Monthly Archives: September 2018

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Mercury retrograde is a great time for editing and bad time for starting a new project.  While this prognostication is astrological in origin, it’s often a time when skeptics start to recognize there may be something to it. Astronomically, it means that the planet Mercury is moving backwards in the sky. Of course this isn’t true, only by appearance, similar to when you’re passing another car on the freeway and it appears that the other car is moving backwards when you are actually moving away from it.

Astrologically, since Mercury rules communications of all kinds as well as anything that moves, this is not when your brain, electronics, or anything mechanical is functioning properly. Computer, automobile, and appliance problems are common at this time as well as communication problems at the people level. This is a time to go back and review, revise, reconsider, and reassess while starting something new is likely to not go anywhere ever or, at best, be delayed.

This usually happens three times each year. The next one will be from November 17 – December 6, 2018, but to be safe, avoid new projects from October 29 – December 25. Put this time to good use by editing and revising as opposed to new copy.

Today’s Writing Tip

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Many authors will tell you, including myself, that book blurbs are harder to write than the book itself! After creating numerous characters, devising a complex plot, and describing the time and place over hundreds of pages, distilling this down into a few sentences is no easy task.

Some great advice from author Nicholas Rossis that he passed along in a recent writers conference stated that the main elements to include are your main character, what s/he wants, what’s in the way, and the consequences of failure. Whatever you do, don’t include any spoilers or too many extraneous details. You want the reader’s curiosity to be aroused enough for them to want to read the story.

Today’s Writing Tip

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Do you fully understand what it means to show versus tell? Your reader should experience the story through the eyes of your characters, up close and personal, not as an observer from afar.

When you tell a story, there is little to no reader engagement at the emotional level. They may be able to sympathize with the character or relate story action to their own experience, but they do not feel as if they’re part of the story or that they really know the characters.

Showing involves rendering the same feeling in your reader as your character is experiencing, whether it’s love, joy, fear, sadness, grief, anger, etc. You are not going to be able to do this with a single word or sentence. If you ever find yourself using the word “feel” in any of its conjugations, stop right there. For example, saying, “He felt angry” simply doesn’t do it. However, if you describe how he really felt, such as his heart rate increasing, hands shaking, mind racing, tension in his muscles, or thinking that he might explode, then you’re showing.

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The Greeks had six words for love and would be horrified at our lumping them all together. For example, eros is love of a sexual or passionate nature; philia is deep friendship; ludus is playful love, such as flirting; agape is love for everyone; pragma is long-standing love, such as seen in couples who have been married for many decades; and philautia is self-love.

This is an example of how a language or even your vocabulary contributes to (or conversely, limits) the precision that defines strong writing, i.e. using exactly the correct word. Besides showing expertise in expression, it also helps avoid unnecessary use of adjectives and other modifiers. If the “right” word is available, use it!  This is why reading the dictionary comes in handy because often the word you need is not in common usage or on the tip of your tongue.

Today’s Writing Tip

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Do you ever read the dictionary? Words are an author’s tools. Your vocabulary will determine the quality of your writing. Using the word that precisely expresses your meaning strengthens your writing.

By reading the dictionary from time to time, you’d be surprised what you might discover that will come in useful. Along those lines, when you’re reading and encounter an unfamiliar word, look it up. While you may be able to discern its meaning from the context, it is likely to have a certain slant that adds to the sentence’s meaning.

This is the kind of precision that makes your writing stronger.

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Does your story have a deeper, philosophical or thematic meaning than meets the eye? Symbolism is an important element if you really want to make a point in a subtle way. This can make the difference between fiction and literature.

When I was in school studying literature I often wondered if the author deliberately included the symbolism or if it just “happened.” This is something to think about as an author. Incorporating a strong theme and symbolism into your story can give it substantially more depth. While it may escape the more casual reader, anyone who knows something about literature, particularly some reviewers, will catch the meaning and give you more respect as a writer.

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Cross-genre stories become more popular everyday. This is one way to appeal to a broader audience, provided it’s done in a way that doesn’t stretch credibility so far it snaps or not deliver what the reader is expecting.

Romantic suspense has been around for a while as well as several others that are primarily a romance, such as historical romance, Gothic romance, and more recently science fiction romance. Obviously, the romance element works well to add interest to a story as well as its setting and circumstances.

The primary theme of romance is “boy gets girl” or vice versa. However, other genres, such as mysteries, thrillers, horror, and fantasy can all provide the backdrop and, in some cases, comprise more of the plot than the romance element.

How well the plot in one of these other genres is constructed will determine whether it’s simply another setting for romance or legitimately fits into another genre solidly enough to not be considered simply a romance in disguise.

 

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A cross-genre sometimes referred to as Sci-Fa blends the elements of science fiction and fantasy. Know where one ends and the other begins. Fantasy has a magical quality that is often unexplained–it’s just there. Science fiction typically has a technological basis.

However, there are numerous stories, including Star Wars, which incorporate elements of both. The space battles and technology in the Star Wars stories were clearly sci-fi, but “The Force” and its powers were more metaphysical, and thus fantasy, in nature. Having a space traveler arrive on a planet with magical powers is another possible theme. Done well, this cross-genre can appeal to fans of both genres.

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Similar to fantasy, anything is possible in science fiction, provided you set it up properly. The main difference between fantasy and sci-fi is whether it’s unexplained magic, related to the environment (such as crystals), or purely technological.

Whichever you choose, make it convincing. Science fiction requires some explanation, usually of a technical nature, even if you don’t go into the details. In other words, it’s likely to involve certain devices. In today’s modern world, it’s becoming more and more difficult to stay ahead of the technology as what was once science fiction becomes science fact. Thus, science fiction seems to be trending more toward futuristic stories, often dystopian, of the consequences of advanced technology.