Andrew M. Friday

Category: novel planning

  • Friday’s Findings 04.06.18

    Friday’s Findings 04.06.18

    Here are some articles on writing I’ve read lately: Loved ‘Ready Player One’? Check out these 8 Books Margaret Atwood’s Ten Rules for Writing Fiction Amazon to Spend a Billion Dollars to License “The Three-Body Problem”? Using Third Person vs First Person Novel Narratives What Mystery Propels Your Novel? View my Consortium SF Series at…

  • Scrivener Tip: Keeping Track of Characters

    Scrivener Tip: Keeping Track of Characters

    I have many characters in my novel, both major and minor. Here’s the method I use in Scrivener to keep track of characters in my books series. My books are science fiction, so consistency in the odd spelling of non-Earth names is important–but I was going crazy trying to spell an alien’s name the same…

  • Serendipity and the writing process

    Serendipity and the writing process

    I am astounded when, during the early stages of outlining and drafting a novel, two unrelated parts of my story suddenly fit together and make it stronger, more logical. It’s almost like, “Why didn’t I see that before?” View my Consortium SF Series at Amazon. My science fiction book OMNIORB is available through Amazon and…

  • Comparing Story Grids

    Comparing Story Grids

    When I think of some of the ‘a-ha’ moments I’ve had when developing my craft as a writing, I think of times I discovered these concepts: show verses tell; avoid on-the-nose writing; subtext in actions and dialogue. I could name many more. I like to think one of my best ‘a-ha’ moments as a writing…

  • Temptations to avoid when writing characters

    I’ve had a great time getting to know the characters in my SF novel. A plethora of minor characters run around in my story, but I have three main ones: Bandonn FarPacer-Technology genius; while growing up, forced to fight a war on his home planet; escaped the war, and wants to be an agent for the…

  • Harmon’s Plot Embryo: A Writer’s Tool for both Outlining and Evaluating

    Harmon’s Plot Embryo: A Writer’s Tool for both Outlining and Evaluating

    I admit it: I just started watching Community. Yes, I know. Better late than never. I kept hearing how great the show was, but never got around to following it. Well, now, thanks to Hulu, I can binge watch while I’m cleaning house or laundry or whatever. Lately, though, I’ve been hearing about this “Plot…

  • What are the most important scenes in a novel?

    What are the most important scenes in a novel?

    To overcome feeling overwhelmed by finishing your novel, a writer might want to keep these writing principles in mind: She doesn’t have to write chronologically. She can write her most important scenes first and then fill in the blanks. Now, if she has planned your novel with some kind of outline, then these principles become even easier.…

  • Checklist for writing a scene

    Checklist for writing a scene

    When it came to my novel, I honestly didn’t think I’d have to do that. But, here I am, the stage of my novel where I am going over each scene, and I am “killing my darlings.” I want to keep most of the scenes, but I have a criteria I go over that may…

  • Four quick reads on writing

    When I was on vacation earlier this month, I read some e-books on writing. Even though these gems were inexpensive and quick, they provided me with some valuable lessons to apply to my writing craft. Here they are: Self-publishing a Book By Hank Quense Quense has a great series on self-publishing and this is the…