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    several images connected to goal-setting, like a woman pointing to a bulls eye and a collection of organized Post Its
    11Apr, 2023
    This is How to Use SMART Goals in Your Goal-Setting

    Have you set yourself up for success this year? Do you know how to actually do that? Let’s break it down.

    Y’all, we are 11 days into 2023’s Q2. You might look at that and be going: What? This is not a business. I don’t need to think about Q1, Q2, Q3, or Q4.

    But to that I say: Yes. Yes, you do!

    Here’s why:

    You see, last year I started looking at the year in quarters rather than as a hole. Part of that is due to the intentionality that comes from the Mastermind group I talked about last week (the Sisterhood of Brushes and Quills). If you’ve ever done anything goal-setting related, then you know that in order to have the best chance of success, your goals should be achievable and measurable.

    SMART GOALS

    Because of this basic concept, I’ve always gravitated toward the SMART goals* method in which goals must be:

    • Specific
    • Measurable
    • Achievable
    • Relevant
    • Time-bound
    Intentionality

    When I first started to be more intentional about my goals, I did them on an annual basis.

    This year I will finish my book.

    This year I will lose 10 pounds.

    This year I will __________.

    It didn’t take me long to realize that I could never sustain that type of 12-month outlook. 365 days as a whole is just too long to focus on one big goal.

    That got me thinking about how to break my goals into smaller chunks. I have a good friend who is masterful at this. She’s taught me so much about how to plan and how to goal-set in smaller bite-sized pieces.

    Plan

    Now, I’m not as deep into it as she is (although I’m working on it). She’s got the type of brain that is both right- and left-focused. I do, too (thanks, Mom and Dad!). She just figured out how to really tap into her right brain when it comes to planning and goal-setting in connection to her left-brain life.

    Anyway, I digress.

    Here we are on April 11th and it’s time for a check-in. What did you hope or plan to achieve or accomplish during Q1? Did you do it? Make it? Get there?

    Whether you did or didn’t—because I’ve been there, believe me—it’s okay. This check-in period is not meant to be a time to self-flagellate because you fell short.

    It’s a time to celebrate the wins and acknowledge that there are some goals you’re still working on. Maybe some are even meant to cross over from one quarter to the next. Writing a book, for example, usually can’t be done in just 3 short months. Even if you’re on a rapid-release schedule, there is more to writing than… just writing. There’s thinking, planning, plotting, writing, revising, editing, copy editing, formatting, and marketing. The list goes on.

    When you have a big goal like writing a book, think about it in achievable pieces rather than as a whole.

     

    Look at this sample:
    Q1:
    • Map out the Hero’s Journey for story
    • Write 1 chapter per week
    • Eat vegetables 3x per week
    • Walk every other day
    Q2:
    • Revisit the Hero’s Journey map
    • Write 1-2 chapters per week
    • Eat vegetables 4x per week
    • Walk every other day + 1!
    Q3:
    • Revisit the Hero’s Journey map
    • Write 1-2 chapters per week
    • Eat vegetables 5x per week
    • Walk every other day + 1!
    • Do yoga 2x a month
    Q4:
    • Revisit the Hero’s Journey map
    • Write 1-2 chapters per week
    • Eat vegetables 4x per week (this is working)
    • Walk every other day + 1!
    • Do yoga 2x a month
    • Plan my end-of-Q4 celebration
    Things to Notice

    Notice how some of the goals change during the different quarters. This is just a sample, but some of this is exactly how I approach my goals. I love the ideas in Atomic Habits, specifically stacking your habits to help grow into them. If I start with the commitment of eating vegetables three times a week, that feels very doable, right? I’m setting myself up for success rather than for failure.

    Once I’ve achieved that success of getting my leafy greens on the regular, I can bump up my goal to four times a week in Q2. Then to five times a week in Q3. If that number is working and bumping it up feels undoable, then I leave it as is.

    Key Tenet

    My Key Tenet is to ALWAYS set myself up for success, not failure.

     

    Q2 Check-in

    As we launch into Q2, I’ve looked at my progress and evaluated how I did on my Q1 goals:

    WINS:

    Goal: Earn XX/month— ✅ I achieved this, so yay!

    Goal: Complete synopsis and proposal for Sky Girls—  ✅

    Goal: Start practicing yoga again— ✅

    Goal: Create covers for Lola Cruz re-release— ✅

    Goal: Create covers for Bodice of Evidence and Bobbin for Answers— ✅ (for one of these)

    Goal: Format Lola Cruz books—✅ (2 of 5 are done)

    STILL WORKING

    Goal: Write Bodice of Evidence Novella— 👩🏼‍💻

    Goal: Continue (ongoing goal) yoga practice with 2x week— 👩🏼‍💻

    Goal: Create cover for Bobbin for Answers— 👩🏼‍💻 

    Goal: Format final 3 Lola Cruz covers— 👩🏼‍💻 

    Q2 Goals:
    • Write Lola Baby novella
    • Write 2 scenes a week of Sky Girls
    • Finish Bodice of Evidence
    • Continue Yoga Practice 2x week
    Wrapping Up

    As you can see, many of my goals are ongoing or I’m still working on them. Had I set them as annual goals, I feel pretty sure my momentum would have waned and I would have felt less motivated. As it is, though, I’ve had some good wins.

    I encourage you to think about your goals in a new way—breaking them into these bite-sized chunks and looking at what you can achieve in 3 months versus 12, at what you can work toward, carrying the goal on from one Q to the next, and how you can set yourself up for success.

    *More about SMART goals

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    5 Steps for writing really excellent back cover copy header
    15Sep, 2022
    Writing Really Excellent Back Cover Copy, Part 2

    Writing excellent back cover copy doesn’t happen by accident. Using a formula of sorts can help you.

    There are five parts to really excellent back cover copy (plus one extra for cozy mysteries).

    Back cover copy is an incredibly important marketing tool for your book. It includes a hook to grab the reader’s attention. It then hits the core elements of the plot in the most enticing manner possible.

    This copy is the second thing a potential reader will use to judge whether or not the book is for them (first is the cover).

    Just like a teaser from a television show or a movie trailer, the back cover copy in a book gives the potential audience enough about the story to pique their interest. It is what draws them in and gets them to commit to reading the first page (which is the third step in a reader’s decision-making process).

    Here are the five steps for writing really excellent back cover copy (plus a bonus 6th for cozy mysteries).

    1. Hook them early.

    Write a one or two sentence hook about your story to grab readers’ attention. (With a cozy mystery, it often involves a pun connected to the theme.)

    2. Introduce the protagonist.

    Who is the protagonist who will carry the story? Give his/her name and the life conflict he/she faces at the beginning of the story (this protagonist is the amateur sleuth in a first in series book).

    3. Show what his/her future could hold.

    What is the protagonist’s chance for success or happiness within the new world?

    4. Introduce the conflict.

    Show the disruption of the protagonist’s new life based on the major conflict (for mystery: because of the murder).

    5. Give the stakes.

    What happens if the conflict is not resolved (for mystery: if the crime is not solved)? Another way to look at this is: What is the protagonist at risk of losing if the conflict is not resolved?

    6. Bonus for cozy mysteries: Make it punny.

    Make sure there are puns and/or figurative language connecting the copy to series hook (theme).

    Get the Cheat Sheet!

    Read Part One: Understanding Back Cover Copy, and How to Write It

    Need help with your back cover copy or developmental help with your manuscript? Hire me as your novel editor and partner.

    Tips for writing great characters header
    14Sep, 2022
    Three Tips for Writing Great Fictional Characters

    Listen while you read!

    Creating compelling characters is, in great part, contingent on how those characters engage with the plot. Do things happen TO them? Or do things happen BECAUSE of them? A character to whom things happen is not nearly as interesting as a character who makes things happen. Keep reading for three tips to writing compelling characters who are active participants in their stories.

    Character Study

    Let’s look at a character study, first: Ivy Culpepper is the amateur sleuth from my Bread Shop mysteries in Kneaded to Death.

    Scenario One

    Ivy’s mother has just died. She returns home to be with her father and brother. She starts taking a bread making class for no particular reason. One of the classmates dies. The bread shop owner, Olaya, is a suspect. Although Ivy likes Olaya, she doesn’t want to get involved and chooses not to. A few clues happen to appear in her path. The police find the clues, too, and the case is eventually solved, but not because of Ivy.

    The problem with the above scenario is that Ivy doesn’t DO anything active. She’s not a participant in the investigation. It’s a mystery book, but she doesn’t actively try to solve the crime. 

    That’s a pretty boring book!

    Scenario Two

    Imagine, though, that our heroine is a much more active participant in the plot. The situation is the same: Ivy’s mother died and she’s come home to be with her family. She meets Olaya and is convinced to take the bread baking class. It isn’t long before she knows she will learn from Olaya and that baking bread is going to be therapeutic for her.

    Then someone dies. 

    And because Olaya is a suspect, Ivy does get involved. She likes this woman and feels strongly that she is innocent. Ivy can’t sit back and be a passive observer while the police investigate. 

    She follows leads, uncovers clues, and ferrets out the truth. Ultimately, it’s because of Ivy’s cleverness and tenacity that the killer is brought to justice.

    The Result

    The result of the second scenario is a much more interesting story. The reader is by Ivy’s side through the investigation trying to unravel the clues and make sense of the what happened.

    So, how do you go about making sure you create a character who acts rather than reacts?

    Tip 1:

    First, you need to make sure the POV character has a clear internal and/or external goal, depending on the scene; something needs to be stopping her from achieving said goal.

    Ex: Ivy likes Olaya. She sees her as an aunt figure, which she needs. Because of this, she wants to act, but fear or lack of confidence or some other reason stops her from getting involved.

    Tip 2:

    Instead of having things happen TO your character, make your character MAKE things happen. 

    Scenario 1:

    In this scenario, Ivy is a passive participant in the investigation. She is not acting based on a goal (see Tip 1).

    Ivy happens to go to the library where she finds a book on a table. She flips through it, for no apparent reason, and finds a clue.

    Scenario 2:

    In this scenarios, Ivy responds to a Stimulus-Response-Result situation. She has a goal and seeks to achieve it (finding the book, and therefore the clue).

    STIMULUS: Ivy overhears something about a book at the library. She thinks it might be a clue. 

    RESPONSE: She makes the decision to go to the library to hunt for the book. 

    RESULT: She finds the book, which contains a message is written on a dog-eared page. 

    Tip 3: 

    Choice and conflict.

    Instead of turning away from conflict, make sure your POV character faces it head-on. This comes down to decision-making. When faced with pursuing a clue or not, an active character will go in pursuit. That is far more interesting that a character who chooses not to act.

    And there you have it. Three tips to help you create compelling characters who are active participants in their story.

    Go to the Cheat Sheet

    I go into this concept in depth in the Ready, Set, WRITE! course on the WriterSpark Academy Online Learning Platform. If you’re writing a novel, this course is for you!

    Did you read about understanding the building blocks of a scene? Read it HERE!

     
     
     

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    Need help with making your characters jump off the page, or developmental help with your manuscript? Hire me as your novel editor and partner. I’d love to help!

    2Aug, 2022
    6 Questions to Ask Before You Write a Scene
    Writing a scene takes thought. Before starting, it is a good idea to ask yourself a few questions. This will help you hone in on the core elements of the scene you are planning, and will (hopefully) make it much easier to write.
     
    Today I have 6 questions to ask yourself before writing a scene.
     
    1. What is the purpose of your scene?
    a) Will it advance the plot? If so, how?
    b) Will it introduce a new character or develop an existing   
       one? If so, how?
    c) Will it develop the romance (if there is one)?
    d) If you are writing a mystery, does it introduce a clue or
       a suspect or a red herring?
    e) does it introduce a conflict? If so, what?
     
    2. What characters will be in the scene? Try not to over-populate a scene. Too many characters make it difficult for the reader to follow.
     
    3. What is the conflict in the Scene?
    a) is it internal (throwing an obstacle in the way of the
       protagonist’s inner problem?
    b) is it external (driving the plot forward)?
     
    4. Where does the scene take place?
    a) time of day
    b) season
    c) town, city, state, country, planet
    d) location within this place (house, bedroom, kitchen,
       park, spaceship…)
     
    5. What is the mood or tone of the scene? A thriller can have comedic moment. A comedy can have serious themes. Think about the mood and tone of each scene and how they impact the other scenes.
     
    6. Transition: How will you transition this scene to the next? Will you leave the scene on a hook? With a question? What will you do to keep the reader turning the pages?
     
    Stay tuned for more about scene and sequel, the two elements that make up a Scene (uppercase!) sequence.
     
     
     
     
    Conquer your Fears. Watch this quick YouTube Video
     
     

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    26Jun, 2022
    How to Establish Deep Point of View with 4 Easy Steps
    Listen to the Podcast or Watch the YouTube Episode on Deep Point of View.

    Deep POV is a technique that moves the reader so far into a character’s head that they are completely engrossed. It is the surest means to grab your reader’s attention… and keep it.

    It’s also sometimes called Limited 3rd, meaning you are in only one person’s head through an entire scene, and the reader sees everything through that lens. There are 4 steps needed when establishing Deep Point of View.

    SHOWING vs. TELLING

    First, let’s take a broad stroke look. When an author writes in Deep POV, they are showing, not telling.

    The author uses all the sensory details (what the character is seeing, tasting, etc), but more than that, it goes into the POV character’s mind, showing how he/she FEELS and WHAT he/she THINKs.

    It also helps develop voice because Deep POV avoids AUTHOR INTRUSION at all cost! This means there are no:

         • He thought, she thought, I thought, I could see, he felt, etc. The narrative goes STRAIGHT TO THE thought or sight or feeling.

    It’s the difference between saying:

         What the devil is the guy doing, he thought to himself.

    and 

         What the devil was the guy doing? 

    Which one has us right there in the character’s mind?

    Hopefully you said the second example!

    SCENE STRUCTURE

    In order to really understand Deep POV we first need to take a look at Scene Structure.

    Scene structure builds on a character’s GOAL, MOTIVATION, CONFLICT, and ends with DISASTER. This can be simplified by saying a scene is made up of STIMULUSES and RESPONSES. One thing happens which then facilitates a response or reaction:

    If the phone rings, someone needs to answer it (or at least acknowledge it).

    If the doorbell rings, someone needs to answer the door.

    BUT, you can’t have a scene with just Stimulus and Response because it would fall flat. Without the action and character’s thoughts, we have no context for the scene. We don’t know what people are doing, feeling, thinking. This is when we start to go DEEP.

    The 4 Steps to Establishing Deep POV are adding: EMOTION; THOUGHT; DECISION; ACTION. 

    Here is the progression of the same scene using the 4 Steps of Establishing Deep POV:

    • Character grabs sword (DECISION)

    • Thinks what am I going to do with this sword? (THOUGHT)

    • Stomach clenches (EMOTION)

    • Wields sword (ACTION)

    It would work far better in this order:

    • Stomach clenches (EMOTION)

    • Sees sword and thinks what am I going to do with a sword? (THOUGHT)

    • Grabs sword (DECISION)

    • Wields sword (ACTION)

    Put into narrative, it would read something like this:

    He heard footsteps marching down the hall (STIMULUS). His stomach clenched (EMOTION). The sword lay on the table, the blade gleaming, beckoning to him. What was he supposed to do with that? (THOUGHT) He’d never had training. The footsteps stopped outside the door and he grabbed the damn weapon, (DECISION) readying himself for whatever he was about to face (ACTION).(RESPONSE)

    Deep POV is Your Friend

    It doesn’t always have to be in this order, and you don’t have to use all of them all the time. Also, keep in mind that there is always a time for tags and moments of telling.

    But Deep POV is your friend. Basically, eliminate telling by using these elements in a scene. Using them all and eliminating internal tags (like he thought or she considered) will help you go deep. 

    Here is another example in various stages, leading up to Deep POV:

    Margie heard the chiming of the door bell. (STIMULUS) Racing to the door, she unhooked the latch and pulled the door open. (RESPONSE) “Hi, Bob. What are you doing today?” she asked. (STIMULUS)

    “Nothing special.” (RESPONSE) He motioned with his measuring cup. “I wondered if you had a cup of sugar I could borrow?” (STIMULUS)

    “Oh, sure.” She turned back toward her kitchen. (RESPONSE)

    This example uses quite a few TELLING words: heard, felt, saw, smelled, realized, thought…

    They create distance between the narrative and the reader. They prevent DEEP POV.

    Now let’s add THOUGHT and DECISION:

    Margie heard the chiming of the door bell. (STIMULUS) Not two seconds before, she’d seen Bob leave his house with a small cup in his hands. (THOUGHT) It was probably her neighbor. (DECISION) Racing to the door, she unhooked the latch and pulled the door open. (RESPONSE)

    “Hi, Bob. What are you doing today?” she asked. (STIMULUS)

    “Nothing special.” (RESPONSE) He motioned with his measuring cup. “I wondered if you had a cup of sugar I could borrow?” (STIMULUS)

    At least he wanted something sweet from her. (THOUGHT) “Oh, sure.” She turned back toward her kitchen. (RESPONSE)

    This is a much better passage. It includes THOUGHTS and DECISIONS. 

    Now, let’s go deeper still by adding EMOTION:

    Margie heard the chiming of the door bell. (STIMULUS) Not two seconds before, she’d seen Bob leave his house with a small cup in his hands. (THOUGHT) Her breath caught. (EMOTION) Could it be her hunky neighbor? (DECISION) Racing to the door, she unhooked the latch and pulled the door open. (RESPONSE) “Hi, Bob. What are you doing today?” she asked. (STIMULUS)

    “Nothing special.” (RESPONSE) He motioned with his measuring cup. “I wondered if you had a cup of sugar I could borrow?” (STIMULUS)

    Deflated, her shoulders sank. (EMOTION) At least he wanted something sweet from her. (THOUGHT)

    “Oh, sure.” She turned back toward her kitchen. (RESPONSE)

    This passage is much stronger. The key is SHOWING the emotion. 

    The Final Step

    Finally, let’s move to the FINAL STEP TO DEEP POV where we REMOVE EVERYTHING TELLING.

    The doorbell chimed and Margie spilled the coffee she was pouring. Not two seconds before, she’d seen Bob leave his house with a small cup in his hands. Her breath caught. Could it be her hunky neighbor?

    She set the coffee pot back on the burner so fast the dark liquid sloshed over the side. Hell’s bells. She ran her hands over her rumpled pajamas, tightened her ponytail and raced to the door. Unhooking the latch, she prayed he thought the tousled look was sexy.

    “Hi, Bob,” she rushed, her voice a little winded from the Olympian vault to the front door.

    She really needed to say no to the Oreo gods more often. “What’s up?”

    “Nothing special.” He flashed a sheepish grin, though her gaze didn’t linger on his face. No, as always, it traveled south. Jeans low on his hips, his signature black T-shirt, bare feet. Now that’s how you rock the tousled look. He really was too good-looking to be allowed to roam in the wild like this.

    He motioned with his measuring cup, dipping his head a little to get her attention. “I wondered if you if you had a cup of sugar I could borrow?” His tone was warm but not flirty.

    Deflated, her shoulders sank. He didn’t seem as enamored with her little Snoopy shorts and tee as she’d hoped. “Oh, sure, come on in.”

    He followed her into the kitchen, and she couldn’t help adding a little extra swing with her hips.

    By showing the THOUGHTS, EMOTIONS, STIMULUS, and RESPONSE, the scene comes alive. You can also see how much longer it is. Building in these 4 elements expands the scene. 

    Here is another example, this one from one of my Magical Dressmaking mysteries:

    Her pudgy cheeks had gone ruddy and her hair seemed a little more wild than it had the night before. She looked like a kid in a candy store. “Come on,” she said. “You can tell me.(STIMULUS) The flowers around the body. When I started taking pictures, they were small. But by the time I was done…” She clicked an arrow on the laptop and another picture popped up. (ACTION) “By the time I was done,” she continued, “they looked like this.” 

    The laptop sat between us. She ran her index finger over the touch pad and tapped it with her fingers a few times. (ACTION) She brought her gaze up and spun the computer around to face me. Was that a smile tickling her lips? (THOUGHT)

    My breath caught in my throat for an instant (EMOTION) and I lost track of what Madeline was saying. (EMOTION) My mother’s green thumb had gotten the better of her, and Madeline Brighton had caught the evidence on film. I thought I’d stopped her from making the weeds and flowers sprout, but I must have missed one. (THOUGHT) 

    “I’ve never seen anything like it,” she said, tapping the screen with the pad of her finger. (ACTION) “The rumors are true, aren’t they?”

    I sat a little straighter in my chair. (ACTION) Rumors were never good. Ever. (EMOTION) “I don’t know what you mean.” (DECISION)

    Notice that Deep POV eliminates the need to italicize the internal dialogue. It is implied.

    Here is one more example:

    TELLING with NO Deep POV:

    Lori walked though the fairgrounds. She thought she could hear footsteps coming up behind her. It occurred to her the midway was deserted. She didn’t know where the people had gone.

    Now here is the same passage expanded into Deep POV by SHOWING the scene: 

    Lori hurried through the fairgrounds. The tap-tap-tap of footsteps rung in her ears. Her imagination? She tripped over her high heels. Stupid to wear pumps to a fair. What had she been thinking? Panic pricked her skin. She should have listened to Ryan. He’d said it was a ruse. A scam. Who in their right mind would demand a meeting at a fairground? And where the hell had all the people gone? She picked up her pace. Turning around wasn’t an option. She looked this way. That way. Dodged behind the ringtoss game booth.

    The first doesn’t go into Deep POV; the second one does, and it is so much more engaging.

    Wrapping Up

    Interweaving the different elements into a scene & eliminating thought tags helps you get deeper into the character, as if the reader in the character’s mind. The reader feels what the character feels. The reader sees, hears, tastes, and smells everything the character sees, hears, tastes, and smells. The reader isn’t pulled away by tags. No distance is created. We’re right there with your character, which is exactly what you, the author, want.

    Happy Writing!

    Click here to read about 6 Tips for Writing Killer Scenes.

    And check out this mini course on writing dialogue!

    Follow the WriterSpark page on Facebook and the Memoir Challenge group!

    Join the WriterSpark Academy newsletter! And share with your writing besties.

    Know a writer, aspiring or other, who might like this content? Share this site with with them!

    Are you ready for the next step in your writing process? Hire me as your developmental editor and partner. Together, we will take your writing to the next level!

    19Jun, 2022
    What are 6 Tips for Writing a Killer Scene?

    What makes a book a page-turner? It’s easy to say it is the plot and the characters that keep readers turning the pages. That is definitely part of it, but when you really think about it, it’s the killer scenes, one after another after another that make a story compelling. The end of one scene draws the reader into the next scene. That doesn’t happen by accident. A good writer knows the elements of a scene and how to construct it to keep the reader engaged and turning the page. Here I have 6 Tips for Writing a Killer Scene.

    First, what is a SCENE? You have to understand what something is before you can really get better at it. So let’s take a look at the definition:

    SCENE (n)

    A story unit containing a single and continuous dramatic action.

    Okay. Easy enough.  Or is it? It is when you really dig and analyze the parts of a scene that it becomes clear what that definition means. That’s what we’re doing here.  Below are 6 Tips for Writing Killer Scenes.

    6 Tips for Writing Killer Scenes

    1. UNDERSTAND THE ELEMENTS OF A SCENE

    Scenes are grounded with specific elements. These combine to make a scene that really engages the reader.

    ❖ Time: the scene is firmly grounded in time. Switching time means you should probably create a new scene.

    ❖ Content/specific event: One event leads to another, which leads to another… Each deserves its own scene.

    ❖ A main concept/idea/action: In a mystery, the process of discovering a clue takes place in a single scene. The discovery of another clue deserves its own scene.

    ❖ character(s): Each scene should have limited characters (static and/or dynamic). Too many can overwhelm the reader. Introduce a new character in a new scene.

    ❖ Theme (a unifying subject or idea of a story): A story can have multiple themes. Usually one rises to the top. As you build themes, focus on an individual one in a single scene. Let your reader process.

    ❖ Motif (a recurring element that has symbolic significance in a story): Bring motifs in sparingly. A motif should generally appear only once in a single scene, and then brought in again in a different scene. You don’t want to be heavy-handed with this. Work with the reader’s subconscious. 

    2. UNDERSTAND THE PURPOSE OF A SCENE

    But…a scene must also have a purpose. It needs to do one of the following (either for the internal or external conflict of the POV character):

    ❖ Advance the story

    ❖ Introduce a (new) problem

    ❖ Resolve a problem

    ❖ Introduce a complication to an existing problem

    3. LEARN HOW TO CREATE PURPOSE IN A SCENE

    Now that you know your scene’s purpose, think about the different ways your scene can live up to that purpose. It can do any of these things, singly or in combination:

    ❖ Introduce characters

    ❖ Explore character development

    ❖ Establish setting

    ❖ Create a mood

    ❖ Reveal character relationships

    ❖ Reveal theme

    ❖ Impart essential information (backstory, character development, etc) through exposition 

    ❖ Deliver relevant or essential information needed by the protagonist

    ❖ Provide comic relief after a scene with lots of tension

    ❖ Provide a short transition to the sequel

    4. PICK THE RIGHT SCENE POV

    The next thing to think about is the Scene POV. If you are telling a story with multiple points of view, think about the scene you are planning. Decide who has the most to lose or the most at stake. 

    This is who the scene belongs to!

    ❖ This person’s presence will dominate the scene

    ❖ Their attitude and point of view will lead the scene

    ❖ This person reacts to the conflicts presented, which pushes the story forward

    If you are writing from a single point of view (1st or 3rd person), then the answer is obvious. Make sure the single POV character in your story has the most at stake (there are notable exceptions to this. Nick is the narrator of The Great Gatsby. In this way, he is almost omniscient or removed).

    5. BUILD SCENE TENSION, SUSPENSE, AND SURPRISE

    Writing a book your readers don’t want to put down means you need to create scenes that build tension, suspense and/or surprise. You build your scene to keep the reader fully engaged and up far too late into the night. They can blame their tiredness the next day on you.

    ❖  Use anticipation

    Suspense comes from anticipation (good or bad). We anticipate something horrible is going to happen to our main character when they enter a dark, eerie house alone.

    We anticipate the kiss between the hero and heroine.

    We anticipate the event or action the characters have been working toward.

    You, the author, are promising an exciting development or payoff if the reader sticks around. Leave the scene on the hook, the suspense or tension built, but unfulfilled. This keeps the reader turning the page.

    How do you build that anticipation?

    Use a cue-delay-fulfillment (payoff) pattern (Think Indiana Jones. We know he fears snakes. That’s our Cue. It has been foreshadowed. Deep down we know he’s going to end up facing some snakes. This is the Delay. It’s coming. Then the snakes do appear. What is Indy going to do? He has to either give into his fear or face it.

    Fulfillment: Finally, he escapes, conquering this fear (at least in the moment). (This is also a scene/sequel, which we will cover in a different article.)

    What does this anticipation do for the reader?

    ❖ The audience is cued to some impending action that is then delayed (this is part of a sequence).

    ❖ The reader is kept hanging and our tension builds.

    ❖ Then comes the payoff, and the reader can breathe again. 

    This cue-delay-fulfillment is the bread and butter of suspense, thriller, and horror books and movies. The anticipation of whatever bad thing might happen to the protagonist is continually dangled.

    When the reader (or viewer) gets to the payoff, it should be satisfying. You, the author, have fulfilled your promise.

    You an also play around with what the audience knows versus what your characters know (in 3rd person).

    Stranger Things does this well. (Season 4 Spoiler Alert!)

    Vecna, the creepy 4th season monster, is going to kill because we have seen character after character meet their demise at his hands (tentacles?) . 

    Cue: The gang figures out the location of the house where Victor Creel’s family died. 

    Delay: They go into this dark, eerie house expecting (hoping) to find Vecna. There is a build-up of tension as creepy things happen. They get closer to their goal.

    Fulfillment:  The kids don’t quite find him, but they do survive. Phew! A shot of Vecna is revealed to be in the Upside Down.

    End scene.

    We want to find out what happens so we keep watching. This is the entire premise behind binge TV.

    Build Suspense and Anticipation by Manipulating Knowledge: 

    Let the reader know something the character doesn’t (in a 3rd person narrative; in 1st person, the reader knows only what the POV character knows).

    ❖ The reader will then wait for the character to find out or face the consequences

    ❖ Much of the reader’s pleasure is derived from anticipation of what a character’s reaction to finding out what we already know.

    Try including a surprise- something we don’t expect. Think The Sixth Sense. No one saw that coming. But going back through the scenes, we can identify the clues we missed. They were all there, we just didn’t see them.

    Manipulating knowledge is what mystery writers do. They present clues in plain sight, but in such a way that they aren’t obviously clues.

    6. FACTOR IN PACING

    Next, with your scene, think about Pacing:

    ❖ How quickly should your scene move?

    ❖ How much dialogue compared to narrative?

    ❖ Think about the tone and mood and how it impacts the pace of the narrative

    ❖ The beginning, middle, end structure applies to scene:

    Every scene must start somewhere, build to a climax, and have a sense of completion, even if it ends on a hook.

    Even when there is fulfillment, end with a Scene Question (disaster). This can be a surprise twist, a reversal of fortune, a subtle question posed, an unexpected visitor, an unresolved element, etc.

    ❖ Enter the scene late. Don’t show all the monotonous details of real life.

    Fiction is real life, made interesting!  For example, skip the bathroom, shower, brushing teeth part of your characters morning. Jump into the day already begun.

    There is more to tackle with understanding scene. We’ll be looking at Scene & Sequel next!

    And there you have it. 6 Tips for Writing Killer Scenes. Much of this is intuitive (or will become so with practice).

    Get deeper with scene in Ready, Set, WRITE!

    Happy Writing!

    *These are my guidelines to writing a scene. There are exceptions to everything, including these elements. Follow your instinct!

    Are you ready for the next step in your writing process? Hire me as your developmental editor and partner. Together, we will take your writing to the next level!

    4Dec, 2021
    Top 10 List of Writing Tips

    Writing may be your passion. It is certainly mine. It can, however, take you on a roller coaster of emotions. It can bring up emotions we aren’t necessarily prepared to deal with. It can be mentally exhausting. By the end of a really great writing day, my brain is, simply put, tired.

    Add to that moments of doubt. Those doubts may manifest through questioning our ability, maybe our talent, and sometimes even wondering whether or not we should be devoting this much time to something so unsure…something that may not make us any money in the end.

    We tend to work alone, which can be isolating. So much of the time, we live in our heads, creating characters and conflict and entire worlds there, all to the exclusion of living in the real world.

    Regular people don’t really understand what that’s like. Only fellow writers tend to really ‘get’ what other writers go through.

    Below is my Top Ten List for writers.

    1. First and foremost, call yourself a writer!

    But wait! “Can you I do that?” you might ask. The answer is a resounding, “Yes!”

    Being a writer is not the same thing as being published. Plain and simple, it means you write. So go ahead and proclaim it—if not to the world—at least to yourself. Say it: “I am a writer.”

    2. Be a reader of great books.

    Reading [great books] is one of the most important things you can do to grow your craft. Pay attention to how writers you love and respect put words together, how they craft sentences…paragraphs…scenes…chapters. Examine how they go about creating characters with depth. Be a forensic reader, then take the knowledge you gain and apply it to your own writing.

    3. Embrace the fact that you are on an ever-present path of growth. Any writer will tell you that they are always honing their craft. No matter how good you are, there is always room to refine what you do and how you do it. This can come from reading (see #2), from new vocabulary, which can help bring greater meaning to your words, and certainly from practice.

    There may be people who are born with innate writing talent in the same way there are people who are born athletes or born thespians. But there are far more people who work to learn and improve through practice and research and simply DOING.

    4. Refill the well. You can’t live on water alone. Similarly, you can’t live completely in your head and at your computer. You may feel that you don’t have time to devote to anything other than your day job, family, and your writing life. I’ve been there, believe me. There was a period of time when every single available minute was devoted to my writing. The result was that I got burnt out, and pretty quickly.

    Take it from me, you need other things in your life. I’m here to encourage you to step away from your writing once in a while. Do other things. Pursue other interests and hobbies. At the very least, give your brain a chance to turn off and yourself a chance to recharge by going for a walk, reading, watching a movie, cooking a healthy dinner, do some art (I do art journaling!), or whatever else will refill your well.

    5. Conversely, maybe you need to carve out time to write. Just because it’s a passion doesn’t mean you have given yourself permission to go there on a regular basis.

    You need to nurture your passion, without guilt…without giving in to doubt…without setting up barriers.

    6. Find like-minded people. This is such an important component for your mental health. Humans are social…even introverts. The absolute amazement I felt when I attended my first writing meeting (I joined Romance Writers of America even though I didn’t write romance. As an organization, they offer so many resources). I met people who loved writing as much as I did. They understood me!

    Now I belong to both Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America. Find an organization so you can find your people.

    7. If you’re new to writing, find a critique group (another benefit of joining a writing organization). I found my group pretty quickly after I first joined RWA. We met monthly for years, and I’m still close with several of them. They will always be my people. We learned how to be writers together. We  supported each other. We grew up together.

    When you read the acknowledgments in so many books, the author thanks their critique partners. That alone shows you just how important a supportive group like that can be in your writing life.

    8. Don’t listen to what others think or say. I’m not talking about your critique group here. I’m talking about the naysayers. Those people who point out all the reasons why you shouldn’t be a writer. 

    Don’t listen to people who blithely say it’s nothing more than a hobby.

    I was a teacher. A mom of five. A wife. A daughter.

    I also wanted to write.

    I DID write.

    I didn’t listen to anyone who said anything that might take the wind from my sails.

    You simply cannot care what other people think of your dream.


    9. That leads straight into the next tip, which is to simply focus on bringing your stories to life. There are people out there who are just waiting for what you write. All you have to do is produce it and get it out there for them.

     10. Write the story of your heart. It’s easy to fall into the destructive thought-process of writing what is ‘hot’ right now, rather than what you want to write.

    Fight the urge. If something is hot right now, by the time you finish writing your story, the trend may very well be over.

    So…forget about writing to the market. Write the book of your heart.

    Let me tell you a story. I wrote my first book and LOVED it. I submitted to agents and ultimately, I got two offers of representation. One was from an agent in her own boutique agency who absolutely loved my book and character. The other was from a big time agent in a huge organization.

    I listened to some of the people around me at the time, most of whom advised that I go with the smaller fish in the big pond rather than the big fish in the small pond. People thought I’d be crazy to turn down the offer from Trident Media Group.

    I went with the agent there, and she immediately launched into all the reasons why she wanted me to up the romance in my caper mystery series, and downplay the mystery.

    Against my better judgement, I did it. Long story short, more than a year later, she pulled the plug on the project, saying that she didn’t really rep mysteries and it still wasn’t romance-y enough.

    I ended up going with her assistant, who was leaving Trident to go out on her own. We took it back to the original version, which she loved, and she sold it within three months. She is still my agent today.

    The moral of the story is to be true to your voice and your story. Write what YOU want, not what somebody else does.

     

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