Romance With Hooks

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   Happy Valentine's Day from Gail Gaymer Martin at www.gailgaymermartin.com. What could be more appropriate than to talke about romance on this special romantic day. Though I told you'd I'd send more on using tone in fiction, today you'll learn more about writing romance and how to hook your reader.    Every novel needs a variety of hooks to keep the reader turning pages. Romance is no exception.  Hanging on to the reader’s interest can result from story hooks based on a theme or a twisted premise. Opening hooks keep the reader captivated by using accepted techniques that grab the reader’s…

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Understanding Tone

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  Welcome to CAN Blog for Friday from Gail Gaymer Martin at www.gailgaymermartin.com  I look forward to sharing another post on writing fiction with you today. Tone is not mood, writer’s voice or style, although the novel’s tone influences those elements in fiction. Tone is the author’s attitude toward the story and the reader. It conveys emotion and temperament through word choice as it brings the story to life. Tone is not exclusive to fiction. Non-fiction and journalistic writing is also influenced by the language of the story. Notice when you read magazine articles how the atmosphere and mood is…

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Ways To Help Readers Connect

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Welcome to the Friday CAN post this December from Gail Gaymer Martin at www.gailgaymermartin.com. I always happy to share information for writers on techniques of writing, especially writing fiction. Readers are important so knowing how to help them connect to what you write is important. I hope this post will provide you with techniques and ideas that work. Readers love stories that mean something to them. They may never experience the same event or problem, but they’ve had similar experiences or fears that those things might happen to them. It’s through the emotion authors bring to the characters that makes…

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Themes: Give Your Fiction Purpose

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Good morning and a joyful November to you from Gail Gaymer Martin at www.gailgaymermartin.com  Time has flown and here I am again to share with you some thoughts on making our novels even more meaningful so readers remember than weeks and months to follow. Readers remember some novels long after they’ve read them, and one of reasons is the theme or the message that the story delivers to the reader. When working on your novel, ask yourself these questions: What will happen, and why does it matter? What will the characters learn and how will they grow? How will this…

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What Is Theme?

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Blessed Friday from Gail Gaymer Martin at www.gailgaymermartin.com  Another month has passed with life whizzing past for most of us. Autumn is here, and we know that winter hovers on the edges of our weather, but I'm still enjoying a few sturdy flowers in my garden. . .even some beautiful roses. But today my tasks is to share some writing tips with you, and this one has to theme and the question: What Is Theme? One of the most difficult terms to define is theme. While sometimes called, the lesson, moral or main idea behind the story, theme is really…

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Learn How to Write Fiction From Short Stories

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Wishing you a blessed Friday from Gail Gaymer Martin at www.gailgaymermartin.com I'm at a conference in Indianapolis and all of my writing blogs are on my office computer so I decided to do something different for you this month. Though I'm a novelist, I have sold a number of short stories years ago when I first began to write so today, I want to share one of these stories with you. I think we can learn from short stories too.  The technique needed in a short story to set up characters and provide a conflict, but in a short time period.  Short…

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Walk-On and Secondary Characters

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Welcome to the CAN blog and some information about writing fiction from Gail Gaymer Martin at www.gailgaymermartin.com Most writers learn how to create believeable main characters who are usual the man or woman bringing the story to life through their perceptions, emotions and actions, but learning how to use secondary characters is a different process altogether. Numerous characters appear in your novels for realism and to provide a piece of action necessary to move the story forward or to broaden characterization of a main character. These walk-on characters might be referred to as the waiter, clerk, cab driver, mail carrier,…

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YOUR PLOT DRAGS? FIX IT.

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Happy friday from Michigan where we're enjoy lovely weather and my flower garden is flourishing. Welcome to the CAN blog from Gail Gaymer Martin at www.gailgaymermartin.com  If you enjoy my website and blogs, you can subscribe in the right sidebar and if you'd like my monthly newsletter, you can subscribe in the right sidebar too. Now down to business. Authors don’t always realize their plot drags until they step back and take a fresh look. It’s always good to give your story a rest for a week or two, if you have time to spare, and then read with new…

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Research For Suspense Writing— Part IV plus Michigan Christian Writers Conference.

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Welcome to the Can Blog on Writing from Gail Gaymer Martin  at www.GaiGaymerMartin.com Spring brings flowers and trees heavy with blooms, a rebirth for the world, and that’s how I see writing, a rebirth of ideas born in my head but given life on paper. I hope these ideas inspire you. I have two topics today — one is the research techniques for suspense fiction and the other an invitation to a conference I’ll be keynoting along with a book signing in Owosso, MI on Saturday, May 25. Here’s the info: Mid-Michigan Christian Writer’s Conference in Owosso MI, Keynote Speaker: Gail Gaymer…

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Research For Contemporary Fiction IIIA

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 Hi from Gail Gaymer Martin at www,gailgaymermartin.com   Weeks seem to fly by and I’m late sending the third part of Research for Contemporary Fiction. Thought it might seem contemporary fiction is not as complex to research as historical, it is still important and can take much time, depending on the plots of the novel. While historical elements are not significant in most cases when researching contemporary, setting location can still require time-consuming research, as well researching details of the story such as medical information, how to do specific things in the plot, and so much more.

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