Month: August 2014

Hired Guns: Paying Someone To Research Your Book

Does it help or hinder your book to hire someone else to do the research?

That’s the question of the day. Some editing businesses offer to do writers’ research for them – for a fee, of course. While it may sound good to save yourself all that research time, is it really worth it? Will your writing suffer or lack depth if you write with research that’s handed to you instead of digging up the goods yourself?

The quality of the end result will answer those questions, but personally, I wouldn’t hand off researching my own work to anyone else even if they paid me instead of the other way around. When writers try to cut the time they spend on their books, it’s usually noticeable.

There are lots of potential pitfalls that come with giving someone else the responsibility of doing your research. Not only may a researcher determine some worthwhile things to be unimportant (let’s face it, we all think differently), but you won’t see the small gems hidden within the research that could trigger a new idea. Or it could lead to additional depth of a character, more chapters, a new subplot, or even the spark of a sequel or a whole other new book. You’re essentially depriving yourself – and your readers – of newfound knowledge.

Then suppose something in the researcher’s notes catches your attention and requires ‏Hiring Researcherfurther research – you’ll probably have to pay again, depending on your agreement and how much follow-up work needs to be done. You may end up taking the same amount of time or even more time in reviewing findings, amending requests, changing angles, asking questions, etc. Since you wouldn’t be doing the work yourself, you may need to keep redirecting the researcher or asking them to go back and look for more pieces of the puzzle or more credible information. In a worst case scenario, you may find that avenue isn’t working for your story and you need to go in an entirely different direction.

You also need to be sure the researcher is at least double checking, if not triple checking, any facts they come up with. (I’m not talking about hiring a historian to do important fact-checking, I’m talking about a generic researcher who’s not particularly knowledgeable in any specific field.) We all know how much misinformation there is online, so you have to be sure they’re checking credible sites. Even book research can be outdated, so updated sources need to be checked too, especially when you’re dealing with historical fiction. Many old conclusions have been disproven when new information is uncovered over the decades.

I’m not against hiring researchers per se – the point is that I’m for the unexpected discoveries of doing it yourself. I’ve always found it adds richness, depth, and dimension to my own work that I’d never have known about otherwise.

How do you feel about doing your own research? Have you had any experience with a hired researcher?

Writing Groups Are Great, But…

Writing groups are great – there’s nothing better than spending time with people who have the same desire to write as you do and understand the writing life.

Everyone brings something new to the table, whether it’s an opinion, something they learned in a class or at a writing conference, deeper insight into publishing – whatever it is, the takeaway can be extremely helpful.

But it can also stop some writers in their tracks. It happened just recently to a writer friend of mine. We’ll call her Zoe for the purpose of this post.

She was going full steam on a mystery novel that she was really excited about and having a great time writing. One week she decided to submit a chapter to her writing group for a critique and was very excited to get their input and reactions.

As expected, she got a lot of different opinions, suggestions, and ideas. Stimulated and motivated by all the helpful insights, she returned home with her notes and went to work on her revisions.

The next month Zoe resubmitted the revised chapter. A couple of members who were absent at the last meeting were present this time. Their critiques were in direct conflict with the ones she’d received the previous month, but they were just as strongly confident that their way would improve the book. And some of the members whose suggestions she’d taken didn’t quite care for her rewrites. They wanted it to sound their way. In fact, one went so far as to try to change her voice, while another didn’t like the idea of which character she killed off. Yet a third felt the body should be found already deceased because she didn’t like books with any kind of violence, and she was adamant about that point.

discouraging comments

This all took a bit of a toll on Zoe. While she welcomed and felt initially stimulated by all the input, she found that when she was considering all the new suggestions, she started feeling confused and overwhelmed. She lost interest in the book and turned to an entirely different hobby for a while.

When she finally confided in me about her conundrum, I reminded her that this was her book and no one else’s. Everyone has an opinion, a theory, or a preference – even bestselling authors have their detractors. And some of them have dealt with editors who tried to change their voice or story direction as well. I told her she needed to weigh the advice she was getting and decide what worked and what didn’t for her manuscript.

You, as the author, have the final word on your manuscript. These are your characters, your situations, and your story written your way. Take the suggestions that work for your manuscript and discard the rest. People give lots of well-intentioned critiques, but the story is ultimately yours.

I’m happy to say that Zoe’s manuscript is back on track and now almost complete. Her enthusiasm has returned, and she’s learned how to manage the input she gets from her writing group members.

So listen to the critiques but hear them as suggestions, not definitive answers, and never let them get in the way of your writing. The most important opinion is yours.

Can Writing Courses Kill Your Writing Career?

by Anita Stratos, Proof Positive editor

It sounds counterintuitive, doesn’t it? Writing courses are supposed to help build your writing career with insights into style, content, character development, and all the other things needed for a good novel. They also offer a good opportunity to network with fellow writers.

So how can something so good be bad?

When it’s misused. And I was a prime example of that.

I’ve taken lots of creative writing courses through the years, starting in college and then into post-graduate classes, and I got some good information and resources from each. In fact, I was able to use some of my writing exercises in my fiction writing. But after attending a number of them (I won’t say how many!), even though each one had a
somewhat different slant on the subject, I noticed that there was a lot of repetition.

Why can’t they come up with original content? I thought.

eleve_posant_une_questionWell, they had. But there’s only so much original content creative writing courses can have. Each one dealt with a different aspect or specialty within creative writing, but there’s always that common ground that all creative writing classes have to cover.

And that’s when I realized that the old breakup line applied here: It’s not you, it’s me.

I needed to break up with writing courses.

I’d become a perpetual student. Every time I’d embark on a new piece of fiction writing, I’d see another course I should take. Who was I to think I was ready to write a novel when there were still so many courses I hadn’t taken?

I misused writing courses as an excuse to not actually do the writing. I always felt I needed more information, better direction, deeper insights into the craft. The dawn finally broke when I realized I was looking at taking a course on breaking into magazine writing – after I had already established myself as a freelance writer and had a couple hundred articles published from the local to the international level.

How much more “breaking in” did I need? At that point I could probably have taught the course!

So yes, take those courses when they’re relevant to your work. But don’t overdo it – don’t forgo the writing for the course-taking. Courses are meant to enhance your writing, not replace it.

Why Freelance Writing is Your Creative Writing Inspiration

by Anita Stratos, Proof Positive editor

One thing I’ve noticed about the writing world – it likes to separate itself into groups. I’m not talking about genres. Two of the main groups I’ve noticed are “Writing for Hire” and “Creative Writing”, and members of each can sometimes cast disapproving glances at the other.

Though it may seem that never the twain shall meet, they do…if you look at your paid gigs through creative eyes.

I’ve had about 1,000 articles published, most of which are in print publications, but a couple hundred are in either online publications or publications that are both online and in print. I can safely say that only a scant few of all those published pieces are completely devoid of fodder for my fiction writing.

Here’s an example.

When I was writing feature newspaper pieces, I had an assignment to interview a man who trains guard dogs. The focus of the article was not only to discuss his business and how he happened to get into it, but also how people could train their own dogs in property protection.

Sounds simple, right?

Well, you just never know. And that’s one of the things I love about freelance writing.

While heading to do the interview, I had to double check the address when, in an upscale suburban town, I turned my car into the one and only driveway that looked like a jungle, completely enveloped by overgrown trees, vines, and shrubbery gone wild. I could almost hear the call of macaws and the roar of lions. The entire property was isolated by quite a few acres of “jungle”, so there were no immediate neighbors.

When my car emerged from the long, overgrown driveway, I was greeted by the sound of deep, angry barks coming from huge, muscular dogs in crates; none of them looked happy to see me. Their crates were scattered on the hard dirt ground around a small red ramshackle house that had seen much better days.

I was terrified to get out of my car. I had arrived on time, so I waited for my interviewee to Baddogcome out of the house, since his living alarms had all gone off and were making more of a racket than Fourth of July fireworks.

But no one came out, so I called him from my cell phone. He laughed and told me I didn’t have to worry about the dogs, but I wasn’t buying it – they hadn’t taken their eyes off me and looked like they wanted to tear right through the cage bars to get at my throat. He laughingly agreed to come out.

His appearance shocked me. He was about ninety years old and on the frail side, with unkempt flowing white hair, a worn red plaid shirt, and jeans from 1950. He didn’t look like he could stop an ant, let alone stop one of those massive dogs from attacking. I figured we’d talk about the dogs (quickly), tour his training grounds (very quickly), and I could get the heck out of there.

Not so.

He escorted me between the cages and into the house, despite every one of my own internal alarms going off. The rooms were tiny, outdated by decades with torn furniture, and there were yet more cages with hundred-pound dogs growling and barking. These didn’t seem like trained guard dogs – they acted more like hungry attack dogs.

That isn’t the end of the story, but you get the idea.

This and many other interesting situations (thankfully not as dangerous) happened regularly in my life as a “writer for hire”. The possibility for storylines, subplots, and quirky characters is endless, even when you interview people and write about situations that aren’t as extreme. So many things can be discovered during interview conversations that it’s an endless supply of behaviors, quirks, language use and misuse, habits, surroundings – the list goes on and on.

So don’t turn your nose up at freelance writing to supplement your income as a fiction writer, just view it as living, breathing fodder for your novels…that you’re getting paid to discover.

Meet Author TC Michael

Author TC Michael describes himself as being “an epic daydreamer with a wild imagination”, and nothing could better prove this description than his first full-length novel, Secret of the Last Born. The first in the Dark Rising series, Michael mixes common fables and folklore with his own complex fantasy world in a unique, action-packed book of mystery,  romance, and self-discovery. Proof Positive is excited to share our interview with this burgeoning young author. 

~~~

Is this your first book? How long did it take you to plan it before you began writing it?

Yes and no. This is my first full-length book, but I have had a few short pieces published in the past. With this being my first novel I realized after I wrote the book that there is no “too much” or “too long” on planning. I spent roughly two months in the planning phase before I started the first rough draft.

Is this book part of a series? If so, when can we look forward to the next book being published?

Yes! Secret of the Last Born is book 1 in the Dark Rising series. Book two will be out no later than the end of February, but there isn’t an official release date yet.

Do you mostly write in this particular genre or do you dabble in other genres? If so, which ones?

So far I have only written in the fantasy genre, but I definitely have plans in the future to expand that reach.

What do you think makes your work stand apart from other works in your genre?

Secret of the Last Born is a story about magic, love, and loss. It’s full of twists, turns, and conflicts. But I think the main reason that it stands out from the rest is because it has a good sense of realism. Not in a direct way, but in a way where magic doesn’t take over and the reader forgets about the real world that the characters live in. You will always be able to find a sense of connection with the characters because they are like you, and probably in more than one way.

Are any of the characters in your book based on people you know or have seen/talked to in real life?

I would say most of the characters seen in Secret of the Last Born are based upon multiple characteristics from multiple people. I definitely like to base fictional characters on people in real life, but in this book that isn’t the case. As planning continued I decided the characters would just slowly come together, and that’s what happened.

Do your friends and family know you’re a writer? Were they surprised when you told them?

Most know that I am a writer. There are still a few who don’t know, but all of those close to me know that I’m a writer, and that’s what I love doing. I would say “surprised” would describe maybe a quarter of them. Most of them expected it because I’ve always loved writing. I have had a really supportive family to keep me going.

What inspires you to write? Music? Other books? Real life events? Just an incredible imagination?

Many things! Other books, wonderful authors, mostly life events – both bad and good, and a very good imagination. Throughout my younger years I used to spend countless hours every day imagining different worlds, and imagining our world if things had gone differently in the past.

Are you part of any writers’ groups? If so, what do you like about them? How do they help you or inspire you? If not, why not?

I am not part of any writers’ groups…yet. But I will be soon!

Do you plan your writing out with outlines, character development exercises, and other pre-writing activities? Or do you just write as it comes to you?

I think many authors have one set routine, and some authors just go with whatever they think will work for that specific story they want to tell. In a sense, I’m the type that will go with whatever they think will help the situation the best, but I am beginning to form my own routine. With Secret of the Last Born, I realized the method that works very well is as follows: Get idea>brainstorm details>list details>character ideas>form characters and character backgrounds>outline (at least two drafts)>ask others what they think about the idea. This is the basic structure of preparing; there are several smaller details that I didn’t add, but you get the point.

Did you do any research for this book?

Yes, and research is harder work than most think! You have to search for long periods of time until you find exactly what you’re looking for. Even if it’s only a minor detail. With this being my first full-length book I feel like I could’ve done a bit more research, but hey, it takes practice to become a great writer. Research is very important for all books, and I think without it you would have a story that no one is interested in.

Do you read the kinds of books you like to write? Do you watch movies similar to or the same genre as your writing?

Oh you better believe it. I read all kinds of books, but probably 85% of them are in the same genre I’m writing. Movies are a little different; I’m a huge move fanatic, I love watching movies of all kinds. I certainly watch a lot of movies in the same genre though!

If you could write anywhere in the world – in a fictional or non-fictional place – where would you write?

1. At home 2. At any huge, quiet, shady park 3. On the mountains. There are too many fictional places to count, but I would write at all of those places too!

~~~

Connect with TC Michael:
Twitter
Amazon
Goodreads
Facebook

Check out Secret of the Last Born:
Amazon US
Amazon UK

Secret_Of_The_Last_Born_cover

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