This Blog has moved to www.gailgaymermaritn.com

This blog has been moved to www.gailgaymermartin.com  Please visit my Writing Fiction Blog there filled with the same comprehensive information and many more new posts.  Thanks you.

New Writing Fiction Site

If you're looking for my comprehensive Writing Fiction Blog, it has been moved to my new website at http://www.gailgaymermartin.com/category/writing-fiction/

Thanks and hope you find everything you need.  If not, please comment or ask questions. I've been blessed with fifty-two published novels and over 3-1/2 million books in print, and I teach writing at conferences across the US so this is my way of giving back.  You can learn what I teach at no cost to you.  You can also subscribe to the Writing Fiction blog so you see any new post that interests you.

New Website for Writing Fiction Blog from Gail Gail Gaymer Martin

 

 

Award-winning novelist, Gail Gaymer Martin writes Christian fiction for Love Inspired with fifty-two contracted novels and three and a half million books in print. She is the author of Writers Digest’s Writing the Christian Romance and.a co-founder of ACFW. Gail is a keynote speaker at churches, libraries and civic organizations  and presents writing workshops across the US. She was named one of the four best novelists in the Detroit area by CBS local news.

 

Writing Fiction is a comprehensive blog covering all techniques and elements of writing ficiton for all genre. I have taught writing through writers' workshops and at writers' conferences across the United States.

Please visit the new location of the Writing Fiction Blog at

http://www.gailgaymermartin.com/category/writing-fiction/

New Writing Prompt for Speculative Fiction

Jeff Gerke, Publisher of Lord Marcher Press for speculative fiction, shared a promote he had developed by another author friend, Randy Ingermanson, better know as the Snowflake Man. This prompt will stimulate story ideas for give your creativity a nudge for a novel you're presently writing.

Take a look at this interesting, prompt, and I know all of us who don't write speculative fiction would love to see this kind of prompt for other genres.
http://www.wherethemapends.com/writerstools/writers_tools_pages/randomizer.htm

A Different Take on Vanity Press Vs. Traditional Publishing

For years, vanity presses---another name for paying to have a book published and another form of self-publishing---has been contrasted in a negative light to traditional publishing. Some of the arguments are legitimate, but with the rise of digital publishing, some authors have taken a new look at self-publishing.

Recently I read an article that pointed out the argument to going through the traditional process of honing your craft and submitting to an agent and/or editor, then using their knowledge in the rejection letter to continue to work at making your writing the best it can be.  After years of honing, studying, critiquing and paying your dues, you finally hit pay dirt and a contract is issued. This contract means your book would be in print on paper and sold in bookstores across the country. This is  the prize most authors long to have in their lives.

But the digital market has opened new doors and has changed the views regarding the benefits of digital publishing. Many well-established authors have hit a new kind of pay dirt as they watch money roll in from the books now sold online in the digital market.

Bernard Starr's blog article, printed in the Huffington Post, offers a thoughtful take on the arguments for and against the vanity press. It will open your eyes but also give you hope if you are still struggling to sell that first book.  Here's the link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bernard-starr/the-new-vanity-publishing_b_1821945.html

Filter To Enhance Story

Authors often set up perimeters for a storyline by weighing it with backstory or details when they provide readers with information to help them understand the motivation for the characters. As we’ve heard many times, backstory or details can bog down a novel when it’s piled into the beginning of a novel. Too much emphasis on story theme or message can do the same. Think about these alternatives.

The old saying action can speak louder than words is true. Use action to filter the character’s motivation or the theme of the story. Instead of telling the reader through narrative or dialogue, find visual ways to show a character’s longing or need.

Filter the backstory
I sometimes suggest using weather or nature to enhance the mood of a scene. Sunshine obviously reflects a sunny situation. Rain does the opposite. But be more subtle. Sun beams down on a woman reading a letter as she sits on the porch steps. Her expression darkens as a cloud sweeps over the sun and throws a shadow on her. This doesn’t need explanation.

Now we know the letter has something unpleasant. She could crumple the paper, tear it to shreds or drop it on the porch steps as she hurries inside. Let the reader wonder for a moment while she reacts. Details come later. Have a character look at a photograph and reflect an emotion. Wipe away a tear. Smile. The reader knows the character’s feelings through his reaction to the photograph.

Filter the Storyline or Premise
Don’t open a novel with the obvious. Draw interest by suggesting the premise or storyline before being blatant. Use a discarded newspaper headline to set up a situation. Serial Killer Strikes Third Victim. A young woman glances at the newspaper, frowns and peers over her shoulder. We get the point.

Perhaps a radio program or billboard announces an event—a rodeo, beauty contest, or state lottery offering millions. Nothing need be said, but it sets a question for the reader. Will this become a major event in the story?

Using the lottery idea, a young woman steps into a shop and purchases a lottery ticket with the comment, “Here goes another five dollars down the drain.” She smiles and leaves. We get the point. Something will happen. We’re curious. Will she be a winner? Will the winning ticket put her in danger? This sets the stage with a subtle hint of things to come.

Filter the Subplot
Subplots need to connect with the main characters, but subplot can help develop a theme, message or storyline by mirroring the same or similar problem in the life of a main character. Don’t let the main character realize this. Instead as the main character observes his friend’s problem give him the insight to eventually find the solution to her own struggle.

Readers are intelligent. They enjoy deciphering the hints and clues the author gives as to the problem and the reason. Don’t take away from their enjoyment by laying all the details in front of them. Use offhand comments, radio bulletins, newspaper articles, signs, overheard conversations, and even nature to provide a more subtle way to build the storyline and enhance it.

Techniques For A Series Part III

A novel series takes planning. Occasionally when an author completes a novel, at the end or near the end, he/she realizes that the story offers an interesting character or two that would make a main character in another book. By then, planning is often too late, but not so. The author can go back and add a scene to heighten the characterization and to foreshadow a situation or problem that can be the takeoff point for another book.


Though this can happen, most novelists plan ahead to write a series. One reason is that editors like to offer a contract for more than one book, and planning a series enhances the opportunity to sell the first idea to the editor. When I send such a proposal, I have a more detailed synopsis of the first story with up to three chapters completed, but I provide only a short synopsis of the next two or three novels that will follow. This allows me to be creative as I write the first novel and set up ideas that will help me when tackling the next books.

If this is a first book with the publisher and the author doesn’t have numerous previous contracts, a completed manuscript for the first book is often required. This means you can be thinking series as you write the story and do the set up for the next book as you write, and there are questions you need to consider

Click the link to read more.