Tag Archives: Plot

Reviews

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Reviews. Something we all love to have as authors and business people. We need them to show other people’s opinions about our products and services. They are important.  The last thing we do is delete them. Especially if you are learning your trade.

My muse, Chloe King is an erotic author who writes on Inkitt. (she left Wattpad in disgust)  Inkitt is an on the ball writing app for computers and phones. You can read and comment on stories and you can also REVIEW.  There is even a guide to review by. It is really good.

One thing I noticed on Inkitt is there are a lot of English as a second language along with those learning to write. Many have excellent plots though need assistance, hence the reviews to help them move forward. We have all been learners in the art of writing at some stage. I know I was terrible when I started my first fiction which was Regency Romans… 

We review honestly and nicely. Not that you’re allowed to be mean, it could get you kicked off the app.

Anyway, you do your review. Giving their grammar three stars. It needs improving, it doesn’t flow and they sure need some research or they will get laughed out of their genre. How do I know? Been there and done that in the same Genre, which is why that particular book is still not published. The author comments…and reviews your story giving you bad grammar and spelling star wise. Two Stars…I laughed. My grammar and spelling aren’t that bad, maybe a four at the least. I can get the different types of English grammar and spelling mixed up due to working internationally.  This is not an excuse.

Several days ago I read a new chapter of her story. She obviously wasn’t interested in what I’d said so I decided not to continue reading.  I noticed yesterday she had deleted my review of her book.

SIGH

Why ask if you are going to delete it?  I can’t read a story that doesn’t flow and I will mention this in reviews. They didn’t use speech marks and the few I found were in the middle of…well never mind…  The historical aspects were due to an obvious lack of knowledge. I mean what Regency woman would slouch on a couch…They wore corsets and many had trouble breathing… Honestly, the list goes on.  However, the storyline was really good. I also stated it was and told them to continue writing.

My main point is why ask for a REVIEW if you don’t or won’t listen to others and then turn around and give a bad review of the REVIEWERS story…is just plain odd. (Yes I have left the review up)

They have a lot to learn in this industry as a writer and reviewer.  As a publisher, I wouldn’t touch this book. It’s a pity she didn’t know my muse is a Publisher…Though not saying so means you find the real writers who wish to go places.

The Journey of your Muse

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The Journey of your Muse

Interfering buggers, they are at times. I have mine stepping into each other’s stories, trying to take control turning a book from a romance into a mystery romance. They really don’t play ball most of the time. If this isn’t enough the characters come crowding into my office and attack me because I’m not writing their story.

I’m not sure I know where I am or what I am doing – author wise. Not that I want them to go away either. The muses have already done that once when I was still in New Zealand. They all went for a Summer holiday in the Northern Hemisphere…Lazing around on their butts, ignoring me and my writing needs. Luckily, I had my publishing to do with various clients along with my Marketing Magazine.

 

I love working with people. Some of my favourites so far:

J C Christian whose muse was fickle to say the least. We got it in order in the long run with a journey through learning to write what was there at the time rather than trying to write and the brain blank of words. It was a great success to. Once all the chapters were done I put it in order and J C Christian started to edit her full fictional memoir manuscript.

Since that time the book has been re-edited and there will be a second edition sometime in the future. Meanwhile, life took over and the muses went back to been fickle once more and book two…is still been written.

I’ve actually enjoyed working with most of my clients. Another great experience was with Catherine Scythe was amazing to work with and also wrote a fictional memoir. This book was more of a thriller about her husband’s life. Catherine is a wonderful story-teller and during the writing of this book she was taking her Masters in English.  With another continual learning curve due to being a first-time author (like J C) it was great to be able to show them the ropes of how things worked.

The easy part is writing the book

I’ve seen this phrase a lot in my time as a writer and publisher. Though it may be true in the long run for most people, we need to think about what they all know. I suppose it is like people saying Write What You Know! Well to me I’m more like – If you don’t’ know then research it. Anyway, you will find many authors have other experience in life. Some may know Marketing, Editing, Graphic Design – as well as being authors and this is where the Sharing comes in. Grow your knowledge be it with your muses messing things up and not following the format (if you use one – I don’t) To travelling along your writing journey and becoming more knowledgeable in how things work.

It’s what I did and still do. One of my major learning curves last year was with Award Winning Author Wanda Luthman and how to produce a full colour picture book for Ingram Spark. This distributer is totally different from Createspace and Lulu. So different I could have become a nightmare. However, it didn’t and the book looks amazing. One of the things I had to learn was how to use InDesign. Well worth the buy and watching some tutorials. I’ll admit now I’ve still got a long way to go with this learning curve.

Now where did I put those muses…ruddy busybodies they are…never mind the characters making demands on my time!