Beginings

I'm taking all sorts of risks right now.

Today is the first day of the school year. My kids dressed in new clothes and haircuts are now at school and ready to be molded and learn all sorts of new stuff.

Today is also a new begining for me. I only have one child at home and should be exctatic at the prospect of having so much time to write and work on my books.

Wrong.

This baby is not one of those entertain themselves all day long kids like my others. This one needs constant supervision. Remember me saying I'm taking a risk? Yeah, he's unloading the hall closet as I write this. It's going to be an interesting year.

Speaking of beginings. I have a few friends who stress over thier first pages worrying whether they are good or not. They worry about the level of action the plot promises that should be delivered in it. They worry about pacing, and introdoucing the characters without info dumping. While some of my other friends breeze through the first pages only to worry about something else. My main worry is just that I've gotten some element of grammar wrong and I don't see it. I rarely worry about first pages. I have too many other things to stress over.


I've written many first chapters and entered many first chapter contests. From my many years I have come to a few conclusions.

You must introdouce your main character. No "first chapter about anybody but the MC".

If the MC has a signifigant other, they must be thought about or mentioned. If this is a multiple POV book the other characters should be given at least a mention.

You need to give the reader a sense of the setting and whether its normal or if it is unusual for them.

Tell the reader what is the MC's normal life so when we take them out of normal the reader notices the change.

You should give the reader a hint about what the main conflict of the book is. By all means, don't tell them the climax or the resolution, but give them an idea of what is coming. It makes for a more satisfying story in my opinion.

The first chapter must be consistent in style and voice to the rest of the book. The pacing should indicate the pacing of the rest of the book. No switching narrative, person, voice or style.

Arrive late into the scene and leave early.

So what do you worry about? What do you believe is required in first chapters? I'd love to hear your ideas.

New Release: Priestess of the Eggstone

My Friend Jaleta Clegg is releasing her newest book today. Called Priestess of the Eggstone. It's Sci/fi and sounds really amazing. Go check it out and support us authors.

Buy Priestess of the Eggstone here.

Read an Excerpt here.

Far Edge of Normal Jaleta's blog

Jaleta's website.

The fall of the Altairan Empire

One coping tool for writers block

I was so suck, even after taking a week to relax and refresh myself. My MS had sat at 14,444 words for over seven days. I told a friend how stuck I was and although talking about it is a great un blocking tool, it's not the one I want to talk about.

My crit partner asked me to imagine what the city was like, what were thier rules and what would their reaction be to two stranges meandering into thier world. I'm writing first person exclusive and while none of this stuff pertained to my character directly it was something he'd deal with in the reaction department. It was the perfect solution to a block that had me stalled for a long time.

Try it, maybe it'll work for you.

~The path to wisdom is not always straight

Everything I learned about writing I learned at Storymakers.

Well okay almost everything. There've been a few books and a smattering of other conferences. But for the most part it is true.

I've gone to the last 6 conferences and come away with so much information my brain has done some sort of gelatin thing for at least a week after as it processed all the awesomeness into information I could use. I've learned writing, editing, synopsis, querying, plotting, and networking to name a few. I've come home and revised rewritten or just plain started writing and basked in the glow of what is the Storymakers conference.

But that isn't the best part.

I am a LDStorymakers success story. Yeah I know they don't have anything fancy or a list of those of us who are, but I am all the same.

Two years ago I sat at dinner Friday night with Some friends and Amy Orton who is the PR/designer of Walnut Springs. during the conversation I asked her if they'd be interested in a story I had been shoping. She said it sounded like something they'd want to see so I sent it off within days of the conference. I also pitched a middle grade non fiction to them at the publishing meet and greet and was told to send that one in too.

Skip to today I am eagerly awaiting the release of my technical suspense next month and the middle grade in the spring.

I wouldn't be where I am without Storymakers.