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Mar 28

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How does your protagonist’s world view drive your story?

Everyone, whether they’re conscious of it or not, has a way of looking at the world that informs who they are and how they deal with life.

As you create fully developed characters, figuring out how they view the world will add depth to your story and even influence your characters’ actions. You can also use this knowledge about your characters to show how they evolve.

In What Jamie Saw by Carolyn Coman, 9-year-old Jamie witnesses domestic violence and hides out with his mom. When a teacher visits him and his mom, and Jamie is told he must go back to school, this is how he reacts:

“How he hated her then. Why would his mother send him away from the trailer, back to the exploded, contaminated world? Why couldn’t they just stay together the way they had been and Earl could bring them food sometimes?”

As the story concludes, Jamie has grown stronger and his mother reassures him that he and his sister Nin are going to be okay. “It didn’t take long to quiet her, and when she had, Patty caught Jamie’s eye and they both laughed again, the way people do who have been through something together.”

In the end, it feels as if Jamie has become more resilient and hopeful and will change his view of the world. Read more

Mar 26

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Choose six wise guides to help you write your novel

In “Chapter After Chapter: Discover the Dedication & Focus You Need to Write the Book of Your Dreams,” author Heather Sellers recommends limiting the books you read while you’re writing your novel.

In an earlier chapter, she recommends making a top 100 list of books like the one you want to write and to read these books before you start writing.

But while writing your book, she says to limit your reading to six books: three books like the one you want to write (the books that inspire you the most) and three craft books. When she wrote her memoir, “You Don’t Look Like Anyone I Know: A True Story of Family, Face Blindness, and Forgiveness,” she had the following craft books on her desk: Robert McKee’s “Story,” John Gardner’s “On Becoming a Novelist,” and Eric Maisel’s “Fearless Creating.”

Sellers stacks her six books on her desk and before she starts writing she might flip through them for inspiration or, if she gets stuck during her writing, she turns to them for a boost. She calls them her “Six Wise Guides” and says the reason she sticks with six is for focus. These six books, she says, will teach her everything she needs to know to write her own book.

In my next post, I’ll share my six guides and why I chose them. What six books would you choose and why?

Mar 24

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Five tips for finding the missing pieces of your memoir

One of my friends is writing a travel memoir about a trip he took more than 20 years ago. He’s shared with me his writing struggles. Some details stand out as clear as if they happened yesterday. He remembers troubles along the way and the kindness of strangers. He can still recall the smell of the coffee and the way the biscuits and apricot jam tasted at a particular restaurant. He remembers the weather he had to struggle through on part of the trip and the jacket he was wearing.

Other parts of the journey are a complete blank.

I asked him a few questions to spark his memory, but ultimately here is what I suggested he do. If you’re struggling with recreating your past, you might want to try these tips too.

Write. Don’t think or talk too much about your memories. Instead write them down. It’s easy to over think your story and get tense because you can’t remember something. It also takes you out of your dream state and into an analytical mode, which isn’t a good place to be when you’re writing your draft.

Start with one small scene or detail. Pick one faint memory or even something distinct and write about it using all your senses. Remember how the air smelled after the rain — like a mixture of dust and electricity — or how it felt to finally stretch out on a soft bed and smell the sweet scent of freshly laundered sheets after so many hours on the road. The more you write about a memory or incident or moment, the more you will remember. Read more

Mar 21

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The key to writing success? Never give up!

“My favorite rejection letter was from an agent who said, “We don’t have time to take on any new clients, and if we did, we wouldn’t want you.” But I kept trying. My second book got published. The first one never did.” Lisa Scottoline, author of legal thrillers.

The above quote comes from the book “The 101 Habits of Highly Successful Novelists,” edited by Andrew McAleer.

Rejection is a natural part of any creative pursuit. In business, we say, “Some will. Some won’t. So what.” I like to say, “Some will. Some won’t. Keep going!” Okay, so maybe the alliteration isn’t as good, but the message is better. “So what” gives the vibe that you don’t care. “Keep going” conveys determination. Much better.

Last year, I submitted a creative nonfiction piece to a contest and it didn’t win anything. It didn’t even make it to the finals. I know I had rushed the project, but I still felt it was a good piece of writing. After reading it again several months later, my rushing was evident. Instead of tossing the piece out, I rewrote it and entered it in another contest where it won first place. If I had let a little rejection get to me, I never would have realized the piece’s potential.

Potential. I love that word. It means capable of being or becoming. Use rejections to push you forward into your full potential.

To read more on how to turn rejection into success, read my post, How to use rejection to improve your craft.”

Mar 19

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Three highlights from my reading practice: See how they could make you a better writer

I love the inspiration and ideas I receive from reading different genres and authors. Whether I’m turning the pages of a physical book or one on my Kindle or iPad, I write about what I’m reading.

Sticky notes work great for actual books, and on my Kindle, I highlight and make notes on the screen about passages that grab my attention. I track how authors created a certain mood, tone, or emotional response. If I see a good example of dialogue or a stellar sensory description, I note it. The notes make it easy to go back and review what I learned and what I enjoyed about the book.

Here are several examples of my highlights:

In the thriller Third Strike by Zoe Sharp, the protagonist Charlie Fox suffers the blow of being shocked by a stun gun. I was struck myself by the description of Charlie’s reaction:

The pain had a jagged quality all its own, ripping out chunks of my nervous system and spinning them away like debris from an explosion, so that some parts of my mind seemed magnified a hundred times and others were just big blank holes of frenzied nothingness. Next thing I knew I was on the floor, my body rigid. I was peripherally aware that my head was banging on the concrete and that was probably not a good thing, but I couldn’t stop the twitching dance of my limbs. My hands had distorted into the twisted claws of an arthritis-ravaged geriatric. I couldn’t see, couldn’t breathe. It was the worst cramp I’d ever had in my life, the most violent fever, the meanest hangover, all rolled into one.

Sharp not only wrote a vivid description, I felt the authority of her words. Her description seemed so realistic and rang so true that I almost wondered if she’d been shocked herself at some point by a stun gun. Read more

Mar 17

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Channel your anxiety and fear to write your best book

“Art is never finished, only abandoned.” — Leonardo DaVinci

In a recent Storylogue.com lesson, novelist and TV Writer/Producer Lowell Cauffiel mentions that many would-be novelists get to the two-thirds point in their novels and quit.

Author Dorothy Parker has been quoted as saying that she hates writing but loves having written.

Writing is hard–physically, mentally, and emotionally. We struggle to find just the right words and structure. We question our work and question our abilities. We question everything.

Cauffiel says this is good. He tells how author John Steinbeck kept a journal during the time he wrote his great American novel, “The Grapes of Wrath.”

Steinbeck constantly questioned himself and his abilities. Below are a few of his thoughts from his journal, Working Days: The Journals of The Grapes of Wrath: Read more

Mar 14

Four tips from agents about what they like and don’t like in a manuscript

I’m a notorious note taker. I write down ideas that spring into my head, take notes at writer’s conferences, and record insights from reading.

Every so often as the notebooks and scraps of paper pile up, I take a notebook or two and transfer all the notes into my computer so it’s easy to find and review them. It’s a great way to learn and relive the inspiration I felt when I wrote the notes the first time, and I often make new connections about my notes and how they apply to my work in progress.

In today’s post, I share random tips and ideas I’ve found in my notebook about what makes compelling manuscripts, including what agents and editors are looking for when they’re reading submissions.

1. An element of unpredictability. How does your writing surprise the reader? A hallmark of winning writing is an original idea. Think of how you can twist an old idea into something new.

2. Fully resolved plots. Have you spent enough time revising your work? Enlist beta readers who are more objective and can read your manuscript and spot any errors in logic or plot holes that need to be fixed.

3. Believable dialogue. Dialogue should move the story ahead. Does the dialogue sound realistic? Does it ring true? Good dialogue is loaded with emotion and subtext that add depth to your story.

4. Great beginnings and great endings. Ask yourself how can you end a poem, short story, or novel with an ending that seems surprising but inevitable, and even better, one that sticks with the reader for days.

Check your current manuscript or make a note of your own about these four elements and tape it to your monitor or add it to your writing revision checklist. Periodically, read the list as a reminder to check your manuscript against these key elements of good writing.

For even more insight about how to attract an agent’s attention, read Carol’s post, What stops an agent from wanting to read more of your story?

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