Category: description
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Fiction Writing Workshop: Action Scenes
He extends his sword and then utters these words: “My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die.” The most memorable part of this fight scene are these words. But why? To find the answer, I wanted to know more about writing effective fight and action scenes. My novel has several of…
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Books on writing I read in 2015
Every year I try and read a couple of books on the writing craft. I know that’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but, honestly, I love reading stuff on how to write fiction. Here is what I read in 2015: Planning a Novel, Script or Memoir by Hank Quense Quense offers practical tips on how…
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Quense tells how he writes his books and doesn’t apologize for it
Here is my review of Hank Quense’s Planning a Novel, Script or Memoir as it appears in Goodreads and Amazon: I’ve read many books on writing fiction and after a while I see the same theories and best practices over and over. This is not necessarily a bad thing because a reminder is always helpful. However,…
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What I’m learning as I write my novel, part 2
In my previous blog entry, I began listing some things I’m learning as I write my current novel. Here are some more: Let the story unfold like a snowflake. When writing the discovery draft of a novel, I like to use the snowflake method. This is a method created by writer Randy Ingermanson. I mentioned…
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What I’m learning as I write my novel
When I say I’ve written six novels, this is what I really mean: I’ve written the rough draft of six novels. Sure I like to say “I’ve written six novels” to try to impress people, but if anyone would read these “novels”, he would read for five minutes, stick out his tongue, squinch up his…
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Writing Exercise: Describe One Thing Ten Ways
This writing exercise challenges the writer to describe something ten different ways. I chose Andre, a french bulldog whom I watch when his “mommy” and “daddy” are out-of-town. I have grown quite fond of him and he offers wondrous opportunities for description. Now, for my list, I decided to tackle description using the five senses…
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Writing Blog Roundup: avoid clichés, sabotaging gift, forget theme, booklover sterotypes, setting scene
Some recent articles on writing that I have read: What’s A Cliché? Overused Words To Avoid In Your Writing. Pay attention to words that habitually end up on your editing room floor. How You May Be Sabotaging Your Gift to Write Words That Matter. As writers, we are by our very nature, critical thinkers, but…
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Writing blog roundup: great writing, create characters, writing exercises, write description, show don’t tell
What I read this week in writing blogs: The Secret of Great Writing. I recently finished editing my first novel, The Golden Crystal. How to Create Larger Than Life Characters. One thing we’re always focusing on, as authors, is creating realistic characters. Fiction Writing Exercises for Creating Characters. Whenever I’m working on a story idea, I…
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Writing Blog Roundup: daily writing, character’s eyes, write description, using setting, breaking style
Some blog articles on writing I’ve read lately: Daily Writing leads to better writing. Ideally, you’ll write every day . . . Seeing through your character’s eyes. Novelists are very familiar with the term POV, or point of view . . . How to write description that will delight your reader’s senses. NY Times Bestselling…
Andrew M. Friday 