personal stakes Category

Keeping the Middle Moving––Part I

Posted on June 21, 2017 Leave a Comment

You’ve heard of it––in more than one way. That awful, sagging, middle. In fiction, a sagging middle will bog down your story. Click to Tweet The reader may decide to stop reading. Not what you want. #keepmiddlemoving #amwriting

Story-fixing Your Novel––Part V

Posted on February 8, 2017 Leave a Comment

This week, we’ll talk about escalation and how to fix some issues having to do with get the snowball down the mountain. It’s picking up speed, gaining momentum, and it will eventually become an avalanche. This is what needs to happen with your story. Click to Tweet #amwriting #storyfixing

Story-fixing Your Novel––Part IV

Posted on January 18, 2017 Leave a Comment

This time we’re talking about setbacks. How can hindrances, hold-ups, delays, impediments, and obstructions to your protagonist can actually help move your story along? Click to Tweet #amwriting #story-fixing

Putting Fire in Your Fiction–Part IV

Posted on June 17, 2015 Leave a Comment

Last time, we talked about tension. Tension is the most necessary ingredient in any fiction you write. Click to tweet. Using Donald Maass’ The Fire in Fiction as a resource, we covered Tension in Dialogue, Tension in Action, and Tension in Exposition. Today, we’ll look at sprucing up low-tension scenes and avoiding the traps.

One Thing I Know

I follow Christ. His timing is perfect, and sometimes I get it right, and sometimes, I’ve tried to step out when it wasn’t the right time. I’ve done “previews” of what I felt God wanted me to do before and have met with some small success, but it was never the right time and nothing […]

Delay, Delay, Delay, Part 1

It seems as though my life has been made up of one delay after another — with the possible exception of my birth. I was small, only 5 lb., 8 oz. and had to be in an incubator for some days. I was released from the hospital when I was 13 days old. My first […]

FINISHING WELL

My first two novels went like clockwork, once the literary agency I was signed with decided to publish them through a special Amazon program. Meghan’s Choice was released in November 2017, and Rose’s Redemption followed in 2018. No problem. More about this in the next post.