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How I Write: Patrick E. Craig

June 22, 2020 by Karin Beery 4 Comments

Most people think of Beverly Lewis when they think of Amish fiction, but did you know there are several men writing Amish stories? Today I’d like to introduce you to Patrick E. Craig, one of those writers.

Welcome, and thank you for being here! How/why did you pick the Amish genre?

Most of my books are Amish fiction although I’m branching out into Literary Fiction and YA. As far as my Amish books, I don’t write traditional happily-ever-after romance that seems to be the mainstay of the mostly women, mostly older readers who follow the genre. I try to write outside-the-box stories about desperate people who face desperate situations that only God can fix, and who happen to be Amish.

I got started in this genre … well, basically on a dare. My friend, Nick Harrison was Senior Editor at Harvest House and asked me for an Amish quilting story one-sheet. I knew nothing about the Amish or quilting, but I submitted an idea for a story about an Amish woman lost in a terrible storm who saves a lost little girl by wrapping her in a prize quilt. To my great surprise, Harvest House bought the idea and asked for two more. So there I was, an Amish writer who was unencumbered by any previous knowledge of the subject. Thank goodness for Google!

What’s the most difficult part of writing your genre? How do you work through those challenges?

When I first started writing Amish, I had never read Beverly Lewis or Wanda Brunstetter and basically did not understand the inner workings of the Amish community. Then I connected with Sicily Yoder, a woman who had grown up Amish and left because of the grace issues surrounding shunning, and that was a huge blessing. She took me under her wing and schooled me thoroughly. Any question I had she would answer in great detail.

One thing she told me was that despite their squeaky-clean representation by the bulk of Amish authors (most of whom are non-Amish, by the way) there are some grim sides to Amish life. Jerry Eicher, an Amish man, writes about one of those issues, sexual abuse, in his recent book, When Hearts Break.

The hardest issue most Amish face is that they do not have a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. Many Amish think they are saved by following the Ordnung, the verbal law that has been passed down since the days of Menno Simons and Jackob Amman. I try to point all my books toward the great truth that the law cannot save you; only Jesus Christ can do that. My stories have to be set up with a plot that brings the protagonist to the great crux of their life: the law or Christ?

How long does it take you to: write the book? Edit it? Finalize it?

Most of my books take about three months to write because I’m still working part-time. Sometimes it goes a lot faster. When Murray Pura and I wrote our recent book, Far On The Ringing Plains, it took us thirty days to finish 90,000 words.

As far as editing, I give my Indie books to one of several outstanding editors I’m connected with and do my third draft rewrites as they send back their edited copy. I also use Pro Writing Aid software to pick up the most glaring grammar and style issues. If I’m doing an Indie book, I will finalize the project in Vellum, a great piece of software that produces all the different files I need.

For my covers, I use Simona Cora Salardi at Cora Graphics and she is brilliant. I am also producing several books for Elk Lake Publishers and when I do, I will do edits with one of their staff and then they do the final cover and formatting.

If you’ve written multiple books, which was harder: the first book or the following books? Why?

My first book, A Quilt For Jenna, was the hardest to write because I had never done a novel before. I didn’t even know how many words should be in it. My agent told me around 80,000 but when I sent the manuscript to Harvest House, they sent it back with a request for 20,000 more words. Believe me, it’s much harder to add words to a finished book than remove them. When Harlequin bought The Amish Heiress for their Walmart Amish program, I had to remove 20,000 words for the mass-market paperback. Compared to adding, it was a breeze. After the first book, I had an idea about how to go about it and had established my preparation format, so it was much easier.

What’s your favorite writer’s conference? What do you like about it?

My first writer’s conference was The Mount Hermon Writer’s Conference. I was told about it by Barbara Curtis, a brilliant friend who encouraged me to write fiction when I was a pastor writing teaching books. The first year I met Tim Riter, Nick Harrison, Kay Marshall Strom and her husband, Dan Cline, Sue Loeffler, James Scott Bell, and a bunch of folks who have been my friends ever since. I went several more years until I moved to Idaho from California and have attended other conferences, but I would say that Mt. Hermon is still my favorite.

What conference do you most want to attend? Why?

If I can be very blunt here: I would like to attend a conference where the faculty, the speakers and the awards are not dominated 90% by women.

The truth is, the Christian Publishing Industry has been pushed into a tiny box since the seventies: publishers drove out Christian Literary Fiction and now generally want books written by women, for women, about happily-ever-after romance. Even my genre, Amish fiction, has been over-romanticized and double glossed. Instead of real, gritty life challenges the biggest obstacle in most Amish books is the wheel coming off the Brad Pitt look-alike Bisschop’s son’s buggy as he’s on his way to court the drop-dead gorgeous Amish girl. Actually, that’s why I put together my latest book, The Amish Menorah and Other Stories, and only invited the men who write Amish fiction to take part.

I want to see a return to gritty, honest, literary writing that challenges readers where they live. And I think that will take men authors to lead the way. So if anyone out there knows of a writer’s conference for Literary Fiction featuring male authors, drop me a line.

How do you prepare to write your books: pantser, plotter, both, something completely different?

I’m a plotter. Before I write, since most of my books are not contemporary, I research the period I’m writing about. Then I do a timeline for the story and after that I lay out the chapters. I do a blurb for each chapter so I know what will happen inside of it. I don’t set them in stone though. In the Amish Princess I moved a prologue into the middle of the book. Once I get the prelims done, I do a first draft. I don’t edit; I don’t stop; I don’t rewrite—I save all that for the second draft.

What does your revision process look like?

Once I finish the first draft, I go to a second draft and do heavy rewrites, salvaging the flotsam and jetsam of the terrible writing in the first draft. Then I will use writing software like Pro Writing Aid to clean up the spelling and grammar stuff, put that into draft three and send it to my editor. What they send back becomes draft four as I work through their suggestions and changes.

Draft four goes to my copyeditor (my wife) for a close scan for all the grammar and spelling again. Those corrections become draft five. Then I reread and do any final adjustments and that becomes draft six. I put that into Vellum and format the book. I usually do six drafts on my Indie books, because I am responsible for everything: writing, editing, cover, format. When I write for a publisher, it rarely takes that much work because they take over a lot of the load.

Six short stories that will entertain and educate you. You’ll journey with an Amish man and the Jewish woman whose life he saves, suffer with an Amish girl in love with an Englische man, agonize with two sisters both in love with the same man, pray with the family whose child is injured in a fall, join forces with a non-violent Amish sheriff in a violent western town, and laugh at the girl forced to be Amish for the summer.

Amazon Best-Selling author Patrick E. Craig, is a lifelong writer and musician who left a successful music career to become a pastor in 1986. In 2007 he retired to concentrate on writing and publishing fiction books. A writer of Amish fiction, he has collaborated with several authors to publish The Amish Menorah and Other Stories (available now). Patrick and his wife Judy live in Idaho. They have two daughters and five grandchildren.

www.patrickecraig.com
https://www.facebook.com/PatrickECraig
https://twitter.com/PatrickECraig

Find his books online at: http://tinyurl.com/n6sfagg

Authors As Business Owners

June 8, 2020 by Karin Beery Leave a Comment

I published my first book two months ago, but it’s not selling. I’m thinking about building a website. What do I need to know?

I see this a lot in Facebook author groups. Authors are so excited about their books that they rush through everything with the belief that having a book available is the only thing that matters. They foolishly believe the book will sell itself; they just have to sit back and watch.

If only.

Can you imagine if a clothing store did that? They just opened their doors with no advertising or promotion, then told everyone what they were selling. It wouldn’t take long for them to go out of business.

No other businesses use the launch-a-product-then-advertise model, and I think that’s one of the biggest problems authors have when it comes to book sales. Authors see themselves as artists (which they are!), but they’re also business owners. If you want to make a living writing and selling books, you have to embrace the ‘selling’ aspect of that equation.

In the next few months, I’m going to share some tips on three things authors must have to increase their visibility and sales—and you need to start these before you release your first book, not after. The three necessary pieces are:

Your website
Your newsletter
Your social media presence

Why do you need to have these before you have a book? Because you want people to be able to find you as soon as your book is available. Because you want to drum up excitement about your book before it’s even released. Because you don’t want people to get excited about your work only to search for you online and not find anything about you.

PLEASE NOTE: Your website comes before your social media presence for a reason—you don’t own your social media accounts. At any time, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn could shut down or delete your account for various reasons. If that happens and you only have social media accounts, your online presence disappears. Don’t let that happen! Build your website first, then worry about social media.

Until then, what questions do you have about author websites, newsletters, and social media? Send them in, and I’ll answer them in my posts.

What’s the difference between clean and wholesome fiction? Sign up for my author newsletter and get my Clean vs. Wholesome checklist! Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for writing tips, updates on Guiding Light, and more!

How I Write: Tara Ross

May 25, 2020 by Karin Beery 1 Comment

It’s always a pleasure to meet debut novelists — what books and conferences are influencing the next generation of writers? Tara Ross is here today to tell you all about her writing journey, including her mentors and tips for other newbies.

Thanks for being here Let’s start with: what do you write? How/why did you pick your genre?

I write contemporary and inspirational young adult (YA) fiction. I have always loved reading about first loves, coming of age stories, and fierce young women conquering their fears. So, writing a book that included some of my favorite story elements made sense. I have also worked with teenagers for over ten years now and felt like there were important stories that needed sharing from our current point in history.

I do have a real itch to extend my writing to new adult and women’s fiction, however, many agents and publishers will ask that you stay within a particular genre to help establish your brand. I’ve intentionally tucked away these other genre ideas for now, but have a feeling they will need to be heard at some point.

If you’ve written multiple books, which was harder: the first book or the following books?

I’m still a newbie to the publishing world, but given that my first novel took me five years to brainstorm, draft, revise and edit, and then my second novel poured out in less than two years, I’d say it’s getting easier.

I liken it the quarantine trend of making bread. First you salivate over other people’s bread (books), tasting from a variety of recipes (genres). Then you begin to research recipes (craft books) and what ingredients you will need. It takes a few attempts before you get a result that is edible (i.e. that never to be seen first story), and even then, the steps are new and require you to look back to the recipe and YouTube videos. But finally, after the fourth or fifth attempt, the steps have become more automatic, and you need fewer references along the way. I feel like I’m somewhere in between. I can make a decent loaf of bread with guidance, but the more complicated recipes, like sourdough, I have yet to master.

What’s your favorite book on writing? What do you like about it?

The Emotional Craft of Fiction, by Donald Maass has been stationed on my bedside book pile, and my writing desk, and my Good Reads TBR list for the past six months. This book is thick with guidance, despite its average page count. Each chapter asks you to look deep into your story elements, then Maass gives you takeaway assignments for your own work. It goes beyond structure and character arcs to the underlying heartbeat of your story. Maass also gives you a mini literary foray by including masterful examples from across time and genre to illustrate each new principal. I’d suggest picking up this book once you have a rough draft in place.

What writing book do you want to read next?

I’ve heard fantastic things about Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear, by Elizabeth Gilbert. Shawn Smucker and Maile Silva, hosts of The Stories Between Us, read it as part of their podcast book club. They shared some fantastic highlights during their review episode. I also feel that after my debut novel comes out, I will be needing the encouragement this book offers.

What conference do you most want to attend?

I’d love to attend the ACFW conference or Mount Hermon. There is something transformational about being in the same space as authors you have read and admired for years. To hear them speak about the craft of writing adds extra level of splendor. From research I’ve done in the past, these conferences also offer mentorship tracks and opportunities to talk face to face with literary greats. I wouldn’t have wanted to attend these conferences earlier than now, however. I think if you are going to make the investment of traveling to a national conference, you want to have a firm grasp of your writing gaps, a plan for the future and a manuscript or two ready to share.

If you’ve ever worked with a freelance editor, how did you find that editor? How would you describe the experience?

If not for my first freelance editor experience, I honestly don’t think I would be a published author today. I met my editor, Sara Davison, through a writing contest I entered and won. She was one of the judges and shared in her feedback that I had a great start and that with a little bit of assistance I could make my story into something special. I chose to hire her to work with me in a mentorship style relationship to not only edit Fade to White but also teach me about my mistakes as I continued to grow as a writer. We worked slowly, a few chapters at a time, and with each new chapter, I applied the lessons learned to make the next chapter just a little bit cleaner. It was the best education in writing.

What does your revision process look like?

I think it’s important to understand how someone writes as a starting point, because revising as a planner versus a pantser may look very different.

I start with a fairly detailed outline. I have a spread sheet that I use to track my progress through each new scene and chapter. I veer from this as the story unfolds, but it helps me to check that I am reaching the big plot points at a reasonable pace. From the outline, I write a messy first draft. Once I have all the words down, I go back through and read the entire manuscript without changing anything. I make notes for each chapter about big picture changes or pacing issues. I then take those notes and write my synopsis based on chapter summaries from my spread sheet.

Once I have the synopsis, I consider what themes have emerged, and a lot of the time they are different from what I had intended to explore. With this in mind, I begin to flesh out character voices and motivations more heavily to represent their respective story arcs.

At this point, I am exploring the idea of sharing a rough draft with beta readers. Then, I go back to the beginning and begin to edit with their suggestions in mind and begin to add setting details, richer prose, and those small details that really peel a story off the page. I then allow someone else to read through for the overall flow and all the grammatical and punctuation errors I’ve have missed … and there are many. I finally send it off to my agent.

What advice do you have for new authors?

This is not a race. Writing is something I came to later in life, and it has been so therapeutic for me to share words at my own pace. Sometimes in the writing community, there is this sense of urgency to get your story out there, but I think there is something special about waiting for the right moment when you know you have put your best effort forward. I am a perfectionist and likely take longer than I should, but if I had rushed that first book and tried to query it before my masterclass with Sara, I never would have had a chance to reach this point.

Tara K. Ross lives with her husband, two daughters and rescued fur-baby in a field of cookie-cutter homes near Toronto, Canada. She works as a school speech-language pathologist and mentors with local youth programs. When Tara is not writing or reading all things young adult fiction, you can find her rock climbing the Ontario escarpment, planning her family’s next jungle trek or podcasting/blogging at www.tarakross.com.

Fade to White is her debut novel.

Connect with Tara online:
www.tarakross.com
http s://instagram.com/tara.k.ross/
https://twitter.com/tara_k_ross
https://goodreads.com/author/show/18889509.Tara_K_Ross
https://facebook.com/profile.php?id=100014749334644
https://amazon.com/author/tarakross

How I Write: Marie Watts

May 18, 2020 by Karin Beery Leave a Comment

Do you know which genre you’re writing in? Have you ever worked with a freelance editor? Are you a new writer looking for writing tips? Then keep reading and let Marie Watts help you out!

What do you write? How/why did you pick your genre?

I write fiction and nonfiction. In the nonfiction arena, I am the co-author of a textbook, Human Relations 4th ed. and a pictorial history of Fayette County, Texas (where I live) called La Grange. I volunteer at a historic house and am currently producing video snippets of the residents to enhance our house tours. The scripts are written and recorded; now, I’m busy trying to incorporate historical pictures.

I use fiction as an avenue to entertain and encourage others to look at issues such as diversity, personal relationships, and individual growth.

Unfortunately, I write and then worry about the genre. I deemed my current trilogy, Warriors for Equal Rights, as a mystery—it follows employment discrimination investigators who solve crimes and nab the bad guys. Agents, however, proclaimed it could not be a mystery because there was no dead body. Who knew?

If you’ve written multiple books, which was harder: the first book or the following books?

To me, the first one is much harder. The first book in my Warriors trilogy is The Cause Lives. The process took me forever because I was too timid at throwing the characters into situations where the stakes were high. The second book, Only A Pawn, flowed easier since the characters had been established.

How do you combat writer’s block?

I don’t combat it very well. Sometimes I envision a scene and write it. Then later, I go back and stick it in an appropriate place. Other times, when I’m concentrating on something else, ideas pop into my mind.

I have a friend who preaches to me to write at least ten minutes a day, and, sometimes if you just start, ideas flow. Personally, I procrastinate by working jigsaw puzzles on the computer.

How do you prepare to write your books: pantser, plotter, both, something completely different? Describe your strategy.

I admit to being a pantser for fiction. I do, however, know where the story starts and ends. Then, I fill in the middle as my imagination takes hold or as I have something happen to me which sounds good to put into the plot.

My nonfiction writing is a bit different. My recent works involve historical incidents, and the facts shape the story. The trick is to find something interesting that is relatable to people today.

For instance, I was researching the local 1888 newspapers for other information and noticed a spate of violence. Upon closer inspection, I realized the journal bemoaned the incidents and suggested that bearing six-shooters should be curtailed. I used these reports as a springboard to explore Texas gun laws in the 1800s. The article is entitled “A Bloody Month in 1888.”

What advice do you have for new authors?

Take writing classes and read books on writing. Also, read, read, read. Then, think about what the book did for you. Was it just entertainment? Did it make you think? What drew you to the book?

Also, explore the plot and structure. I recently read Liane Moriatry’s Big Little Lies and was fascinated by her ability to weave a story of a murder without revealing the victim or the perpetrator until the end.

Then, use these observations to develop your own writing style.

If you’ve ever worked with a freelance editor, how did you find that editor? How would you describe the experience?

For fiction, I have used different freelance editors, one for content and story construction and another for copy editing. The experience was very positive. The content editor helped me find weak spots in character development and speed up the story. I tend to plot like 19^th century novelists in laying out the scene instead of jumping into the action.

No matter how well I think I write, the copy editor has to clean up my work! When working with a copy editor, I suggest agreeing on what sources you will use. For instance, I use Chicago Manual of Style and Merriam-Webster Dictionary for consistency.

I attended a writer’s conference in Austin, Texas, and met the editors at that event.

How do you self-edit your manuscript?

When I think I have perfected an article, I run it through Grammerly where I usually find I have missed commas or words. I let it sit for several days and then re-read. Personally, I do not trust myself with a book-length manuscript because I want it to be consistent and grammatically correct. To me, sloppy writing detracts from the story.

What does your revision process look like?

First off, I follow the advice of a writing teacher to “kill your little darlings.” I let the manuscript sit and then began slicing and dicing. I read it numerous times, cutting and reorganizing from there. On my last manuscript, I cut several hundred words on the last round.

Besides cutting out wordiness, I have to look for areas to add descriptions. One of my beta readers on The Cause Lives complained because I gave little or no description of anything! Going through and looking for words and phrases I overuse is also crucial.

Marie W. Watts is a former employment discrimination investigator and human resource consultant with over twenty-five years of experience. She has trained thousands of employees to recognize one’s own biases and prejudices and avoid discriminating against others in the workplace, and she has coauthored a textbook about it: Human Relations, 4^th ed. Additionally, her work has been published in the Texas Bar Journal and the Houston Business Journal, as well as featured on Issues Today, syndicated to 119 radio stations, NBC San Antonio, Texas, and TAMU-TV in College Station, Texas.

In pursuit of justice in the workplace, Marie has been in jails and corporate boardrooms seeing the good, the bad, and the ugly of humans at work. She now brings her experiences to life in her works of fiction.

She and her husband live on a ranch in central Texas. In her spare time, she supports a historic house and hangs out with her grandsons.

http://mariewatts.com
https://facebook.com/mariewattsbooks
https://twitter.com/mariewattsbooks
https://instagram.com/mariewattswriter

Omniscient or Third Person POV?

May 11, 2020 by Karin Beery Leave a Comment

The omniscient POV (point-of-view) is making a comeback! The thing is, I don’t think it’s intentional. And most of the time, it’s not very good. When it comes to genre fiction, especially character-driven fiction, third person is a better option because it strengthens the reader-character connection.

I edit a lot of character-driven fiction (romance and women’s fiction specifically), so I see a lot of authors who think they’re writing third person POV, but they’re actually writing a bad version of the omniscient POV (or a bad version of third person, however you want to crack that nut). There are three main indicators that you’re writing in bad omniscient/third person. First, let’s take a look at the differences, then we’ll look at the problem.

Omniscient Point-of-View

Sometimes called the “narrator,” this is an all-seeing POV, knowing the inner workings of all the characters and able to tell what’s happening in different places at the same time. This POV lets the reader see everything but from a distance.

Most of the classical literature you read in high school and college was written in omniscient, but today’s audiences want deeper connections with the main characters. You can’t get that with omniscient because it’s a shallow, superficial look at everything. For most of today’s genre fiction, the preferred POV is third.

Third Person Point-of-View

This POV lets the author show the story from the viewpoint of one or more characters. Third-person gets into the head of each scene’s POV character, showing everything as they experience it. The reader doesn’t get to see anyone else’s thoughts or emotions until there’s a scene break and the book switches to a different character’s POV.

Because third person POV gets into the head of the scene’s POV character—showing what that person sees, hears, thinks, fears, etc.—the reader can connect with the characters because she experiences the story at the same time and in the same way as the POV character.

Bad Omniscient/Bad Third Person POV

These are the three most common mistakes I see with third-person POV. Some authors try to recover by calling it omniscient, but that still doesn’t work. Let’s pretend like we’re editing a romance novel. The genre standard (and expectation) is third person POV with two POV characters: the hero and the heroine. Here’s what usually happens:

Head hopping. Instead of staying in the hero or heroines POV, the author show’s everyone’s reactions in one scene. We see how the friend, neighbors, and parents think and feel about the situation. That’s called head hopping—instead of staying in one character’s POV, you hop into the head of every character.
Same voice. Regardless of which character dominates the scene, all of the descriptions sound the same. When the barista, poet, mechanic, and insurance adjuster all marvel at the mountain’s majesty and use similar phrases and words to describe life and their setting, then the narrator’s voice has taken over and is imposing her own thoughts onto the characters.

On their own, #1 and #2 could be omniscient, but not when you add #3.

Focusing on specific characters. When 90% of the book focuses on the hero’s and heroine’s current story with only 10% of it hopping into the heads of other minor characters, then the book isn’t really in omniscient. It’s third-person with some errors.

Most authors I speak with or work with are actually trying for third person, but when they hop heads or create vivid descriptions that they don’t want to cut, they often think that maybe they’re writing in omniscient instead. They aren’t. They’re simply writing third person with some POV issues. Instead of trying to hide third-person POV mistakes behind a veil of bad omniscient POV, you’re better off fixing the mistakes and writing your story in strong third person (unless, of course, you really want to write in omniscient—then make sure you’re not slipping into third person).

Not sure which POV to use? Most genre fiction (romance, mystery, suspense, etc.) uses either third-person or first-person point-of-view. My recommendation: leave omniscient for literary or general fiction.

For more writing tips and author interviews, sign up for me newsletter—as a ‘thanks for joining’ you’ll get “Simple Tips for Finding the Right Editor for Your Project”! You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter, or at my website!

How I Write: Patrick E. Craig

How I Write: Tara Ross

How I Write: Marie Watts

Omniscient or Third Person POV?

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