Short Stories!

Short stories are a growing trend among all authors, new and published alike. While old publishing methods arguably did not favor production of short stories, new publishing practices with the advent of the eBook market (Here's lookin' at you Kindle/Amazon) are enabling all writers to produce and distribute short works to a massive audience. Here are some benefits of short stories:

Earning Potential: With the ability to put out multiple short stories within a short length of time, and sell them at a price that most full length novels are being sold for. Shorts offer a great way to make quick income. Per word, a short story can make more money than a novel. Shorts also offer multiple selling options. You could sell: Short 1, Short 2, Short 3. Three options right? Well consider a 4th option which won't cost you anything but a few extra minutes, sell a collection of the first three shorts as a value bundle. More often than not a reader will pick up the first short, and if they like it purchase the collection instead of individually buying the other two -which works out great for you, if you stop to consider what is actually taking place.

Bridge Between Novels: Alright, so you wrote Novel 1, and are getting to work on Novel 2. Meanwhile your loyal fans and ravenous readers are chomping at the bit to get at more of your work. To see other aspects of your world, and to be taken on more adventures. You can use short stories to sate the hunger of your followers while you type away at Novel 2, whether its to include short side stories or introduce other characters.

Networking: Short stories offer a great way for you to network with other writers and readers. You can use it to hook new readers onto your work, or to develop writing skills. Plenty of websites like Figment, and Wattpad service thousands upon thousands of new writers and offer readers looking for the next big thing a source to scour. (Shameless plug: My buddy and I who also run the blog "Wordsmiths Foundry" have made an account on Wattpad where we will be sharing shorts/flashfiction randomly. http://www.wattpad.com/user/WordsmithsFoundry)

Male vs Female perspectives!

Alright,

So either because I'm sadistic, or just up for a challenge, I decided to start writing a story with a female lead character. If you guys couldn't guess by my name, Matt, I am a male. I realized something... it's hard.

I had gotten a fair few pages written, and one of my friends who enjoys alpha reading for me decided to read what I had so far. She is also, a girl.

"Matt, this doesn't really seem like a girl speaking."

That was the first thing she said to me! I was like, huh? Then it dawned on me. If you and I both described a car, we would give a different description pointing out different aspects. For example, I may first notice the color:

"Damn, that red is really sexy."

While you may be like:

"Damn, that car has a lot of dents in it. The driver must be reckless."

The fact is, people notice and point out different things. This varies by age, occupation, and as you may have figured out -gender. A cop entering a room may first look for threats, potential hidings spots, escape routes. While carpenter Joe Citizen may recognize the style of cabinets, or how abused the wooden carved handrail is.

Girls, and guys, notice different things first. Whether its a person - "damn that girl has a nice rack" may be a guys first reaction. A girl may be like "that's a cute ear ring, or I wonder what perfume she is wearing -I think it's that *insert some name here* from Victoria Secret."

Or if it's a room

"Damn the fridge is too small, you can't fit beer in that!"

"What a lovely stove. Those blinds are sick, I need to get some of those."

However you write it, guys and girls will have different perspectives and notice different things. They will speak differently, treat others differently.

I'll keep it short today! If you have any input feel free to share! Like, comment, share this blog with your writing friends.

-Matt

Writing habits.

Alright, so I was just thinking about the habits I have when I go and write... specifically, I feel like I can only get good quality writing in either at night, or at the local coffee shop. Also, it seems to help if I have a nice drink such as some milk, tea, whatever.

I'm curious, do any of you have any writing habits you maintain? Do you find you only write well at X time of day? Or time of week? "I only do my best writing on Tuesdays... if I start at 12:05 pm." That's absurd but, hey, someone may have a habit like that... Its all mental... right?

Comment, share, and let me know what your favorite writing habits are!

-Matt

Got my second edit back!

I received the second edit of "Heedless" back from the editor at CreateSpace. Unfortunately due to some cosmic mistake (or just an error on my own) I had resent the firsts draft of the story. So I essentially have just gotten my original story revised two different times.

I probably should have vouched to keep the same editor. Maybe she would have caught the mistake. Either way, I got the service I paid for! At least I can compare both now and see what each editor picked out.

Do any of you have interested editing/editor stories?

Comment below! Like and share!

-Matt

Starting up a second blog with a friend!

A friend and I are starting up a second blog pertaining to writing, "Wordsmiths Foundry". It will be launching by Monday! We will have frequent guest articles, and will be posting two days per week: Monday, and Friday. Check it out! Thanks, Matt!

Posting Schedule

Alright, this blog is missing something... A POSTING SCHEDULE. Thinking Monday and Friday. Good idea? Any day you guys think would be better? Let me know! Comment below!

Interesting Folklore

Alright, so I was stuck trying to come up with some new ideas for future writings... and started looking into different bits of folklore! My buddy clued me in on this recent comic called Manifest Destiny (https://imagecomics.com/comics/series/manifest-destiny). Pretty sweet concept, just ordered the first trade paperback off of The Amazinz. (Amazon...) Manifest Destiny is pretty much Lewis and Clarks expeditions here in America, but with fantasy elements such as minotaurs and other creatures of the fay.

I will give it a read when it arrives and post my thoughts! In other news, Kim Jong Un is missing... for the past month... do you think that has anything to do with James Franco and Seth Rogen?! Thats a reference to their upcoming movie The Interview.

What folklore have you used to help inspire your writings? Anything you would like to share? Comment below! Share the blog! Grow our community!

NaNoWriMo is coming up!

Alright,

Who here is getting ready for NaNoWriMo? When you will fill your month of November by frantically throwing words on paper until you hit your word goal, generally 50,000 words. Full disclosure here, I've never done NaNoWriMo from scratch. Last November I just started halfway through by counting a story I had already been working on... don't judge me!

This year. It begins.

I shall grab NaNoWriMo by the horns, wrestle it to the ground, and pummel it mercilessly until it cries for mommy -or it will be the other way round. (Here's hoping it isn't.)

Anyway, if you have any intention of participating in NaNoWriMo, comment below! How are you preparing? Doing world building now? Outlines? Just brainstorming in general?

http://nanowrimo.org/

Above is the link to the NaNoWriMo website! Check it out!

Good luck to all of you! Don't forget to share this blog, comment, like, whatever! It's a community and I look forward to hearing from all of you.

Happy writing, (Thats my new closing... sounds better than 'thanks!', right?)

Matt

Writing Interesting Characters: Quirks and Hobbies.

Alright, so one thing that I hear talked about a lot, is character creation and making characters that seem well rounded and not flat.

One interesting thing I have learned to do through the various books I have read on the topic, as well as the pod casts and videos I have watched is to give all of my characters interesting quirks or hobbies.

By giving a character a hobby, coin collecting for instance, you add a new dimension to that character. They aren't just existing with only the current happenings of the story to define them, but have something they care about besides the problems in the plot that add more depth. One I have used is dirt collecting. In my fantasy novels, the first mate of the ship -who is a dwarf- collects a little vial of dirt whenever he travels to a new location.

Now to you and me, dirt may seem boring or pointless. But it makes that character seem a bit more real. Why do they collect the dirt? Who knows, he just likes to do it. But I can relate to collecting and so can plenty of others. In real life I like to collect the squished pennies from the penny crushers whenever I travel somewhere new. It gives me something to look back on and remember fun trips I have gone on. My dwarf happens to keep all of his dirt vials in his cabin, on a rack, so maybe he likes to sit down and think about past adventures. Plus, dwarfs and earth (maybe a bit too cliche), am I right?

Besides that, you can use their hobbies to introduce new plot complications, or solutions. Maybe the dirt collector really knows his stuff, so if there's an issue where soil must be identified he can help out and still be believable. Maybe his collection goes missing - bam! new task for the characters to do. Time to catch the dirt-napper.

Anyway, that's just a quick little thought I had on the topic. Wanted to share it with you all, nothing earth shattering or revolutionary, but useful.

Happy writing!

Matt

Warhammer Wednesday! #1

I've decided that Wednesdays will be Warhammer Wednesday! *cheers and celebratory lasgun shots*

I love the hobby and I put a lot of time into it, I know a lot of others out there do as well. So, along with writing why not talk about warhammer sometimes too, right?

I'm currently constructing some Wood Elves. I have about 56 Glade Guard to build... decided to make one unit of 10 Glade Guard, one unit of 15 Glade Guard, and three units of 10 Way Watchers. Figure that gives me a ton of shooting goodness... which I guess makes them like my Eldar in 40k, which if I've never mentioned before, is the Renia Craftworld consisting of a sweet gold and red color scheme. (Side note: Swooping Hawks are awesome.)

Anyone out there play? What armies? 40k or Fantasy? (I'm just trying to get into WHFB hence the Wood Elves...) Comment below!

Dont forget you can follow me on Twitter as well! @MattTaylor1776

-Thanks,

Matt