Setting the scene for readers

There are many techniques that are essential for writing a good novel. One of them is setting the scene at each new chapter and scene break. It’s easy to forget this when a writer is caught up in his or her story. As writers, we know our characters, where they are, and what they are doing in the story, but it’s our job to convey that to readers. Otherwise, they will be forced to figure out what’s going on. This will draw them out of the story.

In some of the books I have edited, a character will pop up out of nowhere in a scene and suddenly speak. This character’s presence needs to be established early on. Another common issue is dialogue without any tags to show what the character is doing or where he or she is.

The best way to prevent this is to start with the point-of-view character for that section if the story has more than one. If the section starts with a different character, it can be misleading to readers. Next it helps to add a description or a dialogue tag with a detail or two to let readers know where the characters are and what they are doing. This should be done in the first paragraph. Setting the scene for smoother transitions can be easy to forget because we are thinking of so many other aspects of the story, but it’s important not to confuse readers. Below is an example of a new chapter beginning from one of my books.

It was much too quiet even for the night. The trees stood silent in the forest, their leaves motionless. Lycaon lifted his face to the sky, listening for the familiar rustling of nocturnal creatures, the occasional sound of an owl. Nothing.

Anexus made eye contact with one of his warriors, his expression wary. He had sensed the strange quiet too.

“We are being hunted.” Lycaon moved his bound hands to his side. “Untie me.”

The king of Orchomenus cast him a doubtful frown.

Lycaon shrugged. “Then leave me bound. I will not be the one killed by whatever creature is watching us.”

A shrill scream shattered the quiet.

“What in the deepest reaches of Hades was that?” Anexus gripped his sword.

“Some hapless creature just met its end,” Lycaon whispered. “You and your men are next.”

“Untie him.” Anexus pointed to one warrior then motioned for his other men to form a circle.

The young man quickly untied Lycaon. He rubbed his freed hands to get the blood circulating then grabbed his sword from one of the warriors. “I sensed it earlier. Whatever it is, I doubt it is human, and it is probably what killed your people and livestock.”

Uneasiness filled the air around the warriors. All of them gripped weapons, bodies tense, eyes wide and vigilant.

A swift shadow moved between two trees.

Beauty may be the real beast.

Kindle Buy Link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B019HML564?ref_=pe_2427780_160035660

Trade Paperback Buy Link on amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Wolf-Queen-Book-Arcadia/dp/1519606249/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

Kelley Heckart

Otherworldly tales steeped in myth & magic.

http://www.kelleyheckart.com

http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/

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http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelley-Heckart/111838455604

http://www.goodreads.com/kheckart

When your day is shorter than your to-do-list.

What robs you of your time to write.

My intentions to stay on track are great or that’s what I like to tell myself. Time management is a balance. A precise schedule that holds everything together. But there are days when no matter what I did, nothing worked out and these days would run into weeks. I had to find out what was robbing me of my time, so I made a list.

What took up time in my day.

Work, eating, cleaning, feeding animals, laundry, email, blogs and sleep. By the time I got home, cleaned up, ate and worked on e-mails I was exhausted. In my head, I had hours during the day to write. Why wasn’t it working out in my real life?

I found an article and it talked about writing out a time log. Spend a few days and jot down everything you do.  It worked out great and showed me how I was wasting so much time.  So I decided to share.

Preparing and writing your time log

You don't need to keep writing a time log permanently. It is sufficient to do it for 3-7 days.  When you write a time log, make sure you don't miss even the minor activities. Don't let your time wasters hide there. Take a sheet of paper and divide it into columns listed below.

• Time
• Activities
• Scheduled
• Interrupted
• Urgent
• People (involved)

Then continue with activities you would normally do that day. On the way, update your time log. Do it either every time you switch to a new activity or at some short time intervals, like 10-20 minutes. Add entries to your "Time" and "Activities" column, and try to put marks like "Yes" or "No" in the "Scheduled", "Interrupted", and "Urgent" columns. Where relevant, make short notes on what people you spend time with too.

 When you have your time log written, you can move to the most important part, the analysis. Review your records and try to get answers to the following questions.

• What percentage of your time is spent in each of the different areas of your life? How is it divided between Work, Business, Family, Recreational, writing?
• What percentage of your activities are important?
• Are urgent?
• What people you spend more time with?
• What percentage of your activities go as planned?
• What are main interruptions?

Then think of possible adjustments and action steps. For example:

• Are there any activities you can cut back on?
• Is there anything you can delegate or simplify?
• Can you save time by grouping related tasks, like shopping?

Once you see everything you do on paper, it will amaze you on how you can add a little more time to your writing.

My time is better spent now on getting my book ready for its release.

If I knew then 

YA. To be released late 2014 through Black Opal Books.

Angel dreamed of a life of freedom. One filled with love that didn't come with a price.  She hid the pain until Jax entered her life. Can he give her what she needs to let go of the past or will he leave her with a bigger challenge that will change her future?

Angel fought to keep her family safe from the evil that threatened to destroy her. She made sure she was always the one in front of her sisters when her Mother yielded her wrath. Keeping the danger that surrounded them a secret.To lessen the blow she lived a lie that everyone believed, except for one. He was her only source of happiness until one day he was gone. With nothing left, and no one to turn to she must outrun her past, and overcome the secret that she fights to hide, before her Mother destroys everything she has left to hold on to.

Rescued from the Dark

Published through Black Opal Books

BLURB:

What if you woke up from a nightmare, trapped in a world of darkness, with no memory of how you got there? Rescued from the Dark is a passionate, gripping story about FBI agent, Jason Michaels, confronting his duty to his country, and struggling with his feelings for a woman with no memory of their love.

Undercover Agent,Jason Michaels, infiltrates the terrorist cell and risks everything, even his life, to save the FBI intern who stole his heart, then walked away. Once Mercy wakes from her coma Jason struggles with the fact that she does not remember what happened, but anguishes with the idea that she believes their unborn child belongs to her ex. Jason soon realizes the terrorists vow to get her back to claim their secrets locked in her memory, no matter what the cost. In a race against time, Jason and Mercy struggle to fight their attraction, and put their differences aside, as they launch a manhunt to save their country and each other.

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BFYANMK 

B&N:  http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/rescued-from-the-dark-lynda-kaye-frazier/1114500674?ean=2940016369129

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/285303

KOBO: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Rescued-from-the-Dark/book-mS6P9bqlx0ifOjztxuBrmg/page1.html?s=BNbii4WZ40uUHUgelR46hg&r=1

ARe: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-rescuedfromthedark-1061653-152.html

            BOB: http://www.blackopalbooks.com

Lynda Kaye Frazier

http://lyndafrazier.blogspot.com

www.lyndakayefrazier.com

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Writing is my passion, Reading is my Love.

Simple, Respectful Written Communication Skills...Dinosaur?

Greetings from Kaye Spencer.

Two weeks ago, I left one of my Yahoo reader/writer groups because a moderator sent out a message in which he didn't capitalize any words (proper nouns or first letter of sentences), nor did he put
apostrophes in contractions or possessives. He didn't include end punctuation in all of the sentences, either. His message was around 300 words, all one paragraph, and all in lowercase letters. Not only did this make the reading tedious, his message was lost on me because I was so dismayed before I reached the half-way point, that I stopped reading and cancelled my membership right then. The topic of the message had something to do with members caring/not caring about the group. Hmmm...

Yes, I got my panties in a wad.

I teach English (6th grade through community college). I'm also a published romance novelist and a romance novel editor. I realize this triple combination makes me hypersensitive to the grammar and mechanics of writing. The careless attention (or is it a lack of attention) that many people have toward employing the basic conventions of writing saddens and distresses me. I've encountered this problem in other places besides Yahoo groups. Facebook is one of those notoriously non-capitalized and non-punctuated social venues.

When did writers cease to care that when they don't apply even the most rudimentary writing conventions to their writing that it makes them look... well... stupid? Furthermore, when and why did lazy writing become fashionable? Some people want to hide their lazy writing habits behind the guise of, "It's my style" or "That's an editor's/teacher's job to fix" or "Everybody writes like that". It's ignorance on the part of the writer to leave off capital letters at the beginning of sentences or fail to insert apostrophes where they belong. Surely, I'm not the only reader in the world of writing that sees this and has issues with what I fear is a trend toward dumbing-down written communication skills. I often worry that the message conveyed in the movie "Idiocracy" is closer to reality than is comfortable.

Do lazy writers really expect to be taken seriously? Do lazy writers expect others to actually read and care about what they write? Do these writers realize the lack of maturity and intelligence they demonstrate in hen they write without using correct, basic writing conventions? I constantly harp at my students, with whom I do daily battle on these same writing issues, about professionalism in writing. How difficult is it, really, to use the shift key and capitalize the pronoun 'I'? Inserting an apostrophe doesn't even require the shift key.

I know we live in an era of texting, informal e-mail language, instant messaging, and the use of other short-cut communication tricks such as 'U' instead of 'you' or 'R' instead of 'are'. Each has its own special place in the communication spectrum, but these places are not in the public or professional writing arenas. I tell my students that others judge them by the way they use language.

Consider the wisdom of this saying: "You only get one chance to make a first impression." Cyber-socializing and cyber-communicating is a significant part of our daily lives. The interactions we have with others are increasingly via the written word. So, folks, make a positive impression every single time you present yourself in writing.

No, I am not a grammar or punctuation nazi, and this rant is not for debating the proper placement of commas, subject/verb agreement, run-on sentences, dangling participles, etc. In fact, I'm absolutely certain some of you reading this diatribe will critique my grammar and punctuation and point out my errors. I can accept that. Neither am I on my soapbox saying that we must all write (or even speak) with formal correctness all the time. I am, however, on my soapbox rallying for a minimum standard of self-respect for yourself and others in written communication endeavors by applying, at a minimum, correct capitalization, end punctuation, and appropriate apostrophe placement. My students know that my classroom is a "Full Communication Classroom". This means no lazy language allowed, written or spoken. For instance, 'IDK' is prohibited as is 'OMG' and '4' in place of the word. Perhaps I'm the proverbial 'dinosaur' teacher who is unable to change with the times and will eventually die off. If that's the case, I will go out in a blaze of glory still teaching the basic conventions of the English language.

I will leave you with this quote from Ernest Hemingway. His words apply to more than just punctuation. "My attitude toward punctuation is that it ought to be as conventional as possible. The game of golf would lose a good deal if croquet mallets and billiard cues were allowed on the putting green. You ought to be able to show that you can do it a good deal better than anyone else with the regular tools before you have a license to bring in your own improvements."

Fair warning to lazy writers: I'm no longer going to try to decipher your meaning when you haven't bothered to show me you respect me as a reader. So, please, if you want me to read what you have to say, then employ the basic mechanics of writing. It's the intelligent, respectful thing to do for all of your readers and yourself.

Until next month,

Kaye
Fall in love... faster, harder, deeper with Kaye Spencer romances
http://www.kayespencer.com