Thank so much for inviting me to guest blog on the Aspiring
Romance Authors site, Dominique! It’s a pleasure to be here.
1.
Read. Read a lot. Not just in the genre you want to
write in, but in other genres as well. Learn to recognize why you like (or
don’t like) a particular book. Be able to pick out plot threads, tension,
pacing, and character development. If you can’t see them in other people’s
writing, you won’t be able to work those things into your own, either.
2.
Write every day. Even if it’s only a few hundred words.
At the beginning, don’t worry about aiming for whole stories. Write scenes.
Learn to work with words on your screen.
3.
Consider writers’ software like Scrivener. I don’t use
it, but I know lots of writers who swear by it. I probably shouldn’t admit
this, but what I use in lieu of Scrivener-type software is storyboards and
three-ring binders. It’s how I keep my characters and my words and the
mythologies in my different books straight. I think you need something.
Otherwise, when you go through a story for first edits, you find embarrassing
things like your characters’ names having changed. Or their hair color.
4.
Find a good critique group. Or at least a couple of
critique partners. You need other sets of eyes to go over your writing and tell
you where the plot holes are, or why a particular character doesn’t work. We
just can’t do that for ourselves. Also, your partner, mother, BFF, etc. can’t
do that for you, either. It won’t help you to have someone gush over your work.
Even NYT bestselling writers have a phalanx of people looking over their
shoulders, starting with their literary agents.
5.
Get good and familiar with grammar. They don’t teach it
in school like they did when I went an embarrassingly long time ago. Do any of
the rest of you remember diagramming sentences? Can you list the various parts
of speech? Of a sentence? Do you know why we avoid adverbs and only rarely
begin sentences with gerunds or prepositions? If you know all that stuff,
great. Some of it still gives me fits, like lie versus lay. I still have to
think that one through. Or farther versus further.
6.
A bit more on #5. Do not rely on Word’s grammar
checker. It’s wrong nearly as frequently as it’s correct.
7.
Develop a thick skin. Writing is a skill, much like any
other. It takes time and dedication to hone your craft. I’ve been grateful for
every single review I’ve gotten, even the bad ones, because they’ve highlighted
areas I need to focus on.
8.
It takes many elements to create a great story. You
need three dimensional character who blaze off the page. You need a plot with
enough interwoven threads to hold a reader’s interest. Tension and pacing move
the plot forward. None of us are born knowing how to do all those things.
Characters were always easy for me. I had to teach myself plotting, pacing, and
holding tension.
9.
Learn to proof your work. It’s a skill. Your chances of
publication will improve dramatically if your work is close to error-free. A
neighbor of mine just posted the first couple hundred words from her novel
that’s been sitting in a drawer for twenty years on FB. It made me itch to toss
it up on M/S Track Changes. That level of editing proficiency will knock a big,
fat hole in your pleasure reading, but it’s worth it.
10. Don’t
give up. If you want something, work for it. We don’t truly appreciate what
comes to us too easily.
What about the rest of you? Did I miss something you think
is critical? Love to have you weigh in.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Get to know Ann Gimpel
www.anngimpel.com
http://anngimpel.blogspot.com
http://www.amazon.com/author/anngimpel
http://www.facebook.com/anngimpel.author
@AnnGimpel (for Twitter) Ann Gimpel is a clinical psychologist, with a Jungian bent. Avocations include mountaineering, skiing, wilderness photography and, of course, writing. A lifelong aficionado of the unusual, she began writing speculative fiction a few years ago. Since then her short fiction has appeared in a number of webzines and anthologies. Her longer books run the gamut from urban fantasy to paranormal romance. She’s published over 20 books to date, with several more contracted for 2014.
A husband, grown children, grandchildren and three wolf hybrids round out her family.
http://anngimpel.blogspot.com
http://www.amazon.com/author/anngimpel
http://www.facebook.com/anngimpel.author
@AnnGimpel (for Twitter) Ann Gimpel is a clinical psychologist, with a Jungian bent. Avocations include mountaineering, skiing, wilderness photography and, of course, writing. A lifelong aficionado of the unusual, she began writing speculative fiction a few years ago. Since then her short fiction has appeared in a number of webzines and anthologies. Her longer books run the gamut from urban fantasy to paranormal romance. She’s published over 20 books to date, with several more contracted for 2014.
A husband, grown children, grandchildren and three wolf hybrids round out her family.
Magic didn’t
just find Luke Caulfield. It chased him down, bludgeoned him, and has been
dogging him ever since. Some lessons are harder than others. Luke survives by
embracing danger and upping the ante to give it one better. An enforcer for the
Coven, a large, established group of witches, his latest assignment is playing
bodyguard to the daughter of Coven leaders.
Abigail Ruskin
is chaperoning a spoiled twelve-year-old from New York to her parents’ home in
Utah Territory when Luke gets on their stagecoach in Colorado. A powerful witch
herself, Abigail senses Luke’s magic, but he’s so overwhelmingly male, she
shies away from contact. Stuck between the petulant child and Luke’s raw sexual
energy, Abigail can’t wait for the trip to end.
Wraiths,
wolves, and humans with dark magick attack. Unpleasant truths surface about the
child and Abigail’s well-ordered world crashes around her. Luke’s so attracted
to Abigail, she’s almost all he can think about, but he’s leery too. In over his
head, he summons enforcer backup. Will they help him save the woman he’s
falling in love with, or demand her immediate execution?
