Writing Advice From A YA Author Powered By Chocolate And Green Tea
The real truth of writing is that you will spend a lot of time editing. A. Lot. Of. Time. Hours, weeks, months, sometimes even years (or at least, what feels like years). When the rush of new ideas is gone. When the thrill of filling in plot holes and working out twists is over. When …
Sometimes the best plotting in the world and wonderfully written characters aren't enough to save a story so boring even readers who can't not finish a novel consider putting it down. That's what can happen when your book lacks suspense, and if you're afraid of this happening to you, here are some ideas that might …
There's nothing more fun as a reader than slipping wholly into the point of view of a character. It's also creatively satisfying to be a writer who can master such a skill. Writing your book from the perspectives of your characters and getting it right forms a connection for both you and the reader, so …
We all have a writing habit that no matter how much we grow as a writer, sticks with us. For many writers (myself included), stage directing is one of those habits, and it takes the form of describing every physical move a character makes, beyond what's necessary. Because this habit happens naturally, it's usually hard …
Writing a book takes time. Even if you're a fast drafter and can put something together in a matter of weeks instead of months or years, working through the multiple drafts it takes to reach the final draft is still tough. You're so exhausted at the end, that the thought of starting again at a blank …
When you've been working on your manuscript for several years, you've read it more than a few times. In fact, you've probably read it so much you can quote whole paragraphs from it. It's a side effect of reading your words repeatedly, and the editing, rewriting, proofing—and let's just throw another edit in there because …
Continue reading Reading Your Book: Thoughts That Run Through Your Head
When writing a book, plenty of effort goes into building our characters or working out our plots that sometimes the setting of your book world gets a little lost. This can happen if you're afraid of bogging the reader down in too much detail, worried you'll slow the pace by stopping to explain things, or …
When you find a good beta reader, it's like striking gold. Suddenly you have riches of feedback to help shape your story into the MS you set out to write when you typed the first sentence. It's natural to want to return the favor and help another writer. Beta reading for others will also help you …
Continue reading The Do’s And Don’ts Of Being A Good Beta Reader
You know that meme where writers name their files "Final Draft", "Final Draft 2", "Final Draft 3", "Really Final Draft", "Really, Really Final Draft", "Seriously Final Draft" etc. I get that. I'm currently working on the sixth draft of an MS I literally named "Final Draft" three drafts ago. Past-Me probably thought it would be. Present-Me …
