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Exposing “exposure” for what it is: an insult
As much as I love designing book covers, I don’t have time to do it for free. Last year I designed book covers for a couple of different small publishers. I figured out one publisher would not be paying enough for the time I put into the projects, so I told the publisher I quit.…
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Quense tells how he writes his books and doesn’t apologize for it
Here is my review of Hank Quense’s Planning a Novel, Script or Memoir as it appears in Goodreads and Amazon: I’ve read many books on writing fiction and after a while I see the same theories and best practices over and over. This is not necessarily a bad thing because a reminder is always helpful. However,…
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How to Hack a Flashback: Secret Shortcuts of Bestselling Authors
Great article on writing flashbacks by author Christopher Kokoski.
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Writer’s Block: Just One Sentence
I overcome writer’s block by tricking my brain. I tell myself: “All I have to do just write one sentence for today, and that’s it. That’s today’s quota.” I’ll write that one sentence and then I’ll just keep going. I think telling myself one sentence is enough removes the psychological barriers of “I have to…
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Those Extra Chunks of Time
Don’t wait for just the big chunks of time to write. Use little chunks of time throughout the day: 15 minute breaks; 20 minutes here; even thinking about your story while you drive home from work counts. Those little chunks of time add up. When the big chunks of time arrive –say a whole Saturday…
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Whoa, an epiphany in writing dialogue
In one of my favorite books on graphic design, The Non-Designer’s Design Book, Robin Williams presents the concept of being able to name something so that you can own it. A person may recognize good design in a poster or a brochure, but not be able to know why it’s good design. In her book,…
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What I’m learning as I write my novel, part 2
In my previous blog entry, I began listing some things I’m learning as I write my current novel. Here are some more: Let the story unfold like a snowflake. When writing the discovery draft of a novel, I like to use the snowflake method. This is a method created by writer Randy Ingermanson. I mentioned…
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What I’m learning as I write my novel
When I say I’ve written six novels, this is what I really mean: I’ve written the rough draft of six novels. Sure I like to say “I’ve written six novels” to try to impress people, but if anyone would read these “novels”, he would read for five minutes, stick out his tongue, squinch up his…
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What I read this past year
For some reason, I did not read as many books as I usually do during a year. Looking at my list, I was heavily influenced by books that came out as movies. Also, lots of books marketed to young adults. Overall, still a great year of reading for me. In case you are interested, here…
My Projects:
Andrew M. Friday 