Quick Link: A Look at the Second Pinch Point in Stories

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Quick links, bringing you great articles on writing from all over the web.

Pinch points are important and I will admit a new idea for me. But basically they are where the action takes place that leads up to the main climax. It is something that I recognized intuitively but did not have a name for. On her blog, Live Write Thrive, C.S. Lakin continues her series on pinch points.

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A Look at the Second Pinch Point in Stories

May 30, 2016

by C.S. Lakin

Can't you just feel the excitement?
Can’t you just feel the excitement?

Last week we took a look at the first pinch point—that moment in your story that comes after the hero’s goal is set and before the midpoint appears (in which the character has some important choices to make about the tough obstacles he’s facing).

Pinch points are mostly about the opposition. If the first pinch point reveals the strength of the opposition, the second one showcases the full force of it. If your character faces the edge of a hurricane at sea at the first pinch point, showing him what he’s truly up against, the second pinch point is going to be the battle for survival with the full brunt of the storm.

This isn’t the climax, but it’s building up to it. It’s preparing the stage for the final attack or onslaught or challenge your character will have to take.

As I said in last week’s post, I cringe when I have to do math and force my story into something like “the second pinch point comes 5/8ths into the story, at the 62% mark, exactly between the middle of the story and the second plot point—the middle of the third act.”

Can’t we just say this pinch point comes a little before the climax, to ramp up the stakes and make things start to look impossible for your character. I’m good with that. But hey, if you need to do the math and put everything on just the right page number, go for it.

These Pinch Points Are Key Developments

This basic structure fits every genre. Even a children’s fairy tale will show the wolf making inroads in the forest, confronting Little Red on her way to Granny’s at the first pinch point. And what happens at that second pinch point? Little Red is noting those big teeth Granny has, followed by the sinking realization it isn’t Granny lying in bed in that cute nightgown and bonnet.

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In The News – A brief look at how we read books today

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In The News – Articles Of Interest For Authors

A breakdown of American reader habits brought to you by the Staff at The Week.

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A brief look at how we read books today

The Week Staff

E-books were supposed to spell the end of print, but Americans’ reading habits have taken a different turn. Here’s everything you need to know.

Stack Of Books Flying From Computer Shows Online LearningDo most Americans still read books?

Seven out of 10 American adults, or 72 percent, have read a book in the past year — in whole or in part, and in any format — according to a 2015 Pew Research Center survey. That’s a steep decline from 1978, when 92 percent of Americans made that same claim, according to Gallup, although book-reading percentages have remained level since 2012. Women and young adults tend to be the biggest bookworms, the Pew survey found. The average woman read 14 books over the past 12 months, while men averaged nine books. Among young adults — ages 18 to 29 — fully 80 percent read a book in the past year, compared with 71 percent of adults ages 30 to 49, 68 percent of those 50 to 64, and 69 percent of those 65 and older.

How are people consuming their books?

Read the full post on The Week

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Quick Link: 5 Ways to Combine Sentences

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Quick links, bringing you great articles on writing from all over the web.

One of my better English teacher taught me that varying sentence size and structure made for better reading. You shouldn’t have to many long sentences, nor to many short ones. Mark Nichol at Daily Writing Tips shows us how to fold sentences into a more concise form.

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5 Ways to Combine Sentences

How sentences join together....
How sentences join together….

By Mark Nichol

Writers and editors should be alert to opportunities to improve the flow of content by combining consecutive truncated sentences that refer to a single topic. Here are five approaches to folding one one sentence into a preceding related statement.

1. A gray Cadillac hearse pulled into the ranch Saturday afternoon and left about 5 p.m. The hearse came from the Alpine Memorial Funeral Home.

Often, as here, additional information about something introduced in one sentence is relegated to a subsequent sentence when it could easily be integrated as a modifying phrase into the first sentence: “A gray Cadillac hearse from the Alpine Memorial Funeral Home pulled into the ranch Saturday afternoon and left about 5 p.m.”

Read the full post on Daily Writing Tips

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Quick Link: 6 Tips for How to Organize Your Novel’s Edits

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Quick links, bringing you great articles on writing from all over the web.

When you write software, you use different version to help track changes, deal with problems, and find code that the user now wants back. Writing a story is similar. You will have different sets of feedback from different beta readers, editors, and your great Aunt Ruth. How to stay sane? K.M. Weiland at Helping Writers Become Authors shares her hints on how to keep your edits organized. Do you have any favorite tips?

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6 Tips for How to Organize Your Novel’s Edits

May 29, 2016

by K.M. Weiland

and a clean original copy someplace safe!
and a clean original copy someplace safe!

Imagine this: you’ve received a ton of great feedback from your beta readers, critique partners, and/or editors. I mean a ton. You’re ready to dive in and start putting their suggestions to use. But… where do you start? How can you organize your novel’s edits so you can actually make sense of them?

One of the reasons editing a novel can sometimes feel like the insurmountable Mt. Never Gonna Get There is because you don’t have a clear path forward. Facing a big edit–with lots of feedback from various sources–is like facing down the mopping up after a hurricane. You’ve got the manpower and the know-how. But first you have to figure out how to put them to use. After all, you can’t move forward until you know the first step.

Reader Megan LaCroix emailed me recently with this fabulously pertinent question:

I’ve been collecting feedback I’ve received from agents, and I’ve also sent my manuscript out to a few betas to get even more feedback. My question is this: What is the best method for organizing multiple sets of feedback?

If your eyes are crossing at just the mention of multiple streams of feedback coming in at once, you’re not alone. Fortunately, organizing anything is my favorite subject! Today, I’m going to show you how to organize your novel’s edits in six simple steps.

But, first…

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Just for fun: 12 Things Every Book-Lover Has Said To Their Friends

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Just for fun – because everyone deserves a break

I had to laugh when I saw this, because I had just said the first three examples to my niece.  Enjoy at Bustle – 12 Things Every Book-Lover Has Said To Their Friends. How guilty are you or is she missing any?

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Laughing cat approves
Laughing cat approves

12 Things Every Book-Lover Has Said To Their Friends

Charlotte Ahlin

Reading can be a bit of a solitary activity. Most book lovers spend hours upon hours in bed/on the subway/in a bathtub, buried deep in the fictional realm. So when we finally emerge back into the real world, it’s nice to have a supportive circle of friends who we can harass about reading our favorite books. And there are a few things that every single book-lover has said to their friends.

As book-lovers, we brand ourselves as quiet and intellectual. We shake our heads at the hardcore sports fans, the indie rock enthusiasts, and the cinema snobs. And yet, when it comes down to it, we’re just as guilty of being motormouth fanatics. We lecture our friends on the relative virtues of e-readers vs paper books, we muse on the cultural stigma against fanfiction, and we need to talk through every major character death in every series we read. We harangue our friends who don’t read as much, and we constantly beg book recommendations off of our friends who read more (as much as we hate to admit that anyone reads more than we do).

So here’s a big shout out to all the friends of book-lovers who put up with us and our obsessions. And here are some of the things that every reader is guilty of saying to their friends:

1. “You HAVE to read this!”

Read the full post on Bustle

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Quick Links: How To Create Memorable Characters: 8 Little-Known Sleights of Hand

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Quick links, bringing you great articles on writing from all over the web.

Write to Done‘s John Yeoman gives us tips on how to take a character to the next level and give them added depth.

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How To Create Memorable Characters: 8 Little-Known Sleights of Hand

by: John Yeoma

That's 394 feet in 'merican deep.
That’s 394 feet in ‘merican deep.

Do we always have to create memorable characters?

No.

It depends on the genre.

In an all-action thriller focused on pace and plot, everyone but the key players can be wafer-thin. They’re disposable.

The same is often true of detective fiction, even the quality sort. In John Dickson Carr’s famous ‘locked room’ mysteries, the only rounded character is the sleuth, Gideon Fell, and he’s larger than life. All the other players are pawns on a chessboard.

But what if we do want to bring our characters alive–make them colorful?

Here are eight tips that will help you to create memorable characters.

 1. Use Character Labels

Do we remember characters who are introduced with a bald description?

‘He was a short man, stubby, with a protruding chin.‘

Probably not.

So why mention those details at all, unless they’re important to the story?

Because we can use them later as labels.

‘His face appeared at my elbow‘; ‘The stubby man entered‘; ‘He poked his long chin at me.’

And so on.

However, characters who are identified by labels alone have no personality. That’s just as well if they quickly vanish from the tale or meet a nasty end.

But what of the others?

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In The News – ‘People are hungry for real bookstores’: Judy Blume on why US indie booksellers are thriving

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In The News – Articles Of Interest For Authors

I am not allowed in a book store by myself. It is a deal I made with my husband, because I can’t be trusted. The problem is that once you get into a book store, it is a very enticing place. So no matter who I take with me, we end up with too many books for my budget’s happiness. Even with my husband! interviews the Judy Blume,  in this Guardian article that also explains part of reasons behind my addiction.

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‘People are hungry for real bookstores’: Judy Blume on why US indie booksellers are thriving

At 78, the multimillion-selling author has begun a new career, opening her own bookshop – and joining a business sector that’s flourishing again in the US

May 20 2016

This is the face I make when I am told the bookstore is closing and I have to go home...
This is the face I make when I am told the bookstore is closing and I have to go home…

She might be a beloved and bestselling author of classic children’s books from Forever to Blubber, but Judy Blume says she wakes up every day “and I look to the sky, and I say, ‘whoever’s up there, I thank you for not having to write today’.”

Blume doesn’t have to write because, at 78, she has embarked on a new career: she’s an independent bookseller. Together with her husband, George Cooper, she has opened a small, nonprofit bookshop in Key West, Florida, where she’s working almost every day. And she’s loving it. She had planned “to take a gap year” after she finished writing and promoting her last novel, In the Unlikely Event. “I was going to relax and read and have this whole time with no pressure. And then bingo – the chance comes along to open a bookshop, and there you go. I guess I like that in my life … To learn something new like this, at 78, makes it all the more exciting.”

Read the full post on The Guardian

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Quick Link: Why Everything You Think You Know About Dialogue Is Wrong

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Quick links, bringing you great articles on writing from all over the web.

Paula sighed as she glanced at the blank screen. “This introduction on dialogue won’t write itself…”  “Meow” said Haldol the cat, while attempting to climb into Paula’s lap for the umpteenth time. “Thank goodness John Yeoman from The Wicked Writing Blog is here to assist writers with great points on dialogue” Paula cheerfully exclaimed! “Meow.” This time Haldol succeeded in climbing into her lap where he settled down purring.

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Why Everything You Think You Know About Dialogue Is Wrong

by John Yeoman

Friday, May 20, 2016

Truly brilliant dialog, if you speak cat.
Truly shattering dialog, if you speak cat.

‘Dialogue’ is what happens when two or more people talk to each other. Correct? No. Dialogue is almost any speech act. Consider monologue. The dictionary defines it as a long speech by one person, usually boring. Yet it’s still dialogue.

Why? Somebody is listening and responding, if only to tune it out.

But suppose nobody is listening? Maybe it’s ‘interior monologue’ – a person is thinking privately, by themselves, to themselves.

That’s still dialogue.

How come? When we think, somebody listens. Always.

Don’t they? At least, our alter ego does.

Virtually all forms of speech or thought are dialogue because each speech act implies – to use a stuffy academic term – an ‘interlocutor’. That’s another person or entity, imaginary or not, who is inherent in the act.

I said ‘virtually all forms’. If a radio, unattended, broadcasts a speech in an empty desert is that still dialogue? Probably not (short of a sentient camel). But the theory holds, in principle.

Sorry for that pedantic Definition of Terms. Are you still with me? Then we’re sharing a dialogue! Yes, the theory does work.

How can we use these truisms – boring, I agree – to write better fiction?

Once we realize that ‘dialogue’ is, in essence, almost any speech act we are free to experiment with its forms. Let me show you just ten ways, but there’s no limit to them:

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Quick Link: How to Hire a Ghostwriter

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I don’t know that hiring a ghost writer is something that I will ever need to do, but I can see how they would useful for other people.  At Reedsy, professional ghost writer Andrew Crofts gives us tips on how to hire a ghostwriter and get the most out of the experience.

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How to Hire a Ghostwriter

By Andrew Crofts

May 27, 2016
It must be hard to type without any fingers...
It must be hard to type without any fingers…

Andrew Crofts is a ghostwriter and author who has published more than eighty books, a dozen of which were Sunday Times number one bestsellers. He has also guided a number of international clients successfully through the minefield of independent publishing. You can check out his Reedsy profile here.

Why Hire a Ghostwriter?

The job of a ghost is to write the book which you would write if you had the time or the ability. Writing books takes practice, like any other skill, it also requires more time than most people can afford. It is perfectly sensible to hire a professional to do the job for you, just as you would hire a barrister to plead for you in court or a speechwriter if you wanted to get into the White House.

It will still be your story, whether it is an autobiography, a memoir, a family history, a how-to business book or even a novel, just written with professional help.

Whatever you need, a ghost will do for you, but you must first be clear in your mind what it is you do need.

Traditional Publishing Deal or Self-Publishing?

Do you want to follow the traditional route of trying to find a big name publisher and getting an advance to help defray the costs? Or do you want to maintain control of the whole project and self-publish, either with or without the help of an independent publisher?

If it is the former then you initially need the ghost to produce a proposal which can be taken to publishers, either by you, by the ghost or by an agent who the ghost may be able to lead you to. The ghost can then write the whole manuscript once the publisher has been found.

If you want to maintain control then the ghost will be writing the whole manuscript for you from the start, and should be able to help you find the experts you need to turn it into a finished book. (Although most of those services are also available on Reedsy).

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Author Tools – Character Development Worksheet (Free Printable)

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Author Tools – things to help you get your writing done

Oooh freebies! Who doesn’t like them? Especially if they are as useful as the one from on her Live Breathe Write blog. Janalyn has created a Character Development Worksheet to help you develop and remember the details of your different characters.

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Character Development Worksheet (Free Printable)

We <3 Freebies!
We <3 Freebies!

Janalyn Voigt

The hero of your story gazes at the heroine from…now what color did you make his eyes?  A minor character crops up again, and you rack your memory for words to search so you can find out what you named him. And you catch two of your characters making the same defining gesture.

Does any of these scenarios sound familiar? Trying to carry too many character details in your head can tax a writer..

To stop losing track of the large cast of characters in my epic stories, I put together a character development cheat sheet. I used this to create the Live Write Breathe Character Development Worksheet, which you are welcome to print for your own personal use (only*).

Read the full post (and get the free worksheet!) on Live Breathe Write

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Quick Link: How to Create a Complex Moral Argument for Your Theme

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Quick links, bringing you great articles on writing from all over the web.

When the movie “Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?” came out, there was a rumor going around that someone went up to the Coen brothers and said “oh you made a movie based on Homer’s Odyssey.” Being the clever people they were, the Coen brothers said “Oh yes, of course” and then proceeded to pretend that was their intent all along. The point being is that I agree with K.M. Weiland from Helping Writers Become Authors, that even the simplest of stories is saying something with a moral argument. The truly great stories, have a complex moral code woven within them.

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How to Create a Complex Moral Argument for Your Theme

May 27, 2016

by K.M. Weiland

A complex moral argument should not be this easy to tell apart....
A complex moral argument should not be this easy to tell apart….

On their surface, stories are nothing more than entertainment. They’re fun little ditties about cool people doing interesting things. But that’s not all stories are. Even the simplest of stories are saying something–they’re positing a moral argument about the world we live in.

Cool, right? Even when we don’t intend to share a “message” with readers, we are. The outcome of the story–the choices the protagonist makes–the way he is rewarded for some choices and punished for others–all of these things are presenting a moral world view, however subtly, for the readers’ consideration.

But it gets even cooler. Because if you can take conscious control of these elements, you can raise even the most entertainment-driven story to far greater heights of purpose, resonance, and meaning.

How Not to Create a Complex Moral Argument

Be ye warned, however. This is not a road for the faint-hearted or the flippant. Execute your story’s moral argument with something less than finesse and you might end up distancing readers by making them feel preached at (and this is so whether they agree with your “message” or not).

So what’s the secret to finessing a complex moral argument?

The key is the word “complex.” If your thematic premise comes across as too simplistic or one-sided, readers will inevitably feel like you’ve rigged the jury. You’re not presenting them all the facts, which means you’re not trusting them to make up their own minds, which means you’re representing yourself as smarter than they are, which means they’re not going to like you (or your story) very much.

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If you liked this article, please share. If you have suggestions for further articles, articles you would like to submit, or just general comments, please contact me at paula@publetariat.com or leave a message below.

Quick Links: 4 Tips For Creating Bad Boys & Villains Readers Will Love to Hate

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Quick links, bringing you great articles on writing from all over the web.

Creating a great bad guy is a fine line. You want them to be bad but not so bad that they become one dimensional and have nothing that the reader can identify with. One way is to identify their motivations for their actions. Everyone is a hero in their own story. Jamie Lanister from Game of Thrones is a brilliant example. It doesn’t hurt that Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, the actor that plays Jamie, is very easy on the eyes. But Jamie also has a code in his mind that he follows. His actions make sense to his character. At Writer’s Digest, Magnolia Smith gives us tips for creating antagonists that readers will love to hate.

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4 Tips For Creating Bad Boys & Villains Readers Will Love to Hate

By: Magnolia Smith
Look at that ponytail... Evil! and he matched his shirt to his eyes!
Look at that ponytail… and he matched his shirt to his eyes! Evil!

As a romantic suspense author, I enjoy creating characters (both heroes and villains) that readers love to hate. Creating characters that verge on being anti-heroes is especially satisfying. Why? It makes for interesting reading and the experience become emotional for the reader when they can’t decide whether to root for a character or wish him a fiery fictitious death in a car crash (just kidding. Sorta.)

My new series The Black Orchid focuses on sexy Alpha assassins and the women in their lives. These are patriotic, dutiful guys bursting with personal integrity… who kill for a living… plenty of room for blurred lines, eh? This series is romantic suspense, so there are still conventions to be followed. In my novel TELL ME NO LIES, the hero Kael Brady (aka the assassin with a heart of gold – my favorite romance trope) is more of traditional hero than originally planned. As previously written my editor was concerned about his psychopathic tendencies, so for the sake of being a romantic suspense he was toned down, though he still retains some of his darkness.

For example, he’s grown weary of hurting and killing people as a part of his job – even when they deserve it—but he very much enjoys hurting women in bed. And he’s finally found a woman he wants to settle down with, he’d protect her with his life, do anything to make sure she’s never hurt… but then again, he does want to hurt her (in that Fifty Shades of Grey kinda way). It’s complicated, but it makes for fun writing.

I also enjoyed writing the villain in TELL ME NO LIES, who I think some readers will love and others will hate. He has a bit of the sadist about him, but then again… so does the hero.

While writing about sexy bad boys with both good and bad qualities, I decided to compile a helpful list of tips for creating characters that readers love to hate.

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Author Tools: Self-Publishing: How to Promote Your Book With One Easy Photoshop Technique

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Author Tools – things to help you get your writing done

If you don’t have Photoshop, GIMP is a free and well respected alternative. at The Write Life shows you how to make your book(s) stand out and look professional for promotions. I would not recommend using this type of image as a replacement for your book cover at places like Amazon

though.

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Self-Publishing: How to Promote Your Book With One Easy Photoshop Technique

You can also get away with a jpg background file..
Hint: You can also get away with a jpg background file, like this mock up I made – Publetariat Editor

May 25, 2016

By Alicia Rades

Are you looking for eye-catching images you can use on social media, in newsletters, and elsewhere online to market your self-published books?

Do you also have Adobe Photoshop on your computer?

Then you’re in luck!

Photoshop mockups are Photoshop files that use smart objects to allow you to easily insert your book cover into the photo. In the end, they’ll turn out like this:

Read the full post on The Write Life

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Deals! Remains of the Day: Scribd Offering Unlimited Audiobooks Over the Summer

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Deals – Cool deals or offers you might be interested in

I am sharing this in place of today’s Quick Link because I don’t want you to miss out. Full disclosure, I don’t make a penny off of any of this. I have friends who are very much into audiobooks and this seems like a great way to relax this summer, along with the other offers in the Lifehacker post

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Deals are very nice
Deals are very nice!

From now until the end of September, Scribd is offering unlimited access to over 5,000 audiobooks to subscribers. Sounds like a good way to pass the time while the summer heat keeps us languid.

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In The News – I attached 4000 books to my new living room wall and ceiling.

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In The News – Articles Of Interest For Authors

Brilliant use of old books or sacrilege? I honestly can’t decide and keep going back and forth. Especially because my beloved The Last Book Store does the same thing.

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Book Room, 2016