Let's Talk...Free Writing

Today's Earworm: Picture Me Rollin' by 2Pac
Today's Date: January 23, 2017

So today, we're gonna talk about free writing. And I'm not talking about what writers do when they have no idea what they want to write, and just open a new file and let the words go.

No, I'm talking about all the little goodies that you get randomly from some authors on their blogs, or on their sites.

I'm talking about flash stories, drabbles, and bits that you get for free to entice you into buying their books from them.

For that matter, I have some free writing that I'm working on creating for all of you, but it's taking me a bit of time. Mostly because I lost my little booklet with the drabble ideas in it for a while there. I have it again, and I'm back at writing the darn things. And editing them to death.

To move on, why do writers have free writing on their blogs or sites?

Well, now days, sites like Amazon have a nice little feature where you can get a sample of a book. But really? That's not a firm way of knowing the writer's style and ability. That's a good way of seeing if the book interests you and is what you want, but does the style of the writer make you want to come back for more? Who knows.

So most writers have started to create free bits on their sites and blogs, allowing the reader, you, to check things out. To read and see if their style is something that you would be interested in.

Most free writings that I've seen usually range from just under a thousand words (for a flash fiction) up to nearly 2 thousand (for shorter pieces). And they may even be a part of an interconnected story line which can show you just how they can weave a tale.

We do this to draw in new readers in the hope that they'll buy our books. That they'll tell their friend about this great new writer that they just found and want to share! That our blogs and sites will be shared all over the place and introduced to new people. We put things out there like that to help grow our small corner of the community.

It's a way to show off our skills. It's like we're saying "Hey! Look! I can write really good! Check out this story that I wrote and tell me what you think". Even these short pieces of fiction take time. Not as much as novels or novelettes or novella's take. Or even a short piece for an anthology. Because yes, those take time to write and edit and the such.

The free writings, we're usually writing, editing, letting sit, editing again and posting within a week's time since most of us do post such things weekly. It doesn't truly take much time for most of us to have a nice polished short bit. Longer pieces, yes, it takes time. A lot of time. But not so much the shorter pieces.

And again, we do this to show off our writing skills, as a way of thanking those who have taken the time to buy our stories, our books, and to draw in new readers.

Free writing is another way for us to draw attention to ourselves. Simple as that.