R A C H E L H A U C K . C O M

Saturday, February 21, 2009

My Book Therapy "From the Inside Out" Book

My Book Therapy is releasing it's first writing book based on our craft blog from last year. I got my copy in the mail today. It's awesome.

Susan May Warren, My Book Therapy's founder and fearless leader put together a GREAT project. I'm so honored to be associated with her and this business.

And, best of all, I get to help others along the way.

Check out this video on You Tube.

Want to win a copy of From the Inside. . .Out: Discover, Create and Publish the Novel in You for your very own? Leave a comment here and tell us what kind of novel you have in YOU.

Do you already have your novel down on the page? Does it need a little THERAPY? Enter to win 10% off a Book Therapy Session by leaving a comment here telling us a brief synopsis of your story!

All winners will be chosen at random. Contest ends 2/28 and the winners will be announced on March 2nd!

Join the fun!

Labels: From the Inside Out, My Book Therapy, Rachel Hauck, Susan May Warren

posted by Rachel Hauck @ 8:28 PM 0 comments

Friday, January 23, 2009

Thoughts on Writing a Book

I've been helping my friend and author extraordinaire Susan May Warren plot a new book.

She calls with, "What's the lie she believes?" No "hello, how are you?" but straight to the point. This is why we get along so well.

We discuss the lie the character believes and why. It's so important to figure out why. And it doesn't always have to be because something horrible happened in the heroine's past. As far as I'm concerned, we have too much fiction depicting the broken, abusive family that make the character do bad stuff. Sometimes people just make bad choices all by themselves.

For example, she has a character who gets mixed up with a bad group of people. Why? Because she is a gentle, passionate person who wants harmony and peace in the world. When a group of like minded folk draw her in, it's too late when she discovers they are really subversives.

Next Susie will ask, "What's her epiphany?" So we figure out, based on the lie, what she learns throughout the course of the story. That lesson of course if facilitated by the plot.

We talk about the black moment - when all is lost. We talk about the greatest fears and desires. And all the why's.

We figure out why the heroine needs the hero and vice versa. And answer the question, "Why?"

Let's do an exercise. What if you say to someone, "Rachel Hauck is a great worship leader." (Hey, this is my blog, let me pretend.)

The person might say, "Why?"

You answer, "She has a nice voice." Or, "She seems to love worship."

There we go. No more need for why's but we have a layer of depth to why Rachel Hauck might be a good worship leader.

Some character questions have several layers of why. Keep asking until the "why" has no more answers. For example, there's no answer to "Why does Rachel have a nice voice."

"She bought it on the black market. Duh, why do you think she has a nice voice? What's the matter with you?" ;)

Writing Tip

I've been reading a lovely book and while I'm enjoying the story a lot, there's one thing I'd wished the author had done differently. All the good lines from the heart of the characters, like how they feel about someone or some situation, are said as internal thought or in prose rather than dialog.

It would really pop the dialog if they were said out loud instead of "off to the side." Instead the characters say things like, "Oh, okay."

Here's an example of what I mean:

"Come on in Shawn. How are you?" Carter stood aside to let him pass.

"Fine thanks." Except his nurse walked out on him today and he had to manage his patients and the schedule alone.

"Would you care for something to drink?"

"Yeah, thanks." A beer with a shot, double shot if you don't mind.

"The rest of the guys will be here soon. So, you're surviving the hospital after the divorce?"

He took the offered drink. "As best I can." Hospitals were notorious for their gossip and he'd not escaped unscathed.

Okay. A pretty boring scene right? Let's redo it to take all the "off to the side" information and put it in dialog.

"Come in, Shawn, how are you?" Carter stood aside to let him pass.

"My nurse walked out on me today and I had to handle all the patients and schedule's myself."

Carter looked at him. "Walked out? Why?"

"Hospital gossip." He sighed, heading for the bar. "The nurses are convinced the rumors are true."

"The divorce was pretty nasty, Shawn." Carter stood behind the bar. "You need something to drink, don't you?"

"A boilermaker. Make it a double."

"What happened with your nurse?" Carter slid a beer bottle toward him with a shot glass of bourbon.

"I yelled at her. Hey, when are the rest of the guys going to be here? I'm ready to play and take their hard earned money."

Much stronger scene, no? It gave Carter more to react to and we see the tension with Shawn. Plus, it hints of conflict and we know there is something not right about this divorce - besides the obvious.

If you're writing, put the story in the mouths of your characters. How they feel about things and people unless it's part of the plot for their ideas and feelings to be cloaked.

Use narrative for description, setting, action tags, quiet moments alone with the character (though not too many.)

Okay, my desire to write about writing is over.

Labels: dialog, Susan May Warren, tips, writing

posted by Rachel Hauck @ 3:01 PM 1 comments

Thursday, May 22, 2008

What I've been up 2

So, you're wondering, "Rach, do you blog any more or are we just supposed to imagine what your life is all about?"

No indeedy, you're not. Please don't. I'm blogging, see, I'm blogging.

I've been busy, too. Working on a new synopsis for next book, working title Dining with Joy. How do you like it?

I'm reviving my celebrity "chef" idea. Only she's not so much a chef... Stay tuned. Susie Warren and I really hashed out the story this week with me pausing to get input from the lovely and gracious Ami McConnell, editor extraordinaire.

Tonight we had this whole story worked out, Suz and I giving each other a thousand mile apart high fives when I go, "Wait, we can't do that scenario. I've already done it."

I took a break to think and asked the Lord for an idea and ta-da, it came! God is so good. Called Suz to run it by her, check for holes, then called Ami and she said, "Sounds good. I like it." And I'm off to rework the synopsis. Yay!

Note to all you writers out there. If you are reworking a story from a previous synopsis. Don't. Just start over. It's too hard to reset the tone of the new or modified work. The more you try to edit from an existing synopsis, the more convoluted the story becomes.

***

Fire Dweller prayer was fab tonight. I love, love leading worship with Javier. We get this rhythm going, back and forth with antiphonal songs, weaving them in with the prayers being offered.

He was doing some jazzy stuff on the guitar tonight that was really good. He's so incredibly talented.

I love the flow of the Spirit between us. And that he's a good friend, a true brother.

***

Off to bed with a growling stomach, but I weigh in tomorrow for Weight Watchers. Must be good.

***

I love my husband. He's the absolute best. Just felt like adding that line on tonight. I can't begin to put into words what an amazing man he is. I am so very grateful to the Lord for him!

Labels: books, editors, friends, music, my husband, prayer, Susan May Warren, synopsis, worship, writing

posted by Rachel Hauck @ 11:46 PM 3 comments

Friday, February 08, 2008

Taming Rafe by Susan May Warren

Welcome my friend and fab author Susan May Warren. She's out with another great book, Taming Rafe! The book was recently a Top Pick from Romantic Times Book Club Review

Here's a blurb - Book 2 in The Noble Legacy series: Two-time world champion bull rider Rafe Noble had no idea how quickly his world could end. In less than eight seconds, he lost his title, his career, and his best friend-all on the dirt floor of a noisy rodeo arena.

Katherine Breckenridge just wants to make a difference by running her mother's charity foundation. But the mysterious disappearance of half a million dollars has forced it to the brink of bankruptcy. Her last chance to save it is the annual fund-raiser, an event that's destroyed by an out-of-control Rafe Noble.

Desperate to rescue the foundation, Katherine heads to the Noble family ranch to enlist Rafe's help in raising the money he cost her in lost donations. What she doesn't know is that Rafe is broke-in cash and in spirit-and that helping her could end up costing him his life.

Link to first chapter.

From Susie:

"I've been writing as long as I can remember - I won my first book writing contest in first grade! Over the years, writing has become, for me, a way to praise God and see Him at work in my life. Although I have a degree in Mass Communications from the University of MN, my real writing experience started when I penned the The Warren Report - a bi-monthly newsletter that detailed our ministry highlights. Living in Russia meant I never lacked for great material - and those experiences naturally spilled out first into devotionals and magazine articles and finally into my first published story, "Measure of a Man," in the Tyndale/HeartQuest, Chance Encounters of the Heart anthology. I grew up in Wayzata, a suburb of Minneapolis, and became an avid camper from an early age. My favorite fir-lined spot is the north shore of Minnesota - it's where I met my husband, honeymooned and dreamed of living.

The north woods easily became the foundation for my first series, The Deep Haven series.based on a little tourist town along the shores of Lake Superior. I have to admit - I'm terribly jealous of Mona, the heroine of my first full-length book, Happily Ever After, a Christy Award Finalist published in 2004 with Tyndale/Heartquest."

Get a copy of Taming Rafe today!

Labels: books, fiction, reading, Susan May Warren, Taming Rafe

posted by Rachel Hauck @ 10:35 PM 0 comments

Saturday, August 25, 2007

Book Therapy!

Susan May Warren invited me to join her newly launched Book Therapy. I'm honored to do so!

Can you make your characters come to life?
How do you fix a saggy plot?
What are your writing strengths, and how can you play to them?
What makes a scene sing with life?
How do you keep a reader hooked?

Want to know how to craft an award-winning book? (er, yes, says Rachel)

Book Therapy will teach you how!

So, you're writing a novel. You might be a little nervous that the plot doesn't hold together, or that maybe an editor won’t love or understand your hero like you do. But underneath these little worries is a thrum of energy that drives you to the computer, or causes you to burst out in fragment sentences, and even wakes you in the middle of the night, groping for the light so you can scribble down your latest dream.

I know, because, I too am a writer. I know the angst and the joy of writing. I know how you pace your room, talking to yourself. I know how many chocolate chips you consume during chapters (they’re really good frozen).

I also know how a book works. How words flow together, or not, for best impact. And how to get your characters to talk as if they are in the room with you.

Inside every book that refuses to come together, or struggles with sluggish pace, or even simply doesn't pack enough plot punch is a deep-seated problem.

Book Therapy will help you root out and solve your problem.

Check it out.

Labels: Book Therapy, editorial services, Susan May Warren, writing a book

posted by Rachel Hauck @ 4:53 PM 1 comments

Saturday, February 21, 2009

My Book Therapy "From the Inside Out" Book