Category: Uncategorized

Thanks to John for guest posting today with some helpful tips for tweaking our stories. I’m hanging out with Teresa today, over at the Journaling Woman’s blog. Hope you’ll pop over to say hi.

A Little Tip That Can Make a Good Story Great

by Dr. John Yeoman @yeomanis

What’s the clue to writing a story or novel that wins a top award or catches an agent’s eye? It can be revealed in a word – structure.

Of course, there’s more to a story than structure. But a story that’s otherwise excellent, but lacks an emphatic form, will fail in the marketplace.

That’s a paradox because events in real life have little structure, other than the forms we impose on them. And for a story to engage the reader it must have some resonance with reality.

Perhaps the reason we crave structure in a story is that we need to feel a story is a metaphor for our own existence. Our lives will contain conflict and untidiness but, to satisfy us, they must present us with some sense of form. To perceive form is to infer meaning and, of course, we all want to feel our lives are meaningful.

No doubt, that’s why story telling is the earliest art form known. Every story was a pattern into which the listener could pour their own lives and find meaning there.

How does this help us as writers?

We want our stories to sound ‘true’ but contain a strong underlying pattern. Yet, paradoxically, that pattern will be false to life.

The simplest way to fake a sense of form, but keep our stories plausible, is to contrive a strong close. It doesn’t matter if the close is, from a rational viewpoint, inconclusive. Many fine ghost stories end upon the haunting question: what really happened? The reader’s imagination can be safely left to ‘close’ the tale. Nothing is settled but nothing more needs to be told. The tale has closure.

One highly effective way to close a story, even when the end must be left equivocal, is the Book Cover strategy.

At the front of the story we place a colorful event, theme or striking phrase. And we repeat that motif at the back. In a long story, we might echo it several times throughout, each time with a different significance. In a short story, the first and last paragraphs alone will suffice.

Here’s an example…

Suppose we open our novel with a man sitting on a beach. He’s tossing pebbles in the sea. His life is bleak. At the close of the novel, the man is sitting on the beach again. Once more he’s tossing pebbles. But this time, he’s happy. His fortunes have recovered. His life is back under control. How do know that? Every stone he throws dances across the waves!

But, he reminds himself with a wan smile, every stone sinks in the end. And there the story ends too.

Now we have closure, cued by the repetition of the emblems – the beach and the pebbles, but the end is equivocal. There’s also opportunity for a sequel if the novel sells well.

We’ve all come across that Book Cover gambit. It’s a cliché. But professional writers use it intuitively because it’s a failsafe way to end a tale. If used subtly, the reader won’t even be aware of its formulaic nature.

Use the Book Cover for yourself. Formula or not, it makes writing the story very simple. We just have to draft the opening and closing paragraphs, link them with some colorful incident or motif, and the job’s done.

All that remains then is to fill in the bits in the middle…

Dr John Yeoman, PhD Creative Writing, judges the Writers’ Village story competition and is a tutor in creative writing at a UK university. His free 14-part course in writing fiction for the commercial market can be found here.

John has 42 years experience as a commercial author, newspaper editor and one-time chairman of a major PR consultancy. He has published eight works of humour, some of them intended to be humorous.

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Y’all probably won’t see me visiting online a lot this week. I’ve got a book to turn in on Friday (well, the deadline is July 1—to me, that means I should hand it over before the weekend) and I’m doing my usual pre-deadline scramble.

I’m scrambling even though I’m happy with the book. My problem (well, one of my problems) is that I never, ever think a book is done. I’d be still working on Memphis 1 if it hadn’t been for the deadline I had back in 2010. :)

Despite my overall positive feeling about this book, there was a scene that I wasn’t happy with on Monday. Something struck me as not being right, but I couldn’t figure out what it was. And this is kind of late in the game to be discovering weak scenes.

So I ran through the likely reasons why a scene doesn’t work:

Too long
Repetitive
Doesn’t advance the plot
Doesn’t offer character insight
Sentence structure needs switching up
Large blocks of text need breaking up
POV issues
Boring—slow pacing
Not enough dialogue
Too many characters in the scene
Lack of conflict
Confusing (check dialogue character tags. Reintroduce characters who have been offstage a while)
Scene has no goal

None of them seemed to apply.

So I did my usual fixes for scenes that don’t work:

I removed the scene to see if it was needed. It was still needed….it provided information the sleuth needed to solve the case.

I considered taking the bit of important information from the scene and sticking it into a different scene. But I decided against it. I still thought the scene served a purpose aside from providing information (I’d written in some character development.)

I made a blind rewrite of the scene—I rewrote it from memory. I still wrote the scene nearly verbatim.

Then I really studied the scene and I found that I’d not considered the secondary character’s motivation at all. I didn’t need to write it from that character’s POV (that would be overkill), but I didn’t think out what the character would be motivated by in the scene…saving his own neck was the main one, but there were others that were equally important to that character.

Once I realized that, there were a couple of other details I put in the scene. Otherwise, there was this gaping hole—something that didn’t make sense. I didn’t see it in the read-through, but it was a plot hole. It tripped me up, although it sure wasn’t obvious. Here’s a good post on plot holes, from editor Jason Black, if you need a refresher. And Janice Hardy has a nice post on character motivation.

What do you do when a scene seems off to you?

Image—Flickr—OneCogTooMany

by Emily Wenstrom, @EmilyWenstrom

Putting the Cart Before the Horse
Why I’m Building a Platform without a Completed Manuscript

Nonfiction writers are constantly told how critical their platforms are to landing a publisher. Fiction writers, on the other hand, are told to focus on their manuscripts. I’m a fiction writer, but I work in marketing and PR. I’m well aware of the power of platform, and I want it. I want it now.

So in addition to getting up early each weekday to write, I also started a blog last September, Creative Juicer, where I blog about the creative process. And then, on top of this, an idea smacked me over the head last year, and I created wordhaus, a short story zine for genre fiction built for the digital age (just launched, now seeking submissions!)

But is this really worth all the time and effort I’m pouring into it ? I could be watching TV, hitting the gym, spending time with my husband or—ahem–working on my manuscript. The answer is yes, I absolutely believe it’s worth it, for three big reasons.

1. I’m getting ahead.

While other writers are just starting to flip through WordPress templates to choose their design, I’ll be typing up an announcement of my newly landed publishing deal to my tribe—a group currently in the mid-hundreds, hopefully by then in the thousands. Not only will I have a head start on my book marketing, but I’ll have already demonstrated that I understand how to market, and will be a good partner in promoting my book. If an agent or publisher is wavering between my manuscript and another equally good one, I’m counting on this tipping the scales in my direction.

But my platform doesn’t just help my maybe-hopefully-someday publishing sucess. I was able to find a sweet spot where my career overlaps with this (creative process), so I’m already reaping the rewards of establishing an expertise relevant to my career. So already that’s a double win in my book.

2. It gets me actively engaged in the community.

Blogging makes me a more integrated part of the creative/writing community—I am connected with more of them on Twitter, I get to talk to them in my blog’s comments, and it gives me some great excuses reach out the industry’s thought leaders and start building meaningful relationships with them.

Even though it takes a lot of time, I am positive this helps me write a better manuscript, and more efficiently. The more engaged I am in a community of writers, the more I sharpen my skills, and the more focused I am on my publishing dreams.

3. It expands my options.

Traditional publishing is something I really hope to have the opportunity to do. But let’s face it, competition is stiff. Beyond writing the best stories I can, I have limited control over whether I land a deal.

But we’re living in a good time to be a writer. If I play my cards right, I don’t need traditional publishing to be a successful author. Even if I were lucky enough to get a publishing deal, I can see a lot of merit to sharing my own self-pubbed stories on the side.

And even better, this applies beyond fiction. With a blog, I can branch out and start offering ebooks, and that can turn into another revenue stream.

But without a platform, I might as well shoot my writing out into space as post them in cyberspace. An audience is everything.

If I’m going to be completely honest, part of why I’ve done it this way is because it’s just my nature. I’m impulsive. If I have a thought, I want to act on it right away. I try to turn that weakness into a strength when I can.

My platforming does take away from my writing time on occasion, and it drives me nuts when it happens. But really, I’d have occasional off days in my writing no matter what. So I remind myself that writing a novel is a marathon, not a sprint, and focus on the benefits I’m gaining from all my efforts, manuscript and platform alike.

Emily Wenstrom is a professional writer living in Washington, DC. She has a background in journalism, including roles ranging from proofer for a political newsletter to managing editor of a women’s lifestyle magazine. She blogs about creativity in art and career at Creative Juicer, and is the founder and editor of wordhaus,a short story zine built for the digital age.

Writers can submit their romance, mystery/thriller and sci-fi/fantasy stories to wordhauspub (at) gmail (dot) com.S tories should be no more than 2,000 words. No attachments, please. Learn more about submissions here.

By Mar Preston, @YesMarPreston

My Dave Mason police procedural series is about the Santa Monica Police Department and the city itself, a tourist destination with a colorful background, present, and future.

I love Santa Monica, but will others care that much? What is critical information for me, the story teller, and a historical aside to someone else? This checklist is for me as well as you:

* What’s your main story? Think of it a as smooth, linear narrative and then think of a python with a big expository lump coming through.

* Can you fix it so something happens while the data dump is coming through?

* Is this a section in which nothing happens but a lot of expository information is set in to bring the reader up to date?

* How can you rewrite this until you can get across that information—and make the story progress at the same time?

* Can your character have a good reason to explain all this to someone else?

* Can your character read this info in a report, see it on TV, do an internet search?

* Can you do this in dialogue while something exciting is taking place?

* How can you show this rather than telling it?

* How can you reveal the critical information a little at a time by creating tantalizing hints?

* Ask yourself. Could I leave this out? Is this important? Are you sure?

* If it’s important, ask yourself whether it needs to be told now? Can it wait?

* Is this much description of the setting necessary? Why?

* Is this a personal rant? Some passionate opinion you just have to get in somehow?

* Is your reader an idiot? If not, how hard do you want a reader to have to work?

Mar Preston is the author of No Dice and Rip-Off, both set in Santa Monica and featuring Detective Dave Mason of the SMPD and his community activist girlfriend.

Both are available as paperbacks at Amazon.

Ebook versions are available at Amazon and Smashwords.

See her website at marpreston.com

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Twitterific is a compilation of all the writing links I shared the previous week.

The links are fed into the Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine (developed by writer and software engineer Mike Fleming) which has over 16,000 free articles on writing-related topics. Sign up for our free newsletter for monthly writing tips and interviews with top contributors to the WKB or like us on Facebook.

Have a great week!

Don’t wait for your muse: http://bit.ly/LeDprR @LisaCron

Introducing your protagonist–the importance of 1st impressions: http://bit.ly/LeDJH1 @Janice_Hardy @dpeterfreund

When You Feel Lost in Creative Work & Business: http://bit.ly/LeDPyl @JeffreyDavis108

A tax-related post for self-pubbed non-US authors: http://bit.ly/LeEDTV @nickdaws

Passive Vs. Active Voice: http://bit.ly/LeEOyB @greyhausagency

1 writer’s 10 year vantage point on stinging reviews: http://bit.ly/LeFWCe @blurbisaverb

The theme of anarchy in crime fiction: http://bit.ly/KCLEjG @mkinberg

The Writing Part is Easy: A Publishing Story: http://bit.ly/LeG6cV @karensuebell @womenwriters

Writing Is a War & Your Story Is a Trojan Horse: http://bit.ly/LeGbNF @fuelyourwriting

An Agent Reports What Editors Have Bought Recently for Women’s Fic and Literary: http://bit.ly/LeGh7T

Reminder to publishers–the product is the story, not the physical book: http://bit.ly/MCRJrE @Bob_Mayer @JenTalty @Porter_Anderson

3 Reasons to Upgrade to a Premium WordPress Theme: http://bit.ly/MVPrEO @joebunting

Creativity is never a single act: http://bit.ly/MVPCzV @CreativityPost

Cavalcade Of Literary Jerks: http://bit.ly/MVPHDU @litreactor

Tolkien did it better than Jackson–10 things writers can learn in the process: http://bit.ly/MVQ9C1 @AlmaAlexander

Worldbuilding for Short Stories: http://bit.ly/MVQoNs @juliettewade

Your Writing Repertoire: The Long and Short of It: http://bit.ly/MVQvIV @writeangleblog @JLeaLopez

Getting Published: 5 Ways To Increase Your Chances Of Beating The Odds: http://bit.ly/MVQJQ5

Taking the Mystery Out of Query Letters: http://bit.ly/MeBBQz @rachellegardner

Theme–the heart of your story: http://bit.ly/MeBHb1 @livewritethrive

Pushing Through the Middle of Your Book: http://bit.ly/MeBNiP @TaliaVance

E is for Epilogue: http://bit.ly/MeC8lw @annerooney

2 Most Common Reasons for Hiding Character Motivation: http://bit.ly/MeCkRY @SharlaWrites

Strategies for writers facing summertime schedule upheaval: http://bit.ly/MeCusq @CherylRWrites

Why Writers Should Read-Inner Voice: http://bit.ly/MeCHMm

103 Synonyms for Anger or Angry: http://bit.ly/MeCTLz @Vigorio

Notes to the First-Time Novelist: http://bit.ly/MeD3T2 @nbakopoulos

How Much Does It Really Cost to Self-Publish? http://bit.ly/MeDahF

Using archaeology, myth, mysteries & history for writing inspiration: enigma and the iron thunderbolt: http://bit.ly/MAH8B0 @genelempp

How to Break Out of a Creative Rut: http://bit.ly/MAHeZn @copyblogger

Signs Your Story Has Too Many Characters: http://bit.ly/MAHqHX @KMWeiland

Conquering the Cliche: http://bit.ly/MAHK9J @AshKrafton

Bringing an old manuscript back to life, and to print: http://bit.ly/MZbb2t @PeteAbela @Christi_Craig

2 Questions to Develop Plot: What If? and What Next? http://bit.ly/MAHTdk @FictionNotes

You Have A Request Or You Get “THE CALL” – Now What? http://bit.ly/N9y1rU @greyhausagency

The Secret to Show, Don’t Tell: http://bit.ly/N9y72L @joebunting

New Book Buyers are Hiding Inside Your Manuscript: http://bit.ly/N9yr1s @rileymagnus

How to Influence Editors in a Way That 90% of Other Writers Don’t: http://bit.ly/N9yD0I @janefriedman @rachellegardner

Author Websites, Branding And CopyWriting: http://bit.ly/N9yMBd @thecreativepenn @menwithpens

Weaving humor into your worldbuilding: http://bit.ly/N9z4rR @AmyJRoseDavis

How to become an ebook superstar: http://bit.ly/N9zApK @patrick_barkham

Making Comparisons—Simile and Metaphor in Fiction: http://bit.ly/N9zGxJ @noveleditor

Bookstores in today’s publishing climate: the good, the bad, the ugly: http://bit.ly/N9zPkD @behlerpublish

Freelancers–10 ways to use Pinterest to find a new job: http://bit.ly/N9zYV2 @MichelleRafter @secondact

Writers: Get Inspired And Motivated By The Classics: http://bit.ly/N9AkLu @KarenBerner

The Path To Publication: Delusions of Grandeur: http://bit.ly/NHqMdd @RobWHart

Today’s Publishing–The End of The World as We Know It? http://bit.ly/NHrp6D @KristineRusch

Passive Writing: http://bit.ly/NHryXw @NovelRocket

How to have your novel made into an audio book: http://bit.ly/NHs7k4 @thewritingbomb

The Source: A Look At Inspiration: http://bit.ly/NHss6x @sandranorval

5 Ways Writers Get Lazy: http://bit.ly/NHszyJ @jodyhedlund

On Characters and Conflict: http://bit.ly/NHtejJ @kalayna

Common issues that get in the way of crafting a great short story: http://bit.ly/NHtxuY @WriterUnboxed

Choose harmony over balance in your writing life: http://bit.ly/NHtKhL @joebunting

When is your book done? http://bit.ly/NHtRdb @robwhart

How to Make the Most of a Scene: http://bit.ly/NHu3sR @jamigold

7 Steps for Plotting and Pacing: http://bit.ly/KYU9QN @MaureenLynas

Pixar story rules: http://bit.ly/Mjn6uZ @lawnrocket

riting At Night: The Top 10 Challenges Writers Experience & How to Overcome Them: http://bit.ly/KYUHWY @AineGreaney

5 Ways to Get More Involved in the Blogging World: http://bit.ly/KYUXVV

Enhanced ebooks are bad for children finds US study: http://bit.ly/KYV4AM @guardianbooks

The Path To Publication: Delusions of Grandeur: http://bit.ly/NHqMdd @RobWHart

You Have A Request Or You Get “The Call” – Now What? http://bit.ly/N9y1rU @greyhausagency

5 rules for social media engagement: http://bit.ly/MqxBg2 @duolit

Typography in Kindle: http://bit.ly/MqxK2U @JFBookman

5 Ways to Find the Right Publisher for Your Book: http://bit.ly/MqxRM6 @cherylrwrites

How One Introverted Author Successfully Markets His Work: http://bit.ly/MqxYY5 @janefriedman

A Short Quiz About Partial Quotations: http://bit.ly/Mqy8P6 @writing_tips

1 writer would like fewer social media gimmicks: http://bit.ly/MqyjKm @jillkemerer

5 Commandments of Creativity: http://bit.ly/MqyxRC @susannebrent

9 tips for writing a novel: http://bit.ly/MqyYLA @novelrocket

Characters brought back from the brink: http://bit.ly/Mqz4ms @guardianbooks

The Editorial Phone Call: http://bit.ly/Mqz7yR @writeangleblog @bigblackcat97

Are You Trying to Write a Well-Written Book or Tell a Great Story? http://bit.ly/Mqzmd5 @janice_hardy

10 Lessons Writers Can Learn From Fifty Shades Of Grey: http://bit.ly/PuoNpM @mshannabrooks

Choosing between big and small presses: http://bit.ly/Puq0xm @behlerpublish

The summer reading flowchart: http://bit.ly/PuqXWl @galleycat

How Many POVs is Too Many? http://bit.ly/PuraJb @eMergentPublish

Elements of fantasy–owls: http://bit.ly/PurxUb @fantasyfaction

A Writer’s Guide to Starting from Scratch: http://bit.ly/PuAddb @krissybrady

Writing from Both Sides of the Brain: http://bit.ly/PuAk8x

Hunger Games–What the Story Teaches Writers: http://bit.ly/PuC8ye @storyfix

The importance of editing your book: http://bit.ly/PuD2e3 @rebeccaberto

How to Spot and Fix Non-Reactive and Over-Reactive Characters: http://bit.ly/PuDcCj @KMWeiland

The agent-author relationship: http://bit.ly/PuDZ65 @literaticat

Hooking and Orienting the Reader in the Opening Scene: http://bit.ly/PuEcGq @Janice_Hardy

You should free write even if you’re not a writer: http://bit.ly/PuFfX3 @tannerc

“Rules” and making them up: http://bit.ly/PuFqBM @theresastevens

Plot possibilities to get your mind moving through writer’s block: http://bit.ly/PuFMYX

Rewriting the publishing dream: http://bit.ly/PuLyK3

1 writer’s process for creating a 1st draft: http://bit.ly/PuM8Yh

Repetition – a two-ended hammer: http://bit.ly/PuMCxK @dirtywhitecandy

The Bash-Through Draft: http://bit.ly/PuN1Af @AlexSokoloff

The problem with putting this in your query: “My book is suitable for children of all ages”: http://bit.ly/KNvHs8 @nicolamorgan

Fight Scenes: The Waltz of Death: http://bit.ly/KNvMvY @fictionnotes

8 Steps Needed Before Submitting Your Manuscript: http://bit.ly/KNvRQr @karencv

On writers’ concerns over plot theft: http://bit.ly/KNvZPP @annerallen

5 Tips for Turning Real Life into Fiction: http://bit.ly/KNwM3k @writeitsideways

Avoid Time Sinks: Ways to be a More Productive Writer: http://bit.ly/KNwXvj @janice_hardy

3 tips for staying focused on your writing: http://bit.ly/KNx2PA @jeffgoins

Do Your Characters Make Enough Mistakes? http://bit.ly/KNGiTP @Ava_Jae

3 Unappealing (But Effective) Ways to Make Time to Write: http://bit.ly/KNGnqB @krissybrady

Why Boredom Is Good for Your Creativity: http://bit.ly/KNGq5K @markmcguinness

Precise wording can bring your book to the next level: http://bit.ly/KNGB16 @4YALit

5 Ways to Get Out of the Comfort Zone and Become a Stronger Writer: http://bit.ly/KNGEtI @kristenlambTX

How To Create A Meaningful (Not Promotional) Book Launch: http://bit.ly/KNH03v @JonathanFields @danblank

Waiting For A Story To Get Going: http://bit.ly/KNH5UO @mooderino

5 YA Marketing Tips from Publishing Professionals: http://bit.ly/KNH9Ef @galleycat

Worldbuilding with Horses: Urban Horsekeeping: http://bit.ly/KNHeI7 @bookviewcafe

5 Book Review Blogs: http://bit.ly/KNHeaW @woodwardkaren

Story structure of a heist movie in 15 sentences: http://bit.ly/KNHkPR @laurapauling

The Difference Between Brand and Platform and Why Every Author Needs Both: http://bit.ly/KzTEC3 @TheLitCoach

Good Books Are Worth the Wait: http://bit.ly/KzTElr @passivevoiceblg

Your Punctuation Personality Type: http://bit.ly/KzTN8x @LeahPetersen @BryanThomasS

How to Balance Your Blogging Tasks Without Going Crazy: http://bit.ly/KzTPx3 @Pushingsocial

Plot vs. Character: Leaving Room for Magic: http://bit.ly/KzTXww @diymfa @4YALit

Personal interactions reveal character: http://bit.ly/KzU1fO @juliettewade

Four Elements Of a Solid Story Concept: http://bit.ly/KzU5fv @writersdigest

Using Pinterest as a Reader, Writer, and Author: http://bit.ly/KzU8rQ @lkblackburne

How a Debut Author Used His Old College to Find New Readers: http://bit.ly/KzUa2N @galleycat

Setting International Prices for Ebooks: http://bit.ly/KzUdMa @passivevoiceblg

5 Points To Ponder Before You Self Publish: http://bit.ly/KWELqb @woodwardkaren

A look at present participial phrases: http://bit.ly/KWEOSI @theresastevens

5 ways to keep focused on your writing: http://bit.ly/KWF4RN @lynnettebonner

What will the global e-book market look like by 2016? http://bit.ly/KWFgjN @laurahazardowen

How to write comics: http://bit.ly/KWFl7b @litreactor

Why aren’t women more visible in the digital publishing debate? http://bit.ly/KWFsQc @Porter_Anderson @samatlounge

Agency pricing and the Dept. of Justice: http://bit.ly/KWG1JE @Jane_L @Porter_Anderson @JayLLevine @JDGsaid

Agents in Transition–Curtis Brown offering writing courses: http://bit.ly/KWHcsP @Porter_Anderson

Booktango and the Future of DIY E-book Publishing: http://bit.ly/MAHUfR @pubperspectives

The Secret Myth of Traditional Publishing: http://bit.ly/MAImdP @deanwesleysmith

Creating Memorable Secondary Characters: http://bit.ly/MAIqdv