Flogging the Quill

Questions, anyone?

I'm on the road today, so I thought I'd ask if you have any questions about narrative craft. Maybe an example of something you've seen or written and wondered about?

Or perhaps the opening paragraph of a work in progress that you'd like an opinion on--you can post it in comments and I'll give you my thoughts when I'm home this evening and Tuesday.

Best,

Ray

FtQ Q&A

Call for FtQ submissions The hopper is being deleted. If any reader would like a critique of their opening prologue or chapter, see the submission directions at the end of this post. Thanks.

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Marsha wrote with two questions:

1. When do you have your book reviewed? Right before it's published or directly afterward?

The answer varies widely with both the reviewers and the nature of your publishing event. The top book-review sites like to get ARCs (advance review copies) or bound galleys months in advance. This is due, in part, to the volume of submissions they receive.

However, many of the top review sites rule out self-published novels.

Others, such as the Midwest Book Review, will only consider copies of published novels, so ARCs and galleys don’t work with them. They, however, are open to self-published authors, although I believe their requirements for considering a review are high.

From what I’ve seen, most reviewers ask for hard copies of books, not ebook formats, unless the review operation is focused on ebooks.

For self-publishing authors who are considering e-publishing only, it might be good sense to also produce a POD version so you can generate hard copies for reviewers. Using various resources, you can produce good quality books for a few dollars each. I outline some of these avenues on my book editing and design website, crrreative.com.

2. My main character kills someone in the first book and doesn't get caught; I was going to build a series of books around her. Do people generally follow main characters that kill someone or do I need to re-think this?

Without seeing the story, there’s literally no way to answer this. What was the nature of the killing? Was it justified, or malicious? In my novels, characters kill people, but the reasons they do make sense to the reader and the sense of the story.

Readers follow characters they care about, too. If your homicidal character is both likeable and justified in his/her action, then you probably won’t have a problem.

If you have a question, please email me or comment.

For what it’s worth,

Ray

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Submitting to the Flogometer:

Email the following in an attachment (.doc, .docx, or .rtf preferred):

1. your title
2. your 1st chapter or prologue plus 1st chapter
3. Please format with double spacing, 12-point font Times New Roman font, 1-inch margins.
4. Please include in your email permission to post it on FtQ.
5. And, optionally, permission to use it as an example in a book if that's okay.
6. If you’re in a hurry, I’ve done “private floggings,” $50 for a first chapter.
7. If you rewrite while you wait you turn, it’s okay with me to update the submission.

© 2011 Ray Rhamey

Q&A on Mondays at FtQ

Call for Submissions to a new and hopefully regular Monday Q&A post on FtQ.

You can email questions to me or post them in the comments section of this and any upcoming Q&A post. They can be on virtually anything regarding the writing/publishing world:

• writing craft
• storytelling craft
• self-publishing
• self-editing
• book design
• techniques or tips
• anything else that comes to mind that's related to good fiction writing and publishing

So please fire up your questions. If I don't have a good answer, there's a strong chance one of the FtQ community will--or, at the least, offer a strong opinion.

Best,

Ray