Straight talk from the sisters about blood, sweat and ink
I’m suffering from a serious case of ennui, which is the French word for boredom and the result of having retired from my “real job” about seven years ago. It should make me feel better knowing the French have given it such an elegant name, but it doesn’t. Honestly, I awoke the other morning and …
Continue reading “*Non-Movie Star Ennui: The Lonely Life of the Writer”
Some say there is only one story ever written. It’s rearranged, maybe some parts are omitted, some may dominate, but in the end it’s always the same. You can throw in a few best friends, a love interest, a unique setting, but it’s still the same story. According to American scholar Joseph Campbell, this pattern …
Continue reading “OH! SAVE ME! SAVE ME! The Hero Model”
Halloween is the perfect time to write about the antagonist: the bad guy, the killer, the malevolent force who’ll make your protagonist’s life pure hell. The trick here is to write an antagonist who is strong enough to make you root for the protagonist. When I wrote my first novel, I knew that Lucifer would …
Continue reading “BOO! Did I Scare You? Writing the antagonist”
2013 has turned out to be a really bad year for me, physically that is. First, I broke my left ankle and then a few months later broke the right. Perhaps a little investigation into bone density is in order? The first one wasn’t so bad because after six weeks of no-weight bearing I could …
Continue reading “The Stink of Blue Jasmine: Writing the Protagonist”
Robin, Heather and I had been crit partners for months and I found their comments incredibly insightful and helpful. Meanwhile, an editor friend of mine took a crack at a few of my chapters and leveled the comment: “too many passive verbs, kill as many forms of the verb to be as you can.” I’d …
Continue reading “To Be or Not to Be: Avoiding Passive Verbs”
Exhilarated that I received several requests for full reads on the manuscript of my first novel, I saw myself on the fast track to getting published. Most of my writer buds had sent out tons of queries and received “thanks, but no thanks” that’s if they received any response at all. I’d only sent out …
Continue reading “Self-Editing: How To Pull the Weeds From Your Manuscript.”
When I start a new story I write for dialogue and action. I try to keep in mind what the character is sensing and include those nuances as often as I can, but mostly I wait and layer it in during the second draft phase. If done well, using the five senses should be seamless …
Continue reading “Smell the Coffee: How to Use the 5 Senses to Improve Your Writing”
Writing YA teaches you an important tenet. Teens are impatient. They crave quick results along with action, high stakes, energy, conflict, dialogue. When writing for teens you need to grab them by the throat and squeeze, tight. (Sort of what you want to do them in real life every now and again.) But really, doesn’t …
Continue reading “Rock That Opening Scene”
Once upon a time, in a far away land, there lived a very sad fairy princess. I’ve accepted the painful truth. I’ve pretty much ruined reading for most of my gal pals. Eventually they bounce back, but each of them has admitted that after listening to me ramble on about the elements of great …
Continue reading “A Stellar Opening Sentence”
So, you’ve written a novel. Let’s admit it. Writing a book is hard. How many people have told you they’ve been thinking of writing a book too. And they say it like they mean it. But they don’t. And writing may be hard, but editing is downright painful; and knowing when you “finished” is nearly …
Continue reading “Avoid Rejections by Making Sure Your MS is Agent Worthy”