Top Ten Pet Peeves of a New Editor PART 1

by MM Pollard, editor, Black Velvet Seductions 

January 1, 2012, I became an acquisitions editor with Black Velvet Seductions. I’ve been on the job for over a year now, and I have a growing list of pet peeves of a new editor.

Let’s talk about little things that writers have done when submitting their work for consideration that drive me (and other editors) crazy. Here’s the my list—

1. …writers who don’t research publishers before they submit to them.

Go to publishers’ web sites and look for submissions. Read what they have posted there. Do what they say. It really is that simple. 

2. …writers who don’t include their first and last name, their real name, in their submissions.

I understand wanting to protect your privacy, especially if your submission includes spanking, ropes, and assorted toys, and you’re a teacher, a lawyer, or a social notable in a small town where everyone knows your name.

That said, how am I supposed to send a professional-sounding rejection or acceptance letter when all I have is TrixieD@love.com?  

3. …writers who don’t include their mailing address in their personal information.

We send real letters, typed on paper, in envelopes, to those who send submissions to us. Rejection emails – can’t do a thing with them. At least with rejection letters, you can consider changing the wallpaper in your office.

I promise not to stalk you. 

4. …writers who don’t give the ending of their story in their synopsis.

I know what’s going on in their heads. They think if they don’t give the ending, I’ll read their manuscript – all 120,000 words of it – to find out what happens at the end.

Wrong answer!!!! Not giving the ending of a story in a synopsis shows a lack of professionalism. Would you want to work with an unprofessional publisher? 

5. …even worse, writers who don’t send a synopsis with their submission.

Maybe their submission is short, maybe its inner truth can’t be summed up in a few hundred words, or maybe the writers are too lazy or too new at this to realize a fantastic synopsis may mean the editor will read a few chapters of their submission. Without one, she won’t read any.

If writing a synopsis scares you, take a workshop or buy a book on the topic. A synopsis is your key to getting your foot in the door. FFnP has many great workshops that will fix whatever ails the writer in you.

These are only HALF of my suggestions. Please check back April 18^th for more helpful hints.  

Now it’s time to ask yourself how many of my pet peeves are you guilty of? If you realize that you are guilty, chalk it up to being a novice in this writing business and promise to change your ways. If you aren’t guilty, pat yourself on the back. I would love to hear from you. 

MM Pollard, Editor, Black Velvet Seductions

About MM Pollard

MM Pollard is a very nice former English teacher and now acquisitions editor for Black Velvet Seductions.  She has accepted the mission to find and help writers correct ungrammatical grammar, misused usage, problematic punctuation, and poor writing in their work.

With fifteen years of experience teaching English serving as a resource of knowledge and a life-time love of teaching and of language, MM has been presenting workshops since February, 2011. She has presented workshops for many RWA chapters, Savvy Authors, Writers Online Classes, and in her own virtual classroom. MM is excited to have over thirty workshops scheduled for 2013. Check out her blog for more details.

Also check out her new forum for free workshops and advice on using English correctly. You don’t have to register as a member of Lefora Forums unless you wish to comment.

MM has helped many writers improve their language and writing skills through her fun workshops. Yes, English can be fun! MM is sure she can help you, too, master the fundamentals of English.

MM Pollard,                                                                                                                     

editor, Black Velvet Seductions

Workshops with MM http://blackvelvetseduction.com/Workshop1 -- info on her workshops on her private forum

MM’s Forum http://freeworkshopswithmm.lefora.com 

MM’s Fundamentals in English http://queenofenglish.wordpress.com – sign up for her newsletter on her blog and see her complete list of workshops for 2013

 

I hope you will join my class on

FLASHBACKS

Hosted by

Fantasy-Futuristic& Paranormal Romance Writers

This 10 Day class starts April 22, 2013

For more information click HERE 

 

Jump Start Your Writing Process by Åsa Maria Bradley

For me, the most difficult part about writing a book is not developing three dimensional characters, crafting a tight and properly paced plot, or perfecting the phrasing of my sentences. I do those things in my head all the time while I’m walking the dog, having a shower, or standing in line at the grocery store. No, the biggest challenge is to sit my derrière down and actually write. I have the butt-in-chair thing down, but am still working on fingers-writing-words-and-not-checking-Facebook-or-email.

Most of the time, I’m stalling because I don’t know where my story needs to go next or the scene I’m working on is not developing the way I need it to. This can happen during any stage of my project, before starting a novel, in the dreary sagging middle, or as I’m almost at the finish line. Although I’m a “pantser” by nature, I like my story to organically grow on the pages without working from an outline, I’ve found that in order to actually get a book written and not waste all my writing time on social media, I need some sort of guideline. I use the following three tools to keep my story on track and give myself an extra spark of writing energy when I sit down to work.

1) Write the Pitch Early in the Process

You may ask how on earth you would know what to pitch before you’ve written the book, but think about what the pitch actually contains. A good pitch or query highlights the goal, motivation, and conflict (GMT) of your characters and story. Things you should have at the forefront as you write your book. The best advice I ever got on pitching came from Mary Buckham at a conference in 2010. After I’d spent hours during “pitch fest” trying to perfect my blurb while practicing it on other writers, and still not getting it down, Mary pulled me aside and told me about the four W questions. She said a good pitch should answer the following questions:

-Who? (Who is your main character?)

-What? (What do they want? Goal)

-Why? (why do they want it? Motivation)

-Why not? (Why can’t they have it? Conflict)

Although I att first I concentrated on the external plot too much, now I can jot down answers to these questions very quickly and make sure my scenes enhance the GMT as I shape my story.  (If you’re interested, I have a worksheet that explains what Mary taught me in more detail on my website.)

2) Create a Revisable Synopsis Before You Write Chapter 4

Okay, so this sounds even crazier than doing your pitch before the book is finished, but wouldn’t it be wonderful if you had the synopsis almost all done by the time you finished your book? What if I told you that by spending an hour or two answering a few simple questions, you will nail down your turning points and how they reflect the internal and external conflict? No, I’m not blowing smoke up your behind, it can actually happen. Wonderful author Debra Hale made it possible when she created her What to Pack in Your Short Synopsis questionnaire. You may not have all the answers to her questions early on in your project, but you’ll know that you need to figure them out as you continue writing and your story will improve quickly, without additional drafts. You will of course have to tweak the synopsis as your details change, but the main scaffolding of your story construction is in place and all you’re doing late on is redecorating, changing curtains, or maybe even buying new furniture, okay fine, sometimes going as far as ripping out the carpet. Still, this saves a lot of time, I promise.

3) Write Scenes Out of Order

This may not seem like a big deal to most of you, but I don’t do well when I have to complete task number 4 before 1-3 are completed. I’m not sure how I can be a pantser and still be obsessed with the order of my scenes, but there it is. I used to stay stuck on a page because I didn’t know what was going to happen in the next scene. I usually knew where the scene needed to end up, I just didn’t know how to get there. The first time I allowed myself to skip a scene altogether, I hyperventilated because of how reckless I felt. (Yes, I may have OCD issues.) An amazing thing happened, as I wrote the next scene, the preceding scene  wrote itself in my subconscious and it was easy going back and putting it down on the page. Now that I write using the guidelines of my pitch and synopsis, skipping scenes is easy and my OCD doesn’t eve peak up from the dark place in which I’ve suppressed it.

These methods have helped me jump start novels, but they also help me focus during each writing session. Since I have mapped out where my story needs to go, without nailing down specific details, I can still be creative in shaping my story without meandering down paths that should never have been taken, or even worse, staring at a blank page for minutes before booting up Facebook and Twitter. It’s like heading out on a road trip where anything is possible, but I’ve been responsible enough to make sure I know where stop for meals and bio breaks. Because whether we are planners or pantsers when we write, we all need to eat and pee during our creative process.

I hope some of these methods help you jump start your writing. Do you have any other tips for how we can optimize our writing time?

Bio:

Åsa Maria Bradley new paranormal series features Vikings and Valkyries and their struggle to keep the world safe from Ragnarök—the god’s final battle. She’s originally from Sweden, where Norse mythology and history is ever present in archeological finds and buildings around the village where she grew up. Her articles have appeared in several magazines and she had an essay included in FEMALE NOMAD AND FRIENDS: TALES OF BREAKING FREE AND BREAKING BREAD AROUND THE WORLD (Three River Press 2010). She lives in Washington State with her British husband and a used dog of indeterminate breed. Visit her at AsaMariaBradley.com.

Producing 5-10k words a day...by Virginia Nelson

I’m often asked, how do I manage to constantly produce 5-10K words a day? Do I live at the computer?  Of course not, no one can. I will admit I am a fast typist and I have a regiment I follow religiously but that isn’t where the secret lies. I’ll try to explain.

Back when I first started writing non-fiction, I took a lecture I developed for college students, adjusted it for my personal use. That lecture was on time management and utilizing it has saved me a lot of frustration. But this article isn’t on time management. Its primary focus is to get you, the writer to increase your daily word count. So let’s start at the beginning.

What is your typing speed? Don’t know- here is a simple way to find out.

Open a large print book. Set it up next to your computer where you can see it comfortably. Now set your timer for 5 minutes and type. When the timer goes off – stop. We are now going to figure out how many words you have written. A simple way is, if you’re in Microsoft word is to click on your tool button, then on word count. Now take that number and divide it by 5. Presto you have a rough estimate of what you can type in one minute.

Sadly, you are not going to be able to create a new story and hammer out that many words a minute but you can come pretty close if you follow my directions.

Now let’s establish your sprinting speed if you already know your typing speed.

Take the number of words you normally type per minute. Let’s say your last typing test was 50wpm. Knowing you won’t be reading off a sheet of paper nor will you have a Dictaphone plugged in.  You are creating your new piece of art. You can’t really create something new and type 50 words a minute no matter what you do. So take your WPM typing speed and divide it in half. This should be your average speed for sprinting if you follow my directions…. (Big if, I know but it is how I keep my word count up.)

Before you begin, there are a few rules that will help you make the most of your time.

Rule #1. DO NOT SIT DOWN AND OPEN UP A BLANK SCREEN and stare at it expecting something to transpire. It isn’t going to happen and it is one of the worst things you can do to yourself.

Rule #2. Make sure you are alone and going to be alone for some time. Constant interruptions will cause you to loose focus.

Rule #3. Get yourself situated. (Coffee, smokes, drinks – what ever makes you comfortable) and most importantly a kitchen timer or some similar device.

Rule #4. Do not, I repeat do not worry about grammar, punctuation, spelling or anything else. You are here to type. Once your 60k words are down and the story is on paper (yes it is rough – really rough) but it’s down and you have something to work with. We will worry about editing it later.

NOW formulate the scene (or chapter) in your mind. See it coming alive.

Sit, turn on the computer and open up a clean page or your document.

Now take a minute to make sure everything is arranged how you want it.

Now get up and go potty! You heard me – take that break now before you begin but keep that scene in your mind.

Ok. You’re back from the restroom, and reseated. Good.  Set your timer and start typing. I tend to do 30 minute sprints with a 15 minute break between them. This gives me time to stretch my legs, hit the bathroom again, refill my coffee, have that smoke and most importantly form the next scene in my mind. When I’m ready I go at it just like I did before.

So how long is it going to take you to type out 60K words you ask? That of course is going to depend on your dedication and your typing speed and how many sprints per day you do.

Let’s say you can do 4 sprints per day at 25 wpm actual sprinting speed. That works out to 750 words per 30 minutes or 3000 words per day. At this rate it will take you 80 –thirty minute sessions.

To figure out how long it is going to take you to type a 60,000 word story you can do it this way.

(1) You can take the 60,000 words and divide it by your daily average, 3k. 60,000/3000=20

Guess what? Your rough draft should be completed in 20 days.

Ok, so the editor gave you forty five days to get that story to him. You have taken twenty days to write out the story in a very rough form. That leaves you twenty five days to go back re-read your story and make adjustments. Since I write full time it is easy for me, but maybe not so easy for a working mom.

Again, you will need to set aside working time just like you did for your sprint sessions. You can work your edits exactly like you did your initial rough draft writing. Sit down with the first chapter, set your timer and read it through – yes through the mistakes. You are bound to see several mistakes but you are reading for FLOW the first time through. Ignore them! Yes, I said ignore the typos – they will be fixed soon enough.

Ask yourself is the flow right? Did you capture the essence of the scene? Good. If not highlight those areas.

Now take a quick break, do what ever it is you want to do… smoke, drink, potty. Come back when you’re ready and begin to re-read that chapter again. This time you are looking for typos and misspelled words – correct them.

A normal chapter takes me three sprinting sessions to correct – it may take you more or less depending on the number of mistakes you have made. Remember to take your breaks – it is important for you and your eyes.

When you are ready, go on to the next chapter and repeat the process. This process usually takes me a few days so allow your self enough sprinting time to get through it with time left over. Once you are finished, TAKE A DAY OFF, you have earned it!

With fresh eyes go back again and reread your manuscript. Again, you will probably find sections that need tweaking or correcting. Make those changes but don’t get bogged down with tiny little details. We all know we can edit something to death and still not have it “right.”

The original idea was to get something written and clean enough to send to the editor for their approval and you should have it. He/she of course is going to have his or her own ideas for the story and ask you to make more revisions. Worry about them after you have them.

So there you have it, my method for constantly typing out 5-10k words a day. I hope this simple method has helped you and you will at least give it a try to see if it works for you.

Virginia S. Nelson

Writing as V.S.Nelson

Virginia is a member of three RWA chapters. She is also the current VP for the FF&P chapter. She no longer writes non-fiction but devotes her time to writing paranormal and urban fantasies. She lives with the love of her life in Mesa, Arizona. You can find her around cyberspace at the following locations.

 Website  Blog  Twitter  Goodreads  Facebook   Authorsdb  Book Trailer

Cupid and Penelope and book one of her Sekhmet’s Guardian series, Eternal Lovers, were both released in January of this year. She is expected to release at least three more titles this year. 

Straight from the Horse's Mouth - by Alexis Morgan

One of the hardest parts of embarking on a new series is getting to know the people who comprise the initial cast of characters. I’m talking about the folks who will play a major role in the story whether they appear in just one book or across several. It’s important that I get them right from the beginning because I’ll have to live with them for a long time. If I get it wrong, it can seriously impact my ability to tell their story.

I start off doing all the usual things. I make a list of possible names, testing them out to see if they not only feel right but also sound right. A name that fits a modern day warrior may be totally wrong for a U.S. Marshal in the 1880s. Personally, I like to use names that mean something appropriate for the character and doubly so when it comes to my heroes. In my Warriors of the Mist series, I chose Gideon as the name for their leader because the name means warrior. In an earlier series, I chose Devlin because it means fierce and valorous, both characteristics a leader needs to have. Even if my readers never know that about the names, I do. It was just one layer in building a believable hero.

It's also important to say the characters' names out loud to make sure that they don’t sound too much alike. They can look quite different in print, but still sound similar. For example, in the first book of Warriors of the Mist, I started off naming one knight Kane and another Cai. Those names are different enough in spelling to be easy for readers to keep them straight. However, when I started talking about the characters in a brainstorming session with a friend, I kept tripping over them because they sounded a little too much alike. I normally hate to change a name, but Cai became Averel because in the long run it made it easier to keep the characters straight.

Then there was the time I named my hero Cal and the heroine Lily. Again, on paper, those names are fine. It wasn’t until the book was actually out and I was giving a talk that I realized how they sound when said together. (Cal and Lilly=calla lily.)  Sheesh.

Once I’ve settled on names, I think about what style of clothing each character prefers. In the contemporary world, a guy who lives in flannel and denim is going to be a different personality than one who prefers Armani. A woman who only wears tailored styles is likely to act differently than one whose wardrobe is mainly sweats and t-shirts. Even in a fantasy world, there are differences in clothing. A wealthy man will wear richer fabrics. A warrior might wear leather and chainmail. A serf will wear homespun clothing in a simple style.

One of the best talks I’ve heard on choosing fashion for specific characters was given by the costume designer for the Lord of the Rings movies. It’s part of the extras in the extended boxed version. The woman talked at length about the thought processes behind the decisions they made for all the characters in the movies.  For example, she pointed out that because Frodo came from a wealthy family, his vest is made from velvet. Sam, who is a farmer, wears one that is not nearly as fancy. It’s all in the details. Although I might not have noticed all the specifics she pointed out on my own, I do know that those details all added to the richness of the film. 

When I was putting together the character descriptions for the five Warriors of the Mist, I used two techniques I hadn’t tried before. I knew each of them had an avatar, an animal that fights at their side over the centuries. Choosing the right one to fit the personality of each man took me hours. I chose a large raptor for Gideon, the leader. Duncan who is both a warrior and a scholar has a large owl. Murdoch, who is quiet and strong, has a reclusive feline companion. And Lord Kane, the man with the darkest past, has a gargoyle. They are both the last of their bloodlines.

But the avatars weren’t the only ones who taught me something about the warriors. In the world of Agathia, horses can select their own riders. I had a wonderful time figuring out what kind of horse would choose my warriors. Gideon bonded with the lead stallion. No surprise there. Murdoch, who towers over most men, was picked by a huge draft horse. A high stepping mare picked Sir Duncan, who is the most chivalrous of the warriors. Lord Kane, who is marked by the dark magic of his bloodline, bonded with a battle-scarred stallion that has never before accepted a rider on his back.

The modern day equivalent of those horses might be the kind of car or motorcycle that your character would choose. Does your heroine drive a pragmatic older sedan or does she zip around town in a red convertible?  Does your hero drive a heavy duty pickup truck or a sleek sports car?  Those details make a difference because they contribute to how your reader sees your characters.

And maybe the vehicle stands out in stark contrast to everything else in the character’s life. Maybe your heroine wears plain clothing and little makeup, but she does drive that red convertible. That anomaly makes her interesting to me. Why that one aberration and what does it mean?  It would sure signal to your readers that there’s something interesting going on in that woman’s head.

So as you plan your next story, think about the details that will reveal character to your readers. Try to come at it from a different angle than you have before and see where it takes you. After all, with my Warriors of the Mist, I really did get it straight from the horse’s mouth. 

BOOK BLURB for HER KNIGHT'S QUEST:

 

They are cursed by the gods, and war is their salvation. Love is their deliverance.

 For centuries, five legendary warriors have braved their battles shoulder to shoulder. But now, they must divide and conquer as lone champions against evil.

Duncan, a scholar at heart, is drawn to an isolated abbey rumored to hold the answers to countering the terror unleashed by Duke Keirthan. Inside the cloistered walls lies the hidden collection of forbidden lore on dark magic. But the real key to the salvation Duncan seeks—both for the people of Agathia and his soul--is the abbess herself, Lady Lavinia.  Hunted by the duke who seeks to harvest her powers, Lavinia knows Duncan wants to help her. But can she trust the tortured warrior with her secrets?

 In the end, it is only by joining forces that they can save not only those they are sworn to protect, but each other.

Rulz by Taryn Kincaid

You know the clichés: Rules are made to be broken. Or, The exception proves the rule.

Well, yeah. They’re clichés. They’re truisms because there’s truth in them.

When we start out as fiction writers, we tend to adhere slavishly to the rules (particularly if we are judging contests or budding members of a critique group) because we haven’t read enough, we haven’t written enough, someone once told us something, or we don’t know any better. 

Your first sentence can be a one-word expletive if that’s what it takes. (Personally, I love that kind of sentence!) What it can’t be is something that slithers down the page like boa constrictor, festooned with inappropriate commas (or no commas) and questions marks where periods should go, until the  life of your story is choked dead as a ferret (or whatever boa constrictors eat) in the jungle (or wherever they all live, including The Third Ring of Outer Gyyzapius).

Reading should not be a life or death struggle. Nor should writing, despite whatever the late, great Red Smith may have opined about sitting down at the typewriter and opening a vein.

I’m a great fan of rule-breaking and rule-breaking with impugnity, as you may have gathered from the number of broken rules and sentence fragments above. (That may have been a sentence ending in a preposition right there.)

It’s one of the reasons I love reading and writing paranormals so much: You get to break rules and makes stuff up.  Create worlds. (As long as you stay logical and abide by the rules you’ve created for that world.)

For years, we thought of vampires strictly in terms of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, which is where we got the vampire rulz of garlic, no images in the mirror, wooden stakes and silver bullets. Then along came sparkly Edward of the Twilight saga, who could go out in daylight but glittered like diamonds. And J.R. Ward’s beefcakey boys in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series,who were not undead, and not turned humans, but a whole different HOT species.

Just because one writer once made something up, doesn’t mean you must adhere to that writer’s world. Especially if we are dealing with otherworldly beings.

In my recent series of 1Night Stand stories for Decadent Publishing, I write about a trio of succubus sisters. The first, Lily Night, put her high school prom date into a coma the first time they were together, because she didn’t yet know how to cope with the electricity and the lightning she generated during sex. One reviewer, who loved the story, nevertheless wondered if lightning wasn’t supposed to be a Valkyrie thing.

Well, yes. If you’re in Kelsey Cole’s Immortals After Dark world.

But now you’re in mine.

Here’s the blurb from FROST, my February erotic paranormal release from Decadent Publishing. The heroine is Dagney Night, Lily’s younger sister:

Dagney Night, a sought-after succubus, is no stranger to blazing hot sex. But as Valentine’s Day approaches, she longs for something more. When oddly erotic paintings arrive for display at her art gallery, arousing everyone who views them, she wonders about the mysterious artist who created the works.

Maxwell Raines, a fire-sex demon, lives a life of solitude and seclusion behind the walls of his compound at Sleepy Hollow, channeling his lustful impulses into his art—until his muse deserts him and his temperature rises past the danger point. He needs sex. Now. 

When Madame Evangeline arranges a torrid Valentine’s 1Night Stand for them, will the flames of their encounter be too hot to handle? 

More about the Author:

Taryn Kincaid lives in scenic Serendipity-By-the-Sea. (Go ahead. Try to find it on a map. If you do, Taryn will send you a smooch. Also a Nutter Butter.) She is an Olympic caliber athlete in egg rolling contests and spends a great deal of her time petitioning the U.S.O.C. to introduce fantail shrimp competition. When she's not bungee jumping off the Palisades or parasailing up and down the Hudson River, she devotes her time to caring for her aging pet walrus, arranging her voodoo doll-pin collection and practicing rhythmic chants. At this moment, she is busy picking up loose wholewheat spaghetti sticks that spilled out of the cupboard and onto her kitchen floor. Wait. Is that something…shiny? 

Taryn hangs around a lot on Facebook and Twitter with her trillions of fans and pops in at Goodreads from time to time. You can catch her on her website, http://tarynkincaid.com, and her blog, http://dreamvoyagers.blogspot.com where she lives for comments! She implores you to buy her books so she can retire. 

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5 Elements That Take Your Story Idea from Notion to Novel

by Catherine Chant 

Where do you get your ideas from? That’s a question many writers, including myself, hear from readers quite often. Most of us respond that they come from all around us. A news story, a personal anecdote heard at the school bus stop, an incident witnessed at the mall. Ideas surround us all the time. Even when we sleep, our heads are filled with ideas. 

I think a more interesting question, that probably has a more specific answer (depending on the author) would be, how did your idea become a book? Because that’s the real question, isn’t it? What magic did you do that turned something like “Lone child survives air disaster” into a plot that kept that reader glued to the pages.  

In my March workshop, “Avoid the Rough: Turning Your Story Idea Into a Workable Plot,” we start off with this very topic. Every book starts as just an idea, but then several elements join together to make a solid plot and a story people want to read.

Five of those elements are, in no specific order because it doesn’t matter when you come up with them as you’re brainstorming, just that you do: 

1.      Characters

2.      A story goal

3.      An opposing force

4.      Conflict

5.      Stakes

Characters means interesting people the reader can root for. Kat Duncan teaches a wonderful online course called “Make Me Care.” That’s one of the most important things about developing characters. Make readers care about what happens to them. Otherwise, they’ll put the book down. 

A Story Goal means something you’re rooting for the characters (you care about) to achieve. It’s something external (like to solve a crime, find a missing person) as well as internal (some flaw inside the character that must be resolved). 

The Opposing Force is what keeps the characters from getting what they want. If they could get what they want right away, the story would be rather boring and over before it starts. In some books, this force is a person, a bad guy, the villain. In others it’s a situation or maybe an emotional roadblock. Some stories combine all three. 

Conflict is what happens when goal hits opposition. Not just for the story goal and the major opposition, but throughout the story as well, in every scene. Between characters, between the character and himself, between the character and his situation. Conflict is the struggle that ensues when the character goes after what he wants but can’t get it. 

Stakes are related to the conflict. Show what’s at risk for your character. A character shouldn’t do something for no good reason, or just because you, the writer, tell him to do it. He must want to do it and want to do it against great odds. Don’t let your character’s journey ever be too easy or your story may fall flat and the reader puts the book down. 

There are several other elements as well, such as an emotional hook and clear language, but you can probably see a pattern starting here. Readers are drawn to stories where a character they care about is put into a tough situation that requires resilience and smarts to make it through to a satisfying end. 

In the novel I’m working on now, a young adult mystery, the very first seed of an idea started with the image of a graveyard. In fact, I’d given the story the title “The Graveyard” for the longest time because that’s where it had originated. In the graveyard was the tombstone of a girl the same age as the main character. I was thinking “ghost story” at the time, and saw the character living in the dead girl’s house, envisioning a connection between the two. Maybe even communication. Then came the question, how did the girl die and who killed her? 

From there I went through brainstorming elements like those listed above until I had a clearer picture of my main character and what she wanted in life and why she couldn’t have it. The resulting story evolved quite a bit from the image of the graveyard into a full-blown murder mystery. Although the graveyard still plays a small role in the story and there is a subtle paranormal element to the story, it isn’t a direct ghost story anymore. The new tentative title is “Swings and Pendulums” (the blurb is on my website under Books-->Works in Progress) and it examines several universal themes such as family, friendship, and sibling rivalry that go way beyond the initial idea of a girl and a ghost. 

My young adult time travel romance, “Wishing You Were Here,” started from an 80’s song inspired by a dead musician I’d vaguely heard of. When I looked into it more, I discovered long-forgotten hit songs and a tragic story that made me wonder, “What if you could go back in time and give someone a second chance?” Not a very original idea, I’m sure many have wondered the same thing, but it was a catalyst that drove me to brainstorm those five elements above, and write a unique love story between a 21^st century music enthusiast and a 1950’s teen idol, filled with plenty of conflict, not the least of which is how a modern girl with strong ambitions and even stronger opinions deals with the chauvinistic music industry while trapped in 1957. 

Want to learn more about how to take your story idea and turn it into a workable plot? Join me March 4-22, 2013 at FF&P for my class “Avoid the Rough: Turning Your Story Idea into a Workable Plot” (with a broad strokes outline). Don’t let the word “outline” scare you.” If you like to the write by the seat of your pants, this class is for you too because a broad strokes outline doesn’t tie you down, just helps you brainstorm those key elements that your story idea needs to move from notion to novel. 

More About the Author:

Catherine Chant is a PRO member of the Romance Writers of America RWA) and a Golden Heart® finalist. Her first novel, WISHING YOU WERE HERE (Soul Mates #1), is a young adult time travel romance available in both print and electronic editions at Amazon.com. You can find out more about Catherine at:

 

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I hope you will join my class on

Avoid the Rough:

Turning Your Story Idea

Into a Workable Plot

Hosted by

Fantasy-Futuristic & Paranormal Romance Writers

This 2 Week class starts March 4, 2013

For more information click HERE

Finding Your Emotional Rhythm by Eileen Wilks

What in the world is emotional rhythm? 

 

And why should you care?

 

It has nothing to do with your own emotional ups and downs and everything to do with the journey you take readers on. Emotional rhythm is the emotional pacing of a story. Like pacing in general, it occurs on both the macro and micro level—that is, as a component of your story's structure, and also within each scene. With emotional rhythm, however, we're not measuring speed. We're looking at the emotional changes of the story.

 

Maybe you're nodding now. That makes sense, but still, why does it matter? Why should you care? Because, like voice, emotional rhythm is both deeply personal and--when executed authentically and well-- compelling to readers. It may even be considered an aspect of voice because it arises naturally from within and informs every aspect of our stories.

 

If you've been writing awhile, you've probably noticed that lovely ping when a scene suddenly comes alive. This ping can happen in the first draft or the fifth or the fifteenth. It doesn't mean the scene is finished; you may have only half of it written, or what you have may be very rough. But it feels right. The balance between tension, explanation, and humor pleases you. Any shifts between distance and intimacy with the characters feel spot on; you've dropped the right amount of questions, answers, and surprises into the mix; and the scene moves through a satisfying number of emotional changes.

You've hit your innate emotional rhythm.

 

Knowing this can help. It helps me when I'm writing a scene and it feels off and I have no idea why. You've been there, right?  

Spending days working on a scene that just doesn't feel right even though you know what you want to happen, what needs to happen, and it's driving you nuts . . . until finally you move this bit of dialogue, remove that explanation, add more interaction between these two characters . . . and oh yeah, you can shift this bit to the end, and rewrite this section to add a crucial detail more smoothly and highlight the emotional impact and . . .
 

Ping!
 

Knowing that my struggle has a name is comforting. More, it can help me ask the right questions, and we all know that it's hard to get useful answers if we're asking the wrong questions. Does the scene feel flat and boring? If my answer is “yes, dammit,” the problem is probably the emotional rhythm. Next question: what about this scene is fascinating to me? (Emphasis important, because this is about finding my own emotional rhythm, not some hypothetical reader's. I want to please readers, yes, but I can no more write to their rhythm than I can write in their voice.) And what do I have to include in this scene that I don't find exactly gripping? What would make me want to pay attention to this element? Asking these questions can often unlock a scene for me.

 

But that is emotional rhythm on the micro or scene level. I said that it happens on the macro level, too. How does that work? How does emotional rhythm relate to a story's overall structure?
 

 
Your emotional rhythm will inevitably shape your story, whether you're conscious of this or not. But knowing about it gives you one more tool in your toolbox when something isn't working. If you get comments from critique partners or judges about a scene feeling stilted or forced and you don’t understand what they mean, you might look at that scene in terms of the story’s emotional rhythm. Perhaps you’ve included a love scene where you think your genre demands one—but it’s throwing off your innate emotional rhythm. You might have decided to include backstory via dialogue between two characters when your natural emotional rhythm calls for a flashback. Or vice versa.
 

 
Something similar happened to me recently. I’d been rewriting the same scene over and over, unable to make it come out right, authentic, real. I finally realized I was trying for scary with plenty of action. I thought that’s what I was supposed to do at that point in the story, you see. But my personal emotional rhythm called for a false dawn—a period when things seem to be looking up, but the undercurrents are saying whoa. Danger ahead.
 

 
There is no one right type of emotional rhythm, and your rhythm as a writer may not match with some of the stories you love to read. Why should it? You probably read from a wide variety of styles. I certainly do. I'm going to give some examples, using labels I find convenient. These NYT best-selling authors have clear and consistent—and vastly different—emotional rhythms:
 

In terms of emotional pacing, Sue Grafton is more of a straight road writer. Her stories build slowly, picking up weight and meaning as they go, to end like juggernauts.

Mary Balogh is more of a tapestry writer. Her books are not fast-paced, nor is there a great deal of obvious external plot., but their emotional rhythm pulls the reader along. Each scene is emotionally dense or charged, often cycling through several emotional changes.

Nora Roberts’s scenes are less emotionally dense, and her books are faster paced. Many of the scenes are dialogue-driven. Each scene has a clear emotional arc, but that arc varies—there’s humor, danger, determination, loss, victory.

You might be a “tapestry” writer if you include a lot of detail in your stories—details about the setting and the characters (major and secondary.) A lot of women’s fiction and historical romance authors are tapestry writers. So are some fantasy writers, both urban fantasy and paranormal romance, because world-building is often a hallmark of the tapestry style. And so is one of my personal favorites who writes books with “thriller” on the spine: Sara Paretsky. Oh, and there's another favorite author, this one of historical mysteries, I'd call a tapestry writer: Margaret Frazier.

You might be a straight road writer if your stories are tense, dramatic, and end with a shocking bang, one that’s been building throughout the book. Obviously, all books build towards the climax, but with a straight road writer, secondary characters and subplots exist mainly as distractions so that the surprise at the end will be even more satisfying. Many thriller writers are “straight road” writers. Kay Hooper comes to mind. You'll also find a lot of straight-road writers in romantic suspense, science fiction, and category romance.

You might be a Nora-style author if your stories are dialogue-driven with crisp action scenes (and I consider sex scenes to be action scenes), a clear but varied emotional arc to each scene, and no more detail than is necessary to set up the scenes. Mary Janice Davidson is a good example. So is Jayne Ann Krentz, whatever name she writes under. This emotional rhythm is suited to all types of romance, but you’ll find it in a lot of mysteries, too, and some science fiction.

A type of emotional rhythm I find particularly satisfying as a reader is what I call the “Surprise!” style. These writers surprise the reader over and over; much of the emotion relies on repeated surprise. Writers who do this well often rise to the top of their field. This style works for any and all genres, but is particularly suited for books with plenty of action. Jim Butcher comes to mind. So do Dorothy Dunnet and Janet Evanovitch. Very different writers, stories, genres—but in each case I’m surprised over and over and have to keep reading to see what will happen.

A final note. These are generalizations, not rules . . . generalizations that I find useful, but your speed may vary. Don’t let any of this straight-jacket you. Also, many of us are a blend of styles. For example: a Nora-style author might find category romance a good fit—but I'm mostly a tapestry writer with a dollop of straight-road, not Nora-style at all. And I sold nearly 20 category novels before moving to single title. So take what you like and leave the rest.

Eileen Wilks is the author of MORTAL TIES Berkley 10/12 and is the NYT best-selling author of over thirty books and novellas, including her World of the Lupi series. A multiple RITA finalist and recipient of a Romantic Times Career Achievement Award, she’s currently hard at work on the tenth book in the series, RITUAL MAGIC. Eileen came to writing the usual way: by reading compulsively and daydreaming a lot. She likes quilting, dark matter, chocolate, books on brain science, yoga, and painting things—walls, boxes, furniture, floors, even canvases sometimes . . . but not the cats. The cats do not wish to be painted. She also likes to hear from readers. http://www.eileenwilks.com/  

I hope you will join my class on

URBAN FANTASY

Hosted by

Fantasy-Futuristic & Paranormal Romance Writers

This 2 Week class starts March 18, 2013

For more information click HERE