Word Witch Wednesday - writing and marketing potpourri

I'm so close to finishing the final book of the Totem series. I still do not know exactly how the final twist will work, though. The thrills of being a pantser! Next time, I'll have an end in mind before I start a series. (I've said this to myself every single time I write a series!)

Pantser tip: Don't let not knowing what happens next slow you down. Let the story take you there. It has never failed me yet. Some plots just take longer than others!

 

I've written a few short stories recently. A couple of them were horrible. I reworked a third one and hopefully it reads better now. I sent it into my local critique group for this month's meeting.

 

Writer tip: Not everything you write is going to be awesome. Sometimes when we write, it's just for practice. Any writing, brilliant or not, is important for improving your craft.

I've been busy critiquing for my local group and my critique partners. Such awesome stories! I love getting a sneak peek at these tales before anyone else does.

Critiquing tip: Make sure to add comments in about how parts made you feel. Say you laughed at this part or got angry or sad. The author wants to know what kind of emotions they're evoking.

I offered Dark Dawning (Totem #1) for free for the last five days. This time around, I didn't do any promoting apart from my newsletter, blog, and other social media. I had half as many downloads as when I used paid ads.

Freebie marketing tip: Freebooksy is a fantastic place to advertise. It's not the cheapest, but it is where I always go as a reader to look for free reads. Asking other authors and readers, most look to Freebooksy first as well.

Wicked Wednesday - make 'em suffer

Writing great paranormal romance isn't all about the longing glances, the sweet kisses, or the fiery passion between the sheets. Oh, we do love those things, but no. That's not what really makes readers turn the pages. It's the suffering we put our characters through that hooks them.

In order to get your readers to empathize with your characters, you need to engage them emotionally. Everyone knows what it's like to have their heart broken. Perhaps we're not as dramatic in our woes as the characters, but sometimes we'd like to be. Describe the pain in vivid and clear language. Be bold. Make the suffering unbearable and explore its most primal roots. Don't try to be subtle about it.

Emotional suffering isn't enough. You need to build in external conflict to torture your characters too. Again, problems need to be clear. Your readers need to know what your characters are fighting against. Having a clear problem doesn't mean to not have any mystery. Simple example: the problem is there's a new serial killer killing werewolves in town and your protagonist has to find out who it is before there's another victim. (The sexy Alpha of the local pack wants in on the hunt too!) Clear problem and intriguing mystery.

Once you've made your characters and readers miserable, it's time for the solution. The solution needs to be as clear as the problem. It must be realistic and satisfying. I'm sure everyone can agree a weak ending ruins a good story. Give your readers the emotional high to make up for the suffering you've put them through.

What hooks you in a story: the happy moments or the suffering?

Wicked Wednesday - emotional conflict

There's no doubt that one of the key aspects of a paranormal romance is emotional conflict. A story can't be built around that alone, but without it, there would be no love story. Emotional conflict arises from something within a person which sometimes seems irrational and utterly insane. Okay, maybe not sometimes, but most of the time!

To create emotional conflict for the protagonist and their love interest, it must arise out of something apart from the plot. It must be something inside of each of them that would create the same conflict no matter where or how they met. Of course, it is intensified by the situation and the only way to resolve it is by working together.

Do not confuse emotional conflict with intellectual conflict. Intellectual conflict always starts in the mind. It's a conflict of ideas. A character might try to reason out their emotional conflict and make it intellectual, but it doesn't make it so. An intellectual conflict can be argued and the character can be persuaded to change their mind. Emotions aren't so reasonable. They simply are. There's no logic to them. Remember in a paranormal romance, the goal is to win the heart of one's love not the mind.

Do not confuse emotional conflict with external conflict. External conflicts arises outside of the character through plot and circumstance. Emotions make up internal conflicts and they arise within the characters themselves. Where emotional conflict make-up the heart of the novel, external conflict drives the plot. You can't have one without the other.

The key to writing a great paranormal romance is to meld the intense emotional conflict with an equally as exciting external one. If either aspect is lacking, the story will flop.

Who are your favorite authors in terms of emotional conflict?

Wicked Wednesday - sexual tension

One of the key elements to a good paranormal romance is creating sexual tension. This doesn't mean the act of "making love" itself. In fact, sexual tension may never lead up to that point. This is about feeling a spark of something, that irrational pull to someone, the sizzling energy that makes your stomach flip. Sometimes it feels there are no words to describe this. Yet as writers, we have to find those words.

Tip #1: Use the senses. Make it subtle. A faint whiff of spicy cologne or the twitch of a dimple in his left cheek. Her voice might sound a little hoarse when she's aroused or her lips might taste like cherry lip gloss with that first brief kiss. Sometimes a brush of her hand against his can create a great jolt of sensation. In paranormal romances, you have the possibility of using other senses as well. A flaming up of his aura or reading his mind to know he thinks she's sexy in that dress.

Tip #2: Strong internal conflict. Use a lot of emotions here. She recently lost someone she loves and can't open her heart again for fear of getting hurt, but she can't deny her powerful attraction to him. He loves his job reaping souls and has seen too many people in love torn apart, but he can't stop thinking about her.

Tip #3: The internal conflict is made worse with the external conflict. Someone is trying to hunt her down and kill her. They're on different sides of the apocalyptic battle.

Tip #4: Put the characters in situations that require them to spend a lot of time together and a lot of time close together. Fighting, spying, exploring the ducts of an evil corporation's headquarters. These situations will fire up the internal conflicts and give you ample opportunity to torment, I mean, let your characters flirt with their hidden desires.

Tip#5: Delay gratification. Okay, yes, here you're tormenting them!

Do you have any tricks you use in creating sexual tension?