Monthly Archives: February 2012

Writing to a Deadline Part 1: “I got Nothing.”

Posted on February 29, 2012 | 33 comments

For the first time since college, I am writing to a deadline.  A publisher’s deadline.  Have I sold my work?  No.  A publisher has opened for submissions in a short window, and I figured, “Why not give it a try?”

The publisher is putting out an anthology.  They have one short story from a published author, and they are looking for more to compliment it.

Here’s the catch.  There’s a writing prompt.  It has to be a story about a particular picture, which I imagine will be the book’s cover… and it has to be a happy ending.

Ugh.  Why couldn’t it be a picture of planets or spaceships with explosions galore?  That I could handle.  This?  My enthusiasm drained as I stared at the interesting piece of artwork.

A vague idea of a story sparked in my head, but it led to death and mayhem—  Definitely not a happy ending.  The picture just didn’t do anything to grip me emotionally.

Wait!—is that a spaceship up there in the top left corner?
Is it? Ugh. No, it’s not. Shoot!

I stared at the picture for a few days in a row.  I read other’s comments.  They were all excited. (At least they said they were)  But I still “got nothing”.  I closed down the Web-site and forgot about it.  I would have to pass on this opportunity.

It made me think about a fourth grade parent-teacher conference I had a year ago.  We were talking about creative writing, and she commented that my son wrote really well when it was something he was interested in.  When he got odd topics from her writing prompts, he didn’t seem to engage himself in the writing.  She thought this was a problem.

As a writer, I wanted to smack her upside the head.  Okay, yeah, as a student you need to write stupid book reports- about stupid people- who you don’t care about- and will never, ever remember again after you hand the paper in.

But creative writing?  If the kid wants to write about Spiderman, or spies, or original super heroes saving the world… and they are THAT good…  Stinking LET HIM DO IT.  (I have to admit, for a ten year old… his stories totally rocked.  Lots of excitement and explosions… the leaves don’t fall far from the trees)

Anyway, he and I had to work on his ability to make his teacher believe he wanted to write about a boring little puppy playing ball with a stupid little girl (I resisted the urge to point out that she could get kidnapped, and a super hero could come and save her life… with lots of action and explosions.)

He wrote the boring story.  It was okay.
He got a decent grade… on to the next one.

It made me think.  I used to be a master at this.  Give my ANYTHING in school.  Give me the prompt… be it creative writing, an essay, or a book report.  I could write my way out of anything.  Could I still do that? Could I find a story in that picture that didn’t spark a single bit of creativity in my heart?

Stay tuned.

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Posted in Author Advice, General Writing Tips, Senseless Ranting, Writing to a Deadline

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Lesson Twenty-Nine from a Manuscript Red Line: How’s your synopsis?

Posted on February 27, 2012 | 15 comments

The publisher talked a lot about the synopsis in the closing comments of the Red-line.  I found this really strange, but I thought it had merit to mention it.

For an intro into where these tips are coming from, please see my post: A Full Manuscript Rejection, or a Gold Mine?  You can also click “Rant Worthy Topics” in my right navigation bar.  Choose “Gold Mine Manuscript” to see all the lessons to date.

The reason I found this strange, was because they’ve already read the manuscript.  They’ve already made comments, and asked for it to be re-submitted.  Why are they even talking about the synopsis?

What it seemed like to me (being an optimist) is that they were actually being helpful.  They probably knew that there was a chance that the author may not make all the changes to their satisfaction, and that she might submit to other avenues.  They were nice enough to point out problems with the synopsis that might help her if she sent it somewhere else.

(Honestly, after reading all their synopsis critiques, I was wondering why they even asked for a “full” in the first place.  I guess you never know.)

So, this is what they said…

They went through a laundry list of what the story “is not”.

It is not about this, it is not about that either.  (Quoting what was mentioned in the synopsis)

It is not a character study on the main character.

The quest is not fleshed out…

These are some of the comments.  I am guessing they are saying that the synopsis was too in-depth and talked about the side plots in the story.

I can totally understand this.  It took me months of writing and digging and cutting and beta-bashing until I finally realized what my story is about…

Magellan Talbot has to save the world.  Too bad he doesn’t know it.

Boom.  Done.  Now, there is a lot of other stuff going on that is SUPER important and makes the story unique, but you wouldn’t believe how hard it was for me to boil it down to the above.  I kept getting bogged down by the details.  The crux of the story is simple.

To save the world he has to save the Goddess.
To save the goddess he needs to fight for her.
To fight for her, he needs to find the Rapier.
To find the Rapier, he needs to remember his dreams…
The catch?  He can never remember his dreams.
Or anything else about who he really is.

There is also a lot of other stuff going on.  There is a love story, and a jealous brother trying to kill  Magellan… but simplicity is the key for the synopsis… I need to use only the elements that draw the story forward that are closely attached to Magellan saving the Goddess.

The publisher’s next comment in the Gold Mine Manuscript was “If the story is about saving (the alternate world) then that’s your focus and everything that happens in the story needs to lead to that point.  And the synopsis needs to be focused on all the activities that happen to get to that point.  Tie in every character that is introduced to get there as well as why and how (the MC) is the true key… build that up and show how that’s important.  Show us through actions and scenes that push the story forward.”

After reading this, I think I may have edited my own summary down too far.  I bought it down to the bare bones of the fewest characters involved that draw the main plot line forward.  And I also think I centered on the WRONG plotline.  My current synopsis is straight and to the point, but it is more centered on the jealous brother… which is important, but not the center.  I also took out Harris, who is probably equally as important in the novel as Magellan is.

Honestly, I am just not qualified to give anyone advice on a Summary.  I am just as lost as the rest of you.  I have helped out others with suggestions, because sometimes it is easier to have someone else boil down your story for you.  The best I can do is give you the exact quote that the publisher wrote for the Gold Mine Manuscript. (above)

Read their comment over carefully, and do your best with it.  And… when you get lost… remember that you have friends in the blogosphere who are always willing to help.

15 Comments

Posted in General Writing Tips, Gold Mine Manuscript, Uncategorized

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So— what color is your character’s hair?

Posted on February 25, 2012 | 26 comments

I recently jumped onto an on-line first page critique blog hop.

(My most recent first page is posted in my header bar if you’d like to slap me around a little)

I glanced over the comments last night, and one jumped out at me.  She said that I spelled Blonde wrong.

According to her, there is a masculine and feminine form of blonde.

Today, I opened up my daily writing tips www.dailywritingtips.com and the  article of the day was “The Story Behind Words for Hair Color”

Funny how that happens, huh?

Apparently, she is correct.  This is a totally new one on me.  How the heck can a hair-color have a gender?

Blonde apparently is a female designation, while Blond is the male color.  Brunette falls under the same silly rule.   Brunet for a boy, Brunette for a girl.

Does anyone else find this stupid?  The reason behind this, according to the article, is that these words are based in French.  I didn’t take French, but from Spanish I understand that there are feminine and masculine forms of words.

We speak English though.  I have enough problems with passive tense, now I need to worry about boy and girl hair color?

blond/blonde and brunet/brunette… 
You say Poh-tay-toe, I say poh-tah-toe

Whatever.

26 Comments

Posted in General Writing Tips, Senseless Ranting

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Hollywood Fiction and Technology Myths – My take on it. (Not necessarily from a writer’s perspective)

Posted on February 24, 2012 | 16 comments

USA Today recently posted an article about television and movies, and how completely ridiculous some of the “Tech problem solving” is.

The author, Kim Komando, mentioned current movies, as well as movies from way back… like “2001, A space Odyssey”, “War Games” (a personal favorite), “The Matrix”, “Swordfish”, “Independence day”(Another favorite) , and Terminator (Hey!  Don’t mess with Arnold!) among many others.  Here is a link to the article if you’d like to read it.  It’s actually pretty good.

Everything she said is (probably) absolutely true.   (I don’t know… I’m not a techie)  But when I finished this article, I stopped and giggled.  I was thinking.  “So what if none of it makes sense.  Who cares?  It’s FUN!”

Now, really… honestly, do you watch a classic Schwarzenegger movie for the reality of the technical scenes?  Of course not!  You watch them because it is fun to watch him blow things up!  “Yay Arnold!  Go get ‘em!”

Now true, there are probably people who look at things like the security cameras that she mentions in this article and think this is actually possible to zoom in and clean up the picture— but honestly, is that hurting anybody?  No.  If anything, it will make them think twice before robbing a store.

I don’t care if Hugh Jackman can’t really hack his way into a computer system in three minutes while held at gunpoint.  That is NOT THE POINT.  The point is Drama.  Action.  Fun.  It’s called suspended reality.

I don’t know about you, but I get enough of the real world every day just driving to work.  If I read a book, or watch a movie, I’m not looking for realism.  I want to be entertained.

Excuse me.  I need to go watch Die Hard, now.  OOoooooooo.  How about an Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Marathon topped off by a little Bourne Identity!  Then maybe I’ll pop on the First Transformers movie and then save the world with Independence Day.  Oh yeah, for dessert, the all-time best movie ever made… True Lies!

Yay!  Bring on the ridiculous technology plots and let’s watch some things explode!

16 Comments

Posted in Senseless Ranting

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The Significance of Social Networking. Blogging, Facebook, and Twitter

Posted on February 22, 2012 | 32 comments

Circuitmart recently ran an article about research that was just done on Social Networking.  It focused on Twitter, and Facebook… not so much blogging, but the principles are similar.  If you’d like to see the article, you can click on the link below, but I’ll summarize for you.

http://www.circuitmart.com/mart/49609.shtml  (There is a 30 second commercial, followed by the 1 minute video presentation, or you can click “read more” to read the full article instead.)

What I found interesting is that they interviewed someone with 200 Facebook friends, and they asked them how many are really friends.  The answer was only 30.

I thought about my own personal Facebook account.  I actually know everyone I’ve friended.  Yeah, to be honest, many of them are people I went to high school with, who I barely even knew back then, but I DO KNOW THEM.

(By the way, don’t try to “friend” Jennifer M Eaton on Facebook… that’s not me.  Nope, I’m not a blonde.)  You can find me under Jennifer M Eaton – Author.  If you see Castillia’s fire in the profile picture, or an eye with the reflection of fire in it… that one’s me.  (Wow, that eye looks creepy when it’s not cropped into a square.  EEEK!

Anyway, I was thinking about how this relates to blogging.  This is my professional area.  Here, I have a lot of followers, but I’ve actually never met most of you.

Is that weird?  Well, no… it’s not.  That’s what social networking is all about.

Finding people who are seriously into writing is hard for most of us.  I’m in a local writer’s group, but the people I’ve learned the most from are the people I interact with everyday on the internet.  (I do get a lot out of small group writing workshops, though)

Through my connections on the internet, I find out about contests, seminars, training classes, resources, and I can get great advice anytime I need it, just by posting and asking for help.  When I didn’t have my own blog, I jumped onto Nathan Brandsford’s… and that site is always there for me to get additional advice from a broader spectrum of writers.

Social networking has helped me tremendously.  My novel wouldn’t be what it is today without it.  I have “friends” all over the world to help me out.  (The guy doing the art for my WEB Site is in Hungary… and he’s read my novel.  How weird awesome is that?)

Used to its full potential, networking is a great tool.  I don’t care if I haven’t met you.  If you are here, you are my friend.  Friends help each other out.

Friends cheer each other on.

Now, stop reading this insanely long post.

Get up off your butt and finish your novel. 

The world is waiting to read you!

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32 Comments

Posted in Marketing Madness, Senseless Ranting

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Lesson Twenty-Eight from a Manuscript Red Line: Very Discreet Point of View Switches

Posted on February 20, 2012 | 18 comments

I’ve talked about this before, but the second time might be a charm.  I think a lot of people are having trouble with discreet POV switches.  The big ones… where we pop heads for half a chapter are easy to find.  The one-liners may be harder to spot.

For an intro into where these tips are coming from, please see my post: A Full Manuscript Rejection, or a Gold Mine?  You can also click “Rant Worthy Topics” in my right navigation bar.  Choose “Gold Mine Manuscript” to see all the lessons to date.

Let’s go back to my little flash fiction scene.  Remember Jason and Eric fighting?  Let’s add a line to that.  (In bold)

Jason grunted as his fist swung toward Eric’s face.  Eric tried to dodge, but instead felt the sting of the older boy’s ring cutting into his jaw.  He fell to the floor with a muffled thump, and groaned as he rolled over. 

Jason wiped his chin and laughed.  “I told you to stay down.”

Eric pushed up onto his knees.  “Why, so you can just pummel me?”  He popped up and swung at Jason, but missed.

Jason ducked and swung at the same time.  There was no time for Eric to react.  His head creaked back, and his jaw rattled as he crumpled to the floor.

Jason breathed heavily, mopping the sweat from his brow.  He grunted and chose his words carefully.  “I told you to stay down, idiot.”  He snickered at the pitiful scene before him, and walked away.

There you have a short-one paragraph POV switch.  The scene is in Eric’s POV.  How would Eric know Jason was choosing his words carefully?  How would Eric know he was snickering at how pitiful he looked?  (Remember Peanut butter and Jelly Syndrome?)  Jason could have just remembered a funny joke.  Eric has no idea what he is really thinking.

The reason I used “Chose his words carefully” which might be a little odd in the example above, was because those were the words used in the POV switch in the Gold Mine Manuscript.  We were in character #1’s POV, and then another character “chose his words carefully”.  They flagged it as a POV switch.

Honestly, before reading their comments, I would have read right over this… I have also seen it in published works, but it is a switch in POV.  Do your best to keep an eye out for little things like this.  It will set your novel apart.

Hope this helps!

18 Comments

Posted in General Writing Tips, Gold Mine Manuscript

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Hello. Let me introduce myself. I’m an Idiot.

Posted on February 19, 2012 | 20 comments

Hello.  Let me introduce myself.

I am an Idiot.

The other day, as some of you noticed, I posted my Monday night February 13th Blog post “Lesson 27” in the normal time-frame.

Nothing new.  I try to be punctual.

This time, though, I tried to jump the gun and get it out before dinner.  (I’d prepared it the day before)

As I pressed the magic “publish” button, my computer hiccupped, I lost internet, and I also lost my post.  “Oh no!  That took me hours!”  It was gone.  Just gone.  It wasn’t even in my drafts anymore.  “Ugh!”

I grumbled, and sat down to dinner.  After doing the dishes, I opened up my Blog, praying it would be there.  Nope.  Still gone.  My dog sat there sadly, knowing it was her grooming time.  “Sorry Chloe, Mommy needs to figure this out.”

I opened my dashboard trying to find the draft.  It had to be there, right?  Nope.  Gone.  Chloe whined.  I patted her on the head.

When I glance back at the screen, I saw that two people had commented on the missing post.  “Commented on what?”  Could they see it?  I couldn’t see it.

After meddling with the system for a while, I finally found my post….  Back on January 28th.

Did I pull a Michael J. Fox?  Did I time travel?

No, but my computer did somehow.  Now I have no Blog post for Monday, and an extra one in the past, and a two-day-old post on my home page.  How the HECK-OLA does something like that happen?

Chloe barked, and I let her out.  Sorry, Chloe.

So, what the heck do I do?  Rather than having people jump to my Home page and not find a post, I copied Lesson Seven from its odd place in the “past”, and re-posted the same article in the “present”.  Now, I didn’t delete the time-travel post, because there were already comments on it, so there are two strings of comments on two different dates about exactly the same topic.

Whew!  Anyway… sorry about that double post.  And Sorry Chloe, for not getting to brush you.

I finished that post last weekend.  Added the art, made it pretty.  And then I left it in my “drafts” folder.  I’ve done this countless times before without any problems.  (When you have three kids, you need to write whenever you get a chance… and life doesn’t always agree with your blog schedule).

Anyway… while I was fiddling— copying the content of the time-travel post to re-publish it— I clicked on a button by mistake.  A date popped up… and my magic “publish” button changed to “Schedule”.

I am such an idiot.

I never knew that was there.  I could schedule my posts weeks in advance if I wanted to, and not have to stress about getting them done on time!  How many times had my posts popped up on Tuesday because I didn’t get a chance to hit that magic publish button until 11:00 PM, which is already the next day in WordPress time.  (Making my incredibly anal brain feel late.)

Let me repeat

Schedule your stinking posts, Jen.

Just in case I am not the only IDIOT in the world… there is a little schedule button over on the right when you compose your post.  Duh.

From now on, if my posts hit your email at 1:00 in the morning, it’s not because I have insomnia.  I’m just giving you a whole day of “reading joy” rather than waiting for me to get home from work, make dinner, clean up dinner, brush the dog, and tuck the kids in before I get a change to press that stupid publish button.

A schedule button

.

.

.

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20 Comments

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Interview with Published Author Fran Metzman “The Hungry Heart Stories”

Posted on February 18, 2012 | 26 comments

No, it is not a little blue woman from Mars (although that would be totally cool, too.)

Today my humble little site is part of Fran Metzman’s promotional blog tour for the release of her short story collection:  THE HUNGRY HEART STORIES.

Each of the twelve stories in Fran’s collection involves food as a means to fulfillment (If it were me, it would be a book all about chocolate)  🙂

Without further ado, let’s welcome the lovely and talented Fran Metzman!

Hello Fran, and welcome to “Learn from my Mistakes”

Fran:  Hello everyone!

***Imagine Fran smiling and waving madly***

This site is dedicated to new and soon to be published authors. At the end of this interview, would you be willing to answer questions from inquiring minds?

Fran:  Yes.  I would be delighted.

Great!  Keep that in mind, guys.  Okay, let’s get started.

Fran, would you tell us about the first time you were published.

Fran: I consider this publication of THE HUNGRY HEART STORIES, as my first, as it is actually the first one published with only my own name. The other was co-written. In UGLY COOKIES and THE HUNGRY HEART STORIES, each story deals with relationship issues – a theme that has always intrigued me.

What part of relationships intrigues you so much?

Fran: We are all trying to find a level of satisfaction in relationships and it is common to feel cheated at some point in our lives. We yearn to fill emotional voids. I want to answer the question – how far will we go to find a relationship that answers deep-rooted needs?

As a writing teacher, what do you see as a re-occurring problem you need to “teach out” of new writers. What are the common mistakes they make?

Fran: I do encourage people to write from the heart, but all too often that is where they want to stop. In my opinion, it is vital to understand the structure of fiction writing because in today’s world of publishing whether it is non-fiction, memoir and even journalism, they are expecting the works to follow the form of fiction. Once a writer has that under his/her belt they have the option of experimenting. It’s like art – you must understand the structure of the body in order to sculpt or paint a figure before going on to other genres.

Can you explain that a little more? Do you mean “fitting into a set mold” or is there a certain structure that is undeniably necessary?

Fran: I don’t mean for anyone to be locked into a particular writing style. My undergraduate degree was from Moore College of Art in Philadelphia and I was a sculpture major. When we learned how to draw a person we did it step-by-step. First we did a skeleton then laid a clear sheet on top and did the muscles and sinews next. The final plastic sheet presented with skin, face, hands and toes. It was a process that enabled us to understand the structure of the body so that all parts were anatomically correct. Once we understood that, we could use that information to evolve into our own thing.

Interesting.  How did this help to make you a better writer?

Fran:  Figures differ but when the different body parts are out of scale it disturbs the visual rhythm the same way the written format may become unbalanced. For instance, if there is too much description that goes on for pages you will, in all probability, lose your reader unless you have presented such a strong, unique voice that we get lost in the work. That doesn’t happen often. Once you have an understanding of the structure, you can experiment.

Wow.  Not too many of us have the experience of learning art in that way, and can relate that to our writing.  Interesting insight.  How do you think a new writer can get there, without sculpting in clay?

Fran: Write regularly on a set schedule even if it is only once a week. WRITE!

Tell us about your first novel “Ugly Cookies”.

Fran: I co-wrote UGLY COOKIES with Joy Stocke based loosely on several short stories that seriously involve parental/child relationships, romance and feminist ideals. It also has a sub-plot of prejudices toward the elderly, something that has become a hot topic nationally today.

What was your reaction when you first saw a “real” printed copy? What did you do?

Fran: Seeing that book in print thrilled me and made me incredulous at the same time. Was that my name on the cover? How could that have happened? It had a dream like quality to it. But that didn’t last long as we had to immediately get into the huge amount of work involved in publicity.

I’ve had a lot of discussions with people, and this is what they are most worried about… Promoting.  What did you do to publicize?

Fran: It has changed so dramatically from the time my first novel was published about 10 years ago. Now it is VIRTUAL TOURS. Book chains and many independents have folded in the interim and fewer people attend live readings. We have generations who are constantly on computers, texting, googling, IPhoning, game playing, and connected tightly to screens for a myriad of reasons. The new way of publicizing is not easy for someone like myself who still prefers hard copies of books.

It’s okay, you’re doing fine.  We bloggers are a friendly group.  What’s been the hardest part about cyber-publicizing?

Fran: Today it’s all about being online for links, connections, websites, tags, Facebook, Twitter and the plethora of connections online. This consumes mammoth amounts of time as I worry when will I get back to writing.

Piff!  Speaking to the choir, my friend!  Let’s talk about some awards.  “My Inheritance” was nominated for a Dzanc Books Award for Best of the Web. Was that a surprise? What do you think made it stand out from the others?

Fran: That story has always impacted me emotionally, but I was a bit surprised as there are so many mother/daughter stories out there. It is a sensitive subject and many women choose it as a topic. I hoped I had a somewhat different spin on it. I did know someone who went into therapy when her mother was diagnosed with a terminal illness. I didn’t know any details, just had this nugget. So the story is a total fiction. But as in all my stories, there is a seeking for redemption.

You just released “The Hungry Heart Stories”. Each short story in the collection relates to food in some way. Why did you choose food as a theme?

Fran: My own mother was a sensational cook and baker. It was a major way for her to express her love. When I came home from school the house was filled with the most delectable scents, oh those wonderful peach pies. There are a couple of downsides and one is that I was a chubby kid. The other was refusing food could be a serious problem in my house. I believe, my mother interpreted it as a rejection. So, I learned to eat every morsel put on my plate.

Tee Hee. It was the same way in my house, but since my Mom was raised during the Great Depression, it was more “There are children starving somewhere” rather than a rejection thing. Did this affect your eating habits as a grown-up? Personally, I cannot TOUCH beef stew, asparagus, or boiled spinach.

Fran: Indeed, I developed bad eating habits. If you eat every bit on your plate beyond the point where you are full, it is just unhealthy excess. For years I have had to be very careful to get that under control. It is a fight every day not to overeat or eat the wrong foods. For years I didn’t eat strawberries (I do now) because my mother insisted I eat her cake that had strawberries in it. I wasn’t hungry and I sat for two hours staring at it. Finally, I gobbled it up so I could go out and play.

I’m looking at the cover of THE HUNGRY HEART STORIES.  There is a woman gazing into the distance. It feels like she is old to me, or maybe taking a step out of time.  Also, there is no food to be seen. Is there some underlying symbolism there?

Fran: The woman on the cover was to represent women of all ages who are yearning to fill an emotional void in their lives. She looks into the distance, hoping to find some answers. That kind of void is threaded throughout the stories, but the protagonists are all pro-active in trying to backfill a hunger yet to be satisfied. Some go to the edge to fulfill what they perceive as the missing piece that once found will make their lives whole. But in seeking to resolve this lack of fulfillment – they might go to the edge.

After having been through the publishing process twice, what little snippet of advice would you give to soon to be published authors?

Fran: The publishing industry is, as everyone knows, very, very tough. This is where knowledge of fictional structure pays off. You have to submit a near perfect piece in order to get it published. The time is long gone when an author could say that something they wrote needs some work but publishers have editors for that. The industry has leaned down so that there are fewer editors and little time to do overhauls.

So, do you think everyone should look into a professional editor before they even submit a manuscript? Does that go for submitting to agents, too, or just publisher direct?

Fran: Yes, a near perfect manuscript is expected from agents and editors. Since an agent doesn’t make money until they sell the book, they are especially reluctant to spend time trying to make it pitch perfect for publishers. As for professional editors, that could be expensive. If you can afford it, I say go for it. Check the editor out as well to make sure they are good. If money is an issue, find a friend who is an educated reader for content and clarity. If they are grammarians or can edit well — even better. Workshopping with a group of writers is also very helpful.

Other than editing, do you have any other advice?

Fran:  Not only does it have to be in excellent shape, the beginning has to be a grabber.

There you have it… words of wisdom from author Fran Metzman.  Thanks for stopping by Fran!

I am now opening it up for questions.  If you have a question for Fran, just post it in comments below.

Fran Metzman Author Bio

Award-winning author Fran Metzman is a graduate of the Moore College of Art and the University of Pennsylvania.  In addition to publishing numerous short stories and two novels, she also teaches writing at various local colleges and universities.  Her blog “The Age of Reasonable Doubt” can be found at Wild River Review.

THE HUNGRY HEART STORIES
Wilderness House Press
ISBN 978 0 9827115  5 2

On Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/7xgqgsn

On Barnes & Noble: http://tinyurl.com/6pubq6c

Ugly Cookies: http://tinyurl.com/7tod2er

The Age of Reasonable Doubt: http://www.wildriverreview.com/metzman/

Wild River Review: http://www.wildriverreview.com/

“My Inheritance”: http://www.wildriverreview.com/FICTION/My-Inheritance/Fran-Metzman

Want more Fran?  Visit these great sites, also hosting this tour with reviews and more interviews.

Monday, February 13th
“Welcome to Hell” by Glenn Walker
http://www.monsura.blogspot.com

Tuesday, February 14th
“Writing – Art – Metaphysics” by Shelley Szajner
http://shelleyszajner.wordpress.com/

Wednesday, February 15th
“BeccaButcher’s Blog” by Becca Butcherhttp://beccabutcher.wordpress.com/

Thursday, February 16th
“GilbertCuriosities” by Marie Gilbert
http://gilbertcuriosities.blogspot.com/

Friday, February 17th
“The Author-in-Training” by Mieke Zamora-Mackay
http://www.miekezmackay.com/

Saturday, February 18th
“A Reference of Writing Rants for Writers or “Learn from My Mistakes” by Jennifer M. Eaton
https://jennifermeaton.com/

Sunday, February 19th
“GilbertCuriosities” by Marie Gilberthttp://gilbertcuriosities.blogspot.com/

Monday, February 20th
“BeccaButcher’s Blog” by Becca Butcherhttp://beccabutcher.wordpress.com/

Tuesday, February 21st
“The Dream Between” by Robin Renee
http://dreambetween.wordpress.com/

Wednesday, February 22nd
“Literary Debauchery” by Krista Magrowski
https://kamagrowski.wordpress.com/

Thursday, February 23rd
Wrap up with Glenn Walker
http://www.monsura.blogspot.com

26 Comments

Posted in Author Advice, Book/Movie Review

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Liebster Blog Award! The Love Just Keeps on Flowing!

Posted on February 17, 2012 | 15 comments

Uber thanks to the incredibly talented Jenny Keller Ford for gracing me with the Liebster Blog award.

She said the nicest thing to me when she awarded this:

In order to thank you for all you do, I’m awarding you the Liebster Blog Award.     I couldn’t have come this far without your help.  I owe you so much.

This made me feel super special… especially since this is the wonderful lady who convinced me to start a blog in the first place.

Being incredibly anal as I am.  I looked up “Liebster” to see if I could find out who this guy was so I could decipher the true meaning of this award.  Well… I couldn’t find anything.  Not even who the original “Liebster” was.  (At least give me an “A” for effort)

What did come up over and over again was a bunch of German words.  Hey, you know what?  My Dad was German (He was dern proud of that too.)  See Dad!  I won a German award!  I did amount to something!

So, anyway… I did a little more digging and found out that “Liebster” is a word from my Daddy’s fatherland and it translates loosely to “favorite” or something endearing for a loved one, like “dearest”.

Cool, huh?  Hugs back, Jenny!

This award is set aside for up-and-coming blogs with less than 200 followers.

(Gack… I just got in under the wire when she awarded this to me, or I would have had to decline.  I actually had 199 followers this day… she must have been psychic.  I’m happy to say I’m well past being eligible after sitting on this for a week.)

Hello all new followers!

Hello all old followers.

Ummmm… Hello young followers?

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Awe, heck… why single anyone out…

Hi everybody!

So, back to the award… Here are the rules:

1.Thank your Liebster Blog Award presenter on your blog. **CHECK**

2.Link back to the blogger who presented the award to you. **CHECK**

3.Copy and paste the blog award on your blog. ***YOU’RE READING IT, AREN’T Cha?***

4.Present the Liebster Blog Award to 5 blogs of 200 followers or less who you feel deserve. **Coming up!**

5.Let them know they have been chosen by leaving a comment at their blog.  ***Ummmm…. eventually…. If they don’t find out here, first***

In the tradition Of the lovely Ms. Jenny Keller Ford, I am going to award this to blogs that I learn from.  Here are five people with under 200 followers that I think deserve WAY more.

Gloria Richard

Brinda Berry

Natalie Hartford

Roger Colby

Robin Weeks (She has 204 followers, but I sat on this for a while.  Are the Blog police gonna come get me? Oh, well.  I’m such a rebel)

Everyone take a hop over to these blogs.  They are really great, and definitely worth a “follow”.

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Posted in Blog Awards

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Lesson Twenty Seven from a Manuscrupt Red-Line: Fluidity in Action-The Art of a Good Fight Scene

Posted on February 15, 2012 | 18 comments

An example of a poorly written action scene:

Jason punched Eric in the face.  Eric fell to the floor.  Eric groaned and rolled over.  Jason wiped his chin and laughed.  Eric popped up, and Eric swung at Jason, but missed.  Jason ducked and swung at the same time.  Eric crumpled to the floor.

(Yes, I totally made this paragraph up.)

The publisher’s comment on a similar (but not as poorly written) scene:  This is a very stilted fight scene. It reads action, next action, next action, next action without the fluidity that’s needed for a fight scene.

For an intro into where these tips are coming from, please see my post: A Full Manuscript Rejection, or a Gold Mine?

You can also click “Rant Worthy Topics” in my right navigation bar.  Choose “Gold Mine Manuscript” to see all the lessons to date.

I have to admit, when I read the action passages in the Gold Mine Manuscript, I had the same comment.  The author was satisfied with the speed of the scenes though, and only made moderate changes.  Not being an expert, I backed off and figured it was just a “style choice”.  Guess not.

This fits in very well with my recent post on “Art of the Conflict”.  This scene is not about dialog, but this is definitely a conflict.  This one needs something inserted to break up the action, rather than action inserted to break up the dialog.

Now, I am not going to put a lot of time into this, since the scene is totally fake.  But let me add a little “art” to make it “flow”.  Fluidity is what they asked for.  Okay, here it goes…

Jason grunted as his fist swung toward Eric’s face.  Eric tried to dodge, but instead felt the sting of the older boy’s ring cutting into his jaw.  He fell to the floor with a muffled thump, and groaned as he rolled over.

Jason wiped his chin and laughed.  “I told you to stay down.”

Eric pushed up onto his knees.  “Why, so you can just pummel me?”  He popped up and swung at Jason, but missed.

Jason ducked and swung at the same time.  There was no time for Eric to react.  His head creaked back, and his jaw rattled as he crumpled to the floor.

Better, huh?  Not perfect by a long shot, but not bad for three minute flash fiction.  Can you feel the difference?  The staccato choppy “This happened-That happened” feel is gone, and the scene “flows”.

Of course, this is a first draft.  In editing, I would have to remove the “ing” word and the telly “felt”.  I would also insert a little emotion when Eric realized he missed, but this is definitely better by far than the first.  The art draws you into the scene.  You experience it, rather than just watching it.

The art of the conflict… If you don’t have it, go get it.

If you want to see a great published example, pick up a copy of  THRONE by Phillip Tucker and open up anywhere in the last hundred pages or so.

I hope this helps to make it more clear!

18 Comments

Posted in General Writing Tips, Gold Mine Manuscript

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