Technique

Upping your tension, scene-by-scene

In my presentation on structural self-editing, I mention that one column of the scene chart in particular helped to make my story better: the tension column. So when I stumbled across a post on how to use that tension column in my archives, I knew I had to share!

When you’re editing yourself, it can be hard to see which of your scenes are low in tension. For tension, a scene-level edit is a definite must. For each scene, ask yourself:

  • Character’s goal: Is it clearly stated or irrefutably implied? (That scene goal in the scene chart thing? Yep. Plus, a scene chart and/or spreadsheet is a really convenient here.)
  • Bring on the conflict: Can/should I cut to where the conflict for that goal starts? Is that the worst conflict I could use here?
  • Bring out the conflict: Have I stated why this is a difficult/delicate situation?
  • Length: Is the scene an appropriate length for its significance? (That applies to both word count and the passage of time in the scene.)
  • Setting: Could another setting lend more tension to this scene?
  • Purpose: Does this move the story forward? Is my reason for having this scene good enough to justify this scene, or any scene at all?
  • Ending: Does the scene end with a disaster for my POV character’s goal? Do we cut away at the worst possible moment, something that will induce the reader to find out what happens next?
  • Finally, rating: as Noah Lukeman recommends in The Plot Thickens, rate the scene tension on a scale of 1 to 10.

Another method here is to read the story backwards, scene-by-scene. Or, I guess, you could jump around as long as you made sure you covered everything. That way, you know each scene will stand on its own—but if you change anything important, especially near the beginning, you’ll just have to go through and fix all that again. (Which can cut both ways, of course.)

Of course, this whole method requires brutal honesty. No rating a scene higher because your heroine gets off a few zingers, no keeping a scene that doesn’t serve any real purpose because it has that beautiful paragraph that it took you a month to write. Cut and paste your favorite parts (or the whole scene) into another document and you never have to actually “lose” anything.

Finding and fixing low tension scenes is just the beginning of making sure your story keeps your readers hooked. Tomorrow we’ll look at finding problems with the overarching suspense in your story. (Gulp!)

What do you think? What do you look for to find low-tension scenes?

Photo credit: Samuraijohnny

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Works, Writing Life

The accidental novel

This entry is part 13 of 13 in the series All my novels

Did you ever accidentally write a novel? Just me?

So I, Spy starts off with Talia already dating her boyfriend Danny. When I started writing prequel novellas, I really felt like I would have to tell the story of how they got together. Also, just for the characters’ general backstory, I wanted to know how it all played out. And to get a better feel for Danny before I, Spy came out, I started writing the story of how they started dating from his POV.

This would come back to bite me.

My research trip:

The book stats

Title: True Spy? Subject to change Spy by Night
Genre: Romantic suspense
Inspiration: figuring out the backstory and rounding out a trilogy
Writing dates: November 2013 – June 2014, with a few scenes written in fall 2012. Editing in progress through November 2014. Published November 2014.
Length: First draft: ~62,000 words. Published form: 84,000 words
Elevator pitch: CIA operative Talia Reynolds does not do romance. With her job—and her life—it’s just too many secrets. But can she let down her guard to let in a friend who needs her without losing her heart? (Check out how the published novel is described here!)

What I learned from writing this book

I’m still in the process of learning from this book!

I really need to fix the big picture problems before I start working on the scene-level problems. I stopped doing this in previous two books and it made prepping them for my critique group so much harder. This time around (so far!), I’ve two fast rounds to get those bigger problems that I’d found in the course of drafting, then to get more into the nitty-gritty of the text (instead of tackling both at once). Oh my goodness it’s so much easier!

Okay, but the real question here is . . . HOW DO YOU ACCIDENTALLY WRITE A NOVEL??? I know. I’m crazy.

After stewing over this story for nearly two years, I had a lot of details about how the plot would go. I knew all the fun twists, all the cool stuff, a lot of the characters’ arcs (well, as much as you know in the first draft!). But at the same time, I wanted to keep this to a novella. My other novellas were about 20,000 words, so this one could be 30,000, I decided. Then I could have them all printed together in a single volume, about the same printing cost as my other books, or a little cheaper (since they’d probably have to be priced a little lower).

Spaghetti....Oops!

You ever have a perfect plan? Yeah, me neither.

So first, my ideas for the opening spy scene fell into place—but I was trying to write Tomorrow We Spy. That scene wouldn’t leave me alone, so I wrote it just to get it out of my head. I actually thought I’d have to switch to do the novella for Nano, but once I got that scene out, I was ready to go back to TWS.

That initial scene waited until early this year when I could get back to it. I finished the scene and added two more, then came to the scene where Danny and Talia actually meet. I started writing it from Talia’s POV but it just wasn’t . . . cute. And the first meeting is supposed to be cute!

I’d already written the scene from Danny’s POV, and I was using that as a guide, but the more I looked at it, the sadder I was to lose his thoughts here. I turned to a trusted, insightful friend and showed her both versions of the scene.

She liked Danny’s better. And she was right: his voice added a new dimension to Talia’s story (and she’s already gotten 3 novels of her own!). But this made things even more complicated. I only had about 7000 words in his story, but I was projecting it at around 30,000 as well. I’d have to be careful to give his character arc enough attention and screen time, and somehow balance it with Talia’s more exciting external plot.

And how did it go? Well, it’s still a work-in-progress, but I think I can do it (with help from my amazing CPs of course!).

whooshingSo I decided to let the story take its course. 30,000 words came and went. (Whoosh it said as it went by.) But I knew I could keep it less than 50,000. Right? Nope. Whoosh. 60,000? Whoosh. I finally finished a little over 62,000 words—and I kept telling myself I could get it under 50,000. Except that I add 20-30% in revisions, and I knew some of the scenes I’d need to add. So….

Finally, I had to admit it. My rebellious novella (rebelliovella?) wasn’t a novella at all. It was a novel. And that was okay—except that I didn’t have time to edit another novel in my production schedule, and I didn’t want the prequel that started it all to be the last installment released. I want the end of the series to “have the last word.”

So what will I do? I don’t know! I’m dancing as fast as I can! But I hope to have some decisions/announcements next month!

UPDATE: Spy by Night is available now! (I ended up delaying TWS to put Spy by Night out first, but only just.)

Did you ever accidentally write a novel?

Oops photo by Neal Fowler via Flickr/CC

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Works, News & Contests

Awesome box set coming August 2014!

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Awesome news! I, Spy will soon be available as part of a multiauthor box set! Mirror Press is putting out the Triple Treat series of box sets, each with three best-selling sweet romance novels. Along with Rachel Branton’s Tell Me No Lies and Christine Kersey’s Over You, I, Spy is part of the very first romantic suspense box set, Last Chance. And here’s the cover!

TTT Last Chance 3-D

Watch for the box set to come out in August!

Reading

Real-life helicopter rescue: Torn Canvas blog tour!!

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Donna K. Weaver joins us today, touring with the second book in her Safe Harbors series, Torn Canvas—and a giveaway!Torn_Canvas_Front_Full_Res_WEBVERSION

First, a bit more about the book—then, we’ll get to hear about Donna’s experience when a fellow passenger needed a real life helicopter rescue from their cruise ship!

Even a hero needs rescuing sometimes.

Modern-day pirates took more than Jori Virtanen’s friends; they stole his face. Not only does the twenty-four-year-old former model have to confront months of reconstructive surgery, he discovers his previous life was as superficial as his looks. Jori struggles to make a new life for himself as an artist while evading the press. They expect a hero, but he knows the truth. His beauty masks a beast.

Olivia Howard’s given up a normal life for her job, and the sacrifices are finally paying off. The twenty-six-year-old talk-show host’s ratings are heading to the top of the charts. Her dream is to make a difference in people’s lives, but the studio wants mind fluff—like interviewing hot model Jori Virtanen. When Olivia learns the guy helped rescue passengers on a cruise excursion from kidnappers, she knows this is the story she needs to make her case. The only problem is the hero was injured, and now he’s disappeared.

The more Olivia learns about the man behind the scar, the more intrigued she becomes. But Jori is no girl’s happily ever after. Once she finds him, Olivia has to free his heart and help heal the beast.

AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE | iTUNES | GOODREADS

Jordan asked me to talk a little bit about any interesting experiences I might have had while cruising. I am a Navy brat. I was five when my family moved to South Korea to join my father who was stationed in Seoul, and that was when I first sailed the Pacific. By the time I was thirteen, I had sailed the Pacific three times. Loved it–even if the first two trips were on Navy transports. Not exactly like a cruise ship, but still cool because I was at sea.

My most recent experience was last January. My husband and I took an eighteen-day circle anniversary cruise to Hawaii. We sailed from San Diego on the evening of January 21st. The water was pretty rough. Even on modern ships with ballast systems to help with stabilization, it takes time to get your sea legs. It’s during these times that passengers are the most vulnerable to accident.

Evidently, the night before, someone had fallen on the stairs. In the process this person had knocked a woman down. She hadn’t been so lucky. She broke a leg and had some head trauma, including bleeding from the ear. After consulting with the ship doctors and the mainland, the captain made the decision to turn the ship around so we could meet up with a Coast Guard helicopter to life flight the poor woman to a hospital.

We were not allowed to watch the actual event. As you can imagine, an actual helicopter evacuation is quite dangerous. If something were to happen—like the helicopter crashing into the ship—the fewer passengers in harm’s way, the better. Later during a class where the executive officer explained how the bridge worked, they included a video of the evacuation.

The woman survived, but there wasn’t room on the helicopter for both the doctor and her husband. That poor man had to turn around and sail five days to Hawaii so he could catch a plane to come and join his wife. Then, our island itinerary had to be changed around to account for the lost day. They did everything they could to preserve as much as possible, but people still complained. Enough that the Captain finally had to speak up about it and remind everyone that the woman’s life was more important than their vacations.

I watched various videos on YouTube when I was writing Torn Canvas because Jori has to be life flighted after his injuries fighting the pirates. While the other freed captives are sailed back to Pago Pago, American Samoa, Jori requires more immediate medical attention. I never dreamed I would ever be on a ship where there was a helicopter rescue.

Following is an excerpt from that scene:

With a jolt, the stabbing pain returned, worse than before. Jori tried to open his eyes, but only the right lid would work. Immediately, a shaft of a bright light forced him to close it. Was that a helicopter? He tried to move but found he had been strapped to some kind of board. Even his head was tied in place. His heart began to race, and it was difficult to breathe.

Jori struggled against what held him, pausing when a warm hand brushed his forehead.

“It’s okay.” Elle sounded scared. He jerked against the restraint harder. “Please don’t move,” she said. Over his face, her red, puffy eyes filled with tears.

“Why am I tied up?” Jori breathed out. He closed his eye and forced his rigid muscles to relax. Hadn’t they just fought the pirates? Opening his eye again, Jori pulled against the binding on his wrists.

“Shhh. You’re hurt.” She stroked his hair again, a tear dropping to the side of his forehead and running into his hair. “The Coast Guard is here to fly you to the hospital in Pago Pago.”

“Sir,” said a man in a military jumpsuit and helmet, stepping into view, “we’re going to lift you now. Please don’t move.” The man gave a signal.

With the motion, Jori’s heart beat even harder, making the pounding in his head worse. There was something he needed to remember—

“Wait! Elle ….”

“They’re sailing us back!” The wind blew away the rest of her words as the swaying ropes pulled him toward the helicopter.

With the motion, Jori closed his eyes and clenched his fingers on the board beneath him. He refused to think about what the weaving back and forth meant. He was at Disneyland and not about to smash against the ship or the helicopter.

The sound of the blades was now deafening. Forcing a convulsive swallow, Jori took a deep breath. Motion sickness tore through his stomach, and he gagged. What if he threw up and couldn’t turn over? What if he choked to death on it?

“Shiiiiiiii—” The board bumped something, and Jori’s eye snapped open, his heart skipping a beat.

“We have you, sir,” said a woman’s voice.

 

I’m really excited to read this one! You can too!

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And check out the book trailer!

Donna WeaverAbout the Author

Donna K. Weaver is the author of the Safe Harbors series and Second Chances 101, Book 5 in the Ripple Effect series. She’s a wife, mother, grandmother, Harry Potter geek, Army veteran, and karate black belt.

Find the author on:

Blog | Amazon Author Page | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | YouTube | Google+

News & Contests

Catch up with me all over the place!

Last week I had two guest posts go live!

How can you find your character’s arc?

Character arcs, a character’s journey of internal change and growth, are an important part of making any story satisfying. It helps readers to relate to your story and root for your character. The external plot, the action and events of the story, affects every character, but do your characters grow and change on an emotional level?

A quick look at the topic that comprises the whole first chapter of my book on the subject over at the Dauntless Authors blog!

And how to survive the soul-sucking darkness that is self-publishing:

I think all first-time authors reach “the other side” of publishing when their book hits the shelves—and all is not rainbows and roses. The soul-sucking darkness affects all publishing, really. Even if we have backing of a publisher, we don’t know what to expect when our book finally hits the market. When we venture out without that backing, we have one less assurance that our work is good. But no matter what path we take to share our work, we can stay sane staring into that soul-sucking darkness!

Yep, it’s my monthly post for the Indie Authors column at Fiction University! Read it here.

Works, Writing Life

Finishing the series

This entry is part 12 of 13 in the series All my novels

When I first started writing I, Spy, it was supposed to be a standalone. I never envisioned it as part of a series. But by the time I made it to critique group, I had ideas for two sequels: one where Talia faced off with an bad ex within the Agency (Spy for a Spy) and one where Talia and Danny had to work together.

Spy for a Spy was a difficult book—and I’d had a baby in the middle of writing it. Between writing struggles and the demands of motherhood, tackling another book in the series was a bit daunting. Combine that with taking time off NaNoWriMo to launch Spy for a Spy and run a big promotion, and I was worried.

However, I did have some positives coming into this: I’d just drafted Spy Noon just a few weeks before, and it was so much fun to write! I was hoping to be able to replicate that experience.

SAMSUNG
My plotting brain dump. It’s actually still hanging there.

Once I had Spy for a Spy launched, however, I was ready to buckle down and write—with just over half of November left. Amazingly, I pulled it out to get 50,000 words by the end of the month. I was a little burned out, so it took me a few weeks to come back to it and finish in December, but at least it was done.

Huh. I just realized this will be my first (of three) Nano novels to be published. Cool!

The book stats

Title: Tomorrow We Spy
Genre: Romantic suspense
Inspiration: another dream
Writing dates: November – December 2013. Editing through July 2014. Published November 2014.
Length: First draft: ~70,000 words. Currently sitting at: 84,000 words
Elevator pitch: CIA operative Talia Reynolds is off the clock, off the continent and off on her honeymoon—but when the Agency calls her new husband in for a special mission, there’s a lot more at stake than the stolen plans for the spy drone he designed. (See the full description & read the first chapter here!)

What I learned from writing this book

While I didn’t recapture the pure fun of Spy Noon, this book wasn’t quite as challenging as Spy for a Spy. For one, the writing process didn’t drag out as much. But for another, I’d learned that I can fix even a very broken, off-track novel, so I had the confidence I could fix this one..

FinishNow, with the novel getting close to “finished,” I’ve forgotten how dreck-y it felt at first. But back in January, after I finished writing it, I described it as a “less-than-perfect-and-perhaps-not-quite-coherent manuscript, where the character arc wasn’t where I needed it to be and . . . maybe the entire main plot is sketchy at best and completely missing at worst.”

And, as I’d anticipated, my critique partners helped me whip those character arcs into shape—not the shape I’d anticipated at first, but the right one, and helped me develop better motivations for my characters’ actions, and put in a missing save-the-cat moment. I still have some perfecting to do, but I’m really excited about how it’s turned out so far!

Another really important lesson from this book: as I did my gesture crutches and deep edit, they weren’t easy (they never are)—but they weren’t as hard as with my first book in the series. Part of me worried that I’d lost my edge. While it’s important not to go too easy on yourself, I think another thing to keep in mind is that the more we edit focusing on a particular technique, the more we internalize those techniques, and the more we can (and do!) use them on a first draft. So editing probably does get easier over time, not because we’re getting worse at editing, but because we’re getting better at writing!

Editing is always necessary, but it’s nice to know you can still improve!

What do you think? What editing techniques have you seen popping up in first drafts (or at least earlier drafts than that used to)?

Photo credit: finish line by Philo Nordlund

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News & Contests

May accountability; June goals

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Last month, I was really daunted by my goals, things I’d been chipping away at way too slowly for months. So, how did it go?

GoalsMay accountability

  • FINISH THE NOVELLA—DONE. Sort of. You see, one of the reasons this novella was so tough was that . . . it wasn’t a novella at all. I deluded myself even after I passed the projected 30,000 word count halfway through, even when I hit 50,000 words, even when I finished at 62,000 words. I could cut it back, I told myself. Other than all these scenes I need to add . . . So now I have a new problem: when am I going to find time to edit a full novel??
  • DO THE EDITS—done. They’re not all entered, but the last few are sitting there in my file waiting for me.
  • Do rewrites on Saints & Spies—with the novella turning into a novel, I decided to move this a little later.
  • Participate in a sale event (more on that coming up later in the month!)—check! Not as successful as my last big sale, but still a big bump!
  • Think about marketing & website stuff.—did some of this. More to come.

Whew! That looks like a ton of progress!

June goals

I know, the month’s half over. But here’s what I wanted to get done starting at the beginning of the month.

  • Start editing the newest novella. Hoping to make it through the first quarter or third.
  • Read through Tomorrow We Spy again and apply latest round of critique notes; send to beta readers.
  • READ. A lot. I need to recharge!
  • Think about website and marketing stuff even more.
  • Get beta reader feedback and incorporate, getting the novel ready to go to my editor

I think I can?

What’s up for you this month?

Photo by Celestine Chua

Technique, Reading

Becoming a better writer: READ

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I’ll admit it: I love to read, but when I’m writing, I don’t do a lot of reading. (Oh, crud, there’s a secondary confession in there: I typically don’t write [i.e. write brand new material in a first draft] every single day. Gasp.) There are a couple reasons for this. (The reading, not the writing. That’s another post.) When I am writing a book, it usually consumes every second of “free” (read: writing or reading time) time I have for those weeks. But don’t worry—I still get my (non)fiction fix in! Here’s how!

Research!

Occasionally, I can work in a little bit of reading while drafting. For me, nonfiction research reading can often feed my creative beast muse—very important when you push it as hard as I do (we’re talking anywhere from 4000 to 8000 words/day while drafting).

I have to do a lot of research anyway (since I’m a little obsessive), and research reading is a great source of new ideas.

Fiction, however, is another story for me. When I read fiction while writing, the voice or style of the book I read often bleeds into the book I’m writing. That usually isn’t so good. So let’s just assume that we’re not going to be reading fiction while drafting, but we definitely can’t take off all our time from reading. What’s a writer to do?

Take a reading break

One thing I try to do periodically, especially when trying to get necessary distance from my book, is to take a break from writing/revising/editing altogether and just read. It’s a good time to catch up in your genre, explore another, try something new or completely different, or just enjoy yourself. Reading breaks are also a great place to find ideas. Way back when I wrote three books in one year (before I did crazythousand-word days!), the thing that got me writing that third book (insanity!) was an idea I just couldn’t resist after reading a fantastic book.

Read carefully while editing

Reading while editing will vary from writer to writer, but for me, I think I actually benefit from reading writing that I . . . don’t care for, we’ll say. If you’ve been editing your own work long enough, you probably rewrite sentences in published novels at least occasionally. (Admit it, we all do!) When you feed your editing habit, you may look at your own writing with a more critical eye.

I’ve also found it helpful to read really, really good novels while editing, giving me a mark to shoot for.

Set a reading goal

And make it public!. I pledged to read 50 books in 2011, and I thought that wouldn’t be too hard. I’d read 40 the year before (um, including a 6-week leave from all writing while I read [and had a baby]), and even very long books seldom take me a week to read. You know, except for the weeks I can’t, when I’m consumed by my own books (or, heaven forbid, the humans with whom I cohabit).

That public pledge ended up pushing me pretty hard, especially since I did NaNoWriMo, too. It came down to the wire, but I got in my 50 books, even if a couple were rereads of some classics of writing craft.

What do you think? Can you read while you write? If not, when do you read?

Photo credits: reading a book—Kendra; glasses on book—Antonio Mantero

Adapted from a post from May 2012

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