We end our week-long celebration of Teen Literature with an interview today with the charming Elana Johnson. I began following Elana’s blog when I first started exploring the blogsphere for fellow writers. Immediately it became one of my go-to writing blogs because of her honest, no-nonsense advice and her generosity to other writers. She’s one… Continue Reading »
WritingExtracting an outline is a great way to evaluate your story and kickstart the revision process. When you extract an outline you flip the process around, writing the story first and doing the outline later. Instead of using the outline to decide what you plan to write, you use it to determine what you’ve already… Continue Reading »
Writing
Continuing with our Master Class Series on Poetry and Verse Novels, today I’m thrilled to host an interview with Sherry Shahan. She is the author of several books–both fiction and non-fiction, books for kids in preschool and books for teens–including a novel in verse. Purple Daze is a fascinating story, giving a snapshot of the… Continue Reading »
Writing
This week we talked about beginnings and how to make them effective. Now it’s your turn to apply what you learned to your own Work In Progress (WIP). Using the Five Promises we discussed in Wednesday’s post, rework the opening of your WIP to incorporate as many of those promises as you can. Weekend Prompt:… Continue Reading »
Writing
This week, we talked about reader feedback and different tools or techniques you can use to sort through it all. Now it’s your turn to apply these tools to your own writing. Weekend Prompt: Find some way of getting feedback on a portion of your work. You can ask writer friends (or just smart friends… Continue Reading »
CommunityToday we have a guest post from Marianne Bellotti of F.S. Publishing. She develops software to help writers make the most of the feedback they get from critiques. I’ve mentioned Beta Readers (Betas) here at DIY MFA in the past, but for those new to the term, Betas are readers who rather than reading your… Continue Reading »
Community
Sooner or later, you’re going to get feedback on your work. Whether it’s from an editor or agent, or from friends and family, or from trusted writer friends, you might as well get used to the idea. But what do you do when you get all that feedback? My temptation is often to cut up… Continue Reading »
WritingToday, I thought I’d share a couple more critique tips that have helped me in the past and then give you all a fun little quiz, just for laughs. Tip #1: Helping Your Readers Help You Sometimes it helps to give your critique partners or beta readers something to focus on so they can really… Continue Reading »
WritingWhen it comes to receiving critique, I’ve found that the more you put into the process, the more you get out of it. Here are some tips to help you make the most of the critique process before, during and after. Before You Submit: Proofread and eliminate typos. If your submission is as tight and… Continue Reading »
WritingWhen it comes to getting a tune-up on your writing, you have lots of different options. In fact, sometimes the sheer number of choices can be overwhelming and it’s hard to recognize what kind of help or feedback you really need. In this post, you’ll get to know some of the choices so you can… Continue Reading »
Writing