How I Plot a Book by Toni Noel

I never know what will inspire me to write a book. Sometime it starts with a character, like the little boy I saw on a steam train ride through the back country of San Diego County. He had coal-black hair and the kind of flirty blues eyes you'd love to see in a man seated across from you in an intimate restaurant. I thought This kid will be a lady killer when he grows up, and started pondering where a hero with those good looks might fit in a story.

How about an office setting? I hadn't been retired long, then, and work situations were still fresh in my mind. A working 9 to 5 story? Not likely. Not much chance for romance there.

Or was there? I wondered, remembering the temp employee I once interviewed and hired to take over my time-card duties in the accounting department while I prepared for our company's year-end close. He had a degree in accounting, great personality and good looks that left female coworkers panting after him, regardless of their marital status.

My blue-eyed hero became a temp employee sent to help out the overworked owner of an advertising firm on the busiest day of her brief career. He has no skills or references on his resume, and she doubts he'll be much help, but welcomes another body and agrees to let him try his hand answering her busy phones.

He fits into her office so smoothly she hardly realizes she's begun to depend on him, but she definitely notices her unwanted attraction to him. Determined not to act on that attraction, she concentrates on the job at hand. Ah ha. Great conflict.

What about his? My ethical hero has strong feelings about office romance, and is secretive about his past. More conflict. His secrecy will drive my honesty-above-all-else heroine wild.

Okay. With two well-defined characters in mind who are attracted to each other but determined not to act on it, I begin to plot in earnest. I know from past experience I'll need at least 50 scenes to write a 230 page novel, more for a longer book. How do I want the story to end? What kind of book am I writing? Not a literary novel or women's fiction for sure. Happy endings are my strength.

That means in the end my heroine must get the man of her dreams. In Temp to Permanent the heroine considers letting the hero go, freeing her to act on her attraction to him. More good conflict here. She can't. He's too much help for her to send him packing.

Can she have her cake and eat it too? Not and remain the boss. The possibility of being accused of sexual harassment constantly occupies a female boss's thoughts, and the hero has made it clear he's ethically opposed to office romance.

Can I throw two healthy people of opposite sexes together for 8 hours a day and not expect sparks to fly? No. What can I do? Throw in a little suspense or my novel runs out of scenes by chapter 5.

The heroine is already suspicious because her tight-lipped temp refuses to talk about the past places he's worked. How did he learn his skills?

Have something disappear from the office. Could he be the culprit? How do her suspicions affect her attraction to him?

Now, what other scenes are needed to tell their story? I visualize their first meet, write it on a 3-by-5-inch card, and proceed to the next scene. As my stack of cards grow, I think of more scenes. What if the office copier quits? What if the sick secretary stays out another week? What if the heroine decides to go after a huge contract because she has the hero's expert help? Will she win? If not, why not?

Who might be determined to bring the heroine's company down? Why?

When I have at least 50 necessary scenes guaranteed to tell the story, solve the mystery, and allow the hero and heroine to fall in love while each of their lives changes (arcs), I'm ready to write the book. I arrange the scenes in the order in which I want to tell the story, number the cards, and write the story right from my cards. If I realize a necessary scene is omitted, it's easy to slip in a card for the missing scene, or rearrange the order of the scenes.

The writing of Temp to Permanent went fast, in part because my muse took over and created several office diversions I hadn't anticipated.

I'm a sensitive woman, a sensual writer, and those traits open the door for writer's block to shut down my creativity. Following the death of the contractor who remodeled two bathrooms and inspired one of my books I suffered a lengthy bout of writer's block. During those long months of drought I still went to my computer every day, even when written words for my current work-in-progress refused to flow. Revision became a godsend, and eventually caused the block to unblock.

My advice for aspiring writers is to learn everything you can. Take online classes, join RWA, and find someone to critique your work. Study the rules of proper grammar and punctuation and put them to work. Don't be afraid to ask published writers for help. Join an online critique group. Polish your writing until it shines, then enter contests, and never, ever give up.

TODAY'S WRITING LIFE- F.V. Edwards©2010

Authors who earn a living from writing are estimated to range from one in a thousand to one in millions. That doesn't stop the larger segment, although rejection piles may be discouraging. Even when published, they soon know it takes a lot of sales to create a significant royalty check.

We live in the era of an expanded and contracted publishing world. The E aspect is making a rapid move to be the dominant format. The purpose of this article is to provide a guidance tool for improving your chances of success.

The idea phase is always fun. Stories begin with an idea. A draft clarifies and changes the structure. Follow-up may often seem like a laborious task. The tasks of transition from a draft into a quality manuscript can become fun if you consider them as games or puzzles. Ie; you can make choosing a publisher into finding the jigsaw puzzle where your story is a piece that fits perfectly.

The steps needed once the draft is in place, begin with broad and detail questions for you and your support group. Armed with answers, you're ready to search for the right jigsaw puzzle at potential publishers. The rewrite/revision process could be compared to solving the Sunday crossword or finding answers to trivia questions. The last phase will be submissions to see if you played the game well.

Broad Questions:

Identify the target audience. Vonnegut's Rule 7 for writers; If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia. (many rule lists are worthy of your consideration; search the internet.)

Knowing the targeted audience leads you to selection of the appropriate vocabulary.

Evaluate your plot for plausibility and cohesiveness.

Create definitions of your primary characters; strengths, weaknesses, lessons, and etc.

Describe the story in a single sentence; what is the root point of the plot?

Write a synopsis which includes beginning, middle, and ending.

Detail Questions:

Is the point of view appropriate to the story and consistent?

Consistent tense appropriate to story?

Facts, figures and people consistent with the time period?

If a created world, are the aspects realistic and believable?

Understand the genre or combinations?

Choosing a Publisher/Agent:

Self Publishing. Be careful; understand all the details before considering this avenue. The Predators and Editors website is a useful tool in this area. Agents are mentioned because major publishers require you have one in order to submit.

Search based on the genre and sub-genres. Check out the reputation and history. Study the submission requirements.

Select 3 or 4 and list their requirements; format, query aspects, synopsis, blurbs, marketing plans, & etc.

Re-write/Revision Process:

Get the manuscript into Standard Format- gain absolute control of your software; no curly quotes or apostrophes, no special effects like automatic indent for next paragraph when hitting Enter. The SFWA website has excellent instructions on this subject.

Get help. Read the draft aloud and have someone read it to you. Keep track of the changes. Redlining with software or mark a printed version.

Keep the answers to above questions in mind as you review the story.

Evaluate each chapter. Ask if it advances the action and/or builds character. Verify the need for each scene. Analyze sentences for contribution to action and/or character. Make sure dialogue is realistic. Not many people speak in complete sentences.

Incorporate changes. Repeat reading aloud process.

Have manuscript proofed by someone who fully understands grammar and punctuation.

Make corrections.

Submission Process:

Make a digital copy of the standard format manuscript file. Revise formatting of the copy to match selected publisher guidelines. They vary in font, line spacing, indent, chapter layout, and etc.

Prepare query and support information per instructions. The portion of manuscript they want initially is another variable. Be prepared to submit the full manuscript if requested. Some accept MS Word doc format, others want RTF or PDF.

Do not make submissions to more than one at a time unless they state it is OK.

Many now accept email submissions and queries. Follow their instructions.

Pay attention to the submittal periods.

Wrap:

Be prepared for rejections. If your work is good but doesn't fit their needs they often request you submit something else. Don't ask them about your submission until the response time in the guidelines has lapsed.

Have lots of fun. Write, rewrite, submit, repeat the cycle having fun until you succeed. Then you can have even more fun solving the writing puzzles.

About the author:
F.V. Edwards' short stories and two novels have been published. The novels by Whiskey Creek Press titled "Glass Angel With Skillet" and "The God Business". Both received excellent reviews from Readers Favorites and are available in E Book and Print. He has short stories in two Hadley Rille anthologies. Edwards is presently teaching courses at the local college, one is "Writing For Publication in Today's World"

His web page is http://fvedwards.wcpauthor.com

"What if" stories with a twist of grace

Thank you for inviting me here, today, Anne.

A hopping good story involves a protagonist (the main character, either male or female or both) and the opposing character, also known as the antagonist. The antagonist is the adversary or opponent. We naturally want to make characters we write or read about into good guys or bad girls. But does the main character always have to be the good guy? Most markets will say yes. Readers want to cheer for the good character and revile the bad guy.

To create a fully developed character, we want to delve into his or her psyche. What influences caused him to make those negative choices? Does he really have a choice about the way he reacts in a given situation? Can she change even on the death bed? Hope is always a writer’s best friend.

In my book, Meander Scar, the “bad” guys are people who truly believe they are making the right choices. Ann’s mother-in-law wanted the best for her son. Ann’s son never believed his father was dead and could not accept a new love interest in his mother’s life. They thwart the protagonists, Ann and Mark, at nearly every turn.

How bad is bad? Does your antagonist have a grudge? Legitimate wounds and no other choice in his or her mind to act the way he does?

How do we portray a character’s wounds without doing an “aside” and dumping a load of information (AKA “telling”) the reader why she turned out the way she did? Let’s analyze a couple of stories. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Mayella Ewell, who accuses Tom Robinson of rape, is a sad character. She is described as having no friends and being poor. But how much of what happened to her was her choice? Her upbringing in highly prejudicial circumstances? How about Whatever Happened To Baby Jane, the 1962 psychological horror flick where sisters Blanche and Jane are not who the reader thinks they are (book Henry Farrell, 1960)?

We can flesh out our characters by giving them a defeating quirk and letting them unravel in front of the main character. He might be gifted in math, or have some sort of learning disorder that was ridiculed or misdiagnosed. She might have come from a dysfunctional family but still visits her mother. He might believe abortion is the ultimate evil but have no trouble committing murder in an effort to stop the practice. She might exist in a fantasy place in order to stay in control. Working out of fear, whether real or imagined, is always a good motivation, but must not become cliché. Blackmail with a new twist could be intriguing. The Robin Hood theme is another cliché that if used properly could add a redeeming layer to humanity to your antagonist. Munchausen’s Syndrome, where a captive develops feelings for her captor, can also be intriguing.

Who do you cheer for in Gone With the Wind? What makes Scarlett, Ashley, Melanie, and Rhett so fascinating? While you might have favorites, think carefully about which camp you assign them. Did Ashley, even accidentally, lead Scarlett on? Did Scarlett ultimately act in the best interest of her family? The layers of each character came out slowly throughout the story.

Of course, a villain can transform. Nanny McPhee is not a villain, but she does act like one as she works to better the lives of her charges. Her character represents transformation as the circumstances change. She’s not the one who needs redemption, but others can see the affects of their actions. Her character also doesn’t need to be loved or admired, so she’s a bit both good guy and bad guy in one.

In Meander Scar, one of the main antagonists (yes, there are more than one) Ann’s mother in law suffered the tragic loss of her husband while she was expecting her second child, who was born mentally challenged. Ann and Mark uncover reasons for her actions as they unravel her web of deceit. They, and the reader, learn to forgive her in light of her suffering, and hope for her redemption. However, the real antagonist in the book sneaks up on the reader in all its subtlety. It’s not even a person…but I’ll let you find out for yourself.

Lisa Lickel is a Wisconsin writer who lives with her husband in a hundred and fifty-year-old house built by a Great Lakes ship captain. Surrounded by books and dragons, she has written dozens of feature newspaper stories, magazine articles, and written and performed radio theater. Her novels to date include the cozy mystery The Gold Standard, inspirational intrigue Healing Grace, and a romance with a twist, Meander Scar. She is the editor of Creative Wisconsin magazine, loves to encourage new authors, and will be teaching an on-line course The Nuts and Bolts of Submission in 2011 for American Christian Fiction Writers.

Visit http://lisalickel.com to read more about her books and find great writing tips.

Writing in the Mist by Kylie Brant

Confession time: I cringe when an interviewer asks me if I’m a plotter or a pantser. Invariably I restrain an impulse to check my zipper :-). I’ve been exposed! Because there was a time when I was convinced that I was somehow inferior because I am not and will never be a plotter.

When I started writing there was no Internet. I didn’t belong to any writing groups. Had never been to a conference, nor did I know anyone who was writing. What I had was a voracious appetite for books, a more than decent writing ability and a raging impatience. When my favorite authors couldn’t write books fast enough to keep me in reading material, I set out to write one myself. It wasn’t until I was fortunate enough to sell the first two manuscripts I’d written that I ventured to my first RWA conference and learned just how truly ignorant I was.

I crammed every day of that conference chock full, scurrying from workshop to workshop, taking copious notes. And leaving each one feeling more and more like a failure. What I was hearing was that I was doing things ALL WRONG. I was supposed to have plotted those two books before writing them. Who knew? What if my publisher found out that I hadn’t plotted them? Would they make me give the advances back? Would they still want an option on my next work? Probably not, I assumed. Not unless I started plotting at once.

I set out to do just that. I sat down and began writing every single thing I knew about my work in progress. Because in my mind at least, it seemed like a lot. I knew my characters very well. I had the overarching suspense plot planned along with the conflict and the black moment. But when I was done I’d only ended up filling about three pages. Even in my ignorance I knew that did not constitute outlining. So I jotted down a few more things that ‘might’ happen. At least they sounded good :-). And that process served as my synopsis writing for twenty some books.

Imagine my surprise when one of my editors ‘outed’ me at a Harlequin party one year by blithely telling all in earshot that I was a pantser. I was shocked and dismayed. How had she found out? (Perhaps her first clue was that my synopsis often bore little resemblance to the actual book I handed in each time).

But that was the moment that I finally admitted it to myself: I am not a plotter. There’s still a curious sense of relief every time I say it. I detest outlining, and not merely because I find it impossible. It bores me out of my mind. If I outlined prior to writing the book I’d feel like I’d already written it and wouldn’t be able to force myself to do it all again.

I like being surprised in the story. Those twists that even I didn’t see coming delight and excite me. That’s what keeps me writing, often furiously. I want to find out what happens next.

These days I embrace the term ‘organic writer’ because it most clearly defines my process. I start out knowing the characters and the parameters of the story (goals, conflict, suspense and motivation). I know how it’s going to begin. But a great deal of it evolves as I write. The major developments in the story aren’t known to me before I start. I like it that way. But I’d be lying if I said my process didn’t make the first half of the story challenging to write.

I call it ‘writing in the mist’. I know where I’m going but the landmarks are shadowy and sometimes difficult to make out. I’ve developed a couple techniques to assist me. My writing goal is ten pages a day and it helps to start the next scene before I quit for the day. I write a paragraph or two, or at least jot down notes for what’s going to happen next. I’ve also developed a two-column chart of boxes in which I jot down ideas for something that is going to happen at some point in the story. Sometimes they’re just reminders to myself: remember to foreshadow such and such. Other times it might be a connection that will appear with another character. These are just phrases or one-line sentences. I jot these as I write and when I fill enough boxes I run off the sheet and cut them out then spread them out on a table and establish a sort of timeline by moving them around. The sequence will change along the way. I’ll add more boxes, delete others. But this becomes my ‘road map’ for the story. It still allows new developments to pop up, because I have the flexibility to adapt as I go. It also helps to consult my little map of boxes when I get stuck in a story and am not sure where to go next.

It shouldn’t have taken me years to discover that everyone has his or her own process, and there’s no one correct way to write a book. Knowing that helps me feel ‘normal’. And being someone that holds regular if silent conversations with the imaginary characters in my head, feeling normal is always a good thing J.

Kylie Brant is the author of thirty-one romantic suspense novels for Silhouette and Berkley. She’s a three-time Rita finalist and has been nominated for five Romantic Times magazine awards, including a win for Career Achievement. She’s the recipient of two Daphne du Maurier awards for mystery and suspense. Brant’s books have been published in twenty-five countries and translated into fifteen languages.

Learn more about Kylie and her books at her website: http://www.kyliebrant.com

Writing a Memoir type of book by Diane Craver

We all have a story we want to tell. Maybe we have lost a parent or a loved one and realize we can’t wait any longer to tell our family story. I always had in the back of my mind to write a story about my father. Although I wanted my book to have the emotional honesty of a memoir, I decided to fictionalize it. My goal was to capture a time and place in my childhood based on a true incident in my life that saddened and shocked me. An image of my father’s secret was burned in my mind forever, so the following sentences are the first ones in A Christmas Gift. “It was 1957 when I saw something that I wasn’t meant to see. I have never forgotten this night because it had such an impact on me.”

To write your memoir vividly and well while using fiction techniques, you need to research your past. Before beginning your memoir, start jotting down your memories in a notebook or if you prefer, in a computer file. Give yourself plenty of time to think about your past. At first, I brainstormed about my father since I planned on the main focus to be on his “disability.” I also listed old playmates, neighbors, siblings, and my mother. Don’t forget yourself and what you were like at a younger age. The narrator of the story is Debby Reeves, and she is sixty years old in the prologue and epilogue of A Christmas Gift. The rest of the book takes place in 1957 when Debby is seven years old. I thoroughly enjoyed reliving past childhood experiences to add credibility to my story.

Go through old photo albums and scrapbooks to jog your memory. Maybe you have a cherished item from a parent that will stimulate you into remembering more. I have a tie of my father’s, which he wore during the time period I decided to use for my book. Maybe you have a piece of jewelry of your mother’s that has a special meaning. When you return to an earlier time, make notes about what you see, hear, smell, taste and touch in your memories. Write down brief descriptions so you can remember them while you write your memoir.

I have four siblings but in A Christmas Gift, Debby has three. Young Debby is a lot like I was at that age. I’m sure my family felt that I was a brat at times, but they always knew I wouldn’t lose my childlike deep faith in God. Just as Debby knows Jesus will help her daddy to finally accomplish what he wanted his whole life, I have never lost my faith. Even when a tragedy occurred early in my adult life, I knew God would turn it into a blessing. And He did. Also Debby’s career is one I would have chosen if circumstances would have been different, but it wasn’t the career God meant for me. Because I wanted to give my father the ending he deserved and didn’t get in real life, the ending is fictionalized.

My greatest reward comes from accomplishing my dream of having a book about my father published. I hope your journey to the past will be as rewarding as mine has been. In sharing your family story, you will be opening yourself up to a wonderful experience. In doing so, you will enrich many lives by deepening family bonds, and perhaps will touch others with your memoir.

EARLY REVIEW OF A CHRISTMAS GIFT:

When I first opened this story I felt like I was reading an autobiography. A woman tells a story of a Christmas years ago that she remembers fondly. Let me start by saying that while I am not usually a fan of first person…..I really, really, really like it.

There was something so powerful and real about the story and the characters. The way a little girl looks at her daddy with hero worship in her eyes is a wonderful thing. And oh how my heart broke right along with Debby’s on several occasions. I cried more than once during this story…in a good way though. It was that touching for me that I was moved to tears.

A wonderful story that will really touch your heart. I highly recommend it.

www.sweetlyreviewed.blogspot.com

Diane Craver met her husband while teaching at an orphanage, and they married in 1975. While raising their six children in southwestern Ohio, Diane started writing nonfiction. Articles of Diane's have been published in Woman’s World Weekly, The Catholic Telegraph, Virtue, Down Syndrome Today, WritersWeekly.com, and other publications. Later, she decided it would be a nice escape to write fiction.

Diane has published through a variety of houses, including Booklocker.com, Samhain, Desert Breeze, Whimsical Publications, and Victory Tales Press. She writes fun and inspiring stories filled with memorable characters. Diane gives thanks to God daily for all her wonderful blessings.

Learn more about Diane and her books at http://www.dianecraver.com and Diane has lots of fun prizes listed on her blog. By leaving a comment here, you’ll be entered in her two drawings! More details on Diane’s blog. http://www.dianecraver.com/blog

Writing Tip of the Week - Write What You Don't Know by Theresa Danley

Perhaps every serious writer has heard the advice, “write what you know.” Actually, this line may very well have been elevated it to the ranks of golden rules for writers.

Well, I would like to bring attention to the old cliché that rules are meant to be broken.

Okay, okay, I understand and agree that there is no substitute for knowledge and experience in the subject you are writing about. Your writing can only be enhanced by focusing on what you know. But may I suggest a subtle change of pace?

Could your writing benefit from what you don’t know?

What I’m recommending is a simple change of scenery, especially if you’ve reached a stagnant point in your writing. So what kind of detour am I suggesting? Well, how about a couple of options, starting with good old fashioned research.

Wait! This isn’t as painful as it sounds!

Perhaps there’s been something you’ve heard or seen recently that caught your attention. Maybe you found something intriguing, but know nothing about it. This could be opportunity knocking at your door! Use that little spark of interest and do a quick internet search to learn a little more about that subject. You may find a whole new world opening up to you. Case in point, my archaeological thriller, Effigy, came about through research on an entirely different project!

Discovering a new subject can be exciting, but discovering a new genre can be challenging. Each genre has its own set of standards. When we write romance, for example, we know that our readers expect to find romantic elements within the story. If a romance writer chose to explore the thriller genre, perhaps that author can take something away from their new-found genre and punch out a great romantic thriller.

Blending elements from different genres isn’t a new concept by any means, but I think our own personal writing can benefit by experimenting in different arenas. The goal isn’t to become genre jumpers, but stepping out of our own comfort zones once in a while can provide valuable lessons. For example, while writing Effigy, certain areas of the story became heavy in action with little dialogue shared between the characters. To help remedy the situation, I learned how to turn the story into a screenplay. Because of the rigid structure of screenwriting (the story must be condensed to approximately120 pages - the equivalent of 120 minutes of an average movie – not to mention the majority of the story must be carried through dialogue), I not only found ways for my characters to talk through the action, but I also inadvertently discovered ways to cut the excess from the book and tighten the story. This was a huge advancement for someone who knew nothing about writing movies!

Researching a new subject and learning a new genre are just two ways you can refresh your interest and excitement for writing. Through learning comes knowing, which brings us right back to that golden rule. Maybe we’re not breaking any rules after all!


Bio:
Theresa Danley lives along the hi-line of Montana where she keeps busy raising her family, riding horses and writing to satisfy her interest in history and archaeology. She is currently completing a sequel to EFFIGY.

Writing Tip of the Week - BAIT 'EM, HOOK 'EM, AND KEEP 'EM by Angelica Hart and Zi

Anglers know that live bait will entice a silvery scaled beauty to bite. As writers we're baiting literary hooks, hoping to persuade a few readers to jump into our books. The hook should not be just the first sentence of a story but should exist throughout the story. Here are a variety of great ways to catch and keep a reader, for unlike anglers, writers try to never, ever let a reader's attention get away.

THE PERFECT CAST

Make the first sentence outrageous or terrifying or amusing, anything but lame or boring. This is your lure. It must sparkle. It must be irresistible.

Example: First line from CHASING YESTERDAY

The Atlantic whispered to Elizabeth in endless, hypnotic gushes of harmonic, consistent sound, ageless sound.

Notice this sets the tone, a haunting quality. Plus, it immediately identifies the heroine and gives a glimpse into her mood as well as the story's location.

JIGGLE THE LURE

Tempt them further with the first paragraph, don't give a reader a chance to glance away. Offer something amiss, something that will give chills, conflict, confusion, mystery, but mostly have them questioning.

Example: First paragraph from KILLER DOLLS

Under the blanket of a cloudy night an older rusty white Dodge van bounced along the dirt boreens adjacent to the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. Proceeding slowly, lights off, the driver was dressed in black, black hair jutting from a ski cap. The vehicle converged into a wooded area, it known for frequent fornication by lovers who had only a car and no money for a room. This evening, most likely because it was after 3 AM, it was vacant.

The reader will want to know why the driver is in an isolated area in the middle of the night, why are his lights off, why is he dressed in black? Inquiring readers want to know.

CHUM

To ensure they continue onward, keep your sentences clean, keep the tension sharp, remember active verbs, action words, and be aware of the writer's favorite mantra, show don't tell. You're chumming, leaving lush bits and pieces of bait that keep the reader questioning what is next.

Example from SNAKE DANCE

She would not, could not, allow herself to be caught, yet there was something inside, something that tugged at her, whispers from a time she chose to ignore that hinted at thrill, promised dark splendor.

This creates tension as well as empathy for the character. She is being hunted, and as much as she resists, there is also temptation. Which will she choose? Will she have a choice?

PRESURE BITE

The end of every chapter, and when possible each scene, there should be something to pull the reader along. Create a sense of urgency. The writer's enemy is the bookmark. You don't want a reader to find a convenient place to stop reading.

Example from THE GARROTE FACTOR

(A) She studied the contours of his chiseled lips, the searing depth of his gaze, and then back to his lips, slightly parted, inviting, tempting. All thought to resist fled. All sense hitched a ride with it. Without true volition, her lips crashed against his.

This is the perfect time for a chapter or a scene break. At which point, a writer should interject a totally different scene, one apart from the main characters.

This is part of the first paragraphs of the scene that followed:

(B) Though having knowledge of David Masters' reputed history the younger man appeared also to be in awe of him. That truth of David Masters should have easily challenged that awe with loathing because the man was evil.

Like a lure being trailed through the water, the reader will follow along, yearning to find out what happens after the kiss. At the same time, they begin to have an interest in the new characters. To keep the momentum going, scene (B) should end with a hook as well. See (C).

(C) “Join me or die. Let me be your guide. The world holds no place for a weak or contemptible person, a fool. Be one with me.”

“I can’t. I won’t.”

Pensive for one brief moment he nodded. “Rory,” called Masters. The man quickly entered the office. “Our friend here has asked to be this evenings’ entertainment.”

Now, the reader will want to know what happened to the young man. This is a technique that will keep a reader hankering for more, scene after scene, chapter after chapter.

To reiterate, the hook is something that should be a constant throughout the book, keep the reader guessing, keep them wanting more until the very last line, and if you intend a sequel, even that last line should be a hook.

Reel 'em in!

Angelica Hart and Zi

KILLER DOLLS

SNAKE DANCE

CHASING GRAVITAS

THE FABLE OF SIN-SIN-CINDERELLA Series

angelicahartandzi@yahoo.com

angelicahartandzi.com

Champagne Books: http://www.champagnebooks.com/

Writing Tip of the Week: Making the Scene by Fran Shaff

Remembering a few basic essentials about writing scenes can be very helpful when crafting a new story.

Essential 1. Every scene needs a goal.

Essential 2. Scenes start with conflict.

Essential 3. Scenes end with conflict.

Essential 4. Scenes MUST move the story ahead.

Essential 5. Usually it's best to use only one point of view per scene.

Look for these scene essentials in this excerpt from A PARTNER'S PROMISE, my award-winning young peoples' novel. Previous to this scene, Axel, a homeless boy in 1880s New York had been in a fight. He'd been injured and unable to work to earn his food so he stole a loaf of bread. He was arrested.

Axel appeared before a judge later in the afternoon the day he was arrested.

Judge Thomas, a stern-looking man with glasses and a mostly-bald head, studied a paper as Axel stood silently before him.

“This report says you stole a loaf of bread,” Judge Thomas said, peering over the top of his glasses at Axel. “Is that right, boy? Did you steal a loaf of bread?”

“Yes, sir,” Axel said, looking down and placing his hand over his stomach.

“Speak up, boy. I can’t hear what you’re saying!” Judge Thomas shouted.

Axel raised his eyes and looked at the judge. “Yes, sir. I was very hungry.”

“Hungry, were you? That’s no excuse for breaking the law. If you want to eat, you should work for your bread. You young people must learn.” Judge Thomas stared hard at him. “What do you have to say for yourself, Mr. O’Grady?”

“I’m sorry, sir. I do work. I’m a newsie, but another boy beat up my friend and me and took our money. I have been too hurt to work. I ran out of food, and I was so hungry, sir.” Axel prayed Judge Thomas would accept his explanation and give him a chance to pay for the bread when he could work again.

“I’m not your mama, boy. Your problems are your problems, not mine,” Judge Thomas said firmly. “If you steal you go to jail. It’s as simple as that. Besides,” he added, running his gaze over Axel carefully, “if you got yourself beat up, it’s your own fault. You Irish are always causing trouble.”

Axel wanted to cause the narrow-minded judge some trouble right now, but he couldn’t. Instead, he swallowed back his anger and meekly replied, “Please, your honor, sir, please don’t send me to jail. I’ll pay for the bread.”

“I thought you didn’t have any money.”

“I don’t, but I’ll work again soon. I’ll pay for the bread when I can work again.”

“Not good enough,” the judge said, shaking his head. He looked at the papers before him. He rubbed his chin and thought a moment before he went on. “You got any folks?”

Axel shook his head. “My parents are dead.”

Judge Thomas nodded slowly. “I suspected as much,” he said, staring down at Axel over his glasses. He stroked his hand along his jaw and narrowed his focus on Axel. “Have you heard about the trains which take orphans west to be placed out in new homes?”

He not only sold newspapers, he read them too. He’d seen stories about city children finding new homes in the country. “Yes, sir, I know of them.”

The judge took off his glasses. “If you’ll agree to go to the Children’s Home and wait there to be sent west on the next train, I won’t send you to jail.”

Axel felt as though an anvil had fallen on him. Jail or leave New York City. How could he stand either one? No matter which he chose he’d have to leave Nate.

“Well, boy? What will it be?”

He decided there was only one choice he could make, and it wasn’t jail. “I’ll go to the Children’s Home, sir, and take the train west.” He spoke in a firm, decisive voice. He wanted to be sure the judge wouldn’t change his mind and put him back in jail.

“Fine,” the judge said, putting his glasses back on. He wrote something on his papers. When he finished writing he looked up at Axel and pointed his finger. “Don’t you try to run off either. If I see you in this court again you’ll go to jail for sure.” The judge turned Axel over to a police officer and told him to take the boy to the Children’s Home right away.

Scene essentials 1. While the goal is not revealed until late in the scene, it's easy to see Axel's goal is to stay out of jail.

Scene essentials 2. Conflict doesn't rise much higher than that between a judge and an accused person.

Scene essentials 3. Conflict at the end of the scene is even higher than the beginning. Though Axel has achieved his goal, staying out of jail, it has cost him his best friend.

Scene essentials 4. There is no question this scene moves the story ahead. It evokes lots of questions for readers, but the main one is: what will happen to Axel when he leaves everything familiar and goes to a strange new land?

Scene essentials 5. The entire scene is told through Axel's point of view.

With writing, as it is with many other pursuits, it is always important to remember basics.


Fran Shaff, Award-Winning Author

http://sites.google.com/site/fshaff

Paperback:
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Partners-Promise-Fran-Shaff/dp/1438267991/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1280524095&sr=8-1

Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/A-Partners-Promise/Fran-Shaff/e/9781438267999/?itm=9&USRI=shaff%2c+fran

E-Book:
Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/A-Partners-Promise/Fran-Shaff/e/2940011092541/?pt=BK&stage=bookproduct&pwb=2

Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/23274

Choosing Active or Passive Voice - Why Should We? By Rebecca J. Vickery

Editors and Publishers always say: “SHOW, don’t tell!”

Why? What is the big deal?

The simple answer I received over and over again: “Our readers want action. They don’t want to be told what happened, they want to be drawn into the action. They want to escape into the story and experience it through the characters.”

Active and Passive Voices are the difference between showing and telling. What are Active and Passive Voice?

Active voice, when written well, draws the reader in, lets them share in the story, and involves and excites the emotions. It SHOWS what happens. The characters live the story and take the reader along.

Passive voice, through the use of passive verbs and sentence construction, pushes our readers back, removes them from the action, and makes them sit in their chair while being TOLD what happened.

A very smart lady once asked me, “Would you rather swim in the pool or sit on the side and watch others have fun in the water?” Her point being: Active is swimming in the pool and Passive is watching others swim in the water. A simplistic way of saying it, but I’m a simple kind of gal. My quandary is I really do think there is the odd time when watching is better, but I must admit, normally I’d rather be swimming.

Then is Passive Voice always wrong? Should I always choose Active Voice over Passive Voice? Many of my sentences just don’t sound right without a “was” or an “is” or even a “has been”.

This answer by Dennis G Jerz (http://jerz.setonhill.edu/writing/grammar/act-pass.htm) was one of the easiest for me to grasp:

The Passive Voice Is not Wrong - Passive verbs are not automatically wrong. When used rarely and deliberately, the passive voice serves an important purpose. Use them to best effect in these instances:

When you wish to downplay the action: example - Mistakes will be made, and lives will be lost; the sad truth is learned anew by each generation.

When you wish to downplay the actor: example - Three grams of reagent 'A' were added to a beaker of 10% saline solution. (The writer avoided switching to first person involving the use of “I” by using Passive Voice.)

When the actor is unknown: example - The victim was approached from behind and hit over the head with a salami.

How do we, as writers, make sure we are showing rather than telling?

A short refresher on verbs and sentence structure might help. After all, it’s been a while since high school and/or college English for most of us.

Choosing Active or Passive Verbs? The voice of a verb indicates the strength of the subject in a sentence. It tells us whether that subject takes action or receives action. There are two possible voices: active and passive. In the active voice, the stronger form, the subject of the sentence takes the action of the verb. Our army won the battle. The subject army is strong since it takes action. This sentence uses the active voice. In the passive voice, the weaker form, the subject is acted upon. The battle was won by our army. In this sentence, the subject battle is weak because it receives the action of the army. It takes no action of its own —a battle cannot win itself — and so the sentence uses the passive voice.

Learn to recognize the differences in Active/Passive sentence structure.

Mr. Jerz (http://jerz.setonhill.edu/writing/grammar/act-pass.htm) once again had some useful information:

How to Recognize Active and Passive Sentences

Find the subject (the main character of the sentence).

Find the main verb (the action that the sentence identifies).

Examine the relationship between the subject and main verb.

Does the subject perform the action of the main verb? (If so, the sentence is active.)

Does the subject sit there while something else (named or unnamed) performs an action on it? (If so, the sentence is passive.)

Can't tell? If the main verb is a linking verb ("is," "was," "are," "seems (to be)," "becomes" etc.), then the verb functions like an equals sign; there is no action involved -- it merely describes a state of being. The sentence is neither Active or Passive (but in most cases editors and publishers consider them passive as they show no action - use these sparingly in creative writing)

The most helpful advice is to write. Write a short paragraph then dissect what you write as above and see if it is active or passive and why. See which you like best and which gets your message across to your readers.

Happy Writing!

Rebecca J. Vickery can be found at:
http://romancewithatwist.com/
http://rebeccajvickery.com/
http://victorytalespress.yolasite.com/

The newest anthologies for Halloween are now available from Victory Tales Press. They are featured on my blog with a chance to win one of 2 ebooks during a drawing. Drop by: http://rebeccajvickery.blogspot.com
Leave a comment to enter.

Writing Tip of the Week - Write What You Know by E.A. West

One of the most popular pieces of advice given to writers is: Write what you know.

My question to you is this: Are we supposed to take this advice literally?

I seriously doubt it. Each of us has a finite amount of knowledge, regardless of our level of education. There is always something we’re not familiar with, something we can learn. If we only write what we already know, we will have very limited options for characters and plots. We would never grow as writers or as people because we would never step outside our knowledge base to learn new things to write in new areas.

In my case, I would have some very strange characters and quite possibly some strange stories as well. My knowledge of people and the world is colored by autism. Everything I know has been processed through an autistic brain, and there’s a good chance my initial perceptions would be considered weird by a neurotypical (non-autistic) person. I know this affects my writing. I have been known to give characters inappropriate responses to situations; dialogue that sounded perfectly natural to me but came across as stilted or formal to others; and I have asked many times how people would react in a given situation because it is so far outside my personal experience that I can’t even begin to guess what a proper response would be.

If I only wrote what I already know, my writing wouldn’t be nearly as interesting as the instructions on a box of toothpicks. My characters would fall flat because the emotional response wouldn’t be what most people expect; the dialogue wouldn’t always make sense to anyone else, although another autistic might get it; and there would be huge, seemingly random leaps in logic that are connected by only the thinnest of threads. It would be an editor’s nightmare.

With these limitations in what I know, what is my solution? I research, I ask questions, I study know people--both real and fictional--react in all kinds of situations, and I make up what sounds to me like a neurotypical person. I may not already know these things when I start, but I can learn them. It’s not always easy, but it is necessary for me to be able to write realistic neurotypical characters. It is freeing for me to write an autistic character and the way she perceives the world, because it allows me to show others how I perceive it. That’s one of the advantages of writing what you know. Your personal experiences and perceptions enable you to bring your characters and the situations you place them in to life, characters and situations others would love to read about.

Back to the original question: Should you literally write what you know?

By all means, use the knowledge and experiences stored in your brain. But don’t limit yourself to that. Expand upon what you already know and allow yourself to stretch your writing into uncharted territory. If you have a story idea but you don’t know much, if anything, about the topic, do some research. Look it up with Google (or your favorite search engine), visit your local library, talk to your family and friends. A critique group can also be an invaluable source of information, and since they’re all writers too, they likely won’t find it strange if you ask something like how many boxes of macaroni and cheese it would take to fill a swimming pool. Or if suspense and thrillers are more your forte, what the best way to dispose of a body would be.

Life is a learning experience. Why not make writing one too? Everything is fodder for a writer, and those odd bits of seemingly useless information you acquire while living your everyday life or while researching something for one story could very well be invaluable for another story, enabling you to write what you know from your expanded knowledge base.

So instead of just writing what you know, use the knowledge you have and try to follow this piece of advice: Write what you can learn.


E.A. West is a lifelong lover of books and storytelling. In high school, she discovered the wonders of sharing her stories with others through writing. She picked up her pen in a creative writing class and hasn’t laid it down yet. Her love of writing encompasses not only the romance genre but also a variety fiction and non-fiction styles.

Born and raised in Indiana, she still resides there today with her family and a small zoo of pets that includes the typical dogs and cats and the more unusual African water frogs and a ribbon snake. Her interests are as varied as her critters, and she's been known to carry on conversations about everything from politics and current events to gardening and crocheting, and all kinds of topics in between.

http://eawest.mcphitty.com
http://thewestcorner.wordpress.com

DREAMS DO COME TRUE -- available now from White Rose Publishing
RILEY'S MISSION -- available now from The Wild Rose Press

Writing Tip of the Week - Using Action in Dialogue by Joselyn Vaughn

My first drafts of scenes with dialogue are often disembodied monotone chanting where it’s difficult to discern who is talking, how many people are in the room or on the phone, and what they are all doing while they are conversing. It’s all clear in my head until I read it the next day.

The second draft improves enough that I can tell who is talking and how many people are in the room. However, these people do an inordinate amount of standing, sitting, leaning, nodding, turning and smiling. Someday I hope to write an entire novel where no one turns or nods unless absolutely necessary. Right now it seems like an incredible feat, but I think it’s possible. So while the scene has filled out with another layer, the actions are basic and weak.

By my third draft, the action starts to tell a story of its own. The characters fuss with their napkins, knotting them, folding them, twisting them around their fingers as they reveal their secrets. In CEOs Don’t Cry, Mark spilled drywall mud, scooped it back into his bucket and mashed it down during a conversation with his friend Bryce. His actions reflect his discomfort with the topic of conversation.

You can use action in your dialogue for more than one purpose. The first way to use actions to replace dialogue tags. The dreaded ‘he said’, ‘she said’s. Not that those are awful, but people usually skip reading them anyway. They pick up the name of who is talking and continue reading. If people aren’t going to read those words, why have them in your novel? We want the reader to be so enamored with our story that they hang on every word. Replace the ‘said’ with an action and your reader’s eyes won’t jump to the next line.

Ex) “I can’t eat another bite,” Carla said.

Replace with: “I can’t eat another bite.” Carla tossed her napkin on her plate and pushed the plate forward.

Drop the said and you have a more active verb construction. Carla tossed… And the action enforces what Carla is saying. We know she isn’t lying about being able to eat another bite.

The other thing you can do with action is to betray the character’s true thoughts. Their actions can show their anxiety even when their words profess calmness.

Ex) “Everything is fine.” Carla twisted the corner of her napkin until the end tore in linty clumps and littered her wool suit.

We know that when a woman says something is fine, it generally isn’t, but Carla’s actions also show that. Would she be ripping the napkin apart if she was calm and prepared for whatever came next? Probably not. Personally, I’d have that napkin shredded into dust if I was entering an anxiety-filled situation.

You can use the actions to show a character that appears ready to take on the world is actually quaking in their sandals.

These techniques aren’t the only ones you can use to develop scenes of dialogue, but you can use them to enhance a scene as you revise.


Bio: Joselyn Vaughn lives in the Great Lakes State with her adoring husband, the world's most inventive toddlers and the laziest beagles.  She believes there is nothing better than a warm hug, a good romance novel and chocolate.  When not changing diapers or removing a toddler from a precarious situation, Joselyn enjoys sewing, running, shopping at thrift stores and reading books longer than thirty pages.

Links: http://joselynvaughn.com and http://joselynvaughn.blogspot.com

Writing Tip of the Week - Conflict: Tip the Scales and Keep the Balance by Regina Andrews

One of the essential elements of a good story is conflict. Whether just starting out or experienced professionals, writers know that conflict is the nexus of every good story. Conflict is spice. Conflict is passion, drama, elation, irony and anxiety. Unbearable lows and incredible highs. Living on the edge. (Just think of the fiercest PMS episode you've ever witnessed – or experienced. Then pump up the intensity level a thousand times.) That's the essence of conflict.

Who wants to read a flat line, linear story, where everything mosies along all hunky-dory and just the way you though it would…. zzzzzzz. Oh sorry, I just put myself to sleep. Imagining a story with no conflict is like imagining an ocean with no waves: it defies its nature. There is no such thing.

To have a good story, the plot needs to keep moving, and in unexpected directions. Curve it, coil it, wiggle it, spin it, twirl it, zigzag it. Keep those pages turning, with ups and downs and bumps in the road so jagged that every moment feels as if the story could veer out of control.

But how does a writer achieve this, you ask? Do you simply concoct any wild scenario and build your story around it?

The answer to that query is an emphatic no. (At least if you want to get published.) The last thing an author does is add twists and turns gratuitously; that is, just for the sake of adding action and movement.

So how does an author pack a story with conflict and still have it ring true? This, ironically, is one of a writer's greatest conflicts. Whether well-seasoned or just starting out, authors struggle with this very question at every turn.

Well, just as one of the elements of a good story is conflict, one of the essential elements of good writing is balance. No matter how much of a rip-roaring ride your characters want to take you on, you, as the writer, are holding the reins, and you'd better hold on tight. As a creator, go for the whole ride with gusto. They are your friends. You know them. However, as an author you need to control not what your characters do as much as what your readers know about what your characters are doing and why they are doing it.

First of all, the main writing element in keeping conflict credible and keeping a story moving is to maintain balance. By this I mean exercising great discernment as to what is revealed to the reader.

Let your characters actions speak for themselves, and let their words flow by themselves, without intruding as the writer. This will give your readers a chance to bond with your characters (just as your characters have presumably done with you already.). By the same token, you must walk the line and be sure to reveal the key elements about your characters which the plot does not uncover.

But that gets us back to how to control the story and still have it move naturally and credibly? What if your characters are on the edge, or over it? How do you write a story where your characters are barely in control without having your writing get out of control?

Although the process may seem more like being a puppeteer than an author, there is a very satisfying way to write through this seemingly daunting challenge.

How is this accomplished? Maintaining the balance I'm referring to here has its roots in good character motivations. This is where it's up to you to probe and dig deep, deeper and deepest into their minds, hearts and souls.

You, as the author, have to understand and convey just where your characters are coming from and why they can't stand to use blue dishes. What happened in the past to trigger the aversion to blue dishes? Was that the new set Grandma was opening when she collapsed on the floor in front of your heroine, clutching her heart? And now, is this why she refuses to sell blue dishes in her gift shop, despite the urgings of her partner?

This is just an example, but it should get you on your way if you're stuck in motivation limbo. What you will discover while on the excursion is the internal conflict of your characters as well as their external conflicts. Now your motivations have doubled, because you not only address what is happening to them, but you are addressing (and finding out) what makes them tick inside.

Speaking as a romance writer, internal and external conflict and motivations between the hero and the heroine make sparks fly in a story. The key is being honest with yourself and making sure none of your motivations or conflicts are contrived, or forced. A trusted writing friend should read your work objectively, and if they ask "why" this or "what about" that, you may have missed a motivation. Go back and review the plot, taking into account your characters. Have faith, it will come to you. Good luck with your writings!



Regina Andrews bio: A resident of Providence, RI, Regina grew up in nearby Barrington. After graduating from Providence College she attended the University of Delaware, eventually earning her Master’s Degree in American Civilization from Brown University. She is inspired by anything to do with nature, and she and her husband enjoy visiting nearby Cape Cod.

Regina’s hobbies include Travel, Museums, Theater, Classical Music, Choral Singing and Gardening. She is a radio host for In-Sight, an association dedicated to providing services to the visually impaired of all ages. Visit her website to learn more about her and her works: http://www.reginaandrews.com/

Tip of the Week - Never Give Up on Your Dream

KJ Dahlen’s Tip of the Week is to Never give up on your dream. I put my writing on the back burner for years while life interrupted, having a family and raising kids, but after twenty years I finally got back to it and I can honestly say I love what I do. I can finally call myself an author.

I made mistakes along the way but I learned from them and became a better author and with every new book I write, I learn a little more while the mistakes are getting less and less.

My first publisher wasn’t a good person so I basically got screwed with her but I found another publisher I could trust. At the moment I have six books with my second publisher with another two in the next six months. As with any endeavor you have to start with baby steps and writing isn’t any different. It’s what you do to build yourself up that counts.

When I got back into writing after my kids were grown I took a refresher course. Being away from the craft for so long I felt I needed to regain my bearing. I finished the course long before I was supposed to but that’s ok. I learned what I needed to learn. Only you can decide that for yourself. I have always been a quick study so it didn’t take me long to get where I felt I needed to be. If it takes you a little longer that’s ok. Like I said only you can decide how long it takes you.

At first I didn’t know what I wanted to write. I’ve been an avid reader all my life so deciding what I felt I wanted to offer the world was a hard decision. I tried writing articles but could get the hang of that. I decided I liked writing fiction better. I tried romance but it wasn’t meant to be. I tried Sci-fi but I couldn’t make that work either. I tried mystery/suspense and I had my niche. I found I loved putting my characters in life and death situations and they did the rest. My characters come alive for me and eventually they take over the story and I write down what they want me to. That’s when I sent my work into a bigger publisher and they liked my story. I was thrilled. So now I had two publishers and my books were lining up. I sent another book to yet another publisher and now I have three publishers.

I love my work. I love finding unique situations for my characters. Being published is wonderful, granted I started small and I’ll never regret that. I don’t have an agent and maybe I never will. At this point I don’t know yet. My books are getting noticed and people are reading them. I donated a copy of my books to the local libraries and some people told me that was a mistake, but I don’t think so. I live in a small town. They can go to the library and get a copy of my book and read it. That to me is more important. I figure if they read one, then they’ll read another one. Word of mouth is a great tool to get your work noticed. It doesn’t result in a sale sometimes but getting people to read what you write is something I enjoy.

What’s even better is when the people that have bought your books ask, when is the next book coming out? I love that question!

People have asked me how I handle a critique. To me a critique only makes your writing stronger. Oh I know you’ve worked as hard as you think you can and then somebody rips it all apart and at first you’re mad, then you think to yourself, this is the only way the story makes sense. Guess what? Maybe what the critique is doing is giving you another way to look at your story. You can’t take offense at what another person says about your work. Use what he/she says to make your story stronger and better. Maybe some of the critique won’t work but maybe some of it will. Only you can decide that, but be open minded about it. Maybe the person that gave the critique knows the markets a little better than you do.

My last point would be to never give up. Keep an open mind and don’t allow the set backs to get the better of you. Keep writing!

Author Bio:

Kim lives in Wisconsin with her husband and her dog, Sammy. She likes to place most of her stories in small towns because that’s where she lives. She writes under the pen name K.J. Dahlen. K.J. are her first and second initials and Dahlen was her husband’s family name when they came to America from Norway. It got changed to Dahl when they arrived.

Her publishers are Rogue Phoenix Press, Avalon and Bucks County Publishing. Her books are suspense books and you can see them at her web site. Her titles are Bones; The Darkness Within, Meghan’s Legacy; Shadow Chaser; Witness; Legacy of Murder; and Secrets and Lies. Her upcoming titles are, The Unknown Son, The Prophet and No One to Hear You Scream. You can see her web site at www.kjdahlen.com. You can email her at kjdahlen1@yahoo.com. Kim loves to hear from people about writing and her books.

Getting Your Facts Straight by Laurie Alice Eakes

Although I don’t know everything, of course, I’ve gotten a bit of a reputation for being a know-it-all when it comes to research. The truth is, I don’t know that much; I simply learned in studying history in grad school, how to find the answers.

The Internet seems to make this easy. Unfortunately, a great deal of false information lurks on the billions of pages available to us. Here are a handful of tips for getting your facts straight.

When possible, go to the original source. If you want to know about police procedure, find a few policemen to talk to. Most police departments have a public relations office that will help with this.

When original sources like the professionals aren’t available—a problem I have in writing historical fiction—get a minimum of three sources. If you can get ahold of diaries or newspapers from the time and place about which you’re writing, you’ve struck gold. In this, I recommend the advanced search options under Google Books.

Careful thinking that, because you’re writing about your own city, that you know everything already. One of my favorite examples is a mystery in which a blind character in California said he and his wife picked out his guide dog. Well, actually, in California, this isn’t possible. All guide dogs have to be trained by a licensed instructor and one can’t just pick one out. The author lived in the city where many guide dogs are around, so she thought she knew how the system worked.

To make a reader truly feel involved in the story, getting details in the setting right helps. For this, you need to know more than who would collect the body in Colorado. You need to find out what trees, flowers, grasses are around. What is the weather like in October? Does the air smell like wood smoke or pine trees? Some resources for this, in the event you don’t know people from the region, are Facebook pages dedicated to an area, and Yahoo Groups dedicated to an area. A woman I know wrote about Ireland using resources like this, and even Irish people thought she’d been there.

When writing, we need to tell a good story and part of that telling is getting even the tiniest facts right.

Award-winning author Laurie Alice Eakes does not remember a time when books did not play a part in her life; thus, no one was surprised when she decided to be a writer. Her first hardcover was an October, 2006 Regency historical from Avalon Books and won the National Readers Choice Award for Best Regency, as well as being a finalist for Best First Book. She is also a finalist for the ACFW Carol award in the short historical category (winners to be announced in September). After selling her first book in the inspirational market, she also wrote articles and essays for Christian publications. A brief hiatus in publishing climaxed with her selling thirteen books in thirteen months, to publishers such as Barbour, Avalon, and Baker/Revell.


She is an active member of RWA and ACFW, and started the Avalon Authors group blog. A graduate of the Seton Hill University Master of Arts Degree in Writing Popular Fiction, And a Bachelor of Arts graduate in English and French from Asbury College, she is an experienced speaker, and has made presentations at local and national RWA conferences, as well as local universities and libraries.

Until recently, she lived in Northern Virginia, then her husband’s law career took them and their dogs and cats, to southern Texas, where she writes full-time and enjoys the beach whenever possible.

You can find her web site at: http://www.lauriealiceeakes.com

Writing Tip of the Week - How Our Creative Minds Work by Mary McCall

One of the most common questions I’ve received as a creativity trainer from writers is do I have to write every day? From a creative perspective the answer is no. The important thing is to be creative every day. If you need to write every day from a discipline perspective, that’s a different matter.

Generative Model of Creative Flow Basics

The Generative Model came out of the category “theory” and was renamed “model” in 2003 when continuous studies over two decades consistently produced the same results. The origins of the model are not new. In fact, prelims to the theory date back to ancient Greece and Aristotle’s commentaries on cause and effect that were later picked up by Saint Thomas Aquinas in the thirteenth century with the birth of Scholastic Philosophy.

The first time I saw the Generative Model, it was 1982 and written in theory form, which consisted of a sixteen page mathematically equation that was Greek to me. Thankfully, the articles and studies it sparked poured out within a few months of the original publication and translated numeric formulas into words. I’m going to break down the final model into basic English form addressing the pertinent points relevant to us as writers.

• Competing behaviors produce new ones

Thoughts, ideas, and actions are all behaviors. Anything that incites use of one of the five (for some people six) senses, incites behavior.

• The combinatorial process is orderly and predictable

For every cause there is an effect/action. By learning to control stimuli and causes, we can control effects/actions.

• By influencing the type and number of competing behaviors, we can accelerate the creative process and direct it toward useful ends

That’s the theory in a nutshell. Sounds easy enough, and truthfully as you gain understanding of the process, it makes perfect sense and becomes easy to apply.

Implications of Generativity

• Everyone is creative. Everyone is capable of influencing behaviors to generate creative control.

• “Creative” people have special skills. Every creative person employs stimuli that produce creative flow whether they can identify how they do it or not.

• Eureka! Anyone can learn these skills and be creative.

The Creative Process & the Flow Army

• The Imaginative Phase

The Scout: This is our Discoverer, our Inner-child. She is filled with wonder and everything is a mystery and a delight. She is not logical, practical or staid. She wants to know all and loves to play. She is always looking for a new experiences and thrills in discovery. Her favorite questions are “Why?” and “Why not?”

This is our role for searching out new information & resources.

The Strategist: This is our Virtuoso or Muse-Minder, poet, artist, story-crafter. She accompanies the scout on expeditions with pad and pencil to capture discoveries. Her favorite question is, “What if?” She plays with metaphors, ambiguities and paradoxes. She takes the fruits of discovery and weaves one thought to another until she develops an attack plan or story idea/structure. She finds ways around obstacles. She crosses mountains, fords streams. She takes the hero and heroine on an adventure and their happily-ever-after (or if you write sifi: planetary distruction) is her reward.

Caution: Once the Strategist starts crafting, she needs some alone time, unless she gets absolutely stuck on a plot point and cannot move onward without asking for help. Don’t let the Scout run out to discover something like the color of the Clan Macrae plaid, unless it’s vital to the plot. Your Scout has so many “Why” and “Why not” questions that she’ll try to put you in perpetual research mode if you’re not careful. All non-plot related questions can be discovered later. Don’t let the Commander, of the practical phase below, evaluate until the story structure is finished. What seems pointless or unnecessary during mid-planning may make more sense when the Strategist is through. NEVER let your Soldier jump in and start writing without a letting your Strategist complete the battle plan (or whatever prelims are necessary if you are a pantser), otherwise your troops may end up in disarray. You could end up with 3 nice opening chapters and no end for your story.

Let your Strategist do her job in the way that works best for you before you write. This is our role for turning resources into ideas.

• The Practical Phase

The Commander: This is our judge, adjudicator, internal-editor and advisor. She evaluates the plans of the strategist, determine the feasibility of execution, and dispatch the plans to the Soldier after answering the question: Will this story work? Then after the entire rough draft is written, the Commander wants to know: Did this story work?

This is our role for evaluating & enhancing plans.

Note: The Commander is what some people will tell you is an analytical left brain function… The letters BS come to mind. Analysis, logic, patterns, etc. are all part of the creative process. Michelangelo started with raw stone and worked on David until the statue was smoothly polished. Never forget that and editors will like you more. They expect the manuscript you send them will be polished too.

The Commander is also your critique partner’s best friend. Your job when critiquing isn’t to write someone else’s story. It’s to evaluate what’s working and what’s not working. To point out where the craft is slipping or the characters don’t make sense, etc. Never overlook the importance of the Commander, but like all commanders, don’t let her try to control the other creative phases. Let her do her job when needed and not interfere when she should be taking a break from the war room.

The Soldier: This is our virago (or if you are male, warrior), our champion. She acts on information from the other three to implement the ideas and put our masterpiece together. She takes the battle plan and implements it with ruthless determination. She writes. And writes. And writes. Sometimes the story takes an unexpected twist. She may get help from the Commander or Strategist. Then she goes back to writing and writes through to the end. This is our role for carrying ideas into action

These are the four mindsets within the creative process. They apply whether you are writing a book or planning a backyard garden. Knowing what mindset you are in and what mindset you should be in will help you master creative flow. These mindsets in proper mode will not only help you write, they will help you set goals and meet goals.

Sometimes they work together. Sometimes they work alone. Whether you think of them as analytical or creative, they are all vital to victory.


My first book, Highland Treasure, releases tomorrow from Eternal Press www.eternalpress.biz. I welcome you to enjoy the book and take part in my Launch Contest between 8/7 – 9/6/2010. The grand prize is a Nook.

Mary writes humorous and adventurous historical romances with spicy love scenes set mainly in the medieval Highlands and England. She is a member of Romance Writers of America and served as the first PRO Coordinator for RWA; founding president and current online campus chairperson of Hearts Through History Romance Writers; member of Celtic Hearts Romance Writers; member of The Golden Network; past conference chair and vice president of River City Romance Writer; ESPAN; Faith, Hope & Love, Inc. She has won or placed in over 43 historical romance contests and is a past Golden Hearts finalist. A member of Sisters in Crime and the Malice in Memphis chapter of SinC. , she loves history, has a particular fondness for the Greek through Medieval periods, and is glad research for her books has finally utilized her ability to speak Ecclesiastical Latin. Mary resides in Memphis, Tennessee with her Maltese dog: Regina Benita Catarina. Visit her blog http://marymccall.wordpress.com, website www.marymccall.net or e-mail her mary@marymccall.net.

Can the Highlands survive a gifted soul with a tendency toward mischief?

Leonce MacPherson became chieftain after an unknown Norman slaughtered his father and clansmen. For two years he’s raided Northumbria seeking vengeance while a dream woman promises the return of his great sword, stolen in the massacre.

After escaping an abusive father, Lady Hope Nevilles, unknowingly the Gifted MacKay of her generation, has lived with animals for friends in wild Northumbria. She longs to flee to her mother’s native Highlands and find a place away from capture and torture.

When her father steals Leonce’s son, Hope takes that as a sign to journey to the Highlands. She returns the boy and the great sword to Leonce, who recognizes her as his dream siren. When he tricks her into marriage, will she keep her vow to kill herself rather than submit to any man? Can she learn to trust as her father's sin haunt her future? When she learns the truth of her ancestry and gifted spirit from a clan enemy, will Leonce accept the news, or will distrust and jealousy doom their fragile union?