By Shirley E. Gould We, authors, polish our prose as our word counts rise in order to share our stories with the masses. It’s tedious work we’ve dared to under-take. I’ve been working on a contemporary romantic suspense series for some time now. Observing trends in the industry, I see authors adding a Christmas novella as a prequel to their …
Savor the Season
By Shirley E. Gould We, authors, polish our prose as our word counts rise in order to share our stories with the masses. It’s tedious work we’ve dared to under-take. I’ve been working on a contemporary romantic suspense series for some time now. Observing trends in the industry, I see authors adding a Christmas novella as a prequel to their …
5 Tips for Weary Writers in the Christmas Season
by DiAnn Mills No other time of the year can be more difficult to write than at Christmas. We writers are simply distracted with all the fun and excitement this time of the year brings. The season involves creativity, and we simply can’t resist the urge to simply BE in the moment. My excuses race from one exciting activity to …
5 Tips for Weary Writers in the Christmas Season
by DiAnn Mills No other time of the year can be more difficult to write than at Christmas. We writers are simply distracted with all the fun and excitement this time of the year brings. The season involves creativity, and we simply can’t resist the urge to simply BE in the moment. My excuses race from one exciting activity to …
Honor the Craft
By Henry McLaughlin James Scott Bell posted a blog called Don’t Ever Mail It In where he wrote about the attitude that we’ve reached a certain point in our writing where we don’t have to improve. What struck me most is his definition of a real writer. It’s someone who honors the craft and never settles. In this blog, I’m …
Three Tips for Writing a Novella that Feels Like a Full Book
by Melissa Tagg I wrote my first novella in 2014…and, true story, I had noooo clue what I was doing! I’d published three novels at the time. I’d written short stories in college. But nothing in-between. Since then, though, I’ve written four more novellas and they’ve become some of my very favorite writing projects. I’ve also been intentional about reading …
Three Tips for Writing a Novella that Feels Like a Full Book
by Melissa Tagg I wrote my first novella in 2014…and, true story, I had noooo clue what I was doing! I’d published three novels at the time. I’d written short stories in college. But nothing in-between. Since then, though, I’ve written four more novellas and they’ve become some of my very favorite writing projects. I’ve also been intentional about reading …
Tips for Using the 5 Senses
by Ane Mulligan Sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste create experiential fiction, a story so in-the-moment, the reader hears, smells, and tastes what the characters do. To do that, we want to show the action. Here are some tips for you. Remember to make the descriptions organic to your character. If you protagonist is a musician, her similes will be musical. …
Even the “Big Dogs” Struggle
By C. Kevin Thompson I picked up a copy of Lee Child’s debut novel, The Killing Floor. It was his first Jack Reacher novel. Originally published in 1997, this edition (the fifth edition in 2012) is a mass paperback and contains “a new introduction by the author.” It was this intro that inspired me to keep on keeping on. Child …
Story First, Novel Second
By Dennis Ricci “Literary talent is commonplace. Storytelling talent is rare.” Robert McKee, the Hollywood story guru who’s trained many of the great filmmakers and screenwriters of our generation, made that statement within the first hour of his Story Seminar, which I attended last March. McKee defined the differences between literary and storytelling talent: Literary: the ability to convert ordinary …