The Black Dagger Brotherhood_ An Insider's Guide - J. R. Ward [98]
A mind-bender for sure. But kind of cool.
Anyway . . . I could keep going on and on, but I might as well end here. Get me started on the Brothers and their world and I’m a windup toy with no end of enthusiasm.
So that’s Lover Enshrined . . . and the series so far.
On some level, I can’t believe I’ve actually written the first six books already. It’s been a blur, a strange, fascinating, terrifying ride that’s taken me to places, both in terms of writing and on a personal level, that I couldn’t possibly have predicted.
I’m grateful for all of it. Even the really hard parts (and there have been some).
Next up is Rehvenge.
And if you thought the first six were humdingers . . . wait’ll you get a load of him.
For Writers
Advice and FAQs
As this section is for writers, I think I’ll start by listing my eight writing rules up front in a nice little group:
I. P & R—PERSIST AND REINVENT
II. WRITE OUT LOUD
III. OWN YOUR OWN WORK
IV. PLOTLINES ARE LIKE SHARKS
V SWEAT EQUITY IS THE BEST INVESTMENT
VI. CONFLICT IS KING
VII. CREDIBLE SURPRISE IS QUEEN
VIII. LISTEN TO YOUR RICE KRISPIES
Writing is hard stuff, and publishing is a difficult business to break into and survive, much less thrive, in. But here’s the thing. I don’t really know much in life that isn’t hard. Being a mother is difficult, and so is being a teacher or an accountant or an athlete or a student. My point is, I’m not sure whether writing is any more scary and heartbreaking and exhilarating than anything else. I do know that the eight rules above have taken me this far—and I hope they’ll continue to see me through the ups and downs of my endeavors.
I’ve had a lot of writers, both prepubbed and published, come to me for advice. I’m always flattered, but also a bit at a loss in describing how I do what I do or why it’s worked thus far (and I never take for granted that it’s going to keep working). Routinely, however, I make a couple of recommendations for each of the various stages of the process, which follow below. I would like to note, however—and this is important—this advice is for people who are trying to get published. You DO NOT have to write solely to get published. I wrote for years just for myself and was perfectly happy doing so. What is laid out hereafter is for folks who are doing something that is quite specific—and it must be said that a published book is a very distinct animal and NOT THE BE-ALL AND END-ALL.
I’ll try to get off my soapbox now. But I just think it’s important for folks to know that if you write, you are an author. Period. You don’t need a publisher or consumers to validate what you are doing. Getting a book on the retail shelves is just one avenue some people choose to explore—but not the only one. Collecting the oral history of your family for the next generation or writing in journals to record your thoughts for yourself or jotting down descriptions of a thunder-storm for no other reason than you like how the lightning travels across the black sky—that all counts and it all matters.
Right, advice for those who want to get published:
1. Finish a book. Even if you don’t like it, or you don’t think it’s good enough, see one of your projects through to the end. Discipline is mission critical to publication, and no matter how enticing the other ideas in your head may be, get to the final page on at least one of your WIPs (works in progress). If you find yourself getting distracted by the buzz of new characters or concepts, write them down in a notebook or Word document to save for later. But teach yourself to finish what you start. Writing can be a drag. It can be nothing more than a series