Readerly Interview with Kate Tilton

Over the past few months I've gotten to know Kate as an amazing advocate for authors. Not only that, but she is a book nerd like me (probably more so, actually), and when I saw her suggestion to interview readers in order to see their view on things, I jumped right on that and interviewed her! (See how I worked that?) So please help me welcome Kate to the blog! Here is part one of the interview:

First, thank for letting me interrogate you, Kate! ;D

K8: It’s my pleasure to be here! :)

How long have you been an avid reader? 

K8: When I was younger reading was a part of daily life but it wasn’t until one certain year that reading became invaluable to me. As a child I lived in a village where there were very few other children. When my two dearest friends moved away reading became my life. Books were my friends when I had none.

Most readers have that *one* book (or perhaps that *one* series) they can attribute to pulling them into the love they have for reading today. Do you have one? If so, what is it, how old were you, and what are a few things that you appreciated about it?

K8: For me I was brought into reading because of the circumstances (above) but there are a few book series that really mattered to me. A ten book Spy Kids series, and two Star Wars series (Jedi Apprentice and Boba Fett).

Do you have a favorite author and/or authors? What makes them your favorite?

K8: I do have favorite authors! I actually have two lists of favorite authors (I know, I know, I’m a little obsessive). On one list I have authors such as Maggie Stiefvater and Ally Condie who have wowed me with their writing. On the other list I have authors who have become my dear friends like Beth Revis and Marie Lu. (And yes, authors can be on both lists like Victoria “V.E.” Schwab.)

How about a favorite book cover (or two)? Tell us what made it/them stand out.

K8: One of my favorite book covers is Untraceable by S.R. Johannes. I have a picture of a group of authors holding up their books and Untraceable stands out from the crowd. The cover contains bold colors, professional type, and careful placement that makes it look good no matter how small it is.

What merits a book making its way onto your personal favorites list?

K8: The books that are on my personal favorites list (the books that get authors onto my special list) are the ones where the words are carefully selected. Read Crossed by Ally Condie or Vicious by V.E. Schwab (note by Jessica -- Vicious is an adult book, and not YA) to get a feel for what I mean. I also adored the Wolves of Mercy Falls series by Maggie Stiefvater because they moved me to want to create (draw, sing, write). I have never before been so moved by another’s creativity that my own felt alive.

Tell us a little bit about why you started up #k8chat on Twitter. 

K8: #K8chat is a weekly Twitter chat (Thursdays at 9pm Eastern) designed for authors and readers. I am a Twitter addict and I love being able to connect with others via Twitter chats. However I noticed most chats were either entirely made for authors or readers. I felt that Twitter needed a place where both groups could come together to form valuable relationships and have fun. If you are interested in joining #K8chat please check out katetilton.com/k8chat for details!

Thanks so much for being here, Kate! Join us next week for the second half of Kate's interview! 

About Kate:

Kate Tilton has been in love with books for as long as she can remember. Kate believes books saved her life and strives to repay authors for bringing books into the world by serving as a dependable author assistant. A cat-lover and fan of many geeky things, Kate can likely be found curled up with the latest Doctor Who episode, plotting world takeover, or assisting authors and readers in any way she can. Kate is also a self-proclaimed Twitter addict. You will find her hosting #K8chat, her own creation, every Thursday night on Twitter from 9-10pm Eastern.

“My goal for the longest time has been to help authors. Make their life better because they make my life better. You are my rockstars.”

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*** Pssst! I'm throwing a #JLBBirthdayBash for my birthday week and giving away books, book swag, t-shirts, and the good folks at Rafflecopter have thrown in a free month! It ends Saturday! You can check it out, HERE.

Join me in celebrating Read an Ebook Week! (Or better titled: FREE BOOKS!)

Today sparks off Read an Ebook Week, and as such, I thought I'd point everyone to the many freebies and promotions going on right now at Smashwords. For those of you who don't know a whole lot about Smashwords, it's a plaform authors use to make their ebooks available to readers. It's also a simple way for readers to preview, read and store ebooks. (Smashwords offers ebooks in simple formats so you can read them on pretty much any ereading device too, including Nook, Kindle, Kobo, Sony Reader and Palm Doc, and gives options for online viewing via plain text, RTF and PDF.) It's also my distributor--it distributes the ebook version of PITY ISN'T AN OPTION to Barnes and Noble, Apple's ibooks, and other ebook retailers.

From what I can tell, as this is the first time I've participated, many readers eagerly wait for Read An Ebook Week so they can stock up on insane amounts of free and/or discounted ebooks. (In the words of Smashwords founder, Mark Coker, "More than a couple times, it crashed the site as thousands of readers overloaded our servers by stocking up on ebooks like there was no tomorrow.")

To read Mark's article about Read An Ebook Week, click here.

If you would like to take advantage of PITY ISN'T AN OPTION's freebie status, click here.

Remember, when you get a warm, fuzzy feeling (or any other feeling, for that matter) because a book has affected you, letting the author (and fellow readers) know about it is an incredible gift. Readers have the power to pass their book love along to others--a simple "click" of the mouse (on a "like" button, or star rating system, for instance) can make a world of difference. (In fact, recently I posted some easy, no-brainer ways about how to share the book love.)

Now what are you waiting for? Go stock up on books! :)

Be blessed,

Jessica

Identifying with Characters: For the love of covers

Before we delve into this blog post any further, let's highlight the point of this post:

1) Identifying with characters as a reader

versus

2) Placing yourself into that character's situation AS the character

then,

3) The cover enabling either 1 or 2 to happen with the reader

4) Figuring out which cover readers like more, depending on 1 and 2


I'm going to be upfront about this--there will not be an answer at the end. I'm simply posting this because I'm curious: Do most readers prefer to get into the MC's head and know everything about them as a best friend? Or do they prefer to step into the character's shoes as the character themselves? And how much of a part do covers have to do with this?

Let's go over a couple of examples (some more overused as others--keep in mind we are not reviewing the books; I chose these examples based only on the covers):

Example #1 



This book series is insanely popular because the reader can very easily step into the MC's shoes. Bella does not say much about her appearance throughout the series, and in staying vague about it, the reader can share those experiences in a more personal way if they choose. Being as the series is romantical and angst-y and all, what better way to ensure that the readers feel Bella's feelings on a more personal level than to keep from sticking everyone with a specifically described MC on the cover (or in the books as well)?


Example #2



Logline: Who would have guessed that four minutes could change everything?

From a reader's point of view, I'd say it's not too hard to get into the MC's head and feel she could be you. It's also pretty easy to imagine you could be the girl from the cover view... the picture of the couple is small enough that you notice the word LOVE more than you see the MC. (So if the picture were a close-up, and a dark, straight-haired reader saw a blonde with long, curly hair, would that keep her from wanting to read it?)


Example #3



Logline: It happened like this. I was stolen from an airport. Taken from everything I knew, everything I was used to. Taken to sand and heat, dirt and danger. And he expected me to love him.

This is my story.

A letter from nowhere. 

In Stolen, the MC's thoughts take precedence over everything else. You have an idea how she looks, but it doesn't get too technical. Description and thought processes are what make everything in this book matter--therefore, feeling that you personally could be the one "stolen" makes the book (in my opinion). If a girl's face had been put on the cover, some readers wouldn't be able to identify with the situation as much.

Example #4



Logline: Girl Meets boy. Girl loses boy. Girl gets boy back... sort of.

You can see the guy holding the girl's hand... again, that hand on the left could be the reader's. If two faces were on the cover, the reader might be separated from the MC's emotional state a bit--they'd associate all the feelings with the face they saw, instead of how they would feel themselves in the same situation.


Example #5



Logline: Please let me go, I won't tell.

Knowing the MC is blind and can't see anything as the events become more and more perilous is much more serious when you feel as though you've stepped into her shoes. You see what she sees (if you have read this, you'll know what I mean), vs. what could have been if an entire MC photo was on the cover and you simply read her thought process.

There are so many examples of full-on character covers, that I won't even bother trying to use my own example. Just go to this article called Uncovering YA Covers: How Dark Are They? (a post from back in 2010 regarding YA covers--it's actually a pretty interesting read) and you'll see how often a thin, (usually white) MC is wrapped around the book for all to see.

So, here's the question. In which books can you relate to the protagonist on a more personal level? I would guess the top five, not the hundreds shown in the examples on that blog post I shared. Here's my thinking on this: In seeing the person on the cover and knowing it is obviously not you, you feel distanced a bit.

Am I right? Does this even matter to people?

You tell me.

Would you, as a reader, prefer to get into the MC's head and know everything about them as a best friend would? 

Or would you prefer to step into the character's shoes as them? 

And how much of a part, if any, do covers have to do with this?

Writerly terms: A reader's handbook

We writers have our own lingo, but to those who aren't in the writerly loop, it may sound somewhat foreign.  When I first began my whole writing journey a little over a year ago and started following writers' blogs, it didn't take much for me to get confused.  MC, WiP, and so on... what in the world did these strange abbreviations mean?

In order to keep my non-writing followers from getting confused lately, I've been translating the shortened terms in most of my blogs.  Then, a few nights ago, when I was trying to fall asleep, I had an idea.  Why not post a blog explaining what all of those darn things mean?  

So here we go, a quick breakdown on writerly lingo.  For a more detailed explanation, click on the definitions with attached links.

MC - The main character.  Think Harry Potter, Isabella Swan (The Twilight Series), Josephine March (Little Women), Jody Baxter (The Yearling) and Romeo (Romeo and Juliet).  In my YA WiP, it's Dahlia Kennedy =)

Protagonist -  The lead character, like the MC, a hero or heroine, usually.  

Antagonist -   The protagonist's adversary

WiP -  work in progress

MS - The manuscript, also known as the WiP once it has been completed and is ready to be shown to agents and publishers!

ARC - advanced readers copy

YA - young adult category

MG - middle grade

So that about covers the main ones that used to confuse me.  If anyone can think of more words, feel free to mention them to the comments, and I'll put add them to my list:)

Avoiding Loopholes

Loopholes. Who doesn't love a good, old-fashioned loophole when it comes to getting a job done just a teeny bit faster? My kids sure do. If I tell them to deal with the trash, they'll empty the trash can but the trash strewn across the bedroom floor will remain untouched. (Or the other way around.) When I say, "Put the milk away.", I hear "I didn't use it last!" and "She got it out first!" *insert fingers pointing around the table here* instead of "Okay Mom!" (an ongoing issue in our house). If there's a way for the three of them to get out of something, to prove I didn't tell them specifically what to do (in order to get out of punishment), they"ll find it. (Hmmm. Maybe Lovemuffin and I should be saving up for law school...)

When it comes to writing, loopholes are a slippery slope - especially for young writers. (I should know. I definitely fall into the "young writer" category.) It's easy to read a book or two by a New York Times best-selling author and think, "See! They didn't follow that rule!" or "Well so-and-so didn't bother writing a hook in the opening scene so why should I? I can get around that rule somehow..." But the thing is, as many people out there in the literary world say, until you're an established writer, it's necessary to follow the rules. (I could share tons of links regarding this very topic, but to save everyone some time I'll just share this one for now, which was actually written by guest blogger, editor Victoria Mixon on Nathan Bransford's blog back in July of 2009. Victoria lists some great points regarding the plot, scene and exposition.)

For those of you who read my "I Have No Idea What I'm Doing" blog on Wednesday, this was supposed to be last Wednesday's post. Then it was going to be Friday's, but I had a bit of inspiration once Robert Downey Jr.'s voice *swoon* entered my ear canals the other night, so this post was moved to today.

Today I'm going to share five basic writing rules that I'm still trying to put into use - rules most of us already know, yet important ones nonetheless.

1.) Write for the reader. We already know the backstory, the reason each character behaves the way they do, the time of year the story begins (or ends). But the readers don't. Those facts need to be explained in your story, without boring the reader or taking away from the overall story line. Don't assume your readers know everything. Instead, assume they know nothing at all. (I think some people would debate this point, because we're also not supposed to treat our readers as though they're clueless. But there's a fine line between setting up your story line with necessary details and going over the top with too much information.)

2.) Make it worth reading. (This could actually be part of #1, but I wanted to go into more detail.) One of the worst things we can do is make our readers wonder why they're reading what we've written. Tie everything together. Each piece of the puzzle needs to fit by the end of your story, down to the smallest of details. (I've been called out on this one myself.) Does the fact that your main character wears only red socks have a bigger part in the overall story? If so, tie in it throughout - explain the reason behind his/her obsession with red socks. If not, maybe that part should be cut.

3.) Consistency is key. Is your character scared of being in a crowd? Then why is she dancing her feet off at a club two pages after freaking out that people were looking at her in the grocery store? Stay consistent to keep your readers hooked. Things that don't make sense or conflict with a part you wrote earlier will turn the reader off. You want them to keep turning pages, not close the book and set it down somewhere, never to be opened again.

4.) Pay attention to the flow. It's important to keep your flow nice and interesting, not so much because otherwise it's boring otherwise, but because nothing is worse than making a reader go back; and, not understanding or remembering what they just read, have to read it again because the sentence is so wordy that they already forgot what the heck you were talking about, don't you think? Long, confusing sentences or paragraphs are my pet peeve. I can't tell you how many times I've had to turn back a page and start a paragraph over, or read a passage more than once because the flow just isn't there. Make sure not to trip up your readers - getting confused during an important part of the story is an event they won't soon forget.

5.) Stay true to yourself. Don't let the stress of following rules stifle your writing voice. Regardless of the many guidelines we need to follow, our stories should still sound like us. We leave a little thumbprint on everything we write, a signature on our work that tells people "I wrote this - this is my style, my point of view, the way I chose to share my story." The story you tell gives the reader a glimpse of who you are - that's what makes you different from everyone else out there.

I'll leave you with a true, yet comical version of common rules for writing. I'm sure some of you have seen this before, but I wanted to share it anyway.

26 Golden Rules for Writing Well

Happy Monday, my readers!