Where is Writing Career Coach

I've taken the last week off to catch up on reading, do some one-on-one coaching with clients and enjoy the last glimmer of summer.

BUT, I am never really off duty. I have started a facebook page and would love to see you there. If you ever wanted to know the "Tiffy" behind the Writing Career Coach, she is there.

And I'll be back on Monday with a great new blog series as well as some cool announcements.

See you in a few days, Tiff

The first 3 pages: Part 5

I hope this series of short blogs has helped you develop the opening pages of your book. I have given you quite a few assignments and asked many questions. I hope it made you want to look at many books in many genres. I hope it will improve your craft in those first crucial pages.

And most of all I hope you learned from my technique.

I always seek to show rather than tell my readers. That is because I am first and foremost an author. It is in my blood. Did you see how I left unanswered questions from the first day up until today? Some I answered right away [how we will use this will be described tomorrow] others were taken throughout the entire “work” of this blog series [What are the things I need to do to engage my reader? What is the valuable lesson about showing vs. telling?]

I modeled the techniques that every writer must use. I hope they have been useful to you [and for those Non-fiction writers who may have wondered on day one how this would help them, I hope I’ve now answered that as well. These 5 blogs weren’t fiction.]

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at http://www.writingcareercoach.com/

Tiffany is a speaker and teacher. Find out about available topics for your group’s next event.

Tiffany is a National Examiner. Read her articles here.

Learn more about Tiffany’s Marketing techniques on her main blog.

Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.

Read Tiffany’s award winning manuscript “A Face in the Shadow” on her fiction blog.

She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer’s Rest.

The first 3 pages: Part 4

Last week we looked at the first three pages, now we’re going to pull it all together.

Day 1: What questions were introduced?
Day 2: What physical senses were engaged?
Day 3: What emotions were engaged?

Now think about your own book. How much do you have going on in the first pages? Are you spending so much time trying to tell the reader what happened before they opened the book that you don’t get them involved in the moment? Are we bogged down with interior monologue? Or are you pulling the reader in to the moment and making them feel, taste and experience the moment? Are they wondering about parts of the book? Are there unanswered questions that keep you reading?

How important is that to your book? We’ll talk about that next time.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at http://www.writingcareercoach.com/

Tiffany is a speaker and teacher. Find out about available topics for your group’s next event.

Tiffany is a National Examiner. Read her articles here.

Learn more about Tiffany’s Marketing techniques on her main blog.

Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.

Read Tiffany’s award winning manuscript “A Face in the Shadow” on her fiction blog.

She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer’s Rest.

The First 3 pages: Part 3

This week we’ve looked at the questions that pull your reader along and the 5 senses that cause you to experience each moment. Now we’re going to step in to the emotional realm. Pull out your same book and go over those same three pages:

1. What emotions are engaged? [Fear, Love, Hate, wonder, Confusion, etc…]
2. How did they cause you to experience them? [What words did they use to create the emotion?]
3. How long was it before you had an emotional experience of any kind while reading the book? [How many lines in?]

We will tie this all together next week. I hope to see you then.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at http://www.writingcareercoach.com/

Tiffany is a speaker and teacher. Find out about available topics for your group’s next event.

Tiffany is a National Examiner. Read her articles here.

Learn more about Tiffany’s Marketing techniques on her main blog.

Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.

Read Tiffany’s award winning manuscript “A Face in the Shadow” on her fiction blog.

She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer’s Rest.

The First 3 pages: Part 2

Yesterday we looked at the first few pages of a novel and asked three questions. Remember, the way to keep a reader moving through your book it to ask and answer a series of questions during the course of the story. You want the reader curious. This has to be about more than just the big “will the good guy win” questions, also questions like “Why doesn’t she trust people?” or “Why does he want her to come over tomorrow?” It is those little questions that keep your reader satisfied enough that they don’t hurl your book across the room. The unanswered ones keep them reading.

Today I have three new questions for you to consider. Grab the same book from yesterday and now look at the first few pages again:

1. How many physical senses were engaged in the FIRST page? [Be sure to look for very subtle ones]
2. Find one creative way they caused you to experience something physically. [Look for creative ways to describe the way something smells, tastes or feels.]
3. How long before you have a physical experience? [By this I mean how many lines in to the book before one of your 5 senses were engaged?]

Are you learning about craft? We’ll take it a step deeper tomorrow.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at http://www.writingcareercoach.com/

Tiffany is a speaker and teacher. Find out about available topics for your group’s next event.

Tiffany is a National Examiner. Read her articles here.

Learn more about Tiffany’s Marketing techniques on her main blog.

Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.

Read Tiffany’s award winning manuscript “A Face in the Shadow” on her fiction blog.

She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer’s Rest.

The First 3 pages: Part 1

This week we’re going to do some exercises to jumpstart our writing. We are going to work with novels but this exercise is useful for non-fiction books too. These techniques over these 5 lessons will help you engage your reader and learn a valuable lesson about showing vs. telling.

Select your favorite novel [or one you like that is in your home]. As you read it you are going to ask yourself three questions AS A READER.

1. What question does the writer introduce in to the mind of the reader?
2. What promises are given to the reader? [What are you looking forward to?]
3. How do the first lines engage you?

Try this with a few books if you have the time. We’ll talk about this tomorrow.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at http://www.writingcareercoach.com/

Tiffany is a speaker and teacher. Find out about available topics for your group’s next event.

Tiffany is a National Examiner. Read her articles here.

Learn more about Tiffany’s Marketing techniques on her main blog.

Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.

Read Tiffany’s award winning manuscript “A Face in the Shadow” on her fiction blog.

She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer’s Rest.

Crazy people think they’re sane

In a previous blog posting I told you to visualize your plot through the POV of your bad guy [antagonist]. That is because no one [no matter how insane] thinks that they are insane. The day I realized that my writing completely changed.

Think about this. Every bad person feels completely justified in their evil. Every good person does questionable things in the name of what is right.

When you try to look at your entire story through the POV of your bad guy you will find a depth to your story telling that you might not have experienced before. Whole novels have been written with this idea [the book Wicked which shows the Wizard of Oz from the POV of the Wicked Witch of the West comes to mind]

So, if you write Fiction, take time to really examine the antagonist. Find out why they tick. Make them a REAL character in their own right.

You might be surprised by the great story that comes to life when you do.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at http://www.writingcareercoach.com/

Tiffany is a speaker and teacher. Find out about available topics for your group’s next event.Tiffany is a National Examiner. Read her articles here.

Learn more about Tiffany’s Marketing techniques on her main blog.

Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.

Read Tiffany’s award winning manuscript “A Face in the Shadow” on her fiction blog.

She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer’s Rest.