Timeless {+ Giveaway}

It's my pleasure to welcome Crystal Collier here today to share her new book and some writing tips!

In 1771, Alexia had everything: the man of her dreams, reconciliation with her father, even a child on the way. But she was never meant to stay. It broke her heart, but Alexia heeded destiny and traveled five hundred years back to stop the Soulless from becoming.

In the thirteenth century, the Holy Roman Church has ordered the Knights Templar to exterminate the Passionate, her bloodline. As Alexia fights this new threat—along with an unfathomable evil and her own heart—the Soulless genesis nears. But none of her hard-won battles may matter if she dies in childbirth before completing her mission.

Can Alexia escape her own clock?

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Thank you Mason, for having me here today!

It's a hot day and you decide to splurge on an ice cream cone. Picture your favorite flavor ice cream in a delicious waffle cone. The first lick makes you shiver with delight. A couple bites in and you're in heaven. Then chomp. What was that? There's a rock in your mouth. You eye that melty goodness and wonder who put a rock in your ice cream? You dig through the cone, searching for more rocks, the pleasure of eating completely gone. The cone turns soggy while you're looking--but you'd rather not lose a tooth. In the end, you have to toss the ice cream cone. You lick the last dribble of sweetness off your fingers and sigh.

Stories are made up of scenes, give and take, a flux of negative to positive exchanges. Or positive to negative.

This ice cream scenario is how a good scene in a book works. We start with some anticipation and a direction--a positive slant in this regard. We hit a complication along the way. It presents a challenge, changes the moment, and ends at a different emotional place than where the scene began. This makes for dynamic storytelling.

Emotion VS Suspense

Now not all genres work well with an emotional emphasis. Romance lives on it. It's the core of Young Adult stories. Horror--need I say more? If you're writing for women, there had better be a STRONG emphasis on emotion. These up and down beats work well with emotion, but they can also be carried out through suspense. The key with suspense is to have the reader asking a question at the end of every scene. It can be a question carried forward from a previous chapter, but it's something that needs answering. An amazing book will strike a balance between emotion and suspense.

A Beginning, Middle, and End

Each scene should have all three. The example story begins with a hot day and ice cream. The middle conflict is the rock and searching for more. It ends with the loss of the cone and a wistful licking of the fingers. By the end of this scene, we've reached a conclusion for the aspect presented at the beginning.

Purpose of the Scene

I can't tell you how many scenes I've chopped because it boiled down to: "Does this strengthen the story? Nope. DELETE." How do we know if a scene strengthens the story? There are a couple check points. Does it:

1. Add a complication to the plot?
2. Show us something important about the characters? (In their reactions/lack thereof.)
3. Build the suspense or tension?
4. Is it duplicated OR is the same purpose accomplished in another, better scene?
5. Does it repeat what has already been established?

Balance

A well-balanced story will include:

• A hook or inciting incident (the normal world is presented, but something has broken status quo). This should happen in the first page, or at the very latest, the end of the first chapter.
• First major plot point: a door is thrown open that can never be closed. 25% to 30% point.
• The midpoint. This is where the main character takes an active hand in their fate and chooses to fight for what they want. 50%
• The crisis (dark night of the soul) that leads to the climax. 75%
• The climax: The ultimate showdown! 90%
• Resolution. A new normal is achieved.

So how do we apply these four things?

First drafts are messy, but once you've revised to that magic place where core aspects have been addressed, take a moment to analyze your scenes for pacing.

Create a spreadsheet or document where you record the predominant emotion or aspect of suspense, then the completeness of the scene (beginning, middle, end), each scene's purpose, the mood at the beginning vs the end of each scene, and where your major and minor plot points lie.

And there you have it.

What tools have you found helpful in gauging your pacing?

Crystal, thanks for joining us today and sharing this insight into writing. Great advice.

Author Crystal Collier

Crystal Collier is an eclectic author who pens clean fantasy/sci-fi, historical, and romance stories with the occasional touch of humor, horror, or inspiration. She practices her brother-induced ninja skills while teaching children or madly typing about fantastic and impossible creatures. 

She has lived from coast to coast and now calls Florida home with her creative husband, four littles, and “friend” (a.k.a. the zombie locked in her closet). 

Secretly, she dreams of world domination and a bottomless supply of cheese.

You can find her and her books HERE.

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