A Killing Most Personal Puts On Its Business Suit
Starter draft finished, life happens, writer returns to her solid focus on full-time noveling. Check, check, and check. A Killing Most Personal is about to set out on its journey to find a rockstar agent. Who that will be is unknown, but the process of discovery and connecting with new people is certain to be…
It Doesn’t Get Easier, We Get Stronger
Plowing through the last big chapter, then only the resolution chapter to go until my full book starter draft is done! Wa-hoo! FYI, I did not write this as fast as I’d have liked, but at least I’m almost there, now. To encourage you (and myself!), I want to share one of the vlogs from…
Kiss, Katch, Kick, Kill – What to Do When You Get Stuck
Every novelist has experienced that moment when they hit a roadblock, even when they’ve taken the time to outline their project. It’s impossible to know all the answers from beginning to end, especially when you’re at the beginning of the process of creating your book. (See, It’s Okay to Not Have All the Answers When…
It’s Okay to Not Have All the Answers When You Write
But you need to have some of them. From The Write Practice: “You have to know something about your book before you begin to write your story. I think this is true whether you like to plot your novel before you write or not. You don’t need to know everything, but you do need to…
Why Genre Isn’t a Bad Word
Readers read a book or short story because they’re seeking a particular mood and journey. Genre gets them most of the way there, and there’s nothing wrong with that! Most of our classics were genre fiction in their time, like Poe (horror), Mark Twain (adventure-satire), and even Dickens (paranormal-drama). Any kind of genre writing can…
Why the Status Quo of Society Kills Creativity
Before I get into the weeds of why society’s preferred way of doing things isn’t designed for creatives, let’s start with a story. Imagine a third grade classroom in America. “Timmy, what’s the answer to number four?” the teacher asks from the front of the room. “Eight,” Timmy quietly answers, sensing he now wobbles precariously…
My Starter Draft’s a Hot Mess, Now What?
Before I give you the inside scoop on using passes to improve your Starter Draft, I offer this important message. Finish your starter draft first. Do not tackle passes until you have, otherwise you’ll bog down as described in, Finishing Your Starter Draft is Crucial to Success. In addition, please know that passes are not…
Story Arcs
A great question came up from one of our group members and I thought the answer might be of use to other writers. What if you have short stories that you want to structure into a novel? How might you do that? Get a stack of index cards. Create an index card for each short…
Starter Drafts and Sprint Writing — The Perfect Combo
In my blog, Finishing Your Starter Draft is Crucial to Success, I talked about why finishing your book as a Starter Draft is key to making it as an author. But what’s the best way to write a Starter Draft? I’m glad you asked! There are three important building blocks to writing a Starter Draft,…
Finishing Your Starter Draft is Crucial to Success
“What? You mean the whole book, don’t you. Are you nuts? Shouldn’t I make the first three chapters perfect so I have something solid to work from?” Nope. Because perfect has no place when you’re creating. When your book isn’t even finished, yet, slaving over having perfect dialogue, description, grammar, or just the right word,…
Loading…
Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.
Rockstar Novelist 