Philosophies: Characters in novels say and do many different things. Authors may or may not have the same values as the characters they create. There may be a character that most reflects the author’s own philosophies but doesn’t entirely demonstrate … Continue reading
The Breakout Novelist by Donald Maass (published by Writers Digest) is about the factors that make a book become a best-seller. It’s mostly about what characteristics a book or story needs to have to move beyond mediocre or good to … Continue reading
I found a great article in Discover about rules that all writers of Time Traveler stories should follow. But, to be honest, I have not followed these rules absolutely in my Chrysalis Chronology series. I have time paradoxes in several … Continue reading
It’s the second to last day of National Novel Writing Month. I’m working on Book 5: Chrysalis Chronology. It’s the final book in this series. As of yesterday, I’ve got 57705 words written. That’s good. But the bad news is … Continue reading
I’m currently working on the BIG ENDING for my five book series, Chrysalis Chronology. I wrote the first 50,000 words during National Novel Writing Month in 2014. The first 50k came easy, getting them done with more than 10 days … Continue reading
About using the word MOMENT: What is a moment? A short, or undefined amount of time. Often I use this word interchangeably with ‘minutes’ or ‘short length of time.’ But when is it appropriate to use the word ‘moments’? Here … Continue reading
I just read my first post called How I Became a Novelist. In it I said that I expected that editing my first novel, The Smart Kid, would take about 2-3 months. That was about a year ago and I’m … Continue reading
OMG! I know that is a silly, juvenile way to express amazement, but I’m doing it that way today because I feel quite enthused about what I just learned about writing with subtext. I’d heard podcasts before that discussed subtext. … Continue reading
I’ve learned that a novel can be written in a number of Point of Views: 1st, 2nd, or 3rd. First person is a popular form because it allows the author to write from a person’s perspective and revealing the character’s … Continue reading
As a new writer, I need to have all of my writing copy edited. (All writers need copy editing, but some need it more than others.) Hiring someone to do this is an option, but it can get expensive. This … Continue reading