Category: novel planning

  • How Writers Get Ideas

    How Writers Get Ideas

    Where and when is the best time for writers to get their ideas?

  • Writing Advice from Brandon Sanderson

    Writing Advice from Brandon Sanderson

    Witness a dramatic fantasy landscape come to life in this atmospheric artwork inspired by classic epic fantasy covers.

  • Writing Advice from James Islington

    Writing Advice from James Islington

    Unlock powerful writing insights from bestselling fantasy author James Islington.

  • Friday’s Findings: Create a Scene Palette

    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.

  • Writing First Efforts

    Writing First Efforts

    “Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere.” — Anne Lamott Photo by SIPI SIPI

  • Friday’s Findings: Go After Inspiration

    Friday’s Findings: Go After Inspiration

    “You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.” -Jack London National Novel Writing Month It’s NaNoWriMo and it’s not too late to get started. I’m a NaNo rebel which means I’m not following the “rules” (there are no rules). I’m not writing 50k words this month. I’m only writing…

  • What Does NaNoWriMo Look Like Now?

    What Does NaNoWriMo Look Like Now?

    Never fear, the spirit of NaNoWriMo lives on, even if the website is gone. The challenge is to now find your own community to write with, whether that is online or in-person. And of course, you can write by yourself. Whatever your goals have been for the November challenge of writing 50k words, you have…

  • 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: Ask Why

    Friday’s Findings: Ask Why

    Why Writers Should Ask “Why” Before Writing a Novel Before a writer sketches an outline, builds a character profile, or writes the first sentence, there’s a question worth pausing to ask: Why am I writing this novel? Most of the time, I write for fun. I never think about the why. But I keep coming…