Andrew M. Friday

Category: description

  • Writing Strong Description in Fiction, Part 3

    Writing Strong Description in Fiction, Part 3

    A lot of writers feel pressure to “fully visualize” the setting for the reader. So they pile detail upon detail onto the page.

  • Writing Strong Description in Fiction, Part 2

    Writing Strong Description in Fiction, Part 2

    One of my favorite ideas about description is this: there is no such thing as objective description in fiction.

  • Writing Strong Description in Fiction, Part 1

    Writing Strong Description in Fiction, Part 1

    When we talk about description in fiction, most writers immediately picture long paragraphs about sunsets, castles, or what color somebody’s curtains are. And honestly? That’s part of why description gets such a bad press sometimes.

  • Writing With Scene Beats

    Writing With Scene Beats

    If plot is the skeleton and character, is the heart. Beats are the nervous system. They carry every signal, every reaction, every emotional pulse through your story. Master beats—and suddenly everything else gets sharper.

  • Friday’s Findings: Keeping a Writing Journal

    Friday’s Findings: Keeping a Writing Journal

    I work as a technical editor for an airline. A year and a half ago, my department moved into the gigantic new hangar the airline built. While I love the new building, I never thought it would help me in my writing. But it does. It just so happens the science fiction novella I’m working…

  • Friday’s Findings: Ways to Start a Writing Session

    Friday’s Findings: Ways to Start a Writing Session

    In my last blog posting, I talked about using copy work to get started for a writing session. The concept goes like this: for five minutes, copy word-for-word, a few paragraphs of your favorite author or novel. Then start your actual work-in-progress (WIP). It made me realize copy work is just one way to warm…

  • Friday’s Findings: Beginnings and Ends for a Scene

    Friday’s Findings: Beginnings and Ends for a Scene

    I’ve been writing a lot of scenes lately, and I am constantly asking myself, “Am I beginning all my scenes the same way?” Am I always starting with dialogue? And what about ending a scene? How can I make sure I’m not always ending my scenes in the same way? Are some of them cliffhangers,…

  • My 50k Novel in 30 Days: Final Daze

    My 50k Novel in 30 Days: Final Daze

    During my last three days of doing this unofficial NaNoWriMo, I wondered about my writing craft process for the future… Day 28 It is a sad day for me. The website for NaNoWriMo has vanished. Ironic it happened while I’m in the last week of one of the best 50k words in 30 days I’ve ever done.…

  • Friday’s Findings: My 50K Novel Week 2

    Friday’s Findings: My 50K Novel Week 2

    As an alternate to NaNoWriMo, I’m doing a 50K word rough draft of a novel in 30 days. Here’s how the second week went: Day 8: My city has the best coffee shops. I’m sitting in one before I go to work and I’m going to outline some unfinished scenes. I swore I wouldn’t do…