It Is Always Better To Write The Thing!

One of my favorite things to do with fellow authors and writers is to sit down and hash out story ideas. Whether I'm the one bouncing the ball, or I'm the wall returning the serves, there's something satisfying about the collaborative process. Being in the swirling guts of a story nebula as it swells, collapses, and goes through the process of exploding out into a galaxy of ideas and possibilities never gets old.

And this is just the beginning!

There is something that always interrupts this process, though. A knee jerk habit that crops up no matter one's skill, talent, past success, or quality of concept; the desire to say, "Ugh, why bother?"

Sometimes you say it because the project seems overwhelmingly big. Sometimes you say it because it's "too similar" to a classic piece of fiction that already exists. Sometimes you say it because you're just some nobody tinkering on a word processor; who's going to want to read this thing even if you manage to finish it?

To all of these questions I say, "Shut up!" Because it is always better to write the thing.

Also, before we move on, remember to sign up for my weekly newsletter if you want to stay on top of all my releases!

It's Your Story, So Tell It Already!

Writing, as an activity, is good for us. It exercises the mind, it sharpens our vocabulary, and it provides practice in storytelling. It can often be therapeutic, and as frustrating as the endeavor sometimes is, most of us who sit down to it will come back for more sooner rather than later.

Easy when you don't know how, and very difficult when you do.

Don't get me wrong, having doubts is a completely natural part of the process. As long as you have expectations of yourself, of your work, or of your writing, there's always going to be that little voice that crops up to naysay you. But if you can't develop a zen attitude about just doing the work for the work's own sake (in case you didn't check the name of my blog, I sure as hell don't have that), then there is another phrase you should adopt to use as a shield against these negative influences.

"But what if?"

When that voice insists that your audience will find your story boring and derivative, ask, "But what if they don't?" Especially if you consider that your audience A) might not be reading beneath the surface level, or B) might find your take on the material inspired. When that voice tells you that nobody's going to read it, ask, "But what if they do?" Because while it's just as possible that no one reads your story but a few close friends, it's equally possible that the algorithm blesses you, and your story explodes with thousands (or even hundreds of thousands) of readers discovering you while they dig through the Internet looking for something new to consume.

And when that voice asks you what you're going to do if you don't finish this project, ask in return, "But what if I do?"

You Have Nothing To Lose (And Everything To Gain)

Writing isn't easy. Writing to achieve specific goals (notoriety, financial independence, invitations as a guest to conventions, etc.) is even tougher. And there is no guarantee that when you set out on this journey that it's going to turn out the way you want it to. You might run into plot complications that require big, structural changes. You might have trouble firing up audience enthusiasm. This may not be the book that receives big critical acclaim, wins you an award, or gets you crowned the Next Big Thing by a particular fandom.

But you know what else? Not writing the story guarantees none of those things will happen.

Can't win if you don't play, right?

And even if this isn't the throw that hits the bullseye, it might be the project that helps you calibrate your aim. The one that lets you find your voice. The one that gets you noticed in an unexpected way, and leads you to the next project that makes all your dreams come true.

But you aren't going to get there if you listen to that hissing little naysayer. So shove a crumpled wad of paper into its mouth, put your fingers on the keys, and write the thing already!

Like, Follow, and Come Back Again!

That's all for this week's Craft of Writing! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my cat noir novel Marked Territory, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, or my most recent short story collection The Rejects!

 

And to stay on top of all my latest news and releases, collected once a week, make sure you subscribe to The Literary Mercenary's mailing list. 

If you'd like to help support my work, then consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi, or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page! Lastly, to keep up with my latest, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well!

Uncertainty is The Worst (and The Best) Thing About Being an Author

The most common piece of advice I've heard since the point I decided to become an author (around age 13 or 14, I think it was), is that I need to have a reliable, steady source of income while I do that on the side. It's not that they didn't think I had the chops or determination to crank out books till the day I died, but rather that there's no telling what the market is going to do when it comes to a writer's trade. You might write one book, hit the lottery, and explode! You might spend a decade or two writing shelves worth of novels, only to become an "overnight success" when someone with a big following tells their fans your work is amazing.

And while most advice you get from people with no experience being a writer is basically garbage, there is a lot of truth to this one. Because writers are self-employed now more than ever before in the age of the gig economy, and your income is going to depend almost entirely on the fickle finger of fate. And I'll be the first to tell you that can be both infuriating, and exhilarating.

Pay your fee, take your shot, and hope for the best!

Before we go too much further, if you want to help me negate some of the uncertainty I'm dealing with (and make sure this blog keeps on trucking), consider becoming a Literary Mercenary Patreon patron! Or, if you don't have the spare dosh for that right now, signing up for my weekly newsletter to ensure you don't miss any of my new releases!

Reliability is an Illusion (Unfortunately)

One of the hardest truths there is about being an author is that your entire profession is largely a matter of luck. Talent helps, developing your skill and craft is necessary, networking is good, and gumption goes a long way, but everything you achieve (or don't) basically turns on the fulcrum of luck.

And this is a door that swings both ways.

Sometimes opportunity doesn't bother knocking.

As an example, take the current pandemic. I had spent several years building up a rather large pile of completed work as a ghost blogger, and it was slowly getting approved, ensuring I had a "regular" check to help bolster all the work I do writing novels, RPG supplements, blogs, and all that other nonsense. Then when the plague crashed across the economy, many of my clients put a freeze on approving any more work. Others cancelled projects (some of which I'd turned in weeks or months before), and still others just ghosted entirely, cancelling their orders and vanishing.

So practically overnight I went from a ghost writer who is hoping to one day quit that job to write novels and RPGs full time, to suddenly relying very much on my body of creative work to make up the difference from the "safe" clients who'd left me hanging.

You know, just like any other job where you're considered an expendable worker, or where the company suddenly takes a nose dive into concrete.

That same zeitgeist can go the other way, as well, putting a surprising amount of good fortune in my pocket when I didn't expect it to be there. For example, a few months back my article Partners and Polycules: Polyamorous Designations Based Off Dungeons and Dragons Dice was randomly shared on a pretty wide scale thanks to a single mention on a subreddit. It picked up several thousand reads, and quickly rocketed up to the front page of my most-read pieces ever on Vocal, suddenly easing my difficulties covering bills that month. In the early summer of 2020 Drive Thru RPG had a big sale on a huge number of World of Darkness game supplements, and overnight my entire 100 Kinfolk project that I'd written for Werewolf: The Apocalypse jumped in sales, pushing my earnings in royalties over $200 for the first (and so far only) time since I started getting a cut of my RPG earnings. I haven't gotten my first check for my noir mystery novel Marked Territory yet, but it's entirely possible that a mystery with a Maine Coon alley cat trying to figure out why a pack of stray dogs is putting the squeeze on a church mouse and her community sold far better than I expected it to.

And one of the hard truths of this job is that while you can tell the story, talk about the story, and try to spread the word, so much of whether or not you succeed is actually out of your hands.

You Can Only Do What You Can Do

Hitting the jackpot as a writer is basically being a professional gambler. You need to read the trends in fiction, understand your audience, learn to recognize interest, figure out what the social media algorithm wants to see from you, and do what you can to gather support from the community. But even if you crunch all the numbers, put your links in the right place, show up to interviews, do readings for your audience, at the end of the day you're basically just gambling. Every book, every blog, every supplement, every article is just one more roll of the dice.

As Captain Picard says, it's possible to do everything right and still fail, when all is said and done.

Even if the odds are on your side, there's no guaranteeing you're going to win. And even if the odds are against you, there's no guaranteeing you're going to lose. The best you can do is put the words on the page in the most compelling way you can, do everything to get it in front of the audience's eyes you can think of, and hope for the best.

Never depend on luck to see you through. At the same time, understand that it is often pure, unadulterated chance that happens to be what makes a book, blog, video, etc. popular. And getting struck by lightning ain't an easy thing to do.

Like, Follow, and Stay Tuned!

That's all for this week's Business of Writing! If you'd like to see more of my work, take a look at my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my noir thriller Marked Territory, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife as well as my recent collection The Rejects!

If you'd like to help support my work, then consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi, or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page! Lastly, to keep up with my latest, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well!

Tailor Your Story To Your Medium (Or You'll Throw Your Readers Off)

For those who don't know me, I love superheroes. I grew up with my nose buried in comic books, I've memorized an unhealthy amount of trivia regarding several of my favorites, and I can talk for hours once someone gets me on "What If" storylines and thematic elements of these books. I've even written some articles like Why Do Superheroes Wear Their Underwear on The Outside? to answer a few questions we've all wondered about at least in passing.

However, one of the major things about comic books is that they're a very unique medium. The costumes the characters wear, the way the action is presented, every element is meant to operate within its own rules. And while the framing, color scheme, action, etc. does translate well to the screen (thanks in part to our movie making magic), it really does not transfer so well to text.

Seems obvious... but trust me, it's not.

Imagine your average Spider-Man fight scene, complete with leaps, bounds, acrobatic tumbles, dodges, and more. Now imagine someone writing it out shot-for-shot, blow-for-blow. When you do that the text can quickly get frenetic, and make it hard for you to tell exactly what's supposed to be happening in the scene. Especially if you insist on documenting every snarl, every gunshot, and every brightly-colored detail of the costumes of those involved. While you can sit back and look at a piece of art, following the progression with your eyes, text needs to draw clear lines so that a reader is aware of what's happening so they receive the proper information (and impact) from a scene. If they can't do that, they're missing out on the story you're trying to tell.

This seems obvious. After all, why would you attempt to ram a square peg into a round hole? But it's something that I see often enough that I thought I'd take this week to talk about it.

A Book Is A Book

There are a thousand different ways to tell stories, and experimental writing has a long and varied tradition. However, with that said, it's important to remember that a book is not a movie. It is not a play, a painting, or a comic. Just because something works well in another medium doesn't mean you can copy and paste it onto the page without a little bit of translation to make it function in book form.

As an example.

For those of you who haven't read my short story collection The Rejects, I'd turn your attention toward Assault on Olympus, the 5th story in the book. Originally written for an open call for the SNAFU series, its premise is an apocalyptic scenario where a team of metahumans has been sent in as a last-ditch effort to stop a nuclear super man that's crowned himself the despot of D.C.

The story has a definite comic book vibe to it in terms of the characters, their unusual abilities, and the high-stakes nature of their assignment. The style it's told in, though, is more of a traditional pulp action narrative, with clean lines of who is doing what, and what's going on around them. There was no need to detail every fold in the spandex, or talk about precisely how characters ducked, dodged or weaved across a field; that would have been clutter to trip up the reader. They would miss the forest for the trees, in other words.

Books have to tell their stories in text, and text has to communicate clearly with the reader. So pay attention to your flow, your details, and your style. Lastly, remember, it's okay to leave things out if they aren't important to a scene. If we don't need to know the lead is wearing silver pumps, that their black cape hangs to their ankles, or that they specifically blocked a blow with their left arm, it's probably safe to move on with the scene.

Edit: Describing Ballet

Since there seems to be some confusion based on feedback, I felt the need to add this section. I call it "describing ballet" because ballet as an art form is meant to be seen. It's the movement of the dance, the impact of the music, and all these disparate elements coming together.

You cannot recreate that impact by just describing a performance as a list of what movements were taken in what order.

Instead, you need to use creative language to convey to the reader all of the impressions this performance creates. You discuss the grace, the beauty, the strength, and the rhythm. You mention the trembling muscle in the lead dancer's shoulder, the bead of sweat eating through the makeup on her partner, the swell of the music in the background... in other words, you translate the entire experience to text instead of just writing down who moved, who jumped, and who pirouetted while also saying which music was playing.

That is the point of this exercise. Not that you should avoid certain genres, or certain types of scene, but that you need to translate it to the textual format. Because while a TV script has all the set description and dialogue, and it tells you a story, it is not a novel. You can make it into a novel, but you have to translate it from what it is (a bare-bones skeleton meant to work in a visual performance) into something that embraces the vehicle it's actually being used for (a novel).

Like, Follow, and Come Back Again!

That's all for this week's Craft of Writing! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my cat noir novel Marked Territory, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, or my most recent short story collection The Rejects!

 

And to stay on top of all my latest news and releases, collected once a week, make sure you subscribe to The Literary Mercenary's mailing list. 

If you'd like to help support my work, then consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi, or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page! Lastly, to keep up with my latest, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well!

A Glimpse Into My Earnings as a Professional Author

Most of the time when people ask me what I do, and I tell them I'm an author, they feel the need to clarify, "No, I mean for money." There's a joke to be made there, because except for a select handful of us, most authors really don't make that much. Certainly nothing to brag about.

Since most people always see me asking for a like, a share, and contribution if they can afford it, I figured that as we're starting a new year I'd give folks a glimpse behind the curtain as how the sausage is made. At least when it comes to my take-home pay doing what I do.

So let's dig into the numbers, shall we?

And before we get into the numbers, don't forget to subscribe to my weekly newsletter to make sure you don't miss any of my fresh content and upcoming releases!

My Earnings as an Author

As all the regular readers know, I have my fingers in a lot of different pies at any point in time. However, what a lot of folks don't seem to realize is that at the best of times my sales from books like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects tend to be little more than pizza money. This is even more true for 2020, where I didn't get a chance to go to conventions and hand sell books, or hobnob with folks at my usual events. As such, I sold maybe a dozen copies of those books to eager readers in lockdown, which was maybe enough to buy a tank of gas. Or around $50 or so, depending on what the price of gas is these days.

While the preliminary numbers I have say my hard-boiled cat mystery Marked Territory likely did notably better, that one was published by Eric Flint's Ring of Fire Press. So I won't have an idea of what my exact numbers on sales (or royalties earned) for that book were for 2020 until next month when I get my check in the mail. And I won't get a check for any books sold between the start of the year and June until the end of August, so keep that 6-month cycle in mind for any earnings on that front.

So, if you haven't gotten a copy yet, get one today!

What a lot of folks might not know is that the bulk of my earnings as an author when it comes to sales actually come from the roleplaying game supplements and associated projects. However, I use the word "bulk" in the loosest possible context, here. Because for a simple break down my earnings for gaming products are:

- Royalties from sales: Just over $1k

- Affiliate earnings from sales: $564

So for roughly a year of work producing and selling RPG supplements, both my own and other folks, I brought in about $1,564. That's not nothing, but if you break it down over the year that's an average of about $100 and change a month. About enough to cover my Internet bill and utilities.

What about my Vocal archive, though? After all, it's been growing at a pretty rapid clip. While that's true, the popularity for my work on that site comes in waves. Still, I managed to earn about $1,153 in traffic throughout 2020. Which, for those who've been keeping track of the news, is less money than a lot of us received in our stimulus check during the early part of the year... and making it stretch is often just as difficult.

So how are you making the ends meet?

A majority of my earnings comes through the Patreon supporters of this blog, and my gaming blog Improved Initiative. The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page brought in just over $1,800 in 2020, making it far and away the largest source of income I have. It also, wonder of wonders, managed to grow a little bit during the pandemic as folks wanted to make sure I kept the content coming as more of my readers turned to online gaming as a way to stay in touch with other people, and pass the time in a safe way.

So between books, blogs, articles, RPGs, and all the content I created last year, what does that come down to? Well, it's roughly $5,000 in earnings. Total. For the whole year.

Now, to be clear, that isn't the full extent of everything I was doing in 2020. I took on a lot of projects that paid by-the-word, or a single fee. I did a lot of ghost blogging, too. However, a lot of the fill-in work and extra projects started to dry up by the summer, and more than one client mysteriously vanished by the Fall. So I did the work, but received no payment as their businesses went into hibernation to wait out the pandemic.

And at least a few of those folks won't be coming back, which means I can't depend on them being around to get me through 2021.

Long Story Short, I Need Your Help

While it's possible that as we all get our vaccines and stumble back to the lives we used to lead, one thing I don't have control over is what clients will and won't do. So while it's possible that some of my ghostwriting clients will come back, or that some RPG companies will need a fill-in writer, there's no way to guarantee that I'll be able to find someone with a slot to fill when the rent is due, or I need to buy groceries.

And honestly, I'd rather not rely on providence if I can make something happen without it.

Seriously, a hand up makes a BIG deal.

Firstly, if you have a little spare dosh to throw around that you want to turn into direct action you could:

- Buy a book! My Amazon author page is full of titles for you to choose from.

- Buy an RPG supplement! My complete list has over 90 products with my name on them.

- Become a Patreon patron! It puts money directly in my pocket every month, and lets me keep writing.

- Leave me a tip! Whether you Buy me a Ko-Fi or leave a tip on Vocal, it's always appreciated.

And if you don't have any spare room in your budget, don't worry! If that's the case you can:

- Read my Vocal articles! Sharing articles you like on your social media feeds and groups helps, too.

- Follow my social media pages (links below), and join my newsletter (above and bottom of the page)!

- Leave ratings and reviews of my stuff! Amazon, DTRPG, Barnes and Noble, it all helps!

- Share articles, books, and anything else of mine that you like! The bigger the signal, the larger the pool of folks who will be reading that can add their voice to the whole.

I've got a lot of stuff that's getting wrapped up right now, and 2021 should (with a little luck) be the year that my body of work grows noticeably larger! I just need a little push from everyone out there reading this so I can get the engine to turn over... hopefully at that point I'll be able to really put the pedal to the metal without stressing over rent, bills, and the other sundry parts of living in the 21st century.

Like, Follow, and Stay Tuned!

That's all for this week's Business of Writing! If you'd like to see more of my work, take a look at my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my noir thriller Marked Territory, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife as well as my recent collection The Rejects!

If you'd like to help support my work, then consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi, or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page! Lastly, to keep up with my latest, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well!

Weird, Wild, and Outrageous Ideas Generate More Interest Than Bland, Safe, and Samey Stories

I have not been in the writing game as long as some people. Just last year I was moderating a panel on being a professional writer, and everyone else at the table had at least twenty years of experience on me. However, with more than a decade under my belt now, I feel like I've done at least one tour of the block, and there's something I've run into often enough that I think it goes beyond a trend at this point.

In short, it's a desire so many writers have to tell small stories. Stories that are familiar. Stories that feel like this trilogy, or that series, or this writer. Stories that don't tread any new ground, who don't make too many waves, and who are different and unique only in the names of the protagonists, or the map on the inside cover.

Imitation is not the sincerest form of flattery in this case.

Too often writers feel the need to tell stories that are an echo of something. Not a deconstruction, or a twist on an existing trope, genre, or style, but just an echo. A call back. Something that takes no risks, that follows the formula other authors have laid down, and which provides exactly the sort of flavor one would expect from the genre recipe.

I'm not saying those stories are inherently bad, either. A good writer, like a good cook, can follow the recipe while still putting their own stamp on its flavor. But what I am saying is that you are far more likely to generate interest and enthusiasm with something that takes risks, and is a little louder, stranger, or more colorful than the same sandwich everyone's been eating for years.

Standing Out Is Always Better

A few years back I'd finally finished writing my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, and I was trying to decide on my next project. I revisited some modern fantasy ideas I'd had, some high fantasy concepts, one or two sci-fi premises, but I finally decided that the most bonkers idea was the one that was going up next.

In short, it was going to be the one about the Maine coon who prowled the mean streets of New York City, and kept getting caught up in other people's problems no matter how hard he tried to keep his whiskers clean.

This one, in case you haven't seen it yet.

While Leo made his debut in the short story collection From a Cat's View, everyone I talked to about a novel lit up as soon as they heard, "Traditional private detective setup, but with a protagonist that's a cat, in a world of street-level animals." Or, if I needed an even faster pitch, "Imagine if Walt Disney did an adult animated movie for a Dashiell Hammett novel."

And thus Marked Territory was born!

Now, I'm not saying that if I'd sat down to write a more traditional modern fantasy story about a psychic private eye with werewolf clients that I wouldn't have found readers for it. However, having pitched that to readers and publishers alike, I can say the response was notably tepid. Why? Well, because there were already three dozen series just like that in the market, and more coming out every year. While you could argue that my protagonist was unique, or the system of magic I had for my setting would set it apart, none of that was stuff that would immediately make the story stand out on the surface.

A cat solving mysteries in a world where humans were completely relegated to background characters? A story where there was blood, and swearing, and brutal fight scenes (because alley cats don't play nice) as the counterpoint to that cutesy premise of street beasts living lives like people? That isn't something that most readers (and even most publishers) have heard before.

That's the sort of thing I'm talking about. Because the pitch is easy enough to understand, and you cold argue it's just a traditional noir mystery wearing a new and unique coat (in that the heavy is a Maine coon, the gang leader is a tunnel rat, the dame in trouble is a church mouse, etc., etc.), but that brightly colored coat immediately differentiates it from the competition. It's weird, it's unusual, and while there are things it's similar to (Watership Down is one of the most common comparisons) it's still very much its own beast.

So if you want to turn a few heads, go big, go bold, go weird... you will thank me for it later!

Like, Follow, and Come Back Again!

That's all for this week's Craft of Writing! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my cat noir novel Marked Territory, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, or my most recent short story collection The Rejects!

 

And to stay on top of all my latest news and releases, collected once a week, make sure you subscribe to The Literary Mercenary's mailing list. 

If you'd like to help support my work, then consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi, or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page! Lastly, to keep up with my latest, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well!

Shaun Hutson Has The Best Advice For Professional Writers Out There

Chances are good that a lot of you out there have no idea who Shaun Hutson is. If you have heard his name before, though, chances are you know him from novels like Slugs, The Skull, or Progeny. The Godfather of Gore, among other names, Hutson has released a frankly staggering number of novels over his career. While some of them are greatly entertaining, and most of them have been the subject of controversy due to their lurid content, the author himself seems to ignore what people say both good and bad.

However, in an interview I saw with him recently, he said something that I feel a lot of writers out there need to hear... especially those who expect to make a living in this trade.

For those wondering which part of the interview I'm referring to, it's the quote around the 5-minute mark. "When somebody says, 'Here's an obscene amount of money, Shaun, would you like to go and write a book?' then the muse descends with incredible speed."

That, right there, is the most important piece of advice I've been giving to people at cons and Q&A's for years, and it's coming out of the mouth of someone far more successful than I am. As a writer, do not buy into your own bullshit... you've got a job to do, so knuckle down and get it done!

Before I go on, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to make sure you don't miss any of my fresh content!

"How Do You Get Into a Mood To Write a Sex Scene?"

About a decade ago I was primarily writing romance fiction for a small publisher as a way to earn a few royalties, and to make some connections in the industry. Even back then I'd learned the primary lesson every author needs to internalize, which is that you need to do as much of your own promotion as you possibly can if you expect to get the word out about your books. To that end I'd asked my publisher if they had any go-to reviewers or interviewers they could hook me up with to start getting the word out about some of my releases.

They did, and to this day I have never forgotten what was probably the most insulting question I've ever been asked by an interviewer.

"Who's a good little author?" Miss, please, can we keep this professional?

I received an emailed list of questions, many of which were pretty straightforward. What's your story about, where can people find it, is it a standalone or part of a series, etc. About halfway into the questions, though, was this gem. Paraphrased, it was, "How do you get ready to write a really steamy love scene? Do you pour yourself some wine, have some chocolate, etc.?"

I re-read this question several times, processing it. It was, perhaps, the most blatant example I'd seen of the myth of writing writ large on the page right in front of me. It was like method acting applied to the written word, and the idea was so ludicrous that I had to laugh. It felt like someone who watched shows like Castle, or movies about really successful authors where they have ludicrous lives and massive bank accounts, but played totally straight. And the fact that this question was still present, in what looked like this reviewer's standard copy-and-paste questionnaire, meant I wasn't going to just let it slide.

While I contemplated putting out an elaborate, sarcastic routine that I went through in order to put myself in the proper frame of mind, I instead chose to be more honest, and less sexy. My response boiled down to, "I pop a top on a fresh can of cherry Coke, crack my knuckles, and write the scene. Same way I write intro prose, action scenes, and dialogue. Sex scenes aren't special, they're just another part of the story."

As Hutson says, sometimes the ideas don't flow freely. Sometimes you stare at a blank screen, trying to order your thoughts. Or you type a few sentences, delete them, and try again. But you don't sit around just waiting for inspiration to drop out of the sky like Newton's apple. You're a professional, and you've got a job to do.

The best thing you can do for yourself, and for your career, is to figure out wherever your switch is so that you can flip it on command. Because publishers have deadlines, and the reading public isn't going to wait around if your muse happens to have a club foot and a bad knee.

Like, Follow, and Stay Tuned!

That's all for this week's Business of Writing! If you'd like to see more of my work, take a look at my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my noir thriller Marked Territory, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife as well as my recent collection The Rejects!

If you'd like to help support my work, then consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi, or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page! Lastly, to keep up with my latest, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well!

Don't Barrage Your Readers With Fantasy Terminology (It Doesn't Help)

"My name is A'lashan Fai'r," the Dowindra said, smiling. "Welcome to Sar'boran."

I nodded, and adjusted the corfan at my side. I looked around the Fenuril, and saw other Redanda standing at their posts. Shu'fi moved among them, heads bowed as they attended to their tasks. I touched the dinfar just behind my ear, and felt more than heard the chirping affirmative it gave.

"Thank you," I said. "Please, take me to the Umbrine. I have news that will not wait."

What the shit did I just read?

If you've read your share of fantasy novels over the years, chances are good you've come across passages like this more than once. Ideally you'll only see nonsense like this later on in the novel (or hopefully down the line in the series) when the reader already knows what all these terms mean so they can properly picture a scene. Too often, though, authors will just dump barrels of fantasy terminology onto their readers' heads, forgetting that while they have lived in this made-up world for years, the reader just got here, and they have no clue what you're talking about.

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What The Hell is That?

If you review the paragraph I opened with, you realize that there's no context for almost any of the names and terms getting thrown around. What is a confar, for example? Is it a weapon? A badge of office? Both? Neither? And the person our protagonist is talking to is referred to as a Dowindra. Is that a profession? A species? A social position? What the hell is that thing behind his ear? Is it an actual cricket, like a magical creature, or some kind of bonded enchantment that connects to his brain?

You're introducing your reader to a world that's foreign to them. If you just dump them in the deep end, though, they're going to feel like they're reading an upper-level science textbook with absolutely zero foundational knowledge to understand what they're looking at.

And what the hell is this nonsense?

In order to ease the reader into your world you need to give them a sense of the familiar first. Allow them to get their bearings. For example, is your setting more urban, or agrarian? Cities and farms are concepts that readers can easily grasp, and it will give them some kind of context before you come down to more confusing details like the made up name of a city or country, districts, the ranks of the rulers, etc. Even with smaller elements, you get far more if you focus on descriptions before you assign names to things so that your reader actually knows what they're supposed to be envisioning later on when the name pops up again.

As an example, consider the following.

The stranger glanced around the room, his eyes taking in everything and everyone. His right hand never strayed far from the blade hanging from his hip. Short and curved, with a heavy guard, the steel practically hummed with power; a sleeping dragon waiting to roar into life. Though the stranger seemed a hard, dangerous man on his own, the confar announced that he was there on the orders of the guild.

This sort of thing gives your audience a much clearer image of what a confar is (a potent sidearm), and the sort of people who wield it (professional fighters in service to a particular guild). But before the item was named it was described, and given an association with an individual to help put what it is into context, and why seeing it might be kind of a big deal.

Once you've established what something is, you can just refer to it by name. Whether it's a particular fantasy species, an ethnicity, a magic item, a social rank, once you've given your audience a tutorial/introduction to it, you can cement it as part of the lexicon.

Easing The Reader In

Most folks who write genre fiction understand that they need to explain some things to readers. Common tropes and elements can usually be put in without much explanation (we get what a troll, or an orc, or a goblin is, so you only need to fill in the blanks if it differentiates from "standard" fantasy tropes), but anything that has an unfamiliar word attached to it needs an explanation to make it stick in the reader's minds.

There's another thing to remember, though... you need to pepper these things in here and there. Don't try to make your reader's do the cinnamon challenge to try to swallow everything at once.

Just three more schools of magic... you can do it!

If your readers get a lot of terms just thrown at their face right out of the gate, it becomes a distraction from the story you're actually trying to tell, and the world you're trying to build. Then instead of falling in love with your protagonist, or getting invested in the threat imperiling your setting, they're just trying to remember the difference between the Alfashni and Kekouri, and which ones have beaks, and why they're so sensitive about jokes regarding coconuts.

Space out how often you introduce new elements to the world, and try to feed them to your reader in some kind of sensical order. The easier it is to chew the lessons, the less they're going to distract or frustrate your audience as they try to get into your story.

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That's all for this week's Craft of Writing! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my cat noir novel Marked Territory, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, or my most recent short story collection The Rejects!

 

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