Jan Stites's Blog

Celebrating. Signed with an agent to represent my new novel, Reading the Sweet Oak, about five Ozarkian women whose lives change dramatically when they form a romance novel reading group. Here's hoping a publisher likes it.

I recently read and enjoyed Emily Giffin's Something Borrowed. Well written. And I'm enjoying the humor of Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner. I also recommend three books I loved:
Beneath the Shadow of Crows by Madelon Phillips
Slow Farm by Tarn Wilson
The Pearls of Snake Hollow, also by Phillips.
Wonderful reads, all, and very different from each other!

Here’s a post that gave me a lot of smiles. I hope it will do the same for you.   http://fellowshipoftheminds.com/2011/...   If you’ve heard any funny remarks as a passenger from flight attendants or crew on any airline, please pass those smiles along.

When I started my blog, originally called Stites Insights, I didn’t realize that most bloggers select a focus for their postings. After many days spent searching for what I wanted to focus on, I came across a quote by British playwright David Hare, who said, “Smiles are the language of love.” That nailed it. I wanted... [Read More]

BETWEEN, ALABAMA – Joshilyn Jackson, author of Backseat Saints, which I especially loved and finished a couple months ago. Between Ala is also an excellent read. Story of Nonny and her family, her deaf/blind mother, two aunts and her loves vs the Crabtrees. Climax of major fire. Good story.  

Had I not known who actually wrote this book (J.K. Rowling writing as Robert Galbraith), I probably wouldn’t have picked it up since I don’t read many mysteries. But as one who loved the Harry Potter series, I was curious to see if Rowlings would work her magic in a mystery. She did. There’s no... [Read More]

The value (or lack) of a freebie promotion. The final tally was 7,581 readers who downloaded my novel, Edgewise, for free during the Black Friday weekend promo. Sales have increased a bit since then, averaging an additional 3-5 books a day. Of course though hopeful, Edgewise is a somewhat dark story that most people probably... [Read More]

Back when I was writing screenplays, an agent told me that he loved my dialogue and my scene descriptions, that I was in many ways a really talented writer. Then he went on to add this little but: “Do you by any chance avoid conflict in your personal life, because you sure avoided it in this screenplay.”

He nailed it. I loathe conflict. When someone gets angry with me, I shrivel. I try to bridge whatever troubles exist between us by whatever means possible. Unfortunately, I have that same tendency in my writing, squirming the minute characters get in trouble. My instinct is to end scenes at precisely the point things heat up. The point, that is, where they get interesting.

Conflict is, of course, the heart of fiction. Without it, stories lose their ability to interest readers. I know I’m not the only one with this tendency. As a screenwriting instructor, I saw the same pattern in some of my students’ writing. That didn’t make it easier to see it in my own.

I’ve learned that when I’ve finished a scene, I need to go back and read it aloud. Listen for the conflict. Then note on the page the degree of conflict from 1-5. Of course I often rate the conflict higher than it actually is because any degree of conflict feels like a lot. Once I have a draft done, I put it aside for a while then later reread it and ask myself again, is there sufficient conflict to sustain readers’ interests? When I’ve taken those two steps, I give it to trusted readers to see what they think. I know I can’t just rely on my own judgment. I often need a little help in blowing up those bridges and plunging my characters into troubled waters—where they belong.

The post Blow Up that Bridge Over Troubled Waters appeared first on Jan Stites.

Back when I was writing screenplays, an agent told me that he loved my dialogue and my scene descriptions, that I was in many ways a really talented writer. Then he went on to add this little but: “Do you by any chance avoid conflict in your personal life, because you sure avoided it in... [Read More]

I cried when I heard Nelson Mandela had died. I don’t know how he could emerge from all those years of abuse and prison without any apparent trace of bitterness. Sometimes I think about people I’m enraged with—usually people I don’t personally know who make policies with which I strongly disagree. Policies that seem to... [Read More]

KEEPING TRACK OF YOUR BOOK’S CHRONOLOGY. I’ve completed drafts of my novels only to go back over them and realize I’d confused the dates from chapter to chapter. Does Simone go to the hospital the first time on a Monday or a Wednesday? Does the third section of the book take place in August or... [Read More]