Holiday Break along with a guest post!

It's almost time for my holiday break. I plan to do plenty of sleeping and reading for the rest of the month.

Today I'm visiting the wonderful Susan Gourley's blog. Please pop on over and say hello. I'll be sharing a few tips of how to get in some writing and reading over the holidays.

I've been busy writing a holiday story for my pen name these past three weeks, and it grew from a short story into a short novel. Yikes! I need to keep writing and editing to get it out in time.

Please don't forget the Untethered Realms Yuletide Spectacular. It goes through to January 3rd. Six free books and a great giveaway!

And if you're into a different sort of holiday story, I have a sci-fi flash fiction piece coming out on the 23rd in Flash Fiction Magazine. It's called "The Holiday" (original, I know!).

May you all have a happy holiday season!

Word Witch Wednesday - a bunch of tips for making writing life easier

It's been a while since I've done a writing update. I've been busy working on the first draft of Of Gods and Sorrow, the sequel to Of Blood and Sorrow. It feels fantastic to get back into the world and to be writing a novel again. When I write novellas, I keep everything tight and concise. I don't allow myself to wander. With novels, I feel less constrained.

Writing tip #1: When working on your first draft, don't be afraid to ramble on. Don't let your inner editor chain you down. Anything you don't want can be cut later. You might find you like some of those longer descriptions and extended scenes.

My writing has slowed recently. I've found I can't stare at the screen as long or I'll get headaches. When my critique partners and betas send me their manuscripts, I wondered why they always have their documents zoomed in at like 120% or 150%. I stubbornly put them back to 100% every time. My stubborn self was wrong. Now as I'm writing, I zoom in to 120%, and I get less eye strain and no more headaches.

Writing tip #2: Zooming in with documents does help ease eye strain. It's also important to take regular breaks from the computer and rest your eyes doing something else. Keeping well hydrated will help as well. And those bathroom breaks resulting from that can count as resting your eyes!

Putting your butt in the chair and your hands on the keyboard does get you writing. Yet it doesn't help you get up when you need to later. My body get stiff if I'm lost in my worlds for too long. I'm not as young as I once was.

Writing tip #3: Stretch. I'm not going to tell you to go out and exercise, but stretching your muscles will not only take away your stiffness, it will help the blood get flowing to your beautifully creative mind. I take about 30 to 40 minutes every day just before lunch to stretch and use my little hand weights. It wakes up my body and my afternoon writing session benefits from it.

Writing tip #4: That time as I'm stretching is the only time during my writing work day that I allow myself to turn on the TV or a podcast. Eliminating distractions like that while I'm writing allows me to better concentrate. Plus, it makes for a good motivator to do the stretching if I have a show recorded I want to watch. (Con Man aired on SyFy Channel this past Saturday night. I'm watching that this week as I stretch! Mmm, Alan Tudyk and Nathan Fillion.)

My writing life changes with each story and every new year. I'm excited to see where it will take me next.

Do you have any writing life tips to share? I'd love to hear them.

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An IWSG reminder:

Be sure when you leave a comment, your profile leads back to your blog. If it links to Google+, make sure you have your blog listed in your ‘About’ section. We encountered a lot of comments that we could not return because that person’s gravatar was not linked to a blog. And since some people comment with a name but it’s their blog name on the IWSG list, that makes it extra challenging. If you’d like your link title modified or changed on the IWSG list, we have set up a IWSG Google Document where you can request that change.

Plus the Show Your Writer Insecurity Contest is October 4, so get those photos ready!

Don't forget we're always excited to celebrate good news with our IWSG members. Email me at christinerains [dot] writer @ gmail [dot] com with your news, and I'll include in the next newsletter.

Wicked Wednesday - tips for multi-tasking manuscripts

That's how I look when I try to do more than one thing at a time. I'm one of those writers who focus on one project and finish it before diving into a new one. Most of the time, I'm highly efficient. So does that make me crazy to want to attempt to work on two projects at once?

I see other writers who are brilliant at multi-tasking projects. I am in awe. But I know all of us are different. What works for one person might not for another. We don't know until we try, though.

Two projects. Yikes. I'm taking a deep breath here. I'm collecting advice from other authors who are successful multi-taskers.

- Create a schedule and stick with it. Sounds easy, but what if you're on a roll? Too bad. Stop and continue again tomorrow. Be firm with yourself.

- It helps if your projects are vastly different from one another. That way, you won't get tired of too much of the same thing.

- Keep writing. Don't edit as you go. Leave that for the revision stage.

- Don't neglect other aspects of your life. Make sure you have time to spend with family and friends, exercise, and sleep. You will be a happier writer for it.

- Finally, finish what you start. If you find your focus is off because you have too much on your plate, drop one project. 

Do you have any tips to share about multi-tasking projects?

Wicked Wednesday - Critiques (part 2)

This is the second part of my Critique series. On how I do critiques. It may not be the way anyone else goes about it, but hopefully I can offer a few tips that you might find helpful. You can read the first part of this series here.

After the initial read and the narrowing of the genre, I start a second read and focus on the first chapter. This is the most important chapter. If you can't keep your readers' interest, they aren't going to keep reading. I look for the hook, the setting, the backstory, the inciting incident, and the overall story problem.

Hook: hopefully it's right in the first line or at least in the first paragraph. This grabs the reader's attention with usually a dramatic action, thought, or desire. It sets the mood for the entire book. (Example: the opening line to THE DRAGONSLAYER: Xan missed the shot.)

Setting: the reader must know when and where they are. Not the exact time and date, unless it's key to the plot. But if we're in modern times, the past or future. If it's a fantasy world, it could start off in a barn or a cave. Don't leave the reader in limbo.

Backstory: You want enough to get the story going, but not too much to overload the reader. People are tempted to tell a lot in the beginning of the story, but readers only need to know enough to support what's happening in that moment.

Inciting incident: This is the event that turns the protagonist's life upside-down, or at the very least, the incident that leads to the chaos. It could be a letter from a distant relative or an assassination attempt. Big or little, it must propel the plot forward from chapter one.

Overall story problem: This isn't the hero's goal of killing the monster. What I'm looking for here is the protagonist's key internal problem. A flaw or weakness, something that she struggles with and that she needs to overcome in order to be victorious. Even if it's not obvious in the first chapter, I need to see a sign of it.

The first chapter is usually where I end up making the most changes in my manuscripts.

What do you look for when critiquing a first chapter?

Wicked Wednesday - the pros and cons of writing a paranormal romance series

Many of the paranormal romance books you see out there are series. Readers love them, and the demand for them is high. Yet before you dive in and start writing your own series, there are a few things you need to consider.

PROS:

* Readers love them. Their demand for more is fed.

* You have plenty of time for world building and to develop characters. You'll spend so much time with them, you'll know them very well.

* If readers love your first book, it paves the way for great sales in the future with the rest of the series.

CONS:

* Readers might love them, but a series is harder to sell to a publisher.

* You'll spend so much time with your characters, you might get sick of them. Usually it takes years to write a series. Years where you are stuck with these characters that you may grow bored or frustrated with. Things might start to feel stale.

* If readers hate your first book, the rest of your series will bomb.

Here are four tips to help make your series a success:

* Avoid cliches and formulas. Keep each book fresh. Don't be afraid to try something new or show a different side to your characters.

* Make sure each book can stand alone and connect to the series.

* Up the ante in each book. Your characters must continue to grow. Their challenges must get harder in each book.

* The couple might get together in the first book, but that isn't the end of the relationship. There are many stages and challenges to each relationship. Don't let the romance die.

My favorite paranormal romance series and an excellent example of how how to write a series: The Fever series by Karen Marie Moning.

In your opinion, what makes a series good? What are your favorite paranormal romance series?

Surviving Monday

Sometimes the week just looms over you and you can't see the light in its dark shadow. Monday can seem like a very long day. It's important to keep the madness at bay. Well, as writers, we need to be a little bit crazy, but we can't let the darkness overwhelm us. Here's a few tips to keep your writing focus and sanity.

1. Write every day. Even if it's just a blog post or a letter. Write something. One small productive thing is still doing something productive.
2. Don't compare yourself to others. No one has the same path. None of us have the same style. Some of us thrive in critique groups while others do not. Discover your strengths and work with them.
3. Read. Read authors you love and read out of your genre. Read for fun and read for research.
4. Connect. There's a wonderful writing community out there. You're not alone. Reach out and make connections. They'll help extinguish the Monday blahs.

Don't forget my Learn Your Craft Giveaway! There's still a few days left to enter.

The little things

I haven't gone back to writing my dark fantasy short story yet. I've been editing one of my novels this week. I found a few tips from an agent's blog. They have helped a lot in making my dialogue feel more natural. It's amazing how the little things that you think are helping your reader aren't. I'm guilty of having characters use each other's names too often in conversation. I thought I was helping the reader by letting them know who was being addressed, but in real life, we don't often use each other's names in conversation except to get the other person's attention or to be snarky. Pet names we use more frequently, but they're meant to endear. It's demeaning to use a person's name repeatedly while talking. You're treating them like a child. It's common sense now that I think about it.

I was happy to receive an email from Colette at A Buckeye Girl Reads today telling me that I won a giveaway. Yay! I won a copy of Misty Evans' book Witches Anonymous. I can't wait to read it.

To all of you who are going to see the new Harry Potter film this weekend, please know that I'm jealous. I might get a chance to see it next Friday if we can find a babysitter, but I'm sad that I won't be able to go during the big release weekend. Enjoy the movie!