30 June 2018, Writing - part x540,
Developing Skills, Marketing Materials, Keywords and Market Focus
Announcement: Delay, my new novels can be seen on the internet, but my primary
publisher has gone out of business—they couldn’t succeed in the past business
and publishing environment. I'll keep you informed, but I need a new publisher. More
information can be found at www.ancientlight.com. Check out my novels--I think you'll really enjoy
them.
Introduction: I wrote the novel Aksinya: Enchantment and the Daemon.
This was my 21st novel and through this blog, I gave you the entire novel in
installments that included commentary on the writing. In the commentary, in
addition to other general information on writing, I explained, how the novel
was constructed, the metaphors and symbols in it, the writing techniques and
tricks I used, and the way I built the scenes. You can look back through this
blog and read the entire novel beginning with http://www.pilotlion.blogspot.com/2010/10/new-novel-part-3-girl-and-demon.html.
I'm using this novel as an example
of how I produce, market, and eventually (we hope) get a novel published. I'll
keep you informed along the way.
Today's Blog: To see the steps in the publication process, visit my
writing website http://www.ldalford.com/ and select "production
schedule," you will be sent to http://www.sisteroflight.com/.
The four plus one basic rules I
employ when writing:
1. Don't confuse your readers.
2. Entertain your readers.
3. Ground your readers in the
writing.
4. Don't show (or tell) everything.
4a. Show what can be seen, heard, felt, smelled, and tasted on the stage
of the novel.
5. Immerse yourself in the world of your writing.
These are the steps I use to write a
novel including the five discrete parts of a novel:
1.
Design the initial scene
2.
Develop a theme statement (initial setting,
protagonist, protagonist’s helper or antagonist, action statement)
a.
Research as required
b.
Develop the initial setting
c.
Develop the characters
d.
Identify the telic flaw (internal
and external)
3.
Write the initial scene (identify
the output: implied setting, implied characters, implied action movement)
4.
Write the next scene(s) to the
climax (rising action)
5.
Write the climax scene
6.
Write the falling action scene(s)
7.
Write the dénouement scene
I
finished writing my 29th novel, working title, Detective, potential
title Blue Rose: Enchantment and the Detective. The theme statement is: Lady Azure Rose
Wishart, the Chancellor of the Fae, supernatural detective, and all around
dangerous girl, finds love, solves cases, breaks heads, and plays golf.
Here is the cover proposal for Blue
Rose: Enchantment and the Detective.
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Cover
Proposal
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The most important scene in any
novel is the initial scene, but eventually, you have to move to the rising
action. I am continuing to write on my 30th novel, working
title Red Sonja. I finished my 29th novel, working
title Detective. I’m planning to start on number 31, working
title Shifter.
How to begin a novel. Number one thought, we need an entertaining
idea. I usually encapsulate such an idea
with a theme statement. Since I’m
writing a new novel, we need a new theme statement. Here is an initial cut.
For novel 30: Red Sonja, a Soviet spy, infiltrates the
X-plane programs at Edwards AFB as a test pilot’s administrative clerk, learns
about freedom, and is redeemed.
For novel 31: TBD
Here
is the scene development outline:
1.
Scene input (comes from the previous scene output or is an initial scene)
2.
Write the scene setting (place, time, stuff, and characters)
3.
Imagine the output, creative elements, plot, telic flaw resolution (climax) and
develop the tension and release.
4.
Write the scene using the output and creative elements to build the tension.
5.
Write the release
6.
Write the kicker
Today: Time again to look
at marketing materials. I just finished
a new novel—actually, I finished it a few weeks ago, but I’ve been working on
the marketing materials. I always develop
the specific materials first, then the condensed materials for my currently
defunct publisher, and then the cover.
You can see above, I made a proposed cover. I haven’t put any of this
information on the internet yet, but I’m building up to that.
Here
is my proposed cover:
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Cover
Proposal
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Marketing materials are a must. I’ll be straight up with you. I know most people have not completed their
novels. Some of you might have. You might be still working on your editing
and proofing. You might be still
perfecting your novel. All of that is
important, but none of it matters if you don’t have a plan for marketing your
work. Marketing means you have some plan
and know what a publisher might want to know about you and your work. What you need is a format for your marketing
materials, and here it is.
Title of Work:
Blue Rose: Enchantment and
the Detective
Author(s) Name:
L. D. Alford
Type: Either Screenplay or Book
Book
Length: Either # of words for books, or #
of pages for screenplays
108,475 words
Keywords and Market Focus:
Fiction, detective, supernatural, fae, fairy, romance,
intelligence, Britain, United Kingdom, MI6, magic, New Scotland Yard, goddess, Dagda,
organization, the Crown; will fascinate anyone interested in mystery, detectives,
and the fae—will appeal particularly to those who enjoy mystery and suspense
novels.
Here is where we begin to define the contents
of our novel. A publisher and an editor
can find out a lot about your novel simply from keywords. You want at least ten keywords and not more
than twenty keywords. The keywords
should set your novel apart from other novels, and it should result in a
searchable that theoretically would find your novel out of all the bazillions
of other novels. I like to go from large
to small in these keywords. Let me
explain.
If you look at the list of keywords for Blue Rose, I think you will see this
form and my attempt to provide somewhat unique descriptive words to define the
novel in a simple list. The number of
keywords is sixteen, so over ten and not more than twenty. The first is fiction—this is a fiction novel,
and that’s repetitive. Fiction should
tell the searcher this is a novel. The
second is detective—I’ve mentioned for the beginning that this is a detective
novel. The third is supernatural—I like
to include supernatural themes and ideas.
Fiction is grossly inclusive.
Detective is separating.
Supernatural is definitely separating.
Supernatural and detective begins to make the novel very unique,
especially for a search. I hope this
also interests a publisher. I want them
to ask themselves, supernatural and detective, and wonder how these terms might
describe a novel. This is also what falls
out of the title. I didn’t go into a great amount of detail about choosing a
title, but part of the title factor is intrigue. I want a potential reader to be intrigued about
my novel just through the title.
This is the same for keywords. The potential publisher should look at
fiction, detective, and supernatural and be intrigued about the possible
subjects of the novel. The keywords that
follow continue this. If you look at the
words after supernatural, fae and fairy point to the type of supernatural. Romance brings in the idea of something
romantic in the novel. The words beyond
that further specify the concept of detective and expand even that to
intelligence operations. Intelligence is
that word that followed by Britain, United Kingdom, and MI6 further expand the
concepts in the novel. As I noted, I’d
like a potential publisher to want to know how these subjects can fit
together. The rest of the keywords just
relate ideas in the novel in a very compressed way. I hope you are intrigued and potentially
excited just from the keywords. If I
read such a list, I would be interested in reading the novel—this is the type
of novel and writing that excites me.
Plus there isn’t much writing like this.
I’ll look at market focus next.
Genre:
Author
Bio: Approximately 120 words
Synopsis: Approximately 500 Words
Concept
of the Work: Approximately 250 Words
Registration:
WGA, ISBN, or Library of Congress, Write the number.
Other
Information: If you have more work, a
website, anything interesting and professional, especially any awards or
recognition.
Reviewer’s
quotes.
What I will do is go through each
step and give you my answers based on my latest novel. I did leave the top parts filled.
More
tomorrow.
For more information, you can visit my
author site http://www.ldalford.com/, and my individual novel websites:
http://www.ancientlight.com/
http://www.aegyptnovel.com/
http://www.centurionnovel.com
http://www.thesecondmission.com/
http://www.theendofhonor.com/
http://www.thefoxshonor.com
http://www.aseasonofhonor.com
http://www.aegyptnovel.com/
http://www.centurionnovel.com
http://www.thesecondmission.com/
http://www.theendofhonor.com/
http://www.thefoxshonor.com
http://www.aseasonofhonor.com
fiction, theme, plot, story, storyline, character development, scene, setting, conversation, novel, book, writing, information, study, marketing, tension, release, creative, idea, logic
