Dear Editor, I’ve been working on my current manuscript for a while now. It’s special to me, and I want it to be the best it can, so I’ve had it read by an editor and gotten feedback from other writers and even an agent. I’ve murdered it so much at this point. Like I… Read more »
A few years ago, in the middle of a fierce winter and an even fiercer case of writer’s block, my mom gave me an incredible suggestion to help me past what had been stoppering my writing for several months. “What does your character think?” she said. It never occurred to me to ask, but once… Read more »
Here we go again! Week #5 of James Scott Bell’s 14 signpost scenes, and I promise that you’re in for a big one. Why? Because signpost #5, otherwise known as The Doorway of No Return #1 (The Point of No Return, abbreviated PONR), is one of the three massive, explosive, impossible-to-write-a-story-without plot points. If you’re… Read more »
Creating an immersive setting is an important element of any story, but it’s especially important for historical fiction writers. Readers come to this genre because they want to feel they’re stepping out of their world and into the world of your story, whether it takes place in Gilded Age New York, Renaissance Florence or Imperial… Read more »
We often write stories because we have something we want to say to our readers. How we convey those ideas–essentially, our literary themes –can be tricky. For example, let’s say you’ve written a YA novel about a girl who’s determined to take control of her life. You’re proud of this story and passionate about its… Read more »
We writers should take every opportunity to experience the world of our characters. The more we immerse ourselves in a particular culture or setting the deeper we can understand it, and the more realistically we can describe it in our writing. Unfortunately, cost, distance, or other practicalities (like the lack of space travel or a… Read more »
Stephen King told us, “If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.” But merely reading isn’t enough. Close reading is necessary to learn the secrets of how stories tick, which will help you sharpen those writing tools Stephen King mentioned. First we need… Read more »
Revision is my favorite part of the writing process. I’ve often heard writers describe drafting as the “magical” stage, where you can discover new things and let your imagination run wild. It’s true–magic happens while drafting. But magic also happens in revision. Once you’ve written “The End,” you have a chunk of writing to play… Read more »
Our author voices are made up of a combination of modes. The four main ones being dialogue, description, action, and internal thought. Those are the most common modes balancing fictional prose. Too much of any one mode—clumps of description, trains of dialogue, pages of action, and dumps of internal thought—bogs down prose and makes it… Read more »
I have a tendency to over-correct in my editing process. This is especially true when I receive feedback from critique partners, and it’s difficult to get centered enough within myself to know what’s actually working and what isn’t. Even when I’m not receiving critique, I tend to be self-critical and perfectionistic (not sure if that’s… Read more »
