I met my writing goals this week, decided whose perspective the next scene would be, what would happen in it, and drafted my first paragraph. There are about 150 words so far, but I have a direction now, and I've found that accomplishing that is the hardest part sometimes. This scene is a continuation of… Continue reading 2020 – Week 3 and Scene Stacking
It's week 2 of 2020 and I'm pleased to say that I have completed the scene I was working on in my last post, added an additional 949 words. It is now 1687 words, an excellent scene length. Of course, this is the first draft of it, so I'm going to let it sit for… Continue reading 2020 – Week 2
It's the new year, and not only that, but the start of a new decade. It's sinking in that I've had my book floating around in my mind now for nearly 20 years, it's current iteration for the last 2 years, and it's predecessor for 8. Wow! Time really does fly by, especially for procrastinating… Continue reading Writing Resolutions – 2020
I've been struggling to make progress with my book for some months now. It's not that I don't know what happens next, but everytime I sit down to write I find myself easily distracted. I began to think back to my unstoppable days, where churning out two or three thousand words daily was a default… Continue reading Meaningful Writing – How to Not Quit
A colleague recommended the The King's Own to me because his friend is the author, so I bought it and gave it a shot. The first critique I have is that there is no synopsis on the back cover, which makes it look a little amateur and provides a potential reader no clue as to… Continue reading Review – The King’s Own, by W. Marshall
Editing. It's such a dirty word for authors because it means returning to place you've already been, going back over something you've already done, and performing the tedious task of proofreading, grammar checking, rephrasing, rewriting etc. In short, it's a chore, one most writers despise. I've read some articles and heard a lot of people… Continue reading Editing tricks that don’t cost a dime
Writer's block happens to the best of us, it's inevitable. We go strong for a bit, churning out page after page and then suddenly we get to a place where the creativity takes a vacation. I've been stuck on one scene for about four months. Four months! That's a long time to be stuck in… Continue reading Writers Block 😦
One thing I've learned over the past several weeks is that life is full of surprises, excitements, and disappointments. Sometimes life seems dull, but others it's like an emotional roller coaster. Those moments, the tough ones, the emotional ones, are an invaluable source of inspiration for your novel, in particular: character development. I'm now several… Continue reading Soul Searching for Character Development
Every writer is inspired by another's creativity, it's just inevitable, yet everyone wants to have an original thought or idea, and no one wants to plagiarize, unless they are specifically writing fanfiction, but even that, as E.L. James has proven with her Fifty Shades series, originally a Twilight fanfiction, can be considered original enough with… Continue reading Treading the line between Inspiration and Plagiarism
I was speaking with an associate recently about motivation, finding time, and just making progress on a goal, and he shared a technique with me that is helping him achieve what he wants. For myself, this goal would be finishing my novel, Isle of Elandia. Chapter 3 is complete, and now that the new school… Continue reading No Zero Days – The Key to Finishing Your Novel
