Writers in the Storm

by Sandy Vaile

Every story has a beating heart that gives it purpose. It’s the vision that keeps all the working parts of a novel focused on what really matters, enabling the author to outline more easily and write a purposeful story.

But how can you be sure your story has one (and if it hasn’t, grab the defibrillator and shock it into being)?

What is the heart of a story?

Plots are the mechanism for moving characters through a series of events towards a goal. The heart of a story is its very reason for existing. The reason a specific author wants to tell a particular story. It turns a common idea into a unique journey, based on what interests the author and why.

At the heart of every story is a theme that runs throughout, which colours the characters and flavours the narrative and conveys the author’s message in a way that affects readers deep in their souls.

Why novels need a heart  

When we have a clear story purpose, it defines the type of story we are telling, the audience who will read it, the subject matter it will explore and the direction of each plot thread.

Wow, all that packed into one beating heart!  

When an author isn’t clear about the story’s purpose, they end up with too many elements competing for attention and readers who aren’t fully invested because there isn’t a clear pathway from start to finish.

The benefits of identifying story purpose

The heart of a story provides a compass to guide you from conception to completion.

When you know what you want to say and why it enables you to:

• Choose which ideas fit with the story purpose;
• Keep all of the plot threads cohesive;
• Unify the desires and actions of the characters; and
• Stop the anguish of losing your way, which invariably leads to disjointed or unfinished manuscripts.

How to find a story’s core purpose

Identifying a story’s purpose is about exploring what story we want to tell, why we want to tell it and whose story it is.

All of the decisions you make while developing a plot and character arcs, stem from this purpose.

Taking the time to work through this upfront, will help you develop a rich and intense story you feel compelled to tell. It also ensures the story is unique because your representation of the subject will be based on your own experiences and beliefs.

So, what questions should you ask yourself to figure all this out?

• What kind of story do you want to tell?
• What topic(s) do you want to include?
• What theme(s) do you want to explore?
• What deep-seated beliefs do you hold about this theme?

What genre are you writing?

The types of stories we’re drawn to can be discerned from what we tend to read and watch. Think about the genre and recurring themes in books and movies you most enjoy because the genre will determine the tone and style of the prose. (This is the perfect excuse for rereading favourite books and rewatching favourite movies.)

Topic

It should be fairly easy to make a list of the various topics included in your story, e.g. horses, environmental degradation, cars or friendship. Then narrow the subject matter down to one or two main topics. (This doesn’t mean you can’t include all the others, but you need to know which is the main focus of this story.)

For example, my current WIP is about solving a murder, a woman living in a new town and a man dealing with his sister’s cancer, but all of these things revolve around horses. Horses is my main topic.

Theme

The theme of a book is an underlying, universal message. Take a step back to view the big picture of your idea and main conflict. What life-affecting aspects resonate with you, like lust, jealousy, greed, self-preservation, hatred, love, redemption, resilience or revenge?

Theme shows what we want to say about life, the universe, society or relationships and will focus your story on the message you most want to leave readers with at the end of the book.

For example:

• Love is blind.
• Money is the root of all evil.
• Loyalty can’t be bought.
• Good always triumphs over evil.
• One person can make a difference.

Choose themes that evoke a strong emotional response within you and harness them during the writing process.

Deep-seated beliefs

To do this, dig deep into your psyche to explore why you want to tell this story. (Why you want need to write it.)

Think about your own beliefs and passions. Why does this topic interest you and what are your personal views about it? You will most likely find answers to questions like these, surrounding the theme, in your past (yes, exactly the way characters are motivated by their backstory).

Your personal beliefs behind the story’s topic and theme are what solidify vague ideas into something purposeful you can use to shape the plot. Something that raises questions and invokes debate, so it will capture not only your interest to write it but ultimately readers’ interests.

This is the beating heart of your story!

What you believe about a topic changes the story

Let’s use the movie Gran Torino as an example. The heart of this story could be:

• Justice trumps intolerance; or
• Unlikely friendships can forge unbreakable alliances.

Although both of these themes are explored during the movie, do you see how choosing the main one (the heart of story) alters the focus of the plot?

• If ‘justice trumps intolerance’ was the purpose for this movie (which incidentally it is), the main plot thread would explore the main character’s reasons for being intolerant, put him in situations where his beliefs about this topic are challenged (like living next door to a family of Hmong refugees), and then show his emotional growth by having the outcome revolve around him choose justice for this family above his beliefs.
• Whereas, if ‘unlikely friendships can forge unbreakable alliances’ was the purpose for this movie, the main plot thread would explore why the main character is so unlikely to form this friendship, put him in situations where his beliefs about why he can’t be friends with this person are challenged (like revealing that the friend cares for family and has a strong work ethic), and then show his emotional growth by having the outcome revolve around his friendship surviving an ordeal (which is not the case in the movie).

See how the story’s purpose determines the outcome of the story and the final crisis that will showcase it?

Where to next?

Taking the time to understand what drives us to explore certain aspects of a topic, enables us to imbue our stories with situations and characters that are meaningful to us and will translate into powerful tales that affect readers. It also helps make the story cohesive by keeping every decision you make focused on the right things. 

Of course, everyone will have different attitudes about a topic, but yours are the only ones that matter because this is your story; it’s about what you want to speak into the universe.

If you are stuck in a rut of writing novels you never finish, never submit or aren’t sure how to fix, then it’s your lucky day. I’m offering Writers in the Storm readers a FREE masterclass, which reveals the real reasons few aspiring authors finish their novels (and how to avoid them).

Grab the Quit Procrastinating and Write a Publishable Novel masterclass here.

Have you found the beating heart of your story?

About Sandy

Sandy Vaile is a motorbike-riding daredevil who isn’t content with a story unless there’s a courageous heroine and a dead body. She writes romantic-suspense for Simon & Schuster US and supports fiction authors to write novels they are proud to share with the world (and which get noticed by agents and publishers), through coaching, courses and developmental editing.

Having a writing coach is like having an industry expert in your back pocket, to hold your hand through the writing process and act as a voice of reason when you’re standing on a ledge. Sandy’s Active Storytelling Method helps authors find the hidden gems in their manuscripts and make them shine.

In her spare time, Sandy composes procedures for high-risk industrial processes, judges writing competitions and runs The Fearless Novelist Facebook group.

Connect with Sandy Vaile on her website or social media.

Top Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay

By Jenn Windrow

The old myth that your story doesn’t need a developmental editor is just that… a myth.

Every writer, no matter how long they have been writing, or how many books they have published, needs a developmental editor.

Let’s look at what developmental editing is, and what it isn’t.

The different kinds of editing

There are three different kinds of editing that your book goes through before you publish. It doesn’t matter whether you are sending it to a traditional publisher or indie publishing, all books should go through all three processes.

1. Developmental editing
2. Copy Editing
3. Line editing/proofreading

Developmental editing

Developmental editing, also called content editing, deals with the story, characters, POV, themes, pacing, and basically anything having to do with how the book reads. It is the hardest part of the editing process. The deepest part. And sometimes the most frustrating part. It can make you cry, want to give up, and hate your editor.

Developmental editors don’t want to make you feel any of the above, they just want you to put out the best story you can, so your readers have an enjoyable experience when they enter your world.

A good developmental editor will check:

• Have you head-hopped or switched POV’s?
• Is your character being stupid or acting out of character?
• Are you sticking to your theme?
• Is the pacing too fast, too slow?
• Is the love insta-love or nicely drawn out?
• Is the antagonist too obvious? Not obvious enough?
• Did you tie up all the loose threads at the end or have you left some dangling in the wind?
• Are your characters likeable?
• Is your story likeable?

They dig deep into your story and give you feedback based on their thoughts. Do you always have to agree with that feedback? No. You never have to agree with it. It is your story, and you can write it how you like. But in my experience, they are usually right.

What if you don't agree?

I’ve edited for many people who have not agreed with my comments. That’s their choice. It doesn’t hurt my feelings. It doesn’t make me mad. They paid me for advice; I gave it. They can do with it what they like. But it helps to go into a developmental edit with the idea that the editor is only trying to help you make the story the best that it can be.

I edit a little differently than some. Because it is your story, I prefer to ask questions when I come across something that makes me go hmmm. Anyone remember that song? No, just me? Hmmmm. In asking questions, I feel it helps the author to think a bit about why I ask that question. Maybe it is just that you need to add more context for me to understand. Maybe the characters' motivations aren’t fleshed out enough. Maybe it just doesn’t make sense. Either way, when someone asks you a question, it makes you think deeper and in thinking deeper, you usually find those answers.

Once your book has gone through the developmental editing stage, you’ll make all the changes, and then move on to copy editing.

Copy Editing

This is where an editor, who is much better with grammar than I am, goes in and makes sure you have the correct punctuation, word usage, spelling. All the fun stuff that polishes the story before publication. Copy editors DO NOT dig deep into your story. Their job is to fix your grammar, not your story.

As a developmental editor, I DON’T copy edit. I couldn’t tell you where a comma or an em-dash goes. Honestly, I don’t care. I happily pay someone else to clean up that mess for me. I’m just lucky my best friend is my copy editor or she might have quit me by now.

Line Editing/Proof reading

Publishers call this different things, but it is all the same. Once your book has been copy edited and all the changes are turned in again, it’s time to do a final read through. Line by line. At this point in the editing process, you will be so sick of your own story you will understand how best-selling authors have spelling errors in their books. They are so over it they just want it to be done.

This is the last chance to polish that baby to perfection. Read every word, every line, every paragraph and look for those errors that you missed the first five hundred times. And it happens. They slip through.

Funny story, my first book, there was the line…

She placed the hair scrunchie around the gear shift.

Or at least that was what it was supposed to say. What actually got published was…

She placed the hair scrunchie around the gear shirt.

Yeah, it happens.

When I first started working with my editor on that book, I went into the process thinking that the publisher would be the one doing the final read through. I was so wrong. All the changes, that final read through, it is all on you. Those mistakes are all on you.

Why is developmental editing important?

Developmental editing is THE story. The words are yours, the characters are yours, but if you don’t allow someone who is looking at it with objective eyes to dig deep into the story, you will never know what’s wrong. You might have an idea that something just isn’t right. I know I do. In fact, I can send my pages off to my critique partners knowing the exact spot where they are going to ding me. And I do that because I know they will either give me a suggestion to make it work, or ask me a question that will ignite an idea.

Authors are really connected to their stories, they are so IN them that sometimes they can’t see what is not working. Or if they do, they don’t know how to fix it.

A good developmental editor can not only help you find those places, but help you fix them as well. They will take the time to bounce ideas around. They will help you soften a character. Make the plot twists more twisty. Strengthen your story so the reader won’t want to put it down. They will only improve your story.

How to find the right Developmental editor for you.

If you’re traditional publishing, you won’t get an option on which editor you’re assigned to. They usually give you to the person who works best in your genre. But that doesn’t mean you can’t change if you need to.

My first editor with my publisher came back with hardly any comments on my MS. I knew I wasn’t a bad writer, and the MS had gone through so many sets of eyes that it was fairly clean, but nowhere near the no-comment-from-an-editor good. I contacted the owner of the publishing house and expressed my concerns about the editing I received. She then dug into my MS herself and of course had a lot of suggestions. She became my editor on all the books I published through them.

So, even though you may be given an editor, if you question their process or don’t think you can work with them, you have the right to say so.

Now, if you are self-publishing, you need to search for your own editors. There are a lot of places where you can do that. Google, FB groups, LinkedIn, even word of mouth from writer friends. Once you find someone who you think you can work with, you need to find out if they are familiar with your genre. Not every editor is good for every genre.

I work closely with one of my best friends who writes historical romance. It’s not my thing, but we’ve worked together for so long that I am used to her writing. But if someone comes to me with a historical romance, I might pass up the job because there are certain aspects to the historical genre that I am not familiar with.

Where to start?

One of the best ways to see if you work well with someone is to ask them to do a sample edit. Two or three pages, just enough to see if you can handle their editing style. Most editors will do this. If they won’t, I would walk away and find someone else. Developmental editing is expensive and you don’t want to get back a completed edit, that you spent a lot of money on, to find out that it wasn’t up to your standards.

Questions to ask:

1. Will they do a sample edit?
2. Do they or have they worked in your genre?
3. What is the cost?
4. How long will it take for them to complete the project?

Once you have found an editor, make sure you read through their contract. Read the fine print before signing. This goes for traditional publishing, too.

No matter the editing path you’re taking, developmental editing is the first, and most important, part of the editing process.

Don’t skip it. Embrace it.

Have you worked with a developmental editor? What was your experience?

About Jenn Windrow

Jenn Windrow runs her own developmental editing company called Irreverent Publishing and has also worked as an in-house developmental editor for a small press. She’s worked in all genres, such as Romance, Women’s’ fiction, Sci-fi, Satire, Erotica, Thrillers, Historical, and Fantasy, ranging from five thousand-word short stories to over one hundred thousand-word novels.

When she’s not editing others' work, she spends her time playing in her own worlds. She’s published six books in the past four years, both in the traditionally published world and the indie published.

She loves characters who have a pinch of spunk, a dash of attitude, and a large dollop of sex appeal. Top it all off with a huge heaping helping of snark, and you’ve got the ingredients for the kind of fast-paced stories she loves to read and write. Home is a suburb of it’s-so-hot-my-shoes-have-melted-to-the-pavement Phoenix. Where she lives with her husband, two daughters, and a slew of animals that seem to keep following her home. At least that’s what she claims.

Top image by Lorenzo Cafaro from Pixabay.

by Laurie Schnebly Campbell

Whether or not you have trick-or-treaters approaching your house tonight, you already know how you're going to entice them toward your door for treats or a good scare. Or how you're going to indicate "no point stopping here, just move along."

Of course you don't want to send that second message to people considering your book. But the first one, enticing them? Absolutely. We all want readers to get the tantalizing invitation, "Come right in, there’s something wonderful waiting for you!"

You want the beginning of your story to give that exact message. The type of treats will vary according to your book, but as long as you have an idea of who you want to dive into Page 1 (and keep right on reading), you'll be able to show ‘em the “wonderful” awaiting them is very much the kind of thing they'll enjoy.

What will that be?

Well, obviously it depends on what your book will be. Sweet? Scary? Fast-paced? Leisurely? Historical? Contemporary? Inspirational? Paranormal? Romantic? Suspenseful? Steamy? Cozy? Puzzling? Comforting? Heart-wrenching? Thought-provoking? Humorous? Adventurous? Horrifying? Empowering? Relaxing? Dramatic?

There's no such thing as a Bad Answer to this question. Somebody might say "My book is for readers who want to fall asleep after reading for two or three minutes." Someone else might say "Mine is for readers who want to stay up all night feverishly turning pages." Others might be anywhere along the line between those two, or even beyond.

But, since we’re all readers ourselves, we know that whether a story opens on some British transport ship carrying convicts to Australia, at the corner Starbucks waiting for the daily venti brewed decaf, or behind the scenes at the first coronation in a new galaxy...

We want something to pique our interest.

It might very well be the setting.

Or it could be the people.

Or quite possibly the situation.

There are even times when just the language -- the imagery, the choice of words -- is enough to enthrall us right from the start.

A book that grabs and holds our attention could easily open in the present day, in a place we know perfectly well. Maybe we’re on a midsize family farm examining the crop, or on a bus carrying people to work at the shoe factory, or in a high school auditorium rehearsing for the annual spring concert.

Regardless of whether the reader perceives this as a fascinating world or an everyday world, they need to see something intriguing.

What’ll make ‘em curious about this particular crop?

What shows this isn’t an ordinary day at the shoe factory?

What indicates there’s something unusual about the concert, or the auditorium, or the choir director, or the tenor in the back row?

Even if the story opens in an everyday world, there needs to be something unsettling about it.

HOW unsettling?

That depends on your genre.

Your readers might want chills running down their spine.

They might want a glimmer of attraction.

They might want a hint of rivalry, or of injustice, or of something eerie. Something dangerous. Something romantic. Something challenging.

Whatever they want, the opening needs to hint that it’ll be revealed soon enough to keep ‘em engaged.

And what else will engage these readers? Oh, right.

Good old Goal, Motivation & Conflict

That’s something the writer and readers will have to identify pretty early in the story. (At least the character’s OPENING goal and conflict.)

It’s okay to keep the reader guessing about someone’s internal motivation. If their goal is a grabber right from the start, this reader will be excited by your story’s beginning...and willing to wait another chapter or scene to get an idea of why your character wants this goal.

But regardless of WHY they want it, we’ve gotta know WHAT they want as of Scene 1. No matter how fascinating the landscape they’re traveling through, no matter how physically beautiful or how emotionally damaged they might be, we need to be rooting for some kind of goal.

It might not be the underlying goal that’ll sustain them throughout the story. It might be as fleeting as:

“make it through the intersection before the light turns red” or

“get the copies stapled before the boss arrives” or

“find the closest veterinary clinic before Little Fluffy chokes...”

...because while none of those is the kind of goal that’ll keep us enthralled for an entire book, it’ll give us something to root for while we’re still getting to know this person.

We need to see, right up front:

* What’s interesting about ‘em? (Even if it’s only their dialogue.)

* What’s fascinating about their story world / setting? (Even if it’s our own.)

* What’s compelling about their situation? (Even if it’s not fully explained yet.)

We want to be engrossed with them as early as possible. Are they likable? Fun to hate? Easy to empathize with? Exciting to root for? Do we want to spend time with them?

Readers of different genres have different reasons for wanting to spend time with a character, so think about what appeals to YOUR readers. And while you’re at it…

Think about some book opening that grabbed YOU right from the start.

Because that’s our prize-drawing question: What WAS this opening?

It can be from a book written by you or by anyone else -- just say the author name, title, and why that opening made you want to keep reading.

And somebody who answers will win free registration to a two-week email class on this very topic (Boffo Beginnings & Fab Finales) beginning next Monday at groups.io/g/Boffo-Fab.

Meanwhile, here’s wishing you whatever kind of Halloween you enjoy most!

Laurie Schnebly Campbell loves remembering favorite openings and favorite closings, and can’t wait to show the many ways of making yours boffo, fabulous, or whatever other Hollywood-blockbuster term you like. :) Right now she has 51 books on her shelf from authors whose first sale was sparked by one of her classes, and she can’t wait to see what #52 will be.