Month: August 2022

The Horror Of It #IWSG

  By IWSG

 

Welcome to another month of the Insecure Writers’ Support Group, whose purpose is to share an encourage. The awesome co-hosts for the September 7 posting of the IWSG are Kim Lajevardi, Cathrina Constantine, Natalie Aguirre, Olga Godim, Michelle Wallace, and Louise – Fundy Blue!

September 7 question – What genre would be the worst one for you to tackle and why.
 
The one genre I have no interest in reading and would never tackle writing is horror. The why is simple-I do most of my reading for entertainment, and I find nothing entertaining in stories about humans getting joy out of hurting other humans. Sure, I know there are lots of other aspects of horror, but I just don’t like the genre. And, since I write for personal fulfillment and enjoyment, I’d never use my limited writing time on a subject that I don’t appreciate.
 
I also wouldn’t try science fiction, but that’s because I don’t feel up to the task. I just don’t feel I could do a good job with the genre. My current WIP is set twenty years in the future, and that’s tough enough. I don’t have a crystal ball to reveal what subtle changes we might see in our daily lives by then and am trying to project based on what had changed in my lifetime.
 
There’s one genre I’ve tried unsuccessfully and I may try again – romance. Sure, I write with a touch of romance in my stories, but action is the primary component. My few attempts at writing a full-length romance have been unsatisfactory and I have shelved them. But who knows, I might try again.
 
That’s it for me. But there are plenty of other authors on this hop. Check out the list below. And, until next time, please stay safe.
 
Note: I lost track on myself and posted this last week- way to early! So if you are here again, it’s not your imagination, and thank you! 
 
 

Exploring Short Stories #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book

August 29, 2022

Do you ever write short stories? What do you see as the biggest difference in the writing process between a short story and a full-length book?

Novels are my primary form, but I have explored and published a few short stores. I wrote two of them for collections that are no longer available. But for every book I’ve written, I’ve reached a point where I’ve wondered if I’d get enough words to call it a novel. (50,000 words is the figure often used to denote a full-length novel, but that number can vary by genre.) Short stories have the opposite challenge—fitting the plot and characters into few enough words. (Usually between 1,500 and 10,000.) Considering my longest book, the Ranger’s Dog Tags, is about 90,000 words, and the shortest, The Fall of Jake Hennessey, ran 52,000, you can understand the difficulty I have writing something much shorter.

What’s the difference? The writing has to be tighter. Descriptions need to be hints and not long strings of flowery phrases.  Same for the characters—there’s no room for lengthy speeches or action scenes to build their personalities. Everything has to be compact.

But creating those short stories helped me become a better writer. They forced me to show, not tell, and made me reach for the thesaurus to find the exact word instead of settling for one that was close enough. Those changes slow down my writing speed, but also translate to less editing. One of the short stories took me almost six months to complete. I’m currently writing at the non-breakneck  speed of one book a year. (Compare that to authors who strive to complete a book a month. Every month.) They also forced me to do more plot development before I put words on paper, although I remail a pantser (writing by discovery.)

While I don’t expect to ever adopt the short story as my default writing style, I wouldn’t object to writing another one if the right opportunity presented itself. I enjoyed the experience.

How do the other authors on this hop feel about the short story form? You can find out by following the links below.

As always, until next time, please stay safe.

August 29, 2022

Do you ever write short stories? What do you see as the biggest difference in the writing process between a short story and a full-length book?

Rules:
1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Edit Until You’re Finished #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book

August 22, 2022

How do you know when you’ve done all the editing you can on your story? Or that you’ve gone too far?

Writing can be hard work. Editing is harder, but it’s necessary. There is punctuation to be checked, words that need replaced, plot holes to be closed, sentences and scenes deleted and more. A simple edit can take hours. A more in-depth one can take weeks. Then, a writer has to go back and do it all again. And again.

I did at least five edits on my last book, as well as putting it through a critique group and a professional edit. (I lost count!) By the time I got to the final edit (listening to my book read by a computer voice) I still loved the story but was losing the ability to give it my full attention.

That’s when I knew I was done. If I kept going, I was in danger of breaking things instead of fixing them. Add to that the possibility of changing the plot so much that the story is turned into an entirely different book—which can be very good or very bad.

For fun, here’s a deleted scene from The Fall of Jake Hennessey. It was amusing, but took away from the tension I was building at that point. 

“Anything exciting happen the last few days?” Jake asked Marco as they watched a group of young people gather across the street. He’d barely made it to town in time for his Friday night shift and was in need of a shower and coffee. At least he could get the coffee when things were slow.

“Not a thing. How many of those kids have fake IDs?” Marco jerked his chin their direction.

Jake grinned. “If I was a betting man, I’d say half of them. Mostly the girls.”

Marco groaned. “We’ve worked together too long. We’re starting to think alike. So, let’s make it interesting. How much are they going to offer as a bribe to let them go in?”

Jake checked the IDs of a young couple—they were authentic—and answered once they were inside. “The tall blonde is going to offer to show us her tits. The shorter one is going to giggle and blush. The two brunettes are going to roll their eyes and pout. The preppy-looking dude thinks he’s a big man and will offer us ten bucks. Not each, but to split between the two of us.”

Marco quirked one side of his mouth. “I don’t know how you do it, man. That’s as perfect as a prediction as any I’ve heard. I’d be a fool to bet against that. What’s your secret?”
“You’ll never get it out of me,” Jake joked. Only Harmony could do that. He longed to hold her. But he needed to break things off before she got mixed up in his secrets.

Marco’s fingers snapping in front of his face brought him back to the real world.

“Back to earth, Wonder Boy. We’re about to find out how good you are.” Marco chuckled. “Here they come.”

Have I ever gone too far in editing? When I debate changing the same word to another one that means the same thing and then switch it back again,, I know I’ve hit the limit or gone past it. That’s when you have to trust your instincts and let the words speak for themselves.

How do other authors know when they are done editing? Find out by following the links below. And, as always, please stay safe until the next time!

August 22, 2022

How do you know when you’ve done all the editing you can on your story? Or that you’ve gone to far?

Rules:
1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

 

Top 5 Gotta-Haves #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book

August 15, 2022

What are 5 must-have things you keep on your desk, and how do you use them?

When it boils down, there are only two things I really need to write. A pen or pencil and paper. But that wouldn’t make for much of a blog post, so I’ll share some other things that make my desk a friendlier writing place. I haven’t settled into a new routine since we moved, and still don’t have my office set up, so I haven’t done much writing and all my answers are subject to change.

  • A beverage. The choice will vary depending upon the time of day and what mood I am in. Mornings often start with a cup of fruit tea – peach or white pear. The rest of the day, it’s cold water. Now that I’m retired, adult beverages have joined the lineup.
  • Music of some sort. Often it’s classic rock or John Denver. This evening I’m sitting on our deck, so it’s bird songs and crickets. (I’m not sure what kind of birds.)
  • A dictionary and a thesaurus. I suppose that should count as two things, but for this list, I’m going to clump them together. I have both physical copies and use what is available on the internet. I prefer my physical thesaurus over a virtual one. Wandering through the nearby listings of related words expands my choices and sends me down related paths to stumble across the perfect word.
  • A fidget spinner or something else to fiddle with. The older I get, the harder time I have concentrating for any length of time. (Or maybe it’s a symptom of the stress of the last year as I prepared to retire and move.) Having something to toy with as I try to come up with the next sentence keeps me from wandering off to some interesting distraction on the internet.
  • And my top need? It’s not a thing at all. It’s being alone. All my to-dos done, no one interrupting me, no guilt about taking time for myself. It’s a rare luxury. 

There you go. My top 5 must-haves. But other authors may have different needs. You can find out by following the links below. 

As always, until next time, please stay safe.

August 15, 2022

What are 5 must-have things you keep on your desk, and how do you use them?

Rules:
1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

 

Through A Child’s Eyes #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book

August 8, 2022

Do you think the child you were would be impressed by the person you’ve become?

It’s been a long time since I was a kid. (Long enough ago that it was impolite to use the word ‘kid’ to describe a young human. Kids were baby goats.) In the last few weeks, I’ve moved onto a new stage in my life—I’ve retired from my day job. Still, I remember many things about how I felt as a child, and I am confident that I would be impressed by how I turned out.

I remember an instance—I think I was 8 at the time—that I tried to figure out how old I would be in the year 2000. I was in the kitchen, probably helping with the dishes after supper, when the idea struck me. Little me couldn’t figure out the math, but I knew I would be old. I might even be dead. And here I am, in 2022, like the Energizer bunny, still going.

Young me would also be impressed that I’ve published 10 books (so far), especially my mysteries. I’d already discovered my love of reading, but writing a book hadn’t entered my mind. My plan to read every book in the school library before I graduated didn’t work out, but I’m good with adding a few stories for someone else to read in another library somewhere. 

What else? That me would have been impressed that I ended up working in the tech field, something that was only science fiction back then, although I don’t remember reading science fiction. Biographies and mysteries were more my thing.

The one thing that would have impressed little me the most? The number of people I’ve met and become friends with through writing. I was an introvert—still am—and making friends was tough. It still is, but writing has helped me break through the self-created boundaries. Now I have friends all around the world. Freaks me out.

So, yes. The child I was would be impressed with the person I’ve become. I wonder how the other authors feel? You can find out by following the links below.

Until next time, please stay safe.

August 8, 2022

Do you think the child you were would be impressed by the person you’ve become?

Rules:
1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

 

 

Giving The Readers What They Want #IWSG

  By IWSG
The awesome co-hosts for the August 3 posting of the IWSG are Tara Tyler, Lisa Buie Collard, Loni Townsend, and Lee Lowery!

Every month, we announce a question that members can answer in their IWSG post. These questions may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience or story. Include your answer to the question in your IWSG post or let it inspire your post if you are struggling with something to say.

August 3 question – When you set out to write a story, do you try to be more original or do you try to give readers what they want?

This doesn’t have to be an either/or question. The best answer is both—that being original is what your readers expect. But the more realistic answer lies somewhere in-between. It depends upon the story.
For the Harmony Duprie Mysteries, I wrote each book to meet certain expectations. Each story would have an element of humor, there’d be little in the way of blood and gore, and Harmony’s peculiar style of logic would somehow lead her to solve the mystery. In the Free Wolves books, I tried to make each story original, with only a vague tie-in across the series. The main theme between them lay in a strong female lead, and that left a lot of area to be explored.
Then there is The Fall of Jake Hennessey. Written as a prequel to the Harmony books, it pays frequent tribute to the events in the series, but is written from a different point of view. (Jake’s.) It was an interesting challenge—how to be original when the ending had already been written and I couldn’t take liberties with the timeline?
One more point. Most authors want to write a story they enjoy. They are writing for themselves as much as they are writing for their readers. If they enjoy the story, they’ll do a better job writing it.
Don’t forget to check out some of the other authors on this loop by following the links below. And, as  always, please stay safe until the next time!

On Your Mark, Get Set #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book

August 1, 2022

Do you have any tips on controlling pacing in your stories? How do you manage it?

I plead guilty. More than one reader has noted in a review that my story was slow at the start, but once they got into it, they couldn’t put it down. I’ve worked to correct that, but it’s hard to know if I’m been successful. I don’t consider myself a master of technique, but what have I done?

First, I’ve tried making my openings start with a bang. We’ve discussed that on this blog hop previously – getting the beginnings right. It’s hard to do. I’ve rewritten the beginning of my work in progress probably ten times, paring it down from 3000 words to about 250. (I’ll get back to writing the rest of the story soon!)

You’ve all heard the advice about “show, not tell.” No need for me to expand on it. Or about using dialogue when possible. There is truth in both statements, but sometimes a story will demand the rules be broken. Neither will resolve the issue of pacing; making sure the story doesn’t drag in spots.

When I think of pacing, I usually consider the overall ebb and flow. I like to give readers a “breather” after a major scene to allow them to take in what just happened. But how slow or fast an individual moment takes is what keeps the reader involved. 

Pacing isn’t only the the way the action flows. I’m not a fan of long sentences and paragraphs. Just seeing a block of text that takes up an entire page can be daunting. It’s also an indicator of slow pacing, in most instances. (Depending on genre. Non-fiction plays by different rules.) But having a lot of short, one sentence paragraphs can also make a reader lose interest. As always, the trick is finding the right balance.

I’ve also worked to improve my word choices. (See show not tell.) This is the area I need to work on the most. A lot of those changes happen in editing, as I try not to let finding the exact word I need slow down my writing flow. I also try to get rid of ‘filler’ words in my editing. (So, but, and similar words.) They will slow down the pace of a scene. 

What do the other authors have say about pacing? You can find out by following the links below. As always, please stay safe until next time.

August 1, 2022

Do you have any tips on controlling pacing in your stories? How do you manage it?

Rules:
1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter