• HOME
  • BOOKS
  • ALLY
  • BLOG
  • NEWS & EVENTS
  • FAQS
  • Media Room
  • For Writers
  • Ally Gear
  • CONTACT

Ally Carter

Author

JOIN ALLY'S MAILING LIST
 Facebook Twitter Instagram Tumblr Pinterest
Follow Us on RSS

Categories

  • Books
  • Contests
  • Double-Crossed
  • Embassy Row
  • Excerpts
  • For Writers
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Gallagher Girls 5
  • Gallagher Girls 6
  • Heist Society
  • Heist Society 3
  • Movies
  • My True Love Gave To Me
  • Retro Throw Back Posts
  • Shellie
  • Tours and events
  • Uncategorized

Recent Posts

  • Going back to the Gallagher Academy!
  • New York Times best-seller!
  • Tour!
  • Almost time to go to Alaska
  • UK covers and contests!

Archives

Writing and Publishing

February 4, 2010 by Ally Carter 21 Comments

How long does it take to write a book?
Short answer: it varies. A lot. I’ve done it as quickly as a couple of months, and I’ve had it take as long as a year and a half.

I’ve realized recently that–when I know what I’m writing–I write about 500 words in 30 minutes. Take a break. Come back. Repeat until book is finished.

The problem is getting to the point where you can crank out those 500 words. Today, for example, wasn’t a writing day. It was a “floor day” where I sat on the floor and stared at my board of post-its that outline the story until I figured some things out.

The floor days matter too. Big time.

Do you ever get writers’ block? How do you handle it if you do?
Are you kidding? I LIVE on writers’ block! (It’s right down the street from “I think my book is terrible” boulevard.)

The first thing people struggling with writers’ block need to do, in my opinion, is figure out what kind of writers’ block they have.

For me, there are two types:

Type 1 is the “I know I SHOULD be writing, but there’s a Gilmore Girls marathon on, so I think I’ll just lie here for the next hour…or two…or seven” block. This is the block of motivation. Maybe you’re not excited about the book. Maybe you’re bored. Maybe you’re getting sick. Maybe you’re book is boring to write (which is an almost certain sign it’ll be boring to read.)

Whatever the case, the only way to get over Type 1 writers’ block is to write THROUGH the block. Duct tape yourself to your chair if you must, but you have to plow through it.

Type 2, however, is trickier and, frankly, scarier.

It’s the kind where you work ALL the time, but no matter what you do the characters seem false or the pacing feels flat or everything just feels…wrong.

I don’t know how it is for other writers, but for me, anything that I have to make an EFFORT to write (in the first draft) is almost always terrible.

My favorite writing quote is by (I think) F. Scott Fitzgerald who said, “Great books write themselves, only bad books have to be written” (Or something like that.)

Again, I don’t know about other writers, but for me that sums it up as well as anything possibly can.

Type 2 writers block isn’t a matter or effort. Type 2 is the type you can’t go through–you have to go AROUND.

Maybe you’re forcing a character to do something she would never do.

Maybe your plot has a hole that you really can’t (and shouldn’t) ignore.

Maybe there just isn’t enough conflict within the story.

Fix it. And that that will fix your block as well.

Do you write on a computer or long-hand or what?
Some of everything. First drafts I usually do on an Alphasmart. Then I transfer everything to a desktop computer without internet access (that’s KEY) and rewrite from there.

When I’m stuck–or when the language needs to be particularly good (like first and last chapters) I tend to do a lot long-hand.

What are the best things kids who want to write can do to prepare?

A: Read everything–and I do mean EVERYTHING–you can. And write!

Don’t worry about getting published–that’s like an athlete worrying about where they’ll hang their Olympic medal when they should be practicing their sport.

I’ve given those pieces of advice before, but I’ll add something to the list:

Get in the habit of writing well. Respect and appreciate language, grammar, spelling–the works. I know you guys spend a lot of time instant messaging and stuff, but if you’re hoping to make your living with words, I’d recommend you get in the habit of using them.

I have a great idea for a book. Can you help me sell it?
Congratulations! Really great ideas are rare, so cherish the ones you get. Also, it’s important to know that you can’t really sell ideas.  You have to actually put them on paper first, so it’s up to you to write the book.   If you don’t know how to write a book, don’t worry.  There’s an old addage that goes “you never really learn how to write a book–you just learn to write the one you’re writing right now.”   So get to writing!

What should my college major be if I want to be a writer?
I really don’t think there’s a right or wrong answer to this question.

I’ve had the privilege of meeting several very successful authors and in talking with them I’ve learned that we all come from a variety of majors.

I have a master’s degree in economics.  I know authors who have day jobs as attorneys and doctors and accountants and everything in between.

Of course, I’ve also met a good many English or literature or fine arts majors, and that’s great too.

Unlike the law or medicine or a number of other vocations, you don’t have to have a specific degree to be a published author.  You just have to have a book worth publishing.

Some people will argue that majoring in literature will help with that, and I won’t say otherwise. There are a lot of times when I’m with a bunch of writers and I feel like an IDIOT because I haven’t read nearly as much as they have. While they were studying the classics I was diagramming the supply and demand of fertilizer.

But there are other times when I’m glad I don’t have a full-blown literature background–when it’s nice not to know what rules I might be breaking.

I’d say find a major that makes you excited to go to class every day.

And no matter what that is…keep writing.

I really want to be a writer, and I already have an idea. Can I:
A) email it to you for you to tell me if it’s any good?
B) tell it to you and have you write it with me?
C) have you write it for me and give me half the money?

Sorry, but the answer to all three is no. If you want to be a writer, the best way to learn how is to start writing.  Don’t worry if it isn’t any good at first (want to know a secret? My first drafts aren’t any good either!) 

How do you figure out the names for your characters? Like when did you decide Cammie should be called Cammie.
I knew the main girl was going to be “the chameleon” and I’m such a sucker for alliteration that I picked the first “C” name I thought of–Cammie–and it was perfect from the get-go. It absolutely stuck.

As for Bex, I heard the name as a nickname for Rebecca once and it stuck with me. Like Cammie, Bex was always Bex. I really like that she has this classic and beautiful name (because she is a classically beautiful girl) and yet she chooses to go by something edgier. That’s Bex in a nutshell.

Liz, I admit, was named after my sister’s neighbor. She too is very, very tiny. And sweet.

Macey….um. No idea where that one came from either. Macey McHenry was always just Macey McHenry.

I don’t make this stuff up, folks. I just write it down. 

Do you outline your stories before you write them? If you do, what sort of outline do you use?
Not really. I’ve tried everything under the sun–outlines, detailed synopses, you name it. But the problem for me is that everything tends to sound good in theory. I won’t know if it’s working or not until I get there.

I do, however, still storyboard. Storyboarding is a screenwriting concept where you write scenes on cards (or in my case big Post-It notes) and line them up in order that they’d happen in the movie. I do this for everything I write. I’ve never stuck with one 100% though. Still, it’s good to get ideas down and stick them on the wall before you forget them. 

What’s the best part of being a writer? The worst?
There is a lot of good, and a lot of not-so-good. The best has to be the feeling of going back and reading something that I wrote a few weeks or months before and thinking, “Wow. This is really good.”

The worst part is probably when I go back and think, “Wow. This is really bad.”

Both things happen to me quite a bit—naturally the latter always precedes the former.

How do you find an agent?
I’ve blogged about this before, but I’ll say again the key is to write a really good book. I mean a really good one. Seriously. It has to be REALLY good. Then put it in a drawer. Write another one. Then pull the first one out and read it again. If you still think it’s good, then it’s time to research agents and follow their submission guidelines. If they ask to read your book, and if they like it, they’ll represent you. Simple as that. No tricks involved. 

How much time should a writer spend promoting his or her book?
It depends. Some authors swear that’s how you should spend the bulk of your time–meeting booksellers; driving to every bookstore within 200 miles to sign copies; attending conventions. Personally, I think you need to do the amount of promoting that you enjoy. I truly love meeting readers and booksellers and other writers, but IN MY CASE that hasn’t really had the biggest impact on my sales.

But that’s just me. There are others who are firm believers that an author’s career will die if they don’t do insane amounts of self-promotion, and maybe they’re right.

How did you pick the cover for your book?
The truth is that most writers have very little say on what their book covers look like. The publishers have people who design book covers for a living, and they’re very good at knowing what will look good on shelves or appeal to readers. Authors usually see the image and can sometimes make minor suggestions, but really that’s out of our hands (and that’s okay.) I’m a believer in leaving things to the professionals. 

How do authors get paid?
When a book is sold to a publisher, the author is paid an “Advance” or an advance against royalties. This is up-front money the author never has to give back.

For the sake of easy math, let’s assume we sell a book for a $10,000 advance (a not-unreasonable number, by the way).

According to the terms of our contract, we will earn royalties in the amount of $1 per book (this is the easy version, in truth it’s more of a sliding scale, and more complicated, but go with me…)

That means that for every book SOLD we earn a dollar. But remember the publisher has already advanced us $10,000, so we don’t actually see any additional money until we sell book number 10,001. Then we see another buck. Book 10,002 gives us another, and so on.

Keep in mind, though, that your agent has earned 15% of all of your book earnings. Taxes will take another chunk.

Now do you see why most writers have to have another job to keep the lights on?

How old do you have to be to get a book published?
The good is that there’s not a minimum age to be a published author. SE Hinton wrote and sold THE OUTSIDERS when she was in high school. A lot of authors started writing when they were really young; some sold right away, others didn’t. The key is to write. 

 

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Comments

  1. kirby says

    May 9, 2012 at 7:06 pm

    how do you decide the perfect name for charactars

    Reply
    • Keylee says

      June 8, 2012 at 12:35 am

      Hey, Kirby! Sorry when I saw your comment I had to throw my own opinion in there. When you have a character already made up then is the perfect time to name them. Or you could build up their character traits and such and then pick one, but it’s entirely up to you. In my case I make a character and usually have a few traits to work with when I go to pick a name. If a name doesn’t hit me right then, I go to Google for help. I just look up baby boy or girl names and go to those websites and look through their lists of names. Some websites have categories where you can find the years that have lists of names that were most commonly used then. So if you had a character who was say a vampire that was born in the 1800s then you could find a name that was common when your character was born. Here is the website: http://www.momswhothink.com/baby-names/top-100-baby-names-for-the-1880s.html

      I hope this helped! Wonderful and helpful article by the way, Ally! Thanks!

      Reply
    • Bella says

      October 29, 2018 at 10:21 pm

      Figure out what kind of person they act like. Find some un-common names for some un-common types of people.

      Reply
  2. Madi says

    July 4, 2012 at 3:12 am

    Hey Ally,
    I love to write. I’ve been writing since I was a little kid and I have written books, read over them, and thrown them away. Right now, I’m writing two different books at the same time and I’m also writing a screenplay and I’m stuck on all of them. I usually take them on one at a time, but every time I open one, I seem to get stuck. What should I do?

    Reply
  3. Hayley says

    August 24, 2012 at 10:24 am

    OH MY GOD thank you so much! This helps A LOT. <3

    Reply
  4. selda says

    December 21, 2012 at 7:27 pm

    merhaba ALLY ben TÜRKİYE’DE yaşıyorum ve 22 yaşındayım kitap okumak en büyük tutkum onları hayal ederken yaşıyorum ve yastığa kafamı koyduğumda sürekli kendim yeni bir hikeye olusturup uyuyorum . edebiyat öğretmenlerim yüzünden pek yazmaya merak saramadım yeri geldi herkes gibi şiir ve günlük yazdım fakat hep bir kopukluk oldu şimdilerde uygun ortamım var ve aklımda muhteşem bir hikaye var babamın hayatı ile ilgili fazla süslemeden edebiyatı katmadan nasıl anlatabilir nasıl yazabilirim bana yardımcı olur musun ?

    Reply
  5. Karein says

    December 29, 2012 at 2:46 pm

    I have been writing since grade school and i love to do it.. i looked at alot of writing advice and find that this one is the most inspiring so far. thank you for this motivation because it is definitely helping me overcome my writers block.

    Reply
  6. Kelli says

    January 18, 2013 at 4:54 pm

    Can a 13 year old be a Possible Author? let’s say I wrote a REALLY good book. Like you :). Let’s say the Publisher is like “WOW this book is amazing! Now how old is she?” When he/she sees im 13, can they publish it anyway or am i too young? I don’t want to write a full blown chapter book until i know a 13 year old like me can actually PUBLISH it and get money… 🙂

    Reply
    • Melanie says

      May 2, 2013 at 3:10 pm

      Hi Kelli! To answer your question, Age has ABSOUTELY no effect on whether a publisher is willing to buy. If you have a good idea for a book, then go for it! write to your heart’s content. However, once you have written it, you might want to consider holding out on publishing it for a couple of years. Experience and skill build with age. the more you practice, the better you will become. So if you don’t get any offers on your book, don’t be disheartened. Try putting the book aside, and wait a couple of years. This helps ALOT, you could be on an entirely new level with your writing. In the meantime. write, write and write some more. you’ll only get better with practice.

      Reply
  7. Mary says

    June 8, 2013 at 11:11 pm

    thank you so much I’m 15 and writing a book and have been through rough writers block. I’ve also had the trouble of thinking it’s not good enough for someone else to read, but I’m hoping reading my final coppy (when it’s done) I will get hope. I got this link from my favorite author of all time (Becca Fitzpatrick). It was on her website, and it really helped! 🙂

    Reply
  8. Abbie says

    June 16, 2013 at 8:06 pm

    Hey Ally.
    I’m 17 years old and have been writing since I was 10. I feel like my writing skills are getting better every year and my stories have a more stronger storyline to them.
    I have a few questions that I was wondering if you could answer for me:

    1) I currently live in New Zealand with a population of about 4.5 million. My dream is to become a well known author like you and many others but will where I live affect my chances of that? Will my story to able to reach places like America? If not, how would I do that?

    2) Can you give me tips on how to separate a characters personality from every other one? I feel like this is my weakness. If you understand what I mean.

    I appreciate your help and look forward to your reply,
    Abbie

    Reply
  9. Alice says

    July 2, 2013 at 3:51 pm

    Hi! I’m trying to write a book but I am stuck. So I am hoping someone can help answer the following questions;

    if you didn’t know who you are,

    a) how would you find out?

    b) where would you go to find out?

    Please help answer my questions! Thanks!

    Reply
  10. Jordan says

    July 19, 2013 at 5:16 pm

    I am a writer who likes the bad boy with good girl things. I cant find a good bad boy name will you please help me!!!
    I would really appreciate it! the names I am thinking of are:

    Wyatt
    Blake
    Kolton
    Jake

    This guy whatever his name ends up being will be with a good girl named JoJo!

    Reply
    • Julia says

      July 20, 2013 at 3:36 pm

      Jordan –

      Of the names you posted, I think Kolton is the best bad-boy name. In my opinion, Wyatt sounds too nice, and Jake is overused. I don’t know if you’ve read the Gone series by Michael Grant, but to me “Blake” sounds like “Drake”, and he’s a pretty evil character in the story.

      I hope you find my comments helpful –

      J.

      Reply
  11. Julia says

    July 20, 2013 at 3:31 pm

    Hi everyone –

    Like most of the people who comment here, I want to be a writer. I’m working on a story and I was wondering if any of you ever have the same problem I do: I know what I want to happen, I just don’t know how to say it. In my case, word choice is very important because I am writing in poetry form. Does anyone have suggestions for getting around this? I have been stuck here for weeks now. Thanks!

    Reply
  12. Madalynn Allbright says

    October 17, 2013 at 9:28 pm

    I’ve been writing this book since I was in 8th grade and worked on it for 2 years now. I would really like to get the first part of it published, but I don’t really trust that it is that good. Everyone that I’ve let read it says that it is amazing and that I should, yet I don’t really trust it myself. What should I do???

    Reply
  13. Rachi says

    August 14, 2015 at 9:01 pm

    I was wondering where you get your writing ideas from!!! I always want to know where authors get such great ideas to be able to write a whole book on, or even a series!

    Reply
    • Lana Catherine says

      November 25, 2017 at 11:27 pm

      Sorry, I’m not Ally but I do love to write and come up with ideas and I can say that all my creativity has come from reading. Reading other people’s plots and stories builds imagination. Once I begin to find a book too predictable or boring I can’t help but make a story in my head I find to be more exiting. And once the initial character and plot developments take root in a general idea I take from another story, my imagination does the rest. When everything is thought out and written on paper I often forget or don’t recognize where the idea even came from.

      Reply
  14. Megan says

    January 21, 2016 at 9:51 am

    How old were you when you started writing and how old were you when you published your first book?

    Reply
  15. Megan says

    January 21, 2016 at 9:52 am

    How old were you when you started writing and, how old were you when you published your first book?

    Reply
  16. Rachel says

    March 13, 2018 at 1:51 pm

    I have a lot of trouble finishing projects. Like, I’ll be working on something, and then I’ll get to a scene and get stuck, because I know there has to be a time gap, but I don’t know quite how to fill it. So I’ll take a break, but then something else will hit me, and I start a whole new project. So I have two questions:
    a) How do you come up with filler space, between the beginning and the climax and such, without making it sound like it’s just extra? How do you fill gaps with scenes and still have them belong?
    b) How many projects is too many? If you have eight books started, do you need to ditch them, or just set them aside, or can you work on that many all at once?

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Copyright © 2019 Ally Carter