The beginning of the school year is another chance for you to start anew with your writing dreams.  In order to get your aspirations off the ground you need to work SMART.  Teachers learn about goal setting in their classrooms.  TSWBAT stands for The Student Will Be Able To…and then an achievable, concrete goal is developed, one that has a measurable outcome.

We can take this concept and apply it to our writing using the acronym SMART.

S-is the goal specific? Is it designed to stretch your abilities? I will be able to write 500 words a day five days a week is specific.

M-is the goal meaningful to you as a writer? Will the above goal get you to your over arching goal-that of completing a story or novel?

A- is the goal achievable?  Can you measure your progress? Is the goal too easy, or too difficult?  A goal should stretch you but not discourage you. It may take a bit of trial and error to refine an achievable goal.

R-Is it realistic?  If your goal is achievable, do you have a plan for getting there?  If you set a goal of 5,000 words a day, have you exercised your writing muscles enough to get there or do you have to work up to it?    if you’ve never written a word before 5,000 words is not going to be realistic.

T-is your goal timely?  Do you have an end date you are aiming for?  Will the goal you’ve set be something you can accomplish by the end date? Do you need to rethink either the goal or the date you’d like it to be finished by?  Do a little math.  If you have a goal to write a 60,000 word novel by the end of the year, how many words do you need to write in a week?  How many days of a week are you willing to write?

If you are SMART you can set stretchable, achievable goals and look forward to a bevy of accomplishments.

Writing is a tricky business. It’s important to know all the tried and true techniques that will help mold and shape your novel or story. Once you learn those basics, however, it’s up to you to take what you’ve learned and throw out what you don’t need. It’s like a sculptor creating a magnificent statue. He doesn’t add more clay, he instead peels away layers to reveal the beauty of the work underneath. So today I’m going to tell you a few of the things I use to help keep dramatic suspense in my work. What will keep the reader involved enough that they’ll want to revisit the novel and turn the pages to find out what’s going to happen next?

A lot of it is pacing. Your scenes should develop in a way that builds towards an event or a question of what’s to follow. The way you deliver that most effectively is with action. I’m sure you’ve heard it before, show- don’t tell. Describe for the reader exactly how you see the scene play out in your head. Follow the little movie running in your mind and be aware of all 5 of the senses, then incorporate them into your scene. You know you’ve done your job well when a reader describes back to you the emotion that you were trying to portray. That again is pacing. Drawing the reader in so they feel like they’re part of the story. In a way they become that character on the page.
Here is an example of building suspense and tension taken from my novel Demon Hunter: The Chosen One

His heavy boots made a sick-wet sound as they slapped the soft earth. Debris and chunks of dirt blew into our faces taunting us with the desire to cough aloud but we remained as still as statues. Our eyes kept trained on the man’s every move.

The knife was outstretched in his hands. Almost all of the blood had dried, giving its color a dark crimson masking rather than the brighter sheen of a fresh kill. The remaining liquid congealed at the tip pulling one solitary, fat droplet down off the knife. It plummeted fast and found its landing direct upon the back of my hand. Warmth and cold both blanketed me in the same sensation as the blood sat soaking upon my skin. Both Tuck and I sat staring at the droplet in stark terror, daring not to move one single inch. That one small drop of blood marked what true danger we were exposed to.

Finally I managed to pull my gaze away and regard the stranger before us. My blood ran cold as the man’s eyes rained down upon me, locked against my own. They were dark orbs, almost as dark as night, and they held within them just a touch of madness staring out from under his full brimmed hat.

Notice how the emotions intertwine with description to move the story forward. Depending on what genre you’re writing in there are certain ways of delivering the story fans of that genre expect. Again, learn those techniques and then add what is essentially your own style to create your own definitive writing “voice.”

Control the pace, control the story. The bulk of any scene is built with some sort of conflict, an exterior struggle the audience can visualize, follow, and relate to in some way. Build your suspense with the scene and sequel method where the scene is built upon a certain goal, conflict, or disaster and is almost immediately followed by its sequel with emotion, decision, and action.

Play out your scenes moment to moment just like in real life. Read it back over to yourself and adjust until you feel your own heart quicken with anticipation. But my most important tip for you is this: have fun! Writing, like life, is meant for you to enjoy the journey. Don’t get bogged down with a lot of rules. The tips I’ve presented here are a starting point to help you on that journey. No go forth and discover some techniques of your own and join us back here where you will deliver your own set of tips. Write your story…and make sure you enjoy it.

A Note on Revising

“Kill you darlings.”

I heard that once before. No it wasn’t an elaborate murder plot, the author was referring to editing your manuscript. Every first draft is just that a first draft no matter how much you may enjoy a particular scene or bit of dialogue. Upon editing you may find that you’ll have to cut it out or at least pair it down. Hence - kill your darlings. Even if you work with a fine editor I believe in presenting your best work. Rather than get sloppy or lazy and think the editor will handle all the corrections I want to know how the story flows for myself. So for instance take my novel DEMON HUNTER. That particular story took me two years to complete, not because it was hard to wrangle the story but because upon editing I realized that certain things worked better so it would read smoother. An example is that when I started I had originally intended it to be in third person POV. Upon further study I realized that it would read much better if my lead character Costa told his story in first person. I had to go back and rework about half the story but it made a world of difference. Editing and revisions can be a messy challenge but it can also be a fun process that reveals your best work. Like a sculpture who doesn’t add more clay but strips away what is unnecessary for his art…that is the benefit of editing for yourself.
(to find out more for yourself read DEMON HUNTER: THE CHOSEN ONE at www.CynthiaVespia.com)

Yesterday, I learned about the evils of clutter when I purchased an outdoor trashcan and attempted to load it into my Honda Fit. It looked so easy. Folding down the back seats would give plenty of room for my purchase…except so much stuff had congregated in the back seats and floor. Bending the trashcan wasn’t an option; I had to move all my stuff into the front seat. A Christopher Columbus expedition followed where I discovered books, throw rugs, pillows, magazines, tools, bags of old clothes, and more. All up, it took ½ hour to clear enough space for the trashcan.

Then I got to thinking about the clutter in my stories and the way I try to jam my characters so that they’ll fit into the clutter, and then wonder why the story doesn’t make sense. In any novel, you have your central plot, with the subplots revolving around it. Let’s say a vampire flees his land and attempts to live among humans until his enemy catches up with him. Then you add subplots – perhaps the vampire falls in love with his neighbor, then he gets a night job, perhaps his enemy tries to steal his girlfriend. The clutter starts if you throw in werewolves, aliens, and a plethora of “walk-on” characters without duly preparing the reader for them. And whatever goes down, your character has to act true to his role. You can’t have someone with a phobia of heights climb the side of a building unless you’ve motivated and prepared him to do this way in advance. If your character prays in a monastery on one page, and then on the next, he commits a mass murder, you’ll lose your reader unless you’ve set up the story in a way that your reader might expect this.

At the last writer’s conference, a workshop leader gave me wise advice. Don’t just write a resume for your character. Take your character out to dinner. Watch TV with him at home. Bring him to work and family functions. Observe in your mind how he might interact with family members, what foods he might like, etc. Then let him tell you the story. This will help you avoid extraneous scenes that clutter your story, and the reader will keep turning the pages.

With the lessons at the conference and shopping trip in mind, I’m cleaning out the clutter from my present work in progress, and scolding myself in the process. That is my biggest challenge – the mess! It will take longer than ½ hour to clear it, but clear it I will.

What do you find most challenging about rewrites? Does clutter creep into your tales? How do you address it?

–Barbara Custer

So many of us are pushed for time these days.  Families demand our attention as do our civic commitments.  We get up early trying to get one extra thing done.  We stay up late trying to finish just one more thing from our ever-extending to-do list.

We need more time we groan.  And it’s true, we do need more time.  But…how much time do we manage to waste in a day?

The first thing you need to know is when is your most productive time of the day?  Early morning? Mid afternoon?  Late at night when even the mice are sleeping?

Second, limit the number of items on your ‘to-do’ list to four or five of the most CRITICAL items.  If you absolutely MUST pay your utility bill or be shut off, that becomes a critical item.  Forwarding on the latest Maxine cartoon is not. (more…)

Congratulations, you got your first book contract and now the publisher wants you to go out and talk about your book. Where do you go? What do you do if you are a new author just starting out and don’t have an advance?

I found myself in this position a few years ago and discovered innovative ways to get my name out there. I looked for free places to go to chat with readers, introduce myself and “pimp” my book. I also talked to established authors on marketing ideas and made up a ton of free promo items at home off my computer like bookmarks, post cards and other items to send to review places/conventions as promotional items to get readers interested in my work.  

Blogs are great, yahoo loops, interviews, spotlights, a professional looking website and more all help get your name out to the readers. I try to do a blog spotlight a month and a few interviews or chats a week if possible. I go on loops and start asking reader questions, use my signature line with links for readers to go to.  I just started using Twitter, which I’v heard helps readers get to know you better.

It doesn’t have to cost a ton of money for you as a beginner author to get your name out there. All you need is perseverance and a little ingenuity to make your name known.

~*~*~*~

Raine Delight is the author of the Devon Falls series now available at Aspen Mountain Press

Seach in google for blogs with similar content/themes to your work and writing genre. Send emails to the owners and ask if they would consider letting you blog.  They usually will because people are always looking for content.

Announce your blogs daily ( a day or two before…you don’t want to make people sick of you, but you don’t want them to forget either) on the social networking sites like FaceBook, Twitter and MySpace.

Leave comments to get your name out there and you will find people sending you invitations, especially if your post is reasonably intelligent, not insulting, and is as free of errors as you can make it.  Don’t be afraid to get together with another author; don’t be afraid to brainstorm all sorts of possibilities and then search.  You may be very well surprised by what you find.

If you really want to make your writing stand out, you need to actively hunt for clichés in your prose.  Clichés are tried and true, yes, but they are also boring and lazy.  You are a writer who wants to tell the best possible tale…do so by hunting those cliché’s down and killing them.

This may require another author’s eyes.  A critique partner, even a beta reader if you tell them in advance that you want them  to look for clichés.

What are some clichés you can look for?  Here are a FEW.  There are thousands, if not more.

A breath of fresh air.

Dumb as a rock.

Dog tired.

Dog days of summer.

Fresh as a daisy.

Sardines in a can.

Sharp as a tack/pin.

Played like a violin/Stradivarius.

As cold as ice.

Better late than never.

Time flies/time flies when you’re having fun.

Old hat.

No bones about it.

Like the pot calling the kettle black.

Dead as a doornail.

Stiff as a board.

Bored stiff.

Bored to tears/death.

I think you get the idea.  These things creep into our writing without us being aware of them.  Frequently, it takes another set of eyes to reveal these clichés. 

You can take some of these and turn them on their head.  What if you said, “Dead as a zombie”?  This is fresh.  This gives you a different picture of someone that may be dead and just extremely tired.  If you are writing a zombie story, this would be a phrase we’d identify as a thematic phrase because it echoes what your tale is about…zombies.  And, of course, if you use this phrase, you get a very different sort of picture as zombies aren’t entirely dead.  Your character could be telling another character that this person who is dead as a zombie isn’t really dead.

Have fun killing clichés.  Doing so will improve your writing and make it fresh and memorable.

This came from a handout I got not too long ago.  I don’t know if they truly are Barbara Kingslover’s 10 Rules of Writing Fiction, but there is some good advice in them.

1. Your first sentence or paragraph makes a promise that the rest of the story or novel will keep.

2. Give your reader a reason to turn every page.

3. Keep a very large trash can beside your desk. (I follow these faithfully, though I’ve updated the wastebasket to a recycling box.)

4.  Show, don’t tell.  Everybody knows this rule, and most of us still break it in every first draft. Be ruthless. Throw out interior monologue.

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For those of you interested in marketing, you might want to take a look at this article:

10 Rules for Advertising on Facebook that is available at www.BusinessInsider.com