Expert Writing Advice I’m Glad I Followed

Author Heather Grace Stewart
Love Again Series: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DYF8YKD?searchxofy=true&binding=kindle_edition&ref_=dbs_s_aps_series_rwt_tkin&qid=1643837124&sr=8-1

From my high school English teacher to Oscar winner Aaron Sorkin, these conversations with writers have helped me succeed

I’ve received a lot of valuable writing advice over the years, and it was all free. Yup. Free! These kind people graciously gave of their time and expertise to help this Canadian writer from small-town-Ontario get to where she is now. Where am I again?

But I jest. I’m grateful to have Amazon bestselling novels, audiobooks and scripts after 26 years of working as a professional writer, and I have these and other writers to thank. Unless I’ve added quotes because I got the advice in writing, these are memories from our conversations—some of which took place 35 years ago! and not direct quotes.

Sally Smith, former editor of The Kanata Kourier and my first writing mentor (I was 15!)

Write with your heart, edit with your mind.

Frances Connolly, my amazing high school English and creative writing teacher

Don’t forget to add in taste as a description. We often read about the sense: vision, sound, even feel, sometimes we get scents, but authors often forget to describe flavours. Cover the whole spectrum of senses for maximum emotional impact in your reader.

Aaron Sorkin, Oscar-winning Screenwriter, Playwright and Film Director (The West Wing, The Social Network, Being the Ricardos)

I asked him what to do when a sub-character won’t shut up:

“Strictly speaking if you’re writing page after page that doesn’t have anything to do with your story, you might be writing a different story than you think. Intention and obstacle. Forward motion. You have to make your words do something.”

I asked him his thoughts on recycling our own material:

“Some things are just always sexy, and some things are just always funny.”

When I pressed him: what’s always funny? I got “Cheese.” Me: “But not Gouda! That’s smelly.” Him: “Not actual cheese. The word cheese.”

You might notice I make a reference to cheese in nearly every single work I’ve written since 2010. I always will. Maybe it’s not funny anymore, but you can all look for this Easter egg in my work and smile now, knowing where it came from, and that it’s my way of saying thanks.

Michael J. Weithorn, award-winning writer-producer-director (King of Queen’s, A Little Help, The Sidekick, Weird Loners)

You can always increase the tension. Tear your character’s world apart dramatically. It makes for the falling back together at the end more powerful. 

 Ken Cuthbertson, award-winning author and former editor, Queen’s Alumni Review magazine

Every time you write, make sure you teach the reader something. When they’re finished the article, they should always have new information and hopefully a new perspective.

We’re a helpful bunch, because we know the struggle is real.

The moral of my story is: if you don’t ask, you don’t get! So, don’t be shy. Ask a writer you admire a question. Maybe you can find them on social media, or if you’re lucky, in line at registration at a writers conference. But buy them a book, not a drink. Times have changed.

Writers are usually willing to help those who remind them of where they started. I know I am -but please let’s pretend I’m still 26.

Back To You

Hey.

I know it’s been a while. I hope you still remember my name.

I’ve been a terrible blogger for the last few years. It’s been challenging to find time to write my novels, market my novels, teach others how to do that via YouTube and social media, and spend time with my family. Blogging had to be left behind.

But blogging poems and blogging about writing are how I got pulled away from journalism and onto this career path back in 2007. I started this blog as “Where the Butterflies Go,” you all commented on my poetry, encouraged me to turn the posts into a book, and … […]<<< a whole lot of stuff happened! and here I am today, a published author, with four novels, five poetry books, a screenplay book and a kids’ book of poems under her belt. I never could have imagined I’d still be doing this more than a decade later.

I don’t think I’d be here if I hadn’t started that blog and had such great feedback from you readers. Thank you.

I miss that interaction, don’t you? Social media certainly makes it easier to comment (no logging in…I’ll see what I can do about that btw) but you don’t always have the same “clan” coming back. I miss my bloggyland tribe.

I’ve learned so much since my first novel was published. Here are a few of those lessons:

1) Take risks. If you don’t risk, you don’t grow. I know it’s scary, especially for so many of us introverted artist types (surprise, yes, I’m in fact an introvert who had to come out of her shell through drama as a teenager when she realized that’s how artists grow). I have had such an interesting life because of a few brave moments.

2) You have to put yourself out there as an author. No one else, not even your publicist, knows your product like you do. You have to go to the book signings and the speaking engagements, tweet about stuff that really matters to you, and risk looking like a fool (see #1) if you want the right readers to find you. In time, many of those readers will become your friends. Cool right? It’s not all about making money…but…

3) You have to spend money to make money. I didn’t like this one very much. You mean you have to spend money to advertise that your heart and soul of a book is FREE for a few days? Yes, you do. You don’t have to do that until the end of time. Just until you gain a reader base. It sounds wrong, but it’s right. I didn’t start making a profit as an author until I started spending money directing traffic to my books.

4) Give back. I feel this one strongly. I like to encourage and teach aspiring authors, because I remember how maddening it can be to feel like you’re getting absolutely nowhere. I still have those days, trust me, but that’s because I’m trying new things every day (audiobooks, TV deals) so I’m still learning what works and what doesn’t work. There are tens of thousands of new authors out there who are struggling to find their audience in this ever-changing book industry. I just want to encourage them before they decide to call it quits. Speaking of calling it quits…

5) Don’t quit. Success if probably just around the corner, or at least the corner after that. Keep on going, dreaming, risking, believing. Don’t put a second mortgage on your home, mind you, please be smart about it, but do everything you can to get your book seen. You have to keep on going, especially if you have a strong “knowing” about it. If you know it’s supposed to be, it will be. It’s just a matter of time.

I’m so happy to be back. I’ll try to do this weekly!

Heather 🙂

 

Authors, Value Your Work!

Imagine if civil engineers worked for free. They’d probably do a shabby job, leave work at noon, and say, ‘oh well, you never paid me,’ whenever their bridges collapse.

As authors, we owe it to ourselves and to future generations to put a price tag on our hard work. Free and 0.99 cent deals are fine now and then, to help us promote ourselves when we’re getting started, or to find a new audience for an older work,  but it’s important to this industry that we remind readers, and often, that we are the bridge builders in literature.

Heather

So, You Want to Be An Author?

Here’s my Thursday Q&A video that I did on my Facebook Author Page today. I’ll be offering up these vidcasts every Thursday at 3 p.m. for a half hour for the next few weeks. I’ll try to remind you that morning via Facebook or here. Thanks for tuning in when you can! We had lots of fun today.

Heather 🙂

The Wonderful World of Wattpad

Have you heard  Wattpad yet? It’s a social network designed to allow authors to showcase their work, chapter by chapter, and gain new readers. If you’re a writer, it’s a world you should discover. If you’re a reader, you just lucked out on finding millions of e-stories, some by amateurs, others by professionals, for free.

When I heard about Wattpad a year ago (from my publisher! They said I could put up an excerpt of Strangely, Incredibly Good) I wasn’t sure it was going to help me out. Surely if you can read books for free on there, you just keep on downloading free books, and never read anything else the author writes? And what about publishing my drafts? That’s embarrassing! I make so many mistakes along the way, and Wattpaders were going to read every one!

I was hesitant, but I joined. Soon, I got over the making-the-mistakes part. Readers would find them and kindly mention them to me (Hey, where’s that little cat you mentioned in Chapter 2?) Within weeks, I had thousands of reads of my first novel, and had enjoyed hundreds of fantastic comments from and funny conversations with readers. That was what made me stay. Everyone knows writers want to feel like they’re reaching an audience. Wattpad made me realize my work was interesting to 20, 30, and 40 somethings, some men, and lots of teen girls! I couldn’t believe it. I was gaining a new audience, and having fun along the way.

This past summer, I published my second novel, a sequel to Strangely, Incredibly Good called Remarkably Great. I’m not sure if having more work on the site (excerpts of my published books, and the full work The Ticket) gave me more street cred, but suddenly, The Ticket soared to #1 in Chicklit! It stayed there for a number of weeks, and I noticed an increase in Kindle sales of my first two novels and even increased sales of some of my poetry collections and my romantic comedy screenplay.

In late October 2015,  Lays Wavy Chips chose to sponsor The Ticket on their reading list Inspiring Stories of Living Life to the Fullest. Reads on the Ticket climbed even higher, and I noticed so too did sales and borrows of my other books on Kindle.

By mid-November 2015, my sales had gradually increased to daily sales or borrows in either Canada, the UK, the USA, India, France, and Denmark. I also noticed a great increase in Facebook and WordPress followers (by the hundreds!) So, if you’re wondering if followers on Wattpad will look you up and see what else you’ve written, it has become obvious to me that yes, they do. And, given a little time, many will end up buying your other stories.

My sales have definitely increased since The Ticket reached #1 in Chicklit on Wattpad in July and it was chosen to be sponsored by Lays Wavy in October. I’ve also noticed more and more of my followers engaging with me, asking questions, making my time on social media more enjoyable. What’s not to love about that?

Fast forward to today: The Ticket, which I penned  and uploaded chapter by chapter on Wattpad last April -June has been chosen as a Featured Story in Chicklit! Getting featured on Wattpad means your story has a chance to be seen and read more than the millions of other works on the site. It’s a wonderful opportunity.

The only downside is Wattpad asks featured authors to not publish their work for six months, so that all their readers have a chance to read the story in full. I’d planned to self-publish The Ticket in February, but I’m happy to wait until July, and see what this “being featured,” really brings.  I’ve also started to pen my next novel, The Match, on Wattpad. I’m looking forward to seeing what happens with that project.

So, you’re a professional author, and you’re trying to make a living. Is Wattpad for you? I can’t determine how many of my sales in 2015 are due to my time spent on Wattpad, but I do know my sales have greatly increased, I have thousands more followers, and I’m having a wonderful time while I work. If that doesn’t convince you to join the Wonderful World of Wattpad perhaps you should just click your ruby slippers, and go back home. 🙂

Best wishes,

Heather

Today’s THE TICKET Stats on Wattpad!

486K reads

19.8K likes

1.9 K comments

and I have 847 Followers

Let’s see how it does when it’s featured, starting today.