Writing about writing. Mostly.
Ruth Has a different kind of post for us today. She offers us a monologue by her hilarious character, Blake Weston, from “The Big Six-O,” the first in her “Cozy in the City” series. Here’s Blake facing her 60th birthday: by Ruth Harris From: Carbon paper to carbon emissions. Edward R. Murrow to Tucker Carlson. […]
How an ancient philosophy of energy can help you create better characters by Deborah-Zenha Adams It doesn’t matter what genre you’re writing — characters are the lifeblood of your story. No matter how perfectly-plotted, tightly-structured, and wildly creative your story is, readers might not stick with it if the characters are hollow, bland, or just […]
by Anne R. Allen I’m often approached by parents or grandparents of children who’ve shown a talent for writing. They ask how a child can learn to be a writer. Or sometimes a person going through a mid-life job change will ask my advice about going back to college to pursue a long-deferred writing dream. […]
by Anne R. Allen Learning to write effective, believable dialogue is one of the toughest parts of learning to write narrative — whether fiction or memoir. We don’t want to simply transcribe the way people actually talk, with all the pointless “ums” and stammery filler-things we say in real life. But we also don’t […]
by Anne R. Allen Recently, a blog reader asked me why readers dislike it when the POV character dies at the end of chapter one, when most TV cop shows start with the victim being murdered — and nobody complains. As I said in my blogpost on 8 Ways Not to Start a Novel: “This […]
by Ruth Harris The Tyranny Of The Time Stamp. We all live under the lash of the digital clock and the tyranny of the time stamp. It’s not just us, it’s everyone everywhere — Fast food and even faster fashion. Pro chess players have 2 minutes to make their moves. On each move 12 seconds […]
by Sue Coletta When I wrote my first novel, I had visions of landing a Big-Name Publisher who’d send a limo to wine ‘n dine me to celebrate this amazing accomplishment. Well, of course, that never happened. After writing four more novels, I landed a publisher. Two, actually. One wanted to sign me immediately. Kensington […]
by Anne R. Allen First let me say you can start a novel any way you want in order to get words on a blank page. Anything goes when you’re writing your first draft. I always say the first draft of a novel is for the writer and the final draft is for the […]
by Anne R. Allen As a reader, I’ve recently developed some pet peeves that never used to bother me. Maybe it’s age. These days I find it almost impossible to follow a novel with wild head-hopping, where every spear-carrier is a POV character. I’m also bored by stories where everybody is horrible and there’s nobody […]
by Ruth Harris We all know them. Each of us has encountered them. They are the pilot fish and blood suckers with literary stars in their eyes who wannabe — drumroll — A Writer! Wannabe writers come to you with gauzy fantasies about “inspiration” and visions of overnight fame and instant riches. And they have […]
by Anne R. Allen “Leave your critique group” was my editor’s advice after my first full-length novel, Food of Love, came out with his UK publishing house. He said he didn’t want a bunch of wannabes messing with my work. He had a point, and I understood what he meant. But the members of […]
by Melodie Campbell I’m a crime writer. Hell, I’ll put on my other hat (the one with the pointy top) and say it. I’ve also been a fantasy writer (same pen name, different genre.) So I know about suspension of disbelief. I’m willing to admit that as an audience, we might agree to ‘suspend belief’ […]
by Anne R. Allen With the self-publishing revolution, we were warned of a “tsunami of crap,” but the real problem is the tsunami of scammers. They seem to invent a new way to scam writers every day. Not just indies, but the traditionally published as well. Unfortunately, there are plenty of uninformed wannabe writers […]
Anne R Allen’s Blog With Ruth Harris