Category: writing tips
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Aspiring Writer?
“Write. Then you’re not ‘aspiring’ anymore and that’s a really good first step.” —Fredrik Backman Photo by Landiva Weber: https://www.pexels.com/photo/abstract-purple-and-green-oil-and-water-art-30177701/ My Linktree
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Friday’s Findings: Discipline Versus Motivation
I usually think of writing as a passive endeavor, but more and more, I’m seeing it as an active fight. This fight has to do with my writing time. I’ve recently come across a few pieces of advice that are all related to fighting for your writing time. Guard your writing time with your life.…
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James Scott Bell on Writing: The Best Writing Advice I Know
I’ve been going back and looking at my blog entries from years ago, and I kept coming across advice from author James Scott Bell. I quote him a lot. Two books on writing craft I highly recommend are: He has more writing craft books on Amazon, and I just realized, “I need to read these.”…
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Friday’s Findings: Goals or Systems?
I’ll be honest with you. I did not achieve my writing goals this year. I have no one to blame but myself. Being the end of the year, I thought about how I could do better in the year to come. So, I consulted with my friend, a book called The Atomic Habits. I’ve discussed The Atomic…
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Writing Advice from Chuck Palahniuk
Seasons greetings. Over the years I’ve quoted Fight Club author Chuck Palahniuk on several occasions, so I decided to collect all his advice I’ve regurgitated on this blog into one entry. Below are some quote from his writing craft book Consider This that has spoken to me over the years: This is a link to…
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Friday’s Findings: Character Viewpoint and Description
I am a technical editor for an airline, and recently my department moved from one building to a new one. I love my new office. Everything is new and clean. It’s located in an airplane hangar, so I can just step away from my desk and go see the airplanes up close as the mechanics…
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Friday’s Findings: Read, Read, Read
“Read, read, read. Read everything – trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You’ll absorb it. Then write. If it’s good, you’ll find out. If it’s not, throw it out of the window.” —William Faulkner Friday’s Findings…
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Warning: No Info Dumping, Part 2
In my last blog entry, I talked about the dos and don’ts of info-dumping. Now, I’d like to offer some case studies of info-dumping in action. While these may exaggerate info-dumps in action, they can still cause the writer to ask herself, ‘Have I done this?’ Info-dumps mostly pop up in these areas of description…
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Warning: No Info Dumping, Part 1
Let’s talk about some do’s anLet’s talk about some do’s and don’t’s of info-dumping. I try to find ways to include how things work in my sci-fi and fantasy stories, but I’m not always sure I avoid info-dumping. I try to. But it’s an easy trap to fall into, especially as a speculative fiction writer.…
Andrew M. Friday 