Plotting a Novel with Michael Hague's Steps

by Elva Cobb Martin

Michael Hague

Today I ran across Michael Hague's Six Stage Plot Structure and believe it is a good way to get a first draft outline. It will also help you write a synopsis of a finished book because it lists all the plot points needed.

Here's Act One plot points in detail with my own work-in-progress notes inserted:

Act One: Vital First 25% of your novel

0-10% The Set UP:  Protagonist (she) is in her normal life.
Spain, 1740
   Marisol Valentin is on her deceased parents Spanish estate, her uncle now owns. He has a bad gambling problem. A neighboring nobleman has a great interest in her but she has none in him.

10% Mark - Turning Point One: Opportunity or problem. Something happens to bring a change and make the protagonist act.

Marisol is accosted, knocked unconscious, and raped by the nobleman in the stables who has just won the estate from her uncle gambling. The nobleman thinks she comes with it. She stabs and kills the nobleman when she regains consciousness.

10-25% Stage Two: New Situation. She sees what life is like when she takes the opportunity or acts. It is very new, exciting, but also scary.

Marisol determines to flee from Spain, knowing no one will believe her story against the nobleman and she'll be arrested, hanged, for murdering him. She and her maid board a ship to flee to the Spanish colonies in the New World.

25% Mark - Turning Point Two: A change in plans. This launches Act Two.

Marisol's Spanish ship is attacked and overcome by pirates who take her and her maid captive and force them to sign indenture papers. The pirates head to Charles Town to sell the captives.

Briefly, here are Hague's other two main points that he also breaks down into percentages in his teaching.

Act Two 25-75% of Your Novel 
In act two, the protagonist works on changing her life and solving the problems of the plot. She isn't sure how to do that
has both victories and setbacks. 

Act Three 75-100% of Your Novel
In act three, the protagonist starts off in a bad spot, retreating to who she was and shunning who she wants to be. But she pulls it altogether and faces whatever she is afraid of, and gets ready to move on. This involves a final push and brings on the climax and final battle with the antagonist and the resolving of the story's main problem. 
Denouement: the protagonist survives and is now the person she wanted to be, has resolved the problems she faced. She sheds the old, embraces the new, and takes first steps into her new life.

For more on Michael Hague and story structure, click here.
 https://www.storymastery.com/

Thanks for stopping by. Did this help you with your plotting? If it did, please share this article by clicking on the small icons below the blog.

Blessings,
Elva Martin

Elva Cobb Martin is vice-president of the South Carolina Chapter of American Christian Fiction Writers. She is a former school teacher and a graduate of Anderson University and Erskine College. She has two inspirational novels contracted with Lighthouse Publishers of the Carolinas. Summer of Deception, a contemporary romantic suspense, and an historical romance, In a Pirate’s Debt. Both have spent time on Amazon’s 100 Best Sellers List for Women’s Religious Fiction. Decision, Charisma, and Home Life have carried Elva's articles. Jim Hart of Hartline Literary represents her. She and her husband Dwayne are semi-retired ministers. A mother and grandmother, Elva lives in Anderson, South Carolina. Connect with her on her web site http://www.elvamartin.com, her blog http://carolinaromancewithelvamartin.blogspot.com, on Twitter www.twitter.com/ElvaCobbMartin; Facebook http://www.facebook.com/elvacobbmartin;  and Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/elvacobbmartin

Link to her romance novels and non-fiction works on Amazon: http://amzn.to/2pOgVHI

Prep for an Audio Book Release

by Elva Cobb Martin

Have you noticed that audio books are selling better than ever? I actually listen to an audio book while I do my fast walking at the gym five days a week. A friend of mine with small children said the only time she had to "read"was while cooking or driving and listening to an audio book.

I was so happy when my publisher, Lighthouse Publishers of the Carolinas, sent me a form to fill out to start the process of getting my two novels into audio. This would not cost me anything, but my publisher, professional reader, and I would all earn money when the audio versions sold.

The form sent me included things like choosing the narrator's age, gender, accent, and style. I chose adult, female, American Southern, and inspirational or storyteller style.

Next, I had to give the Amazon overall rating for each novel and samples of reviews posted by the public. I also had to state how active I would be in marketing the audio books across my social media, etc. I gave my "number of followers" on Social Media.

My publisher then sent this info out to professional readers and those interested began to send me about two-minute auditions of the first pages of my two books.

A strange thing happened. I received two male reader auditions and decided the male readers were the best, even though I had originally assumed a romance novel would need a female reader. It is now my opinion the female readers who buy my audio book will fall in love with these strong male voices and thereby my hero. LOL

Here's a sample from my novel Summer of Deception.

http://bit.ly/2Fzbswr

How do you like this male voice? This man is a professional actor and we can tell it by his enunciation, emphasis, and otherwise great reading. He is busy right now finishing the audio version of my romantic suspense, Summer of Deception. I look forward to announcing it on this blog when it is ready.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope you leave a comment and share this on your social media by clicking on the small icons below.

Blessings,
Elva 

Elva Cobb Martin is vice-president of the South Carolina Chapter of American Christian Fiction Writers. She is a former school teacher and a graduate of Anderson University and Erskine College. She has two inspirational novels contracted with Lighthouse Publishers of the Carolinas. Summer of Deception, a contemporary romantic suspense, and an historical romance, In a Pirate’s Debt. Both have spent time on Amazon’s 100 Best Sellers List for Women’s Religious Fiction. Decision, Charisma, and Home Life have carried Elva's articles. Jim Hart of Hartline Literary represents her. She and her husband Dwayne are semi-retired ministers. A mother and grandmother, Elva lives in Anderson, South Carolina. Connect with her on her web site http://www.elvamartin.com, her blog http://carolinaromancewithelvamartin.blogspot.com, on Twitter www.twitter.com/ElvaCobbMartin; Facebook http://www.facebook.com/elvacobbmartin;  and Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/elvacobbmartin

Link to her romance novels and non-fiction works on Amazon: http://amzn.to/2pOgVHI

Finding a Great Trailer Deal

by Elva Cobb Martin

When I was writing my first two novels I dreamed of being able to have a video trailer made for them both, but really thought hiring it done would be out of my price range. Well, things have changed!

I recently ran across a very reasonable trailer designer. Her name is Rachel Bostwick. I stuck my toe into trailers by hiring her to do her shortest trailer for the amazing price of $5 each.  Yep, I said $5.00. I had her do one for both books.  

Summer of Deception 

In a Pirate's Debt

















Here they both are on YouTube posted by my publisher.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCL0TFKkC-YhLfOnnAzoR23A

If you want to check out this designer you can reach her through Fiverr at this link. 
               http://fiverr.com/rachelbostwick

It was so easy working with Rachel. She asked me to send her three free-to-use photos and three sentences for each book and she took it from there. I was so pleased with her work and timely communications.

I would love to know what you think of the trailers. Please do leave a comment and click on the small icons below to share on your social media.

Elva

Elva Cobb Martin is vice-president of the South Carolina Chapter of American Christian Fiction Writers. She is a former school teacher and a graduate of Anderson University and Erskine College. She has two inspirational novels contracted with Lighthouse Publishers of the Carolinas. Summer of Deception, a contemporary romantic suspense, and an historical romance, In a Pirate’s Debt. Both have spent time on Amazon’s 100 Best Sellers List for Women’s Religious Fiction. Decision, Charisma, and Home Life have carried Elva's articles. Jim Hart of Hartline Literary represents her. She and her husband Dwayne are semi-retired ministers. A mother and grandmother, Elva lives in Anderson, South Carolina. Connect with her on her web site http://www.elvamartin.com, her blog http://carolinaromancewithelvamartin.blogspot.com, on Twitter www.twitter.com/ElvaCobbMartin; Facebook http://www.facebook.com/elvacobbmartin;  and Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/elvacobbmartin

Link to her romance novels and non-fiction works on Amazon: http://amzn.to/2pOgVHI

A Dry Dock Fast for the New Year

by Elva Cobb Martin

Do you do any kind of fast and prayer for the New Year? I always do some kind, whether Daniel's 21-Day prayer and fast of no pleasant bread (sweets) or just one week of fasting sweets, maybe meats, and TV to spend more time seeking God and His plan for us for the New Year.

A prayer and fast is similar to dry docking a ship.

 In my historical research of sailing ships I've learned why ships need to be dry docked after periods of service. According to Tom Hardiman, dry dock occurs when a ship is taken out of its normal surroundings in order to examine what has happened below the water line.


For example, after the USS

 USS Constitution

Constitution had been in commission for about twenty years, this vessel, which had been nimble and easily able to change course, began to slow down. In dry dock ten wagon loads of barnacles were removed from its bottom. Barnacles are living crustaceans with a glue-like substance that attach to bottoms of ships. If not removed, these barnacles grow a hair-like substance that almost looks like a beard. Sailors know this as "Satan's Beard." It's a long trail of stuff that slows the vessel down and, if not removed, the vessel will never return to its original precision.

Dry dock for modern ships is a structured area wherein construction, repairs, changes, and maintenance of merchant vessels and boats are carried out. Do you need some dry docking?

What has attached to you "below the water line" this past busy year? Fear, worry, disappointment, anger, grief, confusion? Satan's Beard, all of them. If these things aren't uprooted from your spirit, they will limit your effectiveness in 2018. They can even abort your having a successful year at all.

So I come aside in my special place, with my Bible and prayer journal, and I have some long talks with Father God at least the first week of each new year. We talk about anything concerning me, my successes, my failures, my time and how to spend it, my writing and marketing, our family finances, and any changes or wisdom needed. I date and write down what He says and confirming scriptures.

And He always also speaks something new into my life. In my year 2000 January fast when I'd been praying about our family finances and whether to make changes in our retirement investment, the Lord said, "If you don't become as concerned about your diet and health as you are with that little nest egg, somebody else will be making decisions about that money." Duh! I got the message. That whole year God began to show us some diet and exercise changes we need to make to our lifestyle if we wanted to live long and healthy. We made big changes and continue them.

Sometimes I didn't act as fast.  I think it was the 1998 January Prayer and Fast, when I was asking the Lord about our investments. He said, "Get totally out of the stock market." We had invested some retirement money in two small mutual funds that were currently earning 16-17%. (Are any of you old enough to remember those good old days?) Who wanted to move money earning good rates like that? I was sure I had misheard. So we did nothing. 

In April I had a vision of an angel in the New York Stock Market.  When I asked the Lord about it, He said, "He's there to hold back the worse losses until more Christians can get their money out." I asked where to rollover our investment, but still received no direction. So, again, I let it slip.

In July on one of my busiest days of year, I was rushing to finish a 21-page prayer booklet that would be distributed to 45 churches in our county who were helping us put a 24 hour prayer cover over our Anderson, S.C. county. God said, "Get your money out of the stock market, NOW." This voice was like a parent's last stern warning to a disobedient child. I called my husband, told him what I'd heard. He agreed, but we still didn't know where to roll the money over to. I called our broker and told him to redeem all our shares and move them into a bank money market at about 2%. He thought we were crazy but he did it that afternoon.

Two weeks later the stock market took its first plunge of 300 points. One friend told us she lost $35,000 in that plunge. Our little nest egg sat safely in a bank money market.

The Lord later showed us to invest in rental properties for retirement income, which are going great. So our "dry dock fasts" have been a realigning, a revealing, and given us wisdom for important decisions over the years.

Thanks for stopping by. Please leave a comment and share this blog on your social media by clicking on the small icons below.

Have a blessed, successful New Year!
Elva Cobb Martin

Elva Cobb Martin is president of the South Carolina Chapter of American Christian Fiction Writers (2014-2017). She is a former school teacher and a graduate of Anderson University and Erskine College. She has two inspirational novels contracted with Lighthouse Publishers of the Carolinas. Summer of Deception, a contemporary romantic suspense, and an historical romance, In a Pirate’s Debt. Both have spent time on Amazon’s 100 Best Sellers List for Women’s Religious Fiction. Decision, Charisma, and Home Life have carried Elva's articles. Jim Hart of Hartline Literary represents her. She and her husband Dwayne are semi-retired ministers. A mother and grandmother, Elva lives in Anderson, South Carolina. Connect with her on her web site http://www.elvamartin.com, her blog http://carolinaromancewithelvamartin.blogspot.com, on Twitter www.twitter.com/ElvaCobbMartin; Facebook http://www.facebook.com/elvacobbmartin;  and Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/elvacobbmartin

Link to her romance novels and non-fiction works on Amazon: http://amzn.to/2pOgVHI

Best Verse in the Bible - Christmas Amplified

by Elva Cobb Martin

"For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He (even) gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal, (everlasting) life."   
                                                                          John 3:16 Amplified Bible

The story of the vision and work on the Amplified Bible, my favorite translation, is a remarkable story of faith, hope, and love. It begins with a woman of vision and intense study of the Bible, Frances Siewert, a non-profit foundation, and, finally, a young, Christian publishing house in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Mrs. Siewert (1881-1967) devoted her life to studying the Bible in the Hebrew and Greek languages. She began work on a Bible translation that would expand, amplify, the text with all the richness of the Hebrew and Greek languages. The Lockman Foundation caught on to her vision of a translation that would add all the color of these two languages to the Bible text and came alongside to assist her. One chapter yet remained to bring the vision into reality. 

Zondervan Publishing House seized the opportunity to participate in this vision they believed would be blessed by God and change lives. They published the Amplified New Testament in 1958 and the full Amplified Bible in 1965.

Merry Christmas and Happy, Blessed New Year!
Elva 

Elva Cobb Martin is president of the South Carolina Chapter of American Christian Fiction Writers (2014-2017). She is a former school teacher and a graduate of Anderson University and Erskine College. She has two inspirational novels contracted with Lighthouse Publishers of the Carolinas. Summer of Deception, a contemporary romantic suspense, and an historical romance, In a Pirate’s Debt. Both have spent time on Amazon’s 100 Best Sellers List for Women’s Religious Fiction. Decision, Charisma, and Home Life have carried Elva's articles. Jim Hart of Hartline Literary represents her. She and her husband Dwayne are semi-retired ministers. A mother and grandmother, Elva lives in Anderson, South Carolina. Connect with her on her web site http://www.elvamartin.com, her blog http://carolinaromancewithelvamartin.blogspot.com, on Twitter www.twitter.com/ElvaCobbMartin; Facebook http://www.facebook.com/elvacobbmartin;  and Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/elvacobbmartin

Link to her romance novels and non-fiction works on Amazon: http://amzn.to/2pOgVHI

Writing with Spiritual Impact - Part 2 Jacob's Stone Legend

By Elva Cobb Martin

In Part 1 we defined "Thin Places" as where heaven and earth seem closer due to the prayer and worship that has taken place in that area. Click here for Part 1 http://bit.ly/2i7YP13  

In my research into "thin places" I found myself studying again the story of Jacob in Genesis 28:11-12. If there ever was a thin place, surely where he slept on a stone as his pillow and dreamed of the ladder between heaven and earth with angels descending, this place would be one.

Remember when Jacob awoke, he was afraid and declared, "How dreadful is this place! It is none other than the house of God,and this is the gate to heaven."

Then he set up the stone and poured oil on it and called the name of that place Bethel, meaning house of God.

Now this is where the "rest of the story" related to that stone gets interesting. 

Did you know there is an unfounded tradition related to it? The legend says this stone was finally brought to Jerusalem, later taken to Spain, then to Ireland and finally, to Scotland. On what is supposed to be that very stone, the kings of Scotland were crowned. Later, Edward I of England had it brought to Westminster and placed under the chair on which kings of England have been crowned for centuries.

Along with this stone tradition is the Anglo-Saxon theory that the British and American people are the ten lost tribes of Israel.

For much more information and research about this topic and where the stone is today, click here: http://bit.ly/2izOpLB

Whether the stone legend or ten lost tribes theory are true or not, thin places we started out discussing continue to intrigue me, especially my own thin place of daily prayer and worship. It is from time spent there that I can write with greater spiritual impact. How about you?

Do you have a "thin place" where you feel closer to God and heaven?

Thanks for stopping by and please leave a comment and share this on your social media by clicking on the small icons below.

Blessings,
Elva 

Elva Cobb Martin is president of the South Carolina Chapter of American Christian Fiction Writers (2014-2017). She is a former school teacher and a graduate of Anderson University and Erskine College. She has two inspirational novels contracted with Lighthouse Publishers of the Carolinas. Summer of Deception, a contemporary romantic suspense, and an historical romance, In a Pirate’s Debt. Both have spent time on Amazon’s 100 Best Sellers List for Women’s Religious Fiction. Decision, Charisma, and Home Life have carried Elva's articles. Jim Hart of Hartline Literary represents her. She and her husband Dwayne are semi-retired ministers. A mother and grandmother, Elva lives in Anderson, South Carolina. Connect with her on her web site http://www.elvamartin.com, her blog http://carolinaromancewithelvamartin.blogspot.com, on Twitter www.twitter.com/ElvaCobbMartin; Facebook http://www.facebook.com/elvacobbmartin;  and Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/elvacobbmartin

Link to her romance novels and non-fiction works on Amazon: http://amzn.to/2pOgVHI

Thin Places - Writing with Spiritual Impact Part 1

by Elva Cobb Martin

Iona, Scotland, place of early Christian prayer

My favorite legal thriller author, Robert Whitlow, really snagged my interest in a new term to me, "thin places," in his book Water's Edge. He brought this spiritual principle in by having the heroine describe the hero's deceased, godly, father's law office. The hero Tom had just told the heroine Rose that even though he came to clean out his father's office, he'd actually found himself reading the Bible at his father's old desk more than doing the clean up. 

The heroine glanced around the room,then up at the ceiling and said, "That's because this is a thin place. It's what the ancients called a place where there's less separation between heaven and earth. It allows easier communion between the Lord and His people."

Then she went on to ask if he had heard of Iona or Lindisfarne which are known as thin places in Scotland and northern England where the early Christians established places of prayer and worship.

That prompted me to do some research not only Googling those two famous places people visit every year, but looking in the Bible as well.

Two "thin places" in the Bible that came quickly to my mind were Jacob's dream of the ladder between heaven and earth (Genesis 28:11-22) and New Testament Lydia's place in Philippi Paul discovered down by the river where "prayer was wont to be made." (Acts 16:13)

As Christian writers I believe the best spiritual arcs we can hope to create in our novels will be inspired by time spent in our personal spiritual thin place, our prayer closets. Do you have a "thin place" of your own where you've prayed and worshiped God so regularly, there's less separation between heaven and earth?

In Part 2 I will share something astounding I uncovered in this research into "thin places" that has to do with Jacob's experience and the stone he slept on and anointed with oil.

Thanks for stopping by. Do you know of a special thin place where you feel closer to heaven and inspiration? Please leave a comment, if so, and share this on your social media by clicking on the small icons below.

Blessings,
Elva Cobb Martin

Elva Cobb Martin is president of the South Carolina Chapter of American Christian Fiction Writers (2014-2017). She is a former school teacher and a graduate of Anderson University and Erskine College. She has two inspirational novels contracted with Lighthouse Publishers of the Carolinas. Summer of Deception, a contemporary romantic suspense, and an historical romance, In a Pirate’s Debt. Both have spent time on Amazon’s 100 Best Sellers List for Women’s Religious Fiction. Decision, Charisma, and Home Life have carried Elva's articles. Jim Hart of Hartline Literary represents her. She and her husband Dwayne are semi-retired ministers. A mother and grandmother, Elva lives in Anderson, South Carolina. Connect with her on her web site http://www.elvamartin.com, her blog http://carolinaromancewithelvamartin.blogspot.com, on Twitter www.twitter.com/ElvaCobbMartin; Facebook http://www.facebook.com/elvacobbmartin;  and Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/elvacobbmartin

Link to her romance novels and non-fiction works on Amazon: http://amzn.to/2pOgVHI