New Blogs on the Block

Thank you to the lovely Miss Cole, who tipped her hat to our little corner of the blog-o-sphere by handing us a Liebster blog award. *Waves, hugs and smiles all around*

The goal of the award is to spotlight up and coming bloggers who currently have less than 200 followers. The rules of the award are:

   1. Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you.
   2. Reveal your top 5 picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
   3. Copy and paste the award on your blog.
   4. Have faith that your followers will spread the love to other bloggers.
   5. And most of all - have bloggity-blog fun!

Here’s who makes my top 5!

An Artistic Science: GK always poses great, fun questions for us writerly types!

Angeline Trevena: Her blog is full of interesting posts and keeps me up-to-speed with the latest blogfests and other goings-on.

TL Conway Writes Here: Heart-felt and humorous, with lots of inspirational prompts.

Caroline Wilson Writes: Join in as Caroline gushes about her love of historical fiction and the writing/publishing journey!

The Aspiring Sub-creator: Sarah is a fellow fantasy lover and blogger-extraordinaire.

Hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Love and Words Never Die

We interrupt your regularly scheduled blogging to bring you a letter that, frankly, took my breath away. A few months ago, I was trying to research letters between husbands and wives during times of war so I could capture those hopes, fears and emotions for the characters in my WIP. Well, today, I found my answer.

While stumbling around the Internet, I came across the (apparently famous) American Civil War letter from Major Sullivan Ballou to his wife, Sarah. The eloquence of this man’s words echoes across a century and half with such truth and poignancy that I had to share it.

As writers, we’re constantly trying to put ourselves in our characters’ shoes, to feel what they feel, think what they think. Whether you’re writing a fantasy, historical or romance, it’s hard to get a closer, more intimate view of the eve of a battle than this letter.

Not only is the language and cadence gorgeous, we can also glean real insights into both love and war. Here are the lines that flat out stopped me and made me wish I could write something half so moving:

...I feel impelled to write lines that may fall under your eye when I shall be no more.

...Our movement may be one of a few days duration and full of pleasure…and it may be one of severe conflict and death to me.

...I cannot describe to you my feelings on this calm summer night, when two thousand men are sleeping around me, many of them enjoying the last, perhaps, before that of death.

...My love for you is deathless, it seems to bind me to you with mighty cables that nothing but Omnipotence could break, and yet my love of Country comes over me like a strong wind and bears me irresistibly on with all these chains to the battlefield.

...When my last breath escapes me on the battlefield, it will whisper your name.

...I shall always be near you; in the garish day and in the darkest night—amidst your happiest scenes and gloomiest hours—always, always; and if there be a soft breeze upon your cheek, it shall be my breath; or the cool air fans your throbbing temple, it shall be my spirit passing by.

Wow. Just wow.

You can read the letter in its entirety here.

Do You Trust Me?

We writers spend a lot of precious hours dreaming about and worrying over contracts with agents, editors and publishers, but today I want to focus on the most important contract we’ll ever make—the one with our readers.

Since most of us are both readers AND writers, let’s look at this from a couple different perspectives.

As a Reader
When we open a book, whether we think of it or not, we automatically expect several things from its author:

• To be entertained
• To read about believable characters we can love or love-to-hate
• To be surprised and intrigued without being lost
• To not be let down by major outcomes (character deaths, love triangles, etc.)

If those basic expectations aren’t met, the reader loses faith in the writer – not in his or her ability to write, but in his or her ability to craft a satisfying story (cough, GRRM, cough). Books suddenly fly across the room and into walls. The risk is that, once readers feel their trust has been betrayed, it’s next to impossible to win them back.

As a Writer
There’s a big difference between honoring your readers and “caving” to the market. So how can we create a unique story with our own characters, twists and ups-and-downs without losing readers?

• Maintain an engaging novel throughout. We can’t have a spitfire beginning and then sputter, and we also can’t afford to build to the big finish without hooking the reader from the first page.

• Don’t write bland characters. It seems simple, but if you’re going to err on characterization, you’d be better going overboard than not giving enough. Readers LOVE their characters – great characters lead to book club debates, t-shirts and more. Just think of how people focused on JK Rowling’s divisive characters of Snape and Umbridge.

• Be thoughtful in your plotting
• Avoid twists that come completely out of the blue – they often leave readers lost, and readers will see through twists that are there solely for the sake of “shock value.”
• Set up the proper reasoning and stakes ahead of time – without context, the reader doesn’t have a reason to care about your story, your characters or their choices.
• Fill in any plot holes – this one should be pretty obvious. : ) 
• Balance character changes, deaths or romances with reader expectations. No matter how much weight you put on the “artistry” of your writing, you still need to write for your audience to a certain extent. Try to find that “sweet spot” where your story doesn’t follow the first, obvious resolution but also doesn’t veer into the absolute worst case scenario.

 The good news is we have a LOT of leeway to play with the details!

What to Read, What to Read…

I love the excited rush that comes when I’m able to recommend a new series I know a friend will enjoy. It’s almost as good as discovering a new book myself! There are inevitably great conversations and debates about characters and plot twists, and then our little group eagerly awaits the next nail-biting, up-all-night installment.

Book recommendations form wonderful connections that keep expanding: I tell one friend, she tells her sister, who tells another friend, and before we know it, close to a dozen people are following the same series we are. Not to mention, word of mouth is still the most important way to boost an author’s sales.

So, on the off chance that you’re wandering around muttering, “What to read? Oh, if only I knew of a good, as-yet unread book. Woe!” I want to share a few of my favorite recommendations. I’ve tried to pick one book in each genre you might not already be familiar with (otherwise this list would go on forever!). Some of these are relatively new releases and some haven’t been in print in decades. Hope you enjoy!

Fantasy
King’s Dragon, Kate Elliott
Dragon Prince, Melanie Rawn
Inda, Sherwood Smith
(You guys knew I couldn’t hold myself to one recommendation in this category, right?)

YA
Demon’s Lexicon, Sarah Rees Brennan

Middle Grade
The Seventh Tower, Garth Nix

Historical Fiction
The Far Pavilions, M.M. Kaye

SF/Space Opera
In Conquest Born, C.S. Friedman
(P.S. If you manage to get the 15th anniversary edition of this one, author C.S. Friedman has an excellent introduction talking about her journey as a writer. It’s a must-read!)

I don’t read as much in the crime, mystery or literary realms, so if you guys have recommendations of amazing books in those areas, please share them! Also, I am, of course, always eager to hear of more fantasy-related books, so keep those recommendations coming too. Let’s see how long we can make this list.

Writing Rules According to Gibbs

I boycotted the TV show NCIS for years because it originated as a spin-off of my old favorite, JAG, and I wasn’t ready to accept the transition. What a fool! Well, I’ve come to my senses now and seen the light. Not only do I love the show, but I’ve also quickly come to admire its writers.

Why? Unlike a lot of other TV shows these days, the writers at NCIS know the value of not wrapping things up in one episode.

We can apply this lesson to our own writing. It’s tempting to tie things up into neat little bows between chapters or at certain strategic points to let your characters (and readers) catch their breath. Sure, the tension’s high in the middle, but by the end of the section, everything’s been resolved and we’re all back to normal. That’s not always a bad thing, but it often means you miss opportunities to heighten conflict or allow your characters to truly change.

Sometimes we hesitate to put our characters through challenging, irreversible change, because that type of change stays with them (and with us as writers) forever. We have to carry it through the rest of our novel. It’s tricky and complicated, so we tend to shy away from it.

Let’s learn from an example of how they make this work on the show (Don't worry - it's from past seasons, so doesn't contain any timely spoilers).

One of the main characters, Ziva, who is originally from Israel, decides to become a U.S. citizen. That in and of itself is a big move for this character, since she has strong family ties to Israel. Several episodes of the show feature secondary plots involving her citizenship process—it’s not over and done with in only a few minutes. The writers take time to examine the real-life challenges and excitement associated with becoming a citizen.

Then, we come to the finale where Ziva will finally stand up and take the oath as a U.S. citizen. It’s clearly an important moment for her, and she invites the rest of the team to support her and witness her oath. Here’s where NCIS really differentiates itself. Most shows would do just what we expect—the entire team would be present, smiling and cheering on Ziva from the audience.

Or not.

Instead, the NCIS writers make two of her closest team-members noticeably absent from the ceremony. Her boss, the infamous Leroy Jethro Gibbs, is balancing an investigation about his decades-old murder of the drug lord who killed his family with threats from that same drug ord’s revenge-crazed daughter. Ziva’s partner, Tony, is in Mexico tracking the cartel.

Although they both have excellent reasons to miss Ziva’s ceremony, the viewer feels their absence. We know they wouldn’t miss it lightly, and yet…they’re not there. What does this mean? How badly must they be feeling, knowing they want to be there for her, but can’t? How much does Ziva know about where they are and why they’re not there? What is she wondering as she scans the crowd and doesn't see their faces?

These are the type of emotional questions that will also keep your readers urning pages. To get there, steer clear of easy, predictable solutions and throw some lasting curveballs at your characters.

Taking Hogwarts Home

The final Harry Potter movie comes out this week. Can you believe it?! In honor of all the hoopla (and JK’s announcements about Pottermore), I thought we could have a little fun with everyone’s favorite world of witchcraft, wizardry and muggles.

If you could bring three aspects of Harry’s world into ours—spells, food, sports, anything— what would they be?

For me, it’s:

• Quidditch
• A penseive (To capture all those flighty moments of inspiration so I can examine them later and string them together into a book)
• Butterbeer (In my mind, it doesn’t taste like beer at all. More like a liquid version of a Werther’s)

Your turn.


Shout out to my buddies at Backlot Imaging who worked on effects for the film. Awesome job, guys!

Trust the Process

Bethany Beinke

My former Very Awesome Roommate was an art therapy major who loved the phrase “Trust the Process.” There were many late nights where she sat doing lovely art things while I wrote, and one or the other of us would become utterly frustrated or uninspired by what we’d just created. We would shout across the apartment to each other: “Trust the Process.”

What does that mean in writing?

a) You’ve gotta trust your instincts and listen to them, even if they’re telling you that beautiful piece of prose you’ve just finished needs MAJOR tweaking.

b) You must embrace the wonder of writing and publishing with all its crazy zigs and zags, hair-pin turns and dead-ends.

Just because you haven’t had a perfect writing day today doesn’t mean you’ll never have one again! I’ve had several times where I've been rolling along and suddenly slammed into a steel-plated wall. I’ll know the book, the characters—I might even know the next scene—but I’ve lost that perfect Voice that lets me capture it.

Inevitably, I stew, try to force words onto the page, end up punching my delete key like a fiend (or doing fiendish cross outs with my blue pen) and then glare at the screen (notebook) until I want to strangle it. Then, with whispers of Very Awesome Roommate saying “Trust the Process, Nicole,” I walk away.

And you know what usually happens? It comes back! Maybe that same day, maybe in a week, a month or the middle of the night, but that Unstoppable Author vibe will return.

I’ve learned there’s usually a good reason for its temporary disappearance. It might be a simple reminder that there’s life outside of writing. It could be a rejection or a non-response that sends you to the Internet frantically searching for answers, where you discover a new blog or site or book. (Oh, look, writing people – I shall make them my friends).

For me, momentary frustration with one idea often helps me stumble upon the next equally-amazing one, which leads me directly back into the dizzying cycle of I Love Writing!

Sometimes, trusting the process requires the patience of a saint when we’d much rather be sobbing, screaming or tearing out our hair. Other times, it asks us to leap, even if we’re not quite sure we can fly yet.

There is a certain madness to this great thing we call writing. But it’s a poetic, dancing madness, not without reason, and I suspect it’s a little bit of why we love this whole industry in the first place.

Not Quite As Easy As 1, 2, 3

Ah, the editing process. That wonderful, awful stage that begins after you first type “The End,” and lasts until long after your sanity deserts you. When you’re re-reading a page for the 5,000th time (and you memorized it after 200), it is so very, very tempting to stop editing and query too early.

“How good is good enough?” you wonder. “I think it’s perfect. Surely, agents and publishers will, too!”

If only it were that simple.

I’ve been thinking about my own writing and editing process lately, and here’s how I’d break it down. Even if you don’t buy into the exact methods, I think it’s helpful to keep each of these perspectives in mind as you edit.

Draft 1*: It’s all about YOU
This is what we call the throw-up draft at my local writing studio. The first, frenzied, “get-it-all-out-on-page” effort, whose main purpose is to organize your thoughts and make sure they wind up on paper. This initial draft is about YOU: your ideas, your writing tics and mistakes, your favorite turns of phrase. And that’s okay at this point. Write, little author, write! The biggest challenge here is finishing the story.

Draft 2: It’s all about YOUR CHARACTERS
Okay, you’ve vomited your glorious story all over the page in Draft 1. Congrats! Take a deep breath, enjoy a glass of wine and then buck up, because from this point forward, it’s NOT about you.

In the second draft, concentrate on honing your characters and your plot until they shine. Remember all your favorite phrases from Draft 1? Well, they won’t be surviving the cut now unless they are absolutely something your character would actually say. This is the draft where you become invisible – we shouldn’t see you, as the author, anywhere, except in the miraculous visage and voice of your characters.

This is really tough. We want to hang onto that initial version, the one that first tumbled from our hearts, but c’mon, you owe your characters and your story more than that! Make them their very best in this draft.

Draft 3: It’s all about THE READER
You now have the most amazing cast of characters and most tightly twisting plot in the world. But we’re not done yet! This last one is often the most important draft of all. Why? Because it focuses on your readers, the people who will actually buy your book, love your book, sleep with it under their pillows and tell their friends about it.

Set your novel aside for a few months so you can read it with fresh eyes and immerse yourself as a reader. Then, evaluate it like any other book you’re reading. Does the writing flow? Does it pull you in? Is that line of dialogue truly funny or just forced?

Anything, and I mean anything, that gives you pause or pulls you out of the story must be changed! Because, chances are, if it stops you, it’ll stop your readers.

After you drag yourself back to the drawing board to correct all those little (or not so little) edits, read it again. Ask the same questions. Make additional edits.

Read it again.

No, I’m not kidding.

When you can get through the entire draft without being jerked out of the story by some small annoyance, you might, just maybe, be getting close to query stage. And you’ll probably be wearing a giddy little smile because your book is approaching that seamless quality of those already on the shelves. Good luck!


*All draft numbers are grossly understated. Drafts 2 and 3 might end up being drafts 4, 7…15…you get the idea.

Lessons from My Day Job: Queries and Resumes

I review a lot of resumes for my day job as a public relations counselor, and in some ways, I think the experience is similar to what agents must go through when reviewing queries. Here are some observances that we, as writers, can keep in mind for the query process, too.

The Speed Test
I really can tell within about 30 seconds if an applicant has the experience and skill I’m looking for. It shouldn’t be surprising that agents can do the same with our queries.

Value of Proofreading
For the love of the written word, PLEASE proofread. It’s bad enough to see mistakes on people’s resumes, but when that “resume” is a query letter and is supposed to showcase your writing ability, it’s pretty inexcusable. Take the time to review your work correctly.

Follow-ups and Form Responses
I’m diligent about following up with everyone who sends me a resume, but I typically use a form email without specific comments. I think this gives me a unique perspective on agent rejections. I know the huge spectrum of reasons why I say “no” to candidates, so I imagine agents have a similar list and I don’t get offended by form rejections. If you don’t hear back from a company about an interview, it doesn’t stop you from applying for other jobs. Rejection shouldn’t stop you from querying either.

Things that Make You Go SPLAT
Some applicants try to think outside the box on their resumes to grab my attention. I’ve received resumes on elaborate video CDs, resumes with ribbon lacing and resumes with custom-designed testimonials from previous employers.

I once managed a “request for proposal” for a music client. The agencies that sent proposals in guitar cases thought they were being oh-so-clever…they weren’t. At least three agencies packaged them in exactly the same way, and the only thing those proposals did was take up space in our offices while we wondered what to do with the cases.

It might be tempting to show your creative side, but I’d recommend sticking with the basics and letting your writing speak for itself in your query. It’s all too easy for “creative” to turn into “annoying” or “I’ve already seen a dozen of those today.”


Hope this is helpful or at least a little encouraging for those of us wading into the murky, swirling waters of querydom. Good luck to all!