The Craft of Writing and Master Lists for Writers

With NaNoWriMo behind me and a manuscript far from finished, it's a good time before the worst of the holiday craziness hits, to check out a few writing craft books and polish up my prose. Writing craft books also make wonderful gifts for the writer in your life. :hint hint: lol

Today I'm sharing the latest craft book from my good friend Bryn Donovan.

Master Lists for Writers: Thesauruses, Plots, Character Traits, Names, and More


Write faster...write more! Master Lists for Writers makes “show, don’t tell” a lot easier and helps you figure out your story more quickly. In this book, you’ll find:

• lists of phrases for describing facial expressions, body language, gestures, physical appearance, and emotions

• 175 master plot ideas, including romance, high-stakes, family, and workplace stories

• lists of words for writing action scenes and love scenes

• inspiration for figuring out character traits and quirks, backstories, occupations, motivations, and goals

• lists for describing settings and writing dialogue

• lists of good character names for contemporary stories...plus medieval England, Regency England, Wild West, and WWII settings

• and more!

Whether you’re writing novels or short fiction, screenwriting, or any other kind of storytelling, Master Lists for Writers is a rich source of inspiration you’ll turn to again and again. This book contains adult language.

Grab your copy here:

AMZ: http://amzn.to/1RxjKGz

BN: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/master-lists-for-writers-bryn-donovan/1122835940

Sunday Writer's Corner - Adverbs

Today on Writer's Corner, I'd like to talk about adverbs. For those of you who aren't sure what an adverb is, here's a handy definition: Adverbs are used to modify verbs. They modify a verb by telling us when, where, in what way, how, or to what extent something is done. Adverbs are also used to modify adjectives and other adverbs. Often the adverb can be spotted by finding words ending in -ly in a sentence.


Examples:

She answered the question fastest. (to what extent)
He jogged yesterday. (when)
She jogged quickly. (when)
He stopped suddenly. (how)
They were extremely quiet. (in what manner)

But also there are adverbial phrases and clauses:

While I was waiting for Judy, I noticed your dog jump the fence.
I noticed your dog jump the fence while I was waiting for Judy. 

(Note the placement of the comma. When an adverbial phrase or clause is at the front of the sentence, a comma is needed. When it ends a sentence, no comma is needed.)

In the past no one questioned the use of adverbs and I'm sure you'll find them easily in novels published before 1980. The tendency today is removal of as many adverbs as you can find in your manuscript. I think this is at least partly due to the rising popularity with Deep POV.  But remember, rules are made to be broken, so if you slip and insert an adverb or two in your book, I don't think it will hurt your sales. It is your writing voice after all. Only you can determine which path to take, with or without adverbs. :)

So, did you spot all the adverbs and adverbial clauses and phrases in that last paragraph? Good work!

Until next time—
Cass

The Quick and Dirty Genre Reference for Writers

I recently discovered how many beginners don't know what genre or subgenre they're even writing, and it's not their fault. Subgenres are at the mercy of marketing. Whether you've thought about self-publishing your first ebook, or plan to send your manuscript to agents and editors, lines are blurring and new subgenres emerging. You'll need to know what genres and subgenres best fit your story in order to position your book for the most exposure possible.

So it was very neat when I learned that one of my friends had published a quick reference guide and made it available on Amazon. And at .99¢, it's a bargain! 


The Quick & Dirty Genre Reference For Writers
compiled by Adrianna Dane

You've written the book or are planning to write one. Defining the genre can be a task in and of itself. Here's a quick reference of genres and subgenres that I put together for my own reference and have found it's been helpful for others, too. Hopefully it will help you determine some of the standard genres as well as some of those that are newly emerging. It's a starting point, not a definitive reference.

Pick up your copy today!  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CXUDI7M

Sampling of headings for this title: http://www.adriannadane.com/genresandsubgenres.html

The Character Grill

Sometimes you have to play rough with your characters. You can’t be squeamish. You have to make them talk. And when they won’t, you have to teach them a lesson. Poke them. Prod them. Spank them. Whew. Getting hot in here, LOL.

But seriously, as a fiction writer you cannot afford to let your characters give you the silent treatment.
When they do, you have to sit them down in the hot seat, put a spotlight on them, and grill them.

I created a form I fill out for each character. Every line must be filled out on the form before I can proceed. They know that as well and sometimes fight me on each and every line. But I have techniques I am not afraid to use in order to get the answers I seek. It goes well beyond rank and serial number.

I will employ whatever means necessary to make them talk, and I am not above using Rod Stewart’s Maggie May or Leo Sayer’s You Make Me Feel Like Dancing at high decibels over and over and over.  ::grins and winces::

When I am done with them, earworms will be the least of their problems. The hero of my current wip is refusing to talk, to explain his motivations. He was shy at first, but he seemed to open up under the threat of my “writing” crop.

My form looks just like one you’d see at a doctor’s office, except it goes into more details of a…shall we say…private nature. ::wink::

No excuses. Everyone must fill out the form. Even secondary characters with only a brief walk-in part.

For other writers: Do you grill or interrogate your characters? What do you use to intimidate them into speaking?

For readers: Do you like to see authors run their characters through a virtual wringer?

*note* Once I figure out how to upload the character form into a clickable download for people, I'll try to post the link here as an update. If the internet should happen to break, it wasn't me. I hope. lol

The Idea Spark

I’m standing in the check-out line at the grocery, playing a little game. Maybe some of you have played it too. In front of me, there’s this guy–tall, dark hair, kind of muscular. Nice firm…umm, well you get the picture.

He’s working those biceps, lifting laundry detergent and milk jugs from the cart. Everything about him is laid open for all to see on the conveyor belt. Lots of pre-packaged meals and peanut butter, a loaf of multi-grain bread, sleeping tablets, manly deodorant, razor blades, and a bottle of wine–domestic white. Toilet paper, duct tape, soap, and a case of bottled water.

Sean, (I went ahead and named him) pushes the cart through and pulls out a wad of crumpled bills and a ton of change from the pockets of his low-cut jeans.

He has just enough for the bagged items. Almost to the penny. He pushes the cart one-handed, through the automatic doors and out of sight.

Based on his purchases I can surmise quite a bit about Sean. He’s single, has bills the paycheck never stretches far enough to cover, has trouble sleeping because of the money troubles, can’t cook, likes to eat and drink healthy, but doesn’t have the time for it since he’s always on the go, works out and cleans up nice after. Keeps a bottle of wine around for his girlfriend or a potential girlfriend.

But would I be right? Would the jumble of items paint a different picture if I placed a few of them in a different order?

Let’s see…white wine, sleeping tablets, duct tape, razor blades. Sounds a bit more sinister now, doesn’t it? Is Sean hero or villain?

The cash came directly from his pocket, not out of a wallet. No bulge in those jeans–well, at least not in the back. (LOL!) So no wallet. Maybe no driver’s license or identification–he’s paying cash, so he doesn’t need it anyway. Is he driving without a license? Or did he walk. He must live close.

What about those seemingly harmless items he bought? Placed together, they form an odd window into his world and into the world of a writer.

Imagination. This is where it starts. We see something and make comparisons and attachments, sometimes leaping over mountains of logic. We choose the solutions that seem to fit best, based on our own perceptions.

For writers, this means we’ve seen, heard, smelled, tasted or touched something that triggered a connection–integrated the intangible with the possible. The result is a concept or premise for a story.
I’ve played the game all my life. It can be applied to a person, place or thing. The spark for inspiration needs only a little fuel. Curiosity and excitement will fan the rest.

The spark for my novella, Cup of Fate, started with a photo and a request for help. A member in one of my personal interest groups wanted to find out the meanings of the symbols painted inside an old heirloom teacup.

On further inspection, I realized she had a vintage fortune telling teacup. Some of the symbols were clear enough. The significance behind the baby carriage and wedding ring were self evident–but what of the other strange markings?

As I tried to decipher the cup, I began to play the “what if” game. An entire scenario popped into my head. What if…a woman, new to the area, went yard sale shopping and found this teacup. What if the old woman who sold it to her offered to read her fortune.

Sounds like fun, right?

Ah…but what if the tea cup didn’t foretell the future, but instead sent the poor soul who drank from the cup to an alternate reality, her destination all based on obscure drawings inside the cup–and exactly where those loose tea leaves chose to rest?

Keeping a creative journal organizes all the what ifs and other observations you make each day into a format you can return to again and again–your own hidden stash of gold nuggets. Writer’s block doesn’t stand a chance against such a valuable ally.

Dreams can also be a potent spark to imagination. H.P. Lovecraft suffered from terrible nightmares. Someone suggested he write them down in a journal. This enabled him to have at least some sense of control over the dreams. Better still, it allowed Lovecraft to write stories that have entertained millions of readers and inspired many of today’s top paranormal and horror authors.

Whether terrifying, highly erotic, or laugh-out-loud funny, all dreams can be used to spark the creative juices.

If you have a blog, think back to some of the more memorable events you wrote about. See if there is a theme. Who knows, you just might have enough there to create your own nugget of a story idea.

Once you know how to look, you’ll find the place where your story starts. Even if it’s in the check-out lane of a grocery store.

Clean up on aisles two and three.

Now, I wonder what that’s about?

This article was previously posted at the late Midnight Moon Cafe blog in 2007. I've reposted it here since it was one of the most popular articles I wrote for beginning writers.

The Package Snatcher

My mind spins faster than a top. Sometimes I imagine I can hear the whirling sound of it’s motion in the air. LOL. Must be true of all writers, because I think each of us are born with that inquisitive gene. You know, the one that makes you ask what if.

Stories are born from those what ifs. You can be in line at the bank, the grocery, the movie theater, or in a coffee shop, and see something that suddenly begs for attention and leads our minds in a “Walter Mitty” direction.

The other day, I was at the post office. The line was practically out the door. And this really sweet guy held it for me and even offered to hold my packages. Pretty tame stuff. But it hit me. What if it wasn’t a nice gesture on his part? What if instead of standing there and chatting with me, he’d taken my packages and then ran off with them? What if he was a package snatcher?

Well, if he had, then my latest prize winner wouldn’t eventually get the book I sent. LOL. It’s cool, Kelley, your package got in the mail. :D

But still, it causes you to realize that everything we do in life has an effect, like dominoes. Chain reaction of cause and effect.

When we sit down to plot a skeletal framework for our stories, we have to play by the same rules as life. No matter if our novel is set 100 years into the future, or on another planet, or a contemporary set in the here and now. We all have to think about cause and effect.

If your heroine drinks four margaritas and follows it with three Long Island ice teas, odds are she’s going to be pretty wasted. At the least, she should wake up in the morning with a doozy of a hangover. And that will have an effect on the rest of her day. Side note: If she doesn’t have a hangover after all that booze, then I’m going to hate her. So not fair! LOL.

What I don’t like as a reader is when a book doesn’t follow it’s own rules, or tries to circumvent cause and effect. Or maybe I just agree with the bad guy in the Matrix movie. I dunno.
But I figure I’ll never stop asking what if. It’s too much fun! :D

What Makes A Hero?

As I sat musing about characters, I tried to define what makes a hero.

What do you think makes a hero great? Is it his body, his smile? Personality? Or maybe the way he interacts with the heroine?

Does he have flaws and do those make him seem more real? Maybe I should add a few quirks to his personality? Or give him something in his past, some tragedy he had to overcome?

All these thoughts ran through my head as I sat with pen and paper to “rough out” a hero. I like complex characters, so I start building them layer by layer, adding depth and flesh. Ooh, now I sound like Dr. Frankenstein, huh? LOL.

But in a way, authors are like that esteemed literary doctor. We take bits and pieces of what we’ve learned through our experiences and add touches of them to our handsome project. Maybe the quirk of a best friend, the special “moves” of an ex-lover, the sexy smile of a movie star, or the voice inflection of someone we once met. Then we combine those elements along with our imagination and create our hero, our imperfect but sexy and lovable man that will fall for our heroine.

So I ask you, what do you like to see in a hero and what makes a hero great?

When Setting Becomes A Character

Sometimes I get so involved in the setting of a story, in atmosphere, that the place becomes a main character. I try to curb the tendency and not detract from my hero and heroine, and yet…I enjoy reading books that develop the setting, using rich detail and ambiance to strengthen the plot and convey backstory.

The balance between setting as character and setting as, well…the backdrop against which my characters act, is a narrow crossing–at least for me.

In my very first short story, Cup of Fate, I wanted the farmhouse and the fantastical woods with their trees that bleed silver to come alive for the reader and become more than a simple location for dialogue and action, but a living, breathing persona.

Those trees in the silverwood were more than a mere forest, more than organic–they were sentient on a level we humans could not perceive.  They were a conduit for communication between our world and the alternate reality or alterrealm of Lugh’s world.

Being an erotic romance writer doesn’t mean skipping depth of plot or setting in order to get to the “good” stuff–the sex. To my way of thinking the entire book, including all the bits between the sex scenes, should be “good stuff” as well.

What do you think? When you read erotic romance, do you skip to get to the “good” parts, or do you linger over the story like one would a fine wine?

I think the mark of a good writer is the ability to lead the reader on a wonderful journey and to engage their imagination, and heighten all their senses.  I know that is what I want when I read a book. I want to disappear in the writer’s imagery, in the world they’ve created just for me.

I know that I want my readers to feel that same sense of excitement and surprise before the journey’s end and I strive for it with every story I write.