Authors Answer 143 – The First Book Advance

How common are advances large enough to raise this question, anyway?

I Read Encyclopedias for Fun

Writing books is a job. Most authors do it with the hope that they can become a full time author, and be able to support themselves on the income they receive. But that first advance is a big milestone in any author’s career. This week’s question comes from our very own C E Aylett.

I would also like to take a moment and thank Beth Aman for her contributions in the past year. She’s going to college, and will be concentrating on that. Good luck, Beth!

Question 143 – What would you/did you spend your first book advance on?

Linda G. Hill

I would spend my advance getting myself out of debt. …wait, how much are we talking? More than $30,000? I’ll probably go out for coffee.

Cyrus Keith

Probably a car. I’ve never had a car that I didn’t have to spend dark, cold evenings in my driveway effecting…

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Authors Answer 115 – Common Mistakes by New Authors

Publishing too soon is one that I’m pretty sure I’m avoiding.

I Read Encyclopedias for Fun

Everyone goes through that awkward toddler stage of writing. There are mistakes. Lots of them. And frankly, the writing sounds weird, clunky, and just plain awful. The mistakes are extremely common, though. It’s not that difficult to avoid them.

Question 115: What are some common mistakes for aspiring authors?

Eric Wood

Since I consider myself to be an aspiring author as I’ve only been published via my blog posts, I would love to know some mistakes to avoid. Based on what I’ve learned from the writing I’ve done thus though, I would say one common mistake that is made is telling instead of showing. It’s quick and easy to tell me what happened. However, it’s much more meaningful if you show what happened. Give the reader details. Another mistake is editing. I know it’s one I struggle with time to time. I don’t do it enough. It’s annoying to read…

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Authors Answer 106 – What Authors Learn

Of course I’m also learning, the hard way, just how much harder revision is for me than writing the first draft.

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Authors do a lot of research. They need to learn a lot of things when they’re writing about something that they don’t know a lot about. However, authors don’t just learn from research. They can learn from experience and it’s not always about any subject. It could be about themselves or their craft.

Question 106 – What are some of the most interesting things you’ve learned while writing, whether from experience or research?

Elizabeth Rhodes

For Jasper I looked up the culture and citizen mentality of North Korea. It may seem a little far-fetched to apply a foreign country’s ideals to an American city, but I wanted to get a feel for that kind of regime. I found someone’s travel journal from when they were a tourist in North Korea, and found it fascinating. I hesitate to compare the experience to a comedy film like The Interview, but the…

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Authors Answer 104 – Best Advice for Authors

Lots of very good advice here.

I Read Encyclopedias for Fun

Welcome to a very special Authors Answer! This is our 104th edition, which means it’s the end of our second year. And just like last year, we have some guest authors giving their answer to this very important question. I’d like to thank authors Mark Lawrence, Michael J. Sullivan, Django Wexler, and Andrew Rowe for agreeing to participate. They were very gracious when I asked them to participate. And thank you to Jacqueline Carey for her response. Unfortunately, she has her hands full at the moment, so was unable to participate. I love authors who take the time to respond when they can!

This week’s topic is an important one. Authors sometimes need a bit of help, so we’re talking about the best advice we have received in our quest for being published.

Celebrating our 2nd anniversary!

Question 104 – What is the most important piece of writing advice anyone…

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Authors Answer 103 – Top Influencing Books

Still not really very sure about this one.

I Read Encyclopedias for Fun

Authors have many influences, and it’s something we’ve talked about before. However, we never did focus on the books themselves. Authors tend to also be avid readers, and a lot of the books we read will influence us, even if it’s subconsciously. But which ones have the strongest influence on our writing and other areas?

Question 103 – What do you consider to be the book that has influenced you the most?

H. Anthe Davis

I can’t point to any book that has influenced me sufficiently for this.  If I had to point at anything at all, it would be an anime series — Revolutionary Girl Utena — which fascinated me during my formative teen years and continues to help me get past some of my mental hang-ups.  No books, though; they’re all just part of the big past pile.

Jean Davis

Goodness, there are so many, and the…

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Authors Answer 100 – Taught By an Author

At least one of these authors (Asimov) has at least written books containing writing advice, which is probably the closest we’re going to actually get to being taught by them.

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One hundred! This is the one hundredth Authors Answer. One hundred weeks of questions and answers! Some of us have been doing this for all one hundred weeks, and some of us are newer. But this is a big number to achieve. I had no idea it would go this long. So, for this week’s question, we thought about who can teach us to write better. Which author would we love to be our teacher?

Question 100 – If you could take a writing class taught by any author, who would it be?

Cyrus Keith

Louis L’Amour. His descriptions were so brilliant, and he was so prolific a writer, if I could bottle just a little of what he had, I’d be better off.

C E Aylett

Probably Tracy Chevalier. Or Stephen Donaldson. But for vastly different techniques and styles. Mmm, if it came to a toss up..? Can we…

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Authors Answer 89 – Kick-starting Creativity

And of course some days it’s easier than others.

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I’m in a situation that doesn’t allow me to express my creativity in stories. The lack of privacy, the noise, it’s not ideal. Authors sometimes need something to help them get into the mood to write. They need something to encourage that creativity. This week’s question was asked by our very own Eric Wood!

Question 89 – Is there a time, place or activity that helps get your creative juices flowing?

Tracey Lynn Tobin

A time and place: at night, in bed. I have this ritual that seems so counter-intuitive to proper sleeping methods, but I’ll snuggle up in bed, close my eyes, and play a scene from one of my works-in-progress in my head. I’ll imagine it as vividly as I can, working through the dialogue, imagining the looks on the character’s faces, working my way through the emotion involved. I’ll do the same scene multiple nights in…

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Authors Answer 88 – The Ultimate Question

I can’t really imagine not having some kind of creative outlet.

I Read Encyclopedias for Fun

Every author has a reason for writing. There may or may not be a goal. They may just want to write for fun, for a career, or because they can’t imagine doing anything else. This week’s question comes from neesrecordaolcom.

Question 88 – Why do you write?

Eric Wood

Why do we do what we do? I run because I love running – how it makes me feel, how it keeps me healthy, the time to myself. It’s no different with writing. I’m a creative individual which is also why I love teaching. Writing is my creative outlet. I love how I feel after I’ve written. It keeps me thinking. It keeps me looking at things differently because I try to think of how a certain event would look in words. Running is exercise for my body. Writing is exercise for my mind.

Elizabeth Rhodes

Creating makes me happy…

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Authors Answer 87 – Non-Canadian and Non-American Authors

I Read Encyclopedias for Fun

It’s Canada Day! And Monday is Independence Day. Fireworks, festivals, good food, and fun in the sun. That’s what we think of for both holidays. But many of us just want to enjoy a book. Most readers of this blog are from the USA or Canada, so we hear about authors from North America all the time. But what about the rest of the world?

Question 87 – It’s Canada Day! And American Independence Day is in three days. What are some non-American and non-Canadian authors you would recommend?

Tracey Lynn Tobin

I have to be honest: I’m not the type of person to pay much attention to the details of an author’s life. Mostly I just know the name of the book and the name of the author, so it’s difficult to come up with any right off the top of my head that wouldn’t be totally obvious, like…

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Authors Answer 83 – Author Quirks

I’m not always the best person at identifying what is quirky compared to common.

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June is the month you get to learn a bit more about the authors. You’re going to find out some interesting facts about them. You see, authors are people, too. They have their quirks, idiosyncrasies, and talents. This week, you’ll learn something unusual about the authors.

Question 83 – Can you tell us one quirky fact about yourself?

Allen Tiffany

I scored in the 7th percentile on English GRE. I was not an English or literature undergrad, but I applied to a big state university’s Graduate Creative Writing program. They accepted me based on my publication record to that point, but asked me to take the English GRE “just because”. I agreed, did not study for it and got creamed because so many of the questions were about all the literature most English undergrads have already read. Nonetheless, to the best of my knowledge, I’m one of their more successful…

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