Andrew M. Friday

Category: writing

  • First Weekend of Camp NaNoWriMo

    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…

  • Friday’s Findings: The Scratchpad Method

    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…

  • Still Deciding What To Do for Camp NaNoWriMo

    Still Deciding What To Do for Camp NaNoWriMo

    Camp NaNoWriMo starts April 1st and I’m not sure what to do. It’s not a lack of ideas; it’s too many WIPs to choose from. I have a draft for my novella Traption and I was going to edit it. Then I decided to work on a rough draft for my novella Normous. But now…

  • YouTube AuthorTubes I Watch

    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

  • Friday’s Findings: Scene Revision

    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…

  • I think I’ll do Camp NaNoWriMo

    I think I’ll do Camp NaNoWriMo

    Camp NaNoWriMo starts April 1st and I think I’ll work on the next draft of my novella called Traption. I’ve set my goal to be 25,000 words. That’s what is different about Camp NaNoWriMo: the participant can set their own word count. So, even though I’ve already started revising Traption, I have so much rewrite…

  • Is the level-down revision method helpful?

    Is the level-down revision method helpful?

    A couple years ago, I took an online course called Write a Bestselling Novel in 15 Steps by Jessica Brody. It was free through my local public library’s website and in it, Brody talks about her book Save the Cat Writes a Novel. She uses examples and exercises to ensure a vivid understanding for each…

  • Friday’s Findings: Fictionary

    Friday’s Findings: Fictionary

    I bit the bullet and purchased a subscription to Fictionary. Being a word-processing program and outliner for authors, it falls into the same category as Scrivener, but they have some differences. Here’s how I feel about Fictionary: Character tracking: Fictionary has a great feature for keeping track of characters in each scene. Character tracking is…

  • What a Mess!

    What a Mess!

    After thirty days of writing over fifty thousand words, what do I have to show? An incoherent mess of scraps of conversations, descriptions and exposition. It’s a mess. And that’s what makes my 2021 NaNoWriMo a success. The story is there, told all the way through. I just have to rework it and rework it.…