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One thing I almost always counsel my students to do while they finish their novels is to begin writing short personal essays for publication. Why? It’s all about your author cred. Writing Tip for Today: What are some tips for creating short personal essays for publication? The One-inch Frame Start with your life—but keep the […]
Writing your novel has been a long and often frustrating process, but you are not the writer you were when you started. The process of novel writing has improved your skills. Writing Tip for Today: Let’s talk about some ways your revisions or your next project can be even more effective. Watch Those Looks In […]
Fiction writers know that to attract and keep readers, we must write effective characters. But what does that mean? Writing Tip for Today: Here are three little tests that will give you an idea of how effective your characters are: A Burning Desire You’ve heard me discuss story stakes many times, but did you know […]
I pick up my adult son’s sunglasses—cradle them, really. Yesterday he showed them off to me—his grin so wide you’d think he’d won the lottery. These flimsy shades were from the dollar store, he said, but I like them. And he did. But today, he’d say those glasses are made out of plastic so cheap […]
As we’ve discussed over the past few weeks, rewriting a novel is a multi-step process. We now appreciate that revision is more than mere copy editing, but copy edits are also an important part of the process. Writing Tip for Today: Here are a few areas to address as you move into the copy editing […]
After you’ve torn out your hair rewriting the “Big Picture” of your novel, you may be ready to pitch the manuscript into the trash. But wait! There are more important steps to a strong self-edited novel. Writing Tip for Today: After the structural components have been fixed, what’s the next step of novel revision? One […]
The “Big Picture” revision we discussed last post may take a lot of rearranging, addition/deletion and much thought. Whole chapters may need to be lopped off. But let’s say you’ve done it. Now what? Writing Tip for Today: What are some ideas for “next step” revision? Storyboarding As you see your novel’s Big Picture more […]
Rewriting a novel is hard. Yet after you’ve spent so much time drafting and then cooling off your hot property, that story deserves to be fixed up. Writing Tip for Today: Here are a few ideas for rewriting your drafted novel. So What? Most first-time novelists rewrite by tinkering with sentences and word choices. Some […]
Writing action scenes is important, but so is writing character reactions. Throughout the fiction you write, your protagonist must react to each and every event (action) encountered. A character who doesn’t react will have a difficult time moving the story forward. Writing Tip for Today: Let’s examine some ways to write character reactions in more […]
On St. Valentine’s Day, my grown son offered to wash my car, even though legendary Oregon rain was in the forecast. I was thrilled by his gift—long-time meth use and ongoing mental health issues keep him unemployed. Besides, any mom will tell you that a kind gesture from your kid is worth its weight in […]
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…]
