Expert Writing Advice I’m Glad I Followed

Author Heather Grace Stewart
Love Again Series: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DYF8YKD?searchxofy=true&binding=kindle_edition&ref_=dbs_s_aps_series_rwt_tkin&qid=1643837124&sr=8-1

From my high school English teacher to Oscar winner Aaron Sorkin, these conversations with writers have helped me succeed

I’ve received a lot of valuable writing advice over the years, and it was all free. Yup. Free! These kind people graciously gave of their time and expertise to help this Canadian writer from small-town-Ontario get to where she is now. Where am I again?

But I jest. I’m grateful to have Amazon bestselling novels, audiobooks and scripts after 26 years of working as a professional writer, and I have these and other writers to thank. Unless I’ve added quotes because I got the advice in writing, these are memories from our conversations—some of which took place 35 years ago! and not direct quotes.

Sally Smith, former editor of The Kanata Kourier and my first writing mentor (I was 15!)

Write with your heart, edit with your mind.

Frances Connolly, my amazing high school English and creative writing teacher

Don’t forget to add in taste as a description. We often read about the sense: vision, sound, even feel, sometimes we get scents, but authors often forget to describe flavours. Cover the whole spectrum of senses for maximum emotional impact in your reader.

Aaron Sorkin, Oscar-winning Screenwriter, Playwright and Film Director (The West Wing, The Social Network, Being the Ricardos)

I asked him what to do when a sub-character won’t shut up:

“Strictly speaking if you’re writing page after page that doesn’t have anything to do with your story, you might be writing a different story than you think. Intention and obstacle. Forward motion. You have to make your words do something.”

I asked him his thoughts on recycling our own material:

“Some things are just always sexy, and some things are just always funny.”

When I pressed him: what’s always funny? I got “Cheese.” Me: “But not Gouda! That’s smelly.” Him: “Not actual cheese. The word cheese.”

You might notice I make a reference to cheese in nearly every single work I’ve written since 2010. I always will. Maybe it’s not funny anymore, but you can all look for this Easter egg in my work and smile now, knowing where it came from, and that it’s my way of saying thanks.

Michael J. Weithorn, award-winning writer-producer-director (King of Queen’s, A Little Help, The Sidekick, Weird Loners)

You can always increase the tension. Tear your character’s world apart dramatically. It makes for the falling back together at the end more powerful. 

 Ken Cuthbertson, award-winning author and former editor, Queen’s Alumni Review magazine

Every time you write, make sure you teach the reader something. When they’re finished the article, they should always have new information and hopefully a new perspective.

We’re a helpful bunch, because we know the struggle is real.

The moral of my story is: if you don’t ask, you don’t get! So, don’t be shy. Ask a writer you admire a question. Maybe you can find them on social media, or if you’re lucky, in line at registration at a writers conference. But buy them a book, not a drink. Times have changed.

Writers are usually willing to help those who remind them of where they started. I know I am -but please let’s pretend I’m still 26.

A Writer’s Life: Butter Sauce

Win a $25 Amazon Gift Card!

The draw to win a $25 Amazon Gift Card is April 25. Don’t forget you can enter to win (and sign up for all of my book bargain news & monthly Amazon gift card contests ) at this link:

ENTER DRAW

Watch for me that day live on FB @ 4 EST when I announce the winner and answer questions /chat with whoever can make it out.

Sorry I can’t do my Q&A vids more regularly but I’m hard at work on a couple novels. I’ll let you know when I’m ready to do a live Q&A a few days in advance here on this blog, and on my Facebook Author Page.

And a final thank you to all of you readers who helped keep THE TICKET in the top 6,000 Kindle books on Amazon.com for these past few weeks – you’re simply amazing! Can we hit the top 1 K? Maybe even the Top 100? Please let others know about the book if you liked it, and don’t forget to write a one-line review on Amazon too – every little bit helps spread the word.

xx

Love and all good things,
Heather

 

Five Fast Tips for Writing Dialogue

Hey! This year, I’ve been doing weekly live Q&A videos Tuesdays at 2 on my Facebook Page, where you readers can interact and ask me questions (you can also throw out questions to me anytime on Twitter @hgracestewart and I’ll try to answer them within 24 hours). To help you narrow your questions to a topic, I’ve decided to offer mini-lectures whenever I can. Writing dialogue was my February 28th topic. You can watch the video (or videos, there are several archived at the top of the page) read the tips here, or both.

 

FIVE FAST TIPS FOR WRITING DIALOGUE

1. DON’T OVERTHINK IT. Just write, and let your thoughts flow. You can go back and edit later. The best dialogue is natural, not forced.
2. TALK IT OUT. Good dialogue reads like it would be spoken. So, after you have written at least a full page of dialogue, speak it out loud. You’ll find yourself editing lots once you realize just how many phrases don’t sound right when you speak them.
3. ACT IT OUT. Go on, no one is watching you, except maybe your pets. So, stand up and try to act out what you’ve written. Play both characters. Does your scene ring true to life? Does it flow naturally? The more you try acting out your dialogue, over time, the more you’ll find that writing dialogue becomes an easier task.
4. LOSE SOME WORDS, LOSE THE NAMES. When we speak to friends and family, we usually cut off a few words, like “went to the store,” instead of “I went to the store,” or if our spouse is calling us, we call back, “down in a sec!”  instead of “I will be there in a second.” Watch for this in the sentences you write so you can stay as true to real life speech as possible. You should also lose NAMES as much as possible in your speech. People don’t use eachother’s names very often in real speech. Have you ever thought about that? We usually only use names when we’re feeling very angry, very loving, or when we need to get a person’s attention and not very often in between.
5. AVOID ACCENTS. Dialects and accents, when done as part of a character’s entire speech, are confusing to readers and often break the flow of reading. Don’t try to chop and change English words to make someone sound Australian or German. Very few writers can do this well. Instead, drop in an actual French or Scottish or Japanese —whichever language you are trying to achieve—word or two into that person’s speech and italicize it. Be sure you fact-check several times and get it right. This is where good, professional, paid editors are vital.

Author Heather Grace Stewart with her poetry anthology CAGED during her Feb. 28, 2017 Live Q&A on Facebook. Heather will see you Tuesdays at 2 EST to discuss writing techniques and answer your questions.

I have a lot of writing to get done for my next novel, so I’m going to take a break from the social networking/videos, but I promise that I’ll be back discussing “How to find and develop your idea” on Tuesday, March 21st. I’ll be there at 2 EST, and it will be archived on the page, so if you miss it live, you can still  watch it later that day or that week. Of course, I’ll write a summary here for you, too.

Happy dialogue writing!
Love,
Heather

 

THAT’S The Ticket!

Wow! THE TICKET has a few recent reviews which have made me grin and do a little Heather dance — always fun, passionate, but never graceful.

THANK YOU so much, dear readers, for reading, sharing, hashtagging, and for reviewing! You’ve helped make The Ticket a #1 Kindle Bestseller. Now, let’s make it a national paperback bestseller! You can order it on Amazon and Bn.com, or get a signed copy from me at Chapters Pointe Claire, QC on Sept. 17th. Thanks again.

xox Heather

****

AMAZON REVIEW

M.L. Stockwell

5.0 out of 5 stars Most enjoyable book

This is the most enjoyable book I have read in a long time. I fully intend to read more books by this author and I would recommend her books to everyone.

GOODREADS REVIEW:

Sep 08, 2016

Melanie rated it: It was amazing

I was recently introduced to Heather via a mutual Facebook friend, who described her books as “new works of art”. It took a second for the implications of that to sink in (I blame the picture of Justin Trudeau that this was all posted with), but then it dawned on me–a REAL-LIFE, PUBLISHED AUTHOR?! This is like, Nerd Girl Heaven for me now, talking to a REAL-LIFE, PUBLISHED AUTHOR! So with all of the tact of one who spends far too much time lost within the pages of a book and not nearly enough time actually talking with people, I demanded that Heather tell me all about her books–what did she write, what should one read first–you know, all of the “put her on the spot” type of questions, thrown at her all at once, with a “nice to meet you, btw” added on at the end (as a total after thought) for “charm”.

She was very gracious in answering my questions, which I somehow kept at a manageable number. I loved the way she described what she was going for–“fast fun reads Moms could pick up and put down, and yet they’d be memorable, have deep moments and humor.” Woah–this chick has got it NAILED–that’s exactly what I want to read, at least on occasion, since I am rarely reading less than two or three at a time. When she told me about this one, I jumped over to Goodreads and Amazon and read reviews–she’d told me that she had been inspired by social media story that had become the most viral social media story ever, and I immediately remembered the one she was talking about. The guy, the girl, and the plane tickets.

I remember reading the story a year or two ago–guy buys tickets to take his girlfriend on a romantic trip around the world, and she breaks up with him before the trip, which leads him on a search for a girl with the same name to take her place. I vaguely spending an indulgent, whimsical moment or two imagining just how romantic that could turn out to be, and maybe a bit of disappointment when it didn’t. Fortunately, there’s Heather, whose imagination and pen are BOTH far mightier than mine.

Now, here’s the problem for me in all of this. I have a SERIOUS issue with about 97.5% of chick lit romcoms, because they’re all just, as I call them, “glass slipper bullshit”. I don’t want just perfect, love at first sight happily ever after, and will put a book down and stop reading an author entirely over it. But, what the hell, I figured I’d give it a chance at least. I mean really, what’s a couple of chapters, right?

It was AWESOME, right from the start. It was so very real — it was a lot less like reading a book and curling up with a best friend for some catch up time and a glass or 3 of wine. Allie was just so… I don’t even know. Perfectly flawed? So was Pete, yes, but Allie was a very well-written, relateable character.

I loved this book, start to finish. Sure, it was a little bit of the glass slipper fairy tale, but it was believable. It wasn’t just love at first site and they lived happily ever after, it was a little bit……messy. Like falling in love is. Messy as hell.

P.S–PLEASE let’s have more Trix!! Sassy, spunky, calls em like she sees em and she’s a perfect counterpart to Allie. I LOVED her!

GOODREADS REVIEW

Feb 18, 2016Angela rated it it was amazing  · review of another edition

Shelves: romance, contemporary

There are some books that arrive in your hands at exactly the right time; The Ticket by Heather Grace Stewart   is one of those books. When my copy arrived last week, I was in need of a warm, feel-good read with a touch of romance and my needs were amply met by this story.

Lawyer, Allie James, and news anchorman, Pete McCarney meet when he is looking for someone to share an amazing holiday with him after he has been let down badly by his girlfriend, also named Allie James. He has already interviewed more than twenty women of the same name,when he meets Lawyer Allie and decides that she is the one to share the trip.

Both Allie and Pete set out on their adventure with a certain amount of trepidation. Their whirlwind journey is full of excitement, highs and lows and more than a touch of romance.

I have deliberately not said much about the plot, as I would not want to spoil the book for anyone. However, I will say that I thoroughly enjoyed “The Ticket”. The characters came to life and I loved following the development of their relationship. I liked the way the author looked at the situation from both points of view; for me, the “dual narrator” added to the humour and depth of the story.

Thank you, Heather Grace Stewart, for writing a book which is fun and engaging – just the right thing for a bleak winter’s day – or a day in the middle of summer, for that matter.

Pete‘s Goodreads Review (****SOME SPOILERS**** ) 

it was amazing

Read from February 08 to 15, 2016

 

The story follows two very different people, Allie James and Pete McCarney and their coming together following the breakdowns of their individual relationships. Allie is a strong, independent woman lawyer who is still recovering from her divorce from her cheating husband, and is sent on a five week, forced vacation from her law firm. Pete is a successful TV news anchor who had booked a three week, six city tour across the world, only for his girlfriend, also called Allie James to dump him before they travelled.

Not wanting to travel alone, Pete decides to advertise for a travelling companion with the name Allie James and, well you can guess the rest and if you can’t, read the book.

It is clear Allie’s divorce is still a big issue for her and she still holds a huge grudge against her ex and his new partner, which has made her distrustful of men in general. She’s a hardworking woman, but who continually seems to have things happen to her.

Pete on the other hand, has everything; successful career, looks, charm and wit, but the only thing he’s missing is a one true love. It seems an unlikely match with his smooth Gaelic quotes and her foul mouth. Could he really fall in love with someone he’s just met? Even more so with a girl bearing the same name as the one who broke his heart?

What is unique about this book, and I’m seeing it a lot more in books, is that it is written from both protagonists viewpoints. At the start, it just focuses on Allie, but once Pete comes on the scene, the author writes from his perspective too. I know from experience that this is very difficult to do if the viewpoints are from opposite genders. But the author does this very well and the continuity of the story is well balanced and flows exceptionally well.

Obviously, I won’t spoil the book, but there is some sexual content. Usually I cringe when I read stuff like that. Not because I’m prudish or I grew up in Victorian England, but because of the way it is usually written. But in this instance, it is written in a tasteful manner and again, written very well. It is not crude or explicit, but rather leaves some to the readers imagination which, in my opinion is the best way to write scenes like that.

The story is really easy to follow. I am a very slow reader and when I’m reading a book, I always have to have a quick glance over what happened previously so I can continue reading. But this book was very simple to follow; I’d read the last line and remembered instantly what had happened and where I was up to. It’s nothing like these complicated books that take three pages to describe a room and still nothing happens; The Ticket is a page turner and, even though you have a pretty good idea what’s going to happen, it’s how they get got there that keeps the interest going and the pages turning.

Something else that was impressive was the amount of research that will have gone into it. Unless the author has actually been to every place mentioned (and let’s be honest, who would admit to willingly going to Coventry?) she has definitely done some excellent research. Talking of Coventry, it’s nice for once to see an author writing about a different city in England. Almost every book I read from non-British writers who are writing about England, they always inevitably focus on London, like this is the only City we have. This book this use London as a destination, however it’s acceptable in the context of the book.

One part of the book I very much enjoyed was the moment in Prague where it all made sense to Allie and she realised exactly what she wanted. It’s something that a lot of people can relate to, but it takes 14,000 feet in the air with the ground getting ever closer for her to realise it!

I would give this book 9/10. It was very enjoyable and demands a sequel!