Revision Mindsets: Artist, Story or Audience
I talk a lot about revising fiction here and when I visit with people. I teach novel revision, especially in my novel revision retreat. Recently, I’ve been trying to reconcile the different ways talk about revision and understand the differences. It seems to me that there are several distinct differences, each with its own strengths.
6 Steps to Create a Fantastic Narrative Voice (What I Learned Writing Storming)
You hear it all the time: readers’ time is precious, and they’re not going to waste it on books that aren’t da bomb. I certainly feel that way about my own reading choices. What’s my main criterion for instantly recognizing when a book isn’t going to be worth my time as a reader? Voice.
5 Common Myths about Emotions — Guest: Kassandra Lamb
We all have emotions, so we all think we know how to write them. However, one of those emotions we’ve probably all experienced is denial, and that means we might be in denial about some truths for how emotions really work.
Writing About LOVE—Ditch the Cliches & Turn Up the Heat in Your Romance
But Alex wrote this really freaking amazing post and I’m glad about that because I was born and raised in the bible belt, which means I can only write love scenes in my books when all of my family is dead. That and in Texas, romance involves a gun show or ammo sale.
To mix things up a bit, Alex is assisting me through the holiday season. His free ebook “44 Key Questions” to test your story helps you with creating intriguing novels and shorts. And this time, he is here to melt your hearts and minds with a fresh outlook at romance in fiction. Please cheer for him once again!
The Secret Ingredient for POV Magic—Capture Your Reader & Never Let Go
Since Kristen is in captivity, that means no one is around to stop us, so I think it’s time to pull back the wizard’s curtain and reveal a secret to POV. For those who may not know, POV stands for point of view and almost always should be limited to one character at a time or things get very confusing.
What Grabs Readers: The Inside Story
I ended my post last month with the fact that what readers are wired to respond to in a story – to wit: the protagonist’s escalating internal struggle — is not what writers have been taught to focus on. I was reminded of this recently when reading Jason Sheehan’s review of Lauren Groff’s literary bestseller, Fates and Furies on NPR’s Morning Edition website. By way of praising the book Sheehan called it…
Men Are More Aggressive, Women More Emotional–Actually Not! (an encore)
Most people assume that men, in general, are more aggressive than women, and that women, in general, are more emotional. In fact, the genders do not differ with regard to their natural tendencies in these areas. You heard me right. These are not true gender differences.
I read a large number of blogs and sites every week and will be curating them here, on my blog. If you want to see my picks of the best articles each week, just subscribe below. You’ll get an email each weekend with a list of the fiction writing articles I found most interesting or useful.