Sneaking in here to wish everyone a
Happy Valentine's Day!
Now, please check out C. Hope Clark's great post while you munch your Valentine candy...
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Romance and Mystery Authors on Writing
A series on tips for writing, publishing, and marketing |
Hello and welcome to the Romance and Mystery Authors on Writing series featuring mystery author C. Hope Clark. Hope is sharing quite a mix of helpful tips today.
You may know Hope Clark as the editor of the
award-winning FundsforWriters.com, Her Friday newsletters are packed with information and ideas to generate income from your writing career. If you are a fiction writer, have you thought about picking up some extra cash by submitting articles for magazines on writing or your passion for your hobby? How about the topic of your latest novel or short story? Is your main character a quilter (probably like you)? You could write an article for a quilting magazine or site AND get exposure for your book. If you are a children's writer, submit articles to magazines for children.
There are numerous ways to pick up more income and Hope can direct you to those sites. She even includes contests that pay. Check out Funds for Writers for opportunities to expand your writing career.
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| Palmetto Poison by C. Hope Clark |
Hope has brought along two prizes for two lucky commenters. One is a subscription to Total Funds for Writers and the other is a copy of Palmetto Poison, the third book in the Carolina Slade Mystery Series. Just leave a comment below to enter the drawing. Winners will be drawn after 9 pm EST Sunday evening.
Hope, put on your mystery author hat and tell us about your experience when you entered the world of fiction.
Thank you, Janet.
I
realized when, after ten years, I finally published a mystery with a
traditional publisher, that I still had not "arrived." As a matter of
fact, I learned that we never arrive. We just take new steps. After building
FundsforWriters for a decade, and speaking nationally, I learned that entering
the fiction world put me in the position of a freshman in college, stepping out
of being the big dog in high school. I was a novice. Nobody had heard of
FFW in the fiction world, so I was a newbie of the highest order. I had to
publish more and earn sufficient royalties to even be accepted in certain
professional organizations. Today, I've published four mysteries and one
nonfiction book, and while I might have climbed one more rung on that ladder,
I'm still way behind a gazillion authors and have a long way to go. It's
always an upward climb. It's never easy. And there is no top. If you
aren't in this business for the enjoyment of the long haul, then leave. You
most definitely have to enjoy the process or you are in the wrong game.
Thanks, Hope. Your experience is a good lesson for all of us. You have more valuable advice for writers. Please go ahead and let us in on the tips you have gathered as a mystery author.
Writing Tips by C. Hope Clark
DIALOGUE - Write dialogue without
the tags to test whether your characters are distinct enough. If the voices
sound alike, you have work to do.
CHARACTER - Your characters need to
walk off the page. In other words, readers should want to meet them in person.
Most characters these days do not meet this criteria, so better to make them
bigger than life than routine. Opt for over-the-top characters over those that
color within the lines. Doesn't matter the genre.
STRUCTURE - Nothing beats the Three
Act Structure (see http://www.musik-therapie.at/PederHill/Structure&Plot.htm )
or the Hero's Journey (you can see how similar it is to the Three Act Structure
here http://www.movieoutline.com/articles/the-hero-journey-mythic-structure-of-joseph-campbell-monomyth.html )
for fiction writing. Over time, after several novels, you learn to naturally
see where the pivotal moments are. Just remember that every scene has to propel
the story. Every scene needs something off-balance that makes the reader
proceed forward. If you get to the end of a scene, and nothing stirred the pot
or yanked the reader in some manner, go back and rewrite. This is a good
editing phase once your draft is done, though your structure (your skeleton)
needs to be basically solid at the end of the first draft.
SETTINGS - Settings drive my
stories. I feel readers should sense location as much or more than the
characters themselves. The story is three-dimensional, and character and
plot only make up a fraction of the pie. Setting is all around us in real life,
to include all the senses, so why not include the same in your story? The
reader should feel hot, cold, damp, parched, sticky, buggy, or dirty. He should
hear the traffic, the birds, the wind or the crowd. He should taste the
pollution, the salt breeze, or the margarita. He should smell
the ozone, the bakery, the decomposing organize matter in the swamp. He should
feel the sticky ooze from a jungle plant, the dust on a coffin, the smoothness
of a stair banister. Don't leave a scene with running all the senses through
your mind to give your words depth.
ORGANIZATION - Personally, an
outline is a good tool for your story. However, be willing to be flexible. Many
new writers want strict organization before they start, then get frustrated
when the story doesn't go in that direction. An outline keeps you on task, but
sudden innovative thoughts can take you on a better journey. Be willing to
detour. Creativity is not static . . . it flows wherever the downhill takes it.
EDITING
- I'm the world's worst editor for myself. I have edited each one of my books
differently. And I'm one of those people the masters fuss about...my internal
editor never shuts off, but I like it that way. That's not to say I do not
have to edit as much as the next guy. I just hate reading sloppy work, so even
if I have to move or delete a chapter, erase a character, or shift the climax,
it's in a cleaner environment, and frankly, I make fewer mistakes in the long
run. But...that's me. The masters state that you need to get that first draft
down on paper as quickly as you can, so that you are running on pure
creativity. I strongly suggest you begin that way until you have a bit of
experience under your belt. Creativity is original and yours. Editing is more
structured and a multi-person effort. Get all of you on the paper before you
worry about commas and passive voice.
FINDING
AN AGENT, EDITOR, OR PUBLISHER - It is a slow process. Accept it. The world is
packed with writers who gave it a month and a couple dozen queries then gave up
and self-pubbed. And ninety percent of them learned later that they were not
ready to publish. That process is not just supposed to find you a
representative. It's supposed to make you reconsider whether your work is
ready. If you are not finding these representatives after several dozen
attempts, them go back and fix your writing, because the truth is, all those
people found it in need of repair.
CONTENT FOR BLOGGING - Y'all...it isn't all
about you. Readers want take-away value. You might mention yourself, but the
message has to be bigger than you, and applicable to the reader. I don't care
you've been to Italy. I am not intrigued by your Christmas. Not unless there
was a story to be told, a growth process that emerged, an unexpected lesson.
The reader has to feel the reading was worth the time, with something to take
away and learn from, even if it's just a recipe or a string of how-to items.
BEING A GUEST BLOGGER - Honor the blog's theme, first
and foremost. Adhere to guidelines, and if there aren't any, read enough of the
blog to recognize them. The day it appears, be available to answer comments,
and treat each comment like a special guest. You are a guest in the blog host's
home . . . act accordingly.
MARKETING/PROMOTING - Like writing, marketing is a daily
venture. It doesn't take much, but you should do something, somewhere, to
put your face/name/title/brand out there each and every day. If you aren't
energized to spread the word, and aren't eager to communicate with your
readers, why should they be interested in what you have to offer? They want a
part of your energy as much as what you are selling.
USING SOCIAL MEDIA - Find that balance between using it
religiously and being addicted. Use the 10:1 ratio. Ten items your followers
might be interested in learning, and one item that promotes you and your work.
You need to show you care about your followers and that it isn't just about
you.
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Murder on Edisto by C. Hope Clark
The Edisto Island Mysteries (Volume 1)
A big city detective...a lowcountry crime
In Murder on Edisto, former detective Callie Jean Morgan returns to her parents’
South Carolina home broken, widowed, no longer employed, with a craving for gin
and a teenage boy to raise. Life means little to her, but she owes it to her
dead husband to raise Jeb. Regretfully, she remembers too late why she left her
parents’ overbearing ways so many years ago, and she heads to the family’s
vacation home on Edisto Beach to get away, clear her head, and hopefully give
her son the life he deserves. On her first day in her new home, however, she
finds her childhood mentor, a senior gentleman in his 80s, murdered, and Callie
has to decide what she’s made of.
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About Hope:
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| Mystery Author C. Hope Clark |
C. Hope Clark holds a fascination with the mystery genre and is
author of The Carolina Slade Mystery Series as well as the Edisto Beach Series,
both set in her home state of South Carolina. In her previous federal life, she
performed administrative investigations and married the agent she met on a
bribery investigation. She enjoys nothing more than editing her books on the
back porch with him, overlooking the lake with bourbons in hand. She can be
found either on the banks of Lake Murray or Edisto Beach with one or two
dachshunds in her lap. Hope is also editor of the award-winning
FundsforWriters.com, chosen by Writer’s Digest Magazine for its 101 Best
Websites for Writers for the past 14 years. Her Friday newsletters reach 40,000
readers, and she speaks at writing, reader and mystery events across the United
States. She also freelances and has been published in the likes of
Writer’s Digest, The Writer, Writer’s Market, Guide to Literary Agents, and
Guide to Self-Publishing.
Connect with Hope at:
Have you been to Edisto Island and/or the Carolinas? Please leave a comment below.Your comment will enter you into the drawing for a subscription to Total Funds for Writers or the e-book, Palmetto Poison. Two winners!!
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