Another chapter?

Teaser chapter

Hell Happens

This is just a quick post to see if anyone is interested in another chapter of "Hell happens."  Let me know and if enough people would like to read more, I will post the fourth chapter tomorrow.  Happy scrawling guys and if you have any questions about writing, please feel free to ask and I'm sure the answers can be found even if no one on her knows.  Also, if you have anything to add that you think would be helpful to other writers, please add a post.

On writing a novel

Tips for writing

Please remember that the best writers also read.  Don't just sit and write all day.  You need to take a break and pick up a book once in a while.  Try reading several genres, but read a lot of novels in the particular genre that you are interested in.  Be an active reader and keep a pad of paper and a pencil handy.  Jot down ideas here and there like;   How is this writer giving his/her character voice?  How is he/she setting up the scene, and be sure to remember those dialogue tags.  Check out a few books and you'll see, as you read, what I mean by this.  You can't just write the dialogue without following a set of rules.
   For instance, each character's dialogue starts a new paragraph.  You don't know how many times I have critiqued a work and found that the character's dialogue bled into one another and the reader has absolutely no idea who is speaking or doing what.
   Also, you need to give the reader a reason to care about the characters in your story.  Make the reader either love the character or hate the character, but never have the reader wondering why he/she gives a rip about what 's happening to your hero/heroine.  Also, give the hero/heroine a reason for moving forward in the story.
  Check this out!  You have a hero hell bent on finding a man who killed several women.  If you don't give him a serious reason for doing this, like someone very close to him was murdered, then the reader wonders what the heck is driving this man to pursue a killer when he could very well leave it up to the authorities and be sitting at the bar somewhere having a great time.
 You also need to make your characters believable.  You can't have a perfect hero/heroine who never makes a mistake, never loses their tempers, never...  You see what I mean?  Give them funny quirks or make the hero a bit arrogant, but then let him slowly change throughout the story.  Keep things interesting and please, please, make your characters interesting.

writers block

Writers block

Cure your writers block now

If you have been writing for a while, then you may have experienced writers block.  It's absolutely infuriating.  You sit in front of your laptop and stare with no idea what you are going to write about.  This can go on for hours, days, weeks, or more.  It isn't pleasant, especially for the writer who loves nothing more than to put word to paper.  Well, what do you do about it?  I can tell you what I do.  I'll sit and write about anything at all just to keep myself writing.  It may be nothing but gibberish, but at least it's something.  Then I brainstorm different ideas or ask others for ideas, usually my daughter who seems to be brimming with them.  I also keep a dream journal.   You wouldn't believe the great ideas you can get from your sub-conscience.  My point is, there is a way of overcoming this annoying condition.  It is different for everyone though.  Here is a great website that I came across.  It has a lot of information on the subject and if you are a member of Scribophile, you will see that they do help with that sort of thing and other writers there can also help.  They are great people.
Check out this website for some helpful tips:  WritersBlock

New chapter up

Hell Happens

I now have a new chapter posted to "Hell happens".  I'm not certain how much I can place on that page, so I will only post three chapter for now.  Hopefully, I can put more up at a later date.  Happy scrawling everyone.

Houston. we have a problem

I am trying, at this time, to post another chapter to the second page of this blog, but I'm having a bit of trouble, so please check back again and hopefully I will have it up for you.

A Heads up

Hell Happens

Hey everyone, just letting you know that I added another page to separate "Hell happens" from the rest of the blog that way it will be easier for all of you to access it.

What's good writing?

What is good writing?

Tips for writers

What is good writing?

That’s not always easy to answer.  Of course, you must have grammar and punctuation down but, what else is important?   We all say that plot, characters, dialogue, etc. are important factors in any good story. 

Let’s look at the Twilight saga for a minute.  I have read on numerous sites that StephanieMyers’ writing skills leave a lot to be desired.  That may be true to many.  However, look at how popular her writing has become.  I can’t go anywhere without seeing or hearing something “Twilight” related.   

How did she do it?  Well, she did one heck of a job choosing her target audience and sticking to it.  She came up with a great story that her target audience (young adult) would truly enjoy and kept those readers hooked.

Not only do you have to have grammar and punctuation down as well as characters, dialogue, setting, and plot, but also you MUST think about what your target audience may want in a story.  This doesn’t mean that you can’t write about something that interests you, just keep the reader in mind as well.

Hell Happens--chapter 2

Hell Happens

Chapter 2

 Sorry everyone, but in order to make this blog easier to navigate, I have moved this posting to the page labled "Hell happens", which you will find at the top of the page.

A few good reads!

Books for writers

Writing self-help books

Be the best writer you can be.

These text are super helpful for anyone who wishes to become a writer.

The EVERYTHING guide to WRITING A NOVEL  by: Joyce and Jim Lavene.  This book covers creating your characters, Choosing setting, building plot, basic structure, and more.  I love this book and use it every time I sit down to write.

The everything GRAMMAR and STYLE book     by: Susan Thurman.  Awesome book to have.  All the rules you need in order to make your writing the best it can be.  You can find this book at Hastings, Amazon, etc.

The everything GET PUBLISHED book   by:  Meg Schneider & Barbara Doyen.  This has editor, publisher, and agent contacts as well as submission protocol, revising your submission, reading the contract, and more.

Writers Market 2012  by: Robert Lee Brewer.  This is a must have for all writers.  It is a compilation of literary agents, and publishers, what they will accept, and how to submit your manuscript.

I can go on and on about all the different books available for writers, but that would make this blog a bit tiring after a while.  The ones I have listed are the ones that were the most helpful to me.  If any of you know of others that have been of great help to you, please let us know.  Remember to include Title of book as  well as Author.  Happy Scrawling guys!

Helpful links for writers

For all of you fellow writer, I have a few great links that may help you out. Just click and off you go!

Nathan Bransford, former literary agent for Curtis Brown Ltd and author of Jacob Wonderbar and Cosmic space,  has a wonderful forum as well as a couple of sites to help with those dreaded queries and synopsis.
Check him out here:   Nathan's Forum  and here for the query: Query 911!!!and his help with the equally annoying synopsis here: Synopsis 911!!!

You can also submit a query to QueryShark who, if your query is accepted, will help you perfect it.  I'll be honest though, it is hard to get your query on there, but check her out here: QueryShark
And don't forget to get those extremely helpful critiques.  I really like Scribophile, which you can find here: Scribophile

I hope these sites prove helpful to all you aspiring writers, and happy scrawling.

I will post more of "Hell happens" later this evening.  I hope you all enjoy it.

Hell Happens--Chapter one

Hell Happens

CHAPTER ONE

In order to make this site easier to navigate, this has been moved to the page labeled "Hell happens".  I hope this proves to make things a tad easier for everyone.  Rest assured I will keep posting more of Hell happens as often as I can and I hope you all enjoy it.  If you do, let everyone know what you like about it.  If you don't, be sure to say so, but also include why.

To begin with...

All about writing, grammar, punctuation, plot, characters, and more.

This blog is all about writing.  It will cover Brainstorming ideas, different genres, developing strong characters, setting, the plot of a story, grammar, spelling, punctuation, using the thesauruses, submitting your work, literary agents, publishers, and more.  If it's about writing, it will be on here.


I have added my recently published "Hell Happens" synopsis on this blog.  I'm so excited to finally be seeing it in print!!  It'll be here soon!

“Hell happens” is an 83, ooo word fantasy romance, where two strangers are sent to Hell after a car crash.  They make a deal to regain their souls and have a second chance at life.  Their challenge, make it through ten dimensions of Hell before Hell steals their memories and sucks them into its demented reality. 

Brice Sutton spent his life going against the rules, now he has to pay the price.  He must fight his way through Hell with Renee Bowman by his side.  The woman is infuriating, neurotic, and absolutely beautiful.  He may be able to escape his damnation, but how in the Hell can he survive her?

Renee Bowman, suffering from OCD and severe depression, has too much to overcome already.  When she finds herself in Hell with Brice Sutton, all other obstacles seem like tiny molehills in comparison.  He is self-centered and infuriating, yet her heart flutters, and her knees go weak whenever he gets near. 

As if things aren’t bad enough, a new set of problems arise when Renee finds out Brice is the idiot driver who killed her.  Brice only thought she was difficult to deal with before, but Hell hath no fury like a woman who just found out you sent her there.