Story Sensei

Captain’s Log, Supplemental Fiction Fundamentals Linda Fulkerson has launched this new blog/website with TONS of information for writers, and new stuff being posted every day. If you’re not sure where to start when it comes to learning more about writing, this is a good site. It gives lots of links and recommendations. Here’s what Linda says about it: The purpose is to help those who wish to learn more about the craft of fiction, especially newcomers. There are tons of links in a number of categories, plus three days a week (Mon-Wed-Fri), I post on the blog. There is also monthly "Leave-a-Link" contest, where everyone who leaves a new resource link during that month will be placed into a drawing for a book. I hope to develop it into a great resource for those who are learning fiction--kind of a one-stop learning location. On another note, during the month of June on my personal blog, http://linesfromlinda.com , (you may not have time/room to mention this), I've revived &

Touchstone Books and Media Predict have a contest for writers! Touchstone Books, an imprint of publishing company Simon & Schuster, Inc., is teaming up with Media Predict. Through our Project Publish contest, Touchstone Books will select a book proposal from our site for future publication. Via Project Publish, Touchstone Books will be the first major publisher to put our market-based method for evaluating media content to the test. In October, a team of editors, including Touchstone publisher Mark Gompertz, will evaluate the 50 top scoring book proposals on Media Predict. They’ll select five book proposals as Project Publish finalists, and eventually one grand prize winner. Visit their website at Project Publish .

One of the best way to reveal character emotions and personality is to have a character respond to the setting rather than simply describe it. Setup: The heroine is Betty, with an abusive past, visiting her parents' home for the first time in years. The crystal-paned bay windows followed her with a malevolent gaze as she approached the front double doors, as if to mock her for being forced to return after all these years. She imagined the white columns as teeth about the chew her up. Even the sunlight stung her skin. She forced her feet onward, step by step, keeping her eyes lowered to the blood-red flowers dripping down either side of the concrete walkway. The stiff wind from the bay slapped her cheeks and jerked her hair around her face. Why did she have to come back here? The reader gets a picture of the setting, but they also get the character’s emotional response to it. Suddenly it’s not just a setting, it’s an emotional experience for the reader. They feel the character’s rea

Writing emotions is very closely linked to other factors: --the words you use --character personality --point of view A writer can take advantage of point of view to show emotions in different characters. Emotions depend very strongly on the who point of view character is, and how they respond to the action. On Monday, John kissed Sally and I showed her confusion and denial. But what if John kissed Victoria instead? She thrust him away. She stared at him a long moment. Her heart still pounded, still feeling the pulse of his when he had pressed her against him. She didn’t understand. He had just walked into town last week, and today she melted in his arms like butter on her French crepe pan. Why did she respond to him so forcefully? Did she love him? Did he love her? Of course he didn’t love her. He was probably simply taking a little pleasure in his aimless wanderings. And she, like a wanton woman, had responded to his passion, his fire, his strength. All physical—nothing more. While h

Writing emotions is very closely linked to other factors: --the words you use --character personality --point of view Because emotions are meshed with these other aspects, often a writer will hear the infamous “show, don’t tell” and yet not understand what exactly it means. Setup: John has just kissed Sally. She thrust him away. She stared at him a long moment. First she felt confused. Why had he done that? Then, like a fingersnap, she was in denial. It probably meant nothing to him. Camy here: First, don’t use “she felt” or anything like that—she saw, she heard, etc.—because it distances the reader from the character. Second, try not to use the words of the emotions—confusion, denial. Instead of writing “she felt confused,” show the reader how confused she is. Instead of informing the reader she was in denial, show what she’s denying and why. She thrust him away. She stared at him a long moment. Why had he done that? Did he love her? He’d just met her—how could he love her? And she di

Brandilyn Collins talks about this in her excellent writing book, Getting Into Character . Obviously I’ve never been chased down an abandoned alley in the dead of night with a serial killer on my tail. However, I’ve been scared senseless before. I bring up that memory—painfully embarrassing though it might be, sigh —which is my jumping off point for writing the intensity of my heroine’s panic. I close my eyes and picture the scene. For me, it was a dark night and a strange shadow that crossed my window as I lay in bed. I can feel my terror, hear my wild thoughts, and even my body responds to the memory. I can smell the strangely smokey scent of the recent rain. (The shadow ended up being my neighbor sitting on the stone wall and smoking, but we won’t go into that.) I recreate my own terror with my heroine’s terror as she races down that lone alleyway. I copy my thoughts, the feelings in my body, the way fright tastes in my mouth. All those things go into my heroine’s point of view. (Ok

Your scene should climax both in terms of plot and emotion. It should start with a protagonist with a scene goal—what he wants to accomplish in that scene. His emotional starting point is determination, a plan of action. Next, you throw obstacles in the protagonist’s path so he can’t get his goal. This builds frustration, anxiety, sadness. Up your character’s emotional state. Build the obstacles to become more and more difficult. At the same time, build the character’s emotional intensity. Go from frustration to anger, or anxiety to panic, or sadness to depression. At last, deliver a final blow—a disaster at the end of the scene. This will also be the height of your character’s emotions. Ride it for all it’s worth. By building the character emotions, you also build your reader’s emotions for the character. Take your reader on an emotional ride, and they won’t be able to stop turning the pages.

Each character in your book will have a different way of describing things pertaining to themselves and the world around them. It’s no less for their emotions. Your manly ex-Navy SEAL isn’t going to describe his surprise as a gasp and a fluttering in his chest. He’s going to feel like a hollow-point copperhead has slugged him in the gut. Likewise, your small farming town preacher’s daughter isn’t going to describe the heated family argument as the headache-inducing staccato clamor of Chinese grandmothers at the San Francisco Chinatown fish market. She’ll describe the sounds as the fierce pelting of hailstones echoing in an empty barn, resonating in her skull as if they were falling on her head instead of the roof. When describing your character’s emotions, think about their gender, backgrounds, experiences. Make the emotions you describe specific and unique to that character’s personality and backstory.

Actions and body language are terrific tools for showing character emotion. When coupled with dialogue, physical reactions, and thoughts, the reader gets a complete picture of what the character is feeling, and better yet experiences those feelings with the character. First off, don’t resort to cliché actions like running a hand through his hair, or throwing a glass/vase/figurine at the fireplace. You’re a writer, be creative! Think of things more unique, and yet suited to the particular character. Also, make sure you go in order of how a body would react. Usually it’s physical reactions and thoughts first, then dialogue, then actions and body language. Scarlett O’Hara didn’t stamp her foot first and then feel her head sizzle with anger. She had a physical reaction first and used her foot stamping to punctuate her emotions. It’s not always this order of events, granted, but this is the typical order of things according to inertia—it takes more effort and more neurons firing to speak a

Dialogue is one of the best ways to reveal emotions, but it can also be overused. Just dialogue: If you only use dialogue to reveal emotions, the reader doesn’t quite get into the character’s head. They’re an audience at a play, not inside the character’s skin. Use dialogue in conjunction with thoughts, physical reactions, and actions in order to give your reader the full effect of the character’s emotions. Subtexting: Many times, the greatest emotion is conveyed by what the character doesn’t say. This is called subtexting or “cross-talk.” Sometimes it is also referred to as “off the nose” dialogue. Sometimes, you read dialogue and can take it at face value. Other times, there are subcurrents under the actual words said, meanings deeper and perhaps even the opposite of the dialogue. Those subcurrents make for juicy, conflicted, tension-filled dialogue. For a good example of subtexting (with commentary), read the Advanced Fiction Writing Ezine September 2006 edition . One of the best

Your characters are thinking all the time. You want to filter out all but their most important thoughts to convey to your reader. Those thoughts should be the ones that will specifically move your reader’s emotions. Thoughts are related to the writing craft topic of point of view. If you get deep into your character’s point of view, then his/her thoughts enhance the scene emotionally. The key here is that your character’s thoughts tell the reader how the character feels about the events happening, other people, or the surrounding area. Compare these two: Andrea O’Malley paused on the threshold of the Chinese restaurant. She wasn’t sure if she liked the exotic smells that teased her nose—spices she couldn’t name, as well as nutty sesame oil, salty-sweet oyster sauce, pungent soy sauce. She patted her French twist, which didn’t need fiddling with. She couldn’t help it—she was a golden-haired alien in the midst of these black-haired party guests. At least she hadn’t dressed inappropriate

Psychiatrists agree that we, as human beings, copy others fairly easily. We copy other people’s emotions or physical sensations, even though it’s all in our heads. It forms the basis for many psychological abnormalities. However, you as a writer can use this psychological phenomenon to your advantage. “When you understand the feelings of one of the characters in the moving picture, you are copying his tensions. You are feeling in yourself something of what he feels in the fictional situation. You are understanding the story with your own muscle tensions and with the spasm of your intestines and with your own glandular secretions. Without these reactions, the show would have no meaning.” –Psychiatrist David Fink, Techniques of the Selling Writer by Dwight Swain We can apply what happens to people in a movie to what you want your reader to feel as he/she reads. Describe your focal character’s emotions on a physical level. Make your reader really understand what the character’s body is g

Readers read because they care about the story. Let me repeat that—they care about the story. Caring involves emotions, which is why powerful stories evoke reader emotions. So how do you get your reader to care about the story? “You give them a stake in what happens.” –Dwight Swain When you start a scene, first of all pick a focal character for the reader to follow. This is also why one-point-of-view-per-scene has become more preferred by editors. When there’s one person for the reader to follow, it makes it easier to engage that reader’s emotions. The focal character doesn’t have to be the protagonist. It can be the antagonist, or it can be a secondary character. It can be someone the reader likes or someone the reader hates with a passion. Regardless, pick one person as the focal character for the scene. Then, give your focal character something to win or lose in that scene. Give them something at stake in that scene. The reader will have someone to root for or against for that sce

Certain words tend to evoke very specific and universal emotional reactions from people. For example, “jumped” is a rather neutral emotional word. However, “bounded” tends to denote more excited spirits in the person doing the bounding. “Stomping” tends toward anger. Other examples: “Protector” triggers a warmer emotional reaction when you read it than “Guardian.” “She swept the room with a piercing eye.” Versus “She swept the room with a piercing glare.” Versus “She swept the room with an observant eye.” Dwight Swain wrote: “Pay attention not just to words as words, but also to the feelings they mirror when people use them.” When getting into a character’s point of view, utilize specific words to draw out your reader’s emotions. That way, they’ll feel your character’s emotions with more intensity.

This is a fabulous article by Pat Holt which gives easy fixes for writers doing revisions. What’s even better is that she discusses these fixes so that a writer who hires an editor doesn’t pay the editor to do these fixes for him/her. Ten Mistakes Writers Don't See (But Can Easily Fix When They Do)

When your characters speak, worlds should move. Well, okay, not that dramatic. But pretty darn close. --Every word out of your character’s mouth has to mean something significant. Don’t let him or her say something that doesn’t have some kind of meaning, whether spoken or unspoken. --Use double-entendres, also called cross-talk or subtexting. Let them say more than (or the opposite of) what’s actually said. --“Dialogue is WAR.” – Randy Ingermanson, Advanced Fiction Writing E-zine. This is totally true! Your characters should be at odds with each other every time they talk. No, they don’t need to have shouting matches. However, they should each be fighting for or against each other in some other way. Fighting to keep a secret, fighting to get the other person to tell them something, fighting to know what to say, fighting to make themselves stop saying something. Conflict, conflict, conflict, baby! --Don’t let their conversations just serve to reveal their personalities. The conversatio

About ten, fifteen, twenty years ago, authors would write a story about a character responding to all the terrible things that happen to him/her. That was fine for twenty years ago. These days, the reactionary character is BORING. Your character shouldn’t simply react or respond to the horrible situations she finds herself in. Your character should be actively working toward a GOAL (uh-oh, Camy said the G-word). Your character should be PROACTIVE. For example, Parson’s daughter Eleanor is invited to her rich cousins’ house for the summer. She has grown up in poverty, and she only vaguely knows her aristocratic distant family. Various things happen that distress Eleanor. Her clothes are laughed at, the servants ignore her, her uncle tries to marry her to his horrible curate, her aunt falls deathly ill, and the boy she loves is in love with her selfish, spoiled cousin Agatha. This version of the story has Eleanor simply reacting to the bad things that happen to her. We don’t know what sh

One great way to make your characters sympathetic is to make them be lonely, abandoned, or rejected. Even a villain suffering from loneliness will evoke empathy (which can be a good thing, since villains should be both detestable and interesting to the reader). Lonely/neglected Most people don’t like being alone and will sympathize with a character who is. Why else do you think bad boy loner types are so popular? Readers love Harry Potter partly because he’s being shamefully neglected by his aunt and uncle. So make your character alone. Maybe they’ve pushed everyone away from them for some deep dark reason of their own. Maybe their personality makes them alone. Maybe they don’t know how to relate to people. Maybe they’re afraid. Abandoned Readers will often sympathize with someone who has been abandoned. This is a good way to make a villain sympathetic. This is a great place to dig deep into your writer’s emotions and project your own fears, doubts, anger, and hurt into a character w

In Tip #11, I mentioned to cut dialogue in a synopsis. However, sometimes there are conversations in a synopsis that are just like dialogue, only without the quotation marks. These conversations can be cut or condensed just like dialogue. For example: Duke tells Shelley he loves her. She denies it, saying she’s not worthy of love. He doesn’t understand and asks her why. She explains how her father was never there for her, how his job was more important to him than she was. Duke asserts she’s beloved by her Heavenly Father, and that his love for her mirror’s God’s love for her. versus Duke tells Shelley he loves her, easing her feelings of unworthiness by explaining the boundless love God has for her. Camy here: Look for these conversations in your manuscript and see if you can cut and condense. You don’t need to tell entire dialogues for a synopsis.

When writing a synopsis that has two protagonists—such as a hero and heroine, for example—make sure you separate different points of view with separate paragraphs. This helps the reader more easily and quickly differentiate between the two points of view. Easy and quick are the key words here, because an editor or agent skimming your synopsis is going to want to be able to most easily and quickly figure out what’s going on. And don’t kid yourself—they don’t have much time and they usually do skim that synopsis, so it has to be as clear as possible. For example: Shelley is run off the road by the men who want to kidnap her for ransom. She evades them on foot and runs to a darkened farmhouse at the top of a hill. Duke is sure there’s a burglar in his house, and heads to the basement with his rifle. versus Shelley is run off the road by the men who want to kidnap her for ransom. She evades them on foot and runs to a darkened farmhouse at the top of a hill. Duke is sure there’s a burglar

When I took a seminar taught by New York agent Donald Maass, the one thing I took away was that most of the manuscripts he sees don’t have enough Conflict with a capital C. There are lots of ways to increase conflict, but the biggest is to make it the climax of your story. It’s easy to do—ask yourself, what’s the absolute worst thing that could happen to my character? Then have it happen and ruin your character’s life right at the climactic moment near the end. I can see you cringing, but it must be done. Grow a backbone. Sock it to your character. If your heroine is afraid of death, have it stare her in the face in the climax. If your hero wants to save his ranch, have a tornado destroy it. If your heroine needs a heart transplant, have her donated organ arrive unviable. If your hero is trying to catch the serial killer, have him realize he’s been after the wrong suspect the entire time. Be brutal! Be ruthless! Be evil! You’ll discover how absolutely GREAT your book’s climax can be if

Before, I talked about left and right brain roles for writing . Left brain is more analytical, right brain is more creative. For some people, it's very difficult to switch between the two completely. Usually when I switch from analytical to creative, I'm not 100% into my creative mode--there are vestiges of analytical thinking going on. That's why for some writers it's difficult to be as creative when you switch between editing and writing, editing and writing. The analytical side--editing--doesn't fully relinquish brain energy to the creative side for writing. However, switching quickly--and more importantly, more completely --between sides can be trained, to an extent. This is especially important for busy writers who juggle different duties and tasks. Set an alarm clock (your watch alarm, phone alarm, PDA alarm) at odd hours during the day. When that alarm goes off, drop everything and write for 8 minutes. Grab whatever's handy--pen and paper, computer

Ooooh, that’s a nice description. Oh no no no, that’s a terrible way to put it. Oops, you wrote a passive verb. Hey, you just laid down three adverbs in a row! The right word just isn’t coming to me . . . Sound familiar? That pesky internal editor. Most writers say to lay down a bad first draft and edit later. There’s actually scientific reasoning behind it. Right brain is creative stuff like writing prose and brainstorming. Left brain is editing your prose and sifting through which brainstorm ideas you should keep or chuck. When you use both at once--like brainstorming and editing at the same time--the brain can't keep up with the switching back and forth. Your creativity can stall or your analysis can be way off. This is why many writers recommend turning off your "internal editor" when writing the first draft. Don't correct, don't second-guess that word, don't fiddle with that phrase, don't decide that action is too bland, don't stop and do

Sometimes called “off the nose” dialogue, subtexting is a character saying what he wants to say without actually saying it. It’s when characters talk about one thing, but they’re really talking about something beneath the surface—sometimes fencing with their words, or avoiding the subject while yet hitting it dead on. One of the most recent and more memorable instances of subtexting was a scene from near the end of the movie Serenity . (Don’t worry, I’ll try not to spoil anything, but if you haven’t seen Firefly and Serenity , go rent it now! Great instances of characterization and innovative dialogue.) Mal is talking to his first mate Zoe, and the actual dialogue is discussing the ship and how she’s taken a few knocks, but she’ll run true. In actuality, they’re discussing the hard knocks the crew has gone through in the movie, but that they’ll still fly true. Subtexting adds depth to your dialogue. Is there a scene where the characters are just explaining things to each other? Or may

The writing book, Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King (second edition), suggests eliminating dialogue tags in favor of action beats. For example, instead of he asked, she said, he demanded, replace the dialogue tags with action beats whenever possible. I've mentioned this before, but I thought I'd use a few more examples. Sometimes we writers go overboard on the action beats. For example: “How have you been?” He tucked in his tie. “Fine. How are you?” She fidgeted with her necklace. He sipped some water. “Work’s been busy.” “How’s the new manager doing?” She wet her lips and glanced around at the other diners in the restaurant. He looked up. His eyes pinned her to her seat, while his smile reminded her of Hannibal Lector. “He’s doing fine, just fine.” Only keep in the action beats that do something for the scene. If an action beat indicates emotion, or if you’re trying to convey a character’s personality in the beginning of the manuscript, then le

Kaye Dacus interviewed me about writer’s voice. The interview is below. You can also go to her blog for more answers on writer’s voice by Gail Martin and Shelley Bates . Kaye: How did you find your unique writing voice? Did you struggle to find it or did it come easily to you? Camy: Both, actually. When I first started writing, my voice was very muted because I didn't understand what a writer's voice was. Then I started to realize that each writer needs to let her natural "voice" come out in order to distinguish herself from every other writer out there. If you pick up an Amy Tan book, you can tell the writer's voice is very different from Helen Fielding's (Bridget Jones). You'd never mistake one for the other. I wanted my voice to be distinctive like that. Once I figured that out, I let go of all inhibitions and wrote exactly how I wanted to write, regardless of rules, etc. I fixed things up in revisions, but my voice was there on the page, uninhibited an

ATTENTION: UNPUBLISHED MYSTERY/SUSPENSE & ROMANTIC SUSPENSE AUTHORS The Kiss of Death Chapter's 2007 Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense is rapidly approaching, and although the body count is adding up, there's still room for yours! Look what New York Times bestselling author Allison Brennan has to say about the Daphne … "In 2003, I finaled in the Single Title Daphne and came in second. While I didn't sell that book, the editor and agent comments were invaluable in helping me figure out my writing strengths and weaknesses. As a result, the next year I found an agent and sold THE PREY to Ballantine." -- Allison Brennan, author of SPEAK NO EVIL, out now!!! So pull those manuscripts out of the crypt and send them post haste. Why? Because the deadline is March 15, 2007. What happens if you don't? It frightens us to say. The Daphne has enlisted the help of some acquiring editors and agents as final round judges who rarely judge contests.

This is a trick I learned from both Colleen Coble and the book, Writing for Emotional Impact by Karl Iglesias . Instead of naming an emotion, show the character under the strain of the emotion. Instead of writing, “Anger burned through her,” show the anger burning through her, without writing the word “anger.” A volcano exploded in the pit of her stomach, spewing gases up to sear her nose and make her eyes sting. She could barely breathe through her taut throat. Her hands shook with the strength it took to hold them back from slapping him. The strength of the imagery and the power of the emotional moment is heightened if you can show the emotion rather than naming it. When writing the rough draft, don’t think about stuff like naming the emotion or not. Just get the scene down. I even write notes to myself in brackets so that I can plow through without stopping to enhance my language or fix my typos. However, when you’re revising, go through each scene and look for places you might n

For every new scene, there’s typically some sort of description to ground the reader into the setting. Whether it’s a kitchen in a quaint farmhouse, or a Regency drawing room, or the wild Montana wilderness, or an urban police station. As writers, we strive for accuracy. Farmhouses typically don’t have crystal chandeliers, and Regency drawing rooms wouldn’t have a computer sitting on the Chippendale desk. But don’t just give your readers the visual descriptions—give them the experience of walking into the setting by stimulating their olfactory senses. In other words, smell. Our scent memory is incredibly powerful. We don’t necessarily remember the exact smell so much as we feel certain emotions triggered by a smell, or even the mention of a specific scent. Contrast a diner with the aroma of hamburgers and fries versus a Midwest farmhouse filled with the warm, spicy smell of Grandma’s apple pies in the oven. Or maybe walking into a New York high-rise office that reeks of the editor-in-

The writing book Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King (second edition) is one of the best books for bumping your writing up to the next level and making it look more professional. If you haven’t read this book yet, I strongly suggest you buy it or borrow it and read it right away. They suggest eliminating dialogue tags in favor of action beats. For example, instead of he asked, she said, he demanded, replace the dialogue tags with action beats whenever possible. The reason is that dialogue tags are often redundant. Many times, it’s already obvious who is speaking. The dialogue itself can sometimes indicate how the character is speaking, with what emotion. And dialogue tags are often accompanied with an –ly adverb, which can be “telling” the reader the emotion when you should “show” it instead. “Did you have to kill the postman?” he demanded angrily. Dave sailed into the kitchen. “How are you doing, Mary?” He stopped short. “I’m just waving around a bloody

The Christian Writers’ Market Guide by Sally Stuart Camy here: This is one of the best resources for Christian writers who want more information about magazines, publishers, and agents. I personally used the magazine listing more than anything else, especially in trying to find markets to publish my short fiction stories. This is only a jumping-off point—it’s up to the writer to get sample copies of the magazine and figure out the style and tone of the articles for each publication. But writing articles is a terrific way to beef up your resume, even if you’re writing a novel at the same time. One thing I do caution is for writers to write what they delight in. If you don’t like writing articles or short stories, then don’t. But if you enjoy it, then go for it and beef up your resume. And above all, if you want to write that novel, you have to schedule time to work on it in addition to any other articles or stories you do. If your goal is to finish that book, then don’t give up too mu

After I was contracted, several people—including my senior editor and my agent—mentioned that one reason I was so "sellable" to the publishing committee was because I had a definite brand and niche in the marketplace. I know many authors hate to brand themselves or lock themselves into a certain genre or type of writing, but because it's becoming so difficult to get a contract these days, it's definitely something to think about. Several writers have been published in multiple genres quite successfully, but unfortunately, they are very few and far between. To maximize a writer's chances of presenting a manuscript that will be accepted to a pub board, they have to think about branding. The pub board doesn't care as much about the writing--after all, that's why the manuscript has gone through the editors, to ensure the writing is strong. The pub board cares about if they can sell this book to booksellers, if they can make any money off of the print runs. If

I can’t believe I haven’t mentioned anything about the Genesis contest yet. Well, it’s finally here! The 2007 Genesis contest for unpublished writers, put on by American Christian Fiction Writers . The Genesis contest, formerly known as the Noble Theme contest, is becoming one of the largest Christian Fiction writing contests in the world. Yours truly is the contest coordinator (again) this year. Head on over to the Genesis page on the ACFW website for more information. Some highlights of the contest: --We have TEN CATEGORIES of Christian Fiction --You can enter as many entries as you like, in as many categories as you like (although you need to pay a separate entry fee for each entry) --It is all electronic this year, which means no postage, no printing, no copying, no self-addressed stamped envelope, no entries or scoresheets lost in the mail. All entries will be judged using Microsoft Word’s Track Changes feature. And if you don’t have Microsoft Word, no problem! We can return you

You don’t want your protagonist to be perfect—repeat after me, Perfect is boring —but you do need your protagonist to be likable. Think to yourself what makes your friends and family likable. What traits, actions, feelings, morals? What do you most admire in others? Give those characteristics to your protagonist. Look at other books, plays, and movies and take note at how the author makes the character likable (or fails to make the character likable). For example, in Jane Austen’s Emma , the heroine is mistaken in her observations and decided in her head-strong opinions, yet she is likable because she often shows genuine love for her silly friend Harriet, acknowledging how Harriet’s open and heart-felt manner makes her a better person than Emma herself. Emma is certainly not perfect—if she were, the story would be only a couple chapters long—but Austen makes her likable with actions and traits that make the reader respect and admire her. Make your own characters strong, flawed—and lika

You don’t need a paragraph to describe your character, whether the Point of View character or any other character in the scene. A segment of descriptive narrative slows down the reading flow, and you want to keep your reader riveted to the page. Make character descriptions short, strong, and unique. Short—Again, you don’t need a paragraph. Start off with a short phrase or sentence at the beginning of the scene, and sneak in bits of description as the scene progresses. Strong—Use vivid and specific language. Don’t be wishy-washy and use words like nice car, lovely flower, short man. Instead, use richer language like firecracker-red Mazda RX-7, a crisply unfolding creamy orchid, a few inches above a fire hydrant. Unique—Avoid clichés. Period. Instead of dirty dishwater blonde, think up something more original and unusual, limp hair lying in strips like a paper mulberry tree. Read good writing to see good description at work.

First off, let me say that I personally don’t advocate basing characters off of people I know. Aside from the fear of being sued, it can be awkward if the person doesn’t like how you portray them, or if other people don’t like how you’ve portrayed them, or if other friends get their feelings hurt that you immortalized so-and-so in print but not them. However, each person has traits you can borrow, and you can create your characters out of a composite of these traits. My father-in-law’s tendency to always tell bad jokes made it into my heroine’s Uncle Howard. My dad’s favorite pastime, bowling, made it into my heroine’s father. I do my best not to base the majority of a character’s personality off of a single person. I’ll usually try to come up with something general such as a mythological archetype (see 45 Master Characters by Victoria Lynn Schmidt ) and then create a three-dimensional personality by adding a unique background and different traits. Even when using archetypes, no two c

Here’s another great quote from Dwight Swain on characterization: The key to effective character presentation is contrast. Think about it. If your heroine is just like a typical heroine in your genre, she’ll be boring and two-dimensional. If she’s just like a minor character in your story, she’ll again be boring and two-dimensional. Contrast your characters both against other books, and against other characters in your book. The first is harder, but I keep in mind Donald Maass’s advice to make your characters larger than life. Make them do things you wouldn’t do. Make them better than who you are, make them even better than your real-life heroes. I’m not saying to make them perfect, but to make them richer. The most memorable characters in fiction are those who are out of the common mold, with multiple facets and a dominant impression on the reader. Also make sure your characters aren’t too much like the other characters in the story. The most obvious method is to make sure their dial

As a writer, you need to take care of your body. If you are in good health, your blood is feeding your brain so it buzzes faster and the writing comes easier. I know it’s hard when you’ve been chasing kids all day and/or working a full-time job, but a few minutes and a couple small changes can make all the difference between blazing creativity or writer’s block. Take a ten minute stretch or walking break every hour. This can not only help a bad back, it will get your heart pumping lightly to send more oxygen to your brain cells. Another option is to stand as you work, whether with your laptop on a shelf or elevating your monitor and keyboard so you can stand at your desk. Drink lots of water. Keep a water bottle by your writing area so you can remember to drink enough. If you’re hydrated properly, your brain works more efficiently and fuels your creativity. See? Just a few small changes can help your writing tenfold!

Dwight Swain made a point in Techniques of the Selling Writer that is a truth which endures today. How do you shape development of your characters? Stress is the formative factor, the thing that makes or breaks a man. So, plunge your people into conflict. Let pressure strip away the gloss and reveal them as they really are. No matter how much writing styles have changed through the years, this still holds true for all characters. Conflict and stress is what reveals their personalities to your reader. A character who seems rather two-dimensional can often be fleshed out more by putting him in an extreme situation. What are your character’s hot buttons? What are his fears? What are his weaknesses? Slam him with one of them in a difficult scene. Readers tend to root for the underdog, so putting pressure on your character can add to her appeal. Pressure can reveal more about the character’s inner depths and motivations as the character reacts to the conflict, which helps the reader unders

After I was contracted on my Asian chick lit novel, I had what’s called macro edits or developmental edits. And one of the biggest problems I had to address in my macro edits was TOO MANY CHARACTERS. Trying to be cute—well, as cute as I thought I was being, anyway—I had named practically every person my heroine interacted with, from the receptionist to the talent scout she had to call. I had a quandary, because while I could get away with writing, “Lex talked to the talent scout on the telephone” in a synopsis, it was hard to make her dialogue with Mr. Nameless Talent Scout in the actual manuscript. Lex dialed Talent Scout, who picked up on the third ring. “Hello?” “Hi, Talent Scout. My name is Lex Sakai, and I work for SPZ Sports Zone.” The problem with too many characters, however, is that if you drop names of people who are never heard from again, it can confuse the reader and make the story seem “crowded.” They’ll have a hard time remembering the names of the minor characters who a

Names mean something. Everybody knows that. Your reader, however, will not always know that Amaterasu means “shining over heaven.” Be sensible in naming your characters. It’s good if you can pick a name that means something significant to the story or the character’s personality, however don’t go overboard. Most readers don’t really know what most English names mean. Also think about how that name falls in a historical context. A name like “Agatha” was popular many years ago, whereas “Kaitlyn” is more modern. Therefore, the initial picture in a reader’s mind when they see the name “Agatha” might not be the buxom teenager she actually is (and my apologies to any buxom young teens named Agatha). Don’t take alliteration too far. It can be humorous, but don’t make a name that will cause your readers to stumble in their reading flow. “Petunia Petrucci” might be funny, but if your reader is taken out of the story every time they see the word Petunia (especially if she’s some hulking Nurse R

When creating your characters, make every aspect of their lives mean something to the story. That includes their occupations. A person’s job says a lot about their personality, their likes and dislikes. One of my Sushi Series heroines, Alexis “Lex” Sakai, chafes in her engineering position. However, when she’s offered a job working for a huge sports information website, she jumps at the chance because she’s a sports nut. Lex’s job reflects her interests, and her coworkers and responsibilities at work impact the storyline in various ways. The job is not just “a job,” but also a plot point and almost a character trait. Think about your characters’ jobs, and brainstorm how they can influence the storyline in some way. That will make a more tightly woven story.

The key thing an editor will want to know early in the synopsis is each major protagonist’s external goal. This should be obvious within the first 1-3 paragraphs. The external goal must be concrete and specific, not something vague like “Jane wants to become a successful rock star.” A good external goal has a definite end to it, where there is a point when the protagonist knows exactly when they’ve succeeded or failed. An external goal is typically something physical that can be touched or held, although not always. For example, a good external goal for Jane would be “to get my picture on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine” because that’s the point at which she knows she’s become a successful rock star. Then all her actions in the story will be aiming toward that goal of getting her picture there. The goal is not always specifically stated like this in the manuscript. For example, in your manuscript, you might show Jane fingering Rolling Stone and dreaming about her picture there,

Do you have any lines of dialogue in your synopsis? Even if they’re key lines, cut them and tell what’s going on instead. You can usually trim by telling instead of showing. For example: Luke hangs on the overhanging metal strut, armless and vulnerable. Darth Vader reaches out to him and says, “Luke, I am your father.” “No! That’s not true!” Luke denies, then falls down the duct to what he believes will be his death. Vs. Luke hangs vulnerable on the metal strut. Darth Vader insists he’s Luke’s father, which Luke denies. Luke drops down the duct. Be careful about the climax of the story—that’s usually the place where writers are tempted to include key dialogue lines which the story pivots upon. However, in trimming a synopsis, it’s better to cut those dramatic lines in favor of “just the facts” and a shorter synopsis.

There was a two-part interview with my Zondervan Senior Editor, Sue Brower, over at Novel Journey with Gina Holmes. Sue used to be Senior Marketing Director before she became Senior Fiction Editor, so she brings a lot of extra background to her editing. She thinks not only about the writing, but also the marketability, the author's brand, etc. She's been really great to work with. Check out the pearls of wisdom from the woman who “discovered” me . ;) Part One Part Two

If you have something you’re aiming for, then it can motivate you to be efficient and productive. I’m not talking about goals like “get an agent” or “get a publishing contract” which are not things you can control. I’m talking about concrete goals for you to achieve. Things like “finish my manuscript this year” or “research and query ten agents.” Set deadlines, if you can: “finish my manuscript by December 30th, 2007” or “research and query ten agents by January 31st, 2007.” If writing is something important to you, then spur yourself on in your writing career. Set goals and work toward them. This is kind of funny, but this type of setting goals is just like giving your characters external goals. The goals are concrete, with a deadline, and not something dependent on things out of the character’s control.

I just got this e-mail from Randy Ingermanson, who publishes the Advanced Fiction Writing E-zine : Hi all, For nearly two years, the most popular feature in my Advanced Fiction Writing E-zine has been my monthly column on marketing. Some of my readers don't even write fiction! Some of you read this e-zine only for the marketing information. I'm delighted to tell you that I'm launching a new free e-zine dedicated to teaching advanced internet marketing methods to writers of all stripes, whether you write fiction or nonfiction, whether you have been published or not, whether you are techie or not. The new e-zine will be called THE MAD GENIUS WRITER. (My friends came up with this name, and I defer to their near-unanimous opinion, the wretches.) THE MAD GENIUS WRITER is for writers ONLY! (And your editors, agents, publicists, and publishers.) I do NOT want anyone else reading it. I hope to unleash your inner "mad genius" to help you market your work as effectively as

The three Barbour editors, Rebecca Germany, JoAnne Simmons, and Susan Downs, have a blog! It’s called The Edit Café , and it’s FABULOUS. The blog posts offer great insight into the action behind the editing process, and they answer questions, too! Head on over and say hi. Tell them Camy sent you!

HEARTBEAT INTERN CONTEST for Pre-Pubbed, Pre-PRO Romance Writers Accepting entries starting January 1, 2007! This is a brand new contest aimed at beginners. In other words, if you’ve been published in any format at any time, or have achieved RWA-PRO ( Romance Writers of America ) status, you’re not eligible. CATEGORIES & JUDGES Romantic Suspense: Patience Smith - Silhouette Suspense. Erotic Romance: Alicia Rasley - Red Sage Anything Romance w/ Medical Elements: Sheila Hodgson - Harlequin Mills & Boom Medicals Inspirational Romance: Melissa Endlich - Steeple Hill Series Romance (long & short): Scott Eagan - Greyhaus Literary Agency Single Title Romance: Hilary Sares - Kensington First place winners in each category will receive a critique from Lois Winston, Agent with Grayson Literary Agency. TIMELINE 1. Entries accepted from January 1 - February 1 (Entries with a postmark of February 1 or before will be accepted until February 6). 2. If a deadline falls on a Saturday/Sunda

Oh, goodness! Sara’s heart pounded in her chest. “Josephine! I didn’t even see you there!” While just 10 years ago, books had tons of exclamation points all over the place, these days, most editors prefer limited use of exclamation points, especially in dialogue. They typically suggest using them only if someone is screaming or shouting, rather than just a raised voice. Some are nazis about it, some aren't. I would suggest getting rid of as many exclamation points as you can just in case you come across someone who's picky about it.

Separate from your own unique writer’s voice is each individual character’s voice. Sometimes writers will not make each character’s own dialogue distinct enough to be able to tell characters apart. Many times, if you remove the dialogue tags and action beats from a scene of dialogue, the two characters will sound exactly alike, whether it’s two men, two women, or a man and a woman. Each character should be so individual that even their speech patterns are distinct. I’m not talking about dialect or slang. Lots of things can contribute to character voices--pacing and rhythm, word choice, grammar, sentence length, casual versus formal. Don’t cop out and give one person a lisp or a dialect—try to make them unique just by their words alone. You, as the writer, know who is who as you hear each character talking in your head. The challenge is to convey the distinction on the page to the reader. One exercise I like to do is to take an incident and have different characters tell it. Often, I ca

When reading contest entries or manuscript for critiquing, sometimes dialogue goes on for too long. This can affect pacing, and it can also disengage the reader if the dialogue isn’t necessary to character development or the plot. Look through your own manuscript to see if a few interchanges in a scene of dialogue might be unnecessary. Sometimes things like that are needed to set tone, or reveal character, but look through your dialogue to see if anything can be cut. You as the writer have a good feel for what's vital to your voice and the tone, and what might be just fluff. Most writers say that anything that can reduce word count will usually only make the story better. Anything that can speed up the pace a bit during action scenes (dialogue) will help glue the reader to the page.

Rather than listening to me talk, why not read a few good articles on dialogue: http://www.jamesscottbell.com/Site/Dialogue%20Tips.html http://www.sff.net/people/alicia/artdialogue.htm http://www.pammc.com/dialogue.htm (good examples of proper punctuation for dialogue) http://www.charlottedillon.com/Articles.html http://www.writing-world.com/fiction/index.shtml These last two are websites with several articles on various topics, including dialogue. These links were current as of the publishing of this blog post. If any are broken, please e-mail me or leave a comment to let me know.

Mark Goodyear made a great point that one way to learn to write good dialogue is to read good dialogue, and one of the best resources are good plays. Specifically, the Tony winners, since aren’t those the best plays written in America? If you go to his blog post about it , he gives the website of the Tonys and how to search for plays to read. Plays can be found in your local library. They might also be in the drama department of your local high school and available for loan, so send your child on a recon mission. Another good resource is online stores where you can buy cheap used copies (which you can then flag and mark up with notes). Look for dialogue that moves you, then look through it again to discover why. Look at pacing, sentence rhythm, word choice—especially word choice specific to certain characters. Judicious use of sentence structure and sentence length also make up good dialogue. Once you analyze good dialogue, you’ll find you’ll be more critical of your own writing as y

All dialogue should have some type of conflict. Exchange of information or small-talk is boring and slows the reading flow. The characters don’t need to be fighting with each other, but there should be something one of the characters is fighting FOR. Fighting to hide information, fighting to obtain information, fighting to right a wrong, fighting to convince the other. In the words of Randy Ingermanson ( Advanced Fiction Writing E-zine ), “Dialogue is war.” A dialogue with two strong forces has the energy to propel the story forward. It tends to be highly emotional, but at the same time very simple and direct (unlike actual conversation in real life). The best way to have both emotion and simplicity is to lay the dialogue down first and then go back later to refine, cut, clarify. Because dialogue is emotional, it also tends to be more give-and-take, more back-and-forth. In our modern publishing industry, it’s rare to have a character go on and on without the other character responding.

“I know you did it.” He slammed his fist on the table. She fingered her long necklace with manicured fingers. “I never said I did.” “We have you on tape.” He reached out to touch the micro-recorder. “I told you, I was only joking when I said that.” She wouldn’t look at him. He crossed his arms and glared at her. “People don’t joke to kill someone.” “That’s not true. People joke about killing their friends all the time.” She crossed her arms and stared him down. Even though we vary the sentence structure and the position of the dialogue, the action beats in this conversation are a bit much. You don't need to identify the speaker every time he speaks. You can have back and forth a bit and still know who's speaking. Action beats should have a purpose --to show inner emotion or characterization, not just as filler in between lines of dialogue. “I know you did it!” “I never said I did.” “We have you on tape.” “I told you, I was only joking when I said that.” She wouldn’t look at him

“As you know, Bob, your mother left you at the age of five to run off to California with the family lawyer, leaving you to be raised by your bohemian grandparents. Do think it’s affecting your judgment about this child abandonment case?” Be careful about dialogue that’s there just to inform the reader. Bob would know what his mother did, and wouldn’t need to be told or reminded. “You’re too close to this case, Bob.” “What do you mean?” He crossed his arms. She spoke with a hitch of hesitation in her voice. “You were the same age as this kid when your mom . . .” She didn’t have to say it. As a child, he’d prayed for an earthquake to swallow up both his mother and the ex-family lawyer in California. Maybe he was too close to this. Some things won’t seem like telling at first, but at closer look they might: She spoke with a hitch of hesitation in her voice. “You were the same age as this kid when your mom left you for the family lawyer.” (Does Bob need to be reminded whom she ran off with

Not all these exercises will work for every writer, but some might enable you to find and/or further develop your voice. (Most of these exercises are taken from Finding Your Writer's Voice: A Guide to Creative Fiction by Thaisa Frank and Dorothy Wall ) Keep practicing. Voice is developed by writing, writing, writing. Try doing a voice writing exercise each week. It only takes a few minutes, and that weekly stretching and warm-up will help your writing the rest of the week. And not just short exercises--use your manuscript as practice ground for unleashing your raw voice. Take a scene, or a page of your manuscript. Work some of the exercises with that piece of your writing. Not only will you be developing your voice, you’ll also be working on beefing up your manuscript. Don’t be discouraged if the exercises don’t seem to be showing dramatic results. Often a writer’s voice comes out subtly, in waves or glimpses. Some writers’ voices are loud, others are soft and more subtle. Don’t a

Not all these exercises will work for every writer, but some might enable you to find and/or further develop your voice. (Most of these exercises are taken from Finding Your Writer's Voice: A Guide to Creative Fiction by Thaisa Frank and Dorothy Wall ) Speak your voice through characters. Like a ventriloquist, you throw your voice into a story character so that it's you and yet not you speaking. More than anything, it should be the character's voice that dominates, but your own voice will add vibrancy to your character. Your heroine will have her own unique way of speaking, and it will also depend on her audience. She may speak one way to her mother and a different way to the hero. Through it all, don't be limited by her personality--rather, let her individuality unleash your own raw voice. Take a persona and notice if you speak directly in his voice--in his skin--or describe him as if you're in the room. Sometimes, this can indicate a preference for first person v

Not all these exercises will work for every writer, but some might enable you to find and/or further develop your voice. (Most of these exercises are taken from Finding Your Writer's Voice: A Guide to Creative Fiction by Thaisa Frank and Dorothy Wall ) Take a lesson from children's storytelling. When children tell stories, they improvise with things connected to their emotions, urgent and important to them at the moment. The duckie in their lap, the blue carpet, the stinky smell from the diaper bag, the lint under the table. It doesn't have to make sense, it doesn't have to be polished. What makes their stories compelling is that it's raw and free. Our writers' voices come out when we can emulate their storytelling mindset. This is related to what we say in public and private. There are certain things we will only say to our families, or sometimes just to ourselves. I'm not talking about foul language or unpleasant bodily functions. Opinions, one-line zinge

Not all these exercises will work for every writer, but some might enable you to find and/or further develop your voice. (Most of these exercises are taken from Finding Your Writer's Voice: A Guide to Creative Fiction by Thaisa Frank and Dorothy Wall ) Discover your natural rhythm. All of us have a natural cadence to our speech and thoughts. It's a combination of our genes and environments. For every writer, it's unique. Write nonsense words in grammatically correct sentences, or do free-writing--keep the pen moving even if you just write nonsense or the same sentence over and over. You'll discover things about your voice. Your sentence length, your word choice. Alliteration, metaphors, similes. Twists of phrase, dialect. Learn to be aware of these aspects of your voice's cadence.

Not all these exercises will work for every writer, but some might enable you to find and/or further develop your voice. (Most of these exercises are taken from Finding Your Writer's Voice: A Guide to Creative Fiction by Thaisa Frank and Dorothy Wall ) Write your voice with your whole body. An opera singer or a screaming child uses his entire body to project his voice. It's a comprehensive, total physical feat. A writer is the same. You want to use your entire being--your whole body--to bring out your writer's voice. This will mean different things to different writers. The important thing is to discover your own all-encompassing combination of rhythm, force, and music that is your voice. The key is all-encompassing--try to involve all of you, not just your mind. Try to imagine what it's like for you to write from your gut, from your toes, digging in with your shoulders, straining with your spine. Make it an energetic feat, requiring force and strength, pulling in aspe

Not all these exercises will work for every writer, but some might enable you to find and/or further develop your voice. (Most of these exercises are taken from Finding Your Writer's Voice: A Guide to Creative Fiction by Thaisa Frank and Dorothy Wall ) Unusual situations and a sense of urgency will bring out voice. External stimuli: Create a certain setting or mood by surrounding yourself with objects that will put you emotionally in different states. Try laying on your desk several things that make you mad. Or maybe things that make you sad. Be creative and utilize all five senses. Create different atmospheres that run the gamut of your emotions--don't hold back. Explore difficult emotions, intense emotions. Internal stimuli: Use your mind to put you in different places, at different times. A cold, lonely prison cell. A loud, crowded prison cell. An abandoned warehouse during WW2 with bombs exploding. A desolate cornfield during the Depression. What's important is to put

One vital way to make your writing stand out is voice. In many of the contest entries I've judged and manuscripts I've critiqued, writers have muted their natural voice to sound bland and generic. Writing that's alive with its own distinct vocal flavor is a joy to read. The prose is richer and more vibrant, the characters more three-dimensional--all because the writer opens herself to her own writing style and revels in it. However, voice can also be the most difficult and slippery aspect of writing craft to discover and perfect. Raw, creative voice often doesn't result in a polished piece. The key is to first lay down the story with your unhindered voice and polish later. But how to unleash your voice? Many times, a writer's internal critic is hampering the free reign of his unique style, but certain exercises can help him lift all restraints, open the cage door, and let the lion roar. Not all these exercises will work for every writer, but some might enable you to

Howard Books fiction editor Terry Whalin has started a "Writing Tip of the Day" where you can insert html code into your blog or website and have his writing tip automatically change each day. He has 31 tips now, and intends to write more later. Information is at this blog post . I've inserted it in my sidebar so you can see what it looks like. It's a terrific idea and Terry's background and expertise makes him an ideal person to write these tips for writers.

This is a page or two listing books similar to yours but different in some way. This is to show how your book would both fit in and stand out from the books already in print. Make sure the books you list aren’t too old. List recent titles over older ones. Show clearly how the books are similar, but also show clearly how yours differ. For example: Embryo Factory: The Stem Cell Wars by Rev. Richard A. Humphrey and Dr. Loren J. Humphrey, ACW Press, 2003. This Christian suspense dives deep into the complex moral and technical issues surrounding stem cell research, using a minister and a physician as protagonists. Bitter Dragon also deals with stem cell research, but takes the issue a step further into human cloning and fetal tissue harvesting for disease therapy, with a backdrop of action and adventure pushing the Asian heroine into danger.

Don’t list things like “willing to appear on Oprah”—well, duh. Plus so few authors actually make it on Oprah, period. Be specific about what you personally can do. What groups do you belong to, and what can you realistically do to use your connections to promote your book? For example: Do you work in a school and can you influence the librarian or other schools’ libraries to carry your book? Do you belong to any national organizations and can you give workshops on your book topic at your local chapter? Do you have an active blog or website and can you utilize that to spread the word on the internet?