Writers in the Storm

Kara Lennox aka Karen Leabo is back today with her great Plot Fixer series. Don't miss her other blogs!

Here are the links for Parts 1-9:

Part 1 – Your Premise Isn’t Compelling
Part 2 – How To Fix a Weak Opening
Part 3 – A Lack of Goals
Part 4 – Is Your Conflict Strong Enough?
Part 5 – Raising The Stakes
Part 6 – 5 Tips To Help Improve Your Story’s Pacing
Part 7 – Pick Up the Pace
Part 8 -  Is Your Plot Predictable
Part 9 - Plots That Rely on Coincidence and Contrivance

Do you get rejections or comments from contest judges that say your story is "episodic"? This is another way of saying your book lacks focus, or loses focus.

I read a book once by a popular author that seemed very much like a typical romance. But about 2/3 of the way through the book, the hero and heroine were together and the story seemed ... done. So the author had the hero turn into a jerk, and a new hero was introduced, and the last third of the book was the heroine dumping the jerk and getting it together with the new hero. Weird, to say the least. This was the most egregious case of "loss of focus" that I have ever seen. It was clear the author finished her book but didn't have enough words, and tacking on another romance was how she solved the problem.

(If anyone thinks they recognize the book or author, please don't say. I love this author and I think most everything she writes is brilliant, plus she is a very nice person.)

Every book needs to be ABOUT something. This would be the book's theme.

The first time I learned anything about theme (other than college lit classes) it was from my first editor at Silhouette, in an eight-page revision letter for my very first published book. She said something like, "You've established a lovely theme of renewal--children grow up and separate from their parents, only to marry and have children of their own, starting the cycle over again. Your heroine is struggling to make that break. Even the scene with the horse giving birth ties in to this theme." Well, this just got me so excited. I had a theme of renewal!

The rest of the letter was not quite so heart-warming. My editor asked me to cut about a third of the book because it didn't support the theme of renewal.  I had lost focus and wandered away from that theme for chapters at a time. Talk about an eye opener!

Popular Themes:

You must let go of the past before you can move forward
Love is better the second time around
Love can triumph over unfortunate circumstances
Opposites attract
Compromise is necessary in any strong relationship
To be grown up means accepting responsibility for your life
You must not be afraid to reach for an impossible dream
There's no place like home
Good triumphs over evil
Love triumphs over fear
A family doesn't have to be related through blood
Home is where you make it
Money can't buy happiness
True intimacy must include complete trust
Love can tame a beast
Every human being deserves to be loved.
No matter your mistakes, you can be redeemed.
There are hundreds of possible themes you can choose. I just jotted these down off the top of my head.

A theme is a "universal truth," though it doesn't have to be "true" for everyone, and you don't have to believe it. It just has to be true for this book. Your book sets out to prove something, through the struggles of your characters, and by the end of the book, it does or it doesn’t. Plenty of books, including some I've written, have a theme something like, "A family isn't complete without children." Or "You can't understand selfless love until you have a child." This isn't something I personally subscribe to because I haven't experienced it--I've never had children. But I can imagine how it is true for many people, and I can write a book that proves it.

To discover your theme, here are some questions to ask about your own book:

♦  What is your story about?
♦  What question will your book answer? (or, what is the story question?)
♦  What do the characters need to learn? (Digging deep into your characters can help
with this. Look at their past mistakes, their flaws, their errors in thinking.)
♦  Why did I want to write this book?
♦  How did the germ of this idea start?
♦  How are the characters different by the end of the book, and what changed them?
♦  How do I want the reader to feel after finishing my book?
♦  What published books are similar to mine, and what are the themes of those books?
♦  Would one of those themes apply to my book? (Don't worry about "stealing" a
theme. Can't be done.)

Many writers are drawn to the same themes over and over, and that's okay. You might even develop a readership that way, because readers are drawn to the same themes, too. Any theme you pick can be illustrated in many, many ways.

Once you have a theme, write it down and tape it somewhere near your computer where you'll see it all the time. Then it becomes much easier to stay focused. Ideally each scene should somehow relate to your theme. If a scene or a subplot seems not to relate to your theme, you might want to cut it, or rewrite it. If a subplot seems to contradict your theme, you might have to do some work to make it fit.

For example:

Suppose your book is about a hero and heroine who come from vastly different worlds, and the theme is "People from different worlds can forge a lasting relationship if their love is strong enough." But then you have a subplot, with a secondary couple who love each other a lot, but the differences in their backgrounds still drive them apart. Is this a problem? Maybe you need to rethink your theme. Maybe it's "People from different worlds can forge a lasting relationship if each is willing to sacrifice." Now your subplot agrees--if the couple from the broken relationship weren't willing to make sacrifices. This is the lesson your hero and heroine have to learn.

Sometimes an author will have a dynamite proposal, leading to many requests from editors, but then the book stumbles. That is often because the author didn't build on what she established at the beginning. Whatever is happening in those first crucial chapters of your book has to lead into the rest of the book. Each scene leads seamlessly into the next. Once you know your theme, this building process becomes much easier.

I confess, often I don't know my theme until I'm done with the messy first draft. Then I can go back and take out or revise stuff that doesn't fit.

What is your theme? If you don't have one, what are some possibilities? Post here if you'd like.

***************************

Announcement: There's a New Year's party for all us creative types this evening at the #myWANA hashtag on Twitter. All details (and the chance for some shameless self-promotion are over at Jenny Hansen's place, More Cowbell.

Where else can you find Kara?

Books as Kara Lennox: Project Justice series for Harlequin SuperRomance
Six titles now available in e-book or print!
Karen Leabo: Loveswept Classics e-books
Website: www.karalennox.com

All of us at WITS try to stay abreast of the latest and greatest in the writing industry whether it's craft related, inspiration or Industry related. To start the new year off right, we're sharing some of our favorite websites, articles and blogs. Enjoy.

From Sharla Rae

What We’ll See In 2013 In Digital Media

5 Reasons Novelists Should Write Short Stories

Rethinking book marketing and its organization in the big houses

Agree or disagree, this site always lists some great articles on writing and the writing market so although we’ve posted it before, I’m listing it again: The Passive Voice

Here at WITS Orly just did a blog about Beta readers. The following blog is about Mathew Turner who wrote a book about women and how he used beta readers to aid his insight. Male Authors, Discover Your Feminine Side

Need edit help. Here’s a new one and it’s color coded! Plug in your writing. It shows adverbs, passive voice, sentences ending a preposition, misspelling, cliches and more! Edit Minion.

From Laura Drake

Tormented By Toothless Writing goals? Try These.

Amazon is Ripe for Disruption

Three Lessons From Writing A Thriller Heroine

From Fae Rowen

http://janefriedman.com/  A treasure trove website with tips for writers

www.StoryMastery.com  Michael Hauge's website with writing advice and special offers

http://storyfix.com  Larry Brooks's website with blogs, articles and tips for writers

From Orly Konig-Lopez

How to Write a Synopsis by Nathan Bransford

I'm still looking for the "debut" title, but this post by the Roni Loren, From Debut to Multi-Published: What I've Learned in My 1st Year as a Published Author, has great advice

The 7 Rules of Picking Names for Fictional Characters

Character Emotion: Is It Written All Over Their Face?

How Long Should You Keep Trying to Get Published?

From Jenny Hansen

If you are looking for a ton of great writing advice all in one spot, I highly recommend Gene Lempp's Saturday Blog Treasures and Reetta Raitanen's Link Feasts. These two are my undisputed king and queen of mash-ups. :-)

From the NaNoWriMo blog ~ How To Write the "Impossible"

Funniest breakdown of what's wrong in 50 Shades of Grey that I have EVER seen!

The Five Most Common Fiction Writing Mistakes by Writers Write

And finally, J.A. Konrath's New Year's resolutions for writers fascinate me. He's got them lined up from 2006 to the present in this post. Watching the market progression from year to year is...WOW.

**************************

Happy New Year, from all of us here at Writers In The Storm!

That's twenty-three links from us...What sites have made your writerly heart lately?

Posted by Orly Konig-Lopez

You finished your Work in Progress. Now what?

If you’re anything like me, you promptly get moody and restless. After all, we’ve just spent months living with our characters, immersed in their lives and talking to them more than family members think normal.

Suddenly we’re done. The End.

You turn on your computer and stare. You file away manuscript drafts and brainstorming notebooks and feel empty. You think about what to do next and it feels hopeless.

That, my friends, is Post Manuscript Syndrome.

You’ll get mixed advice on dealing with it:

Some will tell you to jump into a project immediately.

Others will say to give yourself a break from writing and catch up on that mountain of laundry or clean out your writing space or, here’s a fun little concept, start exercising again.

Yet another group of helpful writer types will suggest to go back to basics and read a book or two on craft or attend a workshop.

All good advice. And none works well for me. Why? Because I also suffer from Pre Manuscript Syndrome.

I’m just not patient enough to hang out and read and think and plan. I need a WIP. (Okay folks, crack the jokes now … ready to continue?)

So I lasso one of the ideas bouncing around in my head and try to tame it.

For me that usually means:

• A sentence or two for the preliminary elevator pitch
• What my main character’s internal and external conflicts are
• Twenty things that will have to happen to my main character during the book (it can be anything from getting a puppy to meeting a new neighbor to conquering a fear or discovering a life altering secret)

Some ideas are ready to be domesticated and the pieces come together easily. The moodiness quickly gives way to excitement and the restlessness settles into determination.

Others dodge every attempt and continue to flit around. Moodiness turns to crankiness. And that’s usually when my husband rolls his eyes and tosses my Writer’s Block sweatshirt at me.

If one idea won’t cooperate though, I’ll try another. I’ve been lucky so far. My Pre manuscript Syndrome episodes have all been short. And relatively painless (for me at least).

How do you transition from one writing project to another? And how do you get that next project moving?