Learning Center

Join us every Friday as we spotlight various members in the Savvy Authors Community. We'll introduce you to volunteers, members active in the Savvy writing community, recently published authors from Our Authors, editors, and agents.

This week we are shining the spotlight on one of our very own hard working Mod Divas, Michaela Davidson. She is one of the many people working behind the scenes to help make your experiences here at Savvy Authors the best they can be. Join us as we find out what Michaela is up to and who that hunk is hanging out in her avatar frame!

1. Michaela, please share with our readers how you became a Mod Diva and what you enjoy most about working here at Savvy?

I'd seen a request posted looking for a moderator and I just jumped at the chance.

Crafting Novels & Short Stories, from the Editors of Writer’s Digest
Review by Marcy Weydemuller

Have you ever wished you could take a copy of that workshop you just listened to on developing powerful scenes, and the article you read a few months back on great characterization, and take the one chapter out of the book on writing that really explained POV, then put them all together into your own personal writing reference book?

Basically the editors from Writer’s Digest have done exactly that in Crafting Novels and Short Stories. They have excerpted top quality articles from their books and their magazines then compiled them into over thirty-nine chapters to give writers practical applications for craft and creativity. It’s a goldmine.

Disability as a Characteristic:
Many authors have used disabled characters to enhance their novels: Stephen King's blind disk jockey; Jeffrey Deaver's paraplegic crime solver, Lincoln Rhines; and Diana Gabaldon's Jocasta Cameron, Jamie Frazier's blind aunt. All of these characters have something in common -- they're strong individuals, despite, or maybe because of, their disabilities. When you create a disabled character, think of their disability as one of their characteristics, not as something restricting their lives. Disabled people are an inventive lot; they find ways around many obstacles. They have needs, wants, and dreams like everyone else. The days of "granny" rocking her last years away in her rocking chair are gone. Granny now drives her electric wheelchair into the gym to referee the school basketball game.

What do you do when your beloved book series is cancelled? As a reader, you’re sad to see the last of characters who you’ve grown to know and love. You’ve lived in their world and shared their experiences, and you want that world to go on forever.

As a writer, you’ve poured your heart into creating these characters, joined them vicariously on multiple adventures, and then all of a sudden your publisher gives you the axe. You’re not prepared for this devastating outcome. You still have ideas for sequels and have already started the next book. How can you leave your imaginary friends in such an unsettled state? How can you let down your readers? Will they understand that ending the series wasn’t your choice?

No, I’m not suggesting you give up on your still-young New Year’s resolution to drop the pounds you gained over the holidays and go back to stuffing yourself with the rich food and sweet treats that put the weight on. What I’m suggesting is that you stuff yourself with knowledge as a way to improve your writing.

I can hear your perplexed “Wha?” Lemme ‘splain.

When I first started writing romance, I had this great idea for a story set in medieval times about a woman who helped dying souls cross over. Of course, that meant I had to research the time period, as I didn’t know a lot other than what I’d read in romances over the years. So, after I wrote a few pages introducing the first scene, I turned to the library and used book stores. I immersed myself in village life, the story of a medieval lady, and herbal remedies of the period and loved it. After a while, months to be exact, I realized something. I’d become addicted to the research and had totally neglected the story. I had the same few pages I’d started out with, nothing more. Well, I did have a shelf full of history books.

Not only am I a master of suspense, but I…

According to Aristotle, suspense is an important building block of literature and most writers include an element of suspense in stories to some degree. But as we look at books and films being released (and not being released) today, we will find that the major difference between a successful novel and an unsuccessful novel is the quality of suspense.

Why do authors fail at suspense? Most of it is their approach to what suspense is. Many people feel that suspense is merely tension within the action, or cliff-hanger moments, or nail-biting moments when the reader doesn’t know what is going to happen next. While this last statement is more-or-less true, we, as authors, really need to examine WHY the reader has the nail biting moments.

Now I’ll have to admit, my first experience of joining a critique group did not endear me to the process at first. Let me tell you a few things hampering my judgment of its value.

1) I was a new writer with a big ego.
2) The group was too big.
3) There were actually some in the group more interested in going for the juggler of writing style and voice rather than constructive criticism.

Amazon Heat, our new release form Carina Press, is a product of a partnership. What started as a rant about how no one seemed to be able to pull off an updated version of Wonder Woman morphed into a random brainstorming session. We had so much fun plotting out the story that we decided to put the idea to paper. However, neither of us had ever written with a partner. We weren’t sure if we could successfully blend our styles and voices. There are many different methods to partner writing. Here are just a few things we learned as we brought Amazon Heat to life.

Tips from Melinda: