Hey all!
I have been doing a lot of praying and juggling the last few months. I am just worn out. I believe God is telling me to simplify to get back to what He has called me to do.
So I am officially closing this blog for the time being. I am not deleting it because it has some useful info, but I will be combining this with my other blog. You will be able to read writing tips there.
Join me at
http://pammer.blogspot.com
20071019
Back from the ACFW National Conference. . .
I've been busy! Reworking my wips, applying what I've learned, reading up on craft books.
I haven't forgotten and as soon as life straightens out for a while, I will get back to this blog about craft. I'll gladly share what I've learned.
Hope you guys are having a great fall!
I haven't forgotten and as soon as life straightens out for a while, I will get back to this blog about craft. I'll gladly share what I've learned.
Hope you guys are having a great fall!
20070723
Rejection Burns
Well, I got a rejection letter last week on the manuscript I sent to Steeple Hill Love Inspired Suspense.
I cried a little bit at work (my son called me to tell me the news). And then I cried some more when my friend Cheryl Wyatt called me all heartbroken. Now, I was better, but it distressed me for her to be so distressed, LOL. Then my friend Robin Miller (writing as Robin Caroll) called me and gave me a plan of action and an assignment. (In other words, keep her busy so she'll not wallow.) Good idea. :)
I prayed for peace. I prayed for God's will. In an amazingly short amount of time I felt better. I was able to look at it differently. It wasn't my time yet. God was working His perfect will.
My husband is looking over my hard copy and he asked me if I was frustrated wasting those months only to be rejected. First it wasn't that long, only four months (especially considering how swamped they are!) and second of all, I didn't waste it but got right to work on another book. (Techinally the book is written, but I am rewriting with the knowlege I've gained up to this point.)
As the days pass, more opportunities are coming to light. In fact I told my husband last night that I felt comforted being in God's will with writing. He didn't understand. I told him that although I had dreams, God could dream so much bigger and better for me than I can even comprehend and I surely didn't want to limit Him to stick to my pitiful agenda when I know His is better.
And all day today my mind has been churning and working and I am sure this is a blessing in disguise. I have a chance to learn more and integrate it into my next wip before I send it out into the world. And it will be a better book for it. (It doesn't hurt that I have some great CPs and some awesome writing buds who aren't afraid to tell me when something doesn't work.) Not to mention this has opened ideas I hadn't considered before. Stepping in the light and walking in His path is such a rewarding experience.
With some great brainstorming alone, with a friend or two and in groups, I think my current wip has a great cast of characters. My hero is still a little distant but he's starting to come around. I may be trying out pitch lines on you guys before long. I want to have this ready by conference. We are going on vacation soon and I'll have ALOT of car time (read: writing time). See oldest son is now our official navigator and my hubby is usually the driver (although all four of us have Driver's License--how do you make that plural?) that leaves me with a kid who has earphones and a phone permantly stuck to his ears. :D
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So first things I learned. I hope I'm not repeating myself.
Goals. Good characters have gotta have them. Strong goals. And the motivation to gain these goals has to be there too. A reason and motivation so strong they couldn't stop going after this particular goal even if you paid them. Makes it more interesting when you give them a choice between their goal and that which they cling to most tightly, be it a standard, a moral or a person. Lots of conflict and inner turmoil.
You have to make the characters likable so the reader will want to root for them. Then you have to give them goals so that the reader will have something to root for. Readers want to be involved. Give them real and complex characters.
In my villain/villianess I am working with motivation. I have the goal secured. The motivation is a little slow coming. There is one way I could go, but I feel it has been overdone. I want to approach it in a fresh manner. Abuse as a child is almost a given, but I have to give them a reason to love/hate/wish to destroy adolescent boys. So instead of going the bare and most traveled path, I'm beating the bushes looking for that nonexistant or little used footpath, the one that will give my story a new and unique viewpoint.
I guess that is another thing to look for in characterization, make sure your characters motivations are not too cliche. Look for the best twist the freshest approach. It automatically makes you deepen your characterization as you get to know the character better. Understand why they act the way they do.
I guess that's all for tonight. I'm getting so tired, the screen is blurring.
I cried a little bit at work (my son called me to tell me the news). And then I cried some more when my friend Cheryl Wyatt called me all heartbroken. Now, I was better, but it distressed me for her to be so distressed, LOL. Then my friend Robin Miller (writing as Robin Caroll) called me and gave me a plan of action and an assignment. (In other words, keep her busy so she'll not wallow.) Good idea. :)
I prayed for peace. I prayed for God's will. In an amazingly short amount of time I felt better. I was able to look at it differently. It wasn't my time yet. God was working His perfect will.
My husband is looking over my hard copy and he asked me if I was frustrated wasting those months only to be rejected. First it wasn't that long, only four months (especially considering how swamped they are!) and second of all, I didn't waste it but got right to work on another book. (Techinally the book is written, but I am rewriting with the knowlege I've gained up to this point.)
As the days pass, more opportunities are coming to light. In fact I told my husband last night that I felt comforted being in God's will with writing. He didn't understand. I told him that although I had dreams, God could dream so much bigger and better for me than I can even comprehend and I surely didn't want to limit Him to stick to my pitiful agenda when I know His is better.
And all day today my mind has been churning and working and I am sure this is a blessing in disguise. I have a chance to learn more and integrate it into my next wip before I send it out into the world. And it will be a better book for it. (It doesn't hurt that I have some great CPs and some awesome writing buds who aren't afraid to tell me when something doesn't work.) Not to mention this has opened ideas I hadn't considered before. Stepping in the light and walking in His path is such a rewarding experience.
With some great brainstorming alone, with a friend or two and in groups, I think my current wip has a great cast of characters. My hero is still a little distant but he's starting to come around. I may be trying out pitch lines on you guys before long. I want to have this ready by conference. We are going on vacation soon and I'll have ALOT of car time (read: writing time). See oldest son is now our official navigator and my hubby is usually the driver (although all four of us have Driver's License--how do you make that plural?) that leaves me with a kid who has earphones and a phone permantly stuck to his ears. :D
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So first things I learned. I hope I'm not repeating myself.
Goals. Good characters have gotta have them. Strong goals. And the motivation to gain these goals has to be there too. A reason and motivation so strong they couldn't stop going after this particular goal even if you paid them. Makes it more interesting when you give them a choice between their goal and that which they cling to most tightly, be it a standard, a moral or a person. Lots of conflict and inner turmoil.
You have to make the characters likable so the reader will want to root for them. Then you have to give them goals so that the reader will have something to root for. Readers want to be involved. Give them real and complex characters.
In my villain/villianess I am working with motivation. I have the goal secured. The motivation is a little slow coming. There is one way I could go, but I feel it has been overdone. I want to approach it in a fresh manner. Abuse as a child is almost a given, but I have to give them a reason to love/hate/wish to destroy adolescent boys. So instead of going the bare and most traveled path, I'm beating the bushes looking for that nonexistant or little used footpath, the one that will give my story a new and unique viewpoint.
I guess that is another thing to look for in characterization, make sure your characters motivations are not too cliche. Look for the best twist the freshest approach. It automatically makes you deepen your characterization as you get to know the character better. Understand why they act the way they do.
I guess that's all for tonight. I'm getting so tired, the screen is blurring.
20070708
Characters
Been a while since I've been on here. Since then my computer snacked down my Work In Progress and I figured it was God's way of telling me to try again. Same thing only better. :)
It was timely too because as I tried to recreate what I'd written, it occured to me I didn't know my villian at ALL. Not even a name.
This was unusual for me since the name and looks usually come to me. I kept thinking up villians, but their motivations were weak, and they seemed cliche. I wanted something fresh, unusual, different.
So I started playing out different scenarios in my head. Taking the ones I could think of and putting them at extremes. (Does that make sense?) Taking Joe Villian that had poor and abused as a child and thought the world owed him and taking him to an extreme in one area such as a extremely wealthy child that had been abused emotionally all up to his adult years. (Bad example but you get what I'm saying.)
Still the characters seemed cliche. None of them spoke to me. So I thought, what are the usual kinds of victims? What are their needs and motivations?
Now do something different. Then it came to me. She appeared in my imagination (not totally formed mind you, just a blur that I knew was a she). I'd read an article about female sex offenders earlier and I guess it had stuck in my mind. Why all the male villians hadn't spoke to me is because they weren't for this book.
So I had a villian (or villianess) and I could work from there. Usually I don't give much thought to names, just whatever instincts tells me is right. I "feel" the name. This one though, I had to work for.
With the brainstorming help of Cheryl Wyatt, Camy Tang, and Robin Miller (a few of my trusted allies in crime). Still waiting for Heather Tipton to put her opinion in the loop. But with their help, I have a villianess taking shape to be proud of.
Now I am working on her background. This means exploring her goals, motivation, and of course her conflict will be my newscaster heroine and detective hero.
I don't see why this technique....is it even a technique?...couldn't work with the hero, heroine or secondary characters. We all want our characters to be fresh, original and three dimensional.
Does anyone have a strange and unusual method of coming up with characters that are troublesome? Please share with us in the comments.
Happy characterizing.
It was timely too because as I tried to recreate what I'd written, it occured to me I didn't know my villian at ALL. Not even a name.
This was unusual for me since the name and looks usually come to me. I kept thinking up villians, but their motivations were weak, and they seemed cliche. I wanted something fresh, unusual, different.
So I started playing out different scenarios in my head. Taking the ones I could think of and putting them at extremes. (Does that make sense?) Taking Joe Villian that had poor and abused as a child and thought the world owed him and taking him to an extreme in one area such as a extremely wealthy child that had been abused emotionally all up to his adult years. (Bad example but you get what I'm saying.)
Still the characters seemed cliche. None of them spoke to me. So I thought, what are the usual kinds of victims? What are their needs and motivations?
Now do something different. Then it came to me. She appeared in my imagination (not totally formed mind you, just a blur that I knew was a she). I'd read an article about female sex offenders earlier and I guess it had stuck in my mind. Why all the male villians hadn't spoke to me is because they weren't for this book.
So I had a villian (or villianess) and I could work from there. Usually I don't give much thought to names, just whatever instincts tells me is right. I "feel" the name. This one though, I had to work for.
With the brainstorming help of Cheryl Wyatt, Camy Tang, and Robin Miller (a few of my trusted allies in crime). Still waiting for Heather Tipton to put her opinion in the loop. But with their help, I have a villianess taking shape to be proud of.
Now I am working on her background. This means exploring her goals, motivation, and of course her conflict will be my newscaster heroine and detective hero.
I don't see why this technique....is it even a technique?...couldn't work with the hero, heroine or secondary characters. We all want our characters to be fresh, original and three dimensional.
Does anyone have a strange and unusual method of coming up with characters that are troublesome? Please share with us in the comments.
Happy characterizing.
20070508
Winners for May
And the winners are:
Sanjay Srinivas won Deadly Payoff by Valerie Hansen
and
Susan Page Davis won Vanished by Margaret Daley
Congratulations!
You can hurry now and enter to win next months books.
Glory Be! by Ron & Janet Benrey
and
Where Truth Lies by Lynn Bulock
Go now to http://www.pamela-james.com
Have a wonderful evening.
Sanjay Srinivas won Deadly Payoff by Valerie Hansen
and
Susan Page Davis won Vanished by Margaret Daley
Congratulations!
You can hurry now and enter to win next months books.
Glory Be! by Ron & Janet Benrey
and
Where Truth Lies by Lynn Bulock
Go now to http://www.pamela-james.com
Have a wonderful evening.
20070424
Ransomed Dreams
We are here with Amy Wallace to talk about her new book Ransomed Dreams.
PJ: Hi Amy, I am so excited to have you here on my blog.
AW: Thanks for having me over! It's always a joy to talk with other writers about a passion we share~ writing books for God's glory.
PJ: I certainly hope you have another book in the works. I haven't completely finished Ransomed Dreams, but I am totally HOOKED! In fact I've already been recommending it to people.
AW: Thank you!!! Those recommendations are by far the very best thing people can do to encourage a writer and spread the word about a book they love. I'm learning to never underestimate the power of a great recommendation. That and trust the Lord will do abundantly more than I can imagine. ;-)
And yes, book 2 has been turned in and I'm working right now on book 3.
PJ: I read your interview with Cheryl Wyatt on her blog and I too wondered how you were able to write that first chapter. The emotion absolutely strummed from the pages. How did you tap into the kind of emotion?
AW: I wrote that chapter praying through my worst nightmare. My awesome writing mentor told me to never be afraid of bleeding onto the pages. So that's what I did. I walked in Gracie's shoes thinking about my own kids and husband and how I'd react to that kind of pain. At times, it was hard to be that honest on the page because I felt very vulnerable being that open about how I'd wrestle with God and walk through those circumstances. But that's how I try to live my life. I don't like masks and I don't want to wear them on the page any more than I want to wear them in real life. It's a painful path to choose, but I'm encouraged to see so many writers who do that and their characters really breathe and communicate the deep things of life. Funny thing I've found is that when I'm willing to get that honest with God, He takes me to places I never dreamed and then He makes my characters take on a life and personality that is theirs, not mine. That I can't explain except to say that when we're willing to lay ourselves bare with God, He'll take that and reach hearts in ways we can't begin to comprehend.
PJ: Your characters are so well rounded and very real. Do your characters appear to you fully formed? If so what do you do to fill them out? Character charts or interviews? If not, how do you go about creating such a real 'person'.
AW: I tend to see my characters' inner struggles first. Then as I'm creating their back-story through extensive character charts, (Thank you Randy for the awesome snowflake charts!) that's when I really get to know my characters and see what God is communicating through them. I don't want to write sermons, that's not my calling. Nor do I want to write a book where I hit the reader over the head with some preconceived point. I want to write a story that draws people in and opens their hearts to hear the Lord. I pray that's what I'm doing through creating realistic characters who seek a real God and then planting myself in the chair, watching for what God has to teach me as He and I write the story.
PJ: How was such a marvelous plot born? Do you have any tips or tricks you can share with the readers?
AW: No tricks! ;-) I do have some tips though. One would be to seek the Lord for good research materials and technical advisors for whatever careers your characters have. For me, reading FBI biographies, talking to real life federal agents and their spouses, scouring the FBI website and reading bulletins on there have all given me some awesome plot ideas. Then when I'd take those and pray over how to tell the story, I watched God put together some amazing things that I sit back and say, "Wow God. That's cool!"
PJ: I just have to ask, are you a pantster or a plotter?
AW: I'm a total plotter. But what I've learned to do is spend time creating the characters, and then I write out an outline that gives me a story I can jump into and am excited about. As I'm typing, I don't have all the scenes completely mapped out so there's still plenty of room for God to surprise me with some issues that come up, and He does that often!
PJ: You are a homeschooling mother (like myself). How do you fit it into your day? Any tips or suggestions for all the other homeschool/writer moms out there?
AW: I'll share what has worked for us. Pray! ;-) In fact, I’d say pray a lot! For the most part I try to keep my homeschooling separate from my writing. Meaning during the hours my kids are up, I'm mom and we're working on school or hanging out. But when they're busy with a project or it's afternoon quiet time, then I jump into email or other business related things.
On Saturdays, I do the bulk of my writing when my husband and kids are together. Sometimes it's really hard to give up a Saturday just playing and having fun with my family, but I try to take some time out to go for walks and plan times during the week to have fun too.
PJ: Has your suspenseful mind gotten you in trouble before?
AW: Let me count the ways! ;-) I can't watch CSI or any of the crime shows anymore and my husband has asked me not to do so much reading on serial killers and other criminals because I tend to let my mind run wild and end up scared of every noise. I finally learned to mull over story ideas by talking with God and not just letting my thoughts wander into situations. That's helped.
PJ: Do your kids show signs of being raised by a suspense writer? :) I know mine do.
AW: It's scary that my kids talk about the types of guns I have researched or we discuss as a family the theological repercussions of killing off bad guys. But my kiddos are pretty amazing in that they've learned far earlier than I did to work through their questions by talking it out with us and with God. We tend to talk about praying a lot because that's the only way I can handle the issues I write about.
PJ: Thank you so much for hanging out at my blog today. I'm praying for your powerful story to touch many lives. And praying that waiting for the next book will go really fast.
AW: Thank you! Your prayers are a precious encouragement to me! And I greatly appreciate your patience in waiting for the next book. ;-) I do have a few things to offer that might help the wait... I do a fun monthly quiz about RD characters and book facts on my website (www.defendersofhope.com) and in my newsletter (http://www.defendersofhope.com/newsletter.html) I'm going to start talking in depth about how I created my characters and what I love most about certain Ransomed Dreams folks.
PJ: I'll be sure to go check those out. Sounds like a fun idea.
Have a blessed day.
PJ: Hi Amy, I am so excited to have you here on my blog.
AW: Thanks for having me over! It's always a joy to talk with other writers about a passion we share~ writing books for God's glory.
PJ: I certainly hope you have another book in the works. I haven't completely finished Ransomed Dreams, but I am totally HOOKED! In fact I've already been recommending it to people.
AW: Thank you!!! Those recommendations are by far the very best thing people can do to encourage a writer and spread the word about a book they love. I'm learning to never underestimate the power of a great recommendation. That and trust the Lord will do abundantly more than I can imagine. ;-)
And yes, book 2 has been turned in and I'm working right now on book 3.
PJ: I read your interview with Cheryl Wyatt on her blog and I too wondered how you were able to write that first chapter. The emotion absolutely strummed from the pages. How did you tap into the kind of emotion?
AW: I wrote that chapter praying through my worst nightmare. My awesome writing mentor told me to never be afraid of bleeding onto the pages. So that's what I did. I walked in Gracie's shoes thinking about my own kids and husband and how I'd react to that kind of pain. At times, it was hard to be that honest on the page because I felt very vulnerable being that open about how I'd wrestle with God and walk through those circumstances. But that's how I try to live my life. I don't like masks and I don't want to wear them on the page any more than I want to wear them in real life. It's a painful path to choose, but I'm encouraged to see so many writers who do that and their characters really breathe and communicate the deep things of life. Funny thing I've found is that when I'm willing to get that honest with God, He takes me to places I never dreamed and then He makes my characters take on a life and personality that is theirs, not mine. That I can't explain except to say that when we're willing to lay ourselves bare with God, He'll take that and reach hearts in ways we can't begin to comprehend.
PJ: Your characters are so well rounded and very real. Do your characters appear to you fully formed? If so what do you do to fill them out? Character charts or interviews? If not, how do you go about creating such a real 'person'.
AW: I tend to see my characters' inner struggles first. Then as I'm creating their back-story through extensive character charts, (Thank you Randy for the awesome snowflake charts!) that's when I really get to know my characters and see what God is communicating through them. I don't want to write sermons, that's not my calling. Nor do I want to write a book where I hit the reader over the head with some preconceived point. I want to write a story that draws people in and opens their hearts to hear the Lord. I pray that's what I'm doing through creating realistic characters who seek a real God and then planting myself in the chair, watching for what God has to teach me as He and I write the story.
PJ: How was such a marvelous plot born? Do you have any tips or tricks you can share with the readers?
AW: No tricks! ;-) I do have some tips though. One would be to seek the Lord for good research materials and technical advisors for whatever careers your characters have. For me, reading FBI biographies, talking to real life federal agents and their spouses, scouring the FBI website and reading bulletins on there have all given me some awesome plot ideas. Then when I'd take those and pray over how to tell the story, I watched God put together some amazing things that I sit back and say, "Wow God. That's cool!"
PJ: I just have to ask, are you a pantster or a plotter?
AW: I'm a total plotter. But what I've learned to do is spend time creating the characters, and then I write out an outline that gives me a story I can jump into and am excited about. As I'm typing, I don't have all the scenes completely mapped out so there's still plenty of room for God to surprise me with some issues that come up, and He does that often!
PJ: You are a homeschooling mother (like myself). How do you fit it into your day? Any tips or suggestions for all the other homeschool/writer moms out there?
AW: I'll share what has worked for us. Pray! ;-) In fact, I’d say pray a lot! For the most part I try to keep my homeschooling separate from my writing. Meaning during the hours my kids are up, I'm mom and we're working on school or hanging out. But when they're busy with a project or it's afternoon quiet time, then I jump into email or other business related things.
On Saturdays, I do the bulk of my writing when my husband and kids are together. Sometimes it's really hard to give up a Saturday just playing and having fun with my family, but I try to take some time out to go for walks and plan times during the week to have fun too.
PJ: Has your suspenseful mind gotten you in trouble before?
AW: Let me count the ways! ;-) I can't watch CSI or any of the crime shows anymore and my husband has asked me not to do so much reading on serial killers and other criminals because I tend to let my mind run wild and end up scared of every noise. I finally learned to mull over story ideas by talking with God and not just letting my thoughts wander into situations. That's helped.
PJ: Do your kids show signs of being raised by a suspense writer? :) I know mine do.
AW: It's scary that my kids talk about the types of guns I have researched or we discuss as a family the theological repercussions of killing off bad guys. But my kiddos are pretty amazing in that they've learned far earlier than I did to work through their questions by talking it out with us and with God. We tend to talk about praying a lot because that's the only way I can handle the issues I write about.
PJ: Thank you so much for hanging out at my blog today. I'm praying for your powerful story to touch many lives. And praying that waiting for the next book will go really fast.
AW: Thank you! Your prayers are a precious encouragement to me! And I greatly appreciate your patience in waiting for the next book. ;-) I do have a few things to offer that might help the wait... I do a fun monthly quiz about RD characters and book facts on my website (www.defendersofhope.com) and in my newsletter (http://www.defendersofhope.com/newsletter.html) I'm going to start talking in depth about how I created my characters and what I love most about certain Ransomed Dreams folks.
PJ: I'll be sure to go check those out. Sounds like a fun idea.
Have a blessed day.
20070401
Contest Winners
Hi all!
The winners for the monthly contest on my website are:
Deb Frischkorn won The Sound of Secrets by Irene Brand
and
Delia Latham won Nowhere to Hide by Debby Giusti
Congratulations!
You can go to my website and enter to win next moths free books:
Deadly Payoff by Valerie Hansen
and
Vanished by Margaret Daley
http://www.pamela-james.com
The winners for the monthly contest on my website are:
Deb Frischkorn won The Sound of Secrets by Irene Brand
and
Delia Latham won Nowhere to Hide by Debby Giusti
Congratulations!
You can go to my website and enter to win next moths free books:
Deadly Payoff by Valerie Hansen
and
Vanished by Margaret Daley
http://www.pamela-james.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
