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Month: May 2023

How to Create a Writer Website: Writer SEOWeb design, Start a Writer Website, Writer SEO, Writer Website Design, Writer Website Copyright, Writer Website User Experience Design, Mobile Design, What to Write About, Website Planning, Technology to Help You With Writing, Website Plans, Website Speed

How to Create a Writer Website: Writer SEO

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on May 30, 2023

No one will know about your awesome writer website if you don’t start to pay attention to writer SEO.

And without all the connections on your website you could be making, guess what happens? You miss will out on sales. And you may also miss out on places where you can appear and promote your book. Or libraries where you can have your book.

Note: this is an overview and not the details of any form of SEO, even writer SEO. That would take up a few hundred blog posts at least.

Why Does Writer SEO Matter?

Have you ever wondered how and why the results you get in a search are in the order they’re in? Yes, some of this has to do with paid advertising. But budgets are not infinite. Or, at least, they aren’t for most of us.

But SEO is, in a way, a form of free advertising. Optimizing for search means your post gets placed further up on search results. And that’s good. But is it good enough?

Page 1 or Die

Writer SEO - Sweet Brown saying, ain't nobody got time for that, illustrating the concept of writer SEO
Preach, Sweet Brown.

We live in a hurry-up, impatient, “ain’t nobody got time for that” world. And a good 90% or more of us never bother with the second page of search results!

So, while positive changes in position are nothing to sneeze at, they do not truly matter unless you’re on page 1 of results.

If that seems unfair, odd, and maybe even a reason why the human race is doomed, well, I’m with ya on that.

Yet our preferences do not matter.

Ads Are Outta Control!

But… there’s one problem with writer SEO or really any kind of SEO. We’re all gunning for page 1. And that means that the competition is fierce.

There’s you, me, and large corporations with insanely big budgets. There are people who’ve been doing SEO since before it had a name (or at least it feels that way).  So, how do you compete?

I Got an Itch for a Niche

Exxon is enormous! Their annual ad budget may very well be more than everything I have ever made in my life. And probably ever will.

But they’re not competing in the writing space. Even if their CEO decided to write a book, they would not be my competition. And they might not even really be my competition if their CEO decides to try their hand at writing something in the exact same genre as me.

Is James Patterson my competition? Well, not exactly. Yes, we are both writers. But that’s where the comparison stops. Now, Patterson does write science fiction. But are we really in direct competition? For one thing, a lot of his sci fi stuff is aimed at teens. Mine … is not.

So, maybe I don’t have to worry about him, or at least not too much. Same with JK Rowling and Stephen King, particularly as they don’t really write in my genre.

I’ve Got a Niche to Scratch

Amazon is great about having separate categories which match a ton of niches. Consider horror. Even if vampires, werewolves, wendigos, mummies, and serial killers were all in the same novel or film, so what? They all still have their own sub-niches (if you will) within horror.

Science fiction has a number of well-known niches:

  • Space opera – this is like Star Trek. My novel The Enigman Cave fits this niche, as it’s also following people on a spaceship.
  • Dystopian – this is like Ready Player One. My novels Mettle and Untrustworthy both fit this niche, even though they’re set in different places.
  • Science fiction noir – this is like Blade Runner or I, Robot, where cops and science fiction mix. My Obolonk and Time Addicts trilogies both fit. This is not a large genre and Amazon does not have it as a filter. But the good news is that there might not be a lot of competition…
  • Time travel – this is like the old TV show, The Time Tunnel. Time Addicts fits this niche.
  • Historical science fiction – now, this one’s tricky.

Issues with Historical Science Fiction

Science fiction isn’t normally set too far in the past. Even Stranger Things just goes back to the 1980s.

Without getting into Steampunk, one of the only examples I can think of are the films Time After Time (where HG Wells himself has to chase Jack the Ripper in the modern era) and Somewhere in Time (1970s playwright Richard Collier goes to the turn of the 20th century via hypnosis and falls in love with actress Elise McKenna).

In both stories, someone in the present is writing about the past. It makes sense that it would be a vehicle for a time travel story.

My Real Hub of the Universe trilogy fits this niche of a niche, which is so small that Amazon doesn’t list it as a genre (although at least GoodReads does!). And looking it up often means you find science fiction books written earlier in history, such as The Island of Dr. Moreau.

As a result, when you put that kind of work onto Amazon or the like, your tags and keywords had better be pitch-perfect and utterly on point.

Your Writer Website and Your Niche(s)

I’m not the only author who writes in more than one niche. In fact, many authors who do so will use a pen name or even several pen names.

So, for someone like me, writer SEO means looking at competition in all of these niches. And it means looking at the keywords which the more successful posts (the ones at the top of search, which don’t necessarily belong to bestselling authors) are using.

Keyword Research for Writer SEO

People who do SEO for a living are researching keywords pretty much all the time. It’s a fancy way of trying to determine what people are looking for. If you can give it to them, then you want them to be able to find you. The closer what’s on your website matches their search, the higher up (usually) your content will be in search engine results.

Google’s mission is to match seeker and website owner as closely as possible. Because if a person has a good experience with Google, they’re more likely to use Google than, say, Bing. As a result, Google can charge more for its advertising (and yes, unfortunately, paid ads are dominating the first page of search results. So page 2 can get some love after all—but never settle for anything lower).

Synonyms and Intent

To use an example a different form of art, consider film. Or cinema. AKA movies. Or pictures. AKA Hollywood or Bollywood or the Oscars or BAFTA awards, etc.

What is the difference in intent between these two searches:

  • movie for kids not Disney
  • classic cinema for children

Now, they both pull up lists of movies for the younger set. But the first is more likely to pull up articles about The Land Before Time, whereas the latter might pull up blog posts about The Red Balloon. Between the two searches, the first is more likely to pull up animation, too.

Now consider your books. I’ll use the Time Addicts trilogy as an example.

  • time travel with robots
  • science fiction noir in the far future

Both searches would fit this trilogy. The first gets a lot more hits. But the latter pulls up much more closely-related stuff. And if I change the first one to time travel with aliens (which would also fit Time Addicts), it gets me TV programs about ancient aliens.

What’s a better set of keyword phrases (kwps) to target? Probably some mix of these:

  • science fiction noir
  • sci fi noir
  • science fiction set in the far future
  • time travel noir (although currently there are two kinds of returns on this search which are coming up a lot)

Writer SEO, Searches, and Your Buyer Persona

Who’s your ideal reader? Your ideal customer? You have got to market directly to them. And you will need to write your blog and pages, etc. with that person in mind. If your ideal reader didn’t finish high school, then a term like movies is more likely to work than cinema. And if your ideal reader is female, you may want to toss in terms like feminism or strong female character.

If your ideal reader is a member of the LGBTQ+ community, then you will need to use terms which will apply—but I would caution you to be careful here. Terms evolve quickly. What was acceptable in 1999 is not necessarily going to fly in 2023. And for God’s sake, don’t try to reclaim a slur unless you would be a subject of said slur.

Writer SEO: Takeaways

Like I said above, this barely scratches the surface. Try tools like Keywordtool.io, answerthepublic.com, and MarketMuse (or Surfer SEO, Ubersuggest, or AhRefs) for more advanced ways to better target your ideal reader.

Want More of Writer Website Development?

If my post on website speed resonates with you, then be sure to check out my other articles about how to create a writer website.

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How to Create a Writer Website: What to Write AboutWeb design, Start a Writer Website, Writer SEO, Writer Website Design, Writer Website Copyright, Writer Website User Experience Design, Mobile Design, What to Write About, Website Planning, Technology to Help You With Writing, Website Plans, Website Speed

How to Create a Writer Website: What to Write About

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on May 25, 2023

It’s the first question pretty much any writer would normally ask anyway, and it concerns what to write about.

Do You Know What to Write About?

Let us start with one thing, and make it perfectly clear. Your writer website is (spoiler alert!) not your personal blog. Rather, it is a marketing tool.

Oh, and by the way, your Twitter stream, your author Facebook page and/or group, and BookTok? Guess what? They’re marketing tools as well!

This is not to say that you can never, ever be sociable. Actually, you should.

But there’s a line between sociable and confessional. For the most part (albeit not necessarily always), you do not want to cross it.

Consider What to Write About as You Consider Where that Writing is Actually Going

Er, what?

What happens to your blog once you publish it? Well, you probably share it on social media. At least, if you want it to go to anyone, you sure as hell do.

In fact, Jetpack has a setting to get your writing out to social media. It’s pretty easy to set up and then it’s done.

This is not everything you should be tweeting, etc. You should be doing more than the barest of bare minima. But at least your stellar prose is going somewhere.

A Writer Newsletter — the World’s Greatest Landing Strip

Keep in mind, as I write this, I do not even have a writer newsletter yet! But I follow the newsletter my employer puts out. And I also follow the newsletters of some other writers, like Trinity Blacio. I look at what they say, and what they do not say. And, I check out how often they put out their newsletters.

And here’s what I have learned.

  1. Newsletters that come out irregularly are probably not going to get you new readers. But they may appeal to your current fans. Still, you want to expand your base. Being consistent with your release schedule helps!
  2. No one seems to know what to put in a writer newsletter, beyond a link to a free download and/or future appearance info. Why not reprint a part of some blog posts? And then link to the remainder!
  3. Confessional newsletters should be few and far between. So, an irregularly published one might be able to get away with this. But if it’s a constant? Nope. A weekly newsletter, and maybe even a monthly one will get tiring very quickly if it’s only about how you’ve got writer’s block.

So, consider some of your landing strips when you write.

What do Your Readers Want to Read?

Beyond your fiction (or nonfiction), what do they want to know? Do they want to see anything about your process? Maybe they want to understand your characters better. Or maybe they want to get an idea of what’s coming out next.

But when considering what to write about, you also want to get inside the heads of this next group of folks.

What do Your Prospective Readers Want to Read?

Love it or hate it, if you’re an indie writer and you don’t just want to leave your writing in a drawer or on a hard drive somewhere, guess what? Congratulations, you are now a small business person.

What does that mean? It means that you should be trying to convert prospects.

I am not talking about clickbait here (although a little copywriting is probably fine if it’s not too aggressive). It is, rather, about trying to add some readers.

Here’s a Fer-Instance

Any number of die-hard Trekkies were appalled and clutched their pearls when a new timeline and new actors were introduced in the 2009 film. However, that film did something amazing. It attracted and hooked a new generation of viewers.

And when Paramount+ (it was CBS All Access at the time) added new series which were different from TOS, what happened? Oh, those same fanboys and fangirls clutched their pearls and sighed and screamed it wasn’t “real” Star Trek.

Yet Discovery and the other new series have also reeled in a new generation.

Resting on your laurels is comfortable and nice. But it also makes you irrelevant very, very quickly.

Back to You for What to Write About

I know how hard it is for so many indie writers to market. Believe me, I know! Why the heck do you think I got a Masters in Communication to begin with? It was, in part, because I wanted to learn how to market my own creations.

Still, consider it this way.

You’re a writer. Setting words to paper or pixels is in your DNA.

And you should also be an inventor and an experimenter.

So, throw some of that writing jello against the wall. Document it and measure it.

Who knows? Maybe some of it’ll even stick.

Happy writing!

Want More of Writer Website Development?

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How to Create a Writer Website: Start a Writer WebsiteWeb design, Start a Writer Website, Writer SEO, Writer Website Design, Writer Website Copyright, Writer Website User Experience Design, Mobile Design, What to Write About, Website Planning, Technology to Help You With Writing, Website Plans, Website Speed

How to Create a Writer Website: Start a Writer Website

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on May 23, 2023

Do you want to start a writer website? Or have you heard that maybe you should? Then check out this post on getting going.

How Did I Start a Writer Website?

Me, personally? This blog and this site will not look or behave as perfectly as I think a writing website actually should. But that’s okay, because my site has had other purposes.

It’s been about social media, my Master’s degree, and even various job searches. So, there is older stuff in here. And there is nothing wrong with that.

Plus, I hope you’ll realize this means you can convert an older blog/website into one for writing. You do not have to throw out your older posts and the like. However, if they are too far off-topic, you may want to consider a new domain, or shunting your older blog to one. Or maybe just pulling your older posts and creating redirects for them.

A blog on handcrafting most likely won’t lend itself to such a conversion. But a site or blog on SEO, social media, or education is probably fine. You make the call, sports fans.

What’s Missing?

Oh, and make no mistake about it. I will be writing about things I have not done yet! For the most part, that has been due to budget—either of my money or time or both (and mental bandwidth!). This is the reality of being an independent writer. When you get it in your head to start a writer website, you may find your reach exceeds your grasp.

But you can (and should!) start a writer website anyway. Why? Because guess where you’re going to build your brand? It’s right here, folks.

Start a Writer Website by Actually Starting a Website

God lord, what the heck does that mean?

It means that just having a Facebook page or group is not going to cut it. BookTok is lovely, but it is not enough. Neither is a Twitter stream. Those things are absolutely helpful and they may even be vital.

But they are not an actual website.

Plus, not for nothing, but you should own your spot. Why? Because we used to think MySpace would last forever.

Own your stuff. And own your space. At the absolute minimum, keep copies of everything. Behave as if you could lose it all tomorrow. Because you just might.

Owning Your Space

This inevitably means hosting. You can buy hosting from providers like GoDaddy or HostGator, etc. Shop around and ask friends if you don’t have a provider for some other site. If you’re an utter novice, then ask around at work.

What if you are on an absolute budget of, like, $0? That makes this harder but not impossible. Because you can try a few things.

Medium

Medium is popular, and that can make it hard to break through the noise. But some people do. Since you wouldn’t own the space, keep copies of everything. And, keep in mind, you will likely lose all comments if you transfer your work elsewhere.

If you do not break into Medium and do at all well, then you may or may not be able to improve the findability of your page. You are also beholden to their rules. Writers of erotica will probably find it too constricting.

Wix or Weebly

Don’t get me started.

Both offer freebie hosting and ways to start a writer website (or any other type of site, for that matter) easily.

However, your URL (for their free hosting) will be something like yoursite.weebly.com (which is long for business cards and bookmarks). Search might not be the greatest.

Plus, you are beholden, at least in part, to their designs and templates. If those are good enough for you, then have at it. And keep in mind, anything that’s really pretty or functional might not be free.

You can, eventually, have Weebly or Wix host your domain and you would pay for that. And then others would probably never have to know.

But for serious flexibility, these are probably not going to be it.

Github

If you don’t need a lot of instruction, this could work in a pinch. But it’s really just going to allow for hosting a static page. A blog, for example, will change too much.

Wattpad

A decent place for hosting writing you aren’t planning on publishing for money, Wattpad is not a place for blogging. Also, anything too commercial will be pulled by the moderating staff. So much for selling stuff.

Want to Start a Writer Website? WordPress to the Rescue!

What is it, 48% of all websites are on WordPress? Their functionality is hard to beat. They have an enormous number of plugins and apps, both free and paid for.

Support varies and is mainly tied to app and plugin developers. If a developer provides good support, then awesome! But if not, then either get a different plugin or head to YouTube and pray for good tutorials.

If your budget is truly $0, you can even put a blog (and probably just a blog) onto their freebie pages. But those are numerous and with less support and functionality. But they will help you to get used to using the platform.

Still, eventually, you’re going to have to cash in your empties and spend something or other.

The Planning You’ll Need to Start a Writer Website

Welp, I originally just threw this one together.

And then I realized I wanted it to not look terrible. This was even before I was using it to tout writing, or even social media.

Really, really far back (as in over 20 years ago), I really just wanted a place to plonk some photos. Geocities was it.

As a result, this website and its accompanying blog have grown organically and not always intelligently.

Head some of my mistakes off at the pass and do some preplanning. To wit.

Decide on a Basic Design Sensibility

You don’t need to be a designer (God knows I’m not!) but you do want something that looks attractive and, at the same time, feels put together.

If, like me, your design sensibilities resemble those a semi-sapient sponge, then I suggest talking to someone you know who does have design chops. They don’t have to be a professional.

This person could have maybe taken it in school. Or their living space always looks ‘just so’, or their look in clothing is always well-put together. At the barest minimum, it should be someone you know who does art of some sort, even for fun.

And if you really and truly know no one like this, then you’ve probably got a high school near you, yes? Talk to the art teachers there.

Here’s what you want to know.

Ask Your Designer Friend the Following

A designer friend makes them sound like they come with a logo, but I digress.

I Love These Colors. Do They Go Together Well?

You can also check out any color wheel online, but if your monitor skews toward green (for example), you won’t get a true result.

If You Were Working With These Colors, Which Would You Use as Primary? Which Would be the Accents?

You may love neon pink, but it’s probably a bit much for a main color for a website.

I Normally Write in the ___ Genre. Which Colors Speak to You When You Think of That Genre? They Don’t Have to be Any of the Colors I’ve Chosen

Now, you should also look at covers (seriously). But what I am getting at here is what’s called Color Theory.

For example, what does yellow make you think of? Pretty standard responses will probably include the sun, sunflowers, butter, egg yolks, Post-it notes, bananas, and canaries.

Does it remind you or your designer pal of any genre, though?

It’s okay if it’s not an oh my God perfect match. But there is a reason why a horror writer might have a website with darker colors and a Halloween feel to it regardless of the time of year.

And there’s a reason a romance writer might start a writer website with pastels and mainly use a scroll-like font.

Given My Main Genre, What Would You Suggest as Ideas for a Logo or Other Predominant Image?

I really, really hope you won’t use a stick of butter for your logo, even if you write cookbooks. But if you love yellow, and your genre is dystopian science fiction, you might consider an image of something burning.

My Own Design (Er, Maybe)

JR Gershen-Siegel logo (maybe) to start a writer websiteI made this logo (and a couple of others, which I’ll show in other posts) and I own the image!!

And that is important all by itself.

Do I love this logo? It’s … okay.

The idea of books with different colors appeals to me because what I write is kind of eclectic. But the books are all monochrome, almost looking like photo albums or research texts.

I don’t like that the font ended up washed out. But I do like a font like this. It dovetails well with what I generally write, which is science fiction.

I know I can do better, and will probably play around with this some more another day. Again, mental bandwidth!

To Start a Writer Website — We’ve Barely Scratched the Surface, Folks!

Yes, I will write more about this topic. But the main takeaways I am giving you today are:

  1. Own your space if you can afford it.
  2. Use WordPress! You won’t regret it, I swear.
  3. Get an idea of visual design before you get started, to keep a unified look.

See you ’round.

Want More of Writer Website Development?

If my post on website speed resonates with you, then be sure to check out my other articles about how to create a writer website.

Writer Website Development

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Self-Review – Time Addicts: Everything is Up For GrabsTime Addicts, No One is Safe, Nothing is Permanent, Everything is Up for Grabs

Self-Review – Time Addicts: Everything is Up For Grabs

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on May 18, 2023

And Finally, it’s Time to Review Time Addicts: Everything is Up For Grabs

So what, exactly, do I mean by ‘everything is up for grabs’? Because as the timelines get ever more confusing, what isn’t on the table?

So, the trilogy of terms came to me after I had been writing the first book for a few weeks. But it snapped it all into sharp focus with these terms. With this, the final book in the trilogy, it seems as if everything is unraveling for Josie and co.

But in a society where you can change time on a whim, how could anything ever be permanent? Also, just as importantly, are there any anchors in life?

With this, the final book in the sub-trilogy, the anchors feel as loose and ephemeral as a sack of feathers. But the bad guys, of course, offer a way to again achieve stability and equilibrium.

If she wants to go that route.

Background

Josie thinks she has seen the most drastic of the timeline changes already. But now they are getting focused, and the bad guys, calling themselves the Yester Gang, are tired of playing around. Now, their focus is no longer split and they are going after nothing short of all-out genocide of the Obolonk race.

Plot

As the Yester Gang focuses more, Josie receives more mysterious messages which seem to be telling her that she has to act—but how?

The support beams in her life are being kicked out from under her, and Josie has no idea who she can trust. Maybe the best answer is, no one.

Characters

So, the characters are Josie James, Dalton Farouk, Keisha Darnell, Bobby Brodie, Tad Lewis, Cyndi Mendez, Dr. Carmen D’Angelo, and Tommy 2000. Plus there’s also Josie’s family, who flit in and out of the storyline.

Bad guy characters include Marty Quinlan and also his two nonbinary employees/lovers – Velvet Monroe and Daisy Dukes. Also, Elston Young and Corwin Zachary.

Memorable Quotes from Time Addicts: Everything is Up For Grabs {Josie is talking to her Wingbot. The time change? All the time zones have been changed}

She waved her left hand over her right wrist and a display came up, also in midair. Into it, she said, “Time. Date. Temperature.”

Downstairs, with background noise of gentle wingbeats, came the answer from her Wingbot, 42753, “December the fourth, twenty-five twenty-seven. The time is six AM Eastern-Atlantic time. The temperature is one point sixty-six seven degrees Celsius.”

“Wait, what?”

“It is December the fourth…”

Josie scrunched up her face. Something felt off. “No, not that, Wing. The other part.”

“The temperature?” asked the Wingbot. There was a slight sound of small mechanical feet landing on the kitchen counter.

“No, wait a second.” She rubbed her forehead. Regular early morning nausea—for more than a decade of her life—made morning coffee a nice idea in theory but a terrible one in practice. Fully waking up would have to wait until she got to work, which was on another continent. “The time, Wing.”

“Six oh three.”

“You didn’t say that before.” Absently, she pulled a blue towel from the rack and started to dry her auburn hair.

“Well, the time has changed.”

Josie fought to not become angry with the small, semi-sapient robot, that was only doing its job. “I get that part. You mentioned the time zone?”

“Oh, do you like that? I recently received new instructions from Central Programming, to include a time zone whenever time is requested. If it is bothersome, I can remove it from that subroutine.”

“No, that’s fine.” Albeit weird.

Rating for Everything is Up For Grabs

The story has a K+ rating.

Upshot

I think I ended this middle trilogy well. But I know that the third book didn’t really get cooking until maybe Chapter 21 or so. Also, it’s over 167,000 words long! But at the time of writing this blog post, I had not yet started to edit it. The second book is short and the first is kind of in the middle. I would rather not append the first 20 or so chapters to the end of the second book and call it a day.

Rather, I need to edit this beast with a chainsaw.

Wish me luck.

When everything is up for grabs, do timelines have any meaning at all? #amwriting

Want More About The Time Addicts Trilogy?

If this article resonates with you, then check out my other articles about this sub-trilogy that’s all about time travel and how it can go more than a little bit, shall we say, ca ca.

Time Addicts Characters:

Time Addicts Books:

The Obolonk Universe

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Self-Review – Time Addicts: Nothing is PermanentTime Addicts, No One is Safe, Nothing is Permanent, Everything is Up for Grabs

Self-Review – Time Addicts: Nothing is Permanent

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on May 16, 2023

It’s Time to Review Time Addicts: Nothing is Permanent

So, what, exactly, do I mean by ‘nothing is permanent’?

A certain trilogy of terms came to me after I had been writing the first book for a few weeks. But it snapped it all into sharp focus with these terms. I loved the terms so much that they are the subtitles of each of these three books.

So, in a society where you can change time on a whim, how could anything ever be permanent? And, just as importantly, are there any anchors in life?

As the timelines start to really melt and change, Josie’s life turns upside-down.

Background

After receiving the aforesaid message, Josie realizes she’s feeling physically worse and, at the same time, getting more confused about the shifting timelines. They are still relatively coherent. At least, for a while.

Plot

As the timelines continue to shift, Josie witnesses odder and odder changes. Many of them seem to be almost pleasant. Could the other side be, perhaps, trying to change time in order to please her?

The idea is intriguing. Because, could it be that she’s somehow, and in some way, being recruited?

Nothing is Permanent But the Characters

The characters are Josie James, Dalton Farouk, Keisha Darnell, Jerry Brodie, Tad Lewis, Cyndi Mendez, Dr. Carmen D’Angelo, and Tommy 2000. Plus there’s also Josie’s family, who flit in and out of the storyline. And, there are the bad guys, namely Marty Quinlan and his two nonbinary employees, who go by the names Velvet Monroe and Daisy Dukes.

Memorable Quotes from Time Addicts: Nothing is Permanent {Josie and Bobby are entering the office at the New Howard Theater, where there are puzzles and barriers to entry to OIA HQ}

But it turned out that she didn’t need the umbrella, as she did not arrive alone. “Hi, Bob.”

“Heyas.” He was carrying a fairly large bakery box from Ashmont Annie’s.

“You’re here early,” she said, as she started the process of getting through the first barrier to entry.

“What are you talking about, Josie? I’m always bright and early.”

“No, you aren’t.”

“Yes, I am.”

“No, really, I have never, ever seen you early. Your habit is not to be early.”

“I am always bright and early. C’mon,” he said, voice taking on an edge of frustration.

“I, no, I don’t think so. I don’t think anyone in the Department of Temporal Narcotics has ever seen you come in early. You just aren’t an early kind of a guy.”

“For fuck’s sake, Josie, I am.”

She backed off.

No, you aren’t. You have never, ever been early in all the time I’ve known you, Bobby Brodie.

“Sorry.”

“No problem; we’ll all under stress. Can you hold these so I can get the wheel on the ceiling?”

“Sure thing.” She peeked inside the box. It was a dozen assorted doughnuts, including her absolute favorite, Boston Cream.

“Who’re all these doughnuts for?” she asked as he turned the wheel and a door slid open to yet another antechamber.

“The team, silly.”

“Really? Since when do you bring in doughnuts for everybody?”

“Since when do I not?”

“Since ever.”

“Wrong again, Josie. Y’know, if you piss me off enough, I will stop bringing in Boston Creams for you.”

“You buy those just for me?”

“Yeah. And I get blueberry for Tad, sour cream – I have no idea why she likes it – for Carmen, you know.”

No, I don’t know.

Rating

The story has a K+ rating.

Upshot

So, one thing about middle books, for me, is they tend to be more romance-centric. Also, they tend to be the shortest books. And while I do not amp up the romance, it is still the shortest of the three books, clocking in at under 70,000 words before editing. I don’t feel the need to increase this one. Rather, I still want to cut it and the first and the first 40% of the third book.

So, while I won’t go until 50,000 words, I will still, I hope, get this one to under 60,000.

When nothing is permanent, where are your temporal anchors? #amwriting

Want More About The Time Addicts Trilogy?

If this article resonates with you, then check out my other articles about this sub-trilogy that’s all about time travel and how it can go more than a little bit, shall we say, ca ca.

Time Addicts Characters:

Time Addicts Books:

The Obolonk Universe

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Self-Review – Time Addicts: No One is SafeTime Addicts, No One is Safe, Nothing is Permanent, Everything is Up for Grabs

Self-Review – Time Addicts: No One is Safe

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on May 11, 2023

Time to Review Time Addicts: No One is Safe

What, exactly, do I mean by ‘no one is safe’?

The trilogy of terms came to me after I had been writing this, the first book, for a few weeks. But then it snapped it all into sharp focus.

So, the premise was, to me, irresistible. What would happen if you could travel in time via the application of drugs? And with the idea of drugs came the idea of addicts.

So, what if people were addicted to time travel?

Background

Josie James is an ordinary cop in the Boston Meg, about 500 years from the present time. But then she gets a semi-mysterious invitation to a large, group job interview. She’s not dissatisfied, but she is intrigued, as the invitation comes from the OIA—the Orb Intelligence Agency.

The OIA is the successor agency to the CIA. The money is off-the-charts excellent. And it looks interesting. But there are a few… irregularities.

Plot

A group is brought together to handle a problem with temporal addiction and the illegal manufacture of time travel drugs. But all is not as it seems, for the illegal acts are organized and may even have an overall purpose.

Characters in Time Addicts: No One is Safe

The characters are Josie James, Dalton Farouk, Keisha Darnell, Bobby Brodie, Tad Lewis, Cyndi Mendez, Dr. Carmen D’Angelo, and Tommy 2000. Plus there’s also Josie’s family, who flit in and out of the storyline.

Plus, we see Kevin O’Connor and his spouse, Addie.

Memorable Quotes from Time Addicts: No One is Safe {Chapter 13; Dalton and Josie are talking; he speaks first}

“Even though. So, tell me, outlaw Josie James, you said plural brothers and sisters. Just how many are we talking about? And more importantly, how many of them can beat me up?”

“You’ll laugh.”

“No, I won’t.” He crossed his heart. “Nonexistent scout’s honor.”

“Okay, you asked for it. I am the youngest of ten.”

He nearly spit his drink. “Holy crap. You already had your own squad the day you were born.”

“Pretty much. As for the beating up part, I’m thinking the only ones who might, maybe, be able to do that are Deb and Em. And they’re twins, so you’d get tag teamed.”

“I see. Why them?”

“They got bit by the farming bug but so did Aaron. But he’s a few years from sixty so I’m thinking his beating up days are over unless it’s a viewer remote when the Pintos lose.”

“Big baseball fan then. So, wait, he’s twentysomething years older than you?”

“Yep. And before you ask, he’s not the outlier; I am. He’s twenty-three years older than me and is the oldest. Going on down to Ian, the ninth in our merry little band, who’s nine years older than me. Aaron’s first born is older than I am by a few months.”

“Whoa. See, me, I’m the eldest. It’s just me and Maryam. She raises schnauzers and shows them. I think our mom’s getting tired of showing, so she and Dad are grooming Maryam to pass the torch and stuff. I’m the Black Sheep of the family, the only one on the force. Or rather I was. What do your folks do?”

She pinched the bridge of her nose and took a swig of coffee before answering. “They died when I was eleven. Skimmer accident over Nereid.”

No One is Safe (from a) Rating

The story has a K+ rating.

Upshot

I loved kicking off this series although I can see places to cut this one. When I ended NaNoWriMo, it was just under 97k words long, and it is should probably go down to the upper 80s or so.

Which timeline is right, when no one is safe? #amwriting

Want More About The Time Addicts Trilogy?

If this article resonates with you, then check out my other articles about this sub-trilogy that’s all about time travel and how it can go more than a little bit, shall we say, ca ca.

Time Addicts Characters:

Josie’s Family:

  • Aaron James
  • Avalon (Loni) James
  • Bryan James-Rosen
  • Harvey James-Rosen
  • Chasten James-Rosen
  • Ellen James-Rosen
  • Matthew James-Rosen
  • Connie James
  • Deborah James Vinson
  • Tyrell Vinson
  • Nichelle Vinson
  • Troy Vinson
  • Emily James
  • Frances James Walsh
  • Gina Walsh
  • Gregory James
  • Mercedes Perez James
  • Hailey James Shapiro
  • Dov Shapiro
  • Dinah Shapiro
  • Saddik Shapiro
  • Ian James

Time Addicts Books:

The Obolonk Universe

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Descriptions in Fiction WritingPromotions, Swag, Exposition, Better Dialogue, Character Sexuality, Starting, Personal Writing Process, Starburst Method, how do I write a book, Supporting Indie Authors, Snowflake, Libraries, Descriptions, Ages, Dialogue Tags, Gender Swap, Pocket conflicts, Giveaways, Plotting, mental energy, Character Creation, Scene Setting, Transitioning, Genre Treatments, Easter Eggs, Accents, Plot Creation, Complex evil characters, Bechdel test, Writer Newsletter, Wattpad gets into the Digital Publishing Game, character reviews, Universal Explorations, Libraries, Awards, Social Signals, Blog Community,

Descriptions in Fiction Writing

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on May 4, 2023

Descriptions matter. A lot.

All About Descriptions

Descriptions are a must. You need them for any type of writing beyond the barest drabbles. Involve the reader in the piece. And that means pulling descriptive prose out of your head. You must commit it to paper or pixels.

But there is a balancing act that comes along with this. Too much describing turns it all into a boatload of exposition. While you do need some exposition, too much will grind your storyline to a screeching halt.

Scenes

Scene setting is covered elsewhere in this blog. However, that’s closely related to your descriptive abilities. Consider what is important. And try not to turn it into a tour of a city or country (or planet’s) greatest hits.

People

Describe human beings as soon as you can. Unless the character’s appearance is some sort of spoiler, you should get their basics down quickly. Otherwise, your readers will picture one thing and, when they are told something different about the character, it will feel jarring to them.

If I think your Mary character is Asian, and then you later (finally!) tell me she’s a blonde, that has the potential to take me right out of the story.

I will blog about describing people of color elsewhere. For now, just concentrate on basic descriptors. Those are, generally: gender, age range, height, body size and shape, hair color (or baldness), facial hair if appropriate, and eye color. Furthermore, add any unique identifiers. These are a disability or tattoos or the like.

Think about what is normally considered in a standard police lineup. For example, police officers can’t conduct an overly suggestive American police lineup. And it might even be unconstitutional. That is, if the witness claims the suspect is male, then the lineup is no good if it consists of four females (not transmen) and one male.

More Natural Exposition and Descriptions

You don’t have to dump a garbage can full of expository data in the first sentence. A female pronoun or name can give away gender. A nickname might indicate age, such as Junior or Grandma. Maybe you can comment on agility or speed or fatigue in order to get physical condition across.

And height can come up fairly naturally if your character has to reach something on a high shelf, or look up or down at another character. Or maybe they have to determine if they’re tall enough to get onto an amusement park ride.

Any of these is better than a list of vital statistics. Those don’t really come up naturally unless you’re writing about medicine or, maybe, a beauty pageant or a sporting competition.

Aliens

Describe aliens very quickly. The basics should still be your guide. However, you might need to cover other issues, such as whether they can speak or hear, or whether they can breathe our air.

Descriptions: Takeaways

Give your readers as much of the picture as is necessary. Don’t describe the corners of the room unless you need to. But at least tell them there’s a room.

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Writing ExpositionPromotions, Swag, Exposition, Better Dialogue, Character Sexuality, Starting, Personal Writing Process, Starburst Method, how do I write a book, Supporting Indie Authors, Snowflake, Libraries, Descriptions, Ages, Dialogue Tags, Gender Swap, Pocket conflicts, Giveaways, Plotting, mental energy, Character Creation, Scene Setting, Transitioning, Genre Treatments, Easter Eggs, Accents, Plot Creation, Complex evil characters, Bechdel test, Writer Newsletter, Wattpad gets into the Digital Publishing Game, character reviews, Universal Explorations, Libraries, Awards, Social Signals, Blog Community,

Writing Exposition

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on May 2, 2023

Exposition Should Be Your Superpower

This is because exposition works.

First of all, exposition basically means a literary device intended to describe a character’s background, or “our story so far”. It can be done elegantly, with flashbacks or dialogue or even a character finding something or other.

It can be clunky, like when characters say, “As you know, …” and then proceed to clue in the reader but then tell the other characters everything they should, logically, already know. For example, one doctor telling another one how chemotherapy works would denote really clunky exposition.

Clunkiness was rather memorably skewered by the Basil Exposition character in Austin Powers, International Man of Mystery. However, you and I don’t want that to happen with our works. So we’ve got to try to be a lot more eloquent. Hence we’ve got to figure out how to clue in our readers in a more natural fashion. So consider your setting.

Using Settings for Exposition

What do I mean by this? Your story’s circumstances and your characters’ specifics might be places to sneak in some background. Are they spies? Spies get briefings. Are they museum goers? Museums have docents (specialized guides) and tours, and they also have guidebooks and even identification for paintings or artifacts. Hikers use trails. Motorists use maps (or GPS, if the time period is right).

There is nothing wrong with a character reading a street sign, either out loud or to themselves.

Here Now the News

Love or hate it, but a character reading a newspaper or listening to radio news or watching it on television can provide a level of exposition to your story which can be seamless and even elegant.

Chapter Titles

When your chapter title is Sunday, August 6, 2017, 11 AM, San Francisco Chinatown, you get across a ton of information in a very short space. And you do so without interrupting the flow of the story unnecessarily.

Character Names and Occupations

These are more subtle, but if your characters have names like Maria, Vito, Anna, Guido, and Antonio, your reader will think Italy or at least an Italian family. If your characters have occupations such as blacksmith, miller, alchemist, and barber surgeon, your reader will think of medieval times.

The New Guy

There is a damned fine reason why a lot of television pilots involve someone coming to a new city or starting a new job. This is because explaining the story and the plot and characters to the new kid in town is perfectly natural.

“Excuse me, but where’s the spaceship parking bay?”

“Oh, it’s next to the mess hall. I’m Dave; I do the regular run to Venus every Thursday.”

It’s natural, it flows, and it doesn’t bog down the story.

Interweaving Exposition

Yet another method is to weave the exposition into the story or the dialog.

“You have great eyes. I love that color blue.”

“My mom always said they looked like the ocean. But I grew up in Kansas and I confess I didn’t see the ocean until I was thirty.”

Or

“You look like hell.” She nodded toward the wound on his arm.

“Oh, you should see the other guy.”

Get it?

Exposition, Scenes, and Character Descriptions

While not 100% the same as character descriptions, your standard bit of exposition is really just another flavor of describing … something. And while it’s a problem if the only time you describe people is when they aren’t white, it’s less of an issue when you don’t go into detail about something we should already know.

A modern day city is likely to have streets with traffic, perhaps outdoor vendors, maybe office buildings, and definitely crowds of people. Mainly, you may need to separate Philadelphia from Mumbai, or the like. For God’s sake, read some maps (and make sure they are for the correct year!) before describing a city you don’t know.

Hell, do that even for a city that you do know. And let me make one thing perfectly clear. Try not to turn it into a travelogue. I can practically guarantee to you that, unless they work there or are showing a tourist around, New Yorkers do not go waltzing into the Empire State Building all the time.

Takeaways

Exposition is truly vital in writing but you need to get it across without a dump of information. Read back your exposition. If it reads like a text book, or it goes on for too long, see about changing it but also about breaking it up. A bit of exposition here and there, even if it’s the same amount as in your big info dump, will stick out a lot less.

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