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
Tagged with WritingCraft …
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