Straight talk from the sisters about blood, sweat and ink
If you search for “how to write a mystery”, 43,900,000 links pop up. It’s no mystery then to conclude that lots of people write about writing mysteries. Maybe there are so many links because there are so many kinds of mysteries. Maybe there are so many links because more people write about writing mysteries …
Continue reading “The Mystery of Mysteries, Part I”
Last week I wrote about how to Create Character Change and the importance of making sure your character’s flaw is foiling her in Act II. This led one of my fellow Write On Sisters to comment that the “mushy middle” is a hard section to write. That it is. Robin wrote about it here from …
Continue reading “Screenwriter Tips for Novelists: Mapping the Mushy Middle”
We came across the hilarious Molly Campbell through the wonders of the Twitterverse and asked her to write for us about the challenges of humor writing. Molly is a two-time Erma Bombeck award-winning author who has a wonderful humor blog. And you can follow her at Twitter @mollydcampbell. Her very funny book, Characters in Search …
Continue reading “Writing Funny: With Molly Campbell”
I have a beautiful writing room, it has a wall filled with books and a desk that overlooks the pond in our backyard, but today I’m working on my writing from the couch. Next to me a three-year-old has snuggled into my elbow space and is eating crackers and stealing sips of my Chai tea. …
Continue reading “Writing With Kids”
A while back, I touched on voice and I thought I might explore this essential writing element more fully. I did a little hunting and decided, in terms of creative writing, voice has two meanings by most standards: the author’s style, conveying her attitudes, personality, and the quality that makes her writing unique; and characteristic …
Continue reading “Voice: Feel Me Hear Me”
I’ve known about The Oxford Inklings for most of my lifetime. However, I didn’t become interested in them again until quite recently. For those of you who don’t know the story, The Inklings were an informal literary society and critique group that started meeting in Oxford during the 1930s. However, they weren’t just any group, …
Continue reading “Five Tips From The Oxford Inklings”
We all have them. Business cards, that is. Writers probably spent a combined time, across all of our efforts creating them, that would have equaled the time to pen an epic tome. You know what I mean. Which layout design? What picture? Font style and size? Oh, and the info to include in those few …
Continue reading “Your Business Card: Valuable Real Estate”
Last week’s lesson was about how Character Change makes a story more satisfying, and I evoked the good name of James Bond to make my point. Audiences and readers, now more than ever, want characters who grow and evolve. But figuring out your character’s change is just one step; you also need to develop how …
Continue reading “Reading For Writers 101: Character Change, part 2”
As summer sweeps in with its balmy breezes and hot temperatures what’s more wonderful than a steamy summer romance? Heather and Robin initially cringed when I suggested this theme, neither of whom would be considered a fan of the romance genre in general. And I’d have to agree to some extent. Many romance books embody …
Continue reading “What We’re Reading: Summer Romance”
It’s the one lesson I remember from my father, who died when I was young: play your hunches. Three years ago I went to a writing workshop in San Francisco. I had just been forcibly retired and thought I might look into another profession – one that didn’t involve Boards of Directors, staff, agendas, emails …
Continue reading “Play Your Hunches”