One Sheet Ready?

IT'S THAT TIME AGAIN...CONFERENCE PREP AND GETTING YOUR ONE SHEETS READY!

Whether you're planning a wedding, a kid's birthday party, or a lunch with friends, the special event always requires thought to setting the mood. Do you want a shabby chic wedding at a country chapel? Or a Super Hero bash for your four year old? How about a garden tea for a few of your closest girlfriends? All these events bring about a vision in our heads, a trigger for our senses.

Your fifteen minute agent/editor appointment at a writer's conference does not fall short as a "special event" for your writing career. The spotlight shines bright and brief in those few moments, so why not be sure you are prepared to not only sell your novel with a bang, but set the mood of your writing, and leave the professional with an experience they can't forget?

Besides stellar writing and a snazzy premise, it's best to tap into more than the agent/editor's sense of hearing as you speak, and impress an image that will stir the appropriate emotions for your particular book. The one sheet is the most effective way to tap into the professional's senses during your “special event”. It is your décor and mood lighting all in one. It can also be another hook to grab their interest and dig deeper with conversation. And it is my ABSOLUTE favorite thing to create besides the actual story.

Here are some examples of establishing the tone of the book through graphics and layout using my own designs (I tend to write more character-driven books so I include a profile or face in my own one-sheets):

A historical set deep in the Amazon jungle (Winner of the Mile High Scribes 2011 One Sheet Contest):

A coming of age story set post-Dust Bowl in cotton country of Texas (Finalist of the Mile High Scribes 2013 One Sheet Contest):

A historical romance set in a coal town in the Utah mountains (prejudice is a theme, so I went with the starkness of black and white):

For more info on creating these yourself, click here.

This conference season, I am excited to, once again, offer one sheet designs to any CBA writer. Go to my blog www.angiedicken.blogspot.com click on my CBA One Sheet Design page for more details! 

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Angie Dicken first began writing fiction as a creative outlet during the monotonous, mothering 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.

Catching A Vision, Part 2: The Big Picture Behind the Book

For part one of this series, I talked about the importance of vision in our lives when it comes to fulfilling our callings. Today I want to take things to a more specific level and apply some of these same concepts to each book we’re writing.

Have you ever been in the middle of writing and realized that you no longer really know what your book is about? Sometimes this realization can be frustrating, as we realize we’ve gone down too many rabbit trails and haven’t stayed focused to our key plot points. Other times it can be exciting because we know we’ve stumbled upon an even greater idea than we had originally.

But either way, there’s something about that first draft that’s so disheartening. It’s flat out hard to write, really. Putting the words on the page for the first time can be exhilarating when we get to an exciting scene, but most of the time, it’s painful! The creative side of our brain is flittering to action with different ideas, while the critical side keeps saying, “Uh, you might want to throw in the towel on this one. Have you actually read anything you’ve written so far on this WIP? Because it stinks.” Have you been there? Raising my hand right now because I know I have!

When we face these moments of what I would call the discipline of writing--where it becomes something we stick with because we are committed, even if our first-draft words are kind of terrible—it’s so important to keep our vision in mind, because that’s what keeps us going.

You can either use these bullets as you plot your book, before you even begin writing; or as you edit, working to pull out the most important aspects of what you’ve created. Ultimately, remind yourself that the story God has put on your heart will not write itself. Unless we all sit down consistently and get the words on the page, the only person that story is impacting is ourselves. And that’s a selfish way to use our gifts, really. So here are several ways to help you stay encouraged and keep a big-picture approach to your book, so that on the days you feel like giving up, you can remind yourself why your story rocks, and why you wanted to write it in the first place.

Vision for Ministry

One of the easiest things for me to lose sight of is the spiritual thread of my books, which is ironic because it’s also the most important element to me. It can be so easy to get caught up in the details that we begin to see our WIP’s  as simply a practice for editing. Spend some time daydreaming about your future readers. Imagine it’s your book people are reading on the beach, or the in airport, or in bed at night before they go to sleep. How would this change the way we are writing? Don’t be afraid to allow your calling to empower your writing. That’s the way it’s meant to be.

Vision for Plot and Characters

Sometimes it’s easy to get so fixated on the knitty-gritty that we neglect our characters’ hearts. I know I talk a lot about Robin Jones Gunn’s writing, but one of the reasons I love her so much is because she does this in her stories. She makes readers really care about the characters, so that when they experience transformation in their lives, we experience the same thing. Checking your dialogue tags for repetition and paying attention to what characters are wearing can only go so far if we don’t have a heart for the characters to begin with, and for us to feel that way, we need to really be aware of their big-picture journeys.

Vision for Tone and Voice

God has gifted you with a voice.  In my own writing, I find it so much more difficult to write in my natural voice when I feel shut down for some reason. This is particularly the case if I’ve received some overly-harsh criticism, or if I’ve allowed doubts to flood my mind. Another thing that can affect tone is the fear of what other people will think. Should I wrote an Amish novel, for instance, because those certainly seem to be selling! If we’re not careful, we become more consumed about market than we do about vision. The ironic thing is, most bestsellers actually do so well because they are unique. So be conscious of genre conventions, sure—but don’t write to the market, or you’ll always feel as if you’re missing the mark. If we aren’t writing in our sweet spot when it comes to the voice and tone of our novel, we’ll never really feel as if our vision for the book has been accurately portrayed.

How do you keep your vision for a large project? Do you ever find your vision for a story waning when you begin to feel discouraged?

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Ashley Clark writes romantic comedy 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.

A TV Guide Approach to Hooking Your Reader

Ever read those little TV Guide blurbs? When I was little, I used to love flipping the television to the TV Guide channel and watching all the shows scroll past. I think it’s because I’ve always liked to know all my options. :)

Some of those blurbs have made me wonder, “Who wrote this and what in the world were they thinking?” Ever had that moment? Last week I saw a Boy Meets World episode that had recovered on my DVR (yes, I still watch Boy Meets World) and the caption was, “Corey and Eric find lingerie in their mother’s bowling bag.” Seriously? First off, who came up with the idea to make a whole episode out of this? Secondly, please tell me there’s something else going on in the episode! And perhaps most embarrassing of all, I actually remember this episode from when it first aired! So clearly something about it was worth remembering.

A well-crafted blurb will make you tune in to something you would’ve never otherwise considered watching or reading. A cupcake baking marathon under water with only Reese’s pieces, butter and squash as the ingredients? What channel is that on? A reunion of the old ABC Family Night casts? Sign me up! Don’t laugh—you know this has happened to you too!

So how do we use this power of interest to our advantage when it comes to catching the attention of agents, editors, and even, eventually, readers? I’m glad you asked. To help with this question, I’ve made a list of things to ask your book. These should apply to all hooks you might need to craft, whether they be pitches, query letters, or even proposals.

1) What do my characters have to lose? What are they most afraid of? If we’re only reading/hearing one or two sentences, we need a reason to worry about your characters. “A baker is robbed at gunpoint while icing sugar cookies” is a lot more interesting than “a woman pursues her dream of becoming a baker.” Because we all want to know . . . what happened to the cookies?

2) What rhythm, voice, and tone do I want to achieve? One of my favorite examples of this point is Kristin Billerbeck’s Spa Girls Series: “Three Friends. One Spa. And an infinite amount of oversharing.” See how she gets straight to the point with only a few words and how her voice really sparkles? If you’re working on a pitch, query, or proposal, you have a very limited amount of space to show off your unique writing voice. Use every little bit of that space to your advantage! You want to pick words, tones, and rhythms that are “you,” because you’re selling your voice every bit as much as you’re selling your plot.

3) What are the most important elements of my story? Often, editors get a bad rep for being grouchy, but let’s face it—you’d probably be cynical yourself if you were getting thousands of e-mails a day with queries like, “Sandra struggles with a broken ankle on her twenty-third birthday, but when her cousin twice-removed challenges her to a hockey match anyway, she runs into the cute cashier she saw at the grocery store three days before, and sparks fly as he helps her redo her bandage.” When you walk into a library, a book has to prove to you that it’s worth reading, right? Think of your own work in the same way. Pull out only the most important and interesting details. There will be time for all that other stuff later.

What do you think? Do you have any hooks you’re working on that you’d like to share with the group for feedback? Can you come up with some examples of hooks—television or literary—that work well? I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

*Bird photo from http://davidpowersking.blogspot.com/2011/03/aspiring-advice-pay-attention-to.html

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Ashley Clark writes romantic comedy with southern grace. She's dreamed of being a writer ever since the thumbprint-cookie-days of library story time. 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 and her Tumblr. She's also on Facebook and Twitter. She is represented by Karen Solem.

Scoring a Well-Rounded Manuscript: Writing Techniques

This final post of the Scoring a Well-Rounded Manuscript series deals with the back row of pins a bowler is trying to knock down. Or, in writing terms, more important techniques that can be employed in your story. Like in the game of bowling, these elements of a story might be small elements or not as readily thought of, but they're just as important to creating a well-rounded manuscript. (If you want to read the other posts in this series, you can check out Voice, Characters and Plot, or Setting, Backstory, and Hooks.)

Pacing

Dictionary.com says simply that pacing is a rate of movement. It's the tempo of a story, combining chapters, scenes, paragraphs and so on to relate the story at a certain speed. And hopefully that speed is satisfactory, slowing down when necessary and speeding up when necessary - a pace that keeps a reader reading.

Tips on pacing:

* Put in plot changes, large revelations, etc. at strategic times, spreading them throughout your novel. Or, in smaller doses, give a scene with some action, followed by a scene with some reflection or smaller revelations, and so on.

* Utilize hooks and read-on prompts in scenes and chapters to keep the reader reading.

* Use techniques like narrative to slow down the pacing, or dialogue and action to speed it up.

Sentence Structure

This element is on a smaller scale, pertaining usually to paragraphs and individual scenes throughout the entire manuscript, but keeping sentence structure in mind is a great way to get a more well-rounded manuscript.

Tips on sentences structure:

* Vary sentences in paragraphs, alternating and changing up subjects and nouns, etc. so the story doesn't sound monotone.

* Utilize individual sentences. Making an impact with a single sentence separate from a paragraph changes pacing, like talked about above, and keeps the sentence structure looking and sounding varied.

* Try posing questions for thoughts and don't be afraid of fragments every once in awhile.

Strong Verbs

Giving a manuscript as much as you can will get you further with agents, editors, and readers. Sometimes this includes small things like verbs.

Tips on strong verbs:

One thing we all know is to avoid the passive. Particularly the word "was". Sometimes it's necessary and that's fine, but if it's not, replace it with something else. You can do a search for passive verbs and try to find new ones that will make sentences stronger and make more of an impact on readers.

Avoid cliches if you can. These aren't necessarily the same in everyone's writing, but there are particular phrases that are either very common in a lot of work you read or very common in your own writing. Try narrowing those down - i.e. his eyebrows rose, she grinned, she was so scared her knees shook - and replacing them if you can. Use an arch of an eyebrow or a quirk of a lip, anything that puts a new spin on an old take.

Read other books. Sometimes simply reading other books and examining the verbs another authors uses and how they work with their story will help spurn some extra creativity.

Tone/Theme

Another great element of a well-rounded story is that it serves a purpose in some way. This can come in the form of a particular overall tone or a theme.

Tips on tones and themes:

Ask yourself if you're trying to teach a lesson or have a moral for the story in some way (which doesn't have to be over or preachy). Sometimes the theme of a story is forgiveness or unconditional love. Decide if this is a direction you want to go in before or as you write the story so it can be a subtle thread throughout the book. Sometimes these are even based off of Bible verses.

Giving your story a particular tone, a way you want it to make a reader feel, is another thread that can unwind throughout a book. Adding in particular scenes or certain vocabulary (for a darker or lighter tone) are great ways to make the reader feel something.

Knowing your reader or the publisher you want to submit to will help you understand the writing style, even tones and themes that will appeal to that particular market.

These final elements are great ways to help round out a story, or get that strike. You can help your manuscript be fuller and more appealing to readers. Are these techniques ones you focus on when writing/editing or are there others you feel are especially important to making your work shine?