After writing 12 books, you have a pretty good idea about THE formula you use to get your book into print. This is the first step I take in writing:
Write a book : Dream BIG (and don't let anyone steal your dream!)
Take a fantastic idea and be willing to slap the reader with images that blow their minds - if it doesn't blow yours or suck you in, do a rewrite. Don't use old phrases: "The dream began..." to begin a book unless in the first page the dream explodes in the reader's face and grips them by the lapels and shakes them hard. Don't give them any choice but to turn the page.
Important: length of book. You may laugh, but the first book I wrote was over 252,000 words. What I learned was traditional publishers won't take a look at you - there are a few exceptions, but for the most part, a first book should be around 200-250 pages.
With that said, simply write the story in your heart. I had to write it until the story (Epic COS) was finished to my satisfaction. Now my books average 300 pages (some are more and some are less). If I did it over again, I would try for 250 and simply add another book to the COS series so that each softcover isn't quite so expensive. I may still do that...and the good news is that I can because I'm in control of my work, not a publisher, editor, or another person. I own ALL rights to my books.
What sells best in fiction? Character-driven books. One of my editors, who used to work at a press, told me the reason she loves my books are the characters. If you don't love your characters, or understand them, it will show in your work. There are reasons why most people (there are exceptions to every rule) won't write believable books until they are in their 30's - 40's. The biggest reason: they haven't lived long enough to experience life on enough levels to really grasp the interactions of people on more than a superficial basis. Experience counts.
Even if you have the talent to create great characters, you must be able to weave a story around them that's worth telling. If you can't do that you won't be successful either.
I've been asked where I get my ideas.
The answer is everywhere. Some books come from dreams, others spring from the ashes of unused ideas I had for a different book. I might watch a movie, read a book, or, as in the case of a long-planned trilogy Sky Signs, watch sunsets and sunrises with the love of my life - for more than a year. I didn't know watching all of those God-rendered wonders that I would be adding all the information to a stack of ideas.
After some people read COS, they think I'm a master plotter. You would think I would be writing murder mysteries and maybe I will - someday. What they fail to really consider is the fact that COS is an EPIC and as such, had to have significant plot, subplots, and sub-sub plots.
While there is "nothing new under the sun" the way people retell stories in this era is the difference between a ride in a 1960 Lincoln Continental and a 2012 Ferrari. The world is plagued by instant gratification and books are competing with X-Box and other games so they MUST grab the attention of the reader.
The Harry Potter epic and the Twilight series took tradition and tweaked its nose a bit, re-introducing characters that have always existed (wizards/vampires) in such a way that they sold millions of copies.
In my life time, every 20 or so years, books with particular themes recycle. For instance, 20 or so years ago, it was Anne Rice and her Interview with a Vampire series that was being touted as new and exciting. Now, when something is successful, we have three or more copycats and the publishers rush to get the novels out to the world in hopes of riding the wizard/vampire wave of success, knowing the readers are hungry for more.
Whatever you write, let it be original and something you are interested in. Love your characters and paint them into a corner as much as possible and try to enjoy getting them out of it using unique ideas.
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