Liz Tyner - Liz's Latest

Five Writing Tips

12/1/2018

   1. You can revise a project forever. Don't fall into that trap. No one gets out with the same book, and you might learn more from writing several stories than turning story A into story B.
   2. It's almost a contradiction of #1, but write the book of your heart and revise it to get the book that is a better story.
   3. Write something that makes someone feel an emotion or link to your character. It isn't always easy. Want proof, try it. And if you prove me wrong and discover it's easy, I'm fine with that too. The world needs as many good stories as it can get.
   4. Writers who write a lot don't always remember their stories or characters' names, but it's okay. They've documented them on the page. They can go back and look them up. But for that moment when they were writing, that character and story should have been as alive to them as anyone with a birth certificate.
   5. Writing fiction is all about reality. Creating a world in the imagination. Your characters need body language, pauses, expressions and maybe a few aches and pains.

Elmore Leonard's rules:
https://www.liferichpublishing.com/AuthorResources/General/Elmore-Leonards-Ten-Rules-Of-Writing.aspx

Pixar's Rules:
https://www.aerogrammestudio.com/2013/03/07/pixars-22-rules-of-storytelling/

Twenty-Six Letters

11/27/2018

   "There are twenty-six letters in the alphabet, and we will learn one a day."
   My heart sank. School was going to be harder than I thought. Twenty six letters.
And then, after learning all twenty-six letters, we read Dick and Jane. They fell down a hill.
      The plot was a little slow. It didn't get better.
This was not the exciting story of the little skunk that I remembered telling my mother and she wrote down for me.
I don't remember what happened to the little skunk. But it, and the twenty-six letters, plus Beezus and Ramona, Trixie Beldon and Harlequin Romances, became a part of my world.

The Question Mark Again?

11/26/2018

Outdoors or Indoors? Both!

11/3/2018

Nature fascinates me. While I'm not suggesting that I don't like climate controlled environments or spaces that are mosquito free—nature is not only a sea of greens in late spring or the depressing grays of winter.

I've even discovered that one butterfly is called a Question Mark which is only slightly different than the Comma butterfly. I didn't think to research if there are any insects with an exclamation mark in their name.

I'm always pleased when I see a butterfly that looks like a leaf.

The good stuff in nature often hides from humans and the bad stuff tends to get too close to us—poison ivy, thorns and snakes to name a few of my enemies. Even against those three, I still say mosquitoes as the most blatantly evil part of nature. They are responsible for a large number of fatalities.

Sometimes I write outside even though the sun can make the computer screen difficult to read. It's easy to get distracted by the outdoors, but the distractions are part of the adventure.

My Impressionist View of My Flower Garden

10/6/2018

I put a copy of one of the Impressionists pictures on my wall—the Monet with the woman in the field. I asked people what they thought of when they saw it, and the answers were slightly different, or completely opposite.

No two people read the same book and perhaps no two people see the same painting or picture, and yet we are basically very similar.

We all want our happily ever after.

My Historical Romance Book Covers

10/6/2018

The first cover for my new book arrives basically via email. I open the email and see a link to my cover. (Cue the internal drumroll as the computer takes its time.)

I have had some cover art that amazed me with the spot-on reproduction of my story.

Sometimes I think to myself that I hadn't realized what the heroine looked like until I see the photo. Sometimes I'm amazed at how well the cover captures the theme of the book.

Sometimes I have no idea which book is behind the cover at first glance. I look at the back and the character's names give me the clue I need.

For the cover below, I had only the picture to use to guess the story and so I Googled the title. It's Czech, and I really like the cover and the new spelling of my name. It, and the above cover are for the same book, The Runaway Governess.

Regency Romance and a Sailing Ship...

9/30/2018

I'd wanted to write Captain Ben's story shortly after starting my debut novel. Safe In The Earl's Arms begins with two brothers on a ship, arguing about who has to go to shore to investigate why a woman wishes to speak to the captain. Captain Benjamin explains to older brother, the Earl, that on land an earl outranks a captain, but on the ship, the captain is the ranking person. Either he goes to see what the woman wants, or he goes overboard to see what the woman wants and his crew will back him up.

For a free read of the first few chapters of the Captain's story from Google Books, please click below.

A Captain and A Rogue

Nature's Plot Twist

9/29/2018

     Didn't the bee realize the pollen was going to be there for awhile? He was digging in, grabbing so much pollen that when he took off, he dusted the air. Another bee flew away, and again the flakes of pollen fell from his body.
     I'd never seen anything like it. The bees seemed greedy, working as rapidly as they could to get as much pollen as they could. I watched as one flew up and then headed for the woods. I wondered how far he was taking the pollen, and how much of his energy he would use getting the supplies back home.
     I expected he'd done the same thing all day.
     Then, plot twist! Later, clouds rolled in an a light rain started. I imagined all of the pollen being washed off the thistle.
    I should have realized what was going to happen, but I hadn't. Like a reader in a good book, I didn't see what the characters may have knew, or expected, or what may have been just as much of a surprise to him as it was to me.
    Plot twists aren't as much fun in real life as they are in stories, but they can keep a reader enthralled.
    Happy reading, and Happy writing.

Photo: Bee on thistle garden behind my house.

Battered Butterfly In My World

9/26/2018

This butterfly was still able to glide and fly. It always makes me feel proud of the survivors who have triumphed over difficult times.

Five Hacks for Writing Creativity

9/15/2018

1. A Dear Johnnie letter. When the creativity is over, it's time to tell it goodbye. So start an email to your dearest friend, telling her what the outline of the story is, what you've been writing, and where you've gotten stuck. The answer may pop into your head as you write about the problem. Then delete!

2. Too tired to conspire. Native Americans supposedly sometimes stayed up well past their bedtimes to let their minds roam and have answers to their questions. When we stay awake well into the night, and become too tired to really think, our brains can go on outrageous rambles. While this is not for everyone...perhaps a bit of it might work for your plotting.

3. Fifteen minutes on a treadmill. Don't overdo it. Movement helps creativity. See if it works for you. But again, take it easy. You can do too much of a good thing. I suppose if you added 2. and 3. together, you could get to bed earlier.

4. The Green Eggs Theory. Write at the park, in a car, at the library, in the yard. Anywhere there is an outlet or your batteries work...just leave your usual space and find somewhere new. If it's at the library, you will be telling your brain to get busy. You didn't leave the house just to waste a few hours staring at a keyboard.

5. Directionally Challenged Creativity. Go the opposite direction in your story. If you were planning for a hero to kill the bad guy...have him save the bad guy's life. At least first. Then...whatever...

6. (An extra one in case you really don't like one of the above.) What the Dickens? A mirror. Put a mirror in your workspace as Charles Dickens did. Then you can move your hand, wave and arm, and you'll have those motions played out in front of you to describe.

Happy Writing!