Anna Staniszewski

Archives: December2009

• What’s In Store For 2010?

  A new year is almost here, and I have lots of things planned for 2010! In addition to the usual craft-related posts, I’ll also have more guest posts, some exciting interviews, and even a book giveaway or two! In fact, I plan on starting off the year right by having a contest. Look for more

• The Most Influential Reads of the Decade

  As we near the end of a decade (when did that happen??) I’ve been realizing how many amazing books have been published in the past ten years. At a time when people fear for the future of publishing, it’s startling to think how much quality literature continues to be written.
  I’ve also realized how many books

• 8 Tips for Writing Comedy

  I’m back! I hope you enjoyed Ray’s guest post yesterday. Since he makes websites for a living, I figured those of us who aren’t quite so tech-savvy could benefit from his experience. Speaking of drawing on experience, today I’m going to talk a bit about comedy writing, specifically how the rules of improvisational theater can

• Get Better Search Results For My Author Site

  Hey everyone, this is Anna’s husband, Ray, and I’m doing a guest post on how to get better search engine results for your author website. These tips will help you set up your website so that it will get better search results.
  1. Think like your visitors
  The first thing you have to do when you are

• WIP Wednesday

  Between the end of the semester and the holidays, there hasn’t been a lot of time for writing, but I’ve managed to do a bit of work on one of my WIPs. This is a manuscript I’ve been working on for years now, one that I just can’t seem to get right. A couple weeks

• Snow, Dogs, and Space

  Since this is one of the busiest times of the year, I know I’ve only had time skim blog posts this week. So I’ve decided to make today’s post easily skimmable. First off, I wanted to share a few pictures from the wee blizzard we had over the weekend. Even though we get snow every

• A Lesson in Character Motivation from “Avatar”

  Over the weekend I saw a teeny, tiny low-budget film called Avatar. Oh, you’ve heard of it? Well, it was an interesting movie and there’s lots to say about it, some good (e.g. the visuals were stunning) and some bad (e.g. it’s yet another tale of the “noble savage”). But one of the things that

• Top Posts of 2009

  Since it’s getting close to the end of the year, I thought it would be fun to go back and see which posts have been the most popular (i.e. the ones that have gotten the most traffic). Not surprisingly, they’re almost all on craft, a topic I love to blab about. Here are this year’s

• Using Sidekick Characters

  Yes, it’s time for another bit of wisdom from Writing the Breakout Novel. This time it’s on the topic of sidekicks in fiction. Maass begins by acknowledging the traditional uses of sidekicks; crime fiction, for example, is a perfect medium for sidekicks because they balance out the detective and help show just how smart s/he

• WIP Wednesday

  I try to make my WIP updates come on Wednesdays, but it doesn’t always work out that way. Today, however, we’re right on schedule. As I mentioned last week, I’ve been juggling a few WIPs. This week I’ve been working on revising a (hopefully) funny MG adventure.
  Originally, I started this manuscript as a break from