Jumping Into Writing, Part One

By Lynn U. Watson

After publishing three devotional collections, I’ve jumped with passion into writing my first novel. A true story from the life of my great grandmother stirred my imagination and my compassion. But my WIP is rough at best.

During the recent Mid-South Christian Writers Conference, I enrolled in the “First Chapter Critique Group” led by award-winning novelists, Johnnie Alexander and Patricia Bradley. Other members of the group also based their work on family stories, both contemporary and historic. Not allowing the specifics we know about our story to control the fictional account we create isn’t always easy. It requires us to write with the backdrop of the facts we know, while developing memorable characters, great scenes, and a riveting story that’s mostly all made up.

To gather more insight into this, I also attended Johnnie and Pat’s workshop: “Creating Characters with Personality and Pizzazz.” They loaded their mini-class with reminders of what it takes to bring our characters alive on the page. From both groups here are hints I brought home with me:

1. Ask your character what motivates him/her?
2. Ask your character what he/she fears?
3. What can’t your character do in the beginning? How will that change by the end?
4. Develop your character’s personality (Myers-Briggs helpful here)
5. Elicit emotions that deepen the connections of your characters with your readers.
6. Get to know your characters better by channeling them. Tap into your own emotions – (For the protagonist you might close your eyes and imagine; for the antagonist, think “evil.”)
7. Develop your character’s point of view.
8. Incorporate strong and realistic dialogue to move the story along. (That may include sentence fragments, slang, dialect.)
9. Always be a student of the craft of writing and learn it well. Read successful author’s books on the topic of writing. Here’s a list of Johnnie and Pat’s suggestions:

-The Emotion Thesaurus:A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression by Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi (There are six in this excellent series. I own four and am eager to add the others.)

-The Emotional Craft of Fiction: How to Write the Story Beneath the Surface by Donald Maass (I’ve just begun this one – two chapters in, and I know he has much to teach any author.)

-Getting into Character:Seven Secrets a Novelist Can Learn from Actors by Brandilyn Collins (Another great little volume already in my author’s library.)

-Self-Editing for Fiction Writers: How to Edit Yourself into Print by Renni Browne & Dave King

-Story Trumps Structure:How to Write Unforgettable Fiction by Breaking the Rules by Steven James (Now that sounds interesting. Know the rules but break them.)

-Writing Deep Viewpoint:Invite Your Readers into the Story by Kathy Tyers,

-Writing with Emotion,Tension & Conflict: Techniques for Crafting an Expressive and CompellingNovel by Cheryl St. John

Part Two of Lynn’s post will appear on Monday.

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Lynn U. Watson combines many years' experience in women's ministry, love of essential oils, and her passion for God's word to bring her readers freshly inspired encouragement for their walk with Jesus. Her devotional, The Essence of Courage, was recognized as a 'must read' by regional publishing industry leaders. Married since 1973, Lynn and Steve have filled their Bartlett, Tennessee home with handmade treasures and lots of love for family, especially their five beautiful (of course) grandchildren. Aromas of freshly baked bread often fill Lynn's kitchen. Jasmine, her tuxedo kitty, enjoys sleeping in Lynn's lap while she writes. Here is my website link: https://lynnuwatson.com/

Twenty Discoveries from a Writers’ Conference, Part One

By Marilyn Nutter

I was puzzled. On the drive home from a writers’ conference, I tried to revisit each appointment, conversation, class, and keynote. I asked God to intentionally direct me during the conference, but one class didn’t deliver according to its title. Another went in a direction where the material didn’t apply to me. I had invested time and money. I didn’t want those two experiences to taint my takeaways, but what happened?  

My word for 2019 is “intentional”, so over the next few days, I went through my notes, highlighting key points from classes and keynotes. I sorted through business cards and recalled conversations.

Had I overlooked notes hidden in my scrawl? Was there a repeated thought? A key word? A gem of advice? A Bible verse or theme?

And what about my part? Did I encourage anyone?

So I listed my takeaways, some from conversations, others from classes and keynotes. As we get ready for conferences, perhaps these will be helpful to you.

1.      You will find support and feedback to make your work better when you are in a writers’ group. You will learn from others’ writing, even if it isn’t your genre or style.

2.      Take advantage of online resources: online conferences, courses, and even new ways to research.

3.      Find a writing partner. You may partner in a project, pray together, or exchange writing for critique.

4.      Don’t succumb to the fear of missing out. Attend conferences or workshops that are right for you. This may mean affordability, location, classes, or teachers. Like a buffet, choose what will nourish you. You can’t do everything

5.      Partner with God to find your voice, themes, words, and topics. He called us to write and has a message He wants to send only we can write. He will communicate to me when I ask

6.      Watch your personal schedule and time. Give God your calendar, clock, and phone. Intentionally remove distractions from your schedule. The good can be the enemy of the better or best.

7.      Pray about your appointments at conferences. Who has God appointed for you to speak to? Don’t be disappointed if time slots are filled and you can’t meet with someone. God has an appointment set somewhere for you in the conference or later.

8.      Find a person who understands your frustrations and what it means to be a writer-the delays, discouragement, work, and rejections. And… a person who will appreciate your investment of work and time and celebrate with you.

9.      Read in your genre, but branch out for information, style, encouragement, and enjoyment.

10.  Guard your quiet time with God. It may be early morning, but. perhaps mid-morning or evening is right for you.  I need to position myself to listen so I can hear Him speak.

Marilyn will give you items her final 10 tips in Part Two on Monday’s blog post.

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Marilyn Nutter is a contributor to magazines, on-line sites, and compilations. She is a Bible teacher, speaker for women’s groups, and serves on the women’s ministry team at her church. She lives in Greer, SC. Visit www.marilynnutter.com to find her blog and extraordinary treasures in ordinary and challenging days. Social Media Links: Website: www.marilynnutter.com LinkedIn: Marilyn Nutter Pinterest: Marilyn Marotta Nutter Facebook: Marilyn Marotta Nutter

Resonance in Writing Fiction, Part One

By Grace Greene

My recent release, THE MEMORY OF BUTTERFLIES, resonated with me in many ways, and more strongly than my prior novels. Writing it was an amazing experience and I wanted to share my thoughts about it—lots of thoughts—thus I’m sharing them in this two-part post, and I hope some of them will resonate with you.

Resonance? What is it? For story lovers, whether as a reader or writer, resonance happens when something of shared significance or mutual interest connects a story and a reader (or writer) and evokes strong emotion or other internal responses. Because humans have many common experiences some story details or elements are more likely to evoke resonance, but resonance is often accidental or unpredictable.

What draws a reader into a story and keeps them reading despite life’s demands and distractions? Something in the story resonates with them, causing them to invest themselves in it and read to the end, perhaps lingering over it for a while after the last page is turned.

For the author, what compels them to continue crafting a story regardless of the angst and obstacles inherent in the writing process? Again, I think resonance must be part of the answer.
I was an artist. In middle school and high school, I spent every study hall and free period in the art classroom. I double-majored in studio art and art history in college. I liked to draw in pencil and paint in oils, and each piece of artwork felt like a story—almost a small world I’d created even though it was constrained by a flat surface. I worked in three dimensions, too, in clay, both on the wheel and in hand-sculpting, but after I left school working with clay became difficult because it was hard to get access to a potter’s wheel and a kiln.

Many years ago, my husband and I lived in Louisville, Kentucky. Our children were toddlers at that time. I was fortunate our home was near a pottery studio where I could buy clay, rent time on a wheel, and pay to have the clay works fired in their kiln. I did this in the evenings while my husband stayed home with the children. It was glorious. But we moved a lot. Before long, we left Kentucky for somewhere else and during a subsequent move most of the pots and other clay works I’d created there were shattered by a careless packer.

Fast forward a decade or two to when I stopped painting and started writing, and then jump ahead a few years more to the day, over a year ago, when the words for THE MEMORY OF BUTTERFLIES started flowing. Hannah Cooper showed up at my desk that day. [Yes, she’s fictional, but she showed up nonetheless.] I wondered where she lived and how she lived. Who were her people? What did she care about? I heard her story and the beginnings of her voice. But she needed something concrete to show the core truth of who she was—a creator, a caretaker, yet a loner. That’s when I saw her bending over a battered potter’s wheel in an old cabin—the same cabin on Cub Creek where her female line had been creating pottery for generations. She was throwing a pot on the wheel that her grandfather had given her as a teenager. As she leaned over her work, her long, dark blond hair cascaded forward and across her arms. I watched every movement, but her focus was so great I felt invisible.  [To be continued on Monday, October 23, 2017]

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Grace Greene writes women's fiction and contemporary romance with suspense. A Virginia native, Grace has family ties to North Carolina. She writes books set in both locations. Please visit Grace at www.gracegreene.com and sign up for her newsletter there.The Emerald Isle books, BEACH RENTAL and BEACH WINDS, are set in North Carolina where "It's always a good time for a love story and a trip to the beach." Or travel down Virginia Country Roads in KINCAID'S HOPE, A STRANGER IN WYNNEDOWER, and CUB CREEK and "Take a trip to love, mystery and suspense. Her most recent release is THE HAPPINESS IN BETWEEN and her next will be THE MEMORY OF BUTTERFLIES was released on 9/5/17 BEACH RENTAL, her debut novel, won the Booksellers Best contest in both the Traditional and Best First Book categories. BEACH RENTAL and BEACH WINDS were each awarded 4.5 stars, Top Pick by RT Book Reviews magazine. Grace lives in central Virginia. Her Social Media links are: Website  Twitter  Facebook

How to Write a Book in Five Months or Less in Your Spare Time, Part One

By Theresa Oliver

I’m very excited to be here and want you to have a takeaway that will help you to write your own book in five months or less in your spare time, using my own strategy.

Part One

INTRODUCTION:

A few years ago, I had worked long and hard writing my first book, but my work was far from over. But I had quickly caught writing fever and was determined to write more books. So, I started a short story page on Facebook—this was before WattPad—and started writing three books at the same time. Almost immediately, I attracted readers and soon my audience grew. But although I was writing my heart out each week, I still hadn’t finished writing another book. I wanted to develop a plan to finish another book, but I didn’t want it to take as long as it had the first time.

MY RATIONALE:

Then, one day I read an article that changed my perspective on writing. The article said that when asked how he writes, John Grisham said that he set a goal to write at least five pages a day. Before long, he has another book written. I didn’t have the time to write every day, but the important thing I took away from the article was that it was important to set a goal for yourself—and stick with it.

So, I asked myself, “What is a reasonable goal that I can set for myself, that I can stick to?” I was quite busy at that time, but I knew that every Friday night and Saturday morning, I was free. So, the goal I set for myself was to write one chapter a week, and I planned to use that time in which to do it.

I had a plan, now for the execution.

When most people look at writing a book, they look at the whole book. And, to tell you the truth, it’s pretty daunting. The same was true for me. So, I began to think of my book in chapters, to break it down into digestible bites. Then, I asked myself, “What is consistent in chapters?” The answer: scenes. Next, I asked myself, “How many pages should a chapter be?” I decided that I wanted my book to be approximately four hundred pages long, so I decided that each chapter should be between ten to twenty pages. One scene was approximately ten pages, so I needed two well-developed scenes per chapter.

Part Two of my blog post will appear on Monday, February 6, 2017.

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Theresa Oliver grew up in southern Indiana, across from Louisville, Kentucky, in Clarksville, Indiana. In her childhood, she fell in love with the power of the written word, a love affair that has continued her whole life. She moved to Florida, where she has lived much of her adult life. She attended the University of Tennessee at Martin, Martin, Tenn., and earned her Bachelor of Arts in Communications degree, News Editorial sequence. She also earned a Master of Arts in Teaching degree, Early Childhood Education sequence, from Armstrong Atlantic State University, Savannah, Ga. She is currently a writer, a full-time teacher, and the owner of Write More Publications and TNT Author Services. However, her greatest adventure is as a mother of three beautiful boys. Oliver currently resides in Kissimmee, Florida, with her husband and children.

Facebook Advertisement Strategies: What You Need to Know, Part One

By Sheena Mathieson

The rise of social media revolutionized the industry of sale, marketing, and advertisement. People’s lifestyle nowadays involves varying use of websites and applications such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Social networking sites enable billions of users worldwide to connect with each other, which makes it easy for marketing strategies to reach their targeted potential consumers.

Facebook, in particular, allows people to create their own official page and provide other details about his or her written works or a teaser the latest book in order to pique the interests of the page’s visitors. It works especially if they are able to get more Facebook Likes. Each like on a given Facebook page increases the chance of inviting more Facebook followers.

Every viral post and every trending topic is an opportunity to get the attention of the many users. If the post is interesting, FB users and page followers may also try to share it and plug the company’s Facebook page whenever we can. To make this possible, adequateFacebook management is necessary.  Social media managers are needed to handle Facebook pages, including their content.

Tips on Improving the Exposure of Your Facebook Page

Use mobile applications to promote your advertisements. Many free applications allow advertisements to appear whenever people use them. Since many people use the internet on their mobile devices like smartphones and tablets, getting ads on these apps will help more users come across your page.

Encourage people to like and share your Facebook page during events. Step up your Facebook management game. Whenever there is a book-signing event or something similar, make sure to promote your Facebook page. Post the pictures of these events to create a buzz on social media. Getting the current fans to help promote the author and his page is perfect for publicity.

Advertise on other frequently visited websites such as Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Doing this will increase your audience greatly. If you have accounts on the aforementioned websites, linking them all together will increase the publicity of the Facebook page.

Study the behavior of consumer demand and have a specific target audience. Consumer trends and behavior is very important when advertising and the same concepts apply here. This will help you connect and relate to your target users.

Establish a nurturing connection to your audience. Once you have gotten their attention, make sure you keep it! This is done by updating your page regularly with engaging posts and rewarding loyalty to make sure the people you have will stay.

Part Two of Sheena's blog will appear on Monday, April 25, 2016.
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Sheena Mathieson is a content writer from Kentucky. She understands the essence of making excellent content that suits the needs of every business especially when it comes online marketing. She can spice up your marketing campaign with the content she writes. Her social media links are Twitter, Facebook, Linkin: and Website, 

The Ghost is Alive and Well, Part One

By Peter N. Dudar

It’s funny how much time one can spend examining a particular subject, only to discover we still haven’t expressed all we have to say about it.  It’s as if some subjects in your head just won’t die, nor will they remain silent for very long.  Some subjects can haunt you over and over again.  Some subjects linger, and grow stronger over time rather than fester away quietly as they should.

I hadn’t meant to turn the subject of the ghost story into a metaphor, but there’s a reason it fits so nicely.  It resonates in the human spirit.  That is to say, in spite of all the scientific progress we’ve made over the last century we’re still nowhere near to understanding the process of death and what becomes of the human soul if and when it moves on.  The good news is that what we lack in understanding, we make up for with wildly imaginative literature.  Within the realm of subgenres in horror fiction (and cinema), it’s the ghost story that commends the greatest reverence and delivers the deepest frights.  And with good reason.  Tropes like vampires, zombies, and serial killers all tend to play out like dark soap operas.   All three of the latter revolve around antagonists with a singular mission: to kill the protagonist. 

I’m oversimplifying, and I suspect my colleagues who make their living penning out zombie tomes and sparkly vampire tales will protest by claiming their works are different because they try to shift the conflict their monsters create.  After all, a vampire in a weird high school love triangle certainly is different than, oh, Count Dracula trying to woo Mina Harker away from her betrothed Jonathan.  Or the zombies of THE WALKING DEAD are somehow magically different than hive-mentality animals as they stalk and eat the living (or are magically different than, say, the protesters rioting in the streets of America in an era where we should have outgrown racism and police fascism).  And serial killers?  They’re losing ground in a nation where gun violence reigns supreme and we’re plagued with an epidemic of children accidentally shooting each other thanks to careless gun-owning parents.  We’re at a crossroads, politically and socially speaking, where the romanticism we’ve had with violence and murder is rapidly declining.  We’re finally making a stand against misogyny and rape culture, and the archetype of the “damsel in distress” has fallen victim to the rise of 21^st Century Feminism.  If you tried to create a knife-wielding madman nowadays, he’d be eviscerated to nothing more than a phallus-waving “mama’s boy” with erectile dysfunction and issues from being bullied in his formative years. 

It’s scary writing horror nowadays.

But the ghost story…ah, the Supernatural element that continually defies explanation and still reduces us to goose-pimpled fraidy-cats once we turn out the lights.  My new book, WHERE SPIDERS FEAR TO SPIN is weeks away from publication, and after writing horror for nearly twenty years, I’m still learning new tricks and shining my flashlight in new pockets of darkness in the landscape of horror.  As writers, we all tend to do this because we never stop learning or discovering who we are, or how we feel, or what life and existence actually means.  

Last year I lost my father.  He died from heart complications after a bout with pneumonia, but he’d also had health problems from a life of excessive smoking and overeating.  My father was one of my biggest fans in my writing career, and his loss has had a tremendous impact upon me.  Saying goodbye to a parent is a part of the tapestry of life.  How we grieve and the manner we choose to cope is also part of that tapestry.  It changes us and it changes our perspective on life.  And the journey we take can go into some very dark places, like depression and questioning our concepts of religion and God.  I’m not the same human being I was before my father died.  That’s a fact, and one I have yet to come to terms with. 

Part Two of my blog post will appear on Wednesday June 3, 2015 here on Southern Writers Magazine's blog, Suite T.  

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Peter N. Dudar is the Bram Stoker Award-nominated author of A Requiem For Dead Flies, Dolly and Other Stories, The Angel of Death, and Blood Cult of the Booby Farmers. His short fiction can be found in numerous anthologies and online fiction sites.  He currently lives in Lisbon Falls, Maine, where he continues to write fiction, a film review column for CinemaKnifeFight.com, and his own personal blog, "Dead By Friday", on WordPress.  Dudar is a member of the New England Horror Writers, and hosts a writers group called The Tuesday Mayhem Society.  His latest book, Where Spiders Fear To Spin, will be released on June 1st through Books and Boos Press.