“I’m sorry Sally, I don’t have much time today. I’m on my way to the airport.” I unwound the scarf from my neck and slid into the chair. “But I did want to talk to you quickly about Hooks and First Lines.” I pulled out the printed email she sent me. “I have your new draft here. You did such a great job of pulling me into the story and deleting all but the essential backstory. Now I want you to take a look at that first sentence. “See, most authors don’t start their stories out in the right place, and even when they do, they struggle to get that first line. I often write the first line last, after the book is written just because by then I know […]
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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
Featured Fiction Friday with Sandra D. Bricker
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 Sandra D. Bricker and her new book: Always the Designer, Never the Bride (Book 3 of 4) – Abingdon Press. Q: Tell us about your Book. A: Always the Designer Never the Bride is Book #3 of 4 in the popular series that started with Always the Baker, Never the Bride: No matter how busy she is, dress designer Audrey Regan can’t say no to her friend Carly when she asks her to be maid of honor—and create the perfect […]
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Quick Skills: 5 Essentials of a First Chapter
There are a lot of checklists for building a first chapter, and sometimes they can get overwhelming. MBT has an advanced checklist we use to help people build their Frasier Contest Scene (it’s the same checklist I use when building my first chapters!). However, I admit, it can get overwhelming. So, let’s start building that chapter one with 5 essential elements. In fact, this is step two in your process. As Sally and I talked about yesterday in Conversations, sometimes it just helps the writing process to let your characters walk on the page and wander around a bit. We can hear them, talk to them, discover if we have profiled them correctly. No, these wanderings probably won’t be the final first chapter, but it gives you a chance to […]
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