Category: writing
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Avoid Infodumps: Dole Out Information
As I write my current draft for my WIP called Traption, I am trying to avoid infodumps. One way to avoid heaping a mound of story-stopping background details is to weave the information throughout the story. Use dialogue. Use a short flashback. Use inner monologue. Doling out the information a little here, a little there,…
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Do I Really Need to “Practice” Writing?
If I could talk with my younger self — who wanted to be a writer — I would tell him to practice writing. My younger self would not have known what that would entail. So, I would say to him the following . . . But first, let’s talk about why writing practice is essential. What does a budding…
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Top Rules for Creative Writing
Photo by Anni Roenkae
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Friday’s Findings: Hands Off Read Through
This week I have been doing a “hands off read through” of my novella Traption. No reworking scenes, no editing paragraphs, no tweaking words; just reading through this draft I completed during Camp NaNoWriMo in April. Hands off the words. Some of the things I’m looking for: Does my story have a solid structure? Does…
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Do you want to write a narrative?
Photo by Anni Roenkae
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Camp NaNoWriMo Update #5
Camp NaNoWriMo for April 2022 is over. Did I reach my goals? Yes and no. No, I did not reach my word goal of 15,000 words. I got to 11,600 words. And I’m happy with that. I had a blast discovering more about my story (a better goal than word count). I learned more about…
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Friday’s Findings: How Exactly Do the Atomic Habits Help Writers?
In my previous post, I mentioned I found James Clear’s book Atomic Habits to be helpful for writers. I didn’t, however, mention specifically how I found it helpful. While I could probably list a dozen ways the book provided ways to incorporate the writing discipline into my life, I’m just going to list four for…
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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…
Andrew M. Friday 