Barbara Neville's Blog

Just a shout out to Brain, I attended one of his webinars last night. Brian is a master mathematician, using his skills and tools to help writers fine tune their advertising. His book "Mastering Amazon Ads" is the first step to getting your profits upright. He has a page here on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/BrianDMeeks
He also has few snarky novels for sale for your escapist reading pleasure. And a secret passion for guinea pigs. Hey, you didn't read the here.
Anyhow. Thanks Brian, I'm looking forward to seeing your tool...

I posted a different cover for "On the Rocks" yesterday, figuring that since it is on Amazon's Western Horror Top 100 list fairly often (neck and neck with it's rating on the Western Science Fiction bestseller list) that this might drive some sales. Time will tell. Here's the Amazon link:
https://www.amazon.com/Rocks-Spirit-A...
Or go to my Patreon page and see it full size: https://www.patreon.com/barbaraneville

This book was spectacular. Here's my Goodreads review: "It was amazing. An excellent source for writers. Stephen King has an awesome and honest voice. He paints an incredible picture, full of sound advice."
I could say more, but mainly, read it if you want to write.
He starts out with stories of his journey into writing. In the second part he gets down to brass tacks. And provides a great defense for the use of common language (expletives) in his books.
Thank you Stephen for standing up for freedom of speech and an honest use of common language, especially common among regular folks; from hardworking blue collar people to massive Hollywood stars.

Writing
Jul 24 at 9:42am
See the post mentioned at:
https://www.patreon.com/posts/hellfir...
The 9 chapters in the post titled "Hellfire 1-9" are not necessarily final. In fact, they are unlikely to be final. I have a plan, more or less of where the book is going, but I am a full on pantster (meaning one who writes by the seat of their pants). Winging it from day to day.

For example: the first 3 chapters of this draft were added after I was already about 15,000 words into the book.

I get the seed of an idea and write a few sentences. Reread after a day or two, and expand that into a scene. Once I have a bunch of chapter/scenes, I rearrange them as needed to grab the reader's attention at the beginning of the book and hopefully to move the plot forward without losing their interest, all the way to the end.

I do have a growing legion of readers who will get into the books and read one a day. So, I am at least pleasing some.
And consider supporting me at Patreon for as little as $1 a month. If only for one month.

I started out as a painter. Creating life on canvas. I think of my writing software’s page (Scrivener) as a blank canvas.
First, I color the canvas.

The color being the basic genre of my novel.

Then, I draw the black outline of the figures that populate my book.

And the last step is taking the black and background color outline & coloring it in.

Even when I paint, I don’t finish one area at a time.

Because each area is dependent on the other, they all have to match, to work together, If I darken one spot, I may have to lighten another to create contrast.

Contrast is the meat and potatoes of a book.

Without contrast we have a snooze fest. You’ve picked up snooze fest books, we all have. For me, as I’ve aged, I’ve found myself with less and less patience for these books.

Now, many decades into reading, I’m a ‘grab me on the first page or die’ person. I don’t like to wait for the story to start. And, more important to me, much more important, are the characters. I have to relate to them. They must be real, funny, three dimensional and interesting. I love bright colors.

Hooray! I finished my 50k on November 20th. No, not 50 kilometers, which might have been easier. That's only 2 1/2 km a day. Easy. A little over a mile and a half. Now, in words it's 2500 a day. Takes more time. And more brain power. The smoke is visible, people.
Okay, still alive, only slightly deranged form my experience. Yesterday. Ta da! I uploaded the finished manuscript to Amazon.
Not my first rodeo. This is my third year at NaNoWriMo. And my 15th book. Don't try this at home kids.Or, better yet, do.
I mean, why the (Insert f word here if so inclined, or go with heck) not?
If you don't make it, so what? Losing (okay, first off, there are no losers at NaNo) is even more of a win than winning. Trying is what counts. And learning to lose gracefully, is a major triumph in life. So kudos to all 500,000 plus of us!!! Write on! (Sorry, writer's pun).
My book is a Western (they all are, I live in the Western US, so am Western). Oh, "Death's Treacherous Trail" is its title.
Anyhow, congratulations to us all!
Especially you guys, every NaNoWriMo participant everywhere. All over the world. Aren't we awesome?

This is copy of the blog on my Patreon page:
https://www.patreon.com/barbaraneville

I read a few opinions the other day about cursing vs. clean and wholesome books. The lead was that cursing was okay. But, it turns out that there are rules. Like you can say Hell as long as you are talking about the Hell. You can't say 'The hell with it' or 'Hell, yeah'. The writer's opinion was that (I'm paraphrasing here): why curse at all, since only some people can read cursing books, but everyone can read books with no cursing?
Okay, stop the presses. For me, a book with no cursing, and especially one with no cursing, sex or violence: no thanks.

Even taking out the swear words alone, the whole timbre of the book changes. It has to be one hell of a book to keep my interest. Add cursing and a good book becomes great. There might even be hope for a mediocre book, maybe.

In my opinion: Swear words, by the very nature of their being taboo in polite society, add a rebellious dimension to any book. And color. Why we call it colorful language. You can't express things quite as well with censorship. But, hey, maybe that's just me.

Let me add a note here: Different strokes for different folks. My idea of a great book may well be your idea of badass fire starter. We all have different tastes. If you do like cursing, sex, and action; I write it all. Once again it's:
https://www.patreon.com/barbaraneville
Write on!

Support creative artists for as little as $1 a month. In return you get to read and critique chapters of the book during it's actual creation. Long before the book is published. Click over to my Patreon page to read the first two chapters for free.

I signed up for Patreon. It is a new version of the good old days, when people of wealth supported artists and writers and the like because they understood the journey. When a creator starts out, they are an unknown voice in the forest. They're, as in many other self-employed creative jobs, nobody.
Patreon brings the power of patronage to the peons. For as little as $1 a month, and for as little as one month, your choice, you can support someone you believe in. Someone who deserves a chance at becoming a full time professional at their chosen craft. To learn about supporting creators more go to my page for a start and from there you can go on to see all the other creators: https://www.patreon.com/barbaraneville
And, yes, I would love to have your support.
Thanks, Barb

Welcome new fans! I am hard at work on the next book, Fire & Rain, which will be the third in the Cha'a Many Horses series. In the global view, because both series include the same family, this book falls after Against the Wind which is book 11 in the Spirit Animal series. Against the Wind falls chronologically (If the concept of chronology even makes sense in a cosmos with time travel) between Hell to Pay and Fire & Rain. Just a few minor detail like tying up loose plot ends and taking cover photos and editing ad nauseum remain.Cheers!