Side-Characters Speak Up

By Clarissa Johal

I enjoy writing side-characters as much as main characters. They can flesh out the story and make it interesting, alter the path of a protagonist, or stop the actions of an antagonist. There are no “throwaways” in my novels. Each side-character has a back-story, motivation and voice of their own. 

I try to write them as quirky and as interesting as possible. However, when Struck was released, I never expected that my readers would fall in love with, not one, but two of my side-characters.

Struck is about a young woman who is struck by lightning. Soon after, she’s repeatedly visited by a stranger offering her a gift to stay the hands to death. The novel is focused upon Gwynneth, the unfortunate protagonist. Poppy is one of the side-characters. She’s a smart and sassy mortician who can speak to the dead. Dante, her co-worker, is a moody funeral director who’d prefer not to speak to anyone. They made the perfect pair. When Struck was released, I thought that was it—Poppy and Dante’s story was done. They had fulfilled their rolls as side-characters.

But Poppy was not to be forgotten, and Dante was right along with her.

“I loved Poppy! Are you going to do a spin-off?”

“Dante is so sexy. Can you write a book about him?”

“Are you doing a sequel to Struck? Poppy was my favorite character, can you include her?”

The requests went on and on. Who knew a mortician and a funeral director would get so much love? I usually don’t write sequels or spin-offs, but I had no choice but to give their story a try. After spending a day writing, I concluded that yes, Poppy had a story to tell.

It takes me a year to write a novel and this one was no exception. But it was beyond difficult. Poppy is a mortician, and with that came a ton of research. I researched mortician job duties, I researched the chemicals and machines they used, I read mortician blogs (yes, they exist), and I interviewed a local mortician about what it was like to work at a funeral home. I even watched YouTube videos on embalming procedures (I don’t recommend watching those, they’re quite graphic). I came face-to-face with my mortality, and I have to say, it was quite depressing. There were times I had to set my writing research aside in order to breathe. The story and characters weren’t depressing, but the research was kicking my butt. Oddly, Poppy is one of the most upbeat characters I’ve ever written—even in the face of peril. Like many morticians, she views her job as “the last help” she can offer the newly departed. Kudos to her, and kudos to the profession. I couldn’t do it.

My side-characters are speaking up more now. Rowan, a side-character from Poppy, has her own story. But…that’s another novel. Right now, I leave you with Poppy.

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Clarissa Johal is the bestselling author of paranormal novels, THE ISLAND, POPPY, VOICES, STRUCK and BETWEEN. When she’s not listening to the ghosts in her head, she’s dancing, taking pictures of gargoyles, or swinging from a trapeze. She shares her life with her husband, two daughters, and every stray animal that darkens their doorstep. Find Clarissa Online: Author Website Blog   Facebook  YouTube  Twitter  Goodreads  Amazon Author Page   Pinterest

The Armchair Book Promoter

By Clarissa Johal

You know who you are. The author that writes in your little hidey-hole, but doesn’t like to get out and promote yourself. I’m not judging I get it. Somehow, the cleverness that rolls off your fingers, doesn’t translate when you meet people face-to-face.

Okay, so let’s talk about what you can do as a writer via armchair when it comes to book promotion.

I’ve been promoting my paranormal novel BETWEEN since December 2012. I’ve concluded that “getting out there” may be more effective, but (fear not!) there are online things that work too.

Facebook

I love connecting with people on Facebook and consider them friends. Set up an author page and put yourself out there in the cyber-world. But remember—nobody likes a 24/7 book promoter, so mind you don’t overdo it.

Arrange a guest post/interview/review with a book blog

Find a blog that falls in your genre and read through the posts. If you like the blog, email the owner with your request. Most are happy to set something up.

Run a special promotion or contest for your book

Donate your royalties to a charity. My birthday is in July and I decided to donate 100% of my July royalties from the sale of BETWEEN to two animal shelters. They agreed to set up a small display with my business cards, “Proceeds from the purchase of this book during the month of July goes to this animal shelter,” and I agreed to promote the shelters. It was a win-win situation for everyone.

Run a contest where the winner gets to pick the name of the main character or setting for your next book.

Be creative! 

Sign up for a blog hop

Blog hops are everywhere! Look for one that falls in your genre and sign up for it.

How it works: Write a post for your blog, cut and paste an HTML code generated by the blog hop organizer at the end of your post (in HTML mode) and voila! You’re part of a blog hop. A reader can “hop” through the participant’s blogs via the links generated at the end of the posts.

*Most blog hops require a giveaway, which you arrange yourself.

Create a Goodreads author account

Goodreads offers two great options for authors; book reviews, and advertising. Join a group specializing in your genre. If your book needs reviews, offer R2Rs (read to review) of your book via the group. Set up an ad campaign on Goodreads to advertise your book. Here’s the link: http://www.goodreads.com/advertisers .I’ve garnered over 100 readers who put BETWEEN on their shelf “to read” by using the ad campaign.

Here’s something to ponder too. When doing any promotion, do your research. A group composed of all writers who promote to other writers, makes no sense whatsoever. Not that writers don’t read—but they’ll be promoting themselves just as hard as you are. Unless you’ve made promises to cross-promote to readers (and everyone complies) this doesn’t work. Be smart.

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Clarissa Johal has worked as a veterinary assistant, zoo-keeper aide and vegetarian chef. Writing has always been her passion. When she's not listening to the ghosts in her head, she's dancing or taking photographs of gargoyles. She shares her life with her husband, two daughters and every stray animal that darkens the doorstep. One day, she expects that a wayward troll will wander into her yard, but that hasn't happened yet. STRUCK Coming January 17, 2014 from Musa Publishing BETWEEN, a story of the paranormal. PRADEE, a young adult fantasy.*Second round finalist in Amazon's Breakthrough Novel Award Contest 2012. Author website:  http://clarissajohal.com/

Blog:  http://clarissajohal.blogspot.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/clarissa.johal.9

Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/ClarissaJohal

Writing Can Be Lonely and Joyful

By Clarissa Johal 

Writing can be a lonely and discouraging business sometimes. On one hand, we write because it gives us joy and we cannot see ourselves doing anything else. On another, finding readers and/or a publishing company can be frustrating.

I began writing “seriously” after my first daughter was born. The plan was for me to return to my career in veterinary medicine but after holding her in my arms, that plan was immediately scrapped. I’ve always written and had several pieces published, but the idea of writing as a career ranked up there with Big Dreams. But as any mom will tell you, when your baby is sleeping, the mind wanders. And so along with my daughter, my first novel was born.

My YA fantasy, Pradee, took me ten years to complete. Shelved on and off while I raised my family, I finally started submitting it to publishers once both my daughters were in school. But the economy was against me. I was getting good feedback but because I was a new writer, publishers were hesitant to take me on. Finally, I decided to jump in with both feet and self-publish.

Self-publishing is a good learning experience for those that wish to understand the process. Would I do it again? Probably not. It takes a tremendous amount of advertising and networking for an unknown writer to pull their self-published work from obscurity to bestseller. Kudos to those that do. At the time, I knew little about either and while Pradee received good reviews and was second round finalist in Amazon's Breakthrough Novel Award Contest 2012, it didn’t take off like I’d hoped.

There were days I considered going back into veterinary medicine, but I wanted so badly to write that I couldn’t see myself doing anything else.

Fast forward to book number two. While writing the second installment to Pradee, I was hit by two characters that didn’t belong in a YA novel. I kept setting them aside but they would return, stronger than ever. Finally, I gave up and started writing, Between, a story of the paranormal. And Between came fast. I had the complete rough draft within a couple of months, and the novel was ready to submit a year later. I submitted to Musa Publishing and immediately got an offer.

What I have learned through Musa Publishing is how to social network. Blog, talk, Twitter—get your writing out there. It will take time, but people will begin to notice. I love meeting readers and interacting, but the part where you wave your writer flag and exclaim, “Buy my novel, it’s awesome!” is still daunting.

My encouragement to aspiring writers is this: the days you feel like your writing sucks, ignore them. Keep writing. If you’re submitting and getting rejects, take what the rejects are telling you and see if they apply. I equate rejects with fashion. Say you decide to go out for a night on the town wearing a polka-dotted mini dress and striped tights. Some would say, “Did the cat yak on you or what?” But others will say, “Wow! You rock!” Writing is like that. Find people that “get” you and don’t give up.

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Clarissa Johal has done everything from working as a veterinary assistant and vegetarian chef to volunteering as a zookeeper aide and swimming with six-foot sturgeons. She shares her life with her husband, two daughters and every stray animal that darkens the doorstep. One day she fully expects a wayward troll to wander into her yard, but that hasn't happened yet.Between, a story of the paranormal. Coming December 14, 2012 from Musa Publishing. Pradee, her first YA fantasy novel, is available today. *Second round finalist in Amazon's Breakthrough Novel Award Contest 2012 Short stories::Pigeons, published in the literary journal Susurrus, The Rope, published in the literary journal Susurrus.  Author Webpage: http://clarissajohal.com/ 

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/clarissa.johal.9 Blog:  http://clarissajohal.blogspot.com/

Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/ClarissaJohal