Purple Prose:
12 days of Christmas

You’ve finished your first draft. Congratulations! Now comes my favorite part: editing and revising. Sorry, even if you hate doing them, you can’t skip this step.

Here’s a list of books to help you with this all-important process.

Rocking Beginnings

From page one, you need to grab the reader’s attention. This is especially true when dealing with the harried agent or editor. Hooked by Les Edgerton is the best book I’ve read on the topic. I refer to it with EVERY novel I write.

Editing Made Simple

My all-time favorite book on revisions is Manuscript Makeover by Elizabeth Lyon. It’s especially helpful for deepening your characterizations, driving your story forward, and developing page-turning suspense (even if your novel isn’t a suspense or thriller). And this is only the beginning.

Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King is another brilliant book, and is very different to Manuscript Makeover. They complement each other well.

Despite its name, the advice in The First Five Pages by Noah Lukeman is applicable to your entire manuscript. The information is similar to that of the other two books, but I found them to be more comprehensive. But since a lot of writers love the book, I decided to include it in my list.

Grammar

It was the best of sentences, it was the worst of sentences by June Casgrande will have you smiling instead of falling asleep (a hazard with most grammar books). It’s the perfect stocking stuffer.

Powerful Words

Most writers have a thesaurus. But most writers don’t have THE best thesaurus in the world. I’ve blogged about Roget’s International Thesaurus before, but let me just say that this thesaurus will help you write powerful sentences and metaphors. I use it all the time.

Yeah, yeah, I know. I have a writing-craft book addiction. And you’ve only seen a small sample of them.
Do you have a favorite craft book of all time, or do you break out in a rash if you even look at one?

<<<3

On the eleventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me:

Writing-craft books that will leave an agent singing,
A stocking filled with cool writing tools,
Gift cards so I can go on a novel-buying spree (yippee!),
Six books for page-turning plots,
Workshops to make me smarter,
One sexy dance outfit,
Membership to a writing organization,
Three books for kickass characterizations,
Tons of yummy chocolate,
AquaNotes, so I can brainstorm in the shower,
And Margie Lawson’s awesome lecture notes.

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Last week I shared with you some of my favorite books on plotting and story structure. But what’s an awesome book on plotting without these cool tools?

Corkboard

I’m currently playing around with my corkboard as I plot my YA horror novel Save-the-Cat style.

Index Cards

During the spring, I posted on using a corkboard for plotting, and someone pointed out that colored index cards help you visualize the different subplots. Brilliant idea!

Plotting Software

Of course, if technology is more your style, it’s not too late to ask Santa for a software program like Scrivener.

Note Pads

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Unless you want to write on your legs and arms, like I’ve been known to do when I get an earth-shattering idea, don’t forget to ask Santa for note pads.

Pens

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And let’s not forget the cute pens. You can never have enough pen, especially if yours have a tendency to walk off like mine.

What would you like to see in your stocking this year?

On the tenth day of Christmas my true love gave to me:

A stocking filled with cool writing tools,
Gift cards so I can go on a novel-buying spree (yippee!),
Six books for page-turning plots,
Workshops to make me smarter,
One sexy dance outfit,
Membership to a writing organization,
Three books for kickass characterizations,
Tons of yummy chocolate,
AquaNotes, so I can brainstorm in the shower,
And Margie Lawson’s awesome lecture notes.

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In order to be a fiction writer, you need to not only study books on the craft of writing, you need to read stories (yay!). A LOT of stories (double yay!). Stories both inside and outside your genre.

Now, I don’t know about your loved ones, but my husband is totally clueless about what YA novels I want to read (plus many don’t come out until 2012). But fortunately some genius invented GIFT CARDS.

On the ninth day of Christmas my true love gave to me . . .

Gift cards, so I can go on a novel-buying spree (yippee!),
Six books for page-turning plots,
Workshops to make me smarter,
One sexy dance outfit,
Membership to a writing organization,
Three books for kickass characterizations,
Tons of yummy chocolate,
AquaNotes, so I can brainstorm in the shower,
And Margie Lawson’s awesome lecture notes.

Wow, I can’t believe there are only three more days left of ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas for Writers’.

Have a great weekend everyone!

©Stina Lindenblatt

I’ve blogged about books that help you create kickass characterizations. Now you need a page-turning plot so they can shine. This is where the following books come in:

Most writers who have read Save the Cat by Blake Snyder agree it’s a great resource for creating your plot. The beats described by Blake help me structure the story before I write my outline. For more info on the book, check out this blog post.

Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook by Donald Maass is a definite must have for plotting (and characterization). In the section on plot development, Donald provides numerous exercises for creating a layered plot and compelling subplots. You can use this book before writing the first draft or afterwards.

If you LOVE to plan, The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller by John Truby is for you. I’ve never read a more comprehensive book on plotting compared to this one. By the time you’ve finished all the exercises, you’ll have figured out your premise, story structure, characters, moral argument, story world, symbol web, plot, and scenes. The book uses tons of examples based on well known movies.

Writing Screenplays That Sell by Michael Hauge is another popular book. It’s good, but it wasn’t one of my favorites (someone recommended it to me). I do think it’s a great book for writers who need the basics but don’t want to deal with the exercises in John Truby’s book. At the end of it, Michael analyzes the movie Avatar.

Two other books I thought worth mentioning include Emotional Structure: Creating the StoryBeneath the Plot by Peter Dunne and Screenwriting Tricks for Authors (and Screenwriters!) by Alexandra Sokoloff.

These books are worth the money, but you definitely don’t need them all. I borrowed John’s book from the library and realized I had to have it. It’s the best book on plotting I’ve read. But it is a lot of work if you do all the exercises.

Overall, the first three are my all-time favorites. I do recommend, though, if you’re new to writing fiction, you read Writing Screenplays That Sell or Screenwriting Tricks for Authors (and Screenwriters!) first. They cover the essentials. After that, I would add Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook to your library. Writers who don’t like outlining swear by Save The Cat.

Do you have a favorite book on plotting? Do you outline or do you jump into the first draft when starting a new project?

<<<3

On the eighth day of Christmas my true love gave to me . . .

Six books for page-turning plots,
Workshops to make me smarter,
One sexy dance outfit,
A membership to a writing organization,
Three books for kickass characterizations,
Tons of yummy chocolate,
AquaNotes, so you can brainstorm in the shower,
And Margie Lawson’s awesome lecture notes.

©Stina Lindenblatt

When I first started writing fiction, I knew nothing about writing associations. Then one day I discovered an international organization called Society of Children’s BooksWriters & Illustrators (SCBWI). It didn’t take much convincing to get me to join. And four years later, I’m still a member.

Last year, one of my writing friends talked me into joining the Romance Writers of America (RWA). I’m glad I did. A short time later, I joined three of its chapters: YARWA (YA writers), Kiss of Death (suspense and mystery writers), and CaRWA (the chapter in my city). Of the three, KOD has been my favorite, as I’ll explain in a future post.

There are many benefits to joining writing associations (two I’ll be talking about next week), but because the memberships can be expensive, you want to make sure they meet your needs. I would love to join the International Thriller Inc, but after paying memberships for the above, I have to draw the line somewhere.

The best thing to do is figure out what you want in an organization.

• Do you want to attend monthly meetings?
• What are you looking for in a meeting? Some groups get together just to socialize. Others have educational sessions throughout the year dealing with craft, social networking, promotion, etc.
• Are you interested in attending workshops and conferences?
• How far are you willing to travel? If you are looking only for these things, and the organization doesn’t hold any in a location convenient to you, you might decide not to pursue a membership in that organization.
• Are you looking for an online community, resources, etc?

And don’t forget to include in the bio section of your query the organization(s) you are a member of. This shows agents and editors you’re serious about your writing career.

Other Major Writing Associations

International ThrillerWriters Inc

Horror WritersAssociation

Mystery Writers of America

Crime Writers ofCanada

Sisters in Crime

Christian WritersGuild

YALitChat.org

Are you a member of a writers association? What is the major benefit you’ve found to being a member? Are there any others not listed that you recommend?

<<<3

On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me . . .

A membership to a writing organization,
Three books for kickass characterizations,
Tons of yummy chocolate,
AquaNotes, so you can brainstorm in the shower,
And Margie Lawson’s awesome lecture notes.

Once upon I time, I queried a big time agent and landed a partial request*. A month later, a rejection landed in my inbox. My characterizations were weak. After bawling into a box of Kleenexes After deciding the agent was the most wonderful person alive (because not only did she not send me a form rejection, she was right), I searched for ways to make my characterizations kickass strong.

During that time, I fell in love with several craft books on the topic:

Getting Into Character: Seven Secrets a Novelist Can Learn from Actors by Brandilyn Collins.

I’ve blogged about this book before. My favorite chapter (the first one) contains an exercise to help you get to know your characters better. Better than by simply filling in a questionnaire or conducting an interview. It’s not a quick exercise, and you really have to think. But it will help you delve deeper into your characterizations. It’s a technique used by award winning actors when preparing for a role. And for those of you who aren’t plotters, you can do the exercise after your first draft.

Breathing Life Into Your Characters: How to Give Your Characters Emotional & Psychological Depth by Rachel Ballon

This is another book I’ve blogged about. It, too, is filled with advice and exercises to help you create rich characters (including the bad guys).

Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook by Donald Mass.

The first part of the workbook contains twelve through-provoking chapters with exercises to ensure all your characters are dimensional. They can be done either before you start the first draft or afterwards. Check out thispost for an example of the type of exercises you can expect from the book.

There isn’t one book I prefer over the others. I use all three when creating my characters. I truly do believe they made a huge difference.

(*this book was eventually shelved for good reason)

<<<3

On the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to me . . .

Three books for kickass characterizations,
Tons of yummy chocolate,
AquaNotes, so you can brainstorm in the shower,
And Margie Lawson’s awesome lecture notes.

*Cringes at how awful that would sound when sung*

Do you have a favorite technique for creating characters?

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Every writer, especially the chocoholic variety, knows chocolate is a necessity. Whether you’re battling plot issues, dealing with a character who has different plans than you, waiting to hear back from your crit partner/beta readers, or querying, chocolate is a basic survival food. So make sure you include it on your Christmas list, and then hide it if you have kids like mine. Otherwise, you won’t have it when you really need it.

On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me . . .
Tons of yummy chocolate,
AquaNotes, so you can brainstorm in the shower,
And Margie Lawson’s awesome lecture notes.

(Now, aren’t you glad I didn’t turn this list into a singing vlog?)

Have a great weekend everyone!

XOX

Inspiration can hit anytime. Many of my writing ideas come while I’m running. From time to time, they’ve find me in the shower (very embarrassing, I might add). What’s a writer to do when this happens?

AquaNotes

Not only is this nifty notepad close at hand when that amazing idea strikes, you don’t have to worry about the paper going soggy. It’s waterproof! What a brilliant idea.

Have you ever had an idea while in the shower? What did you do? When do most of your ideas stalk you?

<<<3

On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me,
Margie Lawson’s awesome lecture notes.

(Yeah, yeah, I know it’s not quite the same as the original song. I never claimed to be a song writer or poet. *grins*)

Yeah, yeah, I know. There are more than twelve days till Christmas. But The Twelve Blogging Days of Christmas for Writers (According to Stina’s Schedule) was way too long a title.

Anyhow, I’m going to be blogging about awesome gifts ideas you might want to start hinting heavily for from your significant others, friends, family. Or if they don’t get the hint, then you reward yourself with them.

<<<3

Back in September, members of one chapter of the Romance Writers of America started singing the praises for the online courses by Margie Lawson. Always on the lookout for anything that will take my writing to the next level, I couldn’t wait to check them out.

And I’m so glad I did.

But the best part was I didn’t have to wait until the next course to learn from her brilliance. Her course notes are available, and for much less than the online courses.

The following three I highly recommend to help you write fresh instead of stale or clichéd (the descriptions are from her website):

1. Empowering Characters’ Emotions

Want to add a psychological punch to your writing and editing?

Want to learn how to capture the full range of body language on the page?

Want to turn your work into a page-turner by powering up emotion and hooking the reader viscerally?

(Trust me, you do!!!!)

2. Writing Body Language and Dialogue Cues Like a Psychologist

3. Deep Editing: The EDITS System, Rhetorical Devices, and More

DEEP EDITING is for the writer who wants to psychologically impact the unconscious of the reader. For the writer who wants to learn fresh editing techniques. For the writer who wants to edit for power. (I blogged about rhetorical devices not long ago on the QueryTracker.net blog. That was nothing compared to what Margie will teach you.)

Her course notes are FILLED with examples from New York Times bestsellers. By the time you’ve finished studying them, you won’t be able to look at your writing the same way again. You’ll cringe every time you write (or read) the same old tired phrases that everyone leans on—except for the bestsellers. If you’re looking for a way to strengthen your voice, these courses will help you as well.

If I were to give them a rating out of five stars, they would definitely be worth six stars.

Is there anything writing related that you would like Santa to bring you this year?