“I feel like it’s been forever since we’ve last talked.” Sally said as she came into the coffee shop. “And with Memorial Day today, and the fact I haven’t written in about four years, I feel like I’ve lost all momentum on my chapters.” Outside, Anne was planting geraniums in the coffee shop planters. The sun glinted off the lake, and the smell of lilacs hung in the air. I had a tan from the weekend Memorial Day and couldn’t wait to get home to our family barbeque. “Oh, I hear that.” I said. “I haven’t written for five days and it can be frustrating when you walk away from your novel with your ideas still trapped in your brain. One of my biggest frustrations in writing a novel is […]
Read the Rest
About Susan May Warren
Former Russian Missionary Susan May Warren is the best-selling author of more than 40 novels and novellas with Tyndale, Barbour and Steeple Hill, and Summerside. A Christy award and RITA winner, and multiple finalist for the RITA, Christy and winner of Inspirational Readers Choice contest, Susan currently has over a million books in print. A seasoned women’s events speaker and writing teacher, she is the founder of http://www.mybooktherapy.com an online community for writers, and runs a fiction editing service teaching writers how to tell a great story. Visit her online at: http://www.susanmaywarren.com.Author Archive | Susan May Warren
Conversations: The Next Level by James Scott Bell!
I had a rare treat a couple weeks ago. While Sally was slugging away on her manuscript, I felw out to LA to tape a talk show – (It airs on the fall *to see pictures, of the fun day, check out: http://www.susanmaywarren.com/scribbles-blog/) Part of that fun was spending the day with one of my favorite authors and writing teachers, James Scott Bell. A casual conversation about writing all day lead to me furiously jotting down his brilliance in my hotel room later that night. Jim Bell is an expert in the writing craft, has penned a number of fabulous books by Writer’s Digest (Plot and Structure is dog-earred on my shelf!) and I was thrilled to hear that he has an advanced writing seminar he’s presenting this year around […]
Read the Rest
Featured Fiction Friday with Tracey Bateman
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 Tracey Bateman and her new book: The Widow of Saunders Creek. Q: Can you tell us a little bit about the story? A: A grief that knows no boundary. A love without any limit. A need that doesn’t end at death. Corrie Saunders grew up in a life of privilege. But she gave it all up for Jarrod, her Army husband, a man she knew was a hero when she vowed to spend her life with him. She just […]
Read the RestQuick Skills: How to Build Scene Tension
I just finished book 2 of the Hunger Games series, Catching Fire. Excuse me while I go pick up book 3 and spend the day ignoring my to-do list. This series is a lesson in how to create fabulous tension. Not only is the story premise powerful, but every chapter has that “can’t put down” quality. Why? TENSION on every page (as the Master Donald Maas would say!) But what is tension. Recently, I read approximately 1,768,639 contest entries. Okay, not quite that many, but it felt like it. And very few really wove real tension into their story. Obstacles and Activity are not Tension. Tension is a combination of a Sympathetic Character + Stakes + Goals + Obstacles + Fear of Failure. If any of these are missing, we don’t […]
Read the Rest
