Wednesday’s Writing: Writing Rituals Don’t Replace This…

When I first began writing, back in what my kids refer to as the 'Dark Ages', by which they meant before computers and the Internet, there were few guides for writers. The ones I read were staid, intellectual treatises that made writing seem like some kind of religion only the initiated could practice.
Times changed, and with the advent of the World Wide Web, lots of information and opportunities became available to writers. And with this deluge of information came all sorts of advice, much of it terrific. But some of it caused more confusion than clarity. You have probably come across some of these examples:
* Meditate before you write
* Use only pen and paper to capture your thoughts.
* Light candles around your writing space – certain scents inspire creativity.
* Write at dawn, when your work is blessed by the rising sun.
* Write at night, when the moon inspires you to greatness…….
Yeah, right. I started my career as a journalist. Imagine the effect of announcing that I couldn’t write the front page lead until I’d meditated, lit candles, and performed other rituals to bless my work……I'd have been quickly shown the door!
So I learned that there’s absolutely no substitute for putting your bum in the chair, hands on the keyboard, and  - yes, writing. Sounds so simple, doesn't it? But there is magic in just starting to write, even a stream of consciousness that bears some faint resemblance to your story idea or non-fiction topic. mKeep going, putting those words down, and eventually, slowly, the words begin to form a coherent whole and your book is under way! 
Sure I have my own rituals – got to check email & FB, and read over the last chapter I wrote before closing the computer sown for the night. There needs to be a coffee by the keyboard, too, but I know that nothing takes the place of actually getting the writing written!
Comment about your own writing rituals for a chance to win a copy of Naked Writing: The No Frills Way to Write Your Book, or a $10 Amazon gift certificate  

Monday’s Inspiration- Using Memories to Heal

 

We all experience loss and grief. We say goodbye to loved ones who pass on, to friendships that end, to chapters of our lives that are over, to things we treasure that we no longer own or need or have access to. We grieve for places and times and experiences that we have left behind; we grieve for ourselves for lost opportunities, for failures, for things that just didn’t work out. For time passing, the grey hair, the lines, the children leaving home….

Today we are going to look at our grief and turn it into joy by remembrance. Take a few quiet minutes and think, not about the loss and pain, but about the memories and hopes and dreams that are attached. Consider the alternatives to missed opportunities – open your eyes to the other doors that have opened.

Remember loved ones, whether human or furry, scaled or finned, who will live forever in your heart. Don’t dwell on their passing but instead on the joy they brought to you.

Consider this quote:

“When someone you love becomes a memory, that memory becomes a treasure.” – anon.

Now sit quietly for a few minutes and count your treasures.

Let them heal you.

Wednesday’s Writing: Starting With The Building Blocks of Story

 

Every story should have a beginning, a middle, and an end in order to be complete. You learned that in school, right?

Of course, like everything else, when you come to write the story it's not quite so simple as it sounds to have that Beginning, Middle and End.

THE BEGINNING: Where should your story begin? New writers often make the mistake of starting long before the real story begins, in an attempt to get their reader orientated. But think about this for a moment. If you were to tell someone about your day, how would you start? Would you begin by describing how you woke up, got up, ate, dressed and went about your daily work, right down to the details of dental flossing and crisping the bacon just the way you like it?

Of course not - you'd start at a point where something interesting, something unusual, happens. The reader can assume that your protagonist (main character) got out of bed that morning and got his or her day going something like the way the rest of us do - except, of course, unless the unusual event starts as he wakes up, like the bedroom ceiling collapsing on him….

So, consider where your story actually starts. Let's make up an example. Suppose your hero was orphaned when his parents died in a car wreck when he was only five, and he had a difficult time being raised in foster homes, or maybe he had a good life with loving adoptive parents. But now he's 31 and is just opening his mail on a sunny Tuesday morning. There is a letter from someone purporting to be an old friend of his long-dead father, claiming that Dad never died in a car smash but has been living in Las Vegas under an assumed name all these years.

Where does the story start? With the opening of the letter, which is the beginning of the hero's quest to find out the truth. The details of his childhood are all interesting backstory - in fact, you could perhaps have a prologue where the car accident takes place, work in something a little fishy, and show how he came to believe he was orphaned. Details of his life after that - abusive or loving home - can be worked into the story in little pieces as we go along, and they will add color and richness to his character.

Each beginning is special - you choose what we call a 'hook' or particularly exciting statement to open with. We'll be discussing this later.

THE MIDDLE: the middle is the rock on which many a good novel founders. This is where you may run out of steam, unless you've done some good planning beforehand. I always suggest that writers be careful with the amount of planning they do, however - if you do too much outlining, it can feel as if you've already written the story and you lose the excitement which is so important in carrying you through to the end.

But the main thing that gets you through the middle is applying the beginning, middle and end structure to every chapter. Each chapter is a scene, or perhaps more than one scene depending on length and each scene has a beginning, a middle, and an end in action. Therefore, instead of 250 - 350 pages with one beginning, one middle and one end, you are actually going to write your novel with possibly ten or 20 beginnings, middles and ends - one each per chapter!

ENDS: Often, when the story idea strikes, you'll also have some idea how it ends, or how you want it to end - sometimes when you're writing, what you want and what actually happens can be different. However, it works much better if you know what you want the ending to be. This way you can shape your story so that the it moves organically towards that ending. Endings should always be satisfying, and if you have a little surprise in there, all the better. But you must tie up all the loose ends and clues and hints you've scattered throughout the previous 200 or so pages. Endings need to be logical - think of the old westerns, when the wagons were circled and it looked as though the Indians would win the day, when suddenly the US Cavalry arrived over the hills in the nick of time. As a child I always used to wonder how the cavalry knew the wagon train needed their help - they didn’t have cell phones then, so just how did they know to show up? This loose end bothered me enormously - don’t let your readers be bothered by loose ends like this. Make sure you tidy everything up, so that each hint you dropped is shown to have a a satisfactory place within your story by the end. If you are enthusiastic and lay too many hints, clues and red herrings, or you have a sub plot that doesn’t actually develop because you decided not to follow through with it, then eliminate it from your story. Be ruthless. Stephen King uses the phrase 'Kill Your Darlings' for this! You want your reader to feel satisfied when reaching the end of your book, and think: Well, the ending was a bit of a surprise, but gee, I can see now it was really the only way this story could end!

The above article is from Naked Writing: The No Frills Way to Write Your Book available from Amazon, B & N, and other eBook Outlets.

Monday’s Inspiration

 

Over the years I’ve collected a lot of inspirational quotes. Quotes to comfort, quotes to get me writing, quotes to make me go back and write some more – and quotes to pick me up when the writing – or Real Life – goes wrong.

Here’s one that always makes me think about what I’m writing, why I’m doing it, and what kind of message I’m sending. It’s also a marker to call to mind that we have, as creative folk, a duty for honesty in our work and to remember that the written word has power.

“But words are things, and a small drop of ink falling like dew upon a thought, produces that which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think.” – Lord Byron.

Sobering, eh?

Do you have a quote that makes you think?

What do you think of the ideas of creative responsibility?

Yesterday was Release Day for Another Man’s Son – And what a whirl it was!

 

                                                                     Another Man’s Son, a romantic suspense, is part of #TWRP new Lobster Cove multi-genre series. Release Day was the 25th, and even though I had about two weeks' notice, I still didn't start seriously promoting until a week beforehand. For two reasons - one, I was horrendously busy with other things; 2, I personally hate being bombarded by promo about books, like when you receive 12 posts from different lists, same author, all the same comment/blurb/excerpt, every day, day after day.

So I only did a bit of that :-) Sorry. Now I feel a blog coming on....

Well, we had severe rain/wind/thunder storms just as I was getting into my stride. The Internet was unreliable at best, cutting out all the time as I tried to promo online. Out here in the Middle of Nowhere, we have access only to satellite Internet – by a company that specialized in providing communications services to Third World countries. Or so they said at the public meeting held to announce the service. Uhhmmmm.

So, between weather and Real Life, promo time for the book was limited. And that’s when the Great Writers’ Co-Operative kicked in. There isn’t actually such a body, but if there was, I’d be sending them flowers right now. So many people picked up and Tweeted, FaceBooked, and otherwise mentioned the release that I was overwhelmed with appreciation. I can never thank you all enough! (You know who you are)

Anyhow, Another Man’s Son is now out in the world, and seems to be managing pretty well with just the occasional promotional nudge from me.

Speaking of nudges, here’s an excerpt:

Ben looked out of the bar window at the sound of raised voices. Kathryn and her husband were arguing in the courtyard, no doubt about her earlier behavior. Guilt nagged at him, but he shrugged and signaled to the bartender to bring him another beer. Their fight had nothing to do with him.

In fact, he thought, maybe he’d yell at his wife if he’d found her coming on to another man the way Kathryn had come on to him. If he had a wife, that is. Trying to shake the memory of how his shock at seeing her again had escalated into burning desire within nanoseconds, he glanced again at the couple standing on the rain-shadowed sidewalk.

He half rose from his seat when the tall, slightly balding Ketler Morgan Junior grabbed Kathryn by the arm and tried to push her into the car, but he sank back as he saw her pull free and turn her back on her husband.

Ben slugged down the rest of his beer as he watched Kathryn’s husband slam the door of the big, expensive car and roar off down the driveway, sloshing dirty, wet mud and gravel over her expensive evening gown. She just stood there, ashen faced under the bright light spilling from the clubhouse windows.

No business of mine, he told himself. The incident was just a domestic spat, over and done with without them coming to blows. Nothing to involve the local law officer.

The promised rain had started, but she was still there, huddled miserably in her short, fur jacket, when Ben walked out into the cold, wet night. Kathryn, wearing fur? The girl he’d loved had cared for animals and would never have worn their skins.

“He’s gone, just like that. Left me here.” He knew she was crying, even as he recognized her struggle to keep the piteous tone out of her voice. “I don’t know how I’m going to get home.”

Ben hardened his heart. Her problems didn’t concern him. “Try calling a cab.”

She looked at him directly, with those wide green eyes that had made his heart skip a beat when he’d first encountered her on the dance floor earlier that evening. As well as before, years ago, when he’d wanted to drown in their mysterious depths. But he knew better now.

“I have no money.” She looked away to hide the shame that colored her cheeks and stared woodenly at the ground.

“Can’t you ask for a ride from some of your fancy friends inside?” He indicated the hotel, where the dance continued and the sound of laughter and loud banter spilled out into the chilly evening.

“I can’t. People will talk.”

“You’d rather get drenched out here than face a little gossip?”

She looked at him then. “You don’t understand.”

“Oh, I think I understand very well.” She wasn’t going to play those games with him again, ever.

Ben pulled out his mobile phone and located the number for a local taxi company, quickly ordering a cab to come to the club. He tucked a $20 bill into her cold fingers, ignoring the tiny frisson of heat that burned on his own fingers where they touched her skin.

“Cab will be here in a few minutes,” he said over his shoulder as he walked away.

Her soft voice reached him over the crunching of his boots on the wet gravel. Her words almost stopped him in his tracks. Almost.

“Are all men bastards?”

Another Man’s Son is part of #TWRP’s exciting new multi-genre series, Lobster Cove. You can see more details here, or here or read the first chapter for free at www.glenysoconnell.com!

Marrying Money is Going Free on Kindle!

Yes, it’s true! – My Valentine’s gift to you, my dear Readers: A free download of Marrying Money: Lady Diana’s Story, on Kindle!

Marrying Money is a romantic comedy set in England and Ireland, starring Lady Diana Ashburnham, a down-on-her-heels aristocrat who needs to find a rich husband to save her 500 year old estate from being sold to the highest bidder. And she’s heard that Ireland’s awash in wealthy bachelors who’d love an English title, so…..

Here’s the blurb:

Product Description

Diana, Lady Ashburnham, needs to find a rich husband, and fast.
She's the last of an aristocratic line stretching back 500 years, and she's broke. The family fortunes have been eaten up by the crumbling mansion and impoverished estate. Not wanting to be known as the 'Ashburnham Who Lost The Lot', she refuses to sell off heirloom jewellery or let the estate be auctioned off to a dot.com millionaire or heavy metal rock star.
That's when Diana has her Great Idea – she'll follow a new take on the way her ancestors raised money – by marrying money!
So Diana corals her best friend, commoner Sally Barnes, into joining her on a trip to Ireland to try to net a – preferably titled – millionaire. After all, with the Celtic Tiger economic boom, Ireland is supposed to be awash with wealthy guys. As she tells Sally, Ashburnham ancestors plundered Ireland with Cromwell, so why shouldn’t Diana do a bit of plundering there herself?
Sally, very much a common commoner from a council house, reluctantly agrees to the trip.
They hook up with Diana's very pretentious but untitled cousin, Mairead, who married money herself – a wealthy 'paper products' entrepreneur. His line of work has led to many rude family jokes, but Diana has to admit that Mairead had landed herself in the lap of luxury with her marriage choices.
It looks like Diana isn’t going to be so lucky. Not only do the very valuable Ashburnham Emeralds disappear at the Galway Races, where Sally, not Diana, is chosen the winner of the Ladies' Day Prize, but there seems a huge shortage of titled wealthy young men who would be willing to fork out the millions required to keep Alexandria House, the Ashburnham estate, and Diana all in the style to which they want to become accustomed.......

Check it out  and get your free download from February 14 to February 17 at:

UK - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00HNVBLNE 

USA - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HNVBLNE

Germany - https://www.amazon.de/dp/B00HNVBLNE

Australia - https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B00HNVBLNE

Canada - https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00HNVBLNE

Or Read the first chapter here!

Introducing My Book Trailer for Resort to Murder

Here’s the blurb:

Falsely disgraced police detective Ellie Fitzpatrick is prepared to face a vicious killer to redeem herself but is she also brave enough to make peace with the man she loves? When her meteoric career crashed and burned after she was accused of accepting bribes from thugs running a protection racket, Ellie is suspended from the job she loves and believes herself abandoned not only by police colleagues but by her lover, Detective Liam O'Reilly. She is called back to work when a biography of a serial killer she arrested suggests the man may be innocent. Reilly vows to protect Ellie from the gang who tried to frame her and the vicious killer who's stalking her. Can she trust him with her life?

Fabulous Trailer by Betty Ann Harris, Resort to Murder is available on Amazon, The Wild Rose Press, and other print & ebook outlets!