Don't Like it? Tough! Making Characters Make Tough Choices

Choices are big in fiction. Every protag faces countless of them every book, and the ones that really make them struggle are the ones the reader is going to remember. But as we're plotting our stories, are we remembering to make those choices tough?

So much of plotting is figuring out how to get the protag from page one to the end, and we know what has to happen (or not) and work to get our protags there. But sometimes this can accidentally steer us to always letting the protag find the way out, even if we make it hard for them. Since we need to move the story forward, they need to achieve whatever piece will move them a step closer to the resolution.

You Gotta Have Art: Why Do You Write?

This is an older post, but the ideas are still interesting and worth discussing. I'm also curious to see the difference in opinions two and a half years later after the big boom in self publishing and e-books. 

I was having a conversation with a writer friend about writing and art as it applies to the publishing world. We have different views on this, so it was a good debate. I was still thinking about it when I came across a link on agent Janet Reid's blog.

In a nutshell, this link is an author who feels literary agents are killing books as an art form, because all agents want are blockbuster books they can make money from.

Hook Lines and Stinkers: Crafting Lines to Draw the Reader in

Quick shout out: Today I'm over at Lucienne Diver's Drivel talking about writing war without making it all about the fighting. When you're done here, pop on over and say hello! Back to today's post...

Years ago I was at Surrey (SiWC) attending their Blue Pencil Café, which is where an author or editor reads and crits the first two pages of your manuscript. I had author Carol Berg (a delightful woman) and as she read my trunk novel pages, she made check marks on quite a few lines.

HER: You have some great hook lines here.
ME: Thanks! (Made mental note to look up what “hook line” was)

Luckily she went on to talk about those lines so it was obvious what she meant. But I definitely did some searching on that when I got home. I was doing something right by instinct, but I wanted to know what, why, and most of all, how to do it again. I wanted to be sure I understood what a hook line was.

Happy Release Day, Darkfall!

Darkfall officially releases today, yippee! How am I celebrating? Lunch with the hubby! Yep, I'm a wild one for sure. There's actually a lot of prep work for a release, so by the time it comes out I'm beat. The 30 days before and after are pretty full, and I have a huge To-Do List I delight in checking off. It's all fun stuff (well, mostly), but it does put a hold on just about everything else in my life. I can be wild later when it's all over.

On a related note, I'm doing a Q&A over at Charity's Writing Journey, so pop by and say hello. More guest posts and interviews coming up as well, and I'll keep you posted on those.


So, what's the book about? Kinda like this...

Guest Author Tiffany Reisz: What You Reading For? A Blog Post on Voice

Today, we welcome the always delightful and usually irreverent Tiffany Reisz back to the blog to share her thoughts on voice. She has a very intriguing tip that I've never heard before, but makes perfect sense when you hear it. Fair warning, she uses a few video clips as examples and some of the are NSFW for language reasons.  

Tiffany is the author of Seven Day Loan (currently available from Harlequin Spice Briefs) and THE SIREN (Mira Books, August 2012). Find her on Twitter at @tiffanyreisz, www.tiffanyreisz.com, or in her bed taking a nap with her clinically depressed cat Honeytoast.

Take it away Tiffany...

Real Life Diagnostics: Building a World That Sucks You in

Real Life Diagnostics is a recurring column that studies a snippet of a work in progress for specific issues. Readers are encouraged to send in work with questions, and I diagnose them on the blog. It’s part critique, part example, designed to help the submitter as well as anyone else having a similar problem.

If you're interested in submitting to Real Life Diagnostics, check out the page for guidelines.

This week’s questions:

Does this works as a gripping enough opening? Does the world building hits you over the head or comes through the writing naturally?

On to the diagnosis…