Where Normal Need Not Apply
As writers, we face deadlines and commitments every time we turn around. So we’re likely to be familiar with the pressure of deadlines and the expectation of meeting our commitments. But what happens when we can’t meet them? How bad is it for us and our reputation?
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Last Friday, Angela Quarles’s book Must Love Chainmail was named a finalist in RWA’s RITA award, and my writing bestie’s success reminded me of an important lesson for all of us. The road to success can look an awful lot like chaos. *smile*
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Life happens. No matter our intentions or plans or dedication, things will go wrong, slip from the schedule, or get missed. This doesn’t make us bad or a failure. It makes us human.
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Our stories consist of many elements—from backstory to dialogue—that each contribute to our story. Yet we can overdo those elements with an information dump. How can we include the different elements while making sure we don’t cross over into Info Dump Land? Let’s talk options…
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A writer’s life can quickly shift from leisure time to impossible deadlines, which can interfere with our healthy habits. To maintain our health, we should occasionally analyze our self-care habits and routines—especially when we have time between the chaos.
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Once we get a reader to check out one of our books, we want to hold onto them and keep them as a reader. Let’s take a look at our options for retaining readers…
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I’ve spoken many times about our learning curve as writers. Not only can it seem endless, but we can also be skilled at one aspect and unskilled in another. So at what point can we stop thinking of ourselves as beginning writers? When will we be “qualified” for the advanced stuff?
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If we’ve ever had a friend ramble or go off on tangents when describing a movie, we understand how story structure can help make stories more enjoyable. In other words, good story structure is an important element of good storytelling. Here’s how we can learn to analyze the structure of stories…
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As writers, we’re so close to our stories it’s impossible to know how readers will interpret our words. That’s just one reason why we often need beta readers.
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As writers and as readers, we’ve probably noticed the many ebooks offered for free and wondered why anyone would do all that work for nothing in return. My monthly guest post at Janice Hardy’s Fiction University explores the benefits and risks of freebies.
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