E. Tip of the Day: Time Management Skills With a Smile. Start your writing time happy to dig into the character’s lives. Not to get away from your own life, but to create something really beautiful.
In today’s world we have so many things pulling us in different directions. Sometimes time alone can make us feel guilty for not spending time with our families, friends, or doing those things that we keep putting off. To spend any time pampering yourself, or doing something selfish like writing for hours at a time seems selfish.
Well, writing is selfish, isn’t it? But it’s also this wonderful gift so few people have the talent to do. It’s something so many people wish they could do. So, instead of feeling guilty, dear writer, start feeling grateful.
Don’t get upset with yourself for taking this time to write. YOU deserve it. You’ve worked hard to get to where you’re at, and it’s okay to take a few hours for yourself and write. Relax. Smile. Feel excited that YOU are a writer. Don’t beat yourself up when you only have 10 words on the page after an hour. It’s okay. That happens. Instead of beating yourself up, believe in yourself. Look in the mirror and tell yourself you deserve this career. You are determined to finish the writing project you are working on, and IT WILL NOT BEAT YOU. You can do this!
It’s important to me to keep a positive attitude. Every day I wake up with a smile on my face so excited to start the day’s work. I love being an editor. It is a pure joy for me to have this career, and to have the opportunity to work with so many talented writers. To me, every day is a blessing. I admit I’m not happy every minute of every day (I have three teenagers after all!), but I try to be. 🙂
It’s one of the things I see daily in my husband; his positive attitude is simply amazing. No matter how much pain he’s in, or what worries he has on his plate, he always remains positive. Doom and gloom is not part of his vocabulary. Doom and gloom only makes you feel worse anyway. And who wants that? Being happy, grateful to be the writer you are, will make the day go faster. You won’t be dreading having to write the next word on the page. You’ll be looking forward to it! 🙂
Today our guest is author, Nancy Gotter Gates. I first met Nancy a few years ago when I edited her novel Sand Castles. I was touched by Nancy’s characters, and their real-life struggles. I was thrilled when we were able to work together on her next novel, Life Studies! Welcome, Nancy, to The Editing Essentials.
Nancy Gotter Gates is the author of seven mysteries and three women’s fiction novels. Sand Castles, Life Studies and The State of Grace are stand alone novels featuring women in their fifties and sixties. Her mysteries include the Emma Daniels series set in Sarasota Florida, the Tommi Poag series set in Greensboro North Carolina and her newest, The Glendon Hills Retirement Center series, set in “Guilford City” North Carolina. She has also published numerous articles, poems and thirty short stories. Nancy lives in High Point North Carolina with her cat Callie. Visit her website at: http://www.nancygottergates.com/
Many mystery writers look for unusual backgrounds and quirky occupations for their protagonists to set themselves apart from others in the crowded field of cozy mysteries. I understand completely. If you’re not writing police procedurals or thrillers filled with spies, government types, or special agents, it’s hard to make one’s protagonist stand out from the crowd. However, I take a different tack. I prefer to write about everyday women, working in an ordinary job or retired, who happen to stumble upon a dead body and feel compelled to track down the killer. I feel the reader can identify with her because they have everything in common. She is not an expert in ancient languages or a famous chef or a biker. She is the woman next door, or in your book club. All of my protagonists are women of baby boomer age, some retired, some not. All are middle-class average housewives or office workers who stumble onto crimes that shock and appall them and are driven to find the perpetrator. Even though they have little knowledge of police procedure or access to crime labs and specialists, they manage to find the guilty party through passion, hard work, and determination.
I frequently tend to draw from my own experiences in my stories. For example in my Emma Daniels mystery series, she and her husband Paul move to Sarasota when he takes early retirement. My husband had to take disability retirement at a young age and we purchased a winter home in Sarasota. However, Emma loses her husband to a heart attack within months and is left on her own. In the first book, A Stroke of Misfortune, a neighbor helps her deal with her grief and they become fast friends. When this woman is killed and her husband is accused of her murder, Emma, who never imagined herself in such a role, is resolved to exonerate him and find the real perpetrator. I believe that readers will find Emma’s traits of loyalty, courage and determination admirable. And in subsequent books these same qualities come into play when she deals with scams on the elderly, and men who take advantage of lonely widows. I can only hope that if I found myself in similar situations I might find in myself the qualities I’ve given to Emma.
Tommi Poag lives in Greensboro, North Carolina which was my home for forty years. She also works in an insurance office as I did for a time. Tommi is a divorcee whose ex, a lawyer, dumped her for a younger woman in his office forcing her to go to work when she is too proud to accept alimony. My work experience was helpful when I decided to have an insurance policy play a large role in casting suspicion upon Tommi’s friend, Nina who is accused of killing her husband in When Push Comes to Death.
In my second Tommi Poag book, Death on Disaster Day, my role as the Public Relations Director of a Girl Scout Council led me to set the scene for the murder at a Scout camp where the girls are being judged on their first aid skills. Tommi has volunteered to be a “victim” and when her friend is shot to death at the perimeter of the camp, she is driven to find the killer. I was nervous about how the Girl Scouts would feel about having a murder on Scout camp grounds even though it was fictional so I had the local Executive Director read the manuscript before it was published. She loved it and even used the book as a fund raiser.
In the third Tommi Poag book I used our local reenactment of a Revolutionary War battle as the background. This annual event is a thrilling spectacle of uniformed soldiers advancing on each other with swords, muskets and cannons. I chose to have one of the sutlers, or merchants, who pitch tents on the periphery of the battlefield, be the victim.
Since I now live in a retirement center, I thought it would be fun to have my newest protagonist live in a fictional one set in “Guilford City” North Carolina. And so I began the Glendon Hills Retirement Center series featuring Viola Weatherspoon and her best friend Tyrone Landowski. Vi was an Executive Director of a Girl Scout Council in New England and Ty worked for the State Department. Neither has ever been married and their relationship is more like brother and sister, substituting for the siblings they never had.
The characters in my women’s fiction are also ordinary women dealing with the problems that beset their lives. In Sand Castles, Ginny has always been a stay-at-home wife and mother and when her husband decides to move to Florida upon his early retirement, she is loath to leave friends and family behind. But Leland has his way and after their move Ginny feels displaced and depressed. It takes a series of life-altering events for Ginny to find her way to happiness again. I feel that little attention is paid to the psychological and emotional effects of retirement and wanted to address them.
Life Studies features Liz Raynor who decides to pursue her lifelong interest in art when her husband dies at age fifty-five. Eventually she falls in love with her art teacher and together they encounter many roadblocks to their happiness which they overcome. I too lost my husband in his fifties and my art helped to heal me.
In The State of Grace, Grace Cousins, who works for a financial advisor, has never married. When her father dies, she moves in with her mother who suffers from dementia. She rents out her empty townhouse to a hydrologist, in town on a two-year contract, and eventually falls in love with him though many obstacles lie in the way.
I prefer to write about mature women with their rich histories who’ve dealt with all the ups and downs life has thrown at them. To me, they are the most interesting characters of all.
Thank you, Nancy, for joining us today, and sharing your experiences with us! Please feel free to make comments, or ask Nancy questions while she is here with us today. Thank you! 🙂
E. Tip of the Day: It sounds like an oxymoron, doesn’t it? Vague descriptions? Yet we see them all the time in some of the manuscripts we review here at Written Dreams. What the author is really doing is telling the story to the reader instead of showing what is happening to the characters. What the reader reads is a vague description that doesn’t really say much of anything at all, takes them out of the story, and frustrates the heck out of them.
The reader can’t see what the author is seeing inside their head, so instead the reader finds something else to do with their time. Reading that book is not one of their options.
So, as an author how do you fix this? How do you learn to show the emotion and tension of your story without telling it? How do your recognize when you are telling instead of showing?
One way to see the vague descriptions is by reading the story back to yourself aloud. We’ve talked about this before and doing this yourself as a writer is an invaluable tool. (You’ll have to put the story down for a few days to distance yourself first so you’re reading it with fresh eyes.) When reading aloud, you won’t be able to feel the emotion that the characters should be feeling at that given moment. You know the emotion that you had thought you had written into the story? Instead, the characters may feel hollow or wooden, and not really alive. Just partly alive–like a walking zombie. 🙂 If you’re writing a zombie book, this might be a good outcome. If you’re not writing about zombies, then you may want to go back and revise to show more emotion and tension.
When showing the emotion, put effort into the words and be creative. Really get inside the heads of your characters and become them. Learn their habits, hobbies, and skills. Learn their vocabulary. Do they like to complain about the referees when watching football (my dad is famous for this 🙂 or do they sit back and enjoy the game? Once you get the hang of it, it will actually be easier showing than it is telling. Hard to believe, I know, but true. Don’t give up! You’ll get there. Just keep working on putting down those words with emotion. 🙂
We are so excited to announce, in celebration of our one year anniversary, Lara and I will be holding our first annual short story contest! Stories that are selected from the entries submitted will be published in the Written Dreams annual anthology to be released in February 2013.
We’re looking for romantic fantasy short stories where at least one character fulfills a life-long dream within the context of the story. Examples of possible dreams could be: finally getting their dream job, buying their dream house, going on the vacation of their dreams, etc. Stories can be about humans, elves, pixies, vampires, and everything in between.
RULES:
Submit your 2,000-8,000 original short story in a word document attachment to us at contest@writtendreams.com by December 15, 2012. We’d like to see a variety, so use your imagination and be creative!
Who can enter? Anyone. This is an Open Contest.
No reprint stories please. We’d like an all-original anthology.
One submission per person please. First time authors welcome.
Stories should be a PG-13 rating in sexual content, language, and violence.
Payment will be $0.06 a word with a pro-rata share of 50% of the royalties. Writers who have their story selected to be in the anthology will also receive one contributor copy. Non-exclusive rights.
If you have any questions regarding this contest, please email us at contest@writtendreams.com. Thank you!
E. Tip of the Day: Vulgar Language—Is it needed or not?
It goes back to growing up as a child, being told you’re acting disrespectful to Gramma by swearing in front of her. Then, being threatened by Gramma that she’ll wash your mouth out with soap if you continue to use those strong–and very wrong–words. Gramma obviously doesn’t like swearing.
But in today’s society where most curse words are accepted as part of the regular vocabulary on TV and radio, it seems okay to use those words as part of the dialogue in a novel. But is it really okay for characters to swear on screen in dialogue? Ask these questions of yourself to help determine the answer for your particular writing style.
1) Do you feel uncomfortable as a writer having your character swear on screen? Does it go against your own personal beliefs? (If the answer to this question is “yes,” don’t do it. It’s that simple. You should feel comfortable with your own writing.)
2) Is cursing something your character–if they were alive and well in real life–would really do? (If the answer to this question is “no,” and you’d still like it in your dialogue, then you need to figure out why it’s really important to you. Also, make sure it is properly set up why your character does let loose and swear so it doesn’t push the suspension of disbelief for that particular character if they normally don’t swear.)
3) Does it fit within the general guidelines of the sub-genre you’re writing in to use curse words in your novel? (If “no,” then why are doing it? For controversial reasons?)
4) Are you using curse words to add tension to the scene sprinkled in here and there? (This is one of the purposes of using curse words in dialogue. If “no,” then why are you doing it?)
5) Do you think your readers will be offended by reading curse words in your story? (If “yes” then don’t take the risk of alienating your readers. After all, having a large readership is what you’re working for.)
It’s important to review whether or not it’s really important for your characters to swear in your story. Excessive overuse of any curse word is unnecessary and poorly translates to the page. If you have further questions about your novel and the use of curse words within it, contact us for a consultation. Our editors would be happy to help you!
Today marks a very special day for me. A year ago today I told my husband I wanted to work for myself and start my own editing business. Amazing how fast the year has flown by! September 12, 2011, we spent the day in our living room, thinking of a catchy business name and developing a business plan. I imagined, and he listened. Michael has always been my biggest supporter and when I chose Written Dreams over having a corporate job, we both knew it wouldn’t be easy.The time has passed so quickly–like that first year of life when you have a child, and they grow in such monumental stages.
I remember when my son was born, how elated and happy I felt–one that labor was over, and two that I was able to hold this beautiful little boy who I helped create. How excited I was that finally, I would have someone to love unconditionally no matter what. I knew there would be ups and downs. That was expected. My son is now 18, on his own in college, and has a lovely girlfriend that fits so well into our family. And my husband is still by my side after 20 years.
Me and my hubby, Michael
It’s been a long year in business, but I’m still as excited as I was a year ago. Let me take you back to May 2011. I was on the phone with Dorothy McFalls, at a mall of all places, going over some ideas for a new novel she and I were working on. At the time, I had a full-time job that I worked 60-80 hours at. And this particular phone call was during my lunch break. Although I loved my job in that industry, it wasn’t publishing. Dorothy, a true friend, maybe heard it my voice that day I wasn’t completely happy. I’m not sure. But I will never forget that conversation for the rest of my life when she asked me, “Brittiany, why don’t you go into business for yourself, as a freelance editor?” Me? Are you kidding? I couldn’t do that.
But the thought continued in the back of my mind over the next few months. A few other writers asked me the same thing. I shook my head. No, that’s something I definitely can not do. But these people believed in me–believed I could do it!
Fast forward a few months to August 2011. My son would be entering his senior year in high school. (Again the tears are coming.) If you know my son well, you know he’s always had a fascination with the ocean. That’s partly my husband’s fault for never missing Shark Week on Discovery, and partly mine for encouraging my son’s love for everything in the marine habitat. Books, movies, going to aquariums. We did anything to help him with his love of the ocean. (So many fun family memories.) I knew my son would be going out of state for college. It’s no secret that we live in Wisconsin, and although there’s plenty of rivers, lakes, and ponds here, it’s no ocean. I knew my son’s dreams would be taking him 1300 miles away from his family–in 9 months time. So, I did what every devoted mother would do. I quit my job. You know the job I was working at for 60-80 hours a week, out of town most nights, and away from my family. That job.The distance is what shook me. I wanted to spend every moment I could with my son before he left for college. I knew it wouldn’t be all happy family moments, but I would be there.
A fun day at Shedd
So, here I am–no job, and a family depending on my income. What to do? That conversation with Dorothy was still niggling in the back of my mind. I made a few feeler phone calls to some of my most trusted friends. I was a capable editor. Why not start my own business? Because I was scared. So scared to take that first step.
My husband believed in me wholeheartedly. My kids were excited Mom would be home more often. The writers who had become my friends knew I was an excellent editor and supported me. How could I let all of these people down who thought I would be successful?
So, I plunged in deep into my own personal ocean, and I am so glad I did. This would be my dream job. Helping writers achieve their goals–writers of all walks of life to fulfill their dreams just like some of those same writers that believed in me! 🙂
Thank you so much Dorothy McFalls for your inspiration! I’ll forever be grateful. And thank you to Terry Odell, Helen Osterman, C.C. Harrison, Karen Fenech, Jim C. Hines, Virginia McCullough, Barbara Raffin, Bob Rogers, Donna MacQuigg, Stacey Joy Netzel, Donna Marie Rogers, Lily Silver, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, and Ed Gorman for spreading the word and helping me become successful. Thank you to the writers who have been my clients, guestbloggers, or told their friends about us. Thank you to my family who never stopped believing, even if it meant another night of pancakes. Thank you all for believing in my Written Dreams!
Being happy, doing what I love–editing–is a dream come true. 🙂
E. Tip of the Day: Less distractions, more writing.
As we ease into the weekend, it’s easy to get caught in all the things that distract us from writing. Stay your course and remember your goals. Use an egg timer to keep yourself focused on writing during short productive increments of time where you can shut out the real world. Short bursts of focused energy are better than long, constantly interrupted hours of barely writing a word.
Other things to try:
1) Let your family know that from “this time to this time” you need to be left alone to write. Then, do your best to keep your promise when you are scheduled to come up for air. If you hit a place where the creative juices are really flowing, have a piece of paper you can quickly put outside your door that says “Creative Mind at Work, Please Be Patient” without interrupting your thought process, or having them storm in to interrupt you.
2) Have set hours/days when you do housework, cook, or run errands. Make a point to keeping with the same schedule. Physical chores are great times to brainstorm so have an open-mind when you’re pulled away from your story.
3) Role-playing is a fun way to involve family/friends into your story. If there’s a scene where two people are walking on a trail, and you know you need to show more sensory details in the scene to make it believable, ask a friend to tag a long on your walk. You’ll get exercise and you may be inspired, too! 🙂
If you have tips on how you stay focused on your writing, let us know. Good luck!
Devon and I first met when I asked her to write a story for my anthology, Fantasy Gone Wrong. She wrote “Moonlighting” for me, and I’ve been a fan of her stories ever since. She is such a warm, kind person and a very talented author. We’re pleased to have her as our guest today. 🙂
Devon Monk
Devon Monk writes the Allie Beckstrom urban fantasy series, the Age of Steam steampunk series, and the occasional short story. She has one husband, two sons, and a dog named Mojo. She lives in Oregon and is surrounded by colorful and numerous family members who mostly live within dinner-calling distance of each other. She has sold over fifty short stories to magazines and anthologies in five different countries, including a Year’s Best Fantasy collection. When not writing, Devon is either knitting strange things, remodeling the house-that-was-once-a-barn, or hosting a family celebration.Visit her online at:www.devonmonk.com or www.deadlinedames.com
WD: Has your family always been supportive?
DM: My family has always been supportive of my writing. But you know, writing as a career doesn’t follow a by-the-book (ha! Pun!) career path with easily definable markers. Writing for a living took me down many different roads before it became something that paid the bills on a regular basis. And while my family was always supportive of me, I think they were even more excited when the job I’d been pursuing for seventeen years turned into a full-time paying gig.
WD: How did you get started with the blog at Deadline Dames?
DM: I had just sold the first three books in the Allie Beckstrom urban fantasy series, and was starting to “meet” other urban fantasy writers online through various blogs and such. Some of my agency mates and I tossed around the idea of a group blog and started the Deadline Dames.
WD: What are your favorite types of posts?
DM: Although I love talking about writing and my process, my favorite posts are the ones where readers get excited and leave comments. Those are usually the posts that cover everything from our hobbies, to our favorite TV shows, to books we are currently reading.
WD: What do you enjoy about it most?
DM: I love the interaction with readers and fellow writers. I also love having a little spot on the net where I can celebrate successes and commiserate during hard times with eight other terrific writers. Something I didn’t expect when we started blogging together was how close we’ve come together as friends. The Dames are fantastic about offering support, advice, and sympathetic ears when any of us are dealing with challenges. I can not say this enough–the Dames are terrific writers and the kind of women I’m proud and honored to call friends.
WD: Do you and the other writers see a lot of crossover from readers by doing the blog together?
DM: We do have readers who follow one Dame and try out another Dame’s books, which is always very cool. Sometimes when we gush over an author we love, we’ll have that author’s fans come check us out and give us a try. It’s all about being honest and sharing the things you love.
WD: What drives you to write short stories in so many different genres?
DM: In my opinion short fiction is a free ticket to risk wildly. I love exploring story structure, style, and concept, and pushing what I think I am capable of writing whenever I write. Short fiction allows me to do all that in a small space and in (hopefully) less time, which feels very rewarding.
WD: Which of your own novels has been your favorite to work on? Or was the most difficult novel to research?
DM: I’ve loved working on all of my novels, though I’ll admit the steampunk series takes a lot more research than the urban fantasy series, and therefore writes more slowly for me. TIN SWIFT, my latest steampunk, felt like it wrote excruciatingly slowly as I watched my deadline tick down. But when I went back to read it, I was surprised to find it read really fast, with lots of action and pep.
Magic For A Price by Devon Monk
WD: What are your favorite events to attend?
DM: I love big group signings where the energy is high and a lot of people come to the store or convention to browse every book in the place. Smaller signings can be a lot of fun too, and offer a more intimate one-on-one time to talk with readers, which I love.
I think conventions are a lot of fun. Every one is so different I try to sample them all!
Every year I try to attend my local SF/F/H convention. Other types of conventions I’ve enjoyed are steampunk conventions, World Fantasy, WorldCon, romance conventions, comic conventions, writing conferences, and even Book Expo of America.
I attend as a professional guest at some conventions. At others, I just go for the fun of meeting new people, listening to speakers, and immersing myself in all the wonderful aspects of being a writer, reader, and fan.
Tin Swift by Devon Monk
WD: What marketing have you/your publisher done for your latest release, Tin Swift?
DM: The most unusual thing I did was write a serialized short story, HANG FIRE, that took place between book one DEAD IRON and book two, TIN SWIFT. It was told in twenty short chunks–a little like a radio show–through my two point-of-view characters, picking up where DEAD IRON ended and ending where TIN SWIFT began.
We lined up twenty blogs to each host a piece of the story and offered prizes at each stop. I had a great time writing HANG FIRE, the bloggers liked having original, exclusive material, and readers seemed to enjoy the experience. I think it all went well.
WD: Have you belonged to a writer’s critique group? How has it helped your career?
DM: I have belonged to several critique groups. Some of them were on-line, some were in-person.
The critiques I received over the years were always very helpful, but the surprising thing about critique groups was how much more I learned when I was asked to critique someone else’s story.
The great thing about a critique group is that it allowed me to look at other writers’ stories with a critical eye to see what worked and what didn’t work for me. To give a critique I hoped would be helpful to the writer (whose goal was to publish said story) I would have to explain my experience as a reader, point out where and how the story faltered, and then offer suggestions for what I thought might make the story stronger for me.
Taking apart hundreds, maybe thousands of stories in that way, while listening to other writers do the same all around me (and to me) really helped me understand different ways a story can be built, and different ways an audience can respond to the same story. Critique groups opened my eyes to many wonderful stories and gave me a chance to glimpse the gears beneath the magic.
Thank you, Devon, for taking the time out of your day to be with us today! We wish you the best of success with your writing.
Please feel free to ask questions or post a comment for Devon. Thank you! 🙂
E. Tip of the Day: Try to avoid using the same word twice in one sentence, or in the same paragraph, if possible. Be creative in your word choices, especially when using verbs.
Example A: She walked to the store and then walked home.
Revision: Sarah went to the store to pick up the needed items to make brownies, then completing her task walked home.
With the revision, it’s much easier for the reader to visualize what the character is doing. The reader doesn’t need to see the inside of the grocery store unless it’s integral to the plot.
Example B: He drove to work, stepping on the gas to get there on time. When he parked, he stepped out of the truck and went up the steps.
Revision: Michael slid into his 4X4 truck, put the vehicle in gear and stepped on the gas. He was late for work again. Speeding through traffic, he was in the parking lot of his office in no time. Jumping out of the truck, he ran up the stairs to the large glass doors of the building adjusting his tie before going inside.
The revision gives the reader a sense of who the character is by showing the details of his day. He was late for work. How did he react? Instead of calling to say he was running late, he sped to work. He’s a character willing to take a risk, but not too great a risk to jeopardize his job.
There also isn’t any redundancy of verbs so the reader isn’t bored. Instead, they are constantly learning about Michael’s character.
For September 2012, our Edit of the Month will be Amateur Sleuth mysteries. We will edit your 75,000 word Amateur Sleuth mystery for $300.00. The edit includes embedded comments using the track changes feature, and a cover letter explaining any overarching issues with the manuscript. We will edit for inconsistencies in the plot/characters, grammar, typos, story depth, and much more. Manuscripts must be received between September 1st and September 30th 2012, and must be 75,000 words or under to receive this rate.
Contact us at brittiany@writtendreams.com for more details. Thank you!
Many mystery writers look for unusual backgrounds and quirky occupations for their protagonists to set themselves apart from others in the crowded field of cozy mysteries. I understand completely. If you’re not writing police procedurals or thrillers filled with spies, government types, or special agents, it’s hard to make one’s protagonist stand out from the crowd. However, I take a different tack. I prefer to write about everyday women, working in an ordinary job or retired, who happen to stumble upon a dead body and feel compelled to track down the killer. I feel the reader can identify with her because they have everything in common. She is not an expert in ancient languages or a famous chef or a biker. She is the woman next door, or in your book club. All of my protagonists are women of baby boomer age, some retired, some not. All are middle-class average housewives or office workers who stumble onto crimes that shock and appall them and are driven to find the perpetrator. Even though they have little knowledge of police procedure or access to crime labs and specialists, they manage to find the guilty party through passion, hard work, and determination.
