The Writer Limits Crossover Guest: Jennifer Hartz

Hi all! Today I have a guest. One of my contributor buddies from The Writer Limits (TWL), Jennifer Hartz, for a crossover event TWL is putting on. All the TWL contributors will be flipping and swapping guest posts with each other.

Jennifer is a fabulous writer and I'm super excited to have her on today. She's going to talk about her world building technique for The Future Svaior Series. Go for it, Sister!

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Why in the World Do I Put Biblical Mirroring in My Books?

When I set out to write The Future Savior Series I knew I wanted to incorporate a lot of Biblical mirroring… but why? Here's the best answer I can give you. It comes from someone who recently reviewed Future Savior Book 2: Resurrection:

"I absolutely loved all the scenes that had Biblical parallels. Those scenes especially, really made me want to grab my Bible so that I could read about the real events!!!"

I have a hard time talking to people. Especially people I don't know very well, but as a Christian I know I'm called to talk to people about Christ. How can I do this when the talking thing certainly isn't my cup of tea? The answer - writing!

But now the new question is what kind of writing. I'm not a big fan on non-fiction books… Blah, boring! So I knew a straight, informative non-fiction kind of book was never gonna happen. And regular, normal, contemporary fiction bore me. Why would I want to read about something I could do myself? No, I want to go to a galaxy far, far away or visit a land never before seen! So the answer became quite clear - speculative fiction!

Meshing these two things together - Biblical Mirroring and Speculative Fiction - resulted in The Future Savior Series. I've created a speculative world that Non-Christians and Christians will be interested in checking out and along the way I've sprinkled in some Bible stories. The result will have them reaching for a Bible to compare and contrast. I just got them to open up God's Word!

That was my desire when I put Biblical mirroring in The Future Savior Series, so I was thrilled to see it actually happen like in the review snippet above.

In my follow up posts to The Writer Limits Cross-Over Extravaganza, I'll break down each novel in The Future Savior Series and pinpoint the Bible references. Stay tuned because there could very well be a much anticipated excerpt from the upcoming release of Future Savior 4: Desecration!

Here's where you can find me on the web:

Webpage: http://jenniferhartz.com/

Twitter: @JenniferLHartz

Future Savior on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TheFutureSaviorSeries

Jenn on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jennifer.hartz.71

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Now, while she's here today, I'll be over there at her blog so make sure you stop by http://jenniferhartz.com/blog/. I'm talking about immortality people. IMMORTALITY! (You know you're interested.)

The Writer Limits

I am so super duper, uber, freakin' excited to announce the kick off of a group blog that I get to hang out at! (I resisted the multiple exclamation points...it was an effort, but I did it.)

"Say hello to my little friend..." Okay, technically not little and not a friend. It's the new blog:

These are some pretty groovy contributing authors. Here, let me lay it down for you all. We got Gail Delaney, J. Morgan, Jennifer Hartz, PI Barrington, Stephanie Burkhart, Tami Dee -- and yours truly.

Our genres cover everything SF, paranormal, fantasy and time travel... and of course everything has a spice of romance. 'Cause, let's face it, what fun would human existence be without romance? No fun, that's what.

Stop by for J. Morgan's intro post today breaking down further who we are and what we'll be showcasing over there and when/how often. http://thewriterlimitsauthors.blogspot.com/

Developing a Series: Closing Post

I want to again thank Jennifer Hartz and Tami Dee for such wonderful articles about both their approach to writing series and their latest releases. I hope you all enjoyed the week's theme too.

There are a couple great things I pulled out from their experiences I think I would like to try with my own writing.

• Find the time to daydream: Sometimes as writers we focus so much on the need to write, we forget to just let our minds wander. Jenn really illustrated -- through her use of time during her commute -- that just mind-wandering for a little bit can really help you work out your story. And Tami Dee sits down at her computer and just goes with it. So, I'm going to try and not focus so much on my technical tools and just try letting myself brainstorm freely.
• Plot the whole idea: I know a lot of people are not Plotters. I respect that and admire the freedom. As you can see from Tami's success it's not a requirement. However, I do think -- at least for me -- that for a story that crosses over books, plotting is a very important key to success. It doesn't have to be detailed, but at least a simple outline. Along with the plotting, using Tami's idea of a spreadsheet is a great way to track all the details. We're not talking 80K...it'll be 240K or more.
• Allow the seed to grow...don't stifle it with your original idea: Things won't always lead the way we thought when starting out. Don't go all willy nilly in every direction at a whim...but really think about the direction if it's just not working. Both Jenn and Tami showcased this aspect from their own experience writing their series.
• Be diligent: Take whatever time you can to write...even if it's only a few minutes.
• Make each book in the series strong enough to stand alone: Tami Dee really illustrated the point well, when she spoke about giving the reader enough finality to not feel open-ended between books, but still enough suspense to have them wanting to read the next.

I'm so happy I decided to try this exercise on the blog. In the process of completing the first book in my trilogy and starting the second, I realized some things I'm doing well, some things I need to correct before it's too far in, and those things that'll make it easier overall and going forward.

Good writing all!

Developing a Series: Jennifer Hartz Guest Blogs

Hi all! Today I'm excited to welcome my first guest blogger, Jennifer Hartz. As you all know, this week I've dedicated my blog to the development and writing of a series. Jenn is a fantasy writer and has a new series out, "Future Savior Book One: Conception". I'm happy to have her here. Please read on to see how she started writing and her approach to developing a series. She also has a treat at the end...a excerpt and her beautiful cover! No joke, the cover is amazing!! (Yes, double exclamations. Stop me if you can. Hee hee!)

While having a conversation with one of my students, I said something that would make my already busy life a heck of lot busier! We were discussing The Twilight Saga. As you know, most teenage girls love Twilight, I really enjoyed the books too, but we talking about how we were slightly disappointed with the forth book in the series. I eventually said, "I certainly can't judge Stephanie Myers because I haven't written a book let alone a bestselling mega smash series." This got me to thinking. I have always wanted to write a novel – it has been a lifelong dream – why not give it a shot. That day, while driving home from work, I started thinking about all of the books, movies, and TV shows I loved. I pulled out elements from all of these things that really captured my attention and slowly they morphed into my own fantasy realm.

For three months my daydreams continued as I drove back and forth from work. I have an hour and a half commute – three hours a day in the car – so my fantasy story really grew, and grew quickly. The story lines became more and more intricate and the personalities of my characters really started to take on lives of their own. Finally, summer rolled around and my fingers finally met the keys. Writing was the easy part since I had such a structured skeleton to work with. In the two and a half months of summer break I was able to write the entire 78,000 word novel that is now Future Savior Book One: Conception. I have the other four novels of the series completely mapped out in my head.

So what tips and tricks can I provide on how I plan to develop and write the remainder of my series? Well, I'm a big time "Plotter"… BIG TIME! There are two types of writers out there, Plotters and Pansters. Plotters are people like me who have to know exactly where the story is going. They plot and plan the entire novel – or in my case the entire five book series – before they ever touch a computer. Then there are pansters. These people have a basic idea of what kind of book they want to write and they sit down and write "by the seat of their pants". I guess the question you have to ask yourself is, "which kind of writer am I? Plotter or a Panster?

If you’re a plotter, like me, the best advice I can give is to complete your thought. As you start to dream up your story and you follow a plot line, follow it as far as it goes. Does it work? Does it make sense? Is it interesting? Do all of the loose ends tie up? If not, you've got to go back and take your story down a different line. As a dreamed in my car for three months, this is exactly what I did. My original daydreams about Future Savior were just awful ideas! The plot lines were weak and the characters were garbage. There were some sprinklings of good things even in those early days… those things are still in Future Savior today, but the rest was trashed and I followed my story down a different line until I got it right. Now, with the completed plan in my head, I couldn't be happier with the intricate story I've developed, the awesome fantasy world called Meric that I've created, and the characters I've grown to love.

So how do I plan on moving ahead with the rest of the series? I need to be diligent. I have a very busy life. I know that many people do, but my days are insane! Like I said, I'm in the car for three hours every day so right off the bat my hours are seriously severed. I teach, coach sports, volunteer at my church and, most importantly, I have a husband and a two year old son. So when I do find a few free moments I need to spend them writing. Not only do I have the Future Savior Series to complete, but I'm really excited about a new YA series that my brain has conjured up.

Here are some links where you can find out more about me and Future Savior:
Jenn Hartz' website – http://jenniferhartz.com/
Twitter link – http://twitter.com/JenniferLHartz
Facebook link – http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/profile.php?id=100000624983529

Buy Links
Desert Breeze Publishing – http://stores.desertbreezepublishing.com/-strse-107/Jennifer-Hartz-Future-Savior/Detail.bok
Amazon – http://www.amazon.com/Future-Savior-Book-One-ebook/dp/B0041HXOUG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1283335858&sr=8-2
Barnes & Noble - http://search.barnesandnoble.com/books/e/9781936000586/?itm=1&USRI=jennifer+hartz
Find some other buy links here – http://jenniferhartz.com/shopping

Please enjoy the following tiny snippet from Future Savior Book One: Conception, the exciting Epic Inspirational Fantasy by Jennifer Hartz.

"What about you? Are you married? Girlfriend?" I smiled at him with the pretense of easy conversation, but really I was terrified to learn the answer. What if he was married?

"No," he replied, "As a Watcher, my life revolves around the people I protect."

"I'm sorry. You've sacrificed so much just for me."

"Don't be sorry. This was the life I chose when I agreed to work for your father. I could have stayed a soldier in Commander Glontor's army, but now my work is exceptional. I get to protect the Savior of Meric." He gazed into my eyes for a long moment, squeezing my hand again.

I studied him even after he looked away. He was such a remarkable man, and yet there was still so much about him that I didn't know. What I did know had me completely enthralled. I was amazed that he would give up his entire life to look after me.