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Why Write At All?
Some days I have no trouble getting down what I want to say or describing the dream I had, or my strong opinions about my co-worker’s parenting choices, but some days. Ugh. I can’t formulate a sentence describing how difficult this is.
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Does Your Backstory Make Your Readers Stabby?
ou've written thousands of words of backstory! You know how his parents met, how he got that scar on his pasty white tuckus, and why he gets all shaky and whiny when he's served enchiladas. This is all-important stuff you told yourself as you dumped it out into the first chapter of your work-in-progress. It sets the stage! The readers can really know him! This will make the story richer! But your character's backstory may be have bored your reader to tears. Here's what to do instead.
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Take 5 Friday: Five Questions To Ask Before Your Next Writing Session
While some writers are able to naturally jump in and focus on their writing projects, most of us take a little more prep time. I find that if I make some decisions before I sit down to write, my writing time is more enjoyable and I have a clearer sense of my progress. For today’s Take 5, I thought I would share a few of the things that I decide in advance of my writing sessions. Note: Sometimes, I make these decisions in the moments before the computer goes on. Ideally, though, I would make these decisions in advance of a planned writing session. 1) What will you work on?…
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Thirteen Mistakes You Could Be Making In Narrative Voice
The narrative voice is the voice of the point of view character that tells the story. With a well-drawn point of view character, a story can be rich and interesting. You want to take the time to get this right.
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12 Reasons You Should Go To a Writers’ Conference
Now, I'm not a writers' conference junkie, but I'd like to be. I know enough about them to understand that if you are in a climate-controlled hotel ballroom, surrounded by writers from all over the world, with speakers and experts in front of you, then you're in a great place to grow.
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Take 5: Five Fun Friday Prompts
Writing is serious business, of course, but it’s perfectly okay to have fun while you are doing it! This week’s Take 5 is filled with fun prompts so you can play around with your words. Maybe they will help you with your work-in-progress or maybe they will be an enjoyable diversion. Either way, any writing that you do will build your skills and help you become a better writer. Have fun! Write on! 1) Stir up some emotion Choose a video/scene from TV show where someone is clearly angry or joyful. 1) How can you tell their emotions just by looking at them?2) How do their actions reveal their emotions?3)…
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Six More Requirements for the First Pages Of Your Bestseller
Last week, this blog suggested five requirements for the first few pages of your bestseller. This week, we present six more!
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Writing What You Know (And You Know A Lot!)
But I don't believe that “writing what you know” necessarily means that, or at least it does not mean only that. Sure, if you've lived on a farm your whole life, it will be easier for you to tell the story of a farming family. If you've been a businessperson for the last thirty years, you will be able to write an office-place drama more easily than most other authors. However, you know a lot more than that. So do your readers. This is where you need to “write what you know”. And what do you know? Plenty.
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Five Requirements for the First Pages Of Your Bestseller
The first pages of a book are like opening a door. When your reader, agent, publisher or reviewer opens it, you really want them to be so interested that they can’t put it down. To make sure this happens, consider these five requirements for the first few pages.
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Eight Awful Beginnings You Want To Avoid
Will it be a good beginning or a bad one? Within reading the first two sentences, you've already made a decision on whether or not you'll keep reading. Your reader has too. If they have picked up your novel, they may be turned off by what they read if you have one of these eight awful beginnings.
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Nine More Ways To Write An Emotionally Abusive Villain
As was mentioned last week, emotionally abusive villains like to have power and control over everyone around them. They demonstrate this in the way that they speak and act. They often are insecure and feel better about themselves when they can put others “in their place”.
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Ten Questions To Ask Your Beta Readers
You can use beta readers early in your writing journey, say, after the first draft. Or you can wait for several drafts into it and then let trusted people read it. Either way, you may find it helpful to give them specific questions to answer about your manuscript.
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Nine Ways To Write An Emotionally Abusive Villain (Part One)
Emotionally abusive villains are scarier than the Darth Vader types, in my humble opinion. They can play with a person's mind, trick them into thinking that they are safe, twist their reality and torture their soul. In real life and in real literature emotionally abusive villains have been responsible for all kinds of evil.
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Questions To Ask When Critiquing Books
Are you in a place where someone needs help with their work and you haven’t a clue what to tell them?