Set Your Story!

Happy Monday, everyone! Hope you all had a fabulous weekend and are ready to start the awesome week ahead. No? Well, grab that coffee and let's talk about setting. You know, that place in your story where your characters dwell.

There are two ways to go about giving setting:
1. The old way of bogging people down with pages and pages of "what the character sees."
2. The more interesting way of putting the character IN the setting and letting the reader know how it feels.

We're, obviously, focusing on the second way.

Why? Because it's more interesting to read and keeps folks from paging through your book really fast.

So, what's the difference? If you aren't sure, I ask you to recall a book you read in some time and space where your eyes glazed over as the author described the trees, flowers, and sun.

Now do you know what I mean?

Let's get the hell on with examples, shall we?

Example of style 1:
     Juniper sat on the stone bench and stared at the water after her breakup with Harold. Red roses bloomed in abundance, their thorny stems intertwining. Next to them were pansies in every color of the rainbow. On the water floated boats with giant, white sails billowing in the wind. Across the water stood the poor houses. She used to live there. People were standing outside or sitting in chairs, doing nothing. A couple of children were playing in the many puddles on the street. Broken down cars with weeds growing out of them were scattered here and there.

And so on, and so forth.

Now, let's give style 2 a try:
     Juniper sat on the bench, the cold of the stone seeping through her shorts as she stared at the water, wishing it would bring calm with its lapping sounds. Red roses bloomed near the shoreline in abundance, their thorny stems intertwining like lovers in a secret embrace. She couldn't help but think how, just hours before, she was in a similar embrace. While the roses would be strong, her love was broken.
     Why did it have to be that way?
     Through the ship sails, she could just make out the poor houses on the other side of the river where her family lived. Once upon a time, she was one of the dirty children playing in the puddles and around the abandoned cars--those weeds growing out the windows and doors gave her hay fever more times than she cared to mention. But she'd gotten out of there.
     What about that didn't Harold understand?

This isn't a vice I suggest you use often. Page after page of anything like that will get old. However, if you're in a key scene, you should get your reader invested in the story by pulling out all the feels.

In the first example, you're looking at the scenery as an outsider; in the second, you're feeling how it might impact someone.

There's the key to engaging the reader in a show, don't tell, situation. Again, telling is for the parts where not a lot is happening and you don't want the reader to slow down and pay attention. More on showing vs. telling in this post.

Care to give it a try? Revamp a scene and share with us!

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Character Bios - Visually

Happy Thursday, everyone! Today, I'm going to give you a tip to help you keep those characters you're writing about straight (and maybe even the places they live). This is gonna change the way you write forever
—I hope. It's a way to keep your characters (and their details) visible so you never have to stop writing and look something up. Ready? Grab those pens and notebooks and let's get going!

If you've been here before, I'm going to assume you've downloaded my free PDF on Novel creation. If you haven't, get it here. There's a wonderful section in the back that'll help you create a character bio. This is what you need right now. My PDF is free to download, print, and redistribute as you see fit, but please, do not sell it. It's meant to be a free tool for authors.

I tend to write character-driven fiction, so my buddies in the story are key to making things feel real to my readers. There's a requirement that I know those folks inside and out.

So, once I've decided on some details, how do I keep them straight without going back to that document every single time I want to give some goodies to the reader?

Well, this is where Google and a color printer are your friend! Do a search for your character (brown haired male with blue eyes, for example), and put it in a Word document. Size the image so it takes up most of the top. Beneath it, type out the character's height, weight, birthday, location, parents' names, and any other nuggets of fun you think you'll want to reference. Make those details BIG and BOLD.

Click print.

Create one for each character, and print those reference sheets out.

Tack them on the wall behind your desk so you can see them!

Now, go do the same for locations (these can be general or scene-specific).

Boom! All that pretty info is right there for you. All you have to do is look up!

Here's an example of one of mine (for the upcoming novel I'm writing with the Fractured Glass ladies):

Doesn't that make it so freaking easy?

Because you aren't redistributing the images, you don't have to purchase them. These are for YOU, not the world. Even if they have a watermark on them, you can see the details well enough. If you decide to use the photo for something else, please, PLEASE be sure and purchase the full sized image and correct rights.

Same goes for location scenes.

If you take the time to do this, you'll never have an inconsistency issue, and your work will gain a ton of momentum!

Have you ever done anything like this? What do you use? Discuss!

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Novel Research - How Much is Too Much?

Happy Monday, good people of the blogosphere! Welcome to another week of fun. Yeah, it's Monday, but you now have five whole days to get in your writing groove. Today, I'm talking about research. You know, that stuff that makes your book seem plausible to your reader. Ready? Grab those pens and notebooks and let's get going!

As you all are probably aware, when I was writing M, I had to do a lot of research for a few topics and scenes included in the novel. Here are a few:

Buying explosives online (yes, you can!).
What the range on a GPS tracker is.
Best sniper rifle.
What genes are responsible for reproduction.
What genes/chromosome strands are associated with malformations of the heart.
How to pick a lock (actually picked a lock to learn what this was like).
Self-contained cities (how they work).
Moving sidewalks and how one steps onto them.
What genes are responsible for "giantism."

And those are just a few. I've asked other sci-fi writers, and they have pretty much the same experience. You have to learn as much as possible so your story can ring true. Sure, you can ask an expert or read an article about how to pick a lock, but until you do it, you don't know what pitfalls may happen or how it feels.

I've talked about this before on my post Writing What You Don't Know, but sometimes you need to get into the meat of your story by heading out and experiencing things for yourself.

Don't leave your words to someone else. The way I describe something might not be the way you describe that same thing.

As a bonus, the next time you want to write about what it feels like to walk over hot coals, you'll already know. Those little tidbits will be stored in your memory bank or feelings workbook.

It's not just sci-fi that demands research. If you're planning a book where you deal with legal issues or historical facts, you have to look that up, too. Writers are born researchers, and we usually have a thirst for first-hand knowledge of topics.

What's been the most fun/interesting thing you've ever had to research for a book? What book was it?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Atmosphere Feels - Helping Readers Feel the Characters and Setting

Happy Friday, everyone! Holy cow, what a week, huh? It's been blazing trails here on my desk. Huge edit, schedules for bloggers, handling the radio show, and blogging every day have me so confuddled, I'm not sure whether to scratch my watch or wind my butt. But! Today, I'm all about the writing tip! I had a discussion with Teal Haviland, creator of the awesome website My Endless Endings (it's like a smashup of Facebook and Goodreads), and she suggested a post on atmosphere and feels. So, we'll be talking atmosphere and all the feels your character can get from their surroundings (and how to communicate that to the reader). Grab those pens and notebooks and let's get going!

So, your character is on their journey, and they walk into a room. Let's do this via examples. My character will be named Teal, and she's going to her grandmother's house.

     Teal stepped into the room and plopped down on a sofa, putting her feet on the coffee table. A teapot was sitting nearby, and she snagged a cup, filling it with the hot liquid. She took a sip, and relaxed as she waited for her grandmother to come downstairs.
     After waiting for half an hour, Teal wondered what was taking Grandma so long. Something felt off. She usually made an appearance within five minutes or so, and Teal was getting worried. Carefully, she put down the cup, rose to her feet, and walked back to the foyer to look up the stairs.

Okay, there's Teal in her environment. You all know I'm not one of those writers that goes into a ton of description. However, there's a time and a place for everything. You need tension in this scene, so description and engagement of the five senses will help. Remember this post. Yeah, only this time we're talking about how the environment impacts the character's feels. If you have your Feelings Workbook, pull it out now. Let's edit!

     Teal stepped over the threshold to a dimly lit foyer. Shivers ran down her spine when she inhaled and the musky scent of the house assaulted her. Moving to the living room, she sat on the flower-print couch, wondering where the plastic cover went, and put her feet on the antique coffee table. A silver tray with a porcelain teapot and cups was nearby, and she tossed a sugar cube in one of the cups before pouring over the liquid. She took a sip, wrinkling her nose at the bitterness of the drink, being careful not to burn her tongue, and sat back as her eyes scanned the room and she waited for her grandmother to come downstairs.
     Time ticked by, increasing the unease Teal felt when she entered. Where was Grandma? She always arrived within five minutes to spread the latest gossip from the other blue-haired ladies in the neighborhood.
     Teal's shoes clicked on the floor when she put her feet down. In the absolute still, it was like a gunshot. She winced, carefully put down the cup, and removed her shoes. Holding the slingbacks by their straps, she rose and tip-toed back to the foyer. Her heart pounded in her chest and echoed in her ears.
     One of the floorboards in the ancient wood creaked, and she paused, ticking back her ears. Dread slammed into her, and she let her gaze float up the stairs, tracking the fresh boot prints on the beige carpet.

In the first passage, you understand something's not quite right at Grandma's house. In the second, you feel like it's something sinister. Smell, sight, sounds, touch, and taste are all engaged.

Why? What's the difference?

In the first passage, there's little to no description of the environment or how it's impacting the character. If the surroundings don't have a feeling, your reader won't feel. Sure, you can tell them, but they want to feel it, too. You have to show in this case. If you noticed, from the content of passage two, we're now aware plastic is missing, the lights are dim, the tea is hot, it's too quiet in the house, and there are fresh boot prints on the carpet.

What do you think Teal will find based on the first passage? How about the second?

What do you feel when you read each one?

We can bring a lot out by describing the atmosphere of the character's environment, and it'll translate to the reader. I do ask that you use this tactic sparingly. Pages and pages of description will bog your reader (and your story) down.

Now you try it. Start with a passive scene, and make it an active scene.

Let's see your results. Don't be scared to share!

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Your Opening Scene

Happy Thursday, everyone! Hang in there, Friday is just around the corner. Today, I'm talking about your opening scene. There are certain obligations you, the writer, have in those first few pages, and I'll go over the most imperative four. Ready? Grab those pens and notebooks and let's get going!

When you're browsing a bookstore, do you just read the blurb on the back of the book, or do you open the cover and read a couple of paragraphs to see if you might like what's inside?

I'm betting you do a little of both. Well, the people who plan to read your novel will likely do the same thing. Why not hook them with a little bit of oomph? There are a couple of things people don't even know they're looking for, but if those things are missing, their reader brains will shut off and your book will be stuck back on the shelf or dropped back on the table.

Some of these, I bet you even do on accident. Besides the tips on using powerful words, from a post I wrote on the first one hundred, you have to set certain things up. If you missed the post before this one, I recommend checking it out, too.

1. You have to hook the reader into the story. This goes back to that post on the first one hundred words. These words should be powerful and resonate deeply in the soul. Perhaps even introduce the central conflict or present a question that will be answered later. Either way, you want them to keep reading.
2. Consistency is the ruler of all else. Your beginning should set the tone and establish rules you'll adhere to later on in the story. Don't have the reader walk into a suspense thriller only to throw them into fairy land a page later (unless it's a fantasy thriller with killer sprites that slash people to death with razor wings). You get the point here. Also, don't use a hook that has nothing to do with the rest of the novel. Readers will feel, rightly so, they've been hoodwinked.
3. Give the central conflict. Your reader wants to know why they should keep reading. If Jane is going to plod through the book with no direction or goal, it probably won't be something many (any?) people would enjoy spending time on. There's room for some action. If you're using a prologue, this is where you can show the blood, guts, and gore (if that's what your book is all about) just before the bad guy escapes and leaves a path of death in his wake. Yes!
4. Hint at the ending. Have you ever been stuck at the end of a story that's flown from your fingers up until that point? It might be time to start reading your manuscript from the beginning. If you've crafted it well, you'll have an idea of where it's going by examining where it began. Readers like that, too! When they have a vague idea of what might happen, they're intrigued enough to buy the book to find out. Think "central conflict" as mentioned above.

Don't backstory dump on your reader! Please. Readers aren't stupid. In fact, many of them are highly educated and well read. They know how to infer things from the text. You don't have to spoonfeed them every single detail. Especially in the first chapter. Trust that your audience is intelligent, and your writing will take on a whole new level of awesome.

Did you know any of these? What's your favorite hundred opening words of all time?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Men vs Women - Author's Voice

Happy Thursday, and welcome to another writing tips post, everyone! Today, we're talking about your author voice and how it translates to the reader vs how you want it to translate. Ready? Grab those pens and notebooks and let's get going!

How about a slice of truth to start us off?

If you're a female, chances are very good that, no matter how hard you try, you'll sound like a female when you write (even if from a male POV). Same goes for you males.

While there are authors who've managed to pull off writing as the opposite sex, I'm positive their editor made a huge difference. If that editor was male and the voice in the book was male, he likely told the author that a man/boy would never think/say/do "this." Likewise for the male writing as a female, using a female editor.

So how can we, as writers, fix it?

Let's go into the male writing as a female first:

Women are emotionally driven creatures. We cry, we care, and we talk about our personal lives a lot. When we talk, we generally use softer words like "would you mind" and "what do you think about this." We're often unsure about what we say or how it will come off to other people (we care about what you hear), and we don't like to hurt feelings or be crass.

Our thought process leans toward our families or responsibilities when we're in peril, and most of us aren't as highly competitive as men. To get us interested, you have to put out a ton of feeling and market to our gentle, helpful, feminine side. We also love to be empowered.

Now, women writing as men:

Men are action and solution driven creatures. If there's no clear goal, and the character isn't fighting toward something they can achieve against all odds, men won't identify. They use clear, demanding speech, that tends to lean toward sarcasm and "taboo" topics. They don't talk about personal things, and they generally prefer confrontation to descriptive floweriness.

Their thought process leans toward the thrill of the moment, and most of them desire to win. To get them interested, you have to market to their competitive, thrill-seeking side.

How do you get to know a woman's thought process? Spend time talking with them, asking questions, and paying attention to how they interact with their peers. Same goes for how to get into a man's head. You have to really immerse yourself in the gender if you want to be believable.

Go now and take a look at ads geared toward women, and then look at some geared toward men. See any difference? That's what connecting with a gender is all about. Books work the exact same way.

If you're a non-fiction writer, you may need to create two separate books; one that uses language women want, and one that appeals to men.

Male readers consume only 20% of the literary fiction read today. Know what that means? Right! Women are left with a whopping 80% of the pie.

Wow.

So what do the other 80% of men read? Sci-Fi, History, and Political. Certainly food for thought.

Have you stepped into the shoes of the opposite gender? How did it work out for you?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Avoiding the Backstory Infodump by Using Layers

Happy Tuesday, good people of the blogosphere! Today, we're talking about backstory. Every character has one, but no one wants it shoved in their face in huge chunks. I'll be giving you some ways to work the yummy goodness in as your story progresses so you can avoid the dreaded infodump. Ready? Grab those pens and notebooks and let's get going!

#1: Throw out tidbits in dialogue

This one can be fun. Say you have two characters arguing. One friend screams at the main character about an embarrassing or revealing thing that happened in the past that shaped the MC's personality. Boom. Backstory. One character can also be talking to another and reveal something about the MC's past to explain why he/she reacted the way they did in a situation. There's no need for a whole conversation about it; just throw things in here or there.

#2: First person thoughts

I have an excellent example of this one! In Fractured Glass Kelly Risser lets Sloan remember a time when she and Diego rode an amusement park ride and he yakked afterward. This reveal came when he groaned through her earpiece after she flipped around and around, and she needed to recall his motion sickness issue. It flowed right into the story, but gave the reader a better understanding of Diego.

#3: Memories

This one can be a bit tricky. Some people go into memories as a whole separate scene, but they don't have to be set apart. You can add a snatch of them here and there like sprinkles, rather than dredging the entire cupcake and leaving the reader with a mouth full of pasty yuck. When the character sees a rose, he/she can have three lines of memory that recalls the funeral of a good friend. Don't get bogged down in details.

#4: Third person narrative

While it isn't the best way to work in a lot of drama, you can have the narrator recall a situation where the MC changed or did something amazing/horrid. "This one time, at band camp, Harry and Joe..." You get my point.

#5: Long flashbacks or dreams

This is where you cut out a chunk of story and lend it to the character's drama. It becomes a whole separate scene in the chapter where you go into feelings, who, what, when, and where. Long flashbacks should be used sparingly (italics are hard on the eyes). If in a dream sequence, try offsetting it with asterisks rather than setting in italics. Be sure you're setting time and space in there somewhere so you don't lose the reader.

#6: Paperwork

Exactly what it says. Maybe the character finds an old newspaper article stuffed in a photo album that was locked in a trunk in the attic for fifty years. Perhaps it's birth certificates. If you're V. C. Andrews, it would most certainly be the latter, and the document revealing Mom and Dad as brother and sister won't be discovered by the child until the last page of the last book. Yikes.

Something important to remember: Don't use these items until your story has been well established. Readers need some mystery as they dive into the prose, and most don't want to be dumped on early in the novel. When there's nothing left to discover, why keep reading?

I hope you found these tips useful.

Any you hadn't thought of?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

13 Rules for Stronger Writing

Happy Friday, everyone! Wow, it's the weekend already. I feel like I've missed out on a couple of days in here somehow. Anywho, today is all about making your writing stronger. I have thirteen tips that'll help you keep your writing flowing. Ready? Awesome. Grab those pens and notebooks and let's get going!

No dallying today. Right into it. When examples are given, what you shouldn't do will be in red, what you should do will be in green.

1. Use active voice. Don't use were. Reconstruct your sentences to read as it is. Example: There were fifteen girls standing on the field. Fifteen girls stand on the field.
2. Kill the truth. If reality is blocking, make up new rules. You're writing fiction, after all.
3. Unite common phrases. Things that go together, stay together. Example: Molly lifted her arm and then, with a roar like a lion, she began beating the door. Molly lifted her arm, roared like a lion, and beat the door.
4. Write as you see. When you're writing, think visually about the scene, and use the imagery as fodder.
5. Catch the beat. All writing has a rhythm. You know it. Use it.
6. IT is a horror story. Beware of dangling "it" in your prose. Example: I thought it was strange. I thought the chair scooting across the floor by itself was strange.
7. Sentence structure variation. Don't write the same sentence over and over. Example: I walked into the kitchen. I got a glass from the cabinet. I filled the glass with water, and I drank. I drank it in one gulp. I walked into the kitchen, grabbed a glass, and filled it with water. As thirsty as I was, it went down in one gulp.
8. Marry related words. Keep things together that go together. Example: Henry stared at the float in the pool that was spinning in the middle. Henry stared at the float spinning in the middle of the pool.
9. Allow the reader to infer. Don't over explain. Example: "I'll do anything I can to help," Tina said lovingly. "I'll do anything I can to help," Tina said.
10. Create parallels. Mix some ideas and compare two unrelated things.
11. Kill repetition. Don't use the same word more than once in a paragraph; your reader will feel like they're reading the same sentence again and again.
12. Use one instead of two. If you can delete a word and not lose meaning, do so. Example: A scary, creepy spider is crawling up my leg. A creepy spider is crawling up my leg.
13. Beef up with stronger verbs and concrete nouns. Use these to replace adverbs and adjectives.

I hope you got some good tips today. Any of these that you didn't know?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Cook Your Novel Low and Slow

Happy Tuesday, good people of the blogosphere! If you remember my post from yesterday, where I gave you some tips and tricks on how to speed up the pace of your novel, you'll know what's coming today. If you missed that one, be sure and check it out here. We're talking about how to slow down the pace today. So, grab those pens and notebooks and let's get going!

Sometimes, a novel needs to slow down a bit to let the reader catch their breath. Unless you're Dean Koontz, or your idea is similar to Intensity, where the reader is on the edge of their seat the whole time. Ha! Readers need a break in the action or they get overwhelmed.

Here's how you can slow things up a bit:

• Have your character make a mistake. Success constantly moves a story forward, and it increases the pace. If you want to slow down a bit, introduce a misstep they have to reverse and correct before proceeding.

• Distract the character. This move can also distract the reader, so use with care. You can engage the reader's emotions rather than starting a mundane task though. Maybe John and Marsha are arguing, and the intensity of the scene is up there. She's getting ready to go on a date with him, so she stops yelling and turns to apply her makeup (which is difficult with the tears in her eyes). You get the point.

• Change the structure. Longer sentences take more time to read and digest. Be wordy, use description, and use words like flugelbinder (kidding - that's not a word). On a serious note, pay attention to the length of paragraphs or placement of soft sounding words.

• Insert inner-monologue or memories. These are an excellent device to halt the flow of the story by bringing the reader back in time or into the character's head. It stilts flow, and that's good when trying to slow things down.

• Insert action scene followup. Your character just committed his or her first murder. Give them a moment to reflect on what they've done and think about the consequences. Not all action scenes need this, but use it when you need to cook something to a tender state.

• Use more description. I'm terrible at this (just ask my editor), but it has it's place in a novel. Sometimes, talking about the scenery or what the little dog's fur color pattern looks like is just what a scene needs to add a little molasses.

I hope you found these tips helpful. Are there any I missed?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Pick Up the Pace

Happy Monday, everyone! Today, we're talking about ways to increase the pace in your novel. I assume you've used the tools in my previous post on measuring pace and scene writing, so now I'm going to give you ways to speed it all up. Tomorrow, I'll tell you how to slow things down. Grab those pens and notebooks and let's get going!

You hear folks talk about how a novel dragged on and on, right? To keep your readers interested, you have to have the right combo of a fast pace and a let's-look-at-each-and-every-flower-and-tree pace. Those novels that dragged had more of the second kind. *grin*

Let's fix that.

• Word usage. This is the most basic way to increase a novel's pace. Shorter words and sentences make reading and processing easier. Seek out places you can cut a sentence to six words or fewer. Oftentimes, you can remove introductory words: Then, However, Often, etc... Independent clauses can come out if they aren't helping the sentence. MS Word has a checker that will seek out wordy sentences for you. You can highlight the section and tell the program to look at it. Easy peasy.

• Dialogue with few to no action tags. If you refrain from giving description of the characters' movements or expressions during dialogue, it'll help. Stick with invisible tags (tags readers see but don't actually have to process): Said, Asked, Answered. Don't go down the rabbit hole, and keep the back and forth going.

• Action! This is where you can leave off the telling and show. You aren't trying to increase tension, just give the character some kind of goal and get him or her there. If it's a battle scene, you want to do a little telling and describe a few things, but don't go into paragraph after paragraph of description. Action happens quickly, and you, the writer, can just sit back and watch as the beauty unfolds.

• Suspense. Yeah, that's right, keep the reader turning the pages to find out what the heck is going on. You'd think dragging something out would slow things down, but it actually engages the reader's brain and makes them read faster so they can find a solution to their twanging nerves.

• Scene cut/breaks. This is where there's no transition to a new scene. You can end the previous scene on a cliffhanger or not, but your story makes a leap into something totally different. Keep in mind, you can also create a scene cut by cutting out some of the tale where the prose is dragging.

• Summary paragraphs. Your character just spent three months getting to know the people around them? Awesome. Readers will be fine with a summary now and then if nothing significant happens during those three months. Cut the scene and summarize.

You can use some or all of these techniques. Either way, you're guaranteed to pick up the pacing of your story if you follow the suggestions above.

Which one(s) did you know about, and which are new?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Stealing Characters

Happy, happy Monday, good people of the blogosphere! Wow. I'm totally late again. But at least I got something written and posted today, right? So, we're gonna talk about this lovely thing I like to call imagination. Basically, I'm going to tell you where you can steal characters and it be on the up and up, and how anyone that tells you otherwise is full of mahoney. Grab those pens and notebooks and let's get going!

Where do characters come from, anyway? You can say they're all figments of the author's imagination. You can say they're everyone and no one at all. Heck, you can even say they're people the author knew/know.

And you know what? You'd be right on every count.

There's no such thing as an original character.

Are you ready to rip my face off yet? Good. Now, let me explain.

Your characters will all have an inherent piece of you. Yes, all of them. When you have to write anger, you draw on your own experiences with anger. In this way, it's impossible to write what you don't know. If you happen to come upon a feeling you've never had, chances are you'd have to ask someone else what it's like. Therefore, your character takes on a few basic traits of that person.

Writing that woman you watched in the airport who was oozing emotion through the phone at what you could only guess was a man? She's totally unique and not you, right?

Sorry. No.

Because what you've seen of her brings you to certain conclusions of your own about who she is. You draw upon experiences you've had in the past to fill in the rest of the proverbial sketch of her life.

But what about that character that came from nowhere? You just sat down, chose a name, created an identity, and drew them from thin air, right?

Let's think about that for a moment.

While that character in the book may have purple hair, pointy ears, and a forked tongue, you have to create a personality from somewhere. If you don't use your resources: yourself, a friend, a stranger you spoke to, a family member, a character you once read about that stuck with you in personality, an old classmate you hated/loved, etc..., you're setting yourself up for failure and flat characters.

There's no such thing as an original character. Even if the man or woman in your book has one small piece of you, it's not 100% unique. They must have some part of someone to be real.

But characters aren't real, Jo!

Aren't they? Don't they talk to you when you're writing them, telling you how to write their story so the world sings along? Don't they force your hand sometimes?

I don't know a writer anywhere who says, "My characters do exactly what I tell them, and my story doesn't suffer for it." Yeah, that's not the way it works.

We create these people, and they go with us everywhere. I'm almost convinced those crazy people who walk around mumbling things to themselves aren't crazy at all; they're retired authors talking to the characters that refuse to leave.

They're in your head. You formed them. You breathed life into them. They're all going to have a piece of you, no matter how miniscule.

Guess what that means? If you're a lot like author ABC over there, and the two of you have had similar experiences/pasts, your characters might just act and sound alike.

Nothing wrong with that.

So, the next time friend A asks you if they're in your book, smile at them and nod your head. Chances are, there are enough pieces there to make it the truth.

But never, ever be afraid to steal bits and pieces of those folks you meet on the street or watch on the sly. They'll inject your characters with new traits.

What do you think? Have you written a character who acts/sounds like someone you know (accidentally)?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Have You Seen a Scene Around Here? Scene Writing 101

Happy Thursday, everyone! Today, we're gonna talk about scene writing. Every book is a collection of scenes, so getting this part right is kind of a must. Grab those pens and notebooks and let's get going!

First off, understand that every scene has three basic parts: An opener, a middle, and a conclusion.

A chapter, while still made up of those same parts, usually doesn't contain just one scene.

Let me break a scene down for you. We'll use a tidbit from my section of Fractured Glass with Elba and Diego.

Color coding is as follows: Green = Scene Open, Red = Scene Middle, Blue = Scene End

As he walked down the hall, he pondered how she got in without setting off the alarm, and wondered if she was dangerous. Logically, he’d rather have her in the foyer than his room. After shuffling some things around, he grabbed the book, spun around, and walked right into her. “How—”

She grabbed his hand and took two steps backward.

Air like an arctic blast hit him in the face. He shivered and his teeth chattered even as his eyes scanned the area. “Whoa. We’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto.”

Walls that were once a dark blue had become rough rock. To the left, where the door used to be, there was an opening with jagged protrusions all around. He felt his jaw drop as he took in the landscape. Purple skies, bright yellow mountains, and green clouds greeted his eyes.

She snatched the journal out of his hand. “You don’t even have the beginnings of a grasp on the amount of danger those girls are in.”

“Where are we? How’d we get here? How do you know what happened? And what do you mean by ‘danger’?”

Her eyes widened, and she stuck out her hand. “I’ll show you. If you’re brave enough to come with me.”

Diego put a clammy hand in hers. “Brave? Lady, I’m like a lion. Are we going back to my house now?”

Super white teeth flashed from between her lips. “Not yet. There’s something you need to see.” She took another two steps backward.

They were in a cave—much like the previous one—only the air was warm.

He jerked his hand away, and the crazy woman disappeared. Fear clawed at his throat when a deep rumble echoed in the small space. “Hello? Where’d you go?” A scaly blue tentacle slithered from the shadows and moved over the floor in a sweeping motion. Dust and debris kicked up, forming a small cloud of particles.

Sweat beaded on his forehead as he backed toward the cave’s entrance. “Um, hello? Crazy lady? A little help here?”

Inch by agonizing inch, the thing connected to the leg came into view. It seemed to have no skeleton, rather like an octopus, but it was flat as a pancake. Once it fully emerged, he saw the teeth. He looked back and considered jumping to his death rather than being torn apart by the razor sharp incisors grinding together less than twelve feet from his position. Choices raced through his brain, and he wiped his palms on his jeans.

A sheer drop was on one side, the monster, slowly oozing its way across the floor, was on the other.

“Help!” he yelled.

Quick as a flash, the thing searching for him launched itself across the cave.

He put his hands over his head and prepared for the impact.

There was a pulling sensation on his arm, and the scene changed again. This time, he found himself waist-deep in a pond with the woman’s hand around his bicep.

For the water, he was grateful; it washed away the evidence of his fear. Anger replaced the cloying feeling present a moment before. His face was cold, and he knew he was as white as his skin could turn. Gesturing at the sky, he let his rage take over. “Where the hell did you go? That thing almost ate me!”

“I didn’t realize you’d pulled away from me. We have to keep touching or you can’t traverse the fractals with me.”

“Fractals? Lady, you’ve lost your mind! How do I get home?” Again, his teeth were chattering, but it wasn’t cold.

“Oh my. You seem to be in shock. Okay, I’ll take you home. But we can’t go back the way we came. Thanks to you, that thing in the next world over will be waiting for us. My name is Elba, by the way. You can stop calling me lady, crazy lady, and creepy lady now.”

Diego felt his face get warm. “Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ve been called worse.”

Something slithered along his leg under the murk. “Um, whatever we’re gonna do, can we do it fast?” Images of the same creature he’d just encountered being able to swim gripped him in a fist of iron. His whole body shook harder.

She smiled. “I’m working on it.” Her journal was in her hand, and she was turning it this way and that.

Another creature touched his calf, sending tingles up his leg. “I don’t mean to interrupt again, but I think something just stung me.”

“I doubt it. These are glooshna eels. They’re only put into a feeding frenzy by urine. You’ll be fine.”

“Actually…”

Her hand collided with her forehead before she slammed the book closed, grabbed his wrist, and pulled him along after her.

They turned left, climbed the embankment, and ran ten steps, then right for two steps, before the scenery changed again.

She pointed to the left. “That’s the cave you were just in.”

High up on the side of an electric green mountain, the squishy creature could be seen dangling from the hole where Diego almost met his demise. He squinted at it. “What’s it doing?”

“Shh! We certainly don’t want it to know we’re down here. Those things are fast.”

He rubbed his hand on the back of his jean shorts. “Tell me about it.”

Again, they moved forward. But this time they went fifteen steps before the scene changed. Purple skies and yellow mountains greeted them.

“This is way weird.” All the hair on his neck stood up. “Is there anything here that can eat us?”

Elba grinned. “Always assume there’s something that wants to eat you. It’s the only way you and your little friends will survive.”

He gulped.

“Now, we have to climb up to that cave so I can guarantee we end up back in your room.” She stuffed the book in her knapsack and began the ascent. By the time they reached the top, he was panting.

Grabbing his hand, she pulled him two steps forward.

They were back in his bedroom.

Diego collapsed and kissed the carpet. “So good to be back home.”

“All right, kid. Go clean up, change, and meet me in the kitchen. We need to talk.” Laughing, she strode from the room, pivoted in the hallway, and disappeared.

Rolling over, Diego lay on the soft floor, allowing himself a moment. “We need to talk.” He mimicked her gravelly voice. “You bet we do. But, this time, you’re giving me answers.”

No, this isn't the whole chapter; it's actually the second scene from the beginning of section 2 (my section of the book).

I used the five W's: Who, What, When, Where, Why.

This scene serves a huge purpose in introducing the reader to the fractals. Without this adventure, the story would be beyond confusing from here out as the characters traverse the parallel worlds.

Your beginning should set up for the action.
Then, you have the exciting part, where you get to kill people or heighten tension.
At the end, you should be preparing the reader for a transition to the next scene and leave a question or two open that needs to be answered (why should I keep reading?).

So, I answered the most basic question: Is it necessary?

Always ask yourself that when you're doing your edit. A lot of times, a scene can be cut and it not impact the overall story. Talking about what the character is seeing every other scene gets boring. Seek and destroy those dragging visuals when necessary.

When it doubt, cut it out.

Once you've identified the scenes, you can use this post to measure the pace of your entire novel. Pretty cool, huh?

This section gets a score of: Beginning = 72.6, Middle = 86.9, End = 87.5. Not bad pacing. Nice high there at the end.

What do you think? Have you ever broken down a scene like this?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Excuse Me, is Your Caps Lock on?

Happy Thursday, everyone! Book review tomorrow! I know you're all excited as can be. Today, I'm bringing you a little information on when to use a capital letter. Seems like a no-brainer kind of thing, huh? Well, it's something many, many people confuse, so I'm gonna touch on it. Grab those pens and notebooks and let's get going!
 

DON'T YOU HATE IT WHEN FOLKS DO THIS?

Yeah, I do, too.

But caps lock isn't what we're talking about here. This is all concerning those horrible things called proper nouns.

What's the difference between:
Our sergeant told us we need to fall in.
and
Hey, Sergeant said we need to fall in.

?

Are you confused?

Because, in the first, you aren't using the term as a proper noun. Terms like doctor, sweetheart, sir, madam, etc... aren't proper nouns and shouldn't get a capital letter. These are terms of endearment, not names or titles (even with titles, there's a caveat, as you can see above).

When you're talking about a thing, a word that might be capitalized in a different use might get a capital letter. Examples:

I was going to make life hell for her.
I thought I was living in Hell.

Second one is the place, Hell. First one is referring to the state of living, not the place.

I dug at the earth with my hands.
I'm from Earth.

Same situation. Lowercase earth is referring to the dirt, uppercase to the planet.

Given names get caps.
States get caps.
Your Majesty gets caps.
Our King or our Queen gets caps, but not when saying something like: He's the king of all he sees. Only when you're referring to the actual monarch should you capitalize the title.

I hope this helps you avoid a little bit of confusion.

What have you put a capital letter on only to go back and smack your head over it later?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Grammar Quiz for Thursday

Happy Thursday, everyone! Today, we're gonna do a little grammar quiz. I hope you enjoy it.



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Did you get them all right?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Your First 100 Words

Good Tuesday to you all! Today, we're gonna talk about the first 100 words of your novel, why they matter, and what you can do to help them out. No jabbering today on my part; grab those pens and notebooks and let's get going!

I know you've heard it a million (billion?) times: Your first 100 words are everything.

No, they aren't, but they're a crucial part of the whole.

Think about it. When a reader picks up your book on the shelf, the first thing they read is the back, right? Before they pick up a sample digitally, your synopsis is what they read. Once they're past that hurdle, they'll flip the book over, open the front flap, and read a couple of paragraphs. Or, in the case of a digital book, they'll download the sample, open it, and read the first couple of paragraphs.

If they enjoy it, they'll buy. Look at caviar. People like it, they pay a LOT for it.

So, your first 100 words are important, yes, because they're what will get you the sale.

I guess you could say they're one third of your most important elements. Yeah, the other two are your synopsis and last 1k words (I'll go into the last 1k sometime soon).

So how do you beef up those first few paragraphs to make them something readers are dying to get more of?

Move the reader. Give them a wow moment.

Engage the five senses, and use powerful words.

Let's try a little exercise. In this, I'll try to set the tone, hint at the genre, give a great example of my writing style, set the POV, and give a bit of a setting.

My eyes opened to find total darkness.
All my limbs began to tingle, and my breath came in ragged gasps. There was no light for my pupils to adjust to.
Not one tiny speck of illumination.
Those nightmares I had when I was younger were in my face; all too suddenly a grim reality.
I tried to sit up, to get away from the oppressive inkiness, but my head hit something that felt like wood.
Automatically, my hand moved to touch the spot, and I scraped my knuckles across the timber, making them itch with a thousand splinters.

~98 words~

Okay, now we'll have to edit this to read a little more powerfully. Ready?

My eyelids lifted, and darkness assaulted me. Oppressive, thick, suffocating. Even after a moment of lying still, not one speck of illumination could be harvested to penetrate my pupils and assist my sight.
Nightmares I'd had slammed into me full force, and I tried to rise. Something wooden smacked my head, forcing me to remain supine. My hand moved to comfort my battered forehead, only to end up itching with a thousand splinters as my knuckles scraped the timber.
I shook, wondering what I'd done to deserve my mother's punishment again, aware of the tears that were ruining my mascara.

~100 words~

Notice I got more description and feeling into the second pass. If I went over it again, it would probably remain pretty close to what I have here.

Things you know or can safely assume:

• This is a young person in a dark place (some kind of box?), with at least a piece of wood that's so close she can't sit up.
• She's lying on her back.
• This isn't the first time she's been there.
• She's afraid of creatures from nightmares or total darkness.
• First person, past tense.
• There is zero light to be had, which conveys the person is buried somehow, and it leaves the reader wondering.
• This is a punishment for misbehavior - But what?
• She's old enough to wear makeup.
• She's crying
• Probably a contemporary thriller or horror story.

From the first attempt to the second, I condensed passages, used better (stronger) words, and gave you more lead-in.

Read them again and see if you can pick up on the things I changed while conveying the same tale.

Flow wasn't sacrificed, and the sentences are more varied in the second part.

Would you want to read more?

That's the idea. You must convey to the reader many things, but it has to sound natural and leave them wanting to turn the page for more.

So, your first 100 words aren't everything, but they're crucial.

Try this exercise on your own, then go here and copy/paste your text to see if your word count hits the mark.

Post your results below! I'd love to see what you come up with.

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo