God bless you all with a wonderful day! I hope you take a little time off from writing to reminisce the blessings in your life, and to spend time with those you love.
Jan R
Don’t Muddle Through The Middle
When you write a novel, one of the things you’re probably going to experience, is the mayhem in the middle. You have a great story idea, with a great beginning and a great ending. The only problem is, you haven’t thought about what happens when you get to the middle.
Most people who fail to complete their novel, become lost in the middle. They bail when they realize they don’t have enough cool stuff to fill the pages. They may attempt to add scenes, but become bored, and know readers will be too.
Every book becomes a challenge a few chapters in. Trying to keep up the tension and pace gets harder and harder. But don’t panic or do anything rash, like give up.
What can you do? If you’re one of those people who hasn’t developed an outline, thinking it would just come to you as you muddled through, maybe you should consider backing up and doing one.
An outline to set every scene gives you a blueprint of what will happen next. If the action starts to wane, think about a subplot or introduce tension between your main characters. Maybe there was a misunderstanding, or maybe that one minor character that was suppose to be the good guy, isn’t what he appears. Maybe the butler did it, but nobody knows.
You can have so much fun with subplots. Just keep them believable and resolve them all in the end.
Hope this helped.
Jan R
Romance, Science Fiction, Mystery….You Should Read Them All
I read and write romance novels. I have to admit I’m a hopeless romantic. I just love stories where boy meets girl, you throw in a little conflict (okay a lot), but everything works out in the end, and they live happily ever after.
There’s nothing wrong with romance and wanting the happily ever after. The only thing I’m doing wrong is limiting myself to reading romance novels. I never really thought that much about it, until I read a blog on why I should be reading all genres.
From my perspective, I write romance. I need to know what’s out there and what’s selling. How do other romance authors handle the physical and emotional sides of the relationships?
All of these reasons are valid, and I should be reading romance. But you know what? That novel has a lot more than romance in it. At least it had better have, if I want to keep my readers’ attention.
I may be great at developing a romantic relationship between my hero and heroine, but I had better be able to create the mystery and suspense necessary to keep my readers’ turning the page.
You may be writing a sci-fi novel, but odds are there’s a romance between your two main characters, and no one can explain why the lab assistant is lying on the floor dead, and there’s a hole in the wall leading into the parking lot.
You can’t just read sci-fi and expect to be a well rounded writer. You might find yourself creating awesome aliens, but lacking when it comes to developing a relationship between the hero and heroine.
Reading different genres will make you a stronger writer. You’ll be introduced to new worlds and situations that would never arise in your typical horror, sci-fi, romance, or fantasy. Reading different genres will open your mind and encourage you to take risks that you may have never considered.
If that’s not enough, Reading different genres will also allow you to read as a reader. Instead of focusing on the author’s style, you can simply enjoy the experience of reading 🙂
Hope this helped.
-Jan R
That First Sentence: It Matters!
You want to write a novel, and you have a great idea, but you’re not sure how to start. Everybody knows that first line, that first sentence, is extremely important. It has to be right.
If you’re stuck because of the pressure of crafting the perfect opening line, you’re not alone. And neither is your angst misplaced.
I was reading the blog of one of my favorite authors, Jerry Jenkins, this morning when I ran across this post. I have read it before, but sometimes I think we all just need a refresher. If you’re like me, you have so much information being thrown at you, you can’t possibly retain it all.
Most great opening lines fall into one of four categories.
- Surprising
Fiction: “It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.”- George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-four
Nonfiction: “By the time Eustace Conway was seven years old, he could throw a knife accurately enough to nail a chipmunk to a tree.”-Elizabeth Gilbert, The Last American Man
- Dramatic Statement
Fiction: “They shoot the white girl first.” – Toni Morrison, Paradise
Nonfiction: “I was five years old the first time I ever set foot in prison.” – Jimmy Santiago Baca, A Place to Stand
- Philosophical
Fiction: “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” – Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina
Nonfiction: “It’s not about you.” – Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life
- Poetic
Fiction: “When I finally caught up with Abraham Trahearne, he was drinking beer with an alcoholic bulldog named Fireball Roberts in a ramshackle joint just outside of Sonoma, California, drinking the heart right out of a fine spring afternoon. -James Crumley, The Last Good Kiss
Nonfiction: “The village of Holcomb stands on the high wheat plains of western Kansas, a lonesome area that other Kansans call ‘out there.'” -Truman Capote, In Cold Blood.
This link will take you to some more great opening lines, and one of Jerry Jenkins’s blogs. Here’s a list of famous openers.
Hope this helped!
Jan R
Stay Active! (Repost)
I know I’m suppose to write in the active voice, but why? What is the difference between active voice and passive voice and why does it matter?
In a sentence written in the active voice, the subject of the sentence performs the action. In a sentence written in the passive voice the subject receives the action.
Jan loves Danny. Jan is the subject and she is performing the action of loving Danny.
Jan is loved by Danny. Jan is the subject, but she’s doing nothing. She is the recipient of Danny’s love.
Sentences in active voice are more concise than those in passive voice, because fewer words are required to express action in active voice than in passive voice, making the sentence stronger.
Many a Tame sentence of description or exposition can be made lively and emphatic by substituting a transitive in the active voice for some such perfunctory expression as there is or could be heard.
There was a great number of dead leaves lying on the ground. Vs Dead leaves covered the ground.
At dawn, the crowing of a rooster could be heard. Vs The cock’s crow came with dawn.
After reading the previous sentences, what do you think? Active or Passive? I would definitely go with active 🙂
This is yet another area I am working on. And while the rule is to go with the active voice, it doesn’t mean you should entirely discard the passive voice. Sometimes it is necessary.
-Jan R
I Am Very, Very, Very, Very, Tired
When writing, remember less is more. Stay away from qualifiers. They weaken your prose, and the result is the exact opposite of what your were trying to achieve. I know why you use them. I’m hooked on ‘very’. Other people are hooked on the word ‘too’. If you are resorting to qualifiers for emphasis, odds are, you are using the wrong word in the first place.
These qualifiers are the words your English teacher dreaded seeing, such as very, too, really, and sort of. When you overuse these words, your writing will seem lazy, as if you haven’t taken the time to look for the right word.
This pasta dish is very good.
This pasta dish is superb. (Better)
I’m feeling sort of sick.
I’m feeling nauseous. (Better)
You look really nice!
You look radiant. (Better)
Since ‘very’ is my nemesis, I thought I would provide a list of more powerful words to use to replace ‘very’ ___________.
- very fast quick
- very dry parched
- very dirty squalid
- very afraid terrified
- very angry furious
- very hot scolding
- very hungry ravenous
- very large colossal
- very clean spotless
- very clever brilliant
- very beautiful exquisite
- very ugly hideous
- very pretty beautiful
- very thin gaunt
- very tired exhausted
I think you get the picture. Thanks for stopping by, and I hope this got you thinking.
-Jan R
Practice Makes Perfect-Almost
I occasionally review older blogs I have written for content and ideas. I have been blogging for a year and a half now, and have to admit, there are days I’m at a loss as to what to write, or just don’t have the time to sit down and produce a blog I would want to read.
One thing that jumped out at me this morning, was the number of grammatical and structural errors in my past work. While there were only a few per blog, I couldn’t believe I missed them.
If I had been a stranger reading those blogs, I would have thought, why am I reading a blog on how to write a novel, that is filled with grammatical errors? The blogger doesn’t even know how to write a publishable piece of work.
But I have also noticed that the more blogs I write, the better I have gotten. Who was it that said practice makes perfect?
If you want to be a successful writer, read, read, read and write, write, write.
I would encourage you to pull out an old piece of work and a newer one that you are working on. I bet the new work is noticeably better than your previous work.
I wish I could say that I won’t ever publish another blog with errors in it. My intention is to produce an error-free, interesting, piece of work, but I am only human and will make an occasional mistake.
-Jan R
It Was A Dark Stormy Night
When you hear the word setting, you think of a time period and place, but settings do so much more than that.
With sci-fi and historical novels, setting becomes an important part of the story. The setting doesn’t have to be real but it does have to be believable.
Writing historical novels, do your research and throw in some things that you would expect to see during the time period.
Writing Sci-Fi, you’re creating a world. Your setting needs to be detailed. Help your reader to visualize it. Draw them in.
Settings should be visceral and vivid and allow us to experience the world the author is building as if we are one of the characters within the narrative.
Settings evoke mood. In horror stories, your description of a haunted house should evoke fear in your readers. In a mystery your setting should evoke suspense and curiosity. In a comedy your setting should evoke laughter or an anticipated thrill.
Settings provide information about your characters. How does their home look? Is it messy, neat, compulsively organized? Do they surround themselves with darkness or light?
Settings can also be used to evoke the passage of time and movement
Who knew there was so much to writing. I hope this evoked thought and helped you better understand the use of settings in your novel
-Jan R
Sentences-The Long and Short
Have you ever read a sentence and thought that is way too long? The author lost you two commas ago, and now you have to go back and read the whole thing again, to try and figure out what’s going on.
Or maybe you read a short sentence, followed by another short sentence, and another, and you’re thinking whoa, slow down.
There’s not a set rule for short or long. The sentence length you choose depends a lot on what you are trying to accomplish. There are good reasons for those long, lost me a long time ago sentences, and short, what just happened sentences. It’s up to you to decide when to use them, given the context of your writing.
What do short sentences do?
- Create tension-When an author starts using short sentences, it’s usually a sign that something is about to happen.—-The dog growled. His teeth flashed. Jake turned. It was too late.
- Call the attention of a reader to a significant detail—She walked past central park in Manhattan, with her head held high. Gorgeous woman. Long blond hair. Blue eyes. Impeccable taste.
- Present sudden events-Out-of-the-blue actions that no one was expecting.—-We sat quietly enjoying our meal at the local fast food restaurant. Boom! “What was that?” I turned to see people rushing toward the gas station up the street.
- To summarize the ideas presented in the long paragraph or sentence.
What do long sentences do?
- Develop tension-While the short sentence is imminent, culminating with the actual event being acted out, the long sentence adds to the suspense, hinting at a situation in the process of developing.
- Give vivid description-depicting a setting, love scene, or someone’s appearance.—Autumn came without special invitation, coloring the trees in orange, yellow and red, whispering the cold in our ears and hiding the warm sun rays from our eyes.
- Investigates arguments, ideas, or facts thoroughly.
Although long sentences have the smell of the old-fashioned 19 century romantic prose, the usage of the long sentence in modern creative writing has it’s place.
When it comes to writing artistic literature, fairy tales, ghost stories, or mysteries, don’t underestimate the effects of short sentences.
Hope this didn’t confuse you too much. To sum it up, there’s a time and place for everything 🙂
-Jan R
What Would You Do?
I was reading a segment of someone’s work-in-progress during my blog time this past week. You know what I’m talking about if you’ve navigated the blog scene very long. Some bloggers use their blog to post segments of their work.
The segment was very interesting and pulled me in to what was happening, but it was also distracting, because of the grammatical errors. I was hesitant at first to mention this, as I didn’t want to give the wrong impression or discourage the author.
I liked what she had written, but wondered if she realized how many errors were in the piece. At this point in my career, I’ve developed what I call a trained eye (for everybody’s work but my own 🙂 ). Errors just jump off the page. I deal with the same thing when reading novels. And while they are few and far in between, yes, many novels have at least one or two errors.
Back to my dilemma. What was I suppose to do? What would you do? I did decide to point out the fact that there were quite a few grammatical errors, but also commented on the interesting storyline and her ability to pull me in. I didn’t want to come across as a know-it-all, you’re not very good at this writing thing, because I’m not, and like I said, I enjoyed her work. I just wanted to make sure she was aware of the errors.
Why? I think it’s partly because my first round of rejections from agents, included a blurb that pointed out numerous grammatical and structural errors. I didn’t realize how bad the submission was, or how perfect they expected it to be. I don’t want this aspiring author to go through the same thing.
She hasn’t responded to my comment, and I’m not sure if she will. I can only hope she took it as I meant it to be taken.
So what do you think? What would you do? Would you want someone to point out your errors or just not say anything?
-Jan R
