Chapter 1: Skittles

Skittles

 (…because the sugary treats remind me of happiness.)

So this is me; DoubleZone, the writer with the big dreams, the young adult with all that hope for the future, that ordinary human being with all that vision and crazy Wattpad followers.

This is me, sitting here writing this for all those people who have felt the way I have, who have endured so much in this world and who need a reason to get out of bed in the morning.

This is me, a person living in a country where homosexuality is practically a crime, where homophobia is praised and everything that goes against it is shot down as immoral. I grew up learning that ‘the lord made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve’ and where the churches preached love but only for those who lived the ‘right’ way.

I grew up in a society where even our very laws seemed to thwart anything that involves the love two men can have for each other and when I was too young to think for myself, I agreed with the masses. I turned up my nose at those who were ‘different’ and scoffed at anyone who supported them, but when I burst free from society’s homophobic haze I finally began to understand that what I had thought of as right had been anything but and it hurt me to know that I had once been a part of the problem and not the solution.

This country is still my home and even now, living in a time where there seems to be progress and forward thinking, my society has not changed, if anything it has grown worse. A year ago a friend of mine was beaten for being gay, beaten by those who we call the ‘educated minds of our world’, abandoned by those he had believed to be his friends and ostracized by others who feared society’s whip. This just goes to show human’s barbaric nature.

It is sad indeed when a man has to hide his heart from the world and it is sad when others watch and nod as if it is right. I did not ‘put pen to paper’ simply to slam my fist against the society I love, I wrote this to show the world what is really happening out there, to show you all that actions have consequences and inaction will get us nowhere.

All around the world, parents are turning away from their offspring, brothers and sisters are screaming hate at their brethren and those who have the power to make a difference turn a blind eye. I sit here typing and I am filled with hurt and disbelief and chances are, so are you. Many of us wake up every morning suffocating under the hate and the injustice of it all, wondering if this will be the day it will get better, or if this will be the day we give up and let them win.

I say stand up and fight for love, if you have no legs lay there and pray for change. I say sit and listen to the stories of those who have been through worse and if you cannot hear, look to the future and envision a life where we can all finally say we are equal, where we no longer need to fear what is in our hearts.

I yearn for the day we can all finally come together as a people; gay, straight, black, white, man, woman and understand that love has no conditions and we all deserve to be happy. This is beginning to sound like a speech and I suppose in a way it is; it is my speech, engraved in my mind for what has felt like my entire life, yet even as I type out my thoughts, I still fail to portray exactly what I am feeling. So let me sum it up for you:

I feel hurt for everyone who has been told to change.

I am disappointed in all those who continue to be ignorant.

I feel anger toward those who try to stifle our will.

I feel love for all who only wish they did not have to live a lie and I have hope that one day we will all be reading about this in history books and thinking how ludicrous it was that anyone was once treated differently for being homosexual.

I have cried for you, I have prayed for you and I have defended you because I understand what you are going through. Whether you support the cause or you are fighting for your own right to live as you choose, I hope you never give up because no matter what comes my way I will NOT give up.

I REFUSE.

-DoubleZone

Copyright ©2014 by DoubleZone

Chapter 2: Getting more reads on your novel

Chapter 2

Not a day goes by where I am not asked “How did you get all those followers?” or “How can I get more reads on my book?” so to help you out I’ve decided to offer you all a little advice, using my own experiences as a guide.

I joined wattpad October 17, 2012 and about a month later after reading book after book on the site, I finally decided it was time to start my own journey into the world of writing, which to my surprise and pleasure, was almost an instant success and I owe that to four major things:

1. The Cover

2. The description

3. The body

4. Interaction

Laid out in this way I’m pretty sure it doesn’t make a lick of sense, so I’ll break it all down into four headings in order to better explain it.

                                THE COVER

Practically every day that we go through life we hear the saying; “Never judge a book by its cover.” Well guess what? We’re all human and we judge, it’s what we do, so with that in mind everyone should strive to have an attractive book cover. 

Let’s look at it practically; if I’m scrolling through a list of books on wattpad for instance, searching for something interesting to read out of hundreds of other books, the first book I’m going to choose is the one that grabs my attention right? I’m certainly not about to click on every book and read the description to find out what it’s about, especially not when there is already such an extensive list to choose from.

Simply put, the cover of your work is of tremendous importance, especially when you’ve just started out and you have to compete with so many other authors. Make sure the cover is such, that if you saw it on another book it would pull you in instantly.

For example when I first uploaded my boyxboy stories I made sure to slap some sexy guys on my cover and clearly if that’s the kind of story a reader is searching for it will pull him or her in. Likewise if it’s a book of recipes slap on some cookies or some delicious looking treats on that cover and watch the readers swarm.

You’ll notice that once your books become popular enough, you’ll be free to put up even plain covers because by then you’ll have gained a reputation and no one will care what your books look like.

I suppose I could go on and on about this, but you get the gist of it I’m sure. Create an attractive cover and people will be drawn to your work. HOWEVER, that’s only the beginning, once a reader is pulled in by your cover, he or she will want to read your description and this is also a crucial stage in the ‘ reader recruiting ’ process.

………………………………………………..

                                 THE DESCRIPTION

Now that you have your beautiful cover in place and the readers are circling your book, you need to make sure you don’t repulse them with a crappy description. It is your job as the author to advertise your work in such a way that it appeals to those who are reading it. So let’s get into the tips shall we;

1. Never make your descriptions too long, this tends to give away too much of your story and no one likes spoilers. At the same time never make it too short. Make it just long enough to excite the reader.

2. A description is the first insight the reader has as it relates to your writing style. If the description sounds amateur or contains grammatical errors it will be a huge turn off.

3. It CANNOT, under any circumstance sound boring. Remember the description is another factor readers judge when trying to decide if your work will be any good, so if it’s boring then they will assume your work is too and then bye-bye potential reader.

4. Spend as much time as possible on your description, reread it as many times as you can to make sure it’s just right and NEVER, EVER, put a note in your description that says “I’m bad at descriptions just read the story.”…No. If I read something like that, my first thought will be; if the writer can’t even slap together a decent description then how can they write a story?  If you genuinely can’t write a description then ask for help.

5. Finally, after having written the description, if you read it and it fails to interest even you, then you’ll need to re-do it. After all, if it doesn’t even grab your own interest, why would it grab anyone else’s?

I could go on, as always but the point is, treat the description like it’s a part of your story. Make it perfect…or at least close enough. Once the reader has been taken in by your cover and blown away by the description of your work, he or she will now want to take a glimpse into the body of the story. This particular point will be crucial as the body is what decides whether the reader stays for the duration of the story or dumps your book into the ‘no read’ pile.

                              THE BODY

Ah the body…the juicy part, the section that get us readers going and makes us hungry for more. It is arguably the most important part of your book and should be treated as such. The first paragraph alone should have a reader begging for more, because if potential readers are anything like me, they’ll read the first paragraph and if it’s crappy they’ll move on. I’ll admit, like most humans, I have no patience.

Ensure that the first paragraph…no, the first chapter is as free of grammatical errors as is possible and is also as interesting as you can make it, because if it’s really good, readers will stick around even if the latter chapters aren’t as great. Why? Because they see potential and once they see potential there is always the hope that the story will get better as time passes.

There is so much to say as it relates to the body…too much to say in fact, but I’ll keep it short and to the point. Make sure your story is creative, original and well written. Write the story the way YOU want to write it and not the way your readers want it to be, because at the end of the day it is your work and you need to feel fulfilled once it is complete.

You need to understand that while all these steps are pretty important and will certainly pull the readers in, who may even add your book to their reading list and such, there’s no guarantee they’ll care much about you as a writer once they’ve read their fill which is why you need to interact with your readers.

                            INTERACTION

Obviously without readers a story is hardly as fulfilling as it could be, but even with readers it can sometimes be a bit disappointing if no one is commenting or dropping you little messages here and there. This is where interaction comes in.

When I first began posting on wattpad I would reply to every single comment and message I received, letting to readers know how much I appreciated their input and looked forward to hearing more from them, but more than that, I had actual conversations with these people, sharing a bit about myself and learning a bit about them in return. This is called networking and in the world of writing it is imperative that you network.

Unfortunately with the number of readers I have commenting on each story, it’s not as easy for me to reply to them all but I always try to respond to as many as I can and you should too.

 As the book progresses, I’ll get into details as it relates to the topic of networking but for now I’ll tell you that networking can open many doors for you, you’ll meet people from all over the world, gain inspiration from the stories they have to tell and it’s always nice to have someone you can go to for advice or just friendly conversation.

There is so much more I wish to speak to you all about as it relates to the topic of getting readers but in the interest of time I will have to be cut short. So before I go I’ll leave with you just a few short tips:

Write what interests you, write it well and interact with those around you, then once you’ve got your loyal list of readers you won’t have to fight so hard to get readers on any other stories you may choose to post in the future. I’m not saying it will be easy but if you’ve got the talent, you’ll get the readers. I hope this bit helped at least one person to get where they need to be and as the book progresses look out for more friendly tips and tricks to get you going.

 Oh and for God’s Sake separate your work into paragraphs please, it’s too hard to read otherwise.

Thanks for reading and i’ll see your sexy faces next time..or you could just check out my tumblr at http://www.tumblr.com/blog/twinzdouble  and drop me a message or check for updates.

-DoubleZone

Copyright ©2014 by DoubleZone

Chapter 3: Overcoming writer’s block.

Chapter 3 (Overcoming writer’s block)

Writer’s block; the thing every writer fears, and something many will experience. If you’ve ever had writer’s block you know just how frustrating it can be, and in many cases, just how difficult it can be to bounce back from. Some writers will overcome it in a few days, a week, maybe a month, and in extreme cases it can take years.

The important thing to note, is that writer’s block usually stems from a lack of inspiration (unable to come up with ideas for a chapter), or a lack of motivation (no enthusiasm). So the best way to overcome it is to get motivated and become inspired.

There is no foolproof method a person can use to overcome it, it all depends on you . Below I’ve outlined a few things I’ve done to bounce back from writer’s block:

Let’s keep it short:

1.       Don’t panic . Writer’s block is completely normal, there’s nothing wrong with you or your skills as an author. It has happened to the best of us.

2.       Don’t force yourself to come up with an idea . When you’re experiencing writer’s block, to best thing to do is relax, push the book you’re working on from your mind for a while, and focus of other things; maybe you can watch a movie or hang out with friends. I’ve found that inspiration comes when you least expect it and sitting around, stressing about what to write will not help.

3.       Read another author’s work . This has helped me more times than I can count. Reading other books relaxes the mind and gets ideas flowing. I find that when I’ve got a great book to read, I’m so blown away by how good it is, that I’m inspired to continue writing my own story in hopes that mine will be just as amazing.

4.       When all else fails use your own experiences to push your story along . I’ve done this a lot and it’s definitely a good place to start. For example; Say you spent the day playing baseball with friends, take out a pad and pencil and write about the experience even if it wasn’t a particularly interesting day. You’ll find that more times than none, you can add the experience to your book and from there you’ll be able to build on it.

5.       If you write about something you’d love to read , then you’ll have the enthusiasm you need to finish your story.

6.       Rome wasn’t built in a day and a good story takes time to develop… Write a few random words on a piece of paper; for example: a river, the park, library, ships, a ranch, cooking….Now think on each of the words you’ve written and visualize the character in your book doing any of these things. What if he has to be rescued by an unlikely stranger while drowning in a river? or maybe they’re at the library searching for a clue in a book they didn’t expect to be there…add some dialogue and you’ve got the story flowing. 

7.       In the end it all comes down to your mind, and a well rested one will provide the best ideas, so get some sleep , wake up refreshed and get going.

8.       Put away the story you’re having problems with and write something new .  It’s okay to come back to it later, and writing a new story will surely help you to relax and build ideas.

9.       Write whatever comes to your mind and chances are, amongst the paragraphs and paragraphs of useless words, you’ll find a few sentences worth keeping, the only thing left to do at this point is build on them.

10.   Write what you want to write and not what others are asking for .

11.   Have fun with it ! If you make writing a chore then completing the story will be next to impossible.

These steps have always worked for me and hopefully they’ll help you on your own path to overcoming writer’s block. Just remember that just as writing takes time, overcoming the block does too, so don’t worry if it’s taking you longer than anticipated to bounce back…you’ll get there eventually.

If you have an issue that you would like me to address, or anything at all you’ll like me to present, comment below and I’ll try to add my views on the topic in the coming chapters.*

Thanks for reading!

-DoUbLeZone

Copyright @2014 by DoubleZone

Chapter 4: Dealing with Criticism.

Chapter 4     (Criticism)

This is one of those topics that can’t be avoided because it comes in so many forms and quite frequently. The first thing you’ll need to understand is that there is a fine line between constructive criticism and hate.

Constructive criticism= good

Criticism/hate=bad.

Before we delve into this juicy topic however, you also need to understand that both these things WILL come. As long as you are putting your work out there for the world to enjoy, you WILL experience constructive criticism as well as hate, it cannot be avoided so you’ll just have to toughen up and get used to it.

I’ve been on wattpad long enough to experience my fair share, so you could say I’m somewhat of an expert on the topic. As writers you need to learn how to deal with criticism in a professional manner.

Here are some examples of comments one may get now and then:

·      1.   “I like the fact that you have a creative plot, however you do have too many grammatical errors and your spelling needs quite a bit of work.” –Constructive.

·   2.      “The storyline is a bit boring and drawn out.” –Opinion…You can’t kill someone because they stated an opinion. Everyone is entitled.

·    3.     “Your writing is crap, hate the plotline and everything just sounds childish. I’m sorry but I can’t read this.”- Criticism/Hate. (This is not constructive as it provides no instruction to the author and no suggestions on how to improve. Neither does it show the author exactly where he or she went wrong. This person simply states that the story is rubbish and moves on.)

If it’s an opinion, then that’s fine…you should never get defensive if a reader is simply speaking their mind, however, there is no need for someone who is stating their opinion to be rude and that’s what many readers need to work on.

I have had readers who have posted hateful comments and their justification for it is that it is their ‘opinion’, if you are one such reader you need to understand that an opinion does not have to be offensive, you can get your point across in a polite manner. It is also good to remember that it is not easy for a writer to get up and put their work on the net for the world to see. It takes guts and at times it can be daunting, so be mindful of their feelings. We are all only human after all.

When I first entered the wattpad community I could not tolerate hate and I would lash out at those readers who were rude in the comments, but I have learned that the best way to deal with hate on your work is to ignore it. It won’t be easy, but I promise you it’s for the best. I personally cannot read a book by an author who gets defensive about the simplest negativity, it shows that that author is not professional and quite frankly it’s a turn off.

If you do receive negativity and you wish to address it, do so in a reasonable and polite manner, otherwise IGNORE IT. Another thing to note however, is: if a reader constantly posts negative comments on your chapters and it is disruptive or unsavory, feel free to mute them…as wattpad has so graciously provided such an option.

I will not make this long as the topic is pretty simple:

1.       Constructive criticism is good, use it as a way to help you improve upon your work.

2.       Hate is bad, but always be polite when dealing with it, or choose to ignore it all together.

3.       For readers: just because the comment section is there for you to comment, doesn’t mean you are entitled to write whatever you choose. You are entitled to your opinion, you are not entitled to a rude comment.

Thanks for reading guys and I hope that at least one person has learned something from this.

 The next chapter will speak to the topic of “ How to get your book published. “

Copyright @2014 by DoubleZone