Why I Use Scrivener

Scrivener is a word processing program for writers of book length work and screenplays. The first time a writer friend told me to try it, I deferred. After all, why would I want to use a strange bit of software when the rest of the world is using Word? The idea seemed to fall into the category of: why buy problems when they’re giving them away for free?

But there was a quote on the Scrivener website which kept niggling at me. “Scrivener is the first and only word processing program designed specifically for the messy, non-linear way writers really work.”

To write a novel is to take an unruly pile of ideas and stretch them into something sleek and linear. And here was a hint from the universe that it was normal to struggle, but that there might be a better weapon for the fight.

To acquaint myself with Scrivener, I watched a single YouTube video by the developer. (The amusing “novel” he uses for his example is worth the price of admission alone. I'll say only that a giant squid figures into the plot.) That gave me enough familiarity to become a novice user.

(Note: I use the Windows version of Scrivener, and the program was originally written for Mac. In fact, the Mac version has a few more features, about which I know nothing.)

Scrivener works like a very customizable master document (called the “binder”) with sub-documents  Sub-documents can be pieces of your manuscript or notes for your project. And these can be moved, grouped or nested as often as you wish. The pictured example is divided into sections by geographical location. The first section is labeled “Orlando, Florida.” But at any moment, a user can reorder chapters by dragging them around. Clicking on any of the chapters in the list on the left side of the screen will bring up that chapter in the document editor.

This is bulletin board mode. The chapter list is always there on the left. But the bulletin board alternates with a text editor or outline view. The user clicks on one of the choices visible in the upper right corner to toggle among them.

To see the novel as a continuous beast, one merely clicks on “manuscript” at the top, and there it is. But I never do that, because I’ve become enamored with jumping from chapter to chapter. You can see from my screenshot that I’ve given them all names. Scrivener understands that you may want to nickname chapters without those tags appearing in the final document.

The setup saves time in many ways. While writing, say, chapter four, I might include a detail which requires that I change earlier facts. With Scrivener, I don’t have to make a note to myself or lose my place. I can hop back to the earlier fact, fix it, and then click on chapter four again. When I do, I find myself at precisely the same place in the subdocument as I was when I left.

Also, there’s much less cutting and pasting when you can rearrange chapters at will.

When sub-documents are infinitely flexible, you can write text without even guessing where it will end up. I keep a folder called "for later." In that folder there are scenes and mini scenes which I hope to successfully fit into the book's chronology, but haven't yet. Before Scrivener, I would write all my "notes for later" in another computer file or in a notebook, and then often lose them. I don't lose ideas anymore, because everything pertaining to the project is in the binder. (Or it's in the notebook in my glove compartment. Until Scrivener is built into the steering column, that's one bug that won't get fixed.)

Outlining is another boon. The outline overlies the document. At any moment you can switch to outline view. Your chapters populate automatically, and there’s space to write yourself a description. I’ve used this to remind myself of what I’ve already written, or to remind myself of how I want a chapter to shape up. You can also color code scenes or chapters in outline mode (useful for multiple POV works) or label them any way you want. The software suggests “preliminary draft” “final draft” etc. But you can make your own labels.

The third view is bulletin board (shown above). Your outline text will appear there as well.

And I’m no longer afraid of using an unfamiliar file type to store my work, because that’s not what happens. Scrivener stores all of your subdocuments as .rtf (rich text) files, and then stitches them together when you want to see the whole manuscript at once, or when you choose to “compile” it into a document to be read in other software.

Each night when I’m finished working I “compile” my Scrivener manuscript into a new Microsoft Word doc. This takes about three keystrokes, and helps me remember to backup my work.

Learning Curve

It took me awhile to learn to navigate between outlining and text editor modes. And the art of compiling what you see in the text editor into a Word .doc precisely as you wish takes a bit of study. But the documentation is excellent, and the small group of people who work on Scrivener are as helpful as can be.

The retail price of Scrivener is $40. (By the way, I receive no benefit for writing about this product. I'm preaching from the choir loft on this one.) I paid a bit less because I took advantage of the NaNoWriMo discount. The software has a "household" licence, which means that for one price I have the software on both my laptop and our kitchen machine.

I tried the free trial version first. It contains the full program, but expires after thirty days. If it's any clue to how helpful I found the software, you should know that I paid for mine when there were still twenty six days left on my trial.

Happy scrivening!

Sarah Pinneo  is a novelist, food writer and book publicity specialist. Her most recent book is Julia’s Child. Follow her on twitter at @SarahPinneo.

Why I Use yWriter (Writer Software)

yWriter icon by The Madd Hatter

In December, QueryTracker Blogger Sarah Pinneo talked about why she uses the Scrivener writing software. Of course, there’s other software out there, so today I’m going to share my experiences with another option—yWriter.

yWriter was developed by an author/programmer, and it’s a PC-based freeware alternative to Scrivener (that will, according to the creator, “also run on GNU/Linux and Mac OS X using Wine”).  And by free I mean FREE: it costs nothing and has no ads, popups, unwanted toolbars, or other annoyances to interfere with your work.  It also has bunches of little bonus tools (discussed further below) that you won’t find with a lot of other software. For example, if you don’t want to work in English, you can switch over to everything from Spanish and Hebrew to Russian or Chinese.

Like Sarah, I was reluctant to try writing software, stymied as to how it could help me. But the two methods I was using to brainstorm—writing on an old-fashioned notebook tablet PC or using physical notecards—had problems. My tablet PC is so old it’s slooooow, and I kept dropping and losing my notecards. Trying to outline something on a regular word processor or in a spiral-bound notebook was a nightmare for me. I like to move things around. A lot. And I couldn’t see everything at once, so it was hard for me to figure out where things went best. yWriter helped me with all of those things.

Getting Started

You begin in yWriter with a new Project. A project wizard helps you set up the project, prompting you for your project title, your name, and where you want to store your files. Rather than working at the chapter level, yWriter has you create a chapter and then each scene within the chapter. You can name the chapters anything you want (e.g. Chapter 1, or How It Began). The software encourages you to use descriptive titles for scenes, which makes it easy to see what’s going on in each chapter. It also tracks how many words you’ve written in each scene, along with totals for each chapter. You can easily drag and drop scenes within a chapter or between chapters.

The main project window, with chapter list on the left and scenes on the right.
Click on any image in this post to enlarge it.

Double-click on a scene and you enter a word processing window where you can actually write the scene. As with Scrivener, scenes and chapters can easily be compiled into a single document. Below the word processing window there’s a place to identify the viewpoint character and an area for scene notes.

Along the top are pulldowns and tabs that allow you to dig deeper into characters, locations, items, character goals, timeline, and so on.

Locations list on the left; location image (Pittsburgh airport) on the right.

Features

I don’t usually spend a lot of time creating character profiles and such (I’m more likely to give my characters personality tests), but I found that I like having a place that lists my cast of both major and minor characters and shows me how many viewpoint scenes they have. Each character section includes places you can write a bio, explore goals, include a picture, and take notes for each character. There are similar tabs for locations and items, and you can tag any entry with appropriate terms.

The storyboard places scenes on a series of character timelines, so you can see who has the proverbial ball when. The scene cards can be dragged and dropped, and you can double-click on a card to edit all of its details.

For those writers who like to create 24-like stories, you can even use the software to track to the minute when a scene begins, as well as how long it lasts.

The program will also please NaNoWriMo writers: yWriter keeps track of how fast you’re typing and automatically logs how many words you’re writing each day. It also lets you set word count goals.

You can easily search the entire project with the built-in Search function, and you can also define and identify “problem words” (for example,  -ly words). There’s also a word usage count that lets you see how many times you’ve used particular words.

An auto-backup feature makes it difficult to lose something you’ve been working on, which is fantastic for people who forget to back up frequently as they work. Since the software creator is a programmer, he’s included the ability to automatically back up to your email or an FTP site as well as locally.

You can export everything: scenes, scene cards, scene notes, characters, project notes, synopses, chapters, character lists…and on and on.

It’s Free!

As noted above, the software is free. If you like it, you’re encouraged to register it, which essentially means you donate a reasonable amount (right now, about $12 or about $25) to support the programmer and his time.

I have very few complaints about the software. (And it’s free, so they aren’t vociferous complaints!) One is that I would like to be able to include more than one picture for a scene, character, location, etc. The program also tends to shrink the pictures when I’d prefer them large.

Also, the character goals section is set up based on Dwight Swain’s Techniques of the Selling Writer. Since I haven’t read the book, it took some Googling for me to figure out what I was supposed to do with it. You could probably make Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat! and Save the Cat Strikes Back techniques work in those areas, though, if you’re familiar with those.

The Goals section, based on Swain's book.

Instruction, Help, and Support

If you’re the kind of person who likes instructions and tutorials to help them with new software, there’s an optional sample project included with the install, as well as a Quickstart Guide, a Wiki, a comprehensive help file, group support, and plenty of other resources.

Carolyn Kaufman, PsyD's book, THE WRITER'S GUIDE TO PSYCHOLOGY: How to Write Accurately About Psychological Disorders, Clinical Treatment, and Human Behavior helps writers avoid common misconceptions and inaccuracies and "get the psych right" in their stories. You can learn more about The Writer's Guide to Psychology, check out Dr. K's blog on Psychology Today, or follow her on Facebook! 

Cloud Storage for Writers: Comparison & Caveats

It’s been a couple of years since I’ve written about backing up your writing files, and I have two words to define the revolution since then: cloud storage.

What Is Cloud Storage and Why Would I Want It?

You probably keep a folder filled with manuscript/s on whichever computer you do the most writing. But if something happens to that computer (or that folder), recovering the data may be difficult or even impossible. So most writers back up their writing in some way—some keep a copy of things on a flash drive, for example, while others regularly email their manuscripts to themselves.

But these days there’s an additional alternative called cloud storage, which refers to online file storage.  (The “cloud” is basically the internet.) And not only does cloud storage back your documents up on a regular basis, it gives you access to your files from any computer or device on which you install the company’s software. In other words, your files exist in a location you will always be able to access barring an inability to get online or the collapse of the internet.

Some cloud storage services also offer features like:

• Version Tracking: This allows you to recover an older version of a file if you accidentally write over it or delete it.
• Collaboration: This collaboration option allows more than one person to contribute to the same document (without sharing the same password and identity).
• Public File Sharing: If for some reason you want to share particular files with the public, some services have this option.

How Much Does Cloud Storage Cost?

Most cloud storage providers offer 2GB – 5GB worth of free storage, which is plenty for most writers, even if they’re prolific. (Pictures and videos take up a lot of space; written files take up very little.) Of course, if you want more storage than that, it’s available from all of the services for a variety of monthly fees.

Security and Privacy

This is where things get tough.  If your stuff isn’t just on your computer, how much control do you really have over it?

The answer is, writer beware. It varies widely from cloud storage service to cloud storage service.

On the scary end the mega brand-name clouds, such as Google Drive, Apple iCloud, Dropbox, and Microsoft SkyDrive, have privacy policies that basically give the companies the right to use your material in any way they deem appropriate. Though all of them claim that they will only do this to support their Services, there’s enough wiggle room to make some legal nitpickers very nervous. (Note: These services may work fine for for people who wish to back up things besides original creative works. I use both Dropbox and Google Drive for day job purposes.)

For most cloud services, though, the privacy policy extends as far as the law will allow. That is, if there’s a reasonable cause to believe you’re infringing on someone’s copyright (including DMCA) or otherwise breaking the law, the company will comply with authorities. Now, assuming you’re not planning to break the law (please don’t), that shouldn’t be an issue.

The real potential problem in these situations that employees may be able to sift through your stuff at will. Dropbox in particular has been criticized for this. In other words, if a Dropbox employee decides to look at your stuff, there are no rules in the company to prevent it.

Mozy, on the other hand, has a privacy commitment that no one will ever access your files for any reason other than legal purposes.

Finally, there are companies that offer individual private encryption keys.  This is a special key that only you (and, of course, anyone you share it with) can use. A private encryption key means that nobody can get into your account for any reason, including subpoena, except you. SpiderOak is particularly known for their “zero knowledge” policy, which means they neither know what’s in your account nor have any way to access it, including under subpoena. SpiderOak accounts are automatically protected by private encryption keys.

Services like iDriveSync and Mozy also offer optional private encryption keys, which gives them the same level of security as SpiderOak accounts.

The only problem with private encryption keys is that if you lose your password (i.e. your key), nobody can reset it for you. The account cannot be opened, ever, by anyone. The account is that secure.*  So this approach is great for paranoid folks…as long as they have really reliable memories.

Writing Software Cloud Integration

Writing software like Scrivener and yWriter create a folder on your hard drive that contains all the different parts of your project. If you keep your project in the cloud storage application that sits on your computer/s, your Scrivener files will also be synced on each computer you’re using.

The only thing to be careful of (as Scrivener warns in its documentation), is if you start working on a project that isn’t yet fully synced from another computer.  So you just have to be sure your cloud service’s automatic syncing to the current computer is done before you start working on your project on a new computer. That also means that while it’s okay to have different people collaborating on a writing software project, it’s crucial that only one person edits at a time. That person must then close the writing software on their end for the other person to be able to use it.

Operating Systems and Apps

Most if not all cloud services are accessible not only through a web page, but also on both Windows and OS X (for Macintosh) computers. However, some services can also run on Android, iOS (iPad and iPhone), and—rarely—Linux.

Comparison Chart

Finally, I’ve created a chart below to compare nine of the big cloud storage services. (There are certainly others out there, like Wuala (another highly rated zero knowledge provider) and Cubby, but my chart was getting too big. However, you can always check out the comparison chart of thirteen different services that The Verge put together in April of 2012.)

Though for creative works I would probably steer away from the big-name services (Apple iCloud, Google Drive, Microsoft SkyDrive) for the security reasons noted above, services like Mozy, SpiderOak, and iDriveSync offer nice privacy options as well as other useful features for writers.

* Please note that this information is current to the best of my knowledge as of the date of this post. 

	Box	Dropbox	Google Drive	Apple iCloud	iDriveSync	Mozy	Microsoft Skydrive	SpiderOak	SugarSync
Free Storage	5 GB	2 GB	5 GB	5 GB	10 GB	2 GB	7 GB	2 GB	5 GB
Version tracking	11 versions	30 days	30 days	No	30 versions	30 days	25 versions	No	5 versions
Public file share	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes
Collaboration	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Private key	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Developers only
When can someone look at your files?	DMCA; Legal reasons	Employees can access; DMCA; Legal reasons	Google can use your files any way they want	Apple can use your files any way they want	Their discretion for legal issues; Never if you use private key	They "never use [access] to sift through customer data"; Never if you use private key	Microsoft can use your files any way they want	Never; Zero knowledge	Any info “required by law”
Windows	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
OS X	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Linux	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No
Android	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
iOS	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Web	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Other problems	Weaker encryption for personal accts	Hacked July 2012		Errors with Mountain Lion; Syncing issues		Users report backup errors

Do you use a cloud storage service? Which one? What are its pros and cons?

* Many people store extra-sensitive information like master password lists, social security numbers, and credit card information in the cloud, which is why some hackers target cloud storage services. As you can see from the post above, storing sensitive personal data in the cloud usually isn't a good idea unless you have a private encryption key. While many of the cloud services boast the same level of encryption as banks and secure online password managers, and while a private key offers you an extra level of security, you should still be aware that regardless of how secure your cloud is, anything accessible via the internet has the potential to be hacked.

Carolyn Kaufman, PsyD's book, THE WRITER'S GUIDE TO PSYCHOLOGY: How to Write Accurately About Psychological Disorders, Clinical Treatment, and Human Behavior helps writers avoid common misconceptions and inaccuracies and "get the psych right" in their stories. You can learn more about The Writer's Guide to Psychology, check out Dr. K's blog on Psychology Today, or follow her on Facebook! 

Writer Productivity Tip: How To Increase Your Daily Word Count

Today’s post continues with the theme of how each member of the QT blog team keeps (or tries to keep) our writing or writing process/career organized, less stressful, and more effective.

Over the years, I’ve learned to streamline my writing (more so now that I’m a published author with multiple book deals). It used to take me a year to finish writing and editing a book. With my first book (which was never published), I got a tiny bit carried away and spent TEN MONTHS planning it. At that point, I was writing YA fantasy and for some reason felt it was necessary to figure out EVERY TINY DETAIL about my story world. And that included the types of plants that would grow there based on soil type. Did I use any of this information in my novel? Nope. It wasn’t necessary to the story.

Research is another area I’ve learn to rethink. My books often require some research before I can figure out my characterizations. For example, in my first published book (Tell Me When), I dealt with stalking and post traumatic stress disorder. I needed to understand how an eighteen-year-old girl would react to different situations in the book based on what she had endured prior to the story. I had to research these topics first. But while writing my books, I quickly learned that I didn’t need to stop writing every time I had a minor research question. Let me ask you a question. How many of you can go onto the internet and only look up the ONE thing you need to know? How many of you decide that since you’re already online, you might as well quickly peek at your inbox (especially when you’re querying)? How many of you end up then checking out Twitter and Facebook and all your other social media sites instead of returning to your WIP? *puts up hand* Now, I don’t stop to look up those details as I write. I make a note in my manuscript (which is easy to do because I use Scrivener), and go back to look them up once I’ve finished my first draft. And because I use Scrivener, those comments are easy to find. I don’t have to spend time combing through my manuscript to find them.

Another thing I do to increase my daily output is writing sprints. I see how many words I can write in an hour and then take a brief break before continuing with the next bout of sprints. I also write first thing in the morning (5:30 am) and don’t check my inbox until I’ve written for an hour (then I have to get my kids ready for school). I also schedule my writing time so that it gets done. All of these things have helped me increase my productivity.

What helps you increase your writing productivity?

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Writing Resources to Make Your Life Easier

We all have our favorite non-fiction books that focus on the craft of writing. These books have helped improved our writing mechanics and have helped us create stories that are page turners, come up with three-dimensional characters, write emotional stories, and write settings that make the reader feel like they’re in the story. These are the books we might refer to from time to time when we need a little reminder, or when we want to take our writing and stories to the next level. They tend not to be the books you refer to each time you write a new story.

Many of the craft books I own fit that criteria. But in addition to those books, I have five resources I can’t live without whenever I start a new book or edit a project.


Roget’s International Thesaurus

This is no normal thesaurus, and the concept behind it is brilliant. With the typical thesaurus, you look up a word and the book gives you a list of similar words (synonyms), and in theory you just plug in the word and it makes for better writing.

Or does it?

Roget’s International Thesaurus does things differently. It is divided according to categories, which helps your writing become richer compared to a regular thesaurus. You can still look up a word’s synonym, but this thesaurus enables you to do so much more. It’s also a perfect resource for creating metaphors. Once you try the book out, you’ll never go back to the old format, again.


 The Emotion Thesaurus

The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide To Character Expression (by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi) is an outstanding resource. After a brief introduction explaining the various ways you can SHOW emotion (and what to avoid), the thesaurus breaks down each of the seventy-five emotions covered into: the physical signals; internal sensations; mental responses; cues of acute or long-term use of the emotion (e.g for adoration, it might lead to obsession or stalking of the object of adoration); what the emotion might escalate to; and cues of when the emotion is suppressed. There are also seven-five tips listed throughout to help you make the most of the emotions you’re trying to convey.


The Positive Trait Thesaurus

The Positive Trait Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide To Character Attributes (by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi), along with its sister book described below, is the idea resource to help you create dimensional characters that are unique. This helps prevent your characters from sounding the same from one story to the next. We’ve all read books from authors in which the only thing that has changed from one book to their next one is the plot (marginally) and the setting. This book will help you avoid being that author.

First up is a brief intro (that I highly recommend you read first) on various related topics, including: what is a positive attribute; needs and morals and how they influence characters strengths; the different categories of positive attributes; building characters from the ground up; how to show your character’s attributes; and when readers aren’t interested (common pitfalls in character creation.

The second part of the thesaurus breaks down each positive attribute into the following: definition, categories, similar attributes, possible causes, associated behaviors, associated thoughts, associated emotions, positive aspects, negative aspects (when the trait goes too far), examples from literature (and movies), traits in supporting characters that may cause conflict, and challenging scenarios for the adaptable character.

The third part contains various appendices with worksheets you can use to create the positive side of your character. You then use the worksheets in The Negative Trait Thesaurus to make your characters three dimensional.


The Negative Trait Thesaurus

The Negative Trait Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Flaws is another well thought out reference from Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi. Its layout is similar to The Positive Trait Thesaurus, except the introduction and appendices have different information to the previously mentioned book. When both books are used together, your characters (including the villains) will be free of the clichés and stereotypes that often end up in agent and editor slushpiles. Readers will want to get to know them better and will keep reading your book.


Scrivener

When it comes to writing, I’m an organized individual. This is why I can’t live without the writing software Scrivener. Not only does it make my life easier when it comes to planning my stories (everything is one click away), it speeds up my editing time compared to what it used to be when I did everything in Word. I’m not going to go into more details about the software because Sarah Pinneo has already done a great post on the topic.

Do you have writerly resources that you can’t live without?

Stina Lindenblatt @StinaLL writes New Adult novels. In her spare time, she’s a photographer and can be found at her blog/website.  She is represented by Marisa Corvisiero, and finds it weird talking about herself in third person. Her debut New Adult contemporary romance TELL ME WHEN and LET ME KNOW (Carina Press, HQN) are now available.

Scrivener or yWriter: why I use neither

We've heard why Carolyn uses yWriter and why Sarah uses Scrivener. I'm going to join in with my cutting-edge technology. Well, cutting-edge from several centuries ago: why I write with a fountain pen on paper.

And before you say, "Wow, look at the time! It's 2013!" and turn back to your computer (thank you, Regretsy) I'll state for the record that I switched back to using a notebook after drafting four books on my computer. I'm not afraid of the machine, but I also know its limits. And mine.

So, why pen and paper?

1) Portability. If you're hanging out in the karate studio waiting area where there are more parents than seats, you don't want to be writing on a device that takes up any more room than your lap. Same goes for the subway. It's far easier to hunch over a notebook-of-paper than a notebook computer. And if you drop it or one of the kids steps on it, no biggie. (Don't try that with your MacBook Pro.) Just throw it in your hand bag or diaper bag or backpack, and you can write wherever you want. You also don't need to bring your charger.

2) Cost. The one I'm writing in now sports a thirty-eight cent price tag on the cover. 

3) Aesthetics. And it's maroon. The next one in the lineup? Is green. Deep forest green. It puts me in a meditative mood. My daughter has a sparkly tie-dye notebook for her first novel. She says it's groovy. I didn't know anyone still used the word "groovy," and if I hadn't let her pick out a notebook, I still wouldn't know. See? Paper enhances your vocabulary!

4) Quirkiness.  There's something awesome about holding a bottle of ink (or a ball point pen) and thinking to yourself that your entire novel is in there already, waiting for you to stretch it out. 

Or buying purple pen refills, telling yourself that finally you have a reason for all that purple prose.

Okay, all kidding aside, let's get to my most important reason:

5) Emotional intimacy. The key to writing a novel that stays with the reader is the emotional story, so it's vital not to let anything impede those emotions. I found for myself that while typing, I was losing contact with the emotions in the interests of hitting my word count or even just because there was more physical distance between me and the words. When I picked up the pen and wrote the same story, the emotions came through with much less inhibition.

Quite possibly because I associate the computer with blogging, letter-writing, and business interactions, I found myself typing up sterilized, numb stories. My thirty-eight cent notebook, despite not having Many Cool Features, never got in the way. The ink flows from the pen, and my hand is in contact with the pen and the page. (My husband knows I'm not a jewelry person, but if he ever wants to give me a romantic gift, it's a fountain pen.)

And finally,

6) Enforced editing. You cannot submit your first draft anywhere when it's hand-written. You cannot scene-bomb your critique partners, and you cannot query your unedited manuscript. You have one enforced edit-through because in order to share it, at some point you need to type the manuscript into some sort of word processing program. And while typing over every single word, you're going to catch things you'd gloss over if merely re-reading it (such as that ninety-six word sentence. Or the fact that the characters rolled their eyes five times in two pages. Not that I'm totally guilty of these first-draft gaffes.) 

Moreover, when you have to hand-write and then re-type your entire manuscript, you're going to notice the five-thousand-word-long road trip in which nothing happens, and you'll wonder why it's so important that you have to spend over an hour typing it. (I type at 100wpm, but even at that speed -- fifty minutes. Really? Do we really need that scene?) It's my opinion that the explosion of 500-page novels happened at the same time as the advent of the word processor, and it's not always a good thing.

I wait until the end and retype my whole manuscript at once. A friend of mine writes three chapters at a time and then starts typing up a chapter for every new chapter she writes, so she's always typing about three chapters behind where she's written. Whatever works is best.

And that's the final key: whether you find a fountain pen makes you feel more intimate with your characters or whether you want a program to shuffle virtual index cards, try multiple methods until you find the solution that works for your writing. And then don't be afraid to switch around as your projects demand. Your tools don't have to be cutting-edge as long as your method supports your creativity. For linear writers who need mobility, the best solution may be the good old-fashioned way.

---
Jane Lebak is the author of The Wrong Enemy. She has four kids, two cats, and one husband. She lives in the Swamp and spends her time either writing books or ejecting stink bugs from the house. At Seven Angels, Four Kids, One Family, she blogs about what happens when a distracted daydreamer and a gamer geek attempt to raise a family. If you want to make her rich and famous, please contact the riveting Roseanne Wells of the Jennifer DeChiara Literary Agency. 

Publishing Pulse: January 11, 2013

Success Stories

Congratulations to our latest success stories, Nikki Stuckwisch, Laura Tims, and Suzanne van Rooyen! Click their names to read their attention-getting queries and to learn about how they landed their agents.

Downtime for Upgrade

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Around the Internet

Did you know that Facebook tracks negative feedback on your posts and makes them show up for fewer people? Find out how and what you can do about it.

Fellow blogger Sarah Pinneo wrote about why she uses Scrivener, and I wrote about why I use yWriter. This week another of our QTBloggers, Stina Lindenblatt, likes SmartEdit. Check out her review over on her personal blog.

Ever think about what the movie for your novel would be like? (Of course you have. You probably know just who you'd cast for each character!) Over on Novel Rocket, novelist and screenwriter talks about adapting your novel into a screenplay.

To reach your goals, you may need to set boundaries, or limits, by looking at the opposite of each of your goals. Lydia Sharp shows you how on Write It Sideways.

Staying optimistic about your chances of success as a writer can be pretty tough, but agent Rachelle Gardner  shows you how to rewrite doom-and-gloom thinking.

Have a great weekend and we'll see you next week!

Carolyn Kaufman, PsyD's book, THE WRITER'S GUIDE TO PSYCHOLOGY: How to Write Accurately About Psychological Disorders, Clinical Treatment, and Human Behavior helps writers avoid common misconceptions and inaccuracies and "get the psych right" in their stories. You can learn more about The Writer's Guide to Psychology, check out Dr. K's blog on Psychology Today, or follow her on Facebook! 

The Challenges and Rewards of Self-Publishing: An Interview

Here on the QueryTracker Blog, we often talk about publishing in a traditional way: seeking out an agent, who then finds a home for your story with a publishing house. But more and more authors are taking non-traditional approaches to publishing, and there are lots of options out there! Today we talk with our own Danyelle Leafty about her journey with self-publishing her series, The Fairy Godmother Dilemma. Read on to learn about the challenges and rewards of non-traditional publishing!

You decided to go the non-traditional publishing route with your trilogy The Fairy Godmother Dilemma. Why?

With the publishing industry going through some major changes, I wanted to approach [publishing my book] in as many different ways as possible so as not to put all my eggs in one basket.

When I learned about people releasing their novels as serials, I thought this would be an interesting way to get a book out there. The Fairy Godmother Dilemma: Catspell is the book I wrote specifically for this purpose.

One of the big challenges of non-traditional publishing is that the author is responsible for everything—from book artwork to formatting the digital book files to marketing. Can you talk a little bit about these challenges?

I’ve actually loved doing all of these things—which kind of surprised me. I don’t mean to say this isn’t a whole lot of work—it is—but I’ve enjoyed learning how to do new things even if I wanted to drop my computer out the window when I hit bumps.

I’ve been very fortunate in finding stock art for my cover that was perfect in terms of character and tone of the book. I was even more fortunate that there are some incredible Photoshop and Indesign tutorials on Youtube. :) The part I dreaded the most was coding the files, but Scrivener (the writing program I use) came out with an update that compiled manuscripts into digital files without the author having to do all the coding.

Marketing, I think, is the hardest for me. I’m still working on finding a balance between getting my name out there without turning into a commercial. I’m still fine-tuning my approach and will be putting it to work in February. For now, I’m just focusing on getting the series polished and up.

Tell us a little bit about what you’ve liked best about self-publishing.

The thing I’ve liked best about self-publishing is the control I have over my story. I’ve enjoyed putting everything together and learning new things. I’ve also loved getting to know new people along the way.

What have you liked least?

The thing I’ve liked least is the dividing line between the different avenues of publishing. Publishing is a hard business, and I like to think we’re all in this together.

What advice would you give others considering the self-publishing route?

Don’t do it unless you mean it. What I mean by this is don’t self-publish to make a million dollars, to prove anyone wrong, or because it’s easier. (It’s not. I promise!) If you’re going to self-publish, do it deliberately. Have a good plan, be willing to work hard, very hard, and educate yourself on the process and the business. Make sure you put out your very best.

There will be times when you’re so tired you can’t see straight, you put the milk in the oven, and you forget what your name is. There will be times when you want to pull your hair out and give up. There will be times when you really wonder if it’s worth all this.

And there will be times when it all comes together and you know it was. The key is being true to yourself and focusing on the positive while learning from the mistakes you make. (Be flexible! Things can and will go wrong, but that’s all part of the business.)


Some people feel that self-published material may be poorer quality than traditionally-published material. How do you combat that prejudice?

The short version is that I work very, very, very hard. I combat that prejudice by adjusting my thinking and my actions.

Thinking: I’ve determined that the only person I’ll ever be competing against is myself. I strive to make sure each book I put out is better than the one before, and will not release a book unless I feel it’s ready. I had originally planned on releasing the whole series in November (I’d had most of them written and completed long before), but as time went on, I realized that in order to make that deadline, I’d have to work myself to death and risk putting something out riddled with errors.

Which leads to my actions. Because self publishers are in charge of doing everything, it’s vital they don’t skim over the finer details. Editors, or at least really honest, very talented beta readers, are a must. No author can catch all of her own mistakes or weak points.

To be seen professionally, it’s important to act professional and make sure the total package of the book is at a professional standard. This means good cover art, good editing—both line and content, a great synopsis, and professional comportment online.

This also comes with the understanding that no book is perfect, no matter how many editors have edited it, and no book is going to appeal to everyone. And that’s okay.


Tell us a bit about your story and how we can get it!

The official synopsis is:

Sixteen-year-old Breena never thought anything could be worse than being forced to leave the faerie realm. Then she got stuck with a fairy godmother. But if she has to choose between the two, she’d leave the Faerie Realm over getting bossed about by a faerie with a pointed stick any day. Unfortunately, her attempt to evade her fairy godmother gives her growing pains in the form of fur, whiskers, and a tail. 

Turning into a cat is the least of her worries, though. The potion wasn’t meant to bring out her inner feline, it was meant to put her to sleep. Forever. If Breena wants to make it to her Happily Ever After, she’ll have to accept that sometimes a fairy godmother really does come in handy, after all.

Catspell is a fairy tale retelling of The White Cat with a few twists *coughcoughcrazycatscough* and a fairy godmother. It’s the first in a series of five. The first 3 books are available now, and I hope to have books 4 and 5 up and ready to go by February.

The Fairy Godmother Dilemma: Catspell is available on B&N and Amazon as e-books.

I’m planning on either doing a print run or releasing the paperback through POD (publishing on demand) mid-2012. I also have some hard cover copies I’m having printed as part of the serial, but will only be releasing a limited number of those through my website. Each of those will be signed and numbered!

Thanks so much for the interview! It’s been a pleasure.

Thanks to you, Danyelle!

Carolyn Kaufman, PsyD's book, THE WRITER'S GUIDE TO PSYCHOLOGY: How to Write Accurately About Psychological Disorders, Clinical Treatment, and Human Behavior helps writers avoid common misconceptions and inaccuracies and "get the psych right" in their stories. You can learn more about The Writer's Guide to Psychology, check out Dr. K's blog on Psychology Today, or follow her on Facebook or Google+!