Writing lessons learned from #WOOL

It's been way too long since I've shared some of my writing lessons learned from great fiction! Today I'll gush about WOOL, by Hugh Howey. These notes are based on the omnibus edition of the story, but you can download part one for free here.

First, a brief description of book one:

Thousands of them have lived underground. They've lived there so long, there are only legends about people living anywhere else. Such a life requires rules. Strict rules. There are things that must not be discussed. Like going outside. Never mention you might like going outside. Or you'll get what you wish for.

I've learned some important life lessons from Hugh Howey, like the one I detailed in this post "Are you the Tiger Woods of publishing? Does it matter?" But I also learned amazing writing lessons from his books. (Alert! Read no further if you don't want to know any plot points!)

• Keep the secrets coming: the entire WOOL series thrives on the unknown. Why is humanity living underground? When was the silo built? Who built it and why? Who's good? Who's bad? Who's withholding the truth? All these questions kept me turning the digital pages.
• Provide good reasons for secrets: folks who live in the silo are punished for asking too many questions. Wanna explore the outdoors? Buh bye, you're dead. This provides a great reason why the characters don't know much about their living conditions. They accept their reality and don't dare question it.
• Give it a rest: WOOL builds tension at a steady pace until soon it's break-neck. But Howey does a great job of giving small rests. For instance, opposite sides start fighting. Bullets fly. While all this happens, we're watching a mechanic fiddle with a radio for communication. It's not much of a rest, but it's there.
• Build conflict among books & among the series: Howey not only creates tense action and meaningful character arcs within each book, he also does this along the entire series. Stakes rise and conflict builds chapter by chapter, book by book. (By the way, I totally admire writers who write series. What a great skill)
• Answer a question, introduce a question: just like secrets, Howey doles out questions throughout the entire series. As one question is answered, another is introduced. Readers don't know everything until the final chapter of the last book.
• Multiple points of view? No problem: most of the series is from one point of view, but many other points of view were expressed when needed. This didn't bother me a bit. It gave me insight to areas of the story the main character wasn't aware of.

Have you read any books from the WOOL series? What's your opinion of these writing lessons? Have you used any of these writing techniques? Please share!

My kids are on spring break next week, so I'll skip next Wednesday. The next post will be up April 30th--with a special guest!

WOOL & Brilliant Marketing

As most of you know, I've decided to dive head first into the indie pool. Eek! Since making that decision, I've been obsessively absorbing information about the process. My obsession has made me a lurker at Susan Kaye Quinn's blog. It's totally packed with valuable information about indie publishing.

One of the areas I'm curious about is marketing and free books. I mean, I don't want to be totally annoying and scream to every uninterested passerby, "MY BOOK! MY BOOK!" Like those creepy guys in Las Vegas who pass out fliers about strip clubs, even to moms and dads who are walking hand in hand with their little boys (I swear, it happened to us). I'd rather be the happy sign twirler who's jammin' to Madonna's Vogue while doing those really cool dance moves (strike a pose!). I'm not a seller.

Susan's post Pricing Your Ebook caught my attention. She mentioned the book WOOL, by Hugh Howey, and how it's permanently free on Amazon (download it here). I'd heard about Hugh Howey's amazing journey, and was curious about his book. (Read the Wall Street Journal story here. It's crazy cool)

Using Susan's link, I downloaded Wool. It's free, so what did I have to lose? Nothing. I read Book One. I was riveted. After finishing, I immediately downloaded the Wool Omnibus Edition. My son downloaded Book One. He was riveted. He immediately downloaded Book Two. Howey now has two loyal fans in our household...all because Wool was free.

Brilliant marketing.

It seems to me that pricing Book One in a series low or free is a great idea (upon subsequent releases). Same with pricing a book low or free when we have other books for sale. It invites readers to give us a try. At least that's what I'm learning.

I'm still figuring all of this stuff out, but here are the main points I keep seeing over and over again:

1. Story matters most. When we tell a great story, and people genuinely love it, we won't need to pester people to buy the book. They'll want to. 
2. Get the word out. If no one knows about our book, they can't buy it. If we honestly believe it's worthy, we should feel comfortable telling others about it. I'm still going to be shy about this, but I'll work on it :)
3. Free works best when there are other books to lead buyers to. For instance, Susan has made Open Minds, book 1 of her Mindjack Trilogy, permanently free. As she points out, it's 24/7 marketing for her work. I can see the logic in this.

Have you heard the Wool story? Not only the story story, but the author's story? Have you downloaded free books, then returned to buy books from that author? Have you downloaded free books, then realized that author's style isn't what you like? Do you have other ideas for how to make free books work for you? Please share!