Tag Archives: character
Using Dirty Fighting To Escalate Tension In Your Story
Great books are filled with conflict, and great characters who learn important lessons. Writer and all-around-funny Jenny Hansen’s clever tips for Dirty Fighting Techniques can be applied to your main character’s friend, family member or a significant other…whoever he or … Continue reading
Filed under Best Writer Tips, Fiction Novel Writing, Guest posts
Critiquing Other People’s Writing: 7 Tips for Making Manuscripts Better
When you make friends with the red pen pointing out weak story points, redundancy or grammar errors, you give yourself the opportunity to grow as a writer and refine your final product. But is the job of the red pen wielder easier than that of the writer? Continue reading
Filed under Best Writer Tips, Fiction Novel Writing, Freelance Writing
Feel the Heat: Sex and Fiction. 8 Tips for Building Tension
Will your fictional characters, at some point, hit the sheets? As most of us creative types enjoy a delicious romp in the sack in real life, it shouldn’t be too difficult to apply our trusty, book-enhancing observational skills to break … Continue reading
14 Rocking Good NaNoWriMo Tips
With an entirely out-of-control outline tipping the scales at over 12,000 words, I dove headfirst this fine November 1st on a journey to make a messy manuscript my own personal heaven. Yes, I wrote fast and furiously, throwing editing, self-censorship … Continue reading
Act One: 10 Essential Elements
I’m a little addicted to the The Script Lab. As I worry over and scrutinize my fiction novel, tweets about screen-writing from @TheScriptLab interject with lucid, helpful, applicable ideas. My blog is for creatives of all stripes, and ideas for good … Continue reading
“How I Evaluate Full Manuscripts” (Porn for aspiring authors)
You’ve finished your manuscript. You took an online class about preparing the perfect query and pitch for your beloved manuscript, the result of countless months and/or years of laborious love. You spent hours online researching the perfect agent–that one talented … Continue reading
Television as Teacher: 5 things we can learn from TV writers and their characters
A few weeks ago I attended the Writers Faire at UCLA. There were over 45 seminars on the craft of writing, presented by a humbling variety of the nation’s finest authors, poets and screenwriters—who just happen to teach at UCLA. … Continue reading
What are your favorite books for writers?
There are countless high-quality publications available on the subject of writing. Some of my all-time faves? I can’t remember how many times I’ve joyfully referred back to Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way, and Vein of Gold. Superb, helpful, heart-opening, fear-rending, … Continue reading
Chapter Three, I know you’re in there!
I’m really struggling to flesh out Chapter Three for several reasons; to begin, I’m introducing Liam Hayden, brother of my protagonist, Treva. The structure of my narrative rotates between the perspective of three family members: Treva, Liam and father Mike … Continue reading
Filed under Fiction Novel Writing
Is a novel’s outline ever really finished? Time to overhaul…
I have finally finished my rewrite of Chapter Two, after some constructive criticism from my husband. The rewrite helped me envision a more dramatic and challenging path for my character Aaron Langley, which required the introduction of a new character, … Continue reading
