(…continued from last week…) So, if I used to be one of those writers driven more by validation than by love of story, what changed? I’m glad you asked. 🙂 It was easy to recognize the pride and impatience in others. One critique partner expressed to me that he “didn’t have time to write a […]
Archives for 2012
Committed to the Journey
October 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Why do you write? That question has surfaced various times over the years, usually in writer’s groups meetings or at conferences. More recently, it’s become the one question that I believe has determined my path. It’s pretty easy at first, when your heart is full of the marvel of creating, and your eyes are full […]
The Name Game
October 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment
I’m in the research and rough draft stage of a new novel. This phase led to planning a genealogy for the male character in the novel. Names are important. They are especially important when writing a time specific book. Would you name a futuristic alien Joe? A Biblical setting would evoke certain names. Contemporary names […]
Writing Dialogue
September 28, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Dialogue adds immense interest to a story, but dialogue is hard to write. I don’t mean that it’s hard to write words that sound like real people talking, though that’s true too. What I’m talking about today is the not-so-simple mechanics of typing dialogue onto the page and punctuating it properly. Let me give you […]
Crafting Better Beginnings
September 21, 2012 By Leave a Comment
(Part Two ) Opening Hooks and Setting Scenes that Don’t Get Weighted Down In Part One of CRAFTING BETTER BEGINNINGS, I gave examples of using too much back story, of actually polluting our story openings with information dumps. Today we’ll talk about opening hooks and setting scene. One of the big problems with poor beginnings […]
