PLOTSTORM BEN'S STORY--DAYS 8-11

In days 8-11 I reached 30,000 words in the ms. (The first three chapters are pretty much finished) All I'm doing now is tweaking here and there and polishing. Nit picky kind of stuff. Proofreading. I distanced myself from the story every other day in order to be able to read scenes with a fresh eye. Then I went back through and checked for:

 

1. Passive sentences. Changed them to active. (For instance, "He was stricken with..." became "...struck him."

2. Places I slipped from Deep POV

3. Places I've told instead of shown (nearly the same as the above).

4. Places the story dragged.

5. Places I needed to put a proper name in place of a pronoun. Going back and making sure every "he, she, her, him, his," etc. refers to the last spoken name.

6. Reworking any sentences that contain indeterminate "Its," etc.

7. Looked for repetitive phrasing. Made sure I didn't use the same word or words too close together in passages.

8. Seek and destroy overused words such as "So" and "Gaze." My characters are gazers and grazers. LOL! I mention eyes and food a LOT! Probably because I'm fasting from some type of food and media when I'm churning out a rough draft. LOLOL!  
9. Checked the chapter, paragraph and sentence construction. Broke up or shortened any long passages. Made sure every sentence I'd placed on a line by itself NEEDS to be that way for maximum impact.

10. Made sure I haven't overused dashes, ellipses, exclamation points, etc.

11. Made sure I could envision the scene and setting. That I knew where the characters were in any given section.

12. Made sure I've used all the senses to enrich setting/sensory detail without going overboard. Sparingly added a few tactile words, smells, taste, sounds.

13. Read portions aloud to make sure nothing snags or drags.

14. Made sure dialogue is snappy and realistic.

15. Broke up run ons.

16. Made sure my characters have come through the way I intended them.

17. Made sure I maintained tension and conflict throughout. For instance, I upped the stakes again in this layer by having heroine not only need to get to a job, but have her boss be a Meany and tell her if she's not there by Tuesday he's not keeping the spot for her. Not only is the doctor not releasing her if he thinks she's going to skip town, her car is in the shop. Or maybe I'll have it impounded first so she really doesn't know how she's going to make it there. At this point, her scene goal (which is a step toward her story goal) is to make it to Missouri by Tuesday because (she thinks) everything hinges on her getting this job. You and I know God has different plans for her, but she's not to a point where she recognizes that yet.

18. Made sure I've not violated POV. For instance in a scene in Ben's POV, I must have forgotten because I had Hayyven have a fleeting thought. He can't know her thoughts.

19. Made sure my characters' goals and motivations are coming clearly across. And that conflict is already rampant. LOL! 

20. Cut down on overuse of introspection (a BIG weakness!) and internal monologue.

21. Made sure I didn't use a dialogue tag (he said) if I've already used an action beat (something the character does.) You don't need to use both. Beats can effectively show who is speaking.

22. Made sure I didn't start too many sentences with the same word in close proximity. For instance, on one page, I'd started the paragraph sentences out with "Ben.." or "She" and not much else. So I changed one of the "She's" to "Hayyven" and switched a couple of Ben's sentences so the dialogue came before the action beat since the reader could tell who was speaking due to the stint being on a line by itself. Every time a new person talks, it needs a new paragraph.

23. Made sure I didn't stay in a particular scene too long, and that the pacing is on target. To do that, I don't stop and edit...just read straight through and don't stop for anything. In fact, that's what I always start my writing sessions out doing. Read through what I've written to check for flow, pacing, coherency, clarity, succinctness, etc.

24. Made sure I haven't added in too many names or people for readers to have to keep up with. Condense and cut where you can.

25. Made sure I didn't refer to anything in previous books that will confuse readers who haven't read the previous books. Though this story is part of my Wings of Refuge series, it should also be able to stand alone so readers coming in in the middle of the series won't be confused or have to have read the previous two books to figure out what's going on in case my editor acquires this story.

26. Did a Seek and Destroy of all Taboo Terms. For a list of these, go to www.eharlequin.com. Steeple Hill has a conservative readership, so there is a list of terms and scenarios they have deemed off limits. Taboo Terms is their word for that list. For instance, I had a character say, "That totally sucks." I changed "sucks" to "stinks." I don't think sucks it's on the Taboo list but it occurred to me that phrase in its entirety has obscene roots. Only when most of us say it, we don't think of it in the sexual context. We just mean it as...that stinks. But some readers might be offended, so be mindful of that if you write for or are targeting a house that caters to a more conservative readership.

27. Made sure I haven't left any gross or graphic images in reader's mind.

28. Forgot to mention right off the bat that I always, always, always pray before I type one word or put my fingers to the keys. I ask God to order my day and to help me strengthen my story. He always comes through with a poignant image, etc. that I can then add to make the story emotionally compelling.

29. Made sure I have an equal balance of dialogue verses narrative.

30. Tweaked chapter length.

31. Made sure all my characters' reactions are believable and that nothing is coming across as jerkish, whiny, immature, unlikable, or contrived.

32. Made sure it's clear who is speaking at all times.

33. Made sure I haven'tt repeated anything. Another weakness. LOL!

34. Made sure I've used the correct names for places in town that were mentioned in books one and two. Such as Refuge Community Church, and Faith Elementary, etc.

35. Made sure secondary characters haven't stolen the spotlight from my hero or heroine.

36. Made sure nothing plot wise or subplot wise has overshadowed the romance. That needs to be front and center.

37. Made sure my hero and heroine are meeting/interacting as soon as possible in the story.

38. Made sure nothing goes on too long or too short scene wise or conversation wise.

39. Made sure I've italicized sparingly and only during direct thoughts or prayers.

40. Made sure I haven't overused "was" and any time I could, replaced a stronger verb there. Especially cut down on the use of "was" in conjunction with an "ing" verb. Most times the prose is stronger if you can replace the "ing" verb with an "ed" verb. An example would be to change "He was sprinting" to "He sprinted"

41. Made sure I haven't misused any wrong words my spellchecker might have missed. For instance I might slay something I really don't mean. See? Spellcheck will only pick out misspelled words, not misused ones. LOL! It wouldn't have flagged "slay." Those are the things you'll hopefully find on  proofreads.  

 

There's much, much more but I'm out of time right now. More another day.

 

Squirrel

 

--

 

Cheryl Wyatt   Gal. 2:20   Pouring my vial of words over Him.

www.CherylWyatt.com  www.Scrollsquirrel.blogspot.com

A SOLDIER'S PROMISE~ Steeple Hill Love Inspired~ Jan. 2008
A SOLDIER'S FAMILY~ Steeple Hill Love Inspired~ Mar. 2008

www.Steeplehill.com   www.Loveinspiredauthors.com

INTERVIEW WITH CAMY TANG, BOOK GIVEAWAY AND CAMY'S CONTEST INFO!

Hello all!

 

As part of her SUSHI FOR ONE Blog Tour.......I am SUPER, DUPER THRILLED to present an interview with my good friend and Zondervan debut author Camy Tang.

 

Enjoy and PLEASE TELL YOUR FRIENDS TO STOP BY FOR A CHANCE TO WIN A COPY OF CAMY'S DEBUT NOVEL!

 

To enter for the book drawing, simply leave a message stating so in the comment section. Leave contact info or check back THIS FRIDAY to see who won.

 

Also, Camy is having a fantabulous contest on her blog. See the info at the end of this interview for a chance to win baskets of Christian Fiction, AND an iPod Nano!!!

 

> 1. When did you first know you wanted to write?

When I read Anne McCaffrey's Pern books, especially Dragonsong and
Dragonsinger. It totally made me want to create my own fantasy world
and cool heroine. So I took over the family's Apple IIe computer (am I
dating myself? LOL) and chugged out my 500+ page fantasy manuscript.

> 2. What are your other passions besides writing?

I've really gotten into knitting the past few months. I've discovered
that it helps me to write because I need the tactile stimulation when
I'm in right-brain creative mode. I also really like the challenge of
making things for myself and for others. I just recently finished a
knit skirt edged with hand-knit lace (for me to wear to church).

> 3. If your three current heroines from your Sushi Series could write a blurb
> about you, the author of their stories, what would they each say?

Lex (from Sushi for One): She's an okay volleyball player, and she
gets hit by so many balls it's past coincidence and it's gotten into
scarily freaky, but she's nice.

Trish (from Only Uni): She's cool! She leads a rockin' worship team on Sunday.

Venus (from Single Sashimi): I like her. She's efficient, logical, and
she says what she means.

> 4. What would be the highest compliment a reader could give you regarding
> your writing?

"This book was so fun, I told all my friends to go out and buy a copy!"

> 5. What do you have to have each day before you begin to write...as in
> something you bring to your desk with your hands, or something on your desk,
> and why?

There isn't anything in particular I need each day to write, unless
it's the fact that I've elevated my monitor, keyboard, and trackball
so that I can stand as I write. I alternate sitting and standing at my
desk during the day because it's better for my back.

> 6. Is your writing journey how you envisioned it? Or different? If so, how
> so?

It's funny, but my writing journey is nothing like I envisioned it.
For one, the first book I shopped around was DREK and I'm embarrassed
so many editors and agents saw it. I had always envisioned polishing
my work and sending out a jewel of a manuscript, but my knowledge of
the craft was so poor that what I thought was a jewel wasn't even
close. That's the "Bad Book," which is buried in the depths of my
computer somewhere.

For another, I didn't realize how bad I am at time management until I
started writing full-time. I suck at it! I thought it would be heaven
(and a piece of cake) to spend only an hour at emails and the rest of
the day on writing, but I quickly discovered that wasn't the case. I
have to work really hard to be efficient during the day, and while
some days I do well, other days i don't do so well. I'm ashamed to say
that I had better time management when I was working full-time.
However, thankfully I'm getting better at it.

However, one thing I did envision about my writing journey that's come
true is how much I love what I do. I really enjoy what I'm doing now
and I'd do anything--even going back to work in biology in order to
pay the bills--just to be able to keep writing fiction.

> 7. What advice would you give to aspiring writers?

Keep learning more writing craft. I'll be brutally honest here, what
you think is brilliant is not as great as you think it is (remember I
mentioned the "Bad Book"?). My mistake was in shopping my manuscript
when it wasn't ready. I should have just spent my time working on more
books, learning and improving my writing craft, finding more critique
partners. Some writers sell their first or second book, but most have
to write several manuscripts before they perfect their craft enough or
hit on that really unique story idea that makes an editor sit up and
listen.

> 8. It's unusual for debut authors to contract (especially three books! WOO
> HOO YOU!) with a bigger house such as Zondervan. What advice would you give
> to those targeting bigger houses? Do you think it's easier to break in with
> category romance versus single title? And why?

I certainly don't think it's "easy" to break into category romance. In
fact, it's darn hard. Even though category romances are shorter books,
the editors still require a high standard of writing. Krista Stroever
has the reputation of being one of the best and hardest editors in the
business. I get very frustrated with writers who flippantly dismiss
category romances.

I think the decision to target category versus single title depends on
the writer. Sometimes, you're just a big book writer. Other times,
you're able to write succinctly and emotionally at the same time.

I'm actually a rather succinct writer, but the manuscript that sold
for me happened to be a single title. It's actually a shorter book
than a lot of other novels out there.

There's also the undeniable fact that a lot of category writers
eventually write single title novels. Some of the biggest names in the
business have done that--Colleen Coble, Kristin Billerbeck, Cathy
Marie Hake.

Whether you target single title or category houses, I think all
writers need an agent. For one, a lot of houses are relying on agents
rather than their slush pile for manuscripts--in fact, many houses
don't even accept unsolicited manuscripts anymore.

However, writers need to be SMART about picking their agent. Spend
time talking with them and with their clients. Figure out their
working style and communication style, and determine if it's a good
fit for you.

> 9. How much emphasis do you think authors should put on promoting themselves
> before they're published? What are some of the things you did?

I always tell writers to only do what you WANT to do. Don't do
anything you don't want to. If you don't like blogging, then don't
feel pressured to do it. If you don't like teaching, then don't do it.
If you don't like booksignings, then don't do it.

If you only do what you like doing, then you actually find you're more
open to occasionally moving outside your comfort zone for promotion. I
don't like doing booksigning, but I'll do one occasionally. The rest
of the time, I do what i enjoy most--blogging.

The only non-negotiable for a writer is a website. It's your business
card on the web, telling people what you're writing and about
yourself. They're very inexpensive and very easy to set up.

Marketing before you're published is helpful but not necessary. I
happened to have an internet presence before I contracted, and that
helped to beef up my marketing plan in my proposal, but the difference
was that I was blogging within my marketing brand. If you blog about
something totally different from your brand, it doesn't help your
career much. If you market yourself before you're contracted, be very
selective about how you do it, what your focus is.

> 10. How much emphasis do you think authors should put on promotion and
> marketing once they're contracted? What are some of the best marketing ideas
> you've heard of? I just loved your homemade cards by the way! I might use
> that idea. LOL! and by the way, Camy's chopsticks are THE coolest marketing
> tool I've seen!

Thanks, Squirly. Again, I think writers should only do what they want
to do, what they can afford to do. I also think writers need to be
SMART about what they choose do spend their money on. The chopsticks
were both cheap and fit in well with my brand.

> 11. How important is your faith to your writing?

God has really impressed on me the importance of being faithful in my
quiet times with Him. I couldn't write without His blessing on it. I
couldn't write without the right attitude in my heart, and that only
comes through vigilant prayer and study of the Word. Francine Rivers
and Debbie Macomber both spend an hour or two with God every morning,
and while I'm not up to a couple hours yet, I do try to emulate their
faithfulness and discipline. I earnestly want that time to become
vital and important to my day, every day, no matter what I have to do.

> 12. What are you working on now, and when can we expect another release from
> you?

I'm working on a new series proposal right now, but my next release is
Only Uni, Trish's story, which comes out in February 2008.

> 13. You are big on networking. How important do you feel networking was to
> your journey to publication? What are some effetive ways to network in your
> opinion?

Networking was one of the most important things I could ever do. After
all, that's how I met you!

Meeting and becoming friends with other writers--both published AND
unpublished--is vital for a writer's journey. I met my prayer partners
and critique partners through online discussion boards and
conferences. I met a few published authors who were able to give me
advice for the journey. I personally think a writer becomes too
arrogant and delusional without other writers for critique, prayer,
and accountability.

> 14. Who has been your favorite character and why?

Venus, whose story is Single Sashimi, releasing in the Fall 2008. I
like how brutally honest she is. She's also as slender and sexy as I
wish I was (sigh).

Thanks for the interview, Squirly!

 

 

>You're very welcome Camy!

 

Also, Camy has a huge website contest going on right now. She's giving away baskets
of Christian fiction and an iPod Nano! Only her newsletter YahooGroup
subscribers are eligible to enter, so join today!
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Camys_Loft/join
 

 

Please visit Camy's web site here:
http://www.camytang.com/


--
Cheryl Wyatt   Gal. 2:20   Pouring my vial of words over Him.

www.CherylWyatt.com  www.Scrollsquirrel.blogspot.com

A SOLDIER'S PROMISE~ Steeple Hill Love Inspired~ Jan. 2008
A SOLDIER'S FAMILY~ Steeple Hill Love Inspired~ Mar. 2008

www.Steeplehill.com  www.Loveinspiredauthors.com

SEPTEMBER STORY STARTER

Hey entrants!

This marks the LAST prompt for the year. Contest may resume in January of 2008.

As always, write a 500 word scene using one of three Scene/Story Starter Sentences. Use at least five of the ten Prompt Words. Email entries to me at Cheryl at CherylWyatt . com (close spaces before and after "@" and ".".

Scene/Story Starter Sentences:

"I told her it would happen."

Surely she's not going to . . .(

fill in the blank here, or leave it as is)

"That's the funniest thing I've ever seen."

Prompt Words:

ladder

paint

crash

plank

mess

wood

harp

bottom

fall (in any context...even the season)

floor

Everyone who has entered my prompts (whether you've won or not) will be entered in the annual contest. The person with the most entries will win the 6 month subscription to any Steeple Hlll line of their choice through the Harlequin book club, paid for by me.

As an added bonus, I am also giving prizes to the second and third place winners.

ALSO, since this is the lasts prompt of the year, and your LAST chance to enter, I am giving a bonus prompt. If you use EVERY word (all 20) in the bonus prompt in your scene and use them all CORRECTLY and in their proper context , I will add one more "entry" to your tally. Yes, I'm gonna make you work for this one. :-) You may have to break out your grammar books. He he he.

Here are the 20 bonus prompt words:

1. past

2. passed

3. its

4. it's

5. altogether

6. all together (must use both)

7. reek

8. wreak

9. affect

10. effect

11. there

12. they're

13. their

14. rung

15. wrung

16. pail

17. pale

18. rapt

19. wrapped

20. rapped

 

--
Cheryl Wyatt   Gal. 2:20   Pouring my vial of words over Him.

www.CherylWyatt.com  www.Scrollsquirrel.blogspot.com

A SOLDIER'S PROMISE~ Steeple Hill Love Inspired~ Jan. 2008
A SOLDIER'S FAMILY~ Steeple Hill Love Inspired~ Mar. 2008

www.Steeplehill.com   www.Loveinspiredauthors.com

PLOTSTORM BEN'S STORY--DAYS 5, 6, 7

As you can tell, the plotstorm has morphed into the actual execution of the plotstorm, which is simply brainstorming a plot. I include my character development with my plotstorms. Just FYI.


Moving onward....

What I've been doing the last three days is:

I let the story gel for about a day and a half. Separated myself from it so I could see it with fresh eyes. Then I went through tightening the writing. More on that in a second.

Normally I do that after the book is finished, but since I only have to turn proposals (three chapters versus a completed book) into my editor from now on, I've changed the way I normally do it. I usually write the mess draft in a matter of days. No editing or proofing, just write, write, write straight through and get the story down.

This time, I've been polishing and proofing as I go. When I finish a scene, I go back through and polish/proof/correct errors. Then I do this when I finish a chapter so what I'm writing the first pass is actually pretty clean.

I actually got on a roll though and in the past four days have written 27,000 words even though I only intended to write the first three chapters. Out of those, I may have 20,000-25,000 usable or keepable words though.

Regarding the tightening: I am aware that I almost always over write by several thousand words. I usually end up having to cut between 3000-10,000 words...and that is before I even send the book to my acquisitions editor for consideration. So I've gone through and made sure that every single sentence belongs there. Every sentence must serve at least one purpose for being in the book. I also make sure that sentence needs to be in the book right then. I had a couple paragraph passage where I must have gotten off on a back story tangent, so I cut and pasted all but one or two sentences of that to the back of the book. I will break it up and sprinkle it in as I go, just not in the first three chapters.

One thing we often do as beginning writers is put too much back story or background in at once. This is called a back story dump and it bogs the reading. You want the story to have forward momentum as much as possible. If, while I'm reading any portion of my WIP (Work in Progress) and I find my mind wandering from the story, I know that I have stumbled upon a problem area in my story. I do something to ramp the tension in that moment. A snappier piece of dialogue, etc. Something to keep readers' attention.

Also to tighten the writing, I'm reworking sentences. Omitting every and all unnecessary words. I'm ruthless with "ly" adverbs. LOL! If I originally wrote, "she moved quickly to hide behind him." I changed it to, "She darted behind him." You get the same meaning while giving the reader the correct visual. She didn't saunter behind him. She didn't crawl. She didn't hop on one leg. She darted. Just by changing one word in a sentence, you can form images in the reader's mind. I also omitted the part that said "to hide behind him." Give your readers credit to be able to figure stuff out on their own without you having to tell them.

On that note, if you've ever received a critique or a contest comment that used the words, "RUE" that means you need to Resist the Urge to Explain. If you've crafted your sentence well enough, you won't have to explain things to your readers. They'll get the picture. In this case, it was a little girl hiding from a DCFS caseworker. She darted behind my hero's leg and peered at the woman. Then I changed it to "Wide-eyed, she shot Miss Harker looks that said she was up for a showdown of wills if necessary." So you see, not only is the child scared, she's strong-willed and defensive. Probably how she deals with her fear. I can show this without saying it or having to explain it to the reader. The hero feels her trembling hands clutching him. So he knows though the child is acting defiant, she's really scared. If he knows, the reader will know. On second pass, that sentence was shaved down to "Wide-eyes shot Miss Harker looks revealing Reece was up for a show-down of wills if necessary." Basically, the caseworker was trying to woo her to come with her, but the child only felt safe with my hero.

You never want to write a scene where you talk (as the author) to your reader. Well, anyway, this is just my personal preference. I don't like when a story has an author intrusive feel.

Another way I've tightened the writing is rearranging sentences. Seeing if I could replace three words with one stronger one, such as the above example. Other examples are: "He reached down and picked her up" became "He lifted her." Stuff like that. Saying the same thing with less words. Gives the writing more punch in my opinion. You can experiment with sentence structure in this manner. Use how you construct your sentences and your paragraphs to convey tone. For instance, if something is really, really, really important....put it in a line by itself. But do that sparingly, so the reader understands the gravity of the sentence. If you use that technique too often, it will lessen the effect when you really need it.

Same thing with exclamation points. I have a personal rule not to use more than 5-10 my entire manuscript. I'm serious. I've seen over twenty in the first three pages alone. That gets old and lessens the effect for when you truly want to convey stuff. I always use it in dialogue or internal monologue. Never in narrative. You can show tension and suspense by making shorter sentences. Long rambling sentences describing the landscape when someone is being chased through a forest will seem odd.

For instance, in Ben's story, in one tense scene, I had one sentence written something like this: He reached for the door handle and pulled but it was locked. Here we have a woman passed out in a hot, locked car. I can't ramble. So I changed the sentence to this: He jerked the handle. Locked. Not only did I break one long sentence into two, I put "Locked" on a line by itself.

Yesterday I went through the line edits of my other two books to make any stylistic corrections to my book. Such as, I wrote USAF just like that. But the copy editors switched it to U.S.A.F. in the first two books, so I switched it to U.S.A.F. in this book to make their jobs easier if they decide to buy the book.

There's much, much more that I've been doing, but as I am swamped the next two weeks so I can't put more at this time. Hopefully there's something here that you can use.

Warmly,

Squirrel

PLOTSTORM-BEN'S STORY-DAYS 3 & 4

Things were going great then I hit a plot snag. Though the book is fiction, it has to be believable. I sometimes spend 2-5 years researching a book before I write it. Unfortunately, sometimes all that technical info sops my brain and it runs out of RAM, leaving me with spurts of no common sense.

I totally blitzed on a portion of the plot regarding legalities and proper Illinois (the state my story is set in) proceedures for what happens to an unnattended child whose parent is incapacitated after a wreck. I had to go back into the opening scene and insert a DCFS (Department of Children and Family Services) caseworker.

Thankfully, I'd had one in a previous book (who may get her own story some day) so I had her make an appearance. Up to this point, I hadn't introduced many secondary characters, so there was room for her to revisit this story.

So that lengthened the first scene. For some reason my first chapters usually come close to hitting 20 pages. I like to stick to around 15. We'll see if my critique partners can help me shave off a page or two. Anyway, if they can't (because it's already pretty lean) my first chapters are usually highly action-driven which makes them seem to move quick even though they tend to be longer.

After I wrote the caseworker in, I went through and added emotion and depth to the second scene. That part takes a lot of time, and it takes a lot of mental energy. I'm usually drained because I have to really get inside my characters' minds and hearts. I have to explore every angle, and try to put myself in their positions to feel what they'd feel. It's like acting of sorts, only you do it on paper. And sometimes it's hard to have to try and imagine some of that stuff, because it's stuff I'd never want to happen to me or to someone I love. Or it's stuff from a character's past that I feel my reader needs to know in order to help endear the characters to readers.

That's another thing I've done the last couple of days...write in touching moments that will hopefully live in reader's minds. The kind of stuff that brings a tear to eyes. For instance, a movie scene that has had that effect on me is the one from "Raising Helen." If you've never seen it...GO RENT IT NOW. LOL! Watch it immediately. Bring tissues.

Anyway, the scene I'm talking about is when Kate Hudson was in the closet with her just-deceased sister's children closeby. They're smelling her clothes and crying. This is her sister's closet. That scene makes me cry every time I see it. It lives in my mind and heart, especially since I have a sister who I love and can't imagine having to live without. This is the kind of thing you want to try to do with your stories. Write in emotional scenes that most people can identify with. We all love someone. We all grieve. Death or loss has touched every one of us in some manner. Try to write to a universal human need or something that most readers can sympathize with. Some examples I've used in my books are: touching upon the need to belong. The desire to be loved no matter what. Various faith battles. Coping after loss.

I also incorporate light and funny moments that most people can identify with. How many of you get those stupid email messages that say "if you don't send this to a billion people in the next five minutes your eyebrows will explode" or some other equally ridiculous "curse." I absolutely hate those and had my heroine groan over one in a scene in my first book. It's the kind of thing you hope your readers will read and say, "Oh, yes! I hate those things too!" So you've just personified your character, added dimension and realness, and made them a person your reader can identify with.

My particular writing technique is that I see and write the stories by scenes. There is no right or wrong way to write. Everyone is different. Find what works for you. I break the story up in my mind. I rarely know the story from beginning to end. I get it in snippets or scenes. Snippets of dialogue. Flashes of interaction. I see portions of the setting. I usually have a written scene index to go by, but they're usually not in depth..and in fact are usually only 1-3 sentences of scene summary. Then I free write. This keeps me on track plot and word count-wise, and helps me to avoid sagging middles. It also helps me cover all the plot points if I have to write a plot-driven synopsis. I much more prefer character-driven synopses, but I have to make sure in my synopsis that I'm showing my editor the story has a very definitive beginning, middle and end. Once I start a story, I need to have it down (mess draft) in a few days or weeks.

BTW: A sagging middle is when your story just suddenly bogs, and you get stuck. Though I'm mostly a panster as far as plot, I do like to have some kind of a roadmap. My scene index serves that purpose.

For an example of how I do my scene indexes, refer to the Labels in the right side bar of my blog. Click on "Plotstorms" and you should be able to scroll around and find the section where I posted an example of my scene indexes.

In the last couple days' pass, I also changed up my wording a bit in order to foreshadow some things to come, one being a disaster. I also tailored my analogies, metaphors, etc. so they are plot-specific. There is a hurricane later in the book, so I've used words such as, "emotion stormed in her eyes" etc. That's not the precise wording, but you get the drift...pun intended. LOL! My hero is also military, so I've tried to paint word pictures while in his POV that he could identify with. Such as, "her words hit like a mortar shell." Again, not the exact wording I used, but just to give you examples of how your word choices should exemplify the tone, setting, theme and plot of your story.

Another thing I've done is proof and proof and go through my grammar books. I've also done spell check a gazillion times. When I'm satisfied with a computer copy, I print it out and proof it by paper because I am a TERRIBLE proofreader by computer. As you can probably tell by lots of the typos in my blog. I plan to take a couple of days to go through and correct those though because I can't stand the thought of leaving them out there. But for now, I just want to get this down while it's fresh so I can get the story turned in to my editor.

More in a day or so.

Warmly,

Cheryl

PLOTSTORM BEN'S STORY---DAY 2

Okay, so continuing on with Ben's story. I have the opening scene cut down so hero and heroine are interacting in chapter one instead of chapter two. What used to be Chapter two is actually scene two in chapter one.

 

The book starts out in Ben's point of view. He's in a mall parking lot when a child approaches him needing help. Basically the mother passed out from dehydration and the child found Ben to help. Mother and child are passing through town. So I had the scene set where Ben rushes across the parking lot to help the mother. Scene is in his perception. So we're seeing and feeling everything Ben would feel, think and experience in this scene. This is maintaining a purist Point of View. I stay in one person's head the entire scene. Only during a scene or time break do I switch POV, and I always have at least a few pages in a scene.

 

Scene two is the heroine waking up and meeting the man who helped her. She has trust issues, and those come out immediately. I try to end not only each chapter with a hook, but each scene. I even try to fashion my prose so the first page of the manuscript ends on a hook....even if it's only six lines of text. I've done this with every novel and received tons of positive feedback through contests on my hooks before I was published. Hooks are a good way to keep your reader reading. Don't give them any reason to want to set that book down.

 

Incidentally, how I craft my scenes is using Dwight Swain's Scene/Sequel technique. His book, Techniques of the Selling Writer is, in my opinion, a must-have for any fiction novelist wanting to have solid scene structure. Every scene we write needs several reasons to be there. That advice came from my author mentor, Margaret Daley. www.margaretdaley.com. She also has some wonderful examples of character charts on her site.

 

Right now, Randy Ingermanson..who created the snowflake method of plotting, is doing a teaching on synopsis on his site. He also has a section where he discusses Scene and Sequel. Here's a link to his scene structure article, based on Dwight Swain's techniques. http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/art/scene.php

 

So yesterday I polished the first two scenes. Then I went through and decided to up the stakes. In the prior version of the scene, I hadn't added in setting details. For some reason, I nearly always layer that in last. Mostly because I have to figure out time lines and need to decide what season the story starts in. In this story, one of my major disasters is a hurricane. So I needed the story to start about three months before hurricane season starts. So in addition to layering in setting details, I layered in sensory details. I usually always incorporate sight in my first draft because I have to see the scene play out before I can write it out. What I did last night was go in and sprinkle in details (never too heavy, nor too much at once) using other five senses. In this case, the point of view character's senses. I write it in deep point of view so the story doesn't have a narrated feel to it. In other words, when the little girl got close to Ben, he smelled a scent of strawberry in her hair. But I didn't write it like this: "Ben smelled a hint of strawberry in her hair." Writing it that way is "Telling." You want to show the reader through the POV character's senses. So you just simply say it since we know we're in Ben's mind and body. A slight breeze ruffled her hair, lifting hints of strawberry with it. Or something like that. So you just write it as Ben is experiencing it. By the way....it seems that I just said just and actually, nearly all the time, you can remove words such as "that" and "just" and "actually" and "nearly" and "it seems" etc. LOL! It tightens your writing, gives sentences more punch, and cuts down on wordiness and unnecessary prose. Some other "telling" words are: "He heard"

"She saw"

"He watched"

"She felt"

"She smelled"

"She wondered"

etc.

 

Just describe what they're feeling, wondering, thinking, etc. in a direct sentence. You'll cut down on italics that way too, and anchor your reader deeper in point of view which will hopefully help them to feel like they're an ancillary person in your scene, experiencing, seeing, feeling, etc. everything your point of view character is. As much as you can put them "in" the scene, the more it will rivet them there. And if you do it well, they'll feel as though they are the POV character. So write the scene as if you're a robotic camera inside the point of view character. Don't tell the scene. Let it play out as if onstage.

 

I got off on a tangent there. Back to upping the stakes. After I layered in sensory and setting details (a sentence here or there is all because a little goes a long way. Sometimes less is more.)

 

In the opening, Ben was casually shopping. He'd picked up some items, deodorant, shampoo type stuff from the drug store near the mall. I know what's in his bags, but the reader doesn't necessarily know that. They're not going to care what's in the bag unless it's crucial to the scene. So in the initial scene, I had him leaving the store at closing time. Sure, there was tension when the little girl ran up to him saying her mommy needed help. A sense of urgency was present in sentence one because I always spend a lot of time on my opening line. I like it to immediately make the reader sit up and go...wow! in addition to hooking them from the onset with trouble, I try to use my first sentence or two to leave them with at least one question. In this case, the scene starts with the little girl saying something like, "Hey, Mister! My mommy needs help." or something similar. That immediately puts tension on the page because Ben sees panic the the little girl's eyes and doesn't see her mother anywhere around. So he's having this internal monologue like, "He scanned the parking lot for the mother. No car propped with its hood though." See, it works like that because the reader knows stat whose  POV the scene is in. I don't have to say, "Ben didn't see a car with its hood propped though." See the difference? And if I wanted to deepen the POV more, I could actually take out the part about Ben scanning, and just put what he's seeing without actually telling the reader he's seeing. But in this case, the way I wrote it in the book, I used the name of the town and the actual location, so the reader would know the setting without me having to slow the intensity of the scene by a chunk of setting detail.

 

About upping the stakes. The second pass through the scene, I thought, how can I add tension to every page? How can I make this worse than it already is? So I made it very hot outside. That adds tension because the mother is passed out in a hot car, and we all know how easily the inside of a car can heat up. That can be lethal to people and especially to children or babies. So as a side note....never, never, never leave an infant or child in a hot car...not even for a few minutes.

 

Okay....off my soap box and back into tension. I wasn't satisfied with that aspect of tension. That ups the stakes for the heroine, but what about for Ben? So I start asking questions. Why was he at the mall? Where was he going afterward? Initially, I just had him between deployments with nowhere in particular to go. He could be at the beck and call of the damsel in distress. LOL! But that feels entirely too contrived. So I have him stopping off at the mall, hoping he'll make it by closing time because he's on his way to the airport to pick up his brother with Down Syndrome. Furthermore, I can up the stakes because if he doesn't leave in the next few minutes, he won't make it in time to meet his brother who is traveling unattended.

 

Furthermore, to increase tension more, I can have his brother have panic attacks with change, or airports, or fear of being left alone or abandoned, etc. Lots of stuff I can throw at Ben to cause stress in the moment. LOL! So he feels torn between an emergent situation and his brother at the airport.

 

So my challenge to you today with this plotstorm is go through a scene you've already written and ask yourself: How can I make this worse? Is there tension on every page? Every paragraph? How can you up the stakes for your character? Something has gone wrong for someone. Something has upset their life or their plans for the day. Just when they think it can't possibly get worse....it does. How?

 

Maybe there was another child in the heroine's car that wandered off? How about that, huh? Or maybe the child...an infant...who can't wander off...is missing? We've just upped the stakes significantly.

 

Or maybe not since I'm writing for LI and not LIS. LOL!

 

You'll just have to get the book to find out. He he he he. But of course, the editor has to agree to buy the book first, which means I need to finish the chapters. So I'm off to do just that.

 

I hope this has helped to enrich your scenes. I'm saying nothing new here. Nothing I haven't learned from someone else. Lots of great resources for writers out there. When you have a scene that really rivets you, study it. Pick it apart. Find out why. Find out what works. When you meet a character who sticks in your mind for months or years....find out why. Go back and read to determine at what point that character was endeared to you. Find out what the author did to make that happen.

 

Then make it happen in your own writing, with your own story and your own characters and plot. Happy writing! Let's all step it up to the next level. Strive to make it better than the best it can be.

 

More next time,

 

Squirrel

--
Cheryl Wyatt   Gal. 2:20   Pouring my vial of words over Him.

www.CherylWyatt.com   www.Scrollsquirrel.blogspot.com

A SOLDIER'S PROMISE~ Steeple Hill Love Inspired~ Jan. 2008
A SOLDIER'S FAMILY~ Steeple Hill Love Inspired~ Mar. 2008

www.Steeplehill.com   www.Loveinspiredauthors.com

PLOTSTORM BEN-LI'S STORY

I'm getting ready to turn in another proposal to my editor. Before I do, I thought I'd throw together my plotstorm for this book. For those of you unfamiliar with my plotstorms, when I say plot, I'm also talking characters because characters drive the plot in my stories.

So Ben-li is one of the U.S.A.F Pararescue Jumpers (PJ) in the series I'm currently working on. Steeple Hill publishers have bought two of the books so far. They'll release in Jan 2008 (A Soldier's Promise) and March 2008 (A Soldier's Family).

To start Ben-s story, I knew these things about him: He's part Asian, and part Caucasian. He's unusually tall for an Asian man. He's marriage-minded. Wants to find someone who shares his newfound Christian faith. He is musical. Likes to play various instruments but mostly the guitar.

So he's a well-rounded kind of guy. A Special Forces soldier, highly educated. I'm the kind of author who loves to turn stereotypes on their heads, so in deepening Ben's character, I didn't want to give him traits most people think of when they think of Asians. He's not the martial arts expert of the team, but the communications expert. One quirk Ben has is he hates chinese food. He eats it so he doesn't hurt his mother and grandmother's feelings. So though he's a tough as mortar warrior, he's also sensitive and thinks of others. Yet he's not wimpy. He's funny and speaks clearly in an American accent. He doesn't drive a sports car, he drives a sensible, economical car...just like him. He's sensible and manages his money wisely. My readers may never know some of this stuff about Ben, but I do. It helps me to know how he would react in any given situation.

Moving onward, Ben's story goal is to move his adult brother (who has Down Syndrome) to Refuge (the fictional town of my story setting) and to find someone to either take care of him, or find a home that his brother would thrive in because he cannot live alone, and Ben gets deployed on a moment's notice. Ben's never really had a relationship with his brother and longs for that. He also longs to honor his parents by enabling them to pursue the world travel they've always dreamed of. His brother doesn't travel well, so Ben taking over primary care of his brother is a win-win situation for everyone.

In comes the heroine. Ben met her by chance in the opening. She was passing through Refuge en route to a friend's house, who'd offered her a job and a place to live. She is a single mom who has a fender bender with a mall light pole. She has to remain in town to get her car fixed. She's financially strapped and unexpected expenses keep cropping up to deter her plans. You want to constantly toss roadblocks in your characters' paths to challenge their goals.

One of the first things I did in the plotstorm was get to know my characters by the use of character charts. Another thing I do immediately is figure out characters' goal, motivations, conflicts, spiritual struggles and relationship conflict. Meaning what is the main thing keeping the hero and heroine apart? There can be more than one thing. It can be an internal reason (heroine hurt in the past and gunshy of relationships-liek my heroine), or it can be an external reason: (hero's job phsically takes him away from the heroine...such as in my first book.)

One thing I determine in the beginning is what can I incorporate into the plot that forces the hero and heroine to remain together, though their goals try to pull them apart. In this case, her car breaking down keeps her in town initially. Ben helps her and she feels indebted to him. Then other things crop up to keep her in town for summer, and so forth. She gets a summer job in Refuge to be able to catch up some before starting school on scholarship in another state.

All of these things are tentative. They may change when I turn this in to my editor. If she likes the story and wants to buy it, there will probably be revisions, which makes everything here tentative. It's always good to have plan B or C, etc for your stories in case one aspect of your plot doesn't work.

I find out why my characters want this goal. This is called motivation. You can get Debra Dixon's book called GMC....and she explains all of this in depth. It's a great way to formulate story structure and make sure you know your characters somewhat before you begin.

So we know the characters' story goals and motivation. Then I figure out who is least and most resistant to the relationship and why. This usually stems from something that happened to them in their past, or a way they were raised, or some defining moment in their life which caused the resistance.

I then figure out their spiritual struggle. One or both of the characters can have a spiritual arc, meaning their faith struggle. In this case, my heroine never feels like she measures up to God's standard to her. She's always working to better herself. She struggles with self-condemnation. That's her arc in the book. I have a goal epiphany for each character usually, but especially for the character who struggles most in their faith. In this case, it's the heroine. Her epiphany is that she must come to realize that no matter how many times she fails, God will never see her as a failure. That she can't do anything to make God love her any less.

Okay so moving on...

We have GMC, etc. Now, I figure out the opening scene, which usually consists of a defining moment in character's life, or a disaster or some life change, etc. I decide whose point of view I'm going to start the book in. In this case, it's the heroine.

I then decide my setting, meaning what time of year is it and where is the story set? I already knew the setting would be Refuge before, since readers like to revisit towns from previous stories in a series. So at this point, I am planning to set the story in the same town as the first two books.

Then I go through and think of as many things as I can to add tension to the book. How can I up the stakes constantly for the characters? What hurdles can I fling at them, and what obstables can I toss in their paths to make them work harder for their goals, and cause the reader to wonder how this is all going to turn out all right in the end. Some ways to do this is imagine your worst fear and write about it. That puts quite a bit of authentic emotion in the story. Or, I've heard of authors putting their characters in a situation they dread most, or that they'd never willingly enter into themselves, and see how they react. Make them do things they think they'd never do, or never could do.

So for now, I have polished the two opening scenes. I had scene two as chapter two originally, but I cut it down by 6-7 pages because I wanted the heroine and hero interacting sooner. In category romance, it's pretty important that your hero and heroing meet within the first chap and even better if it's in the first few pages.

Since I tend to lean toward writing action-driven stories...I struggle with that and usually have to do some major hacking of plot and pages to get them together sooner.

So that's what I'm working on now. Or did a few days ago. Then I've let the story gel for several days...so I can see it with fresh eyes. It's amazine how much stuff you pick out, mistake wise and plotholes, etc. when you set it aside for a time so your mind has a chance to forget most of what you wrote.

This is also why I send it to my critters (critique partners). They always find stuff I miss. I highly recommend if you're serious about learning fiction, to find a good writing group such as ACFW or FHL or RWA. Pray for God to send you critique partners. And if you're able, spring for a conference. Networking is invaluable. Contests are great for feedback, but if contests help you move a few inches in your writing journey, conferences will move you miles. It's that kind of difference face to face networking makes.

Okay, off to tear into chapter three.

More plotstorm another day.

Squirrel

Need help? Another kind of 9-1-1

Psalm 91 (New International Version)

Psalm 91 (NIV)

 Ps 91:1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
       will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

 2  I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress,
       my God, in whom I trust."

 3 Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare
       and from the deadly pestilence.

 4 He will cover you with his feathers,
       and under his wings you will find refuge;
       his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.

 5 You will not fear the terror of night,
       nor the arrow that flies by day,

 6 nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
       nor the plague that destroys at midday.

 7 A thousand may fall at your side,
       ten thousand at your right hand,
       but it will not come near you.

 8 You will only observe with your eyes
       and see the punishment of the wicked.

 9 If you make the Most High your dwelling—
       even the LORD, who is my refuge-

 10 then no harm will befall you,
       no disaster will come near your tent.

 11 For he will command his angels concerning you
       to guard you in all your ways;

 12 they will lift you up in their hands,
       so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.

 13 You will tread upon the lion and the cobra;
       you will trample the great lion and the serpent.

 14 "Because he loves me," says the LORD, "I will rescue him;
       I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.

 15 He will call upon me, and I will answer him;
       I will be with him in trouble,
       I will deliver him and honor him.

 16 With long life will I satisfy him
       and show him my salvation."

Hope you are encouraged today.

 

Hugs,

--
Cheryl Wyatt   Gal. 2:20   Pouring my vial of words over Him.

www.CherylWyatt.com  www.Scrollsquirrel.blogspot.com

A SOLDIER'S PROMISE~ Steeple Hill Love Inspired~ Jan. 2008
A SOLDIER'S FAMILY~ Steeple Hill Love Inspired~ Mar. 2008

www.Steeplehill.com   www.Loveinspiredauthors.com

BAND PIX

Ben Calhoun & Bro(from The Least of These)and Mercy Me at Rockford Edan Concert with special guests:
Echoing Angels
Caedmon's Call
The Least of These
Steven D

INDIA PIX, ROCKFORD CONCERT PIX and TRIVIA

India pics:
(Part of our media team that went following the tsunami to see about building orphanes for children who lost their parents to the tsunami)

One interesting bit of trivia about that is it only costs about five thousand American dollars to build an orphanage for a few hundred children in India.

I had a thousand and some dollars to send toward it, and prayed God would give me the rest so I could help the children have a home and beds to sleep on. My first book contract was the EXACT amount I needed! Only God could know how much it meant for me to be able to help these children I met and fell instantly in love with.

One really awesome thing, and I wish I'd had memory left in my card to get a pic of it..but for nearly a hundred miles of travel to a remote area of India, the landscape was hot, drab, brown and gray. Then this brilliant, magnificant yellow glowed on the horizon of the road. As our bus neared, I realized it was a field of yellow flowers. It seemed to go on for a mile. It was THE only bright spot for what seemed like ever. Our bus stopped in the middle of it, and across the road, mere feet away sat the site for the orphanage! It was coming along nicely as far as construction. Then the orphanage pastor told us the flowers were a mustard seed field!!! HOW COOL IS THAT? If you have faith as much as a tiny mustard seed....

Pics above are a few of the folks who were on our fifteen (or so) member team:

Logical as her father and gal with a great sense of humor...Sarah Zacharias Davis (daughter of Ravi Zaharias) who is also an author, talking to a child.

Orphans draping my neck with flower necklaces they made for our team.

Me playing in the floor with some adorable orphans...well, orphaned no more because they're all God's kids.

Beautiful and Tenderhearted Kelly McCorkle (Miss North Carolina and Amazing Race star) with the children.

Me with children. I just couldn't get or give enough hugs. LOL!

Band Pics:

The Least of These artist Ben Calhoun and his brother with a couple of their littlest fans.

Mercy Me playing.

Sound check for Mercy Me, Echoing Angels, The Least of These, Caedmon's Call and Steven D.

Oh, and another cool thing I learned at the concert is that Caedmon's Call band members have a huge heart for the dalit (outcasts, unwanted) community in India, as I do. This blessed my heart tremendously. As some of you may or may not know, I've been there on media and humanitarian missions. Mostly to pray for and help the orphan, widow, leper and Christian (four groups considered dalits) communities.

A bit of Trivia: "Share the Wealth" song was written for and about India.

I may eventually repost some of those India pics...I know they were hugely popular on my blog. But I deleted them after receiving some threatening comments from an anti-Christian extremist. I didn't want to put the children or the orphanage workers or pastors or their families in danger. I probably overreactd by deleting all the posts. Many of you have requested those photos to be put back up. I prayed about it, and decided that since I doubt terrorists are stalking my blog, I'd post a few back up.

Please pray for these bands and for the dalits of India.

Enjoy the pictures!

Warmly,

Squirrel

BATTING IDEAS AROUND

Hey all,

Since I seem to be on a provision kick lately, I thought I'd toss this out there.

Some of you know my husband is very involved in the Christian music industry. He has played in bands as well as ran sound for nearly every major (and many underground) bands out there. He does some secular stuff too, but mostly Christian venues.

Anyway, recently one of the concert/festival promoters he works with mentioned I could sign my books at the concerts. This is so cool because it's like a merging of both of our ministries. Okay, my church hates that term, but I mean it in the sense that, If you’re a surrendered-to-God-Christian, you HAVE a ministry, meaning what outlet God is using you and your gifts to draw people to Himself. So ministry is about HIM, not US. Just so we’re clear in case anyone from my church is listening. LOL! I love my church by the way. Anyway, book signings would require travel, and so do sound gigs. So this merging would actually give our family time together rather than cause us time apart.


Another cool thing...he may also start running sound at NASCAR races for infield entertainment. So far, 12-24 races. The really cool thing about this is I was raised on the track practically. LOL! We went to the races as far back as I can remember and in fact, I may have been potty trained in Pit Row. LOL! Going to the races was one of the fondest times I remember with my family.

Except for that one time the tractor truck at the tractor pulls ended up with it's throttle stuck wide open and came out of the mud bog...crashed through the fence and nearly took out my entire family. I'm talking the first several rows of bleachers were splintered. It landed on us...my mom's glass makeup container crushed in her lap. I ended up shoved between the bleachers somehow, and my cousin's tennis shoes, which were seated on either side of me were shredded. They found my hair in the tires. God definitely had his hand on my entire family that day...aka another form of provision is God's protection. Other than getting scraped up, scared out of our wits and mighty muddy, no one was seriously hurt.

Anyway, back to the NASCAR thing. I started some racing (not "racy" Very Big Grin!)stories a few years back, one was titled Thrill of The Chase... The Chase is actually a NASCAR finaling race. Anyway, it would be so cool, if, after I set the artillery-leaden stories I'm currently writing aside, if I could pick up those racing stories again.

I love to write anything high adrenaline, and in fact have branded myself (writing-wise) on My Space, Shoutlife, etc. as "High Caliber Romance. High Octane Faith."

Harlequin (my publisher) currently has a merger with NASCAR for a line of stories. And while they won't launch that line with unknown/unproven authors, in a few years I will have hopefully built up my readership enough to maybe try for one of those if my editors are cool with it. The stories are commonly set in the Midwest where I live and have a Midwest feel. My agent at the time mentioned the NASCAR stories to me, and the information she obtained was that I could write low sensuality and include a faith element. Not sure if that'll be the case when and if I decide to pursue this with God and my editor's blessings but it's something for you all to pray about.

I've batted around a few Non-Fiction ideas. One on Impartation of Spiritual Gifts...and the other music and faith related. Basically I had this idea that, since I'm backstage with hubby before, during and after concerts, I usually get to interact with the bands. In fact, my children splashed around in a hot tub with one of Mercy Me's guitar players' children since the promoter put us up at the same hotel. It's these encounters where you meet the bands and get to see their hearts. Also, to be able to pray for them because life on the road is tough if their families aren't traveling with them.

I've heard so many stories about how songs came about, or how people were touched by certain songs, or how certain songs were inspired, I've started writing them down as a self-study about the kind of impact words can have to heal hearts and situations. Who knows if anything will come of the ideas book-wise. It's encouraging to me to see God's hand through music because I think He works through books (even fiction) much the same way. At the last sound gig we went to, Mercy Me headlined with several other bands. One of those bands was The Least of These. One of Ben Calhoun's (Photo Above) songs (on his solo album) was inspired by a friend of his. She prepared and worked hard and saved to be able to go on a missions trip. She organized concerts to raise money for it. She got the money, but was killed just a couple of days before her flight was to leave. One of the band members telling this story said he told God he didn't understand why God would take this girl's life. A life who served Him. He didn't know what to do or say, so he wrote a song. It's absolutely beautiful and titled Fall Like Rain. Check out Ben’s My Space Page here: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=193882378

Stories such as this inspire me.

I've often thought of writing a book about this sort of thing, but then I found out CCM does something similar called Behind the Song...or something like that. Probably similar to MTV's (I think) Behind the Music. So I set that idea aside, but still write the stories down because they remind me of God's provision in grief and in times of suffering. Music is healing, as is laughter. Anyway, at this concert, when Mercy Me got ready to go onstage, I had a tidal wave of compassion hit me for the people sitting directly behind me. I hadn't met them, didn't know them. All I knew was I was very nearly in tears during the entire set because my heart was squeezing with empathy for them. I had no idea why. I knew God knew though, so I spent the better part of the set just interceding silently for them. After the concert, my daughter turned around to them and casually mentioned that she's sad because Brownie (her guinea pig) died. The woman leaned forward, held my daughter's face in her hands so tenderly and said, "I'm so sorry about your pet. I know how you feel. My brother died two weeks ago."

My heart fell to my toes. I began to talk to her and she shared with me that he'd drowned two weeks prior. Her and her sister (sitting next to her at the concert, along with their other brother) were coming back from their brother's funeral and they were arguing. Things were tense between them. Then the radio came on and Mercy Me's song "Imagine" came on. If you haven't heard that, it basically is from the point of view of a man who is singing to God about what Heaven will be like. He asks Jesus (in the song) questions such as "Will I stand in your presence? Or to my knees will I fall? Will I sing Hallelujah? Will I be able to sing at all? (Etc, Etc.) I can only imagine, I can only imagine."

During the song in the car ride, the two sisters were stricken with remembrance that Mercy Me was their brother's (the one who drowned) favorite song and Imagine was his favorite song. She said they knew, just knew God intended them to hear that song. It caused them to patch things up and put better perspective on things. After the song, the radio announcer offered free tickets to the Mercy Me concert (where I met them). They called and won the tickets. It was like God wanted them there. (Provision in grief) So during the Mercy Me set, they played “Imagine” last...and that's probably why my heart was about to squeeze out of its chest for this family. They'd lost a loved one so very recently, but here's his favorite band playing his favorite song...and the song is about a man pondering what Heaven will be like. Only during the playing of that song I think they were realizing God was speaking to them about what their brother is experiencing in Heaven. http://www.mercyme.org/main/

So the words, for this family, became not only touching, but literally a balm from God's fingers pressed to the grief wounds in their hearts. And though they miss him, God gave them hope. Their story profoundly ministered to me, and that's the sort of thing I'd like to put in the NF book. God's provision or something about how He ministers through the creative arts...music, books, etc.

I'm just tossing this out there for feedback. Would this sort of thing be of interest to you? Leave your thoughts in the comment section.

Come on y'all. Don't be shy!

Extremely ponderous today....Squirrel

What would you be willing to endure just to be with Him?

Yes, I write romance....and that header kinda sounds like a romance kind of question. I love my hubby more than words can say, but I'm even more passionately in love with Jesus.

 

A friend (thanks, Robin!) sent me this link and I BAWLED my eyes out. I mean the kind of heaving cry that comes from your gut.

 

Get your tissues ready, click the link, and be prepared to be changed and touched. It's got a slow start...but well worth it if you watch until the end.

 

Warning: Don't have anything important planned after you watch this. It'll make you want to hole up in your room and worship for about ten hours straight.

 

 

http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=ee73e63418003b47d7d5

 

Check it out and let me know what you think.

 

If you're a lurker here...come out and play with us! Hee hee!

 

and by the way...the subject line is a bit misleading....He endured the worst of EVERYTHING for us. Just to be with us. The message in this video speaks for itself, but if you're struggling to believe the depths and lengths Jesus would go to just to be in relationship with you....you really NEED to watch this.

 

Hugs!

 

Squirrel

 

--
Cheryl Wyatt   Gal. 2:20   Pouring my vial of words over Him.

www.CherylWyatt.com  www.Scrollsquirrel.blogspot.com

A SOLDIER'S PROMISE~ Steeple Hill Love Inspired~ Jan. 2008
A SOLDIER'S FAMILY~ Steeple Hill Love Inspired~ Mar. 2008

www.Steeplehill.com   www.Loveinspiredauthors.com

God's Provision...even in Rejection

Hey all,

 

I received a rejection on my submitted book yesterday, but that's not what this post is about. 

I'd been asking for direction regarding my writing, specifically what I needed to work on learning this year to improve my craft.

 

I'm a list maker...and I also try to set goals for each year as far as writing, family life, God, etc.

 

So on my writing, I've known my endings are weak, so I've been reading books in my genre and in the line I'm targeting to see how they end. To study the books for author's techniques that really seemed to work. I don't want readers to get let down at the end and be like..."well, the engine took off strong, and the rest of the train chugged pretty good...but that caboose....anticlimactic."

 

Anyway, with the rejection, it made me all the more want to work on strengthening my endings so they're not so abrupt. My stories always end happily, but sometimes the pacing is off, usually because I've run out of word count and I rush. I've got to learn to write leaner throughout and leave readers with a truly satisfying ending.

 

So today, I'm going through a gazillion emails and stumble on this one digest that I never have time to read. It's called Writing Tips. I was about to route it to its folder to be read some other year (lol!) when my attention snapped back to it. 

 

I had this vague, out of nowhere thought, "Don't delete that. It'll help you end your books. You'll learn from it." Then I had the strongest sensation God was saying to me, "I will give you everything you need. Everything." 

 

These thoughts were so vague I nearly deleted the email. On a whim I opened it....and every article that issue was on how to end books! LOL! 

 

This is so cool. God knows my books need SERIOUS help on the hind end. LOL! I really think He directed me to that email. How cool is that? Stuff like this takes the sting of rejection away because to me, it's worth it if I get to know Him and His voice better and learn to trust that He has my best interest at heart. 

 

By the way, the endings weren't the only reason the story got rejected. We're not sure the story or characters are redeemable for the line and house I'm writing for. We'll see, but for now, I'm working on a different book in that series and will try to move it to be book three instead. 

 

That's why it's always good to have something else in the works for an editor, in case one project doesn't work for them. Even if it does, they're going to want to see something else from you if they contract you. So again, I stress...don't be idle. When you submit that sucker...fling yourself fully into another story right away. When my editor asked, I was able to say I do have another proposal ready...although it needs polished and I need to work on the synopsis. We brainstormed it a little today and I'm going to tweak the synopsis and opening a bit to incorporate my editor's suggestions. I wish I would have done that (ran it past my editor first for her thoughts} with the last book....but live and learn, right?

 

The more I learn in this industry, the more I learn I need to learn more. LOL! It never stops, nor should it. Now I know it's better to take up fifteen minutes of her time to go over a story idea before I write it than to write it and make the poor thing suffer for hours or days slogging through 280 pages of poo....er...I mean fertilizer. LOL! Okay those are my words, not hers. She was much more kind and gracious. I'm brutal with myself. LOL! I just wish, wish, wish I could see the flaws in my own writing. I certainly have no trouble picking them out in others' writing. LOL!

 

It's just SO cool to me that GOD ALMIGHTY...Creator of Heaven and Earth...cares about me and something so menial as the endings of my stories. He cares about the things we care about. It was a beautiful reminder to me. I hope it encourages you, too. God knows you and loves you and knows everything you need, exactly when you need it. 

 

Warmly,

 

Squirrel

 

 

--
Cheryl Wyatt   Gal. 2:20   Pouring my vial of words over Him.

www.CherylWyatt.com  www.Scrollsquirrel.blogspot.com

A SOLDIER'S PROMISE~ Steeple Hill Love Inspired~ Jan. 2008
A SOLDIER'S FAMILY~ Steeple Hill Love Inspired~ Mar. 2008

www.Steeplehill.com   www.Loveinspiredauthors.com

HOW-M-BEAR-A-SING

Hey all...back from the sound gig...which was AWESOME! More on that later this week or next.

But I have to share something really embarrassing that happened. We're in the hotel room one morning. My kids are brushing their teeth with the water running. I tell them this at home but I guess they needed a reminder at the hotel to turn the water off while they're actually brushing. They asked me to remind them why and I said, "Because it conserves water. You can waste gallons of water if you leave it running while you brush. Just turn it on to wet your toothbrush, then again when you get ready to rinse."

So they ask, "What does conserve mean?"

I said, "That means to save water, meaning not use so much. It also saves money because using water costs money."

Sometime later, we're in the vehicle which has 7 passengers, including two of my husband's friends who do sound gigs with him, and my 15 yo niece.

One of my children asks out loud: "Mom, are you and daddy conserving water when you take showers together? Because I'm pretty sure you do."

Ack.

With muffled snickers around me...except for my teenage niece WHO IS HOWLING with laughter....I manage to gulp a few times and say, "Um...yes, sort of. Yes." I mean what can you say in this situation? I was NOT going to have THAT conversation with a seven year old in front of our friends. LOL!

Still red,

Squirrel

Will be MIA from Blogdom

Hey all,

I'm going to another sound gig with my hubby. So no posts for a few days.

If you are in the Rockford, IL area this weekend, drop by the concerts sponsored by Edan Productions. http://www.edanconcerts.com/.

Date:
Saturday, August 18th, 2007
5:00 pm Show

Place:
Summerwood Amphitheatre
2223 N. Mulford Rd. Rockford, IL

Bands playing:
Mercy Me
Caedmons Call
Burlap To Cashmere
Echoing Angels
Least of These

Click the Edan link above for pricing info, etc.


I'll "Blog" at you when I get back....

Squirrel

BLUSH AND CRINGE...The REAL story behind my Amazon discovery

Okay,

I was too embarrassed to post this yesterday and day before, but I'm over it now other than residual chuckling at my own ignorance.

Here's the REAL story behind my Amazon search which led to the discovery of my book being there.

I had an author email me recently to thank me for the "nice review I put of her book on Amazon." She said it was the nicest thing she'd ever heard about her writing. Since I haven't done a review in quite some time, and I couldn't recall what exactly I said about her book, I decided to look up my review. Generally to do that, at least in years past, I've just typed my name into the Amazon browser and my reviews pop up.

Okay, so I did that...and I'm looking at what I think is the review page. Now, you have to understand that 99% of the time publishers will change your title. They do this because they're marketing whizzes and well, I'm not. SO...though I sold the story and they changed the title, and I love the new title, I still (in my mind) think of the story by the old title..which was Ominous Code.

The browser opened up a new window and I looked at the screen that says, "A Soldier's Promise by Cheryl Wyatt." For a split second, my mind went, Huh. That's odd. Then my mouth went, "I don't remember reviewing a book named A Soldier's Pro--OH! OH! OH my goodness! That's MY book! THAT'S MY BOOK!" and I'm standing from my keyboard and shrieking through the house that my book is on Amazon.

My kids hardly blinked. Oh well. Not only are they not that impressed, they don't have any idea what Amazon is. LOL!

So I ran outside scouting for ANYONE or anything in their yard. Nothing. Except the neighbor's dog. He got an earfull about my book being on Amazon. Also totally unimpressed. LOL! Although he did give me a strange look, tucked his tail, dropped his ears down flat against his head and walked slowly away...eyeing me with brute force the entire time. As though he needed to figure out if he was gonna have to take me down and out to escape my yard safely.

But no matter. I was so excited I couldn't help myself.

Sigh.

I promise to try and contain myself when I see my book in Wal-mart.

Now that I'm off my wheelchair, walker (not rocker! LOL)and cane...my neighbors will hopefully get used to seeing me blare down the street in my sneakers whooping about this or that. I had received a friend's book (Camy Tang) from Zondervan and I did the same thing. Hugged it to my chest and ran through the streets telling everyone I saw and showing them Camy's book. I think the entire neighborhood will pick up her book, and hopefully preorder mine. LOL!

So, yeah, I'm admitting my mind didn't recognize at first that what my eyes were seeing was the book I authored, not a book I reviewed. LOL! But I recognize it now and hey, I just have to shout it one last time....

THAT'S MY BOOK!

GGG

Squirrel

Promise! PREORDER ON BORDERS

YAY! My book is also now on Borders!!!!! Looks like you can get a large print edition there.

 

http://www.bordersstores.com

 

You'll have to type my name Cheryl Wyatt AND the book title...which is A Soldier's Promise for it to pop up there. It's not listed on Barnes and Noble yet, or a couple others...yes, I'm nuts enough that I obsessively checked! LOL~

 

Oh, goodness this is so exhilarating. I cannot describe with human words the feeling of seeing my book on the online book stores. It's probably a good thing this didn't happen in Wal-mart...me seeing a book with my name on the cover...for the first time. Okay, well, not exactly my name on the cover, but the book becoming available.

 

Thirty-three years now I've longed for this! And it's unfolding before my eyes and I'm so filled with thankfulness I'm bursting at the seams. I literally danced around my living room, in the dark, to worship music until three am while my family slept. 

 

That I can once again dance made me all the more thankful. As some of you may or may not know, this time last year I was in a wheelchair following a huge surgery with a long, difficult recovery. I'd had to have my hip, femur and part of my pelvis completely reconstructed after a year and a half misdiagnoses. No there was no litigation involved but that's an entirely different story for another day. 

 

This day, I REJOICE and THANK GOD for His goodness in handing me this dream. 

 

Do you know you are doing EXACTLY what you were created for? Do you know that you absolutely CAN know it? Ask and it will be given.....

 

Sound familiar? If you remain in Him (spend time with Him, talk to Him, hang out with Him, make time for Him and only Him, soak in His presence, etc, etc) you can ask ANYTHING and it shall be given. How do we know if what we're asking is from God or God's will? If you abide (rest, live, breathe, take up residence) in Him, you need not worry. Because when we are in His presence we are transformed. Our desires will likely be His will. I felt like recently He told me that the few things I've been asking (okay..begging) Him for lately are indeed His will because He's the one who thought it up first and planted the seed of desire and want for those things there.

 

It puts a whole new slant on the verse that says if we delight ourselves in Him, He will grant us the desires of our hearts. But that verse always makes me think of another verse that says our heart is deceitful above all else. So when can we trust our hearts?

 

When we are abiding in Him.

 

Webster's defines abiding as such: (remaining, residing, enduring, awaiting, obeying, keeping our promise to) and is synonymous with abode. Meaning living in a house. Making God our home. Abiding. Living in Him. He's the structure and we stay there. Yet He also lives in our hearts.

 

I pray you are fulfilling your destiny and purpose in Him. Fancy words for simply doing what you were put on this earth to do. Do you know? I hope so because there's no feeling like it. To have surrendered my life completely to God and have Him allow me to use the creativity He's given me to worship Him and also make a difference in the world. That has been my prayer for my writing from day one. Not publication...but that my writing would 1. Be worship and honor Him and 2. Reach others either by encouraging, cheering, provide a pure escape from life's troubles, and help others wonder if maybe God would respond to them the way He responds to my characters. Though I do not write agenda-driven fiction, and actually have a strong aversion to agenda-driven fiction....I told God from the beginning that if my books aren't going to make a difference temporally or eternally, it's not worth it and I don't want to do it. That's when I knew He called me to it and said over and over, "This is Me...This is Me...proceed as planned." LOL!

 

So it's not just about having my name on the cover of a book although that's pretty awesome and exhilarating! But I can take a magic marker and do that with construction paper like I did when I was five and have it mean the same to God. It's about a promise coming true and about God opening doors I couldn't have opened myself. It's about taking the gifts He's given me and giving them back to Him. It's about all the times I wanted to give up because it was so hard and so long and so painful...and me just knowing I couldn't persevere...and having Him beside me every step of the blistering run, cheering me on, whispering in my ear, "I think you can." Then imparting strength to keep going. Encouraging me with a blog comment (yes...He uses you guys MIGHTILY to encourage me) or a contest judge comment or perhaps a contest win. He knows exactly what we need when we need it. And I am NOT going to stop going to that Amazon page to grin at my book once they do put a cover up. I haven't seen my cover yet...another thing to look forward to! In fact, I'm not gong to stop going to Amazon to look at the title...LOL!....I know it's there because of Him.

 

Thank you, Jesus. Words aren't enough to tell you what this means to me. I know you know because you always see inside my heart. Thank you Eph 3:20.

 

Hugs,

 

Squirrel
--
Cheryl Wyatt   Gal. 2:20   Pouring my vial of words over Him.

www.CherylWyatt.com  www.Scrollsquirrel.blogspot.com

A SOLDIER'S PROMISE~ Steeple Hill Love Inspired~ Jan. 2008
A SOLDIER'S FAMILY~ Steeple Hill Love Inspired~ Mar. 2008

www.Steeplehill.com   www.Loveinspiredauthors.com