Susie’s note: So, we’re all crazy busy this time of year, so instead of digging deep into a series, I thought I’d finish the year by answering a few questions that have come in over the past year. Q: How do you come up with such a wide range of characters? Journalists, Cowboys, party-ers and missionaries are just a few and they are all so different. What makes you think of them? A: Oh, my favorite thing is to learn about people and their occupations. I love to discover their challenges and defeats, their special skills, their hopes and dreams – and I especially love hero types – spies, cowboys, soldiers, etc. So, it is a natural for me to take an occupation I’d like to learn about and […]
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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
Why must we breakup? Isn’t there another way?
If you tuned in yesterday, you know we talked about the Breakup in writing a Romance. Why is the Breakup Important?… Because…. After the breakup, they’re going to realize Beat 8: the Great WHY. They will, after their hearts are breaking, realize they belong together. If you’ve set up Act 2 correctly, the reader will see why they need to be together (because you will be showing us those essential scenes – covered in the Act 2 blogs). This Great Why will suddenly trump the Why Not (the reason they broke up) and convince them that they can’t live without each other. They will also realize what is holding them back from love – their flaws. (and, perhaps, their lie). And, in order to win back […]
Read the RestAct 3: Breaking up is hard to do…(but it makes him a better man! (or woman).)
(Editor’s Note: You may want to go back and read the previous blogs on putting together all the beats of a romance into Act 1-2 before you read this blog. Just as a recap, over the past two months, we’ve talked about how to incorporate the 10 beats of romance into the three act structure, covering the elements of Act 1 and Act 2.) It’s time for the messy ending. The breakup. The Breakup is Beat 7 in our romance lineup. This is when the biggest WHY NOT rises to push them apart. Every romance has a Breakup. Without it, we have no triumphant run into each other’s arms! We have no giant sigh of happiness. I was fortunate to only have one bad breakup before I met […]
Read the RestManaging the Muddle
How is your NaNoWriMo manuscript is going? I thought I’d take a break from our romance structure today and offer a bit of encouragement. Just keep writing, Just keep writing….(that’s my Dorie impression). But, I know, once you get to the middle, it can be a challenge to keep the tension high, the reader turning pages. I call it…the Muddle. How do you manage the Muddle? If you find yourself stuck, writing the same old scenes, rehashing the same issues, the same tension, I have a solution. You may be missing an element of the Tension Equation. Tension is what drives every scene. You’ve heard it over and over. But what is Tension? It’s a combination of a Sympathetic Character + Stakes + Goals […]
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