Writer's Tips Newsletter — September 2006

Recipe for Fantastic Satisfying Endings for Novels

Class description:  Learn how to create fantastic satisfying endings, thereby getting readers to wait anxiously for your next book and recommend you to all their friends. Learn about secrets big and small; ticking clocks; and honorable and very hard choices. Also, join Heather’s free Writing Hotline online group where you can ask writing-related questions and receive answers from Heather Horrocks and her other students, and where you can also receive further information from Heather on writing (she’s always finding and sharing new and interesting information).

Heather says, "The elements of a truly satisfying ending are scattered throughout a book and, if you don’t have those elements in place, your ending will not be satisfying. In this class, I’ll share with you my sheet with what to watch for in an ending...I prefer to think of it as a great recipe for a satisfying ending, and my students and critique partners who have been willing to try the recipe have found their own books become stronger. It gives you something to follow when you’re beginning, and, after you’ve learned to ‘cook up’ plots, you can then adjust the ‘ingredients’ to create exactly the taste you’re looking for."

Because, after all, a satisfying ending is what makes a reader (a) sigh in contentment, (b) wait anxiously for your next novel, and (c) tell all their friends about your wonderful books. Be the best writer you can be! Click here for Class Overview & Detailed Schedule.

Instructor: Heather Horrocks, author of Women Who Knew the Mortal Messiah and experienced writing mentor.

Cost: $20 for instructional emails only OR $40 for instruction plus feedback/brainstorming. If you select the feedback option, Heather will help you brainstorm ways to plot the elements of a satisfying ending into your own novel.

Registration deadline: September 5th, 2006.

Schedule: You will receive instructional emails every Tuesday and Thursday, September 5 – 28, 2006.

Testimonials: "Heather has a gift for instilling in other writers a sense of ‘I can do this.’ Her gentle guidance helps her students to grasp hold of enabling tools, thereby giving them all the resources they need to succeed. Heather's classes gave me sound principles upon which to discover and develop my own writing abilities."  –Kristin Holt, author

"Heather's class was not only inspirational, but offered tons of useful techniques. An excellent teacher, she took us from story idea to completed manuscript. Her advice was easy to understand and to the point. After taking Heather's class I felt inspired and motivated. She has my sincerest thanks."  –Diane Stoddard, author

Click here to register. Class size is limited to 10 students per session for feedback.

by Heather Horrocks

My favorite question from aspiring writers is “How do you find the time to write?”

When I was younger, I’d quip, “Well, there are four good hours between 10:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m.” Now that I’m fourteen years older and have to crash early into bed, I’m not nearly so smart-mouthed in my answer. I also have to be much more creative and disciplined in order to get my writing done before I reach my crashing point.

What I’ve found over the past fourteen years is that there is rarely ever any time to be found. Time has to be made. As writers, we have to learn the art of alchemy, turning the lead of our busy lives into nuggets of gold of writing time.

Where do we find this lead, you ask? From the other things we fill our days with that are not as important as our writing, but which we still allow to fill our time. Consume it. Waste it, even.

• Do you watch TV? More than thirty minutes a day? More than an hour? Two?

• Do you play computer games until ‘one more game’ burns up two hours?

• Do you commute on the bus?

• Do you have a laptop or an AlphaSmart? Do you take them to the doctor’s office?

• Most importantly, do you make time for writing? Or do you make excuses?

We all have busy lives. I am amazed how full our lives are. So how do we find time? How do we make it?

The first step is to look for smaller pieces of time, snippets, nuggets of gold rather than boulders. As you do, you’ll be amazed at how much writing you can accomplish.

I wrote the first draft of a scene one day while waiting for the doctor. It was great. I didn’t mind that he was late at all. And I was in a great mood by the time I left his office.

If you give up one TV show a day (two is better), you’ll have gained 30-60 minutes a day. You can probably write one page in that time. And here’s the best part. If you ‘make’ time for writing, five days a week, and write even just one page each day, after one year you’ll have a manuscript of 260 pages written! Wow! The power of tiny steps is amazing!

“But what about inspiration?” you ask. “Don’t you have to wait for inspiration in order to be able to write well?”

Interesting question, that. Author Peter DeVries says, “I write when I’m inspired, and see to it that I’m inspired at nine o’clock every morning.”

The truth is that when you sit down and write, that’s when inspiration begins to come. And if it doesn’t come immediately, the first or second day, it will come. As you get in the habit of writing regularly, you will also get in the habit of receiving inspiration regularly.

It’s easy to think about writing. It’s hard to sit down and do it, but as author Mary Heaton Vorse says, “The art of writing is the art of applying the seat of the pants to the seat of the chair.” Have you applied yours today?

Another advantage to writing for even just thirty minutes a day is that you stay deep in the story and you’re caught up in it. If you don’t write for a week or two or three, then it will take a boulder of time just to get yourself back into the story. But when you stay in the streambed of the story, you can buy much more writing for your nugget of time.

It reminds me of the story of the little boy who only combed his hair once a year, and it was such a horrible experience and hurt so badly to get all those tangles out that he couldn’t believe other people combed their hair every single day!

Consistency will bring us inspiration. Little nuggets of time devoted to writing rather than something of no or little value. Will you remember that TV show? That computer game? That bus commute? I guarantee you will remember it if you get 260 pages written!

“You can’t wait for inspiration,” said Jack London, one of my favorite authors. “You have to go after it with a club.”

So what are you waiting for? Go grab your club! We’re going inspiration hunting! And the best way to hunt inspiration is to make ‘a time’ every day to write. That time is your hunting ground.

There is no magic trick to writing other than the simplest of all – just sit down and . . . gasp! . . . write! And let inspiration find you writing.

Writer's Tips Editor,

Lana Jordan is the founder of Jorlan Publishing, for which she does consulting and editing. She is the author of two books, Journey to Motherhood (pregnancy and childbirth from a mother's perspective) and The Sleepytime Ponies Trick a Trickster (bedtime read-aloud for ages 4 and up featuring magical flying ponies; humorous Mouse Deer folk tales; and dreamy illustrations). Available from the Jorlan Bookstore and Amazon.com. Lana was also a contributor for Book Marketing from A to Z, by Francine Silverman and Megan's Party, by the Megan's Party Mom Squad (free eBook from the Jorlan Bookstore).