Archive for January, 2012


ROBOTS!….Authors on Twitter

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January 31, 2012

Hey everyone, Flobo here.

Today I want to talk to you about marketing for a bit. As authors (or screenwriters or poets) we want our work to be seen, read, or heard. This I understand. Like I said in previous posts, if no one reads our stuff, can we truly call ourselves authors? Nowadays, it’s the norm to start a social media campaign to get the word out about your work. Almost everyone has a Facebook or Twitter page for example. Including Yours Truly. Check the right side bar to “Like” my Facebook page or to “Follow” me on Twitter.

 

There is a slight problem with a lot of my fellow authors and their Facebook and Twitter pages: They run them like infomercial channels!

As Seen on Kindle!!

 

Listen, there is nothing wrong about writing about the availability of your work. After all, that’s what a platform like Twitter is for. The problem arises when advertising your book is ALL you talk about. Sure, I’m an indie author, but I am also a fan of books as well as a student of the writing craft. I follow an author on Twitter to learn about the person behind the $2.99 special at Smashwords. A lot of times, there is an opportunity for an author’s followers to see what the author herself finds interesting but that tends to get passed over. I bring this up because it defeats the purpose of “social media” by in essence taking the social aspect out.

 

Before the explosion of Barnes & Nobles and Borders bookstores in the 1990s, I used to hate going to a bookstore. Why? Well, the environment wasn’t conducive to learning about new writing talent. You were expected to walk in, grab the book you wanted and to leave, (Again, these are the days before it was OK to grab a book and read it at your leisure at the store’s cafe). A lot of authors had their book judged by their covers (giving even more weight to the adage). Anyway, flash forward twenty-five years and now a potential costumers can learn about the craftsmen and craftswomen who create the literary worlds they love so much. They can get some insight into their favorite writer’s process, or even ask questions if they get the urge. At least in an ideal situation. Instead my Twitter Feed is filled with Review Blurbs and links to buy books like a virtual flier! I’m inundated with advertising messages all day so when I get a flood of Book Ads, I tend to tune them out….And I’m a WRITER!

If there’s one thing I learned from companies like Apple, BMW, and Ben&Jerry’s is that people are willing to check out and invest in a brand because they can tap into, and  identify with that brands IDENTITY. It isn’t “buy an iPod because its available at Apple.com” but there’s a feeling of quality in the product and the expectation in enjoying said product.

 

Hey, advertise your books; we have to to eat after all. Just don’t forsake social media tools and not use them to their full potential. I like to let my followers know that I am a real person. A person with failed daily writing goals, an unhealthy love of karaoke, and a fan of US Soccer. Giving the public some insight can only help you as a brand in the long run. Make your followers feel as if they are part of a Text Revolution!

And The REVOLUTION will be on P-D-F!!!!!!

 

Happy writings,

 

–Flobo

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Writing On The Cheap

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January 26, 2012

Hell everyone, Flobo here!

Today, I want to chat with you about “writing on the cheap”. No, this isn’t a post about how to selfpub your book without breaking the bank (although that IS worth a post or two in the future), but rather how to create a world for your work that is produce-able.

OK, so what do I mean?

Well, in addition to an aspiring novelist, I am also a screenwriter. (Don’t worry I don’t have the mansion with the private jet quite yet). The major difference between writing for prose and writing for the screen is that in one (books) you tell don’t show, and in the other (the screen) you show, and don’t tell. I can say “Mike felt the range boiling within,” in a novel with no problems, but if a character actually said “I feel the rage boiling inside of me” I would be sooooo out of work.

“I can feel the unemployment boiling inside of me.”

Since I make screenplays with the intention on making them into films, it would best suit me to write things that I can actually use or can accquire. For example, a friend of mine owns a ranch out in rural San Diego, so I can craft a script using that location without having to worry much. Conversely, I would be hesitant to write a piece about a spaceship because I don’t have access to one, or rather have the money to build a spaceship set for that purpose.

Maybe my alien uncle could loan me his

“OK, ENOUGH ABOUT THAT” you’re saying. “I write novels Flobito. I’m not bound by some desire to make movies of my work, I want people to enjoy my works for what they are.”

To that I say that’s fair. If you have an idea for an adventure epic that spans three continents involving large diamonds and exotic cars by all means go ahead. When your book is done, you are going to want people to read it, I’m sure. What’s the best way to get new eyes on your work? Marketing of course. Years ago, the most cutting edge thing to have was a Book Trailer. You know, the little short videos that describe what your book is about. Take this video for instance:

(I don’t endorse said book, just using it as an example)

Of course this is beginning to evolve into ACTUAL short films/trailers. We’ve become to accustomed to the YouTube era, that you just can’t put your book on a bookshelf (electronic or otherwise) and just wait while the masses stoop by to scoop it up. People want some sort of visual stimulation; this is why the once lost art of the book cover is making a comeback. This is also why writers like CSI’s Anthony Zuiker took some time to make “Digi-Novels“, books with short film “chapter breaks” within them. Now suddenly there’s pressure to not only write a great books, but also provide excellent visual “sneak peeks”. Unfortunately sometimes that doesn’t happen, and poor book trailers can actually affect sales. Like this for example. (Click YouTube button for comments)

(I don’t endorse said book, just using it as another example)

I’ve rambled enough. For those of you that like lists, here’s what you can do to put your work in a position so you can spend less on marketing later.

1. Story and Characters – The  saying is true, if your characters and stories are strong enough, people will forgive a lot more than if these were weak. These two elements are your foundations. You can sell a witty exchange/chemistry between characters a lot better than an explosion if your audience is invested in them. Er, the characters, not the explosions. Unless they’re pyromaniacs.

2. Be Original – But there’s an old adage in Hollywood that in order to pitch a movie to a jaded exec, you have to phrase it like, YOURFILM = X meets Y. My latest book, “High Desert Run” for example, is the movie FASTER meets DOC HOLLYWOOD . As a fellow author, I’m surethe first instinct you have is to shy away from this because it makes your work sounds formulaic, but I disagree. The audience will take a chance on your work, they just have to be reassured that it isn’t too “out there”. You know what I mean? Ever pick up a book and go “What the heck is the author high on?”

3. Make Your Action Sensible – Trust me, I would love to have an earthquake come along in the second act of my Twelve Angry Men remake, but what is the purpose? Does this advance the story any other way?

 

OK. Let’s say your book is ABOUT an earthquake. Well there, obviously the action of an earthquake makes sense. Through the actions of your story and characters however (#1), you offer a fresh take on the natural disaster work (#2). If you decide on doing a book trailer, you can focus on your character’s  interactions while jiggling the camera instead of hiring a special effects guy for hundreds of dollars to mock up an actual fissure in the earth. Plus the whole thing is risky because the final product could look cheesy, unnecessary and at the end of the day since an earthquake is an inanimate force of nature, nobody is going to sympathize with it.

 

Until next time everyone, keep writing!

 

–Flobo

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Adapting… It’s what we do

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January 23, 2012

Hey everyone…. Flobo here!

As writers (novelists, screenwriters, and poets all inclusive) one of the perks of the job is that you get to create new worlds for your works. You know, if you had an idea for a space opera that takes place long ago in a galaxy far away, you can put pen to page and make it a reality.  This is called your intellectual property, and it’s value is ever increasing judging by the amount of laws out there that are designed to protect such a thing.

Sometimes, especially if you are a commissioned  writer (e.g. hired gun) for a project, you may have the opportunity to adapt your work from existing material. Well, what does that mean exactly? Well, if you are creating a story with existing characters, settings, plots, or characterizations, you are in fact writing an adaptation. Writing is no doubt hard as it is, but sometimes writing using already existing elements can be a whole new challenge. Though for indie authors this doesn’t happen all that often, staff writers on television shows deal with this sort of thing all the time. Well, what’s an aspiring writer to do?

Practice

There was a short film I worked on last year called “Lex Talionis”. The film was only eleven minutes long, and it was pegged as a “psychological thriller”. Check out the trailer:

I was between the writing of my second book and my third, so I wanted to keep my skills sharp. Taking the elements from the film, I adapted the source material into a little short story of the same name.

Lex Talionis Adaptation (PDF)

The experience was challenging because there was a balancing act of wanting to flesh out the world while not deviating from the source material all that much. Luckily, since the film was a short, there was a lot of room to add detail to the aspects of the film that were glossed over. I likened it to adding shading to a line drawing, but that’s only because we creative types always tend to be more visual than the analytical folk. I do feel adaptation is a skill we self-pub and indie authors overlook for one of two reasons. 1) After your hard work, you can’t sell it and it in essence doesn’t “belong” to you and 2) Fan Fiction, another form of adaptation, tends to get looked down upon from students of the writing craft.  Getting over that, for me at least, the real thrill is maintaining the main character’s integrity while putting in the textual flourishes that in effect “puts your stamp” on the piece.

Maybe next time if you’re looking for the perfect writing drill, draft an episode of your favorite TV show, or write a poem that captures the spirit of your favorite fictional character.

 

–Flobo

Disclaimer: I don’t own rights to characters and story of “Lex Talionis” and I am solely using this demonstrative/educational purposes.

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Basing Characters On Real People

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January 19, 2012

Hello everyone, Flobo here!

If you are like me, once you finish writing a story (or any other kind of work) you’re ready to jump to the next project. I’m sure you have an idea in mind, but let’s say you want to develop a rich character in order to put him/her in unusual situations. This method is A-OK, and actually preferred by some authors. Most times characters are projections of the life experiences of their creator. After all, no one creates in a void.

Sure, James Cameron didn’t know a Space Marine from the future when he created Scully for “Avatar”, but you could argue almost everyone has felt as if they were entering a “new world” when they came across a foreign subculture.

What, your hometown doesn’t have floating vessels in brine?

Other times, authors tend to create characters by grafting them from real life people. This is an awesome tactic, IF DONE RIGHT. You see, there’s nothing wrong with appropriating certain traits from other people, but you don’t want to make “carbon copies” of them. Your boss Mr. Drake is going to be upset if he reads about a jerk boss character named Mr. Snake. People have sued over things like this; it’s actually the reason why movies have that disclaimer that says “Any similarities to anyone living or dead is coincidental.” Yadda Yadda. This also puts you in a corner, artistically. You don’t want to have to stifle the growth of Mr. Snake because you know the real Mr. Drake wouldn’t do that particular plot point you had in mind.

So what’s an author to do?

Well, at the fear of sounding existential, you can be “inspired” by a real person when you are creating your characters. That is, instead of copying actions and sayings, you can appropriate “vibes”.

OK OK, here’s an example of what I mean.

I went to school with a girl (who isn’t really) named Stacy. Now Stacy had a lot of lifestyle traits I didn’t ascribe to. For example she was a church-going vegan, loved to hike and watch nature, and can talk for hours about makeup. Now, there are some authors out there that would make a character similar to Stacy, say it was based on her, and call it a day. That’s fine, but here’s what I did: On paper the things she did would have made she and I incompatible (and I mean this in the most platonic way). It’s not that I didn’t like nature, I just never thought much about it. The thing is, she had such a magnetic personality that I didn’t care about our differences. I wanted to learn more about the things she appreciated because I appreciated her company.

In my book “High Desert Run: A Neo Western”, there were lots of things that inspired that particular tale. The female character of Daisy was based on this girl Stacy. Not in the literal sense, but rather she (Daisy)  lived in a town that the main character, Jethro didn’t particularly care for. Instead of trying his hardest to make a beeline out of town, he instead began to become infatuated with Daisy’s love of community, tomboyish ways, and leadership skills that it made enough room for the Jethro character to grow with her. Daisy, in essence made my hero a better man.

So to recap: We’ve talked about literal representations of people and being inspired by people.  When do I use both tactics?

Well if you are asking me, one dimensional, tertiary, and stock characters can be based off people without so much as changing the formula. Characters like: Presidents, Maids, Security Guards, Henchmen, Taxi Drivers, Store Clerks etc.

Characters that are either the primary, secondary, or characters you wish to develop in their own right will benefit from being “inspired” from  others like: Heroes, Best Friends, Love Interests, Parents, Children, Main Villains.

Either way, here’s hoping you continue to make compelling stories.

–Flobo

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It’s Just Like Childbirth

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January 12, 2012

Hey everyone, Flobo here!

After over a year of writing, rewriting, giving up, getting back on the horse, and writing again, my third book (and first novel) is on sale today. It’s called “High Desert Run: A Neo Western”

High Desert Run

The experience has a been a painful one, and I mean that in the most positive way.  This past December I ran my very first half marathon. There was nothing but thirteen miles ahead of me and my own will at my disposal. Crossing the finish line I told myself that I would never do such a silly thing ever again. My feet were sore, I was shivering due to the cold temperatures mixed with sweat, and then I had to walk back a mile or so to my hotel room. However, after a couple of days, I had this weird urge to do it again. I’ve been told running marathons (and half-marathons) are like childbirth in that some ways you get “addicted” to the pain. Well, writing and publishing my work feels just like running so writing….

Is just like childbirth! (Twisted logic, right?)

This is my first “Kindle Exclusive” book and it is essentially an experiment. My other works (also available at Amazon.com) were more of the “traditional self-publishing route” where I went through a Print-On-Demand service and actually had physical copies in my hand. There were obviously some positives, but also enough negatives for me to try new techniques. Who knows? For the next book, I’ll probably project the words on the Goodyear blimp if it would get people to read them. I know, I’m crazy that way.

After submitting the manuscript, I was ready to give up on writing and grab a mojito at the nearest beach bar. This morning however, that all changed. Seeing something new available for purchase on Amazon (after a two year publishing hiatus) with my name on it, was something to see. The creative side of my brain started working double time to search for that “next” story; that next novel I can put up there. In essence, I had crossed the finish line and now I was looking for my next race. I had just given birth and now I wanted a new kid to play with the other kid.

Will millions of people buy my book? No, although that would be pretty awesome if they did. In fact, if I got two hundred people strictly on the Kindle-verse to check it out I would be ecstatic. It would prove I’m not some artist creating works in a void. In the meantime though, I’ll still post writing craft-related things here at Flobito.com. Check them out, and if you’re feeling adventurous maybe you’ll pick up one of the books I have on sale.

Just Maybe,

–Flobo

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Sex DOESN’T Sell

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January 6, 2012

Hey everyone, Flobo here!

And as always, we’re are going to talk shop about your craft. Whether it’s writing, screenwriting, poetry or what have you, here’s hoping there’s some useful info you can pull for your own work. So without any further ado:

SEX DOESN’T SELL

When I was in college sitting in my government class, I made a bold statement that almost everyone disagreed with. You see, we were talking about why “The Media” (and I mean that in the way angst-y teenagers would say it) tends to focus on celebrity news and athletes as opposed to the geopolitical landscape. One student said the reason for that is because (in regards to the personal lives of celebrities) that sex sells. I of course, rebutted.

“I disagree Mr. O,” I said, feeling the lump in the back of my throat. “Sex does not sell, but rather it is desire that sells.”

I offered that it is because we as a people live vicariously through celebrities (and their assumed bank accounts) and athletes (and their assumed awesome bodies) it was our desire to learn everything about them that made the media follow suit. Or to put it another way, it isn’t the objective sex appeal of the supermodel on the sports car that drives sales (no pun intended), but rather the implication that buying the car would make girls that looked like the supermodel desire you.

Of course, I was a teenager so my actual analysis came down to this: “If sex just sold on its own, why hasn’t Rosie O’ Donnell graced the cover of Playboy magazine?”

Looking back, that comment was kind of mean. In my defense, until you’ve held the only differing opinion in a room of twenty peers with your social “back against the wall”, you just won’t understand.

Well, how about this? Guinness World Records has pegged this “book” as the most purchased book of all time. Can you guess what is?

The Holy Bible, bro!

Sure there's sex IN IT but......

OK, so what does that have to do with your writings? Well, let me put it like this. It’s okay to write about your attractive looking protagonists, or to have an extended courtship between two characters that are romantically interested in each other. It’s just that your audience deserves to be given reason to want to see these two characters together. “Romeo and Juliet” painted each of the star-crossed lover’s depositions clearly enough to the point where you DESIRE to see them together. Now imagine if Juliet got together with Paris or Romeo with Rosaline?

Snooze City…Population: The Audience

Wow, did I reference Shakespeare in two posts back-to-back? *Shudders*

The whole “Sex Doesn’t Sell” doesn’t JUST apply to romantic tales. Take my “best friend” James Bond for example. When you saw a James Bond movie or read a James Bond book you wanted to be a super spy. Why? There’s something cool about going out and risking your life for your country (or Queen and Country if you’re British). There is a reason why James is never depicted  filling out mounds of paperwork, or standing trial at war crime hearings. While showing the “sexier” part of the spy job, the audience “desires” to ride along.

Well, as for me, I didn’t speak up too many times in that government class. If only I had this blog back then. Oh well, live and learn, right?

Happy writings

–Flobo

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