Category: scene

  • Is the level-down revision method helpful?

    Is the level-down revision method helpful?

    A couple years ago, I took an online course called Write a Bestselling Novel in 15 Steps by Jessica Brody. It was free through my local public library’s website and in it, Brody talks about her book Save the Cat Writes a Novel. She uses examples and exercises to ensure a vivid understanding for each…

  • Friday’s Findings: Fictionary

    Friday’s Findings: Fictionary

    I bit the bullet and purchased a subscription to Fictionary. Being a word-processing program and outliner for authors, it falls into the same category as Scrivener, but they have some differences. Here’s how I feel about Fictionary: Character tracking: Fictionary has a great feature for keeping track of characters in each scene. Character tracking is…

  • What a Mess!

    What a Mess!

    After thirty days of writing over fifty thousand words, what do I have to show? An incoherent mess of scraps of conversations, descriptions and exposition. It’s a mess. And that’s what makes my 2021 NaNoWriMo a success. The story is there, told all the way through. I just have to rework it and rework it.…

  • Friday’s Findings: The Story on Two Levels

    Friday’s Findings: The Story on Two Levels

    I believe I’ve quoted this fiction writing axiom before, but Terry Pratchett said, “The first draft is just you telling yourself the story.” With this year’s NaNoWriMo, I’m finding out how true this is. I’m feeling exactly what he was talking about. I spent September and October prepping my story. I made up characters. I…

  • NaNo Update

    NaNo Update

    Just a quick update on my NaNoWriMo project. Over the weekend I reached 30k words, which was my goal. I’m pleased with how it’s going, but, of course, NaNo is about just getting it down on paper (or on the computer). Some things going well: I’ve written something for every scene in the story. Sometimes…

  • Friday’s Findings

    Friday’s Findings

    I’m trying something new this year for NaNoWriMo. I’m jumping around. Not up and down in my chair, but around the manuscript.  Usually, I write in a linear fashion. I start at the beginning and write the scenes in order. This year I’ve decided to skip around my WIP. Why am I trying this? The…

  • This Year: Why My NaNoWriMo Is Going So … Great

    This Year: Why My NaNoWriMo Is Going So … Great

    Nanowrimo first week update: Taking a short break from writing my NaNoWriMo project for an update and access how I’m feeling. Overall, I feel like this year’s NaNo is going fantastic. I would have to say it’s the best NaNo experience I’ve had, and I’ve been doing it since 2008. Why is it going so…

  • Friday’s Findings

    Friday’s Findings

    My first week of NaNoWriMo 2021 has gone fantastic. It’s day four and I’m already past 10,000 words. I’ve had some years of NaNo in which I just wasn’t into it, but this year I’m on fire. I think it’s because I did some planning. I created an outline with a summary of scenes, and…

  • Friday’s Findings

    Friday’s Findings

    From last Monday: I’m on “staycation” this week. As far as my writing, here are some things I promise myself to do with my extra time this week: For NaNoWriMo next month, I promise to do practice writing sprints every day. I will work on my current WIPs. Also for NaNo, I will further develop…