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

That's sweet, Bill. We've been friends for a long time now. Friends support friends, right?

This mailbag had a slightly different flair to it. I love your answers to Faith's interview questions. Great installment for the beginning of year three!

Bill

I'd agree that the people here on HP can be 'too nice' to want to criticize, but they're well worth listening to. They come up with some great ideas!

I wrote my novel the same way you describe, the HP articles totaled about 30,000 words but after I'd finished (I'd planned to add 6,000 words) I ended up with 45,000 words that seemed to do okay on Amazon's lowest price region (not sure if this'll help anyone) but it's all about ;building a brand'

Actually that's maybe a question to look at, how long does it take for an average author to 'build a brand'? I've heard it said that it takes four or five books when a traditional publisher takes you on (at least they plan for that) so what do you think?

Lawrence

As far as flash fiction or short stories, I think they would do well. They would be especially good in a high school English class, since many kids have short attention spans. If Chris Mills or Frank Antanacio did book and marketed them to schools, it would be a fabulous way to get kids to read. How's THAT for an honest answer? We'd still have books and a great service would be done for school curriculum.

did I miss a mailbag.. like this week's? don't see it on my feed and I don't even see it on your home page..:)

Hi Bill! Found myself looking for the latest Mailbag in a panic. I'm sure I wasn't the only one. Maybe we will have to resign ourselves to the unmentionable last leg, maybe not.

Was thinking about John's question all week. Decided to share a few of my favorite things I do to encourage myself out of a non-writing slump. I hope you and others will share a few too.

1. Try my hand at a different genre. Usually I prefer non-fiction, but I find that just experimenting with a different genre can be enough of a challenge to wake up my slumping writing spirit.

2. Enter writing contests. Many are theme driven and can be a mini vacation for the mind forcing you to explore beyond the familiar and many have zero entrance fees.

3. Tackle some of those household to do lists. Every writer on earth knows that many of the best ideas tend to show up when you are fully involved in something else.

4. Get out into the community. Go to a town hall meeting. Visit a nursing home, senior center, take a friend to a concert or do something you've been meaning to do or go. You've got the time now - if you're not writing.

Have a great weekend Bill!

Hi Bill,

I too was confused by the term flash fiction. I don't know if I am getting old but what was wrong with calling it a short story? The world has gone crazy with its 'trendy spin' on things.

An interesting mailbag as always.

Question: Do you have another non-fiction book in the pipeline? Perhaps, raising quail or a cookbook with quail recipes (eggs and or meat).

Have a wonderful week.

This is an interesting edition of the mailbag once again. It's always enjoyable and informative to read the questions and your answers.

Great stuff, as usual I learned a whole lot. That stuff about short stories versus flash fiction is very interesting. Shoot I even have trouble sometimes on which category to publish a hub.

I do prefer short story to flash fiction writing. Seems as if summer is absorbing time but you still manage to keep delivering this important mail.

Bill, I kept seeing comments on #104 so I thought you hadn't published an new Mailbag yet. Sorry I didn't get here sooner. You thoroughly answered my question. An honest opinion is what I wanted and what I got. Well, I did get a pile of cow poop I wasn't expecting, but I grew up on a dairy farm, so I know what to do with that.

I think the term flash fiction here on HP has some value. It communicates length to some extent. When I publish a FF story on HP, it is always a maximum of 1,000 words. That is important to people who want to read, but don't have the time for a 2,500 word or longer story. Thanks for your opinion about FF on Amazon. I value your opinion and thank you for sharing it.

Always a useful and informative hub from you. I haven't been around working my summer job.

'As more and more self-published books flood Amazon, the overall quality of the site suffers. It’s like a cow pooping in a lake. One pile of poop will pretty much go unnoticed during a year, but if fifty cows are pooping, chances increase that you will be swimming in shit sooner rather than later.'

I like that simile a lot. lol

Just out of curiosity, is the background on the cover of '12/59' real? I only ask because the ceiling of my living room is that same pattern.

Always worth showing up for the mailbag Bill. Thanks for sharing a little of your time on these gorgeous summer days. A fun Mailbag.

On John's question about when it's just not there; I absolutely agree that one shouldn't try to force it. Go do something else until 'It' returns. It also helps to have other hobbies or interests.

Entertaining as always, bill. I always thought 'Flash Fiction' was a more trendy name for a short story, seeing as they vary so much in length in both cases. Maybe that title has become a little outdated now; I like Chris' 'Short short stories' idea. They could be 'Compact Stories' or 'Cut to the Chase' stories but I like Chris' idea best.

Great question from Faith! I like your answer too.

Busier than ever but need some time to write; I know what you mean about the call upon your own time. I've decided not to fret about it but to turn out some quality if possible, when I can.

Ann

Billybuc, I enjoyed the ebook answer.. it made me listen and you are right about the who and harry's who put out books.. you hit it on the head my friend thanks for this installment..:) Happy Summer

Hi Bill,

Thanks for nailing that down quite well. I can now heave a sigh of relief knowing fully well I am not behind competition and next time can say it with confidence that I do 400 words (including research) an hour to a client. Many a times you live in ambiguity regarding what the competition delivers and this one clears all doubts. Happy belated 4th Bill. And thanks again for that insightful answer.

Well Bill, I certainly like your simile. That says it all. Thanks for more good and helpful advice. Yes, I know. I'm a day late - too many fireworks!

Happy Belated Monday and 4th of July! I was without internet connection yesterday, so I'm catching up today...You always get such interesting questions, but I like the personal at the end the best! Scarlet, eh? :)

Have a great week!

Well, Bill, another mailbag, and published on a holiday, too. I salute you, my friend. This one contained some refreshing new subjects, too. BTW, the question from John: I would like to know who wrote the rule that a person should write some every day. When our brains don’t want to work, it’s like building a fire under a balking donkey to get it to move.

I’m surprised at your choice of famous person. I wouldn’t want to be stranded on a desert island with anyone who exhibits as much anger as Bernie because I see enough of that in my life already. Not Hillary because she can be so cold-shouldered (I had to deal with her when I was a reporter), nor Trump because he is an a$$hole. Spare me the politicians! LOL If Michael Jackson were still alive, I might choose him because he appeared to be so mellow, and he could sing to me. Have a good rest of the week.

I too may have less time for writing this summer because I am now a farmer! I rented a raised bed at my community garden and I am off and running!

Loved this week's questions, Bill. In regard to Chris's about Flash Fiction vs Short Stories. If it's in regard to a hub, I choose to read one that calls itself "flash fiction" before "short story". The amount of hubs that I have to try to read, flash fiction and poetry is quick, and some short stories are really just too long for my liking. The funny thing is that I prefer a really long novel and like to lose myself in a good story. I like your choices to share an island with. Two people I'd choose are James Corden (Late Late Show host) and Aussie Actress Margot Robbie (from Wolf of Wall Street, the New Tarzan movie, and Suicide Squad). She is also from Dalby, about an hour from where I live.

Thanks for more helpful advice. Hope you and Bev had a wonderful July 4

Same like you, I'm way down on my original schedule. But I don't realyy care about that. We are enjoying life as it should be done, billybuc! Have a great week.

Happy Fourth, Bill!

I'm so late to the celebration here, but I appreciate you squeezing in my late, yet fun, question. I can understand your answers of Sheila and Scarlett Johansson, perfectly well LOL. And your hopelessly flawed character too. So funny that others joined in the fun question in their commenting.

I can see making short stories into a book series of some sort, but am clueless as to how one could turn flash fiction into some sort of publication. Well, maybe a collection.

As always, another Monday Mailbag full of interesting questions with great answers.

Peace and blessings

Profound and useful, as always. Thank you, billybuc!

I love the questions she asked at the end! If I were to choose one of my favorite characters from one of my books to be on a desert island with me, I would choose Elizabeth because I would love to hear all of the smuggling and spy stories that are not written in Soldiers Don't Cry. A character from another novel? Rhett Butler (I do like the bad boys.) Real person? James Forten. Most people don't know he is, but look him up, he was an amazing historical figure!

Since I'm free to spend my July 4th holiday as I choose, I've chosen to stop in on the Mailbag. How's that for a dedicated following? :) Some fun questions today, too.

Re: Flash Fiction. I'm not really into the whole fiction market. But from my observation, flash fiction can be perceived as a writing exercise. So who wants to buy someone else's homework assignments? ;) I think it's better to market it as "short stories."

Re: Editing and Fiction. Yes, I agree that an editor can be valuable for ALL written works (I just edited a book of poetry). But sometimes the cost is just not justified. I get that. Again, it depends on the market and what goals you hope to achieve. If the manuscript is going to Big Publisher for a nice fat advance, then it might be worth it. On a smaller, self published or experimental work, do the best you can if you don't have the bucks. (Confession: I've done it, too.) And remember that on platforms such as Amazon's Createspace, you can upload corrected and updated versions at any time. Love the do-over capability!

Re: Writing Speed or Typing Speed? This is actually two issues. Writing speed will vary widely from day to day and from topic to topic. Typing speed will mirror writing speed. But if a writer is looking to improve her typing speed to keep up with her writing speed, there are a number of typing tutor software programs out there which can really help.

Kids have it so good these days! When I was learning to type in high school, we were still using manual typewriters which weighed about as much as my car. The mechanics of these monstrosities could jam up if you didn't develop a typing rhythm. So we would type to music. The typing cha-cha was my favorite. "a, a, a, l, l, l, cha, cha cha." Laugh if you must. But because of that training, I can touch type really fast to keep up with my brain (which is way faster) and without looking at the keyboard. So there! :)

Have a Happy and Relaxing July 4th!

Continues to be very enjoyable, so I can understand the need to keep this going. Great questions and excellent answers.

Useful and interesting start to the third year of mailbag, on the 4th of July. Thank you for sharing!! Have a great one!! ;-)

I like Bernie too, and I like your answers to all the questions. I like the title flash fiction better than short story. Some short stories are tooooo long. Happy 4th.

You're hilarious! I didn't care if my name was used or even that you included the entire email. I just hadn't intended it to be included in the mailbag when I included the "ramblings". LOL

Yes, you answered it. Thanks. You're right that embellishment is probably a much better word.

I'm definitely not as "enlightened" as you are. I would answer that I would like to be alone on an island with Nicole Kiddman - purely platonic, I would just like to sit there and look at her all day. I'm pretty basic that way.

Thank you for not polluting our literary lake with cow leavings. Please don't poop in our pool, we don't swim in your toilet. I love your similes. Great work. Happy 4th!

Bill,

I hope that Mary knows how much we all suffer from constant editing and feeling we're never quite done. I have the habit of overly editing my work. Eventually, we just have to set it free and hope for the best. Just as you say, "embellishing" is part of that process. I'm sure we're all guilty of that. Sometimes, that's a good thing, though!

Your answer to question "C" of the "Personal Fun Question" made me laugh! I like those!

Sometimes when it's lush outside and there's so much beauty around, it's torture to stay in and be a writer:-)

Have a wonderful 4th!

Bill, this was a fun mailbag. I would think that part of "how many words do you write in an hour" would somehow be dictated by whether or not you hunt and peck, can knock out 120 WPM, or fall somewhere in between haha. I feel that when the creative juices are flowing the writing comes easily. But as you said anything involving research really slows down the process.

Flash fiction (or short stories)--Stephen King has done pretty well in that category as well. Yes he has written 1,000 page stories but his list of novellas or short stories is amazing--well over 100. I would think that short stories would be an easier sell; how many people want to commit to a 1,000-page story?

I hope you have a great (and safe) 4th of July.

Okay, so half the time I look up and see, "Oh wow, billybuc has published another mailbag... I can put off reading it for a few days...." that's when I just can't stand it and have to read it now. And why? It's because of great comments like "some people can't write a good grocery list let alone a novel..." You give me the best laughs, that's why! And half the time I'm not sure if I fall into the grocery list column or the good writer column but I'm tickled to imagine my name in either one. Thanks for the Monday morning humor!

Blessings,

Denise

I'm just imagining the thought process behind Bernie v. Scarlett.

Great advice, and yes I wondered if it sounded better saying short story too, and I do think it does. but that's just my opinion. Wish we had the lovely summer over here, its getting pretty depressing, constant rain, purely because of the Jet stream. sounds like a plane! lol! enjoy your summer Bill!

Hi Bill. Everything seems to slow down in the summer. Between the garden, nice weather, work, there just never seems to be enough time for everything. But, I enjoy it all and being outside puts me in a happy mood. Another great week for the mailbag. Have a wonderful fourth.