“Happy Mother’s Day, Sally,” I said, while holding a plate of basil mashed potatoes and beef medallions. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on that broccoli salad – the house specialty – and eyed it as another patron of the Sunday Brunch dived in. Sally looked up as she spooned smoked salmon onto her plate. “Hello.” She glanced behind me, and I saw one of her children, the six year old, heading into the buffet line. “How’s the writing going?” “Good,” she said as she reached around me, handing him a plate. “Don’t spill.” She stepped out of line. “I don’t know if we can meet tomorrow. I have a school field trip.” “No problem, I said, we’re just going to talk about Scene Structure.” She made a face. […]
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April’s Writer’s Challenge Winner!
Congratulations to Tari Faris who won the April writer’s Challenge with her Passionate Proposal! Below is the her entry: A Proposal Worth Waiting For. Don’t miss your opportunity to win 49 points just for ENTERING the challenge, or 210 points for winning. Each month we randomly select one of the contributors to win a FREE BOOK from the MBT Store. You can find the May Writer’s Challenge on your Locker Room Page. A Proposal Worth Waiting For Whoever said that red was the new blond had never watch the man they loved walk in the room with Barbie on his arm. Hannah glared in the mirror and yanked out one bobby-pin after another until her hair resembled a circus clown. She dug her fingers into the mass and massaged […]
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Featured Fiction Friday with Joann Durgin
The Frasier Entries are in! Now all we can do is sit down, cuddle up with our bags of popcorn, and wait for the results. In the meantime though, My Book Therapy will spend Fridays introducing you to the work of our all-powerful judges. This week we are pleased to introduce you to Joann Durgin and her new book: Twin Hearts. Q: Tell us a little bit about Twin Hearts. A: Josh Grant is a man seeking redemption. He’s not looking for love, but finds it in a most unexpected and tender way. His twin sister, Rebekah, is torn between two very different men: a dashing, British aristocrat offering her the world, and the other a humble, faithful Louisiana lumber man. When family tragedy strikes, the twins lean on Sam and Lexa […]
Read the RestQuick Skills: Tips and Tricks for building Scenes
There are three stages to the discovery stage of writing a novel: Character development, Story development, and Scene development. Like building a house, the book takes shape as you craft each scene. Yesterday, we went over scene rhythm, how an author knits together the story, through Action and Reaction scenes and the components of each. Here are some tips as you work through each component. Action Scene Tips: Goal – A character has an overall story goal, but inside those goals are smaller goals, goals derived by the situation, or his motivation, or the events happening around him. For each scene, make your goal specific, tangible, measurable and timely. This will give an urgency to your scene, and will make your character alive and interesting. A character that wants something […]
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