Time Flies!: August 2015

August 31, 2015August 30, 2015 / saraletourneau / 25 Comments

Welcome to the latest edition of Time Flies! It’s my version of a monthly update, where I recap the past month’s accomplishments and articles, share news and random things from my offline life, and hint at what may be coming in the month ahead.

Well, that was a crazier month than I’d expected. Not a bad kind of crazy, but attending the Writer’s Digest Conference and writing a trio of articles to cover the event for DIY MFA on top of everything I normally do in a month’s time brought the phrase “insanely busy” to a higher level.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m so, SO grateful for going to WDC this year, and for everything I learned and experienced while I was there. I just happened to load too much on my plate once again. It’s a bad habit I need to learn to kick… someday. 😉

But I got through it. I managed to stay on top of my priorities, though it did mean postponing other bloggish things (tea reviews, the blogoversary giveaway, an upcoming guest post, etc.) I’d been meaning to work on. So, I still have some catching up to do, but that’s OK. It means that September should be a fun month here! Make sure you keep an eye out on your inbox or check back here during the month so you don’t miss out on anything.

In the meantime, here’s your chance to catch up on August’s posts:

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Chronicling The Craft: Draft #2 Revisions – 30% Complete

August 15, 2015August 15, 2015 / saraletourneau / 31 Comments

Six Steps to Saving Your Self-Edits for Later – Plus, a New Worksheet and Another Excerpt from The Keeper’s Curse

“Chronicling The Craft” is an article series where I share my experience with working on my YA fantasy novel THE KEEPER’S CURSE, starting with the first draft and now into revisions. Each article contains a progress update as well as writing / revising tips and excerpts from the updated draft. Today’s installment celebrates 30-percent completion of Draft #2 of THE KEEPER’S CURSE.

Huh? It’s been 2 months since the last Chronicle?? *blinks* I guess that shouldn’t surprise me. Summer tends to be my slowest writing season, since I’m more motivated to get out and enjoy the nice weather. But that’s OK. It prevents me from becoming a hermit, right? 🙂

Originally I was going to post updates for every 20-percent milestone (20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, and 100%). However, since gaps between those updates might be lengthy, I’m changing the frequency to every 10-percent milestone. Here’s what I’ve done since mid-June:
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New DIY MFA Article on Dialogue and Themes, Plus a New Worksheet and Writer Igniter Con 2015

August 10, 2015November 11, 2015 / saraletourneau / 6 Comments

The “Developing Themes in Your Stories” series continues at DIY MFA today! This fourth installment centers on dialogue, one of my favorite aspects of novel-writing. It’s also one of the most common storytelling elements to showcase theme. Using examples and writing exercises, we’ll learn how to explore theme via dialogue through the basic “nuts and bolts” of a conversation, emotional subtext, and repetition.

Click here to read “Developing Themes In Your Stories: Part Four – Dialogue.” Continue reading →

Time Flies!: June 2015

June 30, 2015June 29, 2015 / saraletourneau / 29 Comments

Is anyone else having a hard time believing that 2015 is now halfway over? Insane, isn’t it? But so far, 2015 has been an awesome year. Creatively, personally,… and now statistically! Because of your visits, comments, social media shares, and reblogs, this site has already topped 2014’s total page view counts – meaning it’s having its best year EVER. Thank you all so, SO much for your support and feedback. It means the world to me. And that’s going to make next month’s blogoversary that much sweeter. 😀

Which reminds me: I’m still taking questions for Eva’s blogoversary character interview! Submissions will be accepted through 11:59 pm on Friday, July 3rd. Click here for details and to see which questions have been asked so far.

Now, on to this month’s summary!

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New DIY MFA Article and Worksheet on External Conflict Themes

June 22, 2015November 11, 2015 / saraletourneau / 3 Comments

Time for the next installment of “Developing Themes in Your Stories”! So far, this special series on my DIY MFA column Theme: A Story’s Soul has covered how character arcs and a story’s premise can reflect literary themes. For this third piece, the focus turns to the external conflict. This crucial element does a lot more than set the stage and circumstances that trigger the story. We’ll look at how brainstorming “what if” scenarios and considering the results or consequences of your protagonist’s decisions can unearth a story’s themes.

Click here to read “Developing Themes In Your Stories: Part Three – The External Conflict.”

New Worksheet on External Conflict Themes

Like with the character arc and premise themes articles, I’ve developed an External Conflict Themes Worksheet that contains the activities from the above article. Feel free to download the document to your computer and print it out for your “thematic exploration.” 😉

Also, the External Conflict Themes Worksheets is the first worksheet to feature the new website’s “branding.” I plan on updating the existing worksheets with similar branding in the near future.

Click here to visit Worksheets for Writers and download a PDF copy of the External Conflict Themes Worksheet.

Got any questions or suggestions for Theme: A Story’s Soul? Feel free to comment below or tweet me at @SaraL_Writer with the hashtag #AStorysSoul.

Time Flies!: May 2015

May 31, 2015May 29, 2015 / saraletourneau / 19 Comments

Hope you all had a wonderful May! This past month proved to be just as busy – if not even busier – as others have been this year, even with a “stay-cation” halfway through. So let’s get right to the recap, starting with what happened at the blog:

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New DIY MFA Article and Worksheet on Premise Themes

May 18, 2015November 11, 2015 / saraletourneau / 7 Comments

Last month at DIY MFA, we launched the four-part series “Developing Themes in Your Stories” with a piece on consciously developing themes using the protagonist’s character arc. Today, it’s all about premise themes. Believe it or not, that single sentence that sums up your story (a.k.a. your 140-character Twitter pitch) actually hints at potential literary themes. How is this possible? And, how can you build your premise sentence if you don’t have one yet? All of that is covered in “Developing Themes In Your Stories: Part 2 – The Premise.” Click here to read it.

New Worksheet on Premise Themes

Why not? 🙂 A number of readers were excited about the Character Arc Themes Worksheet when it posted. So, I thought I’d make one available for premise themes as well. This new worksheet is comprised of the three activities in “Developing Themes In Your Stories: Part 2 – The Premise” and can help you go from story pitch to premise sentence, and finally to themes.

Click here to visit Worksheets for Writers and download a PDF copy of the Premise Themes Worksheet.

Got any questions or suggestions for Theme: A Story’s Soul? Feel free to comment below or tweet me at @SaraL_Writer with the hashtag #AStorysSoul.

Time Flies!: April 2015

April 30, 2015April 30, 2015 / saraletourneau / 13 Comments

This month has soared by, which makes this series’ title all the more appropriate. April 2015 was a good month, though, and May already has a shot at surpassing it. Tomorrow I’m attending Muse and the Marketplace for the first time, and I can’t WAIT! I’ve sort of “disappeared” from my online haunts this week to prepare for the event (researching presenters, drafting a practice pitch for The Keeper’s Curse, double-checking train and event schedules, etc.). If I haven’t returned comments or emails recently, that’s one of the reasons why. I hope you understand, and I’m aiming to catch up on things next week.

OK. Recap time!

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New DIY MFA Article and Worksheet on Character Arc Themes

April 13, 2015November 11, 2015 / saraletourneau / 14 Comments

So far at Theme: A Story’s Soul for DIY MFA, we’ve featured articles that deal mainly with themes and reading. However, since DIY MFA is first and foremost a resource website for writers, it’s time we tackle how to write with themes in mind – or rather, how to consciously develop our story’s themes without forcing them.

Today I’m excited to launch a special four-part Theme: A Story’s Soul series called “Developing Themes in Your Stories.” Part 1 focuses on character arc themes and features a brainstorming activity to help you discover potential themes in a story idea before you start writing the story. That way, you’ll know your story’s themes upfront instead of digging for them later. 😉

Click here to read “Developing Themes In Your Stories: Part 1 – The Character Arc.”

New Worksheet on Character Arc Themes

Yes, I’ve posted a brand new worksheet for you today! The Character Arc Themes Worksheet is formatted as a table to help you complete the exercises given in the coinciding DIY MFA article. This worksheet was a last-minute idea, so that’s why I’m making it available here without the DIY MFA branding.

Click here to visit Worksheets for Writers and download a PDF copy of the Character Arc Themes Worksheet.

Got any questions or suggestions for Theme: A Story’s Soul? Feel free to comment below or tweet me at @SaraL_Writer with the hashtag #AStorysSoul.

Introducing Worksheets for Writers!

April 11, 2015April 10, 2015 / saraletourneau / 12 Comments

Exciting news, everyone: I have officially launched the Worksheets for Writers page!

Worksheets for Writers is where writers can find worksheets containing all kinds of writing and brainstorming exercises. The page houses only one document right now, but I already have ideas on how to expand my offerings over time.

Speaking of that first worksheet, it is the…

Novel Title Brainstorming Worksheets

The Novel Title Brainstorming Worksheets were inspired by my recent article on methods for finding novel titles. Several readers had said they would revisit the article the next time they wanted to brainstorm titles for their stories. That got me thinking: Why not turn the information presented in that article into actual exercises that writers can do offline? And so the worksheets were born.

The Novel Title Brainstorming Worksheets are available in printable PDF files that you can download directly from the page. This set comes in two parts:

Worksheet A: Novel Title Source Sheet, which lists tried-and-true sources for titles by story element (e.g., characters, setting, significant objects) and guides writers through activities using these elements
Worksheet B: Novel Title Checklist, which poses eight important questions that writers should consider when deciding on a novel title

Click here to visit Worksheets for Writers and to download a PDF copy of the Novel Title Brainstorming Worksheets.

I’m so thrilled about this new section of the website – and I hope you are, too! If you have any questions or comments about these and future worksheets I share, feel free to contact me here.