Time limits can be used to create almost unbearable tension for the reader. The TV series ‘24′ used it particularly well.

The heroine has to reach the hero before he boards that plane or he’ll be out of her reach forever. Or Detective Joe Bloggs has just twenty-four hours to prove Heroine’s innocence before his superior calls in the cops.

Bring in the ticking clock, and you heighten suspense. Will they make it in time or won’t they?

If you introduce a time limit, make sure that the reader is constantly aware that time is running out (but don’t always simply refer to a clock or her watch! Show other ways of time passing.) Stretch that suspense. Keep raising the stakes. Use obstacles to heighten the tension.

It’s a simple and time-tested technique. Give it a try.

Categories: General Tips, Plotting Your Story, Technique
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While you’re still struggling to finish your first book, you may not see the value of learning to write promotional copy about yourself, your books, or your services. However, it’s a skill you really need to learn – so on those days when your imagination has dried up or the book just isn’t going well, close the file and start doing some research. It’s easy, and you won’t feel guilty because you’ve abandoned your book, because you HAVE to learn to do this.

The most important thing you have to do is step back and write about yourself and your ’stuff’ as though you were a journalist writing about somebody else. (A journalist who just happens to admire that ’somebody else’ greatly!)

What kind of promotional copy might you need to write?

1. A flyer promoting your services. (Remember, you’re writing about somebody else who delivers a terrific, in-demand service.) For this, imagine what you would like people to be saying about you. Why are you the writer everyone wants to hire? Do you deliver great value for money? Are you prompt? Is your work high-quality? Does your writing make people want to act?) Also, what do previous clients say? (Naturally you can’t make this up!)

2. Information about yourself for a local newspaper article about ‘local author makes good’.You will need to have this handy if you win a competition or get a book published. Write about yourself in the third person. e.g. “Author Susie Writer has beaten 3,000 other keen writers to win this years Blankety Blank Competition” or “Susie Writer, mother of three lively pre-schoolers, has published a book on Fun Craft For Kids that is guaranteed to keep your brood occupied for hours on rainy days. Susie has had plenty of experience in keeping bored children entertained. She…”

3. A back-cover blurb for one of your books. This is like a mini-synopsis, but it doesn’t tell the whole story. Its job is to hook the reader by making the book sound intriguing. You haven’t got much space, so this is good practice in ‘writing tight’.

4. A press release. You can send this out whenever you give a workshop or publish a book. Make it short and interesting, and get to the point immediately. Read up on how to write a good press release.

These are just four examples. So where does the research come in?

• Look at the books on your shelves. Read the back cover blurbs – at least ten of them! Now try writing your own for the book you are writing now.
• Go through the last few local papers or magazines that you have lying around the house. Look for articles about the achievements of real people. That should be easy! Some of these will be based on press releases; some will be from interviews; others will have been written by journalists. They will all have something in common; they are designed to get the reader interested in the person who is the subject of the article. Read at least ten of these, then write a short promotional article about yourself.

Categories: Marketing & Promotion
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We all have strong feelings about different things – cruelty to animals; domestic violence; saving the environment and so on. Which is fine. What is NOT fine is allowing these strong feelings to intrude into your writing.

Note that I said ‘INTRUDE’. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t write on a topic that you feel strongly about: that you shouldn’t… er… use your powers for good. (Sorry, I couldn’t help that one.)

What I AM saying is that you should be careful that these strong feelings don’t have a negative impact on your scenes. For example, if you have a ten-year-old going on at length about climate change, sounding like a forty-year-old… then it’s probably YOU speaking; not your character. You’re using your story as a soapbox, and readers HATE that.

There’s nothing wrong with exploring issues in your book. Just take care that you don’t lecture your readers. Don’t harangue them. (Not even in the guise of dialogue between two of the characters. Your readers won’t be fooled.) Above all, don’t allow the ‘issue’ that you’re writing about to take over the book. You’ll achieve far more by being subtle.

Let the lesson you want to teach be absorbed naturally by the reader. To achieve this, you have to be a skilled writer. If you write well, then the reader will know exactly what you’re trying to say. They’ll FEEL it. They’ll understand it through the actions and reactions of the characters – not by being told what to think.

So put away your soapbox. Start thinking about subtle ways to get your message across. If it feels forced… then it IS forced. Keep working on it until you know it’s working – and don’t be afraid to get honest feedback.

Marg

Categories: General Tips, Self-Editing, Technique
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I get lots of emails and letters from writers. I get them from beginners; from those who are accomplished writers but are not yet published, and from published writers who are anxious to sell more. I share their dreams and their disappointments, their highs and their lows.

But you know what? I don’t know anyone whom I’d call an ‘overnight success’. When I listen to their stories, I find that they’ve been writing since childhood, or that they’ve been devouring books on writing or going to workshops and conferences for years. Occasionally I’ll hear a success story from someone who has not actually done a lot of writing — but then find that they’ve told hundreds of made-up stories to siblings, friends or their children. Many of the writers I hear from have held tight to their dream, doggedly scratching out the time they need to write around paid employment or eking out an existence so they can write full time.

Occasionally, I hear of someone who wrote a book then sent it out and got it accepted right away. So yes, I do HEAR these stories… but know anyone? No. And I suspect that this is true for most of us who slog away at our craft, day after day. We read about the odd ‘overnight success’ and wish that it could happen to us. BUT… we read far more stories about the writer who slaved away for years, then finally broke through.

And I guess there’s a great deal of satisfaction in knowing that you’ve earned every dollar and every positive review that comes your way!

Marg

Categories: Uncategorized
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Many writers don’t know how to handle transitions (the bits between scenes – the ‘bridges’ that take the reader from one scene to another).

You use transitions when you need to move the character from one place to another, or to show a shift in time. Writers who don’t know how to do this effectively tend to go into detail about road trips, go on and on with a description of the setting, or let their characters have length and unncessary telephone conversations.

That kind of thing simply slows down the story and bores the reader. All you need is a brief ‘bridge’ such as:

‘Before the sun rose the next morning, Peter was on the road. Five and a half hours later, he pulled up outside Monty’s house.”  

For a simple movement in time and space, such as the example given above, keep the transition as short as possible. Most readers already know what it’s like to go from Point A to Point B via plane, train, boat or car… they bring their own experience to this kind of thing. All you need to do is show that the character has moved. The reader does the rest.

Marg

Categories: General Tips
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If you haven’t yet explored the world of writers’ podcasts, you have a treat coming.

You may not be aware of the range of podcasts that are available for you right now. You can listen to podcasts for regular writing shows (The Writing Show, The Survival Guide to Writing, various programs about books, and a whole lot more individual podcasts from authors’ websites). I have podcasts on the Writing4SuccessClub site featuring tips on writing and interviews with authors, such as the interview with Libby-Jane Charleston (“Light Sweet Crude”) that went up this week.

MP3 players are inexpensive and plentiful. Apple’s well-known iPod range features players that support video as well as audio, but for writing podcasts you can buy a standard player with plenty of memory for all those audio interviews. I like my tiny new iPod shuffle, which comes with a clip to attach it to T-shirts and a voiceover function so I can cycle through the various folders of podcasts and music without needing to see a screen. (Handy if you’re listening in bed with the lights out.)

Otherwise, I suggest you buy a player with a nice clear screen and easy controls so you can scroll through your podcast lists and choose the one you want to listen to. I’ve bought MP3 players without a screen (and no voiceover) and it’s a pain to find the right podcast.

You can download your podcasts into Windows Media Player, iTunes, or any of the other players you might have on your computer. You can then listen to them at your computer while you’re doing other things, or load them onto your portable MP3 player. To listen in the car, you can either burn the files to a CD (If your car audio system supports MP3 files) or plug in your player.

Just Google ‘Writers podcasts’ or ‘podcasts on writing’ and you’ll find plenty.

Here are a few to start you off:

http://www.americanwriters.com/

http://www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au/podcast.htm

http://www.pageflakes.com/sallie0/10498270/

http://flirtykitty.blogspot.com/2005/10/writing-podcasts.html

Marg

Tags: podcasts,podcasts for writers,writing podcasts
Categories: Uncategorized, podcasts
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This week’s Writing4Success Tipsheet article is all about your ‘writer’s radar’ – and what you can learn by simply being alert and open to receiving information from a variety of sources. This article is all about marketing – but your writer’s radar is essential for picking up ideas for your fiction and your articles, too.

Writers need to become especially good listeners (oh, OK: let’s call a spade a spade – they need to be especially good eavesdroppers, too!). Here are three tips to help you hone your skills.

• Listen not only to WHAT people say, but HOW they say it. The patterns of speech, the drawl, the unfinished sentences – all this is gold for your writing.
• Jot down a word or phrase that can lead you to further research. (How often have you heard a snippet on the radio or read a line in a magazine that took you to the Web to find out more?) Don’t miss the essential word or name that may lead you to a treasure trove of information – through an expert, a museum, an internet site, or a particular location.
• Link what you overhear or what you discuss with the associated body language. What can you see on people’s faces when they are excited or bored or angry? How do they move their bodies? How do they emphasise a point? Do they lean forward, or backward? What does their body language tell you about their relationship to the other person?

- Marg

Categories: General Tips, characters
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OK: I admit it – when it comes to the need for writers to have a website, I am a bit of an evangelist. For years, I’ve been telling writers that I think it’s a good idea. These days, I’m telling them it’s essential – and most editors and agents agree with me.

A website allows you to promote your books and/or writing services, and gives you a platform to show you’re serious about promoting yourself as a writer and being accessible to your readership.

The big barrier for most authors is actually creating the website. If you don’t know anything about site design or HTML, this hurdle can seem insurmountable – and that’s when a lot of writers decide to hire a web designer to do the job for them. For some writers, who don’t need many changes to their site, this is still the best solution.

However, if you use a program like XSitePro, you can do it yourself so easily that you’ll be wondering why you hesitated for so long. (Not only that, but you’re likely to have so much fun that you become addicted.)

But don’t just take my word for it. PC Advisor has given XSitePro its coveted “PC Advisor Recommended” Award for the ease of use of its software for novices at web design. They say:

 “…this is one of the most pleasant to use interfaces for web design that we’ve encountered. Where XSitePro 2.0 really stands out, however, is by applying this ease of use to a wide range of additional features which, if coded by hand or created using Dreamweaver would be considerably more complex. Wizards handle such things as creating a version of your site for mobile users, navigation menus and search engine sitemaps, as well as multimedia, search engine optimisation and PayPal buttons… XSitePro 2.0 is one of the best applications we’ve seen for aiding novices in creating professional-looking websites.”

If you’ve decided to finally take the plunge and create your own website, you will find it hard to go past XSitePro 2. You can read PC Advisor’s review here (don’t forget to click on the ‘Page 2′ at the bottom of the first page or the review to read the whole article). 

Marg

Tags: Writers' Websites
Categories: Marketing & Promotion, e-Publishing
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I carried home a new Tess Gerritsen book from the library the other day; happily looking forward to another good read.  A little later I opened it: a nice spanking new large-format paperback entitled DON’T TALK TO STRANGERS. And right away, I found myself staring at a page listing not one, but TWO book titles. Oh no… an omnibus.

I’d been caught again: a brand new release with a new title… containing two ‘old’ novels. 

The first thing I did was turn to the imprint page to check the original publication dates.  WHISTLEBLOWER had been published in 1992 (ouch: 17 years ago…) and the other, PRESUMED GUILTY, a couple of years later.

Sighing, I started to read. The book was a huge disappointment: not at all the standard of Tess’s current body of work. And it was dated… the hero was running around getting rolls of film developed, swishing them through developer trays. These days he would have been able to plug his thumb drive into his laptop, send it to his colour printer and have the pics in minutes. (Come to think of it, for the purposes of the plot he wouldn’t have had to print them out at all; just send the files to the press via email.)

I didn’t finish it: the book simply couldn’t hold my attention. I didn’t bother with the second title.

I took it back to the library, only to find a very disgruntled librarian – another Gerritsen fan – who had gone through exactly the same process and reactions as I had (see two titles, have heart sink, check imprint page, decide not to bother). Only it was worse for her: she’d ordered 8 copies for the various library branches, knowing that a new Gerritsen would be in high demand. I hadn’t been the first disappointed reader to bring it back largely unread, either.

Why would an author do this? I wondered. Surely money isn’t so important that they’d risk alienating a fan base? I decided to Google the title and see if I could find reader comments. Maybe I’d find others had written about the same thing.

They had indeed. Most who had bothered to leave feedback on the book were similarly disappointed in the quality of the writing. Some felt let down by their favourite author – a kind of ‘why would she do this to us?’ attitude. Some vowed never to buy another Gerritsen book.

But… I found something else, too. I found an old (as in two years ago) blog post by Tess herself. And guess what? IT’S NOT HER FAULT. She feels frustrated and annoyed, but there’s nothing she can do… the culprit is Harlequin, the publisher of her early romance fiction titles. They hold the rights to her old titles – and since they can make money out of them, they’re hanging on tight.

Here’s a quote from Tess’s blog post:

“I’m a writer with a past. I’m reminded of this every time I get a note like this one from a reader: “I love your thrillers, but I just read your latest book _____ and it was nothing but a love story!  What happened to you, Tess?” or: “I see from Amazon that you have a new book coming out called MURDER AND MAYHEM.  How come you haven’t mentioned it in your blog?”

The answer is: I never wrote any book with that title.  In fact, there are a lot of books out there with my name on them, carrying titles that are completely unfamiliar to me.  How is this possible?  How can I not know about a book with my name on it?

The answer is simple: I have no control over their release.

Before I became a thriller writer, I wrote eight romantic suspense novels for the huge romance publisher, Harlequin Intrigue. Those books came out in paperback, and sold about average numbers for the genre.  I wasn’t getting rich off them, and neither was Harlequin.

Fast-forward to 1996, when my first big thriller, HARVEST, was published.  Suddenly, my books were hitting U.S. bestseller lists.  And then, in 2001, THE SURGEON was the first of my UK bestsellers. 

In the meantime, Harlequin continued to hold the rights to my eight old romance novels.  I did try to get back those rights, but as any romance writer will tell you, Harlequin never EVER relinquishes those rights.  They hold onto them forever, because they’re not stupid.  And because they know that a certain percentage of their writers will go on to become big bestselling authors. 

Harlequin’s been very clever about re-packaging my old romances to look just like my new releases.  Their covers look almost exactly like my UK thrillers, complete with the “London Times bestseller” label.  And very often, they release these books to coincide with my first-run books, so they can piggy-back their sales onto my current publicity efforts.

But I wish there was some way to let my readers know that I can’t be blamed, since I have absolutely no control over this.  I don’t know ahead of time when the romances will come out, or what their new titles may be, or what the covers will look like…

So there you have it. Loyal readers are being tricked by the use of a brand new title (yes, Harlequin, that’s the way most of us see it: trickery) and we’re not happy. And nor is Tess.

You can read Tess’s entire blog post here:

http://tessgerritsen.com/blog/2007/03/21/funny-i-dont-remember-writing-that-book/

Marg

Tags: publishers and publishing
Categories: Marketing & Promotion
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How do you go about creating your characters?

Do you have ‘rules’? Do you follow a formula? Do you build painstaking character profiles?

Some of us always follow a tried-and-true method; others are constantly reading and searching for a better way.

Here are a couple of suggestions. The first is from Christopher Leland’s THE ART OF COMPELLING FICTION. Christopher suggests using the 7-Ds approach to evoking character. He says that through using this method, you SHOW the readers your character, rather than simply telling about him/her.

What are the ‘7 Ds’?

1. Description (show the character doing something – show, don’t tell)
2. Declaration (Make some statements about your character, but back them up with his/her actions in the story.)
3. Dressing (What does your character’s style and clothing say about him/her?) 
4. Dialogue  (Show your character in a scene using action and dialogue – what do the words he/she uses tell us about him/her?)
5. Demeanour (How does your character react to others? What is the first impression he makes on people?)
6. Dramatics (How does your character typically behave? What do his actions tell us about him?)
7. Deeds (“Give me deeds, not words!” Test your character by putting him under pressure. What does he do?)

Let’s move to a bit of advice from Don Maass, author of WRITING THE BREAKOUT NOVEL. Don says:

“It’s a common fault of beginning thriller writers to slam an Everyman, your average Joe, into the middle of something big and terrible. Such stories usually feel lackluster because the main character is lackluster. A plot is just a plot. It is the ations of a person that make it memorable or not. Great characters rise to the challenge of great events.”  In his breakout character checklist, Don says that engrossing characters are out of the ordinary, and that readers’ sympathy for characters comes from characters’ strengths. He points out that larger-than-life characters say what we cannot say; do what we cannot do, and change in ways that we cannot change. Finally, he says that the highest character qualities are self-sacrifice and forgiveness.

NOTE: Don’s new book THE FIRE IN FICTION (published 2009) is now available from Amazon.com.

Categories: characters
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