#RWA15 Panel on Pacing

Sally Kilpatrick live-tweeted Tanya Michaels' pacing panel. There's some really good tips here.

Chatting with Nora Roberts at #RWA15

#RWA15 is going on and Heroes and Heartbreakers live-tweeted the Q&A with Nora Roberts. It was awesome. Lots of inspiration and good advice.

Writing Advice from Twitter

Maysie Yates retweeted a great Neil Gaiman quote on writing, and shared her thoughts. I love her "control over your writing" quote. It's very empowering.

And now for something completely different...

Now THIS is how you deal with backstory...

Writing Tips from Wreck-It Ralph

I've been thinking a lot about "Wreck-It Ralph." It's been on my mind because my kids keep watching it. It's a recurring feature in our family's "Minivan Theater," and whenever I hear the video game-inspired theme song come up, I always think the same thing, this movie has really great call backs.

Yep, I'm a real writing nerd.

A call back is when you mention something at the beginning of the story in an off-hand ways. There's nothing to tell the reader than this particular detail is important and the reader often forgets about it. Then, at the end of the book, when you wrap up your theme, you "call back" the detail. And, voilà, it turns out that the detail was really significant, it may even make your whole theme come together.

Wreck-It-Ralph is full of call backs, and they are cleverly hidden as fan service or easter eggs. The protagonists' powers (breaking and fixing), the fact that you die out of your game, the cybugs that turn into what they eat, the Sugar Rush poster, the Turbo Time references, they're all mentioned in passing and they all seem mere details that support the retro video game ambience. When they come back as part of the plot the viewer is delighted.

I'm working on putting more callbacks in my book. How about you, do you use callbacks in your writing?

RWA Chapter Meeting - The 411 on Writing Bestselling Category and Single Title Contemporary Romance

I attended my first RWA Chapter meeting this month. It was a lot of fun. Great members, great workshops, fabulous advice. It was a full-day workshop and we had great panelists: Laura Kaye, Avery Flynn, and Stephanie Dray discussed the category contemporary romance. Cristi Barth and Kimberly Kincaid joined the panel for the single title discussion. They were very encouraging and had a lot of helpful "been there, done that, got the t-shirt" advice.

Here are some tips I got from the meeting.

Tropes

Think of tropes as literary fetishes (I loved this one). Readers love the kind of conflict the trope creates.

The trope creates sexual tension and dramatic tension.

The trope is a narrative device that drives the plot.

Bestsellers mix two or three tropes.

Secondary Characters

"Mirror characters" are secondary characters that are used to characterize the main character. You need to make them work twice.

Secondary characters can help you avoid long sections of inner dialogue (I use this so much).

Secondary characters are also part of your "moving landscape."

Readers like familiarity

Goal/Conflict/Motivation

In every page it should be evident what your hero/heroine wants. (I need to work on this one)

Throughout the course of your story, the hero and heroine should be saving each other.

Endings

A bestseller will have the "Three Hs," Heart, Humor, and a Hollywood ending.

The Hollywood ending is a grand gesture at the end that redeems the conflict.

Loglines

It's a (trope) story of a (character trait) (vocation) and a (character trait) (vocation) who fall in love when they are (zany/dramatic situation). I've found loglines to be a real challenge, so this shortcut will be very useful.

The downside to the workshop? I have to much to do now...

Inspiration - The Magic Treehouse (really!)

I'm always looking for ways to improve my writing and I am addicted to writing tips. There's a lot of useful advice out there: cut the adjectives, focus on the action, show don't tell.

Unfortunately, I sometimes find it hard to put the advice into practice. That's why I focus on examples of good writing technique when I read.

Last night I found one while reading a bedtime story to my kids. Take a look:

Basho looked up. A smile crossed his dirty, weathered face. "I looked for you by the river, but didn't see you!" he said. "I am glad you are safe."
"We're glad you're safe, too," said Jack.
"But your castle! Your castle burned down," said Annie.
"Yes. It burned before the miracle of the rain," said Basho, sighing.
Jack and Annie sat on the log next to him. Through the smoky drizzle, they all stared at the rubble. Trees and plants dripped with rain. A pigeon cooed.
For a long moment, no one spoke. Then Annie broke the silence. "I'm glad you still have your banana tree," she said. "I like the sound of the rain falling on the leaves."
Basho looked up, but didn't say anything.
"Yeah, and I like the sound of the river," said Jack. "It's louder now since the rain came."
"Basho tilted his head as if listening to the rain on the leaves of the banana plant and to the steady rushing sounds of the river: His face softened. "Yes, I like those things, too," he said. He held up his wooden box. "And I still have my poems."

The author is Mary Pope Osborne and the book is Dragon of the Red Dawn. Yes, it's a Magic Treehouse book. The books are big favorites of the 5-8 year old crowd. It's not even Young Adult! It may even be described as Geriatric Toddler.

Still, it follows all the rules: few adjectives, focus on the action, show don't tell. Even though the characters are just sitting, it feels like a lot is happening. I like that. Show don't tell is easy to follow when there's a lot of action. The rule is harder to follow when writing emotionally charged scenes like this one.

Have you found writing inspiration in unexpected places? Please share!