Author: Elizabeth Spann Craig

I’m doing something a little different today, since it’s the July 4th weekend here in the States.

I’ve tweeted some writing worksheets I came across lately and they received good play on Twitter. I thought I’d link to them here, too. Just in case you’ve got writing planned for your long weekend and enjoy using worksheets. :)

The Diary of a Trainee Paranormal Romance Writer blogger, Catherine Pawsey, has really outdone herself, digging up resources for writers. She rounded up some very useful worksheets. Among them:

The Novel Notebook
The novel-writing diagram

Please check out Catherine Pawsey’s site because she also links to other resources, including workshops on various topics like pacing. If you scroll to the very bottom of her blog, there will be a list of tools.

Manon Eileen has a great worksheet–the Main Character Survey. You can find it here on her site. You fill it in online, then you can print afterwards.

These worksheets are excellent and are from our friends at the Adventures in Children’s Publishing blog (but are for all genres):

The Scene Conflict Worksheet – Developing Tension in Your Novel

Plotting Made Easy – The Complications Worksheet

Character Worksheet Part 1

Character Worksheet Part 2

Character Worksheet Part 3

Character Worksheet Part 4

Writer’s Digest worksheets—from story idea maps, to scene cards, backstory, cliffhangers, research…you name it.

Jody Hedlund has a Character Worksheet

Heather McCorkle’s Character Arc Worksheet

A show-don’t-tell PDF worksheet by Toni Buzzeo

Worksheets don’t work for you, but still need some direction? Try these posts instead:

Kaye Dacus’ series on Creating Credible Characters

Janice Hardy on plotting.

Janice Hardy on creating characters.

Outline your novel in 30 minutes

Worksheets can help some writers organize their story, and can give others a helpful push in the right direction. I don’t always use them, but sometimes they can get me thinking about new directions for my story. See anything that might be helpful? Do you know of any to add?

I left Mississippi a day early. I thought I could get ahead of the approaching monster storm, but instead I found myself driving through Alabama between tornadoes. I knew the road well; my book tours had taken me along this route at least twice a year. But the road became unrecognizable as the sky turned black in the middle of the day and the rain pelted my windows in a sideways stream that screamed of the high and dangerous winds. The light poles that had illuminated the Interstate on past trips now collapsed like wet spaghetti, their warped bodies turning the right lane into an obstacle course.

My desperation propelled me forward, just like the characters in my books. I knew if I stopped, the next tornado approaching from behind would find me there, alone and vulnerable along the highway. My only hope was to drive faster than it was travelling, to come out on the other side, where I knew the sun was still shining and the roads were passable.

The weather had become an antagonist, just like it had in my books.

Weather can set the stage for any emotion. A snowstorm can isolate the characters from the outside world, making them prime for a romance—or a murder. A hurricane can be the catalyst for an adventure: a ship blown off course, a protagonist fighting to survive and even triumph, a family forced to overcome their personal grievances and help one another. Even a driving rainstorm can interrupt telephones and electricity, plunging the characters into darkness and a suspense-filled black hole. Nose-diving temperatures can turn a stroll through a park into a nightmare survival story; heat and humidity can become a metaphor for a stifling existence.

Writing is part creative and part technical know-how. As a former computer analyst, I found myself analyzing those books that terrified me, those movies that gave me nightmares. I dissected the scenes right down to the sentences and use of descriptors; I watched movies sometimes frame by frame to analyze the atmosphere.

Mysteries and suspense are made more effective by the darkness. Like the road I knew so well in the bright sunshine, weather—darkening skies, wind and rain—turned it into something I had to fight against.

In contrast, comedies more often occur in the daylight. Romances, while they might occur because of bad weather, often involve scenes that are light. It makes the heart lighter and happier to picture a field of wildflowers in the spring sunshine, two lovers strolling hand-in-hand as the butterflies flit around them and the birds sing their greetings.

Now picture the same field at the tail end of winter, when the fields are still yellowed and dormant. Before the butterflies have a chance to emerge, before the birds begin to lay their eggs, a tornado is spotted on the far horizon, darkening the sky, moving directly toward the two lovers. The wind has become a deadly force, hurling debris in all directions; a driving rain is threatening to turn the field into a lethal bog.

The weather has the power and ability to change the imagery against which your characters appear. It is more potent than wallpaper or a room’s surroundings because the weather is alive.

After your climactic scene, the weather can set the stage for what lies ahead: the sun rising over the field, the warmth of the summer, the chirping of the birds, ushering in a new beginning. The character has made it through to the other side.

p.m.terrell is the internationally acclaimed, award-winning author of twelve books, including contemporary suspense/thrillers and historical adventure/suspense. You can learn more about her at www.pmterrell.com and the true stories behind her historical work at www.maryneely.com. She has joined the City of Lumberton to host Book ‘Em North Carolina, an innovative Writers Conference and Book Fair, on February 25, 2012. Learn more about it and how you can participate at www.bookemnc.org.

Thanks so much for coming by today, Trish! I’m looking forward to attending Book ‘Em in February. And what do y’all think about weather and what it adds to a setting and a story?

I think blog tours are wonderful.

How else can you promote your book, meet writers, reach readers worldwide, and get better Google rankings? For free?

I do some guest posting during the year on different blogs, but a tour is different—it’s a concentrated effort and a lot of guest posts during a short period of time.

I’ve done a couple of blog tours and there are some things I think I do well and some things I’d have done differently.

Let’s start out with what I could have improved. :)

Time: The release, very close to a deadline I had for another series, sneaked up on me. I think I gave enough time to my hosts to fit me into their schedule…but barely. And it would have been nice, on my side, to have had a little more time to write my posts.

If I’d thought ahead, maybe I’d have come up with a cool logo for a blog tour visual. I’ve seen some that other writers have done and thought they were really cool.

Reach: I think I do really well to reach out to writers. I know where writers are, I’m familiar with their blogs, I’m comfortable. Would it be better in the future to vary my tour and include some stops on mystery blogs that readers hit? Probably! I did help facilitate getting my book to some book bloggers, so I tried…I’d give myself a C there.

Where I did better

I posted on a variety of blogs, some of which might have been new to my regular followers.

I posted on topics that I thought would be interesting to readers and would get good play on Twitter and Facebook.

I tried to think of topics that would work best for my hosts’ sites.

I tried to bring traffic over to my hosts’ sites and be conscientious about responding to comments.

Important to remember:

Be sure to send buy-links for your book to your host.

Be sure to send head shots and cover pics to your host (some will want one or the other, not both…and I always picked my cover over my image.)

Write a pithy bio that tells a little about who you are and what you write.

You may want to check in with your hosts the day before to tell them you’re looking forward to the post the following day (and possibly to remind them that it’s supposed to run.)

If you’re on Twitter or Facebook, post the link to your daily post and what the topic is that you’re writing on.

How long can you keep up? Don’t make your blog tour so long that you get exhausted with it.

Thank your hosts.

My thoughts on what blog tours accomplish:

I found new followers, even though I wasn’t really posting.

I got a good amount of cover recognition and some author branding.

I did sell some books and meet some great writers.

Thanks again to my tour hosts! Below is a list of all my tour stops, my topics and the links to the posts:

8 Ways to Keep Your Series From Going Stale–Confessions of a Mystery Novelist: http://bit.ly/mu4cUf

A Mystery Writer’s View of the World (and 6 Tips for Friends of Mystery Writers)–Thoughts in Progress: http://bit.ly/iHX0zW

Staying Encouraged During Querying–Author karen walker…following the whispers: http://bit.ly/jYaZKg

How to blog–17 tips–Anne R. Allen’s Blog: http://bit.ly/mmcwKD

Hamish Macbeth–a huge writing inspiration for me–K.B. Owen, mystery writer: http://bit.ly/j6gB1R

Tips for writing sequels–Confessions of a Watery Tart: http://bit.ly/lzc6uT

Juggling Plots, Characters, Publishers and Editors…Keeping it All Straight–Official Blog of p.m.terrell: http://bit.ly/ju2YCv

Book promo–traditional and 21st century methods: Spunk on a Stick: http://bit.ly/lHHtOq

7 tips for writing away from home: A Million Blogging Monkeys: http://bit.ly/lQhMnf

What super powers would be useful for writers? Alex J. Cavanaugh: http://bit.ly/lYzFXM

7 tips for writing away from home: A Million Blogging Monkeys: http://bit.ly/lQhMnf

What super powers would be useful for writers? Alex J. Cavanaugh: http://bit.ly/lYzFXM

Tips for those tricky book middles–The Other Side of the Story: http://bit.ly/lYzFXM

The appeal of a small town setting–The Creative Penn: http://bit.ly/mi9jqr

Need to get to know your character? Spend a day with them–Penguin’s blog: http://bit.ly/jB3B9Z

How to find writer resources–Jami Gold– http://bit.ly/lPa9Fb

How secondary characters can help our story–The Daring Novelist: http://bit.ly/ko7mnW

6 Tips for Moving Your Story Forward: Penguin’s Blog: http://bit.ly/lCyS8R

Writing schedules, writing setbacks–The Stiletto Gang: http://bit.ly/j01DPw

Generous Reviews (thank you!):

Confessions of a Watery Tart: http://bit.ly/m2Qcr2

Thoughts in Progress: http://bit.ly/j8vwAq

The Book Resort: http://bit.ly/lazEjf

Lesa’s Book Critiques: http://bit.ly/iYu5QC

My Year on the Grill: http://bit.ly/lWO5Pd

Joe Barone’s Blog: http://bit.ly/klDuGk

Anyone else have anything to add or thoughts/tips on blog tours?

Having some problems with Blogger today (surprise-surprise!) and am sorry about the lateness of this post.

I’m still doing a little visiting, y’all. :) Today I’m at the Stiletto Gang, talking a little about what I do when life gets in the way of my writing schedule. (Hint: it involves a Plan B!)

Hope you’ll come by and join me!

I’ve read a couple of excellent posts recently on whether agents are about to become extinct…and possible options for them, career-wise. They make for very interesting reading. One is by Anne R. Allen and the other is a PBS story.

Many agents are lawyers, though (mine is.) I worry a little less about her. :)

But I can definitely see this being a problem down the road for agents. I’m not sure how far “down the road” is. It could be a problem five years from now…it could be a problem next year.

For me, though, I need an agent. Still. Even in the current climate. I can’t see that changing anytime in the near future. Here’s why:

I’m traditionally published.

I don’t understand many parts of my contract.

I hate keeping track of when I’m supposed to be paid. My agent hunts down checks and payments.

I hate keeping track of my foreign rights, e-rights, etc.

I don’t enjoy negotiating contracts (I did it once, before my agent, and it made me feel very uncomfortable.)

My publishers require me to have an agent.

My agent pushes me to think about a long-term career plan, goals, and methods of getting there.

My agent haggles over money for me, during contract negotiations.

My agent acts as a first-reader for me before my manuscript is sent to my editor.

I like getting a tax statement at the end of the tax year (which my agent provides for me.)

I like the fact that my agent makes relationships with editors and finds writing leads for me. She’s the reason I have the quilting mystery series. I can’t be in New York, I don’t have the opportunity to schmooze…wouldn’t know how to schmooze if I had the opportunity (I’d be sitting on the sidelines, watching everybody, creating characters in my head while eating spinach dip.)

I like the fact that my agent runs interference for me. When I am talking with or emailing my editors, I’m just dealing with the creative side of the industry. I’m the fun one to work with. My agent is the one who presses for things on the business end….I don’t have to be the bad guy. I don’t want to be the bad guy.

Would I do the above if I had to? Of course I would. But I’m already writing books and promoting them. Those two things are full-time jobs in themselves.

At some point, will this change? Well….I just can’t imagine that it won’t change in the twenty plus years that I hope to still be in this business. It would be silly for me to think it won’t change, with all the industry changes that have happened in the last year. But for right now, this is an arrangement that works really, really well for me. My plan is to continue what I’m doing with my editors, agent, and publishers, and to explore the e-publishing side on my own, in my own time.

What do you think is the future for agents? In your current situation, do you need one, like I do? Or are you able to work independently of literary agents?