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Put your notes away before you begin a draft. What you remember is probably what should be remembered; what you forget is probably what should be forgotten. No matter; you’ll have a chance to go back to your notes after the draft is completed. What is important is to achieve a draft which allows the writing to flow. DONALD M. MURRAY via AdviceToWriters – Home – Put Your Notes Away.   I usually post quotes that I, you know, agree with.  But this? No freaking way. I almost spend too much time making notes; I’ll give him that one.  Sometimes it’s a procrastination tool.  Sometimes, youRead More →

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On Kathy Carmichael’s awesome site, she has a form to aid in creating a short synopsis and plotting your story.  You should go download that now.  I’ll wait. She suggests, on the first page, to list ten events that will help change a character’s core belief and to keep in mind the stages of change.  This opened up a whole new way of looking at structuring character arc for me so I wanted to share what I’d found on the stages of change. The earliest stage of change is known as precontemplation. During the precontemplation stage, people are not considering a change. People in thisRead More →

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I’ve really been struggling lately with process.  I’ve come to a dead end and, it occurred to me, it’s not the story.  It’s how I’m getting the story out.  I always considered myself a planner (vs. a pantser) but it occurred to me when I was actually writing five page descriptions of my heroine’s apartment that maybe I was doing too much planning. But writing the beginning of a story is easy. Or it is for me.  There’s so much to get out, so much you know is going to happen, it’s like you channel the story.  And then you hit that wall, where youRead More →

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So I’m a third to a half of the way through my manuscript and oh. my. God. I knew the beginning.  I had so much to write, to get all these threads and storylines moving.  I had to write and then condense and rewrite just to make sure I could get in everything important without rambling.  And then I get to this point and I’ve got nothing.  What comes next?  I sort of know the ending, though not the specifics, so where do I go from here?  Some ideas. A preset time (say, 30 minutes) of freewriting, preferably with a program that pushes you toRead More →

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Excellent article about how to plot your novel so the reader can’t put it down.  Also, will explain what an “HCM” is. Today’s best novels make readers so desperate to know what happens next that they’ll stay up reading well past midnight, blistering thumbs and all, until THE END. Then and only then will they be able to relax, their souls flooded with satisfaction, relief and peace. Only to be followed—ideally!—by a gnawing sense of unfulfillment, anxiety and a compulsion to read more books by you. via Writer’s Digest – How to Make Your Novel a Page Turner.Read More →

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I wrote a novel and finished it well over a year-and-a-half ago.  I submitted it to Carina Press (cross your fingers for me–still haven’t heard anything*).  It was a stand-alone book, but I knew when I wrote it there were two related books to be written.  I jotted down notes as they came to me and even wrote a loose outline. And then I moved on to the next story.  Because why write sequels to a book that may never be published?  Except, now that I’ve sucked it up and found some guts, I’m subbing it to agents and the previously mentioned publisher.  In myRead More →

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At some point, when one realizes one wants to be a writer–a real, true, working writer–it then becomes apparent that one must write.  Even when inspiration has flipped you off and it’s the last thing you want to do.  What do I do?  I make a go of it with pen and paper.  I write very informally, almost as if I’m talking to myself. (“So, this is the part where character 1 finds out what character 2 has really been up to.  She’s pissed and more than a little hurt…”–that sort of thing.) But I really, really want to know: how do you do it? Read More →

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I hate character charts.  I see them everywhere.  I’ve bought books on character development that had 10 page(!) character charts.  Sample questions:   Astrological sign? Who cares?  I don’t check my horoscope.  I mean, I guess, if I had a character who was all into that, it might matter to them.  I guess, I’m saying if it doesn’t matter to my character, why should it matter to me? Political leanings? Unless my character is a politician or an activist or a lobbyist, why do I need to know this?  Will her views on global warming affect her reaction when she’s forced into a marriage ofRead More →

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Everyone’s process is different.  I’m still figuring mine out.  Some people make collages or use whiteboards or a special type of pencil.  Here’s a list of the five things I could never write without: My notebook.  Right now, I’m using a hardbacked steno notebook.  It’s smaller and easier for me to deal with.  But I’ve used hardbound journals, 5 subject notebooks, even scraps of paper I stick in my pocket.  The point is, I get ideas all day long, but I have a window of real writing time.  If I didn’t write it down, I’d never remember a thing. My iPod shuffle.  First, I makeRead More →

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It’s like the opposite of Write Or Die, but I think it would work just as well.  I can’t tell you, because my fabulous Mac is down and out.  But I’d recommend.  OmmWriter.  Try it. A review from MakeUseOf.com. When I came across OmmWriter, I was intrigued. The concept took writing productivity, mixed in some solitude and added a dash of zen. The results? A beeeautiful and calming full-screen, distraction-free writing application with its own soundtrack.Read More →