A guest post by Sandra Orchard Do you scratch your head when someone tells you that you need to “show, not tell”? It’s the key to writing compelling commercial fiction, but an often difficult concept to grasp in all its nuances. Today I’m going to share with you some simple ways to… “Show” emotion without […]
Archives for 2011
Writing Lesson 3.4-Empower Your Writing with these Simple Techniques
September 16, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Writing Lesson 3.3-Is Your Protagonist Too Passive?
September 9, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Protagonists, by story-telling nature, are the ones who are in a dilemma. Sometimes that means they’ve been put upon, taken advantage of, hurt, haunted, or chased after. But occasionally, when we write about their situations, we start to accidentally create such a passive character that we’re really the only ones who are excited about what […]
Writing Lesson 3.2-Story Engineering
September 2, 2011 By Leave a Comment
I’ve referred in past posts to Larry Brooks’ excellent book, Story Engineering. As I read this book the principles of plotting finally clicked–probably because Larry explains them in architectural terms, and I am a building designer by trade. Suddenly both the rules and the reasons for them became clear, and I’ve been a fan ever […]
Writing Lesson 3.1-“It Isn’t Personal”
August 19, 2011 By Leave a Comment
That’s what my professor said as he ripped miniature trees from my architectural model–the one I’d been up all night completing. I dreaded project juries. We hapless wannabes, sagging with exhaustion, would attempt to communicate our grand vision, knowing in our heart of hearts that the finished product failed to live up to those concepts […]
Self-Publishing on Amazon Kindle
August 5, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Self-publishing an ebook for Amazon Kindle couldn’t be easier! Start by going to the Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) page and opening an account. From that point, publishing your story is as simple as following the instructions, but I also downloaded AmazonKindle’s free ebook, Publish on Amazon Kindle with Kindle Direct Publishing. Of course, it helps […]
