PPW News

Sweet Success for Lou Berger

Sweet Success

Congratulations to Lou J. Berger on the recent release of his latest book, THE COMPANY YOU KEEP (October 22, 2020, from Heads and Tail Publishing).

ABOUT THE BOOK:

When Skeeter’s parents are brutally murdered, she is sold to Hurley, a vicious conman, to pay off her family debts. This disreputable gentleman, operating in Civil War-era Chicago, enlists a motley crew of children to fleece honest folks of their money. Hurley uses Skeeter’s tinkering talents to enhance his profits, and her mechanical marvels are the envy of his shady retinue. Skeeter, dreaming of bigger things, is quickly outgrowing Hurley’s iron-fisted control. Will she be able to escape Hurley’s clutches, and flee west, before it’s too late? Purchase a copy through Amazon.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Author, Lou Berger

Lou J Berger is a Denver-based fiction author, with about two dozen published short stories, a couple novelettes, and a novella (which was a work-for-hire and probably doesn’t count). He’s been published in Galaxy’s Edge Magazine, Daily Science Fiction, and a host of anthologies. In 2017, he was a Finalist for Writers of the Future. Lou is also one of the editors on PPW’s anthology, Fresh Starts. Visit the author at www.loujberger.com

Darby Karchut

Sweet Success is coordinated by Darby Karchut who is an award-winning author, dreamer, and compulsive dawn greeter. A proud native of New Mexico, she now lives in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, where she runs in blizzards and bikes in lightning storms.
Click here to submit your Sweet Success Story.

How Can Flash Fiction Improve Your Writing?

Writing from the Peak, PPW Blog

By: Tammila Wright

Flash fiction fascinates me. Some think of these micro-stories as sloppy attempts at writing. But I am consistently blown away by these condensed pieces of art, precious Picasso’s earning their rightful places in the Louvre Museum. Flash fiction authors can take an entire essence of a story and reduce it to one breath. One “breath” that the reader can consume in seconds or minutes rather than hours. Talent with the ability to clarify what most of us would require many pages. How?  By adopting their Voodoo of clarity to reduce extra words can enhance all genres of writing. Their unique ability instantly captures the reader’s attention with the subtilty of a jackhammer. The reader is encouraged to ask questions, and their imagination is left unhinged. Can’t we all benefit from such genius?

What is this “gold mine” called flash fiction?

Flash fiction goes by other names such as microstories, micro fiction, sudden fiction, or short-short fiction with a word count of somewhere between six and 1000 words. The stories are tight and clear, sucking the reader in quickly, with each sentence moving the plot forward. It contains a complete plot, the beginning, middle, and conclusion involving only one or two characters.

The beginning of the flash fiction contains the hook, the main moral dilemma, and the character’s needs, as in a traditional full-length story. The middle speeds toward the obstacles, moral or physical,  which the character is experiencing. And the end shows the character’s goal completion but with a surprise or a twist which sets it apart from a prose poem or vignette. The overarching theme is complete.

An unknown author created one of the most famous micro-fiction stories:

 “For sale, baby shoes, never worn.”

Ernest Hemingway may have comprised the micro-story, but historians disagree. Regardless, it is a simple example of flash fiction containing a beginning, middle, and an end.

In Alex Keegan’s short-short fiction, Bones, he gives us a great example of leaving the reader wanting more:

“He had twenty-three minutes, a third of an hour and then a twentieth, thirty-three-and-a third percent of an hour plus five-per-cent. Find the bones, they said…”

Where I believe we get bogged down is character descriptions. Show not tell is our mantra. Does your audience need to know what your character’s first dog’s name was? Yes, you are cool for creating the deep back story, but all of that takes precious word space. Micro-fiction can push us to summarize feelings or emotions tied to an event instead of needless backstory. How can you go wrong with creating instant physical descriptions so the reader can immediately envision the characters and move on to the juicy bits?

To improve my screenwriting, I found a treasure trove in flash fiction.  In screenwriting, an entire scene must be four-line paragraphs, including character descriptions. James Cameron is many things, but you might not know that he is a master of character description in his scripts. For example, perusing the first pages of Titanic, Cameron’s description of the centurion, Rose Calvert:

“The old woman’s name is ROSE CALVERT. Her face is a wrinkled mass, her body shapeless and shrunken under a one-piece African-print dress. But her eyes are just as bright and alive as those of a young girl.”

For other characters, Cameron uses actions such as “sings softly in Russian.” We instantly understand the submersible’s pilot is Russian without looking at his name. What about the character, Brock Lovett’s description?

“…a salvage superstar who is part historian, part adventurer, and part vacuum cleaner salesman.”

The full Titanic screenplay is available online for free, and I encourage you to review it even if you know the ending.

How can flash fiction help in other areas of writing?

How about during the editing phase? By reading and writing flash fiction, we can develop a knack for identifying unnecessary words. Stephen King says he writes his first draft for himself and edits his second draft for his readers. He understands the need for unrestrained creativity but reels it in for the second draft. Also, by developing a “flash fiction mindset” during editing, you may discover information that we commonly repeat. Get rid of it.  

As an exercise, take a random sentence from something you have written. Reduce it to ten words. Now five words. Three? Hand it to someone to read. Ask them if they are confused or want to read more? Can you reduce it to two or one? You might have found your title. Consider these examples, Jaws, Brave, Elf, Rocky, It, The Godfather, Gone With the Wind (yes, that is four, but the novel is HUGE). Flash fiction titles are a study all of its own. The authors make stunning use of every word that delivers a punch. For example, Joyce Carol Oates’s, Widow’s First Year,  is about surviving grief and, Damon Stewart, Déjà vu You Too, Champ, the main theme surrounds reincarnation.

By training us to whittle down our character description, their actions and intentions become clear and concise, improving our reader’s experience. Hopefully, the story will prompt the reader to think deeply about the story’s true meaning instead of drowning in a sea of useless descriptions dragging down the pace. Decongesting the story creates room for the addition of a twist at the conclusion. A twist that might change their understanding of what the story meant instead of confusing them. A twist that answers the central question by surprising the reader rather than frustrating them. Please make sure to include the character’s reaction to the resolution, so you fulfill the reader. 

Tammila K. Wright

Tammila K. Wright is a fifth-generation Colorado Native and self-proclaimed history geek. She writes, talks, and even acts out her love of history. She is a commissioner for the Manitou Springs Historic Preservation Commission, contributing articles for the Pikes Peak Bulletin Newspaper. Her past production projects allowed her to work for The History Channel, Pilgrim Films & TV, Greystone Productions, Taurus Productions, Discovery Channel, Travel Channel, PBS, and Animal Planet. Her screenwriting has paved the way for two exciting projects in 2021, soon to be announced.  She is a staff blog writer and member of Pikes Peak Writers.

Tammila resides in Manitou Springs with her husband of 32 years, an astonishing daughter, and operates The Feather W Bird Sanctuary. Catch up with Tammila on her website.

Sweet Success for Debbie Burke

Sweet Success

By; Darby Karchut

Congratulations to Debbie Burke on the recent release of her latest book, CROWEDED HEARTS.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

This novella, from the Tawny Lindholm Thrillers with a Heart series, follows the continuing adventures of Tawny Lindholm and Tillman Rosenbaum as they prepare for their upcoming wedding. But will the wedding happen? The novella can be purchased through Amazon.

Debbie Burke, Author

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Debbie Burke writes thrillers with a heart. A regular blogger at The Kill Zone, her nonfiction articles have appeared in national and international publications. She is a founding member of Authors of the Flathead and helps to plan the annual Flathead River Writers Conference in Kalispell, Montana. Her greatest joy is mentoring young writers. The first book in Debbie’s series, INSTRUMENT OF THE DEVIL, won the 2016 Zebulon Award which led to her publishing contract. For more information about Debbie and her books, follow her on Twitter or visit her at www.debbieburkewriter.com

Darby Karchut

Sweet Success is coordinated by Darby Karchut who is an award-winning author, dreamer, and compulsive dawn greeter. A proud native of New Mexico, she now lives in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, where she runs in blizzards and bikes in lightning storms.
Click here to submit your Sweet Success Story.

Top Ten SEO Tips for Writers, Part 2

Writing from the Peak, PPW Blog

By: DeAnna Knippling

This is a two-part post. Part 1 covered how to pick article subjects for SEO. This week’s post covers a series of small tasks to take to optimize your website and post for SEO.

Now that you have your article written, let’s dive into the world of optimization.

SEO can get hugely complex. But, honestly, if you’ve written a good article (as in the first part of this post), then you’re good! If it comes down to a choice between trying to get everything perfect and posting, just post it! SEO is a long-term strategy. It’s better to follow these optimization tips, but don’t get wound up about them!

6. Website tweaking. 

Here are the things you should make sure your website does before you do anything else (or have your web guru do for you):

  • Check that the links for your individual posts have words in them (based on your article title), and not dates, numbers, or other short codes. This is often a blog setting.
  • Find out whether you can automatically create custom snippets or “rich” snippets. If not, you may need a plugin that does that (I use RankMath.)
  • If you’re a guru, make sure your blog posts/articles can be crawled. If you don’t know what that means, ask your web guru to make sure. If you don’t have a web guru, you should be fine, because this is the default setting.

7. Post tweaking.

Here are the things to tweak before you post:

  • Pick a main keyword (word or phrase) to use on the post, like “gothic horror fiction.”
  • Put that keyword in the title of the post somehow.
  • Put that keyword in the text of your post 2-3 times, preferably with one near the beginning.
  • If you are set up for snippets, write a custom snippet that sums up your article and includes your keyword.
  • Check that your title delivers what it says it does.
  • Consider whether someone searching for your keyword would be pleased to read that post, or go, “That wasn’t what I was looking for!” and hit the back button. If the latter, redo your title.

8. Set up metrics (OPTIONAL!).

Here’s a link on how to set up Google Analytics, via Hootsuite: blog.hootsuite.com/how-to-set-up-google-analytics

(Please note that the title clearly shows the title of the article!)

Once it’s set up, check whether you’re getting more overall website traffic by finding the Behavior report section, then clicking Overview, and expanding the date by clicking on the date range and adding more dates, so you can see your numbers going up 🙂

There’s a lot more you can do with Google Analytics (and, sorry, they can only track the data after you installed Analytics on your site), but the big satisfaction and motivation comes from watching your overall numbers rise.

9. Keep your expectations reasonable.

Some things to keep in mind:

  • Be patient. SEO builds slowly.
  • You don’t need to post SEO-optimized posts on a regular basis. Again, writers are so bad at this that any optimized posts are bound to be better than none. They do take extra work.
  • Type your keywords into a search engine and eyeball the top results. If you think you can write a better article, go for it!
  • Make sure the article you write benefits you. If you’re writing about the top ten best space operas of 2020 and you don’t mention your book in the article somewhere (“while I was researching for my new novel, Space Opera for the Tone-Deaf, released this year, I read a number of new space opera novels! Here are my top ten…”), why bother? You put in the work, you get to promote your stories!
  • If you want to go one step further on minimum work for maximum effort, use Google Keyword Planner: ads.google.com/home/tools/keyword-planner. You don’t need to sign in or have an account. Click Go to Keyword Planner, then Discover New Keywords, and then type in your keyword (word or phrase) in the search field, then Get Results. You should get a bunch of keyword ideas. Pick the one with the highest Avg. monthly searches with a Competition rate of Low. Warning: the keyword tool isn’t intuitive. Save this for a day when you have some extra brain cells.

10. Links and sharing.

While SEO is a way of attracting readers without having to do active promotion, you can also promote your article, both to get people to read it, and to improve your SEO rankings. SEO doesn’t just depend on keyword use, but on how people treat your articles once they get there.

Keep the following in mind:

  • Share your work. Be amusing and reader-focused about it rather than whiny or pushy. But get in the habit of sharing your work!
  • The more people link to your article, the happier the search engine will be to send more people to your article.
  • The easier your article is to find from your main website, the happier the search engine will be to send more people to your article (if it takes more than three clicks to get there from your front page, that’s a no-no).
  • The more you link out from your page, the better (within reason), even if you’re linking to your competition.
  • Linking to somewhere else on your own website also reflects well on you, as in, “See my other articles on writing sales copy for writers for more detail: link, link, and link.”
  • If someone else who might be interested is listed in your article, contact them! Maybe Stephen King doesn’t want to know about your favorite Stephen King novel of all time, but maybe his publicist does. This falls into the “it couldn’t hurt to ask” category. I can guarantee that anyone you interview wants to know when your article goes live—and you can gently remind them to share the article.
  • Share other people’s posts. This is another area writers are horribly bad at. Share posts promoting your work, even if it’s a short story collection and you’ve already been paid. Share posts that promote work in your genre (unless you hate the specific author/work). Share posts related to your “where you get your ideas from” list. Share posts related to things your audience might like. Share things that interest you. While your biggest wins on SEO happen on your website (and not on social media), in-person networking happens mostly on social media. Yes, it’s hard to translate followers into blog readers. You can whine about it, or you can be nice and share links 🙂

As a writer, you’re probably doing most of this already, or you meant to do most of this already but have been tangled up in other issues, or are not sure what’s the most important thing to start with.

To strip SEO down to its bare minimum for those who aren’t already blogging:

  1. Set up a website.
  2. Figure out your genre.
  3. Write nerdy or fan blogs related to your genre.

The rest is tweaking. A little tweaking can have a long payoff, over time.

Remember, you don’t have to be an expert; you just have to be brave enough to keep writing down what you love.

And, as a writer, you do know how to do that!

Did you miss Part 1? Check it out here!

Deanna Knippling

DeAnna Knippling has two minor superpowers: speed-reading and babble. She types at over 10,000 words per minute and can make things up even faster than that. Her first job was hunting snipe for her father at twenty-five cents per head, with which she paid her way through college; her latest job involves a non-disclosure agreement, a dozen hitmen, a ballerina, a snow blower, three very small robots, and a disposable dictator in South America. Her cover job is that of freelance writer, editor, and designer living in Littleton, Colorado, with her husband, daughter, cat, more than one cupboard full of various condiments, and many shelves full of the very best books. She has her own indie small press, Wonderland Press, also on Facebook and Twitter.

Sweet Success for Bill Bush

Sweet Success

Bill Bush is excited to announce the, October 24, 2020, release of his latest book, WHEN THE TIME IS RIGHT. This cozy mystery won first place in the 2020 Zebulon contest in the Mystery/Suspense/Thriller category, and is the first in the Halstead Mystery series.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Eden didn’t peg bribery, kidnapping, and murder for summer activities.

For eighteen-year-old Eden, her court-mandated community service is set to be every bit as punishing as prison. Sent off to work at a pizza joint while living with her grandmother in a little out-of-the-way town, at least she can appreciate the peace and quiet.

But the town is hiding its own secrets, and pretty soon peace and quiet will be very hard to come by. She might not realize it, but between the spiteful neighbor, the enigmatic mayor, and the calculating owner of the abandoned hospital, Eden’s 90 days in Halstead are set to be the most exciting of her life.

Follow Eden’s unexpected adventure in this strange and entertaining tale of mystery.

Bill Bush - Headshot

 ­­­ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Bill Bush grew up in Yates Center, Kansas, and is a graduate of Yates Center High School and Tabor College. He loves God, his two children, writing, and running. Not always in that order, but he tries.

His desire to write comes from his mom, Phyllis Roth Lewis, who published two books and wrote numerous other short stories, poems, and books.

Besides WHEN THE TIME IS RIGHT, Bill is the author of the Vetrix series and writes full-time for the Harvey County Independent, Harvey County Now, and McPherson News-Ledger newspapers. Visit the author at billbushauthor.com/ or follow him on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.  

Darby Karchut

Sweet Success is coordinated by Darby Karchut who is an award-winning author, dreamer, and compulsive dawn greeter. A proud native of New Mexico, she now lives in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, where she runs in blizzards and bikes in lightning storms.
Click here to submit your Sweet Success Story.

Top 10 SEO Tips for Writers

Writing from the Peak, PPW Blog

By: DeAnna Knippling

This is a two-part post; this week’s post covers how to pick article subjects for SEO. Next week’s post will cover a series of small tasks to optimize your website and post for SEO.

And the best of all SEO tips for fiction writers is…to blog.

Ironically, fiction writers can be scared to use their powers of wordsmithing for anything other than fiction writing. Query letters, synopses, book descriptions, ad text, log lines, bios, and other promotional material can all seem terrifying. I was no different, until I realized that learning good sales writing techniques could not only help me sell books, but write better fiction.

I’ll go into more depth about that another day.

Today, let’s talk about the easiest, most no-brainer sales writing for a fiction writer: Search Engine Optimization, or SEO.

In writer terms, SEO is:

  • Having a blog.
  • Figuring out what niche or sub-sub-subgenre you write in.
  • Brainstorming an accurate answer to the question, “Where do you get your ideas from?”
  • Writing a 1000-word article on one element of your inspirations that you have already researched for your story.
  • Tweaking a few things before you hit publish.

Using good SEO techniques won’t solve all your writing and publishing problems, and it won’t make you a superstar overnight. But it will bring in more eyeballs to your website, and it will train you to write reader optimized content, less focused on what you feel like writing that day, and more focused ono what your audience is interested in.

Personally, I felt like the hard part was figuring out my niche, which took me more than a few years. If you’re not sure about your niche, just make your best guess and jot it down for now; you can change your mind or refine from “mystery” to “house restoration witch cozy with dogs” later!

Here are the tips:

1. Set up a website with an “about” page and the ability to post articles—that is, a blog.

I also recommend setting up a sales page, but that might be a task for another day. Do make sure that you update your social media profile information with your website link right away, though! If you already have a website set up, check your social media profiles anyway, to make sure no links are missing or broken.

2. Figure out your niche.

More specifically, figure out who loves your fiction beyond all reason and what makes them do that. If you don’t know of anyone who loves your fiction that way yet, ask yourself what makes you write the stories that you do (other than “entertain people” or “make money”). Some soul-searching may be involved here.

What you are looking for:

  • The name of your sub-sub-subgenre or niche.
  • The type of person who loves your fiction, and any demographical patterns you see (for example, I have a fair number of readers who are high school teachers). If you’re not sure, then you are your #1 fan for now.
  • Why those people love your work beyond all reason.
  • Why you write the fiction that you write.
  • Ideally, why your fiction is unique for the people who love your work beyond all reason.

A good template for this might be:  “I write [niche] for [audience with these traits]. [Audience] wants [list of demands!]. I’m a [relevant background or personality, writing skills]. What makes my work unique is [unique trait among same types of work].”

One example (not mine!) might read something like, “I write LitRPG for Gen-X and Millennial video gamers who can’t connect with classic SF, dabble in manga and light novels, and want drama about hacking systems without the extreme darkness of an old-school cyberpunk novel. They want to be with characters who defeat systems using their own wits and knowledge, and they want it in incredible detail. I’m a long-time video gamer who knows how to make the nuances of stat choices clear and emotionally resonant, and I can tie those micro-choices to larger questions like dealing with mortality and grief and finding one’s purpose in life. What makes my work unique is that I have a great familiarity with classic SF works, and can come up with scenarios that out-game and out-twist what’s coming out of the video game industry currently.”

Like I said, this is the hard part. Just do your best! Once you know this stuff, you can sleepwalk through a lot of sales writing! In sales terms, you’re identifying your product, audience/persona, what audience needs it addresses, and your unique selling proposition (USP). On an SEO level, this is how you’ll pick keywords.

3. Brainstorm a list of keywords.

Keywords are a list of words or phrases that your readers might type into a search engine in order to find new books, like “new mysteries 2020” or “what to read after Hunger Games.”

This can get really nerdy and number-crunchy. My advice here is: don’t bother. You don’t need to perfect your techniques here! Most writers are so bad at SEO that any thought you put into this is going to improve the number of readers you receive.

Here are my minimum-effort, maximum-result suggestions:

  • Brainstorm a list of terms that’s related to your sub-sub-subgenre or niche.
  • Plug those terms into Google and see if the results on the first page are mostly related to books. (For example, if you type in “time travel,” you’ll get theories about time travel, not time travel books.)
  • The terms where mostly fiction shows up on the first page of results are your new keywords. Yay!

4. Brainstorm where you got your ideas from.

You can do this in general or by picking one particular story/series that you’ve written. KEEP THIS LIST!

What you are looking for:

  • You are an experienced reader/fan in your niche, either classic tales, recent releases, or both.
  • You have life experiences related to this niche, or that have given you a twist on this niche.
  • You have researched areas or have experience related to your particular story.
  • You got your ideas from a news event or nonfiction event.
  • You got your ideas from an event that happened to you personally.
  • You got your ideas from wondering about something specific.

The more of these you can come up with, the better!

5. Write your article!

Pick one of the topics from your “where you got your ideas from” list, and write about it.

Shoot for 1000+ words with bullet points and/or separate sections.

While you can always write what you want, when you want, and post it on your blog, writing articles with an eye for SEO means writing longish articles that you can break up somehow. There are a ton of techniques for this, but, again,  most writers are so bad at doing this, that anything that keeps your article from being a bunch of really long paragraphs is good.

You don’t need to worry about keywords yet! You can include a keyword if something suggests itself, like writing, “My Top 10 Motorcycle Club Romance Novels to Read After a Divorce” if you a) write motorcycle club romances and b) binge-read them while you were getting divorced.

Now that you have your article written, it’s time to make a few tweaks to optimize your website and content. We’ll cover that next week!

Deanna Knippling

DeAnna Knippling has two minor superpowers: speed-reading and babble. She types at over 10,000 words per minute and can make things up even faster than that. Her first job was hunting snipe for her father at twenty-five cents per head, with which she paid her way through college; her latest job involves a non-disclosure agreement, a dozen hitmen, a ballerina, a snow blower, three very small robots, and a disposable dictator in South America. Her cover job is that of freelance writer, editor, and designer living in Littleton, Colorado, with her husband, daughter, cat, more than one cupboard full of various condiments, and many shelves full of the very best books. She has her own indie small press, Wonderland Press.

Sweet Success for Deborah Martinez Martinez

Sweet Success

By; Darby Karchut

Congratulations to Dr. Deborah Martinez Martinez on the recent release of her latest book, CHICANA ACTIVISTS OF COLORADO: POWERFUL WOMEN PAPER DOLLS AND THEIR STORIES.

ABOUT THE BOOK: 

Illustrated by Robert W. Pacheco, the unusual art portfolio book uses the paper doll format to present 21 short biographies of each woman and her work in social justice. According to the author, “These women and their stories are treasures. Their stories are potent and serve to motivate and guide.” The book is available from the publisher,  VanishingHorizons.com  and from Amazon.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: 

This is the second book by author Deborah Martinez Martinez, Ph.D, and the eleventh book for her as editor and CEO of Vanishing Horizons Publishing. She retired from higher education with the Colorado State University of Pueblo in 2004. “Throughout my career as a college recruiter,” she said, “I realized that no matter how much someone worked for the good of the community, only certain people showed up in the newspaper. It was the racism and sexism of the 1970s. Being an author and publisher is my way of combatting that slide into anonymity that faced some of these leaders.” For more information about the author or her other books, visit the author at VanishingHorizons.com

Darby Karchut

Sweet Success is coordinated by Darby Karchut who is an award-winning author, dreamer, and compulsive dawn greeter. A proud native of New Mexico, she now lives in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, where she runs in blizzards and bikes in lightning storms.
Click here to submit your Sweet Success Story.

How to Write Female Characters

Writing from the Peak, PPW Blog

(if you’re a guy)

By: Jason Evans

When I read fiction written by men I sometimes am surprised by how bad the female characters are written in them. It doesn’t happen most of the time, so when it does, it’s glaring. Today I want to write specifically to men who write female characters on how to make them feel authentic to female readers. This should be paramount to any writer because 2/3rds of all books in the United States are purchased by women.  

So let’s get started.

Don’t confuse social expectation with biology.

In the west, we expect women to express their emotions more frequently and publicly than men. This is not biological, this is culture. There are emotional men and quiet, stoic women. While culture is important – especially in world-building – ask yourself if the trait, habit, or reaction your female characters show is probably more about culture than biology.

If you remember this, you can write your female characters differently, allowing them to contrast with each other and making them unique. It will also allow a larger range of options for your female characters when they react to the events of your plot.

Sexy is not a personality trait and women don’t see themselves through men’s eyes.

It can be hard for men to understand this, so let me make this patently clear. Women don’t actively try to entice all men. Yes, many women will dress up, put on makeup, and do their hair to impress one man. Very few women, however, get up every morning and consider whether their blouse will support their plans for world domination. Guys, they aren’t concerned about you. In fact, many women have confided in me that they’re more inclined to dress to impress each other than they are to impress the men around them. (After all, we’re not that hard to impress.)

Therefore, sexy is not a character trait. This does not mean there aren’t women who dress provocatively on a daily basis. But this is usually because they find the provocativeness empowering. Sometimes it can be for deep-seeded reasons that, again, have very little to do with us men.  

Women have agency, too.

In older stories, it was common for the female character to be helpless in some way. This allowed the male protagonist to rescue her. While this can be a legitimate story on its own, we forget that women have agency. Your female characters should have full lives outside of your male protagonist. Things like careers, hobbies, families, and colleagues outside of the male protagonist.

Let them react to the story villain in unconventional ways. Better yet, have your female characters make their own contingency plans. I know many women who have created a network of friends and acquaintances that have skill sets and resources they don’t have. They are quick to call upon that network when emergencies occur.

Show your female characters accessing that network! Show the reader your female character turning in markers and horse-trading to get things done. Or, let her be the boss lady threatening underlings and dangling bonuses and promotions to solve a problem. Regardless of the route you take, remember your character is not a dead trout. She can react and solve problems just like men.

Femininity and strength are not mutually exclusive.

We’ve all consumed media with the tough tomboy stereotype. We’ve all seen the fussy, girly-girl who squeals whenever bugs or mud shows up. These are stereotypes. Just because a woman likes to wear make-up or get her hair done, does not make her vapid or weak. Women can like girly things, gentlemen, and still be strong and competent. (See the paragraphs on agency above.) Besides, having a strong supporting female character who wears Jimmy Choo shoes and loves pink lipstick makes the character interesting. Try it, fellas. You’ll see.

Speaking of femininity, there are some women who do get marriage or baby fever. But even in the midst of wedding planning or baby planning, female characters should still have full lives outside the baby bump and the bridal shower. If you have scenes where two or more females are talking alone, please have them talk about something other than babies, weddings, and the guys in their lives. Try passing the Bechtel Test. (Two or more female characters converse and don’t talk about a man.)

Pump the brakes on female suffering.

Your male protagonist burst in minutes or hours later to find out that the woman he loves has been violated and what is his reaction? Does he comfort her? Does he call for an ambulance or doctor? No. He grinds his teeth and clenches his fists and goes on a murdering spree of backwoods country justice. Can’t you just hear the banjos in this?

This is BAD writing! It is a cliché for a male protagonist to have a dead wife or mother. It is an even bigger cliché for that male protagonist to have a wife/girlfriend/sister/daughter who is the victim of sexual violence and it needs to stop. First of all, some statistics say 2/5 males and 2/3 females in the U.S. have been sexually assaulted. So when you write your big reveal scene with your helpless female victim, your fans are probably putting the book down. How many will ever pick it up again? 

But the other reason this is BAD writing is that it reduces your female character into a plot device and personal motivation for your male protagonist. (Remember the agency conversation above?) She has no other purpose than as a McGuffin. If your female characters exist only to be eye candy, damsels to be saved, or plot devices to get through Act Two, then you need to re-think your approach to your female characters. Your female characters should have as much depth as your male characters. They should be interesting in their own right, and not because of their physique.

So, how do you get there?

Find women to read your manuscript. If you have a choice, work with a female editor, too. (I know mine improved my novel immensely.) But get women outside your immediate family to read your story. Old women, young women, women of color, straight women, lesbians, and trans-women, too. They will tell you when your female character is off. LISTEN to what they say.

If we can get out of our own heads and write better women characters, we will evolve into better writers. That alone makes the journey worthwhile.  

Jason Henry Evans says that life is funny. In 2004 he moved from Los Angeles to Denver, newly married with a desire to be a great teacher and husband. He dedicated himself to public education and realized his heart was not in it. So he moved on. At the same time he stumbled into a creative world of art and literature he now calls home. It hasn’t always been easy, but it has been worthwhile.
You can catch up with Jason on his Facebook Author Page or on Twitter. You will also find up to date posts on his blog.

NaNoWriMo

Writing from the Peak, PPW Blog

By: Kathie Scrimgeour

It’s that time of year when writers around the world go a little crazy by attempting to write a 50,000 word novel in a single month. Will you be one of them this year?

In the past, Writing from the Peak has posted a number of articles to help you through this month and the list below will hook you up with some of my favorites. First, and most importantly, hop over to the official NaNoWriMo website where you will find a plethora of information on everything NaNoWriMo.

Links to get you through the month

Hopefully, by now, you are ready to write starting on Sunday, November 1, 2020. As for me? This year will be dedicated to editing, but I’ll be cheering all of you crazy writers to reach whatever goal you have set for yourself.

Best of luck to all of you!!

KJ Scrim, head shot

Managing Editor, Kathie “KJ” Scrim, is a graduate of the University of Colorado at Boulder. Her inspiration for blogging, flash fiction, short stories, and the long haul of novel writing comes from her many life experiences. When she’s not writing you can find her somewhere in Colorado walking, hiking, or rock climbing at the local gym. You will find her on her website, Facebook, and Twitter: @kjscrim.

Sweet Success for Terry Odell

Sweet Success

Congratulations to Terry Odell on her recent release, HEATHER’S CHASE, set against a backdrop of the British Isles.


ABOUT THE BOOK:  Caregiver Heather Donnegal reluctantly accepts a tour of the British Isles to honor a patient’s dying wish. Private Investigator Chase Nolan has been hired to find and bring back a woman his wealthy client has accused of stealing from him. Two businesses are at stake. Will they trust each other enough to save both? Escape with Heather and Chase in this stand-alone international mystery romance. This and other books by Terry Odell can be purchase from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other booksellers worldwide: Universal Book Link

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:  Terry Odell began writing by mistake, when her son mentioned a television show and she thought she’d be a good mom and watch it so they’d have common ground for discussions.

Little did she know she would enter the world of writing, first via fan fiction, then through internet groups, and finally with live critique partners. Her first publications were short stories, but she found more freedom in longer works and began studying the craft.

Now a multi-published, award winning author, Terry resides with her husband and rescue dog in the mountains of Colorado. Visit the author at terryodell.com and follow her on Twitter,  Facebook, and Goodreads. 

Darby Karchut

Sweet Success is coordinated by Darby Karchut who is an award-winning author, dreamer, and compulsive dawn greeter. A proud native of New Mexico, she now lives in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, where she runs in blizzards and bikes in lightning storms.
Click here to submit your Sweet Success Story.