Blog Post – Poetic Technique for Prose Writers I love language. The sound of words. The way a pause can imply a character taking a breath. The way a strong image can stay with you for days. The fact that I as a writer can tell you how my character feels inside, and if I […]
I hope everyone survived NaNoWriMo. How’d you do? Even if you didn’t hit 50K, I hope you enjoyed the experience, especially if it was your first time. And you now have more words than you started the month with. The thing I love about NaNo is the need to meet a deadline, which forces you […]
Character agency refers to a character’s ability to make decisions that affect the outcome of a story. But it also refers to a character’s freedom to be themselves in the story world. They’re going to want to walk their own path, wherever that leads them. It’s possible for you as an author to violate a […]
If you’re writing a book with multiple viewpoints, sometimes it can be confusing to figure out who’s story this is. You may have a character that’s fun to write, or one that feels like they should be the protagonist based on genre conventions. But are they really the best choice to serve your story? You […]
When we’re talking fiction writing, what really is narrative? It’s everything that isn’t action and isn’t dialogue. Which means it’s the glue that holds it all together. More directly, narrative is how we help the reader interpret the action and the dialogue. We given them context on the history between two given characters – or […]
Are you ready for a new writing adventure and some new writing challenges? So excited about the new series of classes I’m doing for UTA Continuing Education this fall. There was such an overwhelming positive response to the Novel 1-2-3 classes that they’ve decided to test out Novel 4-5-6. If you have some writing experience, […]
I’m doing a query clinic next month, and today I’m trying to turn my time in the query trenches, and all the lessons I learned the hard way, and those I learned from critiquing other people’s queries, into a concise, helpful Power Point. Getting it right means a lot to me, because queries are make […]
I know they said not to take selfies with bears . . . One of the hardest things about humor writing is giving your reader permission to laugh. After all, you’re putting your protagonist in embarrassing, and sometimes physically painful, situations. The last think your audience is going to want is to feel mean for […]
“If there’s a book you really want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” – Toni Morrison With Free Chocolate coming out TOMORROW, I’ve been thinking a lot about that quote. If it wasn’t my series, The Chocoverse would still be exactly the kind of thing I’d jump to […]
“If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.” ― Stephen King “It is what you read when you don’t have to that determines what you will be when you can’t help it.” — Oscar Wilde “I cannot remember the books I’ve read any […]
