Well, it’s official: I’ve managed to finish NaNo for the second year in a row! It was an uphill battle this year mostly because of one scene I was stuck on, but on Saturday I forced my husband to brainstorm with me until I had it figured out. Once that scene was completed, I filled [...]
I’m happy to report that after being consistently behind in my NaNo word count all month long, yesterday I finally got (slightly) ahead! For days I’d been stuck on the pivotal scene in the book where the main characters defeat the antagonist, but I couldn’t figure out how to make it work. Finally I simply [...]
I’ve just started reading Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass, a craft book that’s been on my reading list for quite a while. What’s stood out to me the most so far is Maass’s definition of what a breakout novel does, not just what it is. This is what he says: Breakout novels are [...]
The general consensus out there about prologues tends to be: avoid them like the plague! Personally, I don’t mind prologues, but often when I come across them, they don’t really seem essential to the story. Every once in a while, though, I think they can really work. One example of a strong prologue is in [...]
Thanks to Karen B. Schwartz’s suggestion in the comments the other day, today I’ll be focusing on writing description. Description can be a tricky thing: how do you put in enough that your readers can see the scene but not so much that it becomes tedious? Here are five things to keep in mind as [...]
I’m always on the lookout for good writing-related posts in the blogosphere, and this week has been filled with them. Here’s a list of a few I found especially helpful. -What do all stories need to keep readers going? Tension. Julia Rocchi talks about adding tension to your writing. -First person narration seems more popular [...]
Since I did NaNo last year, you’d think this year would be easier. In fact, because of the nature of the project, it’s been even harder. On Sunday night I was 6,000 words behind in the word count and starting to feel a little stressed out. So on Monday I dedicated the day to catching [...]
As I was browsing in Barnes and Noble yesterday, I was pleasantly surprised to see the “For Teens” sections was bigger than ever. I was also intrigued by some of the books I saw shelved in that section. I know YA is a big market right now and there’s a lot of cross over between [...]
Last week I wrote about using short and long flashbacks in novel writing. Today I wanted to say a few words about the use of flashbacks in short stories. While many of the usual rules apply, short stories are a slightly different animal. Here are a few general guidelines: 1. Try to avoid long flashbacks. [...]
One day, long ago, a vague idea of an isolated place popped into my head. I let this place grow and expand in my mind, and eventually I began to figure out what its story was. After a while, some people began to pop up there and their stories became intertwined with the setting’s. So [...]
