Lorna Faith

Clean Fiction Author

You are here: Home / Blog

How to Create A Series Bible for Your Fiction

by

Have you ever wondered how Suzanne Collins kept track of the different characters and settings for each of the three books in the Hunger Games series? Or how about popular contemporary romance authors like Barbara Freethy, Bella Andre or Marie Force in their five to seven(or more) romance series and family sagas?

The answer is a series bible. This is a map – often a blank piece of paper, poster board or even pages that you keep organized in a binder – that includes everything from character descriptions, settings, family trees, daily and yearly timelines, world building, culture, politics/religion, backstories on each character(friends, enemies, hurt and pain, personalities, what caused their big wound, motivations and goals, etc.) locations, symbols, music and samples of the way certain characters speak(and you can include a lot more details).

It takes a little bit of time to put together – as I’m finding out with my romance series – but it really does help so that you don’t have to go flipping through pages of what you’ve written, to try to remember how to describe Aunt Jo or what the island looks like and the location of the streets and coffee shops where your characters hang out.

I came up with my own version of how I’ve been doing my own series bible, but of course each writer has their own unique way of keep track of the details in their series – so do what works best for you 😉

Steps to Create Your Series Bible

I’ve been in the process of making a series bible for my new Middle Grade Adventure Series. I’ve fleshed out the first book in that series… but this first book and series is perhaps a little easier, since this series is based on the true story of my large family(13 people) as we pioneered land in the Canadian North. You can read about the story summary for the first book in that middle grade fiction series here.

Today, I thought I’d share the simple process I’ve been working on to create my series bible for my clean romance series. Update in 2023: This series was written under my pen name and is now finished. You can read more about it HERE.

Step 1: Choose different colours for each book in the series.  Each book you write in the series gets a colour. When you first start working on your series bible, this will look strange, since almost everything at the start will be one colour as you work on the first book. But no worries, everything will work out as you go on.

Here’s an example: Book 1, Book 2, Book 3, Book 4, Book 5, etc.

If it helps, you can keep this key at the beginning of your series bible.

Want to Learn How to Brainstorm 7 Steps to Nail Down Your Novel Before You Begin Writing?


.

Step 2: Decide on a System to help organize the details. If you have a short series – like three books – you might be able to organize everything on a Word doc if you like. But if your series is fairly long and complicated, you might consider putting all the details in it’s own section in something like Scrivener, Evernote, or you could try doing it the old school method of giving each book it’s own section in a large binder. Or drawing it all out on a Poster Board might be fun too!

Step 3: Character Descriptions. Since every novel has characters, this will be a common section in a writer’s series bible. Of course the types of sections you will include in your series bible, will depend on what genre you’re writing. For example: If you’re writing Science Fiction, you’ll most likely want to include world building, culture, politics, religions, languages, etc.

In Character descriptions section, more than likely you’ll find it important to keep track of: ages, physical descriptions, quirks, traits, likes and dislikes, birthdays, possibly music they like, and any other personal details that you write about once, but may need to reference again in future books. For a bigger character cast, it might help to divide this into two sections: main characters and secondary characters.

Just include the things you know about your characters as you start writing the books. It goes without saying that you won’t know everything about all your characters yet, because you haven’t written those books yet. So as you’re writing the story, every time a character reveals herself/himself to you, click over to your series bible and copy and paste in that specific detail, using the appropriate colour of that book. For your main characters, much of this will happen in Book 1. But for minor characters, it might take longer for you to know more of their details.

By using colour coding, it will help you remember when specific details were first mentioned.

For example: 

ELLA

Long wavy strawberry blonde hair; Blue eyes; freckles across her cheeks and nose; drops things or trips when she’s nervous; drinks her green tea every morning; talks to all her animal friends – but talks the most to her golden retriever, Ginger; runs the shelter and expands the organic garden.

(Remember the book colour codes: Book 1, Book 2, Book 3, Book 4, Book 5, etc)

Step 4: Setting Details. Write down where your story is located. Write down your ideas of possible places here: a small town, island, a planet in outer space, house in town or farm, dungeon, subway station, coffee shop, organic garden, fallout shelter… basically wherever your characters hang out. This part of the series bible is where you’ll keep track of the details of those locations for each book.

I find it helps to keep things colour coded, to help you remember when you’ve added specific details.   For example: Ella’s organic garden, bed and breakfast, Cinder Lane, Adam starts building Stevenson’s fallout shelter, created Stevenson BeSafe ran by Adam’s brother Nick, Adams’s brother Lucas finds Emma and helps her believe in herself, etc.

(Remember the book colour codes: Book 1, Book 2, Book 3, Book 4, Book 5, etc)

Step 5: Timeline character’s lives and events. Some authors have extensive timelines with pages filled with when events happen in their books, other authors prefer to keep it to bare minimums. If you’re more of a minimalist, it works to just jot down notes of how long each book is, along with moments in your characters lives.

For example: Book 1: Four weeks, starting with the day her stepmother marries the wealthy businessman with the mean and manipulative son. Book 2: Two weeks, beginning when the shelter is finished and Nick rescues Mila from being sold as a slave in the sex trade. Book 3: Six weeks, beginning with Mila’s rescue and when Lucas finds Emma in hiding, etc.

(Remember the book colour codes: Book 1, Book 2, Book 3, Book 4, Book 5, etc)

Step 6: Backstory of Characters. This is a place that’s near and dear to my heart! I really need to info-dump as I’m writing about my characters and their situations. So, since I can’t write all the backstory I really want to in the first draft, it’s really great to have a place where I can keep track of each character’s history. Like the story of their archenemy, how the main character’s parents met, how the main character’s parents died, what happened that the heroine started to live this shabby existence, what is the story behind why the hero feels this great need to protect the heroine, why is the culture interested in only these types of citizens, and treats other citizens badly?, etc.

Even if it’s a detail that seems unimportant, write it down. You never know if or when it’ll pop up later on.

Step 7: Consistency with Your Style. Here’s where you as the author get to decide if you’ll be writing email or e-mail; okay or OK? If your character mentions book titles, are they written in italics or are the book titles in quotes? The important thing is to stay consistent throughout your book series.

Step 8: Other possible sections in your series bible. If you’re writing fantasy, science fiction or a story with paranormal elements, create sections to keep track of details like: special powers or abilities each character has(can dissolve their body; can mind-read; is super strong, etc), or what the culture and their world is like; also you’ll want special notes on unique characters who aren’t human, etc.

Also, if some of your characters speak unique languages, you’ll want to keep track of the words they use.

The most important thing to remember is that your series bible is only for you. It’ll help you to remember to which book in your series you’ve added what character, what place, what languages each character speaks, etc.

These details are important, because readers pick up on little details that are out of place… and it pulls them out of the story. So, taking a few moments to write down all those details, has long term benefits. I’ve found that as I’ve been writing down these details, it has been amazingly helpful.

How do you keep track of the details for your book series? I’d love to hear your ideas and thoughts in the comments… we can learn from each other 😉

036 Prosperous Creation: Make Art and Make Money at the Same Time with Monica Leonelle

by

Subscribe: iTunes | Android

Many storytellers aren’t sure of the steps to take to make art and make money at the same time. In today’s interview, bestselling fiction and nonfiction author Monica Leonelle, shares with us her playbook of prosperous creation.

In the intro, I talk about how I’ve struggled to stay consistent with word count, and how writing down my 10 goals(for this year) in a notebook everyday has been helpful.

Books I’ve found helpful lately are Monica Leonelle’s Growth Hacking for Storyteller’s series; James Scott Bell’s book for writers Write Your Novel From the Middle; and James Altucher’s inspiring book The Choose Yourself Guide to Wealth.Each of these books have is super helpful to understand either story craft or successful mindset.

Watch the Video Interview

Interview Summary

Monica Leonelle started blogging back in 2007. This got her excited to want to create an online business. She worked in corporate until 2011 and focussed at that time on digital marketing and did a lot of copywriting. She got her MBA and focussed on marketing strategy and entrepreneurship.

In 2012 Monica transitioned into full-time freelance copywriting and blog writing. While she was doing that she was learning to write and publish both fiction and nonfiction books. It was in mid 2013 that she decided she would force herself to write 50,000 words in a month. She did that in September 2013 and documented the her process which Monica describes in detail, in her book, Write Better, Faster.

By 2015 she  had achieved enough income from her books to quit the freelance work for good, and she stopped taking clients and transitioned out of freelance work. In 2016 she focussed on her first course, Let Your Book Flow Signature Program.

After Monica struggled for a few years to get her books written, she realized what she wanted was a clear playbook on how to become an author. 

She wrote down a notes, which eventually became what she called the Hierarchy of Prosperous Creation.

The idea is that you have to finish one step before you move onto the next layer:

First 3 Tiers:

These first three Tiers are miserable because it’s a ton of work to get through them and you don’t see results at the beginning. The goal is to get through these first 3 Tiers a lot faster.

  • Mindset: confidence issues that authors face that hold us back. Learning how to unblock that.
  • Craft: knowing how to create a book whether it’s nonfiction or fiction.
  • Rhythm: Your ability to write words quickly. Your writing habits and process and developing a consistent writing habit.

Last 4 Tiers:

  • Paths: Having one single path from a stranger to a reader/customer.
  • Fortresses: Basically turning your success from one path into a sustainable business.
  • Bursts: Time sensitive promotions and events. Most effective when you have all these sales funnels in place.
  • Community: A community that surrounds your work. As you nurture your community they help you find more customers. When you get to this Tier, you see deep profits because everything is aligned and you are growing organically.

Monica encourages new writers to go back to each Tier in the Hierarchy of Prosperous Creation and do an intensive on it.

Try to make it your goal to get through each of the Tiers quickly.

She’s found that what most authors are missing the most is that they don’t work on their mindset on a daily/weekly basis.

To start working on your mindset start by: tracking your metrics. Tracking what you’re doing = truth. Many people don’t confront the truth – because sometimes it’s painful.

Monica shares her story of how she had to confront and accept the fact that she had been trying to do this for 5 years with little results. She needed to find something that was working.

Accelerated Author, is a way to constantly check on your mindset and double check you’re consistently improving.

Monica encourages writers to study the hierarchy and understand where you’re at in the Tiers. When you understand it, you’ll move along the path a lot faster. For first-time writers, start with understanding the seven Tiers in Prosperous Creation. It will lay out the higher level strategic questions and answers that you might have for where you are headed as an author. It helps you to understand which piece you need to be focussed on right now 😉

You can find Monica at www.monicaleonelle.com or at www.proseonfire.com and on Facebook or Twitter.

5 Lessons I’m Learning on Writing Habits, Routines and Productivity

by

As I’ve gone over my writing and self-publishing goals for 2017 – and as I’ve looked back at what worked and what didn’t in the past year – I’ve been learning some lessons on writing habits, routines and productivity.

I want to share with you what has held me back from being a productive writer and hopefully spare you some mistakes I’ve made. I’ve been learning to create new and better habits and I hope you find these ideas helpful to your own writing process.

5 Lessons I’m Learning on Writing…

Even though writing a book may seem easy to some people – and it does have it’s fun moments – I’ve discovered it’s actually a ton of hard work.

It is such a wonderful job(most days I love writing), but it really is not a job for everyone.

I’ve been learning that there are some details I needed to have clear thinking on in order to help me be more productive.

Here’s what I’ve been learning on writing habits, routines and productivity:

1.Start with your Why. What is your BIG reason that writing your book is so important to you? When you have a clear picture of the desire that drives you to write your daily word count, and to publish a specific number of books each year, then the chances of you acting on your goals and arriving at your destination increase dramatically.

I’ve noticed for myself, when something is truly important to me and I’ve really made a commitment to get it done, that I move my life around this main thing. I’ll get up earlier, I sacrifice TV time and work while the family watches TV and I’ll stop most of my procrastination.

Here’s some more thoughts on your why: Your why will keep you focussed and on track when times are tough. It’s the reason you’re doing any of this anyway. (Examples of what might be your reason to write: provide for your family, personal freedom, make a dent in the universe, or maybe there are stories deep inside of you that you feel it’s your job to tell, etc. ).

What is your why? Get clear on it and project where you want to be in 1 year or 5 years. Why do you want to be at that point? I’ve discovered that my why – which is freedom – is what gets me writing everyday 😉

2.Decide on Your Writing Habits. Even though every writer is different, if you want to get words consistently onto the blank page, it’s important to develop some sort of habit or routine.

Habits are those things that you do without having to think about them. You just do them. Much like brushing your hair or brushing your teeth. More often than not, we do those things at the same time everyday, and we miss it if they don’t get done.

I’ve been writing and blogging for five years, besides doing a ton of driving for our four children and the usual household stuff besides teaching piano and voice. Many times I’ve needed to write while sitting in the vehicle or especially lately, I’ve been writing when the family is watching T.V.  I’ve been working on getting up earlier lately, I find my creative flow easier in the early mornings, so 5am seems to work better.

I save time in the afternoons to work on my website, blog, podcast and social media connecting with other authors and growing my online platform. Lately I’ve been learning more from Brian Tracy’s tips on goal setting, productivity and being more self-disciplined. It’s been so helpful. And I’ve been reminded that I’ve done this before with all those early 5am mornings when I would get up and practice piano for two hours.

So, even though I haven’t switched quite yet to being a full-time author entrepreneur, the goal is now closer than I could ever see it before. If you’re goal is to make the switch from day job to full-time author, I encourage you to experiment with habits and routines that work for you.

Here’s what I’ve found works good for me, and hopefully it’s help you too:

  • I write fiction in the morning and then work on blogging, podcasting or marketing in the afternoons. Sometimes I’ll catch up on stuff that isn’t done for the day, after I’ve finished having supper with the fam.
  • I have a small chrome laptop that I use for writing when I’m driving for appointments and things. But when I’m at home I write from my iMac where I have Scrivener all ready to go, for my latest project(when I write from my Chrome laptop, I write in google docs and then it’s easy to copy and paste what I’ve written into Scrivener). When I write I play music – usually rain and piano sounds – and then I can focus on the story.
  • I also use printable calendars that I write down everything that’s on my schedule. I also schedule interviews, and writing times and deadlines into my google calendar. That’s been helpful, because then I have a calendar for when I’m on the go too.

3.Understand your first draft is fun!: I know this sounds weird to write that down, but I’m finally starting to loosen up enough when I write the first draft, that it feels more like creativeplay. Which feels so good.

But, here’s the thing. The only way I feel that freedom, is when I am secure in the fact that my first draft will not be seen by others. It’s almost like a safety net in a way, from a high fall… only this fall is the flow of words.

Usually as writers, our words don’t flow from our brain to our fingers in perfect order. But that’s okay, because you can feel safe in the fact that no one will see your words until you’re ready for them to.

Then after you’ve finished the first draft, then you can allow your inner editor to come in and begin cleaning up the draft.

4.Learn to trust emergence of your story. I learned this in this interview with bestselling thriller author JF Penn. Trust the story ideas that keep tumbling out of your mind and onto the page. Just go with it, and see where it takes you.

Sometimes you might feel, like you’re not sure how you’ll find more creative ideas. If you’re wondering how you can start the flow of more ideas, here’s some ideas that work for me.
I’ve started the habit of noticing details around me and writing them down.

I learned this first from The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. She recommends going on a artist date about once a week. All this means is taking some time in your week to go somewhere that inspires you. It could be going for a walk, going to a museum… or I even go to the dollar store or a craft store and I feel like my creative well is filled up. Also while I’m meandering around, I will jot down stuff. For example, a few weeks ago when I was at the grocery story, I saw a blond haired, green eyed girl, who had that ‘girl next door look.’ When I heard the lilting way she spoke and the words she used, I thought this is much like my main character in my book. So I just wrote down some stuff in Evernote app on my phone, and then I can access the ideas quickly later when I get home.

You might be surprised how little memories of places or things you did long ago, resurface as you write and you include them in your story. I’ve noticed my memories of riding horses and living on the farm are coming back as I write my western romance. Also, as I write the contemporary romance, I’ve brought back memories of old victorian houses… which is part of the story. It’s fun to discover different tidbits of your memories that pop up as you write.

Keep trusting your ideas and impulses wherever you are and write them down. And keep filling up your creative well… and get excited about your ideas again and come back and write your story.

5.As You Write More You’ll Find Your Voice. I’ve discovered that the more I write – blogposts or books – that I uncover more of my true voice.

When I first started writing my first book, I was a little obsessive about this first novel. I had spent years writing and a few months editing it and had a really difficult time letting it go out into the world.

Most writers have self-doubt and worry about failing. Or maybe you’re concerned about reader’s expectations, like I was. I share more about how to deal with expectation’s here. As I’ve talked with a few successful authors, it seems like those fears don’t really stop. So what do we do?

Just put your head down again, and write the next book. And keep writing and don’t stop. Learn from other authors, from editors who read through your manuscript and read craft books. Put into practice what you’re learning, and you’ll continue to grow as a writer.

Most of all, let writing be fun for you.

The best thing I’ve learned so far when it comes to writing stories, is to learn to relax and play in the sandbox of your imagination. Just write for the pure joy of telling your story.

It’s such an amazing thing to be able to write stories that inspire, entertain or educate others and as writers it’s what we get to do… everyday 😉

What have you learned on writing habits and productivity that aren’t in this list? Please share your thoughts and ideas… it’d be so great to learn from each other.

 

 

035 Success Mindset, Motivation and Productivity Using the MAGIC System with Nina Harrington

by

Subscribe: iTunes | Android

Have you ever struggled with wondering how you’ll ever finish your book or meet those deadlines you’ve set as an author? If that’s you, I think you will find today’s interview super helpful!

In this interview I had the honour of chatting with bestselling romance author Nina Harrington. She is a Amazon #1 bestselling and award winning author with over 1.4 million books sold worldwide. It was so great to be able to chat with Nina about how she went from being a pharmacist and scientist to taking that risk to fulfill her dream of telling the stories really wanted to share with the world.

In the intro, I talk about how I’ve had a few breakthroughs as I’ve been digging down to the nitty gritty of storytelling structure and emotional resonance with my characters. It’s been so interesting!

I also talk about the Patreon page for Create A Story You Love podcast/videos for listeners who would like to support the show.

As usual, I shared this weeks three books that I’ve found helpful in my own writing journey: The first two are by Nina Harrington called Head or Heart:Will Self-Publishing your Novel Make you Money? Or Cost You Money?  and the other book, Keep Your Pants On!:  How to Outline a Romance Novel When You Are An Intuitive Writer.  Also if you’re a new writer and need help setting up your first author website, Rebecca Livermore’s book Blogger’s Quick Guide to Starting Your First WordPress Blog is easy to understand.

I really hope these books/tools save you time and money, so you don’t make all the many mistakes I did when I first started writing and blogging:)

Click Here to Watch the Video Interview

Interview Summary:

Nina Harrington is a bestselling romance author with more than 1.4 million books sold worldwide. She writes romance as well as crime fiction, and is also writes nonfiction books to help authors and has created courses for new romance writers on Udemy.

I took Nina’s course on How to Outline Your Romance Novel Fast, and it really helped me understand how to create an emotional story map for your romance story.

Her series of nonfiction books for writers are about writing, self-publishing as well as learning how to market your books. You can find the list on Nina’s Amazon Author page here.

Scroll down to the bottom of this page to get your free printable PDF of this Interview(thanks Nina for putting together this PDF!).

1.Would you share your story and how you got started writing romance novels?

NH: I have always been a prolific reader and could read and write before I went to primary school.

Over the years, my day job as an industrial pharmacist and university lecturer had always involved a lot of technical writing and documentation, but when it came to fiction, I started writing science fantasy, crime and romance stories for my own pleasure about twenty years ago!

In 2002 I gave up a high profile business job in the pharmaceutical industry to write full time. My day job was very demanding both physically and mentally, and I knew that if I wanted to achieve my goal of being a published writer I was going to have to devote the same amount of time and energy and commitment to learning about craft and business of being a writer as I had in my career.

It was a challenging, scary and exciting part of my life. I didn’t have a contract or any connections in the publishing industry or a regular income.

I gave myself 5 years to find a publisher for my romance and crime fiction, but in the end it took exactly 6 years before I received the call from Harlequin offering me a contract for short contemporary romances.

I had found a home for my writing. And, even better, I soon discovered that there was a HUGE worldwide community of romance authors and readers, which could be accessed through the power of the internet.

 

2.You’ve been very successful as a romance author and as an author entrepreneur. Many authors listening, have goals of consistently writing and publishing fiction, but for many authors, something keeps getting in the way of their goals. (Like overcoming limiting beliefs and everyday resistance we experience).

Would you share with listeners your thoughts and steps to help writers overcome resistance all writers face every day – fear, limiting beliefs, procrastination – to create a successful author mindset?

Why is it important for writers – and author entrepreneurs – to really understand their reason and passion for writing and publishing their books?

Are there questions to help writers uncover their passion? Are their tips to help writers stay motivated and/or reminded of their passion everyday?

NH: I have never suffered from “creative block” but I do know what it feels like to be frustrated and angry with myself when I don’t seem to be making progress on the major writing projects that are super-important to me.

I know what it is of course – I am not just the Queen of Procrastination, I am the entire royal family.

I have struggled with procrastination for years and only recently been able to work through and analyse why I keep putting things off, and then do something about it.

As a geeky trained scientist, I only know one way to get to the bottom of a problem and that is to analyse and research and get to the fundamental cause of procrastination and then deal with them one by one.

For me, it was the fear or not realising the true potential of a project. I love my work and want it to be the very best that I can make it. My standards in what I do and publish and produce have always been very high. If I don’t do my very best then I failed to meet the standards that I have set.

Perfectionism? Oh yes. That is very real. There is a reason why I take so long to submit a manuscript and it has nothing to do with story craft. It was all about being unhappy with nit-picky aspects of the manuscript.

This all came to a head in 2012 when I was offered a 3 book contract with Carina UK at the same time as my existing contract for 3 Harlequin novels. This was it! I could finally write some romantic thrillers for Carina UK.

6 novels in 12 months. All 50,000 to 75,000 words. I know that I always overwrite, and then hack back, so we are probably talking at least 400,000 words plus revisions and marketing and promotion.

I did have doubts. Writing a single title length novel takes several months, plus there is the financial and emotional investment that you have to make.

But I knew that I could do it –BUT –I had to stop procrastinating.

Here is the strategy that I came up with. I have shared it with other romance authors and they seem to have found it useful.

I call it the MAGIC system and over the next few weeks, I shall be rolling out some additional training on how authors can use it to break through the mental barriers that are holding them back.

  1. MOTIVATION. Finding your True North. Everything starts with your WHY. Everything. Many of the authors I know are desperate to leave their day jobs and earn the same income working from home with their family. Others want to pay for their children to have a better education or provide themselves or their parents with a quality retirement. Being able to realise your potential as a writer and provide for your loved ones is a powerful incentive.
  2. ACCEPTANCE. Self-Awareness about WHO you are and how you came to be here – and WHO you want to become. The vision of your ideal self, based on your unique strengths and skills. This also means accepting that that negative “brain chatter” will always be there but you can choose whether you listen to it or not.
  3. GAP. I don’t like the word “goal” so feel free to call it Your Mission. Your End Results. Your Final Destination. Whatever you want to call your list of dream results and outcomes. Your future self. The key thing is to carry out a Gap Analysis and work backwards from the end result so that you know what steps you need to take to create that result.
  4. IMPLEMENTATION. Lists and ideas are useless without action and execution is everything as a writer. Think of this as an experiment. A fun game you are trying out new things. WHAT are you going to and in what order so that you can work smarter and faster.
  5. COMMITMENT. WHEN are you going to get started on your implementation plan? You may have to develop new habits and working practices and that can take time, so the sooner that you can get started the better.

By working through the MAGIC system, I was able to break down the workload into tiny chunks and focus on my WHY whenever things got tough. New habits and working systems followed and I have been using this process ever since.

There is one book which I loved and come back to every month – The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. If you have every wondered where that negative voice in the back of your head comes from that tells you to stop writing and watch cat videos instead? Read this book.

It has to be said that you do need a mindset shift when you decide to become a professional author. It can be extremely empowering to know that you can make daily progress, no matter how small, and create a book that that is totally your own. You will learn a terrific amount about yourself in the process.

 

4. So along similar lines, how can beginning authors, write their stories and have fun while doing it? Is it important to give yourself the freedom to write the first draft – without trying to make the story perfect? Along those same lines, how do you research what you need to for your book, without it becoming a form of procrastination?

 

NH: What a great question! Having fun is so important when you are writing fiction.

There are two techniques that I would recommend to keep the writing process lively and energised.

  1. The first is to think of the book as a game that you are creating as a fun experiment, just for yourself to read. That takes some of the pressure off and makes it more of an adventure.
  2. The second is to use story structure to help you plan out the beginning of your first draft, up to the end of the first act and then add a few signposts to the rest of the story, but leaves it open and flexible. This gives the characters the room they need to tell you their story once they get onto the page and interacting with one another and under the spotlight of the story situation.

You can find out more about how to outline your romance novel by using emotional story maps, on my website: http://ninaharrington.com/

 

5. What are some helpful ways writers can learn to be more productive?

 For example:

  • do you use apps like “Freedom” to block the internet for a certain time period?
  • do you write in time block – like 60 – 90 minute time blocks? etc.
  • Do you write at certain times of the day?
  • do you just snatch time to write your story wherever you happen to be that day?

 

NH: I write every day and aim for at least 2000 to 3000 words a day for a first draft, but this does speed up towards the end of the book. I write in 30 to 60 minute blocks of time, with mental and physical health breaks between each block.

Top Tip. I would recommend any author to use the Pomodoro method, which breaks the work down into timed focused writing sessions of 20 to 30mins followed by a 5 minute break. An old fashioned kitchen timer or even a timer on your phone or computer will do the trick.

The ritual of starting the timer acts as a mental trigger telling your brain that you are now going to write, without being distracted by anything else, for 20 or 25 minutes. It can be any time or the day. Lunchtime at work, or on the commute, or in the evenings while the family are watching TV. Most people can squeeze in a 20 to 30 minute session.

The key thing is to know WHAT you are going to write about or work on, before you start your timed writing session.

 

6. On the topic of being more productive and learning to think like an author entrepreneur, what are some steps new writers can take to prepare their mindset to think like an entrepreneur?

 

NH: After some 15 years of full time writing, I would recommend that any new author or aspiring author should start from the very start to think of themselves as running a small start-up business.

Finance. In the current economic situation, please don’t do what I did and leave your day job without a back-up plan.

Contrary to common belief, entrepreneurs do not take silly risks. They manage risks. Author entrepreneurs pre-validate that there is a market for the type of book that they want to write, before they start writing it. They research their niche in online bookstores and in bestseller charts.

What would you do differently if writing was your only source of income and you had to find $1000 every month to pay the bills?

Clarity. You have to know precisely what you want to achieve.

Do you want to generate income, or attract a large audience and traffic to your website and email list, or both?

Do you want to self-publish or submit your book to a literary agent and traditional publisher?

You have to be able to answer these questions before you can create any kind of plan for your writing.

Story Craft. It is always useful to build relationships with other authors in the same niche and work on story craft to make sure that the ideas and characters that are burning to be brought onto the page will find an audience.

Writing Process. Rig the system by setting yourself small goals every day. It might only be 2 pages. Small wins every day are both motivational and build into a writing system.

Many authors work a day job and write in timed writing sessions at lunchtimes and in the evenings and weekends.

This not only validates that you have the focus and internal motivation to see a project through to completion, but you will learn an enormous amount about the publishing world and the specific niche that you want to write in, as you work on your fiction.

Deadlines are essential, but you have to mean them. There is nothing like a publishing contract with a fixed date to get your seat in the chair and your fingers to the keyboard. Make your own contract if you don’t have one, then get those words down.

 

7. What are some very practical steps beginning writers can take to set up their author business? For example: website, email list, banking, taxes, etc.

NH: I have learnt that the real challenge is “Discoverability”. If readers don’t know that you exist then they will never find your amazing book which is lost in the thousands of new books that are released every day.

That’s why building an author platform and an author brand is so important. I spend at least 40% of my day on business and it is a challenge, there is no doubt about it.

That’s why you have to be very clear about WHY you want to write. The power of your internal motivation has to be able to drive you to work at 11pm writing a blog post or editing a chapter in your latest book.

It you want to run a business then you have to recognize and accept that you are going to take on all of the aspects of the business that a publisher would normally do.

You have to work, then work harder, then work even harder to make the book the very best it can be before it leaves your desk and then spend at least 20% of your time building your platform so that readers know your name and your work.

I have focused on my author website and Facebook and Twitter to a lesser extent. Other authors like Pinterest and Instagram.

Find out where your audience is and work on building a real relationship with them by providing them with some incentive to join your email list. The sooner the better!

Even with a traditional publishing contract, authors have to be proactive every day and work hard to build an author platform and a readership

Hope-based marketing is not a strategy.

Sorry if that seems hard, but I don’t think I truly understood how tough it was until I was published and more aware of the commercial side of creativity.

8. What are some of your tips for writers who are just starting out as author entrepreneurs – how should they go about goal setting as far as setting up a production schedule and marketing their books?

NH: Have a very clear vision about where you want to go in your writing career. Print book or eBooks? Traditional or self-publishing?

Understand your personal limitations and how many hours you can allocate to writing in your life every week.

Scope out the specific writing project, and work backward to calculate how many words you need to complete this book. You may have a first draft of 70,000 words but don’t forget the revisions.

How many words are able to create in the time you have every week. It could be 3,000 or 15,000. They all add up. If you set yourself a specific deadline, then you have to commit to a minimum number of words every week. And do it!

I would recommend that you spend at least 20% of your time establishing your author platform when you are just starting out.

9.What’s some great advice you wish you would have had – that would have helped you in productivity or mindset – when you first started building your author business? And what tips would you give to writers who are just beginning to grow their author business?

NH: I do wish someone had told me how important it was to become a prolific author. Readers need to know you exist and the best way to do that is to write more books.

The days when an author can write one fiction book a year and generate enough sales through a traditional publishing route are long gone. Unless you already have a huge fan base that will pay for a hardback printed book the income per book will be low and more often, the sales figures will also be low.

Market and business savvy authors see their future in digital publishing.

 

There are benefits to being published by a traditional publisher like Harlequin and I would recommend any pre-published romance author to submit to a publisher who will:

  • Pay you an advance on royalties
  • Produce a printed book which will be sold in bricks and mortar book stores
  • Take care of the cover design, editing, copy-editing and foreign translation sales side for you, so that you can learn your craft doing the creative writing side of the business.
  • It is a great way to build up fans of your work.

The downsides?

  • Royalty rates are very low compared to online publishing platforms.
  • Your book will not be released for 6 to 18 months.
  • You may have no control over the title or the cover design.
  • The number of print outlets are shrinking. Supermarkets can make more money stocking the latest from a TV chef or bestselling crime authors.

If you want to know more, I wrote a whole book about the raft of decisions that any author has to consider. 

Since this eBook was published, the self-publishing world has become swamped by a deluge of low cost books which makes it even more difficult for readers to find your work if you don’t have an existing platform and fanbase.

The world of print publishing and online publishing are pulling apart into two very different demographics.

If you look at the bestsellers in an online bookstore like Amazon, there will be a few well established romance authors who have worked hard to maintain an online and print presence, like Nora Roberts for example, but they built their platform out from a traditional publishing base.

You CAN start a writing career and write exclusively for the digital market but this is an extremely competitive marketplace with 1000s of new titles being released every week.

Right now, I am happy to stay a hybrid and publish romance through a traditional publisher like Harlequin and self-publish non-fiction guides and courses for writers.

10.Thanks for sharing your tips today Nina. Would you talk about new books and/or other courses/projects you have on the go right now? And where can writers/readers find you online?

 NH: Right now I am working on one of the biggest challenges that we all face – how to work smarter, more focused and faster and a series of books and online courses will be released over the next few months.

You can keep up to date by joining my mailing list and following me online at: http://ninaharrington.com/  You can also connect with Nina on Facebook and on Twitter.

 

PDF Download of Interview with Nina Harrington

 

Happy Writing!

Malcare WordPress Security