Welcome to Twitter Treasure Thursday! Earlier this week, I met up with a fellow writer to discuss the importance of building their author platform (blogging, Twitter, Facebook, etc.). As we chatted, I explained to him how nowadays most literary agents expect writers to have these social media sites up and running before they’re published.
Ironically, the day I went to meet my friend to discuss this topic, I came upon an article by literary agent, Carly Watters. In it, she explains why building an author platform is so important. She also offers excellent tips for how to approach and handle various social media websites.
Agents have changed their mind about an author after searching them online. Yikes! How do you avoid that? Making sure you don’t have websites or blogs that are ghost towns. Post regularly. And regularly can mean whatever works for you (once per week or once a day, but no less than a couple times a month!).
To read the entire article, click here!
For more useful advice, follow Carly Watters on Twitter!
Photo credit:
http://ingoodcompany.com/classes/using-social-media-to-build-your-author-platform/
Okay, so as excited and proud as I am to have climbed and reached the summit of Mount St. First Draft, I’m also anxious. To put it lightly, I have a lot of work ahead of me in draft two. Like, A LOT. I can’t even begin to list the number of issues I have to fix: plot holes, irrelevant scenes, cringeworthy dialogue, flawed characters…Yeesh! However, I’m confident these issues will get fixed. And they’ll get fixed by using great tips from knowledgeable resources, including today’s Twitter gem: 
Let’s face it, it’s easy to focus on developing main characters, especially during a first draft–I know I did! But what about those characters in the background? The ones who support your MCs? Who are they? Why are they in the story? Should they be in the story? Are they relevant? Do they make a difference? Secondary characters may seem trivial when we first create them, but in the long run, they are the ones who make a story POP!
Jen's Pen Den 