My Favorite Kind of Reviews

It seems that a lot of authors put heavy emphasis on their review counts, to the point of even sometimes blackmailing their readers by refusing to post the next chapter until they get an acceptable number of them.

I've always seen reviews sort of like a tip jar. If someone drops in a "quarter" with a smile face or a "Great chapter!", it's a little kindness much appreciated. Sometimes, people drop in a "dollar" with a line or two about what they liked the most about the story. And once in a while, people drop in a "fiver" by critically analyzing the story. As I see it, I'm already getting "paid" by having my story out there for people to read. Reviews are just a nice little pat on the back.

If I'd been in FF just for the reviews, I would have been crushed. My first effort, Compulsion, got a whopping 45 reviews. (I still think it's a good little story, even if it is a bit rough around the edges. I've thought of re-editing it, but I think I'll let it stand, just as it is, as a way to remind me of the ways I've grown as a writer.)

Then, to my surprise (and I'm still a little surprised about it), my story Written in the Stars took off. It was a story I was hesitant to try because it was so different than anything else out there. Sci-Fi Twilight fanfictions are few and far between, and none of them had aliens quite like I envisioned the Volturi in my story. I kept hearing the mom from Carrie: 

I thought I'd never be able to show my avatar again. I'd have to change my name and go into the Fanfiction Witness Protection Program. And to have it take off like that? Yeah, I was like:

I got such lovely reviews for my stories, and these were a few of my favorite kind:

• "I was so enthralled that I couldn't stop to review." I mean, how flattering is that? The reader was so engrossed that they couldn't tear themselves away. That's more flattering than ten reviews.
  
• "You made a mistake [here]." Thank you, sharp-eyed reviewer. I'm not perfect and occasionally, I'll screw the pooch on a detail that clashes with something later in the story. I'd rather know as soon as possible than go blithely on about my way, never noticing that I made a substantial error.
  
• "I caught your reference to [esoteric pop culture]." I've left little "Easter eggs" here and there in my stories, nods to some of my favorite authors, movies, TV shows, music, and even fanfiction (no one ever caught the Thomas Tallis reference in The Selkie Wife. Color me bummed.)
  
• "I wasn't expecting [that plot point]." Good. I hate to be clichéd. Janet Fitch, author of White Oleander was once on the Oprah show. She said something I've never forgotten: "A cliché is anything you've ever heard." Now, obviously, no one is ever truly original when writing, but we can avoid the expected turns, the tired memes.

But whatever you say, thanks for the "tip."

Dark Goddess has gone live! The first chapter is up on Fanfiction.net and my heart is pounding as it always does when I click on "Post New Story."

I hope you guys like it.

Coming Soon ...

A Love Letter, To You

To you, my readers,

How can I express how grateful I am to you? Words have always been my friends, but at this moment, they desert me, because they do not seem large enough to convey the depths of my gratitude.

You have given me a gift that so few people ever receive, a dream that becomes reality for only a small number of writers. It was because of you, your enthusiasm, your support, your efforts at promoting my stories that I came to the attention of a publisher. I've learned that my book will be coming out this fall, and I needed to tell you how much your support has meant to me. I owe everything to the Twilight fanfiction community.

Your reviews have been so kind. I've enjoyed the participation, reading your speculations on what will happen next, and your reactions to the plot. I sincerely never imagined that so many people would enjoy my stories, or that I would be the recipient of such praise.

And what can I say about the PMs you send me? They touch me deeply, that someone would take the time to send me a note to let me know how my stories made them feel. I've written to very few writers in my day, and when I did, it was because something about their story spoke to my heart. The thought that I'm able to do the same for a reader is both humbling and exhilarating.


I'll never leave you. This is the nest where I learned to fly. You embraced me. You supported me. Sometimes, chided me. You helped me grow and gave me opportunities I never imagined possible. How could I leave such a supportive network? My new fanfiction story will be starting soon, a small "gift" to you that I hope, in some small way, repays some of what I have been given.

With love, with appreciation,
Lissa

Translations: I say "Oui!"

One of my stories, Written in the Stars, is being currently translated into Russian and French. There's also a Polish translation out there somewhere, but I haven't seen it or heard anything about its progress.

Some writers refuse to allow translations. They sometimes post a refusal on their profile page. I've been told that it's because they have no control over the translation and don't know if it's being done well or not, which might damage their story's reputation.

I'm of a different opinion on the subject. I allow translations. I've gotten a few lovely notes from those who want to do the translation, asking my permission and ensuring me I'll be credited fully. If you go to the first page of the Russian translation, you'll see my name, links to the original story, and what I wrote when I granted permission. They even made me a lovely new banner for it.


I like the idea of my story reaching across borders, being accessible to readers who wouldn't otherwise get to experience it. Could the translation be incorrect, or possibly badly worded? Sure. I use Google Translate to read some of the comments and occasionally am amused by how some of my English idioms translated into other languages. But I'm incredibly touched that someone is willing to put so much effort into my story, that they like it so much, they're willing to spend what probably amounts to a lot of time and effort to bring it to other readers in their language.

My Reading Lounge: Writing Lab: improve your writing with Lissa Bryan...

My Reading Lounge: Writing Lab: improve your writing with Lissa Bryan...: Lissa Bryan 's and Jmolly 's lessons for the Writing Lab have been very appreciated. These lovely writers are back to give us more ideas to ...

Plagiarism

I've been fortunate enough not to have experienced the pain of having my stories plagiarized. (What? Are my stories not good enough to steal?) But I've seen several examples of this on social media that I visit.

On Facebook the day before yesterday Mamafour Dukes pleaded for help. One of her stories had been stolen and re-posted on Bookrix. The community swung into action, especially Aunt.Bell, who went on the war path, spreading word of the theft and organizing complaint postings to various boards on the site itself. I was impressed with the effort my fellow fic-lovers put into reporting this individual and trying to get the story removed. Within 24 hours, it was down.

The next day, the same thing happened to poor Ellie Wolf, who had two stories stolen, posted on multiple sites, and one of them entered into a contest, no less!

So, Aunt Bell issued this statement:

Here's a TREND plea for ALL Twilight FanFiction authors. I don't care if you are a canon OR a non-canon author, both sides are effected.

In your next chapter of your story update, incorporate plagiarizing. Make mention of the rights and why it is wrong. Somehow help your readers to watch out for plagiarism and become warriors in the fight. Incorporate the fact that it is intolerable.

Make sure that you list that readers and writers alike need to be vigilant. If they notice a stolen story, they need to inform the owner of the story immediately.

Do whatever you can within your story to get your readers join in the fight! Let's get the word out that we are watching out and we are fighting AGAINST it!!!
PLEASE JOIN IN THIS FIGHT!!!

This post is my contribution to the cause.

The question that kept appearing on the comments was, "Why are they doing this?" The answer can be quantified in one word: "Attention." They don't have the skills, or perhaps the bravery, to post a story of their own, but they're eager for praise. So they take a story they like and post it as their own and bask in the attention and praise garnered from reviewers.

I tried explaining this to one of the commenters, whose response was that they wouldn't enjoy praise they hadn't earned. Well, most of us wouldn't, but they do. As the old saying goes, any attention is good attention for them. In real life, these are people who pretend to have rich/handsome boyfriends, or tell strangers they have exciting and exotic jobs, or sometimes even pretend to have diseases to get sympathy. In reality, they're very sad individuals, starved for attention but afflicted by low self-esteem which would prevent them from actually going out and doing something to deserve it.

Fanfiction authors are especially vulnerable to theft. There really aren't any legal protections available except for reporting the culprits to the site where the stolen work was posted. As a result, all of us authors have to stick together. If you see a plea for help, answer the call. Because some day it may be you who needs the help.

And, for God's sake, don't take your story down in response to a theft! It won't stop the thieves, and you've just shot yourself in the foot by removing the PROOF that the story is yours.

A Bounty of Beautiful Banners!

I have a set of beautiful new banners for Some Say in Ice

Made by SoapyMayhem




And these, made by Stephenie Masen/FemmeCullen:

Short Story Writing As Opposed to Full-Length Fics

Now that Some Say in Ice has been posted, I can talk about some of the issues I had while writing it. I've never done a short story before and it presented some unique challenges for me. Spoilers below, so if you haven't read the story yet ...what's holding you up? Go read it!

The first part of the story was rough, and I think it's probably the weakest part of the tale. I had to do an "info dump", which is always something that an author should avoid, but I was so clumsy in this medium that I couldn't work my way around it. Perhaps with practice, I could get better. With longer stories, I'm able to weave the background into the narrative and make it feel more natural, and perhaps had the length been unlimited, I could have done it better, but in this case, I simply couldn't see a way around it. One of my readers said she didn't realize it was a short story and was curious about all of the information in the first section of the story. It stuck out.

Secondly, this is my first non-HEA story. Note that it's not listed in the Romance category as are all of my other tales. An important distinction, in my mind, though most people probably won't even notice the category. (I'm very anxious as to the reaction my readers will have, though so far, it's been positive.) The story couldn't have had any other ending. It's the end of the world, so it's also the end of Edward and Bella. My True Love was allowed to read this story (the first of my work I've permitted him to see) and he said he thought it was very romantic, how Edward gave her a beautiful last evening and then made sure that her end was quick and painless.

I had a PM from a reader questioning it and perhaps I didn't make one aspect clear enough: Bella knows it's the end from the moment Edward returns from Ration Day and tells her the army is pulling out. There's no way they can survive, so from that moment, it's simply a count-down. They continue to try, but there's simply nothing they can do. For her, the hunger and cold and watching the end approach is worse than the end itself. That's why she doesn't question the last, wonderful night he gives her. If she thought that they were going to continue the struggle, she would have questioned his "waste" of the firewood and the "large" meal they have, using up all of their supplies and the valuables from the cache. The brooding expressions that Edward wears now and then during their last couple of weeks was his struggle to come to terms with what he had to do, whether it was "time" or if they should continue to try. Even during that last evening, as Bella gets dressed, he sits on the bed and contemplates it one last time, searching for any shred of hope in that "desert of ice."

Thanks for coming along on this journey with me and I hope that you all enjoyed this tale as much as I enjoyed writing it. I hope that when voting opens, you'll consider voting for it.

My new story, Some Say in Ice has been posted. I hope you guys like it.

My TilTheWorldEnds Contest Entry Story Will be Posted at Midnight

I'm so excited about my story for the TilTheWorldEnds Contest that I'll be posting it tonight around midnight, EST, as soon as it's March 19th.

I'm interested in seeing what the reactions to it will be, because it's a bit different than my usual stories. It's about 9,000 words long, a total that keeps changing as I go back and tweak a word here or there.

I'm on the edge of my seat with my finger hovering over the "Post" button! Midnight can't come soon enough.

Striking While the Muse is Hot

If you read my post Oh God, NOW You've Done It!, you heard about the vicious plot bunny attack I endured when Stephenie Masen happened to mention the TillTheWorldEnds Contest. Nine thousand words later, I have a story I'm going to enter.

SoapyMayhem volunteered to do a banner for the story and mentioned that the Tales from the Void Contest is still open. I'd love to enter the contest, but my muse hasn't offered me anything, and I don't have anything stored away that I can use. If I tried to write a new story right now, I'd end up staring helplessly at a blank page on my screen, while she sat beside me and crooned into my ear about what my characters in my post-apocalyptic novel or Sacred to the Memory should be doing.

Maybe I could force it. I did that for some assignments in school, after all, when my muse flatly refused to cooperate. But those stories really sucked, and I'm not just being modest. They really sucked.

When my muse is fired up, it's a frantic fever in the brain. I can't do anything until I have the story done. It occupies my every waking thought. It compels my attention, my energies. The tale seems to almost grow on its own, like I'm channeling a spirit, whether it stays in my head or eventually makes it to my keyboard.

Except for the TilTheWorldEnds story mentioned above, all of the stories I write are ones which have been written in my head over the years. If I'm washing dishes or folding clothes, or driving to the grocery store, I'm writing. Some of the stories have been germinating in there for years, being re-written with other characters, re-working scenes and dialogue.

That's why I write so fast. I'm essentially just typing out what's already there. (Except for the "lemons". I don't write them in advance, and so it takes me a very, very long time to come up with them.) A lot of "work" has been done on the story before I ever sit down at the keyboard. And it's why I can't come up with changes on the fly.


While I was writing Written in the Stars, I had a LOT of negative feedback from Bella's second pregnancy. It was a dangerous pregnancy for her, and everyone was certain I was going to do a Breaking Dawn-style demon spawn pregnancy during which Bella would nobly sacrifice her life, or that she would get everything she wanted and not have to sacrifice anything after all. I got a lot of furious PMs from readers who told me I had just "ruined" the story with "unnecessary drama." (Including one PM in which the reader wrote a 500 word outline of what she "knew" the rest of the plot would be and stated she was flouncing, angry about the plot she had created.)

It was so bad that at one point, I seriously considered taking down the offending chapters and re-writing the whole rest of the story. If you've read "WITS", you'll know why that pregnancy was so important to the rest of the story. Taking it out would have changed the entire last quarter of the tale, because all of the events were intertwined. It probably would have taken me months to come up with a new plotline for the rest of the story. I was sort of depressed about it, to tell you the truth, but I decided to forge ahead and finish the story as my muse had written it. (Though I still wonder if that reviewer is out there somewhere, telling other people her version of the plotline.) And I can tell you with relative certainty that my muse would have flatly refused to cooperate, because she sure as hell wasn't offering me any alternatives at the time and the story probably would have fallen very flat in the latter portions.

My muse is a hard-driving and cruel mistress. She hasn't allowed me to read since October, and for a girl who used to read two or three books per day, this is a massive change in behavior patterns. She's not very flexible, either. I can't switch over in the middle to write a different story than the one she's currently pushing. (I was amazed I was able to do The Better Angels of Our Nature and The Selkie Wife at the same time; that's never happened before.)

In reality, I'm not all that creative. She is. That's why you'll never see me in one of those Iron Pen Contests where a storyline is given to the author and they have to come up with something on the spot. Because I can't guarantee her cooperation. I have to wait until the inspiration hits, and strike while the muse is hot.

Download Links for All of My Stories

I added links to .PDF and .MOBI  downloadable files for all of my completed stories to my blog. Please let me know if any of the files have problems, or if you'd like to see another format.

Enjoy! (And give Compulsion a try? It's a cute little story.)

Announcement: My New Fanfic

Hey, everyone. You might be pleased to hear I've decided on what story I'm going  to do for my next fanfic! The title is Dark Goddess, and I'm just mean enough to let you guys wonder and speculate on what it's going to be about for a little while.

I'll start it once I've finished Sacred to the Memory, which should be relatively soon. I'm estimating that there's only a few chapters left of SttM.

Whew! What a relief to have that one off my mind!

Oh, God ... NOW You've Done It!

So, last night, I'm innocently flipping though my Facebook groups, minding my own business, when my poor eyes are suddenly assaulted by a post by Stephenie Masen:

TillTheWorldEndsContest - FanFiction.Net

www.fanfiction.net 

Suddenly, a two hundred pound plot bunny, ridden by my cackling muse, burst through the door and knocked me to the floor.

"No sleep for you!" my muse giggled. "You're going to WRITE! Now! No, I don't care if you're working on something else. Save your work. Exit. Open a new document. Type, type like you've never typed before!"

So, yeah ... Guess what I'm doing?

I'm not crazy when I talk about my muse like she's a real person (at least I don't think I am.) Since I sat down at my keyboard last October to begin writing Compulsion she hasn't let me do anything else. I'm not kidding. I've gone down from reading two or three books per day to ... nothing. I haven't read for pleasure (aside from the occasional quick FF story) since October, 2011. And God, do I miss it. I was so excited about Skyrim coming out ... I've played it for less than an hour. (My darling True Love asked me if I was unhappy with the game. No, it's loads of fun, I just can't tear myself away from the keyboard.)

If I try to read, she sits besides me and seductively whispers into my mind about what my characters should be doing. As I'm just about to drift off to sleep, she helpfully reminds me of something I forgot to put into the story, making me leap from the bed and dash back into the office to begin typing again.

From what I hear, we writers are all cursed with forgetfulness. We can remember more about what our characters are doing than what's going on in our own real lives. I'm especially afflicted by this. I literally wander into traffic. Poor True Love has to be my minder, yanking me back onto the sidewalk, reminding me to eat, reminding me occasionally that I do have real-life people around me who miss me when I get lost in one of my fervors.

Now that I'm making the plunge into Real Author Land, he's acting as my manager. He's the one who made the appointment with the lawyer and explained what I was doing when I became too tongue-tied and shy to talk while we were in the office. It was him who prodded me gently to remember to sign the contracts so he could send them off, and this morning, made the appointment with the photographer for my promotional materials/book jacket photo.

Later today, he'll probably ask if I've eaten yet, and remind me to call my mother (who called last week and left a message on my machine to say she hadn't got the note with the ransom demand yet, but she'd be willing to pay up to $224.38 for my safe return, all the cash she had on hand. Yeah. Now you know where I get my quirky sense of humor.) My boss will probably call with instructions for next week, since she's going to be out of town, and she'll sigh, knowing that I'll forget what she said within five minutes of hearing it, so I'll arrive at work to find Post-Its all over the office with step-by-step instructions. She knows me well. My dog will probably come by at some point to lay her head on my lap and give a pitiful sigh. She doesn't understand the irresistible siren call of my muse.

I'm telling all of them to blame Stephenie. It's all her fault!

Because my world has shrunk to the size of my keyboard again, thanks to Stephenie Masen.



UPDATE: The story topped out at 8,394 words, which may change a bit as I go through the edits. The story will be posted when the contest opens on the 19th.

My Reading Lounge: Writing Lab: a lesson from Lissa Bryan

 This was an article I wrote for Raum's Reading Lounge:

My Reading Lounge: Writing Lab: a lesson from Lissa Bryan:

As many of you know, Lissa Bryan is the author of one of the most discussed (and appreciated) fics that came out in 2011, Written in the Stars. She's now posting two new, amazing stories, The Better Angels of Our Nature and The Selkie Wife. The first story she posted on FF.net, Compulsion, has now a sequel, Sacred to the Memory.

She updates her stories very often. I wondered how could she write so much, with such a high quality, in so little time. Here's the answer...

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Everything You Shouldn’t Do And Why it Works for Me

By Lissa Bryan

Ever since I was a child, I’ve taken novels and “re-written” them in my head, sending the characters on fantastic journeys, or simply writing the ending it should have had. It was only recently that I discovered that other people do this too, and it’s called “fan fiction” and not only that, there are huge online communities devoted to it. Once I discovered the community, I decided to let some of my characters out of my head to play.

I joined FFN in the first week of October 2011, and as I write this on the day after Christmas, 2011, I have two completed novel-length stories and three in the works. I frequently am asked if I’ve pre-written the stories and the answer is no, if you don’t count the “writing” that’s been done in my head. Usually the story has been re-written several times in my mind and I’ll return to old favorites and perhaps even re-write the plot with new characters. Ultimately, there has been a lot of “work” done on my tales before I ever sit down in front of a keyboard.

Essentially, I just have to type the story, so it’s not all that difficult for me to produce between four thousand and five thousand words per day. The difficulty is in deciding where to place chapter dividers so that the flow stays natural, since I never divide the story that way in my head.

From the advice columns I’ve read, it appears that I do pretty much everything that new authors are cautioned not to do.

I don’t have a chapter outline. It means that I have no idea how long the story will be; I can only estimate, based on plot, how much of the story has already been completed. I may have a general idea of the things I want to happen in a chapter, but sometimes they have to get bumped to the next one when I realize I have too much material to get through before those events can occur.

I don’t have a beta. I do my own editing (and it shows.) My reasons for this are that, firstly, I don’t know very many people in the fandom. I’d have to be familiar with a potential beta’s writing style to know how well they do with language and grammar and such (it’s not helpful to have an inarticulate person who doesn’t recognize an incorrect word usage), and then know them as friends to see how well we would be able to work together.

Secondly, it would slow me down. I’d have to rely on another person, work around their schedule, and wait for them to return the chapter. And lastly, I’d have to stop and explain why certain things have happened in the story line and how they’ll fit into the big picture later.

So far, it’s worked for me. There are always things I’ll miss here and there that I’ll only notice on a re-read weeks later. I only ever made one major mistake and thanks to a sharp-eyed reviewer, I was able to go back and correct it early on in the story.

I’ve never shown my stories to anyone to get their input. From what I’ve read, this seems like the first step most authors take, but when it’s posted, that marks the first time anyone has ever read it besides myself.

Since I do everything wrong, you probably shouldn’t take advice from me, but I have two bits of advice from a published author with whom I used to correspond:

1) Never include anything that doesn’t directly advance the plot or reveal something important about the characters. It’s advice that I don’t always stick to myself, but I try to keep it in mind when writing.

I once read a novel, which shall remain nameless, in which there was a chapter detailing a short vacation the characters took to New York. We were introduced to two new characters, who were in conflict, and then the main characters went to Central Park and had sex under a bridge during a rainstorm. Never again were the two new characters mentioned and the trip played no role in the overall plotline. There was no reason for the entire chapter. It could have been deleted without any impact on the novel whatsoever.

I love lemons as much as the next gal, but putting one in just for the fun of it doesn’t do much for the story. We have reason to see the first time that characters are intimate because it’s a large step forward in their relationship, and their actions during intimacy can reveal important character traits. Or, we could see the characters reconnect after a long separation/conflict. Or it could be the only way one of the character can express their feelings. Whatever the reason, the scene should have a purpose.

2) Read your dialogue out loud. If you sound stupid when you say it, so will your characters.

Lastly, I would add to listen to your reviewers. They’ll help you by pointing out areas of the story which are weak, things that might need further explanation and details you may have forgotten to include. We all like positive reviews, but reviewers aren’t just cheerleaders.

Thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed my stories, and to Raum, for suggesting I write this article.

Greetings and salutations!

I'm Lissa Bryan, author of the fanfiction stories Written in the Stars, The Selkie Wife, The Better Angels of Our Nature and a couple of others no one has ever heard of.

I've made the jump to "real author" (ala the Velveteen Rabbit) and have just submitted my manuscript for an original fiction novel.

Though I'm making the jump to publishing, I will not be taking down any of my fanfiction stories, nor will I cease writing for the FF community.

I hope those of you who have enjoyed my stories will come along for the ride. I'm not exactly sure where we're going, but I'm betting it's going to be a lot of fun getting there!