A Year's Worth of Blessings

Happy New Year everyone, and Best Wishes for a wonderful 2011. Check back in next week for more writing tips, and other Life's Little Adjustments. Be safe!

Characters Make Your Story

Many writers create character studies before they start their story. However, this can be done at any time that you're ready. After you have the right name for your character, think about that person and write down all of the following:

1.  Physical Description
2.  Mannerisms
3.  Background
4.  Outer and Inner Motivations
5.  Can you find a picture in a catalog or magazine that resembles your character?
6.  Date of Birth
7.  Education
8.  Traits, make them unique to this person you're creating.
9.  Certain phrases this person uses; the reader will automatically know who's speaking.
10. Likes and Dislikes
11. Passions, secret or otherwise
12. Flaws (to be overcome)
13. Pet Peeve
14. Habit that he/she is trying to break.
15. Characters must be true to their own past and their beliefs.

This is enough to work on for today. We'll come back to character creation next time.

More Tips on How to Create Suspense

I hope you're enjoying the writing tips. Here are the last five for creating suspense:

16.  Description should add to the story.
17.  Start the beginning with ACTION. The backstory can be told throughout.
18.  Most importantly, readers must care about the people in your stories, or none of the
       above will make a difference.
19.  A character has a vulnerability that will make resolution difficult.
20.  Don't generalize... BE SPECIFIC!

Still More Ways to Create Suspense

Here they are...

11. Build suspense step by step. As one question is answered, pose another.
12. "A moment of tension requires an economy of words."  LaVyrle Spencer.
13. Replace passive verbs with active ones.
14. Never waste the reader's time by actions or dialogue that do not push the story forward.
15. Action scenes require shorter sentences.

In a few days, I'll post the final five ways to create suspense. Stay tuned...

Promises Kept

I was reading some of my old blogs, and I promised to talk about Character Studies. I'll do that when we're done creating suspense, I promise.

More Tips on Creating Suspense

Hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving holiday! Now, as we get back to work on our novels, here are more ways to create suspense:

6. A major character is not what he/she seems--spring surprises.
7. Try scenes from different viewpoints to see which creates the most tension.
8. Villains must possess some humanity; they should not be totally flawed.
9. Setting can convey the atmosphere of foreboding or be the direct opposite (i.e. the sun-
drenched beaches in Jaws.
10. "Keep the readers in a state of anxious uncertainty." Barnaby Conrad

Stay tuned for more.....

How to Create Suspense in Your Novel

I'm going to give you some tips on how to create suspense in your novel. I don't mean that you have to be writing a suspense novel, such as Mary Higgins Clark, but every novel needs to keep the reader in suspense on many levels. We want the reader to keep turning those pages, and maybe even lose sleep in order to finish your book. I'll start with a few tips that I've learned from others, and from experience.
1. "Make them laugh, make them cry, make them wait." LaVyrle Spencer
2. Every character should have a secret.
3. "When stuck, use a letter or phone call to generate new tension."
Phyllis Whitney
4. "Resolve mystery or crime first, emotional resolution last for reader satisfaction." Mary Higgins Clark
5. Split up some scenes to create the most tension; move to another setting and leave the reader with an unsettled feeling, wondering what's happening.

More tips soon...

Surprises

As you keep writing your 3 pages a day, aren't you running into surprises?
If you write on a continual basis, events, dialogue, supporting characters, etc, will show up when you least expect them. Sometimes these unplanned additions to your novel will be the very elements that draw the reader in and make your book a special read.

Timeline

I realized while writing my pages today that the timeline was getting fuzzy.
I needed to know when school started, when a pregnancy was due, when the snow came, in relation to the story. I stopped to go back and make those decisions before continuing. I'll also include a timeline review when I start revisions. Just another tip. :)

Keep Going, Even With Interruptions

I know, I don't write a blog every day, or even the three pages on my book. Life has a way of interrupting, even the best intentions. Don't beat yourself up over it. Start in again. Sometimes it helps to lie down, close your eyes, and let yourself enter the world of your novel. Think of a scene you want to write, hear the characters speaking to one another. Steep yourself in your story. Now write!

Only if you love it...

People have often told me, "I'm going to give writing a year to see if it pays off." My advice is always, "Find something else to do." There are a few people in the world who are so good, they can make a living writing, even if they hate it. For the most part, you don't choose writing, it chooses you. You have to do it to feel happy. Maybe you'll make money at it, maybe you won't. But if that's the only reason you're writing, forget it. Write for the love of the process; there are more ways to measure success than money.

A Writing Tip

As you're writing your three pages a day, you'll sometimes be rolling along and want to write more. That's great, just be sure and stop when you know what's going to happen next, even if it means stopping in the middle of a paragraph or sentence. That really helps you to get going the next day. I often make notes in the margin, "need to flesh out this scene more," "how about a scene between ___ and ___?" "awkward", etc. Remember, this is a rough draft, and at this point, it's the story elements that are most important. You're learning about your characters as you go along, even if you did a complete character study before beginning your novel. I love the surprises that happen as the story unfolds.

Journaling

Two of my grandkids, Cheyenne and Jake, keep a journal. It's amazing to me that they do this on their own. I wish I had when I was their age, when I think of all the plot ideas, movie scripts, descriptions, settings, characters, personal experiences, that came up each day, and they're mostly gone forever. We think we'll remember, but we don't. Even a dream that fleshes out a story idea, will be gone the next morning. I have to get up in the middle of the night and write it down. My 93-year-old father keeps a meticulous daily journal of everything that happens. His memory is amazing, but if there's any doubt, he'll check his journal.
If you want to write, this is the best way to start. Keeping a journal will expand your creativity in ways you never imagined.

Writing as a Catharsis

Many of you already know this is true. If you're angry with someone, or hurt, it's a good idea to write all your emotions down and out on paper.
Don't hold back. You don't have to be fair, because no one's going to read it. It's amazing how much this lifts the burden off your shoulders.
Once you're done, destroy. This is to heal you and allow you to move on, not cause further damage in a relationship. It works!

Books on Amazon

Hi. Have you started your novel yet, using the 3 page/day technique? Remember, no going back to revise at this point. Keep pushing forward to get that story down on paper. Sometimes, if I'm really stuck, I'll study a good How To writing book. I'll take notes about how the tips relate to my storyline and characters. It really helps. One of my favorite How To books is Characters Make Your Story by Maren Elwood. It's an older book, but still relevant. I'll mention other good How To's as we go along together in this process.
As you're writing your three pages, but you feel really stuck, you can always write a scene further along in the book, especially if it plays like a video in your head. Get it down! You won't remember it exactly the way you're seeing it now.
Or, if that's not an option right now, stop and think about each character. My next blog will be about Character Studies.

How to Write a Book

The fastest book I've written is Wait the Morning Light. I was working full-time, but the story kept haunting me. I told myself that I only had to write 3 pages a day. It could be free flowing, no reading back and revising, and if I didn't know what was going to happen at a certain point, I could leave a note to self, then go onto a scene that was clear in my mind. You have to get that first draft down on paper before you can truly "write" and hope for brilliance. I'll talk more about how to revise, but right now, 3 pages a day is a doable rate to finish a novel.

Life's Little Adjustments; New Direction

It was fun starting this blog, but I'm so focussed on writing a new novel, that we'll talk about that process. I hope to add tips for new writers, ways to add suspense, how to rewrite effectively, etc. A friend once asked me to be her guest at Seannchae Writer's Workshop, but I'd have to be writing a book. I said, "I can't write a book!" Up to then, I'd been writing nonfiction articles. She said, "Can you write a sentence?" "Yes," I said. She persisted. "Can you write another sentence?"
By the time we attended the workshop, I had a first chapter in hand. Please join me on this journey.

Disposing of Things that Hold You Back

My husband and I just cleaned out the fridge together. Amazing what I thought I'd need "someday". It made me think of daily life, and what we hang onto that merely weighs us down. We do have a right and a need to "clean out the fridge" of our lives and simplify, holding onto that which is most dear.

Just thinking

I haven't written a blog lately because there are so many privacy issues.
I'll try to get back into it. Wrote on the new book all week, and it's coming along. It'll take about a year. Once the first draft is done, there are layers of rewrite until it feels right. If you are a creative person in any way, you need to use your creativity to feel complete.

Destiny

"Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice;
it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved." William J. Bryan

Wait the Morning Light

This is the title of one of my books, but I've found it to be true. If you feel you're at your lowest point, you'll eventually find that good can come out of anything. And it does.

Counting Blessings

Life is good. My heart is full. My mom always said to start each day by counting your blessings. It really makes a difference. Just the fact that we can get out of bed and see our surroundings are two biggies! It tempers down all the little irritations throughout the day. Have a good one!

Anniversary

Wow, today is our 45th anniversary. The memories encompassed in a lifetime together are mind-boggling. "Making memories" is so important, never time wasted.

Life's Little Adjustments-Grandchildren

I know that the only constant is change, but one difficult adjustment is the feeling that you're obsolete to your grandchildren. Not that they don't love you, but you're not really essential to their happiness and well-being.
Not every family works this way, but overall, it's pretty normal. Acceptance of the fact that they're growing up, and this is how it was meant to be, is a healthy way to deal with the feeling. I'll let you know how to do that, when I figure it out myself.

Think About It

The effort's up to us, the results are up to God.

Life's Little Adjustments-Parents

I spent the last three days at my parents' house, while my husband worked on their bathroom. I really enjoyed spending the time with them.  They'll be celebrating their 69th anniversary this month!

Life's Little Adjustments-Aging

We all face the time when our parents become vulnerable to aging, and we struggle to learn the best way to help them.

Life's Little Adjustments-Retirement

Today, I retired. My husband and I have never been together 24/7, so we have challenges ahead,and issues to resolve. I told him my eyesight's getting so bad when I do my make-up, that I'll be one of those little old ladies with orange hair, luminescent blue eyeshadow, rosy pink cheeks, and red lipstick all over the place. He said that's really something to look forward to.

Life's Little Adjustments-Kindness

One thing I've noticed is that it's important to be kind to your significant other. We sometimes take them for granted, and get into bad relationship habits. Try it, and see what happens.