Author Jean Davis

Monday, April 30, 2018

A to Z - All Things Writing: Z The Satisfying Ending

Welcome to the Blogging A to Z Challenge, where, this month, I'll be focusing on all things writing. This may be a random jumping around of topics within my theme, but hopefully something somewhere will be useful to someone. (V is for vague - see that last sentence.) Check out all the participants here . Now, lets get on with today's letter.

Z is for The Satisfying Ending

I'm sure I've harped on endings before, maybe even last year, but it bears repeating. Stories, all stories, should have a satisfying end. But it's got a sequel. It's part of a series. I don't care. End it. If a book doesn't end in a manner that leaves me a least mostly fulfilled, I'm not ever going to pick up book two.

It's fine to leave some subplots a bit open ended. A happily ever after for now, is perfectly acceptable. We don't need everything tied up in a neat little bow. But we do need closure. The main plot of that particular book should be resolved. The mystery needs to be solved. An aspect of the big bad must be defeated. The couple should get together. You get the idea.

Books that just end like the writer dropped dead at the end of whatever sentence stands at the end of the novel end up denting my wall and go in the donation pile. Books should not end with (...to be continued).

Short stories might end with a surprise, a twist. They don't often have a shiny wrapped up bow on top ending. A short story is a much smaller investment of a reader's time so more of an ah-ha moment is sometimes all it takes to be satisfying. A novel, however, needs more closure. We're invested in characters, in the plots, we want to see things through. So make sure your books end. Your readers will thank you.

Thank you for joining me on this year's A to Z adventure. I hope you found a few useful posts this month. Good luck with your writing endeavors throughout the year and I hope you'll stop back to see where I am in mine.

Would you like a free e-book? This April, I'm giving away free copies of my new anthology, Destiny Pills & Space Wizards. Claim your copy here: https://claims.instafreebie.com/free/vhJFWpLL Enter code atozpromo

Prefer paperback? The print book goes live on April 20. Reviews are always appreciated.

Saturday, April 28, 2018

A to Z - All Things Writing: You Know What You Mean

Y is for You Know What You Mean

The biggest issues many writers have is getting what is in their head onto the page. You know what you mean. You know your story and your characters. We've already covered how beta readers and critique groups can help point these areas out. But you can find some of them too.

The best way to do that is to give yourself some time away from your story so that you can approach it with fresh eyes. It's tempting to churn out a draft, tweak it with a few edits and toss it out into the world but your story could be so much better if you give it a little time to age and grow.

So finish you story and put it away. Go write something else. Be that a short story, a few short stories, another entire novel or edit another novel. The point is to get your mind working on something entirely different. When you're ready, be that weeks, months, or however much longer, read your story as if you've never read it before.

You might be surprised at what parts you enjoy and what you find yourself skimming over. Or what you thought you had explained that now you're wondering about. Maybe you don't remember what all the characters looked like or how they were involved with one another from the notes you had on paper or in your head that never really made into the story. Wasn't there backstory on a character? I swear this scene was going somewhere important, but I can't remember why I kept it. Guess what? You can do something about all of that. Put those things into the story.

Read that story aloud, either yourself or have your computer read it for you. You'll probably find missing words that you swear where there because you know what you mean.

Prefer paperback? The print book goes live on April 20. Reviews are always appreciated.

Friday, April 27, 2018

A to Z - All Things Writing: X + Y = Z

X is for X + Y x Q = Z

If you've conquered a query letter or logline or blurb, you're likely familiar with the fact that there is a formula. If you haven't gotten to any of these stages yet, there's still plenty of time to get frustrated while trying to figure these things out with the rest of us. Here are the four main things you need to look for in your book.

Who is the main character?
What do they want?
What stands in their way?
What will happen if they don't succeed?

If you can't identify these things in your book, there's a big red flag. Your book is missing something essential. Time to head back to the rewrite stage.

Got your four pieces identified? Good. It's time to construct the seed of your query/logline/blurb.

MC wants ___ but opposing force ___(does what?) . MC must ___ (action) or _____(stakes)

You could also approach it as:

When ___ (bad thing) happens to MC, they must (action) or (stakes) happen

There are other formulas out there too. Just remember to keep it simple and build from there as needed. This will help you boil your story down to a sentence or two to hook readers or agents. And you thought writing a synopsis was hard?

Have you had to write a query letter?

Would you like a free e-book? This April, I'm giving away free copies of my new anthology, Destiny Pills & Space Wizards. Claim your copy here.

Prefer paperback? The print book goes live on April 20. Reviews are always appreciated.

Thursday, April 26, 2018

A to Z - All Things Writing: Writers

W is for Writers

Are you a writer or an author?

Some people prefer one over the other. Some people think of themselves as writers until they have been published and then they are authors. I've read conflicting reasoning on both.

A writer is someone who writes.

An author has been published.

A writer has written something

An author has finished something

A writer is someone who writes as an occupation

An author is someone who has created something

An author is a writer

As far a I'm concerned, they are interchangeable. What about you?

Prefer paperback? The print book goes live on April 20. Reviews are always appreciated.

Wednesday, April 25, 2018

A to Z - All Things Writing : Vague

V is for Vague

One of the problems we have as writers is not adequately describing things. By things I mean setting, emotion, clothing, food, action, etc. We can see it all in our head, but it's difficult to use enough words to get all that on the page. So we tend to be vague. In some cases, the reader will fill in the gaps but in others, what is missing can mean the difference between a scene that a reader skims through and one they an highly engaged in.

Watch for:

• Leaning on adverbs. They often don't give us a clear image of the action and would be better served as a stronger verb instead.

• Words like 'a few' 'some' 'very' 'a couple' 'often' 'sometimes'. These all have appropriate uses, but ask yourself if a more definite description would be better suited to convey what you are trying to show.

• Rooms/places and people without anything to distinguish them. It's hard for a reader to get a visual to attach them to the scene if all we have is Sue running into the living room.

• Not committing to the full emotion of a scene. You're going for a tone or mood, but is it conveyed clear enough that the reader feels it too?

• A character has big feelings about something but do we have enough background and description at to why? The same for their motivations. "Because I said so" doesn't work well between writers and readers. These are things we need to show in the context of the story.

All of these are good points to ask your critique partners and beta readers to watch for because some of them are hard to spot yourself. You know your story too well.

Are there any particular aspects of writing that you find yourself being too vague about?