Q: You talk about meaningful action behind dialogue. How do I get my story to flow? Dialogue comes naturally for me. But how do I make meaningful action seem natural? The Doc says: Every day my husband comes home from work and we sit in the kitchen and talk. During that time, I clean the sink, I chop vegetables, I check over homework, maybe feed the dog, sometimes he’ll set the table. Our conversation, behind the words, is about family, and life. You can tell that I care about family by my actions. Likewise, your characters will have things that are important to them, meaningful actions that define who they are and what is important to them. These are the things happening behind the words. Ask: What is a part […]
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Prescriptions: How to hook your reader on the first page! Wk 1
In today’s competitive book market, a writer needs to capture their reader in the first paragraph, if not the first line. A good hook sets the tone for a book, it gives voice to the character and immediately draws the reader into the story. This class will reveal how to use Stakes, Sympathy, 5 Ws, Action, and Story Question to teach participants how to create a hook that will catch your reader and won’t let go. I have a quote by Gabriel Garcia Marquez over my computer (He won the 1992 Nobel Prize for Literature for (100 years of solitude). BTW, it sold over 10million copies. “One of the most difficult things is the first paragraph.. in the first paragraph, you solve most of the problems with your book. The […]
Read the RestDoctor’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 […]
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