The Write Method by Kristen Reed

Kristen Reed

The journey to publication includes hard work and some planning. Author Kristen Reed shares her process and gives us a glimpse of behind the scenes of her new release. 

~ Dawn Kinzer

The Write Method

Fairy tales.

Something about the world of royalty and romance has captivated our society for centuries. Whether it’s the ongoing struggle between good an evil or the chivalric love stories people love them!

I’m no different.

Early last year, I decided to rewrite these classic tales with new twists, and switching to more methodical writing practices has helped me write the first three books in The Fairetellings Series. In this blog, I’ll share my process so you can get a glimpse into how my mind works plus some behind the scenes information about this month’s release, Ingrid’s Engagement: How A Beauty Tamed A Beast.

1.      The Idea: Every book starts with an idea. This month’s release, Ingrid’s Engagement is based on Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve’s Beauty and the Beast. The twist is that it’s a magic-free, Christian story of spiritual transformation instead of the tale of a cursed man.

2. The Preparation: When you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Here is what my prep/planning looked like for Ingrid’s Engagement.

a. Setting: Ingrid’s Engagement takes place during a war in the late nineteenth century, so I did research on camp life and weapons that would have been relevant for that time period.

b. Name: I love giving characters and places names that are relevant to their stories. A few from my new book are below.

i.  The Beauty Character: Ingrid means“Ing is

beautiful.”

ii.  Beast Character: Viggo means“war.”

iii. Viggo’s Kingdom: Villriket comes from the Norwegian words “vill” and “riket,” which mean “wild” and “kingdom.”

c. Plot: Before starting my first draft, I write out a list of plot points that take the story from start to finish. This sometimes changes as I’m writing, but it really helps me stay on track. Several events I wrote in my initial outline didn’t make it into Ingrid’s Engagement, but I won’t spoil the story by saying what they were!

3. Writing: At this point, I create my first draft. No real explanation

      needed here.

4. Editing: This is my least favorite but most rewarding phase of the process. I use the editing software AutoCrit, read the entire manuscript out loud, and send each book off to a professional editor.

5. Design: Since I’m a graphic designer I create my own covers. I usually run several potential designs by my friends before deciding on a final one.

6. Final Proofing: At this point, I get a printer proof of my book as well as an ebook file and check both for correct formatting. Once everything looks good, I give the files my final blessing and get ready for the publication date!

With thousands of authors creating amazing works these days, I’m sure you’ll find just as many different methods of taking a story from an idea to a book you can hold in your hands or scroll through on your Kindle. Whether you’re a writer, reader, or just plain curious, I hope you enjoyed reading about my process. I also hope you’ll love reading Ingrid’s Engagement just as much as I loved writing it! Happy reading!

Ingrid’s Engagement: 

Ingrid’s Engagement

How A Beauty Tamed A Beast

When King Viggo marches through the kingdom of Schlagefilde in a relentless quest for retribution against its wicked king, the Count of Anselm attempts to make peace with him. As the two strike a deal that will protect the people of Anselm, the King of Villriket becomes enthralled with a portrait of the Count’s oldest daughter, Ingrid. The vengeful king vows that he will leave Edmund’s county in peace if he will allow him to marry Ingrid. To prevent her father from incurring the sovereign’s wrath, the young lady hastily agrees and enters into an unforeseen engagement with the grim ruler.

Ingrid’s Engagement tells the enchanting tale of a beautiful young woman who softens the hardened heart of a beastly king with nothing more than her quiet wisdom and gentle spirit.

Kristen Reed, a graduate of the University of Texas at Dallas, is an artist, filmmaker, and author from Dallas, Texas. As a Christian, her faith heavily influences her writing and is the driving force in her life.

Learn more and connect with Kristen at these sites:

Website: http://www.kristenreedauthor.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/kristenreedauthor

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Kristen-Reed/e/B00A1OX9H6/

 

 

Author Interview: Gail Sattler

Hey everyone, we have a fun interview today with Gail Sattler. Have you ever considered writing a novella? Gail's here to share some tips you'll find helpful. Read on! ~ Annette

Gail, your new anthology releases this month. You wrote all four novellas. Tell us more. Do the stories in the compilation relate to each other?

Yes. The first story is a modern-day retelling of the tale of Cinderella, except Cinderella is named Cindy, and her Prince is Luke Princeton, who owns and operations Like A Prince Car Rentals with his partner and best friend. Instead of being a scullery maid, this contemporary Cindy owns and operates her father’s brake and muffler shop. This Cinderella doesn't wear glass slippers—at work she wears ANSI approved steel-toed safety boots—so at the ball, she loses something else.

The second story is about her first stepsister, Annie, who has reformed and is working on healing her relationship with Cindy. She’s trying her best to make her past wrongs right, but things become complicated when she starts working for Cindy's husband and his partner, Brent. While she’s trying to make things right, everything seems to be going wrong.

The third story is about Cindy’s second stepsister, Zella, who has also reformed. Zella’s mother, Cindy’s stepmother, has not changed her ways, making Zella very uncomfortable. In Zella’s efforts to get away and run her own life, she meets a man who could be her Mr. Right, except he has a secret. And not telling her when the time was right makes him very wrong.

The fourth story is about Cindy’s godmother. Since fairies aren’t real, the Fairy Godmother becomes Farrah the godmother. Farrah is stable and happy, but she is also lonely. For most of her life she’s kept busy, not giving herself opportunity to meet another man to love. When she’s finally ready, time seems to have passed her by. When she meets the man who could be her Mr. Right, she can’t let the same thing happen to him, but he has other ideas.

Should readers read them in order?

Yes. Each story moves on in time from the previous story, so the reader needs to read them in order.

How does one plot for a compilation?

For this, it was easy, I used an existing classic story and picked out the four main women and gave them each their own story. I’ve written other series before, and done pretty much the same thing, and that is to continue on the same lines with a key secondary character from the previous story.

If someone’s used to writing full-length novels, what advice do you have for them for plotting and/or writing a novella?

Novellas are harder to write than most people think. The reader expects and needs a full and interesting story, but that story must be told in less than half the words. Usually there isn’t room for a subplot. My best advice for someone writing a novella is to very carefully consider which scenes are necessary to the plot, and which aren’t, and keep down the description and backstory. The delete button is your friend. I go over word count on every novella I do, then have to cut what isn’t absolutely necessary. Make your plot go from A to B with no detours.

What are some key ways to make a novella compilation proposal stand out?

Have a theme and promote it. Have something unique that is shared by all four stories. Also, the biggest attraction for novellas is that they are a fast read in a fast-paced society. Keep every scene interesting, and be prepared to end it and move on in order to have room for all the scenes you need to make a full story in a short amount of words.

What is the hardest thing about writing a novella?

Keeping it short when you have a whole story to tell. That means keeping descriptions short but not too blunt, and telling the story fast without feeling like you’re rushing or leaving out important details in order to get a whole story into 20,000 words, or whatever the word count is.

What’s the easiest?

Sticking to the basics with description, with plot, and characterization. In longer novels you have to know more, and show more, about the characters and setting. In a novella, you can’t because you don’t have room to expound on those things. I’m not saying you don’t have to know your character or setting as well, because you actually have to know those things better. By knowing your characters better before you start writing, you make the writing easier.

~~~~

Gail Sattler lives in Vancouver BC with her husband, 3 sons, 2 dogs, and a lizard named Bub who is quite cuddly for a reptile when he isn't eating her houseplants. When Gail isn't writing she plays piano for the worship team at her Mennonite Brethren church, or electric bass for a local jazz band, and in the new year she's going to try out a community orchestra with her acoustic double bass. When Gail is writing, she writes tales of love, always faithful to the happily-ever-after ending readers of romance have come to know and love.

~~~~

Seattle Cinderella:

Cinderella lives—except her name is Cindy and she resides in Seattle.

Cindy is forced to run her late father’s muffler shop. Will her step-sisters’ shenanigans and Luke Princeton’s charms only make her life even more unbearable?

Cindy’s step-sister Annie has reformed her ways. But how will she prove it to the man she loves?

Step-sister Zella is writing her own love story. But is she using a poison pen?

Cindy’s godmother, Farrah, has caught the attentions of a younger man. Does she have the courage to love again?

How far will God go to give these each of these women a happy-ever-after ending?

Rewriting a Fairy Tale for the Christian Market by Gail Sattler

Happy New Year, writers! Ever tried to adapt a fairy tale into a modern-day story, or tried to rework it for a Christian audience? Gail Sattler has a new release coming in March entitled Seattle Cinderella, and she's here to share her tips on reworking those timeless stories for the inspirational market. Enjoy! ~ Annette

Rewriting a Fairy Tale for the Christian Market

by Gail Sattler

To rewrite a fairy tale for the Christian market can be a challenge because most fairy tales use magic or spells to make the story happen, and taking that out will drastically change the story. But in order to be true to the fairy tale, that story must be adhered to, or it’s not the same story. Sometimes it can be a simple substitution, but the reader must find a parallel telling of the original story or they will be disappointed. The writer has to come as close as possible without adding magic, to make the story happen in a realistic way. Since I’ve just rewritten Cinderella – Seattle Cinderella (www.seattlecinderella.com) is coming out in March 2012 – I’ll use that for my example.

It’s almost an oxymoron to use the phrase “suspension of belief” when rewriting a fairy tale. For the Christina market, the writer must take something unrealistic from the fairy tale, and make it believable and realistic. But because people know and love the original fairy tale, that which was the suspension of disbelief is what is considered true and real. Then the Christian writer must take something unrealistic and change it to being realistic, which becomes the suspension of belief. I hope that made sense.

The key to rewriting a fairy tale is to stick as closely to the plot as you can, keeping the same key story points as a primary focus.

It was an easy substitution to change the horse and carriage to an orange taxi-cab when she escaped from the ball at midnight. The harder part was that the reader expects her to flee at midnight, which is a key plot point. The trick was to make a realistic reason for her to flee at midnight. As well, in a contemporary setting, the prince is bigger and stronger, and faster, than our heroine. Why doesn’t he catch her? All these details must be worked in realistically, knowing that the realistic element is the suspension of disbelief.

Likewise with other plot points. Whatever the reason they happened in the fairy tale, parallel plot points must be made to follow with the original story that fit into a contemporary setting.

Once you have figured out how to make the reader accept the parallel, the rest is just story.

~~~~~

Gail Sattler lives in Vancouver BC with her husband, 3 sons, 2 dogs, and a lizard named Bub who is quite cuddly for a reptile when he isn't eating her houseplants. When Gail isn't writing she plays piano for the worship team at her Mennonite Brethren church, or electric bass for a local jazz band, and in the new year she's going to try out a community orchestra with her acoustic double bass. When Gail is writing, she writes tales of love, always faithful to the happily-ever-after ending readers of romance have come to know and love. Learn more about Gail and her writing at her website. Watch for her anthology, Seattle Cinderella, coming in March, 2012 from Barbour Publishing.