Welcome

Carla Swafford

Author of

Circle of Desire!

RT Book Reviews - 4-1/2 stars!

"[A] dark, gritty story that will grab you by the throat and not let go."

Carla Swafford inherited her love of books from her dad and his father. Growing up, she read every book with a horse on the cover until the age of twelve when she read her first romance. Tired of waiting for her favorite authors to publish more books, she decided to write one. She joined Romance Writers of America and was the finalist in several writing contests, including two times in the Georgia Romance Writers’ Maggies.

For more information about Carla and her debut release, Circle of Desire, from HarperCollins, Avon Impulse, visit www.carlaswafford.com

Deep Editing Q & A for Carla Swafford

1. What’s your writing process?  Pantser? Plotter?

I usually have an opening scene in mind when I begin writing. Then after I’ve written at least three chapters, I’ll stop and breakdown the main characters, deciding what type of back story they’re carrying around. Even though their back story may not really play a direct part in the book, it’s what decides how they’ll react to the action/conflict and each other. Once I reach the halfway point, I’ll work out a beat sheet similar to the one in Blake Snyder’s Save The Cat! So I guess I’m 90% pantser and 10% plotter.

Do you strive to complete a first draft in a certain time frame?

Oh, my, I would love to finish a first draft in three months, and I’ve done it a couple times. But usually it takes four to five months. Working a full time job that often requires me to work ten to eleven hour days, spring through summer (construction season), my brain is exhausted by the time I get home. So the weekend is when I get most of my writing done.

How long do you allow to deep edit a complete manuscript?

It takes me about a month to read the book out loud and let my critique partners and beta readers take a crack at it. I might go through it two more times before I give up. I never think it’s perfect.

2.  Blog Guests: Enjoy this excerpt from Chapter 1:

“You’ll cooperate or you’ll cause a lot of undue harm to those you care about,” he said. His warning hung in the air.

“What do you mean?” She didn’t like the sound of that. Only a handful of people had any claim to her affections and no one knew who they were.

So far his threats hadn’t bothered her¾well, not that much¾but the way he worded this told her it was different. More serious. She didn’t like the way he was looking at her. Why did a chill run down her back?

“St. Vincent’s Dower Orphanage,” he said simply.

A wave of dizziness came over her. All of the fight drained out of her. She closed her eyes, refusing to look at the triumphant glimmering in his.

Deep Editing Analysis:

Smooth writing that accomplishes a lot. Carla loaded that 127 word excerpt with:

-- Natural-sounding Dialogue - - that set up an internal conflict

-- A Power Internalization that deepened characterization (no one knew who she cared about)

-- Another Power Internalization, separate paragraph (to empower it) about his threats

-- Interpretation of his dialogue and body language – which increased her fear.

-- A Visceral response – chill down back

-- A Sentence Fragment – the name of an orphanage.

-- Another Visceral Response – dizziness

-- Another Power Internalization – fight drained from her

-- Body Language – closed eyes

-- Another Power Internalization – refusing to acknowledge the look in his eyes, he knew he had something powerful he could use to make her cooperate with his

Kudos to Carla!  Stellar writing!

Margie Asked Carla:  Which elements did you include the first time you wrote that piece?  What changes did you make?

I have a bad habit of letting my characters say only a few words. So often I have to go back and add dialogue as I delete narrative. And when I do have dialogue in the first draft, I’ll go back and add Visceral responses and movement. Rarely do I find the manuscript needing tags (he said/she said) unless my CP or betas point out they’re confused by who’s talking.

3. Carla writes about guns like she truly knows guns. Check out this paragraph:

The usual brutal recoil dampened by the hydraulic system always surprised her. The rifle worked like it should with little firing signature, a thump of air and only a small amount of flash at the end of the barrel. The suppresser did its job. Unless someone stared directly at her open window and caught the small flare, nothing gave away her location.

Well written. Love the smooth way you slipped interesting facts about the gun into your story.  Great cadence too.

Margie Asked Carla:  Tell us how you know guns so well, or how you did your research.

I had the good fortune of going to my RWA chapter’s gun workshop and two of the three presenters were former Special Forces. They were helpful in making the scene real. Hollywood can lead authors into writing a scene that’s actually impossible. For example, in several movies I’ve seen, they will show someone being shot and his body flying backwards, like being pushed. That doesn’t happen. A person will drop where they’re shot. Well, I wanted the body to land in the water. So I had asked, if I had the guy jogging down a pier and he’s shot in the back, would the momentum of his body continue two steps or more?

The answer was yes, it was possible. I had my scene.

When it came to the recoil, flash, flare, suppresser, etc., a lot of that information is provided by the manufacturer. So all I had to do was put most of it in layman language and my own words.

4.  This passage is from the end of Chapter 2.

Not waiting to see if they were coming for her, she picked a direction and ran. The hallway curved and then turned into another wing of the building. She took the corner blindly. Then she slammed into a solid mass.

A broad chest flattened her nose. Without hesitation she hooked her foot around a leather clad ankle and kicked back as she shoved her fist into his hard stomach. The man stumbled but somehow held onto his balance as he reached out and grabbed her hair.

“What the hell?” a deep voice shouted above her.

She aimed for his groin, but he anticipated the move and hit her with an uppercut.

The bastard had a fist made of steel. Stars floated in front of her face.

Funny. Birds really do chirp above a person’s head just like in cartoons.

Then everything went black.

I love this scene. It’s written so well. Everything works. The action. The body slam. The struggle. The Power Internalizations. The pacing. The white space. The humor.

Margie Asked Carla:  Was that action scene easy to write?  Tough?

It took me about four tries to get that first paragraph right. I wanted the reader unaware for about a second of what she crashed into. Then I wanted to show how tall he was compared to her.

How did you build this scene?

I didn’t want her to escape — there was too much for her to learn — and I needed something that would block her. So I decided to literally block her with a new character. And since she’s a fearless heroine, I needed to show her refusing to give up.

For me, each scene is a chance to move the plot forward, even if it is mainly for character development. A character may reveal a special talent in one scene that will be important in another.  Everything must be in the book for a reason. It might take until the last chapter to see why it’s there, but it will show up again. Unless I forget. I hate it when that happens.

Did you have the humor hit, the line about birds chirping, the first time you wrote this scene?

Actually, yes. I’m so glad you liked it. It’s one of my favorite lines because it sort of happened to me once. Not that I was hit by a big guy, but I clumsily hit my head on a corner shelf, and I swear I heard birds singing and saw stars floating before my eyes. I had that very same thought as Olivia.

5.  What are some deep editing tools you learned from me, and how did they make a difference in your writing?

When I took your workshop, I brought the beginning of my second book with me. I noticed by highlighting, the cadence (rhythm) I worked for in my writing shone through with each color. That made me happy. Then in areas where one color dominated the others, I knew I had a problem. What a beautiful way to improve a story.

I’m a visual person. Now I’ll say something that will sound strange, but bear with me. When I write (type), I often close my eyes. The reason is I’m envisioning the scene, playing it out in my mind, seeing the people move, the way they hold their heads, where they keep their hands, their expressions and a little of the scenery. But when I look at the words over and over again on paper, they become black and white squiggly lines. The highlighting takes care of that. It helps me “see” the scene again without closing my eyes. I hope that makes sense.

Thank you, Margie, for having me on your blog. I sure hope to have a chance again in the near future to take another class of yours. You’re an amazing teacher.

Thank you! Your way of closing your eyes to visualize your scenes must work well for you. Glad the EDITS System helps you check the balance and cadence of your scenes too.

Thank you for being my guest today!

BLOG GUESTS -- It's your turn!

Please post your questions for Carla below. She's a debut author. If you have questions about her foray into the publishing world, please ask.

I'll draw the name of the winner at 10:00 Mountain Time, tonight.

Check back and see if you're the winner!