Congratulations to Marianne Evans!Her entry has been chosen as the winner of our Hearts Crossing contest. Entrants were given the cover (sans author name) along with a synopsis. As suspected, the entries...
Hearts Crossing Contest Winner Announced
Research
I’ve long been a fan of American history and the Old West and enjoy reading accounts and memoirs of people from times past. Making history come alive is one of a fiction writer's jobs. Researching is easy with the Internet. Here are a few sites for other aficionados:http://www.rarenewspapers.com/...
Manuscript formatting tips for MS Word
I see a great many manuscripts come through where some fundamental--and some more advanced--formatting techniques have not been utilized, but would greatly help the manuscript. So, today, I'm going to give a few tips on using Microsoft Word to your advantage. This will not only help you to present a...
Conflict development: ensuring proper progression
Lately, I’ve been seeing a goodly number of manuscripts where there are conflict discrepancies. For example (Not from a ms. submitted to White Rose): Jane Heroine works for XYZ church. She’s enjoying her job and spending time with Joe Hero, another employee of the church. Then, one day—several chapters...
As A Woman Thinketh
Lately I’ve seen a recurring theme in some of the manuscripts I am reading. I have written about it before in the general terms, but specifics might be more helpful. Let us first start with a definition. The following description is taken from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/heroineHer•o•ine1. A woman...
Covert Emotion/Building Character
I am a character-driven editor – give me a good, solid character and you will grab my attention from the beginning of your novel. How can you build character with covert emotions? By allowing the hero/heroine to respond without consciously thinking about what is happening around them. When people...
Developing Relationship
In romance, the paramount part of the story is developing a relationship. Hero and heroine should meet quickly, have an emotional reaction to each other, and create the capacity to further the relationship in a romantic way. Thirty pages of the heroine’s or hero’s past, told from her/his own and others’...
Editing the Middle
I see a lot of stories that start out showing potential--more than potential, in fact; I'm intrigued. The first page is a doozy, it's grabbed me with some awesome action, or intrigued me with a hint of some mystery or conflict to come, and I can't wait to read more. (These are the kinds of submissions...
Show, don't tell...
Show, don’t tell.How many times have you seen that written in a rejection you’ve received? What does it mean? When an editor asks for show, we’re basically asking an author to allow the reader to be a “fly on the wall” observing the story as it unfolds. Readers can’t “see” the past life of the hero...
Editing tip: Keeping track of POV
A year or so ago I wrote up a little article that gave some tips on how to spot errors in your manuscript during the editing process. Today, I have another. One problem that I often find in manuscripts is an out-of-place POV (point-of-view) switch. I’m not talking about continuous head-hopping, just...
Consider Your Reader
One of the hardest issues confronting writers today is our audience. They are, at the same time, our biggest fans, and our harshest critics. As Christians, we each have a mission in life. We are to love God and keep his commandments. Two of his commandments are to use our talents wisely, and to...
Creating a Realistically Flawed Christian Hero
This week, Senior Editor Jamie West, gave some wonderful insight into creating characters. Today, I want to take that a step further. I’m focusing on the hero, but the concept applies to heroines as well.I see a great number of manuscripts where the author wants her hero to be highly flawed at the beginning...
Character & Destiny
Proverbs 23:7 - "For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he."The verse above is a powerful statement of the mind. What it speaks of is character. Character is the essence of a person’s heart. When writing, character is what sets the hero and heroine apart from others. We use the terms, hero and...
Irritate the Devil?
When my kids were young (well, they're still pretty young, but, you know...) When my kids were growing up, I always encouraged them to put God first in their lives. When He's first, life is good--even when it's a tornado. So, to illustrate my meaning, I always told them, "Just remember, your goal in...
New Release: Child of My Heart
This week, we're honoured to welcome Merry Stahel. Child of My Heart is Merry's first White Rose Publishing release, and she brings us a unique tale of sacrificial love... Hannah didn’t expect to be...
Our Cup Runneth Over contest details
Each week, over the next several weeks, you will have the chance to win free e-books courtesy of the White Rose Publishing authors. How? By joining our scavenger hunt. Each Saturday two to three new author’s web-sites will be added to this blog. What your job is to locate the WHITE ROSE PUBLISHING cup...
Once Upon a Collar FREE READ Released
We've been talking a lot over the past few months about our FREE serialized novella, Once Upon a Collar, by talented Teri Wilson. Well, the time is here! The serial is launched. Click on the cover and...
Submission Guidelines...What's the big deal?
Every now and again, I find it necessary to talk about how important it is to follow submission guidelines. Today is one of those days. (And, if you've sent in a submission today, I haven't looked at any submissions yet today, so I don't want anyone to take this personally. This post arises out of a...
Free Novella Coming Sept. 18
Hello, all! Nicola Martinez, Senior Editor here. I hope the day finds you all well. I'm excited to make the official announcement that beginning in September 18, 2009 the serialization of an entire novella,...
Spotlight on Teri Wilson
Today we get to know Teri Wilson WRP: Have you ever won any contests? Tell us about that experience.TW: Cup of Joe, and my current writing project, Rodeo Redemption, won first and second place in the...
Meet Pamela S. Thibodeaux
Today we get to know Pamela S. ThibodeauxWRP: Where are you from?PST: I am a native of Louisiana, born in Lake Charles I've lived in Lafayette, Houma and Sulphur but my permanent home is in Iowa where...
Cadence: The Rhythm of a Story
Have you ever heard someone sing or play a song using the wrong timing or using some wrong notes? You recognize the song, even through the flaw, but the faulty rhythm is disturbing, and listening becomes an irritation rather than a joy. When the flow is off, the beauty of the music is lost. It’s the...
Meet Author, Wendy Davy
Let's give a warm welcome to Wendy Davy and then settle in to get to know her alittle better. WRP: How many books/stories have you had published? WD: Night Waves is my third published novel. I also have...
What A WRP Story Is...And What It Is Not...
Rejections are difficult—for the author to receive, and also for the editor to write. Many times, an author will write a quick response thanking us for the feedback, or to let us know they will work on revisions. These emails are great. Unfortunately, there’s a flip-side to great. Sometimes we get a...
Whose Head are We in, Anyway?
Our poll “Hero, Heroine or Both? Whose Point-of-View do you prefer?” has come to a close. We asked the following questions:Who’s point of view do you prefer? The tally, after 97 votes came in as such:72.2 percent like both Hero's and Heroine's 17.5% prefer the heroine’s POV only, as told in first person...
Author Spotlight on JoAnn Carter
Today, we're spotlighting White Rose author, JoAnn Carter. Please, take a moment to enjoy getting to know JoAnn as we have. You'll not be disappointed! WRP: Where are you from? JC: Originally,...
The Story In You
I tend to wax long about the components that make a good story. I’ve written on the subject at length in several articles at http://www.behindthegardengate.blogspot.com/.That said, I constantly go on and on about character. However, there is another part of character that I don’t see discussed too often...
Codependent Independence
Here in the United States, we’re gearing up to celebrate the Fourth of July this weekend. With a holiday celebrating our country’s independence so close, it has me thinking about what it means to be independent, which, of course, leads me to writing.In a romance novel, we all want to see strong, independent...
