New Look

Summer's almost here and I didn't want to edit, so I played around with the look of the blog. If you'd like to see it and are reading this in a reader, you'll have to click through. Let me know what you think!

As the web changes and what we expect it to do for us expands, static webpages seem to be dying out. When I first started as a published author (in 2003), having a webpage was a necessity and their purpose  simply announced information. Like museums, viewers looked, but they did not touch.

Now, however, it isn't enough to have a simple web page, an author must have a web presence.

Presence. As in attending. As in "present and accounted for" as well as "actively participating." As in not absent.

A webpage that only talks at people doesn't fit that description. People who venture out onto the web now expect to be more social. Authors are expected to provide interactive experiences or, at the very least, allow a more immediate way for others to speak their minds. Social media has exploded and the author who isn't "here" is missing a great opportunity to communicate (We'll set aside the question of whether or not that communication is needed or not. That's a blog post for a different time).

My website is an old-fashioned, static webpage that hasn't been updated in months. Mostly because my webmistress is busy and my one attempt to find someone new to take it over fell apart. And I don't know HTML and am not going to learn it. One makes priorities in life, doing what one can and paying others for what one cannot. I'd pay someone for their knowledge, if I could find someone willing to take on the job.

But that begs the question: what good is a website that isn't updated in a timely fashion and that readers can't really communicate with anyway? A very good question and one that's gotten me pretty much convinced to abandon the old site and re-direct the URL to this blog instead. Blogger's tools have gotten more sophisticated than when I first started with them all those years ago. All the information I have there, I can have here. Cheaper. And faster.

All this is in warning: before the end of summer, I plan to implement a re-direct of that site so the same address now points here. Visit "The Official Diana Hunter Site" and let me know what pieces are there that you want to see me re-create here. Do you like the author's links? What about the puzzles to download? Would you miss the reviews of each book?

Comment or send me an email, my quiet readers. Help me make this site a more effective, more interactive place!

Play safe,
Diana

Free enterprise

reposted with permission from cfduprey.blogspot.com

In my websurfing tonight, I did a quick search for my name. The entire first page of Google's results were for 1) this blog or 2) the book available for sale on several sites. So far, so good.

But then, on the second page of returned results, I saw a copy of Hardship and Hardtack on eBay. This surprised me as I've sold only a handful of the paperback editions and I know almost everyone who bought one (several of them I met this weekend!). Who would be selling their copy already???

Turns out to be an online retailer in Australia. I'm thinking, "How on earth did one of my books get to Australia?" Then I read this little gem in the small print, "Once you have placed your order we will immediately order it from our supplier. We generally receive items from this supplier within 7 to 14 days. Please ADD the extra time it will take to get from Booktopia's Sydney warehouse to you via Australia Post."

In other words, they'd order it from Createspace, get the book in and then resell it to the purchaser for a highly inflated price (currently $27.40)!

Now, I have no trouble with free enterprise. The very fact that I sell my writing should give you a clue that I have capitalistic leanings (Only leanings. If I were a full-fledged capitalist, I'd be in banking or on Wall Street). And I get my cut from the sale at Createspace, so if he/she wants a cut too, who am I to complain?

No, the part that surprises me most of all? That anyone would bother buying from them when, with a simple Internet search, they can buy direct from Createspace and save the middleman and his markup! Heck, I've put three links in this blog post alone to point readers in the right direction!

If you'd like a print copy of Hardship and Hardtack, let me encourage you to save your pennies and purchase direct here. Or save even more and buy an ebook copy from any one of those sites that comes up in search (although my preference is from Smashwords. The owner treats authors well and you can get all formats on the site).

No matter where you purchase your copy, of course, the important part is that you purchase it. If you don't have your copy yet, why not? In this 150th anniversary year commemorating the start of the American Civil War, this is an easy way to learn a little history and live the life of a Union soldier!

Note from Diana:
You know you're going to go out and Google your own name now. Heck, I'm off to do the same! 
Btw, don't forget there's a tab at the top of the blog page to read more about this book. If you're reading this post in a viewer, you'll have to click through to get to the tab.

Play safe,
D

The Reporter

Continuing our series at looking how non-fiction writing situations can help fiction writers.

“Just the facts, ma’am.”

                                                                                   Joe Friday (Dragnet)

(and if you remember that reference, you’re as old as I am!)

Being a reporter means finding the facts and getting them straight. While a reporter might provide an overview of differing opinions (such as in a political race or detailing the sides on a voter’s referendum), they do not give their own thoughts and feelings about either side.

Reporters do not try to influence, they simply inform. Readers expect to make their own decisions, not be led by the reporter. Take note: this is different from the Observer.

The most obvious way a fiction author can use reporters’ skills is in getting the facts straight. Nothing takes me out of a story quicker than an author making a mistake in historical accuracy or geography (see previous post on 1812). Doing research is part of a reporter’s job – its part of an author’s job as well.

When it comes to subject matter, my biggest weakness is in anything to do with the medical field. I have my first aid certification (now expired) but that’s as far as I go. Yet, my characters are always getting banged up and needing medical care. In my first draft I write what I want the doctors and nurses to do, but then I send the scenes to a person with real experience and she tells me what I can keep and what I need to change. The last thing I need is for a doctor or nurse to read my book and get pulled out of the story saying, “You had me right up until this point and now it’s just stupid.” Knowing the facts is vital to a fiction author.

But there are other ways the Reporter can come to the fore in writing a story; Reporters also ask and answer questions. They anticipate what their readers want to know and provide the answer, often before the reader has even fully formed the question. Asking questions allows them to fully inform their public.

Fiction writers do this in two different ways.

First comes the big question: “what if.” All stories start with that. But authors don’t stop there. We ask questions about what our characters look like, how they move, what they wear. Even if this isn’t a conscious questioning, it occurs every time we start a new story. Who will be the protagonist? What is his/her conflict? Does my story have an overarching theme? For many, the process of questioning is a mental game of Q &A, for others (plotters), it often is the precursor to actually writing the story.

But we also raise questions in the reader. Good stories keep us on the edge of our seat and make us read far longer into the night than we intended. Who is the murderer? Sherlock Holmes will tell us! Can Frodo resist the pull of the One Ring? Will Katniss win the Hunger Games? What will happen to Peeta if she does? What will happen next?

This is where we differ from the Reporter. We don’t anticipate reader’s questions, we create them. And that’s just plain old fun. J

Activity

Channel your inner Reporter and take a look at your latest work in progress.

·   Are all your facts in order? What do you need to know in order to reflect reality? What research do you still need to do?

·   What question(s) end each chapter? What is it the reader is so desperate to know that they’ll keep reading and not put the book down?

Analyzing your writing through the lens of the Reporter can add layers of verisimilitude and excitement. Go for it!

 Play safe,

Diana

As always, feel free to donate to the cause!

">

Remembering

My father and my all my uncles served their country in the Armed Forces. Dad was in the Army, so was his brother. My mom's brothers all joined different branches with one in the Navy, one in the Air Force and another in the SeaBees (Navy mechanics) and all three served during WWII.

The Vietnam War ended my junior year in high school and we all gave a sigh of relief. No wars for us. But a close friend joined the Marines after college and made the Corps his career, retiring a little while ago at the rank of Brigadier General.

So you can see the military has been a part of my life for a long time. I wrote Services Rendered partly as a tribute to those who came home. Because, you see, I'm lucky. Everyone I know who went to war -- came home.

While other towns mark today as a day of commemoration, on May 30th, Waterloo, NY will continue its long tradition to honor those who did not return. The parade is more pomp and circumstance with little in the way of festivities. It's a solemn marking of every war, from the first that brought us independence to the latest with our soldiers overseas. There will be speeches and the laying of wreaths. We will pause to remember those who gave their lives so we can have our political squabbles and our blue and red arguments. What we should not forget, is that those colors exist peacefully along with stripes and stars of white. They didn't forget. Neither should we.

RIP all who have gone before.

Diana

Memorial Day

This weekend I'll be in Waterloo, NY signing copies of Hardship and Hardtack. You can read all about it here.  If you're in the area, stop by and say hello, then take a moment to visit one of several cemeteries in the area and pay your respects to those who gave all.

Diana

Addendum: Great to see so many people today! Sold several copies of my historical and saw lots of old friends and made some new ones. Best part? Tomorrow I get to do it all over again!

The Observer

Of all the situations, arguably the Observer is the closest of the non-fiction roles to that of the fiction writer. I’ve already written several writing workshops that run a close parallel (Writing journals, the Great “What if?” the Power of Observation)

But this role goes a step further than simple description. Fiction writers should use the role of the Observer to add a reflective component that takes their work deeper, giving it another layer of meaning. For example, I can write a simple description of an apartment flat in the seedier neighborhoods of 1930’s Chicago or I can go further, as Tennessee Williams does with his character Tom in The Glass Menagerie. There, Williams successfully uses the role of the Observer to comment on the setting and the other characters in the play, filtering our experience through the character’s eyes.

As an audience, we see the set. It’s tangible. Right there behind the curtain. The lights come up and we see the drabness, the shabby, second-hand furniture, the fire escape that serves as the exit to the apartment (metaphorically as well as physically).

But Tom begins his soliloquy and suddenly we’re viewing that set in a very different way. Throughout the play our perceptions of the apartment change. It becomes a prison, a cage he has to escape like his father before him. In his role as Observer, he reflects on what he (and we) see and transforms it into a deeper experience.

Observer, take two:

Four people standing on a streetcorner, chatting. An accident occurs in the intersection. They all see it; they’re all witnesses and they all give statements to the police. Yet each of them tells a different story. One focuses on the speed of the two cars, another swears the light was yellow, the person next to him says it was red. The fourth only heard the accident but when he turned around he saw a person of color running away and that must be important.

This is a common phenomenon. The police deal with it every day. None of them are wrong, they all have pieces of the puzzle, yet their stories are different. Their beliefs and values affect their interpretations of what they saw.

Use this. Your characters observe stuff all the time. They see things, they meet people. What does your hero see that your heroine did not (or vice-versa?). What does the villain of your story feel about the event that put another in the role of hero and not him?

This is also a great way to introduce conflict. Let two main characters witness the same event or be in the same physical place, but let their reflections about it be different. In The Glass Menagerie, Tom’s reflections are colored by memory (Williams even calls it a “memory play”) but Amanda’s (Tom’s mother) thoughts reflect the harsh light of reality. As a result, Tom views his sister Laura in a very different way than his mother does. The resulting conflict that uses Laura as the foil for these observations drives the entire play.

So, two ways you can use the non-fiction role of the Observer in your fiction writing: 1) using a character’s reflections and perceptions to influence the reader’s views and/or 2) letting characters observations be in opposition with one another to create conflict. Both are excellent methods for adding deeper levels of meaning to your stories.

Activity

Go through an existing manuscript. Find a scene that is simply described. Either as an exercise or as an edit, filter that description through the eyes of one of your characters. Let us share in that person's perceptions and observations about the place.

Play safe!

Diana

As always, if you find these workshops helpful, please consider a donation. Writing is my livelihood, after all!

">

What role are you taking?

In academic writing, much attention is paid to the writing situation. What is the purpose of the piece? Are you trying to persuade? To inform? Are you sounding the call to action? What, exactly, do you want your reader to know, understand or do after they’ve finished reading your piece?

According to Mike Palmquist in his book Joining the Conversation, Writing in Collegeand Beyond, there are six basic roles the non-fiction writer plays: the Observer, the Reporter, the Interpreter, the Evaluator, the Problem Solver, and the Advocate.

In fiction, however, these writing situations are often ignored. We think we have a single purpose: to entertain; that we have no other reason for writing a good story than to write a good story.

When it comes to character, though, we shouldn’t ignore these roles. Think about the books you’ve read. How often have you been moved to consider a deeper philosophical question brought up in a fiction work because a character played the role of the Advocate? Viewed a problem in a new light when a character became the Observer? Thrown a book across the room because the unthinking masses adopted the villain’s role as Problem Solver as the correct path?

Over the next few weeks we’re going to take each of these writing situations and look at them in depth from a fiction point of view. How can you use all that academic writing you learned in college and put it to use inside your own stories? It’s easier than you think.

Today we’ll start with the Observer, then next week take on the part of the Reporter, and so on. Ready?

Diana

planting

Oh, my glory. How on earth did our ancestors ever survive? We're putting in six raised garden beds (for vegetables) down at the cabin. They're not large, only 4 feet by 8 feet with three foot paths between them. The fence we're putting in around them is a little over 30' x 26' in area. Big enough, but not huge when you compare the clearing that had to be done for our nation's farmland.

So how did they do it? I'm sore, tired and cranky after two days of chopping roots (we'd cleared the poplar stand earlier, but those roots are everywhere!), and hauling soil and compost. Mostly, though it's the roots that have me appreciating the intensive labor both native Americans and European settlers had to go through in order to farm.

Hats off to them!

Play safe,
Diana

Time to take stock...

Do you realize I've published twenty-four writing workshops already? Just a little over six months worth of writing prompts, choices and ideas to consider. The question now begs to be answered...

My readers are a silent bunch, that much I realized a while back. I get a steady stream of visitors every day, but rarely does anyone post, even when asked a direct question . As a result, I sometimes feel as if I'm dropping these posts down a very long well and have no idea if they hit bottom or if they resonate with anyone.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy writing them and will continue offering workshops on what I've learned along the way. I tend to be a reflective learner, so going through the process of writing it down for others is a way for me to understand my own inner workings (for an example, see After the First Draft).

But working in a vacuum isn't easy and I really need some feedback. Email me at diana@dianahunter.net if you don't want to leave a comment: Are you finding the workshops helpful? If so, which ones are best? If not, what would you prefer?

Thanks for your comments (both positive and negative allowed!)

Diana

Vote on the cover!

Okay, got to playing last night. Which of the three covers below do you like best? Here's a blurb for the story (remember, murder-mystery erotic romance with BDSM and vanilla sex):

When a Hollywood film company comes to town, everyone gets caught up in the excitement. Callie O'Malley sees a way to add realism to her newest crime novel and her best friend, Laura Woodburn, sees her ticket out of town. 


Hal London, heartthrob of stage and screen, figures this is his last Earth Captain movie. The franchise made him rich and now he can be choosy about the parts he takes and indulge in some real acting. His screen sidekick, Alex Hirsh, however, would die to get the leading role. It's no secret he's tired of playing second fiddle and wants his turn as the leading man.


But when an explosion rocks the set and people start dying, secrets come out and fingers point in all directions. Who is the real killer...and will he -- or she-- kill again?


Here are your choices:

Choice A

Choice B

Choice C

Please note: At this point the watermarks for the various elements are still on the mock-ups. Once a final decision is made, I'll purchase the appropriate photos and those marks will be gone.

So here's your opportunity to influence a book cover. Make your choice and put it in the comments below!

 Diana, waiting with baited breath...                                                                              

catching up

I feel like I've just emerged from a long sleep. Or maybe surfaced from a deep underwater dive is a better metaphor. Why? Because I just finished writing a new, as-yet-unnamed, novel. Whee!

I started writing this story back in July, 2011. I had lots of time in the summer, so the first 40,000 words went down pretty fast. But then my day job kicked in and my writing time was relegated to the weekends. I've also found that I don't write well from Thanksgiving till about mid-January. I can write short, slice-of-life stories then, but I just can't stay focused on a large work with all the festivities. "Callie's story" (as it is named on my computer) got set aside and the most I did was pick at it now and again.

That's the problem when people ask me, "How long does it take for you to write a novel?" If I were to actually log my time in front of the keyboard over the past ten months, I'd have to say two to three weeks of 24/7 days. Break it out into 40-hr weeks and the time grows to 8-12 weeks. But because I write on the weekends or at night, or when I'm waiting in the doctor's office, only grabbing a half an hour here or a four-hour stint there, that means I spend 10 months from the start to the end of the first draft.

It didn't help that I tried a new genre with this story. Don't worry, it's still erotic romance with a BDSM twist. I have too much fun with those scenes to stop writing them!

No, what's different is that this erotic romance is couched inside a murder-mystery - and that's new for me. I loved reading Mary Stewart and Victoria Holt when I was a teenager and their mysteries always kept me enthralled. I  tried before to write one and got halfway through before wrote myself into a corner I still haven't gotten out of. One of these days I'll get back to it and find the way out for the hero and heroine.

Now this manuscript is off for editing...and I'm coming up for air. The last of the trees are *just* starting to bud here and I'm thinking tomorrow will be a good day to get myself into the garden and plant a few things -- now that I've remembered the world has kept spinning while I was otherwise engaged.

Play safe,
Diana
PS. I'm playing around with covers. Once I get a few I like, I'll post them here and you-all can vote on your favorite. Yes, this one will be self-pubbed. :)

After the First Draft

I just finished writing my next novel.

Those are wonderful words. And true ones. Over the weekend I finished the first draft of my next release.

The first draft.

Now begins the real work of being a writer.

Remember how I said I am a pantser? I write as the story comes to me, as the characters reveal their peccadilloes and peculiarities, and I like it like that. While I have a general outline in my head (I write romances, so you know the hero and heroine will eventually see what we readers have already figured out), I don’t know the details.

And because I don’t know the details, I often drop little pieces of information that I later forget to pick up. Or I write in an action later in the book that I never set up in earlier chapters.

And this is the hard part. Going back through the manuscript and pulling together the details, tying together the threads that are broken, picking up the ends of those that need to be rewoven into the fabric of the story, and being ruthless in trimming away the extra pieces that don’t fit the pattern.

At this stage, I wait between several days and two weeks before I start again at the top of the story and read with a critical eye, finding each of those details that need dealing with. The easy ones I take care of on this pass through. The harder ones (like cutting entire scenes, which happens!), I often make a comment in the margin to put off the pain and keep going. I will cut what needs to be cut – but sometimes I need to get used to the idea before I actually highlight and remove the offending passage to my “extras” folder.

(Sidenote: I keep an extras folder for every single story I’ve ever written. It contains sometimes only a phrase or sentence that I liked but it didn’t fit [and I might use later in some other story], sometimes it contains entire scenes that didn’t work. These scenes on occasion become short stories of their own [Secret Signs in Timeless Love, for example]).

That’s draft two.

The next go is my eye on continuity. Does my hero keep the same hair color throughout? If they were sitting at the start of the scene and standing at the end of it, did I actually tell the reader that they stood? This is the hardest pass for me since I can see the scenes in my head and I think I’ve got everything covered. Then someone else will read it and invariably, find something I missed.

And then, and only then, is it ready for an editor. Not for readers, for general consumption, but for an editor (see above for one of several reasons why I need one!).

You may notice I don’t do any passes for grammar, spelling or punctuation. That’s because I’m really good at those. Really. Not tooting my own horn here, but my teachers in school made sure I knew how to write good sentences and where the punctuation marks go. Spelling was always easy for me and the words I have trouble with? Well, that’s why we have spellcheckers.

So how is all this a workshop today? I’m leaving you an activity below, but you have to have a first draft of a story (any length) already finished to do it.

Activity:

Make sure some time has passed between the time you finished writing the story and the time you start this activity. Two weeks is reasonable. See why below.

1) Using a separate piece of paper, scroll through your story and mark down the timeline. If it’s a longer story, go day-by-day and chapter-by-chapter. Note what days take up how many chapters. Double check: do you have any scenes that start at one time of day but end in an unrealistic time for the action depicted? (example: I had a scene that started in midafternoon, lasted about an hour and ended with the sun setting. Obvious rewrite needed there!). NOTE: it is not necessary to read your manuscript carefully at this time. You’re looking only at the timeline of events.

2) Start at the beginning of your story and read through with a red pen in hand (if printed out) or the comment button readily available (if using a wordprocessor). Mark it up. Be ruthless. Find the details that don’t matter and cross them out (or delete them entirely). Put a star where you need to add more detail to make the scene come alive. Use that fine-tooth-comb!

3) Set your manuscript away again for a few days. This allows you to gain perspective and “forget” the story’s details. When you pick it up, you’ll do so with fresh eyes.

4) Continuity check. You may have already noted some of things that don’t add up when you went through it for step 2. That’s okay. Give it another go-through and fix all those problems (if you didn’t already).

5) Check for spelling, punctuation and grammar. If you know you have a problem area, this is the time to make sure you didn’t fall into the trap. This is also the time, if you have a problem area, you hand the mss over to someone else with the specific direction to check for spelling (or commas, or split infinitives, etc.).

6) Think it’s ready? Find thyself an editor and release your story to the world!

">

SWTWC releases!

That's the short title for Something Wicked This Way Comes, volume II. Inside you'll find my short story, Sahara Heat, a spicy tale of a blind date that goes very, very right.

An excerpt? You want an excerpt? Oh, okay. :)

From Sahara Heat

Diana Hunter

All Rights Reserved

Carla nodded and stepped back as he slid his keycard into the lock. Briefly she had a very dirty thought about that action, but he slipped inside the room and shut the door behind him before she could give it voice. Which was probably a good thing. Her sense of humor had gotten her into trouble with Doms in the past. Sometimes it was hard to remain submissive when an opportunity arose for a particularly good zinger. And she was a sucker for a good punch line.

The hallway remained empty, for which she was grateful. She needed this. She wasn’t into one-night stands, and it had been a while since she’d last played. Then she chuckled to herself. What was this, if not a one-night layover? He’d be on a plane for Egypt in the morning and back to his sandy princess.

And herself? She’d be back at her computer, rejuvenated and ready to write some very sexy stories, if all went well. Tonight was a win-win if Dr. Josef Anderson could perform as well as she thought he could.

The door opened—and Carla stifled a gasp.

He’d taken off his shoes and stood barefoot on the hotel’s plush carpet. His long blond hair hung loose, framing his Nordic face, a face now filled with power and desire. Where before that power had expressed itself in arrogance, it now took the form of authority and pure male sexuality.

His shirt hung open, revealing a smooth chest and tight muscles, muscles that had turned her knees weak this morning when she first ran into him and he’d caught her so easily. He’d set her on her feet as if she weighed nothing. He could so easily crush her and yet he’d held her as delicately as a rose.

Carla locked her knees lest she melt right there in the hallway.

Behind him, the room glowed with the light of over a dozen candles. Josef held out his hand in invitation. Without hesitation, she took it.

Play safe...and enjoy the new release!

Diana

Writing advice

So far, there are twenty-six workshops in this series. From writing prompts to playing around with genre and over to examining plot devices and character motivations, we've covered a lot of territory. Don't worry, there's more to come! Today, however, we're going to spend some time with the masters of the craft.

The quotes below all come from authors who have achieved a certain amount of fame or accolade from the world at large. Whether playwrights or screenwriters or novelists, we look to them for advice, to find the truth behind their creative processes because, in their words, we find our lessons.

So for today, I offer you advice from those who came before...


"Write freely and as rapidly as possible and throw the whole thing on paper. Never correct or rewrite until the whole thing is down. Rewrite in process is usually found to be an excuse for not going on. It also interferes with flow and rhythm which can only come from a kind of unconscious association with the material."  - John Steinbeck 
(more of his tips here)


"Don't tell me the moon is shining, show me the glint of light on broken glass." - Anton Checkov


"A story should have a beginning, a middle and and end...but not necessarily in that order." - Jean Luc Godard


"The good writers touch life often. The mediocre ones run a quick hand over her. The bad ones rape her and leave her for the flies." - Ray Bradbury


"Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip. Think of what you skip when reading a novel: thick paragraphs of prose you can see have too many words in them. - Elmore Leonard
(his 10 rules are here and worth memorizing!)


"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." -Maya Angelou

"If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it." -Toni Morrison


And my favorite:


"You can approach the act of writing with nervousness, excitement, hopefulness or even despair; the sense that you can never completely put on the page what's in your mind and heart. You can come to the act with your fists clenched and your eyes narrowed, ready to kick ass and take down names. You can come to it because you want a girl to marry you or because you want to change the world. Come to it anyway but lightly. Let me say it again: you must not come lightly to the blank page." - Stephen King

Now go write!

And if you're enjoying the writing workshops, please drop a coin in the box!

">

Blogging at the Scribes!

Longtime fans know I'm part of a collective of writers (collective? Or should that be gaggle? a flock? a pride!). We have both a website and a blog and this week is my turn over there. Stop by and join the discussion!

Play safe,
Diana

PS. These are the last few days to get "I Stay a Little Longer" for 99 cents. Price goes up to $1.99 on Wednesday, so get your copy before the price hike! Available in all ebook formats.

I've been cleaning...

Spring is here (even if the weather is wonky) and I get the urge to clean house. Maybe its because I read too many novels with industrious Victorian mothers who feel it necessary to strip the house of furnishings and give every room the once-over, maybe because my mother scolded a sense of order into me. But whatever the reason, every spring I find myself going through rooms with vacuum in one hand, dust cloth in the other and toting my family behind (who are never as enthusiastic as I am for some reason).

The hardest clean-up, however, is always the study. In particular, the shelves of books in the study. We have well over a thousand-book library with six shelves a yard long devoted to Shakespeare alone. Another seven of the same length are scripts of plays (we were both theatre majors in college and our daughter just graduated with the same degree. She's a stage manager and always looking for her next gig. If you happen to know of any openings., drop me a line!).

It isn't the dusting of them (that's easy), it's the cleaning out to make way for new. What do I give away? Notice I didn't say "toss away." I can't toss books into the recycling bin. On the very rare occasions when a paperback book has become just so disintegrated that its missing pages or that pages are torn, I agonize and apologize to the author when it goes into the blue bin.

But give away I do. Our local library stopped taking used books a couple of years ago so for quite some time the unwanted, but in good shape books collected in boxes in my attic. Then I found out the Salvation Army will take them. I've forgotten how many boxes I took them in that first drop, but it was a lot - and I've given them several more since.

The fact that they're going to a good home, however, doesn't make it any easier. I have to harden my heart and suck it up like a big girl every time a book leaves my hands. What is it about them that makes them so precious? It's not like I don't have enough (obviously we have too many). I grew up in a house that allowed me to keep all the books I bought, so there's no deep-rooted need to hoard in my childhood.

Perhaps it's because they are works of art. For they are, you know. Every one of them. Some are more to my liking than others, but in truth, each one is a creative endeavor on the part of an individual who put thought and time into the creation. One would not give away (or toss!) a Mondrian or Monet, so why would I get rid of a Nora Roberts or David Eddings?

But it's spring and cleaning-time is here. For now the Star Trek books are safe (two shelves worth, a yard across), as are the scripts and Shakespeare. But some of the others have to go.Let the agony begin!

Play safe,
Diana

Characterization III

How well do you know your characters? Do you know what they hold as truths so evident they don't even need to be spoken? Do you know what abhors them? What makes them smile? What revolts them and everything in between?

When we speak of characterization, we're really talking about what makes up a person's character. What he/she holds as near and dear. How the character behaves when no one's watching. Who he/she is at the very core of his/her being.

To that end, below the jump is a jpg. you can print out and use as a way to rank what's important to your protagonists (and antagonists -- they have character, too!). Take your time over this. What is the most important value your characters holds as truth? What values are less important?

Then go through your manuscript and see if that truth shines through. Does your character actually behave the way he/she would if that value were the most important? Can you create a scene (or even add in a line or two) that reflects the values not deemed important?

For example: Two people in a fancy restaurant having just finished an expensive meal. Both pull out credit cards to split the bill and one waves the other off. "My turn," the character says. 

We know several things from this generic scene, including that one character is generous with money. That's a value statement. Now imagine the other character comes back with this:

"No, I won't be beholding to you for anything. I'll pay for my own meal and you can keep your money."

An entirely new value comes into play. Was the first character's motivation altruism? Or power? Is the second character's reaction based on independence? Or is it a plea to save face?

You see how important values are to the character of a character?

(SIDENOTE: To some writers, plot is the most important element of a story. Think Lord of the Rings or the Star Wars trilogy. What happens is more important than what the characters think of what's happening. Any of the current crop of superhero movies tends to be the same (with the arguable exception of the latest incarnation of the Batman series with Christian Bale in the title role).

To other writers, however, character is the most important element. Who the events happen to are the most interesting part. The motivations, the thoughts that go on inside their heads - these form the basis for the story.  Think Jane Eyre or Stuck in Neutral or heck, anything by yours truly!

(sidenote to the sidenote: wait till you get a load of the cover on this copy of Jane Eyre. What on earth were they thinking???)

Both approaches obviously have their place. And of course, the best literature is that which equalizes the two; stories where both what happens and who it happens to are of equal interest to the reader. Feel free to name your favorites in the comments.)

Okay, get to work! Remember, the jpg is below the jump and you can save to your computer and print out as needed. What are the most important values to your character?

Inspiration

Artists often choose their subjects from the pages of literary works. From the ancient tales of the Ramayana to the 20th century writings of JRR Tolkien, painters, sketch artists and sculptors have been inspired by story.

But the reverse is also true. A sketch, a photograph or a painting often works to inspire a writer. Who is the person in that painting? What is his/her story? What's happened just before this photo was taken to make this scene so lonely, so scary, so beautiful?

When using art for inspiration, it helps to go back to the old newpaperman questions: Who, What, Where, When and Why? Add in How and you have an entire story.

Below are two pictures you can use for inspiration, although any photograph or artwork will do. Use the questions below to get the creative juices flowing:

• Who: Who is in the picture? Why is he/she there? Who is missing from the pic?
• What: What is going on in the picture? What is the action? What emotions are evoked by looking at the scene? What emotions are the people in the picture expressing? Why do you think they're having those emotions?
• Where: Remember, there are three ways to think of setting: geographical, historical and physical. To that end,  Where is the scene set as far as location? What time period is it? What are the physical details of the scene?
• When: When does this scene take place? The time of day? the season? Are there any cultural mores that come into play because of when it's set?
• Why: Why on earth would anyone want to capture this scene to begin with? Why is it important?
• How: How did this person (these people) get here in the first place? How will they get out of their situation? How will they react to what is happening? (NOTE: This is where you build your conflict. The others are all details, but here is where it turns into a story instead of a news report).

Ready?

Who: Who is in the picture? Why is he/she there? Who is missing from the pic?

What: What is going on in the picture? What is the action? What emotions are evoked by looking at the scene? What emotions are the people in the picture expressing? Why do you think they're having those emotions?

Where: Remember, there are three ways to think of setting: geographical, historical and physical. To that end,  Where is the scene set as far as location? What time period is it? What are the physical details of the scene?

When: When does this scene take place? The time of day? the season? Are there any cultural mores that come into play because of when it's set?

Why: Why on earth would anyone want to capture this scene to begin with? Why is it important?

How: How did this person (these people) get here in the first place? How will they get out of their situation? How will they react to what is happening? (NOTE: This is where you build your conflict. The others are all details, but here is where it turns into a story instead of a news report).

Go write!

If you like this workshop, please donate to the cause!

">

Reading!

Okay, so a week off from the day job leads to two things: lots of writing (nearly 10,000 words this week -- newest novel is nearly finished!) and lots of reading (3 books this week!). Will hold off telling you about the latest work in progress (will save for a later post when the first draft is done. Don't want to jinx it.) but here are the four books I read:

Decided I didn't want to wait to borrow the rest of the Hunger Games series, so went out and bought Catching Fire and Mockingjay. I really liked Suzanne Collins' writing style. She's clean and sparse, yet I never had trouble envisioning the characters in my head. Am I the only one, though, who sees a young Sean Astin in the role of Peeta? Good reads all the way through.

Just before break a friend handed me a copy of The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein and told me I was going to love it. Sorry. Didn't. It isn't that I don't like philosophy books hidden inside novels, I do. My favorite is Illusions by Richard Bach followed closely by Ishmael by Daniel Quinn. My husband is reading Eat, Pray, Love  by Elizabeth Gilbert and tells me I'm going to like it when he's done (saw the movie and enjoyed that, so looking forward to reading the book).

No, I'm afraid I'm just not the target audience of The Art of Racing in the Rain, kinda the same way I'm not really the target audience for Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance --and pretty much for the same reasons. The metaphor just doesn't resound with me. I'm not into car racing, so didn't relate to Racing because Stein used that extended metaphor to get his philosophies across. Plus, I'm not a dog person. Don't really like dogs (have been afraid of them ever since I can remember) and while the narrator of the book (Enzo, the protagonist's dog) is one cool animal, I still am not a dog person.

So don't let my shrug towards The Art of Racing in the Rain dissuade you. You like dogs? You'll enjoy it. You like the races? You'll like this book. You like philosophy? You'll like this book. Me? I'm just odd that way...

Play safe, everyone!
Diana
PS. Do you find the links helpful? I'm never sure if anyone uses them to learn more about the authors or to look at the books? Drop me a comment or an email and let me know?

Writing the synopsis

I debated quite a while before deciding to go ahead and post this workshop. At one point, the synopsis was a necessary step to selling your novel. If the purpose of the cover letter was to get the editor/agent to read the synopsis, then the purpose of the synopsis was to get the editor/agent to request the full manuscript. With more authors not going the agent route or opting to self-publish, however, the synopsis is needed less often for that purpose.

Then again, there are many authors who start with the synopsis. They flesh out their entire story before sitting down to write it out. Those writers are "plotters" and I discussed that approach here. For those, the synopsis is an important writing tool whose importance is vital. I did this only once and only because there were three of us writing intertwining stories so we all had to be sure our plot lines and characters meshed (for the record, I hated it and haven't done it since). Remember, I'm a pantser, so, with only the one exception, I always write my synopses after I've written the novel.

The guidelines below are written with selling in mind. although there are lots of reasons to write one even if you're not using it to snag that agent or editor. Is it for you to work out a plot complication or character arc? Will you be using any of it in the description boxes of some of the self-publishing sites? Who, besides you, is going to see it?

The answers to those questions will go a long way toward quelling any nervousness you might feel at condensing your story. With any luck, the "rules" below will take away the rest of the stress. :)

Rules of thumb for writing a synopsis:

1. If you're writing a synopsis because you're sending your manuscript to a publisher and it's required, first find out what the editor/publisher wants! Some want only 2 pages, others want more. Check their websites; many publishers put their requirements right out there. The current trend is to shorter a shorter synopsis.

2. Length – when all else fails, 1-2 pages of synopsis for every 100 pages of manuscript. Another alternative is to give one paragraph to each chapter.

3. Write it in present tense, and in 3^rd person.

4. Tell the ENTIRE story, including the ending. Fill it with spoilers!

5. That said, stick to the MAIN plot. Unless the subplot eventually weaves into the main one, it’s best to leave it out.

6. Write spare. Don’t fill it up with adjectives and adverbs.

See? Nothing to be afraid of. It really isn't that bad. The biggest thing to remember is that you're telling, not showing your story.

There are TONS of websites that will give you lots of conflicting advice. My guidelines come from my own experience and from Absolute Write (the site uses The Lady and the Tramp as a model. Language is simplistic, but certainly easy to follow!). And if you're still nervous, have others read it over for you, preferably people who haven't read your novel. They'll tell you if they're confused or if you're saying too much.

I've been offering these writing workshops for several months now. You can view the entire list of them here. If you've found any of them useful, please consider a donation. Thanks!   Diana

">

Reading books!

Just wanted to bring my "Books Read This Year" list up-to-date. Not too many to add this time, though.

First one to add is The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean, the book my book club is reading this month. The prologue put me off some and I was concerned about the voice but it got better the more I read. Still felt like she was telling me the story too much though. I prefer to "see" the action more clearly. And, if this is released as a "super ebook", I hope they include pictures of the paintings she described. The word-descriptions were very well done, but I'd like to see the actual paintings as well.

Am also re-reading One Child by Torey Hayden before I teach it. This will be my sixth or seventh time through the book and it gets to me every time. If you haven't read it, this is a must read.

Last, but not least (actually, none of these three are least. I liked them all, though for very different reasons), is Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I'd read it before, but wanted to read it again before going to see the movie. Haven't read the other two books yet, so no spoilers! I only got halfway through before we went to see it and I thought the movie stayed true to the spirit of the book even if it changed up some of the details. They make good companion pieces. 'Nuff said. Any more and I'll be breaking my own no-spoiler rule!

That it for now. Play safe and read more!
Diana

The Brink of Spring

Every year my husband remarks on how fast the trees go from their first budding to full-leafed in what seems a matter of hours. One day they're budding, the next morning they're all leafed out and ready for summer. I tell him that's just because he's not looking. He sees the start of spring, then gets busy and doesn't look up until he's standing in the shade.

Last year we made a concerted effort to watch the trees unfold. We both remarked on them when the buds appeared and made daily progress comments to each other. Within four days, the trees were decked out in new leaves. Congratulating ourselves, we made a pact to watch every year and not miss a moment of the season's changes.

For many of us in North America, however, this year our Spring awakening is on hold. As early as February, the flowering bulbs started popping up and by mid-March, many gardens were in full bloom. The forsythia blossomed, the fruit trees bloomed and the trees came out with tiny leaf-buds ready to pop.

And then Spring entered a holding pattern. For the past two weeks, nothing has changed. My forsythia is still blossoming, the yellow flowers brighter than I've ever seen them. The daffodils and narcissus are nodding in the breeze just as happy now as they were when they first came out. My hyacinth are still making my garden fragrant and the trees are still budding with their new leaves.

I'm a writer and use words to capture the scene. My husband is a painter. This paused spring gave us the opportunity to really pore over what happens to the trees, giving us the luxury of extended study. You can see his painting here. It's almost as if Mother Nature hit the "hold" button, slowing everything down so we could take a good, long look at the miracle that's wrought every year. The colors are more delicate, and in fact, more reminiscent of autumn with so much of the branches still showing through. The light is brighter, probably because the leaves are still in their infancy. The entire scene speaks of sunlight and promise, just what spring should be.

Soon the seasons will move on again, Mother Nature will let go of the button and send us on our way. But for right now, I'm very much enjoying the extension of a too-brief moment.

Play safe, everyone!
Diana

PS. The link for Steven's painting is a Facebook link. He doesn't have it on his website yet. If you want to see the speed painting, you can go here (it's on YouTube). Be sure to subscribe while you're there! :)

Pantsing

No, I'm not talking about what happened in junior high when someone pulled your pants down. I mean pantsing as in "flying by the seat of your pants." And that's what many writers do.

I am an admitted pantser. I start my stories with no clear idea of where they're going to go or what's going to happen. I've tried writing synopses before but, once I finish them, I find I'm no longer interested in writing the story. I already know how its going to turn out, why would I want to spend any more time on it?

So yes, I start, let the characters dictate the story and reel them back in only when I see they're moving too far off the main story line. How do I know the main story line? I write romance and it isn't hard to find. Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back. Basic plot line.

And that's probably why I spend so much time with my characters and fleshing them out. All my stories are more character-driven than plot driven. We all know the basic plot. The fun is watching new people, people we've never met before, come up with new reactions, new perspectives on the regular old plot. Remember, there are only 37 plots to begin with!

Although I compose my stories on the computer, I have a spiral notebook with pages dedicated to each character. As decisions are made regarding physical appearance, character traits, likes/dislikes, or any other information that comes out in the story, I write it down in the notebook just so I have a reference to go back to when I can't remember his hair color or whether she said she liked Italian food or that it gave her indigestion.

I also include a timeline of events as they unfold. This serves me well after the first draft of the story is written (my "throwing up" on paper, or the computer screen nowadays). Once the entire story is drafted, I can use the timeline to make sure I didn't leave any plot holes or start a subplot and then drop it partway through. Some people might call this plotting, but since I do it AFTER I've written the story, I consider it an editing tool rather than what a true plotter does.

Does this mean I sometimes overwrite? That I write too much story and have to pare down? Of course. But I like it that way. I hate writing the first draft and then finding holes. I'd much rather write extra and have to condense and tighten up the story. In fact, every single novel I've ever published has a companion folder on my computer called "extras". These are pieces of the story I cut out - sometimes only a paragraph in length - sometimes entire scenes. I throw nothing away.

Later those extra pieces sometimes become stories of their own, like "Secret Signs", a cut scene from Secret Submission that is now included in the Timeless Love anthology. Sometimes I change the character names and they become entirely new stories (Love in the Afternoon). And sometimes they just sit there, waiting their turn.

So...are you a pantser or a plotter?

">