Category: writing tips
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Is “Atomic Habits” Helpful for Writers?
I’ll just go ahead and say it.: Without a doubt, the book Atomic Habits by James Clear can help writers establish more effective writing production. It sounds like I’m hyping the book–I am–but I’ll be the first to say the concepts explored in Atomic Habits won’t work for anyone who is leery of products that…
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Camp NanoWriMo Update #4
I passed up 10,000 words. Only 5,000 to go. I’m fleshing out the last ten or so scenes of my WIP I did for my 2019 NaNoWriMo project by just writing dialogue. I’m using what I call “layering” in the narrative elements: Dialogue Action Reaction/Internal Thought Emotions/voice cues, facial expressions, body language, visceral reactions Senses/Description…
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Friday’s Findings: Fandom.com
I’ve been using Fandom.com (formerly known as Wikia.com) to help me in my reading and writing endeavors. Fandom is a wiki hosting service which hosts wikis on entertainment and pop culture, such as books, games, movies, television and more. I find Fandom helpful in my reading in several ways. First, if I’ve been reading a…
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Friday’s Findings: Doing Voice Journals
This week I’ve been doing voice journals for my characters as I reach the midpoint of Camp NaNoWriMo. I first read about this practice in James Scott Bell’s The Art of War for Writers. This week I’ve read a few online articles on the subject. I’ve capsulated the main concepts of doing voice journals for…
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Good Scene, Bad Scene
Scenes are the building blocks of fiction writing. I came across this great infographic on evaluating a scene’s worthiness. Editor Ellen Brock created this wonderful chart and talks about it in this video. Check out her YouTube and her website for more great writing advice. Photo by Francesco Ungaro
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First Weekend of Camp NaNoWriMo
Enjoyed my first full weekend of Camp NaNoWriMo for April 2022. I completed a scene from my novella called Traption. As I mentioned in a recent blog posting, I’m using a writing process I’m calling the “scratchpad” method. I use a single text document–mine happens to be in Google Docs– and will just add on…
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Friday’s Findings: The Scratchpad Method
Today is the first day of Camp NaNoWriMo–it’s my first Camp NaNoWriMo!– and I’m using something called “The Scratchpad Method.” You see, I have a writing situation. Is it a good or bad situation? It’s good in the sense I have an abundance of WIPs to work on. It’s bad in the sense I don’t…
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YouTube AuthorTubes I Watch
I get a lot of inspiration from watching videos by fiction writers on YouTube. I learn a lot, too. Here are a few who are currently active: Abbie Emmons Cam Wolfe is Writing Ellen Brock Fictionary Hello Future Me Jenna Moreci Kieren Westwood Rachel Stephen Reedsy Shaelin Writes Writer Sanctuary Photo by Anni Roenkae
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Friday’s Findings: Scene Revision
Writing scenes is one of my favorite parts of fiction writing. I watched a great video on scene revision and learned a lot: Revise Your NaNoWriMo Novel with Writing Mastery Academy & Fictionary In this video, author Jessica Brody talks about three checkpoints to review a scene with to improve it. She has even more…
Andrew M. Friday 