So often when we think of a novel’s main characters, we zero in on the hero and heroine. That is all well and good, after all, what is a romance without a hero and heroine? And every story, no matter what genre, needs a protagonist – a good guy or gal, someone the reader is rooting for. But in your zeal to craft a compelling hero and/or heroine, don’t forget to ask yourself: Who is the villain of this story? What: A villain is the antagonist of your story. When you think villain, don’t just think danger, think threat. Or opposition. A villain can be a person. Hans Gruber, the lead terrorist in Die Hard, goes down in my book as the archetype villain. A twist on the […]
Read the RestArchive | October, 2013
Finding Your Sweet Spot
I played competitive tennis in high school and college. I quickly learned that if I positioned my racket to connect with the ball in a certain spot, I could put the ball wherever I wanted. It’s known as the sweet spot.
I’d like to encourage you to apply the concept of the sweet spot to your writing because everything has one. Here are a few things I learned about the sweet spot from a tennis racket.
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Nabbing An Editor or Agent’s Attention
One of the things we talk about a lot at My Book Therapy is coming up with a good book hook.
It’s how we nab an editor or agent’s attention.
But it’s a lot harder than we’d like it to be.
In genre novels, we tend to be a bit cliche.
We read a lot of romance or historicals, or sci fi or whatever our preferred genre is and when crafting a story idea, we tend just rewrite what we’ve read.
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