Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Links of Interest

MARKETING BOOKS TO LIBRARIES:
HOW MUCH DO YOU NEED TO DESCRIBE SETTING?
FEELING LIKE A FRAUD WHEN YOU ARE SUCCESSFUL:
WRITING THE MYSTERY:
SETTING DETAILS:
FIGHT SCENE BASICS:
MARKET NEWS, MAINLY SHORT STORIES:
YOUR BOOK DESCRIPTION IN YOUR QUERY:
DEFINING “UNSOLICITED MANUSCRIPTS:”
SHOULD YOU WRITE ALL THREE NOVELS IN A TRILOGY, OR SHOULD YOU JUST WRITE THE FIRST AND WAIT TO SEE IF IT SELLS?
WAYS TO SHOW CHARACTER MOTIVATION:
LIST O’ LINKS:
HOW TO MAKE A LIVING AS AN AUTHOR:
WRITING PARANORMAL, MAINLY YA:
MOTIVATIONAL QUOTES FOR WRITERS:
USING TWITTER TO MAKE A PERSONAL CONNECTION WITH YOUR READERS:
MARKET NEWS: Mainly sf/f/horror.  Some short story markets.
DO YOU NEED FACEBOOK?  WHY ONE AUTHOR MAY DELETE HER ACCOUNT:
THERE IS NO ONE PATH TO BEING PUBLISHED:

WHY THE LAST CHAPTER SHOULD RESEMBLE THE FIRST:
EIGHT THINGS SHE WISHES A PRO HAD TOLD HER:
LIES AUTHORS TELL THEMSELVES:
REASONS WHY YOUR STORY WON’T SELL EVEN IF IT’S GOOD:
WRITING THE SYNOPSIS:

WORKING WITH MULTIPLE VIEWPOINT CHARACTERS:

Monday, March 26, 2012

Using a Real Place With A Fictional Name

QUESTION: I've tried to turn small towns with which I'm familiar into fictional towns or settings--usually for a paranormal world. Each time, I've ended up with a big, confusing, frustrated mess. You have mentioned that you have done this. Do you have any tips or tricks for developing your hometown into a fictional town? 
In my novel, TIME AFER TIME, my heroine’s hometown of Moravia is literally my hometown with the location of streets, etc.  
The heroine's engagement party is in a country club that's about five miles away from where I live.  I fiddled a bit with the look of the huge room and the patio where she meets the hero, though, to fit the plot.
The hero picks her up in a horse and carriage and takes her to the golf course to the east of the country club.  
I know where the McDonalds is that they stop at for a late snack and the apartment complex where she lives.
In a series I'm working on now set in Moravia, the hero's house is about a block away from where I live. The house is across the street from the Methodist church I went to as a child. 
The hero and his best friend ride on trails I rode as a girl, and the heroine goes to a fictional version of my alma mater.  When she drives there, I know what she passes, and the campus is described accurately. 
If I change some element of the real town for my fictional town, I make a note to myself to that effect although I rarely reuse settings like the country club.
I give the streets different names because I don't want people to make too close a connection between High Point and Moravia, and for the new series, I'm using the High Point of forty years ago because it fits better.  Those riding trails are now housing developments, for example.
Rather than a map, I have an equals list.  
Willow Street = Chestnut Drive
Nathanton = Greensboro
Most of my names have a word play involved.  Willow and Chestnut are both trees, and Greensboro is named after Revolutionary War hero, Nathaniel Green.
I never use exact distances, but I know how long it would take to get from the magic equipment storage warehouse to Daniel's house in the middle of the night if you were driving well over the speed limit.  
This information doesn't really change what happens or anything, and I could change the time for my own convenience, but just knowing helps keep the place real for me, and, hopefully, that makes the place more real to the reader.  

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Links of Interest

5 MISTAKES AUTHORS MAKE WITH THEIR WEBSITE: (READ THE COMMENTS FOR SOME GOOD INFO)
QUESTIONS FOR YOUR BETA READER/CRITIQUE PARTNER:
WAYS TO CREATE CHARACTERS:
SALVAGING HALF-FINISHED MANUSCRIPTS:
PITCH VERSUS SYNOPSIS (VIDEO):
A COMPELLING NARRATIVE VOICE IN NONFICTION:
LIST O’ LINKS:
WHAT YOUR PITCH SAYS ABOUT YOU:
INTERESTING ARTICLE ON FAN FICTION AND COPYRIGHT:
HOW TO START WRITING WHEN YOU’RE TOTALLY CLUELESS, (ALSO GOOD TO READ IF CLUELESS NEWBIES ASK THIS QUESTION:
A SERIES OF BLOGS ON EDITING:
WHAT IS A TYPICAL ADVANCE?
KEEPING IT REAL IN YOUNG ADULT:
LISTS OF PUBLISHING AND CONTRACT TERMS, A MUST HAVE FOR YOUR  BOOKMARK RESOURCES: (Read the comments, as well.)
WHAT TO DO WHEN THE MARKET JUST ISN’T IN TO YOU:

Monday, March 19, 2012

Reaction versus Goal

When I started plotting my romantic suspense novel, GUARDIAN ANGEL, I decided that my plot line would be the following--
(Back story) High-powered defense attorney Lauton O’Brien hires Gard Gardner to protect his daughter Desta if one of the organized crime lords or killers he defends decides to go after him or his family.
(Book plot) Lauton realizes one of his clients is out to kill him. He sends Desta and information about who is out to kill him to Gard, and he disappears. Desta comes by boat to Gard’s lake home. The boat blows up with the information, but Gard saves Desta.  Desta and Gard go on the run with hired killers hot on their trail.
At first glance, the plot sounded great. Lots of action, adrenaline, scary bad guys, and a perfect situation for two people very suited to each other to find love and a happily-ever-after.
Then I realized the plot had a fatal flaw. The two main characters spend the whole novel reacting to what others are doing to them. Reaction is passive, and passive creates less than stellar main characters and a much weaker book. 
I needed to give the characters a goal which is active. 
I wanted to keep the hired killers hot on their trail, but I decided that Gard and Desta weren’t running away, they were working toward their goal -- following clues to find Lauton so they can figure out who is trying to kill them then stopping that person so they can have a life together. 
When you are creating your main plot, you also need to be sure that your main character or characters have an active goal instead of being swept along by circumstances or by someone’s actions against them. 
Make them heroes, not victims.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Links of Interest

HOW TO MAKE AND USE THE EM-DASH:
HOW TO SPEND YOUR TIME AT A WRITERS’ CONFERENCE:
HISTORICAL MAPS ONLINE:
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO’S HISTORICAL MAP COLECTION ONLINE:
UNDERSTANDING AND CONTROLLING PACE:
HEIGHTENING THE SUSPENSE, PARTS 1 and 2 of 3
TEN MYTHS ABOUT AUTHORS:
EDITNG AND PROOFREADING TOOLS AND RESOURCES:
UNDERSTANDING YOUNG ADULT FICTION:
HARPER COLLINS YOUNG ADULT EDITOR ON YA FICTION:
THE DANGEROUS HIDDEN AGENDA OF SOME WRITING CONTESTS:
LIST O’ LINKS:
CLARIFYING WHAT “TRYING” IS:
MORE ON THE DORCHESTER COLLAPSE, INCLUDING INFO ON HOW TO GET RIGHTS BACK:
RADICAL CAREER MAKEOVER USING A PEN NAME:
GETTING OTHERS TO RESPECT OUR WRITING TIME:
PUBLISHING AUCTIONS:
WORLDBUILDING, WHO IS SEEN?
MAKING MAGIC WORK:
MAKING A LONG STORY SHORTER:
AVOIDING TIRED TROPES WHEN WORLDBUILDING:
THE AUTHOR AGENT AGREEMENT:

Monday, March 12, 2012

Active versus Passive Goals

I'm a great fan of Andre Norton, the incredible sf and fantasy author.
When I read Norton’s MERLIN'S MIRROR, I was so disappointed by the book I reread it to figure out why.
The character of Merlin has a mirror which tells him the future, and he has to make it happen. Through the whole novel, he does all kinds of active things but doesn't make the first important decision about his own life or what he wants to do. Instead, he's led along by that dang mirror. 
He is as passive, in many ways, as a character who is always reacting to others rather than charting his own course, and a passive main character means a boring book.
Being active as a character is as much about choices as it is about running around doing stuff to achieve a goal, particularly someone else's goal.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Links of Interest

DOING A RADIO INTERVIEW:
ADDING MINOR PROBLEMS TO YOUR CHARACTERS’ LIVES:
DOES YOUR READER CARE ABOUT WHAT’S AT STAKE?
BAD GUYS ARE PEOPLE TOO:
LIST O’ LINKS:
WORLDBUILDING, MAGIC:
PINTEREST AND COPYRIGHT, A GOOD OVERVIEW FROM A COPYRIGHT EXPERT:
FINDING REVIEWERS WHEN YOU ARE SELF-PUBBED:
EIGHT THINGS AN AUTHOR SHOULD KNOW ABOUT GOODREADS:
GOOD OVERVIEW OF TRACE EVIDENCE:
WARNING ON BAD AGENTS:
MARKET NEWS:
MANY WORDPRESS BLOGS INFECTED BY VIRUS:
A GREAT OVERVIEW OF MIDDLE GRADE FICTION:
A FORENSIC/MEDICAL VIEW OF A SF WEAPON:
A CHRISTIAN MARKET FOR BOOKS?
DORCHESTER HAS OFFICIALLY DIED, WHAT THIS MAY MEAN TO DORCH AUTHORS (READ THE COMMENTS):
TURNING A SHORT STORY INTO A NOVEL:
AUTHOR AND AGENT PANEL ON VARIOUS THINGS:
PITCHING:

Monday, March 5, 2012

How Long Should a Chapter Be?

QUESTION: How long should a chapter be?
There is no "official" length for chapters.  Most run around 15-20 manuscript pages in genre.  Category romances run a bit shorter. 
The best rule of thumb is to end the chapter at your strongest hook/cliffhanger so the reader can't resist reading a few more pages to see what happens next.
The worst place to end a chapter is after solutions have been found, and the next disaster hasn’t started happening.