Recent content by Becky Martinez

Great characters are the foundation of any good story. Learn how to bring your characters to life with one of the co-authors of two books on creating memorable characters. Find out how you can come up with heroes and heroines who go from cardboard figures to believable people. Make them come...

For the past two weeks we’ve been working on how to keep our stories moving forward during the middle of the book and keeping readers engaged. Now we’ve come to the part of the middle where that so-called “sagging middle” should disappear. This is the part where the action and tension should be...

So far we have work on plotting and writing scenes to keep the pace of your story moving along. Today we are going to work on one of the fundamentals of writing your manuscript that is critical but is too often overlooked. While this is a short lesson, it is one that is critical if you want to...

Haven’t we as authors all heard about the “sagging middle” of a book? That is the one thing that can really pull a reader out of your story. A "sagging middle" can also make the reader want to simply quit and not keep reading until the end. How can you fix that problem? One way to keep the...

While you introduce your setting in the beginning of your book, the middle of the story is where you use that setting and make it work for your story. Whether you are setting your book in today’s Los Angeles or New York or Montana, it’s going to be a whole different world than if you set it on a...

Here is a Character sketch you can download and use to develop your characters.

Today we are going to tackle one of my favorite parts of writing a book – developing characters. To me, the character makes the story. I always say this in my classes – the best plot in the world doesn’t get noticed if the characters don’t bring the story to life. Where would Gone with the Wind...

You're on the right track here. At the beginning of the book we're looking for what the individual characters are seeking as the story starts out. Keep in mind this could evolve and change as the story moves along through the middle of the story and the character faces challenges. Often the...

Villanelle/Rachel Welcome! Your story sounds very intriguing and I look forward to helping you work on it. We'll be looking at pacing as we work on the middle of your story. Not every scene needs to be overwhelming or filled with thrills. That's the secret of pacing, and it's especially...

Let's get started on your middle by a quick blurb on the beginning. How does your story start? (Using the Plotting Circle) Who are your main characters? What happens to get the story started (Catastrophe)? What is their main goal? (Crusade) Why (Cause) It's okay if you are uncertain...

Welcome to our class on writing the middle portion of your novel. This probably sounds like an unnecessary class in some ways… after all, shouldn’t we all be able to write through the middle of a book? We know we want a “grabber” of a first third of the book to draw in your readers and get their...

Christine Welcome! Your story sounds interesting and one that I can see readers enjoying. You're right that sometimes stories can get bogged down in too much introspection and that's one thing we will be discussing in this class. The key is to keep the action going so that the plot doesn't...

Hello and welcome to our class on Writing through the Middle I will post my first lesson in the morning, but I’d like to give you an idea of what we will be covering over the next two weeks. Here is a breakdown of upcoming lessons: 1. Introduction to the MIddle 2. Getting to Know Your...

Now that we’ve looked at beginning your book by developing characters and setting and getting the plot moving, let’s start to examine the process of actually getting those scenes developed. Actually writing the first pages of any book can be challenging. In our last lesson we looked at plotting...

Tracey I am sorry if that was confusing, but no, you don't need to have them on the front page from the beginning. You can introduce one or the other right off the top. What you want to do is to get your reader into the story itself by investing them in your characters. It can be the heroine or...