Trad, Hybrid AND Indie – I’ve Tried Them All
I’m at Coffee Time Romance, talking about the wandering route I’ve taken in this wonderful writing career.
Here’s a snippet..
“I didn’t want to be Indie, so I did it in the laziest way ever. I built a team, finding an awesome editor, cover artist, formatter. I was already doing the bulk of the marketing for my books. To my amazement, self-publishing wasn’t much extra work.”
Read the full post here: http://coffeetimeromance.com/CoffeeThoughts/adjun2018-cynthia-sax/
Subscribe To My Monthly Newsletter: http://tasteofcyn.com/2014/05/28/newsletter/
Dark Fire
What the Beast wants, the Beast gets.
Dare’s savage nature has made him an outcast among his kind. The silver-scaled Dracheon warrior can’t control his inner beast. It’s too strong. When his primitive instincts told him his destined mate was on Carinae E, he had no choice. He had to travel to the outlaw planet. There, he hoped to meet a female powerful enough to survive his Drache.
He finds Faylee, a delicate little human.
Faylee is the best thief on the planet. Everyone she encounters mistakes her for a young boy…except for a tall, shiny warrior from off-planet. When she gazes into Dare’s flame-filled eyes, he makes her feel, for the first time, like a desirable female. The fire-breathing male has her yearning for hot kisses, fierce embraces, and a future filled with love. She doesn’t realize mating with him might be the last thing she ever does.
Dare’s beast isn’t the only danger on the planet. An enemy from the past has returned and he’s determined to stop Dare and Faylee…permanently. They’ll need luck and the assistance of every warrior in the Refuge to stay alive.
Dark Fire is a STANDALONE SciFi Romance set in a gritty, dark world.
Buy Today:
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Fire-Refuge-Book-4-ebook/dp/B07CW2Y8B7/
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dark-Fire-Refuge-Book-4-ebook/dp/B07CW2Y8B7/
Apple/iTunes : https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/dark-fire/id1381353384
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dark-fire-cynthia-sax/1128614574
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/dark-fire-22
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/824382
Topics: Writing Tips | Comments Off on Trad, Hybrid AND Indie – I’ve Tried Them All
The Right Category For You
Categories have been a hot topic in Romanceland recently. There has been some talk about books being in the ‘wrong’ category or ‘polluting’ categories.
Categories simply are groupings of books by genre, theme or other aspects. They are designed to help readers find books they might like.
Any reader looking in the Romance category, for example, is seeking a book that prominently features a romantic relationship and has a romantic happy for now or happy ever after ending. That’s important to Romance readers.
If the story listed in the Romance category doesn’t feature a romantic relationship, readers will be disappointed. Disappointed readers might not buy and read another book. No one wants that to happen!
Books In Multiple Categories
Books can be in multiple categories. I write SciFi Romance, for example. My books have aspects that make a Romance reader happy (it features a romantic relationship and has a romantic HFN/HEA ending) and aspects that make a Science Fiction reader happy (it features science – often evolutionary biology).
Amazon and other booksellers know most books belong in multiple categories. That is why they allow us to put our books in two of them. That’s the norm for books.
Even though we all know this, some writers will still argue if a book has aspects of one category, it can’t be in another category. If the story features a romantic relationship, for example, it can’t be in Science Fiction. This is nonsense and often discrimination against that other category. Many Science Fiction novels are also Thrillers or Horror stories or Futuristic Who-Done-It Mysteries. I rarely hear anyone complaining about THOSE stories.
(As an interesting aside: When Amazon temporarily displayed where readers came from, readers of my books were almost perfectly split between Science Fiction readers and Romance readers. My books make both types of readers happy. I LOVED discovering that information.)
Which Category Should Your Book Go In?
Since the purpose of categories is to help readers find books they’ll like, you should put your book in a category frequented by readers who will love it. This sounds simple but it can be difficult to do.
I list the bestselling books my stories are similar to. Then I look at which categories they are in. Readers of those books will likely enjoy my books also.
You might choose incorrectly. Maybe your alien shifter romance should have Paranormal Romance rather than Science Fiction for its secondary category (its first category is definitely SciFi Romance). That’s okay. You can change it.
Putting Books In The ‘Wrong’ Category Deliberately
Some writers put their books in tiny categories merely to more easily get that orange bestseller tag. I don’t advise doing this. NO ONE searching that wrong category is buying your book.
And you might turn off readers who are searching in the right category. I look at BOTH categories when I’m considering buying a book. If the book is in a category I don’t read, I will think longer about purchasing it.
Books Somehow Ending Up In The ‘Wrong’ Category
Amazon often puts books into categories on its own. It uses keywords writers/publisher choose, keywords in blurbs, keywords in titles.
I had a post-apocalyptic romance called Assassin’s Haiku. Amazon put it in poetry. NOTHING I did would convince them to take it out of that category. I emailed them multiple times. They wouldn’t move it.
Should I Complain About A Book Being In The Wrong Category?
If a book is clearly in the wrong category, then, yes, mention this to the bookseller. I would have been grateful to you if you had told Amazon my post-apocalyptic romance didn’t belong in poetry. I REALLY would have appreciated it if you had told Amazon my demon-themed extremely erotic short story didn’t belong in Inspiration. (shakes head) It took me a while but I eventually convinced Amazon to move THAT story.
What about a man titty cover Romance in the Science Fiction category? Should you report THAT? Unless you’ve read the story and are certain it doesn’t contain any science or have ANY of the other expectations of a Science Fiction story, no, don’t report it. Judging a book by its cover is about as cliché as we can get.
Why You WANT Cross-Category Books In Your Category
As writers AND readers, we WANT cross-category books in our categories. That is the easiest and quickest way to grow a category. The multitude of cross-category books is one of the many reasons why Romance is such a healthy genre. There are Romance books that mesh with almost every other genre available.
A cross-category book brings new readers into the category. Then they might buy other books. This is what we want. It keeps the category healthy and strong.
Categories are powerful for both readers and writers. How do you use them?
Subscribe To My Monthly Newsletter: http://tasteofcyn.com/2014/05/28/newsletter/
Dark Fire
What the Beast wants, the Beast gets.
Dare’s savage nature has made him an outcast among his kind. The silver-scaled Dracheon warrior can’t control his inner beast. It’s too strong. When his primitive instincts told him his destined mate was on Carinae E, he had no choice. He had to travel to the outlaw planet. There, he hoped to meet a female powerful enough to survive his Drache.
He finds Faylee, a delicate little human.
Faylee is the best thief on the planet. Everyone she encounters mistakes her for a young boy…except for a tall, shiny warrior from off-planet. When she gazes into Dare’s flame-filled eyes, he makes her feel, for the first time, like a desirable female. The fire-breathing male has her yearning for hot kisses, fierce embraces, and a future filled with love. She doesn’t realize mating with him might be the last thing she ever does.
Dare’s beast isn’t the only danger on the planet. An enemy from the past has returned and he’s determined to stop Dare and Faylee…permanently. They’ll need luck and the assistance of every warrior in the Refuge to stay alive.
Dark Fire is a STANDALONE SciFi Romance set in a gritty, dark world.
Buy Today:
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Fire-Refuge-Book-4-ebook/dp/B07CW2Y8B7/
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dark-Fire-Refuge-Book-4-ebook/dp/B07CW2Y8B7/
Apple/iTunes : https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/dark-fire/id1381353384
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dark-fire-cynthia-sax/1128614574
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/dark-fire-22
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/824382
Topics: Writing Tips | Comments Off on The Right Category For You
My Writing Speed And Having A Long Writing Lifespan
Some writers write super quickly. Some writers, like myself, write slowly. Once a writer has been writing for a few years, she knows, on average, how long a book will take.
For me, it takes 2 full months to write a 56,000 word/224 page story (using the traditional 250 words/page calculation – each bookseller lists a different page count for my stories). That’s writing full time 7 days a week, adding time for revisions and edits.
If you paid me a million dollars, I couldn’t produce the same quality of story in 1 month, i.e. half that time. That isn’t possible for me.
A reader suggested I write longer stories in the same length of time. Again, that’s not possible for me. A 112,000 word/448 page story would take 4 months, double the time. It might take longer because that’s not a length of book I’m currently comfortable writing.
Writing the 56,000 word count stories allows me to have a release every 2 months, which is pretty darn good. This is only possible because I self-publish. A big New York publisher wouldn’t agree to release my stories that frequently.
Because I have two series on the go, there is a wait of 4 months for a new book in each series. I alternate series so readers of one series don’t have to wait longer than readers of the other series. This also keeps my muse happy. I like the slight change of worlds.
I plan to release like this for decades, keeping to the same slow but steady pace. I have many, MANY stories to write. It’s exciting.
Note: Other writers write at different speeds, have different word counts for their books, different number of series on the go, different ways of publishing. This isn’t a competition. We’re creating unique works of art. We’ll have unique release schedules.
Subscribe To My Monthly Newsletter: http://tasteofcyn.com/2014/05/28/newsletter/
Taking Vengeance
The only force stronger than their hate is their love.
Vengeance hates all humans. They killed every being he ever cared about. When the huge C Model cyborg is told he’s genetically compatible with the enemy, he makes it his mission to capture the female and use her to expel all humans from his home planet. That should be disappointingly easy. She’s a weak, fragile human.
Then she blows up his ship, blasting to bits his preconceived notions about the enemy.
Astrid, aka the Buoir Berserker, hates all cyborgs. They killed her entire clan, including her baby sister. The warrior female has vowed to hunt down and destroy the enemy. When a savage cyborg arrogantly puts his hard, sexy body within her reach, she does the only thing a female can do—she peppers his muscular physique with projectiles.
The more passionately they fight, the stronger their attraction becomes. Neither of them will relent on their missions, yet they can’t keep their hands off each other. Their battle will either end in love to last an eternity or in death.
Taking Vengeance is Book 12 in the Cyborg Sizzle series and is a STAND-ALONE story.
It is also an enemies-to-lovers Cyborg SciFi Romance set in a dark, gritty, often violent universe.
Order Now:
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Taking-Vengeance-Cyborg-Sizzle-Book-ebook/dp/B079YGMLD2
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Taking-Vengeance-Cyborg-Sizzle-Book-ebook/dp/B079YGMLD2
Apple/iTunes : https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/taking-vengeance/id1352770472
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/taking-vengeance-cynthia-sax/1128043105
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/taking-vengeance-1
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/794862
Topics: Writing Tips | Comments Off on My Writing Speed And Having A Long Writing Lifespan
Writing Tips: Dealing With Runaway Characters
There’s no ‘right’ way to write.
We do what works for us.
The folks at Coffee Time Romance know this.
They have a new feature where they ask help with a common writing problem and then a variety of writers give advice.
This week, we’re giving advice about runaway characters.
Here’s a snippet from my answer…
“This is what I want as a writer – to have characters come alive, drive their own actions, take over the story. I’m a character-driven panster (A pantser is someone who writes by the seat of her pants, having no fixed plot. Character-driven means I allow characters to lead when writing.). Much of my early writing in a story is wandering in the wilderness, waiting for my characters to form their own personalities and make decisions.
Here is a link to my full answer…
http://coffeetimeromance.com/CoffeeThoughts/admar2018-cynthia-sax/
Subscribe To My Monthly Newsletter: http://tasteofcyn.com/2014/05/28/newsletter/
Taking Vengeance
The only force stronger than their hate is their love.
Vengeance hates all humans. They killed every being he ever cared about. When the huge C Model cyborg is told he’s genetically compatible with the enemy, he makes it his mission to capture the female and use her to expel all humans from his home planet. That should be disappointingly easy. She’s a weak, fragile human.
Then she blows up his ship, blasting to bits his preconceived notions about the enemy.
Astrid, aka the Buoir Berserker, hates all cyborgs. They killed her entire clan, including her baby sister. The warrior female has vowed to hunt down and destroy the enemy. When a savage cyborg arrogantly puts his hard, sexy body within her reach, she does the only thing a female can do—she peppers his muscular physique with projectiles.
The more passionately they fight, the stronger their attraction becomes. Neither of them will relent on their missions, yet they can’t keep their hands off each other. Their battle will either end in love to last an eternity or in death.
Taking Vengeance is Book 12 in the Cyborg Sizzle series and is a STAND-ALONE story.
It is also an enemies-to-lovers Cyborg SciFi Romance set in a dark, gritty, often violent universe.
Pre-order Now:
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Taking-Vengeance-Cyborg-Sizzle-Book-ebook/dp/B079YGMLD2
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Taking-Vengeance-Cyborg-Sizzle-Book-ebook/dp/B079YGMLD2
Apple/iTunes : https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/taking-vengeance/id1352770472
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/taking-vengeance-cynthia-sax/1128043105
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/taking-vengeance-1
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/794862
Topics: Writing Tips | Comments Off on Writing Tips: Dealing With Runaway Characters
Romance Writing Tips: Are You Writing In The Right Subgenre?
2017 has been a tough year for many Romance writers. Sales have been challenged. Some reading buddies have been concentrating on other things (like politics). A few writing buddies are considering leaving this otherwise wonderful profession. They’re thinking about taking a break or walking away from it completely.
Before you make that decision, I hope you will ask yourself one additional question.
Am I writing in the right subgenre of romance?
When I started writing, I was told to write what I loved. I loved Regency Romances. I read all types of romances but that was my favorite subgenre at that time. I wrote a massive, absolutely awful Regency Romance. I had fun writing it. I thought it was good (at the time).
I sent it to an editor-for-hire who specialized in Historical Romances. He read it (winces) and then asked me what research I did for this story. I hadn’t done any. He asked me if I was interested in historical research. Other than the history of warfare, I’m not very interested in historical research. I certainly didn’t have an interest in gowns or food or any of those tiny yet important details.
He then asked why I was writing Historical Romance if I didn’t like a huge component of it. (He also said I didn’t have the voice for it but that’s an entire different post.)
That was the last Historical Romance I’ve ever written. It is the wrong subgenre for me. I could have forced myself to do the research and, if I had worked hard at it, I likely could have written an okay story.
But there’s no place in this crowded market for okay stories. And there’s no need to write okay stories, not if we can write wonderful stories, stories we were meant to write.
I explored a few more subgenres. Writing these stories was a blast. Some of them were published and reading buddies seemed to enjoy them.
Then I had a string of writing business disasters (almost all involved publishers). Combine that with not yet having a breakout hit and I was seriously considering writing only for me. Writers write. That is what we do. We don’t have to publish those stories, however. That’s a choice.
I wrote Releasing Rage for me. I poured all of my emotions and many of the things I loved into that story. Out of pure curiosity, I had previously talked with scientists and entrepreneurs about cyborgs, how they could be mass produced, how they could possibly have babies, etc. (Looking back, this was an obvious clue that maybe I should be writing Cyborg Romance. – grins) As I mentioned, I have a love for the history of warfare (especially strategy) and I incorporated that. I enjoy writing fight scenes and put some of those scenes into the story. There was sex, of course. I love writing sex scenes. I didn’t have any explosions in Releasing Rage but the potential was there.
Cyborg and SciFi Romance has everything I love writing in it and I don’t think it is a coincidence that this was the subgenre in which I finally found some reading buddies. There were other factors (like two of the top writers in Cyborg Romance being on a break) but being in the right subgenre definitely helped.
It also made me happier as a writer. I was writing what I loved to write, had found a place in Romanceland in which I fit. That’s magical and will likely sustain me when I go through another dry sales spell (because that WILL happen – it happens to every writer).
Before quitting or taking a break from the writing, consider looking at what you love to write, what you research for fun, what people say you write well, what you feel genuine joy writing. Are all of those components valued by reading buddies in a certain subgenre? Is that the subgenre in which you’re currently writing? If it isn’t, maybe that’s the true issue. Or maybe it isn’t but isn’t it worth at least investigating?
Subscribe To My Monthly Newsletter: http://tasteofcyn.com/2014/05/28/newsletter/
Seeking Vector
A cyborg with a secret… A female seeking the truth…
Vector, the C Model captain of the Freedom, is a cyborg many warriors wish to emulate. He fights fiercely, leads with honor, has earned the respect and loyalty of his crew. But no being, not even a cyborg, is perfect. Since arriving at the Homeland, Vector has been hiding a dark truth about his past. If his secret is exposed, he could lose everything – his position, his ship, and his life.
Kasia excels at uncovering secrets. Half a lifespan ago, her curiosity placed her on the Humanoid Alliance’s kill list. Now she has accessed information the cyborg council would prefer remain hidden. Their warriors are hunting her and won’t rest until she’s dead.
When Vector arrives on her battle station, all grim determination, gray skin, and bulging muscles, Kasia knows he has been sent to kill her. That doesn’t stop her from wanting the dominant cyborg. She senses the savage nature under the male’s controlled exterior, sees the mysteries in his brilliant blue eyes, craves the roughness of his touch. She will risk all she has to experience his embrace.
Kasia braved the cyborg council’s ire for a reason. If she doesn’t convince Vector to act on the information she uncovered, the enemy could destroy his home planet and render every cyborg in the universe immobile.
Can a doubting C Model warrior learn to trust and to love before it is too late?
Seeking Vector is Book 10 in the Cyborg Sizzle series and is a STAND-ALONE story.
It is also a Cyborg SciFi Romance.
Buy Now:
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Seeking-Vector-Cyborg-Sizzle-Book-ebook/dp/B075FHBW87/
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Seeking-Vector-Cyborg-Sizzle-Book-ebook/dp/B075FHBW87/
Apple/iBooks/iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/seeking-vector/id1280185990
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/seeking-vector-cynthia-sax/1127072529
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/seeking-vector
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/746717
Topics: Writing Tips | Comments Off on Romance Writing Tips: Are You Writing In The Right Subgenre?
Writing Tips: When Should You Re-Read Your Manuscript?
Note: As always, this is my opinion. You are a different person, a different writer. If my advice doesn’t make sense to you, please don’t take it.
Reading should be fun. We should also enjoy reading our own stories.
By the time, my stories are loaded at the booksellers, I would fiercely disagree with both of these sentences. I would rather gouge my eyeballs out with a fork than re-read my story one more time.
Why?
Because I have already read it dozens of times. Sometimes I’ve read my story four times in the same day. I enjoy my stories but I don’t enjoy any story THAT much.
During Drafts
I read my stories in their entirety after each draft. That’s a given. Flow and emotion build between sentences, paragraphs, scenes are so important. These are best refined with full read throughs.
Editing
But after I send my story to my awesome editor, I only look at the suggested changes, right?
Nope.
I recommend reading the ENTIRE story after each round of edits. It is easy for sentences, paragraphs, scenes to be completely deleted during the editing process. All it takes is a cat walking across the keyboard or incompatible versions of Word or the track changes feature malfunctioning.
It also requires multiple sets of eyes to catch all typos. As writers, our names are on the cover and we’re responsible for the quality of our stories. Not our editors. Not our publishers. We are. Even with three plus rounds of edits and multiple sets of eyes, we won’t find all of the typos but we CAN try.
Formatting
The formatting stage is a dangerous time for our stories. Whether we format our stories ourselves (I don’t) or someone else (including a publisher) does this for us, errors can happen. HUGE errors.
Maybe all fonts disappear. Maybe the wrong writer’s name is on the copyright page (yikes!). Maybe paragraphs are accidentally deleted. A huge New York Publisher once deleted an entire chapter from one of my stories during the formatting process. No one, except me, noticed this.
Again, our names are on the covers so I suggest asking for a final formatted copy of the story before it is loaded at booksellers.
If there are multiple formats, I review each one, verifying that everything is okay. It is a pain in the ass and it takes time but these are our stories. They deserve that time.
Loading At Booksellers
This is another stage where I re-read my stories. I can’t do this when I work with a publisher. I have to trust they have someone completing this task for me (whispers – they usually don’t).
When I am self-pubbing a story, however, I always read the story from first page to the last page after loading it at booksellers. Again, I check links and copyright information and ensure all words are there.
Both Amazon and Smashwords give us options to look at our stories after we load them. We’re not given these options for fun. Booksellers expect us to do exactly this – verify our stories have been loaded correctly and can be read on their eReaders. We can’t test it on every eReader (that would require having every eReader) but at least we can assure ourselves the story works with one eReader, our own.
One of the many reasons I like pre-orders is I can review the stories before they go live, before readers see them. Because, yes, stories can load incorrectly.
When The Story Releases
I also always buy/pre-order copies of my own book and I’ll look at them quickly on release day. I might not have time to fully re-read them (because release days are hectic) but I will scan through the stories, ensure there’s actually a story and the bookseller didn’t send a blank file to reading buddies.
That happens. Frequently. The sooner we catch this issue and tell readers, the less one star reviews we’ll receive for this bookseller error.
At what stages do you re-read your stories? What kind of errors have you caught on re-reads?
Subscribe To My Monthly Newsletter: http://tasteofcyn.com/2014/05/28/newsletter/
Seeking Vector
A cyborg with a secret… A female seeking the truth…
Vector, the C Model captain of the Freedom, is a cyborg many warriors wish to emulate. He fights fiercely, leads with honor, has earned the respect and loyalty of his crew. But no being, not even a cyborg, is perfect. Since arriving at the Homeland, Vector has been hiding a dark truth about his past. If his secret is exposed, he could lose everything – his position, his ship, and his life.
Kasia excels at uncovering secrets. Half a lifespan ago, her curiosity placed her on the Humanoid Alliance’s kill list. Now she has accessed information the cyborg council would prefer remain hidden. Their warriors are hunting her and won’t rest until she’s dead.
When Vector arrives on her battle station, all grim determination, gray skin, and bulging muscles, Kasia knows he has been sent to kill her. That doesn’t stop her from wanting the dominant cyborg. She senses the savage nature under the male’s controlled exterior, sees the mysteries in his brilliant blue eyes, craves the roughness of his touch. She will risk all she has to experience his embrace.
Kasia braved the cyborg council’s ire for a reason. If she doesn’t convince Vector to act on the information she uncovered, the enemy could destroy his home planet and render every cyborg in the universe immobile.
Can a doubting C Model warrior learn to trust and to love before it is too late?
Seeking Vector is Book 10 in the Cyborg Sizzle series and is a STAND-ALONE story.
It is also a Cyborg SciFi Romance.
Buy Now:
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Seeking-Vector-Cyborg-Sizzle-Book-ebook/dp/B075FHBW87/
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Seeking-Vector-Cyborg-Sizzle-Book-ebook/dp/B075FHBW87/
Apple/iBooks/iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/seeking-vector/id1280185990
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/seeking-vector-cynthia-sax/1127072529
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/seeking-vector
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/746717
Topics: Writing Tips | Comments Off on Writing Tips: When Should You Re-Read Your Manuscript?
Writing Tips: How Quickly We Write
It is almost November, which means it is almost time for National Novel Writing Month or NaNoWriMo, a challenge for writers to write 50,000 fresh words in a month. Some writing buddies won’t ‘win’ this challenge (like me – I have NEVER won NaNoWriMo). Some writing buddies will ‘win’ this challenge in the first two days.
Is Faster Better?
There’s a perception in Writingland that faster is better. I agree. Faster IS better. The faster we complete a story we’re proud to share with readers, the sooner those readers can enjoy the story and we can focus on another story.
Notice this is COMPLETING a story we’re PROUD to share.
It isn’t writing speed. Writing speed means very little. I write a first draft of a 56,000 word story in a month. It takes me another month to revise it (six rounds, at the minimum). If you write a first draft of a 56,000 word story in two months and it’s clean, ready for readers, your speed to complete a story you’re proud to share is the same as mine.
Talk during NaNoWriMo normally revolves around writing speed. Don’t compare yourself against others for this (or, IMHO, any other aspect of writing). Compare against yourself. Can you complete the same quality of first draft in less days? Great.
Or maybe not-so-great. If you burn out and then you have to take more time off than you usually do, that’s not a ‘win.’ Again, it is about how long it takes us to complete a story we’re proud to share with readers.
Pacing Ourselves
My most efficient pace is writing 2,500 new words a day Monday to Friday and then taking the weekend off (to do things like write blog posts, respond to messages, fill out cover/formatting forms, etc).
But-But-But wouldn’t I complete the story faster if I wrote EVERY day?
Nope. If I tried to write every day, with no breaks, I would burn out and then have to take MORE time off than 2 days after 5 days writing. This also happens when I binge write. If I write 5,000 new words in a day, I’m usually burned out for three days after that. I find it more challenging to get back into the story after that ‘break.’
So I force myself to quit at 2,500 words every day and to take the weekends off. This is what works for me. Some of my writing buddies binge write. They NEED to write the entire story in mere days. That works for them. Others NEED to write every day. That is their optimal schedule.
The NaNoWriMo system will give you a target word count to meet every day. This is merely the number of words you have left to write to hit 50,000 words divided by the number of days you have left in November. It is a guideline, not what you SHOULD do.
If you’re just starting out on this wonderful writing journey and you haven’t yet found your optimal schedule, consider trying the system schedule. If it doesn’t work, try something else. It took me years to figure out my schedule. It took some fortunate writing buddies one shot. When you find your groove, stick to it until it no longer works for you.
Writing buddies, have you found your optimal writing schedule? What is it?
Note: Even though I never win NaNoWriMo and I stick to my optimal schedule, I still participate in it. I love the daily emails and the party aspect of it. There are so few group activities for writers. NaNoWriMo is one of those.
Subscribe To My Monthly Newsletter: http://tasteofcyn.com/2014/05/28/newsletter/
Seeking Vector
A cyborg with a secret… A female seeking the truth…
Vector, the C Model captain of the Freedom, is a cyborg many warriors wish to emulate. He fights fiercely, leads with honor, has earned the respect and loyalty of his crew. But no being, not even a cyborg, is perfect. Since arriving at the Homeland, Vector has been hiding a dark truth about his past. If his secret is exposed, he could lose everything – his position, his ship, and his life.
Kasia excels at uncovering secrets. Half a lifespan ago, her curiosity placed her on the Humanoid Alliance’s kill list. Now she has accessed information the cyborg council would prefer remain hidden. Their warriors are hunting her and won’t rest until she’s dead.
When Vector arrives on her battle station, all grim determination, gray skin, and bulging muscles, Kasia knows he has been sent to kill her. That doesn’t stop her from wanting the dominant cyborg. She senses the savage nature under the male’s controlled exterior, sees the mysteries in his brilliant blue eyes, craves the roughness of his touch. She will risk all she has to experience his embrace.
Kasia braved the cyborg council’s ire for a reason. If she doesn’t convince Vector to act on the information she uncovered, the enemy could destroy his home planet and render every cyborg in the universe immobile.
Can a doubting C Model warrior learn to trust and to love before it is too late?
Seeking Vector is Book 10 in the Cyborg Sizzle series and is a STAND-ALONE story.
It is also a Cyborg SciFi Romance.
Buy Now:
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Seeking-Vector-Cyborg-Sizzle-Book-ebook/dp/B075FHBW87/
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Seeking-Vector-Cyborg-Sizzle-Book-ebook/dp/B075FHBW87/
Apple/iBooks/iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/seeking-vector/id1280185990
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/seeking-vector-cynthia-sax/1127072529
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/seeking-vector
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/746717
Topics: Writing Tips | Comments Off on Writing Tips: How Quickly We Write
Writing Tip: Character Secrets and Leaving Breadcrumbs
All characters have secrets. Heck, all people have secrets. Part of the fun for me, as a reader, is trying to figure out a character’s secret. I’ll turn the virtual page merely to find that out.
When I was a newer writer, I thought I had to keep everything about this secret hush-hush. I wrote the secret as a total surprise to reading buddies.
The problem with that is… it squashes the fun of trying to guess the secret. We, readers, need hints to guess a secret. We need to know the character HAS a secret.
It also isn’t realistic. A character’s secret is part of him (I’ll use he/him in this post because I’m lazy but the character, of course, could be any sex). The character will have a reaction whenever he thinks of his secret. He’ll become nervous or upset if he’s in a situation that reminds him of his secret. He’ll react badly when the other characters are discussing something that might reveal his secret.
So writers leave, what I call, breadcrumbs throughout the story until it is time to reveal the secret. These clues can range from
“Bob had a secret and no one would ever learn it.” <– This is about as obvious as a writer can be.
To
“Bob walked into the space and all chatter stopped. They’d been yammering on about the Alpha 5 mission. He knew that deep down in his guilt-twisted gut.”
To
“Bob completed his sixth perimeter check of the shift. It was five more than mandatory but he knew, from bitter experience, one wasn’t sufficient to keep anyone safe.”
To
“Bob swept his fingers over the four dog tags he wore, his lips flattening.”
These breadcrumbs don’t have to be all different. Repetition is powerful. The first time Bob touches his dog tags after making a mistake could be a coincidence. The third time he does this communicates significance.
Some writers like to leave bigger breadcrumbs as the secret reveal approaches. This makes sense as the character will become more nervous and more focused on his secret as he mentally prepares to share it with his love interest.
Longer stories will naturally result in more hints being left for reading buddies. The character with the secret will think of it more often in a 400 page story than he would in a 40 page story.
The character shouldn’t ALWAYS be thinking about his secret, however. His secret is an object of shame, of pain. He’ll do his best to avoid thinking about it, push it to the back of his mind. And, as writers, we don’t want to hit our readers over the head with the secret.
It is a delicate balance. We don’t want reading buddies to guess the secret early yet we want them, during the secret reveal, to say, “Of COURSE, that’s his secret! I should have known that.”
I rely on my awesome editor to tell me if I’m being too heavy-handed or holding too much back. Other writing buddies use their beta readers for that feedback. It is very difficult for us to judge this for ourselves.
Those are my tips on writing character secrets. Do you have any questions or any insights you’d like to add?
Subscribe To My Monthly Newsletter: http://tasteofcyn.com/2014/05/28/newsletter/
Seeking Vector
A cyborg with a secret… A female seeking the truth…
Vector, the C Model captain of the Freedom, is a cyborg many warriors wish to emulate. He fights fiercely, leads with honor, has earned the respect and loyalty of his crew. But no being, not even a cyborg, is perfect. Since arriving at the Homeland, Vector has been hiding a dark truth about his past. If his secret is exposed, he could lose everything – his position, his ship, and his life.
Kasia excels at uncovering secrets. Half a lifespan ago, her curiosity placed her on the Humanoid Alliance’s kill list. Now she has accessed information the cyborg council would prefer remain hidden. Their warriors are hunting her and won’t rest until she’s dead.
When Vector arrives on her battle station, all grim determination, gray skin, and bulging muscles, Kasia knows he has been sent to kill her. That doesn’t stop her from wanting the dominant cyborg. She senses the savage nature under the male’s controlled exterior, sees the mysteries in his brilliant blue eyes, craves the roughness of his touch. She will risk all she has to experience his embrace.
Kasia braved the cyborg council’s ire for a reason. If she doesn’t convince Vector to act on the information she uncovered, the enemy could destroy his home planet and render every cyborg in the universe immobile.
Can a doubting C Model warrior learn to trust and to love before it is too late?
Seeking Vector is Book 10 in the Cyborg Sizzle series and is a STAND-ALONE story.
It is also a Cyborg SciFi Romance.
Buy Now:
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Seeking-Vector-Cyborg-Sizzle-Book-ebook/dp/B075FHBW87/
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Seeking-Vector-Cyborg-Sizzle-Book-ebook/dp/B075FHBW87/
Apple/iBooks/iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/seeking-vector/id1280185990
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/seeking-vector-cynthia-sax/1127072529
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/seeking-vector
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/746717
Topics: Writing Tips | Comments Off on Writing Tip: Character Secrets and Leaving Breadcrumbs
The Success File For Writers
This wonderful career can be challenging. I published my stories for years without breaking even financially. Some stories I spent months crafting were enjoyed by less than 10 readers. There are rejections at every stage of writing and this doesn’t stop after finding ‘success.’ Big names still get rejections and bad reviews and nasty messages.
This is why I believe it is VERY important to celebrate our successes.
Celebrate Everything
Finished a chapter? Celebrate that! Finished a first draft? Celebrate! Finished edits? DEFINITELY a reason for celebration (and heavy drinking). Sold a book? Celebrate! Every step is worthy of celebration. It is bringing us closer to our goals (whatever those goals are).
I like to post my ‘successes’ on Facebook. Writing it down makes it feel more real for me. Many of my friends have stood by my side for years. They know how important these benchmarks are and they’re happy for me.
Sure, sometimes someone will post something grumpy. I tend to respond with, “You’re my friend. I know you’re happy for me.” (This immediately makes ME feel better about the grumpy comment.) True friends will feel happy for us. We might be also envious of your success but that envy is about us, not about you and your success. We’re thrilled for you.
Seeing other writers’ successes pushes me to reach my own benchmarks. I always write faster when I hear someone else has had a great writing day. So these posts don’t just benefit you. They benefit others.
Create A Success File
I also have a success file or a kudos file or whatever you wish to call it. Every time I receive positive feedback or an awesome review or anything that makes me feel great about my stories and my writing, I copy the information and put it in a Word file.
When the dark days full of doubt come (and they WILL come), this file is what keeps me writing. I peruse it and I get that passion back. This file is what pushed me forward when I was losing money year after year. If it weren’t for this file, I wouldn’t have made it through that disastrous fifth year, the year everything that could possibly go wrong did.
Think you don’t have anything to celebrate? Well, you made it to the end of this blog post, didn’t you? That means today you read a post about writing. You have one more tool in your toolbox. Congrats! That’s worthy of a celebration!
Enjoy this wonderful career as much as possible. Celebrate and revisit your successes!
Subscribe To My Monthly Newsletter: http://tasteofcyn.com/2014/05/28/newsletter/
Dark Flight
His mission. His challenge. His forever.
Orol, the Refuge’s second-in-command, has been given what he believes is a simple mission—escort two human females to the settlement. The winged warrior arrives at the meeting site to find one of the females missing and the other aiming a gun at his head. To rescue the first, he must capture the second. Once he has Rhea in his talons, however, he realizes he never wants to let her go.
Her enemy. Her captor. Her everything.
Rhea doesn’t trust anyone. She certainly doesn’t follow commands issued by a gorgeous flying male with glittering eyes, a beautiful face, and a seductive touch. Orol is dominant, edged with darkness, and determined to find her sister. Rhea will do anything to prevent that, even if it means playing sensual games of submission with her powerful enemy, seducing him into forgetting everything except her.
Dark Flight is a STAND-ALONE SciFi Romance set in a gritty, dark world.
Buy Now:
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Flight-Refuge-Book-2-ebook/dp/B07124941B/
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dark-Flight-Refuge-Book-2-ebook/dp/B07124941B/
Apple/iBooks/iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/dark-flight/id1242494643
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dark-flight-cynthia-sax/1126484675
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/dark-flight-3
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/727350
Topics: Writing Tips | Comments Off on The Success File For Writers
Talking Cyborgs With Shelley Munro
The always awesome Shelley Munro has interviewed me!
Here’s a snippet…
“Shelley Munro – If a reader visits your Facebook page they soon learn you have a great sense of humor and a sense of fun (plus an awesome hubby!) yet your writing is quite dark. How do you explain that and what attracts you over to the dark side?
Cynthia Sax – I am fascinated with military history (if we don’t learn from history, we tend to repeat it) and I really wanted to tell the story of the cyborgs starting when they rebelled against their manufacturers. The cyborgs were created to fight wars. Any rebellion would happen during wartime and be quite violent. To make this series light in tone wouldn’t be true to the setting and would diminish what today’s warriors are experiencing.
But there IS humor and, of course, happy endings (for main characters and for past couples – everyone else is at risk). Humor is a survival tactic we see employed even during our darkest times. It is one of our great strengths.”
Read the full interview here: https://shelleymunro.com/blog/2017/08/19/interview-with-cynthia-sax-scifi-cyborgs-cynthiasax/
Subscribe To My Monthly Newsletter: http://tasteofcyn.com/2014/05/28/newsletter/
Dark Flight
His mission. His challenge. His forever.
Orol, the Refuge’s second-in-command, has been given what he believes is a simple mission—escort two human females to the settlement. The winged warrior arrives at the meeting site to find one of the females missing and the other aiming a gun at his head. To rescue the first, he must capture the second. Once he has Rhea in his talons, however, he realizes he never wants to let her go.
Her enemy. Her captor. Her everything.
Rhea doesn’t trust anyone. She certainly doesn’t follow commands issued by a gorgeous flying male with glittering eyes, a beautiful face, and a seductive touch. Orol is dominant, edged with darkness, and determined to find her sister. Rhea will do anything to prevent that, even if it means playing sensual games of submission with her powerful enemy, seducing him into forgetting everything except her.
Dark Flight is a STAND-ALONE SciFi Romance set in a gritty, dark world.
Buy Now:
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Flight-Refuge-Book-2-ebook/dp/B07124941B/
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dark-Flight-Refuge-Book-2-ebook/dp/B07124941B/
Apple/iBooks/iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/dark-flight/id1242494643
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dark-flight-cynthia-sax/1126484675
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/dark-flight-3
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/727350
Topics: Guest Post | Comments Off on Talking Cyborgs With Shelley Munro
