Introduction: Author Karen Wiesner

Author Karen Wiesner

Creating realistic, unforgettable characters one story at a time…

Just this past weekend I received an invitation and welcome from Alien Romances to join the prestigious line-up of authors gathered at the blog. I've known Margaret Carter since I asked her to join the popular promotional group I founded in 2003, Jewels of the Quill (featured in RT Book Reviews magazine with a revolving group of romance authors that produced 14 award-winning anthologies together in the 11 years we were together). Currently, Margaret and I are critique partners. Additionally, I met Rowena Cherry when I interviewed her for my reference titles published by Writers Digest Books. Considering the short notice, I thought it would be fitting to post my author biography in order to introduce myself.

 

In addition to the many hats I've worn in the last 25 years as a writing reference instructor and author of bestselling craft references such as FIRST DRAFT IN 30 DAYS, WRITING THE FICTION SERIES, and BRING YOUR FICTION TO LIFE: Crafting Three-Dimensional Stories with Depth and Complexity as well as a professional blurbologist (a fancy title for someone who writes back cover blurbs for authors) and a freelance editor, I'm also the author of 144 titles (19 series) which have been nominated or won 134 awards. I write in nearly every genre of fiction along with writing reference, children's books, and poetry which means I'll have a lot of material to talk about in my future here on the Alien Romances blog. Below, I've compiled a bullet list of my credits--with the genres that are the focus of this blog listed first--which I hope everyone finds interesting.  

 

Romantic Science Fiction:

 

-Arrow of Time Chronicles, Books 1-4 available now

 

Romantic Fantasy/Mild Horror:

 

-Woodcutter’s Grim Series {Classic Tales of Horror Retold}, Books 1-9 and The Final Chapter available now; Book 10 including three full-length novels coming September 2021

 

Paranormal/Horror/Ghost:

 

-Bloodmoon Cove Spirits Series. Books 1-6 are now available; Books 7-12 as well as the first novella collection coming soon

 

-Single Titles "The Amethyst Star", a futuristic romance, and "Creatures of the Night", a fantasy romance, in 2-in-1 Supernatural Romance Novellas available now

 

-SWEET DREAMS, A single title romantic horror available now

 

Writing/craft reference titles not mentioned previously:

 -CPR FOR DEAD OR LIFELESS FICTION: A Writer's Guide to Deep and Multifaceted Development and Progression of Characters, Plots, and Relationships available now

-WRITING BLURBS THAT SIZZLE--AND SELL! available now

-COHESIVE STORY BUILDING (formerly titled FROM FIRST DRAFT TO FINISHED NOVEL {A Writer's Guide to Cohesive Story Building}) available now

 

Romantic Action/Adventure and Suspense:

 

-Incognito Series, Books 1-8 available now; Books 9-12 will be reissued in the future

 

Mystery (Police Procedural, Amateur Sleuth, and Private Investigator):

 

-Falcon's Bend Series written with Chris Spindler, Books 1-6 and three novella collections available now

 

-Denim Blues Mysteries, Books 1-3 available now 

Contemporary Romances/Women's Fiction:

 -Family Heirlooms Series, Books 1-6 available now

 -Friendship Heirlooms Series (Family Heirlooms Series spinoff), Books 1-7 available now

 -Peaceful Pilgrims Series (Family and Friendship Heirlooms Series spinoff), Books 1-3 and 5 available now; Books 4, 6-8 coming soon

 -Wounded Warriors Series, Books 1-6 available now

 

-Gypsy Road Series, Books 1-4 available now

 

-Angelfire Trilogy, Books 1-3 available now

 

-Angelfire II Quartet (Angelfire Trilogy spinoff), Books 1-4 available now

 

-Kaleidoscope Series, Books 1-7 now available

 

-Adventures in Amethyst Series, Books 1-10 available now; Books 11-13 to be released in the Adventures in Amethyst Trio of Holiday Romances collections in 2021

 

-Cowboy Fever Series, Books 1-6 available now

 

-Single Title Contemporary Romances "The Amethyst Angel" and "A Home for Christmas" in 2-in-1 Inspirational Romance Novellas available now

 

-Restless as Rain available now

 

Children's Books:

 

-Making Good Choices Series, Book 1 available now; Book 2 reissue coming soon

 

-KERI IS CUTE CUTE CUTE, out of print

 

-I CAN TOUCH THE SKY, out of print

 

-CODY KNOWS with Linda Derkez, out of print

 

Poetry:

 

Soul Bleeds The Poetry, Melodies, and Other Wanderings of Karen Wiesner available now

 

What a thrill to be adopted into this group. I look forward to my time here. My days to post on Alien Romances will be Fridays so I'll be back soon. I hope you'll post comments, and follow me at my author pages as well as here on the Alien Romances blog.

 

Happy reading!

 

Check out my Author Pages:

My website and blog:  https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

My Facebook author page: http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor

My pages at my publisher, Writers Exchange's, website: http://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/

and

http://www.writers-exchange.com/blog/

My Barnes and Noble author page: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/Karen%20Wiesner

My Amazon author page: https://www.amazon.com/author/karenwiesner

My Goodreads page: https://www.goodreads.com/karenwiesner

Karen S. Wiesner: The Four Myths Your Muse Desperately Wants You to Believe, Part 3

Writer's Craft Article by Karen S. Wiesner

The Four Myths Your Muse Desperately Wants You to Believe, Part 3

by Karen S. Wiesner

Based on FIRST DRAFT OUTLINE (formerly titled FIRST DRAFT IN 30 DAYS)

This is the third of four posts dealing with how writers can get their muses to work with rather than against them.

In Part 2 of this article, we talked about the second myth your muse desperately wants you to believe. Let's continue.

Myth Three:  You have to dig for plots blindly.

The writing process has been compared to many things since the beginning of time:  A series of epiphanies exploding all around you. A spiritual journey. Currently, the most popular analogy is that stories are discovered by digging around in the creative dirt, and then you as the writer are supposed to unearth whatever it is you think you’ve found. How many authors believe this fossil-in-the-ground philosophy? Countless. Let me tell you, my friend, that’s exactly what your Master Muse wants you—its loyal, cowering slave—to believe.

The single biggest flaw in this digging-blindly-for-plot theory of writing (and similar analogies) is that it doesn’t take into account that the writer may start digging for his story a hundred miles in the wrong direction! If you haven’t done all the necessary preparation to begin work, you have no idea whether or not there really is a story beneath the soil you’re unearthing. You may dig endlessly and never find it…or you may find it quite a ways down the pike from where you started, and nothing that has come before has any or much consequence and worth.

How many authors believe outlines are a last resort? Sadly, too many to count. So many writers attribute far too much of a project to some magical, cataclysmic explosion which somehow takes you from the first page of a novel to the last, with little or no premeditation involved. I don’t discount the magical element—because it is there in some degree, but I simply can’t buy into the spiritual intuition way of writing. How can a brand-new, never-written-much-or-anything-before writer have this kind of intuition?

With an outline and clear-cut goals, you know there is a story down there, you know where to start digging, and you know exactly how far to go down. Everything you plot from start to finish is good and worthwhile.

Now I’m sure archaeology has changed radically in the last five or ten years, becoming what archaeologists believe is more of a science than treasure hunting. Do you think archaeologists feel less like archaeologists because of these changes? I doubt it. In fact, they probably feel more like worthwhile scientists because they spend more time uncovering what they’re after than in seemingly endless searches for it. Likewise, writers who use an outline spend more time writing a story than searching for one.

In the next part of this article, we'll talk about another myth your muse desperately wants you to believe.

Karen S. Wiesner is the author of First Draft Outline

Volume 1 of the 3D Fiction Fundamentals Collection

http://www.writers-exchange.com/3d-fiction-fundamentals-series/

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/writing-reference-titles.html

Happy writing!

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series. Visit her here:

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog

http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor

Karen S. Wiesner: Brainstorming: The Cure for Writer's Block (Writer's Craft Article)

Writer's Craft Article by Karen S. Wiesner

Brainstorming: The Cure for Writer's Block

Is writer's block an actual thing, or just plain laziness? Or, do you sometimes get to the middle of a project and find the process isn't working as well as it was or should be anymore? Is that writer's block, and if it is, what can you do to get moving again? I think I've found the cure for whatever it is that blocks or stalls writers, makes them hem and haw and avoid sitting down to write, or sends their brain on the fritz at the sight of a blank page.

Brainstorming is what turns an average story into an extraordinary one. It’s the magical element every writer marvels about in the process of completing a book. In Sometimes the Magic Works, fantasy author Terry Brook says that dreaming (a term referring to the back-and-forth process of brainstorming in the mind) opens the door to creativity and allows the imagination to invent something wonderful. It happens when your mind drifts to take you to a place you’ve never been so you can come back and tell readers about it. Possibly this is where writers got such a bad rap with those who see us as drooling zombies who are daydreaming constantly. Little do they realize that, until a writer has brainstormed adequately, she won’t have a story to tell.

Something every author covets is the ability to sit down to a blank screen or page and begin to work immediately. The secret to doing that is brainstorming! When you brainstorm constantly and productively during both the outlining and writing processes, you’ll always be fully prepared to begin writing without agonizing over the starting sentences or paragraph.

Notice I specified that you should brainstorm productively if you want the writing process to go smoothly and quickly without hiccups. That’s where your scene-by-scene story outline comes in. While creating a blueprint of every scene in your book, you won’t face writer’s block when you sit down to write each day. The day or week before you begin writing, start brainstorming on that scene. I also start brainstorming on upcoming projects sometimes years in advance. If I run into trouble with any book, I can fall back on continuous brainstorming to figure out another "spark" to invigorate the plot and compel it forward again. In desperate times, I set a project aside to allow time to work out the issues on the backburner of my mind with creative and constant brainstorming.

Oh, did you see what I just did here? I took away any excuse an author has not to sit down and immediately start writing. Oops. Make writer's block a thing of the past. Make 2022 the year you beat it by brainstorming constantly.

Karen S. Wiesner is the author of COHESIVE STORY BUILDING:

Do you have any tips for staving off writer's block? Leave a comment to tell me about it!

Happy writing!

Find out more about COHESIVE STORY BUILDING here: 

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/writing-reference-titles.html

http://www.writers-exchange.com/cohesive-story-building/

** Exciting announcement:**

I've gotten the rights back to the last three writing reference titles that were originally published by Writer's Digest Books (and later sold at auction to Penguin Random). In 2022, they'll be released in a craft writing collection. Here are the details: 

3D Fiction Fundamentals Collection

by award-winning author Karen S. Wiesner

covers the A to Z's of crafting the highest quality fiction including how to:

·       Brainstorm and work productively to ensure that each stage in the writing process from prewriting to polishing produces masterful results the first time around. 

·       Create an outline so complete it actually qualifies as the first draft of your book, allowing your first written draft to be final-draft quality. 

·       Develop realistically three-dimensional and cohesive characters, plots, settings, relationships, and scenes so life-like and memorable your readers will be diehard fans. 

·       Effectively prepare for a series in advance to prevent painted-in-a-corner scenarios in order to keep fans coming back eagerly for each and every installment. 

·       Learn innovative techniques to write a complex sequence of stories that require overarching series arcs and immense world- and character-building. 

·       Craft sizzling back cover, series, and high-concept blurbs for describing, promoting, and selling your books. 

·       Maximize your potential and momentum for becoming a career author indefinitely.

With step-by-step guidelines, instructions, and tips throughout that are flexible and clearly written, imparting a layman's ease of understanding and can-do motivation, this collection may be the only writing craft books you'll ever need. Each volume has a bonus companion booklet available presented in usable digital format or paperback that includes all the aids from the main book that you can use in your own writing--and extras!

The seven volumes and bonus companion booklets in this collection are:

1. First Draft Outline formerly published by Writer's Digest Books as First Draft in 30 Days {A Novel Writer's System for Building a Complete and Cohesive Manuscript}

Bonus Companion Booklet for First Draft Outline

2. Cohesive Story Building formerly published by Writer's Digest Books as From First Draft to Finished Novel {A Writer's Guide to Cohesive Story Building}

Bonus Companion Booklet for Cohesive Story Building

3. Writing the Standalone Series formerly published by Writer's Digest Books as Writing the Fiction Series {The Complete Guide for Novels and Novellas}

Bonus Companion Booklet for Writing the Standalone Series

4. Writing the Overarching Series {or How I Sent a Clumsy Girl into Outer Space}

Bonus Companion Booklet for Writing the Overarching Series

5. Three-Dimensional Fiction Writing formerly published by Writer's Digest Books as Bring Your Fiction to Life {Crafting Three-Dimensional Stories with Depth and Complexity}

Bonus Companion Booklet for Three-Dimensional Fiction Writing Dead or Lifeless Fiction {A Writer's Guide to Deep and Multifaceted Development and Progression of Characters, Plots, and Relationships}

6. CPR for Dead or Lifeless Fiction {A Writer's Guide to Deep and Multifaceted Development and Progression of Characters, Plots, and Relationships}

Bonus Companion Booklet for CPR for Dead or Lifeless Fiction

7. Writing Blurbs That Sizzle--And Sell!

Bonus Companion Booklet for Writing Blurbs That Sizzle--And Sell!

 

More details about this at  http://www.writers-exchange.com/3d-fiction-fundamentals-series/

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/writing-reference-titles.html

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 145 titles and 16 series. Visit her here:

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor

https://www.goodreads.com/karenwiesner

http://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/ 

http://www.writers-exchange.com/blog/ 

https://www.amazon.com/author/karenwiesner

Karen S. Wiesner: HOW TO SPOT DEAD OR LIFELESS CHARACTERS, PLOTS, AND RELATIONSHIPS (CPR), Part 2 (Writer's Craft Article)

Writer's Craft Article by Karen S. Wiesner

HOW TO SPOT DEAD OR LIFELESS CHARACTERS, PLOTS, AND RELATIONSHIPS (CPR), Part 2

Based on CPR FOR DEAD OR LIFELESS FICTION {A Writer's Guide to Deep and Multifaceted Development and Progression of Characters, Plot, and Relationships} by Karen S. Wiesner

This is the second of three posts focusing on how to spot dead or lifeless characters, plots, and relationships in your fiction

 It should be simple to spot dead or lifeless CPR conditions in our characters, plots, and relationships, I know, but it's unfortunately anything but. I feel your pain in identifying dead or lifeless CPR elements because it's a question that been with me from the very first book I wrote. With the need to identify dead or lifeless CPR development in mind, let's go over some general ways that should pinpoint whether any aspect is dead or merely lifeless. In the chapters that follow, identification will allow us to give the lacking areas either the kiss of life or a jolt of electricity. 

Poking and prodding your characters, plots, and relationships in all the compass points with sketches should exhibit some reaction one way or the other. When you start asking questions about all of these things, getting absolutely no response--beyond a blank, cadaverous stare--is clear enough. Yup, dead. Time of death? The moment of execution. (Forgive the really bad pun.)

Merely lifeless core elements, however, may show a few signs of life and that's what makes lethargy in development so hard to spot. As we said earlier, conceivably, some evidence of development can allow those areas that are at least functional to carry around the dead elements. In these cases where the book is already published and the functional elements are hoisting the dead ones in a sack over the shoulder, readers may even overlook your failure because the solid development of those one or two core elements gives the reader part of what he's seeking.

The identification of partial necrosis is almost always deeply startling to readers. There are times when I'm reading a story I'm enjoying but not in an in overwhelmed, obsessive way that I'll suddenly visualize the author's hand holding the character as if she's a puppet or a dead body, forcing a certain situation on the poor thing. That hand will move the character around in response to action, even thrusting another story puppet/dead body up against her in a contrived effort to make something happen between the two that's equally artificial, awkward, and not a little disturbing.

One aspect or another in a story like this is undeveloped or underdeveloped and, in the course of reading, I'll usually, eventually, figure out what's lacking. Maybe the main or secondary characters have no obvious signs of life, nothing that makes them unique, no legitimate personality, personal goals or motivations. A main character's conflicts as they're portrayed may not convince me she truly cares about them, has an intensely personal investment in them, or that they're cohesive with what's been set up as who this person is and what's she's all about in other aspects.

Whether the conflicts are internal or external, the story may not feel like it's actually hers. Events are randomly happening to her, and there's no personal connection to them. She's not authentically motivated to act in the face of what's happening to her. It may be easier for her to run away--and that goal at least may feel legit. When she's compelled to react, jerky clunkiness may be the result, more robotic than flesh and blood.

Also, her relationships might not seem quite realistic and deeply planted, growing enough to feel warm and realistic. Maybe she's going through the motions with these people who are part of her life, but even those most intimate ones don't go in-depth enough to spark emotion in me, as the reader. In the worst case scenario, I've read romance stories where relationships are integral to the genre yet those attachments had little or no depth, dimension, desire, or connection between two people who were supposed to be falling in love and making romantic, reading hearts swoon. If a romance story doesn't include strong, profoundly emotional relationships, it's failed on the most elementary level.

I've also read books and even series--some of them that were actually published--where the author has deigned to give a main character a first name, neglected the last, and sometimes doesn't bother with physical descriptions or details about the past nor "drive" for the future that would fully flesh out the character. Plots and conflicts (and the corresponding, crucial goals and motivations) are almost always spur of the moment, created scene by scene, no setup, no buildup, no curiosity, and certainly no tension. The relationships feel cold, stilted, off-focus, frequently with secondary characters that serve no other purpose in the story beyond being soundboards for the main character or, worse, merely bulking up the word count. Even if a minor effort has been made to plant foundational seeds of character, plot, and relationship, so often those seeds aren't developed and advanced properly or at all throughout the subsequent scenes in the book. They're buried so deep, it's not possible for them to come out to see the light of day and flourish.

In Part 3, we'll talk more about how to spot dead or lifeless CPR development.

Have you ever read a book with dead or lifeless plots? Leave a comment to tell me about it!

Happy writing!

Find out more about CPR FOR DEAD OR LIFELESS FICTION here: http://www.writers-exchange.com/cpr/

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08JDYXMFQ

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 140 titles and 16 series. Visit her here:

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor

https://www.goodreads.com/karenwiesner

http://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/ 

http://www.writers-exchange.com/blog/ 

https://www.amazon.com/author/karenwiesner