Author Resources

So, when I went to the Sofa Street Fair in a Jose last weekend, a few people asked me about how I write my books, and I thought I’d put together an author resources page. This is kind of amishmash of the tools I use and the books/themes I’ve used in developing my plotting system.

Some of the links I share are affiliate links, some aren’t. Book links have affiliate codes, which means I get paid a portion of the cost of the book, and you see no change in cost. I’ll mark them with an asterisk. Some of the services have referral links or codes, that usually give both of us a bonus if you use them. I’ll note those with the benefits we each get.

The technical tools: 

• 4thewords.com – this is where I do all my journaling, outlining, and rough drafts. I get to defeat monsters, and go on quests while I put words on the page. Watch out, this software is responsible for me writing thousands of words that probably will never see the light of day in the form of journaling, notes to self, and also, just trying to figure things out, or just throwing words at the page to defeat some monsters.
  
  This game makes it super fun to get the words on the page and to learn how to describe what I am feeling and what I go through .
  
  Also, it’s fun to see the little progress bar on top that shows me defeating creatures. Right now, I am battling a bunch of roosters for a quest.
  
  If you use my referral code, you’ll get 22 free crystals to buy cool character accessories in the game. I’ll get free crystals too. This is my code: PSBCK46182

• Vellum – I use this software for formatting, and honestly, put my edits in there so that way I have everything in one place. It generates a beautiful ebook and print book for me. This one isn’t an affiliate link. I just use it and like it. Only for Macs.
• Scrivener – I used to write all my books in Scrivener and keep my story files in Dropbox. I liked the cork board function and ability to move scenes around. I do the same thing with 4 the words now, and I get to defeat monsters while I write. But if you don’t like gamified systems, Scrivener is a great tool. Although there are alternatives now. I used to have an affiliate code for Scrivener, this is not an affiliate code because I don’t know if that account is even still active.

Newsletter tools

•  I use Email Octopus* for my April Browne newsletter and it’s been really good to me, I won’t lie. BUT I am still at the stage where not paying a monthly fee is important to me. FYI, that’s an affiliate link, if you choose to purchase through that link, then you and I both get $15 credit to our account.
• SendFox to combine my email lists for both April Browne and Mel Woodburn into one place. SendFox costs a flat fee once, and then you never pay again unless you want to get the Empire Builder add on and get rid of the cute little fox at the bottom that announces what email software you are using. This one’s not an affiliate link and usually it’s for sale for about $49 on AppSumo.
• I’ve also used Mail Chimp and Mailer Lite. MailerLite you have to have your own website, and when I let that website lapse and then didn’t log in for some time… well, I could no longer log in and retrieve my list. 

Outlining, plotting, and all that jazz.

So, I won’t say I have read every book on drafting, plotting, outlining, and story structure.

The trick is finding what works for you, and what works for me might not work for you. 

I started off on the extreme end of thinking I could only pants, and I can’t write an outline because I get bored if I know too much about the story and I won’t finish a story from an outline… and maybe..  that was true when I was in high school and college. 

That said, I also wrote a lot of starts of stories that way that never went anywhere. Or got to about 10,000 to 15,000 words and just stopped.

Some people call this pantsing, Dean Wesley Smith has a book on it called Writing into the Dark.*

Steven King uses the pantsing method and discusses it in his book On Writing.*

Libby Hawker has a book on outlining specifically for pansters who are interested in outlining, called Take Off Your Pants and Outline!* I haven’t read the revised edition.

I’ve defeated all my roosters and am now battling the Zeleswi pig-plant thing.

I think the pun of the name is zealous wee (you know, as in the pig cried wee wee wee all the way home.) So, zealously crying wee wee wee? 

Then, I would hold the outline in my head. Then I moved on to the circus tent plot and Larry Brooks’ book Story Engineering*. 

I also read a lot of resources, both online and in books, about plotting specific kinds of books, — okay specifically mysteries because I wanted to move into writing mysteries. I had read a lot growing up… and I’ve taken courses on how to plot and focus on 

I tried Randy Ingerson’s Snowflake Method, and it wasn’t my jam. Though I do like writing the blurb first. This is not to be confused with being a snowflake. haha. I can’t do all the iterations though, that…was a struggle for me.

Once, I made a list of all the scenes that were going to happen, and that was just it, a list. And I used Scrivener, and had each scene card have a different icon based on who the point of view character was. And I really liked that book — it’s a lot darker and languishing under another pen name… though maybe I will bring that pen name into the fold here on this website, but it’s not punny and it’s pretty dark: alien invasion stuff. 

Jamie Gold also has some really nice spreadsheets and other tools for plotting or revising with about how long things *should* be, though remember these are all just guidelines.  

Heroes Journey. 

Save the Cat. 

Spreadsheets from Jamie Gold. 

I even looked into romance. 

Scene & Sequel plotting

Now focusing on {Scene} Goal Conflict Disaster –> {Sequel} Reaction, Dilemma, Decision helps me a lot with making sure that my story is on track. 

What does my character want? That’s their goal. They might want a delicious cup of coffee, to save the world, or to find a murderer. If my character doesn’t have an active goal, then are they reacting to something that just happened? 

Every goal should have something standing in its way (conflict) this doesn’t mean interpersonal conflict. It could be as simple as I’m walking down a path through the forest, and a tree has fallen blocking the path. Now, I have to go traipsing through knee high grass to keep going on climb over the tree. Do I want to go through knee high grass? No, what if there’s a snake or ticks or poison oak? 

Disaster could be finding any one of those things, or making it to the other side to see that the path is washed out, and now I have to do more.  

Disaster isn’t necessarily a major disaster. It could be, I’m super nervous to ask this kid on a date, and I work up the courage and do it, and then, they say yes! oh no! now I have to actually go through with the date. 

If you want to learn more about Scene & Sequel… check it out here.