Charles Owen

@suzan_frankkdp About half of the duet auditions I received were people I contacted because they had duet examples. The other half were just those who responded with the duet audition.

@CharlesBOwen That’s actually really helpful to know. I didn’t realize there were already quite a few examples out there when you search that way. Did you find that most of them were open to collaboration, or was it more about reaching out to a lot before getting a few solid responses?

I wanted a duet narration for my book, but read everywhere that it is impossible to find and horrendously expensive if you do find it. But of the 72 auditions I received on ACX, seven were duets and were really good and in my anticipated budget. #writingcommunity

@suzan_frankkdp I wasn't sure if I would get any. If you do a find talent search for Duet, you could find quite a few examples. I reached out to several of those, and that helped.

@CharlesBOwen That’s a win honestly, people usually struggle with duet narration. Did you expect to get that many quality submissions on ACX?

@notryance It's a tool. It can be a very effective proofreader. It can give you meaningful and useful critique. It can't write for you, so why is it an issue? Everyone is so terrified that it's going to replace writer is and artist. Try it. You will be a lot less concerned.

@ClaireLLLW81 I'm retiring this year after 28 years at Michigan State University. I've certainly felt valued in my job. They would prefer I was not leaving, and I will be working part-time for a few years.

Have you ever felt valued in a job?

@StevenTBoers63 I think it depends on the story. My 95k-word steampunk novel has 60 named chapters, plus a prologue and epilogue. It works really nicely with short chapters. But I've read many books with longer chapters that worked well for that story.

Writing thought: I tend to prefer shorter chapters to longer ones. Obviously, it depends on what happens in the chapter, so length varies for the need, but short and sweet makes the story feel faster, I think What do you think?

@NymCoy I'm, happy to help fund artists' careers. I paid for a professional cover that was a week's work for an artist. I'm paying for an audible narration. They are talented professionals, and if you work out what they're making per hour, they are by no means getting rich.

Spend $1500 on editor/cover/formatting to publish your indie book professionally. Make $300 in sales. Get told to 'invest more in marketing.' Indie publishing is just funding other people's careers while authors stay in the red.

@pippawestauthor My novel turned out better than I expected, so I did try querying. However, I'm not sure I would have been happy with that route even if I had been picked up. My book will be out this summer, self-published. Trad would have been at least a year IF they manage to find a publisher

Writing a series with self-pub in mind is so fun! I feel no stress or pressure to query it, it's entirely mine and I can decide on dates!

@AdelePeabody @CatArthurian Romeo and Juliet? Ok, the feud is over. Let's have a party. Love Story? Was the happy ending the movie rights?

@CatArthurian No, except if it’s a Romance. By definition, romance must have a happy or happy for now ending.

Does every book have to have a happy ending? Or not...

@HJamesWrites In my steampunk novel, a pocket watch created by a villain is engraved with the words "The world is yours." I could not resist dropping that in. Kimberly's landlady has grandchildren with the same names as my grandchildren. I love sneaking in things a few people may catch.

I love adding easter eggs in my books, hidden references, inside jokes, or secret messages. Sometimes I add hints to what's coming in another book. Writers, do you leave easter eggs in your books?

@Masked_Editor_ @WLGarner_Author @AmyNielsen06 One of the things that surprised me about writing was how easy it was to write too much. I remember 70k words seeming insurmountable, then blowing past that up into the 90s. I'm sure agents see plenty of manuscripts that are just too long. I know I read a lot of those.

@WLGarner_Author @AmyNielsen06 So under 60k words is actually a novella, not a novel, and it's very hard to place a novella with a publisher. Does it happen. Yes. Does it make the odds worse. Also yes.

🧵Query Letter Talk: Let's talk about word count. It's the part of the metadata paragraph where you tell the agent/publisher your manuscript's word count (rounded to the nearest thousand if it's longer fiction). Why is this important? #amquerying #writingcommunity

@hwjohnston7 The Stockman Nodes Affair. Written as a standalone but loved the character so much they are just begging to be a series. #steampunk adventure story. Releases June 1. amazon.com/dp/B0GX35TH7F?…

I will be building the July indie author list early. The list consists of fifty authors and fifty titles. The book must be a standalone or the first in a series. A link and cover image is required. Both will be featured in my newsletter on July 1st. So drop your book cover and its link in the comments. Let's build the list!

@MichaelDarin I write steampunk. Most of what I read is more generic science fiction, but I never had the ideas there. I do read quite a bit of steampunk, and a plot came to me there, and I went with it.

#WritingCommunity What genre do you write? Does it coincide to what you read most? I write fantasy and read fantasy the most.

@MyersFiction They are a tool. I have limited vision, so I have difficulties seeing punctuation mistakes are minor grammatical errors. The AIs are really good at fixing those mechanical issues. It is also useful to see the critique they give on a scene basis. Just do your own writing.

Where do you think publishers should draw the line of AI in fiction? Generative? Assisted? Is there an acceptable spectrum of Assisted? #writingcommunity #authors #AI

@Louie_Dobson_ I gave it a try, but I think for most people it's a waste of time. The chances that even really good work will bubble to the tops of those enormous queues are really slim.

the fact I'm meant to be querying again this year with a new project but everytime I think about it I get like anxiety attack symptoms because I hate the process so fucking much and this is the culture the industry has created, fuck I just don't want to

@Airilaya I didn't start out with a prologue, but added one later, and it really provided a strong opening for the book. Write it and read it; only way to tell.

I'm considering adding a 500 word prologue to my story. I know. Lol I hear mixed opinions on this, but here's my rationale: 📋SHOWS the stakes from the jump 📋Recontextualizes our prickly / repressed FMC 📋Makes us care about our missing person Thoughts? #writingcommunity

The Stockman Notes Affair is now available for pre-order on Amazon. amazon.com/dp/B0GX35TH7F?… #steampunk #stockmannodesaffair

@DarranSF Same here. She pointed out that they didn't have pocket watches with alarms in 1880, so I had to create a backstory of where the steampunky watch came from, and next thing you know I have the villain for the second novel.

My first reader is my wife, she is simultaneously my greatest support and my harshest critic, and my writing is all the better for it. Just a humble writer, thinking about writing…

@authorrcclark The Stockman Nodes Affair

#WritingCommunity Authors, drop your book covers below. I can’t wait to see them! 🫶🏽

@ornithopteryx Get you to a desired word count? Provide something you can cut later and not feel guilty about? Provide fodder for a sequel?

Every scene in your book should: A) advance the plot B) enhance character development C) something else I can’t remember