Ask Elnora--About Pacing? Lenora Worth

It's Third Friday Writing Day! And today, Elnora is pacing back and forth, wondering how to explain ... well ... pacing. Pacing is like traffic. Sometimes we have to go slow and sometimes we have to go fast. (Okay, I mostly go fast, but that's another subject.) I'm no expert, but I've learned a few things about pacing over the years. Of course, I can't remember any of those things right now. So I found one of my favorite writing books and I'm going to quote some of the tips. The book is "The Writer's Book of Wisdom", 101 Rules for Mastering Your Craft, by Steven Taylor Goldsberry. Rule number 57 is a good one: "Command attention immediately." This means you need to start your story in a good place. You don't need to describe the countryside and the lake and the nice morning coffee before you dive right into the conflict in your story. Start with the conflict. In my upcoming "The Life of Riley" my heroine (Riley) finds out some good news on the same day her ex-husband returns. She really doesn't want to see him or let him find out her news. Conflict. Oh, guess what? Rule number 58 is "Design your opening page for maximum impact." This means if you need action, start with action. Action has to happen even in a sweet little love story. If your heroine is sitting on the porch staring at the peaceful lake, you either need a body to wash up at her feet or you need her to receive disturbing news or you need the house to be on fire. Action, goal, motivation and conflict. (See Debra Dixon's "Goal, Motivation, and Conflict", another great how-to book.) Wait, Rule number 59 says to "start where the story gets interesting." Body in the lake? Or ex-husband at the door? You have lots of options here. Skipping to Rule number 66, we find this little nugget--"Allow the process of discovery to happen naturally." This means you don't have to feed a lot of background information and backstory to the reader in the first pages. Sprinkle this throughout your story. And rule number 79 will help with pacing, too. It says "Avoid commentary; let readers make their own deductions." Good idea. Our readers are very smart. They like to put two and two together when it comes to boy meeting girl. And finally, a quote from a pretty good bard: "An honest tale speeds best, being plainly told." Thank you, Mr. Shakespeare!

The pacing journey is long and challenging, but pacing your novel in a way that causes readers to keep reading is key to writing a good book. Let's discuss pacing? Love it, hate it, ignore it? What are some of your suggestions, Lovely Love Inspired Ladies?

Ask Elnora--About Writing? About Plot??? Lenora Worth

Hello, my beautiful bloggers. Elnora is so excited about today's blog, she actually researched and wrote this way ahead of schedule!!! It's Third Friday Writing Day!!! It's a day for all writers to come out and play, to ask questions, to find answers, to get inspired to write. Yes, you know who you are. You are among friends here. So, ask away, but today we are going to discuss one of the most important parts of writing a story--the PLOT. P is for Purpose, L is for Logic, O is for Originality, and T is for Talent. You need purpose, logic, originality and talent to write a good story. But you also need this: This book by Debra Dixon (writer and editor at Belle Books) is one of the best "how-to" books around today. It explains what you need to do (or rather what your characters need to do) to have a good story. This is a big part of creating a plot that editors will buy and readers will love. You also need "Techniques of the Selling Writer" by Dwight Swaine. This book showed Elnora exactly what she was doing wrong and how to make it right. It's hard to find these days and used copies can be pricey, but it is worth it! If you've never heard of scene and sequel, this book will explain it. And next, Elnora recommends both "The Hero's Journey" and "The Writer's Journey" by Chris Vogler. These books explain the classic steps each hero or heroine or both must take in order to go on a quest. And let's face it, our books are all about a quest--mostly to find love--but still a quest all the same. These books are based on Joseph Campbell's "The Hero With a Thousand Faces." Confused? Don't be. The rest of us are here to chat about plotting! We know a thing or two, having studied the above books and about a gazillion more. So this is the question of the day. What is plot and how do I get one? Ask away, my little daydreamers!