Hide and Create

This week on Hide and Create Diana Rowland, Joshua Essoe, Moses Siregar, and Jordan Ellinger discuss workshops for writers. We cover everything from Writing Superstars to the Clarions, and Writers of the Future. Mainly, we focus on the different types of workshops (those geared to improve your writing vs those designed to teach you the business of writing), and share a few stories about our own workshop experiences. For Joshua’s list of recommended reading material click here.

This week on Hide and Create, Moses Siregar, Jordan Ellinger, Diana Rowland and Joshua Essoe continue the discussion with Moses on previous subjects: writing methods, writing environments, and self-promotion. Moses shares some valuable insights on his experience with indie publishing his novel The Black God’s War, and talks about developing the setting for his latest novella “The Children of Wood and Wind”. Diana and Jordan debate how detailed you should make your settings, while Joshua expands on creating the perfect writing environment.

This week on Hide and Create, Moses Siregar, Jordan Ellinger, Diana Rowland and Joshua Essoe discuss a new take and offer more insight on our previous subjects: writing methods, dirty little writing secrets, writing environments, self-promotion, and settings. If you loved our previous shows, you’ll love this one even more because in part one we talk about a couple previous episode topics, allowing Moses to get his two-cents in. Or three or four cents in.  

This week on Hide and Create Moses Siregar, Diana Rowland, Jordan Ellinger and Joshua Essoe discuss the differences between writing a short story and writing a novel. The old advice was to train yourself writing short fiction, then graduate to novel-length works. The short fiction market was an easier sell, you could cut your teeth in publishing doing that while you worked up to your magnum opus. That’s no so true anymore. Short story markets have decline greatly in the last couple decades, and the ones that are left are overwhelmed with submissions for their limited space. Just like novel publishers. So what’s the advantage of writing short? Why not just write long? There’s more money in it and it’s no more difficult, right? I advise all writers to learn how to write short. It will teach you brevity and will teach you power. You can practice technique, voice, theme and genre, try them all out and find what’s right for you. You can finish, submit, get feedback, sell, and do it rapidly, and start building up deposits in the “Maybe I Can Do This” bank. It is wonderful training, not for writing novels, but for being a writer.

This week on Hide and Create Jordan Ellinger, Diana Rowland, Joshua Essoe and Moses Siregar discuss how to shift into writing full time. In 2010 when I decided to be a full-time editor, I had studied my market for months. I spoke with professionals in that field, I educated myself, I created a business plan, I set goals for my business and then I jumped in head-first. And you know what? It worked. You have to be in the right head space to make a career in the creative fields work. You must be willing to treat it like a regular job and be able to mind yourself when you tell yourself to get to work. Self-employment is a completely different mindset and takes a lot of self-motivation. Be prepared. Here there be dragons — let us help you keep them all on the page.

This week on Hide and Create, Diana Rowland, Jordan Ellinger, Joshua Essoe, and David Dalglish discuss how to craft compelling and believable settings. As an editor, one of the most frequent hiccups I see in the manuscripts submitted to me are confusing or vague settings. Sometimes the author has forgotten to write one altogether. This, as you might imagine, could hamper your readers’ enjoyment or comprehension — not to mention your ability to get the story sold. So today, ask not what your setting can do for you, but what you can do for your setting.

This week on Hide and Create, Joshua Essoe, Diana Rowland, Jordan Ellinger, and David Dalglish discuss writing environments and tools. Lives outside of writing — we’ve all got them. Well most of us.  How do you combat the evil and powerful monster of laziness? And when you are writing, what are the best tools to have on hand? Are you on team Scriviner or team Word? How in the world do you schedule writing time around family obligations, especially during the holidays? It’s not all cuddle breaks, date nights, and Mine Craft addictions.

This week on Hide and Create, Joshua Essoe, David Dalglish, Diana Rowland and Jordan Ellinger continue with part two of last week’s show about self-promotion for writers. We discuss writing communities, and responding to negative book reviews, and why that’s bad, m’kay? Press releases and how to handle them, paying for reviews, and definitely not enough Felicia Day.

This week on Hide and Create, Joshua Essoe, David Dalglish, Diana Rowland and Jordan Ellinger talk about self-promotion for writers. How can writers promote themselves wisely? We discuss many of the tools available and how to use them efficiently without costing yourself too much money (or embarrassment). What is a waste of time? How do you organize your website and Facebook page? How do you use Facebook and Twitter effectively? What ad space will turn into sales? And maybe how to summon a demon or two. But only fictional ones. Sorry.

In today’s writing podcast — deep, dark writing and editing secrets. We’ve all got them. What are yours? Honestly we could probably fill more than one episode with these little guys. Rowland, Ellinger, Dalglish and Essoe divulge their secrets about writing every day, how and when to use spare moments to write, degrees, fall back careers . . . and being pretty. Go on. Give a listen. You know you want to know.

Are you an incessant editor? Do you skip around your manuscript or leave notes to yourself that you come back to fix later on? Do you need eight cups of coffee to get motivated? What is a “TK,” and what does DSCR stand for? In this week’s episode, David Dalglish, Jordan Ellinger, Joshua Essoe, and Diana Rowland discuss the strategies and methods they use to get motivated and to increase their word count. Their strategies vary from the “Muscle Draft” to “Writing by the Seat of Your Pants.” Have a listen and maybe you can find a strategy that works for you!

Welcome to Hide and Create your online writing workshop and podcast! The show is about the business of writing from the perspective of an indie success story, a DAW author, a tie-in author, and a freelance editor. Whatever your chosen path, we have advice that will help you along it! In our premier show, we talk about the many avenues that exist for entrance into the magical world of publishing. Writing, editing, slush reading, meeting the right people, dumb luck, or just working your heinie off; everyone’s story is unique. This is how David Dalglish, Diana Rowland, Jordan Ellinger and Joshua Essoe did it. Which is right for you? How can you get in the door? What do you do when you’re in that door? We’ll be exploring all these topics as well as craft, cons, celebrities, games and movies. If it’s sci-fi or fantasy you’ll find something about it here. And if you don’t, write in and let us know.