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Conversations: What to do with your WriMo Chapters/How to edit a scene

By on November 26, 2012 in Action and ReAction Scenes, b. Building a Scene, Editing Basics, How do I start my Scene?, How do I write Dialogue, How do I write Tension?, How to WordPaint, Susan May Warren, Truth or Dare: Conversations with an aspiring novelist, What is Storyworld, and how do I write it?, What POV do I write in?, Writing a Not-So-High-Action Scene

I found Sally in line for coffee as I entered the coffee shop. She had already dumped her bag onto a chair, had already tugged off her gloves, her wool jacket, and wore her game face. “What’s up? Did you not have a great thanksgiving?” “It was fine. But, I’m 3000 words away from finishing my novel.” “That’s great.”  I shed my jacket and motioned to Kathy. She gave me a smile, already on my order. “No so much.”  She retrieved her coffee and handed me mine.  I nodded my appreciation. “Why?” “Because I only have 46000 words and I’m near the end of my novel.” “And?” “It’ supposed to be an 80,000 word novel! How am I going to come up with 30,000 more words?” “Oh, I see.  You […]

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Conversations: Understanding Turning Points

By on November 12, 2012 in 2. Create Your Story, 4. Writer’s Life, Inspiration and Life Coaching, 6. Search by Series:, b. Building a Scene, Creating Story Layers and Subplots, How do I start my Scene?, SOTP or Plotter?, Susan May Warren, Truth or Dare: Conversations with an aspiring novelist

“I’m so sorry,” Sally said, sitting down and unwrapping her scarf from her neck. Outside, ice glazed the puddles, the sky a slate gray. The first hint of snow hung in the air, the world of northern Minnesota in crisp expectation. It was a perfect day to teach Sally about how to understand Turning Points in a novel. I love the change of seasons.  I blew on my candy cane mint mocha.  “Why?” “Our high school football season is over,” she said. “I know how you love to go to the games.” I do.  I live for the Friday night lights.  “It was a tough game.  A number of game-changing turning points that could have turned the game our way.  Our boys fought a tough fight.” “I heard that on […]

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Week One of NaNoWriMo! Ca-ching!

By on November 8, 2012 in 1. Discover your story, Action and ReAction Scenes, Author Mistakes, How do I get started?, Rachel Hauck

Well, how are you doing? Are you taking on the NaNoWriMo challenge? If not, are you working on your WIP at a reasonable pace? Good! Here’s what I love about NaNoWriMo. Fast drafting. There’s an entire movement in the writing world telling us, “You can write fast and get a book almost done!” We’ve been given permission to press on, forget editing, forget fixing and polishing! Just write. A professor friend of mine tweeted that she was participating in NaNoWriMo for the “fun of fiction.” How true. For one month, you get to just make up a story! She can have red hair on page one, blue on page 50 and brown on page 100. She can be write, black, Hispanic. He can be a doctor, then a lawyer and maybe […]

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Conversations: How to start your Scene

By on November 5, 2012 in 4. Writer’s Life, Inspiration and Life Coaching, 6. Search by Series:, b. Building a Scene, How do I start my Scene?, Managing the Muddle (keeping your story moving!), Susan May Warren, Tricks, Truth or Dare: Conversations with an aspiring novelist

“How is your NaNoWriMo manuscript going?” I set my coffee down at the table where Sally sat waiting for me, drinking coffee and eating a cookie. A light frost tipped the grass outside, the lake frothy along the rocky shoreline. “I think my brain is shutting down. I’ve written about two thousand words a day, but I am running out of ideas on how to start my scene.” Sally broke off a piece of her monster cookie, the fresh-baked smell enough to make me wish I hadn’t eaten breakfast. “Have you done your scene preparation?  Figured out Layer One: what kind of scene it is, and the 5 Ws’?” “Oh, that’s the easy part. And Layer Two isn’t so hard either. Creating Tension is easy once you understand the equation: […]

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