Working with Victoria M. Patton– a forensic chemist and author of the crime fiction Damien Kaine series–here are 10 things you may or may not know about crime and investigation that can take your fiction writing from amateur to expert.
How your character speaks is important to understand their background. Rather than info-dump, you can imply it with accent, speech patterns, idioms…
What do readers like as gifts? Books, duh. *rolls eyes* Obviously, but, reading isn’t just a habit or hobby; reading is an experience, a lifestyle. All book nerds come to love everything related to...
As writers, we have a tendency to change up how we refer to time as we progress through our work. It’s a pain to go back and change all that; but, you gotta do what you gotta do to ensure your writing is understood how you intend it to be. Tense can have a major effect on just that.
There are many novice writers who ask for advice in our communities, so I wanted to compile some advice from the published and unpublished writers of my Writers’ Coffeehouse.
A former student of mine, Zane Indie I call him, actually honed in his writing passion through a game. I finally wanted to find out what these “game stories” were all about, so I interviewed him about his journey during 2.5 years playing Dungeons and Dragons.
My siblings noticed I was a nerd as a child when we would watch movies. If there was anything that sounded cool and historical–tattoo, book, weapon, anything–I would look it up. I want to show you five of my favorite ancient texts from movies and shows that I wish were in my library.
As creative writers, most of us want to share our stories and publish. I’m not gonna lie, I want to. Paradoxically, most of us are terrified to publish because of potential failure and rejection. Well, maybe you should start with a smaller audience and publish to a few magazines.
As I started to work on my character development, I had to keep in mind that dialogue is a key feature to understanding a character. How they speak can reveal much of their demographics–let alone the content of their conversation. If you didn’t know that, you know it now.
The fascination, confusion, curiosity, sadness, anger, disappointment, pride, devastation, happiness–all of it. Algernon yanked me by the hand and took me on every ride the emotional fair had to offer. That tells me, though, he’s an excellent catch.
Considering all of this, the choice is really up to you. It may be exactly what you need to get your writing ball rolling down the hill of no return at great speed. So, here are some lists to help you see what writing retreats are offered from around the world.
Back in part one of this series, I explained how some books just seem to really lend themselves to being a book. Just as books make great movies–sometimes; yes, sometimes–I feel like there are some stories that go great the other way, too.
Grammatically, these are the top two errors to look for when you start editing your drafts. You want your writing to be clear and engaging. Help us to experience everything, but don’t give us a headache.
If you want to be a good writer, you have to keep reading. So, I aimed for a book a month before last year and that really worked for me. This year I want to aim for two a month. What am I reading that abundantly? My To Be Read (TBR) list includes the following…
Now, as a writer, you need to have one. Just like you should also have a reading journal to help you become a better writer. I’ve gone through Pinterest, and many people say you need to have a writer’s journal / notebook, but no one tells you what to actually put in there.
I can do some awesome things when inspired myself. We all get there where we will encounter opposition, but we can’t let it discourage us. I think I really would have quit if it hadn’t been for my writing community (make sure you find yours, by the way).
