Andrew M. Friday

Category: writing

  • Dialogue: Small Words, Big Clarity

    Dialogue: Small Words, Big Clarity

    Dialogue tags and attribution: small words, big clarity

  • Writing Strong Description in Fiction, Part 3

    Writing Strong Description in Fiction, Part 3

    A lot of writers feel pressure to “fully visualize” the setting for the reader. So they pile detail upon detail onto the page.

  • Writing Strong Description in Fiction, Part 1

    Writing Strong Description in Fiction, Part 1

    When we talk about description in fiction, most writers immediately picture long paragraphs about sunsets, castles, or what color somebody’s curtains are. And honestly? That’s part of why description gets such a bad press sometimes.

  • Writing With Scene Beats

    Writing With Scene Beats

    If plot is the skeleton and character, is the heart. Beats are the nervous system. They carry every signal, every reaction, every emotional pulse through your story. Master beats—and suddenly everything else gets sharper.

  • Writing Advice: Margaret Atwood

    Writing Advice: Margaret Atwood

    From the author of The Handmaid;s Tale. Legendary wisdom to sharpen your craft—swipe through for practical, powerful advice every writer should hear.

  • 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…

  • Is It Preptober?

    Is It Preptober?

    Next month will be the first November in decades that the official NaNoWriMo website will not exist. Does this mean no National Novel Writing Month? Will there be a NaNoWriMo community? Should I do NaNoWriMo? I can only speak for myself, but I plan to do NaNoWriMo. Which means this is Preptober. Preptober: It’s a…

  • Friday’s Findings: Creating a scene palette

    Friday’s Findings: Creating a scene palette

    When creating a scene for the first time, I have a list. And I try to hit as many points on that list as possible: But before writing the rough draft of a scene, I have practiced a step I got from a thin, little book called Every Writer Has a Thousand Faces by poet…

  • Aspiring Writer?

    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/