Writers: have you noticed that as you grow your craft, you often start to recognize how the sausage of the story is made when reading or watching stories for pleasure? For me, that means I inadvertently ruin the plots of movies for my family. Several years ago, my curious 12-year-old asked about the story structureContinue reading “As I Grow in Craft Knowledge, I Worry I’m Ruining Stories for Others”
Category Archives: Writing Craft
My Latest Netflix Obsession and Character Development
Two weeks ago, I had gum surgery. Not fun. My second this year. I planned ahead and cleared the decks for the week. Luckily, this go-round was much easier than the first and my second day in, I felt confident I could return to some projects I had set aside for this recovery week. YouContinue reading “My Latest Netflix Obsession and Character Development”
Avoiding Rookie Writing Mistakes
Rookie mistakes. We all make them. Mine? Writing a novel without ever studying structure. Surely this was something I’d just know by osmosis from all that reading and those English classes I took. Wrong. Turns out, I hadn’t a clue. I came close. Maybe even serviceably close. But I didn’t know a lot and itContinue reading “Avoiding Rookie Writing Mistakes”
There Goes My Hero…
In May, my husband and I went to the Foo Fighters concert. It was AMAZING! One of my favorite songs is “My Hero.” Rock is all about the big, the flashy, the in your face. The extraordinary. Rock stars and super heroes all seem to live in the same rarefied air of our cultural awe. Continue reading “There Goes My Hero…”
Getting to Know Your Villain
On Monday, I posted a quote on Instagram: It can be tempting, easy even, to simply see the world through our protagonist’s eyes. It’s actually a necessity, especially as many books written these days are in close third or first person. We need to know our protagonist’s intimately as well as how they see theContinue reading “Getting to Know Your Villain”
After Typing THE END: Tips for What’s Next
Where does most of your writing happen? In the draft stage, probably. It has to, right? Where once there was a blank page, now there are 90,000 words. Now, where does most of your story telling happen? It can be tempting to say that most of our storytelling also happens in the draft stage. It’sContinue reading “After Typing THE END: Tips for What’s Next”
The Trick to Mastering Show Don’t Tell In Your Fiction Writing: Be Specific
The number one piece of feedback I give writers regardless of where they are in the writing process is: BE SPECIFIC Often, a sentence or a scene or the protagonist’s stakes are entirely too vague. Vague writing only leaves readers confused, disengaged, or having to fill in the blanks based on their own experiences whichContinue reading “The Trick to Mastering Show Don’t Tell In Your Fiction Writing: Be Specific”
Creating Emotional Resonance in Your Novel
I posted this quote on Instagram Monday. I had just heard of the passing of someone who was dear to me and all my memories were about how that person made me feel–joyful, engaged, confident, prepared. The details of exactly how he did this or when or what we were doing at the time wereContinue reading “Creating Emotional Resonance in Your Novel”
My Craft Book Recommendations for the Holidays or Any Writing Day
Writing is an iterative process. Each draft improves the more we work on it. Each new manuscript improves the more we learn. And as writers, there are a myriad ways to learn every day. We learn every time we notice the light through the trees, taste something new, experience an unlikely emotion in a mundaneContinue reading “My Craft Book Recommendations for the Holidays or Any Writing Day”
The Importance of Your Novel’s Opening Pages on Your Novel’s Ending
While journalism and novel writing are two different animals, both need to hook the reader and impart important information from the get-go. Journalism (news articles, magazines, broadcast news scripts) stories are told in inverted pyramid style with the who, what, when, where, and why in what’s called the lede–the first sentence or graph. The storyContinue reading “The Importance of Your Novel’s Opening Pages on Your Novel’s Ending”