When to Sequel

I feel like I've written about this before, but I'm still hearing questions about when is the right time to write a sequel. You've finished a book you love, got it as perfect as possible, and have started querying it. Do you start on something totally new or head directly into writing book two? There's the simple answer and the more complex answer.

The simple answer is absolutely not. Start something totally new. It's time to leave those dearly loved characters behind and move on to something different. Why? Because an author only has so much time in a day. Even the fastest writer can only produce so many quality manuscripts in a year. Don't waste your time working on the second part of a story line that may go nowhere. That's the harsh truth. 

Sadly, if the plot and characters weren't right for the market in the first book, it's unlikely to fit better in the second book. Now you are in the no man's land of your first book has played out with agents and you have nothing new written to send out to them. That puts you out of looking for an agent for a good six months. Not a great situation to put yourself in.

If you can't move forward because your brain and heart are hooked on your old characters, then do a short blurb about a sequel. Write a quick outline of your ideas. Something that won't take much time. Maybe write a couple of chapters. But then it's time to pull up your big girl pants, find your discipline, and move on to something else while you let querying play out. 

It's possible that querying will be successful. You'll land an agent who loves your story as much as you do. So start that sequel with an offer in hand?

Nope. Do not go there. Keep finishing the something different you should have started. Why? Because a fair percentage of first books on submission do not sell. And then once again, you've wasted a writer's most valuable resource--your time--working on something that's not going anywhere. Now you have nothing new to send your agent if wonderful book doesn't sell, except a sequel to wonderful book that they can't use.

If book 1 doesn't sell, it's pretty damn likely publishing isn't going to jump ahead to buy book 2. I mean it can happen, but it isn't likely.

I say again. Start something new. Start something new. Start something new. Until you have a sale and the publisher is open to giving you sequels.  

So now the complex answer. There are a few exceptions to the just say no approach.

1. You plan to self publish. Totally acceptable to query a story you love and have no luck, but decide to self publish. Or don't query at all and just go straight to self publishing. There are pluses and minuses to either path you choose. Traditional publishing has some advantages and shortfalls and the same with self publishing. This is not the post to discuss those, but if that's the path you want, then write those sequels.

2. Your heart is stuck. You just can't move onward to something new. You have no other ideas of what to write. It's either write these sequels or face writer's block forever. Then just write a sequel to get it out of your system. 

3. The sequel is 100% better than the book you finished and should have been book 1 in the first place. I've heard this a few times. People start in the wrong place with their story. Sometimes they start in the wrong place with an entire book. If you say but book 2 is where all the action starts, then why did you start with book 1? Perhaps you started with what should have been backstory for the real opening book. Warning: this is going to be incredibly hard to judge because you are likely way too close to the situation. But it can happen.

So there are my thoughts on when to write a sequel. It's not always the happy answer but it's the answer that is the most logical. 

How do you feel about the matter? Feel free to set me straight in the comments.  

  

Roundup of Posts with Writing/Editing/Querying Advice

I've done a lot of posts filled with advice. Some of them are rather old. Most were written after I noticed trends from a contest. All are completely buried and hard to find unless you use the editing label. But all are still relevant. 

So I thought I'd make a general list of the different blurbs on writing and querying advice. 

I highly recommend the posts on filtering and hyphens. Also the post on punctuation for a tag or beat. Those are problems I see on entries every year. 

I hope these are helpful! 

General Advice:
Quick twitter advice
Reading in your Genre
List of SFF subgenres
Subjectivity of the First 250 Words

Editing/Writing Advice:
Writing in Layers
Be Aware of Creating Reader Expectations
Comma Mistakes
Making Characters Likable
Character Motivation
Tips for Writing a Strong Fantasy
Ellipses and Em Dashes
Compound Adjectives- hyphens
Types of Conflict
Avoid Filtering
Throwing Crutch Words in the Trash
The Difference Between a Tag and a Beat
Qualifiers Weaken Your Sentences
Plugging Plot Holes
Editing Tips for the Big Picture
Weak Writing-Gerunds


Query Advice:
Nix the Rhetorical Questions
Frequent Query Mistakes
Creating a Super Query
Vague Plot in a Query



My blog also has close to 80 interviews with literary agents (you can also find them in the blog sidebar.) old and new and a host of Getting the Call stories meant to inspire and inform about querying. 

Starting a Novel Using Short Stories from Katrina Carrasco

Starting to write a novel can seem daunting. How to get from 0 words to 100,000? Every time I begin a new book, it feels like I’m staring up the side of a mountain, wondering how I’m going to survive the long, long climb. I imagine that, in my metaphorical rucksack, all I have is my love for writing, a few ideas for the story, and an interesting character or two. Sometimes that doesn’t seem like much -- but it’s got to be enough to get me going.

As I’ve become more comfortable with my own novel-writing process, I’ve discovered a few ways to give myself a head-start. (Think: beginning a hike at a 2,000-meter base camp rather than at sea level.) One of my favorite ways to world-build a book is to write short stories. Whether a story spends time with a character or explores my setting, it brings me into the world of my novel and asks me to think about that world in a different way.

I stumbled upon this process through trial and error. About eight years ago, when I started the draft that would eventually become my first completed novel, I envisioned the book as a family saga. So I wrote 50k about one generation, then 50k about the next (somewhere around here a family curse got thrown in, naturally), and then 50k about the next … only to discover that the great-granddaughter (who appeared in generation No. 3) was actually the character I wanted to write the book about. So then I wrote the actual novel about her. In essence, I’d done 150k of prewriting. Ouch!, I thought at the time. What a waste! Of course, as most authors will tell you, no writing is a waste, especially with early books. Those were hours logged that served to hone my craft and help me find the real story I wanted to tell. Plus, I had a rich family history written out that I used to bring depth and complexity to my protagonist’s story.

That manuscript is shelved now, always special to me because it was my first completed book. It wasn’t until my third completed manuscript that I had a novel strong enough to capture interest from my agent and my editor. By then, I’d figured out that writing a whole other novel was not the most efficient word-building exercise, and I’d reined that in to the technique I’m sharing here: world-building through short stories.

What this looks like is completely flexible, depending upon your needs and your style. I find it most helpful to write a world-building short story (WBSS) either about a character or the setting. A WBSS can be a piece of flash-fiction or a fleshed-out, 5,000-word narrative. I like long-form pieces (yes, I’m a novelist at heart), so I’m usually comfortable with 5,000-word WBSSs. But it can also be a useful challenge to myself as a writer to build a story in 2,000 words or less. Go with what works best for you!

Stories About Characters

When writing a WBSS about a character, consider choosing one of your secondary (or even tertiary) characters. This will help you avoid the trap of flat, unremarkable supporting characters. Consider a book that has a crime boss as a secondary character, and this crime boss has henchmen (tertiary characters). You could have one of her men be a Large, Slow Henchman and not much else. But what if you wrote a story about him, and along the way discovered something about his family; what drove him to violent, underpaid work; what his favorite smell is, and his least-favorite part of his body? Now when he appears in scenes as you draft your novel, he will have tics and unique reactions to situations and a history with roots that extend far off the page.

Another benefit of choosing a secondary or tertiary character is that they will likely have a totally different personal and situational POV than your main character. Take L.S. Henchman again, and consider what parts of your book world he would know and see versus those your main character (say, a middle-class professor) knows and sees. When you explore your book world through L.S. Henchman’s eyes, you’re making it richer by default by using such a different lens -- and you can draw upon that richness when drafting the novel itself.

Stories About Setting

When writing a WBSS about your setting, consider it an opportunity to do research. Look for anecdotes or information you might not otherwise have woven into your story. This is a great way to come across other (real) stories that might spark episodes or events in your book. For historical novels, looking into a town’s past might bring you to old newspaper articles about disappearances, celebrations, or conflicts that you can incorporate into your own story. For contemporary novels, reading up on the politics or residents of an area can give you a deeper understanding of your setting in the context of the larger world. (Note: Researching may not be applicable to certain genres, like fantasy or some SpecFic. In cases where there is no research possible, try using WBSSs to set and explore world rules or other things you must create, like topography, language, or social norms.)

Benefits of This Method

On top of the world-building benefits, there are other reasons to write WBSSs. Depending on how much you care to polish a certain piece -- and how well it stands on its own -- you may want to submit it to magazines or websites for publication. I strongly encourage you to submit short fiction to these outlets. Why? 1) It’s practice for pitching your work. 2) It helps you get accustomed to rejection (a fact of life in the writing world). 3) It helps you get accustomed to acceptance (celebrate your successes!). 4) Publishing short fiction will start building your reader base. 5) Publishing short fiction will build your creative resume/portfolio.

Another benefit of writing WBSSs is that they are relatively low-commitment. Say you have an idea for a book, but you’re not sure if it’s enough to charge ahead with and pour countless hours into. (Think back to the mountain I mentioned, and being intimidated by the sheer scale of starting a novel from a blank page.) If you write a WBSS, you’re only committing to a short story. Some of the pressure -- and some of the fear -- is taken away when you think in increments of 5,000 words, rather than 100,000. And if you complete the story and love it, you’ll have 5,000 words of material to draw from for your book draft.

I hope this post inspires you to try the WBSS method. Have you tried writing short stories as a world-building technique before? What other world-building methods work for you when you’re starting a new novel?

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Katrina Carrasco is a queer Latinx writer, born and raised in Southern California and now living in Seattle. In her novels and short stories she explores the ideas of passing, performance, and belonging: what is gained and what is lost by conforming to societal expectations of gender, race, class and sexuality. Her short fiction has appeared in Witness Magazine, Post Road Magazine, Quaint Magazine, and other journals. Her debut novel, CIPHER, will be released in Fall 2018 by MCD/Farrar, Straus and Giroux. CIPHER follows Alma Rosales, a queer woman and ex-Pinkerton detective, as she switches between female and male disguises to investigate an opium-smuggling ring.

Website: katrinacarrasco.com

Twitter: @katrinacarrasco

Blog: kmcarrasco.blogspot.com

Goodreads Page for CIPHER: goodreads.com/book/show/34041372-cipher

Guest Post from Sandi Ward on Creating an Unconventional Narrator

Using an Unconventional Narrator to Tell A One-Of-A-Kind Story

Choosing a point of view (POV) for your novel may come naturally to you, rather than being a conscious choice. I imagine most authors simply start thinking of a story either from inside a character’s head (“I started to shake as the vampire opened his eyes…”), or they see it from outside (“The vampire’s eyes clicked open, and Jeremy shuddered”). A story organically grows from this key decision, which must be one of the very first choices a writer makes as a story idea unfolds.

Writing in first person

I always write from a first person point of view, because I like to get very close with my protagonist. I need to know everything about the character—her thoughts, feelings, background, friends and family—in order to have her tell a compelling story. First person allows me to totally inhabit a character. It’s an intimate form of story-telling, one where you are getting a specific viewpoint.

Voice

Once you’ve decided on first person, it’s important to think about voice. Rather than being omniscient, a first-person narrative demands an opinionated point of view and a unique way of thinking. Your character’s background and experiences means that she will make judgments and choices that reflect her own POV, not that of the author. Her family, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, education and other factors influence who she is.

Unexpected voices: 3 examples

Sometimes, an author takes a leap and sees the world from inside the head of a character you might not expect to tell such a tale, with fantastic results. For example, the classic The Boy in the Striped Pajamas tells a story of the Holocaust—from the point of view of a young boy in a Nazi family. The reader only slowly learns the truth of what’s happening in the story, and the reader has a better understanding of the big picture than the young boy ever does. It’s a truly unique read.

Another example is The Curious Incident of Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon. This story is told from the POV of an autistic teenager who wants to solve a mystery: who murdered his neighbor’s dog? As a reader, we marvel at the main character’s observations and quirks (including numbering the chapters with only prime numbers), chuckle empathetically at his misunderstandings (although we are able to see what he missed), and ultimately feel his pain at the changes going on in his life.

As a last example, in my debut novel, The Astonishing Thing, I present a story about a troubled family from the point of view of the family cat. Our pets are witnesses to our private moments; they hear our confessions and are the keepers of our secrets. My protagonist, Boo, doesn’t understand everything going on in her family. Like a smart little girl, she isn’t completely familiar with concepts like mental illness and divorce. But she wants her family to be happy and safe, and provides a unique way of looking at the world.

The unreliable narrator

Sometimes an author goes a step further and tells a story using an unreliable narrator; examples include the hit novels The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins and Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. Especially in a murder mystery, you can create fantastic twists and turns if narrators lie, omit information, or can’t remember events due to alcoholic blackouts. It can make for a thrilling reader experience.

Advantages and disadvantages

One disadvantage of using first person is that you can never leave that character’s head. The main character can only guess at what others are thinking—but sometimes that can lead to interesting misunderstandings or assumptions, creating further drama. So you may be able to turn that disadvantage into an effective narrative device.

Using an unconventional narrator can be a great way to experiment, get creative, and pull more drama out of a traditional story. Have fun with it and happy writing!

BIO

Sandi Ward grew up in Manchester-By-The-Sea, Massachusetts. She went to Tufts University, and then received her MA in Creative Writing at New York University.  She now lives on the Jersey Shore with her husband, teenagers, dog and a large black cat named Winnie. Sandi is a medical writer at an advertising agency. The Astonishing Thing is her debut novel.

 

         

www.sandiwardbooks.com

Twitter/Instagram @sandiwardbooks

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/sandiwardbooks/

Pre-order THE ASTONISHING THING, the story of a troubled family seen through the eyes of their cat, on Amazon: http://amzn.to/2mK6KoS

Five Reason for Writing in Verse

Shari Green is here to tell us more about writing in verse. I've always been curious about this form of writing (we sometimes see these in contests) and I'm glad for a chance to know more about why to pick verse!

And don't forget to enter the giveaway by leaving a comment.

Take it away, Shari.

It seems to me, verse novels are everywhere…although I might possibly have highly-developed verse-novel radar. ;-) I do seek them out, because I love the form so much, and I’ve written two verse novels myself. (The second one is brand new! MACY McMILLAN AND THE RAINBOW GODDESS launches in the U.S. on May 15. Details below.)

I’m often asked why verse? so I’ve given it some thought. Whether you’re a reader curious about the form, or a writer wondering if verse might be right for your next story, here are five reasons why you might choose to write in verse.

1. It suits the story: A story element may lend itself to verse, to the techniques and structure of a verse novel. For example, a bleak setting or subject can be reflected in short, stark lines; or the setting may be enriched by using verse that reflects the rhythm of a culture’s language or music; or the subject matter may be directly related to poetry or writing, making verse a natural fit.
2. It lightens the load: Difficult or demanding subject matter can be more palatable in verse. The economy of words and the abundance of white space may help the reader to absorb what’s happening without being overwhelmed.
3. It gets to the heart: Because verse tends to be intimate, immediate, and often intense, it can be easier to get to the heart of a story by using poetry. This may be partly because of the economy of words, the spareness, but also because things like spacing and alignment—the visual elements of the poems—can become a metaphor for the character’s emotion or state of mind, hitting the reader on a subconscious level and increasing the emotional impact.
4. It helps readers: For kids (and adults) who struggle with reading or who think they don’t really like reading, verse novels can be much less intimidating – readers aren’t hit with a huge block of text when they open the book. And since verse novels often are fairly quick reads, less enthusiastic readers are more likely to finish them, giving them a sense of competence and confidence. Rhythm and repetition can be a huge help to struggling readers in processing & retaining what they read, too.
5. It feels right: Sometimes verse just feels right, which probably sounds a bit vague, but it was certainly my experience when I began writing novels in verse. Verse was not only how I heard my characters’ voices, but also a natural fit for my own voice and style. And I must say, playing with poetry and the musicality of words is a joy!

Have you tried writing in verse? Have you read many verse novels? I’d love to know! Leave a comment and include your email address for a chance to win a copy of MACY McMILLAN AND THE RAINBOW GODDESS.

Olivia has been Macy McMillan’s best friend ever since Macy transferred to Hamilton Elementary from Braeside School for the Deaf. But then their sixth grade teacher assigned that embarrassing family tree project, and Olivia made a joke about Macy’s father, and now neither girl is speaking—or signing—to the other.

It couldn’t have happened at a worse time. With her mother getting married and an ugly For Sale sign jammed into their yard, Macy could really use a best friend right now. But it seems the only person who has time for her these days is Iris Gillan from next door. And it’s not like a crabby, old woman who doesn’t even know sign language is going to be any comfort. Right?

MACY McMILLAN AND THE RAINBOW GODDESS is a Junior Library Guild 2017 selection. A summer read for fans of Sharon Creech and Kate DiCamillo, from Pajama Press.

Shari Green writes fiction for kids and teens. She lives on Vancouver Island, BC, Canada, with her husband, kids, and the worst watchdog ever. Visit her online at www.sharigreen.com.

Quick Writing Advice from Twitter

The other night I got inspired to tweet some writing advice tips. I thought I'd expand on those a little here.

Do unto other writers the good you wish they would do unto you. Even when no one is watching. Help each other after published too.

This goes beyond retweeting for each other and congratulations at their successes. You can also be moral support when someone is having a tough time. Enter your fellow writer's giveaways. Most writers are also readers. Consider purchasing their books if they interest you and leaving reviews. Give back by doing critiques or joining contests as judges and mentors. Do all the good you can for each other.

If your first chapter doesn't accomplish mutiple goals and foreshadow, rewrite it until it does. #writingtips Foreshadow can be added after.

First chapters have to be big workhorses. You need them to accomplish several goals: character introduction and development, plot introduction or foreshadowing, world building, establishing conflict, and so on. It should also create some way for the reader to connect with the opening of the story maybe by making the reader curious about what comes next or through building sympathy with the characters. Foreshadowing can be added after the first draft is done and edited in. 

By foreshadowing I mean things like showing your MC is afraid of heights and then having that fear be a part of the finale chapters. Or in Grudging, the characters play a trick on the enemy in the first chapter and the ending revolves around another sort of trick. But your foreshadowing can be as simple as hinting at the conflict/antagonist that hasn't been revealed yet.  

Description can show the setting. Even better if it also shows something about your character's personality or sets the mood. #writingtips

When describing the setting try and make sure the words create the proper mood in the reader. A huge bonus is if you can use something from the setting to help show parts of your character's personality or their emotions. This can be done with actions or with introspective. 

Vary your sentence length and structure unless you want to put your reader to sleep. #writingtips

This can take practice but make sure to vary the length of your sentences--some long, more medium, and short--and incorporate various sentence structures in each paragraph. If all the sentences syntax is similar, it creates a singsong rhythm in your reader's head and becomes really boring. Watch out and avoid it.


Celebrate small successes when querying or you won't get through the rejection. #writingtips Don't second guess yourself.

My family used to get ice cream at the Dairy Queen down the street whenever I got a full or partial request back when I was querying. I helped get me through all the rejection. We did somewhat the same when I had books out on submission. Rejection can be crushing to the spirit, so treat yourself when you have a positive accomplishment.

Don't waste time with thinking "oh I should have done this" or "I should have done that." Whatever it was is done. Spend your energy on deciding how to proceed in the now.

Avoid a mushy middle section by always have goals for each chapter to accomplish. #writingtips

This works for me and I hope it will for you. Have an established goal in mind when writing each chapter in the middle sections of your manuscript. Have each scene advance the plot, or advance the understanding of the characters, or advance the conflict, or advance the world building information for example. Even better if you do several of these in the same scene.


Check how much character introspective or reflection there is in your favorite books. Probably more than you expect. #writingtips

You're likely to be surprised at how much character thought/introspection or reflection there is in each page, let alone each chapter. Your character needs to think about themselves, other characters, the situation, their feelings and a huge variety of subjects. This helps draw the reader closer to the character, builds a relationship between reader and character. I think a lot of more beginning writers try to limit this use of inner thought because they think it's telling. Sometimes it is. And you have to learn when it's needed and when it's too much. That comes with practice. But you can learn a lot about when to use it from your favorite books.

Trust your writing instinct. If you have writers block, there's probably something wrong with the direction of your story. #writingtips

This is another one that is often true for me. Whenever I get stuck in my writing, it's usually because the story is headed in the wrong direction. It isn't necessarily always a big problem that needs fixed; sometimes it can just be the trend of one conversation being slightly off. Just be aware of what your instincts are telling you.

If you feel like the story is too flat, it may be time to add more conflict. If you feel readers will be bored than you are likely right. Perhaps you have some chapters that aren't achieving any goals and could be cut. 

This can be true when you're querying also. Listen to your inner voice because it could be leading you in the right direction.


Don't expect your first writings to be masterpieces. There is a learning curve to everything and writing has rules just like any other job.

Writing is a profession, and with any profession there is a learning curve. There are rules to writing and techniques and skill involved. It will take more than one or two manuscripts to learn them all or to become skilled at using them. Be patient with yourself and just be aware that you will probably grow as a writer. It's an acquired skill and we are all learning.

This is true about writing query letters and synopsis also. They get better over time.


Best way to become a better writer is to read a lot of books in your genre. #writingtips #amwriting

My favorite advice. Read. Read in your genre. You'll pick up so much. Timing, pacing, the amounts of description, introspective and characterization to add. When to throw in a twist. When to change the direction of the story. The list of things to notice in successful books is never ending. 

Writing in Layers

The other day on twitter I mentioned that I was going back to a scene and adding more layers to make the writing richer. But what does that mean?

For me, I tend to write in the morning before work and that often gives me an hour at most to get down a scene and include as many words as I can. Many days that is just not enough time. I have to settle for getting the basics down. I tend to see a scene visually and try to think it through entirely before writing the words, but that also means that sometimes more detail springs into my mind the next morning. In other words, inspiration strikes again and I get a flood of additional ideas which I then go back and layer into the writing I've already done.

The first time I work on a chapter, I tend to "see" the dialogue and the physical action needed to move the plot forward at that point. Because of the time constraints and my focus on that, there are often parts of the scene that go unexplored. 

Because, remember, that every scene--every chapter--needs to work on many levels to move the story forward. That's what I think of as the layers. There's a layer in the writing for each scene that involves the plot, the main conflict, or there should be. An additional layer is devoted to character interaction--bring characters closer together or driving them further apart. A third layer is there to improve and enlarge the world building and give depth to the setting. And a fourth layer involves the character arc and making sure each scene touches on the inner conflict of the characters. A fifth layer can involve being aware of conflict and that tension is going where it's needed.

Usually I get the first and second layer and parts of the third or fourth in an initial writing session of a scene. Then I spend some time rethinking that scene and seeing what additional ideas arrive in my brain to make the scene more complete and more detailed. The conflict needs to build and grow until the end of the scene is reached, or for shorter-termed tension, it is resolved in the scene.

This is even more true with action scenes which are so very visual. They tend to come out on paper as just a lot of movement--this character does this and this other character then has to react like that, repeated over and over. At my next sitting, I go back and add more descriptions that makes the writing less like a synopsis and more like a story. I work in the emotions from the character--the fear and the determination--to give the scene life. I allow brief thoughts from the POV character to break up the action just a touch and put space between the movements. That gives the reader a tiny break in the hopefully building excitement.

Take a look at your favorite writer's action scenes. I think you'll see how they work in quick descriptions, bursts of emotions and even moments of furious thinking/planning which all makes the scene richer like the layers of a cake.

To give you an idea, down below is the action scene I started on Saturday, with the additions from Sunday in blue. It's still a draft and I'll undoubtedly make more changes but it gives an idea of layering your writing.  

Ramiro froze in the hallway while their plan of stealth crumbled around them. Teresa managed to dodge under the naked woman’s wild swing with the Diviner by falling to the floor and scrambling back. Ramiro hesitated as his other companions, the two priests, receded to a safe distance. Self-preservation screamed at him to flee, weaponless and therefore helpless, but the urge to protect the innocent proved stronger. Ramiro jumped in to intercept the next attack on Teresa, sweeping the tray around as polishing cloths flew everywhere. The solid staff of the Diviner hit the back of the wooden tray with an audible whack. Ramiro cringed expecting the tray to split. Instead, the Diviner burst in a spray of splinters, the slim rod flying apart.

Ramiro’s eyes closed as splinters cut into his face. Someone screamed. He overbalanced when the resistance against the tray vanished and landed hard on his left elbow on the relentless marble floor. Telo shot forward, leaving Father Amor by the coal hole, and grabbed the naked woman around the neck, pulling her down. Her stiffened fist made contact with his middle, sending the air rushing out of Telo’s lungs in an explosive cough.

A man burst out of the sleeping room, adjusting his white robe around his hips and brandishing another Diviner. Ramiro managed to stick out his leg. The Northerner’s feet caught on it, and he stumbled across the hall to bang into the wall. As Ramiro struggled to his feet, Teresa jumped on the man’s back. They bumbled across the hallway with the Diviner flailing; the Northerner unable to quite bend his arm to reach Teresa for the kill.

Ramiro swung the tray in an upstroke to push the Diviner away. The barest brush with the tray and the white staff cracked apart like the first, showering them with bone-like shards.

Doors opened all along the hall. Ramiro’s heart sank as more Northern priests poured out.

“Hold him still,” Ramiro shouted to Teresa to little avail. But years of training with grown men while he still wore his mother’s apron strings had taught him many things: how to fight or defend, how to survive, and how to be lethal in an instant. He punched out with his sore left arm and landed his fist squarely in the Northerner’s throat, hearing fragile bones and cartilage break. The man folded, hands grasping his neck as he choked, taking Teresa down with him.

I do my layering in a chapter before moving on to the next scene, but I'm guessing many people do their layering after the first draft is done and as they go back and edit. Do you use the technique of layering or something else?

Who Do You Write For from Bishop O'Connell

As writers we often have one eye on our intended audience as we write, even if it isn’t conscious. Like a lot of art, if you ask a writer about his book, either you or he will compare it to something else: “It’s Harry Potter meets A Tale of Two Cities.” Inadvertently, or perhaps quite intentionally, this book’s audience has been identified. It is the very small but dedicated group of readers who enjoy books about child wizards during the turmoil of the French Revolution. Most of us don’t intend such comparisons to define our intended audience, but it happens and permeates what we write. No matter your genre—including literary fiction—odds are you have a set of preconceived notions that go with your selection of an audience.

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Almost a year after their wedding, and two since their daughter Fiona was rescued from a kidnapping by dark faeries, life has finally settled down for Caitlin and Edward. They maintain a facade of normalcy, but a family being watched over by the fae’s Rogue Court is far from ordinary. Still, it seems the perfect time to go on their long-awaited honeymoon, so they head to New Orleans.

Little do they know, New Orleans is at the center of a territory their Rogue Court guardians hold no sway in, so the Court sends in Wraith, a teenage spell slinger, to watch over them. It’s not long before they discover an otherworldly force is overtaking the city, raising the dead, and they’re drawn into a web of dark magic. At the same time, a secret government agency tasked with protecting the mortal world against the supernatural begins their own investigation of the case. But the culprit may not be the villain everyone expects. Can Wraith, Caitlin, and Edward stop whoever is bringing the vengeful dead back to life before another massacre, and before an innocent is punished for crimes beyond her control?

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As a fantasy writer, I tend to take for granted that my readers will know that elves have pointed ears, dwarves are short and bearded, magic spells are cast by wizards, and countless other small things. I’m assuming those readers will have enjoyed other fantasy novels, particularly what is considered the canon (Tolkien especially) and thus have some context. But, our assumptions can cut both ways. Experienced fans of our genre might read in a mystical explanation to something completely mundane. Conversely, the uninitiated might be completely mystified by something that is a given to most fantasy readers. How do we as writers prevent this?

For me, the answer is simple: assume your reader has never picked up a fantasy novel before. That’s right, nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. This has two benefits. The first is that you prevent any confusion or frustration on the part of your reader. The second is that you’ve just opened your book up to countless readers outside your genre. That’s not to imply this is an easy feat. What is easy is to be so proud of the complex world you’ve created that you can’t wait to show your reader and you inundate her with information. In my post, Too Much Information! Knowing What to Reveal and When I went over the “how” of exposition. What I will delve into, is the “why.”

Let’s ignore the obvious: you don’t want your reader to be bored by a dissertation before getting to the story. That’s important, of course, but what I want to discuss here is the second reason. I take Ms. Rowling’s lead and assume ignorance on the part of reader and that opens my books up to a broader audience. Really, in the end, don’t we as writers want our stories to be read, and enjoyed, by as many people as possible? I certainly do. I’m sure there are those who think of themselves as purists and unless you know the arcane details you’re not “worthy” of reading the story, but that’s not for me. I want my tales to be enjoyed by anyone who picks it up, even if their usual preference is romance, mystery, biographies, printer manuals, math books, cereal boxes, newspapers, well, you get the idea. I believe if you strip out the supernatural aspects out of my novels and replace them with mundane aspects, the plot and characters still hold together. At least, that’s what I strive for. That, and no readers left scratching their heads when they’re done.

This is something all of us should strive for. It doesn’t matter if you’re writing a book about faeries, or the Founding Fathers of the United States. After all, your readers might not be American or aware of American history. See? There I just assumed the readers of this piece were mostly American. I could’ve deleted that line, but I think it serves to show all of us that we have to strive, constantly, against those sorts of assumptions. Don’t limit yourself, or your work, by not inviting someone in to enjoy it. Be a good host and make your party as inclusive as possible, and ensure each guest is as welcome as possible. I hope if you’ve read my books, you found them so welcoming, and if you haven’t, consider this an open invitation.

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Bishop O'Connell is the author of the American Faerie Tale series, a consultant, writer, blogger, and lover of kilts and beer, as well as a member of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America. Born in Naples Italy while his father was stationed in Sardinia, Bishop grew up in San Diego, CA where he fell in love with the ocean and fish tacos. After wandering the country for work and school (absolutely not because he was in hiding from mind controlling bunnies), he settled Richmond VA, where he writes, collects swords, revels in his immortality as a critically acclaimed "visionary" of the urban fantasy genre, and is regularly chastised for making up things for his bio. He can also be found online at A Quiet Pint (aquietpint.com), where he muses philosophical on life, the universe, and everything, as well as various aspects of writing and the road to getting published.

Blog –  https://aquietpint.com/

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/AuthorBishopOConnell

Twitter - https://twitter.com/BishopMOConnell

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/bishopmoconnell/

Amazon Author Page - http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00L74LE4Y

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Finishing a Series

Kelley Grant is here to share the difficulties and joys of finishing a multi-book series. And Kelley should know, her third book just released, THE WORLD WEAVERS! The first book is Desert Rising, followed by The Obsidian Temple.

I am a pantser when it comes to writing. Oh, I try to plot and outline – but when I sit down, all that planning flies out the window and the characters decide where the story goes. But pantsing wasn’t working while writing The World Weavers, the concluding novel of the Desert Rising series.

I’d set everything up. The deities were crazy and flawed but still powerful. The prophecy was incomplete and would never defeat the deities. A dozen characters, scattered across the territories, traveled toward destiny. The deities’ army outnumbered our heroes’ army 3 to 1. I was weaving a dozen ends together. Characters had to overcome impossible odds if they wanted to win the war.

But as I started my usual writing process the characters kept trying to take me in new directions. “That’s boring,” Sulis would say. “I want to explore the desert, not win a war!” And new characters began clamoring to be heard. I began to lose track of who was where, when, and what chapter I left them in and what direction to point this mess in.

In other words – I had to start planning and plotting just to keep track of the who, what, and where of each chapter. I created a chapter-by-chapter outline by modifying a spreadsheet my editor gave me for Desert Rising. It included each point-of-view character, how many pages per POV, and what events occurred in the chapter. I added a column for the month and time of year to ensure characters didn’t arrive months after the final battle. I documented each chapter as I finished it in this spreadsheet. This spreadsheet became invaluable when, during the line-editing phase, my editor and I realized The World Weavers needed a new POV character to show the planning of the warriors of the One. By studying the chapter outline I pinpointed nine sections of the novel where this character’s POV would join seamlessly into the story. We were on a tight deadline and I wrote eighteen pages of the new character viewpoint into the novel in four days.  

I made a separate sheet detailing the plotlines for the characters and how I saw them ending. Each time a character began steering off course, I redirected them to that one goal. I wasn’t entirely successful – we ended up cutting pages of unnecessary details from the novel – but it helped give a focus to the scattered bits of the story.

And then, the hardest part. I had to have faith in my characters, the story already written, and my own ability to bring it all together. Although I had researched some military strategy for these books, I am not naturally strategic. And those books were telling me that a tiny force going against a very large one was going to lose. I had to trust in my character’s innate sneakiness, the harsh desert environment and some good (and bad) luck to set up the climax and resolution of the series.

The most difficult part of editing World Weavers was simplifying the different threads. I’d done so much research and tried to pack as much of that into the novel as I could, as a way of legitimizing the twists and turns. The story did not need it. It was enough that the research informed my writing. The reader did not need to be bored with the details. My editor and I cut long explaining sections and rearranged chapters for a fluid reading experience. I’d also tried to pack in every last character-building detail; this was the last book, my last chance to feed these tidbits to the readers! Editing those out was a case of “killing your darlings.” I loved those details, but they slowed the story down.

I spent quite a bit of time cursing myself for choices I made in the first two novels. I regretted everything from choosing not to capitalize soldiers of Voras (making it impossible to call men in the army soldiers) to larger issues with the religion that I had to work around. I would like to do improve my pantsing methods in my next series, thinking through how each element of the first book will cascade the choices for each remaining book. I imagine that if I had been a plotter I would not have run into such issues. But the joy of writing, for me, is in watching the plot appear as my characters live it. The story is a magic spell, writing itself. I’m lucky enough to be in the right place, at the right time, scribbling down the details.

"It frightens me, knowing the One has called up two such strong individuals. It means that there are troubled times in our future, and you must prepare yourselves."

The Temple at Illian is the crown jewel of life in the Northern Territory. There, pledges are paired with feli, the giant sacred cats of the One god, and are instructed to serve the One's four capricious deities. Yet Sulis, a young woman from the Southern Desert, has a different perspective—one that just might be considered heresy, but that is catching on rather quickly …

Sulis's twin, Kadar, meanwhile, is part of a different sort of revolution. When Kadar falls in love with a woman from a Forsaken caste, he finds he's willing to risk anything to get these people to freedom. But with Sulis drawing a dangerous level of attention from the deities, and war about to break out on two fronts, change may not come as easily as either twin had hoped.

An astonishing debut, Kelley Grant's Desert Rising brings to life a powerful new epic fantasy tale of determination and self-discovery.

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Kelley Grant is the author of the Desert Rising trilogy, which includes Desert Rising, The Obsidian Temple and The World Weavers. She grew up in the hills of Ohio’s Amish country. Her best friends were the books she read, the stories she created and the forest and fields that inspired her. She and her husband live on a wooded hilltop and are owned by five cats, a dog and numerous uninvited critters. Besides writing, Kelley teaches yoga and meditation, sings kirtan with her husband, and designs brochures and media.

Website: www.kelleygrantbooks.com
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Kelley-Grant/e/B00P6WVSTO
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8420762.Kelley_Grant
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kelleygrantbooks

Which Came First: The Writer or The Angst

Writers seem to be emotional people. We worry. We fret the details. We grieve and get down. We spin up on cloud nine. We have more empathy than most. Writers seem to have their hearts on their sleeves. Don't get me wrong, we're a tough lot also. Thick skin comes with being a writer after any length of time.

But it often gets me wondering a certain chicken or the egg scenario: Are we writers because we feel more or Do we feel more because we write? There is a slight difference. Does the fact that we have that large share of empathy turn us into writers and somehow make us fit into that profession? Are we just an emotional bunch and writing lets us express that and get it out of our system?

Or does writing so many difficult situations and hitting our main characters with so many emotional problems cause writers to suffer the corresponding emotions.

I almost never cry for myself. Rejections sting, and of course, make me get down on life, but it's not until I see someone else suffering that my emotions really come out. I sympathize and find it too easy to imagine myself in their situation. That's when my heart really grieves. It's even true for fictional people. I still can't re-read Grudging without shedding tears at certain scenes because the characters' heartbreak becomes mine. With deadly stakes and scenes of loss, just writing the series often puts the real me in a funk of dark thoughts. I laugh less during the months I write. I suffer along with the characters.

But I'm also the kind of person who cries at a heartwarming movie, or even a stinking commercial for goodness sake. Tears also come when I get angry and try to form that into words--basically whenever I feel very strongly about something. I wish it wasn't so, but it's part of what makes me. On the other hand, small things like seeing my favorite cosplay character or getting a book in the mail send me into happy dances. I've always been emotional.

I guess the answer doesn't really matter. Whether the writing makes the emotion or it was there all along, the important part is putting that angst into our writing. Being able to move other people with words is a true talent. We, as writers, make other people feel by sharing our own emotion on topics large and small. That can move the world.

Are you emotional? Do you feel a character's plight too much? Does it hurt when they die? Do you cry at movies and can watching the nightly news make you too depressed for words? Then you're probably a writer--rejoice!   

Sequel Complete!

I always think it's fascinating to read about the process of other writers and make comparisons. Every writer is slightly different. Pansters and Plotters. Morning writers versus late night scribblers. People who prefer writing and others who prefer editing. So I thought I'd share a little.

I finished writing my first sequel!

That's cat-me up there, cranking out 27K in two months to finish this sucker! (Yes, it still took me since June, but I took two months off for Pitchwars and another month off when Boy left for college and the rest of the time I was just lazy.) So the follow up to Grudging is done. And the sequel ups the anti on the plot stakes. It puts the characters in worse positions than before. Basically, it says you're screwed to the characters from all directions! And it let me explore the world building from the side of the witches this time around--so Yay! new characters and new situations. Who knew I could manage such an awesome challenge?

Of course I'm anxious to hear what my critique partners say about it. I'm not sure if they will find the pace fast enough or the situation as dark as I believe. I might have missed big plot holes. 

While they read, I'm still giving it another once over and correcting small consistency issues. I think the hardest part of writing a sequel is to remember all the bits and pieces of history and behavior that you gave the characters in the first book. It's not easy to get the voice right again in the second book and have the characters carry forward in the same way. Oh yeah, I said that Teresa's parents were dead in the first book, gotta strike out this sentence where she worries about them. Oh and Claire used to talk to inanimate objects, better remember to have her keep doing that. 


Because I write so slowly, my first draft tends to be pretty much polished and finished. They don't change much as a whole, though I tweak parts here and there. Which means I don't have much editing work to do until those notes come back.

And Bonus!, the word count came in under 100K just as my super smart editor asked. Yeah, I'm pretty curious to hear what he thinks of it, too. And he likes the title I dreamed up. I get to keep that! (You should follow him on twitter.)  

And you want to know the weirdest thing?

The people behind the scenes at HarperCollins have already loaded Faithful up on Amazon and Goodreads and who knows where else. Before I even finished writing the sucker you can preorder it! How awesome is that?

It will be several months until it actually goes to my editor and many more before the cover art comes out or I find out if my editor likes it. My agent will read through it first also.

Meanwhile, I'll change gears and go to work on an older YA fantasy that needs a fresh opening. Fingers crossed it can go out on submission this year. Then over the summer, it will back to work on the final book for the Birth of Saints series.

Not only doesn't it have a title yet, I haven't a clue where it will go! That's what makes it exciting! 

So what are you working on as we roll toward spring and will you still be working on it this summer? Have you ever written a sequel and what part did you find most difficult?