Straight talk from the sisters about blood, sweat and ink
As fiction writers we get to play God. We create an entire universe (unfortunately it takes longer than seven days) and have total control over our characters, even to the point of who lives and dies. It’s a heady experience and one we shouldn’t take lightly. Killing a major character is fraught with danger, so, …
Continue reading “A Time to Kill: The Death of a Major Character”
Killing off a nice character, even a secondary one, is a big deal. Every single time I consider doing this as a writer, I struggle with my decision. Did I handle the death correctly? Will killing off this character just piss off the reader? Is this death achieving what I intended it to achieve within …
Continue reading “Writer Struggles: Killing Nice Characters”
Ah, Black Friday. While all those around you are going shoulder to shoulder, standing in line, credit cards at the ready, or watching football, or cleaning up what was left of yesterday’s festivities, take a moment away from the maddening crowd to focus on how in the world you are going to keep that writing …
Continue reading “Where Do I Find Time To Write?”
We’ve all heard it. Murder your darlings. But what does it mean? Is it just another tip in the ever-growing list of misunderstood writing advice? Or is it the cornerstone of every successful writing project? First the history lesson. It appears this advice originated from Arthur Quiller-Couch. He made this comment in 1914 and all …
Continue reading “Is Killing Your Darlings Murdering Your Book?”
In the life of any book, there comes a time when the writer has to step back from the creative process and move into editing mode. Once that first draft is down, whether written in spurts or a steady stream, the task of critical evaluation and tweaking begins. We go over our work multiple times …
Continue reading “An Editor’s Perspective on Killing Our Darlings”
< p class=”MsoNormal”>Today the Sisters share a happy occasion, we cross the 100-post finish line. Since we only started the blog last summer, we didn’t expect to get here so fast. Or to have so much fun during the journey. Plus, we learned a lot, and shared what we learned at each step with our …
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Epistolary novels use fictional letters, tweets, emails and other types of communication to create a story with a unique narrative style. This is not a new form, epistolary novels have been around since the 18th century, but after a downturn in popularity they are enjoying a renaissance and the trend shows no sign of slowing. …
Continue reading “How to Write an Epistolary Novel”
Can writers train themselves to write faster? This question is much debated. Many people say that yes, writers can learn to write fast, but (at least in my opinion) those people are short on actionable ways to make that happen. The common advice seems to be: 1) time yourself, 2) create self-imposed deadlines, and 3) …
Continue reading “5 Tips to Turn Slow Writers into Fast Drafters”
Confession: I saw The Princess Bride for the first time last weekend. I know, I know, my childhood was lacking. There was only one movie theatre with one tiny screen in my town, and my parents said we were too poor to see movies in a theatre. So yeah. Fast forward 29 years later, and …
Continue reading “The Princess Bride Gender-Swapped!”
Grab your black mask, strap on a sword and beware of Iocane powder. Westley, Buttercup and the rest of the Brute Squad are romancing the blogosphere with THE PRINCESS BRIDE Linkup Party. This weekend blogs everywhere will be sharing their favorite bits and bobs about the movie and the book. You’re invited to take part …
Continue reading “The Princess Bride: A Frame Narrative Worth Studying”