Readers are trained to try and figure out puzzles. No matter what the genre, we give them clues in our foreshadowing, paid off in plot twists and revelations that feel surprising-yet-inevitable. As readers, we want to feel smart – like we figured out what the writer was trying to do a page or two before […]
So this may get a little introspective, but I was thinking a bit today about self-awareness in fictional characters. Too little, and your character feels cold and unlikable, too much and they feel whiney and overly sensitive. Why is it such a delicate balance? Maybe some definitions would help. What is self-awareness, psychologically speaking, for […]
Sitting around with a group of writing students a while back, the concept of purple prose came up. Nearly all of them knew they were supposed to avoid it, but not necessarily what it was, or where the term came from. To understand the idea, you need to think in terms of purple cloth, which […]
You have to be careful when giving a character a super-steep arc. I learned that the hard way. After reading the first five chapters of one of my manuscripts, one of my best friends – also one of my most honest friends – texted me, “I hate Character X. Why can’t Character Y be the […]
Just got back from ten days in California, plus a follow-up beach weekend – all (as per my hubby’s request) without my laptop. He knows me. If I’d had my computer handy, writing would have been in the back of my mind, and I’d have been up after everyone had gone to sleep trying to […]
The secret is out! Free Chocolate will be coming next summer from Angry Robot Books. https://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/sci-fi-fantasy/interstellar-chocolate-war-announcing-free-chocolate-amber-royer/
One thing I see students doing repeatedly is over-worldbuilding. They get the idea that to make their worlds absolutely real, we need to know every scrap of backstory, and to have detailed schematics on every piece of technology. The problem: this slows the pace and takes the focus away from the story. So I routinely […]
So at tonight’s SNW, one of the questions that came up was on the difference between head-hopping (a generally accepted no-no) and omniscient POV. The key here is to remember that the omniscient narrator is a persona, who happens to know what is going on with your characters, while head-hopping happens in limited third person, […]
I’ll admit it. I am a Pinterest addict, heading rapidly towards 10,000 pins. I make some sort of Pinboard for every class I teach, and every project I plan – not to mention those I’ll probably never get around to. While the most obvious thing for a writer to do with Pinterest is marketing, I […]
We went on a mini-road trip over the weekend, and that got me thinking about journeys, both real and literary. The weather the past week or so has been unseasonably warm and absolutely gorgeous. We have a brand new little car (after sharing a gas-guzzling vehicle for three years) that we were able to fill up […]
