Emotions...How are your characters affected by them?

TGIF!

Whoot! Whoot!

Happy Friday Readers!

Sooo...What is everybody doing for St. Patty's Day?

Today's post is about emotions and how what you're feeling can affect your characters.

I don't know about you guys, but I'm big on emotions and feelings when it comes to my writing.

Professionally too.

As an agent and reader, I want to be able to feel your character. I want to cry with them. Laugh with them. And fall in love with them. Unfortunately some writers fall flat on conveying the emotions needed to make a novel work. Granted, every one who reads a book has a different opinion and approaches the novel with a different view, but ultimately I think this true for everyone, we all want to feel something when we read.

Now, we all know that we are not our characters. We all know that even though we create them, that they have their own personalities and they we as the writer might not do some of the things they do, but I do think it is important for writers to ask themselves a few things when trying to breathe emotional life into our characters and here are few tips that help me.

1. What mannerisms, actions, smells, or even tastes affect my character? What does it remind them of?

2. Strong characters vs. Weak characters. Honestly I don't care what anybody says I find redeeming qualities in both types of characters. You know why? Because they're relate-able. No two human beings are alike.Some are stronger than others. Some are weaker. But what's important when breathing life into the type of character is authenticity. A weak, type of character wouldn't do some of the things a strong type of character would do, so its important to know which type of character you're writing and stick to that.

3. Feelings. This is sooo important. I ask myself 'how would this make Hadley feel'? (Hadley happens to be the MC in the adult romance I'm currently working on so I'm using her as an example.)How does a look, a touch, a kiss, a smell, make her feel? What kind of things make her happy, sad, disgusted...etc. I could go on with that list forever.

In closing I'm sure most of you understand how to effectively convey emotion in your characters, but I hope some of these tips help you if you don't.

Cheers!

Have a safe and Happy St. Patty's Day!

Writer's Block and How to Conquer It.

Yay! Happy Friday Readers!

I know it's been a while, but I've been insanely busy lately, so I've little time for blogging.

I'm excited for today's post because it's about writer's block and how to overcome it.

How many of you experience writer's block?

I'm sure quite a few of you have.

Personally, I don't get it too often, but when I do these are some of the things I do to overcome it and hopefully some of these things will help you too.

1. BACK AWAY FROM THE KEYBOARD & TAKE A BREATHER. - I get it, you're super excited to finish your last WIP. You've worked so hard on it, put passion into it, and suddenly it feels like you've hit a snag in the road. You can't think. Your mind is drawing a blank.

DO NOT I repeat DO NOT just type anything just finish it. If you have to take a break, for a day, a week, a month even if you have to. Nothing good is going to come from a manuscript that's rushed.

2. START A NEW WIP. - Sometimes it helps me when I start a new WIP and come back to the old one. Then again that probably explains why I have like 50 manuscripts saved on my desktop, but I find that when I'm thinking about a new WIP, it completely clears out the blockage I had with the old one and I can go back to it with a clear conscience and a fresh perspective on where I want to take it.

3. DO SOMETHING FUN - If you're like me, there are a lot of times where I'm so absorbed in writing or working on stuff for my clients that I forget how to relax, let go, and have fun sometimes. YOU need this... TRUST ME.

And a lot of times, a ton of great ideas come to me when I'm out with my friends, taking a weekend trip, or even spending time with my family.

4. GET A BETA READER OR TWO - Beta readers are awesome. Why? Because when they approach your manuscript with feedback they have a completely different outlook on it. They will offer you advice and suggestions that might put that blockage to rest. Well, at least for a little while.

Hope some of these comments help.

Have a great weekend!

Cheers!

<3

Pick A Genre...Any Genre... And Brand Yourself.

Happy Monday Readers!

I hope everyone had a great and relaxing weekend! Well now it's Monday. Time to get back to work!

Today's post is going to be about branding yourself as an author. I know. I know. I was just like you. I'd say to myself why should I limit myself? Why should I focus on one area where there are so many other possibilities?

I don't know about you guys, but I like to challenge myself. I like to pick challenging subjects and write about them. Hence the love triangle in He Loves Me... Or book 2 Love Without Words in the pandemic series.(Which by the way, I'm going to attempt to write an entire book without dialogue. Tricky,tricky, I know.)

But I'll tell you this....

Branding yourself is important. It is where you discover yourself as a writer. And I'll tell you something I learned about myself. I'm a romance writer. Whether it's a dark romance--like A Whisper To A Scream--or an fun summer fling romance like--If I Can't Have You. Romance is what I'm good at. That's my brand. And that's what I'm going to focus on in the future. And do you know how many books written it took me to learn that? Let's just say...A LOT.

Everyone is different. Some writers are good at one genre, but not so good at another. And I will say the most important thing we can do is write book after book and learn from ourselves. Deep down inside you know what your strengths and weaknesses are.

A lot of times we have to explore our writing capabilities. Sometimes we have to write several different books before we write "the one", and figure out where we want to be as writers. But what's more important than anything is that we dive in head first and never give up the fight.

I hope you've found something helpful in this post. And now for a lil treat! I've pasted a snippet from If I Can't Have You below. I hope you enjoy it and have a great week!

Cheers! <3

For a moment neither one of us moves. We’re mesmerized, swimming in each other’s gazes. Slowly Drake slides his fingers up my waist, locking my hips against his. Then he sits up, still staring, not breaking his focus.There’s sand all over his arms and the rough texture scratches against my burn skin, making it feel raw. He glides a free hand up my spine and I shiver as my shirt slides up and I feel his moist fingers against my back. He gently pulls the hair tie from my hair and my shoulders are covered in waves of chocolate cherry locks. “I want you,” he whispers. “I want you bad.”

And I want him. Oh how I’ve wanted him. For years and years and years. And this moment seems a little surreal to me. That finally, after all this time I finally get what I’ve wanted. What I’ve coveted. What I’ve adored.

I twist the thick straps of his wife-beater around my forefingers and urge his lips closer to mine with each tug. He’s so close his warm breath trails along my cheek bones and heats my face. His lips are so close and if I I move an inch mine will touch his. “You do something crazy to me, kid.”

And he does something crazy to me too. I’m a nut job in a mental institution. Clearly incapable of functioning normally and Drake is the orderly he comes to me every morning to deliver my pills. Without him I’ll be crazy forever. Only he is capable of getting rid of the insanity because he is the cure to it.

How To Grab Your Reader By The Throat....

Happy Friday readers!

I hope everyone has had an amazing week!

Today's post is about pulling in your readers from page one.

Some writer's struggle with an engaging first chapter. I know I am one of them. A lot of times when I'm writing I have to back in and change things at a later time because sometimes our characters don't always speak to us when we want them to. I don't know if that's true for you guys, but it definitely is for me.

Even when I'm reading subs or queries I want to be whisked away from the first page and a lot of times that doesn't happen. Your job as a writer is to dazzle your audience with your story-telling skills and grab them by the throat.

Now I will say that there are some of my books that aren't as good as others, but the important thing is that I learn from every book I write. And I think that most writers do as well. But here are a few helpful tips on how to engage the audience from page 1.

1. Always have something going on. Even if it's minor. Even if it's just your MC brushing their teeth.

2. Put feeling into your characters. It's like a doctor who asks how you feel about something. Ask yourself the same question. How would my character feel about this? Novels are not all about descriptions, grammar, and world-building. Feelings have a lot to do with the way your reader relates to the characters and how are we supposed to like them and relate to them if we can't feel what they are feeling.

3. Bring on the tension.

4. Don't rush it. God, there have been so many times where I've felt like I've rushed things in my books and I wish I could back and change things. Pacing in a novel is very important, so take it from me and learn from some of my mistakes lol.

5. Don't be afraid to cut things. I know. I know. We're all soooo attached to our characters. We love them. We feel them. But...Sometimes we have to cut out some of their scenes. Some things drag your novel down and slow down the pacing and you have to be willing to cut some areas to make things work. I know it sucks, but sometimes it has to be done.

Now hopefully you've found some of these tips helpful.

Have a great weekend everybody!

Cheers.

Finding Your Inner Voice....

Readers~

I hope everyone is having an awesome Tuesday!

Today's post is about finding your inner voice with your writing.

Voice in writing is key. Let's face it, if a person can't connect to the voice of your MC your book is going to fall flat.

Sometimes, you can find your voice right away. Sometimes it takes years. Me personally, I just found mine. And it took me eight years to find it.

Below I've provided several helpful hints that might help you in finding your inner voice.

1. Test out different tenses - One thing I've learned is that testing out different tenses is a good thing. Some people are better at past tense, some are better at present. This whole time I thought I was a past tense writer and I'm not. I'm much more comfortable with present tense. It flows easier and I'm able to put more emotion into my characters.

2. Test out different POV's - Some writers are better at third person, while others are better at first. Write your characters from all of POV's then decide which one works best for you or which one flows more freely.

3. Know your characters inside and out - Fully flesh out your characters. Know their likes, their dislikes, know their feelings. Most importantly, know how they'd react in a situation... And remember this; even though sometimes we put pieces of ourselves into our characters. WE ARE NOT THEM. You are not your character. And it's important that you know how to separate yourself from the character. Because let's face it, we put our character's through hell and we wouldn't necessarily do what they do.

Hopefully some of this helps!

Cheers! <3