Today we're going to talk about another frequent writing issue, usually appearing in early drafts. I think it's more common in newer writers, but it's easy for this problem to sneak up on even experienced writers. So what's the problem? Everyone is too nice. In the story, I mean. Secondary characters provide unflinching moral support …
Revision. Some writers love it, some hate it. I fall into the first camp. Give me a rough manuscript over a blank page any day. But I have a very visual brain and I tend to get overwhelmed by large tasks pretty easily, so my setup is mostly designed to break everything down into bite-sized …
A while back I posted a Twitter poll asking writers at what point in their story the inciting incident took place. I expected a range of answers, but was surprised to find more than one reply of "I don't have one." I'm going to go out on a limb and say yes, you probably do, …
So recently I went back and looked at an older draft of Cambiare out of sheer curiosity. I wanted to see how far I'd come in the past couple of years and umpteen drafts. And I noticed some patterns. Writing tics that I've also noticed in beta reads, but common mistakes I also made. Here's …
Continue reading 5 Common Mistakes Made By Beginning Writers
Today I'm starting a new blog series about various elements of storytelling. It'll be an occasional feature whenever I feel like rambling about some specific part of writing craft. This article is about one of the most elusive but integral parts of writing: voice. You'll see it popping up a lot in agent MSWLs or …
We all have those crutches and quirks that weaken our writing, and I am no exception. As it's generally good advice to be aware of your own weaknesses, I'm pointing out mine.I don’t even worry about these vices during the drafting phase, but I’ve learned to have a keen eye for them in revision. 1. …
Introducing the Friday 5! Every Friday, I'll post a list of 5 writing-related things. This week, it's all about looking back on 2018. I hit this year hard when it came to writing craft studies. I devoured hundreds of hours of podcasts and checked out over a dozen books on writing. All these lessons were …
