What I Learned From Terry Kay, Part 3 (by Kaitlin Bevis)

The most interesting piece of advice I got from Terry Kay at GCTE regarded writer's block. Introduce a new character. Even if you don't keep that character, the introduction to a new person in the situation will force you to look at it from another angle. How your current characters react to this new character IN their current situation will also really informs your writing. 

Another fantastic suggestion was to read your story out loud. I do this every single draft. I catch so many errors this way and it also tells me when something sounds unnatural. If it sounds weird when you read it out loud, then it reads weird. But its hard to see that in your own writing. Hearing it is a whole other story. 

Reading your dialogue out loud also really helps to tell you if the dialogue flows well and sounds natural. In my writer's group, a problem we often see in new writers is that they have long, unbroken streams of dialogue. No one talks like that. Read it out loud and note where you pause, fidget, feel your mind wandering then use those natural beats to add in description and action. 

Integration is key. You never want more than a paragraph of description, or dialogue, or exposition, or anything without breaking it up. Read it out loud and search for those natural beats. That doesn't mean anything needs to be cut. Just rearranged. 

I learned a lot from Terry Kay in just one afternoon. He taught me how to outline, vary my sentences, overcome writer's block, catch my mistakes, and integrate the action in my scenes to take advantage of natural beats in dialogue and keep my stories moving. This blog is no substitution for a workshop with Terry Kay. If you ever have the opportunity to attend one, go. Otherwise, I'm glad to have had the change to pass on a bit of is wisdom. 

I hope it helps.

Kaitlin Bevis spent her childhood curled up with a book, and a pen. If the ending didn’t agree with her, she rewrote it. She has always wanted to be a writer, and she spent
high school and college learning everything she could so that one day she could achieve that goal. Kaitlin graduated college with my BFA in English with a concentration in Creative Writing, and is pursuing her masters at the University of Georgia.

Her young adult fiction novel Persephone, and her short story Siren Song are available to buy in ebook stores everywhere. She also writes for Athens Parent Magazine, and truuconfessions.com. She has also published several short stories.

You can find her on her website and on Twitter @KaitlinBevis

About The Iron Queen

Death is a luxury she can't afford 

Life is hell for Persephone. Zeus will stop at nothing to gain access to the living realm and the Underworld, and as the only living god with a right to both, Persephone’s in trouble. Captured and tortured beyond the limits of her resolve, Persephone must find the power to stand against Zeus. But will she be strong enough?  

Meanwhile, Hades contemplates desperate measures to rescue his queen. Persephone never thought of herself as dangerous, but there’s a reason gods never marry for love. A being with the power to destroy all of creation shouldn’t place more value in one individual than the rest of the planet. But Hades...Hades would break the world for her. 

To save the world and stop both Hades and Zeus, Persephone must make a difficult choice. One that may cost her everything. 

What I Learned from Terry Kay, Part 2: Sentence variation (by Kaitlin Bevis)

This idea actually came from one of Terry Kay's classroom activities (this conference was after all, for educators), but I've adapted it for my personal use. 

The classroom activity was to have everyone bring in their stories, or papers, or whatever they are currently looking at. Pass out an example of a great paper, story, or whatever, and pass out tracing paper. 

Place the tracing paper on the "great" example and ask students to underline each sentence, starting with the first word, and ending when they hit the period. Do this for the first page, then hold the tracing paper up to the light. 

The lines should be all different lengths. 

Then have the students do it to their own papers. The lines may not be as varied. This shows them in a very concrete way the difference sentence length variation makes. Then have them go through and highlight every first word of their sentences. Within a paragraph are they using the same first word more than once? Encourage them to use different words to start each sentence and that will lend itself to different sentence structures. 

Handy exercise. It helps even the most visual learners, but unless I wanted to buy stock in tracing paper, it didn't help me with my books. So I adapted it to work for my works in progress. It's a really simple process you can do right in your word processor. 

Step 1: Take a paragraph of text. Lets use the opening paragraph from my work in progress, book four of the Daughters of Zeus series, Venus and Adonis. 

"Being perfect isn't easy, even for a goddess. It takes upkeep, which means I don’t have a lot of time to relax. A dilemma I thoroughly enjoyed after winning my freedom from Zeus. So when a cold shadow fell over me, blocking the rays of sun I was soaking up in my overstuffed comfortable beach chair, I was not pleased." 

Step 2: Break the paragraph down by putting each sentence on its own line. 

Being perfect isn't easy, even for a goddess. 
It takes upkeep, which means I don’t have a lot of time to relax. 
A dilemma I thoroughly enjoyed after winning my freedom from Zeus. 
So when a cold shadow fell over me, blocking the rays of sun I was soaking up in my overstuffed comfortable beach chair, I was not pleased. 

Step 3: Analyze the paragraph. I don't have any sentences starting with the same words, and I don't see any repetitive issues (ever find yourself using a random word like "door" fifty times in a paragraph? I do. Often. Drives me nuts.) However, with the exception of my last sentence, most of my sentences are similar in length. I also know I have an issue including enough detail, so I pull on that to vary my sentences. 

Being perfect isn't easy, even for a goddess. 
It takes upkeep and stuff. 
I had to find clothes that looked as good as I did, charm people into thinking I'd bought them, and keep enough worshipers to fuel that much charm. 
Relaxation didn't often make it to my to-do list. 
An oversight I planned to correct now that I knew doing nothing could feel this good. 
So when a cold shadow fell over me, blocking the rays of sun I was soaking up in Poseidon's overstuffed comfortable beach chair, I was not pleased. 

It's still not perfect, in fact I probably overdid it on the detail, but the pacing of it has improved. Plus there are major bonuses to breaking down each paragraph like this. I find mistakes I otherwise may have never noticed. I notice repetition and word territory issues, and I find myself forced to add more detail to get the type of variation in length 

I I know it doesn't seem like much, but when you do this over the length of an entire manuscript, you'll be amazed at the difference it makes in your work. 

Kaitlin Bevis spent her childhood curled up with a book, and a pen. If the ending didn’t agree with her, she rewrote it. She has always wanted to be a writer, and she spent
high school and college learning everything she could so that one day she could achieve that goal. Kaitlin graduated college with my BFA in English with a concentration in Creative Writing, and is pursuing her masters at the University of Georgia.

Her young adult fiction novel Persephone, and her short story Siren Song are available to buy in ebook stores everywhere. She also writes for Athens Parent Magazine, and truuconfessions.com. She has also published several short stories.

You can find her on her website and on Twitter @KaitlinBevis

About The Iron Queen

Death is a luxury she can't afford 

Life is hell for Persephone. Zeus will stop at nothing to gain access to the living realm and the Underworld, and as the only living god with a right to both, Persephone’s in trouble. Captured and tortured beyond the limits of her resolve, Persephone must find the power to stand against Zeus. But will she be strong enough?  

Meanwhile, Hades contemplates desperate measures to rescue his queen. Persephone never thought of herself as dangerous, but there’s a reason gods never marry for love. A being with the power to destroy all of creation shouldn’t place more value in one individual than the rest of the planet. But Hades...Hades would break the world for her. 

To save the world and stop both Hades and Zeus, Persephone must make a difficult choice. One that may cost her everything. 

What I Learned From Terry Kay, Part 1 (by Kaitlin Bevis)

Recently, I had the opportunity to attend a workshop with Terry Kay, and it absolutely changed the way I write. I've never been much of an outliner. But Terry showed me a modified three act structure outline that I can't write without now. I've changed it a little, and I'm sure every writer will add their own tweaks, but here are the basics.

On a white board, section off three boxes. Label the first "Exposition," and write out the basic situation of your plot (who, what, where, when, why). The next block should be labeled "Conflict." Write out the conflicts, big and small in your story. The last block is "Resolution," which is how you want your story to end.

Since my stories are mostly character driven, I get the basics for the plot down, and then get a big sticky note for each character and write one out for them. Who are they? What are they like? What baggage to they bring to the story? What are their conflicts, and how to do they overcome them. Their character arcs should correspond to the overall conflict of the plot, so this really helps with pacing. 

Then I make a section for each chapter of the book. I write each scene on a sticky note, and make a note of who is in each scene and what they add to it. Sometimes in doing this I realize that I have characters in the scenes that don't need to be there. Sometimes, I realize I need someone else's voice in the scene. What I like about the sticky notes is that I can rearrange them if I need to.

Having all of this written out and brainstormed has really helped my writing go smoother. Of course, while I'm writing my characters may go off in a completely different direction, but then all I have to do is change my sticky notes.

Above: My outline for the first three chapters of my work in progress, Venus and Adonis, book four of the Daughter's of Zeus series.

Kaitlin Bevis spent her childhood curled up with a book, and a pen. If the ending didn’t agree with her, she rewrote it. She has always wanted to be a writer, and she spent high school and college learning everything she could so that one day she could achieve that goal. Kaitlin graduated college with my BFA in English with a concentration in Creative Writing, and is pursuing her masters at the University of Georgia.

Her young adult fiction novel Persephone, and her short story Siren Song are available to buy in ebook stores everywhere. She also writes for Athens Parent Magazine, and truuconfessions.com. She has also published several short stories.

You can find her on her website and on Twitter @KaitlinBevis

About The Iron Queen

Death is a luxury she can't afford 

Life is hell for Persephone. Zeus will stop at nothing to gain access to the living realm and the Underworld, and as the only living god with a right to both, Persephone’s in trouble. Captured and tortured beyond the limits of her resolve, Persephone must find the power to stand against Zeus. But will she be strong enough?  

Meanwhile, Hades contemplates desperate measures to rescue his queen. Persephone never thought of herself as dangerous, but there’s a reason gods never marry for love. A being with the power to destroy all of creation shouldn’t place more value in one individual than the rest of the planet. But Hades...Hades would break the world for her. 

To save the world and stop both Hades and Zeus, Persephone must make a difficult choice. One that may cost her everything. 

The Motive Behind the Words: Writing Right (by Stephanie Campbell)

I wonder whether there comes a point in all novelists' careers when they realize they've begun to write for the wrong reasons. I realized that I was in serious danger of crossing over the no-no line just a few months ago. At sixteen, I began writing for one reason. I loved it. I wrote because it was what I was born to do and was the only thing that kept me breathing. But as being a novelist became a full-time job, I found myself becoming more and more stressed when I wasn't going where I wanted to go. Then I sat down for some serious self-evaluation and asked myself one question: why? Why had I begun to feel stressed and anxious about something that had once been my version of Valium. That was when I came to one conclusion. 

I had begun to write for the wrong reasons. I wasn't writing for the sheer purpose of having stories to tell anymore. Stories no longer left me breathless from the joy of telling them. I would look up book genre popularity and write books according to the most popular sales group. Writing had begun to get redundant. I found myself whining when I had never whined before…Well, at least not about writing. I felt claustrophobic. I had to find a way to make myself write right again. I had to go back from being the work tired women (???) to a girl who wrote what she wanted because she just plain loved it. I made a plan of how to return from the black abyss. 

I wrote stories for free. I've never been a greedy person, and quite honestly, writing isn't exactly an overabundant money source if you aren't Stephen King. Still writing for free because I loved to write helped me bring clarity. When you write for free, it isn't about numbers. There aren't editors involved, so you aren't frozen, wondering what the third party is going to think. It's just you and the page. I imagine that's the way a horse must feel without a bridle or saddle. Sure, galloping with a bridle on is great, but it will never have quite the same value as running free. I felt something that I haven't felt for a long time. A rush of joy simply because I was writing for the sake of writing. 

Next I forced myself to forget about what's popular now. I could write about a talking kiwi named Bob, but if that was what I enjoyed writing about, then I would let myself do it. That felt good too. 

As time went by, a change began to happen. But strangely, it wasn't just an inward transformation. It was an outward one too. The moment I began to write for me again, my book sales rose. I saw significant difference in everything around me. I was blessed to hit number four on the Amazon bestseller's list just last week. That was when I realized something else. Readers can feel how much you love your book when they read it. And that's why I vowed that I'd always write for all the right reasons, no matter what happens in the future.

About Stephanie

Stephanie Campbell is a bestselling author from Ogden, Utah. She has been put in charge of adapting the Visible Scars series into novels and has worked side by side with award winning L.A. director Richard Turke. Along with working on Visible Scars, her books Specimen X, Specimen Y, and Specimen Z are being filmed by SGL Entertainment. Filming begins the summer of 2014. She is the published author of The Willow Does Not Weep, Racing Death, Case Closed, Mirror of Darkness, Hot Wheels, Dragon Night, Poachers, Dragon Night, Tasting Silver, Late but not Never, Specimen X, Tales of Draga, E is for Eternity, and P.S. I Killed My Mother. She is twenty-two years old.

About How To Get Dirt

Pickles Bartley has always wanted one thing–to have a family of her own. In foster care since the age of three, she’s had more than her fair share of bad homes. There’s no way she is about to give up her new home with Miranda and David; she is determined to have them adopt her–even if it means following her friend Prudence’s advice: “You have to be ready and form a plan if you want them to keep you.” So they do. In one of her old foster homes, Prudence blackmailed her foster father when she caught him kissing a pretty woman. Pru-dence insists that Pickles does the same in a four step operation called “How to Get Dirt.”

New Release: "The Iron Queen"

Musa Publishing is proud to present:

The Iron Queen

by Kaitlin Bevis

ISBN-13: 978-1-61937-604-5

Death is a luxury she can't afford 

Life is hell for Persephone. Zeus will stop at nothing to gain access to the living realm and the Underworld, and as the only living god with a right to both, Persephone’s in trouble. Captured and tortured beyond the limits of her resolve, Persephone must find the power to stand against Zeus. But will she be strong enough?  

Meanwhile, Hades contemplates desperate measures to rescue his queen. Persephone never thought of herself as dangerous, but there’s a reason gods never marry for love. A being with the power to destroy all of creation shouldn’t place more value in one individual than the rest of the planet. But Hades...Hades would break the world for her. 

To save the world and stop both Hades and Zeus, Persephone must make a difficult choice. One that may cost her everything. 

Excerpt

Getting struck by lightning hurts. A lot. Most people die long before they fully process the pain of a storm’s worth of voltage passing through their body in the blink of an eye. I don't have that luxury. Instead, I discovered something that hurt far worse than becoming a sadistic deity’s living electrical conduit. Healing from a lightning strike at godspeed.

When I came to, my body felt like it was pulsing molten lava through my veins with each heartbeat. Gods!  An inhuman moan tore from my throat. What happened? It wasn't until the bed shifted that I realized I wasn't alone.

Hades. I let myself relax. Relief calmed me enough for unconsciousness to threaten to pull me back under, so I forced myself to take steady breaths.  It was too soon to open my eyes. I knew how to stay conscious through horrific pain. Thanatos taught me that.

I breathed in too deeply, and a bolt of pain lanced through me. When I shifted positions to get comfortable, a low moan worked its way up my throat. There was no comfortable. The lightning had seared every single nerve ending in my body. Healing from this didn't feel good at all.

His hand brushed the hair out of my face.

"Hades?" I croaked, struggling to open my eyes.

He shushed me, stroking my arm. I leaned into his touch as the memories rushed back; Hades finding out about Thanatos and killing him, destroying his soul, planning to trap Zeus, waiting at the park for Aphrodite and realizing Joel was there. What happened to Joel?

The voice shushed me again, and the hand on my shoulder didn't feel comforting anymore. His touch felt...wrong. My eyes flew open, and I bolted upright. 

With a horrible certainty I turned to see who sat next to me on the bed. 

Author Interview

How has Persephone changed since we met her in Book One? 

She's grown up quite a bit. She's accepted her role as a goddess and all the responsibility that comes with it. She's still pretty naive, but overall she's just a much more mature character than we met in book one. 

How did writing the third book differ from the first two? Was it easier? More difficult? 

Far more difficult. I knew how this book started and ended, but everything in-between was a toss up. Plus my characters went through hell in this book. I felt kind of guilty putting them through so much, but it had to happen. I'm glad it was so difficult, because working SO hard to get this story where it needed to go challenged me and made me grow as a writer. I think my writing has come a long way since book one, and this book really shows it. 

From what do you draw inspiration? Any particular songs, authors, etc? 

Mostly the old myths and my writers group. I brainstorm with them a lot. Having people to talk through my plot with really helps keep things moving. 

What do you think sets this series apart from other YA novels? 

I don't sugar coat the Greek Myths. Well... okay, my Hades isn't a kidnapping rapist. But other than that, and tying them to modern day, my myths stay pretty close to the original spirit of the myths. The Greek gods weren't nice, happy, or wholesome do-gooders. They were deeply complex, flawed, and often very dark. That's what makes them so fascinating. I try to emphasize that, and really pull every aspect of the myths, good and bad, into my stories. 

Do you have any other projects in the works? 

A few. I'm working on the next arc in the Daughter's of Zeus series, to be narrated by Aphrodite. I've got an old-fashioned vampire horror story bumping around in my head, and a story about a coven of witches that's been more or less drafted. 

Can we expect more adventures with Persephone, or is this a trilogy kind of story? 

Persephone will not be narrating anymore stories, but she will appear throughout the rest of the Daughter's of Zeus series. Her story won't be the focus anymore, but it's far from over. 

Anything you'd like to add? 

Just that writing this arc of the Daughter's of Zeus series has been a lot of fun. I've learned so much, and I've been so lucky to have such awesome fans already. I really hope everyone enjoys the third book and sticks around for the next set.

Buy a copy of The Iron Queen from Musa Publishing.

Change and Identity (by Dusty Crabtree)

I’ve learned a valuable, view-altering, paradigm shifting lesson recently about change and identity, so I wanted to share it with you all.  It’s not just for teens since I’m almost 30 and it obviously applies to me, but it’s definitely something teens should figure out early on.  You may have even learned this lesson before, but it’s worth repeating. 

 Put simply – Change in your life does not change who you are. 

Too many times we look at the situations we’re put into, the jobs we have, the organizations we’re a part of, the big events we endure, the people around us…and we see those people and things as defining us. It’s not uncommon to look at where you came from and everything you’ve been through and say, “All of that has made me who I am today.” But that’s not true. If you think this way, when your circumstances change, you feel completely shaken and lost, and have to try to discover who you are again.  The truth is all of those people, places, and events have molded and shaped you, but you have always been you.  Your identity will never change.  And your true identity is pure and good.  Any other negative labels you or others have given you are not who you really are. 

Being my writer, English teacher self, I wrote a poem about it.  As a Christian, my identity is a child of God, and that will never change no matter what changes in my life.  I have a solid foundation that reflects my pure and true identity, and I will not be shaken. What’s your identity? 

“Still I Am a Tree” 

by Dusty Crabtree  



I am a tree.

I always have been and always will be a tree.

The seasons may change,

Vital rain and sun giving me strength and determination to grow,

A cool wind rustling my leaves as they tumble to the ground,

Then bitter cold seeping through to my core until I am numb and desolate,

And still I am a tree.



My growth may change,

the tips of my tallest limbs soaring to the heavens,

the buds on my branches flourishing into gorgeous blossoms

or barely having strength enough to sprout,

And still I am a tree.



The landscape may change,

flowers planted that waft fragrance into the fresh air,

a new building erected that blocks the warm sun,

and ultimately, a busy street paved where carefree wilderness used to be,

And still I am a tree.



The caretaker may change,

some working with love, pruning and trimming,

others working haphazardly, snipping and stripping

until I’m left with both beauty and scars,

And still I am a tree.



And even when I’m at the end of my days

with withered bark and faded leaves,

with low-hanging branches sighing in the wind,

finally ready to shed my earthly form and take on one anew,



Still I am a tree.

I always have been and always will be a tree.

Five Steps to Dominate the Radio (by Stephanie Campbell)

As an author, I love radio interviews for two reasons. Firstly, I am extremely shy, so the phone-to-radio contact is much easier than face-to-face. The moment I make eye contact with someone, my face goes from pale to bright crimson. As a redhead, I look like a turnip and that does not make for the most impressive business networking. Secondly, I can continue to wander around the house in my sweat clothes while doing interviews. Getting dressed in clothes that don’t make me look like a homeless person simply takes more effort than is worthwhile. Thus, that is why I love radio interviews. Since I think a lot (though not all) of writers are cut from the same cloth when it comes to being inhibited, I thought it would be a good idea to share my knowledge about getting on radio shows.

Step One

Get on radio show guest list. http://www.radioguestlist.com/ This list is extremely helpful. You will likely find at least one show per day applicable to be queried. Also, stalk http://www.blogtalkradio.com/ and don’t be shy about emailing new people.

Step Two

Make a query letter. Yes, you are going to groan. More queries. It’s painful being an author sometimes, isn’t it? I like to describe what makes me unique, what I would be willing to talk about on the show, and why the host should be killing himself/herself to have me. I also like to put past shows I’ve done on my query. That way, they know I don’t sound like a robot when I speak. I also include my contact information. Here is an example of my query, minus the contact information. (Sorry. I really don’t want a stranger showing up at my house at two o’clock in the morning…again.)

Dear Radio Station,

My name is Stephanie Campbell, and all I have ever wanted was to be a career author. At the age of sixteen, my journey began. Now, at twenty-one, I have an agent that I love, publishers that take good care of me and my career, and abundance in all areas of my life. I truly feel that I live in the magic of the world. A lot of people ask me, "How did you do it? I've been trying to get published for over fifteen years." I was eager to share my answer to success with them, just as I am eager to share the answer on your radio show. I believe the answer to being truly successful belongs inside each person, not in the world. By changing the way you see the world, I think you can shape your circumstances and make them exactly the way you want them to be. I think every person in the world deserves to have an abundant and happy life, and I would like to tell my story to as many people as possible.

I am the published author of The Willow Does Not Weep, Racing Death, Case Closed, Mirror of Darkness, Hot Wheels, Dragon Night, Poachers, Dragon Night, Tasting Silver, Late but not Never, Specimen X, Tales of Draga, E is for Eternity, and P.S. I Killed My Mother. I have a bestselling pen name. I have toured schools and have spoken at book days and in conferences. I have been on two award winning radio shows.

Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to your reply.

Sincerely,

Stephanie Campbell

Here is a previous show I have done with Candy O'Donnell.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9J9DZjyAqM&list=UU31ggQXX4k-ccfNMiuOKOWg&index=3&feature=plcp

Here is a show with Silver Star Media.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/angelsandwarriors/2012/10/27/meet-stephanie-campbell#.UIx8Nu4AWuc.facebook

Here is me on Rachel Love's Show.

http://podroom.a2zen.fm/podcasts/the-rachel-love-show/the-rachel-love-show#.UKaUbmfcjA1

Step Three

Make that pitch and continue pitching to different stations whenever the opportunity arises.

Step Four

Book the show and make sure you keep track of time zones. I will say it again it’s so important. WATCH OUT FOR DIFFERENT TIME ZONES.

Step Five

At this point, the host should give you instructions, but I will give you some what-to-expect advice. When you go on the show, you will receive a call-in number and a specified time according to time zone. When you make the call, do your best not to be nervous and treat it like a phone conversation with a friend. Most hosts are extremely friendly and don’t want to startle their guests by asking them something awkward, so you should do great.

And those are my five steps to radio domination. Follow them and you should not only book radio shows but do great on air. And seriously, watch out for those sneaky time zones.

About S.E. Campbell

I am the published author of The Willow Does Not Weep, Racing Death, Case Closed, Mirror of Darkness, Hot Wheels, Dragon Night, Poachers, Dragon Night, Tasting Silver, Late but not Never, Specimen X, Tales of Draga, E is for Eternity, and P.S. I Killed My Mother. I have a bestselling pen name. I have toured schools and have spoken at book days and in conferences. I have been on two award winning radio shows.

About Stephanie's new novella, Colors:

Colors will be available for free on Amazon May 6^th through 10^th.

When autistic ten-year-old Derrick sees how light going through glass makes rainbow colors upon a wall, he is astounded. The boy who shows him this trick, Gavin, tells him about how his class got to go to an art exhibit in the city with hundreds of pieces of glass all strung up to make multi-colors. Derrick wants to go more than he has wanted anything in his entire life, but he cannot find the words to say it. Instead the only thing he can say is “Colors.” When his mom and dad don’t understand, he gets frustrated and decides to find the glass art exhibit on his own. The problem is, what can he do if he can’t find his way back?