Creating a Solid Writing Process: Finding What Works for You (Part 2 of 2)
Finding a productive writing process can help the act of writing come easier to you and reduce the friction associated with writing.
Creating a Solid Writing Process: Finding What Works for You (Part 1 of 2)
The hardest part about writing is starting. It’s like anything else in life, taking those first steps takes more energy than it does to keep going.
Top 12 Tips for Critiquing Someone Else’s Work
I am often asked to critique my friends’ work. I consider it an occupational hazard. Of course, I also offer manuscript critiques as part of my business. I enjoy doing them, but recognize they can present a few challenges and always proceed with caution.
9 More Signs of Amateur Writing and How to Fix Them (Part 2 of 2)
The last blog outlined nine signs of amateur writing and how to fix them. This blog continues that list with another nine ways new writers show their inexperience.
Here is the second set of nine signs of amateur writers and how to fix them:
9 Signs of Amateur Writing & How to Fix Them (Part 1 of 2)
Writing is a skill. It takes time to master. That doesn’t mean you can’t earn a living writing before you achieve an expert level, but you will need to refine your skills to have a career.
Here are 9 signs of amateur writing and how to avoid them:
Interrogating Your Characters: How Asking Questions Will Lead to Stronger Writing (Part 2 of 2)
In Part I of this series, we examined some ways to dig deeper into your characters’ motivation and figure out their stakes in the plot. Now let’s go even farther by asking your characters:
Interrogating Your Characters: How Asking Questions Will Lead to Stronger Stories (Part 1 of 2)
The only thing that matters in fiction is why. Why does what is happening matter to the protagonist and other characters? Why should we care? It’s not enough for things to happen to your characters. You have to know what it means to each of them and how it affects their lives. This means you need to know what makes your characters tick. Why they make the choices they do. Why they react the way they do. Why they don’t just walk away.
Elevating Your Writing No Matter the Form (Part 2 of 2)
Writing should inspire, motivate, educate, illuminate, inform, persuade, and engage. To do this, it has to rise above the basics and become something more.
In the first part in this series, we explored two introductions used in the television series The West Wing as an example of how to elevate writing from the barely functional to an art. Now let’s break down some practical steps you can take to elevate your writing.
Ten ways to improve your writing:
Elevating Your Writing No Matter the Form (Part 1 of 2)
The term “writing” covers a wide range of acts. There is the Great American Novel and direct mail flyers. Ad copy and speeches. Screenplays and novels. Radio scripts and web content. Being able to put words on a page takes many forms, not all of them lofty or noble. Sometimes all you need is a well-crafted email or text. That is the wonder of writing and human communication. It comes in all forms.
No, the problem is not with the form writing takes, but with the mindset many writers have when faced with what many consider “pedestrian” work. Their minds become pedestrian, bland, complacent, and it doesn’t have to be that way. You can elevate your writing no matter what form it takes, whether it’s the opening of your manuscript or a simple introduction. Here’s an example of what I mean.
Timing, Pacing, & Tension: What Are They and How Are They Different? (Part 3 of 3)
A story’s tension comes from its rhythm, timing, and pacing, which is what keeps a reader glued to the page and an audience in their seats. Let’s break down why that is.
Timing, Pacing, & Tension: What Are They and How Are They Different? (Part 2 of 3)
Pacing is often confused with timing, and understandably so. They do overlap in some ways. But while timing is the placement of a scene within the overall story, as we learned in last week’s blog, pacing deals with the modulation of the overall work. In other words, pacing is the speed at which the story unfolds.