writing tips

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: 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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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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Quick Link: How to Boost Your Career as a Writer by Creating an Irresistible Series

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How to Boost Your Career as a Writer by Creating an Irresistible Series

By Sandra Haven

Excited about your writing career?

About expanding your story’s potential?

Yet after writing, maybe publishing, even marketing a book, you realize that’s just ONE book. And a career author writes LOTS of books.

Which means tomorrow…

You’ll face a mind-numbing, blinking cursor on a blank white page.

Again.

Fresh Shortcut on Familiar Ground

Do visions haunt you of your single book atop a “free” pile in front of a Goodwill store as you flip burgers to buy printer ink, while trying to come up with something fresh for your next book?

And that’s what you need, right? Another new, fresh story? Then another and another?

Nope.

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Quick Link: How Not to Crash-land an Ending

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How Not to Crash-land an Ending

Endings are my nemesis. The first indication came during The Call. After my agent-to-be went on at length about how much she loved my debut—hey, I wasn’t going to stop her—she asked if I might reconsider the ending.

“Of course.” At that moment I would’ve changed my gender, if she’d asked.

“It needs to be a little less tidy.”

“Rookie mistake. I’m embarrassed.”

“Don’t be.”

I rewrote the ending and she was happy. A year later, we spoke on the phone after she’d read my second novel.

“It’s wonderful,” she said, “but I’m wondering if you’ll reconsider the ending.”

“Too neat?”

“I’m afraid so.”

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Quick Link: How to Finish Your Book

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Do you need a final push to just get your book done? At Pub Crawl, author is facing a publishing deadline and she shares how she manages to set a schedule to just get’er done

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How to Finish Your Book

By  
Hi all! I’m currently on a deadline with my publisher, so I find myself thinking a lot about productivity these days. My deadline is for a first draft, so my focus at the moment is on creating a quality draft without bogging down, getting off track, or falling behind schedule.

In the meantime, I’ve had the opportunity to meet lots of aspiring novelists in the past few months, and many have asked for advice on finishing their manuscript. A common issue raised to me is the challenge of getting to “The End” without shelving the draft as a failed attempt and starting over with something new.

As I compared the challenges involved in creating a quality first draft under contract (and turning it in on time!) with the challenges of seeing a first novel through to completion, I realized that my advice for both is a lot the same. So if you are pushing through a first draft and you fear you will never finish it–never type “The End” and be able to say you have completed a book–here are the tips that work for me:

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Quick Link: Paralyzing Fear and Creative Professions

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There seems to be some connection between being creative and fearful. We are capable of imagining great things but the flip side is being able to imagine horrible things too. Whether you suffer from paralyzing fear or know someone who does, this is a great article by  over at All Indies Writers.

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Paralyzing Fear and Creative Professions

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Creative work is unlike any other job you could take on. When you create, you leave a piece of yourself behind for the world to see. There’s a certain amount of vulnerability involved.

That vulnerability can make it difficult to separate you, the artist, from your art. And that can lead to paralyzing fear of sharing your work.

If you’ve ever dreaded sharing a creative project for fear of being judged, you’re not alone.

Many creative professionals go through this, including me.

And, this year, I’ve decided it’s time to tackle this fear and lack of confidence head-on. Are you ready too?

Creative Comfort Zones

The funny thing about creative projects is they aren’t all created equal. (Or at least they aren’t for me.)

Take freelance writing for example, or blogging even.

Those are “easy” creative projects for me in that I don’t have the same kind of vulnerability or attachment I have with other types of art. The same thing is true with photography.

These are things I’m pretty open about sharing.

But that’s far from the extent of my creative interests.

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Quick Link: Acknowledgments: Make Them Awesome

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My wise old granny always said have an attitude of gratitude and as authors, it is important to acknowledge those who help us. But as an author, you are already creative so make them cool. Head over to Books & Such and read Janet Kobobel Grant’s post to learn more.

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Acknowledgments: Make Them Awesome

Janet Kobobel Grant

I wrote this post in 2015, but I’ve added a snippet at the end that’s actually an announcement tied to acknowledgments. So read on!

I love to read book acknowledgment pages. I feel as if I’m peeking into the Who’s Who in the creation of the work. But the acknowledgments I like best are those in which the author shows that he/she has the mojo to cast a creative eye on this page that often tends toward the unimaginative.

In actuality, acknowledgments are a great place to stretch your writing muscles. Allow your voice to be full-throated.

Would the Acknowledgments Fit with Any Book?

My mind turns to such stellar acknowledgments as Cynthia Ruchti’s resounding commendations in her An Endless Christmas novella. Her approach was original and wouldn’t fit any other book she’s written. Let’s take a look at what she did as a lesson in how to write awesome acknowledgments.

Establish a theme

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Quick Link: The blank page – conquering your fears. And a couple of writing prompts

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Sometimes the hardest thing to do is to start. Roz Morris at Nail Your Novel understands and has kind words to help you overcome.

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The blank page – conquering your fears. And a couple of writing prompts

By Roz Morris

Hum the theme from Rocky if you need to.

‘So you don’t find the blank page worrying?’

Creative writing teacher Jane Jones was interviewing me as part of her women writers’ summit (watch this space). Actually, we recorded it multiple times because of tech catastrophes so a lot of our discussion never got saved. (Moral: don’t use untried software. Also, Zoom helpdesk are the embodiment of patience.)

Anyway, one of Jane’s topics was how we start writing. I said I’d always felt at home talking to the page. When I was a kid, I simply loved to write – letters, stories, reactions to books I’d read. At the age of 13 I discovered science fiction fanzines and sent them articles and reviews, which I really hope have fallen into landfill. Why science fiction fanzines? Chiefly because they accepted copy from teenagers writing in their bedrooms. I was shy and awkward in real life, but in manuscript I was a right chatterbox. I could think in ways I didn’t in verbal time; be inventive, confident. The page was a welcoming place.

Which is when Jane brought up the subject of the scary blank page.

The young me, typing to the world, never had a moment’s stage fright. Because I always started with a purpose in mind.

And this is where we pinned it down. The frightening thing is not the blank page. It’s the blank mind. And I find the blank mind as paralysing as anyone.

So what can you do about it? Here are some suggestions.

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Quick Link: How Strong is Your Skeleton?

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You need a strong backbone to be a writer. You need one to actually sit and write, and yet another to hold your story straight. A new site to check out, Two Drops of Ink: A Literary Blog. There Michelle Gunnin discusses ways to keep your story skeleton strong.

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How Strong is Your Skeleton?

By: Michelle Gunnin

One Halloween during my childhood, I was waiting in our backyard to go trick or treating. I was dressed as a scarecrow.  This was in the days when you made your own costume from what you had readily available. Our backyard had grass and straw, so I was literally stuffing myself when I looked up and saw a skeleton climbing our back fence.  My heart skipped several beats.  I froze.  My eyes were glued on the glowing bones which were rapidly coming towards me.  I was squinting in the darkness to try to get my mind to understand what I was seeing; my mind felt that I should run and instructed my legs to do so.  In tears as I raced into the house, I was about to tell my entire family to hide from the skeleton, when the back door opened and in walked one of my brother’s friends.  My skeleton had a name.  Randy.  His costume was store bought and therefore, the coolest one around because it glowed in the dark.  I was embarrassed that the terror I felt came from my belief that the skeleton was real and dangerous.

I tell you this little story to illustrate a point.  When you write, you start with your skeleton.  Your story has to have strong bones so that you can put some meat on them.  Many writers I know are afraid of skeletons.  They brainstorm their ideas, but then they jump right into the writing without a plan of any kind.  They fear the structure will dampen their creativity, and that somehow they should run from skeletons.  However, in hindsight, they will realize that there is no need to be afraid because a skeleton is your friend.

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Quick Link: How to Just Start When it Comes to Writing

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I have been a big fan of the Pomodoro Technique for a long time. The short version is that you do your best work when you are refreshed, usually in the first 15 – 30 minutes of a task. So by scheduling short breaks, you give your brain a rest and then can come back to your task with renewed energy.  John Lee Dumas uses this technique to help him with his writing. Head over to Goins, Writer to learn more.

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How to Just Start When it Comes to Writing

by John Lee Dumas

There’s nothing more frustrating than the bright, white glow of an empty screen and the constant, blinking reminder from your cursor that you’re not making any progress.

Writing a strong piece – one that’s valuable to your readers and that you feel great about – isn’t easy.

But what if I told you there’s a simple formula you can follow to get more writing done in a single day than you did all last week?

A simple formula for real progress

You already know the toughest part about writing is getting started. If you can get the first sentence down, then the rest will follow.

Of course you’ll do re-writes, have edits to make, and you might even go back and add a thing or two. But doesn’t it feel incredible to just start?

Just starting the writing process is progress in and of itself, not to mention what follows: strong momentum, or what some refer to as “the flow”.

This simple formula for real progress is made up of two parts and will help you just start every time you use it.

The two parts are: “Focus Time” and “Refresh Time”.

If you’re familiar with the Pomodoro Technique, then you probably know where I’m headed with this. The idea is that you give yourself a specific amount of time to accomplish X, start a timer to hold yourself accountable, and FOCUS on X until your timer runs out.

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