Generous Agents

The holidays and the end of the year are bringing out the generous nature of agents!
The 2nd Sort-of-Annual Stupendously Ultimate First Paragraph Challenge

Deadline: 7pm. EST, Thursday, December 11, 2008.
Who: Literary agent Nathan Bransford, Curtis Brown, San Francisco office
What: Post the first paragraph of your WIP and compete for the prize of a partial critique, query [...]

3 Writing Tips from the Season

Creative writing tips, courtesy of the season:

Peppermints! When you add sensory details to a story, the most common is visual details. The two most neglected are olfactory (smell) and gustatory (taste). Flavors of the season are peppermint, cinnamon and cloves.

Gifts! Give your character something to hold in his/her hands. It’s one of the easiest and [...]

After the First Draft

I have a new Ebook available for free download.
After the First Draft
After the First Draft: 30 Fast, Easy Writing Tips to Help with the Second Draft is a reworking of the series of blog posts, 30 Days to a Stronger Novel. This version collects everything in one place and provides an easy reference.

Snooping on Characters

I’ve been reading a great new psychology book that should help in developing characters, especially the settings which reveal so much about a character.
Snoop
Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You by Sam Gosling, Ph.D. is a fascinating book by a psychologist who studies a person’s environment and what that environment says about you.
For example, in [...]

A Washington Voice Retreat

Western Washington SCBWI Retreat: Voice
The retreat was great. There were about 40-45 people there and they were split into two groups. Group A came to me, while Group B went to Patti Gauch, then we swapped for the same presentation again. I sorta knew how Patti would approach voice (and I might have done many [...]

3 NaNoWriMo Tips to Make Revision Easier

NaNoWriMo is in full swing! That means over 50,000 writers are slugging out 50,000 words, working on the first draft of a novel, in the 30 days of November. But I’m thinking ahead to December when that first rough draft needs revision. Here are 3 things to keep in mind as you’re writing [...]

An Apt Phrase

When I’m writing or revising a novel, one of the fun games I like to play is the search for an apt phrase.
An Apt Phrase

Lately, I’ve been listening to recorded books of Rex Stout’s classic detective series about Nero Wolfe, the overweight, orchid enthusiast. His sidekick, Archie Goodwin, tells the story and does all the [...]