Upping the Stakes by Narrowing the Focus

Stakes are critical to any story, because without stakes, why should we care about what's going on. As interesting as Bob might be, if nothing he does matters he won't hold our interest for long. Even if he does mange to hold our interest, if nothing ever changes we get bored almost as fast. That's why it's so important to keep escalating the stakes in a story.

Finding the right balance for this can be tricky though.

You might be tempted to open with really high stakes. It makes sense since it's always good to start with the action, and you want to say, "Look how important this is!" But if you start off too high, there's nowhere to go.You can't raise the tension or make readers fear more because they're already as worried as they can be. Whether or not Bob fails by falling off a cliff or missing a critical rendezvous doesn't matter much if the results are the same. There's nothing more for him to lose.

Noteworthy Links: Lots of Books vs Author's Platform

The Creative Pen did an interesting post on whether it was better to write a lot of books, or build an author platform. There are pros and cons to both (isn't there always?) and I don't think there's a right or wrong answer here. For me, marketing has always been about doing what I enjoy doing, because there's no hard evidence that says what works. And like Joanna Penn (the author of the below post), I consider myself more than just an author. I enjoy the teaching side just as much and the writing.

What about you? What are your goals as a writer? Do you hope to also evolve into a speaker or teacher, or do you just want to write books and not worry so much about diversifying your skills?

I Quit: When to Give Up on a Novel

When it is time to call it quits with your manuscript?

Unless you're one of the rare lucky ones to sell the first book you ever wrote, you'll have that moment when you wonder if it's time to shove your baby in the trunk. I've had mine twice, since I re-wrote and re-submitted my first novel. The first time I decided it wasn't time to give up and slaved away another year. The second time, I knew it was over.

The 50 rejections made it pretty clear that the novel had problems, but what really convinced me was the nagging feeling I had that the book wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either. Good wasn't going to cut it. It was hard to admit that I had a decently written novel with an overdone plot. But I knew. Oh, I knew.

Still Want a Critique?

My second crit is up for auction now over at That Flighty Temptress. Although it doesn't mention it on the blog itself, this is the one that's for the Crits for Water campaign. You can bid on critiques and help bring fresh water to the people who desperately need it.

So, bid for a worthy cause and you can get a 2500 word critique from me, any genre, and market.  The auction is open to midnight tonight, EST.

Guest Author Gini Koch: Finding Your Voice

Gini Koch returns to How They Do It with what might be the best post on how to find your voice I've seen. I just love her exercises and suggestions here, and as someone who's tried something I'd never done before and found out that was my niche, I can attest to what she says here. You never know until you try.

Gini is the author of the funny sci fi series of books including  Touched by an Alien, Alien Tango, and the new release, Alien in the Family.

Finding Your Voice
There are a lot of definitions of author’s voice out there, and I’m sure they’re all correct. But I view voice as how your writing sounds when it’s read by a reader, either in their heads or aloud.

Every writer has a voice, and really good writers have distinct voices. It involves not only their structural decisions -- POV, 1st or 3rd, genre, etc. -- but how they choose to use the words they write.

I write under several pen names, in part because I’m writing in very different genres, but in bigger part because their writer’s voices sound different from each other. So, how do I do it? And, more importantly, how do YOU do it?

Spotlight: Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest

Do you love bad writing? Do you have fun crafting the worst lines you can? Do you wish someone would appreciate all your hard work to write something that bad? Then I have a contest for you.

The Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest is where the goal is to write the worst opening lines you can."It was a dark and story night" is kinda their motto, and the winning lines from past years are hysterical. (And awful, in that oh-so-good way) Don't believe me? Here's last year's winner:

Noteworthy Links: Query Shark. If You're Querying, Dive In

When I was first learning to write queries, I spent a lot of time reading critiques of them. At that time Miss Snark was the queen of query eviscerations, but these days Query Shark is the place to go. Query Shark is more of a site in general than just one link, but it's a fantastic tool for anyone struggling with a query. What it is is a bunch of queries that brave souls submit, and agent Janet Reid tells you what she thinks about them.

Not only do you get some great insight into how an agent reads your queries, you see what works and what doesn't, why "tell me what the story is about" is so important, and what a good query sounds like. And if you're brave enough, you can even submit one to her.

Your Better Half: What Happens When One POV is Better?

One of the hurdles of a dual POV is making sure readers like and care about both characters in the story. This is doubly hard if there’s conflict between them, but that conflict is something to be overcome, not the thing holding them back (as in, the second POV isn’t the bad guy). It’s not unusual for one POV to pull ahead of the other in these situations. One is more developed, more likable, more sympathetic. They just have more charisma than the other -- which creates a problem if you want readers to like them equally. What do you do when you know you have a “better half?”

What Do You Mean You Don’t Like Me?
I ran into this interesting problem last week. I was chugging along on the new book and I noticed that my male POV is a lot more likable than my female POV. There was a pretty good chance that readers would identify with him and feel negatively toward her. She’s not dislikable or anything, but when she was created she was a cool, calculated spy, and she comes across that way. That was fine when it was a one-person POV spy novel (cause she was kinda cool), but now that I’ve added the second POV and the romance angle, she needs to be warmer. She needs to be a good match for my male love interest.

I’m only six chapters in, so I had to decide whether or not to go back and edit her chapters, or move on. I decided to edit, because I wanted to get her right before I spent 80K words on her. I needed to get to know her softer side.

Spotlight: The Surrey International Writers' Conference

I first heard about The Surrey International Writers' Conference in early 2006 from my best bud and crit partner. She'd found it through a friend of a friend and thought it looked really cool and said we should go. It was far away, and a little bit pricey for me at that time, but it was a great excuse to visit a friend I didn't get to see often and attend my first real writers' conference.

That conference changed my life.  Seriously.

This is the conference that made me realize the novel I'd be submitting wasn't ever going to sell, and gave me the boot to the butt I needed to cast it aside and look in my files for that "fresh, original idea" all the presenters kept talking about all weekend.



The idea I found was The Shifter.  

I wrote the book, and the following year I went back to pitch it. That's where I met Kristin Nelson, told her all about my little book, and ten days later signed with her agency. Seven months later I had a three-book deal with Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins. To say I'm a Surrey success story is putting it mildly.

I can't say enough fabulous things about this conference, and if you're looking into one for this year, check them out.





Here are the details:
The Surrey International Writers' Conference is a three-day event, running from Friday, October 22nd through Sunday October 24th, 2010. Friday and Saturday are full days, and Sunday events wrap-up in the early afternoon.

Pre-Conference Master Classes will be held Thursday October 21st, 2010. While these classes are organized by the SiWC they are not part of the Conference. Master Classes are presented as an advanced study option and if you choose to, you can sign up for them when you register for the conference.

Opening Sessions
Each morning a keynote speaker talks about writing and the writing life, announcements are made, and the speakers for the day are introduced. It's a great way to start each conference day and to get a peek at our presenters faces, in case you 'bump into them' later in the hallways (or the bar)!

Workshops
Workshops are on a "first-come" basis ... you can attend any of the workshops on the day or days you are registered. Seating is generally ample although the most popular workshops do fill up quickly. Workshops generally run 1.5 hours; some are split into 2 parts for a total of 3 hours. Sunday workshops are slightly shorter. Don't forget our Nightowl sessions as well.

Editor/Agent Interviews
Various Editors and Agents will be available for 10-minute one-on-one appointments throughout the 3-day conference. Bring your work and be prepared for a short "pitch" of why you should be published or represented ... or prepare some questions. Appointment(s) are included in your registration fee. List your first choice(s) upon registration. You can make a second appointment at the conference, depending on availability.

Blue Pencil Cafe
Speakers will be available for 15-minute one-on-one appointments throughout the 3-day conference. This is your chance to ask a professional writer some questions. Lots of fun and very informal. For Blue Pencil, bring a maximum of the first three pages of your work (novel, short story, article, or poem) - make sure it's double-spaced in a legible font and size. Appointment(s) are included in your registration fee. List your first choice(s) upon registration. You can make a second appointment at the conference, depending on availability.

When:
October 21-23, 2011
Master classes October 20, 2011

Where:
The Sheraton Guildford Hotel
15269 104th Avenue
Surrey, British Columbia
 
Find out more on their website.

Noteworthy Links: A Prologue That Works. No, Really

Early last year agent Kristen Nelson did a post on prologues for one of her clients (Brooke Taylor's Undone, a great read by the way) that worked, and explained why it did. As many folks out there struggle with prologues, it might be fun to pop over and see one that grabbed not only an agent, but a publisher.

You'll see a lot of EGADS NO! advice on prologues, but I'm in the "write it if you want" category. There's nothing wrong with writing a prologue. Once it's written however, it's a very good idea to revisit it and decide if it was nothing more than you getting into the flow of your novel or if it really belongs there. Because usually, it was info you needed to get started, but now that you're done, it can go.

How do you feel about prologues as a writer? And how about as a reader?

Real Life Diagnostics: We Need to Talk: Bringing Out Emotions in Your Scene

Emotions are so important to a story, but sometimes it’s hard to know how far to go or whether or not the subtleties in our words are making it through to the reader. A brave volunteer submitted the following scene with these questions:

I always worry about getting emotions and relationships to shine through on the page. In the following scene, I want to quickly establish a romance between the two characters (one of them dies at the end of the chapter -- there's not a lot of time to string it out). How or where can I better bring out character emotions, character relationships, and reader sympathy? It's the first chapter from this POV, so I'm also trying to ground the reader in a new setting and culture as the scene plays out. In the scene, Ebrow's just finished showing off some fancy moves with his meteor-fist, an elite weapon.
As always, the goal here is to focus on the questions and find places where the text is strong in those areas, and offer potential ways to strengthen any weak areas as it pertains to those questions. My comments in purple:

The Long and Writing Road

Originally published during the Blue Fire blog tour at Tall Tales & Short Stories. 
 
So, what’s it like being a published author? you ask. Has my life changed any since I published my book?

Not as much as you’d think. There have been changes for sure, but more in the time management area than anything else. However, the first year did go differently than the second year. Not all of it was what I expected, and some of it I wished I’d been better prepared for.

Year One: Book One
What I Expected: Lots of edits from my brand new editor in the form of those “edit letters” I’d read about. Not a lot else, actually. I’d heard so much about how little authors are involved in the covers, the marketing, the business side, I wasn’t sure how much interaction I’d really have with my editor.

What I Got: A lot more attention and involvement. My edit letters (I got more than one) weren’t as bad as the stories I’d heard, and the suggestions were almost always dead on. They were similar to the critiques I get from my crit group in style and tone, so there were no “scary letter from my editor” or anything. I did the changes I agreed with, sent it back, thought I was done, then I’d get a “just a few more queries” e-mail with things she caught again. I also found it interesting that they refer to questions as “queries,” so I guess you never escape “query letters” (har har). My editor and I spoke on the phone, we e-mailed, we talked again. There was a strong sense of a partnership to make the book the best it could be.

Then came the copy edits. A post-it-apocalypse of notes and comments. All of them good, and very impressive from a proofreading standpoint. I was awed by what the copy editor caught. Things like consistency of terms, spots where the voice didn’t sound right, unclear areas, etc. Several rounds of these, same as the regular edits.

And during all this, I got to meet my publicity person from Harper (through e-mail and phone), who went over the marketing plans for the release. I got to fill out an author questionnaire to help them with their marketing efforts. I had taken an online marketing class to prepare for this, so I sent her what I’d done in class and she was thrilled. She asked me about local bookstores and events so she’d know what things to focus on.

My agent was also right there through it all, making sure I understood what everything meant and asking questions I hadn’t known to ask. She also kept me updated on marketing efforts, print runs, how the bookstores were reacting to the book. She definitely had my back the whole time.

What Surprised Me: The edits were done on hard copy. I fully expected it all to be electronic. I was also allowed to participate in my cover designs. My day job is as a graphic designer, so the cover was important to me. I asked to be included and my editor graciously said yes. I was also surprised by the sheer number of people working behind the scenes to make sure my book was as good as it could be. The biggest surprise though, was how much influence book buyers have. Two major chains in the US didn’t like my title (though they loved the book), so we changed the title. It makes sense now, but I wasn’t expecting that.

What I Wish I’d Known: Even though I took the marketing class, I wish I’d done more to prepare for that side of it. My publisher did a lot, but I feel like I missed a few opportunities here and there over that first year. It wasn’t until much later that I figured out a good pitch line to describe my book to folks who asked (and they do ask). Or had cards printed up so I had something to hand them when they did ask. Or a catchy “sales speak” tagline about my book to put on my website and marketing materials. I was still treating my book like a book, but by then, it had become a product that needed selling.

Year Two: Book Two
What I Expected: The same things that happened in book one. Every book goes through the same process, right? Book two would be as easy to write as book one, and everything would go just as smoothly.

What I Got: Second books are different on practically every level. They aren’t kidding about that second-book slump, where your second published novel is hard to write and makes you want to give up. There was also less hand holding. My editor was as attentive as before, and I didn’t feel neglected, but she knew I’d been though it and now I understood how things worked. And she knew how I worked and knew I wasn’t going to melt down if she had a lot of comments or wanted me to do any major revisions. The copy edits were the same, though we did a lot more of them since the book was such a mess at first.

I also was assigned a new publicity person. They don’t do as much marketing on second books because you already have a reader base from book one. So that meant a little more effort on my part.

They let me become even more involved in the cover design, and I got to create mock ups for the illustrator. The cover of Blue Fire is my concept, (so is the idea for book three) and illustrator Brandon Dorman did an amazing job with it. This meant so much to me as a designer.

What Surprised Me: How hard book two was. I’d written plenty of novels, so it wasn’t like it was a real second book. But trust me, the book you write under contract feels a lot differently. I was also surprised by the change in the marketing, though it made sense, because my first PR person dealt more with debut novels, and I was no longer a debut. The biggest surprise – how supportive everyone was about me missing my deadlines and struggling so much with the novel. They all knew this happens and they were right there helping me through it. The book would not be getting the great reviews it’s getting now if it weren’t for my editor and agent. They had the faith that I could do it when I didn’t. They pushed me to do better and made me realize I really could do this.

What I Wish I’d Known: How hard it was going to be. Don’t get me wrong, it was all worth it, but the pressure is a lot higher on a second book. You’re writing book two while book one is out there, and you’re checking sales figures and reading reviews, and promoting your work and that takes a lot of time and energy away from the writing. And most books aren’t a runaway bestseller out of the gate, so there’s that added worry that your book will fail, even when it’s getting good reviews. You feel like you need to do so much, but the more you do the more you wear yourself out. You need to pace yourself, take care of yourself so you can stay in for the long haul.

The Year Three: Book Three Plan
I’m better prepared now. I know what to expect on both sides, good and bad. I’ll schedule my time and efforts better so I’m not so overwhelmed. I’ll work on marketing efforts far enough in advance so I’m ready for opportunities and not rushing at the last minute to get everything done. I’ll take a more proactive hand in marking and promotion, but not let it take over so I’m not getting any writing done. I think I’ll be able to find that balance between life, day job, and writing so none of them suffer and I’m not a crazy person half the year.

At least that’s the plan...

ETA: Since this was first posted last year, and now book three is done, I thought it would be fun to see if I accomplished my book three plan.  I'm happy to say I pretty much did. Darkfall took a little longer than expected, and I needed to do two drafts before I was happy, but it was a much easier book to write overall. The hard stuff was tough only because it was wrapping up the series so there were a lot of things to tie up and keep track of. That required more tweaking on my part. I didn't balance life and writing as well as I'd hoped, but I did balance writing and marketing. 

Wanted: One Character Willing to Work With No Questions Asked

Molly Quinn, the perfect Aylinn

Originally published during the Blue Fire blog tour on Beth Revis's blog.

For a lot of writers, the character is what comes to them first. They hear this person’s voice in their head, dream about them, and then they find their story. For me, it’s different. I usually find the problem first, then find someone whose life I can make miserable.

Because of this, my characters rarely start a story fully developed. I usually only know the bare bones of their past, how they got to be where they are, what they like and dislike. The plot is the crucible I toss them into to get to know them. How they react to problems is what tells me what I need to know to write them.

Noteworthy Links: The Writer You Want to Be

One of the things I love about the online writing community is how connected we all are. No matter where we live, what we do, what we believe in, we're all writers, and that gives us something in common. We inspire and support each other, celebrate each others successes and mourn the missteps. Because of that, you get some interesting connections and ideas passed around.

One such idea is the following post. I was inspired by an author behaving badly to write a post, and that post inspired an author to write a post about the type of writer they want to be (which in turn inspired this post, and so on, and so on). Her words are so simple, yet so wise. Even though you hear more about the bad authors, most writers are closer to what she strives for (and what I bet she already is) in this post. 

So, to continue this wonderful theme, what kind of writer do you want to be?

Will They or Won’t They? Plotting With Yes or No Questions

Basic scene structure says a scene can end in one of four ways. A yes, a no, a yes but there's a catch, or a no and it makes things worse. These are questions designed to move the story forward and advance the plot. Some work better than others, because they leave more room for things to happen and give you as the writer a place to go. If you always write scenes with yes or no answers, you might find yourself getting stuck, or making it too easy on your protag.

There are several ways to look at the yes, no, yes but there's a catch, or no and it makes things worse, structure. The classic way, and the step-by-step layered way. Let’s focus on the layered way today.

A Trashy Question
In the movie, Star Wars, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia and Chewbacca shoot their way through a wall and dive down into a a garbage masher on the detention level. Luke’s droids, C3PO and R2D2 are left behind on another level. Classic scene problem that leaves you with the question:

Will our heroes make it out of the garbage masher? Yes or no.