Hello all who have come by today!
Today I'm hosting Aussie author, Jennifer St George, who is on a promo tour for her novel, The Convenient Bride, published by Destiny Romance. Jennifer has some awesome tips to share to revolution our writing. We can always learn a little more about our craft.
Over to you Jennifer:
Recently
I developed a workshop concept with my fellow Destiny Romance author Louise
Reynolds for the 2013 RWA conference to be held in Fremantle, WA in 2013. It
made me think about the key concepts or ah ha moments that changed my
writing for the better. These are my top five:
Find Jennifer on the web:
Denise here!
The Convenient Bride sounds fabulous.
Another book was just launched yesterday by my lovely American blogger friend Kittie Howard. Check out Kittie's site for more details. Kittie just told me that Rings is already Amazon #24,486 on out-of-popular-genre-arena books. Go Kittie!
In "Rings of Trust," fear reigns along a sleepy bayou road in rural South Louisiana in 1953. The Civil Rights Movement has taken root in the consolidated South. Not everyone wants to return to the shadowed past the Ku Klux Klan espouses.
I hope you will support both authors in their new ventures!
Today I'm hosting Aussie author, Jennifer St George, who is on a promo tour for her novel, The Convenient Bride, published by Destiny Romance. Jennifer has some awesome tips to share to revolution our writing. We can always learn a little more about our craft.
Over to you Jennifer:
Five
Things That Revolutionized my Writing
Recently
I developed a workshop concept with my fellow Destiny Romance author Louise
Reynolds for the 2013 RWA conference to be held in Fremantle, WA in 2013. It
made me think about the key concepts or ah ha moments that changed my
writing for the better. These are my top five:
1. Getting
My Writing Style Right!
I’m a
planner. Always have been but my writing style was true ‘pantser’.
It didn’t feel right, but I didn’t know how to fix it. First Draft in
Thirty Days by Karen Wiesner gave me the keys to unlocking the natural
planner in me. I credit this craft book with enabling me to write much
more efficiently.
2. I
Want to be Just Like Her!
I
ventured into my first RWA conference in Brisbane a few years ago and didn’t
know a soul. At the Awards Dinner, I watched as unstoppable Kylie
Griffin scooped award after award. I thought, I want to be just like
her. During a break I asked her was there any one thing that had made
a big difference to her writing. Enter Margie Lawson’s the EDIT
system. This logical, practical edit system shows things in your writing
you might otherwise never see. It can be tricky to master but stick with
it.
3. The
simple GMC
Debra
Dixon’s Goal, Motivation, Conflict is a wonderful tool for writers and I use it
before I begin a book. However, my lovely friend, Desire author Rachel Bailey
gave me a shorthand version that I keep ‘front and centre’ whilst I
write. Why not this woman for this man and why not this man for this
woman? So simple, yet so useful.
4. Emotional
Order is Important
The
talented Nikki Logan calls it the natural order of things, that is, how a
character reacts to stimuli. It’s important to have the order right
starting with the visceral leading to the subconscious and ending with the
conscious. This is how we react in every day life. For an author, it is
important to capture this on the page, or the reader may feel something is not
quite right.
5. Always
Finish the Book
The very
first craft workshop I attended was given by the phenomenal Melanie Milburne. She
taught me so many things that I’ve used everyday in the years since
in developing my writing skills. One piece of advice that really made an
impression was, always finish the book. Again, sounds so simple,
but without that advice I probably would have begun many different books
without actually finishing them. As she said, how do you know how to
write ‘the middle’ and ‘the end’ if you’ve never done it?
Combined, these
five concepts progressed my writing to a higher level. Perhaps some of
these ideas will provide other aspiring writers with that wonderful ah ha
moment!
Buy Her Book:
The Convenient Bride
Sienna De Luca will do anything to save her family's
hotel, and ruthless Italian businessman Antonio Moretti knows it. With problems
of his own, he proposes a marriage of convenience and plans to use Sienna to
secure his next business deal. But things don't go quite according to plan.
In keeping with her part of the bargain, Sienna travels
to Venice to be with Antonio, who introduces her to a life of great luxury and
opulence. As befits the fiancée of the famous Antonio Moretti, Sienna is given
a new wardrobe of designer gowns and outfits and instructed exactly how to
behave when out in public. But after thinking he can manipulate her at his
will, Antonio begins to realise he has seriously underestimated Sienna, her
intelligence, her skills, her courage – and her beauty. Unexpectedly, Sienna
gets too close and when she discovers his dark secret, Antonio's perfectly
planned life begins to unravel.
I will be giving a Kindle copy of The Convenient Bride to one lucky commenter here today!
The Convenient Bride sounds fabulous.
Another book was just launched yesterday by my lovely American blogger friend Kittie Howard. Check out Kittie's site for more details. Kittie just told me that Rings is already Amazon #24,486 on out-of-popular-genre-arena books. Go Kittie!In "Rings of Trust," fear reigns along a sleepy bayou road in rural South Louisiana in 1953. The Civil Rights Movement has taken root in the consolidated South. Not everyone wants to return to the shadowed past the Ku Klux Klan espouses.
I hope you will support both authors in their new ventures!
