Spy Noon is here!

3 February 2014 Jordan 1 Comment

But before we get to that—AMAZING NEWS.

I know January was filled with all kinds of great news for me, but the end of the month brought the best. The 2013 finalists for the Whitney Awards—prestigious awards for all LDS authors—were announced.

And I, Spy is one of the five Whitney Award finalists for Mystery & Suspense.

And so is Spy for a Spy.

Sometimes it sets in and I get excited and humbled and flattered and thrilled. Most of the time, I’m still just . . . stunned. I worked so so so hard on these books, but still . . . I don’t know how this happened. I’m not entirely convinced it did.

Another fun fact of going up against myself: I have double the chance of winning, yes (if it were statistical, which it isn’t), but no matter who wins . . . I will also lose. Which also means I’m guaranteed the traditional Whitneys loser pie!

Now, somehow, I have to move on from that amazing announcement for another. Spy Noon is here!

We’re celebrating the launch of Spy Noon, a prequel novella to I, Spy! You can also find Spy Noon at the special 99¢ launch discount through Singles Awareness Day (Feb 14) on Amazon, Kobo, Barnes & Noble and JordanMcCollum.com!

It’s the day a significant proportion of the population dreads—a day they are reminded of everything they don’t have—a day that lives in infamy. You may know it as “Valentine’s Day,” but if you’re unattached, a better name might be . . . Singles Awareness Day.

On the other hand, there are worse fates than being alone, even on Valentine’s Day. For example, a totally hot guy you can’t seem to get away from, pursuing you when you’re really not interested—and he can’t take a hint. CIA operative Talia Reynolds doesn’t do romance, but her new coworker doesn’t care.

About the Book

Canada’s the last place you’d expect to find an American spy, but CIA operative Talia Reynolds has problems piling up higher than a Canadian snowbank. When Elliott Monteith, her ridiculously handsome new coworker, shows up (and shows her up), Talia decides it’s game on. She’ll be the first to track down a dangerous counter-spy, and she’ll give Elliott an unforgettable souvenir of his time in Ottawa: some humble pie.

Her plans don’t work as well as she expects, though. Elliott’s over-the-top flirting dredges up too many painful memories for Talia and undermines the confidence she’s worked hard to regain. To do her job and keep her integrity intact, she’ll have to keep her personal feelings at bay. Now Talia must find a way to work alongside Elliott—and maybe even trust him—to outsmart the enemy.

More about Spy Noon | Add Spy Noon to Goodreads!

Read an excerpt from Spy Noon now!

The Spy Another Day series


I, Spy Book One	Spy for a Spy Book Two	Mr. Nice Spy FREE Prequel novella
To save her secrets and her country, CIA operative Talia Reynolds must sacrifice the man she loves.	Talia’s new boss is her ex-boyfriend. And that’s the just beginning of her problems.	Elliott Monteith must choose between his fiancée and his fellow spy. Cake.
Chronologically, Spy Noon is the first in the series.

Praise for the series

A fast-paced, crisply written story with entertaining plot twists, told in a first person, wryly self-deprecating narrative voice. . . . I, Spy is a well-crafted romantic suspense with humor, heart, and a uniquely engaging heroine.

— Vanessa Kelly, Love Rocks column, BarnesAndNobleReview.com

I knew by the first page that I was going to love [I, Spy]. I absolutely loved Talia’s inner voice. . . . The plot is enjoyable and I loved the action! I really could not guess what was going to happen next. There were so many surprises at the turn of each page, especially during the climax, it didn’t matter what time it was, I had to finish.

— Mindy Holt, LDS Women’s Book Review
One of her top reads of 2013

The series has this great combination of sarcasm and wit in the MC, great chemistry and dialogue between her and her love interest, and then a whole slue of spying, deception, intrigue, and danger. Especially of that last one. . . .

I thoroughly enjoyed [Spy for a Spy]! I would definitely read it again and I am highly anticipating the next book that Jordan McCollum writes! If you enjoy action-adventure, suspense, or books about characters who are spies and some romance, then I would definitely recommend this.

— Tressa, Tressa’s Wishful Endings

About the author

An award-winning author, Jordan McCollum can’t resist a story where good defeats evil and true love conquers all. In her day job, she coerces people to do things they don’t want to, elicits information and generally manipulates the people she loves most—she’s a mom.

Jordan holds a degree in American Studies and Linguistics from Brigham Young University. When she catches a spare minute, her hobbies include reading, knitting and music. She lives with her husband and four children in Utah.

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Today’s Tour Stops

Readalot Rhonda + review
Shooting Stars Reviews

Technique

Dialogue from start to finish

29 January 2014 Jordan

Dialogue. In many scenes, it’s the lifeblood of conflict, relationships, tension—fiction! Is your dialogue the best it can be?

Other news: want to participate in the blog tour for Spy Noon, or just get a review copy? Sign up here!

The punctuation

We’ll start with the technical stuff—a little rote memorization and it’s easy to master. Punctuating dialogue can be tricky—but messing it up (aside from the occasional error) will mark you as an amateur.

There are thirteen things wrong with the punctuation, paragraphing and capitalization in this passage. Can you catch them all?

“I can’t do this.” She said.
“But you have to,” he rubbed his hands together. “Really?,” She asked.
He nodded, “really, truly, Johnny Lion.”
“But—.”
“No buts. I know—,” he glanced around furtively, “I know you can do it.”

Need a quick refresher on dialogue mechanics? Check out #6 on this list of dialogue basics!

Non-dialogue: the rest of the story

When writing dialogue, we need to balance our narrative with the dialogue, and use that narrative to make it clear who’s speaking, show how they’re saying these things, increase the tension, ground the reader in a setting (instead of using “talking heads”), and more.

Again, balancing dialogue with narrative can be difficult. That’s why I made a happy little flow chart on how to attribute speech in fiction!

Those verbs!

All of us had the same teachers drumming the same rot into our brains: that it’s better to use a variety of speech verbs, so rather than ever repeat “said,” it’s better to hit up the thesaurus for postulated, pointed out and prevaricated.

But when you come across those—or even just too many of those—in a book, they tend to stand out. The good old standby, “said,” tends to blend right in, almost invisible to the reader’s eye because we’re so used to seeing it. It’s one of the first sight words kids are taught today in learning to read, because knowing that word opens up a world of understanding.

Of course, even said can be annoying if it’s repeated too much.

At the other end of the spectrum, we find another problem: inappropriate speech verbs. Go to the mirror (or turn on your webcam). Smile at yourself. Now, try to talk while maintaining that smile. Sounds a little funny, eh? Try it while laughing. Try “hissing out” a line of dialogue without a single sibilant (s, sh, z).

When we use a verb as an attribution, we need to make sure that verb is a speech verb (and an appropriate one ;)) . Need help? Learn to stop “smiling” dialogue.

The delicate balance: pseudorealism

For the most part, we try to write realistic fiction. We want our people to act and think and sound like real people living in the real world. Except that our fictional people have to make a whole lot more sense than the people in the world around us, or we’ll lose our audience (even if they’d act the exact same way in real life).

So it is with dialogue. We have to emulate real conversations, but we can’t slavishly follow the real way people would speak, or we’ll be reading a whole lot of “uh, like, you know, and, uh,” nonsensical elliptical references and people responding to the first half of what you said, but not the rest because they stopped listening to think of their answer.

Seriously: go eavesdrop on a casual conversation or tape record your dinner chats. If you transcribed that, it would either be boring, impossible to follow or just utterly unrealistic.

Struggling with this balance? You can learn to make your dialogue more realistic—or go for more fictionally appropriate dialogue.

Dialogue needs to do something

Part of the problem with that utterly boring dialogue we recorded at dinner is that we lack a goal in our conversations (beyond the relationship/conversation). In fiction, we need to remain goal-oriented. We don’t have to include every second of our characters’ lives from the time they wake up until they climb back between the covers at night—we focus on the parts of their lives that move our story forward.

We need to do the same with our characters’ conversations: enter late and exit early for maximum effect. But more than that, we as authors must be clear what the purpose of this conversation is. What does our character expect to get out of this communication? An answer, a friend, some help? Will they attain their goal? Will the other people in the dialogue help or hinder?

Dialogue accomplishes story purposes for sure, but if that’s all we use our dialogue for, it’ll probably ring pretty flat. Dialogue should be a way to indirectly show your characters: what they say, how they say it. Every passage of dialogue should be working on multiple levels to move your story forward, make it richer and deeper, and show your characters. (More purposes of dialogue from Annette Lyon.)

Also important: what they’re not saying. Subtext is one technique I consider more advanced in dialogue and storytelling. The basic definition is an element that carries a second level of meaning. A symbol might be considered a type of subtext.

In dialogue, it’s when a character says one thing, but the reader can infer another layer of meaning. Maybe the character doth protest too much; maybe his gestures show her anger despite his reassurances that he’s okay; maybe the reader knows this character acts like he’s the one when she’s with her friends, but plays hard to get when he’s around.

Need to brush up on subtext? Four ways to convey a deeper meaning.

Staying Inspired

27 January 2014 Jordan

Today my friend Emily Gray Clawson is sharing great tips on staying inspired about your WIP! Also: it’s the last day to enter to win an ARC of Spy Noon!

Staying Inspired

by Emily Gray Clawson

Sometimes it seems that writing (at least drafting) is a giant shot in the dark. No matter how well one manages to outline their story, inevitably you get to a point where you start to question everything. At least I do. I wonder if my characters are relatable, if my conflict is gripping enough, if my motivations make sense, and if I am ever, in a million years, going to be able to pull this off.

As soon as I reach that questioning point there is usually this little monster that sits on my shoulder and starts whispering in my ear. He says things like, “You should just give up on this one. It’s unfixable.” Or maybe, “Doesn’t a Downton Abbey marathon sound like SO much more fun?”

Even if the answer to that last question is a resounding, “YES,” there are methods I have found to help me push through and stay invested in my manuscript clear to that wonderful moment of typing “THE END.”

Begin with the end in mind
Even if you are a pantster, it is oh, so helpful, no, crucial, to know where you are trying to end up. Keeping that beautiful moment of resolution painted clearly in your mind’s eye is helpful when the middle doldrums get you down. When you hit a section of your book that seems unbeatable, with no way through, try skipping the scene entirely and moving ahead to a point of the story that inspires you. Shannon Hale talks about writing the “big money scenes” first, then going back and trying to connect them all in the most succinct way possible. That will help with your interest as a writer, and will definitely be a great way to keep your readers engaged.

Create an inspiration board
Whether it’s on Pinterest or taped to your wall by your desk, a collection of inspiration photos and quotes can sometimes be the thing to keep your creative wheels spinning. This suggestion comes with a caution, though. If your writing time is all spent in adding things to your inspiration board, you’re in trouble. Use it sparingly and only collect those things that are the most evocative.

Write in public
It may sound crazy, and this may not work for everyone, but I often find that the simple act of being around other people can increase my creative energy and re-inspire me. Whether it’s at a library, book store, café, or even the park, the energy and sheer quality of people-watching inspiration, is often all I need to give me that extra oomph of creative power.

Share a favorite scene with an appreciate friend
And I mean, in person, so you can see their reactions. Pick someone who is good at enjoying your work and then invite them over for a live reading. This can be such balm for the lonely writer’s soul and help you to fall in love with your characters again. After all, you get to see your creations through new eyes. This can also offer the bonus of helping you problem solve. You may see that the real reason you’re struggling, is that something is lacking. Reading out loud to a trusted friend, can help you work through those problems and fill in the gaps. Note: drafting is not usually the time to have your work critiqued. Pick someone who will “ooh and aah” appreciatively, maybe asking probing questions. In other words, don’t invite your mother-in-law over.

Write Badly
Just as I mentioned above, drafting is not the time to be fixing the little problems. This is big picture, unloading-your-building-materials time. Don’t be concerning yourself with nuances of grammar or even worrying about motivations working in every scene. Get the general story down, find your characters’ voices, and create the foundation for a story. Giving yourself permission to write badly is crucial. You will edit later. You will revise later. You will rewrite later. Don’t worry about that now. Just write as badly as needed to get through that first draft.

There are plenty of other ways to stay motivated but these work for me. In fact, writing this post has helped re-inspire me to get back to work on my manuscript. I hope it does the same for you!

About the author
Emily Gray Clawson is the author of A Way Back to You and the Of Great Value series. She is co-author of Jennifer Graves’s memoir of the Susan Powell tragedy entitled A Light in Dark Places. Emily also runs a youth leadership program, and she’s an incredible critique partner!

Works, News & Contests

Announcing Spy Noon

23 January 2014 Jordan 1 Comment