Tag Archive | Writing fiction
Write like a professional, get the chapters right
Originally posted on Jean's Writing:
By getting the word count right. How? Scene by scene. I’ve written in the past about the word count for books but a book is made up of chapters. And chapters are made up of scenes. A mixture of really short and really long chapters may give your reader…
Do you really know what makes up a story?
Originally posted on Jean's Writing:
Beginning, Middle, and End. Okay, but what makes up those three pieces? We can’t simply write: Beginning: She opened up the store each morning. Middle: She sold groceries all day. End: She closed the store at night. No one would buy that story because it’s not a story. What…
Four Great Shares at Just Can’t Help Writing!
Originally posted on Virginia S. Anderson:
? What should writers know about trademarked names or brand names? How should you handle these names in your fiction? Adirondack Editing, via Chris the Story Reading Ape, helps out! Phoebe Quinn at A Writer’s Path has a list of seven writing mistakes that are all too easy to…
How to Make EVERY Page of Your Story Interesting
Originally posted on Kristen Lamb's Blog:
Image by DonkeyHotey/Flickr CC Today I have another post from that kick@$$ writing teacher I’ve taken hostage *slides food through the slit in wall*. Actually, Alex Limberg is a friend of mine and total rockstar and seriously, check out his free ebook about “44 Key Questions” to test your…
How to Sneak In Any Amount of Information & Maintain the Fictive Dream
Originally posted on Kristen Lamb's Blog:
Image via Flickr Creative Commons, courtesy of Mike Licht As an editor I have some pretty standard red flags I look for, but a REALLY common blunder is the dreaded information dump. Some genres are more prone to this than others. Science fiction and fantasy can be particularly…
Using Setting to Develop a Plot
Originally posted on Writing Is Hard Work:
I’ve seen many different articles around the inter-webs about plot development. Usually there are two schools of thought: Create highly developed character bios and then they will inform what kind of plot needs to develop. Create a highly developed plot and then the characters will take shape based…
New Podcast Up: Beginning Lines and Ending Hobbits
Originally posted on Writing Is Hard Work:
In this end of year podcast we discuss the most important beginning of any novel: the first line. The first line is something that writers like Stephen King spend a month preparing. It is the line that hooks the reader, that sets the tone for the novel, and…
Using First Person When Your Narrator Is A Jerk
Originally posted on Writing Is Hard Work:
I’m three chapters and over three thousand words into writing my WIP. I reached a point yesterday where I stared at a passage and just didn’t know how I was going to write it in third person singular and get the true nuances of what my main character…
Viv Drewa - The Owl Lady 