The Blog Tour Exchange

I'd like to introduce a new resource for writers, the Blog Tour Exchange. The Blog Tour Exchange is a free matching site for authors who wish to conduct blog tours to promote their books. By becoming a member, you agree to promote other authors' books on your blog and they do the same for you. 

You don't need to have a publishing contract to Become A Host.  By being a host now, you'll build connections with other authors and a platform for marketing when you do have a book ready. If you've been a host for at least three months at any time before you have a book to promote, you can be matched without having to sign up again. If you complete your three months before your book comes out you can use your precious time for marketing when your tour is live.

To celebrate the grand opening, we're having a giveaway! Sign up to Become A Host before 11/1 and be entered in a drawing to win a free full-service blog tour and other great prizes. Even if you can't sign up to be a host right now, you can still enter the giveaway. Enter here.

Learn more at How It Works.

I hope to see you there!

By Any Other Name

Ah characters. Where would be be without them? The embodiment of those voices in our heads. The proof that we really aren’t insane.

That’s what we’ll be talking about this week.

And I’d like to start with a simple question.

Character Names. How do we come up with them?

Yes. There’s the Baby Name Book routine. I’m sure this has worked wonders for many a writer, and I’ll probably have to break down and buy one eventually. But as yet, never needed one. I’ll tell you why in a moment.

There’s the, Historical Fiction route. Which is pretty self explanatory. Just make sure you do your research, certain names were never heard of in certain times. And it gets a bit boring, and hard to keep track of four men named Harry.

The “Meaningful Name” bit. Tread lightly with this one. You can’t be naming your Lead Female Chastity and having her be the town whore. It would be like fingernails  on a chalkboard for the reader.

There’s the, what I lovingly refer to as, Scrabble Tile Method. Most often seen in science fiction or fantasy books. (I’m looking at you Weis) I swear the author reaches into a scrabble bag, pulls out three to five tiles adds a few vowels and Voila! A name! Who cares if no one can pronounce it! It’s fantasy! It’s a different planet! They’re a different Race! Foreign! All very good points..indeed. But. Let’s not go so far as to ostracise our readers. I’ve read many books where I have to skim over names, only catching the first few letters. Which works ok, until more than one character has that same first letter. Then it’s confusing.

You can put regional flair into your names. This is a great way of pulling culture, very subtly, into your work. Jacqueline Carey did this quite well with her Kushiel’s Dart series. She had the Roman element mixed with flares of French and a bit of Spanish. From the get go this set you up in a very subtle way for what type of book she was writing. Political intrigue (Roman), wrapped in a sultry (French) Magical (Spanish) world. Very subtle.

Or. You can name your characters whatever you damn well please and to hell with you all! Think of the success Charlaine Harris has had with Vampire Bill. A vampire. Named Bill. That is brilliant. Can’t you just IMAGINE the brain meltdown she had trying to come up with a name for him? You can’t tell me the first time you read that your brain didn’t go...”Huh. Bill. Really? HA!” But. It makes perfect sense. 

There are online resources to try. Seventh Sanctum is one of many name generators. 

What has worked for me, thus far, is wandering about cemeteries. Big. Old. OLD. Creepy. Cemeteries. The older the better. There are some wacky names in cemeteries. I keep a small journal with me. (Who doesn’t!) The ones I like the best I will try to say out loud as much as possible. Because, let’s be honest. You’re going to be with this character for a while. You’d best like their name. My parents are very fond of telling my sisters and I that we got our names by my Dad going out to the back yard and yelling a bunch of names at the top of his lungs. The ones they liked yelling, won. I suggest you do this with your character names.

Though, if they answer back...you could have problems.

Honestly. I’m not sure there is a surefire way to name a character. There is no secret formula. So I want to know. How do you name your characters?

The Story-Worthy Problem

For those of you who follow my personal blog--sorry that I'm double posting the same thing today. Please forgive me, but my brain is slow on ideas this week, and this was a good one. ;)

I've been reading this book...

Find on Goodreads

I highly recommend it. One of the things that really hit me this first read through is the story worthy problem. In the past I thought about conflict, tension, the problems that come up, etc, but I never thought about the one deep seeded problem that drives the whole story. It's there in Sendek, but I never named it. And never naming it explains why I still feel like something is missing or not quite working. Let's take a closer look. Story-worthy problem vs surface problems.

A story-worthy problem always relates more to the inner psychology of the protagonist and has to be big enough, dramatic enough, to change the protagonist's world and force him on a journey of change. Surface problems, on the other hand, are more like bad situations that reflect the actual story-worthy problem, but that aren't sufficient on their own to sustain and entire story. ~Les Edgerton, Chapter 3.

In another spot in the book it mentions how the protagonists thinks they know what the main problem is, but they are almost always wrong--just missing the real thing. Their journey leads them and the reader to the story-worthy problem. Using those two things, let me give you an example from Sendek. Talia thinks her problem is that she's going to die a horrible death at the hands of the Draguman if she can't convince someone they exist, are coming, and the people of Sendek need to prepare to fight. That is a great bit of conflict. It builds tension throughout the story, but in the end it isn't the story-worthy problem. The deeper psychological issue is that when Talia's family died, she stopped living. Her real problem is learning to live again by letting others into her life. Being willing to hurt again in order to feel love.

But she doesn't recognize that until the very end. In the meantime there are lots of surface problems that move her closer to realizing that story-worthy problem. Her reaction to each surface problem has an effect on whether she is a success or a failure at the story-worthy problem.

Every problem--story-worthy and surface--has its own corresponding resolution or goal, so the resolution of a surface problem shouldn't also be the resolution to the story-worthy problem. Instead, the resolution of the surface problem should contribute to the resolution of the story-worthy problem. ~Les Edgerton, Chapter 3.

Maybe this is all old news to you guys, but this is going to make my current and future WIPs 100 times better. In knowing the difference between the problems I can plan/plot/outline better and keep the end goal straight in my head. Each surface problem can be crafted to better define and guide my character to reaching the ultimate goal. Finally, Edgerton talks about digging deep to find this story-worthy goal. Deep into our own selves. Let loose your own personal demons and you will find the stuff of greatness. If you are emotional about the problem, it will come through your writing.

That means you have to let yourself out of the box.

A Writer's Toolbox

Now that we've thought about our goals, how are we going to reach them? Every writer needs a tool box at their disposal. Something they can reach into any time they need inspiration.

There are so many wonderful websites that can help improve your writing skills. Use them, learn from them.

Here are two of my favorite writing blogs.
Janice Hardy--her site is a treasure trove of insights. Every Saturday she has a Real Life Diagnostics post. I learn so much just by reading what she says about other peoples work.(I believe she made the Top 20 Blogs for Writers last year. She'll make the Top 10 this year for sure.)

KM Weiland's Wordplay blog was named among the Top 10 Blogs for Writers! I love how most of her posts are vlogs but she includes the manuscript for the video too. It's easy to access and she always has great ideas.


Other Great Resource Links:

Want to perfect that query? Just read the 200+ that Janet Reid has commented on over at Query Shark.

QueryTracker.net blog is invaluable. Keep connected with the ever changing world of agents and what you can do to get their attention--in a good way.

Write or Die, a great way to shut off the inner editor and just write.

Writing Prompts—found on http://writingfix.com/index.htm where they have over 500 prompts!

Seventh Sanctum is a name generator for almost everything.

TV Tropes is a wiki about the tricks of the trade for writing fiction.

Technovelgy is the site where science meets fiction. As in real life science you can use (or just keep straight) in your novel.

http://www.suite101.com/writingandpublishing/ Writing tips and techniques for emerging and established writers.

Squidoo--How to write a fantasy novel is a step by step guide to writing your first fantasy novel--world building etc.

HowToWriteNovel30Days

http://www.oneword.com/ will give you a word and you write about it for 60 seconds.

absolutewrite.com and Forums Excellent place to research agents, publishers and get questions answered about the writing world.

The Bookshelf Muse has an emotions thesaurus to help you show not tell. There is also a setting, weather and other thesauruses to get your brain working again.
http://www.365tomorrows.com/ has a new 600 word speculative fiction story each day.

American Night Writers Association blog about Life, the Universe, and their place in the World of Writing and Publishing.

Find music to fit the mood of your book at Pandora.

Create soundtracks for your novels at Grooveshark.

Vision for Writers a quarterly ezine about writing.

And just for fun, here's a workshop post on creating book trailers from Vision for Writers.

Who have I left out? Please share linkage in the comments.  

Updates and Additions:

Jodi Hedlund! I find myself starring her posts in google reader ALL THE TIME. 
Predators and Editors
The Practice Room  
The Creative Penn
Thesaurus.com
Here is the list of winners for the Top 10 Blogs for Writers 2011/2012

Getting Organized

If you are like me, you have notes on your book scattered all over the place. Any time I get an idea, or figure out how/why something works or takes place, I scribble it down so I don't forget. That's why there are notebooks in the car, van, kitchen, under my bed, in my purse, etc. There is one problem with this method.

What if you can't find that one note you NEED?

For instance, a couple of months ago, I wrote the BEST back jacket cover for my shiny new idea EVER. It was truly perfect in every way. I remember writing it in a yellow notebook (all my notebooks are yellow to differentiate from my daughters' notebooks). I remember going to put it on my blog page for shiny new idea and then chickening out because "what if someone takes this and writes it before I do?"

Now, I'm ready to write said shiny idea and I Can't. Find. The. Notes.

I've tried to recreate that perfect book cover and it keeps falling flat. I'm devestated.

I don't want this to happen ever again so I'm creating an electronic and a physical Story Bible for each of my story ideas. 

I got this idea from Marne Ann Kirk, author of “The Fae Dragon Chronicles: Love Chosen” coming Soon from Crescent Moon Press.

This is going to keep me organized and it has the added bonus of keeping the little threads/items/places/info/ etc accurate in my story. No more wondering, "when did she loose the locket?" I can look in the story bible and find the answer.

For the electronic version, I'll be using Scrivener (because it's so lovely shiny and easy to use.) There are lots of other programs out there and I've used yWriter (which is free). You can also just use the folder system and save everything on your computer.

However, since I'm very much a visual and tangible type person, I'm going to print out everything I type up and put them in a binder for each story. (I like flipping through pages.) Sendek will obviously be the largest as a series binder. It will have dividers for the different books in the series as well.

You can put anything you want in this Bible. Here are some basic suggestions:

• Synopsis
• Outline
• Back Jacket Blurb
• Query letter
• List of Characters
• Individual character sheets
• List of Settings
• List of Creatures
• Important vocabulary (especially if you are writing a novel that involves technical terms: medical, military, science based, etc)
• Rules/Laws (How things work in your world. Great for dystopian, magic, etc.)
• List of important Items you need to keep track of in the story
• Time line of events
• Story-Board
• Scene by scene list of characters--I'm doing this to make sure I'm not spending too much time with one character while the reader might be wondering, "What happened to so-and-so?"
• Map of your world, city, etc
• List of subplots, whose involved and how they relate to the main plot
• Plot Tent
• Pictures of actors that remind you of your characters
• Scene collages
• Sketches
• Any research you do to make your story believable

What else can you think of? Does this help? Do you have any questions?

Online Writing Resources

Today I want to share some of my favorite links with you. These are places I go to when I have writer's block or just need to procrastinate. Some are excellent resources for learning about the craft of writing and the publishing world.


Enjoy!


Great Resource Links:

Write or Die, a great way to shut off the inner editor and just write.

Writing Prompts—found on http://writingfix.com/index.htm where they have over 500 prompts!

Seventh Sanctum is a name generator for almost everything.

TV Tropes is a wiki about the tricks of the trade for writing fiction.

Technovelgy is the site where science meets fiction. As in real life science you can use (or just keep straight) in your novel.

http://www.suite101.com/writingandpublishing/ Writing tips and techniques for emerging and established writers.

Squidoo--How to write a fantasy novel is a step by step guide to writing your first fantasy novel--world building etc.

HowToWriteNovel30Days

http://www.oneword.com/ will give you a word and you write about it for 60 seconds.

absolutewrite.com and Forums Excellent place to research agents, publishers and get questions answered about the writing world.


The Bookshelf Muse has an emotions thesaurus to help you show not tell. There is also a setting, weather and other thesauruses to get your brain working again.


http://www.365tomorrows.com/ has a new 600 word speculative fiction story each day.

American Night Writers Association blog about Life, the Universe, and their place in the World of Writing and Publishing.

Find music to fit the mood of your book at Pandora.

Create soundtracks for your novels at Grooveshark.

Vision for Writers a quarterly ezine about writing.

And just for fun, here's a workshop post on creating book trailers from Vision for Writers.