Okay, here we go – we’re off our journey! But…wait! What kind of journey are we going to take? I hike in the Himalayas? A beach vacation in Cancun? Skiing in Vermont? How about a canoe trip in Minnesota? (come visit me!) Before you take your first step, you need to know what your journey is all about! And that means – PREMISE. A premise is simply a 2-5 sentence blurb of your story. It’s zeroing in on the MOST important elements of your book – the stakes, the fears, the dreams, the theme and plot, and the main players. You’ll use your premise to grab your editor’s attention in your query letter, or pitch at a conference. And you’ll paste it above your computer as your write as a […]
Read the RestArchive | January, 2008
Starting your journey with the right focus
Happy Monday! I hope you’re as excited about starting a journey with our hero as I am! This week, we’re going to be studying PREMISE – It’s that blurb that tells us what kind of journey the reader will take with our hero. It involves stakes, and hopes, and most of all, a happy ending. Just as our hero is on a journey, we are also, as writers. And today, we’re going to start the idea of premise by asking…what are the elements of a successful journey? We talked about practical elements, like prioritizing our time, and keeping a journal. More important, however, is our perspective. I’d like to share with you a few things I’ve learned on my writing journey. I love Psalm 16. (and I’m not going to […]
Read the RestAnother perspective on how to write a book: or, The “Just calm down and enjoy the process, it’ll all work out” Rachel Hauck method!
Wow, I’m awed by Susie’s detailed writing process. She writes great fiction, fast. I however, do not. Let’s talk about my writing process so you can see how incredibly different we are, but yet end up with a novel at the end. The longest time I took to write a book was eight months, Sweet Caroline. The shortest, four months and twelve days, Diva NashVegas. My average writing time is five months, but I prefer more. Here’s why. When writing on deadline, I’m so engaged and engrossed in my current characters I can’t carry on dialog with possible future characters. When a book is done and submitted, I begin to think of the next book while waiting for rewrites. I get a high level idea and plot, usually with beginning, […]
Read the RestJoin the club!
So, I don’t know about you, but I’m really picky about who sees my work before it’s publishable. My ideas are like little unbaked cookies, too easily smashed (but still ever so tasty!) SO, I was thinking about the My Book Therapy readers (me being one of them) and how we could share our ideas in a protected setting (sort of like a, uh, THERAPY group!), and I came upon this PRIVATE social group…at Ning. It’s a fun place to interact about the topic of the week, help each other with our wips, and share our unbaked cookies with a group who promises to encourage and uplift. So — if you want to be a part of BOOK THERAPY Voices, where your inner writer finds a voice, join us! See […]
Read the Rest
