Category: Writing
How to Use Taste to Make Your Readers Hungry for More
According to Jeff Gerke of Marcher Lord Press, a successful small publisher of speculative fiction, one of the most common problems in both novice and advanced fiction is not enough description. This means that, regardless of what draft you’re working on, you probably have too little description rather than too much. The fix is actually [...]
Read moreFour Little-Known Factors that Could Destroy Your Blog’s Chances of Success
Are you frustrated because your blog has plateaued? Maybe you took part in a class or joined Triberr, saw a jump in stats, but now things have leveled out again, and you can’t figure out why you’re not growing the audience that other bloggers seem to be. Or maybe you know your content is well-written, [...]
Read moreHow to Make Your Novel Scratch and Sniff
Do you want your reader to feel like they’re part of your world? Do you want your setting to stick with them long after they’ve closed your book? One of the best ways to bring your fictional world to life is to use all five senses. Because each sense comes with its own unique strengths [...]
Read moreDo You Worry You Won’t Succeed As A Writer?
Do you worry you won’t ever succeed as a writer? I do. Despite how far I’ve come, despite the goals I’ve reached, some days I wonder if those people who want me to quit are right. Some days all I can see is how far I still have to go. And lately, I’ve been struggling [...]
Read moreFour Secrets About Writer’s Conference Faculty
It’s writer’s conference season again, and as someone who’s gone to multiple conferences, both as an attendee and as faculty, I wanted to share with you the top four things the faculty and presenters at writer’s conferences (including agents and editors) wish you knew. (1) We can tell from a 15 minute appointment who is [...]
Read moreWhat About Characters Who Don’t Match Stereotypical Male and Female Qualities?
In the previous post in this series on “How to Keep Strong Female Characters Likeable,” featuring Starbuck from Battlestar Galactica and Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games, Debra Kristi commented, “I always liked these characters because I saw something of me in them. I never felt the way you are describing. I guess I am [...]
Read moreHow to Keep Strong Female Characters Likeable
A few weeks ago, I asked “What Do We Mean by Strong Female Characters?” and argued that a female character doesn’t have to deny traditionally feminine qualities to be strong. But what if you need to write a physically strong woman with few of those traditionally feminine qualities? Sometimes a story does call for this [...]
Read moreThe Evolution of the Phoenix by Alica McKenna-Johnson
Today I welcome guest poster Alica McKenna-Johnson. Alica writes about snarky girls, kind boys, and the adults trying to keep them alive. After day dreaming for the first thirty years of life, Alica finally began writing her stories down, much to the delight of her readers. As Alica sits in her armchair at home dreaming [...]
Read moreWhy I’m Changing Up My Blog
I’ll be making some changes to my blogging schedule starting April 1, 2012. As many of you already know, I think Kristen Lamb and her WANA (We Are Not Alone) methods are the smart road for writers to take when it comes to balancing the load of writing and platform building while still making time [...]
Read moreWhat Do We Mean By “Strong Female Characters?”
I planned to post today on “Creating Strong Yet Likeable Female Characters.” As I was researching helpful links to include, I came across a post from the New York Times called “A Plague of Strong Female Characters.” And I realized that, before we can talk about how to make sure strong female characters are also [...]
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