Originally posted on Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog:
on Fiction University: I work at a day job, as well as write science fiction novels. As you can imagine, this doesn’t always leave me with time to write, and when I do have time, I don’t necessarily have the energy. What I do have…

Originally posted on Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog:
on Live Write Thrive: One of the primary objectives and responsibilities of a fiction writer is to transport readers into the world of their story. However, it’s easier said than done. You, the writer, must visualize your scene—where your characters are, what the place looks…

Originally posted on Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog:
on Jane Friedman site: While I was planning my current novel and annotating that plan, I asked myself a series of questions in the annotations. I know I’m not the only one to make notes on a draft in the form of questions, but until…

Originally posted on Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog:
on Writers Helping Writers: Emotional wounds are transformative and have the power to re-shape a character in many negative ways, impacting their happiness, their self-worth, and causing mistrust and disillusionment to skew their worldview. This critical piece of backstory is key to understanding their motivations,…

Originally posted on Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog:
on Jane Friedman site: Consider flash fiction an opportunity. Let go of your tricks and your clever exposition techniques. Let go of your need to explain. Discover what you don’t need to say. Let go of description—one perfect detail will do the trick. Let silences…

Originally posted on Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog:
on Just Publishing Advice: One of the best pieces of advice I ever got about writing was never waste time waiting for the muse to arrive. If you are a writer, you write, and good writers know how to get inspired to write. It doesn’t…

Originally posted on Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog:
on Anne R. Allen: You’ve kinda/sorta finished your book/first draft/whachamacallit. In drastic cases, it could even be an outline that’s gone off the rails and landed in a ditch. But. Your original brilliant idea is drowning in a sea of ugly clutter. There are dust…