Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Claire Waller. Claire is a secondary school teacher who works with teenagers with mental health issues. She has had two adult horror novels (Predator X, Nine Eyes) published by Australian indie publisher, Severed Press. FUGLY is her first YA novel. Claire lives with her… Read more »
Writing a short story always seems so easy until you try to write one. Then, reality sets in. How do you fit in character development? An entire plot? So much to fit and so few words! Because of these constraints, short stories are a great tool to practice writing. Short stories can teach you to… Read more »
Second chance romances are wonderful because of that second chance. They are also very challenging, because we take two people who were in love and did not stay together, and we expect our reader to believe they should still be together¬–even if the couple does not think so! That being said, I love a good… Read more »
Writing can be intensely rewarding, but each book is also a messy, long-drawn trek. Here are five practices that may help you to navigate through these journeys: 1) Treat your writing as a job It is of course your vocation, but if you wait for inspiration from the heavens, you’ll never get anything completed. So:… Read more »
“Chefs, please open your baskets.” With those words, the competition on Chopped, my favorite Food Network show, where four chefs compete against each other in elimination-style appetizer, entree, and dessert rounds, begins At the start of each round the chefs open baskets containing four ingredients that must be used in the dish—unusual ingredients such as… Read more »
Punctuation can feel like a burden, something we either do correctly or not. After all, grammar guides and style books were created for a reason. But in reality, punctuation is a powerful resource to enhance our writing. Looking in any two grammar guides for rules about punctuation usage, we’ll be sure to find conflicting advice…. Read more »
I recently returned from a combination research cum vacation trip. Hmmm. . .surely we writers need a portmanteau word for that, but I’m not quite sure what it would be. Anyway, during the trip, I had a chance to visit Sherwood Forest and imagine its past. Well, you’re in that part of England and you… Read more »
All right, writers! We’re in the home stretch. If you’ve been following along with my last nine articles studying James Scott Bell’s insightful book on plot, Super Structure, you know everything I’ve discussed leading up to this crucial—yet quick—signpost scene. If you haven’t (I encourage you do!), here’s a quick summary: we’ve just left Act… Read more »
Remember, when you were a child, how much you wanted to become a published writer when you grew up? The image of being a successful writer has so much glory and aspiration that everyone dreams of it at some point. Besides, when you don’t dive too deep into it, it seems like writing a bestseller… Read more »
I’ve been writing my whole life. Writing is such a part of my life that it didn’t occur to me until I was in my early teens that other people didn’t write as much as I did. Despite this lifelong journey as a writer, I still have times when I encounter what is commonly referred… Read more »
