Language usage, Point of View, Research

By Naomi Musch, on May 7th, 2010
Author Intrusion
I’d like to introduce you to a term, if you aren’t familiar with it already, called “author intrusion”. You have author intrusion when you’re reading a story and all of a sudden something is said in a way that pulls you out of the “zone” your imagination is in. It might be a really [...]
Characterization, Research, Setting

By Melinda Evaul, on April 30th, 2010
Many of my posts this year focused on character development. In this lesson, I want to touch on research.
Get to “know” your characters through research…
In a character driven novel, the writer must learn what makes the character act a certain way. By the time I start a novel, I know my character as I might [...]
Research, Setting, Showing vs. Telling

By Naomi Musch, on April 2nd, 2010
. . . Or Don’t Know!
When I was a teenager starting to pursue my writing passion, I was constantly bombarded with the adage: write what you know. I found this a little bit frustrating, to say the least. After all, I was about fourteen. What did I know? Very little, I’ll tell you.
Imagine life without [...]
Personal Motivation, Research

By Lynn Dean, on December 18th, 2009
I tell my writing students that I was a hopelessly nerdy teenager. When I illustrate by explaining that I looked forward to writing research papers because I just loved to dig through the dusty shelves of the library, they are inclined to agree! But I insist that research can be fun.
Since it’s getting near the [...]