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Writing on a schedule can cure a variety of writerly problems. Most writers must navigate the choppy waters of family life or a day job and still find time to keep making writing progress. That’s where a writing schedule comes in handy. Writing Tip for Today: Believe it or not, injecting a little discipline into […]
Writing: Should I use Present or Past Tense? When you’re writing a story, choosing either past or present tense influences your reader’s experience. Just as your story’s Point of View character has a unique perspective, using past or present tense lends a distinct flavor to your work. Writing Tip for Today: How does past or […]
This week’s post is a preview for the workshop I’ll be teaching next week on writing Characters and POV. I find that writers either understand Point of View (POV) innately, or they struggle. With a few pointers, I hope every writer will master POV, also called Viewpoint. Writing Tip for Today: Here’s a refresher on […]
In scene writing, the tension is often centered between two characters and their boundaries. One wants something, and readers don’t know whether she’ll obtain it. By degrees, the other character either withholds or invades the first character’s boundaries, which leads to increasing tension. Writing Tip for Today: How can you write scenes with mounting tension […]
Many writing sites offer instructions for producing BEAT SHEETS—and fiction writers everywhere need to understand the concept, whether you’re a plotter, a pantster or somewhere in-between. Writing Tip for Today: Let’s discuss writing “beats” for novels, short stories and sentences. Spreadsheet Beats A “beat” in fiction used to be called a plot point. The term […]
Writing unforgettable characters is much more than simply giving a character a unique habit or speech tag. To be truly memorable, a character should be unique both inside and out. Writing Tip for Today: Let’s look at some ways to make characters unforgettable. Guard Against Stereotypes In writing sentences, we’re cautioned against using clichés, but […]
Description in writing has to be one of the hardest parts to get just right. Give readers too little description, and they are unable to experience the story world. Write too much description, and readers get lost in all the details. Writing Tip for Today: Let’s take a look at ways a writer can balance […]
When you write your character to life, you delve into what that character wants (more than anything!). But to really animate your character, readers must understand what makes that person tick. Writing Tip for Today: Let’s talk about ways to more fully imagine your character’s inner life: Back Story Need to Know We’re all the […]
Are your character’s inner and outer conflicts balanced? Conflict is uncomfortable. Yet a story written without conflict will struggle to attract readers. Writing Tip for Today: Writing conflict is more than a bunch of stuff blowing up. Writers must learn to balance a character’s inner and outer conflicts. Here are some ideas: Outer Conflict Let’s […]
I taught a writing class last night at a local library, all about writing a character’s world. For those who couldn’t make it, here’s a recap: Writing Tip for Today: Let’s discuss the kinds of things we need for writing your character’s world: Who Am I? Writing a fictional character is more than simply “you” […]
Linda has always been a daydreamer, artist and storyteller. In addition to doting on grandbabies, collecting too many cats, gardening and walking on the beach, she loves to write and to help writers develop their skills. [READ MORE…]
