Reading for Better Writing
Occasionally, I get asked by students who want to write fiction what they should read to become better writers. My immediate answer to this question is always the...
End of the Month/Camp NaNoWriMo Report
Well, July 2014 has now come and gone. How did it go for writing? Well, I dedicated myself to participating in Camp NaNoWriMo and writing 50,000 words...
Structuring Your Story
Today I came across the blog Storyfix, and author Larry Brook’s 10-part Story Structure Series. In it, Brooks lays out his take on the 4-act structure, and...
Classic 12-Chapter Murder Mystery Formula
(Note: This has been floating around the internet for years, and I don’t know who first wrote it (if anyone does, let me know!) but it’s worth...
Helping Writers Become Authors
There are a few writers out there for whom the act of structuring and planning a novel is as much joy and fun as the writing of...
How to Write a Murderously Good Mystery
On her excellent writer’s blog, writer Karen Woodward has written and put together a fantastic collection of articles on writing mysteries that anyone wanting to move into...
Plotting Thread
As I discussed in Prepping Your Novel, there are a vast number of different ways you can go about plotting a story. Currently in the Writer’s Cafe...
Why Your First Draft Should Suck (and That’s a Good Thing!)
I’m a couple chapters in to my newest work-in-progress, and it kinda sucks. But that’s okay, in fact, that’s great! Let me explain. Of the many pieces...
The Technique of Mystery
In my travels across the net, I recently came across a book from 1914 by Carolyn Wells called The Technique of Mystery. This book is her thoughts...
How Much Should You Write a Day?
Yesterday, I made a post about Tracking Your Writing Progress using a spreadsheet in an effort to develop good production habits. After I posted it, a friend...