7 Methods for Handling Point-of-View Changes
In deep POV, especially, we want to avoid “head-hopping” and maintain our story’s immersion. But that means we need to know the right way to change the point-of-view of our story.
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Does Drafting Terrify or Energize You?
Last week I started a new work-in-progress (WIP). Yay! I love drafting but I know others don’t. Some people call the first draft a “discovery draft,” and that description certainly holds true for me. My first drafts are all about discovering the story. Literally. I’m a reformed plotter and now write mostly by the seat […]
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Handling Bad Reviews: Lessons from Amy’s Baking Company
On Facebook a few weeks ago, my friend Angela Ackerman dared me to order a pizza from Amy’s Baking Company and send it back (and to record the confrontation). Not one to create drama, I declined. *smile* But then I had to know what prompted her dare. The details were even worse than I imagined. (I’m […]
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What’s Your Superpower?
Those of you who follow me on Twitter might have heard the news about my recent broken bone. *sigh* Again. I have a special talent, it seems, for breaking my middle toe. That’s right. Not the big toe or any other appendage that sticks out. Nope. I have to be different and break that middle toe […]
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Behave…The Internet Never Forgets
When we interact with people in real life, we’re often advised not to talk about politics or religion. Bringing up those emotionally charged topics is a good way to start arguments with strangers and friends alike. Yet I’ve seen countless authors, aspiring and published, break this rule online. If they’re writing about religion or politics […]
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Faking It: Making Our Actions Count
We’ve probably all heard the phrase: Fake it until you make it. The idea is that we’re supposed to act the way we want others to see us, and we’ll be treated the way we want. The concept can be applied to our personal life as well as our professional life. If we act like […]
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Query/Blurb Exchange Club
To learn more about the Query/Blurb Exchange Club, please refer to the original post. Leave a comment on that post to request an invitation. This page gives further information to those who are already members. Welcome Club Members! This page is a catch-all for “how-to” instructions on how to use Google Groups for the Query/Blurb Exchange […]
The “New Adult” Genre: Why Does It Exist?
Publishing industry news has exploded with stories about a new genre, called New Adult. The New Adult genre is meant to bridge the supposed gap between Young Adult (teen) books and general Adult fiction books. Every news site from the New York Times to Publishers Weekly has been giving their spin on the genre ever […]
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Four Tips for Fixing the Infamous “Info Dump”
While I’m on holiday vacation this week, I’ll share a post from my early days of blogging. We’ve all heard of those eye-rolling, telling “information dumps,” yet at some point, we all have to get chunks of information across to the reader. My usual technique with world-building is to show, show, show, but sometimes that’s […]
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Can Writers Reuse Their Own Work?
On the surface, this might seem like a clear-cut question. Unless we’ve turned the copyright over to another entity, it seems like we should be able to reuse our own work. However the issues surrounding what is sometimes termed “self-plagiarism” are more complicated than they might first appear. Many of us who blog will occasionally rerun […]
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