Building Tension In Your Writing

 Action scenes are some of my favorite scenes to write. I love them!

 

As someone with a background in performing, action scenes allow me to escape into the moment and feel what the character is feeling. Sometimes I close my eyes and type as I see the scene unfolding before my eyes...imagine what my character is feeling, seeing, smelling, and even tasting in that moment. If I can put myself into the scene, feel what my character is feeling, the words tend to flow.

 

When I writing the confrontation with the villain of the story in Strictly professional, my heart was pumping as I imagined the feel of a gun being pressed to my heroine's head. Thinking of how her heart would be racing caused my own heart rate to accelerate and my fingers flew across the keys.

 

Not every writer does this, put themselves into a character's head/body. Some take the position of observers. They are a fly on the wall as it were, taking in the situation and describing it. When using this method, description of the scene and the situation becomes extremely important.

 

Let's look at these two methods in more detail.

 

Writing a scene where the author is experiencing what the character is may read something like this:

 

Blood pounded in her ears as he took another step forward her. She was aware of the gun in his hand, but she couldn't take her gaze off his eyes. They were wild. Crazy. She knew she wouldn't be able to reason with him. A shiver ran up her spine as he reached for her.

 

If writing this scene from an observational standpoint, it might read something like this:

 

She stood, watching him move toward her, her eyes wide and the pulse in her neck thumping rapidly. Her gaze never left him as he closed the distance. She looked about to bolt, but there was no where to go. He reached for her and a strangled cry left her lips.

 

The scenes are very similar, but there are some distinct differences.

 

Which one calls to you more?

 

Honestly, it depends on your personal preference. Both can be used and done well. Both can create tension and put the reader in the moment.

 

No matter which writing style you prefer, one of the best tools an author has in creating tension are choppy sentences. 

 

What creates more of an emotional reaction?

 

She was almost there. Only one more step to go.

 

Or

 

She was almost there. One. More. Step.

 

The first is very conversational. It flows smoothly and sometimes that's exactly what you want. But it doesn't create a lot of tension. The second sentence, however, gives the impression that this last step is a big one...that there's effort involved in taking it.

 

One of the biggest challenges of being a writer when it comes to craft is knowing when to use longer sentences that flow and when to use shorter, choppier sentences. Connecting with a story is all about emotions and picking the write sentences structure can make all the difference.

Writing All The Action: Fight Scenes, Sex Scenes, And More - Bound by Books Podcast Episode 55

 

Today on the podcast, I'm chatting with Marianne Morea about writing action scenes. Listen in as we talk about writing ALL THE ACTION!

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Creating An Author Brand

I remember a time when I had no idea what branding yourself as an author meant. I mean, I knew what branding was. Sort of. Products you encounter every day have branding. You can't look at certain logos, even without the name of the company on it, and not think of that company. THAT IS BRANDING!

 

But why is this important for an author?

 

It's very important, actually.

 

Think about it this way. When you're looking at a group of books, how do you know which ones are part of the same series? It's branding.

 

All the books in my Serpent's Kiss series not only have Kiss in the title, but they also have the same color scheme. This makes it clear to readers that yes, these books are in fact part of the same series. There's no guessing. It's clear.

 

That's what branding does. It tells people, readers in the case of books, what to expect when they purchase a story. It's why authors use the same font on the covers of all their books. Some even take it a step farther and make sure the placement of their name on their covers is consistent.

 

Having a consistent font is important for a couple of reasons. First, it just looks better, more professional. Think how it would look if every time you went to buy your favorite cookies, the name on the box was in a different font. You might stop and question if these were really your favorite cookies or a knock off trying to be your favorite cookies.

 

As an author, you don't want this happening with your books.

 

Every author has their own voice and that is what draws a reader in. They learn what to expect from an author and want more of it. Branding is the neon arrow guiding the reader directly to more of what they already loved.

 

But branding is more than just the fonts on a book cover. It's an author's logo, their website, the way they present themselves online, and even how they set up their table at book signings. It's all branding.

 

When I published my first book over a decade ago, I had no idea about branding. I just wrote the book, sent it off to the publisher, and moved on to writing the next story. And while most of us wish it were that simple and it would be like in the movie Field of Dreams 'if you build it they will come', or in this case 'if we write and publish it they will read it', that's just not how it works.

 

I was lucky in that after my first standalone novel, I wrote two series. The font on my covers was at least consistent within each series, if not across series.

 

If I had to do it over again, I would have pushed to make sure all my branding was consistent. And when I set up my website, I would have been sure to use the same font for that as well.

 

The goal is for a reader to glance at your book and know exactly what they're going to get. As Donald Miller says in his book Building A Story Brand, if a customer has to think too hard about whether or not to purchase your product, then they will most likely just move on.

 

Building Your Author Brand - Bound by Books Podcast Episode 54

 

Creating your author branding is important from the font you use on the cover of your books to the clothes you wear at conventions. In this week's Bound by Books Podcast, Tina Moss and Marianne Morea discuss how they approach branding their books and themselves as authors.

Click below to listen, or go to www.boundbybookspodcast.com to find out more about all the hosts of the show.

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Claiming His Kiss Cover Is Here!

 

 

 

Coming Fall 2022

Setting Writing Deadlines

If you want a good editor, cover designer, etc., you have to schedule them. It's rare you can find someone these days who will drop everything to accommodate an author the moment they finish a book with zero notice.

 

I recently contacted my editor to ask her how far out she was scheduling. Her answer? Two months. And that was her first available spot. She has authors who are scheduled into December.

 

When writing is your full time gig, it's a little easier to plan release dates. While life can still get in the way, there is more flexibility to make up writing time when there are more hours in a day to do so.

 

So what do you do if writing isn't your full time job?

 

First and foremost, you need to be realistic. How much time per week can you dedicate to writing? How much to marketing?

 

I know most of us would love it if we could just write the books, publish them, and then the readers would come, but that's not how it works. Marketing has to be done and you either need to do it or you need to pay someone to do it for you.

 

Once you've figured out how much time you can spend writing per week, you need to figure out approximately how long it will take you to write the story.

 

This is not an 'okay, if I spend every waking hour of my weekends for a month I can pound out the story' type of a thing. Sure, you could do that, but you're asking for burn out. If you want to make a career out of writing, then this is not a good strategy.

 

For me, I try to get an hour of writing done on most days. And I say most because life does happen whether you want it to or not. You have to plan for that when you're setting deadlines.

 

Every person's situation is different, and that needs to be taken into consideration. If you have a eight to five job with set hours and no big responsibilities outside of those hours, then you may be able to set aside more hours to write and publish stories more often.

 

My schedule is anything but set in stone. Because my husband and I run our own woodworking business, I not only have to help him with the shop, but there are customer emails and phone calls, dealing with vendors, and the dreaded admin work. All of these things take me away from writing.

 

Because of this, I make sure there's a large buffer between what I can get written and what I can realistically write in a week. I may easily be able to bang out 1,000 words in an hour, but that's if I'm not frazzled by everything else and can focus on my story. And even if I can get that amount of words down in one hour, there is no guarantee I'll be able to write every day.

 

All these things need to be taken into account when setting writing and publishing deadlines. Not only will it take a lot of stress of the writer, but it will help to build trust with readers. They'll know when your next book is coming and they will have confidence that the release date won't be pushed back.

 

Life happens. Sometimes we miss deadlines. But setting realistic goals for ourselves...ones we can actually stick to...will not only make us happier, it will make our readers happier as well.

Finding Your Focus - Bound by Books Podcast Episode 53

 

 

Do you ever have trouble finding the time to write? Do you have dedicated time for marketing? I'm talking this week with Danielle Bannister about how each of us balance writing and marketing with a day job.

 

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The Hosts 

 

Amazon

 

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Why I Love Book Signings!

This past weekend I had the opportunity to set up a table at a local craft/vendor fair. It wasn't a book event. In fact, I was the only person there selling books. But there can be a huge advantage if the event is attracting people who might be your type of readers.

 

In this case, the event had people who made jewelry, soaps, and candles. There was someone who sold Pampered Chef, Norwex, and even Color Street. These are all vendors that tend to appeal to women and given my readership is 80% female, that means there should be a decent amount of people who come to the event who could be potential readers.

 

I know some authors hate in person events. I LOVE THEM!

 

Why? Because I get to interact with other people like me who love to read and introduce them to my books.

 

I've attended book conventions and local book signings over the years and there are advantages and disadvantages to each. 

 

With book conventions, you know all the people who are attending are readers. They may have genre preferences, but they all love books. However, there are usually 50+ other authors there trying to sell their books as well. If you're a well known author, this isn't a problem, but if you're new, or aren't overly social, you may find it difficult to make connections and stand out from the crowd.

With local book signings, this isn't the case. Most of the people who'll walk by your table won't read novels, and even less will read the type of books you're selling. But that doesn't mean it's a waste of your time. Especially if you pick events that target the types of people who tend more inclined to reading your genre of books.

 

For example, if you write sci-fi or fantasy, you might set up a table at a local comic con. And if you write books that feature animals, a pet expo might be a good fit. For me, since I write romance, I'm looking for events where a lot of women attend. That will give me the best chance to connect with people who will enjoy, and hopefully buy, my books.

 

Like with book conventions, you need to make sure you have something people can take with them. Not everyone who stops by your table is going to be ready to buy a book from you right then and there. Some will want to do a little more research...read reviews.

 

While business cards are helpful in some cases, bookmarks are better. Personally, I prefer rack cards. They're larger and you can fit a lot more information. I usually put the book cover and the blurb. I have these for all my books, usually grouping series together, to make it easy for people to tuck them into their bags and take them home for easy review later.

Book Conventions Vs. Book Signings - Bound by Books Podcast Episode 52

 

Marianne Morea and guest host, Stella Price, are talking about book conventions on this week's Bound by Books Podcast.

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The Hosts 

 

 

Amazon 

 

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