The Death of a Minor Character, CRAFT

Every once and a while, a minor character must die. Often, they give their lives so you can show the reader the danger the main characters face.

A good point to remember is one Stephen King recommends. First you create a real person and make the reader care, then you massacre him. Two examples --

STORY A: A man is walking through the darkness, and the monster eats him.

OR

STORY B: Fred is walking to the 7-11 at midnight because his beloved pregnant wife is craving pickles and ice cream, and she ate the last gherkin at supper. A monster jumps out and kills poor Fred.

Story B makes the act and the monster more horrific.

*~*

WORKSHOPS: I now have two workshops scheduled with another TBA.

The Big Question: How to Create a Powerful Novel from a Few Ideas and One Big Question, April 11-May 8, 2010 at SavvyAuthors.com

http://www.savvyauthors.com/event.cfm?EventID=172

Have you ever read a story then felt dissatisfied by it as you put it down? All the story elements--plot, characters, romance, and suspense--were there, but something was missing. That something is often called depth or resonance, and it's that element that turns an ordinary story into one you couldn't put down.

How do you create a story like that? It starts with the creation of the story. I’ll show you how to take a simple plot idea, premise, or character and turn it into a novel with resonance.

Magic, Monsters and Amour: Creating a Believable Paranormal, Fantasy, or SF World. October 4-31, 2010 at SavvyAuthors.com October 4-31, 2010 at SavvyAuthors.com

http://www.savvyauthors.com/event.cfm?EventID=173

Are vampires, fairies, and space aliens real? If you create the right background for your paranormal romance, they will be to a reader. I'll show you how to create a fantasy or paranormal background from scratch and how to make it utterly believable.

Links of Interest

CREATING A NOVEL: How ordinary activities can give you extraordinary ideas.

http://www.ninc.com/blog/index.php/archives/conjuring#more-4964

CRITIQUES: Letting your gut tell you when they are valid.

http://behlerblog.wordpress.com/2010/03/12/gut-instinct-you-have-more-of-it-than-you-know/

WRITING OPENING SCENES WITH ACTION: How to

http://blog.writersdigest.com/norules/2010/03/11/TheBiggestBadAdviceAboutStoryOpenings.aspx?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

CHARACTER DESCRIPTION: Picking the right details.

http://blog.writersdigest.com/norules/2010/03/12/NoDescriptionDumpsCraftingAStoryWithDetailsImmersion.aspx

THE VIEWPOINT CHARACTER IN YOUNG ADULT

http://www.genreality.net/the-apprentice-not-the-wizard

PROMOTION: Is a blog a platform or not?

http://behlerblog.wordpress.com/2010/03/15/i-have-a-blog/

QUERIES: What to be specific about in a query or plot summmary.

http://blog.nathanbransford.com/2010/03/secret-strength-of-killer-queries.html

THE BUSINESS OF PUBLISHING: The steps through the publication process.

http://editorialass.blogspot.com/2010/03/whats-standard-submission-process-like.html

WORLDBUILDING: Building worlds in outer space. (Great links to articles)

http://www.mikebrotherton.com/?p=2071

TRAVELING TO OTHER PLANETS: Software that simulates 3-Dtraveling through real space to specific planets and stars.

http://www.shatters.net/celestia/

http://www.celestiamotherlode.net/ (Add ons)

REAL SPACE MAPS:

http://www.solstation.com/

CRAFT: When it is okay to tell rather than show.

http://blog.writersdigest.com/norules/2010/03/15/ShowingTellingInScenesDialogue.aspx

MEDICINE FOR WRITERS: How to have a doctor sound like one.

http://www.sfwa.org/2010/03/how-to-kill-your-imaginary-friends-how-to-talk-doctor-lesson-1/

WORLDBUILDING: Sometimes, science is magic, or magic is science.

http://bordersblog.com/scifi/2010/03/16/a-lee-martinez/abracadabra/

KNOWING YOUR AUDIENCE:

http://mysterywritingismurder.blogspot.com/2010/03/knowing-our-genre-audience-and-market.html

PLOT CONFLICT: It's not just about the hero and the villain.

http://blog.writersdigest.com/norules/2010/03/17/ConflictRatchetItUpByMovingCloserToHome.aspx

Murderers and Methods, CRAFT

The type of fight and the type of characters control all elements of a fight or a killing.

A professional killer will handle a murder very differently from an amateur murderer or someone who pulls out a knife during a heated argument.

The killing will also be different according to the victim's abilities in self-defense, their weapon or lack of weapon, the amount of surprise in the attack, etc., etc.

The way the knife is used can tell a great deal about the killer. Did he put the knife into the heart without hitting a rib? Did he grab the victim from behind in a certain way and hit the artery in the throat for a quick kill? Was his killing method distinctive enough to mark him as a pro or someone trained in a certain style of military skills? Was his knife unusual or a standard hunting knife used by most local hunters? Was it sharp and well-maintained, or did it bruise and tear because it was dull?

A murder or killing should be as distinctive as the victim and the murder, and all elements of their personality, weapons skills, and location will determine the type of murder.

WORKSHOPS: I now have two workshops scheduled with another TBA.

The Big Question: How to Create a Powerful Novel from a Few Ideas and One Big Question, April 11-May 8, 2010 at SavvyAuthors.com

http://www.savvyauthors.com/event.cfm?EventID=172

Have you ever read a story then felt dissatisfied by it as you put it down? All the story elements--plot, characters, romance, and suspense--were there, but something was missing. That something is often called depth or resonance, and it's that element that turns an ordinary story into one you couldn't put down.

How do you create a story like that? It starts with the creation of the story. I’ll show you how to take a simple plot idea, premise, or character and turn it into a novel with resonance.

Magic, Monsters and Amour: Creating a Believable Paranormal, Fantasy, or SF World. October 4-31, 2010 at SavvyAuthors.com October 4-31, 2010 at SavvyAuthors.com

http://www.savvyauthors.com/event.cfm?EventID=173

Are vampires, fairies, and space aliens real? If you create the right background for your paranormal romance, they will be to a reader. I'll show you how to create a fantasy or paranormal background from scratch and how to make it utterly believable.

Links of Interest

CRAFT: Writing sexual tension.

http://www.genreality.net/our-guest-shayla-blank

THE BUSINESS OF WRITING: Having what it takes to succeed as a writer.

http://www.genreality.net/our-guest-shayla-blank

BUSINESS OF WRITING: The importance of good digital copies of your works.

http://www.jonathanstrahan.com.au/wp/2010/03/05/for-writers-manage-your-digital-assets/

CRAFT: Plausibility in your novel.

http://behlerblog.wordpress.com/2010/03/09/research-plausibility/

THE TEN RULES OF WRITING: Famous authors list their ten rules or less for writing, and most are different from the others. Pick and choose the ones that fit you.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/feb/20/ten-rules-for-writing-fiction-part-one

CHARACTERS: The danger and joy of having a character come to life.

http://poweredbybooks.blogspot.com/2010/03/knowing-and-loving-our-characters.html

EDITOR INTERVIEW: Shauna Summers of Random House

http://www.ninc.com/blog/index.php/archives/meet-senioreditor-shauna-summers

CRAFT: Bad writing diseases. Satiric yet true.

http://pbackwriter.blogspot.com/2010/03/infectious-ten.html

WRITING EVERY DAY: Things you can write even if you don't have time for a long scene, etc.

http://mysterywritingismurder.blogspot.com/2010/03/15-minutes-to-write-crazy-writing-life.html

Romance, Sex, and Pace, CRAFT

Love, romance, and sex have always had a place in action/adventure, fantasy, and science fiction, but, today, the woman usually fights beside the man.

Used with care and thought, love, romance, and sex can add dimension to the characterization, plot, and pace.

Unfortunately, care often isn’t used, and the pace and plot are ruined because of it.

Recently, I read a novel about a romantic couple fighting demons. Most of the time, they were so busy fantasizing about the other’s crotch that I wondered at the brains and survival skills of these people. A fighter who is busy thinking about sex before and during a fight is a dead fighter.

The pace was also ruined because the constant sexual elements and sexual introspection distracted from the plot and the peril.

Brief bits of body language--a touch, a smile, or caress, as well as brief snippets of romantic dialogue can keep the sexual tension and caring evident without bringing the story to a dead halt.

In a lull in the fighting at a safe moment, put your couple in camp with a good friend walking patrol away from them, and let them at each other. Or find them a safe hiding place where they can repair their wounds and chase each other around the sleeping bag if they want to.

The intensity of their struggle and its constant interference with their sexual needs makes the love scene that much stronger when it happens.

Links of Interest

CRAFT: Keeping a character's voice true.

http://www.alanrinzler.com/blog/2010/02/25/the-writers-toolkit-a-voice-journal-for-character-development/

MARKET NEWS: Fantasy Magazine is open for submissions.

http://www.fantasy-magazine.com/

MARKET NEWS: Publisher Juno Books is looking for submissions

http://juno-books.com/blog/?p=911

STUPID QUESTIONS AND HOW TO ANSWER THEM: Humor with more than a hint of truth in the answers authors give to questions everyone asks.

http://storytellersunplugged.com/blog/2010/02/27/seven-questions-you-should-never-ask-a-writer-and-my-answers/

PROMOTION: Giving a reading with male and female voices.

http://www.sfwa.org/2010/02/reading-aloud-cross-gender-voices/

PUBLISHING DICTIONARY. Agent Jessica Faust's publishing dictionary, third edition.

http://bookendslitagency.blogspot.com/2010/03/new-and-updated-publishing-dictionary.html

PLOTS: The difference between an archetype and a cliche in plotting a novel.

http://blog.nathanbransford.com/2010/03/archetype-vs-cliche.html

MEDICAL INFORMATION FOR WRITERS: Carbon monoxide poisoning.

http://www.sfwa.org/2010/03/how-to-kill-your-imaginary-friends-superballs-pockets-and-fun-with-awesome-molecules/#more-7923

BUSINESS OF WRITING: How advances for a multi-book deal are divided.

http://editorialass.blogspot.com/2010/03/how-are-multiple-book-deal-advances.html

BUSINESS OF PUBLISHING: The dreaded ISBN explained.

http://pimpmynovel.blogspot.com/2010/03/terms-to-know-isbn.html

Pace and Characterization, CRAFT

Action doesn't preclude emotion, and it can't be all hack and slash all the time.

Years ago, when the INDIANA JONES movies were so wildly popular, a publisher created an action book series with the pace of the opening scene of the original IJ where disaster builds upon disaster upon disaster with no real stopping for breath.

I read the first book, and it was bloody awful because the action became boring and silly at such a lunatic pace, and there was so little personality to the main character or any of the other characters I didn't give a damn one way or the other what happened.

EXAMPLE: A bear chases the hero up a tree, he thinks the tree is safe, but it's rotten, and the bear begins to shove it over, the tree lands in the river, but it's infested with alligators, and there are bad guys on the other side of the river, and a bear on this side. He out swims the gators to a bridge and begins to climb up a vine growing up its side, but, ooops, there's a large poisonous snake right above him, and....

Needless to say, that series vanished without a trace after a few books.

Pace isn’t just violent act after violent act, or the characters moving from one place to another. It’s mixing characterization and elements that move the emotional and action plot forward. It’s giving the reader continual questions about the characters and what’s happening and answering a few of those questions as you move along.

It’s having a quiet moment of introspection or a brief comic moment in the heat of a long battle that reminds the reader why they’re reading the story or why they like these characters.

*~*

INTERNET RADIO INTERVIEW:

Crazy Tuesday, March 2nd, 2pm Eastern: Launching "Authors Without A Yacht"

When a proud ebook pirate stated that greedy authors don't need his help pay for their third yachts, a group of authors who can't even afford a canoe formed the "Authors Without A Yacht" social networking groups to answer readers' questions about copyright and to share where readers can legally buy ebooks at the best prices.

Literary agent Richard Curtis, EPIC president Brenna Lyons, Marilynn Byerly, and romance author Carly Carson will share ebook pirate horror stories with host Rowena Cherry.

The audience can ask questions via email and text messages during the live chat. The complete chat will be available later.

http://www.internetvoicesradio.com/Arch-Rowena.htm

~*~

STELLARCON:

I'll be at Stellarcon next weekend in High Point, NC. Be sure to say hi if you come. Special author guest Michael Stackpole will be giving a seminar on writing a novel on Saturday which will be well worth the cost of coming to the con.