I Need Friends Friday - My Interview

Today I am featured on Sarah M. Eden's weekly interview: I Need Friends Friday.

Go check it out!

Self Editing

Heather B. Moore is the award-winning author of several historical fiction novels which are set in Ancient Arabia and Mesoamerica (Book Of Mormon fiction). She also has a non-fiction book called Women of the Book Of Mormon.

Heather is the owner of Precision Editing Group, and contributes to The Writing on the Wall blog. She's one busy lady. But she also knows her stuff!

I took her class on Self Editing at The Book Academy Conference.

Did you know that non-fiction sells better than fiction? I had heard that before, but kind of forgot about it. So, if your passion is in fiction, keep at it. But if you have a nonfiction idea, you may want to get serious about writing it!

Heather outlined what to do after the first draft is done.

By the First Draft Stage you should have:

• Selected your genre and studied your target market.
• Selected POV
• Researched word count for genre. The first draft should be aimed for about 5,000 words under target.

After you finish the first draft,

Take a Break!

Whether this means leaving it alone for the weekend or for a month, a break is needed so you can use fresh eyes.

Now, on to the Second Draft:

Are your hooks in place?

1. First sentence/paragraph.
2. End of first chapter.
3. Why should we read to the end of the book?

Dialogue Tags:

• Use Said! (Most of the time at least.)
• Use "he said" not "said he"
• Delete adverbs! "She said excitedly" "She said sadly" "She said rudely"
• Know how to use a beat. That way you can delete some of the dialogue tags all together.

He moved the chair. "Come and sit with me."

(He moved the chair is the beat. We know "he" is the one who said "come sit with me", without being told.)

Repetition:

• Don't have characters repeat what has already been said. This happens a lot in introductions.
• Do a search for "favorite words" and see if you can change some of them.
• Be careful about overused words. Felt, saw, knew, could, that, then, ect.
• Be careful with name calling:

"Hello Jenny, how are you?"

"I'm fine, Sara. How about you?"

"I'm doing great Jenny. Thanks for asking"

"So, Sara, do you want to grab some lunch?"

"Oh yes, Jenny. Lunch sounds wonderful."

(Lots of repetitions, lots of name calling. Yikes!)

Punctuation:

• Exclamation points should be used sparingly!!!!! When the person is yelling is about the only time to use them.
• Know the basic rules of commas. (What? There are rules for commas? I thought you should just put one in every time your fingers took a break on the keyboard. Whoops! I better learn those rules!!!!) (There I go breaking the exclamation point rule again. Man!)

Power Positions and Verbs:

• Single word sentences are okay for impact. Seriously. (But don't overuse them!)
• Look for more accurate verbs to bring in stronger meaning.

Walked: sauntered, strolled, ambled, paced, marched, ect.

• Flag adverbs (ly). Take out of dialogue tags completely. Find stronger verbs, so you can delete the adverb.

Instead of saying "She walked anxiously" you could say "She paced".

• Pay attention to the use of "was" and "were". Avoid them when possible.

General:

• Use spell checker.
• Have your facts straight, based on time, period, and setting. See Research Post.
• Actions must be physically possible.
• Use dialect lightly or it will slow the pacing (accents/ foreign language, ect.).

Point Of View (POV):

• Choose the person with the most to loose (in that scene).

Pacing:

• Watch for info dumps.
• Is there sagging middle of the book?
• Do you need more conflict?
• Make sure the overall hook is strong enough.
• Are you excited to be reading your own story? (If not, no one else will be!)
• Every scene must move the story forward.

Sense of Place:

• Where are we?
• Establish setting for each scene.
• What are the characters doing as they talk?

End-of-Chapter Hooks:

• Read each chapter end, separate from the rest of the chapter. Does it make you want to keep reading?

Okay, now to finish my first draft so I can start applying some of these!

Thanks to Heather, for dedicating so much time to help teach the rest of us what to do! If you haven't checked out her editors blog, do it now. You'll find help on every topic you can imagine, within the writing world.

Next up: Pitching your book. (I'm scared already!)

Know What You Write

We've all heard the saying, "Write What You Know", but this one's a little different. You don't have to write what you know, as long as you know what you write. And how do you do that?

Research!!!

The Book Academy Writing Conference presenter Sarah M. Eden talk all about it. Sarah's the author of several romance novels based in London in the Regency Era (her most recent is Courting Miss Lancaster). Since Sarah has neither been to London, nor has she lived in the early eighteen-hundreds, she had to resort to the painstakingly grueling job of doing research. Lucky for her, and us, she loves it, and even majored in it.

Doing research can be boring. It can be intimidating. We tend to procrastinate doing it, so we can spend our time on something fun. But we have to do it.

Feel the Research Love:

• Every book of fiction requires some research. EVERY SINGLE ONE!
• Don't give your readers a reason to hate you, by getting things wrong.
• You don't want to look like an idiot (who does?).
• While researching, you just might come across ideas for another book!

Foundational Research provides background and backbone of the setting, characterization, historical/cultural content.

• language and wording
• knowledge base of characters
• words they would/would not use
• philosophies
• world views
• demographics
• geography
• feel and time of place

Itemized Research provides specifics.

• order/location of events
• dates/times
• disease/injuries/treatments
• specific procedures
• account of events

There are two types of SOURCES.

Primary Sources (more reliable):

• provide firsthand accounts/info
• this includes videos and photographs

Secondary Sources (less reliable):

• these are at least one step removed
• textbooks, someone who heard the story, history books

When thinking about using material you found, consider a few things.

• Read about the author. Are they qualified to teach you?
• Look at the bibliography. It needs to site more reliable (Primary) sources.
• Can you back it up? Find it in at least 2 different places.

Be careful about what you use from the internet.

Upside

• digitized libraries
• websites run by museums, libraries, special-interest organizations

Downside

• copyrights and citations are often ignored
• no guarantee of accuracy

If there was one thing that Sarah wanted us to remember at the end of the class, I think it would be this:

Wikipedia is NOT a source. EVER!

(seriously, she made us repeat this out loud!)

Wikipedia is a great starting place. Don't stop there!

Tips of the Trade

Plan ahead. Decide before you start what you want to know, why, where you plan to look for it.

Set aside time for researching! The research may change the outcome of the story.

Learn (from primary sources) how the people feel about what they see. Emotionally connect, so your readers will too.

Ask People who are experts on the topic you're researching.

Keep a File or resources you used in the past. Chances are good that you'll need them again.

Sarah promised that if you do your research:

Your work will improve. Guaranteed!

(Now, who doesn't want that?)

So go, research what you've been avoiding for the past six months. (I'm talking to you Kim!)

Next up: Self Editing

Book Review - Alma the Younger, by H.B. Moore

Alma the Younger is the third book in H.B. Moore's current series about Book of Mormon prophets. (Abinadi and Alma are books one and two.)

If you like Book of Mormon fiction, you'll love this book. If you've never tried it before - this is a great place to start. Alma the Younger takes place about 20 years after the second book, Alma, and the story lines are not closely tied together. So if you haven't read the first two yet, you can just dive right in to Alma the Younger. (Although you'll probably want to get a hold of the others soon, because you'll love them too.)

I've read the story directly from the Book of Mormon (several times, in fact), but I've never connected with it the way I did in Moore's telling. Immediately after finishing Alma the Younger I opened my own Book of Mormon and read the account again. This time it really meant something to me.

While Alma the Younger is a work of fiction, H.B. Moore's knowledge of the Book of Mormon and the people's culture brings the story to life in a way that connects with the reader. She takes facts from the Book of Mormon and weaves them together with fictional characters, powerful emotion, and a well written storyline.

Before I even got started on the novel, I was impressed with the message H.B. Moore delivered in the Preface:

...The question is whether Alma the Younger knew that what he was doing was wrong. Or had he been so carefully led by Satan down the path of idolatry, and an anti-Christ pattern of belief, that he truly believed he was in the right?

Another question we might entertain is how Alma the Younger could exert so much influence over people as to lead them astray from the church. The record tells us that he did "speak much flattery to the people" (Mosiah 27:8). He must have been a natural leader, charismatic and easily loved by people, with the power to persuade. His influence nearly toppled the Church in Zarahemla as he stole "away the hearts of the people; causing much dissension" (v9), so his preaching was no small thing.

In studying Mosiah 26-28, I was struck with the idea that Alma the Younger was no rebellious teenager, playing pranks or skipping Sabbath meetings to go fishing or hunting...

A final question we might ask is why the Lord saw fit to send an angel to intervene in Alma the Younger's behalf. Yes, his father and many others had been praying and fasting for him to have a change of heart. But there are many parents who pray for their errant children and angels aren't sent. This led me to believe that what Alma the Younger was doing had such grave consequences and the potential to devastate an entire nation - thus thwarting the Lord's plan - that extreme action was needed.

Alma the Younger is a great reminder of Heavenly Father's promise that through sincere repentance, all men can be forgiven, and with that forgiveness they will find a peace and joy they never knew they were missing.

Getting and Using Criticism

I've got some heavy deadlines this week, in my personal life, so I'm linking over to another blog post for the day.

Tristi Pinkston, with Valor Publishing, wrote a wonderful post about Getting and Using Criticism. In writing, putting ourselves out there for criticism is one of the hardest things we do, but it's also one of the most important.

I blogged my thoughts about it a couple weeks ago, but if you want more, check out what Tristi says about it here.

Novice Writer Mistakes

As I mentioned on Monday, I spent last weekend at the LDStorymakers Conference.

I spent:

• 11 hours in class or other instruction
• 5 hours in Boot Camp
• 8+ hours socializing / networking
• 4 hours driving
• not nearly enough time sleeping

It was a long, intense couple of days, that I wouldn't trade for anything. Well, maybe some things: like already knowing everything about the writing craft. But then I would have missed out on getting to know so many wonderful people.

I had a hard time deciding what classes to take. There were so many wonderful options. For the first breakout session, I was torn between two options. One that I was interested in, and one I felt like I should go to. Heather Moore's class was titled, "How to Avoid the Common Mistakes of a Novice Writer."

I wanted to convince myself that I had already learned most of those "mistakes", and therefore allow myself to go to the other class. When I mentioned that to a man I sat next to, he laughed. That's when I realized he was probably right. (sigh)

At least some of what I heard was a review. But I also learned some valuable information. Mostly, Heather invoked a passion in me, a new motivation that I can do this.

A few things she covered:

• Flashbacks. Avoid them, especially in the first pages/first chapter.
• Info dumps. Don't give too much information up front. Historical fiction needs more description in the beginning than most, but not too much. We need action. We need to know what is going on now, not yesterday or last week or ten years ago. Fiction is movement, description is static. (We want fast pace movement people!)
• Hooks. If possible, there should be a hook in the first sentence. Next is the first page. Make the reader have to turn the page. End the first chapter, and each subsequent chapter, with another hook. Your goal is to keep them reading to the wee early hours of the morning.
• Point of View. Don't head hop between your characters within the same scene. A couple of book resources listed were Characters and Viewpoint by Orson Scott Card, and The 38 Most Common Fiction Writing Mistakes, and How to Avoid Them by Jack Bickham (he also wrote Scene and Structure). I haven't read these yet, but plan to soon. Also, when picking whose point of view you will use, make sure to pick the right one. Use the character with the most to add to the scene, or in some cases, with the most to loose. What is at stake? Who will show that the best?
• Formatting. It really does matter. Agents do not want to see pretty pink paper, or scripty font. The just want to read your story (hopefully past the first five pages, but that's a whole other class). Use standard 12 point type (Times New Roman). Double space lines. 1 inch margins all around. No underline or bold font, use italics for emphasis.

Michael De Groote, a reporter for the Mormon Times attended the class, and wrote a fun article about it here.

Heather Moore is the owner of Precision Editing Group. She edits a lot of novels, from advanced writers down to the novice beginner. A common mistake Heather sees in manuscripts is those of only a first draft quality. The process of learning to write is not quick and easy. If we are serious about it, we have to put forth the effort. Day after day after day.

Blog Tour - I'll Know You By Heart by Kimberly Job

From the book cover:

The day Stephanie Roberts met Jared Wakefield, she didn't realize they had met before. Running from an abusive marriage and trying to safeguard her children, Stephanie turns to Jared for support - but he needs more from her than she might be capable of giving. With her abusive husband looming in her past, the difficulties they must overcome seem insurmountable.

Is it possible for love to conquer all? I'll Know You By Heart is a timeless romance that explores the possibility that relationships span the entire realm of eternity - a story about abuse, hardship, and betrayal - ultimately a story about the healing power of everlasting true love.

I was sucked into this story from the moment I read the first paragraph. I felt instant empathy for main character Stephanie, and was cheering her on as she made the decision to escape from a bad situation.

While it is, at the core, a love story, it's not the everyday kind. Both characters had been through difficult marriages, filled with either emotional or physical pain; in Stephanie's case, it was both. Stephanie continually had to keep her guard up against her abusive husband. When she met Jared, she began to realize not all men were like the man she had run away from.

I'll Know You By Heart is Kimberly Job's first novel. While it is an LDS fiction, I didn't think it was overdone. Religion was a part of this story, but it never felt cheesy or misrepresented, and I appreciated that.

The powerful connection made between these characters could not be possible without the trials they had to endure first. Just like in our own lives, we sometimes have to taste the bitter to fully enjoy the sweet.

If you're looking for a light and fun romance, this may not be the one. But if your looking for a story that's a little more serious, that will touch you and stay in your heart, I'd recommend this book.

For more information about the author, you can visit her website.

You can find the book here.

Blog Tour - Secret Sisters by Tristi Pinkston

I was given the opportunity to read and review Tristi Pinkston's new release, Secret Sisters. It was a quick read, that was a lot of fun. The characters really came to life, and felt real.

From the back cover:

Ida Mae Babbitt, president of the Omni 2nd Ward Relief Society, didn't mean to become a spy. But when visiting teaching stats are low, and she learns that one family under her care is in financial trouble, she'll do whatever it takes to make sure they have what they need. If that includes planting surveillance cameras in their home and watching them from a parked car in the woods . . . well, isn't that what any caring Relief Society president would do?

With the help of her counselors, Arlette and Tansy, Ida Mae soon learns that there's more to the situation than meets the eye.

But it's all in a day's work for the Relief Society.

With their bishop encountering health problems, Ida Mae and her counselors decide it is their duty to relieve him of as much stress as possible. They decide to deal with whatever problems they can themselves, and not worry him with the details. What starts out as a small concern over whether a family has enough food quickly turns into full-fledge spy work.

Tristi really took on the challenge for getting into her character's head. I can totally imagine the things they say coming from my own grandma's mouth. These women were lively and fun, and totally convincing as elderly women.

I have to admit that even though I've served in a few Relief Society presidencies, I've never taken my job quite this seriously. We could all learn a thing or two. Putting aside all the illegal acts Ida Mae and her presidency participated in, they really did know how to serve and watch out for the women in their stewardship. I feel a new motivation to personally maximize my own calling.

To get your own copy of Secret Sisters, click here.

Book Review – Band of Sisters by Annette Lyon

Band of Sisters is an LDS Women's Fiction about 5 military wives who come together for support, while their husbands serve a one-year deployment in Afghanistan.

As I read, I quickly made a deep emotional connection with these women. They suffered from feelings of self-doubt, unworthiness, and depression. They found joy in motherhood, and in living the Gospel.

They were realistic characters, that each of us can relate to on more than one level. Each had their own set of problems, but still, they took the time to look out for one another.

Through the course of serving each other, they grew to truly love each other as sisters.

This is Annette Lyon’s 7^th novel. For more information about Annette and her books, visit her website at www.annettelyon.com. There you can also read the first three chapters of Band of Sisters.

Book Review – Women of the Book of Mormon, by Heather B. Moore

When I first heard about this book, I thought it sounded interesting. We know very little about the women in the Book of Mormon, and I was curious. I will admit, I am a fiction junkie, so I was a little nervous about reading and reviewing a non-fiction book. But I’m glad I took the opportunity.

In Women of the Book of Mormon, Heather B. Moore dives into what life must have been like for the women we hear so little about. She uses the small amount of information given in the scriptural text, and combines it with her knowledge of the ancient culture, to bring these women to life.

From the book’s preface:

These women were by no means perfect, as we are not. They doubted, they complained, they criticized, and they were tempted. But as we read about them and their children, husbands, brothers, and fathers, we can begin to liken ourselves to them. And suddenly, the lives of the women in the book of Mormon seem remarkably similar to ours.

The women of the book of Mormon are our sisters, and their stories lie within those sacred pages. Not only can we learn from the messages of their husbands and sons, we can discover how much the Savior loves us through the experiences and enduring faith of these women.

Before now, I never took the time to consider what life may have been like, for a wife and mother during the events of Book of Mormon history. As I read, I could feel their pain, sorrow, and trials. I could also feel their determination and faith.

Just like today, these women were the center of their home. They had a profound influence on their husbands and their sons, who were called as prophets of God. I feel more connected to the stories in the Book of Mormon, now that I have a better understanding of such strong and faithful women.

Women of the Book of Mormon is insightful and inspirational. Not only is the text well written and informative, the book also includes beautiful artwork, representing the women discussed. It will be available in April, and will make a great Mother’s Day gift.

It can be pre-ordered at Deseret Book

http://deseretbook.com/item/5043072/Women_of_the_Book_of_Mormon_Insights_and_Inspirations

and Barnes and Noble

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Women-of-the-Book-of-Mormon/H-B-Moore/e/9781608610075/?itm=7&USRI=Women+in+the+book+of+mormon

For more information about Heather B. Moore’s books, check out her website.

Triple Book Launch Party

Not sure what to do this Friday night? I've got the solution!

Gather up the girls for a night out.

I'm excited about this one.

It's three different authors.

It's three different genres.

And it's three new books.

THIS FRIDAY, March 12th

6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Deseret Book at University Village

(East of University Mall, in Orem, Utah)

I'll bet you are wondering which authors will be there, right? Well, let me tell you.

Annette Lyon, with her new women's fiction, Band of Sisters.

Sarah M. Eden, with her new Regency Romance, Courting Miss Lancaster.

Julie Coulter Bellon, with her new thriller, Dangerous Connections.

Whether you love Regency Romance, Thrillers with lots of suspense (and a little romance thrown in!), or Women's Fiction (or know someone who does), you'll want to be at this event.

They will even have a bunch of great door prizes!

I'll be there, and I hope to see you there!

Soon to be released: Devil's Food Cake

Devil's Food Cake, by Josi Kilpack, will be in stores mid February. It is the third book in the culinary mystery series. Sadie Hoffmiller is a fun character who just can't seem to stay out of the center of trouble, when it comes to murder mystery's. You'll fall in love with Sadie's fun and spunky character.

For more information, check out Josi Kilpack's website, or Deseret Books website.

Book Review - Alma

Last night I finished reading "Alma" by H.B. Moore. It's her newest release, and the second book in the series. It's the story of the prophet Alma from the Book of Mormon. Once again, H.B. Moore has taken a story from the scriptures and brought it to life in a that is easy to understand, and entertaining too. I connected with the characters and story line, and I have a greater appreciation for the original text of the Book of Mormon.

I look forward to the next in the series, "Alma the Younger", sometime next spring.

Great Christmas gifts for youth and adult alike.