So I want to talk about one of my favorite things in fiction… Subtlety. I’ve already written about how one of my biggest pet peeves in books is showing and telling. I also wrote a post on how to not do that. I think the best novels are ones that show you everything that’s happening–then leave it to […]
It’s Thursday, which means we’re due for a Learning From The Masters post, but I’m taking a break from that this week. This week I want to talk about something that’s been on my mind a lot lately–something I hope you can help me with…
So after letting it languish on my shelf for years, I finally tackled this…
In writing class the other night we got into an interesting discussion. According to my teacher (an agented, traditionally-published writer), the biggest reason readers put down a book is…
There are a lot of things that go into writing a novel. Today I’m going to focus on an important one–point of view. One of the first decisions you need to make when starting a novel is: who is telling this story?
I’ve written about voice in YA contemporary (twice), I’ve written about voice in YA historical, and today I’m going to talk about the voice of a writer who’s not YA at all. Because while it’s absolutely crucial as a writer to read within our genres, there is a tremendous amount to be learned from other genres, […]
So I’ve written a lot about what we can learn from the masterful writers who’ve come before us, focusing mainly on the first 250 words of the manuscript. Today I want to focus on something else: voice.
Editing: an essential part of the writing process. From what I can tell, some people love it, and others love to hate it. I personally love editing my own work, taking that raw material and polishing it to a gleaming shine. But like any part of the writing process, editing comes with countless frustrations. There’s […]
I think Mondays are a good day for a quick writing lesson, don’t you? At the beginning of the work week I’m (usually) in a productive mindset. So going forward, on Mondays I’m going to be sharing some little tips that can improve your writing in a big way. First up: On how (and why) […]
For my first novel, the only people I had reading and critiquing it were friends and family. Which was awesome for my ego–not so awesome for my work. For my second novel, I actually did what the internets have been advising me to do–I searched for critique partners. And I actually found two! More on […]
