Authors Electric

  AI brings us all to Plan A or Plan B, each of which has its gradations. Plan A, at its extreme, allows the use of AI as an equal or even main partner in the creative process. Hardline Plan A-ers may yield to all of their AI's stylistic suggestions as commands. Along with most of the writers I know,  I find this repulsive. If I want an incomplete sentence or a dangling participle or some dated slang, it's my book and the decision is mine.  Even so, I found myself in a quandary with a completed novel I'd worked on for six years and had had professionally edited. You see, after four traditionally published horror novels, I'd turned to my first love, crime thrillers, and worked in a shorter form--40K words--for more than decade. The short length was a deal breaker for any agent I approached. But I loved working in tight spaces with no padding. So, no tears. My refusal to compromise cost me a traditional career, bringing me to the company of other indie-minded authors. ...

  It's a terrible thing to be skinny these days, at least if you're writing thin books. Bloated or musclebound books are the rage when the minimum word count required by publishers and gatekeepers is 70-80K. Never mind that many published novels would have been far better if cut in half. On the beach of the publishing business today, you need to bulk up to keep bullies from kicking sand in your face. Have no fear. Doc Bloato's here with eight great tricks to save the day. Set aside your shame and play the same game played by many others. 1) Add unnecessary speaker tags--he said/she said--to every line of dialog, as done by the late Robert B Parker in his last ten years. This will also increase your page count exponentially.  2 Calculate the number of words you'll need to meet the minimum word count. Then force-fed them shamelessly, page by page by page. For example, if you're 10,000 words shy, at 250  words per page, you can add 40 words to each. Add an extra line o...