I received an awesome question post in my forum last week, and I thought I’d answer it today. 🙂 I thought my first novel was done except for proofreading, after being through many CPs and two passes with a professional editor I hired. Now that I’m about 25% into its sequel, I keep discovering new […]
I touched on keeping a writing journal last NaNo, and though this doesn’t only apply to planning–I use a journal throughout my planning/drafting/revising process–I thought I would tack it on to the end of this series. I can’t live without my journals on writing, and perhaps you’ll find them as useful a tool for planning/drafting/revising as […]
Read Part 1 in this series: Of Plotters and Pantsers. Read Part 2 in this series: Before I Start Drafting. Read Part 3 in this series: Scene-Level Planning. Read Part 5 in this series: Writing Journals. Today’s post on “coaxing out the magical cookies” might be more aptly titled “What to do when you get […]
Note: If you need information on WHAT a scene is, I will direct you to these resources: my own very basic breakdown of scenes, this post by my fave author who talks about writing, and this post by another amazingly helpful writing teacher. Okay! Onwards to today’s post! In case you missed the previous parts of this series, […]
So as I mentioned last Friday, I only recently realized that I’m actually a planner and not a pantser. But my method of planning is erratic at best. Disclaimer: this may not help YOU plan a book at all. It’s my method, right? And it’s a very fluid, not-too-organized, definitely not-too-strict method. But then again, perhaps […]
I’m not a traditional outliner when it comes to writing my stories. Actually, up until a month ago, I actually would have labeled myself a straight-up pantser (i.e. writing a novel entirely by the seat of my pants). But I realized that wasn’t really true. I also realized that many of my so-called “panster” friends […]
…and when we think about you, it makes us want to– Ah, Salute Your Shorts. A 90s gem, if I do say so myself. Ah, Camp NaNoWriMo, a 2013 gem, if I do say so myself. You guys know I’m a HUGE–like GIGANTO-BIG-HUGE-MONDO-ENORMOUS supporter of NaNoWriMo. I mean, I was even featured on their blog! […]
Sorry for the brief internet absence. I was in Texas for a week (it was AMAZING). Edgefest was a blast and I discovered a few new bands I am now obsessed with (I’ll share next Monday ;)). Moving on, a reader asked a while ago: Looking back, knowing what you know now, how would you […]
So last week, Sarah J. Maas wrote a post about world-building (that I chimed in on). As she mentioned, we talk A LOT during drafting, and our methods of creation are—at least in some ways—very similar. One thing we both agree on is this idea of a magical source of inspiration (i.e. daemon, genius, muse, […]
So, this question came in from Alex last week, and I thought I’d address it in a post today. I’d really like to read about how you handle it when you’re in the middle of a draft and suddenly you realize that you need to change something BIG. Something which changes the story a lot, […]