Free Resources from Author Susan May Warren

If you were the author of twenty-six novels, with more to come, and you kept busy teaching workshops and writing craft books for writers, along with editing, speaking, and raising a family, how much time would you have to give back to writers? It would be easy to leave that job to others.

But not Susan May Warren.

Besides all of the above, she also blogs and runs a free online magazine for writers, called My Book Therapy Voices.

Here are some amazing articles from the magazine, which publishes new editions regularly. Susan May Warren writes some of the articles, along with a few others.

Word Painting for Emotional Effect gave me some excellent ideas on how to create an additional level of emotion in a manuscript. It's a technique used in the polishing stage. Have you ever created a "metaphorical word pool"? It will make your writing sing.

5 practical ideas for Pursuing the Dream When Time is Scarce gave me some great ideas. Numbers 2 and 3, especially.

Have you been discouraged by Contest Feedback? What to do with what you learn, and how to keep from letting it affect your writing.

Is your setting adding to the mood of your story, or is it "just there"? Check out Settings With Emotional Impact.

And for those of you revising and editing, try What Your Aunt Irma Never Told You About Revisions.

Visit Warren's website for more information on her workshops and writing books.

Book Review: The Career Novelist

Every writer dreams of writing full-time. No annoying job to suck time from dreaming up characters. No boss to cut short the flow of words. No worries about paying the bills.

Yet, the reality for most published writers, is that they are forced to hang on to that day job far longer than they expected, and often must keep working indefinitely.

Is there anything writers can do to change this depressing news?

Donald Maas believes there is.

He wrote The Career Novelist for that express purpose, certain that knowledgeable writers will manage their careers more successfully.

Maas is a published fiction writer, and has worked as an editor at a publishing house. He has been a literary agent for over 30 years, and has written other books for writers, like Writing the Breakout Novel, Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook, and most recently, The Fire in Fiction.

While there are hundreds of books teaching writers how to write, there are few that teach the business of writing. It has taken me years of reading agent and publisher blogs to cobble together a basic understanding of how this complex industry operates. Had I been aware of Maass' book, I could have saved myself a great deal of time and energy.

Time and energy that could have been spent writing.

Divided into twenty chapters, The Career Novelist explains it all: from pitching to agents (and the errors that might trip you up), to the variety of agents out there. I had no idea the vast differences between agents, and why one might be a better fit for me than another.

Maass includes three "strategy sessions", one on how to break into publishing, another on mid-career damage control, and even a session on managing success (may we all need that chapter someday!). Readers will learn about marketing, how publishing professionals think, and arcane publishing terms are explained. Though this is an older book, published in 1996, the information is still valid (except that most queries are sent electronically these days).

For writers who plan to have some longevity in the industry (and Maass notes that only about fifty percent go on to a second novel), you owe it to yourself to read this book through--at least once.

For more information straight from agents, check out the Agent Friday posts, where top agents clue writers in to the very latest in the business.

Do you have a favorite agent blog? Let us know in the comments.

Rubik's Cube Plotting in 9 Easy Steps

So, perhaps you've decided to participate in Nanowrimo. Or you've just been struck with a new story idea, and you'd like to see if it has what it takes to become a novel. Maybe you've got a story partly or completely written, and you wonder if you've left out something important.


I've got the perfect thing.


This plotting method has been discussed widely over at Verla Kay's Message Board. If you have not been there, you absolutely need to check it out. It is not clear who came up with it first.


Sometimes it's called the 9 Steps for Plotting Fiction, or the Plotting Matrix. Since this plotting method starts with nine squares, and since this year is the 30th birthday of the Rubik's Cube, I'll just call it Rubik's Cube Plotting.

To start this process, take a sheet of paper and draw nine boxes, like one side of a Rubik's Cube. Number the boxes starting at the top left (1,2,3). The second row will be 4,5,6 (left to right), and the bottom row will be 7,8,9. (Scroll to the bottom of the post for a link to a great printable sheet with all the info)

The following descriptions of the contents of each box comes from this page on Verla Kay's site.

1 Triggering event

First thing's first. What happens? Why have you bothered to write a book, and more importantly, why should a reader invest time flipping through its pages. Your triggering event is the answer to those
questions, so make it a good one. Also, don't make the reader wait very long for it. First page, first paragraph, first sentence. These are good spots for a triggering event.

2 Characterization

Generally, books succeed or fail on the strength of their characters more so than on the strength of their plots. The second box is where you explore what makes your protagonist tick. No, this isn't an excuse for drawn out exposition, history, or back story. If your triggering event is captivating, the reader will discover enough about the protagonist in Box Two simply by reading how he or she reacts to the event.

3 First major turning point

By now, your plot is picking up steam, and because of Box Two, the reader is invested in the ride. Time to throw a curve ball. This turning point can be either a positive event for your protagonist, or a negative one, but it should lay the groundwork for the negative turning point in the sixth square. There is a reason these boxes are touching one another; they interrelate. For example, Box Three may introduce the motivation of the antagonist, which then justifies the events in the sixth square.

4 Exposition

You've earned some time to fill the reader in on important data. Since this box touches the first square, here's where you shed some light on that triggering event. Since it also touches Box Seven, you get to foreshadow your protagonist's darkest hour. Box Four often reveals a relationship, character flaw, or personal history that contributes to the dark times in ahead.

5 Connect the dots

Here is where many plots fall apart. Box Five represents the trickiest part of fiction and since Box Five is the center of the book it must connect to all the squares around it. Kind of like the nucleus at the center of a bomb, Box Five should tick systematically upon elements introduced in Box Two and Four. And like the calm before the storm, the fifth square should give the false impression of resolution before heading like a freight train to Box Six. Most importantly, it needs to provide foreshadowing for the protagonist's revelation in Box Eight. That's a lot for a little box to do, but focus on efficient prose to get it right. Your plot depends upon it.

6 Negative turning point

Here's where that bomb explodes and all (word censored) breaks loose. Good thing you laid the groundwork in Box Three. Good thing, too, that Box Nine will deliver some just desserts.

7 Antagonist wins

The protagonist is defeated here, and the antagonist apparently wins. How the protagonist deals with the darkest hour of defeat depend upon the traits and/or story developed in Box Four, which leads to his or her revelation in the next square.

8 Revelation

Of course! The protagonist's revelation turns the tide. Here is where the protagonist connects the dots and overcomes the obstacles of Boxes Six and Seven via the device introduced in Box Five.

9 Protagonist wins

The negative turning point in Box Six is rectified while the character's resolve from Box Eight is brought into full bloom. Congratulations! Another great tale told greatly.


Amazing, isn't it? Your whole story in nine little boxes. A great visual of the entire plot, and how each part relates to the others. If, like me, you'd like to see this in a diagram, there's a great one here (note: this is a .pdf file), made by one of the members of Verla Kay's site. I highly recommend this download. It's only one sheet, but the writer includes arrows showing the relationship of one box to another, and incorporates the Hero's Journey and the three-act structure.


This method helped me discover some holes in my plot, and made me realize I needed to deepen some character motivation. Give it a look. I'd love to know what you think.

NanoWriMo is Coming

If you are part of the writing world, you'll soon be hearing a strange word. 

Nanowrimo. 

It stands for National Novel Writing Month, and itt takes place each November. Participants in this free event challenge themselves to write 50,000 words during the month of November. 

While it sounds like a lofty goal, many well-known writers begin their novels during Nanowrimo. Like Sara Gruen, whose New York Times bestseller Water for Elephants was begun as a Nanowimo project. And there are many more Nanowrimo success stories.

One of the motivating factors of Nanowrimo is setting up a profile on the site, where you update your word count as your manuscript grows. Like Facebook, you can "friend" other writers, see what they're working on, and chat about any topic from character creation to writer's block.

This post is purposely scheduled five weeks before Nanowrimo begins, so that you can think about the possiblity of participating. It gives you time to clear your schedule, and plan for what you'd like to be working on. 

Why should you consider participating in Nanowrimo?

* You have a whole month, where you've got an excuse to say “I have to go write.” 
* You have a great reason to say “no” to things you’d rather not do. 
* You’re forced to turn off your inner editor, in order to meet your word-count goals. This may be just the thing you need to move forward in your story, instead of re-editing the same first five pages. 
* You are part of an international group of writers who are all sweating over their keyboards at the same time. 
* If you finish 50K, you receive a handsome winner’s certificate. 
* Even if you don’t "finish" (and 80% of participants do not), you’ll still have more writing accomplished than you would have otherwise. 

Don’t write fiction? Don’t let that stop you. There’s a “Nano Rebel” group on the Nanowrimo forums just for those who write non-fiction, or poetry, or engage in song-writing. And don't stress that the rules say you must start on a new writing project. Many "rebels" (myself included) use the month to finish a work in progress, or revise a novel already written.

So, get your brain thinking about which project or story idea is worthy of this year's Nanowrimo. Is anyone with me?

Agent Friday: Holly Root

Holly Root, like most agents, is addicted to the thrill of discovery. In her work at the Waxman Literary Agency, her best days are those in which she unearths a query that draws her in. 


In Root's words: "I’m drawn to well-told commercial novels in a variety of genres. I’m much more likely to keep reading if I know from that perfectly-executed first page that this character (or author, in the case of nonfiction) is someone who interests me, someone whose story I’d like to get lost in for the next two hours. I know I’ve found a winner when I encounter writers whose skills on the page make me know beyond any doubt that I’m in excellent hands."


Holly Root blogs in tandem with her fellow agents at the Waxman Literary Agency blog. Here's a sampling of Root's posts that taught me some things.


In the vein of my Tuesday post on The Seven Deadly Sins for Writers, Root gives us The Seven Deadly (Publishing) Sins and its companion,  The Seven Publishing Virtues.


Do you stress over all the query advice you've heard? Worry that an agent will reject you for a single typo? Root sets your fears at rest (as far as she's concerned) in her post With a Mountain of Salt.


And on that note, you'd probably be interested in Root's list of Why I Say No.


Root advises, that once you've received ten "no's" from agents,  to ask yourself these ten questions before you continue querying.


If an author friend recommend their agent to you, Root has a few tips on how to write that in your query, without turning her off.


Don't miss the great list of writing books the Waxman Literary Agency recommends. There were several I had not heard of before.


And here's an interview full of agent advice from Holly Root herself.

Writer's Groups: Crimespace

I don't write crime novels, but I figure there are some of you who don't want to be left out in the cold when it comes to free resources. So, if  the police blotter in the paper is the first thing you turn to, and you figure out the whodunit on CSI halfway through the show, and you inhale crime novels, I've got the perfect spot for you.


Crimespace is an online network of readers and writers of crime fiction. Think of it as Facebook for crime addicts. On this free site, members can talk about their favorite books, share what they're writing, and discover authors they haven't heard of yet.


On Crimespace, there are forums for readers and writers on all kinds of topics of interest to crime fans. You'll find photos of recently released books, and dozens of video trailers to view. There's also a list of events, from conferences and workshops, to book signings and the latest news. Members may also post their blogs on the site for others to read. If you blog about crime, this is the place to advertise it.


My favorite page on the site is the resource page (go figure). It would have taken me days of searching to find even half of the links posted on this one page. What will you find there? Links to news, podcasts and ezines for crime writers. Lists of print magazines, conferences, and competitions. A collection of awards, organizations, and other discussion forums. And I didn't even touch on everything on the page.


Here are some of the links posted under "research"(because not everyone is born with a full knowledge of forensics):


Mystery Writers Resources
In Reference To Murder
Blood at the Source: Research Tips for Mystery Writers
DSM IV Diagnostic Manual of Mental Disorders
DNA Forensics
Handbook of Forensic Services-FBI
Computer Forensics
The Writer's Medical and Forensics Lab
Crime Scene Investigation
Crime and Clues
The Merck Manual Medical Library
Private Investigator Magazine


Also of interest to crime writers are these posts: Suspense Techniques and Links for Mystery Writers.

Book Review: Creating Character Emotions

Does your character's heart pound when she's nervous? Does your villain turn beet-red as his anger rises? Do their knees knock together in fear? If so, they've fallen into tired, cliched methods of showing emotion. Enter Ann Hood's book Creating Character Emotions: Writing compelling, fresh approaches that express your characters' true feelings.

Most writing books require reading them from cover to cover, in order to glean the points the author is trying to make. But in Creating Character Emotions, after Hood's introductory pages on writing emotion, the reader can pick and choose the sections that apply to the current manuscript.

The remainder of the book is divided into 36 sections, each devoted to a specific emotion. The emotions are easy to find in alphabetical order, or the reader can glance at the table of contents.

Within each section, Hood describes the intricacies of the emotion, then gives both good and bad examples of writers describing that emotion. The chapters end with practical exercises that enable the reader to apply what was learned to the emotion being studied.

With short chapters of three to four pages, a reader might choose to spend ten minutes per day on this book, and finish it in five weeks. Alternatively, the reader may flip to the emotion they are trying to describe on their current page.

Why are emotions so difficult to describe without resorting to cliches? As Hood says in her opening chapter, "It always strikes me as funny that in our daily lives we pass through a whole spectrum of emotions and show them in many ways, some obvious and some subtle, yet in our fiction we often have trouble moving our characters through emotions effectively. I think of this as the curse of writing like a writer. Sometimes we get a tone or a voice in our head and we decide that is how good writers sound."

For more information about the author, a well-known novelist, check out Ann Hood's website.
Interested in more book reviews? Click here.

The Seven Deadly Sins for Writers

This last weekend I attended a conference for the Rocky Mountain members of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. One of the speakers was Bruce Coville, author of an amazing 95 books, including the bestselling Unicorn Chronicles. In his keynote speech, he used the device of the "Seven Deadly Sins", and tweaked them to apply to writers. I thought I'd share his insights.

The Seven Deadly Sins for Writers, from Bruce Coville

1. Dullness. No matter who you're writing for, your work should "spark and sparkle", according to Coville. There's no excuse for being boring.

2. Repetition. Coville says there are two kinds of repetition. Repeating what's been done by others, and repeating ourselves. A great book is only like itself.

3. Cliche. The words are dead on the page. They don't say anything (except perhaps that the writer has no imagination).

4. Sloth. Sit down and do the work. Use what Ray Bradbury calls "ass-glue" to stay in your chair. Stretch yourself. Make yourself better.

5. Inattention. This comes from not thinking things through. Remember, no character moves in isolation.

6. Perfectionism. This will stop you in your tracks. It is the enemy of the good, of completion, of achievement. Coville suggests using the first draft to "vomit" on the page. It won't be much good, but you can't edit something, until it's on the page.

7. Clumsiness. This is lack of craft. Learn the ins and outs of the language. What works and what's clunky. Editors and agents will spot clumsiness a mile away.

In two weeks, I'll share the rest of Coville's talk: The Seven Heavenly Virtues for Writers.

The Lonely Cabin Myth: Writing in the Middle of Real Life

How many times have I heard it, or said it myself? "I wish I could retreat to a little cabin in the woods, and just write."

Have you said it, too?

The stuff of life: work, relationships, and schedules, conspire to steal time that we'd rather spend writing. We lament that our manuscript lies unfinished, that words are added to it at an incremental pace. If only we could write in solitude. Surely then, the words would fly from our fingertips, and we'd be as prolific as James Patterson.

But here's the thing. There have been a few times when I've had the wonderful opportunity to get away for a weekend just to write. No kids. No phone. No schedule. No interruptions.

And few words on the page.

There's nothing more frustrating than having the time to write, and feeling like you've wasted it. I learned two things on those "writing getaways". One is that I write more when I have to fight for my time to write. The other is that I need to be in touch with real life to inspire my writing.

Fight to write. When I'm in the middle of driving the kids to an activity, or running errands, or fixing dinner, I often wish I was writing instead. The mild frustration I experience actually makes me think about my story more, than if I were sitting in front of the computer screen.

While my schedule keeps me away from my chair, I end up brainstorming scenes, or ways to deepen my characters. Of course, this manuscript meditation requires me to jot a couple notes so I won't forget what I dreamed up. And these notes start my engines the next time I have the opportunity to write. No more staring at a blank page.

Having a busy schedule makes me appreciate the bits of time I carve out to write, and forces me to actually use those stolen moments. Moments like waiting in the orthodontist's office. During a child's sports practice. The minutes I'm waiting to pick them up, because they're "not done yet".

I'm learning to snatch these moments for writing whenever they appear, because no one is going to hand me an entire writing day. It's up to me to find them.

Real life, real writing. As much as sequestering yourself away sounds appealing, pretty soon your writing suffers. Being alone has advantages, but solitude rarely generates new and different ideas.

It's when we rub shoulders with people of all descriptions, attitudes, and accents that our character descriptions get more colorful. It's the daily news we hear that inspires side plots and twists. It's the situations we experience, the world of nature we pass through, the sounds that hit our ears that encourage ideas for our stories.

So, save the cabin retreats for the editing process. Embrace the crazy life that surrounds you. It's all fodder for stories.