Category: Katie Ganshert

3 C’s – It’s Friday!

Posted on by Katie Ganshert

Cares:

I care about ice cream. Deeply. Especially the chocolate kind. And most especially the chocolate kind with caramel swirls.

This summer has made me realize, more than anything, how much I want to stay home with Brogan and write. I’ve been discussing this with God lately.
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Concerns:
Brogan has eczema. Not a big deal, but I feel so bad when I see the cracked, red skin in his elbow creases. Poor fella.
I made stuffed peppers for dinner last night and they were the epitome of bland. Does anybody have a yummy stuffed pepper recipe? Because the one I have is no good.
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Celebrations:
Through the Storm, my second book, is officially ready for submission. Thanks to my lovely critique partner, the final stage of revision is finished. I’m thinking I won’t start submitting until after the ACFW conference though… what do you think?
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I just looked at the July issue of Christian Fiction Online Magazine, and Michelle Sutton’s sneak peak for the August issue mentions my short story. And my blogging friend, Wendy Miller’s too! I got this burst of excitment about being published…even if it is only a short story.
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Happy Independence Day! Enjoy the fireworks!
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Question to Ponder: What are your cares, concerns, and celebrations on this fine Friday morning?

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Writing Tight: Compression

Posted on by Katie Ganshert

Actors have to be very deliberate in their movement, tone, and expression. They must choose carefully if they want to give the best portrayal of their character. This is the same for writers. My last blog from Getting Into Character by Brandilyn Collins is taken from Secret # 6, Restraint and Control. She discusses many things in this chapter, but for the sake of being…well, compressed… I’m just going to focus on compression.

What is compression? In Brandilyn’s own words, “compression means finding verbs, adjectives and nouns that are packed with meaning.” Brandilyn says that when you compress your writing, two things happen:

1. Your writing will be more vivid
2. your writing will be tighter

When you write, you want to write tight. Writers hear this a lot. We don’t want superflous words and phrases muddying up our stories. So compression is vital. The key to compression is effective word choice, eliminating excess words, and ruthless editing.

Here’s a very short example of before (compression) and after (compression):

Before:
Brogan sat down in the middle of the floor, took his pacifier out of his mouth, and let out a loud and high-pitched cry.
After:
Brogan plopped onto the floor, uncorked his Nuk, and unleashed an angry wail.
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Questions to Ponder: What kind of reader are you? When you read books, do you like reading long, flowing prose, or do you like the author to get to the point already? What kind of writer are you? Do you write tight the first time around, or is compression something you focus on during revision?

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An Amazing Day!

Posted on by Katie Ganshert

Today was, well, amazing. Why, do you ask, was it amazing? Because I had some major breakthroughs.

First, I completed one-sheets for all three of my stories. And the super good news is that I actually like them.

Second, I created my first ever proposal. The only part I’m not finished with is the comparables. If anybody has a good way of coming up with comparables, please share, because wow, they aren’t easy. The proposal was this ominous thing hanging over my head. The idea of putting one together sort of scared the jeebers out of me. But after writing one up for Beneath a Velvet Sky, I’m actually looking forward to writing the other two for As High as the Heavens and Through the Storm.

Third (and this is the most exciting), as I wrote the proposal, under the section “Series Development”, I pulled two KILLER ideas right out of my bum! Okay, so I shouldn’t take the credit… nor should my bum. God deserves the glory. But wow, I love it when that happens! One of the ideas was something I’d planned on writing anyway, but I was stuck with my MC’s GMCs (how’s that for some acronyms). It was actually one of my concerns on Friday. I tweaked a few things, made it so this idea could fit within this particular series, and voila! Everything just sort of fell into place. I’m really, really psyched, if you can’t tell.

So basically, this post is just one giant celebration. I feel like I’ve jumped a hurdle and wanted to share the good news with all my cyber buddies.

Question to Ponder: What recent hurdles have you jumped recently? Please share your celebrations.removetweetmeme