Writing Category
Meghan’s Next Step
Posted on February 4, 2015 6 Comments
About a week after learning I did not win a publishing prize at the third contest I’d entered last year, and getting my scores, I’m going to be self-editing Meghan one last time. Then, I’m sending her to a friend of mine, one of the Indie publishers I listed on Self-Publishing Tips, Part II. To […]
Writing Resource – The First Five Pages
Posted on January 29, 2015 Leave a Comment
Called “A Writer’s Guide to Staying Out of the Rejection Pile,” The First Five Pages is a how-to manual on sprucing up the beginning our your novel. I’ve had this book a long time. A dear writing friend gave this to me years ago. I’m just now reading it. Covering the basics, it’s everything from […]
A Season and a Time for Everything
Posted on January 22, 2015 2 Comments
The Birds used verses from Ecclesiastes 3 to say “To everything, turn, turn, turn. There is a season, turn, turn, turn.” It’s not even a year old yet. But it might be undergoing a bit of a change again. In November, I challenged myself to post three times a week. It’s been getting a bit […]
Breakout III – General Story Techniques
Posted on January 16, 2015 1 Comment
This week, we’ve been looking at Donald Maas’ Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook. I trust you have had your whistle whetted to learn more from this writing resource. Yesterday, we looked at Lessons 13-24, Part II, Plot Development. The lessons covered everything from subplots, to adding tension in different ways, to how and when to […]
Writing to Breakout II – Plot
Posted on January 15, 2015 Leave a Comment
This week, we’re looking at Donald Maas’ Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook. My goal is to inspire and educate you to the basics of writing, and hopefully help you find resources to enhance your writing. Yesterday, we looked at Lessons 1-12, Part I, Character Development from Donald Maas. The lessons covered everything from adding heroic […]
Writing to Breakout I – Characters
Posted on January 14, 2015 2 Comments
This week, we’ll be examining Donald Maas’ Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook. My goal is to inspire and educate you to the basics of writing, and hopefully help you find resources to enhance your writing. Today, we’ll look at Lessons 1-12, Part I, Character Development from Donald Maas. The lessons cover everything from adding heroic […]
POV III – How many? How close?
Posted on January 9, 2015 2 Comments
How many POVs (points of view) should you have in a story? How “close” should third person narrative be? We’ll be looking at that from Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, by Renni Browne and Dave King. It’s a great book and will help the beginning writer discover their writing weaknesses and how to correct them. At […]
Point of View II – First, Omni, Third
Posted on January 8, 2015 Leave a Comment
Yesterday, I talked about “headhopping.” That’s jumping from one character’s POV into another’s head in the scene. If you write this way, you’re in good company, but it’s jarring to the reader. In Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, by Renni Browne and Dave King, they open Chapter 3, Point of View, with a short passage from […]
No Headhopping Allowed
Posted on January 7, 2015 2 Comments
What’s “headhopping?” Simply stated, it’s multiple points of view within one scene. It’s jarring to the reader, and it shows me, the reader, that the author doesn’t have a complete understanding of Point of View (POV). Mostly I read it in either poorly edited books or self-published books. Blunt people would call it “headhopping.” Let’s […]
No Resolutions – Just Plans
Posted on January 1, 2015 Leave a Comment
I learned a LONG time ago, that New Year’s resolutions don’t work. We’re not committed enough to them. And why wait until New Year’s Day, or the beginning of a month to start something new? I’m finding that if I want to change something about myself, I have to contemplate it, then plan it, then […]
Donna L.H. Smith 