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Don’t Write a Damsel-in-Distress OR a Modern Super-Woman: Be Original
I have a problem in my WIP novel, which is just in the outline stage. There’s a specific illness going around and to SHOW, DON’T TELL that the illness is really bad, an important character must become sick. But then, I have this sick character, Em. And she’s, well, sick. She’s become a Damsel-in-Distress, who […]
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Online Video Course: 30 DAYS TO A STRONGER NOVEL
The course is now live on Udemy.com! Each day includes: A quote that inspires Short, practical instruction from Darcy on a specific topic A simple “Walk the Talk” action to take Over the course of the month, you’ll receive the entire text of Darcy’s book, 30 Days to a Stronger Novel (November, 2014 release). We […]
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Don’t Plot Like I Do!
I’m warning you! Don’t plot like I do. I’ve been working on the plot of a new novel for about six weeks and I’m still stumbling around. I’ll describe the messy process here and hope that you manage to shortcut your own process. It started last year with an idea and a short story that […]
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Tea Party or Fist Fights? Why Action Scenes are Hard to Write!
In my current WIP, I want to up the action and make this a physically exciting story. So, I bought a great ebook, Action! Writing Better Action Using Cinematic Techniques by Ian Thomas Healy. It’s great, as I said, and breaks down the actions into easy components that can be easily mastered. Even for me, […]
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How to Write a Book Series: 3 Crucial Decisions
To write a series of books, my biggest tip is to plan ahead. You may get by with writing one book on the fly—plenty of people do that. But for a series to hang together, to have cohesion and coherence, planning is essential. Here are three decisions you should make early in the planning process. […]