How to Write a Novel in 30 Days! Part One!

This blog post is going to follow along with my youtube series under the same name. In the first part, I talked about the process a little, but really, it was more of an intro to the system I used to teach.

I will be a little more long winded here and go into a little more detail.  This will serve as a companion to the web series.

So, what I talked about in the first episode was how to come up with ideas. I glossed over it a bit, so I will go into more detail on this here.

The question I get asked a LOT by other writers/aspiring writers, is how I get my ideas. Now, the dynamic for ideas for Belshalara is way different than the way I come up with ideas on my own. Collaboration is just not the same as doing it solo. I will do a blog post about -that-, but it doesn't really apply here.

If you're having trouble getting ideas, here are some tips to try:

Headlines in the news:

Sounds silly, but go through the papers online. Look at the headlines and let yourself ask questions without actually reading the news story. This can work for any genre.

Music:

Go for a long drive. Take a bath. Go on a walk. Anything. And bring music with you. I find that music inspires me. Sometimes it's just a feeling. Sometimes it's a whole scene. I find I think cinematically.

Art:

Looking at pictures also helps me. Pinterest, as mentioned in the video, is a great way to find inspirational pictures. Make a board for your book/idea and search up images. Start broad if you don't have an idea yet, but you have a mood, theme or genre you want to write in.

Ask what if questions:

What if zombies could think but couldn't communicate? What if aliens were kidnapping children, not to experiment on them, but to save them from the end of Earth? You can go on and on, and this too works for any genre.

Think of what's lacking in the genre you love:

This is kind of what started the Belshalara series. I was complaining to Merris that there were TOO MANY medieval inspired fantasy fiction books. I was tired of dragons and castles and knights. Not there is anything wrong with those things, I just wanted something else. And boom, Belsahlara was born after Merris suggested we write a fantasy with a Victorian Gothic Romance feel to it.

Make a character:

Seems back asswards, but I swear, it's not! Make a character. Pick her traits, how she looks, what she wears. Everything about him or her. Think outside of the box with race and gender. Make someone you want to get to know better. Sometimes. when a character is 'real' to you, they tell the story themselves.


Just some tips I've used. I hope they help you! On today's video, I will be talking about how to organize that idea, break down word count day by day and prepare to start drafting.

Have any questions? Thoughts? Want me to talk about something in particular? Post questions here or on my youtube channel! I look forward to hearing from you all.

--Lillian


Link to our youtube channel: Asterios Family Youtube Channel
Link to our facebook page: Lillian and Meriweather's FB fan page
Link to our Belshalara page: Books of Belshalara FB page

Wolves and Wine Submission Guidelines

Manuscript formatting requirements:

Open Office or Microsoft word document.  12 pt font.  Fonts accepted: Courier, Times New Roman, or Georgia.  Black font only.  Save my eyes, please!  I don't really care about margins but please put a space between paragraphs if you're not going to indent.  

NO:

No pictures.  No poetry in the prose. 

Genres accepted: 

Erotica:  I will take all heat levels.  Please take this genre seriously as you would any other genre.  It's going to be easier for this category for me to tell you what I -don't- want, followed by things that will -immediately- get my attention.

NO NO NO:

No incest/puesdo incest.  IE: No step brother porn, please.
No bestiality.  I will do shapeshifter erotica.  But if you start throwing werebears and were this and were that, I'm probably going to pass.  
No non-consent:  No rape.  Dubious consent will be -carefully- considered.  I don't recommend going that route unless the story is going to absolutely blow me away.
No misogyny.  
Alpha male erotica:  I don't mind an aggressive male lead, but if he's an utter asshole, I'm going to lose interest.
NO FIFTY SHADES OF ANYTHING:  NO.  BDSM is fine.  Encouraged.  But it has to be done properly. Please do your research on BDSM.  Light/Medium BDSM is going to interest me more than super heavy BDSM.
NO BILLIONAIRE erotica:  Why is this even a thing?
No violence.  Period.
No age play/underage.  Absolutely not.


Note about non-human love interests:  Aliens and other things like this should be human enough. They should have relatable qualities.  

What I'm looking for in particular:  No formulas.  No trends.  Historical erotica, paranormal erotica (think outside vampires, but I'm willing to give them a chance), horror erotica (no violence IN the sex scenes and tons of gore won't be appreciated), contentious relationships (love/hate, villain/heroine), fantasy erotica (all genres).

Word count:  Short stories are especially appreciated.  For this genre 3,500 to 75,000 words.  I will consider word counts under and over, but the stories need to be original and exceptional.

Fantasy: All sub genres accepted.  This is my favorite genre.  Thus, I'm probably going to be pickier. As with erotica, it will be easier to say what I'm not looking for and then what I'm especially looking for.


NO:

No Game of Thrones inspired stuff.  House this.  House that.  Murdering characters just to be edgy. No thanks.
In Sword and Board fantasy: Please try to think outside the box on this genre.  Medieval Europe as a backdrop?  Nah.  I'd have to be blown away.  Don't be discouraged, but the market is flooded with this. Think outside the box.
Male centric everything ever:  *sigh*  Nah.
Misogyny and if you tell me that it was like that for the time period?  I'm not going to be swayed.  It's fantasy. It can be -anything-.  I am done seeing women treated poorly in fiction.
Tolkien-esque fantasy: Elves in the woods. Halflings pursued by some ancient evil.  Etc.  It's been done to death. If I see any magical jewelry, I'm probably gonna pass.
Absent villains who rely too heavily on minions:  No.  No more, please.
Damsels in distress:  Let's just put that one away.  Forever.
Dragons:  I'm not saying NO to dragons, I'm saying be careful with cliches on this one. 
Everyone is white:  NO. NO.  Please.  It's not an insta-rejection, but I'm tired of white being the only color in fantasy land. More people of color, please.
NO UNDERAGE CHARACTERS GETTING RAPED/HAVING SEX:  It squicks me out.  I will not even read it.  I don't care if that makes me an asshole.

YES:

Other time periods as inspiration:  Victorian Era, Modern Era, WWI.  Something OTHER than Medieval Europe.  Please. 
Other cultures as inspiration:  Careful here, though. I don't want a bunch of horribad cultural appropriation.  INSPIRATION.  Not just slapping teepees and feather headdresses on manticores.
Magic:  Game of Thrones has started this trend where magic in fantasy is kind of gone.  Please no. Give me magic.
Female leads: But don't give me Buffy in chainmail.  Give me something REAL.
Other genders.
Homosexuality isn't a HORRIBLE offense.  That trope is old and tired and make it fuck off. I want to see something other than heteronormative.  Doesn't mean I won't accept fiction that is, I'm just really interested in other options.
BBW/other body types other than 'slender and willowy'.  Slender and willowy are fine, but god damn, other shapes of people, please.  And not as side characters.  Etc.

Lillian's favorite fantasy authors:  Michael Moorecock, Clive Barker, and Neil Gaiman.  I guess. I mean, I like aspects about these authors. 

Female authors:  I would love more fantasy written by women.  ALL women.  I would love to SEE these other perspectives.  Cisgender, trans, non binary authors are more than welcome.  

Steampunk, Afrofunk, Dieselpunk, cyberpunk, dark fantasy (and I mean dark), urban fantasy especially sought after.

Horror: One of my favorite genres.  Set up the same way as erotica and fantasy:

NO:

No slasher horror. Not interested.
NO trans characters as mentally unstable, serial killers.  We're real done with that shit.
No excessive gore.
Zombies:  I'm going to be extra picky on this.  Please be original.

YES:

Classic monsters with a fresh treatment.  Vampires that are really scary bastards.  Retellings of classic stories.  All good!
Female protags:  See a trend here?
Psychological horror.
Thrillers.
True Crime.
Paranormal.

Favorite authors/movies/tv:  Clive Barker, Stephen King (some of his stuff, anyway), Anne Rule (for True Crime), Poltergeist, Exorcist, High Tension, The Hills Have Eyes remake, The Descent, classic hollywood monster movies, Alfred Hitchcock. 

Sci Fi:  All of my no's listed below.

NO:

No hard sci fi.  No exceptions.  Stuff bores me to tears.
Male centric everything ever.  Stop.
Space battles with a lot of techno babble.  Uuugh.
Star Trek style aliens.  Basically human with green paint.  Nah.  Be original.


YES:

Female leads, alternate sexualities and genders.  
Space Opera.
Creativity!
Time travel.  Alien apocalypse.  
Speculative fiction.  I stuck it in Sci Fi because I feel it fits best here.

Favorite authors:  Philip K Dick, Kurt Vonnegut, Greg Bear
Favorite Sci Fi movies and shows:  Firefly, Battlestar Gallactica (new one), Event Horizon, Gravity, etc.

I'm looking for FUN in my sci fi. It can be a very dry genre.  Bleh, I'd rather not go there. Sci Fi is going to be held to very high standards here.  It's not my favorite genre, but I'm willing to have an open mind.  Just entertain me.

Romance: I love this genre.  I adore great love stories.  Throw in sexy times, but keep the heat level to moderate, otherwise I'm tossing it in the erotica basket.

NO:

Wilting flower ladies.  Give me sassy ladies!  Strong ladies.
Idiot protagonists.
Thin, nonsensical plots.
Boring, flat characters.
Historical romance with no history.
Formula romance.  I'm not Harlequin.  Please do not with that.
Love triangles:  Can be fun when done right. Rarely done right. I'm going to be extra picky with this one.


YES:

Pirates!  I love pirates.  
Something OTHER than just straight romance.  And no, I don't mean straight as in sexuality.  I'm really bored by stories that are just about a romance.  
Other sexualities.  Please.
Other genderse.  Please.
People of color. Please.
Female leads that are strong, but not in a cartoonish way.  Make them real.  
Historical romance!  But no regency.  That time period bores me to tears.  I want Vikings!  Medieval Europe.  Ancient Egypt!  Ancient world romance will really snag my attention.  
Paranormal romance:  Werewolves are an almost no for me.  I've never seen them done well. Surprise me.  Vampires:  No twilight vampires.  Make them the beautiful monsters they are. If you're inspired by the Anita Blake series?  Might not want to submit here. Ugh.  
Fantasy Romance: All of my yes.
Horror romance:  I like dark romance.
Sci Fi romance.  Love in spaaaaace.
Urban Fantasy Romance, Steampunk, etc.  Yes to all of those.
BBW/BBM

I want a GOOD love story.  I want it to be exciting, not overly sweet, but not so dark I need prozac after reading. I'm really interested in novels/books series here.  Focus on characters.  



Genres I don't want:  Mystery, hard Sci Fi, Self Help, New Age, Religious, etc.  NO poetry. NOT EVER. I don't like poetry.  I wouldn't know good poetry if it hit me in the ass. We will carefully consider literary fiction.  CAREFULLY.  But if I'm bored, I'm done.  



How to submit:

No attachments.  No unsolicited FULL novel manuscripts. 

Copy/paste your cover letter or short story up to 6,000 words in the body of the email.  

If submitting a book series:  In your cover letter, tell me the genre, how many books you have planned and give me a three paragraph summary.  

If submitting a novel:  Same as series.

For longer short stories, novellas and novelettes: Same as series.

Cover letters are scary, I get that.  So, I'm providing you with a template you will copy/paste and fill in the info.  Let's make this an easy process that's not scary!

Author name:

Author Bio:

Title of work:

Genre:

Word count:

Summary:

Sample/story: (here if it's 6,000 words or under, just put the whole story.  If it's a novel, include a chapter, preferably the first chapter.  Same for novellas and novelettes.  If it's a longer short, just include the first 6,000 words). 


Turn around time:  Right now, expect a response within one week. This is subject to change at any time.  If three weeks have gone by and you haven't heard from me, send me an email.  Politely.

Rejection:  I don't like form letters, but sometimes they happen.  I will try to give constructive feedback. If I reject a story but tell you what you can do to fix it so I will accept it?  You should probably do that!  Please don't expect a full line edit in your rejection letter.  You may get a sentence.  This is just the way things go and it's nothing personal. 

Where to Submit:

wolves.and.wine.press@gmail.com

If you have any questions/are unsure about something?  Feel free to email me.  I will do my best to answer in a timely fashion.  You can also reach me here by commenting on this post or if you're on my friend's list on FB, feel free to message me.

Why is everyone shouting? Dialog tags and why said is okay.

Woah!  Calm down, guy!

Today, I'd like to talk about dialog tags because I was inspired from seeing some really horrible advice on a FB indie author page.

Dialog is fun to write, at least, I think so, but something keeps coming up and that's dialog tags.  Why do people hate the word 'said' so much?  It perplexes me.  Said is one of those tags that just disappears.  The reader doesn't notice it.  The same can be said of asked.  In a lot of indie published works, I see very few said's.  I see a lot of 'exclaimed', 'quipped', 'shouted', 'stated' etc.  Stop that. Sometimes, people just SAY things.  

When a manuscript is littered with quipped's and exclaimed's, it seems like everyone is either being smarmy and terrible or they're shouting.  It seems melodramatic.  It seems like too much.  And if you throw in a few adverbs, the whole thing turns purple.  

"Hello," he quipped wryly.

"Hi there," she exclaimed charmingly.

"What are you doing?" he wondered dryly.

"Nothing much," she stated blandly.

Waaaaah.  No.  It reads awkwardly.  Adverbs are another bone of contention and probably something I'll write a separate post about.  Their abuse is especially egregious when used in conjunction with 'fancied up' dialog tags.  It's lazy writing.  It's telling.  Not showing.  Which, as we all know, is the cardinal sin of writing.  

Try instead:

"Hello," he said, his smile crooked.

"Hi there," she said, bounding up to him.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Nothing much," she said as she lifted her shoulders in a lazy shrug.

Clearly, not the -best- writing, but you can SEE so much more when you remove the adverbs and the quipped's and exclaimed's.  It presents you with an opportunity to show character action, which naturally, reveals character.  We can picture the scene much better.  Adverbs boil down that lovely description until we can't really see what's going on anymore.  The author is just telling us, but how can we see it and how does it reveal character if we're not left to puzzle it out for ourselves?

I'm not saying that you can -never- use tags like exclaimed, but they should be used sparingly and only when something is -actually- exclaimed or shouted.  Stop being afraid of the word 'said'.  Most of the time?  It really is good enough on its own.  Otherwise, I just picture a scene where the characters are flipping out and yelling at each other.