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Category Archives: Writing advice
Character accents: the deliberation
My first draft is complete. Plot’s in place, the right characters in the right spots, with the right objects. My visit to the story site provided lots of detail for the descriptive texture. I’m currently braiding contextual detail into the … Continue reading
Imagination shakes hands with reality.
I’ve written a complete first draft of a story set in a small town. I used my imagination, and a healthy dose of Google map to figure out the logistics. And then I decided to visit. What a weird trip. … Continue reading
Posted in fiction, Uncategorized, Writing advice, Writing process, Young Adult
Tagged creative mess, creative process, Goose Bay, Happy Valley, Happy Valley Goose Bay, janitor's approach, messy writer, visiting the setting, visiting the story site, writer as tool, writer's tools, writing process
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Smell the story
I’ve been working pretty hard on my latest project. Since January, I’ve logged 79,000 words on my latest YA novel. My goal was to have a complete first draft, ugly as a fairytale stepmother, done. Mission accomplished. I’ve written and … Continue reading
Editing, dummies for dummies
The editing process has several phases. Once the manuscript has been accepted, there’s a close read for plot and its problems. The details have to be right. Right? In our case, we’re working from a Word file and ping-ponging it … Continue reading
Marketing a book: in with the old & in with the new
As you probably know, marketing of a book is a very big deal. In some ways, like the music industry, the marketing can be a bigger deal than the work itself. It’s also the most difficult for most authors. I … Continue reading
No writer is an island. Not even a writer on an island.
A few words on the importance of the editing process. OK. There was a time when I thought I was so right that editing would have been offensive. But I was a moron for thinking this way. Even the best … Continue reading
Rejection slips, God’s rude angels (Floating the duck, part II)
(Photo borrowed from “Duck of the Day“) But by this time, I had met a novelist, and he offered to read the first 35 pages of my story for free. He also explained how important those first 35 pages were. … Continue reading
