If you wanna write a novel…here’s how
Posted on September 16, 2014 1 Comment
by DiAnn Mills
DiAnn Mills is a mentor of mine through Christian Writers Guild’s Craftsman class. They just renamed it to Fiction Intensive. The book, Dance of Character and Plot is a primer for writing fiction. I recently talked with DiAnn about the book. It’s a great book for beginning novelists. It’s easy to understand and there are great exercises at the end of each chapter. Thank you DiAnn, for being a great teacher and a great woman!
Donna: Why another book about writing?
DiAnn: I wanted to write a simple book on how to write a novel. Something simple that would give you resources like how to write dialogue, and here are a couple of resources to help you with that. #2 I have all these workshops – and maybe I’ve massaged them a bit for a blog – but I’ve always wanted to take all those and throw them into a ‘how-to’ book.
Donna: What would you say are the most important elements to writing a good novel?
DiAnn: Characterization. Always character. Think about the books you love. Think about the characters that you remember – anything from Gone with the Wind to Divergent. It’s the characters who I care about. I guess that’s why I called it The Dance of Character & Plot. Because it is a dance.
Donna: That was my next question. Why did you call it a dance?
DiAnn: Because that’s what you do. You take this person – their quirks and their personality, writing their backstory – all of that – here’s all their strengths, their fears – and the challenge is they’ve already selected the ten people who are going to the moon. What is in my personality that will allow them to take eleven – or what is in my personality that one of the others can be replaced? It works together. My problems and your problems are different because of who we are. How you approach them and how I approach them depend on who you are. Read More
My Writing Process Blog Tour
Posted on September 16, 2014 Leave a Comment
I want to thank the talented Justina Luther for inviting me on this lovely blog tour. Check out her blog! She loves to write fiction, and she’s prolific. Visit her blog by clicking here.
I also want to thank everyone who has read, commented on, liked, and followed my blog! I love writing and sharing my thoughts with you. I hope you are uplifted and encouraged as you read, and maybe sometimes – challenged and inspired.
Without further ado, let the tour commence!
1) What am I working on?
I just completed my novel, Meghan’s Choice. I entered it into Operation First Novel, a contest from Christian Writer’s Guild. I’m also thinking about entering it into a contest sponsored by Westbow Press. I’m going to wait a bit to see if I make the cut on Op. 1st Novel before entering the Westbow contest.
Next week, I’ll be attending a large writer’s conference, where I will pitch the novel to editors and agents. We’ll see what happens. If necessary, I would say, towards the beginning of next year, I’ll know whether I have to self-publish it. If I do, I’ll probably do it POD. Remember that from about 3-4 posts ago?
I’m trying to blog more regularly and expand what is called my platform, and in so doing, expand myself to be a better person.
I also contribute once a month to When Readers Write, a group blog of some of us from a Christian Writer’s Guild Craftsman class. Read More
My Lovely Blog Award
Posted on September 15, 2014 3 Comments
What would I do without Justina Luther? She is one heck of a lady!
Thank you so much, Justina Luther, visit her blog here, for nominating me for this award! It means a lot. Justina is a very generous person. She passes along her good fortune to me!
Here’s the rules for this award:
- You must thank the person who nominated you and include a link to their blog.You must list the rules and display the award.
- You must add 7 facts about yourself.
- You must nominate 15 (or more) other bloggers and comment on one of their posts to let them know they have been nominated.
- You must display the award logo and follow the blogger who nominated you.
The Liebster Award
Posted on September 12, 2014 Leave a Comment
Thank you to Justina Luther for nominating me for the Liebster Award. I definitely need to read more blogs myself if I expect my blog to be read by others. So – thanks again Justina, for stretching me. Here’s a link to her blog: http://justinaluther.wordpress.com
The rules are as follows:
- Link and thank the person who nominated you
- Answer the questions they asked you
- Pick eleven bloggers or writers (I’m changing the rules) to nominate them. I pick my friends and acquaintances no matter what their numbers. Some don’t even have blogs yet. Hopefully this will encourage them to start one. 🙂
- Ask them eleven questions
- Let them know by commenting on one of their posts
Discover new blogs!
Here are the 11 questions I had to answer.
Why do you blog or write?
I have no idea. No – ha ha. I love to write, and my writing journey has been a long one and on and off, depending on what season I was in life. Started blogging in 2009 with a soapbox blog, a chocolate business blog, and a book review blog.
- What writing projects are you working on?
I’ve drafted my historical romance novel, Meghan’s Choice, recently entered into Christian Writer’s Guild’s Operation First Novel contest. I’m also ACFW Area Coordinator for Pennsylvania, where I live.
What is your #1 dream in life?
To serve the Lord wherever He puts me. Always has been. 🙂 I would like to my dying day (someday far in the future, I hope) and be able to say “I did what I was put here to do. I finally found it and was able to enjoy doing it.” Read More
The Bookshelf Tag
Posted on September 11, 2014 3 Comments
First of all, shout out to Justina Luther http://justinaluther.wordpress.com for this tag. And I appreciate everyone who reads or looks at this blog. It’s a work in progress and I’m still feeling my way through it, trying to discover what people want to read. Be on the lookout for Justina, she’s hot on the bloggers scale right now! Check her out to see all the awards she’s gotten so far! Way to go girl!
Note: Even if the links don’t work, please copy and paste in your browser. Thanks.
I’m changing the rules a bit. I’m tagging seven people, my fellow craftsman:
Amy Nowak – http://amynowak.com/
Guy Gourley – http://guygourley.wordpress.com
Christina Banks – http://christinabanks.com
Jen Sloniger – http://jensloniger.com
Natalie Walters – http://nataliewalters.wordpress.com
Simni Ogunyinka – http://www.pleasantwritersguild.com/
and last but not least – Meagan Briggs – http://theemptyinkwell.wordpress.com
THE RULES For ‘The Bookshelf Tag’: Answer the following questions about books, and then tag five other bloggers. You can answer the questions any way you want, whether it’s on your blog, in a video, or a combination of the two. Then remember to let whoever tagged you know when your post is up so they can read it.
1) Is there a book that you really want to read but haven’t because you know that it’ll make you cry?
I’m never afraid of a good cry. The only fiction books I stay away from are those that are horror (I hate horror), and more X-rated or R-rated romance or detective stories. Those are just lewd and disgusting. Read More
New Look, New Focus, Yet Still the Same
Posted on September 9, 2014 Leave a Comment
This week’s theme is changing your mind. I’ve been changing mine about several things lately.
Changing My Mind
What have I been changing my mind about? It’s a woman’s prerogative, isn’t it?
Last week, I entered my novel in another contest. To do that, I had to chop 14,000 words. I didn’t think I could do it, but I did. I thought more, then thought some more.
First, I changed my mind about cutting another 10,000 words from my novel, Meghan’s Choice. Soon, I’ll post a scene from my unpublished novel for you all to look at and tell me what you think.
Second, I changed the look of this blog. I love the color blue. It’s always been one of my favorite colors. Because I stepped out and am going to be attending the American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) national conference in St. Louis in two weeks (eeek!), I felt I needed to upgrade my web image to a bit more professional, and I got business cards that are blue, too. Read More
Self Publishing Writing Tips
Posted on September 4, 2014 2 Comments
Last week I shared that I was reading a two books in one set and I could tell it was self-published. How could I tell? Let’s talk about it.
Signs of a Self-Published Book
First, the story rambled on and on and on. I think the author was trying to write a sweeping saga or something. In writing romance, your main story line is to get the guy and the girl together. Mostly, that happens at the very end. But there are ways to get them together earlier. Then, you do have to throw in some dangers to the relationship. Will they, can they stay together? This author did that, and she did fine.
But…she could have put both books together in one. It was too long.
Second, loose writing. Here’s what I mean by that. Saying something in ten words but you could have said it in five. If the author had an editor, they did a rather sloppy job of it. If you have to publish your novel yourself, at least pay a published author who offers editing services to do a substantive edit on your book.
I used to wonder why certain publishing contests or publishing houses have specific word count maximums in their submissions. I think I understand now. It’s because authors are wordy. Because we love words, we use too many of them.
Third, because I also have this problem from time to time, I recognize it in other works. It’s called “head hopping.” Each scene in a novel should be written from a particular character’s point of view. You “head-hop” when the author has more than one point of view per scene. Sometimes, it shows up in one sentence or two. But it’s noticeable. How do I know? If the point of view character can’t or doesn’t know something about another character or situation, but the author sticks in what another thinks or feels without it being dialogue, that’s head-hopping.
I noticed this a few times in the books. I was surprised because this author has several books out on the market. Maybe they are all self-published. Read More
Just when you think you’re done
Posted on August 29, 2014 2 Comments
Judean desert
You’ve gone through revision after revision after revision. Will the process ever be finished? You feel like you’re in the desert and it will never end. And just when you think you’re done – you make another decision, which causes even more work.
What I’ve already done
1. Once I’d written the first draft over a year ago, I edited it down from about 110,000 to about 100.000 words.
2. I had professionally edited by a former mentor who had me cutting out a lot so I could put in a lot.
3. She and I went through this substantive edit – twice.
I should be done – right? Nope.
Read more… Read More
Process Continues – revisions in life and writing
Posted on August 21, 2014 Leave a Comment
This week, I promised to talk about writing again. I feel I’ve written the story several times already, with each revision, each run through, it does seem I’ve written several stories within the one overall story of Meghan’s Choice.
Whose story are you telling? Yours – or – someone else’s.
I’m asking a question today – because I ran into this challenge while writing my novel. What – or – whose – story are you writing?
I had two mentors while drafting my novel. When dealing with some of the specific scenes or characterizations, it seemed my two mentors disagreed. At that point, I had to make a decision.
Whose story was I going to write? Read More
Patience in the Process
Posted on August 13, 2014 Leave a Comment
One thing I am not – is patient. Well, sometimes I can be, but I feel the older I get, the more IM-patient I act. I’m not sure why this is, but I’ve known older folks that had a hard time waiting.
Spring Daffodils growing
It’s not just about waiting – it’s about not blowing my stack when something doesn’t go my way. I wish I could be like the daffodils. They don’t have to worry about HOW they’re growing – they just grow – in response to light, warmth, and water. Hmmm. Reminds of a verse I learned as a child from the Gospel of Matthew. “Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither nor spin yet Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.”
What’s the point here? I’ve heard it said, “This too shall pass.” It will eventually, and things will be different. It’s when we lose hope for change in ourselves and in others that tragedies occur, such as what happened over the weekend with a popular comedian. When we battle the same things for years and years, we lose hope when nothing changes – or the changes are for the worse.
I’ve battled low self-esteem and some depression since I was a young woman. But I have hope that nothing bad lasts forever. I’m determined to be like the daffodil. As long as I respond to light, love, warmth, and water – I’ll be OK.
What if you don’t have access to the right elements – light, love, warmth, and water? Seek them out. Seek them in the people who love you. Seek them in a community of fellow men who believe in those things. Read More
Donna L.H. Smith 