how to write – Selina J. Eckert

Survival part 2: How to Write Survival Stories

Last week, we discussed why I personally love survival stories. We talked about how they can showcase the ingenuity of humanity, the way they can make us as readers think and problem solve, and how they reveal the strength of the human spirit.

Today, I’m going to speak a bit closer to the writers in the room. What is it about a survival story that makes it strong, that pulls on a reader’s heartstrings? How do we create a powerful survival story? Let’s look at four key points of a good survival story.

There needs to be high stakes conflict

Survival is high stakes, so the circumstances in which the character finds themselves needs to be high stakes as well. There have to be heart-pounding moments of terror, moments when it’s really uncertain if the character will survive. Mild circumstances or when there is any doubt in the reader’s mind about the possibility of the character not surviving will kill the tension of the story before it even begins. So no long, slow, tedious walks in the forest – at least not without encountering something more immediate. But we’ll get to that in point 3. 😉

Don’t be afraid to cut your character off and make them suffer. I know that sounds horrible, but without it, the story falls flat.

Conflict needs to be both internal and external

It’s really easy in a survival story to focus on the conflict of person vs. nature, since that’s the main focus of most survival stories. But that is a superficial story structure, and without something more, the reader won’t connect or care about the outcome of the story.

Just like in any story, we need something to make us care, and often that’s the internal conflict. We learn about the bits and pieces of the main character’s life, the things they’re struggling with, and how it relates to the life-or-death circumstances in which they find themselves.

We get to know the character, and then we can care about what happens to them.

There needs to be urgency

It’s so easy to write a slow survival story. I know. I’ve done it.

But that’s boring.

I know, it might be plausible to see a person slowly starving or something similar, but it doesn’t exactly drive the story forward. (refer back to point #1)

But, if you give the character a deadline of some sort – a life-threatening injury, danger to someone they love that is imminent – it adds a layer of tension to the story that will keep the reader of the edge of their seat, begging to know what happens next, begging to know if they’ll make it or fail/die.

It needs to be plausible

Finally, your survival story needs to be plausible. I can’t tell you how many stories I’ve seen that are grounded on faulty premises…one that comes to mind is a post-apocalyptic EMP story in which the EMP killed most of the life on Earth. Right there, that is not realistic, as EMPs only affect electronic devices. Not the health of a creature.

So whatever circumstances your character finds themselves in, it needs to be something truthful, believable, and scientifically plausible, or you’ll lose your reader.

Final Thoughts

So now that you’ve heard what I consider to be the key elements to a good survival story, I’m interested to see what you think makes it. Are there other components you can think of? Other conflicts you like to see in these stories? Let me know in the comments or send me a tweet!

Happy writing, and see you next week for some of my favorite survival story recommendations!

Discovery Writing for Outliners

How do you discovery write with an outline?

In the writing world, there are typically two types of pre-writing techniques that people discuss: planning and pantsing. Planning, or outlining, means the author takes the time to plan out each part of the book, every plot point, subplot, and character arc. Pantsing (writing by the seat of your pants), or discovery writing, as Brandon Sanderson puts it in his Writing Excuses podcast, is writing without planning out what you’re doing.

And then, of course, there is a hybrid of the two, which is usually about where I fall. So how does one plan and also discovery write? Well, I’m glad you asked. That’s the topic of today’s post!

Planning

To discovery write as a planner, you of course need to start with some sort of plan. What that looks like may vary from person to person, but here is the basic idea:

Plotting your story beats. Story beats are the points in the story when major things happen, such as your inciting incident, midpoint, and climax. I follow K.M. Weiland’s Helping Writers Become Authors method for this, with a 3-act structure, for many of my stories. In general, having these mile posts provide a loose structure and goal posts for your writing, giving you direction for your writing. For me, they also give me how many words I should have at each point so I can get closer to my final target word counts (which is good for marketing and querying).
Plotting out the beginning and end. Another method of pre-planning is to just explain what happens in the beginning and what happens at the end. Nothing else, just where you start and where you’re going.
Plot the character arcs. This is one other way you can pre-plot: you figure out where you characters start and where they are going. This might be more applicable for perhaps a contemporary story or character-driven fiction.

Discovery Writing

After you have something small plotted and your milestones in place, the next part is the fun part: you get to just write to see what happens. And it’s perfectly fine to have ideas for scenes already in your head as you start, too! But this will allow for more flexibility to grow your characters and your world, as you’re not constrained by your outline.

I have found when I use a combination of outlining and discovery writing that I develop richer stories with deeper meaning. Take the next Seasons of Magic release, All That Glimmers, for example. I started this book with a simple outline highlighting the main character’s need for academic validation.

And then, as I was writing between my outline points, I discovered that my main character was grieving. She had lost one of her closest friends. And she was desperate to get her back.

By allowing myself this flexibility, I provided the space to develop a deep theme and push my characters with intense motivations that ultimately led to a better story than I had imagined when I started.

And, to me, that’s the beauty of this hybrid method.

Disclaimers and Final Thoughts

Every author approaches their writing process differently, and everyone I’ve ever talked to has gone through a different writing process for every book until they find something that works for them. And that’s both okay and expected. Every person’s brain is different, and what works for one will not work for all.

That said, this is a method, found through trial and error, that works well for me! Using a hybrid, I have a road map that allows me to keep pushing toward each smaller goal, which is much less overwhelming to me than just pushing to the ending. But I also get to just have fun with the writing.

And I will tell you, I have tried both methods to the letter. I over-outlined early on…and broke the outline almost immediately because my new ideas wouldn’t fit. I’d wasted so much time creating the first outline, then making a new outline, then another new outline when I broke it again. I’ve also written a book entirely by pantsing, starting with nothing more than a character. Well, that book is still on a shelf waiting for a full rewrite. Because I figured out important points that completely changed the story as I wrote, and the beginning of it is no good anymore. And I will never pants a story with no outlining every again.

But you know what? This is the beauty of being a writer. It’s experimentation and creation. It’s trying new things and finding things you love. It’s creating the way you work so you can create beautiful worlds and stories.

So, even if this method doesn’t work for you, chin up my friends. You will find your methods. Just keep trying new things. 🙂

~~~

What is your writing process like? Do you consider yourself a plotter, pantser, or hybrid writer? Let’s talk in the comments!

3 Things to Consider When Writing Seasonal Stories

You may have noticed that I recently began releasing seasonally-themed novellas (if not, scroll to the bottom for the latest news!). I have plenty of reasons for creating these books, but have you ever considered what exactly goes in to preparing a book for a seasonal release? Let’s talk about three things to consider before releasing your own seasonal stories!

You probably have to start off season

Yup, I started writing my summer story actually way back last winter. And my next release, a treat filled with all things fall, I had to start in July.

Now, I’ll admit that you can technically start during that time of year when you want to release (or even one year prior to release), and if you’re fast enough, you can release the same year. But if you’re like me, you take some time to write and revise, then you spend extra time finding beta readers, hiring developmental editing, and picking phenomenal proofreaders, not to mention finding someone to design the cover!

There’s a lot to do, and publishing something start to finish within a short timeframe is not easy.

So, for me, I have to start writing 3-4 months in advance, putting me squarely one season too early.

Planning out the release dates is important

As you might expect, picking the right release date is incredibly important when you have a story that is associated with a particular time of year. I chose October 31 to release Pumpkin Spice Pie-Jinks because my main character is a pie witch and the story is heavily influenced by Hansel and Gretel (aka CANDY)…perfect for Halloween!

But honestly, it still would have worked if I released in November.

But consider a Christmas story. It may make the most sense to release it just after Thanksgiving, when a lot of people are gearing up for Christmas and super excited about it! But you only get about one month to get people to read the story before they move on until the next year. You have a little bit less of a window for that kind of release than you would for a simple summer release, which gives you a much larger window, probably from about May to August.

Keep seasonal themes and tropes in mind

Remember that if someone is reading your story, it’s likely because they want to dive into the feelings and sparkle of the season. So play it up!

Summer? Have that beach. Go to the state fair. Jump into the jungle.

Fall? All the pumpkin spice. All the leaves. All the spooky ghosts and cozy fires.

Winter? Dance on the twinkling Christmas lights. Traverse the blustery tundra. Build snowmen!

Spring? All about renewal! Have those rainstorms. Let the flowers grow.

Don’t shy away from embracing all the things people love about the season, and put your reader into those feelings!

Final Thoughts

There are plenty of things that you may consider when writing for specific seasons and times of year, but today I talked about three you can start with and build from. Remember to give yourself time to create it, pick a date people will associate with the story, and give yourself permission to embrace all the wonderful things about that season!

Do you have any advice or thoughts for people who want to write seasonal stories? Share it in the comments and let’s talk!

~~~

News!

Pumpkin Spice Pie-Jinks has a release date! Expect it at all major retailers on October 31st. Until then, you can find it on Goodreads or preorder through the Universal Link (please be patient if not everything is there yet…each retailer has its own turnaround from submission to available).

Overwriting: How Do I Cut It Down?

My book is too long! Now what???

Last week, we took a look at how to bulk out a story and add words. We discussed how we can add in subplots or characters, create new scenes we may have glossed over in earlier drafts, show rather than tell, and discuss what may be lacking with our beta readers.

This week, we will address the opposite problem: overwriting. Overwriting is when your word count is higher than your target, and if you plan to query, it’s important to remove the excess so that an agent will take your work seriously (look back to this post if you want a reminder of why word count matters).

Dealing with Deleting

Cutting your work can be hard. So before we even discuss that, let’s talk about overcoming the emotional and mental hurdle of paring down your manuscript.

You may have heard the phrase kill your darlings, and very simply put, that means we shouldn’t hang on to things just because we like them. They need more of a reason to stay.

For me, I find it’s easier to start cutting things out when I spend at least a month away from a work. That way I’m less attached to it. If I don’t wait long enough, lots of useless darlings stay in my work and weigh it down.

However, just because something doesn’t work in your current story doesn’t mean it will never work. You can always copy/paste your darlings into another document to repurpose later. Even if you never come back to it, you can rest assured that your darlings aren’t gone forever…they just moved. And if you decide you want to add them back in, they’re easy to find again.

But often you won’t even be able to notice, and your manuscript will be better for it.

How to find places to trim

Extra subplots and characters

Yup, extra words can lurk in unnecessary subplots and characters. For example, the first few versions of This Cursed Flame included several extra characters: Alem, Cody, and Afya. And none of them made the final cut. Here’s why:

Alem: this was a character substituting for the real antagonist. He chased the main characters around when all along a different character should have had this place. And so I cut him. (Plus, his name was really similar to the big bad, Ahriman. That can be confusing!)

Cody: this one was hard. But this character served no purpose and had no influence on the outcome of the story. He was fluff, there to add drama that the story really didn’t need.

Afya: this was the hardest. I loved her! But ultimately, she had the same issues as Cody. She was redundant to the plot, and combining her with another character served her purpose better.

So you see, characters can be cut or combined with other characters, and sometimes, that’s the way to do it. Make sure every person in the story serves a purpose and influences the final outcome in some way. And if they don’t, or if their presence muddles the plot, do away with them.

And the same can be said for subplots. If it’s doing the same thing (not pulling its emotional weight in the story, for example) or confuses the plot, it may be better to eliminate it.

Scenes

As you go through and read to revise, ask yourself what each scene contributes to the overall story or subplots. Is it moving the story forward? Does it develop relationships or establish the world?

And, can it be combined with another scene to serve the same purpose?

You may find that some of your scenes aren’t pulling their weight (like the subplots I mentioned above), and if that is the case, they might be eliminated. And if there’s something in the scene you really like (a darling), see if you can add it in somewhere else.

THe writing itself

Another place to look is at your writing itself. This level of editing will be smaller in scale, but you’d be surprised how much it can add up! So what should you look for?

Purple prose: any unnecessarily over-the-top descriptions, such as overly flowery explanations of the setting. Your beta readers or critique partners should be able to point this out.
Weak adverbs: look for adverbs and adjectives. While personally I love them, oftentimes they can weaken your writing if you’re not careful (and add lots of unnecessary words!). Check each one. Can you make your sentence or your verbs stronger by eliminating the modifier and replacing the words with something stronger? For example, “very loud” can be changed to something like “cacophonous” or “deafening.” (hint: any time you see a word like very, try replacing it and the words associated with it with a single, strong word)

Ask your readers

While you’re doing all this editing, don’t forget to ask your beta readers and critique partners these same questions. Ask them if any characters, subplots, or scenes feel unnecessary or redundant. Ask them to point out paragraphs or sections that feel weak or purple. Take each comment into account and see what you can change to improve (and trim) the writing.

Ann Dayleview: A Case Study

I have one amazing example of overwriting and trimming to share with you. My friend Ann has a fantastic manuscript with one huge problem: it was over 200,000 words long. As a YA (young adult) fantasy. (reminder: YA fantasy should max out at about 100k words)

So she spent months trimming it down, looking for the places she could tighten her work and improve on the story.

And you know what? She cut it in half. Her manuscript is now under 110k words, which is something she can query an agent. Isn’t that incredible?! If you want to read more about how she did it, check out her blog post here! It’s really worth the read, especially if overwriting is something you’re struggling with.

I also talked to Ann, and she had a couple extra pieces of quick and dirty advice for trimming down a manuscript:

Look for eating and traveling scenes. Often, these have plenty of unnecessary material in them (I’m super guilty of too many food scenes!).
Make sure everything relates to the overall goals. I think this one is pretty self-explanatory.

It’s as simple (and as hard) as that!

Now that we’ve discussed all these points, do any of them speak to you? Have you had experience with drastic manuscript editing? What tips do you have to share for overwriting or underwriting?

Let’s chat in the comments!

And don’t forget, if you want the latest news, special extras, and a monthly roundup of the blog posts, make sure you sign up for the newsletter!

Underwriting: How Do I Write More?

Aaaand we’re back to our regularly-scheduled writing posts! A couple weeks ago, I introduced the topic of word count, underwriting, and overwriting. And I admitted that I am a chronic underwriter. But what I didn’t get into was how I deal with that to get my manuscripts closer to their expected word counts.

Which brings us to today.

There are actually several ways you can bulk up your manuscript, and you’ll find next week that they are similar (if opposite) to the fixes for overwriting!

Now, first a note: word count isn’t something you HAVE to worry about during your first draft. But it is something you should consider before you try to query anyone. During my personal writing process, I write the book with a target word count in mind, plotting the major story beats at certain word counts to keep myself on track. But I usually end up finishing before I hit the final target count. And when I rewrite, I can meet or surpass that goal.

Here’s how.

Look at subplots

One of the things that can affect your word count is the number of subplots you use. Obviously, a story meant to be shorter needs to have only a few subplots, otherwise there just isn’t enough space to address everything.

But if you’re writing an epic novel or anything with more length, there is so, so much you can do. Think of personal, internal struggles. Relationships between characters. A shady past that’s catching up with someone. A mystery that’s plaguing your MC.

You have so many options to add to the story. And these can even relate to your main plot. Just remember that a subplot needs to add value to the story, so avoid adding things just for the sake of adding them. Use them to strengthen relationships or build characters or develop the world.

Think about your characters

Another possibility is to add a character or give one of your side characters scenes from their perspective. But this has the same caveat as adding subplots: make sure it’s adding value to the story. Don’t add in a useless character (I had several useless characters in the first draft of This Cursed Flame…they’re gone now!). And make sure those perspective scenes are meaningful to the plot or subplots.

Add scenes

Look critically at your manuscript. Are there places you didn’t explain enough? Are there scenes you skipped that might actually be fun to show (as long as they – you guessed it! – add value)? These spots can add words to your manuscript in fun and exciting ways.

Show, don’t tell

If you’ve been writing for any amount of time, you’ve probably heard this advice. And honestly, I can be really guilty of this one. I tend to do a lot of explaining, especially in early drafts, because I am fleshing out my world and characters for myself.

Stop it.

Your reader doesn’t need all of that explanation. Sure, a little is fine. But too much is boring. And not much of this should survive editing.

Plus, when you cut the telling and start showing (by adding scenes, inserting more natural inclusions of information, adding dialogue, etc.), you will naturally increase your word count.

Talk to your betas

The last, and sometimes easiest, way to bulk up your word count is to send it to beta readers to get opinions. Then you can see where things may actually be incomplete or confusing, places you may need extra scenes, or subplots you may have left incomplete. In your next draft, you can address these concerns by adding whatever they felt was lacking (if you agree with them…beta readers can be tricky, but that’s a topic for another day).

Final Thoughts

These are some of the simplest ways I’ve found to naturally increase your word count while adding to a story…and trust me, I’ve had to deal with this a lot! But the thing to remember is that you will find ways that work for you, and your ability to hit your target count will likely improve with every book you write, as long as you make a conscious effort to aim for that.

But until next week, when we discuss overwriting and trimming the fat from your manuscript, does anyone else have suggestions for bulking up a word count? What has worked for you? Do you ever worry about this?

Talk to me in the comments!

Underwriting vs. Overwriting: Which Are You?

Do you write too much? Or not enough? And what does that mean for traditional publication?

There is so much advice floating around out there about how important it is to follow the expected and established word counts in the industry. For example, many agents, editors, and publishers will not consider works that fall outside of expected word count ranges, and it may even be a reason to reject the work.

The reason is pretty simple: these word counts have been established based on audience and genre, and falling outside these ranges can be indicators of serious deficiencies in the novel (or that it may not be a novel at all, but rather a shorter story) or a lack of knowledge of the industry by the author.

And honestly, with such an overcrowded market, some agents will look for any reason to reject manuscripts, just because they have so many submissions (at least that’s what I’ve heard… please, feel free to hop in the comments and correct me if I’m wrong!).

So it becomes necessary for those of us seeking traditional publication in any form to pay attention to our word counts. And that can identify your writing tendencies.

Underwriting is when a writer will finish a first draft with a lower word count than they need. So, for example, Sea of Broken Glass was only 74k words at the end of the first draft. For reference, a typical young adult fantasy (the genre for SoBG) is expected to be between 80 and 100k words. Once again, anything outside of that range, and traditional publishers or agents may reject it for not conforming to industry standards.

But when I finished at 74k, SoBG was missing a lot of scenes and details that were needed to pull the story together. And when I rewrote it (draft 2), I ended up adding over 20k words. Right now, while it’s with betas, it’s a little over 96k words long, by far the longest thing I’ve ever written.

It just didn’t start that way.

And then there’s the opposite problem, overwriting. In overwriting, a writer will write WAY more words than needed for a book. So let’s take an example from a friend of mine. She had a YA fantasy that clocked in at near 200k words… twice as much as most agents and publishers will allow. So when she went back to editing, instead of bulking it out, she had to find ways to cut her word count by a lot.

Every writer has their own style when it comes to drafting and editing, and even specific books by the same writer can be different from a writer’s “normal.” But in general, the more works a writer writes, the closer they may get to their target word counts after draft one and the more they will recognize where they tend to fall on the scale.

So that’s me! Underwriters unite!

In the next couple of weeks, we will discuss a few ways to resolve either of these issues, first for the underwriters, then for the overwriters. Hopefully with a few tips and tricks up your sleeve, you can figure out how to drag your novel closer to its target word count.

Until then, let’s talk in the comments! Where do you fall on this spectrum? Do you follow traditional word counts for your works?

~~~

NEWS!

Of the Clouds releases next Saturday, so Friday’s post will be moved to Saturday, and this blog post series will continue after that! Hooray!!!

5 Things to Remember When Writing Scientists (and 5 tropes to avoid)

Ever wanted to write a scientist but not sure what to do (or avoid)? Start here!

You may or may not know this, but I’m not just a writer. I’m a biologist. I have a BA in biology and a MS in neuroscience, and I’ve worked in the contract research industry since 2015. In fact, I also received a promotion this year to the title of Senior Scientist (and yes, there were tons of jokes about me suddenly becoming elderly!).

Several years back, I wrote a couple articles on Tumblr (my major blogging platform at the time) about science. And while I don’t spend much time there now, I figured it was a good time to revisit this in a new way.

But if you missed the previous links, feel free to get a refresher here:

There also an awesome article I came across a while back all about how the evil scientist trope is harming scientists.

Now that that’s out of the way, today I want to discuss things I wish writers knew about scientists…and some things I wish they’d stop writing.

1. Scientists are diverse.

Yes, there is a lot of diversity in science! There are tons of females, minorities, and immigrants working in science in the US. It’s not all stuffy old white men.

HOWEVER, that being said, there is a known issue in retaining female scientists. It’s been referred to as the “leaky pipeline,” and there are plenty of articles out there about it. It’s not completely clear why this happens, but a lot is inherent misogyny leading to less pay, lower opportunities, and bias in publishing and hiring. But I won’t get into that too much now. Here is just one example among many, though.

2. Scientists are ethical.

Just like every other job, scientists have codes of ethics they must follow in order to receive funding and keep their jobs (as well as avoiding things like fines and a black mark next to their name in the field). Sure, there are a few bad eggs, but the majority of scientists stick to their ethics. In fact, all biology graduate programs I know of require students to take bioethics classes. And all scientists who receive funding must comply with the rules and guidelines that have been established.

If you’re ever curious, there are plenty of textbooks available that will give you a better understanding of modern bioethics, as well as current challenges and practices.

3. Scientists are people.

Yup, that’s right. They’re just like everyone else. They have their own lives outside their work, with family and friends not in their field. They have other interests (I know several scientists who love baking, I love writing, others love travel or martial arts or music… the list is as endless as the possibilities).

4. Scientists can be religious.

There’s a huge trope out there that says all scientists are jaded atheists who hate God.

But the truth is that about half of scientists observe some kind of religion, and more than 2/3 of them believe religion can be important to society. (I quoted this in “Scientific Misconceptions and Misrepresentations in Writing” from a 2005 survey)

And that religion can be anything.There are lots of Christian, Catholic, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, and Islamic scientists, just to name a few. I myself am Christian, and what I see as a scientist strengthens my faith in God.

5. Not all scientists work in labs.

Scientists can have jobs all over the place. They may be consultants or writers. They may be salespeople or technicians for instruments and equipment. They may not focus on bench science (in the lab) but rather work outside in nature.

We’re everywhere. (insert cackling here)

I wish writers would stop writing these tropes:

Evil scientists, of any kind. If you’re really uncertain what I mean, go back to that article above.
Scientists who are master of all fields (omniscientists). We specialize. Like, a lot.
Only male scientists. I want to see some women! There are a bunch of us. Why are there only ever nerdy, geeky, awkward (or evil) white men???
Scientists as nothing but geeks. Again, they have so many varied interests. Why make them into a cardboard character?
Scientists who always wear a lab coat. Again, they do tons of jobs outside the lab. Also, we generally aren’t supposed to wear our lab coats outside the lab. It’s a health and safety hazard.

Obviously, these are only a few of the tropes I hate… and there is also so much more you could learn about scientists in their natural environments. XD

If you are writing a story involving scientists or science of any kind, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND you seek a scientist beta reader or consultant. You can again check out my previous links when I discussed why plausibility in scientific writing is important, but also remember, again, that scientists are people. And in this day where science is becoming mistrusted, it’s important not to spread fear and misinformation about a profession that only wants to advance our knowledge and ability to care for ourselves.

If you need a biologist, I actually do consult with writers about biology and the life of an industry scientist! I’m here to answer your questions and talk the science of life. Check out my Services page for more info, or you can Contact Me.

And now to you. What science tropes do you love? What ones do you hate? Tell me in the comments!

My 5 Favorite Books on Writing (and some honorable mentions)

Need some new books on writing? Check these out!

So this is going to be another one of those posts: a post where I discuss my favorite tools of the craft! And I think this is a fun one. You see, I keep a running list of non-fiction books that have helped me in my journey to become a better writer, and from time to time I like to update and share that list to help other writers. It’s been several years since my last update, and I’ve read some really good ones.

So here we go. My favorite books on writing.

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, by Stephen King

This was one of the first writing craft books I ever read, and honestly, I feel like every writer should read it. Maybe multiple times (speaking of which, I may be due for a re-read!). It’s considered one of the classic books on how to write, and for good reason. It’s packed with advice on writing (of course) as well as the life of a writer and life in general. And it’s also full of Stephen King’s voice and wit, which makes it an entertaining, as well as informative, read.

Bird by Bird, by Anne Lamott

This is another classic book on writing and another I think all writers should read. Anne’s voice is familiar and friendly and full of tough love all at once, and she really has so many quotable bits on inspiration throughout the book. It was a joy to read this. 🙂

Wired for Story, by Lisa Cron

Back when I was more active on Tumblr (in fact, this came up the last time I updated this list), a follower recommended this one to me. I was in grad school for neuroscience, also trying to write and query my first novel (which is now published), and this book hit all my check boxes for things I loved.

Friends. This book. If you want to know how to write a captivating story – and the biology that makes it so captivating – this is the book for you! It’s full of tips and tricks to engage readers, and there is so much to learn about why certain things work in stories. It’s a fantastic, fascinating, and fun read!

Unlocking the Heart of the Artist, by Matt Tommey

I actually read this one as part of a Christian artist Bible study group (yes, it is a Christian book on creativity).

It blew me away.

It was exactly what I needed at that point in my life, discussing the rich inner life of the artist, discussing the misnomer of “Christian art” (hint: art cannot be Christian, but the artist can. Christian is a description that fits a person and doesn’t need to be applied to objects. You can disagree if you like, but this is my viewpoint.), and discussing all the ways we can set up roadblocks for our creative selves.

This book will challenge you, break your heart, and uplift you all at once…clearing the way for you to become your best artist (writer) self. Highly recommend!

The Business of Being a Writer, by Jane Friedman

So this one I’m actually STILL reading, but it already rates high on my list! This book should be in every writer’s arsenal. It’s the most comprehensive look at the history, current market, and practice of being a career writer (or having any kind of writing career, even if it’s on the side) that I’ve seen yet. It looks at everything from traditional to indie publishing, small press, literary fiction, how to query…and so much more. Definitely a must-read.

Honorable Mentions

This section is all my also-loved books that I highly recommend. These are great to read and keep on your shelf, either as references or bits of inspiration for your writer self.

Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art, by Madeleine L’Engle

Much like Matt Tommey’s book above, Madeleine L’Engle’s book speaks to the Christian artist, also reflecting on her own journey as a writer. She has some powerful words to share, and it so interesting to see some of her ideas behind some of her most famous works!

Zen in the Art of Writing: Essays on Creativity, by Ray Bradbury

This book is a collection of essays that offer both encouragement and some tough love to get serious about your work. There is so much here, and every time you read it, I’m sure you will find something new to pull out and inspire yourself.

On My Own: How to Format Your Ebook and Print Layout in Microsoft Word, by Savannah Jezowski

This one is an excellent resource for indie authors ready to format their manuscripts. It is a step-by-step guide, written in Savannah Jezowski’s familiar and friendly voice, that will walk you through everything you need to get that manuscript uploaded to retailers. An incredibly useful tool to save some money!

The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression, by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi

This is another excellent tool to have at your disposal. It’s an in-depth guide to emotions and how to describe them in your stories, giving you tools to make your characters relateable and realistic, especially if you’re writing about some emotion outside your own experience. I unfortunately got this one right before they updated the edition, but this book is packed full of information on emotions.

~~~

That completes this edition of Selina’s Favorite Writing Books. Do you have any to add? I’m always looking for new ones! (Wonderbook is currently on my radar) Share your favorites in the comments below!

The Creation of a Story: This Cursed Flame Edition

Want to know the process This Cursed Flame went through? Keep reading!

Last week, to get us into the spirit for This Cursed Flame‘s release, we discussed some of my favorite genie books (by the way, I definitely missed The Midnight Sea by Kat Ross… so good, but not traditional genies. They’re called daevas, but they share some traits with mythological djinn.).

This week, though, I want to go over the development of This Cursed Flame, from story seed to the version that is up for pre-order on Amazon and all other major retailers now. Buckle in, folks. It’s been a long journey.

As you will likely notice in some of next week’s coming material, this book started as just an idea stemming from an old sitcom. I went through a major phase of loving classic sitcoms when I was in middle school, and honestly, I never grew out of it. Sitcoms were my own personal comic relief during school and at the end of rough days. They were light and fluffy and full of magic or imagination or simply characters and worlds (even the realistic ones) I loved.

One of those sitcoms I especially loved was I Dream of Jeannie, but you will have to come back next week for more on that. 😉 It inspired an idea in me in 2011, the summer after I graduated from undergrad. I loved the scenes where we got to see Jeannie’s world, inside her bottle, things from her perspective.

And I wanted more. I wanted a book from the perspective of a genie.

It started with an idea of a human girl stolen away from her life and transformed into one of the djinn… but as such, she could never be really djinn (or really human), and so she was thrust into a world not her own where she could never belong anywhere again.

That first version had extra characters, too. And boy did it make the book confusing! The first difference between early versions and the final version is that I had a sub-antagonist instead of the main antagonist, Ahriman. It made little sense, but to my baby writer brain (I was only just realizing what it took to finish a story, even though I’d been writing since elementary school) it felt right.

But the story felt complete to me, and I wanted to publish. I entered grad school and realized how much I loved writing and wanted to share it with the world. I initially wanted to publish this version myself, independently, but life changed during grad school in about 2014, and I suddenly couldn’t afford to hire the professionals who would help me.

So I queried it for traditional publishing. I got some interest, but no one wanted it after reading it through and through.

So I took it back to edits, and I removed that sub-antagonist, and I tried a little more querying with the same results through 2017. I shared this version on Wattpad as well, and got a few enthusiastic views, but I still wasn’t happy with it, and I decided to go back to edits again and head toward independent publishing again (in 2018), now that my financial situation had changed.

So I hired a developmental editor, who suggested a mountain of changes. I had another team member, Afya Sura, who I still love, even though I ultimately had to cut her out of the story. And then there was the human… you’ll see when you start reading that Laurelin is the main human character, and her boyfriend is Cody. Well, it became apparent during edits that Cody served no useful purpose in the story… but Laurelin had a pretty good one. And then there’s Safiyya. I bulked up her backstory and her role and it turned out so beautifully!

And, finally in January 2019, this was the story I wanted to tell, the story I needed to share. I had started 8 years ago with a theme of “Dragons can be beaten”, and eventually I realized that my theme was actually “Sometimes we put ourselves in the bottle.” It covers the story and the feelings I had for it when I started, even though I didn’t realize it yet.

And now, on April 27, 2019, it will be available as this final version as an independently published novel. And I couldn’t be happier!!!

It’s been a long journey, and I know you will adore it just as much as I do. I can’t wait for it to be in your hands in just one week!

So don’t hesitate; head over to the link and see just what I’m talking about. Again, it is on Amazon and all other major retailers now and will be sent directly to your e-reader next Saturday!

Be sure to come back tomorrow for the kick-off of the launch week festivities, and until then, let me know about your own story’s journey in the comments below!