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Have you signed up for 750words.com yet? Or will you try doing 750 words on paper? I’ve just completed my 36th day of doing 750 words! If the first task of Think Like a Writer is to observe the world around you, the task of the fiction writer or the novelist, is to create, then [...]
Yesterday, December 31, my friend Charlie Woods rode his bike 60 miles and finished his yearly goal of 10,000 miles. That’s an average of 27.8 miles per day and he’s been hitting that goal for over 3000 days. Yes, without fail. Rain or shine (he has a stationary bike for bad-weather days), sick or healthy, [...]
On Spec or Proposal? When you want to sell a book, there are two options. First, you can write the book, hoping that it will sell. We call this writing “on speculation,” or “on spec.” It means you are taking the up-front risk of time and effort to write, in the hopes that someone will [...]
Need to know how well your writing, editing and revisions are going? Here’s a variety of checklists to help you evaluate where you are in the writing process. Checklist of 17 Character Qualities 10 Checkpoints for a Scene Style: Checklist For Fiction Writers Editing Checklists for Story, Plot, Characters, Dialogue and more. A Novel Writing [...]
YA for Dummies and Prairie Storms What sounds does a ground hog make? An earless lizard? A burrowing owl? Six months ago, I had no idea! When I decided to create a book trailer for my forthcoming book, PRAIRIE STORMS, I knew I wanted something fun and useful for kids, parents and educators. We know [...]
When you’re writing do you tell people what your working on or not? When I teach narrative writing, I often ask students to do prewriting activities that involve oral storytelling. Students tell about something that has actually happened to them. It’s helpful to do this because you can orally narrow down a topic, rehearse details, [...]
Amy Holder debuts with THE LIPSTICK LAWS Introduced first in 2007, debut children’s authors have formed a cooperative effort to market their books. I featured Revision Stories from the Classes of 2k8 and 2k9 and this feature returns this year with the Class of 2k11. Class of 2008 Class of 2009 MORE 2k11 Guest post [...]
Not “Just” Facts: Information that Evokes Story I’m in that shadowy world of researching things for a novel. Yes, even when you invent a story, you need to be grounded in the real world. A friend wrote a story in which an arson case was crucial to the story. He wrote first and researched later. [...]
10 Checkpoints for a Scene 30 Days to a Stronger Scene Table of Contents Featured Today in Fiction Notes Stores Does your Scene Pass this Checklist? We’ll wrap up this 30-day series on scenes with a checklist. Where/When. (Setting) Did you orient the reader at the beginning of the scene? Does the reader know where [...]
30 Days to a Stronger Scene Table of Contents Featured Today in Fiction Notes Stores Best Length for Scenes? What’s the best length for a scene? IS there a best length? In his book, Lessons from a Lifetime of Writing, action/adventure author, David Morrell (creator of the Rambo character, among others), says he tries to [...]
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