Some writers can find themselves paralyzed by the thought of needing to get their first draft “right.” That’s crazy-making, however. A draft—a first draft especially—is a tool to help us discover the story we want to tell, the characters we want to meet, and the themes we want to explore. That’s it.
Pin It
Read More
If you’re anything like me, you might have a love/hate relationship with revisions. I love seeing my story strengthen and improve, but I hate the struggle. Today my guest poster is sharing a worksheet to help us find the important aspects of each scene so we can revise without tears.
Pin It
Read More
If we don’t want to write characters who are too perfect, we have to layer in a few flaws. That means we might be writing characters who are “broken” in some way, and we don’t want to get the details wrong. Luckily, I know just who can help us get this right.
Pin It
Read More
When it comes to learning about point of view and how to avoid issues like head-hopping, it doesn’t help that half the information out there is confusing and contradictory. Let’s take a closer look at how we can find and fix these issues.
Pin It
Read More
When we first start writing our story, we’re filled with passion for the idea. But at some point, we might dread working on our story. Is that a warning sign? Or should we plow forward anyway?
Pin It
Read More
Everything we write should be intentional—the words we use, the events we emphasize, the emotions we evoke, the themes we build, etc. But when our writing doesn’t match our intentions, we might need trusted feedback that forces us to justify our choices.
Pin It
Read More
Last week, we talked about the different kinds of editing and editors, and we also talked about how to evaluate editors. Now let’s dig deeper into some of the variations we might encounter when evaluating editors. By understanding these variations, we might better be able to find our perfect match.
Pin It
Read More
When we’re ready for professional editing, we want to make sure our editor is good, especially if we’re opening our wallet. Here are some tips, questions, and processes that will help us evaluate editors for our needs.
Pin It
Read More
What type of editors are most important for our success? Let’s take a closer look at the types of editing and when we might (or might not) need that type of editing.
Pin It
Read More
Stories with multiple major characters—with their own point-of-view (POV) scenes—can make story structure complicated. Do we have to make beat sheets for each character? As a romance author, I write with multiple POVs all the time, so let’s see if we can figure out how to make beat sheets work in those situations.
Pin It
Read More