If you write a series, there are any number of continuity problems that may arise. The problem is, you may not start out trying to write anything more than a stand-alone novel. What do you do when you write a sequel several years after that stand-alone is released? Almost any… Continue reading
For a beginner working on a novel, the question of whether or not to write from page 1 to the end seems like a technicality. The answer to that question can often mean the difference between finishing the project and leaving yet another partial sitting on the hard drive. Many… Continue reading
One of the challenges I face in my writing career is that of momentum. It can easily be summarized with Newton’s First Law = An object at rest remains at rest, an object in motion remains in motion. I am very much a momentum writer. I wrote my short novel… Continue reading
One thing some beginning writers often struggle with is rushing work out the door. You finish a story or article and send it out into the world with minimal edits. The reasons for this can be many. Perhaps the writer is trying to pump up the race score. (See Dean… Continue reading
One thing that remains true for every writer is the fact that books get written faster if you write more. That is to say, if you write 2000 words every day, you will finish in half the time as it would take writing 1000 words each day. The problem for… Continue reading
Every writer has their own peculiar set of words that tend to be repeated too often. I tend to use ‘then’ a lot. I also have a few ways of wording things that are not efficient, nor particularly smooth reading. In the initial draft, I just let it go. The… Continue reading
One of the most important things I ever did as a writer was finish my first novel. If you are a novelist, you know what I mean. If you have tried and aborted a novel at least once, you know what I mean. Finishing your first novel is at the… Continue reading
White room syndrome is writing without giving any sensory detail. One thing that makes great writing stand out from good writing is the ability to bring your reader into the story, and one way to do that is detail. Last week I talked about this in terms of getting into… Continue reading
One of the best exercises assigned to me as an emerging writer came from my friend David Gerrold. He gave me a series of emotions, and my assignment was to write 500 or 1000 words (I forget the total now) on that single emotion. Not a story, not a sequence… Continue reading
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