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I’m a girl, I can’t lift heavy things! (A study on creating the Perfect Suspense Heroine)

By on January 31, 2011 in Heroines, Suspense

Who is the perfect suspense heroine?  A courageous woman?  A timid woman?  A strong woman?  A fragile woman?  A confident woman?  A struggling woman?    When I first met my husband, twenty –two years ago, I was a strong, lithe, hard core camping woman who could carry a Duluth pack and a canoe alone on a portage.  I thought I was sooooo tough.  In our group of fellow guides, there was a girl who loved asking the guys to carry things for her.  “I’m a girl, I can’t lift heavy things!” she’d say and I’d roll my eyes.  Never, I vowed, would I ask a man to carry things for me.    Then came the day when I was trying to carry a baby, a toddler, our carryon, a diaper […]

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Man up (Creating a Suspense Hero Day 1)

By on January 25, 2011 in Heroes, Suspense

  Today, we’re going to take a look at our suspense Hero.  See, when you’re when you’re writing a suspense, it’s all about the guy who rises from the dust, the ball in hand.    (Ooops, it’s playoff season.  And I just watched the Pack (my second favorite team!) beat the Bears. Go Pack!) so you may get football illustrations)   But, just as quick review, last week, we divided a suspense novel into three sections:    Act 1: The Game  The set up:  Players, the Goals, the Rules, Board/Playing field.    Act Two: The Guts All the great stuff happens during the Guts phase – confronting fears, reaching out in the darkness for the girl’s hand, stealing a kiss, and failing big, and learning something new about yourself.    Act […]

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Coming up with characters!

By on December 7, 2010 in Protagonists: The Basics

Susie’s note:  So, we’re all crazy busy this time of year, so instead of digging deep into a series, I thought I’d finish the year by answering a few questions that have come in over the past year.    Q: How do you come up with such a wide range of characters? Journalists, Cowboys, party-ers and missionaries are just a few and they are all so different. What makes you think of them?   A:  Oh, my favorite thing is to learn about people and their occupations.  I love to discover their challenges and defeats, their special skills, their hopes and dreams – and I especially love hero types – spies, cowboys, soldiers, etc.  So, it is a natural for me to take an occupation I’d like to learn about and […]

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How to write a great kiss!

By on November 3, 2010 in Editing Basics, How to WordPaint, How to write a Romance, Story Crafting

  Yesterday we talked about Sparks and Wooing and how to weave them into Act 2.    But…the best way to combine them is with a great KISS.    This post is all about specifics.  The Whens of The Kiss can be found at: http://www.mybooktherapy.com/index2.php/2010/10/12/the-kiss-and-the-hearbreak-ten-beats-of-a-romance-part-3/.  Just to review quickly here are the three kisses in a romance (and if you are writing a romance in the General market, you can extrapolate from there. J):   Kiss One: An “introductory—I didn’t mean to, did we just do that?” Kiss   Kiss Two:  A, “I really want to kiss you now and I’m going to” Kiss   Kiss Three:  And an “I love you, and I mean it” Kiss    But let’s touch on the hows.    A kiss should be savored. […]

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