More than a box of crayons . . .

I’m a rather visual person – I love color, bright shades, highlighted focal walls, coordinating tints. Yep, it’s all around my house. And I’m not alone. My family members, bless their little pointed hearts, have adopted the same thirst for color. One daughter painted her room vivid pink. Let me go on record and say I did try to motivate her toward a lighter, less vibrant shade, but she was absolutely certain it was the ‘perfect’ color. Four walls in this tint and the experience was like living inside a Pepto-Bismol bottle. (No, you can’t use that example; it’s already in my current romantic suspense, Trickle of Lies) The point is that color surrounds us in the real world, yet so often in print, writers languish over the same ‘boring’ words to describe shades.



Did you know that the first box of Crayons was released in 1903 and sold for a nickel a box? Cool trivia fact, save it for the next time you’re playing Trivial Pursuit. Only eight (8) colors were in the box: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet, brown, and black. In 1903 that might have been enough shades, but today’s writers need to get beyond the basics and expand the ‘color’ vocabulary.

Pulling a page from Crayola, writers can deepening the sensory perception of their readers by painting word images with the right colors.

What do these words bring to mind?
Cotton Candy
Deep Sea Blue
Purple Heart
Fire-engine Red
Tar
Head-light White
Sunshine Yellow

How many have never eaten Cotton Candy? Or at least been to a fair or a carnival and seen the sticky stuff? Word of caution: if the writing is destined for heavy distribution in overseas markets, not all of these words will work. For most readers, however, Cotton Candy is universal and provides instant color association. Even in a 95,000 work of fiction, no writer wants to spend ten words to produce color recognition, when one or two will do. Consider options when describing shades. Use personal history. Each of the above images belongs to my background. What shades come from your history?

Still grappling with sensory perception? Here are a few more examples to get started:

Purple: plum, violet, lavender, lilac, Purple Mountain Majesty (thanks to Crayola)

Pink: orchid, fuchsia, shrimp, carnation, rose, blush, salmon, Wild Strawberry (thanks to Crayola)

Gray: steel, slate, iron, dove, metallic, silver, Timberwolf (thanks to Crayola)

Blue: sky, aqua, Bluebonnet, navy, periwinkle, Denim (thanks to Crayola

Green: lime, sea-green, kiwi, celery, avocado, leaf, Granny Smith Apple (thanks to Crayola)

Yellow: sunshine, lemon, banana, mustard, dandelion, SunGlow (thanks to Crayola)

Red: crimson, blood, Christmas red, scarlet, apple, Brick Red (thanks to Crayola)

Black: coal, ebony, midnight, tar, ink, onxy, Outer Space (thanks to Crayola)

Share a few of your favorites.

~~SANDRA
HARM'S WAY

I Love The Terminator, But Not the Tagline.

Save the Cat (a fantastic book on screenwriting by Blake Snyder) asks the question - "What is the screenplay/movie about? Can you describe it to a studio executive in one line?" (I'll post about this book next week). I started thinking about which movies sang to me. What sparkled? Which movies can I watch again and again, which books do I read over and over?

I love The Terminator by James Cameron. When the movie was released in 1984 I had no plans to watch, nope – not for me. But the somewhat-significant-other rented the video, he wanted to watch it. So we did and I loved it! If the somewhat-significant-other hadn't been interested in gunfire, I may never have seen the movie.

Why? I searched movie databases. I discovered I wasn't the target audience. The producers and distributors promoted an action movie with the tagline(s), “In the Year of Darkness, 2029, the rulers of this planet devised the ultimate plan. They would reshape the Future by changing the Past. The plan required something that felt no pity. No pain. No fear. Something unstoppable. They created 'THE TERMINATOR'” The movie trailer introduces the movie with the phrase, “In the future a weapon….it feels no pain, no remorse.”

So, was it an action movie? Yes. Time Travel – definitely, and I love the paradox of time travel. Did it carry a warning about war and nuclear holocaust? Yes. Was the description of the movie accurate? Pretty much even though I could have tightened it to read - "Machines rule the planet. They have one goal, exterminate the human race. They have the technology. Can mankind survive?"

But I still think this movie was about something else, something enduring - love. The Terminator is a love story, first and foremost. The release was a success, surprising everyone. If the tagline for the movie had been different, would it have garnered as large an audience? A smaller one? Would it have languished on a dusty shelf in a video store? And did the men watching this movie realize they were in thrall of a romance?

All of the above brings me to the following questions:

1) What is the movie, story about? What one line plot description would you have used?

2) What if The Terminator had been marketed differently? How would you describe the movie? Should we look at the way we package the romance genre and would that increase the reader base to include more men? Our books are often filled with action, time travel and mystery.

3) What made this movie sparkle? Did the movie sparkle for you?

For me the sparkle was the timeless, undying love of Kyle for Sarah. The scene that sticks in my mind is when Kyle tells Sarah, “I came through time for you, Sarah. I love you. I always have.” The film's love scene wasn't graphic (the violence was, the sex wasn't) but this scene was powerful. A brillant flash of sparkle came in the close-up of the clenching of their hands.

Please, tell me what you think? I'm eager for discussion and I can't wait to read your one line plot descriptions.

Can You Juggle? Better Learn If You're Tackling Subplots

Managing subplots is not easy. How many times have yours succumbed to a slow, quiet death? Taken over because the secondary characters became more riveting than the main characters? Do they follow the same rules of plotting as the primary plot?

At the recent RWA National Convention in Dallas, Rita-winner Alesia Holliday, who also writes as Alyssa Day, tackled some of the challenges facing writers, both plotters and pantsers, when juggling these mini-stories tucked inside our novels. The highlights:

1) Her golden rule: If a subplot scene doesn't deepen characterization or advance plot, cut it. Subplots can either support or antagonize the main plot, but they must have a purpose beyond trying to stretch word length. Make sure your conflict is as strong in the subplot as it is in the main plot.

2) When considering a Tertiary Plot (or 2nd subplot) consider the length and complexity of the main plot and 1st subplot. Will your main characters become lost? Are the characters populating your story so many that you've created "cardboard cutouts" instead of true, developed identities?

3) To determine how much subplot is too much, base the length on its impact to the story. Try ranking subplots in order to determine when to begin and end them and how many pages to devote. As a general guideline, all subplots together should be no more than half the length of your main plot.

4) Seasoned writers know the subplot must be resolved before the main plot, but options are not limited to the HEA ending found in the primary plot of novels in the romance genre. Subplots that show character growth can be equally satisfying emotionally. And what about a series book? What better way to leave your readers wanting more than to leave a few strands unresolved? One great tip is to make secondary characters with a point of view in your subplot become the hero/heroine of the next book.

5) When you feel your subplot is off balance, try:

*highlighting your manuscript using a distinct color for the subplot. Pluck those pages from the main stack and read through only that color for continuity.

*listing all scenes involved in your subplot. Sometimes seeing the scenes in a numerical context can let you know the ratio of the subplot to the main in terms of space.

*using spreadsheets, index cards, storyboards--anything you can to keep track of subplots. The writing-by-the-seat "pantsers" who cringe at the thought of organized writing can make use of these on the back end, once the first draft is written, to see the subplot's overall picture.

Lastly, if you're planning overarching series plots, keep volumes of notebooks at the beginning. It's far easier to plan subplots at this stage than to write yourself into an impossible corner when editors and readers come clamoring back wanting more.

Visit Alesia's website or online journal to find out more about her upcoming books.

How do you manage subplots?

Revisions

My day to sparkle blog. :) I've been thinking about it all day, wondering what subject to take on. I've been deep in revisions for a while now. Determined to whip my three most marketable manuscripts into shape. I've reworked #1, a 60k romcom. It's circulating. I'm hitting #2, which is an unweildy beast of 100k. Making notes for #3.

Then it hit me. REVISIONS!! Duh. (Talk about writing what you know . . .)

I love it that Romance Writers of America offers a PRO status to every writer who's finished their first book and submitted it to an agent or editor. That's great. Really. But the magic doesn't happen until the revisions. Some manuscripts need more than others, as I'm finding out.

#2 has gone through a series of revisions. And I've asked myself: How many? The answer is: As many as it takes.

I'm past the "typo" and "bad grammar/sentence structure" phase. I've moved on to bigger issues like: does this plot thread serve the greater story question? Is this character's action fully motivated? Is this dialogue strong enough to be "tagless"? Do the plot lines intersect at the right place? Have I chosen the right word to convey tone? Have I made this book stand out? Does it have "sparkle"?

Tough questions, I know. But if I don't have the answer who does?

Each time I think the ms is clean and ready to hit the door, I print it out to take a continuity read. If I can revise on the page then I know I have to sit back down and do some work.

On the converse, I am so relieved and overjoyed when I can get through entire chunks of pages/chapters without changing or modifying a single word.

This is the real "writers life". If it doesn't sound appealing then don't jump in. On the other hand, if you're like me, revel in the puzzlemania of the story and the process as a whole, this is the career for you!

The best way I know how to take on revisions is one sentence at a time. Sorry, that's the answer(for now). If you have a better method, please shoot me an email. (please!).

Remember, writing that first draft is its own reward. But the magic happens in the revisions. :)

Happy Writing(and Revising)


Sherry

If You Build It, They Will Come

Justin Knupp, president and chief designer at Stonecreek Media, has this to say about creating a writer's professional-looking website:

1. Keep in mind your target audience. If you're unpublished, direct your content to agents and editors. Excerpts, awards, projects, professional associations should all be included. Plaster your email address everywhere. At this stage, you're selling yourself as a secondary product, so the content is geared as much toward the writer as the writing. If you're published, the focus shifts to readers and potential readers. Involve them in what you're working on now and next. Be sure to include speaking engagements, press kits, both low and high resolution photos, bio, short blurbs and extended blurbs. Marjorie M. Liu posts deleted scenes from her fantastic books on her website. Create something your readers can't get anywhere else.

2. Don't forget to protect yourself. Copyright information should be visible and updated each year. Be sure to password protect any excerpts. This also goes for blog content.

3. Rule of three. No more than three fonts, colors or random design patterns. Use clear snapshots. Make sure all pages have the same look and feel to ensure smooth web page transition for the audience and create a cohesive author brand.

4. Social and Viral Networks are great for drawing potential readers. MySpace won't sell your books, but if you play nice and make friends, the traffic to your website and links to ALL booksellers can grow exponentially. YouTube trailers, if done well, not only add a great visual to your blogs and websites, but reach visually-oriented consumers in a way that reviews and other print advertisement cannot.

5. Both pre-published and published authors should have a way to gather a database of names and contact information. Newsletters deliver your message to reader's inboxes and urge them to return to your website and blog, thereby increasing traffic and re-enforcing your author brand. Yahoogroups serve the same purpose, but some visitors won't like the extra steps necessary to sign up. Contest tie-ins, book giveaways and other freebies are all great ways to build a visitor's list, just make sure you let them know and find opt-in, opt-out software for user friendliness.

6. Want to be higher on Google? As of January, Google has again changed the way it tracks website content. Make sure your site navigation, along with interactive buttons, is in text form on every page, key words and descriptions are used in text form on your homepage and all metatags are in place.

According to Mr. Knupp, immersive media websites are the next wave of book promotion. He recommended the websites of J.K. Rowling, Alison Brennan and Sherrilyn Kenyon as great examples of this.

His position? Always go for a professional, of course. Stonecreek Media will put together a basic, 5 page, no blog website for around $525.