Judith Post's Blog, page 101

Gearing up for NaNoWriMo (well, not me)

I’ve never tried NaNoWriMo, (National Novel Writing Month), an annual event that takes place every November, but a lot of writers participate in it.  In the old fable, NaNo writers would be the hare, pounding out a book in a month.  I’m a tortoise–slow and steady.  But NaNo inspired two great blogs on outlining by K.M. Weiland.  Now, I have friends who write wonderful books by the old seat of your pants method and others who start with four sentences that ground the entire book–the turning points that guide the entire story–but then there are people like me who jot down ideas for each chapter (making sure to hit those 4 turning points).  But I’d still be a slouch compared to K.M. Weiland.

I’ve never outlined as much as K.M. Weiland does, but I can see how her method would create rich characters and conflicts.  I especially like her idea of digging into your antagonists before you spend too much time on your protagonist, so that they’re a solid part of your story, not just an afterthought.  Anyway, if you’re a NaNo participant, and you do a little, some, or all of this homework before you jump into your month of writing, you should end up with something solid, so I thought I’d share the links.  And if you’re putting fingers to the keys in November, good luck!

http://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/start-your-outline-with-these-4-questions-nanowrimo/

and https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/nanowrimo-guide-outlining-find-heart-of-your-story/?platform=hootsuite

Happy Writing!

Chapters 36 & 37

There’s only one more chapter to finish The Familiars–a long one.  This is the build up to the big, final showdown.  Hope you’ve enjoyed the story so far!

 

http://www.judithpostswritingmusings.com/

Dating and little sisters

My third romance is available for pre-sale now.  Kensington has started promoting it and will amp up the promotions in November, since it officially comes out November 22.   I’ll keep my fingers crossed that readers find it and like it, but I still pretty much have no name recognition, so it’s sort of a crap shoot.  I figure I still have a while before I have enough books in the series to gain an audience–if I’m lucky.  That’s okay, because I love the stories I’m telling.

In book 3, Paula Hull, a single mom and chef, is the protagonist and Chase Atwood, Mill Pond’s bar owner, is the love interest.  Paula has two kids, and they help drive the romance.  They like Chase and Chase likes them.

Way back in my ancient history, when I was in college and started dating my John, he’d always wanted a little sister.  I happened to have one.  Mary’s twelve years younger than I am, so she was only six or seven at the time.  She took one look at John, and being the smart sister she is, decided he was fair game.  She’d always run to the door to meet him when he came to the house.  She’d stall around, and sometimes, he’d take her to the ice cream stand and bring her back home before we officially started our dates.  John and I weren’t exclusive, and it reached the point that Mary would run to the door when other guys came to pick me up, and when they didn’t offer to take her for ice cream, she’d say, “I don’t like you.  I like John.  Go away.”  We had talks about that, but somehow Mary always let dates know they didn’t measure up to John.  When John and I finally got married, four years later, Mary was a happy girl.

Paula’s kids have the same reaction to Chase.  He takes them boating and fishing.   He helps them with their martial arts lessons.  He has a thing for kids, but he has a thing for Paula, too, and he’s a smart man.  It was fun working Aiden and Bailey into the romance. It reminded me of Mary and John.  After all, a writer’s experiences work their way into her stories.

Hope your writing brings you joy, too!

 

I put new chapters up on my webpage:  http://www.judithpostswritingmusings.com/

Author Facebook page:  https://www.facebook.com/JudiLynnwrites/

twitter:  @judypost

 

 

Fiddles!

I’ve started playing with plot points for my 6th romance.  I say playing because I’m still in the “Will this work?” phase.  And that’s exactly why I like tinkering with plot points in the first place.  I’m up to thirteen of them, and the whole damn story is sagging.   I mean, there are plenty of things going on, and they feel pretty interesting, but are they bringing the protagonist and her romantic interest together?  Not unless Karli would marry the one and only man who’s ever shown any interest her.  The chemistry, so far, is zippo.  And the main reason?  Keagan is about as exciting, so far, as white bread.  I’ve done a crappy job of bringing him to life.

The nice thing about doing plot points, for me, is that they show me what DOESN’T work, where the holes are, where the story peters out.  I started with an idea that really excited me.  I had characters who caught my attention and didn’t let go.  I still like the premise and both characters, but are they dancing to life on the page?  Not so much.  And they started out great…for about four or five chapters.  And then?  There wasn’t enough tension between them to keep me from yawning.  But the good news is, my plot points made that obvious.  I can fix it in the planning stage instead of the rewrite and weep stage when I’m sick and tired of the whole thing and want it done.

Once I hit chapter twelve, I could see I needed to up the conflict, too.  An easy fix.  I added another character who, hopefully, readers will love to hate.  I’ve just met him, and I’d already like to smack him with a two-by-four, which makes him perfect:)   I could also see that I needed to add more of a feel for Mill Pond into the mix.  Another easy fix.  After all, the residents of the little resort town love interfering in other peoples’ lives.  Oops, I mean they love to help and lend a hand.  Anyway, I’m up to plot point thirteen, and I’m so happy I bothered with them, because they’re going to save me a lot of work once I start putting words on the page.

I know plot points aren’t for everyone, but I blog about what I’m up to at the moment.  And on this particular day, I’m singing the praises of planning my books out. You have to find what works for you, but a few sign posts here and there can come in handy.  Whatever you come up with, have fun and happy writing!

Chapters 28 & 29 are up.

Zoey meets Cordelia.  Hope you enjoy!

http://www.judithpostswritingmusings.com/

Just sharing

I don’t know how many of you are writers, but I’m assuming most of you, since that’s what I yak about most of the time.  If you’ve read my blog for a while, you know I’m a plotter and would rather jump off a cliff into deep waters than write a book without an outline.  Pantsing for me feels like hacking my way through a jungle with a machete and no idea if I’m going in the right direction.  So today, when I read Kristen Lamb’s blog post about the dreaded synopsis, it was so well done that I wanted to share it with you.  Hope you enjoy it as much as I did:  https://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/2016/10/06/the-dreaded-synopsis-what-it-really-reveals-about-our-writing/

On Sale

I just wanted to let you know that OPPOSITES DISTRACT is only 99 cents now.  I’m not sure how long the sale will last–I know, that sounds wonky–but the dates my publisher sent me aren’t the dates the sale started, so I’m clueless.  I had a lot of fun writing Harmony because she’s a writer trying to beat a deadline.  She had plenty of character foibles that I can relate to:)   And Brody?  Well, I love men who grump, but have big, soft hearts.  I married one.

http://www.kensingtonbooks.com/book.aspx/33110

Themes

When writers on panels used to talk about themes, I never really knew if my stories had any.  I don’t start a book and say to myself, This is the theme.  Instead, I get an idea.  For LOVE ON TAP, I needed a woman chef to come to Mill Pond to work at Ian’s inn, because I wanted to write the story from her POV. Why did she come?  Because she fell in love, got married, had two small children, and then her military husband got killed overseas.  Now, she’s a single mom, trying to juggle raising her kids with her job as a chef.  It’s tricky, so she leaves the prestigious restaurant she cooks at in New York to work at Ian’s resort in Mill Pond.  That way, she can spend more time with Aiden and Bailey and keep them close.  Time passes, and she finally starts thinking she might want more in life.  She might be ready to meet someone new.  And therein starts the romance.  It’s a slower start than usual, and to be honest, I’m a little worried about that, but Paula’s been out of the dating scene for a while.  She’s only dipping her toe in the water, and she’s out of practice.  Heck, she doesn’t even get it right the first time.

Luckily for her, she lives in Mill Pond.  And when Ian’s resort gets so busy she’s working as many hours as she did in New York, Ian decides that she needs an assistant chef.  Enter hottie, world-traveler Tyne Newsome, whom she loves like a brother.  Period.  He has no interest in her, either, but oh, does he love to give her free advice.  And he’s sure she’s picked the wrong guy.  Worse, he tries to steer her in what he considers the right direction.

That’s the set-up for the book, and after I figure that out, then the book’s characters start jabbering in my head, ready to dive into their roles.  I get attached to them and a story unravels as the protagonist tries to find what she needs to be happy again.  I’m usually finishing the book before I recognize its theme.  For LOVE ON TAP, I dealt with being a single mom who loves her kids and her career, who searches for a man who’ll make her happy, but will also add to her children’s lives.  The book also touches on how to move forward when a spouse dies, how to move past grief.

Every genre has certain, built-in expectations.  Mysteries deal with crime.  Suspense pits a good guy against a bad guy or situation.  Thrillers have a ticking clock.  Fantasy often deals with a quest, and romance deals with a happy-ever-after.  But those are just the frames the stories are built on.  Themes give them depth.  But don’t worry if you sit down and have no idea what that theme will be.  Usually, your characters will tell you.

 

I posted a short snippet from Love On Tap on my webpage, if you’re interested: http://www.judithpostswritingmusings.com/

Author Facebook page:  https://www.facebook.com/JudiLynnwrites/

Twitter:   @judypost

Chapters 21& 22 are up

I posted new chapters for The Familiars on my webpage.  I have little patience, so I’m going to start posting more often.  It’s the first time I’ve ever tried to post an entire book, but it’s taking FOREVER!  So I’m speeding things up.  Enjoy!

 

http://www.judithpostswritingmusings.com/

Writerly Ramblings

Last week, I shared an article about what makes a bestseller.  The authors did research and believe that no matter the genre, tapping into the human condition–dealing with two themes we struggle with–(more gets to be too much)–helps readers relate to our stories. They also thought that showing characters react with each other, maybe sitting over a cup of coffee and talking, makes them more real.

A friend of mine came for lunch on Thursday, and we yakked even more writing.  We talked about some of our favorite books before we started to write.  It surprised us how much writing styles have changed from then to now.  We both were drawn to books with lots of details and description.  Sometimes, we read the first chapter and still had no idea where the story was going.  A lot of those books were told by a narrator or an omniscient author, putting distance between the writer and the reader.  Today, people like faster paced stories that are more immediate.  We like internal dialogue.  We want to live inside our protagonist’s skin, to feel what she feels.

When I first tried to write mysteries, I patterned them after my favorites, written by Agatha Christie. I got many a rejection letter that said, “Love your writing, but not what we’re looking for.”  Cozies were out of style.  But now that I think back, there was more to it than that.  I was using a writer’s style that wasn’t current.  How well did we know Miss Marple or Hercule Poirot?  They were both clever and fun to follow, and I loved trying to solve the elaborate puzzles Christie laid out, but her characters’ lives remained vague.   It wasn’t until I read Nancy Pickard and Carolyn Hart that it occurred to me that the detective’s life should be as interesing and demanding as whatever mystery she was trying to solve.  The authors gave their characters jobs they cared about, romances that hit highs and lows.  They made their characters have bad hair days.  Made them feel real.

One of my favorite series to write, and the series I got the most feedback on–was my Babet and Prosper urban fantasy novellas.  Babet felt real.  So did Prosper and his partner Hatchet.  So did their supernatural friends.    Eventually, I want to try my hand at another mystery, but this time, I want my characters to feel as real as Babet and Prosper.  I want their personal stories to matter just as much as whatever crime they have to solve.  I’m not holding my breath that I’ll end up with a bestseller, but I think it will make my story stronger.  I can’t wait to give it a try.