Spring Swarm Season!

I have very exciting news! When we were at the dog park the other day, we saw a swarm of bees! It had just landed on a tree branch, only about six feet off the ground. There weren't too many people around, which was good, because a lot of people are afraid of bees. 

I called several local beekeepers, and finally got one to come and collect the swarm, so they have a new home. I was very relieved to hear about it.

You may not know this about me, but I grew up in a beekeeping family. My dad has had beehives for as long as I can remember; I can't tell you how many times I got stung on my feet because I walked around barefoot constantly. Every year, I would help him with the honey harvest, and he often would take me out on swarm calls. As I got older, I helped with colony removal from buildings, attended a couple conferences with him, and helped with bee events in different capacities. 

Seeing the swarm at the park, hanging out with it for a bit, and warning dog owners not to get too close, made me awfully nostalgic. I'm reasonably certain I'll never have my own bees. They're a lot of work. And expensive to get started with. 

On the other hand, you never know. Perhaps the call will grow too strong and I won't be able to resist. 

Since I'm writing about this, let me give you a few tips in case you encounter bees in your springtime travels. First of all, if you're allergic, please carry your EpiPen when you're wandering around outside. There are several varieties of bees that live in the ground, and if you step on their house, they will sting.

If you see a swarm settle onto a branch or bush, and it seems like a weird spot for a lump of bees (this is more likely to happen in the spring), leave it alone and call a beekeeper. These bees are probably not going to be aggressive, so don't panic, but it's still best to leave them alone. They are wild animals. You can search "X County Beekeeping Association" to find the closest beekeepers to you. They often have a "swarm call" list on the site, with at least one phone number. You can call 911, and sometimes they will help, and sometimes not. Beekeepers will usually retrieve these bees for free, at least if they're not too hard to get to.

If you come across bees and they seem to be flying in and out of some kind of hole—in a tree, a wall, a garage, a log—or if you see any comb, this is probably a colony. Definitely keep your distance and call a beekeeper. This is likely their home, and they will defend it if they perceive you to be a threat. Beekeepers often charge to remove these colonies from various locations, even if they are honeybees. This is because it is significantly more work to uproot an established colony than catch a swarm, and the bees will likely be somewhat aggressive as they are defending their home.

Bees are great. Don't kill spring dandelions. Buy honey locally!

Anyway, all that said, I love bees and hope you do too. I plan to incorporate beekeeping into a future book, but I haven't quite committed to whatever that will look like yet. 

How To Pants A Novel

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My next book for writers is here! Technically, it was here two months ago, but I was so busy, I didn’t have a chance to announce it.

It's called How To Pants A Novel.

Blurb: 
If you've spent much time in the writing community, you've probably run across this question: "Are you a plotter or a pantser?" Plotters plan and organize their books ahead of time, while pantsers "write by the seat of their pants"—or, in other words, wing it.

But how? How does that work? How is it possible to just sit down and write a book?

The short answer is: it's not. There is a lot more that goes on in a writer's brain than just sitting down and writing a book. Even if that's what it looks like from the outside.

How To Pants A Novel is an explication of my experience as a lifelong pantser. It explores what the process of pantsing a book might look like, delves into the intricacies of crafting a story on the fly, and answers a few common questions often posed to pantsers.

Pantsing is a less frequently discussed method of writing a book, but for many writers, it’s the only way that works. And if you’re one of those writers—or if you’re not sure what kind of writer you are—hopefully this book will help you better understand and refine your own process into something that works the best for you.

You may be familiar with the concepts of “plotting” and “pantsing,” which are both different ways of thinking about how to approach the process of writing a book. Plotting essentially means “to create an outline of the book before beginning to draft it” and pantsing means “writing by the seat of your pants”—in other words, winging it with no outline. And for those who split the difference—they're called plantsers!

Different writers have different brains, and different brains work better with different methods. Outlining and organizing a story before beginning the drafting process is really common, and there are tons of books about it. Pantsing is less common, and there are far fewer books about it.

So I decided to add my perspective into the mix.

This book explores my own process of pantsing—or intuitive writing or discovery writing, as politer people than I like to call it.

Now, many books on plotting, for example, aim to give other writers a definitive process they can follow on their own. But that is not what I attempted to do with How To Pants A Novel.

I think there is this (false) idea that pantsers simply “sit down and write a book” and just like magic, a fully formed manuscript appears. But this isn’t true. There is a lot going on behind the scenes that is invisible to readers, and also to other writers watching a pantser work. 

So my goal was to explicate my own process, so that perhaps other pantsers would see some similarities with their own process, and maybe find ways to improve it or create efficiencies for themselves, and be encouraged to embrace pantsing—if that’s the right method for them; and to the contrary, encourage other writers to embrace outlining or explore the gray area between, if pantsing is the wrong method for them.

All that said, How To Pants A Novel is now available! And if you feel so inclined, please consider leaving a review.

If you would like an entry into my writing for writers, the first book in the series, How To Build A Book Marketing Strategy, is free!

The Five Types of Cliffhangers

There is a lot of talk about cliffhangers in the writing and reading communities. Some people absolutely despise them, with the passion of an exploding star. Other readers don’t mind them.

This can cause conflict when one reader leaves a review that says “Great book. Ended on a cliffhanger. Can’t wait until the next one.”

It also spawns the age-old question in writing groups: “Can I end this book on a cliffhanger?”

But the problem is, there are several types of endings to a story that people like to call cliffhangers, even if they are all different. And to be fair, the actual definition of a cliffhanger is “an ending to an episode of a serial drama that leaves the audience in suspense” or “a story or event with a strong element of suspense.”

And suspense itself, even if you’re left in suspense at the very end of a story, isn’t inherently a bad thing. But as a writer, what I personally want to avoid, is disappointing my reader.

Suspense, good. Disappointment, bad.

To be clear, I am making up these differentiations myself, based on my own writing and reading experience. I don’t think these are “official” in any capacity. But I do think more nuance around how we communicate about cliffhangers would be extremely helpful. Both so writers know what they are trying to accomplish, and so readers can be more clear about their likes and dislikes with each other.

Type 1: The Truncate

I’m assuming most people are familiar with a typical story arc. There are lots of systems for understanding story, but most go something like this:

Meet Character In World —> Inciting Incident —> Rising Action —> Climax & Resolution —> Falling Action —> The End.

How this plays out within a story is going to be different from book to book and writer to writer. Some have a mini climax and then the true climax. Some stories have “dark night of the soul” moments or “the ordeal”. Some writers like the Heroine’s Journey, others like the Save the Cat method, some like the Snowball.

My point here, is that the large majority of stories have a climactic moment, in which the question asked at the beginning of the book is answered, a realization made, a character arc shifted.

But with a Type 1 Cliffhanger, the book ends before the climax completes. There is no resolution to the story.

In my opinion, when people talk about hating cliffhangers with the passion of a burning sun, this is usually the type of cliffhanger they’re referring to. It’s super frustrating to put all that time and energy into reading a book, only to not find out what happens at the end.

I don’t have a perfect example of this type off the top of my head, though I rather felt Cinder by Marissa Meyers was this type of cliffhanger, but could also be convinced that it was instead:

Type 2 Cliffhanger: An Embankment

Next up we have type two: the Embankment. This is often referred to as a cliffhanger as well, and there is a certain subset of readers who don’t like this either.

An embankment takes place after the climactic moment, and the story’s resolution is still achieved. Often, however, there is little to no falling action, so the book skips right from climax to ending. Problem solved, book over.

In this type of ending, while you do get to find out “what happens,” as it were, you don’t typically get resolution on any of the other threads that might have been woven throughout the book. You probably won’t get romantic resolution, if there was a romance subplot. You might not find out if the MC and her brother got over their fight. You might not even know if everyone survived the big battle.

In addition, there is often no time skip between Book 1 and Book 2, so when the reader begins the second book, the story dives in right where it left off in Book 1.

This is a technique some authors like to use to increase readthrough from book to book, and I think could be considered a technique for building series-level tension.

An example of this is one of my own books, City of Dod, which is book 2 in the Land of Szornyek series. There is a big fight scene and battle at the end where you fight the villain and make some progress on the series goals, but then, the book is over right after the battle ends and there is little to no falling action.

Type 3 Cliffhanger: The Flabbergast

The third type of cliffhanger is the Flabbergast. In this type of cliffhanger, you read through the climax, through the falling action, and then, at the very last moment of the book, something CRAZY happens that is shocking and, hopefully, makes the reader want to pick up the next book. This technique is sometimes combined with the Embankment, making for a double whammy for the reader.

My favorite recent example of this that I have off the top of my head is in Ledge by Stacey McEwan, in which at the last moment of the book (SPOILER INCOMING) one of the main characters is presumed dead in a surprise assassination. So yeah. Very big surprise. And given that there will a Book 2 & 3, the question is: will the character return to life somehow? Or in more colloquial terms, “WTF just happened?”

Type 4 Cliffhanger: Threads

Type 4 “Cliffhangers” are threads, in which the writer deliberately leaves questions unanswered that tie the story together from one book to the next.

Truthfully, I don’t think most people confuse threads with cliffhangers most of the time. But sometimes, especially in long, epic series, there are BIG threads left unresolved at the end of a book that might occasionally look or feel like a cliffhanger, especially if the reader was particularly invested in that specific subplot.

Most long series have threads. Just look for a question posed at some point in the book that wasn’t answered. Bigger threads tend to be posed earlier; smaller threads tend to be posed later in the book. The one thing that all threads have in common, is that the key question is asked in one book, and then answered in a later book.

Type 5 Cliffhanger: Fizzlers

This last type of “cliffhanger,” aka Fizzlers, I’m not really sure I’d qualify as cliffhangers at all, but I do think the occasional person uses the term this way, so I’m including it.

Fizzlers can look like a lot of things. They can have the resolution happening offstage, so you don’t see it. They can have unbalanced, disappointing rising action and climaxes—like when you’re playing a video game, do all the work to get to the final boss, only to kill the final boss in like five seconds. Sometimes, instead of making forward progress on solving their series arc problem, the characters go backwards. Sometimes a favorite character is killed off.

A disappointing ending is not necessarily a cliffhanger, though a cliffhanger can be disappointing. Unfortunately, some stories are just… not what we’d hoped for.

And that’s okay. Not every story is perfect. Not every story is for every person. Not every story is for us.

Can I Write A Cliffhanger?

If you are a writer considering writing any one of these five types of cliffhanger, and you’re tempted to drop into a group and ask, “Can I write a cliffhanger?” let me save you the trouble.

The answer is: yes. You can do whatever the hell you want. If you think a cliffhanger is the best choice for the story you’re telling, do it.

Sure, some readers might not like it. But you’re not writing for them. You’re writing for your readers.

Can I Hate A Cliffhanger?

And if you’re a reader and you hate the cliffhanger ending of a story? I’m sorry.

Us writers are just people too. Nothing we create is perfect.

But, if you leave a review, I hope you clarify precisely what type of cliffhanger it was, so that readers who do enjoy that sort of thing will still try it.

And I hope the next book you read is exactly what you were looking for <3

Writing Tips (Sometimes): Scalability & Other Business Buzzwords

This is part of my series of essays for writers. Get them delivered to your inbox by signing up here!

Throwback! To me, my brother, and the chickens. I was the #1 chicken catcher in my family. A true pro.

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If you’re unfamiliar with the term, “scalability” is a business buzzword that simply refers to the ability of a business to grow and meet increased demand, ideally while reducing costs. Whether or not your product or a business is scalable depends on quite a few variables, including things like variable and fixed costs, pricing, consumer demand, and shelf life. Scalability is all about how much you can leverage a fixed cost advantage against variable costs, and then match these against increased market demand.

It’s hard to profit on a product with a very short shelf life unless you have very high demand, because any excess inventory has to be thrown away.

It’s hard to profit on a product with very low margins unless you’re able to produce and sell high quantities quickly.

Books are a very interesting product to think about in terms of scalability, because while they have relatively low price point compared to other products, they have high profit margins, a very low variable cost, and (usually) an infinite shelf life. In addition, they can be converted into a number of formats to be consumed by a wider quantity of people, allowing the author to broaden their consumer base at little to no extra expense to them.

For example, GooglePlay just launched a new option for authors to convert their books into an AI-narrated format. It sounds great, first of all, and guess how much it costs? $0, currently. As compared to hiring a real-life audiobook narrator, which will range from $1k to $20k depending on the narrator, the length of the project, and other factors. In addition, because you can develop this product for free, you can charge a lower price for it, compared to other audiobooks, and it offers the perfect option for readers who want to listen and don’t mind AI voices.

Variable costs: $0. Profit margins: 100%. Shelf life: infinite.

Now consider the difference between paperback manuscripts (or hardcover) and e-books. Paperbacks have a much higher base cost. For every book printed, the author or publisher has to spend a set amount ranging from a few cents to a few dollars. Every book has to be shipped at least once, sometimes two or three times before it reaches the consumer. In many cases, it has to be displayed or delivered, which have associated costs. All of these costs cut into profits.

Because of these added costs, the price point has to be set much higher. A higher price point means fewer customers will be willing or able to buy the book. You also have issues with accessibility—such as small fonts, the weight of the book, and other issues that make the book unreadable for people with various types of physical or learning disabilities. And for each variable, the profit margins get smaller and the scalability shrinks.

E-books, on the other hand, have only the cost of production and the cost of delivery. The costs of production are one-time, upfront costs such as editing or design, and won’t change once the book is published. The delivery fee is usually a percentage, and runs in the price range of $0.02 - $0.10 per e-book. This means that you retain the majority of the profits on the product no matter how many people purchase it, and don’t have to worry about juggling various costs to ensure the availability of your product. E-books are also highly accessible, not just to people with physical and learning disabilities, but also easily delivered digitally all over the world, giving you the highest possible access to your potential audience.

One of the biggest challenges for selling e-books is visibility—getting them in front of the right readers at the right time. But once it happens, there are very few barriers to prevent you from scaling your business as your customer base and demand grows.

Since I’m in a throwback mood, I thought I’d share this delightful photo of Charles (the orange cat) and George (the peacock) having a chat on the roof of the chicken coop at my childhood home.

Join Me For A Workshop On Artificial Intelligence for Authors April 29

On April 29th from 1 - 3 PM I will be giving a workshop for the Eastern Shore Writers Association called AI for Authors. This event charges a fee but is open to the public. I'll also note that this organization does a ton of virtual sessions year round, so if you like what you see, consider getting a membership. All events are free or discounted for members.

Click here to register and see rates. 

(Full disclosure: this is a special Saturday session, where I get paid based on how many people sign up. It also serves as a fundraiser for the non-profit hosting it.)

It is a two-hour talk during which I will give a broad overview of the current atmosphere surrounding AI, go over some of the ways writers are currently using AI, and give demonstrations of a couple of the different pieces of software. 

The event is targeted at authors, however, I know for a fact (because I'm the one giving the talk lol) that it will be interesting to anyone curious about how authors, writers, and creators are using these types of tools to enhance their creative process. 

I will be discussing tools like MidJourney (which is an art generator), ChatGPT, and NovelAI—and possibly some others, though I'm still in the process of developing the content so we shall see.

I'll also leave time for Q&A so if you have questions about AI in general or my own use of AI, I will do my best to answer.

I'm pretty excited about this talk so I hope you'll consider checking it out!