I thought the nonsense about “weak verbs” in fiction died some time during the pandemic. Apparently, I was wrong; somebody helpfully forwarded a list of “weak verbs you should never use in your writing” recently. Which inspired this post. The first problem with talking about “weak verbs”
Read more →Probably the third or fourth thing I get asked by would-be writers—after “Where do you get your ideas?”, “Are you working on the next book? When will it be finished?”, and “I have this great idea; how about you write it and we split the money?”—is “How
Read more →The character-driven story currently seems to be most people’s Platonic Ideal for fiction, especially when compared to the plot-driven story…and those are the only two options most writing advice and/or classes present to writers. It’s taken for granted that one of these things–characterization or plot–must inevitably take
Read more →Whether you’re struggling through a first draft, revising a completed manuscript, or composing a query letter, one of the more useful things you (or your prospective agent/editor) should probably know is what is at stake for the characters in your story. But what, exactly, does that mean?
Read more →One of the first things a lot of writers get told is to “think about your audience” or “imagine your ideal reader.” This is one of those balancing-act bits of advice. I personally think there are more down sides than up sides, but either way, the fact
Read more →It is open mike week! I just got back from a long vacation with my sister and friends, so I am catching up and getting back into routines. What are all of you up to? Or what do you want to complain about? Or hear about?
Read more →Finishing your first novel is a matter of lather, rinse, and repeat—you write a bunch of pages, pause to think and make up more, or do some suddenly-necessary research, or reassure yourself that you really did put that necessary information in some prior chapter, and then you
Read more →Once you’ve gotten started on your novel, you might think that all you have to do is repeat the process, writing a bit every day (or every Saturday morning, if that’s all the time you have), or lurching forward in huge chunks with gaps of a week
Read more →When you’re writing your first novel, there are two main things you need to remember about Chapter One: First, the opening chapter is just as important, in terms of catching the interest of readers and/or editors, as nearly every how-to-write book or website says it is. Second,
Read more →Once you’ve committed to the seed-crystal idea you’re going to turn into your first novel, you’ll have to develop it. (The commitment part is important. There will be some point—possibly more than one—in this process where everything you’ve written sounds stupid, clichéd, or just too frustrating to
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