Adventures in Writing: March 2017

QUESTION: In action scenes, I use the phrases "suddenly" or "all of a sudden" a ridiculous amount of times when describing fast-paced action scenes. What other words or phrases can I use?

If you write the scene correctly, you don't need "suddenly" or any other synonym or phrase. The reader is smart enough to know the fighters in a physical battle are moving fast so everything is "suddenly" unless we say otherwise.

The trick is to get into the head of one of the characters and stay there. Let the reader see what the character sees and feel what the character feels.

You don't say,

Suddenly, the other fighter pulled out his knife and jabbed at him.

You say,

Sam dodged the other man's fist. The hand that should have been blocking his next blow moved downward toward the man's knife sheath.

A flash of steel.

Throwing himself backward away from the other man's knife, Sam slammed into the ground on his back.

Or, if you are describing a battle of many men, you don't say

Suddenly, a line of cavalry surged over the top of the hill toward them.

You say,

On the hill just above the soldiers, the drumming of many horse hooves and the Rebel yell of hundreds of men warned them.

The Yankees spun around as the Confederate cavalry charged toward them.

Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Links of Interest

SALES NUMBER CRUNCHING USING BOOK REPORT:

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2017/03/checking-under-hood-using-book-report.html

FAIR USE MYTHS AND FACTS (PDF DOWNLOAD):

http://fairuseweek.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/fair-use-myths-and-facts-infographic-feb2017.pdf

USING PETS TO ENCHANCE FICTION:

http://thrillwriting.blogspot.com/2017/03/pets-in-fiction-with-sue-coletta.html

COMPARING CREATESPACE AND INGRAMSPARK ROYALTY RATES:

http://authorfriendly.com/compare-ingramspark-amazon-createspace-author-publisher-royalty/

REVISION, CLARIFY TONE AND MOOD:

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2017/03/revision-workshop-day-sixteen-clarify.html

REVISION, FORESHADOWING:

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2017/03/revision-workshop-day-seventeen.html

REVISION, TELLING TOO MUCH OR REDUNDANCY:

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2017/03/revision-workshop-day-eighteen.html

REVISION: THE NARRATIVE FOCUS:

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2017/03/revision-workshop-day-nineteen-check.html

REVISION, STREAMLINE THE DIALOGUE:

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2017/03/revision-workshop-day-twenty-streamline.html

REVISION, HOOKS AND PACING:

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2017/03/revision-workshop-day-twenty-two.html

WILLS AND COPYRIGHT:

http://writersweekly.com/angela-desk/do-not-bequeath

BOOK PIRACY COSTS $315 M ACCORDING TO DIGISALES:

http://the-digital-reader.com/2017/03/15/piracy-cost-american-book-publishers-315-million-lost-sales-digimarc-claims/

PROMO, AN AUTHOR PHOTO THAT DOESN’T BREAK THE BANK:

https://buildbookbuzz.com/author-photo/

WHAT TO CONSIDER FOR YOUR AUTHOR PHOTE:

https://writerswin.com/pr-101-4-things-to-consider-for-your-author-photo/

THE AUTHOR BLOG, WHAT SHOULD IT BE ABOUT:

http://annerallen.com/your-author-blog-what-should-an-author-blog-about/

BLOG ANALYTICS:

https://smorgasbordinvitation.wordpress.com/2017/01/20/what-use-are-your-analytics-for-your-blog-they-tell-an-interesting-story/

RATCHETING UP THE TENSION:

http://www.storygrid.com/ratcheting-up-the-tension/

FORENSICS, ARSON:

http://www.storygrid.com/ratcheting-up-the-tension/

MAKING YOUR CHARACTER’S INNER DEMON WORK FOR YOU:

http://authorkristenlamb.com/2017/03/how-to-exorcise-inner-demons/

REVEALING CHARACTER TRAITS:

http://allwritefictionadvice.blogspot.com/2017/03/revealing-character-traits.html

CREATING FIRST AND LAST LINES:

http://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/learn-write-smashing-first-last-lines/

HOW TO MAKE SUSPENSION OF DISBELIEF WORK:

http://writerunboxed.com/2017/03/21/suspense-and-suspension-of-disbelief-a-look-at-a-master

TESTING BOOK BLURBS RESEARCH:

https://insights.bookbub.com/book-description-ab-tests-you-need-to-see/

BACKING UP USING THE CLOUD, A TUTORIAL:

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2017/03/revision-workshop-day-twenty-two.html

EDITING YOUR EBOOK FOR DIFFERENT FORMATS:

https://www.thebookdesigner.com/2017/03/pulling-it-together-editing-your-ebook/

Monday, March 20, 2017

Choosing the Traits of Traditional Monsters

When you write a story about monsters, legends, and myths, you have to decide whether you’ll use the traditional information or not.

Part of your decision will be determined by the choice of magic or reality. Are your creatures real in the sense they make scientific sense and follow the rules of the real world, or are they magic based so they can break all the laws of science and the real world?

Another part of your decision is whether you embrace all the “facts” about your creature or not.

Take vampires. Some of the common folklore traits are

They are undead humans.
Bright sunlight kills them.
A stake made of a specific wood will kill them if it goes through their heart.
They prey on humans by drinking their blood.
They have fangs.
They turn into bats or some other creature.
Their reflection can’t be seen in a mirror because they have no soul.

In a reality-based story, some of these facts can be worked with. Vampirism could be a type of blood virus, for example.

Other facts like shape changing won’t work without some serious fudging of science, and the matter of changing mass must be considered. If a vampire can change into a bat, the bat must weigh the same as the vampire so the bat would need wings as big as a small plane’s to get off the ground.

And then there are facts that make no sense whatsoever in the real world or a world with magic.

If a vampire can’t be seen in a mirror because it doesn’t have a soul, does that mean that your clothes, toothbrush, and the wall behind you in the bathroom mirror have souls?

I don’t think so, either.

In defense of those who came up with this silly vampire notion, until the last two centuries, most people didn’t have a mirror, and the mirrors that were around were tiny and blurry.

If you decide to change any of the important facts about your vampire or other creature, you need to give the reader some reason for your decision. Your vampire can tell his new ladylove that he’s perfectly capable of walking in the sunlight, and the belief that he can’t has been a standard misinformation campaign by vampires for thousands of years so they can walk among humans without discovery and can take prey during the day without the prey being aware of the danger.

Whether you use the traditional traits or not, be sure to think very carefully about them so they make sense within the world you have created for your creatures.