Pikes Peak Writers August Events

August Write Brain – August 16

What:  Market Like a Maniac (without feeling like one)

Who:  Cindi Madsen

When: August 16, 6:30-8:30 pm

Where: Venue@21c (upper floor, to the right if coming in the upper entrance) of Library 21c, 1175 Chapel Hills Dr. Colorado Springs, CO 80920

More Information: What’s the best way to get the word out about your book? We’ll discuss blog tours, newsletters, how to make social media work for you, publicity, anthologies, and street teams. Learn how to create a tribe of people who will want to help you get the word out for you, how to gain more followers without spending all your time marketing instead of writing, and how to find affordable help when you can’t do it all yourself.

About the Presenter:  Cindi Madsen is a USA Today bestselling author of contemporary romance and young adult novels. She sits at her computer every chance she gets, plotting, revising, and falling in love with her characters. Sometimes it makes her a crazy person. Without it, she’d be even crazier. She has way too many shoes, but can always find a reason to buy a pretty new pair, especially if they’re sparkly, colorful, or super tall. She loves music and dancing and wishes summer lasted all year long. She lives in Colorado (where summer is most definitely NOT all year long) with her husband and three children.

You can visit Cindi at: www.cindimadsen.com, where you can sign up for her newsletter to get all the up-to-date information on her books.
Follow her on Twitter @cindimadsen.

August Writers Night – August 22

FREE Writer’s Night

Location: Kawa Coffee

Address: 2427 N Union Blvd, Colorado Springs, CO 80909

Fourth Monday of every month

6:30 – 8:30 p.m.

Join fellow writers for PPW Night  on the fourth Monday of every month.

PPW Night is two full hours of discussion, laughter, and fun with other local members of Pikes Peak Writers.

Kawa Coffee stays open for our gathering when they would normally be closed. We understand if you can’t afford a coffee or a snack, but please don’t bring outside food and drink into the coffee shop. Thank you for your understanding.

The direction of the meeting is decided by the participants and can include discussions about query letters, obtaining and working with an agent, writing conferences, or other specific points of the craft.  If nothing else, we talk about books!

If you have any questions, or if there is a specific topic you’d like to get on the agenda, send an e-mail to the host, Deb Courtney, or call her on her cell phone at 719-337-9049.

Meetings are scheduled to start at 6:30 and run until about 8:30. These are drop-in meetings, so feel free to attend all or just part of them.

See you soon!

Peak Productivity (Part 2)

Editor’s Note: Last Monday, January 11^th, Writing from the Peak repeated a series given at the 2013 Pikes Peak Writers Conference by J.T. Evans and Cindi Madsen on Time Management and Productivity. The information was so well-received we wanted to share it with members who may not have had an opportunity to attend the conference. 

Part 2 of Peak Productivity

You can find the first part of this series here.

Schedule Time

Stealing moments of time is great, but if you can schedule time, even better. As a writer, you are a small business. Yes, you are also an artist, but remove that “artist hat” for a moment, and put on the “business hat."

As a one-person small business, you have to treat your writing like it’s a job. Sure, it might be a part-time job for some of you and a full-time job for others. Whatever the case may be, jobs come with meetings. We all hate them because we feel horribly unproductive while sitting in a conference room talking about the latest paradigm shift instead of being at our desks doing what we do best.

In this case, putting something down on your calendar can pull you away from your Real Life distractions (the dishes can wait) and put you in a place where you can get some words down on paper.

Make meetings for yourself in your calendar. Stick to those meetings. If something non-essential comes up during your meeting, decline it. Tell people, “Sorry, I have a meeting.” If you want, you can tell them it’s to write, but you don’t have to. If you stick to the line I’ve given you, people will understand and know you are busy at that time.

If you get to the meeting early, or if you stay late after the meeting is over, reward yourself. Maybe you get to go to the movies on Friday night, or have a date night with your spouse. Perhaps you get to buy that book you’ve been eagerly awaiting. Maybe it’s a spa day or just a candy bar from the local corner store. Set up appropriate awards for yourself that reflect how much of a “dedicated employee” you’ve been while working for your small business.

If you are late to a meeting or miss one entirely, then it’s time for punishment. Think about what your boss might do to you. Maybe it’s more work or additional meetings (e.g.: additional writing time). Maybe you don’t get to go to the movie. Maybe you don’t see it at all until it’s out on DVD. Maybe you have to get black coffee at the coffee shop instead of a frappachino. Maybe you call your massage place and cancel your appointment for next week. While you’re not going to the movies or getting a massage, guess what you’ll be doing? That’s right! You’ll be writing! (See how that works out?)

Reduce External Interruptions

When you’ve scheduled that meeting with yourself, get rid of external interruptions. These are (usually) things out of your control that try to steal the time you’ve made for yourself. Some of these are within your control, so grab them by the neck and wrangle them to your will.

Here are my tips for reducing external interruptions:

• Close the door. (if you have an office or bedroom to use)
• Put a sign on the door warning people away.
• Go somewhere else.

o   Coffee Shop

o   Library

                  o   A mostly vacant diner late at night

• Turn the ringer off on your phone. (Don't even let it vibrate)
• Turn off the WiFi on your laptop. (The Internet will still be there when you're done with your meeting, I promise.)

Most of these are establishing solitude. However, don’t become a hermit. You still need to have fun with family/friends and socialize. Balance your life.

Reduce Internal Interruptions

Internal interruptions are more destructive to the time you’ve made than anything else. These are things you do to yourself to keep from writing. I’m not talking about writer’s block. I’m talking about activities you actively engage in that distract you from your writing.

Again, turn off the Internet. If you need it for research then avoid:

Facebook
Twitter
Tumblr
Pinterest
Email
Not vital research
         

o   Avoid rabbit holes

o   Set a timer to limit research

About the Author: J.T. Evans writes fantasy novels. He also dabbles with science fiction and horror short stories. He is the president of Pikes Peak Writers. When not writing, he keeps computers secure at the Day Job, homebrews great beers, spends time with his family, and plays way too many card/board/role-playing games.

Peak Productivity

By: J.T. Evans

Editor's Note: For the next four Mondays, Writing from the Peak will host a four-part series on time management. The blogs will include tips and actual events that may help you make the most of yours. 

If you've been keeping up with Writing from the Peak you know that we ended 2015 discussing stress, ways to increase our writing time, and advance our careers. Ideally, now that we've turned the calendar to 2016, you're ready to set goals. A big part of achieving those goals is through time management. Today I begin a four-part series on the subject. Some of you might recognize this as material that Author Cindi Madsen and I presented at the 2013 Pikes Peak Writers Conference. Fortunately, unlike our computers, the thread of time management never requires new software updates. To be successful, writing or not, people need to engage in effective time management.

The series will cover the following topics:

·       Make Time

·       Flashback to 2010

·       Stolen Moments

·       Schedule Time

·       Reduce External Interruptions

·       Reduce Internal Interruptions

·       Idle Your Engine

·       Increase Your Productivity

·       External Motivations

·       Internal Motivations

·       Magic Spreadsheet

·       Conclusion

Make Time

You cannot find time.

It’s not a quarter on the ground waiting to be picked up. You are allotted the same 168 hours in a week that everyone else gets. There’s no way to get extra (except for maybe that pesky hour shift during daylight saving, but an extra hour a year won’t make a difference to anyone.) You have the same time as everyone else. What you make time to do is what matters. Every time I hear someone say, “I’d love to write, but I can’t find the time,” I grind my teeth.

If someone is truly passionate about an effort (writing, working, family, hobbies, or whatever), then they will make the time for it. The advice I'm giving is for those people with passion to write, but can’t seem to make the time in their lives.

The excuse of not having time falls in the same bucket as not being able to “find” time to do something. I just don’t buy it.

Where there’s a will, there’s a way. I had the will, and I found the way. Let me show you something that's rather shocking:

Flashback to 2010

Activity	Hours per Week
Full-time graduate student	20
Full-time+, lead software engineer	45
President of a writing group	8
Webmaster of a writing group	8
Commute to/from work	8
Sleep (~6 hours per night)	42
Family (Wife + 2 year old son)	25
Writing	15

I’m not posting this chart to brag. I’m showing you this to illuminate how busy Real Life can be. I was left with a mere 15 hours each week to work on my writing. During this year, I started (and finished) a novel, and roughly a dozen short stories. This is not including the endless pages of critiques I did this year and the countless papers I had to write for my graduate degree.

Because of my busy life during 2010, when someone claims they can’t find the time to write, I call them out. Everyone can make the time to write if they are passionate enough about it.

Now to the meat of things. How do you go about making time to write?

Stolen Moments

You don’t have to block out hours on end for writing. You can steal moments from your life with which to write. This means being prepared to write at any location and at any time. Make sure you always have a writing device and some paper with you.

If you can, drag your typical writing implements with you everywhere. This can be your laptop if that’s your preferred writing method. At a minimum invest in a pen that is comfortable for your hand and a few Moleskin (or similar) notebooks. Keep one in your car. Keep another in your purse (for the ladies). Keep another in your office desk. Keep another in your back pocket if you can. Scatter them around your life. You never know when you’ll have a moment or five to write.

One winter, I hit a pretty hefty patch of ice and found myself up against a fence in a bar ditch. I couldn’t get out of my car, but I was unharmed. After calling my wife to let her know what happened, I called for a tow truck. They told me it would take about an hour for them to arrive. I pulled out my notebook and outlined five short story ideas. I didn’t get to write any of them at that moment as I was in “idea mode,” but it was still forward progress on my writing. This was a stolen moment for me.

Here are some places/times in which you can steal moments. These are all things where waiting and doing nothing is common.

·       Emergency Room

·       DMV

·       Lunch Break

·       Driving (voice only or percolate on your story)

·       Public Transportation

·       Oil Changes

·       Waiting on others

·       Auto repairs

·       Napping Baby

·       Child goes to bed early

Make sure to keep your laptop battery charged at all times. You never know when a moment will strike to write! Tune in Monday, January 18 for Part two.

About the Author:  J.T. Evans writes fantasy novels. He also dabbles with science fiction and horror short stories. He is the president of Pikes Peak Writers. When not writing, he keeps computers secure at the Day Job, homebrews great beers, spends time with his family, and plays way too many card/board/role-playing games.

PPWC 2014 Q&A - Cindi Madsen

Cindi Madsen, Author

1. What was the defining moment that made your realize you wanted to be an author?

I always had stories in my head, I just never thought of writing them down until after I had my first baby. As soon as I started, though, I was hooked, and I knew I wanted to be an author from that point on.

2. What is the one thing you cannot work without? What is your creative vice?

Mountain Dew. I really need that and my music. So I guess the music's my vice and the Dew is my can't work without.

3. If you could 'revive' any literary figure from the past for a one hour conversation, who would you choose?

Mary Shelley. I'd want to know all about Frankenstein.

4. What is one of your more notable or unusual conference or convention experiences?

I met one of my best writer friends after we'd both gotten harsh feedback from the same agent. By the end of the dinner we were laughing so loudly it erased the bad, and now she's who I go to with all of my writer ups and downs. We always joke that we owe our friendship to that person. I've also been able to fangirl over authors I love, which is super cool.

5. If we asked your friends and family to compare you to a cartoon character, which would they choose, and why?

Probably Rainbow Brite. She was my favorite when I was a kid, and I love me some color. Plus she had really awesome boots and a horse that rode on rainbows. Win all around.

6. What is one thing would you like aspiring authors to know about the road to success?

You'll probably get knocked down, and writing's not easy, but it is the best job in the world, and if you love it, don't ever give up.

About the Author: Cindi Madsen is a USA Today Bestselling author of contemporary romance and young adult novels. She sits at her computer every chance she gets, plotting revising, and falling in love with her characters. Sometimes it makes her a crazy person. Without it, she’d be even crazier. She has way too many shoes, but can always find a reason to buy a new pretty pair, especially if they’re sparkly, colorful, or super tall. She loves music, dancing, and wishes summer lasted all year long. She lives in Colorado (where summer is most definitely NOT all year long) with her husband and three children. She is the author of YA books All the Broken Pieces, Cipher, Rift, Resolution, and Demons of the Sun and adult romances Falling for Her Fiancé, Act Like You Love Me, Resisting the Hero, and Cinderella Screwed Me Over, which has sold to France, Germany, and Turkey.

2nd Annual Write Your Heart Out Event Teaser

By Shannon Lawrence


As the Pikes Peak Writers Conference Committee is hard at work getting interesting, educational programming together, paired with phenomenal, knowledgeable faculty, PPW wants to give you a tiny window into what's to come in April. Last year we put on the first ever Write Your Heart Out, a free half-day series of workshops featuring local upcoming conference speakers. Last year was a success, so we've decided to make this an annual event. The best news? We're keeping it free!

The 2nd Annual Write Your Heart Out, free half-day conference preview event will take place next month on Saturday, February 8, from 1 to 5 PM. It will once again feature six local speakers who are faculty for PPWC 2014. We will have a small bookstore at the event, just like last year, with books available from our WYHO speakers, as well as craft and PPWC 2014 keynote books, and our WYHO speakers will be signing at the event! And, once again, we will offer some great giveaways and specials for those attending WYHO.

Do you need help injecting humor into your writing, no matter the genre? Does it feel forced when you attempt to write comedy? Do you have a snarky character you want to flesh out? Becky Clark can help with that with "Dying is Easy. Comedy is Difficult." - Writing Humor for Every Genre. (Quote by Edmond Gwenn)

Are you seeking a fresh way of looking at your characters? Would being able to put yourself in their shoes do the job? Are you a fan of Whose Line is it, Anyway, and wonder how you could translate that to your writing? Playwright Todd Wallinger can help with that in Whose Story is it, Anyway? Using Improv to Make Your Characters Pop.

Do you find yourself distracted, finding excuses not to write? Do you itch to write, but then allow yourself to get caught up in other things instead, unable to get words down on paper? Aaron Michael Ritchey can help with that in Winning the War to Write.

Is emotion sometimes lacking in your work? Do you feel like it needs a little something more to bring your readers into the characters' stories? Do you want them to cry with your characters, laugh with them, throw the book across the room with shared rage? Cindi Madsen can help with that with Breathing Heart and Emotion Into Your Stories.

Are you holding something back in your writing? Do your characters seem more shallow than you'd like them to be? Are you writing until you fingers bleed, but finding that something, somewhere, is still missing? DeAnna Kippling can help with that with Adding Richness and Spontaneity to Your Writing by Owning Your Flaws.

Do you write crime fiction or have scenes that involve a crime having occurred? Are you seeking a way to convey a realistic crime scene in your work? Would it be helpful to hear from someone who has worked in forensics and is a writer, the best of both worlds? Tom Adair can help with that with Through the Eyes of a CSI.

This event is held at the Colorado Springs Marriott, 5580 Tech Center Dr., Colorado Springs, CO 80919, the home of the Pikes Peak Writers Conference. We'll open the doors to Aspen Leaf at 12:30 for seating. However, there's a bar, coffee shop, restaurant, and gift snack with snacks off the lobby, and lots of comfy chairs to wait in until that time.

Unfortunately, seating is limited. Only those who have RSVP'd will be able to attend. Send your name, email address, and phone number (reachable on a Saturday) to RSVP@pikespeakwriters.com. You'll get a confirmation within a few days. We will let you know if you've gotten a definite seat or if you will be on the wait-list.

If you have any questions on this event, please send them to events@pikespeakwriters.com.

We look forward to seeing you there!

~Shannon Lawrence
PPW Non-Conference Events Director
events@pikespeakwriters.com

One Size Fits All?

By Cindi Madsen

Ever walk into the store and see that magical One Size Fits All tag? I mean, it fits ALL? Then you put that muumuu up to yourself and you think, well, technically I can wear it, but it doesn’t exactly fit. 

I was scrolling through my Twitter feed the other day, noticing all the opinions on publishing. There’s a lot of information out there, which is awesome. I nodded at some of the good tips. But…well, I started thinking, “I’m not sure about that”, “Maybe I’m doing it wrong,” and “That’s sorta' insulting when I think about my process.” Some of the tips were from well-known agents, some from authors with agents, some from people who are writing their first books. I think they’re all valuable for different reasons, but there were a lot of opinions that were stated as fact.

Again, I’m not saying that all the tips are like that. They don’t all fit in one neat category. But I saw one about how long it should take you to write a book. And how you should/self-publish/not self-publish/market/etc. I also noticed a lot of discussion about this at PPWC. What’s so great about right now is that there are so many ways to publish: self, traditional, boutique, indie, Facebook (one line at a time - don’t actually recommend that, but hey, if it works for you…) If you want to write in more than one genre, you can. If you want to get a book on the New York Times Bestseller list, you don’t have to be published by a New York house. There’s also a group of authors they’re referring to as “hybrid authors,” both traditionally and self-published.

Before you make any decision, you want to know what you’re getting into. Big houses have different promotion plans than indie publishers. Sometimes you get more attention at the big houses; sometimes you get more in the smaller houses - the smaller fish in a big pond idea. If you publish yourself, you’ll need to do your own marketing. All of it. Unless you hire someone, which is also an option. A lot of the self-published authors that are doing so well already had a large fan-base and money to do their own promotion, just like a lot of them grow an audience and get promo help after hitting "publish" for the first time. I won’t dive into all the nitty-gritty details of all the methods. I’m just saying, don’t ever let someone tell you there’s only one way to do it, or make you feel badly if you choose another path. (How’s that for a One Size Fits All statement?) Study your options, as well as what’s working for authors in your genre. Build a support system. Keep working on your craft. As writers, we have more options than we ever have, and why wouldn’t you want that? I mean, yeah, you can throw on that floral muumuu and marvel that it fits you, your kids, and your pet dog, but is that really what you want for your book?

About the Author:  Cindi Madsen sits at her computer every chance she gets, plotting, revising, and falling in love with her characters. Sometimes this makes her a crazy person. Without it, she’d be even crazier. She has way too many shoes, but can always find a reason to buy a new pretty pair, especially if they’re sparkly, colorful, or super tall. She lives in Colorado with her husband and three children. Look for her YA novels, All the Broken Pieces with Entangled Publishing, and Demons of the Sun with Crescent Moon Press. More information can be found on her website: www.cindimadsen.blogspot.com.

The Importance of Being Earnest...Hemingway

By Cindi Madsen

I like Ernest Hemingway, but I’ve never devoured one of his books. The Old Man and the Sea isn’t a very big book, but it took me a couple weeks to read. Probably because I read it about the same time the last Harry Potter book came out—I finished that 700 page bad boy in a day-and-a-half. I tend to like books with a lot of romance, humor, and big action, but sometimes genre writing is looked down on, as if writing a book that makes people fall in love or laugh doesn’t require skills or brains. Writing is hard work, regardless of genre.

So, I’m going to go ahead and make a confession. I’m a…a… Okay, deep breath. I’m a romance writer. I used to cover it up, claiming suspense or comedy, but the truth is, all my books have a strong romantic element. Finally, I’m able to admit it. Of course now that I’m admitting to it, I’ve had people look at me, faces all scrunched up, and ask, like they’re sure they heard me wrong, “Romance? Like fluff or bodice-ripping?”

Well, neither. My characters have real problems, and along the way they fall in love. I certainly wouldn’t call it fluff, but I’m all about a happy ending. That’s just me. And if that’s who you are, too, or if you write the bodice-ripping, deep thought provoking, literary, historical, or Christian fiction, I say be true to yourself and go for it. If you want to be the next Hemingway, Austen, Steinbeck, more power to you. Because at the end of the day, it’s about writing what you want to write—what you love. Even if family, friends, and your mom give you “that look” when they find out what you’re writing. Or even more terror-inducing, if they actually read it. 

If you don’t love what you’re writing, it’ll show. Plus, it ends up feeling like homework. I’m learning to write for me, and hope that other people will love it, too. So whatever you write, hold your head high, be true to who you are, and find the joy of being earnest.

(Originally published on Writing From the Peak April 2011.)

About the Author:  Cindi Madsen sits at her computer every chance she gets, plotting, revising, and falling in love with her characters. Sometimes this makes her a crazy person. Without it, she’d be even crazier. She has way too many shoes, but can always find a reason to buy a new pretty pair, especially if they’re sparkly, colorful, or super tall. She lives in Colorado with her husband and three children. Look for her YA novels, All the Broken Pieces with Entangled Publishing, and Demons of the Sun with Crescent Moon Press. More information can be found on her website: www.cindimadsen.blogspot.com.

How to Succeed at Writing With Really Trying

By Cindi Madsen

Since we’re to that time of year where goals are all the rage, I figured I’d talk some about how to make writing resolutions that will work for you. I write fairly fast, and when people ask me how, I often say Mountain Dew. And I’m only a little bit kidding. 

The truth is, with any project I’m writing, I make goals. If I think, "I have to get this entire book done by such and such a date," it feels overwhelming. But if I break it up, it suddenly becomes possible. So I have a daily word count goal. You want it to be something that challenges you, but not something so hard to reach that you get frustrated. I’ll tell myself, "Once I hit today’s word count, I can read that book/watch that movie/etc." Often, I’ll get caught up in the story and surpass that goal. Those are the good days—I love those days. 

But sometimes it’s all I can do to reach my goal, the entire time feeling like I’m wading through mud in my five-inch stilettos, and I know the last two paragraphs are total crap and are going to need to be re-written the next day. But I pushed myself and there are words on the page. I can now spin and edit those words until they work for the story. They're words I wouldn’t have if I didn't push myself to reach my goal. 

It can be time instead of word count if that works better for you. I have friends who swear by setting a timer for fifteen minutes and doing writing bursts that way. Whatever you can fit into your life, do it. Because your goal is for this thing you’re working on to become a novel, right? And it happens a couple pages at a time. Figure out what works for you and go with it. Make it a habit. Hold yourself to it.

Once you’ve got that manuscript done, it needs to be revised. Again, thinking about revising a three-hundred plus page novel can be overwhelming. Break it down. Make another goal: either a certain number of chapters or pages to get through every day. Then give yourself a reward at the end of the day. Take some time to relax, because tomorrow you’re going to need to hit your next goal. Life will get in the way if you let it. There will be lots of distractions along the way. But if you set goals, one day you’ll find you have a book that’s ready to submit. And then you get to set new goals all over again. 

Good luck!

About the Writer:  Cindi Madsen sits at her computer every chance she gets, plotting, revising, and falling in love with her characters. Sometimes this makes her a crazy person. Without it, she’d be even crazier. She has way too many shoes, but can always find a reason to buy a new pretty pair, especially if they’re sparkly, colorful, or super tall. She lives in Colorado with her husband and three children. Look for her YA novels, All the Broken Pieces with Entangled Publishing, and Demons of the Sun with Crescent Moon Press. More information can be found on her website: www.cindimadsen.blogspot.com.

What I’ve Learned on Twitter (in way more than 140 characters) by Cindi Madsen

Any writers out there looking to do more social media? Twitter’s a big one now. I remember being a little hesitant to start an account. I mean, what do you do on Twitter? Does everyone really want to know what I’m eating/thinking/feeling? What I ended up finding was a world of people who like to talk books and music, plus a lot of other random things, as much as I do. For this post, I’m going to focus on what I learned about authors and readers.

1.  People are different.

Yes, I knew this before. But people have a lot to say about characters in the books they read, whether they love them or hate them. They fall for different love interests. They connect with different heroes and heroines. Sometimes personal experiences will affect how readers react. Sometimes they pick up a book and hate it, then give it a chance a few weeks later and love it. So what does this all mean? How does this knowledge help me?

Well, I’ve got a couple books coming out at the end of this year. When people don’t love my characters the way I do, or my writing style, or the cover, or the fact I use “the” all the time, I’m going to try not to take it so personally. I’m not pretending it won’t hurt, but I think knowing that some people will love it, some people will hate it, and some people will have mediocre feelings about it, will keep things in perspective. I read an excellent post from Beth Revis, who talked about how some people don’t like chocolate, puppies, bacon, or Harry Potter. Great, bestselling books have thousands of 1-star reviews. Remember that if (or most likely when) you get one. But...

2.  Do NOT respond to negative reviews or bash people who didn’t like your novel.

Trust me, you don’t want to do this. It’s unprofessional, and people won’t want to read your book, so just don’t. You know how on “American Idol” or “So You Think You Can Dance?” or whatever competition show you watch, there’s one person who talks back to the judges and looks like an ass? Do you want to be that ass? (Hint: No, no you don’t.) The publishing industry is a tight-knit community. If you offend publishers or agents or authors or book bloggers, your name will soon be mud and no one will be talking about your actual book. But they will talk about you and how unprofessional you are.

3.  People see your tweets.

Yes, that’s the point. But think about it when you post your 140 characters. Think it doesn’t matter? Tell that to the Greek athlete who posted something racist on Twitter right before the Olympics. Guess what, she’s out of the competition now, something she trained for her whole life, all because of one tweet. Even if you delete it, a simple screen capture will be proof forever.

4.  It’s called social media. Be social.

Find common interests with people. Respond to their comments. Interact—do not just tell people to buy your book. It feels like spam and soon you’ll be down followers. Before I knew what I was doing, I wasn’t interacting with people and Twitter was dull. Once I found people to talk my favorite books with, I finally saw what all the fuss was about. I know different groups, we have different jokes, and I learn about their lives. That means that Twitter now takes up some of my time, but since I’ve met so many cool people, I’m okay with that. I reward myself after writing with some tweeting.

The world’s changed. We now have to be out there, creating our platform, doing blog interviews, and trying to make a name for ourselves. But it’s also a great opportunity to connect with people you’d never otherwise meet. So jump in and have some fun.

And good luck squeezing everything you want to say into 140 characters or less.

About the Writer:  Cindi Madsen sits at her computer every chance she gets, plotting, revising, and falling in love with her characters. Sometimes this makes her a crazy person. Without it, she’d be even crazier. She has way too many shoes, but can always find a reason to buy a new pretty pair, especially if they’re sparkly, colorful, or super tall. She lives in Colorado with her husband and three children. Look for her YA novels, All the Broken Pieces with Entangled Publishing, and Demons of the Sun with Crescent Moon Press, to be released Fall 2012. More information can be found on her website: cindimadsen.blogspot.com.

The Points of POV by Cindi Madsen

At this year’s Pikes Peak Writers Conference, I sat in on Debra Dixon’s Point of View workshop. One thing Debra said again and again was, “You can do anything you want to do in fiction, as long as you do it well.”

I guess the trick is doing it well, then. Easy enough, right? When you get ready to start your novel, you’ve got to decide which point of view to go with. Remember, POV delivers the POV character’s agenda, not the author agenda.

First person is presentational, intimate, and an inside job. Third person is representational and as it happens. With third person, you can choose to use omniscient or limited points of view, getting in really close to our character. Decide how your story is going to work. What will your reader need to know? What do you need to keep from your reader? How can you do that with the POV you choose? And if you have multiple POVs, when do you switch? Debra suggested choosing the character who has the most at stake. Shift when the emotional weight changes or if suspense will be increased. After we discussed these points, she listed six stages of POV.

1. Observation

How does your character see the world?

2. Join in action

Make your character do something

3. Perception (here’s where we start getting deeper into the character’s POV)

What are things that skew how they see things?

How would they say it? (This is where a strong voice comes in)

4. Thoughts

Show the inner thoughts. Show us what they think about the things they’re doing and perceiving.

5. Emotions

Add emotions to the thoughts/actions/perceptions. Put us there with the character. Make us feel what they feel.

6. Deep immersion

Blend 1-5 into one paragraph.

So whichever POV you’re using, think about adding all of these to your characters, until he or she becomes a living/breathing person. Watch for descriptions that might pull a reader out of POV.

For example, unless your character is cocky, a sentence like, “He moved gracefully from one corner of the room to the other,” even in narrative, displaces you from the character a bit. Add that voice in. How would your character describe himself or herself? A good way to tell if you’re moving out of intimate POV is to ask yourself if you’d think or say that about yourself. Would I say, “My smile tipped up at the corners of my mouth?” No, but I might say that about the guy I’m checking out. Would I say, “I ran a hand through my silky, wheat-colored hair and blinked my sapphire eyes?” Probably not.

Even in your narrative, the voice of your characters should shine through. So take a look at your descriptions and see if you can put their POV spin on it. See if you can’t add more perception, thoughts, and emotions so that your characters become the friend your reader is sad to leave at the end of the book. Good luck!

About the Writer:  Cindi Madsen sits at her computer every chance she gets, plotting, revising, and falling in love with her characters. Sometimes this makes her a crazy person. Without it, she’d be even crazier. She has way too many shoes, but can always find a reason to buy a new pretty pair, especially if they’re sparkly, colorful, or super tall. She lives in Colorado with her husband and three children. Look for her YA novels, All the Broken Pieces with Entangled Publishing, and Demons of the Sun with Crescent Moon Press to be released Fall 2012. More information can be found on her website: cindimadsen.blogspot.com

Much Ado About Nothing by Cindi Madsen

Whenever I get stuck in my work-in-progress and I ask my husband what I should do next, his go-to answer is “put some aliens in there.” Or his other favorite, “have a dinosaur chase them.” (Yeah, he’s just full of helpful ideas.) 

So what do you do to add tension when your book isn’t about characters on the run or aliens or dinosaurs? You have to make all the nothing things, which really aren’t nothing, of course, something. Amp up the chemistry between your hero and heroine. Make their goals more important. Put more obstacles in the way of their accomplishing their goals. Do whatever it is you have to do to make your readers care; make them need to find out what happens next. 

At one critique group, one of my writing partners said, “I think you just let all the tension out of your scene.” But there was an apology and happiness and everything was right with the world. When I re-read it, though, I realized she was right. I tend to want to resolve everything and make everyone happy—give people their closure at the end of a chapter. But once you let the tension go, the pacing slows, and your reader could end up bored, or worse yet, putting the book down. 

So as I write and revise, I’m working to make all the little things bigger. The past, personality traits, goals, obstacles, and body language can all add to the scene so that whatever’s going on, there’s going to be a whole lot of ado about it. So let’s get out there, grab those readers, and never let them go. (Er, not, you know, in the stalkery, they're-going-to-get-a-restraining-order way.) Just remember, while drama in real life equals sucky, drama in books equals awesomeness. Good luck!

(Originally posted at the author’s blog, http://cindimadsen.blogspot.com/ on January 27, 2012.)

About the Writer:  Cindi Madsen sits at her computer every chance she gets, plotting, revising, and falling in love with her characters. Sometimes it makes her a crazy person. Without it, she’d be even crazier. She has way too many shoes, but can always find a reason to buy a new pretty pair, especially if they’re sparkly, colorful, or super tall. She loves music, dancing, and wishes summer lasted all year long. Look for her YA novels, All the Broken Pieces with Entangled Publishing and Demons of the Sun with Crescent Moon Press out fall 2012. More information on her website: cindimadsen.blogspot.com.