Tag Archives: beta partner

Lesson Three from the Gold Mine Manuscript Red Line: Action Action, where is the Action?

Posted on October 20, 2014 | 19 comments

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

I’ve heard contradicting opinions on this. Some people say exposition is important. Some people say don’t start right out with action because you don’t have a character basis of who to “root for” yet. Personally, when I’m reading something, I want to be slapped in the face immediately with excitement and fill me in on the boring stuff later. (Anyone who has read FIRE IN THE WOODS knows what I mean by this. 🙂 )

So, when my BP (Beta Partner) had a story that started with tons of talking and setting, I said, “According to what I’ve read, this is okay.” But, being the good beta partner that I am, I let her “have it” and told her I was bored. But, all the exposition stayed (with some trimming to six pages). (I’m not saying she trimmed for me… I believe she has five beta partners, so I’m sure there were a wealth of comments to revise from.)

Unfortunately though, the publisher found it to be an unnecessary character study and suggested cutting the first five pages completely. What was after these five pages, was a brief conversation of a dream that actually had relevance to the story (almost a page long) and then the action started.

The publisher’s commented that the first five pages were not engaging. What I got out of that, was that they didn’t want to see a few kids hanging out and talking. They wanted something to HAPPEN. The story actually does, I must admit, start right where they suggested… The dream is a foreshadowing, and then the action that is the catalyst that changes the MC’s life forever happens right afterwards.

Always start the story as close to the life changing event as possible

So, what gets lost in the first five pages? Well, the set up of the friendship between the two MC’s, which can be played out pretty quickly in the next pages, and (ouch) a lot of setting. To me, that’s no biggie, but my BP is a big setting person. She likes her imagery. Now she needs to work in her sweeping mansion and grounds into the action scenes or between them. It will be a little work.

Moral of the story: Setting is important, but not too much up front. Make sure something happens in the first page or so to drag your reader in.

Also see my post on how I changed (and am still changing) my first page after a contest judge didn’t find my first page exciting enough— and there was hardly any setting there at all!

Go back and make your first few pages ROCK! If you don’t excite the reader right away, they might put your novel down and buy something else.

19 Comments

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged beta partner, beta reader, editing, Gold Mine Manuscript, jennifer eaton, jennifer M. Eaton, Manuscript, rejected, rejection

Lesson Two from the Gold Mine Manuscript Red Line: Do we like your main character yet?

Posted on October 13, 2014 | 11 comments

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

I wasn’t going to write about this, but someone told me once they didn’t particularly like my main character, and I tried to make him a little more endearing right up front. If I had a bad Main Character (MC) intro, and my BP (Beta Partner) did too, then some of you may have done it, also. So, yes, I am going to blog about “making your main character likable”, even if it seems like a “Duh” thing to talk about.

On page three, the publisher said that the Main Character is portrayed as spoiled and we’re not led to feel any compassion for him. Now, in the case of the manuscript in question, this was partly done on purpose. We aren’t supposed to completely love this character. It’s part of his growing experience. I understood that once my BP explained it to me after I told her I didn’t particularly like him when I read the first chapter.

Think that over. I UNDERSTOOD THAT ONCE SHE EXPLAINED THAT TO ME.

You are not going to have the chance to “explain” to the agent you are querying, or the publisher you are submitting to, or to your reader… why your main character is the way they are. Even if they are completely despicable, there needs to be something about them that makes you drawn to them to keep them reading on. Either that, or something has to happen in the plot, and QUICK, that grabs their attention and distracts them. (That’s my two-cents… not sure an agent or a publisher would agree on the plot hiding what they would consider character flaws)

So, go back and look at those all-important first few pages, and make sure that your character is lovable to someone other than you.

Not to beat a dead horse (I will be talking about cliches shortly by the way) but GET SOME BETA READERS THAT YOU DON’T KNOW. You might be too close to your story to realize that your MC isn’t likable.

Amendment: Just read a great blog from CB Wentworth about an author thinking up a character and falling in love with him. I think we all fall in love with our characters in one way or another. We just need to make sure our readers feel that love, too. (I’m not saying Noah isn’t likable, by the way! I’ve never met CB’s work.)

http://cbwentworth.wordpress.com/2011/09/05/one-photograph-changed-everything/

11 Comments

Posted in Gold Mine Manuscript

Tagged agent, beta partner, editing, Gold Mine Manuscript, jennifer eaton, jennifer M. Eaton, Manuscript, novel, proofreading, Publishing, subnitting, writing

Lesson One from the Gold Mine Manuscript Mark-Up: Write Without Looking

Posted on October 6, 2014 | 8 comments

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

How many times do your characters look at something? Mine do. All the time. I never thought it was a problem. I feel really bad now, because I am the
“Show Vs. Tell Barracuda”, and I absolutely missed this…

If you say your character looks at something, you are telling the reader that they “look”. Show the reader instead.

Example: The wind blew cold, and Magellan looked up into the trees. The branches bent and shook over his head.

Now, I honestly would not think this was telly, because I showed you what he was seeing right afterward. My writing partner did the same thing in her manuscript. The publisher highlighted the “looked” and said “rather than telling us what he is doing, show us what he sees instead.”

Suggested rewrite: The wind blew cold, and Magellan pulled his jacket closer. The branches bent and shook over his head.

Here, I took out the offensive “looked” kept the characterization by giving Magellan something to do (pulling his jacket closer), which gives me a place to mention his name. (In case it’s needed) I left the “what he saw” exactly the way it was originally written. You can assume he looked up. The whole scene actually flows better, and all I did was take a moment to pull out the word “look”.

Even better for you word count barracudas out there… count ‘em… there is one less word in the corrected example. Yea for me!

Here’s another easy one: He ran down the hall and looked at the dark stone walls. The sconces were still lit and the light danced across the ceiling.

Easy fix: He ran down the dark stone hallway. The sconces were still lit and their light danced across the ceiling.

Now, I’ll be honest… This is not always this easy. I’ve growled a little over some of these. But I am going to try my best to take all of the “looks” out of my novel, unless they are in a personal thought… but I will be looking at those pretty closely as well.

Honestly, I emailed my friend yesterday on this, and she said she’s only taken out “most” of the looks. Once in a while, your characters will have to “look”. I am finding the same thing. But I am finding that a lot of them can be removed easily like the ones above. (We also discussed that we’ve read published novels that have “looks” in them. yes, we know they exist… I’m just letting you know there is a publisher out there that redlined it and asked for a revision.)

I am finding I am taking out all of the “looking” that is being done by a POV character, and leaving some of the looks that are not from the POV character.
For instance, if another character in the room (not the POV character)
looks over at the door, you are not going to tell what they see, because you are not in their POV. Therefore, it might to be okay to leave that look in there.
However, I do not let the POV character look up and see that the other character is looking at the door. Does that make sense?

This, by the way, is just my opinion. If I submit, and get slapped for these “looks” I will let you know ASAP.

If you can, get rid of any and all looking, because this publisher emphatically flagged it. Only look as a last resort.

Hope you found this helpful!

8 Comments

Posted in Gold Mine Manuscript

Tagged beta partner, beta read, beta reader, copy edit, critique, editing, editor, Gold Mine Manuscript, jennifer eaton, jennifer M. Eaton, line edit, Manuscript, Publishing, write a great story, writing

It’s marketing time! More blog posts and interviews, less novel writing.

Posted on August 29, 2014 | 11 comments

While I was on vacation, dreaming about getting back and leisurely finishing ASHES IN THE SKY, my publicist sent over my blog tour interviews and guest post requests.

After reviewing them (14 in all so far) I decided to write “just a little” of ASHES IN THE SKY per day to keep myself going, and bust out the marketing for FIRE IN THE WOODS as soon as I can (They are all due back by September 15^th)

I cringe when I think of it, because my original goal was to finish ASHES IN THE SKY before my vacation. Then I moved the goal day to a week after vacation when I got bogged down with the edits. Right now that deadline doesn’t look all that rosy either.

But I will not be thwarted! I am doing my best to write clean copy. I am hoping that all I will have to do is general insertion of emotion and setting. Hopefully there will be no huge changes or additions to be made, but I won’t know until I send this puppy out to my beta readers to be slapped around a bit.

As it stands now, I am just turning the corner into act three. The third and final act should be a roller-coaster ride and easy plot-wise to write, but hard in the “action” department. I probably only have about 10,000-20,000 words to go. I can do this. I just need to keep plugging away.

11 Comments

Posted in General Writing Tips, Marketing Madness

Tagged ashes in the sky, author, beta partner, beta reading, critique, critiquing, editing, Fiction, finding an agent, fire in the woods, getting published, jennifer eaton, jennifer M. Eaton, literary agent, literary fiction, Manuscript, novel, pitch, query, query help, self publishing, synopsis, writing, Writing help

When the edits are finally over… Whew!

Posted on August 26, 2014 | 18 comments

Edits are finally done for FIRE IN THE WOODS. Part of me breathes a sigh of relief, while the other part of me cringes in horror.

This was a multi-faceted process, which would have been much easier if I was not writing book two, ASHES IN THE SKY at the same time under a very stringent deadline. I work great under pressure, but not always great under double pressure.

Developmental Edit

Anyway, step one was the Developmental Edit. This was not all that hard. There were two minor changes… one that took a half-hour phone conversation with my editor until we worked it out… but really minor for the overall story. #1 was ramping up the father’s reaction at one point, and #2 was giving Jess a little more of a reason to be afraid of another character. Overall, easy fixes.

General Editing

After the developmental edit we went through three rounds of general editing for flow, readability and stuff like that. Here is where I found all those words that were repeated. This was the most painstaking part for me.

Proofreading

After this we went through three FULL READS of the novel front to back looking for typos, mis-spelled words, improper punctuation and the like. THIS is the part that scares me. I found errors each time I read it (after correcting what I found the previous time). This really stresses me out because being a perfectionist; I would like to have been able to read through front to back without finding any typos. All I can do at this point is hope and pray I found them all. (And maybe bite off a few nails)

So, I leave for vacation knowing that my work is done, and all I need to do now is worry about book two… and reapplying sun screen.

18 Comments

Posted in General Writing Tips

Tagged author, beta partner, beta reading, critique, critiquing, editing, Fiction, finding an agent, getting published, literary agent, literary fiction, Manuscript, novel, pitch, query, query help, self publishing, synopsis, writing, Writing help

How to make Your Reader Care About Your Character #5

Posted on February 1, 2014 | 3 comments

I am skimming over notes I took from a class about creating characters that your reader will care about.

Disclaimer: I honestly don’t remember where this handout came from. I’m going to paraphrase the topic and think up my own ideas, but I don’t want anyone to think I’m stealing without giving credit.

It should be a given to an author that they need to create characters that their readers will care about. They do not necessarily have to like the character. Some really great characters are very unlikable. But we need to CARE about them, or we won’t keep reading. Right?

So how do we do this?

1. Relationships. (See previous post)

2. Give them a goal (See previous post)

3. Caring about others (See previous post)

4. A special gift or talent. (See previous post)

5. A handicap

Oooooo. That’s a good one.

Here’s a good one. Even though you might not be handicapped, you can imagine what it would be like, right? You feel for someone with a disability.

This came up recently in a comment on my blog, when someone mentioned that the horrid character on the TV show House was softened because he had a handicap.

How about a phobia?

A phobia is a good one two… something they need to overcome in order to fulfill their purpose of hero in the story.

Or something even more simple and relatable

Maybe it is something simple, like they need to run for their lives and the only car available to flee in has a stick shift, but the character does not know how to drive a stick.

Anything wrong with your character is an easy way to make them relatable. No one wants to read about someone who is perfect, right?

Unless you are Mary Poppins. (But she was only practically perfect, right?)

That’s it!

Five ways to create the ever-important care-factor. Give your readers characters that they can care about, and they will scream for more!

Think about the main character in your favorite novel. Pinpoint exactly what it was that made you engage with them. What was it? Come on, share the ideas!

3 Comments

Posted in General Writing Tips

How to make Your Reader Care About Your Character #4

Posted on January 25, 2014 | 4 comments

I am skimming over notes I took from a class about creating characters that your reader will care about.

So how do we do this?

1. Relationships. (See previous post)

2. Give them a goal (See previous post)

3. Caring about others (See previous post)

4. A special gift or talent.

A special gift or talent can be tricky

This one can be tricky, but it can be used when the others fail. A special talent, I think, needs to be part of the plot to make it work. Like a person loves to draw, so we want to see them become a successful artist. If they don’t, then why did they have the talent mentioned in the story to begin with?

Make sure it has meaning

This needs to be all about fulfillment. They need to use the talent to make something happen in the story.

Yes, this could be a great device, but be careful to make sure it fits inside your plot and story arc.

What recent special talent have you read that really drew you in to a novel?

4 Comments

Posted in General Writing Tips

How to make Your Reader Care About Your Character #3

Posted on January 18, 2014 | 2 comments

I am skimming over notes I took from a class about creating characters that your reader will care about.

So how do we do this?

1. Relationships. (See previous post)

2. Give them a goal (See previous post)

3. Caring about others

Even the most horrible person on the planet has to care about someone, right?

Well, maybe not the most horrible person on the planet. I suppose you could create a noteworthy character who does not care about others, but the more I think of it, even the greatest villains of all time cared about something.

A villain can be a big softie

The guy in Psycho was pretty twisted, but that was okay, because he really loved his grandma. The Dude in Despicable Me wanted to be the greatest villain of all time, but these kids that he cared about kept getting in the way.
I think the idea is that in most cases everyone cares about someone. It may be trivial, or it may be gruesome, like keeping your beloved dead grandma… but it is that “care factor” that a reader can relate to.

Taking the easy way out

The handout talks about easier versions of caring, like taking care of a baby or helping an old lady cross the street. So, if your character is a nice person, just make sure we can see them doing something that shows that they care for others. They will get brownie points from your readers for their trouble.

Think about a novel your recently read that you loved. What did the main character care about?

2 Comments

Posted in General Writing Tips

How to make Your Reader Care About Your Character #2

Posted on January 11, 2014 | 3 comments

I am skimming over notes I took from a class about creating characters that your reader will care about.

So how do we do this?

1. Relationships. (See previous post)

2. Give them a goal

Ugh. Goals. We all have them, right? We all have something we need to do every day. Some goals we like, others we labor over. The point is, we can all relate to having to do something.

If your character is wandering around in circles with no clear intent, the reader will not be able to engage. Even before the inciting incident that is the real start to your story… your character has to have a reason for being… a goal of something that needs to be done (it can be simple, like making dinner)

But soon you should hit the “big goal” that will carry your reader along for the rest of the journey. We have to know what the goal is and have a vested interest in the character getting there.

By the way, the “big goal” needs to materialize in the first 25% of the book or earlier. This may seem like a given to most of you, but I’ve read some works in progress lately where the author did not understand this. Think about your character’s goal, and make sure it is apparent to the reader.

Everyone wants something.

A reader can connect and care if they have the opportunity to root for your character to get what he/she wants.

So go ahead, give them a goal!

What was the character’s goal in your favorite novel? Do you think this is what made it your favorite?

3 Comments

Posted in Author Advice, General Writing Tips

Tagged author, beta partner, beta reading, Characters, critique, critiquing, E-book, editing, Fiction, finding an agent, getting published, literary agent, literary fiction, Manuscript, novel, pitch, query, query help, Reader, Reading, self publishing, synopsis, Thought, writing, Writing help

How to make Your Reader Care About Your Character #1

Posted on January 4, 2014 | 17 comments

I was cleaning off my desk this weekend and I came across a handout from a seminar or class that I don’t even remember taking. I read through the page and considered my current work in progress. I’m pretty sure that by this time in my career I am doing what the handout recommends as an almost instinctual part of my writing process.

I almost tossed the paper, but thought there may be some people out there who could benefit from these notes. And, of course, I tend to learn stuff myself when I write out and analyze notes for posts, so let’s see what happens.

To keep things short, I will break this topic into 5 separate posts. One thought to chew on at a time.

All right: Creating a character people care about:

So how do we do this?

1. Relationships. Everyone in the world has relationships. They can be good, bad, or just tolerable, but you know what a relationship is, and so does your reader. Seeing a character in a relationship is an easy way to help a reader connect.

Let’s think over some memorable relationships. I’ll grab a character most people know.

Harry Potter.

Harry lives with his aunt and uncle. Wow, they do not treat him well, do they? Have you ever been treated unfairly? Have you every had to put up with it because you had no choice? Have you ever wished a magic letter would show up and scoot you away? (Well, I’m sure the answer is “yes” to most of what I said, anyway.)

Giving Harry this horrible home life helps us to INSTANTLY connect with him. We feel sorry for him and want him to live up to his potential. If Harry can overcome the odds, maybe we can, too.

Do you see how quickly and easily the connection is made? In the first few scenes we totally care and we are engaged.

Relationships. Use them.

And if your character is stranded on a deserted island, have him draw a face on a ball so he has someone to talk to. Yes, that has been done, but that helped you to connect as well, right?
Relationships are one of the easiest ways to help your readers care about your characters.