Writers in the Storm

by Laura Drake

I'm the last to chime in on the throwdown. In case you missed the others, here's Fae's, Julie's, and Jenny's We didn't mean to do them in order from 'hate it' to all yay, but that's how it worked out.

All of us here at WITS knew when we came up with this throwdown, that I'd be on the, 'Oh, hell yes', end of the spectrum. I love me some social media. Why?

First, it fits my Golden Retriever personality. I love people. (I do try not to shed or drool on them.) I'm a crazy-extrovert.

Second, I moved to West Texas 5 years ago, leaving my friends and strong writing community behind. I am a motorcycle riding, Yankee city-girl in the middle of the country. I open my mouth and they know I'm not from around here, and from their expressions, they're not sure what to do with me. I'm working to build the tiny writing community here, but I don't have any close friendships. So when I’m not writing or working out, I’m pretty much online. And thanks to that, I have a strong platform.

I’ve been reading everyone else’s posts and comments on the throwdown and come to realize there’s some misunderstandings out there about social media:

1. No one cares what you’re eating—not even your mother.
2. Likes, hearts and emojis and # of followers aren’t like gift stamps; you can’t trade in 100,000 of them for a blender.
3. If you’re only on social media to sell your book, you’re doing it wrong.
4. You don’t have to be a Pollyanna, a radical, funny, or anything else that you’re not.

What social media IS about, is connecting. And as an author, if you’re not looking to network, connect, or have people get to know of you and your writing, why publish? You could write, stick it in a drawer, repeat.

When I first moved here, I heard about a writer’s group that met at the local library. There, I met a really old guy who’d written a book of short stories—remembrances from his childhood. After the meeting, he glanced around to be sure no one else was listening, leaned in and gave me his nugget of wisdom about marketing. He told me to go to a local printer and have them bind my book (with a colored paper cover, so it stands out). Then take it to locally owned grocery stores (the chains won’t let you, imagine that) and ask if they’ll sell them for you. He said he sold a TON of copies that way (I didn’t ask how much each copy weighed).

Yeah, thanks, dude.

I'm in a fairly small town. There aren't a bunch of readers here. There are quad-zillions of people online, many of them readers. THAT’s the audience I’m going for. Social media is just the vehicle I use to get to my audience.

I tried a bunch of Social Media (I still don’t get Instagram, because of #2, above), but I found my favorite—

I don’t go there to sell. It’s where I go to be found. No politics, downers, or meanness—my profile is an oasis of all that is coffee, beauty, wisdom, funny or weird. People who like that are likely to like my writing—humorous, emotionally charged, but always an HEA. I post questions now and again, so I can get to know my followers. Things like: What was your best memory of last year? Name one thing we don’t know about you. Stuff like that.

And you know what? People who friend me tell their friends to friend me (wait—you and I ARE Friends, right?). So when I have a release, or something exciting in my writing life, I post it. Honestly, my writing posts are probably 1/50th of my postings. The rest of the time, I’m just having fun.

Okay, you may not be an extrovert. You may not want people to know ‘you’. No problem. You create characters for a living, right? Create your online persona! I’m not saying to lie to people, but all your characters carry a piece of you, right? Just show that piece, honestly and forthrightly (holy poop, two adverbs in a row—someone slap me!).

People are all the same, underneath. We seek to be seen, to connect and be understood. If you connect with them on those universal levels, they will respond to you. One of the coolest things for me is watching my followers get to know and connect with each other.

What is the ROI on all this? I can’t quantify it. But I have more followers now, AND more sales. Coincidence? I hope not.

Spreading the love, one post at a time. It’s what Golden Retrievers do!

What do you think? Have I talked you into putting your toe in the social media pool yet?

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Laura's December release, The Last True Cowboy, was chosen by Amazon's Editorial Board as one of the Best Books of the Month!  

By Anne Pisacano

When I met Lori Henriksen, award-winning author of The Winter Loon, at the WFWA Writer's retreat in September this year, she had mentioned that she was using tarot cards as a plot development tool for her current work-in-progress. I felt her fascinating story might be of interest to share. I contacted her, and she agreed to visit with me about her process.

How did this unusual idea first come to you?

Lori: When I attended the Golden Crown Literary Society writing conference, where my book was a finalist in two categories, one of the fascinating breakout workshops was led by Kimberly Cooper Griffin and Aurora Rey on Character Development.

During the workshop we broke into groups of two and were asked to analyze our character(s) using Tarot cards. They provided each group a deck of tarot cards, and the corresponding booklet that explained the imagery and symbolism. My partner and I were vaguely familiar with Tarot, but really not, in any sense, very knowledgeable.

We did a three-card spread:

First Card

• Mind
• Physical State
• Subconscious
  • Option 1
    • What I think

Second Card

• Body
• Emotional State
• Conscious
  • Option 2
    • What I feel

Third Card

• Spirit
• Spiritual State
• Super consciousness
  • Option 3
    • What I do

How do you use your tarot cards in your own process?

Lori : I did a three-card spread reading for my main character, Lucy.

My process is, first, setting a sacred space as I would for meditation.

I shuffle the cards, cut them three times, and chose three cards. Along with the information from the Tattoo Tarot booklet, and a book called  Tarot Reversals—which has great explanation of symbolism—I also trusted my intuition to do the reading, just as though I knew what I was doing.

Three notes I have from the workshop:

• You’re learning what is already in your head
• The cards tell you something you need to know—that you already know
• You are tapping into your insight/your gut feelings

How are they affecting your writing?

Lori : I feel I have insight into my characters’ psyche and also have a tool that if I’m stuck, e.g. wondering now what would Lucy do in this situation, I can pick a card and do a quick reading, or if it’s a major block, I can do another reading. It’s a learning process to develop my intuition.

Here is my three-card spread with my interpretation for my main character, Lucy.

First card. Mind – What she thinks

Three of Swords: Mental stress is too much to bear. A heart pierced by 3 swords suggests jealousy, heartbreak and rupture. Threes respond to creativity and integration, but swords bring disharmony and sorrow.

This card brought these questions about her main character to mind for Lori:

• Does her heart want something her mind says she cannot have?
• Is there a love triangle, failed affair, or separation?
• The pain of loss and betrayal hits hard, a sword through the heart.
• Is she blinded by the pain of her heartache?
• A flower blooms in front of her pierced heart and a flame burns above, reminding us pain is temporary.
• Her situation is fragile and so are the people around her.

Second card. Body – What she feels

Major Arcana – The Moon: Mysterious and not always what it seems. Has the power to pull the tides or illuminate the forest to show monsters that may not exist.

The second card allowed these questions and thoughts to be considered:

• What fears and illusions beset her on her journey to unknown landscapes?
• What delusions, deeply submerged fears or even terror are calling her survival instincts?
• Something is at the edge of her consciousness that she can't quite grasp.
• She may find herself swamped by emotions, misunderstandings, and secrets.
• She feels herself drawn toward some undefined purpose.
• Like the crayfish on the card, she may be cleansing the waters of unconscious habits by digesting debris from her past, and walking bravely between the needs of instinct and the domestication that dogs her.
• Hard to tell fact from fiction when the moon lights your path.

Third card.  Spirit –What she does

Seven of Wands - Seven reminds her to stand tall and fight for what she wants, holding her ground and prevailing over the odds.

Here are the questions that came to mind from the interpretation of this card.

• What obstacles will test her mettle?
• Can she stand up to the passion of her heart in the face of adversity?
• Be careful of unsure footing.
• Don't give up in light of confrontation.
• She must protect her passions.

Helpful resources

Tarot Card Meanings

Artist and creator of Lori’s Tarot Deck: Lana Zellner of Eight Coins

Thanks so much for sharing your interesting muse with us, Lori! Your story about tarot cards is as enchanting as I thought it would be.

What do you think?
Would you try tarot to learn more about your characters?

About Anne

Originally from New York,Anne Pisacano has lived in northern Arizona for over 20 years. From the city to the country, sidewalks to mountains, concrete to bare earth, night lights to starlight—she misses the beaches and her friends, but after more than two decades she now considers Arizona home. When not reading or reviewing other people’s books, Anne can be found editing a novel she’s co-written and plotting out her next book. Anne Pisacano writes contemporary Women’s Fiction with humorous, and strong romantic elements, because life is just too short to take it all so seriously. Oh, and she likes to add a touch of magic too. She is a grateful member of the Women’s Fiction Writers Association.

You can learn more about Anne on her at http://annepisacano.com, or she loves to connect on Facebook  or Twitter.

Barbara Probst

You’ve made your manuscript as good as you possibly can—for now. Everyone has advised you to take a break, let the book rest, so you can return to it with fresh eyes. Perhaps you’ve sent it off to a beta reader or developmental editor, hoping they’ll see the flaws and holes that you can’t and will show you how to bring your story to the next level. You know you have to avoid the temptation to keep tinkering with the manuscript while you await the very feedback you’ve requested—yet you can’t bear to do nothing.

The good news is that there are ways to work with your novel, rather than working on it—that is, without opening the Word document where it lives and awaits your return. Working with your book can help to loosen, deepen, shake up, and inject new energy your story while you prepare to work on it again.

Note: These exercises assume that you have an overview of your manuscript at your fingertips—a scene-by-scene summary that you can refer to. A good thing to have, for many reasons!

Write stuff you never intend to use.

• Focus on secondary characters, especially their backstories. What kind of house did Jane live in, as a child? What were her favorite toys? What did she dress up as for Halloween? What’s her recurring dream? What’s inside that box in the corner of her closet? What is something she lost and tried to find but couldn’t?
• Write a key scene from a different character’s point of view.
• Pick an emotional turning point or dramatic scene and give it a different ending.
• Interview your protagonist. Ask her the very questions she really doesn’t want to answer. Make her squirm. What lie might she tell you, to get out of answering?

Draw. Make maps and diagrams.

• Identify five core scenes. Think of them as mountain peaks. What are the steps up the mountain (prior scenes that make this core scene inevitable)? What are the steps on the descent (consequences that also prepare for the next peak)? Map this out on a timeline. You can vary the distance between steps, depending on how much chronological time passes between them or how much narrative space (word or page count) each occupies.
• Make a grid. Divide the left or vertical axis into scenes.  Across the top or horizontal axis, write the names of the major characters. That will give you a grid composed of boxes or "cells."  Mark where each character appears—that is, go down the column for Jane Smith and mark all the scenes that Jane is in. Then look at the frequency and position of her appearances. Are there big gaps? Does she need a tiny appearance in-between so we don’t forget about her, perhaps in another character’s conversation or interior monologue? Can she serve an additional role at a different point in the story? Do this for each character. Do certain characters always (or never) appear together? Try switching some of them around. How does that affect the tension and pace of the story?
• Do a similar grid, replacing characters with settings. Where do scenes take place? Can any of the settings be changed from a boring or over-used location (e.g., around the dinner table) to a place that’s more evocative? If a lot of scenes take place in someone's office, for example, is there a way to make the setting do more work for the story by highlighting specific elements that vary during these scenes? If your character’s boss always has fresh flowers on her desk, what do the flowers look like, at different moods or points in the story?

Do super-summaries.

• Write an epigram, slogan, or bumper sticker to capture the essential message of each scene. Do a lot of scenes have the same slogan? If so, think about variations on that message or its opposite. What small changes in some of the scenes could give them a different slogan?
• Focus on upward and downward motion, not on specific content. Tag your scene beginnings and endings with a plus or a minus, a “chute” or a “ladder.” Up if the protagonist is closer to her goal and down if she’s farther away. If a scene starts with a plus (hope, luck, an opportunity, an unexpected opening, etc.), then it ought to end with a minus (disappointment, failure, barrier, fear, doubt, betrayal, etc.), and vice versa. If you discover a string of plus-to-minus scenes, switch some of them around.

Avoid the temptation to open the Word document and start changing words, sentences, and scenes.  That’s tinkering with the old, the already-known. These exercises are designed to push you into the not-yet-known—to help you re-vision your book, not simply revise it.  

If you do these exercises (or others that you invent), when you do return to the manuscript, you’ll have turned the soil so something truly new can sprout.  

Anyone out there waiting? Will you try one of these? Any other suggestions?

About Barbara

Barbara Linn Probst, author of the groundbreaking book on nurturing out-of-the-box children, When the Labels Don’t Fit, is a writer, researcher, and clinician living on a historic dirt road in New York’s Hudson Valley. She holds a PhD in clinical social work and is a frequent guest essayist on major online writing sites. Her debut novel More Than She Knew will be issued by She Writes Press in Spring 2020. To learn more about Barbara’s work, please see http://www.barbaralinnprobst.com/