Helping Writers Go from Unpublished to Published
How much thought do you give to point of view (POV) as you begin a new story?
The best POV for your story is not always the protagonist or even the antagonist. Consider how different the book To Kill a Mockingbird would have been if told from Atticus’ POV. Or Gone with the Wind from Ashley’s POV.
To help you experiment, here’s a writing exercise.
[Read more…] about Discover How Point of View Impacts Your Story
This past Saturday I discovered a website offering my newest ebook, Carried by Grace, for free.
What a shock! Piracy of my ebooks is something I never expected.
It’s bad enough getting robbed at home (a 4-time occurrence for me, ugh), but now people are attempting to rob me online. Hackers and thieves—I dare not get started on that topic.
This particular site offered quite a number of other ebooks for free download. Though I can’t say for sure, I suspect I was not his/her only victim.
I immediately looked for [Read more…] about Piracy of Your Ebooks
Comma, semicolon or colon, which one should I use?
Have I mixed past and present tense verbs in my story?
Do my subjects and verbs agree?
Do I have misplaced modifiers?
Aaahhh. English grammar can be infuriating and confusing. But a manuscript riddled with incorrect grammar is a sure-fire trip to File 13. What do you do to fix it? [Read more…] about 7 Ways to Overcome Trouble with Grammar
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
When 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
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.
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?
You want to write a best seller. What writer doesn’t?
First you’ve got to come up with a good story idea. Then you’ve got to get that idea from Point A to Point Z and figure out everything in between. (That’s my hardest struggle — plotting.)
You’ve got to hook your reader — and keep them reading.
Or your chance at that best seller list gets fried like a fly on bug zapper.
The truth is debut novels usually don’t make the best seller lists, but that’s no reason not to put your best effort into every book you write.
If you’ve been following this series, you’ve learned ways to write a stronger story and thus increase your chances at getting published and selling lots of books.
Here’s what I’ve discussed so far in 6 tasks to accomplish in Act 1: [Read more…] about 6 Tasks to Accomplish with Act 1 of Your Novel – Part 4