Editor's Notes #20: What Makes You Stop Reading a Book? Part 2 of 2

So in Part 1 of this topic, I told you all how I never allowed myself to stop reading in the middle of a book . . . until I started reading some really horribly written stuff when I got a Kindle a few years ago.

Now that I've given myself the okay to JUST STOP, I've found my tolerance level has gotten lower with each passing year and each subsequent novel. The hours in any given day are much too precious to waste on a bad book. I read for money when I edit. I read my Bible each morning. I read and correct my daughter's writing assignments. I read for my day job when my boss gives us a book for the management team to discuss, chapter by chapter. IF there is any time left between editing jobs or assigned books, I read for the sheer pleasure of it. Needless to say, if there's no pleasure involved, I'm not going to bother reading for long.

Here are a few things that will make me put a book down and never look back (unless I'm physically throwing it over my shoulder in the trash):

• No edits. This is a nonnegotiable item for me. If there are grammar/spelling errors, poorly constructed sentences, misuse of words, or worse (though I can't imagine what "worse" would entail), that book practically shuts itself.
• Characters that are caricatures or stereotyped. The bad guy who has no depth because he's always bad, and not even interestingly bad . . . just "B" movie bad. The protagonist who's good at everything: sports, school, parents love him, no zits . . . you get the idea. The mysterious stranger who's not even mysterious for a good reason. The wise elderly person. The clumsy beautiful girl with low self-esteem.
• If I have no desire to read beyond the third chapter. I need to care about someone—anyone—or something that happens in those first few chapters, or I'm done. If I find myself skimming to see if it gets better, then why continue?
• Unrealistic dialogue. If an author writes a seven-year-old child into a book, that child should act and speak as a seven-year-old child, unless it's a creepy book where the child is possessed by an ancient being who speaks like . . . um, an ancient being . . . and everyone knows this isn't the way that child would normally speak. 
• Plot inconsistencies. If I am confused, I tend to think that's everyday life. However, if I'm confused while reading fiction, I'll flip back through what I've read to see if I somehow missed a major plot point. If I haven't missed anything and I'm still confused, then I'm going to assume the plot somehow went from A to C without a Point B in the middle. This happens when an author makes major structural changes from draft to draft but neglects to look at the work as a whole to see if it still makes sense. Every detail matters, and that's where a good beta reader will be indispensable prior to a book's release.
• Believability. Even the craziest fiction has to have some degree of believability or the reader will be drawn out of the story time and again. I always think of Martyn V. Halm (whose Amsterdam Assassin novels are pretty terrific and incredibly well written, by the way) talking about verisimilitude and his insistence that things at least seem like they could be real in order to keep the reader immersed in the created world, no matter how out-of-the-box that world may be.

I'm sure I have many more peeves that cause me to be harshly judgmental* about a book someone may or may not have worked hard at writing, but these are the biggest ones that come to mind easily. *Let's face it: I'm only kind and tactful if I already like the person.

What makes YOU stop reading? Do you look for things I haven't listed here? What's your number one deal breaker that causes you to shout, "Enough!" I'd love to know so I can add it to my own list of things to gripe about. And if you've read the list above and recognize something you do in your own books, then my best advice is STOP IT. Stop it and get a beta reader to politely and tactfully tell you all these same things, only for money.

I've placed a good guideline below. If you get "BINGO" from any of your manuscripts, it's time to start rewrites so others won't stop reading.

Editor's Notes #19: What Makes You Stop Reading a Book? Part 1 of 2

I don't know that I was ever formally taught this, but for most of my life, I believed if I started a book, I had to finish it. No one ever sat me down and said, "Wash your hands before eating, make your bed when you get out of it, and finish every book you start," so I'm not sure where I came up with this. (For the record, I do wash my hands regularly, though the bed-making is hit or miss, depending on whether I'm the last one awake. But . . . back to the book stuff.)

Perhaps it was easier back in the day when there were fewer books available for me to read. After all, there was no such thing as a digital book—or even a personal computer, for that matter—when I was growing up, so any books I read, I either owned or borrowed from the library.

My mother recently reminded me of something I'd said when I was very young: I was afraid of someday running out of books to read. She used to take us to the library on a regular schedule, since it was also one of her favorite places to visit, and on one particular visit, I remarked at how sad I was while looking for books because I was reading them all at such a rapid rate, I was convinced that very soon there would be no more. Our town library was pretty small, and I plowed through the children's selection in short order, followed by the juvenile fiction a few years later. By the time I moved beyond that, I had no worries about a lack of reading material.

The good thing about "those days" was that I read and reread so many favorites. I can recall certain portions verbatim, or remember where I was when reading a particular book. Much like a certain perfume can take someone back to a place or time, I can't think of Alice in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass without picturing my large, annotated hardcover (complete with super-hip 1970s artwork) . . . a gift from a favorite aunt for my 8th birthday, along with Hans Brinker in the same format. I still have both of them, and in fact picked up similar copies of Around the World in Eighty Days, Treasure Island, and Call of the Wild at an old bookstore about ten years ago, simply because it brought back all those memories in a rush.

In more recent years, the sheer quantity of books available online caused a sort of overload for me when I first got a Kindle. All of a sudden I could have just about every classic at my fingertips, and most of them were free. I began to browse the "Top 100 Free" category with regularity and consumed fresh material at a rapid pace, finding new authors I enjoyed. However, along with those good authors came some clunkers. A LOT of clunkers. Apparently, "Top 100" means "most downloaded" and not necessarily "top quality."

It was then that I discovered my time was more valuable than I'd realized. I'm the person who can't be bothered to waste seven minutes watching a news video because I'd rather read the transcript of it in less than sixty seconds, and yet here I was, committed to finishing an awful book that was poorly written, with the (vain) hope that it would somehow get better before the final page. That was bad enough, but when I found myself doing this for one book after another, after another, after . . . you get the idea . . . I knew I'd have to change my "finish or die" policy before it became "finish and want to die."

Since those early, heady days of "ALL the books at my fingertips!" and the resultant letdown as I read a plethora of bad ones, I've come up with a few general guidelines that help me to know when to keep chugging along and when to just chuck it and never look back. These guidelines have helped me with my editing as well, allowing me to give better advice to the authors I work with.

I'll share those with you in Part 2 next time.

Who Loves A Freebie? I Do!

HEY! Listen up, everyone. I know we're all bogged down with A to Z posts, but I had to sneak this one in because it's important and only valid for a limited time.

All day Sunday, April 6, Stephen Fender is offering his newest book, Traitor Winds, FREE for download on Amazon.

Traitor Winds is the first of his Origins series which takes place in the same world as the Kestrel Saga, only about a decade or so earlier. Agent Angelika Jordan is on a mission and she won't stop until she's succeeded or died trying.

Traitor Winds is space military at its best.

You can read all about it HERE in my post from when the novel was first released, complete with two great excerpts.

Stephen can be found at www.stephenfender.com, on Facebook and Goodreads, and on Twitter @StephenAFender.

Coffee Chat 9.0 with S.K. Anthony: Stephen Fender's Latest—Traitor Winds

Ooh, I can’t wait to show this to S.K. [Reading the back of a new book.] 

“The President of the Unified Collaboration of Systems, along with hundreds of the civilians, had been ruthlessly murdered. There was little need to speculate who had done it—for the instigator was quick to take full credit for the act:

The renegade Sector Command Admiral, Maros Krador.

While Sector Command forces search in vain for the traitor, Krador begins to amass a fleet of warships from a secret base, setting himself on a course that is sure to leave a wake of destruction throughout the entire Beta Sector.

The last team of elite covert agents sent in to eliminate Krador was never seen again, yet the Unified Council and the secretive Office of Special Investigations knew what needed to be done. They would need to try again . . . and there was only one agent they could trust to get the job done.

Unfortunately, Angelika Jordan wanted nothing to do with it.”

Hey, everyone! It’s Thursday and the coffee is brewing. I’m waiting for S.K. to arrive, which is kind of strange, because . . . well, I don’t want to talk about her while she’s not here, but usually she’s at my place bright and early on Thursdays, waiting outside my back door with her green coffee cup. Actually, she’s usually tapping on the door with the cup, and there have been a few times when I’ve just found her in the kitchen. If I’m not fully awake, it gives me a little bit of a start. But she sent me two large bags of Rain City Crunch for my birthday, so I am pretty sure I’m going to keep her around for the rest of my life.

I think I’d better call her to see what’s up. [Calls S.K.’s cell.] Hey, S.K.! Why aren’t you here yet?

SKA: I’m busy.

ER: I had something really cool to show you and thought we could talk about it while we had our coffee today, and now you’re going to miss it. Stephen Fender just released his new book! It’s called—drum roll, please—

[S.K. obediently taps the phone for a drum roll, while performing a flawless eye roll.]

Origins: Traitor Winds.

SKA: I know. That’s why I’m busy doing . . . oh, who knows? Something. You found another “S” in your life, and I don’t know how I feel about this.

ER: Another “S”? Wha—? Oh, Stephen. He’s just . . . he’s just Stephen . . . um . . . I don’t know why you’d feel anything but excited. It’s a book! A new book! [Making happy faces . . . over the phone. Realizes what a huge fail that is and stops.]

SKA: But, but . . . I feel threatened and you want me to be excited? About Traitors?

ER: Well, yeah, because I’m not a traitor. And Stephen isn’t, either. He just wrote a book about one. And he didn’t come for coffee. Did you think—

SKA: Oh, but I thought—

ER: No, no, no. You have NOT been replaced. Not a chance. I just wanted to take a moment today to tell everyone about his book, because I finished it. I mean, I finished editing it. I didn’t write it, after all. But I invested a significant portion of my time in it. Well, not as much as Stephen did. I’m pretty sure he worked more hours on it than I did. He said he did, anyway. Come to think of it, he had a smart answer for everything I said. You’d think he owned it or something. Oh . . . wait . . .

Um . . . so it’s a book! A new book! [Makes happy faces again. Stops abruptly. Again.]

SKA: Oh wow, okay. That does sounds awesome! And what was your favorite part? If I like it, I might just read it.

ER: Here’s one I think is funny because it reminds me of people I know who hate to fly. Listen to this:

Angelika Jordan, her slim fingers curled securely around the edge of her armrest, hated flying with a passion. It was one of the few things in life that she truly loathed, and she put it at the top of her personal list of dislikes, right above people who absently popped bubble wrap or drivers who failed to yield to oncoming traffic. Given the right time and proper equipment, she could easily handle the latter two. However, because she had yet to master her fear of flying, the interstellar transport she currently found herself encased in was a necessary evil in her life. With all the tight turns and stomach-turning descents, the pilot of this particular craft seemed to be the devil himself, treating the graceful shuttle like it was his personal sleigh ride into the pits of Hades itself.

“We’re descending through three thousand feet now, ma’am,” Satan chimed serenely over the craft’s address system. “We’ll be on the ground in just under ten minutes.”

Angelika closed her eyes just as a final blast of turbulence rocked the craft. She offered a silent prayer—the same as she’d done a thousand times over a hundred landing pads on dozens of worlds—that she would land safely, just as she had nine hundred ninety-nine times before.

. . . and then they (of course) land safely, but she's still pretty tense . . .

The shuttle touched down without incident, and it wasn’t until Angelika heard the high-pitched whine of the engines’ reverse thrust that she realized the craft had landed. It was then that Lucifer’s voice came over the PA once more.

“We’ll be maneuvering out to hanger sixteen in just a moment, ma’am. Please remain seated until the transport has come to a complete halt.”

Remain seated, Angelika scoffed as she brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. As if I had any intention of doing otherwise, you sick, sick maniac. Where did you learn to fly, anyway? Besides, I’m the only one on the shuttle, and you’re sitting less than ten feet away. Why use the bloody PA when you can just as easily turn around, talk to me, and pretend you’re human and have a soul? Yet with all her internal bickering, all she said was, “Thank you, Captain.”

SKA: Ooooh, Angelika . . . I can’t wait to meet you.

ER: You’d like her. She’s a tough cookie.

SKA: Okay, I’m in. You got more for me?

ER: Oh, yeah. This one sort of sets the stage. The Sector Command forces are in space, in the middle of a war, and realized they’ve walked into a trap. The ships in Captain Rothchild’s fleet are either dead in space or on their way to being there. As the captain prepares to make the most of what little time they have left, the crew finds themselves facing an unknown ship—a late entry to the battle.

Rothchild pivoted his chair toward Quel-Sa’s sensor station, intent on asking her what had just happened, when she likewise turned to him to make an announcement.

“Captain, there’s another ship entering the quadrant.”

It was too much to hope for a miracle, but Rothchild made the query anyway. “One of ours?”

Quel-Sa’s dark eyes narrowed as she studied her display. “No, sir. That is, I don’t think so, sir.”

Stephen had never known Quel-Sa to give such enigmatic answers. The fact that she seemed unsure was more than enough to enhance his curiosity. “Explain.”

“The design of the hull seems to be a conglomeration of UCS and Jidoan technologies.” Talia Quel-Sa then turned to face her captain with a look of apprehension. “We don’t have anything like that in the fleet, sir. At least, not that I’m aware of.”

With a heavy sigh, Stephen turned to regard the view of empty space stretched out before the cruiser Tripoli. There was only one answer to the riddle, and he instantly knew exactly who that ship belonged to and who was captaining her. He felt a sense of satisfaction at having achieved the goal originally set forth to him by Sector Command several months earlier. The reports about the traitor being on Jido were spot-on, and now Rothchild had confirmed it, but he also knew that he probably wouldn’t live through the day to report it to anyone in the Unified government.

I

Set several years prior to the events of the Kestrel Saga novels, Origins is a new series that chronicles adventures taking place during the Great Galactic War between the Unified Collaboration of Systems and the Kafaran Alliance.

Not only is Traitor Winds now available on Amazon, but The Kestrel Saga, a three-in-one Kindle compilation which includes The Army of Light, Icarus, and Second Earth, will be on sale this Saturday, March 8, for half price all day. Get the whole set!

Stephen can be found at www.stephenfender.com, on Facebook, and on Twitter @StephenAFender.

As always:

You can find S.K. Anthony in a number of places. She's on Twitter @SKathAnthony, her website is www.skanthony.com, her Facebook page is S Katherine Anthony, and on occasional occasions, she'll be right here with me, drinking coffee and laughing it up over our latest plans and schemes. And possibly even talking about books and writing. 

You can find me here. I'm always here.

New Release: Born Hunter by Dave Rudden

I recently had the pleasure of editing Dave Rudden's Born Hunter, one of the novellas in his Age of Humanity series.

We started working together when Dave decided to rewrite his books, and I was really impressed with his attitude. He pulled Born Hunter from the shelves, almost completely gutted it, and came through with a story that was better than the original. 

The book's description:

There are things in this world that we choose to ignore. Witches, vampires and werewolves prowl in the shadows and wait to strike. They hide in our nightmares, bringing fear to our children.

Drew Singer was born to hunt the creatures and keep them confined to our dreams.

What scares a man who hunts nightmares for a living? Drew is about to find out.

You can grab Born Hunter from Amazon for only 99 cents on Kindle, and read all about Drew Singer and his family, direct descendants in a line of hunters . . . hunters of vampires, werewolves, and other magical things.

Be on the lookout for the other four books in the Age of Humanity series over the upcoming months, too!

Coffee Chat 2.0 with Author S.K. Anthony: Revisions

If you haven't gotten around to reading the first Coffee Chat with S.K. Anthony, I'd suggest you take a moment to do so before even attempting to follow the conversation in this one. It's not easy to keep up with us on a good day; no sense starting off behind the curve.

I'm so thankful to have Stephen King back with me again today. We'll just refer to her as S.K. for ease and clarity, just in case the "other" Stephen King decides to show up. For the record, I did ask him, but he doesn't have a special coffee cup to match ours, and frankly, I think he was a little intimidated at the idea of trying to keep up with two overly-caffeinated women. Either way, S.K. is here and I'm glad she's still willing to talk to me.

ER: So what's been happening since our last interview? I'm asking this as if I don't know, because you and I both know we talk to each other almost every day . . . but for the purposes of Coffee Chat, we can pretend we only talk here on Easy Reader. We'll have to keep that a secret, though, so remind me not to type it in later.

SKA: Okay, if I don't forget to remember, I will remind you to take that bit out. Since the last time we talked . . . let's see, I drank more coffee, I tickled the kids, and I worked on some revisions. I'm so glad no one gets to see my first drafts. Goodness me . . . I'm so talented at making lots of mistakes the first time around that I'm even in awe of myself. What can I say? I'm that good at being bad. What have you been up to? And surprise me; tell me something I don't already know . . . GO!

ER: No pressure, no pressure. I think you already know I drank more coffee, so I can't use that one. My eighteen-year-old son (Mr. Green Eggs and Ham himself) is the only kid within reach, so I'm not going to risk tickling him. I did some edits this week for a horror story and scared myself. I now have an occasional facial tic and keep seeing odd movements out of my peripheral vision. I can't imagine how much more scared I would have been, had I been reading it straight up and not for edits.

SKA: I think it would be a fun experiment for you to tickle Mr. Green Eggs and Ham (great post, that one!). [laughing] A facial tic . . . scary books would do that to me, also, but then I would have wine and probably forget all about it. Speaking of, imagine if we had "Wine Chats." I'll bet it would like Coffee Chats but on steroids. Oh, my.

ER: I also received a really cool prologue for a new book and edited it by mistake. (Sorry, Stephen. Not my fault. It looked ready.) So I suppose I could use the excuse that I was trying out the Wine Chat all on my own.

SKA: Skipping ahead and having all the fun on your own with the wine. I'm not sure how I feel about this.

ER: [applying diversionary tactics] So let's get down to business! Because I'm fairly sure that was our original intent . . .

How's the new book coming? Do you have Static on the brain these days?

SKA: Okay, so the book. Yes, my hair is very Einstein-like. Not because of intelligence, contrary to my kids' popular belief, but thanks to all the Static-ness going on. The first draft has been read through by Mildred Loudermilk and she left a lot of notes for me. Now the real fun begins!

ER: Well, I already started having fun, so you have some catching up to do.

What's your first step after finishing the first draft? Obviously, you read through it, but do you look for certain things during that first time through, or do you just read it to see if it flows?

SKA: After finishing my first draft, I do a happy dance and I smile. Then I sit and cringe because that's when the real work starts for me. I like to revise a lot, so I focus on different aspects each time. The first time I'm writing I go for the general idea and the characters' journeys. Second time, I focus on the big plot, more detailed descriptions, and character voices. The third time, I try to make sure I have things explained well, and that I have the humor splashed around along with the emotional moments.

I check on facts (dates/timeline/repetition), and from there on, I fix and delete, fix and delete, and fix . . . as much as I can until my wine runs out. Then I send it off to one CP [critique partner] and revise again while hubby gets me more wine—

ER: Good man you've got there.

SKA: —and then I send it to my other CP & revise again while I chat with you. Then it goes to one or two betas and I revise again.

[ER runs off to refill coffee, exhausted from hearing all about the labor of others.]

SKA: Then I have a CP give it another go before I kill myself, and then if I can't do anything else to it, I send it to you so you can do your thing. [Breathes for just a moment.] Yeah . . . that's what I do.

ER: And you know I have to ask: If you read it out loud, do you read each character's dialogue in a different voice? 'Cause I would.

SKA: [laughing again] I "hear" the voices and make up my face according to who is talking and what is being said when I write it. When I'm reading out loud toward the end of the revisions, I actually try (really hard) not to make different voices, because I want to make sure the words themselves work to imply the tone I mean to imply. I'm not sure how to explain that, but I think you'll understand.

ER: I do. If you're able to use the right words, you can eliminate a lot of dialogue tags or adverbs. When McCoy from Star Trek delivers his, "I'm a doctor, not a magician/juggler/garbageman!" line, if it were written in a book, we don't need "he shouted" added to the end. Nor would we need to add any adverbs to clarify. The words themselves show the frustration.

SKA: Every reader has their way of approaching a book and the way the characters sound to them. If I talk to myself as if I'm them [the characters], of course I would think it sounds right, but if I try to speak straight up, I'm more aware of anything that sounds "off."

ER: So let's focus on the revisions for a moment. Unless you want me to do some of my character voices for you, of course. [Begins singing like Mary Poppins, since that's the only accent that works easily. Stops abruptly upon realizing people are home.]

You get asked to read a lot of books/manuscripts for review/advice, it seems. Of the books you find . . . um . . . let's say "lacking" in some way, can you point your finger to a lack of revisions as a running theme? What jumps out at you?

SKA: At the moment, "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" jumps out at me . . . you mentioned Mary Poppins . . . so anyway . . .

Yes, I do beta read a fair amount of manuscripts, but that's before they're published, so revisions would, of course, be lacking. In regards to published books that are also lacking something . . . it's hard to say. I feel like the problem might be revisions, but that's probably because that's my process. For the author, that might just be how they want their stories told, and I'm the one who just didn't connect. Since I can't outline for the life of me—I know how, but I just don't feel free enough to keep writing with a detailed outline; I rather pants around—but if they [other authors] outline and this is their story, I can't say they're wrong. Just that it wasn't for me.

ER: I almost followed that. I do get it, though: you're making allowances for personal writing styles. But what brings the extra "polish," so to speak?

SKA: The biggest mistake I think we can all make is to rush. Yes, we have a deadline. But you know what? At the end of the day, it's better to push back the dates and make sure everything's as good as you can get it, rather than to screw yourself over. Letting your manuscript sit for awhile and then going back to it with a fresh mind helps a lot as well. And I'm not saying I know much about this—I'm still learning—but it's what works for me. 

ER: I think you know more than you realize. When I first read Kinetic, my first thought was that it didn't have the feel of a first-time author. All those revisions pay off. It shouldn't take twenty years to produce a novel, but it shouldn't only take twenty days, either. The reader will notice.

SKA: I know that to the best of my current ability, I gave Kinetic my all, and I'm proud of what I wrote. My sixth-grade teacher once told our class to make sure we were proud of anything that carries our name, and that advice has always stayed with me (I'm sure Stephen King would appreciate that). Maybe I'll look back at it a few years down the road and want to shoot myself, but I will always be able to say confidently that I gave it everything I had. And at the end of the day that's what readers deserve. 

ER: Well, we're out of coffee, so the rest will have to wait until after the holidays. We'll be seeing you in a couple weeks!

You can find S.K. Anthony in a number of places. She's on Twitter @SKathAnthony, her website is www.skanthony.com, her Facebook page is S Katherine Anthony, and on occasional occasions, she'll be right here with me, drinking coffee and laughing it up over our latest plans and schemes. And possibly even talking about books and writing. 

You can find me here. I'm always here.

Coffee Chat with Author S.K. Anthony

ER: Today's interview is with author S.K. Anthony, whose debut novel, Kinetic (The Luminaries) hit the shelves a few months ago. Our mutual love of coffee drew us together, and my life hasn't been the same since our first online chat.

I have many burning questions for her, so this particular interview may end up being a series of events. We'll have to see how much she can handle before she changes her email address, adopts a fake name, and unfriends me on Facebook.

SKA: As long as you keep the coffee coming, I'll keep showing up. Otherwise, prepare to be ignored.

ER: While I'm on the topic of fake names, let's talk about yours. I understand you write under a pseudonym, but don't you think using the name "Stephen King" will be confusing to readers? Some might see it as a shameless way to get instant book sales.

SKA: Congratulations. You are the first clever person to realize my scheme. Luckily, I had an answer prepared in case anyone questioned my motives: I'm doing it for Stephen King's fans. You see, Stephen and I are pretty much the same—but just the opposite—so if they wanted to read more of his work . . . in a much different light . . . they can buy my book.

Speaking of my book, Kinetic is now available on Amazon! Look it up: Stephen King Anthony . . . S.K. Anthony for short.

ER: S.K. Anthony sure beats when you were considering using the name Mildred Loudermilk. I'm glad someone talked you down from that ledge. Not that there's anything wrong with the Mildred Loudermilks of this world . . .

SKA: Well, this is awkward . . . I only considered using Mildred Loudermilk because it's one of my real names. I do suppose it's a good thing I didn't go for it; now I can keep my anonymity intact. I will say, though, that I stand by it. I think it's a very strong name that demands attention, and I might consider using it for my future band. How does The Loudermilks sound?

ER: What inspired the first stirrings of ideas for Kinetic? And did I really give you all your best ideas, or did you come up with any on your own?

SKA: The first stirrings of Kinetic? Probably a coffee stirrer. On coffee, anyone can save the world . . . and by "anyone," I mean Annie Fox. Also, of course you gave me the best ideas, but I was smart about it. I wanted to make sure you didn't sue me for copyrights and such, so I wrote it directly from your mind before we met. Whatcha think about the Mildred Loudermilks of the world now, huh? We kan be zmarts!

So let me flip this around . . .

How did you come up with all your magnificent ideas for Kinetic? You know, before I stole them.

ER: I was toying with the idea of writing my autobiography, but I didn't think anyone would believe me—especially people who knew me personally. So I wrote out a rough outline and read it silently every night for weeks, hoping that someone, somewhere would "catch" my brain waves.

SKA: I had my wave net waiting . . .

ER: Exactly. And the first words you wrote were . . .?

SKA: "If I gave myself some time, I know I wouldn't have been able to control myself."

ER: Not so coincidentally, the very words I would have written.

I want to know how many rewrites you estimate you went through before you showed it to a critique partner.

SKA: Seven or eight, I think.

ER: Did he/she like it?

SKA: She said she liked it and gave me a bunch of notes. 

ER: Were you prepared to tell her she was full of it if she said anything negative?

SKA: I'd begged her to read it and break my heart. I told her I didn't want praises because that wouldn't help me fix issues; I gave her full permission to rip it apart.

ER: Did you feel broken enough by the time she was done, or did you still feel good, and therefore tell her she needed to re-read it?

SKA: Nah, funny enough, I never felt offended or that she was wrong. Even with the things she misunderstood, it clearly showed that I hadn't explained them enough. The things she did point out? If I agreed with it, I changed it; if I didn't agree, I made sure I fixed the details so they could showcase what I meant.

ER: In Kinetic, the characters have some pretty amazing powers. [Note: accurate to my biographical details so far . . .] Other than the superpower stuff, do your characters say or do things you'd never do in real life?

SKA: Yes, I'm a chicken. I wouldn't be running into the line of fire like they do.

ER: When you're writing controversial scenes, do you have a voice in the back of your mind that says, "Remember, your boss/neighbor/friend/pastor is going to see this and think you're a drug addict/pervert/big meanie"?

SKA: Yes! Kinetic was darker, actually. I deleted a lot of things, and in the end, I'm happy I did. Looking back now they were stupid. 

ER: How do you make that voice shut up?

SKA: I give it wine.

ER: Is it hard to get rid of things you've written? Put another way, have you ever had to sacrifice something cool for the sake of the story?

SKA: It's so odd . . . I find it difficult to sacrifice things I like but I have no problem hitting that "delete" button. I have a matter-of-fact way of looking at it: if it doesn't help or work, it has to go. I should say I copy/paste and hope I can use the ideas in the future, but I've also just deleted a lot. 

ER: Besides, it's not like I'm—I mean, you're—going to write only one book.

SKA: Exactly! I had already started Kevin's [book 2] last year, but I made changes to Kinetic that would come across here, so I had to delete stuff. Then I got close to 40k words and I got another idea—and out of that, I barely kept 7k. The rest is all new.

ER: Does it even resemble the original idea at all?

SKA: [laughs] Barely. I tell you, I like to delete. Ahem, YOU like to delete. By the way, take it easy on the deletions. My brain can hardly keep up with your changes, Lynda.

ER: You're so obedient to my brain wavy-ness. How about if I allow you to choose the title? After all, your name . . . one of your names . . . is going to be on the front.

SKA: Oh, can I? Can I?

ER: Unless you want me to call it Telepathic: Mildred Speaks. 

SKA: Hang on, I think I feel the brain waves doing something to me; it's almost electrifying and white-noise-ish. I am at a standstill . . . hold on . . .

I think: STATIC.

ER: That was my second choice, I swear!

SKA: I'll bet! So, dear Annie Fox . . . I mean, Lynda . . . does Static (The Luminaries #2) work for you?

ER: Yes, indeed, it does.

You can find S.K. Anthony in a number of places. She's on Twitter @SKathAnthony, her website is www.skanthony.com, her Facebook page is S Katherine Anthony, and on occasional occasions, she'll be right here with me, drinking coffee and laughing it up over our latest plans and schemes. And possibly even talking about books and writing. Her band, The Loudermilks, will be posting videos to YouTube at a future date.

Free Book + Honest Review = Another Free Book

Author Stephen Fender is offering a great deal for those who have not yet read the first two of his military space science fiction novels in The Kestrel Saga. First, let me tell you why you want to take advantage of this (it's my blog, after all—not his) and then we'll get back to the Fabulous Mr. Fender.

FIrst of all, I can't stress the importance of leaving a review after finishing a book. Although technically, reviews are for the benefit of future readers, they also help indie authors in many ways.

Self-publishing gives a lot of freedom for authors in the form of creative rights, editing options, cover design, and more. However, the downside to having all that freedom comes in the form of self-promotion.

If you're an author who's been fortunate enough to work with a publishing house, the publishers do the promoting for you. I'm sure the author doesn't sit back and wait for the big bucks to come rolling in, but face it: the big-name publishers have connections and know how to use them. This adds up to lots of exposure in very visible places.

Indie authors not only write the book, but they scrape up the money for an editor. They are then expected to format the book themselves, and either design their own cover or hire an artist to design one. By the time the book is ready to launch, the hard part is just getting started: making people see it.

With thousands of new books released each month, I'm amazed anyone gets noticed amid the sheer volume. There are promoters out there who, for a price, will get your book synopsis (and perhaps an interview) posted on a variety of blogs. Good stuff, all of it, but once again, the average reader may still not run into these sites unless they're already immersed in all things bibliophilic. What does the average book purchaser look at?

Amazon. Smashwords. Goodreads. Nook.

Yep, they look at reviews. An indie author can be selling thousands of books, but if there are only a handful of reviews posted for each title, a purchaser may hesitate to try out an unfamiliar name.

So here's the fun deal (since, when all is said and done, Stephen Fender is a fun guy):

Contact Mr. Fender through his website, www.stephenfender.com on his "About" page and he'll provide you with a copy of the first Kestrel book, The Army of Light, free of charge in exchange for an honest review. You can post your review on Amazon or Goodreads (or both), and he'll provide the second book, Icarus, with the same deal. Free book for honest review. If you haven't read either of them, you have the opportunity to read them at no cost to you. If you've read the first one and haven't left a review, do it. Then get the second one free and review it, too.

And that's not all! Stephen Fender will send you a primo set of Ginsu knives—

No, wait. He won't do that. BUT if you, the reader, post reviews for both books prior to December 15, he will provide you with an early (and—yes—FREE) copy of Second Earth, the third installment in the series. There is pretty much no way you're going to get the short end of this deal. I've read all three (multiple times, in fact) and I can tell you in all honesty that I'm already anxiously awaiting the next one, because I've enjoyed Shawn Kestrel's world so much. (See my earlier post that tells a little bit about Mr. Kestrel.)

Good deal? Good deal. Go get 'em.

Literally.