School Vacation

Winter vacation for my kids is upon us, which means that my writing time will be limited for the next week until they go back to school. Luckily for me, my kids are teenagers and they sleep late. This is good because it means that I can walk around the house plotting my scenes with my thoughts to myself without being interupted by kids who are bored and want to go to the mall or a friend's house or whatever. It's bad because when they're on vacation I usually want to sleep late myself. So I'll be using an alarm clock and hoping I don't hit the snooze button TOO much.

I worked at an elementary school for 3 years in the special education department for grades 1 and 2. It was one of those jobs that didn't pay well, but left me with a feeling that I was making a difference in someone's life. I worked as a paraprofessional, teaching reading and writing. I loved the stories these 6 and 7 year old children would come up with. For some kids, taking a story they could tell me with expression in their eyes and on their face and put it down on paper was like pulling out teeth. They needed organizational tools to help them bring their fabulous thoughts and ideas to fruition.


Unfortunately, this same type of thing happens when you're an adult writer. I learned a lot about the process of writing from these children and saw patterns with them that I recognized when I talked to other romance writers. It seemed writers could be put into 4 different categories. Plotters, Puzzlers, Pantsers and Linear writers. Most writers are at times a combination of two. Very few writers are strictly one type of writer.


In the early stages of learning, teachers use the same strategies and tools for all children. What I learned is that the frustration we feel using tools that are considered the standard are not so much that the tool itself is inadequate. It's that the approach toward using it doesn't fit your writing profile.

For me, if you tell me to start writing on page 1 and not jump ahead until I've finished a chapter and revised it, I'd get stuck. In fact, I HAVE gotten stuck writing that way. I'd love to be a linear writer and write a book the way you see actors do it in the movies. Kathleen Turner in Romanicing the Stone. Jack Nicholson in As Good As It Gets. I'd love to get to that last page and type THE END and have it be the end. But I don't write that way. I'm a puzzler. My stories come to me in little pieces. Almost like a series of movie trailers. I need to write as I see the story. If that means writing the beginning, then jumping ahead to write a scene in the middle, I do it. Forward Motion. Then I backtrack and transition my scenes together.

This is what I'm doing now. I'm writing the puzzle of my 3rd story for Steeple Hill. I have the beginning written. Some pieces of the middle and a wonderful ending. I love writing the ending of the book before the rest of it is done. Unfortunately, because of school vacation, I won't be getting much of it written next week. Wish me luck.

Until next week, many blessings to you,
Lisa Mondello

Review: Bayou Corruption

Robin Caroll’s second book Bayou Corruption is in stores now. I read this one on the plane to Florida. Good thing, too, since I ended up loaning it to a friend who had forgotten to pack any books. Can you imagine!?!?!

From the first page I was pulled into this story. Investigative reporter Jackson Devereaux has driven to Lagniape, Louisiana, at the request of his college buddy, the town sheriff, to help with a police investigation. Alyssa LeBlanc is back in town only because her grandmother had a heart attack. However, on the way to her grandmother’s house from the hospital, she sees men dump a bag of trash on the side of the road. When she reaches the bag, she realizes it’s not trash but the sheriff, who is badly beaten. The book is off to the races from there!

This book is filled with so much conflict between the characters it amazed me. Every time I thought the connections between characters or the skeletons from their pasts couldn’t get more twisted, I was wrong. And the author skillfully pulled the past and present together.

The mystery/suspense thread was strong. Toward the end I suspected/knew that a particular character had to be involved – primarily because of everyone’s belief that he couldn’t be. Yet even that didn’t spoil the fun of the read.

I enjoyed every twist and turn in this book and can’t wait to read book three when it releases in May.

If you want to read it, RUN to your local bookstore or Wal-Mart. Since it’s published by Harlequin’s Christian line: Love Inspired Suspense, it won’t be on shelves long.

Lessons 5 & 6: Adjusting the Volume & Reversing Motives

This week I'm combining the next two lessons in WRITING THE BREAKOUT NOVEL WORKBOOK, by Donald Maass. On first glance, both seem straightforward and fairly easy to grasp. Notice I didn't say they were easy to incorporate into our work in progress. Maass is a pro, and his techniques require time and effort to learn.

Lesson 5 is titled Heightening Larger-Than-Life Qualities. Maass suggests "adjusting the volume" on any action, thought or comment our characters have within a story. Either increase or decrease the volume to go against the direction the scene is currently headed. If we've written a very intense, action-oriented scene, our character could reverse that high-tension atmosphere with a shrug and non-committal comment that underplays the excitement. Conversely, if we've written a lazy, relaxed scene, the character could make a bold statement or action that shocks the reader and goes counter to the laidback mood. Remember Maass looks for ways to twist the tables and shake up the story with characters that are larger than life.

Lesson 6 talks about Turnabout and Surprises, or what he refers to as "Reversing Motives." Pick a scene in your story and write down your character's motive. Then write down as many other motives as you can. Pick the last one on your list and rework the scene with that in mind. Again, Maass is looking for unpredictability that surprises and engages the reader.

Are you seeing a pattern? In every lesson, Maass teaches us how to go against the norm in our writing. He encourages us to step outside the box and embrace originality, perhaps peppered with a bit of audacity, to meld bizarre, seemingly non-convergent traits and actions into a memorable character.

Easy? Never!

Good luck with your writing this week!

Wishing you abundant blessings!
Debby

More Hands Across the Novel

Okay, hopefully you’ve been staring at my/your Cinderella notes and saying, “What’s next?” Hah! Plenty. See, Cinderella is a very short book. They really padded to turn that baby into a movie. We, as writers, have the same job. We start out with an idea. We have to turn that baby into a novel. Characterization and plot are the two most essential pieces.

Since we write romance, it’s very important to know the ins and outs of our characters: motivation, doubts, triumphs, everything. That’s where term = class + distinguishing characteristics really comes in. We’re going to approach our novels the way we did with Cinderella. We dissected her in five parts… remember the classes. 1. beloved daughter 2. stepdaughter 3. slave 4. imposter 5. princess. Term says the same. Class ‘can’ stay the same, but it ‘can’ and ‘should’ also change. Let’s start dissecting the heroine in You’ve Got Mail.

We’re going to divide You’ve Got Mail into four parts: beginning, middle, black moment, and ending.

Beginning
(Term) Kathleen Kelly = (Class) successful independent bookstore owner + (distinguishing characteristics) single but involved both literally (Greg Kinnear) and figuratively (Tom Hanks), conservative, mother deceased, has enough money, has extended family, safe.

Wow, did you notice how many details I put in the distinguishing characters. All of these character traits help make Kathleen Kelly a heroine we love.

Middle
(Term) Kathleen Kelly = (Class) threatened independent bookstore owner + (distinguishing characteristics) believes in co-existence, doesn’t know what Joe Foxx looks like, searches for answers – especially from a stranger more than her significant other.

Interestingly enough, at this stage, most of the beginning stage characteristics are the same, except for safe. Whoa. This really keeps the character in our thoughts and prayers… we hate it when our world no longer feels safe.

Black Moment
(Term) Kathleen Kelly = (Class) Unemployed independent bookstore owner + (distinguishing characteristics) now solidly single, still conservative, feels like she let her deceased mother down, worried a little bit about money, extended family at risk, both relationships at risk, world is not safe.

Ending
(Term) Kathleen Kelly = (Class) Reinvented ex independent bookstore owner + (distinguishing characteristics) still single, but…, still conservative, but…, extended family just might change, forgiveness just might return safety to her world.

Next week, we'll do this same thing with Gone With the Wind.

Last time, I said I wanted to share the four biggest secrets I knew about becoming a published author. Anyone remember the first one? The "secret" was that an aspiring author hoping to make a first sale needs to FINISH THE BOOK! Seems pretty obvious, doesn't it? But how many of us know a writer who starts one project after another, writes a few chapters, then gives up and starts something new? That's perfectly fine, if she simply enjoys the process of writing and doesn't care about making a sale. But first sales are rarely made with less than a complete manuscript, because editors know just how hard it is to finish. So...have you been writing this week? Did you finish a scene? A chapter? If so, good for you! Now, keep going!

Here's another "secret." #2. Read everything aloud! Perhaps that sounds a little sophomoric, but this is an amazing tool. You know your story. Know what you meant to say. If you silently read over your work, you might subconsciously "see" what's supposed to be there, and miss the parts that aren't. By reading aloud, you will catch missing or incorrect words, awkward phrasing, clunky or unbelievable or over-long dialogue, and a host of other problems. Take time to read *every* paragraph aloud. You'll be surprised at what you catch!

Best wishes until next week,
Roxanne Rustand

Red Herrings and Tales of Shocking Mystery and Suspense

Every mystery and suspense lover knows that part of what makes a book good is how well the author hides those red herrings interweaved in the story. When I watch mystery and suspense movies on TV I always watch for the red herrings. My family gets so annoyed with me. "See that knife? Someone is going to get stabbed." Okay, so that's an easy one. Honestly, I'm good at picking them out. And while I always enjoy a good story, I know I'll enjoy it much more if the author shocks me!

I love reading books and watching movies that totally shock me. Remember The Sixth Sense? I was blown away when I learned Bruce Willis's character had been dead the whole time. When my mother read Cradle of Secrets, she called me midway through the book to tell me who she THOUGHT the villian was and how the story was going to end. I just smiled and said, "Keep reading, ma!" I love the reader mail that I've received telling me they thought the villian was one person and I managed to trick them. I wish they could see my smile of satisfaction. I totally love it.

I aim to do that in every mystery/suspense book and it got me to thinking, what great mystery and suspense books am I missing? So I'm putting this out to all of you readers. What book have you read that totally shocked you. Did you see the ending coming? Did the book keep you so riveted because of the twists and turns in the story brought you in a direction you didn't think it was going to go? If so, tell me about it. I've love to share opinions of your favorite books.

Until next time, many blessings to you all,

Lisa Mondello

ACFW's Genesis and Book of the Year Contests

If you're an aspiring writer with a work in progress that's moved past the first 15 pages, you should consider entering ACFW's Genesis contest. And if you're a published author, the Book of the Year could be a great contest to enter. Each year the contests grow in reputation, and both give you the opportunity to get feedback: from experienced and published writers in the Genesis and from readers in the Book of the Year. Read below for more information.

BOOK OF THE YEAR and GENESIS OPEN FOR ENTRIES ACFW announces entry dates American Christian Fiction Writers [ACFW] is pleased to announce the opening of its two annual contests, Book of the Year and Genesis. Book of the Year is open to published members of ACFW. Categories include Contemporary Novella, Debut Author, General Fiction, Historical Novella, Lits (chick-lit, mom-lit, lady-lit, lad-lit, etc.), Long Contemporary, Long Contemporary Romance, Long Historical, Mystery, Short Contemporary, Short Contemporary Suspense, Short Historical, Speculative, Suspense, Women's Fiction, and Young Adult. Entries must be received by March 31, 2008. Genesis is open to members of ACFW who are unpublished in adult or young adult fiction in the last seven years. The contest has a multitude of categories/genres to enter, the opportunity for unbiased feedback on writers' work by published authors and experienced judges, and the chance for the Category Finalists to have their work read by Christian publishing house editors and literary agents. ACFW has been pleased to see previous winners and finalists move further in their writing careers to become published authors. Entries must be received by March 1, 2008. LEARN MORE AT WWW.ACFW.COM

Lesson Four: Larger-Than-Life Character Qualities

If you've been tuning in on Wednesdays for the last few weeks, you know we're working our way through Donald Maass' WRITING THE BREAKOUT NOVEL WORKBOOK. Today we'll try our hand at making characters stand out from the crowd in their speech, thoughts and actions.

Maass encourages writers to push the envelope! We need to create main characters, who are bold and unafraid to back down in the face of opposition. Try giving your hero a one-liner that puts the villain in his place. The "I-wish-I'd-said-that" factor resonates with readers and makes our heroes and heroines compelling and memorable.

Our main characters should act on impulses that have the readers cheering, "Way to go!" In the real world, we're inhibited by social restraints, but in fiction, blockbuster characters can and should react with verve and gusto. So maybe the five-foot-two heroine, who's as sweet as maple syrup, gets mad enough to swing a punch at the six-foot antagonist. A bit extreme? But what if she sets a trap he falls into -- literally or figuratively -- that provides the comeuppance he justly deserves? It's the surprise hook, the action the reader never expects that, according to Maass, makes the difference between ho-hum characters and ones that keep the reader turning the page.

We all know actions speak louder than words, but what about thoughts? Maass says real change and thus growth occurs first within. Our character's internal compass is the most difficult to realign, and the impact of inner change can be significant for not only our hero but also our readers.

This week, create dialogue for your heroine that brings the antagonist to his knees, or drives home the point with such audacity and timing readers will wish they could be as ingenious with their retorts. Let your characters act and react with courage. Ensure change starts within as they tackle significant issues. Bottom line, deliver the unexpected and make it larger than life.

If you haven't already, get a copy of Maass' workbook. Each chapter is illustrated with excerpts from books he feels are a step above and packed with exercises that trigger the imagination and get the creative juices flowing.

Good luck with your writing!

Wishing you abundant blessings!
Debby

Layering

This coming Saturday I'm giving a workshop for my local Romance Writers of America chapter, The Rose City Romance Writers. Way back last year when I volunteered ( a moment of madness) to give a workshop I had no idea what I'd teach on. How could I teach? I'm still learning! I've only done two other workshops. One with my critique partners on who to have a successful critique partnership, we will actually be doing this workshop in Salem this coming June. And the other workshop was titled How to Write the Inspirational Novel. But for my chapter I'm going to do one on story layering, which is so important in any story especially suspense stories. There is so much to keep track of, to layer in. I do it in stages. I never have it right in the first, rough draft. It takes at least three to four passes through before I feel its even close to being ready to send in. Is there anyone else out there who layers and layers like I do?
If so give me a wave!
Or am I just too overly picky, perfectionistic? In which case, well, all I can say is it works for me.

Hands Across the Novel - Hands On

Here’s a truth. Only 1 out of every 10 people who start a novel will finish it. Raise your hand (Okay, stick out your tongue at the computer if it makes you feel better) if you’ve finished a novel (I’m talking about 50,000 words which is 250 double-spaced pages).

On average, it is an author’s fifth novel that sells. Those of you who stuck your tongue out at the computer, figure out where you are and start writing faster. I’m pretty much a statistic; I sold my fourth manuscript.

Almost immediately, I sold two more. Boy was I lucky. But, none of those sales fulfilled my dream – you see, one was to a mail order publisher, the other was a novella, both were flat fee. I love those sales; they taught me a lot. Still, the best thing about dreams is they grow.

This workshop is designed for the writer, no matter where he is in his career, because characterization is a must, must, must.

The reason I’ve had to spend so much time on characterization is because I’m a seat of the pants writer. What does that mean? It means I don’t write an outline that is a finished product. My outline is pretty much like a grocery list, my grocery list. There’s a few things on it (diapers and Dr. Pepper). Yup, I need those things, but most of the things I need are not on the list (Butter? I didn't know we were out of butter.) They’re in my head, or I don’t even know I need them… yet. The problem with being a SOTP writer is I know my beginning and I know my end, but the middle tends to get muddled. How to fix, how to fix, how to fix?

By day, I’m a college professor, so I, of course, have to start with some definitions. Today class, we only have three.

Term: This is your character. It will not change unless, of course, you’re doing an amnesia story line or maybe witness protection. For an example, let’s use Cinderella. Through-out the whole story, her name (her term) never changes. Take a piece of paper and divide it into three columns - make the last one the biggest. In the first column, I want to write Cinderella, skip two lines, write her name again, skip two lines. Do this five times in all.

Class: A title given to your character – think adjectives.

Right now, I’m Pamela Tracy (that’s my term) blogger (Ah, that’s my class). I’m also Pamela Tracy (term doesn’t change) author (Ah, a new class). When I go home, I’m Pamela Tracy (Hmmm, this term is really sticking with me) wife, mother, maid (What! Three classes! Well, good, it means this chapter has some meat!). Let’s go again to our paper and Cinderella. We’re going to fill in her classes. Here’s what I want you to put in the middle column: 1. beloved daughter 2. stepdaughter 3. slave 4. imposter 5. princess.


Finally… last definition which, of course, is the final column...

Distinguishing Characteristics: Mannerisms, conflicts, goals, life. Here’s where you plot the string of events that makes your characters antics worth reading. Let’s go to page two and Cinderella. Here’s what I want you to put in the final column: 1. Happy life, no expectations (this would be a very short chapter- the only conflict is lack of mother) 2. Favored by dad, despised by stepmother (now chapter is longer as we read about the underhandedness and unhappiness) 3. death of a parent, longing to escape (this is about the middle of the story, the longest part) 4. Pretending to be wealthy (now we admire the heroine for her fortitude) 5. Happily Ever After (Justification).

Go ahead and mull over what I've given you so far, and I'll be posting more next Monday. If you really want to stay in sinc with the lessons watch the movies You've Got Mail and Gone with the Wind.

Blessings!

Pamela

Keep Moving!!

Keep on moving, moving, moving....

Today, for Sunday's blog, I'd like to diverge from my series of topics on the process of setting up a manuscript, and share with you one of my Four Biggest Secrets of Success for a new writer.

KEEP MOVING!!!!

Critique groups are fine. The right group can provide extremely helpful feedback. But unless there's something VERY major that needs to be changed, file those comments away and KEEP ROLLING.

There are far too many wonderful writers out there who will never finish a book, because they are so caught up in the endless cycle of critiquing and fixing, critiquing and fixing. By the time they absorb everything that friends tell them, try to rewrite to please everyone, and then polish every word along the way, they end up going in circles...and never do actually finish a manuscript.

Unless your critique group, or a host of contest judges, or something in your own heart tells you that you have gone way off track, keep writing! Save critique comments in a file and fix everything later. But get to The End! Believe me, once you get there, you may have a very different vision of those early chapters, and there might be lots in them that needs to be discarded anyway. And making it to that last page not only will give you a tremendous feeling of accomplishment, but will also teach you a lot about the process of writing a book.

When I first started writing, I labored over every word. Polished and edited after every critique session, then brought back that same material time after time. After two years, I'd piddled my way to 150 pages. And then...I signed up for a wonderful University of Iowa Writer's Workshop Summer Festival workshop given by Leigh Michaels. The class was wonderful. But at the end, when we were critiquing each other's work? Leigh and every one of the class members agreed. My first 127 pages had to go!

As with so many first time authors, I'd started my story too soon--well before the real action started--but hadn't possessed the experience to see it. I felt overwhelmed for a few weeks, then bit the bullet and made the cut. It was a far stronger manuscript after that. But just think of the time wasted! I could have finished that whole manuscript with all the time I'd taken to endlessly polish words that were cut, anyway.

I know a lot of writers who do what I did. They labor over beginning chapters but then flounder before they get half-way to The End. Or, they polish their first few chapters for contests, then start something else and start that same cycle over again. This simple piece of advice is more valuable that you know: finish your book!

Happy writing,
Roxanne Rustand

Introduction

I am happy to be a part of this blog. I’ll be posting on Saturday.

My favorite kind of book is a suspense with adventure and mystery sprinkling in. When I write my romantic suspense books, though, I find I must think totally different from when I write my inspirational romances for Love Inspired. I have to analyze everything. I have to look at the story from all angles. I’m constantly saying what if or does it seem logical for the situation. Plotting a suspense is much more than delving into the lives of your characters. You must do that but you also have to make the suspense/mystery intriguing and plausible.

Over the next weeks I will post excerpts from an online class I taught on writing the inspirational romantic suspense. The first segment is the Introduction (below).

Introduction:
An inspirational romantic suspense has three main elements: a suspense or mystery, romance and faith element. For me that means I have to juggle three aspects of a story within a 275 page manuscript. Not an easy task and one that requires a lot of planning and thought. In a suspense pacing is so important. A reader expects to be taken on a merry ride where the hero and heroine are threatened, running for their lives, trying to solve something, trying to save someone. In a mystery, which I call a whodunit, the action might be more sedate but not necessarily. My stories often combine the elements of a suspense and a mystery.

A romantic suspense is usually fifty percent suspense and fifty percent romance. So often the problem arises when you are working your way through the suspense part of your book and you forget to have your hero and heroine fall in love. It can be harder to show it when they are being threatened or running for their lives. But if you have a furious pace throughout your book, it will overload your readers. I have read many romantic suspense books and there should always be moments of down time. That can be when you build the romance between your hero and heroine. Even when they are running for their lives, it is a good thing to keep them emotionally connected and aware of each other.

In an inspirational romantic suspense you must also delve into the spiritual growth of your hero and heroine. I find it is easier in a romantic suspense because of the heightened action and often the life and death aspect of these type of stories. We turn to the Lord in times of trouble and when we need Him. This can feed very naturally into your story.

But again I will stress because you have to juggle faith, romance and suspense, you must plan. In a lot of stories you will need to give false information and clues as well as real ones. Readers like to have a chance to figure out who is behind all the commotion in your story. I do realize some suspense (not mystery) books the reader will already know who the villain is and that is fine. An example is the heroine being stalked by an ex-husband or ex-boyfriend. She knows who he is, but she is in grave danger.

So where do you start? The first thing I usually come up with is a premise for my story. Sometimes it can be something as simple as a favorite setting like the jungle in Heart of the Amazon or an occupation in Buried Secrets. In So Dark the Night I came up with the premise what would happen to a sister who witnessed her brother’s murder and fled the scene with the killers after her. Or in Vanished, the premise was what would happen if a sheriff had to be both lawman and father when someone from his past kidnaps his daughter. Usually it is easiest to come up with some kind of concept and build a story from there.

Margaret Daley

Plucking story ideas out of thin air...

I'll admit I am prone to having an overactive imagination that result in people giving me strange looks when I ask a question. Luckily for me, my neighbors are very well aware I write suspense. So when I call up a neighbor who is a phlebotomist and ask how I can make someone look like they've been murdered using blood from a blood donar bag, I only get a short pause before they realize it's for one of my books and I'm not actually planning on doing it. I'm only writing about it. They're use to my wild ideas and strange questions.

But after the funny stares and laughs they give me, the conversation always turns around to where I get my ideas. Honestly, most of the time I don't know. Ideas come from everywhere. I believe my imagination is much like a muscle. If I exercise it well, it will perform well for me. As such, there is nothing I see or hear that doesn't spark some kind of interest in me. For instance, in Cradle of Secrets, the idea for the gardener to find jewlery while digging in the yard came from a neighbor I had growing up. The fire in the mansion came from the same thing. The neighborhood I grew up in as a child had once been owned by a wealthy family in my town. There had been a church function at the mansion where a lot of money was raised for the church. After everyone had gone home that night, the mansion somehow caught on fire, everyone in the house died and all the money raised for the church was lost.

Fast forward 50 or 60 years and the land was sold to a developer who put up a neighborhood where I lived. The woman who owned the property where the mansion had once stood used to garden and every so often she'd find a bunch of coins in the ground that had been turned over into the dirt after the mansion had been leveled. And so, the idea for Cradle of Secrets was born.

It's not always so transparent though. Sometimes a headline in the newspaper or someone I meet that has had an interesting experience will spark an interest in me. I'm currently writing the 3rd book for the series I'm doing for Steeple Hill Love Inspired Suspense, which is Cash and Serena's reunion. Okay, I am what I am, and while I promise the reunion will be SO worth it and romantic, I also promise you I'm not making it easy on them. Their going to have to work for this happy ending. The story idea came to me when I met a young woman and her husband trying to reunite after a very difficult situation. I don't want to give away too many details now. Keep checking back and I'll fill you in on this amazing story and how it inspired Cash and Serena's reunion.

In the meantime, make sure you mark your calendars on August 2008 for the release of Her Only Protector where you will find out how baby Ellie is rescued!

Until next time, many blessings to you.
Lisa Mondello

Filling My Time

I'm in that interesting spot writers sometimes find themselves in...in between contracts. I turned in my last contracted book January 15th, and spent a week revising one proposal as requested and then creating a new series proposal at another editor's request. Now I'm...waiting. Ugh. I. Hate. That.

Let me say that again. I. Hate. Waiting.

I'm a type A personality. It didn't take my agent long to label me slightly obsessive.

It's truly ironic that two of my favorite Bible passages deal with trusting God and waiting on Him. He has a supreme sense of humor! Psalm 37:4 has been my life verse since I was 11 or 12. Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. Love it! But I can't ignore the verses that surround it:

Psalm 37:3-6 Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.

Hmmm. Could David tell us to trust and commit our ways to Him anymore often in that passage? I say I trust God, and I really do try. But I'll be honest...times like this when everything is outside of my control are hard. There is truly nothing I can do but sit back and trust Him to have my future and my best interests in His hands. He knows which books I should write, in which order, and for which houses. Now I have to trust.

I also am tired. Frankly, I needed a few weeks to read, work on new ideas, dream a bit, and not write with a deadline marching across the calendar. The Type A makes it very easy for me to tackle everything. I'm good at it. I can do alot. But I also need to give myself a break, let me body and mind rest. And maybe God knew I wouldn't do that without an imposed break. Yep, I think He knows me well.

So I'm also trying to take Isaiah 40 to heart:

Isaiah 40:28-31 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

You see, I'm still very new to this field. I'm used to being in fields (law, non-profit world, teaching) where, while I couldn't control everything, there were certain things I could always do to help direct results. Do A and B is likely to occur, if not guaranteed.

Writing is nothing like that. Instead, it's a real journey of faith.

There are still things I can do. Read great fiction. Research areas that interest me. I've got World War Two ideas and horse racing ideas filling my mind because I've been reading non-fiction in those areas. I can draft proposals.

But at a certain point, all I can do is wait.

You see, I have this assurance deep inside that good things are coming. I just don't know when. And that uncertainty is hard to handle. I also don't know which of the three proposals currently out there will resonate with an editor. Making it EXTREMELY hard to know where to direct my time and energy. So I gave myself another week "off" -- my husband would laugh as I race through books, write reviews, work on ACFW's 2008 conference, etc.

But next week, I'll pick up another legal thriller proposal that several editors are interested in. I'll invest a week in it, try to polish it up for my agent to review. And then I'll wait. Rest in Him. And trust that He has my future under control.

Lesson Three: Inner Conflict

Sorry I was MIA last week . . . which happens to be the title of my March release. Watch was MIA: MISSING IN ATLANTA in your favorite bookstores on March 11th. That's book #3 for me. I completed book four today. You probably heard me scream with joy when I delivered it to the UPS lady. It's on the way to New York. Hallelujah! COUNTDOWN TO DEATH will be out in October and launches my new Magnolia Medical series.

Okay, now back to Donald Maass. When I was reading this lesson on inner conflict, I had to keep remembering that he's helping us move our work into a higher level. His focus is on the breakout novel, which has to wow! the editors and stand out from the crowd big time! But his strategies also help when we're writing category romance or Love Inspired Suspense, and this section gave me a lot of food for thought.

Boiling it all down, Maass says to create characters that have two opposing desires, which are mutually exclusive. So . . . the heroine wants to have a home and family and security, yet she also wants to be a free spirit who backpacks through Europe, living on $25 a day with no ties, no constraints, no responsibility. And maybe that example isn't the best, but you get the idea. If our characters have that inner tension because they can't have both opposing desires, they become compelling folks readers will remember.

Ah, Mr. Maass, you're going to make us work hard this next week to create heroes and heroines that are multi-faceted and unforgettable. One thing I learned on book four, the more "stuff" the character has to deal with, the more fun to write and hopefully the more interesting to read. So Maass is giving us a way to ensure we have enough fuel to light a fire under our characters and move them forward as they tackle the challenges we present to them.

Hey, being a writer is a great life . . . especially when the current work in progress is finished.

Have a productive week! Let's all focus on our inner conflict.

Wishing you abundant blessings!
Debby

Judging a book

So my books to judge for the RITA-- RWA's prestigious award for excellence in writing--showed up today. Four books of various subgenre's of romance. As soon as I opened the box, I flipped through the books, read the back cover copy and read the opening paragraph. All the things I do when I'm at the book store looking for something to read. Then I stacked them in the order to which they appealed from my 'shopper' perusal. Over the next few weeks I'll read them during my down time (not writing time). When I'm done with each book, I'll assign it a numeric score from 9 being best to 1 being worst. This part of judging is always very unsettling for me. I feel a great deal of responsibility to judge fairly but judging is subjective. What draws me into a story may not be what draws another reader. So I'll do my best and give as fair a score as possible and hope that I've done my job well.

Proposing a Series

Ah, January, what a 'nice' month. I had a book due January 2. So, December 31, of course, was a harried day for me. UPS closed early; I arrived late. FedEx was open (not even a line!) and off my manuscript went.

Ah, January, what a 'nice' month. January has been very healing because I do not have a new contract. I've done a few things that I haven't had time to do in about two years. I started cleaning my office (see post from two weeks ago - and starting to clean are operative words). I've been reading (getting seven books to judge for the RITA really inspires me there - I got a real hodgepodge: short, long, series, mainstream. Very interesting). I've actually watched two movies all the way through (Okay, the two-year-old is more distracting in that department than the book deadlines).

Ah, January, what a 'nice' month to worry.

Not having a contract, to me, is like forgetting to wear my watch. Did you know that most people today do not wear watches? They rely on their cellphones. I'm not addicted to my cellphone. To me, it's much easier to glance at my wrist than to go look for my purse (I do have a friend who somehow carries her cellphone inside or at least attached to her bra - wouldn't work for me) and dig for the cellphone. I've worn a watch for [insert ridiculously low number here. No! You don't get to insert three numbers - I'll hunt you down] years. If I leave the house without my watch, I will turn around and go back for it. Otherwise, I'm looking at the hair on my wrist every few minutes and getting annoyed.

January has given me free time and much time to worry. What to write next? Were the first seventeen book sales a fluke? Will the new editor like my writing? Where am I in my career? Does Nora ever worry? Etc and so forth.

Well, this morning I emailed my agent a three-book proposal. I've never done a series before. I've always proposed either one book at a time, or I've proposed two books that were not related. Sunday's Craftie Lady did offer some advice (Thanks Roxanne!). And, since the proposal went to my agent instead of the editor, I'm sure I'll get even more advice.

Here's what I sent: Bio, past and ongoing marketing strategies, blurb, one-liner, synopsis, three chapters for book one, synopsis for book two, and synopsis for book three.

I'd be interested to know what everybody else does?

Intensity....

Intensity....

The Sunday Craft lady continues....with intensity! The old saying is so true: you should write what you love to read, and if you are following this blog, you probably enjoy romantic suspense with a Christian world view. So...how many of you are writing suspense or mystery?

Last time, we talked about tension. Today, I'd like to talk about the value of rising intensity. If you have a tense scene, and every single scene afterwards is at the same level of intensity, you will either bore your reader or wear her out! Think of several "W's" strung together.....then tipped up at a 90 degree angle to reach the peak, or climactic moment at the high point. This represents rising stakes, rising tension, rising danger, but with moments in between where the tension isn’t so high, to give the reader a breather.

About those top tips of the W's: with romantic suspense, it's much stronger if each of the big suspense turning points affect the relationship in some way--forcing your hero and heroine together, or driving them apart, or adding something that strongly affects their relationship or their emotional development.

How can you write a strong scene? At the beginning of each scene--ask yourself: Whose scene is this? What does he or she WANT? It should be something that s/he really needs--something that is driving him or her. Something specific to the situation right now.

Then ask yourself: What are the roadblocks keeping her from easily attaining this? Inward fears? Something physical? Someone else standing in her way? Your villain? For the end of the scene, ask yourself, what's the worst thing that can happen right now to these characters, given this situation?

We want to be kind and protective of our families, but our fictional characters? Make life tough for them, and your story will be more powerful, more exciting for the reader!

Until next week.... Roxanne Rustand

Keeping you hanging on the cliff...

I've been a fan of suspense novels and movies all my life. As a child, I would watch shows on television and bite my fingernails through the commercials because something disastrous always happened just before Mr. Clean or the Maytag man came on the screen. Was the girl in hiding going to be discovered by the men who had been chasing her? Was the hero going to make it safely into the deep waters after jumping off the cliff or was he going to smash onto the rocks below? I had to know and there was no way I was going to leave my place in front of the television until I knew!

When I read books I'm the same way. I love chapters that end with a cliff hanger, something that pushes me to read the next page because I HAVE to find out what happens next. It doesn't matter if it's midnight and I need to get up early in the morning. I have been known to stay up reading until 4 AM because of the book was just too good to put down and I had to check ONE MORE PAGE.

I think a little of this rubbed off on me. I love writing Love Inspired Suspense books and keeping readers on the edge of their seats. After all, that's what makes a great suspense book, right? How many people watched Lord of the Rings and couldn't wait for the next movie to come out because you had to know what happened next? I did. I drove my family crazy. Well, that's a little exaggeration. We're all LOR fans here. A lot of people were a little upset that they had to wait for the Two Towers to come out and then Return of the King to see if Frodo and Sam actually made it and were able to destroy the ring. But I loved it. I had the release dates marked on the calendar. The build up to going to the movies was almost as suspenseful as seeing the movie itself.

I've received lots of emails from readers who read Cradle of Secrets. I'm always warmed by their responses. One reader told me that she loved the book but needed to know what happened to Ellie and Cash. Was Serena and Cash ever going to be reunited? This one reader said she HAD to know and thought about it all day at work and during dinner, even though her husband said "Honey, it's only a book."

Well, admittedly, I pulled a Lord of the Rings. I can't help it. I love cliffhangers. But I assure you, you will find out what happens to Cash, Serena and Ellie. Her Only Protector will be available August 2008. While that seems like a long way off, it really won't be that long. I'll keep you updated and as soon as I have the book cover, I'll post it here for readers. I'm currently writing the last book in the series. There's no title yet, but you'll be the first to know as soon as I have one.

Until next time, many blessings to you.
Lisa Mondello

Kisses From Heaven

Some days are filled with kisses from heaven. Those times you can catch the heartbeat of God, feel the breath of His approval, sense the longing of His gentle correction. At our Catlett Christmas, I got a very vivid reminder that this dream of writing is a gift straight from His heart that He has cultivated for almost 20 years.

Almost twenty years ago I was 14 and in love with books. I inhaled books at the rate of one a day, and for a long time I had the spiral bound notebook to prove it! That school year I wrote letters to a stack of Christian writers. It was part of a school "assignment" -- the beauty of homeschooling, anything can become school :-) -- the goal, to see what being an author was really like. I contacted EVERYONE I could think of at the time. Christian fiction was much smaller, so the list isn't long: Frank Peretti, June Masters Bacher, Judith Pella, Madeline L'Engle, Janette Oke, and Michael Phillips. I had absolutely no fear then.

Each of these authors responded, and those letters languished in a window seat until Christmas. My mom discovered them when cleaning out a room and put them in an album for me, reminding me of the roots of this writing dream.

But the absolutely COOLEST part of the gift was that my sister tracked down an author that I corresponded with multiple times: Sandy Dengler. I'm embarrassed to say that she even read some of those early teenage writings and encouraged me to keep at it. She saw a spark of something or was just an amazingly kind woman. But because of Janna's call, I now have a letter from Sandy from just a couple months ago congratulating me on the release of my first book. From that I was able to reconnect with her via email. I've sent her a copy of Canteen Dreams and hope she likes it!

Through it all God reminded me that while this latest foray into the dream of writing started two and a half years ago with Colleen Coble and her incredible encouragement and guidance, He also used people years ago to tell me that this dream could come true. And now it has!

He is so good!!!