I mean I have a ‘Developing Your Plot’ class I’m giving this month and I’ll share it with you. Here’s slide 1, below.
Good Plot – The Cast of Characters
First, there’s me, the teacher character, Andy Zach. If you’re not familiar with my biography on this site, you can go to Amazon or to Goodreads and find out about me and my books.
Then there’s you, one of many student characters. What have you written? Are you writing? What will you write? Please share you plot/novel/work ideas with me and the class by commenting below.
That’s my big turkey stick. The carrot is, I will give a free ebook of Zombie Turkeys to one of the commenters!
Start commenting – NOW!
Good Plot – Lessons – Where Will You go with Your Idea?
You’ve got your great idea for your novel. What’s next?
Authors fall into a spectrum of two approaches. First, there are plotters, who plan out the plot of their book and then write to that plan.
Then there are ‘pantsers’, those who sit on their pants and type away until a book emerges–or not.
Then there are endless variations between the two. I’m firmly in the first group. If you want to learn the pantser approach, find another author! I can’t even imagine how I’d write that way, and I’ve got a good imagination.
Let’s take my first novel, Zombie Turkeys.I created a chapter outline of the book on my first day of writing it duringNaNoMo in November 2015.
Zombie Turkeys front cover. Click to get a copy! Sam Melvin, an underachieving e-reporter from a small town, changes forever when he meets turkeys that won’t stay dead. You can shoot ’em, chop ’em, burn ’em—they come back stronger. The undead plague of poultry spreads uncontrollably, rocking the whole country. . .
My 7 Year Journey as a Self-Published Author–What did I learn? What were my mistakes? What worked for me? I’ll tell you all about my last seven years and how I sold 3,500+ books.
My hopes and dreams were that everyone who bought Zombie Turkeys would buy my other books.
How’d that work out? About 43% of those who bought Zombie Turkeys bought the other books. Not bad, but not great.
But later on, the .99 lead in helped me. I’ll tell you how below.
I was pumping them using Amazon ads and in person sales and my newsletter. But I wasn’t getting rich. Nor was I breaking even. But I was having loads of fun.
My Undead Mother-in-law
My Undead Mother-in-law back cover
Blurb:
My mother-in-law’s a zombie. And she has anger-management issues. What ticks her off is when people don’t treat her like a normal human being—with glowing red eyes and super strength and speed.
Zombies charge first, ask questions later. Middle-aged, overweight, and undead, Diane Newby leads the paranormal privateers against criminals and corruption. Sailing to trouble spots too sensitive for the US government, with zombie strength and regeneration they beat bullies into submission. Aided by zombie turkeys, corgis, and bulls, vicious criminal geniuses fall before them
Not everyone like zombies, not even funny ones. But everyone likes superheroes. One of my author friends specializes in middle-grade books, Paul Maitland. He said there was a dearth of books for that age group. So I made my four main characters are in 7th grade.
My daughter is disabled and drives an electric wheelchair. She asked me to write a book with a flying wheelchair. So I did, Secret Supers.
My main character is Jeremy Gentle, in an electric wheelchair with cerebral palsy, just like my daughter. But he gets telekinesis and can make his wheelchair fly. And his super-powered friends.
After completing 7th grade and cleaning up crime in their town, the four friends go to a coaster park for summer vacation. Too bad their worst enemy is also there and out for revenge. Find out more inVillain’s Vacation.
Secret Supers in Space audiobook cover. Click to listen.
But that’s not the end of their summer vacation. They become bored and their parents send them to Space Camp. They get more adventure than they expect.
So I have two series. Both start with .99 books. Why?
During the COVID-19 pandemic, I had my best year for sales. I couldn’t sell as much in person, but there were tremendous sales online. I think the .99 price invited a lot of people to try my books.
Zombie Detective cover
But these six books aren’t all I’ve done. I inserted Zombie Detectivein between Zombie Turkeys and My Undead Mother-in-law. Then I wrote Oops! Tales of the Zombie Turkey Apocalypse, my short story collection. I put all the wacky ideas in it I couldn’t use in my other books.
Oops cover final medium
My 7 Year Journey – My Non-Fiction Book
Finally, I wrote a book in another genre which I’d never done before: Bible helps. The Gospel Medley. Here’s what the book is about:
The Gospel Medley cover. Click to get
Are you curious about Jesus Christ? Do you struggle to understand the Bible? The Gospel Medley includes the four Gospels in a single narrative, faithfully pulling the text from the World English Bible. You are now able to read all the gospel as a single, easy-to-read story.
Each Gospel describes Jesus’s life from a different point of view with different details and insights. The Gospel Medley combines every word into a single perspective with all details and events arranged chronologically.
Unlike other harmonies, The Gospel Medley doesn’t put the four gospels in columns or rows. Instead, the text is integrated word by word into a smoothly flowing narrative. Further, each paragraph references the four gospels so you can read the original citations. You also get footnotes of all the quotes from the Old Testament, giving you the context of Jesus’s words.
For a unique perspective of the four gospels, read ‘The Gospel Medley’ today.
Discover My Undead Mother-in-law in this post! I’m giving you everything I have about this delightful, middle-aged, zombie woman with anger managment issues. This is every post I have on her through my seven year career as a self-published author.
