Janice Hardy's Blog, page 118

Real Life Diagnostics: Would You Keep Reading this YA Fantasy?

Critique By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

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: One 

Please Note: As of today, RLD slots are booked through January 6.

This week’s questions:

Does this opening work?

Are you lost or are you able to follow what's happening?

Do you get a sense of the kind of person the main character is?

Did you connect with her and care enough to keep reading?.

Does the scene grab your attention and make you want to know what happens next?

Market/Genre: Young Adult Fantasy (Contemporary/Urban)

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

Stay Motivated With Writing Goals

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

This week's Refresher Friday revisits something I wrote for NaNo, but the tips and goals apply equally well to anyone gearing up for a new year of writing. And a good reminder that I need to do this again for 2018 myself!  

In the writing world, November (and much of October) tends to be filled with advice on NaNoWriMo, but the lessons learned are ones we can all put to good use any time of the year. NaNo is about hitting a target word count and training yourself to write when you have to, and these are skills that every writer can benefit from. Goals keep us motivated, give us clear and defined milestones to gauge our progress by, and give us targets to shoot for.

While word count is by far the easiest milestone to set for ourselves, it's not the only one. Some people are daunted by vast numbers of words or find it too constricting, putting the focus on quantity, not quality. For these writers, a different measurement is often more useful for gauging progress. Maybe it's chapters, or acts, or specific points in the story. Maybe a set amount of time per day is a better motivator. It all comes down to what tactics works best to help motivate you to achieve the goals you've set.
Read more »Written by Janice Hardy. Fiction-University.com

The Organized Writer: A Case for Non-Fancy Bullet Journaling

By Angela Quarles, @AngelaQuarles

Part of the Indie Author Series

As we wrap up another year here at Fiction University, I thought I'd spotlight the biggest savior for me this past year, organization-wise. In of my earliest posts here I talked about how I found myself back to being a paper planner. I still am, though the type of planner has evolved. Now I believe I've found "planner peace" ever since settling on the bullet journal system.


What is a bullet journal?
Created by Ryder Carroll, at its simplest, it's a bulleted list of tasks that you write down. But there's also a way to log future tasks, which is where the magic comes into play. One of the problems I had with paper planners was that each day was different for me as an indie writer. Some days I had a ton of stuff going on, and other times, not so much. Plus there were some repetitive tasks, and also ones I needed to remember to do later and my paper planners were just not capturing this stuff for me. The pre-printed layouts were too confining.

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

The 2018 Critique Connection Opens Next Week!

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Just a little advance notice that I'll be opening up my Critique Connection on Monday, January 1. This launches Year Five for the group, which hardly seems possible. The site itself turns ten in March, so I guess I have been doing this a long time now.


If you don't know what the Critique Connection is, it's a Yahoo Group I began for the sole purpose of giving writers a safe and private place to go to find critique groups and partners. Folks join, introduce themselves and say what they write, and like-minded people pair and group up and form their own groups and partnerships. This of it as happy hour for writers looking for feedback.

It's a great way to find others to trade and share critiques with, so if you're looking for a partner or a group, or you have a group that is looking for more members, check it out on Monday. Written by Janice Hardy. Fiction-University.com

Magic, Miracles, and Can’ts That Become Cans: Why We Love Our Christmas Clichés

By Bonnie Randall

Part of the How They Do It Series (Monthly Contributor)

As I write this we are less than a week from Christmas, yet by the time you read it, we’ll be on what we in Canada (and the UK) call ‘Boxing Day’ (our version of Americans’ Black Friday). This season I am chock-full of the Christmas spirit, more so than I can remember in ages. Perhaps it’s because I am getting older. Or maybe it’s because my family had a really rough autumn. Or maybe I am just finally getting this whole ‘attitude of gratitude’ thang and so am more dialed-in than I’ve been in the past. In any event, I am loving it; the decorated house, the mountains of homemade baking, and the carefully wrapped and tied-with-reams-of-curl-ribbon gifts set just-so under the tree. It’s all so good and so warm that, the other day when I tripped over a fairly caustic article on Christmas stories and why they suck, I was dismayed and (to my shock, actually), sort of hurt.
Read more »Written by Janice Hardy. Fiction-University.com

Working with a Freelance Editor (Part One)

Editor Mollie TraverBy Jana Oliver, @crazyauthorgirl

Part of the Indie Authors Series 

  I’m doing something different over the next two months: My guest is Mollie Traver, an intrepid Vermont native who now lives in California. Mollie is my freelance editor, however she and I first met when I was writing Young Adult fiction for St. Martin's Griffin (SMP) in New York.

For this month's post, we're doing a Q&A on what it's like to make that transition from a job at one of the Big Five to an editorial entrepreneur, along with some nuts and bolts about the editorial process. The January 2018 blog post will discuss indie author/freelance editor collaboration.
Read more »Written by Janice Hardy. Fiction-University.com

And...End Scene: When to Add a Scene Break

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Still on holiday/cold recovery break, so I'm dipping into the archives again with one of my favorites from early in 2014 on scene breaks. 

Elmore Leonard is frequently quoted as saying: "I try to leave out the parts people skip." Nowhere is this more useful than in knowing when to break a scene. Transitions have a funny way of being the parts people skip.

But there's a skill to knowing when to break a scene. You don't want to just stop and jump ahead in time or location, because that can jar the reader. Too many awkward scene breaks can feel like pieces of a story strung together and lose the narrative flow. Breaking every time you get to a good hook line just feels choppy and...weird. Like chapter breaks, a good scene break should make the reader think "ooooh" and keep on reading.

What makes a good scene break?
Read more »Written by Janice Hardy. Fiction-University.com

Everybody Has a Story

By Sherry Howard, @SherLHoward

Part of the How They Do It Series

JH: No matter the writer, I think we all do it for roughly the same reason--we can't not write. Please welcome Sherry Howard to the lecture hall today to share some thoughts on what makes a writer a writer.

Sherry Howard lives with her children and crazy dogs in Middletown, Kentucky, a stone’s throw from the beautiful horse farms Kentucky is always bragging about. In her previous life Sherry was a teacher, consultant, author, and principal in one of the largest urban/suburban school districts in America. She wrote in the educational field for years, and she’s seen her poems and stories appear in multiple journals and anthologies. After writing endlessly, she finally decided to see about getting things published.

Sherry’s first books for children are coming in 2018. The first, Rock and Roll Woods is a lyrical fiction picture book for children ages 3-8, a rollicking read that embraces the ability to accept change and the value of friendship.

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Author Page

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

8 Tips for Creating Characters

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

I'm well into week two of a terrible cold, but just well enough to get something accomplished, so I'm dipping into the archives again. Here are some tips to consider when creating a character.   

Characters make the story. No matter how intriguing the idea or exciting the plot, if there isn't a character there we care about (even if it's just curiosity or fascination) the rest of it falls flat.

There are all kinds of ways to develop characters. One of the more common ways is the character worksheet--long lists of questions you fill out that determine physical characteristics, likes, dislikes, history, etc. For many writers, this is a useful way to develop and create a character.

I'm not one of those writers.
Read more »Written by Janice Hardy. Fiction-University.com

Real Life Diagnostics: Does This Historical Middle Grade Opening Hook You?

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: One 

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

This week’s questions:

Does the opening hook you? Do you want to read more? Does it give enough information for the reader to understand the setting and the critical issues the MC will face? Alice is 12 and Henry 10: does the dialogue seem too mature for contemporary readers? Does the opening suggest adventure and a bit of mystery?

Market/Genre: Middle Grade Historical Novel set in 1893

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