Learning Center

When does your setting become a character? So glad you asked. I live in an area of extreme weather and I’m used to it. We say, “If you don’t like Texas weather, wait three days.” It always changes, but not always for the best! How does this affect your writing? In one book published in 1998, BE MY GUEST, my story featured a woman whose car was swept away in a torrential rain near Post at the Texas Caprock. I entered this book in a contest before I sold it. One judge asked if we really had that kind of weather in Texas and, if so, why I lived there. She included her email so I could answer. I told her that, yes, we do have unusual weather and I have no idea why I live here. As the saying goes, “This is where the wagon train stopped.” Oops, I digressed.

How many times have you read a romance book where the hero and heroine have a fight? The hero storms out. The heroine packs her things and moves out. This is it. The breakup to end all breakups. Then the heroine gets the call: “There’s been an accident!” She rushes to the hospital. Her vision clouded by tears, she maneuvers around the crowded Emergency Room in a desperate search to find someone who can help her, someone who can tell her if the hero is alive, or heaven forbid, (dramatic sob)….dead. And at the thought of losing him she is suddenly slapped by the realization she loves him, would be lost without him, and has no desire to go on living if she can’t do it with him by her side.

When you find a character that you really really like, you find it hard to let go of them, right? I think that’s true whether you’re an author or a reader. There are just some characters you get to know and love so well that you cling to them, and think about them even after you’ve turned the last page. They linger in your mind and in your consciousness, as you wonder what’s going on with them, how are they doing, are they alright?

So what’s the solution? It seems obvious to me—sequel time!

Do you consider setting merely a story’s location?

If you’re a reader, you may have picked a book because its exotic location intrigued you. Or, maybe its familiar location appealed to you. It’s possible the setting didn’t figure in your decision at all. Instead, the enticing promise of the character’s struggle cinched your choice. And, as you read, following the character from place to place, engrossed in each discovery, each revelation of her journey, odds are you subconsciously absorbed the author’s skillful blend of writing tools, including settings that revealed and enhanced characters and their conflicts.

The first group of strangers to read my manuscript hated the heroine. This is never good, but in the current instance, it was really very bad, because the heroine in question was heavily based on me.

Great, I thought. Now I need an editor AND a therapist.

Unwilling to shell out for either, I went back to my favorite books, and decided to read them again – this time like a writer.

Revision Hell has been active for a little over two weeks. I know some of you are getting tired of seeing the same manuscript over and over again. When you reach that point where you don't think you can edit another word, take a look at the list of editors and agents who will be taking pitches during our July Pitching Event - A Call To Arms in a few short weeks.

Editor Grace Bradley - Ellora's Cave
Editor Lea Schizas - Muse Publishing
Editor Deb Werksman - Sourcebooks
Agent Emmanuelle Morgan - Judith Ehrlich Literary Agency
Agent Laurie McLean - Larsen Pomada Literary Agency
Agent Denise Little - Ethan Ellenberg Literary Agency
Agent Tamar Rydzinski - Laura Dail Literary Agency
Editor Aubrey Poole - Sourcebooks
Editor Shana Drehs - Sourcebooks
Agent Vickie Motter - Andrea Hurst & Associates
Editor Leah Hultenschmidt - Sourcebooks
Editor Lauri Blasch - Black Opal Books

Great action scenes can add a lot to your story, but they can sink it fast if you don’t exactly know what you’re doing. I’ve learned that it takes a slightly different writing style to create an effective action scene, and there are some important things to keep in mind while you’re doing it.

Remember that your scene should be a little like a roller coaster ride. It starts out slowly, then builds and builds until the pace becomes breathless and rapid and then slows back down again. There should always be some urgency for the hero: a bomb is about to go off, or the girl is about to be killed , or a child is drowning. This sense of urgency is what compels the scene and gives it momentum.

If I were to tell you that you should write with both sides of your brain, you’d get offended, right? Of course, we all use our brain, both sides of the brain, all the time, whether we’re driving or cooking or writing. Still, most people will have a tendency to favour one hemisphere over the other.

The left hemisphere is responsible for analytical thinking and word manipulation. People with a left-hemisphere dominance tend to be logical, structured, sequential, analytic and organised. Their writing corner will most likely be quiet, brightly lit, neat and organised. Such writers love deadlines and paperclips. They thrive on deadlines and prefer to handle one writing project at a time.

I used to write series books, in the old days. I had written THE SCEPTER OF SALVATION, high-fantasy, of a trilogy. Next, I wrote THE MAGE OF MONROVIA. And I started THE EMERALD ISLE OF MISTS. I pitched the series, but didn’t get any bites. I pitched some more. Same thing. So with only the opening to The Emerald Isle of Mists, I set my trilogy aside. *sniff*

And vowed not to write a series ever again. Well, almost never. I have written the start of sequels, and the same thing has happened. Didn’t sell the first, couldn’t do anything with the second book.