Tina Joyce Beckett is the product of a Navy upbringing. Always on the move, her travels eventually took her overseas, where English reading material was scarce. Desperate, she started writing her own stories fashioned after the romance novels she’d loved through the years. She finished that first book and moved on to the next. After the tenth story, she realized there was no going back...she was officially a writer. Today, Tina divides her time between Brazil and the United States and loves to use exotic locales as the backdrop for many of her stories. Her debut novel: Doctor's Guide to Dating in the Jungle will be available in January 2012

     

Ruby Nickname:
Ruby Secrets

Hometown:
Orange Park, Florida

Age:
40-ish

GH Year(s)
2009, 2010

Completed Manuscript(s)
12

Genre(s):
series contemporary, Single Title romantic suspense

Started Writing:
2005

For Fun:
I’ve taken barrel racing lessons in Brazil…in Portuguese! Hobbies that are a bit tamer: stained glass, crafts, gardening

2011 Golden Heart Finalists	Vivi Andrews	Elizabeth Baldwin	Vanessa Barneveld
Anne Barton	Elisa Beatty	Anne Marie Becker	Tina Joyce Beckett
Liz Bemis	Shea Berkley	Jennifer Bray-Weber	Amanda Brice
Lindsey Brookes	Shoshana Brown	C.J. Chase	Shelley Coriell
Louisa Cornell	Laurie DeSalvo	Elizabeth Devlin	Sally Eggert
Sharon Fisher	Kelly Fitzpatrick	Jacqueline Floyd	Addison Fox
Katie Graykowski	Yvonne Harris	Elise Hayes	Rita Henuber
Tamara Hogan	Kim Howe	Jacqui Jacobi	Cara Lynn James
Darynda Jones	Autumn Jordon	Cynthia Justlin	Laurie Kellogg
Diane Kelly	Elizabeth Langston	Kim Law	Diana Layne
Gabriela Lessa	Jeannie Lin	June Love	Gwynlyn MacKenzie
Heather McCollum	Virginia McCullough	Jamie Michele	L.A. Mitchell
Laura Navarre	Kate Parker	Bev Pettersen	Hope Ramsay
Sara Ramsey	Kelly Ann Riley	Cate Rowan	Jenna Stuart
Joan Swan	Tatia Talbot	Liz Talley	Kayla Westra
Danniele Worsham

String Theory

Posted by Tina Joyce Beckett Apr 25 2012, 12:01 am in craft, plotting, writing tips

String Theory? I bet you didn’t know I was actually a budding physicist in disguise? Right. I only wish I understood the ins and outs of String Theory. It makes as much sense to me as the rationale behind ice-hole swimming. Brrr. The thought of it boggles my mind. This post is about something a little different from String Theory in its traditional form. But it does involve string, and it is a theory—kind of.

 

 

 

Interested in playing? Here’s a detailed list of instructions on how to set up the game. I warn you, it’s complicated:

1. Cut a length of string (or yarn).
2. Tie the ends together to form a loop.
3. Weave the loop around your fingers.
4. Start playing.

See? You might need to read those steps a couple of times until you get the hang of it. Or visit You Tube to see the experts in action.

Now that you’ve set up your game (i.e., your plot), here are some things to consider as you play:

1. The string remains the same piece of string, no matter how many loops we cross. How does this relate to writing? Our basic story is still there, beneath whatever twists and turns we throw at our characters.
2. Dropping one thread can make a drastic change. Compare cat’s cradle to Jacob’s ladder. We can get two very different results from the same simple piece of string. Changing one aspect of our plot can make a big difference.
3. The more complicated we make the pattern, the more care we should take when proceeding to the next step. This applies to plot points as well. When there are lots of crossed threads to deal with, we have to think carefully about our next move. One misstep and everything comes unraveled. But it’s not the end of the world. We still have our thread (the basic story). Just start manipulating those strings all over again.
4. After so many twists and turns, the pattern begins to repeat itself. In certain versions of the string game, the pattern eventually loops back to the beginning. Know when to wrap up the story. When you first start playing (or writing), it may look like there are an infinite number of combinations, but that can be deceptive. Be careful not to let your plot turn into one big circle, where nothing new happens.
5. Get a little help from your friends. Yes, we can play the string game on our own (as evidenced by the number of You Tube videos out there). But I always had more fun playing with a friend…or two or three. We Rubies are constantly tossing around plot ideas and asking for help. If you get stuck, find some writing buddies to help you think through the process.
6. The most important step of all: Have Fun. Play. Write. Have fun with your characters and those twists and turns, because who wants to do something that feels like drudgery? Not me. So go forth and conquer those plots, but have fun while doing it!

So that’s my theory in a nutshell. How about you? Any analogies you’d like to share? Do you like your plots simple or impossibly complicated?

34 Comments

Eating…or Cheating?

Posted by Tina Joyce Beckett Dec 5 2011, 12:01 am in characterization, craft, writing tips

It’s December, and I’ve been doing a lot of eating lately. How many of you tiptoed in here today with a guilty glance at that slab of leftover pumpkin pie on the plate beside you? Relax! I’m not talking about dieting. At least not our own. This is all about the characters who inhabit our books. It’s [...]

38 Comments

Stuck in the Middle

Posted by Tina Joyce Beckett Feb 3 2011, 12:01 am

We’ve reached the midpoint of the Winter Writing Festival, and I have a confession to make: I don’t like middles. Of anything. Put me on a treadmill for a 30 minute walk/run, and I start off great. Such energy. Such lofty goals. But as I reach the halfway point, something strange happens. A sense of [...]

43 Comments

What Kind of Pumpkin are You?

Posted by Tina Joyce Beckett Oct 29 2010, 12:01 am in Free-For-All Friday

Today is still Free-for All Friday, but since it’s also Halloween this weekend, I decided to roll both things into one post (and Halloween is a pretty cool holiday in my book). So, I’m interested in knowing what kind of pumpkin carving you do, and whether or not that pumpkin ends up being a reflection [...]

37 Comments

Pointillism in Writing: Connecting the Dots

Posted by Tina Joyce Beckett Apr 22 2010, 12:01 am in craft, pointillism

Several years ago, I was fortunate enough to visit The National Gallery in London, and while wandering the halls admiring the various paintings, one by Paul Signac caught my eye. The piece, comprised of dots of color, fascinated me. I moved closer and studied it, and then backed away, amazed at how my eye could [...]

33 Comments

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