Writing a Gripping Opening Scene

Yesterday I purchased a book called Writing a Killer Thriller by Jodie Renner and read it in one sitting. Yes, it’s a short book, but it’s also riveting. I bought a digital copy and spent several minutes figuring out how to highlight all the good stuff. Unfortunately, there are several pages that are mostly all highlights. I want to … Continue reading →

Four Tricks to Improve Your Fiction in Ten Minutes

I didn’t intend for this to be Mass-Blogging Wednesday, but I’m finding so many great things to share! Victoria Mixon posted this blog two days ago, and I’m so far behind in my blog reading that I just got to it this morning. It’s four tricks to improve your fiction in one day, but I think it … Continue reading →

Writing Advice

I came across this writing advice and knew I had to share it: “Substitute ‘damn’ every time you’re inclined to write ‘very;’ your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.” – Mark Twain

Notes for a Two-Day Get-Away

My husband had training in a city 120 miles north of our home last week, and he invited me to go with him. I didn’t attend the meeting–I sat in the hotel room and wrote. And studied the craft of writing. And read a great book (both for entertainment and to study). The result? Two … Continue reading →

Break-Taking

Most of my favorite writers hand out this free advice: “Write every day.” Sometimes it’s worded slightly differently, as in, “Set a word count goal for the week and make sure you hit it.” The basic idea is called BIC: Butt in Chair. It’s good advice. I try to make it happen every week. Like … Continue reading →

A Writer’s Voice

I’m still mining the book Story Engineering, by Larry Brooks for the good bits. He offers six core competencies of a great story. Today’s blog post is brought to you by core competency six: Voice. Every writer has a voice. But is it good enough to… Continue reading →

Structure Part 2: The Response

I’m picking through the book Story Engineering, by Larry Brooks and giving you the good stuff. He offers six core competencies of a great story. I’m still working on the fourth core competency, Structure. Structure has four parts. In my last post,… Continue reading →

Structure Part 1: Setup

I’m knee deep in a discussion of the book Story Engineering, by Larry Brooks. He offers six core competencies of a great story. I’m still working on the fourth one, Structure. In my last post, I defined structure and offered the four parts. Today … Continue reading →

Story Structure

Story Engineering, by Larry Brooks, offers six core competencies of a great story. The fourth competency is structure. I’m not ashamed to admit I’m a structure junkie, and this was my favorite part of the book. It can be hazardous to the writing j… Continue reading →

Implementing Theme

Story Engineering, by Larry Brooks, offers six core competencies of a great story. In my last post, I started discussing theme. I’d like to finish it off now and move on. Like I’ve said before, theme is difficult for me to understand, so I’m going… Continue reading →