Write Now Editing

Interview & Writing Tips with Denise Weimer

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We’re going to try something a little different here this year, and I’m introducing some author interviews. These interviews, however, focus more on the craft of writing: how do people do it and what have they learned through the publishing process. I hope this will encourage you as well as give you an inside-look at what it’s really like!

Kicking off our interviews is author and editor Denise Weimer.

Denise, thanks for your willingness to appear on my blog! I’m looking forward to sharing your knowledge and advice with the rest of the world (at least with the small portion of it that follows my blog). What genre do you write? How did you pick it?
I’m a hybrid genre writer, having published contemporary and historical romance as well as time slip and romantic suspense novels, mostly set in my home state of Georgia. I was a huge history buff and living historian as a young adult, so it was natural that I’d start writing historicals. At one point, my agent encouraged me to try a contemporary romance since those often prove easier to place. My main story in my dual time period Restoration Trilogy had been modern, and I’d enjoyed writing it, so out came Fall Flip (September 2019), Spring Splash (March 2020) and Traces (March 2020).

What are your favorite genres to read? Why?
Historical eastern frontier romances. What a thrilling time for America. I often imagine the virgin forests, the native peoples, the early wars for ownership, and the many challenges of surviving and thriving in the nation’s backcountry. The conflict is right there, ripe for many stories!

How long did it take you complete your first manuscript (published or not)?
I wrote my first published novella, Redeeming Grace, when my younger daughter would take naps. Not long after, I began The Georgia Gold Series, four historical fiction novels set in Northeast Georgia and Savannah in the mid-1800s. I researched a year before I started writing. Then it took me about three more years to write what would become four novels of the series.

Have your follow-up novels been easier or harder to write? Why do you think that is?
Thankfully, easier, because I learned how to focus my research and know when to stop and start writing. I’ve since been trained and now work as an editor, which has really helped tighten my writing in early drafts. My last historical was researched and written in six weeks. That astonished even me.

What’s surprised you the most about the book-publishing process?
How vital authors are to each other. From endorsements to shared promotions to collections to introductions, they are key in opening doors and providing support.

What’s been the most challenging part of getting a book published?
Finding the path that could put my work in front of traditional and larger publishers. For me, it involved group blogging that led to participating in a collection that led to an agent. Now that I have several individual books out with houses recognized in Christian publishing, the next challenge has been building social media connections and sales numbers. Marketing is always a daunting task.

What’s your favorite part of the publishing experience?
Possibly the cover design process. It’s such a thrilling moment to see your book cover for the first time, like putting a face to a name. I love that LPC gives authors some input into their covers. When it all comes together, the cover reflects several elements of your story and offers an enticing package for potential readers.

For learning the writing craft, which do you prefer – books or conferences?
If you could recommend one writing conference, what would it be?
If you could recommend one writing book, what would it be?
If I may answer the three questions above in one … My path has been a little different where writing craft books and conferences have been concerned. Instead of either, my pattern became learning from mentors: my first publisher, Wendy Dingwall of Canterbury House; my agent, Linda S. Glaz of Hartline Literary; other authors and editors; and finally, my senior-ME, Pegg Thomas at Smitten Historical Romance, and editing training with you, Karin, at the PEN Institute.

That said, Pegg and I do recommend books on self-editing and writing deep POV to budding authors who submit to our historical imprints, and conferences are wonderful. I’ve attended and gotten to be on faculty at the North Georgia Christian Writers’ Conference. While finances have needed to be directed elsewhere in our family up to this point, I hope to attend the Blue Ridge Conference in the near future. And maybe when it comes closer to Georgia again, ACFW!

If you could pick any of your novels to be made into a movie, which one would you pick? Who would you want to play the lead roles, and why?
I’m not very good with assigning actors and actresses to roles from my novels, but if I had to pick a novel to be made into a movie, it would be my novella in the Backcountry Brides Collection, Across Three Autumns. My heroine, Jenny White, is a strong frontier woman who holds off British and Native Americans from her home during the Revolutionary War. And my hero, a Scottish scout for Elijah Clark, is swoon-worthy.

For a full-length novel, that historical I mentioned above as having been written in six weeks, working title Bent Tree Bride, would make a great movie. It’s about a mixed-blood lieutenant in the Cherokee Regiment who struggles to reconcile the scholar and warrior within him while fighting Red Stick Creeks during the War of 1812—and trying to avoid falling in love with his white colonel’s feisty daughter. But first, I have to pray it finds a home with the right publisher.

Thank you so much for appearing on my blog! Have a blessed day!
Thank you for having me!

Spring Splash: When an injury sidelines college swimmer Anna Callaway, her dreams are crushed. She pours herself into her sports marketing practicum, helping a local special needs organization promote their athletic event. What she doesn’t expect is a swim team ripe for the Special Olympics—and their handsome but stubborn coach.

Craig Holt has dealt with eager and ignorant volunteers before. No matter how determined or persuasive uptight Anna might be about coaching his team to the Special Olympics, he has no intention of allowing her to raise the hopes of his swimmers, his sister, or his guarded heart.

Then Anna herself gets a second chance at becoming a champion. Will she pursue her lifelong goals or make room for a new dream?

Traces: When a failed romance and a $500,000 prize lure Kate Carson into participating in the reality TV show, Traces, the least she expects is to pick her partner. After all, she’s the PR spokeswoman of the company that derived a thirteen-lens, rotating camera from military use and installed it atop Atlanta’s tallest skyscraper. But she never would have chosen to evade techno hunters for twenty days with “G.I. Joe.”

Stoic, ex-military Alex Mitchell is the sort of man she always vowed to avoid, while the shadows of Alex’s past cause him to spurn emotional involvement. When Kate’s insider knowledge makes her a target of someone more threatening than game show hunters, Alex offers her only hope to reveal the dark plans of proponents of The Eye.

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Know What You’re Writing: Novel Lengths

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Writing Tip: most agents and publishers will reject a 100,000 young adult novel without ever reading it.

Why?

Because it’s too long. Without reading a word, we know it’s too long. The fact that an author is submitting it suggests a few different things:



  • The author is too wordy and the book hasn’t been edited for length.
  • The book has been edited for length and the author didn’t listen.
  • The author has doesn’t his/her homework to understand the genre.

Let’s take a look at that last one. That one has nothing to do with the quality of your work, and it’s super easy to fix; there’s no reason any author shouldn’t do it before submitting.

Novels in similar genres are never exactly the same length, but there are guidelines that will at least help you get past the literary gate keeps by providing an appropriately sized book for your target market.

Here’s what Writer’s Digest has to say about acceptable manuscript lengths (with a few personal comments added):

  • Commercial and Literary Adult Novels: 80,000–100,000 words
    • 70,000–80,000: might work, but might be too short
    • 100,000–110,000: might work, but might be too long
    • Less than 70,000: too short
    • More than 110,000: too long
  • Fantasy/Science Fiction (and some historical novels): 100,000–115,000 words
  • Upper Middle Grade (12+ years): 40,000–55,000 words
  • Middle Grade (young adult style with middle grade themes): 20,000–55,000 words
  • Middle Grade (style and themes): 20,000–35,000 words

You’ll notice young adult novels aren’t listed separately because it depends on who you’re targeting. If you wrote a YA fantasy novel with 18-year-old characters that could be read by an adult audience, you can probably get away with 100,000 words. If, however, you’re writing it for the 13-year-old set, you might want to go shorter. The best way to know how long to make it? Check the publisher’s website and guidelines!

Is this list finite and absolute? Of course not, but now you have a good idea of whether or not your 30,000-word historical romance is ready to submit (hint: it’s not, unless you plan for it to be a novella).

What genre do you write? Let me know if you have specific questions about the length of your book!

5 Ways Realism Ruins Good Fiction

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Let’s be honest—unless it’s vital to a plot, most people don’t want to read about a character’s bowel movements, mouthy kids, or hangnails. Often authors include mundane details to make their characters seem more realistic, but that realism doesn’t always come across well in books. Today we’re going to quickly look at five things you can reduce/eliminate from your manuscript to help strengthen your story.

  1. Small talk. If you were raised before cell phones, your calls probably started like this:
    “Hello, this is the Van Burens.”
    “Hi, is your mom there?”
    “May I ask who’s calling?”
    “Mr. Smith from the insurance agency.”
    “One moment, please.”
    It’s polite and informative, but in a book, it takes up too much space and slows down the story. You don’t necessarily want your characters to be rude, but you don’t need a hello/goodbye in every conversation either. And unless the weather is important to the plot, you don’t need to show people discussing it.
  2. Introspection. Most people overthink things, be it every decision they make or only those related to a specific subject. That’s normal. But it doesn’t work well in books. It’s okay—even expected—to have characters reflect on situations, but after they do it once, move on. You don’t need to remind your readers over and over again of a character’s ideas, nor do you need to show the characters thinking about every situation they experience. When you repeat thoughts/scenes/reactions, you give readers a reason to skip pages. Once they start to skip, they’ll keep skipping (so don’t give them a reason).
  3. Well, so, okay, etc. Just because people say it in real life doesn’t mean it needs to appear in your dialogue. It’s amazing how many times well and so appear in manuscripts when authors start their sentences with them—they can show up hundreds of times! That’s a lot of words that could be used to show something more important to the plot. The same is true for filler words such as like, okay, um, uh-huh. Leaving them out won’t make the dialogue feel unnatural but including too many of them will slow the pace and stand out as unnecessary.
  4. Step-by-step instructions. Every morning I wake up, let the dogs out, feed them, pack my husband’s lunch, then start breakfast. Not many people care, and they shouldn’t. It’s boring. So is explaining how to put the key in the ignition, start the car, throw it into reverse, pull out of the driveway, and slide it into drive before heading into town. Whether we want to or not, we live orderly lives—you often can’t do one thing (drive into town) without doing another thing first (starting the car). Readers don’t need to see each of those steps though. If it’s important to show a character’s nighttime routine, show it once. Then trust your reader to remember it and move on to other important details of the story.
  5. Repetition. Similar to #4 but slightly different, readers don’t need to see character repeating themselves. Yes, we’ve all had experiences where we had to tell the same story over and over again, but you don’t want to do that on the page. Remember #2? When you start repeating things, readers are tempted to skip pages. Don’t give them a reason! Find creative ways to convey what’s happening in a scene without actually repeating every detail. Your readers will thank you.

Yes, you want your characters to be realistic, but too much realism can slow down a story and kill the intensity. When you look for and cut back on these five things, you’ll naturally tighten your story without sacrificing characterization.

My sophomore novel—Practically Married—releases October 2019! Sign up for my monthly newsletter and you’ll receive sneak peeks, behind-the-scenes stories, and pictures of my cats and dogs. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for writing tips, updates on Guiding Light, and more!

Trust Your Reader (a.k.a. Stop Over Explaining)

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My younger sister is a teacher. She often gives directions, then has to repeat them, then has to explain them (as high school students aren’t necessarily known for their listening skills). Because of that, she’s gotten into the habit of repeating and overexplaining things when she talks to her family and friends. It’s not uncommon to hear something like this:

We need to leave the house by three so we don’t get stuck in rush hour traffic. Rush hour is usually between four and six, and that’s when traffic is the heaviest because everyone gets out of work at the same time. It can take twice as long to drive through rush hour, so we need to leave the house by three.

That kind of over explanation works in small doses, but even those of us who know her well have to occasionally remind her that we don’t need step-by-step instructions for everything. People who don’t know her can feel insulted by the repetitiveness (as if she thinks they aren’t smart enough to understand what she’s talking about).

What does this have to do with novel writing? Everything!

Why? Because new authors tend to overexplain and repeat everything to make sure the reader knows what’s going on. Instead of making things clear, however, the readers (like people who don’t know my sister) often feel insulted (and bored) as they reread the same information over and over again.

How do you make sure you’re not overexplaining (and insulting your reader)? Here are two ways you can trust your reader more:

  1. Don’t explain the obvious. There are a lot of ways writers do this. Some are on the smaller scale. For example, she clapped her hands—you can delete her hands because she wouldn’t clap her feet. A larger scale explanation would be something like the rush hour example. The majority of people know what rush hour is. There’s no need to explain it. The few people who don’t understand it will look it up.
  2. Don’t repeat the details. After you introduce a character with blue eyes, you don’t have to mention those details every time she shows up on the page. Another point-of-view character might notice her eye color the first time he sees her, but there’s no reason to mention them in every scene she’s in. The reader will remember. The same is true for her age, hair color, height, etc. (A couple of reminders throughout the story are fine, but mention these details too many times and the reader will start skimming.)

Start looking for and keeping track of these things (e.g. how many times do you mention your characters’ ages?) and you’ll not only tighten your writing, you’ll keep the reader engaged and wanting more.

Five Ways to Strengthen Your Novel—and Your Life! By Linda Nathan

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Whether we read a novel just to kick back and relax or to jump into an exciting adventure, we enter one or possibly more new worlds.

Fiction’s power comes from its ability to draw a reader into a world view—a set of beliefs, ideas, and attitudes about the world, ourselves, and others. It can impart both truth and deception, so as Christians, it’s vital to discern what we’re reading and, as writers, what we’re writing. Understanding and utilizing world views can help us to do both.

World views appear in themes of truth and deception, love and hate, good and evil, unity and brokenness, and more. The realities of those world views play out through plots, characters, action, dialogue, atmosphere, and other fictional elements.

A biblical world view discerns good from evil, truth from falsehood. The Apostle Paul tells us to take every thought captive to Christ (2 Cor. 10:5), and Romans 12:2 exhorts us to mature in discernment through God’s Word. Comparing world views that we encounter with the Bible, helps us to do this.

What worlds entice you when you read? And what worlds do you create for your readers?

Following are four influential world view areas operating in our culture today. Can you spot their spiritual realities in fictional landscapes? Do they shape any world views you encounter or want to write about? Studying world views will help you understand how they conflict, combine and communicate their message to others.

  • Biblical. The Word of God is the foundation of a Christian world view (Heb. 4:12).
  • New Age/mystical. Sees the world as magical with no Creator God. Emphasizes imagination, feeling, and intuition. Looks “within” for truth though mysticism, “spirit guides,” psychedelic drugs, etc.
  • Psychological. Seeks transformation via therapy, self-analysis, pop psychology, and self-help and behavioral change methods. Intersects with New Age/mystical.
  • Secular/materialist/atheistic. Relies upon worldly techniques and materialistic philosophies.

Want to create a riveting story? Utilize world views to increase conflict, reveal character, and create atmosphere. Here’s an example. Can you spot the world views operating in this vignette?

Judy McGrath stirred her coffee and stared out the window at the veil of fog shrouding the garden. She shivered. It reminded her of the veil she felt over her marriage—a cold, distant, and alien fog. Once again, John was off managing the high-tech company he loved—and once again she was alone.

Alone.
And childless.

“Children are counterproductive to a green Earth,” he’d insisted. “Our planet’s already overpopulated.”

“But John, don’t you want family?” she’d protested.

“Nonsense. We have to separate human sexuality from human reproduction or earth will be doomed.” He’d hurried away, scowling.

Judy wiped a tear and stirred her coffee, then wiped away another tear. Finally, she gave up and reached for the box of tissues.

The ability to identify world views can sharpen our awareness of the world around us, enrich our stories, and protect us and our readers from deception. To identify world views as you read and write fiction, ask yourself:

  • What philosophies, attitudes, and beliefs underlie and shape the plot, imagery, characterization, and dialogue?
  • How do these world views interact, conflict, combine, and communicate with each other?
  • How do they line up with the Bible?

In summary, learning about world views can help us to:

  1. Discern what we’re reading and, as writers, what we’re writing;
  2. Mature in discernment as we are transformed by God’s Word;
  3. Understand how they conflict, combine, and communicate among themselves;
  4. Create a riveting story through conflict, character change, and atmosphere; and
  5. Sharpen our awareness of the world around us, enrich our reading and writing, and protect us and our readers from deception.

* * *

We’ve taken on the challenge of writing about radically conflicting world views in our new thriller, The Glittering Web, coming this April 22 through Redemption Press.

Based on the true story of our rescue by Jesus Christ, our fast-paced novel plunges the reader into deep struggles involved with escaping Satan’s kingdom and clearly distinguishes the conflict between the kingdoms of light and of darkness.

Linda Nathan has 27 years of experience as a professional freelance writer, editor, and consultant for authors and institutions through her business, Logos Word Designs, LLC. She is a staff freelance editor with Redemption Press and a gold member of the Christian Editor Connection. Linda has a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Oregon and master’s level work, as well as 10 years of experience in the legal field. She has helped numerous authors attain publication and in several instances achieve industry awards.

The book:
http://www.theglitteringweb.com
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authors@theglitteringweb.com

Logos Word Designs, LLC
http://www.logosword.com
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editor@logosword.com

ABOUT ME

Editor. Teacher. Novelist.
A passionate lover of fiction, Karin doesn't just write novels, she helps others write their best stories! A certified substantive editor with the Christian Editor Connection, her goal is to help authors to put her out of business by equipping them with the tools they need to become better writers.

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Lover of all things fiction, I also love University of Michigan football, the Detroit Lions, Tigers, and Red Wings, kayaking, gluten-free cupcakes, and my husband.

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