Category: writing tips
-
Friday’s Findings: The Cat and the Snowflake
In my last post, I discussed using the Snowflake Method simultaneously with the Save the Cat beats to develop a story and end up with a first draft. I expanded this idea with an Excel spreadsheet that can be downloaded. Or if you prefer, right click on the graphic below to expand it. Once the image…
-
Can Save the Cat and the Snowflake Method be Used Together? Simultaneously?
I’ve taken most of the summer off from writing blog posts to concentrate on my writing projects. Now summer vacations are over, and school is back in session, I’ve decided to get back into posting. Right click to enlarge. To see step-by-step instructions on using this graphic, click here. A thought occurred to me: as…
-
Friday’s Findings: Wildcat
I recently saw the movie Wildcat, which was directed by Ethan Hawke. Wildcat told the story of Flannery O’Connor who navigated her writing career as she dealt with lupus. I could identify with O’Connor who had to endure the obstacle of her stories being misinterpreted. Everyone wants a story to be pretty. O’Connor wrote dark…
-
The Intimidating Draft
“Drafts. Nothing is more intimidating than a blank page. Writing in drafts helps to diffuse some of that pressure. My rough draft has one goal; to write “The End.” I have the next 200-300 drafts to make it good.” -Max Brooks Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko: https://www.pexels.com/photo/white-and-gray-checkered-textile-6474345/ My Linktree
-
Friday’s Findings: Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft
I just finished Janet Burroway’s Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft, 10th edition, and here are some takeaways: “Most writing is done between the mind and the hand, not between the hand and the page.” “Keep the journal regularly, at least at first. It doesn’t matter what you write and it doesn’t matter very…
-
Friday’s Findings: A Dollop of Delusion
“Your first book is brutal, and for that reason I really think it has to be a labor of love. Only love and a dollop of delusional hope will get you through that misery. Let the cynicism come later.” –Sunyi Dean, author of The Book Eaters Friday’s Findings: Photo by NEOSiAM 2024+: https://www.pexels.com/photo/tilt-lens-photography-of-white-flowers-673535/ My Linktree
-
Friday’s Findings: Starting with Ambience
“. . . I start with theme and vibe – the ambience, the mood of it. Then I get hazy images of what I want the characters to experience, and I start to develop their backgrounds and exchanges and developments that dovetail with it all. The world fills in in the background as I go.”…
-
Friday’s Findings: The Recipe for Interiority
There’s this new term I’ve come across in the fiction craft world: interiority. I had never heard of it until last year when I took Mary Kole’s online class called Crafting Dynamic Characters. Great class. As far as using it as a writing craft term, I don’t know who coined interiority, but Kole built her…
-
Writing Garbage
“When you’re stuck, and sure you’ve written absolute garbage, force yourself to finish and THEN decide to fix or scrap it – or you will never know if you can.” – Jodi Picoult Photo by Anna Shvets: https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-in-white-and-green-shirt-holding-yellow-plastic-bag-3746342/ My Linktree
Andrew M. Friday 