Let's talk about setting. And in particular, how to pick a setting. If you're anything like me, you've set your books in made up places vaguely based on somewhere you've been or somewhere you live. Write what you know, and all that. And, if you're like me, you've also probably done some research about what… Continue reading Where in the World is My Setting?
Tag: amwriting
Save the Cat: The Opening Image
One thing I have always struggled with is how on earth to write a good opening. I’ve spent years reading and analyzing stories and still struggled to understand exactly what made the opening of a book a good one. Enter Save the Cat! Writes a Novel aka my new best friend. The book somehow puts… Continue reading Save the Cat: The Opening Image
Finishing Camp NaNoWriMo
I mentioned before (a little belatedly) that I participated this year in Camp NaNoWriMo for the first time. What I forgot is that it was my first time using the NaNoWriMo website to log my progress! So last time, I did NaNoWriMo completely disengaged from everyone else doing NaNoWriMo and I think that's not really… Continue reading Finishing Camp NaNoWriMo
My Experience Sharing Early Drafts
Hi everyone! I hope your weekends are off to a fabulous start. I'd like to talk a little bit about sharing writing with other people. In my first few writing endeavors, I wrote the whole first draft by myself, edited it a lot, and then let it out into the world for Beta Readers. And… Continue reading My Experience Sharing Early Drafts
Save the Cat Chapter One: The Hero
So, we are only several months delayed, and I’m not going to be able to do these posts as quickly as I had hoped, but we are finally ready to discuss Save the Cat! Writes a Novel. The first chapter of Save the Cat! is about finding yourself a story-worthy hero. I can’t share all… Continue reading Save the Cat Chapter One: The Hero
Changing Covers
I just thought I'd stop by to say I had to change the cover of Slow Motion Whirlwind. I thought I could get over the fact that they didn't look like my characters but it turns out I could not handle that. So I re-did it! What do you think?
Calling It on the Re-Write
Well, if you've been following the situation with Slow Motion Whirlwind, you will be aware that it is my first novel and that I had to cut some of my chapters in order to improve the story. After sitting on it for a little bit, and showing it to a couple of beta readers, my… Continue reading Calling It on the Re-Write
Writing with Graphics
When I was writing Slow Motion Whirlwind, I wrote it like a novel. The only exception I made for posting it on wattpad was to shorten the chapters into more "bite-sized" pieces because it was more suitable for the way people read there. When I posted the novel, I left it to read like a… Continue reading Writing with Graphics
Universal vs Personal Experiences
Something I am struggling with when writing A Year in Mondays has been the balance between my personal experiences, the overarching experience of having children, and Julie’s specific story. It is difficult sometimes to separate my experiences (and those of people around me) from those I have read on the internet, for example. So in… Continue reading Universal vs Personal Experiences
A Study in Serialization
As I was finishing the last chapters of my first posted novel, Slow Motion Whirlwind, I was pondering how the book would do on the serialization site that I was posting it on. That’s a story for another post, but while all of that was happening, I was suddenly struck with an idea for a… Continue reading A Study in Serialization