Tag: #OpenBook

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

 

 

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

When Is It Not Enough Or Too Much? #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book

 

July 25, 2022

How do you avoid giving readers TMI (too much information) about a character? How do you decide what to share about a story’s characters?

I am still getting moved in to our new home. Today we hung three pictures and I put away most of our souvenir mugs.

You don’t care, right? What if I told you if I told you we found the perfect place of honor for a picture that was my mother’s, an aerial view of our hometown, mounting it on the wall above her cedar chest in our new dining room? Are you a bit interested?

Now what if I told you we installed the hangers 18 inches from the ceiling and centered on a 56 inch wide blue-gray wall? Have I lost you again?

Writing is a balancing act, walking a tightrope between not enough detail and too much. The challenge is finding the pivot point. How does an author know when they’ve gone too far?

The answer changes based on genre and target audience. A home decorator will key into different details than a mathematician. Fantasy requires different details than cozy mysteries. Authors need to look at their writing thru their readers’ eyes and decide what is needed. More important questions are – do the details enhance the story? Help develop the plot? Give insight into the character? (Or too much – there may be things a reader should wait to discover.) There’s also the question if the details slow the pace of the story.

A trap that some authors fall into is repeating the same information in the story. Does the main character have brown hair and wear glasses? The reader doesn’t need to be reminded of those facts each time he or she enters the scene. In most cases, once is enough.

So, how much is too much? That’s up to the readers to decide. Do you really care that I unwrapped a mug from Yellowstone and put it in the kitchen cupboard today? And one from Daytona Beach Bike Week 1997? And from Kennedy Space Center? And – okay. I’ll stop now.

But don’t forget to check out what the other authors on this hop have to say about the fine art of not giving too much information. Just follow the links below.

As always, until next time, please stay safe.

July 25, 2022

How do you avoid giving readers TMI (too much information) about a character? How do you decide what to share about a story’s characters?

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

 

This Writer’s Wish List #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book

July 4th, 2022

What’s on your writer’s wish list – List 5 things you have been wanting to buy or try as a writer.

My wants are simple, but I’ve accumulated too much ‘stuff’ in my life. There’s a story behind that sentence, but you’ll have to wait to hear it. Still, there are a few things I’d like to add to help me with my writing.

  1. A whiteboard. Being a pantser, I lose track of what day of the week it is in my story. Having a whiteboard to diagram it on would save me from going back and counting. (Numerous times as my story develops.) 
  2. A new chair. I’ve worn my current chair out. Even the cushion I’m sitting on isn’t comfortable anymore. That’s because I’ve used the same chair since before the pandemic. Working from home meant my butt spent a lot of hours sitting in that chair.
  3. Speaking of new, a new computer. The hard drive in this one is dying. I’ve got everything backed up (and a back-up computer) so I’m not worried about losing anything. The last time I bought myself a brand-new computer was back in the 1990s. I saved money by repurposing outdated PCs from work. I need a new printer too, but that can wait.
  4. A warmer for my morning cup of tea. My tea always gets lukewarm before I am done drinking it. Or perhaps an electric kettle to keep near my desk so I can make a fresh cup whenever I want.
  5. A software named Fictionary that is supposed to help with developmental edits. The company is partners with ProWritingAid, which I use extensively. Fictionary seems worth a try. Has anyone tested it? If you have, please share your experience.

I alluded to having too much ‘stuff’ in my life. Well, the amount has shrunk over the last few months. I officially retired from my day job, and me and my husband are moving. Yes, I am leaving the Rocky Mountains and returning to Western Pennsylvania, closer to family. Frankly, I got priced out of the market anyplace in the Mountain States.

As a result, I’ve decreased my hoard of vintage computer parts and pieces. I even (shudder) passed on books to other people. The new place will have room for me to have an actual office and plenty of spots for bookshelves to rebuild my collection.

My plans include gardening, reading, sitting in the sun, and, yes, writing. There are still stories to be told and characters to meet. Who knows how the rolling hills of Western Pennsylvania will inspire me this time around?

Tell me what else I should be wishing for in the comments. And check out the other authors’ wish lists by following the links below.  Until next time, please stay safe!

July 4th

What’s on your writer’s wish list – List 5 things you have been wanting to buy or try as a writer.

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


Saying Goodbye to Friends #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book

June 27, 2022

Do you miss a WIP (work in progress) when you’ve finished writing it?

That’s easy. Absolutely I do. In fact, I miss them before they are gone.

By that, I mean I find myself putting off writing the final few chapters. I know what those chapters need to accomplish, but I am reluctant to put the words on paper. It feels like saying goodbye to friends, even if I’m already plotting the next book in a series. The hours upon hours I have spent getting to know the characters—or getting to know them better—have made them not just people in a story, but my friends. A part of me will be missing when they are out of my brain and tucked into the pages of a story.

Still, I love writing the happy for now endings. No cliffhangers for me. I hate reading them so I refuse to write them.

A benefit of slowing down at the end? It gives my characters a chance to surprise me. Almost every book, as I reach the end, a new plot twist reveals itself. I think it’s my mind working overtime to put off that final scene where the story wraps up.

I have a confession to make – I have been known to go back and read my own books to reconnect with the characters. It’s like meeting up with old friends to share a meal and chat. They even manage to surprise me when a detail I forgot about reveals its importance to the story I’m currently writing.

Even the characters in books that I’ve written but never published will come back to hang out with me once in a while. Are they hoping to get me to take another look at their story? Whatever their motive, I enjoy their visits.

How about the other authors on this hop? Do they have a hard time saying goodbye to their stories? Find out by following the links below.

And, as always, please stay safe until the next time.

 

 

 

June 27, 2022

Do you miss a WIP when you’ve finished writing 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

 

You Write What!? #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book

June 20, 2022

What assumptions do people make about you when they hear you are a writer?

I don’t have a good answer to this question, because I don’t pay much attention to it. Throughout my life, I’ve defied a lot of expectations and my writing is no exception. When I wrote poetry, no one seemed surprised—I fit the mold. Young housewife with two kids, writing poetry about nature and love—nothing out of the ordinary.

But those circumstances had changed by the time I released a book. I was in a professional role, and to outward appearances, I met the expectations of the job. The ‘correct’ clothes, the ‘correct’ attitude, the ‘correct’ game face. Then I released Wolves’ Pawn, a book featuring people shifting into wolves. Not what my coworkers or family expected. I received more than a few sideways glances and rolled eyes when certain people found out.

The reaction from my immediate team (mostly guys) was more encouraging. Gentle ribbing, but delivered with no malice and more as encouragement. How do I know? By the ones who bought copies of that and subsequent books even if they don’t plan on reading them.

I’ve met some of you at various comic cons and other events. Cons are my favorite. Everyone gets to be whoever they want to be. All assumptions are left at the door. I’m free to sell books about whatever subject I want. (And I’ve worked a mention of a few of the costumes I’ve seen into my books!)

Do people make assumptions about me? I’m willing to bet the answer is yes, but it doesn’t bother me. I’ve been around long enough to know that’s the way people work.

How do the other authors on  this hop feel about the assumptions people make? Just follow the links below to find out.

By the way, stay tuned to this space for big news—a change coming to my life!

Until then, please stay safe.

June 20, 2022

What assumptions do people make about you when they hear you are a writer?

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

 

Childhood Memories in My Stories #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book

Jan 24, 2022

Do any of your characters have a favorite toy from their childhood? Do you?

Easy answer to this question is no, I haven’t written childhood toys into any of my stories. But, as always, there’s a gotcha! Not toys, but Harmony, my librarian-turned-internet researcher, has many of her childhood books.

I mention her collection of Nancy Drew in the stories, but she’s kept many other books as well. She’s got a copy of The Three Musketeers that was given to her by her uncle. A few of the James Bond books were added to her library when she was in high school.

There’s one small section of a shelf with children’s stories. Dr. Seuss is there for sure, along with Where The Wild Things Are and many others.

And it’s not a toy or a book, but Harmony also has her mother’s African Violet—well, at least a plant that is several generations down from the original cutting. She’s kept it alive through crisis after crisis.

And me?

I’ve still got a few things from my childhood, if you count high school. Coming from the middle a large family, most of our toys were passed down from one child to another as they were outgrown, just like our clothes. I never was attached to dolls or stuffed animals and had no desire to keep them. I’ve held onto a magnetic chess/checkers set I used to take to school, although I never played seriously, and a few books I claimed as my own from the shelves in the attic. (I may have previously mentioned the Narnia books I ‘borrowed’ from one of my brothers and never returned.) And I still have some of the embroidery thread that was my grandmother’s. (I know, it probably is unusable.)

I’d love to hear what childhood toys or belongings you’ve held on to. Tell us in the comments if you like.

This is the part where I suggest you check out the posts from the other authors on this hop and see what toys their characters might have. Just follow the links below.

As always, until next time, please stay safe.

Jan 24, 2022

Do any of your characters have a favorite toy from their childhood? Do you?

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