With a Little Help from My Friends

Making a Friendship

While I'm an avid plotter like Pat and it's done a lot to help me as a writer, when I really thought about what is "the most useful writing craft idea I've ever found", it isn't plotting, it isn't an idea or a craft.  It's friends.

When I came into this writing thing, my goal was to see if I could actually write a romance.  I'd bounced back into reading them after a long spell and discovered I enjoyed them.  Really enjoyed them.  A far cry from Stephen King books, for sure.  So I sat down and wrote, mostly longhand, a romance novel.  I liked it!  I really liked it!  Not that it was a great story, but it was fun and I wanted to write more.

Sometime later, I actually had an odd thought.  Maybe I could become a real author with this new found enjoyment.  I checked out books, I bought books, everything I could find on how to write a romance and what to do after it was written. And in the back of one of those books--Romance Writer's Sourcebook--I found information on Romance Writers of America (RWA).  My interest skyrocketed.

This was before the internet became what it is today, but as soon as I learned that my then-husband had been using the World Wide Web for some time---we won't talk about what happened when I found the charge listed on the credit card for it---I demanded I get a chance to give it a try.  I honestly don't remember how, but I found a romance writers chatroom.  I read it for weeks, never typing a word to interact with the others, just reading their conversations.  Not until my birthday, that is, when I decided, what the heck.  Introduce yourself, silly.  In that chatroom, I found people who were actually writing and seeking publication.  One of those people just happened to be an RWA member and a Golden Heart Finalist, who was going to the National RWA conference in Dallas in a little over a month.  I, too, decided that one way or another I would be at that conference.  I called RWA, paid a new membership fee and conference fee, booked a flight, a hotel room and a rental car, and informed the then-husband that I was going to Dallas.  He nearly fell off the combine, where he was standing.

Kat and moi on the road trip to DC 2000 Conference

I'll never forget how nervous I was, but when Kathie DeNosky, the Golden Heart Finalist from that
chatroom, came up behind me to introduce herself as I stood in line to register, it became one of the biggest turning points in my life.  (Note:  I'd told her what I'd be wearing and she'd been watching for me.)  We bonded instantly, and I swore to her that I would hang onto her shirttail forever.  I did, and still do.  She sold her first book to Silhouette Desire on June 14 (my birthday), three years later.  I sold my first to Silhouette Romance on April 3, 2000.

Along the way, we met and made friends with many romance writers, both published and yet-to-be-published.  Janet Barton, who now writes for Love Inspired, became one of our dearest friends, as did Belinda Barnes, who sold to Silhouette Romance before I did.  We critiqued together, we brainstormed together, we consoled and celebrated together.  Kat (Kathie) and I logged more times on the phone (me in Kansas, she in Illinois) with each other than two people ever should.  If it hadn't been for those three ladies, I would have thrown in the towel, dozens of times.  We shared good times and bad times, and even a few secrets.

Although we no longer spend anywhere near the time on the phone as we did in the past, Kat and I are still often in touch.  We brainstorm (along with chitcat and gossip) via phone (3-way calls) with Kristi Gold (Desire, SuperRomance, and back to Desire) in Texas, who once critiqued with Belinda Barnes.  Yes, it's a small world.

But it isn't just the ones I've mentioned that have inspired me along the road of writing.  It's also the many members of WARA I've been blessed to know, throughout the past seventeen years.  I love ya, ladies!

Writing is like making a quilt.  You can do it alone, or you can do it with friends.  Honestly? Both quilting and life are much better enjoyed with friends.

Writing Inspiration? Inspired Writing? by J Vincent

What prompts a writer to put words on paper?  The inspiration for these particular words is a deadline.  This blog needs to be posted while we babysit our grandchildren.  Since there is no internet access at their house I need to schedule this before we leave Sunday morning. A prosaic reason, but many writers will tell you deadlines can be quite effective.  The list of what inspires writers is endless but narrowed down to one writer--me--it is much smaller.  I’ve found many things can trigger a story, or a scene, or a character. 

The big picture--what inspires a story--and the much smaller--what inspires a scene or character--can be very similar.  When I was babysitting my younger brothers and sister years ago I used to make up stories prompted by cloud formations.  I still love to watch clouds and pick out shapes--cuddly bears, thundering herds, a horse head with flowing mane.  On hot summer nights when we got to sleep outside I would use the stars for my inspiration only later learning that the constellations already had their own tales to tell.

Maps.  As I grew older and read the Reader’s Digest avidly the maps with the stories prompted adventures.  I find that is still true today.  When I look at a map of the 18th century Great North Road in England stories of highwaymen, run-away lovers and ordinary travelers leap at me.  I have studied maps of troop movements in Portugal and Spain during the Peninsular War (The French and Wellington 1808-1814) and see tales of horror, bravery, tedium, romance, and so much more.  Maps inspire stories large and small for me.

Houses are much the same as maps.  When we travel and we pass by a tumbled down home or one the worse for time and wear I conjure up its history.  The excitement of those who planned and built it.  The day to day life in it.  Succeeding generations or different families?  What happened that led to its deterioration?  What events in the lives of those who lived there, internal and external, let to its abandonment?  Yes, stories abound in houses or castles and manors, hovels and estates or photos of such.

Photos of people work much the same way for me.  I always seek out photos to flesh out characters when I start a new project.  If I can match what I have in my mind’s eye for the character with what I see in a photo it helps flesh out the person they are.

Scenery also provides inspiration.  There are seventy miles of nothing but scenery between La Junta and Walsenburg CO on Highway 10.  Some of it is pretty desolate, but there is a stretch that is filled with seemingly impromptu promontories.  Sharply jutting crags and steep sloped hills of various sizes.  They make me think of Roman-Britain hill forts and of ancient burial mounds.  Removed from their present time and space they are the perfect setting for Bellum Drancontis --The War of the Dragon which I wrote long ago and have never polished enough for publication.  Druids, Bretons, and 5th Century Romans battle it out as we cruise past Colorado scenery.

Last mentioned, certainly not last on my list, would be music.  Put on the right piece of music and I can be in Versailles n the Hall of Mirrors watching Marie Antoinette flirt with French courtiers or perhaps its a mad crush at the opening ball of the London Season of 1810, or in a candle-lit bedroom in any time or place.  Music inspires intensity of emotion.  You know that from watching any tv series or movie.  Its as if emotions were the strings of a harp and only need plucked to fill the page with words.

These are some of the things that fill my mind with a kaleidoscope of images, action, emotion--stories.  I wish you all that the Rockwell Thanksgiving painting inspires. What do you find inspires you the most?

A Beautiful Mind Meets National Treasure by Reese Mobley

My office is usually a mess.  More specifically, the corner desk in my office is a mess.  It looks like a scene from the Russell Crowe movie, A Beautiful Mind—but to me, it feels like the Nicholas Cage flick, National Treasure. 

I’ve got notes taped over every surface surrounding my monitor.  Rows of Post-It’s parade across the edge of my desk’s hutch.  A stack of notes are anchored to the surface by my ancient land-line phone.  The further I travel into my current work-in-progress, the more paper treasures I write.

These treasures are the result of many light bulb moments.  Ideas for my manuscript that come at inopportune moments—you know, the times when you’re not frantically typing away.  For me, it’s usually right after I hit the sack, when my mind is casually filing the day’s events to make room for tomorrow’s.  Or just after I’ve put on my left sock in the morning or as soon as I lather up in the shower.  Random moments where the most wonderful, useful, creative ideas light us up like the Fourth of July. 

I get excited and rush, sleepy, sockless or soapy, to my office to jot them down.  I then rip the top page off and find yet another tiny unused space to stick it on my desk until I have the time to incorporate it into my manuscript.  I rub my hands together and congratulate myself on getting it on paper before it slides just out of my memory’s reach.

God Bless the Post-It’s because they are the bridge between what I write and what I want to add to enhance my manuscript before I send it off to the wonderful world of publishing. 

All you Post-It's fans raise your hands and pat yourself on the back--just be sure you don't have a sticky note on you when you're done.  Regular people won't understand.

Hugs,

Reese

Keeping My Story Straight.

Patricia Davids here with my best writing craft idea. How to Plot a Novel.
I am a visual person. If I read something I remember it better than if I hear the same thing.

This is my plotting wall. It's 4x6 feet, it's Idea Paint on the wall of my office that I put a decorative frame around. It's divided into 16 chapters which My normal for a Love Inspired novel. The painter's tape can be taken off to make more chapters for a longer book or fewer chapters for a novella.

Cool, right? It sure helps me keep my story straight.

Before I start using the wall, I get to know my characters.
I use the following guidelines to develop both hero and heroine.

Name:

Description:
Character Archetype:
Self-view: Who does he think he is?
View by others: Who do others think he is?
Innermost Fear, Need or Desire (Character is aware of this.)
Unconscious Need or Desire (Character must learn this)
What change is required to achieve love?

Character's goal in this story (what does he want)
Character motivation (why he wants this)
Character's conflict (but what prevents him from obtaining his goal)

We all get to know our characters better by the time we've written a few chapters, so some of this may change as I go along.

Now to the board itself.
Each chapter has a heading, which you can't read on my picture, but the correspond to elements that are necessary to most romance novels. Many thanks to WARA member Starla C. for her handout about this years ago.

These parts of a novel are fluid and may occur earlier or later in the book and do not have to happen in a specific chapter. Physical attraction may be part of the inciting incident where the story takes off or it may occur later. I'm just saying these things need to be in the book, even if they aren't in the exact chapter. If the two characters know each other, then of course, the meeting has already happened and doesn't have to be include at the opening of the story, but should be mentioned somewhere.

1.     Inciting incident/ Meeting
2.     Confront opposing Goals External/ Confront opposing Goals Internal
3.     New Complication
4.     1st stage of attraction: Physical + resistance
5.     1st goal change: Working together
6.     2nd stage of attraction: Emotional + resistance
7.     External Complications Arise
8.     Increased attraction /2nd compromise: Internal goal adjustment
9.     Strong bonding /Romantic feelings: An almost kiss
10.  New complication arises
11.  Emotional risk Acknowledged
12.  Passion for each other surfaces
13.  Emotional Intimacy/ Exchange of fears and goals
14.  Major Problem = Black moment (internal conflict precipitates)
15.  Resolution: One or both Characters change
16.  Happily Ever After moment /Commitment

When I'm cold plotting, I use two different colored markers to write the story into each square as it progresses. When I'm fine tuning my plot, I use colored sticky notes, blue for the hero's pov and pink for the heroine. I use sticky notes because I can move them to a different chapter if that scene works better somewhere else in the story.

And this is how I plot, dream up, envision, or in general, get a handle on the story. You'll see a total of about 400 to 500 words when all this is done. Only 55,000 to 60,000 more words to go to finish a book!

As you can see, plotting is not writing. A well thought out plot is nothing without hours and hours at the keyboard making the story come alive.

Any Questions?
Pat

 

Something Woo-Woo This Way Comes (Penny Rader)

In honor of Halloween and the spooky, the strange, and the weird, I searched the Internet for articles and resources to aid in the writing of paranormal or supernatural tales.

I hope you find something in the snippets I've included that appeals to you and makes you click the links to read the entire articles.

billnwmsu http://bit.ly/1dPSPTQ
Creative-Commons Licensed Content

A Dark and Stormy Night: 10 Tips for Writing a Paranormal Mystery (Wendy Webb)

• Real world or new world?
• Once you've created your world, make your readers want to live there. And then pull the rug out from under them.
• Even implausible situations must be plausible.
• The "dark and stormy night" cliché isn't a cliché for nothing. 
• Adapt The Hero's Journey.
• Create vulnerability or danger that the lead character doesn't see for awhile, but the reader does.
• Give your readers breaks in the suspense. 
• You've got to believe.
• Was it just my imagination?

Hartwig HKD http://bit.ly/17ydGav
Creative-Commons Licensed Content

How Paranormal Fiction Is Like Garlic (Kait Nolan)

…the paranormal includes phenomena and manifestations that lie outside the range of normal experience and cannot be scientifically explained or proven.

• Powers
• Creatures
• Angels/Demons
• Witches
• Ghosts
• Fairies/Pixies/Other fae folk
• Gods/Goddesses
• The just plain weird

An Introduction to Writing the Paranormal Novel and Supernatural Elements (Courtney Carpenter)

Paranormal novels…need some element of magic or the supernatural that’s so deeply integral to the story that the entire novel would collapse if you removed it.

People have been telling supernatural stories from the beginning of human civilization. Such stories form the basis of every mythology that ever existed.

Supernatural stories feed the human desire for escape. We can pretend we’re riding that magic carpet, making those three wishes, or swinging that sword because we know (deep sigh) it’s never going to happen for real.

How to Write a Paranormal – 7 Tips to Remember (K.A.E Grove)

• Originality in your writing
• Create a solid mythology
• A strong female heroine
• Hero
• Conflict and Villains
• Violence
• Stills needs a happily-ever-after

NightHawk24 http://bit.ly/1cnhVpa
Creative-Commons Licensed Content

Writing about Magic in Your Paranormal Romance, Part One (Lisa Whitefern)  and Part Two 

Logic and consistency are important.

Make magic relevant to your story, and a meaningful part of the conflict within the characters.

Consider what is important to your character, and associate the cost of using the power with this important thing.

Writing rules for magic systems:

• Establish a set of rules.
• Have someone (or something) deliver the rules of the magic system to your character.
• Create scenarios in which to put your characters that test these very rules.
• Create situations in which the cost of using magic is something that risks what the character holds dear. 

Types of consequences for the use of magic or limitations to magic:

• Time sensitive 
• Can be blocked
• Can be painfully overwhelming
• Unexpected
• Exhausting
• Can only occur under specific conditions
• Can only be used a certain number of times
• Restricted
• Corrupts
• A price
• Requires a recipe

JMiu http://bit.ly/Hvrisq
Creative-Commons Licensed Content

Bonus Material for sticking with me – Resources to Check Out: 

Encyclopedia Mythallica (all things mythical)

Encyclopedia Mythica (mythology, folklore, religion)

godchecker (gods and goddesses)

Irish Fairies

Myth and Legend from Ancient Times to the Space Age

Paranormal Research & Resource Society

Paranormal Vocabulary

Psychic Research – PRISM Paranormal Research

Religions and Myths

Rosemary Ellen Guiley’s Library (check out the left side of the screen)

Sacred Text (religion, mythology, folklore)

Werewolves: The Myths and the Truths

Zerotime (vampires and werewolves)

~~~

Are you writing a paranormal story or have a favorite paranormal story? Do you have any tips or resources to share? I’d love to hear all about it in the Comments section.

Favorites: Heroes and Heroines

As of yesterday afternoon, I couldn't peg a single favorite hero, even though I'd said I'd blog about it today.  Oh, I have many favorites.  Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan comes to mind.  Which opens up the world of movies and takes me to Indiana Jones.  Both are reluctant heroes.

I thought my blog post would be something along the lines of having no particular favorite hero, and then this morning it hit me.  Rhett Bulter.  A rascal.  A gentleman, although Scarlett didn't think so.  And while Ashley Wilkes was also a gentleman, he lacked that rascal-liness that made Rhett unforgettable...by readers and Scarlett.  Without a doubt, one of the best heroes ever written.

Once again, Rhett was a reluctant hero. He didn't want to be involved in the War of the States, but when push came to shove, he did.  He became a pirate, smuggling supplies through the blockade.  (Which brings to mind Capt. Jack Sparrow, another reluctant hero.)  He fell in love with a woman who spurned him, and he never gave up.  I have to believe that his, "Frankly, I don't give a damn," was his way of proving to Scarlett that she loved him.  He hung in there, in spite of her constant (excuse the French) bitchiness toward him.  He was there when she needed him, pushing her to be the woman she really was and to finally admit that she loved him.

And what a woman!  Scarlett was a woman beyond her time.  No sweet, demure woman, although she could pull that off when needed.  Rhett was initially attracted by her beauty, but he fell in love with her because of her spirit, reined in, as was her intelligence, by the confines of the times.

Which brings up favorite heroines.  Scarlett ranks among those.  Thinking back through all of my reading, I find my favorite heroines are strong, take charge women.  I think that began with Madeline.  Does anyone remember the Madeline books?

“In an old house in Paris that was covered with vines
Lived twelve little girls in two straight lines
In two straight lines they broke their bread
And brushed their teeth and went to bed.
They left the house at half past nine
In two straight lines in rain or shine-
The smallest one was Madeline.”

Then came Eloise, who lived at the Plaza Hotel in NYC.  What a scamp!  And always in trouble.  One of the highlights of my life was staying at the Plaza when I was 13 and imagining Eloise around the corner of each hallway.  Granted, if I'd acted as Eloise did, even when much younger, I wouldn't have been allowed to breathe, much less have the run of a Plaza.  But her escapades always had me wishing I had more spirit.

 My next-door-neighbor introduced me to my next favorite heroine, Trixie Belden.  While others read Nancy Drew, I continued my worship of Trixie, a tomboy I admired for her daring and knack for getting herself into trouble, but always getting out of it with a lesson learned.  And I learned from the information in the books.  If you've been to our great County Zoo, you probably have seen the ghost fish in the jungle exhibit.  The fish are blind, and the moment I first saw them, I knew why.  It had been explained in The Mystery of the Bob-White Cave.  I learned about sheep, I learned about the Day of the Dead and cowboys and horses and riding.  I wanted a horse.  Oh, how I wanted a horse and to ride through the beauty of the Hudson Valley.  And the books were my first introduction to romance via Trixie and Jim.

For Every Heroine...For Every Hero...

I admit that I'm drawn to strong, independent heroines, but a story becomes better when that heroine meets her match in the hero.  For a strong woman, there must always be a strong man.  Give him a backstory to make me love him, and a woman who will stand beside him as his equal, and you've hooked me.  Add a bad boy, rascal, or as my friend author Kathie DeNosky says, a stinker (charming and incorrigible, but sworn to no woman...until the heroine) and he has me at Hello.  The harder they fall... ;)

Traveling Another's Path

Favorite literary characters are our theme this month. Hmm, that’s a tough one. I've had so many over the years. They've changed as I've aged, so how do I pick? I've been wrestling with this all month and still don’t have an answer.

There is one that stands out for me. I’m not sure I can say why. Not without hurting my pea-brain anyway. The character’s name is Tom Black. The book, When the Legends Die, by Hal Borland.

Tom is a young Indian betrayed by a tribal member for money and forcefully integrated into the white man’s world when his parents die. His only friend, a black bear cub, is kept chained nearby so Tom won’t run away. He is treated, for the most part, without compassion, respect or understanding. Hatred takes deep root in his heart.

We follow him as he grows up. He continues being used and betrayed by others. Disgust, disappointment and despair grow. In spite of that, he becomes an expert bronco rider. His use of this skill brings some money and fame. The acclamation helps him to feel important, but it’s for all the wrong reasons. He’s famous for riding a number of horses to death. The rest he would punish by riding in a brutal fashion.

By now you’re probably thinking, why would anyone like this guy? Because the story is about someone so lost and alone that all he knows is pain. You follow his journey as he discovers you can’t live a life of hate. It’s a masterful portrayal of how bitterness and unforgiveness will eat away at your soul. It shows that the quality of your life depends on you, no matter what has happened.

At the end, he revisits his roots. He goes “native” and returns to the mountains where he was happy as a child to find himself once more. It’s a story of redemption, and those are my favorite kind. I learned things about myself as I traveled Tom’s path.

So, why do I like this character? Maybe it’s the mother in me, wanting to comfort and love someone surrounded by angry, unfeeling people. Maybe it’s the need to protect the defenseless. Maybe it’s my lifelong love of the Native American People. Maybe it’s the need to root for the underdog.

My feelings for Tom’s character are nebulous at best. They’re there. They’re strong, but hard to define. Perhaps I’m afraid to look too close. Perhaps in defining them, I won’t like what I see. Perhaps it’s no one else’s business. I’m not real sure about a lot of things, but Tom Black, is special to me.