• Learning Center

    Checkout Savvy's Workshop Line-up for May 20th 

    by
    Sharon Pickrel
        Published: May 18th, 2013  Views: 68 

    A Nobleman's Life In Medieval Times with Eliza Knight
    Life in medieval times was so much different than the way we live today. When readers sit down with their favorite medieval historical romance, they are taken away to another time and place.

    Show and Tell with Masha Holl
    How can you show when your craft is about telling? And what does it mean anyway, “show, don't tell?”

    Develop Your Pitch, Tagline and Query from an Agent's Perspective with Dawn Dowdle
    You’ve finally finished writing your novel. Get some do’s and don’ts for querying agents. How do you select agents to query? What do you send?

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    Shake it Off: Learning to Love the One Star Review by Lissa Trevor 

        Published: May 18th, 2013  Views: 33 
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    One of the things new authors should never do is read reviews of their work. Reviews are for the potential reader. They are not constructive criticism for an author to learn how to make their next work better. That’s what you have beta readers, editors, or critique partners for. However, it’s easier said than done not to head on over to Goodreads or Amazon, just to check out your rankings. Once your there, it’s just a matter of scrolling down to check out the reviews.

    The rating system on both Goodreads and Amazon are very subjective. To give you an example, I know someone who rates a book 3 stars if they really liked it. They reserve five stars to those authors on their “must buy” lists. I know someone else that if they liked that same book just as much would give it 5 stars. Yet another reviewer will never give a one star or a five star review because nothing is perfect and nothing is unredeemable. I’ve seen instances of friends and families leaving five stars, and on the other end of the spectrum one reviewer, who hates romance novels, will go out of his way to give all romance novels a one star – just because he doesn’t like the genre.

    Categories:
    1. Craft
    2. Industry
    3. Writing Life
    4. Muse, Mind & Body
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    Historical Fact and Historical Fiction by Shannon Donnelly 

        Published: May 17th, 2013  Views: 35 
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    The debate never seems to end between what is the right amount of fact in historical fiction. And this debate always heats up the most with Regency-set romances.

    Some folks take the approach that a costume drama is enough—put pretty people in pretty gowns and coats and let the sparks and dialogue (and usually the sex) fly.

    On the other extreme, we have those who want every detail to be accurate—a daunting and often impossible task (unless you have a time machine).
    Categories:
    1. Craft
    2. Research
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    Popping the RT Cherry by Vivi Dumas 

        Published: May 17th, 2013  Views: 60 
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    I wish someone would’ve warned me the Romantic Times convention was Survivor the Book Lover’s Version. WOW! I’ve been to some conventions in my time as a realtor and mortgage professional, but I was not prepared for what unfolded at Romantic Times. I’m still exhausted from the madness and mayhem.

    Since I was a first timer, I wanted to assess the pros and cons of the conventions and maybe give other con virgins some advice to help them prepare and navigate the onslaught of activity. First and foremost, you need to decide your purpose at the convention. Do you have a manuscript to pitch? Are you there to network? Do you want to mingle with the readers and build a broader fan base? Educate yourself on craft? Learn about publishers? The list goes on.
    Categories:
    1. Craft
    2. Writing Life
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    So What Defines New Adult? by Magan Vernon 

        Published: May 16th, 2013  Views: 248 
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    New Adult. Everyone seems to be talking about it from Forbes magazine to Dateline. New Adult books are climbing the New York Times Best Seller List and getting six-figure deals that people thought were going extinct in the publishing world. But, what is New Adult?

    Forbes and Dateline would say that it’s “Sexed up YA,” but that isn’t the case. And that reference lit a fire in the New Adult community that has been hard to put out.

    So, where do I start with talking about New Adult? In 2009, St. Martin’s Press coined the term “New Adult” and ran a special call for books with college-aged and post-grad characters dealing with coming-of-age issues. Previously, a lot of publishers stayed away from this age group, and even with the submissions call, there still seemed to be a lack of New Adult books.
    Categories:
    1. Craft
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    How NOT to Write Your Novella by Anna Hackett 

        Published: May 16th, 2013  Views: 137 
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    “Magic Mike” director, Steven Soderbergh is writing a novella called Glue on Twitter! In recent years, we’ve seen a resurgence of short fiction.

    Today it’s easy to download a short story or novella to your Kindle, iPad or phone. These short, intense stories are perfect for a lunchtime read, a sneaky read while waiting to pick up the kids, or a tucked-up-tight-in-bed read.

    Many authors think writing short is easy, just do what you usually do but with less words…wrong. Short story writing requires a whole different set of skills. Shorts are smaller, tighter pieces. What works well in a full length novel, doesn’t always translate in a short.
    Categories:
    1. Craft
    2. Workshops
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    Making Scenes Come Alive by Dee Lloyd 

        Published: May 16th, 2013  Views: 40 
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    The last words an author wants to read from an acquisitions editor or a reviewer are “slow-moving” or “It took me a while to get into the story.” Even worse is the lackluster “the heroine is a pleasant, attractive…” How about “failed to catch my interest”? Ouch!

    Today’s readers are conditioned by television to get their entertainment in short bursts between commercials. This attitude spills over into their reading time. As millions of them read on e-readers, they catch a few minutes of reading time on the subway, in doctors’ or dentists’ offices, taking a break at their desks. When they do have an hour or two they want to dive into the story and live it.

    Categories:
    1. Craft
    2. Workshops
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    Understanding Contracts by Dawn Dowdle 

        Published: May 15th, 2013  Views: 68 
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    You’ve been offered a publishing contract. How do you know what the clauses mean and whether it is a good contract or how to evaluate two contracts?

    While I am not an attorney, I am a literary agent and review publishing contracts regularly, from many different publishers of all sizes. Thus, I can alert authors of clauses to watch out for and terms that are more favorable for authors and those that are not.
    Categories:
    1. Legal Issues
    2. Workshops
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    Act As If You Are Successful by Chris Redding 

        Published: May 14th, 2013  Views: 161 
    Article Preview

    I have this thing called A Tool Kit for Writers by Naomi Epel. I use it for writing blog posts.It has cards and a book. A card will have a phrase on it. The book gives you more detail about the phrase. I’ve actually never used the book. My card while writing this blog?

    Act successful.

    Categories:
    1. Craft
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    Hunting the Elusive Hook by Kat Duncan 

        Published: May 13th, 2013  Views: 315 
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    Freshening Your Hooks
    Should you let your readers off the hook? And if so, when? You are not going to actually tell me you think it's okay to let your reader off the hook, are you? Of course not. Never. Not until the very last period at the end of the story. On the other hand, sometimes your readers need a break from certain hooks. Be kind to your little fish. Don't keep dangling the same hook in front of your readers for too long. Eventually, they may lose interest in that hook, especially if you don't freshen the hook up from time to time.

    Here are several ways you can freshen your hooks and keep your reader hungry for more.

    Categories:
    1. Craft
    2. Workshops
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    Reading for Fun and Inspiration by Becky Martinez 

        Published: May 13th, 2013  Views: 78 
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    Last week a friend of mine told me that he had not been writing much lately because he had not been reading enough. The idea confused me at first and then I got to thinking and I realized he was right.

    At times when I find myself considering my writing dull or I don’t want to do it, I sit down with the newest offering (or sometimes an old one) from a favorite author and read. I’ve always enjoyed reading so it isn’t hard to do. But I also realized that reading does more for a writer than just provide an escape mechanism from a stalled manuscript.

    Categories:
    1. Craft
    2. Workshops
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    Savvy Authors Weekly Newsletter - May 13, 2013 

    by
    Marilyn Muniz
        Published: May 13th, 2013

    New Article
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    “Jerk alphas—a disturbing new trend.” by Theresa McClinton 

        Published: May 12th, 2013  Views: 179 
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    I was lazily sorting through some of my e-mails a few days ago, sipping a morning cup of coffee and trying to shake the fog out of my mind. As my sleepy daze melted away—I'm not so much of a morning person if you haven't noticed already—I spotted one e-mail in particular that caught my attention. It mentioned a disturbing new trend in books dealing with the alpha male, and how lately it seems so many stories are being published with a hero who is a total jerk.

    This got me thinking. Why do we like reading and writing these kinds of alpha males, and when is the line crossed from being an alpha to being abusive?
    Categories:
    1. Craft
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    Description, Like Drink, Can Get Us Authors In Trouble by Todd Stone 

        Published: May 12th, 2013  Views: 63 
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    We do love it so; the fine wine of metaphor and simile, the hard liquor of alliteration, the cold beer of personification and objectification. One descriptive sentence sounds and feels so good, the second even better, and by the third our judgment is as clouded as the after three margaritas on an empty stomach thinking that leads to singing Karaoke while standing on the bar and calling it a good thing.

    We should note the additional similarity—a writer drunk on her own descriptive words and phrases feels much the same about them as she feels about her Karaoke performance while she’s singing more or less along. There’s little doubt that the reader of that kind of prose and the singer’s less-intoxicated listeners might not share those positive feelings.
    Categories:
    1. Craft
    2. Workshops
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    Check Out Savvy's Workshop Line-up for the Coming Week 

    by
    Sharon Pickrel
        Published: May 12th, 2013  Views: 150 

    No Backstory for 40 Pages with Beth Daniels
    We spend hours working out why our characters act the way they do, think the way they do, and let our readers glean hints through characters thoughts or confessions to other characters, and what happens?

    Publicity: A Powerful Road to Book Sales with Deborah Riley-Magnus
    While the crowd scrambles in the battle for the same reader, well managed and creative publicity can take an author to new audiences.

    The Romantic Screenplay with Sally J. Walker
    Novelist-Editor-Screenwriter Sally J. Walker will walk you through an 8-Session course on the fundamentals you need to understand BEFORE you actually tackle a romantic screenplay.

    Overcoming Writer's Block with Irene Roth
    Do you suffer from writer’s block often? Are there times you can’t write at all? Would you like to take some firm steps to overcome writer’s block and never struggle with this difficulty again by taking some constructive and reflective steps?
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    Discovering your Characters by Tina Glasneck 

        Published: May 11th, 2013  Views: 188 
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    Have you ever watched a television show and thought the characters were flat and/or stereotypical cut outs? Maybe you’ve read a book with cookie-cutter-characters, where you can predict the character’s next piece of dialogue. When it comes to story, it is often believed that as long as it has a dash of death, a steamy love scene and a plot twist, then the story will be golden. Yet often, in our quest to make the next bestselling novel (or create the best new film), and through our attempts to please the market, we lose sight of that which we really wish to tell – a great story.

    What if you could take that cookie-cutter-character and instead create a multi-dimensional person? Yes, a person, who lives, breathes and is alive in your created world.

    What is story?

    Categories:
    1. Craft
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    Self-publishing by Hank Quense 

        Published: May 11th, 2013  Views: 190 
    Article Preview

    Introduction
    Self-publishing a book is a complicated endeavor. It is an especially daunting effort the first time it is undertaken. The new author will face a series of issues, tasks and decisions that must be addressed.

    One way to get a handle on all this activity is to use a project management approach. That is the way I approach a new book that I'm prepping for publishing. I've developed this process over a number of years in in publishing a number of print and ebooks. It works.
    Categories:
    1. Craft
    2. Workshops
    3. Marketing and Promo
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    Pitch results are flowing in - check here to see if you scored a request! 

    by
    Riley
        Published: May 10th, 2013

    Results are new for the following pitches:


    Newly added: Christa Heschke of McIntosh & Otis, Inc.
    Newly added: Emily Keyes of L. Perkins Agency



    News: This just in - Anne Cleasby signed with Soul Mate Publishing for her book Children of Poseidon: Lykos.
    News: This just in - Elizabeth Newmeyer signed with Soul Mate Publishing for her book Redemption For Liars.


    Congrats Anne Cleasby and Elizabeth Newmeyer!


    Did you score a contract as a result of Pitch Perfect? Let us know so we can share your great news! Contact Riley (at) SavvyAuthors (dot) com.


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    Write it Down! by Becky Martinez 

        Published: May 10th, 2013  Views: 83 
    Article Preview

    So many writers are like me in that they consider themselves to “seat of the pants” writers who simply sit down and start writing. That sounds like a great idea, and it can work for a lot of people. It usually works for me, but there is never a story that just starts out of the blue and continues to the end coming out of the blue or off the top of my head.

    Sooner or later I need to write down some of the details.

    And they can’t just come in the book. They need to appear in an outline or a “bible” of some sort. I still need to keep track in some form of what the characters are up to or how the town is laid out. That might be a map or it might be a sketch of a house or of a character. But sooner or later I find I need some sort of written notes that will help me as I continue writing the book.

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    Hooray For Hollywood by Maggie Marr 

        Published: May 10th, 2013  Views: 153 
    Article Preview

    I've now worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. My stiletto-clad climb began in the mailroom of one of the biggest entertainment agencies in the world where I was paid 6.50 an hour to deliver mail. The day I began in the mailroom there were four other attorneys and one ph.d pushing mailcarts.

    Welcome to Hollywood.

    I'd practiced law for nearly five years when I took a step back (what some of my colleagues called a full-on leap backward). Many of my friends and family shook their heads and bit their bottom lips, if not their tongues, and wondered why, Why?! would anyone with a law degree and a lifetime of student loans agree to push a mail cart for minimum wage?

    Categories:
    1. Craft
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