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.
by Crystal Caudill | Dec 31, 2020 | Reading Challenge
Unlocking the Past: American History
A 2021 Reading Challenge
I’ve noticed over the years that many avid readers like to participate in reading challenges. Well this year, I decided to create my own and make it a giveaway opportunity. Since historical fiction/romance is my preferred genre of reading, that’s where we’re staying. Who knows, I may make this a yearly thing and focus on a different aspect of history each year.
This year’s reading challenge theme will be “American History” since that is my favorite. Each month will feature a different time-period. On the last day of the month, I’ll review my read the fulfills the challenge.
Monthly Prizes & How You Can Participate
Who doesn’t like to win prizes? Well, here’s your chance. Each month read a book from the indicated time period, then on my Unlocking the Past monthly post, comment with which book you read that month. One commenter will win a free copy of the book I reviewed. This will be open to international winners, but if the book is unavailable to ship to you through Book Depository you will receive a $10 (USD) Amazon gift card. You’ll have one week after I post my review to comment and be entered.
The Grand Prize – A copy of every book reviewed throughout the year.
Every month you comment on what you read, you’ll get one entry into the pot. Read all twelve months? Guess what! That’s 12 entries. Want extra entries? Each month I’ll put a KingSumo link at the bottom with options on how to share about monthly and grand prize giveaways. Each time you share, it’s an extra entry. On December 31, 2021, I’ll draw for the grand prize winner.
So what do you think? Are you game? You can start with earning extra entries now by sharing about this giveaway with the Rafflecopter link below. You can share daily for extra entries until January 15. After that, there will be a new giveaway each month. As a thank you for getting the word out, you’ll be entered in a special giveaway for a $15 Baker Bookhouse gift card.
Unlocking the Past: American History
2021 Reading Challenge
January – Colonial Period (1600s to 1760s)
February – American Revolution & War of 1812 (1760’s to 1815)
March – Westward Expansion (1815 to 1860s – Pioneers, Oregon Trail, Gold Rushes)
April – Civil War
May – Wild West (1860s to 1890s)
June – Gilded Age (1870s to 1900)
July – Progressive Era (1890s to 1920s)
August – WWI
September – Roaring 20s and/or Great Depression (1920s to1941)
October – WWII
November – Contemporary
December – Pick Your Favorite Time American Time Period
Want a bookmark to help keep your place or to help you spread the word? Fill out this Google Form.
by Crystal Caudill | Nov 24, 2020 | Bonus Content
It’s hard to believe, but last month I turned in my first manuscript to my publisher for editing. As always, God’s timing is perfect. I turned in my manuscript on a Wednesday and that Friday, my mother-in-law ended up in the hospital. It’s been a few whirlwind weeks of tests without answers and lots of appointments. She is doing okay, but every day is different. Most days she can care for herself, but then there are days that she needs help with even walking.
Before all this happened it was my goal to have a short story written and edited for my newsletter subscribers and the draft of my second book 3/4 of the way done before edits on my first book came back. I’m happy to announce that I have met at least ONE of those goals (though I am a good way closer to my second book goal than before all this happened). I even created a cover, which is substantially better than the cover I designed for the deleted chapter. Without further ado, here is the cover and blurb for my short story:
Banking on Love
She expected to save her brother, not rob a bank.
November 1884
When Eunice Reed discovers her younger brother has been arrested for public intoxication, she travels from Cincinnati to Chicago to save him from himself. But public intoxication is the least of their problems. Irvin is tangled up with a dangerous bank robber. Will the love and ingenuity of a sister be enough to save Irvin from making the biggest mistake of his life?
This short story is exclusively for my newsletter subscribers. Not one yet? You can sign up here. My newsletter crew members are the first to know about titles, book covers, launch team member callouts, contests, and they get a monthly chance at winning a $15 Amazon gift card.
So was this post a shameless plug for my newsletter? Yep, but I put a lot of work into this 7500-word baby, and it’s one I hope you’ll enjoy.
