• Learning Center

        Published: February 4th, 2012  Views: 7 
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    I've been a professional writer for a long, long time, as well as a passionate student. I am always ready to consider and try new writing techniques. But there is one form of writing I HATE. I am not alone. Every creative writer in the known world hates, despises, abhors writing a SYNOPSIS. It is excruciating to condense a 100,000-word novel or 100-page screenplay into 350-500 words. That's the current length "expectation" of the majority of publishers, producers and agents.

    Why do they need these summaries? Time. They have little time to wallow around in a story and get to know your characters. They want to skim the bare bones plot or spine of the story and find out if the characters are intriguing enough to ask for more.
    Categories:
    1. Craft
        Published: February 4th, 2012  Views: 13 
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    Are you still double spacing after you end a sentence? Well, stop! All of the style guides The Chicago Manual of Style, the AP Stylebook, and the Modern Language Association (MLA) except for the American Psychological Association want you to space only once after you end a sentence. I know, I know, it may be really hard to break the habit of hitting the space bar twice, but you’re still not listening to 8 Tracks today, right?

    Why the Change?
    Categories:
    1. Craft
    by     Published: February 3rd, 2012  Views: 33 

    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.
        Published: February 3rd, 2012  Views: 205 
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    I love to learn something new when I read murder mysteries, so I look for ways I can make my own work more enticing and exciting by using background research to create threats, events, characters, or settings the reader might not know anything about. Research is how I keep my writing fresh. It is a source of ideas I may use in a work in progress and in the future. Not only does what I learn influence me as a writer but also as a person.

    Writers are always told to write what they know, but for me part of the thrill of constructing a mystery is delving into areas with which I am unfamiliar. In my debut work, I took a risk by creating a protagonist who brewed beer. I knew nothing about brewing beer. In fact, I considered myself a wine drinker. Beer? Ugh!
    Categories:
    1. Craft
    2. Research
    by     Published: February 3rd, 2012  Views: 143 

    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.

        Published: February 2nd, 2012  Views: 169 
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    Okay, I have to admit that I’ve always been a description skimmer. Passages about the weather or the setting, or even of the physical appearance of a character, tend to make my eyes glaze over. I skim right past.

    So when I started writing, my first drafts were nothing but talking heads—lots of dialogue. I knew I had a problem. I was not good at writing description.

    The wonderful thing about being a writer is we can study. And we can learn. So I’ve been working on improving my description with each new manuscript. I was thrilled recently when one of my critique partners said my latest proposal was much better. She’s done a great job teaching me! And I’m sure my editor would like to thank her for making the editing easier.
    Categories:
    1. Craft
        Published: February 1st, 2012  Views: 171 

    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.

    Categories:
    1. Craft
        Published: February 1st, 2012  Views: 236 
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    With RWA conference looming in the near future, the pitch becomes the topic of conversation for authors, as they prepare to meet their dream agent. This is what I’ve learned over the years.

    Attire: Remember the pitch is only a few minutes long, the agent has seen dozens of individuals, and you want to shine. Don’t shine literally with a sequined shirt. Business casual is the name of the game. I find what works best is a nice pair of slacks or jeans, a comfortable appropriate shirt. Don’t look like you’re about to go for a business lunch. Be comfortable. If you think you look good, you’ll show it and feel good. My favorite thing to do for a pitch is wear a really cute pair of shoes. Agents always remember shoes and notice them. Once I wore sparkly sandals. We discussed them for five minutes. Then she asked for my pitch. We were both relaxed, I flew through the pitch, and she requested a full.

    Categories:
    1. Industry
    2. Writing Life
        Published: January 30th, 2012  Views: 519 
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    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?
    Categories:
    1. Industry
    2. Writing Life
        Published: January 30th, 2012  Views: 283 
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    Lots of people I know have a hard time writing the middle of the story. In the beginning the ideas are fresh and new, the characters are exciting and we’re learning about them, and there’s a lot of setup of plot and conflicts and motivations. And the ending…well, we get to give our characters their HEA! The last 10-15000 words of a book zoom by for me most of the time. But the middle? Chapters 4-9? That’s where I tend to get stuck. I know where characters have to go, but I don’t often know how I’m going to get them there.

    I suppose part of that is from being a pantser and not having it all figured out. But even plotters I know have this problem. The stuff they’d plotted maybe just isn’t cutting it. Or they know what has to happen but it feels flat and off.

    Saggy Middle Syndrome.We haz it.

    Categories:
    1. Craft
        Published: January 30th, 2012  Views: 92 
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    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.

    Categories:
    1. Craft
        Published: January 30th, 2012  Views: 440 
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    Things you’ll never read in a romance novel:

    “Aiden is thinning on top. I told him he should go to Bosley.”

    Ranulf took one look at his opponent and screamed like a little girl.

    “How was Alec in bed? Hmm, I couldn’t tell, since he only lasted about two minutes.”

    “He’s sexy as all get-out, but his voice sure is shrill, isn’t it?”

    “That harelip of Carls is so sexy.”

    We’re always told to give our characters flaws, but let’s face it, there are some flaws we must stay away from. I’ve read a few romances where the hero was missing certain appendages – no, not THAT one. NEVER that one – and the hero was no less of a man. But seriously, think about it: you could give your hero brown hair and brown eyes, and you’ve pretty much incapacitated him right there. Am I right?

    Categories:
    1. Craft
        Published: January 28th, 2012  Views: 76 

    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.

    Categories:
    1. Craft
    2. Research
        Published: January 27th, 2012  Views: 154 
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    From the time I first started writing romance, all I heard from writers, and workshop leaders, and editors, and everyone else connected with the romance market, was that if you want to write romance, you must read romance. Read it every day, every book you can get your hands on. And especially read EVERY book in the category you want to break into. Ask any editor in the genre you're attempting to break into, and you'll hear it over and over... like a mantra.

    Categories:
    1. Writing Life
        Published: January 27th, 2012  Views: 170 
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    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.

    Categories:
    1. Craft
        Published: January 27th, 2012  Views: 260 
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    I didn’t write my book for you.

    I don’t mean to be rude, and it’s entirely possible that the book and its genre are right up your alley. You might enjoy it very much.

    Still, I didn’t write it for you.

    Like many writers, the structure for my novel came out of ideas that had been floundering around in my head for years, disjointed and random (not unlike myself, I’m told). I might read other pieces that touched on similar themes and made me consider how I would have told the story differently. At other times, a plot point might form in my mind only to realize it fell out logically from one I had the month prior. Such threads of inspiration soon wove themselves together into a fuzzy scarf of creativity (I still have problems with metaphors). Before I knew it, I suddenly had the framework of a story. A jotted note turned into a series of bullets. A paragraph became a page, a page a chapter.

    Categories:
    1. Writing Life
        Published: January 26th, 2012  Views: 368 
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    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.

    Categories:
    1. Craft
        Published: January 25th, 2012  Views: 444 
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    When I write, I prefer to use a deep third person POV.

    Author Suzanne Brockmann uses the term "deep POV" and it seems accepted in the romance community, although it might not be an "official" definition. In a nutshell, being in deep POV means you're in the character's head. You see only see what he can see, hear only what he can hear. You're privy to emotions, to thoughts. The author isn't on the page. There is no narrator.

    Wait. Isn't that the same as first person?

    Categories:
    1. Craft
        Published: January 25th, 2012  Views: 273 
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    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:
    Categories:
    1. Industry
    2. Writing Life
        Published: January 24th, 2012  Views: 186 
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    If you’re reading this, you’re probably either a reader or a writer of fiction—or both. So, I challenge you: why do you read fiction? Possible answers could include:

    To kill time.
    For pure entertainment.
    For enlightenment.
    To get out of my own head for a while.
    To step into someone else’s world, to live their lives, feel their feelings.
    To learn, by seeing how someone else lived through a situation.

    No matter why we read fiction, nearly all of the above apply. Reading does indeed “kill” time. If it isn’t entertainment, why bother? I’m afraid the lofty goal of seeking to attain enlightenment became passé in the last century, but all of us want and need to get out of our own heads at one time or another. What could be more exciting than to step into someone else's world, to meet new and interesting people and to see things through their eyes and feel their feelings for a while? And who among us doesn’t need a little help from time to time coping with what life throws at us?


    Categories:
    1. Craft

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