Janice Hardy's Blog, page 89

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone (and a belayed Happy Thanksgiving to my friends in the North). I hope everyone has a wonderful day today, and a great holiday weekend. I'll see you all again on Monday.

--JaniceWritten by Janice Hardy. Fiction-University.com

What Are Your Characters Thankful For?

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

With Thanksgiving coming up (or just passed for our friends in the North), I thought it would be fun to dip into the archives again and think about the things our characters might be thankful for.
When we create our story people, we often focus more on the problems, the flaws, and the things that make them unhappy—because that’s where there best conflicts and plotting opportunities usually come from. But it’s also important to consider what will make our characters go through all those horrible things we throw in their paths.

Continue ReadingWritten by Janice Hardy. Fiction-University.com

7 Tips for Writing Across Cultures

By Sylvia Whitman, @SylviaWhitman

Part of the How They Do It Series

JH: There's a growing need for diverse books, but writing about cultures not your own is a tricky path to navigate. Please help me welcome Sylvia Whitman to the lecture hall today, to share some tips on writing across cultures.

Sylvia Whitman lives in Sarasota, Florida, and teaches writing as a visiting instructor at Ringling College of Art and Design. She has published hundreds of articles for adults and children, a dozen books for young readers, and a handful of short stories in magazines ranging from Redbook to The Florida Review. Her YA novel The Milk of Birds (Atheneum) was named one of the 2014 Bank Street College Best Children’s Books of the Year 2014 and an Amelia Bloomer Project best feminist book for young readers.

Website | Twitter | Goodreads

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

Theme Me Up: How to Develop Your Novel's Theme

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Theme is an often overlooked tool in a writer's toolbox. Here's another look at finding the greater meaning in your story.  
Several years ago I attended a workshop on theme at RWA. It was a fascinating session, because the presenters were romance author Suzanne Brockmann and English professor and literary critic, Sarah Frantz, who studies romance in general, and Brockmann in particular. To see what the reader took away from the book versus what the author intended was quite interesting. They were similar, but not always exact. And that's okay, because everyone takes away something different from a book.

Some of the things they said made me look at theme in a new light, and made me think about ways to discuss theme that can be directly applied to a writer's work. Looking back on this, I can see how theme has become a much bigger part of my writing process, because a great book is about something, and we all want our books to be more than plots and characters.And using a theme is a great way to accomplish that.

Here are three ways a theme can help writers tell a richer story:

Continue ReadingWritten by Janice Hardy. Fiction-University.com

Writing Prompt: The Chain Story: Just One More Thing

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Since it's the start of what is a holiday week for many people, let's keep it simper and fun this week.

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.

My to-do list looked complete, until I flipped it over.
Let the fun begin.

Written by Janice Hardy. Fiction-University.com

Real Life Diagnostics: Does This Scene Work and Grab Your Attention?

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: Two

Please Note: As of today, RLD slots are booked through December 8.

This week’s question:

Does this scene work and grab your attention? 

Market/Genre: Middle Grade

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

7 Tips on Writing a Series

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

 This week's Refresher Friday takes another peek at things to consider before your write a series. Enjoy!
A novel series is an investment, both on the writer’s part, and the reader’s. Most of the time, it’s designed from the start to span multiple books—either open-ended or with a predetermined number of books planned. It’s a commitment to live in the same world with the same characters for years—or decades in Sue Grafton’s case.

The series might be a collection of stand-alone novels that all explore a common genre, such as a mystery or a romance. It might have a common element that ties the books together, such as characters who all work at the same law firm, or romances between a common group of characters. In some series, you can even read the books out of order and it won’t matter, because they’re not dependent on each other to understand the overall story.
Continue ReadingWritten by Janice Hardy. Fiction-University.com

The Long Con – Author Lessons Learned from a Year on the Convention Circuit

By John G. Hartness, @johnhartness

Part of the Indie Author Series

I might have mentioned that I do a lot of conventions. 36 so far in 2018, with a couple still to go. That’s up from 29 in 2017, and way more than I intend to do in 2018, so let’s take a look at some of the sales numbers, expenses, and lessons I’ve learned across the last two years of selling paperbacks at conventions all across the Southeastern United States.

One caveat before we start: I have excluded Dragon Con from these numbers. I don’t sell books at Dragon Con, because that’s not what I go to that convention for. Plus, it’s so much more expensive than any other con I do that it would skew the numbers.

First, the raw numbers. In 2018 I sold $15,240 in books at conventions. That’s a pretty good increase from the $11,953 I did in 2017, around 27% from 2017 numbers. Not bad, right?
Continue ReadingWritten by Janice Hardy. Fiction-University.com

Making Readers Feel (and Care)

photo credit Al BogdanBy Scott H. Andrews

Part of the How They Do It Series

JH: A double shot of guest authors today. Writing a great story isn't always enough--we have to emotionally connect to our readers to really hook them. Please help me welcome Scott H. Andrews to the lecture hall to share tips on how to make readers feel.

Scott H. Andrews taught the Odyssey Online class "Standing Out: Creating Short Stories with That Crucial Spark" in 2018 and will be teaching the upcoming Odyssey Online class "Emotional Truth: Making Character Emotions Real, Powerful, and Immediate to Readers."

Scott writes, teaches college chemistry, and is Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of the six-time Hugo Award finalist online fantasy magazine Beneath Ceaseless Skies. His literary short fiction has won a $1000 prize from the Briar Cliff Review, and his genre short fiction has appeared in Space & Time, Crossed Genres, and Ann VanderMeer’s Weird Tales.

Scott has taught writing at the Odyssey Workshop, Writefest, and online for Odyssey Online Classes and Cat Rambo Academy for Wayward Writers. He has lectured on short fiction, secondary-world fantasy, editing, magazine publishing, audio podcasting, and beer on dozens of convention panels at multiple Worldcons, World Fantasy conventions, and regional conventions in the Northeast and Midwest. He is a six-time finalist for the World Fantasy Award, and he celebrates International Stout Day at least once a week.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | YouTube | Instagram | iTunes

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

8 Secrets to Pitching Your Novel Like a Pro

By Laurence MacNaughton, @LMacNaughton  

Part of the How They Do It Series (Contributing Author)

When you get the opportunity to pitch your novel face-to-face to an editor or literary agent, you need to know exactly what to do – and what mistakes to avoid.

Even if you've written the world's greatest novel, no one will know it unless you can get an someone to read it. But persuading a busy industry professional to risk their valuable time on your unpublished manuscript is no picnic.

But you can do it right. Prepare yourself for novel pitching success by avoiding these deal-breaking blunders.

Mistake #1: Trying to Tell the Whole Story
The moment you sit down to pitch, you may experience the almost irrepressible urge to tell your entire amazing story from beginning to end in intricate detail.
Continue ReadingWritten by Janice Hardy. Fiction-University.com