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Writing Progress Report – Second Quarter 2023

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Writing Progress Report – Second Quarter 2023

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on June 29, 2023

Progress Report –Second Quarter 2023

How was second quarter 2023 for writing? So, I spent second quarter 2023 writing a number of short stories from one-word prompts.

Second Quarter 2023 Posted Works

First of all, I worked on a number of new short stories. A lot of these had been drafted on paper and so I spent some time editing them.

Then on Wattpad I posted on the WattNaNo profile and the Star Trek Fans profile, and nowhere else.

Milestones

Also, I have written over 3.45 million words (fan fiction and wholly original fiction combined). So right now my stats on Wattpad for wholly original works are as follows:

• Dinosaurs – 42 reads, 11 comments
† How to NaNoWriMo – 26,027 reads, 340 comments
• My Favorite Things (like kibble) – 983 reads, 133 comments
† Revved Up – 59,452 reads, 531 comments
• Side By Side – 20 reads, 2 comments
† Social Media Guide for Wattpad – 15,953 reads, 592 comments
• The Canadian Caper – 506 reads, 37 comments
† The Dish – 250 reads, 24 comments
• There is a Road – 189 reads, 28 comments
† WattNaNo’s Top Picks 2018 – 1,975 reads, 45 comments
• WattNaNo’s Top Picks 2019 – 1,848 reads, 10 comments<
† What Now? – 2,812 reads, 104 comments

More Published Works as of Second Quarter 2023

Also, I am amassing quite the collection of published works!

Untrustworthy, which is my first published novel. So yay!

A True Believer in Skepticism, published in Mythic Magazine.

Almost Shipwrecked, a story in the January 2019 edition of Empyreome, a site which unfortunately is no more.

Canaries, a short story in the March 29, 2019, edition of Theme of Absence.

Complications, a story in the Queer Sci Fi Discovery anthology. So this is an anthology where the proceeds went to supporting the QSF website.

Cynthia and Wilder Bloom, stories in the Longest Night Watch II anthology.

Props, a story in the Longest Night Watch I anthology. So this is an anthology where the proceeds go to Alzheimer’s research.

Surprises, a story in Book One of the 42 and Beyond Anthology set.

The Boy in the Band, a story in the Pride Park anthology. So this is an anthology where the proceeds go to the Trevor Project.

The Interview, the featured story in the December 14, 2018 edition of Theme of Absence. So they even interviewed me!

The Last Patient, a story in the Stardust, Always anthology. This was an anthology where the proceeds go to cancer research.

The Resurrection of Ditte, a story in the Unrealpolitik anthology.

This is My Child, a short story published in the April 8, 2019 edition of Asymmetry Fiction, another site which is no more.

Three Minutes Back in Time, a short story published in Mythic Magazine.

Killing Us Softly, a short story published in Corner Bar Magazine.

Darkness into Light, a short story published in Corner Bar Magazine.

WIP Corner

So my current WIPs are as follows:

The Obolonk Murders Trilogy – so this one is all about a tripartite society. But who’s killing the aliens?

The Enigman Cave – can we find life on another planet and not screw it up? You know, like we do everything else?

The Real Hub of the Universe Trilogy – so the aliens who live among us in the 1870s and 1880s are at war. But why is that?

Mettle – so it’s all about how society goes to hell in a hand basket when the metals of the periodic table start to disappear. But then what?

Time Addicts – No One is Safe – so this one is all about what happens in the future when time travel becomes possible via narcotic.

Time Addicts – Nothing is Permanent – this is the second in this trilogy. What happens when time is tampered with and manipulated in all sorts of ways? It’s the ultimate in gaslighting, for one thing.

Time Addicts – Everything is Up For Grabs – as the timelines smack together and continue to diverge, it gets harder to tell the “real” timeline from all the newer fake ones. And what if some of the changes are for the better?

Prep Work

So currently, my intention, for next year’s NaNoWriMo, is to write the third trilogy in the Time Addicts/Obolonks universe. But I need to iron out the plot! So a lot of this year has been spent on that. I have no name for this one yet.

For 2022 NaNoWriMo, I have decided to create a prequel for each of the 5 main universes: Real Hub of the Universe, Obolonks, Time Addicts (while the Obolonks and Time Addicts are in the same universe, I just plain want to write two separate prequels!), Untrustworthy, The Enigman Cave, and Mettle.

So, I anticipate a lot of fun and perhaps a little confusion. But it’s all good!

Second Quarter 2023 Queries and Submissions

So here’s how that’s been going during Second Quarter 2023.

It’s been quiet. But that has been by design. Right now, I just plain don’t feel like putting myself out there these days. There, I said it.

In Progress

As of Second Quarter 2023, the following are still in the running for publishing:

This list is the name of the story and then the name of the potential publisher.

• I Used to Be Happy – Gemini Magazine
† Justice – Adbusters
• Mettle – RAB
† Soul Rentals ‘R’ Us – A Thousand One Stories
• Who Do We Blame for This? – Sonder Review

All Other Statuses

So be sure to see the Stats section for some details on any query statuses for Second Quarter 2023 which were not in progress.

Stats

So in 2018, my querying stats were:

† 68 submissions of 19 stories
• Acceptances: 4, 5.88%
† In Progress-Under Consideration: 3, 4.41% (so these don’t seem to have panned out)
• In Progress: 10, 14.71%
† Rejected-Personal: 14, 20.59%
• Rejected-Form: 24, 35.29%
† Ghosted: 13 (so these were submissions where I never found out what happened), 19.12%
So in 2019 my querying stats were:

• 23 submissions of 11 stories (so 6 submissions carry over from 2018)
† Acceptances: 4, 17.39%
• In Progress: 11 (so this includes 2 holdovers from 2018), 47.83%
† Rejected-Personal: 4, 17.39%
• Rejected-Form: 3, 13.04%
† Ghosted: 1 (so these are submissions where I never found out what happened), 4.35%

2020 Stats

So in 2020 my querying stats were:

• 37 submissions of 12 stories (so 9 submissions carried over from 2019)
† Acceptances: 3, 8.11%
• In Progress: 7, 18.92%
† Rejected-Personal: 12, 32.43%
• Rejected-Form: 4, 10.81%
† Ghosted: 11 (so these are submissions where I never found out what happened), 29.73%

2021 Stats

So in 2021 my querying stats were 5 submissions which carried over from 2020, 100% ghosted.

2022 Stats

So in 2022 my querying stats were:

• 6 submissions of 65 stories (so 5 submissions carry over from 2020 and 2021), plus 1 reprint!
† Acceptances: 14.29%
• Rejected-Form: 1, 14.29%
† Ghosted: 5 (so these are submissions where I never found out what happened), 71.42%

It can be pretty discouraging and hard to go on when nothing new comes up which is positive. You can essentially consider 2023 to be more of the same.

Second Quarter 2023 – Productivity Killers

So it’s work, what else? And Second Quarter 2023 will not be the end of that!

I am also dealing with the aftermath of my mother’s death on February 19, 2023. Just when you think it’s not going to hit you, well, of course it does. Of course.

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Is There Really a Writers’ Blog Community?

Is There Really a Writers’ Blog Community?

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on June 22, 2023

Background – Writers’ Blog Community

Do you mean to say there’s an actual writers blog community?

Well, there kind of is. People like me blog all the time. And there are other writers who blog less often but I should be including them. Even if they don’t truly keep to a blogging schedule or anything like that.

However, the real issue is, there isn’t a whole helluva lot of connection.

Islands in the Stream…♪♫

With all the apologies to Dolly Parton and the late Kenny Rogers, the truth is that any sort of a blog community for writers is horribly fractured. Hell, the term community is a bit of a misnomer in this area.

Now, it is possible to find something resembling such a community. In fact, there are a few decent communities for writers, and NaNoWriMo is one of them.

There are also offline groups, such as with MeetUp, but that doesn’t really solve the blogging issue, now, does it?

So, one of the things that has surprised me the most while doing research about this is that so few writers actually blog about writing. And I am not even so sure that they blog about anything. Which is a pity, and feels kind of weird.

There are also instructional blogs about writing. With the exception of Chuck Wendig, the links on that list are either educational or semi-promotional. And while Mr. Wendig is somewhat promotional, at least he does not make it the focus of his blogging. No one should. Because let’s face it, no one wants to read one long infomercial about your books.

Yes, even your books.

The Writer’s Journey, in Blog Form

Apart from, well, Adventures in Career Changing (that’s here, of course), I cannot seem to find something like that. You know, where the blogger covers a lot more of the journey from wannabe to frustrated writer to querying to acceptance to publication. Or maybe not to querying, but instead to going the indie route and self-publishing.

But that specific journey or at least meandering line doesn’t get coverage in the blogosphere. Or if it does, then hell if I know where it is.

It is somewhat easy to find help and I even offer some as I can. But there don’t seem to be a lot of blogs out there on the sheer process of querying. And the process of creating, for that matter.

How many bloggers look at their own stories with a critical eye? How many share their disappointments? And how many writing blogs cover connections among stories?

But you can always find blogs about outlining, or finding an agent, or setting up indie publishing.

Where Are You?

Excuse me. Where the hell are you???

Is there anybody else out there who is doing what I am doing? If you’re out there, you are making it rather difficult for someone like me to find you! Which means you just might want to rethink your SEO strategy.

Seriously.

And I swear, I want to find these folks. It’s not that I don’t want to learn even more about the writing business and self-publishing. Of course I do! But I also think that niche is covered extremely well already. My niche is different.

I would also put Dayton Ward into the category of writer journey blogger. But only kinda, sorta, as he also writes a lot about fandom. Not to say that I never meander.

Still, I just plain cannot believe that it’s just him and me. Seriously folks? That’s crazy if it’s just … us.

I have a lot of trouble believing the entire world of writer journey bloggers can fit in the back seat of my (rather small) car.

Starting a Community

Maybe it’s up to me (or maybe Dayton and me, I dunno) to start one. And maybe it’s not meant to be. But I do not give up that easily. And, I think it could be helpful. If absolutely nothing else, then it can be Commiseration City. Population: all of us.

I cannot possibly be the only person wondering why such a thing does not, seemingly, exist.

Er, can I?

Blog Community Takeaways

I first set off looking for a community of bloggers. And I found a lot of instructions and not much else. For my fellow writers in the trenches, I hope we can start to find each other. We probably already know one another one places like Facebook or Bluesky. But what about the blogosphere? Why aren’t there more folks here?

Writing can be an extremely isolating thing to do. A voice calls out in the darkness. Is there anyone to hear it?

Maybe… you?

Maybe we could all just create a writers blog community… together. #amblogging #amwriting

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Easter Eggs

Publishing, Published, Positive Reviews, Middling Reviews, Bad Reviews, Teasing, Blurb, Query letter, Elevator pitch, teasers, pitmad, rejection, Easter eggs, Starting, Digital Publishing Game, pocket conflicts, Manuscript Wish List, Reading, Submission Guidelines, Set Dressing, Hairstyles and Costumes, Aroma vs Odor or Stench, Mixing a Score in Words and Music, Disgusting vs Delicious, Hot or Cold, Publishing Stats, Jewish characters, trust your readers,

Easter Eggs

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on June 20, 2023

Let’s Look at Easter Eggs in My Writing

Ah, Easter eggs. Those fun little nuggets of connection between stories.

What and how do utterly unrelated items have in common? And how does a sly wink at the reader keep the sense of disbelief from crashing down?

Well, it doesn’t always.

Easter Eggs: A Fun Nod to the Reader

This is the way I have always looked at these.

If I can have a little fun, then I hope that you can as well.

And the best part is, this not something I came up with on my own. These have a proud and long tradition in writing. So, I am far from being the first ever person to do this.

What They Are

For me, the concept behind Easter eggs is to add a little dash of something which is in hiding and hard for some to know.

I see it as almost like, if you have been paying attention, then you will see this and this, here and here.

What They Aren’t

Except for the linking between the various trilogies in the Obolonk universe, these are just meant to be a bit of fun. As such, I do not mean for everyone named Shapiro to be related to everyone else. They aren’t.

Also, not every reference to Boston is right next door to any of the other references. And not every hint actually, well, goes anywhere.

In addition, a matching genre does not constitute one of these. After all, both Stranger in a Strange Land and any Star Trek tie-in novels are all under the science fiction umbrella. But that does not mean they tie together with each other.

And so in the same way, consider that the numerous Boston or Shapiro references do not always signify a connection.

It’s more that I like to throw them in and then see if the reader gets it.

And you, dear reader, I am quite sure that you do.

I Really Should Call Them Afikomens

I am, after all, Jewish. Eh, you know what I’m talking about. I suppose either can and will do.

Easter Eggs (or afikomen) are just my way of saying “hi” to the reader. So, hi!

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

Time 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, this 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? Or are we all simply destined to be buffeted around by time forever?

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

For this piece, 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 enormous 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. There’s 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:

† Josie James
• Dalton Farouk
† Dr. Carmen D’Angelo
• Tommy 2000

Time Addicts Books:

† No One is Safe.
• Nothing is Permanent
† Everything is Up for Grabs

The Obolonk Universe
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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:

• Josie James
† Dr. Carmen D’Angelo
• Dalton Farouk
† Tad Lewis
• Cyndi Mendez
† Bobby Brodie
• Keisha Darnell
† Vera Travers

Time Addicts Books:

† No One is Safe
• Nothing is Permanent
† Everything is Up for Grabs

The Obolonk Universe

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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 James
† Carmen D’Angelo, MD
• Dalton Farouk
† Tad Lewis
• Cyndi Mendez
† Bobby Brodie
• Keisha Darnell
† Vera Travers

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:

† No One is Safe
• Nothing is Permanent
† Everything is Up for Grabs

The Obolonk Universe

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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 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.”

“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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Writing a Blurb

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on April 18, 2023

Are You in the Thinking About Writing a Blurb?

Have you ever written a blurb for a book? Here’s how.

You Have GOT to Grab the Reader’s Attention

The most effective blurbs are:

• short
† specific as to genre (never be coy; if it’s horror, then say so!)
• open about who the protagonist is
† spoiler-free
• not a rehash of the first chapter or the entire plot
† neutral about the quality of your work (don’t say: this is an incredible book. Your saying that does not make it so. Sorry.)

So keep in mind – these are not the same as the summary you write for a query.

Blurb Samples

In this fantasy tale, Dorothy is whisked away by a twister to an unknown magical land. But first she has to deal with the quite literal fallout of her house landing on, and killing, a wicked witch.

Blurbs give us an idea about the story, and they make us want to read more. Also, a blurb for The Wizard of Oz would likely be longer than the above. The idea would be to better reflect the work’s complexity and length. It would likely cover more than just the opening scenes.

While a long book does not need to have a long blurb, it at least could conceivably support one. However, a short novel probably would not.

Unless, of course, you’ve written The Great Gatsby or To Kill a Mockingbird.

Spoiler alert: you probably have not.

Yet.

Some More Blurb Samples

Reclusive millionaire Jay Gatsby leads the good life in 1920s New York. As his friend Nick Carraway watches, Gatsby’s life takes a turn with the arrival of the all-too appealing yet all-too married Daisy Buchanan.

Or –

Scout and Jem Finch live in Alabama with their widowed father, Atticus, the town’s leading lawyer. It’s the 1930s, and Maycomb seems far from sophistication or enlightenment.

And so the trouble starts when a black man is accused of raping a white woman – and Scout’s father agrees to defend the accused.

Get in Some Practice

We all have to start somewhere, and we have all got to practice.

Yes, even you.

This is a skill like any other. Or, rather, it is unlike any other. And a lot of us can become paralyzed with fear and self-doubt when we try. That is totally understandable.

After all, a lot is riding on just a simple blurb.

So, start small.

I honestly think practicing on classic novels is a good idea. It’s not fraught with meaning because you’re not trying to sell anything.

In fact, I bet it would make a pretty cool game. That is, write a blurb, don’t give away the title, and then ask the other player to Name That Book.

Takeaways

Practicing on works that are not your own can help you get started. It’s a lot easier because there is nothing riding on writing a blurb for a novel you did not write.

Get in some practice and give yourself some grace. It won’t be perfect immediately. But much like with an elevator pitch, you’ll find that the more you practice, the better you get at it.

Back to you.

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Reading the Writing Social Signals

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on April 13, 2023

What are Social Signals?

The social media landscape is vast and varied. But one thing the sites all seem to have in common is algorithms. And those algorithms work by way of counting and weighing what are called social signals.

In our offline lives, we emit social signals all the time although some are muddier than others. If you proactively join your school’s alumni association, then you are emitting a signal which says you value either your education or your school or maybe the friends you made there.

When you insist on referring to yourself as Doctor … then you are also discharging a signal.

Other signals come from our choices of everything from mates to dining establishments to screen names or even to how we decorate.

Let’s Go Online

So, the truth is that the way social signals get an interpretation depends, in large part, on whether you’re a human or a bot/computer.

So, let’s look at both means of interpretation in turn.

Social Signals for People

Human beings are essentially wired to prefer what the group likes. And there is a very good, evolution-style reason for this! Fitting into a group means you have help with everything from child rearing to food gathering.

Yes, of course there are hermits out there. And the crowd is not always right. Not by any stretch of the imagination. And when a crowd turns into an angry mob, well, all bets are off.

But as a species we love popularity. And, at the same time, we also love positive things. Usually. So, if everyone else loves X, then we can often feel the need to check out X, whatever it may be. Signals of positive appreciation are meaningful to us.

These signals include:

† Star rating systems
• Rankings
† Number of positive reviews
• A lack (or a dearth) of negative reviews
† Endorsements from people we listen to and admire
• Shelf space or “want to read” lists
† Prominence on a shelf or in a collection
• Number of followers/admitted readers

An online seller or social media platform will often put its virtual thumb on the scale. Hence, a certain number of reviews of any stripe might result in Amazon delivering your book to more pages.

Also, rankings are likely to generate more suggestions for readers. E.g. if you liked X, you should check out Y.

Apart from newness and uniqueness, this is the way many algorithms work online.

Rankings on Amazon in particular also offer up another signal—the happy orange ribbon that says “#1 bestseller”. Amazon also gathers together bestsellers for their own grouping, which is at the top—prime real estate.

How to Use ‘Em

To take advantage of some of these signals, watch your rankings on Amazon. If you ever hit #1, take screenshots! You can easily use them in your marketing materials.

In April, 2023, my book was #1 in the ___ category. And then just add the screenshot to whatever you like—tweet, FB post, newsletter, blog post, Instagram image, etc. Even a year later, that can still look impressive.

And no one really needs to know that your genre is tiny and your category is even tinier.

This is one manner of leveraging the signals. Further down, I’ll get into some more ideas. But for now, let’s turn to the bots.

Bots/Apps/Algorithms/Search Engines/Computers

I’ve already alluded to some of this. If there is a line of code in the algorithm that says something like feed more profiles this book if there are a lot of reviews — it’s probably going to be very numbers-oriented. The code (in English) would be something like:

If a book has 10 reviews, feed the info to 5% more profiles. Change to 10% profiles if there are 30 reviews. For 100 reviews, change to 25% more profiles. And for 1,000 reviews, double the number of pages where the info is fed.

Are these numbers accurate? Probably not. And I am deliberately being somewhat vague here because Amazon and any other site guards these secrets closely—and they test and change them, anyway.

But no matter what, a bot or other non-human won’t be able to follow social signals unless they are extremely well-defined.

Another signal, in addition to the ones above, is tags.

Tag, Tag, What is a Tag?

It’s a subcategorization system more than anything else. When Amazon was first in business, it’s highly likely that no one had come up with the idea of anything like Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

So, when it was published, where was Amazon supposed to put it? With Austen’s Regency romances? With Stephen King’s horror? Miscellaneous?

The answer to both may very well be yes. And with proper tagging, readers can find it. Also, they can get an idea of what’s inside the book. If someone needs a trigger warning, tags (and even categories) can provide some assistance to readers.

Proper tags and categories clue in readers. They also provide a means of comparison. If you loved Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, you might like Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Slayer. But it’s less likely (albeit not impossible) that you’d like a pair of fuzzy slippers for your dog.

Leveraging Social Signals

First and foremost, ask for reviews! I found that the best thing to do was to respond to people. That is, if someone messaged me and said they liked Untrustworthy, then I asked them to review it. And I made it clear—even a short review is fine.

For people who would not review (or even didn’t like it!), I just asked them to rate a review as helpful to them. Whichever review it was, even a somewhat negative one, that would work for me.

On an Amazon author page, shoppers can sort by (among other methods) number of reviews and average customer review. Making it possible for shoppers to view my list of works a few different ways is, in a way, another of the social signals.

It creates a bit of novelty, and that attracts people. We’re also hard-wired to like variety and novelty.

Sales drive up rankings. But rankings can fall fast. So, why not talk to people who have expressed an interest in buying your book? Ask if they’ll buy within a particular time frame, or if they’ll preorder (yet another of the social signals!).

Offer a discount for a limited time. Any of these can, legitimately and ethically, drive up sales.

And, in turn, sales will drive up rankings.

Beyond Amazon, social signals also take the shape of likes on Facebook, retweets on Twitter, and even reblogging on Tumblr.

Speed, positivity, and novelty are your best friends, when it comes to social signaling.

Takeaways

Ethics are paramount. Don’t jack up social signals as a means to cheat readers or platforms. But there is nothing wrong with having good timing. Oh, and your characters? You can even use a character questionnaire to try to inform their virtual, fictional social signals as well.

Social Signals — can YOU read them? #amwriting

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Adventures in Career Changing Posts

Progress Report –Second Quarter 2023

Second Quarter 2023 Posted Works

Milestones

More Published Works as of Second Quarter 2023

WIP Corner

Prep Work

Second Quarter 2023 Queries and Submissions

In Progress

All Other Statuses

Stats

2020 Stats

2021 Stats

2022 Stats

Second Quarter 2023 – Productivity Killers

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Background – Writers’ Blog Community

Islands in the Stream…♪♫

The Writer’s Journey, in Blog Form

Where Are You?

Starting a Community

Blog Community Takeaways

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Let’s Look at Easter Eggs in My Writing

Easter Eggs: A Fun Nod to the Reader

What They Are

What They Aren’t

I Really Should Call Them Afikomens

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

Background

Plot

Characters

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}

Rating for Everything is Up For Grabs

Upshot

Want More About The Time Addicts Trilogy?

Time Addicts Characters:

Time Addicts Books:

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

Background

Plot

Nothing is Permanent But the Characters

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}

Rating

Upshot

Want More About The Time Addicts Trilogy?

Time Addicts Characters:

Time Addicts Books:

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Time to Review Time Addicts: No One is Safe

Background

Plot

Characters in Time Addicts: No One is Safe

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

No One is Safe (from a) Rating

Upshot

Want More About The Time Addicts Trilogy?

Time Addicts Characters:

Josie’s Family:

Time Addicts Books:

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All About Descriptions

Scenes

People

More Natural Exposition and Descriptions

Aliens

Descriptions: Takeaways

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Exposition Should Be Your Superpower

Using Settings for Exposition

Here Now the News