Are Your Characters Flat, Dull, Lifeless, or Clueless? Here's Help!

The next WIES Workshop begins Monday, February 15th.

From Flat to Full: Characterization in Fiction

Are you challenged with how to breathe life into flat characters? In this six-week course we'll explore several characterization techniques, highlighting the use of dialogue, point of view, and description. With weekly assignments, the course is suitable for beginners as well as experienced writers.

Week 1: We'll do an overview of fiction writing 'rules' esp. showing vs. telling and writing in active voice.

Homework: Examine pre-written pieces, making them stronger by using active voice and showing more than telling.

Week 2: We'll create detailed character sketches.

Homework: Create detailed character sketches of major players (antagonist, protagonist, etc.)

Week 3: We'll explore how different points of view, the use of internal thought, and emotions can help flesh out characters.

Homework: Write a scene from two different points of view, using inner thoughts only and emotions.

Week 4: We'll add more depth with dialogue.

Homework: Write a scene between two opposing characters, using internal thought, dialogue, and minimal action. Additional exercise may be to have the student visit a public place to study real dialogue.

Week 5: We'll add to our dialogue skills by exploring how action, reaction, and interaction can make characters more 3-D.

Homework: Strengthen a previously written short piece by using the techniques from the week's lesson. May lengthen the piece to up to 12 pages.

Week 6: We'll add more depth and personality by using description and particularization

Homework: Use the previously written piece. Add more layers, may lengthen the piece by up to 10 additional pages.

Instructor: Linda Leigh Hargrove
Course Dates: February 15, 2010 - March 26, 2010 (6 weeks)
Cost: $125

To register for the course, visit WIES Workshops.

View the full WIES Workshops schedule.

Editing Tip # 20: Handlng Rejections

Kathy Ide’s Editing Tips
© Kathy Ide, 2010

In this column, freelance author, editor, and speaker Kathy Ide shares tips on self-editing your manuscript.

~ HANDLING REJECTIONS ~

Rejections are part of the process for every writer who wants to get published. Louis L'Amour received 350 rejections before he made his first sale. James Joyce's first book of short stories was rejected by 22 publishers. C. S. Lewis wrote over 800 things before he made his first sale. Gone with the Wind was rejected by more than 20 publishers. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle was turned down 29 times.

John Grisham was rejected by about 15 publishers and the same number of literary agents. When he finally found an agent willing to shop the book around, it took the agent a full year to secure a publisher. The initial press run was 5,000. And Grisham bought 1,000 of those himself.

I don’t know a single successful author who does not have a folder full of rejection letters. The keys to overcoming rejections are:

1. Show your manuscript to readers in your target audience. Solicit their honest feedback on the content. Make revisions based on their comments. If you get positive responses, ask permission to use their statements as endorsements in your book proposal.

2. Buy, read, and study as many books as you can find about writing, particularly the type of writing you are doing. Also study books on writing queries and book proposals.

3. Proofread your manuscript carefully, looking up in Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary any words you aren’t absolutely certain are spelled correctly. Brush up on your grammar skills.

4. Send your manuscript to a professional editor (that’d be me!). Make every correction noted, and take very seriously all suggestions and recommendations for improvement.

5. Study the market. What else is out there similar to what you’re writing? How does your book fill a needed niche? Make note of your findings in your book proposal.

6. Attend writers conferences. This is one of the best venues for new writers to market their manuscripts. Find a conference where staff includes editors from publishing houses that print the type of book you’ve written. Pitch your idea. If an editor asks you to send a proposal, you can send it as “requested material,” which will put you above the unsolicited “slush pile.”

7. If you plan to write more than one book, seek an agent.

8. If you have a way to sell lots of copies yourself, consider subsidy publishing.

9. No matter what, be persistent. Don’t give up. If God has called you to write, He will prepare the path to publication. You must simply follow that “yellow brick road” one step at a time. God knows who He wants to reach and speak to with the words He has called you to put to paper. He also knows how long it takes to get a manuscript accepted and then published and then made available to the general public. He called you to write at the exact right time for His plan and purpose. Trust Him, and trust your calling. Missionaries don’t quit when the going gets tough. Neither should you.

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NOTE: It is an infringement of copyright law to reproduce this
publication, in part or in whole, without the express permission of the
author. To request permission, please e-mail Kathy@KathyIde.com.

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AUTHOR BIO:
Kathy Ide has written books, articles, play and movie scripts, short stories, devotionals, and curriculum. Her books include Polishing the PUGS and Fiction and Truth. Kathy is a full-time freelance editor, offering a full range of editorial services for authors and publishers. She also speaks at writers’ conferences across the country. She is the founder and coordinator of The Christian PEN: Proofreaders and Editors Network (www.TheChristianPEN.com) and the Christian Editor Network (www.ChristianEditor.com). To find out more, please visit www.KathyIde.com.

On Black and White Images

BY SUZANNE WILLIAMS

There are three types of black and white photographs: those taken directly in black and white, those converted from color to black and white, and infrared photographs. Each method has its place in photography and each provides amazing visual appeal.

Plantation House

Contrasts

Deliberately taking a photographic trip strictly to make black and white images opens up a new world in photography because black and white photos are all about contrasts - contrasts in shape, texture, and especially contrasting light.

I have found that one of the best ways to learn more about black and white photography is by watching old black and white films. In the black and white films of yesteryear, items like clothing, hair styles, and the general surroundings of a scene have a much different emphasis. Form, outline, and symmetry are used to leave the impression colors are used for today. If you don't believe me, imagine watching your local weather forecast on a black and white television (I have done this before). It is amazing to realize just how much we rely on color.

Bird of Paradise Leaves

Visualization

Similarly, learning to visualize an image as it would appear in black and white is, I believe, a great way to better your color photography. It causes you to concentrate more on composition than color photography does. This is especially true in the use of infrared filters. Infrared greatly alters elements in a scene. The underlying structural components (tree trunks and limbs, rocks, buildings, even water and skies) become foremost in the scene instead.

Here's another project for visualization. Take a color photo and using Photoshop's Channel Mixer select "Monochrome" and change the picture into a black and white. Save this image, reopen the original again, and repeat the procedure only this time alter the amount of red, green, or blue of each channel.

Implied Color

I once saw a black and white photograph of a beautiful rainbow with the backdrop of a large waterfall. It was amazing to me that I could both recognize it was in fact a rainbow and identify each of the colors. This is because, just as in the example above, black and white still relies on color. Each of the channels, red, green, and blue, are represented.

Knowing this brings up a whole new line of thinking where photography is concerned. And being able to represent color in strictly grayscale tones becomes a really fascinating and challenging subject, especially in infrared images where waters and skies turn black.

Docks, Lake Kissimmee, Florida

With every photograph taken, a photographer should always strive to learn something new. I have found that black and white photography is another great tool I can use to enhance my ability to visualize a scene and to better capture light, whether I am usually a color photographer or not. It allows me to be a bit more creative and yet achieve some fascinating results.

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Suzanne Williams Photography
Florida, USA

Suzanne Williams is a native Floridian, wife, and mother, with a penchant for spelling anything, who happens to love photography.

Warm, Comfortable Story

Reviewed by Phee Paradise

Third Time's a Charm
by Virginia Smith

The only thing I have in common with Tori Sanderson from Third Time’s a Charm is that I have sisters. Tori is young, single, moving up her career ladder and loves to shop. In spite of this, I liked her. Her confident demeanor is hiding a hurt little girl and the book is a story of healing.

Even though I liked Tori, and Ryan, who also likes Tori, it took about a third of the book for me to become invested in her life. As I read about her mean boss, her nosy sisters and her inner hurts, I kept wondering when the story would start. But I began to identify with Tori as I read about her struggles, fears and hopes. Smith’s narrative is natural and her characters grow through their everyday lives. This doesn’t mean there isn’t any drama in the story. It was strong enough to touch my emotions and it wasn’t predictable. There was even some humor, although I would have wrung my sisters’ necks if they had been that pushy with me.

Reading Third Time’s a Charm is like drinking a cup of hot cocoa. It’s warm and delicious. I know you’ll enjoy it.

Pros: Themes of love and forgiveness develop as the main characters grow. It has a happy ending in spite of some pain.

Cons: Slow start and some of the resolutions are a little too pat.

About the book:

There’s not too much in this world that a little retail therapy can’t fix—except maybe the empty hole in your heart from lost and undiscovered love. Tori Sanderson is no exception. Facing abandonment issues with her father, Tori sets out to find the real reason he left her. Along the way she discovers even deeper truths. Add in two matchmaking sisters plus a couple of attractive men vying for Tori’s attention, as well as a tempting job promotion possibility, and you’ve got one confused sister. Through it all, Tori searches for the love she’s been missing all these years.


About the author:

Virginia Smith recently contracted her twelfth book in four years. Previous books in the Sister-to-Sister series include: Stuck in the Middle and Age before Beauty. In 2008 she was named Writer-of-the-Year at Mount Hermon Christian Writers Conference. Stuck in the Middle was a finalist for American Christian Fiction Writers’ 2009 Book of the Year Award. A Taste of Murder was a finalist for the 2009 Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense. Ginny and husband, Ted, divide their time between Lexington, Kentucky, and Salt Lake City, Utah, escaping as often as possible for diving trips to the Caribbean. Admittedly, her adventurous outings are often as much fun as they are “book research.”

For a more indepth look into the life of Virginia Smith visit the KCWC blog.

The Grand Prize will be awarded to one fortunate person who leaves a comment at one of the blog tours participating in the KCWC Third Time's a Charm blog tour. It includes: The complete collection of Virginia Smith books, TEN in all (listed below), with a personal behind-the-scenes commentary written by the author.

Writing and Everyday Activities Series Part 2

Writing Skills and Planting Vegetables

I’ve often thought that gardening is a wonderful picture of writing. There are so many parallels and truths that can be drawn from planting seeds and watching them grow. Here are some ideas to get you thinking.

Preparing a piece of Land
A piece of land left to itself will generally be rocky, thorny and hard - unable to support a seed to maturity. It needs to be prepared for use. In the same way, we need to prepare ourselves to write and be used by God.

Using Garden Implements
Garden tools such as spades, forks and hoes are used to break up hard soil and remove weeds. We can prepare ourselves by listening to other’s comments about our writing and paying attention to them. It can be hard to accept correction and criticism but it is the best way to grow. If unsure about a comment, ask another writer to have a look and see what they say.

Fertilizer and Writing
Sometimes the soil is lacking in certain minerals and needs fertilizer to correct the imbalance. If our writing skills are weak in certain areas, we can read books or take courses to strengthen our abilities. A single weakness such as poor grammar or spelling can ruin a lovely piece of work. Seek out learning opportunities and make the most of them.

Planting Seeds and Caring for Them
Sometimes story ideas need to be buried in our hearts and left to grow. Just as a seed will fail to thrive if we keep digging it up, an immature story idea may need time to develop. Feed it by doing some research and thinking about it but don’t try and force it on to a page until the time is right.

Reaping a Harvest
Seeds planted in soil that has been prepared and watered will bring forth a crop. If we entrust our skills to God while doing our part to prepare our hearts and minds, He will bring results. Our words will come to fruition and touch the lives of those who read them.

This is a simple analogy but one that contains so much depth. I try and plant word seeds daily ... and more and more I’m seeing the fruits of my labor. It’s an ongoing process and I encourage you to start where you are and prepare the soil of your heart for great things.

Read Part 1 - Writing Stories and Baking a Cake

Debbie Roome works as a freelance writer from her home in New Zealand. Visit her at Debbie Roome or read some of her work at Suite 101 , Take Root and Write and Faithwriters.