Unless you’re a large business with the right sort of representation to bitch & whine to the government for a bailout, you can’t get something for nothing. You need to work to be successful. Even geckos know that. And you don’t want to be outdone by a gecko, do you? I didn’t think so. I… Continue reading PT: Sit Down & Get Off Your Ass
Tag: How-To
Cut Scenes & Cut Characters
Lighthouse is, I feel, benefiting from a lack of perspective. I want my heroine to maintain her unique voice throughout the story, which means periphery scenes told from an outside perspective need to be cut. This means that several of the characters I’d meant to introduce early in the story will also not make their… Continue reading Cut Scenes & Cut Characters
PT: Turning Negatives Into Positives
Nobody feels fantastic all the time, at least not without heavy drinking or severe medication. Creative people are, by and large, emotional and thus emotional blindsides getting hit can knock you right off of the rails you’d been riding towards the completion of a project. How do you deal with this sort of thing, other… Continue reading PT: Turning Negatives Into Positives
PT: Sentence Building
So this section used to be called “Breaking Writer’s Block” back in the early days of the blog. However, it has been proven by scientists that writer’s block is complete and utter bullshit. In light of this revelation, it’s necessary to rebrand this service I’m attempting to provide. So rather than breaking writer’s block, we… Continue reading PT: Sentence Building
Jotting in the Margins: The Need to Write
“…. Writing is anti-social. It’s as solitary as masturbation. Disturb a writer when he is in the throes of creation and he is likely to turn and bite right to the bone… and not even know that he’s doing it. As writers’ wives and husbands often learn to their horror. And- attend me carefully Gwen!-… Continue reading Jotting in the Margins: The Need to Write
Building Character
Eating vegetables is supposed to build one’s character, as is mowing the lawn. When we get older, we understand that when parents discuss building character, it’s short hand for long explanations of why it’s a good idea for us to eat something that’s nutritious but not as appealing as an ice cream sundae. Trying to… Continue reading Building Character
The Good, The Bad & The Ugly of Fan Fiction
You don’t improve your skills in anything unless you practice. Baseball players go to batting cages, tennis players use automated ball machines, shooters go to gun ranges. Where do writers go? In recent years, a lot of fans of popular media have been writing short pieces of fiction based in the fictional worlds they enjoy.… Continue reading The Good, The Bad & The Ugly of Fan Fiction
How Not To Query
One of the biggest challenges in writing a novel, other than writing it in the first place, is finding a way to get your masterpeice into the hands of a public eager for new stories. Provided you’d like to get paid for your hard work, frustration and original ideas, you’re going to need to get… Continue reading How Not To Query
The Fine Art of Selling Yourself
So you’ve written the next great American novel, or at least a Twilight-killer. It sits pristinely on your desk or hard drive and you can’t wait to get it into the hands of the public who are hungry for something new and interesting to take them away from the dark soul-draining mire of everyday life,… Continue reading The Fine Art of Selling Yourself
Breaking Writer's Block: Use Your Anger
Let’s try an experiment, shall we? Most people who swing by this place have at least a passing understanding of Star Wars. You know that prequels to the original classics exist. Maybe you believe they’re abominations. Maybe you think Lucas is a genius and the prequels are under-appreciated gems that outshine the originals. Maybe you… Continue reading Breaking Writer's Block: Use Your Anger
