Well, before my poll broke, I had seven votes for new writing tips. Thank you all for giving your support to this!
I have had a couple people in the writing business tell me that it is important to build your tribe (fan base) before you are published. Having fans before mean you have a better chance of selling after. I know that in the proposal for Living Ink (an imprint of AMG) they ask for endorsements ("celebrities" who would advertise your book. There are also those who ask how large your platform already is. This includes blog followers, readers of other media, ect.
So that should be easy, right? Get people excited about what you are doing, even if it is not ready for public eyes. Give snippets, give updates, find people going through the same process and help each other. Anne Elisbeth Stengl is an awesome author who does posts on her website advertising for new authors and prospective authors who have worked with her. You can look around
here to find out what I am talking about. From this prospective author, Camryn Lockhart, I won the picture below on Stengl's website. Click on the picture to read the post. I keep the picture on my shelf next to my writing notes.
Now for my own plug (What? You can see how it works this way.) I am currently attempting to get my book,
Death is Passing, published. It is a bit difficult because I do not have an agent and I have only found two publishers for this genre (speculative) who will take unsolicited (Books from unpublished authors without an agent) manuscripts. While I am waiting, I am working on making my manuscript better and am also working on another book (a fantasy) and the sequel to the first.
Other than getting fans, I have another reason for showing you this. I had an editor tell me ones that we should only take advice from people we admire. That means that if you do not like my writing, you should keep that in mind while reading my writing tips. Some will be my tips and other will be ones that I have been given by others (like today's). I want fans, but I do not want to lead anyone astray just because I think I write well (also keep in mind that an editor has never even looked at this).
So without further ado, here it is:
Death is Passing
Prologue
The seed, the
prophecy
Out of the great,
the high and the
arrogant,
a leader will be
formed.
A nation once firm,
grounded in the
highest truth,
will birth one of
remembrance.
In the field of
destruction,
a seed will be
planted.
Struck by calamity,
and weathered by
storms,
the seed will find
him.
Beaten and bruised,
it will often be
jostled and dropped.
But if its carriers
do their part,
if they see that it
survives,
it will embed deep
in his heart.
If watered and
tended,
it will grow and
will strengthen.
With a shout of
determination,
he will rip free the
chains laid on his heart.
Taking on a battle
cry long forgotten,
he will race forth
and slay the guard.
He will tear away
the blindfold of the world
and then, mayhap for
the first time,
its captives will
look past the broken here
and now and see the
Son
burning within him;
Ready to free all
who call on His name.
Such a silly thing
to be afraid of, those few words on paper. The words can’t attack
or kill, yet an entire army searches for their source. Leads me to
wonder why they don’t take some other words to heart. The words of
prophets centuries ago seem to hold more weight to me than those
written only a couple of years before now.
For whatever the
reason, the Liberators believe the words of the Prophecy. Or at least
believe that the words have some power. Ever since they discovered
the writing they have sought for the writer and the one it describes
as “a leader”. So far, their search has not been fruitful.
Yes,
Liberator is what they call themselves. They say it’s because they
are “here to liberate the people from the Christian menace”. They
believe that they are the “guard” the prophecy speaks of and that
we Christians
want to “slay” them and well…. they don’t really like the
idea.
Now,
I can’t tell you if they are who is being spoken of, although I can
tell you that some Christians do want
to kill them. I don’t, but why would they believe me? This prophecy
is new to me. I just recently heard of it, and from the Liberators no
less. Maybe they shouldn’t be asking around about it so much as
they spread it faster and farther than we ever could.
I’m
still not convinced that the Prophecy isn’t a fraud, a way for the
Liberator leaders to manipulate their followers through fear of a
common enemy. Whether it's real or not, it’s changed my life
completely.
If
I had known what was going to happen, would I have still left my home
that morning? I doubt it. At the time, I wasn’t ready for the
pain, and I'd likely have hid in my room. That’s probably one of
man’s greatest problms;
that we run from things we don't like.e Jonah could tell you all
about it. We don’t like discomfort or anything that even resembles
it. So when it comes to a decision, pleasure usually wins seven times
out of seven. How about I tell you my story and let you see for
yourself what I mean.
