Copyediting is Subjective by Annette M. Irby

 

There are as many editorial preferences as there are editors.

Publishers generally have in-house style guides for their editors and authors. Their teams can reference those guides to answer stylistic questions, especially when trusted, outside sources vary or fail to cover the topic in question.

Below, I’ll share examples of preferences that may vary among editors and publishers.

Plotting the Suspense Novel by DiAnn Mills

Do you write suspense, or have you considered writing in that genre? Award-winning and best-selling author DiAnn Mills is here today with tips and strategies for plotting your novel. Enjoy! ~ Annette

DiAnn Mills

Plotting the suspense novel uses creativity, imagination, and knowing the characters inside and out to create an edge-of-the-seat experience. The story line is filled with action and propels the story forward while the reader senses a deep concern for the protagonist.

In a successful suspense story, a writer has six feats to accomplish for the reader.

Write On by Theresa Hall

My writing is awful. I’ll never get published. I should just quit.

If you’ve ever said these words to yourself, you’re not alone. I don’t know of a single writer who hasn’t felt this way. And the rejections certainly don’t help. Trust me, I’ve had my share. I wrote several full manuscripts that will never be published. And for good reason. They’re awful. But do I regret writing them? Not at all. I learned something from every single one.

Your Own Hero’s Journey By Angela Ruth Strong

Angela Ruth Strong

As a writer, no doubt you've heard about the Hero's Journey--that path your main characters must travel to get to their satisfying story ending. We, as people, are also on a journey. Read on for today's encouragement from fellow Mountain Brook Ink author Angela Ruth Strong! ~ Annette

As a writer, I like to look at God as the author of life. It better helps me understand both my job and my world. It gives me hope in knowing He created me for a purpose and gave me the exact strengths needed to overcome the challenges I face.

When plotting a story, I give my main character a goal. They would prefer to follow a straight path from point A to point B. But in order for them to grow as an individual, I have to put obstacles in their way.

That first obstacle is known as the inciting incident. It’s also the point of no return. And it usually seems to be related to the character’s flaw. For example, in the Bible story of Joseph, he gets thrown into a pit because his brothers don’t like the fact that he has dreams of ruling over them.

To keep the story clean and neat, authors follow the rule of three obstacles to overcome, the third being the black moment when all hope seems lost. Let’s follow Joseph’s journey and see how this works out for him. First, he’s sold as a slave to Potiphar. He rises above his circumstances and is put in charge of the other slaves. Second, Potiphar’s wife gets angry that he won’t sleep with her and lies about him so that he’s thrown in jail. Again, he rises above and is honored even in prison. Third, he gives the interpretations to a couple other prisoners’ dreams and because of this is called before Pharaoh to translate a dream.

Standing before Pharaoh could have been where the story turned tragic. Joseph’s life could have ended right there if he didn’t do what Pharaoh requested. This is the black moment when all hope would have been lost for anyone else. But see, God had given Joseph exactly what he needed to overcome.

I think it’s interesting how both the inciting incident and the black moment are related. The flip side of Joseph’s strength had been his weakness. He had a past where using his gift had gotten him into trouble. What if he’d been too traumatized/afraid to try again?

I can relate to this. My first husband claimed he left me because I loved writing more than I loved him. I’d actually offered to give up my writing to save my marriage, and when I remarried, I was afraid to write. But perhaps because of how I’ve grown, this gift is now helping me to find healing—and hopefully it will help others find healing in my first non-fiction book I just sold, Moving On After Your Husband Moves Out.

When explaining this concept to a good friend, she got teary eyed. She’d always been judged for her “big personality.” Her whole life she’s been hushed and joked about. She’s often been afraid to be herself because of it. But it’s her contagious laugh and extroverted connectiveness that made her a success in her career as an event planner for a retirement community. She was given exactly what she needed to overcome in her own hero’s journey.

This is why it’s so important for us to ask God for direction, find our identity in Him, and trust that He didn’t make a mistake when he plotted our lives. He designed us to overcome.

One other thing that has stuck with me about writing is this statement: The darker the black moment, the more powerful the resolution.

When everything is going wrong then life gets even worse—which it usually does—I know it’s part of God’s plan. I shake my fist at heaven and say, “I am onto you. As much as this sucks right now, you are allowing it to give me a powerful story of overcoming so that I can encourage others to do the same.”

This is what story is all about. This is why the Bible repeatedly tells us to tell our stories. If writing from experience, we aren’t only quoting Genesis when we say, “What you intended against me for evil, God intended for good.” It’s personal. And it’s powerful.

So whether you’re a writer, or God has given you other amazing gifts, don’t take them for granted. And when life seems to turn on you, know it’s not the end. You have been prepared for this. Now go make your own life story one worth telling.

“What you intended against me for evil, God intended for good.” It’s personal. And it’s powerful. @AngelaRuthStrong is at #SeriouslyWrite today with encouragement for your writing journey.

Authors are on their own Hero's Journey. Find encouragement to overcome your life's obstacles at #SeriouslyWrite today. @angelaruthstrong

~~~~~

A Cuppa Trouble

Can a couple of baristas chase down a car thief without spilling a drop of their favorite drink?

Plans for a Valentine's Day grand opening of a small-town coffee shop go awry when the first customer is killed. Evidence points toward the victim being mixed up in a car theft ring, but shop owners Tandy and Marissa have reason to believe he was framed. An assortment of suspects--from a pink-haired heir to Tandy's charming ex--all seem to know a little too much about grand theft auto.

Without approval from either their boyfriends or the gum-chewing FBI agent in charge, the shop owners go on stakeouts, plan stings, and pursue justice in a high-speed car chase. If they don't find the killer soon, it might be more than their love lives in trouble.

~~~~~

Angela Ruth Strong sold her first Christian romance novel in 2009 then quit writing romance when her husband left her. Ten years later, God has shown her the true meaning of love, and there's nothing else she'd rather write about. Her books have since earned TOP PICK in Romantic Times, been optioned for film, won the Cascade Award, and been Amazon bestsellers. She also writes non-fiction for SpiritLed Woman. To help aspiring authors, she started IDAhope Writers where she lives in Idaho, and she teaches as an expert online at WRITE THAT BOOK. Visit her at www.angelaruthstrong.com. She'd love to hear from you.

Connect with Angela:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Angela-Ruth-Strong/e/B00B8BSHLE/
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/angela-ruth-strong
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4746114
Website: https://www.angelaruthstrong.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1557213161269220/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AngelaRStrong

Taking Deep Point of View Even Deeper by Annette M. Irby

Woman writing in notebook at a park*

We’ve talked before on Seriously Write about deep POV (point of view). I still highly recommend Jill Elizabeth Nelson’s book Rivet Your Reader with Deep Point of View.

To impact readers, we must help them engage with the main characters (MCs), especially those who lend us their point of view during the novel. This way, readers can:

1) find ways they relate, so they won’t feel left out of the novel.
2) possibly (and hopefully) be emotionally impacted by the story.
3) live vicariously through your POVC’s (point-of-view character’s) adventure.

Let’s dig a little deeper into an aspect that will let us into your POVC’s experience. In my work as an editor, I’ve noticed that there can sometimes be a lack of what I call the realization-then-reaction cycle. This is somewhat different from scene building (Dwight Swain’s motivation-reaction units). It’s introspective, meaning the character’s thoughts are central.

To delve deeper into deep POV, have characters do two things:

1) realize/recognize what they perceive is happening and put it on the page

2) and then react to that realization, again, on the page.

Now, of course, you can overdo it, so be intentional. But this cycle is what we do in real life. By employing the realization-then-reaction cycle, you’re:

1) Creating tension: What if the MC is offended by what they perceive just happened? What if they feel justified in their unforgiveness, etc.? So many possibilities.

2) Leveraging deep POV: We’re in the MC’s head, let’s experience what he’s thinking and feeling. We aren’t watching a movie; we’re reading a novel. It’s a deeper POV experience and one readers expect when they pick up your book.

3) Providing a logical flow (study MRUs for more on this). If your MC does not at least think about what’s happening, readers wonder if the MC is dense. Doesn’t he see what just happened? And after the MC acknowledges what just happened, readers want to see how it impacts them.

4) Answering (and raising) readers’ questions. Readers wonder if they “read that right,” so giving us the MC’s perception answers the questions. You can also raise more questions by having the MC be confused or point out something else for readers to wonder about.

5) Creating conflict: Your POVC cannot necessarily perceive correctly both the actions and motivations of other characters. This oh-so-relatable challenge can lead to great conflict between characters, including misunderstandings, distrust, etc.

Readers are trusting the POVC to paint her world, both the outer story world and her inner world (thoughts, feelings, etc.) for us. If we aren’t given their understanding (perception) of outward events, we’ll feel kept at a distance. If we aren’t then given their reaction to those realizations (how what has happened makes her feel), your character won’t feel believable. She will feel two-dimensional rather than layered.

Perhaps writers skip this logical inward flow because they aren't fully in their character's head, or the emotions are too intimidating. I’m unsure why they leave out realizations and reactions, but I can tell you when, as a reader, I perceive life along with the MC and then I feel her reaction, I relate! I’m sure this is true for you too.

In my Whidbey Island novel that released March 1, I include a situation where the heroine carries anger for a decision the hero made years ago—a decision that impacted her in a painful way. During their conversation about this touchy subject, I have the heroine perceiving what the hero might be thinking by watching his body language. This is what we do in real life. She may even read into his words and project what she thinks he’s feeling onto him. Again, human behavior. One of my early readers said she could so relate with the heroine in that scene. She felt the character’s indignation. (Three cheers when that happens, right?!) Anytime we can help readers feel what our characters feel, we’ve accomplished a grand part of our goal—to give readers an emotional experience. That’s what makes them search out your books again and again. That’s what builds your readerly tribe.

Then, when you’re in the other POVC’s head, you can paint the scene from their perspective as they recall how it happened. In my Whidbey novel,we find the hero deeply regrets his past decision and would change it if he could. He’s determined to find a way to make up for his selfishness in the present, if she’ll let him. See, he’s likable! That’s how you leverage deep POV. That’s how you keep your reader both hooked and cheering for both of your MCs (in a romance, specifically), though they are seemingly on opposing sides, at least in the beginning.

Your turn: What tips do you have for delving more deeply into deep POV? What works for you as a reader? What works for you as a writer? I’d love to see your ideas.

Write on, friends!

Taking Deep Point of View Even Deeper @AnnetteMIrby #writingtips #SeriouslyWrite

~~~~~

Finding Love on Whidbey Island, Washington

FL on Whidbey Island, Washington

Could what drove them apart be what draws them back together? Liberty Winfield lives with loss every day. She’d rather leave her history behind her, but when faced with moving back to her hometown, the past becomes unavoidable. She takes a job at the florist shop owned by her ex-boyfriend’s family from a decade ago. Now he’s unavoidable.

Clay Garrison knows the pain of ruing his mistakes. Most of his regrets center around Liberty. If he could undo his poor choices, he would. Liberty is back. He has one more chance to make things right. She doesn’t believe anyone could love her unconditionally, so he sets out to prove her wrong. He must also try to right the biggest wrong of their past, knowing that in doing so, he could lose her forever. Will addressing the past together help them find love?

~~~~~

 
Annette M. Irby has been writing since her teen years when she sat pounding out stories on a vintage typewriter just for fun. Since then, she’s joined Christian writing groups and launched blogs so she could share the joy of writing. Her book, Finding Love on Bainbridge Island, Washington, finaled in the Selah Contest in 2019. Flowers and seascapes inspire her. In her off hours, she enjoys gardening, photography, and music. She lives with her husband and family in the Pacific Northwest. Learn more here on her Seriously Write page.



Links to connect with Annette:
Website: www.AnnetteIrby.com
Twitter: @AnnetteMIrby
Facebook Reader Friends Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/252272708574760
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/annette-m-irby or @AnnetteMIrby
Amazon Author Page: www.amazon.com/author/annette_m_irby.com
Book Review Blog: www.annetteirbyreviews.blogspot.com

* woman writing photo credit: Pixabay
** author photo credit: Sarah Irby

Immersion for Production by Annette M. Irby

Woman with hands clasped at her heart and head bowed.*

Hey, friends! Today I wanted to re-share a post that first went live on Seriously Write in 2017. If you're looking for emotional payoff in your novel, read on.

As a writer, I’m influenced by story, in all its forms—family lore, books, biblical accounts, television series, movies, etc. I’m a student of story structure. As a writer and an editor, this is part of my work. I love story!

The second book in my current series delves into a family’s secrets and discusses forgiveness, regret, and deep emotional scars. 

While writing it, I watched two separate series of intensely emotional shows on TV—one fictional, and one reality regarding family reunions. I also spent time researching my family’s genealogy, including painful discoveries of my ancestors’ lives. As the emotional burden pressed down, I questioned the weight. Should I not watch these family reunion stories? Should I put off my research? Was all this emotional exploration, exposure, and weight good for me? Should I find some comedies to lighten things up? Take up knitting and turn off the TV? Then I got the most beautiful confirmation because God is faithful like that.

I caught an interview with the writers of the fictional family drama. The hostess asked, “Tell us more about the process for you writers.” Oh, yay! (*rubs hands together in anticipation of how I might relate and what I might learn*) Here’s what they said: as the series was in development, the show’s creator/head writer gathered the writing team. (It’s always a team with these things, isn’t it? Share the genius.) He invited guest speakers to visit the writers’ room for a week or so and share their personal stories. Their intense, painful, deep, emotional, real stories. One person shared about her body image and weight concerns. Another shared about being adopted into a family of mixed race and how challenging that was for her identity in our culture. Lots of pain. Lots of tears. The writers intimated that these sessions were burdensome, intensive, emotional, and that the writers were all very moved by what they heard. They absorbed the emotion. If you’ve watched the show that they’ve written, you know that viewers absorb, relate, feel the intense emotion of these episodes. There is ugly crying involved. 

That was my confirmation! To write an impactful series/story, these writers needed a few things:

• To get in touch with their own emotions.
• Hear from and study someone who had been through some stuff.
• Feel for them, and with them. Share in their pain.
• Let themselves feel. (So often we want to turn off our feelings, especially when they’re deep, intense, weighty, or confusing.)

We honor our readers when our characters react to plot elements with genuine emotion. We’ll have to give them a part of ourselves to make that happen. In that way, readers have a chance to relate. If we spend our days avoiding deep emotions, we writers may not be able to present our characters’ inner lives as believably. 

Your turn: How do you infuse your stories with genuine emotion?

Write on, friends! 

~~~~

Finding Love on Bainbridge Island

Finding Love on Bainbridge Island, Washington

Neither of them is ready for a relationship, but love may not give them an out.

Jenna-Shea Brown considers herself a broken therapist. Years ago, she witnessed something that caused PTSD. She can’t let her boss or her patients know about her battle. Who would want to trust her to help them, when she can’t help herself? She’s finally able to find a fresh start in her family’s beach cabin, but the renovations aren’t complete. Her parents have hired her ex-boyfriend to finalize them, but his negligence led to her being in the wrong place at the wrong time all those years ago. 

Liam Barrett is trying to prove he’s nothing like his deadbeat dad. He’s working hard, yet still failing. Adrenaline and adventure offer him a diversion, but maybe he can’t escape his genes. He’d like to make things right with Shea, but he’s unsure if she’ll forgive him. Meanwhile, he’s challenged to forgive his father. He’s also worried about Shea and all these episodes she won’t explain. Now that they’re back in close proximity, he’s falling for her again. But can anything heal the past?

 ~~~~~

Annette M. Irby**

Annette M. Irby has been writing since her teen years when she sat pounding out stories on a vintage typewriter just for fun. Since then, she’s joined Christian writing groups and launched blogs so she could share the joy of writing. In her off hours, she enjoys gardening, photography, and music. She lives with her husband and family in the Pacific Northwest.

Learn more here on her Seriously Write Page.

Links to connect with Annette:

Website: www.AnnetteIrby.com

Twitter: @AnnetteMIrby

Facebook Reader Friends Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/252272708574760

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/annette-m-irby or @AnnetteMIrby

Amazon Author Page: www.amazon.com/author/annette_m_irby.com   

Book Review Blog: www.annetteirbyreviews.blogspot.com

* woman photo credit: Pixabay

** Author Photo credit: Sarah Irby at Irby Photos

How Structure Can Make First Drafts Fun to Write by Christa MacDonald

Christa MacDonald

 How Structure Can Make First Drafts Fun to Write 

by Christa MacDonald

There’s a voice we all hear as we write a first draft. It’s like someone reading over our shoulder, pointing at the words on the page and whispering, "That’s garbage. You should delete this whole page." This isn’t the voice of doubt. It is your internal editor piping up at the wrong stage, and it needs to shut up.

There is nothing like an internal editor to ruin a first draft. I remember when I wrote my first book. Back then, my internal editor didn’t know enough so she didn’t really bother me. Writing that draft was a positive experience. Now I have a few books under my belt, and she’s louder. She knows more too. Often she’ll pester me about repeated words, weak dialogue, over-used gestures in my characters, "you’ve already had him shake his head in this scene." Helpful advice, but not on a first draft. 

I started off my writing career as a pantser, but a struggle with a draft made me a plotter. I had heard that book two (the book you write after selling your first) was legendarily hard to write. Three months into writing mine, I had learned this was all too true. I struggled long and hard over that book and in the end I decided that half the battle was that little voice in my head questioning every choice I made. My internal editor sabotaged me at every stage, leeching the joy out of writing a scene, sapping my motivation. In the end, the plot flailed around and if not for the help of a content editor, that book would never have seen the light of day.

For book three, I turned to the Snowflake Method from Randy Ingermanson. I found it easier to produce a first draft when I had a roadmap. My internal editor had a whole lot less to say when I had the bones of the book already in place. I could ignore her fussing because I knew the structure was solid, and I could fix the rest of it in editing. It was still ugly, but it didn’t take me a year to write it and more importantly, I actually enjoyed the process this time. If slogging through the second book had made me hate writing, silencing my internal editor with some structure made me love it again.

Even if you’re a die-hard pantser, I still recommend getting a rough idea down. And I definitely recommend muzzling your internal editor. Let your first draft be ugly. Give yourself room to write some terrible stuff. Editing will fix what needs fixing. Let the first draft be the giddy, mad, creative stage where you entertain all possibilities.

~~~~~

The Redemption Road

It’s redemption that he needs, and she’ll pay any price to help him find it.

As the new game warden in Sweet River, Alex Moretti is focused on enforcing Maine’s wildlife laws and little else. Moving from tragedy to a fresh start, all he wants is a way to fix his life in the tranquility of the north woods. Until he meets Annie Caldwell at Coffee by the Book. But his own bitter, dark life is a threat to Annie’s sweetness and light. It’s better for him to stay away.

Annie doesn’t know how to label her relationship with Alex, but she is determined to figure it out.  After a few false starts and a kiss under the Christmas lights, their romance goes from fiction to fact. Annie has fallen hard. Then trouble shows up. Someone is stalking Alex, seeking to punish him for a mistake which ended in deadly consequences. When Annie becomes a target, he tries to push her away, but she won’t abandon him. Alex is desperate to keep Annie safe while he attempts to reconcile the past, but what he really needs is redemption. And she will risk her life to help him find it.

~~~~~

Christa MacDonald began her writing career at the age of eleven, filling a sketchbook with poems and short stories. While at Gordon College she traded the sketchbooks for floppy discs, publishing short personal narratives in the literary journal The Idiom. After graduation and traveling cross-country she settled down to focus first on her career in operations management and then her growing family. When her children reached grade school Christa returned to her love of writing, finding the time between conference calls, dance lessons, and baseball games. This November Mountain Brook Ink will be publishing her first novel, The Broken Trail. When not at her desk working or writing, Christa can be found curled up in her favorite chair reading, out and about with her husband and kids, or in the garden. She lives with her family along the coast of Massachusetts in the converted barn they share with a dog and two formerly-feral cats.

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Christa-MacDonald/e/B01GGIU8D8
Website: https://christamacdonald.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CricketMacD
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChristaMacDonaldAuthor/
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/christa-macdonald