Overview

Michael has had experience with several different presses and talks about his experiences in this second part of episode 88.

YouTube

https://youtu.be/zKDHghS4thY

Transcript

Michael let's talk some author stuff.

Now, some writing publishing before we get onto our discussion topic, what are some things you've learned through writing several books over a decade and getting them out and published that you're doing different now [00:01:00] than when you did at the beginning?

[00:01:02] Michael: At the beginning, I really didn't have a process whereby I could, I didn't use an outline.

Really I did. Eventually I've learned that you really have to outline a novel, at least for me, some people don't, some people just write what comes to mind, but I have to have some idea of the direction of the plot. And I would say over time, my outlines had become a little bit more detailed. One thing I have done in writing that I didn't do before is I would write out scenes like.

On cards. All right. And you can write a screenplay that way, but you can also write a novel that way. In fact, obedience started as a screenplay and then I turned it into a novel. So that's one thing you can do it. It was a hard pass to turn it into a novel because you got to add in all [00:02:00] your details. And some people think it's easier to turn a novel into a screenplay, but I've found it easier to go the other direction.

And it's going to vary from writer to writer, but you have to find what works for you. I focus a lot on the, on a lot more on looking at the plot and characterization in general, rather than just doing the line edits that I used to focus on so much as this working, is this not working and I do listen to people's advice.

But one thing I would say to people in workshops, listen to the people's advice you think is best and ignore the others people. Oftentimes, oh God, I got to do this. Then I gotta do this. Oh, this person says this. And this person says that they're going to say contradictory thing. All right. Ultimately it is your novel, your, it is your work or your story.

And the, you have to decide for yourself, what's going to work and what's not [00:03:00] going to work. Listen. Yes, take it seriously. If several people say the same thing, make use of it. But I'm not, uh, you know, I don't pay as much attention to it, so it worries me all the time. I agree. And I

[00:03:15] Stephen: think people need to understand that the guy that writes nonfiction about military hardware is going to have different path and different advice than someone that writes cop thrillers.

And that's going to be different than the lady who writes a romance. And so you need to think any. And I had this at a writers group where the there's a couple of guys that write suspense thriller, and there's one guy who's reading the opening couple of chapters of his book, and it was a horn story. And it wasn't till like clear into the third chapter or something that you realize.

The main focus. Character is a ghost and you don't realize that at first something's wrong and something strange and it's a buildup and they were like telling them, oh no, you [00:04:00] can't do that. You need to put it like first chapter, we need this conflict. We need to know. And I'm like, no, not for her book. A horror book has to bill.

I, if it's a suspense, okay. Here's the dead body. Let's go. But for a horror,