So I’m working on a series, A Fairy’s Tale, which so far is made up of a bunch of loosely related twists on ’80s-style horror novels/movies. Books have rules, right? Things like, “The magic system, if any, is X” or “The main character gets the most POV chapters” or “The writing style in this book has […]
Breaking the System: When Your Series Sneaks Up on You Read More »
Bone to pick. Not gonna name names, because it’s all too common. All writers have ethical choices to make. Not all stories are ethical to write. But let’s stick with horror today. A story that makes a reader want to die, for example, is an unethical story. A story that makes a reader want to become
How Not to Write Horror Read More »
I’m working on writing better headlines, using info from Copyblogger. Sorry if this gets weird… … Whodunnit? That’s the major question of most mysteries (leaving aside thrillers and suspense for now). And yet, most of the advice about writing a mystery that I’ve read is about hiding clues in your work–one of the least important parts
How to Plot a Mystery in Reverse Read More »
I’m trying to go through the Copyblogger archives, can you tell? I’ve determined that the most valuable thing I can do, from a marketing standpoint, is clearly establish in my own mind what value my writing has for other people. In my most objective, reasoned observations: My writing has no value. None whatsoever. Now, I
SEVEN REASONS TO MILLION DOLLARS AND YOU CAN TOO Read More »
November was a busy month. No NaNoWriMo, but I still accomplished about 130,000 words this month all told. Finished the ghostwritten adventure thriller, finally. WHEW. Soundtrack: Vocal Sea Shanties. Finished the ghostwritten cozy (second in its series) on time, although with changes to the plot. The stuff in the outline wasn’t working, and the client
November Writing Updates Read More »
November was a kind of tipping point for me, although what it is exactly that I tipped between, I’m not sure. It feels like I tipped between “not confident” and “confident” on a personal level, as in, “She is a confident person.” But where that came from or what it means, I don’t know. It’s probably
A selection of the best books I read in November, which, admittedly, still isn’t done yet but close enough: Between the World and Me, by Ta-Nahisi Coates. A series of essays, framed as a letter written to his son, on the poisonous Dream of a white America. Just amazing. The Omnivore’s Dilemma, by Michael Pollan.
Best Books Read, November Read More »
I was eating a bunch of clementines the other day, and one of them smelled off. Last year, I got a bag of clementines with a number of fruits that were just bad. Eventually I ditched the whole bag–well, first I shoved it in the fridge and pretended it wasn’t there for a month. It
I asked on Facebook what nonfiction books they would recommend for becoming a better citizen of the world/universe. It sounded like a fun thing to ask; I like to ask for recommendations. Over a hundred and forty books later… Please note that I am not a trained bibliographer and you’re lucky you’re not just getting
Nonfiction Books to Be a Better Citizen of the World/Universe Read More »
Yesterday’s post, by the way. Far be it from me to be like, “Oh, writing is easy, you can do it in these six easy steps” or “every first draft is a good first draft.” You can’t and they aren’t. Not even if you make the condition that every draft can be fixed–because that’s not
Another Thing About First Drafts Read More »
