Indie Insider - Derek Haines

What is the best way to create tension?


I must admit that I don’t intentionally go about creating nail biting tension. Especially in my recent books that have been far fetched farces. But even in saying this, pace is an easy tool to use. A chase or something similar.

In previous books though that were a little more serious and dramatic, I did use the old trick of leaving a particular part of the story hanging for a chapter or two.


Do people judge a book by it’s cover? Who makes yours?


Book covers have become far less important with the advent of ebooks. Well, that’s my opinion and it may not be shared by others. Creating an image to use in promoting a book is really what it’s about now. It does have to look like a book cover, but can be so easily changed, I see them as more promotional tools than the traditional cover sitting on a bookstore shelf.

I still create the covers myself as I have a background in typography and graphic design.


What are the best ways to ‘show’ and not ‘tell’?


Dialogue, dialogue, dialogue. Then when you feel the need to tell, go back to more dialogue. While not the standard model of writing, I have a simplistic rule I try to enforce on my writing. Dialogue let’s the characters develop their own story, while narrative gives information. Sometimes though, a bit of narrative to speed things up doesn’t hurt.

How many books do you produce a year? Are you meeting your goal?


I never set myself goals. I really have to want to write a story, and this is the reason I am a staunch indie. From a child I have been completely useless at doing as I am told, so I would hate to have a fixed schedule to produce a book. Then again, if things flow a couple of books can come together quite quickly. As was the case for me earlier this year when I published two new books and then a third, which was a complete re-write of a book I wrote nearly twenty years ago.


How many words do you produce a day? Do you have a daily quota to fill?


As I said, I’m not goal driven. But this year I have spent most of my writing time developing my blog. This is a new discipline, and being a daily blog, I have to produce 400-500 words every day, come what may. I still have a few WIPs underway, so when I have time I get back to these.


What is your greatest challenge as an author?


Selling books. That’s the challenge for any author nowadays. Whether you are self-pubbed or have an agent and publisher, marketing has become the lot of authors. This is a real time eater and I’m sure many authors would agree that it is time that is being taken away from their writing.


Do you use a professional editor, critique partners, or beta readers? Briefly describe your process.


Yes, yes and yes. No matter how good you think you can edit and proof, no one can do it to their own writing. It needs an independent eye, and many of them, during the process of getting a manuscript ready for publication. Apart from an editor, I like to have at least 15-20 people read the MS before publishing.



What is you favorite part of the whole process? (Besides receiving a check or 5 star review!)


Knowing that when I’m pushing up daisies, someone will stumble across my words. Hopefully my grandchildren.


What are three web sites or blogs that you can recommend? (related to writing etc.)

I have three favourite blogs.
Charlie Coutland - A great book reviewer: http://bitsybling.blogspot.com/
Debbi Mack - A great writer: http://midlistlife.wordpress.com/
Leslie Moon - A great poet: http://moondustwriter.com/


Is there anything else you would like to share?

Weblinks:
Derek Haines’ Website
, Blog, Amazon Author Page

Is Writing A Book Like Following A Recipe?

It depends. Of course it does. It depends on many factors. It also depends on what kind of a cook you are. If you’re the kind of cook that never follows a recipe and just adds things as you go, then the chances are that’s just how you’ll write your book too. Good luck!

Me? I’m a little more organized than that. In my work life I’m a project manager, and project managers have to be well organized and structured. They also have to be able to react to change and manage risks and things that may (and do) go wrong. I think it’s pretty good training for writing a book!

So how exactly do I write a book? Let’s start at the beginning (and I want to add a comment here that due to the fact this is a blog post, the following process has been summarized). First off I have an idea for a story. It’s usually something really simple, and there are a few characters involved; the protagonist and the antagonist. Oh, and some kind of setting and back-story too. I usually write this down – a few bullet points – and then I let it sit and bake for a while. I come back to it from time to time and then add a few more notes. Eventually there comes a time when I’m ready to structure the story properly. I decide on the length I want it to be (80k – 120k depending on audience, genre, etc.), and I also decide on the number of chapters I want to write. 

This is where my project management experience kicks in. I know from personal experience that for every plot point I create, I will write somewhere between 400 and 600 words of story. This means that if I want to write an 80k word book, I’m going to need about 160 plot points. That’s a lot of things happening in a story!  My first job – before I write a single word – is to create at least half (preferably two thirds) of those plot points. This gives me a firm basis and direction for my book and also allows me to add other storylines as the book develops and gets ‘its own life.’ Then I write the book.

Okay, easy part done! Next I like to let my newly written manuscript sit for a while (just like letting bread prove). I don’t touch it for at least a month – preferably two – so that I can mostly forget about it. Then I come back to it anew and re-read it, editing as I read. It’s easy this time through to spot parts that don’t work or need changing somehow. After this is done the manuscript is ready to send out to a team of pre-readers (as I call them). These are people who are prepared to read through my manuscript at least three times, looking for different things including plot and character inconsistencies, grammar, spelling, parts of the story that don’t work, and all sorts of other things. I require my pre-readers to give me written reports that follow a strict template.

Next comes the final edit. I take all the feedback I have received and decide which I want to take and which I don’t (it’s still my story after all), and then I make my edits. One final reread and the manuscript is probably good to go. This just leaves covers, book blurb, pricing, marketing, press releases, advanced reader copies (ARCs) – for reviews - and all that great stuff to organize.

End to end timing? Wow, that’s a tough question. It depends on the actual writing part. I try and allow a month to let the story grow inside me, then a further week or so to flesh it out before I write. Then I write it. This usually seems to take about 3 months. Then a month to let it sit, a week to make edits, another month to get feedback from pre-readers, a week to make final edits and another couple of weeks to finalize all the other details. 

All in all, it’s about a 7 month process, end to end for an 80k novel. I’m sure some people can do it quicker and some people take longer. Just remember, you get one shot at your reader, so don’t rush the process – it will show through in the final product. We all want to start earning money off the book tomorrow, but a book is on sale forever and can generate revenue for years. Think about that when you come to the editing process. Spending quality time before the book goes on sale in order to create a better book is well worth it. Good luck!

John Cox

Tel: 206-228-6006

"This world is not my home; I'm just passing through"

Follow me on Twitter: @jcx27

Read me online at: http://pauldorset.blogspot.com

Books available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Smashwords