Writer
Wait! Before you groan that I’m ranting about TV rather than talking about writing… this post is ultimately about storytelling, so stick with me! TV takes a distant second to books, for me—but I’m a complete Whovian. Or at least, I was. Well, no, I am—it’s complicated. I’m the sort of person who would wear these with a straight face. … …
CJ Jessop, an awesome writer (whose first novel I had a blast beta reading) and a member of my crit group, Alchemy, posted a 300-word short story on her blog in response to a writing challenge. The story could be on any topic, but had to contain the words SWAN, FUCHSIA, PARANOID, SMOTHER, SCREEN, and BODY. I think she did brilliantly, …
There are a lot of people who don’t believe in studying the ‘craft’ of writing. Writing is art, they say. You need to find your passion and let it flow through you. Don’t worry about structure or voice or character arcs. That only inhibits the freedom of your unique magic. I like to imagine these people say these things while …
One of my bestest writing buddies, Ashley Capes (a beta reader for Chaos, and a fantastic writer & poet) has a post on his blog titled Suggestiveness and Clarity in Poetry. I’m a big proponent of studying poetry, even if you’re strictly a prose writer (as I am). Even if you’re not going for poetic prose, poetry can teach you some fantastic wordsmithing …
You’ve slaved over your brilliant masterpiece for months–or even years–and finally, by some chance of fate, it ends up in my eager, avid-reader hands. So, what are the chances I’m going to make it to the end? Without going into the usual discussion about interesting plot, compelling characters, and good worldbuilding… there are a few readerly irritations that seem to …
And… done. My second draft of Chaos is complete at 163,020 words. This is actually the first time I’ve had a complete, consecutive manuscript with no holes and nothing missing–everything would make sense read front to back. My husband was thrilled. This was the birthday present he’d specifically asked for, and I managed it 2 days early. My kids did a little …
Ooh, gettin’ closer! Plowing through the last few scenes, trying to get this all wrapped up by Friday. It’s starting to look like I’m going to land somewhere around 165k rather than my previously estimated 170k. ~ RM
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, my novel meter has moved. I think I might be able to make my June 28th deadline for Draft 2, at which point it will be time to come back around and start cutting this monster down to a manageable size. ~ RM
I recently listened to an older episode of the (brilliant) podcast Writing Excuses on the subject of Character Quirks. About halfway through the podcast, there was a bit of confusion when the contributors realized that they all had different interpretations of what a character quirk actually is. This bites us a lot when talking about writing–there’s no firm authority defining all the …
The subject of villains came up between me and another writer friend who is plotting an arc for a very virtuous, idealistic, squeaky-clean sort of fellow who eventually turns entirely batsh*t-crazy-evil. How does one go about this? How do you convincingly portray the loss of respect for life that is necessary in this kind of Villain With a Capital V? …