Balance is the key to life and it is also the key to writing a great story. When I refer to balance in a story, I’m referring to things like varying sentences—long sentences followed by short ones, not starting every sentence with the same words. I’m also referring to not repeating words and phrases, creating descriptions that add to the story without overpowering it and adding body language tags to sections of dialog so you don’t have “talking heads syndrome.”
To help me remember to balance out my stories, I compare writing stories to writing songs. A song has different parts and instruments; all the layers have to be balanced to work. Writing is also like baking. When baking something, you have to have all the right balance of ingredients—too much of an ingredient or not enough ingredients will have an effect on whatever you are baking. Some writers also compare writing to weaving.
The easy way to remember to balance out your story is to remind yourself that too much of anything in a story will throw the story out of balance.
Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author
Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly
http://www.kelleyheckart.com
http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/
http://twitter.com/CelticChick
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelley-Heckart/111838455604
About Me
- Kelley Heckart
- Writing means different things to me. I'm a storyteller, a book editor, and a songwriter. For me, it's like breathing.
Showing posts with label writing tips. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writing tips. Show all posts
Monday, February 17, 2014
Balance is the key to a great story
Writing means different things to me. I'm a storyteller, a book editor, and a songwriter. For me, it's like breathing.
Monday, February 03, 2014
Why I don’t like to have teenage girl heroines in my stories
I can say this because I was one—a teenage girl. They are borderline psycho, overly dramatic and make terrible decisions. This is why I don’t like to have teenage girls as heroines in my novels and why I probably won’t write YA.
I couldn’t write a teenage girl heroine without rolling my eyes and wanting to kill her off. A heroine is supposed to be liked by readers. Now maybe if the heroine grew up in a different environment from the spoiled kind of life most teenagers have in the U.S., she might make a good heroine. I’m thinking of Katnis from Hunger Games. She grew up in a dangerous environment where survival was more important than the latest fashion. She had to be levelheaded in order to make sure she survived and to take care of her family.
I wonder if it’s the role models teenagers have that makes most of them so stupid. Especially today with reality shows like the Kardashians and pop stars that flaunt their bodies and their dramatic love lives. And it’s even worse with Facebook and Twitter where people try to out do each other and post every little thought and deed.
Growing up I didn’t have the Internet to tempt me into doing stupid things, but I still did them. I don’t know if it’s just a part of growing up and learning life’s lessons or if I was just rebellious. I’m sure not all teenage girls act crazy like I did, but those memories are stuck in my head and whenever I try to write about teenage heroine, I can’t get past how stupid I was.
Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author
Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly
http://www.kelleyheckart.com
http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/
Writing means different things to me. I'm a storyteller, a book editor, and a songwriter. For me, it's like breathing.
Monday, January 27, 2014
The power of an emotional scene
Emotional scenes can add special moments that resonate with readers, drawing the readers further into the story. Emotional scenes are especially effective in romance novels where emotions are a huge part of the plot.
Before using an emotional scene to grab the audience, it’s best to make the audience care about the characters first. Otherwise, an emotional scene can fall flat. It’s also important to time the emotional scene correctly. Some scenes don’t have the same power to move an audience if the scene happens at the wrong time in the story.
For example, I saw the latest Star Trek movie, Into the Darkness. I loved the first one with the young cast and how the timeline was altered. I thought this was a great way to write some new storylines. Into the Darkness altered the first meeting with Khan, the genetically engineered human that became an enemy of Captain Kirk in the original TV
show and movies. I thought this was okay until the scene where the young Captain Kirk dies the same way Spock died in Star Trek II, The Wrath of Khan. When Spock died in The Wrath of Khan, it was a very emotional, powerful scene between Captain Kirk and Spock, two characters that had known each other and had been close friends for about forty years. But when the young Kirk dies in Into the Darkness, the scene didn’t have the same emotional power because these younger characters hardly knew each other and didn’t really like each other. The characters didn’t have time to grow into the close friends they became later. The scene made me uncomfortable because I felt it was forced on the audience.
An emotional scene can do a lot for a story, but it shouldn’t be rushed or forced.
Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author
Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly
http://www.kelleyheckart.com
http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/
Writing means different things to me. I'm a storyteller, a book editor, and a songwriter. For me, it's like breathing.
Monday, January 13, 2014
A great self-edit program
I like to self-edit and get my manuscripts as clean as I can before having an editor take a final look. In the past, I’ve used a list to guide me through my self-edits, but this time I used a free site called Edit Minion. I’m glad I used it because I found some words I had been overusing that I hadn’t noticed.
Edit Minion is a basic guide using highlighting to indicate passive voice, adverbs, ending in prepositions, weak words and ‘said’ replacements. Then it lists how many times a word has been used. This basic guide worked for me and I highly recommend it if you are looking for a free self-edit program.
I discovered I use ‘that’ and ‘with’ way too much. I also end a lot of sentences with prepositions.
Editing programs are great for cleaning up your manuscript, but I would recommend using a live editor or proofreader before publishing if you plan to self-publish. There are some errors only a live person can catch.
Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author
Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly
http://www.kelleyheckart.com
http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/
Writing means different things to me. I'm a storyteller, a book editor, and a songwriter. For me, it's like breathing.
Friday, July 27, 2012
Using weather in a story
Ominous. This was the first word that came to mind when I saw these thunderheads gathering in the distance from my backyard. I had to take a picture of the scene with tiny houses being overshadowed by the enormous storm clouds.
This sight made me think of how I use weather in some of my stories, of how the storm clouds looming on the horizon are a metaphor for impending danger.
In my Arthurian romance, White Rose of Avalon, a gentle rainstorm reminds Lancelot how the rain cleanses the earth and washes away the bloodstains on the battlefield. In Beltaine’s Song, a thunderstorm creates different scenarios for the main characters. While seeking shelter from the storm, they encounter people they wouldn’t normally be caught hanging out with. For one character this unlikely encounter leads to his downfall. And in my soon-to-be released Daughter of Night, a sudden thunderstorm sends the heroine into the stables and she comes face to face with the hero. What happens in the stables is a key turning point in the story for them.
I’m working on a story right now and considering a scene where, in the aftermath of a rainstorm, the river crossing rises. This river is the only way the hero can get back to the heroine who is in danger. One of the challenges I have with this hero is that due to a curse, he is immortal. I have to create dangers for him that don’t involve dying. He wouldn’t die trying to cross the raging water, but he could be swept away and pushed even further from the heroine. This type of scene also adds some tension to my story.
As with any writing tool, using weather to enhance a scene should move the story forward in some way or work with character motivations or conflicts.
Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author
Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly
http://www.kelleyheckart.com
http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/
http://twitter.com/CelticChick
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelley-Heckart/111838455604
Writing means different things to me. I'm a storyteller, a book editor, and a songwriter. For me, it's like breathing.
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Writing difficult scenes
Being a writer means I can make up stories and the fates of my characters are in my hands, but it also means writing those scenes that are hard the write. I’m talking about the scenes that go against my own beliefs or the scenes that make me squeamish. As a writer, I have to put aside my own feelings and do what is right for the story and the characters.
This is different for each writer. For me it’s difficult to write scenes that involve an animal death. I hate to see animals die. I won’t even watch a movie if I know an animal will die. But sometimes these types of scenes are important to the plot. That still doesn’t make them any easier to write. I would never kill an animal or even a person for no reason. The plot has to be moved forward in some way by the death.
I’ve had to write a couple of these scenes. In one book, a dog’s death brought the hero and heroine closer. In another soon-to-be released book, the animal death was symbolic and also true to the time period in regards to sacrifices made to the gods. This scene was really difficult to write and I almost deleted it, but then decided I had to stay true to the time period and to the story. It was a necessary scene. My editor agreed. This type of scene may upset some readers, but that’s a chance I had to take.
Writing that difficult scene isn’t always easy to do, but a writer needs to put aside his or her own feelings and stay true to the story. After all, it’s our job as writers to move the story forward, not to write what we want or to coddle the reader. Sometimes those difficult to write, heartbreaking scenes are the ones that resonate most with readers.
Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author
Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly
http://www.kelleyheckart.com
http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/ Check out my long hair hotties!
http://twitter.com/CelticChick
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelley-Heckart/111838455604
A Greek vampire, Celtic kings, vengeful goddesses, an ancient faery curse…
All three books of my Dark Goddess trilogy are available in Print and Ebook. Set in Dark Age Scotland, I mixed history with a Samhain/Beltaine myth that revolves around an Irish clan and the goddesses Brigit and Cailleach.
http://kelleyheckart.com/BookShelf.html
This is different for each writer. For me it’s difficult to write scenes that involve an animal death. I hate to see animals die. I won’t even watch a movie if I know an animal will die. But sometimes these types of scenes are important to the plot. That still doesn’t make them any easier to write. I would never kill an animal or even a person for no reason. The plot has to be moved forward in some way by the death.
I’ve had to write a couple of these scenes. In one book, a dog’s death brought the hero and heroine closer. In another soon-to-be released book, the animal death was symbolic and also true to the time period in regards to sacrifices made to the gods. This scene was really difficult to write and I almost deleted it, but then decided I had to stay true to the time period and to the story. It was a necessary scene. My editor agreed. This type of scene may upset some readers, but that’s a chance I had to take.
Writing that difficult scene isn’t always easy to do, but a writer needs to put aside his or her own feelings and stay true to the story. After all, it’s our job as writers to move the story forward, not to write what we want or to coddle the reader. Sometimes those difficult to write, heartbreaking scenes are the ones that resonate most with readers.
Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author
Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly
http://www.kelleyheckart.com
http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/ Check out my long hair hotties!
http://twitter.com/CelticChick
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelley-Heckart/111838455604
A Greek vampire, Celtic kings, vengeful goddesses, an ancient faery curse…
All three books of my Dark Goddess trilogy are available in Print and Ebook. Set in Dark Age Scotland, I mixed history with a Samhain/Beltaine myth that revolves around an Irish clan and the goddesses Brigit and Cailleach.
http://kelleyheckart.com/BookShelf.html
Writing means different things to me. I'm a storyteller, a book editor, and a songwriter. For me, it's like breathing.
Sunday, April 15, 2012
The Writer’s Curse
This is something that continues to confound me and I know I’m not the only one. What I’m talking about is not being able to ‘see’ my own mistakes in my writing. Even after rounds of self-editing, I still miss some things like dangling modifiers or those pesky body parts that insist on taking action. Or the ‘ing’ words that keep popping up despite my best efforts to tame them. This became more apparent to me while working on edits for a manuscript that was contracted four years ago and is about to be published. Eek. I’d like to think that my self-editing skills have improved in that time, and they have, but it was a real eye-opener and made me appreciate my editor so much more.
The really weird part for me is that I can easily spot these things and other editing fixes in other writer’s work, but I’m blind to them in my own writing. This is what I call the writer’s curse. It’s possible that over time we writers can train our eyes to better spot errors, but I think that it is always best to have someone else take a look at our writing. This is why it’s important to have a critique partner and if you self-publish, an editor.
One thing is for sure. As long as writers are plagued by this curse—editors will never be without work.
Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author
Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly
http://www.kelleyheckart.com
http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/ Check out my long hair hotties!
http://twitter.com/CelticChick
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelley-Heckart/111838455604
A Greek vampire, Celtic kings, vengeful goddesses, an ancient faery curse…
All three books of my Dark Goddess trilogy are available in Print and Ebook. Set in dark age Scotland, I mixed history with a Samhain/Beltaine myth that revolves around an Irish clan and the goddesses Brigit and Cailleach.
http://kelleyheckart.com/BookShelf.html
The really weird part for me is that I can easily spot these things and other editing fixes in other writer’s work, but I’m blind to them in my own writing. This is what I call the writer’s curse. It’s possible that over time we writers can train our eyes to better spot errors, but I think that it is always best to have someone else take a look at our writing. This is why it’s important to have a critique partner and if you self-publish, an editor.
One thing is for sure. As long as writers are plagued by this curse—editors will never be without work.
Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author
Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly
http://www.kelleyheckart.com
http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/ Check out my long hair hotties!
http://twitter.com/CelticChick
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelley-Heckart/111838455604
A Greek vampire, Celtic kings, vengeful goddesses, an ancient faery curse…
All three books of my Dark Goddess trilogy are available in Print and Ebook. Set in dark age Scotland, I mixed history with a Samhain/Beltaine myth that revolves around an Irish clan and the goddesses Brigit and Cailleach.
http://kelleyheckart.com/BookShelf.html
Writing means different things to me. I'm a storyteller, a book editor, and a songwriter. For me, it's like breathing.
Friday, January 13, 2012
Friday the 13th Blog Hop! Writing romance—Creating sexual tension
Keep reading until you get to the links to your next blog hop stop.
As a romance writer, I have a duty to create sexual tension between my characters. It sounds easy enough, but writing those scenes can be tricky. How much is too much time to wait before the hero and heroine actually sleep together? Before erotic romance, this used to be easier to work with—usually they didn’t sleep together until almost toward the end of the book. Now a lot of romance readers expect sex to happen sooner and they want hotter sex scenes.
So, what is a romance writer to do? It’s not rocket science—I go with my gut feeling and stay true to my characters and plot. If my characters are the type to jump into bed together, then I go for it. Sometimes it feels right to have them sleep together within the first few pages, but then pull them apart by having something get in the way of their relationship. I am working on one story with a virgin heroine. There are reasons why she can’t lose her virginity until the end of the book. To make up for it, I need to have that sexual tension and at least have them kiss to give the readers something to look forward to.
One of my favorite ways to show sexual tension is to have witty banter between the hero and heroine. I like to create heroines that have a sharp tongue. Gee, I wonder where I got that idea? My husband is familiar with my sharp tongue. Anger turns into passion and well, passion turns into love. It happens all the time, especially in romance novels. Ah, if it could only be as perfect in real life. We can only dream. And I can only do my best to create that sexual tension in my books that romance readers crave.
************
Welcome to the Friday the 13th Blog Hop. For a chance to win a Kindle e-reader, please follow the links to all the author blogs to the end where you will fill out an official entry form.I am giving away a PDF copy of Cat’s Curse, a historical fantasy romance. It’s the first book in my Dark Goddess trilogy.
Available in Print and Ebook
http://kelleyheckart.com/cats_curse.html
Cat's Curse, Book One: Dark Goddess Trilogy, Celtic historical romance/fantasy
Enter Dark Age Scotland—a mysterious, dangerous & exciting place…
Blurb: Cardea is cursed to live an eternity as a blood drinker. Aedan mac Gabrain, prince of Dal Riata, trusts no one after suffering a curse that keeps him from touching any females. Can two tortured souls find love while battling a dark goddess determined to destroy them?
Good luck!
Here is your next blog hop stop
Click on the link below or on the graphic:
www.harveyle.blogspot.com (Lauren Harvey)
Please note: In case the link to the entry form doesn't work on the next blog, here it is:
Prize Entry Form: www.authorsrclaridge.com/bloghopprizeentry.htm
Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author
Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly
Writing means different things to me. I'm a storyteller, a book editor, and a songwriter. For me, it's like breathing.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
In Fiction: What Happened to Lengthy Descriptions?
I remember reading thick, five hundred page novels filled with lengthy descriptions that transported the reader to another time or place. The descriptions created the right atmosphere to forget about everything else except the story. I would be enthralled by an exotic location, or glass blowing in ancient Crete and even the art of blacksmithing. Cool stuff, those descriptions. But they seem to be passé in the writing world.
Lately, I have noticed that stories are filled with lots of action and short sentences that move the story along, but leave me feeling jolted, as if I just got off a wild, but short roller coaster ride.
I wonder if this has to do with our society today and how everything moves at such a fast speed. Maybe people just want the meat of the story and the action, but want to pass on all the descriptions because they don’t have time to read a long novel. Another thought I had was that with the rise of ebooks, it seems that ebook readers prefer to read shorter, action-packed stories. In today’s fiction, is there room for lengthy descriptions?
While reading a fast-paced story might appeal to some readers, I still prefer the lengthy descriptions. I want to get lost in a story for an hour or two a day for a couple of weeks, not for only thirty minutes a day for two days. I want to languish in the story and reflect on the characters, not feel like I barely met the characters.
I hope there are still readers and authors that enjoy a longer, descriptive story. I can’t think of anything that’s better for calming a hurried mind except getting lost for a while in a good book.
http://www.kelleyheckart.com
http://twitter.com/CelticChick
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelley-Heckart/111838455604
Lately, I have noticed that stories are filled with lots of action and short sentences that move the story along, but leave me feeling jolted, as if I just got off a wild, but short roller coaster ride.
I wonder if this has to do with our society today and how everything moves at such a fast speed. Maybe people just want the meat of the story and the action, but want to pass on all the descriptions because they don’t have time to read a long novel. Another thought I had was that with the rise of ebooks, it seems that ebook readers prefer to read shorter, action-packed stories. In today’s fiction, is there room for lengthy descriptions?
While reading a fast-paced story might appeal to some readers, I still prefer the lengthy descriptions. I want to get lost in a story for an hour or two a day for a couple of weeks, not for only thirty minutes a day for two days. I want to languish in the story and reflect on the characters, not feel like I barely met the characters.
I hope there are still readers and authors that enjoy a longer, descriptive story. I can’t think of anything that’s better for calming a hurried mind except getting lost for a while in a good book.
Kelley Heckart
'Timeless tales of romance, conflict & magic'http://www.kelleyheckart.com
http://twitter.com/CelticChick
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelley-Heckart/111838455604
Technorati Tags: kelley heckart,fiction,lengthy descriptions,long novels,writing articles,modern fiction
Writing means different things to me. I'm a storyteller, a book editor, and a songwriter. For me, it's like breathing.
Friday, April 15, 2011
Characters with Disabilities or Health Issues
In creating a character for one of my books, I decided to give him migraine headaches. This came about because I started having migraines a couple of years ago and I thought by giving him a health problem, it would add a touch of realism to the character. This character was an invincible king and I wanted to make him seem a little vulnerable to make him more likeable.
Do readers like to read stories with characters that are disabled or have a health issue? I know there are a lot of romances with heroes that are depressed or somewhat mentally scarred from dealing with a painful past, but I don’t see many heroes in romances with physical issues. Some of the heroes I’ve read about had scars, but not any other physical disorders. Beauty and the Beast is a great example of a story with a character that has physical scars. These types of romances are popular, but what about a hero that is crippled?
I would like to see more stories like this. Maybe I will write one. I had an idea for a romance with a crippled hero—he can walk but walks with a pronounced limp and it limits him from doing things he used to do. Being crippled can make a man feel less of a man and I think this is a great concept for a romance—how does he overcome his fears? Or his frustration and anger? How does the heroine help him cope with his disability? This was something that came to mind—what if the heroine caused his crippling injury?
This gives a writer a lot to think about.
Kelley Heckart
'Timeless tales of romance, conflict & magic'
http://www.kelleyheckart.com/
http://twitter.com/CelticChick
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelley-Heckart/111838455604
Do readers like to read stories with characters that are disabled or have a health issue? I know there are a lot of romances with heroes that are depressed or somewhat mentally scarred from dealing with a painful past, but I don’t see many heroes in romances with physical issues. Some of the heroes I’ve read about had scars, but not any other physical disorders. Beauty and the Beast is a great example of a story with a character that has physical scars. These types of romances are popular, but what about a hero that is crippled?
I would like to see more stories like this. Maybe I will write one. I had an idea for a romance with a crippled hero—he can walk but walks with a pronounced limp and it limits him from doing things he used to do. Being crippled can make a man feel less of a man and I think this is a great concept for a romance—how does he overcome his fears? Or his frustration and anger? How does the heroine help him cope with his disability? This was something that came to mind—what if the heroine caused his crippling injury?
This gives a writer a lot to think about.
Kelley Heckart
'Timeless tales of romance, conflict & magic'
http://www.kelleyheckart.com/
http://twitter.com/CelticChick
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelley-Heckart/111838455604
Writing means different things to me. I'm a storyteller, a book editor, and a songwriter. For me, it's like breathing.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Stepping into the Action
One of the hardest parts of writing a book for me is the beginning. I have to remind myself of this writing rule: ‘never start your story at the beginning.’
Huh?
Exactly what I thought at first.
Then I gave it some thought. How a writer starts the story is really important. A story that starts too slow might lose readers.
Gone are the days when a writer can start a story with pretty prose and no action, and be able to lull readers into the story. Modern stories have to begin with action or at a significant part of the story.
As I was writing a new book I thought about this writing rule, and ended up cutting the first three chapters. Since I already know that beginnings are my weakest point, I took a hard look at this latest WIP and decided it needed to start with more action. The great thing about writing today on a computer is I can always go back and add the three chapters if I want to, but I doubt I will. If I thought the beginning was too slow then readers will certainly think it is slow.
Writing a good story is about making hard choices. A writer needs to be able to step away from the story and take an unbiased look at their work. This isn’t easy to do. I had a hard time with deciding to make changes to the beginning after slaving over the first three chapters. In the end though I decided the changes were necessary to improve the story.
So, get out there and write your heart out, but don’t be afraid to take scissors or that delete button to that beginning.
Happy writing and reading!
Note: In addition to my long hair hotties feature on the 1st of each month, I will also be posting on the 15th of each month about writing tips or life experiences.
Kelley Heckart
'Timeless tales of romance, conflict & magic'
http://twitter.com/CelticChick
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelley-Heckart/111838455604
For some, spring’s song is the sound of a harsh battle horn, for others, new love, for all—certain danger.
My book page at Awe-Struck
http://www.king-cart.com/Awe-Struck/category=Kelley+Heckart/exact_match=exact
Technorati Tags: writing tips,kelley heckart,romance novels,ebooks,editing,story beginnings,starting with action
Writing means different things to me. I'm a storyteller, a book editor, and a songwriter. For me, it's like breathing.
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