Purple Prose [Search results for bestseller] 

We all have our favorite genres, the ones we live for when we read and write. We become experts in the genre, and cringe when someone disparages it based on unfounded beliefs. Most often these are based on lack of knowledge and believing what others say about it. I mean, how often have you heard that literary stories are slow and boring, and are meant for academic types? But according to Donald Maass in his book Writing 21^st Century Fiction: High Impact Techniques for Exceptional Storytelling (brilliant book, by the way), these are the powerful books that stay on the New York Times bestseller list long after the commercial novel’s typical two-week stint on the charts.

As you may have recently heard, New Adult (NA) books have taken the bestseller lists by storm. This has resulted in many readers and writers wondering what the “genre” is about. It has also led to a mountain of misconstrued beliefs as to what makes a NA story a NA story. Even editors and agents who once proclaimed that there is no market for the “genre” (Ha!) aren’t too sure what it is. They didn’t come up with the guidelines. It was the authors who went onto self publish their books who did that. And now the “genre” is fighting against beliefs that it’s nothing more than a YA story combined with erotica, and that the only people reading the books are middle-aged women who are too embarrassed to be caught reading a YA novel. Yes, I did see that comment on one blog. And of course, anyone who has made comments comparing NA to erotica obviously doesn’t understand what erotica is (most people don’t). It’s not about graphic sex. If you remove the sex from an erotic story, you have no story. If you can remove it and the story remains intact, you have a different genre with some steamy sex scenes.

To ensure you aren’t writing a genre while relying on your own misconstrued beliefs, read as many books in the genre as possible and be careful as to the source of information when understanding the requirements of the genre. You don’t want to be that writer who believes a NA story is really YA erotica. If you don’t truly understand the genre, you’ll miss out on what it’s really about and lose credibility with the readers who do know.

What are some of the misconstrued beliefs you’ve heard about the genre(s) you’re passionate about?

It's my first writing award nomination! Actually, my first ever nomination. My first book, CROSSING THE DEEP, has been nominated for the best YA category at the Grace Awards! I'm so excited! Like literally jumping up and down!!!

Now it will be read by 3 judge panel and voted on. There are 3 nominees in my category. The awards will be handed out in May (I'll have to have a cyber awards show, complete with 'dress' I'd wear, etc... )

Have you checked out CROSSING THE DEEP yet? It's getting awesome reviews (and an award nomination!) Head on over and pick up your copy :)

Also available, SAINT SLOAN, my new YA/Christian bestseller!! (you read that right... BESTSELLER!!!!! I'm officially a best selling author!!!!! SQUEE!!!!)

SAINT SLOAN
AMAZON: http://www.amazon.com/Saint-Sloan-ebook/dp/B00BMQ9E9O/ref=pd_sim_kstore_1
BN: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/saint-sloan-kelly-martin/1114723748?ean=2940016377308

CROSSING THE DEEP:
AMAZON: http://www.amazon.com/Crossing-The-Deep-ebook/dp/B009NWGMMQ/ref=pd_sim_kstore_2
BN: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/crossing-the-deep-kelly-martin/1113215706?ean=2940015565096

Sixteen-year-old Parker Prescott is the middle child to the perfect older sister and the hyperactive younger bother. She’s quiet, invisible, and would be happy to keep it that way, especially at school.

Dubbed the Ice Princess, according to comments on Marion Henessy’s popular blog, Parker is seen as cold and aloof. Of course the advantage of being the Ice Princess is that you can keep your cool in the face of adversity. The disadvantage? Someone’s bound to want to thaw you for sport. She becomes the target of cruel pranks. Naturally, the blog reports the outcome, including a racy photo of her in a hot tub in a comprising position.

Parker’s world crumbles around her. Her father was laid off and money becomes tight. In order to save her family, she resorts to blackmailing her sister’s ex-stalker.

And then there’s Parker’s boyfriend. Ex-boyfriend.

He’s the hottest guy in school and every girl lusts over him. But he wants more from Parker than she’s willing to give. She dumps him then realizes it was a mistake. She can’t get him out her mind. And then he comes over with handcuffs. Her parents aren’t home. At least they weren’t supposed to be home….

As she struggles to deal with her problems, Parker makes wrong choices and is forced to face the consequences. Her eyes finally open to the truths surrounding her: her sister’s imperfect life, her ex-boyfriend’s true feelings for her, the truth about the ex-stalker. And in the process, she discovers who the real Parker is.

Told in the first person point of view, Handcuffs, by Bethany Griffin, is an incredible book that is extremely tough to put down. It’s a sexy read, but definitely not a mindless one.

My prediction? It’s bound to be a bestseller. Of course, with a title like that, who wouldn’t be intrigued to take a peek? And once you begin reading, you’ll be hooked.

Janie runs quickly through the incredibly snowy yards from two streets away and slips very quietly through the bright purple front door of her two story house complete with cream-colored siding and a roof that needs to be repair.

And then.

Everything goes really black. Pitch black. As black as the night.

She holds her head tightly, cursing her mother under her minty breath as the whirling, twirling, swirling kaleidoscope of colors—red, orange, green, purple—builds quickly and throws her completely and utterly off balance. She bumps hard and painfully against the dirty white wall, the paint peeling in quite a few places and holds on really hard, and then very slowly lowers herself blindly to the worn carpeted floor as her fingers, with the beautifully painted long fingernails, go numb. The last thing she really needs is to crack her head wide open. Again.

Welcome to the not-so-wonderful world of overwriting. This is where the eager writer drowns his pose in adverbs and adjective, thinking it makes the writing more vivid. This is one of those times when the saying ‘less is more’ really does apply. As you can see from the above version of Lisa McMann’s novel, Fade (New York Times bestseller), all those adjectives and adverbs do nothing for the story. If anything, they bury Lisa’s compelling voice. Compare it to the actual version from the novel.

Janie sprints through the snowy yards from two streets away and slips quietly through the front door of her house.

And then.

Everything goes black.

She grips her head, cursing her mother under her breath as the whirling kaleidoscope of colors builds and throws her off balance. She bumps against the wall and holds on, and then slowly lowers herself blindly to the floor as her fingers go numb. The last thing she needs is to crack her head open. Again.

Do you see the difference?

In the first version, weak verbs are modified with adverbs. For example, ‘runs quickly, instead of ‘sprints’ and ‘holds her head tightly’ instead of ‘grips her head’. If you find you’re reaching for an adverb--especially one ending in –ly--to describe the verb, then grab your thesaurus and look up ‘run’. You’ll find an array of better words (bolt, sprint, dash, etc) that paint a concrete picture of what you’re character is doing.

For adjectives, don’t place a list of them in front of the noun. Try to keep it down to two. If you need to include more, than place some of them behind the noun. For example: Instead of “Tired, bruised, wearing a bloodied, torn dress, Alyssa stumbled along the road.” Write, “Tired and bruised, Alyssa, her dress bloodied and torn, stumbled along the road.” Also, delete any adjectives that are redundant. For example: a baby kitten is like saying a baby baby. All kittens are babies. Right?

Exercise: For your next writing project—fiction or non-fiction—highlight all the adjectives and adverbs, and see how many you can cut out and how many verb/adverb combinations you can replace with dynamic verbs. Your reader (and teacher) will thank you for it.

Recommended reading:
Sin and Syntax: How to Craft Wickedly Effective Prose, Constance Hale

Thanks, But This Isn’t For Us: A (Sort of) Compassionate Guide to Why Your Writing Is Being Rejected, Jessica Morrell

Note: This super cool picture was generated using the Wordle program at http://www.wordle.net/.

©Stina Lindenblatt

It’s that time of the year when we reflect on what we have or haven’t accomplished this year, and we plan for next year. No, I don’t mean the dreaded New Year’s resolutions. Most people fail to achieve those. I’m going to go one step further and have you think about your business plans.

Now, a few of you are freaking out because we are writers. Business plans are for, well, businesses. But if you’re planning to make money with your writing, you need to start thinking of it as a business. And all successful businesses have business plans. A strong business plan will help your book achieve the level of success it deserves.

The good news is that business plans aren’t much different than the usual goal setting we do each year. Only this time, I want you to delve a little deeper. It doesn’t matter if you’re planning to self publish or traditionally publish your stories—or if you’ve just written your first first draft—if you want to be taken seriously, now is the time to start planning. And it’s easier to do it now than a few weeks before your book launch.

Step One: Brainstorm

What do you want to accomplish next year? Sorry, landing an agent or having your book become a bestseller doesn’t count. Those are dreams, not goals. You have no control over whether an agent or readers will love your book. Goals are achievable, unless you get lazy and don’t do them. For example, losing five pounds is achievable, unless you don’t exercise and don’t decrease your caloric intake.

Step Two: Dating

Figure out by what date you want to accomplish each goal. It’s not enough to say, “I want to write a novel next year.” When you do want to achieve this by? Also, this goal is not specific enough. Do you mean you want to finish the first draft by October 1st, or do you want to have a novel ready to query by then?

Step Three: Division

Break down each goal into manageable tasks and give them dates by which you want to accomplish them. For example, say you want to set up your website by April 1^st.

Goal: Set up website (April 1^st)

• Determine author brand (January 15^th)
• List ten authors who write similar stories to me. (January 20^th)
• List the things I like and dislike about their websites. (January 25^th)
• Research website designers (February 15^th).
• . . . .

On Wednesday, I’ll be discussing how you can turn your regular writing goals into business plans.

Did you write your goals for 2012? Are you close to accomplishing them? Have you thought about your goals (business plan) for next year?

For many writers, creating titles is the bane of their existence. Some come up with titles faster than I can sing the alphabet song; the rest of us stare at the screen and sob. And unfortunately, sobbing doesn’t do much for generating ideas.

Last week I realized I had to change the title of the New Adult contemporary romance I’ll be publishing this fall. A self-published YA novel with the same title had just hit the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists. Oddly enough, our cover designer is the same. When my CP mentioned the title of my book to another author on Twitter and said it was awesome, it looked like she was promoting the YA book, since mine hasn’t been released yet.

Now, this shouldn’t be a big deal. This happens to authors all the time. It happened to Christina Lee (my CP). The title for her NA contemporary romance was similar to a recently released NA paranormal, and her editor told her she needed to come up with a new one.

They combed through the manuscript and found a phrase (All Of You) that worked perfectly for the title. I tried the same trick and ended up with a title that is more meaningful than my last one. It is something the hero says to the heroine. Yes, the trick really does work.

How do you come up with your titles? Have you been forced to change yours?

(No, Walking Disaster wasn’t my former title. I’m currently reading the book and love the cover.)

No, I wasn’t attacked by the H1N1 virus. But my computer was hit by something equally deadly as far as my documents were concerned. Unfortunately, the computer tech guys weren’t able to save them. Not a single one.

Okay, I know, if I had protected my computer with an anti-viral software in the first place, I wouldn’t be in this sorry state. My husband had complained it slowed the Internet too much—and it did—so we didn’t renew it. And it’s not like he had anything important on the computer. Just me.

However, I’m pretty smart—I have a Master’s of Science degree to back up that claim—or maybe I’m just paranoid, but I did backup everything important. Almost everything important. Unfortunately, the super cool shots I had taken during my vacation, which were destined for this blog (as in this week’s post), were a casualty of this misadventure. We had only returned home a few days before, and I hadn’t had a chance, yet, to save them beyond the computer. Oh well. It could have been worse.

So the lesson here is to backup your stuff frequently because you never know when disaster might hit. For my manuscripts, I save them whenever I’m finished working on them for the session on a flashcard and on my email account. If I’m writing for a few hours, then I back them up hourly on my flashcard. Paranoid? Maybe. But can you blame me?

Well, I’m off now to plot a new novel. Edward Cullen (Twilight, as if you didn’t know) is going to decide he’s sick of being a veggie vampire. His first human meal? The creators of computer viruses. I sense a bestseller here.

So the question for you. When was the last time you backed up your stuff? And remember, destruction comes in all shapes and forms, and not just the viral kind.

©Stina Lindenblatt

Websites. It’s something we constantly hear that we need, even if you’re a pre-published author. I mean, how else will our adoring fans know when our first or next book is due to be released?

But websites cost money and take time to set up. So we stall. We come up with excuses why we don’t need one yet. We come up with excuses why we can wait until next week, next month, next year to create one. We just plain come up with excuses, period.

That was me, until I decided it was time to create one. So I researched websites of authors that write similar books to me, and was shocked at the results of my informal study.

First, I studied the websites of my favorite YA authors (e.g. Simone Elkeles, Katie McGarry, Jennifer Echols) to see what I liked and didn’t like about them. Next, I studied the websites of my favorite New Adult authors (e.g. Tammara Weber, Jessica Sorensens, Cora Carmack).

But wait, the majority of New Adult authors don’t have websites. They have blogs and they have Facebook author pages, but no websites. Most of them used Blogger and create Pages to represent each book or series. Just like a regular website. Most of them talk only about their books in their posts. In all cases, they had a low number of blog followers but a high number of Facebook author page ‘likes’. And it didn’t matter if they were traditionally published or self published, the results were the same. Also, most of the ones I looked at were on the New York Times Bestseller list. So what does that tell you?

This is when I did a happy dance and crossed ‘create a website’ off my to-do list. It’s not like I usually check out an author’s website. As long as I can find out when the author’s next book is due out, I’m happy. And most of the time I get this info from Goodreads.

What about you? Do you have a website? Are you planning to create one this year? Have these findings made you rethink whether you need one?

(Remember, these results are based on my research on New Adult authors. The findings might be different if you write a different genre).