Guest Blog Featuring Val Gray

Writing a Book

PERSEVERANCE is a MUST quality when it comes to writing a book. Often you want to give up and FEAR is usually the culprit. Fear says to your heart and soul that no one will like your story and you will never get published so just stop writing already.

Everyday I remind myself that God gave me the desire to write and the creativity to put the words down on paper so go forth and conquer. J

My inspiration for this book occurred while I read Knowledge of the Holy, by Tozer. He said that God saw the present, past and future all at one time because He is eternal. He doesn’t have to look back or look ahead, He sees all, all the time, and sovereignly rules over all, always. He is the all in all.

That spurred this thought of time travel in my imagination. God created time for us~ HE does not exist in time~ He transcends time~ We can too if He wants us too. Of course, this is my imagination portion and not so true, although, if we read in Acts about Stephen being transported by the Holy Spirit from one place to another, maybe, we are not so far away from what God would do. Ha! One can imagine all she wants.

Below is the synopsis of the book I am writing. I am at 44,000 words-with at least 16,000 more to go. My readers are young adults plus. The relationships and circumstances are complicated enough to attract readers of all ages.

Lizzy Grey hasn’t seen her mom for three years. She has never seen her father, nor does she know who he is. These are hard facts for a girl of any age, yet Lizzy is strong, has a great imagination and survives even at the hand of her seemingly hard-hearted grandmother, whom she lives with. On the eve of her sixteenth birthday, her mom arrives unannounced to Lizzy’s birthday dinner. Lizzy is thrilled to see her but soon realizes that her mother really came to deliver a mysterious timepiece which, unbeknownst to mostly everyone, has time traveling powers. According to her grandmother, there has always been a Grey girl to receive the timepiece throughout the ages. How long, no one seems to know. Travel with Lizzy as she experiences the past, discovers enduring faith, and what she learns changes her life forever.

I would love for you to travel along with Lizzy and me.

Thanks for reading.

Valerie Gray-Guest Blogger for Ray Ellis

http://www.valeriegray.com 

The Process of Writing: Part Nine

Now it’s gut check time.  Once you have your setting all in place and your main character is dressed to kill…the one step, or rather the two steps, you must keep in mind is secondary character development and the subplots. Notice I said subplots, plural.  

In N.H.I., the secondary characters of Sabrina, Amber and Mac stand on their own. Each of these personalities needs to be able to hold the reader’s attention and cause the reader to care about what happens to them.

As the main plot line is the vein that pulls the reader from page one to page “the-end”, you must have interesting and intriguing subplots, whether it is the story of the protagonist’s love interest or the growth of a secondary character. These storylines must have substance and must also help the overall development of your main story.

In the Nate Richards series, I introduce Mac as a minor character in the beginning of the story but as the storyline develops we see his character grow as well; this is also true of the relationship between Nate and Amber, his love interest.

The Process of Writing: Part Eight

When it comes to creating a proper setting there are three questions you will have to answer: what, when, and where. This is where your timeline and the culture of your story are defined. A single mistake in setting can be enough alone to destroy your mythos and knock your reader right out of the story.

Imagine your protagonist, the good guy, tramping through the bush of a Jurassic era jungle. Huge dinosaurs scream in the near distance and the horizon is hazy with the smoke of an erupting volcano. Suddenly he hears a chirping and a shrill beeping. Turning a corner he comes face to face with…an Apple Iphone stuck in the crook of a branch.

What’s the problem here? Well nothing if this is Jurassic Park Part Six, but if it’s a story about a family of man living in a prehistoric valley then everything’s wrong. So, when it comes to creating your setting, take the time to think about the times, places, and people your character will encounter. Just taking the one extra step of knowing which types of plants can grow in your area and at what times of year, can make all the difference between having an engaging narration and one that begs your reader to explain and overlook your mistakes as they read.

In N.H.I., I have both real and imagined elements that make up my setting, but the key is to cause the created portions to fit seamlessly in with the real.

The Process of Writing: Part Seven

In this post we will deal a bit more with the topic of creating the proper setting…P.T.I.

…P.T.I…. Pardon The Interruption…Pardon The Interruption.

There is nothing wrong with your reception. This channel has been high-jacked by the NFL Draft….

Titus Young, BSU wide receiver, has just been taken by the Detroit Lions as the 12th pick of the second round in the 2011 NFL Draft.

Your regularly scheduled program will continue at its normal time…..

Thank you.  

The Process of Writing: Part Six

In the last entry I dealt with how I go about creating my characters. Before moving on, let me point out that the worksheet included in the last post serves only as a starting-point, and should be added to or subtracted from as needed.

In this issue I am focusing on the setting. Setting simply defined is where and under what conditions your story takes place.  In Francine Rivers’ novel “Redeeming Love” the setting is the 1800’s California Gold Rush era. Juxtapose that to Donna Fletcher Crow’s “A Very Private Grave” in which the setting is modern day England.

In my Nate Richards series, starting with N.H.I., the setting is modern day Treasure Valley in South Western Idaho. As the writer I am able to borrow from what is geographically real and gently mix in the fantastic. This also goes for the culture of the setting. In the Nate Richards series I add a traditional Black Church to the Meridian City backdrop. While no such church exists in Meridian, there is one of this type in Boise. So by using the modern setting I can use very real places and events, but because the story is fiction I can add and subtract as needed to bring the story alive.  

In N.H.I., I combined the cities of two counties to create the fictional metro community of Treasure Valley. This allowed me to keep my story set in Meridian, Idaho, but allowed me to borrow from some of the better known and perhaps more picturesque features of the valley.

Special Guest: Donna Fletcher Crow

Shadows and light.  That's what so much of life is all about.  And shadows and light— the contrasts— are a lot of what make art work.  I think that's why I'm having so much fun with my romantic suspense series The Elizabeth & Richard Mysteries.  Romance in exotic settings played out in sharp relief against murder and mayhem.  It gives an edge to everything.

For example, In book 1, THE SHADOW OF REALITY Dr. Elizabeth Allerton, head of the English department at Rocky Mountain College insists that her new department member Dr. Richard Spenser accompany her to a mystery week set high in the Rockies.

The role-played week starts out as if all Elizabeth's fantasies had come true, staying in  an elegant English manor house in the 1930's. And then it gets better.  Their host is even more than Elizabeth could have dreamed:  Sir Gavin Kendall— sophisticated, brilliant, rich and captivated by her.

Then falls the shadow.  Will Elizabeth's lifelong dreams become reality or will she fall prey to the vicious murderer lurking in the shadows? Will Elizabeth discover the narrow line between fantasy and reality in time to achieve her dreams?

In book 2, the newly-released A MIDSUMMER EVE'S NIGHTMARE Elizabeth and Richard want nothing more than a quiet, romantic honeymoon— with a touch of literary charm. So they have chosen the Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon.  Perfection.  Until they find that Desdemona’s brilliantly acted death scene wasn’t acted and Elizabeth’s costume designer sister and her actress roommate are terrified that they are slated to be the next victims.

Elizabeth and Richard are stretched to the limit as they struggle to deepen their marriage relationship while supporting and protecting two young women at the same time.

“With an adroit hand at humor and sleek banter, Donna Fletcher Crow combines a lighthearted romance with the dangerous world behind the curtain. Her characters Elizabeth and Richard share their Christian faith unobtrusively and with deft intelligence.”  Christine Lindsay, Shadowed Silk

A Midsummer Eve’s Nightmare has "all the elements of a throat-gripping, sleep-robbing thriller, while still wooing the reader with the tenderness of sweet romance. . . this is a charming page-turner that will keep readers on edge to the very end."  Kathi Macias, Valeria's Cross

Donna Fletcher Crow is the author of 36 books, mostly novels dealing with British history.  The award-winning GLASTONBURY, an Arthurian grail search epic covering 15 centuries of English history, is her best-known work.  A VERY PRIVATE GRAVE, book 1 in the Monastery Murders series is her reentry into publishing after a 10 year hiatus. Book 2 A DARKLY HIDDEN TRUTH will be out in 2011.  THE SHADOW OF REALITY, Book 1 The Elizabeth & Richard Mysteries, is a romantic intrigue available on Ebook. A MIDSUMMER EVE’S NIGHTMARE, Book 2 in the Elizabeth & Richard series is her newest release.

Donna and her husband have 4 adult children and 10 grandchildren.  She is an enthusiastic gardener. 

To see the book video for A VERY PRIVATE GRAVE and pictures from my garden and research trips please visit me at http://www.donnafletchercrow.com/

read my blog at http://www.donnafletchercrow.com/articles.php

or follow me on Facebook at http://ning.it/efoKUV

The Process of Writing: Part Five

Now that we’re done with chapter one of DRT – that was the pre-edited form by the way, we’ll talk about the editing process later – we can turn our attention completely toward character development.

The key to having believable characters is having real characters.  To quote another teacher, who told me, “Fiction is just truth that hasn’t happened yet.”  So just like you, your characters have to have a history. Just as your history has made you who you are the same is true of your characters.

Your character’s back-story is where his history is made. The Back-story is everything that has happened to your character before the story begins and that has an impact on your character or the story’s development.

The better you know your character the better you can write your character’s life and events.  To help you know your character better, I have included the worksheet I created - again based on ideas shared with me by many others who have helped me along the way - to log your character's identity. 

 

Character Development Worksheet:

I. Book One: _In this space write the title of your manuscript so that you can keep in mind which piece this character goes with._

Synopsis:  Create a short story summary so that you are kept aware of which story you are creating the character for, and how that character will fit into the overall storyline.

Note: Not all this information will make it into your story, but it is integral to your character’s history and will aid you in writing realistic fiction for that character. i.e. If your character had a two inch ragged scar on his cheek, that will mandate some event in his history that caused the scar, but it also gives you a launching point for how he/she might react to edge weapons.

Name:	i.e. John Doe Everest
Age:	i.e. 23 years six months
Height:
Weight
Birthplace
Hair Color
Eye Color
Scars or handicaps  – how obtained
Educational Background
Work Experience
Friends
Enemies and why
Parents
Present Problems
How will problem get worse
Strongest Character trait
Weakest Character Trait
How see’s self
How seen by others
Sense of humor
Basic nature
Ambitions
Fears
Life philosophy
Hobbies
Music preference
Dress style
Favorite color
Past times
Description of home
Most important thing to know about character
One line characterization
What trait will make character  come alive
Why is character worth writing about
What makes him different
Why I like him
Why readers will like him
Why and how is he strong
Siblings
Badge Number
Car
Married