Kristina Stanley

Book Names and Branding

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 5 Comments

Ready to Publish?

If you haven’t read my blog before, I’ve just signed on with Imajin Books and intend to blog about my publishing adventure. I’ll share what I learn and hope it helps someone out there get their novel published. At the end of my last blog, Ready to Publish?, I gave myself two action items:

Step one : Re-launch website and give it a cleaner look.

Done: Or sort of done. I’ll keep working on this as I get feedback. What changes did I make to the site?

  • I changed my home page to a static page instead of my blog. I did this so when I have book covers designed, I’ll have a landing page to post the covers.
  • I chose a new format that I found pleasing to the eye and what I think is a more professional image.
  • I updated the image at the top of the page to mountains to start branding my novels.
  • I used a free template by WordPress. This comes with restrictions, but for now I can live with them. Until I start making some income with my books, I’ll be careful how I allocate funds.

Step two: Decide if working titles for DESCENT and BURNT are the final titles.

This is where branding comes in. That’s a big question when you’re about to publish one of your books. I write a mystery series, and so my branding has to consider the current and future books in the series. I want to engage and excite readers, and branding can help do this.

A Stone Mountain Mystery is the tag line for all the novels because the series takes place in a fictitious resort located in the depths of the Purcell Mountain range.

The first three working titles in the series are DESCENT, BURNT and AVALANCHE.

After collaborating  with Imajin Books, we’ve decided to rename the second novel in the series.

BURNT will become BLAZE.

The thoughts behind the decision to change the name are:

  • BLAZE has a sense of impending doom.
  • All three titles are one-word action oriented nouns.
  • BLAZE now links to the mountain theme of DESCENT and AVALANCHE as blaze is more reminiscent of a forest fire than BURNT.
  • One can think of BLAZE as blazing the ski trail which again links the novels.

I’ve spend four years building my online platform and writing about my books. This one word change means I have to visit all of my sites and update the name accordingly. I’m pretty sure this is the first of many changes. But who said writing was easy?

Now I’m off to find all references to BURNT and change it to BLAZE..

Thanks for reading . . .

Ready to Publish?

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 13 Comments

The life of a mystery writer is full of twists and turns. Some good. Some not. But here’s a twist that lands in the good category. I’ve signed a two-book publishing contract with Imajin Books for DESCENT and BURNT.

When I began writing my novels, I loved reading blogs about the writing process, about how to write, about how to publish, and about anything else to do with writing. And I still do. Now it’s time to return the favour. Over the next few months (or years), I’ll blog about the publishing experience. I’ll do my best to share what I learn. To give you an idea of what’s coming, here are my first baby steps in working with a publisher.

Step one: Re-launch my website and give it a cleaner look. This is a work in progress, and the updates will keep coming as I go through the publishing process.

Step two: Decide if working titles for DESCENT and BURNT are the final titles.

Step three: It’s a mystery.

Stay tuned . . .

And as usual, thanks for reading.

Farley’s Friday: A Slip and Fall

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 7 Comments

Farley here, You all know about my winter hiking boots. Well, now that spring is here, I have a new sleek version. They are so light, my feet feel like they’re running on clouds.

Out on one of our hikes through the forest, I stop to sniff a tree – you know, because trees smell great as the snow starts to melt. From a tree behind me, a squirrel natters at me. I whip my head toward the sound and bolt in the creature’s direction … Farley slip 1 But alas, my shoes let me down. When I’m bare pawed I have grip. I forget myself for a moment and run hard. Out go my paws from under me. How embarrassing. I’m a serious kind of dog, and I like to appear regal. Farley slip 2 Instead of looking regal, I look like a snow head. Farley Slip 3 Woof Woof

Before You Submit: Who or That

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 4 Comments

Do you have a draft of your novel or short story and are thinking of submitting to an agent, publisher or writing contest? My series called Before You Submit might help. This series contains hints and tips I’ve received from professionals in the publishing industry. Each week I’ll share a new tip.

This week I’ll write about the use of who.

I’m loving going through my old notes from an editor. I mean, if can’t laugh at myself and the silly mistakes I made in the early days of writing, what’s the point. Writing should be fun, at least some of the time, maybe even most of the time. Even the hard work of editing can be fun.

Now, to the topic of Who or That, and what I needed to know. Here’s the sentence I wrote:

“I’ll need a list of everyone that had the combination to the safe.”

Yikes. Did you catch the error? The sentence should read:

“I’ll need a list of everyone who had the combination to the safe.”

Funny enough, who is used when referring to people. Every little correction makes the novel a better read. Thank you to the editor who pointed this out to me.

I hope this helps improve your writing.

See Before You Submit:Likeable Characters for the first blog in this series and an introduction the benefits of submitting even if you get a rejection letter.

Thanks for reading…

Farley’s Friday: The Case of The Disappearing Ball

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 11 Comments

Farley here,

Do you know where my ball went?

Kristina lobbed it over my head and across the field. What I don’t understand is why she threw the ball when I was still on leash. I don’t think she was paying attention. She tossed it. I ran. She fell when I jerked the leash.

I looked back for a second, just to check she was okay, and then kept running. I had my eye on the bright orange ball as it flew through the air. I was concentrating hard. And then . . . in an instant it disappeared.

No matter how hard I searched, I couldn’t find it.

Lost Ball

Can someone mail me another ball? By the way, Kristina wasn’t hurt during the production of this blog.

Woof Woof.

Before You Submit: The Use of ‘That’

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 4 Comments

Do you have a draft of your novel or short story and are thinking of submitting to an agent, publisher or writing contest? My series called Before You Submit might help. This series contains hints and tips I’ve received from professionals in the publishing industry. Each week I’ll share a new tip.

This week I’ll write about the use of that.

My editor thought ‘that’ should only be used if it was needed to keep the meaning of the sentence clear. Here’s an example of where it’s not needed.

Kendra smelled the odour of sweat coming from the ski boots that were resting askew on the floor.

The easy fix my editor recommended was to remove ‘that were’ from the sentence. The new sentence becomes:

Kendra smelled the odour of sweat coming from the ski boots resting askew on the floor.

I think the editor was reminding me to cut back on words. There are many places on the internet to get find the detailed rules, but I thought a quick example would give you something to check for in your writing.

I hope this helps improve your writing.

See Before You Submit:Likeable Characters for the first blog in this series and an introduction the benefits of submitting even if you get a rejection letter.

 

 

Thanks for reading . . .

 

Farley’s Friday: Loneliness

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 8 Comments

Farley here,

Boo Hoo. I’m lonely this week. Finn left me. You remember him? He’s the Icelandic Sheepdog who lived with us for two weeks. He went back to Calgary, where ever that is. I thought he’d moved in with us for good. Sometimes my peeps don’t explain things very well. Kristina still thinks I understand full sentences. Finn did bark that he missed the city, so I guess he needed his own life back with his peeps.

Now I have to play with the ball my myself.  I carry it around and give Kristina my most pathetic look. She won’t wrestle with me for the ball, she won’t chase me across the snow, and she won’t bite the ball and try to pry it out of my mouth.

Lonely

Someone send me another dog.

Woof Woof.

Before You Submit: Dialogue, Narrative and Repetition

~ Kristina Stanley ~ Leave a comment

Do you have a draft of your novel or short story and are thinking of submitting to an agent, publisher or writing contest? My series called Before You Submit might help. This series contains hints and tips I’ve received from professionals in the publishing industry. Each week I’ll share a new tip.

This week I’ll write about Dialogue, Narrative and Repetition.

Combining dialogue and narrative is where style, or dare I say art, comes into your writing. 

We all know you don’t want to bore the reader with repetition, but sometimes it’s easy to do without even noticing. I tend to repeat something in narrative that I’ve already said in dialogue.

Here’s what the editor didn’t like in one of my manuscripts:

“You have a choice to make,” Sarah said. “You can walk away right now, or  I’ll call the cops and see what they have to say about the drugs.” Sarah stood her ground.

The editor recommended removing ‘Sarah stood her ground.’ Her thought was that it was obvious Sarah was standing her ground. The dialogue indicated this, and there was no need to hit the reader over the head with it.

Her overall point, if you repeat things, make sure you have a reason to. You might repeat for style or for emphasis, but don’t repeat for filler.

To figure out if you have a similar problem, you can analyze your writing, checking for areas of repetition, or you can ask someone else to read your work and check for you. A reader other than myself can often see things I can’t, so I like asking for help on this one.

I hope this helps improve your writing.

See Before You Submit:Likeable Characters for the first blog in this series and an introduction the benefits of submitting even if you get a rejection letter.

Thanks for reading . . .

 

 

Farley’s Friday: Dogs and Coyotes

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 4 Comments

Farley here,

The song of coyotes reaches my ears for this first time this winter. Their barking, howling, and yipping echoes around me. A pack is crossing the range on the other side the golf course. They’re barreling through the trees, probably chasing something.

Finn picks up on the noise, and with alert ears and nose,  checks for their scent. He’s a city dog and can’t tell the pack is far away. I don’t react much. Call me Mr. Cool.

Coyote check

Finn makes a move, as if to cross the golf course and chase the forest beasts, but Kristina tells him to stay.

He can’t take the excitement and attacks me instead.

Crazy dogs

Finn’s a goof, but I’m starting to get attached to him. Soon his humans will come and take him away. Bummer. I want him to stay and live with us.

Woof Woof

Before You Submit: Run-on Sentences

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 8 Comments

Do you have a draft of your novel or short story and are thinking of submitting to an agent, publisher or writing contest? My series called Before You Submit might help. This series contains hints and tips I’ve received from professionals in the publishing industry. Each week I’ll share a new tip.

This week I’ll write about Run-on Sentences.

Was I embarrassed when an editor corrected a line a narrative by commenting that it was a run-on sentence, and I didn’t know what a run-on sentence was? You bet. I had to look it up.

Basically a run-on sentence occurs when two or more independent clauses are connected without the correct punctuation or coordinating conjunction.

Here is an example of what not to do.

After the avalanche, Darren changed, he’s been getting into fights at the bar.

As you can see, I liked commas at the time. 🙂

The corrected version is:

After the avalanche, Darren changed. He’s been getting into fights at the bar.

The second comma changed to a period. The second sentence starts with a capital letter.

Everyone has to start somewhere, and I was lucky to have an editor who took the time to correct my writing during my early days of crafting a novel.

I hope this helps improve your writing.

See Before You Submit:Likeable Characters for the first blog in this series and an introduction the benefits of submitting even if you get a rejection letter.

Thanks for reading . . .