How to Write Bisexual Characters

Hi all! 

For pride month I thought I'd share a post about to write bisexual characters! Before you ask, yes, I am bisexual myself. I haven't really told many people so I guess this is me telling the world? 

Anyway, I've seen bisexual characters written effectively and some... Not so much. Like my blog post about writing characters with anxiety, I thought I'd share a few tips. 

I tried to take a picture of my bisexual pride shirt with Mishka, but she wanted to be the centre of attention!

It's not a 50/50 split. 

This means how much the person is attracted to each gender. When people think bisexual, they tend to think of it as a 50/50 split on attraction to gender. This is not true. While some might like both equally, some might prefer men, while others women. Decide how the attraction is split before you write them. For me it's 75/25, with a preference for men. 

Don't have them shamed for preferring one over the other. 

This just irks me. I've been told that I'm not actually bisexual because I prefer men, which is not the case. No matter what the split is, they are bisexual. 

Don't turn them gay or straight depending on who they're with. 

Just because I'm in a heterosexual relationship, it doesn't mean that I'm magically straight. I'm still attracted to women and men and always will be, no matter who I'm with. The character's sexuality shouldn't change depending on who they're dating. You can write a character as bicurious, but that's a different thing all together. 

Have them suddenly decide they're not bisexual anymore. 

Finding a good partner doesn't mean that they'll immediately 'decide' to be gay or straight. Just no. 

Don't write stereotypes. 

Bisexual people are not promiscuous, despite many people thinking so. A lot of people seem to equate bisexuality with threesomes or cheating, but that's not the case at all. 

Don't make other characters tease them about having to decide. 

Just no. I've heard this enough times and it's stupid. I don't have to 'decide' anything, I'm bisexual and that's not changing. 

Don't make them date everyone they see. 

Bisexual people have standards and types too. Just because we like both sexes doesn't mean we'll date every single person from either. 

Make them ashamed of themselves for their sexuality. 

I like to read about confident LGBTQ+ characters, and write about them too! I'd like to see more books with bisexual characters being confident and happy with their sexuality. Writing characters that aren't comfortable with liking both or the opposite sex is overdone and not a good representation of the LGBTQ+ community. By all means write about their journey to accepting themselves, but don't end the book with them hating who they are and deciding to not be bisexual.

That's it for this week! I hope you enjoyed reading and have found my tips helpful. See you next week. 

Ps, like book bundles? Check these out! 

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Rough Word Counts for Books

Hi all! 

I've seen a lot of blog posts about this already but I thought I would weigh in on the subject. So many authors are unsure of their book length, whether it's too long or too short. I like to say that it should be as long as it needs to be, but many agents do require debut authors to be within a certain word count. This is because a book that is too long of too short is usually a lot harder for them to sell. 

Disclaimer: these are rough guidelines. Make sure to do more research of books in your genre to see what words counts they fall in. Some agents may want longer books while others want shorter, so make sure to look into each one and their guidelines carefully.

First off, I thought I'd go with writing lengths:

Flash - 0-500 words. 

Short Story - 500-5,000 words. 

Novelette - 5,000-20,000 words. 

Novella - 20,000-50,000 words. 

Novel - 50,000-120,000 words. 

Epic - 120,000+ words. 

These are usually rough guidelines, some agents are usually a bit more relaxed. 

Now for genres. Again, these are quite rough guidelines but are what a lot of agents follow:

Fantasy - 80,000-120,000 words. 

Science Fiction - 80,000-120,000 words. 

Horror - 70,000-90,000 words. 

Crime - 70,000-90,000 words.

Thriller - 70,000-90,000 words.

Mystery - 70,000-90,000 words.

Romance - 50,000-90,000 words. 

Historical - 80,000-100,000 words. 

Dystopian - 80,000-100,000 words. 

Literary - 80,000-100,000 words.

All books in the Elemental Dragons series stay within the 79,000-85,000 mark

Now, for age ranges:

Picture Book - 100-1,000 words.

Middle Grade - 40,000-50,000 words. 

Young Adult - 60,000-80,000 words. 

New Adult - 70,000-100,000 words.

Adult - 80,000+ words.

When querying it's best to stay within their guidelines if you can. Although most of the time it doesn't matter if you're a little bit over or under. If you find that you are way over the word count for your genre, go back through your work and see what you can take out. If there are any subplots, characters etc. that your novel doesn't need then don't be afraid to cut it out. If you're writing a series, you can add some of that into the next book if you don't want to get rid of it completely.

If you're writing in two genres, for example; Young Adult Fantasy, it's best to stay within the age range just in case. 

I hope this can help those querying, see you next week! 

How Writing has Improved my Mental Health

Hi all, 

It's been a while since I made a blog post about mental health, so I thought I would talk about how writing has greatly improved my mental health and hopefully it can help anyone suffering too. 

I suffer from depression and anxiety, though I am nowhere near as bad as I used to be. Now that I'm medicated and out of school I'm much happier mentally. A change of scenery can do wonders for mental health. I used to have frequent panic attacks and depressive episodes, but that has decreased a lot. I feel much more human than I used to be. 

It's an outlet. 

No matter what mood I'm in, I can rely on my writing as a way to get my feelings down. I can use my life experiences in my writing and how I wanted to deal with them or how I dealt with them. For example when I was at school I was ignored most of the time, but then I could write about characters who were great friends and it would cheer me up. I could write anything I wanted. 

Your writing won't judge you. 

You are the creator of the story, you decide what happens. Your writing and your characters won't judge you. You can write freely without fear of being taunted by others. 

You can be anything. 

All authors write a little bit of themselves in their stories. This means when you're down you can write yourself as anything. A dragon rider, a cat or the leader of a faction of survivors. You can be anything you want and you can do anything you want. 

It's an escape. 

I read and write to escape from reality. I still believe that fiction is better to take my mind off things rather than talking to someone about it. 

A hobby makes you feel better. 

Getting up and doing something gives you something else to think about. When I'm writing I find that I'm thinking less about how anxious or depressed I am when I go through bad spots. 

It combats loneliness. 

Writing your characters can help with loneliness, which I used to suffer from a lot when I was at school. You can write how your characters interact and who is friends with who. They can't ignore you as they are in your head. 

You can help others. 

I write for all the depressed and anxious teenagers out there that need an escape from their lives. Your writing can not only help you, but it can help others too. I don't know what I would have done if I didn't have books to read. 

That's it for this week, see you next week! 

Why Authors Need a Media Kit

Hi all!

This week I'm going to talk about something important that some authors may never have heard of. I'd never even heard of it until a few months ago when there was a Twitter thread about it, and I decided to create one myself.

I'm talking about an author media kit.

First off, what is a media kit?

A media kit is a collection of documents that you can send off when inquiring about interviews, TV appearances and other things. This can also be downloaded from your website directly if anyone happens to stumble across you.

What an author media kit contains:

- Bio.

- Author headshot.

- Website link.

- Social media links.

- Book info.

- Book blurb.

- Book cover.

- Book links.

- Extract from a review (by a reader).

- Mock interview questions and answers.

- Any awards you've won.

- Contact details.

I'm still putting mine together (and figuring out how to upload it to my website) but I've managed to do quite a bit already as you can see from the screenshot below:

Now onto the big question, why do authors need one?

It keeps everything in one place and organised.

Having it available in one document or a folder makes it easy for you to find and send to anyone you want. It also saves searching and time for anyone who would like to get hold of you.

It makes it easier for people to contact you.

If they want to invite you for some sort of interview or appearance then they can download everything they need in one place. They can then contact you easily instead of trawling to find what they need on your website or social media.

You can easily update it.

Once you have the template for one done, you can copy it over for another book. You can also just go in there and alter anything that is out of date.

It filters out spam.

Anyone can contact you through your website contact form, but only those that are really interested in getting to know you and invite you into things will download your media kit first. Then you can see who actually did their research and who didn't.

You can easily send it off.

Instead of having to write long emails to fight for a spot on radio or in a newspaper, you can attach your media kit and write an introductory email. It saves a lot of time.

In conclusion, a media kit is a necessity for any author, regardless of how you publish. I made one and it wasn't too difficult, just a bit time consuming. But now I have my template set up so I can just copy it for my other books.

That's it for this week, I hope you enjoyed reading. See you next week!

My Writing Toolbox

Hi all,

This week I'm going to talk about my 'writing toolbox', the resources and websites I use to help me with my writing, editing and publishing. Before I start, I just want to point out that I'm merely discussing these resources, I'm not being sponsored to write about them.

Writing.

Lenovo Laptop.

I write and edit all my books on my laptop, which is currently a Lenovo. Although I now write more often on my phone, I still use it for short stories and editing.

Huawei Phone.

Because I can take this everywhere with me it's what I use to do most of my writing and jot down ideas. I also use it to put all my writing events in my calendar so I can keep track.

Microsoft Word.

All of my books are in Microsoft Word. This is an industry standard for most agents which I why I started using it in the first place. For me it's easy enough to use and it isn't much hassle.

Evernote.

I've downloaded this on my phone and kindle to jot down ideas on the go. Eventually I started using it to write for NaNoWriMo which gave me enough flexibility to write on my lunch break and while on my commute.

Storage.

OneDrive.

All of my books and resources are stored on my OneDrive. It's easy for me to link everything up and I can download it onto my kindle. I have everything separated into neat little folders which keeps everything organised.

Editing.

Findaproofreader.com.

This website was recommended to me by a fellow writer on Twitter. I used it to post an ad asking for an editor for my book and got plenty of replies. I eventually went with my editor, Nicola.

Root-and-branch-editing.com.

This is the website of my editor, Nicola. She's helped me out a lot and cares about my story. I hope to work with her again in the future.

Cover Design.

Derangeddoctordesign.com.

I discovered DDD through another author's blog and booked them right away. I have booked them to do all the covers in the Elemental Dragons series, the two I've got back so far have been gorgeous.

Fiverr.

I've used Fiverr to find someone to write a blurb, create posters for my books and design the cover for the Elemental Dragons Short Story Collection. The people I've worked with so far have been lovely and I would love to work with them again!

Cover Animation.

@byMorganWright.

I recently asked Morgan to animate the cover for Blood and Water and the result is gorgeous! I'll be posting them more often on my Twitter.

Formatting.

Reedsy BookEditor.

I found this online tool while looking up ways to format my book. The best part is that it's completely free! The interface is easy to use and it takes no time at all to upload my books.

Website.

SquareSpace.

As I'm sure you've noticed by now, my website is created using SquareSpace. Despite not knowing what I was doing I managed to create my website quite easily, though I'm still learning and adding new features!

Mailing List.

MailerLite.

I use MailerLite to send emails and build my mailing list. I find it quite easy to design emails and create templates, which saves time when sending my newsletter out every month. You can sign up here: 

https://www.subscribepage.com/jessicaturnbull

That's it for this week, I hope you enjoyed! See you next week.

Why Authors Should Read Writing Magazines

Hi all,

This week I'm going to talk about writing magazines and why authors should read them.

There are thousands of magazines out there geared towards writers, filled with publication opportunities, author interviews and book trends. Some you have to pay for, while some are free. I'm subscribed to a few writing magazines and have even had a short story published in one. That's why I want to talk about why writers should read at least one.

Publication.

Writing magazines often hold a lot of competitions which gives readers a chance to have their work published. Depending on who you submit to, you could also get paid! The first time that I was ever published was in a writing magazine, and it's a good way to get you work out there and add to your writing portfolio.

Writing Tips.

Most magazines will contain writing tips from other authors. Although not all will work for everyone, you can try a few out and see if any techniques will work for you.

New Reads.

By reading a writing magazine you might find your next favourite book! There are hundreds of books featured in magazines every year that you might never have heard of.

Marketing Tips.

As well as writing tips you can also discover new marketing tips. There might also be opportunities to advertise your book within the magazine if you have the budget.

Some are free.

You don't have to pay to subscribe to some magazines, you can sign up to mailing lists or just read the online versions.

Writing Events.

Magazines are a great way to find out about writing events. You can find out about events close to you and see which authors are attending.

Book Trends.

You can see which genres are up and coming and what hasn't sold well so far. This can also help you see what agents are looking for and who you can submit to.

New Agents/Publishing Houses.

A lot of writing magazines will advertise new agents or publishing houses. Since they have only just started up they'll be looking for plenty of submissions and you could submit your manuscript if they fit your genre.

That's it for this week, hope you enjoyed.

See you next week!

NaNoWriMo - November 2019

Hi all!

As promised, this week I will talk about how I got on with NaNoWriMo this year. This is the second time I've participated, but I had heard of it previously.

For those who don't know, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. You are given a month to write 50,000 words. You can track your progress on their website and fill in your daily word count and when you are projected to finish. There are also forums to connect with other writers, who you can add as buddies.

My progress each day according to the tracker

This year I participated with the second book of the Celestial Plague series: Heaven. I had finished the first draft of Nirvana the month prior and wanted to write Heaven for NaNoWriMo. Before November 1st I'd already written 20K of my first draft, so I hoped that I could complete the entire first draft by November 30th.

By the end of the month I had written 61,908 words, bringing my overall total to nearly 83,000!

My overall word count

Last year I did an entire first draft in 30 days, which was tough. This year I decided to just write what I could.

My method:

- Goal: 2,000 words a day. (60,000 words by the end of the month).

- Write on my phone during my commute to work (bus): usually write between 600-1000 words.

- Write during my half an hour lunch break: usually write between 700-900 words.

- Write during my commute home (bus): usually write between 300-600 words.

- Anything left over I write at home.

My average word count

I found a method that works for me and also means that I don't have to cram words in when I get home from a long day at work. This way when I get home I can relax. Although the whole process is difficult, I still love participating. I love having a goal in front of me and a chart to tell me how I’m doing. I’ll definitely participate again next year, as well as Camp NaNoWriMo.

Did you participate in NaNoWriMo? Did you hit the 50K target? Let me know in the comments!

See you next week!

How Dreams Can Influence Your Writing

Hi all!

This week I'm going to talk about dreams and how they can help your writing.

I've had most of my book ideas from dreams; including Elemental Dragons and Street Rats. Although I've adapted the story line slightly, it's still very much true to the original dream. I keep my phone by my bedside just in case I dream something up which I think would make a good book idea. Some are better than others, I've scrapped three book ideas because I just couldn't make them work despite dreaming them so vividly.

Characters.

Character appearances or names can come to you in dreams. Rocky was one of my dream characters that I put in several books before he found his place in Elemental Dragons.

Plots and subplots.

Although dreams can be crazy and unpredictable, some can give you a rough idea of a plot. You can then rework this so it fits in with the book or characters.

Writing blocks.

Sometimes we get writer's block, which is okay. Usually it's temporary and just puts us in a writing slump for a while. However, if you're thinking about your book a lot while you're awake, you might just be able to dream up a solution.

Covers.

As authors, we often spend far too much time thinking about what our book cover will look like. A specific colour or theme could come to you while you sleep.

Book names.

As I've mentioned in previous blog posts, Blood and Water wasn't the first name of my book. More like the third or fourth. I came up with half the name, water, while I was dreaming. If I hadn't then it might still be going through name changes today!

Book ideas.

A lot of my book ideas have come to me from dreams, which I have then changed to fit in with a story. The Curse of Anubis series started out as a dream about zombies, and has now turned into a four book series.

Sequels.

Dreams can often give you ideas for sequels, which you can then choose to write if you wish. Some ideas may just make no sense when you try to put them together, but at least you've tested out the idea instead of just jumping straight in.

That's it for this week! I hope you enjoyed the blog post, see you next week!

Why My Teenage Characters Swear

Hi all,

This week's post is a bit of a different one - revolving around swearing in YA fiction. I didn't realise it was an issue before I joined Twitter and I stumbled across a series of tweets asking if it's okay to have characters use bad language in YA.

My opinion?

It is.

All of my books are filled with crude language and mild sexual innuendos. There's nothing wrong with including it. When writing about teenagers you have to make sure that your characters are actually believable teenagers. Whether you like it or not, a lot of teenagers swear.

Although not all teenagers use bad language, most of them do from time to time. When they've just learned these words they will use them in any way they can, as it makes them feel grown up. Older teenagers tend to use them less.

All of my characters swear.

An example of swearing in Blood and Water - no, she isn't really a vampire.

Blood and Water was even rejected by an agent because I included swearing, and I was told that I should take it out or I would never get published.

She also said that it's unrealistic as teenagers do not swear.

When I was teenager, I swore profusely. I still do now.

To say that teenagers never swear is a false statement, and not one she should be telling authors who are hoping to get a few with her.

I've published Blood and Water by myself, and I have not removed the language.

Some authors get around this by inventing new words for their characters to use in place of swear words. You can do this if you want to, but I didn't want to invent new words to replace swearing. When your target audience is YA, it's okay to use swear words. I'm sure 99% of your readers swear, they're not going to hate you for it.

I don't think it should be as big of an issue as people make it out to be. If you want to include swearing, fine. If you don't want to include swearing, also fine.

Do what's best for you and your story.

Personally, I prefer having my characters swear as it makes them feel more human to me. At the end of the day it's just words anyway, and just because you don't write about it in your books doesn't mean that people will stop doing it.

Do what you want to do, and don't let anyone shame you for your decision.

That's it for this week! Next week I will be talking about how I'm feeling about self publishing, as Blood and Water is due out in nine days!

See you next week!

How Doodling Can Help Your Writing

Hi all!

This week I'm going to talk about doodling and how your writing can improve by doing it.

The good thing about doodling is that you don't need to be an amazing artist to do it. Whether you can draw anything and everything or can barely manage a stick figure, it doesn't matter. I'm not a great artist by any means, but I have a sketchbook filled with drawings and symbols from my novels, written and to be written. I mainly use mine to draw symbols or markings. For example: all eight elemental markings from Elemental Dragons are in there.

Elemental ice markings from my sketchbook

Visual art can help with descriptions.

When coming up with ideas for symbols or markings, it can be good to see them on paper. This will help you when writing your descriptions. You can then also visualise them on characters or covers to see if you like the design and if it fits with the story.

It can give you a break.

If you've hit a rut with your novel you can still work on it by doodling. Actually putting designs on paper may get your creature juices flowing and you'll feel better about writing your story.

Creative designs.

Doodling your ideas gives you the creative freedom to draw them however you want. You may have certain elements that you want in your designs. For example: I use a lot of swirls in my designs because they're simple but still pretty.

You can share them with your readers.

While waiting for the next book to come out, readers will still want new content from you. Sharing your sketches is a good way to engage your readers and they may even draw your designs themselves.

Sketch from Damaged Goods

You can design creatures.

Drawing your creature out can be a good way to visualise them, you can then see what parts of the design works and what doesn't. I've drawn a design of a spider hybrid in my sketchbook, which really helped me decide what features to give it and how I can describe it in my story.

You don't have to be good at art.

Most of my drawings are terrible, but that hasn't stopped me from continuing to sketch them out. You don't need to be an amazing artist to draw.

You don't have to show anyone.

It can be for your eyes only if you want it to be, other people don't have to see it if you don't want to.

You can see what works and what doesn't.

Sketching out a certain symbol on paper may look completely different to what you had in mind. This way you can alter the design or scrap it and start afresh.

That's it for this week, hope you enjoyed.

See you next week!