Recently, a writer friend of mine wrote a wonderful post about which point of view (POV) she prefers to use in her manuscripts. This got me thinking about what I prefer because lately, I’ve had some epiphanies about POV. Specifically this: the POV you use in your story actually matters. It seems like such an […]
Creating a memorable protagonist is tricky—something that seems deceptively easy, but is in fact hard. What makes it even harder is the fact that it’s so subjective. I loved Ender from Ender’s Game, but I know a lot of people who hated him. As such, you’ve got to approach your protagonist from the point of […]
Over the weekend, I had to attend a family party. At this party, someone began telling a story about the first time she drank alcohol. She set the story up well–gave setting, characters, back story, etc. Then she proceeded to tell the actual story in which she went on a date and ordered her first […]
Recently, someone asked me: What is required to make a book saleable? That is a rather large-in-scope question, and as such, I’m afraid my answer will be kinda vague. All the same, I thought it was worth taking the time to answer for everyone. 🙂 My super broad response is the: The most important thing […]
A while back, we did a QOTW on this topic, and yesterday, Billy did a great post discussing this from a romance standpoint. That said, I wanted to expand on it just a bit. First of all, telling is considered bad. Why? Because it packs less punch and ultimately doesn’t pull a reader in. For […]
This is something I get asked a lot: what’s the difference between YA and adult fiction? So rather than continuing to reinvent this wheel, I’ll just write a blog and direct people to it from now on. Sneaky, eh? To begin with it is important to have a protagonist firmly within the standard age–typically younger […]
Last Friday’s QOTW was about avoiding a contrived plot. At the time, I took this to mean a copy-cat plot, but the responses of Mandy and Julie made me see what the question could have meant: how do you avoid a forced plot — a turn of events in the story that doesn’t feel natural. […]
5 out of 5 stars. Because I was heading to Egypt and wanted to build up my anticipation, I decided to read a book set in Egypt. After some Amazon browsing, I settled on Elizabeth Peter’s Crocodile on the Sandbank… And devoured it. So I moved on to Curse of the Pharaohs and then The […]
A cliché is a saying, expression, idea, or element of an artistic work which has been overused to the point of losing its original meaning or effect, rendering it a stereotype, especially when at some earlier time it was considered meaningful or novel. The term is frequently used in modern culture for an action or […]
Last night I was in the highest of spirits as my husband and I made way to the movie theater. Alice in Wonderland had arrived, and best of all, they were showing it in English! My spirits quickly plummeted, hit the ground in disappointment, and then got flattened with boredom and fury. The newest Alice […]