THE CRAFT OF WRITING — JULY 2024

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This year the CRAFT OF WRITING blog is focusing on Aspects of the Novel, such as Plot, Dialogue, Characterization, etc. We’ve had some great discussions so far, including James Scott Bell on Voice, DiAnn Mills on Plotting, Debbie Burke on Antagonists, Randy Ingermanson on Scenes, Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi on Emotion, and Larry Leech on Dialogue. If you missed any of these, go to kaydibianca.com/blog and choose the post you want to revisit.

This month, I’m excited to welcome back Terry Odell, award-winning novelist and fellow Kill Zone Blog contributor.  Instead of an interview, Terry has chosen to write this post about Deep Point of View, the perspective she uses in her novels.

 

So come close because we’re talking intimate point of view!

 

Deep Point of View with Terry Odell Share on X

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We ran out of our gorgeous propeller pens, but this month the name of each person who enters a comment will be put into the drawing for a $10 Amazon Gift Card. (Not nearly so pretty as the pen, but still a useful gift!)

So join the conversation and earn a chance to win. I’ll post the name of the winner after 9 PM Central Time tomorrow night, so be sure to check back to see if you won. (Previous 2024 winners are not eligible to win.)

 

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Welcome back to the Craft of Writing blog, Terry, and thank you for joining us!

Thanks, Kay, for inviting me to talk about one of my favorite writing topics. When I toyed with writing a short story and sent it to an author I had been beta reading for, she sent it back with comments about my “liberties” with point of view. I had no clue what that meant, but I accepted the challenge and learned what I could. Later, Suzanne Brockmann introduced me to Deep Point of View, and I was hooked.

Let’s start at the beginning.

What is point of view?

Simply said, it’s who’s telling the story in any given scene. It’s the character through whose senses the reader experiences what’s going on. There are no ‘rights’ or ‘wrongs’ but choosing the wrong POV can keep the reader from being drawn into the story. Readers need to bond with character, and POV is one tool the writer uses to develop that connection.

What are your choices?

There are variations and subsets, but these are the basics:

Omniscient: Someone outside the story knows what’s going on and reports to the reader.

Examples:

John and Mary lingered over coffee. Little did they know that outside, the Romulans were planning their first attack on Earth.

A melody she didn’t recognize as Mozart came from the room.

If she’d known what waited behind the door, she’d never have opened it.

First Person: Told from the point of view of a single person. The use of “I” can get monotonous for the reader, which presents challenges for the author.

Examples:

I went to the store.

The cloying odor of death wasn’t what bothered me as I signed the patrol officer’s clipboard and ducked under the yellow tape fastened across the door.

Second Person: This one is very rare, and also very hard to pull off. It’s commonly used in things like children’s books where the reader can choose what to do next.

Examples:

You went to the store.

You feel your heart race. The only way forward is to move your feet.

Third Person: This is the most commonly used, and it has many variations. It can be shallow, almost narrated, or deep—almost the same as 1st person—with all levels in between.

Examples:

He went to the store

Gordon Hepler’s face ached from the smiles he’d been forced to display.

Now, on to Deep POV:

Deep POV can be thought of as writing a first person book in third person. You are deep inside the POV character’s head, providing the reader with not only the character’s five senses, but also their thoughts and feelings. Because you’re deep into their heads, your readers should feel closer to the characters than if you have an outside narrator, as is the case in shallower third person POV. A test. You should be able to replace he, she, or the character’s name with “I.”

When writing in Deep POV, it’s also important to be true to the character. What would they notice? Two characters walk into a room. (No, that’s not the start of a joke.) One’s a cop; the other is an interior designer. They’ll focus on very different things.

Pet peeves of mine (not that they’re wrong, they just pull me out of the character’s head) are in this example:

Sally rushed down the avenue, her floral chiffon scarf trailing behind her. She adjusted her Oakley sunglasses over her emerald-green eyes. When she reached the door of the office building, she finger combed her short-cropped auburn hair. Her full, red lips curved upward in a smile.

 

Is Sally really thinking about the specifics of her scarf? Or the brand of her sunglasses? The color of her eyes? I think you get the picture. We don’t think of ourselves that way unless there are good reasons. Maybe Sally just came from the salon and had her hair cut short and colored, so she might be noticing the length and thinking about the color. But that, to me, is a big maybe. And just “no” on the lips. That’s not coming from inside her head, either.

In Deep POV, just as in real life, a character can only observe and make assumptions about what another character is thinking. They can notice facial expressions and body language, but they can’t know what’s really going on in that character’s head.

Stick with what’s appropriate for the POV character. This means you’re writing in the character’s voice, not your own. In short, there’s no narrator.

Don’t show things a character can’t see or know. Likewise, don’t hide things they are seeing, hearing, etc., from the reader.

Don’t use “thought” as a speaker tag. That’s going to distance the reader. If you’re handling the POV correctly, readers will know they’re in the character’s head. I use a lot of internal monologue in my books, and most of the time, don’t feel there’s any need to italicize them. The only time I use italics for thoughts is when a character is thinking to himself—and I’ll shift to second person for those.

Example: You idiot. Why did you say that?

Compare that with: He was such an idiot. Why did he say that?

They’re both ok, but the first example is deeper. In either case, it should be clear these are thoughts and “he thought” isn’t necessary.

Use anchoring words to keep the reader grounding in the character’s head: knew, saw, wanted, seemed to be, obviously, watched, noticed.

 

Why do I prefer Deep POV?

  • We live in 1st person POV.
  • Deep 3rd is as close to 1st person as one can get.
  • It easily accommodates multiple POV characters. Most of my romantic suspense titles use two POV characters, and I use a Deep POV for both of them.
  • It gives the reader an emotional connection to the character.

I’ll be checking back during the day, so if you have questions, ask away.

Where can we find out more about you and your writing?

My website, my blog, my Facebook Page, and recently, my Substack, Writings and Wanderings.

 

Thank you, Terry, for being with us today.

My pleasure, Kay. Any time!

 

Deep Point of View with Terry Odell Share on X

 

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Meet Terry Odell

 

“I love getting into the minds of my characters, turning them loose in tight spots and seeing what they do. Too often, they surprise me.

My published works include the Pine Hills Police Series, the Blackthorne, Inc. covert ops series, the Triple-D Ranch series and the stand alone, What’s in a Name? — all Romantic Suspense, as well as the Mapleton Mystery series, which has been described as a blend of police procedural and cozy mysteries. My current releases in that series are Deadly Adversaries and the first three novels as a box set. It’s called, brilliantly enough, The Mapleton Mystery Novels, Volume One.

Heather’s Chase is a stand alone International Mystery Romance, which I had a blast researching on a trip through the British Isles, soon to be followed up with Double Intrigue, set on a Danube River cruise, where we toured Christmas markets last December. My mystery short story collection, Seeing Red, is a Silver Falchion award winner. I also have a collection of contemporary romance short stories.

When I’m not writing, or watching wildlife from my window, I’m probably reading.”

 

 

THE CRAFT OF WRITING — JUNE 2024

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This year the CRAFT OF WRITING blog is focusing on Aspects of the Novel. So far, we’ve covered Voice with James Scott Bell, Plotting with DiAnn Mills, Antagonists with Debbie Burke, Scenes with Randy Ingermanson, and Emotion with Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi. If you missed any of these, you can go to kaydibianca.com/blog and choose the post you want to read.

This month, I’m delighted to welcome first-time guest Larry J. Leech II to the blog. Larry is editor-in-chief of Bold Vision Books and a writing coach to multiple award-winning authors. With more than forty years of writing and editing to his credit, Larry is the perfect professional to talk to us about Dialogue.

So get out your manuscript and get ready to polish that conversation.

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This month we’ll choose one commenter to receive a $10 Amazon gift card, so be sure to join the conversation and earn a chance to win. I’ll post the name of the winner after 9 PM Central Time tomorrow night.

(Previous 2024 winners are not eligible to win.)

Tips and pointers on dialogue from editor Larry Leech II Share on X

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Welcome to the Craft of Writing blog, Larry, and thank you for joining us!

Thank you, Kay, for the opportunity. I’m honored and grateful to share with your readers.

 

Why is the use of dialogue so important in a novel?

We discover as much, if not more, about a character, through their dialogue. We learn about their level of intelligence, their fears, likes and dislikes, goals, and attitude—in both spoken and internal dialogue.

 

Is there any “rule of thumb” as to what percentage of a novel should be dialogue? (I’ve read different opinions on this one.)

I believe the story needs to dictate how much dialogue. While we, editors and coaches, like to see a nice balance of prose and dialogue in a novel, putting a percentage or word count on the amount of the dialogue suffocates the creativity. Some characters are chatty. Others can be tightlipped. So, let the characters decide how much dialogue there should be.

 

How does dialogue bring characters to life?

Individuality. Much has been taught about plot, structure, character arc, etc., but I believe readers love to hear a character speak. First, each character must have a distinctive voice. A fifty-year-old white male should not sound like a twenty-two-year-old female person of color. Even two teenage boys should not sound the same. Each has a backstory and moral center that dictates how they speak.

Think of the cinematic voices we know well. Whenever someone says, “Life is a like a box of chocolates,” we hear Forrest Gump. Or “No, I am your father,” we hear Darth Vader. Or “You’re gonna need a bigger boat,” we hear Chief Brody in Jaws.

Also, along with what I mentioned above about the importance of dialogue in story, dialogue also reveals worldview, syntax, and what I call “industry language.” For example, law enforcement and military personnel often say, “I’ve got your six (your back).” A plumber wouldn’t say that.

Along with action, dialogue helps the reader understand the character. And if done effectively, allows the reader to “live” the story instead of reading it.

 

We’ve all heard the unusual ways authors sometimes substitute words for “said.” (e.g., roared, interjected, whispered.) How important is it to stay away from those?

Readers tend to skip over tags, which are simply a placeholder for those who have spoken. I teach my clients that “said” is preferred (even for the word ‘asked’ with some publishers), but action is preferred over said. People move while they talk. But in many early drafts, I see a lack of action while the characters talk. The characters either feel like they are floating around in space because of lack of setting or if they are anchored in a scene, they sit on their hands and talk with each other.

 

What are some of the other pitfalls writers fall into when writing dialogue?

Great question. The number one pitfall I see is tone after dialogue. If the tone is after the dialogue, the reader doesn’t read with the intended tone. For example: “I hate you,” she said angrily. But by putting the tone before the dialogue, we read with the intended tone. But tone can be substituted with action. For example: She slammed her fist on the table. “I hate you.” Or She giggled. “I hate you.” In each example, we know “she” is mad and being playful.

Second, I often see is the dialogue doesn’t fit the character. A sixty-year-old writing YA usually doesn’t have the language and mindset correct for the characters. The same can be said when someone writes outside their ethnicity or culture. Even if the author has done a lot of research, I encourage them to find someone in that age group, ethnicity, or culture to read for accuracy in the dialogue.

Third, direct address in two-person dialogue is not needed. It’s a waste of words. Remember, projects are based on word count, not page count. An acquisition editor or agent will ask, “How many words is your manuscript?” They don’t ask “How many pages?” So, don’t waste words on unnecessary direct address in dialogue. But, and often there is an exception, direct address between a parent and child can be acceptable.

Fourth, I didn’t think I would spend so much time on this question, most new writers like to include greetings for answering the door or a phone call. Again, wasted words and bogs down the reader. The example I use of how to avoid comes from a Richard Castle novel. Unfortunately, I can’t remember which one. In this scene, the characters Jameson Rook and Nikki Heat meet Rooks’s mother’s at a restaurant. Instead of writing out all the greetings, the author wrote: After hugs and hellos, … In an instant, we see and hear the greetings between the three characters without reading the words.

 

What is a good way to handle internal dialogue? 

Because most publishers I work with don’t want internal dialogue in italics or inside quote marks, action before internal dialogue will set up the internal dialogue. For example, I gave her a sideways glance and smirked. “I hate her.” Obviously, the speaker is talking about someone else, and that looks like spoken dialogue. Without the quote marks, we know it’s internal dialogue.

 

How should a writer approach using dialect?

Some say writing in dialect is like walking a tightrope. The author can turn away readers with too much or oversimplify, which will ruin the impact of the dialect. First, research is important—using the internet, reading books with that dialect, or, if possible, interviewing people who speak in the intended dialect. Second, use sparingly. Don’t overwhelm the reader. Third, as with all dialogue, the dialect should serve the story and, of course, the character.

 

What tips can you give us for writing great dialogue?

Avoid long sentences of explanation. Short sentences and fragments can be a writer’s best friend. Dialogue should be short, snappy, and have tension. Long: “Well, what color dress do you think would be appropriate for a first date with a man I just met online and know little to nothing about?” Short: “Would a blue dress be appropriate? I don’t really know him. We met online. It’s our first date.”

Also, large chunks of dialogue often feel like an info dump. I’ve seen manuscripts with dialogue that tops 150 words. While I don’t like a restriction on word count, that much dialogue will fill up most of a printed page and create a gray blob on the page. To fix that problem, to make the dialogue feel more organic, first make sure every bit of information is needed. Then break it apart with interaction with another character and with action as well.

 

Where can we find out more about you and your work?

Readers can find me on Facebook, Instagram, and my website, which is in the process of being redesigned.

 

Thank you, Larry, for being with us today.

Thank you again, Kay. I’ve enjoyed the opportunity to share.

 

Tips and pointers on dialogue from editor Larry Leech II Share on X

 

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Meet Larry J. Leech II

Editor-in-Chief at Bold Vision Books and writing coach of award-winning authors, Larry J. Leech II has spent more than forty years writing and editing. He started his career as a sportswriter in southwestern Pennsylvania where he covered prep, college, and pro sports, including the Pittsburgh Pirates and Steelers.

 

In 2004, after 2,300 published articles, Larry moved into the book publishing industry. Since that time, he has ghostwritten 31 books, edited more than 450 manuscripts, and coached hundreds of authors through the writing and publication process. You can find him online on Facebook, Instagram, and his website.

 

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The latest novel from Kay:

 

Private pilot Cassie Deakin has plenty to say about her teammate, Deputy Sheriff Frank White in Lacey’s Star: A Lady Pilot-in-Command Novel.

Available at  Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Google Play, or Apple Books.

 

THE CRAFT OF WRITING — MAY 2024

Posted on by 28 comments

This year the CRAFT OF WRITING blog is focusing on Aspects of the Novel, such as Plot, Dialogue, Characterization, etc. Recently, we’ve had some wonderful guests to help us understand how to use these tools in our writing, including James Scott Bell on Voice, DiAnn Mills on Plotting, Debbie Burke on Antagonists, and Randy Ingermanson on Scenes. If you missed any of these, go to kaydibianca.com/blog and choose the post you want to revisit.

This month, we’re going to address perhaps the most important aspect of novel writing: Emotion. And I’m excited to welcome back two well-known authorities on the subject: Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi. As everyone knows, these two authors put together the wildly popular Emotion Thesaurus, and they have recently been working on a related book: the Emotion Amplifier Thesaurus.

So prepare to ramp up the emotion in your works by joining the conversation with Angela and Becca.   

 

 

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Once again, we’re doing something fun for this interview. The name of each person who enters a comment will be put into the drawing for the unique “Wilbur and Orville 1903” Propeller pen, hand-crafted by my friend and colleague Steve Hooley. Steve has made several of these pens to celebrate the release of my latest novel, Lacey’s Star: A Lady Pilot-in-Command Novel, and I couldn’t be more honored. The pen is made from Ash, one of the woods the Wright brothers used to build their first aircraft. So join the conversation and earn a chance to win. I’ll post the name of the winner after 9 PM Central Time tomorrow night.

(Previous 2024 winners are not eligible to win.)

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Welcome back to the Craft of Writing blog, Angela and Becca, and thank you for joining us!

 

What part does emotion play in novel writing?

In some ways, emotion is the novel, because the words we choose will steer readers toward what we want them to feel. Is the noise emanating from that dark room a sing-song hum, a melody whispered to a child at bedtime? Or is it a slow, heavy scrape, conjuring the image of a monstrous axe blade being dragged across the floor? As the writer, we choose what we intend readers to feel, and shape our description accordingly. When we do this well, reading becomes an immersive, powerful experience.

To ensure readers are drawn in, though, we must make sure they emotionally connect to our characters first and foremost. We do this by revealing their human layers as they navigate the world around them, showing how they feel, what they need, want, fear, and think. When we do this well, readers connect to our characters because life is an emotional journey, and they find common ground. When we show what’s going on within a character, readers come to see them as someone real. They begin to empathize and become invested in what happens next.

The Emotion Thesaurus is a very popular writing book. Why did you decide to write it, and when was it first published? Have you added to the thesaurus over the years?

The Emotion Thesaurus was basically born from necessity. As a new fiction writer, I noticed my characters were always shrugging, smiling, and shuffling their feet. I didn’t seem to know any other way to convey those feelings. Meanwhile, Angela’s characters were constantly shaking their heads. There was no resource out there to help us find new ways to express emotions, so we started making lists of possible cues for different feelings. And that’s how The Emotion Thesaurus got started.

When we started our blog in 2008, we decided to feature one emotion each week, and people just went wild. We were getting requests for specific emotions, and many people wanted their own copy of the whole collection in book form. So in 2012, we published it. And we released it again in 2019, expanding the thesaurus from 75 to 130 emotions and revamping the front matter to include more instructive content on how to show (not tell) character emotion.

Lately, you’ve been working on a complementary book, the Emotion Amplifier Thesaurus. Tell us about that one.

When Becca and I were exploring different entries for The Emotion Thesaurus, we discovered an adjacent topic – states and conditions that were not emotions themselves, but affected them, causing a person to become more emotionally reactive (so perfect for storytelling). We gave them a name: Emotion Amplifiers.  Amplifiers are an added condition or situational burden that characters must cope with on top of everything else. They’re a challenge, conflict, and emotional destabilizer rolled into one, capable of causing physical, cognitive, and psychological discomfort. Best of all, because they can cause characters to lose control of their emotions, it paves the way for mistakes, poor judgment, and missteps, which is bad for the character, but great for the story!

Can you give us an example or two about how to use the Emotion Thesaurus and the Emotion Amplifier Thesaurus to improve our work?

The Emotion Thesaurus gives authors ideas on how to convey a character’s emotions in fresh ways that readers will instantly understand. Each emotion has a list of physical behaviors, internal sensations, and mental cues that are associated with that feeling so authors can browse the options and fine-tune them to fit their character.

Amplifiers, as Angela mentioned, are states that ramp up the character’s emotions. Pain, illness, exhaustion, intoxication—conditions like these destabilize the character, elevating their emotions and making them more likely to make a mistake, act rashly, or explode. So when you want a character to have a bigger reaction or dig themselves deeper into a hole, an amplifier will often do the trick. They’re also good for providing opportunities for personal growth, since each amplifier situation will generate a choice for the character: continue relying on ineffective methods to deal with what they’re facing, or try a healthier way?

Do you have plans for future craft of writing books?

We are always thinking about the next book – there are so many great topics we like to do a deep dive into to help writers use them more effectively in the story, because this is what helps their books rise above all the rest. We have not yet settled on the next one…it might be on fears, or character tropes and types, or something else. We tend to pick the topic we feel writers need the most help with because there’s not a lot of resources available.

Where can we find out more about you and your books?

The Bookstore page at our blog, Writers Helping Writers, contains information on all our books, including sample entries and purchasing information.

Thank you, Angela and Becca, for being with us today.

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Meet Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi

Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi are writing coaches, international speakers, and co-authors of the bestselling book, The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression (now an expanded second edition) and its many sequels. Their books are available in nine languages, are sourced by universities, recommended by agents and editors, and are used by novelists, screenwriters, and psychologists around the world. To date, this series has sold over 1.2 million copies.

Long-time writing partners, Angela and Becca are passionate about helping others, especially writers. To this end, they co-founded Writers Helping Writers, a popular description hub for writers, and One Stop for Writers, an innovative creativity portal for one-of-a-kind tools that give writers exactly what they need to craft unbelievably rich stories and characters.

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Cassie Deakin is a talented private pilot, but she finds herself on an emotional roller coaster when she teams up with Deputy Frank White to hunt for a murderer.

Buy on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Google Play, or Apple Books.

 

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THE CRAFT OF WRITING — APRIL 2024

Posted on by 24 comments

This year the CRAFT OF WRITING blog is focusing on Aspects of the Novel, such as Plot, Dialogue, Characterization, etc. We’ve had some great discussions so far, including James Scott Bell on Voice, DiAnn Mills on Plotting, and Debbie Burke on Antagonists. If you missed any of these, go to kaydibianca.com/blog and choose the post you want to revisit.

This month, I’m excited to welcome back Randy Ingermanson, award-winning novelist and craft of writing expert.  Randy’s Advanced Fiction Writing books make him the perfect guest to talk about the subject of Scene.

So buckle up and let’s get ready to write a dynamite scene!

 

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Once again, we’re doing something fun for this interview. The name of each person who enters a comment will be put into the drawing for the unique “Wilbur and Orville 1903” Propeller pen, hand-crafted by my friend and colleague Steve Hooley. The pen is made from Ash, one of the woods the Wright brothers used to build their first aircraft. So join the conversation and earn a chance to win. I’ll post the name of the winner after 9 PM Central Time tomorrow night, so be sure to check back to see if you won.

(Previous 2024 winners are not eligible to win.)

 

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Welcome back to the Craft of Writing blog, Randy, and thank you for joining us!

Hi Kay, thanks for having me back on your blog.

 

You wrote a very popular book entitled How to Write a Novel Using the Snowflake Method. Why did you feel it was necessary to follow that one with How to Write a Dynamite Scene Using the Snowflake Method?

Because they cover very different topics. The book on the Snowflake Method teaches you how to design your novel before you write it. It’s a book on strategic thinking. Big-picture stuff. In Step 9 of the Snowflake Method, you plan each scene of your novel. But how do you do that? It doesn’t come naturally to most writers. So I realized I needed a whole book just to explain how to do that in detail.

The book on writing a Dynamite Scene teaches you how to write one good scene, which is typically 1000 to 3000 words. This is crucial because a scene is the fundamental unit of fiction. You write your novel as a sequence of scenes. A typical novel is anywhere from 50 to 200 scenes. So this is middle-picture stuff.

The important thing to understand is that if you can write one great scene, you can write a hundred. And that’s a novel.

 

You say a book should be an emotional experience for the reader, and you define two essential parts of story that create that experience. Please explain what they are.

A story is characters in conflict. Both are essential. If you’ve got no characters, you have no story. If you’ve got no conflict, you have no story.

But there’s more to it than that. Not all characters are equally good. You must have a character your reader can root for—or root against. If the reader doesn’t care deeply about whether your character wins or loses, then the book isn’t going to stay open very long. It’s going on the shelf and it won’t get a second look.

And not all conflict is created equal either. There’s blah conflict, and then there’s a crucible. You want your character in a crucible, because a crucible shows the reader what your character is made of.

There’s a secret to writing crucible-level conflict that kidnaps your reader right into the storyworld, where they don’t want to leave. Actually, there are two secrets. If you know those two secrets, you can write a dynamite scene about anything. Anything. And your reader will love it.

 

You also say every scene in a book is a miniature story. Explain that.

Every scene in your book needs to work as a short story. Every single scene. It must have a viewpoint character that the reader can root for (or root against). And it must have a single conflict that gets resolved by the end of the scene.

If you have even one scene that doesn’t work as a story, you’re going to lose readers at that scene. They’ll put the book down. And they’re done with that book.

So you need every scene in your novel to be pulling its weight. If a scene doesn’t work, then you have some options. You can kill the scene—just shoot it right in the head and throw its carcass to the wolves. Or you can fix the scene—figure out why it’s broken and solve the problem.

I have killed a few scenes in my life, but 95% of all scenes can be fixed. If you know how. And my book shows you how. One of the main reasons I wrote my book is to teach authors how to diagnose and fix a busted scene. (And also how to recognize a scene that works so you can leave it alone.)

 

In your book, you define two types of scenes: Proactive and Reactive. Can you describe each one? Why is it important to have both?

I invented the terms “Proactive Scene” and “Reactive Scene” about 15 years ago, because there just wasn’t good terminology for them. Words have power, because they give you analytic tools. If you know that there are only two basic structures for scenes, then your first question when editing every scene should be: “Is this a Proactive Scene or a Reactive Scene?”

Here’s how you tell the difference:

A Proactive Scene begins with a goal—some sort of short-term objective which the lead character could plausibly achieve by the end of the scene. But it’s a hard goal, and obstacles leap in front of the lead character to block them from reaching their goal. Most scenes have several obstacles. Then at the end of the scene, just as the lead character is about to reach their goal, something goes wrong. And the Proactive Scene is over. That’s it—a goal, some conflict, and a setback.

A Reactive Scene usually follows a Proactive Scene. The lead character is shocked by the setback of the previous scene. Now what are they going to do? They experience intense emotions, and the reader experiences those with the character. But now something has to be done. And there are no good options. The lead character has only bad options. A dilemma. The lead character sweats for a bit, mulling all the bad options. And finally settles on the least-bad option. It’s not great, but it could plausibly work. And now the Reactive Scene is over. That’s all it is—an emotive reaction, an intellectual dilemma, and a decision.

Please note that not all Proactive Scenes are followed by Reactive Scenes. Sometimes the next step is pretty obvious, and you can go from one Proactive Scene to the next to the next. You use a Reactive Scene when the next step is NOT obvious.

 

Does every scene need a POV character?

Yes.

I’m tempted to leave it at that, but maybe a little explanation is in order. Almost nothing in the universe is obviously good or bad, all by itself. Explosions happen. Rain falls. Babies are born. Explosions are good if it’s the Death Star and you’re Luke Skywalker; they’re bad if it’s your car exploding with your kids in it. Rain is good if you’re in the middle of a drought; it’s bad if you’re caught in a hurricane. A baby is good if it’s your long-awaited child; it’s bad if it’s Baby Hitler.

Stuff happens in every scene. How is your reader to know if that stuff is good or bad? That’s simple. You give your reader a yardstick to measure goodness or badness. The yardstick is called a point-of-view character. You put your reader inside the skin of that POV character for that scene. Your reader experiences the story through the eyes and ears of the POV character.

Please note that your reader doesn’t have to LIKE your POV character. A villain or a hero make equally good POV characters. But here’s the thing. Whether your reader likes the POV character or hates them, your reader has a yardstick.

If your reader likes the POV character, then everything that is good for that character is classified as “good” by your reader. Ditto for bad.

If your reader hates the POV character, then it’s the reverse. Anything good for that character is classified as “bad” by your reader.

So the POV character tells your reader how to feel about what’s happening in the scene. And that’s the whole point of fiction—to give your reader a powerful emotional experience.

 

What questions does an author need to ask him/herself about each scene to determine if it’s working?

I have several questions I ask every scene:

  • Is it a Proactive Scene or a Reactive Scene or is it neither?
  • If it’s Proactive, what is the goal, what’s the conflict, and what’s the setback?
  • If it’s Reactive, what is the emotive reaction, what’s the dilemma, and what’s the decision?
  • Does the scene move me emotionally, especially the final sentence?

I’ll be honest that about 70% of my scenes don’t work on the first try. That’s fine. The diagnostic questions above give me clues on how to make them work.

Remember that a scene doesn’t have to work on the first draft. It just needs to work on the last draft. And once you’ve got it working, stop messing with it. My old writing mentor Sol Stein used to warn against “disimproving” a scene, once it’s done.

 

What do you think is the biggest mistake authors make when constructing a scene? How can they fix the problems?

The biggest mistake is not making the scene pull its weight emotionally. But there are several reasons a scene might be failing. I’ve sketched them out above, but the solution is different in each case. Chapter 14 of my book is titled “Triage—How to Fix Your Broken Scenes”. The chapter is 11 pages long, and it’s very succinct. But I can’t make it shorter, which means it won’t fit here.

 

Where can we find out more about you and your writing?

Visit my website at www.AdvancedFictionWriting.com. I blog there when the spirit moves me. Also, the site has about 17 years of archives of the Advanced Fiction Writing E-zine that I published from 2005 through 2021. Most of it is still relevant, and readers are smart enough to know what isn’t.

 

Thank you, Randy, for being with us today.

Thanks for having me, Kay!

***

 

Meet Randy Ingermanson

 

Randy Ingermanson wants to teach you how to write excellent fiction.

He’s been teaching for over twenty years, and he’s known around the world as “the Snowflake Guy” in honor of his wildly popular Snowflake Method of writing a novel.

Randy is an award-winning novelist and published the free monthly Advanced Fiction Writing E-zine for 17 years before moving on to other things. He says that “Fiction Writing = Organization + Craft + Marketing,” so he focused on those three topics in his e-zine.

He now blogs when the spirit moves him. He is trying to get the spirit to move him weekly, but the spirit gets touchy about schedules.

Randy lives in the Pacific Northwest and worked for many years as a manservant to a number of surly and demanding cats. The cats have all moved on to a better world, but Randy has doggedly stayed in this one. Visit him at https://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/.

* * *

Private pilot Cassie Deakin flies through scene after scene of mystery to track down a killer. Ebook on sale now for 99¢

Buy on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Google Play, or Apple Books.

 

THE CRAFT OF WRITING — MARCH 2024

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This year the CRAFT OF WRITING blog is focusing on Aspects of the Novel, such as Plot, Dialogue, Characterization, etc. In January, James Scott Bell walked us through a discussion of Voice, and last month DiAnn Mills gave us insight into Plotting.

This month, I’m excited to welcome my good friend and colleague Debbie Burke back to the blog. Debbie is the multi-award-winning novelist of the Tawny Lindholm Thrillers with Passion series.

When I learned that she was writing a craft book entitled The Villain’s Journey, I asked her to come on the blog and talk to us about Antagonists. Now this should be fun!

Incidentally, Debbie received a major honor recently when her latest novel, Deep Fake Double Down, was named one of the five fiction finalists for the national BookLife Prize of 2023. Congratulations, Debbie!

 

So get ready. It’s time to meet the bad guys.

* * *

Once again, we’re doing something fun for this interview. The name of each person who enters a comment will be put into the drawing for the unique “Wilbur and Orville 1903” Propeller pen, hand-crafted by my friend and colleague Steve Hooley. The pen is made from Ash, one of the woods the Wright brothers used to build their first aircraft. So join the conversation and earn a chance to win. I’ll post the name of the winner after 9 PM Central Time tomorrow night.

(Previous 2024 winners are not eligible to win.)

 

* * *

Welcome back to the Craft of Writing blog, Debbie, and thank you for joining us!

Kay, I’m happy to visit your terrific blog again and reconnect with your readers.

Last month, I was the lucky winner of Steve Hooley’s stunning propeller pen. The quality and beauty are fabulous. Thanks, Kay and Steve!

 

First off, what is an antagonist? Does the antagonist always have to be a person?

Merriam-Webster defines antagonist as: “one that contends with or opposes another : ADVERSARY, OPPONENT”

An antagonist is a character, situation, or event that stands in the way of the protagonist reaching his or her goal in the story. An antagonist can be a mass murderer bent on world domination; or someone as benign as a mom who says no when her teen daughter wants to stay out late with her boyfriend.

Villains are antagonists but antagonists are not necessarily villains.

To answer Kay’s question, the antagonist does NOT need to be a person.

Natural disasters offer great obstacles in fiction, e.g., tsunami, earthquake, wildfire, a meteor hurtling toward earth, or even a great white shark (Jaws).

Political upheaval and war inspired classics like Gone with the Wind, For Whom the Bell Tolls, and Dr. Zhivago.

Economic and social issues are antagonistic forces that drive great literature. Think of Charles Dickens, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and John Steinbeck.

Weather can serve as an antagonist. In my thriller, Dead Man’s Bluff, a hurricane knocks out power and causes flooding while the main characters are searching for a missing friend. Storm dangers could kill the heroes before the human villains in the story ever get a chance.

Epidemics make frightening antagonists because deadly disease can strike anyone. Examples are The Plague (Albert Camus), The Andromeda Strain (Michael Crichton), and Outbreak (Robin Cook).

In my sixth book, Flight to Forever, the pandemic is the antagonist that triggers all complications in the story.

 

What characteristics define a villain?

Villains come in many different flavors—liars, cheats, thieves, backstabbers, stalkers, bullies, psychopaths, killers, etc. That’s why they’re so much fun to write. Author Ruth Harris says, “There are more ways to be bad than there are to be good!”

I think all villains share two basic traits:

  1. They believe they are righteous and justified in their actions.
  2. They are willing to harm others to achieve their goals.

Villains can be brutal like Captain Bligh (Mutiny on the Bounty) or charming like the talented Mr. Ripley. Some are gutless cowards like Fredo Corleone who betrays his brother Michael in The Godfather Trilogy.

Michael himself starts as a war hero who wants to protect his father, Vito. Vito also began with righteous motives of defending his community against thugs. But both become ruthless villains who wield power and wealth to destroy enemies.

 

Does the antagonist have to be introduced early in the story? And does he/she have to be known to the reader as a villain?

In traditional mysteries, villains are generally not revealed until the end, although they usually appear earlier. Readers enjoy working along with the sleuth to solve the puzzle, putting clues together, narrowing down the suspects. The villain should be well disguised but hiding in plain sight, present enough in the story that the savvy reader might figure out his/her identity.

If, at the end, an author suddenly pulls a surprise villain out of thin air (the unknown Great Uncle Charlie who just arrived after three decades in Argentina), readers feel cheated because they didn’t have a chance to solve the crime themselves. An author has to play fair, or readers resent it.

In detective/police stories, solving a crime often means a long, painstaking investigation, following leads. Toward the end, they finally close in on the villain whose identity may not be known until s/he is arrested. That’s fair because of the nature of that genre.

Suspense and thrillers are a little different. The villain is often known immediately. The reader’s question changes from “Whodunnit?” to “How did they do it?” or “Are they going to get away with it?”

 

People love to hate the villain, but is it possible for readers to feel sympathy for or even attraction to the antagonist?

Oh, absolutely! To me, the best villains are the ones who feel like real people, not cartoons. They may have been abused or terribly scarred by someone or something in their past. A tragedy may have twisted them until they view life and other people in a skewed way. They may have experienced a loss they never recovered from.

A villain evokes sympathy when the reader thinks, “There but for the grace of God go I.”

The villain can also represent the secret, dark desires hidden deep in most people. The villain gets to do what we wish we could do if we weren’t restrained by consequences, the law, or moral beliefs.

 

How does a good writer approach creating the antagonist character? Are there exercises a writer can use to develop their villain-creating talents?

A technique I like to use is James Scott Bell’s voice journal. Let the antagonist write out their thoughts, feelings, and beliefs. What are their deepest, most secret desires? Give them the opportunity to express their frustration, anger, and hatred. Putting their emotions into words helps the author get inside their skin and understand why they feel their behavior is justified.

Interview the villain/antagonist. Ask questions. What is their background? How did their parents treat them? Were they bullied or abused? What early losses or failures scarred them?

Another Jim Bell tip: have villains argue their case before the jury that will decide their fate. What compelling arguments can they offer to save themselves from the death penalty?

 

Give us some examples of antagonists you thought were well-written.

I like antagonists who are self-aware and tormented. They feel they must do what they must do but are conflicted about it. Michael Corleone is a good example.

Memorable villains stand the test of time. I still remember reading A Tale of Two Cities in junior high school where Madame DeFarge knits her list of enemies. Her family’s destruction caused understandable, righteous anger. But revenge consumes her until she feels justified in punishing even innocent people who never harmed her family.

Anthony Hopkins created an unforgettable Hannibal Lecter in the movie version of Silence of the Lambs, but the book delves deeper into the psychology. Lecter burrowed inside people’s brains, knew their thoughts, and anticipated their behavior. Reading about that personal invasion felt enormously creepy.

 

Can you tell us the status of The Villain’s Journey? Do you have a publication date yet?

Thanks for asking about The Villain’s Journey. A bit of background: The Hero’s Journey (by Joseph Campbell) and The Writer’s Journey (by Christopher Vogler) are classic craft-of-writing books about how to create memorable protagonists. But, to my surprise, there wasn’t a corresponding book about villains. So I decided to write it.
Nonfiction is different from fiction because you don’t have to finish the book before submitting to an agent or publisher. Instead, you write a nonfiction book proposal. That is a lengthy, detailed outline of the idea, including sample chapters and a table of contents of topics you’ll cover.
To give you an idea of how much detail, my proposal for The Villain’s Journey is 30+ pages.
That proposal is now being reviewed by an agent. Please cross your fingers that he chooses to represent it!

Tell us more about you. Outside of writing, what other things are you interested in?

Since writing requires waaaay too much time sitting on my rear, I need to exercise often. Zumba is great because it’s a cardio and mental workout that helps concentration, balance, and coordination. Plus, it’s fun. Interestingly, zumba classmates are big supporters of my books.

Living in Montana, hiking is mandatory. I don’t go as far or as fast as I used to but being in nature is still the ideal combination of calming and energizing.

 

Where can we find out more about you and your work?

Please visit debbieburkewriter.com. There are sneak peeks of each book in my Tawny Lindholm Thriller series. They are available at Amazon and major retailers or support your favorite independent bookstore and ask them to order.

Every other Tuesday, you can find me at The Kill Zone (following Monday posts by my friend Kay). I also write about funny, interesting, or unusual news stories on True Crime Thursday.

Thank you, Debbie, for being with us today.

Kay, it’s always a pleasure to answer your wonderfully challenging questions!

 

* * *

 

Meet Debbie Burke

 

 Debbie Burke writes the Tawny Lindholm Thrillers with Passion series. She is a regular blogger at The Kill Zone, a popular website about crime writing. Her nonfiction articles have won journalism awards and appear in national and international publications. She is a founding member of Authors of the Flathead and helps to plan the annual Flathead River Writers Conference in Kalispell, Montana. Her greatest joy is mentoring young writers

 

THE CRAFT OF WRITING — FEBRUARY 2024

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This year the CRAFT OF WRITING blog is focusing on Aspects of the Novel, such as Plot, Dialogue, Characterization, etc. Last month James Scott Bell walked us through a discussion of Voice.

This month, I’m excited to welcome DiAnn Mills, a multi-award-winning novelist and craft of writing expert who will help us master that most important writing skill, Plotting. Here are a couple of her craft books.

So take out your notebooks and pens because we’re going to plot! (And don’t miss DiAnn’s bio at the end of the post.)

* * *

Once again, we’re doing something fun for this interview. The name of each person who enters a comment will be put into the drawing for the unique “Wilbur and Orville 1903” Propeller pen, hand-crafted by my friend and colleague Steve Hooley. Steve has made several of these pens to celebrate the release of my latest novel, Lacey’s Star: A Lady Pilot-in-Command Novel, and I couldn’t be more honored. The pen is made from Ash, one of the woods the Wright brothers used to build their first aircraft. So join the conversation and earn a chance to win. I’ll post the name of the winner after 9 PM Central Time tomorrow night.

(Previous 2024 winners are not eligible to win.)

* * *

Welcome to the Craft of Writing blog, DiAnn, and thank you for joining us!

I’m honored to be here. What fun to talk about the craft of writing. Not everyone speaks our language, so this is fun. As a writer, we are always looking for ways to improve our craft. I’m right there with you by reading and rereading the how-to blogs, articles, and books.

How would you define “plot?” How is a plot different from a story?

Plot is the map a character uses to solve a problem or reach a goal. Each scene contains a specific goal that moves the character forward.

The story is everything that happens to the POV characters on the journey to solve a problem or reach a goal. On that journey, character, plot, emotion, setting, dialogue, and other literary techniques show character growth and change.

Another way to look at the difference between plot and story is this: Plot is the scavenger hunt; story is the people and obstacles, victories and defeats that are encountered along the way.

I have read that plot is the one aspect of writing that authors are most afraid of. Why do you think writers are worried about their ability to produce a good plot?

I think that goes back to technique or how-to. Some writers are seat of the pant or discover writers, often called pansters. Other writers are careful outliners. While others are a hybrid. For the record, I’m the discovery writer.

I use a four-question approach. Before writing each scene, I ask myself the following:

  1. What is the POV character’s goal or problem to solve in this scene?
  2. What new information does the POV character learn?
  3. What backstory is revealed. *Note avoid backstory is the first approximately 50 pages of the novel. This is where the character is “dating” the reader. The story needs to move forward and show the character’s worth to the reader. We’re looking at the reader spending hours with this character. Another caution is to avoid weaknesses and flaws in the POV character for approximately 50 pages – for the same reason.
  4. How are the stakes raised?

The scene is the action. After the scene or a series of scenes, comes an internal reaction resulting from what’s happened in the scene or scenes. This ensures the following:

External – Goal, Conflict, High Stakes

Internal – Reaction, Dilemma, Decision. This is always, always short.

How has the development of a good plot changed over the years? How is it different now than it was a hundred years ago?

I’d say POV and the emphasis of deepening the experience for the character and thus the reader with credible emotions. This makes the plotter tighter/more focused.

What makes a good plot? Do you advise authors to write to specific plot points (e.g., inciting incident, first pinch point, dark night of the soul)?

This depends on the type of plotter and the method the writer’s brain functions. I’d like to emphasize that the writer must work according to how their brain processes and analyzes story. With that said, I write toward:

  1. The first open doorway which is 1/5 to ¼ of the way into the novel. This is where the POV character determines to go after the goal.
  2. Mid-point, I toss in a wrench. In other words, something about the plot changes the story.
  3. End of middle, the climax.
  4. Resolution

And I follow the 4 plot questions for each scene with a short narrative showing the internal reaction.

What role does emotion play in creating a plot?

Everything! Emotion is why a reader keeps turning pages. Characters, and so readers, must experience the 7 universal emotions throughout. surprise, fear, anger, sadness, disgust, happiness, and contempt.

What examples do you have of other authors who have written outstanding plots?

Jerry Jenkins, Charles Martin, Steven James, Hank Phillippi Ryan, David Baldacci, Markus Zusak, Lynette Eason – to name a few.

Are there exercises authors can do to develop their ability to create a good story?

Pray for direction.

Read. Read. Read.

Read the blogs, books, and articles about writing.

Read in your genre.

Read the bestsellers and use them as a textbook by underlining and taking notes.

Attend in person and online writing workshops and conferences.

Write. Write. Write.

Help other writers.

Repeat.

Tell us more about you. Outside of writing, what other things are you interested in?

Reading, cooking and baking, gardening, and spending time with family.

Where can we find out more about you and your work?

Here’s where you can learn more about me and connect with my social media platforms. https://diannmills.com

I love to hear from readers and writers! diann@diannmills.com

Thank you, DiAnn, for being with us today.

***

Meet DiAnn Mills

DiAnn Mills is a bestselling author who believes her readers should expect an adventure. She weaves memorable characters with unpredictable plots to create action-packed, suspense-filled novels. DiAnn believes every breath of life is someone’s story, so why not capture those moments and create a thrilling adventure?

Her titles have appeared on the CBA and ECPA bestseller lists; won two Christy Awards, the Golden Scroll, Inspirational Readers’ Choice, and Carol award contests.

DiAnn is a founding board member of the American Christian Fiction Writers, an active member of the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers, Advanced Writers and Speakers Association, Mystery Writers of America, the Jerry Jenkins Writers Guild, Sisters in Crime, and International Thriller Writers. DiAnn continues her passion of helping other writers be successful. She speaks to various groups and teaches writing workshops around the country.

DiAnn has been termed a coffee snob and roasts her own coffee beans. She’s an avid reader, loves to cook, and believes her grandchildren are the smartest kids in the universe. She and her husband live in sunny Houston, Texas.

Learn about all of DiAnn’s books and connect with DiAnn@diannmills.com.

THE CRAFT OF WRITING — JANUARY 2024

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I’m excited to begin a new year on the CRAFT OF WRITING blog by focusing on Aspects of the Novel. We’ll be looking at many different facets of novel writing such as Dialogue, Plotting, Characterization, and more. I’m doubly excited today because this month’s guest is an expert who will help us understand one of these puzzle pieces.

James Scott Bell has written many books on the craft of writing. He has also taught courses, and my inspiration for this year’s focus came when I was listening to his How to Write Best-selling Fiction course on Audible. When I asked Jim if he would be my guest, he agreed and chose to address the subject of Voice in writing.

So take out your notebooks and pens because we’re going to learn about that most elusive feature of novel writing, Voice, from one of the masters.

* * *

Once again, we’re doing something fun for this interview. The name of each person who enters a comment will be put into the drawing for the unique “Wilbur and Orville 1903” Propeller pen, hand-crafted by my friend and colleague Steve Hooley. The pen is made from Ash, one of the woods the Wright brothers used to build their first aircraft. So join the conversation and earn a chance to win. I’ll post the name of the winner after 9 PM Central Time tomorrow night.

(We’re starting a brand new year, so former winners are eligible to enter.)

* * *

Welcome back to the Craft of Writing blog, James Scott Bell, and thank you for joining us!

 Always a pleasure, Kay.

“Voice” is one of those terms that’s hard for authors to understand. How do you define “Voice?”

People always talk about an author’s voice, but never seem able to define it. Over the years I’ve heard it described as:

A combination of character, setting, page turning.

A distinctive style, like a Sergio Leone film.

It’s who you are.

Personality on the page.

It’s something written from your deepest truth.

And so on. I finally decided to sit down and do some thinking and studying, and see if I could figure it out. Eventually I came up with a three-pronged definition (using the letters CAP): CHARACTER background and language filtered through the AUTHOR’S heart, and rendered with craft on the PAGE = VOICE.

What I mean is that in fiction voice is not the author’s voice alone; it actually starts with character (if you’re being true to the story) and the author adds his or her own passionate interest in the tale and, using the tools of craft, makes it all happen for the reader on the page.

How does an author go about developing his/her own voice?

It’s really a matter of learning ways to let the voice run free. Let it come out naturally as you, the author, are concentrating on the emotion and action and internal lives of the characters. There are various exercises I give in my book on voice, such as the page-long sentence. When I come to a place of high emotion in a scene, I like to start a fresh document and write a single, run-on sentence of at least 200 words. It is free-form, wild text in the character’s voice, not thinking about grammar or structure. It’s just pouring out the emotion as fast and intensely as possible.

What happens inevitably, like panning for gold, is you get a few glistening nuggets. It may even be only one sentence, but that sentence will be choice.

There are other methods, but the great point is that doing this begins to develop a strong “voice muscle” in your writer’s brain, and you get better and better at it the more you exercise it.

What role does a character’s attitude play in voice?

I always stress that a character should have some sort of attitude, some unique way of looking at things, based on the backstory and needs of the plot. I always start out with a voice journal, where I do an interview with the character, letting the character talk back to me until I discern a voice that is not my own, but the character’s. I’ll prod with questions about the character’s philosophy of life, what things in their background happened to make them think this way, and so on.  What gets them worked up?

Should an author consider writing in first- or third-person when trying to develop their voice?

It doesn’t matter. If you’re writing in the way my definition suggests, you can do it in Third or First. We always think of First Person as more intimate, but you can achieve the same effect in Third. One way to show yourself how is to take any scene you’ve done in Third and rewrite it in First…then change it back again, keeping as much of the language as possible. Elmore Leonard was a master of Third Person sounding like First.

I love the character Mike Romeo in your series. How did you go about developing Mike’s voice? (And are you working on another Romeo book now?)

Mike’s voice developed using techniques I’ve described. A voice journal, a backstory, and my own heart commitment to the stories, the things I’m most interested in, like justice. I’ve always loved Chandler’s Philip Marlowe, who could say things with just the right snap, on the spot. The nice thing about writing is you can take your time to craft the perfect thing for your character to say…unlike yourself at a party, going home and thinking, “Ah! I should have said…”

What examples do you have of other authors who have developed great voice?

The aforementioned Chandler, Michael Connelly, Harlan Coben (wry humor). But take your pick from literature. Dickens, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Thomas Wolfe. The books that stay with us have voice.

Are there exercises authors can do to develop their voice?

Write poetry. (It doesn’t have to be good poetry, just expressive in a way that stretches your style.)

The page-long sentence.

Write like you’re in love. (Later, edit like you’re in charge.)

Improvise the character’s voice…out loud. (Best to do this at home.)

 

Thank you, Jim, for being with us today.

Write on.

***

Meet James Scott Bell

 

James Scott Bell is a winner of the International Thriller Writers Award and the author of the #1 bestseller for writers, Plot & Structure (Writer’s Digest Books). His thrillers include Romeo’s Rules, Romeo’s Way and Romeo’s Hammer (the Mike Romeo thriller series); Try Dying, Try Darkness and Try Fear (the Ty Buchanan legal thriller series); and stand-alones including Your Son Is Alive and Final Witness (which won the first Christy Award for Suspense). He served as the fiction columnist for Writer’s Digest magazine and has written several popular writing books, including Just Write, Conflict & Suspense, and The Art of War for Writers (all from Writer’s Digest Books). He’s also published How to Write Dazzling Dialogue, Write Your Novel From the Middle, Super Structure, and How to Make a Living as a Writer.

THE CRAFT OF WRITING — DECEMBER 2023

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HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

As we come to the end of another year, I want to express my sincere thanks to all the authors whom I interviewed in 2023. Their wisdom and experience light the way for the rest of us.

I also want to thank all the readers who visited the blog this year, and I’m especially grateful to those of you who have added your voices to the Craft of Writing posts. You honor us with your participation.

And I offer very special thanks to my friend and colleague Steve Hooley. Steve has made all the pens that we gave away this year, and the quality of his work never ceases to astound me.

* * *

Today is “Name Your Favorite Book(s) Day!”

Leave a comment below with the titles of the book or books you love, and your name will be entered into the drawing for a signed copy of Lacey’s Star and the special “Wilbur and Orville 1903 Mahogany” propeller pen that Steve made.

Everyone will be eligible to win, even if you won a pen before. (I’ll post the name of the winner by 9:00 p.m. on Tuesday, December 19.)

* * *

Best wishes to you all for a joyous holiday season and a wonderful and productive 2024.

Now it’s over to you. Name your favorite book(s) and tell us why you love them.

THE CRAFT OF WRITING — NOVEMBER 2023

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I’m excited to continue this year on the CRAFT OF WRITING blog by focusing on authors who write series. This month, I welcome the effervescent Chautona Havig.  Chautona has written over a hundred books in several series and hosts a popular podcast as well! I don’t know where she gets the energy, but I’m glad she’s with us today to talk about writing the series.

Here are just a few of Chautona’s books. Click the image to go to her website.

How did she write more than 100 books? An interview with Chautona Havig and a chance to win a hand-crafted Beginning of Time pen. Share on X

* * *

Once again, we’re doing something fun for this interview. The name of each person who enters a comment will be put into the drawing for a unique “Beginning of Time” pen, hand-crafted by my friend and colleague Steve Hooley. So join the conversation and earn a chance to win. I’ll leave the contest open for an extra day for folks who comment later, and I’ll post the name of the winner after 9PM Central Time tomorrow (Tuesday, Nov 14) night.

(Former winners are excluded from the drawing, but not from commenting!)

* * *

Welcome to the Craft of Writing blog, Chautona Havig, and thank you for joining us!

Thank you for having me! I always love a good chat with you.

 

When did you decide you wanted to be a writer, and what was your first published work?

I remember “the moment” quite distinctly. I was twelve and living in Ventura, California. Mom gave me a copy of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and told me I might want to read it.  I did.  And the teacher in that book—the one who Francie lied to about the little pie she took home—answered so many problems I had. She counseled Francie and then said, “Tell the truth. Write what should have happened.”

I can’t recall if it was 2007 or 2009, but my first book published was Noble Pursuits.  I was testing out the whole indie publishing thing to help me decide if I wanted to go traditional or not. I took a lot of bad advice with that book, made tons of mistakes.  Eventually, however, I unpublished it, rewrote it, and republished it as Oh, Gracious!

 

What was your first series, and why did you decide to write it?

The first series I wrote was the Aggie’s Inheritance series.  The first book, Ready or Not, was actually the first book I wrote.  I was still working on it when I published Noble Pursuits.  I started writing after another frustrating day with people walking up to me (I had eight kids at the time) and saying, “How do you do it all?  I can barely manage with my one or two!” And I kept saying, “But I didn’t get eight all at once. I barely managed with one or two also.  Barely managed with three, five, and then eventually nine. But I have a writer’s brain, and one day I thought, “But what would happen if someone got eight kids all at once?  What if she was single?  What if she doesn’t know a lot about kids?  What if her sister’s mother-in-law keeps interfering?  And well… four 120k-word books later…

 

Can you tell us about the other series you’ve written?

Soooo many series.  I’ll just throw out a few and a one-line snippet, okay?

The Annals of Wynnewood:  historical fantasy (13th Century) in England about a girl, the village that is terrified of her, and the boy who takes a chance on being her friend (middle-grade).

The Hartfield Mysteries: A horror/thriller author lives an eccentric life in an idyllic, Mayberry-like town where murder strikes over… and over…

The Agency Files: If you need protection, The Agency’s got your back—even against all odds. (suspense/romantic suspense)

The Meddlin’ Madeline Mysteries: If Miss Marple were fifty-years younger and had the observation skills of Patrick Jane (from the Mentalist), you’d have Madeline Brown.  It’s the slow birth of a detective and how that might look (historical circa 1900).

Bookstrings:    With the slow demise of independent bookstores, Milton Coleridge takes his expertise in saving businesses and helps bookstores survive and thrive… with a tiny bit of matchmaking on the side. (General)

And half a dozen or so more series.  Maybe a dozen.  *whistles*

 

How do you approach writing a book? Are you a plotter or a pantser?

My writing style totally depends on the book, how fast I have to write it, and the genre.  Naturally I’m mostly a pantser. I love to just start writing and see where the story takes me. I used to say that I felt like a transcriptionist for a story I didn’t know until I wrote it. That’s really not true. Clearly, my subconscious has a plan.  But whatever.

Most often, I think of an idea and while driving, I talk it through. I used to use a voice recording app or recorder, but now I use my Ottr app on my phone. It transcribes everything as I talk it through. My goal is to know the hook (first sentence/paragraph/page), the inciting event (what kicks the story into action), the midpoint death (whatever “dies” in the middle—loss of a job, a friendship, a hope or dream, or even a person), the climax (the big tense scene near the end), and then the denouement (the resolution).  Then I tend to make a huge list of scene ideas. I may or may not ever use them.  I just begin writing and if I can’t decide the best way to go or if I’m tired and don’t want to think, I scan that list and go.

Mysteries, however, I tend to plan out more but even that, it’s a reference rather than a true plan.  No matter how tightly I try to outline and plot stuff out, I always deviate—a lot.

 

How do you handle the situation where a reader jumps into the middle of a series without reading the first book?

Um… recommend they don’t?  My books and series are very layered. While you USUALLY can jump into the middle and be okay, you’ll miss a lot of layered nuances and backstory that I don’t rehash in each one.

I’ve had readers email me asking if the book they got free can be read out of order, and I usually send them a review copy of the first in the series because I want them to have the best reading experience. I get why authors write almost “stand alones” in series to help readers be able to jump in anywhere, but I really love a good layered series, and I can’t do that well without them needing to build upon the last.

 

What advice would you give an author who’s considering writing a series?

Write down every single thing you can as it happens.  If in book one she hates coffee, write that down.  Review in book two. And three. And four. Or in book five, she’ll be swigging five cups a day and telling her friends she’s been addicted since she was eight.  Write down the name of the bookstore they go to, the car they drive, the childhood story they told.  Review it all with each new book. Trust me. You won’t regret it when it comes time to write the next books.

And then you won’t realize in book eight that your series has a Jarod Kennett, a Justine, a Josi, and a Jessie…  Yeah. Not that this happened to me or anything.

 

I loved being interviewed on your “Because Fiction” podcast. Please tell my blog audience about the podcast and how they can find it.

Because Fiction looks at all things Christian fiction—books, authors, genres, you name it. I have a lot of interviews with authors, indie, traditional, debut, and everything in between. I don’t limit my interviews to any specific subgenres. It just must be Christian.  You can find us on most if not all apps as Because Fiction Podcast or go to the website at becausefictionpodcast.com

 

Where can we find out more about you and your work?

The best place to find me is my website, Chautona.com There you’ll find my books, the podcast, blog posts—all kinds of stuff. Feel free to email anytime. I used to promise to get back to you quickly. Now I just promise I’ll get there eventually.  To keep up with the many sales I have (with over a hundred books, there are a lot of sales!), the giveaways I do, and all that stuff, I recommend getting my newsletter at Chautona.com/news. Here’s a hint.  Feel free to delete any author’s newsletter if you’re just not in a place to read it that day. There will be another one.  No stress. Or unsubscribe if you discover you aren’t interested. We get it. Life is full of choices, and one less choice to make is a blessing!

If you like to listen to folks chat about what they’re reading, what they want to be reading, and all things reader life, I also have a YouTube channel at youtube.com/chautonahavig. BookTube is a great community for readers, but I don’t limit my channel to just Christian fiction. It is, however, 95% clean reads (sometimes something sneaks up on me).

 

Thank you, Chautona, for being with us today.

Again, thanks for having me. This was fun!

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Meet Chautona

Using story to connect readers with the Master Storyteller.

Chautona Havig lives in an oxymoron, escapes into imaginary worlds that look startlingly similar to ours, and writes the stories that emerge. An irrepressible optimist, Chautona sees everything through a kaleidoscope of It’s a Wonderful Life sprinkled with fairy tales. Find her at chautona.com and say howdy—if you can remember how to spell her name.

 

How did she write more than 100 books? An interview with Chautona Havig and a chance to win a hand-crafted Beginning of Time pen. Share on X

THE CRAFT OF WRITING — OCTOBER 2023

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I’m excited to continue this year on the CRAFT OF WRITING blog by focusing on authors who write series. We’ve had some wonderful guests so far this year, and this month’s guest, Linore Rose Burkard, is continuing that trend.

Linore has written many novels, including three series, and she has a wealth of information and advice for the rest of us. Here are the two books in her latest series:

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Once again, we’re doing something fun for this interview. The name of each person who enters a comment will be put into the drawing for a unique “Beginning of Time” pen, hand-crafted by my friend and colleague Steve Hooley. So join the conversation and earn a chance to win. I’ll post the name of the winner after 9PM Central Time tonight.

(Former winners are excluded from the drawing, but not from commenting!)

 

What happens when you combine Regency Romance with Time Travel? An interview with Linore Burkard about her series, and a chance to win the beautiful Beginning of Time pen. Share on X

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Welcome to the Craft of Writing blog, Linore, and thank you for joining us!

My pleasure, Kay, thanks for having me.

 

When did you start writing, and what was your first published work?

I started writing a novel at age 9, but after I’d written about 13 chapters, I realized I was basically copying (with me as the protagonist) the story from My Side of the Mountain, which I had read and just adored. Thus ended that project! (It’s not a bad idea for young writers to do this, though. All writing is good practice.) I didn’t return to novel writing until much later but dabbled in short stories and poems all through my teens and into college. It wasn’t until I had three of my five kids that I finally wrote my first novel, and in 2008 Harvest House picked it up after I’d self-published it. (Before the Season Ends). I had waited years for someone to write an Inspirational Regency and finally decided I’d have to do it myself. I’m honored to say, it was the first of its kind on the market.

 

What was your first series, and why did you decide to write it?

After Harvest House published the first book, to my delight, they asked if I had a sequel, and were open to me writing two, so I did. The Regency Trilogy, as we call it, was born. The takeaway from that is that you don’t always have to know in advance that you’re going to do a series, particularly in light-hearted romance.

 

Can you tell us about the other series you’ve written?

The YA/Suspense trilogy, The Pulse Effex Series, is about the aftermath in a grid-down world (when the electric grid goes down due to an electromagnetic pulse.). It shows how three teens and their very different families survive in this dark and scary world. It was a perfect way to show the difference between coping mechanisms and outcomes, for one family is very wealthy but non-religious; one is Christian, homeschoolers on a farmstead; and one is nominally religious, living in an apartment. The series is gritty and suspenseful, so I used my initials and last name (L.R. Burkard) instead of my full name in order to warn my readers. I didn’t want to horrify those expecting sweet historical romance!

Another trilogy, The Brides of Mayfair, is clean Regency romance, but not overtly Christian. With this series, I was trying to reach the secular audience of fans of the genre in the hope they’d go on to read my Christian books. Each of the brides’ stories are humorous and fun and I always try to hit all the earmarks of the true Regency.

My last series (Forever in Time) is Regency Time Travel Romance, and thus far has only two books. The second book, Forever Lovely, comes out on November 28! Like all my regencies, the emphasis is on good, clean fun but with the added element of time travel I was able to contrast the era with today’s life and culture in very humorous ways.

 

You’ve written both regency romance and suspense novels. How did you get interested in two such different genres? How does your approach to writing differ in each genre?

I really enjoyed reading Georgette Heyer, Emily Hendrickson, Marion Chesney, and other traditional (clean) Regency writers. I loved the era, the language, costume, atmosphere and the banter between heroes and heroines. But the books lacked the inspirational elements of Christian fiction, so I dove headlong into researching. Once I felt I’d mastered enough of it, I started my first novel, always striving to include all the fun and atmosphere that I enjoy so much myself, but with a Christian worldview.

As for the suspense trilogy, I had read an article about a space object that came within a hair of hitting the earth (in space terms, that is) and would have caused a massive EMP (electromagnetic pulse) that would have shut down the grid for large parts of the world. I wondered, what if it had hit? How would we survive? That started a wholly different type of research as I learned what would happen, how people might survive by preparing beforehand, but more than anything, I was struck by how many people would NOT be prepared. Really, I saw my book as a wake-up call to the church. Because it’s not science fiction—an EMP could happen, either from a space event, or a terrorists’ bomb or war, and most people are not ready. To write that series I had to dig in to my past as a teen, but I didn’t find that difficult. I was asked once how I wrote teens so well and I said it was due to never having grown up! (I was joking, but I suspect it’s true.) Readers interested in EMPs or the series can see more at https://www.linoreburkard.com/pulse-effex-trilogy

How do you handle the situation where a reader jumps into the middle of a series without reading the first book?

This is probably the trickiest part of writing sequels. The first chapter has to contain enough information to get them grounded in the story quickly while letting them know past events happened that brought us where we are. It’s a matter of interspersing little bits of the past while the narrator (protagonist) is still engaging with the present. If nothing else, this is why writing is an art and not a science. It must be done lightly enough not to befuddle or frustrate the new reader, while still acknowledging what’s happened for those who read the earlier book(s). (I like to think I did this particularly well in book two of the Pulse Effex, Resilience: Into the Dark. ) First chapters, in my opinion, are the most difficult to get right in any book, much less a sequel. They’re easy to write in the beginning, but when you go back after the writing’s done, the real work on them starts. If a writer doesn’t have to rewrite chapter one a dozen times, at least in part, I would question whether it is as effective as it should be.

What advice would you give an author who’s considering writing a series?

If you know at the outset you’ve got a series in mind, I would suggest writing a rough outline for each book.I can never stick to an outline myself, but many writers find them really helpful. It could be as simple as Book one: “EVENT HAPPENS. FALLOUT. THEN THIS HAPPENS. FALLOUT.FINALLY THIS HAPPENS. CRISIS. SOLUTION OR TRAGEDY. CLOSURE (resolution) but something must be left open-ended for book two to resolve. This is for a continuing series that begins with the same event. My Brides of Mayfair series are all stand-alone stories. The similarity is that each protagonist is a bride-to-be living in Mayfair, which is the posh center of Regency upper class life. This type of series is fluid in that you can add as many books as you wish without having to continue one long story. If you decide after writing book one to make it a continuing-story series, you need to find the person or persons whose story hasn’t been completely told. Side characters in book one often make great protagonists for later books.

What do you do when you’re not writing?

For me, the question is, how do I write while I’m doing so many other things? (ha!) My family has always come first , I homeschooled my five kids for more than two decades, plus we have a house and property that need a great deal of attention. I often cooked from scratch while our five kids were growing up, and so meal planning and preparing was a big time drain. These days, I make simpler meals, but with my husband retired, I feel busier than ever. I do Spanish lessons daily for fun to improve my fluency, and I love word games, jigsaw puzzles, and reading. We spend a lot of time at church and in church activities, and I’ll drop just about anything to catch Masterpiece Theater historical dramas! I also attend two monthly writers’ groups, one of which I’m president of.( I recommend all writers join a local group. Zoom meetings are good and well, but in-person meetings are the most helpful.)

Where can we find out more about you and your work?

On my website or through my newsletter, as I keep readers up to date on new books, what I’m working on, sales, and giveaways. Readers can sign up here: https://www.LinoreBurkard.com/newsletter. And you’ll get a flash fiction Regency short story when you join the list.  😊

Thank you, Linore, for being with us today.

Thanks for letting me talk writing. Unlike me, it’s a subject that never grows old!

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Meet Linore:

 

Linore Rose Burkard is a serious watcher of period films, a Janeite, and hopeless romantic. An award-winning author best known for Inspirational Regency Romance, her first novel (Before the Season Ends) opened the genre for the CBA. Besides historical romance, Linore writes contemporary suspense (The Pulse Effex Series, as L.R. Burkard), and contemporary romance. Linore has a magna cum laude English Lit. degree from CUNY which she earned while taking herself far too seriously. She now resides in Ohio with her husband and family, two cats, a Shorkie, and more teapots than any single human should possess!

What happens when you combine Regency Romance with Time Travel? An interview with Linore Burkard about her series, and a chance to win the beautiful Beginning of Time pen. Share on X

 

 

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