Author Heather McCorkle

First a shot of my sunset cruise tonight off the coast of Waikiki beach. Now onto work. Since I can't possibly cover everything Bill taught today and get my homework done, I'm going to focus on his lecture about making your character sympathetic. This is not to be confused with empathetic. Bill describes sympathetic character traits as something about the character being likable. He describes empathetic as the character having something about them the reader can relate to. Here are William Bernhardt's seven ways to make your character sympathetic (please note, Bill does not recommend having all seven in one character, he says two or three is plenty. His words are in quotes, my embellishments follow unquoted.): #1. 'Have them be very good at what they do.' Who doesn't love an expert right? #2. 'Give them a sense of humor.' This doesn't have to be typical, it can be quirky or dark. #3. 'Have them treat others well.' What garners sympathy better

Just because you outline doesn't mean you're not an artist nor does it mean you are being omnipotent and forcing the story in your own direction. Rather, it means you're allowing the story to force you in the right direction and keep you on track. If you've never listened to a New York Times Bestseller lecture on outline then you probably haven't seen it's true potential. William Bernhardt's first class today was an eye opener on why outlining is so important to the structure of the story. Bill draws it out like a timeline. The inciting incident occurs very close to the beginning of the timeline. What the heck is an inciting incident? It is the event that upsets the protagonists life and sets off the rest of the book. Think of it as what starts it all. A murder, a quest, a war, something that creates conflict and compels us to keep reading. Further down the timeline is plot point one. Plot points are major events that change the story in some way. Then yo

This place is an artist's paradise and inspiration is around every bend. Today I walked the streets of Honolulu going from one incredible gallery to the next. From photographers and painters to wood carvers, it's teaming with creativity. It's so inspiring I might have to write a story based in Hawaii! I met an amazing lady, Dora Barrera, who really set my afternoon into a good vibe. She works at the Peter Lik Fine Art Photography shop. Remember what I said about a picture being worth a thousand words? Well this place could make Webster's dictionary look short. Peter takes pictures all over the world, specializing in Utah and Hawaii. The way he captures light is unbelievable. If you don't think photography is an art then you haven't seen this man's pictures. While Honolulu is a big city and I'm not real fond of big cities, I do love the people here and coming back is like coming home. Time for me to go register for the retreat! You guys enjoy the link b

So you've finished your novel, does that mean it's ready to start submitting to agents or editors?That really depends on your definition of a finished novel. When I write the last words I consider that my first draft. No one but me, and sometimes my readers, reads my first draft. I believe in getting the words on the page in a timely fashion, which results in a very rough first draft. The next thing I do is print it out and line edit it with a red pen. I also add quite a bit as I'm going through it in this round. Once finished I sit back down at the laptop and enter all the red into it. After that I spellcheck and save. Now, and only now, is it ready for someone else to read it. This is the main reason I don't do editing for other people. To me the first edit should be done by the writer so they can tweak the story where they need to and still keep it their own. So what goes into all that editing? What is this mysterious editing process that makes a novel ready for subm

The Hawaii Writer's Retreat is fast approaching and they've posted a semi-finalized schedule of classes. Looking at some of the lectures that will be available has me pretty excited! I'm going to have so much to blog about for you guys that it won't all fit in one week. I'll have to take a lot of notes. With speakers like William Bernhardt, Jacquelyn Mitchard, Ann Hood, and Gary Braver and many others, it will be a wealth of information. Here's how it's going to work: There are short morning lectures that are about specific topics. After that we go to a homeroom for the majority of the day where we'll work in a small classroom setting, 6-10 students, with our instructor. The specifics of what we work on there is largely up to our instructor. At the end of the afternoon there is another short lecture available to us by one of the other instructors. Then we're free to enjoy Hawaii for the night, well sort of. If it's anything like last year (and I

Once you've create a believable character (see my past entry on creating characters) with depth what comes next? As I go over my first two young adult novels I find myself thinking this over. Aside from just riding through the plot there are some very important things your characters must do through the course of the story. When people experience things it often changes them, they learn and grow, or become bitter and introverted. Life changes people. Your characters should reflect this. Think of the horror novel where the woman always runs from the killer. It's annoying. The truth of the matter is she'll eventually learn to either stand and fight, hide, find a way out of the situation, or she will die. Just like readers, agents and editors want to see character progression by the end of the novel and on an even greater scale by the end of a series. For example; in my young adult book my protagonist goes from being the shallow, popular girl to realizing the value of real fri

Bear with me, I'll explain. As I get further into the process of becoming a published writer I'm learning that there is a lot of zen needed to pull this off. For one, you must absolutely be hard as nails to take all the criticism and rejection dealt out in this line of work. Got that one down, bring on the next challenge! Before I can even finish that sentence it's swinging at me with a wicked right hook. But I'm ready, I can roll with it. Next comes the critique process from the agent. How quick can you get this back to me? Watch the keys on my computer smoke. I can make overnight express look like the pony express. When it comes to re-writes and editing I'm a machine, lightning fast and spot on. So what's next? Bring it, I'm ready! Oh, what do you mean now we have to wait for the editor to consider it? How long do we have to wait? What, months! Ugh. Not that, anything but that! But oh yes folks, it comes right back around to the waiting process. Time again

As the empty suitcase yawns at me this question arises. Thankfully I've been to a writer's retreat before and so I have a good idea of what to throw into that shrinking abyss. Since it's in Hawaii the temptation to throw in all my cute shoes and clothes is tough to fight. However, with the rising cost of checked luggage I will be limiting myself to one checked bag, one carry on, and of course my laptop. The thing I have to remember here is that a retreat is all about improving my book. Therefore I must take everything necessary to achieve that end. This means not only my computer, but a printer, a lot of paper, extra ink, and all the appropriate cables and plugs. Not much room left for my favorite wedge sandals. Not knowing what parts of the book we'll be working on I must remember to have my query letter ready, my synopsis, a chapter index, an outline, and oh yeah, the manuscript! Thankfully these don't need to be hard copies, whew! Having all these things already

Of course I've heard this saying but I'd never really thought much about it. Well, I just had my first experience that proved it true! Much of the book I'm working on takes place in Ireland so I was searching for inspiring photos near the areas it takes place. Out of the six photos I downloaded I was inspired to write four scenes for my book! I'm blown away, I never expected that level of inspiration. But just looking at this photo on the left you can see why they had such an impact on me. I'm so inspired now that I can't stop writing. The words are flowing faster than I can write in short hand. If you get stumped I highly recommend looking through old photo albums or even jumping on the internet and searching. If you haven't played with google maps yet you really need to. You can zoom all the way into a lot of streets all over the world and see the buildings as if you're standing right there. I can't tell you how much that has helped my writing, it

Last year I attended both the Hawaii Writer's Conference and the retreat. I had an excellent time at both. So why am I only going to the retreat this year? Several reasons came into play. Last year's retreat was a huge eye opener for me. My writing skills increased by leaps and bounds and I met a lot of great people that I still stay in touch with today. The book I took to work on went from being a good idea to a publishable piece of work that is now represented and is being presented by an agent to editors. Achieving that was priceless. The conference was an excellent opportunity to meet people in the industry and make connections, which I did do. A conference is a lot of lectures and success stories with the chance to pitch your work to agents and editors thrown in. The agent I met in Hawaii last year is now considering my YA novel. So why am I only going to the retreat when it sounds like you get your money's worth out of both? Cost aside, I decided to go to just the ret

I finished editing the sequel to my young adult urban fantasy! As I did so the question of what to write next surfaced it's ugly head. I was hoping to hear back from the agent who is considering the first in the series before I delved into the third and final book. Why write the third if I haven't received representation for the first? Well, because I have no choice. The story has it's claws firmly embedded into my mind and will not let go. It must be finished. This got me to thinking about writing sequels. Should you write a stand alone book or give in to the sequel that's been nagging at the back of your mind? Is there more than just the story to consider when thinking about writing a sequel? Yes to all of the above. What do agents and editors think about sequels? Will it help or hinder your book's chance of getting picked up and published? All good questions. There is a lot more than just the story to consider when writing a sequel. But no wait, it's all abou

Excellent characters are the staple of a good book. Without them the book is just words on a page. While I love the intricate worlds in a sci-fi/fantasy novel, it's the characters that keep me interested and that will make me buy more by that author. Dune is one of the most riveting books I've read but not just because Frank Herbert created an unforgettable world, because he created Paul Muad'dib. Consider your favorite book, what did you love the most about it? Chances are the answer will be one of the characters. So how do we as writers create characters that will keep not only ourselves, but readers glued to the page and wanting more? One of the most populars authors of all time has the answer; Stephen King. His fans will tell you they love his books because his characters are so vivid and realistic. Readers need to be able to relate to characters, to sympathize with them, love them, or hate them, anything so long as they're passionate about it. King's characters

For a novel to be great people have to want to read it. To discover the recipe for a great novel you have to discover what people want to read. We all have our own reasons for enjoying the books we read, but are they the same as everyone elses? Ah if only this were easy to discover, we'd all be bestsellers. Getting inside other people's heads is no simple task, but there are tools out there that will help you do it. Don't worry, you won't need a degree in psychology. The first thing you need to do is to read new books in your genre. Pick up the bestsellers, get to know how those writers write, discover if they're bringing something new to the table. Join writers groups, either on line or in your neighborhood. Ask people what they looked for in a book of that genre, what makes them keep turning the pages and most importantly, buying more books by that author. Keep up to date on the news in the writing industry. This can be done by following the blogs of agents and ed

If you've decided to go to a conference chances are you'll be pitching your manuscript to an agent or editor. Packed full of great agents and editors, a conference is the perfect place to do some networking and actually get your work looked at. I don't recommend it for those who have just finished their book and just want to test the waters though. Approaching an agent or editor is a step you should take only when you think your manuscript is polished and in the best possible shape it can be. You want to look like a professional after all who takes pride in their writing and is willing to work hard to make it successful. So now that both you and your manuscript are ready to go, how do you prepare? This can be one of the most nerve wracking experiences you've ever put yourself through if you approach it wrong. The point of the pitch is to tell an agent/editor about your book and then get their response. The second part is the really important part. Too many people make t

I'm incredibly excited to report that I've finished the first draft of the sequel to my young adult novel! There is a huge sense of accomplishment that comes with writing the last words of a book you've been working hard on. It surprised me by turning out even better than I had planned, taking me a direction the outline hadn't predicted. While I write outlines now (didn't used to, see my past entry on outlines) I still allow the story to evolve on it's own. Writing the end was absolutely thrilling down to the last word. It felt like the characters were letting me in on their story, I love it when that happens! Once you've celebrated and revelled in the feeling for a while, what then? That depends on you and what you plan to do with your manuscript. I'm always moving forward, seeking representation so I can become published. I feel that my characters have a right to have their stories told to the world, so I fight for them. After I've finished I soak

Attending a writer's retreat will sharpen your writing skills and give you a chance to network with some of the people in the business. It's one of the most beneficial things you can do to give your writing a kick in the bindings too! With the state of today's economy its not an easy thing to do, but it's an investment in your future that's well worth it. My writing has improved exponentially from the retreat I attended in the past and this year I hope to move it to a whole new level yet again. For those of you who can't attend one stay tuned because I'll give you a play by play of the one I'm attending this year so you can benefit from my experience. For those of you who can manage to attend one I highly recommend doing so. I'd love to say there are a lot of great retreats out there, but honestly I've been looking and coming up pretty empty handed. If you know of any please leave me a comment so I can check them out. That said, what should you l

If you can't get your own publicity, don't steal it from others! Stephanie Meyer, author of the Twilight series, is being sued for plagiarism. My feelings for the author and/or series aside, this is wrong! It sounds very bogus because the guy is claiming such petty things as her characters call each other the same pet name his characters do. He also claims she describes the vampire change in the same way. BFD! There have and always will be similarities in literature. I don't know how many times I've heard the saying, there are no original ideas! And hey, popularity isn't about writing the most original book out there, its about writing it in the best possible way and getting it out there first . Just because she wrote a similar book to his (supposedly) and did it better, he's whining. What this man is really trying to do is get people to read his book to compare the two. Don't do it folks, if you do it gives credence to all the bogus lawsuits out there and o

This incredible picture is the inspiration for the final scene of the book I'm working on. Whenever I'm writing I look for pictures that relate to what I'm working on. Usually it's my background on my computer so every time I turn it on that's the first thing I see. It's very inspiring and helps get me in the right frame of mind immediately. The moment I see it I begin thinking of my book. I like to pick different backgrounds based on what chapter I'm working on. It keeps things fresh and motivates me, not to mention it doesn't hurt with the descriptions either! I like to write about all different kinds of locations so I'm always hunting for pictures of different parts of the world, and yes I'm one of those crazed tourists with a camera! Normally I only write about places I've actually been to though, that way I make sure to get everything right. Seeing a picture of something isn't the same as standing there smelling the scents, feeling

When editing your own work it can be really hard to look at your novel objectively. You worked hard for months, maybe even years, taking the hatchet to it can be a bit traumatic. But for the sake of the novel, it must be done. Take off the rose colored glasses and prepare to polish that baby up. Professional editing is expensive. Not to mention, if you can edit decently yourself, you become that much more attractive to an agent and or publisher. Don't make the mistake of thinking the publisher's editor will do all the work, that just doesn't happen any more. Besides, the better the piece of work you submit is, the more professional you look and the more they'll want to work with you again. So how does one go about doing it? Spellcheck is wonderful but it doesn't catch everything and it makes mistakes. Use it, but don't rely on it alone. Polish up your English skills. Go over your kids English text books, or even pick up one of your own. Know the format publis