How I Develop Chapters

Chapter development is an excruciating process when it comes to writing. Not really but it sounded like a good thing to say. This is kind of my process on chapter development.

The Beginning, it’s where I have to start.

The beginning is where I set which characters are going to be in the particular chapter, obviously. Like I’m telling you something that’s life changing as an author. I also create a scenario for them to start in, wow, another mind blowing revelation.

At this point in time it’s all about setting the rest of the opening scene. Am I starting off of a cliff hanger and need to finish that off first? Do I need to create a point with this chapter? There are a lot of questions that I need to answer before I can really write.

Once these are answered I can move on to the middle, but I don’t go to the middle right away.

The ending in the middle, kind of.

I don’t really start writing until I figure out the beginning and the end. The ending is important because you either create a cliff hanger or come to a conclusion. Creating the ending is a lot of fun for me, especially with a cliff hanger.

Before writing this post, I just finished writing this cliff hanger in my second novel that will probably upset some readers but it was so worth it. The entire time I was almost giggling with excitement. I really want to be there when someone reads it so I can see their reaction. It will be marvelous.

That’s why it’s so important for the ending. You want the readers invested so they continue on with the book. Cliff hangers and plot twists really keeps that going. Dropping a plot twist in the middle and finishing it at the end, where’s the fun in that?

The middle, where the guts are.

I never really plan out the middle. It usually just happens. Once I have the beginning and the ending I just let it flow, but how? Getting out of the beginning can be tricky at times. I found the best way to get out of the beginning is using dialogue.

Dialogue helps drive the chapter with conversation, whaaaa? Right, *explosion* mind blown. I wrote a chapter in Books of Azric: The Beginning with minimal dialogue and it was tough as hell. It was so hard to keep it going. In the end it was a great chapter. I got so many compliments with that chapter. I don’t think I’ll write another like that any time soon, mainly because it’s a singular character not interacting with anyone.

Anyway, dialogue helps generate movement and sometimes it changes the ending when my characters take over. I try and mold it one way but that doesn’t happen all the time. Letting it flow more naturally creates a realistic feeling to the chapter.

The finished chapter doesn’t turn out the way I think it will.

When the chapter is over I always look at it like, wait, that’s not what I intended but that’s how it turned out. It gets me excited when I write something that surprises me. Adding new characters to the story is pretty awesome as well. I never know when someone new will show up and when they do it adds to the story, giving it depth.

My chapters always start the way I want them to, but they don’t always end the way they’re supposed to. That’s what writing is all about, letting it flow. The good endings stay the way they are, usually or get twisted to another form of ending but still delivering what I desired, more or less. The way I look at it, if you control every aspect, it never turns out right, but that’s just my opinion.

My Marketing Journey

I’ve finished my book. It’s been edited and published. How do I get it out to my millions of unsuspecting fans? Marketing. Yep, that’s right, it’s time for me to market. It’s the ongoing struggle of all independent authors. It’s time I share my struggles and victories I suppose. More importantly I want to share what I learned and what I’m going to do differently on my second novel.

Release Day.

What a joyous occasion this was for me. I was so excited to finally be getting my book out there. I put it on createspace.com, went through everything I needed to and bam it was available for the general public. Alright, here comes the sales, the reviews, and the money.

I was so wrong, I got minimal sales right off the bat. I think I sold four copies. Hey, that’s okay. That’s not bad for the first day. Or the first week. Or the first month… Okay, what am I doing wrong? I had no clue what I was doing, or what I was going to do. I guess I was just hoping that once I released it people would just be like, “Ooh, a new book”, and buy it up.

Selling on my own feels like a used car salesmen.

I wasn’t sure how I was going to get money to get my own books. I was hoping my online sales would give me the money for that but I was wrong. That’s when my amazing fiancée agreed to let me take out a loan to buy fifty books to sell on my own. It was the best thing I could do at that point. Who better for word of mouth than me?

I got the books and gave copies to my BETA Readers like I told them I would. Next step, everyone that told me, “Oh yeah, I’ll buy your book, just let me know when.” I thought they would go online and do it anyway, but that didn’t happen. It was time to call them on it.

I started selling finally. Everyone that said they would buy, was just waiting for me to bring it to them. In retrospect, I could have charged a delivery fee too. I wouldn’t, but it would have been funny. I now had some sales under my belt, but what should I do next? I turned to the internet. I already did a lot of research in the beginning but it’s a ton to take in and learn. After searching, I found having a professional review would be beneficial.

Reviews are awesome.

I didn’t think I could afford a professional review until I came across Readers Favorites. They are a low cost reviewer that hires everyday readers to review your book for you. They offered a free version but there was no guarantee it would be read. I jumped on that. Woo, what a rush, posting it for a review.

Weeks went by and still no review. Well, that sucks. Guess there needs to be a plan B. Good news, plan B came the next day after making a few more sales. I had enough to pay for the review. I was jacked. So jacked that I did my happy dance (looks more like convulsing mixed with laughter) and I submitted my novel with payment.

A few weeks went by and there, in my email, was the review. I was glued to the screen, reading and rereading. It was amazing. The entire time I was so nervous they wouldn’t like it but it was awesome. The review was a 4.2 out of 5 stars. I couldn’t be happier, well 5 stars would have been even cooler. I was ecstatic, it went all over social media, I was proud of it.

Now that I have this awesome review, what was I going to do with it? Readers Favorite already posts it on Nook and several other sites. I post it on Amazon but what else can I do? I know, I can advertise.

Advertising, expensive and the wrong kind won’t work.

I went to my author’s page on Facebook and posted my book on there for like the hundredth time. This time was different, I was going to pay to have the post be seen. Yeah, this felt great. I set my budget, it wasn’t a high budget, but it was mine so there.

I figured I’d sit back and let the sales come to me. After all, I just got this fantastic review, this should be a breeze. Yet again, I was wrong. Thousands of views and more page likes, but one thing I didn’t get was a sale, not a single one. What a waste of money, or was it?

It would have only been a waste if I didn’t learn anything from it. Maybe if I had a larger budget I might have received a few sales, but would it have been worth hundreds of dollars to receive a handful of sales? I don’t think so.

However, I did find that social media marketing is great to get an email list going on a website. Advertising used correctly will be more profitable. Used wrong, it’s a waste of money. Well, I don’t have a lot of funds at this point, so what’s my next option?

Book signings have been my best friend.

I found that I’m pretty good when it comes to book signings. As many people who know me, I’m pretty loud, in a good way, I think. I’m personable, funny, charming (Fiancée will laugh at this) but I can sell in person better than anywhere else.

Book signings have been my number one seller for me. Getting out and meeting people. Talking about your book is amazing. If your eyes light up about the book, someone will want to read it. They’re also a lot of fun, especially if other authors are there too.

What have I learned in this process?

The biggest thing I learned is getting the book out there to readers. On my next release, I’m going to try a couple of other tactics. I think the main thing, will be setting it as free for the first five days. This will help me get the book out there and get reviews from readers.

When it’s all said and done, getting more material out into the world is the best thing an author can do. It’s not anything I’ve learned, it’s just a proven fact. Keep writing, write some more, when you think you’ve written enough do it all over again. 

My Experience Writing My First Novel

I have been asked many times at book signings, and just around by my friends and family on how my first experience was writing and how long it took. I have answered many times on this, so I decided to write it out.

Writing the book.

I found that writing the book was the easiest part of the whole process, I just didn’t realize it at the time. It was definitely the longest part, but not the hardest.

I started with an idea, a thought that had come into play about a year before I started it. A bounty hunter set in a medieval, fantasy setting. I created the world, writing down everything that I could think of. Created portals to travel between realms. Had a good handle on the characters. I knew exactly what was going to happen with each character, and why.

Then I started writing. Other than the names, pretty much everything went out the window. Characters that were supposed to die gave me the bird and survived their impending doom. Characters that were to live, died in a tragic but needed way to propel certain characters. I always read articles about characters writing themselves, but I never believed it until they did it to me.

Their personalities came out early on. I was trying to make it more of a teen novel, but one character changed the course of the book. I tried rewriting his scenes but he just wouldn’t allow it to happen. He was the first character to drop the ‘F’ bomb, the first to have more of a graphic love scene (not too graphic I suppose, but still, it was there), and became my favorite character to write.

I was surprised on how my characters reacted and how the story unfolded. It felt like I was floating above them the entire time, just writing down what I saw.  This whole process went on for about three months. Three months of writing just about every day for ten to twelve hours on some days. I’d even get home from my full-time job and write for three or four hours. It was long and intense, and drove my fiancée crazy, but the results were amazing.

Self-Editing, oh the dreaded editing.

Self-Editing, how I loathe thee. I even wrote a post on my blog about how much I truly hate self-editing. It’s long and takes almost as long as writing the damn story. I mean come on now, who really wants to search for their own mistakes all the time?

During the writing process, I thought I was nailing the grammar and punctuation of it all. Oh, how wrong I was. I read it and was like, “What the hell was I thinking here?” After I was done, I handed it over to my fiancée. This was the first time I had ever let someone read it.

I was nervous to say the least, she was annoyed. She read it, with me looking over her shoulder almost the entire way (like now). I put so much work into this that I couldn’t bear what she was going to tell me, or find. After a few days of me harping she finished it.

I got it back littered with the red markings of Track Changes. I was mortified, I thought I did an amazing job editing just to find out I suck at it. Good news, everyone is terrible at self-editing, so don’t worry about it. I went through it, made some changes, rejected some suggestions and in the end, there were still issues.

So I went through it again. Changing, fixing, rewriting, and then she hits me with a bomb. I have a plot hole. I have failed as a writer. “I’m just going to scrap the whole fucking thing,” this is truly what I said. At first, I was mad at her for pointing it out. How dare she do this to me? I’ve spent months writing this, and now I have this major hole in the entire plot.

Then, after realizing it’s not her fault, I got through my angry panic and I sat down to figure out how to fix this major road block. After all, this is why I had her read it first. I relaxed when I was able to fix it with three sentences. I couldn’t believe it, three sentences to fix it all. Whew, crisis averted! Next was my BETA readers.

BETA Readers, a must.   

I had many people ask me, what are you working on? When can I read it? How much longer is it going to be? Shut the fuck up or I’m going to smack you in your fucking face, uh, I mean soon and it’s a book.

BETA Readers are one of the most vital steps an author can take. They help you determine if all the time you’ve spent writing was worth it. I had ten people lined up, that’s friends and family of course. I sent it out to them, with a disclaimer stating to have it back to me within one month with what you thought of it in detail and you’ll get a free autographed copy of my book once it’s published.

Now, BETA Readers need to stay focused. I had to stay on top of them a bit and the ones I lined up no longer had the time to put in it. I stopped harping on them and turned my focus to the ones still reading it.

I asked them many questions throughout the process, getting responses like “Leave me alone, I’ll email you when I’m done.”

“Who are you again, just kidding, like I could forget.” Regular comedians they were. In the end, only about four of them sent back a response, which, from my understanding, is typical. I got a lot of positive feedback. Some negative, but that’s how we grow as writers. If you can’t accept the bad and learn from it, then you’re in the wrong line of work.

I thank all of my BETA Readers. They were extremely important in the process and I couldn’t have done it without them.

Cover design, my bad.

I found the cover design to be a tricky situation. I can’t color, let alone draw, to save my life. I needed help but I was broke. “My brother is a talented artist, I’ll ask him.” He was more than happy to do it but told me he’s super busy with work. He runs his own construction business if you were wondering, if not, whatever you know now.

Anyway, I gave him the details on what I wanted and he went to work on it, kind of. He got really busy. I started hassling…months went by and still no cover. He was doing it for free so I can’t complain about this, to him anyway (if he reads this it’s going to be “Look here fuck stick,” or something along those lines.) He finally found some time to work on it. His art work was great but there was something wrong with it. Something was missing. The portal looked weird, it needed a stand instead of being free floating. “Told you so,” is what he basically said and he didn’t have the time to help change it or start over, which was fine. He did more than I could ask for. To be honest he did exactly what I asked for. I just apparently didn’t know what I wanted.

“A new artist, oh no, I don’t have money. This is going to cost me, what do I do?” Then a friend came up to me, “Hey, I have an artist for you. They owe me money so I’ll have them do it for free.” I was taken back by his generosity. I didn’t know what to say. He put us in contact. I ended up giving her full artist discretion, which I didn’t give my brother at all, my bad. Sorry, kind of set him up for disaster on that one. You live and learn.

So, my artist comes in and makes this amazing painting, but it won’t fit on a cover. It won’t upload or anything. “Dammit, what am I going to do?” Same friend swoops in (he was my savior with the cover so yes he swooped.) and does some cool things with Photoshop. He wouldn’t accept a single payment for it either. Next go around he won’t have a choice in the matter.

Cover done, I’m ready to publish…wrong. What do I have left? My fiancée suggests I follow through with a professional editor.

Editing, of the professional kind.

How was I going to afford a professional editor? I mean hell, they can cost hundreds, if not thousands of dollars and I was sitting there with like fifty bucks. I know…Kickstarter. Let me tell you, if you don’t have a following or money for advertising, you’re not going to have a successful Kickstarter campaign. At least, that was my experience anyway.

All of a sudden I got a message from someone who donated to my cause. She was an editor and didn’t charge an arm and a leg, which is great because I like having two of each. I talk it over with my banker (that’s another thing I call my fiancée) and I send off my manuscript to some unknown person.

She was professional and made a ton of corrections, I was thankful. At this point I also had a lot of experience understanding that I may not be the best self-editor, I might possibly be the worst, so I wasn’t as mortified seeing all the red. It was like looking at a slasher movie. I made changes then sent a payment and the manuscript, again.

In a timely manner, she sent it back to me, and I sent my final payment. She allowed me to make payments. This was super helpful and allowed me to get a professional edit on my book. A huge life saver for myself and my book. Finally, I was done with it all.

How long and what did I learn?

So how long did this take me? From start to finish it took me about a year and half to two years to get to publishing. For my next novel, I don’t think it’ll take me as long, fingers crossed.

Everything I learned in this process was necessary. I didn’t realize how much went into it all. The big thing I learned is that if you give someone a deadline and they don’t make it, find someone else. It’s probably better for both of you anyway. No reason to keep harping on them to finish something they don’t have time to do.

I want to thank everyone again on how much they truly helped me.

I guess the work is never really done. My next step, marketing, but that’s another article down the road.