Category: my novel’s progress

  • Friday’s Findings: Vision Boards and Facial Cues

    Friday’s Findings: Vision Boards and Facial Cues

    My Seven writing rules – JMJ Williamson Not so much ‘rules’ as they are ‘preferences.’ How to Write a Good Villain: 6 Scenes Your Story Needs (thewritepractice.com) Some good suggestions for scenes to make your antagonist more real to the reader. Fiction University: Give Your Story Meaning with Inner Conflict and Theme (janicehardy.com) Some good…

  • Friday’s Findings

    Friday’s Findings

    Prologues vs. Flashbacks Backstory is something I’ve been thinking about lately and this article answered a lot of questions. How to Read Like a Writer (to become a better writer) Five simple steps to reading a book and noticing techniques writers use to make readers want to finish the book. 5 Ways to Write Better…

  • Friday’s Findings: Screenplay Writing with Tony Acree

    Friday’s Findings: Screenplay Writing with Tony Acree

    Last week, I attended a short workshop on screenplay writing. Tony Acree, author and publisher, has turned his novel, The Hand of God, into a screenplay. He talked about what he has learned as he gets it turned into a movie. With his permission, I’ve summarized his main points: Video of Acree’s presentation. Here are…

  • MY FAVORITE SF&F SHOWS, PART 7

    MY FAVORITE SF&F SHOWS, PART 7

    Much to my chagrin, I’ve been doing more watching science fiction and fantasy shows than writing lately. But, thankfully, I’m back to writing now that these three shows have concluded: Shadow and Bone, Season 2 I just finished reading all of Leigh Bardugo’s Grishaworld novels before watching season 2 of Shadow and Bone. If you…

  • Friday’s Findings: How to Write Fast

    Friday’s Findings: How to Write Fast

    Some writers imagine the writing process as slow and meticulous. They take their time composing that first draft, lingering over it for months, maybe years. These writers are tortoises and they don’t mind. However, in How to Write Fast by Sean Platt and Neeve Silver, the writing process is the hare, not the tortoise. They…

  • Do you create an annual reading list?

    Do you create an annual reading list?

    Ugh. I only read 20 books last year.  Yes, yes, I know. That’s probably more than a lot of people. But for me, that’s not a lot. For some reason, I didn’t feel as motivated to read. To me, reading regularly is essential if I’m going to be a writer. And I had several “to-read”…

  • NaNoWriMo Day 30: Some resources to check out

    NaNoWriMo Day 30: Some resources to check out

    No two writers approach their WIPs in the same way. Over the years, I’ve used a combination of the following methods to develop my stories. You may be familiar with some of them. Some of them may be new. I cherry pick parts from them and have created an amalgam of a fiction creating process…

  • NaNoWriMo Day 29: Seeking the senses

    NaNoWriMo Day 29: Seeking the senses

    On Thanksgiving Day, I accompanied my mom and her husband to volunteer at a church serving T-day meals to the homeless and low-income families. It was a nice break from working on my NaNoWriMo project. The three of us ending up on the team of volunteers who picked up paper plates and cups from those…

  • NaNoWriMo Day 28: Over the finish line

    NaNoWriMo Day 28: Over the finish line

    I wrote the last 2800 words yesterday and reach 50K. I won NaNoWriMo 2022!  My project is called Normous, and it’s a novella. It is the fifth episode in my series I call Consortium. In my blog posts throughout this month, I described how I outlined Normous in three steps, and then spent the rest…