Elizabeth Spann Craig's Blog, page 13

LitLinks

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

LitLinks are fed into the Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine (developed by writer and software engineer Mike Fleming) which has over 70,000 free articles on writing related topics. It’s the search engine for writers. While you’re there, check out the Writer’s Digest award-winning Hiveword novel organizer.

Have you visited the WKB lately? Check out the new redesign where you can browse by category, and sign up for free writing articles, on topics you choose, delivered to your email inbox! Sign up for the Hiveword newsletter here. Follow the WKB on Facebook here.

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Published on May 04, 2024 21:01

Writing Multi-Generational Family Dynamics

by Anna A Armstrong

Everything in life and books comes down to character. There are few more enjoyable ways to while away a morning than spending time in a café with a really good cup of coffee, getting to know who someone is. I love using different ‘character questionnaires’ which are all over the internet and interviewing my characters. I have exercise books fall of these character analyses.

Once you know who a person really is and what motivates them, it is far easier to know how they will react in every situation. This knowledge means that when I move on to plotting, I have a pretty good idea of how they are going to behave when faced with troublesome murders and life’s many joys and woes. As in life, there will be times when I am surprised.

I adore being part of this multi-generational world. I am extremely fortunate in being the mother of three adult daughters and also to be blessed with being a part of a village and church community which means I have lots of opportunities to enjoy and observe every age and how they interact. As writers, I know you will all be keen observers of people and I think that it is that ability to notice every tiny detail that gives authenticity to a work.

There is a wonderful energy between the generations, often marked by affectionate exasperation, which I hope to capture. Each generation has so much to offer the other age groups. Young people’s exuberance in infectious (also it is so useful to have people in ones life who actually know how the latest tech works). The in-between lady is usually rather overstretched, juggling work and family, but they have determination. The older generation often have an abundance of time, warmth and wisdom.

As a final comment, which is not so much ‘how’ I incorporate multi-generational family dynamics into the FitzMorris Family Mysteries but ‘why’, it is fun for me personally. While all my characters are fictional, I have to admit that when I am writing the student granddaughter, Amelia, I do indulge in re-living my youth as I would have liked to have been. Amelia is an extremely confident criminal psychology student who wears corsets, short skirts and Doc Marten boots, while being a fantasy Goth. I feel my student days were wasted being a spotty, jeans clad, ball of neurosis, rather than an outrageous Goth who can’t wait to confront any murderer.

Anna A ArmstrongAuthor of the FitzMorris Family Mysteries

Anna A. Armstrong writes uplifting, cosy mysteries. Set in rural villages, they overflow with friendship, warm family relationships, delicious food, beautiful gardens and romance as well as the odd murder to spice things up. At the heart of her stories are her colourful characters who have their own varied foibles. There is nothing like a spot of murder for revealing who people are and what makes them tick.

Growing up in home counties England, Anna was surrounded with dogs and horses as well as the wide variety of people who make up village life. Her observation skills were further honed by studying Anthropology at university. Much to her family’s embarrassment, she often can’t resist pulling out a pad and sketching random strangers in a restaurant.

When not indulging her love of traveling, Anna divides her time between the quintessentially English village of Burford in the Cotswolds and the rugged Isle of Man, the jewel of the Irish Sea. She is passionate about food, her garden, her three dachshunds, family and latterly trick riding, just in case running off to the circus becomes an option!

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Published on April 28, 2024 21:01

LitLinks

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

LitLinks are fed into the Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine (developed by writer and software engineer Mike Fleming) which has over 70,000 free articles on writing related topics. It’s the search engine for writers. While you’re there, check out the Writer’s Digest award-winning Hiveword novel organizer.

Have you visited the WKB lately? Check out the new redesign where you can browse by category, and sign up for free writing articles, on topics you choose, delivered to your email inbox! Sign up for the Hiveword newsletter here. Follow the WKB on Facebook here.

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Published on April 27, 2024 21:01

Book Business Concept Map

by Hank Quense, @hanque99

In the evolving landscape of the publishing industry, understanding the intricacies of the book business can be as complex as it is critical for authors, publishers, and marketers alike. A Concept Map of the Book Business offers a visual and interconnected overview of the key components that drive the creation, distribution, and consumption of books. This article delves into the creation and utility of such a concept map, exploring how it serves as an invaluable tool for navigating the multifaceted world of publishing.

What is a Book Business Concept Map?

A Book Business Concept Map is a visual representation that outlines the major elements and processes involved in the book industry. It highlights the relationships between various stakeholders, including authors, publishers, agents, retailers, and readers. The map encompasses several critical areas such as content creation, publishing, marketing, distribution, and sales, illustrating how these components interact to bring a book from idea to reader.

Concept maps are quite different from ordinary mind maps in that there is no implied structural hierarchy. Rather than the usual parent nodes and child nodes, with concept maps each idea is an independent box on the screen. Instead of hierarchical relationships, the lines between nodes represent direction, aggregation and flow.

Book Business Nodes

Creating a book involves a complex project that unfolds over a lengthy period of time and involves writing, publishing and marketing besides a critical element of planning. Sooner or later, inexperienced authors realize that their book is a business and this has a number of implications for the authors. These include business types, tax identification numbers, tracking income and expenses and more.

Book Business Creation

The ideal time to start a book business is before the first book is published. This can be before or after the manuscript is completed. Starting the business involves a number of decisions that will require research and thinking.

In order to provide a measure of understanding how all the book project elements fit together, I created a concept map. The map shows the relationship between the book (manuscript) and the publishing, marketing and business aspects of the book project.

To examine this whiteboard, go to: https://atlas.mindmup.com/hanque/book_business_concept_map/index.html

I created this map using a software program I just discovered called Mindmup. I love it.

The first two paragraphs of this article were written by a AI program.

And check out my new website: hankquense.online

If you’re looking for help with fiction writing, self-publishing or book marketing, check out the resources on https://writersarc.com

This link will display all my courses on Udemy: https://www.udemy.com/user/hank-quense-2/

My website Writers & Authors Resource Center provides material relating to fiction writing, self-publishing and book marketing.

Image by Dorothe from Pixabay

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Published on April 21, 2024 21:01

LitLinks

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

LitLinks are fed into the Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine (developed by writer and software engineer Mike Fleming) which has over 70,000 free articles on writing related topics. It’s the search engine for writers. While you’re there, check out the Writer’s Digest award-winning Hiveword novel organizer.

Have you visited the WKB lately? Check out the new redesign where you can browse by category, and sign up for free writing articles, on topics you choose, delivered to your email inbox! Sign up for the Hiveword newsletter here. Follow the WKB on Facebook here.

The Top Writing Links From Last Week Are On LitLinks:
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Published on April 20, 2024 21:01

Make Your Characters Leap Off the Page

by Hugh Cook

A cardinal principle of fiction writing is that effective characterization lies at the heart of all good fiction. This holds true whether you write thrillers, romance, fantasy, sci-fi, or literary fiction. This principle is universally agreed upon by editors, literary agents, and writers themselves. Listen to what they say:

Renowned New York editor and publisher Sol Stein says in his book On Writing, “During all the years in which I was an editor and a publisher, what did I hope for when I picked up a manuscript? I wanted to be swept up as quickly as possible in the life of a character so interesting that I couldn’t bear to shut the manuscript in a desk overnight. It went home with me so that I could continue reading it.”

Donald Maass, a prominent literary agent based in New York, sells more than a hundred novel manuscripts every year to publishers in the U.S. and overseas. At a writing festival I attended some years ago, Maass stated that the number one reason he turns down novel manuscripts is three “uns”: unsympathetic, uninteresting, and unmemorable characters.

Janet Burroway’s book Writing Fiction is one of the finest textbooks on the craft of fiction writing. In it she states that character is “the foreground of all fiction.” If this is so, she says, “then your fiction can be only as successful as the characters who move it and move within it…We must find them interesting, we must find them believable, and we must care about what happens to them.”

One basic truth of all fiction, then, is this: the success of your fiction depends on your ability to create interesting, memorable characters.

Test that theory a moment. Think of some great novels, and you will see that they feature memorable characters: Melville’s Moby Dick and Captain Ahab; Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and Ebenezer Scrooge; Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn; John Irving’s A Prayer for Owen Meany.

If it is true that interesting characters lie at the heart of great fiction, then a first question facing a writer is, how do I create interesting characters? Which fiction strategies are available to me to create memorable characters?

There are four basic fiction techniques that all writers use, regardless of genre. I’ll list them, and give examples of each. Here are the four strategies:

1) through direct author comment

2) through the character’s appearance

3) through the character’s action

4) through dialogue

Through direct author comment

In this first method, the narrator tells the reader about the character. In his classic story “The Necklace,” Guy de Maupassant describes Mathilde Eloise as follows: “She was one of those pretty and charming girls who are sometimes, as if by a mistake of destiny, born in a family of clerks.” The story ends in a surprising tragic irony that nevertheless ennobles Mathilde.

Leo Tolstoy’s beautiful and poignant novella The Death of Ivan Ilych states that Ilych “was just what he remained for the rest of his life: a capable, cheerful, good-natured, and sociable man, though strict in the fulfillment of what he considered to be his duty.” Through a painful illness that leads to his death, Ilych discovers the misdirection of a life devoted to these values.

There are several distinct advantages to direct author comment. First, you can say a good bit about the character in a short space. Second, you can shape the reader’s reaction to the character by choosing which details to reveal about the character. A disadvantage of direct author comment, however, is that when you merely tell the reader, they’re not as likely to be as emotionally involved as when they draw their own conclusion. So you’ll want to keep this method to a minimum.

Through the character’s appearance

This second method is a wonderfully concrete way of revealing a great deal about your character. By appearance I mean 1) the character’s physique, and 2) manner of dress. A character’s clothing is a key method of revealing his or her personality. Several examples:

[Eliza’s] face was lean and strong and her eyes were as clear as water. Her figure looked blocked and heavy in her gardening costume, a man’s black hat pulled low down over her eyes, clodhopper shoes, a figured print dress almost completely covered by a big corduroy apron.

John Steinbeck, “The Chrysanthemums”

Mrs. Withers, the dietician, marched in through the back door, drew up, and scanned the room. She wore her usual Betty Grable hairdo and open-toed pumps, and her shoulders had an aura of shoulder pads even in a sleeveless dress.

Margaret Atwood, The Edible Woman

These two examples create vivid characterization through carefully selected details of appearance.

Here is another strategy to consider. Many authors will use a disability or an abnormality in physical appearance to symbolize a significant character trait. Consider how Flannery O’Connor gives the protagonist Hulga a wooden leg in her story “Good Country People” in order to reveal a salient aspect of Hulga’s character.

Or think of the symbolic possibility inherent in blindness, as exemplified in Raymond Carver’s great story “Cathedral.” Try to think of such ways in which you can make your character much more interesting and memorable through physical appearance.

Through the character’s action

The third method of revealing character is through action. Notice how William Faulkner in his powerful story “Barn Burning” uses Abner Snopes’ actions to characterize him as a violent sharecropper: “His father struck him [his son Sarty] with the flat of his hand on the side of the head, hard but without heat, exactly as he had struck the two mules at the store, exactly as he would strike either of them with any stick in order to kill a fly, his voice without heat or anger.”

In perhaps Joyce Carol Oates’ most widely anthologized story, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”, Oates describes a teenage girl: “Her name was Connie. She was fifteen and she had a quick nervous giggling habit of craning her neck into mirrors, or checking other people’s faces, to make sure her own was all right.” Through these details Oates captures perfectly the concern for appearance and the psychological insecurities of a teenager.

Which actions can you give your character(s) that give your readers a sudden and perhaps

dramatic insight into that character?

Through dialogue

Dialogue can serve a number of functions, and a central one is to characterize. What does your character’s manner of speech say about him or her?

See how Flannery O’Connor uses dialogue here in a key moment of her story “Revelation” to characterize Ruby Turpin as an uppity southern countrywoman:

“One thang I don’t want,” the white-trash woman said, wiping her mouth with the back of her hands. “Hogs. Nasty stinking things, a-gruntin and a-rootin all over the place.”

Mrs. Turpin gave her the merest edge of her attention. “Our hogs are not dirty and they don’t stink,” she said. “They’re cleaner than some children I’ve seen. Their feet never touch the ground…Claud scoots them down with the hose every afternoon and washes off the floor.”

As you can see, dialogue is an effective means not only in characterization, but also for placing the reader right into the scene.

One important means of characterization within the four strategies above is to use concrete detail. In Janet Burroway’s book Writing Fiction which I mentioned earlier, Burroway gives a dramatic example of how concrete detail makes characterization so effective it leaps off the page. She offers the following bit of characterization:

Debbie was a very stubborn and completely independent person and was always doing things her way despite her parents’ efforts to get her to conform. Her father was an executive in a dress manufacturing company and was able to afford his family all the luxuries and comforts of life. But Debbie was completely indifferent to her family’s affluence.

Then Burroway asks, what is striking about that character description? Which of the four methods of characterization does this description use predominantly? It consists essentially of only the first of the four methods of characterization. It’s all tell, and no show.

Notice also that the character description works on the level of abstraction: look at the key words: stubborn, independent, conform, comforts, indifferent, affluence. What this description consists of is a series of judgements by the author which are supported only by generalizations. In other words, we’re being told rather than shown.

But what happens to the characters when the emphasis shifts from authorial comment to concrete details of appearance, action, and dialogue? Here it is as given by Burroway:

Debbie would wear a tank top to a tea party if she pleased, with fluorescent earrings and ankle-strap sandals. (appearance)

“Oh, sweetheart,” Mrs. Chiddister would stand in the doorway wringing her hands. “It’s not nice.”

“Not who?” Debbie would say, and add a fringed belt. (direct dialogue & action)

Mr. Chiddister was Artistic Director of the Boston branch of Cardin and had a high respect for what he called “elegant textures,” which ranged from handwoven tweed to gold filigree, and which he willingly offered his daughter. Debbie preferred her laminated wrist bangles. (action)

Here is another version of Debbie and her parents offered by Burroway:

One day Debbie brought home a copy of Ulysses. Mrs. Strum called it “filth” and threw it across the sunporch. Debbie knelt on the parquet and retrieved her bookmark, which she replaced. “No, it’s not,” she said. (dialogue and action)

“You’re not so old I can’t take a strap to you!” Mr. Strum reminded her. Mr. Strum was controlling stockholder of Readywear Conglomerates and was proud of treating his family, not only on his salary, but also on his expense account. The summer before, he had justified their company on a trip to Belgium, where they toured the American Cemetery and the torture chambers of Ghent Castle. Entirely ungrateful, Debbie had spent the rest of the trip curled up in the hotel with a shabby copy of some poet. (dialogue and action)

In both revisions of the original, notice the immediate difference. Each of the abstractions has now been conveyed through a specific, concrete detail, and see how the characterization is therefore so much more effective.

Note also that this version implies certain value judgements about Debbie and her parents: Debbie’s rebellious nature; her mother’s philistinism and obsession with social decorum; her father’s physical abusiveness and shady financial practices. So: concrete details matter in presenting meaning, or value, or judgement.

What you notice also is that concrete detail involves the reader; it forces the reader, if he or she is paying attention to detail, to form conclusions about the character. But it’s the reader who draws these conclusions, rather than being told what to think about the character. If the author only tells, the reader is passive. If the author shows, the reader is involved. It becomes an active partnership between author and reader. So, when you develop your characters, it’s wise to use appearance, action, and dialogue more widely than direct author comment.

I’ll end with an important piece of advice: Your portrayal of your characters is only as good as the degree to which you know them. I edit novel and short story manuscripts—I receive query letters from writers from Alaska to Florida, from Massachusetts to California—asking me to edit their fiction, and now and then I observe that a manuscript falls short primarily because the author just hasn’t familiarized him- or herself with the characters sufficiently to know them inside out. Use all the strategies available to you to develop your characters fully. Have the characters come to life off the page!

Hugh Cook holds an MFA in fiction writing from the Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa. He has published two books of short stories and two novels. Readers can obtain his recent novel Heron River at Amazon and at Barnes and Noble .

Hugh also edits fiction manuscripts. Send him a query at hughcook212@gmail.com.

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Published on April 14, 2024 21:01

LitLinks

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

LitLinks are fed into the Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine (developed by writer and software engineer Mike Fleming) which has over 70,000 free articles on writing related topics. It’s the search engine for writers. While you’re there, check out the Writer’s Digest award-winning Hiveword novel organizer.

Have you visited the WKB lately? Check out the new redesign where you can browse by category, and sign up for free writing articles, on topics you choose, delivered to your email inbox! Sign up for the Hiveword newsletter here. Follow the WKB on Facebook here.

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Published on April 13, 2024 21:01

Starting a New Series

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

It’s been a while since I started writing a new series. Late-2018 was the last time, actually. The reason I don’t start new series all the time is because it’s a heck of a lot more work than continuing already-established series. It’s also why I’ve only written one standalone novel. If you’re writing a series, most of the world-building work has been done early on, along with character development for the principle characters. It’s also so much easier to write about characters you’re very familiar with. The books almost write themselves.

Why do it, then? For me, it comes down to a couple of different reasons. One is simply that I had an idea that I thought might work for a new series. For another, it’s the realization that two of my current series have 20 or more books in them. It makes sense to continue adding series in case others need to come to an end.

There are tons of considerations for starting out a series. You’ll need ingredients like conflict, character arcs, settings, character development, and more. If you’re a cozy mystery writer, here’s a post on starting out a new cozy series.

Here are just a few additional things to remember along the way:

Start a series bible. This will save you so much work later. Every time you describe a character, add the description to the bible. Got a character who hates coffee and drinks tea instead? Add it to the bible. You’ll really manage to keep your inconsistencies down.

Make sure book one is good. This might sound flippant, but it’s really not. I don’t usually use a developmental editor, but I have for the first books in my series. It’s worth the money, in my opinion. Because if book one isn’t good, who’s going to stick around for the rest of the series?

Make sure your cover for book one is good. Get a professional designer unless your design skills are top-notch. For the rest of your series to be a success, you need to ensure you’ve got readers. And readers definitely judge books by their covers. It’s also important to remember that the cover will need to have elements in future books in the series to indicate they’re in the same series. A professional designer can help you with these recurring elements.

Really weigh whether a cliffhanger at the end of book one is worth it. Unless you’re rapidly releasing a series, it probably isn’t worth making readers upset.

These are just a few things to consider, so what would you add to the list? How much planning do you do when starting a new series? Do you write in series, or write standalones?

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Published on April 07, 2024 21:01

LitLinks

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

LitLinks are fed into the Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine (developed by writer and software engineer Mike Fleming) which has over 70,000 free articles on writing related topics. It’s the search engine for writers. While you’re there, check out the Writer’s Digest award-winning Hiveword novel organizer.

Have you visited the WKB lately? Check out the new redesign where you can browse by category, and sign up for free writing articles, on topics you choose, delivered to your email inbox! Sign up for the Hiveword newsletter here. Follow the WKB on Facebook here.

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Published on April 06, 2024 21:01

Quick Tip Involving Covers

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Here’s a quick reminder for those of you who get book covers from your designers before working on the book. Make sure, before the paperback version goes live, that the back cover copy is still accurate. Sometimes even the ebook cover might need adjusting.

Why be in this situation to begin with? For me, I’ve got to get on my cover designer’s schedule early or else my releases won’t launch in time. I usually get books covered three months prior to even starting the draft.

Early book cover design works great most of the time. It definitely helps me stay on schedule. But I can run into problems if I decide to change a character’s name, the name of the town (which happened for a new series I wrote), or the series name (new series issue, again).

Although I think we’re all programmed to edit the manuscript text and the book descriptions we upload to retail portals like KDP and Draft2Digital, it might be easier to forget to check the covers that were designed months earlier.

I do have to pay my designer for changes for finished covers, but it’s well worth it to keep readers from being confused. And I’ve had to change at least two covers.

That’s my tip of the day. :) Do you have any helpful reminders for writers that you’ve run across?

Proof Your Covers Before Publication:
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Published on March 31, 2024 21:01