Writing Craft
How Spill Strong Emotion on the Page
I’ll admit, this blog was sparked by THIS one (it’s awesome-go read it-we’ll wait). It had a quote from F. Scott Fitzgerald: “… I’m afraid the price for doing professional work is a good deal higher than you are prepared to pay at the moment. You’ve got to sell your heart, your strongest reactions, not…
Read MoreOverused Words
We all have them. Mine may be different than yours. They’re like whack-a-moles – you banish one, and two others pop up. You may think they don’t matter, but they do. They irritate the reader on a subconscious level. Use them enough, and they’ll remember they have to put the laundry in the dryer –…
Read MoreEditing Pet Peeves
We all have them. Things that make us crazy, whether we’re reading a novel for pleasure or critiquing a colleague’s work. We’re readers first, and I believe these peeves are forged by what we’ve read – like Chinese water torture they fall, drop by drop, until you notice them and continuing until you can’t see…
Read MoreDynamic Dialogue
I teach writing classes, and one of the things I see most often is awkward, stilted or boring dialogue. Why? Because dialogue in writing is not like dialogue in real life. It’s real life on steroids. It’s all the great stuff without all the, how-are-you’ s, um’s and awkwardness. It’s all the stuff you lie…
Read MoreYour First 5 Lines
I’ll admit, the idea for this blog was sparked by this one, by Donald Maass. It made me think, because I’m teaching my First Five Pages class at Lawson Writer’s Academy starting today (you can still sign up – HERE). We always focus on first lines, and though I’ll admit they are critical, experts say…
Read MoreWord Play – Unleash Your Inner Writing Child
Think back. Waaaay back, to when you first decided you wanted to write. You sat down, maybe at a computer, maybe with a pen and napkin, or even (in my case) on the back of a motorcycle, and wove a story in your head. Remember how excited you were? Everything seemed possible. You had the…
Read MoreMistakes That Invite Skimming
This is awesome skimming. This isn’t what I’m talking about. For an author, reader skimming is a death knell. It immediately precedes putting the book down and not picking it back up. The reader may not even be able to tell you why they’re not engaged, just that they aren’t. You can write the perfect…
Read MoreEasiest Edit to Get Closer POV
POV is like Algebra. You either get it or you don’t, and if you don’t, people can explain it ten different ways, and you just feel dumber with every one. Hey, I understand. I didn’t get it either, back when rocks were new. And what’s frustrating is, I’ve never found a way to explain it…
Read MoreWrite Settings & Descriptions that MATTER
I consider myself a pretty fair writer. But I can face it–I’m never going to be as good with description as Delia Owens (Where the Crawdads Sing), or Pat Conroy (Prince of Tides), or even Steinbeck (Grapes of Wrath). If you are, you have my great respect. Have you ever opened a book, and the…
Read MoreA Bit on Backstory
Backstory is important. It gives essential context to what’s happening in the story. So why does it have such a bad rep? Because writers are heavy-handed with it. It’s a garnish – not a main course. The majority of badly handled backstory I see is at the beginning of the book. A friend of mine,…
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