Day 36: Facebook; the Serial Novel
I’m getting a late start today because I decided to give Facebook another try, thanks to the marketing books I read yesterday. I really disliked Facebook for a while because the newsfeed was very overwhelming with posts from people I hardly interacted with as opposed to people whose posts I regularly liked, and sometimes from days or weeks earlier rather than the latest posts. Also, I was friends with not only my readers, but also with people from church and my relatives, and I thought that it was not very responsible of me to have strangers on my friends list who would have access to the profiles of the teenagers from my church (not that I expected strangers on my friends list to look at their profiles, but the option was there).
So I unfriended everyone except people who had physically met my husband or my parents. I tried interacting with readers through my Author Page on Facebook, but then Facebook changed their algorithms (again) and suddenly I got no traffic because posts from my page weren’t being featured on the news feeds of the people who had actually liked my page. I had to pay for that privilege, and I didn’t have money like that.
So I stopped using Facebook. It actually wasn’t that big a deal because I had very few reader interactions at that point, except for maybe once a month when someone mentioned my Author Page in their Facebook post or sent me a message on Facebook.
I’m still not entirely sure if using Facebook again now is a good idea, but at the very least I can respond to people in a more timely fashion. Also, I noticed recently (like in the past year) that people who have liked my Author Page started again responding to posts I had automatically posted on Facebook via Hootsuite or my blog. So maybe the Facebook algorithm is changing again.
***
Today I’m working on a serial novel that I had planned to write to use in marketing my Lady Wynwood’s Spies series. The serial novels has main characters who are not in the main volumes of the series (well, not much, anyway), and also some minor characters who ARE in the main volumes of the series.
Originally, the plot I had come up with for the serial novel didn’t have much to do with the plot of the main volumes of the series, but in plotting volumes 3-10 over the past month, I came up with a particular plot point for the serial novel that was somewhat vital for the main series. So now, the serial novel takes place roughly after volume 5 and before volume 9 of the series. Anyone picking up volume 9 could read the serial novel, but technically, they don’t have to. However, anyone reading the series needs to read volume 1 before they read the serial novel, since it has a spoiler for volume 1.
Writing about all this has really gotten me excited for the serial novel! I didn’t do Snowflake steps 2 (1-paragraphy summary), 4 (one-page synopsis), or 6 (expanded synopsis) for the serial novel, so I’m starting from almost the bottom today. Luckily I had spent several months over the past year brainstorming the characters for this serial novel (Stage 1 in my book creation process) and I have a vague idea of how I want the novel to progress, so hopefully it won’t be too difficult to get through the Snowflake steps.
If I’m lucky, I’ll get through Snowflake steps 2 and 4 today, and get a significant chunk of Snowflake step 6 done. Snowflake step 6 is going to be a bit longer than the main volumes in the series, because this is a serial novel and has a few more shorter scenes.
***
Okay, I lied. I actually need to do some more characterization work. Because I changed the plot when I decided to incorporate the serial novel into the main series, I eliminated some characters, created new characters, and changed the roles of characters so now their characterization notes don’t make sense. Also, I didn’t have as much information completed on some characters as I thought, so I’m doing a lot of brainstorming into their personalities, spiritual conflicts, and romantic conflicts.
***
Well, I wasn’t efficient AT ALL. I got some work done, but my stomach has been really upset for about 3 days due to eating something that flared up my IBS. The queasiness is kind of a creativity killer, and I took a break to read a marketing book for an hour or so to get my mind off the queasiness.
Reading was still writing-related work, but I’m disappointed I wasn’t able to write more. I worked more hours than I expected, but it’s still a long road to reach that Mythical Tier of 8 hours of writing work each day.
I still have a mountain of characterization I need to do before I even start on Snowflake step 2.
Time spent writing: 5 hours, 8 minutes
Time spent doing other writing-related business: 5 hours, 39 minutes (this includes a couple hours of reading marketing books and also a couple hours of blogging)
My takeaway for today: Facebook isn’t so bad.
So I unfriended everyone except people who had physically met my husband or my parents. I tried interacting with readers through my Author Page on Facebook, but then Facebook changed their algorithms (again) and suddenly I got no traffic because posts from my page weren’t being featured on the news feeds of the people who had actually liked my page. I had to pay for that privilege, and I didn’t have money like that.
So I stopped using Facebook. It actually wasn’t that big a deal because I had very few reader interactions at that point, except for maybe once a month when someone mentioned my Author Page in their Facebook post or sent me a message on Facebook.
I’m still not entirely sure if using Facebook again now is a good idea, but at the very least I can respond to people in a more timely fashion. Also, I noticed recently (like in the past year) that people who have liked my Author Page started again responding to posts I had automatically posted on Facebook via Hootsuite or my blog. So maybe the Facebook algorithm is changing again.
***
Today I’m working on a serial novel that I had planned to write to use in marketing my Lady Wynwood’s Spies series. The serial novels has main characters who are not in the main volumes of the series (well, not much, anyway), and also some minor characters who ARE in the main volumes of the series.
Originally, the plot I had come up with for the serial novel didn’t have much to do with the plot of the main volumes of the series, but in plotting volumes 3-10 over the past month, I came up with a particular plot point for the serial novel that was somewhat vital for the main series. So now, the serial novel takes place roughly after volume 5 and before volume 9 of the series. Anyone picking up volume 9 could read the serial novel, but technically, they don’t have to. However, anyone reading the series needs to read volume 1 before they read the serial novel, since it has a spoiler for volume 1.
Writing about all this has really gotten me excited for the serial novel! I didn’t do Snowflake steps 2 (1-paragraphy summary), 4 (one-page synopsis), or 6 (expanded synopsis) for the serial novel, so I’m starting from almost the bottom today. Luckily I had spent several months over the past year brainstorming the characters for this serial novel (Stage 1 in my book creation process) and I have a vague idea of how I want the novel to progress, so hopefully it won’t be too difficult to get through the Snowflake steps.
If I’m lucky, I’ll get through Snowflake steps 2 and 4 today, and get a significant chunk of Snowflake step 6 done. Snowflake step 6 is going to be a bit longer than the main volumes in the series, because this is a serial novel and has a few more shorter scenes.
***
Okay, I lied. I actually need to do some more characterization work. Because I changed the plot when I decided to incorporate the serial novel into the main series, I eliminated some characters, created new characters, and changed the roles of characters so now their characterization notes don’t make sense. Also, I didn’t have as much information completed on some characters as I thought, so I’m doing a lot of brainstorming into their personalities, spiritual conflicts, and romantic conflicts.
***
Well, I wasn’t efficient AT ALL. I got some work done, but my stomach has been really upset for about 3 days due to eating something that flared up my IBS. The queasiness is kind of a creativity killer, and I took a break to read a marketing book for an hour or so to get my mind off the queasiness.
Reading was still writing-related work, but I’m disappointed I wasn’t able to write more. I worked more hours than I expected, but it’s still a long road to reach that Mythical Tier of 8 hours of writing work each day.
I still have a mountain of characterization I need to do before I even start on Snowflake step 2.
Time spent writing: 5 hours, 8 minutes
Time spent doing other writing-related business: 5 hours, 39 minutes (this includes a couple hours of reading marketing books and also a couple hours of blogging)
My takeaway for today: Facebook isn’t so bad.
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