Category: writing

  • Terrible First Efforts

    Terrible First Efforts

    Bird by Bird Photo by Klaus Nielsen: https://www.pexels.com/photo/broken-egg-scattered-on-table-in-kitchen-6294191/ My Linktree

  • Friday’s Findings: A Simple Writing Tip From C.S. Lewis

    Friday’s Findings: A Simple Writing Tip From C.S. Lewis

    I just started listening to On Writing (and Writers): A Miscellany of Advice and Opinions by C. S. Lewis. The very first piece of advice he gives is so simple but so true. C. S. Lewis, On Writing is available at Amazon.com Photo by Steve Johnson: https://www.pexels.com/photo/multicolored-abstract-painting-1509534/ My Linktree

  • Friday’s Findings: Two Column Method to Drafting

    Friday’s Findings: Two Column Method to Drafting

    I’ve discovered a way to create a rough draft more quickly and conveniently. Sometimes, I’ll have a page of notes about a scene I want to write. But going back and forth from the page with my notes to the page where I’m composing my rough draft slows me down. I tried a split screen,…

  • Use AI to Outline your NaNoWriMo?

    Use AI to Outline your NaNoWriMo?

    Are you desperate for a NaNoWriMo idea? Maybe you should consider using AI technology to create a 30-day outline for November.  Maybe I’ll get hate for this, but I’m curious how people will respond to this idea. I’m sure it’s already been done. I’m not endorsing AI to write a novel, but I see value in using…

  • Should I Do NaNoWriMo?

    Should I Do NaNoWriMo?

    Should I do NaNoWriMo this year? Whether or not I do is in question. Here’s why: I’m currently working on three novels. Yes, I’m crazy. Currently, the momentum I have working on all three is going well. I don’t want to break it. I also have three or four outlines of potential novels. I want…

  • Friday’s Findings: Getting Closer to the Readers

    Friday’s Findings: Getting Closer to the Readers

    Lately, I’ve discovered a principle about writing. Too get closer to the reader, that is, to make the reader feel like they are connection to the characters, I review a scene to make sure there is just the right amount of internal monologue. Internal monologue can help in several ways. Besides helping the reader connect…

  • Terry Brooks: Sometimes the Magic Works (After 20 Years)

    Terry Brooks: Sometimes the Magic Works (After 20 Years)

    I attended the Imaginarium Convention last weekend, and Terry Brooks was a special guest. In 2003, I bought his book Sometimes the Magic Works, his half memoir, half writing instruction book. I read it and learned a lot. Since then, I’ve read many of his fantasy novels. At the conference, I asked him to sign…

  • Friday’s Findings: Do We Really Need Story Structure?

    Friday’s Findings: Do We Really Need Story Structure?

    I just finished Stephen King’s On Writing. Once again. I’m still flabbergasted that one of the best-selling authors in American history doesn’t endorse story structure. And I also just listened to a fiction writing seminar with Lisa Cron. In it, she reiterated what she says in her book, Story Genius, to begin with the story.…

  • Friday’s Findings: Can AI Write a Novel?

    Friday’s Findings: Can AI Write a Novel?

    Apparently, Artificial Intelligence can write a novel. The question is: can AI write a good novel? To me, good novels require human emotions. Characters need to make decisions in their fictional exploits. And decisions, even those based on just the facts, require emotions to be made. Can AI make decisions as complex as humans? Can…