Straight talk from the sisters about blood, sweat and ink
Sorry for our brief absence. Did you miss us? Heather and I needed some down time. We logged an insane number of blogging hours during April and our work, writing, health and family lives were starting to suffer. The vacation did its job brilliantly. We’re excited to get back to work and have some fantastic …
Continue reading “Story Twinkies: Do You Need One?”
It’s week two of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge, and time for our next installment of Masterplots Theater. Episodes thus far include: – A is for Adventure – B is for Buddy Love If you like focusing on a strong central character, creating clear-cut moral conflicts and enjoy getting down and dirty with …
Continue reading “Masterplots Theater: C is for Chosen One”
If you were with us last week for Heather’s post on productivity, you know we announced our Blogging from A to Z Challenge theme, Masterplots Theater. Heather and I didn’t coin the term masterplot and I’m not sure who did. However, the idea comes from a familiar writing concept, namely that all stories have been …
Continue reading “Plotting Revenge: Using a Masterplot”
Happy Archive Revive Day! It’s always helpful to refresh what we know about writing by digging up past posts and updating the information a bit, so here we go… Originally posted on Oct. 7, 2013. Updated Sept. 21, 2015 I learned this method of outlining at Ryerson University. My screenwriting professor called it a Step Outline. …
Continue reading “Outlining – Method 2: Active Beats (aka “Show Don’t Tell”)”
Welcome to part two of Releasing Your Inner Poe. If you missed part one you can find it here. With fall rapidly approaching I’m hard at work on a few projects with dark gothic themes, but more on that in a future post. Since I’m struggling with the task of establishing the right balance of …
Continue reading “Releasing Your Inner Poe, Part Two.”
Gothic literature is delicious and deadly and lately I’ve been thinking a lot about it. It’s a literary form most people either love or hate. I fall in the love-it camp and I’m always hunting for great examples. I enjoy the old masters and finding new writers who rework the old tropes in fresh ways. …
Continue reading “Tips for Releasing Your Inner Poe”
Tomorrow I have the honor of reviewing a new series I read over the weekend. Six books in one weekend. God Bless Amazon and the Kindle Reader. I’d finish one, et voila! Presto-chango, here’s the next one! I fell asleep about halfway through the sixth one last night and, because I can’t stand to have …
Continue reading “Keeping Your Mojo”
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”
Everyone wants a book that explodes off the page like a supernova. The best compliment any reader can give a book is to say they couldn’t put down. It’s not easy to create a bang, which is why too many books open with a few sad sparks and no fully formed fireworks. There are some …
Continue reading “Does Your Book Open With a BANG?”
We hear it all the time: There are no new stories! Nowhere is this sentiment more potentially accurate than with historical fiction. But is it really true? Or is this a case of needing more out-of-the box thinking? Here are three ways to re-imagine the research. Take one tip or use all three and leave …
Continue reading “Historical Fiction: 3 Tips for Leaving the Slush Pile Behind”