I only had one job: get literary agent Sandra Bishop to the airport. We had spent the weekend teaching together at a private writing seminar in the middle of Minnesota, and woke up early Sunday morning with a three plus hour drive in front of us for her flight out of Duluth. I had mapquested the trip, so I knew that the journey would take us three hours, but I added an hour cushion just to be safe and declared we’d leave at 10am. We pulled out around 10:30, but since I’d allotted the time, I figured..we’re all good here. The little town we taught in had a convenience store for a coffee shop, so we hustle by for a pitiful version of coffee and then hustled […]
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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
Passion versus Publishing…which to choose?
I receive a lot of questions from aspiring writers and this one caught my eye. Q: Have you ever had a story that you wanted to write, a spiritual message you wanted to share, but it won’t let you just yet? A: Yes, I have a couple stories sitting in my heart that I haven’t had the opportunity or perhaps the divine timing to write yet. I’m a firm believer that God will work out the story in the right time, so I continue to collect ideas, impressions, do research and let those ideas soak, waiting for the right timing. But sometimes I’m not ready – emotionally, or even professionally to write it. Maybe I don’t have the skill level yet. And I certainly don’t want to […]
Read the RestHow to cause a little trouble: the how-to’s of peripheral plotting
How do you find those Peripheral Plotting elements? Yesterday we talked about Peripheral Plotting – a great little trick to widening your suspense plot. How, however, do you find those elements? Look around you – each one of us has people and things we care about in a widening circle. This is our periphery. Let’s say my goal is to get to the airport so I can get to Seattle to see my mother for Christmas. In a linear plot, all that might stand between me and my goal might be transportation, or perhaps money. Maybe getting time off from my job. But let’s do some peripheral plotting. Let’s say that I get a call from the principle of the school. My son has had a fight on the playground […]
Read the RestPeripheral Plotting – a trick to widening your suspense plot
You need to employ some Peripheral Plotting! Peripheral Plotting is the technique of pulling in ancillary elements and using them to create more tension in your plot. Ideally, they will make your character have to tap into a more noble instinct and push them along their journey. How does Peripheral Plotting work? I’m going to veer away from Cellular and Eagle Eye for a moment – only because they are such straightforward plots, and look at Live Free or Die Hard the latest in the Bruce Willis saves the world saga. Live Free or Die Hard is a perfect example of peripheral plotting. Basically, through the Internet, the bad guys are trying to take over all the transportation, finances and utilities in the United States, and if they succeed, the […]
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