by Jeanne Takenaka, @JeanneTakenaka
Have you ever stopped to think about the dozens of elements that make up a fiction writer’s life? From story crafting to platform building to merging real life and writing life, there are many things to juggle. I took the challenge to come up with an A-Z list of story and platform elements.
A—Arrive late into the scene and leave early. Start the scene in the middle of the action and end it before it’s resolved.
B—Backstory breadcrumbs-little bits at a time sprinkled into the story.
C—Connect with other writers. This journey doesn’t have to be lonely.
D—Dialogue—make it snappy, not conversational.
E—Enneagrams—amazing tool for character developing.
F—Find the best nouns and verbs, minimize the use of adjectives and adverbs.
G—Genre. Know genre requirements! Readers look for specific things in each genre. Meet their needs and keep them coming back for more.
H—Hurt our darlings. Our characters must face pain to make a great story.
I—Inciting Incident—make the event something that pushes the character forward into the story with no way back.
J—Jesus. When He’s part of our writing process, He can add surprising aspects to our stories.
K—Know our reader—When building your platform, figure out where our readers hang out, and get involved there.
L—Lie/Wound/Fear—imperative for building a spiritual/character arc. Find these from your character’s dark moment.
M—Motivation—know what motivates your character to build deeper scenes and tension.
N—Newsletters-even pre-published writers should begin one to build their email list.
O—Obstacles-Every character must face obstacles to make a story great.
P—Press Send, but not too soon. Make sure the story is ready, but don’t let fear stop us when it’s time to release it.
Q—Question your character to learn more about them, especially ask them Why.
R—Rewriting is what makes a story sing.
S—Social Media-use the platforms we enjoy . . . but don’t spend too much time there (wink).
T—Tension-Know what our character wants in a scene, what’s at stake, and what stands in the way of their goal.
U—Understand that God’s timing is always perfect for each step of our journeys.
V—Values—when we know our character’s values, we can use them to build tension and make things harder for them (and make our readers care more).
W—Weasel words—purge these babies from the manuscript.
X—EXcel spreadsheet (I know, I cheated a little)-great for tracking character details, contests, deadlines, submissions and all the nitty gritty details.
Y—Your Brand-think about what you want to convey to readers through colors, images and word choices on your site.
Z-Zingers in dialogue . . . let your characters say some of those things you’d never dare say in real life and see where it leads.
Here’s my list. What would you add as essential elements for a fiction writer’s life?
Award-winning aspiring novelist, Jeanne Takenaka, writes contemporary inspirational fiction that tackles real-life issues with a heart to draw women closer to God and those around them. She lives near the mountains in Colorado with her amazing husband and two exuberant boy-men. She loves being God’s girl—always learning about His grace, hanging out with friends and enjoying a great cup of coffee. When she’s not writing you can find her with a camera in her hand, looking for #alittlebitofpretty in her days. You can connect with her on her blog, on Facebook, and on Twitter.