Between the Lines

I just picked up a great writing book called Between the Lines: Master the subtle elements of fiction writing. It has some fantastic hints and tips for improving fiction writing such as avoiding backstory pitfalls, creating great cliffhangers and thrusters, when and how to use flashback, and more.

Many writing books offer the basic elements of writing good fiction. This book takes all that one step further, helping you flesh out your writing and identify areas in which the writing can be improved.

If you are writing fiction, I highly recommend this book!

Jenna

POV...who's thinking here?

I've always thought I had pretty good control over point of view (POV) in my stories. I just have two usually, the man and the woman. I alternate POV from scene to scene, not within a scene so it doesn't get confusing.

I have identified a publisher I'd like to submit my work to and its guidelines say the book must be from the female protagonists point of view. I can have some POV from the man but at least 60% must be from the woman.

The uptight person than I am, I have gone through to figure out what percentage POV each person has in my story. I got so worried about it that I bought 2 books from the publisher to see what other's had done. One only had the man's POV when he was by himself (reflecting) or talking to his maid. In essence, if the female was in the scene the POV was all hers. So I went through and started to do the same with my book. This was very difficult as I had some great scenes between the couple from his POV. And some scenes really required that they be from his POV.

I haven't read the second book, but I opened it to random spots and guess what? There was the man's POV in a scene with the female protagonist. What a relief.

Now that crisis is over...

Jenna

I speak Southern.

There is a discussion over at Yahoo Group's Category Romance group about southern characters and how to write them. I'm from Virginia and have a few Virginian characters so I have found this discussion interesting.

The thing about the southern language is that it's not the same everywhere in the south. In Virginia alone, there are 4 or more different accents. The only thing that seem to be constant through all the south (and someone correct me if I'm wrong), is the use of the word, "y'all", a slang contraction of "you all". But, did you know that there are rules to using it? According to The Grits Guide to Life (Girls Raised In The South):

Y'all is singular
All y'all is plural
All y'alls is plural possessive

But, like most rules of language, not everyone follows theses. Two Texas women on the Yahoo romance group indicate they only hear "Y'all" and even write "yall". Here in central Virginia, I hear "y'all" most. But I also hear "y'alls" which isn't even on the list. Occasionally, I'll hear "all y'all" which also isn't on the list.

There are some other great differences to the language spoken where I live that is more than accent. For example, people here cut the grass instead of mowing the lawn. They cut off (or on) the light instead of turning it off. It's your go not your turn when playing a game. People come up not grow up.

Here is another great piece of information, in many places, the southern dialect or accent is very close to the British accent. I haven't been there to see for myself, but I have heard that in Charleston, South Carolina, some locals are mistaken as being British or Scottish.

If you want to have some fun learning about southern expressions, check out Whistlin' Dixie by Robert Hendrickson, The Dixie Dictionary by Thomas Howard, and The Grits Guide to Life by Deborah Ford and Edie Hand.

Jenna

Back to the drawing board...

If you check my "Number of Words to Date" stats, you'll see I haven't done much writing over the last week. Not that I haven't done anything. I do have a good...almost great hook for my synopsis. But, in the end, I have nothing if I don't have a finished book.

I tried to get back to writing this weekend but I'm getting stuck. It's not writer's block. It's more that I don't know what's going to happen next. In many ways I see the characters and story so well. It's like a movie in my mind. But once that scene is done, I'm not sure what's going to happen to get them moving to the end of the story.

So, I'm back at the drawing board, fleshing out the characters, trying to list each scene, and find and fill the holes. A couple books have been helpful. One is the Novelist's Bootcamp. The section on characters has been helpful in making more than a list of features and personality traits. At one point the author suggests pretending a character can't talk as a way to develope action outside of dialogue, another of my weaknesses.

The other book is First Draft in 30 Days . This helps me see the overall picture and break it down into small bits. As I write and find holes in the story or characters, I'm able to use the worksheets in this book to help me fill those in.

I have to wonder, is this constant writing and then going back to the planning stages something all writers go through? Or is it because I'm new and don't really know what I'm doing? I'm certain its the latter but after some practice, I hope I'll streamline my book plotting and writing process.

Jenna

The Hook - The first step to getting published

I haven't written in a few days...not on this blog and not on my book. Bad me. And remember, I was supposed to have a draft done by now. Still, I did write about 6000 words last week. Since I can't write full time, I'm going to give myself a pat on the back for that.

I did start to work on a synopsis. I've been reading Give 'Em What they Want by Blythe Camenson and Marshall J. Cook. In the synopsis section, the authors indicate that some writers write the synopsis first as part of their outline. Since I know my story pretty well I thought I'd work on the synopsis and maybe it would help me with the full draft.

The problem was, I couldn't write the first line, the HOOK. According to the authors, if you can't write the hook then you probably don't have a book. Ut oh! After hours of angst and reflection, I decided that I do have a book and I can write a hook. What I'm struggling with is a really good hook. You know, something snappy and catchy.

I haven't given up yet. I've been reading other "hooks" and checking out the book descriptions from the romance book club mailer to help me out.

I have to get this because if I don't, my whole career is down the tubes before it starts! Wish me luck!

Jenna