Easter may be over, but there are still Easter Eggs to be found…
Would you like three free novellas for the price of one book?
Imajin Books has a gift for you.
If you read DESCENT and receive your free novellas, let me know. I’d be thrilled to find out which ones you win. Imajin Books loves a mystery, and even I don’t know which novellas are hidden in DESCENT.
Enjoy.
Today on Write Better Fiction we’ll cover The Scene Hook. Write Better Fiction is a process to help you critique your own manuscript and give yourself feedback. This will help you improve your novel, so you’re ready to submit it to an editor.
Everyone knows the cliche hook, line, and sinker. You can apply that to your scene but think of it as entry hook, development, and exit hook. You’ll need all three of these elements in every scene to create a story your readers can’t put down.
What Is A Scene Entry Hook?
Many writing books talk about the importance of the first line, first paragraph and first page of a novel. If you don’t grab the reader then, you might lose them for good. There is a lot of pressure on a writer to produce an extraordinary first line for a novel.
But as with most things, practice will make you better. So start practicing now with the first line of every scene in your novel.
The end of a scene gives the reader an opportunity to close your book an ego to sleep. They might be tired and think about putting the book on the nightstand or closing the book on their eReader. But sometimes the reader will read the first sentence of the next scene to decide whether to keep reading or not, so it better be a good sentence.
I’ll bet you’ve done that late at night when your mind wants to read but your body wants to sleep. I certainly have.
You want the reader to keep reading, or at the very least look forward to reading the following scene the next day.
How Do You Get The Reader’s Attention?
With a good hook, of course. When creating a hook, consider:
So What About Characters?
Remember from last week’s post on scene anchoring, the hook must also introduce characters.
Alternate Your Technique
Alternate your technique so the reader doesn’t get bored. If you don’t know what the hook is or why the reader would start reading the next scene, think about rewriting the beginning of the scene.
Sometimes you might find you’ve started the scene too early. Look at cutting the scene until something exciting is happening. If there is description you need, move it to later in the scene if you can. You might just need a little reorganizing of the scene to make the beginning sizzle.
Last week’s blog covered anchoring your scene, so don’t forget to consider how to anchor your scene in conjunction with creating a good hook.
Your challenge this week is to ask yourself what is the hook for each scene. Is it enough to keep the reader reading?
I critiqued DESCENT and BLAZE using the techniques I’m sharing in Write Better Fiction, and I believe this helped me sign with a publisher.
Please let me know in the comments below if you have any suggestions how to check whether a hook is strong enough?
Thanks for reading…
Welcome to Mystery Mondays. I’m a huge fan of the Seamus McCree novels, so it’s a great honor to have James M. Jackson share his writing advice today. I first met James when he agree to have me guest blog on his site in August 2015. James was helping me spread the word about my first novel, Descent. Over the last year, I’ve learned what generous people authors are, and here he is again being generous with his time and sharing some advice.
Is it Soup Yet? by James M. Jackson
Well, no. When I agreed with Kristina to write this blog, (thank you so much for the invitation), I was confident I would have published the next book in the Seamus McCree series. It hasn’t happened, and I’m quite happy with that because the decision was mine.
By today’s standards, I am a slow writer. There are several reasons for this. Probably the most important is that writing is only one of the things I enjoy doing. I spend considerable time each year teaching the game of bridge at my local bridge club. [In fact my first published book was One Trick at a Time: How to start winning at bridge.] I also teach an online class on self-editing/revision, and I am the president of the 600-member Guppy Chapter of Sisters in Crime.
But none of those other interests or commitments are why you can’t buy Doubtful Relations today. You can’t buy it because I don’t think it’s ready.
Readers clamor for authors they enjoy to write more books more quickly. Publishers echo the demand, even writing faster deadlines into contracts. The once-a-year-release timetable has been replaced by a nine-month regimen. Many authors now produce two books a year, and many independent authors produce three or more books a year.
This pressure for more words, more quickly, comes at a time when publishers have pulled back on the amount of sales and marketing support they provide most of their authors. Now, most published authors spend a significant amount of time performing tasks that do not directly relate to writing their next book.
Some authors have always been prolific, producing great quality writing with everything (or nearly everything) they publish. For these authors, nothing has changed. I read eighty to a hundred books a year, mostly fiction, and over the past few years, I have discovered many authors who I once loved cannot produce high-quality manuscripts with these shorter timeframes.
Storylines become flat, characters become caricatures, plot holes appear. Editors in the past would have jumped all over these problems, but shortened production schedules don’t leave enough time for major fixes. Problems are papered over. For big names, this isn’t really much of a problem: a number one bestseller will obtain huge sales with a mediocre book, or two, or three. For a less-known author, it could be a death knell.
I teach my students that in revising a manuscript, it is important to give space between the writing and the rewriting. As a first step, they should try to read their manuscript as if they were a discerning reader. When I did that with Doubtful Relations, I realized the manuscript contained two major problems: new readers to the series required a deeper understanding of prior relationships than I had provided, and I had not given the reader sufficient understanding of the motivation of the primary antagonist.
Each problem had a straightforward solution, and had I been forced to turn in a manuscript to meet an approaching deadline, I could have applied those bandages to an otherwise decent manuscript. But in thinking about those issues, I realized I could significantly improve the novel if I tore it apart and addressed certain aspects using a different approach.
I attended a week-long workshop in 2015 run by Donald Maas, and one of the takeaways I have treasured is that sometimes the best way to fix something is to tear it down to its foundation and build it back up again. That’s what I am doing with Doubtful Relations. That’s also the approach I took with my most recent publication, Ant Farm. It started life as my first written novel. It attracted an agent’s attention and went nowhere. Frankly, it had good bones, but my writing was not yet mature. The flawed writing should not have earned an agent’s contract, and I am glad it was not published back in 2010. [I would now be very embarrassed if it had.] After being consigned to a drawer, I reread it in 2014, tore it down and built it up through a series of rewrites. When I was done, it won a contract through the Kindle Scout program.
I’m now in the process of building Doubtful Relations back up. I expect it will be available later this year. You can follow its progress (and the next two in the series that are also in the works) on my website, http://jamesmjackson.com or follow me on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/James-M-Jackson-388804844542707/ or on my Amazon page http://www.amazon.com/James-Montgomery-Jackson/e/B004U7FRP2 .
Ant Farm
In this thrilling prequel to Bad Policy and Cabin Fever, when thirty-eight retirees meet a gruesome end at a picnic meant to celebrate their achievements, financial crimes consultant Seamus McCree comes in to uncover the evil behind the botulism murders.
But the deadly picnic outside Chillicothe, Ohio, isn’t the only treacherous investigation facing Seamus; he also worms his way into a Cincinnati murder investigation when the victim turns out to be a church friend’s fiancé.
While police speculate this killing may have been the mistake of a dyslexic hit man, Seamus uncovers disturbing information of financial chicanery, and by doing so, puts his son in danger and places a target on his own back. Can Seamus bring the truth to light, or will those who have already killed to keep their secrets succeed in silencing a threat once more?
James M. Jackson authors the Seamus McCree mystery series. ANT FARM, BAD POLICY, CABIN FEVER, and DOUBTFUL RELATIONS (2016). Jim also published an acclaimed book on contract bridge, ONE TRICK AT A TIME: How to start winning at bridge, as well as numerous short stories and essays. He splits his time between the deep woods of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and the open spaces of Georgia’s Lowcountry.
Rosemary,
Thanks for the mention. I’m honored to be included with such a wonderful group of authors.
Thrilled to learn that I was the #2 bestselling author at Imajin Books in the month of March! Cheryl Kaye Tardif took the #1 place. And Luke Murphy, Kristina Stanley and Donna Galanti took #3, #4 and #5, respectively.
The novel got me those top sales was SAFE HARBOR, the first Pat Tierney mystery, which was the #2 bestselling ebook of the month. After four years, that story still has strong legs. Which bodes very well for the release of RAVEN LAKE, the third Pat Tierney mystery, later this spring.
Go, Pat, go!
Farley here,
Did you know when ice melts off a pond’s surface, the water doesn’t get warm right away? In fact, it’s freezing.
Kristina did try to tell me before I jumped in, but I didn’t listen.
Happy April Fool’s Day. Don’t do anything silly. 🙂
Woof Woof
Today on Write Better Fiction we’ll cover Is Your Scene Anchored? Write Better Fiction is a process to help you critique your own manuscript and give yourself feedback. This will help you improve your novel, so you’re ready to submit it to an editor.
One could argue that asking yourself if your scene is anchored should fall under setting or under plot.
I’ve included scene anchoring under plot because it’s more than setting, and I think it leads well into the next topics we’ll cover, which are hook, development and climax of a scene.
So what does it mean to anchor a scene?
The reader needs to know:
POINT OF VIEW:
We’ve dealt with point of view in detail, so I won’t say much here except you should check
whether the reader will know who has the point of view within the first paragraph or at least within the first couple of paragraphs. If not, the reader might find this frustrating. If you write your entire novel from one point of view, like many first person novels, then you don’t need to worry about this.
SETTING:
“Where is your character” fits under setting. You know where the character is because your wrote the scene, but does your reader? If the reader can’t figure out where the character is within the first couple of paragraphs you may lose them – the reader I mean and not the character. 🙂
There are exceptions to this. If your scene is about a character waking in a dark place and confused about where she is, then it’s okay for the reader to be confused about where she is too. This will add to the tension. The reader does need to understand the lack of setting is done on purpose.
TIMING:
The timing of the scene can mean:
If several years or several seconds have passed in a characters life, then the reader needs to understand that. If you are jumping back in time or forward in time the reader needs to understand that too. The quicker the reader gets the timing, the quicker they will be drawn into the scene.
START OF A NEW SCENE:
The start of a new scene means point of view has changed, the setting has changed, or time has changed, hence every scene needs to be anchored.
Your challenge this week is to ask yourself if every scene in your novel is anchored. Does the reader know who has point of view, where the character is and what time it is?
I critiqued DESCENT and BLAZE using the techniques I’m sharing in Write Better Fiction, and I believe this helped me sign with a publisher.
Please me know in the comments below if you have any suggestions or improvements for anchoring a scene.
Thanks for reading…
Jodie Renner spent her time and money putting together Voices From The Valleys. An anthology where all proceeds from book sales, after production expenses, go to Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders Canada (MSF).
I’m proud to say Deirdre Hunting Season, a funny story about a woman, a man, and a deer is the first story in the anthology (written by me 🙂 ). It’s followed by many other British Columbian authors who tell their tale about life in Canada’s western most province.
Thank you, Jodie, for the endless hours you put in gathering, editing, and producing this wonderful anthology.
STORIES & POEMS ABOUT LIFE IN BC’S INTERIOR, an anthology for charity, features entertaining short stories, fascinating memoirs, and thought-provoking poetry by 50 talented BC writers, depicting life in every region of the interior of British Columbia, Canada, from the ’50s to today.
Peruse the pages and you’ll find stories about challenging experiences in remote areas, experiences with BC’s deer, bears, moose, and other wildlife; harrowing experiences with forest fires, humorous people-watching stories, touching memoirs, tales of tragic incidents, stories about relationships, and funny-only-in-hindsight true stories.
You’ll find beautiful, thought-provoking poetry about early ranching life, rock climbing, a beloved motorcycle, the loss of orchards, prospecting, experiences with forest fires, encounters with wildlife, and special moments from various regions in BC.
Colour photos of various regions of BC enhance the print version of this high-quality memoir.
So if you’d like to support a great cause, Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders Canada (MSF), and have a great read, check out VOICES FROM THE VALLEYS.
Thanks for reading…
Mystery Mondays welcomes Michael Phillips, Author of: Between Good And Evil, first book in the Auburn Notch Mysteries Published by Sunbury Press.
It’s amazing to me that each week an author generously shares wisdom about writing and the writing industry and this week is no exception.
If you’ve been needing a plan to get your work published, read on…
Writing Goals by Michael Phillips
Any time I do a book-signing event one of the first questions I get is, “What is the toughest part about being a writer?” Some would say finding an agent or a publisher. Others might say dealing with all the rejections that go along with finding an agent or a publisher. But my usual response is—formulating a plan and sticking to it no matter what. Doing this can make those other two things much easier and achievable.
So what do I mean about a plan? Well, I mean setting achievable goals and attacking them one at a time. One completed goal should lead to the next, and the next, and so on until you have a complete manuscript in hand and a stop-them-in-the-aisle query to go along with it.
Before I break these goals down for you, let me mention a few things to help this process along. First, you should treat your writing like a job. Our lives are crazy, but if you are serious about writing you should carve out a time to write and try to stick to it. Some folks write an hour or so early in the morning before the day really starts, others write at night after the family has gone to bed. I write 8-10 hours one day a week. Whether it’s one paragraph, three chapters, or just reference, I stay at it for 8-10 hours. One day a week doesn’t sound like much, but I get a lot done in that one day. For example, my Ernie Bisquets Mysteries are English cozies, so they are quirky and enjoyable to write and I can complete an 80k word manuscript in 6-8 months. The Auburn Notch Mysteries are a little darker and have much more research involved, so an 84k+ manuscript may take up to a year. Whatever your preference, stake your claim and stick to it.
Second, you really need to know your characters. Character mapping is incredibly important and something you should invest time in before you get too far along in the process. Think of this as filling out an on-line dating questionnaire, adding in as much detail as you can. This is also a living document, so you can adjust as needed as your story progresses. I take this one step further and map each character’s relationship with all the other characters. There are a number of character mapping apps out there. I use one more suited to screenwriting because I like the character-to-character relationship aspect.
Third, try working from an outline. Even if it is just a few sentences for each chapter describing what’s going on, I find doing this helps me plan out the whole book and keep track of what’s next.
Now, onto those goals.
First Goal: Write your story. I don’t mean labor over every word, or second guess the affect of your foreshadowing, or wondering if your protagonist still has the same color hair in chapter seven as she does in chapter one, etc. What I mean is right your story. It’s a first draft. It’s going to be short and it’s going to be terrible, but that’s ok. Just get the whole idea out of your head and onto your laptop. Someone told me a long time ago that 90% of writers never get their work published for one reason alone—they give up. They get so bogged down in the details while they’re writing the first draft, or worrying if their work is good enough, that they just give up. Some would see this as a daunting statistic, figuring if 90% give up what chance do I have? If you’re like me, I figured I just eliminated 90% of my competition. I was quite sure my writing skills were as good as or better than ½ of the remaining 10%, so I just got to work and finished writing my story. Check off Goal #1.
Second Goal: Walk away. Put the completed first draft aside for a month. This is important. You need to look at the story with fresh eyes before you start the editing process, and the best way to do that is to walk away from it. Spend this time researching potential agents/publishers for your book. Get a complete list together, so when you’ve finished the book completely you’re ready to start the query process. And do not start the query process until the book is polished. Check off Goal #2.
Third Goal: The editing process. With a hot cup of whatever, you sit down and start back at the beginning and read what you’ve written. Read through the whole story a few times making notes along the way. This is the time when you take that rough first draft and turn it into a compelling story. Define the characters, establish the conflict, and embellish the details. Add weight to your writing. My favorite part of this goal comes at the end of the second draft and I go back to the beginning and start the “was” edit. This is the time to sift out the passiveness from the story and increase the word count. Do a word search for “was” and start the edit. For example:
My original sentence: It was just after 4:30 when Promise returned to the office and found Hank waiting for her.
The edited version: The long shadows of the cool, late afternoon stretched across the busy Main Street leading Promise into her office, the very tip of the shadow resting beneath the tapping foot of her deputy, Hank.
No “was” any more, and you’ve done a little show don’t tell in the process. We’ve also gone from 17 words to 34 words. It’s amazing what you can do with a single word when you try.
I’ve written a couple books requiring only 2 drafts, but three other books took a third and forth until I was happy. Everyone is different; so take as long as you need to get it right.
Forth Goal: Hire an editor. Most new writers don’t want to hear this one, but it is incredibly important. Look at it as an investment in yourself and your work. Do a little research, find a reputable editor, and turn over the manuscript once you get to your final draft. For the few hundred dollars it will cost you, the return on investment will be worth it. Together you will polish the manuscript and get it ready for submission.
Fifth Goal: The Query. To some extent this is more important than the entire book. On one 8.5”x11” piece of paper you are going to dazzle an agent with your hook, and then draw them into your story with a brief paragraph or two describing your characters and the conflict they’re struggling with to reach the resolution. Writing the query is a post in itself, so I’ll just leave you with the knowledge of how important it is and leave the how-to for another post.
Thank you so much for inviting me to share my writing experience with your readers. It’s been a delight being here.
Cheers,
Mike
ACCLAIMED MYSTERY NOVELIST R. MICHAEL PHILLIPS RELEASES FIRST BOOK IN NEW SERIES
CARLISLE, PA. – Sunbury Press has released Between Good and Evil by R. Michael Phillips, the first in the Auburn Notch Mystery series.
About the Book:
Promise Flynn was an overly impulsive Metro Detective whose disregard for procedure finally resulted in her being shot and left for dead during an investigation.
To repair her bruised ego and splintered confidence she abandons the dark alleys of Chicago to patrol the quiet, birch-lined streets of Auburn Notch.
For two years everything was idyllic, until the body of a young girl found in the abandoned asylum outside of town awakens the insecurities she thought her new life would insulate her from.
As the new Sheriff she begins her investigation, oblivious to being unexpectedly recognized and penciled in at the top of a clever murderer’sTo- Do list.
Her internal struggle intensifies when a discredited crime reporter from the past arrives in town to resurrect his
reputation, along with an FBI agent chasing down a lead in a cold case.
Both men quickly become entangled in Flynn’s investigation and her attempts to finally put her past to rest.
Praise for Between Good and Evil:
“It’s such a treat to start a new Phillips mystery…He gracefully brings new people into our lives, giving us time to get to know who is who. The dark yet very real worlds of his characters are so clearly defined that you are sucked inside and grabbed along in a slow-building rise of anxiety and danger…”
—The Editing Pen
“R. Michael Phillips has an incredible hand at descriptive detail: clothing, rooms, scenery. It leaves a flavor for you to sample and settings you can envision stepping into…”
— June Lorraine Roberts, Murder In Common About the Author:
Michael is a classically trained artist turned mystery writer. He has written three books in his first series, The Ernie Bisquets Mysteries, and has released the first book in his Auburn Notch Mystery series, Between Good and Evil.
When he’s not painting or writing Michael is an avid antique collector, filling his home—an 1894 Queen Ann Victorian he, his wife, and son are restoring—with antiques from around the world. Michael also enjoys cooking, working in the garden, and playing in the yard with their two rescues, Beau and Pup.
What do Jodie Renner, Dan Alatorre and Elinor Florence have in common, besides being awesome writers of course? Each has a generous spirit. All three have read an advanced reader copy of THE AUTHOR’S GUIDE TO SELLING BOOKS TO NON-BOOKSTORES.
I am honored to share their words with you today.
You can check out the work of the fabulous three by clicking on their names above.
Writers are truly generous people. I thank Jodie, Dan and Elinor with all my heart.
The Author’s Guide To Selling Books To Non-Bookstores will be released this spring by Imajin Books.
Thanks for reading…
Publishing my first non-fiction book is just as stressful as publishing a novel. The great part is now I’ve been through the process a few times, and I know what Imajin Books expects from me.
As promised on my home page, I’m sharing what I learn during the publishing process. It’s still hard to ask for endorsements, but I did, and they are making their way into my inbox, and I just have to share the first one. My strategy is to find endorsements from traditionally published authors, Indie published authors and editors with the idea that a well rounded list will help promote the book.
The first in is from Elinor Florence, author of BIRD’S EYE VIEW (Dundurn Press).
Bird’s Eye View is a historical novel, the unforgettable story of an idealistic young Canadian woman who joins the air force in the Second World War and becomes an aerial photographic interpreter.
Working with hundreds of other intelligence officers at a converted mansion in England, Rose Jolliffe spies on the enemy from the sky.
What she sees through her magnifying glass will change the course of history — and her own life — in ways she never imagined.
The success in selling and distributing DESCENT and BLAZE came from implementing what I learned by trial-and-error, by talking with other authors and store owners about the process, and from guidance from my publisher. I’ve taken everything I’ve learned and put it into a book.
In THE AUTHOR’S GUIDE TO SELLING BOOKS TO NON-BOOKSTORES I explain how an author should plan, prepare and execute getting books into stores and actually making money from it. It doesn’t matter whether you’re an Indie author or traditionally published, all that matters is you have a printed edition of your fiction or nonfiction book and you want to get that book out into the world.
Thanks for reading…
