How To Create An eBook

Here's a little shameless self-promotion, but also a bit of useful information for anyone out there who wants to know how I create my eBooks for Kindle.

I've written a modest-sized (41 page) eBook on how I created my novel, Macyntire & Hough from start to finish. This book includes all the information on my outlining process, how I keep track of drafts and the number of passes I did to the manuscript, and also a step-by-step guide to how I formatted my Scrivener document and compiled for KDP.

This book is only $0.99 on the Kindle Store. The process I detail as far as formatting is the same exact process I used to create this eBook, so if you enjoy the way it's all put together, you can achieve the same exact results for your own book by following the steps. (To be honest, I worked on a short story earlier in the week and ended up using this book as a refresher to how I had everything set up. There are a lot of things that go into an eBook, and it's great to have them all in one place as opposed to when I was figuring everything out with different bits of information and tips scattered on napkins and notecards!)

For those who love print, I don't have a physical option...yet. But I successfully made it through my first CreateSpace adventure and will see about making a "real" copy of this book soon!

I hope it helps!

Weekends Off

Hello!

After a solid month of blogging every day, I am realizing how exhausting it can become. For the rest of the month, I am going to attempt to write every day, Monday through Friday, and leave the weekends free for those who want to catch up on any posts they may have missed. A huge thank-you to all who read! It's a ton of fun to decide what I'm going to write about and great practice as I try to up my word-count per day.

Since I won't be seeing you again until Monday at noon, here's a fun video for you. Enjoy!

Eccentric Characters

I wanted to point out the usefulness of eccentric characters for comic relief.

In a lot of serious stories there are high stakes and without a little humor to break the tone of constant running and fear, the story will become tedious and the reader may lose interest. By using an eccentric side character to break up the tone, you can inject some humor and make a lasting impression on readers.

From my own experience in short filmmaking, I notice that it's the films that make people laugh that are the ones most talked about. People like to be entertained and watch someone wacky either make a fool of themselves, make fun of the main characters and their attitudes of seriousness, or save the day. These are all great things that you can have a side character do, all while moving the plot forward and making your readers chuckle (hopefully).

Don't be afraid of going over the top. You can always dial it back in the second draft.

My latest comic relief character fascination: Frances Conroy in the third season of American Horror Story. Definitely check it out if you haven't had the chance yet! She's a riot.