The Writer's Mailbag: Installment One-Hundred and Fourteen

There were only four questions this week, so I guess we’ll just go with the four and be done with it. It will mean, of course, that this Mailbag won’t have a chance of being featured on HP, but I think I can live with that disappointment. LMAO

My thanks to those who asked questions; my thanks to those of you reading the answers; and my thanks to all of you who make up my writing community, without whom I would just be a tiny little voice in the wilderness, that shy kid in the corner who doesn’t speak to anyone and prays to the gods no one will speak to him.

I appreciate all of you greatly.

From Venkatachari M: “Coming to fictitious places and names, I also get many problems in doing it. If I want to retain a particular character with his real name and then want to deal with his life events and change names of the spouse and other characters, it looks much awkward to me in narrating the story. How can I put it satisfactory and appealing to my own mind as well as the readers?”

It’s an interesting problem you have, Venkatachari M, and I thank you for sharing it.

I suspect that it only seems awkward to you and not to readers. No one else knows you are using a real name but changing the names of the spouse and other characters. I don’t think this is an issue you need to worry about with regards to your readers. Maybe I’m wrong, or maybe I’m misreading the question or misunderstanding your intent.

You do have several options. You can choose not to use the real name, or you can choose to also use the real names of the spouse and other characters. I rarely use real names for real people in my novels. I always change names simply because it avoids possible pitfalls and hurt feelings in the future. In fact, unless the real identity of a person is absolutely necessary for the spirit of your short story or novel, I would always suggest that you change the name to a fictitious one. I’m sure others will have differing opinions on that, and that’s fine, but that’s how I feel about fiction writing.

From Peter: “Hey, Bill, you mentioned in another Mailbag that you are trying out a new writers’ site called NIUME. I was hoping you could tell us more about your experience so far. Many of us at HP are discouraged and feel the need to try another site. So, what do you think of NIUME? Also, how does one transfer Hubs from HP to NIUME without being flagged for duplicate material?”

Peter, I need to preface my answer with a clear statement: I love HubPages because of the writing community there. I have many friends there and I will never totally leave that site.

Having said that, I am very disappointed in the staff and management of that site, and their lack of support for creative writers.

But there are other options, and NIUME is one of them.

I posted, so far, three short stories on NIUME the first week, and in that week I racked up 874 views. Payment on NIUME is made each month and you only need $10 to receive a payment. Money is accumulated based on the number of views you receive, the formula being one dollar per one-thousand views. Honestly I don’t know how that compares to the process at HP, mainly because I find HP and revenue sharing to be very confusing. I’ve been with HP for five years now and I still don’t know how they determine the monies a writer makes. So I’m happy with NIUME simply because it uses a formula I can understand.

NIUME, like HP, is a community of writers. I suspect my views will increase as I begin to support other writers on that site. The same is true at HP so I see no reason to believe it is different at NIUME. I’ll begin doing that next week when I have a little more time.

And that’s what I know so far about NIUME.

As for your second question, simply go to your Hub, go into “edit” mode, and hit “delete.” That will un-publish your Hub and free you up to use it on any other site you choose.

By the way, the downloading process on NIUME is very simple…much simpler than on HP, and the requirements are much-less stringent and demanding.

If you are interested in NIUME, and you want to make me a dollar, use my link to visit them and sign up with them….here’s that link https://niume.com/?ambassadorID=48484.

And that’s it!

From Monica: “What do you think of the site FIVERR for writers to make money?”

Monica, I’m going to give you what may seem like a flippant answer, but it’s not meant to be.

FIVERR is fine if you don’t mind writing for five bucks.

Now let me explain.

I have a couple friends who make more than $400 per month writing on FIVERR. One does short editing jobs and one does rhymes for greeting cards. It is relatively easy work for both of them, and they can both do about three jobs, or four, in an hour, so they are actually making closer to $15-$20 per hour than five.

So really it all comes down to what your expectations are and what you want from a content site. I’ve used FIVERR myself for a couple writing gigs and I had no problem with it at all. I would probably use it again if I wanted to increase my content work but I don’t want to do that. I want to spend more time writing novels and less time writing for content sites.

My suggestion: give it a try and see what you think about it. One more suggestion: make your FIVERR site and your profile stand out. Spend a good amount of time building your FIVERR platform before you ever advertise a gig. It will pay off in the long run.

From Eric: “Hey buddy, my son just got awarded a star for the week deal -- what the hell it means is that we got a crap load of work to do over the weekend, obviously with parent involvement to let him "shine like a star" next week. I kind of make it fun - though I could pull my hair out. And so the question: Are we perverted bastards to write of horrible tragedy and enjoy the hell out of it? Are we necessarily sick to conjure up hell with joy in our hearts and a feeling of accomplishment? Is my sanity on the brink here? Am I the gal on the evening news reporting a hurricane with a smile on my face?”

Wow, Eric, not I’m sickened by myself! LOL Thanks a lot for making me feel like the worst kind of sensationalist.

Here’s my answer: I’m a storyteller. That’s what I do as a writer. I follow an age-old tradition of telling stories to my generation, and because of the internet and self-publishing, my stories will also be enjoyed by generations to come. I mix messages into my stories. Sometimes the stories are horrible, but the message is always worthwhile. That’s important to me, the message….and the tradition of storytelling….and I think it’s important for civilization.

So, are we sick bastards to write of horrible tragedies?

Not at all! We’re storytellers!

Actually this turned out to be fairly lengthy, thanks to my long-winded answers. And Eric came in just under the deadline with the fourth question, so HP will be happy with my article length.

Like I really care what HP thinks! LOL

Have a great week!

2016 William D. Holland (aka billybuc) #greatestunknownauthor

“Helping writers to spread their wings and fly.”