A Writer's Life....Caroline Clemmons: DYING ON EDISTO TOUR AND GIVEAWAY

A Writer's Life....Caroline Clemmons: DYING ON EDISTO TOUR AND GIVEAWAY: Dying on Edisto The Edisto Island Mysteries Book 5 by C. Hope Clark Genre: Cozy Mystery One death. Tw...

Guest Post: An Author’s Focus in the Chaos of Publishing by C. Hope Clark

Please welcome C. Hope Clark back to the blog today…

An Author’s Focus in the Chaos of Publishing  by C. Hope Clark

Somewhere along the way, probably with the onset of indie publishing, authors lost sight of why they became writers. Not everyone, but a good many, with a chunk of the new entrants never having understood to start with.

The why we write used to be to create a deeply satisfying book. No matter how long it took. It had to be written, rewritten, edited and re-edited. It had to ferment and distill over time to become a book someone wished to retain in a permanent library to be read again and again.

Now sales rule. The situation is not the author’s fault, necessarily, but instead has evolved with the industry. Books sell for less, are easier to produce, easier to distribute, and easier for more people to become authors. But the number of readers (demand) hasn’t increased with the number of books published (supply). Simple economics means you have to sell a higher quantity to earn the same income one would have made even three years ago, not to mention five or ten.

So authors write faster. Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, etc. abounds with groups bragging about daily word count and goals of three to even twelve books a year. While authors can be prolific (which used to mean a book a year), one has to wonder if the writers are more focused on production than the love.

But many would argue that an author has to eat, which means more sales, more writing, faster writing. It’s painfully true. This pace also leads to burnout and anxiety. Just read comments in Facebook groups where writers are freaking about how to do more, get their name out, best the Amazon algorithms, and advertise yet a new way on Facebook.

A writer has to write. But even more so, writers need to write for themselves. We miss the concept that we can stroll to our notebooks with coffee or tea in hand and immerse ourselves into our worlds, reappearing at the end of the day with whatever creation came about. Just writing. Just storytelling. No emails, social media, word count per hour, or hourly ranking checks on Amazon.

Just writing a story.

Becoming the characters, living amongst the players in a setting so beautifully displayed that the reader doesn’t want to leave. A world the writer cannot wait to return to the next morning. A story the writer never wants to end. A journey.

Personally, I don’t believe in writer’s block. But if a writer struggles with putting words to paper, my solution is simply this. Unplug from the computer. Remove goals, all goals. Remember how in your youth you envisioned how a writer was supposed to create? How magical it was supposed to be? The study. The cup. The right type of pen. Nothing more.

There you go. Write for the fun of it. Go back to when all you wanted was to tell a story.

C. Hope Clark ©2019

C. Hope Clark’s latest release is Dying on Edisto, Book 5 of the Edisto Island Mysteries. She has also authored one other award-winning mystery series and is working on another. She founded FundsforWriters.com, selected by Writer’s Digest for its 101 Best Websites for Writers for 18 years. Her newsletter reaches 35,000 readers. www.fundsforwriters.com / www.chopeclark.com

LINKS

https://www.amazon.com/Dying-Edisto-C-Hope-Clark/dp/1611949424

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44089103-dying-on-edisto

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1130656357

http://chopeclark.com/edisto-island/

BOOK BLURB

One death. Two detectives. And unexpected backup.
A Callie Morgan and Carolina Slade crossover, standalone mystery!

When a renowned—and now dead—travel blogger washes ashore on the banks of Indigo Plantation, Edisto Beach Police Chief Callie Morgan agrees to head the investigation as a favor to the county sheriff, whose reasons are as questionable as the death itself. When death turns to murder and a watchdog from the county makes her investigation difficult, Callie reluctantly turns to Carolina Slade and Wayne Largo, vacationing agents with the Department of Agriculture.

Because poison is growing on this plantation and someone knows how to use it well.

TESTIMONIALS

Murder, corruption, and page-turning intrigue are usually the elements that shine the brightest in mysteries like Hope Clark’s latest Dying on Edisto. But it’s the characters that bring a vivid literary element to Clark’s prose and create a strong emotional response to their tangled lives. The scenic town of Edisto Beach is peopled with a modern-day pirate claiming to be a descendent of Blackbeard, a degenerate travel blogger, a yoga teacher who drives a baby blue vintage Benz convertible, a mixed race waitress and her matriarchal grandmother, and a whole slew of wealthy and crooked good ole boys. Leading the cast are two strong female protagonists—a police chief and an investigator with the Department of Agriculture. Did someone say hemlock? —Susan Cushman, author of Cherry Bomb and editor of Southern Writers on Writing

"In a plot as complicated as the numerous waterways that create Edisto Island in South Carolina, C. Hope Clark has combined the characters from her two series to solve the murder of a renowned travel blogger. They mystery requires all of their detective skills and blends the two mystery worlds in a page-turning standalone. The story opens with a floater and progresses with edge-of-your-seat action. Prepare to be absorbed by Clark's crisp writing and compelling storytelling. This is one you don't want to miss!"--- Carolyn Haines is the USA Today bestselling author of three mystery series. She is the author of over 80 books and has received numerous writing awards.

Hope Clark converges her sleuths, Carolina and Callie Jean, on Edisto Island for the finale, Dying on Edisto, concluding her two murder mystery series. Slews of fans always awaited these highly addictive and superbly penned novels - grabbing you from the first page and not letting go until the last. A pristine, sleeper sea island, two determined masters of law who butt heads, a mystery corpse from Atlantic waters, a few idiosyncrasies along the way - the absolute best cast and plot for an intense coastal thriller. ~Karen Carter, Owner, Edisto Bookstore

Bookbrowsing Blog: How Place Became a Brand for Me by C. Hope Clark

Bookbrowsing Blog: How Place Became a Brand for Me by C. Hope Clark

Guest Post: Options to Outlining a Mystery (or any genre, for that matter) by C. Hope Clark

It has been almost four years since the last time C. Hope Clark was here with a guest post. Please welcome her back today as she explains that you do have some options regarding outlines. I have always resisted outlining thinking of it as that mandated hideous way of writing crammed down my throat in middle school and regurgitated several times a year through High School and College. Made me think about things a bit differently. Might strike a cord with you as well.

                                                

Options to Outlining a Mystery (or any genre, for that matter)

By C. Hope Clark

            Outlining dredges up a dry academic déjà vu for most. The formality of taking something creative and distilling it into a dry outline would make me hate the project in school. All those roman numerals, letters and numbers dissecting an idea apart.

            However, after publishing eight novels and two nonfiction books, I’ve reached a happy medium with the process, and can even give outlining a much stronger sense of credibility. Part of that acceptance came from the knowledge that forecasting your novel doesn’t necessarily mean all those numbers and letters.

Most writers have heard the argument of pantser versus outlining, but I argue that there are gradients that fall in between. It’s not an either-or choice. A full-blown, freestyle pantser is the opposite of a detailed outliner, each on the opposite ends of a spectrum. We can find all sorts of in-betweens to satisfy the type of novel prepper you are.

Journalistically

Before writing the novel, define what any journalist would for a story: who, what, when, where, why, and how. Make it one liners, paragraphs, or whole pages for each one. . . completely your option. Who are the players? What is their problem? What are their strengths? When did this story take place, and of course, where? Why is there a problem, and why does it matter that it’s solved? And then, how do they do it?

            The answers are the skeleton to your story and can be considered a rough outline. If you despise detailed outlines, you could take these answers and start writing.

           

Linearly

            Some writers, like me, function best linearly, starting from Chapter 1 and writing straight through to Chapter The End. You can outline the whole book from start to finish or write pantser-like the same way. However, for those of us who would rather be beaten than outline, but also don’t want to write ten chapters into a book and lose our way, there is a middle ground.

            That option is to outline three chapters, then stop and write them. Then stop and look around. Learn anything new in the experience? Did a character speak to you and suggest an angle you hadn’t pondered?

            Then outline three more chapters, sit back, and weigh where you are again. How do your characters like the direction? Three roughly outlined chapters might become two or five chapters, and in the writing you have a revelation about a unique direction without being too far committed.

The Juicy Parts First

            You know those parts. The climax. . . the second climax. The sex scene and the murder. The deceptions and the stings. When we find out who did it or learn who didn’t. Some authors write the ending first, then work backwards, needing to visualize what everybody becomes in order to understand how to write where they began.

You might be the type of writer who wants all the big juicy parts written first, laid out, so you can decide how they connect. Write the scenes on index cards and move them around, sorting, to make the story work best, or use a software program like Scrivener with its virtual index cards.

You’ll find as many ways to write a book as there are books to write. And outlines don’t have to be I, II, III and A, B, C. Try each method to see which one makes your adrenaline kick in or your creativity flow. The remarkable part of writing is that there is no right way other than the one that works for you.

C. Hope Clark ©2018

C. Hope Clark’s latest result of her linear outlining is Newberry Sin, her eighth mystery, released April 2018. The fourth in the Carolina Slade Mysteries, Newberry Sin is set in a beautiful South Carolina town, and digs into the secrets of its elder stallwark agrarian residents who appear to have been curiously compromised by a femme fatale to sell off land for fire-sale prices. At the urgings of a fearful lot of wives and a journalist turned DJ, investigator Carolina Slade delves into the mystery only for her curiosity to jeopardize her job, her friendships, her marriage proposal, and ultimately her life. C. Hope Clark’s books are well-loved, and she is a frequent presenter for Writer’s Digest, conferences, libraries, and book clubs. www.chopeclark.com

Via Bookbrowsing--- Why You Promote With a Long Tail by C. Hope Clark

Why You Promote With a Long Tail by C. Hope Clark

Guest Post: "Two Steps to Picking Out the Right Project and Finishing It" by C. Hope Clark

Please welcome C. Hope Clark to the blog today. A few weeks ago she posted on Facebook how she was interested in doing guest posts. I figured sure that by the time I saw her message she had met her quota. Thankfully, she still had some open spots and graciously agreed to do a post for here. I am extremely grateful to C. Hope Clark for doing this today and hope this is the first of many more.....

Two Steps to Picking Out the Right Project and Finishing It

By C. Hope Clark

A writer recently cried on my shoulder about not being able to complete a project because he had so many great ideas swimming around his head.

"I've become a project hopper. I start but don't finish. Like convicts who look through iron bars at nervous guards, these story ideas glare at me from their Microsoft prison cells and question my authority. A walk to clear my head. Journaling. Listening to classical music. These exercises sometimes liberate  'the One.' I eventually find my way clear of the forest and pick the lonely little Charlie Brown Christmas tree. But, good grief, it’s a painful process."

Two suggestions, my friends.

1) Set time on your calendar for a business meeting with yourself.

At least monthly, format your goals for the next month, and then look back at the previous month to study what you accomplished (or didn't). So many people wave off this part of being a writer when it could define the writer you need to be . . . or need to avoid.

Some writers plan and plan, and rarely produce. They talk about what they're going to do but rarely see their projects through. Their polar opposites write and write and don't stop to plan what they will do with their stories.

You, however, must be different. Monthly, (or weekly is preferred) take a moment to study where you're headed and where you've been. Did you write a piece last week and could not find a home for it? Did you start writing one piece, then stop and switch to another? How many times did you hit a dead end?

In other words, study your writing habits? Which are not good? Which came through for you?

2) Whatever project you pick, go with it to THE END.

I wrote Lowcountry Bribe over two years, after work, at night. I did a few short pieces in the middle of this effort for diversity and entertainment, but my focus was this manuscript.  I made myself reach THE END. Couldn't sell it. So I put it on the shelf.

It wasn't a partial manuscript. It wasn't an idea. It was a completed job. Eventually, an opportunity presented itself for me to resubmit. I could only do that because I had a completed project, one that I could verbalize with a beginning, middle and ending. Not just a partial attempt, and far beyond a rough idea.

When you hold your meeting and decide your projects, lock away the ones you don't select. Don't look at them. Don't look at what others are doing and get drawn away. Finish the one you start. Do that a few times, and you just might find opportunity knocking harder on your door because you have an inventory of finished products. What also helped sell Lowcountry Bribe? The fact that I had book two completed as well.  

Nothing is more frustrating to a writer than to stockpile a hard drive full of partial projects. Delete most of those. Seeing them will only muddle your senses as they accumulate into a huge list, eventually representing your inability to complete what you start.
 

Bottom line: Pick what to write...and finish it. Repeat.

C. Hope Clark ©2014

C. Hope Clark is editor of FundsforWriters.com, chosen by Writer’s Digest for its 101 Best Websites for Writers for the past 14 years. She is also an award-winning mystery author, currently promoting Palmetto Poison, book three in The Carolina Slade Mystery Series. www.chopeclark.com

Winning Writers--- Contests and Services to Avoid

Saw this thanks to a mention by C. Hope Clark this morning...

Contests and Services to Avoid