When It is Time to Rewrite: 4 Steps to Improve Your Manuscript

My fourth novel, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, is due to my editor on August 1. Yes, I am aware that is a mere 29 days away. No, I am not counting hours or minutes — yet.

With my fast draft in hand … well, spread all over my desk and sometimes all over the coffee table in the family room … I am ready for rewrites.

Yes, yes, I am.

First things first: there are certain things I don’t do when I am this close to deadline and deep into rewriting.

I do not clean my house.
I do not cook.
Hmmm. Reality is, I don’t clean my house or cook that much when I’m off deadline. I’m just being honest here. When I’m off deadline, I’m plotting a new novel or I’m dealing with second round edits or galleys . . . or something! I’m thankful my husband loves me.

Finding Balance in Writing & Life: When Your Cup is Empty

I knocked over my cup. Tea flowed out of the mug, onto the floor, and raced toward any crack or crevice it could find. I picked up the cup to find it empty, and my shoulders sagged.

I felt like that cup.

Empty. With nothing left to offer.

You see, I spent a week in June at my youngest son’s hospital bedside praying fervently for God to spare his life. A seemingly simple diagnosis of bronchitis led into pneumonia only to have his body attacked by an unknown virus that wrecked havoc on his organs, spiraling him near death.

Oh, and by the way, I had a book deadline that week.

Saggy Scene Solutions: Use Goals versus Obstacles to create tension!

I’ve been on the phone a lot this summer, helping my clients brainstorm scenes. One of the biggest issues I see in ACT 2 is the struggle to set up a scene correctly and create reasonable tension to drive a reader through the scene.

Last week we talked about how to set up a scene. Today, we’re going to talk about how to use the combination of Goals against External and Internal Obstacles to create tension.

In Act 2, it’s essential that each scene have tension. Many people confuse tension with obstacles. Obstacles do not cause tension unless they stand in the way of something someone WANTS for a Very Good Reason.

My son just got back from football camp, so we have football fever around here. Which means it’s time for a football metaphor. The push FORWARD of the offense is the WANT (motivation) and GOAL (a first down!) of the character.

The Defensive line is/are the obstacles that push BACK against the character. You must have both to create tension.