April 30, 2018: How Important Is The Title? My adult mystery, Blood Money, went through three titles before I settled on the final one. It started out “The Love of Money,” then became “Root of All Evil,” and finally, “Blood Money.” All three depict the essence of the plot--greed leads to evil thoughts, evil thoughts lead to evil actions, evil actions lead to death.

In my middle-grade time-warp fiction on the life of young Davy Crockett, the title started out as “Creepy Caves” and wounded up “On The Banks of The Nolichucky.”  In that particular story, the tale is more about young Davy and his early life near Limestone, Tennessee--about 15 miles from where I live. Yes, my story began when the two MCs went cave exploring, but the story happens when they came out (up) on the other side--in 1795! Oftentimes, the story must evolve before the title surfaces, but here are some things to consider:

1.      Descriptive - “On The Banks of The Nolichucky” doesn’t exactly roll right off the tongue, but it definitely points to the gist of the story.

2.      Easy to remember - For local people, at least, the birthplace of Davy Crockett and the existing site for the State Park is located in East Tennessee, a place rich in history. It’s also near the capital of The Lost State of Franklin--the pre-runner of Tennessee. This allowed an opportunity to bring more history into the plot--facts studied in Tennessee history. I also wanted to clarify Disney’s “Born On A Mountain Top In Tennessee”--it’s more like on a riverbank in Tennessee.

3.      Easy to Repeat. Be prepared to say the title many times. Think of it as naming your unborn child. Make sure it rolls off your tongue, at least; and that you can string the order of words correctly. Nothing worse than having to google your own book to see what the title is.  I doubt that will ever happen to me, though. J

  April 23, 2018: The End …and a contest!

The End. Two words that sounds so final, indicating there is no more to come. Two small words, but what a huge responsibility. When I reach that point in my story, I feel like doing the happy dance. It means I did it, no matter how long and bumpy the journey was, I have a beginning, a middle, and an end. The importance of every ending centers around the emotional attachment the reader has once the book is closed. Did you wind up feeling ‘meh’; sad and weepy; or warm and fuzzy? That goal should be determined before the first keystroke−doesn’t always happen to me, though. The second-most important thing is to tie-up all loose strings. There is nothing worse than closing the book and saying, “hey…what about Marla? What happened between her and Nick?”

I’ve mentioned before I’m not big on outlining. I do have a beginning, a middle, and an end; however, sometimes my characters go off on a journey of their own and leave me panting to catch up. Basically, I do know the ending−but oh the twists and turns my characters often take on their way to it can be mind-boggling.

In my story coming out this year (Blood Money), I always knew with whom Alex would wind up. I always knew the bad guy, the actual crime, and the hero. My characters filled in the blanks as the story evolved. However, it wasn’t until after I wrote the first draft of the sequel (Blood Moon) that I knew who was really behind the whole devious plot. In that book, the final scene identifies the culprit to the reader, but not to Alex. The reader must wait for the third and last in the series, yet to be named, to have the bad guy’s crimes catch up with him. That book is only briefly outlined with the beginning (I know the location), the middle (I know the horrendous crime he will commit−my fingers are scorching to write it…THE CAD!), and the one loose string that will blow his cover and seal his fate.

Contest: Anybody have a good suggestion for the title of the last book in the series? It must be two words, the first one Blood, and the last word must begin with an “M”. A free copy of Blood Money to the winner!

April 9, 2018:  The Middle

I will get to the middle section of a story after I share the good news about BLOOD MONEY. I received the .pdf version and the correction sheet, which according to my editor means it is nearing the last stage before going into production. Whoo hoo! With each revision this story gets stronger, better, and tighter. Yes, it’s hard work, but the benefits will be worth it; and I have to confess that even at this late date, I’m seeing mistakes: a period here, a comma there…a stronger word, and even an entire sentence that needed to be flipped. I cannot stress enough the importance of revision. It’s so important NOT to submit to an editor before the manuscript is ready. If after so many revisions, one tends to STILL miss some boo boos (and it’s almost certain you will), then submitting before the work is ready will almost guarantee rejection. I've even seen a rejection that said, "love the story line, but we feel the manuscript is not ready." If I were a publisher, I’d consider the stronger submissions over all others−no matter how good the plot is. Does it matter that much? You darn tootin’. Revise, revise, and repeat!

As for the Middle section of a story, sometimes this is where I, personally, get off-track. I have been known to chase too far and too long down the rabbit hole on a plot. Readers lose interest, back-story overpowers, and the plot stagnates.

Some questions I ask during this phase include:

•         Are the secondary story lines critical to the overall plot or have I twisted and turned too many times?
•         Do these chapters move the story forward or are they just taking up space?
•         Do my characters grow and evolve or have I created one too many example of their bad behavior or wonderful charity work that leaves the reader falling asleep?
•         Have I built enough tension into the plot that forces the reader to turn the page?

A couple of things to avoid in the middle section are:

•         Lengthy long chapters that repeat the same thing three different ways in order to add to my word count. You only need to tell it once, no matter how interesting it may be. Build off the idea, solve the conundrum, but don’t fall into the trap of retelling the same situation using different words.
•         Floppy, ho-hum middle unable to make good on the mind-blowing first paragraph’s promise of a good read

If the beginning is geared to grab a reader’s interest to make them want more and the ending ties up all the unanswered questions and leaves the reader a better, happier person for having spent time there; then the middle must be the conflict, the shock and awe, the ‘boy I didn’t see that coming’ section. The middle is where your characters live on the edge, every minute cheating death, losing hope and suffering crushing blows at every turn. I also call that Monday.

 April 2, 2018:  So now, you’ve written a story…

When I finally got serious about writing, I started reading everything I could find on the subject and was surprised to learn there’s actually a right and a wrong way to write. One of the first things I remember reading was all stories have a beginning, a middle, and an end. It didn’t take me long to realize there’s more to that simple statement than meets the eye. Soon, I began to outline all my stories using this simple structure: the beginning needs to introduce the main character and state a brief summary of what the story is about, using very little backstory until chapters two or three. One thing to focus on: grab your readers and draw them in from the beginning or no matter how good the middle and ending are, if they aren’t committed from the get-go, they won’t make it to the good parts. I enjoy opening the story with action, when possible; using dialog vs. prose; and showing the personalities rather than telling about them. Take my first book, THE SECRET AT ONE BELMONT LANE. The main protagonist is on her way home from school. I could have begun the story by: Twelve-year old Erin hopscotched down the sidewalk, dodging puddles left from the morning rain when she became aware Elwood, her nerdy neighbor was in hot pursuit. (Ho-hum!)

Instead, I began with action:

“Splash the puddle, skip the crack. Skip the puddle, break my back," I chanted. My fancy footwork sounded out a splat, tap, tap as I hopscotched across the wet sidewalk. I tossed a glance over my shoulder at Elwood, my nerdy neighbor who thinks he’s my shadow.

By beginning with action, it’s easy to identify both the age of my main character and her nemesis, Elwood. In the next few paragraphs, I introduce the phenomenal twist when the kindly school guard disappears and a monster-dog arrives in his place. By setting the pace of the story and introducing a mystery on the first few pages, you’ve hooked your reader. Think of the beginning of the story as the appetizer--just enough to tantalize the reader into wanting more. As always, the first goal is to write the story, from beginning to end, and then go back and revise. After the first chapter, ask yourself these three questions: Who, What, and Where? Those answers should fall into place in the beginning.

Stay tuned for the middle and end in the following weeks.