Gail Kittleson – Characters and April Fools

Characters and April Fools

by Gail Kittleson

“Humor is an affirmation of dignity, a declaration of man’s superiority to all that befalls him.” –Romain Gary, French diplomat, novelist, film director and aviator   

So I guess this philosophy elevates April Fool’s day to a day of victory. That is, if we have the presence of mind to remember it’s April first and not let anyone get the better of us. After all, jokesters lurk everywhere. I live with one, and concur with Gary—laughter is definitely the way to go.

A quick glance through lists of pranks played through the decades amazes me—people go to a lot of thought and effort to successfully fool others. Because my WIP hero is a World War I vet, one practical joke especially piqued my curiosity.

A French aviator dropped a bomb in German territory in 1915. German soldiers  scattered. When no explosion occurred, they cautiously approached the object, only to find a football with a note attached—“April Fool!”

What a great scene, don’t you think?

This caught my attention, because during the past month, I’ve been getting to know my WWII era hero, a fifty-something veteran of the Great War. I see him everywhere I go, if you know what I mean, and last night when my husband and I watched a movie filmed right in the trenches, my hero hovered everywhere. He played a sneaky prank on me, too.

Sometime in the night, I realized he holds a secret from his action in the Great War—I ought to say clutches it to his chest. He’s a widower, yet never divulged this wartime experience to his deceased wife. But buried in his subconscious, the surreptitious truth lives on, and every once in a while, arises to stake its claim on his soul.

Truth lives within us, like our family genes. We can’t change the fact that heart trouble or weak hips or hernias “run in our family.” We can take lots of preventative measures these days, but still, those genes will have their say.

My challenge? To discover my hero’s secret, and facilitate its appearance at all the appropriate times. At this point, I’m not sure if it’s a positive or negative secret. Did he do something heinous, or make a choice that caused loss of life and limb to others? Or did his heroism, albeit denied, save soldiers? Did a romantic liaison lead to a birth he’s kept secret all these years to protect his stateside family? One thing I know. He’s a great guy, so his character caused him to shove the questionable event into the depths of his being.

But somehow, it’s important to the story for my heroine to find out about this—or significant for him to trust her enough to divulge it. Both of them will become stronger and they’ll appreciate each other more in the telling, even though I don’t yet know how all this will occur.

We’ll see. I’m the kind of writer who has to stay open to what my characters have in mind. That may sound a bit bizarre—or not. But one thing I’ve learned, what is, is—no use fighting it. Characters come to me full-blown. Plots, not so much. I’m already well into this particular WIP, and just now learned about Al’s secret.

So what encouragement does this blog offer writers? We can work through our WIP’s with an open mind. Our hero/heroine may have a thing or two to teach us as we plod along. While this theory may seem like an April Fool’s joke to what we call plotters, or those with a mathematical approach, it isn’t. Secrets have power. When we recognize one in our characters, we’ll transpose their strength into our plot. We’ll pause every once in a while to listen to what they’re whispering.

Meet the Author:

Gail believes our stories are our best gifts, and she can’t seem to write much w/out an empowerment theme. The past three years, she’s been making up for lost time, blooming like a dahlia – a little later than some other varieties. She’s an avid reader, walker, gardener, and grandmother, and just plain loves writing. She and her husband live in northern Iowa, and spend part of the winters in the Arizona mountains. This summer (2013), WhiteFire Publishing will release Catching Up With Daylight, her nonfiction inspirational for women.

gkittleson@myomnitel.com

gailkittleson.blogspot.com

 

Catherine Castle – Discovering the Books of Your Heart

Discovering the Books of Your Heart

by Catherine Castle

Have you ever begun writing something that didn’t work for you?

That’s what happened to me with my book The Nun and the Narc. When I originally started it the heroine was a missionary. But as the book progressed I began having trouble with it. The words wouldn’t come. The plot kept failing, and I got stuck. Then, one of my critique partners suggested I make the heroine a nun.

I knew if I changed my heroine to a nun the book would be a harder sell in the Christian market than if she had a more generic, evangelistic faith or if she was an Amish heroine. And it has been a hard sell because it didn’t fit the traditional inspirational market. But the more I thought about the suggestion, the more I liked the idea.

I have always loved stories about nuns. The Sound of Music starring Julie Andrews, who had the voice of an angel, was one of my favorite movies. I even played one of the chorus nuns in a high school production of The Sound of Music. I loved the television series The Flying Nun and never missed an episode with Sister Bertrille, a nun at the convent San Tanco in Puerto Rico, whose oversized headgear allowed her to fly. And as an Elvis fan, of course I had to see the film A Change of Habit starring Mary Tyler Moore and Elvis. As a journalist I had the opportunity to interview nuns who had left their orders because they fell in love. These stories of women who had committed themselves, or were about to commit,  to a “marriage” with God, yet fell in love with a man, intrigued me. I realized I had an innate curiosity about the subject that would carry me through the story. I wanted to know what made these women tick. I wanted to know about the struggles they had to go through to make their decisions. And so, The Nun and the Narc was born.

What’s the moral of my little anecdote?

Write the book, or books, of your heart. If your work in progress isn’t working, consider whether or not you really love what you’re writing about. Does it excite you? Are you anxious to sit down at the computer and tell the story? Is it a book of your heart? If not, can you change something about it to make it a book of your heart? It may be as simple as changing your character’s vocation, or avocation. It may be something that requires more thought or more change. Or you might not be able to salvage it…this time.

The point is, if you don’t love your story how can you expect an editor or a reader to love it?

Are you writing the book of your heart? What is it?

Thanks, Tamara, for having me as a guest blogger today.

Meet the Author

Catherine Castle is the romance author pen name of Catherine Hershberger, a published poet and freelance writer whose non-fiction work, for children and adults, has appeared in the secular and Christian markets. Her first published inspirational suspense romance novel, The Nun and the Narc, from Soul Mate Publishing, will be released as an e-book April 24, 2013.

Catherine began writing stories and poems almost as soon as she could string words together on paper. When other students groaned at essays and term paper assignments, she relished the chance to research new things and write. Poetry was her first love. Then she tried her hand at fiction as a teenager, writing her first book in longhand on lined paper. It was an awful story of teen love showered upon her favorite teenaged actor. She still has it and, no, you cannot read it. J But you can find samples of her poetry and other writing on her website.

When she’s not writing or working on a writing project with her husband, whom she also coauthors with, you can find Catherine reading. She owns hundreds of books and magazines, on all kinds of subjects, that constantly threaten to overrun the house. She’s trying to control the book habit with her Kindle. It’s not working so well; she may need a second Kindle to keep up. So many books—so little time.

Catherine also likes traveling, singing, and attending theatre, as well as being onstage in the spotlight. In the winter she loves to quilt and has a lot of UFOs (unfinished objects) in her sewing case. In the summer her favorite place to be is in her garden. She’s passionate about gardening and even won a “Best Hillside Garden” award from the local gardening club. For weeks after receiving the award she went around the house, wearing a smile big enough to crack her face, saying, “I’m an award winning gardener!” It was—besides marrying her high-school sweetheart, the birth of their daughter, being an ACFW Genesis contest finalist, and receiving her book contract with Soul Mate Publishing—one of the best events in her life.

In Catherine’s Ohio garden you’ll find flowers from friends and from her mother’s gardens that have been moved from house-to-house, city-to-city, and state-to-state. Like stories, which are meant to be enjoyed and passed on, Catherine believes flowers should be shared. If you come to her home when the garden is blooming you’ll leave with a big bouquet.

You can see Catherine’s excerpts from her upcoming book, pictures of her garden, read her poems and blogs, connect with her, and follow her at http://catherinecastle1.wordpress.com. She also blogs on the Soul Mate Author Group http://smpauthors.wordpress.com/ the fourth Tuesday of the month.

Releasing Soon:

The Nun and the Narc

Where novice Sister Margaret Mary goes, trouble follows. When she barges into a drug deal the local Mexican drug lord captures her. To escape she must depend on undercover DEA agent Jed Bond. Jed’s attitude toward her is exasperating, but when she finds herself inexplicable attracted to him he becomes more dangerous than the men who have captured them, because he is making her doubt her decision to take her final vows. Escape back to the nunnery is imperative, but life at the convent, if she can still take her final vows, will never be the same.

Nuns shouldn’t look, talk, act, or kiss like Sister Margaret Mary O’Connor—at least that’s what

Jed Bond thinks. She hampers his escape plans with her compulsiveness and compassion and in the process makes Jed question his own beliefs. After years of walling up his emotions in an attempt to become the best agent possible, Sister Margaret is crumbling Jed’s defenses and opening his heart. To lure her away from the church would be unforgivable—to lose her unbearable.

The Nun and the Narc, will be released as an e-book from Soul Mate Publishing,  April 24, 2013.

It will be available from www.soulmatepublishing.com , www.barnesandnoble.com, and www.amazon.com

Lillian Duncan – 3 Steps to Publication-Guaranteed!

As I’m sure you know all stories have a beginning, a middle, and end. If you want to get published you need to write the BEST BEGINNINGS, MARVELOUS MIDDLES, and EXPLOSIVE ENDINGS.

Succeed with those three easy steps and you’ll have a contract before you know it. OK—maybe they aren’t all that easy. It took me years to learn the writing craft (and I still am!) and it may take you that long as well.

The writer’s first task is to hook the reader. Starting with a murder is always good, but it’s not the only way. The key is to arouse the reader’s curiosity so they will want to turn the page to see what happens next.

BEST BEGINNINGS for any novel, but especially mystery/suspense starts with action—action—and more action! Today’s mystery/suspense readers don’t have time or patience for characters sitting and pondering life’s heavy questions. They want action!

The important thing is someone must be doing something interesting and it can’t be a dream or a nightmare. Why not? Two reasons—first, it’s tricking the reader into believing something is happening that’s not. And more importantly, many editors list novels starting with a dream as one of their pet peeves. Why risk irritating them on the very first page?

Once you’ve written your best beginning, it’s time to tackle the hard part—avoiding the sagging middle syndrome. But how? Here’s a few ways to ensure MARVELOUS MIDDLES:

1. Introduce a new character. If they have a secret—even better!
2. Blow something up (or have another murder).
3. Add a ticking time bomb to the original problem.
4. Add a red herring, give the reader several choices for the murderer.
5. Keep the tension high.
6. Avoid all that back story you are dying to write. No matter how much you love it—it doesn’t move the story forward.

Whew! Now you’ve got your best beginning and a marvelous middle, so on to that EXPLOSIVE ENDING that will wow that editor and have them clamoring for your manuscript.

One of the keys to creating an explosive ending is to resolve all the story plots, not only the major one. Readers have invested time and emotion in your story. Don’t cheat them by not giving them the resolution they want and need to enjoy it.

A famous quote from Mickey Spillane says it all. The first chapter sells the book. The last chapter sells the next book. Your ending will either give you a satisfied reader who will recommend it to others or one who won’t read another book you write—ever.

Many books actually have two endings—mine usually do. Often the crucial resolution scene (stopping the murderer—rescuing the damsel in distress) happens in the next to the last chapter and the final chapter is used to tie up all the other story lines in a happy little bow. Nothing wrong with that. It’s a good plan.

And there you have it—the perfect formula for the perfect murder mystery/suspense novel. BEST BEGINNINGS + MARVELOUS MIDDLES + EXPLOSIVE ENDINGS = Great Story (and a book contract). Now, get busy writing.

Meet the Author:

Lillian Duncan…Stories of faith mingled… with murder & mayhem.

Lillian is a multi-published writer who writes the type of books she loves to read—suspense with a touch of romance. Whether as an educator, a writer, or a speech pathologist, she believes in the power of words to transform lives, especially God’s Word.

To learn more about Lillian and her books, visit: www.lillianduncan.net.  She also has a devotional blog at: www.PowerUpWithGod.com  as well as her personal blog, Tiaras & Tennis Shoes at www.lillian-duncan.com

Click on pics for info on buying Lillian’s novels.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ann Shorey – Is There a Nurse in the House?

Is There a Nurse in the House?

by Ann Shorey

Many thanks to Tamera for inviting me to be a guest blogger today!

My Sisters at Heart series is set in Missouri shortly after the end of the War Between the States. When I worked up the proposal for this series, I had my characters and their occupations set in my mind. In the first book, Where Wildflowers Bloom, I wanted Rosemary Saxon, the main character’s best friend, to be a nurse during the war, and then follow the same occupation afterward.

Well, surprise, surprise. When I began to research nurses in the Civil War, I learned that very few of them were women, and the ones who were female were generally older and/or widows. For a young unmarried woman to touch men’s bodies, even to tend to their wounds, was considered vulgar. Throughout the war, male nurses outnumbered female nurses 4 to 1. The general public believed women would only be a distraction and get in the way of the doctors.

Where female nurses were allowed, they were required to be plain-looking women. Their dresses were to be brown or black, no bows, no curls, no jewelry, and no hoop-skirts. The last prohibition is the only one that makes sense, since the hospital aisles were narrow.

So, where did this leave my Rosemary, who was to be the protagonist in the second novel in the series? Using my artistic license, she’s attractive, not plain, but I did make her “old.” She’s twenty-seven. J In addition to her God-given gift of mercy, she’s also determined to the point of being headstrong. She needs to be to stand up to the prejudice she encounters.

As writers, we try to avoid rabbit trails in our stories. You know, the fascinating tidbits we uncover that lead us away from the main plot. Yet, my latest novel, When the Heart Heals, came about directly because of a rabbit trail. What if I’d decided, “Oh, well, she can’t really be a nurse. Too unlikely,” and decided to make her a governess or seamstress because that would be “easier”?

I’ve learned there’s a time and a place for rabbit trails. If what you discover will deepen your plot or create a more interesting character, chase that rabbit! Even if you don’t end up using the information, store it away for a future novel.

And please don’t choose a character or a subject because you think it will be “easy.” I recently participated in an Author Fair in a nearby community. The writer at the table next to mine told me she decided to write a fantasy novel because that way she wouldn’t have to do any research! All I can say is her novel is self-published, and few people stopped at her table.

If you skimp on your writing by avoiding research or ignoring rabbit trails, most likely you’ll produce a skimpy book. And none of us want to do that.

Meet the Author:

ANN SHOREY has been a full-time writer for over twenty years. Her writing has appeared in Chicken Soup for the Grandma’s Soul, and in the Adams Media Cup of Comfort series. She made her fiction debut with The Edge of Light, Book One in the At Home in Beldon Grove series for Revell, followed by Books Two and Three, The Promise of Morning and The Dawn of a Dream. The Sisters at Heart series, beginning with Where Wildflowers Bloom, is her latest offering from Revell. Book Two in the series, When the Heart Heals, released on February 15.

She may be contacted through her website, www.annshorey.com,  or find her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/AnnShorey.

Click on the pics below for info on buying one of Ann’s books.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Karen Wingate – Write What You Know

Write What You Know

 by Karen Wingate

One of the first pieces of writing advice I ever received was “Write what you know.”  It was good advice, for it gave me confidence that I did have something to write about.

Like any adage, this bit of advice had its limits and left room for misinterpretation.

At first, I thought writing what I know meant I should write personal experience stories and illustrations about myself. To tell the truth, there are parts of my life I don’t want to write about. If a writing ministry means writing nothing but tell-alls, forget it.

Writing what you know is much broader than merely writing about your experiences.  As writers, we have the pleasure of talking about subjects we feel most comfortable with, sharing the lessons we’ve learned in life and compiling information we gather through research and interviews.  Big sigh of relief.

I’ve discovered that writing what you know is only a starting point in becoming a great writer.  After twenty-five years in the writing industry, my best advice is this: learn to reach beyond what you know.

Here’s how you can do that.

1. Determine your starting point.  Draw a coat of arms, then, in each of the quadrants, list your interests, hobbies, passions, and life experiences.  This is your initial deposit in your data bank.  Your job as a writer, is to expand your investment.

2. Learn to write out of your experience, not just about your experience.  What do I mean by that? As I mentioned above, you don’t have to write about the painful events of your life.  Instead, journal or list what life lessons you have learned from those experiences.  Then research illustrations from history, current events or other people’s lives that validate those points.  This will make your writing much stronger and more appealing.  Use your own experience sparingly, just enough to show that you are not merely regurgitating information found on the Internet; you’ve lived it.

A national magazine wanted me to write an article on forgiveness.  To share how I knew about forgiveness would be more private information than I wanted the public to know and would hurt members of my family.  But, because of certain events in my life, I’ve learned some lessons about forgiveness.  I asked myself, what event exemplifies the same principles about forgiveness that I had to learn.  I came up with the story about the Amish schoolhouse shooting in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania.  My readers could identify with the story because they had already heard the story. It became a powerful introduction to my article.

2. Observe. Become a people watcher.  Listen to conversations.  Pay attention to the news.  Watch how people react.  This is especially true if you write fiction.  Increase your knowledge base by watching how other people react to life.

3. Learn to interview.  This is an essential skill for any kind of writing. When I wrote devotions for a national company, I got to choose my topics from a theme list they provided.  Of course, I chose themes with which I was most comfortable.  It wasn’t appropriate to talk about myself all the time so I would think of someone who had a similar experience then ask to interview them.  I discovered people are often more than willing to share their stories with a writer.  I treasure some of those interviews as some of the most profound moments of my life.

4.  Keep your audience in mind  How would someone else react if they had gone through your experience? Would it be the same?

I’m visually impaired.  I’m also a fighter. I quickly forget that not every visually impaired person will have the same stubborn streak that I do.  So, if I write about visual impairment without thinking about my audience, I can quickly become harsh and judgmental, sounding, like I’m telling my reader, “I overcame, why can’t you?”  By rubbing shoulders with other visually impaired people, I learn even more about other coping mechanisms, daily living strategies and humorous moments in the life of a visually impaired person.  Suddenly, I know a lot more and can write with greater credibility.

To be a great writer, you must be willing to be a life-long learner. I think what I enjoy most about writing is the chance I have to learn about the world and the people in it.  Admitting I don’t know enough about a subject propels me to learn and discover. The more I learn, the more I have to draw from and the more I have to write about.

That sounds like a win-win scenario to me.

Meet the Author:

Karen Wingate has written for The Lookout, Christian Standard, Clubhouse, Decision, Christian Home and School, and Children’s Ministry.  She is currently working on her second novel, a historical fiction set in eastern Ohio.  Check out Karen’s speaking topics and blog at www.graceonparade.com.

Kathleen L. Maher – How to Encourage an Author – One Bite at a Time

How to Encourage an Author

One Bite at a Time

by Kathleen L. Maher

In the Civil War, untried troops had an expression about going off to war. They called it going to see the elephant.  A writer confronts the elephant of story with her puny pen, mincing it down to bite sized tasks. It might take a month of Sundays, but if I focus on one task at a time, I can write! And so can you.

I have yet to stare down deadlines, multitask one story in plotting stage whilst market a new release whilst writing yet another. But I fear not this wild herd, because the process is the same. You tackle one elephantine story at a time, cutting each pachyderm into the following steps: Brainstorm. Plot. Outline. Rough draft.  Edit. Critique. Edit again. Bite sized chunks.

Brainstorm: In my earliest days of writing, I found forums on agentquery.com where I could submit an idea or two and get really good, honest feedback. Later I discovered ACFW.com, and met my brilliant and invaluable partner Debbie Lynne Costello (sorry, fellow elephant hunters, she’s taken) through their critique groups. Scribes is a terrific resource for a brainstorming and critique partner. As you brainstorm, you must think GMC—goal, motivation, conflict. There is something your character wants more than anything, a reason why he wants it, and a conflict preventing him from getting it. (see http://www.debradixon.com/books/gmc.html)

Plot: Your characters have a journey to take. There are five legs of this journey: Introduction, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action, Resolution. If you have this, you have a basic skeleton of a story. There will be a dark moment when all seems lost, like in Lady and the Tramp where Trusty recovers his sense of smell and races after the dog catcher’s wagon. That awful howl , and him laying in the muddy road. And then there is that heartwarming ending, watching Lady’s puppies frolic and cavort around Jock and Jim Dear and Darling and Tramp and. . . yes, a mellow and doting Trusty, who keeps up with the whippersnappers despite a cast on his leg.

Outline is tying all of this hard work into a cohesive shape, and writing the rough draft adds sensory flesh to the bones. Sight, sound, taste, smell and touch.  Edits involve taking out weasel words, (http://www.examiner.com/article/weasel-words-1 )and adverbs, or adding in a subplot  and power verbs. You correct spelling, grammar, watch for homophones. Read it aloud for flow. This is where your critique partner becomes pure gold to you, because everyone has a blind spot. Maybe you have a pet word or phrase.  Do a global search to find every usage and cut!

None of these steps sounds hard by themselves, right? That’s because they’re not. It can be done. The most gargantuan task can be accomplished by picking it apart into smaller units. Now go. Eat an elephant.

Meet the Author:

Kathleen L. Maher writes historical romance and is represented by Terry Burns of Hartline Literary. She has a novella Bachelor
Buttons coming out in May through Helping Hands Press, part of a Civil War novella collection. A repeat finalist in several writing contests, she won the 2012 ACFW Genesis with her Civil War historical, Closer than a Brother. Kathleen lives in upstate New York with her husband, three kids and two Newfoundland dogs.

A Cry to Freedom

A Civil War Series, Volume 3

Bachelor Buttons

A Civil War Romance

The daughter of immigrants who fled the Irish Potato Famine, Rose Meehan longs for a better life than the tenements of New York City. Courted by two men–a young doctor who represents material security, and a poor violin instructor who has captured her heart–she must choose between a life of advantage-grabbing or a life of faith. When Manhattan explodes in mob rule following Lincoln’s unpopular draft, the heroic action of one suitor brings provision for those she loves, and reveals God’s plan.

Michelle Levigne – It’s Like… Organic, Dude! and SF Book Giveaway

It’s Like… Organic, Dude!

by Michelle Levigne

When people ask where I get story ideas, sometimes I say I buy them from a shop in the French Quarter in New Orleans. My other stock answer is to tell them about a book I read in junior high, about a guy who discovers that every bit of fiction in our world is rooted in a real world somewhere “out there.”

That illustration holds up only so far, because let’s face it, revisions are a fact of life for writers. How can we be writing about a “real place” if we’re changing details up until two minutes before we have to send it to our publisher?

Honestly? My stories kind of grow themselves. Bits and pieces of things catch my interest or my attention; ideas and images stick in my head. And if I’m lucky, I write them down in One Note before I forget them. Then, as I flesh out a story, I’ll remember those bits and pieces and insert where necessary.

For instance, a co-worker told about this obnoxious guy who worked out of a satellite office. He got fired, and she had to help clean out the small office. The place was, quite frankly, disgusting. Trash and layers of grease and dust and the smell … That story stayed in my head, and when I needed an opening for my humorous romantic suspense, How to Bury a Millionaire, the heroine uncovers a kiddie porn ring in that filthy office. The first word in the book is “Ewwwwwww!”

The same for book rough drafts that SEEM to be stand-alones. As I revise, I realize, “Hey, if I change this person’s name, and set his story in the same town I created in this other book,” and borrow characters from a third book and someone’s history from a fourth book, I can tie them all together. And suddenly I have this three-dimensional place — a town or a science fiction universe — with not only geography and big cast of characters whose lives overlap, but a history. It becomes “real.” And feels like it happened without any conscious intent on my part. Suddenly.

Only it didn’t happen “suddenly,” but over years of writing and rewriting, ad infinitum.

Example: I wrote Sunsinger, about a boy growing up on a small starship. I wrote True Caderi, an SF story exploring the idea of gaining the universe and losing your soul. Then I wrote the story of an ordinary Earth girl who discovers that she’s the survivor of an alien shuttle crash. Borrowing details from all three books, I created the Leapers — a race of female pilots who take their ships from one dimension of reality to another. The Leaper fleet shows up often in my Commonwealth Universe SF stories, including Sunsinger, True Caderi, and thirty-plus titles.

Another example: Book #1 is about a shattered college romance, where the couple reunites twenty years later. Book #2 is about a family running a community theater. Book #3 deals with three college students, sharing an apartment for a year. I made the man from Book #1 and the father from Book #2 drama professors in the same university — and the three girls in Book #3 are their students. And many of them go to the same church. “Suddenly” I had a town, Tabor Heights, and overlapping characters. I found other books, either ideas or rough drafts, and realized with some tweaking, they all fit in the same town, where their lives overlap. And “suddenly” I had twelve books, “Year One” of my Tabor Heights, inspirational romance series.

Only this doesn’t happen “suddenly.” It grows. Like a vine. But even healthy vines need pruning and reshaping to tame them and get something useful out of them.

Sometimes you have to sit back and let this organic “thing” grow where it will. You can’t rush it. You have to let the connections come in their own time. Put it away for a few months, a year, ten years, simmering in the back of your mind while you’re working on other projects. Sometimes you “test drive” your characters in fan fiction, or launch a whole series based on a story you wrote for fan fiction, playing on someone else’s “playground.”

Check out these fan fiction pieces I wrote years ago to see what I mean:

www.mlevigne.com/dayforaknight.pdf

www.mlevigne.com/darknesspast.pdf

“Darkness Past” was fan fiction for the Stephen J. Cannell TV show “Stingray.” Stingray teams up with Joan Archer, a visitor in the Tabor Heights books. Joan and her tough chick friends are stars in the women’s fiction series Quarry Hall, from Desert Breeze Publishing, which also handles the Tabor Heights books: www.DesertBreezePublishing.com.

“Day for a Knight” is Fantasy Island fan fiction. This was the base for an unpublished Arthurian fantasy novel, Athrar’s Heir. In the process of creating a history for this book, I discovered other stories waiting to be told. The result? A five-book series of Arthurian fantasy, called the Zygradon Chronicles, published by Uncial Press — http://www.UncialPress.com — Zygradon, Braenlicach, Three Drops of Blood, Lady Warhawk, and The Rift War.

You never know where fan fiction can take you, so go ahead and experiment.

In the final analysis, it’s all organic for me. I don’t throw anything out, no matter how lousy a story it was in the first incarnation. You never know where a hole will appear in a story, and that useless, disconnected scene or bit of history will exactly fit.

Free reads:

http://www.Mlevigne.com/tabor-onesmallchild.pdf

www.Mlevigne.com/SilverHearts.pdf

http://www.Mlevigne.com/Homespun.pdf

Meet the Author:

Michelle has been a story addict for as long as she can remember, starting with The Cat in the Hat and Weekly Reader Book Club. She discovered Narnia and Star Trek in elementary school, and was a familiar face in the school library, especially when she became addicted to Greek mythology. She fell into fandom in college, and published many short stories and poems in various universes, all while sending out original stories to magazines and publishing houses, eventually receiving rejections that weren’t the standard photocopied photocopy of a form letter.

She has a BA in theater/English from Northwestern College and a MA in communication, focused on film and writing from Regent University. In 1990, her writing career finally broke into the public market when she won 1^st place in the 4^th quarter of the Writers of the Future contest, which included publication in that year’s winners anthology. Her first published novel Heir of Faxinor came out in 2000. Since then, Michelle has published 50+ books and novellas with multiple e-publishers and small presses, in SF and fantasy, YA, women’s fiction, and many sub-genres of romance. She makes her living as a freelance editor and proofreader.

Web address: http://www.Mlevigne.com

Blogs: http://www.MichelleLevigne.blogspot.com

http://www.Tabor-Heights-Today.blogspot.com

Click on the pics or here for info about buying Michelle’s books.

Most recent releases:

Coming Soon:

Los Cielos — historical/paranormal romance from Uncial Press: http://www.UncialPress.com

Cooking up Trouble — Tabor Heights Year Two, Book #2 — http://www.DesertBreezePublishing.com

Virtually Dead — a series of novellas based in the Commonwealth Universe, coming from Writers Exchange: http://www.Writers-Exchange.com

By Fire and Stars – the 3rd book in the Chorillan Cycle, part of the Commonwealth Universe, coming from OakTara: http://www.OakTara.com

Susan F. Craft – Writing Requires Planting Yourself in the Chair

Writing Requires Planting Yourself in the Chair

by Susan F. Craft

I’m always hesitant when asked to talk about the process of writing, because each author has his or her own way of going about it.

I’ve been writing professionally for over 40 years. Granted, some of it was, I told myself at the time, not what I really wanted to be writing—articles for agency publications, informational materials, speeches for the agency director. It was “my day job” that I couldn’t quit because I couldn’t get anyone interested in my novels.

Over the years, I have come to the realization that any writing hones your craft—the thought processes required to come up with an idea; the utilization of resources to research thoroughly; the time to learn correct grammar and spelling; the willingness to learn from the masters; the discipline to sit in the chair and work; the development of thick skin in order to learn from, and not resent, criticism; the humility that comes with rejection; and the absolute joy that comes when someone really likes what you’ve written and says those magic words, “I couldn’t put it down.”

With that realization came the “light bulb moment” when I understood that employees and their families were honored by my articles published in our agency newsletter; mental health patients and their families deeply appreciated the information about their or their loved one’s illness written in such a way that they could understand what was happening to them; and the audiences hearing the speeches gained insight into what our agency was trying to accomplish and were inspired to partner with us to achieve those goals. My writing actually helped some people. How rewarding is that.

I still work full time and continue to plug away at novel writing. The speaker at a writers’ workshop I attended this past week made the statement, “Persistence trumps talent.” Well, brothers and sisters, I’m here to tell you that I know a little bit about persistence.  Over the past 30 years I’ve attended more writers’ workshops and conferences than I can remember. Sometimes the information would contradict something I had just heard in a previous conference. This happened mostly in the area of marketing—what genres were selling, what houses were looking for, what agents wanted to see, the acquisitions editor who threw manuscripts into her sludge pile because she had had a lousy breakfast.  I listened and I learned to sift through the “old hat” information and glean the good stuff, which I incorporated into my writing.

My persistence was rewarded when in November 2011, the Ingalls Publishing Group, released my inspirational Revolutionary War romantic suspense, The Chamomile. Life hasn’t been the same since. I’ve travelled, mostly regionally, to talk to groups, as many as 100 once and as few as four another. I talk about my research that went into my novel, how I found what I call my research “treasures,” and how I wove them into the story.  Our state Book Festival invited me to be a guest panelist. Over 6,000 people attended that event. When the wonderful reviews started showing up on places like Amazon and Goodreads, I was truly amazed and so excited.  When The Chamomile won the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance Okra Pick award, I was over the moon.

So, here’s my advice boiled down into the format I like best – a list:

• Write every day, preferably in the same place and at the same time. (I don’t follow my own advice about the same place, same time, but I write every day.)
• Participate in NaNoWriMo, which challenges you to write a 50,000 word novel in a month.
• Get up early one morning and start writing without stopping; especially don’t stop to edit. Try switching off your monitor when you’re typing. You can’t edit what you can’t see.
• After editing on the screen or in print, read your work aloud. You’ll be amazed at how many awkward sentences you can fix this way.
• Join a critique group, preferably with people who write in your genre. (Or find a critique partner.)
• Attend as many writers’ conference and workshops as you can. These things can get very expensive, so thoroughly check them out for those that sound helpful to you and your level of writing. The networking is invaluable.
• Read – a lot, especially the great writers. You’ll soon come to recognize what excellent writing is.
• Keep notebooks describing the interesting people you meet and the places that give you “vibes” (sorry, I’m a 60s girl).
• Enter writing contests; sometimes you get tremendous feedback from judges and you get name recognition, awards, and rewards if you win.
• Volunteer to work at your local Book Festivals.  They are the ones who will invite you to speak once you’ve been published. You’ll meet some fine people and network with published authors who usually have good advice.
• If you write historical fiction, PLEASE, make every effort to assure that your facts are correct and your history is good.
• Self-publishing is separate from writing. Not every writer has the time, the talent, or the interest. Both writing and publishing take work. Self-publishing demands the work of both. Even if you land a contract with a traditional publisher, you must still work at self-promotion.
• Get an agent. Some writers complain that it is unnecessary and ask why they should give another person a piece of the royalties. My agent, Linda Glaz, with Hartline Literary Agency, is fabulous. She is my best ally, she knows where my book should be, and she knows the people to send it to, and they respect her opinions. While she’s out there promoting my novel, I’m free to write the sequel. I’m the first to admit, though, that finding an agent is just as difficult as finding a publisher.
• This last one is for Christian writers. Pray about and for what you are writing. Ask yourself, will this glorify his name? Will it lift up your readers? Will they be a better person for having read what you’ve written? Have you done your absolute best to honor the absolute sacrifice that was made for you? Will you handle rejection with grace and accolades with humility?

Here’s a list of quotes from famous authors I thought would interest you:

• Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass. Anton Chekhov
• Cut out all those exclamation marks.  An exclamation mark is like laughing at your own joke. F. Scott Fitzgerald
• If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it. I try to leave out the parts that people skip. Elmore Leonard
• Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print. Never use a long word when a short one will do. George Orwell
• I’m always pretending that I’m sitting across from somebody. I’m telling them a story, and I don’t want them to get up until it’s finished. James Patterson
• Abandon the idea that you are ever going to finish. Lose track of the 400 pages and write just one page for each day, it helps. Then when it gets finished, you are always surprised. John Steinbeck
• Substitute “damn” every time you’re inclined to write “very”; your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be. Mart Twain
• Every sentence must do one of two things—reveal character or advance the action. Kurt Vonnegut

Meet the Author:

Susan F. Craft, author of The Chamomile, a Revolutionary War romantic suspense, has a degree in Broadcast Journalism from the University of South Carolina. Her 40-year career includes working for SC Educational Television, the SC Department of Mental Health, the SC College of Pharmacy, and currently for the SC Senate.

The Chamomile, winner of the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance Okra Pick, is the fourth book she has authored. The first two were SC State Library award-winning professional works in the field of mental health, and the third, published in 2006, was A Perfect Tempest, a historical fiction set in Columbia during the Civil War.

Craft is a member of the American Christian Fiction Writers, the Palmetto Christian Writers Network, the Historical Novel Society, the SC Writers Workshop, the SC Historical Society, the Robert Burns Society, the Colonial American Christian Writers, John 316 Marketing Network, She Writes, Goodreads, Facebook, and Pinterest. Her website address is http://www.susanfcraft.com and her blogs are http://historicalfictionalightintime.blogspot.com and http://colonialquills.blogspot.com.

Craft wrote A Writer’s Guide to Horses, which is available on the website of the Long Riders’ Guild Academic Foundation, http://www.lrgaf.org.  The Guide provides authors comprehensive information about horses to assist them to accurately portray horses in their works.

Craft says, “Researching for my novels brings me the same excitement Alan Quartermain must have felt hunting for King Solomon’s Mines. I’ve been known to spend an entire day in a library scribbling notes from someone’s diary, spending a wallet of quarters making copies of maps and old newspapers, and trekking from one book or document to the next with a perseverance Lewis and Clark would have applauded. I enjoy the chase when one clue leads me from one historical treasure to the next.”

“I cannot remember a time when I did not want to write. Somewhere in my attic I have a book, The Mystery of the Whistling Cave, which I wrote and bound myself when I was eight and enthralled with Nancy Drew.”

“I married Rick, who was my high school sweetheart and now husband of 43 years. We live in South Carolina and have two adult children whom we adore and one grandchild who is my bestest buddy. I gave my heart to Christ as a teenager and am an active member of my church, singing in the choir since I was ten.”

Click the picture below for information about buying Susan’s novel.

The Chamomile

Lilyan Cameron joins patriot spies in British-occupied Charlestown, SC, to rescue her brother from a notorious prison ship.  She’ll lie, steal, kill, or be killed she promises Nicholas Xanthakos, a scout with Francis Marion’s partisans, who leads the mission.  In Nicholas’ arms she discovers enduring love … a home.  But that home is a long time coming.  Her journey requires she save the life of one British officer but kill another to protect her Cherokee friend, Elizabeth. In escaping bounty hunters, she treks miles of wilderness and very nearly loses everything before finally reuniting with her true love.

Lisa Lickel – Process of Writing

Process of Writing

by Lisa Lickel

 

 

 

Process of Writing:

Have an idea

Write

Press “send”

Happy dance

ALL RIGHT – you want details, you ask? You seat-of-the-pants writer?

Just be aware: I can tell you, but then I’d have to kill you. (I’m an oft-times mystery writer—I just had to say that.)

I teach a workshop on “Where Do Ideas Come From?” I once had oodles of students roaming through a book store, checking titles, reading shelves, people-watching, studying headlines, listening to conversations…where do your ideas come from? A lot of mine are ripped from the headlines. What really happened to that missing person? What would it take to save the family farm? How hard is it to get a weapon across the country when you can’t fly with it or drive? There is a company trying to create hypoallergenic pets. What would it be like to move everything and start over at the request of your friend the mayor of a small town and then find his body?

So that last sentence was really the premise of my latest novel. Here’s where it started: small towns across America are dying as the younger generation generally prefers to live where life is faster and more exciting. Not everyone, of course, but it’s hard to keep small business afloat in communities where the nearest big box department store is only a twenty-minute or less drive. I like coffee. I like books. I like chocolate. I know a little about local small family newspapers; one of my neighbors uses a live answering service to keep in touch with his clients when he’s away from home. It’s personal. It’s nice. It really happens. I like cats, and researched unusual ones: voila – Egyptian Mau.

Put those elements together – out pops a book.

Oh, you want to know the “writing” part, do you? It involves research, for me a sharp pencil and notebook, a working computer, Internet, libraries, human beings to interview and partner with in the word-smithing. A lot of chair time.

Never trust a single source for research. I may have heard that a few times as a journalist. I generally use at least three resources for fact-finding: Internet, books, people. How do you make cat food? Research companies who manufacture it, interview cat owners, read about the nutrition values in books. I like to plot on paper. Genre. Audience. Those things lead me to a word length: mysteries run 60-80,000 words, although that’s becoming a little shorter these days. I like to write terse, round up or down later. I like my chapters certain lengths. For mysteries I need major players and minor ones. I chart characters. I need a big problem and lots of little crises to overcome. Some of these are going to become clues and some are “red herrings,” those mis-cues to lead my readers in a merry chase. Include a little excitement, a little romance.

Once I’m at the computer I develop character sheets and scene and setting sheets to keep my facts straight. I create a synopsis and work my chapters from those major goals. I try to write out the draft in a few weeks so I don’t forget where I’m headed, using my flexible chapter goals to keep me on task. I like to write with a critique partner ready to bounce off ideas and keep my p’s and q’s dotted and scored. I’ve learned to avoid the “write by committee” process.

Press “send.” Sometime along the way, even at the start, you’ll want to decide your target publisher. If you have an agent, cool, run the idea past him or her first. If you plan to cold-send to agents or publishers, pick out a half-dozen places first, check their guidelines and write accordingly. If you’re going to self-publish, line up good editors and designers. Make sure your manuscript is revised and polished before you hit the button. And no, reading a few times is not enough.

Happy dance when you reach milestones, like when the clues fall into place, you get that first rough draft done, you’ve polished, you’ve sent. Be brave when you hear back, no matter the news. Sometimes the “go” from a publisher or agent makes you quiver as much as hearing “no.” “Go” really means you have a lot of work ahead of you. “No” means you buckle up and keep processing.

Don’t give up! Just like surviving a game show, the one who reaches the goal is the one who learns and networks along the way, although in this business, making friends is a better way of making future readers. Remember, your goal is not to be published, but to be READ.

Meet the Author:

Lisa Lickel is a Wisconsin author of romance and mystery. Visit http://www.lisalickel.com

Click on the picture for information about Lisa’s novels.

Meow Mayhem is her latest book, from Whimsical Publications, now available in e-book and print.

When Ivy Preston and True Thompson move to quaint little Apple Grove at the bequest of their friend the mayor, they uncover the rotten side of town.

Mary Ellis – My Journey to Publication

My Journey to Publication

by Mary Ellis

About ten years ago, I began writing my first book—longhand! I researched the time period and pertinent details, prepared a rough outline, and filled up three notebooks of paper. I added sentences and scribbled in changes until the book became almost unreadable. Only then did I sign up for a class on computers, the Internet, word processing, etc. This process I do not recommend. Once I learned about the wonders of spell-check, page formatting, and the ability to move paragraphs around with the click of a mouse, there was no going back! I typed the manuscript from my longhand draft and when finished, I had a one-hundred-thousand-word Civil War romance, loaded with medical, nursing, and battlefield details. Proud of my accomplishment, I attended my first romance writers’ convention and quickly discovered no one was buying American historical novels other than the Wild West. At the time, novels set in Regency England or the Scottish Highlands were the rage. How disappointed I was! I might have saved myself heartbreak had I found this out a tad earlier. However, American history was my passion, and this was the book I was meant to write. Had I chosen another genre or locale, I probably never would have finished the manuscript.

To discover the type of book you should write, look at the books you love to read—cozy mysteries, inspirational romances, historicals set in Victorian England, or perhaps true-life stories based on people who rise above disabilities or exceptional circumstances. Read, read, and read some more the books by your favorite authors. Study their style and what makes them unique, not to copy them but to get a feel of how writers differ from each other. If by this time you’ve discovered the idea for your story, sit down in that chair at your table or desk and start writing.

Block out a period wherein you can work uninterrupted for at least several hours. Try to make time for your writing each and every day. Maybe you’ll decide to investigate what publishers are buying right now or maybe not, since that is always changing. Either way, get busy and let nothing or no one discourage you. Have faith in yourself and in God, and let the small details work themselves out.

Now that I have you writing, here are nine steps that may help you along.

#1 Finish the book. If you have something simmering on the back burner of your mind, get it down on paper, (or at least into your computer.) Stop talking about writing and do it. If you wait until everything is clear to you, until you know everything about your characters or your plot, you’ll never begin.

#2 Learn your market. Once you know you can write a book, investigate using the Internet what market exists for the specific type of book you have created (or wish to create.) If your masterpiece isn’t what publishers happen to be buying at the moment, find out what is. Set your “baby” aside—someone may be looking for just that kind of book in the future. Adjust your subject matter or your style for the second book. I’m not recommending that you jump into the popular genre if it isn’t your cup of tea. You will never succeed if you don’t write something from your “heart.” But be willing to try a different time period or a different style (first person versus third person, for instance.)

#3 Join a writers’ organization. Each type of fiction (Christian Inspirational, romance, mysteries, science fiction, young adult, etc.) has a network to help you connect with others pursuing the same goals. Join in and benefit from those walking the same path. Writers’ loops, blogs, workshops, online seminars, and professional conferences are available to help.

#4 Submit your work. Send sample chapters with a synopsis to potential publishers, agents, or various contests within your type of writing (genre). Follow their guidelines to the letter. Do not submit the whole manuscript unless specifically asked for. The feedback that you’ll receive can be invaluable for improving your work. Every writer faces rejection—get used to it—or find another career if you’re thin-skinned.

#5 Improve your writing. When we finish our first book, we want to think we’re “done.” It is a big accomplishment, but it’s only the first step in the process. Few books are publishable right from the starting gate. Be willing to edit your work based on feedback. Some fledgling writers use critique partners, or writing groups that meet to critique each other’s work. Attend workshops at writer’s conferences or sign up for a class at the local community college. You may decide that your first book cannot be “fixed”—that’s okay! Put it in your cedar chest and start something fresh with what you’ve learned.

#6 Get an agent. Look up the list of accredited agents online, and submit your work. An agent hears what publishing houses happen to be looking for and will steer you in the right direction. Also, submissions to a publisher from an agent tend to receive more immediate attention.

#7 Take your agent’s advice to heart. He/she has a vested interest in your career. Writers seldom (if ever) have an objective perspective on their own work. Listen to what your agent, potential publisher, or editor suggests for ways of improvement. To be successful you must check your ego at the door.

#8 Keep writing and re-writing. Read books on plot structure, character development, and good old-fashioned English grammar. Then keep writing and watch your work progress.

#9  Pray. Do not underestimate the power of prayer in accomplishing what seems like impossible dreams. With His help, all things are possible.

Meet the Author:

Mary Ellis grew up near the Amish and fell in love with them. She has now written nine bestselling novels set in their communities. When not writing, she enjoys gardening, bicycling, and swimming. Before “retiring” to write full-time, Mary taught school and worked as a sales rep for Hershey Chocolate. Living in Harmony, book one of her current series won the Lime Award for Excellence in Amish Fiction. Her debut Christian book, A Widow’s Hope, was a finalist for the 2010 ACFW Carol Awards.

www.maryellis.net

blog: www.maryeellis.wordpress.com

https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Mary-Ellis/126995058236

Click on the pictures for information about buying Mary’s novels.