Straight talk from the sisters about blood, sweat and ink
If we were having coffee, I’d meet up with you in the afternoon. This is unusual since I’ve always scheduled our coffee dates in the late morning so I can spend the afternoon/evening with my WIP because that’s when I write best. But do I really? I’ve been pondering that this week as I experiment with my writing …
Continue reading “Weekend Coffee Share – On Being a Vampire-Turtle Hybrid Writer”
A work crisis, a funeral and a deadline have made this week rather chaotic for me, so it is time for a roundup post! I created the Reading for Writers 101 series because I believe reading critically is an essential component of learning writing craft. Plus the series gives me an outlet to not only …
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Writers put a lot of pressure on themselves regarding the first line of a story. I don’t know if it was always this way, but in our fast-paced world there is this expectation that writers must hook readers with just one sentence. Otherwise, they will pick up the next book on the shelf! Whether this …
Continue reading “Two Components of a Great Opening Sentence”
The following #writingtips apply to all stories, but especially short ones where every scene must be essential. Happy Short Story Month! When I plot a story, I tend to think in terms of action. This is probably due to my screenwriter training. In a screenplay all you have to work with is action and dialogue. …
Continue reading “Test That Scene – Is it Essential or Filler?”
If we were having coffee, I’d have you over to my house so I could chat and clean at the same time. I have to get ready for our biannual Grilled Cheese Party! This is also a birthday party since my boyfriend and I are both May babies. Birthdays are a great excuse to see friends, though I’m …
Continue reading “Weekend Coffee Share – Grilled Cheese & Gaming”
Not counting my childhood Young Authors books (for a hilarious selection of those click here), I have written only one short story: a grim ghost tale featured in Pen & Muse’s Haunted House showcase. However, I’ve written many television episodes, which resemble short stories in length and substance. Writing a novel, by comparison, is like …
Continue reading “Is Your Idea a Short Story or Novel?”
Earlier this year I wrote a post about Internal Conflict based on a character’s flaws, fears and morality. Like External Conflict, Internal Conflict can be numerous and varied. The only rule is it all must get in the way of the hero achieving his/her goal. If it doesn’t, you don’t have conflict, just baggage. And …
Continue reading “Prime Inner Conflict (aka Conflicting Wants)”
It’s been soooo long since we had coffee! I’ve missed you! But alas, it is not possible to sit down and drink hot beverages out of pretty mugs in zero gravity. You see, Robin and I were on a space mission for the Blogging A to Z Challenge. Our theme: 3, 2, 1… BLASTOFF to Stellar …
Continue reading “Weekend Coffee Share – Back from Outer Space!”
Today on WriteOnSisters we have another edition of “Heather encounters a story problem and finds a way to solve it.” I’ve admitted before that my ideas come from situations not character, hence my posts about How To Choose A Main Character and Creating Character Arc From Plot, so it serves to reason that if I …
Continue reading “How To Create An Antagonist”
What does “x-ray” have to do with writing craft? I didn’t choose it just because I needed an “X” word for the #AtoZChallenge, or because I already used “x-rated” for last year’s post (X-Rated: Should YA Books Have a Rating System?), but because all writers need to be able to check the spine of their …
Continue reading “X is for X-Ray”