Month: October 2015

Marketing Tips – Book Signings, NaNoWriMo

I am so excited by this time of year, especially today and tomorrow!  Halloween and fall give many opportunities for marketing our books.  Since I love to dress up in costume and be someone else when reading my books for children, I can now dress up for adults.  Tonight I will be presenting my book “Flight to Freedom”, A Story of Adoption, at Murder on the Beach bookstore in Delray Beach, Florida.  Even though a story for middle-grades, I plan to give a short presentation as one of the characters in the book.  I haven’t been acting out my stories before, and I am excited to do it tonight.

Tomorrow is a day of serving, dressed as a clown.  I won’t be reading or selling, but giving back to the community at our Boca Raton Moose #204 children’s Halloween Party.  I do love being with the children and miss have my ten as little ones.  Even my grandchildren, except the three youngest (Ashley, Benjamin, Angelina) are grown up and some have children of their own.  Now I have three great grand boys and one great grand girl.

I can’t wait for Christmas and creating my family tree for everyone.  Last Christmas I treated myself to my DNA testing to find where our ancestors come from.  Ancestry.com and DNA are great sources at a reasonable cost.

November is NaNoWriMo so I don’t expect to do any signings until December except the Miami Book Fair.  I have my plan for NaNo, and the premise.  I’ve titled it “Murder on the Weekend.”  Now I have three murder mysteries in process and hope I can meet my deadlines.  Since NaNo starts Sunday, I might miss a blog or have a short one updating my progress and word count.  You can follow me on Facebook too.

Happy writing and reading,

Kathy

kathy@kathymckenzierunk.com

www.kathymckenzierunk.com

https://www.facebook.com/kathy.mckenzierunk.9

amazon.com/author/kathymckenzierunk

Writing Workshops in Florida

Our speaker this week at the Mystery Writers of America luncheon in Boca Raton was Alison McMahan.  To quote the local news:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE. October 18, 2015: Pompano Beach, FL. The Florida Writers Association, Inc., (FWA) has announced that Alison McMahan of Pompano Beach won a prestigious Royal Palm Literary Award (RPLA).  McMahan’s winning entry, The Saffron Crocus, a historical mystery for young adults, won First Place in the  Young Adult/New Adult category.The award was announced at FWA’s recent four-day annual conference in Altamonte Springs, Florida. This annual competition, which received 393 submissions, was RPLA’s fourteenth.

How exciting to have an award-winning writer at our MWA luncheon.  Alison’s topic was “Screenwriting Tips for Novelists.”  After a Power Point presentation, and sample analysis of scenes, I learned many of the tips I was already using, especially the Blake Snyder Beat Sheet.  Not exactly the same, but the idea is similar.  Remember that I am a plotter and screenwriting uses a lot of the same techniques like three acts, beginning, middle, and end, and others.

.My screenwriting friend, Luis Aponte, has made a screenplay from my first novel, “Blood Ties:  The Souvenir Killer,” and when I read it I was fascinated and pleased.  I could not believe it was my story, it was so good.  Maybe I am a screenwriter at heart?  No, it shows how similar plotters and screenwriters are.  Luis is currently entering the screenplay in contests before marketing it.

Alison gave us a flowchart, so much like what I learned in college in my pursuit of my Computer Information Systems degree.  It shows the “flow” (how it got its name!) of Act II, the middle of your story, It also reminds me of the “bubble method” I learned at one of the seminars I attended.

There was so much information, there wasn’t time for it all in a short workshop.  My brain was full by the time it was over and I’ve taken this week to digest what I could.  Fortunately, Alison also gave us handouts to refer to as we “plot” our projects.  I recommend any workshop or course Alison gives in the future.  See her website for more information at:  http://www.alisonmcmahan.com and see her biography for film and other credits.  We were so lucky to have her speak to us!  Thank you again, Alison.

Happy reading and writing, as always.  Dont forget SleuthFest 2016 in Deerfield Beach, FL.  See our website for more information and registration at:

Home

and Alison’s at:   http://www.alisonmcmahan.com

Kathy

kathy@kathymckenzierunk.com

www.kathymckenzierunk.com

https://www.facebook.com/kathy.mckenzierunk.9

http://www.amazon.com/author/kathymckenzierunk

Pantser vs. Plotter – NaNoWriMo

The definition of Pantser is “someone who flies by the seat of their pants, meaning they don’t plan anything, or plan very little,” according to https://TheWritePractice.com.  They also define a Plotter as having planned out their novel ahead of time, knowing what’s going to happen before they write it.  Its harder to get stuck when you know what is going to happen next.  They also say that Plotters get their novels written faster, or at least more smoothly.

There are pros and cons to both styles.  I am a naturally born planner.  At least I think I was born that way, as I saw my granddaughter at age two taking after me by organizing her alphabetic refrigerator magnets in a way she likes, and taking her Easter Bunny magnets and building a scene with them.  I’ve kept pictures of both!  My mother said I was like this as a child.

So today, I want to explain how I write a novel.  Especially for the new NaNoWriMo’s starting November 1.

First, I make a one page outline with the three acts:  Hook, Crisis, Plan.  Now at this point I must know who the murderer is and how and why.  I must identify the main characters in chapter one, not spring someone out of nowhere as the murderer.  So in my books, chapter one, you know everything!  One of the characters commits murder against another, even if not recognized as murder at that time.  My detective, Mackenzie Scott, is a witness and one of the characters.  The clues to the murder are there too!  So now you know who (one of them) how (symptoms) but do you know why?  Of course not!  This is what my books are about.  My detective must find out why, exactly how, so he can figure out who did it.

Sounds simple, doesn’t it?  All I need to do is fill in 65,000 more words with all the clues.

Of course I also have a general outline, about one line for each scene, so if I am stuck during November, I look at what is next on the outline.  Some writers make 50 page outlines.  I make one or two pages.

After I finished the first draft, it is time to really get down to the business of editing.  This is the hard part.  When you write that fast as in NaNoWriMo, you tend to get sloppy in your grammar, at least I do.  Now I must fix the grammar as well as any holes in the plot.  For the grammar, I have a school teacher daughter (mother of the two-year-old mentioned about) who proofreads.  But before that, I have a spreadsheet where I analyze my manuscript for holes.  Heres a sample of my current work, “Murder at the Rectory.”  I’ve used Excel here, but you can use a word table.  I must admit I just added the column for emotion since last week’s purchase of the Emotion Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman and Becca Peglisi.  I think it will help with the tension.

ANALYSIS = MURDER http://nanowrimo.org/AT THE RECTORY
Chapter
Scene Scene Description Characters Tension/Action Emotion Words Total words
1 1 Church picnic stage Award Ceremony for Potato Salad Contest,  Attendees watching Mac, Mrs. Bee, Margaret,Millicent Jones, Jenny Jones, Bev & daughters, Trudy Morris, Rev. Bee collapses Shock & Disbelief 1220 1220
2 Mac discusses incident with Rev. Nelson at picnic grounds Mac, Rev. Nelson Mac shares observation Suspicion 560 1780
2 1 Hospital Emergency Room Mrs. Bee, paramedics, medical staff Doctors determine time of death Resignation 359 2139
2 Picnic grounds Mac, Rev. Nelson Mac describes symptoms, calls in Bev to stay with Mrs. Bee at hospital Suspicion 447 2586
3 Hospital Emergency Room Mrs. Bee, Bev, medical staff Break the news Regret, Resignation 553 3139

Now I must get back to my analysis!  Happy reading and writing.  Hope you make it through NaNoWriMo which I might skip this year because I have three novels in progress.

Kathy

kathy@kathymckenzierunk.com

www.kathymckenzierunk.com

https://www.facebook.com/kathy.mckenzierunk.9

Writer’s Helpers

A member of my critique group recommended a book “The Emotion Thesaurus:  A Writers Guide to Character Expression,” she found in the library.  It was written by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi.  I was anxious to get my copy.  It is available as an e-book for $.99.  Any writer who is starting out or even already published should have this book for reference or memorize these emotion traits for their characters.

For example:  I looked up the word “anxious” that I used in the paragraph above.  This little helper includes physical signals, internal sensations, mental responses, cues of acute or long-term anxiety, and cues of suppressed anxiety.

So if I rewrite the sentence “I was anxious to get my copy,” it might read:

“I glanced at the clock to see if I had time before work to sit down and order it.  My breathing increased and I was dizzy.  Would this help me in my writing or just be another waste of money?  I closed my eyes in an attempt to stay calm, while I pressed the ‘purchase’ button.  Too late now, it was done.”

This certainly increased my word count.   This is almost too dramatic for me!  I’m more the straightforward kind of writer, factual and maybe a little flat.  I hope to change that with this helper.

Of course, the book has a range of descriptions of emotions so we can show and not tell.  Some are more intense than others.  I certainly would not have been “wringing one’s hands” or have the “inability to eat.”  There are many degrees of emotions.  We have to think about each character and what state they are in.

There are similar books by the same authors I will check out another time.  “The Positive Trait Thesaurus:  A Writer’s Guide to Character Attributes” and “The Negative Trait Thesaurus:  A Writer’s Guide to Character Flaws.”  I recommend these to you do also.

In the meantime, happy writing and editing, and editing, and editing!

Kathy

Email me at kathy@kathymckenzierunk.com

Visit my site www.kathymckenzierunk.com

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TOP TEN WAYS TO WRITING FITNESS

PRESENTER: Chris Jackson, Ph.D. is a Professor of Literature and Creative Writing at Nova Southeastern University. She’s author of The Tell-Tale Art: Poe in Modern Popular Culture.

Chris gave a workshop after the MWA Florida monthly luncheon.  These workshops are in addition to our speaker at our luncheon.  Last week I told you Patrick Kendrick was our speaker and surprised us all by showing up in full fire gear.

This Saturday workshop gave us hands on experience on polishing our manuscript.  Chris started the workshop by telling us we are the best editor of our work.  We are the only ones who know what we want to say.  She gave us a list of ten ways to do just that.

  1. Be specific; show don’t tell. This is a common problem I had when started writing seriously.  Instead of saying “Mac parked his little car in the office parking garage” I changed it to “Mac parked his wife’s red Kia in his marked spot next to the elevator in the underground garage.”  This tells you more about what happened.
  2. Give more examples or are there too many? I often would describe what Mac’s family was eating for dinner and drove my critique group crazy with too much information.  So instead of “Mac, Beverly, and the girls had roast beef, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, green beans, apple pie and ice cream for dessert, and a tall glass of iced tea,” I cut dinner down to only three main items.  I felt this still explained the home cooking, but not every detail.
  3. Try to move the action forward with our sentences. I had a hard time with this because I was writing for NaNoWriMo (50,000 words in 30 days), and would write whatever came to my head.  However, that is what self-editing is all about.  I have time to return to my first draft and make sure I wasn’t just driving around town, but getting somewhere specific.
  4. Show the character’s thoughts by getting into his head. I do this by internal dialog that I put in italics.  It shows exactly what my character is thinking.  Another way I use this is by expressions on their faces, tics or nervous movements.  My character runs his hands through his salt and pepper curls whenever he is perplexed.
  5. Use active voice verbs. I have a list of “no no’s” I search for and replace in my manuscript.  My word processer often comes up with the passive voice and I can easily identify them.
  6. Avoid compound verbs like “to be.” This one is self-explanatory.  You can search through your document and find them.
  7. Don’t use “there is/there are.” Same as #6.
  8. Condense long sentences and combine very short ones. I like to vary my sentence length, especially to show tone as “Mary, come here!” instead of “Mary will you please come here when you have a minute.”
  9. Word economy is important. This is another one I have problems with in my critique group.  Don’t us two sentences to describe when one will express the same thing.
  10. Proofread your work backwards. I tried this week to read the last chapter of my novel first as she suggested.  I found holes I didn’t see before.  Guess I need a good editor!

I hope this helps you in your writing.

This was a fun week with a reading of my book, “A Dolphin’s Tale” to kindergarten children at Quiet Waters Elementary School in Deerfield Beach, Florida.  I will be posting pictures soon on my Facebook page.  I also tried out a new theme for fall.  I can’t believe it is October already!

Happy writing!

Kathy

www.kathymckenzierunk.com

https://www.facebook.com/kathy.mckenzierunk.9