Don’t Leave Your Reader Behind: How to Tackle Internal Transitions (plus a giveaway!)

Casey here: Rachelle Rea has one of those smiles that is absolutely contagious. Someday I hope to meet this girl in person, because I think we'd jabber for hours ever after. ;-) Rachelle is here to share a couple great editing tips, so get that red pen ready to make some changes! Speaking of editing...how would you like to have 50 pages of your work given an edit after the craze of NaNoWriMo has passed? Rachelle is offering one fortunate winner the chance to have her editing services over 50 of your pages. Leave a comment below for a chance to win! :-)

Have you ever been reading a scene in a novel where the conversation centers on the main character’s boyfriend’s puppy—and suddenly someone mentions they

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saw Grandma at the grocery store yesterday?

Have you ever been watching a movie in which the music is slow, the dim light depressing, the look on the lonesome man’s face is heartbreaking—and suddenly a chimney sweep steps up and asks him where he bought his shoes?

Have you ever been listening to a song where the tempo is upbeat, the lyrics simple—and then suddenly the singer starts crooning his lines in French?

What?All of these situations caused you to raise your eyebrows, tilt your head, or wonder where I’m going with this, right?J

That’s because these situations lack fluidity, rhythm, a clear segue from puppies to Grandma, loneliness to shoes, a catchy beat to French.

This is one of the most common problems I encounter as an editor.I’ve worked with playwrights and poets, novelists and new authors, and even writers whose first languages aren’t English. A problem common to all is the continuity break—most often, this problem occurs internally in deep POV (rather than aloud as in my examples).

I’ll be trotting through a scene in which the Queen survives an assassination attempt and all of a sudden, out of nowhere, the main character’s thoughts veer to what she plans to do Saturday morning.Huh?

This transition makes perfect sense to the author, and it should make perfect sense to readers. There can absolutely be relevance between a foiled assassination and Saturday morning to-do lists. But that relevance must be made clear to readers. Or else they’ll feel left behind.

Here are two ways to tackle transitional thinking:

·         Transitional Words and Phrases

The easiest way to ensure a solid flow of thought while in deep POV is to use tried-and-true transitions. Remember those papers you wrote for your high school English class? How did you jump from paragraph to paragraph (or even from point to point within paragraphs)?

Easy.You didn’t. No jumping allowed. You transitioned instead. You plopped in a Furthermore, a However, an In fact, Nevertheless, or In contrast.

These fun little words and phrases will not only alert your readers that a segue is being made between thoughts, they’ll hint at what kind—if you use furthermore, they’ll expect a type of continuation; if you use however or in contrast, they’ll look for the difference between what’s been said and the contrary thought the character is entertaining.

·         Transitional Thoughts

Let’s say our hero and heroine are elbow-deep in dirty dishes after he’s cooked her dinner (because he’s cool like that). She asks him how work went today. He explains how the guy in the next office spilled his coffee on his shirt, fell out of his chair, and in the process accidentally tripped the fire alarm. He glances at her, expecting a laugh. She pats him on the arm instead. His reaction: Wha…?

He’s definitely confused. But what if we’re in her POV? We’ve gotten short, silent reactions to his story, only they’re not the reactions our hero is hoping for. She’s concerned about the third-degree burns our hero’s coworker may have received and is calculating how much inconvenience her man suffered as a result of the impromptu fire drill. So she gives him a sympathetic look and pats him on the arm with a sudsy hand.

He may be stunned, but because of the snippets of her thought process, readers understand her reaction—and laugh at the confused look on his face.

Those snippets of her thoughts smooth the connection between the story he’s relaying and how she’s hearing it.

So there you have it. Two tips that will work every time there’s a break in continuity, flow, or rhythm in your writing.

Any questions? …Oh, yes, you can absolutely use both methods at the same time.

…How much is too much? Well, a little does go a long way (you never want the transitional method(s) to weigh more than the thoughts on either side), but sometimes you need to apply transitions more liberally—such as when the transition is as out-there as the main character’s boyfriend’s puppy and someone seeing Grandma at the grocery store.

Rachelle Rea believes the power of story can transform, so she studies story as a senior at university this year and lives story in her little town in the South where the air is slightly salty. Find out more about Rachelle's writing, editing, and favorite word at www.RachelleRea.com. 

New Adult--- What in the world is it and can Christians write it?

Have you heard of the "New Adult" genre?

It's a newish genre that is being bantered around lately and stirring a wide range of opinions on the matter.

I did lots of searches this past week on the New Adult genre and came up with quite a few different definitions.

A common perception is:

"New Adult is just YA with sex scenes added in."

If that is the case, it leaves those of us who write fiction from a Christian world view in a bit of a conundrum. Can we adequately write "New Adult" fiction if the key difference is graphic sex scenes that are usually missing from our novels?

My answer: YES YES YES!!!!

OF COURSE we can.

The thing is, I don't agree with the definition of New Adult being "YA + SEX." And many authors who write "new adult" fiction agree that it is an unfair over-generalization.

New Adult is more about creating fiction that addresses the lives/issues/struggles of those who have left teenagerdom behind and entered the world of adulthood--ages 18-26ish. College, first real jobs, first true loves, and yes, even figuring out how sex plays a roll in their adult life.

I have this secret for you...shhhhh... don't tell anyone...

CHRISTIANS HAVE SEX.

(I know... you're shocked... You TOTALLY thought the whole stork thing, didn't you...)

And Christian "new" adults, especially in our current hypersexualized society, have a struggle in front of them went it comes with dealing with this issue. Ignoring sex and the desire/temptation thereof does no one any good.

Writing "New adult" fiction from a Christian worldview has the ability to SHOW not TELL... show the struggles--the failures--the consequences. There are a lot of great non-fiction books out there for Christian adults on the topic of sex, both for singles and married couples. But in story form? Not-so-much.

And as mentioned, the new adult genre is really NOT all about sex. There are a lot of things new adults have to tackle. Drugs/alcohol/integrity at a job/bullying--while these aren't narrowed only to new adults, they are big topics for that age group, and we should not be afraid to throw the realistic life issues at our characters and see how they handle them. We have fascinating concepts we can weave in there too. Things like God's GRACE and MERCY and REDEMPTION. Even forgiveness-- both of others, and learning to forgive ourselves.

Discussion: What are your thoughts on this new "genre"? Have you ready any books from a Christian perspective that would fit? Do you think it is possible to tackle tough issues that new adults are facing in fiction without crossing "CBA" lines?

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Krista is a follower of Jesus, a wife, a mother, and author of Sandwich, With a Side of Romance (which just so happens to feature a 20-year-old heroine, GO FIGURE!) She blogs about finding JOY in the journey of LIFE at http://www.kristaphillips.com. She is represented by the fab agent, Rachelle Gardner.

Why Numbers + Words = Publication

Imagine two men dressed in nice suits standing in the middle of a crowded room, we'll call them Bill and Jerry from Event Planners Inc. Working as a team, Bill and Jerry planned this well attended event and wisely understood each person in attendance could be a potential future client.  

Bill was the shy, silent type. He forced a few smiles and managed to gain eye contact with a few people. He'd known his weakness as a shy person for a long time and really preferred Jerry to handle the hobnobbing. Eventually he constructed the perfect excuse to escape the room and hid in a quiet place, content the big turnout demonstrated good work.

Jerry wouldn't classify himself as a social extrovert. Small talk tripped his speech many times and he forced himself to smile for photos despite an overbite. The numbers for Event Planners proved the importance of making a strong appearance. He prayed before each event, boxed up his introvert and set it on the shelf for later, and walked through the crowd as if he had the best news ever to share. He shook hands, stumbled through conversations, and laughed with those around him.

Bill and Jerry are like many writers. Their favorite moments come when they hide in their office and plow through the work. Jerry has learned, though, it is the meeting with the people who are potential clients that stirs business.

Good business product + meeting with potential clients = increased sales.

Lets apply this to writing.

Bill The Writer loved to hide in his study and write. He was willing to socialize with the family or church friends, but mostly preferred the comforting seclusion of his office. His editor reminded him to promote his book after the last low sales figures came in. Bill had more important tasks to be done. If he spent his time on promotion, who would write his books? Bill ignored his editor's request, assuming the publisher would pick up the slack, and set new records completing his next book. He polished the best proposal he'd ever written and sent the package off to his agent. One year later his agent emailed. 'I'm sorry. There isn't a house willing to take this book. Truly it's your best. Your last editor refused to even look at it. Did you work on the marketing as they asked?"

Jerry The Writer, was as allergic to being an extrovert as the next writer. When his editor raved about his recent release and recommended new ways to market, Jerry took a deep breath--scared to try the new ways. He spent each morning in prayer asking God to give him the strength to follow through with marketing. 

At first, he forced himself to spend one hour a day setting up marketing strategies. Jerry set up a Twitter account and learned how to use hash tags to find his audience. He scheduled one week's worth of tweets, one per day, using Hootsuite. He then used the remaining hour to build his audience with retweets, mentioning others, and sending direct messages. He set a timer to insure he didn't go over the hour. The rest of his work day he spent writing.

Two weeks later his confidence helped him to add a face book personal page and an author page. It took a little longer to set these up since he wanted to maintain the twitter project  and not exceed the one hour. Jerry tweeted his new page to followers on twitter and watched the number of likes grow.

Knowing there were many other avenues of marketing, Jerry devoted some of his marketing time to reading new marketing strategies posted by Amanda Luedeke from Chip McGregor Literary Agency every Thursday and Edie Melson's blog on marketing trends, how to and not to. His market ideas grew. 

Not wanting to tip the balance scale, Jerry made a schedule for the week. Sometimes his work (crit groups) happened at night, sometimes in the day. He set realistic goals for writing each week and forced himself to meet the goal. He budgeted time to spend with his daughter and date nights with his wife. The Superbowl, fishing, and vacations were naturally written in ink as well. Of course, the first block of each day remained reserved for God.

One day Jerry's editor emailed him. His book sales had increased proportionately for a new author. He asked when Jerry would have his next book finished.
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The inspiration for this post came from attending Amanda Luedeke's marketing class at ACFW this last year and from subscribing to Edie Melson's blog and Chip McGregor Literary Agency blog. 

Amanda Luedeke wrote "You can do it" many times in her new book: The Extrovert Writer. Although marketing is a Goliath project, we can turn it into doable steps and succeed like Jerry the Writer. 

Edie Melson's guidance is tailored for every level of experience. I have successfully followed steps given on her site many, many times. It sure feels good. :)

A caring word for you: 
1. You can market your book.
2. Marketing increases sales.
3. BUT your book needs to be well written.
4. Do not rob your family of essential time with them. Do not let them rob you of God's call to write. Balance.
5. Do not let social networking vaporize minutes from your day. Set a timer. Be rigid.
6. Stay healthy. We need professional photos that show we take care of ourselves.

Let's share ideas to help each other-
Do you have a marketing question or idea? Amanda Luedeke and Edie Melson will be stopping by today to answer your questions.
What social media to you prefer for promoting your work?
What source do you learn marketing skills from?


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photo by freedigitalphotos.net

This blog post is by Mary Vee

Mary has moved to Michigan with her husband, closer to her three college kids. She misses the mountains of Montana, but loves seeing family more often. She writes contemporary and romance Christian fiction and loves to pen missionary and Bible adventure stories on her ministry blog, God Loves Kids.

Visit Mary at her website and her ministry blog to families: God Loves Kids. Or chat on Facebook or Twitter

Being A Grateful Writer

Photo by Felixco, Inc.
freedigitalphotos.net

I am recovering from a glorious weekend spent in Houston and Irving, Texas, attending the wedding showers of my daughter and her fiance at their home churches. It's hard to explain the feeling of gratitude and love for a group of believers who are such special family members of faith. The community of believers is a special one and we so often forget to be thankful for the beauty of those relationships. It is easy to take your family for granted, isn't it?

It is the same way in the writing community.

Writers are a rare breed. They don't think like others...aka, they day dream all the time!  They don't act like others...aka, they stare off into space day dreaming all the time! And occasionally they don't smell like others...aka, lack of showering due to deadline. (snort) Just like Christians, writers are like aliens in a foreign land and we tend to seek each other out, banding together, unified in purpose.

The writing community is such a gracious community. They fall over backwards to read your WIP and mark it up in red ink. They love to encourage you after you receive low scores in a writing contest. They get excited to brainstorm new ideas and help each other in the plotting process. Writers are AWESOME in their ability to further each other along in the journey.

But are you a gracious writer?

Do you say thank you? Do you go out of your way to do for others what they do for you? Do you seek out to bless another writer on a down day? Writers can get down really easy and don't always share with others their fears or frustrations. Take time to ask your writer friends how they are doing....I mean REALLY doing! Dig deep and bless someone's day.

Are you a grateful writer?

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This post is brought to you by

 Sherrinda Ketchersid

Sherrinda is a minister's wife and mother to three giant sons and one gorgeous daughter. A born and bred Texan, she writes historical romance filled with fun, faith, and forever love.

A Series of Super Heroes

I don’t know about you guys, but every time I sit down to write a book it turns into a series. For the writing world, this is a good thing. It means that readers can continue to live in the imaginary world you created for a little while longer. They can enjoy watching old relationships develop as they discover new ones.

Here are a few things to keep in mind as you plan (or fall into) a series.

Few books (stories) can handle an Avenger-like cast of characters and survive to a part two. The only way it worked was some BIG-time build-up and most of the characters had their own stories first.

Four of the biggest elements of building a series are: Characters, World, Big-view and small-view conflicts, and Organization

Characters really are the driving force for the Avengers. And it’s the element we’re going to talk about today in series development.

First things first: do you have an idea? Julie Lessman’s Boston’s Daughters series revolves around one family as their lives intertwine with others through the turbulent early 1900s. A few of the main themes are things like Godly passions versus worldly ones, honesty versus deception, and the immeasurable value of redemption.

To get to these themes, she has to have characters. And BOY does she!! From book one, all the way through SIX books, she intermingles the main voices of the current book with the lives and stories of the previous books, all the while ‘hinting’ at new stories in the future.

Mary Connealy sets up great series, though very different than the drama in Julie's books. Mary's a filled with adventure, humor, and hilarious male-female banter. And she's great at giving us 'hints' through her secondary characters about which romance might come next.

So how do secondary characters help build a series?

1.       Three-dimensional secondary characters – Most stories involve more than two people, but in most cases, the characters closest to your hero or heroine need to be a lot more than background design. They need to be involved in the story. They can be antagonists, certainly, or the mentor, or the best friend – but they need to be memorable.

Just as you do with your main characters, your most important secondary characters need their own backstories, strengths and weaknesses, voices, and goals (though these will be minor until their own story comes along). With a strong cast of secondary characters, it will be much easier to take one and create the next novel in your series.

2.       Keep the CURRENT story in your sites – In the middle of all the fun with secondary characters, it’s important to maintain your focus on the current story. If your secondary characters start ‘stealing the show’, you might need to reexamine how much you are delving into their story…OR if you’ve picked the right hero/heroine in your current story.

3.       Build anticipation through clues – I love planting clues in my secondary characters lives that hints toward a future novel of their own. For example, in one of my novels I have two secondary characters meet and hints of romantic sparks fire off between them. It’s a great way to build anticipation for their story later on. In another book one of my secondary characters leads another secondary character to Christ – in that moment there is a hint to special connection built between them. Another hint to their story.

4.       Nurture community among the characters – Just like in the Avengers, where relationships are created and grown to support the full story, your cast of characters are there for a REASON. Each one.

First they do exactly as their label implies. As ‘supporting’ characters, they support the main characters and the main story. Secondly, they help build a sense of community for which to grow your series. You learn about your main characters through their interactions with these secondary characters  - the people to trust, thoughts and feelings of the main characters, all couched within the community you’ve built from your full cast of characters.

So – have you decided to write a series? How have you set up your cast of characters to build a sense of community for the long-haul?

Saturday Chocolate Cafe Chat with Laura Frantz

The Writers Alley is starting a new feature on Saturdays with a short and sweet chat from different authors, agents, and editors throughout the writing community. For the next few months we're featuring authors and one of their favorite characters.

Our Chocolate Cafe brings sweet treats of information your way. So enter the sweet aroma of story-crafting topped with tasty character tips, editing chunks, and a swirl or two of agent information.

Cool part to the fun? At the end of 3 months, we'll draw the name of a commenter from our Saturday chats to win a Panera gift card!!

Right off the Alley and into our Chocolate Cafe walks the lovely and eloquent, Laura Frantz.

So Laura, here's a fabulous hot chocolate for you along with homemade crème buffs as we chat. If we're talking about all these wonderful characters you write, who is one of your favorites and what makes him/her so memorable to his love interest? (We'll take any pictures you want to share, btw) ;-)

Here’s my pic of Silas when Eden first saw him, before he asked her to go to town and get him a razor early in Love’s Reckoning, lol. Men in that era did not sport facial hair usually so he’s kind of scruffy-looking and needs to clean up. However, I think he looks heavenly scruffy!

The actor he is modeled after is Tom Mison from FOX’s Sleepy Hollow.

 What made Silas memorable to Eden?  Silas was the only man who had ever stood up to her father, the irascible, surly, demanding Liege Lee. But what really sealed the romantic deal was his wooing her with scripture in all sorts of places – her loom, her boot, her bucket, etc. She fell fast and hard and forever. THE END.  I would sure love for you to add what made YOU fall in love with him in the post!! Personally I wish Eden had told him there’d be no razor-getting as he was just too handsome with the beard, lol...

Oh man, I just loved Silas too, and the picture is such a magnificent match.

 All those little wooings certainly made me fall in love with him too, but especially because he was 'tender'. He saw in her something special.

That's the beautiful part of writing romances. The hero 'sees' something in the heroine (or visa versa) that no one else seems to see - and he/she loves them for it.

Thanks for the visit, Laura.

I'll leave you guys with a quote for today:

The only characters I ever don't like are ones that leave no impression on me. And I don't write characters that leave no impression on me.” 
― Lauren DeStefano

How are your characters leaving an impression on the reader? On other characters in your story?

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Next week on the Alley:

Monday- Pepper talks about writing a Series of Super Heroes, the importance of an all-star cast in developing a series (There just may be some pictures of Avengers...just sayin')

Tuesday - Sherrinda sprinkles her usual wisdom and fun into the post for today.

Wednesday - Mary's doing the math with her post Why Numbers + Words = Publication

Thursday - Krista boldly goes where no AlleyCat has gone before - a chat about the New Adult category, what it is and who's writing it.

Friday - Rachelle Rea guests posts for us today and brings with her a free 50 page critique. Make sure you stop by for your chance to be in the drawing for this great opportunity!

NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CASEY is the guest with the fabulous ladies of Seekerville on Friday. Stop by and check it out!

JULIA's review about publishing trends for 2013 is up on The Library Journal. There's some great information waiting in this review for you.

Making a Living as a Writer: Invaluable Tips from the MacGregor Literary Marketing Seminar

Okay, so last weekend I had the privilege of attending the annual MacLit Marketing seminar in Chicago. It was one day packet full of invaluable and applicable wisdom and I’ll do my best to post the highlights of my takeaway.

First:

If you want to make money as a writer, view your writing as a job, not just a hobby. 

Chip provided an example of a famous writer, I believe it was Cec Murphy, ((CORRECTION: TOM WOLFE)) who literally woke up early every day, put on a three piece suit, left his house, walked to the end of the drive way, turned around, went back inside and sat in his office to write. He would break for lunch and end at the same time every day. It was a priority. It was his job. And he took it seriously. He didn’t just lounge around in his jammies and wait for inspiration to strike. (How many of you know how well that works out!) But he put action to his dreams. Now it doesn’t have to be this regimented, especially for those who require less discipline. But this illustration really resonated with me. Whether part-time or full-time, give your craft the dedication it needs to thrive.

Second:

Start a writing calendar and a writing budget calendar.

Stay on track, establish a routine. In other words, be intentional. Make a plan. Which days can you dedicate to writing, which hours? If you think you’ll just fit it in, you’ll lose ground. And for the budget, if your goal is to make X amount of dollars a year to justify your time spent writing, how many books do you need to write that year to achieve that goal? How many months does it take you to write that book? Crunch the numbers. If you can assign a dollar amount to your weeks or even hours, you’ll start to see the value of your words and the time spent hunched over your art. And your progress will translate into building a career and a livelihood, not just penning a nice story in your spare time.

Third:

Determine your definition of success.

We don’t (and won’t) all need to be New York Time Bestsellers to reach our goals in writing. Our stories

can make an impact on a smaller scale and still serve their purpose. In order to gauge if you are making it as a writer, first decide what it is you need to accomplish to be a success. Maybe you just want to get published. Stay published. Maybe you’d like to hit a certain marker financially, or be able to quit your day job. If it’s not about money, what will help you feel successful in your endeavor? Defining this for yourself can make all the difference in how you view your writing. Your worth. And the cost of your time away from your family and other responsibilities.

Fourth:

No one can market your book like YOU can!

Dedicate two half days a week (dispersed however you like) on marketing. Even before you have a book that might mean blogging, social media interactions (be careful with this one—time suck), researching your audience and where you can reach them, doing reviews, or guest posts ect. The days of the reclusive writer holing up in a lakeside cabin and cranking out bestsellers are gone. With the internet and all the social media connection it is easier than ever to reach your readership. Easier than ever to find your target market. Do the leg work. Pound the pavement. It will pay off.

 

Fifth:

Have a three-legged stool.

If you want writing to be your bread and butter try to have several sources of writing income. For example, in addition to writing your trade length novels, self-publish some novellas that branch off from your stories. Write articles. Visit blogs. The smartest way to make a living with this is to broaden your horizons and have multiple sources of income. Put it on your budget calendar. You get your quarterly advance, you’ll make say...roughly $300 for each article you put out, how much more do you need to sustain a living? Crank out those extra e-books to bridge the gap. Provide an editing service. Schedule a speaking engagement. Get creative. We know it’s in there!

Okay, so those are a few nibbles to get you started. I know it sounds busy, but as much as we have agents helping us plan our careers, and we are at the mercy of the publishers to see our potential, YOU have the power to make or break your success. Decide what your goals are and ….Get crackin’!

Check out Chip's blog for other great tips! here

What marketing ventures have proven successful for you? And how do you measure success in your writing, or in life?

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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 tow-headed mischief makers and wife to her very own swoon-worthy hero. Represented by the oh-so-wise and dashing Chip MacGregor of MacGregor Literary Inc.