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How I Write: Shannon Vannatter

February 22, 2021 by Karin Beery Leave a Comment

What do agents do, and how do you find a good one?

Which is harder to write–your first or seventh book?

How do you combat writer’s block?

Shannan Vannatter is here to help!

Thanks for being here today! Let’s start with what you write — how did you pick your genre?

Contemporary Romance. I started out trying to write Romantic Suspense because I’ve always watched detective shows on TV. But my books were always heavy on the romance, light on the suspense. Finally, at a writer’s conference, I had an epiphany when the speaker said you should probably write what you read most. I read Contemporary Romance. After that epiphany, everything fell into place.

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

In romance, the reader knows how it will end. It’s about how they’ll get to their happily ever after. Keeping readers interested and creating believable conflict to keep the characters apart until the end is hard. You can easily write yourself into a corner if you throw so much conflict at them that they can’t possibly overcome it. It’s a delicate balance.

I make sure their GMCs are rock solid before I ever start writing the book. Debra Dixon’s GMC: Goals, Motivation, & Conflict has saved most of my books from the cutting room floor.

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

In some ways the first book was easier because I had years to perfect it. But it was also harder since I’d never worked with an editor. The following books were easier because I’d worked with an editor and knew more about what needed to go in a book and what didn’t. But they were harder because I had deadlines of three to five months. My 2nd contracted book was the hardest. It was the first time I’d ever had a deadline. I learned writer’s block was a real thing.

What’s your writing day like?

I’m an acquisitions/content editor for Scrivenings Press now too. I work from about 11 am to 5 pm and then from 11pm to 2 am on weekdays. I juggle. Most days, I work on editing and do my writing at night. The hours in between, I spend time with my husband and son and do church-oriented things since my husband is a pastor. Weekends are for family and church.

How do you combat writer’s block?

The one time I had it, with my second contracted book, I’d had to turn in a synopsis for the book to my editor. I’m a pantser, meaning when I start a book, I know the characters and the basic plot twists and the end. Having to write the synopsis before I write the book is like pulling teeth for me. Having to write that book according to the synopsis by a certain date gave me writer’s block. I had to put the synopsis away and work on something else until it was out of my head. Then I wrote the book. A few times I got stuck and had to look at the synopsis to get going again. That’s how I still do it. But writing the synopsis is still the hardest thing I do. And often when I write the book, it doesn’t exactly follow the map I laid out of it. I warn my editors that I’m a pantser and things change as I write the book.

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

I come up with my heroine and hero first and give them baggage and careers or living situations that instantly force them to be together, but they mix like oil and water. I work their GMC out according to Debra Dixon’s GMC: Goals, Motivation, & Conflict. Once I have that formula, I work on plot. I use Randy Ingermanson’s snowflake method to write the synopsis. Once I get the proposal done, I submit it. If it gets contracted, I forget everything I knew about the synopsis and write the book. If I get stuck, I go back to the synopsis. But if my characters take me in a new direction, I let them.

Since I’m a pantser, in a perfect world, I’d sit down with the characters, a few twists, and the ending in my head and just write.

If you have an agent, how did you find/pick your agent? What tips do you have for others looking for an agent?

I’m actually between agents at the moment. My most recent agent’s contract was all inclusive. Meaning if I want to write something for my own company, I’d still have to pay her. I don’t need an agent to write for Scrivenings, so I basically would have paid her for nothing. I’m currently talking to an agent I’m excited about and going over my manuscript one more time before I send her the full.

I’ve had a bad agent and I’ve had good agents. My first one realized I wasn’t ready, so she cut me from her list. My second one lost a contract for me and is no longer in the business. My third one was great—it was just a contract issue.

I’ve found a few things that might be a red flag in finding an agent:

If they’ve only sold to one publishing company, they might have a friend there and that’s the only reason they’re selling.

If they own the agency and don’t have any other agents, they may not play well with others which is a bad thing in the publishing industry.

If an agency has only been around a few years, they may not be proven yet.

Trust me, a bad agent is worse than no agent at all.

To find a good agent:

Find an agency that’s been around for at least five years with lots of sales to multiple houses and employs multiple agents.

How do you self-edit your manuscript?

Even though I’m an editor, it’s hard to self-edit. I love my characters and my story, so it’s hard to see any flaws. I have a foolproof technique that makes sure I have the right mix of emotion, conflict, dialogue, setting, movement, and internal thoughts on each page, without too much of anything. I teach a class on it. On top of that, I eat sunflower seeds still in the hull while I edit. Someway, it keeps me focused, cracking those shells and digging out the seed with my tongue. My ankles are swollen the next day, but it works.


Award winning author, Shannon Taylor Vannatter writes contemporary Christian cowboy romance and has over a dozen published titles. A romance reader since her teens, she hopes to entertain Christian women and plant seeds in the non-believer’s heart as she demonstrates that love doesn’t conquer all—Jesus does.

She gleans fodder for her fiction in rural Arkansas where she spent her teenage summers working the concession stand with her rodeo announcing dad and married a Texan who morphed into a pastor. In her spare time, she loves hanging out with her husband and son, flea marketing, and doing craft projects.

Connect with her: Shannon’s Website, Shannon’s Blog, Shannon’s Facebook, Shannon’s Goodreads, Shannon’s Pinterest, Shannon’s Twitter, Newsletter Archives, Shannon’s Amazon Author Page and Shannon’s Bookbub. Sign up for her Newsletter to get a free e-book, recipes, behind the scenes info, & enter exclusive giveaways: Shannon’s Newsletter

Recently, Shannon joined Scrivenings Press as co-owner/acquisitions/content editor.


He came to find the children…will he stay to win her heart?

Learning he’s an uncle shocks Ross Lyles—but after years of handling his brother’s bombshells, at least this surprise is a blessing. A pair of five-year-old blessings Ross is determined to meet, if he can convince their aunt to give him a chance. Fiercely protective, Stacia Keyes is worried he’ll try to take the children…and lassoing her trust is harder than he ever imagined.

Available at Walmart from mid-Feb to mid-March. Or online:

A Texas Bond – ChristianBook      
A Texas Bond – Amazon        
A Texas Bond – BarnesandNoble

Filed Under: interview Tagged With: author interview, contemporary romance, literary agents, self-editing, Shannon Vannatter, writing tips, writing tools

Repetition: Your Novel’s Nemesis

November 11, 2020 by Karin Beery Leave a Comment

There’s something comforting about eating turkey and stuffing every Thanksgiving. Knowing what to expect brings a sense of peace to our often-hectic lives, but that’s not always the case.


Repetition and consistency will kill your novel.

A common problem for many new writers is repetition. It comes in several forms. Today we’ll look at three of the most common repetitive issues and strategies for fixing and avoiding them.

Chapter Openings. Each chapter should open in a way that fits the characters and content of that scene. Far too frequently, however, each chapter starts the same way. The most common issue I see is the info dump—each chapter starts with 1-2 (or four!) paragraphs of information. Here are the two big issues with that type of opening:

  1. It’s often a description of action that took place between chapters. Instead of telling the reader what happened between chapters, back it up and show the reader what happened.
  2. It’s unnecessary/irrelevant. Each chapter doesn’t need to start in the same place (for example, with the main character waking up). If the details aren’t necessary to character development or they don’t support the plot, they can probably be cut.

Dialogue. There are two main ways in which authors repeat in dialogue.

A. They repeat what the other person just said. Not only does the dialogue sound unnatural, but it doesn’t flow well either. Example:

“How are you, Bill?”
“I’m fine, Kathy. And how are you?”
“I’m fine too. Did you make it to the tractor pull last night?”
“I did make it to the tractor pull!”

A better option…
“How are you, Bill?”
“I’m fine, Kathy. You?”
“I’m fine. Did you make it to the tractor pull last night?”
“I did!”

B. Characters have the same conversations over and over again. Bill and Kathy talk about the tractor pull, then Bill goes and tells John the same thing, then Bill calls his dad and tells him about it. You only need to explain what happened once. Then say something like, “Bill explained everything to John before calling and telling his dad.” There’s no reason to repeat the conversation. Your reader will understand.

Review your dialogue. If characters fall into category #1, cut those unnecessary words to tighten the conversation. If they fall into category #2, only show the conversation once. Summarize it after that.

Situations. Bill and Kathy talk on the phone, then go to the school, then meet up for coffee. John and Sandy talk on the phone, then go to the park, then meet up for dinner. In this instance, all of the characters do the same things: talk, meet, eat.

Another variation on repeated situations is when one character always does the same thing. No matter who Bill is with, they end up at the hardware store. Regardless of who Kathy is meeting, they always go to the bookstore.

While it’s true that most of us live pretty uneventful lives (and we probably go to the same three places repeatedly), that doesn’t make for interesting fiction.

Go through your story scene by scene and make a list of what your characters do. Do you see any patterns? If so, change something. You might have to introduce a new character or a new plot point, but it will be worth it to prevent your readers from getting bored and tuning out.

There you have it—the three most commonly repeated issues that tank an author’s manuscript.

There you have it—the three most commonly repeated issues that tank an author’s manuscript.

Don’t let it happen to you. Take some extra time to clean up these issues so you can present a stronger, cleaner story.

For more writing tips and author interviews, sign up for my 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!

Filed Under: writing Tagged With: best practices, fiction writing, self-editing, writing a book, writing tips

How I Write: Christina Sinisi

August 17, 2020 by Karin Beery Leave a Comment

Some writers wait for the muse before they write (not a recommended strategy), but not Christina Sinisi. She actually turns to simple math to help her get her stories written–and it’s working! With two novellas and one novel releasing in three years, she’s figured a few things out, and she’s here to share her secrets.

Thank you for being here! First things first: what do you write?

Thank you for having me! I write Christian Contemporary Romance. So far, I’ve sold two Christmas novellas—The Christmas Confusion came out last November and Christmas on Ocracoke is expected this December—and one full-length novel is expected next summer, Sweet Summer. 

I chose this genre because it reflects who I am. My faith is the most important thing in my life, followed by my husband of 34 years and my children. Now, did I realize that at first? No. I was writing fantasy/sci fi and getting nowhere until a friend (who also happens to be a NY Times best-selling author) said I think you should write inspirational. She was right.

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

There’s a balance between demonstrating how God works in people’s lives and being preachy; I need to work to find that happy medium, not lukewarm, but neither do I want to turn people off. I want to depict people’s struggles with their faith as well as how wonderfully faith can be a comfort in the tough times.

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

Don’t hate me—but I can write in whatever time frame I’m given. I wrote The Christmas Confusion in 3 and a half weeks because that’s how long I had between seeing the call for novellas and the deadline. I set a goal and I reach it. Now, if I could only do that with my diet. J

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

Deb Dixon’s GMC, Goal Motivation and Conflict is a very hands-on and useful book. I use her charts for every book I write. I find it really important to get to know my characters as people and the plot follows from there.

What conference do you most want to attend? Why?

I’ve attended RWA and Moonlight and Magnolias several times each, as far as the general romance writing world, but I have yet to attend ACFW. Since this is my writer’s world now and I really love our local chapter members so I look forward to attending the national conference as soon as I can.

What’s your writing day like?

I rarely get a day to just write. I’m a professor in my day job and that, along with being department chair, never seems to completely stop.

In the summer, though, I do get afternoons or mornings depending on what comes up. When I sit down to write, I usually journal first as a warm-up. Then, I write until I reach my page count for the day.  I set my page count by literally counting the days until the book is due (or, when I don’t have an official deadline, I’ll set one) and divide.

So, for example the typical novel is around 300 pages (check guidelines for whichever publisher you’re considering submitting) and if I have three months…I’ll give myself a week for plotting and planning and creating the GMC for my characters. Then, I’ll deduct at least a week or two at the end to revise and edit and send to a writing partner for critique. So, that gives me about 2 months and a week which rounds out to 5 pages a day. That’s not hard!!

What advice do you have for new authors?

If you love writing, keep at it. Don’t let rejections or the lack of time or everybody’s confusion—how can you keep writing when you’re getting nowhere—get to you. I mean, what else are you going to do with your spare time? Binge watch Netflix all day? Nah.

How do you self-edit your manuscript?

I was a member of RWA for over a decade and attended monthly workshops as much as possible so I’ve learned quite a few strategies on self-editing and revising. Generally, I love the process where you take turns going through the manuscript, maybe with different colored post-it notes looking at different things. These passes can include—POV, romance threat, conflict thread, faith thread, and grammar. I’ll also take notes as I go about small points I need to check on—like does my secondary character have the same name through the entire thing (I tend to write fast and try out different options). I talk more about plotting and this pass-through process in my own blog at www. https/ChristinaSinisi.com


A member of the American Christian Ficiton Writers, Christina Sinisi writes stories about families, both the broken and blessed. Her works include a semi-finalist in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Contest and the American Title IV Contest in which she appeared in the top ten in the Romantic Times magazine. Her published books include The Christmas Confusion and the upcoming Sweet Summer, the first two books in the Summer Creek Series, as well as the upcoming Christmas On Ocracoke expected this December. By day, she is a psychology professor and lives in the Lowcountry of South Carolina with her husband and two children and cat Chessie.

Website/Blog: https://www.christinasinisi.com/
Twitter: @ChristinaSinisi
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Christina-Sinisi-Author-105861987440664/?modal=admin_todo_tour
Instagram: @csinisi123
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/csinisi/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/101218889-christina-sinisi

Filed Under: interview Tagged With: author interview, editing tips, self-editing, writer's conference, writing tips

Floating Body Parts: Yes or No? by Karen Saari

May 13, 2019 by Karin Beery Leave a Comment

“And the wrench is still there. What would it be like to operate with a professional team? I wouldn’t know that’s for sure. Give me more suction.”

Eyes rolled around the room.

I wrote this a few years ago and never gave it a second thought. But when I read it over yesterday, trying to determine if it was suitable for a contest entry, all I could see was eyeballs rolling around the room like they were on little roller skates. Now that’s a floating body part (FBP)!

I think you know what I was trying to say – everyone in the room rolled their eyes at the Doctors comment on professionalism. But that’s not what I wrote. There is nothing wrong with using the phrase rolled her eyes, as long as it’s connected to a person.

“Trying not to laugh, she rolled her eyes at his antics.”

We all know what that means. A writer could get super technical and write, “Trying not to laugh, she looked up and down quickly, at his antics.” That’s ridiculous. I wrote the sentence and I don’t know what it means! The sentence doesn’t qualify as a FBP because we understand the idiom. And the alternate, about looking up and down, will stop the story.

How can you tell which eye rolling is a FBP? In the second sentence those eyes are attached to a she. In my original sentence — Eyes rolled around the room – those eyes are rolling free!

Floating body parts are easy to spot. Every time a body part is mentioned it should be attached to a body. Referring to any body part without the stability of a whole body behind it, sets it afloat. Let’s look at a few.

He dropped his hands. My literal, visual brain sees a man standing, and his hands drop off his arms. What could you write that conveys the same feeling of frustration or giving up? His shoulders drooped. Or He slumped in the chair.

She slammed on the brakes and her arm shot out. This is a cause and effect situation. As adults, nearly all of us have reached out without thinking to protect our passenger. But the way this is written it sounds like the brakes caused her arm to shoot. She slammed the brake pedal and instinctively her arm went across the empty passenger seat. Because I used the word slammed, speed is suggested and we don’t need words like shot or flew.

There is a fine line between nabbing all apparent FBPs and recognizing an idiom. The determining factor should be – does it stop the story? If not, then carry on. If yes, then rephrase it.


Karen Saari loves to play with words, whether it’s writing or editing. She is a Christian, wife, mother and grandmother. Karen is currently working on her BA in English and Creative Writing. She writes contemporary Christian women’s fiction, and is working on a new book – The Neighbor’s Club.

An avid reader, she also sews and knits and is learning to draw and paint with watercolors. Yard sales and thrift stores are her favorite shopping places, besides craft stores. She lives with her husband, Robert in the mountains of northern California. They enjoy traveling the Oregon coast and photography.

Karen blogs at http://karensaari.com

Filed Under: best practices, writing Tagged With: book editing, fiction, fiction editing, fiction writing, Karen Saari, self-editing

4 Tips to Creating a Cleaner Manuscript By Sue A. Fairchild

March 11, 2019 by Karin Beery 1 Comment

Last year, I began doing proofreading work for a publisher. Proofreading examines a previously edited manuscript to find and correct typographical errors and mistakes in grammar, style, and spelling.

At the proofreading stage, the manuscript has already been thoroughly edited by other industry professionals. This means I rarely find too many mistakes—only minor errors here and there. This is great for me because it’s almost as if I’m simply reading a book for enjoyment!

Although I had previously been more of a content editor, I love the proofreading work. In addition, it has assisted me in other areas of my editing business because it helps me understand how added spaces or incorrect formatting can affect a final manuscript. Since I’ve started proofreading, I’ve noticed I look for these types of errors while I’m completing other edits as well. I pass these corrections on to my clients so they can ensure their manuscript is ready for publication.

Here are a few items to look for and correct within your manuscript.

Additional spaces after a period. This one is standard and should be done by every editor, in my opinion. Most writers type more than one space after a period at least once in their manuscripts. Additional spaces can be easily found and corrected using the Find/Replace tool in Word.

Spaces before a paragraph return. I have discovered that almost every author (or at least the ones I’ve worked with) will sometimes press their space bar before the enter key when they want to start a new paragraph. This can cause some issues with formatting so I will utilize the Find/Replace tool again in Word to find this issue throughout the document and correct it. Simply click the “special” pull down menu within the Find/Replace menu and choose “paragraph mark.” In the Find section, you’ll see a caret before the letter P. Put a space before that and Word will find all the spaces before any paragraph marks in your document.

Chapter headings. Most of the publishers I work for do not want the manuscript’s chapter headings to have any indent. I choose each chapter heading and ensure I set it to left justified without any indents.

The red underline. In Microsoft Word, misspelled words are underlined in red with a squiggly line. It’s easy to skim through your document and catch those words thanks to that red line. Remember, it might just be a word that the program is unfamiliar with or one you’ve made up (especially if you’re a fantasy writer), so make sure you know which word you truly want. Utilize Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary to check any words of which you’re unsure.

Editing encompasses so much more than these four things, of course, but every author can take these small steps toward creating the cleanest manuscript they can before sending it off to an editor. But even if you do, I’ll still check!

Sue started out as a devotion writer, but now also claims the titles of editor, proofreader, webmistress, and blogger. She has written and self-published three books as well as helped a variety of authors get their manuscripts into readers’ hands. Sue loves working with clients who are working toward the greater good of sharing God’s message in this world. Email sueafairchild74@gmail.com to discuss a free sample edit. Check out her website for testimonials: suessimplesnippets.wordpress.com

Filed Under: editing Tagged With: book editing, proofreading, self-editing, Sue A. Fairchild, writing tips

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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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