The Motivational Editor

Helping Writers Go from Unpublished to Published

Debra

How to Review Your Story Scenes for Conflict

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horses jumping hurdles
Are the hurdles in your story growing harder?

As discussed in “6 Steps to Story Development,” a story needs conflict. In fact, without it you have no story. So let’s take a closer look and see how you can make sure you’re developing the conflict in your story.

James Scott Bell, in his book Conflict & Suspense, defines conflict this way: “a clash between at least two incompatible sides. One of those sides must be personal, that is, having the ability to exercise conscious will.”

At the heart of conflict are your character’s passion and goals. In review, here are 3 questions I posited in “Story Development”: [Read more…] about How to Review Your Story Scenes for Conflict

How to Get Radio Interviews

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Do you have a book releasing soon, or one already on the market?

Doing local radio station interviews is a good way to get the word out about your book. These local interviews also help you break into the public speaking arena on a more comfortable level. You’ll gain experience and practice that will help you tackle national interviews later on.

That’s all well and good, but how do you locate possible stations, and what do you do once you’ve found them?

To find radio stations, you can use: http://www.radio-locator.com/

In their words, this website “is the most comprehensive radio station search engine on the Internet. We have links to over 14,100 radio stations’ web pages and over 9600 stations’ audio streams from radio stations in the U.S. and around the world.”

Just as you target your manuscript submissions, you’ll want to target radio stations that are a good fit for you and your book. Study the station’s website before contacting them.

Once you’ve developed your list, the next step is to send a pitch letter.

Sarah Bolme, director of the Christian Small Publishers Association and author of Your Guide to Marketing Books in the Christian Marketplace, advises that your pitch letter include

  • “the title of your book,

  • your credentials,

  • how your topic addresses current events, and

  • why it is right for the show’s audience.”

Most interviewers won’t have time to read your book, so develop a list of 10-15 questions with answers that you can provide with your pitch letter.

Bolme also says, “Don’t just rely on your press releases and pitch letters . . . You will need to phone station producers after sending your queries to verbally request a guest interview.”

Have you included radio interviews in your marketing plan? Why or why not?

6 Steps to Story Development

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spinning platesWhen you get right down to it the major goal of the fiction writer is to keep the reader reading.

And like the performer who spins plates at the top of a stick, writers must spin several plates too—characters and character arc, plot and plot development, conflict, dialog, show vs. tell, and pacing. If we focus on only one aspect of story development and neglect the others, the story falls flat.

But that’s a lot to deal with. I certainly can’t get my brain wrapped around all those things at the same time as I write.

So what’s the answer?

Focus on one at a time, using these 6 steps. [Read more…] about 6 Steps to Story Development

Imperfect Wings and Elizabeth Noyes

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I have a delightful interview in store for you today with author Elizabeth Noyes. Bookmark this page because you’re going to want to come back to her advice at all stages of your writing journey.

Author Elizabeth Noyes
Author Elizabeth Noyes

Imperfect Wings, published by Write Integrity Press and released August 1, 2014, is Elizabeth’s first full novel. She is a contributing writer to the book A Dozen Apologies, a collaborative novel with 11 other writers.

At what point in writing your book did you begin to look for publishers? [Read more…] about Imperfect Wings and Elizabeth Noyes

5 Steps to Capture and Keep the Editor’s Interest

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I’m blogging over at the Palmetto Christian Writers Network today. Come join me for 5 Steps to Capture and Keep the Editor’s Interest.

What do football and fiction have in common?

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football field
What do football and fiction have in common?

The first thing we as writers must accomplish with our story is to hook our reader. But if we merely hook them, the reader can get away. So we must also then compel them to read on to the middle and then right through to the end of our story.

We spur our reader to the middle of our story by creating a compelling lead character with whom our readers bond. Next, [Read more…] about What do football and fiction have in common?

Writer’s Guidelines for 5 Christian Publications

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Here are today’s markets. Read the writer’s guidelines thoroughly and study at least one sample issue before submitting.

Prism Magazine, a publication of Evangelicals for Social Action, http://prismmagazine.org/writers-guidelines/

The Lookout is designed to provide Christian adults with true-to-the-Bible teaching about current topics to help them mature as believers and live in the world as faithful witnesses of Christ. http://www.lookoutmag.com/about-us/write-for-us/

RELEVANT covers faith, culture and intentional living. Their readership is culturally savvy, mainly Christian twenty- and thirtysomethings who are looking for purpose, depth and spiritual truth. https://relevantmagazine.com/write

Light & Life Magazine, http://fmcusa.org/lightandlifemag/writers/

Faith Today, a Canadian publication, http://www.faithtoday.ca/writers

Listing here does not constitute endorsement of magazine.

 

Who’s the big bad wolf in your story?

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Big bad wolf chasing 3 little pigsWhat was the big bad wolf’s goal in the story of the 3 little pigs?

To have dinner. He needed to eat and the 3 pigs met the bill. The wolf was doing what came naturally to him.

There was nothing evil about eating the pigs, but of course to the pigs, who stood to lose their lives, the wolf was evil.

At the heart of every story is a protagonist with a goal. It doesn’t matter what the goal is, just that it is essential to the character and without reaching it he/she suffers great loss—physical death being the ultimate loss.

In the case of the wolf and the three pigs, each faced the same loss if they didn’t meet their goal—death.

What would the story have been like if the wolf told it? [Read more…] about Who’s the big bad wolf in your story?