Coffee & Conversation: The best ways to expand your vocabulary?

27 Monday Sep 2021

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What are the best ways to expand your vocabulary?

As a writer, you never want to remain stagnant because then your phrases and plots and characters will all begin to blend together. Now some of this is unavoidable because you’re you and all your writing is coming from you and you will never not be you, but there are ways of working to teach yourself new things so that your stories don’t begin to blend together in reader minds.

One way is to expand your vocabulary that you might have new sentences, new metaphors, new ways of saying the same old things.

1) Read. A lot.

This one’s the most obvious and the most valuable. The more you read, the more words become familiar. Different authors have different vocabularies. Different genres use different base words. Because you’re given the word within context, you’re also usually able to guess its meaning to some degree, and the more you see that same word in different contexts, the more refined its meaning will become in your own mind.

By continuously reading, especially when you’re stretching yourself beyond your normal books or authors, you can cement more words that become a part of your normal vocabulary.

Though this one is the number one best way to expand your vocabulary, it’s also the one that is the least targeted. You’ll slowly morph over time, but perhaps not as quickly as you’d like.

2) Subscribe to a word-a-day.

If you’re just interested in introducing yourself to new words in general, this can be a good way to go about it. Especially if you subscribe to one that also lists the etymology behind the word, as story tends to help you remember things better. This way, you’ll begin to pick up new words, especially if you consciously attempt to use them in your stories. Continue reading →

Coffee & Conversation: Your favorite place to dream?

20 Monday Sep 2021

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Your favorite place to dream?

Sometimes it’s difficult to get the words out when faced with a computer screen, no matter how many words have been put there before. Sometimes there’s a need to dream up the scene or to brainstorm it out before the actual words show themselves. For that, we all have different methods.

For me, there are a few ways that are more relaxed, allowing my mind to wander and sink into play mode, and a few ways that are more stringent, forcing my mind to come up with alternatives. I think the best methods are some combination of the two, preferably on a continuous basis.

For more relaxed methods, it’s important to let my mind free and to do that, it requires a lack of interruption. I know. Sometimes getting to a place of no interruption can be difficult, if not impossible. The best places I’ve found that tend to work is on long walks by myself or in the shower. These tend to be times when I don’t have anyone with me or anyone talking to me. These are also times when I’m far less likely to have my phone on me, giving me an easy distraction.

Other methods that sometimes work are during exercising, preferably monotonous times of exercise, and any job that takes your hands, but not your mind, like folding laundry or doing dishes or when you’re laying in bed about to fall asleep (all those awesome ideas that come right before you’re about to forget them all!)

If you have a way of relaxing like this each day, it can be really helpful in untangling plot holes or coming up with solutions to character arcs or twists.

Sometimes though, we don’t have enough relaxing time (unfortunately). Which means that we have to go brunt force. In order to do this, I generally do one of two things. Continue reading →

Coffee & Conversation: Contract Terms Series (Net vs Gross)

13 Monday Sep 2021

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Contract Terms Series (IANAL)

There’s a bunch of contract terms for writers that can be difficult to parse for newcomers to the genre, so I want to go over a few in a short, easy contract terms series.

(Note: I am not a lawyer. I am merely speaking from experience on the author side.)

NET vs GROSS

You know the story where super famous people don’t get paid despite the movies they star in, the songs they wrote, etc., bringing in millions? This is often a net vs. gross issue. (Hollywood bastards)

Gross is your total amount that something makes. It really shouldn’t ever be negative. Why? Because even if you only sold one copy/one ticket/one anything, well, you got a positive amount for that. (Extreme couponing aside XD)

Net, on the other hand, is your final income number. The gross number minus all expenses. So, the costs of overhead, the costs of production, marketing, etc., etc., etc.,

The way you get screwed is by having your contract be written in NET instead of GROSS. This means that the company can subtract whatever bills they want from the gross, until they’re negative perhaps… Thereby leaving them not having to pay anyone with contracts dealing with royalties based off net.

Yeah. Messed up, right? Well, big companies are sometimes greedy little buggers.

So, when looking over payment on your contracts, make DAMN SURE that it says GROSS and that the word net doesn’t appear anywhere. Publishers can pay their expenses out of their share. Not yours.

~ ~ ~ ~

This is my final post in my contract series for now. I’m not an expert on the subject. Just sharing what I do know in the hopes that it helps someone out there. If I think of something else, or if someone has a question I can answer concerning contracts in the publishing sphere, I might do a few more.

Just be aware that I’m not a lawyer, I don’t play one on TV, and if you’re ever in a situation where you’ve got a big contract with a big name publisher, you probably want to get a lawyer who specializes in such things to look it over because they will certainly catch far more than you can alone. I mean, unless you are a lawyer specializing in publisher contracts ;)

~Emmi

Coffee & Conversation: Contract Terms Series (Attribution)

06 Monday Sep 2021

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Contract Terms Series (IANAL)

There’s a bunch of contract terms for writers that can be difficult to parse for newcomers to the genre, so I want to go over a few in a short, easy contract terms series.

(Note: I am not a lawyer. I am merely speaking from experience on the author side.)

ATTRIBUTION

This is an easy one and is mostly in reference to pen names, but ultimately, anyone who wants to be attributed probably needs to have at least something written in their contract about it.

Attribution is just how you, as the author, will be attributed within/on the book. IE, your author name and your copyright on the copyright page, etc.

This is important particularly for pen names because legal documents are written up with the use of your legal name for legal reasons. Which can mean that the author’s pen name/name they want to be attributed as, isn’t anywhere on the page UNLESS some form of attribution phrasing is used somewhere in the contract.

It’s a small thing, but very important for a lot of people.

In other words, make sure they have a legal requirement to get your names right :)

~Emmi

Coffee & Conversation: Contract Terms Series (Right of First Refusal)

30 Monday Aug 2021

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Contract Terms Series (IANAL)

There’s a bunch of contract terms for writers that can be difficult to parse for newcomers to the genre, so I want to go over a few in a short, easy contract terms series.

(Note: I am not a lawyer. I am merely speaking from experience on the author side.)

RIGHT OF FIRST REFUSAL

This is a fun one. This is the right of the publisher to see an associated work/story before any other competitors. I say “associated” here, but in some cases that isn’t necessary.

Essentially, let’s say you are signing a contract for one book with your publisher. You want to write sequels to this book. The publisher thinks the book might do well. But no one knows the future. So, instead of buying or optioning a second/third/etc. book, the publisher adds a clause that states they get the right to see any associated books (as in, associated with the book they’re buying) first. You would not then be allowed to submit any books involving the contracted book’s characters or setting, etc. to anyone other than that publisher.

They still have the right to refuse the book, of course, at which point you are free to shop the book anywhere you like. But if you were to sell that second/third/etc. book elsewhere without your contracted publisher getting a chance to say NO first, then you would be in breach of contract.

Also of note: Even if you submit this book and even if they offer you a contract for it, you, as the author, still have full rights to say NO to whatever the contract is. So in some extreme cases, when the author knows they won’t be working with a publisher anymore, this can turn slightly toxic, with a publisher holding onto a story for a prolonged period of time. Just for funsies, I guess.

Right of First Refusal can be applied to non-associated works as well. Ergo, the first book you write next, etc., though the language there is a little more generic and I’m not entirely sure how that would work. It can also be applied to all lengths and forms, as in you write a short story tie-in and the first refusal terminology wasn’t strict enough to ignore short stories. (This can happen even if the publisher doesn’t even TAKE short stories. So can be a little silly.)

When looking at your contract, make sure that 1) the right of first refusal is specific, and 2) that there is a specific time limit they must respond to once you have proof of submission.

~Emmi

Coffee & Conversation: Contract Terms Series (Non-Compete)

23 Monday Aug 2021

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Contract Terms Series (IANAL)

There’s a bunch of contract terms for writers that can be difficult to parse for newcomers to the genre, so I want to go over a few in a short, easy contract terms series.

(Note: I am not a lawyer. I am merely speaking from experience on the author side.)

NON-COMPETE

This is a confusing one. Non-compete has to do with non-competition.

Now, some of this might feel like another way of saying exclusivity, so that the publisher’s version of your words/story doesn’t have to compete with another publisher’s version of your words/story. You can think about this concerning versions of books that are out of copyright, like say, a lot of classics. You can buy many, many different versions of the classics, right? Well, all those versions are competing with one another, kind of. But this isn’t quite all what non-compete clauses tend to do, though exclusivity clauses can be called non-compete clauses in some contracts.

In a lot of ways non-compete clauses can be…well…not good. At least for the author.

Publishers make money by selling many books by many different authors. Authors make money by selling fewer books/stories to many different publishers. What this means is, if an author has two novels, but a publisher only wants to publish one of them, the author then needs to shop the second novel with OTHER publishers in order to make money from its sale. Sames goes for novel three, or any number of short stories, novellas, and even non-fiction. Not every publisher wants the same kind of stories. Not every publisher wants the same length of stories. Not every publisher can take all a single writer write sometimes.

A non-compete clause can cut off that author’s capability of making a living if it’s worded nefariously.

What a non-compete clause can enforce is an author not attempting to publish anything else at the same time as the contracted ‘work’ will be published, or to work with another publisher at the same time. So you can see how this can really limit authors.

Non-compete clauses are basically a publisher’s desire not to undermine their bottom line if an author were to sell elsewhere. In theory, it’s an understandable gesture, particularly if it’s brought in from other career fields where the non-compete clause is meant to stop people from going after company clients, etc. But in the publishing sphere, stopping an author from shopping their other books can be a death knell. A not very nice one.

So when looking over your contracts, make sure you 1) read your non-compete clause closely to make sure it doesn’t handcuff you to a single publisher.

~Emmi

Coffee & Conversation: What do writers sell?

19 Monday Jul 2021

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What do writers sell?

Writers sell licenses. That’s it. Or at least that should be it.

Writers OWN copyright. But writers should not be SELLING copyright. Copyright is ownership. It’s the “these words are mine and no, you can’t use them without my permission” bit.

So when writers sign contracts, they aren’t signing away copyright; they’re signing away the license, or right, to use, disseminate, print, or publish those words. The words themselves remain belonging to the writer.

There are a few places (actually, there are many more than a few places, unfortunately) that have awful contracts where the author actually does sign away copyright, giving all the words they’d written to a company. There are even places that demand ownership of your publishing name, disallowing a writer to publish under that particular name anywhere but with that company. [Please don’t sign these.]

The only time you should, as a writer, be selling copyright, is when you are ghostwriting (because during ghostwriting you’re paid a lump sum to writer someone else’s story for them, so they get the copyright of it) or during some form of shared-world ownership situation. (Think DnD, DragonLance, Forgotten Realms, TV show tie-ins, though even then, very often, the copyright remains with the author and they simply have incredibly strict contracts on what they’re allowed to write).

So please check your contracts over carefully! Make sure you’re not giving away something you shouldn’t be, particularly in smaller press or magazines where the publishers might not be fully aware of what they’re asking for.

~Emmi

Coffee & Conversation: Removing large-scale defaults in my work

31 Monday May 2021

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answer, essay, FAQ, non-fiction, POV, question, reading, Setting, Short Fiction, writing advice, writing habits

Removing large-scale defaults in my work

I feel like who I am as a writer is always in flux. Which I think is a really good thing and I hope I always keep pushing myself. These are just a few ways that aspects of my writing have moved beyond a norm I’d instinctively set for myself.

Perspective

There was a time when every story I wrote was in third person perspective. Everything. I didn’t even consider writing in first person because I didn’t tend to like first person stories as much. You can get pretty close to a character even in third person, so I never thought much about it. There was even an interview I read by another author who said she only wrote in first person because she didn’t think she could get as close in third and I thought…”how silly” and “I would hate to only write in first.”

Slowly, I’ve gone beyond third person. I’ve written plenty of stories in first and even in second person (though I’m still iffy on doing whole novels in second because you need to have a really good reason for it). When I sit down to write a new story, I’m far more likely to truly consider perspective and decide which one will be best for the story I want to tell rather than default to the one I use the most often.

Setting

I also used to only write secondary world/high fantasy or distant science-fiction. I still default to distant time science-fiction if I write sci-fi because near future seems synonymous with hard science-fiction to a lot of people and I’m much more of a “hey, wouldn’t it be cool if…” and “who cares if it’s impossible” type of writer. Continue reading →

Coffee & Conversation: What traits do you think lead to success?

03 Monday May 2021

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What traits do you think lead to success?

The traits that I feel are most important to success in the writing industry are: social acuity, endurance, and thick-skin. Keep in mind that my own success is debatable, depending on your definition of success and that most of this is from what I’ve observed within the industry.

1) Thick-skin

There are a lot of rejections in this industry. Some of these rejections are impersonal, leading some people to feel downtrodden because they don’t feel like they’re being read or considered. They don’t feel like they’re even getting a person on the other end. So the rejections feel automated.

Some of the rejections are personal, which can feel even more personal depending on what’s said. Some point out flaws in a particular story, while others point out flaws in writing ability. While still others might even go as far as pointing out potential flaws in the author themselves. And these are all, generally, from strangers across the world, people who you have no idea whether they have the training to be saying what they say or even if they’re someone whose opinion should be taken.

Not only do you get told NO a lot, but we also get reviews. Reviews can be sweet and wonderful and the best things in the world. Or they can be downright cruel, some of them going as far as deriding the author instead of the work.

On top of rejections and reviews, many authors seek out critiques in order to try and improve. Some people can handle critiques. Some people can’t. [Also, some people give helpful critiques and some people…don’t.] Continue reading →

Coffee & Conversation: What are some of your good writing habits?

12 Monday Apr 2021

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What are some of your good writing habits?

Because I discussed my bad writing habits a couple weeks ago, I thought it only fitting I also discuss some of my good writing habits as well.

1) Divide Stories Between Notebooks

Organizational-wise, coding each story by notebook allows an easy method of finding the information I need for any specific world or novel or even short story. This cuts down on how much time I need to search for what I need. Allows me to only have to carry around one notebook at a given time. Gives me a method to the madness that is all the stories I want to write or am in the middle of writing.

The only negative aspect of this method is that sometimes I might not have the appropriate notebook at hand and I desperately need to write something down so I won’t forget it. This means that bits of information would end up where they didn’t belong. But I counter this quite well with assigning a couple of specific notebooks to being “catch-all” notebooks, wherein I can cross out information once it’s been used or relayed to its proper place.

2) Work on Something Every Day

This is one that a lot of writers resist against and I’m never sure why. You can be a writer whether you write one day of the year or all 365. Doesn’t much matter. However, you’re not going to get much done if you only write one day a year, which is why I like the method of crafting a habit out of writing.

By crafting a habit, where my brain insists on needing to open certain documents, create new words or edit old ones every single day, I’ve made it almost impossible for me not to accomplish things. Stopping is far worse than slowing down. I must keep the wheels rolling if I want to remember what I was doing and why I was doing it that way. Otherwise, things start to disappear.

Thus, I get my butt in the chair in front of my computer every day. And if I can’t, then I wander with a notebook jotting down notes. And if can’t do that, I have a nifty writing app on my phone and a bunch of stories there as well. Doesn’t matter what is going on in my life, I always have a project at hand. And if I don’t, then I make one that fits that dead space.

3) Cycling

Not the bike cycling, the writing cycling. Every time I sit down to work on a project, I never start where I ended. I go back to the top. Maybe not the very top, as in a novel that would be impossible, but I’ll go back to the top of the chapter, top of the scene, top of whatever good breaking point there is from my last writing session.

Then I read from there, altering, editing, tweaking as I read, and then, by the time I get to where the words end, I’m immersed in the story enough that the new words begin to flow. This method of going over your work each time is called cycling, because you’re passing back over it again and again.

Some people don’t prefer this method because they see it as editing, which takes a different part of your brain. But to me, this is just me seeking flow, altering the course of the words so that flow isn’t disrupted.

This generally also means that by the time I’m done with a story, particularly a longer one, that I have a decently clean draft with which to work. And that’s something I love since when a story is done, I desperately want to move on to something else that requires creativity vs a critical eye.

~Emmi