Taking a Mini-Writing Retreat
Why a Mini-Writing Retreat? Sometimes you just need a break. The word retreat is defined by Merriam-Webster as the “act or process of withdrawing especially from what is difficult, dangerous, or disagreeable.” And one way Dictionary.com defines retreat as "the act of withdrawing, as into safety or...
CONQUERING REVISION
Congratulations on completing a draft of your current WIP (Work in Progress)! Now you’ll want to revise and polish your writing to make your story shine. It's time to conquer revision. After all, writing is rewriting. There are a number of ways to approach the revision process, but I...
Understanding Pacing
Pacing is an important component of effective writing, but what exactly is it and how can we use it to the best advantage in our writing? I was on a recent call with a group of book coaching colleagues where we got into an in-depth discussion on...
What I Have Been/Will Be Reading This Summer
With all the craziness of the world, I have pretty much tuned out to video media. I haven’t turned on the TV screen for over six weeks. I am sure it’s a passing thing, but I am listening to more podcasts and getting in more reading time.
Plotting, Not Plodding!
Plot points, crisis, and climax, oh my! I have been reading up on plotting, taking a deep dive into process and techniques, attempting to distill the information that others have provided in books like The Plot Whisperer by Martha Alderson, Plot and Structure by James Scott Bell, Building Better Plots by Robert Kernen, and The Plot Thickens by Noah Lukeman into something that I can easily absorb and make part of my ingrained writing process and inform my teaching process, as well.
This is not the first time I have delved into plot at this level. A couple of years ago, I published an essay about plot called “Plot Isn’t Just a Four-Letter Word,” You can find it on line here for free.
Setting: Emotional Depth Through Character Perspective
Kira, Vaith and Kelmir. Characters in setting.
When writing, I start from character, not simply because I think it’s a great place to start—although, for me, it’s mostly character engagement that keeps me reading (or writing) a book or story—but more so because that’s just the way my brain works.
So, when describing the landscape/creating the setting for the book, everything I see is filtered through the eyes of my characters. This is a huge plus in developing voice and for showing the character’s emotional journey, because the world the reader sees is from the perspective of the characters living in and experiencing it.
Writing Fiction and Making the Words Disappear
It may seem counterintuitive, since we work so hard at choosing just the right words when writing fiction, but one of my main goals during the editing phase is to make the words disappear on the page. I do this in such a way that the reader will forget she is reading, instead “seeing” the action in her head. While it sounds like a magic trick, it is in fact a fairly natural state for me. As a visual writer, I see the action as I write it. In fact, as I tell the people who ask me about my writing process, I often feel more like a journalist than a fiction writer, because I simply follow my characters around inside my head and write down what they do and say.
As a writer, one of the best things I can hear from a reader (aside from how much they loved the story and how much they want more) is that I made them late for work, or caused sleep deprivation because they stayed up all night finishing my book. The last thing I want to give them is the opportunity to set the book down to go do something else.
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