Tag Archives: Writing Toolbox

Strong, Silent, and Well Written

January 13, 2015 By in Characters, Writing Toolbox Tags: , Leave a comment

Strong, Silent and Well WrittenToday’s addition to my Writing Toolbox goes into the Character Development drawer.  The post I chose to share is one of my favorites because it uses Major Richard Winters of Band of Brothers fame as the perfect example of the strong and silent character.

I have to laugh because yet again, K.M. Weiland is responsible for this brilliant piece of advice.  I forgot that detail as I sifted through my boards on Pinterest while deciding which pin to use.  Ms. Weiland is either going to be flattered or think I’m the biggest suck up in the history of sucking up.  I’m hoping for the first option.

I hope you find this advice as helpful as I did.  Enjoy!

How to Write Strong and Silent Characters

Character Study Questions

December 22, 2014 By in Characters, Writing Toolbox Tags: , , , Leave a comment

Character Study Questions

I promise there is no pop quiz with the questions featured in today’s post.  I’m simply sharing with you that with which I have chosen to stock my Writing Toolbox.  The Writer’s Digest post featuring Brenda Janowitz’s article, “Novel Writing: 10 Questions You Need to Ask Your Characters,” provides great information.

Depending on your writing style, Outliner or Pantser, you’ll find Ms. Janowitz’s character study helpful.  Whether employing it at the beginning of your writing process or using it to relieve writer’s block, the simple questions presented create a foundational benefit.

Happy Writing!

The Terror of Querying

December 17, 2014 By in Writing Advice, Writing Toolbox Tags: , , , 1 Comment

The Terror of Querying

I don’t know about you, but the idea of querying an agent terrifies me. I have two opinions of this process based on various articles I’ve read.

One: As long as Starbuck’s doesn’t mess up the coffee order for the assistant to your chosen agent, your manuscript might have a chance of landing in said agent’s hands.

Translation: As long as everyone is having a good day, your manuscript might be smiled upon.

Two: Agents are fearsome gatekeepers to the world of fulfilled dreams, and I’m standing outside the gate.

That one is pretty clear.

Today I’m stocking my Writing Toolbox with a blog post from Writers in the Storm guest blogger, Julie Glover. Her post, “Are You Ready to Query,” posed questions to me that I hadn’t seriously considered before. What I had been doing is letting the answers jumble around my brain without pinning them down because I felt foolish about them. Now I think I may have been on to something.

Admittedly, I need to perfect my answer to question number one. Yes, I know what my story is about, but do I communicate that well?

To questions number two and three, I have a combined answer. I used to play a game where I fantasized about what critics would say regarding my brilliant novel. It went something like this:

If Wally Lamb and Billie Letts had a child and Isabelle Allende was her nanny, that author would be HL Gibson.

Grandiose, isn’t it? And yet, I believe this game answers the questions about writing voice and comparative titles. I consider the above-mentioned authors to be some of the best storytellers on Earth, and this is the role I want to achieve with my writing. So now I have published authors and titles to which I can compare myself and my novel.

As for voice, it’s all about the storytelling for me. My style is easy and familiar. It reads like the voice of an older relative relating family tales and history, the stories you grew up listening to at every family get together, and the ones you now find yourself telling the next generation.

As for question four, I have feedback from several beta readers, and I have completed two rounds of edits. There are beta readers waiting in the wings to assist me after I complete round three edits. A daunting process for sure, but after reading Ms. Glover’s post, I’m encouraged that I’m on the right track.

To NaNoWriMo, or not to NaNoWriMo, that is the question

November 17, 2014 By in Writing Advice, Writing Toolbox Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

I first heard about NaNoWriMo two years ago from my friend who heads our Writer’s Group. The idea of writing 50,000 words (an entire novel) in thirty days was both exciting and terrifying. As luck would have it, I had been kicking around an idea for a great novel. NaNoWriMo seemed like a good way to get the story out of my head and onto paper.

Before NaNoWriMo, I wrote short stories and children’s stories of picture book length. I had never heard of outlining a novel which might have been helpful for my first NaNoWriMo experience. Undaunted, I began writing near the end of the book leading up to the scene that was the catalyst for the whole novel. That’s when I realized I needed to go back to my character’s beginning. My first experience with NaNoWriMo was a jumbled mess.

I reached my goal of 50,000 words but didn’t have a complete novel. There was more to the story than I originally thought. The rest of the year was spent creating those portions while editing and chucking large sections of what I wrote for NaNoWriMo. I began to wonder if my November efforts had all been for naught when NaNoWriMo rolled around again. What to do?

I cheated again. I used the 50,000-word goal to keep writing new stuff my novel needed and editing what I had written last year. Perhaps the Deities of NaNoWriMo would smack my fingers with a ruler for this, but I justify what I did with the explanation that at least I wrote.

This year marks the third NaNoWriMo since I first participated. I didn’t join. I also didn’t use it as a motivational tool for rewrites and editing. I let myself off the hook with the understanding that my schedule and novel were in different places than what NaNoWriMo required. In short, I didn’t have the time and there wasn’t anything new to write or edit to meet the word count. I also didn’t want to start another novel when I already had one under way.  I’m not sorry for having tried NaNoWriMo, and I’ll probably do it again. In the meantime, I shall continue working on my second round of editing and looking for beta readers.

If you’re trying to decide whether or not NaNoWriMo is for you, consider the following article by Christopher Shultz. He’s much more eloquent in his explanation of what one needs to consider before jumping feet first into NaNoWriMo without knowing what it’s all about. I agree with his opinion that one should make NaNoWriMo work for him/her and that it isn’t a ‘must’ or ‘mustn’t’ situation in the life of a writer.

Advice on Character Description

November 3, 2014 By in Characters, Writing Toolbox Tags: , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

Nine times out of ten, when I find a piece of good writing advice on the Internet, the link directs me to K.M. Weiland’s website, Helping Writers Become Authors. And just as many times, I’m in agreement with what she has to say.

Like a carpenter stocking his toolbox with quality tools, my goal is to fill up my Writing Toolbox with valuable advice, tips, suggestions, etc. In turn, I want to share what I found with people who are seeking assistance with their own writing.

Most of the posts I put in my Writing Toolbox have been created by the owners of the sites to which I link. I will always indicate the website/blog name and owner (if known). When I create the post on my own, I’ll let you know.

So, with that being said, it is my very great privilege to share K.M. Weiland’s advice on ‘4 Ways to Make Readers Instantly Loathe Your Character Descriptions.’

Writing What You Hear – Dialect & Accents

September 24, 2014 By in The Secrets of Dr. John Welles, The Weight of Words, Writing Toolbox Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , 6 Comments

There is a character in my novel, The Secrets of Dr. John Welles, who is Mexican.  For a minor character, Lucia is one of my favorites.  She’s smart, classy, and in charge of all that goes on around her.  In short, she’s the perfect foil for her boss, the intelligent, elegant divorcée, Prudence Mayfield.

Prudence is nobody’s fool, but Lucia keeps her in check when needed. She pulls no punches with her employer and sometimes their conversation is quite spirited. My initial attempts at writing a Mexican dialect were hilarious and amateur. I needed to find a way to convey Lucia’s nationality without her dialog sounding cheesy or offensive.

Assistance came from a video on Howcast by voice and speech coach Andrea Caban. My mistake was that I never consider the posture of the mouth or the musicality of the dialect when writing for Lucia. The breathy S sound at the end of words, the hard R sound, and the nasally tone were exactly what I wanted for my character. How could I put that on paper without writing ridiculous phonetic spellings that would drive the reader insane?  By describing Lucia’s accent.

Originally, the only phonetic spelling I was going to use was jew for every time she said you.  I have since decided against this so I don’t offend potential readers.  Still, when I read Lucia’s comments out loud, I always do so in her accent. I’m confident the suggestions employed helped me to better express her dialect on the written page.  Please share your experience writing a foreign character’s dialect.

Recommended sites for writing dialect/accents:

How To Do a Mexican Accent

The Dos and Don’ts of Dialect

Andrea Caban – Dialect Coach