what sets you above the rest...

[preyer]

in terms of content and style? if i picked up your book in the bookstore, what identifying marks are there telling me, 'oh, this is so-and-so's book. you can tell because they always do/have such-and-such'? basically, what makes a customer choose your book over the one next to it?

[veingloree]

I'm not above, just in a niche market (gay romance) with very few books sitting on either side and the kind of customer that will probably buy anything on that shelf ;)

[preyer]

i don't know, you might be onto something there. after all, there's an entire channel devoted to gay programming on the satellite. you may never out-sell stephen king, but apparently there's a market there for that and it's only going to grow. i take it your books aren't exactly on the end caps at wal*mart, eh? lol.

[veingloree]

So far my books (two of them) are sold mainly electronically to folk who prrobably wouldn't want to be seen buying them! It can be a useful strategy to write in niche areas with a strong customer base -- vampire romances, fetish erotica etc

[SRHowen]

First person, no author voice intrusion whatsoever, and I work very hard at speech patterns and rhythms to match the ethnic group I write about. Native Americans, in my latest or a made up group in my fantasy works. I have a very distinct style-- but it is hard to put a finger on it and say this is SRHowen's work because-- People who have read my work have said:

It has an underlying thread of unease -- almost horror like, leaves you feeling chilled without really knowing why.

I've been told I present cultural ideas in such a way as to cause that unease. No American or even human ideals sneak in--if the culture excepts casual murder then that's the way it comes across. No moral judgment based in accepted human terms--or American cultural terms.

Someone once said move over King here comes SRHowen.

An editor once asked why I use pauses and commas the way I do (in a particular work alt history involving western plains Native Americans) I asked her if she had ever really spoken to a reservation raised NA--) A few weeks later she e-mailed me to say WOW you got the speech patterns down.

So yeah my style stands out--but what do I do to make it that way--no idea. It just happens as a result of many many written words and a keen "ear" for life.

Shawn

[Writing Again]

In the past each pen name I've used wrote entirely differnt things in entirely different ways.

If there is a common factor between them I'm not aware of it.

[James D Macdonald]

What sets me above the rest?

Utter brilliance, of course.

[veingloree]

That's where I've been going wrong, I forgot to be brilliant! damn!

[Gala]

Don't consider myself above the rest, but certainly beside some.

My quirk is dark humor.

[Jamesaritchie]

I hope it isn;t my style that sets me apart. I try to change my style with genre and with individual novels that don't have the same set of characters.

And if I really knew what makes any customer choose any book, I'd be the best-selling writer in the world.

[arrowqueen]

Skimpily clad women on the covers.

[Writing Again]

Skimpy clad women holding smoking guns.

[Jamesaritchie]

A skimpily clad woman holding a smoking gun, and with a cigarillo dangling from her lips.

No, wait, we're getting into my fantasy life now.

[Gala]

A skimpily clad woman holding a smoking gun, and with a cigarillo dangling from her lips

Wow, didn't know so many AW dudes lusted after Monica Lewinsky. Scary.

My fantasy cover is of a man who doesn't. Darn it.

:ack

[preyer]

hm, interesting.

okay, so far what's your masterpiece been? and dare i ask for a few paragraphs of the best from the best you've done? (i know, that's probably asking a lot. i couldn't do it myself.)

[preyer]

btw, vein, there have been a few highly successful gay romances that spring to mind, such as 'lord of the rings,' 'interview with the vampire,' and the 'top gun' novelization.

[Greenwolf103]

I always have a character that says "go to" h-e-double-L. Really. I don't know why. :shrug

[evanaharris]

A jacket photo (http://www.tokyopulp.com/bio.shtml) that flaunts a gorgeous fiancee and my own unbearable hotness.

For my own part, I like how all my (main) characters, in one way or another, are very obviously an extension of me.

But this is probably just because of my heightened ego.

[mr mistook]

A convoluted, yet beautiful plot, like the details on a gothic building, complete with gargoyles, only humorous. Iconoclastic characters who behave just exactly as you would never suspect. A story so bizarre and yet so engaging that you will try to tell it to friends, only to find that it defies description. "You had to be there" is what you'll say, as you shove the paperback across the coffeehouse table. :snoopy