Tag: writing
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Friday’s Findings: The Consortium Saga Omnibus Release
Several years ago, I began imagining a galaxy of worlds united in peace and prosperity—well, mostly united. I couldn’t resist adding a few snags. At the heart of it all was a starship: a commercial vessel like a luxury liner, except instead of cruising oceans, it sailed through the cosmos. In this galaxy, travel between…
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Friday’s Findings: Name-dropping
The other day, I typed out a paragraph for the science fiction novella I’m working on, and I realized I’ve had this aching question for years: when do I use a character’s name and when do I use a pronoun instead? Are there formal rules for this sort of thing? When do I use my…
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Friday’s Findings: Beginnings and Ends for a Scene
I’ve been writing a lot of scenes lately, and I am constantly asking myself, “Am I beginning all my scenes the same way?” Am I always starting with dialogue? And what about ending a scene? How can I make sure I’m not always ending my scenes in the same way? Are some of them cliffhangers,…
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One Way to Write a Scene
So, I’m doing this thing where I am writing the rough draft in a special way: pseudo screenplay. I recommend doing this if you are having trouble getting the scene started. Otherwise, I recommend writing the scene in a normal fashion, a linear development. If that does not work, try to layer in each fiction…
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Do Your Own 50K Novel
The National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) website may be going inactive, but the spirit of NaNoWriMo does not have to die. It’s an opportunity for writers who have participated in the past to write their own fifty-thousand words in thirty days. And it can be any month they want. And they can start on any…
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Friday’s Findings: My Autodidactic University
Let’s not talk about how long ago I graduated from university. The world is a different place. I studied journalism and then went to art school. I’m embarrassed to say it took me longer than it should to realize this: graduating from high school or college is just the beginning. School’s purpose is to teach us…
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Friday’s Findings: Goals or Systems?
I’ll be honest with you. I did not achieve my writing goals this year. I have no one to blame but myself. Being the end of the year, I thought about how I could do better in the year to come. So, I consulted with my friend, a book called The Atomic Habits. I’ve discussed The Atomic…
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Friday’s Findings: Never stop learning
Never stop learning your craft. I’m a little surprised that some people I know who like to write aren’t interested in further training. I guess I understand. but I like taking online classes about writing fiction. I have to be careful, because I don’t want learning to replace actual writing. Writers can spend a little…
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Painting and words
“Paint. That’s the magic word. Paint pictures with words. That’s the greatest advice I can give anybody. Paint the pictures with words. The picture will appear in the imagination so the person reading it can say, ‘I can see that’.” -Brian Jacques Photo by Miguel Á. Padriñán: https://www.pexels.com/photo/several-paintbrushes-114123/ My Link tree
Andrew M. Friday 