by Crystal Caudill | Dec 22, 2021 | Reading Challenge
Hi guys! Apparently, I am unintentionally taking the month off or writing book reviews, but there are some other great announcements to make like . . .
After having such a great year of reading books with other historical fiction fans, I’ve decided to do it again with a different theme: Around the World.
Exciting Changes:
A New Partner
This year I am partnering with the AMAZING book reviewer, Phyllis from @AmongTheReads. Together we are going to share reviews of books that take you around the world. Phyllis is an avid reader and has hundreds of book reviews on her website in an easy-to-find way. I highly suggest you pop over to her website AmongTheReads.net to check her out and find your next great read.
Prizes
Due to the high cost of the 2021 Reading Challenge, I’ve changed up how I’ll do 2022 prizes in order to make it where this can be a long-term thing. Instead of receiving a copy of the reviewed book, winners will get a chance to pick from my stack of new and gently used Christian Fiction books which will have new additions every month. I’ll keep a list of those choices on the Unlocking the Past Webpage beginning in January after the first challenge is over. At the beginning of January 2023, those who have participated in any of the monthly challenges will get entered to win a Grand Prize Reader Basket. The prizes may change, but at the moment, the prize will include a copy of Counterfeit Love by Crystal Caudill (me), Everyday Love by Katie Orr (A Focused15 Study), a book recommended by me, reader socks, tea, and a bookmark.
Participation Requirements
Books no longer HAVE to be historical, but I will push them as a preference. With the Around the World theme, some areas are just going to be really hard to find with a historical focus, plus I’m hoping this will allow more readers to be involved.
In order to be entered to win books each month and the grand prize at the end of the month, you will still be required to comment on what you read on that month’s Reading Challenge Review post from the last day of the month. I will still use Rafflecopter to randomly select the winner. Extra entries can only be earned for that month and are only available through the Rafflecopter link. HOWEVER, if someone comments that they joined the reading challenge because of your invite, I will add three extra entries for the end of the year prize manually for each person who mentions you.
Comments for the monthly drawing must be made by midnight EST of the 8th of the month. Any comments made after that point will still get you an entry to the end of the year drawing, but will not go toward the monthly drawing.
Suggested Reading Posts
I will once again be adding monthly suggested reading posts on the first of each month. My suggestions will be a mix of historical and contemporary, with a heavier focus on historical when possible. These suggestions will not necessarily be ones that I have personally read but have been found on Among the Reads, the Inspirational Historical Fiction Index, and my connections in the author world.
Legalese
The giveaway portion is open to all eligible members of society according to their country’s and state’s laws and it is up to you know whether you are legally able to enter. Print copies are only eligible to winners eligible for media mail in the 50 states of the USA. Any winner outside of the United States (or readers within the USA who prefer an e-book) will get to choose a Christian Fiction e-book that is on sale for $5 or under on Amazon. If the winner of the grand prize is outside of the United States, they will receive an e-copy of Counterfeit Love, three additional e-books, and a snail mail letter with bookmarks. This giveaway is not associated with anyone but me, Crystal Caudill, and all winners will be randomly drawn by a third-party app like Rafflecopter (monthly) or https://miniwebtool.com/random-name-picker/ (end of the year).
Unlocking the Past 2022 Reading Challenge: Around the World
Monthly Themes
January – Africa
February – Asia
March – Caribbean
April – Eastern Europe
May – Europe
June – Mediterranean
July – Middle East
August – N. America
September – Oceania (Australia, New Zealand, all the little islands around there – Samoa, Guam, Marshall Islands, Fiji, etc)
October – S. America
November – Bucket List Country
December – Christmas in Any Country
So here’s the question: Are YOU going to participate this year? And is there anyone you can share this reading challenge with? The more the merrier. What books do you recommend for the first month: Africa?
by Crystal Caudill | Nov 26, 2021 | Writing Craft
Hi readers! I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with friends and family. I very much appreciate you and your willingness to read my little reviews and other thoughts. One of my favorite delights is giving back to the writing community, and this week I had the opportunity to be the “expert” for a local student’s 8th Grade project. She presented me with a whole host of questions which I answered for her, and I thought maybe, as a reader or writer, you might be interested in some of the answers I gave. Therefore, mixed in with my Endorser Spotlights on Fridays, I’m going to share the answer to a few of her questions and then add them to my writer’s resources tab. I’ve edited it to fit the general population, as she also had specific questions about her particular story.
How do you write a book most people would find entertaining and enjoyable?
The first thing to understand is no book is for everyone. Each reader has their own preferences for what they like or dislike in a book. No matter what you write, there will always be someone who thinks it’s the most awful book on the planet and it should never have been written. However, there are people who will adore your books and call you their favorite author because you write what they like. A person who loves horror books along the lines of Stephen King is not going to enjoy a romance book by Nicolas Sparks.
That being said, if you know who your target audience is, you are more likely to write in such a way as to make them happy and enjoy your book. Every reader who picks up a certain book type has specific expectations that match the genre.
So for a reader who picks up a historical romantic suspense novel like my book, they are going to expect to have a hero and heroine set in a historical time period with rich details and a plot that puts them in danger as they fall in love with one another. Readers are going to expect a villain, dangerous situation, and a happily ever after that leaves them satisfied.
In a mystery story, the reader expects to have something happen right away that leaves your characters trying to answer that question for the rest of the book. For example, who stole Mrs. Clark’s favorite songbook from her choral collection? Readers expect to have the questions who, why, and how answered. The character who stole the book must have believable means (How did they commit the crime? What abilities did they have?), motivation (Why did they do it?), and opportunity (When did they do it?), and the reader must have all three answered by the end of the story.
Keep your target reader in mind. What things do they like? What things would they be upset if you included in the story? Avoid those. If your target audience is 10-15 years olds, you are going to want to have main characters who are likely in high school and encountering some of the things high schooler students encounter as a teenager–mean teachers, too much homework, friend drama, family drama, awkward moments, sports, or anything else that works well with your story.
Your job as an author is to know what your target audience wants in a book and to provide it. You aren’t going to please everyone, but you want to strive to please the ones who enjoy your type of story. Even then, you won’t make everyone happy.
Question for readers:
What books do you like to read? What do you expect to find in those books?
Question for Writers:
Who is your target audience? What can a reader expect when they pick up your stories?
by Crystal Caudill | Nov 24, 2021 | Writing Craft
Two of the most important things to realize as a writer are 1) Your first draft is going to be awful. That is what edits and revisions are for. 2) You need the help of others to push your story to become better than it would be on your own. This involves friends to brainstorm with, critique partners who read your work, and making suggestions on anything from storyline to sentence structure and grammar. Each critique partner will have different strengths. I’m really good at looking at the big picture and tightening up fight scenes. One critique partner is really good at helping me cut out unnecessary words. Another is super amazing at grammar and punctuation. Even when we’ve gotten it the absolute best we can make it , I send it on to a professional editor who takes it through everything from big-picture revisions to word-by-word edits. My book has passed through at least a dozen people’s eyes before ever going to publication, and even then, typos will happen. No book is ever going to be perfect, but you have to get it to the best you can, and then let someone on the outside look at it and help you push it to something even better than you could do on your own. Writing is both a solitary and team sport.
Another thing you should know is there is a difference between revising and editing. Revisions are where you are looking at the big picture of the story. You are making sure that it fits story structure, the story makes sense, the characters are behaving in a believable way, your facts are correct, and that your story is engaging. Edits are were you zoom in and look a little closer. Is your sentence structure the best it could be? Are there better words you could use? Should this paragraph go somewhere else? Do you need to delete this part and expand on this part? Is your grammar and punctuation correct? There are all sorts of levels and nuances to this, but this is just the big picture look at what happens after you finish a rough draft.
When you finish your rough draft for the first time, I recommend setting it aside for a week (or really a month) or more if possible. Giving yourself some distance from your story will allow you to see things you wouldn’t have seen before.
Another important thing in writing books is realize you are never done learning. Good writers are constantly studying writing craft books, taking classes and workshops to improve themselves, and allowing others to sharpen them into better writers. This is a HUGE thing, honestly in whatever career you pursue. Learning is neverending. If you want a list of writing craft books, I can provide those.
One last bit of information that is important when writing a book: Remember, your story will not be liked by everyone. It’s going to hurt when someone doesn’t like it–maybe even hates it–but the important thing to remember is everyone has different tastes.
by Crystal Caudill | Nov 24, 2021 | Writing Craft
How do you decide the setting?
When choosing a setting you want to make sure it’s a location that makes it so if your story were set anywhere else, it wouldn’t work the same way. For example, in my book coming out in early 2022, my setting is set in Cincinnati during the flood of 1884. Without that flood, the climax of my story couldn’t happen. If I moved it to another time and location, my story would change.
The best advice I ever heard was to consider your setting a character. Your setting is going to influence your story, and you get to decide how. Think about how your story would be different if it were to take place in Winter instead of Summer, in a big city versus a small town. Figure out what your elements need to be, and pick the setting that will best support those needs and impact your characters.
How do you pick the main character’s name?
There are lots of ways I do this. Since I write historical, I look up the census records for the time period and region that I want to write in and sometimes pick from there. Sometimes a name just comes to me. Sometimes I look up the meanings of a name and have it connect to my character in a special way. Sometimes I just want to be humorous. For example, in my current story, I have a character who is murdered off screen very early in the story. I named him Mr. Farwell because it’s close to Farewell. Corny, but I get a chuckle out of it. 🙂 I also take into consideration the characters nationality, family heritage, and names that were common when they would have been born.
How do you pick a book name?
For books, I try to look for a theme, or even a single line that really resonates with the book. For my first book, Counterfeit Love, I (and thankfully my publisher) chose the title because counterfeit had multiple meanings to the story. Money, reasons for marriage, and where love comes from were all being counterfeited. Love was the main thing being counterfeited, so that is what we stuck with. The subsequent books are Counterfeit Hope and Counterfeit Faith. All these tie in with the theme and lessons of the book. Sometimes names, especially with cozy mysteries, have cutesy, whimsical, or even funny names. Search cozy mysteries on Amazon and you’ll get all sorts of funny, cheesy titles. You want to take into consideration your genre as well. If suspense, you want to have words that hint at suspense. Same with mystery, romance, and comdey.
by Crystal Caudill | Nov 24, 2021 | Writing Craft
Hi friends! I’m continuing my series, Ask the Author. Feel free to send your questions through the contact form and yours might end up on my blog. Don’t forget to check out my questions for you at the end.
Where do I start my story?
I always end up writing more than I keep. Usually what happens is I write in a lot of unnecessary background, about a chapter or two, so that I have a chance to get to know my characters and the storyline a little more intimately. However, when I go back to edit, I have to ask myself where does the story actually begin? Where is it that my main character faces the incident that is going to send them on their “quest” to achieve their goal? In a mystery, you usually start with the crime happening or having just happened off-screen. Oftentimes, you start the story as the amateur sleuths are about to discover the crime has occurred. In a romance, it is often around the first time the characters meet, or if they already know each other, during the something that proceeds them being forced to be together more often than they would have been otherwise.
When you start with too much background information, that is called an info dump. As a writer, we are told by those older and wiser than us that readers need that background information sprinkled in throughout the story. Readers are invested when they have questions they want to be answered. The character screams when she sees a picture of a snake. The reader might wonder, why is the main character deathly afraid of snakes? Later on, they find out an incident where someone dropped a pet snake on her that bit her… maybe even the hero if they were friends or enemies early on when they were kids. It all depends on how you want to build your story out and how you want the character to change over the course of the story.
Bottom line is, don’t be afraid to delete words from your story. Sometimes you need to write it just for the sake of you as the author. Once you have that solid in your head, you can reevaluate your story for where the READER needs you to start your story. If it makes you feel better, you can cut and paste those lost words into a separate document labeled deleted scenes or scenes to use later. You may never look at those words again, but you will always have them. I promise you, a lot more writers than you think do this. Many of has have files and files of such documents.
