Writers write because they have an idea. Something comes into the writer's head, be it a compelling opening scene or a character that won't quit talking to the writer, or a dream or even a particular phrase that catches the writer's imagination. Something causes the writer to begin writing or plotting. Before you put fingers to keyboard or pen to paper, I recommend you pause. Do you know where this character's story is heading? Do you know what this fabulous scene in your head means? Is it the opening scene or the culminating scene? If the protagonist is speaking to you, is what s/he's saying the beginning of the story? Are those five (or twenty) words that will cause chaos and be the catalyst that changes lives? If you don't know, take time to try to envision where the story is heading. If you can do that, you will save yourself a lot of time and work. A few years back, a character came into my head and would not go away. So I began writing her words. I w...

Last month, I shared my " 10 Lies You Might Tell Yourself While Editing ." However, brutal honesty forces me to confess that I've told myself many, many more half-truths (or fictional facts - let's call them fictional facts - 'lie' is such a judgmental word) over the past seven years. Here are ten more. Confession is good for the soul. 10. You meant to write this scene three times. It's an important scene. 9. No one will notice that the location of the rooms in the house keep moving. Or that the meadow leaps from the south side to the north side.  8. Your main character isn't an insufferable prig. He's just wise. 7. The jokes are funny. I know, I wrote them. I'm funny. I am, I am, I am.  6. (If, like me, you write mysteries ) It doesn't matter that any of your first readers haven't been able to solve the mystery. 5. It matters even less that they all say your solution comes out of left field. It's not unsolvable - it's in...

Many years ago, I read a book that reawakened my young dreams of becoming a writer. That book was Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg. One of Goldberg’s most effective tools is to “keep your hand moving” when you are in the throes of the creative process. In other words, do not edit as you write. In fact, don’t even think. To people like me who live in our heads too much, this was transformative advice. A few years later, I read another book that transformed my life. It was The Artist's Way , by Julia Cameron. One of Cameron’s most effective tools is “morning pages” in which you start off each morning with a “brain dump” that consists of transferring whatever stuff is moving around your head onto 3 pages of paper, in longhand. I married Goldberg’s and Cameron’s advice, and for about twenty years I have been doing morning pages by keeping my hand moving. I use cheap notebooks and an expensive fountain pen. (Tools are important. Writing is a physical process.) By ...

To lay or not to lay—that is the question I would guess 99.9 percent of us have. This seems a huge grammar issue to some, and it should be so simple. I’ll try to help everyone understand it, although I have to admit, sometimes I need to look it up to remind myself which is which under what circumstances. “Lie” (we’re not talking about prevaricating here) means to recline. “Lay” means to place something.   Hint : Forms of to lay (to put or place) take an object. Forms of to lie (recline) do not. The confusing part comes because of past and present tense. “Lay” not only means to place, but it is also the past tense of “Lie". LIE Present tense: Lie Past tense: Lay Present Participle: Lying Past Participle: Lain LAY Present tense: Lay Past tense: Laid  Present Participle: Laying Past Participle: Laying Here’s a fun little quiz to test your lay/lie understanding: Select one answer from the choices provided after each sentence.  1. The dog has been ____...

In order to gain access to your character’s deep thoughts and feelings, you must work from a first person point of view, right? Not necessarily. Third person POV allows you to see the big picture, yes, but it also provides all the telescoping necessary to zoom in for interior thoughts and feelings. Those deep perspectives can even color the nature of the prose. Let’s take a look at an excerpt from Edward Stewart 's 1978 novel, Ballerina , chosen for the way Stewart so seamlessly tightens his lens from a wide establishing shot, to the character's immediate actions, and all the way into her unspoken thoughts. These contiguous paragraphs are taken from the first page of the novel. Stewart writes in the third person, but as you read, think: How would these passages differ if written in first person? Paragraph 4: The big picture (wide angle)  The last bell sounded. Stragglers came drifting back to their seats. At two hundred and fifty dollars a ticket, you didn’t hurry. Th...

I love to read well-researched novels. It seems many of my favorite authors are in it for the joy of research, and spend hours meandering down history lanes, or psychology avenues, or literally down the garden path. The dose of reality they infuse into their plots makes reading that much more interesting, and many times I’ve felt prompted to pursue a topic or an idea simply because of the seeds planted during a well-informed read. One of my favorite writers for just this reason is the late Blaize Clement . I love her books for three reasons: The marvelous sense of place in her Florida setting The bittersweet character development from book-to-book The fascinating tidbits of little-known facts skillfully woven into each plot-line In her recent Dixie Hemingway mystery #7, The Catsitter’s Pajamas (published posthumously by St. Martin's Press ), the protagonist seeks to understand the motivations of the perp in a burglary-turned-murder scenario. She seeks the advi...

Let's have a little fun today with my friend, Tracy Farr. When I was the managing editor for the online community magazine here in East Texas, Tracy was a regular columnist sharing his "I'm Just a Guy" column with our readers. This is one of his offerings from 2009. Enjoy... There comes a time in a man’s life when he wakes up one morning, feels his bones creak as he gets out of bed, and realizes his tree-climbing days are just about over. He feels old, he feels tired, he looks like he hasn’t slept in days, and the monotony of every day life is an anchor that keeps dragging him further and further down into the abyss. It’s at that moment that a man decides his life would look a whole lot better from the saddle of a brand new Harley Davidson Fat Boy – a black one, with straight pipes kicking out un-godly decibels of thunder, with the optional Biker Babe attached and holding on for dear life. Yes indeed! Sometimes you need a bit of spice in your life to make it thro...

It's time for another What's Your Answer feature. I pose questions, you offer answers in the comment section. If you answer one, feel free to expand. If you answer more, please shorten your answers. You're welcome to include one URL or blog link when replying. Here we go: Since I am a contributor to the soon to be released anthology, The Corner Cafe , along with some of the others here at The Blood Red Pencil, I'm offering a few related questions. Do you like to read or write short stories? Sometimes. Short stories are a great diversion while waiting at a doctor's office or other place where I know I can't finish a full  length book, yet prefer to read something other than magazines. What about novellas, which are longer than short stories, but shorter than full length novels? I've been gravitating more and more toward novellas, which are typically in the range of 20,000 words. They're not as short as short stories, and have a little mor...

When I was a kid... oh, boy, here we go. But seriously, most of us remember reading stories in school by O. Henry , Guy de Maupassant , and Edgar Allan Poe .  The short story was part of my literary education from grade school through college. Later, I read short stories in magazines like the Ladies Home Journal , and regular contributor, Rosamunde Pilcher, is still one of my favorite authors. But as I grew older, novels became my entertainment of choice, and it wasn't until I got my Nook last year that I rediscovered the short story. E-books have changed reading habits for gazillions of people. Not only are we able to buy books in the blink of an eye, we can carry small libraries with us wherever we go. It's particularly convenient if one does a lot of research,and these gadgets are so smart, we can even make notes right in the books! But even better than that, we can sample lots of writing because many authors are using the short story format to introduce readers to their...

At least we hope it stops here — because that’s the plan. So how do we get from hope to plan to book sales? Where’s the marketing goose that lays the golden eggs? Last December, a very interesting piece appeared in the Wall Street Journal . After having her manuscript rejected by several publishers and more than 100 literary agents, first-time author Darcie Chan took matters into her own hands. At the time the article was written, she had sold over 400,000 books. When any unknown writer creates this kind of success, we need to sit up and take notice. What is she doing that we are not? Check out the article at the link below, and then tell us what you think. How could you adapt her marketing strategy to your book? This is a very short post because I really want you to  read this article . It could make a huge difference in the success of your books — as well as the size of your bank account. Linda Lane and her editing team mentor and encourage writers at all phases o...

Let's face it. The prospect of being rich appeals to all of us. That's why millions of people buy lottery tickets and hunt for treasure and prospect for gold. It is the lure of hitting the jackpot, striking it rich that tantalizes us all. It's not all that different for many writers. They read about million dollar book deals and want a piece of that action for themselves, but the truth of the matter is that those who are really getting rich in the publishing business are only a small percentage of writers. The rest of us are slogging away day by day, perhaps making a decent living, or perhaps just supplementing a partner's earnings, and we will never get rich. Let me repeat that. Most of us will never get rich by writing. However, in this era of e-publishing, there are many opportunities for writers to do much better than just making a decent living. Terry Odell already shared her recent success with putting one of her books in the Nook First program at Barnes ...

Unless your name is Grisham or Steele or Rollings, you may not be making much, if any, money writing books. Authors must be prolific, and have excellent marketing skills or someone to do that for them. But that doesn’t mean you can’t make money as a writer. Freelance writers who write newspaper and magazine articles can develop a nice income by treating their writing as a full-time job. You must constantly be putting out queries, doing interviews, and writing articles. I have been a freelance writer, and although I didn’t work at it full-time, I managed to bring in extra money to contribute to the household income. My money-making “job” now is mainly freelance editing. Again, I’m not working at it full-time, as I’m still trying to be an author as well. Editing takes knowledge and experience and a certain skill. Not everyone can jump into this field. It also takes time to build a clientele. I worked at acquiring clients for several years before they started coming to me. I love this...

When asked what other jobs they’ve had, novelists usually have an oddball list. They may dream of job security and a health plan by night, but by day they are seduced by interesting experiences, diverse characters, a bit of income, and the flexibility to write. Most of my jobs have had to do with writing, though. Shame inspired me. My first husband, Ron, a bar manager with a keen sense of what his time was worth in cash, called my writing my “volunteer work.” This maddened me because I was a newspaper dance critic and always paid—although at the peak of this career, writing some 50 articles per year, I managed to pull in no more than $2,500. My husband could make the bulk of that tending bar on New Year’s Eve alone. To preserve my self-respect as much as to show Ron I could do it, I had to find a way to use my writing skills to bring in more respectable money. So I started a desktop publishing business, producing newsletters, custom-designed written communications, and resumes ...

It’s really a little too early to tell if the release of my first three books in the Sidra Smart mystery series makes any money or not, but when you change publishers mid-series, it seemed like a wise thing to do.   Philip Martin, at Crickhollow Books , published my national award-winning historical novel, A War Of Her Own , and did such a fabulous job, I asked him to publish the fourth book (The Swamp Whisperer) in my Sidra Smart Mystery Series. To do that, he and I agreed for him to pick up the whole series, re-release the first three, building new interest and energy for them, then release the fourth with a splash. In our decision-making process, as to what stays and what goes, we decided to not change the titles of the books, or the series, since Sidra Smart already has a strong following. Rather we decided to focus on tighter, cleaner edits, and fresh new covers. Also, we corrected any errors in plot, setting, and location that might have been overlooked in the first r...

Welcome to guest blogger, Susan Malone, who is addressing our April theme. Can you guess what it is? (smile) A necessary evil, money.  For most artists, we hate to even think about it.  And as a measure of success, well, the money often doesn’t match up with critical acclaim.  That part hasn’t changed in this business. What constitutes a Best Seller often doesn’t correlate to “well written.” We all know that. Especially in this day and age of the e-book revolution, what sells well is often something quite different from a great book. Not always of course. But the devil is in the marketing now more than it ever has been. And we, as writers, of course, have to watch that dreaded bottom line.  We all wear two distinct hats in this industry: the Writer and the Marketer. And most writers really hate that other hat. But without it, not only do we not pay our light bills, but our books languish in obscurity as well. All writers (at least on some level) want to find audie...