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Rachel Hauck

And So She Climbed A Rock

By on March 13, 2014 in Book Therapist, Editing Basics, Rachel Hauck

Here at MBT we talk about the protagonist’s happiest and saddest moments.

These to elements are used to shape the deeper layers of emotion between the characters. Expressly the hero and the heroine.

Often use of symbolism or metaphor can deepen the emotional layer of sharing a raw, tender moment between the stars of your story.

But wow, it’s really easy to miss these moments. To kind of skip over them and wrap it all up in prose summation.

Okay, what do I mean?

Let’s create a scenario.

Your hero is wealthy, grew up in a good family. His whole life he had nice things, a nice car, great vacations. He’s a star athlete and student.

Your heroine grew up poor, without, never had anything nice. The old beater car she purchased for $200 had to be pushed all over town by her friends because the starter didn’t work right. She never went anywhere for vacation but a night at the country fair. She’s pretty, a good student but never ever did anything out of the ordinary.

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When Is It Time To Have A Craft Partner Review Your Manuscript?

By on January 22, 2014 in Alena Tauriainen, Beth Vogt, Brainstorming Strategies and Tips, Edie Melson, Editing Basics, Next Step on the Writing Journey

I’m so thankful for friends like Beth Vogt and Edie Melson who took the time to answer my “newbie writer” questions on craft/critique partners.

Here’s the first question for this segment.

(AAT) Now we’ve got this fast draft and we have a craft partner. We have an established relationship with a craft partner. When is a good time for someone to look at your work-in-progress?

(BKV) When I fast draft I usually like to set it aside for a couple of weeks. I’m usually worn out and it’s good to give distance for a couple of weeks. Then when I get together with my craft partner, I usually let them know what I’m looking for.

As far as I’m concerned there’s two ways to critique a book.

You can be looking for big picture edits. You just want to know; Is this scene working or are you feeling the emotions? Or you can be looking at fine-line edits, where you are really trying to polish a scene. You have to let your critique partner know what you are looking for. There have been times where I’ve gone into a critique group and said, “Your welcome to read this scene. I want you to know I’ve had a rough week, and I really don’t want feedback from you all.” I have been that honest with them, because I couldn’t even handle them telling me a word was misspelled. It was just that bad of a week. I think that in a really good critique group you can be that honest with them. They’ve gone ahead and read it and said, “Loved every word of it Beth.” They just left me alone for that week.

(EM) I like to be able to brainstorm before I start a book and get things laid out. I generally have an idea and it sparks my creativity to do that. When I’m in a midst of a first draft, its not a time I want craft partners chiming in. I have to have a big picture of the whole book before I start listening to other people’s suggestion, even good suggestions. I need to get my arms around it first. I do what Beth does and let it sit for a couple of weeks before I go back in. Yes, there have been times where I’ve said. “Look guys, if you can’t say something nice don’t anything at all.

(AAT) Do you think you should have two partners, one person to help brainstorm your plot and someone else to help with critiquing? What does your process look like?

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Celebrating Success … and Failure

By on January 16, 2014 in 4. Writer’s Life, Inspiration and Life Coaching, Editing Basics, Encourage Me!, Nurturing the Soul

In his e-book, Imagination @ Work, my writing friend, author Alton Gansky, posed this question: What would you do if you knew you could not fail?

Fun question, that.

It makes you exhale all the tension – the why nots and can’ts – and breathe in all the possibilities. The tantalizng aroma of dreams.

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Rachel Hauck

Let The Story Tell The Message

By on January 2, 2014 in Editing Basics

Driving down the road the other day, I had a few minutes with Talk Radio.

I tuned in to the middle of a Glenn Beck Show and he was commenting about Disney, and how they’ve left their values and morals.

I think… I’m not sure. But he went on to say.

“The field is wide open for anyone to come in and take their place.”

I’m paraphrasing a bit, but as Glenn went on, he was saying how there is room for creative, talented artist, screenwriters, entrepreneurs to step up and tell interesting stories.

Take the place of Disney?

I don’t know, but when Disney started, there WAS no Disney.

He was completely overshadowed but the muscle studios of Hollywood in his day. RKO. Universal. The might MGM.

But Walt knew who he was, knew what he wanted to do and he did it.

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