Purple Hearts

Inspiration is a funny thing.

It comes at weird times in different ways and surprising avenues. Sometimes just hearing or thinking about things outside your normal scope of interest can spur a inspired moment.

Here are some things that have inspired me in the last week:

Marissa Doyle’s first book, Bewitching Season, came out – it’s a fun read with character’s you’ll fall in love with. Don’t believe me? Go check out her character being interviewed at NineteenTeen for a chance to win a copy.

Marley Gibson’s first two books came out this week and seeing her joy – as well as getting to share it – at her book launch party was so inspiring!

My CP while looking at Markbearer came back this week to tell me how much she enjoyed reading it. My CP is asking for book two!

My characters have been driving me crazy. They want their stories told now! And hearing the questions people are asking about the next book, does this happen, is that person good or bad, will these two end up together. . . Is definitely inspiring!

StumbleUpon is a new toy for me. Sanroe was kind enough to kick off the Purple Heart’s summary page and now I’m addicted to clicking the next button to see what’s out there. I’ve found title generators, fun writing prompts, industry information, and other author’s sharing their stories – all these make me want to set pen to paper.

Other writers – I was lucky enough to hear Diana Groe (Emily Bryan) speak last night. She was witty, intelligent and informative. I’ve gone to hunt down another one of her books already. She told a great story about Staying Published – it really pushed me to keep moving forward.

Classes and Classmates – I’m taking Margie Lawson’s online class on Deep EDITing and highly recommend it. But one of the most inspiring moments so far was when Margie quoted classmate Nancy Haddock’s next book as an example. WOW! To get your book quoted in a class as a strong example of great craft – not to mention being in the class when it happened.  Plus, I was even more excited knowing that Nancy was blogging for us this month too!

Spring (or summer or fall or winter) – While fall will always be my favorite season, any time the weather changes seems to be a kick in the butt for me – Each season a earthy-makeover for the landscape around us.

So, find something this week that makes you look at your writing with new eyes, excited and inspired and then, Go Write
bria

Since I began writing I’ve heard the horror stories.

I sent in a query and never heard back.

Such and Such agent/editor has had my partial for nine months and still nothing.

She asked for sample pages and responded eleven months later.

So, when I sent out my query and thought “I’ll have a week of and then can start a slow read of my manuscript to take care of all the little stuff,” I didn’t think this would be a problem.

Then it began – the request for partials came any where from one hour and forty-eight minutes to not yet (two weeks later and only on the snail-mail queries.)

I’ll admit it. I’m shocked. I had been programmed to believe that the publish industry moves like molasses from start to finish. Apparently, it starts like shooting the rapids and slows to a meandering river.

And then the real shocker – A request for a Full (note the capitalization)

Now, with all the little things to do, I’ve canceled every other aspect of my life I could: Dinners with friends, hearing speakers, going to the movies, reading.

It’s amazing how long the ‘little things’ take. Sure, each one really does take just a second or two, but how many are there? Are you sure you got them all? Did changing one make you go back to adjust another?

So, take this as a cautionary tale. Polishing should be done before Querying. I know they say that, and we all think — “But I’m going to have weeks, maybe months, before I hear back from anyone.”

Don’t do it.

Learn from me.

And Go Write,

-bria

Just like any career, a writing career should have certain parameters. And, also like any other career, starts out as a job.

Let’s take a look:

JOB DESCRIPTION: A standard job description has a list of duties, hours worked, who you report to, and who your “customers” are.

For example: Author: Works a set standard of 2 hour a day minimum, seven days a week. Her duties include: writing, editing, researching, synopsizing, querying, critiquing for CP, weekly CP meeting and other duties as needed. Author is her own boss as well has having a dotted-line reporting to CP.

MANAGER: The person you report to.

For example: Author reports to self to hit self designated goals with dotted-line reporting to CP to hit group goals and to be accountable for self-outlined goals.

Future supervisors: Agent and Editor.

BENEFITS: Forms of payment, monetary and otherwise.

For example: Author receives 2 Starbucks Venti Black Iced Teas for every week she completes her hours. At the end of project deadlines, there will be a large bonus as ascribed at the beginning of the project if target dates are hit.

VACATION: Time off from work.

For example: Between each large deadline, author receives one week off time (ie post-Fast Drafting, post-Revisions, post-polish, etc.)
Vacation time must be planned in advance.

SICK TIME & PERSONAL TIME: Unforeseen time when work hours are missed. This is at the discretion of your manager.

PERKS AND LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES: The company shall set aside $30 weekly for the author to pursue learning and professional opportunities.

Remember, like any job you need to like what you do and dedicate yourself to your tasks. Treating your writing as a job is the only way to make it a career. Act professionally, plan strategically and know where your going.

But most importantly, Go Write.
-bria

Check out Jessica’s post below on her conference experience. I’d like to second everything she said.

After the conference, my is-adorable Critique Partner stuck around for a few days to pound through some pages. It’s the first time we’ve done this and we learned a lot about structuring our visits. Here’s the Top Ten List we came up with at 1am.

1. You never need as much junk food as you think you do when you’re standing in the grocery story
2. Sometimes, not having the Internet is a very good thing
3. Sometimes, not having the Internet is an absolutely horrible thing
4. Goals. Goals. Goals.
5. Sleep is completely overrated
6. Sleep is your friend, try to get more of it
7. When having to do the dreaded synopsis, having your CP sitting across the table from you waiting to see it forces you to stop crying and write the darn thing
8. If you aren’t agreeing on a critique point, often getting away from it can make you see what your CP is trying to tell you - She’s often right, that’s why she’s your CP
9. Don’t tie your visits around another big event - the conference she came for was great, but we focused so much of our energy on it that we were too beat to get everything out of our visit we would have liked
10. Critique Partners are a unique relationship. I have amazing women who crit my stuff online and also my week-by-week CP, Ann. If you’re not building these relationships, get out there and do it. They are invaluable. We both agree, we learn as much working on the other person’s stuff as we do our own.

Now, stop thinking about visits and meetings and conferences, and Go Write!
-bria

Often in the comments or in the writer’s forum I’m in, newer writers as about the meaning of words or acronyms. For example, when I started writing a more experienced writer told me “show don’t tell me what’s going on.” I thought she wanted me to send her the actual pages so she could look at them. Yeah. I’ve learned a lot.

Here are some of the things that caught me up when I started writing. I’d love to hear some stories from you as well!

ARC - “Advanced Readers Copies” are an early printing of your book typically sent to reviewers and booksellers.

CP - “Critique Partner” - Read my post HERE on setting up that relationship so it will be successful

Dialogue Tag - These show the reader who’s speaking. There are two types, speaker attribution tags (Bria said) and action/beat tags (Bria rolled her eyes)

Genre Fiction - Specific type of novel (Mystery, Romance, Fantasy, etc)

MS - “Manuscript”

Partial - Typically a synopsis and three chapters (although this can vary by requester)

Plagiarism - Because apparently this needs to be addressed lately. If you didn’t write it and you use it without credit, that’s plagiarism. Period.

POV - “Point of View” dictates who is telling the story and how. Writing On The Wall did a great break down blog on this HERE

Query - A one page letter asking an editor or agent if they would be interested in your project

RUE - “Resist the Urge to Explain” - if you’re seeing this, you’re reader is telling you they g

SASE - “Self-Addressed Stamped Envelope” - When sending a query, partial, submission to an editor or agent, always include a SASE and ensure that it has enough postage for the return mailing

Series / Line - Sometimes it’s just better to point the way. Kate Elliot has a great post on classifying series HERE

Show V Tell - If you’re hearing this a lot, you’re most likely trying to tell the reader how your character feels instead of showing the reaction. The very impressive Maria V Snyder has a clear discussion of it HERE

Single Title - A book that stands alone and is not part of a series

Sub-genre - A further division of a genre. For example, if you’re reading a romance set in a historical time period, it’s a Historical Romance. Set in the early American west, it’s a Western Romance, and so on

Synopsis - A brief overview of your story that highlights key plot elements, emotional development, conflict and outcome

WIP - “Work In Progress” - Whatever project you’re working on that isn’t complete

Hope that helps some of our newer readers. I’m sure everyone has a different ‘what they wish they had known’ story, feel free to add them in the comments.

Then, Go Write,
-bria

Being able to tell a great story is only part of succeeding as an author. It’s those pesky words and mechanics that get in the way. Here’s a quick run down of some of the most common word errors.

Don’t be that guy.

In to/Into AND Onto/On to - Into/Onto are prepositions, so they need an object.  For example: Into the house, Onto the table, Into the car. . .

Tina Blue has a great example of how to keep them straight. Just remember these two examples:

1. She turned her paper in to the teacher.
2. She turned her paper into the teacher. POOF - Her paper is now a teacher!

Its/It’s AND Who’s/Whose -  I struggled with this one when I was young. Which word gets the apostrophe? In both cases it’s the contraction - remember, the apostrophe replaces the missing letters. IT’S it’s.

Affect/Effect - Affect: To influence. Effect: A result. Check out Grammar Girl for great guidelines.

Farther/Further - Farther is a distance. Further is a greater degree.
She drove farther to get here than I did. This matter will take further investigation.

Who/That - Remember, a person is a “who” - Jessica, who is on the blog with me, writes great posts.

Often a mistake commonly made is writing how we speak. For example: could of, should of, would of. These should actually be could/would/should have.  “I should have checked my spelling before handing in my paper.”

A typical new writer mistake are homonyms, words that sound alike but are spelled different and have different meanings. When I’m writing on auto-pilot, my biggest homonym error is Thrown/Throne. My hero is not going to claim his ‘thrown’ - no matter how many times I type it.  Check out Alan Cooper’s “All About Homonyms” page - he has an amazing list!

So there are the basic mistakes I struggled with when I began writing. Let’s hear yores - I mean yours.

-bria

I’ll admit, I didn’t think I’d be ready for the Golden Heart deadline and, being the superstitious Boston Irish that I am, I feared I’d final.But I didn’t. No surprise there.

The happy surprise is that, while not moving on to the final round for the national award, I’m pretty sure I won.

When the first deadline came about in December, I had been writing for about six months. I loved my story. I loved my characters. I liked my writing. But I had a lot to learn, and in the last several months I’ve submerged myself in it.

Craft books, workshops on CD, self-editing guides, reading for more than just enjoyment, working with amazing women on the Diva board (the entry never would have been in the mail without Mamad, Kaige, Lanie, Neith and a lot of help from those as I did chat drive-by’s) and partnering with the Lovely Ann as my CP.

The experience has been hair-raising. My Murphy’s Law fear pushed me to be as close to complete and polished as possible. My availability pushed back. And the friction that caused - well, it bettered my writing by an unimaginable amount.

Sentence structure, word choice, tight prose all became more consistent.

And now for the big “author confession” - I’m dyslexic. I can’t see those mistakes that are obvious to everyone. And I thank God every day since January when we started for my CP Ann. She corrects errors and points out potential errors. She also asks the hard questions and tells me straight forward when something doesn’t work or she just plain doesn’t like it.

So, my advice for those aiming for the December’s deadline:
o Get a Critique Partner. Don’t know how to set that partnership up? Read these guidelines
o Don’t fluff the deadline - strive for it as if it were publication, not a contest
o Plan ahead - start NOW
o But most of all, do it for the joy.

I’d like to take this moment to give a very special shout out to KRISTAN HIGGANS - our very first Honorary Heartlette. Kristan finalled in the published author’s equivalent of the Golden Heart - the RITA.

So, pick a goal and run at it, but mostly, Go Write.
-bria

Secondary characters can make or break a story. They bring in the texturing that colors the line of your hero or heroine’s character. They can mirrors, foils, instigators, protectors, fall guys, scapegoats, cheerleaders, misdirectors - the list goes on and on.

So, if you have a great secondary character, how do you fulfill his destiny?

Just like in life, treat everyone well and they’ll respond. Your secondary character should have a full life and vivid life.

Here’s an example of how I brought my SC’s (Tane) backstory out while keeping the focus on the main character (Brennid, the crown prince.)

Tane reacts strongly to Brennid threatening to have the heroine ride with him. The heroine - obviously - is a bit annoyed by Tane’s revulsion. Brennid keeps the heroine with him and tells her why:

Tane had Brennid’s older brother at the rear of the line with him when they were attacked and the then-crown prince was killed.

Having Brennid tell the story, we hear his pain and how the death of his beloved older brother nearly destroyed him - BUT we read between the lines and learn Tane’s motivation for his obsessive need to protect Brennid.

Brennid stays the focus, we learn a bit more of his why/where/how/when and at the same time divulge Tane’s number one objective and it’s reasoning.

Speaking of objectives - SCs should have no more than one personal objective and it should relate to the MC in some way.

Tane’s personal objective is to protect the prince (the main character.) Everything he does on the page is to that end.

Tane has his own love interest, an interesting backstory and some twists and turns along the way that have made him a favorite with my readers. But a book can only be so long and only belong to so many, so most of Tane’s non-Brennid related stuff happens off the page.

How do we keep them in line? Well, I’ll be honest. One of my favorite chapters was Tane reacting to his love interest’s dismissal. I played by the rules and kept the Main Characters there and involved, but in the end the focus was on Tane, it didn’t further the plot - or anything for that matter - it was just a lovely peek into a behind the scenes romance.

And so it got cut.

The story as a whole became tighter. Tane’s desperation became something real to me - not only to protect Brennid, but to keep Demia at his side. Which helps make later actions when he allows Brennid to misbehave make sense as it also brings him closer to Demia.

So write the scenes and then cut them - but know them. They’re just as real as your main character.

I’m going to paraphrase (hopefully well and hopefully correctly) the amazing Suzanne Brockmann: Pretend all your characters are standing on a line together. In this scene/chapter/book whoever has the spotlight on him takes a step forward and then another and so on. Everyone on that line steps forward as well. We may not know what they are doing or where they are, but time is consistent (something you won’t hear a fantasy writer admit to all the time) and no one is standing around waiting for the hero to invite them back onto the page.

If you ever get a chance to hear Suzanne speak about managing Secondary and Tertiary characters in a series RUN, don’t walk, to sign up for it (or buy the tape). She changed the way I think about timing, involvement, activity and focus.

Here’s one more way to think about it: We all have that friend. You know the one. She’s off living her life and only calls when she needs something. But the most annoying thing about her is she assumes that while she’s having a full life, she assumes you’re waiting around to hear about her “adventures” and have nothing at all interesting to share. She’s that person that asks you “How are you?” but means “Ask me how I am?”

Don’t be that friend to your Secondary Characters.
Now, Go Write
-bria

This month we had two wonderful Honorary Heartlettes guest blog for us. Mary Buckham and Diana Snell inspired us all.

Throughout the week people wrote in with their struggles and thanked the ladies for their generous words. There was a common denominator through most of the issues - they were all caused by burnout.

While burnout feels bad, it isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Think of it as a catalyst.

Burnout forces you to look at what you’re doing and how you’re doing it.

Last week Jessica told me about a book she was reading and it dawned on me that I hadn’t read a book in weeks - everyone who knows me, gasp now. Typically I read a book each day and (when I’m not on assignment) I can read 2 a day and still enjoy my writing time.

But, with the Golden Heart finalists to be announced in 14 days, I’m in a bit of a panic. All the changes I wanted to make! All the editing that needed to happen! The proofing! The polishing! How will I ever finish?

Do nothing but write/edit/rewrite/edit/read/edit/polish/edit/polish. . . Burnout.

Burnout wasn’t on the list, but it happened.

This weekend I read two new books and one of my keepers. I watched a movie. I made some notes. I worked on my CP’s stuff. I started researching warriors’ castes and societies as war itself.

And the dreams started again - the ones that are so clear I have to get up in the middle of the night and write.

Burnout forced me to change my patterns and nothing but creative good came from it.

Treating writing as a career means knowing that, just like any job, you need to manage your stress before it becomes burnout. But once it does, just like any job, there are cures:

Look at your schedule - is it realistic, is it manageable, have you added unneeded extras, are you delegating (yes, your 8-year-old can unload the dishwasher.)

Are you beating your head against a wall - sometimes we call it “writer’s block” but it may just be burnout. Change your routine with one of Bria’s R’s:

 1. Research - sometimes research makes us look at what we’re writing about in a brand new way

2. Relaxation - it isn’t that you don’t have the time to relax, it’s that you don’t have the time to not relax. Writers are creative people and stress kills creativity - even if it’s one night off - relax and recharge.

3. Renewal - Beyond relaxation, renewal brings a freshness to your life and your writing. Think of relaxation as recharging a battery - great, but the life isn’t as strong or as long lasting. Renewal is buying yourself a brand new battery right out of the factory. Everyone’s is different. I gave myself a weekend alone in New Hampshire hiking (please, no lectures on hiking alone.) the time, the atmosphere and the activity brought me home excited to get to work again.

4. Remove Refuse - You heard me. Stop being so nice. There are people, activities and belongings that clutter your life and create a negative impact on, not only your writing career, but your life, your relationships and your joy. Get rid of them.

So, get out there, burn your burnout and then, Go Write.
-bria

I wiki’d business partner, it gave an interesting list of people (who as an HR business partner I don’t necessarily agree with) but it did give a link after the list to “business alliance.”

What a great phrase - it sums up (to me) what Jessica was discussing on Monday. It’s a step beyond a partnership.So I looked them up at dictionary.com

al·li·ance -noun
1. the act of allying or state of being allied.
2. a formal agreement or treaty between two or more nations to cooperate for specific purposes.
3. a merging of efforts or interests by persons, families, states, or organizations: an alliance between church and state.
4. the persons or entities so allied.
5. marriage or the relationship created by marriage between the families of the bride and bridegroom.

My 3rd grade teacher Mrs. Marsico always told us not to use the core word in the definition - apparently no one told Wiki that, so: