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Help for an Unlikeable Character

By on October 11, 2012 in Editing Basics, Rachel Hauck

This week’s therapist question deals with refining an unlikeable character. It’s easy to create unlikeable characters even though we are trying for likeable, strong protagonists. Q: What if I have an unlikeable character? How can I fix it? A: No one starts out to create an unlikeable character. But in the course of creating conflict and flaws, add tension and motivation, we often create a narrow, slightly negative heroes and heroines. Sometimes values play a part. For example, I was going to create a character who fathered children he’d never seen. When I talked it over with my brainstorm partner, Susie May, she said, “But we aren’t going to like a man who’s never seen his kids.” But I had reasons for his predicament. I saw and felt the “why” […]

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Book Therapist Answering Your Questions: Drafts and Metaphors

By on October 3, 2012 in Author Mistakes, Interviews, Life Coaching, Rachel Hauck

Hey, everyone. In order to help you more on your writing journey, we’re going to focus this Thursday blog on your questions and Book Therapist related ideas and tips. So, if you have a question about writing, craft, the industry, be sure to send it your therapist, me! Rachel@mybooktherapy.com Here’s a couple of questions for today’s blog: Q: What’s the difference between a rough draft and a fast draft? A: Great question. A rough draft can be several things. It could be a fast draft that you’ve rewritten and cleaned up. Or the first draft of your novel from beginning to end. Even if you’ve edited and rewritten along the way, it probably needs one more pass through to get everything tight and prettied up. You might have more telling […]

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Maximizing Your Rewrite

By on September 6, 2012 in 2. Create Your Story, 3. Publish your Story, Editing Basics, House Calls, How do I write the Character Change Journey?, Rachel Hauck

I just finished a rewrite of Once Upon A Prince, releasing April 2013 from Zondervan. Covered nearly 87K words in two weeks. Not my favorite thing to do – tackle a rewrite in two weeks but that’s how it worked out. The opening needed a big change in my mind as well as my editor’s. Openings are my weakest. I tend to tell too much story. Not back story per say, just too much “pipe” as we say at My Book Therapy. I build too much story world. So I needed to tackle the opening and when I do that, I tend to ripe to shreds and start over. I probably rewrote the opening five times. Here’s the danger in doing that: forgetting other correlating threads in the story. I […]

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Getting Ready for Conference

By on August 30, 2012 in 3. Publish your Story, 5. MBT Interviews and Events, Encourage Me!, How do I Pitch my Book?, How do I Promote my book?, Rachel Hauck, Writing Conferences

The ACFW Conference is coming up in a month and it’s time to start getting ready. No, don’t pack your suitcase yet, but start thinking about what you’ll need before you hit the conference road. Whether you’re a planner or not, it’s always good to jot a few notes in preparation for any trip, especially a fast paced conference. Here’s a few things I do: Print out my flight plan. Always good to know when my flight is taking off. Hubby loves the early morning flights when he has to drive me to the airport at 5:00 a.m. Get business cards or any other “hand out” material ready. I’ve taken off more times than I care to confess without my business cards and I regret it every time. So get […]

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