5 Tips + One BIG MISTAKE When Writing A Novella Series

 

I've just finished writing my first novella series and the final book is set to release later this month. Check out The Dead Oaks: Cursed Asylum here! 

If you're unfamiliar with the term, a novella is a story that is typically 15K-40K words in length. A novella series is exactly what it sounds like--a book series made up of these sorts of mini-novels.

So, I'm sharing my thoughts on the process of writing a novella series and what I've learned. I'm not saying this is the only way to do things. Every writer is different and you should always trust your gut. But these are the steps I took and what I feel was my biggest mistake!

1. Plan Your ARC

Chances are, if you're considering writing a novella series then you already have a pretty good idea of the story you want to tell or the characters you want to explore. You don't need to know all the details from the start but make an effort to loosely plot either a story arc or your main character's arc from the beginning. This will help you avoid writer's block along the way and is useful in spotting the overall "theme" of your series. Knowing the theme in advance will make marketing your story much easier down the road.

2. Choose Your Format

Will your books be stand-alones with a common thread or will they be sequential and necessary to read in order? Will they be written in first or third person, or possibly have multiple POVs (points-of-view)? Whichever you choose, keep this consistent throughout the series. If a reader loves your first book enough to move on to the next one, it's because they are going to expect more of what they adored the first time. Also, if possible, try to keep each book around the same length. If your readers are accustomed to your stories being 30K words then they might feel cheated if the next book is only 15K words (the exception being short-story spin-offs or those "Book 2.5" situations where the reader understands it will be shorter ahead of time). 

3. Keep A Series Reference Manuel

Some writers call it the "Series Bible" and it can be as little as a one-sheet reference, or a tabbed binder, all the way to an entire intricate Wiki. This will just depend on how robust your story-world becomes and physical or digital is up to your personal preference. For The Dead Oaks, I kept everything in a notebook. For future projects, I'm considering trying the Wiki method.

4. Consider Your Marketing Early

Consistency is key, right? This is just as true when trying to reach an audience. I stumbled with this in the beginning by not having the foresight to plan for all of my covers to match. Book two in my series stands out when set next to the others because the cover is so different. I highly recommend thinking about how you want to market your series and then planning for all of the covers to have a consistent design. Whether you hire a designer or design them yourself, make things easier by choosing elements early that you can incorporate onto every cover.

Along with cover art, start thinking about the online spaces where your ideal readers spend the most time and begin constructing a plan to reach them there. The earlier you make those connections, the more readers you'll have right from the start of your first book release.

5. Create A Release Schedule (MY BIGGEST MISTAKE)

I'm telling you. That whole consistency thing is more important than you may realize! Just like keeping your covers consistent and your format similar, readers tend to prefer books with consistent release intervals. Who would've thought? Apparently, not this novella newbie. lol In a way, my books were consistent but with such short novels releasing a full year apart from one another it was definitely hard to keep up the excitement and momentum. I was juggling more than one series and also writing a few standalones in between. My biggest piece of advice if you choose to write a novella series is to focus on ONLY that series until it's completed and to keep to a release schedule. You don't have to publish a book every month, but at least 2-4 times a year will make it much easier to keep your audience's attention. There are so many great books out there vying for readers, so just do your best to make sure you have something for them more often than not.

I hope these tips help you out if you're working on your own novella series! I love answering writing-related questions, so always feel free to shoot me an email or send me a Tweet and I will try to cover it in a future blog post!

Thanks for reading!

♥ Dez

Author Life: Daily Routine

Getting back into the swing of things the past few days since I took some time off over the holidays to recharge.  Now that I'm back on track, here's what a typical weekday looks like for me:

7:00 A.M.
Wake up.  Dress for the day (includes styling hair and applying makeup); sometimes I'll listen to a podcast or one of my Spotify playlists while I do this.  Review daily planner.

8:00 A.M.
Make a cup of coffee.  Light a candle in my office (aka Writing Nook) and get to work.  I start by reviewing the last scene that I wrote and any notes I may have.  I usually try to write until lunch but sometimes I reach a point where I know more research or plotting will be necessary and then I'll transition to working on those aspects if needed.

11:00 A.M.
Make any notes needed for the next writing session.  Take a break for lunch.  During this time I'll also check any social media notifications and respond to emails.

NOON
Typically when I'll make any social media posts for the day, unless I have something that I want to post or be online for at a specific time of day.  I'll try to run any errands that I have for the day at this point.

1:00 P.M.
Our daughter is homeschooled so I typically check in with her to make sure she's on track and see if there are any areas that she needs extra help in (She's a teenager and her courses are online so she's pretty self-reliant but I make myself available the entire afternoon in case she needs tutoring or supervision for special projects.).  I'll usually get any basic house cleaning that needs to be done out of the way during this time as well.

2:00 P.M.
If everything is on track, I'll fix a second cup of coffee (or grab a Starbucks) and sit down to work on any "book biz" tasks that I have.  This includes marketing, promotion, site updates, etc.  If there's nothing of that nature for the day then I'll take some time to do some writing research.

3:00 P.M.
For the next two hours, I focus on any intensive cleaning/organizing that needs to be done or any other non-writing projects I may have.  Sometimes we'll do field trips or just go out for a fun activity.

5:00 P.M.
It's basically "Family Time" from here on out.  Occasionally, if everyone else is preoccupied, then I might get another hour of writing in during the evening but if I'm too tired then I'll just read a book or catch up on a show (My current favorite is Schitt's Creek).  

Before bed, I'll take a quick glance at what I have in my planner for the next day and add any final notes of story ideas that I've thought of so that I can refresh my memory the following morning.

And that's it!  My usual Monday-Friday routine.  Sometimes I'll write on the weekends but I mostly try to use those days for family activities and relaxing.  When I was working full-time, I was a "Weekend Warrior Writer" so I enjoy actually designating Saturday and Sunday for other things now.

NOTE: One big improvement in my schedule is no longer allowing myself to look at social media first thing in the morning.  I realized that I write better at the beginning of the day without having any outside emotional influences.  I have become so much more motivated with this simple change!  I definitely recommend not checking your notifications or reading any news until later in the day once you've already had a chance to make your day feel like it's been a productive one.

Your Busy Writer,
Dez

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OUT NOW

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It's time to face your nightmares.

Soon To Be Released

- HUNTER (ROAM: Book Two), coming April 8, 2019 through NineStar Press.

Author Q&A: Querying, Word Counts, and Series

It seems about every six months or so ends up being a good time to do another Author Q&A.  I've had enough questions roll in recently that now it's time for another one!  I plan to round these all up into a F.A.Q. section soon.

So, without further ado, here's what you guys have been wanting to know!

Q1.  What tips or advice do you have for querying books?

There are a lot of great resources already out there on this topic that will guide you through a professional structure for actually writing a query.  So, my advice is to do a little research first.  Write a "generic" one and then put the rest of your time into really exploring different publishers or agents that you'd like to contact.  Don't just send them out to everyone you find.  Truly make sure you feel that your book and their company or agency would be a good fit.  DON'T send them the "generic" query.  Make it personal from there.  Tailor your query to that publisher/agent in a relevant and meaningful way.  Almost always, they will have guidelines on their website that they want you to follow.  After you've done that, be sure to include why you want to work with them specifically and how your book will either fit or even improve their catalog of titles.

Q2.  I read both ROAM and HUNTER when they were originally posted on Wattpad.  With the re-release of ROAM coming, I have to wonder, do you have a time-frame for a release on the third book?

First of all, I want to say a huge THANK YOU with many hearts and hugs to you (and anyone else) who has stuck with me over the past few years.  It's extremely exciting to have you all along for this journey with me!  Now, onto the answer... It's probably not one that you will want to hear.  Most of you may have noticed that with the announcement of ROAM being picked up by NineStar Press for an official re-release later this year (October 1st), I pulled both titles from the market.  For now, ROAM is contracted as a stand-alone novel but I do hope that they will end up picking up the entire series.  If such occurs, it is reasonable to expect HUNTER will have a re-release date another year out from ROAM's and, in turn, the third book would be at least another year out from that.  However, if I end up self-publishing the rest of the series then there is a chance you might get it sooner but, even then, you're still looking at sometime around Autumn 2019-Winter 2020.  I hope that isn't too discouraging!  I'm just trying to be realistic.  But there is a silver lining.  While waiting for that final book to reach fruition, I do plan to publish another ROAM series prequel (The draft is 75% complete as I type this.) and several short stories that include the same characters.  So you will still have fresh ROAM universe material to read while you wait.

Q3.  I really enjoy your M/M books but do you have any plans to write F/F?

The short answer is: YES!  But when?  I can't give an exact date.  I do have two F/F stories on my TBW (To Be Written) list that I am excited to tackle in the future.  One is YA and the other is Gaslamp Fantasy.  And while we're on the topic, I suppose I'll go ahead and divulge that I also have another Gaslamp Fantasy novel about an asexual main character in the works as well.

Q4.  The word count per chapter for my story is 1500-3000, with some shorter ones sprinkled around.  For Wattpad & Tapas, is this scroll hell, especially on the phone?  This contest I entered has a 500 word min. per chapter, so would 500-1000 be more ideal for every story?

In general, posting chapters on a platform like Wattpad is definitely a different beast than self-publishing an ebook.  With an ebook, I think anywhere from 2500-4000 words is acceptable for a chapter but, in my experience, Wattpad readers insist that they prefer shorter chapters so that they can get their fix in smaller doses.  So, for Wattpad, yes.  I would say 1000 per chapter is probably the sweet spot and, if more are needed to flesh out the scene, then I'd try staying under at least 2000.  That is my opinion anyway.  Other authors might have a different point of view.

Q5.  How many books do you plan to write for the Dead Oaks series?

As of now, it's looking like it will be a five book series.  But I am open to writing more if I feel inclined to after that fifth book is released.

That's it for this round of questions!  I'll do more Q&A's in the future and I'm also planning on doing a few "writer tips" style blog posts.  So, if you have more questions to send my way then please feel free to contact me any time on social media or through email at dezschwartzauthor[at]gmail[dot]com.  I always love to hear from you guys!

5 Character Creation Tips

I've mentioned in previous posts that I receive a lot of questions on my process of creating characters.  So, I am going to attempt to break it down for those that are interested.  These are the techniques and inspirations that work best for me but everyone is different, so feel free to pick and choose which things you'd like to try for yourself.

Since I've already written about the basics of character creation, I'm going to assume you already have a character established and that we're now working on fleshing them out so that they will be a fully individual and original character.  Generic tropes are boring for everyone.
 
Write A Character Sheet

I usually write my character sheets in the same notebook where I've outlined my story.  This is so you can easily reference all of those little details that you might have to refer back to while writing (i.e.- Physical Attributes, Strengths, Weaknesses, Personality Traits, etc.).  It doesn't have to be long.  Mine are usually written in bullet points and only take up half a page for each character.  These are your building blocks so don't feel bad if each description is only a few words;  you'll be constructing more along the way.

Create An Inspiration Board

This is incredibly easy and not very time consuming (Unless you want it to be.) since Pinterest exists.  Look up some quotes, mood setting photography, and maybe even some actors/models that match the vibe you want for your character.  Pretty self-explanatory and extremely fun.

Curate A Playlist

I like to use Spotify for this but use whatever service you prefer.  Personally, I make a playlist for each book and certain songs reflect certain characters.  However, making an entire playlist dedicated to one character would also be useful.  Just don't go overboard.  I try to keep my book playlists at 20-30 songs.  So, for a single character, I'd probably only make one with 5-10 songs that would effectively score their story arc.

(vibes // Vincent Roam)

Cast The Role

This can tie in with the Inspiration Board tip.  You don't have to do this but a lot of writers do.  Thinking of an actor/model/etc. as a "face character" is a fantastic tool once you begin writing.  It helps you envision things like expressions, tone, and body language.  Try to think of at least three people you would "cast" in your role. 

Playtest Them In Action

I mentioned this tip in a previous post.  It's very important to play out scenes in your mind more than once, or even to act them out for yourself, before you write them.  It forces you to really conceive all of the ideas, mannerisms, and feelings your character would be grappling with in a situation.  Also, it helps with constructing dialogue.



I hope these methods help you out with your process!  I've found they're a great way to develop characters and have a lot of fun in the process.

If you've created a number of characters already, are there any special habits you've formed along the way?  I'd love to hear them!

Thanks for reading!
Dez ☿

5 Tips For Planning Your Novel

One of the things that readers and friends ask my advice of the most is how to begin the novel writing process.  They have a good story idea but feel as though actually writing it is a daunting beast of uncertainty.  I've given them pointers and tips that they felt really helped inspire them to get started.  These are all based on my personal experience and process and will hopefully help you out as well!

#1 - IDENTIFY YOUR CENTRAL THEME & PLOT

Let's jump into this assuming that you already have an idea for your novel.  Get a notebook because it will be your best friend (besides your characters) through this entire process.  First, write down what the theme of your story will be.  Is there a social message you're trying to convey?  Is it a coming of age tale?  A slow burn romance?  A post-apocalyptic adventure?  Whatever it is, jot it down.  Next to that, include a few short descriptions of the general tone or genre you'd like your story to fall under.  This will help you to keep everything feeling fluid and connected with purpose.

Now, let's talk about that plot.  Sometimes writers like to begin a story without knowing at all where it will go.  This is actually completely acceptable and, even if you do know where your story is headed, typically you will consider new ideas along the way and want to incorporate them.  Other times you will know exactly where your story is headed before you start.  So, whichever route you've decided to take, go ahead and write a paragraph or two down explaining to yourself what you want the story to be about or how it is intended to conclude.  Forcing yourself to put these ideas into words will help you to begin to actualize the story; which, in turn, helps tame that daunting beast you felt so uncertain about.

In other words, you now have a reliable foundation.  If you confuse or overwhelm yourself along the way, you can always refer back to this first page of your notebook where you've stated your intent.  It's less likely that you'll wander off your path if you have a map.

#2 - CREATE YOUR CHARACTERS

I could write an entire post on this one process alone and, honestly, I plan to.  So, for now, we'll just focus on the basics. 

Assign Roles - Protagonists, villains, minor characters.  Decide what roles you need to bring this story to life and then you can begin to get to know them.

Nice To Meet You - There are several things you can do to initially create your characters.  They are NOT naming them or deciding what they look like.  Just as in real life, you don't want to form an opinion about someone based on their name or their appearance.  Start by giving your characters simple personalities (Don't worry, they will become far more complex once you start allowing them to have dialogue and interact.), strengths, weaknesses, quirks, motivations, and fears.  Once you've established these core elements then you've got yourself an actual character!  Say "Hi" to them, give them a hug, talk with them; you are now connected for life.  The writing process feels a lot like hanging out with your best friends.  They just happen to be fictional.

Names & Faces - Now feel free to name them.  You'll find that establishing personality traits has already caused you to begin imagining what they might look like.  Picture them in various situations and think about what mannerisms they might have or the expressions they might make.  You'll find that you know exactly what they look like very quickly.  A lot of times, they might remind you of one of your favorite actors or actresses.  That's great too because now you have an easy reference if you need it.

#3 - DO SOME RESEARCH

This step might not always be necessary but most of the time it is.  You have your characters, you know your story, so now you just need to feel confident writing about the material.  This generally happens if you are writing science fiction, historical fiction, or horror novels.  There are time periods, places, concepts, etc. that might need further exploration and understanding before you begin to incorporate and describe them in your story.  Take as much time as you need for this.  Save as many resources to refer back to as possible.  And, please, at least try to be organized.  You'll save a lot of time and thank yourself later.

#4 - WRITE A GENERAL OUTLINE

Refer back to that short plot description.  Now you need to do one of two things (or both).  Either choose to write a timeline of events for your story to follow or go ahead and write a quick paragraph explaining what you intend to happen for each chapter.  Remember that none of this is final.  You can, and will, change it numerous times.  Always be flexible with your story because it will begin to flourish and develop along the way as you write your first draft.  However, taking the time to write a general outline like this is just another way to keep you focused and your story on track.  The more references you have to look back on while writing, the better.

#5 - DRAFT AN OPENING

You're all ready now!  You will also inevitably feel anxious about putting that opening line down.  Just do it.  Write from the heart, trust your gut, and listen to your characters.  If you don't like it, you can always go back and change it.  Nothing is seen by the world until you're ready for it to be.  So take the time to play around with a few different openings and see which one feels strongest to you.

Now you've done it.  You're writing a novel.

I hope you found these tips helpful!

Thanks for reading!,
~Dez~