by Susan Lovett | Jun 3, 2015 | Writing |
Writing comes to life in the detail. Get those wrong and watch out. Readers will revolt. They will spam your Twitter feed, your inbox and anything other avenue they can use to reach you. People love to correct mistakes. It’s in our nature. Readers most especially. They take their facts seriously, in fiction or no.
Don’t believe me? Try giving incorrect directions in a novel about Los Angeles. Readers will tear you up. There is something that drives people in LA to obsess about their roadways in a way that I have never understood. Read any story set in LA and you will find a jumble of numbers scattered throughout–the 5, 10, 110. Get one turn wrong and let the harassment begin.
The same reaction holds true for any specific group–military, law enforcement, medical professionals, lawyers, etc. Each group knows the verbiage particular to their trade and they know when people are posing.
by Susan Lovett | May 12, 2015 | Writing |
Writing requires motivation. It is that thing that requires caffeine, purpose and often a Herculean-sized will power, not to mention the real possibility of therapy.
Motivation is what propels action in both people and characters. It was what gets your butt in the seat and the words flowing, whether like creeping lava or a flash flood.
Motivation is what keeps you coming back day after day to write, even when you don’t feel like it.
The truth is there are days when sitting down to write is not easy, before the first word is even conceived. But no one said it would be easy. It’s not. It is also not the point of this article. We all know writing is hard. (You can talk about your personal motivation with your therapist or friends.)
by Susan Lovett | Apr 7, 2015 | Writing |
I dislike tossing books aside even when I don’t like them. Sometimes it is out of loyalty to the author, particularly if it is someone I have loved in the past. Sometimes it is because I need to know how it ends, even though the story or characters are disappointing. Sometimes it is simple stubbornness to finish what I have begun.
These books can be helpful though.
