Author Heather McCorkle

If you’re a regular of mine then you may have noticed how sporadic my posts have been lately. I’ve been crazy busy editing five projects, working on three covers for clients , organizing and writing posts for both this blog and my Indie Elite blog, the occasional post on the Indelibles blog, working a full time ‘day’ job, and trying to squeeze in writing time in between all the chaos. To say its been hard would be a monumental understatement. You know you’ve overstretched yourself when you start justifying sleeping less to get more done. Which is about where I’m at right now. But I miss you peeps terribly and I’ve decided to make myself a schedule so I can spend more time with you, drop by your blogs and say hi, that kind of thing. So my writing tip for this week is: Keep a calendar to help yourself organize your writing time, editing time, and other projects. And, don’t over commit! Now, if only I can follow my own advice... How about you, how do you cope with the craziness tha...

This week on the #WritersRoad (a weekly reoccurring chat on Twitter that I co-host) we chatted about reviews, tours and launches. What works for author, what they should do, shouldn't do, that kind of thing. It was a great chat, I hope you had a chance to drop in. #WriteTip: When going through the editing process, keep those chapters that you end up deleting, especially the one's on back story. Those tidbits can make excellent promotional material and could even turn into a novella that you can price at free to help get your name out there. Skeptical? It worked for me. My novella, Born Of Fire has been downloaded 10,000 (yay, can you believe it?! *dances in confetti*) times this month alone (however it takes a lot of work and getting the word out on the right sites to accomplish this). That is a lot of readers who now know my name and may end up purchasing the full-length novels in my series. In other news, my novel, The Secret of Spruce Knoll was reviewed by Indie Read...

Everyone loves a plot twist that is pulled off just right. The key is getting it just right. Readers don't like to be tricked or feel as though you've just dropped something in that doesn't fit. #WriteTip: Weave in details that lead up to the twist early on in the action or emotion of your novel. Make it natural, fluid, so that when it's revealed they will have an 'ah ha' moment instead of a 'what the..?' moment. What are some of your favorite plot twists in books you've read or movies you've seen? Why did you like them so much? Think about that and it will help you develop your own. If you haven't yet, don't forget to enter my Channeler's Cause  contest. There are books to be won and a great cause to be supported!

This week on the #WritersRoad chat we talked about character mannerisms and actions. It was an excellent chat and I walked away with a lot of great ideas. Today's #writetip is inspired by the chat. #WriteTip: Mannerisms should be unique to each character~to a point~and she be used to show instead of tell. Such as, crossed arms and looking down one's nose to show defiance, tight jaw and clenched teeth to show anger, maybe a slight limp to hint at an old injury. For some excellent ideas on character mannerisms and description I highly recommend The Emotion Thesaurus . It truly is a writer's bible. Don't forget to enter my eBook and paperback giveaway , it's to help a great cause !

We all know how important the beginning and ending of our novels are. We labor over them until it seems our eyes will bleed. But in doing so we often overlook something that is nearly as important; the beginnings and endings of each chapter. That's right, each chapter. #WriteTip: Dedicate a good amount of time to the beginning and ending of each chapter. They must build tension, carry the story, and just as importantly, the reader along. What about you, any good writing tips this week? How much stock do you put into the beginnings and endings of your chapters?

Happy May! With all the activity of spring and summer it can be hard to get any writing done. But, you don't have to miss out on all the fun just to keep your word count up. #WriteTip: Take a notebook with you and make a writing exercise out of your down time at the beach/lake/pool/whatever. You can write flash fiction (short fiction), record the five senses all around you, or people watch and record body language or conversation styles. All of this will keep your creative juices flowing and help your writing. Another bonus tip is to drop in on Twitter where we do #wordwars all the time. Basically writing sprints where we check in on Twitter and report our progress with those participating. Just search for or use the hashtag #wordwar to see if anyone is up for one. Also, don't miss the cover reveal for Susan Kaye Quinn's much anticipated Closed Hearts, the sequel to her fabulous debut novel Open Minds. Click here to check it out and leave her a comment!

Art imitates life, especially where writing is concerned. To write something truly compelling and special, we must experience life and then allow that to shine through into our writing. #WriteTip: Use your experiences in your writing, down to even sensory details. If you haven't experienced something you're writing about, try to. If you can't, interview someone who has experienced it or do the best research you can. Do forget to utilize the experience of your friends and family, especially your writing community friends. You'd be surprised the wealth of knowledge that lies within your own inner circles!

To stay on top of our game, and to keep up with the competition, we must always strive to improve our writing skills. Easier said than done in a struggling economy when every penny counts and gas prices are putting the oil-consuming vehicle on the fast track to extinction. Traveling to a workshop completely blows the budget for many of us. So what are we to do?  #WriteTip: Attend an online workshop instead of driving or flying to one. For writers of children's and YA books there is Write On Con which is completely free (no joke), and it's amazing. I know several of the ladies who host it and they are fantastic. There's also the San Francisco Writer's University (online). I haven't taken classes through them but I hear they're great. And keep an eye on my friend TS Tate who is putting together a list of other workshops. If you know of any great online workshops let me know in the comments!  Also, don't miss the live chat with myself and author Chris...

The first person you have to write for is yourself but there is someone else you must keep in mind while writing, your audience. If you don't know your audience and keep them in mind, chances are they won't connect well with your novel. Genre can help you narrow it down and identify who they are. If you pick up a young adult novel you'll notice they have a particular tone to them, the tone of a teenager. The language is different, the thought process is different, and the plots of such books are focused around what would interest a teenager. A woman's literature novel will read with the tone of woman. It will play to women's interests by focusing on subject matter they want to read about. There is often a more emotional feel to these novels. Thrillers tend to read with an exciting edge that appeals to men. Men have their own language to a point and operate more on action and literal thinking, this is reflected in novels written for them. There are always excepti...

We all put a lot of thought into our protagonist but there is another character who is just as important that we sometimes overlook, the antagonist. I've read far too many novels with a textbook bad guy that struggles to be even two dimensional. It ruins the book for me every time. The antagonist often drives the plot just as much as the hero, and has a profound effect on the hero. That makes them just as important~or close to it~as the protagonist. If you want your novel to be believable and your readers to sympathize with the hero, you must make sure your antagonist is fully developed. Get to know your bad guy or gal just as well as you know your hero. What are her motives? What is his past? What makes her do the things she does? What does he want out of the situation and why? These are all things that will make him or her well rounded. Everyone loves to hate a great bad guy so put the work into him or her and make them worthy of both the story and it's protagonist. There...

In honor of mother's day I thought I'd write a post on parents in young adult novels. It had kind of been my muse this last week. All too often the parents not only don't play an important role, they aren't present at all. In many books one or both parents are killed or simply are never mentioned. While this definitely heightens tension and drama it can also take an opportunity away to fully develop your character. Don't throw things at me yet. In my first young adult novel both of my protagonist's parents died right away so I'm guilty of this too. However, now that I'm on my fourth young adult novel I'm starting to see how having the parents play an important role can enrich the book. A child's first role model is their parents and their view of the world is colored by how they're raised. Much can be learned about a character by their interactions with their parents. These interactions can help us show instead of tell. A tender interaction...

With the rising cost of writer's retreats and the sadly decreasing frequency of them you may not have a chance to attend one to work on your craft. Don't let the cost of flying to some distant location or the retreat fees deter you. There is another way. Either with a few friends or even on your own, you can create your own writing retreat. Often we don't get our writing done just because we don't have the time or lack of distractions. Think of it as a vacation, make the time. The key is to get out of your regular environment where you're tempted to do other things that clamor for your attention. If you can get away for a short time on a daily basis do so. But if you can only do it on a weekly or even monthly basis that's great too. Any time truly alone with your writing is quality time. Your local bookstore or coffee shop are perfect for short getaways. If you have a few writing buddies you can create a more in depth retreat. Just last February my Scribe Si...