author

Finding names for your characters

~ Rosemary Armel ~ Leave a comment

One morning you wake up and there is this character walking around inside your head. He or she is begging you to tell their story, but what should you call them and who are they really? They must have some sort of back story  and history to make the story complete.

Here are few websites that will help you flesh out your character and maybe find a side kick for them too.

Warning searching for names can be addicting.

http://www.fakenamegenerator.com/

http://www.behindthename.com/random/

http://www.rinkworks.com/namegen/

http://character.namegeneratorfun.com/

 

Keeping Track of Your Story

~ Rosemary Armel ~ Leave a comment
viking likre men
A gang of royalty

After Reading A Song of Fire and Ice (known to many as the Game of Thrones), I wondered how does George R.R. Martin keep track of it all?

Here are few tips and places to help you keep track of yours.

  • Readwritethink.org This site is designed for children, but I found it handy for just getting your beginning thoughts in line and it is printable.
  • Evernote -I haven’t used this one, but I have heard good things about it. Here is what it’s website said: From short lists to lengthy research, no matter what form your writing takes, Evernote keeps you focused on moving those ideas from inspiration to completion.
  • Now for the not so techie side. I find a cork board and index cards to be helpful. Its’ great to have it there to glance at to keep you on track.
  • Another one and the one I like best is the writing journal. I keep a journal of dates and places that happen in my story. Since my novel is a historical series it is important that I age my characters correctly as time progresses and keep the dates for events accurate.

Advertising Your Writing #5

~ Rosemary Armel ~ Leave a comment

furry friends 5Today I’m going to tell you about Authonomy.com. This what they have to say on their website

“If you’re a writer, authonomy is the place to show your face – and show off your writing on the web. Whether you’re unpublished, self-published, looking to get published, or just getting started, all you need is a few chapters to start building your profile online, and start connecting with the authonomy writing community.”

The website is sponsored by Harper Collins Publishing. Be prepared with a short (25 words) description of your book and a longer one too. To share your book and get reviews you must publish 10,000 words or more. I just started today with them I”ll let you know how it goes or I’ll see you over there. If you do join, let me know and we can share reviews.

Advertising Your Writing #4

~ Rosemary Armel ~ Leave a comment

furry friends4I probably should have put this one as the first place to advertise your book.  http://www.goodreads.com. Has a lot going on for writers on their website. First you must join for free as a member who reads books. They will ask for ten books you have read and have you rate them.

You can also import your friends from Facebook and Twitter and see what they have been reading.

After waiting for a day, you can submit your book into their data base. From there you can join groups. The first one I joined is called Pure Indie Promotion. This group encourages you to promote your book to others and let them know about promotions.

Amazon just acquired Good Reads, so it’s another good reason to join.

What I’ve written here really only touches the basics of what you can do on Good Reads. So off with you now and get promoting.

Indie Authors

~ Rosemary Armel ~ Leave a comment

This post may be old news for some of you, but I thought I would share my experience with Smashwords. I’m just starting my writing journey with them and found it is quite beneficial to publish with them. The first must do is to read the style guide, which they offer for free. Formatting is a big deal. Another big one is your cover. It must meet their standards, but it wasn’t expensive to do. I bought the image that you see here for just eleven dollars from http://www.Dreamstime.com

If you follow all of their guideline, your story would be eligible for inclusion in their premium catalog. The big advantage is that Smashwords will provide you with an ISBN number at no charge and your book will be distributed to 50 countries as well as being listed with Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Sony,Apple iBookstore,and Diesel.

I hope this will help some of you are just getting started.

Treasure Hunt Kids right pixels