Hints and tips I’ve picked up along the way
Follow the rules?
I often hear writers complain about having to “follow the rules” or guidelines of writing. The see seasoned authors breaking these rules. Here’s what I’ve learned: Storytelling is a talent. Talent is a gift from God with some assembly required. And that entails learning the craft.
It’s much like when we first learn to print back in kindergarten. We had paper with large lines...guidelines. We all made our letters the same, straight up and down, first the lower case and then the upper.
After time, we graduated to cursive. Once again, the paper had guidelines. We slanted the letters at an approximate 45 degree angle, and kept the lowercase letters in the bottom half of the guidelines. It wasn’t until we’d mastered those guidelines that we began to apply our artistic creativity to our signatures.
It’s the same with writing. We must first learn what constitutes good writing, things like point of view, characterization, plot, conflict, etc., before we can understand when and how to break the rules. When you have mastered your craft, you can then know how to do it with panache.
Here is a list of writing book I recommend:
Listed in alphabetical order, not preference.
A Dash of Style, Noah Lukeman
A Novel Idea, by numerous multi-published authors in Chi Libris
Beginnings, Middles & Ends by Nancy Kress
Character & Viewpoint by Orson Scott Card
Description by Monica Wood
Finding Your Voice by Les Edgerton
Getting into Character by Brandilyn Collins
GMC: Goal, Motivation & Conflict by Debra Dixon
Keys to Great Writing by Stephen Wilbers
Plot & Structure by James Scott Bell
Punctuation Plain and Simple by Edgar C. Alward & Jean A. Alward
Revision and Self-Editing, by James Scott Bell
Self-Editing For Fiction Writers by Browne & King
Stein on Writing by Sol Stein
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Writing Christian Fiction, by Ron Benrey
The Fire in Fiction, by Donald Maass
The First Five Pages by Noah Lukeman
Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass
Writing the Popular Novel, Loren Estleman
My favorite sites for writers:
One Sheet
I’m often asked about my “One Sheet” which is a single pitch sheet for a book or series. My critique partners and I spent a lot of time learning how to do a good one. When I had mine requested by an agent to use as an example of a good one, I knew we’d done it right.
Here’s what mine looks like. This one was for When the Bough Breaks.
And that’s it. No fancy graphics, and plenty of white space. The only change I might make is if I have a photo that goes with the story, as I do in my Chapel Springs where I use the porch on this blog as the photo.
This is my muse. It used to escape quite often, cavorting with my critique partner Jessica Dotta’s muse. She found them outside one early evening, chasing fireflies. She captured them and put each in a mason jar. Now she sits on my desk, is docile obedience.
If you’d like your muse captured in a jar, ready at your beckon call, contact me, and I’ll put you in touch with Jessica.
