Taking a class and interacting with other writers can be a great way to improve your writing. Take a look at the following online writing classes being offered in February and see if one of them will help you take your writing to the next level.

Working the Muddle Out of Your Middle with Cheryl St. John – Discover the techniques that will carry you across the middle of your book without losing your energy and drive. $25

Druids: The Ancient Priesthood of the Celts with Sharon Gunn – Learn about the religion of the druids, their rituals and beliefs. $15/CHRW members, $20/non-members

Writing Evocative Fiction with Ann Schroeder – Study how basic emotions are expressed and hidden. Learn to probe your character’s motivation in ways that reveal her deepest emotional yearnings. $20/MWV members, $25/non-members

You Stab ‘Em, We Stab ‘Em with John Foxjohn – With the guidance of John Foxjohn, the students will go through all aspects of solving the homicides as if they were the actual homicide detectives. They’ll collect evidence, interview people, search for answers, and stay within legal guidelines.

Deep POV: Myths, Methods, and Madness with Alicia Rasley – Discuss the myths of Deep POV, the methods of getting into character and presenting the story, and the madness you might need to experience to truly get into someone else’s mind and body. $15/KoD members, $30/non-members

Discover How to Grow a Story Spine with Sylvie Kurtz – Learn the basic story arc and discuss why readers expect it, then walk through each of the seven story spines–the set-up, the meet, the first complication, the mid-point, the swivel, the dark moment and the joyful resolution–with examples along the way. $15/NEORWA members, $20/non-members

Fast Draft and Revision Hell with Candace Havens – Learn the secrets of Candace Haven’s step-by-step process to help you finish your work in progress in just two weeks. At the end of the two weeks, you’ll have your first draft. Then move on to Candace’s 2-week system to get you through the revision process and end with a polished manuscript that is ready to sell. $20/OCC members, $30/non-members

Creating Characters that Walk Off the Page with Karen Sandler – Learn how to talk to your hero and heroine, then be ready to listen for their answers. Use “trigger questions” to spark creativity, and fill-in forms and character interviews will assist you in creating dynamic, likable characters. $15/Yellow Rose members, $25/non-members

The Plotting Wheel: Ten Elements that Move Your Story Forward with Becky Martinez and Sue Viders – Discover a step-by-step method that can help everyone from beginners to published authors develop their ideas into novel form. $20/RWA members, $25/non-members

Fishing In: Hooks that Grab the Reader with Kristin Hardy – Learn how to craft a hook – that irresistible lure that makes an agent, editor and reader want more of your book. $16

Yummy Heroes with Jackie Ivie and Teresa Bodwell – This workshop looks beyond the Alpha/Beta debate to: 1) What makes a hero satisfying for his heroine? and 2) How can the author best portray those heroic traits? $16

Goal, Motivation, Conflict and Disaster with Misa Ramirez – This online course will take you through the process of understanding the elements of a scene and will introduce the concept of sequel. You will use your favorite fiction to identify how authors use Goal, Motivation, Conflict, and Disaster, as well as write your own scene(s) using these crucial 4 elements. $16

Dirty Little Secrets of Character Development with Keena Kinkaid – Use fun, inventive exercises that to root out your characters’ deep, dark secrets and desires, as well as learn how to use these secrets to further plot, conflict and—of course—the romance. $16

Mythic Elements with Marcy Weydemuller – mythic elements can add an extra layer of depth to a novel, whether contemporary, historical, paranormal or fantasy. Examine some metaphoric functions that help build emotional resonance and memory. $15/FFnP members, $25/non-members

The Art of Rewriting with Martha Engber – Learn about adopting the right expectations; estimating the time necessary for completion; understanding the three levels of editing; breaking the job into manageable pieces; and seeking feedback as part of the process. $10/FFnP members, $20/non-members

Writing Action Scenes the WWE Way with Matt and Natalie Duvall – Learn to apply the principles of WWE™-style to any scene that describes physical action. Discuss four of the key components of WWE™ entertainment, along with examples from a variety of fictional works, to show that these concepts can (and have) been used in wildly successful novels. $10/FFnP members, $20/non-members

Discovering Your Author Brand with Theresa Meyers – Uncover the basics of author branding, what it is, why it works and what advantages it offers; the three phases of brand building and the roles of author, publisher, publicist and agent; why brand building and brand awareness are different and how you can shoot your career in the foot if you aren’t careful; what roles producing books, advertising, marketing and publicity play in creating an author brand; what brand equity is and how it works to your advantage; seven steps to building a strong author brand for yourself; and how to use your author brand as a map for your career. $12/Elements members, $20/non-members

When using Third Person point of view, there is another aspect to consider – Subjective (aka Limited), Objective, and Omniscient. This describes whose head you can look into, in essence.

Third Person Limited

In Subjective or Limited point of view, the reader can only see and know the thoughts and inner emotions of the point of view character. The reader is “limited” to the thoughts of just one character. For all other characters in the scene, the reader can only see what they say or do and doesn’t know the other characters’ inner thoughts.

For an example let’s use Little Red Riding Hood again.

Little Red Riding Hood opened the door to Grandma’s room and stepped inside. She sniffed lightly. There was a strange smell in the room that she didn’t like. She squinted at Grandma. Why was the room so dark?

“Hello, my dear. Come closer.” Grandma patted the bedspread beside her.

Grandma’s voice was huskier than normal. Well, she was sick, after all.

Little Red moved closer to the bed until she could see Grandma. What was wrong with Grandma’s eyes?

“What big eyes you have today, Grandma.”

“All the better to see you with, my dear.”

In this scene, the reader gets several inner thoughts from Red Riding Hood – she doesn’t like the smell in the room, she wonders why it is dark and she thinks there is something wrong with Grandma’s eyes. In contrast, you don’t get any of Grandma’s/The Wolf’s thoughts; all you see and hear from Grandma Wolf are the things that he says or does.

In Limited Point of View you only see one character’s thoughts and emotions. For all other characters, you only observe their outer actions and words.

Third Person Objective

Objective point of view means that the reader doesn’t see any character’s inner thoughts and feelings, not even those of the point of view character. Instead, the reader is only witness to outer actions and dialogue. Think of this as using a movie camera to record an event. A camera can’t record the thoughts or feelings of a person, only what they say, do or display with expressions on their face or body language.

Using Little Red:

Little Red Riding Hood opened the door to Grandma’s room and stepped inside. She sniffed lightly. She squinted at Grandma.

“Hello, my dear. Come closer.” Grandma patted the bedspread beside her.

Little Red moved closer to the bed. “What big eyes you have today, Grandma.”

“All the better to see you with, my dear.”

In this example, we’ve lost all of Red’s thoughts and observations about the room and her Grandma. We can only see what physically happens and hear what is actually said.

Third Person Omniscient

Omniscient point of view means that the reader is privy to every character’s inner thoughts and feelings.

Back to Little Red:

Little Red Riding Hood opened the door to Grandma’s room and stepped inside. She sniffed lightly. There was a strange smell in the room that she didn’t like. She squinted at Grandma. Why was the room so dark?

“Hello, my dear. Come closer.” The Wolf patted the bedspread beside him. The girl needed to be closer so she couldn’t avoid the attack. The wolf’s mouth watered in anticipation of this juicy snack.

Grandma’s voice was huskier than normal. Well, she was sick, after all.

Little Red moved closer to the bed until she could see Grandma. What was wrong with Grandma’s eyes?

“What big eyes you have today, Grandma.”

Drat, the girl sounded suspicious. He would have to quickly reassure her so she didn’t leave. “All the better to see you with, my dear.”

In Omniscient point of view, the reader gets the thoughts and feelings of both characters in the scene. In addition to Red’s uneasiness about the smell and the darkness, the reader learns about the wolf’s anticipation of the attack and his desire to calm the fears of Little Red so he can attack and eat her.

Omniscient point of view allows the reader to dip in and out of each characters’ thoughts.

Question for You

Do you favor a particular style of Third Person point of view in your writing? Tell us about it in the comments.

Point of View is one of the more difficult elements of writing that some writers face. It seems so complicated. First Person, Second Person, Third Person… what do they mean and how do you get a handle on using them properly?

First Person – I Am Woman, Hear Me Roar

First Person means the reader is inside the character’s skin and experiences everything as though the reader were the character. This mode is easily identified by the use of “I” and “me” when talking about the main character.

Using the story of Red Riding Hood as an example:

I opened the door to Grandma’s room and stepped inside. I squinted at Grandma in the dark room.
“Hello, my dear. Come closer.” She patted the bedspread beside her.
I moved closer to the bed until I could see her better.
“What big eyes you have today, Grandma.”
“All the better to see you with, my dear.”

In this example, we are experiencing the story as if we were Red Riding Hood.

Third Person – She is Woman, Hear Her Roar

Third Person means that the reader is not the character, but experiences the story as an unseen observer. This mode is distinguished by the use of “he”, “she” when talking about the main character.

Back to Little Red:

Little Red Riding Hood opened the door to Grandma’s room and stepped inside. She squinted at Grandma in the dark room.
“Hello, my dear. Come closer.” Grandma patted the bedspread beside her.
Little Red moved closer to the bed until she could see Grandma better.
“What big eyes you have today, Grandma.”
“All the better to see you with, my dear.”

We’ve lost the “I” references that Little Red was using in the first example. We aren’t inside of her any longer. Now we’re watching the action in the room from the corner.

Notice that we had to change some of the person descriptors to make it clear who is doing what. When we switched to referring to Little Red as “she”, we had to change “she” when it referenced Grandma to “Grandma” occasionally, just to make it clear which “she” we were talking about.

You don’t have this problem with first person, unless your main character in first person is talking with two other males or two other females. Then you have a similar situation in needed to be clear which ‘he’ and which ’she’ is talking or acting.

Second Person – You are Woman, Hear You Roar

Second Person is almost never used in fiction. It is awkward for the reader (and the writer) as the character is described as “you” throughout the story. The one big exception to using Second Person in fiction is in the Write Your Own Adventure-type novels. You remember those?

You walk into a room and see two doors before you.
A. You choose the first door. (Flip to page 27)
B. You choose the second door. (Flip to page 35)

When it is used, it is most often combined with Present Tense, “You are”, etc. rather than Past Tense as most fiction is written in. My advice? Leave Second Person alone unless you’re trying experimental forms of literature.

Quick Recap

First Person – you are the character and you are describing your adventures. “I did that. I went there. I thought that.”

Second Person – you are REALLY the character but someone else is narrating your story. “You do this, you go there, you think that”

Third Person – you are observing the character as he or she experiences his or her adventures. “He did that. She went there. He thought that.”

Question For You

Do you use one point of view predominantly when you write or do you mix it up, choosing the point of view that best fits that story? Please share your experiences with point of view in the comments.

Some people are just born to be writers. Or maybe they’ve just worked really, really hard at it. Either way, their skill with words comes through in their blogs. They write entertaining, interesting posts that I can’t wait to read.

Check them out for yourself:

Jason A. Myers – He shares things he’s learned about writing and is entertaining in the process.

How Not to Write by Jamie Grove – Always good for a kick in the motivational-seat-of-your-pants.

Ceiling Flickers by Sharon Pelletier – The graceful flow of her words instill awe in me.

What writers do you know that were born to write? Leave a comment with their website so I can add them to my favorites list.

There’s a saying floating around that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become an “expert” at something. If you want to be a concert pianist, 10,000 hours of practice. A primadonna opera singer? 10,000 hours. A pro football player? 10,000 hours of practice.

So why is it that writers assume they can become published after writing just one novel? Oh sure, there are some writers that do strike it lucky on that first novel. But the majority of writers don’t.

For good reason.

Just because we all learn to write in kindergarten, that doesn’t mean that you can automatically turn out a bestseller. In reality, writing a bestseller usually means that you have to learn to balance character motivation and development, rising action, plot events and twists, evocative descriptions, worldbuilding, sentence structure, grammar, point of view, and theme… all while writing a really exciting story.

Writing is easy… writing a novel is not.

If you want to write a bestseller, you need to practice and study the craft of writing.

Read a novel multiple times and analyze how the author motivated their characters, used descriptions, created tension on the page, wrote subtext into the dialogue, and twisted the plot at the climax.

Practice the techniques you found in your daily writing.

Watch a movie and analyze how actors display emotions with expressions, gestures and actions.

Practice showing characters feeling strong emotions without words.

Get a book like Steering the Craft by Ursula K. LeGuin and do all of the exercises in the book. Five times.

Visit a writing prompt site on the Internet (Seventh Sanctum, Creative Writing Prompts) or get a book of writing prompts (A Picture is Worth 1000 Words, The Pocket Muse) and use a prompt every day in your daily writing practice.

Take the last novel you wrote and revise it into the best story you can write. Get help on how to revise from writing books or from a workshop like How to Revise Your Novel.

Write.

Figure out what didn’t work.

Fix it.

Write more.

Your 10,000 hours start today.

The new year is upon us and with it, some fabulous new writing classes. Take a look at these workshops being offered around the web.

Getting Rid of the Junk That Holds You Back by Cheryl St. John – Take an honest, in-depth look at your behaviors, your thought processes and the things that are holding you back on your writing goals.

Edit Your Book In a Month by Eliza Knight – Get information on how to fix the most common mistakes made in manuscripts and learn what editors and judges are looking for in a manuscript.

Personal Brand Express: An Action Plan for Authors by Jenn Stark – Get the tools you need to create and refine an ideal Writing and Industry Brand for you and your work, and learn tips and techniques to effectively showcase these Brands in your marketing, publicity and promotional efforts.

The Truth about Psychic Research: What It Is, Who Does It, and How to Use Psychic Research to Build Your Fictional Worlds and Distract Your Readers with Red Herrings by Mary O’Gara – Learn about astrological research, scientific research organizations, psychic research organizations, special research-in-action projects and magical societies.

Breaking Rules to Break In or Break Out by Allison Brennan – A class for serious writers who want to take their writing to the next level by learning how to shuck the rules that don’t work and focus on strengthening their voice with a special focus on the suspense genres–romantic suspense, thrillers, mysteries, and paranormal suspense.

New Year, New You by Laurie Schnebly Campbell – Learn practical and psychological techniques for dealing with rejection, writer’s block, frustration, motivation, and other issues that keep writers from loving their craft.

Anatomy of a Hook by Natalie J. Damschroder – Learn how to craft The Hook, the importance of continually barbed pacing, the anatomy of a hook, and how to pay it off, all with the goal of making the reader never want to put that book down.

Purpose Driven Scene by Lynn Kerstan – This workshop focuses on how to develop a scene that is chock-full of character development, conflict, emotion, and—for the reader—a vivid sense of “being there.”

Do you know of any other low-cost online writing classes being held in January? Please give details in the comments!

You may have heard about the need for an “elevator pitch” for your book. It’s a brief (usually one or two sentences) summary of your book–the main essence of it–short enough that it could be given during a chance 30-second elevator ride with the agent of your dreams. (Also useful when people find out you’re a novelist and ask what your story’s about.)

This is also sometimes described as the “high concept”, a term that originated in Hollywood to describe a movie idea, though an elevator pitch and a high concept have different nuances.

The elevator pitch is a short plot synopsis that intrigues the listener enough to want to know more. Character-driven stories do well as an elevator pitch.

The high concept is more of a big commercial plot (hence the reason that Hollywood uses it) that gives the listener an instant grasp of the “hook” in the idea. The stakes are usually higher (end of the world, city will blow up, plague will kill everyone) with more of an emphasis on plot events and action.

High concepts for movies usually use other movies as a reference because they’re so easily grasped, like “Pretty Woman (love story between businessman and hooker) meets Die Hard (cop must defeat terrorists who’ve taken over an office building at Christmas)”.

Example of an elevator pitch – A no-nonsense businessman hires a hooker to be his date for a week and then falls in love with her, but has to give up his heartless business practices to win her. (Pretty Woman)

Example of a high concept – Pretty Woman meets Die Hard on a cruise ship. (I think I’d like to read that book.)

Which Do You Use?

Which do you use for your novel? Start with the elevator pitch. Craft a good 30-second summary of your story. As you work on that, consider the stakes involved for the characters. Is an an end-of-the-world type of story? Or is there something amiss that will affect more than just the protagonist? You might have a high-concept story, if there is.

Identify the unique elements that take your story from beyond ordinary to amazing and see if you can craft a high concept from them. For help in creating an elevator pitch or a high concept, check out these links.

How to Create an Elevator Pitch

The 50-Word Elevator Pitch

Going Up! Honing the Elevator Pitch

The Importance of an Elevator Pitch

How to Create a High Concept

What is High Concept?

High-Concept Novels: Turn the Ordinary Into Extraordinary

Recipe for Success? High Concept

And for fun, check out these ultra-condensed plot summaries of some classic novels, Book-a-Minute Classics.

Out of the Box & On the Page is a book to help you get unstuck when your writing isn’t going your way. It provides a series of exercises for 10 days to help you change your perspective on your writing and look at your story or your characters in new ways.

Candace Havens, the owner of the Write Workshop group on Yahoo, usually presents this material as a workshop, but has now put it into book form and it’s available through Lulu, either as a print book or an electronic download.

What I like about this book

The exercises are easy to do and interesting. For example, Day 6 involves using a piece of art to inspire new thoughts on your story. Day 7 guides you through reviewing another book to identify what works and what doesn’t work in that book. You can then apply what you’ve learned to your own book, to include the elements you like and to leave out the ones you don’t like.

One thing that confused me initially is that every other page in the book is blank. I wondered, why all the extra space? I figured it out later… it gives you plenty of room to complete the exercises right on the pages.

Because of this, I think the electronic copy of the book is the one to buy, so you can print another copy of it the next time you’re stuck and go through the exercises again. The exercises are broad enough that you can continue to apply them to each new story and still gain new insights into your writing.

I recommend this book for…

If you’re stuck on a story and thinking of just abandoning it out of frustration or sheer boredom with it, pick up a copy of Out of the Box & On the Page before you do. You might find that your story is a lot more exciting than you realized.

The print version is $16.97. The electronic version is $6.00. Buy a copy before December 31 and use the coupon code HOHOHO for another 20% off either format.

When I was younger, I was in love with Jonathan Brandis. You might remember him from some of his movies (Neverending Story II, Sidekicks, Ladybugs) or from SeaQuest DSV (my favorite).

As I grew up, I lost track of his career. In 2005 something reminded me of him and I went to the Internet to see what he was up to. I found out that he had committed suicide in 2003.

I was devastated. Why would a young man of such promise do such a thing? I couldn’t understand it.

As I searched the internet for more information I came across dozens of websites devoted to him from fans still grieving over his loss.

He was loved and admired by so many. How did he not see that? Would he still have committed suicide if he had known?

Out of these questions came a story of a young man, lonely, depressed and thinking of ending his life, and the young woman who makes him see how many people care for him, despite her own feelings of loneliness and despair. In the end, they save each other.

As I wrote I was consumed with my grief and the story spilled onto the page. I couldn’t get it out fast enough.

When it was done, I sent the story to my beta reader, my sister, Ronda.

It made her cry.

As writers, we know that good stories evoke emotions in readers. I believe that feeling the emotion as you’re writing can enhance the words on the page.

Getting Emotions Onto the Page

Start with remembering a time when you experienced a similar emotion. A time when you were sad or angry or elated. Get the memory of that time firmly in your mind and then start writing.

If you’re having trouble getting into the right frame of mind, sometimes music can help set a mood.

I think Robert Frost captured it best:
“No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader.”

What do you do to get real emotions into your writing?

My latest post over at the Saturday Writers blog tells the sad story of my experience with NaNoWriMo this year. Yes, I failed to reach 50,000 words this year.

But I learned some things about myself in the process:

Listen to your inner voice

It’s silly to take on a new project when you KNOW you don’t have the time to give it the attention it needs. I need to pay attention to that inner voice that says, “You don’t have the time and you aren’t going to make the time to get this done.”

Say no to peer pressure

It’s silly to let peer pressure guide your commitments. Peer pressure can be a great motivator to help you reach your goals. But making a commitment that you know you can’t keep just because of peer pressure is the dark path to guilt that you really don’t need. Do what’s best for you and your novel.

Writing in a group is fabulous

It’s incredibly fun to join in on virtual write-ins. The NaNoWriMo team held them on Twitter, as did my local NaNo Group, the Central Iowa NaNo’ers (#cianano). If you can’t make it physically to a local write-in, join a virtual one.

Did you finish NaNoWriMo this year? What did you learn in the process?