Tuesday's Writer's Tip - A Bit about Beginning, Middle and End #BWLAuthor #MFRWAuthor #writing

 When writing a story, do you need to know the ending when you write the beginning? Not completely but you will need to know which of the characters will reach his or her goal This fives the viewpoint to the story. So let's look generally at the three parts of a story.

The beginning should tell youwhat kind of story you are telling be it romance, mystery or one of the other genres. In the beginning the characters are introduced along with the goals of these characters. Who are they and what do they want? Also there should be a hint to why each one wants a special outcome.

In the middle, the characters approach their goals. They face problems about reaching their main goal. Small problems can be silved but always there's the driving force toward that goal. During this part of the story, there can be points where the characters may make a reversalBut pointing them back to the goal helps. Try to avoid having a character step in and solve everything. Miracles may happen but this usually causes the story to fall flat.

The end must be the logical outcome of what is shown in the beginning and the middle. This is the conclusion of the action and the promise of a satisfactory ending.

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Tuesday's Writer's Tip - Plot #BWLAuthor #MFTWAuthor #writing #plot

Many years ago, I imagine perhaps 40 or 50, I went to hear a writer give an all day talk about writing. Wish I could remember his name but memory goes as one ages.  He said one thing that stuck with me "A PLOT IS JUST A PLAN."

I've been a writer for all those years and I've spent time with new writers. Many of them worry about the plot and sometimes make it so complicated it makes no sense. I repeat those words to them. I sometimes tell them to think of a road map when you're going from one place to the other. This is essentially what a plot is.

There is the Beginning. when you set up what the story is about. Is this a romance, a mystery, a look at history, a peering into the future or finding a place that doesn't exist. The beginning is when you introduce your characters and what they have as a goal. You might hit a bit on their reasons for wanting something but you may save much of this for the reader. In the beginning you need to let the reader know about the character's worlds and how they fit into this. So the beginning sets you on the road.

Then comes the middle and this is where the road may not be straight. There are complications that may set your characters on a different path for a time but they must come back to the original road or the story becomes confused. The middle deals with interactions and also with actions and reactions to what's happening to the characters. Sometimes the road goes straight up to that point where the end is in sight. Other times this is a rocky road with many twists and turns but as the writer you know you need to drive the characters back to the road and to that peak.

The end is where all the problems are solved and the characters find a satisfactory ending. Note I say satisfactory. This means the reader will smile and nod and believe the ending of the story. The ending of a book must be just right. Not too long and not too short. Too long bores the reader and they want to yell "get on with it." Too short leaves them wondering what really happened during the story. I've been guilty of both kinds of ending and often rewrrite this part many times. Sometimes adding words and sometimes cutting them out.

Just remember A PLOT US JUSY A PLAN> 

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Tuesday's Writer's Tip After the End #MFRWAuthor #BWLAuthor #Writing #Promotion

Even before you finish your book, there are things you should be doing.

1. Make a list of the publishers you want to send your book to. Make a list of all the publishers who publish the kind of books you write. I once had an agent who sent a Regency romance to a science fiction/fantasy publisher. If you plan to self-publish, I have no idea how to go about this but there are other authors who do. Make sure the publishers you list do publish your kind of book. You can do this by looking at the books you have and the publishers.

2. Do the same thing with agents if this is the way you want to go. You can look to see which authors they represent.

3. Make sure you follow completely the instructions of publishers or agents when you submit.

4. Find authors you know who write in the same genre as you do and if you’re a fan, you could ask them for a recommendation or even a little bit about your book.

5. Do write what is your back of the book material. Having the Blurb in hand is a good idea. There are people on line who can help you with this copy.

6. Start appearing on Blogs of authors who welcome visitors to their blog. There are some places like Marketing For Romance Authors. This is a place where all your questions can be answered.

7. Set a budget for how much you want to spend promoting your book and stick to it. There are places where you can promote for free and ones that charge.

8. Be sure after you send out the book you don’t sit and wait for responses. Immediately start on the next book. Responses from publishers and agents can take weeks to months. Sitting and daydreaming about that big sale isn’t wise. If you’re well into a new book and you hear a negative response from an agent or editor, you have anew dream waiting. Writing and publishing aren’t for the weak. Unfortunately it’s a business.

9. Good luck and hopefully you’ll find a publisher like the one I found who wants everything you write.

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Tuesday's Writer's Tip The End #MFRWAuthor #BWLAuthor #Writing #Endings

The ending of the book means some work. You just don’t mark the end. There are some things you need to write. This is a general bit here. We will look at the steps you need to cover to make the ending satisfactory.

First comes the building of steps. These steps are found in the character's motivations, goals and secrets. There are also the stumbling blocks. What the character wants and why he or she wants it? This may or may not be the character's initial goals but ones that have changed and developed. The character's secret is important. He may be hiding something from others and even from himself. For that secret to be revealed is often the trigger for the black moment. Stumbling blocks belong to the other characters and they have their own reasons for the character not to reach his goal. These can also trigger the black moment.

The moment of realization is the next point in the black moment. The character must really believe all is lost. Don't resolve this moment in a sentence or two but show the character really suffering from the realization.

Then comes the resolution. Here the character must give up or find a way to fight. Play the scene out fully as this adds to the drama of the scene. Even if he or she gives up this must be made to look like the right decision for the character. If he or she decides to fight, this will lead to other scenes.

The black moment for your character or characters doesn't just pop up. The moment has to be developed so the reader believes this is for real. Remember during the black moment, the character must believe all is lost. The reader must believe this as well. So how does this moment happen?

Just what is the black moment? this is the time when a character realizes all is lost. The hero knows he will never win the girl. The heroine sees her dreams for happiness evaporate. The villain realizes he will be found out.

The key word is believes and this can be hard to make clear. If you're writing a romance, you know there should be a happily ever after or a happy for now moment. In a mystery, you know the villain will be unmasked. In any genre the time needs to come for one of the characters to realize all is lost. In a science fiction story the hero or heroine might believe the plague will never end. In fantasy, the wizard believes he or she ahs lost their powers. A bit of note for the horror genre. The black moment may become the end of the focus character, What could be blacker than that.

Is it possible to have more than one black moment in a story? Skillfully done, this can be achieved. The character may believe all is lost. Then he or she decides to go on from there. Then, during the new path he or she has taken there comes another time when all can be lost.

Here’s a sketch of what my Black Moment will entail. The hero has tried to rescue one of the girls the villain holds prisoner. Instead he is captured and the villain taints his lines. The hero believes he has lost everything and he flees. When the alien finds him, he is unable to fight the man. The heroine arrives. The alien is pleased but the heroine offers the hero a chance to cleanse his lines. He must decide to do something he has fought since he first met the heroine. This leads to the final scene and also gives a little hint about what the third book in the trilogy will be.

So your assignment is to spend time trying to figure which one of your characters will have the really black moment. In my story though the heroine has to make a hard choice it is not a true black moment for her.

Tuesday's Writer's Tip - Pacing at the End #MFRWAuthor #BWLPublishing #Pacing #End of Book

The end is in sight. There are two problems with the pacing that can occur. One is to finish in a rush and the second it to keep ending and ending.

The rush job. Going from the Black Moment to the Resolution to the end is done as quickly as the writer can manage. This may leave the reader breathless but also unsatisfied. The black moment should be played out to the end when the character fears all is lost. Then comes the resolution when they decide what they must do to grasp the satisfactory ending. Then the end can come.

The not wanting to say good bye. Here the writer has become so enamored of the characters, they don't want to let go. Sometimes they might write several endings telling the reader what happens next beyond the solving of the problems. Some times In romances, I've seen endings that are a chapter or more in length. The reader might close the book and thing, glad it's over.

So finding the right way to end a book leaves the reader reaching for the writer's next book.

Wednesday's Tip - More on Patterns

First a bit on Originality. Are there new stories? Probably not. What there are are writer's takes on stories that go back to the days when men gathered around a fire in a cave and someone told stories. What a writer needs to do is find their own unique way of telling the story. Learning about Patterns is one way of doing this. We were read to as children and heard all those wonderful fairy tales, some of them changed from their original pattern and sometimes not. We've seen adaptations of these classical themes in a variety of ways. Some author tales a story and adds a twist. One has to do this with care. Taking what someone has written and just changing the names and location is plagerism, but taking the basic pattern and using it in isn't. Perhaps a hard line not to cross. There's a lot of "fan fiction" out there that takes a writer's world and uses the characters to create stories. The problem here is when the writer of the "fan fiction" goes overboard and changes very little. I've never done this kind of writing but there are authors I have studied their works to look at the basic patterns and used these patterns to create my own world.

Basic patterns look at archtypes. There are characters who turn up in many stories and these are found in patterns from the beginning. Look at the use writers have has of taking the story of lovers torn apart by a family feud. This is a recognazible pattern but it's what the writer does with this. To copy long passages isn't where it's at. To follow the pattern blindly isn't where it's at. Taking a pattern and adapting it to your own work. We've been listening to stories since we were small. Finding the patterns beneath the story is where a writer should shine. Taking another writer's characters and changing little about their personalities is bordering on plagerism.

Now I've had my small rant let's look at the basic pattern of a story. Every story has a Beginning, a Middle and an End. Leave one of these out and you don't have a story. The Beginning is where the characters are introduced, setting is shown and the problem begun. The Middle is where the story has twists and turns with the hero or heroine sometimes succeeding and sometimes not. All this leads to the End where the problems are solved and a resolution is formed. A story with a beginning and an end is found odd by the reader. So would a story with a middle and an end or one that has just one of the three pieces of the pattern. As a writer I've probably done all of the above but then I've had to look at the story and decide what's wrong and then go back and make the changes so the story has all it's parts and has a pattern that flows.