Whether you’ve written an aria, epic fantasy, chapter of a memoir, paragraph of a short story or title for your book you need to celebrate your successes and award yourself for each mighty step you’ve taken because writing isn’t as… Read More ›
Notables
Questions of Consistency Within a Series
You might think that this quote is stating the obvious, especially when you look at the consistency of character in one book. But what about a series? Characters are supposed to change: grow regress evolve devolve but gradually (most… Read More ›
Character, It’s in the Details
Broad strokes when it comes to building characters will often lead to stereotypical ideas & two-dimensionality. This is what every writer dreads. I stand by this quote 100% in that I firmly believe we’ll learn more about the character who… Read More ›
Character Connections – Inside & Out
A great pick-up line is just like having a great first chapter: you want to engage your reader/partner immediately and the best way to do that is to make a connection. This connection needs to happen not only between them… Read More ›
Pushing What You Know
I’ve been juggling lately with the old saying: …to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes… but really, when it comes to writing we write what we KNOW. We’re told not to write from a perspective we’re unfamiliar with –… Read More ›
Discovery and Illusion in Our Own Writing
I have always loved the idea that our characters can lead us places we never expected a story to go. If you’ve never experienced this in your writing then I urge you to give yourself the freedom to explore. I’m… Read More ›
Self-Honesty in Writing
Isn’t honesty always a double-edged sword? I have been looking at the idea of how we, as writers, not only need to be honest with ourselves (about how good our work is, how much more we may need to learn,… Read More ›
Getting Noticed…
The idea of “getting noticed” has been on my mind a lot lately as I furtively await my first royalties cheque from my small publisher. This cheque promises to be small as I am a veritable “no one” in the… Read More ›
Writing & Trepidation
I have never been one of those writers who sits and stares at a blank page not knowing what to write. Today I was looking at writing the second half of a story I began over three years ago and… Read More ›
Recycling Story Ideas
In high school and university I studied English and Drama – Works of Literature and other people who made it their business to study it too… There are 3 overriding theories: 1) There is only one story 2) There are… Read More ›
