Publetariat

Quick Link: Falling in Love on the Page: Writing Convincing Romantic Relationships by Anna Campbell

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Quick links, bringing you great articles on writing from all over the web.

They say relationships take a lot of work. This is true even for fictional characters in books. Where should you go to learn about developing great literary relationships? Head on over to Romance University, where  has some great advice to make your character’s love affairs realistic while still making reader’s hearts beat faster. 

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Falling in Love on the Page: Writing Convincing Romantic Relationships by Anna Campbell

Couple in embraceMarch 7, 2016

Anna Campbell

She’s smitten. He’s besotted. But that’s not a story. Award-winning author Anna Campbell shares her insight on creating believable romance for your characters. 

As a romance writer, I spend my life watching characters fall in love – it’s a fun way to make a living.

But how do you make those tumultuous romantic relationships believable to the reader? I’m sure we’ve all picked up books where the hero and heroine come together at the end, and our principal response is “huh?” or “they’ll be in a divorce court within a year.”

Not how you want people to feel when they reach the last page of a book you’ve written – whether a romance or a story with romantic elements.

Here are a few thoughts on making those falling in love moments convincing – and irresistibly powerful.

Physical attraction is essential in a romance. That doesn’t mean that all your characters have to be model material with flawless faces and bodies. In fact, often it’s more interesting if they are normal people. But there needs to be a spark. Perhaps your hero notices your heroine’s beautiful eyes or saucy strut or lovely hair, or your heroine thinks the hero has a nice smile or broad shoulders. The attraction needs to be invincible and inescapable, because when your characters clash, this sexual link makes it impossible for them to break away from each other and seek an easier option.

How you write that physical attraction depends on your characters – and your story. Do you want an instant flare-up, or the slow build from interest to love? Or do you want a coup de foudre moment when your characters finally see what’s been under their noses for so long? Do you want to write a transformation story – always a popular theme – where the ugly duckling hero/heroine undergoes some sort of makeover and suddenly appears in all their glory to dazzle their admirer?

Read the full post on Romance University

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If you liked this article, please share. If you have suggestions for further articles, articles you would like to submit, or just general comments, please contact me at paula@publetariat.com or leave a message below.

Quick Link: Here is the Full Author Earnings Report from DBW 2016

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Data Guy, over on Author Earnings gathers all kinds of publishing metrics and then mines them for useful information for authors. It is all about empowering authors to make better decisions. What a wonderful service. This is from their 2016 Digital Book World Keynote Presentation. Here is the link to their February 2016 Author Earnings Report: Amazon’s Ebook, Print, and Audio Sales as an extra bonus!

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Read the full post on Author Earnings

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If you liked this article, please share. If you have suggestions for further articles, articles you would like to submit, or just general comments, please contact me at paula@publetariat.com or leave a message below.

Quick Link: Editing seminar snapshots: How much should you budget for editing your book? And how should you choose an editor?

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Roz Morris on her blog, Nail Your Novel, wrote a great post about how to choose an editor that is right for you.  Check it out, and let us know what tips you have for finding quality people to work on your manuscript.

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Editing seminar snapshots: How much should you budget for editing your book? And how should you choose an editor?

March 6, 2016

Ready to get publishedRoz Morris

This very good question came up when I spoke at the Writers & Artists selfpublishing summit a few months ago. And my answer… deserves a post.

First, there seem to be two modes for charging: by the hour and by the wordcount or page. With the wordcount, writers can be quoted a fixed price, so everyone knows where they stand. With an hourly rate, it’s much more difficult for the writer to know how much they’ll be spending.

The convention seems to be that developmental editing is quoted by the wordcount or page, and other phases are priced by hour. Here’s a post that describes the different editing processes and the order to use them in.

Second, editors set their own fees. Does a low price indicate good value? It might if the editor is starting out and doesn’t yet have a reputation. But might they also be lacking in experience? Indeed, might they be a complete amateur?
Conversely, if an editor’s charges are high, does that mean they’re good?
I think everyone can see it’s a buyer beware situation.
How do you tell? Here’s how to navigate the maze and spend your ££$$ wisely.

Establish that the editor is right for you.
For developmental edits, you need a specialist in your field. I would be useless to a fantasy author because I don’t read fantasy. But I can edit its close cousin, magic realism. I can’t edit genre romance of the Mills and Boon variety, but I can edit any number of stories that feature a romantic relationship. So find out what if their tastes are in tune with yours.

Read the full post on Nail Your Novel

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Quick Link: Getting in Character—Deep POV Part Two

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How can you not love Kristen Lamb, she wears a viking helmet! On her blog, she write a humorous but well thought out post on improving your writing by going deep into your character’s point of view. You know the whole “show, don’t tell” thingie but taken to a different level.   This is part two in a series, but can be read alone. You can find part one here. And don’t worry Kristen, I loved Tropic Thunder too!

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Getting in Character—Deep POV Part Two

March 13, 2016

KnowledgeKristen Lamb

Yes today is odd. Posting on a Sunday. We are headed into Spring Break and yeah…hard to maintain my usual schedule. Today we’re going to dive deeper into deep POV and then, later in the week, I am going to bring you guys an expert on deep POV 😉 .

Will be fun.

To accomplish “deep POV” yes, there are style changes we can make, like removing as many tags as we can and ditching extraneous sensing and thinking words. But deep POV is more than just tight writing, it’s also strongly tethered to characterization. Good characterization.

It is essential to know our cast if we hope to successfully write “deep POV.”

KNOW Your Cast

There are all kinds of ways to get to know our characters. I often write detailed character backgrounds before starting a story so it doesn’t become a fish head.

Why we need to know our characters is that deep POV is a reflection of the inner self, how that character sees the world, responds, evades, processes, etc. It is also a reflection of personal history and relationship dynamics.

*cue brain cramp* *hands paper bag*

It’s okay. Breathe. We’re going to unpack this.

Reflection of the Character

Back when I used to run a weekly workshop, I had writers do a little exercise to help them learn POV and also strengthen character-building skills. I gave this scenario:

We have a family of four—Mom, Dad, a grandparent (either gender) and a teen (either gender) who has spent a year saving for a family vacation. On the way to their destination, the vehicle breaks down. What happens and tell it from the perspective of EACH family member.

Every week, writers showed with the perspective of one of the four. We had ASTONISHING creativity.

Read the full post on Kristen Lamb

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If you liked this article, please share. If you have suggestions for further articles, articles you would like to submit, or just general comments, please contact me at paula@publetariat.com or leave a message below.

Quick Link: Diversity Is About Inclusion, Not Exclusion

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With the recent discussions about the Oscars (#OscarsSoWhite), especially trending on social media, this article from discussing race and publishing is relevant. Over at Indies United, she brings up some really good points in a well written, thoughtful manner. As always, let us know what you think in the comments. Do you feel there are issues with race in publishing?

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Diversity Is About Inclusion, Not Exclusion

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A recent incident at my writers’ group sparked the idea for my post today. A writer submitted a piece where he offered no description of characters that exposed their race. However, the things he chose to write about the characters did make people wonder what race some of the characters were. The main character was a white man married to a black woman, and there were subtle hints — particularly around hair care — of the race of the wife, but nothing explicit. He’d done this on purpose, with the idea that he wanted the reader to imagine the characters to be however they wanted them to be. One of the ladies there, Pam, asked, “Why? Why would you want to be less specific about them? I’ve never heard a good reason for doing this?”

And I totally agreed with her. People motivated by the good intentions of not promoting stereotypes and being inclusive can, by failing to provide certain descriptions, end up with the exact opposite of inclusivity. I can only assume some of the impetus of this comes from Martin Luther King’s most famous oration, the “I Have a Dream” speech. People get in their head the notion that a “colorblind” society is literal, rather than figurative. The idea of judging people based on the content of their character rather than the color of their skin is exactly that. It is a notion based on the idea that we see their skin color — no matter what it may be — and we don’t make any assumptions based on that. We wait until they open their mouths and speak before we judge them to be fools or geniuses (or somewhere in between).

The idea of literally making characters colorless is problematic when your book is set in the real world. Despite King’s dreams, we do not live in a colorblind society. We live in a society where color is an issue in everyday interactions. Pretending it’s not in any sort of real-life settings (be they historical or contemporary), just isn’t very realistic. Now, if your book is set in some type of fantastical or futuristic world that doesn’t have the current world’s hang-ups, then fine.

Read the full post on Indies United

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Quick Link: How to Talk About Your Book

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I like posting from Books & Such as they give the perspective from an agents point of view. Today Janet Kobobel Grant talks about how to come up with the infamous elevator speech about your book. In one of my paying jobs (as opposed to this blog which is a labor of love) I often have to summarize a book and it drives me bonkers when authors don’t have a one or two sentence synopsis of their story that I can use. Go check the article out and let me know what you think.

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How to Talk About Your Book

Emergency jobMar 13, 2016

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I hear from authors that writing a book proposal is, like, the worst part of looking for a slot on a traditional publisher’s author roster. (Coming in at a close second is writing a novel’s synopsis for submission to a publisher.) But, hey, guess what? I know something else authors struggle with: figuring out how to talk about their books.

Oh, sure, they can whip off the details of a specific scene they have in mind or explain to you what they hope the reader gains from the book. But don’t ask the author this seemingly straightforward question: Tell me what your book is about in one sentence.

I recently read an article, which you can check out here, in which a fellow novelist asked that very question of authors with new books. Here are their responses:

Daniel Dutton: It’s a little like “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man” if Stephen were a woman living at a time when women weren’t allowed to be artists.

Kaitlyn Greenidge: My book is about language, family and the reverberations of the past.

Jon Methven: The immensity of the end—be it a career, or relationship, or faith, or mortgage, or life, or all of them—and then deciding to survive, no matter the obstacle. It’s a book about survival. 

Karan Mahajan: Bombs.

Okay, our author friends could use a little help. When someone asks you that question, and they do all the time when they find out you’re an author, know what you want to say. Here are a few crucial elements to include:

  1. Give the listener an instant reference point: WWII Germany; 17th-century Sweden; dypstopian America in 2116. Or if you’re writing nonfiction: food memoir; historical biography; environmental degradation; faith and doubt.

Read the full post on Books & Such

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If you liked this article, please share. If you have suggestions for further articles, articles you would like to submit, or just general comments, please contact me at paula@publetariat.com or leave a message below.

Quick Link: Can Traditional and Indie Publication Live as Friendly Neighbors?

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Author Jody Hedlund speaks from experience; she has successful books through both traditional and self-publishing.  Jody brings her unique perspective to the traditional vs self-publishing debate with an attitude of perhaps we can all just get along. What are your views on the two, and do you think they can co-exist?

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Can Traditional and Indie Publication Live as Friendly Neighbors?

friendship-day_10062663-031914By Jody Hedlund

This year in 2016, I have FOUR books slated for publication. Three of them are being published through three different publishers:

Undaunted Hope, a historical romance through Bethany House Publishers (Jan. 1)

A Daring Sacrifice, a young adult medieval romance through Harper Collins (Mar. 1)

Newton and Polly: A Novel of Amazing Grace, a historical through Random House (Oct. 1)

I’m super thrilled about all three of the books. While each of them targets a slightly different audience, my readers seem to be enjoying them regardless of the differences.

So far, I’ve had a very positive experience working with traditional publishers. I’ve learned a LOT about the ins and outs of how the whole process of publication works and varies between houses.

Since I’m in a super busy life stage (raising 5 kids), having a traditional publisher’s help with cover designing, editing, and marketing has really freed up my time to focus on writing. To be completely honest, I appreciate being able to hand something over to my publishers and know that the project is in good hands. It takes a great deal of stress off me.

Not only that, but working with a variety of traditional publishers has helped to get my books in front of different readers. Each of my publishers has different marketing strategies which has allowed my books a wider audience than if I’d attempted to publish them on my own. I’ve also appreciated the relative ease of getting into brick and mortar stores, libraries/library conferences, foreign print, large print editions, wide-scale blogger and reviewer programs, and many other venues.

However, as beneficial as traditional publication has been for my writing career, I’ve been itching to try my hand at indie publishing. I’ve heard so many positive things about it, that I wanted to experience it for myself.

Read the full post on Jody Hedlund

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If you liked this article, please share. If you have suggestions for further articles, articles you would like to submit, or just general comments, please contact me at paula@publetariat.com or leave a message below.

Quick Link: Surviving Submissions: Donning Your Chain Mail

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I know that no one likes rejection, but some people bounce back from it better than others.  I don’t. I am one of those horrible people who wants everyone to like them, although I am trying to grow out of this. has a great post on dealing with submission rejection.  The post goes beyond the whole “X number of famous people got rejected so you should feel fine” fluff and gives some really good points. Head on over to Writer Unboxed and check it out. If you feel like it, leave a comment on your best tip for dealing with rejection, I promise not to judge.

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Surviving Submissions: Donning Your Chain Mail

Crusader Knight With Sword Front Crestby

In the late 1990s, I wrote a short story—my first ever—and submitted it to The New Yorker. It was a really amazing piece of fiction, one that reflected dozens of minutes of toil and revision. I do not remember the plot (which suggests there was none) except for one detail: the female character sits on a therapist’s couch, and, wrapped in a blanket like a burrito, floats into the air and–poof!–vanishes.

I am certain this 7,000-word work of art was roughly 7,000 words too long.

More than fifteen years later, I see how many things were wrong with that experience. First, the piece was a piece of garbage. I did not know how to write a story, and I had no one guiding me through the process. I should have sought advice from someone, if not another writer, than at least a friendly barista or the wine guy with the radio voice at the Safeway where I buy cheap Riesling.

Wrong thing #2: I had the gall to submit to The New Yorker. Sure, I had read The New Yorker, usually while waiting for my dental appointments, usually looking at the pretty cover or the cartoons because the stories were, well, a little uppity in my opinion. Perhaps I thought that the inclusion of my story would endear me to the other works of fiction. But certainly, even if my story had been an actual work of art, I was not familiar enough with the publication to know whether it would be a good fit.

These days I am a better writer with a better understanding of story structure, and yes, I carry around suitcases of humility. I have given up trying to like The New Yorker’s fiction and instead peruse People while waiting for my dental checkups. And when I submit an essay or a story, a grant proposal or retreat application, I do so in a much smarter way.

Read the full post on Writer Unboxed

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Quick Link: Inner Conflict in Fiction

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Having depth in your characters makes them more believable and having them face conflict makes them more interesting.  At Live Write Breathe, Janalyn Voigt gives us examples of conflict that will help you develop your characters and then throws in a little psychology too. Check out the whole series!

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Inner Conflict in Fiction

Inner Conflict in Fiction (Conflict in Fiction, Making it Real Series, Part 4)

Comforting patientUnderstanding the dynamics of inner conflict in psychology can help you create believable characters who tap into emotions common to us all.  Portraying inner conflict believably in fiction requires that we understand its ways and means. In this article, we’ll cover the four models of inner conflict in psychology, with examples from my own writing.

This post is a continuation of “Tap the Psychology of Conflict in Your Fiction,” which I recommend reading first.

1. Choosing Between Two Positive Outcomes

Your character needs to choose between two equal desires that are mutually exclusive, resulting in tension. The stronger the opposing desires and more serious the consequences, the harder the struggle.  Giving your character traits that deepen the conflict will make it even more compelling. ‘You can’t eat your cake and eat it, too’ is an expression that perfectly frames this sort of problem. In psychology, this is called the approach-approach conflict.

Example

Such a dilemma arises in DawnSinger (Tales of Faeraven, book 1) because the hero, Kai, who has sworn to protect the High Queen of Faeraven, will be freed from his pledge at her death. Since that event seems imminent, both Kai’s parents press him not to bow his knee to the heir of Faeraven who will take over the high throne at his mother’s death but to take over the responsibilities of heir to their kingdom in the absence of his missing older brother. The consequences of refusing them are that his parent’s kingdom is likely to be absorbed into a neighboring one.

The new High King will be an untried youth, and Kai’s loyalty to the High Queen, love of the life he leads in her service, and drive to fulfill his duty, sometimes at the expense of relationships, makes this a gut-wrenching decision for him.

Read the full post on Live Write Breathe

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Quick Link: AA 034: 10 Pages You Should Include in Your Author Website

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This quick link offering is a podcast! Don’t worry if you are not the podcasting type, there is a handy dandy transcript to read as well.  Shelley Hitz lets us know what pages you should include in your author website. If you are a fan of this blog, you know how I feel about author websites!

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AA 034: 10 Pages You Should Include in Your Author Website

 

Your author website is your home online.  However, have you really thought through the strategy of how to set up your website or simply put something together?  In this episode I want to share with you 10 pages I think every author should include in their website.

Can’t listen right now?  Read the transcript below:

Today I’m rolling out the red carpet and inviting you to join me as I share all about the pages you should have on your author website. My name is Shelley Hitz and I love being able to offer the content to you on this podcast each week, but I have just been crazy busy this last couple months. You may have noticed, especially the last month, a lot of my episodes have been interview episodes. That is just simply because I have been so focused on so many projects.

This last week I published a new book, The 90 Day Writing Journal, so fun. it’s a print book, spiral bound, you can find it on Amazon. I also launched my sales page for coloradowritingretreat.com, I’m so excited about this. I found an amazing chalet in the Rocky Mountains that I’m renting in September. I’m going to have a small group come and get some writing done with me.

Wow, it has been really busy and really crazy. So I’m glad to be back with you on this episode to really teach you and train you on this topic of websites, because I believe you have a God given message to share with the world. The question is, are you ready to shine?

It’s time for this week’s Center Stage Spotlight Training. This is where I share training and strategies to help you grow your business or ministry through writing and publishing books, marketing online, and creating products and services to sell on the back-end. I’m not just about books, but so much more. I’m here to help you connect with your audience in the best way possible. Today’s episode is all about your website, Episode 34 titled 10 Pages You Should Include in Your Author Website. I know this is going to help you come one step closer to bringing your message to people. So, be prepared to shine.

If you’ve been following me for a while you know I talk about the promotion pyramid. It’s actually a training that you can download for free at promotionpyramid.com. In that you will discover three things every author needs to have as part of their marketing plan. One of those is your website, so that’s what I’m going to be talking about today; your author website.

What should your main goal of your author website be? It should be to connect with your readers and build a relationship where they grow to know, like, and trust you. This is the basis of all marketing; building that relationship. Before we get into the strategy of the pages you should include on your website please just breathe. Let’s breathe together.

Get the podcast or read the full post on Shelley Hitz

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Quick Link: Your Ultimate Guide to Writing Contests

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Have you ever entered a writing contest or wanted to? Over on his site, Jerry Jenkins explores the benefits of entering writing contests and then gives advice on how to find legitimate ones.  Let us know if you have ever entered a writing contest and what your experience was.

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Your Ultimate Guide to Writing Contests

books-with-trophy_MyBXDLu_Posted

Regardless where you are on your writing journey—from wannabe to bestseller—you can benefit from entering contests.

Why?

Because the right contest can tell you:

  • Where you stand
  • How you measure up against the competition
  • What you still need to learn

To get you the complete lowdown on everything you need to know about writing contests I consulted the ultimate expert. Dr. Dennis Hensley is chairman of the Department of Professional Writing at Taylor University, Upland, Indiana.

It’s because of Doc that I unequivocally refer to Taylor as having the best university writer training program in the country, bar none. Ever since I heard him speak more than 30 years ago, I have never hosted a writers conference without inviting him to keynote and teach. Doc is always a favorite and never disappoints.

His students don’t just learn to write and sell and publish. They’re in the game every day, pushed to query and propose and market their work to real publications. So Doc isn’t preparing them to be professional writers when they graduate; he’s thrusting them into the action now.

Besides having students sell their writing, Doc pushes them into contests too. He’s turned out  enough productive writers over the decades to tell me that what’s good for them has to be good for you and me.

So I asked him:

Why are you such a strong advocate of writers’ contests?

Contests force writers to hit deadlines. That means they have to finish, and finish on time. It’s hard to beat that kind of training.

Read the full post on Jerry Jenkins

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The One Small Detail That Can Derail Your Kindle Countdown Deal

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Not everyone does Kindle Countdown Deals, or KDP Select. But if you are among those who do, there’s one little thing that could make a big difference in your efforts to get the most out of a Kindle Countdown Deal.

When you set up a Kindle Countdown deal, the KDP system allows you to set a beginning date on a screen that looks like this one:

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It’s easy to miss the fact that this screen’s default starting time is 8 am Pacific Standard Time.

And if you are trying to coordinate a promotion campaign that starts on the same day as your Kindle Countdown Deal, that 8 am Pacific time could be a disaster. As an example, promotions at BookGorilla and Kindle Nation generally have a copy and pricing deadline of 6 am Eastern, which translates (for the time-zone challenged) to 3 am Pacific Standard Time. (And we’ve heard that the folks at BookBub try to get up early, too.)

One thing you can do, of course, is to have coordinate your promotion so that it starts on the second day of your Kindle Countdown Deal. But you may feel like you’re giving up critical promotional time if you delay your promotion that way.

But here’s how to fix it:

There’s an easy to miss time-of-day pulldown menu on that same screen that we showed you above. Just click on the default time and the pulldown will appear, as in the screenshot below. Select 12 am Pacific and you should be fine for all purposes … as long as the KDP gremlins cooperate!

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Quick Link: Making Magic: 6 Steps for Creating A Magical System

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Wave your magic wand and read these tips from Carol Gray, from the website Dead Darlings, on how to set up a magical system that makes sense in your literary world.

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Making Magic: 6 Steps for Creating A Magical System

Happy Girl In A Witch'S Costume And Witch'S Broomstick

March 1, 2016

 

Conjure, enchant, shape-shift, or summon—endless possibilities exist in the world of magic. Cast a spell, fight a dragon, wave a magic wand, but don’t forget the ruby slipper, the mermaid, and the unicorn. And then there’s time travel and scrying and divination—the options can easily overwhelm. Luckily, the talented Mark Fogerty, in his GrubStreet class on Worldbuilding, offered six steps to creating a magical system that can help manage all these choices. Here’s my version of Mark’s list.

1. Define the Magical System. What is your magic and how does it work? Now don’t panic. It’s okay to be vague at this point. Think about the Force in Star Wars. Obi-Wan Kenobi described it as “an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us; it binds the galaxy together.” 1 This sounds good but does anybody really know what he’s talking about?

According to Rainbow Rowell, it’s okay not to fully understand your magic. In talking about her latest book, Carry On, she said, “I would get stuck and have to remind myself that I don’t really know how the magic works in my favorite fantasy stories. I don’t really know how the Force works . . . I get really confused if I talk specifically about the magic in Harry Potter or The Lord of the Rings. I try not to get too bogged down about how it works . . . I just try to be consistent.” 2

Read the full post on Dead Darlings

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Quick Link: Ten Ways to Enjoy Networking With Other Writers (However Shy You Are)

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Social groups are something that I have to work at, and to see me you might not know how hard I struggle meeting people for the first time. If you are like me,  Ali over at Aliventures feels our pain and gives us her insight on how to manage meeting other writers while being an introvert. My go to is #6 in her tips. I always try and prepare questions to ask people, because if they are talking about themselves, I don’t have to talk. ; ) What are your tips?

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Female teenager covering her mouthTen Ways to Enjoy Networking With Other Writers (However Shy You Are)

Monday, February 29, 2016

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I don’t think I’ve ever come across a writer who was a full-on extrovert. Most of us tend towards the introvert end of the spectrum. And many of us struggle with networking.

Let’s face it, anyone who wants to spend lots of time alone with their thoughts, and who prefers to communicate those thoughts by words on a page (or screen), is going to find social interaction at least occasionally challenging.

I’m certainly no exception. While I’m not painfully shy, I’m not a naturally outgoing person. I feel awkward about meeting new people and striking up conversations.

I get on OK with more structured situations, like speaking in front of an audience, but I find more casual one-on-one chit chat with strangers a bit of a challenge.

When I do get out and about to meet other writers, I find it enjoyable, but also tiring: I need time alone to recover.

And yet – I want to get to know lots of fellow writers! It’s great fun, and really encouraging, to chat to other people who love what I love. It’s also useful to know people to pass clients on to, people who might beta-read for me, and so on.

A quick note on “networking”: I know the word “networking” can seem cold, like you’re playing some sort of numbers game. (I think for us Brits, it can also feel a bit American.) To me, networking just means getting to know people who you can help, and people who might want to help you in return. It’s not about amassing a collection of business cards, or “working the room”.

#1: Understand You’re Normal

Read the full post on Aliventures

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Quick Link: 3 Tips for Seamless Scene Setting

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Quick links, bringing you great articles on writing from all over the web.

Today we travel to Writers In The Storm, where not only do they have a great blog name but Sonja Yoerg cheekily shares tips on using your environment to help bring depth to your character.

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Hikers at sunset3 Tips for Seamless Scene Setting

February 17th, 2016

Sonja Yoerg

Lost in Space. Remember that TV show? No? Sigh. It aired in the 60s and featured a family in Jiffy-Pop space suits roaming the galaxy in an attempt to return to Earth. I mention it because, as fun as that show was, you don’t want your characters lost in space. In fact, you want to pin them to a specific spot on the map, put them in a headlock and give them a noogie while you’ve got them there.

Settings aren’t just hang-outs for your characters. Let’s talk about ways to put your fictional places through their paces.

1. Relax your reader.

First and most obvious, readers will relax once they know where they are and what sort of a world to expect. Nail down the location with few accurate strokes and you’re one step closer to being able to lead your reader by the nose. (And that’s what you want, after all: dominion over readers!)

Unless the mystery of the setting is part of the story, it’s best to bang the stake in the ground right away. These words appear in the first paragraph of my latest novel, Middle of Somewhere: “Yosemite, wilderness, backpacking, adventure.” Yeah, I’m subtle like that.

Read the full post on Writers In The Storm

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