Today’s blog we’re going to look at the two most important parts of your story: beginning and the end.

You’ve heard the phrase in publishing, The first line of your story sells this book, the last line sells your next book.”

It’s more than that.

Your first line needs to introduce the story, introduce the character and point to the climax of the plot. The last line of your story needs to give a satisfactory resolution to that plot and also, if you can tie it back to the beginning, where your reader goes “Ah, now I understand what he meant there”. That is how you leave a great impression with your reader.

Think about ways you can do that as you’re working on your writing this week. What are the ways that the first line of your story is pointing to the climax of your book?

What is the way that the last line of your story is bringing the reader back to that very first line?

That’s your assignment for this week. If you have any ideas on how to do this we’d love to see your comments in the comments section.

Don’t miss a single posting! Subscribe here to receive these postings by e-mail. Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at writingcareercoach.com.

All right, so today we’re going to talk about three of my favorite little tools when I’m working on creating my story world. That is Google Earth, Dictionary.com and Wikipedia.

First, Google Earth. I like Google Earth because I can fly anywhere and see anything. If you’re not familiar with Google Earth just go to Google.com or put Google Earth in your search and you can download it. Once it’s on your system you can put in an address or a city or a landmark, and it’ll take you there. You can fly over top, you can go from the road view on most areas. But it gives you a sense of the terrain and what things look like and it really helps to add authenticity to your story.

Dictionary.com. I like this because I like words. You can get word of the day sent to you, but more than that, I like to be able to get some of those synonyms. I have my Flip Dictionary, I love my Flip Dictionary, It’s a very useful writer’s tool. But when I’m working, particularly when I’m working up at my office in town, I don’t always have my Flip Dictionary with me because that stays at my house. Dictionary.com is a great tool for me to go and get some of those synonyms.

Wikipedia. Now some people like to besmirch Wikipedia but I actually like it for a couple of reasons. One, because it is so subjective. I can go in there and find out what other people think of certain things, whether it’s accurate or not. As writers we need to understand how other people view things so that we can get inside of that point of view and help create more well-rounded characters. You can also find out interesting tidbits about some really obscure things. So while it isn’t my authoritative text for scholarly research, when I’m trying to create story world I love it.

So for today, using technology to build your writing, I would encourage you to check out Google Earth, Dictionary.com and Wikipedia during your ten-minute break and see if any of these resources will help you enrich your story world or build your writing in a new and exciting way.

I’ll see you next time when we’re going to be delving into some fiction techniques that will help you with your overall writing craft.

Don’t miss a single posting! Subscribe here to receive these postings by e-mail. Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at writingcareercoach.com.

Definitely the way to get the most out of your webinar is to come in with questions. The best feature of webinars is that they offer the opportunity to ask questions.

Tied along with this is see if the webinar is being recorded or the teaching is available for sale. I suggest this because a webinar can be very overwhelming. Any teaching done by a good teacher will offer far more ideas than you can possibly implement right after the teaching is done. Therefore, by purchasing the webinar you can implement each of these steps incrementally to further grow your writing business.

Also, attend webinars beyond those on writing. Get involved with business networking groups that provide webinars on marketing and sales calls. Join webinars that discuss public speaking or personal development. All of these offer information that can be used to grow your writing business as well as creating believable characters. 

To recap, webinars are great. I strongly urge to take part in them.
I encourage you to take part in writing webinars that are specific to the craft.
Business webinars that will help you with your marketing angle, and also if you can attend webinars or presentations online given by people who have an area of expertise that may benefit the plotline of your stories.

All of those are great ways to take advantage of the available technology, to reduce the cost of learning about your craft and your industry.

Don’t miss a single posting! Subscribe here to receive these postings by e-mail. Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at writingcareercoach.com.

We talked about this a little bit last week when we were talking about organizing your time. Now we want to think a little bit about whether you have everything you need to accomplish your goals.

I don’t mean if you have all of the necessary training or background. Writing is a growth process so you’ll never arrive there. What I mean is just simple things. When you sit down to write do you have the notes that you need?
Do you have your character sketches?
Do you have your copy of Writing The Breakout Novel?
Do you have pictures that you use to help describe your main characters?
Do you have pencils to jot down notes?
Do you have your mouse? Your keyboard? Whatever it is that you use as part of the writing process so you’re not getting up and down out of your seat constantly to get things that you might have forgotten.

Organizing your workspace, as we said in the last post, is not always a matter of eliminating distractions but it’s also including things that will keep you focused and on task.

Till next time, remember to organize your workspace as well as your time.

Don’t miss a single posting! Subscribe here to receive these postings by e-mail. Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website atwritingcareercoach.com.

Over the last few blogs we’ve looked at ways to organize your time so that you can better accomplish your goals. Today we’re going to talk about the importance of not working.

It is important to schedule breaks to give yourself a mental letdown and also to prevent extremes in your work time.

Think about if you don’t let your kids have candy at all. What happens as soon as Halloween or Easter comes around? They are attacking the candy boxes. Or if you never let yourself have sweets. What happens if you go to a party? You overindulge. This same thing is true with breaks. Now I am very guilty of going for five or six straight hours of focus on a single project. The problem is when I run 14 hrs a day, 6 days a week for months at a time I eventually crash. That is not an effective time management tool.

What is better is a system I learned in High School. The work cycle involves focusing on a single task for  45 minutes then taking a 10-15 minute break. And that seems to be pretty consistent for most people, forty-five minutes to sixty minutes at a stretch. If you need more breaks then work on multiple projects during that 45 minutes rather than taking more breaks. If you’re working on books and articles, switching it up between projects so that you can keep your brain alert is fine.

The right kind of break
Now, what should you do during break?
• Stand up, get away from the computer. Keep your blood flowing, keep your body moving; do some stretches; move your arms. Get the blood flowing again so that your brain can become alert.
• Walk down the hall and get a drink of water. This will help your health and your mental alertness.
I drink water during my fifteen minutes, walk down the hall and then pace around my desk when I’m at my office. When I’m working from my home office I actually do away with breaks because my kids help me have breaks. [ha-ha, but working from home is a topic for another day]

To recap these last few blogs, to effectively organize your time you need to:
• you need to create office hours and respect them.
• You need to define what your daily success goals are and recognize how they play a part in your long-term writing.
• And schedule your breaks so that you can stay mentally alert.

Using these tips will help you better organize your time and become a more effective and efficient writer.
 

Don’t miss a single posting! Subscribe here to receive these postings by e-mail. Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at writingcareercoach.com.

This blog originally appeared on March 30, 2009. It is an extremely popular blog as it shows how editing helps you in the writing process. I hope you will enjoy this re-release of this blog.

One of my coaching students emailed me last week to do an edit. I gave her a very detailed critique on her opening paragraph. I then thought that what I shared might help other writers so I asked her permission to share it with you.

I have kept her anonymous to protect the innocent [and if she is entering Genesis she will want to STAY anonymous] but, if she chooses to reveal herself in the comments, I hope she’ll tell you some of how she applied all of this to her full WIP. Please pay particular attention to the ways to construct questions in the reader’s mind. It is not the only way, but it is one way. The key is understanding WHY you want to do that and how it will help you improve your writing.

For those of you who have wondered about my editing and coaching, this is a sample of what you get. I hope it will help all of you.

Her opening read:

I gripped the steering wheel as Nikko slept in his kennel in the back of the jeep. The phone call that interrupted dinner was from Sheriff Logan, telling me a six year old girl went missing. The longer the child is missing the more difficult to pick up the scent. So far, they have not been successful.
Before leaving Boones Creek, I drove through McDonalds at the edge of town for a cup of strong coffee. Nikko had water in his kennel, besides he sleeps while I’m driving.
***

This is what I said to her:

I really see that you’ve improved.

As I started the first paragraph I started some changes [suggestions] to you. Look below-

You gripping the steering wheel and Nikko sleeping aren’t related. It is better to say something like.

I gripped the steering wheel and tried to process everything Sheriff Logan had said. Behind me Nikko slept soundly in his kennel. His near silent breathing the only noise besides the thundering of my heart. Another girl missing, a six year old, and Nikko and I were needed. Every second that ticked past would make the scent harder for Nikko to pick up. How long had she been missing? How old was the scent?

Nikko let out a muffled whimper from his slumber. Was he dreaming of chasing a rabbit through the woods or was he running to escape the nightmares like I do?
***

I want to tell you what it is I was doing here and why. Gripped is a GREAT verb but we need more. Therefore I have her gripping the steering wheel PROCESSING what the Sheriff said. Immediately the reader starts to wonder what the sheriff said, what her relationship with the sheriff is, what we are going to find out next. She could have heard a loved one was dead. Maybe she is under suspicion for a crime. We don’t know. So the reader will keep reading to find out the answer.

You had the dog sleeping in the kennel but it seemed like a distraction before BUT by HEARING the breathing it engages more of our senses and we start to experience the scene a bit more. Now we are in a car, there is a dog sleeping behind her and we can hear it breathe. “But what did the sheriff say and what does this DOG have to do with anything?” The reader still wonders.

Her heart is thundering. She is gripping the steering wheel. Both indicate stress or fear…hmmm, the reader wonders why.

Next, a girl is missing. And the heroine is needed with the dog. Okay, he is a service dog. A blood hound? A cadaver dog? No, the next sentence indicates that the scent could grow cold. That means we hope the girl is still alive. So the reader keeps reading because we still have the unanswered question of why the narrator is so upset? Then we learn of the time constraint. We want to yell to her “Stop sitting there!!! Go find the girl !!!”

Then we HEAR the dog again [see, how we have touch and hearing weaving through this scene]. Anyone familiar with a dog knows what this sounds like, but we add a sinister twist to it. The heroine wonders if the dog is dreaming happily or if it is tortured LIKE SHE IS!!

This question of her internal struggle is “BRIDGING CONFLICT”. Go look at it in “Writing the Breakout Novel” and you’ll see it’s function. This is a lingering question you don’t want to answer too quickly. This is ALL just the opening paragraph. The FIRST paragraph of your story. Compare this to what you wrote and you’ll see that I simply added some unspoken questions to the readers mind as they read. You see some I introduced and then quickly answered. Others I introduced and left unanswered.

The big thing is add more senses. You have a great framework to do this with. You had the dog sleeping, I introduced the sound of his snores…

So read through and start to think of places you can include sensory details [the five senses]…and try to associate many of them with an emotion as well. “The comforting smell of pine pulled her back to grandma’s house and the pine trees that bristled outside her window at night. It was her safe place and the one she always imagined escaping to when life at home became too terrifying.” Do you see how you’ve learned a bit about the character, her relationship with her grandma and her childhood all because of a smell?

So, look over your MS and see how you can add those things [we don't want to over do it. Descriptions are like salt. =) ]

I hope this helps.

***
So, if you’ve ever wondered what I do when I coach and offer edits, now you know. I hope all of you will see a nugget in here that will help you in your writing. If you have any questions you can contact me through my website www.WritingCareerCoach.com or www.TheBalancedLife.com

Don’t miss a single posting! Subscribe here to receive these postings by e-mail. Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at writingcareercoach.com.

In my previous blog I suggested looking for work in other venues. Today I want to show how this will help you with your book or novel writing.

1. You learn to write by writing. While there is a difference between a term paper and a romance novel writing is still writing. You learn to express yourself better as you write, no matter what the writing is for.
2. You learn about people. Interacting with people is a great way to deepen character development. In novels our characters will not always react in a way that seems logical to us. We need to learn how others react to certain situations so we can integrate that in our writing.
3. You make connections with other people who could be future readers. Becoming visible in your community helps increase your platform and will lead to more sales.

While these are just a few ways you can benefit from writing for other venues, they are important. Why don’t you take a few minutes to think of how writing for others will help you build and develop your writing career and share your thoughts in the comments.

Don’t miss a single posting! Subscribe here to receive these postings by e-mail. Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at writingcareercoach.com.

            What does each person do to build my business?

To determine how each of these people build your business you must first determine what role you’d like them to perform and what the specific result is. For those of you who completed “Intro to the Writer’s Life” pull out your business plan that you created and go through this as we build in this lesson. You may find that you can expand your goals by delegating tasks. You may also find that some of your goals that you created don’t directly build your business and that they should be delayed or eliminated.

Let’s start to look at each task they perform. Feel free to write in additional tasks that are specific to your writing business.

             Editors

For the purpose of this lesson Editors means the people who acquire and edit work for periodicals, publishing houses and e-zines. These are the people you will submit a project to hoping to sell to them. I include them on your business team because you cannot look at yourself as an employee of a publishing house. You are an independent business owner who is contractually obligated to complete one or more projects for their company in exchange for a portion of the profit generated by that product.

This is very hard for many writers to accept in the beginning of their publishing career because they look at their writing as such a personal thing. I agree strongly that this is. I have spent a great deal of time researching my story, writing character sketches and building character arcs. I take great pride in the stories [both fiction and non-fiction] that I put together. However, in order to grow your business to the place that you can focus on that ARTISTIC portion of the business, you must first remove yourself emotionally from an individual story and look at the business as a whole.

So, the function of an editor as part of your business team is to be your advocate to the publishing board and also to help you shine that book in to the best it can be. Again, this is where emotionally separating yourself from your work must come in. If you get your affirmation from the exact story you wrote then this business will eat you alive. There will be no way for you to continue to function with the painful cuts in word count, the rejection of a book you spent months at and the mail from unhappy ‘fans’ if you are too emotionally connected to the project.

One great thing about writing, however, is it is highly relational. That means that as you begin to develop relationships with people on your writing team, like editors, you begin to mesh and join in a common vision. This makes it much easier to work together on future projects.

             Marketing

To decide the role of the marketer you must first recognize what marketing is. For the sake of this lesson, marketing is establishing name recognition and credibility with your target audience. This will lead to sales of book length fiction, articles, non-fiction, etc.

What are some ways a writer markets. If you took my course “Writing Career Coach Part 1: Creating a Platform” we discussed at great length how you can build this name recognition. If you don’t own it I you can get it free with my coaching program. Information is available on my website.

Based on the teachings you’ve read these last few days, what roles might these people fulfill. Respond in the comments section of this blog.

Publicity

Agent

Freelance Editors

Web Designers

Virtual Assistant/Secretary

This is excerpted from: Writing Career Coach Part 2: Your Writing Business Team. Written by Tiffany Colter

Read more excerpts and follow the links below:

A writer’s business team: Part 1

A Writer’s Business Team: Part 2

Don’t miss a single posting! Subscribe here to receive these postings by e-mail. Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at writingcareercoach.com.

Who are the people that make up the team?

Depending on your overall goals and business plan your team will vary but there are some positions that every writer must fill on their business team. Those people are:

            Editors

            Marketing

            Publicity

            Agent

 Whether you fill these roles yourself or your hire them out, every writer must include these people on their business team. In addition to these there are others that will help build your writing business and should be included in a highly successful writing business.

            Freelance Editors

            Web Designers

            Virtual Assistant/Secretary

In the beginning of your writing journey you’ll fill many of these rolls yourself. Gradually, however, you will need to focus your time and effort on doing the things that build your business and make you more productive. You will begin to outsource these tasks and focus increasing amounts of time on your actual writing.

Learning how to do this is why you bought this product.

This is excerpted from: Writing Career Coach Part 2: Your Writing Business Team. Written by Tiffany Colter.

Read more excerpts and follow th links below:

A writer’s business team: Part 1

A writer’s business team: Part 3

Don’t miss a single posting! Subscribe here to receive these postings by e-mail. Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at writingcareercoach.com.

STEP 1: What is a writer’s business team?

 A writer’s business team can radically change the functioning of your business. By recognizing all the functions necessary to the running of your writing business you can begin to outsource these various tasks as you grow in your writing.

 Most people recognize this truth, even if they don’t openly acknowledge it. The advent of the virtual assistant shows this. Virtual assistants usually handle email correspondence, organizing newsletters and even blog tours. There are a variety of uses for a virtual assistant but they are not the only member of a person’s business team.

 In his book, the E-myth revisited, Michael Gerber focuses on the idea of systems to create an effective business structure. On pg 12-13 he says “In the throes of your Entrepreneurial Seizure [the sudden need to start your own business], you fell victim to the most disastrous assumption anyone can make about going in to business…That Fatal Assumption is: if you understand the technical work of a business, you understand a business that does that technical work. And the reason it’s fatal is that it just isn’t true. In fact, it’s the root cause of most small business failures!”  

 This is important because it puts to rest the idea that if you are able to write a great story it does NOT necessarily mean you have what it takes to be a successful author. That is because writing is an art AND a business.

 In my course “Intro to the Writer’s Life” I lay out the basics of the people who make up your business team. We are going to revisit that idea here and expand on them.

 This is excerpted from: Writing Career Coach Part 2: Your Writing Business Team. Written by Tiffany Colter

Read more excerpts and follow th links below:

A Writer’s Business Team: Part 2

A writer’s business team: Part 3

Don’t miss a single posting! Subscribe here to receive these postings by e-mail. Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at writingcareercoach.com.