To continue, again, in the revision process, this time I am offering some helpful tips on looking at your plot. Now that you have completed the first draft (or even the second or third), it is still wise to review plot elements at least one more time before submitting your work somewhere.

Often we writers think we have gotten our point, our characters, our conflicts, etc. written well enough that a reader can follow along and enjoy the story. But have you really made all of that clear?

My suggestion is that if you do not think you can be a good judge of looking back at your story and the elements, find a reliable person to read it and give them this list of review items. See what that person comes up with.

As always, I have added the article on EDITING: Plot to the Writing Tips on this blog and to the Writing Tools on my website.

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To continue the revision process, I wanted to bring up some things to consider when looking at the characters in your fictional work. I have an article which runs through a quick checklist of what to look for in thinking about your characters. The key thing is to make sure they (including the villain) appear believable.

As always, I have added the article on EDITING: Characters to the Writing Tips on this blog and to the Writing Tools on my website.

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My biggest problem is remembering how to punctuate possessive nouns correctly. Do you add ’s or just an apostrophe? For example: Is it boy’s? Or is it boys’? Actually the first (boy’s) is singular possessive. The second (boys’) is plural possessive. There are other tricky things to remember, like when do you capitalize proper nouns?

To learn more about these writing elements, I have added my artilce, EDITING: Nouns and Pronouns, to the Writing Tips on this blog and to my Writing Tools on my website.

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Do you know the difference between an “em dash” and an “en dash”? Do you understand whether to use an “em dash” or “ellipsis points”?

What about the many different usages of numbers and numerals? Do you know when to spell out a number or when to use the numeral?

To learn more about these writing elements, I have added my article, EDITING: Dashes, Ellipsis Points, Numbers, to the Writing Tips on this blog and to my Writing Tools on my website.

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This part of the story can be approimately 25% of the work, so it is very important. At this point, the reader is getting ready to experience the peak of the story’s suspense, drama, rising action and tension. The reader is waiting for everything to come together involving the characters. This is an emotional high point for the characters as well as the reader. Do not let any of them down!

To learn more about story climax and resolution, I have added my article, Climax and Story Resolution, to the Writing Tips on this blog and to my Writing Tools on my website.

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The really good books and really good movies have more than the main plot line to follow. They usually have at least one subplot line, often several.

To learn more about subplots, I have added my article on Subplots: How and When to Use Them to the Writing Tips on this blog and to my Writing Tools on my website.

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There are a lot of confusing words. You can always refer to the thesaurus on your computer or a dictionary. I keep a quick referral list in my notebook for easy writing helps that is always with me at my desk.

I have added my list of Confusing Words & Their Usage to the Writing Tips on this blog and to my Writing Tools on my website.

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We want to be pulled into a book on the first page, maybe even the first paragraph. And we definitely don’t want to find a potentially good storyline bogged down by conversational chitchat. As with so many other techniques and skills a writer needs to master, learning how to write dialogue is very important.

I’m one of those fortunate writers that don’t have trouble writing dialogue. My people speak to me in my head and their conversations flow easily to my fingertips and keyboard. They don’t tend to bog my mind down with a lot of narrative descriptions. Sometimes I wish they fed me a little more of that, but I can add that stuff in when I’m doing revisions. But many writers struggle with understanding how naturally flowing dialogue should work.

I have added my thoughts on Dialogue: Bringing Characters to Life to the Writing Tips on this blog and to my Writing Tools on my website.

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My latest article on Building A Cowboy Story World offers some great links to websites that can help you both understand and write about cowboys. For writers, this goes along with doing research in the particular sub-genre you are writing. It is important to understand what you are talking about. If you don’t have first-hand knowledge or experience with ranching, I hope these websites will be helpful in building your cowboy story’s world.

I have added my list of links for Building a Cowboy Story World to the Writing Tips on this blog and to my Writing Tools on my website.

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For your reader to be drawn into the world of your character, you need to use sensory details. But use them wisely. Every word in a manuscript counts, so descriptions need to be precise and something that a reader can easily identify with.

As always, I have added a summary article on Using Sensory Details to my Writing Tips here on the blog and to the Writing Tools section of my website.

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A story world includes the minute details of where and when the story takes place. Think about the world around you right now. What do you see? What do you hear? What do you smell? What do you feel when you touch certain items around you? And even what can you taste in the world in which you live?

Your story’s world (no matter what time period) should make the reader “see” through the character’s eyes, experience everything through the character.

In whatever time period and story world you are creating, you need to understand, and let the reader understand, how things were then or are now. What were the cultural mores, social customs, politics, and religious influences? What level were they at as far as techology? What would commonly have been found in their architecture, furnishings, and transportation? What were the common roles of women or men? What were the typical types of occupations? What was going on in their world at that time: wars, explorations to new places, and education? What did they eat? What did they wear? How did they speak? What slang words were commonly used?

I have added my list of links for Building a Medieval Story World to the Writing Tips on this blog and to my Writing Tools on my website. Even if you don’t write in that time period, there are some very interesting links here. I hope you take a few minutes and explore them.

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You may have written the most beautiful piece of prose, something that will touch a reader’s heart clear to the end. You may have written a thriller that will make a reader bite their nails all the way to the story’s end. You may have written the most informative magazine piece on a really important subject.

But if you don’t grab (hook) the reader’s attention fast–as in the first sentence, the first paragraph, the first few pages, you’ve probably lost their interest. The days of writing the nearly unending narratives and exceptional setting descriptions is gone. We want things Right Now. We want food fast because we’re always in a hurry. We want to get a message to someone fast and send text messages or Tweet. Our time is stretched so thin and it is a go, go, go world. (Which, of course, all of this is very sad.)

So, in order to make that writing sale, or to create that newsletter article to capture the attention of your clients, or to not bore your teacher to tears in an essay, you have to “get ‘er done” (as some say) fast.

As always, my article on Hooking the Reader has been added to both the Writing Tips on this blog and to the Writing Tools on my website.

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Much like my basic writing tips, it takes a writer through almost everything related to the how-to of writing. Sections include: The Craft with Story, Storytelling and Writing, Editing, Revising and Rewriting, The Business, Memoir Writing, Corrections and Comments, Querying Agents and Editors, ISBNs, Resources and References, and Terms and Definitions.

Novel Writing Made Simple is available at Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0578051656/ref=cm_cr_rev_prod_img and at Barnes and Noble.com at http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Novel-Writing-Made-Simple/Gordon-A-Kessler/e/9780578051659/?itm=1&USRI=Novel+Writing+Made+Simple.

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Too much backstory or too little backstory can also drive a reader away from the story. Understanding exactly what to reveal, when to reveal something, and why it needs to be revealed can be tricky.

Understanding the proper amount of research the author has learned about settings, time periods, etc. to include in a story is a similar problem. In both instances, it is easy for a writer to give the reader an information overload. Often you need to get the story fully written and then go back in your revision process and dig out those areas of informational dumping. But I’ll go into that subject at a later date.

As always, the Backstory: Purposes & Problems article has been added to both the Writing Tips on this blog and to the Writing Tools on my website.

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Maybe you are doing a fairly good job of “showing,” but maybe you’re running out of alternate ways to express your characters’s emotions and body language. I’m a huge believer in easy lists for help when needed. I don’t like thumbing through a book for an idea, reading paragraph after paragraph, and trying to find the meat of what I was looking for. So I’ve recently created an easy to use summary of various emotions and body language from a number of resources and books. One of the best online resources for emotions and setting details is The Bookshelf Muse at http://thebookshelfmuse.blogspot.com.

My list is divided into most emotions that you might be dealing with, and then each section is divided into facial elements, body language, and voice elements. I didn’t include the index that I’ve also created for this, but you can easily create one of your own from the numbered pages.

As always, the Emotions & Body Language list has been added to both the Writing Tips on this blog and to the Writing Tools on my website.

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It is time to begin organizing your thoughts about the story. There are a number of methods for plotting or diagraming the flow of a storyline. Over the years I have tried a lot of these described in my latest article, Story Structure & Plot. Each writer needs to try out different methods to see what works best for you. It is similar to Goldilocks trying out the three beds in The Three Bears story. One way is okay, but not right for you. Another doesn’t work at all. And, finally, one method fits you for now. I say “for now” because most writers modify their methods of writing and organizing over time. I have done a lot of that.

I described in detail in my article about the steps involved in the Plot Outline Template, which I have recently adapted to my writing organization. It was created as a Word table so I can use it over and over. My suggestion is to print out a copy of the template for referral purposes. You can create your own template to use by basically replacing your particular story’s details in each box. Or you can email me at starlakaye.romance@gmail.com and I can send you the Word template I have created.

As always, I have added the article on Story Structure & Plot and the Plot Outline Template to both My Writing Tips: Writing Process here on the blog and to my Writing Tools on my website.

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Each character (protagonist, antagonist, villain, sub-characters) needs to be unique from the other characters. You don’t need to go into a lot of effort in creating the side characters. The focus of this “birthing process” should be on the two main characters and possibly the villain. A good villain needs to be as fully developed as your main characters.

I have already gone into the importance of picking the right names for your characters, see the previous post and the Writing Tip about The Art of Naming Characters. Now you need to learn about each of these characters, before the readers do. Sometimes you are going to learn (create) a lot more about these characters than the reader will ever know about. But the more you know about your characters, the easier you can picture them in your mind as you write their story. This is particularly important when you are a beginning writer. The more experienced writer learns what facets of their characters to agonize over and what may never be important enough to think much about. So my focus here is more for the beginning writer.

I am adding an article today on Making Strong Characters to the Writing Tips on the blog and to the Writing Tools on my website. This will give you some basic tips on creating a unique character and for showing strong characters. Along with this I have added some of my favorite templates for character creation: Character Contrasts, Character Grid, and Character Grid with Villain. There are numerous websites with articles on creating character sketches, but I believe the basics are covered in my article and templates.

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As a writer choosing a name for your characters, you are in much the same position as a parent. Except if you are a prolific writer of many, many works (such as I am), you will have the opporunity to pick many names for your characters. My advice: Choose them wisely not on some fanicful whim of the moment.

I’ve added another article on The Art of Naming Characters to both my Writing Tools on my website and to My Writing Tips on this blog. I’ve also included some wonderful links to online name sites.

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If you’re writing for a big print publisher, chances are you will not get to keep the original title you choose for a project. You are at the mercy of the publisher’s marketing department on what they decide is a marketable title. It is unfortunate that they often choose book titles that are ridiculous or mean nothing to the book. But you have given away the right to have the title you want when you sell the book. You can only hope for the best when readers scan bookshelves for their next purchase.

If you are writing for a publisher that allows you to pick your book’s title, the importance of choosing a good title is even stronger. I have pulled together some thoughts to consider when creating your “perfect” title. As always, the article has been posted to my Writing Tools on my website and has been added to the list of My Writing Tips on this blog.

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My article today is on Creating a Writing Project Notebook, which I strongly recommend. A notebook can be taken with you to work at various locations and is an easy method of keeping track of everything related to a certain project. I’m talking about everything from the plotting items, the research materials, printed copies of the synopsis, query letters, and the chapters. I also recommend having a business section to keep track of the project after it is completed and submitted.

As part of the Plotting Items, I suggest using a character grid of some kind, having a basic character contrast chart, and a spreadsheet to track the storyline progression. I use basic templates for these items and modify them to fit the project.

I am adding the Creating a Writing Project Notebook article, the Character Grid template and the Story Progression & Outline template to My Writing Tips on this blog. They are also included in my Writing Tools on my website.

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