Janice Hardy's Blog, page 21

4 Ways to Hook Readers on Your Series

By Laurence MacNaughton, @LMacNaughton

Part of The How They Do It Series

JH: Not every reader starts a series with Book One. Laurence MacNaughton shares tips on how to hook your reader no matter which book in the series they start with.
Wouldn't it be great if every reader started your series with the first book and continued onward in order? But sometimes readers start in the middle of your series, especially if it's in paperback, and they can easily get confused. You need to hook them on your story quickly.

To do that, you need to make sure that every book in your series invites new readers into your world and brings them up to speed quickly. And you have to do it without boring your existing readers. It's a tall order, but I'll show you how.

I ran into this problem with A Kiss Before Doomsday , the second book of my Dru Jasper urban fantasy series. After the first book made a big splash on the front table at Barnes & Noble, we followed up with a big publicity push on the second one. For many readers, Book Two was actually their entry point into the series.
Continue ReadingWritten by Janice Hardy. Fiction-University.com

Beware the Vague Goal When Outlining a Scene

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Vague goals can trick you into thinking your scene is ready to write when it really isn’t.

Vague goals are nobody’s friend. They creep into our scenes, make us think our structures (and stories) are solid, but they’re really undermining those stories, especially in the drafting stage. “Stop the bad guy” tells us noting about what will actually transpire in a scene. Neither does “Protect the witness.” How is the protagonist going to do that?

Then there’s the king of the vague goals—“Survive the threat.” As Kristin Lamb hysterically puts it, her goal every day is to not die. Every protagonist in every book has this same goal. What the threat is and how the character survives it is what creates the plot and tells the story.
Continue ReadingWritten by Janice Hardy. Fiction-University.com

WIP Diagnostic: Is This Working? A Closer Look at Voice and Hooks in a Literary Opening

Critique by Maria D'Marco

WIP 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 WIP Diagnostics, please check out these guidelines. 

Submissions currently in the queue: Five

Please Note: As of today, critique slots are booked through July 10.

This week’s questions:

1. Does this opening work?

2. Does the voice sound unique to the reader to get hooked?

Market/Genre: Literary Fiction

On to the diagnosis…
Continue ReadingWritten by Janice Hardy. Fiction-University.com

How to Include Mental Health Issues in Our Fiction

By Bethany Henry

Part of The How They Do It Series

JH: When writing about mental health issues, it's important to get it right. Bethany Henry shares eight tips on how to write about mental health in a healthy—and helpful—way.

Bethany Henry writes fantasy novels, and blogs about writing and wellness at bethany-henry.com. When not writing, she can often be found on the frisbee field, drinking tea, or reading picture books with her two little girls. Sign up for her email list for weekly posts on writing craft—along with fun extras like quotes and freebies.  

Website | Blog | Facebook | Pinterest | Email List

Take it away Bethany...Continue ReadingWritten by Janice Hardy. Fiction-University.com

5 Tips for Writing a Novella that Wows Readers

By Sarah Skilton, @Sarah_Skilton

Part of the Focus on Short Fiction Series

JH: Some ideas don't quite have the legs for a full novel, but they'd make perfect novellas. Sarah Skilton shares tips on how to write a memorable novella. 

Sarah Skilton is the author of two critically acclaimed young adult novels,  Bruised  and  High & Dry , and was a 2019 Edgar awards judge. For adults, she's written a murder mystery,  Club Deception , set in a fictional underground magic club; and a romantic comedy,  Fame Adjacent , about a former child star on a mission to confront her famous castmates at a 25th reunion show. Under the pen name Tash Skilton, she is the co-author of  Ghosting: A Love Story , which was published in seven countries and six different languages, and which Kirkus called, "An energetic romance that would make Nora Ephron proud."

Sarah’s first novella, “Mind Games,” appears in the  rom-com anthology  Summer in the City , alongside authors Lori Wilde and Priscilla Oliveras. There’s nothing like summer in Manhattan. The days are long and the nights are even longer. But when the lights go out on the city, fireworks explode...! 
Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram| 

Take it away Sarah…
Continue ReadingWritten by Janice Hardy. Fiction-University.com

6 Questions to Ask Before You Join a “Crit-as-You-Go” Critique Group

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy
Some critiques can cause more harm than good.

Lisa Cooper Ellison did a guest post on Jane Friedman’s blog warning writers about chapter-by-chapter critiques. It’s worth reading, but she essentially said that getting feedback on a few chapters of the novel at a time as you write it instead of the critiquer reading the entire novel at once was more detriment than benefit (there’s more of course, but this is the part that I’m referring to in this post).

I agree 100%. I also disagree 100%.

Yes, I know, that’s impossible, but this isn’t a yes or no issue. I’ve been in a “crit as you go” group for a couple of years now, and I love it. It’s been incredibly useful for me and has increased my productivity. But I also understand that I’m at stage in my writing where I can do this successfully, while someone just starting out, or someone with a different process, might fail in a group like this. Even a pro can struggle in this type of group if they write to satisfy the group and let it sway how the novel develops.
Continue ReadingWritten by Janice Hardy. Fiction-University.com

WIP Diagnostic: Is This Working? A Closer Look at Finding an Opening that Reflects the Novel

Critique by Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

WIP 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 WIP Diagnostics, please check out these guidelines. 

Submissions currently in the queue: Five

Please Note: As of today, critique slots are booked through July 3.

This week’s question:

1. Is this a good "hook" / book opening?

Market/Genre: YA Contemporary with Romantic Elements

On to the diagnosis…
Continue ReadingWritten by Janice Hardy. Fiction-University.com

Apply the Tools of Corporate America to Improve the Writing Life

By Mayonn Paasewe-Valchev, @MayonnValchev

Part of The Writer’s Life Series

JH: Authors are small business, and applying a business mentality to our writing can benefit us. Mayonn Paasewe-Valchev shares how to use corporate tools to become a better writer.

Mayonn Paasewe-Valchev lives in Georgia with her family and is represented by Sara Megibow of KT Literary. Her debut novel, The Leopard Behind the Moon, is a magical realism for the middle-grade reader – a warm, sweet, beautiful story about friendship, healing, grief, community…and more than one intruding, talking animal. Publication by Greenwillow/HarperCollins is planned for September 2021.

Website | Twitter | Goodreads

Take it away Mayonn…
Continue ReadingWritten by Janice Hardy. Fiction-University.com

One Key Question to Ask Before You Start Writing

By Shanna Swendson, @ShannaSwendson

Part of The Writer’s Life Series 

JH: Writers write for many different reasons, but there's one reason we don't usually consider when we start a novel. Shanna Swendson discusses this unexpected question every writer should ask when considering a new idea. 

Shanna Swendson earned a journalism degree from the University of Texas but decided it was more fun to make up the people she wrote about and became a novelist. She’s written a number of fantasy novels for teens and adults, including the Enchanted, Inc. series and the Rebel Mechanics series. She devotes her spare time to reading, knitting, and music. Her newest novel is the paranormal mystery  Interview with a Dead Editor . 

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Take it away Shanna…

Continue ReadingWritten by Janice Hardy. Fiction-University.com

Making Sense Out of Character Wants and Needs

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Plot and character arc. External and internal conflict. Intellectual and emotional. There are indeed two sides to every story.

Confusion between a character’s want and need has sent many a writer down the wrong plot path, and I’ve run into quite a few who found themselves puzzled over how to use wants and needs in their novels. Are they the same thing? Is one the plot and the other the subplot? No, and no.

A strong want/need pairing shows an emotional hole in the protagonist’s life, and how resolving the plot allows them to fill that hole.
The protagonist doesn’t always know what they need, but they usually know what they want. That conscious goal (the want) drives the plot. It’s the unconscious goal (the need) that gets realized over the course of the story as the protagonist resolves and experiences that plot. The protagonist “goes through some stuff” and is changed by it. It helps to think of wants as the plot and needs as the character arc.
Continue ReadingWritten by Janice Hardy. Fiction-University.com