Rough Drafting

November is National Novel Writing Month, most often referred to as NaNoWiMo or NaNo.  I’m typing my way toward 50,000 words to create part of a novel rough draft. Did you catch the last two words in that sentence? ROUGH DRAFT Much of what I’ve … [Continue reading]

Real Life Writing

This week we echoed the pilgrims' thankfulness to God for safe passage to a new land where they could worship freely and for His providence during difficult times. Many friends have been posting "30 days of thanksgiving" on their Facebook pages. … [Continue reading]

The Problem of Hopping Heads

Who's in Control of the Scene? You have a hero. You have a heroine. You have a scene. The question is which of those characters is controlling the scene? What does it mean to head-hop, and why is head-hopping a bad thing? When embarking on any … [Continue reading]

Weather and Character Emotions

Autumn is my favorite time of the year. I love the crisp cool days and bright blue skies. Can this feeling translate to writing? Weather can become an important item to set the temperament of the scene or the entire novel. In the movie “Blade … [Continue reading]

The Best Cowboy at the Rodeo is the Clown

Every rider, roper, athlete, or stunt double will tell you: before you can do the special tricks, you have to master the basics, or you're likely to get hurt. So here's a VERY basic writing question: What's a sentence? Answer you learned in 3rd … [Continue reading]