Sad.

Villains are people too. They need a heart.

One of my favorite authors, Dean Koontz, a lover of people understands well the need to round out a villain. He gives them a heart, makes them vulnerable and real, then allows them their psychotic moments.

In one book, he tells about his villain picking up a kitten and petting it while he watches his next victim leave a restaurant. He purrs to the kitten and tells the kitten how good it feels to touch another living thing, revealing in himself a desire to FEEL good. This single gentle touch, gives the villain a heart and brings depth to his character.

I love his villains. In fact, I’m never really sure who the villain is in Dean Koontz’ books, until the last pages. When I think I know, he reveals another depth of character and gives his villains and his characters value by allowing them to be fully rounded out. Even his heroic characters are allowed to have a dark side, as most people do.

How can you create real live villains with well rounded characters?

Build your characters real life stories by layering their personalities and personal histories with traits and experiences you’d notice in real people.

Short, sweet and to the point. Cut the blabber and get to the concept you want to share. We tire quickly and the next sales letter is simply a quick click away.

Tip #1 – Get to the point, quickly.

Drive your point home and capture the audience in the first couple of lines or put down your pen and go fishing – you’ll have more luck. Online, you have approximately three seconds to WOW your audience before the mouse gets to the X.

Tip #2 – Make your point relevant.

Not only do you have to grab their attention, but these readers are focused on keyword significance. If your topic isn’t of interest and pertinent to their search topic, they’re outta there!

Tip #3 – Stop with the long-winded sentences, already.

If your sentences are compound, break them up. Short sentences and short paragraphs work. Long ones do not.

Tip #4 – What if, questions should be answered FAST.

Get to the point. Take action. Those are the two things you HAVE to do in the first paragraph. Give your reader what they want in action words that keep them reading.

Tip #5 – Shorten the list to remain focused.

No topic has more than 10 relevant points. Lose the point that isn’t of any real value and you’ve created content that will be read. Bullet points and sub-headings bring the reader in to focus on the content.

Tip #6 – Devour your reader.

Suck them into the content with short sweet stories of success. Tell them how well your product works in ways that emotionally connect them to the story teller. Emotion connects.

Tip #7 – Call the reader to take action.

People come to your site expecting to find something of value. Tell them where it is. Tell them what to do with it. And TELL them to do it now.

7 specific tips to drive the reader home to your resource box, where you’ll explain in vivid detail how they will click on the link at http://acewriters.com and then sign up for your complimentary Ezine at the top of the page. This is important, because if they don’t sign up, they won’t get the rest of the information they’re searching for, and worse… They’ll be left to search the web until the end of time.

© 2010 – http://janverhoeff.com

In high school, my English teacher shared a wall poster created by one of the upper classmate for a school event. The poster read, “Their is a program after school for the handicapped. There needs will be discussed and donations taken for they’re athletic equipment. If you can help, bring contributions to the auditorium.”

In a red felt tip marker, a student had crossed out the first “their” and scrawled in “they’re.” The class got a good laugh, and the instructor laughed with us, then asked us to write a response to the posted, using all three words correctly.

In third grade, my grandparents had played “their” game with me and taught me the difference between, they’re, their and there. I spent the better part of the next thirty minutes sharing the difference between the three words, and correcting the poster.

There now…

There, refers to a place, explained and identified by the ‘e’ on the end of the word, matching the ‘e’ on the end of the word place. You can’t forget that over there is a place and there is an ‘e’ on the end of there and place.

Their, the possessive form of the word contains the letter ‘i’ thereby identifying the word as personal, as in belongs to them. Theirs. Anytime the word their has an ‘i’ in it, it becomes a possessive form of the word as in their house, their car, their clothes. Personal is therefore possessive and includes the letter ‘i’.

They’re is a contraction. A blend of two words they and are, allowing for the softening of the language and the slur of the words, removing the ‘a’ from are and adding an accent to blend the two and become they’re. The word is used to describe who they are, what they’re doing, and how they’re behaving in the common gist of conversation. They’re my three favorite words to confuse and explain.

The poster should have read, “There is a program after school for the handicapped. Their needs will be discussed and donations taken for their athletic equipment. If you can help, bring contributions to the auditorium.”

If you’re using words that sound like other words, think about how you use them, and correct your grammar before you post it.

That position is usually somewhere near the computer, with my fingers on the keyboard. If there’s a white space in front of me, I simply determine to fill it up with something. I’ve been known to set my writing goal as “Fill up 10 pages of white with black type.” And then, there’s my daughter’s favorite solution to that – LARGE PRINT. She figures with a number 48 font, she can fill ten pages fast. And, for her, before she became a serious writer, that worked. For serious writers, making the font a nice LARGE size 20 might fill up the pages faster and give us an edge, in fulfilling the goal – during those early writing stages, but eventually, your type font will need to be reduced to size 12 or 14 for the average assignment.

Risk it. Throw in a picture and write about the picture. Describe the scene. Put people in the picture and describe them. Give them lives. Make the picture a scene in your book and move the scene into the storyline.

Scab the picture from anywhere. But find one that inspires you enough to create a story around the picture. An empty garden gazebo might inspire you to write a mystery about the missing people or a romance about the wedding that will happen in the gazebo. Most any picture can be twisted or turned into any scene, you simply change the time of day, the moment of the event or the setting in which the photo was taken. Add decor, remove decor, darken the photo or lighten it up. The end result is created by the words you use to describe the setting.

Diverting attention from the setting to the characters is done with conversation. The more effective the conversation, the more constructive the story. Give your readers lively conversations in discrete settings and they’ll create the characters from their imagination.

Characterization starts long before you introduce the actual person to the story. You begin the characterization when you describe the setting and back story. An instant focus of “who” fits the story comes obvious when the story fits the character.

Writing doesn’t have to start with the story line, it can simply start with the conversation. Building character with a conversation can be an improbable, yet creative method of developing the storyline. Moving the story forward with creative communication means your characters are active in the plot of the story.

If you’re a writer, you get into position and you write. Put something on the paper and remind yourself of the steps you need to take to fill up a page of paper with words. Put your fingers on the keys and type.

Philosophies of Strawberry Shortcake fits in ways you’d never imagine, and yet there’s a freshness that sets your heart on fire when you read what she’s written. I often find inspiration in her writing, and passion in her topics. She writes from a desire to communicate her love and passion. She succeeds.

The intensity of her postings comes through each time. She rarely posts a short blog post, and she doesn’t post as often as is usually recommended that a blog post be made, but her posts are valuable, intense and inspirational. The content she provides is well worth the wait for her next post.

By contrast, another writer, Oris George writes short quips, quotes and concepts into his blog to mingle with longer content posts relevant to the topic of his blog. He makes a point of posting frequently and his posts are always on target. If you’re on his feed and see a post come through in the early morning, more than likely it will “make your day more gooder.”

In either case, the grammar and spelling are most likely well done, but not necessarily perfect. Which brings me to the point of this blog today. Grammar and spelling don’t have to be perfect to have a point, to make a point, or to have an effect on the reader. Blogging isn’t an exact art, nor is it an exact form. Much like writing (yeah, I like that thought), blogging is an imperfect form of communication. However, it gets the job done.

When I hear people with a business explain why they can’t blog, it makes me go wacky. Writing isn’t a requirement for blogging. Thinking is. Focus your attention on content and development of your niche audience and forget about the writing skills required to create a literary masterpiece. If in fact, your work becomes popular and you need to produce a literary masterpiece, hire an editor (or a ghost writer).

The point of blogging is building an audience, creating a niche driven market and connecting through written communication with people who read your blog. Write something on the screen, click publish and you’ve started the process of blogging. That’s all it takes to get started. The rest comes as you perfect your form of communication.

All the blogs on her list of winners are created and maintained by writers. Please click on one of the links below to see more about writers and authors.

1. http://bookmarketingmaven.typepad.com/
2. http://www.sharingwithwriters.blogspot.com/
3. http://authorspromotingauthors.blogspot.com/
4. http://www.barbaraehrentreu.blogspot.com/
5. http://vrleavitt.com/
6. http://jdswritersblog.blogspot.com/
7. http://www.thebookconnectionccm.blogspot.com/
8. http://janverhoeff.com/blog/
9. http://pennylockwoodehrenkranz.blogspot.com/
10. http://writersanctuary.blogspot.com/

Congratulations to all these authors. I know they’re all favorite blogs of mine too. I visit them often.

It’s nearly midnight and the day is gone, but soon the sun will be branding the morning with a different identity – that of yet another day.

The image is golden. The sunlight sending out spires from a round orb in the eastern sky, fingers of light that dance across the horizon. But there, right at the point of center, as the sun rises above the horizon, there’s an indention in the planet and liquid fire flows from the horizon to where you stand. A single strand of light from the sun, right to your toes.

Life begins in that instance, yet again, in a new day. No past exists for that moment and you only know that you have been blessed by the new day, now fading into history.

Midnight ink has no power – only the source of strength and assurance comes with the day. The written word is crisp, clear and to the point. Don’t miss an opportunity to send your words into the future with meaning. You’re a writer. Keep your pencils sharp.

An editor will review each line and correct all those basic grammar errors, punctuation errors and line edits that need attention.

A critiquer will focus on the topic and flow of your book, assess the story line and drive your tale home to the reader.

A consultant takes on all these things and way-way more. The consultant will give you a heads up on editing (probably won’t be willing to do a line edit – unless you’re really willing to pay the big bucks) and will share some basic suggestions for layout and writing style. The consultant will adapt the story to the reader, suggesting wording, concept analogies and critiquing the way your story flows from one setting to the next.

A consultant also helps you find the right people to design covers, write titles, promote your concepts and bring your writing ideas to the top of the publishing option. Often a consultant helps you find the right Agent, send query letters and make contacts necessary for selling your book.

If you’re in need of a consultant – let me know – email.

There’s a comment in the in box that indicates my topics are spam… uhhuh. She’s selling Viagra, Vicodin and Valium and my topics are spam. Okay, that’s a good line. I suppose, even the fact that I referred to this missive content could be an indication that my content is spammy. Or it could be simply the concept of writing about what sparks interest.

Controversy —

As a blogger, my topics can range around the planet and back. I often pick up current events and chatter about my opinion on those. Sometimes, I discuss the latest, greatest piece of clothing — my daughters love it when I mention their excursions to Victoria’s Secret on my blogs. My sons would prefer I discuss their weapon of choice, or whatever topic it is they’re writing about this week. My readers on this particular blog, prefer I stick to writing topics.

Controversy can be any topic you come up with, while focusing on putting information out there to the world with some purpose, a little opinion and some irony. If the topic is intriguing enough to have references, citations might actually improve the dynamics of your topic. If not, your opinion counts as much as the next guy’s opinion. Share it.

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The Reality is — Sex Sells!
The decadent, sinful richness of chocolate draws consumption. Consumers rush to the chocolate counters at least three times a year, fully intent on proving that chocolate is a sinful seller. Yum… I’ll bite.

Writers who really want to sell their romance novels know that they need to add something that turns the reader on. They understand that sexual frustration sells books. They understand it so well that they write a little into every book they write.

Even literary masterpiece movies such as Titanic and Pearl Harbor suck up to the sexual buying public with sex appeal. Their story lines altered to include illicit sexual acts and implications, although somewhat tastefully done, are included in both movies. When action based theatricals use sexual marketing ploys, everyone knows they are attempting an appeal to women.

The implication is sexist, although probably true.

Women Considered More Consumptive
While men may purchase the higher priced products: trucks, golf clubs, tools and equipment. The bottom line is, women want more stuff.

Auto dealers have discovered an impact in their bottom line by painting the showroom pink.

Places where men used to rule are more and more often becoming a woman’s domain. Women spend money and marketing experts are figuring out that they must appeal to feminine side of their market, in order to make a profit.

Writers Learn the Lesson
Readers love to read about topics that interest them. We want controversy. The readers want to read more about topics that interest them with twists that appeal to their sense of attractions. If it appeals to you, your audience will probably love it.

But, what if it’s against your moral values to write about a given topic. Or perhaps, it’s just against the moral fabric of your being to write in a specific manner? You could lip it instead…

One writer gives an indication of where her characters are going by allowing her hero to take off his shirt. She never goes beyond the shirt, but she can describe his sinewy muscled chest in words that make your heart skip beats.

Polarity of values can work for you if you simply allow the reader to take the rest of the story. Stop before you get there and allow the controversial topics to roll on.

Writers — there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Use it to your advantage!

The question came through email from a writer friend who had been playing with his writing game for more than half a century. The man was freaking old! But he still had a dream.

There wasn’t anything else in his message, just that question.

I couldn’t answer that one. I just sat there staring at the message, knowing the man, I understood why he was asking. He’d been writing since he was young, before he even got out of school. (And I knew he didn’t go to high school, so he was like, 12 when he got out.)

He could write. I’d read what he wrote and it was spectacular. I knew his stories would capture hearts and readers. So, the question was… How many words does it take to make a profit?

I wrote back…

It takes one thousand absolutely stellar words to make a profit. Once you write them, you’ll understand what I mean. You’ll be making a profit on your writing and everything else will fall into place. It won’t matter how many words you have to write, because you’ll have enough.

If you truly want to know what those words are, call me… My number.

I got the call.

Within a week, I got his first response to my answer. He was making his dream of writing for profit happen. After a half century, he was going to be making a profit really soon. I helped him put his words to work and the next few hours were strategically perfect, he was making money from those words.

Understand that he had written far more than a thousand words before, and we put many of THOSE words to use. But what made him profitable as a writer were those thousand words he wrote — after the call.

It’s like having a chocolate kiss.

You know there’s more chocolate available, but a kiss is all you really need.

Julia was a friend of my mom. She had curly white hair, blue eyes and a smile that just did’t quit. No matter what happened in her life, she laughed and smiled. She was a happy woman. In her late sixties she took up playing the mandolin with my mom.

Together, they had a band called the Sonshine Band that played once a week in our home, but frequently at the nursing home and at church. In the group, there were several older ladies who played various instruments. Mable played the piano, Delphine played the dobro, Mom played the guitar, and Julia played the mandolin… Other people randomly joined them for an evening, a few days or a week, but these were the main players – and all of them were past sixty.

After about two years of playing in the band, Julia found out she had cancer. She knew it was nearing the end, but she kept smiling.

My son, on a short visit to her house, asked, “What makes you so happy?”

She answered, “Go get the candy dish over there.”

He did. He brought a pretty pink dish back to her, with the lid in place.

“Inside this dish is the secret to happiness. With this, you never need anything more to make you happy.” She smiled and her eyes lit up, “so are you ready to open the lid?”

“Yes,” he whispered.

“I’m going to let you open the lid, but you can only have ONE.” She whispered, her eyes snapped with mischief.

She opened the lid and let each of the kids have ONE. “The secret is that each day, I can open the lid and have ONE. Happiness doesn’t come from having a chocolate kiss, today. It comes from having the hope that tomorrow I can have one. The secret is in hope.”

One Thousand Words —-

Are you ready to write One Thousand Words for profit?