Randy Ingermanson is known as the “snowflake guy” for his approach to story development.  His approach quite closely mirrors the approach I have designed over the last decade and what we use when writing fiction at Writers of the Round Table.  He very eloquently, yet simply lays out an approach of how a story goes from being a simple triangle in your mind with only three distinct points, to be coming a snowflake, rich in texture and completely unique.

http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/art/snowflake.php

Last week, I had to write 14 blogs for five different clients, two articles for two different clients, and prepare outlines for two ebooks on completely different subjects (nutrition and marketing). At the end of it all, I realized that I had amassed a bundle of new-found knowledge. Thanks to the clients who trust me to pen their works — from a short blog to a full-length book — I must do extensive research into an endless wealth of subject areas. From potty training and foot care to  the wonders of bamboo fibers, the newest trends in sustainable design, and securing foreign investors, I have become a more knowledgeable, enlightened individual — and the newly crowned queen of Trivial Pursuit! I love my work and the people who make it so darn entertaining: my co-workers and clients. To all of you, thanks for giving me the gift of learning!

I work closely (week to week) with about a dozen different writers every year and part of our process is a VERY in depth character bible for any character that makes a significant appearance in a story.

The process works like this:

1. Label the greatest failures and successes in your character’s life up to the point in which they enter the story (as they relate to the major issues we all encounter: love, money, family, sex, drugs, art, accomplishments, education, career).

2. Using a narrative approach, describe the events of each and every one of those failures and successes.

3. When you’ve got 20 pages per character, Read the rest of this entry »

POV is a brilliant tool once you get the hang of it.  Admittedly, it took me a year of intentional practice to get it right.  I had submitted what I thought was a fantastic fantasy vampire manuscript to an agent and she pointed out all the “head hopping”.  Rewriting that forced me to learn.

The way that I explain POV to writers I work with is by using a film analogy.  The scene is the scene, what happens is what happens, but where you put the camera makes all the difference in the world.  Consider a scene from your book and think of how it would be shot for a movie.  Are you looking down on the action?  Are you looking up at it?  Are you seeing it from the perspective of a single person in the room?

POV is an opportunity to Read the rest of this entry »

With blogging taking off like mad and people and businesses realizing the potential of generating a dedicated readership, we have been flooded with those who want to blog, but are:

1.       burnt out from already blogging for a while;
2.       intimidated because they have yet to blog; or
3.       just too busy to make time to blog.

As a result we have taken on nearly a dozen new clients that we blog for just in the last 30 days.  And WOW, we’re having fun and they are just bowled over.  Here are two responses I saw yesterday:

“Incredible, Awesome, wonderful, and on top of it all you have exceeded my expectations! Can’t wait to see the new blogs. You are Unbelievable!”

“Wow! Now that is impressive!”

Sue Publicover and I are in the process of building an entire business model around blogging.  Here’s what we do:

1.       Write and post exceptional blogs.
2.       Generate multiple profiles on social networking sites for the blogs to feed into.
3.       Find and comment on related sites, drawing those dedicated readers to the new blog.

This combination is explosive and if repeated over time, has the potential to generate great visibility and strong leads for our clients.  And all at a price point that cannot be beaten for this type of quality.  Blogging is such a cost-effective way of marketing what you do, and it is amazing how many bad writers are trying to write their own blogs and actually pushing people away when a service like this is available!  I suppose we need to get the word out!

Happy Blogging!

Nathan Brown has created a stunning and moody web design concept for my book with Angelica Harris, Excalibur Reclaims Her King.  We plan to launch the site before X-Mas as Angelica and I put the final touches on the manuscript. We actually intend to turn it over for formatting later on today!

I’ve heard weigh-in on this question by the greats and the not yet greats, and there are so many varying opinions.  Some don’t want to read the work of others, for fear that the words and metaphors they read will sneak into their own writing.  Others crave the words of others and throw caution to the wind.  I’m a firm believer that reading other’s work is imperative to your own.  The act of reading exceptional writing is an injection of stem cells directly to your imagination.  Great writing has a literal way of activating new pathways in your brain and opening up areas of new thought.  As a business owner, I am constantly reading books on leadership.  As an artist, I am constantly reading books on creativity.  Both speak about similar topics but through completely different lenses.  Consider it like a film.  The scene is the scene, but where you put the camera makes all the difference.  It’s the same argument of form vs. content.  If you package the same thing in a different way, it becomes a different thing.  With more than 6 billion people on the planet, there really are no new ideas (cliché because it’s true), there are merely new lenses, new ways of looking at old conversations.  So dive into the work of others and let it expand your own horizons.