and Kristin Battestella | Jennifer M Eaton

Tag Archives: and Kristin Battestella

Biggest Mistakes New Writers Make #3: Nope, you can’t explain yourself. Sorry, not allowed!

Posted on June 8, 2012 | 34 comments

At a recent Author’s panel discussion, Jonathan Maberry, Mike McPhail, Danielle Ackley-McPhail, Jon Gibbs, Jennifer R. Hubbard, and Kristin Battestella discussed the biggest mistakes they believe writers make.

Mike McPhail commented that you CANNOT explain your novel to people.

Think about that.

What Mike said is that you are not going to be there to explain anything about your novel. It needs to stand on its own with no questions. If it can’t stand on its own, you are not going to find a publisher (and remember, he’s a publisher as well as a writer)

I recently read a review from a “self-published” author that said: “Just get through the first few chapters… you’ll be glad you did.”

I can’t help but wonder if they asked a friend to say that… This is probably why they self-published. Why would you start your novel out weak? Personally, if I’m not engaged in the first few pages, the book goes back on the shelf.

I wonder if this person ever had beta readers.

Note: I would never let a beta-read pass with a bad first page, let alone a bad first few chapters. That’s like literary suicide in my book.

Make sure your novel can stand on its own, and for goodness sake, if you feel like you have to apologize for your first few chapters CHANGE THEM!

Jonathan Maberry: www.Jonathanmaberry.com

Mike McPhail: www.mcp-concepts.com

Danielle Ackley-McPhail: www.sidhenadaire.com

Jon Gibbs: www.acatofninetales.com

Jennifer R. Hubbard: www.jenniferhubbard.com

Kristin Battestella: www.jsnouff.com/kristin

Why Books Fail (cultofajracewood.wordpress.com)

34 Comments

Posted in Author Advice

Tagged and Kristin Battestella, Arts, Book, Danielle Ackley-McPhail, Fiction, Jennifer R. Hubbard, Jon Gibbs, Jonathan Maberry, Literature, Mike McPhail, Publishing, self publish, Shopping, Writers Resources, writing, Writing and Editing, Writing help

Biggest Mistakes New Authors Make #2—Jumping the gun- Writing Non-linearly

Posted on June 1, 2012 | 40 comments

Mistake number two was not writing linearly, which means not writing your story from start to finish, beginning to end, without jumping around.

Everyone gets great ideas while they are writing. When you get one that happens later in the story, do you stop and write it? I admit, I do this all the time.

To keep yourself moving, have a folder called “revision notes”. Rather than jumping back to something you wish you wrote, or hopping forward to a great idea you have… place the idea in a “notes folder” so you don’t forget it, and then keep writing. This will keep you focused on where you are.