When Words Hide

By Normandie Fischer

Sometimes words skitter off my fingertips, multiplying so fast I can barely catch them. And sometimes they’re about as rebellious as a two year old, playing peek-a-boo until the computer's off and the notepad yards away from sleep-numbed fingers. You know what I mean.

Marketing’s probably what sucked my words into some dark hole. Maybe you like that part of the business, but, honey, I’d rather duck and hope it goes away, because right now it’s a good day if I can manage fifteen pages on my WIP.

A WIP, I might add, that I’ve already written. Like all of my stories, this one clamors for attention. I get that. I’m a tweaker. But other beginnings also beg to be finished, while brand new seems an impossible target.

Social media pings for attention like a first-grader crying, “Me, me!” I love interaction. I check on friends’ status, because I’m supposed to work on relational skills with readers/writers/all those people out there who might want to read my books. But I also need to finish something or at least get busy on it.

I’ve been at this writing gig since rejections came in the form of little cutout slips that said, “Saving paper. Sorry, but no thanks.” (The cutouts weren’t from Southerners. A Southerner would have used a whole sheet of paper and added, “Lord, bless you, honey, but I’m afraid I’m going to have to disappoint you today. Another time?”)

Maybe, just maybe, my subconscious doesn’t want to face another round of submissions. Because once I declare this WIP finished, I’ll have to send it back to my agent and let him send it out (again).

Okay. Deep breath.

When the words grow silent, I figure it’s time to take a walk. Or sit on the porch and bide a while. Biding rests the mind and lets images coalesce, perhaps into words and thence to stories. Here’s my Biding List. (List making is writing, isn’t it?)

Step One: Stare at the creek. At the houses that rim it. Houses mean lives. Rich, poor, transplants, locals. And across the way, in that little fishing village, I’ve heard tell of small-town doings, some of which might make the tabloids in a big-city paper if anyone wanted to air the dirty laundry.

Step Two: Listen. There’s a language down here among the watermen. A cadence not only in speech, but also in living: the voices, the sound of a soft soughing wind, the call of water birds, the varoom of boat engines.

Step Three: Think story. There’s sadness going around. Folk laid off, hurting. Children turning to things they oughtn’t, just like in the big cities. Divorces, infidelity, loneliness. But also good folk doing their best to live good lives.

Step Four: Write a word, five, ten. Scribble the beginning of something. Or the end. An idea that will break forth into more.

So, tell me. What’s on your Recapturing Words List? How do you find your groove again?

___________________________________________________________________

A life-long sailor, Normandie has been writing and editing professionally since the seventies. She studied sculpture for several years in Perugia, Italy, before returning stateside to complete her degree with special honors in English. When they’re not visiting grown children who have scattered elsewhere, Normandie and her husband divide their time between their waterfront home in NC (where she takes care of her mama) and their waterborne sailing home, Sea Venture, lately returned from Pacific Mexico. She has two novels releasing this summer, Becalmed from Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas and Sailing out of Darkness from WhiteFire Publishing. The links for my social media are below. But to make it easier for you: www.normandiefischer.com     www.writingonboard.com
https://www.facebook.com/NormandieFischer   https://twitter.com/WritingOnBoard

How I Became a Hybrid Author

By Heather Day Gilbert

In June, 2012, I wrote a guest post for Suite T entitled "Getting Past our Writing What-Ifs," in which I talked about sticking to your passion in writing. I truly appreciated all your encouraging comments on my attempts to get my Viking historical novel in the door with traditional publishers.

Yet, the novel I discussed in that post was out on submission for not just one year, but for over a year and a half. If one thing will crush your hopes and dreams as a writer, waiting a year and a half will. About halfway through the wait time, I yelled "Uncle!" and proceeded to write another book, in a totally different period and genre (Contemporary Appalachian Mystery--shout-out to Southerners!).

I determined I wanted to be traditionally published first. After all, I couldn't market my own book, could I? I couldn't figure out all the techie stuff required to self-publish!

Turns out, all that time out on submission helped me more than I anticipated. In that year and half, I built a solid author platform. I got line-edited on my next novel, learning some new tricks of the writing trade. I received heartening feedback from CBA editors, who liked the story, liked the writing...but felt they couldn't market Vikings.

I realized the book was ready, but the CBA market was not. There was one very shiny option out there for my Viking novel--self-publish. Get it out to the masses while Vikings are hot (Thor II releasing in November, Vikingsminiseries on History Channel, How to Train your Dragon 2 coming out next year). I'd be an idiot to miss this opportunity to get the word out on a real Viking woman who sailed with her husband to North America.

I knew I didn't want to strike out my first time out of the gate. So I determined to have cover art that looked professional and made people want to read my book--even on my very limited budget. Thankfully, my brother is a computer guy and helped materialize my vision. You can see our finished cover art for God's Daughter by clicking on the title.

I also worked out an intense marketing strategy, trying to leave no stone unturned. This involved everything from asking lots of author friends to be early readers (in hopes they would influence for or endorse my novel) to building early interest with pinnable quotes from my novel (link herefor the gallery).

Now I've become a hybrid author, meaning I have an agent and I'm out on submission with traditional publishers; yet in the meantime, I have self-published a novel. I truly believe this is the wave of the future. With the sweep of e-books, authors have more control than at any time in history.

It's both terrifying and encouraging--terrifying in that we have to get all our ducks in a row if we want to shine, yet encouraging in that we no longer have to wait for the gatekeepers to deem our subject matter/genre/time period "marketable."

In this brave new world of publishing, I'm so thankful to finally get my novel, God's Daughter, into readers' hands. You can find it here on Amazon.

I would love to hear your stories of traditional publishing or self-publishing in the comments. And let's make the most of this wide-open publishing world!

_____________________________________________________________________

Heather enjoys writing stories about authentic, believable marriages. Sixteen years of marriage to her sweet Yankee husband have given her some perspective, as well as ten years spent homeschooling her three children. Heather is the ACFW West Virginia Area Coordinator. You can find Heather at her website, Heather Day Gilbert--Author, and at her Facebook Author Page, as well as Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, and Goodreads. Look for her Viking novel, God's Daughter, on Amazon, today!

When Words Have Lost Their Magic

By Adam Blumer 

When I was a boy, filled to the brim with dreams of writing, I went through a Hardy Boys phase. I gobbled up every Franklin W. Dixon novel I could get my hands on. All I dreamed of was tagging alongside Frank and Joe Hardy on one of their hair-raising capers and chasing jewel thieves across Bayport. Those books ignited my desire to be a writer.

Then one day while I was sitting in church, of all places, my mom nudged me. “Do you see that man over there?” she whispered. “He’s a detective.”

With one glimpse at the man in the pew across the aisle, my Hardy Boys fantasy dissolved into a wisp of smoke. He was middle aged, paunchy, slightly gray—certainly nothing impressive. What left an indelible impression was his tired and joyless expression. He had probably seen more than his share of death, larceny, and general misery of this world.

What was I expecting? Maybe a muscular frame and perceptive eyes that scanned the crowd, not missing a thing. Perhaps a magnifying glass clutched in one hand and a revolver in the other. Either way, this certainly wasn’t it, and just like that, the Hardy Boys magic was gone—poof!

Life has a way of doing the same thing to the creativity, the magic, behind our words. The pressure of deadlines, writer’s block, poor sales, and industry competitiveness can steal the magic and leave us staring at a blank screen, our creative juices all but evaporated away.

How can we regain what we lost? Here are some helpful tips:

1.      Return to what sparked the magic to begin with. Maybe this is a certain book you read as a child, the one that made your imagination soar. Reach for this book, find a random place, and just begin reading. Does the magic of words take you back to the love of story that began your writing trek?

2.      Watch a favorite movie again. Ask yourself why you like it so much. Take notes as thoughts come to you. More than likely, the appeal has something to do with mystery, plot, or characterization—elements that may arouse the dormant storyteller in you.   

3.      Start with a story cliffhanger and finish the story any way you choose. For example, “John reached the cliff’s edge just as sunset colors washed over distant hills. His ears perked up. Was that a footfall? Someone was coming up behind him—he was sure of it.” Finish the story.

4.      Watch a documentary about a topic that fascinates you. Since I’m a suspense author, I especially enjoy CBS’s 48 Hour Mystery. Each time I watch an episode, I find new plot ideas, and my imagination itches with new stories to tell.  

Most likely your love of writing isn’t far away. Sometimes the magic just needs to be resuscitated.

_____________________________________________________________________ 

Adam Blumer is the author of suspense novels Fatal Illusions (Kregel Publications) and The Tenth Plague (Kirkdale Press). A print journalism major in college, he works as a freelance writer and editor after serving in editorial roles for more than twenty years. He lives in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula with his wife, Kim, and his daughters, Laura and Julia. Website: http://www.adamblumerbooks.com/  Blog: http://www.adamblumerbooks.com/blog/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AdamBlumerNovelist  Twitter: @adamblumer

5 Characterization Mistakes—and How to Avoid Them

By Jocelyn Green

Common mistakes can undermine a novel. Thankfully, you can route them out before this happens to you. Here are five pitfalls in crafting and portraying your characters—and how to avoid them.

Mistake: Giving historical characters 21^stcenturydialogue, attitudes, and values.

Do your homework and research the culture of the region and era. A colonial character whose cause is women’s suffrage, for example, won’t ring true.

Bottom line: Be true to your time period.

Mistake: Letting characters be two-dimensional.

Even villains should have something sympathetic about them, and heroes should be imperfect.

“Without personalizing, we face the pitfalls of clichéd characters such as the ‘old man’ or the ‘young woman.’ Our adaptation of personalizing focuses not on hair color and body type, but on the discovery of a character’s inner values, which give rise to unique traits and mannerisms that will become an integral part of the story.” ~Brandilyn Collins in Gettinginto Character

Bottom line: Let them be full people, with flaws and strengths, motivations, goals and internal conflicts.

Mistake: Skimping on the character’s conflict and motivation.

Without compelling motivation, a character won’t strive toward a goal at all costs. Keep up the tension by pitting one character’s motivation against another.

“Good conflict should push your character further and further from their goals, yet strengthen their motivation to push ahead.” ~Susan May Warren in From the Inside Out

Bottom line: Do character work.

Mistake: Not using beats to convey character emotion and drama.

Rather than always using tags with dialogue (“she said,” he asked,” etc.), use beats of action or feeling to convey nonverbal cues.

For example, here is a portion of Chapter 1 in my novel Widow of Gettysburg, using tags:

“I am sorry for your loss, truly,” he said. “How long’s it been? Since your husband died?”

“Since the Battle of Bull Run,” said Liberty. “The first.”

“Almost two years. You should be out of mourning soon.”

“If I so choose,” she replied. “Some widows wear black for the rest of their lives.”

“And bury yourself with the dead? I can’t imagine that kind of life for you.”

“It’s not your concern,” she said.

Now here is it again, using beats instead:

“I am sorry for your loss, truly.” His gaze probed her face, and she wondered if she looked sorry for her loss, too. Or just guilty. “How long’s it been? Since your husband died?”

She swallowed. “Since the Battle of Bull Run. The first.”

“Almost two years. You should be out of mourning soon.”

Liberty stiffened. “If I so choose. Some widows wear black for the rest of their lives.”

“And bury yourself with the dead? I can’t imagine that kind of life for you.”

An unwelcome tingle ran down her spine. “It’s not your concern.” She pounded the dough again.

Bottom line: Use beats to further personalize your characters.

Mistake 5: Letting your characters off easy.

Crisis both reveals what a character is truly made of, and transforms them. What is the worst thing that could happen to your character? Now do that, and let the character respond authentically.

Bottom line: Make life for your character extremely difficult, and watch what happens.

Go deeper with your characters with these five tips, and your plot is sure to improve.

____________________________________________________________________
 

Award-winning author Jocelyn Green inspires faith and courage in her readers through both fiction and nonfiction. A former military wife herself, she offers encouragement and hope to military wives worldwide through her Faith Deployed ministry. Her novels, inspired by real heroines on America’s home front, are marked by their historical integrity and gritty inspiration. Her first novel, Wedded to War, is a double finalist in the Christy Awards. 

Visit her at www.jocelyngreen.com  Facebook: facebook.com/jocelyngreenauthor

Overwhelmed by Advice?

By Lynn Hobbs

Where to begin?

     1. Quality time learning your craft through workshops, writing conferences, and being active in writing organizations, is well spent. I began in earnest and still focus on learning. Writing methods change daily as does the industry.

     2.  Don’t hesitate to ask another author about writing issues you may be experiencing. I am a firm believer in sharing information; from passing on reliable, small press, publishers names, to what company I recommend for printing bookmarks.

Why small press?

1.     They don’t require your money to publish your work.  

2.     You don’t have to wait at least a year to learn you need edits.

3.     Most have print on demand for paperback books on Amazon and format e-books on Kindle or Nook.

4.     Keep your rights― the publisher receives a small percentage of your royalties.

5.     No agent fees taken from your profit to submit to a large publishing company…that will pass it from committee to committee…and possibly decide your following isn’t large enough to risk  your book will sell.

Who is following me?

1.     Decide on what genre you’ll be writing.  I write Christian fiction. My readers will be a Christian audience. I am on the third book in my series, and keep the same readers. If I suddenly switched to writing a different genre, I’d have to start building new readers all over again.  The first readers would stay with that genre, but find a different Christian author.

2.     Create accounts on facebook, goodreads, linked-in, and twitter. Numbers add up. The higher number of friends or contacts you have is what publishers notice. That “following” is called your platform.

3.      Let readers know you are serious about writing. Share with them the ongoing word count of your manuscript but not your ideas. Never share an idea until it is published.

How do I know my manuscript is ready?

1.     Polish, and polish again. Find an avid reader to critique it, and listen to why they suggest you change something.

2.     A good editor is a bonus. Remember the old saying…anything worth doing is worth doing well. How true. A quilter would not sell you a handmade quilt with stuffing poking out of a seam.

3.     Go with your gut feeling. I once got involved with describing a salad preparation by a main character. I thought it might be a bit much.  Too many details later, I realized it was not moving my story forward. Now, if I critique and spot something similar… I call it “getting bogged down in the salad”.

My goal is to give readers a clear understanding of a Christian viewpoint by the actions of my main characters. The Running Forward Series is a powerful faith and family saga. I encourage you to continue with your own writing!

_______________________________________________________________

Lynn Hobbs is a member of GFWC-Texas Federation of Women’s Clubs – Marshall Women’s Club, American Christian Fiction Writers, East Texas Christian Writers, North East Texas Writers Organization. Retired from the Texas public school system, Lynn is a native of Houston. Married; two sons, three grandchildren, four cats and one dog complete the family. Lynn has enjoyed speaking at Churches, Christian Retreats, Lions Clubs, Retirement Centers, and other events. World Wide Who’s Who awarded Lynn Hobbs Professional of the Year 2012-2013 in Authorship. The Author Show.com named Lynn as a finalist in their nationwide contest; “Fifty Great Authors You Should Be Reading.” A 2011 winner of National Novel Writers Month (NaNoWriMo), she completed a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. Several of her short stories have placed first and second in contests. She authored Running Forward Series, is published by Desert Coyote Productions.  Book one, “Sin, Secrets,and Salvation” debuted in January 2012. Book two, “River Town” debuted in December, 2012.Lynn enjoys hearing from her readers.

Links:Website: http://www.LynnHobbsAuthor.com

Facebook Timeline: https://www.facebook.com/lynn.hobbs.3367?ref=tn_tnmn

Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lynn-Hobbs-Author-Page/284186908279247?ref=ts&fref=ts

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5428098.Lynn_Hobbs

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LynnHobbsAuthor (@LynnHobbsAuthor)

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=146368383&trk=tab_pro

E-Mail: http://LynnHobbs.Author@gmail.com

The Importance of Strong Women In Life and In Thriller Books

By Chris Allen

I’ve always felt very comfortable around women. I like them, I enjoy their company, equally as the company of men. I grew up with two strong-willed and confident older sisters with my resourceful mum ever-near, while enjoying a strong matriarchal figure in our nan and a collection of larger than life Aunties – the collective influence of whom ensured from a young age that I’d have nothing but the greatest respect for the female of our species.

When creating a series of action thrillers, as I am, it’s important to not fall back on the age-old formula of female characters written from a passive view, like that in the old Bond films and to an equal extent, Ian Fleming’s novels. In my espionage stories, the female lead characters are all equal players across the landscape that I create.

I’m not a fan of films or books that still present women as window-dressing. I’m proud to boast an equal division of male / female readers and am confident that it's because there are strong female characters within my novels that women readers can relate to. For me, female leads need to be multi-dimensional: strong but vulnerable, intelligent, practical, and with a relevant, believable and, above all, an interesting story, because that’s the kind of women that I admire most and am surrounded by every day.

My protagonist, Alex Morgan, finds it hard to resist strong and capable women like the beautiful but distant Arena Halls in Defender and more recently, the talented and glamorous Charlotte-Rose Fleming in Hunter. But who can blame him? He’s got good taste.

The female lead in Defender, my first action thriller, is Arena Halls, a highly educated government specialist who works for the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office in the UK. She has some of the attributes of my wife Sar – big blue eyes, short blonde hair, and an innate ability for stubbornness combined with feminine charm – even her name Arena Halls is an anagram of my 

Sar’s name!

Then in Hunter, the second in the series, there’s Charlotte Rose Fleming. Charlotte Rose – or Charlie for short – is a world-famous classical pianist: technically proficient and a consummate entertainer. Like Arena, Charlotte is intelligent, resourceful and able to take care of herself even when faced by overwhelming odds. And Charlie’s name is a hat tip to my literary hero Ian Fleming, and the result of a competition to name the heroine in Hunter that I held on Facebook.

One of my favorite female leads in the books I read is Dr Kay Scarpetta, as written by Patricia Cornwell. She’s resilient, intelligent, devoted to family, and an expert in her field, with just enough vulnerability to make her real. I like having examples like Scarpetta to recall when I’m writing a scene – especially when writing a dialogue exchange between characters.

Meanwhile, the Chief of Intrepid, General Davenport’s right hand person, Mila Haddad, is an accomplished criminologist with experience in the International Criminal Court in The Hague. In the Mila character I focused on bringing out the other side of Intrepid which is the detailed analysis and understanding of the crimes they are attacking while in equal measure reflecting the loyalty not just to General Davenport but in a larger sense to the global cause. In fact, it is Mila’s intellect and doggedness that leads Intrepid successfully down a course of enquiry and discovery that they would not have otherwise followed in Hunter in tracking down one of the last fugitive Serbian war criminals.

In Avenger, the book I’m currently penning, I am thrilled to be developing the first female Intrepid field agent and know that her character will be on an equal footing as the male counterparts. I can’t divulge too much, but in a similar vein to agents Alex Morgan, Dave Sutherland, and Hermann Braunschweiger, this new operative is hand-picked for Intrepid and comes from a professional and emotional background commensurate with that of her colleagues.

This newest agent, let’s call her E.R., is not going to be acting on orders without another thought. Life is more complex than that. In reality, when deployed to the field, these agents have to live by their wits – they’re not guided every step of the way by an all-seeing master giving them instructions through an ear piece. They are field agents in the truest sense of the words and they are in control of their own destiny and responsible for the decisions they make as they make them, whatever the outcome.

For Morgan and his fellow agents, the life they have chosen is a vocation and throughout the series as it develops, women will continue to play a central role in the stories and will be anything but window dressing in the world of Intrepid. As much as I loved Ian Fleming’s Bond stories and have been endlessly inspired by his writing, that style of representing women in literature is long gone – and strong, talented, multi-dimensional women are here to stay.

Tell me, what qualities do you like in a fictional female character within the books that you read? Please leave a comment in the section below.

____________________________________________________________________

Chris Allen is  former Paratrooper who has been extensively involved in Government Security and Counter-Terrorism since leaving the military, Chris Allen's thriller series features Alex Morgan, star agent in Interpol's ultra-secret sub-directorate Intrepid (his literary brainchild). Defender and Hunter quickly became eBook sensations and Avenger is due out end-2013 with a film franchise underway. Visit www.intrepidallen.com, or say g’day to Chris at www.facebook.com/intrepidallenor on Twitter @intrepidallen. Chris also blogs at www.intrepidallen.com/blog.

Write, Read and Repeat

By Lynn Donovan

The way I describe how I write is this: I follow my characters around and write down what they say and do. That’s how “real” my characters are to me. In my mind, they are real people and I care about them very much. I think about them a lot. I talk about them a lot. And, to be honest, I probably live vicariously through them.

If your characters are not this real to you, how can they be real to your reader? See, there’s a means to my madness! Whahahahaha!

Of course the characters have to “start” from somewhere. And that somewhere is ideas. My ideas come from all kinds of sources, the news, a song, a situation in a person’s life or my own life, and through dreams. I write Christian Fiction, so you understand, I pray for ideas too. They come to me in these same ways. Then I grab an inexpensive spiral notebook and I write down everything that comes into my mind, no matter how goofy. 

I make a separate page for each character and start thinking about their physical attributes, age, name, and I write the word Knot: Because every character has to have a knot. Something they are dealing with and will probably deal with during the story. 

Next, I will let all that simmer in my head and go do other things: Clean house, do laundry, grocery shop, walk, go to school (I attend an oil painting class three days a week). Typically within twenty-four hours ideas for scenes start developing in my head and I hurry to my spiral or computer and start writing them down.

My plans for the plot, I write them on post-it notes and stick them where I can see them while I’m writing. That way they’re in my visual range and hopefully my characters notice that this is something I’d like them to work into their world.

When I get super stuck and can’t figure out how to get the story from point C to point D, I go talk to my husband. I explain where they are, where I know they will be soon and we discuss possible scenarios for their journey to D. He’s really good at giving me advice in this manner! Gotta love a good husband! Thank you God! In The Wishing Well Curse, he suggested, “What if he found an old motorcycle in the garage and worked on it.”

Once the draft is written, I read, or re-read, a good “How To—” Like: “Self-Editing for Fiction Writers” by Renni Browne and David King, or “The First 50 Pages” or “Plot Versus Character” both by Jeff Gerke. Then I go edit, edit, edit. Send it to my critique group and humble myself to listen to their critique and edit again, several times!

My advice: Write down every idea, no matter how goofy, or small. Write, read and repeat! Then: Keep writing!

____________________________________________________________________

Lynn Donovan writes from her heart and her passion for Jesus Christ. She is a daughter, wife, mother of four and grandmother of seven who has five decades of experiences to draw from when creating her stories. She has published a collection of Short Stories, The Clockwork Dragon, and this novel with AltWitPress. She categorizes herself as the “sandwich generation” because she is caring for her mother who has Alzheimer’s and her special needs sister. She is one child away from an empty nest. She currently lives in Southwest Kansas but looks forward to building a home in Colorado. You can learn more about Lynn on her blog, SittingOnThePorchWithLynn.blogspot.com, follow her on Twitter @MLynnDonovan, LinkedIn.com at M Lynn Donovan, Face Book at MLDonovan and her Face Book Author page at LynnDonovanFGG