Author help – Flores Factor

The Dreaded Block

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by Richard Flores IV on 2021-08-05 1 Comment

As many of you know I have been doing writing streams over on Twitch for the fast few months with a focus on accomplishing small amounts of writing each day. It has been very successful with regard to ensuring I take time each day to write, but also in socially interacting with fellow writers and fans. Overall it has been a great experience.

I have been working on the third book in The Serenity Saga since we started the Writing with Richard segment on Twitch. We finished last Friday, and it was an emotional experience for me. And while it is only the first draft it marks a major milestone is my fifth novel, and the third (and dare I say last) novel of the series. I’ve spend a lot of time living life with these characters. All around it was fitting to finish it on stream since it was the streaming that inspired me to finally start writing again.

But then came the next concern. What do I write next? What do I do for Writing with Richard now? How will I create more content that is both engaging and gets me to write. Though I have other novel ideas in play, I wanted to focus a bit more on my short form stuff. After all short form is what got me my first publication and inspired me to get my first novel out there.

Monday rolled around and there was a bit of a freak out. My file full of story ideas in nowhere to be found. I jot ideas down in my phone as they hit me, and then add them to a document on my computer with story ideas. And when I went to access that repository I couldn’t find it. They have apparently been lost.

We filled the time on Monday fairly well by discussing cover art and what will come next in getting the novel ready for publication. I’d even looked up some writing prompts to inspire us for Tuesday’s session. On Tuesday I got one of those ideas ready, found the character that was perfect for it, and put together a great flash fiction story that I hope will make it to the pages of the a publication soon.

But Wednesday came along and that was where it all went to shit. It started off alright. I have had the idea of a world in my head. A climate change world that would fit well with a prompt I had found. And I knew I’ve wanted to write this story for some time. But as we got on stream and got ready for the writing session I realized that I didn’t have a character. I needed one in order to make the story work, obviously, but as a character driven writer it felt as though it was all forced. And that was when it hit. The Dreaded Block. Writer’s block.

Nothing I put down felt right. I wrote and deleted and wrote and deleted. It all just felt wrong, forced, and all around trash. It sent me spiraling down from there and I wound up ending the streaming early. I spend my dinner and my evening feeling as though I’d failed, was not good at what I did, and not cut out to be a writer or a streamer.

This isn’t the first time I’ve hit a block in my writing, I think every writer does a number of times. But it was the first time I had in front of other people. It was the first time I felt like I had failed not just myself but others. Of course, all of that is in my own head. But it was tough.

It did leave me reflecting on writing in general and what to do about my block. I took some of my own advice in previous posts and took a step back. I realized that my block was coming from two places. First, I was trying to force myself to write something I wasn’t ready to write. Next, I was feeling a bit frantic over the fact that I’d lost so many story ideas. When you factor that all in with being “on stage” at the time, it all added up to a block.

So as today came around, I thought I’d take the chance to break down the block by instead focusing on writing about what had happened. Writing this blog post, which is being written live on stream, has helped to get the words flowing on stream again.

The pressure I felt to write something was entirely self pressure. The idea that I have to write a few short stories is also entirely self driven. So I realize that I should instead write what I want to write. Which, right now, is another novel length (maybe) idea. So I may bring my focus to that. But today I wanted to write this blog post, so that is what I did.

Writer’s Block isn’t always so easy to break down and I recognize that. I may well find myself stuck again tomorrow or next week. But it helps to have some idea of the cause so that you can root out what you need to do and get back to it. And I am still glad to have these streaming sessions where I can connect with so many people. It was good to spend the first part or today’s session just chatting before diving into this blog.

Sometimes the Dreaded Block just needs time to sink away. Other times you can push it down. But what I want you all to know is that it is normal. It happens to us all. You can get past it.

Imposter Syndrome

Writing

by Richard Flores IV on 2021-07-09 0 Comments

There tends to be two thoughts when the term “imposter syndrome” comes up. The first is that every writer, or any creator for that matter, suffers from it. The second is that you’ve never heard of imposter syndrome and as such you’re struggling to identify the feeling. In both cases, imposter syndrome does have an effect on the creator.

What is imposter syndrome? Simple put, it the feeling you don’t belong, particularly when it comes to creative content. For writers, it can be described as the feeling that you are not a successful author and may never be. As it aptly named, it is the feeling that you are an imposter among every other writer. It is like a fucked up game of Among Us, were you’re the only one playing in your mind.

I suffer from it in a just about everything I do, both creative and in my regular job. And no amount of knowing that everyone else suffers from it changes the feeling that I am really an imposter. I understand that what I am feeling is normal and I understand others feel that way too, but I just can’t help but let it bog me down.

I wish I had some great post on the 10 things that you can do to combat imposter syndrome and move past it. But I really don’t. When it hits it can be really hard to fight the desire to quit. In some cases I have done just that, or gone on hiatus.

It happened to me last week while streaming a game I absolutely love. I just felt like I was nobody and quit my stream early. And to be honest, I’ve not really recovered from it. Overall, I have been thinking of quitting my live streaming activities. And while that is live streaming, and not writing, it is strongly echoed in my writing career.

What I can say is that while I don’t have a long list of ways to combat Imposter Syndrome. I do have some positive things that come from recognizing that it exists and that it is normal. I think these have helped me from making drastic decisions while under this influence.

The first thing I do is to acknowledge that what I am feeling. I also acknowledge that this is not a feeling based on facts, but instead on overthinking. This allows me the chance to recognize what I am doing to myself and take pause to think about other things.

So once I know that I am dealing with Imposter Syndrome I can take pause on making any decisions. This is huge in keeping me from making the wrong choices that I could regret later. Because, especially when it come to quitting, it can be difficult to undo the choice.

It also keeps me from going down the rabbit hole of despair. Which is a good thing to help keep in the right mental state and pressing on. It allows me to continue to do my writing even while I feel like I may be an imposter hack. As long as I am getting words on paper, I am doing something right.

Finally, I take a moment to recognize what tossed me into the mental failure mode. This helps me to prevent the things the typically cast doubt in my mind. For writing, this can often be looking at my sales numbers or reviews. Sometimes it comes on from reading a great novel that leaves me thinking that I could never write like them. And I often feel that way after leaving a convention where I was surrounded by great people.

Now some people will say that you should avoid the triggers of your imposter syndrome. But that isn’t always practical or wise. I love attending conventions and I can’t imagine not going to them. I think reviews are great and should read them. And you need to know your sales number for tax season. There is no way I am giving up reading.

But what I can do is recognize that this feeling is coming and know what that will do to me. And when I expect it I can be ready to handle it. And that has helped a lot.

I don’t pretend to be an expert on handling imposter syndrome, but I want you to know you are not alone in feeling it. It is normal to feel this way. And most all, you are not an imposter.

A Guide For Beta Readers

by Richard Flores IV on 2014-02-04 0 Comments

productReview So you’ve been tasked with beta reading a novel, or maybe you’re an author looking for what you should expect from your readers. The real question, for you, is probably what do you do? And when I look around, I don’t see many guides for beta readers. So here is a guide you can use, whether you are a beta reader, an author, or an editor.

What Is Beta Reading?

I just finished editing my next novel’s manuscript, and I found it hard to get beta readers. When I spoke to several other authors, I found that they too had this problem of getting new beta readers. I think this is largely for two reasons. The first is that many don’t know what a beta reader is, and two, many are intimidated by the idea. Beta reading is essentially a trial reading. A beta reader reads over an early form of the manuscript for an upcoming novel. This manuscript is often a little rough, but largely publication ready. It just needs a little bit of polish. They are the readers that are trying out this novel for the first time.

Don’t confuse Beta Reading with Advanced Readers. Advanced readers generally are receiving a finished, and publication ready, copy of the book called an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy). They are reading a copy of the book for editorial purposed to review the book. It is a very different thing than Beta Reading which helps to polish the book for publication.

What Are the Qualifications of a Beta Reader?

There really aren’t any specific qualifications needed to be a beta reader. I think this is something that most people don’t realize. It sounds fancy, so people assume that they can’t possible help out. But a good author wants beta readers from a cross section of people, to give the best representation of his potential readers.

Some of the people that authors want to beta read: They want a mixture of men and women. They want a wide age range with the bulk of them falling in the books target demographic, but they do want a few people a little older and younger than your target audience. They want people of various educational background. They want people from different belief systems. They want people from different fields of work or study. They want a few fellow authors or editors, but mostly they want regular readers. They want readers of their genre and potential cross genres. For example, Volition Agent is science fiction, but it has action and thriller elements, so when I selected beta readers, I chose a few action and thriller readers.

As you can see there is no “typical” beta reader. So no matter where you come from in life, if you like reading and want to help an author mold his work, you can be a beta reader.

So, what should I expect?

Each author does beta reading a little bit different. With Dissolution of Peace, I sent out a few chapters at a time to the group and then compiled there results and sent out the next set. When my next two novel manuscripts I just sent the whole manuscript and waited to compile the answers at once. Some authors are more involved and like to have you read a few chapters and then meet up on Google Hangouts and have a group discussion about those chapters.

Expect to get a Word or PDF document that is in standard manuscript format. That means it will be double spaced and in a uniform font. It won’t be a finished book, remember it still needs its polish. Expect to be given some basic instructions too. Some authors are very specific about what they want, others are more open. I’ve been more open on my last few manuscripts. That is something that is entirely up to the author. Some will want you to make notes using the Word Comment function (which is my favorite). Others will just want notes on a separate sheet. I prefer a combination of both.

Also expect a deadline. Authors are often working under deadlines and they need these notes back from you by that deadline. If you can’t commit to that deadline, then don’t agree to be a beta reader. Authors are expecting responses from all of the beta readers (typically authors don’t select a lot of beta readers, I go for around ten). So if the deadline doesn’t work, it is best to say so. This way another reader can take your place.

What do I do?

Read. But make notes while you read, either on a separate sheet or using Word’s comment function. Do NOT change anything on the author’s manuscript, unless they have instructed you to. And if you do, make sure you turn on Word’s Track Changes function. Otherwise, the author will never know what you changed. If you aren’t allowed to make changes to the manuscript but you see something glaring, you can use the comment feature to point it out. Author’s don’t mind you pointing out typos and grammar issues, but that generally isn’t the focus of beta reading.

What Should I be Pointing Out?

I think this is the number one question beta readers want to know. Here is a list of some things. Authors may ask for more, but this generally covers all the bases.

Questions that Pop into your head – Point out to the author when and where a question came to mind. Sure, it could be answered later, or not at all. The author can see if he is putting the right questions in your mind during the right parts of the story.

Areas where you lose interest – Point out areas where you begin to lose interest or your feel like the author has slowed down the story too much. For example, you might read a long drawn out paragraph about a starship’s engines and you feel your mind starting to wander rather than focusing on what is being said. Point that out. It could be what is called an “info dump” and we need to fix that.

Dialogue that doesn’t work – Perhaps some of the dialogue seems fake. Or you don’t think a street thug would use such proper English. Point out confusion areas where you are not sure who in talking. Also point out scenes where dialogue is taking place but you don’t know where it is taking place at. Dialogue absent of scene.

Passages you had to reread – Point out areas you had to reread a few times to understand. It could be an awkward sentence, or an over technical passage. But if you had to reread it, it is probably worth pointing out. It is also worth points out if you reread a passage because you like it a lot (see below).

Story gaps – Point out things that the author doesn’t seem to explain. There are gaps in the story line or something you don’t follow. It is easy for us authors to forget you don’t live in the same world we created and while we know this happened in the “background” it may not be obvious to the reader.

Plot Holes or Weak Plot Points – Plot holes are dangerous for authors and weak plot points are sometimes even worse.

Unbelievable Story Elements – I like a good twist as much as the next reader, but I don’t like being completely shocked to the point I’m screaming “yeah right!”. I like to read a twist and be both surprised but also think back and realize I could have seen it coming. A character who can suddenly stop bullets with her bare hands on the last chapter, but there was no hint to this ability anywhere in the book before, is something you may want to point out.

Use the expertise you do have – We all have knowledge about different things. Don’t be afraid to share it. I recently read a book where a character carried a Glock (pistol), and the character repeatedly “flipped off the safety”. As a Glock owner, I wish I had beta read that novel so I could have told the author that Glock’s have no external safety to flip off. The safety is ingratiated into the trigger. In my next novel, Broken Trust, the location of the novel is based on Lagoon Valley (though modified), near my hometown. The problem was, I refer to the lagoon. One of my beta readers pointed out that a lagoon is a body of water near a coast. Not the case in my Lagoon Hills city. It is really a lake. The point is you have knowledge that you can, and should share.

Tell the Author of your Ignorance – Just like you have expertise in certain fields, so does your author. And that tends to mean we do one of two things: We either show off our knowledge and really it has no point in the story. Or, we assume everyone knows what we are talking about, and it leads to confusion. Point out both of these to the author.

That’s out of Character – Point out things you see a character do that you feel are not in line with the character. Characters evolve, but generally not suddenly. If it doesn’t seem right point it out.

I loved that line – Here is where beta readers tend to forget. They forget to praise what they like. Even now, I listed it way on the bottom of this list. I suppose it is human nature to point out what is wrong first. But you need to tell an author if you liked something. Did one line stick out in your mind or hit a special cord with you? Tell the author this. Did you love an action scene, or a character’s particular dialogue, or did you love a particular twist? List those for the author too. List the stuff you liked for the author too. Let them know where they really hit the nail on the head.

General thoughts – Here is another point beta readers tend to forget. I like to take a moment at the end of each chapter (or section of chapters), and again at the end of the novel, to tell the author my overall general thoughts on it. Both the good points and the bad. Things like: I really liked how character X is starting to come to her own in this chapter, but I wish she wouldn’t have been so weak with Character Y. Or, I really loved this action packed chapter, when it was over I couldn’t wait and dived right into the next chapter. Any general thoughts are good for the author to consider. Maybe they were looking to slow things down, or speed things up, or give a since of romance. Your general thoughts will tell them if they hit that mark.

Characters – I think this is another point that authors need from beta readers, but are often left off. Give a thought on the novel’s characters. I like to do this as part of the summary. I go through each of the characters I remember and I tell the author if I like them, didn’t like them, and why or why not. I tend to get more detailed and explain what I liked and didn’t like about each character. It gives the author a better idea if they are hitting the mark with how the readers feel about a certain character.

NOTE: Never get insulting with you comments. The criticism you give should be constructive in nature. That doesn’t mean some of your comments won’t sting a bit, but as long as you are constructive with your comments it is fine. Here is an example: “You’re being foolish if you think a woman would ever say that.” versus “I don’t think Character Z would really say that. It doesn’t seem inline with anything she’d done or said before.” See the difference.

What will the Author do with everything I note?

That depends on the author’s process. I will wait until I get all the notes back from all the beta readers. I read all the comment made. I then reread the manuscript and go through each area line by line. Chances are, if the majority of the readers comment on something, I will make changes to correct it. If just a few, or even only one, reader comments on something then I have to decide on that change on a case by case basis.

This is one thing that I have seen frustrate a few beta readers. They complain that the author didn’t make some of the changes they suggested. The truth is the author did take your suggestions under consideration, but in combination with all the other reader’s suggestions. If nine readers like that Character X is a jerk, but you hated this about him; chances are the author will keep him as a jerk. That isn’t to say that he won’t tweak Character X based on some of your suggestions. Remember this is the author’s novel and they will make changes they feel best suits the story. But rest assured, they did read everything you had to say and took it all as important.

What happens next?

Well for me, I like to adjust the story based on the reader comments and then send it to my editor. Other authors do the beta read step twice and will get a different set of readers to read it again. That is up to the author.

Summary

So now you have a guide on what to do as a beta reader. I find beta reading a lot of fun and an excellent chance to really help develop an author’s story. As an author I enjoy getting beta reader feedback, it is often the only time I get a direct feed into a readers thought on my story. With this guide you can be an effective and excellent beta reader for any author out there. No go forth and help an author out.

Project Announcements

Writing

by Richard Flores IV on 2013-10-07 1 Comment

As always, I have several projects going on in my life. There are some things that I can’t wait to share with you, so I am going to give you a few updates on some projects. I’ll ask for a little bit of your on input on some of these. So please feel free to leave a few comments with your thoughts. I’d love the feedback.

Dissolution of Peace Second Edition

As most of you who follow me on Twitter and Facebook know, I have hired another editor to do over the manuscript of Dissolution of Peace and fix the mistakes that were missed by me despite my first editor’s best efforts. I am a difficult person to be an editor for because I simply don’t get it. There are many grammar and spelling rules that I simply don’t understand. And even when they are explained to me a thousand times, I just don’t get it. So even though my first editor was amazing, I still missed a lot of stuff.

I hired a new editor for Volition Agent, and I have since hired her to look over Dissolution of Peace again. The main reason I felt compelled to get this done right away is that I got a big explosion of reviews. And, while all the reviews seem to love the story, a lot pointed out distracting grammar mistakes. And, I listed to my readers and feel that fixing those will be a simple thing to do. My new editor Tiffany Carrera is a great match for my books. She is patient with me and my lack of knowledge, she deals with me constantly asking “how much longer”, and she has a passion for assisting writers with getting their work to be as perfect as possible. Tiffany is also a prior member of the military, which is handy since I write a lot of stories with a Military and/or Police element to them.

At last update from Tiffany, she was a little over halfway through it. My hope was to get it out by the one year anniversary of the book, but that doesn’t look likely. Maybe by my birthday in November (feel free to send gifts) I will have it out. I am going to ask Amazon to notify all of those who bought the kindle edition, so that they can download the updated version. Hopefully that won’t be a problem. But that will be up to Amazon. Of course I will update on Twitter, Facebook, and here.

The Next Novel

I am really excited about my next novel. I recently asked my social media followers to give their ideas on a few titles for the next book. I am terrible with titles and I always will be. I originally billed this as being a Post Apocalyptic/ Dystopian novel. But I think I will cross off the Dystopian part. In fact, it has more to do with rebuilding than any dystopia. There are two titles out of the list that I really like. Broken Trust and The Council’s Mistake. I am leaning more towards Broken Trust because it plays on several levels of the story and in several different story lines. Though the story is also propelled by several of the Council’s mistakes, the title doesn’t work for me is some way. I would like to know what you think of the titles, let me know.

I have also put together a blurb for the book. Tell me what you think:

Liam Fisher never wanted to be a leader. But after finding the survivors, protecting them, and founding the city-state of Lagoon Hills; the people demanded he be their leader. Instead, Liam agreed to sit on a Council with four other leaders, each of them with a specialty.

Together with Talya Brooks, the person who saved his life after the collapse, Liam runs the militia of Lagoon Hills. And though it was tough early on, the people of the city now live in relative comfort and safety.

But Liam is fighting his own personal demons: The loss of his wife and unborn son. Rachel, his long lost love has suddenly arrived in the city. And a neighboring city-state is threatening war.

The people of Lagoon Hills are counting on Liam for their safety. Can he keep himself together and be the leader everyone wants him to be? Or will the people closest to him be the greatest threat of all?

I feel like it captures a lot of the essence of this book.

So what is the next step for this book? Well I am currently about 25% of the way through the second draft. I don’t waste time of creating a second draft. I mentioned before that I don’t find much use for a “cooling off period” and so I tend to dive right in.

Once completed with the second draft I will be asking for beta readers. If you are interested please let me know. Beta readers are a very important part of the writing process. All too ofter I have trouble finding Beta readers, and even more trouble getting them to respond in a timely manner. I am hoping to have it ready for Beta reading by the middle to end of the month. All of November I will be working on NaNoWriMo, but I would like to work on Beta edits for this book in December. I hope to get it to Tiffany in January and maybe see a release by March. Maybe… Anyway, if you want to Beta Read, please let me know, just make sure a November reading works for you.

Also I am looking for cover art. Either premade or custom made. So feel free to leave your artist suggestions too.

NaNoWriMo

I am going to make a first time honest effort to do NaNoWriMo this November. I already know what I am going to write and I am already working on the plot points in my head. I will be writing the sequel to Dissolution of Peace and I am excited to get this project started. I’ve talked before about why NaNoWriMo is so tough for me. But I really want to do it this year, so here is hoping I am up for the challenge. I know I am excited about it. I may actually have a title for the sequel too. But, I am not sure what to call this series. I need to give it a series name for the sake of my own sanity. I have been tossing around ideas for some time now. If you have some ideas, please let me know. You can probably expect some other NaNo updates as November comes along.

Author Features

I’ve had a few successful author feature posts over the last two months. I am really enjoying doing these. You should sign up if you’d like me to assist you in promoting your works. I have dates in November and December open for all of the feature types. You can find out more about those by going to the Author Feature page (under contact me).

Plasma Frequency Anthology

After so much work, the Plasma Frequency Anthology has been released and is available on Amazon for your Kindle or in Paperback. The cover art is amazing and was done by Laura Givens, who has done number of art works for our magazine. Please consider checking it out. The money raised from selling the anthology goes right back to the magazine.

On the topic of the magazine, Issue 8 released earlier this month. We made some major changes to Plasma Frequency after all the knowledge I picked up at WorldCon. We revamped the website, we revamped the magazine, and we changed how we distribute the magazine. Working with Amazon and Weightless Books should prove to be a good thing for our publication.

We are also looking for good people to help us with our magazine. Namely in the marketing and social media and in the need for additional readers. If you are interested, you can find out more on our website.

WorldCon 2014

I had such a blast at WorldCon this year that I really wanted to go to London. But, the deck has been stacked against me. The final straw was when I found out that LonCon 3 will take place right at the same time by kids start school. And 2014 will be my youngest first day of school ever. Somethings are more important than conventions, and family is one of those. So I won’t be going to London, unless something changes, but it is unlikely.

I will however be going to the NaSFIC in Detroit this year. I am excited about going to this and have already upgraded to an attending membership. I’ve also already submitted my participant ideas and suggestions. The odds of me being chosen to speak on any panels is probably slim, but I wanted to try. As many of my regular blog followers know, I have no problem sharing my opinion and giving tips and tricks that I learned along the way.

I wonder what other conventions would some of you suggest I attend? I am knew the convention scene and only really know of WorldCon/NaSFIC. I don’t really know of many others. What others are great for writers like myself? What about conventions that would be good for my to attend as an Editor for a magazine? Let me know what you suggest. I think I could get used to attending a few convention a year.

Other Events

What other events can you think of? When Dissolution of Peace is ready for the second edition, I plan to contact a few local book stores for a book signing. We have a small shop in downtown here. I think there are some other small town bookstores around. I don’t know how much interest a Barnes and Noble would have in me. Any suggestions on that? What other places might be a good spot for a book signing? As I release more books, (maybe I will even have four out by the time I go to Detroit) I hope to attend more signings and events. So I would love to hear your suggestions.

Narrowing Down my Ambitions

I wrote a post a little bit ago about getting focused on what I want. And besides being so busy with all the stuff above, I have tried to limit all the other distractions. There are people in my family who don’t seem to understand that I am working to a goal and therefore may spend a lot of time in my office. And I think next week I will write a blog on the difficulties of choosing a “hobby” as a career. That should be an interesting post. See you next week.