If the publishers just aren’t biting at your epic novel, maybe it’s time to take the DIY route! Here are a few websites to help you…

Should you self publish?

This website will ask a few key questions to find out if you’re the right kind of person to go it alone!
http://www.howtobooks.co.uk/leisure/writing/self-publishing.asp

How to publish yourself in the UK

A nice site with a nice success story - follow their journey from conception to cash here!
http://www.publish-yourself.com/index.shtml

Different types of Self Publishing

Print on Demand, Vanity publishing - it’s all covered here in this concise article!
http://www.societyofauthors.org/publications/quick-guide-self-publishing-and-print-on-demand/

A nice google books find

A book on self publishing free for you to scan through courtesy of Google Books.   Includes tips on marketing and promotion!
http://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&id=6hYAfa0ZCecC&dq=self+publishing+guide+marketing&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=8_nGVDNWr1&sig=SRj272_df8FziZsRdyaGkMhKBmQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=9&ct=result#PPA7,M1

Any advice on self publishing? Share it with us in a comment below!

A zillion(ish) Sci Fi and Fantasy books use made up words with varying success.   I think we can all agree, though, that when you read something that you can’t understand it is frustrating - When using made up words you must be careful not to alienate the reader too much!   Here are a few tips to take into account when cooking up some new words…

If It looks and smells like a potato…

Then it’s probably a potato - there is no reason to unnecessarily start calling it a Grumblescrump.   However, if two cultures clash then you could have a section that goes something like;

“More grumblescrumps?” asked Xlavyixoxxax, holding up a plate of potatoes with six of his arms.
“Grumblescrumps?   Ah, back on Earth we call them ‘Potatoes’” I replied, smiling a little and reaching to take one.
He dropped the plate.   Potatoes flew.   “WHAT DID YOU SAY ‘BOUT MY MOMMA?!”

And instantly an intergalactic war happens.   But yes - my point is there are occasions when it might be useful, but don’t expect your reader to wade through a hundred ‘alien’ vegetables all looking, smelling, tasting and…er… sounding… like something they had for lunch without getting a little detatched from the story.

Super potatoes from outer space!

The best reason to make up a name for something is when something doesn’t exist in our language - when you are naming a completely alien concept.   Say our hero, during this war (After discovering the word “Potatoes” is the worst insult to an alien’s mother that you can physically say) encounters a grumblescrump whilst infiltrating the enemy base…

I ducked into the kitchen to escape the patrol guards, and lo and behold; a grumblescrump.   “Do you know how much trouble you’ve got me into?!”   I whispered harshly at it.
“Err… nope, I don’t believe we’ve met,” said the grumblescrump.   “My name is Blig.   How do you do?”

See, now the grumblescrump is definately not a potato; potatoes cannot speak, therefore the concept of a talking potato is deserving of the new name.

Overall it’s just a case of keeping things as accessible as possible, though when you do have new words that the reader begins to understand, it can help immerse them in the story; If you are clever with your use of fictional words they can make a story more interesting.   If you aren’t, your reader will wonder why a grumblescrump is not just called a potato.   And you don’t want that now, do you?

Being realistic, the majority of planets are not habitable.   In fact, the chances you’d find a habitable planet are similar to that of finding out that James Brown is performing on a UFO to some funky aliens as we speak.   But if you want to keep your story realistic *and* colonise other planets - have a look at Terraforming.

Terraforming is the concept of transforming a barren, uninhabitable planet into one with a habitable atmosphere, so that it is safe for people to live there, for example, turning sulphur into oxygen or heating up the atmosphere to melt the ice on a planet into drinkable water.   Of course, this doesn’t have to be people - for example, in “The War of the Worlds”, the aliens were terraforming Earth into an atmosphere that they could live in!

Here are a few examples of stories that could be told regarding terraforming:

• What if a planet that is already inhabited is being terraformed? (War of the Worlds-esque)
• What if two races are terraforming a planet in different ways simoultaneously?
• What if a small part of an otherwise desolate planet has been terraformed to make a secret base that no-one would think to look for?

So if you’re thinking about relocating a species - Terraforming could be what you’ve been looking for!

Any other ideas regarding Terraforming you can think of?   Share them with us in a comment!

Gah!   Not another finger-twiddling, brow rubbing moment when you just can’t come up with the next awesome idea you need!   Try these excercises to get your cogs a-turning!

1. Draw a Map - If you physically plan out an area in your story, you might think about other places in the world that could be used to make your plot more interesting… For example, Next to the secret biogenetic lab, there could be a childrens nursery where the scientists dropped off their kids… which are growing into evil mutant babies as a result of the bio-radiation!
2. Think in someone elses shoes - It can be easy to only think from one character’s perspective.   Choose a character you haven’t thought much about… what are they up to at this point in the story?   What do you think they’d do?
3. Fill out your world - It’s not just people in your world (I’m assuming…)!   Think about some of the wildlife, or the plant life, or the giant man-eating mountains!
4. History repeats itself - If you’re struggling to write what is going to happen, have a think about what has already happened!   You can always incorporate some of what you come up with into the story to build up a connection with the world.
5. Talk to someone - Unless you’re ridiculously paranoid about someone stealing your idea, talk to a friend about your story.   They’ll be able to offer some fresh ideas and point out any plot holes you might have missed!

So no excuses for not sticking to your deadlines!

Any other ideas for slaughtering writers block?   Share them with us in a comment!

The Book “Treason” by Orson Scott Card is awesome.   It was his second novel, I believe, which contains more by way of raw ideas than Leonardo da Vinci’s notebook.   One thing I notice about his writing style is how he loves to put his characters through hell…

The story takes place on a planet; “Treason”, where many families have formed nations.   Each family has a special power - one can regenerate limbs, one can talk to inanimate objects, Pocahontas stylee… you get the picture.   It is the story of how the poor, poor main character Lanik Mueller is cast out of his nation, exiled as a result of his inability to stop growing extra limbs, then follows as he explores the fascinating world of Treason around him.

For an early work, this is ridiculously good.   Check out Amazon if you don’t believe me - there are a million and one(ish) good reviews for it… it’s one of those “Can’t-put-down” books, and when you’ve finished reading it you will be chock full of ideas of your own, inspired by the seemingly bottomless amount of concepts OSC brings up.

Definately worth buying, since it’s the kind of book you’ll want to read again a few months later.

Buy Treason from Amazon

If you buy it through this link, I’ll get a small cut as an affiliate, so if you’ve found this blog useful, go for it!

What did you think of Treason? Share your opinions in a comment below!

If you are a writer of this kind of speculative fiction, you have a choice to make.   It might seem restrictive to class yourself as a “Sci Fi Author” or a “Fantasy Author”, but it has to be done - when you publish your first book, the book shops need to know which shelf to slot you in!

This is not a decision to be made lightly.   The chances are that you will remain on that shelf for the rest of your career.   If your first successful novel is a Sci Fi piece, then you decide to write about an amateur fishkeeper’s adventure to the local pet shop to get a new ornament (I’d totally read that book) it’ll be put in the Sci Fi section.   Or more likely, the publisher will ask you to make it a Space-ornament that he gets at the space-pet shop.

So that’s something you can do now.   If you’re writing a book with both magical elements and Sci Fi - which market do you want to aim for?

A quick hint:   The Sci Fi market is bigger than the Fantasy one.   Add a few more “Space-” prefixes and you’ll sell twice as many!

Coming up with names for your characters can often be one of the biggest stumbling blocks when it comes to writing your novel. Too regular and it seems out of place, too obscure and the reader will be left struggling to pronounce it 15 chapters later. So here are a few things to help inspire you to create that perfect character name!

Lost in Translation

Many authors use this - thinking of a word that describes the character’s personality and looking it up in another language, then making a name out of it.   For an example that many people might know - In Harry Potter, [spoiler ahead in case you haven't read it!] Professer Lupin - the word “Lupine” in French means “Characteristic of or resembling a wolf”, which was a hint to the fact he was in fact a werewolf!

Hey, Gflryskdx!   Come look at this…

Try writing down some made up names.   If you have a lot of characters to name, this could help start you off… I’ll show you some examples that I’ll just make up on the spot:

• Treldar (Sounds like an Elven mage… or an alien warlord!)
• Sylavia (Sounds like a beautiful maiden… or a saliva-spitting monster!)
• Berlest (Some strong fighter guy… or maybe add a “the third” to the end and make a Prince?)
• Grokk (Sounds like a retarded troll… and little else.)

If nothing else, you can have some fun making up some imaginary characters.

Mashup!

Get two real life names and just mash them together!   Lets have a look at how this works…

• John and Fred makes Jhed!
• Liam and Kane makes Kiane!
• Michael and George makes a gay pop star!

The opportunities are endless.

I hope these excercises have helped you to come up with something resembling a name for your character!

Do you have any other methods you use for name generation?   Share them with us below in a comment!

You can have the best story ever floating around in your head, but with no structure it is more likely to come out as a tangled mess of ideas than an instant bestseller.   What you need is a plan!

Here is one method I use to plan my story writing…

Idea Bank

First things first - Get all your ideas down on a page.   Once there is nothing left in your head regarding this particular story, get to work organising the ideas into logical groups.   Put all the alien’s mucus-powered weaponry to one side, your spaceship’s computer’s personality to another… make it nice and clear, so if you want to know about something specific, you know where to look!

Rough Draft Plot

Now you have your ideas down, it’s time to think about the actual story.   Where do you imagine the story beginning?   You don’t have to stick to this, as you can always change things later, but try writing out in bullet point format the main plot points.   This can take some time depending on how detailed you decide to be, but believe me - having a rough written guide to your plot is a life saver… and can be really useful when it comes to pitching it to publishers! (They aren’t going to want to read all 36837 chapters of your meganovel, I’m afraid)

Plot table

With the plot written down and your ideas in the bank, it’s time to tie everything together.   Make a table with each plotline (”The alien lost his gun”, “The computer just wants a friend” etc…) as a row and each chapter as a column.   Now go through and put each significant plot point in the chapter that it will be revealed.   This will help you keep your story interesting; if you notice there is a single plotline with very little else happening, you might realise you need a few more ideas in the bank to draw from in order to fill out your story.   The best stories are so involving because there is so much going on!   Try to think about how other characters will respond to major events in the story - this might trigger new plotlines entirely that you can cleverly tie in with your main plot! (The computer could find out the alien lost his gun and try to find it for him… only to discover that the alien wants the gun to shoot the computer to stop it complaining about wanting a friend!)

Write!

Finally, with your plot table at the ready and your idea bank to draw specifics from, it’s time to get down to the business of actually writing your story!

I hope this article has given you a few ideas to help you write your own stories (Feel free to expand on the alien-computer drama too… and send me a copy when you get it published!)

Any suggestions for organising your story before you write it?   Share them in a comment below!

Welcome to UnAuthordox!   A blog about writing Sci Fi and Fantasy based stories.   Here I will be blogging with tips to improve your writing style, things to help you find inspiration when you’re running low and recommended reading material.

My name is David Brown.   I’ve written stories since I could hold a pen, the majority of which involved some sort of mythical being or spacey technology.

I also run the blog “boyinaband.com” - a blog regarding my experiences as an electronic musician in a live band and “gotoandblog.com” - a blog with tips and tricks I’ve picked up pertaining to Flash programming, animation and design.

I’m sure there will be something useful for you on this site, whether it’s helping overcome your writers block or helping to get your work published.

I hope you enjoy UnAuthordox.com!