Category: Friday’s Findings
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Friday’s Findings: Create a Scene Palette
Most writers want their scenes to flow effortlessly on the page, but few scenes actually begin that way. Before the smooth prose and clean structure comes something messier, more playful, and far more effective: scene brainstorming.
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Friday’s Findings: The Scariest Part of Writing
“The scariest moment is always just before you start.” -Stephen King Friday’s Findings My Linktree Photo by Greg
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Friday’s Findings: What’s Scaring Me This Halloween
Last year I read Edgar Allen Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher during the Halloween season and it was so much fun I decided to read something scary every October. This year, I decided to read Crumb Hill. Here are my thoughts on this creepy tome: Crumb Hill: A Town History by Ethan…
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Friday’s Findings: Your Novel’s Word Count Breakdown
Have you ever asked yourself, “Is my middle too saggy?” Of course, I’m talking about the first draft of your novel. I have several novels in the first draft stage, and I plan to revise them over the next couple of years, Lord willing. Here’s the thing: before I start rewriting them, I want to…
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Friday’s Findings: Tension
What is tension in fiction? It is the anticipation, the dread, of unknown events or other elements in a story that compel a reader to keep going. Ask this question for each of your characters: What are you afraid of losing the most? The answers should give you an ample supply of tension, conflict, and…
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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…
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Friday’s Findings: Audio Annotations
“The point of being a god is to have the joint running to your specifications.” -Guy Vesten, The Hungry Gods by Adrian Tchaikovsky This is just one of several quotes I got from the novella I listened to today, Tchaikovsky’s The Hungry Gods (THG). It wasn’t very long – only five hours – and I…
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Friday’s Findings: Small Wins
Remember: Small, consistent wins usually lead to more success in the long run, as opposed to big, infrequent wins. Marissa Meyer, The Happy Writer I’ve been reading The Happy Writer: Get More Ideas, Write More Words, and Find More Joy from First Draft to Publication and Beyond by Marissa Meyer, and this quote really resonates…
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Friday’s Findings: Should You Add a Prologue?
Five years ago, I did a series called Writing Style Outcasts. It’s been a while since I’ve talked about one of these misfits of grammar. I’ve discovered the question is not why shouldn’t I use them but is when to use them. I’d like to add prologues to these misfits of the writing craft. A…
Andrew M. Friday 