Melissa’s 7 Phases of the Writing Process

with guest Melissa Jagears.


As a newbie, whenever I tried to find someone who would explain to me how they wrote a book, most would give me some nebulous answer. It’s quite possibly because no one has time to answer that, it’s like asking “How do you build an airplane.” Often what answers I did glean all seemed a bit mystical. Now that I’ve written 8 books, I have a process. Thought I’d share for any newer writers who want a peek into someone’s detailed process. And it has Seven Phases—Happy 7th Birthday Seekerville!
 
Phase 1 – Create story

1.    Think of a story or character that has a hook=the cool thing about it that makes me want to write it next.

2.    Brainstorming and write the story with stream of consciousness writing. Annoy husband with what if questions about imaginary people I don’t really know very well.

For plotting, I run through Worksheets I created myself from all the writing Craft books/workshops/blogs/etc.  that I find worthwhile. I add more worksheets as I continue learning! I go through one sheet at a time, answering all the questions I can and then if stumped I move to the next, back and forth until I get a real good handle on the plot.

BONUS: If you want to see them, email me, I’ll send you a big ol’ doc—it might not be completely understandable unless you’ve been attending the same craft workshops and reading the same craft books, but you can see what I do with the information. Email: mjagears AT gmail DOT com).

3.    Plot work - Lies they believe (Susan May Warren’s writing books address this).

4.    Plot work – Moral Premise (Stanley William’s The Moral Premise).

5.    Plot work – Breakout Novel Info (Donald Maas books).

6.    Plot work – Romance (gleaned from several books , blog posts, and my own observations).

7.    Plot work – Misc. (those nuggets I’ve gleaned from conferences and posts or small insights into the craft.)

8.    Plot work – 3 act structure (James Scott Bell’s Plot and Structure).

9.    Plot work – Character Analysis (Creating Believable Characters with Enneagrams)

10.    Plot work – Write a synopsis or Randy Ingermanson’s Snowflake (If worried, have a critique partner look at synopsis and see if they see potential pitfalls).

11.    Plot work – Create a Chapter/Scene list taking into account all of the above and thinking through GMCs and Scene and Sequels. (Techniques of the Selling Writer by Swain).

Phase 2 – Write Story 

12.    Rough draft – write everything quickly and linearly using chapter/scene list to stay on track (can add or delete as I go if story warrants), only stop to look up history that would kill a scene/plot point if I was wrong, flag any other history/story questions as I go. If stuck, I note what I want to write “write something gushy here” or “check the neighbor’s name” and keep going until the end.

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Phase 3 – Revise story

13.    Revision– Quickly read through entire rough draft as quickly as possible (wincing at terrible writing) making notes in the margin as I go of what needs fixed story wise.

14.    Revision - Chapter by Chapter – Sweep through it taking care of notes and making my horrible writing make sense, filling in details (I tend to have a bunch of talking heads in a rough draft), checking history notes or story notes.
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15.    Revision - Chapter by Chapter – Sweep through as many times as necessary until it reads decently and does what I think I want it to do.

16.    Critique Feedback – Give to Macro Critique Partner each chapter as I go. (I wouldn’t have done this as a beginner because my prose wouldn’t be good enough not to annoy my critter, but I’m better now—when I was newer I would have waited until after the editing phase.)

     – Examples of macro edit suggestions I got this round “Romance is non-existent in these chapters,” “If you’re going to use the character like this, then I want to see him several times before now,” “I don’t like how you’re making this preacher look like an idiot,” “He isn’t at a point in the relationship to go to her with this problem, so change this to an accidental meeting or something.”  - I read these, but I let these pile up and make notes about how I want to fix things  in response to crits, but if it changes something story wise, something BIG, I might quit revising and go through the previous chapter and add/change/revise the thread of that particular problem so that I feel confident that it’ll flow, and the rest of the book will flow properly according to new changes in response to crits.

17.    Revision- Chapter by Chapter – After the first crit partner has seen everything, I go back through and fix macro edit problems in the manner I choose.


Phase 4 – Edit Story 

I do this chapter by chapter, see my website link to “weasel words” and you can see what I mean by each type of word clues I’m highlighting to  look for problems and how to create Macros in Word so you can highlight an entire list of words with one click.

18.    Macro Check of Tense.

19.    Macro Check of Deep POV and Emotion.

20.    Macro Check of Timing.

21.    Macro Check of Weasel/Filler words.

22.    Macro Check of Pet/Repeated too often words (different for everyone most likely).

23.     Macro Check of Possessive and Starting sentences with a conjunction check. (Any particular grammar mistake you do too often.)

24.    Macro Check of Pronoun clusters.

25.    Read through Dialog only.

26.    Read through entire chapter.

27.    Critique Feedback – Give to another critique partner for line by line critiquing as I go. This critique partner notes any story problems he sees and is more particular about my actual writing. I let these crits pile up. If it affects my story, I rewrite or make notes on what needs to be added/revised/changed and keep going.

28.    Editing – Once the second partner is finished, I fix all line by line/story problems from critique feedback  in the manner I choose.

29.    Read all the way through smoothing things out.


Phase 5 – Macro Edit Story

30.    Polishing – Listen to book draft with Kindle Text to Speech as I knit and fix things that don’t flow well.

31.    Submit to my managing editor and agent.

32.    Macro-Edit – Take care of all macro edit suggestions that come back from my agent and editor.

33.    Critique feedback – If I write a huge chunk of new writing, like a whole scene worth, I’ll put it through my revision/editing process and if I’m worried about it, I give it to my two previous critique partners for feedback and edit accordingly with their feedback. 

34.    Polishing – read through draft or where I did a lot of editing.

Phase 6 – Line Edit Story

35.    Submit to line editor

36.    Line Edit – Read through draft and make any revisions necessary according to editor’s notes and changes.

37.    Polishing – Read aloud, making changes as needed.

Phase 7 – Copy Edit Story

38.    Submit to copy editor.

39.    Copy Edit – Read through draft to check for typos, misspellings and anything that would make me look stupid that was missed. 

40.    Hand it over and never look at it again! Begin Marketing Phase.

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Question:

Writers, tell me a funny story about you being asked, “How do you write a book?”

Readers, what work-related task makes cleaning toilets seem like a more fun use of your time?

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2014 Carol Award winner, Melissa Jagears is a stay-at-home mom who writes Christian Historical Romance into the wee hours of the night.

She’s the author of the Unexpected Brides Series with Bethany House. The prequel ebook novella, Love by the Letter is free to try. And so far, A Bride for Keeps and A Bride in Store should have found their way onto your favorite bookstore’s shelves. You can learn more about her, her books, and where she hangs out online at www.melissajagears.com


 **Actually cleaning toilets is the husband's job, and I wouldn't want to take that joy from him. What I really procrastinate with is Photoshop. So, since I'm in the middle of a rough draft, I'm giving away a Facebook Author Banner. I will make the winner a Facebook cover photo with your book(s). Give me the cover jps, what you want it to say, and I'll whip you up something! Here are some of my latest. (I do these for $20 if you were curious.) Please mention in the comments if you would like to be in the giveaway.

 AND....

Seekerville is giving away one print or digital copy of A Bride in Store to one commenter. Winner announced in the Weekend Edition.

A Bride In Store

Impatient to meet her intended groom and help him grow his general store, mail-order bride Eliza Cantrell sets out on her travels a week early. But her plan goes sadly awry when her train is held up by robbers who steal her dowry and Axel, her groom-to-be, isn't even in town when she finally arrives.

Axel's business partner, William Stanton, has no head for business and would much rather be a doctor. When his friend's mail-order bride arrives in town with no money and no groom in sight, he feels responsible and lets her help around the store--where she quickly proves she's much more adept at business than he ever will be.

The sparks that fly between Will and Eliza as they work together in close quarters are hard to ignore, but Eliza is meant for Axel and a future with the store, while Will is biding his time until he can afford medical school. However, their troubles are far from over when Axel finally returns, and soon both Will and Eliza must decide what they're willing to sacrifice to chase their dreams--or if God has a new dream in store for them both.

Be Brave!

Missy Tippens, here. One of the books I enjoyed reading to my children when they were little was Be Brave Baby Rabbit by Fran Manushkin. In that story, the mother repeatedly tells her young bunny child to be brave. And 20 years later, I still think of that book anytime I’m telling myself to be brave and take a risk. :) I also (much to my kids’ dismay) still sometimes tell them, “Be brave, baby rabbit.”

Uh, yeah, try that one on a 21-year-old or a teenager (when they already think I’m the dorkiest thing alive).

But it’s a message we as writers need to give ourselves.

I’ve been working on a story I sold to Love Inspired in February (Woo hoo! Its new title is Georgia Sweethearts and it’ll be out in the spring of 2013!). This past Thursday, I came to a decision point about a subplot.

The actual subplot came about by (gasp!) flying into the mist (yes, I had a rare pantser moment!). And I was so excited about it.

But that night as I lay in bed unable to sleep, I worried that it would be tough to deal with the situation I’d set up. I came up with an easier-to-handle, easier-to-write situation that I could replace it with. In the dark of night, I made the decision to take the simpler route.

Then I sat down to work on it Friday and re-read what I had written. I knew I didn’t want to change it. I told myself (quietly so the kids couldn’t hear and ridicule me!), “Be brave, baby rabbit.”

Sometimes it takes energy and determination to write with deeper emotion. And it may even seem to take more than we have at the moment. But it's always worth it. I promise it's worth the effort.

So now I have this really cool subplot that I think will tie in nicely with my moral premise. As my characters help this teen kid figure out how to take a risk and be responsible, they’ll be learning, themselves, how to take a risk on love.

Isn’t writing fun?!

Some tips I’ve come up with for helping you push yourself:

--Don’t take the easy way out. But don’t get convoluted with your plot either. Often simpler is better. Just don’t be chicken.

--Don’t be lazy. This is so tempting if you’re tired or stressed. So put your best effort forward every time you go to the keyboard.

--On the other hand, don’t be a perfectionist either. You need to get that draft on paper. But don’t avoid tough scenes.

--Use positive self-talk. Don’t tell yourself this is an impossible scene. No, tell yourself that this will end up being a great scene with lots of emotional punch!

--Don’t give in to fears that hit you in the middle of the night!

--Don’t worry too much what readers might think (or complain about). Trust your editor to make those decisions.

--Remember that making the situation difficult for your main characters is a GOOD thing. So don’t shy away from ideas that come to you. Torturing them makes for great reading. :)

I’ll leave you with a new mantra:

Be brave, baby rabbit.

(Now you have my irritating voice in your head, bugging you! You’re welcome.) :)

So…care to share a situation you’re facing now where you need to take a leap of faith and be brave in your writing? Where you need to push yourself?

I’ll be giving away a copy of my most recent Love Inspired, A House Full of Hope, to one commenter today. To be in the drawing, be sure to let me know you’d like to be entered!

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Visit Missy at www.missytippens.com for more info on her books.

A House Full of Hope

Before becoming a Christian, Mark Ryker ran with a bad crowd and broke hearts. Including his father's. Now a successful businessman, Mark has come home to Corinthia, Georgia, to make amends. But no one will forgive him. So when the widowed mother of four renting his dad's run-down house needs help fixing up the place, Mark gets to work. Pretty Hannah Hughes and her sweet kids have him longing to be part of the clan, but Hannah isn't ready to let go of the past. Still, they are working together on a house full of hope—and that's all Mark needs.

Open with a Bang!

Open with a Bang!

By Missy Tippens

Today, I want to share a writing exercise with you. To help you write a powerful story opening. I love to talk about first lines and first pages and want to give some tips for opening with a bang. I love the opening of my new Love Inspired book, A Family for Faith, that will be available on shelves this week. (Shameless self promotion alert!) :) I wrote the beginning of this book proposal while at a workshop and wanted to share some of what I learned.

For the proposal for this book, I had my characters chosen and all my charts filled out. I knew the GMC, knew the moral premise, knew some of the main plot points. But I needed to write the chapters. I needed to pull the reader in and hook him/her.

I had a hero, Gabe, who was a widower single dad who was still in love with his dead wife and held her on a pedestal. He also had a preteen daughter who was giving him fits and really needed a mother figure. I had decided to open in his point of view because I thought he was probably the most sympathetic character. He was also the one who was being thrown into change at the outset. (And his problem pulls the heroine, Faith, into the story.)

While attending a workshop taught by Dianna Love and Mary Buckham based on their fantastic how-to book, Break Into Fiction, they had us do an exercise to come up with the best way to open our story. I was thrilled with what I came up with during the class, and it ended up in the book nearly identical to the first version I wrote during that class.

One note I jotted during the workshop is to anchor the reader but don’t overdo the setting. (How many of us have written openings of a character driving back into town describing how the town has changed? I know I have.) Only include what is needed. And make sure it packs an emotional punch.

Another thing I noted was not to use chatter. Dialogue must be engaging. Also, if you use introspection (and don’t overdo this!), be sure it’s active and engaging as well.

In my scene, I needed to make sure the reader knows what Gabe’s goal is. I’ve learned to check every single scene in my stories to make sure the character has a goal. So it’s important for the opening as well.

As I was writing this post, I found the notes I made about my story while in Dianna’s and Mary’s class. I thought I’d share them, then let you look at the opening of my book to see if I followed through on all I planned.

My notes while brainstorming during the class (cut and paste):

Opening significance: show his daughter is kicking off or has kicked off the town in prayer for him to find a wife.

Need more… To show him lonely. To show him having trouble dealing with his maturing daughter. To see her straining against his overprotectivness.

Setting: maybe a weekend and she’s wanting to go out with friends? Maybe she’s put on lipstick and he freaks. She tells him he needs a life. Maybe they’re standing in bathroom and he catches her putting on makeup. And maybe she has a photo of mom on the counter and is looking at it!! He feels helpless.

Details: lonely, overprotective, in uniform (sheriff), helpless

Okay, so those are my notes. Here’s the opening of A Family for Faith:

Chapter One

Gabe Reynolds paced the photo-lined hallway, back and forth past baby and childhood pictures of his daughter, past the door where that same daughter did whatever pre-teen girls did behind closed doors. Considering the amount of time he spent coaxing her out of there these days, he figured he’d wear a path in the finish of the hardwood floor by the time his only child was grown and gone—something he intended to delay as long as possible.

He finally stopped and banged on the bathroom door. “Hurry up, Chels. You’ll be late.”

His dear, sweet daughter growled at him. Growled.

With a badge on his chest and weapon at his hip, he should be prepared to deal with anything. But give him a drunk or a thief any day over this soon-to-be-teenaged-girl business.

He pounded the door again. “I’ve gotta get back to the station. What are you doing in there?”

“For the thousandth time, I’m coming.”

He knew without a doubt that she was in there rolling her eyes at him. “What’s taking so long?”

“A work of art takes time,” she said in her best theatrical voice. Then she giggled, more like her normal, little girl self.

This switching from girl to young woman then back to girl in the blink of an eye was making his head spin. “You better not be putting on makeup.”

“I’m a teenager. All my friends wear makeup.”

“You’re not thirteen yet. And if all your friends jumped off—”

She yanked the door open so fast it banged into the wall. She glared at him. “No. If all my friends jumped off a bridge, I would not jump, too. This is totally different, and you know it.”

Her cheeks glowed with a too-bright pink that matched her tinted lips. Her mascaraed eyelashes, clumped into several uneven spikes, seemed a mile longer than usual. She looked grown-up. Too grown-up—the kind that would attract the attention of guys. “All I know is I forbade you to wear makeup and…and...” He jabbed his finger at the pile of containers on the bathroom counter. “That looks an awful lot like makeup. Where’d you get it?”

She huffed and tossed her dark curls over her shoulder. “I bought it with my allowance. And I’m learning to put it on so it accentuates my best features.”

She was accentuated all right. And sounded like she was spouting something she’d seen on an infomercial. He squinted as he checked out her face, so much like her mother’s it made it hard to look sometimes. And even though he had the urge to drop the subject and run the other direction, it was his job to deal with this kind of situation now. “You’ve got on lipstick. Wipe it off.”

“I want to look nice for our youth group meeting at the church tonight.”

“Why?”

She shrugged. “No reason.” She fingered a small picture frame on the counter, then quickly placed it face down before he could see whose photo it held. “Now, please let me finish. I’ll be out in five minutes.”

A boy. It had to be because of a boy. “Who is he?”

“Who’s who?”

“The boy. The one you’re putting makeup on for.”

She rubbed a finger with brown sparkly goop over her eyelid. “No one. I’m doing it for myself.”

“Hand it over.”

She sighed and slapped a little compact into his hand. “There, are you happy? No more eye shadow.”

“No. Hand over the photo. Of the boy.” He reached toward the picture frame.

“No!” She stopped him by grabbing hold of his hand. She looked terrified.

Which terrified him. If the guy was some high school punk, Gabe would be out the door and into the squad car in five seconds flat.

He shook Chelsea’s hand off and grabbed the gold frame. But he didn’t find some guy. All the frustration and fear whooshed out of him along with his breath when he found his wife. His sweet, beautiful wife.

Once he recovered his equilibrium, he said, “Chels, why do you have your mom’s picture in here?”

She gave a little shrug, this time not so rebellious. “I told you. I’m learning to put on makeup.”

Pain steamrolled him flat to the floor as he remembered Chelsea watching her mom put on lipstick on Sunday mornings before church and often asking if she could have some. Tina would smile, kiss a pink lip print on Chelsea’s cheek and promise to show her when she got older.

Now here their daughter was, studying Tina’s face, learning to apply lipstick by herself. Gabe ached for Chels. Ached period.

It had been five years since the accident, and just when he was making headway and felt like he might finally be able to breathe again, this had to happen.

“Please, Dad?” She took the frame from his hand and held the photo up beside her face. “See? I tried to do just what she did.”

He wanted to hug her. To protect her from any more pain in her young life. She needed her mom, especially for moments like this. But no, all she had was a cop dad who didn’t have a guess at how to handle his daughter growing up. He swallowed, then cleared his throat. “I’m sorry. But you’re just not old enough. You’ll have to wash that stuff off your face.”

She heaved a sigh that seemed to start at her toenails. “Okay.” She stared at the photo for a second. “Do I look pretty?” She’d said it so softly he wasn’t sure he heard her right. But then she turned to him and waited, looking everywhere but directly at him.

Oh, boy. “Well, now, I guess you better let me get a good look at you.”

She smiled shyly as she looked up, but then the smile went crooked as she gnawed on her lip. He had a feeling she wasn’t quite as comfortable being in makeup as she thought she would be.

“You look beautiful. Always.”

“I do look a little like Mom, don’t I?”

He breathed in through his nose, then forced a smile. “Even prettier.”

“Thanks.” She threw her arms around his waist, and for a split second, all was as it should be. Or at least it was back to the norm of the last few years. It would never again be as it should be.

Copyright © 2011 Melissa L. Tippens


Permission to reproduce text granted by Harlequin S.A.

Okay, Missy again. If you’d like to read the entire first chapter, I put it on my website. Click here to read now, but be sure to come back! There’s more! :)

So did I carry out all I wanted to do? I tried to make sure I had important details (photos on wall to show family is important, his badge and squad car to let us know his job, pain of losing wife, his overprotectiveness, that he feels overwhelmed.) I stated his goal: to delay her growing up as long as possible. Also wanted to show her straining against him, making him feel unprepared for her growing up. Also, I included her getting the town praying for him to find a wife, but I ended up saving that for later in the book.

I think I did pretty well managing to get everything I wanted in there. I hope it has just enough detail and makes you root for Gabe. I hope you feel his pain. And I hope you’re starting to wonder how on earth he’s going to deal with this problem—so you’ll keep reading! Yep, that’s the story question that you need to have in there.

When I emailed Dianna Love about including their writing exercise in my post, she was generous enough to share another writing exercise for you to try so you can enhance your opening line. (And believe me, that first line is extremely important! You have to suck and editor or agent right in.) From Dianna:

To create a strong opening line, ask this of the first line in your book –

1)    Is this the most important sentence on the opening page?

2)    What is it about this first line that will make the reader curious about my story if that’s all they read? 

3)    Is the sentence as concise and specific as it can be?

Dianna also shared an example of how you can take a good opening and use specific details to make it stronger.

A)    -       He opened his eyes and slowly took in his surroundings, searching for one thing that looked familiar. 

-       Prince Lucien opened his eyes and slowly took in his bleak surroundings, searching for one thing that looked familiar. 

-       Harry opened his eyes and whistled softly at his opulent surroundings, searching for one thing that looked familiar.

All three include action, but see how you can make a generic opening completely different with those details?

Okay, so take your first sentence and give this a try. If you dare, share it with us! Show us the sentence as you have it now. Then see if you can make it even better. I hope you’ll join the fun! I’ll be doing a drawing from among all commenters (even if you don’t participate) for a copy of A Family for Faith. Just be sure to let me know to enter you.

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Missy Tippens’ fourth book from Love Inspired, A Family for Faith, is available at

e-Harlequin

Amazon

Christian Book

Barnes & Noble

Check out Missy’s website to read the first chapter. If she did her job, you’ll want to keep reading!

A special thank you to Dianna Love and Mary Buckham! www.breakintofiction.com

A Light Bulb Moment

A Light Bulb Moment

by Missy Tippens

I was recently critiquing a manuscript for my critique partner, Lindi Peterson, and came across a passage of description that really jumped out at me. And I realized how boring my recent writing had been. For example, if I was writing a scene about a character going out on her deck or patio, I might say:

I walked out and breathed in the fresh air, taking in all the green around me. Birds chirped as I relaxed on the patio furniture. I closed my eyes and wished I could bottle this feeling. Total peace.

Okay, so that’s not horrible. I wrote it off the top of my head, trying to pretend as if I’m plowing through the first draft of my manuscript.

Let me show you the excerpt of Lindi’s manuscript that I was critiquing…

Lindi’s excerpt from Her Crazy Love (work in progress, not sold yet):

The early September evening is still warm. The green leaves on the trees hang in the stillness of the air. Tall pines shoot up toward the sky, their skinny trunks, straight as rulers, hiding their strength. I cross my arms, fully aware of the body language I’m exhibiting. My chin points slightly upward.

Wasn’t that so much better? I especially loved the way she described the pine trees.

Then I had a light bulb moment. You, too, can write this. Of course, I knew that already, so go ahead and call it a blonde moment if you wish. :) Or a "duh" moment. But description is something I'm really working to improve this year. So I was reminded if I don't get it on the first draft, I can get it on the second draft. (And yes, Lindi assured me she wrote this on subsequent drafts while layering.)

So let’s play. Here’s my original paragraph again:

I walked out and breathed in the fresh air, taking in all the green around me. Birds chirped as I relaxed on the patio furniture. I closed my eyes and wished I could bottle this feeling. Total peace.

Okay, so it’s basically a travel log of character motions. She walked. She breathed. She noticed the colors. She heard birds. She closed her eyes and felt peaceful.

BORING. Oh, my. But I'm so guilty of this travel log writing!

Okay, fine. I’ll live with that for a first draft. But now I want to fill it in as I make several more passes through the passage. Making it richer.

I walked out into the hot, steamy evening, hoping for a relief from the heat. And then sure enough, a slight breeze blew the hair off my neck and brought with it a breath of fresh air.

Breath of fresh air?? Cliché alert!! Let’s try harder than that. And let’s make it a little more personal and detailed while we’re at it…

I walked out into the hot, steamy evening, hoping for relief from the stifling heat. And then, just as the air-conditioned room on the other side of the door began to call my name, a slight breeze blew the hair off my neck and brought with it a hint of fall.  Cool, fresh air we hadn’t felt since May. Not since the last time I’d seen my mother.

Ooh, where did that come from? Okay, so I added a little conflict there at the end. That was fun. Let’s continue…

I walked out into the hot, steamy evening, hoping for relief from the stifling heat. And then, just as the air-conditioned room on the other side of the door began to call my name, a slight breeze blew the hair off my neck and brought with it a hint of fall. Cool, fresh air we hadn’t felt since May. Not since the last time I’d seen my mother.

I took in the fading, late-summer green of the trees in Mom’s back yard. Flowers that had been neglected since she left struggled against weeds that tried to choke them out. Tears nearly choked me as I retreated into a chair and prayed for peace.

Peace that wouldn’t come.

Now, that’s better.  But I’d still like to tweak it a bit. I think I could have chosen some better, stronger words. Plus, I realized it made no sense that she’s stepping out of the air-conditioned house and into the summer heat to get relief. :) I also wanted to show something more about the character and evoke more emotion.

I stalked out into the hot, steamy evening, hoping for relief from the stifling heat of the overcrowded kitchen. And then, as I was about to escape through the sliding glass door into the air-conditioned bedroom that offered respite from my crazy family, a slight breeze blew the hair off my neck and brought with it a hint of fall. Cool, fresh air we hadn’t felt since May. Not since the last time I’d seen my mother.

The fading, late-summer green branches of the pecan trees swayed in the breeze as if reaching out for me, like a mother’s arms. Flowers that had been neglected since Mom left struggled against weeds that tried to choke them out. Tears nearly choked me as I retreated into a chair and prayed for peace.

Peace that wouldn’t come.

Of course, I added many words. So you may want to plan to come in on the low side of your word count on your first draft because you’ll be adding words on subsequent drafts. So, here’s a recap of a few ways to improve your description:

1.  Use the senses.

2.  Make it personal and detailed.

3.  Add conflict.

4.  Strong word choices.

5.  Show characterization (what would my character notice?) and emotion (how would she feel about it?).

And now I have a challenge for you! I know it’ll be tough to choose, but I’ll pick one winner for a $10 online gift certificate of your choice (Starbucks, Amazon, etc.). All you have to do is write your own description (100 WORD LIMIT!!) of a scene I’ll give you. I know 100 words is nearly impossible. But make those words count!

Describe your character walking into a church for the first time. (Can be first time ever or first time in this particular church.) Remember, NO MORE THAN 100 WORDS! And while you’re thinking it over, enjoy some Timothy’s Parisian Nights coffee with my new sugar-free hazelnut creamer. And since I’m eating low carb, I’ve got made-to-order omelets for you this morning. Just name your fillings!

Oh, and NEWS FLASH!! I just heard from a reader that she got my newest Love Inspired, A Family for Faith, in her book club order!! So my book has been birthed and it now out in the world! If you’re not in the book club (or don’t take all the books), you can pre-order it by clicking:

here for Amazon.

Or here for B&N

Or here for ChristianBook.com.

Here’s a blurb:

When Faith Hagin sees widower cop Gabe Reynolds every day in her coffee shop, she can't help but feel for the struggling single dad. She's raised a teenager of her own—and sadly, knows what not to do. But thanks to his matchmaking preteen daughter, Chelsea, the whole town's praying for Gabe to find a wife! Even though Faith thinks she's content being just friends, spending time with him and Chelsea starts to feel like a fresh start at having a family. And their love may be the answer to everyone's prayers.

Janet's Writing Process, Warning: Not for the faint of heart

I can’t imagine why anyone would want to hear about how I write books. The process varies, is ugly and too often throws me into self-doubt and torment. But if you relate to that, perhaps it’ll help to know you’re not alone. Or, maybe reading my process will give you great satisfaction, knowing yours is neater and far more productive. In that case, grab this chance to feel smug. They don't come often.

What I write: Inspirational historical romances for my wonderful publisher Steeple Hill Love Inspired Historical.

Where I write: I write at my computer, a desk top, in my office on a balcony overlooking our living room with a great view of the outside world. I used to write in a bedroom, staring at a blank wall. Both work. I often forget to look at much more than my screen anyhow. I even have a Post-It note on my monitor to remind me to blink. But when I get up to replenish my water or for a stretch, I may see a blue heron and stop and admire him. Now geese.... Well, I won't insult our Canadian friends. I don't write away from home. I can barely type on a laptop. To use one I have to attach a full-sized keyboard. I'm sure I'd be banned from coffee shops so I don't go there except to meet my critique partner.

I take hard copy and craft books to more comfortable spots in the house to read. This room right off my office is furnished with my great-grandparents' wicker furniture and my mother-in-law's two dolls and some ladyhead vases, all the girly stuff I love.

When I write: I write for the length of time it takes to reach my daily word count. If I don’t make my goal, I catch up on Saturday. Saturday is the day, if we're home, that I do writing-related jobs like promotion. I try to take Sundays off except when deadlines loom. I don’t write on vacations. Again that laptop thing. But I read and revise manuscripts when I'm away. I love doing this stuff in a car. Need I say I'm not driving? LOL

How I write: I get the germ of an idea for my story. Germs are catchy. I catch mine from historical nuggets. Well, usually. An article on the orphan train phenomenon was the germ for the first two books, Courting Miss Adelaide and Courting the Doctor’s Daughter. A curiosity about mail-order brides led to research that planted the seed for The Substitute Bride. A story idea may come from or be enriched by historic social issues like suffrage, as seen in Courting Miss Adelaide. Or as in my March 2011 novel, Wanted: A Family, an interest in how society viewed unwed mothers years ago as compared to today.

But just having a slice of history or a look at mores doesn’t get me far. Next I play the “What If?” game. I look for something big, something universal that readers care about and can identify with even today. What if...a single woman saw the orphan train as her only way to mother a child? What if...the father of an adopted child in your care showed up in town? Taking a slightly different angle: What circumstances would make a woman desperate enough to marry a stranger? What happens when Christians rank sin?

Once I’ve got a feel for the direction of my story, I decide on my setting, not difficult since I write small-town stories set in the late 1800s, early 1900s. Sounds easy and up till now it is.

The planning stage: After this, I name my characters and decide on their goals, their motivation and take a stab at their conflicts. I don’t have much success with character sheets. I can’t seem to think about my story or my characters in the early phase without writing. Internal conflicts are fun. I love making up all the experiences (back story) that would give a character a false sense of self or an inability to move on with their lives. External conflicts are hard for me, especially book-length conflicts. I often stumble at this point. When I do, I brainstorm with Seekers or my critique partners, or think about tried and true conflicts like two dogs with one bone that will make the characters change and grow. And that will impact the reader, perhaps even make her change and grow too.

Usually the inciting incident comes to me, kind of out of the blue. I have never been given a story as some authors state, but I do get a snippet of an incident that kick-starts the story and brings the hero and heroine together. Examples of the inciting incident that brought the hero and heroine together: In Courting Miss Adelaide, Adelaide asks for an orphan. The hero is on the selection committee. In Courting the Doctor’s Daughter, Mary distrusts patent medicines. The hero is peddling his remedy. I try to charge the inciting incident with emotion or conflict. The character's goal in the inciting incident is rarely the characters’ book-length goal but needs to hook the reader.

The book-length goal comes next or perhaps I have it all along. No absolutes in my process. Callie’s goal in my March 2011 release, Wanted: A Family is to make her house safe so she can house unwed mothers, but the goal expands to working to change community judgment of these young women.

At the point where I have a book-length goal and characters, I run a blurb of the story idea past my editor in an e-mail. I learned the value of doing this when I wrote a proposal that my editor rejected.

Once I get approval, usually in a day or two, I write or continue writing the first three chapters and synopsis. Getting the book into a synopsis before I write the story is really hard for me—deciding the turning points, setbacks, black moment and climax of the story, all the things I must give my editor before we go to contract. I’m not sure I fit into either a Seat of the Pants or plotter category.

During the synopsis phase, I feel like a wanderer lost in the wilderness without a compass. Yes, I have lots resources, craft books and techniques that help. One of my favorite craft tools is Alicia Rasley’s The Story Within Guidebook that’s interactive exercises help to trigger ideas. But I still flounder around until I get a sense of the book. I also do research to make sure what I want to have happen in my story is historically feasible. It's upsetting to find out it isn't, but far better now than later. I told you this was ugly.

Once the proposal is accepted and a deadline set, I divide the number of words I have to write by the time allotted me, writing five days a week. My goal is to have the story written with a month or maybe two to revise so I shorten my deadline to accomplish that. As the deadline approaches, I’m at my desk 24/7. I want to learn to write faster to avoid this pressure as its draining.

Writing the book: I have some scenes I know I want to write that involve major events, but I try to make sure that scenes spring from the characters. To do that, I give the point of view character a goal in the scene that stems from events in the previous scene and relates to the book-length goal. Boy that's a mouthful. I hope that makes sense. At the end of the scene, the character either fails to get the goal or getting it makes things worse in some way. Now this has again really hard for me. As the author, I’m tempted to have my own goal for the scene, but I’m learning that can make the writing episodic or if there's no goal, I can end up with a tea scene, which may show characterization, let’s say, but nothing happens to forward the plot. If you want to read more in Seekerville that I wrote about writing scenes based on the character’s goal, go here. When I get stuck, I reread the book from the beginning. I cannot write a rough draft all the way through to save me. I know I should, but I am too anal to ignore stuff that bothers me. This doesn’t mean that when I finish a manuscript that it's ready. It still needs loads of polishing.

Revising: After the bulk of the book is written, I read it all the way through and jot notes to myself on what to fix. If I’m pressed for time, I read on the computer though hard copy is the best way to catch errors. I look at word choice--try to use stronger words and get rid of repetitive words. I look for ways to up conflict, add emotion and sexual tension. I try to enrich senses/setting. I rewrite to get rid of passive voice and telling. I look to see if I can bring the beginning and the ending full circle--tie it together some way. The list is long.

The story rarely ends up as the synopsis promised. Thankfully it usually has more depth, more issues that arise and hopefully more surprises for the reader.

Did you notice I didn't once mention a spreadsheet, Pam and Myra? LOL Yep, we're all different. If you managed to hang in through all that, leave a comment for a chance to win a $20 Starbucks gift card. I’d love to hear how you write. Hey, I'm looking for tips to make my process easier. Bottom line, writing isn’t easy. But a book finished is oh, so satisfying.

I brought veggie omelets, hot coffee and Lady Gray tea. We're eating on the patio so pull up a chair and let's talk writing.

Happy writing!

Janet