Janice Hardy's Blog, page 105

Writing Prompt: The Chain Story: Is It the Flu?

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

This week’s prompt is a chain story! I’ll give you the first line, and someone else comments and builds off that line. Next commenter will build off that line, and so on.

In the event of two commenters posting at the same time and sending the story in different directions, just pick the line you like best, or try to incorporate both if you can.

The inspiration for this comes from me being sick for over a week.

She was pretty sure it was the flu, except…
Let the fun begin.

Written by Janice Hardy. Fiction-University.com

Real Life Diagnostics: Would You Read On?

Critique By Maria D'Marco

Real Life Diagnostics is a weekly column that studies a snippet of a work in progress for specific issues. Readers are encouraged to send in work with questions, and we diagnose it on the site. It’s part critique, part example, and designed to help the submitter as well as anyone else having a similar problem.

If you're interested in submitting to Real Life Diagnostics, please check out these guidelines.

Submissions currently in the queue: Three

Please Note: As of today, RLD slots are booked through June 30.

This week’s questions:

1. Is the heroine dropped in the middle of the trouble?

2. Is there any “telling”?

3. Is there interior monologue without action?

4. Would you want to read on? 

Market/Genre: Christian Women’s Fiction

On to the diagnosis…
Read more »Written by Janice Hardy. Fiction-University.com

How Much Do You Need to Describe Your Characters?

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

This week's refresher Friday takes an updated look at just how much we need to describe our characters in a story. Enjoy!

At some point in your story, you'll have to decide how much to include about the physical description of a character. You don't want to describe your characters to death, but you also want to use enough details so readers can get an idea of what they look like. How much is too much and how little is too little?

This is one of those things that's really up to the author. I dislike a lot of description, and I admit, I skim a passage when it's clear it's a big "this is what stuff looks like" paragraph. Even description about a character. I'm much more interested in who they are and what they'll do than what they look like.

Because of my personal feelings, I tend to be sparse when I write my own character descriptions. In fact, if I didn't know there are readers who love knowing every detail about what a character looks like, I'd probably skip them altogether. But that's just me, and my way may not be your way--nor should it be.

Read more »Written by Janice Hardy. Fiction-University.com

5 Ways Repetition Is Hurting Your Novel

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Aside from a great one liner, a declaration of love, or a juicy piece of gossip, most people don’t like to hear the same thing over and over. This is doubly true for readers, and repeating yourself in a novel can make your story feel redundant, stale, or even poorly edited.

When you consider your typical novel runs between 80,000 and 100,000 words, it’s no wonder words get repeated. Some of those words readers don’t notice (such as said) and others stand out even if we only use them twice (like antidisestablishmentarianism). While it’s impossible to go back and check every instance of every word to see how often and where you used it, a little awareness of what you’re saying can not only tighten your novel, but make the story read more smoothly.

Let’s look at some areas at high risk for repetition.
Read more »Written by Janice Hardy. Fiction-University.com

Three Things to Know Before You Pitch in an Online Pitch Event

By Rosanne Brown, @rosiesrambles

Part of the How They Do It Series

JH: Pitch Wars and other online pitching events are all the rage these days. While more options for getting our work to agents and editors is good, the pubic nature of it comes with its own share of downsides (as well as benefits). Please help me welcome Rosanne Brown to the lecture hall today to share some tips on surviving an online pitching event.

Rosie Brown is a graduate of the University of Maryland, a former editorial intern for Entangled Publishing, and an alumni of the Pitch Wars contest. She is represented by Quressa Robinson of Nelson Literary Agency. She can be found on Twitter @rosiesrambles, where she is usually yelling loudly about Star Wars or complaining about how much she hates the cold.

Take it away Rosanne...
Read more »Written by Janice Hardy. Fiction-University.com

Real Life Diagnostics: Would You Keep Reading This Opening Scene?

Critique By Maria D'Marco

Real Life Diagnostics is a weekly column that studies a snippet of a work in progress for specific issues. Readers are encouraged to send in work with questions, and we diagnose it on the site. It’s part critique, part example, and designed to help the submitter as well as anyone else having a similar problem.

If you're interested in submitting to Real Life Diagnostics, please check out these guidelines.

Submissions currently in the queue: Three

Please Note: As of today, RLD slots are booked through June 23.

This week’s questions:

Is the internalization, description, or narration too much at this point?

Is there too much background that sounds like an infodump?

Am I telling too much?

Would you want to keep reading?

Market/Genre: Unspecified

On to the diagnosis…
Read more »Written by Janice Hardy. Fiction-University.com

Get Two Full Days of Writing Workshops at the SCBWI Florida Mid-Year Workshop: From A-Z

A head's up for you teen, tween, and kidlit writers out there. There's still time to register for SCBWI Florida Mid-Year Workshop: From A-Z in Orlando on June 15-16.

This conference has a different format from what I've done before, with an interesting and in-depth focus on the markets and genres chosen. Instead of multiple workshops every hour, attendees get to choose full-day workshops and intensives (though honestly they're both "intensive" since they're all day), with multiple sessions and presenters each day. 

You sign up for say, my novel intensive and you get five sessions on writing and publishing a novel in the kidlit market with three co-presenters. So you get a well-rounded view with different opinions and experiences, from authors and editors. It's pretty cool and looks like it'll be a lot of fun.

Read more »Written by Janice Hardy. Fiction-University.com

CON CHOICE: On Picking Events and Building Great Genre Experiences

By Damon Suede, @DamonSuede

Part of the Indie Author Series

Thank you as always to Janice for letting me chat with y’all about the challenges of promo and genre authorship. Today, she suggested we take a look at event selection: how to choose the venues best for your work and how to maximize your conference budget.

When I talk about cons I refer to conventions, conferences, and any large gathering of genre folk focused as a community on the books they love and we write.

Now, because I'm an obstreperous creature I'm going to state a few heretical beliefs that just keep right on saving my bacon in this crazy thing we call genre fiction. Some of this may fly in the face of things you've assumed or heard about author events. I make no claims as to provenance or wisdom, but these harsh truisms spring from over 30 years earning my crust in professional entertainment and the wild, wicked world of genre gatherings.
Read more »Written by Janice Hardy. Fiction-University.com

Another Loss, Another Break

It breaks my heart that I wrote a post just like this almost exactly two years ago.

Yesterday, my husband and I said goodbye to our youngest cat, Puck. He was diagnosed with cancer in mid-March, and while we discovered it early enough to cherish our last few months with him, there was nothing else we could do.

He was a little trooper, and stayed playful, loving, and sweet as ever (even chased, caught, and ate, lizards on the patio right up to the end) but yesterday morning we knew things had tipped and his quality of life was about to fade rapidly. We wanted to spare him that, so it was time to let him go.

Puck was the most amazing cat in the world. A gentle giant at almost 19 pounds, he was always there to snuggle and play and throw his stuffed squirrel toy around like a Frisbee. He was a special, special guy and I've never known a cat like him. I've had great cats all my life, but he really was a step above.

We'll miss him terribly, and feel privileged to have known him and to have had him in our lives. He was deeply loved, and will be deeply missed.

My guest authors and contributors will continue, but I'll be taking a break for a little while. I thank you all for understanding.Written by Janice Hardy. Fiction-University.com

Anohter Loss, Another Break

It breaks my heart that I wrote a post just like this almost exactly two years ago.

Yesterday, my husband and I said goodbye to our youngest cat, Puck. He was diagnosed with cancer in mid-March, and while we discovered it early enough to cherish our last few months with him, there was nothing else we could do.

He was a little trooper, and stayed playful, loving, and sweet as ever (even chased, caught, and ate, lizards on the patio right up to the end) but yesterday morning we knew things had tipped and his quality of life was about to fade rapidly. We wanted to spare him that, so it was time to let him go.

Puck was the most amazing cat in the world. A gentle giant at almost 19 pounds, he was always there to snuggle and play and throw his stuffed squirrel toy around like a Frisbee. He was a special, special guy and I've never known a cat like him. I've had great cats all my life, but he really was a step above.

We'll miss him terribly, and feel privileged to have known him and to have had him in our lives. He was deeply loved, and will be deeply missed.

My guest authors and contributors will continue, but I'll be taking a break for a little while. I thank you all for understanding.Written by Janice Hardy. Fiction-University.com