I talked last time about how I chose the place and time for my story. And once that was done, I started looking into the culture of modern and historical Peru. The rabbit hole of link clicking was astronomical so I'll spare you those details. I learned a bunch of basics and found a whole… Continue reading Food in Modern Peru
Tag: thecraftofwriting
Where in the World is My Setting?
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?
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
The Craft of Writing: Useful Links
I've recently started running a book club for writers of mystery/thriller and, as such, have had to brush up my knowledge on what makes a good story and what makes a good critique. I didn't want to do anyone a disservice by explaining things off the top of my head, so I went searching for… Continue reading The Craft of Writing: Useful Links
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
Reading About Writing – Save the Cat
So, to start this off, I'll admit I've been looking for some good "How to write a novel" books for a while and nothing was really sticking. I'm not sure if that's my level of interest or the books themselves or what but none of them really seemed to address my actual needs. Fast forward… Continue reading Reading About Writing – Save the Cat
From Love Stories to . . . Spy Novels?
I am the first to admit that I am a huge genre hopper. It has become a little bit difficult to brand myself as an author for this very reason. A good brand for anything usually has some kind of cohesive theme to it. So a person who writes only romance novels will have an… Continue reading From Love Stories to . . . Spy Novels?
The Craft of Writing – An Update
The Craft of Writing posts are, understandably, taking me longer to draft than the update posts or the personal posts. I want to have the best materials for you all so I'm not comfortable putting out an unfinished post this week - I will start posting them by January. In the meantime, what do you… Continue reading The Craft of Writing – An Update
Eliza Solares 