NANOWRIMO SUCCESS PART 1 - PREPARE
National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is about to start. Every November, writers from around the world set out with the goal of writing a novel, about 50,000 words, in one month. We thought, how cool it would be to help our listeners get through NaNoWriMo with support, encouragement, and some great tips and ideas from someone who has successfully completed it. Join Jamie K. Schmidt and me for a little inspiration and a lot of motivation in this 5-part series.
Let a one-on-one mentor help you get that book out of your head and on to the page. Get started here!
TIPS FOR YOUR MYSTERY OPENING CHAPTERS
The first page of your mystery needs to intrigue your reader. It has to pull them in and make them wonder what’s going on or who did it. Today we bring you tips for your first pages from author Chaunie Bruise.
Let a one-on-one mentor help you get that book out of your head and on to the page. Get started here!
PLANTING CLUES
You’re in a race with your readers. The readers are trying to guess what will happen. You’re trying to spring that ‘whodunnit’ on the readers before they guess. Who will win? Those readers really don’t want to guess…they want to be surprised. But they want that sporting chance to beat you and get there ahead of you. Ideally, you have planted just enough clues, you have sneaked in just enough hints, that when you unveil that ‘whodunnit’, your readers sigh, “Oh, I should have guessed!” THAT gives you a satisfied reader! Join us as we talk about how to outfox your readers.
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INTERVIEW WITH KATE MILFORD
Kate Milford is the New York Times bestselling author of The Thief Knot, as well as Greenglass House (winner of the Edgar award for juvenile literature, long-listed for the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, and a nominee for the Andre Norton Award and the Agatha Award for Children’s/YA).
We talk about:
• What makes a good mystery?
• Do you write a mystery differently than any other kind of novel?
• What are 3 things every mystery should have?
• What are 3 things every mystery writer should avoid?
• Self-aware ironmongery
• Here’s a mystery: 9 books and two kids - how?
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PLANNING YOUR NOVEL
At any time you speak to a writer, they may easily be either planning a novel, writing a novel, or revising a novel. Always. And sometimes a writer could be doing more than one of those at a time. As a result, a fairly streamlined process for novel creation can develop––for that writer, anyway––and Jan Fields’ process is a good one to share here.
Get a one-on-one mentor to help you write publishable work that agents and publishers are looking for! Get started here!