Thanks.

Tumperkin,

Can’t wait till you have something for me to read.

Carradee,

Thanks for the advice. And the post on the queries is the oldest entry on the blog, in case you haven’t found it yet.

I’m not published, but I tend to write really messy situations that make me uncomfortable. (Unfortunately, cutting them would destroy the story.)

Here’s what I do that makes things messy: Okay, if this is my situation, what’s the worst possible extrapolation of that?

Warning: this can also make things rather . . . twisted. But maybe you’ll find it helpful.

I’m really looking forward to reading your book, so much so that it has inspired me to post something on my blog about the books I am looking forward to reading in the next few months.

Anyway, I’m reading this post a little late, but best of luck with those revisions. You had to revise Private Arrangements too, ya know, and look how good that one came out. This is just part of the process of making an excellent book, not any indication of your talent (or lack thereof). Actually, it IS an indication of talent: You’ve got a lot, and plenty to do some amazing revisions.

As for advice on upping the stakes, I got none! That’s one of my biggest faults as a storyteller too. I think mine is rooted in a) not wanting my beloved characters to suffer too much and b) not believing in contrived, improbable circumstances…so I make the story too much like real life. Read: dull.

I found your blog through PubRants, and I am really looking forward to reading Private Arrangements and Delicious. Your writing style is fantastic, it really draws me in. And your sense of humor is wonderful as well. Can’t wait to read more!

Michelle

Thank you so much. I will remember that you are at the head of the line, and do my utmost to deliver a worthwhile reading experience.

Beth,

LOL. I was just reading Donald Maass’s Breakout Novel an hour ago, the chapter on Stakes.

I’d read it years ago. But it makes for excellent reading now.

Thanks for the great relayed advice. It kind of makes my heart pound in fright even to read, but I guess if the writer isn’t in fear for the HEA, then why should the reader care?

And here’s something he shared from a recent workshop I attended.

When you’ve pulled out all the stops, when you’ve taken your character’s situation from bad to worse to impossible, when there seems no credible way out…

Then you make a list of all the reasons why there really is no possible solution, no way for that HEA ending to occur. Knock yourself out on this. Assume your readers are cynical and jaded. Think of every objection anyone could raise, anything that could make the reader think, “Oh, come ON”…

And then find ways, in the story, to overcome each of those objections, until the impossible becomes the inevitable.

That (according to Don Maass) is how you raise the stakes to the stratosphere and then believably bring your characters down to earth again.

THANKS for the vote of confidence. I’ll be doing my darnedest to make sure that DELICIOUS becomes indeed a sumptuous dish.