Category Archives: Writing

Let’s Get Emotional

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Let’s Get Emotional

by Adam Huddleston

After reading an excerpt from the novel I’m working on to my critique group, the other members encouraged me to deepen the protagonist’s emotional connection to the reader. After looking through my submission, I couldn’t agree more. Here is why it is important and some ways to achieve it:

Readers have invested time and money into your story. They expect to experience a connection with the main character(s). They want to be immersed in every plot twist, conflict, and whatever else occurs along the way. If they feel cheated, they’re less likely to spend their hard-earned cash on your work in the future.

There are many ways to develop that connection. First and foremost, be sure to emphasize what your character is feeling inside in relation to what’s happening in the outside world. Also, don’t be afraid to let your character reminisce once in a while. As long as it’s not overdone, it can be a powerful tool to use. It’s important to remember that when writing, don’t confuse your emotional reaction to a situation with what the character would feel. Stay true to the story!

Happy writing!

Things to Write About

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Outtakes 194

Things to Write About

By Cait Collins

 

The San Francisco Writers’ Grotto has done it again. I’ve enjoyed their first release 642 Things to Write About. The pages are full of ideas to spark a writer’s creative juices. The ideas are unique. For example, “Write two prayers for your character: one to be said in private, one to be said in public”. Or, “study a stranger. Go home and write a tragedy about his or her mother”. Or maybe write about “a tree from the point of view of one of its leaves”. Sounds interesting doesn’t it? I can assure you there are plenty of ideas in this journal to jump start the imagination. They also released 642 Things to Write About Young Writer’s Edition designed to inspire our younger aspiring authors.

If you think 642 ideas is impressive, the Grotto has another volume; 712 More Things to Write About. Yes, 712 more ideas. Try this. “What were you thinking the first time you made out with someone?” Then there is “Write about a time in your life when you narrowly escaped some terrible fate –but change the ending, and write as if the terrible thing actually happened.” And now “Write five messages from the Ouija board”. And if you are still not convinced everything is fair game, I challenge you to “Write for 10 minutes without stopping about everything that stops you from writing”.

Sometimes we may believe the muse has left us. Our minds are so clouded with what went wrong at work, your child needs braces and your dental insurance will pay less than half the cost, and the social function you’d rather skip. We allow our concerns to block our creativity. But these journals give so much inspiration. They are treasures for our tired, stressed minds. I do recommend them. Just think one short exercise may be the start of a short story, an article, or a novel.

Which social media platforms should a writer use?

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Which social media platforms should I as a writer, have a presence on?

By Rory C. Keel

As we discussed on my blog post last week called Basic Social Media for Writers, that Social media for business has become the norm. For a writer it is no different, you are a business and your customers are your readers.

With literally hundreds of options to choose from such as Facebook, Twitter, Pintrest, LinkedIn, Google+, and YouTube, it could drive a person mad. Before deciding on which social media venue to have a presence, you need to do your research.

RESEARCH

First, you need to develop a platform of readership. Choose a B2C social media platform. B2C simply means a business–to-customer platform that will allow you as a business, to focus on your genre and connect with your readers, the customers.

Second, understand what the venue is and how it works.

A Blog is a place to publish thoughts, tips, ideas. Regular blogs provide keyword-rich content for search engines and can help create you as an expert in your field.

Facebook, Google +, Myspace and other similar platforms, are used to connect and interact with your audience with personal and/or business pages

Twitter allows you to follow and connect with a target audience.

Tweeting about your writing with excerpts, answering questions, and offering helpful insights can help to build loyal readership.

YouTube is the top site for user generated video content. It’s a place to share your business by how-to videos, video readings, discussions, or simply a video introducing YOU.

Other social media sites use the medium of photos to share ideas and communication, such as Instagram and Pintrest.

Another type of social media platform is a B2B platform. B2B simply refers to a Business-to-Business platform. In another words a wholesaler to you as a business.

As a writer, you need access to editors, publishers, or agents. You might even need connections with an ink cartridge and paper supply company. You as a business can connect with others who offer services you need.

LinkedIN is an example of this type of platform and has a business focus.

Having the proper research and information, you can begin to formulate an idea of which social media platform to focus your attention.

With that in mind, next week we will discuss how to best manage your social media so that you will still have time to write.

 

Hometown Promotions

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Hometown Promotions

By Natalie Bright

There’s a line in a country song that goes, “everyone dies famous in a small town”.

How many of your neighbors, coworkers, or in-laws even know that you’re a writer?

Local Fame and Fortune

We have a renowned New York Times Bestselling author here, who’ve I’ve known since she first became published. She now has a huge fan base, both locally and internationally, and she’s worked hard for it.

In the 25 years that we’ve been friends, I’ve known her to do many, many local talks for free, even though she commands major fees around the country. She rarely turns down an invitation to speak at local library fundraisers, book club meetings, or organization lunches. She’s become extremely popular with the Red Hat groups. Her programs include a tidbit of the characters and settings of her stories yet to be published. She’s not only selling her current list, she’s introducing herself and creating a fan base for works in progress. Her Fan Club has grown by leaps and bounds. Usually 100-200+ people show up at her local book signings for new releases.

Sometimes neighbors can be your biggest supporters. When I started out as a nobody writer several years ago, I’ve tried to emulate that train of thought.

Put Yourself Out There. Should You Charge?

Kid Lit authors are highly encouraged to decline school visits unless the school pays a fee because it sets a precedent in the area. I come from that small town mentality where everyone pitches in when asked and volunteerism is the way of doing things.

Right after college, I volunteered at our local historical museum where I spoke to thousands of kids during spring field trips. Today, some of those same teachers ask me to visit their classrooms. I can drop my kids off at their schools around 7:30, make it to the gig to talk about writing, and be back to my day job desk by 10:00. The kids get an inexpensive pencil with my website or a bookmark with my picture and bio. A 2nd grader told me last week, “I don’t want you to leave.” Another one whispered, “I’m writing a story, too.” For me, it’s about connecting with kids.

The publishing business moves at a snail’s pace. I’m making every effort to keep my name out there as a writer, and all it takes is my time and a .39 cent pencil. I’ve never considered charging the schools in our district, where my friends teach and my children have been enrolled since kindergarten.

Sometimes New Opportunity Means Practice

A friend’s daughter asked me to talk in the Dallas area for a reading event. The inner-city school had very limited funds so I agreed to talk for free. I’ve never done a power point for 700 elementary kids, but it seemed like a great opportunity since I’d be in the area anyway for a conference. This teacher is a tech-whiz so she helped with audio-visual set-up in the gym. I did my program for the first 300+, she offered suggestions to improve the clarity of content, and it went even better for the next group. I have the confidence to do it again. Sometimes new opportunity affords you a practice run, and don’t be afraid to ask for help.

Explore Your Town

Here’s that small-town mindset again: your time is free and it costs you nothing to give it away. Everyone you know can open doors to new opportunity. I usually say yes to everything because it always leads to something else. I’m not talking about selling out as a professional, hard selling, or pounding a group over the head about buying your book. I’m talking about networking and connecting with people who live in your neighborhood.

Show up, give them more than they expected, thank them for their time, eat the free meal, and leave your postcard bio. Odds are someone will ask if you have any books with you. Odds are good you’ll get an invitation to come back, or you’ll be asked to speak to another group because of the contacts you made. Odds are even better that someone will look at your website, perhaps follow you on Twitter or Instagram. Don’t forget to send a hand-written thank you note to the person who invited you. They may not buy a book today, but they know your name.

Selling Books

Marketing and promotion is a marathon, and who has the most depth and understanding about your stories? You can relay that passion about your novels better than anybody else. As authors, WE UNDERSTAND it’s business and all about building a platform and selling books, but not everybody has to know that.

Nataliebright.com

 

 

Taking Control

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POST CARDS FROM THE MUSE

Taking Control

By Nandy Ekle

 

I have the best day job in the world. I work for a major finance corporation in the correspondence department. So I read letters, analyze the letter, research the contract and write a letter in response. So I spend all day long in the bottomless pit of words. And when we’re behind, as we have been quite a bit for the last year or so, we work overtime, still swimming in that ocean.

I love this job because it utilized every part of me I always enjoyed using—analyzing, investigating, reading, and writing. However, one of the drawbacks is by the time I get home from work, the words have just given up. As a result, I have not written much during the past year. I had forgotten how good it felt to write.

This week I made myself a promise. Beginning this week, I will take my entire lunch hour for myself. I decided to spend my lunch HOUR writing.

I also bought some new music on my player. Now, by the time lunch comes around, I’m very excited to get the writing time.

Congratulations. You have just received a post card from the muse.

Pantser or Plotter?

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Pantser or Plotter?

By Adam Huddleston

So the questions come up when new writers look to begin their first work:

How do you write a story? Do you begin at the first and then just plug away? Do you organize all of your scenes first and then write it? What’s the best way?

Guess what folks. It really depends on the writer and their preferences. I will say that there are pros and cons to each. Let’s examine the two prevailing methods.

  1. The “pantser” writes by the seat of his/her pants. They start from word one and let it fly. The plot unfolds as they write. This can be a very exciting and creative method, but it can also lead to quite a bit of editing later on.
  2. The “plotter” plans out each scene and plot twist before they begin to write anything. This allows the process to be more streamlined and decreases editing.

Most writers probably use a little of both and what works best for you is simply that; what works best for you. I prefer to write and edit the “major” scenes that I know I want in the story then piece them together with “minor” scenes.

Try out both methods and see which you prefer. Happy writing!

 

 

Education

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Outtakes 193

Education

By Cait Collins

 

I believe in the power of an education. Statistics indicate the person who has a strong academic background, has a better chance of getting a good job and working his way to the top. Writers are continually educating themselves. There’s so much to learn about basics such as grammar, word usage, style, writing business letters, record keeping, tax reporting, and so on. But being a writer requires us to know a little about many subjects. Learning doesn’t all come from books.

Experiencing history, archeology, wildlife, sports and more, allows us to have a new perspective when putting a story together. Now, I’m not careless adventurer. I know my limits and will not take unnecessary risks. That said its fun to try new things.

My husband and I took a trip to Denver, Colorado. We were driving the back roads when we found a little place where you could pan for gold. There were a couple of prospectors who taught the art of panning. I never realized just how heavy a small pan of water and scoops of dirt could be; especially when you’re washing the layers of sediment from the pan. But I learned not only how to find gold dust; I also experienced a bit of what old time miners went through.

You ever heard someone say they’d have to take a gun or maybe a prized possession from his cold, dead hands? Well, I know what they mean. I’ve experienced my hands frozen from hours of dipping a pan in the frigid mountain waters. My fingers cramped around the edges of the pan and would not release. Although I’d only worked a couple or so hours, muscles and joints in my neck and arms screamed from the strain of handling the heavy pan. Mining is real work often with little reward. No matter the pain and exhaustion, you just know the next pan will be pay dirt. I wasn’t ready to leave when my husband suggested it was time to go. I wanted to keep panning; keep looking for a weighable nugget. Reality, a few flakes of gold and small bits of jade and garnets rest in my small bottle. I may not be the best miner, but I know the thrill of seeing the gold glimmer through the course, black sand. I’ve experienced the setbacks and downside of the job.

I am now in a better position to write a miner’s story

Mining is not the only opportunity to learn by doing. Living history days at forts, museums, or historical sites open our eyes to what used to be. Try fly fishing in a mountain stream, camping cowboy style, or being an assistant to a chuck wagon cook. The possibilities are limitless

I would never suggest putting the books away. They are needed to provide back ground information and basic knowledge of the subject. Then we translate what the brain knows to actually performing a task or living the life style, and then we write about the experience.

The Writing Process

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The Writing Process

By Natalie bright

 

If you enjoy reading about other author’s writing process like I do, you’ve probably come to the conclusion that there is no right or wrong way. I think the main goal that will set you apart from other writers is to actually get to THE END.

Here are examples of two totally different methods that have worked for me.

Option 1: Chasing Rabbit Trails

When you look at the pasture behind my house, you can see several well-worn trails used by cotton tales and jack-rabbits. They criss-cross, head in every direction going on as far as you can see or ending at a fence or under a tree. Here’s a true confession; I find it extremely difficult to stay with one project.

With two teen boys (a senior and 8th grader) and day job demands, I’ve decided to follow the advice of Natalie Goldberg in WRITING DOWN THE BONES: go with the thing that’s burning a hole in your heart. Come to that story with fire in your gut. From novels to nonfiction magazine articles to short stories, I just write. I’ve learned to never question the idea muse and to write whenever I get the chance.

Take for example a picture book manuscript I just finished. The idea hit me as I was climbing into my husband’s pick-up truck on our way to lunch. We were talking about the kids fighting. He was explaining to me that it’s nothing unusual for brothers. As an only child, I can’t relate to how mean siblings can be to each other. I got a visual image of a picture book, as clear as if I held it in my hand. I made notes right then and there, and worked on it over the next two months. Then sent it off to my agent, who had a few suggestions. Took several more weeks to work on edits, and now it’s out in the world. Fingers crossed that it finds a home.

This process may seem crazy to some, but I am able to get things done.

Option 2: Emersion into Fictional World

The middle grade manuscript I recently finished involved a total emersion into the world of Comanche, a Plains Indian tribe that once walked the ground that is now our cattle ranch. The book began as a story about a mule skinner’s son set in the old west, but when I typed THE END it felt incomplete. Something was missing. One Saturday morning, after two hours of digging in the dirt, I found a perfectly shaped arrowhead point which reminded me that the last person who had touched that piece of flint had been a Native American. The burning in my gut turned into a Comanche brave. I had to bring Wolf’s point of view to that story.

A secondary character became a main character, and I started over with research. If words refused to come, research turned into long walks staring at a Texas sunset trying to figure out what in the heck a Comanche teenager might be thinking in 1854. This was the most difficult and most fun book I’ve ever written. Hopefully it will find a home as well.

Don’t Question the WHY!

Take the advice of David Morrell, father of Rambo and an amazing speaker; don’t question the why. He really motivated me to keep writing; no matter the rejection, no matter the crazy ideas that pop into my head, no matter that my story may never be seen by the world.

Let’s be fearless, dear writers! Follow that fire in your gut and discover where it leads. You might be amazed at what you can accomplish.

Please share your writing process. How do you stay on task until THE END?

 

In the Cavern

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POST CARDS FROM THE MUSE

In the Cavern

By Nandy Ekle

 

My youngest son was about three or four years old when we went on a vacation. We decided we would go through a cave in another state.

The tour through this cave was a fairly new tour, and there were places where the walkway was not very well developed. My daughter and son were old enough to be thrilled with the challenge and adventure of the whole thing, but my younger son was a little timid by more scary spots. He clung to my leg like he was attached to me.

We saw beautiful stalactites and stalagmites, which the tour guide explained were formed by water dripping constantly, drip, drip, dripping, one drop at a time. And each time a drop of water travels the length of the protuberance, it leaves a deposit of mineral. After a length of time, the minerals clot up and a finger-like projection is born. If you’ve ever seen a cavern with the different stalactite and stalagmite formations, you know about their breath-taking beauty.

I’ve read a few books, that reminded me of this past adventure, and I think those are the books I love the most. I approach an opening in someone else’s imagination. The author, who is the tour guide, has set up a pathway through his world to make the trip safe enough so no harm comes to you, but there are still emotional dangers. Yet the idea of learning something is worth more than the danger could ever be.

The guide takes you deep into the cavern, just using a flashlight to start with. But you get to the point where he turns on a stronger light and you gasp with the beauty you are seeing. The words have continued to drip steadily until you have the most beautiful formations you have ever seen. And they are made of more layers than you could ever imagine. In fact, the deeper you look, the more layers you find.

This type of story is a masterpiece and your readers will read it over and over.

Congratulations. You have just received a post card from the muse.

A Few Words on Adverbs

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A Few Words on Adverbs

by Adam Huddleston

 It has been said that the road to, well, let’s just say a rather “toasty” destination, is paved with adverbs. While I don’t harbor a fierce hatred for those “-ly” words, I do see a glimmer of truth in the proverb.

One of the basic precepts of writing is to keep it short and sweet. Why use three weak words when one strong one will do?

For example: The man talked quickly. How about: The man babbled.

Or: The deer swiftly ran. Instead: The deer galloped.

Eliminating needless words will make your work cleaner and your chosen words stand out. That being said, you don’t have to be an “adverb Nazi”! There are many lonely adverbs out there looking for a loving home and many verbs which cannot be changed so easily.

My advice; read through your writing a few times and see if it sounds too wordy or cluttered. If it does, start chunking those adverbs and see how “quickly” your work improves!

Happy writing!