by Joanne Wadsworth | Jun 15, 2012 | Author Blog
The lovely Mae
Clair has tagged me in her post The Lucky Seven. Thanks for the nomination Mae–it is my first and I hope I do it justice.
The challenge –
To post seven lines from an unpublished work of fiction. My current WIP is a young adult fantasy romance. It’s the second in a series and is titled “By The Sword.” The first in the series is releasing in November with Lyrical Press, Inc.
So the rules –
- Go to page 7 or 77 in your current manuscript (fiction or non-fiction).
- Go to line 7.
- Post on your blog the next 7 lines, or sentences, as they are–no cheating.
- Tag 7 other authors to do the same–and have fun.
“I see it. Only Kate will despise him for what he withholds. He’s kept our world of Magio from her, not considering her strong enough to deal with Donaldo or his wrath. He even keeps my existence hidden. How could he? I’m his daughter, and hers.”
Destroyer shoved into my shoulder and Goldie tightened her hold on his lead, pulling him back into line. Blowing out a breath, she planted her feet wide. “I do not defend the poor choice Alexo made, only he was young, eighteen himself when you were born. He rarely asks for help. Let’s give him the week he’s asked for.”
And my seven lucky nominees are –
Natalie Anderson
Jessi Gage
Karen Y Bynum
Lynn Cahoon
Serena Akeroyd
Susan Buchanan
Rowen Starr
by Joanne Wadsworth | Jun 11, 2012 | Author Blog
I’ve mentioned Deep POV in previous posts, and been asked what is this? I’ve also had comments from those who write Deep themselves and love it. So let’s jump right in and chat, for writing in Deep certainly takes an author’s work and makes it touch the heart of their reader.
As writers we’re all aware of the five senses of sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. Yet when going Deep, the author must describe all scenes only from what the main character can perceive with their own senses.
There is no remoteness, and even the character’s internal thoughts and feelings form part of the writing. In 3rd Person POV we see internal thoughts in italics, but in Deep, that isn’t necessary, for the character’s thoughts become one with the story.
So let’s cover some basics. In writing Deep, certain distancing words are removed. Examples of these are words like watched, noticed, heard, felt, saw, wondered, decided, knew, thought, etc. You’ll need to do a search and find these, ensuring you rewrite the sentences to take them out. I’ll give you an example, the first being in 3rd Person, the second rewritten and going Deep from the heroine’s POV. Remember to utilize internal thought in the correct way, as rewritten in the second line.
She watched him lift the gun, and felt chills run down her spine. He won’t pull it, she thought.
He lifted the gun, stroking his finger over the catch. Chills raced down her spine. He wouldn’t pull it.
Now let’s cover emotion, for in Deep we take out words like anger, sad, fear, happy, shock, bothered, etc, and there are a ton of these. Instead we use body language to convey emotion–and this is truly important. I’ll give you an example of rewriting your sentence to take out words of emotion from the heroine’s POV. Again utilize internal thought in the correct way, allowing it to become one with the story.
Anger lanced through her and she raised her chin. She was not happy to have her choices taken away.
Her chest tightened. He would not take her choices away. She raised her chin and stared him down.
Also, don’t forget that characters rarely refer to themselves by name. When you go Deep, ask yourself would the character use her name, over and over? If not use her/she, particularly if the dialogue is strong and the reader can see who speaks.
Sometimes all it takes is a small tweak to a paragraph to deepen the scene, and others a little more work. But before long you’ll find writing Deep comes naturally. In fact you may even find, you’re partially going deep with your 3rd Person and haven’t recognized it. If this is the case, publishers will want to see you write either one way or the other, and not have a mix of the two within your book. Make sure you fix this, for it can hold back on a sale.
I hope I’ve enlightened with these tips on going Deep. Although do a search for more and learn as much as you can–for I’ve read about many authors who’ve found that going Deep has helped them to achieve publication. And that’s what all writers are after.
If you’ve enjoyed this week’s post, then tune in next week for some more tidbits. Simply check out the right-hand side panel, and enter your email address to “follow the blog.” If you want, also click “like” on my FB author page to the right. I’d love you to join me.
by Joanne Wadsworth | Jun 4, 2012 | Author Blog
This week, let’s chat about 1st person POV and getting it right. One would think you can’t make a mistake when the entire story is written from the heroine’s POV? But you can, and here are a couple of common errors.
To set the scene, the heroine is watching the hero striding toward her. She doesn’t want to see him and talk. See if you can spot the POV mistake.
I cleared my throat and tucked my stubborn chin in tight.
Did you see it? It’s the word stubborn. The heroine maybe feeling stubborn, and if she is, then use body language, or internal thought to show it, for she can’t think of herself in this way.
So, let’s rewrite with internal thought–for the fix is so simple to get your point across.
I cleared my throat and tucked my chin in tight. I did not want to talk.
Let’s do a second line using body language to show a fix. The hero is now in front of the heroine, having arrived. Spot the POV mistake.
He took one step closer, transfixed. “I can’t believe this,” he said.
If you spotted the word transfixed, then you got it. How is the heroine meant to know he’s transfixed? It’s telling and not showing the reader. So, let’s rewrite to see what she would see, using body language.
He took one step closer, rubbing his hand over his forehead. “I can’t believe this.”
Don’t you just love it– Such small changes in the writing to fix the POV, making it tighter. So, please tune in next week for some more tidbits. Simply click “follow” or “like” on the right-hand side panel. I’d love you to join me.
by Joanne Wadsworth | May 28, 2012 | Author Blog
What an exciting week I’ve had being introduced to the world of editing. Content edits with my book titled, Protector, began–and I’m going to share with you three simple tips I picked up, ones which aided me and will do the same for you.
Sentence Length
When writing we can get so carried away with getting our words out, that our sentence length drags. Please read your long sentences out loud. I promise it will become obvious exactly where you’ve gone wrong. If you do this, you’ll find yourself chopping long sentences right down. Before you know it, your book’s pace will pick up, enabling your reader to become more engaged.
Telling as Compared to Showing
This can be an issue, and one we’re not even aware of it. What to learn is, don’t tell your reader what your character is doing, but show them with physical reactions. Add more dialogue if necessary. Below is an example of a sentence re-written, but let me give you some background for it to make sense. This character has been struck on the head and lost consciousness, and now she is awakening.
“I’ve been out for twenty minutes?” Confusion took me. ←(This is telling, not showing.)
Now it reads–
“I’ve been out for twenty minutes?” I scrunched up my forehead. “That’s not good.” ←(Yeah, this character has a sense of humor.)
Overuse of Adverbs and Adjectives
Do not overuse adverbs and adjectives. You don’t want your reader thinking too hard, not when they should be immersed in your story. Here’s an example of overuse–and all that’s necessary is to remove one word to allow the writing to flow easier.
Jack stepped away, quietly propping his back against the wide trunk of the tree.
Simply delete the word–“quietly” and read again. The sentence frees up–so simple.
Please tune in next week for some more tidbits. Simply click “follow” or “like” on the right-hand side panel. I’d love you to join me.
by Joanne Wadsworth | May 22, 2012 | Author Blog
The first page, the first paragraph, the first sentence, the first word–this is where every writer begins, where the all-important first impression must take hold, and it’s this first page I’m going to focus on in this post.
Writing is about a balance of style, generally run in the order of: dialogue, action, emotion, and thought. Yet this general balance can be switched up here and there, thereby giving the flow of your paragraphs greater reading appeal. Take a moment to study the first page of some of your favorite books. After you’ve done that, I’m sure you’ll become ultra-aware of this balance, spotting for yourself the natural flow and then the shifts which add appeal.
Another obvious point is to ensure your heroine and hero are clashing somewhere within the first few pages of your book. Don’t wait until the second chapter before we meet him. Sure, I’ve read many books where the first chapter is dedicated to her, and the second to him, and then the third chapter finally sees them coming together, but these authors have other published work and a reader base that knows they’re going to deliver. But for those new to writing, stick with the winning combination of building tension quickly and efficiently right from the first page.
Some great advice is to begin with a snappy first liner of dialogue. Don’t get weighed down with the description of your location or character or their history. Readers certainly don’t need to hear what he or she is wearing in that vital first page. Instead they want to connect to the characters and feel the tension, feel where your story is going to lead, because as they say conflict+conflict=story.
Also, make sure you become aware of the red flags in writing that turn editors off, and trust me they are very real. As an example these are issues like your first page beginning with backstory. This is a huge no-no as it immediately tells the editor you don’t have the skill to bring history in, as and when necessary, in the forward telling of your story. For more information google or bing “editors red flags in writing,” and see what others report as red flags.
In writing this post, I’m hoping I’ve been able to shed some light on making your first page shine. All the best, and please follow if you wish to stay tuned.
Clair has tagged me in her post The Lucky Seven. Thanks for the nomination Mae–it is my first and I hope I do it justice.
