Anna Staniszewski

Archives: November2009

• NaNo Update and a Book Giveaway!

  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

• WIP Update (and a Guy With a Turkey on His Head)

  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

• Books That Rattle

  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 written

• Prologues That Work

  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 Fire

• Five Tips for Writing Description

  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 you’re

• Writing Link Roundup

  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 than ever

• WIP Wednesday

  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

• Expanding the YA Umbrella

  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

• Short Story Flashbacks

  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. In

• Projects That Just Won’t Die

  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