Saturday, February 20, 2010
I’m almost finished with Chapter 8.
I am so close to finishing this first draft, I can almost taste it!!!
I’ll keep you posted!
Friday, February 19, 2010
Maybe you’ve written a dozen novels already, or maybe you’re still toiling toward the end of your first one. Either way, take some pleasure in the experience of finishing a story. Hit us with a climax, tie up some imaginary loose ends, and then follow it up with the two most satisfying words in all of writing.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Last week we talked about the Conflict Resolution Cycle, and the structure of a story.
So what’s missing? The end. Every story is a contractual agreement between the writer and the reader. Your readers give up their valuable time to read your story, and in exchange they expect you to give them a story — a satisfying beginning, middle, and end. That means you’ve got to do more than make interesting characters and conflict. You’re responsible for building a valuable conclusion, too.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Her mouth opens wide in a huge smile that draws every eye in the room. His nervous habit: narrating for everyone in the room what’s happening on the TV screen. When she feels melancholy, she hums “Amazing Grace” and Metallica’s “Nothing Else Matters.” When she feels happy, she hums ’80s rock ballads. His right eyelid [...]
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
That’s the biggest challenge of any blogging project: keeping up with the blog’s posting schedule. Really, it’s just a regularly recurring version of what is the biggest challenge for every writer: writing to a deadline.
There are techniques for handling that last minute writing, skills you can learn to make it as good as possible, but in the end that’s all just damage control. You cannot write your best quality work unless you write it early.
