Posts Tagged ‘writing’
Story Weekend: Lake
Do you have a lake story? Please share it with us! If you’re new to Story Weekend, here’s how it works: I pick a theme and you share something from your life that relates to that theme, however you interpret it. Thanks to all of you who’ve contributed. As always, there are a few “rules”: ▪…
Read MoreMy Worst Cover Ever
I will say very quickly, before any of my readers totally freak out, this is not a new cover for one of my books. Not even a recent cover. But my last post led to a discussion on book covers and author input, so I thought I’d use this truly scary example as a jumping…
Read MoreHook, Line and Linker
During my twenty-eight years of writing, I’ve heard plenty of advice from other authors. One tidbit stands out: tighten the relationship between characters. I know exactly where (in Albert Zuckerman’s Writing the Blockbuster Novel) and when (1995, as I wrote Reflection) I read this suggestion. It’s stayed with me all these years and I draw…
Read MoreTo Write or Not to Write? Controversial Topics in Fiction
I belong to Novelists, Inc, and we’ve been having an interesting discussion on our email loop recently. A member asked about the pros and cons of addressing controversial topics in our fiction. As you can imagine, the comments of the authors have varied just as much as their opinions on the topics themselves. I am…
Read MoreYou Can't Always Get What You Want
I’ve been thinking lately about something Alex Sokoloff says in her screenwriting tips for novelists workshops (and in her blog). She talks about how characters in both books and movies) often start out wanting something that they never get, but end up getting what they need instead. If you think about your favorite movies or…
Read MoreDr. Jakes and the Care and Feeding of Secondary Characters
One of my favorite characters in my latest novel, Secrets She Left Behind, has no starring role, no point of view and he’s only in the limelight in a few scenes. Yet, he’s one of my all time favorite characters.…
Read MoreSneak Peek of Summer's Child's Cover
It’s very early–the reissue of Summer’s Child won’t be out until April 2010–but I can’t resist sharing the cover that’s in the works. I love it and hope you all do, too.
Read MoreLady Alice is Quite a Lady Alice
When I work on a manuscript, I take shortcuts. For example, one of my characters in my work-in-progress is named Rebecca, so I have my Word software set so that when I type “reb”, it actually types Rebecca. The same with my character Dorothea. I type “doro” and Word types Dorothea. (On a side note: my…
Read MoreGoing Crazy
The contest continues! Win a vacation on Topsail Island and help me celebrate my 20 years as an author by clicking here to learn more. You may enter once a day. Yes, it’s that time of year when I start to lose my marbles. It always happens around now, three months before deadline. Deadlines are always challenging,…
Read MoreIt's Five O'Clock Somewhere. . .
Actually, it’s five o’clock here and I’m quitting for the day. I worked on my Alphasmart at Starbucks today and haven’t transferred the file to my desktop yet, so I’m not sure how many pages I wrote today, but it’s just plain going to be enough. I’m a teeny tiny bit burned out! The week…
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