Year: 2015

Writing Prompt Saturday- A twist on the journal prompt

Alright, so this is a classic writing exercise. There’s a reason you’ve heard the advise before to write a journal entry for your main character, so that you can learn their voice. Do that, do it more than once. Write a journal entry for a normal day, the day after the climactic scene. Hell, write a mock bullet journal, if you think it’ll help you.

That’s not today’s prompt, though. No, that wouldn’t be the best advise. Remember, if the thing you’re writing’s been done before, twist it. Make it different, better, harder, or just give it a new ending than has been done a thousand times.

So, I don’t want you to stop with writing a journal entry for your character. Write a journal entry for a secondary or tertiary character. But it can’t be just any character. He or she should dislike your character. Not like the bad guy. Just a regular character, probably an ally, who just is rubbed the wrong way by your protagonist. Why?

Writing this kind of journal entry will allow you to explore the flaws your character has. Everyone’s got flaws, after all. Your character shouldn’t be any different.

Don’t forget to join us for the conversation every week on Facebook.

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Markets- Write To Done

This is a fun new contest I found recently. I’m hoping to get my rough draft done in time to actually participate in this one.

Write to done is a long short story contest. That means we’re looking at less a short story, and more like a novella. Here’s the fun part, this isn’t a contest that’s going to be judged by a panel. This one’s being judged by America. You’re story will be posted online, and people can go vote for their favorite.

This is an amazing way to get your name out.

Genre- Open

Word Count- 10,000 to 40,000. I told you it was a novella contest.

Sub Date- Undeclared until you register.

Wait Time- Undeclared until you register.

Payout- Same.

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This is one of the great things I learned from the Writing Excuses podcast. They get all the credit for this one.  Publisher’s Lunch is a news feed that updates several times a day with all sorts of different publishing related news articles. That might not sound like a lot, but let me tell you some of the great things I’ve learned after a month of having it on Feedly.

Harper Lee is publishing a new book!

Several agents and editors I’ve queries in the past have moved companies or got new jobs. So, A, I’ll need to remember where they are now so I don’t send them the same material again under a different company name. And B, I know those jobs may likely be filled with new people, seeking new talent.

I know how popular book chains are doing on the market.

This is all business hat stuff. Let me tell you, my business hat is my hat least worn. It’s way back there behind writer hat, mommy hat, editor hat, wife hat and Marathon Warehouse 13 hat. That’s the problem that Publisher’s Lunch helps fix, though. I need to wear my business hat a little more. I need to understand that world, know those people, and sound like a grown up lady when I talk to them. Never forget that when you’re a writer, that subtitle is small business owner. The sweet old guy who owns the coffee shop on Main Street reads the Wall Street Times, and he does it for a reason. Consider Publisher’s Lunch your Wall Street Journal.

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The Writers Life- The writing bag

This post contains affiliate links. Please see my affiliate disclaimer, here.

There is just no way to get around it. If you’re a writer, you need a writing bag. I mean, in a perfect world, we could always write at home, with all of our wonderful tools around us. But this is not a perfect world, and there are lots of places that we work that are not our desks at home. Maybe you’re craving a mocha and don’t have an espresso machine at home. Maybe you’re house is full of noisy kids that cannot understand that when mom says, “I will be unavailable for twenty five minutes unless you’re bleeding puking or found something on fire.” (Yo) Or maybe you’ve just noticed that you’re so sun deprived you’re starting to wilt like a fern in an office. Whatever the reason, you’re going to sometimes work outside of the home, and you’ll need a well stocked writing bag when you do it. It means the difference between a productive writing session, and a frustrating one.

Now, over time, you’re going to learn what you need to have a good writing time. I know that every writer has something different that they consider to be essential to the process. But there are some basics that you should always have with you. So, it’s time for one of my favorite things, a shopping list. Now, I’m not going to go into a ton of detail on these, because I’ve done it before, and I hate to repeat myself. I do that enough with my children.

Shopping list for your writing bag-

1. Your Writers Notebook
2. A sketchbook for more visual inspiration
3. A thesaurus, or a smart phone that’s got a link to one.
4. White out
5. Your current project, and any mobile materials you need to work on it if you get stuck in some waiting room.
6. Index cards. Also useful for leaving helpful notes to people who don’t know not to park in the road.

Here are some other things I keep in my bag, but you might not need.

1. Advil
2. Antacids
3. Extra $5.00 in case my session runs over and I need another coffee.
4. Some eyeliner, because I’m a vain, vain woman.
5. Lip balm and lotion, because my hands and lips are often too dry and if I’m uncomfortable it’s all I can think about.

The difference between list one and list two is that list one is all about things I need to do my work. List to is to avoid distractions while I’m out. I know it sounds weird, but I live in a really small town, and I know everyone. So I like to look at least a little put together when I’m out. I also suffer from back pain and acid issues. If I’m in pain, writing doesn’t get done.

Once you’ve assembled all f the things you need, you have to have a bag to put it all in. This cannot be a purse, they are not built for this. You need something with pockets and dividers. And you might not want a book bag, if you’re sensitive about being mistaken for a local community college student. Personally, if I’m looking for a new writing bag, here’s my criteria.

It has to have sections. So that I can keep things separate. Though I’ve also found many small bags inside of one big bag can work just as well.
It has to be washable, because I spill things and pens leak.
It has to be big, because writing takes a lot of material.

I found some really awesome writing bags at the Pen Boutique. Actually, I found a lot of cool stuff on the website. Check it out when you get the chance, there are some seriously drool worthy pens and bags on that site.

Have some fun with your writing bag. It’s basically your mobile desk, so take some time to make it just what you need.

What do you put in your writing bag? Post it in the notes.

Don’t forget to join the Thursday discussion on Facebook.

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What your antagonist doesn’t have to be

If we are to talk about characters at all, of course we must talk about antagonists. It won’t be a very exciting story without them. Not much fun watching your mc achieve all of their goals without any sort of roadblock, after all. Your antagonist has to be at least as interesting as your mc, if not more so.

Eh, but there are a lot of blogs that will tell you how to make a great antagonist, tell you all the things they should be. Here at Paper Beats World, I want to go a step beyond that, and shatter some illusions you might have about what an antagonist has to be. It’s your book, after all, you can make it anything you want. Just for the record, your antagonist doesn’t have to be-

Stupid or for that matter, smart

Someone’s intillect has nothing to do with whether or not they will make a good antagonist. Brillient authors have done it both ways to great effect. Take, for example, Saruman from Lord of the Rings. Great antagonist, really scary, really smart. Then, we’ll consider Buffalo Bill from Hannibal. He’s a freaking moron, but he’s still a really effective antagonist.

At the head of some group of evil do’ers with a bunch of henchmen

An antagonist doesn’t need to have anyone on his side to feel like the world is against your main character. Just any anybody who’s ever seen a horror film. The antagonist in those is almost always alone, but he doesn’t ever seem to have a problem ripping all those college kids to shreds.

Evil

This is a big one. You’ll notice, through this article, I’ve not said bad guy once. That’s because your antagonist doesn’t have to be a bad guy anymore than your protagonist has to be a good guy. He or she can be someone just doing their job, or maybe even someone who thinks your protagonist is the real bad guy and needs to be stopped. Remember, we’re all the heroes in our own minds. The same is true for your antagonist.

An actual person

Of course, you could just not have it be a person at all. Who’s says it’s got to be? Some of the coolest stories I know didn’t have a bad guy to root against. Jaws, Animal Farm, Perfect Storm. The list is endless. Nature can be a great antagonist, and animals are always a quick choice for science fiction slasher flicks. Then, there is time itself, the antagonist in all of our lives. Illness is another great non human antagonist. Want to see what I mean? Watch Contagion. Actually, if you’re just wanting a good movie to watch, watch Contagion.

So, to sum it up, there are only two rules about what your antagonist must be. It must be capable, and it must stand in between your main character and the thing he or she wants.

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Writing Prompt Saturday- Write a Senryu Poem

I’ve got a thing for Japanese poetry. I really love it. My favorite has always been the Haiku. It’s perfection is derived from its simplicity. You’ve got three lines, 17 syllables total, to show just one beautiful, natural, moment in nature.

You can imagine how excited I was, then, to find out about senryu poetry. It’s got the same basic haiku set up, three lines, 17 syllables. 5,7,5 if you don’t already know. But instead of being about nature, it’s about people.

Since I really do believe brevity is the source of wit, and I’m damn witty, here’s an example of a senryu poem that I actually wrote, for a change.

My daughters smiles
With crooked teeth and bright eyes
No better image.

Try your hand at a senryu poem this week. As always, feel free to post yours in the comment section below!

Every Thursday I start a conversation on Facebook, at the Paper Beats World page. Don’t forget to join us!

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Markets- Share A Sale

This post contains affiliate links. Please check out my affiliate page, here.

So, this weeks market is going to be a little different. I’m just starting out with affiliate links, and I wanted to share it with you, so that those of you who are bloggers can learn about it just as I do.

The site I’m working with is called Share A Sale. So far I like it. This will be my very first post with affiliate links, so I don’t have any solid numbers to give you yet, but I might post info quarterly if anyone’s got any interest in that at all. I know some of my favorite bloggers, like Just a Girl and her Blog (Not an affiliate, I just love her.) are posting their income logs quarterly.

So, I looked at a lot of different affiliate sites, and I went with Share A Sale because it seemed really low risk. I could look through a lot of different affiliate companies and decide who I wanted to work for. So I chose three, and got accepted by two.

I like this a lot, because I’m not going to shoehorn a link in somewhere it doesn’t belong. I decide what products I want to tell you about, and I decide when.

Join <a href=”http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?b=70&u=1072301&m=47&urllink=&afftrack=”>shareasale.com</a&gt;, Earn Cash!

As I said, this weeks market is different, because I can’t give you my normal info about what genre or deadlines you’ll have to adhere to. Think of it instead as sort of a partnership between you and the company you’re working with. But here’s a link to the site, so you can look around for yourself and see if it’s something you’d be interested in for your own blog.

Find a sponsor for your web site. <a href=”http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?b=44&u=1072301&m=47&urllink=&afftrack=”>Get paid</a> for your great content. shareasale.com.

If you’ve had any experience with affiliate companies, please feel free to share in the comment section, or drop me an e-mail at NicoleCLuttrell86@Gmail.com.

And don’t forget to check out the Facebook Page, Paper Beats World, every Monday for a fresh new literary agent when you’re ready to submit your first book!

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Check This Out- Writing Excuses

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I was taking more time to listen to podcasts about writing, as an effort to get in the know about the business. This is an ever changing field, and there’s a lot of info to take in. I don’t have a lot of time to devote to learning, sadly, so I’ve got to take the opportunities I’ve got.

One big chunk of my time every work day is walking to my day job. It’s fifteen to twenty minutes depending on the weather. This is the perfect amount of time to listen to a podcast. So, I’ve been listening to Writing Excuses, with Brandon Sanderson, Howard Taylor, Mary Robinette Kowal and Dan Wells. Their tag line is, “Fifteen minutes long, because you’re in a hurry, and we’re not that smart.” Except that they really are.

You get a wide range of topics with Writing Excuses, given the fact that it’s hosted by a fantasy writer, a webcomic writer, and a horror writer. I’m still on the first season and so far they’ve talked about submissions, heroes and protagonists, horror, fantasy, comedy and all sorts of other things. My favorite episode so far was the one titled, ‘This sucks, and I’m a horrible writer.’ Really, that is a must listen.

By a large margin, Writing Excuses has been the number one reason I break out laughing on the way to work, encouraging people to stare at me strangely. I find myself wanting to break in and say, “No, wait, what about this?” or, “I don’t think that’s the right interpretation of that character on Firefly. Serenity sucked ass, no matter how much I love Joss Whedon, the writing was terrible for the movie.” Basically, I’d love to get a chance to talk to these guys. Though, to be honest, I don’t know what I’d say. Probably just get stage fright.

So this week, check out Writing Excuses. And don’t forget to join us tomorrow on our Facebook page for the weekly discussion.

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The Writing Life- People Watching

What are characters? Your cast, your actors, the most important parts of your story? Well, yes, that’s all very true. But there’s a more basic answer than that. Characters are people. Or at least, they are the way we either wish people were, or secretly think people are.

To learn to write great characters, you need to learn about people. To do that, you must master the art of people watching. Once again we are borrowing from the habits of our fellow artists, visual artists. Sit near an artist in a coffee shop, and you run the risk of ending up in their sketchbook. So it should be with writers as well. If you’ve never practiced people watching, here are some steps to help you get started.

Always have your notebook with you.

You should already have a notebook with you at all times, but try to keep some pages open for taking notes on the people that surround you. When I started paying attention to the people around me, I was shocked by how no one ever seems to be aware of the fact that anyone else is around them. People will have amazingly personal conversations while shopping in the grocery store.

Wear headphones with the music off.

Like a spy, you don’t always want to be observed observing others. That’s when headphones are your friends. People assume that when you have headphones on you can’t hear them, so they’re not so self conscious. Pop on some headphones and settle in at a local coffee shop. People will go about their business, letting you take notes.

Listen more than look

You can see how people look on the internet. You’re watching people to learn how they act, but more importantly how they talk. Remember, I talked about how important dialog is in this post. So, when you’re people watching, you’re actually listening. Close your eyes and listen to how people talk to each other. Talking is like music in a way. You have to listen to a lot of it to develop an ear for it. If a piece of dialog strikes you, jot it down. Why does it strike you? Take notes on how that line made you feel, and how it would have felt if a friend or loved one had said it to you.

Take a walk through the park

Especially if you’re writing with children characters. Kids gravitate toward parks, and so do a lot of other sorts. Besides, it’s probably a good idea to get out of the house when you can. We don’t need anymore of the sun deprived pale geek stereotype.

Take public transportation

If you’ve never ridden on a bus or subway, do it. I have sat on long bus trips and just wrote notes on everything people around me were saying. Yes, all the rumors about people on public transportation are true. Yes, a woman once petted my chest while I was on a bus. Go try it anyway, you will not find a better place for people watching, I promise you.

If you want your characters to sound and act like real people, you’ve got to study real people. So practice people watching every chance you get.

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Character Driven Stories

There are a thousand different kinds of stories, one for every star in the sky.  There’s fantasy, horror, science fiction, historical and all sorts of things that I haven’t the time to list and you haven’t the time to read.  But no matter the style, language, or theme, all stories fall into two broader categories; plot driven stories and character driven stories.  Given a choice between the two, I’ll always go for character over plot.

It can be hard to distinguish between the two at first.  Basically, though, a plot driven story is about something massive happening, like a plague or a riot, or an alian invasion.  This is a story that can be told from the pov of any number of people.  Like a riot, for example.  You can see that from the eyes of a riot officer, a pedestrian, an independent journalist who’s recording the action on her phone.  Each one will be a different story, but in each case the character is very reactionary.  Basically, this riot was going to happen whether your character was there or not.  A good example is Divergent. (Spoiler Alert!)  Even though the main character impacts the story, the whole mess was going to happen even if she’d never been born, let alone if she’d stayed in her original faction.  It just might have had a different ending.

In a character driven stories, though, it’s a different situation.  This is a story that just would not have happened without this character.  The story is about this character.  Think about Dexter, for instance.  The story is about a serial killer hunting serial killers.  Take away the main character, you take away the whole story.

How to build your very own character driven story

Step one- Make your main character.  When I started writing Woven, it sure didn’t start as a series.  It was all about one boy who liked to weave.  That’s it.  Take a person, and decide what makes him or her different from other people.  Devon liked to weave.  Alright, so he likes to weave.  What could possibly go wrong with that?  Well, maybe his weaving is magic!  That was honestly my first brainstorm for Woven.  Everything in the book stemmed from Devon and his sister Lenore, who was also given pov character status.  Without Devon and Lenore, there’s no story.

Step Two- Make your characters impactful.  Seems like a no brainer, but a character driven story needs characters that are, duh, driven.  This is not Shaun of The Dead, where the character just wants to sit back and play video games with his best friend.  Your character has to have something about them that goes against the grain, or a drive to make a difference in their world.  For better or worse, your character has to make the world ripple around her.

Step Three- Make your character fascinating.  I mean this character needs to really grab my attention.  I need to want to know more about him.  I’m thinking like Jonas from The Giver.  I want to know more about Jonas, right from the first.  I wanted to understand why he was so concerned with precision of language.

Remember, in a character driven story your character is in the spotlight.  He or she has to be the biggest selling point of the book.

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