Guest Post: “When Your Story Goes Off Course” by Grace A. Johnson (+ Bound and Determined PREORDERS!)

You can now preorder Bound and Determined, the third – and long awaited – book in the Daughters of the Seven Seas series!!!!!!!! Read on for the riveting blurb, the exciting preorder news, and Grace’s amazing guest post, which, if you’re a writer, you won’t want to miss! 😀

About Bound and Determined

Blurb:  

Port Royal, Jamaica 

1686

A wicked twist of fate—or perhaps the hand of God—has landed Captain Rina Bennet in the most precarious situation yet. When her husband and the father of her twin boys leaves at the behest of a family friend, she is left to take charge of the ship she has not sailed on in two years, alongside her two toddlers. She finds herself between a rock and a hard place when her first voyage drastically turns into a rescue mission, leaving her to the ghosts of her old life.

Daisy Sharow has risked it all by escaping from her owner’s tavern in search of her sister. Following God’s direction, she seeks out the only person she trusts to help her: Keaton Clarke. When Daisy stows away aboard the Rina, quartermaster Keaton is faced with a ghost from his past and a decision neither he nor Rina are prepared to make.

Rina has to make a judgment call when the ghosts come knocking, a call that could mean either life or death—for both an innocent girl and herself. Can Daisy, Keaton, and Rina band together to save Daisy’s sister…or is the risk too great?

Special Preorder Info!

Start date: September 19th, 2022

End date: November 17th, 2022

Preorder price: $2.99

Availability: Kindle ebook on Amazon

Preorder goodies:

• Character art of Daisy, the heroine
• A flash fiction piece sure to make you tear up
• Several bonus scenes for the extended ending
• A printable recipe card
• An excerpt of the first few chapters
• Printable bookmarks
• Character aesthetics + access to the Pinterest boards
• An exclusive instrumental soundtrack + access to the chaotic Spotify playlist
• Downloadable desktop/phone wallpapers
• AND a free entry into my EPIC giveaway, coming soon! (Giveaway will be available only in the US.)

Eligibility: Readers who have preordered a Kindle copy of Bound and Determined through Amazon, and who have submitted their proof of purchase through the preorder receipt form. No age limit. Available for US and international readers.

All readers who submit their proof of purchase of a BAD preorder will receive the goodies above in a digital prize package in their inbox! Naturally, they must share their email address to receive their prize, and other than that, their purchase receipt, and their name, no other information is required!

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When Your Story Goes Off Course

A GUEST POST BY GRACE A. JOHNSON

I know we’ve all been there before. Whether you’ve carefully plotted every chapter or just dove headfirst into your story, there comes a time when that story takes the helm and steers you way off course.

Sometimes, those unexpected changes can be pleasant. Could be an argument that upps the tension in an otherwise boring scene, or a plot twist that takes the book over the top!

And other times? You’d like to take your characters by the ear and jerk real hard, or take your story and throw it up against—well, you get my point. 

Even though my latest novel, Bound and Determined, had a very clear-cut plot that I stuck to pretty well (for the most part), the characters and themes (and length!) were all over the place! From an unplanned proposal to entirely different messages, my characters ended up calling the shots and they never sent me the memo. *winks*

Either way you look at it, and no matter what you do, chances are your story is gonna take on a mind of its own and have its way…so then what? How do you prepare for the twists and turns your story could make, and how do you work through them?

Know Your Characters

Those of y’all who know me probably have noticed that this is one of my favorite pieces of advice to give—which is because it is so important and so versatile! Whether you’re a plotter, a pantser, or a plantser (the somewhere-in-between spot)…whether you know a single thing about your story or you haven’t even figured out the beginning…whether you have strong themes or no idea what the purpose of your story is…

You must know your characters.

Getting to know and fully understand (at least as much as you can) your characters will not only prepare you for the wild and unplanned moves they could make, it will also equip you to navigate the next steps. Figure out not just who they are and what they do, but what makes them tick, how they see things, the lies they believe, the truths they need to learn—heck, even what kind of deodorant they use!

All right, that last one may be a bit unnecessary…especially if your characters are from the pre-deodorant era…but you get my point. Get into your character’s head and search out their heart.

Then, when they pull that crazy stunt, you won’t feel the urge to throw your computer against the wall. You’ll simply push through, keep on writing, and look back at that unintended moment and think, “Yep. That’s exactly what Dude would do. This is perfect.”

Try some of the following methods and see if that won’t help you get to know your character way better than those character development templates ever could!

• Write in first-person. If your book is in third-person, you’re bound to feel distant from your character sometimes…so switch things up a bit and write a few scenes in first-person, just to give you an idea of how your character thinks and what they sound like. And if you already do write in first-person, take some time to try a more introspective scene. Discover their voice and thought patterns, and apply that to your story!
• Create a Pinterest board. Now, I know a lot of us are used to Pinterest boards full of character faceclaims and aesthetic images, but even though those help us describe elements of our story and give us an idea of the general vibe, they don’t always lend the most insight into your character’s personality or struggles. SO, try looking for quotes on Pinterest—whether they’re Michael Bliss quotes, Bible verses, or random lines from poems or books. Whatever fits your character and sounds like something they would think or say or resonate with. My “written inspiration” board for Bound and Determined has really helped me define my characters—especially Keaton and Daisy—how they think, and what they struggle with!
• On a similar note, put together a playlist! I don’t mean a swelling instrumental soundtrack, although theatic music can convey a lot of emotion; I mean a chaotic playlist full of everything from country to R&B to alternative rock to Celtic worship songs…everything that echoes your character’s feelings, thoughts, etc. I quickly discovered that an entire album from one band fits my man Keaton to a T. (Actually, it’s more like two or three albums, give or take a couple songs.) The lyrics and the emotions in every song seems like it’s coming directly from Keaton’s heart, and having that to go back to has helped me tremendously in understanding Keaton and what he’s going through! Try the same for your characters or even the story as a whole, and tell me it doesn’t make your characters come to life! 

Keep Your End Goal in Mind

This little tidbit also works great for marketing campaigns, but we’re not talking integrated marketing communications today…we’re talking about the end goals—or message, purpose, moral, etc.—for your story. 

Now, I say end goal because I don’t mean ending. I had no idea what the ending was going to look like for Bound and Determined (in fact, I rewrote the epilogue and am considering an extended ending), BUT I knew what the purpose of the book was. I knew what I was trying to accomplish through it.

Not only did this bolster me as I wrote all 200k+ words, it also guided me through any crazy mishaps my characters caused along the way. I had a direction, and I knew that every step (or every scene, I should say) brought me ever closer to my final destination. Even the unplanned ones. 

Having objectives in mind also helps you weed out any wholly unwanted scenes, characters, situations, etc. Whether they’re a product of your careful plotting or something you threw in for the heck of it, if they don’t align with or help you reach your objectives, they gotta go. It’s like budgeting—everything has its time and place and purpose. And what doesn’t needs to go, or else you’ve wasted valuable money (aka, writing time, effort, etc.) on something that’s completely ineffective or even detrimental.

How do you come up with objectives or end goals that aren’t too detailed to stress you out but aren’t too vague either? Just start by asking yourself the following questions…

• Why am I writing this story?
• What do I want readers to take away from this story?
• What do my characters need to learn?
• What needs to occur in the story to teach them those lessons?

It’s that simple. Give it a little time and thought, and you’ll figure out what the purpose of your story is! Also, if you’re writing a series, consider the direction you want the entire series to take, or how you’re going to wrap it up in the end. Then make sure your individual books are advancing you toward that finish line, instead of convoluting the plot, confusing readers, or giving you a little too much story fodder.

Edit, Edit, Edit!

Editing is literally your best friend when it comes to chaotic storylines and new ideas. Instead of every word being set in stone, it’s easy to go back and change things when your story throws a curveball! 

When I was writing my debut novel, Held Captive, I hadn’t given it a lick of thought going into the story and didn’t even know I needed a plot twist until I came to that part in the book—fortunately, things worked out, because the perfect twist just popped right into the book, and almost everything was hunky-dory.

All that was missing was going back and editing things, dropping clues and foreshadowing future events. 

Whether you have your story figured out from Chapter 1 on, or you wing the whole thing, going back to add, remove, or rewrite parts of your story can help shape it and keep things consistent—so don’t ever be afraid to edit, edit, edit!

Some of my top editing tips and tricks are…

• Take it slow. Don’t ever feel like you have to rush through the entire book and get all your edits done in one fell swoop. Go one round at a time, and give yourself a break in between. I recommend starting with developmental edits (editing your plot, themes, and characters), then moving on to line edits (sentence structure), and finishing with a proofread (typos).
• Edit as you write. Now, not everyone wants to (or can) spend an hour writing one hundred words perfectly…but that doesn’t mean you can’t edit each chapter or scene before you move onto the next one! Not only will that make your final edits easier, it’ll also keep what you just wrote fresh in your mind as you begin the next part, and it’ll make transitions smooth and consistent!
• Highlight as you write! Don’t have time to edit period? Been there. I started highlighting passages in Bound and Determined that I wanted to shorten, remove, or rewrite—or just needed some extra feedback on—and it made editing a lot smoother! Instead of stressing myself out trying to fix it all at once, or just forgetting about it altogether, I highlighted as I wrote or read over old scenes, then went back to fix them when I had time!

So, the next time your story goes off course, remember to take a look at things through your character’s perspective, keep your end goal in mind, and edit what doesn’t fit or flow well! Once you get to know your characters and the purpose of your story, you can write from that knowledge and never (well, almost never) have to worry about the direction your story takes!

Thanks so much to Saraina for having me on her blog, and thank y’all for reading! I hope this helps y’all as you write (or wing) your projects! Let me know in the comments below what curveballs your story has thrown at you!

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Whew! So many golden tips and amazing advice! Thank YOU, Grace, for writing that! 💕 (Check out her blog for more fabulous post like that!) I don’t know about you, but I needed that post, because I’m coming up on some *coughs* unplanned surprises in my WIP right now. 😂 What curveballs has your story thrown at you? Are you going to create a “written inspiration” board for your characters? How well do you know your characters? Are you winging your current WIP or do you have it all planned out?