress, but before you can get started, you need to do a couple of things:

·         Register your domain name (I had to do this for Blogger anyway, so I was already there)

·         Sign up for (and get used to paying for) Web Hosting.  The WordPress people are good at suggesting several hosting companies, but I took a friend’s recommendation and went with 1and1, and went with the uber-reliable Linux option.  Mainly because they were cheaper and so far, their tech support has been fantastic.  You also probably want to security on your space, so remember, that costs too. 

·         You’ll also need FTP software to upload your SQL and WordPress software to your site.  I seemed to have trouble with (free) FileZilla, so ended up going with a SmartFTP Client (more moola). 

·         The SQL database setup and WordPress install were easy-peasy.  The hard part is deciding which WordPress theme to use.  The theme I selected is called Dusk to Dawn, but I’m not sure I’ll stay with it.  I like it, but the header size is fixed (which doesn’t work with the image I planned to use as a header), and I’m already finding it much less flexible and user-friendly than my Blogger site.  But I’m sure I’ll get used to it. 

I also spent some time this week setting up my business checking account.  I had one in Idaho, but hadn’t set one up in Oregon after my move.  Just like setting up the webpage, there is some pre-registration you have to do before the bank will allow you to set up your business account.  I my case (and I’m no expert; I’m just talking about what I did this week). I had to register Pandora Swift as a freelance business with the state ($$) and file for an Employer Identification Number (EIN) with the IRS (which is free, yay!). 

Although all this running around has kept me from writing as much as I’d have liked this week, it feels good to know I’ve almostgot my business act together.  I’ll post a link to the new website as soon as I’m sure it’s good to go. 
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