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Writing short stories – Felix: The Literal Llama
I’ve never been much of reading short stories. I prefer the longer format of a novel. But there are a lot of people out there that prefer the short format because they know they can easy commit to readiing something short. To me personally, I associated that with people that don’t like to read that much. But I’ve changed my mind lately and I can see the appeal of reading short stories now. Therefore, I understand better the appeal of writing short stories.
I decided to do a test with short story for children and publish it to Amazon here.
The story is about a little llama that decides to travel to the big city to dream high. There’s some narrative about his journey but also about the issues that a llama has to go through. The end is a reflection of taking things literal and how sometimes people use metaphoras and forget the literal meaning of phrases.
It’s a children’s book because it’s nice, sweat and simple. There is no complex prose or vocabulary and there are some llama facts included for learning.
I hope you enjoy it .
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Book Trailers for Writers
When I self-published “The Last Families“, I immersed myself in this new world of book marketing. I have to be honest and tell you that I consulted a person about her marketing services, but I almost felt out of my chair when I heard the high fees. That’s when I knew it would all depend on my own efforts.
I quickly turned to social media, now the most powerful tool for marketing anything, from products to books to even people. I’ve never been good with social media; in fact, I kind of despise it. But I had to come to terms with it.
Promoting a book is hard. What are you supposed to say each time you post? Of course, you can come up with a thousand variations of promoting your book cover, as seen in some of my tweets and an abandoned Instagram account for The Last Families. But how else can you promote your book there?
Photo by Vlada Karpovich on Pexels.com Just before publishing my book, I came across this service called “Book Trailers.” If you haven’t heard of it, book trailers are short promotional videos designed to create interest in a book. Similar to movie trailers, they provide a visual preview of the book’s content. They often include elements such as voiceovers, text overlays, music, and imagery to convey the story’s essence and entice viewers to read the book. Book trailers are used by authors and publishers as a marketing tool to reach a broader audience.
Book trailers? Like movie trailers or teasers? That sounded fantastic. As writers, we always imagine our stories reaching the big screen and fantasize about how they will look. I thought having a book trailer for “The Last Families” would be fantastic. However, it was quite expensive, and I didn’t like the services that I saw online. Most of them were like PowerPoint presentations with random people and subtitles, using free stock media that didn’t accurately represent the book characters or world. Since it was too expensive and not like how I envisioned it, I decided to pass on the option.
Now, as I try to establish myself in the freelancing world, creating courses, websites, and explainer videos, I couldn’t help wondering if I could create book trailers myself. Well, now there’s AI, and it’s here to stay. Since it’s advent, I’ve been nerding with tools like Midjourney and chatGPT to boost my creativity. AI tools have advanced significantly, and if you spend time mastering them, you can do fantastic stuff.
So without further ado, this is the book trailer from “The Last Families”:
This book trailer captured the scent of what I imagined, but more than anything, it conveyed the emotion and tone of my story.
I also created two other book trailers from two classic novels. I hope Louisa May Alcott and Bram Stoker aren’t being pinged in their graves for having the nerve to create a book trailers for their books:
Of course, there’s room for improvement. The animations aren’t perfect, and you probably noticed several areas that could be refined. But this is AI and it’s continuously improving.
A professional video animator would charge hundreds or even thousands of dollars for a professionally animated video with all the precision that you need.
But I’m a writer, and I understand that self-published authors have a limited budget for almost everything, from websites and social media promotion to book covers, trailers, and other marketing efforts. We can’t afford to pay so much when the success of our book is uncertain. Despite the writer’s talent, sometimes being self-published means being SELF-published, and it’s hard.
I want to help other authors bring their stories to readers. Book trailers are a magnificent opportunity. While I’m not a professional designer, I have great expertise managing at least a dozen AI tools at professional level. I like to believe that I’m a good storyteller —all writers are. More than anything, I LOVE doing these trailers. You won’t find someone more passionate about bringing a book’s blurb into a short video portraying it.
If you’re an author or know any authors, I’m offering this service through Fiverr at a very modest fee.
I work with Fiverr as a platform for Orders and Delivers. By using this platform, you get a guaranteed service, reputable payment methods, delivery only after approval, and immediate access to public feedback. Fiverr ensures secure payments and holds funds until you are satisfied with the delivery.
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Writing from multiple POVs
The Last Families is written from multiple points of view (POVs). Truth to be told, it is written at least from 6-7 points of view. You might be thinking, Wow, that many? Yeah, I’m surprised with that number. I actually didn’t intend to be like this. It just happened. But It seems I did a decent job with it.
Before the book’s release, I was terribly worried about this. Would readers be able to follow so many characters? Will they get confused with who is who? Luckily, in the few reviews, I’ve gotten, I’ve actually received very good feedback about this. Some quoted examples:
Photo by Shelagh Murphy on Pexels.com The book had multiple narrators and yet it maintained its cohesivenes.
Afreen Khalil – Inscribed InklingsThe multiple POVs that this narrative had really did a great job of highlighting the differences amongst each family’s powers and perceptions of the world, and yet the same emotions and fears that resided within them all in this fight for survival they all shared.
Anthony Avina BlogMultiple points of view can sometimes confuse the reader (I know it does me) but I never got that with this book, you know who is who with every word written.
Julie B – The Reading CafeThis story is told from multiple perspectives, giving the reader a well-rounded view on what’s happening.
Merissa – ArchaeolibrarianBut why did I make the choice to write from multiple POVs? Here is a list of excuses/reasons that can answer that:
- The logical reason – There were scenes where the main characters weren’t physically present so there was no way to narrate those scenes from the character’s main point of view.
- The experimental one – When I started, I had an idea of the topic and the story, but I had still not decided on the main character. Therefore, I started writing from the POVs of 2/3 characters.
- Developing characters – When I wrote The Last Families, I did some parallel writing for the characters’ sideline stories. I wrote down in a notebook the background of each character: their upbringing, childhood, their inner strengths, etc. Soon many of these characters turned out to be too strong to not tell the story from their own point of view.
Now that you know my reasons, here are some tips that I can provide about this process:
- Only choose characters that you understand well in your mind.
- Develop each chosen character well. As mentioned before, you can write separately about their childhood, their family relationships, weaknesses, insecurities, strenghts, how they talk, if they have certain gestures, and of course their physical traits. Six of my characters have been illustrated by a friend who happens to be an artist. That made them more real.
- To make sure the reader knows/feels when you switch to a different character, I suggest re-reading what you wrote about that character’s sideline story. This process will help help you to step in the shoes and its POV. I did this process each time I started with a new chapter and there was a new POV.
What seemed like a possible faux-paux when writing The Last Families, it turned out to be a good book trait. I’m not sure if I would ever do it again. Deep inside me, I know that even though I managed to pull it off, it was still extra work and I probably over-complicated myself.
Photo by Vlada Karpovich on Pexels.com My new manuscript is written from a single point of view and I feel relieved 🙂 However, this new story doesn’t need multiple POVs. The Last Families needed them. So far I’ve gotten a couple of reviews asking if there will be a second part, or if the book is part of a series. Yes, there is room for that. My ending hints at this somehow. I’m not sure yet if there will be other adventures of The Last Families, but I’m pretty sure that if there are, then they will definitely be again from multiple POVs.
With this post, I hope to encourage writers that have at some point considered using multiple POVs but felt deterred. Trust me, it can be done and readers don’t need to feel lost.
If this is the first time you are hearing about my fantasy book The Last Families, you can find the information on where to buy it on the following link:
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Interview with Author Carla Doria
I loved answering these questions. It was a pleasure being interviewed by Anthony Avina. Check the interview…
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The Last Families by Carla Doria Review
Getting this wonderful review is what makes my day.
If you haven’t gotten your copy of The Last Families, please go to: -
Social media for a book
I have to admit that I don’t like social media platforms that much. If I could disconnect from the social media world indefinitely, I would do it. But unfortunately, in today’s world, it is needed. As a writer, to promote a book, it is imperative to use it. If you are self-publishing and living in a country where the language of the book is not the native one, then you need it more.
When I decided to self-publish “The Last Families”, I knew I was going to be on my own in regards to book promotion. I know there are services out there that help you with this process, but let’s be realistic, they are too expensive. I also knew that traditional promotion like book fairs, reading, or signing in a bookshop wasn’t for me because I live in Bolivia and those are limited here to books in Spanish.
Therefore, my best way to get to other readers out there that are comfortable reading in English is with social media. Even if you have a blog and website, people are not going to find your book just like that with a simple Google or Amazon search. Social media promotion is needed.
Initially, I tried to limit myself to my Facebook Page and Twitter following, but personally, those aren’t the ones that I used the most, they are only the older ones. Nowadays, if I have to use social media, I prefer Instagram and Pinterest. I also know that much of the fantasy world’s best can live in Tumblr. Therefore, without realizing it, I ended up with several social media.
You are, of course, most welcome to follow any of them. But If you are like me, that prefers blogs and websites, aside from this post, it would be great if you can follow “The Last Families” website:
Facebook
Tumblr
Twitter
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From writing to doing my first 5K challenge
I’ve always wanted to participate of the wwwp5K Movement challenge with great 3 charities to support, but each year, there was always something going on the day people were supposed to do it. This year, the challenge extended to the whole month, so I told myself there were no more excuses.
Now as a background, I’m no experienced jogger/runner. I jog from time to time, maybe a couple of times per week the most, and probably only for 20 minutes. Time was one of the main constraints, and this year, the footing track where I go has become busier than ever. Since jogging with a mask is hard (and some people still manage to do it), I try to go on a time of the day when there is not many people around. That usually happens around 9:30 am in the morning. If you go earlier, there is actually too much “running traffic”.
On this side of the world, it is summer, so most of the days are hot, meaning that 9:30 am is probably one of the last latest times of the day that you will see runners around, until the second batch of the day which starts around 5 pm. The traffic in the evening is even wilder with people running until 10:00 pm or more. That might sound as an excuse, but I take it as safety measure. However, when I go at 9:30 am, I don’t have much time to stay since I have to start working around 10:00 am. 🙂
But Saturday I didn’t have to work and a biking appointment was suspended at last minute. Therefore, I knew there were no more excuses. I already knew I wouldn’t be able to complete the whole 5K running; I get totally exhausted after 15 or 20 mins, but the challenge is about completing it either running, walking, or however you can. But having no time pressures and the footing track emptier than usual made things easier. I thought I was going to probably walk at least 50% of it, but I think it was at least 80% of the time running and the remaining walking, so that is a great victory to me. I never felt so happy and proud about a physical challenge.
And although this is a writing blog, writers also need some physical challenges to improve and stimulate our creativity. So I gave it a chance.
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Writing in a bad year
2019 has definitely been a year to remember. Two dear aunts, sisters from my Mom, passed away. My beautiful dog, Dana, who was with me for more than 14 years, also passed away. There was a fire, caused by short circuit on the TV plug, that devoured my Mom’s room and almost killed her. My closest aunt had an accident with a huge wardrobe falling and splitting her head badly. My country went into political turmoil for almost 3 weeks, with almost a civil war in the making. Mobs of delinquents attacked people on the street, beating them to death, setting on fire everything they found, including houses. Three weeks I deeply wish nobody goes through anywhere in the world, days we lived in panic, enclosed in our homes or trying to battle attackers when there was still no police to defend us.
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com The year is almost coming to an end and although there have been good times in this year, good trips in the middle of everything and other experiences, I cherish this year as the personal growth has been insurmountable.
I’m heading at this moment to WordCamp Guayaquil where I will be speaking about “Wanting to be a blogger and finding time,” in other words about time organization. I would have never imagined a couple of years ago talking about time manage skills. Me, the person who used to procrastinate as nobody else and could never find time for anything. I wondered a couple of times if I’m the best person to talk about this, but I feel I’ve grown so much in the last years, specially in this year that I thought I would share my experience.
Photo by Leo Cardelli on Pexels.com Writing and working full time has been a challenge. I must be honest I only commit an hour and perhaps an hour and a half, the most, to working on my current manuscript. I haven’t been the best at keeping this schedule every day. There are days when I don’t write, and even weeks. But I haven’t give up. It doesn’t matter how slowly I move forward. I’ve committed myself to keep doing it.
At this point, my goal of finishing the review of my manuscript by the end of the year doesn’t look promising. Probably, I’ll end it by the end of January or even February of 2020. But it doesn’t matter, I’m still doing it, little by little, step by step. Besides, I don’t have an agent or a publishing contract that says I have to finish by a specific date. It is true I wish I could have it by the end of this year but nothing will happen if I don’t.
Photo by Lisa Fotios on Pexels.com In a bad year, I could have just plainly written little. My attitude could have been different. Perhaps that would have been the case when I was younger. But my determination has gotten bigger this year. Without it, I would probably have never finished reviewing the first round. I would have never gotten great beta readers and the inspiration the keep writing. Somehow a bad year has make my desire to keep on writing stronger. It has kept me afloat amidst all issues, knowing that there is a greater goal out there for me and that I’m still moving towards it.
Life is about going through problems and obstacles, otherwise it would be pretty boring and we would never grow. Writing on a bad year has actually been a positive experience and I wouldn’t change it for the world. Writing on a bad year has proved to be good.
Photo by Bich Tran on Pexels.com
