Stratira creates a customized marketing campaign from your book(s) in minutes: mockup images in different formats, suggested text for social media, images and suggestions for ads and a lot more.

Stratira takes your book and creates an entire customized marketing campaign in minutes. It produces mockup images with the book cover, in different size formats, with suggested text for social media. It also provides images and suggestions for ads and a lot more.

• A complete marketing campaign
• Social posts tailored to your characters and themes
• Email campaigns written and sequenced
• Outreach emails for podcasts and influencers
• Book review graphics
• Street team toolkits
• Blog posts built around what your readers are already searching for
• Companion guides
• Book club kits
• Deep-dive genre explainers
• Reader magnets
• Behind-the-scenes exclusives

Get lifetime access for a limited time for $197. It would’ve taken me days to do all of this for one book, and you can use it for multiple projects, so while it’s not cheap, I do think it’s good value.

Here’s a blog post where I share a three mockup images it provided and a couple of examples of the marketing text.

https://swarmchairtraveler.blogspot.com/2026/04/hate-marketing-get-complete-customized.html

Here’s my affiliate link for more info:

https://stratira.ai/what-do-you-write/?orid=590825

or go straight to the children’s book version:

https://stratira.ai/sp-childrens-book/?orid=590825

or go straight to the version for fiction:

https://stratira.ai/sp-fiction/?orid=590825

What it provided in minutes for one book:

Limited time deal: Ending today, March 28, readers will receive 25% OFF their entire order in the Tule store. Yes… the entire order. Use code StuffYourEReader26 at checkout. You can start by shopping my Tule mysteries (the Accidental Detective and the Reluctant Psychic) and romance (the Accidental Billionaire Cowboys series) or browse all my novels published by Tule here.

This is a good time to grab the latest Accidental Detective novel, Something Prowling in Paradise Park at a discount (above):

Three cases. One body. Zero chance of staying out of trouble.

Filled with twists, humor, and heart, Something Prowling in Paradise Park delivers the perfect blend of cozy mystery, female sleuth suspense, and found-family crime solving. Fans of J.A. Jance, Elly Griffiths, and Ann Cleeves will love this page-turner set against Arizona’s sunbaked secrets.

The series is also available at your favorite retailer, if you prefer. Find all the links here.

Audio Deal: 50% Discount on the audiobook for Something Shady at Sunshine Haven!

The Accidental Detective humorous mystery series: A witty journalist solves mysteries in Arizona and survives turning 50. Get the deal at audiobooks.com.

Discount on middle grade novels in print: Get my novels for ages 8-12 (or older! Many adults love these!) written as Chris Eboch 15% OFF print book list prices with code BSO15 at checkout, until April 1. Every Bookshop.org purchase supports local, independent bookstores. See the list here.

Which paw is behind Rigby’s head?

Calling Cat Lovers: Street Cat Hub of Albuquerque has trapped, spay/neutered, and released 5,020 cats for this fiscal year and 53,843 since it was founded in 2014. Donate to Keep TNR Free and Accessible, or “Buy some Tees, support some Kittees!” (shop merch): https://www.streetcathub.org/donate

The Furrever Friends Sweet Romance series is now free in Kindle Unlimited (and also for sale, but only at Amazon). These novels feature the workers and customers at a small-town cat café, and the adorable cats and kittens looking for their forever homes. Each book is a complete story with a happy ending for one couple (and maybe more than one rescued cat).

Find More New Books and Authors!

Historical Fiction for Young Readers: Find great historical fiction for elementary and middle school readers (ages 7 to 12+). From my mystery in ancient Egypt & Mayan drama to 450 BC in the Peruvian jungle, feudal Japan, Civil War, & Toronto in 1919.

What I’m Watching: My spouse and I have been really enjoying High Potential (Hulu). The mysteries have a great blend of drama, humor, and heart. Bonus points for starring a woman in midlife (the actress is now fifty), with a diverse supporting cast!

Want to connect on social media? Find me here:

GoodReads Author Page

Instagram

Facebook

Pinterest

Mastodon

BlueSky

Another photo of Mercury and Rigby, because they’re just so darn cute. I also post videos on my Chris Eboch Facebook page.

Learn more about the Accidental Detective humorous mystery series, the Reluctant Psychic Mystery series, the Accidental Billionaire Cowboys sweet romance series, the Felony Melanie: Sweet Home Alabama romantic comedy novels, and the Furrever Friends cat cafe sweet romance series.

https://shepherd.com/best-books/mystery-series-that-ive-reread-multiple-times

Something Prowling in Paradise Park: A Kate Tessler Amateur Sleuth Mystery (The Accidental Detective Book​ 7) by Kris Bock​ comes out March 2.

Get this book free via the BookSprout campaign: https://booksprout.co/reviewer/review-copy/view/256465/something-prowling-in-paradise-park
Claim by: Feb 27
Reviews Due By: March 3

Three cases. One body. Zero chance of staying out of trouble.

Kate Tessler may have thought her days of chasing danger were over. But the former war correspondent’s “retirement” in sunny Paradise, Arizona, is anything but quiet. With her eccentric circle of friends and colleagues, Kate has built a new life—full of mysteries, mayhem, and the occasional stakeout—as she works towards earning her PI license.

After wrapping her last case, Kate wonders what’s next when three cases—all brought by friends—fall into her lap. Squatters in a snowbird’s house, local pedigree dogs disappearing, and smash and grab burglaries at local pot shops. Kate juggles the cases with help from her usual cast of amateur crime solvers, including the teen sons of Paradise’s mayor. As she digs, Kate suspects at least two cases are connected.
But things turn deadly when a late-night stakeout leads Kate and one teen sidekick, interested in investigative work, straight to a body. Was it a gruesome accident—or something far more sinister?

The Accidental Detective mysteries prove that danger and friendship don’t retire quietly. Filled with twists, humor, and heart, Something Prowling in Paradise Park delivers the perfect blend of cozy mystery, female sleuth suspense, and found-family crime solving. Fans of J.A. Jance, Elly Griffiths, and Ann Cleeves will love this page-turner set against Arizona’s sunbaked secrets.

Readers say: If you like Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series, you’ll love sleuthing with Kate and the Coffee Shop Irregulars!

“I love the amateur detective sisters solving the crimes along with their friends and family who help them. There is lots of witty banter and interesting situations that keep this story moving along at a fast pace.”

Free Short Mystery

In the Reluctantly Psychic Mystery series, a quirky loner who can read the history of any object with her touch gets drawn into mysteries at the museum of oddities where she works. This short story provides a glimpse into the series world.

Petra and Haven are in Santa Fe to sell rocks and minerals at an arts market. When a woman approaches them with a strange story, Petra uses her psychic power to sense that this stranger is truly in trouble, and they must figure out how to stop a murder.

Get “Leave No Stone Unturned: A Reluctantly Psychic Short Mystery” free: https://storyoriginapp.com/directdownloads/0ee447e5-925b-4c5f-baef-17aed5cf59ff

Odd Detectives: An All-Genre Giveaway for Mysteries with Quirky Characters

Check out 30 free novels, short stories, and previews! You’ll find cozy, paranormal, and detective mysteries, each free with newsletter signup (unsubscribe any time):

https://storyoriginapp.com/to/ukDc9pH

“A Stone Cold Murder is one of the most vivid books I’ve ever read. Kris Bock doesn’t just tell a story—she immerses you in it.”

“A Stone Cold Murder is exactly the kind of book I crave—tightly plotted, emotionally rich, and impossible to put down. Kris Bock blends murder, mystery, and psychic suspense seamlessly, and I’m obsessed.”

“…what truly resonated with me was Petra’s emotional journey. Her anxiety about being discovered, her cautious approach to forming friendships, and her affection for her pets (the cats! the ferrets! my heart!) made her character incredibly relatable. I found myself laughing, gasping, and perhaps shedding a tear or two.”

Available everywhere. See all the books here. If you read e-books and haven’t started this series yet, now’s a great time! Please share it with anyone else who might be interested as well.

Buried in Betrayal: Reluctantly Psychic Murder Mystery Book 3 is out! When Petra stumbles over a dead body, suspicions quickly turn to murder, with her landlord Shelley as the prime suspect. Petra and her friends investigate and quickly uncover a slew of suspects, scams, and motives. Petra’s psychic abilities alone aren’t enough to reveal the true killer. To clear Shelley, Petra will need all of her cleverness, the help of her found family, some luck, and the dog that seems to have adopted her. Available in ebook and print everywhere. Find the links here.

Bonus ferret photo: Mercury and the feather on a string.

Thanks for reading! You can also follow me on Amazon or BookBub if you only want New Release Alerts. Or check out my books – available at all major retailers as ebooks or print!

Learn more about the Accidental Detective humorous mystery series, the Reluctant Psychic Mystery series, the Accidental Billionaire Cowboys sweet romance series, the Felony Melanie: Sweet Home Alabama romantic comedy novels, and the Furrever Friends cat cafe sweet romance series.

Chris Eboch is the author of novels, nonfiction books and magazine articles. Chris taught Writing for Children through the Institute of Children’s Literature for ten years, and she has given dozens of popular writing workshops around the world. She has her M.A. in Professional Writing and Publishing from Emerson College.

Prices
Novels: $3 per page (standard manuscript format/​doublespaced) for general editorial comments (plot/​character/​flow/​language notes). This provides a 4 to 6 page editorial letter, plus notes written on the manuscript. Minimum $150.
Picture Books up to 1200 words: $60
Query Letters: $60

Email me through my website contact page. An example of a critique letter and more recommendations are available on request.

Recommendations

“Your mentoring was superior, and exactly what I needed to take a writing talent and journalism background and fine tune it into something solid…. You are a phenomenal teacher/​mentor.” Jodi Lea Stewart, author of Blackberry Road, Silki, the Girl of Many Scarves, The Accidental Road, and other novels

“Chris Eboch is a terrific editor! She is honest and insightful, and good at analyzing your plot and characterization. Her editorial skill helped me get my first novel accepted.” – Louise Spiegler, author of The Amethyst Road and The Jewel and the Key

“Your critique is so clear and concise, and easy to receive. In fact, it’s as though you scratched an itch I couldn’t reach. Nearly everything you said I could see, and on an intuitive level, I think I already knew. Thanks so much for your insights on those areas of my writing that need so much more work, but also for the positive feedback. I truly appreciate your critique and style of editing.” – Victoria L.

“I learned a hell of a lot with you. Your comments were always very constructive and you helped me to see the big picture, instead of losing the plot (pun intended!). I hope I can submit more work to you in the future.” – Marion T.

“I have been telling everyone I know that your editing is the best I’ve ever had, and I’ve had the opportunity to have several.” – Marik B.

“Chris provided a thoughtful, thorough critique. She helped me consider not only the little points such as sentence structure and word choice, but bigger issues like pacing and characterization.” – Jennifer Bohnhoff, author of The Bent Reed, On Fledgling Wings, and other novels.

Do you need help analyzing a plot? Download The Plot Outline Exercise from Advanced Plotting in a form you can edit and reuse! For more about Advanced Plotting, and You Can Write for Children, scroll down.

Classes with Chris: Take self-paced online classes with prerecorded videos, handouts, and assignments. Start when you want, work at your own pace, and keep access to the course forever!

Advanced Plotting—Keep Those Pages Turning: Learn advanced techniques that will make a decent plot dynamic. Start with a “grab you by the throat” opening, pack the plot full, maximize your pacing, and use cliffhanger chapter endings to drive the story forward. Learn more here.

Educational Publishing: Make Money Writing for the Educational Market: Do you want to make money from writing? Are you willing and able to write on assignment if given a topic, word count, grade level, and deadline? Then you may be perfect for educational work for hire! Get it here.

ou Can Write for Children: Learn about children’s publishing—opportunities and challenges, genres, age ranges, book and magazine markets, and resources to keep you going. Learn more here.

Visit Chris’s YouTube Channel The 10-Minute Writer for short videos on writing craft.

Inkers Con is a 10-day online conference created for independent fiction authors who are motivated to advance their careers.

2025 Inkers Con Digital Conference runs from June 7–20. A few of the #writing workshops:
Advanced TikTok for Authors
Supercharging Your Mailing List
Marketing Your Audiobook Like a Pro (Panel)
How to Add the Steam and Sizzle
Pacing Your Dialogue to Perfection
How to Dictate Your Novel
The Technical Creation of a Facebook Ad
BookBub Ads
Plus roundtables, networking events, and author Q&As:

https://inkerscon.com/2025-digital-conference

Use code CHRIS25 to get $50 off the price (normally $249)

https://www.cindytomamichel.com

However, some people warn, “Don’t Use Rewards for Motivation.” Stephen Guise explains the dangers of tying your motivation to a reward instead of the activity itself. Read why here:

https://stephenguise.com/dont-use-rewards-for-motivation/

The Unexpected Key to Persevering in the Writing Life, by Colleen M. Story

https://writingandwellness.com/2019/04/01/the-unexpected-key-to-persevering-in-the-writing-life/

Colleen says, “Sometimes we limit ourselves by taking a narrow view of what the writing life means. Personally, I never considered that building an author platform could help open up new ways for me to find meaning with my writing.”

This part really resonated with me:

“Writing blogs and guest posts, speaking at workshops, and writing non-fiction books has helped me fulfill that desire for meaning in ways that writing novels alone never did.”

It’s a helpful reminder that teaching writing workshops, offering paid critiques, and projects like this newsletter aren’t a distraction from my writing – they are part of being a writer. (Learn more about my writing workshops and paid critiques.)

Meanwhile, the friend who sent this post said, “I think it expresses much of where I am in the process of thinking about my writing life and where I’d like to be… I’m looking to understand what I’m feeling and thinking, and seeking a place where meaning is the foundation.” So for her, the lesson was to focus on the writing itself rather than whether it’s going to be marketable. The pressure of trying to write something publishers would like was taking the enjoyment out of the writing.

Another friend stopped writing because she realized she didn’t truly love it. However, she still occasionally critiques, because she enjoys critiquing and is very good at it.

Exercise:

• What do you love most about writing? What brings you satisfaction?

• Can you do more of that? Can you bring those elements to other activities, like marketing?

PS: If you found these posts helpful, please do me a favor by liking and restacking them! Sharing helps other writers find my posts and motivates me to keep writing useful content.

Here’s one Tip: “Staying motivated to write isn’t about pushing yourself to exhaustion—it’s about being kind to yourself and keeping your writing goals flexible.” She goes into more detail on each tip. Then she explains the Pomodoro Technique, “a simple yet effective way to boost focus and productivity.”

Sign up at https://www.yourauthormom.com/ to get the download of “5 Day Writer Reset.”

PS: If you find these posts helpful, please do me a favor by liking and restacking them! Sharing helps other writers find my posts and motivates me to keep writing useful content.

There are many ways you can analyze plot, and one of them is to look at the major plot points. In Western storytelling tradition, going back thousands of years, this breaks down into five main points.

The hook at the beginning of the story, where something interesting happens to your main character. It's what draws the reader into the story and makes them curious about what's going to happen.

The Act 1 break happens at about 25% of the story. Something major happens to twist the story, and at this point, your main character should be really committed to solving the problem. They can't just walk away.

The midpoint at the 50% mark typically echoes the ending of the story. So if you have a happy ending, your midpoint will be a high point. It will seem like everything is going well at that point, but it's a false high before everything goes wrong again.

Things start going wrong, leading to the Act 2 break at 75%. This is basically where everything seems about as bad as it can get. But your main character is still really committed to solving the problem. They have to make a big push to get through it.

That leads to the climax, where hopefully they succeed. After the climax, you just have the wrap-up or denouement.

My brother teaches script writing at a couple of colleges in California, as well as being a script writer himself. He has mentioned that he sometimes sees student manuscripts that use these plot points but don't do it in the right way. They will have something big happen at those points, but it might be something that relates to a secondary character or a subplot.

It's not enough to simply have something big happening at your plot points. It needs to relate to your main plot and your main character's attempts to deal with the situation. It's worth digging into the plot points more to make sure that you really understand what's supposed to happen and how that relates to traditional storytelling in the Western tradition.

That is not the only way you can analyze your plot. A number of authors have come up with plotting or story analysis tools, and you might find one that works better for you. Christopher Vogel has The Hero's Journey, or The Writer's Journey, which looks at mythical structure. It has a number of plot points and also discusses some of the traditional archetypical characters. Some writers find that works very well for them, where for others it may feel like your story doesn't really fit because it's not mythological enough, or you can't quite see how to map that onto your story.

Another popular one is the Script Writing Beat Sheet from Save the Cat. It has 15 points, so it goes into more detail than just those five initial points I mentioned. That can be helpful if you go through either an outline, if you are an outliner, or your draft, or both, and figure out whether you have those points. If not, would it make your story stronger to put them in?

James Scott Bell has 14 Signpost Scenes in Super Structure. Martha Alderson has The Plot Whisperer method. There are various plot maps that different writers have come up with, maybe because one of the ones they found didn't quite work right for them.

Author Janet Fox compared several of them in this visual. At the top, you have the basic three-act structure that dates back to playwriting and thousands of years. In green, she has Christopher Vogler's Writer's Journey. In brown, Sid Field's plot points from script writing. Blue is Martha Alderson's. You see hers is not a straight line with points on it, but rather it talks about the ups and downs, which might be helpful for some writers. Then red is James Scott Bell's 14 signpost scenes.

Also recommended:

Wired for Story: The Writer's Guide to Using Brain Science to Hook Readers from the Very First Sentence, by Lisa Cron

Story Genius: How to Use Brain Science to Go Beyond Outlining and Write a Riveting Novel, by Lisa Cron

Scene and Structure, by Jack Bickham

Writing the Blockbuster Novel, by Albert Zuckerman

The Three Stages of Screenwriting, by Douglas Eboch

I developed the Plot Arc Exercise, which I cover in Advanced Plotting, because I wanted something that would work well for me. You can download the plot arc exercise at https://chriseboch.com/for-writers/, and keep it as a document on your computer.

This is less about mapping to specific plot points and more about making sure that there is drama in every chapter. I ask questions about what happens, what is the conflict in the chapter, who is working to overcome that conflict, and so forth.

I personally feel like the three act structure and having these specific plot points can be really great, especially for beginning and early intermediate writers, because it helps you make sure your plot is working. As you get more advanced, you might notice some pitfalls. They can make books seem too much the same. If you've watched a movie and felt like you knew exactly what was going to happen next and when it was going to happen, it might be because it was using that very familiar act structure.

Really, depending on the type of story, you may need those plot points more or less. Romance may not really need all those points. Mystery may need them a little more. It depends on the kind of story you're trying to tell. There are also traditions other than the Western storytelling tradition, so if you are doing an indigenous or Eastern storytelling tradition, you may not want your story to map to those plot points.

I think, though, that whatever kind of story you're telling, you want to make sure that dramatic things happen in each chapter to keep the reader's interest. That can be another way to look at it. I ask some of those questions in my plot arc exercise.

Exercise:

• Check out at least three or four of the different plot analysis techniques.

• What can you learn from how they are the same/different?

• Which might work for you?

Your exercise for the week is to look into some of these plot analysis techniques. Try to check out at least three or four of the different ones. (Links above are to the books on Amazon. As an Amazon affiliate, I may get a commission if you buy using the link. An internet search should bring up other info.) See how they are the same and different. What can you learn from that? What seems to be consistent? What is different between them? Which one might work for you?

You may not use the same plot analysis technique throughout your entire career as your writer. You might find something that works great for the manuscript you're working on right now, but doesn't work for the next one. That's just the reality of being a writer. The same tools don't always work perfectly each time. That's why it is helpful to be familiar with some of these different analysis techniques, so if you find yourself stumbling on a manuscript, you know what some of the options are, and you can go back to them and maybe find one that will help you for that.

Next week, I will still be talking about editing, but we will actually be getting into the middle stage of focusing in more. I hope that you will join me then.

I signed off with what I'm including along with the query, and a brief thank you:

A synopsis and the first three chapters are pasted below. Thank you for your time.

Listing what I'm including lets them know I've read their guidelines, and I'm giving them what they asked. It also means if something went wrong, like I forgot to attach the synopsis, they know it's supposed to be there and might ask for it.

The thank you is polite, without excessive gushing, and without any passive aggressive hint like, “I look forward to hearing from you soon.”

That’s it. Sometimes simple is good!

I am a full-time writer with over sixty published novels and nonfiction books for children. These include the Haunted series of ghost story/mysteries (Aladdin), and The Well of Sacrifice (Clarion), an adventure set in ninth-century Mayan Guatemala. I have self-published six romantic suspense novels under the name Kris Bock. I would like to continue a hybrid career of writing for children and adults, with a return to traditional publishing for this mystery.

Obviously not everyone has already has 60 books to their name. That's OK. In fact, there are some advantages to being a debut author. Because you don't have a sales record, you don't have a poor sales record, and some publishers hope to discover “the next big thing.”

I focused on my traditionally published novels, even though they were for children. They show I know how to write and have had experience with traditional publishing. I did not list the years those books were published, because they'd show big gaps in my fiction publishing schedule.

I mentioned the romantic suspense novels that were self-published, because Kris Bock is the name I use when writing for adults. Self-published books won't necessarily impress an agent, but should they care to check, they'll find that these have excellent reviews. It shows that I know how to write an adult length book and I may already have some fans. Also, I wouldn't want an agent to find out later I've self-published and feel like I hid info from them.

However, if you've self-published one or two books that did poorly, you don't need to include them in a query letter. If you get an offer from an agent, you should be upfront about any past self-publishing, unless it was under a different name and you don't intend to connect the names. (Then you can still tell them, but you don't have to.) Be aware that you might be asked to publish under a different name now, in order to separate your past sales history from a new book.

If you have prior magazine or newspaper publications, you can state that to show your writing experience, but don't overdo it.

Read more

Read my conversation with Janet Lee Carey: https://janetleecarey.com/dream-walks/art-and-activism/

This is an old post – from 2017 – but it is (sadly) still relevant!

Injured in a bombing, Kate returns to her hometown in Arizona with new scars, a limp, and pain meds that give her brain fog. For the first time in her life, she's starting to feel her age (49), even though she's living like a teenager again: staying with her father, trying to understand why her sister resents her so much, and running into old friends who still think of her as Kitty.

This is a lot about the character. In some cases you might stick with a couple of adjectives and their job or role, and then get on to the plot. Maybe something like “Kate is a witty Arizona journalist who...”

Since I'm pitching a mystery series, it's important to convey why this character will be a compelling series lead. Her age is key to who she is and also suggests who will want to read the series – not exclusively women over 40, but that's definitely the prime audience, so much so that I tried to target female agents over 40 who would relate to Kate.

This also establishes the world (Arizona, modern da realistic) and some secondary characters (her father, her sister, possibly old friends who may not see her for who she is now).

Seeing her mother in an Alzheimer's unit is the hardest part – until an old friend asks her to investigate suspicious deaths at that nursing home. Is a self-appointed "Angel of Mercy" killing patients to end their suffering? Are family members hastening their inheritance? Is an employee extorting money and killing the witnesses? Kate uses her journalism skills to track clues, but the puzzle pieces simply won't fit. If Kate can't uncover the truth, her mother could be next on the killer's list.

In many cases, you might summarize the plot by saying “MC must do X, Y, and Z,” or “MC faces X, Y, and Z challenges.” Since this is a mystery, I hinted at what Kate does by showing who she suspects.

Read more

When a real crisis intrudes—sick kids, ailing parents, a job change or divorce—you may need to take time off from writing.

Just don’t let it drag on forever.

Plan how you’ll handle the crisis, and schedule a time to return to writing.

In the meantime, try to find ways to include writing in your life. Carve out five minutes a day to write a haiku or jot down a snippet of dialogue you heard. Join writers’ group meetings on Zoom for an hour or two a month. Read an article in a writer’s magazine or a few pages of a writing book.

This helps remind you that writing is waiting for you when you’re ready for it. When you do have time to write again, it might be easier to start if you’ve kept it in your life even in small ways.

Write Better Right Now: Learn to write better in 10 to 15 minutes per week with short videos/ posts that include assignments for practice. Most weeks also include a post on “writer support thoughts” for tackling the mental side of writing and publishing, plus a post with quick tips for better queries and pitches. Chris Eboch is the author of 25+ mystery and romance novels (as Kris Bock) plus over 100 books for young people.

The challenge is to step back from your work and see it as a whole. That can be very difficult. You've been writing this for months or years. You've put a lot of effort into it. It's really hard to step back from the manuscript and see it as it is at the big picture level. I'm sharing ways you can do that better.

Exercise: Write a synopsis of the story (or list of key events) without looking at the manuscript.

For this exercise, you start by writing a synopsis of the story. Don't let that word synopsis put you off. It doesn't have to have Roman numerals or subheads. You can write a paragraph just going through what happens in the story. You can make a list of key events, bullet points, however it works for you. The goal here is to think about the big things that happen in the story—but don't look at the manuscript while you're doing it.

You're not trying to remember every detail. You don't even necessarily have to remember the correct order of events. Just think about what is important to the story, the major events that happen, the things that you think are exciting and interesting, and get some kind of list of that.

Exercise: Go through the manuscript and write a list of key events based on the manuscript.

For step two, you make a similar list but go through the manuscript while you make it. Skim the manuscript chapter by chapter, so you can write a list of key events that are actually in the manuscript. This can be as basic and simple as you want.

For A Stone Cold Murder, I might say, Chapter 1, Petra meets Kit, finds rock used as weapon in her office. Chapter 2, Petra meets Liberty and Haven, asks about dead guy, tests rock again.

This might not make much sense if you haven't read the book. That doesn't matter, because I'm just doing this for my own use. I don't have to explain here that Petra has a psychic power, that she gets a vision when she picks up a rock. I don't have to explain who these other characters are. It's just for my own use, and I already know all that stuff.

So make your two outlines, bullet-pointed lists of events, however you want to do it. Then you can compare those two lists.

Exercise: Compare the two lists.
- What did you remember best and think was most important?
- What got left off the first list?

What did you remember best and think was most important when you were making your list by memory? Compare that to the second list and see what got left off. That might give you an indication of what's working really well, and what might not be working. Maybe you set up something that you never paid off. Maybe you started a subplot and you kind of lost track of it, so it made the second list, but you had totally forgotten about it on your first list. Maybe the things that were big and important to you only happen in the middle of the story or only toward the end. You might need to go back and revise to make sure that the story is exciting all the way through.

There's a variety of ways you can use this list; it kind of depends on what is in your story. But this can help you see what is really there versus what you had intended to put there or what you think is there. Because sometimes we don't realize that what we were trying to put into the story never quite made it onto the page.

You can also do this exercise with critique partners.

Exercise:
- Ask critique partners for a synopsis, list of events, or just what they remember and liked?
- What made their lists?
- What got left off?

The challenge can be that if you have a group that, say, critiques a chapter at a time, they may have started reading your story a year or more ago. If you ask what they remember, they may remember the things that they read most recently. That doesn't necessarily mean that the beginning of the novel was not working.

But if you have beta readers or if you do full manuscript exchanges, you can ask critique partners to do the same kind of synopsis or list of events. Or if you want to keep it simple for them, just ask what they remember most or what they liked most. That might give you a list of things that are working well in the story. You can expand on that to do more of those things. You can find the things that didn't make their list and decide whether that means there's areas that need to be trimmed or cut entirely or whether you need to make those parts stronger.

This kind of review can also let you know if your overall goal is working. So if you're writing a rom-com, but your critique partners really praised a couple of big action scenes you have, then maybe your intended genre is not quite what you're writing. Maybe you need to rebalance it, or maybe you need to rethink the kind of novel you're trying to write.

Normally for these videos, I try to keep the video plus the homework to 15 minutes or so because I know how busy and overwhelmed a lot of us are. But this week’s exercises will be a lot of work. Still, I think they will help if you're at that editing stage. Before you dive into the editing, find a way to step back and see the big picture.

And if you're not ready to edit right now, well, you can bookmark this video and save it for the future.

That's it for today! I hope you find it useful.

Dear [agent/editor name]: Something Shady at Sunshine Haven is an 83,000-word cozy mystery, the first in a planned series featuring a former war correspondent turned private detective who finds facing fifty almost as challenging as the mysteries she solves.

Some people will suggest putting the title, genre, and word count first, while others start with the hook and include this info right before the author bio. Unless I know the editor or agent prefers differently, I do it this way because it helps the reader understand what I'm pitching. They don't have to try to figure out what genre this is, or if this is a cozy versus traditional mystery versus a thriller.

I said planned series, to let the agent know I was hoping to sell a series, but I understand that sometimes you have to sell one book and see how well it does. You can hurt your chances if you say something like, “I have four books written in this series with four more planned!” If your books must be a series, like a trilogy that doesn't resolve until the last book, they need to know that, but it's going to be harder to sell a series than a single title, unless you are already a successful writer.

Note that if you have a real personal correction, like you've pitched to them before and gotten an invite to send something else, or you met them at a conference and they gave you a critique or you had a true conversation, you'd generally start with that.

When patients are mysteriously dying at an Alzheimer's unit, war correspondent Kate Tessler must use her investigative skills to uncover the killer and save her mother.

Notice how this uses the pitch formula from Hannah Sheppard mentioned last week:

"When A (inciting incident) happens, B (character) must do C (action) or D (catastrophe)."

Next week I'll share the two paragraphs that explain the story in more detail.

Exercise: use this example and the pitch formula to come up with a single sentence for your manuscript that covers "When A (inciting incident) happens, B (character) must do C (action) or D (catastrophe)."

FYI, I use this blurb for guest blog posts, social media etc:

In The Accidental Detective humorous mystery series, a witty journalist solves mysteries in Arizona and tackles the challenges of turning fifty. When patients are dying at a nursing home, former war correspondent Kate must use her investigative skills to uncover the killer and save her mother. Kate has followed the most dangerous news stories around the world, but can she survive going home?

See how much comes directly from the query? So while writing query letters may be torturous, at least you can reuse some of the pieces!

The best organized life can sometimes just get too full. Louise Spiegler, a college teacher and author of the upper middle grade novels The Amethyst Road and The Jewel and the Key, cautions against buying into the super-woman myth.

“It was almost impossible for me to work at a demanding job and take care of kids and write regularly. The only way I could write is to be teaching something familiar that I could spend less prep time on.”

You can’t do it all, so decide what’s most important. Then look for areas to cut back.

• Reduce your work hours.

• Cut commute time with a job closer to home or by negotiating for work from home days.

• Commute by bus or train and write as you ride.

• Arrange carpools or play dates for your kids to free up some time.

• Dictate into a tape recorder as you walk for exercise.

• Let the housework slide, and make quick meals. (For what it’s worth, you have my permission!)

• Put your family to work. Train your kids to do housework and cook one dinner per week—they’ll learn important skills while you get free time!

• Cut back on email, web surfing or TV.

Don’t let volunteer work take over your life either. Blaisdell comments, “When my volunteer schedule burgeoned to 80 hour weeks before conferences, it occurred to me that I could be doing a lot more writing. Volunteering was a part of paying my dues, but not my lifelong occupation. My time was best spent writing.”

These options won’t all work for everybody. You may not have a choice with your job or commute. You may find you struggle to write if chores aren’t done. (I have never personally had this problem, but I know people who feel too stressed to focus if they are surrounded by clutter or know a chore is waiting. Anyone have tips for dealing with that?)

For me, dictating while walking works. Walking seems to distract enough of my body and brain that I can focus on solving plot problems. I will even dictate chapters as I walk. Granted, the writing needs to be cleaned up a lot when I get back to the computer, but that’s often true for first drafts.

Many people claim they wouldn’t be able to write by dictating, or to write while walking, but if you haven’t tried it, how do you know? Even if you can’t dictate a scene, maybe you can brainstorm ideas or snippets of dialogue. I’ll sometimes simply dictate into an email to myself, but there are also apps that will translate voice to text. Note that it’s helpful to have a plug-in microphone with a collar clip, and it’s best to walk someplace relatively quiet, as street noises, wind, etc. can interfere with the sound quality. Plus it’s awkward if you’re passing a lot of people while talking about murder.

My point is, something here might work for you, even if not everything does.

Where does writing fit in your life?

Decide, and make a commitment to your work. Then repeat this mantra: I am a writer, and writers write.

Next week I’ll have more advice on maintaining a writing practice when you have young children, along with my writing craft video/text post and a post on pitches/queries.

Write Better Right Now: Learn to write better in 10 to 15 minutes per week with short videos/ posts that include assignments for practice. Most weeks also include a post on “writer support thoughts” for tackling the mental side of writing and publishing, plus a post with quick tips for better queries and pitches. Chris Eboch is the author of 25+ mystery and romance novels (as Kris Bock) plus over 100 books for young people.

One of the challenges of editing is to step back from your work and look at the big picture. It's relatively easy to go through a page of text and find words to tweak, but you don't really want to start that way.

You want to start by looking at the whole story. Is there anything that you need to change with the plot – write new scenes, delete some chapters, change what happens in the story? Are there characters that should be changed or secondary characters that can be combined? Do you need more or fewer characters?

You might even decide that you wrote it in third person point of view and it would be better in first person, or you have multiple viewpoint characters and maybe it should be only one, or the other way around. There's no single right answer, which is why you need to take time to look at those questions. You should also be thinking about cutting, adding, and moving anything when you're looking at the big picture, before you start to focus in, trimming scenes, checking subplots, and so forth, and certainly before you fine tune.

We'll be going through each of those stages, but starting big is so important that I have multiple videos on just that aspect.

It's helpful to find a way to look at the story as a whole to go back and remind yourself of what your goal was when you started. I developed something that works for me, the plot arc exercise, which is in my book, Advanced Plotting.

The first step is to define your goal. You might be trying to write a heartwarming romance or an action-packed suspense, maybe something as specific as a goofy humor novel that will appeal to reluctant reader preteen boys. It can be the kind of categories you might have on Amazon or where your book would be shelved in a bookstore, or it can be a more specific audience.

So think about who you're trying to reach with your book.

From there, you can write an elevator pitch, so-called because it's a sentence or two that very quickly conveys the idea of your story, should you be in an elevator with an editor. We're not writing this for an editor. It may be something you could use in the future in a query letter or to pitch your work to an audience on social media once it's published. But right now, this is just for your own use. So don't worry about getting it perfect. It's just the whole story condensed down into a way that you can remind yourself of what you were trying to achieve.

As an example, Whispers in the Dark is romantic suspense. That's the genre category. That's where it would be shelved in the bookstore. That's the sort of top-level category on Amazon or other online bookstores.

• A young archaeologist stumbles into danger as mysteries unfold among ancient Southwest ruins. Can she overcome the fears from her past, learn to fight back, and open herself to a new romance?

• Look for keywords that define the goal: mystery, suspense, romance

I've bolded the keywords, which relate to mystery, suspense, romance. That's what I want to give readers, that experience of having an exciting story with a nice romance. Yes, the ancient Southwest ruins are key to this as well. The setting is a very big part of the story. But I'm not writing a nonfiction about the Southwest ruins. I'm writing a romantic suspense. This helps me remember of what my focus is for the book.

The next example is for a middle grade novel. The Eyes of Pharaoh is a mystery novel set in ancient Egypt.

• When their best friend disappears, Seshta and Horus spy on merchants, soldiers, and royalty, and fall into a dangerous trap as they uncover a plot against Egypt.

• Define goals: mystery, danger

Read more