By Dana R. Lynn, @DanaRLynn
I can’t remember a time when I didn’t love thinking up stories in my mind. In elementary school, I would dream up stories as I walked home from school each day. By the time I reached junior high (or middle school as they say where I currently live), I had started writing my ideas down. I had never had any formal training, though, which meant when I finally started seeking publication, there were a few habits I had to break. Some of these may resonate with you.
- Avoid backstory dumps. Although what happened in the past might be important to the story or character arc, the reader doesn’t need it all at one time. Too much can slow the pace and make the reader close the book. Try sprinkling the important details a little at a time and through dialogue. The reader doesn’t need to know everything.
- Try not to write episodically. Don’t put the characters in a series of loosely connected events where they happen to meet or see each other. Every scene has to move the story forward. If it doesn’t, revise it or remove it.
- Give your villain some kind of motivation. This I learned from my first editor. While your hero and heroine need powerful goals and motivations, so does your villain. These are what drive them and make them act how they do.
- Don’t make perfect characters. Perfect heroes and heroines are hard to relate to. They need to have a flaw or two so readers can relate to them and root for them. It’s okay for them to be wounded.
- Avoid head hopping. We’ve all seen this where the scene shifts back and forth between characters. When you’re just getting started, though, your editor wants you to stay in the one point of view at a time. In Love Inspired Suspense (the line I write for), we have a minimum of two POV shifts during each chapter. One in the hero’s POV, and the other in the heroine’s.
- Avoid the sagging middle. The middle of the story can be the most challenging. It’s the longest part of the book and its purpose is to bring you from the end of act one to the beginning of the final confrontation. But sometimes the story seems to drag in the middle. What do you do? When this happens to me, I always try to think of another danger or another twist I can add. I want my readers to stay engaged all the way to the end of the book.
These are just a few tips I have learned since I began my career in 2014. I am constantly learning and trying to improve my craft. The industry is changing. It is a fascinating time to be an author.
Finding a safe haven
is the only way to stay alive
When crime scene cleaner Lissa Page discovers a clue at a murder site, she’s attacked and becomes the killer’s new target. Now Deputy US Marshal Micah Bender must protect the single mother from becoming another victim. But with threats coming from every direction, Micah needs to hide Lissa—and the Amish community he left behind might be the answer to keeping his witness safe.
Dana R. Lynn grew up in Illinois. She met her husband at a wedding and told her parents she had met her future husband. Nineteen months later, they were married. Today, they live in rural Pennsylvania with their three teenaged children and enough pets to open a petting zoo. She is a teacher of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing by day and writes stories of romance and danger at night. She believes in the power of God to touch people through stories. She has been on the USA Today and a Publisher’s Weekly Bestseller lists. She has been a Holt Medallion finalist, a Selah Award Winner, and a New England Readers Choice finalist and Award winner. She is represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of the Steve Laube Agency. She is an avid reader, loves cats and thinks chocolate should be a food group. She enjoys engaging with readers and can be found on social media or contacted via her website www.danarlynn.com.