Top 10 Tips for Writers by Lynn Lovegreen

As you may know, this month is the tenth anniversary of Romancing the Genres. I’m so proud to be a part of this amazing group of bloggers. Happy anniversary and a big thank you to Judith and Sarah, our fearless leaders!

Since this month’s theme is “10” and we have a lot of followers who are writers, here are my top 10 tips for writers of any age or genre.

1.     There are no rules, just guidelines. Never believe anyone who says “always” or “never.” (See what I did there?! 😉) Sometimes guidelines are important; you probably need a plot and characters to write a book. But sometimes they sound like the law when they aren’t; you have my permission to try using adverbs or whatever other “never” you’ve been told to avoid.

 

2.     Write often! Some writers write every day, and some make time in their weekly or monthly calendar. But writing is a practice, and the best way to get better at it is to practice as much as you can. Once you find a schedule that works for you, incorporate it into your regular routine and stick to it.

 

3.     Read often! Reading is fun for many of us, but it also lets you see great examples of writing and notice what works in structure, character, and so on. Read widely and make it part of your writing life.

 

4.     Discover your own writing style. This kind of goes with #1 above, but there’s more than one right answer to the question of how to write. Your writing voice is unique, and your style may be different from your favorite author’s. Don’t feel like you have to copy them to be a good writer.

 

5.     Organize your writing thoughts. If you’re a pantser (write by the seat of your pants), then you’ll want to take notes as things occur to you. If you’re a plotter (plan things out), you’ll want to write down your outline or whatever system you use. Or maybe you do a little of both. At any rate, have a place to keep notes, drafts, and such, whether it’s in a notebook, phone, laptop, etc. It’s frustrating to lose a brilliant idea before you capture it, or not be able to find that piece of paper later.

  

6.     Back up your electronic writing. You don’t want to lose weeks or months of work when your computer dies, so save and back up your writing on a USB drive, on the Cloud, whatever system is easy for you to use. 

 

7.     Join a writing group. It might be in a particular genre, like RWA for romance writers or SCBWI for kidlit and YA writers, or it might be a general writing group. But it’s helpful to work with other writers to find fellowship and learn more about the writing craft.

 

8.     Share critiques. One of the best ways to sharpen your writing skills is to critique with a partner or small group. Showing others your work and writing critiques for your peers is an excellent way to refine your writing and help others. (To find a critique partner or group and learn how to give constructive critiques, check with writing groups as mentioned above.)

 

9.     Write-revise-repeat. Keep in mind that most writers make many revisions to turn their messy first drafts into polished prose or poetry. Don’t compare your early draft to what you see on the printed page or on your Kindle. Be prepared to put in many hours of work to get your writing to that stage.

 

10.  Never give up! Most of us write for years before we are published. I worked on my first novel for about three years, and I learned a lot from that project. It’s still unpublished, but that’s okay—that was part of my writing education. My first published novel took seven years from first draft to book in hand.  Your mileage may vary, but you should be in it for the long haul. As they say, writing is a marathon, not a sprint. At the same time, it’s worth it. I love what I do, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

 

Keep on writing! 

Do you have any questions, or tips to share? Please comment below.

Lynn Lovegreen has lived in Alaska for over fifty years. After twenty years in the classroom, she retired to make more time for writing. She enjoys her friends and family, reading, and volunteering at her local library. Her young adult historical fiction is set in Alaska, a great place for drama, romance, and independent characters. See her website at www.lynnlovegreen.com. You can also find her on Facebook and Instagram.

Crazy Eights: What I’ve Learned in the Last Eight Years by Lynn Lovegreen

Romancing the Genres is celebrating its eight-year anniversary this month. Thanks to Judith and Sarah for keeping it going and monitoring us Genre-istas, which probably feels like herding cats at times. ;-)

I was about to be published eight years ago. I recall the steep learning curve of contracts, editing, and other nuts and bolts of getting published. But my most vivid memory is seeing the first book with my name on it—priceless!

I’ve experienced eight years of being a published author, and while I wouldn’t trade it for anything, there were a few things I had to figure out the hard way. Here are some tips for those of you who are new to this journey. 

• Always keep the writing craft as your first priority. It’s easy to get distracted by the business of writing, but if you don’t have a first-rate book, there’s nothing worth selling. Take your time with revisions, and don’t rush to publish before the book is 100% ready.

• Closely related to the above: Writers evolve and get better over time. Keep learning about your craft by taking classes or reading about writing topics. Work to refine your writing, even after you have several books out in the world. Use a critique group or partner to help you with the process.

• Cultivate your group. Find writers who write similar books, and look for readers that like your genre. You can find them in writing groups (like RWA, SCBWI, etc.); also in social media, conferences, and events at your local libraries and bookstores. They serve two purposes: they’ll give you positive energy to keep you writing, and they’ll also be a good group to subscribe to your newsletter if you decide to go that route later on.

• Be ready to roll with the punches. Things will come up at home or work that prevent you from writing. Publishers will be sold or go under, editors will change jobs, or sales will go down at some point in your career. (Or maybe all of these—it happens!) Keep faith in yourself, and regroup to plan your next move.

• Above all, persevere. We’re pulling for you. You can do this!!!

Lynn Lovegreen has lived in Alaska for about fifty years. She taught for twenty years before retiring to make more time for writing. She enjoys her friends and family, reading, and volunteering at her local library. Her young adult/new adult historical romances are set in Alaska, a great place for drama, romance, and independent characters. See her website at www.lynnlovegreen.com. You can also find her on Facebook, Goodreads, and Pinterest.

ANNOY ME AND I’LL TOSS YOUR BOOK!

Hi, I'm Sarah Raplee, author of surprising, touch-your-heart paranormal romantic suspense.

AUTHORS:   DON'T ANNOY YOUR READERS!!!

Don’t get me wrong. I’ve always been a very forgiving reader. Until I was in my thirties, I’d never even considered (gasp!) not finishing a book. The idea felt rude, maybe even immoral. Shouldn’t I give the author a chance to redeem himself or herself somewhere before The End? After all, the story had potential. If they blew their second chance to grab me in this book, they’d lose me for life.

Young Reader Me was, however, okay with reading a page or two in the library or bookstore to see if an author could hook me before I would commit to reading the entire book. Many readers do this to try to gauge a new-to-them author’s mettle. “Hook the reader in the first five pages” is a writing guideline ignored by authors at their own peril.

Unfortunately, some authors spend a lot of effort on the beginning of a book and then get lazy or lose their way further in. For years, feeling sorry for them when they began to screw things up wasted a lot of Young Reader Me’s valuable reading time. Finally, a particularly bad fantasy novel—unsympathetic characters, nonsensical plot, poor description, bad copy editing—brought me to my senses. My attempt to read the book came to a screeching halt. The realization that I had no obligation to finish the horrible mess, and that in fact it was the author who had let his readers down, was freeing.

I haven’t made the decision not to finish a book often since. I've tossed a couple with a couple with morally bankrupt or otherwise unrelatable characters, but there have been far more that are simply too annoying to finish:

~the mystery author who repeats information as if I am too dumb to get it the first time;

~the romantic suspense author who describes the heroine shaking out her “mane of chestnut tresses” so often I can’t stay in the story; 

~the historical author who hasn’t done her research so she loses my trust; 

~the paranormal author whose characters violate the rules of the story world he built; 

~any author who obviously thinks they don’t need an editor (or even spell check!). I don't expect perfection, but too many grammatical errors and misspellings will annoy me. 

My advice to authors from Mature Reader Me is: 

Don’t annoy your readers. It’s like rubbing a cat’s fur the wrong way. Kitty won’t stick around for more discomfort, and neither will your readers.

I'm curious. What annoys you in a book?

The Year of My Way

And so, the end is near...

The end of 2017 that is. So many writers will be publishing their Best and Worst of 2017 articles in the next few days and sadly it seems I’m a cliche too. Or maybe not, because I’m not exactly following the herd. I’m hereby naming 2017 the Year of My Way.

My way or the highway

There’s an expression here in Australia, “My way or the highway” meaning get on board, or hit the road and get going. There’s a bad case of this syndrome going around. Writers, publishers, well-meaning friends and others who have no idea about how to write a book, actually telling people how it must be done.

Apparently, depending on who you listen to, If you don’t do it their way, or whatever way is the professed wisdom of the moment (since it seems to change quite often) you’ll never be able to understand your characters, plot a book, finish a book, get a book finished quickly, write quality work, get a publishing contract, promote a book properly or have a bestseller. Whatever.

I decided early on this year to block my ears and metaphorically say “Lalalala, I can’t hear you” to all of them. You say, you have to write to the latest trends? I say, “Lalalala” I need to write the story that’s calling to me right now. You say, you must write every single day or you’re not a real writer? I say, “I can’t hear you…”

Meanwhile I’m busy not writing every day, since some of my days are devoted to purely Mum-related tasks. Some days ill health gets the better of me, and it’s all I can do to get through the bare minimum daily tasks.

Write what you know...or what I tell you!

I have a particular pet hate for other people telling me what to write, since they know (somehow) that’s what will sell, or get me noticed, or make my sales take off. I can tell you, these days I know a lot of writers. If I haven’t tried something personally, I can probably name someone off the top of my head who has. These ideas or snippets of advice are simply not right for everyone.

For example, a couple of years ago, Rural Romance (or Ru-Ro) was the hottest thing in Australian publishing. If a book couldn’t have a girl in a cowboy hat on the cover, it probably wouldn’t interest an Aussie publisher. If you knew all about horses or farms, or even outback police, more power to you. But otherwise, you were on the outer.

The thing is, no matter how many people told me to write an outback romance (and there were quite a few), I knew I couldn’t, and I didn’t want to. Probably because I have zero experience living in the outback. None. Zilch. Diddly.

I know it may surprise some US and international readers, but about eighty percent of Aussies actually live in cities or by the coast. Personally, I live in Melbourne, a city of about four million people. I worked in the central city for years in a high-rise office building. I occasionally took holidays, usually to the beach. I didn’t know the first thing about a muster, or a cattle station, or any of the other vaguely country-ish things in the rural books. And yet, people were dead-set that was the way to publishing success.

Guess what? It wasn’t. At least, not for me.

Wrong way, go back

Many people tried to advise me that what I needed was to finish about five or six books in quick succession. This wasn’t going to happen. First of all, it doesn’t seem to suit the way I instinctively work. I can work quickly, for a while. Then it just...comes to a grinding halt. I know this because I tried it. I have at least two or three ‘partials’ sitting there on my hard drive, not moving, not even uttering a sound. Seriously, not even a peep of voices in my head from the characters. Working fast has generally failed me so far.

On the other hand, there are writers who labour over every sentence, adding and deleting a single comma over hours of exhausting time. I’m not one of them either. Sometimes, I can dash off a scene that’s in my head and know, instantly, that it’s good. Other times, there’s nothing. This doesn’t mean I don’t try, it’s just a whole lot of nothing words that don’t advance the story or add much of anything. I need to allow myself time to think and brew the story like a strong cup of tea.

I also know that I want to write the type of books that entertained me as a commuter, reading books nearly every day on the train. Romantic comedies and sexy romances, not the hard brain-straining literary matter that yet other people advised me to write. You know, the type I don’t really even want to read. Sigh. So, I followed my instincts.

My Way

This year I wrote a shorter novella, Heart Note, that was calling to me. I didn’t think it would fit with what my publisher was looking for, it wasn’t a full-length novel for starters, and frankly when I went to the Romance Writers of Australia conference, publishers and agents were all saying they didn’t want novellas.

I didn’t care, since I knew this was the next thing I had to write. I’d self-publish it. I’d work out the timelines and everything else, because that’s the way this particular project needed to be done. Now it’s complete, published, it’s been moderately successful already (hitting the top 100 Humor Fiction lists on Amazon in a few countries, thanks very much!), I can breathe a sigh of relief and satisfaction.

I'm heading in my own direction. I’m doing it my way, and it’s going just fine.

Don't talk to me about making detailed plans or road maps, or new year's resolutions, but bring on 2018!

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Publication by Lynn Lovegreen

Considering the theme for this month, I thought of this story immediately. At first, I was afraid to tell it for fear of sounding negative toward a certain person, but I decided the life lesson was too important to ignore. So some of the details are missing, deliberately.

None of us are born experts, and we all have to start somewhere. Like everyone else, I started writing fiction before I knew what I was doing, and got advice and help from more experienced writers and others along the way. But that doesn’t mean that everyone had valuable advice for me—I had to sort out what was true for me. Here’s the most obvious example.

I signed up for a manuscript review at a writing conference. A successful agent met with me to discuss the first chapter of my first novel, a sweet YA romance set in the 1940s. The agent knew her stuff, and had several authors placed with big publishers. But she didn’t know me or my writing goals—that became apparent during our meeting.  

She began by pointing out the things I did well and the places where I needed to revise or make changes. (I am still grateful to her for that.) Then she said, “You’re a high school English teacher. You know about literary fiction. Why are you writing romance?”

I could only manage an incoherent stutter for an answer.

She went on. “You should put this aside and write something important, something gritty and edgy.”

I stumbled through a thank you and shook her hand. Then I went upstairs to my hotel room to take in what happened. 

At first, I had to giggle. The agent wanted me to take a complete 180 in my writing, either from snobbery, or from not understanding who she was talking to. I don’t have a gritty or edgy bone in my body.

But as I thought more about it, I became angry. How dare she tell me what to write?! How dare she suggest that there was something wrong with a sweet romance?! 

By the end of the conference, I vowed to write the best dang romance she’d ever see. And I came up with the plot for Fools Gold, my first published novel, on the trip home.

Life Lesson: Listen to the experts, but only take the advice that works for you. Disregard everything else, or use it as motivation to do what you want to do. As Polonius says in Hamlet, “To thine own self be true.” 

Lynn Lovegreen grew up in Alaska, and still lives there. She taught for twenty years before retiring to make more time for writing. She enjoys her friends and family, reading, and volunteering at her local library. Her young adult/new adult historical romances are set in the Alaska Gold Rush, a great time for drama, romance, and independent characters. See her website at www.lynnlovegreen.com. You can also find her on Facebook, Goodreads, and Pinterest.

Interview with Author Diana McCollum on her Coastal Coven series

Author Diana McCollum

Paranormal Romance author Diana McCollum’s debut novella, The Witch with the Trident Tattoo, came out from Windtree Press earlier this month. This book is the first in the Coastal Coven Series.

Welcome, Diana. Can you tell us what your book is about in a sentence or two?

Witch Ella Stone, born with an affinity for water and a scientist, is on a mission. Ocean life is disappearing off the Atlantic Coast, and Poseidon needs her to find out why. To find answers, she hires handsome, brooding sea captain Noah Drago to help.

The sexy scientist's kisses turn Noah's world upside-down. Soon, he's plunged into a world of myth, magick and passion.

But will their growing connection-their love-be enough to save them from an encroaching evil bent on destroying all life as they know it?

Briefly, tell us what led you to write The Witch with the Trident Tattoo? (TWWTTT for short) What else have you published?

I thought it would be fun to write about a sea witch. I hadn't read any stories about a sea witch. I thought who would she answer to? Poseidon, of course! 

I have short stories in two different Anthologies: "Love & Magick", which has the witch Hettie's story in. Hettie is a time traveling witch and belongs to the Coastal Coven featured in "The Witch with the Trident Tattoo". The second Anthology is "Gifts from the Heart".

You’ve lived in the western United States for most of your adult life. What made you choose an east coast setting for the Coastal Coven Series?

It seemed like the appropriate setting. Hettie the time traveling witch lived in MA. I wanted a setting by the ocean, so my made up town of Waxing, MA became the main setting for the stories. 

Your Sea Witch heroine, Ella, has an octopus named James for a familiar. What is a witch’s familiar?

Over the centuries familiars are said to have taken many different forms. I picked James, an Octopus, as Ella's familiar. No matter what form a familiar takes, their responsibility is to assist the witch. The familiar can help with different types of magick, and also help with manipulations of natural energies. For instance, magick energy contained in stones and herbs and in the four elements, Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water. James back story is he was a minor prince in Atlantis and displeased Poseidon  by stealing shoes, and Poseidon cursed him to live as an Octopus to pay his debt to society. I will add that James has a shoe fetish, even as an Octopus.

One day I will write James' story. I think that would be a fun, fun story to write.

Is the Coastal Coven Series an open-ended series at this point, or do you have and end-point in mind?

There will be a story for each of the witches. And for the wizard that lives in the Hemlock tree, which is the passage between the past and present.

What are you working on now? 

I am going to begin the second book in the Coastal Coven series this week. I am deciding on a title over the weekend. I need at least a working title to begin, that's just the way I write.

In TWWTTT you created an engaging teenaged mermaid character. Have you considered writing Young Adult or New Adult novels?

Pink haired, Mischell! I did love writing this character. She will have her story one day. I don't think as Young Adult, maybe a New Adult novel.

What are some books you’ve read recently and loved?

Nora Robert's "Dark Witch" series. Loved all three books. "The Witch's Daughter" by Paula Brackston. Right now I'm reading "Lamp Black, Wolf Grey" by Paula Brackston, such a good story I can hardly put it down.

What is your favorite piece of writing advice?

BIC FOK-Butt in chair, fingers on keyboard! as Nora Roberts said you can't edit a blank page. So put words on the paper and move forward.

Leave a comment for a chance to win a free e-book, I will be giving away two e-books. 

Please share an excerpt from The Witch with the Trident Tattoo with us.

Excerpt

Draft: The Witch with the Trident Tattoo

By Diana McCollum, Copyrighted

Chapter 1

 by Diana McCollum, copy right

    The town meeting last night had left a bitter taste of disappointment in Ella Stone’s mouth. She had tried her best to convince the upstanding citizens of Waxing, Massachusetts the importance of suspending fishing for twenty square miles off the coast, and inland to Turtle Point and the beach in town. She also suggested no swimming for a couple of weeks while she researched the unknown carbon based matter depleting the nutrients necessary for sea life to be sustainable.        They had rejected her proposal and it had stung, and still stung.

    The fishermen wanted to make a living, she understood. If they continued to fish and toxic organic matter continued to grow, fisheries would be depleted in a short time. Not to mention she couldn’t be sure if the organic material was toxic to humans or not, it was too early in her research to tell.

    Arriving for her Saturday shift at her friend Hettie’s gift shop, The Crystal Witch, she seethed with fury. Her pulse beat a fast tempo, sending beads of determination over her skin. Ella marched down the aisle of scented soaps and candles toward the back of the store, as sparks of pent up Magick flew off her. Candle wicks on the display table burst into flame when she passed. As she breezed by the rack of wind chimes tinkled and rattled as if a gust of wind blew through the store, when none did.

    “Ella, what’s the matter?” Hettie Wynn stood in the office doorway, hands wrapped around a cup of coffee.

    Ella handed the local newspaper, Lighthouse News, to Hettie. “The meeting last night was a bust. Apparently I am a crazy woman scientist who doesn’t know what she’s talking about. Wait, no—‘environmental whacko’ is what they said.”

    “I’ve got a degree in marine biology and oceanography from Salem State University. I’ve studied under some of the most prestigious professors, and they call me an ‘environmental whacko’?” Ella removed her sunglasses and used the edge of her sweater to clean the lenses.

    “Did you present your findings in terms they could understand?” Hettie reached out and steadied the wind chime rack.

    Ella walked over and blew out candles one by one. In so doing, she blew sample herbal powder out of the display bowl and covered the floor in many colors. She harrumphed at her blunder and crossed her arms. “Sorry for being in such a dither, but you know what I’m up against.”

    “Poseidon.”

    “Yes! He wants answers, and only from me. ‘What happens in the ocean is a matter for the realm to manage. I’m depending on you to find the answer. Do not involve the human governments.’ He’s such a pretentious monarch, always playing games with me.” Unshed tears of frustration threatened to spill over.

    “These waters have been in the care of my family since my ancestors first stepped on shore at Plymouth. There’s never been anything of this magnitude, anything capable of destroying marine plant and animal life to this degree. Whatever has damaged the flora and fauna hasn’t reached shore, but I’m concerned because it’s just a matter of time till it does. I’ve named the toxin Razor Toxic Bloom-RTB-1, and it is spreading pass the outer banks toward Waxing.”

    Ella stalked over to the screened back door. A slice of ocean was visible from here, sandwiched between two cottages across the alley, an early May breeze blew across her face. Something was invading the waters of her ocean. Her mother before her had been the sea witch in charge of taking care of these coastal waters. Ella had inherited the position when her mother and father were called by Poseidon to protect the Bering Sea. “Time is of the essence. Poseidon doesn’t want government agencies involved, or other marine biologists. He’s got his reasons for believing an immortal is responsible. This problem is for me to solve and time is running out. Whatever RTB-1 is will reach our shore eventually if not stopped.”

    She crossed her arms over her chest, and turned back to Hettie. “Commercial fishermen protested the loudest, and I understand fishing is their livelihood. But if fish are unhealthy, should anyone be eating them? All the mothers agreed to not let their kids swim or wade for two weeks.”

    “Do you think you can find an answer by then?”

    “I don’t know. I hope so.” Her stomach clenched. “Do you think what’s happening in to ocean is something our coven should look into?”

    Hettie walked closer and put her arm around Ella. “I think you need to call on your resources. You are a Sea Witch, none of us are. We can help you on land, but water is your domain. Have you contacted James? Or Mischell? Maybe one of them could do some investigating for you?”

    “You’re right. Of course, I’ll contact James.” A fluttering in her chest made her realize she wasn’t alone. She had her familiar, James the octopus—the Coastal Coven and her laboratory. She’d find the answer.

The Danger of the Good

by M.L. Buchman

One of the great jokes on a writer is that most of the job is mental...okay, 99.999% of the job is mental. During my decades of corporate I'd say it was about <25%.

Oh sure, in corporate there were good days and bad days. Having a positive attitude made for a more pleasant working environment, made my teams function better, and made clients happier. But in corporate there was one implacable rule: it never stopped. A good day today didn't stop whatever s*** was about to roll down the pipe and plop on your desk the next morning. And having a truly crappy client call didn't mean that your presentation that afternoon wasn't going to rock and leave you feeling great. They might make me go a bit "mental" at times, but it was the job that did much of the mood making. My only choice was to make the best out of whatever plopped onto the desk.

Writing is about staring at a blank page and finding story. It's about writing through the times when the story isn't working, as well as when it's flying. And the joke on the authors is that something good can bump you off the tracks just as well as something bad.

My traditional press editor told me that Target Engaged (the first book of my new Delta Force romance series) is the best book I've ever written (not that she's read any of my dozens of indie books). Guess what? That simple bit of feedback made it almost impossible to write the next book in the series (Heart Strike will be out next August). How do I live up to the standard of "best ever?"

Simple answer: You don't!

You write the next book to be the best book you can at that moment in that place and time.

I can't begin to emphasize that enough. So, having just finished (finally) Heart Strike (and I'm quite proud of it actually), and understood the mayhem that simple compliment to Target Engaged had caused me, I thought I finally had the "Danger of the Good" under control...

HA!

Last week I found out that Hot Point had been chosen as a Top 10 Romance of the 2015 by Booklist. Then they offered a compilation of the Best 101 Romance Novels of the Last 10 Years which had two of my books on it.

Now the challenge is to go back to that blank white page and simply write the best book I can. Harrumph! Saying I need to do that and actually doing so are a world apart as any writer will tell you. So I was looking for a way to reengage with my next Night Stalkers novel (coming in October).

And then I look at another upcoming release. On October 14th, by first "Ides of Matt" short story collection will become available (you can pre-order the electronic now, paper available on release day). I think about this collection a lot when I'm having trouble writing. There are some really wonderful stories in here that I don't know how I ever found them in the world of the blank page. There are others that I think of as simply "good stories." They work and I'm glad that I wrote them, but they don't have the Snap! of one that really clicked. Yet as I was writing the introduction to each story, I remembered how much fun it was to write that particular tale. Every time I so enjoyed the experience of discovery of character and story.

That's the secret I've discovered about how to react to the good reviews and the bad. It extends into everyday life as I contemplate the good news and the bad as well.

Follow the fun!

I love every tale mentioned on this page and on my website. I had so much fun writing the two short stories that went up this month on my website (one was free on my site--no longer but it's still for sale, the other one is still free to newsletter subscribers or for purchase). And I love the Night Stalkers book that will be coming out in October though it has neither cover nor title yet making it hard to promote,

I love writing!

It gives me something to be thankful for every day. And if I focus on that instead of reviews, accolades, stray comments, and other distractions, then I can dodge the "Danger of the Good" (or the Bad) and keep doing what I love most: Telling Stories.
---

M. L. Buchman has over 40 novels in print. His military romantic suspense books have been named Barnes & Noble and NPR “Top 5 of the Year,” nominated for the Reviewer’s Choice Award for “Top 10 Romantic Suspense of 2014” by RT Book Reviews, and twice Booklist “Top 10 of the Year” placing two of his titles on their “The 101 Best Romance Novels of the Last 10 Years.” In addition to romance, he also writes thrillers, fantasy, and science fiction.

In among his career as a corporate project manager he has: rebuilt and single-handed a fifty-foot sailboat, both flown and jumped out of airplanes, designed and built two houses, and bicycled solo around the world.

He is now making his living as a full-time writer on the Oregon Coast with his beloved wife. He is constantly amazed at what you can do with a degree in Geophysics. You may keep up with his writing by subscribing to his newsletter at www.mlbuchman.com. 

DISCOVER YOUR CORE STORY by Sarah Raplee

In her August fifth blog post about killing boring scenes, Robin Weaver tells us that every good scene in your story must:

1. Move the plot along
2. Build characterization
3. ***Provide insight into the manuscript’s theme.***

The lesson your protagonist must learn to prevail in their story is the story theme (Michael Hauge, The Hero’s Two Journeys.) These themes will relate directly to your Core Story. All your stories will have at their heart the same underlying message (or occasionally more than one) that it may take you years to figure out. That Core Story is the seed from which all your individual story themes sprout. Your Core Story inspires your story theme to develop.

Here’s an example from an author with whom most of you are familiar:

NORA ROBERTS

Nora Roberts’ stories spring from the Core Story, “You have to discover who you really are.” Can you think of one of her books that doesn’t have that Core Story underlying her character arcs? Whether her book theme is “To love you must be willing to forgive” or “Self-knowledge is power,” it springs from her Core Story.“You have to discover who you really are” resonates with her readers. 

Identifying your Core Story gives you a big advantage when choosing your career strategies. In best-selling author Jessa Slade’s guest post last Saturday, she gives advice on career planning and positioning oneself in the market. Knowing your core story allows you to adapt story ideas to various subgenres successfully. If you wish, you will be able to write stories that resonate with your readers in more than one genre. Nora Roberts writes best sellers in nearly every subgenre of Romance Fiction.

Knowing your Core Story helps you identify ideas and opportunities that are a good fit for you, as well as those that are not. Would you want to partner with another writer whose core story is in direct opposition to yours? “Crime doesn’t pay” versus “Crime is a viable career choice?” “If you’re in love with someone, you won’t ask them to put themselves at risk” versus “If someone really loves you, you can ask them to do anything for you.”

I think not!

How does a writer figure out her core story? It helps to have written a number of stories so that you can look for the commonalities. I had written one novel, was halfway through the second and had outlined three others as well as written a number of short stories before I figured out my Core Story.

Listing out the external and internal goals, motivations and conflicts of your main characters per Debra Dixon’s iconic work, GMC: Goal, Motivation and Conflict, will give you clues.

Ask friends to read your stories and tell you what commonalities they see. Authors often can’t see what is obvious to others in our writing. Try to identify your favorite authors’ Core Stories by analyzing some of their books.

I knew early on that my stories had something to do with personal identity. My first heroine is a good girl who did one very bad thing and is now an ex-con living in her small Iowa hometown where someone frames her for murder. Her hero is a straight-arrow cop who was born into a family of thieves. The sub-plot hero cross-dresses to hide his identity—you get the idea.

COMING SOON!

In my Romantic Suspense novel, BLINDSIGHT (available in early September), my heroine hides her paranormal powers (her 'freak side'.) Her fear keeps her from learning to control them. The hero is an undercover psychic FBI agent searching for kidnapped psychics enslaved by criminals. Secrets and identity issues all over the place.

In two of my other stories, a hero and a heroine must accept their physical deformities as realities that do not diminish them as human beings and may give them an advantage in certain situations. In other stories, enchanted people transformed into animals must hold onto their humanity.

See the pattern? “You must decide who you will be.” My characters don't discover who they are (Nora Roberts), they choose who they want to be, as do J.K. Rowling’s  in the Harry Potter books: “It is our choices that define us.”

Be patient. This is hard work. Understanding your Core Story takes study, analysis and understanding of Story with a capital S. I promise you it is time and effort well spent.

Copyright 2015 Sarah Raplee

Lynn Lovegreen's Writing Advice

I attend the Kachemak Bay Writers’ Conference in Homer, Alaska, every summer to participate in great workshops with Alaskan writers and hear fabulous keynote speakers of national reputation.

This year, Andre Dubus III, author of House of Sand and Fog and other books, gave the keynote. He spoke eloquently about many things, but the concept that struck me the most was:

We don’t know what we’re doing—and that’s a strength.

Sometimes, accomplished writers speak as if they have the truth straight from the Oracle of Delphi. We can trick ourselves into thinking, “If I do this or that or that other thing, I will be a brilliant writer, too.” But it doesn’t work like that. Andre offered no easy formulas or guidelines for writing. He admitted he doesn’t know what he’s doing, either.

To support this concept, Andre offered a couple ways to look at writing that I found useful:

You need curiosity and perseverance to write.

You must be willing to fail.

I was comforted by the last one.  It gave me permission to muck around and try different things. Andre Dubus III’s speech came at the perfect time for me. By the end of the conference, I decided that I needed a different hero for my current WIP (work in progress). And as scary as it is to throw away 44.944 words and start over, I’m doing it. Because I don’t know what I’m doing, and that’s okay. I have to try it even if I fail. I have faith that I’ll have a better book in the end, even though I don’t know yet what shape it may take.

To aspiring writers: I can’t make it easy for you, any more than it’s easy for me. But I encourage you to give yourself permission to be curious, risk failure, and persevere. Who knows—one day, you might be the one giving that keynote speech.

Lynn Lovegreen grew up in Alaska, and still lives there. Her young adult historical romances are set in the Alaska Gold Rush, a great time for drama, romance, and independent characters. See her website at www.lynnlovegreen.com.