I’m starting to get emails from the local NaNoWriMo organizers, and writers like you should be too. If you aren’t, go on over to nanowrimo.org and sign up. Somebody decided to make November into National Novel Writing Month and set up this national nonprofit organization to provide local structure–write ins, email support, writing buddies, and more. […]
Point of view: how deep?
Editors these days will typically steer a writer to use “deep point-of-view,” or deep POV. It’s a writing device where the reader learns only what the current POV character sees, feels, or thinks — until the next scene, when the POV character may be someone else. If there are one or two POV characters, the […]
Writers, what do you do about a sagging middle?
We’ve all read books with sagging middles. The story starts out with a bang and then seems to … sort of .. meander around a bit. If we are persistent we may find that the story settles down to a strong, bang-up ending. But with a sagging middle, most readers will never get there. So, […]
Behind the Scenes: Author Terri Wangard in a WWII Flying Fortress
Here’s how to make World War II come alive in your mind: ride in a Flying Fortress like I did. My World War II series Promise For Tomorrow features three navigators who fly in B-17s, the Flying Fortress. You may have seen them in movies like Memphis Belle, where the men speak to each other […]
Behind the Scenes: Author Sandra Orchard finds it takes a village to raise a character
It takes a real-life village to raise a child character. For my character Serena Jones, a plucky FBI agent on the trail of a hot painting in A Fool and His Monet, it took a couple of FBI agents; a friend who is single; a retired police officer; a longtime resident of St. Louis; and […]
Behind the Scenes: Tell us about what’s behind YOUR work
Our Behind the Scenes blog post today is by you, in the comments. Please tell us about the inspiration for one of your stories! We’ve got people waiting to read all about it!
Behind the Scenes: Collaborative Writing – The Writer vs. The Visual Artist
Janeen: I’m a plotter. I believe in to-do lists and set routines. I like to work alone so I can control things. God has a sense of humor, since I’m in a long-term creative collaboration with a visual artist, Julia Busko, who has a very different perspective. Julia: The best way to describe my process […]
Writers, how to find your audience
Agent Chip MacGregor says, “Go find your audience and stand in front of them.” It’s great advice for anyone wanting to sell anything. I’ve got something to add: don’t just stand in front of them, but convince them that your item is what everybody else wants, activating what marketers call social proof. As in, “Everybody […]
Author marketing: what’s your brand?
Branding is the core of marketing. We want “folks out there” to recognize our brand and associate it with certain things. Readers in our core audience will see and respond positively to the brand. Readers not in the core audience may respond negatively. But wouldn’t it be nice if they all recognized it? Branding can […]
Sandra Merville Hart finds her creativity …
I knew I wanted to become a writer in elementary school. In fact, I wrote my first book, a whodunit mystery story, as a sixth grader. I didn’t receive any encouragement, and the dream slipped through my fingers. About ten years ago, I wrote a devotion about one of church choir songs and shared it […]