Yesterday, I talked about research and how it can provide plot ideas. But, even if it doesn’t generate new ideas, getting it right is essential. I recently wrote a book about a bush pilot who crashes a plane in the Alaskan wilderness.(Expect the Sunrise). I wanted one of the survivors to have an injury that would force the group to leave the crash site, and yet not kill her. So it had to be potentially life-threatening. So…I gave her a head injury. Here’s the rough draft: (In Andee’s pov) Being a bush pilot was only half her life. “I went to EMT school and in the summer I live in Iowa and work for a local hospital.” She glanced at Sarah laying in arm’s reach. “She was my college roomie […]
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About Susan May Warren
Former Russian Missionary Susan May Warren is the best-selling author of more than 40 novels and novellas with Tyndale, Barbour and Steeple Hill, and Summerside. A Christy award and RITA winner, and multiple finalist for the RITA, Christy and winner of Inspirational Readers Choice contest, Susan currently has over a million books in print. A seasoned women’s events speaker and writing teacher, she is the founder of http://www.mybooktherapy.com an online community for writers, and runs a fiction editing service teaching writers how to tell a great story. Visit her online at: http://www.susanmaywarren.com.Author Archive | Susan May Warren
Doctor’s Notes: Reserach for Plotting!
One of the things I love about writing is all the cool stuff I learn. Over the past five years I’ve learned how to fly a small engine aircraft, how to rope and ride a bull, how to work with a SAR K-9, how to fight a fire, how to dress a wound in the woods. I’ve been to cool places for research, like the Waldorf Astoria, and Trump Tower. I’ve interviewed ranchers, and green berets, and bush pilots. I love my job. But the best thing about research is that good research helps you plot. Say, for example you have a story about a fire chief who is afraid of losing one of her firemen. In my research I discovered that firefights carry an emergency locator that goes off […]
Read the RestAsk the Doc: Chill Out! Editor
Question: My biggest problem is that I question and criticize every sentence I write, sometimes before I write it! And therefore have a hard time just getting the first draft written. Every author has a different method for getting those words on the page. Some spend hours musing, walking, agonizing over those first words. Others spill it out on the page regardless how messy it is, and then spend month writing and re-writing. I know how it feels to not get a scene right. I wrote one entire book (In Sheep’s Clothing) seven times! And for an upcoming book (Finding Stefanie), I wrote six different first chapters before I found the one I liked (ironically, my first draft!) I am a “spitter” as a writer – I like to sit […]
Read the RestPrescriptions: Breaking through writer’s block week 2
Last week I talked how to blitz your way out of writer’s block. Most writer’s blocks, and problems with story have to do with motivation, lack of greatest fears and greatest dreams of the main character. Breaking free from a writer’s block involves going back to those elements, and asking: What could rock my hero/heroine’s world right now? I showed you how, when I was writing Tying the Knot, I used this question with my heroine — a woman traumatized by her past, who learns to trust again. Now, let’s turn to the hero, and see what he can do to break us free. My hero is a Native American who’s always been judged by his outward appearance, but inside he’s a total hero. When he meets Anne, he feels […]
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