Day 320: New and shiny
I'm not sure if it's good or bad, but instead of reading last night, I brainstormed a new fantasy series. I had actually come up with the story idea a long time ago, and I had also come up with a separate fantasy world, and so last night I merged the two.
The reason is because I had heard about the new Kindle Vella coming out, and it inspired me because I actually really like serial novels (well duh, considering I'm writing one). I don't really have time to be writing a new story, but at the same time I couldn't help thinking of new ideas. I suppose it's that whole thing about being attracted to whatever's new and shiny.
The fun thing is that this fantasy story idea perfectly lends itself to a serial novel, because it's actually quite episodic, although there is also an overarching plot. I wish I could write faster!
I think I'm crazy. I'm actually considering writing the story in small pieces, 300-500 words a day, and see how it goes. I could write it like a manga, in short episodes. That would be so fun! If only I could write faster!
***
I listened to the Dear Writer, You Need to Quit audiobook on my walk today and listened to the chapter on reality. Nothing was really new to me, because I know by now that I am not the type of writer whose books will sell like gangbusters, because I simply do not write to market. I know my books only appeal to a small percentage of the market, and I'm okay with that because I'm writing only for those specific people. I'm very fortunate in that I don't need to depend on my writing money to survive.
But she also talked about how the big publishing houses survive, and it's basically having a few authors who sell like crazy and make all the money for the house, and they basically pay the bills for all the other authors. The editors keep acquiring other authors to try to see if their books will sell well like their top tier, but if the new authors' books don't sell well, the house doesn't lose that much money (most of the time) because their big name authors are balancing the loss.
I had heard this many years ago from agents and editors I talked to at writing conferences, so this is not new to me. But it reminded me of the business model for the big publishers, and it also reminded me that the best thing for an author (or rather, for me) is to write different series to see which one might sell better than the others. I will likely have one series that will sell modestly well, but I need to try different series to find it.
I can't really rely on the sales data for the books I published with my publishers because their sales had been influenced by the marketing department's efforts and the reputation of the publishing house. So I have to look at the sales of my self-published books. Unfortunately, I have very few of them, so I just have to keep writing and collect more data.
Right now, I have the Lady Wynwood's Spies series in the Regency genre, and I have two Christian Romantic Suspense novellas in my Sonoma series, which was published by Love Inspired. I also have a Christian Contemporary Romance novella in my Sushi series, which was published by Zondervan. I also have a devotional and some writing worksheets, but I don't want to count them because I don't intend to write a lot of nonfiction.
So I will definitely continue my Lady Wynwood's Spies series. I have planned the storyline for the entire series, which will be a total of 10 books, 2 prequels, and at least one but possibly 2 side novels. 3 of the main books and the 2 prequels are already written.
However, since it's a serial novel, I won't know how well the series sells until after I've written all the books, since the storyline won't have an ending until book 10. For other series where the books are standalone, you can get away with stopping the series in the middle if it doesn't sell since the storyline hasn't been left on a cliffhanger, but if you stop a serial in the middle, it leaves readers bitterly disappointed. I've seen it happen with manga series (which are essentially comic serial novels)--manga publishers will sometimes let an author have 2 or 3 episodes to finish a series that has been canceled rather than just cutting it off.
Other books I have in the works is the Warubozu Spa Chronicles (a series set in Hawaii), which will be Christian Romantic Suspense. The current novella I'm working on is more Christian Contemporary Romance than Romantic Suspense, but that's mostly because of the requirements of the multi-author box set this novella will be included in. But since it's a novella and not a full length novel, I always intended to use this book as a Reader Magnet and not sell it separately as an ebook, so it doesn't matter if it's not exactly the same genre-feel as the other books will be.
The Warubozu series is not technically a serial novel, because each book will be standalone, but I have plotted it very much like a lot of the paranormal romance series I've read, with an overarching storyline that won't be resolved until the last book. So in a sense, it is rather like a serial novel. But I might know how well it's selling from a few books. However, I'm not sure if I'd be able to just cut it off or end it prematurely if it's not selling well.
I intend to continue my other Regency series, the Gentlemen Quartet, although I'd have to get the rights back from Zondervan for the first book in the series, Prelude for a Lord, and I'm not entirely sure they'd do it. The only way to guarantee I'd get the rights back would be to try to buy them, and I just don't have the money right now. Also, I don't want to start this series until after Lady Wynwood's Spies is completed.
And after that? I have vague ideas for a dystopian series that will actually continue my Protection for Hire series. And also the fantasy serial novel I mentioned above.
I woke up this morning and thought I was just being Crazy Camy like usual in even thinking about it, but after listening to the audiobook, I realized it wasn't quite as stupid an idea as I first thought. Just like how the big publishers buy lots of different authors to essentially "see what sticks" and hope for at least one big hit, I could also try yet another genre to see how that sells.
A new fantasy series is easier than my dystopian/Protection for Hire series because I'd have to get the rights back from Zondervan for Protection for Hire, and again, I might need to buy them back. Since it's a serial, I'd need to update it probably once a week, but each update wouldn't need to be super long.
But the bigger problem with this idea is that I am thinking of writing it while concurrently writing another series. I write slow enough as it is! Also I had issues before with switching headspace to work on a new story, so I'm not sure if I could do it.
The only other option would be to write it entirely and then post the entire thing, but that's not usually how a serial novel works. Many times authors will get feedback as they're writing it and adjust the story.
I'm probably excited about the fantasy story because it's cool and new and shiny. For now, I should finish the current novella (which is way overdue). Then I could try doing both the fantasy serial novel and my next Regency novel at the same time and see if it's even possible.
***
I discovered something interesting (to me, at least) when I started writing today. I was doing cycling (editing what I'd written previously before starting writing new stuff) without realizing it.
Before, with my faster writing style, I would do the cycling only after the scene had been finished. I would self-edit the scene I'd finished the day before, then start writing. If a scene took several days to finish, I found myself editing the beginning multiple times, which got tedious. So I changed it to where if I hadn't finished an entire scene, I wouldn't do cycling that day.
But now, for some reason I'm doing the cycling even when I haven't finished the scene. I hadn't noticed it until now and I'm not entirely sure why I'm doing it. Maybe it's because I'm writing slower but also I'm giving myself permission to polish as I'm writing, and cycling back to edit what I wrote is just an extension of that polishing.
Regardless, when I do this cycling on what I wrote yesterday, I feel like the writing is the best I can make it.
***
UGH! I set my Pomodoro timer and did well for 2 Pomodoros, but then I forgot to set it again and ended up wasting time when I got distracted by looking at my 4thewords.com quests. I don't know if I would have still been distracted even if I'd set the timer, but I think I still need to set the timer! It would have at least made a noise when it went off and shaken me out of the distraction.
***
Despite the distraction, I wrote almost 2000 words today, which is pretty good.
Also, the Pomodoros really do help me to focus (assuming I remember to set the timer). Sometimes the timer runs out before I finish a monster on 4thewords, though, so I will usually keep working until the monster is defeated, then take my break.
When I was writing during this last session, I also noticed a bad habit I do. I would often reach a pause in the rhythm of the prose, and I'd get stuck. This is nothing new--the same thing would happen when I was vomit-writing, but I'd usually just think of something--anything--and keep going, figuring I'd fix it later. Now that I'm being more thoughtful in my writing and I'm polishing as I go, I will often stop at those points for a long time to try to think about what to write next. Sometimes my mind would wander, which is not always a good thing.
I don't like that feeling of being stuck, and I wanted to avoid the temptation to let my mind be distracted, so I decided to slightly alter the way I was writing. I wasn't exactly vomit-writing, but I started writing down all the things I could think of to write at that point. Sometimes what I wrote was more like a list of different things I could say, sometimes it was a rough sketch of a dialogue. Then looked back over the writing, figured out what to keep, spent some time polishing it, and then I repeated the process.
It's not exactly writing quickly like I did before. I'm not rushing through the prose and intending to fix it later. I was consciously writing a bit faster, but when I had reached an arbitrary stopping point (usually a paragraph or two), I'd stop and then go back and polish the prose.
If I stopped my writing session to do something (like cook dinner) and came back to it later, I found myself doing the cycling mentioned earlier, in which case I did even more polishing of the writing before moving on.
This is still a slower writing speed than normal, but it's a little faster than what I'd been doing earlier because I'm not wasting quite as much time paused and wondering what to write next. At the same time, I'm still doing the very detailed polishing that I want to do on the writing.
I don't know if I explained that very well, but it's essentially a slightly different way of writing from yesterday, or even this morning. It's not quite vomit-writing, but it's still pushing me to come up with something to type rather than stalling, which seems to help keep me from getting too stuck. I guess it's like writing momentum--it's a little harder to get started moving, but it's easier to keep it moving once it's going.
At the same time, I'm still spending time carefully polishing the writing before moving on so that it's not a mess that needs to be fixed later. And if I continue the cycling I've been (unaware I've been) doing, the prose will be the absolute best I can make it. That makes me pretty happy.
I'm still not getting into the 1000 words per hour pace I used to have, but I think it's a little better than staring at the screen, because that's usually when my mind would wander. Sometimes it would wander back, but other times I've become distracted.
I will try this method again on Monday when I get back to the writing. I hope I can refine this method and maybe improve my writing speed (even though I just said I wouldn't focus on my writing speed! I can't help it, I am impatient and I want to write like the Indy 500.)
Outlining: time spent: 0
Blocking: time spent: 0
Editing: Time spent: 0
Writing: Time spent: 4 hours, 14 minutes
Writing: Total number of words: 1932 words
Writing: Overall writing speed: 451 words/hour
Time spent doing other writing-related business: 1 hour, 59 minutes
My takeaway for today: When I stall, instead of just stopping, I should try to force myself to write anything that comes to mind, then go back and polish it after the rush.
The reason is because I had heard about the new Kindle Vella coming out, and it inspired me because I actually really like serial novels (well duh, considering I'm writing one). I don't really have time to be writing a new story, but at the same time I couldn't help thinking of new ideas. I suppose it's that whole thing about being attracted to whatever's new and shiny.
The fun thing is that this fantasy story idea perfectly lends itself to a serial novel, because it's actually quite episodic, although there is also an overarching plot. I wish I could write faster!
I think I'm crazy. I'm actually considering writing the story in small pieces, 300-500 words a day, and see how it goes. I could write it like a manga, in short episodes. That would be so fun! If only I could write faster!
***
I listened to the Dear Writer, You Need to Quit audiobook on my walk today and listened to the chapter on reality. Nothing was really new to me, because I know by now that I am not the type of writer whose books will sell like gangbusters, because I simply do not write to market. I know my books only appeal to a small percentage of the market, and I'm okay with that because I'm writing only for those specific people. I'm very fortunate in that I don't need to depend on my writing money to survive.
But she also talked about how the big publishing houses survive, and it's basically having a few authors who sell like crazy and make all the money for the house, and they basically pay the bills for all the other authors. The editors keep acquiring other authors to try to see if their books will sell well like their top tier, but if the new authors' books don't sell well, the house doesn't lose that much money (most of the time) because their big name authors are balancing the loss.
I had heard this many years ago from agents and editors I talked to at writing conferences, so this is not new to me. But it reminded me of the business model for the big publishers, and it also reminded me that the best thing for an author (or rather, for me) is to write different series to see which one might sell better than the others. I will likely have one series that will sell modestly well, but I need to try different series to find it.
I can't really rely on the sales data for the books I published with my publishers because their sales had been influenced by the marketing department's efforts and the reputation of the publishing house. So I have to look at the sales of my self-published books. Unfortunately, I have very few of them, so I just have to keep writing and collect more data.
Right now, I have the Lady Wynwood's Spies series in the Regency genre, and I have two Christian Romantic Suspense novellas in my Sonoma series, which was published by Love Inspired. I also have a Christian Contemporary Romance novella in my Sushi series, which was published by Zondervan. I also have a devotional and some writing worksheets, but I don't want to count them because I don't intend to write a lot of nonfiction.
So I will definitely continue my Lady Wynwood's Spies series. I have planned the storyline for the entire series, which will be a total of 10 books, 2 prequels, and at least one but possibly 2 side novels. 3 of the main books and the 2 prequels are already written.
However, since it's a serial novel, I won't know how well the series sells until after I've written all the books, since the storyline won't have an ending until book 10. For other series where the books are standalone, you can get away with stopping the series in the middle if it doesn't sell since the storyline hasn't been left on a cliffhanger, but if you stop a serial in the middle, it leaves readers bitterly disappointed. I've seen it happen with manga series (which are essentially comic serial novels)--manga publishers will sometimes let an author have 2 or 3 episodes to finish a series that has been canceled rather than just cutting it off.
Other books I have in the works is the Warubozu Spa Chronicles (a series set in Hawaii), which will be Christian Romantic Suspense. The current novella I'm working on is more Christian Contemporary Romance than Romantic Suspense, but that's mostly because of the requirements of the multi-author box set this novella will be included in. But since it's a novella and not a full length novel, I always intended to use this book as a Reader Magnet and not sell it separately as an ebook, so it doesn't matter if it's not exactly the same genre-feel as the other books will be.
The Warubozu series is not technically a serial novel, because each book will be standalone, but I have plotted it very much like a lot of the paranormal romance series I've read, with an overarching storyline that won't be resolved until the last book. So in a sense, it is rather like a serial novel. But I might know how well it's selling from a few books. However, I'm not sure if I'd be able to just cut it off or end it prematurely if it's not selling well.
I intend to continue my other Regency series, the Gentlemen Quartet, although I'd have to get the rights back from Zondervan for the first book in the series, Prelude for a Lord, and I'm not entirely sure they'd do it. The only way to guarantee I'd get the rights back would be to try to buy them, and I just don't have the money right now. Also, I don't want to start this series until after Lady Wynwood's Spies is completed.
And after that? I have vague ideas for a dystopian series that will actually continue my Protection for Hire series. And also the fantasy serial novel I mentioned above.
I woke up this morning and thought I was just being Crazy Camy like usual in even thinking about it, but after listening to the audiobook, I realized it wasn't quite as stupid an idea as I first thought. Just like how the big publishers buy lots of different authors to essentially "see what sticks" and hope for at least one big hit, I could also try yet another genre to see how that sells.
A new fantasy series is easier than my dystopian/Protection for Hire series because I'd have to get the rights back from Zondervan for Protection for Hire, and again, I might need to buy them back. Since it's a serial, I'd need to update it probably once a week, but each update wouldn't need to be super long.
But the bigger problem with this idea is that I am thinking of writing it while concurrently writing another series. I write slow enough as it is! Also I had issues before with switching headspace to work on a new story, so I'm not sure if I could do it.
The only other option would be to write it entirely and then post the entire thing, but that's not usually how a serial novel works. Many times authors will get feedback as they're writing it and adjust the story.
I'm probably excited about the fantasy story because it's cool and new and shiny. For now, I should finish the current novella (which is way overdue). Then I could try doing both the fantasy serial novel and my next Regency novel at the same time and see if it's even possible.
***
I discovered something interesting (to me, at least) when I started writing today. I was doing cycling (editing what I'd written previously before starting writing new stuff) without realizing it.
Before, with my faster writing style, I would do the cycling only after the scene had been finished. I would self-edit the scene I'd finished the day before, then start writing. If a scene took several days to finish, I found myself editing the beginning multiple times, which got tedious. So I changed it to where if I hadn't finished an entire scene, I wouldn't do cycling that day.
But now, for some reason I'm doing the cycling even when I haven't finished the scene. I hadn't noticed it until now and I'm not entirely sure why I'm doing it. Maybe it's because I'm writing slower but also I'm giving myself permission to polish as I'm writing, and cycling back to edit what I wrote is just an extension of that polishing.
Regardless, when I do this cycling on what I wrote yesterday, I feel like the writing is the best I can make it.
***
UGH! I set my Pomodoro timer and did well for 2 Pomodoros, but then I forgot to set it again and ended up wasting time when I got distracted by looking at my 4thewords.com quests. I don't know if I would have still been distracted even if I'd set the timer, but I think I still need to set the timer! It would have at least made a noise when it went off and shaken me out of the distraction.
***
Despite the distraction, I wrote almost 2000 words today, which is pretty good.
Also, the Pomodoros really do help me to focus (assuming I remember to set the timer). Sometimes the timer runs out before I finish a monster on 4thewords, though, so I will usually keep working until the monster is defeated, then take my break.
When I was writing during this last session, I also noticed a bad habit I do. I would often reach a pause in the rhythm of the prose, and I'd get stuck. This is nothing new--the same thing would happen when I was vomit-writing, but I'd usually just think of something--anything--and keep going, figuring I'd fix it later. Now that I'm being more thoughtful in my writing and I'm polishing as I go, I will often stop at those points for a long time to try to think about what to write next. Sometimes my mind would wander, which is not always a good thing.
I don't like that feeling of being stuck, and I wanted to avoid the temptation to let my mind be distracted, so I decided to slightly alter the way I was writing. I wasn't exactly vomit-writing, but I started writing down all the things I could think of to write at that point. Sometimes what I wrote was more like a list of different things I could say, sometimes it was a rough sketch of a dialogue. Then looked back over the writing, figured out what to keep, spent some time polishing it, and then I repeated the process.
It's not exactly writing quickly like I did before. I'm not rushing through the prose and intending to fix it later. I was consciously writing a bit faster, but when I had reached an arbitrary stopping point (usually a paragraph or two), I'd stop and then go back and polish the prose.
If I stopped my writing session to do something (like cook dinner) and came back to it later, I found myself doing the cycling mentioned earlier, in which case I did even more polishing of the writing before moving on.
This is still a slower writing speed than normal, but it's a little faster than what I'd been doing earlier because I'm not wasting quite as much time paused and wondering what to write next. At the same time, I'm still doing the very detailed polishing that I want to do on the writing.
I don't know if I explained that very well, but it's essentially a slightly different way of writing from yesterday, or even this morning. It's not quite vomit-writing, but it's still pushing me to come up with something to type rather than stalling, which seems to help keep me from getting too stuck. I guess it's like writing momentum--it's a little harder to get started moving, but it's easier to keep it moving once it's going.
At the same time, I'm still spending time carefully polishing the writing before moving on so that it's not a mess that needs to be fixed later. And if I continue the cycling I've been (unaware I've been) doing, the prose will be the absolute best I can make it. That makes me pretty happy.
I'm still not getting into the 1000 words per hour pace I used to have, but I think it's a little better than staring at the screen, because that's usually when my mind would wander. Sometimes it would wander back, but other times I've become distracted.
I will try this method again on Monday when I get back to the writing. I hope I can refine this method and maybe improve my writing speed (even though I just said I wouldn't focus on my writing speed! I can't help it, I am impatient and I want to write like the Indy 500.)
Outlining: time spent: 0
Blocking: time spent: 0
Editing: Time spent: 0
Writing: Time spent: 4 hours, 14 minutes
Writing: Total number of words: 1932 words
Writing: Overall writing speed: 451 words/hour
Time spent doing other writing-related business: 1 hour, 59 minutes
My takeaway for today: When I stall, instead of just stopping, I should try to force myself to write anything that comes to mind, then go back and polish it after the rush.
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