Author Toolbox Blog Hop: Developing Characters in Your Writing

#AuthorToolboxBlogHop

Hello and welcome to the Focused on Story Blog and to the Author Toolbox Blog Hop #AuthorToolboxBlogHop which meets every third Wednesday of the month to share resources and tips for authors. Thanks to Raimey Gallant for hosting this venture. 

Please join us to learn more about the craft of writing and to meet bloggers who are dedicated to helping each other become the best writers possible. Click here to visit other blog hop participants.

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The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide to Character Expression
Available at your Favorite Bookseller

Tip on Developing Characters in Your Writing by J.Q. Rose

If you are a romance writer, you don't want to edit a romantic scene and discover it reads like a second-grader wrote it or that you used the same words over and over and over and over. I have a tip today to help you find the right words to show not tell a love story with characters who will grab a reader.

My go-to book for helping me to get out of that stuck stage when writing a scene is The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writers Guide to Characters Expression. 

The description describes the purpose of the book--"The Emotion Thesaurus, in its easy-to-navigate list format, will inspire you to create stronger, fresher character expressions and engage readers from your first page to your last."

The table of contents is easy to use to find the emotion you need to portray. You'll appreciate it when looking through the 130 emotions listed to discover the one you need. Here are examples of the emotions that are covered in the book--Fear, Frustration, Happiness, Impatience, Nostalgia, Pride and more.

In the listings for each emotion, you will find ideas to keep your writing fresh.

• physical signals
• internal sensations
• mental responses
• cues of acute or long-term (emotion)

The authors do not suggest you copy the information word for word, but rather to allow their suggestions to inspire you to show, not tell the story.

Since writing this book, the authors have extended the Thesaurus into a series for other topics in writing like character flaws, character attributes, psychological trauma and more.

Do you use this book or any in the series? Please leave a comment below. Thank you.

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The Rose Courier--delivered to your inbox every month!

Click here or on the Rose Courier graphic at the top of the sidebar to have your copy of the Courier delivered to your inbox. You'll find out about new releases, favorite authors, giveaways, contests with prizes and what JQ is up to.

Thanks!

Pointers on Writing a Blog by J.Q. Rose Updated, Facebook Live Videos

Blogging
Courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net
Photo by Stuart Miles

I love blogging and enjoy penning blog posts. Besides writing, I enjoy reading blogs. 
I can see that scowl of disbelief forming on your face. But, yes. I DO love sharing information, inspiration, and fun with readers. 

Most of all, I like receiving comments. Writing is an isolating job, so when blog readers actually respond with a comment, I feel more connected to the world. Thank you to all who take time to say hi, leave a thought about the content of the blog, or ask a question. I know you have lots of other things to do, so I appreciate the time you spend here on the blog.

Reading blogs is one of my satisfying "hobbies." I don't do it and leave a comment strictly for marketing purposes. I love meeting new folks and keeping in touch with friends. Blogging is the vehicle that allows me to do that.

TIP:  By the way, when you do leave a comment on a blog, please leave a way for the blogger to return your visit. Here's the secret formula, well maybe not so secret anymore, for constructing the HTML link to your blog so a blogger can click on the link and be taken right to your site!

You MUST copy this exactly, especially being careful not to add or delete a space in any of it, in order to make a correct link. 

<a href=http://yoursite.com>yoursitename</a>

Replace the bold sections with your information. 

Then go to your blog and in your own comment section, c/p the link and submit. You will see immediately if you have the link correct because only yoursitename will show up.--no symbols or letters. Good luck! It may take you a few tries.

Updated--Pointers on Writing a Blog by J.Q. Rose
originally published on this blog in October 2015

In my marketing research, my experience,  and reading blogs, I've picked up a few pointers I thought I'd share with you. I hope you find them helpful. Please add to the list so we can all learn more.

• When I come across information or have an idea for a blog post, I go immediately to my blog page and click new post. I make a few notes, copy the URL of an article that got my attention, and type in a working title. These ideas already collected in my behind-the-scenes unpublished blog posts give me a bit of peace when I'm struggling to think of a post. 
• Choose a day each week that you can commit to posting up your blog. Keep it like you do for a dental appointment or your kid's soccer practice. Your appointment with yourself to write your blog should be on your calendar every week or more often if you wish.. 
• All the blog gurus encourage us to have a photo of ourselves on the top of the page. The purpose of a blog is to connect with readers, so having a picture helps them to do that. Not an avatar but a real-life photo of you.
• Images help attract and keep readers. Take your own photos or look them up online. WARNING: Please be sure you can legally use the photos on your blog. Sites for finding images are freedigitalphotos.net (my favorite as you can probably tell,} pixabay.com, presentermedia.com, and makerbook.net. Leave a comment to let us know your favorite sites for images.
• Video is coming to the front as a real draw to attract readers and keep them on the site. You can make your own video from your laptop, phone, camera, record it on YouTube, Hangouts, and PowerPoint programs. 
• LIVE video is all the rage and it's fun. On FB Live, visitors can leave comments and you can interact with them in real time. Or if they have a question, they can ask and you can return to your video post and answer questions later. You can also post the Facebook video on Youtube to increase viewership and share it on all your social media. Watch my FB Live video below--Writing Tip: Focus on the Holidays 
• Make attractive, eye-catching graphics with quotes or poems quickly with Quotes Cover and  Quozio. Canva is another choice for making lots of kinds of graphics, but it takes a bit of experimenting and practice to get a decent product.

Quote image made using canva.com

TIP: When adding an image to your blog, be sure to add a caption. Phones and tablets don't always show the images, but they will display the caption to let readers know what the picture is. 

• When offering a link to a page, don't use" click here." Instead, write out the name of the URL link so the reader knows what page they will be jumping to. Be sure to set your blog to allow a new pop-up box for the link the reader is going to instead of leaving your blog completely.
• At the end of your post, ask the reader to subscribe to your page. Direct her to the location on your page so she can easily find and add her email.  The Follow by Email should be above the fold so the reader sees it right away.

Jeni Elliott, the Blog Maven, suggests bloggers not include their social media links on their website because clicking on the page will direct the reader away from the blog. What do you think of that idea? You can read more about it and other tips in her FREE guide, Five Things You Can Do to Increase Subscribers. She offers lots of resources for bloggers on her site.

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FB Live Video--Writing Tip: Focus on the Holidays

VIDEO--Writing Tip: Focus on the Holidays by J.Q. Rose

If you have time, click here to watch more of my videos at the J.Q. Rose, Author Facebook 
Page including "How NOT to Make a FB Live Video." Warning! I'm just learning and experimenting with this new way of connecting with folks.

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Thanks for spending time at the J.Q. Rose blog. Do you enjoy reading articles like this one with helpful tips and information for writers/bloggers? Do you have some suggestions for topics for this blog?

And just as I schooled you, please enter your email address in the Follow by Email box in the sidebar so you'll be notified of new posts on the J.Q. Rose blog. I promise, NO SPAM. Thank you!

Writing Tip: Using the Kindle for Editing, This Week, Travelogue

One of the gorgeous roses in the Halifax Public Garden

Hello from Michigan!

Summer is half over and I still have not finished my WIP for my Beta readers. I swore I would have the manuscript (ms) done for my funeral home mystery by the end of April, then the end of May, then the end of June...mmmm....My mother always told me not to swear. At this point in time, I only have seven chapters to go. I plan to get it finished up this week, even if I have to stay up all night, every night!

WRITING TIP--Using the Kindle for Editing
Before allowing Beta reader eyes on the story, I use the Kindle reader as my final tool. I email my MS Word doc to my Kindle address. The address is found on your amazon account information. Then I can read the ms on my Kindle similar to an eBook, but the formatting is not perfect. It's a different way of looking at the words and pages making it helpful to find errors.

Reading the manuscript on the  KIndle
and yes, I do have this old Kindle too.

When I see wording or punctuation I want to change in my ms, I highlight it and make a note. After reading through it, I then pull up my ms and make changes on the ms. The errors are easy to find on the Kindle page because they are highlighted. Sometimes I have a hard time locating the line or paragraph in my Word doc though. I don't know if a program like Scrivener would make it easier for me.

I was amazed at how many punctuation errors I made. No period, too many periods, commas I needed to add or delete, and punctuation marks where they shouldn't be and where they should be.
I also noted awkward or long sentences, sentences that sounded like a second grader wrote them, and formatting issues such as indenting a new paragraph.

The text-to-speech program on the Kindle is helpful too. Listening to the story catches many oddly written conversations or sentences. Yes, the Kindle voice is rather monotone and boring, so I can't listen for long stretches at a time.

Have you ever tried using the Kindle for editing? Please share some of your most helpful ways of editing your stories.

If you would like tips on editing, the writing process, publishing and marketing, check out the eBook, Romance and Mystery Authors on Writing. Fifteen romance and mystery authors share writing tips they have gleaned from their experiences as “on-the-job” writers. The tips are organized into the main topics of writing, publishing, and marketing. The novelists also reveal the “light bulb moments” in their writing journey, questions they are asked most often, and the best advice on writing they have received. By offering their expertise, the authors hope to smooth the sometimes rocky road for new writers toward a rewarding career in writing. All proceeds from the sales of the eBook will go to local public libraries. Find the eBook on amazon.

This Week:

Thursday, July 17-Please join romance author Helena Fairfax on the Travelogue series. This week we are traveling Europe by rail as our British tour guide introduces us to  Europe by Rail: through the Mountains in Bavaria to the Casino at Monte Carlo. Her photos are breathtakingly beautiful. Please join us for a delightful trip.

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Thank you for visiting.