3 Useful Additions for Your Romance

Elizabeth Craig's fun post on writing a mystery got me thinking about other genres. Since romance is the type of novel I'm attempting to learn, I thought I'd throw out some of the things Romance Writing has taught me so far.
Writing Tip for Today: 3 useful additions to a Romance:

• Meet and Greet. Get the hero/heroine on stage fast. Many Romance lines want the two main players to meet on page one. A reader who is interested in how this relationship plays out wants to hit the ground running. It's tempting to set up the scenery, the background. But paint these elements in the context of two opposites attracting, or you'll lose your reader.
• Layer Their Problems. You won't want your characters exactly LYING to one another, but a few withheld secrets, mis-directions or misinterpreted cues liven up the chemistry. Also, we all know conflict makes for good story. But in a Romance, readers expect trouble to be more than skin deep. Both hero/heroine should have a balance of outer/inner struggles. So for instance, an outer struggle might be the heroine taking over a failing business, but her inner conflict is her own fears and avoidance of another failed relationship.
• Get a Sidekick. Taking another cue from Elizabeth's post, a Romance hero/heroine with at least one sidekick gives the character someone to confide in other than the love interest, frequently gives advice and sometimes acts as a kind of Greek chorus. Do be careful, though. If your secondary character is more interesting or colorful than the protagonist, the reader may not bond with the main character in the way you intend. As I'm learning, genre writing is not that easy. But you can learn how to write a Romance, and using these 3 useful additions should speed the process. Write On!

3 Useful Additions for Your Mystery

It's my distinct pleasure to welcome mystery writer Elizabeth Spann Craig (aka Riley Adams) as guest today. She offers fabulous tips on her blog Mystery Writing Is Murder. I hope you'll visit her there and enjoy her mystery writing advice. Thanks, Elizabeth!

3 Useful Additions for Your Mystery

By Elizabeth S. Craig

Writing a mystery can be a great experience—and sometimes a challenging one.  Here are three additions to make your mystery a faster-paced, more complex, and smoother read:

A body near the beginning of the book.  Although not an absolute must, it’s a great way to both start your book out with a bang and set a faster-pace right from the beginning.  With a body near the start of the book, your sleuth jumps right into the investigation.

A sidekick.  Sidekicks provide our sleuths with someone to bounce ideas off of.  Stories without  sidekicks frequently feature sleuths engaged in lots of internal monologue.

Lies. If our suspects both lie and tell the truth, it makes the case more challenging for our sleuth…and keeps them guessing who’s reliable.  Lies are a nice way to add red herrings (bad leads) to a mystery, as well.

As a reader or writer, what are your favorite elements in a mystery?

Elizabeth’s latest book, Knot What it Seams , released February 5 and Rubbed Out launches July 2. Elizabeth writes the Memphis Barbeque series for Penguin/Berkley (as Riley Adams), the Southern Quilting mysteries for Penguin/NAL, and the Myrtle Clover series for Midnight Ink and independently.

Organize Your Writing Time

You dream of publishing. You practice to increase your skills. You enter contests, write and submit short pieces, agent shop and generate speaking engagements. Oh and you still do your day job. How is a writer supposed to find time for all of it?
Writing Tip for Today: While it's true some people are more interested in organizing than others, dividing your writing time into categories might help. When I ran a full-time day care, parented my four kids and all the stuff that comes with it, I made time to write and do these other writer-things by categorizing. Here are some suggestions:

• Seasons of Life. Writers are always telling me they can't write because of the "season of their lives." It can be babies, business or aging or ill parents. Although these times may cut down on your writing time considerably, you don't have to cut writing out entirely. I wrote only one hour per day during nap time when my day care kids rested. A current writing student has brain cancer, underwent surgery, is receiving radiation and chemo. Yet he's still showing up at our weekly writer's group when he can and writing when he feels well enough. When my kids were young and my writing time limited, I learned to get up earlier, stay up later or find ways to sneak in a bit of writing.Write something, even if it's a journal entry. 
• Days of the Week. I also made a schedule where I did certain writing tasks on different days of the week. Fridays were always marketing--I'd prepare and send out submissions, check for calls for submissions or prepare agent queries. Take your weekly writing time and divide at least three ways: Writing, Revising, Submitting. Rotate these three categories so you can maintain some of each of these important areas.
• Be Able to Find Stuff. I am no Martha Stewart--my desk is usually contained chaos. But I try to know where things are in the piles. Try starting out with colored files for different projects, and keep all your reference books (market guides, thesauri, dictionaries, etc) in one spot. For writers forced to work on the kitchen table, get expandable files or a portable rolling hanging file holder. Even if you are completely digital, it's a good idea to have a hard copy of the work--and indispensable when you need to take it to critique or just to read aloud. On the computer, use Excel or a log of some sort to keep track of submissions and queries. Organizing your writing time help you be more productive and maintain that BIC commitment.

Writing Through Summer

Spring 2013 Novel Writing Class

Another year of teaching novel writing concluded last night at LCC. What a great bunch of attentive and enthusiastic writers! We discussed how to keep the writing momentum during the summer months.
Writing Tip for Today: When the weather's nice, it may be harder to work in that novel writing session. Here are some ideas to make it happen:

• Don't Find Time, Make Time. If your writing languishes near the bottom of your priorities, you may not get much done, especially with summer activities luring you outdoors. Bring along your laptop or tablet on the camping trip or at least a yellow pad to help you keep your date with writing. Write every day if possible. Be willing to sacrifice an hour of television, jot down a few words in the waiting room or pin a sign on the door that reads: Do Not Disturb: Writer at Work.
• Find a Routine. Summer is a time when activities can crowd out a normal writing schedule, but you can make it happen if you set a schedule and then SHOW UP. BIC (Butt in Chair) is your commitment to finishing your draft. If you show up at regular times, your writing time will become more important and you'll find yourself defending that time.
• Junk It Through. Remember, nobody said your draft writing needs to be perfect. If you dread your sessions, maybe you're putting too much pressure on yourself. Have fun with creating! First you get it down, then you fix it up. A completed draft of a novel is something not everyone accomplishes--so when you reach that milestone, you're among rare company. Afterward, you can start revising, and polishing that work. But even during your revisions, be sure to start a new project, so you can continue to make writing fun. Have a great summer and keep writing!

Writer Platforms Demystified

Linda's Writer Platform Class

Writers of all stripes cringe at the word platform. Ick! It's all that messy time-sucking social media, they whine. Why do I need to know what somebody ate for breakfast?
Writing Tip for Today: The answer is simple--that SOMEbody might just be your reader. And in order to connect with more potential readers, you have to interact with them. This term's Platform Building class was one of the best I've had. Here are a few things we discussed regarding platform:

• Marketing is Getting Someone to Like You. We used this quip by Jane Friedman to illustrate that marketing isn't some weird complex set of rules. Rather, it's you connecting with another person (the potential reader) and trying to establish some kind of relationship. In the checkout line, at the car wash, in the waiting room--all these and more are opportunities for you to "sell" yourself. If you are pre-published, sell yourself as a writer. The more people who recognize your name when you have a published book, the more books you'll likely be able to sell.
• But I Hate Selling! Don't think of your platform as a way to sell used cars. Think of it as building relationships. You don't buttonhole your Facebook friends to BUY BUY BUY your book. That'll get you unfriended. Instead, you nurture relationships by actually engaging. Maybe you'll have to actually care about what this person cares about. If you are sincere, listen and show you care, your "prospect" turns into a friend--a real one.
• How Do I Build Platform if I Don't Have a Current Book Out? The million dollar question! On our last class, we talked about starting a speaking career alongside writing. Someone asked who wants to hear you speak if you aren't published yet? Think of what you're passionate about. Chances are, you know a LOT about that topic. Begin by offering to speak for free, choosing small groups at first if you are shy, and practicing your presentations. It's a case where one hand washes the other--the more who hear you speak, the more name recognition. When your book is in your hand, your readership will be ready for you. Platform Building is for ALL writers, published or pre-published. See you on social media!

Synopsis Writing: Almost Pain-free

Show me a writer who enjoys writing a synopsis and I'll bet that writer either enjoys self-torture or else is dead. We moan and groan over this part of writing, but a decent synopsis is possible, and almost pain-free.
Writing Tip for Today: Yes, it's true that writing a good synopsis often takes several drafts. And yes, it's not all that pleasant a task. But here are a few ideas to demystify the process:
Get Your Tag Line: Many synopses are written big (and way too long) and then winnowed down. My idea is the opposite: find a one or two sentence hook that sums up your novel FIRST. Use that one or two sentence hook to hang the rest of your synopsis. A good tag line will get at the central story question of your book. You might phrase this in one of several ways: as a straightforward description that begins with "When" and includes the character, setting and major problem; as a question (What if a . . .) or as a "mash-up," a marriage of two already known stories--either from movies or books or a combo. (My novel is HUNGER GAMES meets THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE.)
Five Easy Plot Points. Once you have that hook in place, use your novel's five major plot points as a guide to flesh out the entire story. Remember, in a SYNOPSIS, you MUST reveal the ending. Think of these five points as major spots in the story where there are COMPLICATIONS, REVERSALS or BATTLES. It may be difficult to decide, but by limiting your material to these five points, you won't be so tempted to add every minor detail.
Be Specific. Finally, draft that synopsis, let it rest a day and then go back in, intent on spotting and correcting VAGUE LANGUAGE. If you see words such as: situation, circumstance, problem, conflict and the like, your reader won't know much about your story. Instead, rewrite to name the actual event (EX: John gets in an argument with his brother and drives off in a huff, not knowing his brother is having a heart attack). The person reading your synopsis will thank you for being clear, concise and specific in summing up the story. Now. That wasn't so bad, was it?

Buy Some Fresh Eyes: Let Your Novel Rest

Mamma Mia & Paladine Rest Their Paws.

Have you typed "The End" on a novel? Congratulations! Most first novels aren't finished--they're abandoned. But what now?
Writing Tip for Today: A first draft is something to celebrate but it's still a first draft. As you complete that draft, you are TOO CLOSE to the story and the writing to be an objective editor. Best advice? PUT IT ASIDE.

• Rest. If yours is a first novel, I recommend letting it rest a month or more. Some call this manuscript gestation. As the mob might say, "Fuggedaboutit." Meanwhile, get busy on another writing project. Write fast and every day if you can.
• Read. At the end of the rest period, read your work straight through. Take simple notes on problem areas or other corrections, but NO EDITING. You want to gauge the story strength at this point. 
• Revise. After the read-through, try to fix STORY PROBLEMS before you fix word choices or smooth out sentences. A storyboard can be useful for identifying plot holes or redundancies. Revision will probably take longer than your drafting, so do it in LAYERS. WORKSHOP your story if you can, to help maintain objectivity. Remember: Write fast, but edit slow.