Month: September 2012

DEVOTION by Marianne Evans – My Review

/ Dora Hiers / 7 Comments
About the Book:

From This Day Forward
Christian Music agent Kellen Rossiter has everything he ever wanted: A-list clients from coast to coast, a loving wife who honors and respects him, and a faith life that’s never wavered—until now.

Juliet Rossiter has the perfect life: a rewarding schedule serving the underprivileged, a husband who loves her as Christ loved the church, and a blessed future as a mother—at least that’s what she thinks.

For Better or Worse
But what happens when their rock-solid marriage begins to crumble under the weight of an unexpected and powerful temptation? How does love survive when its foundation is shaken?

‘Til Death Do Us Part
When human frailty and the allure of sin deal a harsh blow to their relationship, it will take more than love to mend the shattered trust and heartbreak. It will take a lifetime of devotion. 

My Review:
From all outward indications, Kellen and Juliet appeared to have the perfect marriage. Both Christians, they share the same values and long to complete their family with children. A successful music agent, Kellen falls into a pattern of skipping worship services, choosing instead to worship at home. Juliet, active in church and various outreach opportunities, loves her husband and her life. When Kellen signs a rising star, he struggles with desire and temptation for a woman other than his wife for the first time in his marriage. 

What a powerful reminder that no marriage is immune to temptation and that we engage in spiritual warfare for our families on a daily basis. It’s so easy to let life get in the way, to allow relationships to take a back-burner to jobs and responsibilities, and to slip into convenient routines. Kellen and Juliet battled realistic emotions, with plenty of angst and heavy drama you’d expect for a story line centered around temptation and broken trust. This is a story of re-commitment, renewal, and devotion to God and each other. It’s also a gem of a romance. If you’re looking for a book to squeeze in a couple hours on a lazy Sunday afternoon, Devotion probably isn’t the book you should reach for. Don’t expect to read it in one sitting, and be sure to have a box of tissues handy. Great job tackling such a tough topic, Ms. Evans!

Purchase Link: White Rose Publishing Pre-order Special Offer. Choose either a special 30% discounted pre-order price, or pre-order at the regular retail price and receive a $10.00 eBook gift certificate to use store-wide*. Every eligible pre-order will be automatically entered into a drawing to win either a Kindle or Nook. (See Pelican Book Group site for details.) Available 10/15/12
 
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from BTS in exchange for a fair and honest review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Organizing a Pantser

/ Dora Hiers / 6 Comments

So, you’ve made the decision to migrate from Pantser to Plotter. Now what?

As a Pantser (not under contract), you have flexibility in your schedule. You may have a daily word count goal, but with no deadline, it doesn’t really matter if you reach your goal. You can make up for it the next day or just extend the length of time it takes to write the book.

But what happens when you become a Plotter and submit a proposal for three books that aren’t yet written? A component of the proposal requires a completion date. How do you come up with a time frame to complete the books?

Hmmm…

A calendar?

Not the ideal solution. Especially when you’re working on multiple books. There’s just no easy way to adjust.

A timeline would work. One with the capability to insert tasks by book and keep a running word count total.

You can google timeline and and find hundreds of timelines. Please be sure to pop back over here and let me know if you find something that works for you. I didn’t.

Instead, I chose to create a fairly basic Excel document with the month, date, book, task, words added, and a running total. I mapped out each book with the targeted word count, taking into consideration vacations and holidays. I used “fill color” to highlight different books, so that I can easily decipher the transition from one book to the next. I add my word count for each day, and adjust if necessary. According to my timeline, I should finish Book #5 by early 2014. And now, I have completion dates for my proposal.

It’s not ideal, either, but it works for now.

It’s your turn.
If you’re a Plotter, which organizational software works well for you?

Can A Pantser Evolve Into A Plotter?

/ Dora Hiers / 8 Comments
A couple weeks ago, I alluded to crossroads and major decisions. One of them was to join up with the team at Seriously Write. 

Another was resolving to evolve from pantser to plotter. For those of you unfamiliar with the terms:
A pantser sits down in front of their laptop and starts typing, with only a few rough ideas for either characters or story floating around in their head. A pantser allows their characters the freedom of writing their own story.
A plotter uses a “roadmap” or outline and finds their rhythm by organizing their thoughts prior to any actual writing. A plotter logs hours in their hero/heroine’s heads with fully developed character charts. They write a detailed, chapter-by-chapter synopsis before starting the book, so they know where the book is going, and how it will end.
If you’d like more detail on plotters and pantsers, check out my earlier post here.
Usually, a writer falls naturally into one category. Trying to do the opposite of what comes natural is like writing left-handed when you normally use your right. Early on, I tried both methods, but plotting frustrated me so much that I considered inflicting serious damage to my laptop.
As I celebrated with writer friends over their multi-book contracts, I knew that I’d never be able to accomplish this if I couldn’t learn to plot. A key component of the proposal is the synopsis, the summary of your book. No synopsis=No proposal. 

There’s nothing wrong with writing a book, submitting it, and settling in to wait for a contract. But, I want to grow as a writer, to expand my comfort zone. This pantser is determined to evolve into a plotter. I just finished synopses for two unwritten books, and I’m working on a proposal for three more. 

Want to know how? I’ll share my secrets. 🙂

Pray.

Characters. I’m a visual person. I need pictures, so I started by finding my hero/heroine online and getting to know them. Then, I asked my character (whichever one you connect with first) these questions.
What do you want? (Goal)
Why do you want it? (Motivation)
Why can’t you have it? (Conflict) 

Develop the story idea/premise. What terrible thing happened in my character’s past to make them how they are today? Keep asking “what if?” until you come up with a story idea. 
Write the first few pages, expecting to delete them. Writing the backstory helped me flesh out the characters more, so that I could go back and fill in some of the blanks. Just write a bit and let words flow. It’s OK. You can, and probably will, delete them. The goal is for the story to reveal itself. You may need to tweak the premise after doing this.
Picture the story sequence in your head. This helped me tremendously, probably more than anything else. Do what it takes for you to find your zone. Close your eyes. Throw in a CD. Let your dog walk you around the park. Record the chapter number, the date, point-of-view, and what you expect to happen in that chapter/scene. If you know how you want the book to end, you can skip down and work backward.

So far, this process is working for me, but the true test will be if I can actually write the book. I’ll keep you posted.

What about you? If you’re a pantser, how do you write proposals?
Do you ever see yourself evolving into a plotter?