Category: Creative Process

December 3, 2015

NaNoWriMo: Is The Verdict In Yet?

Well, you’ve had two days to recover from the NaNoWriMo experience. Are you awake enough to tell us how it turned out?  I have to admit that I’m curious. Although I haven’t tried the challenge personally, I remember when I first started trying to write a couple of hours a day. It was a shock. I’d worked on different novels...

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November 24, 2015

A.K.A. How You Learn To Write

It is how you learn to write – or do anything else for that matter. Humans learn by making mistakes. Or by watching other people make mistakes. There’s no two ways around it.

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November 22, 2015

Got To Start Somewhere

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November 21, 2015

Why Would I Want to Write in a Circle?

I was a bit shocked to realize that although I’ve been writing this blog for about 5 months, I have yet to talk about writing circles (oops – sorry!). What reminded me was yesterday’s mention of what you’re best/worst at. In essence, that’s what a writing circle is designed to tell you. It’s a peer review, plain and simple: writers meet...

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November 20, 2015

Shine, Writers. Shine.

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November 18, 2015

The Art of the Unexpected

If you want to spend an entertaining and informative afternoon, look up your favorite comic strips and standup comedians. Then, analyze them. You can still watch and laugh, but actually pay attention to how they’re making you laugh. Both mediums have the same goal (to make you laugh), and neither one has a lot of time to do it in....

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November 17, 2015

Starting Stories Before You Know What They Are

What do you do if you need to write a story, but you don’t have any ideas for a story? Yeah, that sounds a little silly (kind of like putting the cart before the horse). Sometimes, however, you decide to submit something to a contest, a magazine, etc. You look up the requirements and learn about the genre(s) and word count range...

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November 16, 2015

Many Happy Explorations

The difference between writing today and writing even 20 years ago is that you don’t have to make the exploration alone unless you prefer to. With internet access, even writers from tiny towns can share and discuss their work with other writers from around the world, and that’s an amazing opportunity. We may not be able to guide each other’s...

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November 12, 2015

Blind Love & Letting Go

I’m sure that all of us have had an idea or a scene or a character that we come up with that simply makes us fall in love. We think it’s the best thing since sliced pizza, and we can’t imagine anyone disagreeing. And when we’re right, it’s magic. Unfortunately, sometimes we’re wrong. Oddly enough, a lot of the time,...

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November 9, 2015

Plotting A Framework

I’ve been plotting this week (cue maniacal laughter). Of course, that shouldn’t be a surprise. No matter what novel or story a writer is working on, there should be a certain amount of plotting going on at regular intervals: decisions about new characters and what’s going to happen next. Even the most meticulous plotters have to check what they’ve written against...

Categories Characterization, Plot, & Setting/Creative Process/Literary Devices & Writing Techniques/Research & Worldbuilding Comments: 2