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Articles about craft.

Quick Link: Three Ways to Build a Better Plot

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

How are you NaNoWriMo‘s doing? Keeping up on your word count? Today’s offering is from Janice Harding’s Fiction University and might help.  Janice writes about three ways you can ramp up your plot. More & better plot = more words!

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Three Ways to Build a Better Plot

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Building blocksPlot is how writers illustrate a story to their readers—which is why it’s so vital to craft a compelling one. It’s the foundation on which a story is built, and the weaker that is, the less likely the story will stand, let alone entertain. That’s a lot of pressure to put on a poor story idea, so it’s no wonder so many writers have trouble with plotting.

I love plotting myself, but even I’m always on the lookout for ways to make the process easier and more effective. Here are three things that I find particularly helpful when working on a new novel:

1. Know the Ending First

Since the whole goal of a novel is to solve the core conflict problem, knowing A) what that problem is and B) how that problem is resolved, makes it easier to plot it. Let’s look at a common way a novel’s plot is described:

Jaws is the story of a sheriff with a fear of the water who finds out a killer shark is terrorizing his beach during a major holiday weekend (the premise).

Next, let’s look at that same story with the ending as part of the idea:

Jaws is a story of a sheriff with a fear of the water who faces that fear to kill a killer shark terrorizing his town during a major holiday weekend (the general problem and how he solves it).

The premise version only gives the setup for the story. It doesn’t provide enough information to know what the sheriff does after this discovery. A large percentage of novels start out with this type of “plot” summary (I’ve done it, too), and it’s no wonder an equally large percentage of first drafts hit a wall around page 100.

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Quick Link: Four Major Stumbles by Newer Writers

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 at the Kill Zone site has some great insight into some common issues that new writers have. They are probably not what you think. Sure you have to be careful with grammar and sentence structure, but what really makes a good book is the story behind it. That is where it becomes complicated.  

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Four Major Stumbles by Newer Writers

Stuck in a bubblePosted on by

These four nasty little traps would still be weaknesses if they appeared in the novels of more experienced professional writers. But for the most part, those writers don’t commit these mistakes. Which defines the window of opportunity for newer writers – to understand what they’re doing and how they do it.

And how that differs from where your story is, at any given moment. Especially when you believe you are done.

It is important to remember that when you read a novel from a proven professional, you’re reading a polished, pounded upon, tested and fortified final draft. The story may have been riddled with problems in the early stages, draft after draft, so don’t assume these pitfalls are unique to the newer writer.

Established authors have agents and editors for this purpose, newer writers don’t. And they bring their 10,000 hours of apprenticeship to the task, which probably exceeds your resume by orders of magnitude.

A few workshops won’t get you there. Those 10,000 hours, along with the criteria-driven, modeled craft held up as the target, just might.

If I wanted to read fully realized, polished stories all day long, I’d be a book reviewer instead.

I do read a lot of work from folks who are terrific writers… if the composition of sentences and paragraphs is the benchmark for that description.

But the thing is, it isn’t.

Where writing novels is concerned, a terrific writer is judged by the story more than the prose. And because they are two different skill sets, one doesn’t necessarily beget the other.

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Quick Link: 8 Steps That Will Help You Start (And Finish) Your Book

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

 has some great tips for starting and more importantly (at least for me!) finishing your books. Head on over to Stand Out Books for all the details. 

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8 Steps That Will Help You Start (And Finish) Your Book

From start to finish, child writing on white paperJULY 6, 2016 by ROBERT WOOD

Writing’s really hard. I don’t mean it’s hard to create something good, I mean it’s difficult to sit down and start writing. That may sound like lip-service, but the fact is that writing – especially writing a book – goes against every rule of self-motivation there is.

Generally, it’s not done to order, meaning that goals and deadlines are self-set and easy to break. It’s also rarely done in a focused, dedicated environment – even those lucky enough to have an office or dedicated writing space probably use it for other things, and utilize a device that’s also a primary source of leisure: imagine trying to do paperwork in your local pub or aquarium (we haven’t met, so I’m not sure what you like doing in your spare time). Finally, it’s ill-defined – ‘How long is a book?’ is the same question as ‘How long is a piece of string?’, but it applies to every quality of a finished work. How polished does your book have to be? How realistic should the dialogue feel? How many characters is too many, or enough?

These issues combine into a task that’s almost designed to not get done. Authors begin the writing process with no goals or parameters except ‘make a book’. What even is a book? Answers differ.

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Editor’s Note: NaNoWriMo Day One!

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nanowrimo_2016_webbadge_participant-200Any NaNos out there? There is still time to sign up!

This will be my eighth year, and every year I wonder if I can do it. So far I have managed seven years out of the eight. My NaNo name is Paula1849 if you want to connect on the NaNoWriMo site.

If you like to track your word count, you will need 1667 words today. So far I have 739.  Whoops.

Good luck!

Paula

 

Quick Links: Dudeology #2: Combining Genres

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I have noticed that there seem to be a lot more authors mixing genres. Just check on the Amazon subcategories when you try and upload your book! I think it is a good thing, that increases creativity.  Steven Pressfield explains why combining genres can be a good thing, and he is using one of my favorite movies The Big Lebowski. 

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Dudeology #2: Combining Genres

By STEVEN PRESSFIELD | Published: JULY 6, 2016

The Dude abides
The Dude abides

We were talking last week about The Big Lebowski being a film in the Private Eye genre. But what really makes Lebowski so inventive and so interesting is it’s a mixedgenre. It’s a Slacker/Stoner tale (like Dazed and Confused, Go, Clerks, or any Cheech and Chong movie) conceived, structured, and executed as a Detective Story.

What does this mean for you and me as writers?
It means that mixing genres is one of the most canny and fun tricks we can pull to come up with something new and fresh and exciting.

Mix the Private Detective genre with Sci-Fi and you get Blade Runner.

Combine it with a Geezer Pic and you get The Late Show, starring Art Carney and Lily Tomlin.

Blend it with historical fiction and you get The Name of the Rose.

But let’s dig a little deeper into The Big Lebowski. The concept of the film is this:

 

Let’s tell a story that hits all the beats [conventions] of a Sam Spade/Philip Marlowe Private Eye Story, but instead of having a hard-bitten detective as the hero we’ll have a sweet, lovable stoner.

 

How does that pay off for the writers, Joel and Ethan Coen? It pays off because this simple creative twist—stoner instead of film-noir private eye—makes every character and line of dialogue feel original and inventive. Each scene gives the filmmakers an angle to make a fresh point about America, about popular culture, about how things have changed in the past generation or two.

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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: How to Tap into Your Passion Every Time You Write

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My favorite part of writing is the beginning. I love the excitement of putting down a new story! But once the basic story outline is done and I need to fill in the details, it becomes more difficult to find that excitement. At Live Write Thrive, C.S. Lakin shares how to tap into that excitement every time.

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How to Tap into Your Passion Every Time You Write

Pedestrian in urban environmentJuly 6, 2016

Let’s say you have a great idea for an article, blog post, short story, or novel. You’ve brainstormed your main points and you feel the topic is fresh and interesting.

After a bit of work, you come to the moment when you are ready to write. You hope to infuse that initial excitement about your idea into your writing, but when you get down to the nuts and bolts of actually putting the idea down on paper (or typed into your Word document), it seems to fall flat.

You know it’s not the idea that’s the problem. Nor is it your writing ability; you have the chops to write well. So what’s the problem?

The Difficult Transition from Idea to Execution

Sometimes that transition from idea to execution causes problems. At times the story seems to be hovering over some lost horizon. You could be wandering a bit lost, and as the cliché goes: you can’t see the forest for the trees. And if you are working on something as enormous as a novel, it can seem like a huge forest with so many trees (elements) that your vision can get muddled and your eyes tired from trying to “see the big picture” all the time.

Kahlil Gibran said in his famous book The Prophet that “thought is a bird of space, that in a cage of words may indeed unfold its wings but cannot fly.” I memorized that line more than forty years ago because of its profound wisdom. Just how do we get our terrific ideas to “fly” in a cage of words?

We do so by tapping into our passion. Passion for our topic and passion for shaping words.

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Quick Links: Preface your book!

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Not sure what the difference is between a preface, foreword, introduction, or prologue? Over at the BookBaby blog, David Leonhardt explains the differences and why having one is key to setting the mood for your reader.

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Preface your book!

David Leonhardt

doodle_10036436-032114Whether it’s a preface, an introduction, a foreword, or a prologue, the text that comes before your first chapter is important for setting the stage for your readers.
Not every book has a preface. That’s OK, because some have an introduction. Or a foreword. Or a prologue. And some have several of these.

Whatever you call it (or them), the text that comes before your first chapter is important for setting the stage for your readers. So let’s take a couple minutes to cover the basics.

Your first question is probably this:

What is the difference between preface, foreword, introduction, and prologue?

That is exactly the question that was asked, and answered, on Quora. As you can tell, there is no hard and fast definition, although a foreword is typically written by someone other than the author, usually someone well-known and credible. This is a great way to help readers accept that a new writer has something worth reading.

An introduction is usually an explanation of what is in the book. This is ideal for non-fiction books, or for fiction books where the author wants to explain where he’s coming from. It can also let readers know how they will benefit from reading the book. The introduction is not part of the story.

A prologue is generally part of the story, but set apart. It sets the stage by bringing the reader into the story before it begins. Generally, a prologue is used for fiction.

So what is a preface? Well, now, that’s a good question. A preface could be an introduction. Or it could be a prologue. It is whatever you need to set the stage so that the reader can hit the ground running from Chapter 1.

Setting the stage is key

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Quick Links: But When I Do It, It’s Really Stylish

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I love this post by , first because I am a massive Red Dwarf fan, but also because Jo tells us to go ahead and take some writing chances, break a few rules. Go to Writer Unboxed to see for yourself.

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But When I Do It, It’s Really Stylish

July 2, 2016 By Jo Eberhardt

Girl In The Summer Sun Wearing SunglassesI grew up on 80s British comedy. (Which possibly explains everything you ever need to know about my writing style.) Yes, Minister taught me about politics. Blackadder taught me about history. Are You Being Served? taught me about… well, lots of things. And Red Dwarf taught me about science fiction.

In fact, Red Dwarf taught me a lot of lessons, and one of the ones I come back to time and time again is from the most feminist episode I’ve ever seen in any TV show ever: ‘Parallel Universe’.

For those of you who haven’t had the pleasure of watching Red Dwarf, the two main characters are Arnold Rimmer, a socially awkward, sexually repressed hologram, and Dave Lister, a slobbish, easygoing lad’s lad whose skills include drinking lager and eating vindaloo spicy enough to melt through plastic. In ‘Parallel Universe’, they’re accidentally transported to a parallel dimension where everything is the same… except that women are the dominant gender. There, they meet their female equivalents who, obviously, try to get them into bed.

Hi-jinks ensue as the boys come to terms with being objectified and, in Lister’s words dealing with women who “think of men in the exact same way [we] think of women…. it’s disgusting.” But my favourite part of the episode is the conversation that takes place about female-Lister’s attempt to seduce male-Lister:

Lister: She tried to impress me by drinking six pints of lager and belching the whole of Yankee Doodle Dandy.

Rimmer: That’s your party piece, isn’t it?

Lister: Yeah, but when I do it, it’s really stylish, man.

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Quick Links: Don’t Overdo it! Examples of Overwriting

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Oh some of these examples are really funny. There is one that I have to read with my best William Shatner impression. You will know which one!  at Books and Such shares her expertise on how not to overdo your writing.

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Don’t Overdo it! Examples of Overwriting

Must. Resist. Over-dramatizing.
Must. Resist. Over-dramatizing.

I read at least three proposals every week, sometimes more. In many of these proposals, I notice common writing errors, and I’d like to point these out so you can check for them before submitting your work to editors and agents.

One mistake is overwriting. Many authors believe their writing style is what makes their project appeal to readers. This is the case within certain limits. Finding your “voice” and using it effectively is a learned skill. Below are some overwriting examples.

1) The Thesaurus: It’s a really good idea to have a thesaurus on your desk while you’re writing, but don’t overdo it.

“The whyfor for a thesaurus is to ameliorate a skald’s word stock rather than to regurgitate the same jargon.” (Or: A thesaurus is to help you come up with new words rather than using the same words over again.)

If your reader has to pull out a dictionary to figure out what you’re talking about, you’re doing it wrong. Unusual or little-known words should be relatively discernible from the context. Plus, while readers want to understand the subject matter and to read beautiful words and phrases, if reading the book is too difficult, they’ll quit. We all want to be challenged, but we need to be built up at the same time. We want to know that we’re smart enough to read the book in our hands, or we’ll find something else that entertains and encourages us. This applies to nonfiction too. Be careful that your writing doesn’t become too technical if you are trying to write to readers who aren’t experts in the subject matter.

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Quick Links: Strengthen Your Writing with Rhetorical Devices

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

Are you a little iffy on your rhetorical devices and want to add a little spice to your writing, no matter the genre? Jamie Gold has got you covered by helping you learn more about these literary tools and how you can use them to enhance your writing.

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Strengthen Your Writing with Rhetorical Devices

by Jami Gold on June 30, 2016

toolkit-lite-plus-icon_myuiqpuu_lSome in the literary community assume that genre writers don’t care about the deeper aspects of writing craft. While it’s true that literary fiction is more well-known for its use of figurative and lyrical language, genre fiction can use the same literary tools.

Now, if you’re anything like me, and your English or grammar instruction was less than ideal, you might not be familiar with the term rhetorical devices. I certainly wasn’t.

When I first heard the term, I assumed it had something to do with arguing or making a point, like a rhetorical question. Eh, in a way, I wasn’t too far off. But once I did learn about them, I quickly became aware of how using rhetorical devices can strengthen our writing—even if we’re writing genre stories. *grin*

What Are Rhetorical Devices?
Rhetorical devices are simply ways to use language to affect our audience. We probably use several of these methods without realizing there are other similar tools sitting right alongside them in the literary toolbox.

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Quick Link: How To Write 50,000 Words In A Month With Grant Faulkner

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NaNoWriMo is just around the corner so this post/podcast is quite timely. Those who Nano are already familiar with Grant Faulker, Executive Director of NaNoWriMo, so how cool is it that The Creative Penn interviewed him! Got any NaNoWRiMo survival tips?

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How To Write 50,000 Words In A Month With Grant Faulkner

June 27, 2016 by Joanna Penn

Image courtesy of National Novel Writing Month
Image courtesy of National Novel Writing Month

NaNoWriMo changed my writing life in 2009 when I wrote the first few thousand words of what eventually became Stone of Fire. Writing a speedy first draft without self-censoring is still what I aim for with my books, and in today’s show I discuss how it can be done with Grant Faulkner.

In the intro, I discuss the potential impact of the UK Brexit decision on traditional publishing, and on indie authors. Plus, my latest book, The Successful Author Mindset, launches this week and will be available in ebook, print, workbook, and audiobook editions.

This podcast is sponsored by Kobo Writing Life, which helps authors self-publish and reach readers in global markets through the Kobo eco-system. You can also subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast for interviews with successful indie authors.

Grant Faulkner is a novelist and flash fiction writer, the Executive Director of NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, and the co-founder of 100WordStory.org.

You can listen above or on iTunes or Stitcher or watch the video here, read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and full transcript below.

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Quick Link: The Right First Impression by Virginia Heath

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I am thrilled and overwhelmed over my reading choices these days, just like everyone else. So to narrow down my tr pile I will go ahead and start a couple of pages. You will be lucky if your potential readers give your story that much. So having a really good start is important to hook your reader and keep them going. At Romance University, Virginia Heath talks about how to make the right first impressions.

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The Right First Impression by Virginia Heath

Posted On June 27, 2016

The Yuri Gagarin monument. He was the first in space and never boring.
The Yuri Gagarin monument. He was the first man in space and never boring.

Sometimes, you don’t get a second chance to make a good first impression, and that adage applies to the beginning of your story. Virginia Heath returns to talk about elements that factor into a line that will grab and keep a reader’s attention. 

Welcome back, Virginia! 

‘Jack Markham, lately christened the Earl of Braxton, brought his horse to a stop on the brow of the hill just as the first rays of the sun burnt through the hazy mist of the early…’ Zzzzzzzzzzz sorry I nodded off there!

Those were the uninspiring first lines of my doomed, never-to-be-published first attempt at a historical romance novel. If the reader had a convenient pair of matchsticks at the ready to prop open their drooping eyes, the story then went into a great deal of description about the fictitious place he happened to be riding in. I think the story actually started somewhere around page five. Five wasted pages where I should have hooked my reader and made them want to continue reading my book. I’ve come a long way since then.

My dreary beginning aside, there have been some cracking first lines in literature. “All children, except one, grow up.” I read J M Barrie’s ‘Peter Pan’ from cover to cover when I was eight. He had me from the first evocative sentence. Even at that young age, his words hooked me and dragged me into his world. The concept of one boy remaining a child forever was beyond appealing. Since then, there have been certain opening lines which I will never forget. They all come from my favourite books, but there is one which I love more than all of the others combined. “Being dead didn’t make Jack Mercy less of a son of a bitch. One week of dead didn’t offset sixty-eight years of living mean.” These words were written by Nora Roberts in ‘Montana Sky’, the very first book of hers I read and consistently at number one on my top ten list.

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Quick Link: Breaking Funny

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

I happen to have a very dry sense of humor but I love books that make me laugh. Even the ones with groaners – Piers Anthony I am looking at you. Ann Garvin guest posts at Writer Unboxed on why humor is important to a good story and has some helpful tips on how you can incorporate more humor into yours.

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Breaking Funny

It is a fact that humor is good for what ails you.
It is a fact that humor is good for what ails you.

June 26, 2016
We’re so pleased Ann Garvin has stopped by Writer Unboxed today! Ann is the co-founder of The Fifth Semester, ‘where writers are mentored from inspiration to publication.’ She is the author of the forthcoming book I LIKE YOU JUST FINE WHEN YOU’RE NOT AROUND and the founder of Tall Poppy Writers. You can learn more about Ann on her website, and by following her on Twitter.

Want to write funny but don’t think you’re funny? Ann has something to say about that.

Breaking Funny

I’ve been teaching writing for a long time now and I often hear some version of this statement, “I’m not funny so I don’t even try to write humor into my books,” or “My books are about very dark topics and I’m not sure humor would fit in the story line.”

I think the response to both of these statements is to try to infuse humor, even if you aren’t naturally funny, even if you are writing about very, very difficult topics. Here’s why.

I’m going to borrow from my history as a nurse and a conversation I had with a male physician about labor pain. He said, “I’ve never been in labor, but I did have a kidney stone once and I hear the intensity is similar to that of having a baby.” I was both pleased that he was trying to understand but also irritated, as any woman might be when a man compares a microscopic piece of crust to an eight-pound human, but that’s a fight for another day.

Since I’ve had both a kidney stone and two babies I’m going to prove him wrong and work to sell you on trying comedy in the worst of situations.

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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 Links: First Chapter Blues: Tips and Fixes

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I love what Ruth Harris has to say about rewriting the first chapter once you get the story done. By then your story has settled down and is more cohesive. So then the first chapter needs a serious re-look.  She has a bunch more tips, so head on over to Anne R Allen‘s blog and check it out. How do you manage unruly first chapters?

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First Chapter Blues: Tips and Fixes

June 26, 2016 by Ruth Harris

All the hoping and wishing won't make it better.
All the hoping and wishing won’t make it better.

Someone waves a gun in the first sentence.

In the second sentence, Jim (or is it Jill?) is walking his (or is it her?) dog in the rain.

In the third paragraph, the dog gets loose, runs into the middle of a movie set where the handsomest/most beautiful/most famous movie star in the world falls instantly in love with the owner of the toy poodle/doberman pinscher/golden retriever.

In the last paragraph, Jim (or is it Jill?) is tied up in a cellar. She or he is getting fired/laid by his/her billionaire boss. Or s/he is in the kitchen making cupcakes. Or driving a Ferrari on the Grand Corniche while some people (good guys? bad guys?) are going somewhere in a truck/tank/bus/boat/private jet.

So what is this? A mystery? A thriller? A cozy? A romance? Urban fantasy?

Who the hell knows?

Certainly not the reader who by now is gone, girl, gone.

Basically, what we have here is a mess.

Of course I exaggerate but, based on a recent random reading of “Look Inside” samples, I didn’t completely make this up, either.

Your first chapter needs to be seductive, enticing, compelling and coherent. Getting it right is crucial—and it’s not easy.

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October 8, 2016 is Indie Author Day!

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Publetariat was started as a movement to celebrate and champion the indie author. So we are very happy to support Indie Author day, October 8, 2016.

self-e_indieauthorday_logo_tshirt-01-e1462823856596During the Inaugural Indie Author Day on October 8, 2016, libraries from all across North America will host their own local author events with the support of the Indie Author Day team. In addition to these local programs, each library’s indie community will come together for an hour-long digital gathering at 2 pm Eastern featuring Q&A with writers, agents and other industry leaders. Don’t miss out on this fantastic opportunity for libraries and authors to connect on both local and global levels!

Check to see if there is a library near you hosting events or if that doesn’t work for you they are having a webcast, open to all, at 2 pm Eastern Time.

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