Writing Tips and Tricks – Page 4 – Catholic Writers Guild

Query Letters – How to write a good one

November 27, 2012/25 Comments/in Catholic Writing and Publishing, Encouragement for Writers, Fiction, Marketing Your Work, The Writing Life, Writing Tips and Tricks/by Leslie Lynch

You’ve just typed The End on your manuscript, your gloriously awesome book that’s going to rocket to the top of the New York Times best seller list! Editors are going to line up at your door, fighting to be the one privileged enough to publish your work. Thousands of people will stand in line for your signature at book signings, and you’d better clear your schedule for the television talk show circuit. Oh, and make sure your bank account is big enough to hold all the moolah that the USPS is going to deliver to your door. You are on your way, baby!

Except…no one is knocking. In fact, no one is even lurking in the shrubbery. And when it comes down to details, you’re not entirely sure how to get the attention of those New York editors, or even agents. You’ve been talking up your project to all your relatives, your friends, even your acquaintances. You’ve let a select few read your work (you deserve to be paid for it, after all!), and they rave about it! Why, it’s better than (fill in the blank with your favorite—and very rich—author)!

What to do???

This is what: set up a systematic, professional plan for querying.

It’s going to require hard work, persistence, and a thick skin to sell your work. If you do this part right, you’ll have a much better chance of actually getting published. And if your work rises above the fray, you may make it to that rarefied atmosphere of best seller-dom. If you do it wrong, you’ll get nowhere in traditional publishing.

A query letter, whether submitted via email or hard copy, is a one-page business letter with a fairly standard format. It is brief, professional in tone, and your only chance to connect with some agents or editors. Let’s look at the elements of the letter, and some common pitfalls to avoid, as well:

Research your targeted agent/editor. Make sure s/he is interested in the type of project you are pitching. Don’t send your speculative fiction to an agent who represents cookbooks and memoirs. Make sure they are accepting new clients. Then, send an individually addressed letter to the specific person—and spell their name right. The advent of email queries has tempted too many authors to try the ‘Dear Sir or Madam’, multiple-recipient approach. Sound like spam to you? It does to the recipients, and most delete without reading. I can’t stress these items strongly enough. I follow several agents on Twitter, and the biggest reasons for not reading past the first paragraph of the query letter are included in this list.

Cutesy doesn’t work. Use white paper if submitting via hard copy, or no background wallpaper on your email submission. Use standard fonts and font sizes. Times New Roman 12 works well; beautiful flowing script fonts don’t. Remember, this is business—on your end and on theirs.

Pitch finished projects. Keep in mind agents get thousands of queries a month. An unfinished manuscript isn’t competitive.

Only include personal information as it relates to your project. Your family, hobbies, other career, etc., are not fodder for this letter. If your story has strong elements that include fighter pilots or dulcimer players, and you are a fighter pilot or a dulcimer player, then include that; otherwise, as fascinating as your background is, it’s irrelevant. Also, resist the urge to say that your mother (or best friend, or spouse, etc.) thinks yours is the best book ever. Let the agent or editor be the judge.

Do include any writing credits. I’ve had interesting responses with this. At a pitch session for book length fiction, I sat with one editor who literally wadded up my nonfiction writing credits and threw them away. Clearly, he was unimpressed. However, the next editor was quite taken with the same information and spent time exploring it. Those credits lifted my submission above the standard in her mind. Bottom line: it doesn’t hurt to include writing credits. At the very least, it demonstrates that another editor somewhere thinks your work is worth publishing, and that you have experience with the editorial process. Always list membership in writing organizations and contest wins or placements. Again, some agents/editors value this more than others. But if you don’t toot your own horn, they’ll never know.

Keep it professional and polite. A query letter is a great place for confidence, but not such a good place for an overinflated ego. If you have a critique group, run your query letter past them. Sometimes they can see an area you need to emphasize more, or can suggest better wording. As an aside, one of my critique partners discovered she was pitching the wrong aspect of her story. Once she corrected that, her queries began getting responses.

So the basic format is:

Dear Ms. Specific Name Spelled Correctly,

I am seeking representation for my completed, xxx-thousand computer word count (name of genre) manuscript, Best Book Since War and Peace, set in (time, place). (If the story has a theme that is unique, you may wish to include it here.)

The next two paragraphs are like the back cover blurb would be for the book. Generally, one paragraph for the main character, the second for the other lead. Go to the bookstore (or your private library) for examples. Your goal here is to give a solid sense of the plot, a taste of your voice, but not a synopsis with lots of details or the resolution of the story.

The fourth paragraph will list your writing credits.

Close with a polite ‘I hope to hear from you soon’ and make sure to include your contact information.

Keep a spreadsheet or record of your queries. Make notes; don’t be afraid to follow up after a reasonable time (usually listed on the website), but don’t stalk. The publishing community is a small one; take care to develop your reputation as one of consummate professionalism. Divas and stalkers have no place in the business.

Query. A lot. Set aside time, set a specific goal, and keep the queries flowing. Follow the submission guidelines on the websites; they differ. Evaluate your responses and adjust future queries accordingly. But keep at it. And continue to work on improving your craft. If you’ve significantly revised and improved a project, don’t be afraid to re-query. Agents and editors really are looking for great stuff to publish. Give your work its best chance to catch their eye.

There are lots of sites and books out there that are great resources. Check with your writing organization for reputable agents, and make sure agents you query are members of the Association of Author’s Representatives. *No legitimate agent will ever charge a fee for reading your work.

What have your experiences with querying been like? Any advice? Questions? I hope this post helps rocket your work to the status of ‘sold and published’ – and best seller-dom!

Gotcha! Hooks: What They Are and How to Create Page-Turning Fiction

October 23, 2012/10 Comments/in Catholic Writing and Publishing, Editing, Encouragement for Writers, Fiction, Self-Publishing, The Writing Life, Writing Tips and Tricks/by Leslie Lynch

What’s a hook??? I admit to scratching my head over that term, and for a much-too-long time. I would hear it when people were discussing top-selling novels; I’d see it in articles about the craft of writing. It was a frequent comment from my critique partners. “Not much of hook there, Leslie.” (Insert visual of me scratching my head. Again.) They tried to explain it to me: Leave the reader hanging at the end of the chapter. An unanswered question. A cliffhanger.

Well, that was all fine and dandy, except I didn’t get the concept. Until our critique group got down to business and I began to evaluate other people’s unfinished work. Over time, I began to recognize when the end of a chapter or scene felt flat. I began to see how they worked through the process. And then when I saw what my fellow writers did to spice up the work, it finally began to make sense. The final piece of the puzzle fell into place for me when I read James Scott Bell’s Elements of Fiction Writing – Conflict & Suspense.

The basic idea is to end a chapter with the character facing peril of some sort, whether an internal conflict or an external plot development. The higher the stakes for the character, the better. In fact, Bell suggests the character must face death in some form – physical, psychological or professional. Of course your story isn’t filled with melodramatic, overblown situations, but each character must have something crucial at stake in each scene. By setting it up so someone is forced to face failure at some level, and then leaving the conflict unresolved, you create a hook.

Hooks come from disaster (Bell’s death) looming, occurring, or simply being implied. The hook can be expressed through dialogue, as a plot twist, as emotion, or via action. The hook can be an actual question, although I’d caution you to use that technique sparingly. I read a book once that ended every chapter with a question, and it felt like old-fashioned middle grade fiction. It didn’t work so well in an adult novel. Whatever method you chose to create a hook, take care to do it in a way that doesn’t leave the reader feeling manipulated. That usually has the opposite effect from what you intend!

One of the most common errors is the form that many of us learned in school: To write each chapter with a beginning, a middle, and an end. This works for nonfiction, but if you want a fiction reader to say “I couldn’t put it down!”, try ending the chapter a paragraph or two early. You’ll be surprised at how well this simple technique works. Then use that bit as the beginning of the next scene.

Go to your personal library of favorite books, or to the library or bookstore. Page through your favorite authors’ work and read the last paragraph of each chapter. You’ll get a solid sense of what creates a hook in short order.

It’s always a question that leaves the reader wanting—no, needing to know what happens next??? Whatever you do, don’t answer the question until the end of the book! Well, you can answer bits of it as you go along, but don’t answer the main question of the book until the end.

Hopefully, the result will be an ocean full of readers happily chasing the hook you’ve dangled – and saying, “That book was so good, I couldn’t put it down!”

How do you define a hook? What’s your approach to creating one? Share your favorite technique!

Tag! You’re It! Writing Dialogue in Fiction

September 25, 2012/7 Comments/in Catholic Writing and Publishing, Editing, Encouragement for Writers, Fiction, Humour, The Writing Life, Writing Tips and Tricks/by Leslie Lynch

“Hi, Beth,” waved Justin.

“Why, Justin, I haven’t seen you since our high school prom six years ago, the one where our mutual friend, Erik, got suspended for spiking the punch,” gushed Beth.

“Ho, ho,” chortled Justin. “Those were the days! He went on to become a successful, if whacky and innovative executive with an online social network. What have you been doing since then?” he queried.

“As you know, my family life was difficult and I had many obstacles to overcome, but I triumphed by speeding through college in record time, completing my undergraduate, double major degree in only two years, and am graduating from medical school next week,” Beth elaborated.

Are you bored yet? Grinding your teeth and wanting to throw this story across the room? I am; it was painful writing it!

Good dialogue can carry a story; conversely, badly written dialogue can sink one faster than the Titanic’s spectacular and ignominious end. Many resources are available, from Renni Browne and Dave King’s Self Editing for Fiction Writers, Second Edition to Write Great Fiction: Dialogue by Gloria Kempton, and more. If a good book on the craft of writing dialogue doesn’t reside on your shelf, I strongly suggest you consider acquiring one.

Let’s examine this fragment to see why it’s so grating. There are four issues here: dialogue tags, stilted language, indistinct voice, and information dump.

Dialogue tags are the words we use to indicate that a character is speaking. When I wrote the first draft of my first novel, I spent hours dreamily staring into space while trying to conjure the cleverest dialogue tags ever. My characters retorted, snorted, coughed, shivered and quivered their lines. After reading the above example, you can see how awful it was!

In reality, you only need a few simple guidelines.

1. Use the word ‘said’ whenever necessary. It’s an almost invisible word to the reader, whereas all the chortles, queries, etc. do nothing but draw attention to the author—not the story. The author should be entirely invisible, and your goal is to keep the reader engrossed in the story, not yanked out by strange word choices.

2. Keep in mind that physical actions are not involved in uttering speech. Rather than succumb to the temptation of using the action as a tag, use it in a separate sentence as a ‘beat’ that reveals body language and moves the story forward. For example: Justin pulled up short when he recognized the woman approaching him. A spurt of pleasure shot through him, and he waved. “Hi, Beth!” (Note how this example could go any number of directions. Maybe he wanted to avoid her, but couldn’t; maybe his response is anger over an unresolved conflict. Whatever the case, the greeting becomes much more complex and compelling.)

3. If only two persons are involved in a stream of dialogue, omit tags entirely. This works especially well when the characters’ voices are so different that it is obvious who is speaking by their speech patterns. But don’t be afraid to add an occasional beat to keep it clear for the reader.

Which leads us to stilted language and indistinct voice.

The best way to avoid stilted language is to read your dialogue out loud. If it feels or sounds awkward, change it. Each character should have distinctive speech patterns, too; make sure the words and delivery you choose remains authentic to the individual character. As you read the dialogue out loud, it should be obvious which character is speaking at any given time. Let’s make Justin a Texas cowboy and Beth a California Valley girl (yes, I know I’m dating myself, but it’s an easy ‘dialect’ to show for our purposes).

Now we have: A spurt of pleasure shot through Justin when he recognized the woman approaching him on the sidewalk. He whipped off his ten-gallon hat and waved. “Howdy, Beth! I ain’t seen you for a coon’s age.”

Beth, preoccupied with her Smartphone, lifted her gaze. A smile wreathed her face and she squealed. “Ohmygosh! Justin! It’s been, like, too-too long! Since high school?” As you can see, these two wildly different styles will never overlap in dialogue. Not all characters will be such polar opposites, but if you give each character a distinctive voice, whether through style (i.e., women tend to use longer sentences, while men tend more toward brief statements) or specific verbal traits, it will strengthen both their characterization and their dialogue.

A word about foreign words and idioms: a little goes a long way. If your character is fluent in French and sprinkles French phrases into her speech, limit those to one every few pages. If a character’s speech is very back-woodsy and old fashioned, pick one word to highlight that pattern and write the rest in ‘regular’ English. For a southern drawl or an Irish brogue, use that as a descriptor outside of the dialogue and use word choice and placement to reinforce the pattern. Trust your reader to catch on. They will.

Last: information dumps. This is where characters bring in information that the author wants the reader to know but doesn’t have an organic way to get it across. Hence, awkward dialogue that no one in real life would use, such as: He went on to become a successful, if whacky and innovative executive with an online social network.

When you find those in your writing, ask yourself if the information is truly important. If so, is it crucial at this point in the story? If yes, then find a more relaxed way to get it into the story, either as internal dialogue (Beth’s mind went back to the last time she’d seen Justin. The high school prom. The one where Erik had been suspended for spiking the punch. “Justin! It’s been years!”), or in more natural sounding dialogue (“Justin! It’s been years!” Beth’s face heated at the memory of their high school prom. “I’m still embarrassed at how I acted after—“ She broke off her sentence, and Justin, grinning, finished it for her. “After Erik spiked the punch.”

Dialogue can make your story sing, and those who can do it well often do well on other aspects of the craft. As a plus, the more of your story you can tell via dialogue, the better the structure will be, so it’s worth the effort to improve your skills in this area.

What are your tricks or tenets about writing dialogue? This has been a quick and dirty, and by no means comprehensive look at writing dialogue. Please share your experience!

Ms. Manners Goes to Conference! Conference Etiquette for a Better Experience

August 28, 2012/3 Comments/in Blogging, Catholic Writers Conference Live, Catholic Writers Conference Online, Catholic Writing and Publishing, Encouragement for Writers, Fiction, Inspirational, Journalism, Marketing Your Work, Self-Publishing, The Writing Life, Writing Tips and Tricks/by Leslie Lynch

Headed for Catholic Writers Conference? Are you excited? You should be! What an opportunity to rub shoulders with industry professionals, to put faces and personalities to folks you’ve met online, to renew friendships, and to network. This is a once in a lifetime experience; make the most of it. There will never be another gathering of exactly the same people at this point in their faith and writing journeys. Truly you are in Arlington, Texas, because God has called you to be there!

Each of you has a specific reason for attending, a goal you hope to accomplish. If this is your first conference experience, the coming days are likely to be a roller coaster of euphoria juxtaposed with self doubt. Be assured that you are not the only one grappling with these feelings. I hope this knowledge translates into a greater sense of ease in a new and sometimes intimidating environment. Here are some words of advice (of wisdom, too, hopefully!) for both newbies and veterans, for authors, for agents, and for editors, geared toward making this conference the best it can be for everyone:

1) Everyone’s goals are the same, ultimately. Editors want to find the next diamond of a manuscript to publish. Agents want to discover the next author whose career they can guide to new heights. Authors want to find a publisher and/or agent to promote their awesome work. And in this particular setting, all of these people want to serve God with their talents and gifts in the way that pleases Him the most.

When viewed through that prism, competition loses the edge of greed and rejection loses its sting. We’re all on the same side, and God’s looking out for the good of each person’s life and career. This doesn’t mean you should fail to promote your product, just that there is no need for fear. Which brings us to the next point.

2) Be confident. You have something no one else does: your voice, and your work. These are gifts that God has given you, gifts that you have honed with hard work and prayer. No one can duplicate your contribution. Take heart in that fact, and know that your work will find its home. Maybe through this conference; maybe not – which leads to…

3) Don’t take rejection personally. Sometimes it just isn’t a good fit for the publisher or agent. Imagine a library with thousands of books. You have three days to find the best two. You will have to create a system to sort and discard the ones that aren’t suitable for your purpose. Do you see that many wonderful, deserving books will be overlooked? This does not reflect on the worthiness of each one, the same way it does not reflect on your particular project. And in today’s climate, many options are available. So…

4) Be open. There are many possibilities that we may not recognize in our limited, human view. Be open to new ideas, new directions, new options. You may discover a brand new path, or even a calling! You may discover it through…

5) Networking. This is the whole purpose of a conference. Meet people! Ask them what they write, who they want to represent, what they want to publish. Have a brief answer for these questions, too, so you can give a nutshell sense of your project when it comes up. (I write ___, and my current project is about ___.)

This is a remarkably small community, and the contacts you make in the next few days will serve you for your entire career. Do not discount the importance of these interactions. They are crucial for your success. But remember…

6) Be nice. This should go without saying, especially in this setting, but we are human and sometimes we need to be reminded. Keep your comments positive; you never know who might overhear or repeat something you said in a frustrated or disappointed moment. Again, this is a remarkably small community even though it may not seem that way.

Also, restrict your interactions to appropriate venues. Don’t try to pitch to an agent or publisher in the restroom, or shove your manuscript under the door of the stall. I have witnessed the first and have heard of the second, so these are not as far-fetched as they seem. Be considerate of folks. If the target of your interest has a headache or gets a pained look on their face when you approach, be brief. Introduce yourself and say you’d like to send them a query if that is acceptable; believe me, they will remember and appreciate your kindness. And that goes a long way. Which leads to the last point…

7) Be yourself. This may call for leaving your comfort zone, though. If you tend to be shy (many writers are!) push yourself to be more sociable. It’s not hard; smile and ask people around you about themselves. You’ll be glad you did. If you are an extrovert, recognize your tendency to overshadow the more timid among us and let them shine, too.

I hope each one of you has a wonderful experience at the Catholic Writers Conference! And… Oops! I forgot the most important words of advice! HAVE FUN!

Art and Faith, as They Intersect in Writing

July 26, 2012/5 Comments/in Catholic Writing and Publishing, Encouragement for Writers, Fiction, Inspirational, Marketing Your Work, Religious Liberty, The Writing Life, Writing Tips and Tricks/by Leslie Lynch

We recently observed the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Fortnight of Freedom, and this might be a good time to look at writing as an expression of our journey and expression of faith.

Regular readers of this blog are most likely members of Catholic Writers Guild – which means we are Catholic, and we love to write. For many of us, these two passions intersect in what we write, as in blogs, articles, or books about being Catholic in today’s world. In nonfiction, this is straightforward. The audience and purpose of such works provide a framework for sharing both the writer’s journey and/or expression of a specific aspect of faith.

Fiction, my personal love, can be a bit trickier. How does an author express their faith within the conventions of their chosen genre? We’ve all read books where it’s done poorly, usually resulting in a preachy tone as grating as fingernails on chalkboard. I’m reminded of Barbara Nicolosi’s comment from the 2012 Catholic Writers Conference Online: My theory is that the secular world is not anti-Catholic as much as it is anti-bad art.

When viewed through that lens, our priority as writers or artists is to learn and hone our craft. It doesn’t matter how important our message is if it is badly executed. Read books on the craft of writing. Take classes. Ask for feedback – and listen to it. The most successful writers recognize that they need to continually strive to improve.

We also have a responsibility to learn and understand our religion. I’m preaching to the choir here, but there is always something deeper, more sublime, more elemental to discover about the challenges (and rewards) of being Catholic. We have to be well-catechized in order to articulate what we need or want to convey in written format.

The great news is, that in fiction, who you are will come out in your writing, even if you don’t spell out your beliefs in the imaginary world inhabited by your characters. Think of St. Francis of Assisi. Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. Well, we can’t write without words, but we can write great fiction without being overbearing about our faith. Readers will accept just about anything in a character, as long as the character is authentic, has depth and complexity, and is true to his or her motivations, flaws and all.

We’ve all read stories where the characters act in ways that make us cringe or gasp or squirm, but we keep reading because the author has done such a good job. We are eager to accompany the character on his or her journey. That’s our calling. To write so well that readers are willing to follow a character they don’t necessarily agree with because they want to better understand them.

I suspect most of CWG’s members pray before they write (or draw or make music or however we choose to create) and that’s where we all need to begin. Pray. Discern. Perhaps education or beauty is more important than exhortation. Keep in mind that your readers will not be in the same place you are on their spiritual journey – and we are all on a spiritual journey, whether we realize it or not. On a personal level, God has touched me through works of fiction in which I least expected to hear His voice. Never underestimate what He can (and will) do through us, whether or not we are aware.

Take courage, pray for the Holy Spirit’s guidance, and use the gift of talent with which God has graced you. Create art that illuminates a vision of God. None of us can see God, but we can express our experience, and the light we reflect may aid a fellow traveler in life.

Now. Words matter. Go forth, write and create, and bear fruit in a world that hungers for it.

How do you approach your craft in a way that changes our world? How does faith inform your art? Do you think of those concepts as you toil over the keyboard, searching for just the right word to express the idea in your mind’s eye? What gives you joy as you create?

Critique – Tips on how to do it well

May 22, 2012/6 Comments/in Catholic Writing and Publishing, CWG member benefits, Editing, Encouragement for Writers, Fiction, Self-Publishing, The Writing Life, Writing Tips and Tricks/by Leslie Lynch

Critique – a word that often scatters writers like a firecracker tossed into a flock of sparrows! But it doesn’t have to be that way. Since critique groups are forming in the Catholic Writers Guild forums, this is a good time to talk about critique, namely, how to be a good critique partner.

Many writers shun critique groups – “I don’t want to write my book by committee” they say, or “My voice will become muddled, maybe even lost”, and worst, “Someone will steal my ideas”. But my experience, both in art and in writing, is that those fears are largely unfounded.

A good critique group will understand and strengthen your voice, your story. They will support, encourage, and challenge you to produce the best writing of which you are capable. No downsides here! So how do you make your critique group a strong one, even one of the best?

Let’s start at the beginning. Critique is not criticism. That’s so important it bears repeating: Critique is not criticism. Critique is an honest, considered response to writing, and always includes a suggestion for improvement, with the caveat that the author may choose to accept or reject the suggestion. It’s still their work, not yours. A good critiquer doesn’t hesitate to applaud writing that inspires or touches, either. We all need to hear the good stuff!

Honesty, never brutal and always delivered with respect, is crucial. These attributes must be integral to your group, or there is no point. Ego (pride) needs to be parked at the door, and humility exercised in both giving and receiving critique.

Keep in mind that no one knows everything about the craft of writing. In my group, one person has a superb sense of story structure, another of grammar, another of characterization and motivation, and another of beautiful sentences and word choices. Take all of those qualities, list the opposite weakness, shuffle, and dole out weaknesses to those same members – and there you have it. Our group. The person whose strength is story structure is abysmal at spelling and grammar; the one who has characterization nailed has a hard time with structure. And so on. Capitalize on each others’ strengths, admit your weaknesses, and be open to comments.

Now that we have an idea of some desirable qualities of a critique group, what next? Establish ground rules. The first one should always be: Try the group out, give it a fair chance, and then if it’s not a good fit, feel free to leave, without hard feelings. If it’s not working, gracefully bow out and seek a different situation.

Next, agree upon a schedule for meeting and for number of words submitted. Ask each member what type of critique they want, i.e., the forest (for instance, structure) or the trees (perhaps copy edits), then tailor your remarks to their needs. Our group has four members; we meet in person once a week; we aim for about ten pages per person; and since we meet on Tuesday, we expect words to be emailed to the group by Sunday evening so we have adequate time to look at the work. Occasionally someone has no words to submit, and that’s okay, although if two weeks go by, the other members begin to nudge and encourage productivity. Support and accountability all rolled into one package!

This, of course, requires that we commit to both writing the set number of pages or words and to critiquing roughly thirty pages per week for each other. Commitment to the group and the process is key for success. Obviously, an online critique group will be a bit different, but ground rules and commitment still apply. Remember that purely electronic communication is lamentably prone to misunderstandings, so overexplain your comments until a pattern of trust has been established.

In my group, we all write very different sub-genres of fiction, but that is not an obstacle. If we stick to the basics, we’ve discovered we can offer plenty to each other even if we don’t read young adult, for instance, or write in first person. You may choose to critique only with authors in your own specific genre, and that’s fine. But if you choose to critique with authors of other types of writing, you owe your partners the willingness to step outside your comfort zone so that you can understand the conventions of their choice.

A word about bad critique groups. There are as many reasons for failed critique relationships as there are combinations of personalities. Hallmarks to watch out for are the rare member who feels that s/he knows it all, or runs roughshod over the feeling of others. Jealousy is sometimes a factor, as is insecurity. There’s a difference between honesty and harshness. Good critique will generate great conversations, so if critique shuts down communication between members, it needs to be addressed.

Sometimes it’s hard to hear valid critique, and sometimes it’s hard to sort out valid critique from mean-hearted critique. The best advice I’ve ever heard? Learn to say “Hmm. Interesting point. I will think about that.” Then, when emotion has settled, review and perhaps seek another opinion before deciding how to proceed.

Overall, critique partnerships can catapult the level of your writing up a level or two in a very short time. You’ll learn a lot from critiquing your partners’ work, too, which will translate to better writing on your part. Partners can help troubleshoot and brainstorm. And as Catholic writers, we have a unique opportunity to practice the virtues of patience, compassion, humility, kindness, and love within the setting of critique. Honesty, respect, and commitment will help shed light on the errors we are too blind to see in our own work – and that is a very good thing.

What questions or concerns do you have about forming or joining a critique group? Do you have experience or advice to share? What do you hope to gain from the Catholic Writers Guild critique groups?

Lions and Tigers and Bears! Oh, my! Tension, Conflict, and Suspense – Creating Compelling Stories

April 24, 2012/8 Comments/in Catholic Writing and Publishing, Editing, Fiction, The Writing Life, Writing Tips and Tricks/by Leslie Lynch

One of the most fundamental techniques of fiction writing is skillful creation of tension, sometimes referred to as conflict. Our favorite authors hook us on page one with a character so compelling that we read further to find out what happens. The character is engaging, with likeable traits that endear them to us, even if they have rough edges or find themselves in untenable situations that force a choice, a decision they wouldn’t normally make.

Therein lies a clue to a story that draws a reader in. Tension. Conflict. A mystery, a question, something out of the ordinary, an event that pushes the character out of their ordinariness. Suspense. What happens next? And why does the reader care?

Tension can be internal or external. Events that influence a character’s life are external (think plot). What goes on inside the character’s mind is internal – and don’t we all identify with (and love) characters who struggle with their own doubts yet persevere and triumph in the end? Stories have more depth if the character must face both types of conflict. Literary fiction often focuses more heavily on the internal, while suspense and thrillers lean toward the external, but the very best of any genre incorporates both.

Take some time – ten minutes or an hour – to think about your characters. What drives them? What are their core beliefs? What do they want (both their conscious goals but also their unconscious, deepest desires)? What obstacles exist to their attaining those goals? Can you come up with a Goal-Motivation-Conflict statement for each character? (Below, based on Debra Dixon’s book, Goal, Motivation and Conflict) How about doing this for an internal GMC as well as an external GMC? The best GMC statements pit the main characters against each other on all levels, with a worthy adversary throwing even more wrenches into the works. An extremely successful author friend (Katie McGarry) adds one more twist: in order for the hero/ine to achieve their highest goal (usually the internal, unconscious goal) they must sacrifice the thing that they initially thought meant the most to them.

Fill in the blanks: Sally wants ____ because ____, but ____. John wants ____ because, but ____.

Notice, this looks like the back copy of a book – and it can also serve as the basis for a pitch, either verbal or written. It also serves as a down-and-dirty template for your book, if you write without an outline.

Once you’ve come up with a general idea for your story, you can use this technique for each scene in the book. In each scene, make sure you know what’s at stake for the Point-of-View character. What does the character have to gain or lose? Make it a crucial goal (James Scott Bell refers to it as ‘death’, a risk of personal or professional failure of grand magnitude), then get right to it, using dialogue, action, reaction. Add obstacles, and let the character go to battle.

But the secret to end-of-scene suspense is…to cut away, to leave the scene before ‘the answer’ is revealed. Leave the character in a quandary, the question unanswered. Or introduce a new complication, complete with a hefty cost to the character.

These questions, both at the beginning of a scene and the end, are called ‘hooks’ for an obvious reason. Like fish, we are lured into the story, and get ‘hooked’ so it becomes difficult to put the book down. (As I glance at the bedside clock and mutter Just one more page…, then look up again a half hour and thirty pages later, realize how short on sleep I am going to be, and mutter Just one more page again! Don’t tell me you’ve never done that!)

Other strategies for managing tension include word choice and sentence structure. Choose each word carefully, to reflect the exact mood you’re trying to create. Smooth, languid words setting the stage, perhaps, then more active words leading up to an explosive eruption of emotion or action. Stretched-out, descriptive sentences for the set up; short, fast ones for the pay off.

As with all great writing techniques, there are caveats. Don’t ‘make stuff happen’ just to make stuff happen. The plot needs to unfold in a way that is authentic for the book and for your voice. Resist the urge to overdo. Hooks, suspense, tension, conflict – these can all be very subtle. Trust your reader to understand without spelling it out or hitting them over the head with it.

Tension boils down to posing a question, grappling to find an answer, then ending with another question. Do it enough times, and you have a book – a gripping book that the reader stays up way past bedtime to finish.

And that’s the kind of book you want to write!

RAH-RAH ROOTING FACTORS! How to make your readers love your characters as much as you do.

March 27, 2012/4 Comments/in Catholic Writing and Publishing, Editing, Fiction, Marketing Your Work, Writing Tips and Tricks/by Leslie Lynch

What’s one of the biggest reasons you keep reading when you pick up a new book? Think about it for a moment. For me, it’s characters who are interesting, multi-dimensional, unpredictable…and likeable. Yet this is an element many of us struggle to achieve. One of the most common phrases in rejection letters is “I just didn’t connect with the character(s).”

So, what does that mean to us, as fiction writers? It means we must draw our readers into the story with the very first sentences, and to get them invested in the characters well before the end of the first chapter, maybe by the end of the first page. This is a tall order—especially when we read our favorite authors and marvel at how easy they make it look.

I don’t know about you, but I can see my characters vividly in my mind’s eye, and am truly astonished when my critique partners don’t fall in love with the characters. Passionately! As an author, it is incumbent upon me to portray those characters with all the tools at my disposal. I’d like to share a technique that is simple, yet extremely effective.

Rooting factors. Yes, as in rah-rah, go hero/ine! These are characteristics that show your hero or heroine in an endearing light. Details that allow the reader to bond with them…to root for them. What you’re after is any trait that is positive, but especially universal ones like humanity, vulnerability, generosity, etc.

As Blake Snyder says in Save the Cat, an excellent resource on screenwriting, the opening scene is critical. We must give the reader a reason to like our hero or heroine, even if (or especially if) they have rough edges or have a lot of growing to do through the book. In Snyder’s example, the character swerves from his purpose (which can be dark or suspenseful or comic) in order to do a good deed…i.e., save the cat from certain calamity. This demonstrates our hero’s kind side, and when he goes on to shock or distress us with his struggles, we recognize that he is a good person who has been forced into an untenable situation. And we root for him!

This is what keeps readers turning the pages, this ‘liking’ the characters. Go to your favorite novel. Right now. Open it up and analyze the first chapter for characteristics that are likable (and therefore create a bond with the reader). Chances are, you’ll find a fairly long list.
Be careful to salt these rooting factors in carefully. They must be organic to the story and the writing. This should never be a laundry list. “The heroine was feisty, yet compassionate, and she was bluntly honest without being cruel, and her moral compass never wavered.” No. Work the rooting factors into the normal activities of the character’s world. Use dialogue and action to show why the character deserves the reader’s investment.

This is a particularly effective technique for characters who may not be all that likable at the beginning of the story, those who have a long way to go before they learn their life lesson or earn their reward. They have legitimate flaws. That’s what makes them interesting. But they also have some innate goodness that allows the potential of redemption. Here’s a secret regarding the villain: the most compelling villains have some good traits, too. After all, the worst part about villains is that we can see ourselves in them.

Here’s an example from my current work in progress. I have a potentially difficult task. My heroine has just been released from prison and is looking for a job. In the first sentence, she demonstrates a deep level of respect for her fellow man when she murmurs “Excuse me” to a pedestrian who bumps into her. And she does so without regard to the discomfort, even anxiety, the other person’s proximity causes her—which demonstrates her vulnerability and humanity. What’s not to like about our heroine, right off the bat? A page later, she picks up a plastic bag out of concern that small animals might get trapped in it. Her prison history, while central to the story, is not revealed until the end of the chapter. And by the time the reader gets there, hopefully s/he is so invested in the character that they are willing (and eager) to read further.

Here’s your homework assignment: Reread the first chapter of your current work. Can you ramp up rooting factors for your characters? See what you can do, and if it improves the work. It has mine, and it took me four years too long to figure out. I hope it’s not as long for you!

What’s it all about? How Theme can help your story shine.

February 28, 2012/9 Comments/in Catholic Writing and Publishing, Encouragement for Writers, Fiction, Marketing Your Work, The Writing Life, Writing Tips and Tricks/by Leslie Lynch

Theme comes in lots of shapes, sizes, and variations, but embodies the core of what something is about, whether it’s your brand as a writer, the story you’re writing, the characters you’re writing about – or the music you’re listening to while writing. So what is theme, and how can it help focus and clarify your purpose as an author?

Theme is the underlying idea that makes something tick. It is pervasive and affects everything about the whole, without being overt or overbearing. In fact, the best practical expression of theme in writing rarely shows up as words on paper. Rather, theme directs the words in order to come up with a finished product with specific meaning at a deeper level.

Let’s look at theme from the big picture to the more detailed aspects. First is your theme as a writer. Why do you write? What do you hope to accomplish – and how are you different from the thousands of other writers out there? If you’ve never written a mission statement for yourself, this is a great exercise. The answers to these questions can keep you focused and motivated. A bonus for taking a few minutes, hours, or weeks to analyze your purpose is that you may come up with a brand, a concise statement of why you are unique and what you have to offer your readers. If you’d like to take more time to contemplate your calling as a writer, Lent is a perfect time for reflection. Use it!

On to story. What are you writing about? Not the plot – what happens – but the deeper meaning? This is the place for clichés. Not in the writing, but in your mind. Clichés tend toward the universal, and that’s what you’re after here. Identify the most resonant concept underpinning your story. Love conquers all… People and relationships are more important than one-upping the Joneses… Revenge, or mercy? Man against nature/beast (human or otherwise)/impossible odds, etc. Once you nail it down, make sure that the theme drives every scene in the story. Don’t beat the reader over the head with it—theme is best conveyed through subtlety—but your awareness will influence the words as they pour forth. Theme will provide conflict and growth throughout the book, even if each scene doesn’t have an overt thematic question.

One caveat about theme (a very large one), as it relates to story: Do not use theme to further your agenda. Readers will pick up on it and put your book down. Let the characters struggle with the issues in a natural, organic way; don’t have them act out a morality tale. Ellen Gable Hrkach alludes to this aspect of theme in her post on Feb. 13, 2012, Improve the Odds for Self-Publishing Success. Her first book, Emily’s Hope, enjoyed modest sales to a narrow audience. Please note, there is nothing wrong with this; if your mission is to be the voice for an issue, or you write without regard to readership or sales, that is your prerogative. Ellen stated, in writing that particular book, if her words touched one person, she would have achieved her goal. She clearly succeeded. But Ellen then wished to engage a larger audience. What did she do? She chose to widen the scope of theme in subsequent books – which are selling more briskly. So the idea of theme circles back to one’s theme as writer, which will inform your choices of theme in specific works.

Which leads us to the third level of theme. Characters. Each character should have a core belief or value that can be summed up in a short phrase. Duty first… Me first… Life is an adventure! Life is dangerous… Again, clichés rule here. What is most important to each individual character, i.e., what will they fight to the death for? The flip side is critical, too. What conflict will the character walk away from, and why? Once you understand your characters, keep that core belief in mind as you write. Your characters will stay true to themselves and their motivations, making for a book that readers will remember long after they’ve finished it. A bonus at this level: Your character’s theme is always a two-edged sword. Use it. Create conflict with it – and then find a way for the character to grow. By the end of the book, their theme may have changed; at the very least, they will live it in a deeper manner, and the reader will love them (and you) for it.

Do you consciously use theme in your writing? If so, how? Or, as you look back on your work, can you see theme at any of the three levels we’ve examined?