For something that’s considered an art, writing sure has a ton of “advice” you’re supposed to follow if you dream of success; stray from oft-repeated wisdom and you’re branded as a rule breaker.

But really, writing is an art. What works for one writer can work for thousands of others, yet this doesn’t guarantee that it’ll work for you. It’s even possible that this is a part of the pressure so many writers feel. You try to sit down and write every day, but your brain refuses to cooperate most of the time. You try freewriting, but you end up with inedible word soup. You try using pen and paper, but this leads you down a procrastinatory path of finding the best notebook and the best pen tip size—and your hand cramps up a lot.

Upon closer inspection, much of writing is simply busywork, a checklist of standards you’re supposed to meet before you can hope to come up with something good. Looking around you, you’ll also find that many writers succeeded because they broke the rules. They took the experiential wisdom of others, smashed it, reassembled it, gave it two or three coats of paint, and called it style. Perhaps you’ve experienced this too. Have you ever tried ignoring writing advice to the betterment of your writing? Did you set out to do it or was it out of necessity? How did you feel as you went along this path, and how did you deal with those feelings? Would you do it again or do you plan to follow what’s advised next time? Tell us about it in the comments.

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Then again, ending a book is more than just writing “the end.” It can even become a chore too, what with all the parts you have to figure out. Let us help you with that.

Some time ago, we covered the basic difference between an epilogue and an afterword, but here we’ll list and define all the things that readers can expect to find at the end of a professionally written book.

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So you will probably be surprised that Dr. Wundah’s first book published through AuthorHouse is a romance novel entitled Virgin Island.

We welcome Dr. Wundah in this, the first of a two-part AuthorHouse Author’s Digest series, as he explains how his choices of literary genres were influenced by his real life experiences.   

Author’s/Writer’s Choice of Genre: Impact of Life Experiences
By Dr Michael N. Wundah   

In the literary/creative world, the choice of genres is in my personal opinion, predicated on the writer’s or authors real life experiences.

Growing Up in Sierra Leone
These experiences could range from faith/religion to politics and societal imposed or self-induced happenings. I was in Sierra Leone, West Africa, a developing country with a chequered history. I was also brought up in Sierra Leone but have spent close to three decades now in the west – in Great Britain. I gained my preliminary education throughout my formative, teenage years in Sierra Leone.

Reflecting on the historicity of Sierra Leone, its audit analysis, like in most developing or Third World countries is bloated with the insidious viruses of corruption, greed, tribalism, nepotism and avalanche – the typical characteristics of patrimonial states.

These vices were ripe in the 1970s, 80s and 90s, especially during what most political analysts have dubbed the most devastating civil war in in modern African History.

I grew up with people around me who were immersed or what became a benign cultural practice made to believe that these vices were prudent and that one manhood or integrity is judged by how smart you were at being corrupt.

How These Experiences Influenced My Writing
If writing was ever going to fall within my grasp, which I have always worked hard to achieve, undoubtedly by virtue of my upbringing, the genre was going to play a major role in my adventure.

My genre is political satire with a twist – which exposes the filth and injustice in society built around the patrimonial culture in my country.

Although, I was out of the country, having migrated to the UK via The Gambia, another Western African sister state; the impact of the civil war affected me and my family, like anyone else in Sierra Leone during the conflict. To this day, when I reflect on the impacts the civil war brought to bear on my family and I, I can say we suffered in equal measures as those who were close to the actions in Sierra Leone.

My First Books
I started actively writing for publication in 2004, and since then I have not looked back. In addition to three texts in the English Language, I have written two books, which are political satires, carved around the vices mentioned inter alia. The political satires are Sunset in Sierra Leone, Sierra Leone Corridors of Power, and recently – Landscaping Sierra Leone’s Third Way Politics in The Mould of Attitudinal and Behavioural Change. I launched the latter in Freetown, Sierra Leone last Easter break.

Satire can be a Dangerous Exercise
Satire, especially around the theme of politics is not in my view a popular undertaking or genre especially if one concentrates on a Third World state as your case study. Reflecting on the debilitating consequences, the statistics spell danger, extreme danger. At the launch of Sunset in Sierra Leone, one of the guest speakers, a senior Sierra Leonean academic summed up his analysis nicely,

“Political satire of the nature you have imbued in, Michael Wundah, is not for the faint hearted.”

He was right, bravely I went to Sierra Leone prior to the 2007 elections and gave an interview on the only national TV channel. By the time I returned home I met more than a dozen emails threatening me for exposing filth that obtained in the periods I covered in the book and the ‘‘Big Fishes’’ I analysed in the context of my satire. A handful of brave political satirists that have bravely launched into this genre have paid with their own lives and those of their loved ones.

Read on for part two of this fascinating story in Dr. Wundah’s next AuthorHouse Author’s digest guest article.

Dr. Michael N. Wundah’s AuthorHouse Bibliography:

• Virgin Island

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This time we’ll look at what, for many writers, is THE stumbling block: coming up with ideas. After all, “Where do you get your ideas?” is probably the question most commonly asked of successful writers. Well, today we’ll tell you where a lot of those writers get their ideas—and you can too!

We begin with…

Don’t just focus on hyperdrives and transporters. Yes, you read that right. Science fiction writers tend to focus on advances in technology; well, don’t be afraid to look at other disciplines too! What will philosophy look like in the future? Archaeology? Sociology? Music?

Think about the negative side of a scientific breakthrough. The positive results of scientific progress are easy to imagine. After all, they’re the main reason we’re trying to advance science to begin with. But what about the downside? Okay, so medical advancements allow people to live for centuries; how does that affect overpopulation, resource depletion, the job market, etc. Imagining the negative can give you an entirely new angle to write about.

Don’t shy away from the big subjects. The movie Prometheus was about no less than the creation of life on Earth. If you have an idea, don’t be scared of tackling large, “macro” topics like this. The good news is, it’s unlikely that real-world scientific advances will disprove your theory any time soon.

Find a popular sci-fi writer to disagree with. Hopefully, as someone who wants to write science fiction, you’re also an avid sci-fi reader! Think about some of those stories. Were you intrigued by another writer’s setting or concept, but disagree with the direction he or she took? Now’s your chance to “correct” the mistake! We’re not suggesting plagiarism; rather, we’re saying that you can use other stories to provide the seeds for your own unique take on things.

What if disproved theories had turned out to be true? What if the Earth really was flat? Research beliefs and theories, some of which might be thousands of years old, and then imagine what would happen if they were true? Granted, this kind of thinking can quickly turn your science fiction story into one of fantasy, but who cares if it’s a story you want to tell?

We’ll be back with more tips about writing in the ever-surprising, ever-expanding science fiction genre. Until then, browse the AuthorHouse Bookstore for the latest sci-fi offerings from our self-publishing author community.

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Charles, what inspired you to write your book? How long did it take you to finish it? I was inspired to write the book after my initial exposure to the war in El Salvador and then my fairly long involvement as an advisor in various capacities to the Armed Forces of El Salvador and the U.S. Embassy there.  Many of the events I witnessed first-hand or heard about from first-hand sources are reflected in the writing.

Is there one message you would like to convey to your readers about your book?  That as long as U.S. foreign policy focuses only on military and socioeconomic factors and ignores culture, it is doomed to fail.

What was your favorite part of the self-publishing process? Seeing the book in print and getting uniformly positive, high praise from my readers.

Any advice for other aspiring authors? If you feel that you have something to say and wish to see your work in print, you must discipline yourself to sit down and write.

What is your next project? Can we expect to see a sequel to El Volvan? I’ve finished a second book with some of the same characters as the first, but it isn’t exactly a sequel.  I am currently in the process of editing and re-writing this book.

Are there any other events, marketing or promotions planned for your book?  I have just placed a 10” full-color ad in the El Paso Times and will soon be involved in some additional promotional activities.  Stay tuned!

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Best of luck with your second book, Charles, and thank you very much for your time!

El Volcan is available in the AuthorHouse Bookstore, along with thousands of other great titles. Author’s Digest thanks you for stopping by, and hopes you’ll visit again soon to read the latest news from our community of writers around the world.

As always, best of luck on your personal self-publishing journey!

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AuthorHouse Author’s Digest welcomes Willie Pleasants as a two-time published AuthorHouse author. Her first book, Ain’t That the Truth, opened the door to giving her the confidence that she could write, and her second book, Make Truth a Habit, just confirmed that she had found her passion.

Poet, Writer, Teacher, Inspiration: Willie Pleasants

Willie Pleasants writing has propelled her on a journey of reading and teaching poetry to children. She is a team leader for a Jumpstart program that helps three-to-five year old children prepare to enter kindergarten to succeed with language and literacy skills.

She discovered her love for poetry at an early age.

Her favorite poet is Langston Hughes. His words resonated within her. She understood how he felt during those troubled times in his life.  As a woman of color, she had to endure discrimination, retaliation, lies, and limited promotions in the workplace.

Her short stories will take you on a journey of true to life experiences.

Her poems paint vivid images that leaves her listeners mesmerized; always asking for more.

She travels locally and nationally to do book signings.

She has ongoing appearances on cable and radio shows.

She was so intrigued by the idea of being interviewed that she became the producer and host of her own cable show called Willie’s Web, on Boston Neighborhood Network (BNN). She sees it as a great opportunity to promote her books and as well as promoting other authors and artists to share their journey.

She combined her talent with three other women and created a professional published author group called, Authors Without Borders. They also have a cable show on which Ms. Pleasants is one of the producers, directors and host.

She works with the group to offer workshops, speaking engagements and panel discussions to help other writers navigate the maze of writing and publishing.

She created and facilitates a class called Storytelling at Tea, which is offered as a course for the Osher Life Learning Institute at University of Mass /Boston.

She has done extra work in major films like Fever Pitch, The Proposal, and Here Comes the Boom.

She has met and interacted with major actors including Jimmy Fallon, Spike Lee, Billy Dee Williams, Ernie Hudson, and Daphne Maxwell-Reid.

Willie Pleasants’ AuthorHouse Bibliography

• Ain’t That The Truth
• Make Truth A Habit

Articles by AuthorHouse Author Willie Pleasants

• Boston Seniority Magazine has published several of her short stories.
• Gift of the Great Spirit has published one of her famous poems.

Follow Authorhouse Author Willie Pleasants:

• Her Cable Shows, Willie’s Web
• On Her Official Website

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AuthorHouse author Matina Bastakos concludes her entertaining three part AuthorHouse Author’s Digest series by telling us all about the reception her books received from children, school and the media and how she achieved celebrity status.

And as with all good children’s stories, we are left with a sound moral. Thank you, Matina Bastakos, for the inspiration.

From Page to Stage; the Proudest Day of My Life
By Matina Bastakos

By the time my first book was printed and posted to me, l had already commenced the publishing process with the second book.

I can hardly describe the elation of holding my first published work. 

Some seven months later, l held a copy of my second picture book and felt the same euphoria.  It is a life achievement that can never be taken away from you.

I immediately got onto marketing my books and two bookstores ordered several copies.  I donated some to the state library for other students to borrow.  I was featured in 4 newspaper articles in Greece, becoming somewhat of an overnight celebrity.

Both books were well received. 

So well, that the school principal asked me to create a play based on my books, where students could act out the characters portrayed.  I went straight to work on a script and ordered props and puppets of my Australian animal characters from Australia.

The day of the performance is one that is etched in my memory as one of the proudest moments of my life! 

I saw that both my stories resonated with pupils, colleagues and parents alike.

The following year, l returned to Australia and got to work promoting my books.  I appeared in two newspaper articles, had a stall at several book markets and both books were picked up by a large chain bookstore, where they are still available.

The moral behind this blog is to never give up on your dreams and goals especially during adversity. 

Your next life –altering experience is only a thought away!

Matina Bastakos’ AuthorHouse Bibliography:

• Emma Emu’s Eager Environmental Endeavour
• Robbie Roo Rids Racism

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From his menial years at sea, conveyed in his book The Wrong Path, to a transient lifestyle on land. AuthorHouse author Phil R. Bryson had walked many paths before the age of 30.

We acknowledge Bryson and welcome him in his first of a three-part AuthorHouse Author’s Digest series, as he communicates his aforementioned early years.

Paths to the Pen

By Phil Bryson

My name is Phil Bryson and have written two books, well actually I’ve written more than that so let me explain.

The first book I have published via AuthorHouse is The Wrong Path. This is about five years I spent in the Royal Navy from 1966-71, it is certainly not a gung ho book as I didn’t like the navy.

I joined when I was eighteen, although my dad advised me to become an officer in the merchant navy, but it never happened. The reason I joined the navy was to see the world, ok so many people see the world these days but back in 1966 there weren’t that many people travelling abroad. Also, I was convinced at the recruiting office that after training I would become a petty officer, which is similar in rank to a sergeant. I did well in my training but once I went to work, oh dear, it was a drudge.

When I went to sea, that’s all it was, lots of sea and no land.

Eventually I did join a ship that sailed to America but upon returning to England I went on leave and after that I deserted and went to Sweden to try and get political asylum. It was the time of the Vietnam War and Americans went to Sweden or Canada to avoid the draft. I never got political asylum but I did hitch around Europe and fell in love with being a hobo, just drifting from place to place until I ran out of money then worked and travelled on.

I got caught and used to tell people what I’d said to the commander and commodore, both very high ranks in the navy and they thought it was funny. Others were telling their friends about me and so I decided to write it all down.

Phil R. Bryson’s AuthorHouse Bibliography:

• Dreams or Reality
• The Wrong Path

Follow AuthorHouse Author Phil R. Bryson:

• On his Facebook Page

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