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Articles about craft.

Quick Link: Writing and Underwear: More Is Better

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Quick links, bringing you great articles on writing from all over the web.

This post isn’t about finding more time to write. Instead, it is about the benefits of finding different types of writing. At Indies Unlimited, Nicholas Forristal has quite the diverse writing resume and the skills that come from it.

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Writing and Underwear: More Is Better

by Nicholas Forristal

It makes sense that, with financial investments and underwear, you shouldn’t try to go through life with just one, right? This sort of logic is the direction I’ve taken with writing as well. Writing, for me, has never been about making the great American novel, or trying to be the best-selling novelist of all time. It’s been a means to an end. I like to create, and this particular craft suits me. If an opportunity comes my way, there’s very little chance I’ll say no. With that in mind, I don’t expect everyone to read this article without hesitation. After all, we all have different aspirations, and some of you out there are more driven towards specific goals. Still, you should hear me out.

Diversity in writing has a number of benefits. I don’t necessarily mean tackling different genres and styles, but that has its own merits as well. More to the point, I mean entirely different markets. Take a crack at copywriting, slogans, haiku, or comic books – anything that comes your way. Will you make money off this? Probably not. But, there’s more to it than that. Let me give you a couple of examples.

Read the full post on Indies Unlimited

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Quick Link: How To Make Your Readers Believe the Unbelievable (Or, The Importance of Facts in Fiction)

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Disney knew the importance of details in creating an over the top user experience. Colleen Oakley, guest posting at Writer Unboxed, knows that the details are important too, especially when writing. By getting your story straight, with all the facts in line, you can create a better space for the unbelievable.

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How To Make Your Readers Believe the Unbelievable (Or, The Importance of Facts in Fiction)

by Colleen Oakly

Please welcome Colleen Oakley as our guest today! Colleen’s debut novel Before I Go was a People Best New Book Pick, an Us Weekly “Must” Pick, a Publisher’s Lunch Buzz Book, a Library Journal Big Fiction Debut, and an Indie Next List Pick. Formerly the senior editor of Marie Claire and editor-in-chief of Women’s Health & Fitness, Colleen’s articles, essays, and interviews have been featured in The New York Times, Ladies’ Home Journal, Marie Claire, Women’s Health, Redbook, Parade, and Martha Stewart Weddings. She lives in Atlanta with her husband, four kids, and the world’s biggest lapdog, Bailey. Close Enough to Touch is her second novel.

People often ask me which I like better—writing articles for magazines or writing fiction, and I often say the two go hand in hand. Though fiction I’m obviously making up, I rely heavily on the research and reporting skills I honed in journalism to help guide and craft my novels. I think that surprises readers sometimes, so I’m passionate about sharing my process and the idea that the best fiction always has at least a small basis in fact.

Connect with Colleen on Facebook and Twitter.

How To Make Your Readers Believe the Unbelievable (Or, The Importance of Facts in Fiction)

Like most writers, I’ve always loved telling stories—the more outrageous, the better. As early as preschool, I remember making up the craziest things about my day to share with my mom when she would pick me up. Like the time I told her that the gingerbread man who I had been convinced lived in the little plastic house on the playground finally came out of hiding and chased us all around. Or the time I plucked a clover to bring home and when she asked about it, I told her the entire class had taken a field trip to a greenhouse and we got to pick out anything we wanted.

Read the full post on Writer Unboxed

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Quick Link: Stop Worrying About What People Think and Create Anyway

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I have to be honest, I am sharing this article because it really hits home for me. If you are like me and worry about putting yourself out there, then this article is for you and you are not alone. Head on over to Postive Writer and read the article by Bryan Hutchinson. If this article is not for you, please share how you deal with this anxiety!

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Stop Worrying About What People Think and Create Anyway

by Bryan Hutchinson

One of the surest ways to find unhappiness and limit your creativity is worrying about what others think of you or your work.

It’s true, and I am guilty of it. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

When we worry about what other people are doing, achieving or receiving, we steal valuable energy and confidence from ourselves and we start to doubt that we are good enough.

And yet, there’s worse:

The worst comes when you inhibit yourself because you’re too concerned with what someone thinks of you.

Of course, we should have some concern about our image, what we do and what people think of us, especially if we want to be sociable and get along. However, there have been times when I’ve carried this too far and worried incessantly.

To use blogging as an example, I’ve kept posts in my drafts for weeks on end, sometimes not posting at all, simply to avoid criticism from those who are impossible to please.

Oh yes, if you haven’t realized it yet (and I am sure you have), there are people who cannot and will not be pleased and if you are a people pleaser, then writing, blogging, creating art, or doing just about anything publicly might not be for you.

Blogging opens me up to the world, so, of course, there are going to be people who disagree with my ideas and opinions and to a degree, I expected that.

But I’ll be honest, I had no idea that there would be people out there who hate what I write and who go to obsessive lengths to make sure I know it.

It’s not an enjoyable experience and if you can relate, here’s a unique solution you might find helpful.

Read the full post on Postive Writer

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If you liked this article, please share. If you have suggestions for further articles, articles you would like to submit, or just general comments, please contact me at paula@publetariat.com or leave a message below.

Quick Link: Why Do Readers Stop Reading?

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What stops you from finishing a book? If you ever wondered why people have dropped your story, wonder no more! Head over to Writers Helping Writers to find out Becca Puglisi thoughts on why she gives up on a story and what you can do to stop this from happening to your title.

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Why Do Readers Stop Reading?

by BECCA PUGLISI

Happy Saturday, everyone! I’m a little swamped right now, so instead of our usual thesaurus entry, I’m reposting an old favorite. It’s the first in a series of posts that explore different reasons why I stopped reading certain books. This is really helpful information for us to know as authors so we don’t make the same mistakes in our own books. 

I like keeping lists. And I like books. So I guess it makes sense that I have a lot of book lists. Books To Read, Books I’ve Finished, Books I Want to Buy, and possibly the most informative one: Books I Didn’t Finish. As a reader, it happens quite frequently that I’ll start a book, and for whatever reason, my attention wanes and I end up putting it down unfinished. As a writer, I want to know why this happens so I can avoid making the same mistakes in my own stories. The reasons behind a book’s failure to grab my attention are varied. Some of them I see often in books I read; some offenses I’m guilty of committing myself. Because of this, I figured I’d share what I’ve learned so we can all try not to replicate these errors in our stories.

For this first installment, I’m pulling from a book I was really looking forward to reading…well, let’s just call it Book A (I’m a positive person, and since this isn’t a review, the title doesn’t matter). Regardless, this book was historical fiction—one of my favorite genres that I find in short supply—and a retelling of an old myth. The cover was gorgeous and the back copy contained an accurate summary of the story. The writing itself was strong, the descriptions evocative. So what killed it for me?

Read the full post on Writers Helping Writers

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If you liked this article, please share. If you have suggestions for further articles, articles you would like to submit, or just general comments, please contact me at paula@publetariat.com or leave a message below.

Quick Link: How I Wrote Two Full-Length Novels in 18 Months

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Over at Lifehacker Nicole Dieker, who is obviously not a pantser, shares how she was able to successfully write two novels in 18 months.  She has some great tips for you to check out and see if anything is useful to you.

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How I Wrote Two Full-Length Novels in 18 Months

by Nicole Dieker

My debut novel, The Biographies of Ordinary People: Volume 1: 1989–2000, releases on May 23, 2017. The sequel, which covers the years 2004–2016, is scheduled to release in the first half of 2018.

I wrote the first chapter of Vol. 1 during the last week of July 2015. I wrote the last chapter of Vol. 2 during the last week of December 2016. Two full-length novels—roughly 90,000 words each—drafted over eighteen months, plus I was revising Vol. 1 while I was drafting Vol. 2.

If you’ve dreamed of writing your own novel(s) but haven’t yet written anything besides the first two chapters—and trust me, I’ve been there—you’re probably wondering how I got it all done, in addition to my everyday workload and all of the other stuff that goes into a life.

Some of it has to do with experience. I was able to write The Biographies of Ordinary People in part because I had already written hundreds of blog posts, online articles, and short fiction.

But a lot of it came down to structure and planning.

Read the full post on Lifehacker

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Quick Link: Tracking Your Progress While Outlining and Revising

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I am a loud and proud pantser, but after reading the post by over at Pub Crawl, I may just have to think my approach. She shares her very adaptable process on how she keeps herself on track and her revisions clear. What tips do you have to keep your writing organized?

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Tracking Your Progress While Outlining and Revising

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Hi all! Julie here. Recently I blogged about How to Finish Your Book, focusing on tips on how to get to The End when writing a first draft. In the comments, I was asked a great question about tracking progress during the outlining and revising stages of the writing process.

The reason I think this is such a great question is because tracking outlining and revising is definitely trickier than tracking drafting. When getting a draft down on paper, for the most part, a daily wordcount goal is all you need. But if you (like me) are obsessed with measuring and tracking your progress, you’re going to want to track everything. Things get a little more subtle and nuanced when you are in the pre-writing and outlining stage, and again at the end of the draft when you enter the revising stage, so setting up a system to track your progress definitely requires more flexibility and reflection when setting goals and expectations.

Once I have an idea for a story, I start creating the story world and brainstorming plot points. For the earliest stages of this process, I find it difficult to set hard deadlines because I feel the idea needs to breathe and grow organically. Eventually, as things take shape, I start adding structure to my tasks.

I generally work on the world first. In the beginning, I might have a single world-building document that explains the world in broad strokes. But as the story world takes shape, specific questions arise, such as “What is the political history of these two nations?” or “How are spiritual leaders chosen?” As I identify these questions, I set a goal to create a document addressing each one.

Read the full post on Pub Crawl

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If you liked this article, please share. If you have suggestions for further articles, articles you would like to submit, or just general comments, please contact me at paula@publetariat.com or leave a message below.

Quick Link: Character Motivation Entry: Gaining Fulfillment By Giving Back

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Character Motivation Entry: Gaining Fulfillment By Giving Back

by ANGELA ACKERMAN

What does your character want? This is an important question to answer because it determines what your protagonist hopes to achieve by the story’s end. If the goal, or outer motivation, is written well, readers will identify fairly quickly what the overall story goal’s going to be and they’ll know what to root for. But how do you know what outer motivation to choose?

If you read enough books, you’ll see the same goals being used for different characters in new scenarios. Through this thesaurus, we’d like to explore these common outer motivations so you can see your options and what those goals might look like on a deeper level.

Character’s Goal (Outer Motivation): Gaining Fulfillment By Giving Back

Forms This Might Take:

Read the full post on Writers Helping Writers

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Quick Link: Changing Horses Mid-Stream (or How to Not Panic Over a Mid-Book Structure Revision)

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Changing Horses Mid-Stream (or How to Not Panic Over a Mid-Book Structure Revision)

y Lauren K. Denton

Our guest today is Lauren K. Denton. Born and raised in Mobile, Alabama, Lauren now lives with her husband and two young daughters in Homewood, just outside Birmingham. In addition to her fiction, she writes a monthly newspaper column about life, faith, and how funny (and hard) it is to be a parent. On any given day, she’d rather be at the beach with her family and a stack of books. Her first novel The Hideaway comes out next month and in 2018: Hurricane Season, also from HarperCollins/Thomas Nelson.

It’s scary to be in the middle (or worse—near the end) of your book and realize you need to make a huge change. I wrote this to commiserate with other authors who’ve done this sort of thing as well as to encourage authors who are up against this kind of major change.

Read the full post on Writer UnBoxed

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Quick Link: Don’t Kill Your Darlings—Give Them a Fair Trial!

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Don’t Kill Your Darlings—Give Them a Fair Trial!

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I’ve never been a big fan of the writing admonition to Kill your darlings. It’s been a virtual axiom among writers for decades. Yet it seems to me about as useful as Destroy your delight and as cold-hearted as Drown your puppies.

I mean, if something is your darling, should your first instinct be to end its life? Sounds positively psychopathic.

Isn’t a darling at least owed a fair trial?

The phrase itself has its origin in a lecture on style delivered by the English writer Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch back in 1914. He said:

To begin with, let me plead that you have been told of one or two things which Style is not; which have little or nothing to do with Style, though sometimes vulgarly mistaken for it. Style, for example, is not—can never be—extraneous Ornament … [I]f you here require a practical rule of me, I will present you with this: ‘Whenever you feel an impulse to perpetrate a piece of exceptionally fine writing, obey it—whole-heartedly—and delete it before sending your manuscript to press. Murder your darlings.’

At least Sir Arthur was honest enough to call it murder! But murder requires malice aforethought, and that is a terrible way to think about a darling.

Darlingicide should be outlawed, not encouraged!

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Quick Link: How to deal with writer envy

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How to deal with writer envy

by Jodi Gibson

Envy
noun
1. a feeling of discontented or resentful longing aroused by someone else’s possessions, qualities, or luck

There’s no denying we all feel envy at one time or another. And in the writing game, sometimes more than we’d like.

It begins with something relatively small, and then builds, slowly.

Like when other writers seem like they have a suitcase full of story ideas and you can’t even think of one.

Or, seeing other writers who have come onto the scene later than you, scoring agents and publishing deals.

Watching other writer’s social media profiles steadily build, while your still stuck on 499 Twitter followers.

Or when you pick up a newly published book from a brand new author, read the first page and wonder to yourself how ‘this!’ was published!

Writer envy isn’t pretty. And it can manifest deep within, growing like a tumour until it turns you into a bitter, twisted, wanna-be author.

But envy is natural. We feel it because we want something so badly. It’s not that we resent the person or their success, it’s just that we wish it was us!

So, what should you do when you feel that pang of envy gurgling deep in your gut?

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Quick Link: The Ultimate Guide to Mastering Character Descriptions

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The Ultimate Guide to Mastering Character Descriptions

Kaitlin Hillerich

The first time I tried to describe my characters, it was a total disaster.

I couldn’t understand why because I’m a very descriptive writer. Describing landscapes? I got that. Fantasy creatures no one’s ever seen before? You betcha. Medieval cities? I’m a pro.

But when it came to people, suddenly I couldn’t find any words that worked. No matter what words I used, the descriptions fell flat instead of bringing my characters vividly to life.

I didn’t realize then that I was going about my character descriptions all wrong—I thought I just sucked at describing people. Years later, though, I learned that anyone can write a stellar character description, even if descriptive writing isn’t their strong suit!

Any of this sounding familiar? Describing characters is something a lot of writers struggle with, myself included. Though I’ve come a long way since my first feeble (and horrible) attempts, it’s still something I have to work harder at than other types of description.

I don’t know if I’ll ever understand why people seem to be so tricky to describe, but I don’t want you to face the same frustrations and struggles that I did. You’re not alone, and I’m here to help, friend!

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Quick Link: How to Fill the Gaps in Your Plot

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How to Fill the Gaps in Your Plot

by James Scott Bell

Got the following email the other day:

Dear Mr. Bell,

I recently finished reading your books Super Structure and Write Your Novel From the Middle. They’re awesome, and have taught me a lot about how to better structure a novel. I’ve now sketched out my current novel with the Super Structure beats and feel like I have a solid framework. But the problem I’m running into is filling the spaces between these beats with enough scenes to create a full novel. I’m using Scrivener’s index card feature to write out my scenes, but my poor corkboard looks awfully sparse. 🙂

Do you have any tips or suggestions on how to come up with enough plot to make a whole book? (This is actually a recurring problem for me. I struggle with plotting terribly.)

It’s a great question. Today’s post is my answer.

In Super Structure I describe what I call “signpost scenes.” These are the major structural beats that guarantee a strong foundation for any novel you write.

The idea is that you “drive” from one signpost to another. When you get to a signpost, you can see the next one ahead. How you get to it is up to you. You can plan how, or you can be spontaneous about it.

Or some combination in between!

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Quick Link: Finding Your Voice As A Writer

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Finding Your Voice As A Writer

by Dawn Field

Once your voice is real and audible, people’s attitude to your writing will change. Finding your voice means you are writing something no one else could write.

George Orwell wrote a famous essay called “Why I Write.” In it he lists what he describes as the four reasons any writer writes: sheer egoism, aesthetic enthusiasm, historical impulse, and political purpose.

By his definitions, all four of these motivations lead a writer to want to impose ideas upon others. Readers sense this. This is why writers get it in the neck so hard.

People react badly to egoism. No one likes someone writing just to show off, appear smart, or as Orwell puts it, “to be remembered after death, to get your own back on the grown-ups who snubbed you in childhood, etc.”

People also react badly to being told what to do or think. “Who are you to tell me what I should think? What I should do? How the world works? Why are you special?” is what they are thinking. And finally, “Why are you writing?”

You need to have a good reason. A reason you can stand by. Hopefully it’s good enough, and expressed well enough, to convince readers. Many people are suspicious as soon as you say you are a writer. How could you be so self-absorbed and arrogant, resentful people wonder.

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If you liked this article, please share. If you have suggestions for further articles, articles you would like to submit, or just general comments, please contact me at paula@publetariat.com or leave a message below.

Quick Link: Science Fiction and Fantasy Writing: How to Build Fantastic Worlds

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Science Fiction and Fantasy Writing: How to Build Fantastic Worlds

By:

So, you’re ready to write a science fiction or fantasy novel. But where to start? Lots of writers begin by creating a map, or researching some distant heavenly body. Six novels into my speculative fiction career, I’ve discovered that I create my best work when I begin building my fantastic worlds by starting not with magic systems or geography, but with a single character. Here’s why this method has been so successful for me.

Asking the Right Questions

When you begin your worldbuilding process by creating a character first, then asking what type of world created that character, you focus on the parts of the world that matter most to the people in it. That means spending less time on research that you ultimately aren’t going to use. I look at my worldbuilding and character creation processes as interconnected. They don’t – in fact, can’t! – exist independently of one another. As I flesh out a character, the world, too, will come into sharper focus. If I create a skilled government assassin who’s tasked with bringing in deserters from a centuries-long war, I have to ask myself what the war is about. If it’s about a lack of resources, what does that world look like? Dry, dusty, low in metals? If a planet was low in metals, how would their technology progress? What would they use to power their vehicles? If they had crashed there on a big generation ship, what was the likelihood they would ever get back into the stars, and how would that change their religious philosophies?

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Quick Link: What Does It Mean To “Raise the Stakes”?

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What Does It Mean To “Raise the Stakes”?

by Jami Gold

Yay! I’m happy to be back at WHW as a Resident Writing Coach. *waves* Last time I visited, we discussed how understanding the interconnectedness of our story elements can help us with revisions, and today we’re going to dig deeper into one of those elements: our story’s stakes.

Stakes are simply the consequences of failure. If our character doesn’t reach their goal, what will happen? What can go wrong?

Low stakes—such as when there are no consequences or failure would be no big deal—can create problems with our story’s conflicts, tension, and pacing, as well as weaken motivations and make goals seem less important.

So we definitely want to follow advice like “Raise the stakes throughout your story,” but how do we do that?

Step #1: Check for Goals

We all know that our protagonist should have a goal (or at least an unconscious longing) in every scene, right? But we’re not referring to just a big-picture story goal like “beat the bad guy.” Rather, scenes should also have a specific, immediate goal.

For example, the character wants to…:

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