• Craft

    Whose Head Is This Anyway? Point of View Basics by Linda McLaughlin 

        Published: May 19th, 2013  Views: 66 
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    Point of view (POV) is a topic that is hotly debated by writers. Ask a group of writers about this subject, and you'll probably find as many opinions as there are writers.

    So what is point of view?

    Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, tenth edition, dates the term at the year 1720 and defines it as "a position from which something is considered or evaluated: standpoint".

    Other definitions refer to POV as "the lens through which the reader sees the story" or the angle of focus from which the story is told. Ask yourself who is seeing the action and reporting it to the reader?


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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).
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    1. Craft
    2. Research
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    Popping the RT Cherry by Vivi Dumas 

        Published: May 17th, 2013  Views: 66 
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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.
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    1. Craft
    2. Writing Life
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    So What Defines New Adult? by Magan Vernon 

        Published: May 16th, 2013  Views: 241 
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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.
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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.
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    Making Scenes Come Alive by Dee Lloyd 

        Published: May 16th, 2013  Views: 41 
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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.

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    Act As If You Are Successful by Chris Redding 

        Published: May 14th, 2013  Views: 161 
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    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.

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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.

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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.

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

        Published: May 12th, 2013  Views: 183 
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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?
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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.
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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?

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    Self-publishing by Hank Quense 

        Published: May 11th, 2013  Views: 190 
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    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.
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    1. Craft
    2. Workshops
    3. Marketing and Promo
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    Hooray For Hollywood by Maggie Marr 

        Published: May 10th, 2013  Views: 153 
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    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?

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    The Stars of Our Destiny by Janie Emaus 

        Published: May 9th, 2013  Views: 175 
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    Every few months when the planet Mercury is in Retrograde, you might experience a bit of upheaval in your life. For those of you unfamiliar with this phenomenon, it appears as if Mercury is going backwards in the sky. It happens three to four times a year. The next retrograde period is from June 26th to July 20th

    Since Mercury rules communication, during retrograde all sorts of things go haywire. For instance, it’s not a good time to sign contracts, start a new job, or make important decisions concerning your love life. Cars can breakdown. Planes get delayed. Computers crash.

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    Writing In The Emotional Space by Eva Lefoy 

        Published: May 8th, 2013  Views: 102 
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    For many writers it can be tempting to stay emotionally distanced from our work. Just write the words, let the characters do their acting, and not get too involved in the process. We know how to do this. We’ve taken classes on body language and visceral responses and know how to use them. We figure we can sprinkle in the facial expressions, the body movements and the hand gestures and get the job of conveying the emotions of the character over to the reader done post haste. Am I right? Sometimes it’s nice to take a shortcut. But I don’t think it has the same effect as really getting into the mood of the piece and letting your emotions be involved.

    When we write from a craft perspective, we can write technically well. The tools are handy after all, and we know the rules. If we follow them, A+B should equal C. But it doesn’t always in my experience. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve written a really moody piece where the readers said they really sank into the characters, only to turn around and try and “fix” it, but then have the readers tell me it’s gone flat. What happened? Probably I wasn’t emotionally in the scene any longer. I was writing from craft and not from emotion.

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    The Core of Suspense by Mallory Kane 

        Published: May 8th, 2013  Views: 118 
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    I've published 31 books for Harlequin Intrigue, and I still can't believe it. My first book was released in 2001 and I laughed as I told my critique partners, "If I sell this book, I don't have another Intrigue." At the time I had been focusing on paranormal romance and short stories. Well, I did sell that book, and I did not have another Intrigue. Thank goodness my editor believed in me and waited for that second book.

    After I'd written six or so books for Intrigue and struggled with each one, taking about 5-6 months to come up with the characters and plots, I was listening to a fellow writer talking about what editors want. She was complaining that one thing editors will tell an author is to "write another Lawman Who Loved Her." (My first Intrigue.)
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    The Never Give Up Game Plan To Getting Published by Duffy Brown 

        Published: May 7th, 2013  Views: 105 
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    Self-publishing is a great way to get your work out there, no doubt about it, but it’s not for everyone. With all the articles out there on self-pub, this is my two cents on getting published with a traditional publishing house.

    The best way to guarantee you’ll never get published is to not send out your work...and keep sending it out and keep sending it out. I am amazed how many writers write their story and have no idea where they are going to submit it. You need to write something that is sell-able, something the publisher wants. You need to do homework, see what publishers publish the sort of stories you want to write, and then send them your work. It’ll never get published sitting in the drawer.
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    Promotion Before the Signing on the Dotted Line by Mageela Troche 

        Published: May 7th, 2013  Views: 86 
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    With budgets cut and more promotion duties falling to the writer, the pre-published writer can setup and develop their promotion before signing on the dotted line of their contract. Many agents and publishers want to know your social media numbers, followers, friends, likes, and all the other terms. A difficulty is where does a writer start and what foundation to build upon.

    Jayne Ann Krentz said “Sooner or later you may have to reinvent yourself in order to survive as a writer. The trick is to know your core story—themes, conflicts, and the kinds of characters you do--and to also know the market so that when career disaster strikes, you will know where to take your next book.”
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