The hook. One of the most important aspect to an entire book is the hook. You have to hook the reader from the first sentence, first paragraph, first page, first scene, first chapter, and even at the beginning of each scene or chapter. It's what catches the reader's attention and draws them further into the story to where they will want to read more and more. However, if you don't have a great hook, the chances are you may have lost your reader before they've even given you story a chance, … [Read more...]
Archives for April 2014
G is for Genre
When it comes to writing fiction, there is a plethora of things we could write about. One of the first things we need to narrow our choices down to is what genre do we wish to write in. Since I started to write fiction, I've heard time and time again that the genre you need to write in is the genre you read and usually you want to write in the one you read the most because you are most familiar with the format. For me that genre would be romance. I like all versions of it: contemporary, … [Read more...]
G is for Gummy Bears
Mari loved her candy and especially gummy bears. She'd get a little smile on her face as she at her sweets. After she was done she be all sticky and have it all gooped in her hair. I'd have to immediately put her in the bathtub to get the stickiness all gone and make her all nice and clean again. There were so many times that after Mari had eaten something that'd you'd wonder if she actually got any of it in her mouth or not because it looked like it was all in her hair, on her face, and all … [Read more...]
F is for “Finding Nemo”
Oh, my, yes! Finding Nemo, one of Mari's very favorite movies. If we'd allow her to she'd watch it all day along with Cars, and Jonah: A Veggies Tales Movie. Her little arms would flap in excitement as she watched one of them play our before her. What I noticed about Mari is she never liked movies that had people in them, or if they did it was very small parts, like all the Disney Princess movies. She just had no interest whatsoever. However, is a movie or a TV program had animals, that was her … [Read more...]
F is for FictionFinder.com
I thought I'd share a site with you that maybe you're not aware of. Ever want to find a really great Christian book and don't want to go to some place like Amazon to find it? You can go to this website FictionFinder.com. Fiction finder has almost every Christian author you can think of as well as every genre. You can search by title, author, ISBN, publication date, genre, social issue, or even by the type of content in the book such as how much mystery you want in a book, romance, conflict, … [Read more...]
E is for Ebook
Have you noticed the amount of ebooks now available for us to purchase today. They are so prevalent. There are so many authors going the indie route as they have more control over how their book is published, or for that matter, getting it published at all. Twenty years ago, if you wanted to see your book in print, you had to go to one of the big New York publishers and hope, that by some small miracle, they'd publish your book. Today you can go to a place like CreateSpace and publish your … [Read more...]
E is for Energy
If we could have somehow found a way to bottle up Mari's energy I think it could have powered a small city. She never seemed to wear out. She rarely took a nap. Kids with autism, it's like their minds have a hard time shutting down. This is why you hear of so many who sleep two, three, maybe four hours every night. While the average person wouldn't be able to function on a regular basis this way, those with autism, their minds work differently than ours. It's like they can't ever let the minds … [Read more...]
D is for Deep POV
In many of today's novel, the writer wants to delve deeper with their stories giving the reader a more in-depth look into who the characters are and what they're thinking. The technique being used is called deep POV (point of view). I remember when it was first suggested that I do this with my fiction novel. I had not earthly clue what that was. I understood POV to be what character the scene would be told from whether it was first person, third person, omniscient. However, deep POV was a new … [Read more...]
The Journey with Elizabeth Kitchens
Please welcome this weeks guest Elizabeth Kitchens for The Journey. She answers the question: How have you seen God work in your writing journey? As a writer of fairy tales, it’s fitting that I am under a curse. Not a curse to prick my finger on a spinning wheel’s spindle or to be a beast, but to write. But if writing is a curse, then I’ll happily live with it. Actually, what my father was referring to when he called writing “the family curse” was the frustration that happens when you’re a … [Read more...]
D is for Determined
Mari was one of the most determined people I knew. While she may have had autism it didn't ever stop her when she wanted to do something. The only problem with that is her safety awareness, while she was 8 years old, was that of about a toddler. When she wanted to do something, it was amazing to see how she tried to accomplish it, of course, almost always after the fact is when I'd find out what her little determined mind decided she was going to do. One of the memories, that now brings a … [Read more...]
