Learning from the Masters: Voice

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.

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MK’s Book Reviews: Every Day

Because there’s no day that begins with B so I can’t make it alliterative, I’ve decided Tuesday is now Book Review Tuesday. Instead of reviewing a few at a time, whenever I have time, I’m going to be reviewing books one at a time, once per week. I’ll include 3 main things: the Goodreads summary, so […]

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Learning from the Masters: The First 250 Words

I’m still struggling with getting the beginning of my novel just right, so it’s time for another installment of this. (Installments 1 and 2 here and here). I’ve been getting more and more into YA contemporary. Jandy Nelson, Stephanie Perkins, Robyn Schneider, Gayle Forman, Rainbow Rowell, and David Levithan are all recent faves. But I’d argue […]

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Learning from the Masters: Kissing Scenes

So in my contemporary YA work in progress, I’m finally finally at the point where the people I want to kiss, do. Yay! I wrote a draft of that scene. And then reread it. And it was … meh. I wanted the literary equivalent to fireworks, only less clichéd. I did not produce that. And though I know […]

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