A General Word to Indie Authors

A General Word to Indie Authors

Buckle Up, ‘Cause I Got Somethin’ To Say

*Tom Segura voice*: “A lot of you will not like this.”

So, for Abaddon‘s release, I naturally tried to build a little bit of a following and ended up on Twitter to engage in their writing community.

Also, let me take a quick moment to say something: my presence on Twitter is very specific. I am there to be supported and to support other creators, 99% indie authors. I do NOT do follow backs because I believe in quality followers, followers who engage with your content because they like it. If I follow you, it is because I am particularly interested in the content you post. I do not follow anyone else and I encourage anyone who follows me for any other reason to unfollow me. #qualityoverquantity

ANYWAY. In my engaging with other indie authors, I naturally downloaded LOTS of eBooks and such and began reading. And I would post updates that I was reading their work to show my support and inevitably, some authors have sought my honest feedback. And I struggle.

This is the part you’re not going to like.

Most of what I have read so far has been very average. Mm… Sub-par.

And let me explain why I struggle with giving that feedback.

1. I am also an indie author and would hate to appear to know better or be superior to other indie authors.
2. I only feel comfortable giving honest feedback if I feel I have constructive criticism to offer, like suggestions and advice.

To elaborate on that second point, I have yet to figure out a way to give my feedback in a constructive way to indie authors. Because here’s what it boils down to, in the vast majority of indie work I have read this year:

I can tell it’s one of the first things you’ve ever written.

We all have to start somewhere, of course. And the fact that you started at all is awesome and amazing. But it’s hard when I’m asked for feedback to tell you something that you cannot immediately change. “You should try to use more adjectives!” That’s an instant fix. Maybe even for an already published work for indie authors! Just do a revision and upload a new file! But my feedback is not that simple most of the time, unfortunately. The feedback I am thinking but not saying out loud because I don’t feel it is helpful is, “you need to read more good books, spend another year writing, and rereading your own work.” That is not happy feedback to hear for any author. Because that is not something you can change right now. It means you’re inexperienced and the only way to remedy inexperience is with experience, which takes time.

First, let me explain what I mean when I say “you need to read more good books.” *nervous laughter* Haha… a lot of you will not like this part either.

All of the indie work I have read has been fantasy or horror (because that’s what I’m interested in), and like me, you probably started writing your fantasy novel because you have read fantasy novels. Makes sense. For example, I found my fantasy calling after reading The Inheritence Cycle by Christopher Paolini and of course Harry Potter. And even Percy Jackson. These are excellent world-building novels. But what I mean by “good books” is books that are renowned not just for their plot and world-building, but the actual flow and style of the writing. J.K. Rowling’s world is wonderful. I remember just being so impressed with Quidditch and its ins and outs. *flinch* … But her overall writing style, in my humble opinion, is quite bland. Not entirely throughout, mind you. But often.

“What do you mean?”

Well, let’s get specific, shall we?

Brace for impact.

I love characters. I love getting to know characters. I want to know everything about your characters (at some point, not immediately). And my God, I’m so bored with reading books about characters who say words and move to locations and nothing else. Y’all, I am starving for characters who are people. What do I mean? Watch a show. A movie. Watch anything. Watch any person in it. Do they only say words and walk and drive to the next location where the plot is continued? No! What do they do? They use hand gestures. They touch their face sometimes. They have anxious habits like tapping their foot or biting their nails, pulling their hair, or stretching their sleeves. Sometimes they smile and they never JUST smile. What does that smile mean? Is it a nervous smile? A polite, kind of insincere smile? A tired smile? An ecstatic smile? Why are they smiling?

What else? Things you have the power to show that movies and shows have to work harder at: thoughts and inner dialogue! Does your character ever randomly remember something that happened and they’re not sure what triggered the memory? Does your character notice little quirks about other people, not just their love interest? If your character is confused by a situation–why? What is their thought process? Show me what they’re thinking!

What else? This is my personal opinion for sure, but give me your mundane details. I don’t mean “they go to the same coffee shop every Sunday,” no, I mean how much cream cheese do they like on their bagel? How dark do they like their coffee? Do they have a pattern in which they eat their sandwich like alternating bites on each side or even all the way across? That was a lot of consumables, but here’s a few more: Do they always try to have a similar seat on the subway? Which shoe do they tie first? If they are a dude, do they always stand up to pee? I want to know. Don’t keep it from me.

Your characters are people. Show me that they are people. Because that shows me you care about them. And if I can’t tell that you care about your characters–why should I care about them?

What else?

Let’s circle back to world-building. Everyone knows you don’t explain everything right away, that’s a given. But again, after having read some things recently, I feel the need to remind you of something else: not everything has to be explained at all AND not everything has to be explained through dialogue. Characters do not always have to have a back and forth exchange for you to answer questions that the reader has. As long as your character isn’t super oblivious or really dumb, let them observe and learn. Maybe they see a painting hanging in that castle and they think, “huh, maybe that’s, like, their god they worship or something” or maybe they watch an exchange from people of another race/species and think, “they’ve used that hand gesture before; maybe it means some kind of greeting or acknowledgement of social status”. Allow your character to draw conclusions–even if they are not one hundred percent accurate!

And the thing that always gets my goat is characters will meet a magical being or something, the scene will take place, then they go home and go to bed. What? Are you kidding me?? You just saw a talking dragon with your own eyes and had a conversation with it and that doesn’t keep you awake all night??? My mind would not shut up long enough to even close my eyes. I’d be Googling, I’d be reading articles, praying, doing a tarot card reading–anything to process what I just experienced. Any person would. Show me that.

Ahem… So. I’ve covered a lot.

Again, I would never insinuate that I am a better writer, but we all know what we like to read, correct? These are just the things I have noticed that I find to be missing in much of the indie work I have read lately. Just something to keep in mind. I’ve been writing for sixteen years. And yes, everyone will go back and read their old work and have moments of, “hm, that was a little young and I wouldn’t ever do that again,” and that’s GREAT. That means you’re growing and learning. So, I guess if I were to give feedback to someone who appears to struggle with these points, I think I would give you a homework assignment, respectfully. Make a list of what makes your character them. Not just things that are unique about them, and when you list things that are unique about them, you don’t need to point out “they’re the chosen one to save the world” because sorry, that’s not unique. What are their quirks? What are their anxieties? What are their hobbies? What are the things they think about? What annoys them? There are actually a number of great Tumblr posts of “character asks” that have these sort of prompts. Fill them out! And as for the world-building part, same thing. Treat your characters like people. I find when you do that, you don’t always get the story you planned–but you get a REAL one.

Okay! I’m done! If you made it this far, I both thank you and commend your perserverance to trudge through all of that. Hope everyone had happy December holidays! I’ll catch you in 2022!