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

MS Word 2013 Tips and Tricks - Grammar Check Solutions

Happy Tuesday, everyone! Today, I'm talking about a tool you already know and love but may not be using to its full potential. Please note! I haven't tried this on earlier versions of Word, but in the 365 suite, all these functions are available for you to exploit use. Are you ready to get your awesome on? You may need pen and paper, but you might wanna open your MS Word and be ready to follow these steps. Either way, grab some java and let's get rolling!

First, open Word by clicking on the icon and choose blank document.

Next, you'll wanna go to the menu item File. Click there and you'll get a screen that looks like this:

No, I'm not gonna show you my file list. *grin* You'll know what I've been up to soon enough. Let's move on! Please click on Options down at the bottom left (see arrow).

You'll get a screen like this:

Now, we want to click on Proofing (see arrow).

And we get this:

Under the heading When Correcting Spelling and Grammar in Word, there's a Settings... box to the right of Writing Style. Be sure Grammar and Style are selected from the drop down there, then move to the box. Click it (see arrow)!

Here's where the magic happens! Look at all the nifty check boxes! If you missed changing the drop down in the step before this one, you may do that now. You won't see all these boxes in one view; you'll have to scroll. I'm showing you here so you may have a nice overview. *grin* Are you all in grammar geek Heaven like I am?

Make your selections and click OK.

Now, open your manuscript and review everything Word magically underlines for you. Booyah!

Please keep in mind that Word doesn't "read" your manuscript. There are still stylistic choices you'll have to make, but most have an option to keep the program from pointing those out.

THIS DOES NOT NEGATE THE NEED FOR AN EDITOR. Yes, you can get a cleaner manuscript this way. No, it won't catch all your errors. Yes, it will create new errors if you blindly accept all suggestions. It's a program, not a human.

I hope this little tutorial helps you all in some way.

Did you know these options existed? Did you check it out? What did you find! Share with us!

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

Jo

Creating Feelings Workbooks

Happy Thursday, good people of the blogosphere! It's writing tip day, and I've got some great exercises that'll keep you on the edge of your seat, and they'll keep you writing; that's the most important thing. If you've read my post titled "Indescribable, and Why it Cannot Work for a Writer," you'll be one step into this process already. So, grab those pens and notebooks and let's get going!

Have you ever been in a rut? One of the ones that have you pulling your hair out and wishing you could meet that deadline with great words instead of mediocre ones you slapped on the page out of haste?

Sometimes, all you need is a little muse push. This exercise can help you frame your writing for drawing on later.

What the heck do I mean?

Stay with me.

If you're feeling something, anything, that's a great place for any novel to grow. Even if you're overwhelmed by the size and pressure of the task ahead.

Here's what I want you to do:

• Open a new document
• Center your cursor at the top
• Think about how you're feeling in the moment
• Type that word in
• Hit enter
• Left flush your cursor and use a cliche (angry = mad as a mashed cat)
• Now hit enter again
• Highlight those two lines (the one with the cliche and the blank one) and click numbered list
• Create more than twenty-five sentences that tell how angry feels
• Save the document as: Feelings_YourEmotionHere so you can find it when you need it later

I know what you're thinking. Twenty-five, Jo? Twenty-frikkin-five! You must be smoking crack.

But I'm not. Plus, I asked for more than twenty-five. *grin* If you stick with it, expand upon your few word descriptions to great phrases. I'll get to when and where this will come in handy in a few minutes. I think it goes without saying that I don't want you to worry about being grammatically correct. Just let it flow.

Let me go with depressed as an example.

1. Empty nest
2. Wrapped in a shroud
3. In a dark place
4. If the world explodes, I'll be one lucky bastard
5. Rocks in my stomach
6. Lead weights on my shoulders
7. Fog obscuring my every thought
8. Windows blackened so I can't see daylight
9. As though a bat has wrapped me in leathery wings, stealing my breath
10. Tiny and insignificant
11. If I weren't around, no one would notice or care
12. Numb all over
13. Brain in a cloud that prevents me from thinking happy thoughts, as though I'll never find joy again
14. Everyone is out to get me because I'm like the buzzing fly puking my acid on their food so I can slurp it up in my misery of short life
15. Desire to step out of my mortal shell and walk where I might get a glimpse of the light my heart craves but has been denied for so long
16. Scum on the top of a pond that only exists to be feasted on by parasitic insects determined to suck every ounce of nourishment out of me to feed themselves
17. Hands shaking, brain racing, heart dead and unfeeling
18. Life sucked out of me through a hole in my heart made, ripped, and gaping because of the cruelty of the people in my life
19. A dark cloak descending from the sky, fluttering down delicately, inviting me in, promising me warmth and safety, only to choke me when I accepted its black embrace that siphoned the will to live
20. Blank stares filled with thoughts of everything lost throughout the years is all my mind can focus on
21. Tingles rushing through my fingers, up my arms, twining around my heart as they beg me to let go of my own soul; to free my spirit so it can glide away through the ether, leaving me in peaceful nothingness
22. Weight pressing down on me, and a twenty-ton monkey on my back who insists on dragging me the wrong way--away from the success, happiness, and assurance I crave
23. Back cramps that slowly make their way around my ribs, creating pressure on my abdomen I can't release, suffocating me as my breath is stolen and my lung capacity closing down inch by inch
24. Heat in my head threatening to burst forth from my eyes in the form of tears I'm convinced will be crimson if allowed to flow
25. No desire to move, breathe, or think as my senses shut down, one by one, leaving me bereft
26. Every reflection of myself making me want to lash out at the person on the other side, because I know she's worth nothing

You don't have to stop there. Keep going until you can't. This is just to show you it can be done. It only took me about twenty minutes, so it's not a terribly time-consuming exercise. Yeah, I'm feeling a little depressed right now. Why? Because I had to step into it to make it come out. What I'm asking you to do is write about it when you're feeling it. You can probably see the progression above, yeah?

Now, I bet you're wondering how this can help you in your writing, huh?

This is the awesome part. If you ever need a way to describe how a depressed character is feeling, you just created more than twenty-five descriptions of depression you can copy and paste into your manuscript. Never just say your character was feeling depressed. Use what you know to bring that feeling to life on the page for your reader.

It can also help you by becoming an outlet, like a journal, where you know you can write stuff down honestly. If you get it out, it'll help you deal with those feelings in a positive manner.

Don't just write about being sad, depressed, or overwhelmed. Be sure you're sitting down to fill out pages for happiness, excitement, or curiosity. You need everything in your writing arsenal.

What do you think? Do you use methods like this to help your writing? Tell me, and other readers, how you do it and how it helps!

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

Jo

Separated Words = Different Meanings

Happy Thursday, everyone! Here's hoping you've had an awesome week so far. Today, we're going into a couple of words that mean different things when separated or put together. Yeah, it's Thursday and time for a writing tip! *grin* Grab those pens and notebooks and let's get going!

First up:

awhile vs a while

The first one is an adverb meaning for a while; the second is a noun.

Quick check: If you can replace the segment with the phrase for a while and it still make sense, it's correct.

Second on the list:

everyday vs every day

Everyday is an adjective that means something occurs every day or is ordinary. In the second part, every is an adjective modifying the noun day.

Quick check: If you can replace the segment with the phrase each day and it still makes sense, it's correct.

Next:

anymore vs any more

Anymore is an adverb; any more is an adjective.

Quick check: If you can replace the segment with the phrase nowadays, and it still makes sense, it's correct.

Lastly:

everyone vs every one

The first is an infinite pronoun, the second is a possessive pronoun.

Quick check: Replace the segment with the phrase everybody; if it still makes sense, it's correct.

Do you have any that drive you batty? Share!

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

Further vs Farther and Apostrophes with Dates

Yup, it's still Thursday! Here's your second post for the day (because I'm playing a bit of catchup). It's short, sweet, and to the point. We're going over further and farther--two words that get confused more often than I like to admit. To my point: I have a post-it over my desk to remind me which one is which. *holds fingers in L to forehead* Another post-it I have up is about dates. So, grab those pens and notebooks and let's get going!

To put it simply:

Further is figurative distance, or something intangible that can't be measured by standard means.
Farther is physical distance, or something you can apply a tape measure to, resulting in a concrete number.

Examples:
She didn't want to speak further on the topic.
If he'd pried into my mother's illness any further, I would've smacked him.

I walked farther into the woods.
Because my arms are longer, I can reach farther than you.

I hope this little tip helps you keep them straight, too. My post-it looks like this:

I have others, but that's one I need to reference often.

On to dates!

When you're writing dates, remember not to use an apostrophe with the S.

It should look like this:
1990s
or
2940s
not
1990's

Examples:
I used my time-travel machine to go back and visit the 1800s for a week.
In my research, I found that time-travel might become possible by the 2900s.

Get it? No apostrophes with dates! *grin*

If you want a tip on lay and lie, go visit my cohort, Tia Silverthorne Bach. She's got a cute image to help you keep them straight.

Did these tips help at all? What do you confuse?

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

Jo

Submission to Publishers? A List of Eleven

Happy Thursday, everyone! I know how difficult it is sometimes to take the leap to traditional publishing and/or finding that perfect agent. Many of the folks I know are Indie and love it. They wouldn't change a thing. However, if you're interested in finding a publisher, here are ten that are taking submissions now (and aren't Author Solutions). As always, remember to read over ANY contract offered to you. When in doubt, CONSULT AN ATTORNEY. With those things in the back of your mind, let's get to the list!

I'm not putting my stamp of approval on any of these publishers because I don't know them from a hole in the ground. This is only meant to be a list for your perusal. As always, keep your babies (books) safe from predators.

You do NOT need an agent to submit to these houses right now.

Winter Solstice - Solstice Publishing
They're taking New Adult (and all sub-genres) submissions.
See the guidelines here.

Ichthus Publications
They want Christian fiction only.
Guidelines (their website) here.

Harper Collins Christian
Theology, biblical studies, and so forth.
See the whole list here.

Crossbooks
Another seeking Christian fiction, biblical studies, and children's bible stories.
Check it out here.

Tinder Press
Fiction. Seems like all genres. Must not be published.
Guidelines can be found here.

Forest Avenue Press
Looking to publish two literary fiction novels (no short story collections).
Submit by following these guidelines.

JMS Books
Gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, all of that (LGBT). These fiction genres: romance, YA (must be over 10k words), erotica, erotic romance.
See their guidelines here.

Leap Books
They want novellas for their SHINE line! Commercial YA with romantic elements.
Guidelines are here.

Bibliomotion
Trade business novels with high commercial appeal. Yeah, that means non-fiction.
Submit using guides here.

Vinspire Publishing
Ethnic Romance, Historical Romance, Amish Romance, Romantic Suspense. That's the whole list.
See their guide for submission here.

Sinful Press
You have very limited time here. Erotic novels 60-100k words in length.
Check it out here.

There you have it! If you're gonna take the leap, good luck!

Do any of these appeal to you? Are you planning to submit? Tell me about it.

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

Jo

Collaborating on Google Drive

Happy Tuesday, good people of the blogosphere! I promised you this post last week and ended up not doing anything at all. Eeeeew. What can I say? I have my off days, too! *grin* But, as promised, it's a Tuesday and you're getting all the deets. Now, I'm not going into all the things Google Drive can do, because that's a vast amount of information, but I'll explain how it can be used to co-edit a document and a cool feature that's available once you're on the inside. Ready? Cool. Grab those pens and notebooks and let's get going!

Once you click on the drive icon from Gmail, you'll see something like this:

You'll want to click the New button (in red) on the top, left-hand side for this exercise. Here:

Now, you'll have a choice to make. Please choose Google Docs like this:

Drive will magically take you here:

Click on the words Untitled Document in the top left:

Type in the name of your new doc in the popup box:

I'm not going into all the menu options today, that's a whole other blog post. But, as you can see, you have a ton of ways to format your document (and it auto-saves your progress):

Now, you need to look on the top right and find the share button:

Once you click it, you get a popup like this:

Start typing a name. If you have them in your Google address book, you'll get a dropdown:

Choose one. Click on the dropdown on the right that says Can edit:

 

These are the options you get:

Be sure Can edit is chosen (it's the default, but...). Now, you've chosen your collaborator, so let's go look at advanced options. Click the button:

You'll see a screen like this:

Pretty self-explanatory, no? Make your choices and send it on. I'm inviting the awesome Casey L. Bond to join us for this tutorial.

Here's where the magic happens! Once your collaborators access the document, they'll have a little icon (based on their Google Drive photo) in the top right, next to your name (Casey's is the cover of her novel, Reap, mine would be my logo):

As they type, their name shows next to the text (this works for each person typing):

They can change options just like you can:

Now, see the little icon next to Casey's?

Click it and select launch chat. This pops up:

It gives you a way to discuss what's being typed in the document as others are editing it without making changes. How cool is that?

Add to the coolness, this document is automatically saved in the main menu of your Drive. You can pop it into a folder, or leave it with all the other stuff you have stored there. The sky's the limit!

I hope this little walkthrough taught you something you didn't know. The power of Google Drive is awesome, and I hope to hear about you guys using it in the future!

Did you learn something? Ever used that feature before? Tell me about it!

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

Jo

Down for the Count

Happy Tuesday, everyone! Well, I'm out of commission for a couple of days because of an elbow injury. Doc said take it easy on the computer for now so I'll be able to delve in and give my 30 days of crazy writing in November for NaNoWriMo.

Fingers crossed it'll be 100% working by then. Just one week to go.

This year, I plan to write through every day, even if I finish my NaNo novel. Markaza and M both need to be finished, too.

So, we shall see.

Anyway, I invite you to check out some of my archived posts during my couple of days out!

Here are some of the most popular ones according to my stat meter:

Dialogue Exercises - A short series with fifteen dialogue exercises to flex your muscles. Three on each link.
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5

Punctuation Series - All about how to use various punctuation, according to the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th Edition.
Dashing Dashes and How to Use Them
The Period
Comma Part 1
Comma Part 2
Comma Part 3
Parentheses, Brackets, Braces, and Slashes

Choosing a Viewpoint - Pros and Cons of different viewpoints.

lOOk at YoUr xXx series - How to maintain a cohesive online presence.
bLog
wEbSitE
fAceBoOk
tWitTeR
bUsiNeSS CaRd - This one also has a link to a handy PDF you can download and keep.

Your First 100 Words

Enjoy picking through the fun :)

Which ones do you like best?

I'll be back to give you some more tomorrow. Unless some of those authors impacted by the blogger blackout decide to take me up on my offer :)

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

Length of Novels - It Matters

Happy Friday! Welcome back to the humble ablog! Exciting things coming for you next week! Here's the current lineup: Monday - Author Interview with Christina Mercer, Tuesday - Your First 100 Words, Wednesday - Book Review: The Fly House, Thursday - Crypt Keeper Tour K. A. Young, Friday - Fractured Glass Cover Reveal. Yeah, so you wanna come back for all that.

Also, I'll be putting together the official reading list for UtopYA. A page will be dedicated to that endeavor. Be sure you check that out, as well as voting for the official poster design (coming soon)!

Today, we're gonna talk about the length of your novel and why it matters. Remember that post on genre from yesterday? We're keeping with that theme. So, grab your pens and notebooks and let's get going!

Let's begin by thinking about why page count plays into your novel writing. If you write epic fantasy, your books will be really long (think LOTR) because you'll be taking time to explain things and build characters and worlds so the reader can see and feel them. You can't label a book that's 100k words in length as epic fantasy and not expect backlash from fans of the genre. In contrast, you don't want a contemporary romance to end up with a 300k word count, either.

So how to know?

Your research lies in the best seller list. Go look at the most popular books in your genre and see how many pages they have. I'll get to the math on factoring an approximate page and average word count in a moment. Write down the top three best sellers and navigate to their Amazon pages. See how long they are.

Now for the math.

I'm gonna use some numbers I grabbed really quickly from the Young Adult list here:

320 pages: If I Stay by Gayle Forman
337 pages: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
306 pages: Where She Went by Gayle Forman

See a trend? Yeah... So, we now have a page count that we'll average. Add all the numbers together:

320 + 337 + 306 = 963

Divide by three:

963 / 3 = 321

For every four pages, you have about 1k words. So, divide by four:

321 / 4 = 80.25

Multiply by one thousand:

80.25 X 1000 = 80,250

Now, I don't know about you, but I've heard Young Adult books range from 35-75k. Our number is slightly more. Go figure.

So, you can gather readers of Young Adult enjoy a length of around 80k. 

This matters because you don't want to try and sell a 300k word novel to a crowd that enjoys, on average, 80k words. You won't do well. After all, you write so others will read your work, right?

I hope this helps you in some way.

What do you think? Did you try it for your genre?

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

Jo

Stereotypical Stuffed Shirts - Changing Cliché Characters

Happy Tuesday, good people of the blogosphere! Excuse me. I seem to have alliterated. *grin* Okay, all grammar nerd jokes aside, I bet you're all knee deep in the work week and looking forward to a little break, eh? Well, today I'm bringing you a post all about using stereotypes to your advantage. People tell you never to use a typical character, but I think using common folk as a base is a fantastic place to start. This is gonna be another work with me post, so grab those pens and notebooks and let's get going!

First, let's list some stereotypes:

• Crazy aunt who pinches cheeks and laughs too much.
• Shy, smart, eager to please teen who's bullied in high school.
• Bad boy who smokes, drinks, and gets in fights all the time who turns good with love.
• Good girl who has no one and nothing, but does everything right (perhaps even playing nursemaid to a sick parent or other relative).
• Southern idiot with a drawl, a gun, and a coon hound.

Okay, that should be enough to get us through this exercise. Now, stories with these characters are abundant. You can find at least one in every three books you read.

They make great secondary/forgettable characters, because there's nothing about them that stands out from the fray. People forget them easily (especially if you don't name them).

That being said, you don't want to slap this kind of person into a tale and put the spotlight on them.

Unless...

You add a little something to make them twisty to the reader. Take the stereotype and flip him/her on their heads. Throw in a surprise for your reader that's like a nugget of gold hidden in the pages. After all, riches kept miners going to the deadly land of Alaska looking, right?

Reward your reader; they'll come back for more.

How can you do that? Well, let's use the characters from above (yeah, you knew that was coming) and work out how we can make them more than they seem. I'll give typical traits, then how you might be able to give that character a twist.

Crazy Aunt - Now, this cliché lady crochets, makes jam, and probably has a fruit pattern on her plastic dining room tablecloth. But the twisty lady might keep kids in cages in the basement, men tied up in the barn to torture (perhaps she was a victim of abuse and this is her revenge on the male species), or she's a spy for a foreign government.
Bullied Teen - Typically quiet, excellent students (because no social life), and usually dress down so as not to draw attention to themselves. If you gave them a twist they could bully others anonymously, enter beauty pageants in other states, or run for class president (now that would be a shocker).
Bad Boy - Women are drawn to him, he's crazy sexy, and he has some sort of tortured past. Flip him and make him rich with great parents and un-saveable, someone who's doing a social experiment by acting like a bad boy (your reader will gasp), or have him be really bad and kidnap girls who fawn over him because he was always fascinated by the way women look.
Good Girl - She goes to her job every day like clockwork, never gets in fights, and makes perfect grades. Change her by giving her a twisted fetish she has to hide, visions of dead people she shakes when she sees but hides because she's actually crazy, or let her go on a murder rampage and kill everyone who ever expected her to be perfect.
Southern Imbecile - Hunts, fishes, not playing with a full deck of cards, drives a dirty pickup truck. Make him different by giving him a secret lab and off the charts IQ he hides, making him an alien, or let him be an over the top wealthy guy who's a brilliant artist in hiding.

Now you try. List each one on a piece of paper and try to come up with three things you could do to make them different. After that, come up with your own cliché characters, and change them, too!

No matter how you accomplish the twist, keep it fresh, keep your reader guessing, and do something folks don't see all the time.

I hope this gives you some ideas on how to change characters up and make them more.

What do you think? Ever used a stereotype in a different setting? Tell me about it!

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

Jo

Story Designs

Happy Tuesday! Wow. We're into day two of the week and already it looks like it's gonna be five days that feel longer than they should be. But, as always, we must continue to press on. Today's post may lighten your mood a bit. I'm discussing plots. That's right, those timeless things we all have to consider when beginning to craft our novels. NaNoWriMo is right around the corner, and I know we're all gearing up to take part in the most fabulous writerly collective to ever happen. Maybe this post will spark some ideas for you. So, grab those pens and pencils and let's get going!

There are several structures you'll see used in novels. I'm gonna go over the most common ones.

1. The Boy She Can't Have - A female meets a male, and something is keeping them apart. We read on to the end to find out if they can ever resolve the obstacle and end up together. Many variations of this have happened, and there could be more than one thing the two need to overcome before they can be together. A sub-plot often includes another male the female may have an interest in, and she ends up having to choose. As an aside: This can also be male meets male or female meets female (LGBT romance). It's becoming more popular, and shouldn't be overlooked.
2. Taking Down the Bad Guy - Your society has a tyrant in control and he/she must be brought to justice somehow. This can also be Taking Down the Regime.
3. All Grown Up - How the protagonist matures to find inner strength through the span of life. A twist on this could be they can't die and end up having to live more than one life. May be physical or emotional aging.
4. Oh! The Grass is Greener. . . Right? - Your protagonist dreams of a brave, new world where everything is rainbows and butterflies, and everyone thinks he/she is the best. This person is probably feeling trapped, ostracized, or enslaved. But, once they get to their salvation, they realize what they had before wasn't so terrible after all, and they long for nothing but to return to life the way it was.
5. The Cinderella Syndrome - Poor girl/guy comes to fabulous riches through some means. It can be hard work, a fairy godmother, or a stroke of luck (like a winning lottery ticket). Your protagonist must be rewarded greatly. Be sure it doesn't turn into a Grass is Greener situation.
6. Cold to Hot - When the bitter heart of another is morphed into love once again. We all like to think people can be saved (even when at their worst), so this tale is about the most terrible villain brought to love once again by the most unassuming thing. Usually works best with something you never thought could bring a baddy to his/her knees.
7. The Little Engine that Could - Someone from humble beginnings sets the world right again. Basically, you're crafting a future hero for the people. 
8. Obtaining the Unobtainable - Many people have tried, and failed. But your protagonist succeeds. Think of lost treasure or a super power/bit of knowledge others have died trying to own.

As you can see, there are many structures for novels. When you get crazy fun, you can twist the plot to look like you're taking down the bad guy, only to have the worst person not be the one in the line of fire.

I suggest letting that happen organically. If you see it coming, your reader will, too.

No matter what structure you use, be sure you're writing in the genre expected by the reader. You don't want to bill it as a romance then kill off the lover at the end, or have your heroine running for her life while being chased by a mainiacle killer the whole time. Make sense?

What's your favorite structure/plot? Are you a Boy She Can't Have fan, or do you tend more toward The Cinderella Syndrome? Inquiring minds wanna know!

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

Jo

Guest Posting - Topic Turmoil

Yay! Only two days until the weekend gets here! It's a terrific Thursday here on the Jo Michaels blog, and I intend to give you a little something to think about in my post for the day. That's right, I'm talking about guest posts. How do you rock it like a star? Grab those pens and notebooks and let's get crackin'!


Do you ever get invited to guest post on someone’s blog and stare at a blank screen for hours, wondering why in the world anyone would want to hear from little old you? Ever get a case of the heebie-jeebies when you go to write that post, thinking you’ll sound stupid or make crazy errors and look like a complete fool?

Yeah, we all do.

But, here are some tips and tricks to help you write the best guest post ever:

1. Don't be afraid. Yeah, that's my number one tip. Put your insecurities in a drawer and lock that bad boy until you're done writing your post.
2. Write on a topic you’re familiar with or something you’re an expert on (we all have an area of expertise—even if it’s just changing a diaper). Do some research on the blog your post will be appearing on. Find out what their readers want to see and learn about.
3. Be engaging but don't overdo it. Talk with the readers—not at them.
4. Include your bio and why you have the knowledge to write what you sent.
5. Don't be afraid to talk about yourself, your experiences, or what you've seen others doing (whether right or wrong).
6. Write the post in a linear (progressive) fashion. Don't meander around with your thoughts. Point A to point B to point C, please.
7. Give references to back up your words. Links are always fun.
8. Send your host some pictures to go along with your words. Pictures are fun to look at and can set the tone for your post.
9. Proofread (please) so you don't look nutso.

Now, if you follow these easy tips, you'll be well on your way to guest post Heaven. Maybe they'll even have a parade in your honor. *grin*

If you'd like to check out a couple of guest posts I've done, here's a little list (links will take you to the post I wrote on their blogs):
Chapter Book Challenge
Zombie Survival Crew
Rebel Writers

See? Those are all fun and informative, and are all something I know a lot (but not everything) about. Yeah, I schedule my own life and blog down to the day/minute. Remember that huge dry spell I went through the last couple of months? No schedule. It drove me insane. Why do I know about zombie novels? I'm a reader of them and the author of one for young people. I can write on editing before you send your MS to an editor because I am one and know what kinds of things I look for during evaluation.

You may think there's a lot you don't know. I'm not going to argue with you. There's a lot of information in the world; no one knows it all. Impossible! Instead, focus your topic on what you do know. Make a quick list of those and and choose one.

Still stuck?

Try writing down things you've accomplished in life:

• I've self-published a novel (formatted, uploaded, etc...)
• I'm an editor (grammar, plot, etc...)
• I schedule my life (why? what did I learn from it?)
• I read how-to books (which ones? why? how have they helped?)
• I'm a reader (what books? learned what?)

You can take a list like that and make it into something awesome. Again, go research that blog you've been asked to write for and see what they might like to learn more about.

If you follow this very basic outline, you'll be rocking the guest posting world in no time.

Why guest post? It expands your reach to many readers you may not have attracted before. Now that you know how, and what you can write about, go out there and find like-minded blogs. Ask them if you can write up a guest post for them. Easy!

How about you? Care to share some of your guest posts? Leave them in the comments so we can check them out!

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

Jo