During the holiday season, I realized I have A LOT of books about writing fiction. And of course, I added a few more titles to my shelves last month. So, I’ve decided to start a fairly regular feature where I review non-fiction books on writing that I either own or have borrowed from the library. These posts will occur either on a Monday (in lieu of that week’s photography tips) or on Wednesdays. They won’t, though, be weekly.

<<<3

In addition to writing YA, I’m now venturing into the world of romantic suspense. Face it, I’m a sucker for anything filled with romance and danger (which also describes the YA novels I write). This is why I decided to check out Writing the Thriller by T. Macdonald Skillman.

This is an advance writing book. After exploring the different categories of suspense, the requirements for writing them, and reader expectations for each, she focuses on the important elements of fiction and the considerations you need to be aware of when writing the different types of suspense. However, she already expects you to have a good understanding of these elements beforehand, which include:

• Characterization
• Plot
• Setting and atmosphere
• Point of view
• Backstory
• Goals and motivation
• Dialogue
• Pacing
• Theme
• Style

• Action-adventure
• Legal thrillers
• Medical thrillers
• Political thrillers
• Psychological suspense
• Romantic suspense
• Women-in-jeopardy suspense
• Techo-thrillers

I can’t believe it’s now 2011. After reading Roni Loren’s blog this weekend, I realized I need to set some writing goals for this year. Heck, I even blogged about it last week on the Query Tracker blog, so I have no excuse.

And now you can hold me accountable to them. Right?

Writing Goals

• Query my YA novel, Still.
• Edit my new YA. I finished the first draft of Shot in the Dark before Christmas Day. Yay!
• Query Shot in the Dark later this year. (Of course, if I land an agent with Still, I won’t have to worry about writing another query. Le sigh.)
  
• Start planning and researching my sexy romantic suspense novel. I’ve already been working on some ideas.
• Have first draft of SRS completed by the end of the year—if not sooner.
• Write first draft of YA novel, End of Forever. (Yep, it’s already outlined and planned)
• Continue to read non-fiction books on writing and challenge my writing.
• Attend the LA SCBWI conference in August (anyone else thinking of going?).
• Attend the monthly RWA meetings in my city.

Reading

I’m not setting any specific numbers. I read whatever mood I’m in.

• YA (my list of books for this year is already long).
• Romantic suspense
• Erotic Romance. I’m pretty fussy about this one. I’m interested in erotic romantic suspense more than anything.

So, what are your writing and reading goals for this year? Are you going to be attending any conferences this year?

How many times have you read a bestselling novel and let it influence your writing, but when your critique partner or an agent sees it . . . well the results aren’t pretty?

There are rules in writing we need to follow to increase our chances of landing an agent or being published. Some rules are flexible enough to allow us to bend them for creative purposes. Other rules are rigid. Try to bend them and disaster will befall you.

The trick is knowing which rules can be successfully broken. However, bestselling authors aren’t necessarily the ones to shows which rules they are. These writers have more leeway than the rest of us.

Examples: (These are from a few of my favorite YA authors.)

Flashbacks

Because flashbacks pretty much stop the action of the story, you want to be careful with them. Keep them as short as possible, and only use them when necessary.

Sarah Dessen uses flashbacks a lot in her novels, but instead of the main character flashing back to a time before the start of the book, she flashes back to an event that took place between the last scene and the current one.

I tried that and was told if the event in the flashback was that important, then I needed to write it as a scene. Great advice. Sarah’s allowed to do it her way. We aren’t.

Dialogue

One of the most common pieces of advice says don’t start chapter one with dialogue since the reader hasn’t had a chance yet to visualize the scene because of the lack of context.

Same advice should apply to individual chapters, unless it’s starts off where the last one ended. I’m a fan of Alyson Noel’s Immortal Series, but she has, on occasion, left the reader in suspense because she starts the chapter off with dialogue, but doesn’t tell the reader which character said it. Sometimes it’s take you the whole page to figure out who said it. This is false suspense, and it's annoying. The reader needed to know who said it so she can visualize the scene. Of course, this hasn't stopped Alyson from selling books. And it hasn't stopped me from buying them.

Gerunds

We know we’re not supposed to overuse –ing verbs and the passive “as” such as in this sentence:

I take long, slow breaths, reminding myself there’re thousands of psychos on the streets. (From my novel, Still.)

They’re fine, as long as you don’t abuse them.

Alyson Noel has made it part of her style to use tons of sentences such as:

Leaving me to stand there, jaw dropped to my knees, as both doors spring open and sweep him inside before I can blink. (Dark Flame)

She can get away with that. We can’t.

Echoes

A few weeks ago, I blogged about repetitive words, phrases, or concepts that often appear in our manuscripts until a crit partner points them out. Some readers might not notice them. Others might be ready to hurl your book (which happens to be on their computer) across the room if they read the phrase one more time.

I read a book by a bestselling author (who shall remain nameless) in which not only was the phrase abused an estimated 150 times (sometimes twice on the same page), but it was the clichéd eye rolling. Seriously, I’m surprised the main character’s eyes didn’t get stuck due to all the eye rolling that happened.

Adverbs Galore

Too many adverbs and adjectives are the kiss of death, especially when overused in dialogue tags. Of course, if you’re J.K. Rowling, this rule doesn’t apply to you. But for the rest of us, don’t do it!

So what do you think? Should we take risks like these bestselling authors, or should we play it safe? And without giving away names, do you have any examples of rules you’ve seen broken by a bestselling author, which would be a big no-no if we tried it?

Edited: I should add that Lisa McMann (Wake trilogy) broke many rules in her debut novel, and it seriously rocked. So, there's something to think about.

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.

©Stina Lindenblatt

Yesterday, wonderful Angela Ackerman from The Bookshelf Muse guest posted on my blog and talked about creating suspense even if you don’t write suspense. But for some reason, my email subscribers never received the post in their inbox. On Monday, I changed the setting so that my post titles would show up in the Subject of the emails. That apparently was an epic fail. Sooooo, I’m posting today to test if the problem is fixed, and make sure everyone has a chance to read the post.

I’ve turned off the comments on this post, but would love it if you comment on Angela’s.

As you might have figured out by now, I’m a writing-craft-book junkie. So it should come as no surprise when I picked up Elements of Fiction Writing: Conflict & Suspense by James Scott Bell. I wasn’t planning to. But then author Jody Hedlund gushed about it on her blog. And she was right. The book seriously rocks (Okay, those weren’t her exact words).

It’s divided into two sections: Conflict and Suspense. These are further subdivided into twenty-two informative chapters (you can check out the table of content here). The explanations in each chapter are brilliant, and examples from various novels are used to demonstrate the key points. For those of you who enjoy exercises that transfer to your writing (me me me!), the book is rich in that area. For example (chapter 12—Styling for Conflict):

• Identify a highly charged moment in your book.

• Make a list of possible actions, gestures, or setting descriptions that might reflect upon the scene.

• List at least twenty to twenty-five possibilities as fast as you can. Remember, the best way to get good ideas is to come up with a lot of ideas and then choose the ones you want to use.

• Write a long paragraph incorporating the detail, then edit the paragraph so it is lean and potent. The telling detail works best when it is subtle and does all the work by itself.

Once upon a time, in a kingdom deep beneath the sea, lived a beautiful mermaid full of love and grace. She possessed a singing voice that would leave you speechless, or so I’ve been told. But our fair mermaid made one fatal mistake. She fell in love with a human prince. In her quest to be human, she sold her voice to the sea witch who gave her three days to win the love of the prince or else she would die. In the original Hans Christian Anderson story, the mermaid dies, and I’m weeping when I read the final lines. In Disney’s version, the ending is much happier. The only one who dies is the evil sea hag. But what about in Midnight Pearls, the retelling of the tale by Debbie Viguié, is there a happily ever after for that young mermaid?

Now this is where things get tricky. This story is so cleverly written that nothing is what it might seem. It is told from the point of view of several characters which increases the suspense. The main protagonist is Pearl. As a young child of four, she was found in the sea during a vicious storm. The fisherman, who rescued her, and his wife raise her as their own daughter. Pearl grows to become a young woman in a time when you married at the age of sixteen or seventeen. Everyone shuns her except for one: Prince James. But their friendship is not allowed, as she is a mere commoner, so they meet in secrecy.

Pearl knows she’s different, but doesn’t know why. As a conspiracy against the royal family and an evil enchantment from beneath the sea merges, she is forced to question everything she knows and everything she believes in. And to save the one she loves, she must make a difficult decision that could ultimately tear the two friends apart.

Midnight Pearls is one of the growing number of retold fairytales found in the Once Upon A Time series by Simon Pulse. Each one is a twist on a beloved story told with more suspense and conflict then the original version. The voice is compelling as are the characters. The female protagonists embrace strong virtues important for today’s teen. And I’m proud to admit that books are addictive. I already own several and am eyeing several more. Hint. Hint. You can expect to see me review another one soon.

Whether you’re writing a term paper, short story, or novel, your first words have an important job to do. They grab the reader’s attention, leaving ’em begging for more. Fail to do that, and your reader will find something more exciting to do, like cleaning the lint from her belly button.

Everyone has different expectations as to what makes a great first paragraph of a story. Genre and personal preference play a large role here. But the most important thing to grab your reader’s attention is the voice. Take note, this is also true for term papers. Not to leave you in suspense or anything, but I’ll be discussing the mysterious voice next week.

There are a few things you want to avoid in the first paragraph of your story:

1. Rambling beginnings where nothing is happening except for a long detailed description of your setting and main character. Boring!


2. Overwriting. This means too many adverbs and adjectives. I’ll be discussing this topic more in the near future.


3. Jumping in without giving the reader anything to cling to. Why should we care about your protagonist as she jumps off a cliff?


4. Asking questions. I read a first paragraph recently from an unpublished fiction writer. In it, the protagonist asked five questions. The paragraph had only six sentences in it to begin with. You want your readers to be asking the questions, not the protagonist. If your readers are asking them, then they’ll keep reading because they want to discover the answers. Right?


5. Starting with your protagonist waking up, unless she’s jarred awake by someone entering her room. If you do this, then build the suspense (always a goodie for opening paragraphs) so the reader has to go to the next paragraph to find out who the perpetrator is. A vampire. A criminal. Her older sister coming in through the window after sneaking around with the boyfriend her parents disapprove of. Isn’t that more riveting than having Janie wake up, look at the alarm clock, and deliberate what to wear to school?

Here’s one of my favorites:

Phoebe and her friends held their breath as the dead girl in the plaid skirt walked past their table in the lunchroom. Her motion kicked up a cool trailing breeze that seemed to settle on the skin and catch in their hair. As they watched her go by, Phoebe could almost tell what everyone was thinking. Everyone, that is, except for the dead girl. (Generation Dead, Daniel Waters)

What could be more compelling than that?

Recommended readings:

Thanks, But This Isn’t For Us: A (Sort of) Compassionate Guide to Why Your Writing Is Being Rejected, Jessica Morrell

Hooked: write fiction that grabs readers at page one and never lets them go, Les Edgerton

Note: This super cool picture was generated using the first 100 pages of my YA novel, Lost in a Heartbeat, using the Wordle program at http://www.wordle.net/.

As writers, we’re constantly reminded to read outside our genre(s). Certain genres are character-based while others focus on plot. If you read predominantly plot-based stories, you’re missing out on an opportunity to see how others develop characters readers love to connect with. Romance, young adult, and horror are a few genres that rely heavily on emotions. Thrillers and suspense are perfect examples for solid pacing. By reading other genres, it will help you further develop your craft, plus they might trigger ideas to use within your stories.

But what about craft books on writing? Have you explored books that don’t focus solely on writing novels and short stories?

We’re all familiar with Writer’s Digest. My bookshelves are crammed full of craft books from the publisher (yeah, I have a little addiction issue). But last year, I discovered a publisher most of us aren’t familiar with—unless you’ve read Save the Cat! by Blake Synder. Michael Wiese Production publishes tons of books that focus on TV and film, and many of these deal with topics relevant to novelists.

The following are books that now live on my bookshelf (all which I love):

Save the Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting That You’ll Ever Need by Blake Synder (I recently ordered the sequel Save the Cat! Strikes Back: More Trouble for Screenwriters to Get into ... and Out of at Elana Johnson’s recommendation. It's in the mail.)

(Seriously, how can you resist this cover????)

Story Line: Finding Gold in Your Life Story by Jen Grisanti

Writing Subtext: What Lies Beneath by Dr. Linda Seger

Symbols, Images, Codes: The Secret Language of Meaning in Film, TV, Games, and Visual Media by Pamela Jaye Smith

Inner Drives: How to Write & Create Characters Using the Eight Classic Centers of Motivation by Pamela Jaye Smith

Have you read any craft books geared toward screenwriters?

(So what does Brad Pitt have to do with this? Nothing. But it got you to look, right? And maybe if you study these books and take up writing screenplays, you might just meet him when you pen his Oscar winning movie. Hey, you never know.)

©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.

© Lee Lenny

Janet Johnson tagged me last week, so here goes.

Are you hot?
Not right now. It’s kind of chilly in my room.
Oh, you mean the other kind of hot? Nah. I’ve never been hot. Cute maybe, but never hot. (My hubby burst out laughing when I asked him. Hmmm)

Upload a picture or wallpaper you are using at the moment.
Until I got tagged, I had the most unimaginative wallpaper available on my computer. So I changed it to this . . .

. . . which I took on vacation in SF last year. My husband and kids love the new wallpaper, so I guess it’s staying.
When was the last time you ate chicken meat?
I can’t remember. Maybe a few weeks ago (we don’t eat a lot of meat). I made spicy chicken breasts with mangos and coconut milk. It’s yummy.
The Song(s) you listened to recently?
What the Hell by Avril Lavigne
Born This Way by Lady GaGa
Just Can’t Get Enough by The Black Eye Peas
My eleven-year-old thinks I’m the coolest mom because I listen to the same music as him (which means I buy the music without complaint).
What were you thinking as you were doing this?
I was thinking about an email that I need to send after dinner. One which I’ll be blogging about on Wednesday (not to keep you in suspense or anything).
Do you have nicknames?
Technically, Stina is my nickname. It’s short for Kristina. Apparently my parents were going to call me Stina but forgot. Seriously? How can you forget what name you were going to call your first born?

Tag eight Blogger friends.
(You are it!)

1. Lenny Lee
2. Matt MacNish
3. Christina Lee
4. Laura Pauling
5. Heather McCorkle
6. Steena Holmes (writes erotica romance short stories as Anya Winter)
7. Angela Ackerman (from the awesome Bookshelf Muse)
8. Deb Marshall

Who's listed as number one?
Lenny Lee is the coolest kid in the blogosphere, who has the heart and strength to rival most adults. Not to mention, he comes with an awesome fan club. :) (Hugs, Lenny. We're all cheering for you!)

Say something about number 5.
Heather posts cool Twitter publishing industry links on Tuesdays, and describes a mythological creature every Friday.

How did you get to know number 3?
Christina and I got to know each to know each through blogging, and quickly became friends. She’s an awesome friend, CP, and jewellery designer, and I feel extremely lucky to call her my friend. Plus, her writing seriously rocks.

How about number 4?
Like Christina, I meet Laura through blogging. Her posts frequently makes it to Cool Links Friday, for good reason. And she’s one helluva great beta reader and writer.

Leave a message for number 6.
I can’t wait to read your upcoming guest post. ;)

Leave a lovey-dovey message for number 2.
ROFL. I don’t know how to write lovey-dovey messages (and my hubby might get jealous if I sent one to Matt). So I’ll just say, “Hi!”
Do number 7 and number 8 have any similarities?
Angela and Deb both live in Calgary (like me), and they both crack me up (usually while I’m eating). And if that’s not enough, we love hanging out together (with a group of other kidlit writers) at The Cheesecake Café.

(Dear Taggees: You're under no obligation to play the tag game, but I just wanted people to know just how awesomesauce you are.)

Why do readers of romance keeping turning the page instead of rushing off to clean the toilet? (I mean, other than the obvious reason.) It’s because they want to know what happens between the hero and heroine. This is true regardless if you’re writing YA novels, romantic suspense, paranormal romances.

But it’s not enough to give the two characters a happily-ever-after from page one (save that for the ending). You need to create tension and conflict between them, which is maintained throughout the story.

According to Leslie Waigner (Writing a Romance Novel for Dummies) this can be achieved by creating an emotional conflict (one that grows from the heart) between the two characters that has nothing to with the plot. After that, you can throw all kinds of complications at them.

However, don’t confuse emotional conflict with intellectual conflict. Intellectual conflict comes from the head, such as opinions.

Remember, at the end of the day, the reader cares more about what’s in the hero’s and heroine’s hearts than what’s in their heads. (Okay, you know what I mean.)

Even if the romance is only a subplot, you still want to keep these things in mind when you write this aspect of the story.

What keeps you turning the pages of a novel (and it doesn’t have to be about romance)?

How many of you find your characters tell you how you shouldbe writing a scene you’re working on?

In my YA horror novel, the potential love interest wasn’t supposed to kiss the main character until three-quarters of the way into the book. He totally disagreed with me and kissed her at the quarter mark. And you know what? He was right (just don’t tell him that!). By kissing her earlier than I had planned, it introduced the conflict I needed.

With my YA suspense, a secondary character decided he wanted a more important role. He gave himself a promotion. Now he’s the almost-best-friend-who’s-a-boy to the female protagonist. While he still doesn’t appear in a huge amount of scenes, he was able to worm his way into a few more during the rewrites. I did, though, duct tape his mouth shut when I read through the manuscript again; otherwise, I knew he would have nudged his way into a few more.

Should we listen to our characters when they tell us we’ve got it all wrong? Hell yes! It’s not really your characters who are talking. It’s your subconscious telling you what deep down you already know. Of course, if your character’s suggestions look like they are going to derail your novel, you might want to ignore them. But like with any feedback, at least give their suggestions the consideration they deserve. You might be thrilled with the outcome.

Has this happen to you? Has one of your characters (especially a secondary character) tried to steer you in a different direction? Did you let them?

©Stina Lindenblatt

Story isn’t about plot. It’s about emotion. It’s the element that leaves your body tingling in fear or anticipation for what will happen next, and what readers want from the first page to the end. But how do you bring in emotion to add maximum power to your story?

Universal Theme

Universal theme will help your readers connect to the characters and emotions in the story. These are themes that everyone can relate to, even if they can’t relate to the specific circumstances of the story. For example, how many of you know what it feels like to have the mob kill your family? None of you, I hope. Now, what if you wrote a story about how your protagonist’s best friend tells her uncle, who happens to be the Godfather of the local crime family, that she suspects the friend is the estranged daughter of the family he’s been salivating to kill, after her father turned state evidence on his former boss? Depending on how you set up the story, you can choose to focus on the universal theme of betrayal. At one point in our lives, we’ve all experienced the feeling of being betrayed. Now we can relate to the character and the emotion of the story, even though we have never, thankfully, gone through the same experience.

Character Wounds

Another word for character wound is backstory. This is where you create the most painful past possible for your character, and let it guide your character’s actions. The type and depth of wound will be dependent on genre. The wound then plays a part in determining your character’s fears, and it is the wound and fears that make the character vulnerable. Since he doesn’t want people to know his vulnerability (especially the antagonist), he creates a persona that protects him from being hurt. For example, you could have a character who lost his parents due to an accident and is bounced around the foster care system. He ends up in the worst of homes, where the foster parents only care about the money. He’s neglected and abused. He learns not to trust adults, and because he’s bounced around so much, he learns not to develop attachments to other people. He becomes the bad-boy loner, complete with tattoos. Inside, he’s still the caring individual he was before his parents died, but he refuses to let people get close enough to discover this. That is, until he finds the right girl.

Naturally, you would not dump this information on the first page. Write the backstory down in a separate file, and fit slivers of it into your story. Start with the small stuff, hinting of the possible wound, and as the story progresses, hit your reader with the most emotional, gut wrenching parts of your protagonist’s past. Your reader will keep turning the page, because she wants to find out what really happened X number of years ago. It’s a great way to build emotional suspense.

Have you considered universal theme and character backstory when creating the emotion behind your stories?

Part two will be posted on Wednesday.

Beyond A Doubt, The Renaissance Hearts Series, Book Four
The end is finally here…
The final chapter has been written for The Renaissance Hearts Series. What began with Sarra and Cedric in There Your Heart Will Be Also concludes with Bryce and Lucy in Beyond A Doubt. Set in the turbulent times of Mary I of England, or Bloody Mary, and Henry II of France, the fight for religious freedom abounds. Intrigue, loss of property, and loss of life rule the day. Follow the epic ending of a family’s struggle.
Buy it Now on Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/c285w6u
Buy it Now on B&N: http://tinyurl.com/d429lom

SUMMARY
Bryce Cameron is finally going home. Years spent away have him longing for the craggy landscapes from his childhood.

Lucy Lombard is on a mission. The mantel she carries was never meant for her possession yet it has been passed to her anyway. Alone and in danger, Lucy stumbles onto her greatest find.

Rescuing Bryce is either a blessing or a curse but regardless time is running out. With Bryce's help can Lucy fulfill her mission or will she be too late?
**** See what others have said about the Renaissance Hearts Series.
“I really enjoyed this book. I do not typically favor historical romance, but the romance was not too mushy, and the historical was not too heavy! This was an enjoyable, delightful read!!!.” Taken from Rachel’s Amazon review on There Your Heart Will Be Also, Book One.
“If you are in for a good mystery with plenty of adventure, suspense & romance, you have come to the right place for this recommended novel because "By God's Grace" will give it all to you.” Taken from Arlena’s Amazon review of By God’s Grace, Book Two.
“Okay have to say this is my fav book so far in The Renaissance Heart Series! Felicia Rogers just gets better!” Taken from Danielle William’s Amazon review of Labor of Love, Book Three.
Buy Beyond A Doubt on Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/c285w6u
Buy Beyond A Doubt on B&N: http://tinyurl.com/d429lom

Don’t forget the other books in the series. Available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Astraea Press. ~There Your Heart Will Be Also, Book One ~By God’s Grace, Book Two ~Labor of Love, Book Three
ROMANCE AUTHOR Felicia Rogers

Felicia Rogers is an author of six novels and three novellas. When she's not writing, Felicia volunteers with the Girl Scouts of America, teaches at a local homeschooling group, hikes, and spends time with her family.
To find out more information about Felicia Rogersvisit the sites below. She loves hearing from readers.

Website: http://www.feliciarogersauthor.weebly.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FeliciaRogersAuthor Email: feliciarogersauthor@yahoo.com Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4412925.Felicia_Rogers
~*~*~
Enter to win a $25 Amazon Gift card to celebrate the release of my (Kelly's) new book Saint Sloan.. CLICK HERE.. ALSO, check out THIS post to win one of 2 free ebooks from NYT bestselling author Rachel Van Dyken (well, one from her... one from me ;) )

©Stina Lindenblatt

Kelly Lyman tagged me last week for the latest, cool tag game going on. I’m not going to talk about my WIPs. They’re still a secret. But I will talk about the book that I’m currently querying.

What is the working title of your book?

Shot in the Dark

Where did the idea come from for the book?

I have a background in sports physiology and performance enhancing drugs. My ex-boyfriend and I disagreed about the use of steroids. He was all for them. I thought he was an idiot. That’s the short version. An issue of Sports Illustrated Kids had an article about steroid use and that sparked the idea for the book.

What genre does your book fall under?

YA contemporary but it also has romance and suspense.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

I have no idea. Chace Crawford is how I imagine Daniel Ackerman. Maddie White reminds me of Snow White with attitude.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

After her twin brother commits suicide, Seventeen-year-old Maddie teams up with his best friend and digs into the secret, steroid-trade culture of her town—unknowingly making them a target to the people desperate to see the secrets kept, at any cost.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

Which version? Nuff said.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

In my query, I focused on comparison authors instead of books: Simone Elkeles, Kody Keplinger, and Katie McGarry

Who or What inspired you to write this book?

It was inspired by my annoyance of steroid use in sports, and how teens feel it’s necessary to use the drug in order to excel or to improve their appearance. The drug is dangerous.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

Although Daniel (hot love interest) is the senior varsity quarterback, his real love is Latin Dance.

And the tag goes to . . .

Katie Mills (Aka Creepy Query Girl)
Christina Lee
Janet Johnson
Kelly Polark
Leigh T Moore (author of The Truth About Faking It. Great book!)

Because I'm going to be super busy Friday and this weekend due to a RWA workshop in my city, I won't be blogging this Friday. I wish you all a great week and weekend.

XOX

©Stina Lindenblatt

Do you hear voices in your head when you write? I’m not talking about your characters (though mine definitely won’t shut up) or your internal editor.

I’m talking about your critique partner’s or beta reader’s voice.

It’s happening to me. Last week I was editing a chunk of my manuscript to send to my crit partner (okay, she thinks she’s a beta reader, but she’s more awesome than that). In my head, she was telling me that it was too convenient that this guy just happened to show up (convenient for me, not my main character). This stemmed from a comment she had made on a previous chunk on my WIP. Naturally, I listened to her voice and fixed the problem. And I’m glad I did. The story is much better now and the change increased the level of suspense.

So has this happened to you? Has you crit partner/beta reader told you something in your head while you’re editing, or does my crit partner has some paranormal abilities I don’t know about?

Note: The picture DOES NOT look like any of my fabulous crit partners or beta readers. It’s the look I get when I hear the voices. :)

We’ve all heard that agents and editors don’t like prologues. This is because the majority are nothing but backstory, and most of it is unnecessary to understand the characters and the story. A wise writer will weave the vital information where needed (and avoid the prologue if it's not essential), which heightens the suspense and keeps the reader turning the pages. I don’t mind them, but that’s because the bad ones don’t make it into traditionally published books. The book either doesn’t get published, or the editor (or agent) tactfully breaks the news to the writer and she cuts it.

It’s not prologues that irritate me. It’s the preface some writers include, because they think it’s essential to the story, that often turns me off a book. They usually involve a page or two of the climax (or something like that), and hint at what’s to come. Except, I don’t know the characters at that point to care enough about what happens to them. Isn’t that why we’re told not to start the first chapter in the middle of the action? The reader doesn’t care enough about the main character at that point to want to keep reading. And when you start with a preface, it’s like a (false) warning:

Dear Reader,

I know the beginning of my novel is dull, but as you can see by the preface, the climax is very exciting. Please buy my book and you won’t be sorry.

Sincerely,

The Author

Do you like prefaces or do you tend to skip over them? If you see one in a book, do you keep reading or do you pick up a different book?

(No, The Hunger Games doesn’t have a preface (or prologue). I just can’t wait for the movie and had to include an image from it to tie me over until I can see it.)

<<<3

Due to spring break, I’m going unplugged from March 23^rd to April 2^nd. I can’t wait to catch up on everyone’s great news when I get back. *waves bye*

As you may remember, a few weeks ago I won a blog contest. My prize was a ten page crit and a five minute phone conversation with Joanna Volpe (agent). This is NOT a transcription of the phone call. I scribbled some notes and as soon as I hung up, I was typing the answers like crazy.

1. What are your biggest pet peeves when reading the first chapter? (Note: Joanna doesn’t request sample pages with the query. Her manuscript requests are based on query alone.)

• When the writer starts at the wrong point in the story. Maybe she should have started on page three or on chapter two.

• When the story starts with forced back story. In other words, the back story doesn’t have to be there for the reader to get what’s going on. It can be delayed until later, if it’s needed at all.

• When a character has powers and the beginning opens with her using the powers just show she has them. It comes off sounding forced, and that’s a big turn off.

2. If you have key background information but don’t want to reveal for awhile to create suspense, how can you do this without driving your readers crazy?

(I’m going to use an example here without naming the book. I was stunned when Joanna knew which book I was talking about. Turns out she had been involved with the project when she was an editorial assistant.)

Example: In the YA book, the main character has witnessed her best friend being raped. She’s the last person to see the friend alive. The main character was drunk at the time and doesn’t report what happens. Her friend goes missing. Near the end of the book, her body is found. However, even though the mc knows about the rape from before page one, the reader doesn’t find out the truth until the climax. (If you want to know which book I’m talking about, send me an email. It’s a great book.)

Joanna’s answer: You have to determine what the main focus of the story is. In this case, it was the main character coming to age, not the rape and disappearance of her best friend. The latter part was the inciting incident, but the story was really about how the main character grew as she dealt with her guilt. Pacing, storytelling, and tension also play a role.

3. What should a writer do if they query an agent and land a request, but before they receive the request, they win a critique from a different agent for a portion of their manuscript? The feedback resulted in substantial changes. Should they mention this to the requesting agent?

If the agent is responding to a query alone, the answer is just send the requested material. But if the writer sent sample pages with the query, she should mention to the requesting agent that the writer won a critique in a contest, which resulted in rewrites to the sample pages.

4. When someone participates in a conference pitch session, how long should the pitch be?

It depends on the length of the session. Basically, the pitch should be half the length of the session. If it’s ten minutes, then your pitch should be five minutes long. It gives time for the agent to ask questions, but it’s also long enough so the agent isn’t still left wondering what your book is about. And it should definitely be longer than a one liner.

Can the writer reader her pitch? Yes. Agents don’t expect you to memorize them. [Remember, you’re selling your book, not auditioning to play a role in a movie.]

5. What do you wish writers would ask you during THE CALL?

She didn’t have any specific questions, though she likes it when potential clients ask how she works so they know if they’ll mesh together as a team. If she’s calling the writer, it means she’s passionate about the book and really wants to represent it. She’s trying to sell herself to the writer.

6. Do you have advice for writers who want to write in different genres, for example MG and YA, or different subgenres within YA (paranormal, contemporary, and thrillers)?

Write what you want to write. It really depends on the writer, and it’s something that the individual and her agent would discuss. It certainly isn’t a problem. Published authors are doing it all the time. For example, Suzanne Collins had a successful middle grade series before The Hunger Games trilogy was published. Joanna pointed out that maybe because Suzanne had the successful series first, the violence in The Hunger Games wasn’t as much of a problem as it might have been if she had been a new author.

She also said that if you write a middle grade fantasy series, writing a YA one makes sense. Your readers will eventually outgrow the middle grade series and will move onto your YA one. Bonus for you.

I hope you found the answers helpful. If you’re interested in querying Joanna (and I highly recommend it. She’s super sweet), check out these sites for more info about her. And make sure you’re querying what she’s looking for.

Mother. Write. Repeat

Literary Rambles

<<<3

I’m not a big fan of blogfests. But Steena Holmes is having one you don’t want to miss out on. Why? Because there’s an ultra cool prize for the best logline.

That’s right. Steena is hosting a logline blogfests/contest on Monday (which means there’s no photography post next week) to help us prepare for the MSFV December auction.

As far as I know, I’m not being stalked by some crazed guy in my neighbourhood. And I’m not referring to the wonderful lurkers who follow my blog or who follow me on Twitter. I’m talking about one annoyingly persistent dude who keeps trying to 'friend' me on Goodreads.

I love Goodreads. It’s an amazing resource for finding out what everyone’s reading in your genre. You follow people (friends) with similar tastes as you, and you get updates as to what they’re planning to read, what they’re reading, and what they thought of a particular book. This is how I keep up-to-date with the new and upcoming releases. It’s a brilliant idea, especially if you’re new to a genre.

The one downside is that you get frequent updates (lists) of what your friends are reading (etc). To make it easier on my inbox, I only follow those individuals who read what I read. If you don’t read YA (or romantic suspense), I’m not going to follow you.

But one guy just doesn’t get it. I keep “ignoring” him (Yep, it’s a button you can click on when you get a friend request.), and a few days later he’s friended me AGAIN.

Sure, we have some friends in common, but that’s it. So please stalker dude, quit trying to friend me. Because until you start reading the books and genre I love to devour, you and I, seriously, are never going to happen.

Is anyone else having problems with stalkers (and I don’t just mean on Goodreads)?

If you’re dealing with a real one (the kind that poses a threat to your safety), please check this out.

Update: Thanks everyone for your suggestions. I finally figured out how to send him a message. Hopefully he get's the hint now.