writing

Dialogue Tags

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 4 Comments

#writetip

Who is talking? Do you always need a tag? Advice from how-to-write books say it should be clear from the dialogue, who is speaking. For the longest time, I interpreted this to mean that the character should have some unique way of speaking.

I don’t like to read dialogue where I get distracted with unique speech patterns, so I don’t like to write that way.

I finally understood what the advice means. The context and what the character has to say should give the reader enough information to know who is talking. If it doesn’t then a tag is needed.

If you need a tag, you could try using character movements or thoughts instead of a tag.

So back to my original thought. I now get the advice. So here’s an example.

A brother and sister are talking.

“What?” – can’t tell who’s speaking. Consider a dialogue tag or other method of indicating who is speaking.

“Mom loved you more because you’re a girl. She liked to dress you up and do your hair. I had nothing but scrapes and bruises to offer.”  – easy to tell the brother is speaking, so no dialogue tag needed.

Starting My Fourth Novel

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 10 Comments

#writing

Novel One, Novel Two, Novel Three . . . Now what?

I’ve eighteen pages of notes on my fourth novel, and it’s time to move location.  Three novels are set in the Purcell Mountains, BC, Canada.

The fourth novel (and I feel like I should play music here) is set in the Bahamas. It’s time for a sailing adventure.

It’s been quite the experience writing about the Purcell’s. A place I lived and loved. An isolated mountain resort provides a great setting for a romantic thriller.

But the winds are changing and pushing me in a new direction. This is not to say I won’t continue to write about BC, only that it’s time to try something new.

New characters, new location, new mystery. It’s all a bit overwhelming, but also fun.

Now to go back and read what I wrote about the writing process and make sure I remember it all.

Blurb Translated to German

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 4 Comments

Fracture Line in German

As my translator works hard on Fracture Line, I asked her if she would translate my blurb into German. So here it is . . .

Stone Mountain, Britisch Kolumbien, Canada, Montag 31. Dezember, 7.29Uhr.

An einem kalten Wintermorgen, hoch auf den Purcell Bergen verschwindet Roy McCann in einer Lawine. Unfall oder Verbrechen ist die Frage.

Kalin Thompson kündigt ihren Job mit der Kanadischen Regierung  in Ottawa und nimmt den Job als Personalchefin im Stone Mountain Resort im Inneren von Britisch Kolumbien an,  um mit ihren entfremten Bruder Roy, wieder zusammen zu treffen.

Nach ihrer Ankunft enteckt Kalin, daß Roy im Verdacht steht einen großen  Diebstahl im Resort durchgeführt zu haben.

Kalin muß sich in die Sub-kultur des Ortes reinversetzen und zugleich eine heimliche Untersuchung leiten , die Roys Unschuld beweisen soll.

Kalins Leben wird bedroht als ihre Forschung nach der Wahrheit Erfolge zeigt.

Kalins Dillema ist, wem kann sie vertrauen, und ist ihr Glaube an die Unschuld ihres Bruders gerechfertigt

The next question: What is the title in German? After many hours of deciding on a title for Fraction Line, it’s time to start the process for the German Version.

This writing business is very time consuming.

Yeah, But . . .

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 7 Comments

#writetip

How do you overcome the ‘Yeah, but . . .” syndrome? It’s oh so tempting to respond to critique with the dreaded ‘Yeah, but . . .’ –  the temptation to explain why you wrote something the way you wrote it.

My advice is delay a rebuttal. You might be surprised what your brain does with the critique if you let it mull over what’s been said. If the answer comes to you in the middle of the night, be sure to write it down.

My reader, Sue is particularly good at pointing out where I need more emotion in a scene.

My reader, Janice points out where I need one level of emotion for the main characters and another for the secondary characters.

They are usually right. They don’t tell me how to fix a problem, only that the scene has one. Invaluable, but only if I’m willing to hear them.

My trick – I don’t respond to critique right away. I listen to it, go away and think about it, and then I have a non-emotional response and can decide logically if I want to make the requested changes or not.

Related articles

Romantic Thriller

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 8 Comments

#writetip

How you see your work and how someone else sees your work can be quite a surprise.

Romantic Thriller? I thought I was writing a Suspense novel. Then, my agent commented that my second novel, The Final Gate, could be positioned as a Romantic Thriller if I added a little more romance.

Oh, Oh, I think. I like to read novels that are full of action, so that’s what I like to write. But Romance? Who knew?

Over the last couple of months, I’ve been reading Romantic Thrillers to get a feel for the genre and discovered my novel is not that far off. But . . .

I spent three months on rewrites, that’s the fun part, and now I’m back to proofreading. I’ve just sent The Final Gate to my favourite readers for comments, so I’ll see how they like the new romantic version.

This is a change for me, and I’m nervous about the feedback.  I guess I’ll have to wait and see . .

Maybe my husband will send me flowers for all the hard work I’ve done – that’s kinda romantic.

 

Capitalize your parents?

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 3 Comments

#writetip Should you capitalize parents? Proofreading is an endless task and here’s a mistake that’s easy to make.

Should you capitalize mom? (or dad, mother, father, aunt, uncle, you get the gist)

This short example shows you when you do and when you don’t.

“I don’t want to go, Mom. Really I don’t,” Ian said.

“You must,” Ian’s mom said.

Ian hesitated but obeyed his mom.

If you’re using mom as the name, then capitalize. If not, then don’t. Pretty easy, except when proofreading, one tiny letter is hard to see. I do a search for each mom, mother, dad, etc. and check to see if I’ve used them right.

How Do You Proofread?

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 7 Comments

#writetip Proofreading takes intense concentration. Do you have method you’d like to share?

I’m talking about the final proof, after all your readers have given you feedback, you’re not going to make any story changes, and are about to send your manuscript to your agent or publisher.

It takes me about an hour to proof 5 double spaced pages. That may seem slow, but I think worth the effort.

First, I look at each character in a line, then the sentence, then the paragraph, then the page, and finally the scene.

This is where I check every punctuation mark, check for their/there swaps, and grammar errors. For example, I force my eye to look for a period at the end of every sentence.

The only editing I do at this phase it to ask whether I need every word.

If I start to skim, I take a break, let my mind relax and get back to it.

What is your process?

Related articles

Agent Feedback on Blurb

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 7 Comments

#writing

My wonderful agent, Margaret Hart, and her team at the HSW Literary Agency have come up with a new blurb for Burnt. It still amazes me how many people it takes to write a novel, even when it comes to the blurb and the synopsis.

I was very flattered that they came up with a new and improved version of the blurb. They have read all three of my novels, are familiar with my voice, and were able to tweak my original blurb and it still sounds like me. Pretty cool!

Here is the new blurb . . .

Instead of exchanging vows with her fiancé, Ben Timlin, Kalin Thompson spends her wedding day trapped by a forest fire in the mountains of British Columbia—and the pregnant friend trapped with her has just gone into labour. Meanwhile, Ben hangs from the rafters of a burning building, fighting for his life…

When the cause of the fire that ruins Kalin’s wedding and levels half of her beloved ski resort is declared as arson, finding the firebug responsible becomes Kalin’s personal mission.

In the course of her investigation as director of security at Stone Mountain Resort, Kalin gets on the wrong side of small-town corruption and uncovers more than just arson. There are those who will go to extreme measures to keep Kalin from exposing their secrets. But Kalin will go to extreme measures to protect what is hers.

Naming A Novel

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 14 Comments

#writing

Do you struggle with naming your novel? I do.

My novels are Fracture Line, The Final Gate, and Burnt.

After submitting The Final Gate to my agent, Margaret Hart, I received feedback from her editor that I should change the title.

I think I’m on title 200, and I’m still working on it.

  • Should the title be a line from the novel?
  • Should it be a metaphor?

After picking a title, then comes the research.

  • It the title already used?
  • Does is have a meaning I’m are unaware of?

Then comes the test market. Sending the title out to the people who have read my novel should give me some feedback. But what is they all like different one.

There are so many things to consider.  I think I’m finding the harder than writing the novel, the blurb and the synopsis. Yikes!

How do decide what your title should be? And if you happen to read the blurb for The Final Gate, can you send me a title?

Surprised by Synopsis

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 7 Comments

#writetip The dreaded synopsis surprised me. We all know how hard it is to write but . . .

I discovered a hole in my plot during the process of writing the synopsis. I was having a difficult time getting the story described in under two pages of double spaced text.

Then I realized the novel wasn’t coming full circle and I couldn’t relate the ending to the beginning. Why? I didn’t close off one of the story lines. I don’t think I would have discovered this if I hadn’t written the synopsis.

My point? Maybe the synopsis is not just for your agent or publisher. Maybe it’s good for you too.

Thoughts?