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Writing Tips

How this Reluctant Plotter Learned to Plot

September 14, 2021 By Rachel Stedman

Panster – or Reluctant Plotter

True confession: I’m a pantser. I discover the plot of my novel by writing it – I am a very, very reluctant plotter.

This makes the writing process compelling; I never know what will happen next. However, it can also make the process extremely time-consuming. There’s been a few times that I’ve had to back up the truck (so to speak) and delete irrelevant sections.

It’s taken about seven books (and a lot of wasted energy) to figure out a process that works for me. Here it is.

Reluctant Plotter Process:

  1. Go for a long walk
  2. Decide on the main premise.
  3. Discover the main characters (also called MCs). Because it’s a romance, Born in Blood has two MCs: Brett and Madison.
  4. Jot down your story arc
  5. Summary outline
  6. Write the darn thing

Main premise

The story I’m writing at the moment, Born in Blood, is about a vampire Hunter who falls in love.

To write Born in Blood, I had to understand my MC’s backstories, hopes, wounds. I had to know where they lived. What their hobbies are, and what they look like. Most importantly, I had to understand their thought processes and the language they used.

Fictional Characters

Side note: It’s not easy to develop fictional characters. For Born in Blood, I wrote short stories; scenes of pivotal moments in their lives. This helped develop Madison’s voice and revealed her motivations. Crazy, I know – given she’s totally fictional, and thus a creature of my imagination, but hey, until your characters begin reacting by themselves, you won’t have a story.

Here are some other ways to create believable characters.

Once I have a handle on my characters, the story is a whole lot easier to write. Because then I know how they’ll respond to the many conflicts and pains that they’ll soon be facing.

Madison and Brett don’t know it yet, but they’ll be under stress through the whole entire story.

A story is putting your characters up a tree and throwing rocks at them.

Story Arcs

Once I know how my characters will respond, I cement their reactions into a story arc.

Master Class has a neat little summary of the classical story arc. :

  1. Exposition
  2. Rising Action
  3. Climax
  4. Falling Action
  5. Resolution

Traditionally, this is done in three acts (also called the three-act structure) .

I write my story arc on a large piece of paper (I like an A3), and using a black marker, I scribble what needs to happen to meet the arc’s requirements. Some people use post-it notes, others use a whiteboard. Some writers use a spreadsheet – that to me, is too far 🙂

Because I’m not a massive plotter, I find the action of writing/drawing/making a mess on paper helps.

history of publishing

Outlining

Once I know the basic elements of the arc, I create the plot outline. Because I’m lazy, I use a template: a list of the key scenes used in a particular genre.

For Fantasy/YA, I use the Hero’s Journey  For romance, I use Gwen Haye’s Romancing the Beat. At the moment, I’m exploring with a mash-up: action/adventure plus Romance.

Plot points

I put the arc on a piece of A3 paper, and write next to the key moments that will form the main events in the story.  I call these events ‘plot points’ and I write all my scenes toward a plot point.

Some folks call these ‘beats’ – but to me, a beat suggests movement; a rhythm that drives the story. Not an actual scene. That’s why I use the term ‘plot points’, because to me, these points hang the story together.

It may take a few scenes to reach a plot point. Usually, to reach each plot point, there’s a build-up scene, a connecting scene, and finally a scene where the whole plot point takes place.

I try to structure each scene so it, like a story arc, has a lead-in, dramatic event, and conclusion. The dramatic element doesn’t have to be high action (although often it is!) – it might be internal transformation.

When plotting, don’t just think about the events that happen in the story. You also need to be mindful of your character(s) internal changes. To create a truly satisfying story, your MC(s) have to transform.

writer's notebook

Software

After my rough, paper-based draft, I input the outline into  Plottr.

I’m still learning how to use this tool. Not being a dyed-in-the-wool plotter, I’m not totally in love. To be honest, I prefer a pen and a big sheet of paper. BUT the software helps keep a handle on characters, settings and action points, so I don’t have to hold every person in my head.

I’ve also found it useful for continuity. After I’ve finished a chapter, I add the key events into the software. This helps me remember who said what, when. Saves character’s repeating themselves or mentioning something out of sequence. (I could export the plot into word or scrivener at this point, but as yet, I haven’t bothered.)

Some writers use Scrivener to help them outline – plus, they write the story directly into Scrivener. This product hasn’t worked for me, but as it comes with a free trial, you may find it worth a try.

Starting to Write

Obviously, the best outline is nothing without a story.

I write in Word (MSOffice 365), and I turn on the ‘view navigation pane’ to help move through the story. This helps keep track of where I am in the story.  By the time your novel hits 70,000 words believe me, you need to be able to move around the story quickly.

Here’s a video on how to use Word’s navigation pane:

Word can be buggy, especially if you muck around with the formatting. That’s generally because of a style error. If you’re not sure of how to use Word styles, here’s a blog post that may help.

By the time I’m 10,000 word in, I’ll usually have both the Style guide and the navigation pane visible.

And finally…

After that, it is simply a matter of writing the words onto the page.

Ha! that’s the hardest part.

Filed Under: How To, Writing tips Tagged With: A Writer's Life, Behind the Scenes, How To, Writing Tips

How to Plot a Novel: Are you a Plotter or Pantser?

September 8, 2021 By Rachel Stedman

writer's notebook

Why do I need to Plot?

Writing a novel takes ages. Even seasoned writers, who write full-time and churn out 3000 – 5000 words per day will take at least a month to write an entire book.

For new writers, or part-time writers, or writers-who-procrastinate, a novel can take years.

This means it’s essential to have an idea of where your story is going – that is, the plot. You need to know your characters, your settings, and what’s going to happen.

All this forms part of the plotting process.

Questions on School Visit

Are you a Plotter or Pantser?

Generally, writers are either a Plotter or a Pantser.

Plotters tend to write each scene in advance. they know what the main turning points are, and the actions of each character. Sometimes their scene summaries are so detailed, they may as well be mini-novels. When they come to write the book, it’s simply a matter of adding the descriptive language, as well as some connecting scenes.

Pantsers (also termed Discovery Writers) discover what happens as they write. They’re called Pantsers because they write by the seat of their pants.

I’m a Pantser. So annoying!

I’ve always wanted to be a Plotter. Seems so much easier, and faster. No more writing and then deleting stuff that doesn’t make sense. If I was a Plotter, I could tap out a novel in a month. I’d be fast, streamlined, and in control.

Unfortunately, for me, plotting is like a kiss of death. Soon as I plot something in detail, I lose interest. Whenever I’ve tried to do a beautiful chart, setting out time and place and action and characters, I’ve never finished the book.

It seems that the reason I write is to discover what will happen next to my characters.

 

Risks of Plotting and Pantsing

Plotter Beware:

If you’re someone who plots each scene, be wary. Even though you know what’s going to happen next, your reader doesn’t. They don’t want to know.

Readers want to be surprised.

If you’re a detailed plotter, make sure your story doesn’t become static. Watch for formulaic writing.

Don’t forget about connecting scenes. They probably won’t be in your plotting, but they can be as important as the main action points.

If all you’re plotting is the action, it’s easy to forget about your character’s internal monologues; their inward motivation. When neatly laying out each scene, don’t forget, your characters are essential.

Pantser Problems:

The great thing about discovery writing is that your story will probably feel fresh, and exciting – because it’s exciting to you, the writer. And if you don’t know what’s going to happen, your reader won’t, either.

But if you’re a slow writer, like me, and you’ve not plotted out your story, there’s a risk that by the time you’re half way through the novel, you’ve actually forgotten what happened at the beginning of the story!

When Discovery Writing, it’s easy to disappear down a rabbit hole. Oh look, you think, I wonder what will happen if I introduce a new and quirky character? Then, before you realize it, you’ve wandered off on a tangent and your story has no structure.

WTF

Help! I’m a Pantser!

Don’t worry. There’s nothing wrong with being a Pantser, and nothing wrong with Plotting. Over time, you’ll learn which method works for you, and over time you’ll discover how to avoid the risks of each.

There’s nothing wrong with being a Pantser. Nothing wrong with being a Plotter, either. Whatever works for you is fine.

And probably, over time, you’ll gradually become a Plotter-lite, or a Panster-lite.

The most important thing is: Keep. On. Writing.

 

Filed Under: How To, Writing tips Tagged With: How To, Writing Tips

How to Write Authentic, Believable Characters: 10 Tips to Get You Started

June 25, 2021 By Rachel Stedman

How to write authentic characters

writer's notebook

True confession: I wept myself silly over Beth’s passing in Little Women. (Sorry if that’s a spoiler, but hey, if you’ve not read the book then stop press: BETH DIES) and oh boy, was I ever a wreck by the end of The Fault in Our Stars.

Do you know what’s so crazy about this? These people NEVER EXISTED. Yes, that’s right – neither Beth nor Augustus were real people. But oh man, how I mourned.

The reason I cared so much about these two (totally imaginary) characters? It’s because, for a time, I believed they were REAL.

They might be fictional, but to me, they felt authentic.

 

Writing Authentic Characters is IMPORTANT

Character is essential to story. The whole essence of a novel is an individual responding to conflict, so if you want your readers to keep turning the page, they must care about the people in the story. Your readers should be made so anxious by your character’s struggles that they can’t stop reading. They may (if they’re like me) cry if a character dies, and they’ll be triumphant when your character wins through.

 

Without characters, there is no story

1. Genre matters

For some genres, character is integral. If you’re writing a YA, believable, relatable characters are essential, and believe me, you’ll receive scathing reviews if they’re not.

For literary fiction, you may get away without exciting characters, providing the overall theme is interesting, or your prose is particularly elegant, but boy, great characters that pop from the page sure make for an easier read. The Thomas Cromwell character in Hilary Mantel’s The Mirror and the Light Series is a great case in point: Cromwell is so sinister, complex, and compelling you can’t help but read on.

Picture books may survive without deep characterization. I mean, there aren’t many words in a picture book, right, so you’re probably not going to be able to draft a fully formed individual with all their hopes and dreams – but still, the essence has to be there. Try reading a picture book out loud to a small child, and you’ll get my meaning.

Middle-grade readers love over-the-top characters, the ruder the better. Captain Underpants, anyone?

Roald Dahl was a genius at creating characters. Think James and the Giant Peach. The whole reason we love the story is because:

  1. we care what happens to poor orphaned James
  2. the centipede is really funny
  3. you can hear Taika Waititi reading it (with a host of friends celebrities) – okay so that’s not about character. Stop! Actually, it is – it’s the Waititi character that keeps you engaged.

2. Characters don’t have to be imaginary.

Small aside: I met Taika Waititi in an airport lounge. Well, what really happened is that he and I briefly occupied the same table at the same time. That’s what I mean by ‘met’. I looked at him. I smiled. He ignored me. Instead, he wrote busily in a large notebook. (Probably this was the script for an award-winning movie but that doesn’t excuse him, not in my books no sir.)

Anyway, that’s why I’m calling the on-screen Waititi a character. It’s because the fascinating Waititi in the clip above seems very different from the unexciting, occupied Waititi who totally blanked me in an airport lounge.

Taika Waititi blanked me.

3. What makes a great character?

Great characters, those that live apart from the page, have one consistent feature: They are flawed.

  • This can be physical: Harry Potter has a scar and glasses. Charlie, of chocolate factory fame, is small and weedy. In Little Woman, Beth is an invalid. In A Wrinkle in Time, Meg wears glasses and braces. Pippi Longstocking is amazingly strong.
  • The flaw can be psychological: Mr. Krupp, Captain Underpants’ alter ego, is mean. Hermione is bossy.
  • A flaw can be societal: In A Room with A View, Lucy Honeychurch is so scared of what people may say that she won’t allow herself to fall in love. In Brideshead Revisited, Sebastian Flyte is gay, in a world where homosexuality is illegal.

Flaws make for a much more interesting character than bland perfection.  Plus, they provide opportunity: help your character to overcome their flaw, and bang! you have a plot.

4. Main Character vs Side-Kick

I’ve always preferred the Weasley’s to Harry Potter. To me, young Harry is a bit boring; a bit too … good. This is one problem with characters: if you’re writing a hero with a journey, make sure the villains and/or sidekicks don’t take over. Sometimes they can, just because they’re a chance to break free from the heroic mold. So here’s a tip: make your hero flawed as well as heroic.

5. Syntax/Language/Words

In a novel, your character is defined by your choice of words. Make these consistent. And as you’re writing a novel (as opposed to a screenplay) you’ll need to consider language for the character’s interior landscape as well as their dialogue.

If your child is a six-year-old boy, they must speak like a six-year-old. If they’re an academic, they may use academic language. Characters with limited learning will not use long words, but erudite characters, on the other hand, will.

Your character will use language consistent with their profession, and they’ll use terms in a way that shows a professional understanding. If your character is a doctor, they probably won’t have someone breaking a leg: they’ll refer to the bone and the type of fracture. Mentally, they’ll think about complications, and they’ll use medical terms. If your character is a meatpacker, they’ll think about knives and mesh in a very different way to a non-meat worker. A composer may appreciate sounds differently to you (if you’re not a composer) and an artist will notice the way light falls, color, and the relationships between spaces.

Your character is defined by your choice of words

If you don’t share the same profession as your character, talk with people who do. Take a mental note of how they speak, and if you can, (and they’ll allow it), make recordings of your conversation.

If your character’s first language is not English, structure your sentence as if they were mentally translating from their own language. This may mean their internal monologues sound different to an English speaker. If you, as the author, don’t speak Chinese or French or whatever language your character speaks, then listen to people who do. This sounds easy, but I find it really, really hard. However, once you get it right, your character will truly jump from the page.

Mr. Darcy is a real person

6. Teens are special

Writing teen characters can be tricky, as teens adopt slang and use it ALL. THE. TIME.  Unfortunately, nothing dates a story as fast as slang (except for technology). If you’re writing in the present day then this can be tricky, as your teens must have some slang to be authentic, but not too much or you run the risk of dating your story in place and time. Unless you want to do strongly link your tale to a particular place and time of course, in which case, make the slang part of the story, (but make sure you get it right).

If you’re writing a fantasy, science fiction or historical YA then teen-speak is a bit easier, as it’s your world, your way. You can choose which words you’ll adopt or adapt for your story, as long as you’re consistent.

Alternatively, you can invent your own slang (as Burgess did in Clockwork Orange). Weirdly, sometimes slang words coined for novels have become real: it was William Gibson who first referenced cyberspace as the matrix (in The Neuromancer, published in 1984), and we can thank another 1984 for the terms thoughtcrime and doublethink.  

Neuromancer

7. Motivation

To develop a character, you need to understand what makes them tick. What do they really, really want? why? what was their childhood like? who were their parents? What house did they live in? You won’t need to answer all these questions unless they’re relevant to the story, but if your character is going to be a real, authentic character they must have had a past. They must be complex, because face it, people are complicated.

Here’s a tip: think of someone with a strong personality. An irritating, or eccentric, or just plain mental individual. You must know at least one person like this. If you work in a big workplace, like a hospital, you’ll be golden, because institutions like universities, hospitals and big multinationals seem to attract the mad strong personalities.

Can you tap into these characteristics? What makes them so unusual? How do they talk, how do respond to questions? Watch people, especially in groups, as it’s always intriguing to see how someone responds one on one vs in a collective. That’s where you can spot the internal tensions in a personality.

8. Check out the physical

Take notice of small physical characteristics. People move constantly, even when they’re supposedly still. They cross their arms, their legs, jiggle their foot. Some folk wave their arms excitedly when speaking, others barely move their lips. A teacher at my school stalked like a praying mantis, while another one barreled along, head down, and barely made eye contact. All these mannerisms can be reflected in your story.

Hobbies and habits help to build depth. You can offset a supposedly bland personality by providing them with a very bizarre hobby, or alternatively, you can tone down an over-the-top individual by providing them with an interest in something that most people consider banal. My favorite juxtaposition of this is The Accountant where Ben Affleck’s character, a small-town accountant (a supposedly boring profession), has a side-gig as a hitman.

If you don’t know anyone strange, mental or weird, take a trip around a university campus. 🙂 And remember, you can’t make up anything as strange as real life. Because in real life, people are as weird as fu*k.

WTF
People are weird

9. Techniques to Develop Character

A. Name your character

This is harder than it sounds. Names are tricky. Some people use name generators, like a phone book or the newspaper. I use a phone list from work and mix and match first names against surnames. This works okay, but can limit you to a particular demographic.

Some writers use or adapt names from history or mythology; others invent names using alliterative syllables that provide an insight into the character’s personality. Dickens was an expert at this – just think of Ebenezer Scrooge, Uriah Heep, Fagin, and Tiny Tim.

B. Appearance

I like to draw my main characters, especially my villains. Villains are complex by nature, so perhaps that’s why I like drawing them! (I’m a terrible artist, by the way – but that doesn’t matter, I’m not going to share my images). However, if you hate drawing, you can always find photos.

Some people paste images into scrapbooks. Some keep a scrapbook for each character while others use software like plottr or Scrivener to hold a digital version.

Don’t forget the other senses: what do they smell like? How do they laugh? What does their voice sound like? Do they speak in an accent, or have a lisp? Are their hands rough or smooth?

Personally, I find the process of putting pen to paper helps to cement the image of my character in my brain, so helps build a more three-dimensional personality, and scrapbooking sounds suspiciously like procrastination, but hey, each to his/her own, right?

C. What is your character’s background?

Everyone has a history. The Māori tradition of Pepeha (introducing oneself in a set structure) is very relevant here. To Māori, a person is anchored by their relationship to their land, their family, and their ancestors. Your characters will have their own pepeha. Where were they born? What mountains, rivers or lakes do they relate to? Where did their ancestors come from? Who was their father, who was their mother?

You can find out more information on pepeha here. (As I’m not Māori, please don’t take this as cultural guidance, I’m just saying the pepeha structure is really great at providing an overview of where a person comes from.)

Some people actually talk out loud like their character, introducing themselves, saying what their hobbies are, their religion, their favorite color, etc. This has always felt weird to me, so I don’t do it, but whatever works.

D. What is your character’s pain?

Everyone has history. Everyone is rejected, falls in love, suffers loss.

What events shaped your character = what created the flaw?

One of the best ways to understand your character is to write the wound-inducing scene. (Be warned: this can be gut-wrenching because your character will get hurt.)

10. Finally – if in doubt, steal borrow.

The oldest technique of all: copy!

Just be really careful if you’re basing a character on a real person. Partly, because of that little disclaimer that says ‘all events and persons in this book are imaginary but partly because you don’t want to get sued. 🙂

But hey, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?

 

So, what are you waiting for? Time to develop your own imaginary people.

 

 

Filed Under: How To, Writing tips Tagged With: How To, Writing Tips

How to Write Amazing Urban Fantasy

October 30, 2018 By Rachel Stedman

Amazing Urban Fantasy

fairytale book
Image source

What is Urban Fantasy?

Urban fantasy stories are tales of magic, but unlike other fantasy sub-genres, like Epic Fantasy (think Lord of the Rings) or High Fantasy (like Game of Thrones), they’re set in the real world. Urban fantasy stories are HUGE on TV, film, and books. They’re the oldest kind of story. I think urban fantasy is amazing!

Here’s some tips on how to craft a great urban fantasy story:

1. Use Recognizable Settings

Make sure the reader recognizes the setting of the story.

The house design is familiar, or the story takes place in a well-known city.

Generally, urban fantasies occur in a man-made environment, although sometimes they’re set in at the boundary between the urban and the wild. Like the story of Hansel and Gretel: the witch who lives in the woods in a house made of gingerbread.

2. Plot Structure

Often UF’s follow the typical hero’s journey:

  • At the start of the story, the protagonist is happily living his/her life, ignorant of the magical world. Generally, he will be from of humble origins and not blessed with any special powers. He or she will be ordinary. Good-hearted, perhaps, and sometimes naive. At the beginning of the tale, the hero never sees themselves as special.
  • Then … enter the miraculous; the theatrical; the magical. Generally, in an Urban Fantasy, the magical is a total, freaky surprise to the hero. Of course, the reader will know that its there, because it’s an Urban Fantasy, after all!
  • Frequently, upon entering this magical realm, the hero finds they have a super-power. He or she might be amazingly talented, or beautiful or desirable. Sometimes the hero discovers he’s from a magical dynasty and was hidden at birth to protect him from opponents of this dynasty. (Harry Potter, anyone?)
  • Sometimes the hero is the secret hope of the hidden world, but perhaps he’s a bystander. Either way, he’ll have to use his newly-discovered powers to overcome a threat, and in so doing will return to the real world changed.
  • He may leave the real world altogether and continue in the hidden lands, or he may continue as a bridge between the worlds, and move at will between them.
  • There are variations on this. For example, the hero may be inside the hidden realm at the start of the story – in which case, entering our real world may be a total shock.

But either way, all this is good stuff for a story, right?

3. What Tone Should I Use?

Urban fantasy stories are generally funny, although sometimes they’re dark, almost gothic in tone – Vampire stories are classic UF but they’re rarely funny.

Where there is humor it usually comes from the contrast between the magic and the real, and how characters in the magical realms just don’t get technology, or vice-versa.

But wait – there’s more!

I love reading and writing urban fantasy, and gradually I’m focussing more and more on the genre.

Over the next few blog posts I’ll showcase some of my favorite UF books, but right now I’m going to leave you with an Excerpt from Welcome to Faery.


Excerpt: Beauty is a Subjective Term

I’ve put this story below as it demonstrates many of the points above. (P.S. You can download this entire story collection at this link here: https://bookhip.com/VHJFPS)

– Define: Fairest
The Queen tapped her fingers on the marble dressing table. Click click click. Nails filed to a killing point. ‘Stupid Mirror. “Fair” means “beauty”.’

– Define: Beauty

The last mirror had done what she’d asked. But oh no, the dwarfs had talked her into this new one, saying magic words like ‘memory’ and ‘voice activation’ and ‘ram’ and she hadn’t wanted to look stupid, not in front of a bunch of dwarves. And now look at this super-sleek mirror; so beautiful on the wall and yet so, so useless. How was she supposed to find Snow White without a working mirror? An upgrade, they’d said, as if an upgrade was a good thing.

The Queen threw a crystal jar across her chamber. It shattered on the stone tiles, spilling musk-flavored perfume. A serving girl scurried to clean it up, ducking low to avoid any other stray objects that the Queen might throw.

‘I mean, you stupid mirror, is there anyone else in this Kingdom more beautiful than I?’

– Define: More beautiful

The Queen paused. How does one define beautiful, anyway? ‘Girl,’ she said over her shoulder.

The maid paused in her cleaning. ‘Yes, my Lady?’

‘What makes someone beautiful?

Kneeling on the floor, the maid carefully placed shards of glass onto a folded piece of paper. ‘Like you, my Lady?’

The Queen smiled. This girl was intelligent. ‘Exactly,’ she purred. ‘Like me.’

The girl scrambled to her feet, bending her head. ‘Beauty, my Lady? Ah, maybe something like clear skin. Red lips.’

‘Is that all?’ The Queen was disappointed. ‘Why, you have red lips.’

‘Thank you, my Lady.’

‘There you are, mirror.’ The Queen turned her back on the servant. ‘I want you to find out for me if there is anyone in the Kingdom with clearer skin and redder lips than I.’

Behind her, the girl went to get a mop and bucket.

– Subjective terms. Reframe your search parameters

‘Servant,’ called the Queen.

The girl was folding the paper into a funnel, ready to pour the glass into a small tumbler. ‘Yes, my Lady?’

‘What does it mean now?’

The girl ducked her head. ‘I think, my Lady, it does not understand your question.’

‘Why not? I am perfectly clear.’

Tap-tap went the nails. The Queen’s hand twitched towards another glass bottle and the girl added quickly, ‘It’s a dwarf mirror. My Ma works for them. They’re scientific. Need to use very specific terms, to get their magic working.’

‘Specific terms?’ asked the Queen grimly. ‘I’ll show them how specific I can be. With my wand, I can very specific.’ She sighed. ‘So. What should I ask this wretched mirror?’

‘May I, my Lady?’ The girl indicated the space beside the Queen.

The Queen nodded, and the servant stepped beside her. She smelt of musk perfume and bleach. Her face, what the Queen could see of it behind the fall of grubby hair, seemed pale. She was right to be nervous, thought the Queen grimly. Persons that got too close to her were apt to have a significantly shortened lifespan.

‘Mirror mirror,’ said the girl softly.

‘I said that. Didn’t I say that?’

‘That’s just the start command.’

‘Oh,’ said the Queen. ‘I knew that.’

The girl cleared her throat. ‘Definition input.’

– Inputting

‘Beauty = Fair. Beauty: blemish-free skin.’

‘Amazing,’ thought the Queen. ‘How does she make that noise in her throat? It sounds just someone choking.’ She frowned, remembering: red apple, blood falling on snow.

– Define: blemish

‘Definition input: Crease, line or wrinkles.’

‘Freckles,’ whispered the queen.

The girl nodded. ‘Definition continues: moles, warts, lentigines, skin tags.’

– Definition received

‘What is a lentigine?’ asked the Queen

‘Like a freckle.’ The girl pointed at a sunspot on the Queen’s hand. The Queen moved her hand quickly, hiding the imperfection. ‘So now, if you ask it to tell you who is the most beautiful in the land, it will tell you who has the clearest skin.’

‘Well,’ said the Queen, looking pleased, ‘that’s very clever. Back you go, girl, clean up that mess. The perfume is giving me a headache.’ The girl crept back to the floor and the scrubbing brush.

The Queen stared up at the mirror’s silver screen, tapped her finger and asked: ‘Mirror mirror, who is the most beautiful in the land?’

On the screen appeared faces, flickering in and out, changing too rapidly to recognize any individual. A montage of faces, from happy to sad, from fat to thin, in a rainbow of skin tones. All clear-skinned, all beautiful.

All of them children.

The Queen screamed, stood up, backed away from the mirror. She stumbled over the servant, still scrubbing the floor.

‘Your Majesty. What is it?’

The Queen pointed at the mirror. The menagerie of children floated past. But never her own face, never her own!

‘Girl! Make it stop!’

The servant sat back on her heels, called out: ‘Mirror. End query.’

The screen faltered, the faces disappeared. The Queen slowly straightened.

‘Beauty,’ she said crisply, ‘is in the eye of the beholder. And I behold my face, and I say I am beautiful. I do not need to ask any mirror anything.’

The girl returned to her scrubbing. ‘That’s what my Ma says. She says beauty isn’t that special. It’s what you do that counts.’

The Queen sniffed and returned to her dresser. ‘When you’ve finished clearing up,’ she said, ‘go and wash.’

The girl wrung her perfume-scented cloth into the bucket, picked up her brush and backed from the room. ‘That’s why she stayed with them. She’s never coming home. She’s no interest in your stupid kingdom. And we’re good at hiding. So stop trying to find us.’

The Queen spun on her chair, stared at the servant girl, creeping backward from the room with her mop and brush and bucket. She did look familiar; black hair, creamy skin. ‘Wait!’ she called. ‘Wait!’

But the girl had gone. Out into the corridor, merging with the other waiting staff. Hundreds of them, scurrying about like mice. Identical in their grey coveralls, hiding their faces. The Queen would never find her.

The mirror! The mirror could tell her.

‘Mirror, mirror,’ she said. ‘Show me…’

She stopped. She would never succeed. Curse the dwarves and their wretched technology! Only Snow White had ever managed to work with them.


Filed Under: Behind the Scenes, Fairytales, Fantasy, Writing tips Tagged With: Fairytales, Fantasy, How To, Urban Fantasy, Writing Tips

What I Learned from Writing a Non Fiction Book

November 26, 2017 By Rachel Stedman

What I Learned from Writing a Non Fiction Book

Picture Book

I’ve often thought of writing a non-fiction book. After all, I have this blog – it’s not as though I’ve never written in the genre. But I’ve never had the courage, or the energy.

But Susan Day, whom I’ve met on Twitter, has.

So when she told me she’s just finished a non-fiction work, I asked her if she’d mind discussing the experience on a blog post.

She very kindly said “Yes”.

So, over to Susan …

Learning from Writing Non-Fiction

I have been writing children’s books for a number of years now. I write middle grade, chapter books in the Astro’s Adventures series. I’ve also turned my creative skills to early readers and picture books. I love illustrating books and designing them.

However, when I became a grandmother at the very young age of 47, I still continued to write children’s books, but my life had changed and I knew as a writer I needed to confront it.

I decided to write a non-fiction book about grandparenting called The Top 10 Things Happy Grandparents Never Regret Doing! And, like many non-fiction books there would be no pictures, no jokes, and no zany adventures. This would mean quite a change in my writing style.

Top 10 Things Happy Grandparents Never Regret Doing

So, how did I move successfully from a fiction author to a non-fiction author?

Facts and Figures are about Real People

As I began to research my book I discovered that most of the facts were about real people. Of course, statistics are just numbers, but behind those were stories and lives that were interesting.

I was touched when I read how some parents had become suicidal after being separated from their grandkids. I was buoyed when I read that when a positive relationship exists between grandparents and grandkids neither group are likely to fall victim to depression.

There’s Always a Story to Tell

Being a storyteller by trade I knew that my experiences of being a grandparent weren’t unique. I believed that many other young grandparents were probably going through similar experiences as me.

While researching the book, I discovered that grandparents are richer and healthier than they have ever been in the history of the world. I discovered that they come in all different shapes and sizes, and that my original idea of a granny being grey-haired and dressed in an apron was far from reality.

I wanted to include my story and stories I had heard from others. Sometimes the stories are poignant, and other times funny. I was able to use my fiction writing skills to make the research more relatable so that anyone reading it would be able to say, “Oh, that’s me!” or “Yes, I feel like that.”

Touch the Reader’s Heart

I wrote The Top 10 Things Happy Grandparents Never Regret Doing! so that grandparents could feel more empowered, and do something positive about their relationship with their grandkids.

I didn’t like the way that many grandparents just sat back and played a passive role; babysitting when asked, cooking for special occasions and helping out with cash.

The Top 10 Things Happy Grandparents Never Regret Doing! encourages grandparents to create their own Grandparenting Philosophy. This is a real document that they put together as they read through the book. There’s a whole section for compiling the information or those savvy grannies can complete the form online.

WTF

It was this aspect of writing a non-fiction book that dramatically changed from writing a fiction book. When one is writing fiction you can create worlds, and control the emotions of your characters. Non-fiction books, however, deal with real people who have a wealth of experiences and knowledge to draw from. Part of the writing process for me was to respect that, and provide a platform from which my readers would feel safe. Feeling safe leads to feelings of trust, and once trust is established it is much easier to get your point across.

Did I Love Writing a Non-Fiction Book?

Yes, I did love creating and writing a non-fiction book. It took me back to my university days when I was scribbling down notes and adding references to end notes: an old skill I had to learn again!

I loved telling my story and using it to build a connection with other grandparents. I also loved showing them how much they do have to offer, and how important it was that they spend precious time with their grandchildren in simple, but meaningful ways.

Now that my first non-fiction book is complete, I don’t have plans for any more as yet, but you never know.

Susan Day

You can find The Top 10 Things Happy Grandparents Never Regret Doing! on all online stores – here’s its Amazon link


About Susan Day

Susan Day is a passionate author, educator and, of course, a grandmother. She wants to empower all grandparents to build meaningful relationships with their grandchildren. Discover here the Top 10 Things Happy Grandparents Never Regret Doing.

Also, her blog, Astro’s Adventures Book Club, is full of ideas and tips for grandparents who want to build a strong relationship with their grandchildren through reading and sharing books.

Susan lives in country Australia with four dogs, three bossy cats, two rescue guinea pigs, and an errant kangaroo.


Filed Under: How To, Writing tips Tagged With: How To, Writing Tips

The Perils and Pitfalls of Writing a Trilogy

October 17, 2017 By Rachel Stedman

Writing a Trilogy? Here’s What to Do (And What Not To Do)

SoulNecklace Stories (Box Set)

I’ve just published the final book in The SoulNecklace Stories.

This feels like a momentous occasion; it certainly has felt like a lot of work! This series has been nearly eight years in the making, with a fair number of fits and starts along the way.

So this blog post is like a message to my former self – as well as to anyone embarking on a trilogy. Here’s the things I wish I’d done, plus the (few) things I did do that worked well.

Top learnings:

Do

  • Write them! Series are great! They are actually a heck of a lot easier than writing stand-alone novels, because you don’t have to reinvent another world or another set of characters. Writing A Memory of Fire, the last book in my SoulNecklace Stories, felt a little like slipping on a comfy pair of slippers. Once I’d settled on the plot, I could just go.
  • Build your world-rules carefully. When writing fantasy, or indeed any fiction, you create a fictional world. This world has rules: things that are allowed, or not allowed.  Readers are (generally) content to go with these rules, but they do become upset when they spot an inconsistency.

Typically, a writer will have rules that are based around location or appearance (you can’t have a black-haired character suddenly becoming blonde without a reason) but in fantasy the rules are way more extensive and can include magic, technology, religion, geography: in fact, any part of life. This makes writing fantasy fun, but full of pitfalls.

As a writer, it can be hard to remember all your rules, especially once you’re 300,000 words in!

  • Draw maps and pictures. This helps to navigate around castles, houses, villages, countries, whatever. Once I figured this trick out I could get a feeling for distance (how long would it take to travel 40 leagues – and how long is a league anyway?)
  • Plan a little bit, but not too much. I found it helpful to have an idea of the stories ultimate destination (and no, not going to give that spoiler away), but by not being too settled on what would happen too early, interesting characters emerged. Like the Kamaye, the Wayhouses, TeSin and Ma Evans. They all spontaneously arose from my subconscious. I’d not planned for them at all, but weaving their stories into the main narrative added a lot to the overall depth.
  • Write faster! I really wish I’d just knuckled down and put the words on the page. Instead, I became distracted by other projects. This was partly fear – what if the conclusion was awful, what if no-one liked it. So, all in all, it took nearly 8 years to complete the series, but if I’d gotten over my fear issues I could have finished it a lot sooner.

WTF

Don’t

  • Don’t bother too much with the marketing until you’ve finished the series. I really wish I’d figured this out earlier. No point on worrying about Facebook ads or Goodreads giveaways until the series is completed. On a plus side, once a series is completed suddenly readers are very happy, because they can binge-read.
  • Don’t overpromise.  I found that I needed breaks from my imaginary worlds to retain the joy of the process, and this meant I had slow periods. Plus, because writing a series just takes so darn long, life gets in the way. This is part of the writing challenge, but it’s hard to explain to an impatient publisher or reader.
  • Don’t be daunted by the amount of work. Writing a novel is a huge amount of work. Writing a trilogy … oh man! It’s way more! You have to be totally committed before starting, because this world and these characters will be part of your life for a couple of years. It’s a big deal, taking on a two-year project, and not being certain of the outcome. All the time, through your head, a little voice murmurs: What if it’s no good. What if no-one likes it? What if no-one buys it? What if, what if…

And Finally

The most important lesson to anyone embarking on series: ditch the fear. Just do it anyway. You’ll be glad you did.

And, as a bonus, the third book might be so much fun to write that you might be tempted to write another book, or even just a novella, in the same universe.

A Long, Long Life

But that’s another story…

 

You can find The SoulNecklace Stories online or, in hard copy as individual titles on this website, or at your local library.

Filed Under: A Necklace of Souls, A Skillful Warrior, Behind the Scenes, How To, SoulNecklace Stories, Writing tips Tagged With: About my Books, How To, The SoulNecklace Stories, Writing Tips

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