The Truth About Writers.

There are two kinds of writers.

1. Evil
2. Slightly less evil

Writers are a special kind of evil. They’re the kind of evil that you invite into your home. They’re the kind of evil you don’t see coming until you’re already so enraptured that you can’t say no. They sweet talk you and then rip the rug out from underneath you. Think about it. You have probably been struck to the core by some kind of sadness or heartbreak, given to you by a writer. Whether it’s a TV series (Literally any BBC show) or a book (I’m looking at you, John Green), there is a writer to blame for the sadness you felt. You opened yourself up to their words and the stories they spun. You fell in love, only to have your world shaken when they rip away the flowery words and leave you in a mess of feels. Starting to see why we’re evil? 

Not only are we evil, but writers are, essentially, liars. We create worlds and characters and fill a book full of fictional things.  We make things up for a living. We lie to, steal from, hurt, and murder all of your favorite characters. The majority of writers that I know enjoy killing off their characters more than they probably should. There are polls asking advice on how best to kill off a character, or different techniques. The web browsing history would look terrible in any criminal investigation, and our knowledge on murder in general is a bit too extensive sometimes. So when you start reading a book, or watching a TV show/movie, prepare yourself. No one is safe. EVER. Writers live off of tragedy and conflict.

I don’t know how it happens. Some of us start out so kind and gentle with our readers’ emotions and the characters in our books. But somewhere along the way we’re hit with an idea. A tragic idea that, for some reason, we adore to no end. I’m not saying all of the books after the tragic one are going to be an emotional mess of heartbreak and cuss words, but that one book will start to influence how we write. Because regardless of how many letters of hate we get, no matter how many readers say they will sneak into our homes and take revenge – we see all those things as something good.

Before you start to assume the worst, like all authors should be restricted by padded white walls and wear a jacket that leaves them perpetually hugging themselves, let me explain a bit further. The job of an author is to connect with the reader. When we get feedback like that – letters of hatred because we killed your favorite character – we will most likely rejoice. The fact that you hate us for how horribly we treated your favorite character, or the fact we killed off half of your One True Pairing (OTP), proves to us that we did our job. If you read a book and could care less if someone dies, then we’ve failed. Our job is to connect with you, to make you fall in love with our characters. We want you to feel sad, happy, angry, confused, and any other emotion the main character does.

I recently just finished writing a book where the MC’s father has Alzheimer’s. It’s not a big part of the story, but it does come into play a few times throughout the story. Each time I brought up his dad I wanted the person reading to feel that same gut-wrenching feeling that my character did. I wanted to make it hurt. Since no one has really read the book yet, I can’t be certain if the feelings come across, but I wrote it with that intention.  I wrote those scenes with the hope that they would be sad, that it would hurt you if you read it. And that’s one book, a few blots of color in a  much bigger picture. Imagine how much darker that picture would be if I was writing a book based in tragedy? I would do everything in my power to make that book as heartbreaking as possible.  See what I mean about being evil?

If you want to avoid tragedies, your best bet is usually general-fiction writers (think Rom-coms). There are happy endings, couples falling in love, and spunky best friends. Stories like these fall under the “slightly less evil” writer category, as there is still emotional turmoil at points in gen-fic. Unless the book starts out with two people already together in love, you’ll most likely have to wait for them to finally be together. The writer, (being evil, crazy, and clever) knows this and uses it to their advantage.  We will put your OTP in a romantic setting, almost let them find happiness, and then at the last second we’ll pull it away in hopes that our reader will be left in a bundle of “Uggggh!” feels. The good thing is that you know there is a happy ending in store. Things will work out, even if it takes some time and a few mistakes (Don’t go for that guy, he’s not your true love!), it is bound to happen. Your characters will end up together in the end. However, as with everything else, there are exceptions to the rules. Even some gen-fic stories will leave you in a heap of tears, glaring at the words “The End” until someone comes along and takes the book away from you.

It wouldn’t be so bad if I was the only person trying to hurt you through fictional stories, but this is every writer, and we are many. We’re behind every book, TV show, movie, song, and poem – we’re everywhere and our main aim is to make you feel something – good, bad, and in between. 

The second you pick up a book you accept the terms and conditions:

• I understand that the author’s intentions might be to hurt me.
• I accept that my heart might break throughout the duration of this story.
• I agree to watch my favorite character walk into dangerous situations.
• I agree to witness the death of my OTP and/or any character I hold dear.
• I understand that no one is safe.
• I agree to smile when something good happens, to cry and curse when something bad happens.
• I agree to feel ALL THE FEELS.

 

Cheers to feels!

– The Introverted Rebel

 

 

Misplaced, Not Forgotten

Hello, rebels!

I know, I know. I’m sure you’re wondering something along the lines of:

“Where have you been? Why haven’t you posted yet this week? What is more important than this?! SHE FORGOT US!”

You, my dear people, were not forgotten, merely misplaced for a few days. If you want to know with what, I’ll tell you. If you don’t care, then by all means ignore the rest of this post and continue on with your day.

(If you’re staying, here is a complimentary air hug)

Homework kept me busy, astronomy to be specific. It’s a bit of work, but quite interesting. Did you guys know that they’re planning a one way trip to Mars? It’ll be a while, but they’re planning it. Get your application in now.  Aside from learning about Mars, I’ve been catching up on some tv shows, and getting into some new ones. I might’ve started watching Teen Wolf this week. I might be starting season three. Yes, I could’ve spent my time wiser, but it’s too late for that now anyways. Don’t judge me. Then there was Valentine’s day to celebrate.

This biggest part of my week, though, was ordering a book. Before you just assume that this should be easy, let me tell you a little secret. Ordering a book is easy only if the book is already published. When the book is not published, there is a lot more work involved. As an author myself, I know what it takes for a book to make it out into the big wide world of writing. In order to self-publish a book, you have to:

1. Set up basic book information

2. Upload manuscript

3. Upload cover

4. Publish

Four simple steps, right? Wrong! Although the first step is relatively easy, the rest of it is much harder than you might think.

Step one – Set Up

This step is basically just filling out your author name and the book title. Some sites (like Lulu) require you to say who all will have access to your book (i.e. – public, only available to those with a link, private), you get the idea? Hopefully.

Step two – Upload Manuscript

Before you upload the manuscript, you have a lot of work to do. If you haven’t already, you have to write the book first. Then you have to rewrite it. Then you have to edit it. Then once all that is done, you have to get beta readers. Once you have their critiques, you go through again and rewrite some more, edit some stuff. You might even change the course of the book during this step. Ya never know. But after all the editing and reworking, you have to format the book. This means you have to change the sizing of the book/pages/margins/whatever ya wanna call it. Once that’s done you’ll probably have to go through and rearrange some more stuff so all the chapters start in the right place/not halfway through the page. Sounds fun, huh?

Step three – Upload cover

This has to be one of my least favorite steps. As an amateur graphic designer, I make my own book covers (and jackets). I become a perfectionist at this point.

For the first book I published, I had a friend take some pictures and I used those for the cover. Things were a little different for the book I just ordered. I was able to use pictures I found online. Before you throw stones and accuse me of horrible crimes, the difference between the two scenarios is that the first book I make a profit from, which means I need to own everything involved in the book, manuscript and cover. All of it. The book I just ordered was different because we (I co-wrote this book with my best friend) won’t make any profits off of this book and it’s just for us to have. Point being, it’s okay to use pictures so long as you don’t make money off of it. Otherwise you need permission to use the picture (which can be hard to come by sometimes) or you need to own the pictures.

**Disclaimer: it’s always better to have permission, regardless of if you’re going to make a profit**

My main issue with this step goes back to formatting. I can’t tell you how many times I had to edit and adjust the cover because it didn’t fit right, or things weren’t quite centered. I must admit, though, that Lulu made it a lot easier to get the right sizing done. When I self-published with Create Space it was a guess game of sorts. Lulu printing is a lot more expensive though, at least when you get a hardcover with full color. But because we won NaNoWriMo 2013, we were able to get our first copies free.

Step four – Publishing

This step isn’t that hard, either. But it does take time. You have to decide how much it’s going to cost and decide whether or not to offer it as an ebook (or paperback).

 

So, that is why it took me so long to find this blog again. I was a bit distracted by pretty covers, formatting, and werewolves. Hopefully you’ll forgive me, and hopefully! The cover for the book will turn out good. Otherwise I will be back here ranting and depressed. Pray for a good cover, fellow bloggers.

 

Until next time,

The Introverted Rebel

Good morning, Starshine. The Introverted Rebel says “Hello!”

First posts are really intimidating.

If you’re a blogger, you know what I’m talking about. If you’re not a blogger, this might be some great insight into the writing process. It’s like the first chapter of a book, really. To the reader, it’s just an introductory chapter, getting to know the main character. But for the author, it’s intimidating. This is how we present ourselves to the reader.

So prepare, because ahead there be danger. And by danger I mean the first post of a new blogger.

First posts are like the villain of all great stories. Or terrible stories. Or stories in general. We have the protagonist, – a blogger getting their blog on – and we have our antagonist – the title “first blog” staring at us with a creepy grin.

Just picture this:

A (future) blogger sits in his/her natural habitat. They’re in a bookstore, a coffee shop, or listening to some indie band while clicking away on Tumblr. For some reason, this person decides that they want to start a blog. So they come up with a name, they set it all up to their liking. They start planning out what their blog will be about, the different posts they might write. But in the end they all pause and stare in horror at one thing.

The first post. A bleak background, accompanied by a cursor that blinks back at this blogger as if to say, “Don’t look at me, this was your idea.”

If that isn’t scary, let me put it in different terms: It’s a smirking Moriarty. It’s a Dalek or Cybermen yelling at you in electronic voices. It’s the Joker with new lipstick. The first post is the greatest adversary any new blogger will face.

Now, I’ll admit that might be a bit dramatic. But you get the idea. First posts are scary. This is the first post that people will see. They’ll judge you on your spelling, your grammar, and the fact that you’ve referenced fandoms way too many times in so few paragraphs. First posts are the bane of our existence until it’s out of the way and completed.

You sigh, and start to write a “Hello” to the world of blogging and blog followers. You talk about yourself a little bit, probably reveal too much information, and wonder if anyone will read your post or if it will fall into the black hole. Halfway through you scrap the whole thing and start over.

This is the third time I’ve started writing this post.

Every day(ish) someone is faced with this great villain. A new blogger must stare down this foe and try not to visibly shake in front of them. After all, the first post can smell fear. Or so I’ve heard.

But, like all protagonists, they gather their courage and step forward to meet their enemy. Eventually, the protagonist defeats the antagonist. It might take you a few tries. It might take an adult beverage. But, eventually, you will write that first blog post. You will laugh and dance when it is done, wondering why you were ever so terrified of that first blog post. It was just one post, a silly little thing about a silly little blogger who was afraid to start.

Then, somewhere between publishing your first post and everlasting blogger joy, you will remember something very important.

The second post is just as hard.

Stay strong, bloggers.

– The Introverted Rebel, Caity