Why writing to your audience is easier than you think!

I’ve never been the rebellious type. It’s not that I didn’t ever test the boundaries… shoot, I still do that with flair, but most often I find it easy to live between certain acceptable lines.

But when I started writing novels I got to defy all the rules. As a creative outlet, it helped me escape to a world outside my comfy little suburban bubble and in a lot of ways, it taught me about a wild side of life I’d never experienced. Or perhaps never had the stomach for.

I write about everyday women who face danger head on, who gamble with their mortality for the sake of justice and true love. They almost always travel a journey of grace to a depth of which I can’t really fathom because I’ve never had to wager with my life. Never had to overcome even a fraction of the stuff I throw at my characters.

But, I love where each adventure takes me! You ever felt this ways about your story? Or someone else’s great book?

You get to be someone completely different for a few hours and yet, you get to discover yourself in the characters too.

Because my fiction can tend to be viewed as “edgy” I have been worried about how readers, present and future, might receive the honesty I slather on the page. I’m not one to shy away from violence or the very real temptations we face in our world today. None of us are blind to it and yet so often we write like we are. As a very stubborn woman, I decided that I wouldn’t pander.

It got me thinking though… Is it too much? Are Christians going to be offended? Are those really the only people I want reading my stories anyways? And might there be a great opportunity to tear down the dividers that make those without faith think Christians have put themselves up on a holy pedestal and are judging their struggles. I mean, lets be honest… don’t we all struggle with the same things anyways?

The only difference is we don’t go through it alone.

But… what if they don’t get what I’m trying to convey? What it they get so caught up in their offenses, they don’t see the message of grace shining through all the junk that clutters our lives? What if no one wants to take a risk with a story like mine? What if… (fill in the blank)

The uber-awesome Chip MacGregor wrote a blog post recently about writing to your audience, finding your true voice and telling the story you were meant to tell. He said the most profound thing.

He said:

Your reader is yourself.

I’ve been fretting so much about how my stories might be perceived by some more conservative believers. By readers with more sensitive appetites. How might people be offended by the honest struggles I show battling within my characters?

And then I realized the very simple truth.

These stories aren’t for them. And furthermore, my stories aren’t for everyone.

For a reader like me, well, it will be right in their wheelhouse. They will love it. I LOVE what I write. It’s like dreaming on paper. And honestly, I don’t wish to whittle away those questionable things and cookie-cut my stories into some placating bundle of pages.

But for a different kind of reader, they’ll probably hate it! They might say it’s creepy or too steamy or salacious. And that’s totally okay.

Don’t get me wrong, if you want your work to sell, and I sure do, there has to be a market out there. There has to be more than one of you who wants to read it.

But as much as your story is meant to be shared, it’s also your own kind of therapy for yourself.

I want to encourage you. Write what you love. Fall in love with the freedom of the open page and the story God is pouring out from you. Enjoy the ride.

And…Be your own preferred reader.

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Amy Leigh Simpson writes Romantic Suspense that is heavy on the romance, unapologetically honest, laced with sass and humor, and full of the unfathomable Grace of God. She is the completely sleep deprived mama to two little mischief makers and would challenge anyone to a cutest family contest. Represented by Chip MacGregor of MacGregor Literary Inc.

A Panster's Guide to Plotting Your Premise

Last week, my pastor said something that really stuck with me. "Don't eat your seeds."

Matthew 13:3-9 says that Jesus, "told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. Whoever has ears, let them hear.”


Many of us have a tendency to take the seeds God has given us and eat them, or save them, or hide them, rather than investing them in good soil. Even if they do get planted, they may get thrown along the wayside or cast into the scorching sun.

Not only are these "seeds" relevant to our personal spiritual walks, but they're also relevant to our writing.

God has given each of us concepts, creativity, and dreams that function as seeds for our stories. Ever get a brilliant idea just before you sleep into the realm of sleep each night? That's a seed. Keep a notepad (or your phone) on your nightstand and write it down. Same goes for inspiration that strikes you at the oddest times. I can't tell you how many random "notes" I've made to myself on my phone while sitting in church or the line at the mall.

Sometimes we get lackadaisical about what God's telling us. I don't know about you, but if I wake up in the middle of the night with an idea, more times than not, I'm going to go back to sleep and assume the idea will still be there in the morning. Thing is, sometimes it isn't. 

The seeds God has given us for our books are precious and ought to be treated with care. We shouldn't toss them around so carelessly if we truly want them to take root and become fruitful.

So the question is, how do we plant these seeds?


Little anecdote from my own writing journey. I was trained to write by a bunch of brilliant postmodernists. I was taught that over planning and plotting could stifle creativity and keep a story from taking on new directions and depths that come through writing. I think there's certainly some wisdom to this approach. After all, you don't want your book to become formulaic, and you don't want to reject new ideas just because they come in the "editing" rather than the "plotting" stage.  Some of the best ideas and poignant moments aren't discovered until the book is almost complete and you've really come to know your characters in a deep way.

However, using this approach as an overarching strategy presents a problem--a very big one--that I soon discovered as I "panstered" my way through four books. And the problem is this. Writing is frustrating, and too much responsibility falls on editing's shoulders.

You need a premise, a seed, a core idea to drive every scene and every character in your story. Now, this seed can be developed. It should take on roots and leaves and flower throughout the course of your writing. But don't make things harder on yourself by looking for the seeds only after you've finished your book. Doing so leads to so much unnecessary editing!

Think of the books you've read that have really stuck with you or touched you in an emotional way. Most likely, they presented a concept or demonstration of character growth that was both vibrant and relatable, and you saw a bit of yourself in the character's journey. That didn't happen by mistake. That happened because an author was willing to invest for thought into cultivating seeds before planting them.

Now, I'm not saying you have to plot out your whole novel. I still have enough "pantster" in me to tremble a little when I think of a task so daunting, and I know that personally, my writing would end up stifled if I put too many restrictions on it. 

But I do want to challenge you today to take time mulling over and praying over the seeds--the core concepts of your story--and ask God where He wants to plant them. If you know the major questions and themes driving your story--where your characters are going to fail and succeed, what they're going to fear, their dreams, etc.--then you can craft each scene, symbol, and supporting character accordingly. Not only will this make editing easier, but your first draft will also be a lot less painful to write, knowing each scene is already infused with purpose and meaning.





I want to hear from you all! Are you usually a pantster or a plotter? How can both camps approach the process of planning their premise (albeit a little differently)?

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Ashley Clark writes romance with southern grace. She's dreamed of being a writer ever since the thumbprint-cookie-days of library story hour. Ashley has an M.A. in English and enjoys teaching literature courses at her local university. She's an active member of ACFW and runs their newcomer's loop. When she's not writing, Ashley's usually busy rescuing stray animals and finding charming new towns. You can find Ashley on her personal blog, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. She is represented by Karen Solem.

Guest interview with Gina Holmes

Gina Holmes is the founder of Novel Rocket and a PR professional. Her bestselling novels Crossing Oceans and Dry as Rain were both Christy finalists and won various literary awards. Her latest novel, Wings of Glass, released February 2013 and has earned a starred review from Library Journal, a Romantic Times Top Pick and a Southern Indie Bookseller's Okra Pick. She holds degrees in science and nursing and currently resides with her family in southern Virginia. She works too hard, laughs too loud, and longs to see others heal from their past and discover their God-given purpose. To learn more about her, visit www.ginaholmes.com.

Your 3^rd novel, Wings of Glass, has just released. Tell us a little about it.

I think this is my favorite book so far. Wings of Glass tells the story of Penny Taylor, a young wife who feels trapped and alone in a physically and emotionally abusive marriage. Besides her low self-esteem, she feels her Christian faith doesn’t allow for divorce. It’s not until she meets two women—one a southern socialite and the other a Sudanese cleaning woman—that her eyes are opened to the truth of her situation and she begins her journey to healing and redemption.

What made you take on the tough subject of domestic abuse?

As a little girl, I watched my mother being physically abused by her husband and then later, two of my sisters enter abusive relationship after abusive relationship and I thought that would never be me. . . until the day my boyfriend hit me for the first time and I began to make excuses for him. I know the mindset of someone who gets into and stays in an abusive relationship, because I’ve been there myself. It’s taken me years, and a lot of reading, praying, and talking to get to the heart of what brought me and kept me in toxic relationships and I want to pass on some of what I learned that helped me find boundaries and recovery from a codependent mindset and most of all healing.

What do you hope readers take away from this book?

It’s my hope and prayer that those who are in abusive relationships will begin to see that the problem lies with them as much as with the abuser. That’s something I railed against when friends suggested it. I wasn’t the one with the problem! I was no doormat who enabled abuse or addiction… or was I?

I also hope that those who have never understood the mindset of victims would better comprehend the intricacies of codependency and be better able to minister to these women and men. And of course I’d love it if young women would read this before they ever enter their first romantic relationship to have their eyes open to how abuse almost always progresses and be able to see the red flags early.

Which of the characters in the novel is most like you and why?

Each of the characters has a little of me in them or vice versa. I think years ago I was more like Penny, though tougher in many regards, at least I thought so. I’d like to think now I’m a little more Callie Mae. Because I’ve lived through what I have and have found healing, I can see in others the path that will lead to healing and the one that will lead to destruction. The difficult part once you’ve found healing is remembering that you can’t do it for others. You can offer advice, but you can’t make anyone take it. Each person has to learn in their own time, in their own way.

Who is your favorite character?

I absolutely love Fatimah. She had such a great sense of humor and didn’t care what anyone thought except those who really mattered. She was really quite self-actualized. She was so much fun to write and I actually find myself missing her presence.

What’s your favorite and least favorite part about being a writer?

Favorite: making my own schedule. I love when I’m feeling bad one day knowing that I don’t have to punch a clock. I can just take the day off and then work harder the next. Of course, there’s a lot of other things I love about writing, like allowing others to consider another point of view that may be far different from their own.

Least favorite: There’s a joke that when you work for yourself you at least get to pick which eighteen hours of the day you want. That’s true. Working from home means I’m always at work. I work from about 7:30 am until about eight at night most days. Under deadline, it’s worse. Truly understanding how much the success of a book rides on the shoulders of the author is a blessing and a curse. Because I get that no one is more invested in the success of my books than me, I put in a LOT of time on the publicity/marketing end of things. It’s tiring but an investment that I think pays off in the long run.

You had written four novels before your debut, Crossing Oceans was published. Do you think those books will ever get dusted off and reworked?

Never say never, but I doubt it. I had considered reworking some but having gone back and re-read them, I realized they weren’t published for good reason. They just didn’t work. Now, there is one story I’m resurrecting characters from for a story I should be writing next, but the plotline is completely different. I started out writing suspensel but as my reading tastes changed, so did my writing tastes. I don’t see myself doing suspense again any time soon.

You’re known for your quirky characters, what inspires you to write these types into each book?

Honestly, I’m a pretty quirky person. The older I get, the more I embrace those quirks. I think everyone is quirky really. As a student of human nature, I pick up on those and like to exaggerate them in my fiction. I also like to surround myself with quirky people. My husband is quirky, my kids are quirky and so are my friends. Often in life, especially when we’re young, we hate about ourselves what makes us different, when really those are the things we should be embracing. Different is interesting. Different is beautiful.

If you could write anything and genre, marketing and reader expectations didn’t matter, what would you write?

Speaking of quirky… I read a book a few years back that was so different that it made me want to try something like that. The book was a big-time bestseller, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. What turned me on about that book were the characters. They were quirky to an extreme. In contemporary women’s fiction, I can get away with a certain amount of quirk. but I’m always having to play it down because it’s so over the top. In a fantasy, you can be as over the top as you dare. I’d love to play around with something like that one day and just let my freak flag fly! Will I? Probably not unless I use a penname. I realize readers have certain expectations and I wouldn’t want anyone to feel mislead. We’ll see. There’s lots in life I want to do but since I only get a hundred or so years (if I’m lucky), time won’t allow for every rabbit hole.

What advice would you have for writers hoping to follow in your footsteps?

My advice would be not to follow too closely in anyone’s footsteps. Yes, there is a certain path all writers find themselves on. There are certain things that we must all do like learning to write well, figuring out platform, going to writers conferences to meet the gatekeepers and figure out the way things have to be formatted and submitted and all that sort of thing. But it’s okay to veer off the path too and forge your own. There are those who have self-published who have found great success.

There are those who have written about subjects that they were told no one wanted to read about and found success. It’s smart to figure out what others have done before you to make them successful, but alter the formula to suit your needs and passions. It’s okay to be different, in fact, I think great success and maybe even happiness depends upon it. And by all means, read Novel Rocket.com and leave comments. It helps not only encourage those authors who have taken the time out of their day to teach us, but it also connects you to the writing community. Community is important. 

From the best-selling author of Crossing Oceans comes a heartrending yet uplifting story of friendship and redemption. On the cusp of adulthood, eighteen-year-old Penny Carson is swept off her feet by a handsome farmhand with a confident swagger. Though Trent Taylor seems like Prince Charming and offers an escape from her one-stop-sign town, Penny's happily-ever-after lasts no longer than their breakneck courtship. Before the ink even dries on their marriage certificate, he hits her for the first time. It isn't the last, yet the bruises that can't be seen are the most painful of all.

When Trent is injured in a welding accident and his paycheck stops, he has no choice but to finally allow Penny to take a job cleaning houses. Here she meets two women from very different worlds who will teach her to live and laugh again, and lend her their backbones just long enough for her to find her own.

Our Words as Incense of Praise

In my quiet time I have been studying the incense of praise and it has revolutionized the way I think of my writing.

There are a number of instruments of praise mentioned in Scripture: trumpet, a long metal horn flared at the end, the harp, the lyre, the timbrel, the pipe, the flute, other stringed instruments and cymbals. 

Sometimes I struggle with comparing myself with other writers. God has made a variety of instruments of worship to praise Him. Just as with our writing, given as a gift to sacrifice back to Him as praise. He has created us and our gifts to be unique. Don't wish for a trumpet if you were created to be a cymbal to praise Him. 

Psalm 33:3: Sing to him a new song; 

Play skillfully and shout for joy.

Our writing is worship, pure incense offered back up to the creator of all. We want to give Him our best. Here he says "play skillfully." I felt he was using this verse to teach me personally that he desires me to grow in the gift he has given me. He has given these gifts and he helps us to grow in them by providing the resources we need to grow. We should desire to grow to "play skillfully for him" rather than out of a sense of competitiveness. It is not a race for publication, or to final in a contest BUT to bless Him.

Psalm 40:3 He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the LORD.

God himself gives us this work of praise. Let's always remember there is nothing to boast about in ourselves. God uses our writing to help us put our trust in God. Many times he has taught me a spiritual lesson through the life of my character. Other times he has used the process of writing itself to humble me and show me nothing is accomplished outside of Him. He puts the very songs in our mouths and the words on our pens. 

Lately, I've been struggling in a ministry God has called me to participate in. If we are not spending quantity and quality of time basking in the presence of Jesus, we cannot be vessels to pour out to others. In our writing life or anywhere else in our life.

Is your well dry? Why not sit at His feet. Use your writing gifts in other ways that please Him.

Do a word study on incense and praise. Apply what you learn to your writing life.

Write a hymn or chorus to Him. Your writing makes Jesus smile. This is a word that one of the Alley cats shared with me and it blessed me. Whose opinions are we giving the most weight to when it comes to our writing? 

Thank Him for the gift of writing. Appreciate the giver of the gift above the gift itself. Are you spending as much time praising Him as you are on your writing? 

Do you have a favorite verse that has influenced you in your writing?

Julia enjoys writing women's fiction whenever she can find a chair free of smushed peanut butter sandwiches and lego blocks. She is a wife and homeschooling mama of two littles. She also a reviewer for Library Journal, Christian Library Journal, and Title Trakk.

Backing Up Backstory

Someone may read the following texts between my crit partner, Ashley, and me and think we have some warped sense of gossip...

Maybe Grace's real mom went to them when she was pregnant, but they had high hopes for their son and pushed her away without telling him it was his baby?

Ohhh, or maybe the other way around-- maybe he knows but they don't and he's trying to keep them from finding out?

And it gets even worse a few days later....

I think this is sounding fabulous so far!!! I don't know if you need the miscarriage though... Maybe he just has a niece or nephew and when his brother does (committing a crime?) he doesn't want the shame/guilt/punishment to affect the kid?

 Ooh, maybe he felt it as a child...and he wants to break the cycle??

 

When you have a story brewing, I have learned as I delve into a new story recently, that sketching out the backstory of my characters has proven ESSENTIAL to getting my story off on the right foot. Sure, I may not want to dump all the back story in the first chapter...or the first five chapters...a sprinkling is more intriguing anyway...BUT, as the writer, having my backstory laid out as reference, is a tool of many uses...this much-proclaimed pantster admits!

How many times have you written or read (eek!) a story and suddenly the character is dealing with an emotion, a situation, a spiritual thread that flies in from out of nowhere and yanks you right out of the pov into  "Ah, the author needed some spice here"...or..."Perhaps the writer accidently edited the necessary backstory right out of the chapter before." 

As a writer, if we don't have the backstory hashed out from the beginning, then we might find ourselves hopping over tall obstacles of inconsistency or unbelievability.

Take your backstory tool out of the "low priority" drawer, and discover how useful it is as you begin your novel's journey:

1. A writer who has a solid backstory in mind writes three dimensional characters right off the bat.

If you have a sketch of the hopes, desires, disappointments, struggles, situations, that your character has encountered, then when you start her pov, she is "in" her own skin, with all her baggage prodding your fingers to type out her story and give her:

• emotional depth

• spiritual height (or lack thereof...room for growth)

• situational width (how does she react within her surroundings, with others). 

2. A writer not only brings to life a three dimensional character when they have the backstory laid out in their mind, but they write a character whose feelings and actions are validated because of their backstory.

If a writer has a good sense of where their character came from, then they are able to steer the character's emotions in a way that is backed up by their back story. If a character is defensive in a seemingly neutral situation, but has no backstory discovered to later validate that reaction, then it will strip away believability of the character, or cause the future reader to think they've missed something.

Every reaction and emotion needs a raison d'etre. There are two places we see it as writers/readers:

• In the active scene on page--in the moment.

• In the foundation laid through backstory (even if it's revealed later on. That emotion/reaction "backs up" the backstory once it's revealed. It gives the reader the "ah ha" feeling of...ooooh, that's why she was like that!)

 

3. This leads me to my last point: Well thought-out backstory gives your writing a power boost when you get to the black moment...or any powerful moment, really. 

You will have a better idea as to what will really devastate your character (muwahahaha). You will stay true to your overall theme throughout the writing process if you know your backstory and allow it to give you advantage in the "what happens next and why does it happen?" Your plot will begin to unfold in an intelligent way, as a series of intertwined events that lead up to the big one, with the backstory backing it all up.

Bottom line: Get that backstory firmed up before you decide to pour out your story. It will save you a ton of rewrites and give you the fuel you need to craft your story world. No matter if you are a pantster or plotter, when it comes to back story hash it out. Because that's where the first breath of life should stir from your characters....

It's where their first breath was stirred, after all!

How do you develop your character's backstory? Conversationally? Grids? Worksheets? 

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Angie Dicken first began writing fiction as a creative outlet during the monotonous days of diapers and temper tantrums. She is passionate to impress God's love on women regardless of their background or belief. This desire serves as a catalyst for Angie's fiction, which weaves salvation and grace themes across historical cultures and social boundaries. Angie is an ACFW member and is represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of the Steve Laube Agency.

What's Up the Street for Next Week?

Photo Credit: Freedigitalphotos.net

When you think SPRING, what is the first flower you think of?

I think tulips, because the hearty little things are always the first flowers to freeze their little heads off when they poke above the ground. The bulbs are older than my parent's marriage, but they keep producing flowers, a testament to the hardiness of nature and all God has instilled in these little plants.

Think of that as a writer. Are you hardy? Are you willing to poke your head out of the safe and warm and comfortable even if it means you might get a bit of frost on the tips of your nose and ears?

Sometimes taking a chance is worth it. Bloom and let those around you enjoy the beauty of new color!

What's coming up next week?

Angie is all about backstory and doing it right on Monday.

Do you view your writing as an offering? Julia mulls the thought over on Tuesday.

Karen brings her talent for words and teaching to the blog on Wednesday.

Ashley is giving you a pantser guide to plotting on Thursday.

And Amy is your blog hostess for Friday, be sure and stop by for more ideas on making your fiction writing shine!

Let's hope for continued beauty and the hope of spring headed your way soon!

Building the Foundation of Your Contest Synopsis

Photo Credit

Did you all hear the squeal from the Oregon desert last week? Yep, that shriek of excitement was coming from yours truly as I wrote my 500 word contest synopsis in an afternoon...and was super happy with the results. With practice makes perfect, but some concepts have sunk into place that have finally made things "tick". So of course I had to share my new secrets (which really aren't so secret).

Leave out ALL subplots. I had to physically empty my mind of everything but my two main characters. When I thought in these terms, it was much easier to know what to include and what not to include in the actual synopsis.

When you focus your synopsis just around the two main characters you can accomplish and share much more. What is their spiritual journey and show that as best you can throughout as you explain their growth. I usually culminate the spiritual growth at the end of the synopsis when I bring everything into a tidy package ending.

Pick two to three main points for each of your characters and include a couple sentences about it. How I typically lay out my synopsis beginning is:

Adelaide Proctor-Smythe is a hopeless romantic with the dress and the dreams…and one problem: she hasn’t a clue who the groom is. But until then, she’ll continue reading about romance and trying on “her” perfect wedding dress, hidden in the corner of Aunt Sissy’s Boutique. Addi might be in love with love, but when none of the guys in her hometown give her a second glance, something has to change. She’s determined to control her chance at love, but managing her destiny isn’t so easy when a “little head cold” becomes something more serious.

            Levi Shraven has always loved one girl; problem is that “one girl” doesn’t know he exists. It’s a little hard to tell her, standing over a truck, elbow deep in grease, watching her in that white dress night after night. When he finds out Addi might be sicker than an antibiotic can cure, he can’t run out of time like when his mom died. Addi’s determination to change her life doesn’t seem to include him. Especially when she isn’t realizing he wants to take care of her for the rest of their lives.

Introduce both characters and their homeworld/goals. You're going to show through the synopsis the one thing the characters could do at the end that they couldn't do at the beginning. This needs to be a tangible action so the reader sees the change that has been happening within the heart of the characters. 

With this latest synopsis I wrote, I intertwined more of the characters and their intersection throughout the story into the actual synopsis. Instead of breaking off "his" and "her" lives and making everything the other character did in a separate paragraph, I combed more of the story together and I think the flow is definitely there at a deeper level.

The goes-without-saying rule about synopsis is that you tell the ending and what happens in between, not leaving much to surprise. But don't take this to the other extreme and share too much. All you'll end up doing with it later is cutting it out because a 500 word contest synopsis can only contain so much information. 

Give a nice ending to your synopsis. Something that clearly defines that the story is finished and you know what you're doing, shows that you know how to end a story. The line I choose to end my synopsis with this time was: Conquering failure and fear, With this Dream is a contemporary romance of waiting on God and aligning our dreams perfectly with His.

Sometimes you can take a line such as that and clearly define your genre within the first paragraph of the synopsis, but because my story is very clearly romantic fiction from the first line, I decided to hold this line until the end of the synopsis when I could put it slip it in like a period at the end of a sentence. 

I realized something the other day when I wrote my synopsis: writing a synopsis is never easy. I still don't like them, but crafting one does not have to be as hard as I thought it would be. A longer synopsis would be harder, but still holds the same qualities and has room for the same flaws. A synopsis takes R.U.E. to the extreme. So Resist the Urge to Explain and remember: your synopsis isn't about your secondary characters. It's not about how much your heroine loves her dog. It's not about the subplot. It's only about your hero and heroine. So make every word count.

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Casey Herringshaw is a homeschool graduate and has been writing since high school. She lives in rural Eastern Oregon in a town more densely populated with cows than people.