Lily Snyder

“Writer’s feel called to write and share it with an audience.”

@WriterFestNSH

It’s the last month of the year and I am only 10 posts away to having 200 on Lilyotron. That means it’s time to get back in the saddle and write!

What better way to do that then recap Writer Fest in Nashville last month? Writer Fest was a two day event at Lipscomb University. I only made it to Saturday’s sessions.

Writer Fest was inspiring. I fangirled out when Honorée Corder signed You Must Write a Book for me and keynote speaker, Kel Kade joined our table for lunch. I met some awesome people. Some had just finishes their manuscripts and others were just getting started.

Mostly, the festival inspired me to write something a little longer and will take a little bit more work. I think they call it a book. 😉

Tips to write a book from Writer Fest Nashville

Writing Scenes

I attended a panel by Katie McDougal from The Porch. She gave great advice on writing scenes. I never broke down a scene like she did during this panel. It was eye opening to dissect what makes a scene work and why they’re essential to the story and book as a whole.

Take a look at your bookshelf. Ask yourself, which books did I love reading? Write that book.

Katie McDougal – @PorchTN

Break down your book into scenes. Scenes are which the story is built. There can be multiple scenes in a chapter or a chapter could be made up of one scene. Think of a scene like a short story. It should stand alone and move the reader along.

Formula to writing a scene

Scene = [event] + [emotion] + [conflict]

3 Quick Dialog Tips

Dialog should be realistic and also waste no words.

1. Reveal
2. Revive
3. Move forward

Market your book

I looked forward to this panel because Honorée Corder was on it. Also, marketing is interesting, especially when it comes to the book world.

A lot of the advice given during this panel works for anyone who has a product or freelance business or any type of professional pressense.

#1 You need to have an email list. (Speaking of, join mine!)

Once you have an email list you have a direct line of communication to your readers, followers, and fans. Be yourself. Offer useful advice. Don’t just push your stuff constantly. And, don’t be afraid to use it! People subscribe because they WANT to hear from you. (This is one area I can improve on.)

#2 BRAND YOURSELF – Create an authentic online presence.

Social media is overwheleming, especially for writers because they’d rather be working on their craft, not social media posts. However, it’s essential to have some sort of online presence for once your book is ready for people to read!

A lot of book marketing is on you, even if you go the traditional publishing route. Travelling to promote your book gets expensive fast. Online promotions and word of mouth through your followers actually has a bigger return on investment.

I thought Honorée had a great piece of advice when she said, “do seven things every day to market your book.”

Finally, don’t be afraid to ask your readers to share, comments, and leave reviews of your work.

Something like…

Lovely readers, will you please like, share, and comment this post? Thank you!

🙂

Kel Kade did everything they say not to do

Kel Kade was the keynote speaker on Saturday. She is a New York Times bestselling author of the King’s Dark Tidings Series. Her story was fascinating to listen too.

Kel Kade (a pen name) is a scientist by trade. She was working on her PhD when her research grant ran out. Money was running out so she turned to writing, something she had no formal training in.

She wrote an epic fantasy novel. The characters in her head were alive and they were able to be free on the pages of her book. She self-published her eBook to Amazon with a cover she made herself. It shot up to #1 on Amazon’s sci-fi/fantasy list and the rest is history.

The advice she gave to us authors and aspiring authors was to “live the world in your head all the time.” Even if you’re writing a non-fiction book you can still have the story in your subconcious. Kade says the power of the subconcious is real. It’s what helps her continue to publish books.

It’s so easy to tell yourself that you can’t write a book. That you’re not a writer. But was Kel Kade? Was Honorée Corder? No. But they put fingers to keyboard and typed away until an author they were.

Inspirational Quotes for Writers

Quotes below are from Kel Kade during her Keynote.

“If you love writing – write!”

“You may not hit the top seller list but you’ll have a book.”

“95% that start a novel don’t finish. If you complete you’ll be in the top 5%.”

We all have a story to tell. What’s yours?